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."

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Last Night Ronald Reagan Rolled Over in His Grave

The following sounds like what John McCain announced at the debate last night. He said that mortgages would be renegotiated and claimed the intellectual rights of the proposal. Apparently the Democrats owe him.
Barney Frank's Bankrupt Ideas
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, October 06, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Financial Rescue: Democrats created the mortgage crisis by forcing banks to give loans to people who couldn't afford them. Now Obama and Biden want bankruptcy judges to bail out the same deadbeat homeowners. And once again, Barney Frank is helping.

It's been said that history is a lie agreed upon. Democrats are trying to rewrite history by blaming the Bush administration for the current crisis and claiming that the rescue bill is necessary to save the economy from Republican mismanagement.

More blarney from Barney.

Last Thursday on Fox News, when Bill O'Reilly tried to suggest that both parties might share the blame, House Finance Committee Chairman Frank, in a not atypical meltdown, disowned any responsibility for his lack of oversight over the last two years and his complicity before that.

Frank also claimed: "The fact is, it was 1994 that we passed a bill to tell the Fed to stop the subprime lending. We tried to get them to do it." In other words, those rascally Republicans did it all when they took control of Congress that November.

The legislation he spoke of was the Homeowners Equity Protection Act. It was supposed to empower the Federal Reserve to set the rules on mortgages. Problem was, the Clinton administration had its own ideas of what the rules should be.

The Community Reinvestment Act, first passed in 1977 under Jimmy Carter, was intended to increase minority homeownership. It grew out of charges that banks were "redlining" entire inner-city neighborhoods as bad credit risks. Banks now were forced to perform outreach to these areas.

In the '70s and '80s, banks could show that they were trying to do that by advertising in minority newspapers and having representatives sit on the boards of local groups. In other words, they were rated on the effort made and not on the results achieved. Creditworthiness still mattered.

In 1995, as Howard Husock pointed out eight years ago in City Journal, "the Clinton Treasury Department's 1995 regulations made getting a satisfactory CRA rating much harder. The new regulations de-emphasized subjective assessment measures in favor of strictly numerical ones. Bank examiners would use federal home-loan data, broken down by neighborhood, income group, and race, to rate banks on performance."

Creditworthiness and due diligence no longer mattered. As a 1999 New York Times editorial observed: "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Bill Clinton administration to expand mortgage loans among low- and moderate-income people and felt pressure to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."

On Frank's and Clinton's watch, the Community Reinvestment Act was changed to force the issuance of bad loans. Banks would be rated on the number of loans, not on their soundness. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were then encouraged to buy them up. It was all about affordable housing, even if the housing was unaffordable.

"From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us," Peter Wallison, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said back in 1999. "If they fail, the government will have to step in and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry."

That prediction came true, but it didn't have to.

On Sept. 11, 2003, the Bush administration proposed to Congress a new agency under the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie and Freddie. The new agency would have had the authority to set capital-reserve requirements, veto new lines of business and determine whether the two quasi-government lenders were adequately managing the risk of their ballooning portfolios.

When former Treasury Secretary John Snow pleaded for Frank to support Fannie and Freddie reform, Frank responded: "These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

Democrats believe in affordable housing even if it's at the expense of the vast majority who watch their credit, work hard and pay their mortgages on time. But for the deadbeats, particularly Democratic constituencies, they have ways to make affordable the housing you couldn't afford. So first, they forced them into housing they couldn't afford, and now they give them a financial mulligan.

In the vice presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden said that "what we should be doing now — and Barack Obama and I support it — we should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal you owe."

To get this bill passed, Obama made a lot of phone calls — particularly to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including caucus chief Rep. James Clyburn — assuring this would happen.

Those paying their mortgages on time don't get that break.

Rep. Elijah Cummings said Obama told him that, if elected president, he would direct a Treasury Department official to work with homeowners in foreclosure to restructure their loans. Cummings said Obama also told him he'd seek changes in bankruptcy laws allowing judges to reduce what borrowers owe on their home loans.

Section 110 of the rescue legislation has the Orwellian title of "Assistance to Homeowners" — but only for the deadbeats.

It describes somebody called a "Federal property manager" who "holds, owns or controls mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, and other assets secured by residential real estate."

Section 110 speaks of "modifications" that this manager can make to these mortgages including not only the reduction of interest rates but the reduction of loan principal.

Not only is Uncle Sam now the world's largest landlord. He can also arbitrarily set the value of property and the amount owed on it at will, thus distorting the free market.

The vast majority of homeowners who pay their mortgages on time get the shaft. They're the ones who'll take up the others' slack.

Why? And why is the Community Reinvestment Act still law?
-------------------------------------------

Apparently, we're in a race to the bottom and the only question is which party or candidate can get us there first.

If you're a free market, small government conservative, you might want to move to the country and turn off the news.

144 comments:

  1. Quite a synopsis:

    http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/not-quite-ready-to-join-the-crusade/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isn't the CRA needed to insure that nothing will be fixed?
    ---
    This is a Cheery Tale
    (I thot GM got rid of GMAC?)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Read my link, WIO, you might have two.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "On Frank's and Clinton's watch, the Community Reinvestment Act was changed to force the issuance of bad loans.
    Banks would be rated on the number of loans, not on their soundness. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were then encouraged to buy them up. It was all about affordable housing, even if the housing was unaffordable.
    "
    ---
    A Woman that worked in the field called in yesterday:
    She said bonuses were based on negative factors of the neighborhood and the client.

    All the factors that a traditional Indian Banker would have used as a basis to jack up the interest rate, or deny the loan, were instead good for points toward a bigger bonus!

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is no fair. There are hard cold facts.

    Any declining value in assets in an economy propped up by loose credit and highly leveraged lenders, can cause a situation where lenders fail. Lenders are failing.

    Right now all the central banks are coordinating efforts to save the system, the entire system. If the system fails we all lose.

    ReplyDelete
  6. All the central banks have just cut interest rates.

    ReplyDelete
  7. LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures surged Wednesday after the Federal Reserve and other central banks stepped in with coordinated half-point rate cuts.

    S&P 500 futures surged 32.3 points to 1,037.60, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 47.5 points to 1,384.00 and Dow industrial futures rose 202 points.

