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, January 12, 2010

Say Sayonara to Okinawa. The Absurdity of US Military Bases in Japan.



Futenma airbase was built at the end of World War II


Can anything be more absurd and anachronistic than US military bases in Japan? If Japan needs protection then Japan is more than capable of providing for its own security. Who is a threat to Japan? China or North Korea?

If the threat is China, what can the US do about it? Nothing sane, that is for sure. Here is my suggestion:

If US security is important, withdraw all 47,000 from Japan. Assign 47,000 air marshals to fly on US airplanes.That is security.

________________________________________________


US airbase tests relations with Japan

By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Tokyo

It seems a minor matter - whether or not to go ahead with a previously agreed plan to move an American military base on the island of Okinawa.

Hardly something, you might think, that could cause tension in the alliance between Japan and the United States, 50 years old this month and critical to the balance of power in Asia.

But Marine Corps Air Station Futenma has become the first test of Japan's intent to forge a new relationship with America and the world.

It is the key issue as Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada meets US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Hawaii on Tuesday.

The base is in the middle of a city and many local people have long been irritated by noise, as well as the fear of accidents and crime.

Okinawa is home to most of the 47,000 American troops based in Japan.

It was to ease the pressure on residents that the American and Japanese governments agreed in 2006 to move the base to a less populated area on the island's coast, despite concerns about the impact on the marine environment.
But everything was thrown into confusion last year.

The deal had been reached by the Liberal Democratic Party which dominated Japan for half a century.
In the elections in August the voters gave a landslide victory to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The new government believes Japan has been too subservient towards the United States in the past. It still values the alliance but wants it on more equal terms.

During the election campaign there was talk by the DPJ of moving the Futenma base off Okinawa, some even said it could be moved out of Japan altogether.

Adding to the complication is the fact that despite its commanding position in the lower house of the Diet, or parliament, the DPJ relies for its majority in the upper house on tiny coalition partners who oppose concessions to the US.

US reluctance

For the Americans the change of partner in Japan is clearly a big adjustment, after decades of dealing with the Liberal Democratic Party.

In the past Washington could view the relationship as a constant framework in East Asia within which to manage its response to the emergence of China and an unpredictable North Korea.

So far the Americans have been deeply reluctant to revisit the issue of the base.

The original negotiations took years and, going back to them, Washington says, would undermine broader security arrangements.

Back in October when he came to Tokyo, US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said it would be "immensely complicated and counterproductive" to look at the issue again, and it was "time to move on".

The Americans had hoped the matter would be resolved by the time President Obama visited Japan in December.
Prime Minister Hatoyama has refused to be rushed, and his latest deadline is May.

Last week, writing in the New York Times former Assistant Secretary of Defence Joseph Nye described the Pentagon as "properly annoyed" .

The spat with the Americans will have to be resolved because Japan's new government has wider ambitions.

Yukio Hatoyama has been making efforts to get closer to China.

Last month he was even willing to break with usual Imperial Household Agency protocol to insist an audience with the Emperor was granted at short notice to visiting Chinese Vice President Xin Jinping.

Mr Hatoyama has spoken of creating an East Asian Community, even of a common currency along the lines of the Euro.

But for now the unanswered question of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma leaves him in a bind, between Washington and the expectations he has helped to build up at home.



207 comments:

  1. "US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said it would be 'immensely complicated and counterproductive' to look at the issue again, and it was 'time to move on.'"


    What an imperious statement. What a rude little man.

    After 50 years of occupation, it seems the US has learned little about Japan. We will do better with Muslims, I am sure.

    The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere will be a concept embraced by both China and Korea, I'll bet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nothin' but blue skies from now on...

    “December was the worst month for US unemployment since the Great Recession began. The labour force contracted by 661,000.

    “One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody's Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year.

    “The US economy grew at a 2.2pc rate in the third quarter (entirely due to Obama stimulus). This compares to an average of 7.3pc in the first quarter of every recovery since the Second World War.

    “For the record, manufacturing capacity use at 67.2pc, and "auto-buying intentions" are the lowest ever.

    “The Fed's own Monetary Multiplier crashed to an all-time low of 0.809 in mid-December…

    America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels

    ReplyDelete
  3. China tests missile interceptor
    By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
    Published: January 12 2010 09:50

    China has successfully tested an advanced missile interception system in a move that provides a reminder of the fast-progressing technological upgrade of China’s military capabilities.

    In a one-sentence statement via Xinhua, the official news agency, said only that the country had “tested a mid-course missile interception technology on domestic territory”, that the launch met its expected objective and was defensive in nature and not targeted at any country.

    The test is expected to further strain relations with Washington at a time when there has been growing criticism from Beijing against ongoing arms sales by the US to Taiwan.

    Last week, the US Department of Defense announced that it had awarded a contract for advanced Patriot III anti-missile equipment for Taiwan to Lockheed Martin.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Time to go.

    EU, you're next.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't think of myself as an isolationist. I have been all for free trade and a free market but I don't believe we should try to maintain military bases around the whirled.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Vestiges of a bygone day, Whit. Time to "Saddle Up." Troops in Korea, Japan, Belgium, Germany, you name it.

    Hasta la Vista, Muchachos.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm a "free-trader," also; but it's time to send China a letter. "Let the Yuan float, or we're coming with a 25% Tariff. And, we're not going to spend the next 5 years talking about it."

    Time to get our "business" in order.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Time to let the Yuan "float", not to be 'pegged' at any given exchange rate.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't have any problem with China's missile interceptors...it's the offensive one that offend me.
    ----------------------
    From allen's link
    Realtytrac says defaults and repossessions have been running at over 300,000 a month since February. One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody's Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year. Taken together, this looks awfully like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath.

