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, May 23, 2009

Madam Speaker Quits Speaking


"I have made the statement I am going to make on this. I don't have anything more to say about it."

Republicans have asked for the interrogation briefing memos to be declassified. Obama has selectively declassified some. Thursday, House Democrats blocked a Republican effort to form a special committee to investigate Pelosi's allegation that CIA officials misled her.

The speaker said she does not intend to continue discussing the matter publicly. At the end of a news conference on accomplishments of the Democratic Congress, she stammered her way to her newly found rectitude.

Pelosi then decide to get 12 time zones removed from Washington and go for a week-long trip to China. No doubt the air force will be flying her there.

169 comments:

  1. Morning, All

    Just a brief followup from the previous thread. Any factory pump shotgun has a plug that can be removed. I guess the length depends on the shotgun, but typically it takes the place of 2 shells, so without it your gun will hold 5 shells.

    Perfectly legal to have the plug out except when you are hunting any migratory bird.

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  2. It is certainly legal, to remove the plug. No doubt of that.

    It was legal to have a stripper at the frat house, as well.

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  3. I recall that fellow in Texas, he called 911 when he saw to men attempt to enter his neighbors house.

    As they attempted to leave, he went to detain them, and ended up shooting them both, dead.

    In Teaxas this was not cause for legal action, against the fellow that called 911 and shot the suspected attempted burgulars.

    But Texas is not Ohio, California nor New York. The standards vary, greatly, even within the each of the varied States.

    The word 'kill' should be stricken from the self defenders vocabulary, 'stop' should be added.

    Could make all the difference in the quality of life enjoyed, after the shooting incident.

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  4. I do recall, also, that the Texican told the 911 operator he was going to go stop them.

    If he had told the operator he was going to go and kill them, well, things would have proceeded differently, post shooting.

    Even in Texas

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  5. I recall one fellow (Texan, I think) telling the 911 Operator that he was going to "kill" the two burglars.

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  6. McCain was interviewed, on FOX News, seems from the content of this question that Mr Cheney was in favor of keeping the memos secret, before he was in favor of releasing them.

    Assumin', of course, that the FOIA litigation is more than four months old.

    VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I'm with you on all of that, except that there's this sideshow, gamesmanship aspect. The reason why, apparently, Vice President Cheney can't get the documents released, why the CIA rejected his request, is they are subject to a FOIA request in some collateral litigation. And there's a rule. So this rule sort of prevents us from finding out whether Vice President Cheney's being straight with us or not.

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  7. Rat's observations on the last thread are very good advice.

    BTW

    Gentlemen of the EB:

    Raise your glasses to Dick Cheney.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The call was recorded and made of issue of, back then, it's bound to be on the INet, somewhere.

    Indeed, it is.

    PASADENA, TX) - A dramatic 911 call from the Pasadena man who allegedly shot and killed two men accused of burglarizing his neighbor has been released. The dispatcher tried to talk him out of it.

    At about 2pm Wednesday, Joe Horn called 911 from inside his Pasadena home. He says he saw two men break into his neighbor's house. Horn tells police that he is armed with a shotgun.

    "Hurry up, man. Catch these guys, will ya? I ain't gonna let them go, I'm gonna be honest with ya," said Horn on the 911 call. "I'm not gonna let them go. I'm not gonna let them get away with this (expletive)."

    Horn and the dispatcher spent more than seven minutes on the phone, much of that with the dispatcher trying to convince Horn not to go outside.

    "I'm gonna shoot, I'm gonna shoot," said Horn.

    "Stay inside the house and don't go out there, OK?" responded the dispatcher. "It's not worth shooting someone over this."

    "I don't want to, but if I go out there to see what the hell is going on, what choice do I have?" said Horn.

    "I don't want you to go out there. I asked if you could see anything out there," said the dispatcher.

    Horn tells the dispatcher that he understands his rights and even makes reference to the September 1 expansion that gives homeowners greater protection from prosecution should they choose to confront someone breaking into their home.

    Before he can be convinced otherwise, Horn tells police he sees the burglars coming out of his house.

    "He's coming out of the window right now," said Horn to the 911 dispatcher. "I gotta go, buddy. I'm sorry, but he's coming out the window."

    "Don't, don't , don't go out the door. Mr. Horn? Mr. Horn?" said the dispatcher.

    "(Expletive), they just stole something," said Horn to the dispatcher. "I'm sorry. I ain't gonna let them get away with this. They got a bag of something. I'm doing it."

    The dispatcher can't stop Horn, who takes the phone with him as he goes outside.

    "Move, you're dead," Horn, who took the phone outside with him, could be heard saying to the suspects.

    Then three gunshots could be heard.

    Horn admits later on the 911 call that he did, in fact, fire those shots
    .

    He does not speak of death, until he confronts the suspects, then in a cautionary way, after telling them to stop.

    They did not stop.
    The audio may be out there, still.

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  9. I am not fearful of the legal aspects of if and when I shoot an intruder other than my filing of a civil suit against his family for my deductible from my home owners policy to clean up his remains and repair my walls...

    My shotgun will only be used INSIDE my house, against an intruder that causes me to fear my, my wife or kids life....

    This is a totally moral and legal position.

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  10. Mossberg persuader, (six shot) you can buy all sorts of accessories for this gun.

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  11. Whit,
    Jeb is credited with improving Florida schools.
    Is this true, as far as you know?
    Is there a record of improvement?

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Chuck Schumer, Dem from NY saw the dangers, back in 2003
    -

    Terror-Linked Group May Supply Muslim US Military Chaplains.

    U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer contends that Muslim chaplains hired by the U.S. military and federal prisons must be approved by two organizations that are affiliated with the American Muslim Council, a group that is itself under investigation as a possible conduit of funds for international terrorists. The U.S. Military currently has 12 Muslim chaplains.
    "
    ---
    Steve Emerson not only saw the danger, but created a well-produced video documenting a number of threats that remain at the fringe of conventional wisdom, often muscled out by pure bunk.
    ...or ignored while giving credit to a Jerkoff "Jew" like Schumer, above.

    As tho the Video never existed.
    Pure Denial.
    Madness of Crowds.

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  13. "Gentlemen of the EB:

    Raise your glasses to Dick Cheney
    "
    ---
    Done!
    And a giant raspberry for Trish, blaming Rummy for W's Neocon Fueled failures, augmented by her hero Powell's best efforts to sabotage any and all endeavors not centered around promoting his deification.

    ReplyDelete
  14. F...... Traitor.
    "Moderate Leader in the GOP"
    Obama endorser,
    Obama voter.
    Marxism is Heaven Sent.
    Freedom is Slavery.

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  15. What Jeb Bush did in Florida was institute accountability by requiring that each school be graded annually based on what is called the FCATNeedless to say the teachers hate it. They claim that it requires them to spend all their time "teaching to the test."

    I think, "Too bad."

    ReplyDelete
  16. ...so it works,
    to the extent possible,
    given the NEA's dedication to screwing students chances to learn?

