COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Friday, September 05, 2008

Country First, but not for Bob Woodward and The Washington Post.


America First by Deed

In another transparent attempt to influence the outcome of the US Presidential Election, another fame seeking skunk, Bob Woodward, reveals that it was not the surge of troops that turned things around, it was classified US spying.

Manipulation of the news, at the expense of US lives, for purposes of ideology by unpatriotic and self-appointed political operatives of the Left is an acceptable practice of the American MSM and their supporters in the Democratic Party, as long as it serves their political interests.

John McCain, in flat but forthright terms, talked about a life of service and sacrifice dedicated to US security. John McCain's physical stature shows the battle scars of the noble path he took in life. John McCain walked the walk his detractors would and did avoid. His actions and life services to country place John McCain in rare and secretly envied company.

How ironic and helpful of the pathetic munchkins in the leftist media to select this moment to juxtapose their treachery to his patriotism. (I do not use either term lightly.) It should help America make a choice of the type of man that belongs in the White House to lead, protect and preserve our country.

______________________

U.S. Spied on Iraqi Leaders, Book Says
Woodward Also Reveals That Political Fears Kept War Strategy Review 'Under the Radar'


By Steve Luxenberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 5, 2008
The Bush administration has conducted an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi government, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward.


U.S. Spied on Iraqi Leaders, Book Says
Full Coverage: Bob Woodward


"We know everything he says," according to one of multiple sources Woodward cites about the practice in "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," scheduled for release Monday.

The book also says that the U.S. troop "surge" of 2007, in which President Bush sent nearly 30,000 additional U.S. combat forces and support troops to Iraq, was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence there during the past 16 months.

Rather, Woodward reports, "groundbreaking" new covert techniques enabled U.S. military and intelligence officials to locate, target and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Woodward does not disclose the code names of these covert programs or provide much detail about them, saying in the book that White House and other officials cited national security concerns in asking him to withhold specifics.

Overall, Woodward writes, four factors combined to reduce the violence: the covert operations; the influx of troops; the decision by militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to rein in his powerful Mahdi Army; and the so-called Anbar Awakening, in which tens of thousands of Sunnis turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and allied with U.S. forces.



More from the Patriotic Woodward

210 comments:

  1. War is coming...

    Iraq is a batte

    IRAN Syria, Lebanon, Hamas & hezbollah all funded by The Bear are next...

    ReplyDelete
  2. The bear took out airstrips in georgia that israel was going to use for an attack on iran..

    My prediction:

    Israel will attack using long range unmanned drones & missiles on command and control, nuke sites, israel will use select airwing assets to deliver bunker busters..

    Israel will hold most of it's idf airwing for attacks on long & medium range rockets in gaza, lebanon, syria and iran)

    I feel (and i am almost always wrong) that this will happen right after ramadamamadong is over

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dennis Miller had on Anchorage talk show guy, Dan Fagin.
    His complaint is she's more populist than conservative, which I've heard before.

    Production taxes were raised 400%.
    There are fields on the North Slope that they are now not developing because they now have the highest marginal tax rate in the World: 87%

    He thinks that's a shortsighted approach to reap $15 Billion for the state.

    ...but she inspires folks to become steadfast supporters.
    (free money helps)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're not wrong, WIO, just your feelings!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Caller says the tax was imposed by former DEMOCRATIC Governor, Palin just gave some of it to the citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My post to Miller's message board about his friend, Jann Wenner:
    ---
    It has nothing to do with "D" or "R" Dennis.

    It has to do with someone who publishes vicious lies about innocent men, women, and most of all children.
    (And the lie is on the cover, where it counts)

    If someone did that to your family, or Jann's family, I would imagine your reaction would be something other than laughing about it, just because he's your friend and a "great guy."

    In my World, great guys don't do such things.

    ...even though I agree with you that politically, he's done McCain a favor.

    To me, he is scum.

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  7. For Woodard, it is "Truth First"

    I did listen with interest to a lot of the Republicans, all wanting God to bless America.

    I'm sure the Mexicans and the Brazilians need the blessing, but at least the Democratss knew their Country was the United States, and not the two continents of America.

    The Guardian tell US:

    Maliki drops the mask
    With his tough stance on US withdrawal, Sunni militias and the Kurds Iraq's leader risks doom


    Jonathan Steele

    What's up with Nouri al-Maliki?
    As security anxieties subside in this slowly calming city, political speculation has rarely been so intense. First, it was Maliki's demand that all US troops leave Iraq by the end of 2011. Then came signs that his government wants to undermine the Sunni tribal militias, known as the Awakening councils, on whom the Americans have relied to defeat al-Qaida in Iraq. Now there are moves to take on the powerful Kurdish peshmerga troops and push them out of disputed areas in the strategic central province of Diyala.

    Why is the prime minister doing this? Is "the puppet breaking his strings", as one Arab newspaper put it? Or is the more appropriate metaphor "dropping the mask"? ...

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  8. - Readers dump Us Magazine over Palin -

    5,000 Cancellations:

    "Five thousand might not seem like a large number at first glance, but it’s significant in the context of Us’ printing schedule. The magazine goes to press Monday night, which means subscribers don’t receive their issues until Friday or Saturday. In other words, the cancellations are coming from subscribers who, in many cases, haven’t even gotten their hands on the actual issue.

    “When Us went to print Monday night, it looked like the ticket was falling apart," says one magazine editor. “They went to print thinking Palin was dead in the water, and their mistake was thinking everyone who reads Us is a Democrat, when they’re not. Readers are loyal, but the base of a political party is more loyal. They don’t need to read the magazine when there’s so much press around it to know to be upset.”

    Upset might be an understatement: One Us advertiser has admitted that they’ve received calls from angry former subscribers threatening to boycott their products. “(Us publisher) Jann Wenner supports Obama, Wenner media decided to follow the buzz around Palin before her speech, and now subscribers feel like a vote has been cast on their behalf," says another magazine editor. “It’s going to be tough to bounce back from this one. Especially if the advertisers get involved. If they get nervous, that can hurt all of us.”

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  9. "Sunni militias and the Kurds Iraq's leader risks doom"
    ---
    Big deal, 'Rat.
    Samo Samo as the Georgians, or the Shiites and Kurds under 41.

    You dumb enough to fight for us, Suckas, your ass is grass.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You got your strong horse,
    weak horse,
    and horse's ass.

    ReplyDelete
  11. In re the surge:

    Unfortunately the public debate and furor dealt soley with troop numbers, rather than the more fundamental issue, which was (and is) capabilities. It's the latter which is always sought, and an increased number of x troops specifically tasked can be instrumental. It was in Iraq. And in the end it was a comprehensive approach that drew on and developed a host of capabilities which led to a turnaround in the situation.

    Unless Woodward says that all Petraeus ever intended to do was throw 30,000 more troops at the problem and see what happens (which would be dead wrong in any case) his "revelation" is actually an acknowledgment of the comprehensiveness - rather than narrowness - of the approach taken to a war written off by just about everyone a short time ago, and ultimately Petraeus's skill in bringing the many elements together.

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  12. Miller was talking about Palin's 7yr old, and all of a sudden it struck me:

    Barry and Michelle's two daughters combined times 5 do not enjoy the freedom of expression of that one little stunner.

    Shame on the hateful Marxists for inflicting Wright, Ayers, Dohrn, and the like on those poor little souls.

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  13. trish said...
    In re the surge:

    ...his "revelation" is actually an acknowledgment of the comprehensiveness - rather than narrowness - of the approach taken to a war written off by just about everyone a short time ago, and ultimately Petraeus's skill in bringing the many elements together.


    Big +1 there.

    Typical liberal parsing.

    The surge didn't work, because all the other elements of the COIN strategy did.

    Thanks Woodward. Asshole.

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  14. Kid went to a University Pre-School for a couple of weeks.
    ...until I showed up.

    Some Black Bitch in charge had decided that some little bastard had the right to take out his aggressions on whoever he chose, including my son.
    (to make up for past wrongs, ya know)

    Son was gone, forewith.
    Many calls ensued as to why we dropped out.
    Wifey had some priceless non-response response, which I do not recall.

