COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Change You Can Believe in, or Else.

If you hire a shark, does that make you a shark?

If you send in an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too?

President-elect Barack Obama, practitioner of consensus and preacher of civility, made a singular statement by choosing Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, the first hire of the new administration.

Stay tuned.


Hiring Emanuel shows Obama's hand

November 8, 2008
BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist


Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin



Brilliant, hardworking, in some ways he may be a good yin to Obama's yang. But I was very surprised because he has a very different personality type from those around Obama," longtime Chicago political consultant Kitty Kurth said by phone Thursday.

"I had first met Rahm after the '88 presidential campaign, on Mayor Daley's '89 mayoral race. He was always brilliant but a complete hardball player. The first six or seven times I met him, he never remembered who I was. . . . I never had anything he needed, so he didn't need to know who I was."

There are a million stories about the 49-year-old, profane, pirouetting, ballet-trained Emanuel.

Whether it's ripping up contributions of political donors who lacked the good survival sense to write a bigger check, or mailing a dead fish to express his extreme displeasure or repeatedly stabbing a steak knife into a table to punctuate a list of Democratic politicians he was putting on a "dead" list, Rahm Emanuel mastered hardball long before Chris Matthews peddled it on TV.

Would Emanuel be displeased by the above description?

Nope. He revels in the legend.

But he's nobody's caricature, either.

Friends from childhood include Wendy Cohen, a senior policy adviser for the Illinois attorney general, who remembers when the Emanuel clan bought the house across the street in the affluent suburb of Wilmette in the late 1960s.

"I have a memory of when they moved in, the dog ran away and the three boys" -- Rahm, Ari and Ezekiel -- fanned out like "roadrunners . . . feudal lords . . . they were loud and warm with hearts of gold," Cohen said.

That kind of affection may not be shared by members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, who have felt Emanuel's razor-sharp elbows in their ribs.

That kind of trust may not exist in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago after they saw how Emanuel reacted to their indictment of Donald Tomczak, a boss hog of the city's Water Department. It was Tomczak, under orders from higher-ups in Mayor Daley's office, who dispatched an army of city patronage workers to guarantee Emanuel would win his first political race in 2002 for Congress. It was a close race and their help sealed the deal.

Emanuel, whose grasp of detail is second to none, condemned the corruption when the indictment was announced but improbably claimed to be clueless and even more improbably certified that Daley couldn't possibly have known, either.

As much as he understands the "old politics," Rahm Emanuel is a standard bearer of the "new." Responsible for engineering the current Democratic majority in Congress, Emanuel is so feared and respected that he amazingly was given a dispensation by his colleagues for "hiding under the desk" during the primary, endorsing neither of his friends, Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama.

"That speaks volumes about his political skills," said Illinois state Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg, who has known him for years.

But what does hiring Rahmbo now say about Obama?

It says that the incoming president's message may be delivered with a velvet glove but it covers an iron hand. That the organization he has created, relentless in its message control, ruthless in rebuking those who challenge it -- just ask WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg -- brings Rahm Emanuel to the dance because consensus goes only so far, civility has distinct limits, and time is fast running out to staunch the bleeding of this country's profound crises.

If you hire an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too? Yes.



105 comments:

  1. Chicago home boy?

    Emanuel pick shows change is state of mind
    John Kass Chicago Tribune
    November 7, 2008


    It took only 36 hours for President-elect Barack Obama to take the off ramp from the Change We Can Believe In Highway and slam his foot on the gas in the express lanes of the Chicago Way.

    Because with his first official act, Obama selected a Chicago Daley machine guy for his chief of staff, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak).

    So much for transcending politics as we know it, eh?

    "I announce this appointment first because the chief of staff is central to the ability of a president and administration to accomplish an agenda," Obama said in a news release. "And no one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel."

    Among Chicago politicians, the Emanuel announcement was treated with enthusiasm. But it was enthusiasm of the political salivary gland at the prospect of federal pork and leverage.

    "It's a gain," said Mayor Richard Daley, speculating on all the contracts he would be able to give with new federal money. "It's a real gain, gain, gain," he said, repeating the word as if in prayer.

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  2. Lester Crown, is THE POWER, in the White House now, Rahm Emanuel is one of his boys.

    Funny, how the MONEY always leads back to Lester Crown ...