    "Grapes of Wrath"... I don't know anyone who has lost their home but that's not the kind of thing people announce.

    I remember hearing bitter old stories of heartless bankers taking the family farms during the depression. I think some of that was encouraged by the latent dsyfunction exemplified by residual communism.
    ---------------------------------
    When you ask Economists/economic experts/investment counselors to little into their crystal balls, it becomes obvious that they can see the future no better than Sister Fay or Sister Gina, my local fortune tellers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. yep we've been spending hundreds of billions a year on protecting europe, japan and korea..

    time for them to step up...

    change...

    ReplyDelete
  11. http://glossynews.com/society/201001070305/activists-missing-after-declaring-war-on-leather-at-motorcycle-rally/

    Activists Missing After Declaring “War on Leather” at Motorcycle Rally

    Johnstown, PA (GlossyNews) – Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers “duct taped inside several fast food restaurant dumpsters,” according to police officials.
    “Something just went wrong,” said a still visibly shaken organizer of the protest. “Something just went horribly, horribly, wrong.”
    The organizer said a group of concerned animal rights activist groups, “growing tired of throwing fake blood and shouting profanities at older women wearing leather or fur coats,” decided to protest the annual motorcycle club event “in a hope to show them our outrage at their wanton use of leather in their clothing and motor bike seats.” “In fact,” said the organizer, “motorcycle gangs are one of the biggest abusers of wearing leather, and we decided it was high time that we let them know that we disagree with them using it…ergo, they should stop.”
    According to witnesses, protesters arrived at the event in a vintage 1960’s era Volkswagen van and began to pelt the gang members with balloons filled with red colored water, simulating blood, and shouting “you’re murderers” to passers by. This, evidently, is when the brouhaha began.
    “They peed on me!!!” charged one activist. “They grabbed me, said I looked like I was French, started calling me ‘La Trene’, and duct taped me to a tree so they could pee on me all day!”
    “I…I was trying to show my outrage at a man with a heavy leather jacket, and he…he didn’t even care. I called him a murderer, and all he said was, ‘You can’t prove that.’ Next thing I know he forced me to ride on the back of his motorcycle all day, and would not let me off, because his girl friend was out of town and I was almost a woman.”
    Still others claimed they were forced to eat hamburgers and hot dogs under duress. Those who resisted were allegedly held down while several bikers “farted on their heads.”
    Police officials declined comments on any leads or arrests due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, however, organizers for the motorcycle club rally expressed “surprise” at the allegations.
    “That’s preposterous,” said one high-ranking member of the biker organizing committee. “We were having a party, and these people showed up and were very rude to us. They threw things at us, called us names, and tried to ruin the entire event. So, what did we do? We invited them to the party! What could be more friendly than that? You know, just because we are all members of motorcycle clubs does not mean we do not care about inclusiveness. Personally, I think it shows a lack of character for them to be saying such nasty things about us after we bent over backwards to make them feel welcome.”
    When confronted with the allegations of force-feeding the activists meat, using them as ad hoc latrines, leaving them incapacitated in fast food restaurant dumpsters, and ‘farting on their heads,’ the organizer declined to comment in detail. “That’s just our secret handshake,” assured the organizer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Global warming advocates are going to hate this report; it is scientific.

    "According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this."


    We must save tiny polar bear cubs from freezing and starving as their aquatic habitat is closed off by ice. Prince Charles needs to get all over this one.

    The mini ice age starts here

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear US:

    We have received and are considering your suggestion that we depeg our currency from yours. Please be advised as we do so, that we will no longer purchase any of your financial instruments. We regret this decision but in light of recent financial and political developments we have been forced into this position. Best Wishes for your future endeavors.

    Very sincerely yours,

    China

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear China,

    The US has decided to stop interest payments on all outstanding foreign debt.

    Principle repayments will be restructured, principle only, 30 year term.

    Thank you for your past support.

    ReplyDelete
  15. DR...

    "The US has decided to stop interest payments on all outstanding foreign debt."


    Why am I not surprised by such an unethical opinion?

    Hey, Sport, we borrowed the money; it's payday; get over it!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear China,

    Please remit the past due balance for copyright infringement.

    You will see that we applied your 1.2 trillion we owe you as a downpayment on the 13 trillion you have stolen.

    Please be aware that now that you are a leader in the world we will not tolerate the stealing of our technology without your paying for both the product and the r & d.

    Sincerely

    the USA

    ps any and all products exported into our market using prison labor, forced child labor will be seized and sold with proceeds placed in escrow for any and all lawsuits.

    pss the current census will calculate the number of illegal chinese in the usa, this figure will be tallied and added to your current balance due.

    ReplyDelete
  17. allen, there are many ways to 'cheat' the foreign investors.

    We could also pay them back with an inflated, less valuable, currency.

    Oh, wait, we've already done that.

    May as well do it, again.

    Then float a North America currency, in the aftermath of the self-induced financial crisis.

    There is a long term trend, to that end. Whether by accident or design, merely a matter of perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  18. desert rat said...
    allen, there are many ways to 'cheat' the foreign investors.

    We could also pay them back with an inflated, less valuable, currency.



    Reagan did that to the Japs in 1984

    ReplyDelete
  19. We wanted China to get on its feet. So, we allowed, nay, supported, them pegging their currency to the greenback.

    However, they are ON their feet. Very much on their feet. They are now the world's 2nd largest economy, and largest exporter. Time for them to "get honest."