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  15. The saddest thing is Petraeus was doing everything right right from the begining up in Mosul.
    I sent Wretchard some great articles in the WaPo about what he was up to.

    ...only took about 5 years for the folks to discern what worked from what didn't.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Slade,

    Thank you for taking the time to gather and express your thoughts on the economy and the notion of systemic failure! It was a good read and I intend to read it again. Good food for thought.

    My initial reaction regarding 'systemic failure' is to try to assess what the term means. On the one hand you can take it to mean 'the world ends'. My own interpretation has evolved, especially after reading your last bit, to something similar as to what happened to Auction Rate Securities in the US or the Asset Backed Commercial Paper in Canada. Basically they created an 'asset class' that traded at auction - at market. Folks got spooked and nobody would buy and then you couldn't value the 'asset' because there was no market for it. Similarly there was that long running (still happening?) problem with the LIBOR rate - the inter-banking lending practices. Basically banks wouldn't lend overnight to each other because they had lost trust in the counter party - why risk x dollars for y return when if it goes bad you have to spend y + z over 5 years to litigate to get some or a portion or none of it back?

    I view 'systemic failure' as something akin to the above. There is so much crap being traded and folk don't really know what is behind it that confidence can seize up pretty good leaving no market. Basically a panic where everyone holds on to what cash they have. Sure, business still happens, people need to eat move about but there is a risk that they won't buy all that 'paper' floating about much like nobody will buy a piece of paper backed by assess (loans for example). There is some value to the paper, some of the loans are performing and cash is being spun out but nobody wants to buy the paper. It's weird but it happened.

    I'm rambling but I hope the gist of my thoughts are clear on what I see as the risks the fed/treasury are worried about re 'systemic failure'. I think the solution lies in regulation, well, a solution toward preventing future occurrences but how we work our way out of the existing problems seems to be government throwing of cash at the problems hoping to dilute our way forward.

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  17. Oprah says: Dont confuse me with the facts!

    Oprah Winfrey may have introduced Democrat Barack Obama to the women of America -- but the talkshow queen is not rushing to embrace the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket!

    Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

    "Half of her staff really wants Sarah Palin on," an insider explains. "Oprah's website is getting tons of requests to put her on, but Oprah and a couple of her top people are adamantly against it because of Obama."

    One executive close to Winfrey is warning any Palin ban could ignite a dramatic backlash!

    It is not clear if Oprah has softened her position after watching Palin's historic convention speech.

    Last year, Winfrey blocked an appearance by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, timed to a promotional tour of his autobiography.

    Oprah and executive producer Sheri Salata, who has contributed thousands of dollars to Obama's campaign, refused requests for comment.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I view 'systemic failure' as something akin to the above. There is so much crap being traded and folk don't really know what is behind it that confidence can seize up pretty good leaving no market. Basically a panic where everyone holds on to what cash they have.

    Apt description of the guts of the sub-prime market failure. I even heard a rumor that the French knowingly sold back to USA some bad securities in retaliation for destroying their lucrative oil contracts with the Iraq invasion. Some of this just reeks of bad soap opera.

    During this transition period in my life, I watch CNBC - a lot. Bob Pisani, David Faber, Mark Haynes, Steve Leisman, Erin Bratigan interviewing flood traders, investors, and economists. The subject this morning was the pending collapse of a large number of hedge funds, which are not making money - down 10-15% which is not acceptable in a high risk hedge fund. The speculation is that the money will go into equities and revive the asset class. The worst case scenario is that the entire hedge fund industry will close and the money will go into cash. The floor trader thought that an unlikely outcome but Pisani was playing it - presumably for the story value. It's bad medicine but it's not hemlock.


    Truly some interesting subtext stories from the 2008 markets. As the squeeze in the credit markets expressed itself on the international stage, the Europeans were slow to acknowledge the pending "down turn" and miscalled the magnitude of the effect. So the international community - just between us girls - is either more circumspect than the more excitable Yanks or there institutional infrastructure of markets and communications remain less penetrating and possibly less responsive to market swings that resonate with increased volatility on USA metrics.

    The other issue that will play is the European tendency to provide government bailouts, a tendency which will I expect influence whatever USA decides to do with the GSE's.


    I think it is obvious that I am an amateur but I do know this. USA faces at least one major domestic economic issue in dealing with the GSE's. Whatever is done, the pain will be isolated within a couple of local demographic groups, but it will be severe. USA faces any number of international issues, such as our dependence on trade for GDP,

    I think we are going to see numbers that indicate, not necessarily an acceleration of current market trends, but a continuation, to paraphrase. That will play in the media just awful with the usual political solutions, like windfall profits tax and "comprehensive" tax reform with a populist bent that has little to do with the structural issues responsible for the current market weaknesses. If you thought 2008 was bad, wait until 2009.

    The world isn't going to end in economic meltdown (nor will Obama's proposals work - they can't pay for themselves), but the days of cavalier and sanguine portfolio management are over. I heard the other day that nobody is making money in this market - not the longs or the shorts because the swings are so violent. Watch the Big Boys - the oil companies for example. They are buying back their stock.

    It's not the end of days, but we're not in Kansas anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Rasmussen has McCain back to within one this morning. Two/Thirds of the Poll was taken Before the Palin Speech.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Tes,

    Just for you:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cldeHjFig_c

    ReplyDelete
  21. God I hope Sarah Palin doesn't lower herself down to go on that stupid Oprah Show. She otta go on Dennis Miller or somebody else. I once watched Oprah years ago and she had that barbarian Barbara Walter on there. Couldn't stand a minute of it.

    If she needs more of the common touch let her go on that show with the old Mayor of Cincinnati, they can talk mayoral politics and have a fist fight.

    ReplyDelete
  22. his "revelation" is actually an acknowledgment of the comprehensiveness - rather than narrowness - of the approach taken to a war written off by just about everyone a short time ago, and ultimately Petraeus's skill in bringing the many elements together.

    That seems sensible.


    "We know everything he says,"

    We ought to.

    Woodward writes, four factors combined to reduce the violence: the covert operations; the influx of troops; the decision by militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to rein in his powerful Mahdi Army; and the so-called Anbar Awakening, in which tens of thousands of Sunnis turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and allied with U.S. forces.


    What's inaccurate about that? Seems about right to me.

    Woodward is a turd, I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. Palin is now More Popular Than Obama!

    Also, more people watched her speech. 40 Million tuned in, including 19.5 Million Women. That is, I believe, 5 Million more than tuned in to watch the Hildebeast.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Obama's got more book learnin' than Sarah. Sarah's smarter than Obama. What I can't figure is where she got that ability to speak. She walked in there before the whole world cool as a cucumber too.
    Some people are just born that way. She didn't learn it at North Idaho college and the U of Idaho journalism department, I can tell you that.

    Like she was talking to her own family rathr than millions of people for the first time.

    I quess you don't acquire that. Some are born that way.

    Being mayor of a town isn't experience for anything, if our mayors here are any indication. Being a community orgamiser and part time law prof isn't either.

    Being governor for a couple years is something real.

    Sarah's among the angels, Obama among the devils. It's a culture war, not about experience.

    I read a couple hundred or more comments about her Troopergate deal last night. She's got some real critics up there in Alaska. On the other hand it does seem the Alaska State Troopers amount to a kind of rogue government, out of control, in some way a gang deserving to be sued under the RICO statutes themselves, like Congress. I don't think the thing's going to cause her any real problem though. Kind of interesting reading about the Troopers. I can understand the sentiments.

    Dumbest criticism of Palin so far--abusing the newborn Down's kid to the noise of the convention. Anybody that's had a kid know all they do at that age is sleep, suck and crap. Kid would rather be there in his father's arms, than at home in a crib, if he could express his desires.

    ReplyDelete
  26. WiO, I noticed too the Russians were spending a lot of time and effort blowing up runways, and kind of wondered about it. Thinking well I quess that's what you do in a military operation, but wondered thinking, Georgia probably doesn't even have an Air Force.