    ReplyDelete
  17. "Orthopedically Impaired"
    ---
    Hard to decipher results, so far.'----
    Then again, I am Orthopedically Impaired, what with two legs that are too short for off the road clearance.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It works. Schools that fail to have the required percentage of students passing the FCAT are given a failing grade and given opportunity to improve. If they do not improve, they're shut down.

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  19. You can imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

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  20. Google's links give a bunch of academic ring around the rosy, far as I can tell.
    ...wish I had a NY Times article to summarize the results.
    Work of the Devil, according to BC believers.

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  21. Cool!
    Better than a NY Times article.
    ...poor, underpaid, overworked Teachers.
    Raise taxes for the Children tm/

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  22. How many schools have been closed?
    ---
    The DC Superintendent of schools had fired 200 teachers, at last count.

    ReplyDelete
  23. knoxx recoil stocks are a great add on for my new mossberg 500 persuader ( pistol grip )

    ReplyDelete
  24. In 11th grade, Allante Rhodes spent 50 minutes a day in a Microsoft Word class at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington. He was determined to go to college, and he figured that knowing Word was a prerequisite. But on a good day, only six of the school's 14 computers worked. He never knew which ones until he sat down and searched for a flicker of life on the screen. "It was like Russian roulette," says Rhodes, a tall young man with an older man's steady gaze. If he picked the wrong computer, the teacher would give him a handout. He would spend the rest of the period learning to use Microsoft Word with a pencil and paper.

    One day last fall, tired of this absurdity, Rhodes e-mailed Michelle Rhee, the new, bold-talking chancellor running the District of Columbia Public Schools system. His teacher had given him the address, which was on the chancellor's home page. He was nervous when he hit SEND, but the words were reasonable. "Computers are slowly becoming something that we use every day," he wrote. "And learning how to use them is a major factor in our lives. So I'm just bringing this to your attention." He didn't expect to hear back. Rhee answered the same day. It was the beginning of an unusual relationship.

    The U.S. spends more per pupil on elementary and high school education than most developed nations. Yet it is behind most of them in the math and science abilities of its children. Young Americans today are less likely than their parents were to finish high school. This is an issue that is warping the nation's economy and security, and the causes are not as mysterious as they seem. The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research. And Washington, which spends more money per pupil than the vast majority of large districts, is the problem writ extreme, a laboratory that failure made. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)

    Rhee took over Anacostia High and the district's 143 other schools in June 2007, when Mayor Adrian Fenty named her chancellor. Her appointment stunned the city. Rhee, then 37, had no experience running a school, let alone a district with 46,000 students that ranks last in math among 11 urban school systems. When Fenty called her, she was running a nonprofit called the New Teacher Project, which helps schools recruit good teachers. Most problematic of all, Rhee is not from Washington. She is from Ohio, and she is Korean American in a majority-African-American city. "I was," she says now, "the worst pick on the face of the earth."
    ---
    (first link from Google, above)

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  25. "The thing that kills me about education is that it's so touchy-feely," she tells me one afternoon in her office. Then she raises her chin and does what I come to recognize as her standard imitation of people she doesn't respect. Sometimes she uses this voice to imitate teachers; other times, politicians or parents. Never students. "People say, 'Well, you know, test scores don't take into account creativity and the love of learning,'" she says with a drippy, grating voice, lowering her eyelids halfway. Then she snaps back to herself. "I'm like, 'You know what? I don't give a crap.' Don't get me wrong. Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job."

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  26. "...her hero Powell's best efforts to..."

    Sell the awesomest war ever.

    In the history books it may be noted that it was an apostate who delivered the Come to Jesus Moment. The moderate in our finely attuned radical midst who convinced the fence sitters that we were on the path of national necessity in our return to Iraq.

    Powell was not simply useful. He was spectacularly so. He got the administration where it wanted to go - and the country where it apparently needed to be, hauling its ass to Firdous Square.

    All the while everything but the kitchen sink was being Hoovered out South Asia.

    Powell, however, later had his own moment of contrition.

    Cheney never will.

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  27. Talking about strippers, I actually hired one once, of the male variety.

    This was when my wife was deep, deep, deep into her bridge club.

    It seemed to me these ladies needed a little stirring up, so, having seen the fellows ad in the newspaper, I gave him a call.

    Trying to work his way through college, needed a little extra money.

    He had a boom box, and was kinda shy, the women said.

    He went all the way down to his little briefs.

    Good time had by all.

    I was the talk of the bridge club for a couple of months, the ladies very appreciative.

    They called me 'the furtive farmer' cause I was hardly ever seen.

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  28. Both public education and public health, two areas where the US pays some of the highest rates, per capita, and recieves less than stellar performance, in return.

    In both cases the United States utilizes a system of third party payers to manage their interests.

    In both cases the results are less than average for the money spent, based on a whirled wide performance standard.

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  29. Powell, however, later had his own moment of contrition.

    Cheney never will.
    God, I hope not.

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  30. Israel freezes expansion of quarries in West Bank
    Wed May 20
    , 2009

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has ordered a freeze on the expansion of Israeli-run stone and gravel quarries in the occupied West Bank and says it will examine the legality of the industry, the Justice Ministry said on Wednesday.

    The government's decision was made in response to a petition on behalf of West Bank Palestinians who say their land is being illegally exploited.

    The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, which filed the action, said most of the stone yielded by West Bank quarries is either brought to Israel or used for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

    In a statement to Israel's High Court of Justice, the Justice Ministry said the government would freeze land allocation processes for quarrying that have already begun, and deny approval for expansion of existing quarries.

    Contrary to the demand of the petition, quarrying already in operation would not be halted, the statement said. The ministry asked the court to delay a hearing on this demand for six months while it studies the legal position.

    Yesh Din, in a statement, said "the fact that a legal examination has never been carried out on this issue is astounding".

    "This type of activity constitutes a violation of the laws of occupation and hence of human rights and in some cases is even defined as pillage," the Israeli rights group said.

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  31. I recall one fellow (Texan, I think) telling the 911 Operator that he was going to "kill" the two burglars.

    Maybe the guy who called 911 and was told all units were busy...they'd get around to him when they could.

    He called a few minutes later. Told them there was no rush. He'd killed the burglars.

    Moments later several squad cars, an ambulance, helicopter, and swat team arrived. Officials asked the caller, "I thought you said you'd killed them?"

    He replied, "I thought you said y'all were too busy to come by." [or words to that effect]

    Not sure if it was in Texas.

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  32. Well, whit, you obviously still believe that that was the right war to fight. We'll never go bowling together on that one. So to speak.

    My husband has been fortunate in having his choice of theater assignments. (We'll not count being waylaid for Baghdad due to the, ah, poor judgment of someone I now feel truly sorry for.) And Afghanistan is what he chose, for the same reason so many others did and have: Its concrete connection to the most devastating act of terrorism on US soil. The assignments themselves were a matter of justice.