    They'll whine, and bitch; but they won't "go to the mattresses" over it. They know they'll still do very well. Much better than they would do in an all-out trade war with the U.S.

    The present monetary regime is allowing them to leverage, virtual, slave labor into competitive advantage that is "unfairly" competing against U.S. businesses.

    Time to call, "fini" to that deal. They've gotten too big, and we're too broke to keep that turkey going.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What is the ethical mean, to the inflation of US currency since 1963?

    Who was cheated and who benefited from 57 years of steady, unending inflation?

    ReplyDelete
  21. "inflation" is the ONLY way a fiat currency can work. It's the reason for having one in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  22. A professor of nuclear physics at Tehran University was killed on Tuesday morning by a bomb-rigged motorcycle outside his home.
    Massoud Mohammadi had just left his house on his way to work when the explosion went off, state-run Press TV said.

    The blast shattered the windows of his home in northern Tehran's Qeytariyeh neighborhood and left the pavement outside smeared with blood. The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Teheran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as confirming the killing.

    Neither report said whether Mohammadi was connected to Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability.

    ...

    The Press TV report described Mohammadi was "a staunch supporter" of the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah and brought Islamic clerics to power.

    ReplyDelete
  23. oh, I forgot to say...

    bye bye jackass...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Exactly right, rufus.

    And there are, of course, winners and losers.

    Though overall, the US and its' residents, have come out pretty damned well, as compared to anyone else in the whirled.

    ReplyDelete
  25. It was the dirty joos what done it.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "The Bell Library's focus 'is on the development of trade and how that drove civilization — how that constant desire to find new markets to sell new products led to exchanges of knowledge, science, technology and really drove civilization,' Bell said. 'So (the map) fits in beautifully.'"

    On this rare map, China is the center of the world

    ReplyDelete
  27. Here's the interesting thing: China is Signing FREE TRADE DEALS left, and right. Big ones, too.

    They're giving up their large tariffs to get lower tariffs in other countries.

    They don't have to with us. They ALREADY HAVE low tariffs with us. his has got to be renegotiated.

    ReplyDelete
  28. DR China,

    We regret to inform you that, because we have a dearth of cash and a plethora of munitions, we will be investing our munitions in your highly competitive industrial base.

    Since this will, unfortunately, lead to a state of war, we will also renege on our outstanding debt. For precedent, see Bayer.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Sorry to change the subject but the weather is rising. We woke up to a ground covered snow and a whopping 28° but by Thursday 40° and Friday…woo hoo it will be 50° just in time for my birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Why should China renegotiate a done deal?

    China could fill the IMF's role in dealing with third world countries by demanding a draconian (rational) reduction of current deficits.

    The US could follow Chavez's lead from yesterday and declare the equivalent of national bankruptcy.

    Or, and here is a novel idea, Americans could open their history books and relearn the art of hard work, thrift and innovation.

    Sorry about that last...got carried away by the moment and forgot where I am.

    ReplyDelete
  31. China is about to learn what world leadership brings...

    Can't wait to see what happens to rich Chinese managers in Nigeria when workers get pissed....

    lol

    ReplyDelete
  32. Well, I don't know; we have the highest "standard of living," the highest "take home pay, " and the "Lowest Cost of Living" of any country in the world.

    We spend less than 10% of our "take-home" on food. SOMEBODY has been working pretty hard.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Israeli Robots Remake Battlefield

    TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare.

    "We're trying to get to unmanned vehicles everywhere on the battlefield for each platoon in the field," says Lt. Col. Oren Berebbi, head of the Israel Defense Forces' technology branch. "We can do more and more missions without putting a soldier at risk."

    In 10 to 15 years, one-third of Israel's military machines will be unmanned

    Over 40 countries have military-robotics programs today. The U.S. and much of the rest of the world is betting big on the role of aerial drones: Even Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite guerrilla force in Lebanon, flew four Iranian-made drones against Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.

    In 2009, for the first time, the U.S. Air Force trained more "pilots" for unmanned aircraft than for manned fighters and bombers.

    U.S. and Japanese robotics programs rival Israel's technological know-how, but Israel has shown it can move quickly to develop and deploy new devices, to meet battlefield needs, military officials say.

    "The Israelis do it differently, not because they're more clever than we are, but because they live in a tough neighborhood and need to respond fast to operational issues," says Thomas Tate, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who now oversees defense cooperation between the U.S. and Israel.

    Among the recently deployed technologies that set Israel ahead of the curve is the Guardium unmanned ground vehicle, which now drives itself along the Gaza and Lebanese borders. The Guardium was deployed to patrol for infiltrators in the wake of the abduction of soldiers doing the same job in 2006. The Guardium, developed by G-nius Ltd., is essentially an armored off-road golf cart with a suite of optical sensors and surveillance gear. It was put into the field for the first time 10 months ago.

    In the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli soldiers took a beating opening supply routes and ferrying food and ammunition through hostile territory to the front lines. In the Gaza conflict in January 2009, Israel unveiled remote-controlled bulldozers to help address that issue.

    Within the next year, Israeli engineers expect to deploy the voice-commanded, six-wheeled Rex robot, capable of carrying 550 pounds of gear alongside advancing infantry.

    After bomb-laden fishing boats tried to take out an Israeli Navy frigate off the coast off Gaza in 2002, Rafael designed the Protector SV, an unmanned, heavily armed speedboat that today makes up a growing part of the Israeli naval fleet. The Singapore Navy has also purchased the boat and is using it in patrols in the Persian Gulf.

    After Syrian missile batteries in Lebanon took a heavy toll on Israeli fighter jets in the 1973 war, Israel developed the first modern unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

    When Israel next invaded Lebanon in 1981, the real-time images provided by those unmanned aircraft helped Israel wipe out Syrian air defenses, without a single downed pilot. The world, including the U.S., took notice.