    What you saw makes it all come clear.

    ReplyDelete
  27. That damned Barbara Walters has a place in Idaho. I can't stand all these idiots moving in here.

    Makes a person want to move to Alaska, and secede from the Union.

    ReplyDelete
  28. OPRAH REFUSES: PALIN WON'T BE ON

    Headline says.

    Perfect, Oprah looks to be the bigoted partisan she is, and Palin can walk away in relief to the Miller Show.

    Palin doesn't need Oprah anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Rufus, I've read the polls may not be picking up the younger cell phone users in the correct amounts. Know anything about that?

    In one American election in the past, can't remember which one, the polls were done, maybe for the first time, through the telephone network, forgetting that at the time, only the better off had telephones. Might have been the first FDR election.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Palin doesn't need Oprah anyway.
    ==
    Oprah knows her audience. And she knows they would favor Palin.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Maybe so Mat, they're mostly middle class whites. But, still Palin doesn't need her.

    I don't like candidates going on all these talk shows anyway. I can't see Eisenhower or FDR on Oprah.
    ---
    English environment minister says the global warming blokes are bonkers, starting a new fantastic and irrational religion.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Bobal is more popular than Obama!
    ...but we knew that.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I don't like candidates going on all these talk shows anyway.
    ==
    I agree. It's a circus, and no matter what you end up the clown.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I've know it Doug, didn't realize you did.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Bob is reading different to me today.

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  36. Doug,
    Me thinks it's Bob's better self posting.

    ReplyDelete
  37. hehe--missed that above about Oprah not having Clarence Thomas on. She's just another propagandist.

    ReplyDelete
  38. It's Bob's doppelganger posting, which is me, Bob's still sleeping. When he sleeps, I get some free time.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Twice as many people were gunned down this summer in the one American city of Chicago as in Iraq.

    Wife's about ready to take the computer away, Doug, then what do I do?

    Just walk around the city streets maybe.

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  40. Just a throw-away thought:

    Just after Palin's announcement - a mere week and some hours ago - Slimslowslider posted some attitude about women/minorities being hired to intentionally play bad cop. It looks more like Palin might be playing the good cop to McCain's bad cop.

    Which is good in the context of the point that Obama is running against McCain, not Palin; and when McCain is elected, the President will do the heavy lifting, not the VP.



    Palin on Oprah would become a cartoon character overnight. The boyz (some of them) can do SNL and late-night talk, but Palin - no way. Don't even mention The View - fast road to trivialization of a serious woman.

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  41. If Charlie don't get his we ought to have a tax revolt.
    -------------
    September 05, 2008

    The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee 'flubbed' his taxes

    Ed Lasky

    The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, New York Congressman Charles Rangel has earned rental income from properties he owns in a luxury resort development in the Dominican Republic, and has failed for twenty years to report any of this income on his federal tax returns.

    Ironically, the House Ways and Means Committee is in charge of writing the federal tax code. He has sat on the Committee since 1975.


    The Chairman has also improperly taken advantage of rent-controlled apartments in New York City and has used them to house his campaign staff.


    These apartments in the Dominican Republic rent for $1100 or more per night during the high season.


    The New York Times reports:


    A lawyer for Mr. Rangel, Lanny Davis, said on Thursday that the congressman would most likely file amendments to his tax returns for the years in question.


    Mr. Davis said Mr. Rangel's accountant believed he would most likely owe back taxes to the state and New York City.


    Posted at 11:30 AM | Email | Permalink

    Comments
    Thanks for letting us know about Charley's little tax problem. It will undoubtedly be a very small news item in the media. Last time I looked income tax evasion was against the law, so I wonder if there's an outside chance he will be prosecuted?
    As the person most responsible for the U.S. tax code he should at least let the general tax paying public know how to get away with it as he most certainly will. I could use the extra money.

    Posted by: Etrok

    ReplyDelete
  42. Wifey al-Bob?
    ==
    It's Bob's doppelganger posting. Sounds like Leona Helmsley. :)

    ReplyDelete
  43. fast road to trivialization of a serious woman.

    Absolutely. She should try to run as old fashioned campaign as possible, while taking into consideration, the sad facts of the age of tv. But no gossip talk shows.

    I'd suggest a whistle stop campaign, probably be rejected.

    Can't fault what they've done so far for sure. In a couple weeks the whole US knows and half is excited about her.

    In Shakespeare, the king tells his upcoming son, you don't want to show yourself too often.

    The mystique, you know.

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  44. Bob, I think that might've been the Truman/Dewey election.

    I don't know about the cellphone deal, though. I've been hearing that story for the last several election cycles, and it doesn't seem to have made a difference, yet. At least, in the accuracy of the Big Polls - Rasmussen, etc.

    Rasmussen says the "intensity" of Obama's support among the young is "plunging." I don't think they'll "get around" to voting this time, any more than they did the last time, or the time before that, or the time . . . . . ..

    ReplyDelete
  45. Wifey al-Bob?
    ==
    For sure. Bob would have had a reply (or two) posted by now.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Wifey wouldn't post about Shakespeare.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Rasmussen says the "intensity" of Obama's support among the young is "plunging." I don't think they'll "get around" to voting this time, any more than they did the last time, or the time before that, or the time . . . . . ..

    That's good to hear.

    Yeah, cell phones have been around for awhile. Wonder how they factor it in? Maybe they have some way of proportionally dialing cell phone numbers.

    They've never called me, and all I have is a cell phone.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Wifey wouldn't post about Shakespeare.
    ==
    We don't know the Wifey all that well. Let's hear more. I hope doppelganger Leona Helmsley has recovered from the jar. :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. It was Dewey/Truman, with Mr Dewey slated to carry the shindig.

    Regards the "Surge" ...

    Was it only the troops, or was that the "code" word for the change in course. The change in attitude, the change of command?

    Betcha that McCain sees it as symbolic of the combined operation.

    I do recall, doug, when General P, then training Iraqi troops, was recalled to the US. We discussed why this should be the case, I recall that his finishing the training mission was one thought I proposed.
    Terribly wrong on that one, it was another, what, two or three years before Casey was recalled and we began to change course.

    The political problems remain, the Iraqi have set their course, with the elected government we processed for them.
    Another error, proportional representation. Should have given the Iraqi a copy of the Federalist Papers and designed a District system for them.

    But then the US State Dept does not believe in promoting the ideas conceptualized in the Federalist Papers.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Yeah, Rat; it was a Sop to the Euros, and their "Parliament" system, a system vastly inferior to our own. Dumb.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Somebody need to show THIS CHART to John McCain. And, Quick.

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  52. DEMOCRATS IN TROUBLE

    By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

    Published in the The New York Post on September 5, 2008

    The convention floor was abuzz all yesterday with the news of the CBS poll showing a dead tie (42-42) in the presidential race. And the poll, conducted through Wednesday, couldn't reflect the impact of John McCain's speech, or the full impact of Sarah Palin's late Wednesday night. It reflected opinions only after the Democrats' convention, Barack Obama's incredible speech, the Palin selection and the early, Gustav-depressed GOP gathering.

    That augers ill for the Democrats. Tonight's polling could bring evidence that the Obama candidacy is in big trouble.

    First, the GOP convention managed to disprove the central premise of the Democratic assault on McCain: that he is a clone of President Bush. The Republicans wisely marginalized Bush to a non-prime-time videotaped speech, and sprinkled disappearing dust on Dick Cheney.

    The speeches, and the very fact of the Palin designation, repudiated Washington and focused on how McCain is an agent of change - this ticket is populist, reformist, anti-establishment, grass-roots and anti-corruption.

    And McCain last night made the point plain: "Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first-country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming."


    If Bush were the nominee, this campaign wouldn't suffice to push voters away from Obama. But now that McCain has moved decisively away from the administration, Obama's lost much (at least) of his advantage on the issue of reform. Now other doubts about Obama could elect McCain.

    The turning point was the designation of Palin and the personal attacks on her. By stirring up a storm, Democrats assured that Palin would speak to 37 million Americans - just a million fewer than watched Obama's acceptance speech.