    ReplyDelete
  8. All those years I farmed I had annual operating loans, as also longer term machinery loans. And the banks had me tied up every which way till Sunday.

    There was no easy money in my business.

    I've paid interest by the truckload in my life.

    So this subprime mess seems really odd to me, unlike any banker I ever had to do with.

    ReplyDelete
  9. unlike any banking I ever had to do with

    ReplyDelete
  10. One year, back in the Carter era, I paid over thirty thousand dollars in interest. Back in the days of malaise, and mayonnaise, and hotdogs for dinner.

    I'm glad to be retired.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Isn't that Sarah Palin a breath of fresh air in all this!

    McCain is likely to lose, and we will have hell to pay, but we've seen a possible future, so not to despair.

    What an absolutely good woman, may the Lord keep her from corruption!

    ReplyDelete
  12. thanks doug...

    good read...

    i have been watching for several decades the run up of celebrity "dollars"

    from the parasites that make millions for nothing to the 100's of millions paid out to "pro" sports figures...

    from the ceo's making obscene earning as COMPARED to their lowest full time waged employees to wall street sharks looting, raiding and causing valuation fluxs soley to make a buck...

    from greedy people flipping houses, day trading, internet bubble with p/e ratios in the 13,000's...

    what is happening is a real CORRECTION of valuation....

    this is GOOD for us in the long run...

    Painful as it may be, a tipping point has been achieved...

    Look to REAL COST/VALUE changes to impact our enemies as well...

    Want to get America's attention? kick her hard in the ass.....

    Less wealth?

    Less walmart, less chinese imports, less opec imports....

    FOOD is more important around the world than the latest COLOR release on an IPOD..

    So i guess i am not really too concerned about the markets and banks...

    i start each day with a simple statement...


    thank g-d i aint in auschwitz....

    this is my scale of value....

    I wake up free in america...

    rich or poor is gravy.....

    On this Most Holy of Days...

    I remain focused on ONE issue...

    IRAN

    ReplyDelete
  13. You never had to deal with a Federal drive to an Ownership Society, bob.

    The Federals wanting to steer society, for the better. A bi-partisan effort, to be sure.

    Now, Maverick wants to make the Federals a direct lender, no Federally chartered private business to stand in the middle.

    Giving Barney Frank the power to write the loans, himself.

    More power to the centralized system, the "conservative" approach.

    ReplyDelete
  14. C'mon fellers, lets get up, and stretch, say YES to the mornin'.

    ReplyDelete
  15. 'Rat,
    Just learned Pima County is 87% Federal Lands.
    No wonder you and your dad love the BLM so!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I ran, to where?

    That's a nonissue, now.

    There will be no military option open to the US, not to this or the next President.

    No one, not at home or our friends in Europe will support sacrifice, to deal with Iwalk.

    There will be no preemption, that window has closed, then been nailed shut.

    The World Bank is still financing projects in Ifly.

    Gotta save the Global Economy, no disruptions of choice allowed, sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The entire landmass of the State is 85% Government controlled, bob. Federal or State.

    Military and Indian Reservations, National Forests, Parks, Monuments and BLM range.

    ReplyDelete
  18. That's absolutely disgusting Doug, and you should be ashamed of yourself for posting it.

    Take it down.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The fun has just begun!

    Go Airwolf!!

    Parody, almost as grand as association.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I thot it was kinda cute!
    You've been letting Ash
    get under your skin, LaBob!

    ReplyDelete
  21. The Chinese and the Indians, see what they'll do, about Iwalked before I ran.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Buffalo Woman.

    In Native American spirituality Buffalo Woman, that beauty, is the one that separates.

    She comes, beautiful in all things, and those that have lurid thoughts, have separated themselves from true beauty.

    Buffalo Woman will reduce you to ash. She it is that is a mirror of yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  23. i loved that...

    funny....

    is it not strange that the GOP'ers ladys are hot and the democrats have ....

    michelle "the dragonlady" obama

    nancy pelosi

    hillary clinton...

    I cant remember EVER thinking about any of those in a bikini....

    ReplyDelete
  24. Don't need no Buffalo women, bob.

    It's all about Buffalo Soldiers, now.

    Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta:
    There was a Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America,
    Stolen from Africa, brought to America,
    Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.

    I mean it, when I analyze the stench -
    To me it makes a lot of sense:
    How the Dreadlock Rasta was the Buffalo Soldier,
    And he was taken from Africa, brought to America,
    Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.

    Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta -
    Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America.

    If you know your history,
    Then you would know where you coming from,
    Then you wouldn't have to ask me,
    Who the 'eck do I think I am.

    I'm just a Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America,
    Stolen from Africa, brought to America

    ReplyDelete
  25. Its not so much the iranian centrifuges anymore but its what the regime wants to do and its increasing partnership with Russia. Pakistan is a distraction being used by politicians like BO and rat. The straits will be shut down and the partnership will be stronger.
    ICBM Technological capability will have been achieved by Iranian military scientists (wink, wink to Russia).

    ReplyDelete
  26. Then, slim, it is not Istumbled that is the danger, but Russia.

    Russia, another client that Mr Davis lobbies for.

    Gotta watch those associations, aye.

    I'm no politician, just an Army vet that remembers that morning of 9-11-01 and the perps.
    Someone that wants to get some real payback, some sweet revenge.

    Served cold, but still served up, not abandoned tl the ash heap of history because it does not serve Israeli or Saudi interests

    Those did the deed and those that organized the infrastructure that supported it, in Pakistan, in the ISI.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The truth of the matter, 9-11-01 gives lie to the entire concept of MAD.

    A foreign Nation State can organize an attack upon the US, kill thousands of US, and skate away.

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

    ReplyDelete
  29. And get tribute payments, to boot

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wrong. Twice wrong , rat. You are a politician, just not in public office. You’ve always said that pak was the real threat and iran was the distraction and it was not due to this
    “new” angle of yours that its for revenge of 9/11. If it’s about cold revenge, than what of the marines killed in Lebanon? No revenge is necessary for that? Some vet you are, its right up there with how great of an “American” you are.

    And no “it is not Istumbled that is the danger, but Russia.” Yeah they are willing to help anyone that wants to destroy us but without iran it’s just a stalemate at best for Russia.