    The Republican Party in general, OTOH, sacrificed itself on the altar of old, unrelated animosities, in a war that never should have been.

    And the Republican Party would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

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  33. The Republican Party in general, OTOH, sacrificed itself on the altar of old, unrelated animosities, in a war that never should have been.


    Iraq was a war before Bush Jr took it on....

    say what you want but we have had an active war there in that area for generations...

    false geo borders and straw man arguments do not change the underlying truth...

    iraq, iran, arabia, turkey & more....

    taking out saddam was a good thing... no matter how you slice it...

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  34. We've had an active war here in Colombia for years, too. I wouldn't have advocated sacking Caracas in response to 9/11.

    Anyway, What Is: Thanks for proving my point.

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  35. Iraq made iminently more sense than what we're doing in Afghanistan.

    At least, we don't have a nuclear-armed psychopath in control of 40% of the World's oil supply.

    Yes, he Would have been nuclear-armed, yes, he Would have invaded Saudi Arabia, and No, we Would Not have stopped him.

    Afghanistan, however, is "Vietnam, On the Rocks."

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  36. I have a thing to go to.





    Before the night is over, everyone will have registered their hearty agreement on the wicked good sense Iraq.







    I'll be back.

    With cookies.

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  37. i aint a Gop'er...

    I suppported the war in Iraq, still do...

    I support a a free Kurdish state..

    I support the return of King Hussein of Jordan to the return to Arabia

    I support the execution of the royal family of the House of Saud

    I support the removal of all arabs from non-arabian lands...

    I support the return of egyptian lands to the coptics...

    I support the berbers to regain control of north africa

    and I support the right to carve up iraq & iran into many naions

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  38. Bang! Bang! GOP Fires on Pelosi in New Spy AdLiar Pelosi takes on the CIA with the theme song from 1964's Goldfinger playing in the background in the latest GOP ad.
    As Darleen Click says,
    "Hillarious!"No wonder the Far Left is hyperventilating.
    They say it's sexist...

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  39. Well I've been ruminating about all my problems.

    The answer is, I think, since I think I have a deal with the "city planner", I'll go ahead and host the final neighborhood meeting.

    I think, since I just talked to my daughter about this, I will hire some good looking young lady to man the door, to whit, my daughter, who said " sure I'll do that" at the University Inn Best Western.

    Always spunky, sometimes a little screwed up, is my daughter.

    This will cost me a bundle.

    But, might be worth it.

    You are invited.

    I will make up a big sign outside that says, "Bob's Big Final Ripoff Party Enter Here"

    and my daughter will hand out literature--

    The Three Conjectures by Wretchard

    The Declaration of Independence

    Those two pages of Katherine
    Anne Porter where she tells us what life really is

    AND, AN IVITATION TO THE ELEPHANT BAR

    And other and sundry.

    Any objections?

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  40. What About a Male Stripper,
    Furtive Farmer?

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  41. A case can be made for taking down Saddam.
    A lightning raid on Baghdad, the dismemberment of his Republican Guard.
    An occupation that began phasing out on 23Jun03 when the first locally organized elections were held, following the liberation of Baghdad.
    By September of 2007 the US force levels down to around 45,000 situated on three bases that the US had long term leases for.

    An Iraqi Army that supported a secular republican government, in the Turkish model. And was dependent upon US, logisticly.

    Or an Iraqi Army that served as the binding agent that held the three major factions of Iraqi geography together in a National Federation. And was dependent upon US, logisticly.

    Which ever had turned out to be the most advantageous, for US.

    Instead Iran gains influence in the south, the Sunni and the central Government are at odds and the Kurds could soon be at war with Turkey, likely as not.

    As well as the coming battle of Kirkuk. The civil wars of Iraq are not over and done. We've just put a lid on the pressure cooker.

    After failing to disempower the Tribal leaders, the initial post war goal of the US government, the US shifted to tactics that would end the violence, which was a symptom of enemy activity, not the cause.

    By spreading US wealth around the Muslims of Iraq, they agreed to a cease fire.
    But they never did come to terms.

    Still have not.

    We'll see US military's success, or failure, in how well the Iraqi Army manages their new mission. We've been training it for six years, at untold costs, the results of all that labor, blood and treasure will soon be apparent.

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  42. Christ, I had not thought about that, al-Doug.

    I had my plans in mind, then you come along....

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  43. Instead of using the time proven US model of republicanism, the US imposes the British colonial model, which structurally factionalizes the population.

    Purposefully. With malice and forethought. The Brits then thinking themselves masters of managing the tensions 'tween those factions. Increasing their own importance by maintaining a "balance". Shifting their favors, from faction to faction, in an effort to micro-manage, or at least chart the course for, the targeted country.

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  44. How many copies of the Federalist Papers were translated into Arabic and distributed in Iraq?

    How many copies were sent to each school that the US opened, or painted?

    The Iraqi Constitution mirroring either the US or Turkey's, as decided in consultation with the leaders of Iraqi Army we'd have been empowering as the power behind the throne.

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  45. Those local Iraqi elections, on 23Jun03 should have been celebrated in Washington, New York and around the whirled. The first step towards a real, bottom up democracy in the Middle East.

    The US, instead, taking a page from the "Little Red Book" followed Mao's advice, post Charlie Chi-com's Tiananmen Square success, to heart.

    "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun"

    The US military stopped those Iraqi elections, at gun point.

    We came as liberators, but stayed as ....

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  46. So, really bob, what is the goal of your meeting?

    What are you trying to accomplish?

    How much land would be needed for a teaching hospital, in Moscow?

    Betcha not more than 15 acres.
    Announce a modification to the plan, and a Board of Trustees to help obtain political support and funding.

    Something really philanthropic, worthy of your anscestry and posterity, too.
    Make 'em proud in Valhalla and Moscow.
    Your brother and sister.
    Doctor and nurse.

    Just a few less McMansions, bob.

    It could all begin with the land, which was a gift of benevolance and opportunity, to begin with.


    Really, think about it.
    Better than petty politics of the blog

    Think globally, act locally.

    If you're not goin' to Haifa, live large at home.

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  47. Start the project with a nursing and PA clinic, in association with a private nursing school, or two.

    Build on that foundation, incrementally.

    Or at least try to provide an opportunity, as you've said the local market needs a non-emergency primary care facility.

    Oly out patient to start, if need be.

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  48. Show ash how real Americans solve the Health Care crisis in their community.

    At the local level, without ObamaCare.

    It could be your destiny, bob.

    Your voluntary contribution to society, well above the minimum required of the slackers.

    Especially of an "Out of Town" developer.

    Bobal, the Furtive Viking.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Betcha, betcha, betcha

    That's so you, you stupid bastard


    There is no 'goal' of the meeting at all, that I can see

    We need your input Rat

    It's 'mandated'

    The meeting

    For folks like you, jealous as hell, to spout off

    Put your address up, I'll send you an invite

    You'll fit right in

    With the crowd

    You can suggest I give 50% of the land to a park, maybe, feel good about yourself

    Libertarian, haha

    As far as a hospital is concerned, we simply don't have the population here to justify a teaching hospital

    How in hell does your wife stand you?