    Anecdotal evidence already suggests that women may have a gut reaction to the establishment's sexist assault on a woman candidate - and flock to McCain. They've seen him stake everything on this one big move of turning toward a woman - in direct contrast to Obama's deliberate decision not to name a woman.

    They've seen the media and Democrats gang up on her and do their worst. And they've seen Palin stand up and stuff the challenge right back down the establishment's throat. All this may have created an entirely new dynamic in the race.

    Now the Republicans must battle to underscore the threats this country faces, economically and internationally, and that we can't let an ingenue take over. They must capitalize on McCain's aggressive determination to bring reform to Washington and to emphasize Obama's inexperience and failure to grasp how to change Washington.

    But it was McCain's gutsy selection of Palin that opened the door to victory.

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  53. What's that chart show, Rufus, other than CO2 going up? Can't make it out.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I've finally got this global warming thing figured out, though it took awhile.

    If the ice caps are melting, it's global warming.

    If they are growing, it's caused by more moisture in the atmosphere, becauce it's warmer, and because more snow is falling, because it's warmer, as snow doesn't fall when it's too cold.

    Therefore, whatever is happening at the poles, it's global warming.

    ReplyDelete
  55. The blue line is monthly temperatures, Bobal. The dotted blue line is the trend since 02'.

    ReplyDelete
  56. The mystique, you know.

    Gone faster than you can say Sarah Was-Silli.


    Advise to Self: Just stay away from CNBC. The domestic financial crisis is growing into an international economic crisis as the micro trend-lines torpedo their way into the macro arena. Mutual funds are expected to contract and consolidate as disappearing investment capital constricts growth in equities.

    I doubt it will be our last decade unless we go nuclear, but I doubt it will be remembered as anything but a miserable decade for building your retirement portfolio.

    This is my last post on this off-topic subject but I predict that the GSE's will be reconfigured at 50 cents to the dollar or something along those lines within the next decade. The historical justification for government bailouts being that the effects of insolvency would "trickle" throughout the economy with devastating impact to the small investor. If and when the GSE's fail, it will be a direct hit on the little guy - no (marginal) trickle down required.

    ReplyDelete
  57. at lunch I came across this article:

    "U.S. facing 'financial tsunami'

    JODY SHENN

    Bloomberg News

    September 5, 2008

    NEW YORK -- The U.S. government needs to start using more of its money to support markets to stem a burgeoning "financial tsunami," according to Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund.

    Banks, securities firms and hedge funds are dumping assets, driving down prices of bonds, real estate, stocks and commodities, Mr. Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Pacific Investment Management Co., said in commentary posted on the firm's website yesterday. Since financial markets seized up a year ago as the subprime mortgage market collapsed, the S&P 500 index has fallen 13 per cent and U.S. home prices are down more than 15 per cent.

    "Unchecked, it can turn a campfire into a forest fire, a mild asset bear market into a destructive financial tsunami," Mr. Gross said. "If we are to prevent a continuing asset and debt liquidation of near historic proportions, we will require policies that open up the balance sheet of the U.S. Treasury.""

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080905.RBILLGROSS05/TPStory/?query=financial+tsunami

    I kind of wrote it off as "HELP HELP BAIL ME OUT TOO!" but...

    ReplyDelete
  58. I think you done got it figured out, Bob.

    It's all, okay, Slade. Ol' Bill is just "talkin his book."

    We've got "shakey" times comin, fer sure; but, the World Financial Systems are flexible enough (unless, and this could always happen, some politicians go completely, populist, batshit crazy) to adjust and pull out.

    ReplyDelete
  59. ..."The US government needs to use more of its money" "Open up the balance sheet sheet of the U.S. Treasury"

    Like there is a surplus to use for bailouts...riiiight especially given the stoooopid mantra of the reduce tax and increase spending of the republicans - mavens of free and unfettered markets!!!

    ReplyDelete
  60. rufus, weren't you the one telling us the subprime stuff was just a small thing, not to worry about?

    ReplyDelete
  61. Actually, Ash, it's Not that big a thang. Basically, you've got a lot of "rent-seeking" going on right now.

    A lot of wailing, and gnashing of teeth by Wall Streeters that stayed too long in the Casino.

    I wouldn't pay it too much attention if I were you. We were ready for a recession, and we'll have it. Then, we'll go on to the next "golden opportunity."

    Our real crisis is coming in about 2011 - 2012, maybe a little sooner. Worldwide oil exports are going to plunge; and, we, most certainly, won't be ready. That's when it gets dicey.

    ReplyDelete
  62. The republicans need Ohio. How smart is it for the democrats to be going after Palin so hard, where in southern Ohio, where the election was won last time aroud, all the towns are small, and the women Christian?

    ReplyDelete
  63. In southern Ohio, where they all got guns and Bibles and cling to them too.

    ReplyDelete
  64. And Hillary Clinton isn't going to damage herself by attacking Palin, not at this time, not when she sees Obama going down. She's not going to help him that way.

    ReplyDelete
  65. McCain promises to use ideas from both sides of the Great Divide, as long as they work. He promises to hire Democrats and Independents onto his team, which has caused some grumbling from the Party faithful. The funny thing is, until the day he threw his hat in the ring to become President, Democrats always referred to McCain as a “good” Republican (sort of an ironic thing, like a “good” Samaritan or a “good” Indian, I suppose). Now he’s painted as the second coming of Bush. I’m confident he will win because the Dems will retain both the House and Senate this year, and Americans like divided government. McCain has made his base clam up with the Palin pick, so now he can run to the left as a moderate and gather the great American center.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Our real crisis is coming in about 2011 - 2012, maybe a little sooner. Worldwide oil exports are going to plunge; and, we, most certainly, won't be ready. That's when it gets dicey.

    Yup. Thanks to Congress, but primarily the democrats, and the Sierra Club, environfrauds, and their endless law suits, enacting the EPA, Endangered Species Act, and the misuse of same, to freeze the country like a corpse in rigor mortis.

    ReplyDelete
  67. The democrats will soon figure out it's a losing proposition to attack Palin. Their primary target ought to be McCain. They're wasting precious oxygen on Palin.

    ReplyDelete
  68. They have 60 days, and Sarah has one big Achilles Heel in being anti-abortion. The Dems will wake up and start hammering on that pretty quick.

    She'll maintain her popularity among men, and conservative women; but, I don't see her bringing in many "clinton" women.

    ReplyDelete
  69. to freeze the country like a corpse in rigor mortis.

    Bob IS Peggy Noonan.



    I haven't said this in a awhile so here it is again:

    The environmental movement did good when they cleaned up the air and water. In a classic example of "reach exceeding grasp", they then positioned environmental ecosystems in their cross-hairs and tripped like neophytes over non-existent science.

    Making matters worse, ecosystem sciences are decidedly non-trivial, requiring dynamic non-linear systems analysis (that would be mathematics), coupled with interdisciplinary algorithms (biology, physics, chemistry), coupled with extensive empirical data input sets, which require time to collect, and both software and hardware to store and analyze data-extensive computation.

    The regulatory code that emerged to address ecosystem preservation and mitigation is borderline [fill in your favorite epitaph here.] Seasoned developers have told me that the permitting has tacked ten years to the front-end planning of large master planned communities. I don't doubt that at all.

    Concerned about the state of your sanity? Read an EIS.

    ReplyDelete
  70. A little Palin nugget:

    Palin Scrubbing Turns Up an Undeclared Car Wash

    Updated 7:28 p.m.
    By Matthew Mosk
    ST. PAUL -- In addition to being a mayor and raising four children, Sarah Palin found time for another venture in her Wasilla years -- she was part-owner of an Anchorage car wash.

    Palin and husband Todd each held a 20 percent stake in Anchorage Car Wash LLC, according to state corporation records filed in 2004.

    A review of Palin's gubernatorial disclosure filings indicates that she failed to report her stake in the company on the form that requires candidates for governor to disclose any interest in a nonpublicly traded company.

    The car wash venture was not entirely smooth sailing. State records show the business ran into trouble with Alaska's division of corporations business and professional licensing after Palin became governor of the state in 2006.

