COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Obama in an Islamic Wonderland.



We all enjoy fairy tales. Some of us are good at telling them. Enjoying a fairy tale from a clever teller of them is a big leap to believing in them. Seriously, Will anyone buy this toffee?

You betcha.

______________________________



Obama's Challenge to the Muslim Worl
d

Washington Post


The historic significance of President Obama's speech to the Muslim world in Cairo cannot be overstated. Never before has an American president spoken to the global Muslim community. His speech marked a major shift in American foreign policy. Obama directly enlisted a religion to build global peace and to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, end nuclear proliferation and stop terrorism.

In just a few sentences he demolished the phony theory of the "Clash of Civilizations," which insists that Islam and the West must always be in conflict. Instead, he declared the United States is not at war with Islam and outlined a plan for how the conflict can be resolved.

Perhaps most important, he put religion at the core of the peacemaking process. For too long, Americans had come to fear Islam as an intolerant, violent religion. Obama cited examples from the Quran that belied those stereotypes. He emphasized the core similarities among Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

"Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism," he said. "It is an important part of promoting peace."

To Muslims, that was a powerful statement. "Islam is the solution" is the mantra of many Muslims. They believe their religion can and does solve problems. Now they have the leader of the most powerful nation on earth agreeing with them and seeking their help. He is challenging them to live up to Islam's ideals, just as he insisted that the United States must live up to its own ideals.

He captured the attention of Muslims because, unlike most politicians, he was willing to critique both his own country and Muslims where they fell short of their ideals.

The question now is whether Muslim governments and warring factions can embrace the true meaning of Islam.

For each of the problems Obama cited -- American occupation in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the spread of nuclear weapons, development of democracy, religious freedom, women's rights and economic development -- Islam presents a solution.

Islam denounces suicide of any sort, especially suicide bombings that kill innocents. Even in a defensive war sanctioned by Islamic law, suicide is expressly forbidden.

As Obama pointed out, the Holy Quran says that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind. Adherence to Islam would end indiscriminate firing of missiles from Gaza into Israel that kill innocents.
Islam certainly opposes Muslims killing Muslims, which has been the staple of the dispute between Iraqi Sunnis and Shias as well as in Pakistan and Darfur.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Islamic jurists ruled that under Islamic law those type of attacks did not fall under the norms of a just war.

Even top clerics and government officials in the Islamic Republic of Iran concede that Islam prohibits nuclear weapons because they kill indiscriminately.

Islam supports democracy with government run by consent of the people. A Shariah-compliant state owes its existence to the will of the people and is subject to control by them. The Prophet Muhammad himself said, "The hand of God is on the majority."

Religious freedom is at the core of Islam. The Quran expressly and unambiguously prohibits the coercion of faith because that violates a fundamental human right - the right to a free conscience. The Quran says in one place "There shall be no compulsion in religion." And in another it says, "To you your beliefs and to me, mine."

The Prophet Muhammad has been known as the first feminist. "The best of you are those who are best to their women," he said. Gender equality is an intrinsic part of Islamic belief. The Qur'an makes no difference in the religious obligations of men and women and set the stage for women's rights. Many of the limits placed on women in Muslim societies are due to local custom more than to Islamic teaching.

If using these Islamic principles, peace can be found in the region, Palestinians and Israelis can find accommodation, and Muslims can stop killing Muslims in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, then the economic aid Obama promised can lead to a flourishing economy. Dubai and Kuala Lumpur have shown us the way.

By embracing Islam in the peacemaking process, Obama has laid down a challenge to Muslims. Live up to the tenets of our religion, embrace Shariah law as conceived by the Prophet, and see what happens.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, an independent, non-partisan and multi-national project that seeks to use religion to improve Muslim-West relations. (www.cordobainitiative.org) He is the author of "What's Right with Islam is What's Right With America."




104 comments:

  1. Islam "has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality."

    -B. Hussein O.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hillary, staunch feminist, in a Hijab.

    -B. Hussein O.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "violent extremists"

    No other connection? Nothing? No significant concurrent connection?

    Nothing worth mentioning?

    ReplyDelete
  4. No Jihadists here?

    Not an "Allah akbar" to be heard anywhere? The call, hardly audible over screaming aircraft engines, no doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I needed to give this a few days to sink in. My conclusion is that I agree with Sen. James Inhofe (R-KN) who declared that Obama’s Cairo speech was “un-American.”

    ReplyDelete
  6. B. Hussein O. called for a new beginning. C-span is getting with the program:


    Former "Weather Underground" activists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn sit down with us LIVE to discuss their latest book, "Race Course: Against White Supremacy." This three hour interview is part of C-SPAN's coverage of the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ...My conclusion is that I agree with Sen. James Inhofe (R-KN) who declared that Obama’s Cairo speech was “un-American.”

    Inhofe's from Oklahoma. Easy mistake to make for a Philadelpian, I suppose. Just a small nit picked. In all other respects, right on.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In most islamic 'jurisprudence' those 'peaceful' sayings are overuled by all the stuff that comes later, like our latest Supreme Court rulings.

    What a lot of gibberish, The Washington Post.


    Religious freedom is at the core of Islam.

    yessirreeee

    The Prophet Muhammad has been known as the first feminist.

    yesiree, ma'am

    For each of the problems Obama cited -- Islam presents a solution.

    Indeed they do.

    Alice--
    -/

    Been a long time since I've read 'Alice'--time to do so again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. One must admit, Alice would fire the loins of any self respecting Humbert Humbert, and, if we keep on liberalizing every last sexual relationship, it might be legal.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1.

    Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

    She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

    Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, a certain initial child-girl. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.

    Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.
    --
    -/


    And of course, we know mo liked 'em young, too. As do many of his followers, to this very day.

    ReplyDelete
  11. For some odd reason I feel compelled to mention that Alice Liddel looks a lot like my aunt Alice, in her younger days, a real beauty, that grandpa sent off to Columbia University to music school. She was a good looker, but a real bitch, and neurotic, and towards the end, everyone was being real nice to her, as she had some money, and no one to give it to.