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  50. How in hell does your wife stand you, that is what I'd like to know.

    She must have deep resources that my wife simply does not have.

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  51. Habu was right about one thing, at least, and maybe more.

    He said, "I can't stand Desert Rat."

    Neither can I, truth be known.

    An eternally pawing little prick, always in someone else's business.

    Disgusting.

    How can your wife stand the very sight of you?

    ReplyDelete
  52. But, you are more than welcome to come to the meeting, just put your address up, I will send you an invite.

    But I won't pay the airline ticket for you.

    That's on your dime.

    ReplyDelete
  53. How much land would be needed for a teaching hospital, in Moscow?--
    -/

    A prick like you, always searching for some way to try to put someone else down, like my brother and sister, who are both o some much better than you.

    Piece of shit.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Really, I just can't fathom how your wife stands you.

    You must have one heck of grand girl.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Ha, you and Ash go to Medical School.

    That will be a start.

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  56. He's attacked my wife, my brother and sister.

    All of whom are better that he.

    I do believe.

    Piece of crap, Desert Rat.

    He attacks Jews too. They are better than he.

    Christ, how can your wife stand you?

    ReplyDelete
  57. Your brother and sister.
    Doctor and nurse.
    --
    -/
    True, and you aren't worth their shoe shine.

    ReplyDelete
  58. PAKISTAN UNDER SIEGEAirs Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings ).
    In this special edition, FRONTLINE/World reports three stories from Pakistan. READ MORE »PREVIEW >>

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  59. There was some short story by Hemingway, dang I can't remember the title, very short, and also one by by another American writer, who was a doctor.

    You will recall, Hemingway's old man was a doctor, and killed himself, this other fellow was a doctor too.

    Both stories had the theme of "why won't the patients cooperate?".

    You go to medical school, then come back and tell us all about it,
    Desert Rat Ass.

    You and Ash, off to Medical School together, arm in arm.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Dang, that's five, another eight legger, coming down the curtain, got 'im, good night.

    ReplyDelete
  61. In a message dated 5/21/2009 10:18:46 PM Pacific Daylight Time, rcpeterson@cableone.net writes:

    Forgiveness is giving up hope for a better past

    BOB

    HOW WOULD ONE GET A BETTER PAST IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY PAST IS NOT FUTURE
    BUT A TIME THAT I HAVE ALREADY PAST THROUGH SO HOW COULD I HOPE FOR SOMETHING BETTER WHEN THAT TIME IS SCATTERED IN THE STORMS OF YESTEREDAY.

    IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WRITTEN ABOVE, BE IT UNDERSTOOD THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

    BLESSINGS DALE

    ReplyDelete
  62. THE STORMS OF YESTERDAY--
    -/

    the storms of yesterday

    heh, I like that

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  63. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  64. Why, bob, how can the idea of opening a clinic, a teaching center for nurses, dishonor your brother or siser?

    How were they attacked?

    You are pursing an uneconomic real estate development program, one that does not pencil out, and are going to need borrowed money to do it.

    You claim that the medical market in your area is under served. That doctors and other primary care options are unavailable.

    You denounce the Federal governments attempt at changing the Health Care system, offering an alternative program of teaching more staff.

    Doctors and Nurses, but then opt to build McMansions, instead of attempting to provide a private local solution to the Health Care crisis in your community.

    That is what dishonors your family members, bob. Not my wanting for you to think beyond yesterdays solutions for that gift that the Federals bestowed upon the bobal clan, that homstead land.

    Maybe a teaching nursing clinic in Moscow is something that would bring dishonor to the lifes work of your siblings, in your mind.

    Actually, I thought it would honor them, through the next 3 or 4 generations of Moscow's development.

    More so than naming a cul-d-sac in an empty subdivision in the memory of the original, immigrant Swede.

    For you to hold a public meeting, to be "set back a bundle", with no goal in mind, with no objective. Well, amigo, that does not make me a moron.

    ReplyDelete
  65. It does make you a typical Republican, though.

    Slip sliding away.

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

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  67. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  68. blah, blah, blah

    Go out and do something, yourself

    ReplyDelete
  69. Times, they are a-changin'

    From the WaPo
    U.S. Urges Israel to End Expansion.

    There is also growing impatience on Capitol Hill with such settlement expansion. At a hearing in February, Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the pro-Israel chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee panel on the Middle East, equated "terrorism and the march of settlements" as part of a pattern of "shallow calculation and venal self-interest" through which "the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is finally rendered impossible."

    At the same hearing, another strong advocate of Israel, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), declared: "The Palestinians have enormous responsibilities, but the notion that Israel can continue to expand settlements, whether it be through natural growth or otherwise, without diminishing the capacity of a two-state solution is both unrealistic, and, I would respectfully suggest, hypocritical."

    During meetings with congressional leaders this week, Netanyahu was stunned by the "harsh and unequivocal statements" with which lawmakers complained about the settlements, according to an account in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. The newspaper said that although the prime minister tried to highlight the threat of Iran in his talks, lawmakers instead returned repeatedly to the issue of settlements, leading his entourage to conclude that the message had been coordinated with the Obama administration.

    Wexler, in an interview, said he warned Netanyahu a week before his visit that the mood had changed in Washington. "In order for the president to extract from the king of Saudi Arabia a substantive down payment on the normalization of relations with Israel, settlements had to be addressed in a serious manner," he said he told the prime minister. "Netanyahu was confronted with that sentiment in Washington when he came.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  70. You'll first have to find an accredtied medical school in your area, University of Arizona, perhaps.

    Then, you'll have to send them your resume, your grades.

    Since you don't have any science from college, if you went to college at all, you're sunk right there.

    But if you did have some science, you'd be in competition with the hundreds these days, seeking a seat.

    I doubt your grades would pass muster, but if they did, you would face four years of basic, plus an intership, and a couple of residency.

    A long program.

    It's a hell of lot easier to sit at home and piss and moan, which is all you will ever do.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Saved the wild horses, bob, already.

    Got the City of Scottsdale to abide by its' use agreement with the Federals, in regard the BLM and the Westworld facility.

    Both expensive projects, with no financial return. Done out of concern for the civic enviorment.

    Going beyond what is required of the slackers. Those that contribute the minimum required, complaining while they do.

    We got a State wide trails system established, though that project, it took the whole village to accomplish.

    Got some procedural issues, pertaining to livestock transportation cards, squared away. That project took almost a decade of politics. Ended up getting the State Veterinarian replaced, with the nephew of one of our stalwarts.

    But still, bob, tell me how I attacked your sibilings.

    ReplyDelete
  72. bob, I would pass on becoming a Doctor, or even a Nurse.

    Not my forte

    But if I had had 100 acres of land, on the edge of a College town.