    A Feb. 11, 2007 letter to the governor's business partner advises that the car wash had "not filed its biennial report and/or paid its biennial fees," which were more than a year overdue.

    The warning letter was written on state letterhead, which carried Palin's name at the top, next to the state seal.

    On April 3, 2007, the state went further and issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the car wash's failure to file its report and pay state licensing fees.

    Palin's gubernatorial disclosure filings also reveal her involvement in another failed startup -- a marketing business which was to go by the name Rouge Cou, which evidently is a literal French translation of "red neck." On the 2005 form, Palin describes the firm as one for which she secured a license but did not conduct any business."

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/02/palin_scrubbing_car_wash.html

    ReplyDelete
  71. Anthropogenic Global Warming being just the tip of the iceberg.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Rufus: They have 60 days, and Sarah has one big Achilles Heel in being anti-abortion. The Dems will wake up and start hammering on that pretty quick.

    They can't. It's driving them nuts. Their whole pro-abort ideology is driven by the bogus claim that a woman can't be successful if she is "forced" to bear and raise children. Governor Sarah Palin puts lie to that assertion by her own happy and full life as both a public servant and a wife and mother, which speaks directly to the heart of all American women.

    ReplyDelete
  73. I've had to do an EIS. As they go, it wasn't much, but a total waste of time and money. It's an industry.

    Best way to clean up the air and water too is nuclear power.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Not all the women in Ameica are pro choice. Maybe most in California, southern Ohio ia another matter.

    ReplyDelete
  75. geeeze Bobal, you are so pro-choice on so many fronts - sex ed in school, blah blah blah, but on this issue - nope no choice, let the government decide. Are you like Palin, the gov. must force a woman to bear the child even if it is the product of rape or incest?

    ReplyDelete
  76. Best way to clean up the air and water too is nuclear power.
    ==

    Going Nuclear. That's pretty heavy handed, Bob, no? I think the best way to clean up the air and water is just to get rid of ash.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Ditto Rufus' 4:07.

    It's best to let the market sort things out as much as possible. Slade's references to "GSE's" are the best evidence that guvmint can screw things up more often than not. Yes, there is a loophole in London that many investment banks drove their tractor-trailers through but even the commodities speculation has cooled significantly. This is a good thing now that some of the so-called experts are predicting inflation.

    As Rufus pointed out, we're having a market correction. In a long expansion, we swung far out into a a speculative frenzy. Everyone and his brother were looking to get a piece of the action first in the tech mania and when that bubble burst, into the crazy residential market. Is "Flip this House" still on cable?

    Why did we have those two frenzies? Because more people than ever had cash to invest. According to more than one so-called expert that I've heard lately, over the last 10 years more two billion people were lifted out of poverty. The number of millionaires created in the US alone is staggering and despite what the media would have you believe the vast majority are not destitute. Far from it.

    The problem with the credit market comes at an opportune time and actually, may be overrated as it's still possible to get a residential mortgage (just not as easy). Now, you actually have to qualify.

    I used to buy into the doom and gloom scenarios. All my adult life I've heard about the coming economic collapse. Anyone remember Lord Rees-Mogg's 1990 warning The Great Reckoning: Protecting Yourself in the Coming Depression? If you had done everything that recommended you would certainly be poorer for it today.

    ReplyDelete
  78. You've read me wrong, Ash. As a practical matter I don't think abortion is going away. If Roe were overturned, then it's up to the states. The big states wouldn't change things, a few small ones might. Then you got to take a bus to an abortion state. I think it a big todo about nothing in that sense.

    As to rape and incest, although I admire her, I think that goes too far.

    As to the political potency of the issue, I recall Ronald Reagan was pro-life, and he won 49 out of the 57 states.

    I'm not against sex ed, let the locals decide. With the number of abortions in the country it doesn't appear to have done much good.

    ReplyDelete
  79. One of the next "big things" I predict will be sensor technology to wire the ecosystem grid with real-time data. To come from the cell phone companies who haven't introduced a new product, aside from smart phones, but not a dramatically new product in long time.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Ash, someone might point out that ultraliberal San Francisco, home of the AIDS epidemic, radio talk show pedofiles, sex in bars, abortion clinics on the street corners, and coming soon legal prostitution in practice in your neighborhood, might make a good case for considering some other way of looking at things.

    ReplyDelete
  81. I hear you whit on the doom and gloom scenarios. Something I've noticed and also read about, though, is how the doom and gloom folks often get it right but too early. For example there were those folks yammering on and on about the tech bubble but it kept on growing. Eventually they shut up disappeared. Then the bubble burst. There were also folks who did that regarding the housing bubble. On the other hand there is the notion that if you say something long enough eventually you will be right - even a broken clock is right a couple of times a day.

    In any case what do you make of the fed/treasury move to bail out Bear Stearns? Should they have just let it fail and let the chips fall where they may? ditto for Fannie and Freddie - let 'em go bust? I'm not convinced that pouring public money at the problem is going to help much but is the scary scenario of a more general market seizure like the Auction Rate Securities problem but vastly larger worth the risk?

    Personally I'm arriving at the conclusion that they need provide the liquidity, backstop these major players, but also introduce some serious regulation to harness the corporate kleptocracy. My worry is they will pour money in and the bandits will continue to run off with the loot.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Ash:
    I'm not sure they need to keep bailing out the big players indefinitely but inaction regarding Bear Stearns could have resulted in mass panic and much worse damage than the risk of moral hazard.

    It's easy to predict more specific risk such as an evident bubble in the making. Anyone with common sense could see that the P/E ratios for tech stocks were so far out of reality that something had to give. Same with the housing market. For years, those in the know were watching markets for bubbles.

    ReplyDelete
  83. 25 States, since 1996 have taught the Federally approved "Abstinence Only" program, bob.

    As the current headlines at the Wal-Mart proclaim in regards pregnencies, that program is not very effective.

    $1.5 Billion USD spent on it.

    There seem to be many folk, here in Mavverick's State of residence that were not going to vote for him. Rather than support the McCain they know, they were going to vote "present".
    Mr Barr was polling above the national average, here.

    Mrs Palin has changed that equation, despite trish's deeply held belief, there are women I know that will vote, exclusively, for the Vice President, despite McCain being on that ticket.

    At least here, in this 2% of the United States.

    The States that are key to the Election, they are Colorado and New Mexico.

    Even if McCain holds Ohio.

    The "No Toss Up" map at RCP, it tells the tale

    Each State is delivered to the current leader, despite the margin of the lead, or the lack of much of one.

    Both Colorado and New Mex, States that Bush carried and, at present, are flipping.

    They'll be the difference, the swingers.

    As the US population migrates west.
    and America's population migrates north. The Mountain West of the US will be the battle ground.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Does anyone remember
    Michael Milken?


    And that little regulatory event in 1999? Repeal of Glass-Steagall.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Breaking News: New Intelligence Discovered

    Lee Cary

    Last night, September 4, on CNN’s Larry King Live Show, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo announced a startling scientific discovery that is sure to capture the attention of anthropologists and biological scientists around the world.


    The announcement came as the talk show personality interviewed a panel of independent political commentators summarizing their observations at the close of the Republican Convention.


    The experts included: Robert Gibbs, Senior Advisor, Obama Campaign; Sen. Evan Bayh (D), Indiana; Mayor Gavin Newsom (D), San Francisco; Terry McAuliffe, Former Chair of the Clinton Campaign; Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee and former governor of Massachusetts; Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor, Huffingtonpost; Katrina Vanden Huevel, editor of The Nation; and, of course, Mario Cuomo, Former Governor of New York, who broke the startling news. Former President Jimmy Carter was not on the panel.


    Without any warning of what was to come, Cuomo said,

    He's many things, McCain, but he is not change. He's been around a long time. He's been a hero a long time. God bless him. He's done a lot of wonderful things. But he is not change.

    Obama is. He's a new kind of intelligence. He's young and bright. He has a different attitude toward the world, a more cosmopolitan attitude. He's all the things we need. Most of all, those 80 percent of American people are right. We need change. These people are not change. Whatever else they are, they're not change.