    When that is what you follow.

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  3. Rahm = thunder, loud noise (Heb.)
    Barak = lightening, quickness (Heb.)

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  4. Team Obama will be effective, at least at the beginning, especially when contrasted to Team43.

    Lightning and thunder.

    Kinda funny, bob bein' so afraid for Israel, when the Israeli will be as influental as ever, in the White House, maybe more than ever before.

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  5. Kinda funny, bob bein' so afraid for Israel
    ==

    There's lots to be afraid for. The threats have not diminished, but only increased.

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  6. To true, mat, but that is not the point, there is a loyal and true Israeli at Obama's right hand.

    I do not think that has ever been the case, in prior Admnistrations.

    Rahm did serve with the IDF, in a civilian capacity, during Desert Storm, back in 1991. The story I read had him greasing axles at a truck repair facility.

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  7. Israel's influence has never been as great, in the White House itself.

    With Lester Crown as the moneyman behind Obama and Rahm Emanual fulfilling the role of "Hammer of the Messiah".

    The Right Hand of God.

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  8. Don't forget he came out 18 million richer while being on the Freddie or Fannie Board at the time that the other Clinton Crooks got caught cooking the books:
    Engineers of the Real Estate Meltdown.
    He used to say he lost his finger in the IDF, now he says it was in a fast food joint.
    Finger Food, I guess.

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  9. rat...

    Obama's choice is not GOOD for Israel...

    It's good for Obama...

    I feel Obama will throw Israel UNDER the bus and having a house jew at his side is his "license" do to so..

    Obama is turning hard left before our eyes... Cuba, Israel...

    new world order....

    welcome Cair, Wright, Ayers & faraakhan to the new Black House...

    Follow the Harpo money...

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  10. John Kass told us the result would be the Chicago Machine goes to Washington months ago.

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  11. If the American youth have any spunk left, they will rebel against this youth corps business. The best way to serve the country is through your church or synagogue or whatever. Or through the dozens of clubs of various kinds that are all over if you look for them. Dad was a Shriner for instance. The Children's Hospital up there in Spokane was one of their projects.

    I kind of thought the idea might be ok at first, but the more I think about it, I think it is better left to the private groups.

    There is simply too much opportunity for indoctrination.

    I don't know anything about this Emanuel guy. But the idea that Obama might be good for Israel is one I have a hard time swallowing, with his background.

    We're going to have an Iran with nuclear weapons. Ash gets his wish. How this contributes to a saner, safer world I don't know.

    We better get to cracking on energy now. But, I don't think we will.

    Having been indoctrinated by Dr. Bill, I'm convinced nuclear power is the way to go. I'd like to see Congress pass a really meaningful energy bill now, but I doubt they will.

    We are truly great at just letting things slid....

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  12. I've taken the pledge. I've gone 'cold turkey'. I'm not buying a newspaper again.

    I might read one at McDonald's once in a while.

    I'll have to rely on you folks for the news. Which is best.

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  13. Every once in a while Costco has a really great item.

    A few weeks ago they had a two man river raft that would be absolutely perfect for the Grand Ronde. Cheap too, about 400 bucks. I looked it over carefully, it was well built.

    But you need a pickup to haul it. Which I don't have right now, so I let it pass.

    I've floated some of the rivers around here, though, oddly enough, I've never done the Salmon. I see these kids--of all races--floating once in a while--maybe with a church group or something.


    The know how to have a hell of a good time!

    But on the big rivers, the Snake, the Salmon, you got to know what the hell you are doing.

    It can be very dangerous.

    The rivers change over time. They are not the same, year after year. They change a little, here and there.

    Watch out!

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  14. Let the politicians go suck gas.

    The Riggins Rodeo in early May can be viewed from the grandstands or from the hillside overlooking the arena.

    I got a good wife from Ohio! I remember when she was preggers, and we went to the rodeo. Good times.

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  15. Somewhere in "Deliverance", which is a truly great book, with deep meaning, the best book James Dicky ever wrote, and a great movie too, the only great movie Burt Reynolds ever acted in, there is a statement

    "A river is the most beautiful thing on earth."

    As in all things about that wonderful book, this has a deeper meaning, about change, and time, and so forth.

    "A river is the most beautiful thing on earth."