    And Health Care was my cause ...

    I would not have to be a Doctor, to establish a clinic. I'd partner up with one, or a dozen.
    Or the State.

    I'd change my plans of building McMansions to accomadate the new economic realities.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Come on, bob, I'm leaving for a tad, but please, tell me how I attacked your siblings!!

    ReplyDelete
  74. My name itself is Desert Rat
    I never really did get to bat
    I've sat at home and pissed and moaned

    As the world drifted by

    Piss and moan, piss and moan
    The thought never did come home
    I might get off my duff
    And do some stuff

    I never did think of that

    After all, I'm just a Desert Rat

    ReplyDelete
  75. I should have never mentioned my little development, nor my wife, nor brother and sister, nor anything about myself. Nor my politics, nor my religious feelings, nor my love of some literature, and love for some other kinds of people.

    Fuck, it's just Rat Bait.

    I won't do it again.

    Best to keep it to oneself.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Well, good.

    Why am I for this?

    Womens's rights.

    The Jewish people treat their women in a much better manner than the others.

    Women's rights, that why I am for this.


    Netanyahu: We'll build in existing settlements


    May 24, 10:14 AM (ET)

    By AMY TEIBEL


    JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will continue to build homes in existing West Bank settlements, defying U.S. calls to halt settlement growth.

    The comments came days after a contentious visit to the White House and threatened to widen a growing rift with the Obama administration. The U.S. considers the settlements - home to some 280,000 Israelis - obstacles to peace since they are built on captured territory the Palestinians claim for a future state.

    Netanyahu told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet that he would not allow any new settlements to be created, but said existing settlements must be allowed to expand for "natural growth," the ill-defined term Israel uses for population growth in the settlements.

    "We will not build new settlements," he said, according to remarks released by his office. "But it is not fair not to provide a solution to natural growth."

    Netanyahu has voiced this policy before, but his affirmation of his plans took on added significance coming so close after his tense first White House visit with President Barack Obama. U.S. policy on Israeli settlements does not allow for natural growth.

    Israeli officials have sought to play down their differences with Washington, saying that joint working groups will continue discussions on the matter. The settlement issue is sure to come up this week when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas goes to the White House.

    Abbas has said there is no point to meeting with Netanyahu unless he freezes settlement construction and agrees to open negotiations on Palestinian independence.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Madame Secretary was supposed to come down for a visit but the Iranian missile thing got too hot and it was postponed.

    I smell Good Cop Bad Cop.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Habu was right about one thing, yes.

    Habu engaged in the same personal attacks that Rat enjoys.

    He left when he was ignored.

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

    ReplyDelete
  80. What personal attacks did Rat engage in? He's shown problems and contradictions embedded in Bobal's posts and ideas but I haven't read him going off the deep end making death threats and engaging in ad hominem attacks as Habu was prone to do. There are a lot of posts fer sure but I haven't noticed what you suggest Trish. Nor does he disappear when ignored, not by a long shot. Maybe you'd care to point out the specific posts that are so Habu like because it is entirely likely that I could have missed them due to the numbers made. Bobal, on the other hand quite regularly jumps off of the deep end and rants and raves while whipping out the ad hominem attacks. Maybe he's imbibed a bit too much late at night and starts chasing his demons...who knows but that is my guess given the apparent irrationality and the departure from his normal mode of congeniality?

    ReplyDelete
  81. BIDS

    Bureaucrat Immersion Derangement Syndrome

    ReplyDelete
  82. Unfortunately Rat has two Remoras - his traveling entourage.

    And the occasional engagement of Slim, What Is, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Unfortunately Rat has two Remoras - his traveling entourage.

    The riddling bushwacker strikes again.

    More cookies offered to the KoolAid crowd, no doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Why, trish, how good of you to care.

    Don't think I've ever used the ad hominem attack. Unless it was used in a counter-offensive, providing tit for tat for rants against the rat.

    Usually I look for contradictions, 'tween the actions and the rhetoric.

    Newt and the exVice Presidents is a prime example. Both AlGore and Mr Cheney commneting ad nauseum about National Security decisions made after they left office, that they disagree with.

    Newt claims that AlGore was beyond the pale, to question the Iraq War, but that Mr Cheney is spot on while deniggerating current US policies.

    His is a partisan position, it is clearly evident that his notion of both "right" and "National Security" is situational.
    Nothing wrong with that, but to point it out is not an ad hominem attack on Mr Gingrich.

    I've tried to help bob come to grips with his own reality, as he requested. His real estate build out is a bankruptcy waiting to happen. The professionals, whom I know personally as well as those that I know from a distance, are scaling back projects, closing, expanding into general real estate sales by selling houses that they did not build, new and used.

    None are starting new projects.
    bob has no cash flow engine to pay the finance charges on the infrastructure buildout.

    There were less than 300 homes sold in his County, last year. This year will be no better, as for building lots, there already is a glut of developable land permitted.

    This he has told us all.
    He's planning on borrowing the infrastruture buildout costs, and does not have a single lot pre-sold.

    It is a disaster waiting to happen.

    Better for him, that he could find a private nursing college that could partner with him, building out a medical community of a type that his good friend mat might approve of.

    Which he has told us is needed, because the doctors in the area are not taking new patients.

    So he could serve a real public need, finding a higher and better use for the homestead than a field of unsold McMansion lots.

    Which instead of empowering the clan bobal, as was the hope of the American people when they provided that land to his forebears, he could easily bankrupt it.

    And that would be sad.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Since, trish, money matters bore you, I understand why you couldn't care less.

    ReplyDelete
  86. I've engauged in some personal attacks too, I admit.

    I've called Ash 'tanned and fit and a nitwit'--that sort of thing.

    One shouldn't do this.

    In Dr. Johnson's 'The Vanity of Human Wishes' we seem to need one another, but have a hard time not pawing.

    In 'The Ship of Fools' practically all the do is paw.

    I just ask, paw me personally, not my wife, brother, sister.

    ReplyDelete
  87. wow...

    America's new policy is that Jews should not be allow to build or expand their existing homes in lands that they in fact have lived on since the beginning of recorded history...

    Only the Jews are told that they should not be allowed to live in certain places...

    60 years after millions of Jews were slaughtered in Europe, 60 years after the arabs had sided with those same nazis, they threw out over one million Jews from 649/650th of the middle east to be herded into on small fragment of Historic Israel...

    and there?

    the Jews now has to beg for the right to add a toilet in lands that arabs claim as their own...

    newsflash for all of you that hold no opinion...

    If Jews have no rights to live in Jerusalem or Hebron?

    You have no rights to live anywhere either...

    the arabs claim any land that they ever shit on as theirs forever...

    Personally?

    I'd tell those that oppose Jews from building on lands inside of the west bank?

    Let's make a deal...

    America return all stolen lands to the Indians..
    Spain, remove all your people from the new world...
    Arabs? return to arabia?
    Black? go back to Africa?
    Chinese? go back to china...