    The Pentagon set aside its long-held skepticism about the advantages of unmanned aircraft and, in the early 1980s, bought a prototype designed by former Israeli Air Force engineer Abraham Karem. That prototype morphed into the modern-day Predator, which is made by General Dynamics Corp.

    Unlike the U.S. and other militaries, where UAVs are flown by certified, costly-to-train fighter pilots, Israeli defense companies have recently built their UAVs to allow an average 18-year-old recruit with just a few months' training to pilot them.

    Military analysts say unmanned fighting vehicles could have a far-reaching strategic impact on the sort of asymmetrical conflicts the U.S. is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and that Israel faces against enemies such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

    ReplyDelete
  34. BTW, I've solved the coming "oil crisis." It's a workable plan, and it's something we could do. I might be writing a series of posts about it in the coming days.

    The biggest problem has always been, and is, the "politics" of the thing. It's not easy sliding one past Big Oil. I think I've figured out how to accomplish that.

    ReplyDelete
  35. "According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this."

    i understand the ugly politics of "global warming" but the increase in ice formation is due to an increase in atmospheric water vapor.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Ah, Global Warming means "More" Arctic Ice. I see.

    ReplyDelete
  37. An economic law: savings is IDENTICAL to investment.

    The Collapse of Personal Savings Rate in America

    Of course, there is the (in)famous "wealth effect", which posits that abysmal personal savings is more than compensated by capital gains in such instruments as stocks and bonds, as well as equity in tangible assets such as autos and homes............How's that working for you?

    ReplyDelete
  38. no it means an increase in precipitation in some parts.

    ReplyDelete
  39. First all the Arctic Ice was going to "Melt" due to GW. Now, the ice is "Increasing" because of Globull Warmening.

    Cool.

    An "Unfalsifiable" theory.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous said...
    no it means an increase in precipitation in some parts.


    fine then dont POINT to a lack of glaciers and polar ice to PROVE global warming..

    you want it both ways...

    jackasses

    ReplyDelete
  41. Otherwise known as a "Religion."

    ReplyDelete
  42. What is "Occupation" said...

    "Israeli Robots Remake Battlefield"

    Some of us have been saying for a long time that XXXXXX is an under-recognized, under-appreciated technological powerhouse. Your article certainly reinforces the case.

    It should also give pause to those who would dissolve the long-time relationship of the US to that "shitty little country".

    I loved this: "'The Israelis do it differently, not because they're more clever than we are, but because they live in a tough neighborhood and need to respond fast to operational issues,' says Thomas Tate, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who now oversees defense cooperation between the U.S. and Israel."

    - By this standard, DC should be turning out PhDs by the score :)

    You do know that all heck is now about to break loose :D

    ReplyDelete
  43. Israel, that shitty little country INVENTED drone technology...

    as well as drip irrigation and so many others it hurts the brain...

    simply put, next time someone says "those xxxx's we should simply tell them they are not entitled to take the weekend off since xxxx's invented TGIF

    ReplyDelete
  44. MeLoDy:Sorry to change the subject but the weather is rising. We woke up to a ground covered snow and a whopping 28° but by Thursday 40° and Friday…woo hoo it will be 50° just in time for my birthday.

    Happy Birthday MeLoDy!

    A professor of nuclear physics at Tehran University was killed on Tuesday morning by a bomb-rigged motorcycle outside his home.

    Muslims go, "No fair, we're the only ones supposed to use that trick! Not the Jew Pig and the Christian Crusader!"

    Rufus: Vestiges of a bygone day, Whit. Time to "Saddle Up." Troops in Korea, Japan, Belgium, Germany, you name it. Hasta la Vista, Muchachos.

    Hey, we do agree on something. As long as we "must" be in Iraq and Afghanistan, better to move everyone to where the action is, so our forces cannot be said to be "stretched to the breaking point."

    ReplyDelete
  45. In defense of my one-time home, Belgium is not a troop garrison for us. It is the political HQs (Brussels) and military HQs (Mons) of NATO. We have exactly one tiny base, Chievres, that exists to provide services (commissary, px and Taco Bell) to the small number of Americans assigned to the country.

    Now, if you wanted to argue the logic of NATO this many, many years beyond its founding purpose, that's another matter.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The gods are thinking of you MeLoDy.

    Isn't that good to know?

    ReplyDelete
  47. …more on glacial warming…

    “Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.

    ”They say that their research shows that much of the warming was caused by oceanic cycles when they were in a ‘warm mode’ as opposed to the present ‘cold mode’.

    ”But he added: ‘I do not believe in catastrophe theories. Man-made warming is balanced by the natural cycles, and I do not trust the computer models which state that if CO2 reaches a particular level then temperatures and sea levels will rise by a given amount.

    'These models cannot be trusted to predict the weather for a week, yet they are running them to give readings for 100 years….’”

    Sunlight is a great disinfectant

    Is it a wonder that China has so little interest in something so costly and comedic?

    ReplyDelete
  48. It is interesting to see how quickly the desire to loosen the China peg quickly became all out war in this thread:

    From:



    Blogger whit said...

    Dear US:

    We have received and are considering your suggestion that we depeg our currency from yours. Please be advised as we do so, that we will no longer purchase any of your financial instruments



    to



    Blogger desert rat said...

    Dear China,

    The US has decided to stop interest payments on all outstanding foreign debt.



    and rapidily on to:



    Blogger What is "Occupation" said...

    Dear China,

    Please remit the past due balance for copyright infringement.