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  16. @ Gateway:

    Beto_Ochoa said...
    "Gun sales are up 15% or more in some places."
    Local gunstore is up over 1000%
    148 AR platform and 48 AK platform in the last ten days.
    The gun ranges will be loaded with first time owners.

    Good time for vets to start instruction business.

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  17. A Creek is the most beautiful thing on Earth, actually.
    (after naked women)

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  18. Rivers are like BHO and Maya Angelou:

    Filled with Ego and Pretense.

    Creeks - think Joe the Plumber.

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  19. Well, we will see what happens now, Doug.

    I don't have any idea, really.

    I know I was priviledged to see the "most beautiful woman on earth" there in the Dakotas.

    And, she wasn't Hillary Clinton.

    I'm all for having a decent time with the little time we have together.

    And, for getting along.

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  20. Doug: A Creek is the most beautiful thing on Earth, actually. (after naked women)

    You gotta think outside the box, Doug, and choose both!

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  21. I still wonder which Portagee Milkfarmer from the flatlands downstream witnessed our frolics on the rocks of .... Creek!
    ---
    Them were the daze...

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  22. Dang, Teresita!

    But, you'd be surprised, I have fished small cricks like that. Some are filled with fish.

    I have hiked so far back up in the back country, you would not believe that there might be fish in some of those small streams, but there are.


    And the high mountain lakes around McCall are wonderful.

    They have been stocked.

    They are wonderful.

    You got to work your ass off to get there, though.

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  23. Bobal, I think I already told you once that I went through Riggins, and experienced the unexpected joy of discovering a whole beautiful world I didn't even know was back there. Then the road took us up over White Bird Pass ("My ain't it pretty up here," CW McCall would say back in the CB radio craze daze). Then there was some beautiful rolling country around Grangeville with people living on really big plats, not these shoe-horned little slivers of land they got around here. Then we hit the Clearwater, went down to Lewiston, and I was socked by Deja Vu: My father must have driven there when I was four or five. "Downtown" Lewiston hasn't changed much since 1968 I guess. Then we crawled up Switchback City and Cutback County to the Palouse, rolling fields of wheat or green stuff (alfalfa?), a cutoff road to Pullman I didn't take, a trip down a coulee to Dusty and Washtucna, then up to Ritzville and home. Suh-weet drive.

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  24. I never saw anything like that fishing.

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  25. then up to Ritzville --where my bitch cousin lives, though they are good farmers.

    Teresita, there is a whole 'other world' out there off Highway 95. You've just seen the tip of it.

    I've been here all these years, and I haven't seen it all.

    I would be glad to show you around sometime, the parts I know about, if you ever get out this way, you can look me up, if you want.

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  26. I farmed out of Grangeville, at Nez Perce, Idaho, before the lawsuits broke it up.

    It is absolutely wonderful farmland, I can tell you that.


    The only thing is, you got to get that harvest in fast in August, or you might get rain, cause it's high there, and summer doesn't last forever.

    But the land--is great, period.

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  27. There's no question of the party being in disarray. The question is whether small government, low tax, traditional values conservatives will be able to wrest it back from the moderate jack ass wannabees.

    Fri Nov 07, 09:15:00 PM EST

    Small government conservatism has no realistic place in a country such as ours. The phrase itself should be cause for laughter. That it's not suggests the successful perpetration of a kind of hoax. The sheer administrative dimensions of the US government, upon which truly the sun never sets, make a mockery of small anything. To take an honest bite out of it anywhere, rather than simply rolling mandates and responsibilities into some other part of the system, is an unknown feat. And were it only the Federal Government. Today's state, and often county, governments would be unrecognizable to those of two generations ago.

    The USG is the vastest enterprise ever conceived, ever to exist. It is persistent; it is enduring; it is expansive; and yet it is conservative in ways seldom appreciated. Were it not, it would not continue to be. Every government agency of any size along with numberless appendages are in a constant state of reform, reinvention, upheaval, what-have-you, but their survival Darwin would appreciate.

    The 'job,' the real job, of either party is to harness its energies in this area or that and guide them to this end or that, according to determined need and, often enough, political fashion. That is all.

    The contemporary conservative movement has been a reaction, and only in confused part, to this state (pun!) of affairs. And the results are what they are. This is not a failure of the Party. It is a failure of most conservatives to truly understand, or speak honestly about, a modern, highly developed nation operating on a scale domestically and internationally that would be breathtaking to any that came before.