    Then tell Jews they cant live in Jerusalem, ANYWHERE..

    ReplyDelete
  88. The idea seems to be that we need '
    recognition'.

    Everyone putting on a 'public face'.

    In the old days this being putting on the countenance of a count or countess, perhaps.

    There is that story by Dr. Johnson of how all the folks went on the trip in the carriage car, all of them telling their story, every one lying like hell, none on them being what they said they were, and why?

    People need to have their ego stroked, the answer seems to be, and we can only get that from the 'others'.

    Hence this tendancy to one upmanship, that we all engauge in once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  89. heh, I remember a scene at the lake, with my cousins, one of whom was a commie, now a philosophy mostly given up, by him, last I heard, and his wife from Berkeley, who was a nice lady, too nice in fact, as she was o way too liberal about sex, and wanted, basically, to fuck us all, and we were all sitting around talking, and got into "one downmanship"

    "I don't know anything about literature, really" says bob

    "I know nothing about science", says David

    "I know nothing about sociology" says Jim

    "What about this onedownship" says Berkeley Ann, who turned out to be too liberated even for her commie cousin, and they are now divorced.

    heh, I just point out, some of the old writers knew a thing or two.

    ReplyDelete
  90. It generally doesn't work out, in the general the course of things, to be a young married wife, and want to fuck everything on the patio.

    At least, that's been my observations.

    ReplyDelete
  91. America's new policy is that Jews should not be allow to build or expand their existing homes in lands that they in fact have lived on since the beginning of recorded history...

    Only the Jews are told that they should not be allowed to live in certain places
    ...

    Aye, WiO.

    My thoughts as I scanned that news this morning was what gives some state dept flunky, or his bosses, the right preach to the Jews on the settlement developments or Bibi's intentions for maintaining control of Jerusalem?

    Where were these high minds cowering when the muslims were desecrating religious sites,cemetaries, etc in Jerusalem and committing genocide against the infidels throughout the holy land?

    ReplyDelete
  92. Also, Sir Thomas Browne--
    -/

    is great, though a little odd.

    ReplyDelete
  93. I know there are some problems with deeds and such.

    My view is the West Bank ought to be Jewish, for the benefit of the women.

    ReplyDelete
  94. It generally doesn't work out, in the general the course of things, to be a young married wife, and want to fuck everything on the patio.

    Jeez, Bob. You Lutherans must have way more interesting family reunions than the Methodists.

    Tell us more...there are usually both winners and losers in such a scenario, it being to some extent a zero sum game the liberals engage in.

    ReplyDelete
  95. I declined the invitation, Linear, I'm telling you the truth.

    It kind of shocked me really, I was't used to it.

    Told my mom about it, later, and, she already knew, being a good observer.


    She said, "it isn't going to work."

    That was back in old days, when we went skinning dipping in the lake, an innocent pursuit, by itself.

    You could only do that in August, even then you'd goose bumps.

    heh

    ReplyDelete
  96. Sitting here as an 'older man' I might well accept, knowing a divorce was in the offing anyway.

    I'd have to think about it.

    ReplyDelete
  97. You wanna hear more?

    Ok.

    The way she came on to me was, and she was nice looking, was, can I comb your hair.

    Well, sure.

    Then a little later it was, let's go for a row boat ride.

    And then, let's take a walk in the woods.

    By that time I knew what was going on, and, being the good Swede I am, I damn sure wasn't going against my cousin, commie though he was, then.

    I think I came out of the situation with my moral intregrity intact.

    But, sexless, alas.

    ReplyDelete
  98. This was during the days of the
    'free sex' movement.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Pelosi’s Lies Roil Dem Establishment--

    They're at each other's throats as the narrative used for the last eight years falls apart.

    May 24, 2009 - by James Lewis

    Like a sudden lightning strike on a dark and dreary night, the Pelosi-CIA “you’re a liar!” flare-up in Washington, D.C., presents us with a stunning moment of truth.

    We cannot not let this moment go by. Freeze it in your memory, because you’ll want to revisit this moment — and so will historians of the future.

    ...

    Ms. Pelosi is therefore asking us to believe that in those panicky months her delicate sensibilities were on the side of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — and not on the side of all the career politicians of Washington, D.C. Like herself.

    Fat chance!
    ...

    Ordinary liberals don’t have an inkling how much we as a people have been lied to since 9/11. The militant Left has consistently twisted national security issues in the war on terror to its own political advantage by sabotaging Bush administration efforts against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Saddam. Nancy Pelosi’s accusation against the CIA is just one more ugly boil on the body politic — but it is symptomatic of much wider rot. That is the logical conclusion from the mutual finger-pointing we see today. Somebody has to be lying — or all of them are. The public may finally be getting that
    .

    via Free Republic

    Breathlessly waiting for the witty retort from the riddling bushwacker.

    ReplyDelete
  100. By that time I knew what was going on, and, being the good Swede I am, I damn sure wasn't going against my cousin, commie though he was, then.

    You are a good man, bob.

    Virtue is its own reward, as our elders taught us.

    Plus, one seldom acknowledged benefit of that type of moral choice is the infinite opportunities it provides for really stimulating fantasies as one grows older.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Unrestrained by the surly bounds of reality...

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

    ReplyDelete
  103. Yes, indeed, I do think about Ann sometimes, and what it might have been like, there in the forest, naked and passionate, summertime.

    Sometimes I've wondered whatever became of her.

    ReplyDelete
  104. ...Breathlessly waiting for the witty retort from the riddling bushwacker.

    Something like "James Lewis is the Mark Levin of American Thinker," or words to that effect.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Sometimes I've wondered whatever became of her.

    Now if you were me, you'd have been burning up the internet trying those people locators they advertise.

    :-)

    But we know you better than to think you'd do such a thing, having a loving wife and all. Faithful Swede that you are. I only toss this in to contrast your noble Viking forebearance with my own Celtic lust.

    ReplyDelete
  106. heh,

    well, I'm not so totally innocent--

    I did look up my old high school sweetie, a woman that really did know a thing or two, and I found she's gone through four, count 'em four, husbands, and uncountable lovers, leaving ol' bob on the farm.

    This was at the time of last class reunion.

    I'm not so innocent, nor disinterested, after all.

    I do know she came this way not so long ago, and asked about me, still being married I think, and I know I'm probably better off for she missing the contact.

    I'm married, after all.

    And, the main focus of my life these days is daughter, whom I truly love.

    Our poet Shakespeare knew about all this stuff.

    And had the good sense, to spend his time making poems.

    ReplyDelete
  107. But, damn, sometimes I feel like I want to chop my pecker off.

    ReplyDelete
  108. America's new policy is that Jews should not be allow to build or expand their existing homes in lands that they in fact have lived on since the beginning of recorded history...

    Only the Jews are told that they should not be allowed to live in certain places...


    is called Blatent Hypocrisy.


    But, damn, sometimes I feel like I want to chop my pecker off.

    a long marriage seems to increase value of the dream world.