    This astonishing revelation of “a new kind of intelligence” was apparently substantiated by Vanden Huevel, who added,
    But I think we need to move beyond 9/11. John McCain seems uniquely ill qualified. We need somebody who needs to understand, as the Rand Corporation, a bipartisan group, said a few weeks ago, to talk about the war on terror is counterproductive. We need smart intelligence, policing, diplomacy. And John McCain is someone who is militaristic. That is his first instinct, by temperament, by career, by personal history.


    Although Governor Cuomo did not provide a descriptive adjective to the newly discovered intelligence, like Artificial Intelligence or Emotional Intelligence, Ms. Vanden Huevel seemed to suggest that is was “Smart” Intelligence.


    This discovery has not been confirmed by any reputable researcher or scientist. Developing…

    ReplyDelete
  86. The point being that the object of regulatory control is not complicated or subtle to professionals. The emergence of new financial vehicles, like CDO's, that became popular once the wall between investment and commercial banking was destroyed with repeal of Glass-Steagall, wreaked all this domino havoc. It is far from a systematic weakness in regulatory constraint. It is targeted. The pros know this very well.

    But watch the expense reports get more detailed.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Who was that guy that ripped everybody off of megamillions, and then fled to Cuba?

    ReplyDelete
  88. Robert Vesco. bob, is who I think you are referencing. Maybe a person duece may have known, in Costa Rica, back in the day.

    wiki
    Robert Lee Vesco (December 4, 1935-November 23, 2007[1]) was a fugitive United States financier. After several years of high stakes investments and seedy credit dealings, Vesco was alleged guilty of securities fraud. He immediately fled the ensuing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation by living in a number of Central American and Caribbean countries that did not have extradition laws.[2] Charges emerged following the Watergate scandal that linked Vesco with illegal funding for Richard Nixon's nephew's company.

    Vesco was notorious throughout his life, attempting to buy a Caribbean island from Antigua in order to create an autonomous country and having a national law in Costa Rica made to protect him from extradition. A 2001 Slate.com article labeled Vesco "the undisputed king of the fugitive financiers."[3] After settling in Cuba in 1982, Vesco was charged with drug smuggling in 1989. In the 1990s he became involved with Nixon's nephew again, and was indicted by the Cuban government for "fraud and illicit economic activity" and "acts prejudicial to the economic plans and contracts of the state" in 1996.[4]

    Vesco was sentenced to 13 years in jail by Cuba. Five months after his death in November 2007 the New York Times reported he succumbed to lung cancer at a hospital in Havana, Cuba

    ReplyDelete
  89. Anyone with common sense could see that the P/E ratios for tech stocks were so far out of reality that something had to give.

    PE ratios on the order of 100-200.

    What was wrong with this picture?

    Oh, it was a "new" business model specific for the role of "content" in the digital industry.

    Kapich?

    A bunch of investors thought they did.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Yeah, that's the guy. Made a big mistake going to Cuba where he should have known he'd be ripped off. Didn't know what had happened to him.

    ReplyDelete
  91. USS Mt. Whitney Docks in Posi Sparking Fears Of Confrontation
    ----------

    My lawyer once said, "There's nothing better than an honest man."

    ReplyDelete
  92. Let's mention in passing the Hunt Brothers and the silver market.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Oh, it was a "new" business model specific for the role of "content" in the digital industry.

    Kapich?

    A bunch of investors thought they did.


    Bingo! Give the girl a prize!

    And a lot dumbass brokers made a lot of money off the hordes.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Well, the hordes were led by the "experts" at Time-Warner

    That’s AOL folks…
    January 10, 2000: 5:26 p.m. ET

    Internet leader and entertainment firm to join forces; new company worth $350B
    By Staff Writer Tom Johnson

    NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a stunning development, America Online Inc. announced plans to acquire Time Warner Inc. for roughly $182 billion in stock and debt Monday, creating a digital media powerhouse with the potential to reach every American in one form or another.
    With dominating positions in the music, publishing, news, entertainment, cable and Internet industries, the combined company, called AOL Time Warner, will boast unrivaled assets among other media and online companies

    ReplyDelete
  95. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  96. From the NYTimes

    By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
    Published: February 7, 2008

    Time Warner, seeking to cut costs and streamline operations, plans to split off AOL’s Internet access business from its Web site and online advertising business and cut 100 jobs at its corporate unit, the company’s new chief executive, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, said Wednesday.

    In a further sign that the company is trying to remove some bloat, Mr. Bewkes also said that Time Warner would explore selling its remaining 84 percent stake in Time Warner Cable and was considering tightening costs at New Line Cinema, the smaller of its two studios, known for movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and “Hairspray.” Time Warner also owns Warner Brothers.

    The company, which also owns CNN and Time Inc., is under pressure to raise its flagging stock price. Its biggest problem continues to be AOL, whose fourth-quarter revenue, reported Wednesday with Time Warner’s results, fell 32 percent compared with the quarter a year ago, to $1.3 billion.

    AOL’s operating income before depreciation and amortization rose 29 percent, to $381 million, though both the latest fourth quarter and the one in the prior year included one-time revamping charges. Without those charges, income would have been virtually flat.

    Separating AOL from the Web site and advertising unit could result in the sale of the Internet access business, which is still highly profitable but rapidly declining as more customers abandon dial-up service for faster cable or fiber optic service. AOL lost 740,000 customers in the quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
    -P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

    ReplyDelete
  98. The Lightning Sonata--Composed and Performed by Dr. Anthony Cicoria

    Tuesday, September 16, 2008
    7:00pm at the Palace Theater
    Syracuse, New York

    In July 2007, The New Yorker magazine printed an article by famed neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks (author of the book Awakenings, upon which the movie of the same name was based). Sacks piece, titled "A Bolt From The Blue: The Mysteries Of Musicophilia", related the story of a respected surgeon, Dr. Tony Cicoria, who was hit by lightning in 1994 and had an NDE that included an out-of-body experience.

    After making an amazing recovery, Dr. Cicoria returned to his medical practice, and everything returned to normal.

    Then, within six weeks of returning, he became overwhelmed by an insatiable desire to listen to piano music. This soon was followed by an overwhelming passion to actually play and compose music, a skill he did not possess before. Eventually, Dr. Cicoria's passion for piano led to his learning to play Chopin as well as compose his own classical works, such as those he will perform in this concert. Dr. Dicoria's NDE proved to be a major transformative event, and today music has become his true, all consuming passion in life.

    This even will also feature a question and answer period with Dr. Cicoria.

    For more information and to reserve tickets, go to www.unyi.org

    $23 Admission

    Sponsored by Upstate New York IANDS group

    ---

    Plato in the Timaeus declares that "there is only one way in which one being can serve another, and this is by giving him his proper nourishment and motion: and the motions that are akin to the divine principle within us are the thoughts and revolutions of the universe."

    Which were deranged in us at birth, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  99. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
    -Thomas Jefferson

    ReplyDelete
  100. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
    -Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

    ReplyDelete
  101. Bingo! Give the girl a prize!

    I'll take early retirement behind Door No. 3.

    ReplyDelete
  102. "If a fool persists in his folly, he will become wise."

    Willaim Blake

    ReplyDelete
  103. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
    -James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

    ReplyDelete
  104. "The gentle finger of the Lord brings up the laggards."

    Walt Whitman

    We're going to the rodeo. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  105. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
    -Mark Twain

    ReplyDelete
  106. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
    -Ronald Reagan

    ReplyDelete
  107. Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed.
    H. L. Mencken

    ReplyDelete
  108. "I think it is not wise for an emperor, or a king, or a president, to come down into the boxing ring, so to speak, and lower the dignity of his office by meddling in the small affairs of private citizens."
    -- Mark Twain in Eruption

    ReplyDelete
  109. Retiree Bumper Sticker:

    That Snap Crackle and Pop in the morning ain't my freaking Rice Crispies.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Retiree Bumper Sticker:

    I'm so old that whenever I eat out, they ask me for money up front.