    No. Small government conservatism has neither meaning nor application. Which is not to say that relatively low taxes, relatively free trade, school choise, and other broad policies, nominally conservative, do not. But to continue to use the phrase is to completely misunderstand, at best, the thing you would pretend or promise to shrink rather than capture and direct.

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  28. Translation: The government can't be small, because it isn't small, and it's difficult to make it so any longer. Brilliant.

    And this coming from someone who has asserted on numerous occasions that the problem was "not standing for something." Now, it is "wield the behemoth," for some goal - which is exactly what the Bush Administration, and Big-government conservatives believed.

    Small is of course a relative term. Short-hand for smaller than it is today. And out of many things it is in today. Far closer to what it was yesterday. Difficulty not being a sign of either of either inconsistency or insanity.

    It is true, however, that 'conservative' is probably outmoded at this point, since what it originally tried to conservative is pretty much dead.

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  29. But 'conservative' is simply a term, not a program.

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  30. Now, it is "wield the behemoth," for some goal - which is exactly what the Bush Administration, and Big-government conservatives believed.

    - sinless

    Yes, sinless. It IS "wield the behemoth." For some goal. We are not a nation of small appetite or aim or purpose. Ask Reagan (could you). Ask Newt. We are not a small nation. Period. The state is a deliberate reflection of that. And yet we are still among the freest.

    Small government belongs to Belize. Or Luxembourg. Not to us.

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  31. Nor a nation of few interests, I should add.

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  32. Gas is down to $2 bucks here. But I don't expect it to last.

    Why isn't Maxine Waters praising the oil companies?

    Energy is our biggest problem.

    This $2 gas won't last.

    If the Congress would pass an emergency energy bill, I'd be all in favor of that. Even if it meant bigger government.

    Or, they could just get out of the way. The government, the EPA, and the courts.

    It's been the government that has caused all this foul up, in the first place.

    Look at the trouble we are having building one perfectly safe nuclear reactor out in the Idaho desert, where nobody has ever been, hardly.

    We have caused all our own problems. Now let Congress fix it. Let them get in there and pass some laws to fast track our way out of the energy fix we are in.

    Sarah Palin would have been a good leader on this.

    But, she's back to Wasilia, Alaska.

    Go for the whole smorgesboard, now.

    There are no 'black' or 'white' at the gas pump.

    Just folks needing to get to work, or maybe go for a drive.

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  33. And if you want to bullhorn about 'big oil' and don't like the big profits,(and sometimes there are big loses) well, get in on the action--buy some Chevron stock now.

    It has been 'big oil' and their truly wonderful technology, and wonderful geologists, that have made the world what it currently is.

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  34. BBC Reports:

    Obama Denies Poland Missile Vow

    "US President-elect Barack Obama has not given a commitment to go ahead with plans to build part of a US missile defense system in Poland, an aide says.

    He was speaking after Polish President Lech Kaczynski's office said a pledge had been made during a phone conversation between the two men.
    But Mr Obama's foreign policy adviser, Denis McDonough, denied this.

    Russia opposes the US scheme and has announced plans to deploy missiles on Poland's border as a counter-measure.

    On Friday, EU leaders said the decision would not contribute to creating a climate of confidence or to the improvement of security."
    _________________________________

    Obama has always ben cute on missile defense. His position is that he is for it if it has been proven successful. That kind of statement is either naive or artfully disingenuous.

    No defense system is ever complete. It always goes up in stages with full prior knowledge that there is both a learning curve and the system undergoes continuous modification and upgrading. It is never proven until it is used, not just tested.

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  35. Instead, we got the Chicago mob in the White House.

    We're gonna get the government we deserve.

    Led by a man that doesn't know when life begins.

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  36. When people like Ash trash the United States, I think of eastern Europe. Immediately after the break up of the Soviet Union, they all came heading to the west. None of them wanted to have anything more to do with Russia.

    They all wanted to be in the EU, and NATO, or associated with same.

    But, you got guys that think the US is the font of all evil in the world. And it isn't.

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  37. And, when I think of education in our nation today, I don't want the Federal Government to have anything to do with. At least not in the 'humanities'.