    You will see that we applied your 1.2 trillion we owe you as a downpayment on the 13 trillion you have stolen.


    and quickly, but finally, we arrive at the final solution proposed by the EB brain trust:

    "Blogger allen said...

    DR China,

    We regret to inform you that, because we have a dearth of cash and a plethora of munitions, we will be investing our munitions in your highly competitive industrial base.

    Since this will, unfortunately, lead to a state of war, we will also renege on our outstanding debt. For precedent, see Bayer.





    oh yeaaaaah, we are America, we are strong.

    ReplyDelete
  49. WiO said...

    "xxxx's invented TGIF"

    :D)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Ash,

    Without putting too fine a point on it, you are stupid

    ...read...read...read...

    context...context...context...

    THEN comment...

    My post about war was a SATRICAL rebuttal of DR, you simple person.

    ReplyDelete
  51. It's called, Ash.

    ReplyDelete
  52. My html didn't take.

    Humor

    ReplyDelete
  53. That was strange.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Belgium, Smelgium. What do we have in Europe, Trish. A touch north of 100,000 personnel?

    Way past the "due date."

    ReplyDelete
  55. Ash,

    what part of China's stealing of the USA copyrighted technologies from advance missiles to computers do you not agree with?

    Please explain how China should not be held to international norms of trade behavior.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Ash said...

    "oh yeaaaaah, [WE] are America, [WE] are strong."


    Have you mice in your pocket?

    No?

    Global Warming snowballs, then?

    Tell me it's not PETN!

    ReplyDelete
  57. They "steal" cell phone technology; they don't really need to steal military technology.

    The Singapore Navy has also purchased the boat and is using it in patrols in the Persian Gulf.

    ReplyDelete
  58. aye what a sensitive bunch playing their respective roles in the prisoners dilemma.

    ReplyDelete
  59. dont hate the player, hate the game. keep politics away from science (that goes for PCing the military also as most of you should agree). yer all some smart fellows here but precipitation can freeze at anything below freezing but you tend to get more of it when its warmer. you can still have colder weather without eliminating the science behind global warming.

    learn the science, so you wont be a "jackass". dont underestimate or overestimate.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Whereas, MeLoDy, I seem to have done something so heinous in a previous life as to deserve, upon my homecoming, not only apocalyptic cold, but the job of baby-sitting a Siberian Husky puppy that has explosive diarrhea.

    How do you GET dog shit on the drapes for chrissakes? I mean, HOW is that biomechanically possible?

    ReplyDelete
  61. "A touch north of 100,000 personnel?"

    I don't know what the number is now. It's still considerable.

    I was speaking of Belgium specifically, as the country serves a different purpose for us.

    Western Europe in general however serves - has served for some time - as a deployment base for the Shitty Little Wars. As does East Asia. (If you're not occupying a Joint billet - and most don't - you deploy from those regions.) And it's sometimes cheaper to keep them where they are than to close shop and move them home.

    Obviously there ARE arguments for doing the latter. And Ted Galen Carpenter at Cato has done more homework on that than most. Might be worth a read again this day.

    ReplyDelete
  62. as well as drip irrigation and so many others it hurts the brain...


    I'm not sure about drip irrigation, not denying, not confirming. But I had a guy in one of my apartments who sold some American drip irrigation equipment to Israel. That's what the company he worked for did. It's not all that complex anyway, but works good. Lots of computers, timers, drip, drip, drip.


    Israel has developed many other things much more complex, I'm sure.


    Dad invested with about 6 other guys in some farmland in the Columbia Basin after the irrigation canals were going in. Around Moses Lake somewhere. It was not drip irrigation, but gravity fed out of the canals to row crops. High tech for the day.

    They had a huge storage facility, and one year had potatos stacked up to the ceiling. Some kind of fungus or blight got in there and destroyed the whole crop. Dad went back to lawyering. The guy that was kinda the manager of the place was pretty handy with machinery and invented a machine to harvest the potatos without damaging the potatos so much. There was also suger beets, and a big factory out there processing them into sugar. I think it's out of business now.

    Just a story.


    I'm not sure about closing all these bases. But since it's such a minority opinion here, I'll stay out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  63. And it's not just "troops" conventionally understood. We literally could not do OIF or OEF without the air support we have stationed in Italy.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Well, that's Great, anon. The Polar Bears are going to have ice rafts to hunt off of (meaning they aren't going to starve,) and Greenland isn't going to melt and Flood Bangladesh (and, Miami.)

    All's Cool.

    Where do we send the money?

    ReplyDelete
  65. We were growing monster watermelons with "drip" irrigation in SE Missouri back in the 50's.

    ReplyDelete
  66. The gods are thinking of you MeLoDy.

    Isn't that good to know?



    Even better is Bob here is thinking of you too.

    Isn't that even better to know?

    But the gods will serve as a suitable backup, in a pinch.

    Happy Birthday, Melody.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Well, my proposal will eliminate the need for ALL oil imports, thus eliminate the need for participating in those "shitty little wars."

    Which means we can bring the flyboys back from Italy, the 5th Fleet back from Dubai, and the "troops" back from Iraq, Afghanistan, Europe, and Japan. Maybe we'll move the Seventh Fleet back to Havaee.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Oh, and "see you later," Korea.

    ReplyDelete
  69. I'm guessing you'll need an even more top down system than the Chinese have to implement your solution rufus.

    ReplyDelete
  70. anonymous: learn the science, so you wont be a "jackass". dont underestimate or overestimate.

    I have...

    Just simple fact stick out like sore thumbs...

    ie peat bogs in siberia are thawing out giving off greenhouse gases...