    Russia has always been Russia and I imagine that you will use them as your next distraction. I believe for some reason you really want Israel to get whacked.

    ReplyDelete
  31. It was always about OBL and revenge, for me.
    Not a greater Islamoid war.
    But a war against the perps, in Pakistan and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia.

    The actual organizers, the the ISI sponsored Taliban have skated, the organizors in the ISI and Pakistani Government have skated and been paid, while the financiers in Saudi Arabia have profited beyond anyone's wildest imagination.

    While the economic costs of the War and subsequent economic policies of shopping and home buying that were to "jump start" the economy after the 9-11-01 downturn have instead bankrupted the System.


    The Marines, they were deployeed Marines. Doin' what they signed on to do. They were not in either NYCity nor DC. They were not even in the Americas. But deployeed to a foreign war zone. In the impact area.

    No comparison at all to the attacks of 9-11-01 on our largest civilian population center on the east coast of America.

    Even the attack on the Pentagon, I'd lessen the need for revenge, to none, as that was a military target, in a war.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Russia has always been Russia and I imagine that you will use them as your next distraction. I believe for some reason you (dR) really want Israel to get whacked.

    I get the feeling Rat just considers israel a pain in the ass and doesnt care what happens...

    But if Israel is attacked and takes out the middle eastern oil supplies in iran and arabia with nukes, nukes iran, damascus, the aswan dam & lebanon there will be regional fall out that will collapse the world's economy...

    as well as killing 200 million arabs and persians

    Israel already knows that she will take a hit 1st and loose 700,000 citizens...

    what a world..

    ReplyDelete
  33. The truth of the matter, 9-11-01 gives lie to the entire concept of MAD.

    Not entirely. MAD kept the peace for decades with the Soviet Union. And does so still.

    The sad reality is, small groups can do much damage, and if they get their hands on nuclear weapons, can raise hell.

    But that fact doesn't negate the other fact, that MAD kept the peace between the big ones, least up until now.

    ReplyDelete
  34. As to Israel, that nation of immigrants, they are strangers in a strange land.

    By their own choicing.

    The two issues, the War on Terror and Israel are not connected.
    The terrorists and the infrastructure that supported the attack in the US are in Pakistan.

    Unless, slim, you buy into the "Little Stan" storyline.
    Is Israel merely an extension of the US, a little military colony. I think not, but our enemy Osama states it as fact. Many believe him, do you?

    ReplyDelete
  35. As to Israel, that nation of immigrants, they are strangers in a strange land.
    ==

    If I met you in person I'd saw your head off you piece of shit italian.

    ReplyDelete
  36. :)

    When I am alone with my heart of hearts, sometimes I get on my knees, and pray--

    That Rat will have a heart attack that will almost kill him--

    And that, his soul will slip from his body, and,

    Like Hemingway said, it's like pulling a fine silk handkerchief from one's pocket, easy,

    As happened to him...

    Which changed his life,

    Allowing him to write about the sacred,

    Now having some knowledge that means something,

    And that Rat will migrate to the beautiful windy fields of forever,

    And then come back,

    Absolutely purged of all negativism and cynicism,

    That's what I pray sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  37. The "Peace" was kept, no doubt.

    But was it MAD, or that there were no conditions that would have called for a real war?

    An unknowable, really.
    Why something did not happen.
    All the motives for nothing happening, but gestures.

    The Korean War, over 1 million KIA, was not detered by nukes, except fear of further escalation on our part. Not being sure of Russian response may have stayed Truman's hand, true enough.

    But when and where did the Russians or Chinese ever step back from the edge? They had no intention of escalation in Cuba, despite the pleading from Castro to escalate. That episode a bit over played by the Kennedy enthusiasts.

    But we'll notch that up to MAD deterence.

    Korea in 1951 & Cuba in 1962.

    Was it fear of MAD that kept the peace, for the next 46 years, or face to face negotiations, which in the end, brought down that evil empire and modified Chinese behaviours.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Rat, you just don’t get it. You don’t have it in you. It’s not your fault.
    It could be almost any group and replace them with Israel and I would still feel the same way. Its things that represent bad against things that represent good. You simply don’t
    Get it. You are the rat.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Blogger Doug said...

    I thot it was kinda cute!
    You've been letting Ash
    get under your skin, LaBob!

    Old Bob is infatuated with Palin, absolutely besotted with her, and the slightest perceived criticism of her sends the poor guy off the deep end. Like a teenager in love he's lost his faculties of reason.

    ReplyDelete
  40. You're born in Eastern Europe, are you not, mat?

    A migrant across the globe.
    An immigrant to both Israel and Canada.

    Just like most of US, living in the United States, another nation of immigrants.
    First generation or tenth.

    I think it's something to be proud of. You act as if you're ashamed of it.

    To bad for you.

    ReplyDelete
  41. And, sometimes I pray, that Ash has a heart attack, and doesn't return.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I lay no claim to Italian nationalism, mat.

    By grandfather and mother left there as children. Others of my forebears left from Sweden, some from Ireland.

    I'm an American, not much interested in other people's pedigree papers.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Michelle Malkin praised the skit as "hilarious, dead-on, and surprisingly honest" only to express outrage when it was taken down online:

    "Where did it go and why? I have a theory," she wrote. "One of the rapacious couples featured in the skit was Herbert and Marion Sandler (portrayed by Darrell Hammond and Casey Wilson). Unlike the other composite figures, the Sandlers are a real-life couple. Also lampooned: Left-wing billionaire George Soros. As Todd Thurman at Heritage notes, the Sandlers are left-wing moguls who built 'a mortgage company whose major product was subprime mortgages and they sold it to Wachovia for $24.2 billion in 2006. And what do the Sandlers do when they are not peddling subprime garbage? They are busy writing checks to leftist groups like the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Yes that ACORN.' The Sandlers are seething over the skit. And George Soros must be livid as well. Anyone else smell a legal threat behind the disappearance of the vid?"

    Malkin went on, "The Sandlers have started to invest their billions of dollars politically, in the manner of George Soros..."

    ReplyDelete
  44. Others of my forebears left from Sweden

    !

    I've always felt some connection to you, Sir!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Bobal, are you turning into a bitter old man?