    Why?

    Because most of the very best literature has a religious or spiritual tone to it. All the very best literature I have read has a religious or spiritual tone to it.

    And the government is secular, by definition.

    If you want real education in the humanities, keep uncle sam away from it.

    A little federal money -from us- flowing to the colleges may be ok. But keep uncle sam away from it as most we can.

    Uncle Sam doesn't know a damn thing about mythology. Soon he would be preaching materialism, the dummest of all outlooks.

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  38. Small government seems to be what the Constitution was prescribing. A large country does not translate to a large government. American exceptionalism does not require large government, in fact it requires a government which will stay out of the way.

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  39. Left to themselves, the people will always come up with a religious or spiritual outlook.


    They tried to keep it down in
    Russia. Failed miserably.

    Why is this so, that the people always have a yearning for an optimistic outlook of some kind?

    One answer is, because it really is in our DNA.

    Who gives a shit about the government, when you are dying?

    And why do the dying never ever cry?

    Cause, it's serious, and we are beyond bs, at that point.

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  40. Okay, whit.

    Don't think I set up those shit shakes for nothing.

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  41. We can elect and nominate to national executive office the mayor of Petticoat Junction.


    We are not Petticoat Junction. We do not desire to be. We never will be.

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  42. Hey, we were Petticoat Junction out this way, for a while.

    If by Petticoat Junction you mean a few small villages, with some farmers.

    With a doctor in the big town of 2,000 people.

    Actually, it wasn't all that bad, from the stories that were passed down to me.

    Petticoat Junction, there might be a lot to be said for that place.

    You live in Beijing, if you wish.

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  43. Live in Beijing if I wish?



    Jesus Christ, bob. Go to hell.

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  44. Well, Trish, it puts Petticoat Junction--where ever that is--in a little better light.

    I didn't mean I really wanted you to go live in Beijing.

    I wouldn't wish that even on my enemies.
    Which you are definitely not.

    Ash, however....he could start a social program there....

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  45. Uncle Sam doesn't know a damn thing about mythology.
    ==

    I took one Humanities and one Social Sciences during my university studies. I found both courses to be extremely condensed and superficial. I also found that if you really want to learn something, being self taught was the way to go.

    The internet could easily replace most universities. And all a student really needs is a course outline of the material that needs to be covered.

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  46. The question has become very complicated. Where does the government end and the private sector begin?

    Banking and finance was made better and worse and then much worse by either too much government input or too little oversight. Clearly the banks and Wall Street have throughly discredited the concept of voluntary self-regulation.

    Government sanctioned union practices, government regulation and free trade policies have had a schizophrenic impact on US domestic manufacturing. Free trade with China when the created liabilities and obligations are factored into the mix further confuses the cost and benefit.

    One possible benefit is that so much manufacturing shifted to China will also have the affect of shifting the current unemployment to China.

    Worldwide military commitments as they are now, are probably unsustainable with the federal budget deficits. Which ones do we unwind? Latin America is so much more important to the US than Europe, Taiwan, Africa, The Middle East and all of Southeast Asia.

    Spend 20% of the money thrown away in those areas in Latin America and we will want for nothing.

    Why does the United States need a postal system today?

    Why do we need a Department of Eduction?

    Why do we need a Civil Rights Commission?

    Why do we need a Department of Labor?

    What does Immigration and Naturalization do for their money?

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  47. I also found that if you really want to learn something, being self taught was the way to go.

    Same here.

    And I don't know why Trish is so mad at me.

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  48. What's wrong with Beijing? They have a great stadium.

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  49. And I don't know why Trish is so mad at me.
    ==

    Cause you've been mean to Ash.

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  50. Trish is right. It's that big honkin government with it's big honkin defense industry that allows Ideeho, and the Eeyuuros to flourish in those enjoyable, quaint little "villages."

    A certain amount of "unease" will start to descend over Euroland when the Messiah pulls those Missile Defense plans. As it will over the anointed one's upper west side supporters when Iran, or Pakistan tests a 5,000 mi. missile.

    I wonder what force it would take to drive a ten-penny nail up Obama's CIA, and Pentagon supporters' collective asses the day the Taliban/ISI take over Pakistan's Nukes.

    This is the part of the "learning curve" that scares the bejeebus out of me.