    No remembrance of having starred
    Keeps the end from being hard
    Provide, provide

    And she did too, providing herself with an eternal flame at the Walla Walla Cemetary. Before the days of carbon credits.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There’s better phrase-making in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, in a coinage of Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Committee on Foreign Relations. The president emeritus is a sober, judicious paragon of torpidly conventional wisdom. Nevertheless, musing on American decline, he writes, “The country's economy, infrastructure, public schools, and political system have been allowed to deteriorate. The result has been diminished economic strength, a less vital democracy, and a mediocrity of spirit.” That last is the one to watch: A great power can survive a lot of things, but not “a mediocrity of spirit.” A wealthy nation living on the accumulated cultural capital of a glorious past can dodge its rendezvous with fate, but only for a while. That sound you heard in Cairo is the tingy ping of a hollow superpower.--
    -/

    Mark Steyn

    ReplyDelete
  13. By embracing Islam in the peacemaking process, Obama has laid down a challenge to Muslims. Live up to the tenets of our religion, embrace Shariah law as conceived by the Prophet, and see what happens.

    Muslims, embrace Sharia.

    All others, embrace Islam.

    Welcome to the dhimmi whirled.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Barack (Alice): That’s it, Dinah! If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?

    ReplyDelete
  15. More fairy tales from Pakistan. I think we heard this one a few times:

    ___________

    The Washington Times
    Sunday, June 7, 2009
    Pakistani refugees doubt army victory over Taliban

    Raza Khan THE WASHINGTON TIMES

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan | Pakistan's claims that it has defeated the Taliban and regained control of the Swat Valley ring hollow for many of the 3 million ...Despite claims by the military it had secured 90 percent of the territory in Swat that was previously under Taliban control, officials were forced to concede that every senior Taliban commander had escaped.

    Further compounding the military's woes, militants ambushed a convoy transporting two Taliban detainees near Swat on Saturday and killed the prisoners, thought to be aides to a cleric close to the Taliban leadership.

    Military officials said they were killed either during an attempt to free them, or to silence them before questioning by intelligence officials.

    ...As the offensive in Swat failed to net any top Taliban leaders, the Pakistani government began offering rewards for anyone who captures, kills or provides information to locate the top 22 Taliban commanders in Swat.

    ...
    An initial bounty of 5 million rupees, or about $60,000, was raised to $600,000.

    Maj. Gen. Ijaz Awan led reporters on an army-sponsored tour of Mingora, the main city in Swat, in which he vowed that the army would hunt down Taliban leaders.

    ..."Our crops are destroyed, and we are getting nothing here," Abdul Sajid, a farmer from the Buner district just south of Swat, told visiting U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke last week. "It is coming, the food, but it is not good. I am not satisfied with the conditions at the camp. We need your help," he said, according to a dispatch by the Associated Press.
    ....
    "Peoples confidence in government claims of securing Malakand could only be restored and states lost writ could only be revived if the heads of Taliban are either arrested or killed. Otherwise, all government claims of controlling the areas and neutralizing the militants are going to be mere self-deception," he said.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Islam...

    such a tolerant faith...


    In the days of Mohammed, before he became a Prophet, there were thousands of jewish synagogues & churches...

    Read this...

    n 622, Muhammad left Mecca for an oasis then known as Yathrib. This trip became known as the hejira, the flight from persecution in Mecca. The term has also come to mean leaving a pagan community for one that adheres to the laws of Islam. In his new home, which was later renamed Medina, Muhammad became a mediator, arbitrating disputes between tribes.

    Interestingly, Medina also had a sizeable Jewish community, which had probably moved there after being expelled from Palestine by the Romans. Muhammad respected the Jews, and his early teachings appeared to borrow from Jewish tradition. The Jews began to distance themselves from Muhammad, however, when he became critical of their not recognizing him as a prophet.

    Once it was clear the Jews would not accept him, Muhammad began to minimize or eliminate the Jewish influence on his beliefs. For example, he shifted the direction of prayers from Jerusalem to Mecca, made Friday his special day of prayer, and renounced the Jewish dietary laws (except for the prohibition on eating pork). Originally, he said the Arabs were descendants of Abraham through his son Ishmael, but in the Koran Abraham's connection to the Jews is denied, with Muhammad asserting that Abraham is only the patriarch of Islam, not Judaism as well, because he "surrendered himself to Allah."

    One of the immediate consequences of Muhammad's frustration was the expulsion of two Jewish tribes from Medina and the murder of all the members of a third Jewish tribe (except for the women and children, who were sold into slavery). But even worse for the long-term treatment of the Jews were a number of inflammatory statements about Jews that Muhammad made that appear in the Koran — which, over the years, stoked Arab/Islamic anti-Semitism.

    Now look at today...

    the arab world and islamic world are, for all practical purposes, juden free...

    If you look at a map a great swath, across the globe has been ethnically cleansed of Jews by Islam...

    Now Islam is ethnically cleansing christians...

    But Islam is not holding back and taking over Europe, sections of North America & Asia... Even Israel has a significant population of Moslems..

    One MUST wonder at the double standards that the REST of the world employees with Islam...

    It is a crime to practice another faith in Arabia..

    It is a crime to sell land to Jews in many arab countries..

    yep

    ReplyDelete
  17. So. I went to this D Day event yesterday. All Americans, Brits, Aussies, and Canadians. The senior British officer made a truly lovely speech that wended its way to Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Iraq: Shit just fell apart.

    Afghanistan: Let's hope it doesn't, hm?






    No bitching, whining, or moaning there.






    Everyone asks, "When does the Old Man get back?"

    I say, "As soon as they're done with him in DC. And while we're on the subject, dear friend, let me tell you how badly the past six months have sucked."

    Army wives. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  18. By Yara Bayoumy

    DIKWANEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Outside a polling station in the Lebanese Metn district, supporters of rival Christian groups camp out amicably under umbrellas urging voters to cast ballots in a parliamentary election on Sunday.

    But ask Christian voters what will happen if the party they support loses, and the answers are instantly less friendly, with both sides accusing each other of dragging the country toward a bleak future.

    Most of the 3.2 million Lebanese eligible to vote in Sunday's election cast their ballots based on sectarian affiliations.

    Sunnis are voting overwhelmingly for Saad al-Hariri's pro-Western alliance, Shi'ites for Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, but the mainly Maronite Christians are divided between the two camps, making them the key voters in this closely contested election.

    Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Michel Aoun, who has the largest Christian parliamentary bloc, has sided with Hezbollah while his opponents from the Lebanese Forces and Phalange parties support Hariri.

    "There is no division in the Christian vote. Eighty percent ... support (Aoun), and the remaining 20 percent are in the minority," said Aoun-supporter Rana, 27. "In the end, they'll just come running back to us."