    ReplyDelete
  46. You just better hope his prayers aren't answered, Ash!

    ReplyDelete
  47. I've certainly written something that's upset the poor guy. Maybe he'll elaborate on what specifically that was.

    ReplyDelete
  48. A bitter old man?

    Nay, I'm with the children, and the aged, that have seen through all the shit, and can be satisfied with watching a dandelion grow, and celebrate the blue sky, and the always coming of tomorrow, forever.

    I'm with those that can recognize an incarnation of joy.

    ReplyDelete
  49. You're born in Eastern Europe, are you not, mat?
    ==

    What does that have to do with what you said?

    "strangers in a strange land"

    No Jew in Israel is "strangers in a strange land". In Israel Jews are liberated, even when they arrive from the US. They come alive. You haven't got an inkling of an idea of what it is to be a son of Israel. The only thing you have is caesar rome death envy and malice.

    ReplyDelete
  50. I lay no claim to Italian nationalism, mat.

    By grandfather and mother left there as children. Others of my forebears left from Sweden, some from Ireland.

    I'm an American, not much interested in other people's pedigree papers.
    ==

    You lie. Otherwise you would not know this history.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Here's lookin' at cha Ash, you sad sap sailing son of a bitch.

    As Buffalo Woman knows, she is the mirror of your very soul.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I'm sure she'll wink at Putin and his knees, like yours, will also turn to jelly and all will be right with the world.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I'm with Mat.

    You are an asshole.

    Go away.

    ReplyDelete
  54. slim, you'd intervene everywhere?
    Pick the minority side in each locale

    Because it is everywhere. Look to first to Darfur, then Rhodiesia, down to Bolivia, Kenya is about to ignite, Pakistan and the persecution of some of the tribes, there.

    Those Islamic Chinese that no one wants, so they are still held at Gitmo so a Federal judge has ordered their release, in the US.

    The US cannot afford to actually spread the love to all the deserving. The Israeli no more deserving than the other persecuted folk of the world, less really since they are so self sufficent.

    But demographics will swamp 'em, eventually, as Mr Olmert warned a year or so ago.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Talking about people that have gone away, Teresita hasn't posted on any blog I read for a long time.

    I hope she is ok.

    Teresita, where are ya?

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

    ReplyDelete
  57. Rat. There is simply no point in discussing this with you anymore. Its not about being a loser or victim. It’s more about supporting those that are willing and able to stand and fight the Fight. You may be able, but you have the will of the rat.

    ReplyDelete
  58. No, mat, wrong again.

    I was raised believing we were Italian & Swedish, just off the boat. Of Dutch-German ancestry of untold generations in America, preRevolution, in fact.

    Grandpa, as he reached his 70's took an interest in his family line. So he went to the Mormon Temple in Mesa where they have an extensive geneological data.

    There he discovered, to his amazement his actual Irish roots
    Dating back generations in America.

    But that is my own family history, which each of us, individually, may have an interest in.
    It does not extend a feeling of nationalism or loyalty to any of those countries.

    I am not an Italian, Swede or Irishman.

    Now I just met, a few months ago, a fella from Eritrea, who walked to Ethiopia and then to southern Sudan. He has refugee status in the US, he, his wife and two small kids.
    Speaks some trbal tongue, arabic and is learning english.
    I've never met a better American.

    Some day he could be a US citizen, or not.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Only Ash would get off with taking a crap on the face of an incarnation of joy, rather than wishing her well, and hoping she does well in all things.

    ReplyDelete
  60. It does not extend a feeling of nationalism or loyalty to any of those countries.
    ==

    Right. You can keep these fairly tale stories to yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Now my new friend, he'd have fought the fight, so would the others in south Sudan, against the Islamoids.
    Now they are "The Lost Boys of Sudan".
    A whole community of them, here in Phoenix.

    But NO ONE would really help them, there.

    No F35s, no UAVs, no M16s.
    Not even old AKs.

    While the Ukrainians were shipping 33 M-72s to Kenya.

    Will Obama's brother be riding in one, soon, or were they going to the "other" side?

    Why are the self suffiecent Israeli more deserving than the christian Sudanese?

    ReplyDelete
  62. Do not project your psychosis onto others, mat.
    It's unseemly, to say the least

    ReplyDelete
  63. Ash becomes sad when joy becomes incarnate, as it does once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  64. bobal, she's a politician not a messiah. "incarnation of joy" sheesh, get a grip.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Shysterism 101 brought to you by the rat. dont play like you dont know the history. the will and the ability was there and they won over tremendous odds. it sickens you.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Why are the self suffiecent Israeli more deserving than the christian Sudanese?
    ==

    I'm all for 100% of the military and financial aid given to Europe the Jihadis of Iraq Egypt Jordan Turkey Judea Gaza Lebanon going to the christian of Sudan. I'll even throw in retired Israeli generals to the mix. What I object to is you always singling out Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  67. As mat says, we need more particpation by the Indians and Chinese, in the Middle East.
    Militarily and financially.

    Why should the US borrow the money from China, to spend stabalizing the oil markets, paying tribute to Egypt and Israel, when the Chinese can act directly.

    Pay a security fee to US, or supply a carrier group.
    Start leasing out the Navy, like "Hessians" of old.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Do not project your psychosis onto others, mat.
    ==

    I know when I'm being lied to. And you're not going to get away with your lies.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Sarah Palin is a good woman.

    She doesn't kill her own babies.

    If I had control of this blog, you'd be outta here, you piece of Canadian/American crap.

    Alas, I'm not the boss.

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

    ReplyDelete
  71. The Israeli did indeed, slim.
    It does not sicken me.

    It does not much concern me.

    I'd let every Israeli into the US, to avoid another holocaust. I would not close the door, as the great Democrat President FDR did.

    No indeed.

    But I would not be borrowing billions of dollars from the Sauds and the Chinese to make tribute payments to the Islamoids of Eygpt & Jordon to keep the Israeli there, in relative peace, either.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Everyone lies, to you.

    You live in a world of your own.

    ReplyDelete
  73. But I would not be borrowing billions of dollars from the Sauds and the Chinese to make tribute payments to the Islamoids of Eygpt & Jordon to keep the Israeli there, in relative peace, either.
    ==

    You never stop with the lies and the malice, do you? The tribute is to keep going your addiction to oil. Israel and Russia would not in the least mind the jihadis and that oil going up in smoke, but you do.