    So it when did the peat bogs form, how warm was it when they flourished and now that they are thawing out, doesnt it point to a recent period (in geological time frame) when the earth was warmer?

    i e the hockey stick graph, using tree rings for the 1st 1800 years, and ignoring tree rings for the last 200 years and using instead spotty censured temp reports to complete the report...

    yep man made global warming is about as possible as man made new ice age that was the norm back in 1974

    ReplyDelete
  71. And, NATO has "Gotta Go."

    ReplyDelete
  72. NATO's not going anywhere anytime soon. NATO's good at reinventing itself - at least on paper, and that's almost always good enough.

    Ditto US Forces ROK.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Actually, Ash, you'll be surprised.

    It's all about the "Price points;" and the "Price Point" is here.

    Overcoming incredible amounts of lobbying money from Saudi Arabia, and the rest of "Big Oil" is, really, the only problem.

    That will require a Higher "Price Point" than would otherwise be needed.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Sounds like a carbon tax might help you slay the beast rufus.



    on another note I guess this isn't what is normally meant when folks say the solution to Iran is to bomb:

    "A remote-controlled bomb killed a Tehran University nuclear scientist on Tuesday, state media reported, in an attack which Iran blamed on its two arch enemies, the United States and Israel."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/bomb-kills-iranian-nuclear-scientist/article1427957/

    ReplyDelete
  75. No, no, no, Ash. A carbon tax just pisses off the public, and gives the government a reason to want to keep oil. (see, Europe.)

    What's needed is a "pissed off" public. Read: A return of $4.00 + gasoline. We'll probably be there in early 2011.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Since all the gathered figures have been fudged, frauded, f-ed over, I don't see how it's possible to even talk about the climate.

    That Professor Ward from U of W I listened to for four hours one night, talked about increase in water moisture in the air making the ice caps grow, at least for a while.


    But if all the numbers are fudged what can you say?

    And Siberia? Just cherry pick your weather station, make up your theory to suit your pocketbook, and run from there.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I just read what I wrote. We need a public that's pissed off about higher gasoline prices, not a public that's pissed off at the solution.

    ReplyDelete
  78. I wish I could light the candles on Melody's cake.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Ash said...
    Sounds like a carbon tax might help you slay the beast rufus.



    on another note I guess this isn't what is normally meant when folks say the solution to Iran is to bomb:

    "A remote-controlled bomb killed a Tehran University nuclear scientist on Tuesday, state media reported, in an attack which Iran blamed on its two arch enemies, the United States and Israel."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/bomb-kills-iranian-nuclear-scientist/article1427957/




    Ash, why do you think that Iran has not been able to COMPLETE it's bomb making research?

    Israel, yes those pricks, have been erasing, kidnapping and luring Iranian scientists for over 20 years.. Every time they do something it sets the Iranians back..

    I sure hope the Mossad is behind it, as well as the centrifuges breaking down, as well as numerous other things...

    And why should israel not fuck with iran, Iran (by proxy) has murdered hundreds of israelis, armed crazies in the area (hezbollah, hamas, islamic brotherhood, al quada, syria, fatah el islam) and led the drive to wipe israel off the map...

    I can only pray that a rash of every nuke scientist in iran is liquidated, kidnapped or defects asap...

    ReplyDelete
  80. Blogger rufus said...

    I just read what I wrote.


    heheh...

    you also wrote:

    "It's all about the "Price points;" and the "Price Point" is here.

    Overcoming incredible amounts of lobbying money from Saudi Arabia, and the rest of "Big Oil" is, really, the only problem.

    That will require a Higher "Price Point" than would otherwise be needed."



    ...which is saying the price point is here but it isn't...

    ReplyDelete
  81. I guess I pretty much trust the satellite data (UAH, and RSS.)

    If the Skeptics are right, we'll "Probably" see a cooling trend starting up soon, and lasting for twenty to thirty years.

    The fact is, I have a very hard time seeing any downside to another couple of degrees warming. This year, with its cool summer, and early fall made for a "harvest from hell." The farmers could have surely used a couple of more heating degree days.

    ReplyDelete
  82. While I believe the data indicates a warming trend aided by man (strictly a belief based on a layman's perception of the scientific consensus) I am skeptical that some of dire catastrophes predicted by some due to the warming will occur.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Yeah, that is exactly what I'm saying. Dangit.

    My proposal fits the "rational" case right now. But, Democracies don't do "rational" energy policy very well.

    A former Energy Secretary said, "we do (I'm paraphrasing) Complacency, and Panic."

    ReplyDelete
  84. When you ask Economists/economic experts/investment counselors to little into their crystal balls, it becomes obvious that they can see the future no better than Sister Fay or Sister Gina, my local fortune tellers.

    My old theory exactly. Just take the stock page, and throw darts, you'll do as well.

    Better yet, don't invest in stocks at all. Just put your money in the bank at interest.

    ReplyDelete
  85. a warming trend aided by man


    You'd have to be a moron to disagree with that statement.

    The Skeptics just think that the "warming trend" is fairly small, and quite possibly beneficial, and that the "help" from Man is Very small, and, again, quite possibly, Beneficial.

    Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Trees, do dearly love CO2.

    And, sea levels haven't risen by so much as a millimeter since 2006.

    ReplyDelete
  86. There has never, in the history of the earth, been an investment that could exceed a 5% Bond (as long as the country doesn't go belly-up.)

    Unfortunately, ALL Countries go "belly-up," eventually.

    You pays your money, you takes your chances.