    While campaigners from both Christian camps tried to portray their side as the winner, it was far from clear which would come out on top as opinion polls are banned in Lebanon until after voting has finished
    .

    ReplyDelete
  19. From the AP wire, seems that some of those Christians that know radical Islam and Hezbollah, the best, fear them the least.

    They thinking that the Zionists in Israel are the greaatest threat to Lebanon's peaceful and secure future.

    Hezbollah's coalition includes the Shiite movement Amal and a major Christian faction led by former army chief Michel Aoun. Opposing it are the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim supporters of current majority leader Saad Hariri, allied with several Christian and Druse factions.

    Lebanese tend to vote mainly along sectarian or family loyalties. Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim districts around the country are largely locked up, so the battle has been over the Christian districts, where some races are a tossup.

    Hezbollah's Christian allies argue that a victory by their coalition will not have such a dramatic impact and will ensure peace in a nation divided by sectarian tensions. They say that involving Hezbollah more deeply in the political process — rather than shunning it — is the only way to bridge the sectarian divides
    .

    Their opponents counter that the heavily armed Hezbollah would be driving Lebanon into the arms of Iran, which could use it as a front in the Islamic republic's confrontation with Israel.

    The influential Maronite Catholic Church has remained largely neutral.

    But on Saturday, church head Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir warned voters that Lebanon as an entity and its Arab identity were threatened, a clear reference to the Hezbollah alliance. The election commission ordered the statement withdrawn from circulation because it violated an order limiting political statements 24 hours before voting
    .

    ReplyDelete
  20. Lebanon is toast...

    They are going to the dark side...

    Not a peep of protest last year when Hezbollah took over areas of Lebanon, murdering scores and wounding more...

    The Iranian/Syrian/Hezbollah violent take over has been going on for years now....

    The election is a joke....

    the real question is will the USA continue to give MILLIONS and MILLIONS of military aid to Lebanon whose army is 1/3 Party of God - Hezbollah, ( who is really an Iranian Division)

    Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Soon West Bank, Sinai & Iran..

    RoP on the march!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I was thinking the same thing about Pakistan. No way they're done in the NW provinces, Swat or elsewhere.

    Some still think the future of Pakistan is in doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Of course we will, wi"o", on the course that Mr Bush set, in the Region. President Obama is staying the course, building momenteum and gathering speed. All ahead full!

    Democracy is the touchstone of progress. The foundation upon whch piece and prosperity will be built.

    The United States will continue to pursue it's wide array of varied interests, around the whirled.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It will be interesting to see how Islam/Iran consolidates and advances under the Obama administration.

    This morning, I heard Dhimmi Carter giving his blessings on the Lebanese election.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Christians get to choose who, 'tween the Shia and the Sunni, represents their piece of the Levant.

    Those that live in closest proximity to the challenge, they get to decide.
    As it should be, that there is a democratic vote amongst the people.

    At least one time.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The Israeli about to reap what they have sowed, over the past forty-one years.

    The pendulum swings, as it always does

    For the US to achieve its' National Interests, in the Levant, reigme change may be needed, in Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I think it was about a month ago that dear host said in re the Middle East: Enough is enough. Let us turn our attention elsewhere.

    But nooooooooooo. With the exception of rufus and his display of extraordinary good sense, it's yapyapyapyapyap once again over the world's most regrettable geographical feature. (For this I CAN blame Obama.)

    Here's the complaint: The president didn't go to Cairo and say, "Get your shit together people or we're gonna have to seriously mess up somebody on this here list."

    It doesn't take very much to bring the wu wei's out of the woodwork, does it?

    Anything else going on in the world?

    Anything?

    Bueller.

    Bueller.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Why, it was 38 years ago when a once, then future, US President, said this, at the UN.

    "We regret Israel's failure to acknowledge its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as its actions which are contrary to the letter and spirit of this convention."

    George H.W. Bush, 1971,
    US ambassador to the United Nations

    ReplyDelete
  28. It is first rate entertainment, trish.

    The denile not as bad as in 2004, but it is still a river in Egypt.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Congrats on the old man's imminent return, trish. Maybe he will take some of the meaness out of you.

    Just kidding!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. desert rat said...
    Why, it was 38 years ago when a once, then future, US President, said this, at the UN.

    "We regret Israel's failure to acknowledge its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as its actions which are contrary to the letter and spirit of this convention."

    George H.W. Bush, 1971,
    US ambassador to the United Nations


    Yep he said that...

    But so what?

    The UN also RECONSTITUTED (NOT CREATED) the State of Israel in 1948 and the arab world refused to obey that...

    and that TAKE precedent over any and all UN points after it...

    And really, where was the USA in 1917 when the League of Nations GAVE the west and EAST BANK BACK to the the JEWS?


    Hope and Change came to Israel, the VOTED Bibi IN...

    I guess America doesnt like JEWISH DEMOCRACY?

    ReplyDelete
  31. I make a prediction...

    Obama is about to CAUSE a hot war...

    I think that's what he wants....

    ReplyDelete
  32. Elsewhere in the news: Pakistan hasn't yet prevailed against its gang of psychopaths on the tear. Course it was only early last year that Pakistan even got off its lunch hour and went to work.

    It's probably best to let it sink in now: You're looking at five to eight years of hairy business in South Asia. Period. End of discussion.






    Thanks, whit. I'm just grumpy because these last days - as is always the case - are dragging on forever.

    That's my excuse of the moment, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

    To each his suffering: all are men,
    Condemned alike to groan;
    The tender for another’s pain,
    The unfeeling for his own.
    Yet ah! Why should they know their fate?
    Since sorrow never comes too late,
    And happiness too swiftly flies.
    Thought would destroy their paradise.
    No, more; where ignorance is bliss,
    Tis folly to be wise.

    ___Thomas Gray

    ReplyDelete
  34. "Hillary, staunch feminist, in a Hijab"

    makes sense to me. its a movement about gaining power in the US, not the world. unfortunately shivery can sometimes back fire.

    “a mediocrity of spirit.”
    take note of this, rat.

    ReplyDelete
  35. To what end, slim?

    “a mediocrity of spirit.”
    It is a condition that is decades old. Visible throughout my youth.

    "Why Johnny Can't Read"
    Monday, Mar. 14, 1955

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

    ReplyDelete
  37. Mediocrity has been the standard, at least since 14Mar55.

    Clearly, for all to see.

    It has been accepted and extolled.