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

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

    ReplyDelete
  76. if its all about money for you, rat, how much do you think that would cost us to relocate all those people? It’s easy for you to pontificate this because you know this would never happen but you want to get credit for being unlike yourself. They will fight till the last one stands. That’s how it should be. Perhaps you would you leave America if it was facing annihilation for it would coincide with the impression you give. Lets face it, there would be no need for these “tribute payments” if we hadn’t stopped them in the past from achieving true victory.

    ReplyDelete
  77. It is mostly about money, slim.

    True enough.
    Who pays, who recieves.
    It's how we keep score.

    Ask Mr Olmert.
    Ask the DC politicos.

    The difference in the success of the Obama and McCain campaigns, money. It sure ain't message.
    Not yet anyway.

    The costs of relocating 6.5 million Israelis, in a $14 trillion dollar economy ...

    Next to nothin', Maverick will give 'em all a mortgage.

    If they do not want to abandon Israel, as mat has done, that's ok, too. But the US Government has yet to secure it's own southern border from foreign military interventions, why should I be concerned about some other country's security when my own is a sieve?

    See to the log in your own eye before pointing out the mote in another's

    ReplyDelete
  78. Gentlemen, my gosh...calm down. You're all going at each other. Is this how you all react under a little tiny bit of pressure? Form a circular firing squad?

    We may need to each other tomorrow so why burn bridges today?

    ReplyDelete
  79. As to leaving the United States, if Obama becomes President and it was facing annihilation as so many here seem to fear.
    If that annihilation is self-induced. Sure.

    But when he annihilation of thousands of my fellow citizens comes from afar, I want to respond, in kind and against the correct target package.

    Not go off half-cocked in the wrong region, for the wrong reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  80. I think I actually understand where Rat is coming from. He's not isolationist, but he looks at everything through a cold logical calculus - is it going to benefit the United States? Genocide be damned, intervention is a waste of national power and treasure.

    Truth be told, Israel's survival has no real benefit to the United States, except maybe morally. Otherwise, it's just a drain on US political and economic power to sustain it as an ally.

    The only reason why intervention might be necessary, in DR's mind, would be imminent attack against immediate US interests. Otherwise, it's not his problem.

    However, most of us think that just looking at matters as whether it benefits the US is too narrow a viewpoint. Still, it's as valid a stance as any. Would that more people in more nations around the world adopted this attitude...

    ReplyDelete
  81. Pretty much so, wobbly.

    There are plenty of moral crusades we can embark upon. But then again we're financially bankrupt, from the last couple of moral compassionately conservative crusades we've undertaken, at home and abroad.

    That is a reality.
    Like it or not, ignore it, as the candidates did last night, or not.

    ReplyDelete
  82. My own banker tells me that the number bouncing around the lunch room is not another $2 trillion in bad debts, but $5 trillion.

    World of hurt, to be busted.

    ReplyDelete
  83. You want to reestablish confidence, amongst the regional bankers, it'll take a $5 trillion dollar commitment, by someone.

    Commit the Soc Sec "Funds in a Lockbox" to that project.

    It is all about the money.
    Ask any Boner.

    ReplyDelete
  84. dr: As to Israel, that nation of immigrants, they are strangers in a strange land.

    By their own choicing.

    now that is a STUPID statement...

    DR....

    Jews are Native to Israel, thanks to many (romans (italians), greeks, egyptians, arabs, turks & brits (to name but a few) most of our lands have been stolen.

    The fact that we have not given up our legal title to OUR lands doesnt make us strangers in our historic lands...

    we have had a presence in our land for THOUSANDS of years...

    thousands of years before most europeans stopped using sheep as women, Jews were living in Israel...

    your comment shows how stupid you can be...

    ReplyDelete
  85. cold logical calculus
    ==

    Cold logical calculus would've had you off your oil addiction long ago. And everybody would have been better for it.

    ReplyDelete
  86. So, Iceland's going belly-up, and hoping with the desperation of the terminal that a saving deal can be brokered with Russia.

    There was an interview last night on Bloomberg with an Icelandic television reporter and it was frighteningly somber. Heartbreaking, in its own little way. .

    ReplyDelete
  87. The failure of the "Ownership Society" program was not on the front end, amigos. It was not in puttin' the folks into the loans or the houses.

    It was allowing the backend to trade the things in an unregulated marketplace. Creating a possible $5 trillion USD liability upon a $300 billion dollar loss.

    If the loans had to have been packaged, in a moral manner instead of legal, they would have been sold as A, B or C paper. The true costs or the housing polciy would have been seen.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Many of the people of New Zealand, wi"o" see "home" as England. Though they've never seen it.
    Just as many Jews could see the Levant as "home", but Israel is a Nation of many ethnicities and races. Jews and Muslims.

    The Russian immigrants, just that immigrants, as were the Ethiopian Jews. So there you go, I count immigrants as those who move across terrain to a new homeground, you see a unviersal homeland not based upon residence, but by religion.

    If we look to Mr Webster, on migrants, betcha I'm closer to right.

    ReplyDelete
  89. dr: The Israeli no more deserving than the other persecuted folk of the world, less really since they are so self sufficent.

    But demographics will swamp 'em, eventually, as Mr Olmert warned a year or so ago.

    DR, we are no more deserving than other persecuted folks....

    well, how about this...

    All we want is the right to live without having our heads (or our wife's head, or son or daughters) cut off...

    As it stands right now, the powers of the world PROHIBIT Israel from actually winning any conflict with her enemies...

    So we do not seek specialiness, we seek equality....

    ReplyDelete
  90. dr: But demographics will swamp 'em, eventually, as Mr Olmert warned a year or so ago.


    not if we encourage them to self destruct...

    when massive food famine strikes the arab world do you really think the WORLD will give a shit?

    people like you who do not understand the actual history of the arab world think that they are growing out of control, i see it as they are a pimple about to pop and cause themselves alot of destruction...

    thus the invention of the FENCE/WALL

    Divorce the arabs (fake nationalist palestinians) for all contacts...