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  51. You got to absorb a good book.

    And then another.

    When I first got into my near death studies, all of sudden, one day, everything kind of came together, and I could see connections all over the place, in all sorts of places, from Emily
    Dickenson, to Tolstoy, to Whitman, to Hemingway, to the old Greek poets, everywhere, all of a sudden.

    Good literature is made out of experience.

    I also began to get Kant, for the first time in my life.

    And then there is my hero Theodore Roethke.

    Mat, I'd like you to make me up a list of the 10 best Israeli writers going.

    I'd read them, I just don't know who they are.

    Linving in Petticoat Junction:)

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  52. If the United States would turn over the defense of Europe to Europe, it would be one hell of an infrastructure investment to turn around the economy in Europe.

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  53. Absolutely wrong, Rufus.

    We lived here without any 'Federal Government' at all.

    And did just as well.

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  54. All you people that have forgotten, or were too young at the time to ever know, how fucking scary it was under Jimmy Carter are in for some "troubling" (or, put another way, Scary as Shit) times.

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  55. But I admit that was before nuclear weapons, and the bomber planes.

    Which we didn't invent, nor really want to hear of.

    We like the whisper of the pines.

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  56. As a nuclear power, Pakistan is totally vulnerable to neutralization by the US with our existing nuclear weapons systems. We would only have to remind them.

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  57. You just think you did, Bob.

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  58. I FARMED THROUGH THE DAMN CARTER YEARS--I KNOW!!!!

    21% interest rates--I KNOW!

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  59. I was there. I suffered. I borrowed, cause I had to. I've been there. I've paid.

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  60. Don't believe it, Deuce. If they started lighting rockets off, all we could do, at present, is say, "Oh, Shit!"

    Oh, sure, we could send them all to Allah; but, that's not much of a threat to a "Jihadi," is it?

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  61. I didn't exactly have in mind waiting for them to light them up.

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  62. I'll start believing a little in the Federal Government when they get that nuclear reactor built in south Idaho.

    The knowledge is there, the ability to do it.

    C'mon Uncle Sam, either help, or get the hell out of the way.

    We need the energy.

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  63. Do you remember images on your tv of American Soldiers running around going "bang, bang," because the government wouldn't/couldn't supply ammo for training?

    Remember the Dismantling of the CIA (from which we haven't recovered yet?) Remember the shame of having our Embassy Personnel held hostage for over a year?

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  64. I kinda doubt that the Obamessiah is going to "preemptively" nuk'em, don't you?

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  65. Mat, I'd like you to make me up a list of the 10 best Israeli writers going.
    ==

    Bob, modern Hebrew works are very poorly translated to English. This is the opposite with Russian. Dostoevsky, for example, reads much better in English than in Russian. I read Shakespeare in English and I read Pushkin in Russian, but for me personally, the Hebrew poems and songs of Hayyim Nahman Bialik have no equal. You enter a different world with Bialik. And there's just no equivalent to Bialik in the latin world.

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  66. I apologise for Frank Church. I didn't vote for him, here in Petticoat Junction.

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  67. Mat, I'm simply too old to learn Hebrew now. There are limits, and I'm at 'em:)

    But, I'm gonna look this guy up--Hayyim Nahman Bialik.

    Dang it Mat, there was the most wonderful book written by a Jewish guy, a Hungarian I think, about a saga during the Second World War, and his hero was a Jewish lad like you might think of as an American Huck Finn.

    It was the most beautiful book, filled with tragedy, and great humor.

    I could almost shoot myself, for not writing that guy's name down.

    He lived in Paris.

    I've got to get myself a notebook.

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  68. Hayyim Nahman Bialik
    ==

    I guess the closest I can describe Bialik's songs/poems, is that they're akin the Rachmaninov's music. A kind of heartwrenching nostalgia, but set in Hebrew script. :)

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  69. Rufus that is a good question. In my brawling days it was an easy calculation with a big guy, a nose broken a few times with swollen hands and scarred eyebrows. I knew one of us was going to get our ass kicked, but a skinny guy with his hands in his pocket, you jest never knew.

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  70. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  71. No, it wasn't Singer. Some other guy, kind of unknown. I wish I could find that book again.

    Damn, that was the best book I've read in a long time.

    I know, getting inside the author's mind a bit, he had read Huck Finn, and took it to heart.