    ReplyDelete
  111. We're going to the rodeo.

    Y'all have a barrel of fun ya hear?

    ReplyDelete
  112. Resume of a Terrorist: Obama’s Buddy Ayers

    By Jim Kouri Sunday, August 31, 2008

    While the likes of the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and other news organizations have their reporters digging for dirt on Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s choice for vice president, their savior-in-waiting Barack Obama is getting a free ride at the expense of truth.

    It’s no secret that the denizens of America’s newsrooms want Obama sitting in the Oval Office, but Americans are being purposely duped by the Democrat National Committee’s volunteer publicists, formerly known as the mainstream news media.

    If it weren’t for talk radio and the blogosphere, even what is known about Obama and his friend, former Weather Underground domestic terrorist and leader William Ayers, would only be a paragraph or two in the backpages of most newspapers, or a sentence or two on most TV and radio news programs.

    On Friday night, one of America’s top talk show hosts—who happens to be an attorney and worked in the Reagan Justice Department as chief of staff—recited a list of terrorist acts that would elicit envy from Osama bin Laden. Mark Levin had his listeners glued to their radios or PCs as he read the resume of a man who should be serving life in prison instead of enjoying a tenured professorship at a major university and entertaining a possible US President in his home.

    Because of so-called “prosecutorial misconduct” Ayers escaped what could have been a life-sentence.

    As I write this “resume of a terrorist,” I find it difficult to understand how a man who is running for president of the United States would even know someone as anti-American and destructive as William Ayers. Plus, Ayers, his wife and their comrades at the Weather Underground are cop-killers. And Obama doesn’t just know him personally—he’s a close friend with Ayers.

    Here is the “resume” of an American terrorist:

    7 October 1969 – Bombing of Haymarket Police Statue in Chicago, apparently as a “kickoff” for the “Days of Rage” riots in the city October 8-11, 1969. The Weathermen later claimed credit for the bombing in their book, “Prairie Fire.”

    8-11 October 1969 – The “Days of Rage” riots occur in Chicago in which 287 Weatherman members from throughout the country were arrested and a large amount of property damage was done.

    6 December 1969 – Bombing of several Chicago Police cars parked in a precinct parking lot at 3600 North Halsted Street, Chicago. The WUO stated in their book “Prairie Fire” that they had did the explosion.

    27-31 December 1969 – Weathermen hold a “War Council” meeting in Flint, MI, where they finalize their plans to submerge into an underground status from which they plan to commit strategic acts of sabotage against the government. Thereafter they are called the “Weather Underground Organization” (WUO).

    13 February 1970 - Bombing of several police vehicles of the Berkeley, California, Police Department .

    16 February 1970 – Bombing of Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen.

    6 March 1970 – Bombing in the 13th Police District of the Detroit, Michigan. 34 sticks of dynamite are discovered. During February and early March, 1970, members of the WUO, led by Bill Ayers, are reported to be in Detroit, during that period, for the purpose of bombing a police facility.

    6 March 1970 – “bomb factory” located in New York’s Greenwich Village accidentally explodes. WUO members die . The bomb was intended to be planted at a non-commissioned officer’s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The bomb was packed with nails TO INFILICT MAXIMUM CASUALTIES UPON DETONATION.

    30 March 1970 – Chicago Police discover a WUO “bomb factory” on Chicago’s north side. A subsequent discovery of a WUO “weapons cache” in a south side Chicago apartment several days later ends WUO activity in the city.

    10 May 1970 – Bombing of The National Guard Association building in Washington, D.C..

    21 May 1970 – The WUO under Bernardine Dohrn’s (Ayers’ current wife) name releases its “Declaration of a State of War” communique.

    6 June 1970 – The WUO sends a letter claiming credit for bombing of the San Francisco Hall of Justice; however, no explosion actually took place. Months later, workmen in this building located an unexploded device which had apparently been dormant for some time.

    9 June 1970 - Bombing of The New York City Police Headquarters.

    27 July 1970 - Bombing of The Presidio army base in San Francisco. [NYT, 7/27/70]

    12 September 1970 – The WUO helps Dr. Timothy Leary, break out and escape from the California Men’s Colony prison.

    8 October 1970 - Bombing of Marin County courthouse. [NYT, 8/10/70]

    10 October 1970 - Bombing of Queens traffic-court building . [NYT, 10/10/70, p. 12]

    14 October 1970 - Bombing of The Harvard Center for International Affairs [NYT, 10/14/70, p. 30]

    1 March 1971 - Bombing of The United States Capitol . “ [NYT, 3/2/71]

    April, 1971 – abandoned WUO “bomb factory” discovered in San Francisco, California.

    29 August, 1971 - Bombing of the Office of California Prisons . [LAT, 8/29/71]

    17 September 1971 - Bombing of The New York Department of Corrections in Albany, NY [NYT, 9/18/71]

    15 October 1971 - Bombing of William Bundy’s office in the MIT research center. [NYT, 10/16/71]

    19 May 1972 - Bombing of The Pentagon . [NYT, 5/19/72]

    18 May 1973 - Bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York

    28 September 1973 - Bombing of ITT headquarters in New York and Rome, Italy . [NYT, 9/28/73]

    6 March 1974 - Bombing of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare offices in San Francisco

    31 May 1974 - Bombing of The Office of the California Attorney General.

    17 June 1974 - Bombing of Gulf Oil’s Pittsburgh headquarters .

    11 September 1974 – Bombing of Anaconda Corporation (part of the Rockefeller Corporation).

    29 January 1975 - Bombing of the State Department in (AP. “State Department Rattled by Blast,” The Daily Times-News, January 29 1975, p.1)

    16 June 1975 - Bombing of Banco de Ponce (a Puerto Rican bank) in New York .

    September, 1975 – Bombing of the Kennecott Corporation .

    October 20, 1981 - Brinks robbery in which several members of the Weather Underground stole over $1 million from a Brinks armored car near Nyack, New York. The robbers murdered 2 police officers and 1 Brinks guard. Several others were wounded.

    1981 “Guilty as hel*. Free as a bird. America is a great country,” Ayers said when interviewed by David Horowitz.

    September 11, 2001 “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Ayers is quoted in a New York Times article.

    Message to the News Media: Instead of trying to dig up dirt on Sarah Palin, why don’t you cover indepth stories such as the Obama-Ayers relationship just for starters. If you need more leads for stories regarding Senator Obama and other unsavory characters, contact me at this publication.

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  113. Rat, looking at your map, it occurs to me that Crazy Mac can lose one, either Co, or NM, but not both. My "Gut" hunch tells me that Sarah would be more effective in Colorado.

    I think I would try to ascertain which state, Pa, or Mi that Palin would have a better chance "moving," and have her work that one, plus Colorado, and Ohio to death (while making an obligatory stop or two in the other "close" states.

    He needs to completely ignore Ia, Wi, and Mn. He's, effectively, burned his bridges, there.

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  114. My old keyboard still has all the keys in the exact same order, even w/a new moniter.
    Sure makes things easy.
    Ain't technology amazing?
    Cutting Edge, that is.

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  115. What does "obligatory" mean?

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  116. Slade said...
    "Just a throw-away thought:"
    ---
    I assumed they all were.

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  117. As in obliged?

    So as Not to hurt someone's feelings, and, in doing so, cause them to "not like you?"

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  118. "The View - fast road to trivialization of a serious woman."
    ---
    How did Cindy's trial come out?
    (not that she's in the same league)

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  119. Everybody already doesn't like me, Rufus.

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  120. "Old?" I won't even buy green bananas.

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  121. I guess I just never felt obliged.
    ...or when I should, at least at the right time and place.
    Like here.

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  122. Ah, I luvs you, Duggie.

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  123. You're so cute when you're being obvious.

    Actually, that was my "Dougie Trap" and you fell right in. Tired of the Subliminal Crap. Welcome to Reality Cupcake.

    Your Turn.

    Have Fun.

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  124. My wife's declared me bananas.
    But she pronounces it bannanas just to rub it in.

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  125. Ah, I luvs you, Duggie.


    I don't.