    Gaza is a hell hole cause they MADE it SO...

    someday soon, the only arabs left will be from detroit since all from the middle east will be laid down dead by their own hands...

    Leave them

    ReplyDelete
  91. That they should, wi"o", that they should.

    Disengage.
    If I was them.

    ReplyDelete
  92. I'd force 'em onto the Jordanians, Egyptians and Lebanonese.

    Israel is small enough, not even the size of my County, but Palastine, it's no more suitable to be a Nation State than Catalina Island would be.

    ReplyDelete
  93. “Truth be told, Israel's survival has no real benefit to the United States, except maybe morally.”

    As you know morale is a huge intangible force that greatly multiplies the strength of a countries society and the effectiveness of it’s military. I put no country ahead of my own and this is why I have concern over this issue. I promise you our morale helped carry us to victory in WWII, dismiss this as you may but I have read and participated in some of these studies. As you know, our morale has been targeted hugely by our adversaries because they know this. Those of you who fought in Viet Nam know how demoralizing the MSM was; these same forces are still demonizing us just for befriending Israel. Are they really trying to help us? or is the usual goal, to weaken our country and break a bond that in many aspects has helped our countries morale. I know I will get flamed for this but I think our military has benefited from a successful Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Israel should strike today. World recession is built in. Iranian oil will not be missed. Without oil Iran is finished.

    ReplyDelete
  95. That is true, slim, at least for air force tactics, in the jet era.

    Testing the tactical advantages of US and French designs over their Russian counter parts.

    Israeli security had very good small unit training, which I know we tried to emulate the essence of.
    Creating realistic scenarios and demanding a sense of seriousness.

    The armed citizen soldier, an Uzi in every house, something I always admired.

    Wall 'em off, then turn 'em loose on their cousins. Bring in labor from Manila, Mexico or southern Sudan if Israel need workers.

    Not US policy, but US policy is nonsensical.
    Maybe it'll change in January

    ReplyDelete
  96. We're in the last 100 Game Days of Team43, mat.
    It's now or never.

    The only guy I remember that called this derivative deal, was habu.

    So he's hittin' .500 on his two major issues.
    Season's about over, but we're entering the Game's last window of opportunity.
    When it was speculated/predicted that GW would stand up and howl, blasting the Mullahs into oblivian.

    As poorly as GWBush appears when he's on tv, lately, I do not see him pulling the trigger, in the last 100 days.
    Still, even .500 ball ain't bad.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Not US policy, but US policy is nonsensical.
    ==

    It's subservient to Jihadi blackmail. And that must change.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Change is coming


    He had his moments of psychosis, too.

    ReplyDelete
  99. It's now or never.
    ==

    So says the head of NATO.

    ReplyDelete
  100. NATO chief: I'm not positive Iran can be stopped
    Oct. 6, 2008
    yaakov katz and herb keinon
    THE JERUSALEM POST

    In what is seen as a rare statement of support for Israel, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday that there was no reason for Israel to surrender its alleged nuclear capabilities in the face of Iran's continued race towards nuclear power.

    Speaking at a conference in France, Scheffer said he did not believe the international community would be able to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

    "I am not positive about the world being able to stop Iran from fulfilling its ambitions," he was quoted as saying.

    "It is a major challenge to prevent Iran from continuing to strive to get the bomb," Scheffer said, adding that his concern was "that the Security Council, as we speak, is rather incapable of coming to further conclusions on further sanctions."

    As a result, Scheffer said there was no reason for Israel to give up its supposed nuclear capability. According to foreign media reports, Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear bombs.

    "As we all know, Israel never admits to what it has, but I do not see very many arguments for the Jewish state to abandon its potential," the NATO chief said. "What is as dangerous is the missile technology which [Iran] is also developing at a fast pace."

    Senior Israeli defense officials said that Scheffer's remarks regarding Israel's right to maintain a nuclear capability was a "precedent" and sent a message to Iran that NATO stood by Israel, which has been repeatedly threatened by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

    "This is very significant," said one senior official involved in the Israeli-NATO dialogue. "It doesn't mean that NATO will fight alongside with us if it comes to that, but this type of remark by the head of NATO does send a message throughout the Middle East."

    The officials said that relations with NATO had significantly improved in recent years and that a number of high-level conferences were scheduled to be held, for the first time, in Israel over the coming year.

    Government officials in Jerusalem, meanwhile, expressed concern that Scheffer's uncertainty that the international community will be able to stop Iran from fulfilling its nuclear ambitions reflected the opinion of more and more of the international arena.

    The officials, however, said it was the concern that Iran might obtain nuclear arms that led to Scheffer's comment about not seeing very many arguments for "the Jewish state to abandon its [nuclear] potential."

    Noting that this was the first time someone at Scheffer's level had made such a comment about Israel's reported nuclear capability, the official said this indicated the changes that a nuclear Iran could bring on the international arena, and the acceptance of certain things that in the past were considered taboo.

    For instance, the official pointed to the recent nuclear deal signed between the US and India whereby the US would sell India nuclear technology and even fuel as an example of how, in a jittery world, things that were unthinkable in the past were now possible.

    India has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the type of deal that was just brokered between the US and India was barred after India's nuclear tests in 1974. The official also said that Sheffer's comments reflected his own opinions, and were not necessarily NATO's position.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Cowboys and Secret Agents
    A trans-Atlantic lesson, told through easy-to-understand stereotypes!


    By Bill Whittle

    It was weird. Helga might start in with a criticism of how stupidly the Bush administration handled the run-up to Iraq . . . oh no, here we go again . . . and follow that instantly by saying of course Saddam had WMDs! Bush should have attacked him without warning before he had time to move them to Syria!

    Not what I expected. So then she’d say if Americans could just be a little more informed they could evolve past being such cowboys about such complex issues —

    at which point I would jump in and say, whoa, whooooaaa there little filly! You don’t evolve past being a cowboy. Being a cowboy is the pinnacle of evolution. Once you’re at cowboy, there’s nowhere to go but down. Cowboys don’t look for fights, but they don’t run away from them either. They do what they have to do, when they have to do it. And they usually have to do it alone, because everyone wants Black Bart’s gang out of town, but no one wants to walk down the street alongside the sheriff and get shot doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  102. AP
    Oil prices skid to 2008 low on falling demand
    Wednesday October 8, 2:24 pm ET
    By Stevenson Jacobs, AP Business Writer

    Oil prices fall to lowest level this year, deepen losses after jump in US crude supplies

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices fell Wednesday, touching their lowest level this year, -- as the government reported a huge spike in crude inventories while giving more evidence of dwindling demand.
    Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down $1.23 at $88.83 in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, paring earlier losses after the stock market rose into positive territory after being down most of the day.