    That's the way some of these authors do, the best ones, they live in a kind of universe all to themselves, made out of the literature of the world.

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  72. That jackass JFK almost got us all slammed because of his ineptitude and vacillation. Nikita read him correctly, but then JFK had to prove himself in public while giving up all our nuclear weapons in Turkey.

    McCain was much more knowable. Obama has thrown me with this Rham Emmanuel pick. Is he his Bobby Kennedy? I have no clue as to how our new master will rule us. Does anyone?

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  73. Well, Medvedev has just called this "skinny" guy out, and I don't think we're going to be entertained by what we see.

    Obama wasn't going to build that missile defense system, anyway (that's, ultimately, why I voted for the bizarro one;) but he lied and said he was, and now it looks like he's caving to the bully. These things always end with you wishing you were someplace else.

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  74. I'm totally clueless; but he looks like a "Punk," to me.

    I am, quite honestly, scared.

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  75. JFK was the first thing I thought of. He damned near got us "fried."

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  76. The US voters in all their wisdom and majority have elected a man they know nothing about to determine our fate. Like you that is why I went for McCain.

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  77. Bob, is it me or does that look like a great horned owl?

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  78. I can't believe the university kids went for him like they did.

    It's just dummer than hell, from my point of view.

    They fell for it.

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  79. Why I was pullin for McCain, so to speak.

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  80. You have to see the humor in it Bob.

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  81. It kind of does, now that you mention it, deuce.

    Not sure what to make of that.

    The universe is a mysterious place.

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  82. Man, it does look like a Great Horned Owl.

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  83. That God! What a Guy. Went to all that trouble just to "entertain" us. Ain't that sumpin?

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  84. Bob, make your self famous and send that name into the galactic naming society or whatever...

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  85. My name is spinning off at the speed o' light!


    b ooo ooooooo oooooooooooo b!

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  86. Well, if the US is going to cut back in Europe and improve it's position in the Americas. That missile system makes no sense, at all.

    That is an expansion of US power projection, not a diminishment.
    What with the auxilery infrastructure that would be required.

    So take cheer, the US is leaving Europe to the Europeans, the first mission, when one finds oneself in a hole, is to stop digging.

    When the Iranians really threaten Europe, we can sell them the missile sysytems. Just as Ronald Reagan promised, we'll share the anti-missile technology with the world.

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  87. If the Europeans think they need an anti-misile defense system, let them pay for it.

    Why should the US, which is broke, in a cash flow pinch, extend the Europeans another dime for defense?

    Even with a 5,000 mile missile, the Iranians cannot hit US.

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  88. Seniors went for Obama, bob, 49%.
    To McCain's 51%.

    It was not just the younsters.

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  89. "When the Iranians really threaten Europe, we can sell them the missile sysytems. Just as Ronald Reagan promised, we'll share the anti-missile technology with the world."

    Sounds like a plan to me.

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  90. We'll not be selling That technology, Rat. To Anybody. We CAN work around it. We can park one of those Cruisers that shot down the Satellite in NY Harbor, and off the coast of Va. Won't do the folks in Chicago, or St. Louis much good, though.

    With the Poland Base we could have protected the whole Eastern 2/3 of the U.S., or so, from one location.

    The 5,000 number was just a number I pulled out of my ass while typing. Substitute whatever number would be sufficient to turn the denizons of DC into "krispy Kritters."

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  91. - Rahm Emanuel Chief of Staff, All-Around Thug
    Mat and WIO should especially like this.
    I'm posting this back where it belongs, also.