    ReplyDelete
  87. And, sea levels haven't risen by so much as a millimeter since 2006.


    last time i checked atlantic city is still there and that's about 120 yrs

    ReplyDelete
  88. My wife is going to the Republican Women's Dinner tomorrow night, this is a first.

    There is a shift in the political winds, here.

    She was never an activist.

    I still have an old fox fur shawl or collar somewhere, from my aunts, back when the ladies wore those, on special occasions, maybe I'll have her wear that.

    ReplyDelete
  89. If the ice caps are growing, at least S. Pole, shouldn't sea levels actually be dropping?

    ReplyDelete
  90. "My wife is going to the Republican Women's Dinner tomorrow night, this is a first."

    You still have a wife?

    ReplyDelete
  91. Life in the new millennium

    "Dear Andy, how have you been? Your mother and I are fine. Please sign off your computer and come downstairs and have something to eat, love, dad"


    "My name was David, but it sounded oldfashioned so I shortened it to DVD."

    "Hello, Bob? It's your father again. I have another question about my new computer. Can I tape a movie from cable TV then fax it from my VCR to my CD-Rom then e-mail it to my brother's cellular phone so he can make a copy on his neighbor's camcorder?"

    "I want my husband to pay more attention to me. Got any perfume that smells like a computer?"

    "Sorry about the odor. I have all my passwords tattooed between my toes."

    "The computer says I need upgrade my brain to be compatible with its new software."

    "You said I should spend more time with the children so I turned their faces into icons."

    "I asked my dad where children come from and he said they are downloaded from the internet."

    "Your baby is developing very nicely, would you like to send him an e-mail?" (In the gynecologist office)

    "Not tonight. Didn't you get my e-mail?"

    Even Dogs Do It--"Tell her you are a guard dog, yeah, a Rottweiler, and that you are single and neutered...."

    "I met someone wonderful in a chat room, then found out she was a cat...."

    With cartoons to match

    ReplyDelete
  92. Yeah, a Republican one. I'm looking for a Democratic one, to match. So the polling comes out, fifty fifty.

    ReplyDelete
  93. If the ice caps are growing, at least S. Pole, shouldn't sea levels actually be dropping?

    there is a hole in the ozone over there that is allowing heat absorbing C02 molecules to escape but melting is occurring in other places. (does this make holes in the ozone good? doubt it.)

    ReplyDelete
  94. Greenland is "leaking" a little water, bob. And, there are more glaciers receding than advancing.

    Then, there's the effect of El Ninos, and La Ninas. (hot water expands)

    It's all pretty complicated. BTW, take two pennies out of your pocket, and press them together. The Thickness is about 3 mm.

    Now, try measuring the Oceans, with all their waves, depressions, etc to That exactitude from a satellite in space, or from a tide gauge that "Might" not be on a shelf that is "subsiding" or rising. It gets a little goofy at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  95. How is the ozone hole doing? Years ago, it was a big thing, chlorofloro carbons, and all that. Had to change the air conditioners, and such. Then it was healing. Or shrinking.

    ReplyDelete
  96. the Oceans, with all their waves, depressions, etc

    Yeah, tis true. Somewhere out there in the Pacific is an area the old sailors knew about, where you kinda rode downhill. Not just a current, but downhill a little. Least that's what I heard.

    ReplyDelete
  97. How is the ozone hole doing? Years ago, it was a big thing, chlorofloro carbons, and all that. Had to change the air conditioners, and such. Then it was healing. Or shrinking.

    it is. which would mean possibly more melting.

    ReplyDelete
  98. SOMETHING IN THE AIR

    Sarah Palin skips CPAC, accepts tea-party offer
    'Going Rogue' author marches to her own drumbeat

    In step with the title of her No. 1 best-seller "Going Rogue," former GOP vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin is skipping the traditional summit for conservatives this year, the Conservative Political Action Conference, while planning to speak at a tea party event.

    Palin was not in attendance at the 2009 CPAC and now is not expected at the 2010 meetings in the nation's capital, Feb. 18-20. She initially was listed on the CPAC website as an invited guest.

    According to a Politico report, a source said Palin does not want to be affiliated with David Keene, the head of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC.

    Keene recently was in the news for accepting a sponsorship for the conference from GOProud, a homosexual activist group.




    Politico explained an additional controversy came up over reports Keene asked FedEx for a donation "to get the group's support in a bitter legislative battle with rival UPS."

    The report said a Palin camp source explained Keene's actions led to her decision to stay away from the coming CPAC event, "calling it a forum that will place 'special interests over core beliefs' and 'pocketbook over policy.'"

    "That's not what CPAC should be about, and people are tiring," the source told Politico. "Palin is taking a stance against this just as she did in Alaska."

    ReplyDelete
  99. there are good and bad. the slowing or stopping of the "great conveyor belt" (gulf stream) could bring about ice age like weather for europe, which is on the same latitude as siberia. No reason to keep troops there for sure then!

    ReplyDelete
  100. …additional thoughts on Ice Age warming…



    “…I cannot stress this enough – we are not in a position to confidently attribute past climate change to CO2 or to forecast what the climate will be in the future."
    ___Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science, MIT, member of National Academy of Sciences.

    While he does not hold a PhD in Philosophy, Mesoamerican architecture, or Animal Husbandry, his credentials might give his thoughts some small credence.


    "The blind adherence to the harebrained idea that climate models can generate 'realistic' simulations of climate is the principal reason why I remain a climate skeptic. From my background in turbulence I look forward with grim anticipation to the day that climate models will run with a horizontal resolution of less than a kilometer. The horrible predictability problems of turbulent flows then will descend on climate science with a vengeance."
    ___Hendrik Tennekes, retired Director of Research, Royal Netherlands Meterological Institute

    His degrees have nothing to do with the cultivation of tulips or the relationship of Erasmus to Luther’s Reformation. In his defense, his humble expertise is in meterology.