    Oil prices earlier fell to $86.05, the lowest level since Dec. 6, 2007.

    Crude has now fallen about 40 percent since surging to an all-time record $147.27 a barrel on July 11.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Bobal: Talking about people that have gone away, Teresita hasn't posted on any blog I read for a long time.

    I hope she is ok.

    Teresita, where are ya?


    Thanks for your concern, bobal. I'm still here, got the gout in my knee again, I think I'll take tomorrow off and juice up.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Teresita, where are ya?

    Thanks for your concern, bobal. I'm still here, got the gout in my knee again, I think I'll take tomorrow off and juice up.


    teresita....

    secret to gout is NOT reducing uric acid but rather reducing inflamation

    EAT a shitload of advil (not tylenol)

    Drink a ton of water and take some antacid..

    KEY to gout control is control the inflamation....

    been there and done that, including days on the floor with vomiting and volcanic ass projections because of the "cure" cholchine...

    ReplyDelete
  105. Trouble in Japan

    Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on HBOS in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

    In the last 7 hours Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut back some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived.

    Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

    ReplyDelete
  106. dr:
    Israel is small enough, not even the size of my County, but Palastine, it's no more suitable to be a Nation State than Catalina Island would be.

    nation states are not limited by lack of size, they are limited by lack of knowledge, skills, morals, ethics & integrity.

    Israel's size is meaningless, it's her people, skills, love of life that sets her apart...

    DR, you commented that israel doesnt have a "value" to the USA..

    that is where you are sadly mistaken...

    I'd love to explain but I am out of here until thursday sundown...

    ReplyDelete
  107. Check out Belmont..you guys are mentioned ina very good light.

    ReplyDelete
  108. I never said Israel had no value to the US.

    Find it if you will, I'd be surprised if you can.

    I asked why Israel was more deserving than the other oppressed tribes in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Especially when Israel is so much more capable than so many of the others.

    ReplyDelete
  110. As I recall, Moses led the Jewish folk, on a mass migration from Egypt to Canaan.

    ReplyDelete
  111. I'd be happy to welcome Israel as our 51st state.

    Or, if you count like Obama, 58th or 9th or whatever his current number is.

    ReplyDelete
  112. The Winner of Last Night's Debate? Washington

    Both candidates embrace central planning as prudent economic policy


    Matt Welch | October 8, 2008

    ReplyDelete
  113. ... was that a Republican nominee suggesting that the federal government has a causus belli to intervene when market prices go down?

    You bet your assets.

    "I would order the Secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes and let people make those, be able to make those payments and stay in their homes," McCain said. "Is it expensive? Yes."

    Is it yet another McCain Hail Mary pass in a campaign that will soon be remembered for nothing but? Also, yes. And it was the latest indication in a grim season for free marketeers that there is no corner of American life that leading politicians aren't eagerly lining up to nationalize.

    This should be no surprise, neither to people who've been following John McCain's economic incoherence closely, nor for those who've merely watched the pro-centralization hysteria of the man he aims to replace. But last night's debate hammered home that we are truly entering the re-regulation era, at least if Washington politicians have anything to do with it.

    McCain, obviously, was not alone. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) repeated his detail-free contention that it was "deregulation," not the implosion of the heavily regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that caused the subprime meltdown and the current financial crisis. "A year ago," he bragged. "I went to Wall Street and said, we have got to reregulate."

    ReplyDelete
  114. There once was something approaching consensus in the industrialized world that central economic planning was for losers. If this is how quickly America's leaders lose faith, I would hate to see the kind of solutions on offer if things actually do get as bad as they all predict.

    In the meantime, we are also witnessing the full flower of what happens when a Republican who has never really worked in the private sector, who emulates the Wall Street-bashing of Teddy Roosevelt, and who has been explicitly railing against the "libertarian" wing of his own party for more than a decade, finally sees his lifelong prize dangled tantalizingly within his grasp. If you thought his economic policies were bad back before he ever had a real shot at the White House, is it really any surprise that in a time of high financial anxiety he's running to the economic left of Bill Clinton?

    The only good news for all of us, once again, is that one of these two men will lose on Nov. 4.
    One senses, however, that the fight over re-regulation has only just begun.

    Matt Welch is editor in chief of reason.

    ReplyDelete
  115. To hold a 44 seat minority in the Senate, the GOP can lose no more than five States


    Schumer's 60-seat scenario

    With Election Day less than a month away, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman Chuck Schumer sounded confident that Senate Democrats are well-positioned to make substantial gains.

    Reid Wilson and Josh Kraushaar

    At a press briefing this morning, Schumer pointed to 12 Republican-held seats where Democrats are leading or within striking distance. To win a 60-seat filibuster proof majority, the party needs to win nine of them.

    “The wind is more strongly at our back than ever before,” Schumer said. “The message of economic change is just succeeding everywhere."

    ReplyDelete
  116. I'm staying with my strike on Iran prediction.

    The American leftist Jews are behind Obama which I can't understand but there are cracks in that formerly solid Democratic backing by US leftist Jews.

    The market can get worse but with the problem being one of confidence by investors a strike will not add to any further erosion of confidence. In fact with the nuclear overhang from Iran removed or retarded a measure of confidence in something may return.

    Churchill said that in war the truth often had to be protected by a convoy of lies. That is currently the Bush operative model. His profile is low, he's leaving office, being replaced most likely by a socialist bomb hugging terrorist friend, maybe Islam, so what does he have to lose? Zero. Israel despite a government change in Israel it knows its best chance for survival is now so they will act. The US will aid them possibly by seaborne cruise missiles and perhaps a looking the other way and allowing the IAF over flight of Iraq with plausible deniability by filling the skys on attack night with our own aircraft and allowing the IAF the IFF and a “sneak through”. To the world it was simply a US night exercise; no IAF aircraft ever entered Iraqi airspace. The Iraqi’s can’t at this point use any aircraft identification equipment so they could never know what was up. Bingo, a feint with some aircraft going the long way and a quick strike directly through Iraq. The new Russian air defense systems are not fully operational but that window is closing quickly.
    Yep, I’m saying we will strike Iran. We might even include Venezuela as a target on the same night.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Place your bets, gentlemen, place your bets.