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  92. 2020.06.01酒店小姐的基本介紹跟工作內容背滿學貸信貸,優渥人生對妳而言好遙遠?快來哈囉舒壓,我在酒店上班的日子給自己一個機會,不敢來酒店上班-酒店打工的原因成就日收破萬高薪人生! 工作環境單純,安全更無憂。想脫貧?這次好機會別錯過。酒店上班-酒店兼職-兼差如何達成人生的第一桶金免繳保證金/免證件/不綁約。薪資超透明 月入10萬不是夢。服務: 安全面試, 最佳顧問, 單純保證, 安全呵護。一、酒店兼差不是一個複雜的工作環境?酒店小姐的收入有多少?有急用可以借支嗎? 職場須知 【酒店PT 】以一個〝單純〞陪酒的酒店小姐,一天的收入約3000~7000(不含小費)除非有〝額外〞的服務,一天可以領。酒店小姐藝名用疊字感覺活潑易記
    雙雙 寶寶 安安 依依 佩佩 菲菲 婷婷 飄飄 麗麗
    蓉蓉 師師 小小 圓圓 蕊蕊 水水 珊珊 堯堯 嘉嘉
    冰冰 霜霜 柔柔 寧寧 薇薇 佳佳 露露 娜娜 暄暄
    茶茶 琪琪 巧巧 妞妞 玲玲 妍妍 晨晨 莎莎 芳芳
    點點 慧慧 真真 嬋嬋 珍珍 佳佳 婷婷 芊芊 多多
    而且只要做酒店工作,這些都是無法避免的「有人覺得做禮服店就賺很多,又不會出場,我都覺得是幻想。你不是模特兒等級的,哪間禮服店收?傳播工作與酒店工作有什麼不同傳播小姐與酒店小姐的工作內容其實大同小異,但在工作內容以外卻有許多的大不同,我來為各位做出
    便服店: #王牌酒店 #香閣里拉酒店 #麗園酒店 #龍亨酒店 #香水酒店 #金典酒店 #威晶酒店 #威士登酒店。
    禮服店: #麗緻忠孝酒店 #麗緻敦南酒店 #維多立亞酒店 #百達妃麗酒店 #萬豪酒店 #金荷酒店 #大富豪酒店 #絕色酒店。
    制服店:#麗都 #淘寶酒店 #金碧輝煌酒店 #金昌酒店 #金聰酒店 #君悅酒店 #盛世酒店 #奧斯卡酒店 #龍昇酒店 #龍昌酒店 #百富酒店 #台北東區酒店兼職。
    2者不同的差異性,給各位做個酒店工作內容: 桌面服務,一般人通常會想偏,其實桌面服務
    是很簡單,也很單純的一件事。桌面服務有以下幾個要點: 看了很多篇酒店文,好像很少有男生寫經驗? 我是酒店少爺,在滿18歲那天開始上班雖然不是第一次進去酒店,不過以工作人員的身份倒是頭一次,有一些沒有接觸過酒店的姐妹來找我應徵酒店小姐的時候,我們談的都很融洽,實際上她們也很需要來酒店上班賺錢,可是後來卻沒有來上班,不是沒有休假?那個是有簽約的對吧?

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  93. 2020.08.03【18禁】酒店小姐深夜保健室不敢來酒店上班-酒店打工的原因曾經做過酒店小姐雞排妹近來化身性愛大師,在節目《酒店小姐的基本介紹跟工作內容深夜保健室》中大談18禁話題,最新一集找來八大行業老司機涼圓,分享我在酒店上班的日子按摩養生館和酒店的差別,不僅列舉養生館裡的「酒店兼差不是一個複雜的工作環境?」,還透漏曾有客人肖想無套,竟瞎扯懷孕更好,讓雞排妹怒轟「好噁心」。在養生館做幹部的涼圓說,按摩養生館和酒店的氛圍大不相同,因此客人TA(酒店小姐上班通常會取什麼名字?)也不一樣,會去酒店小姐去酒店上班都一定要出場接s嗎?大多以商務、談生意為主,希望小姐能幫忙帶氣氛,所以會較熱鬧;但會去養生館的人,主要是想達到身心靈放鬆,能和身材姣好的正妹有所互動。除了揭開養生館的神秘面紗,涼圓也爆料,這行很常遇到無良奧客,曾有做「全套服務」的按摩妹妹跟她說,有個客人想要求她無套,但她婉轉回應「可是我怕我會懷孕怎麼辦」?沒想到對方竟口出狂言,認為懷孕更好,因為「就可以接3個月的無套,之後再拿掉就好」,讓雞排妹大喊噁心,認為對方根本就是沒有同理心。而前陣子疫情關係,有小姐因酒客染疫,導致整個台灣的八大行業同時歇業,讓雞排妹關心起八大行業小姐失業狀態,不過涼圓透漏小姐心態,「今天酒店不能上班,難道我就不賺錢」,爆料這些小姐全跑到按摩店打工,讓雞排妹聽了恍然大悟。

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