    ReplyDelete
  38. "I think it was about a month ago that dear host said in re the Middle East: Enough is enough. Let us turn our attention elsewhere."

    Good point, however I am reactive to news as I have zero influence over the outcome.

    I truly am sick of the Middle East. My first experience was watching brand new F-4 s having the star and bars painted over and that was in 1967.

    I have stated many times that there are more important places to US interests than the Gaza strip. In my mind this post was not as much about the ME as it was about Obama and his mindset, and how people see or hear in him what they want to see or hear. I think I have a fairly sensitive ear and it amazes me, listening to Obama that he has 79% Jewish support. What do they hear that I am missing?

    By the way, we art getting close to the 3000th post. Our advertising revenues have not been affected one bit by the depression, and I have not been fired.

    ReplyDelete
  39. The UN and the Geneva Accords are not synonymous. The US merely reverting to the policy positions of previous Administrations, both Republican and Democrat. As exemplified by Ambassador Bush's statement.

    That this current US Administration may actually act upon those policies, an interesting abberation.

    It is also interesting, wi"o" that you claim that due to the Arabs not recongnizing the UN dictates, of 1948, the Israeli position is then validated.

    Which, if the UN were to revoke Israel's charter as a soverign State, and the Israelis rejected the revocation, the Arabs would then be "in the right"?

    Or would the Israeli rejection of UN dictates simply be another case of the Israeli being "right".

    The Geneva Accords are important, as they are the yard stick by which the US battles the terrorists of the whirled. Per the Supremes in Hamda vs Rumsfeld.

    Countries that abandon the Geneva Accords are, almost by definition, terrorist States, often sponsors of foreign terror operations.

    Which many claim is an accurate description of Israel, though not the US government, yet.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Meanwhile, the Palis, Hez Lebs, Hamas, Iran and etc have been law-following Angles.
    Why do you insist of making such a fool of yourself w/your one-sided depictions, 'Rat?

    ReplyDelete
  41. Shootout Kills 16 in Mexican Resort

    ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican soldiers fought a two-hour battle with heavily armed men holed up at a house in an Acapulco hotel zone, killing 15 of the gunmen as Mexican tourist cowered in their rooms nearby.

    One soldier was killed and the wounded included three soldiers and three bystanders. Several Mexican tourists were evacuated from small hotels in a faded neighborhood once frequented by Hollywood stars.

    When soldiers arrived at the house on a tip, the gunmen opened fire and hurled some 50 grenades, according to an Army colonel, who wore a ski mask to protect his identity as he led reporters on a tour of the scene Sunday. He spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
    ---
    Soldiers found four Guerrero state police officers handcuffed inside the garage of the house, the colonel said. The officers, who were still bound and sitting the floor when reporters arrived, said they'd been held captive by the gunmen, the colonel said.

    Soldiers did not know the police were inside when the shootout began late Friday night, and the colonel said their claims would be investigated.

    ''We found them like this, handcuffed, and they say they were kidnapped. So if they were kidnapped, as they say, then we rescued them,'' he said.

    The gunbattle raged just blocks from a residence owned decades ago by the late ''Tarzan'' actor Johnny Weissmuller, and about 100 meters (yards) from Hotel Los Flamingos, owned in the 1950s by John Wayne. The hotel is still popular with older American tourists.
    ---
    Soldiers confiscated 47 guns, grenades and ammunition at the large, gated house, which stood out among its more modest neighbors. Several cars were also seized from the property, including a Mercedes Benz.

    President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 soldiers across Mexico to battle drug violence. More than 10,800 people have died since the offensive began in December 2006.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "Mediocrity has been the standard, at least since 14Mar55."

    desert storm was not a mediocre endeveor but that was led by a WWII veteran president.

    you know this 79% people keep spotlighting is so small in numbers compared to the total amount of votes for obam that i just dont get why this is continually showcased. What is the point?? please explain. its apparent now that everyone wants israel under the bus; is this just the exuse for the right to join in?

    ReplyDelete
  43. By the way, we art getting close to the 3000th post. Our advertising revenues have not been affected one bit by the depression, and I have not been fired.

    Outstanding....You have been as consistent and dependable as a modern human being can be. You have done a yeoman's job and at less than yeoman's wages. Through thick and thin you have kept the Bar going no matter how disinterested or unappreciative the regulars seem to be.

    Truly, I am amazed, delighted and privileged to have been a small part and to have made your acquaintance.

    Here's to 3,000 more posts.

    whit

    ReplyDelete
  44. Prager pointed out the absurdity of addressing "The Global Muslim Community" as if Millions of Indonesian "Muslims" are no different than Obama's darling Sharia wielding head-choppers.
    ---
    Same thing with that 79%, I think Slim:
    Many Hollywood Liberal "Jews" are in fact JINOS, more concerned with their own standing in Hollywood and the Beltway than with the survival of the Jewish Faith.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Hear, hear Whit!
    No lack of appreciation here,
    but I'll buy the Beer in place of an EB Mass Man-Hug.

    ReplyDelete
  46. What if Palin was so out of touch with her thoughts and words that she'd say something as absurd as
    "The US is one of the largest Muslim Countries in the World"
    ---
    We'd never hear the end of it.
    Instead, the MSM acts as BHO's litter box tenders:
    Busily covering up his regular spouting of absurdities and Anti-American Talking Points.

    ReplyDelete
  47. With Liberals you got your

    "Black Community"

    "Gay Lesbo Tranzi Community"

    "Hispanic Community"

    "Feminist Community"
    ---

    All treated the same way our Child-President addressed the

    "Global Muslim Community"

    Conservative Blacks need not apply for membership in the
    "Black Community"

    Dittos for all the rest of the
    " Communities"

    ReplyDelete
  48. Wasn't there a Krauthammer Post here earlier today?
    ---
    Obama Doctrine: US to stop Dictating other Countries ,except Israel.
    -
    Obama the Humble declares there will be no more "dictating" to other countries.

    We should "forge partnerships as opposed to simply dictating solutions," he told the G-20 summit.

    In Middle East negotiations, he told al-Arabiya, America will henceforth "start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating."

    ReplyDelete
  49. I thought the Acapulco news very interesting (maybe it was the Tarzan and Duke references.)

    ReplyDelete
  50. A round to everyone, glasses raised to deuce, yeah!

    Alice Grows Up--
    -/

    Alice Gets Old

    ReplyDelete
  51. Shows how far down Mexico is getting. And the colonel doesn't want his face shown. What a god-awful business.

    As far as Obama's speech, I don't see there was really any real purpose to it in the first place, other than to keep the spotlight on himself.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Praised be magical thinking--

    The reason Muslims never developed fundamental physics is because the leading Muslim theologians declared the idea of fixed physical laws to be heretical. The Qur’an (verse 6:64) states: “The Jews have said, ‘God’s hand is fettered.’ Fettered are their hands, and they are cursed for what they have said. Nay, but His hands are outspread; He expends how He will.” The standard Muslim interpretation of this passage has been that there cannot be unchanging physical laws because Allah may change the laws at any moment. In 1982, the Institute for Policy Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan, criticized a chemistry textbook by saying: “There is latent poison present in the subheading Energy Causes Changes because it gives the impression that energy is the true cause rather than Allah. Similarly it is unIslamic to teach that mixing hydrogen and oxygen automatically produces water. The Islamic way is this: when atoms of hydrogen approach atoms of oxygen, then by the Will of Allah water is produced.” The implication is clear: next week, Allah may change his mind about water being a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. With this sort of worldview, how could one possibly be a scientist?

    The cosmology of the Qur’an is obviously geocentric, and as a consequence, Al-Azhar University, which Obama singles out for praise in his speech, still teaches Ptolemaic astronomy.
    --'-
    /

    Magical Thought and Obama Flunks History

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

    ReplyDelete
  54. In other words Alice went into allahland, where up can be down, and things change around, and words mean whatever, and water may be H2O one day but not the next, just as the ruler of allahland chooses.

    If you look really closely under the bush by the phlox, there is a little hole there, that you can't see, that leads to allahland, where Alice, having fallen in, is resting, temporarily, regaining her strength to make her escape. Because no spunky Alice can live in allahland forever without going nuts.

    ReplyDelete
  55. heh--

    Obama has a food taster.

    Tales of a Tasteless Bastard--
    -/

    Anybody want to apply? In case Taster Number 1 should go down?

    ReplyDelete
  56. Obama reminds me of Gorbachev of the 80s more and more ... America that doesn't tell other nations what to do is no longer America.

    ReplyDelete
  57. In Spain, the conservative Popular Party won two more seats than the ruling Socialists — 23 to 21 seats — with over 88 percent of the vote counted.

    Exit polls also showed gains for far-right groups and other fringe parties due to record low turnout.

    Near-final results showed Austria's main rightist party gaining strongly while the ruling Social Democrats lost substantial ground. The big winner in Austria was the rightist Freedom Party, which more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13.1 percent of the vote. It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform.

    In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party took 17 percent of the country's votes, taking four of 25 seats.
    =='=/

    Conservatives Race Ahead In EU Elections

    ReplyDelete
  58. In Spain, where the recession has driven unemployment to 17.4 percent, Europe's highest, a close race was expected between the ruling Socialists and the conservative opposition.


    In Sweden, the Green Party was expected to increase its support dramatically. The Pirate Party, which advocates shortening the duration of copyright protection, was expected to get one or two seats for the first time.
    --
    -/

    Almost 20% unemployed in Spain. If they fudge their numbers like we do, it's probably higher than that.

    ReplyDelete
  59. "Anything else going on in the world?"

    Yes, the Archduke was assassinated in Serbia, a miserable, Godforsaken, backwater.

    Any other questions?

    ReplyDelete
  60. A nearly unknown 'black' man, whose young white mother showed signs of instability, and whose father is in doubt, whose birth place is challenged and whose religious unbringing was varied, a user of drugs in his youth and college years, a community organizer, whose intellectual mentors are Wright and Alinsky, a man who thrived in the sewers of Chicago politics, and whose allegiance to his country is in doubt, is elected President of the United States.

    Other than that, not much going on.

    ReplyDelete
  61. The one sided descriptions, doug, describe the current positions and policies of the United States, doug.

    There is not an equality of power, between the Israeli and the Palistini.

    The majority of the blame, for that situation resides with the UN, in my opinion, for never forcing a solution to the refugee challenge. Either returning them to Israel or integrating them in the other porrtions of the Levant.

    Since the US funds aprox 24% of UN expeditures, that responsibility is shared, with US.

    Then the responsibility for the current situation rests with the Israeli, as they have controlled the lack of economic vitality, in the Pali areas. Road blocks and embargos tell that tale, sufficently. As did Mr Mitchell in his report to the President, circa 2000.

    The US has not accused the Palis of violating the Geneva Accords, nor have the Swiss, for that matter.
    The Accords a Treaty which Israel is signatory to.

    The is no Palistine State, to sign on to the Accords, yet.

    With regards the nuclear situation, the President made that position crystal clear. The Iranians are signatory and, for the most part, compliant with the NPT, the Israeli are not.

    For the Israeli to maintain the moral high ground, they should be, signatory to the NPT.
    They refuse to participate, so far.

    The list can continue, the Israeli, maintaining the preponderance of power for well over forty years, with US support. That reality provided them the preponderance of authority, in the Levant, thusly the preponderance of responsibility for the current situation.

    As it has been in the making since the Israeli did not return Gaza to Egypt, in 1968.

    ReplyDelete
  62. "Your" America, amigos, is an illusion.

    It is smoke and mirrors.
    While extremely mallable, to boot.

    The challenge was issued, back in my youth.

    "America, Love it or Leave it!"

    Well, they didn't leave.
    They're beginning to love it.

    Fundemetal change, amigos.

    Desert Storm, slim, was a halfstep.
    The Mission, short sighted, at best.

    The "Piece" allowed Saddam to kill US allies, with chemical weapons, when they rose up in revolt, at the urging of the US President. The use of aircraft, to deliver those chemical weapons, unopposed by US.

    The US actions alienating the majority of the population of Iraq, which was not a blessing, in 2003 & 2004.

    That enire Desert Storm episode had mediocrity as it's standard.

    Just as in the Invasion of Iraq, the initial assualt went very well, but the long term effect was mediocre, at best.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Thank you, rat, my thoughts exactly. The middle eastern problem has been exacerbated since 1967. I fault the UN and the surrounding Arab countries for maintaining the "refugee camps."

    The west bank and Gaza became a breeding ground for succeeding generations of the death cult.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Obama's America, that is the new reality.

    Fifty years of faulty public education, has blossomed.

    Incrementalism, at its finest.

    It's a long walk back, and no one is even talking about starting the trip.

    ReplyDelete
  65. It was Egypt's before the Israeli took it, bob.

    Whether the Egyptians wanted it back, or not, irrelevent today. The Israeli were not returning it, then. They cannot, today.

    What ever visions of Greater Israel were in the Israeli mind, it has turned into a nightmare, not the dream they envisioned.

    The Settlements meant to define a reality of a Greater Israel, will very likely be Israel's undoing.

    There being a great distance between internationalizing the governing of the Levant and another genocide of Jews.

    They're bein' set up, plain as day.

    ReplyDelete
  66. rat, and by extension, whit:

    It always amazes me how fault and blame is consistently directed outward, away from the source of the pathology, when experts and pundits ponder the "problem" of the "palistinians".

    They're their own worst enemies, proven over and over and over, ad nauseum.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Posted by: Adina kutnicki, Israel
    Jun 07, 03:26 AM

    What is truly mendacious, yet not at all surprising, is that Jerusalem and Judea & Samaria-aka the West Bank-were NEVER void of Jewish presence, and as such are historically, biblically, legally and morally Jewish (Israeli) land. In addition, NEVER in world history has a nation which captured land in a defensive ! war been exhorted to return said land to the aggressor. Therefore, the question becomes - why is Israel treated differently than any other country in the world? Double standard indeed.

    To be sure, Israel's leading resident leftists have added fuel to the fire. While their main driving force is to be embraced by the world powers, to be viewed as cosmopolitan Israelis and not as provincial Jews, (please read Dr Kenneth Levin's trenchant book, 'The Oslo Syndrome illusions of a People Under Siege' to understand their psychosis) they have inveritably jumped onto the anti-zionist bandwagon. In turn, they have adopted the fallacious canard that Israel is an 'occupier', that their communities are 'settlements'. Now, I don't know how ignorant or not they are of their own history, but in any case, one cannot 'occupy' what has always been yours.

    The terms occupation and settlements are first and foremost used as pejoratives. Once Israel's enemies realized that militarily it would be difficult to beat the Israeli army, they decided that branding them as illegitimate usurpers would be just as effective, even more so.

    At this juncture in Israel's short modern history it will take a concerted effort by those within Israel's power circles to stand up and FINALLY tell the truth. That these so called settlements are in fact Jewish land, that it is time to cease the pandering of the Israeli leadership to the world powers, especially to Washington. That if indeed Obama and crew wish to exorciate Jerusalem, they must first be willing to call themselves occupiers-of ALL the land they took from the Native Americans and others who came before them. By the way, if truth is an important adjudicator, surely Jewish historical rights to Israel will trump American conquest.

    Let the dialogue begin.
    --
    -/

    Time to get out of Phoenix :)

    ReplyDelete
  68. Posted by: altalena
    Jun 07, 07:47 AM

    Adina Kutnicki's commentary is one of the most important posts ever published on this website. That is because she deals not in myths or conjectures but in something our entire culture desperately needs: facts -- plain, unadorned historical facts. Her opening paragraph is trenchant, incisive, and essential to any understanding of what's now going on in the Middle East.

    The Arabs have not been very successful at most of the things usually subsumed under the rubric of "modernity." Arab contributions to science, to technology, to philosophy, to literature have been negligible or non-existent. But in one thing the Arabs have unarguably excelled: the production of propaganda. In their use of the Big Lie, the Gargantuan Falsehood, the Cosmic Fiction, the Arabs are easily the equals of their Nazi teachers. Josef Goebbels had many students, but none more adroit than the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his many Arab disciples. So good are the Arabs at producing propaganda that they have raised their non-Arab Muslim brethren to their own level. Today, it is impossible to decide who is the better liar: the Arab Abu Mazen or the non-Arab Ahmadinejad.

    The purpose of propaganda, as Aldous Huxley said years ago, is to make one set of people forget that another set of people is human. In that, the Muslims have succeeded in spades. They have dehumanized the Israelis to the point that many in the West now discuss closing down the settlements as casually as they would discuss shutting the front door of their own homes. Eliminating the settlements is "no big deal" because the occupants of those settlements aren't real flesh-and-blood people. Instead, they're "occupiers," "colonizers," "oppressors." Human beings have been turned into abstractions, and abstractions can be moved about as easily as chess pieces. Such is the power of the Big Lie.

    Ms. Kutnicki has performed a signal service by reminding all of us that the Big Lie is a lie. Its ultimate purpose is to turn living Jews into dead Jews -- the only kind the Muslim world seems able to abide. The time is long past for all of us in the West who still care about such things to begin thundering -- as loudly and as forcefully as we can -- that the Big Lie is a lie -- a monstrous invention designed to ensure not only that Israel's Jews do not live in the settlements, but that Israel's Jews do not live -- period.
    --
    -/

    I demand the removal of the illegal occupation and settlement of Phoenix, which should be, we all know, part of Mexico, or at least, part of the Spanish Empire!

    ReplyDelete
  69. Ancient history of Gaza until mid-16th century (15th century BC-1517)

    The first mention of the city of Gaza was in the 15th century BC. In the Hebrew Bible, after Samson was delivered into bondage by Delilah he died while toppling the Temple of the god Dagon there.[7][8]

    In the 13th century BC the area was taken over by the Philistines, whose coastal power base of Philistia approximated roughly to the modern Strip. The name Palestine is derived from "Philistia" and "Philistines," via the Greek and Latin languages. The Gaza area changed hands many times over the next 2,000 years. It fell, successively, to the Israelite King David (in 1000 BC), to the Assyrians (in 732 BC), Egyptians, Babylonians (in 586 BC), Persians (in 525 BC), and Greeks. Alexander the Great met stiff resistance there (in 332 BC). After conquering it, he sold its inhabitants into slavery.[9][10]
    --
    -/

    wiki--I doubt this is exactly right. I'd imagine, though don't know, that Gaza was mentioned in early Egyptian chronicles.

    ReplyDelete
  70. While that may be true, lineman, it is not Federal Socialist storyline.

    The President laid out the fundementals the other day. Israel exists to right a great wrong. It is a refugee camp for the oppressed Jews of Europe, to include over a million Russians, in the 1990s.

    Economic refugees, for the most part, like Mexicans coming to the US. Looking for opportunity, those greener pastures on the other side of the perverbial fence.

    That storyline is easily understood and agreed to, by almost everyone.

    Those million Russians, like Mexicans in the US, taking all the entry level jobs, from the deserving native work force.


    Since Israel was founded by terrorists, hotel bombers that went on to lead the Country, it is easy to extrapulate that behaviour into the core ideals of the Israeli State.
    Any crime is justified, even murder, if it advances the Zionist dream. In fact murder is not a crime, at all, if it advances the interests of the State of Israel.

    As mat applauded the killing of Mr Begin and warned that even Bibi would face death, if he equivicated. Justifiably so, according to our house Israeli,

    And while the Palis are a dirty stinkin' bad kind of folk, they have no power, they have no authority and thusly, little if any responsility for their plight.

    That's the storyline.

    The President believes it. It fits his life experiences and dovetails perfectly with his patterns of empathy.

    Back in the days before I read about the Levant, I tended to side with the Israeli. The more I came to know the realities, the story beyond the democratic Jewish State and delved into the realm of Jim Crow discrimination and exploitation. Now the new President's storyline plays to human behaviour, as I understand it.

    The Israeli not ready to moderate, not on the important issues. They are not ready to abandon those settlements. To what ever fate awaits the infrastructure.

    Once the Israeli left Gaza, those greenhouses had no value, at all, to them. The greenhouses, for the Palis, being more negative political baggage than their economic value could carry.

    The elections in Lebanon, no joke, but a test of the US foreign policy success over the past four years. If HB garners the Christian support and takes the government, then there we are. A new reality for which more of the same will not surfice to further US interests.

    The US, being a Christian country, should heed the advise of the Lebanese Christians and follow their lead, which ever way they go, no?

    ReplyDelete
  71. The Pirate Party will take up one of Sweden's 18 seats in the 785-seat parliament. "We will use all of our strength to defend personal integrity and our civil rights," Engstrom said.--
    -/

    Sweden's 'Pirate Party" Captures Euro Seat--
    -/

    Go Vandals!

    Go Vikings!

    "Fighting For Your Internet Rights"

    ReplyDelete
  72. The US encouraging elections, should work with the winners.
    It is the essence of US policy in Iraq.
    Will be in Afpakistan, now, too.

    It'll work with the Palis, too.
    We're goin' to give it go, anyway.

    Mr Obama not abandoning democratization, just acknowledging the outcomes.

    ReplyDelete
  73. The Lebanese Christians are between hell and high water. Used to be a majority Christian country, a decent place, the Hong Kong of the Med, or whatever they called it, back when Danny Thomas's father left for TV land.

    They been cleansed and beat up so bad, they don't know which way to turn.

    Once the Israeli left Gaza, those greenhouses had no value, at all, to them.--
    -/

    Exactly so, they are not gardeners. Wouldn't know what to do with a modern, scientific greenhouse if it was given to them.

    Better to rifle the fixtures and sell 'em off.

    ReplyDelete
  74. BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s pro-Western coalition declared victory early Monday, as local television stations reported the faction had successfully fended off a serious challenge by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies to grab the majority in parliament.

    Official results for Sunday’s election were not expected until later Monday, but the winners were already celebrating by shooting in the air, setting off fireworks and driving around in honking motorcades.

    The election was an early test of President Barack Obama’s efforts to forge Middle East peace. A win by Hezbollah would have boosted the influence of its backers Iran and Syria and risked pushing one of the region’s most volatile nations into international isolation and possibly into more conflict with Israel.

    “I present this victory to Lebanon,” Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said on television after stations projected his pro-Western coalition was winning. “It is an exceptional day for democracy in Lebanon.”

    ReplyDelete
  75. It was better off for them politically.

    Just as we are better off, not drilling in that pristine Alaska widerness of Anwar.

    All political decisions are not economicly rational, bob.

    But they represent a reality, all the same.

    ReplyDelete
  76. If that result holds, bob, it's another big win for the US and President Obama!

    Pigs are flyin'!!

    All it took was a little humility in a speech and the US holds Lebanon!!!

    The addition of the Turkish Army, could have been a major step.

    Team Obamamerica, puttin' pigs in orbit!

    ReplyDelete
  77. Soft power, takin' it to the streets!

    ReplyDelete
  78. I confess I don't know why any Christian group would ally itself with Hezbollah. But it seems some have. Some things will always remain a mystery to me.

    Danny Thomas by the way was a pretty decent guy. Did a lot of good with some hospitals, among other things.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Voter turnout in Sweden was 43.7 percent, higher than the 37.1 percent in the 2004 election, election officials said.--
    -/

    Hard to get those Swedes motivated.

    ReplyDelete
  80. By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN.

    What should we be doing? The follow-up to the president’s speech will have to be led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This will be her first big test, and, for me, there is no question as to where she should be putting all her energy: on the peace process.

    No, not that peace process — not the one between Israelis and Palestinians. That one’s probably beyond diplomacy
    .

    No, I’m talking about the peace process that is much more strategically important — the one inside Iraq.

    The most valuable thing that Mrs. Clinton could do right now is to spearhead a sustained effort — along with the U.N., the European Union and Iraq’s neighbors — to resolve the lingering disputes between Iraqi factions before we complete our withdrawal. (We’ll be out of Iraq’s cities by June 30 and the whole country by the close of 2011.)

    ReplyDelete
  81. TEHRAN, June 7 -- The main challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Friday's presidential election is a relatively unknown candidate who says he joined the race to save Iran from his opponent's "destructive" policies.

    Mir Hossein Mousavi, 67, who served as prime minister in the early years of the Islamic revolution, had stayed away from politics for the past 20 years. But he entered the race on a main promise to stand up to Ahmadinejad, which has earned him the support of influential clerics, politicians and young people alike.

    Each night, tens of thousands of youths gather in Tehran's main squares to cheer their support for a man who just a month ago they barely knew by name. Mousavi has emerged as the only serious alternative for those who oppose the policies of Ahmadinejad, who has the support a small group of hard-line clerics and some influential members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

    "Mousavi will make us free," a girl shouted from a car Saturday night, waving at the masses of young supporters. "I don't really know who he is. But he is the only one that can beat Ahmadinejad."

    Those close to Mousavi, who is also an architect, describe a worldly intellectual who is not hungry for power but who thinks that Iran's bad economy and international isolation require him to try to effect change. Others, however, accuse Mousavi of having played a pivotal role in the purging of pro-Western professors and students in the first years of the Islamic revolution.

    ReplyDelete
  82. 10 Die in Arizona Crash
    New York Times - ‎1 hour ago‎
    By AP SONOITA, Ariz. (AP) - A sports utility vehicle crammed with 22 people rolled over in a remote area near Tucson, killing 10 and injuring the others, the authorities said.

    ReplyDelete
  83. 10 Die in Arizona Crash...

    Was that just today, rat?

    There was a similar and fiery crash on 40 over east of Tucson just a couple days ago. I imagined it somewheres near the Dragoons. Overloaded van. Multiple fatalities and critical burn victims.

    Always seemed to me that once past Benson, the traffic approaching Tucson was just crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Over one-million "Arab" citizens peacefully live within the borders of Israel. By the standards of the UN, EU, US, Arab League supported Palestinians, they are affluent. They continue to give the lie to the hateful, pro-Palestinian propaganda that would cast Israel as oppressive aggressor.

    Mr. Obama has not yet appointed an ambassador to Germany. In keeping with the empathetic policy of American outreach to America's Arab friends, Cynthia McKinney just seems the natural choice.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Cynthia McKinney just seems the natural choice...

    I thought she was being groomed as Justice Ginsberg's replacement.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Cynthia McKinney would bring excitement, controversy and news coverage to any post she might hold, we could count on that.

    If not suitable for Germany, maybe Mongolia needs an American ambassador.

    ReplyDelete
  87. 52 minutes ago, lineman.
    Wreck photo.

    The secondary County roads are bad enough, but if your out on the dirt roads ... Easy to lose it when speeding in an over loaded SUV.

    The road from Tucson, north to Florence, the Tom Mix Hiway.

    The bridge abuttment he hit is still there, a narrow winding road, fun to drive, but a little nervy at speed. Deadly at night.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Something seems to be stirring in Europe---

    Gordon Brown suffered humiliation in the polls last night as the British National Party achieved its biggest electoral breakthrough. --
    -/

    Labour Faces Disastrous Results--
    /

    People may be finally starting to get fed up with having all sorts of regulations, laws, taxes shoved down their throats, all that go against their basic grain. Would that the same would begin here, where it doesn't matter whether 70%or more of the folks don't like a policy, it seems impossible to really change it.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Huge corruption scandal, there in jolly olde England, bob.

    Make the House post office stamps for kited checks seem like child's play, by comparison.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Would that the same would begin here, where it doesn't matter whether 70%or more of the folks don't like a policy, it seems impossible to really change it.

    Oh, I don't know, Bob.

    We seem to be gettin' a lot of change.

    ReplyDelete
  91. I was thinking about immigration.

    Anyway, the old English scandals I recall from my youth always--always--had some good looking broad, or five, involved somewhere along the line.

    Maybe it's all just about money now, a devolution, a loss of tension, a weakening of good corrupt form.

    ReplyDelete
  92. "I thought she was being groomed as Justice Ginsberg's replacement."

    That is so Maxine Waters. Temperment is everything, you know. Maxine is seasoned and ready.

    In two years, not only will our economy function along the lines of Zimbabwe, but Zimbabwe will offer the model for our political/bureaucratic system as well. By comparison, Mongolia is absolutely urban.

    ReplyDelete
  93. "That enire Desert Storm episode had mediocrity as it's standard."

    rat, you are mediocrity and purposely oppose all that dare to be better. sorry for the insult but it really seems that the generation that followed WWII started this trend for some reason, perhaps jealousy. i couldn't agree with you less about desert storm. it had the hallmark of a WWII vet president that somehow got bogged down by the typical defeatist pc generation that you probably belong to. you're so damn depressing. shit, i may have to pull a mat.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Greetings,



    Today may be the day our proposal for an Idaho nuclear plant is decided. At 9 a.m. MST, the Elmore County Commission will discuss and possibly vote on our application to rezone 1,300 acres for the plant. See news item below and we will keep you updated.



    This newsletter is a product of Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. (www.alternateenergyholdings.com), which has proposed the Idaho Energy Complex, a large advanced nuclear reactor with low cooling water requirements located about 65 miles southeast of Boise, in Elmore County. Company officials plan to submit a Combined Operating License Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2010. The approval process is expected to take three years and cost $80 million. Construction could begin as soon as late 2012 and finish with power generation beginning in late 2016.



    Currently, there are 439 nuclear power plants in 30 countries, mostly in North America and Europe, and another 35 plants in 12 countries are under construction. Globally, there are 400 new reactors proposed in 50 new countries.



    We have started a Twitter feed and you can follow us a http://twitter.com/aehi. Our Facebook page is at http://groups.to/nuclear. You may also be interested in Don Gillispie’s blog at www.cleanidahoenergy.wordpress.com. Don, the CEO of AEHI, gives his take on energy-related issues and we invite you to visit and comment.



    Please call or write if you have any questions,



    Martin Johncox

    Alternate Energy Holdings Inc.

    208-658-9100
    --
    -/

    Hang in there, slowslider--you want to hear how our proposed nuclear plant turns out, don't you?

    I keep giving updates periodically. Big day tomorrow....


    Allen, I thought sure Maxine Waters was going to be Energy Secretary....

    ReplyDelete
  95. bobal,

    For Energy Secretary, we need an exuberant visionary, say, Sheila Jackson-Lee. Anyone who believes the US sent a manned flight to Mars can grasp the potential of alternative energy sources, even in the almost total absence of infrastructure and with the disability of impossible economies of scale.

    Onward into Wonderland!

    ReplyDelete
  96. Poll: Few Iranians see US favorably, despite Obama

    This differs completely with the view of one regular subscriber here, who feels the “positive” election results in Lebanon (despite being uncounted and certified) stem directly from Mr. Obama’s genuflection to Islam.

    Go figure.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Yes, yes, Allen, but does she realize that our very remote ancestors actually came from Mars?--
    -/

    For more information on this exciting subject see Richard Hoagland's Enterprise Mission--
    -/

    Richard used to work for NASA and was Walter Cronkite's science advisor.

    "To Boldly Go Where Someone Has Gone Before"

    ReplyDelete
  98. bobal,

    ...the whole men are from Mars and women from Venus thing, uh?...

    Ms Jackson-Lee, however, just gives off those Uranusian vibes, if you know what I mean...not to say there is anything wrong with Uranus, mind you...never been there...No doubt, someone here has been and will share his insights.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Magic Key

    "We (Arabs) want to devote our time ... to build a generation capable of confronting the future with science and work,"…

    …but first things first…the destruction of Israel…otherwise, we will be forced to keep doing what we have been doing for the past 1400 years…

    ReplyDelete