    ReplyDelete
  118. The last Woodward book indicates that Mr Bush has no problem cutting out his Joint Chiefs, when he does not like their advise.

    They advise not to strike.
    Adm Mullen has resigned.

    20Jan09, a race to the finish.

    ReplyDelete
  119. I believe that because of Bush's respect for the Office of the Presidency, he will not move against Iran (overtly) this late in his term.

    Ain't gonna happen. Wouldn't be prudent.

    ReplyDelete
  120. is Mr. Obama still a Black Liberation Theologist although he no longer attends TUCC?

    Has anyone ever asked in the media?

    Some blogger at this site referred to Palin as a "ditz", is that some type of code speech as well?

    ReplyDelete
  121. Medvedev Endorses Obama
    - Sarkozy welcomes Russia plan for security -

    “Russia’s successful development is only possible within the context of transparent and equitable international relations,” he said at a conference in Evian attended by the two presidents.

    Mr Medvedev said that US attempts to create a unipolar world in both the political and economic field had failed. It was essential to strengthen the legitimacy of the United Nations and regulate the global economy more effectively.

    The example of the US has shown that the move from self-regulating capitalism to financial socialism is only one step,” he added.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Reynold's First Exposure to
    "N..... Time!"

    ReplyDelete
  123. God Bless you, Habu.

    And, may I say, you are the only voter that has understood the deep meaning of "Big Two Hearted River" by Ernest Hemingway.


    My cap off to you,

    Sir.!

    That is the start of those that wish too talk about
    Amaerican literature.

    ReplyDelete
  124. I am sorry, that should be, when the mind begins to work

    too talk about
    Amaerican literature.

    Wed Oct 08, 06:37:00 PM EDT

    that should be, of course, to talk about American literature...

    ReplyDelete
  125. Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he's just said. It's made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move.

    Maybe none of this means much. Maybe a front-running campaign like Obama's that is focused solely on victory doesn't have the time to do the mundane things like print up schedules or attend to the needs of reporters.

    But in politics, everything that goes around comes around.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Zen for Roundeyes

    Pentabarf

    The Pentabarf is the doctrine of Discordianism. It is as follows:

    There is no Goddess but Goddess and She is Your Goddess. There is no Erisian Movement but The Erisian Movement and it is The Erisian Movement. And every Golden Apple Corps is the beloved home of a Golden Worm.
    A Discordian Shall Always use the Official Discordian Document Numbering System.
    A Discordian is required to, the first Friday after his illumination, Go Off Alone & Partake Joyously of a Hot Dog; this Devotive Ceremony to Remonstrate against the popular Paganisms of the Day: of Roman Catholic Christendom (no meat on Friday), of Judaism (no meat of Pork), of Hindic Peoples (no meat of Beef), of Buddhists (no meat of animal), and of Discordians (no Hot Dog Buns).
    A Discordian shall Partake of No Hot Dog Buns, for Such was the Solace of Our Goddess when She was Confronted with The Original Snub.
    A Discordian is Prohibited from Believing What he reads.
    The Pentabarf is the most fundamental of all Discordian catma. ("Catma" is a general term for Discordian teachings, sayings, quotations, explanations, jokes and illustrations, as distinguished from Discordian "dogma", which consists of certain specific passages from The Honest Book of Truth, cited in Principia.)

    The 5th law mirrors both the nature of Taoist sayings ("the Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao"[20]) and Zen koans ("If you meet the Buddha on your path, kill him"[21]). It is also similar to the end of Wittgenstein's Tractatus where he essentially states that if his thesis is meaningful then it is worthless.[22]

    ReplyDelete
  127. I've already got a leg up:
    I replaced Dogma w/Catma long ago.

    ReplyDelete
  128. People can plunk down a mere $50 for the chance to own a $1 million home in Maryland and help out a local charity to boot.

    "Instead of selling it to one person, we're going to try to sell it 31,500 people," Tom Walters, who owns the 6-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath expanded log cabin plunked on two acres outside of Annapolis, recently told The New York Times.

    The 31,500 figure represents the number of tickets that must be sold to cover the house's appraised value, a $10,000 second prize and earnings for the charity, Walters said.


    Home for $50

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

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

    ReplyDelete
  131. Habu: The market can get worse but with the problem being one of confidence by investors a strike will not add to any further erosion of confidence. In fact with the nuclear overhang from Iran removed or retarded a measure of confidence in something may return.

    Sure, habu, just like the Weapons of Mass Destruction overhang was removed by overthrowing Saddam. Just like the default credit swap overhang was removed by giving $85 billion dollars of beer money to AIG executives. Iran is so not on the radar right now, if Bush does attack, he guarantees a filibuster-proof majority for the Dems in the Senate, and a 49 state sweep for Obama (McCain might carry Utah).

    ReplyDelete
  132. Bob, Ms T, wio...

    Bob, thanks for the concern that brought her back online...

    T, welcome back. Could you let us (me) in on the cherry juice treatment that Bob's mentioned. I'm having fierce problems with both rotator cuffs. Funny thing about it is I can work normally, e.g., cutting, loading, splitting, stacking firewood, but gnawing pain shows up as much as 48 hours later.

    wio...right on re inflamation and Advil.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Linearthinker, the cherry juice potion only works with inflamed joints. I know it does my dad and me a lot of good when we're on the DL. But it's no good for muscle pain or tendinitis or any of that stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  134. In Dozens of Calls, Palins and Aides Pressed for Trooper’s Removal
    ---
    Alaska’s former public safety commissioner was contacted three dozen times by Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband and seven administration officials about firing one of his troopers, interviews and documents show.
    ---
    Next, the MSM will put equal energy into Obama's ACORN, Ayers, Fannie, and Wright connections.

    My ASS!

    ReplyDelete