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."

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

If you are in the CIA, Quit!

CYA. Clean your desk. Update your CV and leave behind an ungrateful government led by a community organizer from Chicago. Get out of Dodge and let the Democrats and Left start doing some creative writing to explain their felonious assault on American security the next time America gets hit by her enemies. Do your duty and quit en masse to wake up action in Americans who can help.

You did your job, a dangerous job in dreadful times for people that do not have enough courage to object to this coming charade. False sympathy for terrorists and sanctimonious pronouncements from the loathing left are your present and future. The crusade has begun, and the Holderites will be supported by the non-intellectual slugs that lard the American electorate. The sanctum sanctorum of American Intelligence will be trashed and defaced.

Thank you for your service. Have a nice day.

One of the previously knifed by the Democrats and the left

116 comments:

  1. The first step has been taken. They will try and divide you by handing out red shirts and white shirts, going after the so-called bad actors implying the good guys will be OK. It won't.

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  2. This is the end of the Obama Administration.

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  3. I've watched Leon Panetta for 30 years, getting his mailings from the Garlic Capital of the World when he was a young representative.
    Neither he, nor Mueller @ FBI would countenance such suicidal nonsense.

    Whacked out liberal he is, but he is no America hater as are BHO and Holder.

    Clinton had genuine expertise around himself for political protection like Dick Morris.

    Black Muslim Barry has only thugs, like Holder and the Jewish Ballet Dancer.

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  4. Scaring Hot Mexican Girls

    Spanish TV is so funny, they only feature amazingly hot women and they can get away with all sorts of morbid pranks. They start off by pranking girls who walk by what looks like an empty box and then they take it to a whole new level.

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  5. Killing two pirates to save 1 American Captain = Good

    Killing Jihadists and their families with
    missiles launched from predator drones = Good

    Scaring Jihadists to gain intel to save thousands = Bad

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  6. ...and the diminutive and shrinking president is in Martha's Vineyard playing golf.

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  7. "Marxist's Vineyard," according to BHO's nemesis, Rush Limbaugh!

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  8. I'll be back baby.

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. 2164th,

    I thought you were a strong proponent of law and order? You know, adherence to the Constitution and all that. Why are you now so hot under the collar that the AG is choosing to prosecute according to the law?

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  11. Saw a retired Army Colonel explain how this shining of the light of justice and truth was a "good thing" for the morale of those in the CIA that were loyal and true, to the principlse that made the US a "Shining City on the Hill". Though that phrase is not a direct quote, it captures the essence of his position as a retired military officer.
    He was once one of the 4,000 elites of the elitists, a Colonel.

    So, of course, he'd know what was what.

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  12. I did not catch that particular Colonel's name, but he had once served on General Powell's staff.

    General Powell, another prime example of the excellence of our military elites, keeping US secure in our homes.

    Desert Storm, and all his other success's stand in tribute to his leadership and vision, as another example of how demanding diversity in our Government expanded our national heritage and strengths as a Nation of Laws.

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  13. “When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”
    ___Churchill

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  14. I just read an interesting op/ed piece on "Peak Oil" and its tone reminds me of what the "anti-climate change" folk sound like. Interesting parallel but more interesting are its claims re peak oil and trish's and rufus's dust-up yesterday.

    ‘Peak Oil’ Is a Waste of Energy

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  15. Ash,

    I am a proponent of surviving and knowing how to respond to an enemy, based on experience. Never mind.

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  16. I understand 2164th but I'm curious does the same argument extend to things like, say, gun control?

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  17. To all of those of Ash's mind...

    Please keep drinking the koolaid, when the jihadists decide to slit your throats, you will be too fucked up to notice...

    How dare we actually SCARE a mass murdering terrorist?

    Here is a thought...

    Capture a armed terrorist, not wearing a uniform, attempting to murder Americans..

    Video tape his questioning, shoot him, stuff him into a pig skin and dump him into the ocean for the sharks to feed on..

    then? release the video on utube with the caption...









    NEXT?



    It's war baby...

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  18. 51. programmer:

    Charles:

    I refer you to the US Code: Title 18,2340 etc.


    As used in this chapter—
    (1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
    (2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from—
    (A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;
    (B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;
    (C) the threat of imminent death; or
    (D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and
    (3) “United States” means the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths, territories, and possessions of the United States.

    http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002340----000-.html

    This will be the code under which prosecution is proceeded upon.

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  19. No one size fits all in the argument department.

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  20. I don't know what kind of person would go into the CIA, today. But, whatever kind it is, I'm quite sure it's not the kind we need.

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  21. But consistency is important. If on the one hand you argue "A" and on the other you argue "not-A" then you render your arguments meaningless.

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  22. Ash, life in the real world is not about winning "debates."

    Life in the "Real" world is all about making common-sense decisions.

    As that old "Supreme" said, "The Constitution is not a Suicide Pact." That, also, has to apply to "Rules" of War (especially, when you're at War with Terrorists, who, by their very nature, Observe NO "Rules.")

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  23. So, rufus, you say 'screw the constitution' do you? Do what makes 'common sense' regardless of that "suicide pact"? Interesting. I disagree. A nation of Laws is a good thing. You disagree with a law, well, work to change it. If you can't then don't do the crime if you don't want to do the time.

    I think of all the 2nd amendment arguments offered, all the free speech stuff and you want to through it out for the sake of expediency, for "common sense". yikes.

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  24. To all of those of Ash's mind...

    Please keep drinking the koolaid, when the jihadists decide to slit your throats, you will be too fucked up to notice...


    heh, it's for insightful comments of this kind that I keep sneaking a look here...always disregarding that farce from Arizona, of course.

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  25. You do not have to sneak, use your gold card.

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  26. I'm relaxing (read: lazy) this morning, and don't want to do a paragraph by paragraph fisking of the Lynch, article.

    But, don't believe a word of it. He's just flat wrong about some of it, and, I'm afraid, being purposefully disingenuous about a large part of the rest.

    Just one case in point: In 73', no one, as far as I know, thought there was a "shortage" of oil. But, it was obvious that we had let the Saudis get us by the short hairs.

    Two things happened.

    1) We quit using 6 Million bpd of oil for electricity generation. We switched That over to coal, and natural gas.

    2) The North Sea.

    Now, there is no more low hanging fruit to trim, and we haven't found another North Sea since . . . well, the North Sea.

    I remember it was, probably, the first week of the Elephant Bar, and everybody was all a'twitter about the "Jack Field" find. Haven't heard much about it lately, have you. Turned out it was a "little" bit of oil, and it was really, deep.

    Then it was the "Brazilian Bonanza." Oh yeah, it was 5 miles deep in the Ocean, and under a mile of "salt" (something no one had ever drilled through, before,) and it was dispersed over a few Thousand square miles, but "Hey," we got all that technology, right?

    Well, they just drilled a $150 Million Dry Hole down there. Oops.

    Then there was "Bakken." Energy Independence, at last. Except, well, you know it really is just an area the size of 5, or 6 states in which there are, scattered around, ittie, bittie, puddles of oil. Oops, agin.

    Ah, Oil Shale. Uh, how much water? And, how much does it cost? And, it would do What to the environment?

    Guys, the Saudis have so much of that good profitable oil left that they're trying to figure out how to use the "Tarmat" at the bottom of Ghawar. What is "Tarmat?" Well, it's just about what it sounds like. If you're picturing asphalt, buried a mile below the surface of the Desert you're on the right track.

    We're much more sophisticated at tracking oil production, and reserves, now, than we've ever been; and the numbers are telling us that, "yes Virginia, We Have Peaked."

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  27. Does Canada have a "Constitution?"

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  28. Yes, Canada does, and written relatively recently (well, sort of - it dates back awhile but it was 'repatriated' in 1982. Even has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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  29. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  30. The first step has been taken. They will try and divide you by handing out red shirts and white shirts, going after...

    Tue Aug 25, 07:07:00 AM EDT

    ...those who hadn't adequate top cover, nor remote video quality control. And I don't expect much to be wrung out of it except a lot of angry. (Angry on both sides, because none of it leads where some people invariably think it does or want it to. Charles Krauthammer, call your office.)


    Ye discontented: Gate's always open at Bolling AFB, home of Those Other Guys Who Manage To Keep Themselves Out Of The News - Booyah. (It's something they put in the water.) They're opening up shop in Charlottesville, too, if you're inclined in that direction. Though that may not be your preferred Directorate.






    HIG's looking mighty good, also, if you're certified. Start pimping that job now. Downtown and on the NSC's official worry list, this time. Can't beat it.




    Or stay put and take heart in the fact that's it's not your headache anymore.

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  31. Is HIG a fancy name for Whitehouse Plumbers?

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  32. High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.

    All your high-value detainee collection needs under one roof. Making camp at the Hoover Bldg.

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  33. Or leasing nondescript office space in, say, Chantilly. But I have a feeling they'll want 'em in the District.

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  34. Programmer:
    “This is one of the open sores that inflames many of the centrists that supported the election of the current team of “brainiacs” running our country. It is time to treat it. Open it up to the air. Let the legal system work, in its imperfect way. In my opinion, this is not an issue to “lock and load” over. This is not a persecution of a previous administration. It is a righteous examination of alleged bad conduct and bad decisions. Just because someone is Left does not mean they are wrong, you just need to count your fingers after shaking hands with them.”



    Voltimand:
    The intent of leftist lawyers in bringing jihadi cases to federal courts was precisely to do the same thing you are attempting: transforming the war on terror into a legal game over which not the military but lawyers would have the controlling say.”


    #91. Doug:

    My question, Programmer, is how can a person like Holder, who for political gain pardoned domestic terrorists that blew up innocent Americans in a Restaurant, possibly be said to be conducting a “righteous examination” of anything?
    ---

    Ash, as usual, full of shit.

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  35. HHIG:
    ---
    Holder's crooks investigating anyone on our side, including political opponents.

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  36. Are you suggesting that HIG is the setup for a political tool?

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  37. John Cole at balloon-juice:

    Thomas Friedman "the mustache of understanding".

    hehehe

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. Holder's law firm defends Jihadists @ Gitmo, fwiw.

    ...and now he's investigating the prosecutors!

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  40. Okay, but that doesn't answer my question wrt HIG.

    Guess I'll have to wait and hear it from Hewitt. Kind of makes the whole operation sexier through rumored affiliation with shadowy, nay demonic, political activities. Globe-hopping cultural specialists, interrogators, and debriefers by day; buggers of RNC HQ by night. And some hilariously ironic cover, to boot. Charles Colson, we read your book, you magnificent bastard!


    Seriously, Doug.

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  41. Cheney Statement on CIA Documents/Investigation

    Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave The Weekly Standard a statement Monday night about the CIA documents and the coming Justice Department investigation.

    "The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda.
    This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks.

    These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of al Qaeda members and associates since 2002.

    The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States.

    The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions.

    President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security
    ".

    Posted by Stephen F. Hayes on August 24,

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  42. What, Trish:
    Do you contend BHO and Holder are pure as the driven snow, and driven by their love of this country?

    Serious Indeed!

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  43. In the meantime I have another:

    In those cases now under preliminary investigation, were the methods used on the list of EITs?

    I told Gag recently that one has to make the distinction between authorized and controlled operations, and that which left the reservation. It's not an insignificant distinction, though not necessarily an actionable one either.





    And to think: We used to feel most sorry for the shooters. That responsibility, carried out under the spotlight, often by those barely old enough for a driver's license, seemed awesome and daunting.

    That feels like light years ago now.

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  44. Holder pardoned domestic terrorists that bombed innocent Americans in a restaurant.

    Barry is a phoney, America hating Marxist crook.

    Defend them if you must.

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  45. I don't know what shooters you refer to, so cannot comment on whether I felt sorry for them or not.
    Ages ago.

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  46. The Liars will conduct an honest investigation.
    Trust me!

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  47. Defend them if you must.

    Tue Aug 25, 04:56:00 PM EDT

    No, I am asking you a very specific question: Are you suggesting that HIG is the setup for a political tool?

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  48. 117. Artofnoise:

    @ 85
    Bennett assumes the Jihadists die when the missle hits. In remote areas the injured survivors of such hits may lay in agony for a couple days before the animals start gnawing off limbs. Sounds like torture to me. All this on the orders of the CIC.

    ---
    ---

    118. Doug:

    gnawing off limbs

    Like JenJis Khan!
    Oh, the Humanity!

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  49. I'm saying I trust nothing that Holder or Obama do or say.

    (Recently Obama assured CIA folks this WOULD NOT HAPPEN, remember?)

    Who are the baby shooters?

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  50. Shooters, trigger-pullers, whatever the flavor. It always seemed to us the more politically hazardous, at least for those in the Big Green Machine - the more likely to be hung out to dry. Because few up the chain ever seemed to have their back.

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  51. Defense Lawyers have shown Gitmo detainees pictures of Agents and their homes.
    Nice.

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  52. Possibly those lawyers work for Holder's firm!

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  53. Then the shit hit the fan through a bunch of sadistic clowns who weren't even intel, and had fuck-all to do with interrogation, and all of a sudden the world changed.

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  54. I think Donofrio is doing some really good work, looking into this issue in depth. Not that, like he says, much if anything will come of it, but it does show how far we have drifted from our moorings.

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  55. Has she started classes yet, bob?

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  56. I've wondered in the last few months what my Jewish lawyer might say about this natural born citizen issue. I've thought about popping him an e-mail and asking, but then thought better of it, he's mostly retired now, and doesn't want to be bugged, particularily about things he can't do anything about. A practical guy.

    I have a new lawyer now, a young lady just a few years out of law school. Very bright and bouncy, but I don't think she is a constitutional scholar. Though she knows her way around the Idaho tax code and such, I doubt she has a handle on this.

    So I read Donofrio. I think he is doing some good work.

    I wish something would come of it, but I don't think it will.

    It is interesting, though.

    There is an awful smell that blows this way, when the wind is wrong, all the way from some godawful desert. Smells like rat dung, drying in the sun.

    Yuk.

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  57. Yes, she has, she is all fired up, and on the good red road right now.

    We had a great talk last night, heart to heart, told her I was thinking of buying a boat, which I am, I'd be able to flop at her pad, do a little kokanee fishing, if there are any left.

    She is doing good now. Thank you for asking.

    (I have a feeling you two would get along great, if you were ever to meet)

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  58. Geez, bob, I am glad, glad, glad to hear it.

    Regular reports back, please.

    (Later, teary, 1 AM conversations about how much she hates it and can't endure it and must take a semester off are not out of the realm of possibility. You will absolutely guarantee that she hangs in and that it's worth it. Because that's your job. It's a good job.)

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  59. I think she will do ok now.

    Thank God she had the good sense to take no morning classes. All afternoon, and one in the evening.

    She is, let's face it, a little hard to get up at 6:30 am in the morning.

    If I had her out on the farm, where you got to get up she'd fall right in line, I'm sure of it.

    It just takes getting used to.

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  60. speaking of the scumbags over at State:

    U.S. restricts visas for Hondurans
    Posted: 06:28 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. Embassy in Honduras will stop issuing many visas for Hondurans wishing to travel to the United States, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a Wednesday.

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  61. As an undergrad (and farmer's son, doncha know) my husband almost always opted for morning classes precisely because they were undersubscribed and you got more real time with the prof.

    But late-day risers: I get that, too. You go with what whatever fits. Not everyone is meant to be a fully functioning, happy human being at 7:30 AM. Especially at that age.

    Anyway, I'm sincerely happy for her. For you all.

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  62. Thanks.

    As I get older, I get less and less concerned about what time I get up.

    One of these days, I may not care at all what time I get up. I may not wish to get up at all.

    I've tried to say, there is an old, old spiritual rule, you got to die away from this world, totally, before you go to the next.


    Sparagmos, then something more.

    Aalways something more.

    Make the most of this world, but nature will take its course, as the great mother will do, regardless.

    Relax, it's all good.

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  63. I told you he was Rumpole of the Elephant.

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  64. Some want to develop new legal definitions to use against the head Democrat, while ignoring the existing law that could require prosecution of the current number one Republican icon.

    A person would have to have very low personal Standard of Ethics, to endorse that program of action.

    I could see not desiring the legal pursuit of either case, or pursuing both to the fullest extent possible.

    But to advocate for one, while denying the importance of the other, foolishly partisan.

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  65. Security sources have rejected this last theory. There has been a shift, they said, in the strategy for securing the Ma'aleh Adumim area and it has been determined that it is now a priority to work on the gap in the fence in the South Hebron Hills.

    In the last year, security sources said, work has focused on closing the holes in the barrier around Jerusalem.

    But they hinted broadly that there has been a shift in planning and that routes such as the Ma'aleh Adumim loop that appeared reasonable when they were designed are no longer feasible in the current diplomatic climate.


    Obama Forcing Israel?

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  66. The law is written in comfortable chambers by men who may or may not understand the context of the times. It is a luxury of civilization. By nature it is retrospective.

    Ethics are the explanations and apologies of scholars for human behavior and standards. They purport to address the future.

    Partisanship is choosing sides.

    Paradox is rampant in the universe. It just is.

    Survival is the reward for ignoring all of the above as the situation merits.

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  67. Those are good thoughts, duece, I say that seriously, but I want a straight answer to a simple question.

    Do you have to have Two citizen parents to be Commander in Chief?

    That was what I was taught.

    The reason:--no divided loyalties.

    Because Obama doesn't. He's got a Kenyan father. His Kenyan father was not a citizen of the United States. So he has himself said. That much is clear, regardless of where is was born, and regardless of a Hawaiian birth certificate, or not.

    And really, it is a good passable question, why isn't he coming clean on that?

    A simple question that would seem to demand a simple upfront answer.

    Does the Constitution mean anything anymore, and if it means something, what does it mean?

    His father was a Kenyan. Can we all agree on that? Or maybe he was an Englishman/Kenyan. At least, he was not an American citizen.

    Can we all agree on that?

    And what does that mean.

    I ask.

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  68. Yes, but who is it thatgets to decide when the situation merits?

    President Obama can decide the current situation with regards to ... pick any locale ... requires he take extra-legal actions, and you would support that?

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  69. After years spent hunting for the buried remains of prehistoric animals, Hans Larsson, a researcher in macro-evolution at Montreal's McGill University, said he aims to develop dinosaur traits that disappeared millions of years ago in birds.

    Larsson believes by flipping certain genetic levers during a chicken embryo's development, he can reproduce the dinosaur anatomy, he said.

    Although still in its infancy, the research could eventually lead to hatching live prehistoric animals, but Larsson said there are no plans for that now, for ethical and practical reasons - a dinosaur hatchery is "too large an enterprise".


    Dinosaur From a Chicken

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  70. Rumpole was a damned good lawyer, by the way, very wise and expedient for his clients.

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  71. Could a chicken with a Dynosaur for a father become POC?
    That is the question.
    President of the Chickens

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  72. Dynosaur - High Torque Chicken

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  73. You've been drinking again Rat.

    None of that makes any sense.

    Go back to bed, where you belong, bad breath.

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  74. "It is a luxury of civilization."

    No. It IS civilization.

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  75. The important question, of course, Sam is:
    Does it *taste* like chicken?

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  76. The situation with regards Obama and his birth.

    Yes his daddy is reported to be from Kenya, but there is no DNA evidence to support or refute that the Kenyan was actually was his father. In actuality any one of a number of people could have fathered Mr Obama, if the character traits that doug has ascribed to his mother are accurate. Never having met the lady, I would not speculate to a conclusion with regards her chastity, one way or the other.

    Whose one's father was, is a mystery to a lot of people, of his era. Of other eras, as well.

    He was born in Hawaii, and the Hawaiian authorities have so testified, under oath, in Court.

    Who Mr Obama's father was purported to be was well known across the land. He had even titled a book about the fellow.
    During the entire ballot registration process, across the fifty various States. The Secretaries of State, across the fifty States, ALL certified his eligibility to be on the ballot. There was not one serious legal challenge to his being on the ballot, prior to the election, in any of those various States.

    There was no serious challenge to his eligibility at the Electoral College.

    The electors of the Electoral College, Constitutional officers, all. The "Fourth Branch" of our Government further certified his eligibility.

    He was sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court another Constitutional officer, and scholar, which further ratified the decisions of the others, before him.

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  77. A rumor of war

    Michael Yon’s embed with British forces was canceled for reasons that are still unclear. He writes in his latest post that “the British Ministry of Defence canceled my embed after today’s dispatch. Please Read “Bad Medicine”. My own guess is that his dispatch was too high resolution for the British to be comfortable with, the question being in what respect. Bad Medicine is a textbook example of how a “journalist” should describe a combat scene. You get a sense of terrain, tactical advantages and disadvantages on each side, morale and fire support. You get almost none of these in your standard journalist’s report.

    Yon talks about Afghans who patrol with sandals and scrawny dogs, the comical misunderstandings of the battlefield, about civilians who know about Michael Jackson but have never heard of Canada, which kinds of fire support the troops like best , the primitiveness of French airplanes and the valor of their pilots, of British amusement at Southern accents, of the lethality of Death From Above, at what the British Army feels like to be surrounded in perpetuity, about how men who step on bombs disappear never to be found again. He describes a terrain flat as a billiard table, intersected by fifteen foot thick walls that make it like fighting in a maze, with no high ground. In short, he describes the war like a journalist who is also an ex-special forces soldier. And that makes him dangerous from a public relations point of view.

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  78. trish, civilization is Industry, Science and Culture.

    Not the Systems of Law that supports and makes possible the other three.

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  79. viktor told us that, about what being civilized is.

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  80. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  81. I'll grant that Mr Obama believes the stories his mother told him.

    I do believe that is true, just as I believe Mr GW Bush believed Mr George Tenet could slam dunk.

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  82. No, truth does not rest on what Obama believes, it rests on what is or was.

    Unless you believe that Obama creates his own truths, for all of US.

    No, what Obama believes about his father, he was told by his mother. That does not make the stories true.

    Just as what Mr GW Bush believed about Iraq, he was told by Feorge Tenet and Dick Cheney. That did not make the stories true.

    Mr Tenet could not slam dunk.

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  83. "It has nothing to do with DNA evidence, you moron."
    ---
    What if the Commie Pedophile sired The One?
    He was a citizen, although a damn poor excuse of one.

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  84. Rat is a fool to logic and reason.

    Plus, he is a big name caller.

    He is really an arse.

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  85. I will say one thing. obama and holder are playing a very dangerous game. There are enough out of work wet works men whose lives have been stunted and they are all waiting in the elephant grass.

    Yep, go ahead an begin indicting for it is known that you can indict a ham sandwichm but unless you get indigestion that's all. They'll get a good deal more than indigestion.

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  86. Bombshell!... Bill O'Reilly Announces Obamacare is Unconstitutional (Video)
    Just what Obama needs...

    Bill O'Reilly, the nation's top-rated cable news host, with over 3 million viewers every night, just announced that Obamacare is Unconstitutional.

    O'Reilly told his audience that the government cannot force Americans to buy something they don't want under the Commerce Clause in the Constitution:

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  87. Habu, that's sick and obnoxious and phony.

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  88. I ask again, does it take two American citizens to make a Natural Born Citizen, and if not, why not?

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  89. Law precedes civilization. Look to the history of England.

    Bob,

    Relax! He called me a liar...And...You are the better man.

    philosophy

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  90. You said I'd like to dance on the ashes of the United States.
    You are a liar.

    You said the Geneva Convention authorized summary executions.
    You are a liar.

    You said the US military does not triage on the battlefield,
    You are a liar.

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  91. You said bob's the better man
    You are a well renowned liar.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Context...try context...consider the possibility of context...think shades of gray...forget "Zorroaster"...Really, the universe is neither black nor white.

    Little boys and girls call people liars when they miss context. Adults, like Campbell, Franklin, and Churchill understood context.

    Consider: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

    We could take a vote to determine democratically who is the greater liar at EB...Hmm...

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  93. By the way, while you are not a liar for do so, you misquote me. I said something about squealing while dancing on the ashes, as I recall. Accuracy in attribution is much admired. Inaccuracy suggests a lack of maturity and discipline.

    Whatever my faults, I did not desecrate the memories of 270 innocents killed at Lockerbie to score sick anti-Semetic points. I would say "shame", but that is a concept clearly beyond your grasp. But who knows, G-d once spoke through an ass, so there is always hope for even His lowest creations.

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  94. 2164th said:
    "The law is written in comfortable chambers by men who may or may not understand the context of the times. It is a luxury of civilization."

    trish said:
    "'It is a luxury of civilization.'

    No. It IS civilization."

    allen said...
    "Law precedes civilization."

    Everybody is right here. Deuce is talking about making laws within the context of an established civil society.

    Trish and Allen are talking about what makes a civil society.

    Deuce is stating the particular case. Trish and Allen are stating the general case.

    For the record, since my name was brought up, my views are Here

    and,

    (From Pt 3 of an essay I posted on EB over a year ago and is in my Feb archives)

    "Man can build a civilization because of the four main attributes he possesses: brain capacity, manual dexterity, a moral sensibility, and the power of choice. All of the artifacts of civilization are possible because of Man's technical prowess. This prowess is due to the first two of these attributes: our brain and its ability to do mathematics, and our opposable thumb which allows allows us to build tools.

    But a civilization is more than the sum of its artifacts. Civilization becomes "civil" through its behaviour. The behavior that is necessary to allow us to construct an advanced civilization would not be possible without the other two major attributes: a moral sensibility and the power of choice. These four major attributes not only allow Man to build the various forms of civilization but, in my opinion, made it inevitable."

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  95. sheesh, all 2164th is saying is that Laws are great unless the men who are tasked with protecting US decide they aren't - survival trumps all laws. Ya know, if you think you gotta kill your neighbor to survive, go for it, 'cause ... I dunno, the Law won't exist anymore? I'm trying, really, to think like Deuce here...

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  96. Too often, the talk of "fixing" foreign aid is dominated by discussions of organizational structure, the volume of resource commitments, and the configuration or harmonization of objectives and players in the U.S. government. Such preoccupations are easy to understand: They reflect the force of habit.

    Such thinking, however, is conceptually trapped within a world that existed 30 or 40 years ago, when the public sector was the leading player in financial flows to poor countries. Today, the U.S. government's official development assistance constitutes just 9 percent of total U.S. financial flows to developing countries.

    It is time to give serious thought to making our foreign aid expenditures work more effectively. What matters is less a redrawing of organization charts than a serious consideration of how these dollars are delivered and whether they are responding to local ideas and actually reaching partners with stakes in the outcome of the investments.


    Help that Helps

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  97. Definition of a good man:

    First, a good man is one who is careful in his dealings with others (5:1.) The ASV renders this as one who "doeth justly."

    ...

    Second, a good man is one who is committed to seeking the truth (5:1.) Because of his desire for the truth, his interest in what is right is greater than his interest in who is right.

    ...

    Third, a good man is careful in his speech (5:2.) A good man’s speech is consistent with his lifestyle.


    Good Man

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  98. Post of the Year:

    The law is written in comfortable chambers by men who may or may not understand the context of the times. It is a luxury of civilization. By nature it is retrospective.

    Ethics are the explanations and apologies of scholars for human behavior and standards. They purport to address the future.

    Partisanship is choosing sides.

    Paradox is rampant in the universe. It just is.

    Survival is the reward for ignoring all of the above as the situation merits.


    Crystalline

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  99. A "furious" Rep. Peter King, the hawkish, maverick Long Island Republican, blasted a "disgraceful" Eric Holder for opening an investigation of CIA interrogators and chided his own party for what he described as a weak response to the move in an interview just now with POLITICO.

    "It’s bulls***. It’s disgraceful. You wonder which side they’re on," he said of the attorney general's move, which he described as a "declaration of war against the CIA, and against common sense."

    "It’s a total breach of faith, and either the president is intentionally caving to the left wing of his party or he’s lost control of his administration," said King, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security and a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

    King, channeling both the sense of outrage and of political opportunity felt in parts of the GOP, defended in detail the interrogation practices — threats to kill a detainee's family, and or to kill a detainee with a power drill — detailed in a CIA inspector general report released yesterday.

    "You're talking about threatening to kill a guy, threatening to attack his family, threatening to use an electric drill on him — but never doing it," King said. "You have that on the one hand — and on the other you have the [interrogator's] attempt to prevent thousands of Americans from being killed."

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  100. It's like 9-11 Never Happened.

    They didn't see those 3,000 Americans Die Right Before Their Eyes on National TV.

    Astonishing.

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  101. Rufus,

    Still working the late shift I see.

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  102. Comments like these provide the merest hint of the kind of rancor that will split this country if CIA interrogators or Bush administration officials start being dragged into criminal courts. The country needs to compile a complete record of what occurred during the eight years of misgovernment under Bush and Cheney.

    We need to get all the facts on torture through a thorough, bipartisan inquiry.

    And then we need to move on, resolved never to repeat such reprehensible conduct.


    No Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  103. Hello Quirk, I still miss Kudlow's blog before a few A-holes ruined it.

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  104. Without getting into the question of who the better man is, of course I have my own ideas about that :) no one has offered up an opinion as to what it takes to be a US President, genetically and Constitutionally speaking.

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  105. Could someone from North Korea for instance who happened to have been born in Seattle to a mother who had slipped in on a steamer be President?

    That's what I want to know

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  106. Yeh,

    I guess I contributed my share to a-hole quotient, but Kudlow's was a pretty good blog at times.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Doug (condensed):

    @ 85
    Bennett assumes the Jihadists die when the missle hits. In remote areas the injured survivors of such hits may lay in agony for a couple days before the animals start gnawing off limbs. Sounds like torture to me. All this on the orders of the CIC.
    ---
    118. Doug:
    “gnawing off limbs”

    Like JenJis Khan!
    Oh, the Humanity
    !

    ---------


    Evokes this ditty:

    When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains

    And the animals come to start gnawing remains

    Just roll to your AK and blow out your brains

    And go to allah like a soldier

    Like a soldier of jihad.

    ----

    Apologies to Kipling

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  108. Bob, Obama is a mystery to me regardless of how it came to be. I think if someone proved he was not a citizen, the American public would still have voted him in.

    Have no fear, I smell buyer's remorse.

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  109. Ash:

    I'm trying, really, to think like Deuce here...

    ROTFLMAO!

    Give it up, Ash. You'll never make it.

    ReplyDelete