    ReplyDelete
  109. suppressing laughter.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Over the years, Israel has proposed a variety of solutions, but so far none of Israel's suggestions are acceptable to the Palestinians.

    The additional factor of illegal West Bank outposts, not only from an international perspective, but also from that of the Israeli government, has only sought to add fuel to the fire in recent years.

    The Obama administration will be watching carefully to see if the removal of Maoz Esther on Thursday was a one-off gesture from the Netanyahu government or a sign of real intention to tackle the outpost issue, with which the goodwill needed to resume the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will be created.
    W. Bank Outposts

    ReplyDelete
  111. Like the first New Yorker to die of the virus, an assistant principal at a Queens middle school, the woman had an underlying health condition that made her more at risk from the disease, Jessica Scaperotti, a health department spokeswoman, said.

    ...

    On Sunday, health officials continued to stress that anyone with underlying health conditions — like diabetes, asthma, emphysema or a compromised immune system — who is exposed to flu should seek medical attention.

    Ms. Scaperotti said the latest school to announce it was closing because of swine flu, a yeshiva school in Brooklyn, had made the decision on its own, without seeking a recommendation from the health department. She said that was the prerogative of private schools.
    Swine Flu

    ReplyDelete
  112. Mawazine is one of a growing number of well-funded music festivals aimed at promoting an image of tolerance and modernity in the Muslim north African kingdom.

    This year's festival featured Kylie Minogue, Ennio Morricone, Khaled, Alicia Keys and Algerian diva Warda al Jazairia, and drew tens of thousands of spectators.

    Mawazine, which is backed by King Mohammed, aims to liven up the sleepy capital Rabat and ward off the growing cultural influence of powerful opposition Islamists.
    Morocco Concert

    ReplyDelete
  113. There is little retort to the truth, lineman.

    Nancy Pelosi’s accusation against the CIA is just one more ugly boil on the body politic — but it is symptomatic of much wider rot. That is the logical conclusion from the mutual finger-pointing we see today. Somebody has to be lying — or all of them are. The public may finally be getting that.

    ... all of them are ...
    Been sayin' that, fer years.
    Welcome to the Club House

    That exSenator Graham, amongst others that were reported to have been briefed, when they say they were not.

    Mr Peonetta was not there at the time, but is fronting manfully for his Agency.
    As well he should.

    But they're all lying, that's just a slam dunk.

    As to the Israel thing, it is just the first step in the Conflict Resolution process.

    Just the first step that the United States is going to take, to impose a peace in the Levant.

    Ms Powers and her team are a crucial part of Team Obama's navigational advisory group.

    Her views have been well reported as are the steps in the conflict resolution process.

    ReplyDelete
  114. It was fun, comparing the President of the United States to a gay ballet divo, with AIDs, but the words he spoke, were not happy talk.


    ... Now, Israel is going to have to take some difficult steps as well. And I shared with the prime minister the fact that under the road map, under Annapolis, there is a clear understanding that we have to make progress on settlements; that settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward.

    He shared a FACT, that is the perception of reality that the US will act upon, now. What the current US government may well consider a Treaty obligation, by the State of Israel.

    The fellow that reminds you all of the gay divo is taking the predicted path, both enabled and empowered.

    The course seems evidently clear to me, one wonders if he'll stay it.
    Come hell or high water?

    ReplyDelete
  115. Memorial Day in the United States is a time for remembrance and reflection. We think of those who have served in our wars, remember in particular those who have died, and hold in our hearts the memories of those whose service and sacrifice have allowed Americans to celebrate our own lives.

    ...

    For our warriors in uniform today, I have only praise. I do not support our current wars, and I understand that now as always there are rogues in uniform.

    ...

    Going to war for reasons that have nothing to do with America's national interest is nothing new. Presidents and their advisors almost habitually bungle things, perhaps because the qualities required to get into office here have so little to do with the qualities required to govern effectively.
    Memorial Day '09

    ReplyDelete
  116. Rather than AIDS/HIV, a better ailment would have been Sickle cell anemia.

    ReplyDelete
  117. With sinless going to the office each morning, further enabling the policies of Team Obama.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Iran's presidential candidate and former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei said Sunday that he will present a "mutual changes package" to the United States if he wins the June 12 presidential election.

    ...

    The former Revolutionary Guards chief said that if he is elected, his administration will use the package of proposals to assess U.S. officials' attitude toward Iran.

    The two reformist candidates -- former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi -- and Rezaei, a moderate conservative, are vying with the incumbent hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the next presidency.
    Changes Package

    ReplyDelete
  119. I'm sorry, I missed everything Rat said.

    And kept one eye closed through the seduction of bob.

    ReplyDelete
  120. The Group of Eight nations and four emerging countries signed an agreement Sunday on establishing a new international organization for energy efficiency as part of efforts to fight against global warming.

    ...

    Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday morning on dip buying after declines late last week, led by strong resource-related and pharmaceutical issues.

    ...

    The U.S. dollar traded around the mid-94 yen range early Monday in Tokyo, down slightly from its levels in New York late Friday.
    News Summary

    ReplyDelete
  121. But you're still here, regardless.

    Kinda lonely, bein' an expatrioti, while counting the days.

    ReplyDelete
  122. ...all the while giggling demurely and peeking through her fingers reading the old Swede's sexual exploits...

    ReplyDelete
  123. Yes, but you had one eye open, my Lady, during the attempted seduction of Bob.

    ReplyDelete
  124. The LTTE acknowledged yesterday for the first time that Prabhakaran is dead, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported on its Web site.

    The Tamil Tigers will now use non-violent methods in the struggle for a Tamil homeland, the BBC cited Selvarasa Pathmanathan, head of international relations for the LTTE, as saying in a telephone interview.

    About 10,000 LTTE fighters, including 1,601 female members, have surrendered to the army and are being rehabilitated, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
    Post-war Development

    ReplyDelete
  125. the old Swede's sexual exploits--
    -/

    A Saga, In One Part, With A Very Dramatic Ending

    by Snorri Snorrilsson

    Vhen cursaid ICE had gripped the land, and cursaid SNOW became all we had, I turned with much affection and EVEN more lust to my lovely Heida....come hither, O lovely One, says I, and she obeying.....

    ReplyDelete
  126. The Southeast Asian bloc has come under pressure from the United States and the EU to exert its influence on Myanmar, which has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the past 19 years.

    Myanmar's statement said that the actions it had taken against Aung San Suu Kyi were "in accordance with the normal practice in every state and it is merely the internal affairs of Myanmar."

    It said that Thailand breached ASEAN procedures by failing to seek a consensus of foreign ministers for the statement, adding: "Such an act may cause an undesirable tradition in ASEAN."
    Suu Kyi

    ReplyDelete
  127. A spokesman for Clarence House, Prince William's mouthpiece, declined to comment but added it was aware of the program.

    BBC has issued a statement saying it prepared for all "different eventualities" although could name any other than the Prince William special.