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  126. Duggie-Wuggie, Luvie-Poo

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  127. Ruf's right, it's "Duggie," I looked it up.

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  128. (for some reason that was the kid's nic at his first few jobs, I ferget why, guess I should ask if I remember to.)

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  129. Slades a cold woman, but who wouldn't be with a name like that?

    ReplyDelete
  130. ...Sullivan should change his name.

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  131. (excuse me, all, by the way, just breaking in the new moniter)
    Actually, it started out gonna be a time test to see how long since I last posted.
    I've been in la la land since.

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  132. Nah I'm just baiting you until Whit pulls a Mattie on you.

    You have no purple.

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  133. So, How DID Cindy's trial come out?
    (getting serious now)

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  134. What was Whit's Mattie move?

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  135. Just call me clueless.
    ...like you thot all along.

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  136. I think I'm in worse shape than old Sam. I know it's not Satidy Night, but it's "close enough."

    enjoy, I'm gonna go get a beer.

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  137. Forgot,
    gotta go see the hate mail @ Miller's.

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  138. She was already on THE VIEW.

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  139. It was noted on Rush, but not on MSM, that there were no preconditions about what could be discussed.
    LIKE THERE WERE FOR MICHELLE.
    ...a don't bring up list, as it were.
    The blonde gal said so.

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  140. I yield the floor to Trish.

    I have no idea what you're talking about.

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  141. You said Palin should not go on the view.
    I said Cindy already did.
    John's wife Cindy McCain,
    to you.

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  142. Cool Dougie.

    I didn't know that.

    When was Cindi on?

    I need to keep a Day Book.

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  143. Kapiche?

    "Suppressed Rage" Doug?

    Or are you just tired?

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  144. Same old Duggie.
    Learned how to spell a foreign word.
    Just had to show off.
    So now do you see what MICHELLE did?

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  145. The Bar is it's Own.

    Jann Wenner's story was unknown to me until recently. To each his own.

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  146. Same old Duggie.
    Learned how to spell a foreign word.
    Just had to show off.
    So now do you see what MICHELLE did?




    I have no idea what that means.

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  147. The precondition list for her View appearance.

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  148. Like the whole Campaign,
    Fascist Rules for the Messiah.

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  149. (not that there's anything wrong w/that in Miller's World)

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  150. Now I've got my blood pressure up.
    I can do some serious damage.
    To myself.

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  151. The precondition list for her View appearance.

    You know, Sarah Palin is such hot stuff right now, she can tell Oprah and the cows on The View, "You've got it the other way around. Here's MY list of preconditions for the privilege of having me come on."

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  152. Where do you get the idea you have a right to post next to Slade?
    She's better than us, ya know.

    ReplyDelete
  153. The Williams sister could probly add some years to their careers with some serious breast reduction surgery.
    ...must be a real disadvantage.
    Wonder if that would fall under illegal, like drugs?

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  154. She's better than us, ya know.


    Credit for insight.


    I'm sorry. I forgot. What was the subject?

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  155. (who won'teven answer simple questions as a courtesy)

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  156. Take the time to explain, get kicked in the balls.

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  157. The Williams Sister(s) being whom?

    Not to put too fine a point on it.

    [The AM readers will no doubt get a huge kick out of this late night tit-fest.]

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  158. Answer my Whit question, I'll show you what I meant.

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  159. Doug: My wife's declared me bananas. But she pronounces it bannanas just to rub it in.

    Do we really want to know how and where you and your wife rub bananas? Really, Doug, the marriage bed should be sacrosanct.

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  160. 'Rat and Trish convinced me that Sex Ed is a must.
    I've been showing everyone my banana since.
    ...so as not to be unclean, like Palin.

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  161. What was of interest in the Wenner story (not to someone as sophisticated as Slade, of course) was the MSM Babe doing a terrific job of outing the sleazeball that wrote the story.
    Caught him dead to rights in two outright lies on the air.

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  162. OBAMA READY TO FIGHT: 'We won't be bullied'...
    The Mean Lady with Cooties is being mean to the affirmative action Messiah.

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  163. The MSM will let Hillary stand in for Biden.
    Two against one is fair, 'cause the other lady is mean.

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  164. No wonder your writing is so Clownish.

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  165. Crap, I put this on the wrong thread.

    • What's the difference between a "community organizer" and a pit bull? Teeth.

    • What's the difference between a "community organizer" and a seeing-eye dog? Even a blind man can see the dog is actually helping someone.

    • What's the difference between a "community organizer" and a Chihuahua? The Chuhuahua will eventually shut up.

    • What's the difference between a "community organizer" and a puppy? One will grow up to become a loyal servant of mankind.

    • What's the difference between a "community organizer" and a shih tzu? Zu.


    Stolen from Ace O Spades Commentor, Tushar

    Who swiped it, I believe, from the WSJ Best of the Web

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  166. Deuce, Whit; Might I suggest adding Ace O Spades to the Blogroll. As long as we're going to do 'lekshuns you, almost, have to go there every day, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  167. If you decide to, here's the address:

    http://www.ace-o-spades.mu.nu/

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  168. Sarah Palin is the reason the needle points North.

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  169. Palin is the reason the Wheels are coming off the Phoney Liar.

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  170. The Palin choice was a gamble, but not a thoughtless one: Just as a skilled card-counter can beat the odds in blackjack, one who is skilled in evaluating political talent can beat the odds in selecting a veep. Note that Palin's speech featured brilliant skewering of Barack Obama and made no (or virtually no) mention of George W. Bush. It was the speech of an out-party nominee, one from a place as far from the nation's capital as it is possible to be and still be in the United States. And with that grand Pacific Northwest/Alaska variant on the Midwestern accent that is, or should be recognized as, standard English.

    Michael Barone

    We do everything better around here. All the rest of you speak some kind of gutteral pagan slang.

    Teresita excepted, of course.

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  171. James is playing re-runs of the zingers.
    I'm so in love.

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  172. Like more than half of Alaska, our largest state.

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  173. Somebody was talking about AK having offices in Peking and other places in Asia, due to trade.
    Closest state to the new Pacific Powers.

    ReplyDelete
  174. ...a feather in Palin's Foreign Policy Cap.

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  175. Russia isn't far away. There was a deal being talked about to build a pipeline across the water to bring gas into Alaska. Don't know what became of it. Some of those old Russian Churches in Alaska are neat looking.

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  176. Joe Biden says he wasn't around when Truman was President.
    ...but Biden's my age, and I sure was.
    Didn't know people that were alive, imagined he knew people that were yet to born.

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  177. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  178. She asked for a biblical example of people who were great leaders and what was the secret of their leadership,” Mr. Riley said.

    He wrote back that she should read again from the Old Testament the story of Esther, a beauty queen who became a real one, gaining the king’s ear to avert the slaughter of the Jews and vanquish their enemies. When Esther is called to serve, God grants her a strength she never knew she had.

    Mr. Riley said he thought Ms. Palin had lived out the advice as governor, and would now do so again as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.

    “God has given her the opportunity to serve,” he said. “And God has given her the strength to carry out her goals.”
    ---
    No doubt they'll do a complete expose of Obama's Church next.

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  179. One of the musical directors at the church, Adele Morgan, who has known Ms. Palin since the third grade, said the Palins moved to the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church in 2002, in part because its ministry is less “extreme” than Pentecostal churches like the Assemblies of God, which practice speaking in tongues and miraculous healings.
    ---
    Patriot Outreach
    Roy Masters, 85 and still going strong.

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  180. Rapid Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing

    Technique for overcoming PTSD.
    -----

    That was a beautiful article about the two churches she has attended in Alaska, Doug. And her pastor unerringly sent her to a proper part of the Jewish Scriptures. Thanks for that.

    I watched a long video of Palin and McCain on the stump. In this circumstance, he did great, she less so, reading from notes. I'll post it tomorrow.

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  181. I've got an article around here somewhere if I can find it about Eye Movement D and R. It talks about some 'transcendent' or 'paranormal' aspects of the procedure, with testimonies. I didn't see that in the wiki article. I'll look around. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete