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."

Thursday, October 22, 2009

US Security needs are closer than Afghanistan; Take Mexico for starters.

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Someone please explain to me why the murdering by Mexican drug gangs on the US border is less important than the murdering by the drugged up Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan, land-locked, half a planet away.

__________________________________

BBC

Mexican city sees record murders

The murder rate in Ciudad Juarez on the Mexico-US border has reached an all-time high amid battles between rival drug cartels, Mexican officials say.

Up to mid-October, there were 1,986 killings in Juarez on the US-Mexico border - 815 more than last year.

The drug cartels are fighting to control smuggling routes into the US but also the city's own drug market.

Thousands of troops have been deployed in Juarez and across Mexico since late 2006 to try to tackle the drug gangs.



The murder rate for 2009 in Ciudad Juarez, a city of some 1.5 million people, is averaging about seven a day.
So far this month there have been 195 killings alone, officials said.

The upsurge in murders in Juarez is a result of an escalating turf war between the Sinaloa cartel, run by Mexico's most-wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Juarez cartel, according to Victor Valencia, the public security secretary in the state of Chihuahua.

Booming market

Ciudad Juarez is located just over the border from El Paso, Texas, and has for years been one of the main transit points for cocaine passing from Mexico into the US.

The city also has a booming market in domestic drug consumption, which the two drug gangs would like to control, says the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City.

Before the escalation in violence, Juarez had a murder rate of around 200 a year, comparable to El Paso.
Now, our correspondent says, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

In late 2006, President Felipe Calderon began deploying extra security forces in attempt to take on the drug gangs. To date, some 45,000 troops and federal police have been sent to key areas.

This includes Juarez, where earlier this year several thousand troops were deployed in a attempt to contain the fighting.



174 comments:

  1. Someone please explain to me why the murdering by Mexican drug gangs on the US border is less important than the murdering by the drugged up Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan, land-locked, half a planet away.

    Because there's an unintended side-effect to the any enforcement action along the border. It dampens the flow of Democrats to the United States.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'Rat sez Walmart's gonna make "us" and "them" indistinguishable.
    An All American Utopia.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There’s No Substitute for Troops on the Ground
    Max Boot

    “I HOPE people who say this war is unwinnable see stories like this. This is what winning in a counterinsurgency looks like.”

    Lt. Col. William F. McCollough, commander of the First Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, is walking me around the center of Nawa, a poor, rural district in southern Afghanistan’s strategically vital Helmand River Valley. His Marines, who now number more than 1,000, arrived in June to clear out the Taliban stronghold. Two weeks of hard fighting killed two Marines and wounded 70 more but drove out the insurgents. Since then the colonel’s men, working with 400 Afghan soldiers and 100 policemen, have established a “security bubble” around Nawa.

    Colonel McCollough recalls that when they first arrived the bazaar was mostly shuttered and the streets empty. “This town was strangled by the Taliban,” he says. “Anyone who was still here was beaten, taxed or intimidated.”

    Today, Nawa is flourishing. Seventy stores are open, according to the colonel, and the streets are full of trucks and pedestrians. Security is so good we were able to walk around without body armor — unthinkable in most of Helmand, the country’s most dangerous province. The Marines are spending much of their time not in firefights but in clearing canals and building bridges and schools. On those rare occasions when the Taliban try to sneak back in to plant roadside bombs, the locals notify the Marines.

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  4. That's the kind of effort we need down south to make sure we don't become them completely.
    ...already well along the way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Not sure what you are proposing Doug?

    Are you saying we should move US troops into Mexico? Or encourage Mexico to adopt the approach your suggesting?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maybe America should take a "teaching moment" for what it suggests to Israel and it's border problems...

    Cede land for peace...

    Give mexico the south west back...

    After all rat and his fellow squatters are causing war by living there...

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  7. Yep that is the ticket...

    America needs to give up all it's occupied lands...

    LA, San Diego, Oklahoma, Texas et al...

    Just listen to the voices protesting on the streets!

    Think I am kidding? I am not...

    You can thank the palestinians for teaching the hispanics how to wage an "end the occupation" war...

    America hasnt seen ANYTHING yet but mark my words...

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  8. We are Nican Tlaca,
    the Indigenous People
    of Canada, U.S., Mexico,
    "Central and South America"

    We reject all European divisions of our continent.
    We reject the artificial border divisions of our people.

    We reject the White Supremacist ideology
    that claims Europeans are permanently endowed
    with the right to define who we are as a people.

    We include "First Nation" and "Native American"
    and "Indigenous People" all as one Nican Tlaca,
    all as one Indigenous Nation.

    We say, "No to occupation!"
    We say, "This is still our continent!"
    We say, "Europeans are the illegals---since 1492!"

    ReplyDelete
  9. I mis-spoke.. they reject the name "hispanic"

    WE REJECT
    THE RACIST &
    EUROCENTRIC
    TERMS:

    "Hispanic"
    "Latino"
    "Raza"
    "Mestizo"
    "Illegals"
    "Immigrants"
    "Latin Americans"
    "Indians"
    "Invaders"


    WE REJECT
    THE EUROCENTRIC & ERROR-FILLED IDEOLOGIES OF:

    "Aztlan"
    "Mecha"
    "La Raza"
    "U.S. Southwest"
    "Violent Reconquista"
    "Colonial borders"
    "Indian Reservations"
    "Marxism/
    Communism"
    "Capitalism"

    Read this well, with your liberated mind, Nican Tlaca heart, and an imagination strong enough to see our people waking and liberating themselves out of this European-made hell that we are forced to exist in.

    This is our land and our continent, this is not property of the Europeans or their descendants. Not one inch of this continent belongs to Europeans, no matter what lies or distortions of ownership they may present. European squatters are today stealing not just our land, they are stealing the wealth of our oil, our forests, our farmland and all of our other resources. They are also stealing our honor, our dignity, and our sense of being one Anahuac independent nation. We have a human right to exist as a people who are independent from European control of our lives, our continent, and our wealth.

    Remember that we have only temporarily (and illegally) been deprived of the rights to our continent and our heritage. This occupation of our continent is not a permanent condition. We can change the colonial slave condition of our people! We know that none of the Europeans will easily give up all that they have stolen from us.

    We know that Europeans will continue to steal from us if we do not declare our rights to our continent and the resources of our continent that they are now stealing from us.

    The first step to to take in order to reclaim our continent and all of its wealth is to let everyone know of the criminal and genocidal history of the Europeans on our continent and their ongoing crimes against us and their illegal occupation of our continent.

    Our people and the world have an obligation to know this of monstrous history of European savage behavior. Europeans on our continent also have an obligation to know of the savage crimes of their ancestors on our continent.

    The European's ("Americans", Miami Cubans, Mexico City Criollos, and other "whites") colonial propaganda machine teaches us "American" history, European history, a diluted and distorted version of "Mexican Independence ", a vendido-Latino-Hispanic version of "Chicano Studies", the dead-end Argentine-Cuban "Che Guevara Studies" and anything else that will keep us away from understanding the secret and forbidden history of our Anahuac nation's accomplishments, our ownership of this continent, and the monstrous crimes that the Europeans have committed against our people.

    ReplyDelete
  10. From the Wall Street Journal:

    BY KATIE MARTIN
    "LONDON -- This could end up being viewed as the week when dollar weakness became too much for the rest of the world to bear, setting the scene for tense encounters at the upcoming meeting of finance ministers from the world's 20 largest economies.

    Brazil has now imposed a tax on some foreign-exchange inflows. The Bank of Canada has cranked up its negative tone on the strength of the Canadian dollar. And a whole slew of European officials have practically begged the U.S. to step in and boost the buck.

    This chorus of pain marks a rise in international pressure ..."

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  11. "The first step to to take in order to reclaim our continent and all of its wealth is to let everyone know of the criminal and genocidal history of the Europeans on our continent and their ongoing crimes against us and their illegal occupation of our continent."

    Yep, and how is that first step going?

    In broad terms,the right doesn't accept the premise; and the left,while pushing to have our history books changed to depict everyone except whites as victims, isn't about to do anything that would affect their own pocketbooks.

    The Spanish population in this country is growing rapidly; however, by the time it gets big enough to make a difference, the top tier of that group will have already been corrupted to the point that they will resist any change.

    We have more to worry about from the Earth Liberation Movement than we do from Nican Tlaca.

    ReplyDelete
  12. WIO:
    AZ ain't populous enough to be a real state anyhow.
    Time to end the Occupation!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Quirk,
    Mexico's trying, but barely succeeding, if that.
    The military is outfunded and outgunned by the NarcoGangs.

    We should put Marines on the border unless and until they finish the long-promised fence.
    Good Luck.

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  14. Loads of lands have changed hands through war and been annexed. There are loads of independence movements as well. That does not make all claims for land equivalent. There are many differences between the Mexican/US history and the Palestinian/Israeli history. They are not similar at all.

    re: World problems with falling US dollar - what would arrest its fall? Higher interest rates are one of the few weapons in the arsenal.

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  15. Quirk: Are you saying we should move US troops into Mexico?

    I have long advocated closing our bases in Japan, Korea, Germany, etc, and relocating them to a belt in the Great American Desert between San Diego and El Paso, about a mile or two between the perimeter of each base. Constant exercises with Stryker vehicles, night-vision goggles, with illegals standing in for Taliban. No catch and release. Because we must train as we will fight.

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  16. 'We should put Marines on the border unless and until they finish the long-promised fence.

    I'd like to see it happen.

    A few weeks back, I saw a report on the news about Gov. Rick Perry movings Texas Rangers and National Guard troops to the border because he couldn't get additional help from the Feds.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "re: World problems with falling US dollar - what would arrest its fall? Higher interest rates are one of the few weapons in the arsenal.

    Not sure what the answer is, or for that matter, net/net which is better for the US, a weak or strong dollar right now.

    However, it's obvious that we can't continue along the path we're on without the rest of the world reacting soon.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "I have long advocated closing our bases in Japan, Korea, Germany, etc, and relocating them to a belt in the Great American Desert between San Diego and El Paso, about a mile or two between the perimeter of each base."

    On a visceral level, I'd have to agree with you T. And with regard to Western Europe I think your right. However, we have long term treaty obligations in Asia we need to stand by. The most important is with Japan.

    Have you noticed the stories that have been coming out recently (probably six or seven in the last week) about the growing tensions between China and India about border disputes, Kasmir, waters rights, dams going up in Tibet, etc.

    While I would love to see all US troops back in the US, I don't think we have that luxury.

    I guess that although I would like to see bases closed I would settle for having the Departments of Education, Commerce, Energy, Labor, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, and Homeland Security (the umbrella organization, not the functional parts) closed.

    However, fat chance on either happening.

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  19. Stable is usually the desired option for currency exchange. The long running trade deficits are a big problem for the US (and the world) and I think policy makers are hoping that a gradually weakening dollar will help narrow the gap. Unfortunately all the stimulus plus rock bottom interest rates makes for instability, mostly on the downside, for the US dollar. I think the hope is that the trade deficit will narrow as US industry becomes more competitive through the ensuing lower prices. If it is gradual it may work. If things happen quickly...look out.

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  20. and yeah, the rest of the world will/is yelp as the dollar falls. On the other hand the rest of the world (mostly) recognizes how important the US economy is in determining the health of the world economy.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Groucho,
    You have thirteen kids?

    Guest:
    Yes.

    Groucho:
    How did end up with 13 kids?

    Guest:
    I love my wife.

    Groucho:
    I love my cigar, too, but sometimes I take it out of my mouth.

    ReplyDelete
  22. "I think the hope is that the trade deficit will narrow as US industry becomes more competitive through the ensuing lower prices. If it is gradual it may work..."

    An interesting perspective on the falling dollar and the points you've made:

    Geithner's Dissembling on the Dollar's Fall

    ReplyDelete
  23. What I have long said, doug, is that the Skull & Boner elitists, to include the Rockefellers have that "Plan".

    That Walmart is the largest civilian employer in both countries, the United States of America and the United Mexican States just an indication of the progress that the IBEC ideology has had.

    I understand the reasons for the attempt at peaceful cultural change, across the third whirled Mexico in particular.

    The United North America idea being that the Mexicans, being a smaller population, will be "changed" more than us. But there will be some cultural modification on the US base, that is a given, it comes with each influx of new Americans.

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  24. If Honolulu can be part of "America" there is no reason that Acapulco cannot.

    Just look at a map.

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  25. Convince me that the overnight rise of $.04 per gallon is not tied to the falling dollar. And yes, I've already heard the argument that Chinese demand is driving up oil.

    The current reasoning behind the weak dollar is that exports are going to have to be the engine which lifts the US out of the current recession/depression.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh, and Mr "Misdirection" you are at one with the Latinas of Shenandoah, PA on August 30, 2008. You should have been there.

    Supporting your allies in divestiture.

    ReplyDelete
  27. "That means foreign importers were immune from our made-in-America inflation, not that they could afford to buy more of our goods. There just isn't any amount of dollars the Fed can create that can serve as a substitute for manufacturing and producing more of the things that foreign countries want to purchase."

    I think the 'talk strong dollar but let it slide' approach does run up against the real world noted in the paragraph above - especially the 'globalized' world.

    How do US policy makers address this problem though? They have little power to actually change the value of Chinese Yuan and, in fact, the Chinese are but one player amongst many in global trade. On the other side of the coin is the politically difficult task of increasing US productivity - are US workers ready to devalue their pay down to the level of the competitors? Sure there is more to productivity then pay levels but producing more for less is easier said then done especially for policy makers. So, they are stuck with the hail mary pass of slow devaluation while trying to find ways to re-build the manufacturing base without crashing the whole damn apple cart.

    Regarding low dollar = increased inflation you'd think so but there are a lot of factors going into inflation, demand being prominent. In Canada we had a long period of a falling dollar with much the same wringing of hands we see in the US now. I was struck by the lack of the predicted inflation here. A buddy of mine who wintered in Florida used to bitch how he'd pay more for Florida oranges in Florida then he did in Canada. Basically, as a business person you charge what the market will bear. Anyway, now here in Canada there is much hang wringing over the 'rising' Canadian dollar.

    Overall I think stability is crucial and a gradual decline the hope. I'm concerned that the changes we've seen don't really rise to the level of gradual and things could get a whole lot worse given how much of Forex is simply a function of cash seeking return as opposed to real world trade.

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  28. Doubt there is a single cause, whit.

    Increased global demand, as the gobal economy recovers. The Dow is doing well, recovering a large portion of the meltdown losses. Though some market segments still are laggards in that regard.

    Chinese numbers as to economic growth are not that reliable, but their auto production counts are.

    Their auto sales are way up, YTD over last year.

    The weakening dollar also has an impact on the oil markets. The need to economize and diversify US supplies of liquid fuels.

    As rufus convinced me was possible and economically feasible. All the more so if given National Security priorities that seem all to apparent, to me.

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  29. It's estimated that within the next few years another four or five hundred banks will fail...

    The next wave of business and failures will come in the commercial real estate sector with the mortgages on hundreds of billions of dollars worth coming due in the next year or two. There is close to a twenty per cent vacancy rate on commercial properties. Local and regional banks are expected to be most effected.

    Unemployment is still expected to rise to well into the double digits.

    2O% or so of all US residential mortgages are "underwater."

    The Federal Housing Administration has become the new Fredddy and Fannie and continues to make dubious loans. They require as little as a 3% down payment. As bad as that sounds, FHA currently accounts for about 25% of new mortgages.

    The international credit system is broken and with so much uncertainty money is flowing into the stock market, currency trading and gold.

    Interest rates are a conundrum. The Fed pays lip service to a strong dollar but does nothing to support. In fact, there may be little they can do. Raising interest rates would help but with the economy dead in the water, that would be political suicide for anyone who supported the moves. In the current economic environment, a smart politician will think long and hard before supporting any tax increases such as cap and trade, or the proposed health care reform. The health care reform will pass if Congressional supporters think they can fool the taxpayers about the true costs.

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  30. So, long story short. We're screwed.

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  31. Thanks for the responses...I'm home for lunch and have to go back to work...

    later...

    ReplyDelete
  32. 81 white stars,
    on a field of blue
    13 alternating red & white stripes

    2 Federal Districts, maybe 3
    If we were to build a new capital for the Continent.
    Put it near Salt Lake City.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Or that funky Mexican eagle, on a field of blue, with the 13 red and white stripes.

    That could be the new Continental Standard.

    I imagine that it would not have made a difference to Calvin Pearl Titus. He'd have carried it forward, regardless.

    ReplyDelete
  34. First Rule: No Sudden Moves.

    First Action: Promote home grown Biofuels.

    ReplyDelete
  35. quirk: We have more to worry about from the Earth Liberation Movement than we do from Nican Tlaca



    Take 1/3 Nican Tlaca, 1/3 Drug Cartels, Gangs & unemployed & 1/3 from hezbollah, farc, castro, chavez & iran stir and pour...

    study how even the current whitehouse comm director speaks of how movements start....

    Anita Dunn Favorite philosopher Mao Tse-Tung....

    Dont discount the fight the "occupation" movement...

    Now that many in the world have embraced the idea that Jews have no rights to live and own property in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and have their own nation. What rights does America have to sit on any of the "new world"... Why do the Brits still control the Faulkins, China Tibet, Turkey Cyprus,

    what is "occupation" is good question....

    ReplyDelete
  36. The value of a currency, in the Final analysis is all about "Productivity."

    You can "Print" money at the same rate of increase as you raise productivity. We've, obviously, in the last few years gone beyond that. Thus: Inflation, and or a Weakened Dollar.

    It's okay to import oil to allow one farmer to feed 1,000 people. You're increasing his productivity. If you import oil so the kids can "cruise around" all night your productivity suffers.

    Incredibly high productivity is why Japan can break all the "rules."

    ReplyDelete
  37. Home is the best place to be.

    Thu Oct 22, 07:06:00 AM EDT

    After forty-odd years, a third of it spent abroad, you betcha.

    So it's DC again. I don't care. It could have been anywhere. As long as it's Home Sweet Home.

    And if the husband gets any ideas about returning to Hairy Asscrack (as he's sorely tempted now and again) I'll just have to kill him.

    Don't need another medal, guy. There's enough fruit salad there to fill a punch bowl.

    ReplyDelete
  38. "What rights does America have to sit on any of the "new world"..."

    Haven't you heard? We are exceptional.

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  39. And let me take this opportunity to say that Dick Cheney is one rotten motherfucker.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Quirk said...
    "What rights does America have to sit on any of the "new world"..."

    Haven't you heard? We are exceptional.




    psst... not according to rat & obama....

    ReplyDelete
  41. What we are is "Exceptionally Lucky." We chose our Ancestors, and Circumstances, Wisely.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "Incredibly high productivity is why Japan can break all the "rules."

    I recall seeing a McKinsey & Company report a few years back that indicated that Japan's productivity record was substantially below that of the US for both labor and capital. This was mentioned in a report that was talking about the major demographic issues Japan will be facing in the near future.

    GDP growth is a function of productivity and working population.

    On the latter, Japan is facing more problems than the US. They have an elderly population. Their birth rate is extremely low. They have a homogenous population and make it hard to immigrate in. Nearly a third of their population will be 65 or older by 2025. As I recall, it will be some ungodly number like 70 to 80 percent by 2050. In addition, I saw a recent article indicating that they are now sarting to save less.

    And while it easy to write this off, it could have serious security implications for the US.

    Actually, Japan will need to take some drastic steps to try and avoid major disruption. The US will need to struggle through the baby boomer retirement period but then things should get better on the demographics front. Japan's democraphic crisis is projected to last much long. (The same for China)

    Japan needs to somehow convince all those chicks in the plaid skirts to start having more kids. They also need to change their immigration policies. The Japanese also need to move their savings out of savings accounts and into stocks. And, as you pointed out, productivity is key. They need to boost their productivity.

    ReplyDelete
  43. "psst... not according to rat & obama....

    True. But then, it is Rat and Obama.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I've always maintained that there are many exceptionable aspects of Americans.

    Just that I am more inclusive than Mr "misdirection" is, in the application of the term.

    America is a hemispheric term, not a national one. Look at a map.

    There is a North and a South
    America. Every Mexican I ever met was native born American. Except for a Brit that had become a Mexican citizen.

    ReplyDelete
  45. What we are is "Exceptionally Lucky."






    Yes. We. Are.



    And if I could mandate a single government program (in spite of all things compulsory being profoundly against my nature) it would be to send every American to live overseas in some truly dismal, outrageously corrupt and fabulously inept backwater for one year. One year. (Insufferable weather a bonus.)

    And report back.

    We do not most of us realize how very, very fortunate - how blessedly different and comfortably apart - we are.

    "But deep down we're all alike, right? All headed in the same direction?"

    No.

    No, no, no, no, no.

    ReplyDelete
  46. What you say is Exactly, True, Q. However, in the case of Japan, I'm looking at the productivity of the "Society," and not of the individual Japanese doing an "hour's" work.

    Let me explain. It's very common for a younger Japanes to have two, three, or more jobs. For instance, a Real job, and two part-time jobs. A lot of time the part-time jobs are "cash" jobs. They, also, tend to be healthier, and work into a much older age than Americans.

    Japan is just a "strange" place. Back when I studied such things I came to realize that Japan could drive you crazy. You'd have a "theory" of the Universe all worked out, and then you'd get to Japan, and the wheels would fall off.

    They really are, "Different."

    ReplyDelete
  47. I used to spend a lot of time in Japan when I was in Purchasing.

    You are right in saying they are "different".

    ReplyDelete
  48. Remember, Currency, like oil, is a supply/demand proposition.

    Oil is priced in Dollars. A 10% move in the Dollar will move oil prices 10%.

    A 10% move in the Dollar Cannot move the price of oil 100%.

    However, a 100% move in the price of oil Can move the Dollar 10%.

    ReplyDelete
  49. "We do not most of us realize how very, very fortunate - how blessedly different and comfortably apart - we are."

    Amen.

    However, if I were to dwell on this fact all the time, I would deprive myself of the pleasure of complaining about the small stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Rufus,

    I'm thinking of getting into Potash (POT) before the end of the year.

    What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  51. How's that fence along the border doing?

    What impact has the recession on the flow of immigrants?

    ReplyDelete
  52. Paul Johnson in his 'A History of the American People' has some passages on climate, terrain, the ebb on flow of the seasons, how that impacts a group of people. We are blessed. A hard winter can be a good thing. Makes you plan ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Q, I don't know. With the new seeds farmers are realizing they don't Have to fertilize quite as much. They shocked the fertilizer guys this year when they told them to stick their Gazillion dollar/ton stuff up their ass.

    I guess I'm mildly negative on All Ag names right now. At least, not Wildly Bullish.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Quirk said...

    "I'm thinking of getting into Potash (POT) before the end of the year."

    Market performance has appeared to stray from company performance so much I wonder if investing upon a particular companies business acumen is more a mugs game as opposed to predictive of future stock price. I'm looking for assurance I'm wrong...

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  55. Maybe, neutral on Monsanto, and Dupont.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Sheriff Joe Arpaio: I'm Not Going to Stop Arresting Illegals

    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 6:36 PM

    Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio tells Newsmax he has no intention of bowing to pressure from Washington to stop rounding up illegal aliens, because they are "criminals once they cross the border."

    "I'm not going to stop. I'm just doing my job," said Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County — which includes the city of Phoenix.

    The Department of Homeland Security has removed the authority of Arpaio's 160 federally trained deputies to make immigration arrests in the field.

    See Video: Sheriff Joe Arpaio reveals his plans to keep rounding up illegal aliens – with or without the help of the Obama administration -
    Click Here Now.

    Are there fewer undocumented, I'd say yes. They no longer mass at the street corners looking for day work. There are still many of them here, undocumented.
    Working in the gray or black markets.

    ReplyDelete
  57. I like Oil.

    But, I hate Refiners.

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  58. FEATURE - Saudi hopes border fence could stem militant flow

    NEAR THE YEMENI-SAUDI BORDER AT ALB (Reuters) - The dramatic cliffs and mountains in the border region show the uphill challenge Saudi Arabia faces to stop al Qaeda militants slipping in from its poor neighbour Yemen.

    For miles and miles on both sides of the border there are just mountains, rugged hills, caves and valleys. The narrow road linking the two border posts of Alb is flanked on one side by a sharp 100 metre (yards) drop.

    The over 1,500 km (930 mile)-long border has long been fertile ground for smugglers bringing food, alcohol and pilgrims to the major oil exporter from the poorest Arab country, as well as weapons to al Qaeda militants.

    "Smugglers know the region ... They try to exploit times such as night, rainfall or fog when visibility is low," said a border guard, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    In a three-month period last year, the Saudi newspaper Okaz said border police seized rocket-propelled grenades, more than 100 guns and nearly 100 sticks of dynamite. Saudi officials fear that many more weapons may be getting through.

    Worried mainly about al Qaeda using Yemen as an operating base, Saudi Arabia plans to build a high-tech fence system costing billions of dollars with night cameras, heat sensors, air and sea surveillance to seal off the kingdom's borders.

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  59. Nation Digest

    CONGRESS

    Plan to Erect More Border Fencing Killed

    Members of Congress have stripped a provision requiring 300 more miles of fencing be built along the U.S.-Mexico border from a Department of Homeland Security appropriation bill, saying the money needed would be better spent on other security measures.

    If the amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had remained in the bill, tall fencing to stop illegal immigrants and smugglers on foot would have been installed along 700 miles of border -- a plan that many officials and residents along the border have opposed.

    The provision was not in the House's Homeland Security appropriation and, when the two chambers' bills were melded during conference, seven border-state congressmen asked House leaders to remove the amendment.

    The General Accounting Office reported last month that maintaining the border fence would cost $6.5 billion during the next 20 years. That would be on top of the $2.4 billion spent to build it.

    -- Associated Press

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  60. "I'm looking for assurance I'm wrong..."


    Well, heck Ash, I'm looking for advise here, not to confirm that your right by losing my ass. I'm assuming you are advising, like Rufus, to stay away from POT (the company I mean).

    :)


    (This is one reason I miss the Kudlow blog)

    ReplyDelete
  61. Agents uncover first tunnel of 2010 fiscal year

    Posted - 10/22/2009 at 11:15AM

    TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Nogales Station discovered an intricate smuggling tunnel passing under the international border yesterday, the first such tunnel found in recent months.

    The tunnel was discovered approximately 150 yards east of the DeConcini Port of Entry. On the Mexican side of the border it is supported with shoring and is three feet wide by three feet tall. As the tunnel passes under the border fence, into the United States, shoring stops and the opening reduces to a hole 18 inches wide by 18 inches tall. The total length of the tunnel is approximately 30 feet. The tunnel exit on the U.S. side was concealed with plywood and weeds.

    "It has been nearly four months since the discovery of an intricate tunnel," said John M. Fitzpatrick, Division Chief of Operations for the Tucson Sector. A more elaborate tunnel was discovered in June (Fiscal Year 2009). It was approximately 48 feet in length on the U.S. side and stretched another 35 feet under Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

    ReplyDelete
  62. Listening to the local radio news yesterday, there was a report about some young kid running for city council. His program: bike paths, parks.

    Heh, not a bad idea, but, who is going to pay for them?

    Democracy flows on....

    I just backed out of a development here cause it just doesn't seem to paper out, and my deal included bike paths, parks.

    And the new idea is...bike paths, parks.

    Democrac flows on....

    ReplyDelete
  63. Are there fewer undocumented, I'd say yes.

    Same here, though we never had many to begin with, compared to down there. Don't know about Boise area, but this recession has got to be biting in.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I guess my biggest concern, Q, is that this is a double-dip, or somesuch, coming up.

    I can't find much to be optimistic about. Translation: This is probably the "Greatest Buying Opportunity of All Time."

    If someone could isolate a good "battery" play I might be interested: but, overall, my "animal spirits" have kind of "spirited" out the door.

    ReplyDelete
  65. "Pawn Shops of America," maybe?

    $3.50 gasoline sent'em scurrying to the pawn shops, last time.

    ReplyDelete
  66. "I'm not going to stop. I'm just doing my job," said Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County — which includes the city of Phoenix."

    Arpaio must be a pain to McCain. He has to support him to a certain extent because of the senators latest verbalized stance which is "enforcement first". Yet politically, Arpaio is hardly the poster boy McCain would choose for his "comprehensive reform."

    ReplyDelete
  67. However, if I were to dwell on this fact all the time, I would deprive myself of the pleasure of complaining about the small stuff.

    Thu Oct 22, 03:44:00 PM EDT

    Oh, I do that most of the time.

    And when we get back it'll take about, if the past is any guide, four months for all the worldly wisdom and aching romance of a genuinely appreciative and homesick American to wear off.

    But that four months? Absolutely priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  68. What's his "approval" rating in Phoenix? 95%, or something?

    ReplyDelete
  69. "Pawn Shops of America," maybe?

    That sounds smart, a good buy.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Sheriff Joe, he has a lifetime tenure, but he is in his middle late 70's, I do believe.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Well, like Q said, I don't think McNutz gets on his knees every night, and prays for ol' Joe's continued good health.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Or, maybe he does. They might just be two crooks playing "good cop, bad cop." Because, in the final analysis (until someone proves me wrong) All politicians are scum.

    ReplyDelete
  73. I guess my biggest concern, Q, is that this is a double-dip, or somesuch, coming up...

    Yeah, well thanks for the perspective (same to you Ash).

    There are a lot of issues. There's talk BHP Billington might try to buy the company. Likewise, farmers will have to start buying again at some point. However, the other side of it is that low grain prices have cut fertilizer purchases in many of the large producing countries. China isn't buying any right now.

    I guess I'll look at it again when China starts buying again.

    ReplyDelete
  74. trish,

    My experience has nostalgia for that dreadful place setting in at about 18 months.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Here's some of my experience about fertilizer prices, wheat prices and farming. The costs are always too high, wheat prices too low, but there is usually a chance, late August, September, to buy a delivery contract on the Portland market for January, February. It usually goes up enough sometime in there to bail out, and make a buck.

    Don't bet your wife's lifestyle on it, don't even bet more than a few pickup truck payments, but it usually works out.

    It keeps you buying the paper, checking out the grain prices, anyway.

    Nowadays you don't even have to have a paper to check the prices.

    Don't ever bet the wife's lifestyle in any market, is the best advice.

    ReplyDelete
  76. There is no stimulus money for the fence. Billions and billions for everything except the border.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I think Cheney and Obama need to stop bickering and make up.

    Maybe they could go duck hunting.


    Miss T

    heh, but who shoots first?

    I know Cheney is an arse, but, I'd rather have him shoot first.

    ReplyDelete
  78. dear abby:
    I have two retired State Department employees in my community. We had cordial exchanges until I recently played a part in squelching the second consecutive 10% increase in our homeowners fees which were designated for "tree maintencance fund and the capital improvement fund.

    Think I am being overly sensitive?

    signed,
    not the curmudgeon

    ReplyDelete
  79. whit said...
    There is no stimulus money for the fence. Billions and billions for everything except the border.


    Talking about stimulus money, when I was in some discussions on my development deal, I asked, "Why don't you put in for some stimulus money to finish the old A Street project?"

    To my surprise, they said, "we have".

    Me says, "good move, put in for some money to build my street all the way round to 95, then I won't bitch about a thing you are asking."

    So far, I haven't heard back.

    On either project.

    ReplyDelete
  80. tree maintencance fund and the capital improvement fund

    heh, we have that here too, about the trees.

    We are a Tree City.

    Some of it has actually worked out,I don't think very cost effective, but, I do have two trees by the street in my front yard, which I could have planted, and should have, myself of course, that grew like crazy, and are giving me some shade, as I type.

    I tried to plant the trees myself earlier, then the bitch next door came over and bitched about the trees ruining her view.

    I backed out.

    So here, later on, I've finally got my trees, via the City of Lewiston.

    On the other hand, in Moscow, which has some really beautiful old tree lined streets, big trees, old as time, in the old areas, I had to pay into some tree fund on my last little development. I asked at the time, rather than paying into a tree fund, why don't we agree with me signing a written contract, that I will plant some trees.

    Can't do it that way, was the reply.

    My money went into a tree fund, so far I haven't seen more than a few trees planted on the street I built.

    Trees are a great thing, all streets should have them.

    Who pays, what is the most effective way?

    Politics is crazy, mostly.

    Mostly, a big waste of money.

    ReplyDelete
  81. But Johnny Appleseed, he took matters into his own hands.

    ReplyDelete
  82. I think we actually have more trees here in the entire USA than before.

    We've cut a lot, but we have planted more.

    (I think)

    ReplyDelete
  83. Don't go pickin' on State.

    They carry more than their fair share of water.

    ReplyDelete
  84. "They really are, "Different.""
    ---
    Think how really different THIS country would be by simply positing that Ted Kennedy's 70's era Immigration "Reform" had never taken place, the schools were not unionized, and the LBJ's great society never happened.

    A lot more young people would have jobs, immigrants would still out-compete natives in upward mobility.
    Folks would still be litterate and able to add...
    On and on.
    BUT
    We'd be less "diverse"
    and that, of course is our greatest strength.
    Har de har har.
    ...like losing our manufacturing base and becoming a credit driven consumomoster was a good thing

    ReplyDelete
  85. I'm in favor of everyone planting their own danged trees.

    Everyone wants shade.

    ReplyDelete
  86. "The United North America idea being that the Mexicans, being a smaller population, will be "changed" more than us. But there will be some cultural modification on the US base, that is a given, it comes with each influx of new Americans."
    ---
    Obviously false on it's face to all but those who refuse to see.
    ...given that the education system and welfare state turn illiterates into anti-American parasites.
    Look what's happened to our schools:
    California leads the way, now down at the bottom with Mississippi and DC.
    Utopia to some.

    ReplyDelete
  87. A good thing about over there where T lives is, there is so much moisture, the debate becomes about who cuts the trees down, who pays?

    Your tree is sucking the moisture from my ground, says neighbor.

    The debate goes on.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Trees, once planted, generally don't give a damn about politics.

    ReplyDelete
  89. The World Tree, sucking vitality from the creative deep, roots deep, blooming, blossoming, branching, with the bird, wings of spirit, sitting atop.

    An old image.

    That's a lot of 'b's.

    ReplyDelete
  90. That is true, doug. Two US States are doing a terrible job educating their residents.

    Let's blame the residents.

    You never have, before.

    For years it's been the NEA that has been the object of your educational ire, now it is the students that are at fault.

    How convenient.

    ReplyDelete
  91. There is a really beautiful sand painting by the the Indians of our Southwest, that incorporates the world tree into an image with that of the orient, with the seven stages, with the bird of spirit sitting at the top.

    I don't know how to find it now.

    It doesn't seem possble that they could have gotten this by cultural diffusion.

    Maybe they did, but how?

    I saw this in Campbell.

    So it must be an old image of the human race, deeper than time, a welling up from the deeps of the reality we know, or think we know.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Anon,

    Re: Campbell

    IN COMING!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  93. whit: "There is no stimulus money for the fence. Billions and billions for everything except the border.

    Not only that, but the Democrats defunded e-verify, which was working really good, my Fil-Am girlfriend who works in a hotel saw all her Mexican coworkers go away, and new ones coming in only stayed for a week or two, then they went away.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Ah, your two favorite people will be head to head tonight, on The Late show.

    I'm assuming y'all be tuning in. hehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  95. I like that, T. Now, Bob, has a name to use for his street naming game. Although, I would prefer being named after the whole damn city, I'll take a street for now.

    ReplyDelete
  96. How about "Arab Street" ? That way, when someone tells Bobal that a certain policy is riling up the Arab Street, he can look out his window and see it ain't so.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Thinking of an "un-islamic bra"--

    is there such a thing as an "un-islamic jock strap"?

    Since we have a pool of such talent around here, someone might know.

    Not that I really want to know.

    Just popped into my head.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Never leave the mosque without one.

    ReplyDelete
  99. I would prefer being named after the whole damn city

    No , no , no....you want the whole damned city named after you!

    Like Athens, or somethin'.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Athens

    Addittobobba sounds ok.

    ReplyDelete
  101. MLD, she is, of intercourse, My Lady Diana, come back from of old, her old, ever new, pure self.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Lady Diana's last words were, "Is that all this thing has got?"

    ReplyDelete
  103. Lady Diana's last words were, "Is that all this thing has got?"

    Where'd you get that?

    I ain't believing it, till you got a source.

    I heard, her last words were, "I want more. Where'd you get that!?"

    "I demand more of that!" She said. And, being a Goddess, She got it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Here is a source of myth. Is is human playfulness, with that which we know not.

    It may be serious, it may be a farce.

    It is the human creative.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Please, God, bring the Jews back in.

    ReplyDelete
  106. trish said...
    Please, God, bring the Jews back in.


    heh, got you.

    That should read,

    "Please G-d, bring the Jews back in."

    That is a proper prayer.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Jewish Haiku:

    Is one Nobel Prize
    So much to ask from a child
    After all I've done?

    ReplyDelete
  108. Are you like some fucking robot spitting shit out?

    ReplyDelete
  109. Fucking Robots don't shun people for the rest of their lives for raising their voices like I do.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Raising your voice requires to begin with speaking in your own voice.

    ReplyDelete
  111. I like to keep things civil, you raised your voice to me, I permanently withdraw my enthusiasm for replying to you, effective after this post.

    ReplyDelete
  112. T.

    You've got your own thoughts.

    And that's what I'd like to read.

    Someday.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Ladies, please, this is polite bar.

    If I touched something off, I apologize, don't know how I did it, and want it to go away.

    Any references above to anything whatsoever were only meant in a spirit of levity.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Hey, I'm the fucking robo, ok?

    ReplyDelete
  115. NEWSDAY STARTS CHARGING FOR WEBSITE: $260 A YEAR!

    Comments:

    As a resident of Long Island I subscribed to Newsday for over 30 years.
    Remember when Newsday was a newspaper, won national and international awards for journalism, and was quoted and referenced by other news media?
    Cablevision's version of Newsday is no longer that publication.

    Newsday is evolving into a large format, daily version of a weekly shopper. I will miss the old Newsday, but will give the Long Island Press a try.

    -------------------
    Wiseguy
    Cablevision makes me want to puke. A while back I signed up for optimum voice. I was told that it would be $14.99 and the price would never go up. I figured since I had the internet and tv through them it really made sense. after all, $14.99 is cheap right??? Well no so long ago I noticed that my bill went up $5. When I checked it I saw I was paying $19.99 for the phone service. when I called and complained I was told....... ready for this, can't make this up...... the price of your phone service has not gone up, the amount of the discount I was receiving went down. Do they really train their employees to say this to their "valued" customers. Even the service rep chuckled.......

    --------------------

    newsdaysblowz
    pioneering web model? are you phucking kidding me? NEWSDAY SUCKS people, cancel cablevision move to direct tv

    --------------------

    35 m ago I just signed up for my free online news at LongIslandPress dot com. Way to go Newsday!

    ReplyDelete
  116. Did someone say, "Shyl-ck"? Or was that Sh'lch?

    After reading that last batch, I was reminded of my friend's comment on Chinese fortune cookies: Whatever the fortune, always add, "in bed."

    Hence, "Hey, I'm the fucking robo 'in bed', ok?"

    ReplyDelete
  117. Gosh Doug, just go to Google News, it spits stuff out like a free fucking robot.

    ReplyDelete
  118. At least 7 people were killed, 13 injured when a suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up Friday, Oct. 23, outside the big Kamra aeronautical complex 60 km west of Islamabad. DEBKAfile's military sources report this is where Pakistan houses most of its nuclear bombs and air-air and air-ground missiles. In Peshawar a car bomb injured 15 people at the Sawan hotel.
    Taliban fighters began to battle their way towards Pakistan's nuclear arsenal on Saturday, Oct. 10, by attacking the roads connecting the capital and high command with the nuclear ordnance centers in northern Pakistan near the town of Kohat, at Wah and in Kamra in order to cut them off.
    Terrorist pressure to reach Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at these sites was first reported by DEBKA-Net-Weekly on May 15.
    Friday morning, the Pakistani military spokesman said the suicide bomber was stopped at a checkpoint where he blew himself up before he could enter the Kamra complex. This was the closest a terrorist had come to the cluster of bases where Pakistan maintains the bulk of its nuclear bombs and air-air and air-ground missiles for delivery by its air force.
    This month, surging Taliban attacks have left more than 180 dead, the level mounting sharply as the Pakistani army continued its offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds in South Waziristan. Thursday, a Pakistani army brigadier and his driver were killed in a shooting attack in Islamabad. He was the second high officer to die this week in what appears to be a targeted assault on Pakistani commanders in retaliation for the South Waziristan drive. Tuesday, twin blasts killed seven people at Islamabad University.
    DEBKAfile's military sources report that three Pakistani columns are advancing very slowly in the mountainous tribal region amid sporadic clashes. Most of the insurgents have pulled back to the 15,000-ft peaks.

    ReplyDelete
  119. btw.

    how big a whole would the 30 paki nukes make if all went off at once where they sit?

    and would al gore complain about global warming?

    ReplyDelete
  120. Back when I was first married, I dimly recall my wife saying something like that concerning myself in bed, you're a fucking robo in bed, she never seems to make such comments any longer.

    Now, it's more like, you snore in bed.

    ReplyDelete
  121. "The Federal Reserve wants to be able to review and veto banks' pay policies to discourage recklessness (in bed)."

    ReplyDelete
  122. Most of the insurgents have pulled back to the 15,000-ft peaks.

    Sometimes I think all this is, is country versus city, an old theme.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Sometimes I think all this is, is country versus city, an old theme, in bed

    ReplyDelete
  124. Dare we go so far? Why, yes, we shall.

    "Please, God, bring the Jews back in, 'in bed'".

    Now things get kinky:

    "I like to keep things civil (in bed); you raised your voice to me (in bed); I permanently withdraw my enthusiasm for replying to you (in bed), effective after this post."

    ReplyDelete
  125. WiO: how big a whole would the 30 paki nukes make if all went off at once where they sit?

    The rule of thumb for the diameter in kilometers of total destruction (in a ground burst, that means the hole left by vaporized bedrock) is that it's the cube root of the yield in megatons. You don't get in the megatons range until you step up to fusion technology. Most of Pakistan's six tests have yielded between 4 and 12 kilotons (Little Boy was 15) That's 0.012 megatons. Cube root rule gives 228meters for a hole.

    ReplyDelete
  126. trish said...

    " T.

    You've got your own thoughts.

    And that's what I'd like to read.

    Someday"

    hmmm, a salient point but a little ironic coming from the lady who refuses to state her position on just about most anything.







    Quirk wrote:

    "I'm assuming you are advising, like Rufus, to stay away from POT (the company I mean)."

    I would certainly advise you to ignore any advice from me regarding that particular company. As I tried to express earlier I'm a little (ok a lot) despairing of the decoupling of stock performance from company performance. Having my own business I really appreciate how good performance leads to an improved bottom line and cash flowing into my pocket. That linkage is not very apparent when I'm an 'owner' through stock holdings. Rarely does a company distribute earnings based on performance (dividends are set and not often changed it seems - at least not in direct proportion to the yearly profit) and stock price movements certainly don't directly track performance but rather seem to follow the general trend modified by public perception of performance. Tack on to that the lack of accountability management has to shareholders coupled with the ability management has to massage results to pad the results all influenced by their personal bonus/earning incentives and...

    ...well I''m a disgruntled investor.

    Personally I left the management of my portfolio (small) to a profession investment adviser. I was unhappy with the results especially as I saw the crash coming, discussed bailing, but didn't have the courage of my convictions to do it. So, I fired his ass and have taken over the management of the family stash myself. I've been slowly bailing out as we've had the bounce back though I've hedged my bets and I do retain some mutual funds. I'm pissed at mutual funds because of their high fees, their forced trades do to inflow/outflow of money, and their general tracking of the broad index anyway. so, that's where I sit today - a good proportion in cash and some mutual funds and the odd holdings in specific companies. Going forward my thoughts are to simply play ETF's in market segments trying to get ahead of public sentiment (sort of like Charles Bukowski betting on the ponies). On the flip side, I really am a business owner/operator who has a hobby interest in economics and monetary theory (historically bad market players those economists) who realizes I am getting older each year and have to survive retirement as comfortably as possible. I am truly open to advice about individual stocks and general trends. A reasonable blog to follow might be of help but, of course, that all requires a fair bit of time....

    ReplyDelete
  127. there is a saying that goes something like this when looking for a solution...

    kiss...

    keep it simple stupid...


    No paki nukes? Who CARES about pakistan?

    Maybe the BEST solution to the short term problem of paki nukes is for them all to go off at once....

    while sitting in their bays......

    ReplyDelete
  128. Posted Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:42 AM
    Iran Nuclear Monitor Dies Mysteriously
    Mark Hosenball
    Police in Austria are investigating the mysterious death of a British nuclear monitoring expert. Early news reports said that Timothy Hampton, who worked for an international monitoring unit called the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), died after falling 12 stories in a building in the Vienna International Center, one of the United Nations' main office complexes in Europe.

    Reports said Austrian authorities would order an autopsy. "Everything points towards a suicide, and there are no signs of any third party being involved," a police spokesman, Alexander Haslinger, told the French news agency AFP. Authorities in Vienna have privately indicated to other governments that while suicide is the principal cause of death under investigation, they haven't ruled out the possibility that it could have been an accident or even murder, according to an official source in Washington. Official reports and a former U.N. official indicate that Hampton fell 12 stories down an internal emergency stairwell—from the 17th to the fifth floor—in the high-rise Vienna building.

    Some news reports said that Hampton had been involved in the current round of negotiations between Iran, the U.S., and several other Western countries regarding Tehran's controversial nuclear program. However, his participation in the Iran talks could not be immediately confirmed, and a former U.N. official who worked at the Vienna complex said that officials who worked for the CTBTO were normally not supposed to have any involvement with the work of the IAEA, which is based in the same complex and is at the center of diplomatic discussions between the West and Iran.

    ReplyDelete
  129. WiO: Maybe the BEST solution to the short term problem of paki nukes is for them all to go off at once...

    Paki (and Israeli) nukes are in pieces, to be assembled in wartime. Taliban are dreaming if they think they can overrun a base and just shoot a padlock and walk into a room full of armed nukes ready to ship.

    ReplyDelete
  130. "the price of your phone service has not gone up, the amount of the discount I was receiving went down."
    ---
    Gasoline won't really go up, it'll stay the same, we'll just need four times the number of dollars to pay for it.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Fri Oct 23, 09:50:00 AM EDT
    ---
    Doesn't everyone have a right to dream?

    ReplyDelete
  132. Hey, Bob:
    Der Bingle grew up in Spokane.
    Surprised you never paid homage.
    Now I've forgotten where T grew up versus where she is now, or I'd chastise her too.
    (knowin she'd get off on it)

    ReplyDelete
  133. Palin, Armey, and Thompson are supporting the conservative in New York race.
    Newt and the GOP backing a stone cold liberal.
    The stupid party, indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  134. GD Senatorial committee bedding moderates when we have a Commie on a spending binge in the WH.

    Brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Iran fails to endorse UN nuclear deal

    Even when the west bends over and allows iran to shove it up it's collective ass the iranians want more..

    ReplyDelete
  136. Doug I was born in Vancouver, Washington, aka Vantucky, aka "The Couve", but I grew up all over the place, because I was a Navy Brat.

    ReplyDelete
  137. WiO,

    Let's modify this,

    "Even when the west bends over and allows iran to shove it up it's collective ass the iranians want more.." to this,

    "Even when the west bends over and allows iran to shove it up it's collective ass 'in bed', the iranians want more.."

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

    ReplyDelete
  139. Here's how to Wrap up a deal with Iran in 60 seconds...

    Present the "deal", complete the complete nuking of Iran in 59 seconds if you fail to say SURRENDER and mean it...

    Iran response is of course... NO...

    Then the only think next for us to say is....



    Bombs Away!

    See how hard was that?

    ReplyDelete
  140. Soupy Sales dies at 83.


    A moment of silence please.

    ReplyDelete
  141. Quirk: The federal thought police strike again. New Hate Crimes Bill Sent Passed in Senate

    Once again man in his hubris usurps our God-given right to assault and kill gays and lesbians without consequences.

    ReplyDelete
  142. Rufus,

    We talked about net neutrality a couple of days ago and both of us thought there might be something there that we should be worried about in the proposed legislation.
    But we didn't know what it was.

    I think I've got it. It is the nose of the camel. While I agree with the proposed rules on open access by the internet providers, I have to ask what will be the next changes that the wonks in Washington will think is necessary. Especially with this administration, things become a little scary.

    The Dems want new regulations. The Repubs on the committee merely want to continue establishing and using guidelines for internet use.

    New Net Neutrality Rules

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

    ReplyDelete
  144. With all due respect T, my views on hate crime laws have nothing to do with gays or lesbians per se.

    I am against the principle that says the federal government has the capability to judge what was going though a person's mind when he/she commits a crime. What should be judged is the results of that crime. And in that respect gays/lesbians have the same rights as everyone else.

    These laws often create double jeapordy for a person; and they are perniscious in that they are not used uniformly but vary in application by which party is currently in power in D.C.

    Hate crime laws are the typical liberal pc bullshit. They are promulgated by the same people who are currently pushing legislation (legislation the Obama administration says it favors) in the UN that would punish people for saying the "wrong" thing about other groups, religions, etc.

    Hate crime laws are 1984 redux. As I said, the federal thought police have struck again.

    ReplyDelete
  145. Quirk: I am against the principle that says the federal government has the capability to judge what was going though a person's mind when he/she commits a crime. What should be judged is the results of that crime.

    We have first and second degree murder, with different levels of cupability if it was premeditated or a crime of passion. This is the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Quirk: The federal thought police strike again. New Hate Crimes Bill Sent Passed in Senate

    I personally think that the targeting and slaughter of the infidel by those with the God-given right to do so should be considered a Hate Crime. Can we get the Infidel added to the list of those whose murder is worse than others?

    ReplyDelete
  147. "We have first and second degree murder, with different levels of cupability if it was premeditated or a crime of passion..."

    Exactly. Therefore, we don't need hate crimes. (Along with the other reasons I've stated).

    ReplyDelete
  148. The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) just released their framework for going forward with respect to the Net Neutrality issue. In a nut shell they hey ruled that an ISP can packet shape as a last resort to reduce congestion but they must be transparent (notify in advance what is to shaped and when) and to do it to all users equally.

    Opposing regulation because it is the thin edge of the wedge is really quite nonsensical - for example one could oppose regulation of pyramid schemes because it is the 'camels nose' heralding other regulation.

    ReplyDelete
  149. "Opposing regulation because it is the thin edge of the wedge is really quite nonsensical..."

    Gosh ash, that's rather judgmental. (unless I mis-read your comments.)

    First, I didn't say I opposed the regulation. What I said was that I thought I had figured out why the regulation made me nervous.

    Likewise, I find your example somewhat apples and oranges. Laws regarding pyramid schemes involve criminal activity and are a legitimate responsibility of the government. Likewise, laws involving internet crime would fall under the lawmakers responsibilities. However, the internet has always been managed as a pretty much "free" construct. My concern is that as the government moves from issuing guidelines to issuing laws the internet will change. And, in my opinion, not in a good way.

    ReplyDelete
  150. The internet certainly will change and it is also somewhat of a new 'beast' for lawmakers and regulators. The core worry of the Net Neutrality folks is that ISP's will shape or block content for commercial reasons - i.e. cutting a deal with one of Skypes competitors and slowing Skypes traffic. I referenced regulation in the financial world because it is similar in nature. The strongest argument, in my view, against Net Neutrality has been the 'camel's nose' argument i.e. the internet should be 'free' and ISP's have a right to do as they want. Similarly investors and securities sellers are free agents and should do as they like, but then again there is good reason for not allowing pyramid schemes.

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  151. Another packet that is endangered by packet shaping is the torrent packet. Torrent files are a very elegant and efficient way of transferring large amounts of data without incurring concentrated network loads - if you want to send a big file, a gigabyte for example you don't need to send a gigabyte of data to each recipient, instead you seed the file and all people downloading the file are simultaneously sharing it with others. You end up with a widely distributed cloud of packets enabling fast downloads.

    I think this could form the backbone of new way of distribution of TV shows for example. A maker of a TV show could seed the torrent with commercials in it and users could download. The maker of the TV show need not support huge amounts of bandwidth to allow a lot of viewers. It is kind of the old style method of TV - whoever stuck their antennas in the air could receive the show (Network TV0 and the suppliers made their money through ads and John Q public got free TV. There is a lot of industry reluctance to pursue such a model and there is a lot of incentive to resist it.

    Torrents are also good for distributing pirate stuff. Poor torrents are may get shaped to the slow lane...

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  152. If I kill my wife because she's an unfaithful wife, have I committed a hate crime?



    Years and years ago, there was a guy in our high school class who walked in on his wife with anoher man in bed (heh, really) and shot the guy, in bed.

    He's still in prison, to die there I quess. I think he got life. Odd thing was he'd have been better off if he had shot them both in bed, that would have been a kind of special crime of passion at the time here, and, he would have been held less guilty, having been driven to such an extreme act by seeing his wife with another man in bed. We used to talk about that case among us. His discrimination made his crime worse. He would have been out in 20 years if he had shot them both, and could have attended the last high school reunion.

    Having shot only one, he will die in prison, maybe in bed.


    We have hate crimes here now, I think they are wrong on the simple grounds it makes things too confusing, and tends to perpetuate this dividing of people up into groups.

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  153. You should have different levels of culpability, though.

    That society lady who shot her doctor husband's lover, a once in her lifetime event, isn't the same as Charlie Manson or any other of the mass killers you can think of.

    She can make a recovery, these others, nah.

    How you put all this into a law code and language is a tough problem.

    Leave it up to a jury? Of peers?

    We've had trouble with that, in the south.

    Whose peers, what peers?

    Society drifts on....

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