    "The relationship is an area that our viewers are very interested in," is all a spokesman would say on whether the broadcaster had received a particular tip off about a summer announcement.
    BBC Slip

    ReplyDelete
  128. "Nancy Pelosi’s accusation against the CIA is just one more ugly boil on the body politic — "

    Cut to Josaaaaaay pulling a Sally Field at the Oscars.

    Having waded knee-deep for years through the Republican sewer of Agency-related invective - at once clever saboteurs of the Executive agenda in need of swift dispatch AND rank incompetents unable to locate their asses with both hands AND, yes, tea party skirts - I am happy that the right now clutches them close to their warm, perfumed bosom.

    I believe it was Westhawk who, years ago, predicted the to-him merciful withering-away of the CIA, its activities taken up by DOD, under the ultimate care of Don Rumsfeld and his successors. Overlooking or being unaware of the fact that you cannot have covert activities without it, that these would cease all together within the province of the military.

    I said the Agency was becoming more important. And that that would eventually dawn on those who who could only foresee, or hope for, its demise.

    Now it's dawned, but those upon whom it has dawned can't remember what it was they once thought.

    That's because for many of them, this isn't about the organization they love to hate. It's about the guy they love to love.

    ReplyDelete
  129. ....undraped the seal skin from her lovely shoulders, and then....with heavenly odor, knelt near, and then....

    ReplyDelete
  130. curled her passionate body by the War Lords chest, and then....

    ReplyDelete
  131. her bountiful fingers did move...

    ReplyDelete
  132. slowly towards the manhood of him that loves, and then....

    ReplyDelete
  133. speaking softly in the ear that hears....

    ReplyDelete
  134. "you can do all you want"

    she says

    "I am yours."

    ReplyDelete
  135. I seem to have wandered into a Nordic bodice-ripper.

    ReplyDelete
  136. taken from the "A Saga" by Snorri
    Snorrillsson

    ReplyDelete
  137. ...I am happy that the right now clutches them close to their warm, perfumed bosom.

    So...

    can we have some cookies now?

    ---------

    Just to sit back with Trish's cookies and enjoy the unfolding saga from the Northlands.

    A quiet Sunday evening at the Bar.

    ReplyDelete
  138. The ones with Dran-O baked into them?

    Or the ones with glass shards?

    Pick your Tupperware container.

    I also have...booze. An eight-year-old rum suitable for mixing with mora juice.

    ReplyDelete
  139. You folks don't want to hear what Snorri does next.

    That's not for the internet, where children, democrats and virgins may be lurking.

    ReplyDelete
  140. And on the passionate iceful flow
    Made love to her till her soul did glow
    And when he came with a whale's big blow
    They collapsed in arms, all melting snow.

    from "Saga"

    by Snorri Snorrillsson

    ReplyDelete
  141. I also have...booze.

    Tanqueray?

    Mora’s Mule-- (Hanja)

    Svelte… Fresh blackberries combined with tropical mora juice and spiced with Tanqueray gin.
    Mules all around!

    ReplyDelete
  142. There's no good reason to drink Tanqueray with anything but tonic.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Well then, make it a Tanqueray with tonic and a handful of them sparkly macaroons.

    ReplyDelete
  144. That drink really should have a name.

    Gin and tonic with glass shards.

    I think my dad's had a few.

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  145. Numerous employers have already introduced breath analyzers independently, following the enactment of the amended traffic law that imposes harsher punishments on drunken driving, but other employers do not own the device and operators often waive the test when the breath analyzer is not functioning, according to the ministry.

    The ministry cited cases of drunken drivers getting behind the wheel and telling their superiors the smell of alcohol comes from perfume or that alcohol was detected by the breath analyzer because they had consumed energy drinks.

    There are about 62,000 transport operators nationwide which own approximately 1.13 million vehicles.
    Professional Drivers

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  146. North Korea said on Monday it had conducted a nuclear test, the second for the secretive state after a 2006 blast that was seen by experts as only a partial success due to its relatively low yield.

    ...

    North Korea is thought to have produced enough plutonium for about six to eight weapons and has already produced one rudimentary nuclear device. It likely cannot miniaturise a nuclear weapon to mount on a missile and would need a significant amount of testing to master the technology, weapons experts say.

    ...

    The North's nuclear arms programme is not a major security threat at present because it has not yet shown it can build an effective bomb, nor does it have an effective delivery system.
    Nuclear Program

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  147. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  148. Looks like Hillary's 'smart diplomcy' has the Norks right where we want them, blowing up bombs, testing missiles.

    Those people are, indeed, tough to talk to.

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  149. Thor==
    =/

    The marriage of the transcendant to the imminent, the marriage of sea to land, can take many forms, not all perfect.

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  150. The sea making love to the land, in Walt Whitman, thrusting.

    Deep, mystical, forever.

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  151. Our big bruiser Thor
    Who wanted some more
    Rolled over as he lay in the bed

    Give me more

    I've given you head
    Done what you've pled
    Do I have to give you some more?

    He said yes indeed
    It's my continual need
    It's a kind of physical greed

    She said go ahead
    I can take all you got
    I'll lay here and make like your whore

    He dove in again
    Like the best of the men
    While the contract was signed and still hot

    She lay back and sighed
    And almost cried
    From the pleasure of her godly Thor

    I may be sore
    (I've done this before)
    She sighed as she nestled in bed

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  152. Epilogue

    Our big bruiser Thor
    Who wanted some more
    Slowly arose from the bed

    I'M THOR!
    The big bruiser said.

    You're Thor? she replied
    While holding her side.

    I'm tho thor I can hardly pith!

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  153. SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?

    OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.

    So we've got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it's putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.

    So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit.

    So, one option is just to do nothing. We say, well, it's too expensive for us to make some short-term investments in health care. We can't afford it. We've got this big deficit. Let's just keep the health care system that we've got now.

    Along that trajectory, we will see health care cost as an overall share of our federal spending grow and grow and grow and grow until essentially it consumes everything..
    .

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  154. SCULLY: States like California in desperate financial situation, will you be forced to bail out the states?

    OBAMA: No. I think that what you're seeing in states is that anytime you got a severe recession like this, as I said before, their demands on services are higher. So, they are sending more money out. At the same time, they're bringing less tax revenue in. And that's a painful adjustment, what we're going end up seeing is lot of states making very difficult choices there...

    SCULLY: William Howard Taft served on the court after his presidency, would you have any interest in being on the Supreme Court?

    OBAMA: You know, I am not sure that I could get through Senate confirmation...

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  155. Losing the media war to the Taliban.

    On May 20, an investigating team from U.S. Central Command released its interim findings concerning civilian casualties that resulted from U.S. bombs dropped during a battle near Farah, Afghanistan, on May 4.

    A 16-day interval may be entirely appropriate for an internal investigation of U.S. military practices. But if this report is an attempt at "strategic communications" to counter Taliban propaganda, the United States is failing and needs a new approach
    .

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