    "…[M]odels used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are incoherent and invalid from a scientific point of view"… "It is not possible to exclude that the observed phenomena may have natural causes. It may be that man has little or nothing to do with it"
    ___Antonio Zichichi, emeritus professor of nuclear physics, University of Bologna; president World Federation of Scientists


    What is amazing is the inflation of the word "scientist". Look, a pediatrician (scientist) is not going to do the job of a neurosurgeon (scientist). But according to the logic of the advocates of global warming, a "scientist" is a "scientist" and, therefore, competent to give "considered" opinions outside his field of expertise.

    ReplyDelete
  101. It might have been "The Harvest from Hell," but it was worth it.

    Monster Harvest:

    Jan. 12: U.S. corn farmers brought in a record amount of corn in 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported this morning, despite a harvest season that left thousands of acres of corn around the country still unharvested. USDA estimated a crop of 13.2 billion bushels, with a record yield of 165.2 bushels per acre.

    “While we are extremely proud of the achievements of growers in terms of production and yield improvements, we are not surprised,” NCGA President Darrin Ihnen, a farmer in Hurley, S.D., said. “Even in difficult conditions, our growers combine the most modern technology available with a strong and determined work ethic to produce a crop that meets all needs for food, feed, fuel and fiber. What remains to be seen is the full impact of the millions of bushels that farmers could not yet harvest.”

    U.S. corn growers produced this record crop utilizing fewer acres. In 2009, USDA estimates 86.6 million acres were used for corn production, compared with the 93.5 million acres used to produce the previous record crop in 2007.

    In its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, the USDA Tuesday estimated a total corn supply of 14.8 billion bushels, with 5.6 billion bushels being used for feed, 4.2 billion for ethanol and coproducts, and 1.3 billion for other domestic uses. The U.S. will export 2.1 billion bushels of corn, with a carry-out of 1.8 billion bushels in free stocks at the end of the marketing year. Average farm price is estimated at $3.70 per bushel, the second year of a drop in average corn prices.

    Also, USDA reports that corn stocks were up 9 percent over December 2008. Corn stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2009 totaled 10.9 billion bushels. Of the total stocks, 7.45 billion bushels are stored on farms, up 15 percent from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 3.49 billion bushels, are down 3 percent from 2008.


    Corn is selling today for a little Less than $0.07/lb.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Regardless of whether we are cooling or warming, man is adaptable. Also, the draconian carbon reduction proposals are an overreaction to unproven hysterical concerns. The situation has become so hyped that every third whirled country and nation wannbe has their hand out for money, money, money. Oh, who is the big bogeyman? Why its the evil empire itself, the great Satan, the US of A. The carbon gluttons who consume disproportionate amounts of the whirls resources.

    It's time for climate alarmists to chill out, cool-off, take a deep breath. Maybe find a new religion.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Happy birthday, MLD! Go out and celebrate.

    Le Chaim!

    ReplyDelete
  104. In looking at the earlier thread showing General Petraeus, I was struck by this portrait:

    General of the Armies of the United States, D. D. Eisenhower

    From a day when modesty was still considered a virtue.

    ReplyDelete
  105. BTW, of that 4.2 billion bu that we'll use for ethanol, we'll get about 3.0 Billion bu (70%) back in net energy gain from feeding DDGS.

    That means we'll use about 1.2/13.2 = 0.09 (9%) of our record corn crop for ethanol to provide about 8% of our private transportation fuel needs.

    Corn is "limit down."

    ReplyDelete
  106. SAYONARA


    What's the very worst portion
    In this frightful mortal life?
    An expensive pensive mistress?
    Or a thoughtful angry wife
    Sitting at her computer keyboard,
    Sharpening her butcher knife?






    adapted & adopted

    ReplyDelete
  107. the political wind somehow needs to me taken out of this climate controvery sail. that would be harder to figure out than the problem itself though.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Allen,

    Not long ago we acquired a new doorman at our apartment building in Bogota. Eager young fellow who had just completed his Colombian Army stint. The first time he saw my husband show up in the lobby in his dress mess, he regarded the rows of ribbons with wide eyes and said something to the effect of, "Wow!"

    My husband responded, "Oh, we get one every year."

    This went over so well, it became his stock response to the curious and impressed.

    ReplyDelete
  109. And tonight will have two more.

    ReplyDelete
  110. with a record yield of 165.2 bushels per acre

    Holy Shit!

    But farmers never get any medals, just mentals. The yield don't mean much, if no price is there.

    Some of that per acre yield though may be due to a lot of the poorer land being in set aside, just the best land being farmed.

    ReplyDelete
  111. The Canadians, until very, very recently, had no medals for valor. They hadn't been in a combat theater since leaving the Empire.

    Due to Afghanistan, they were pressed to finally create one.




    Farmers don't need no stinkin' medals, bob. Farmers are above the froufrou.

    ReplyDelete
  112. But apparently not above the search for additional wives - of questionable political leaning.

    ReplyDelete
  113. How do you GET dog shit on the drapes for chrissakes? I mean, HOW is that biomechanically possible?

    Maybe you can train that mutt along these lines, Trish, and a buck or two.

    Those French really had the sense of humor, sort a.

    ReplyDelete
  114. trish,

    I know the drill and appreciate the service.

    Sometimes, it seems we Boomers and the XYZ geners have to make a big show of everything we do for having missed the really big shows of our parents and grandparents.

    You can bet there will be no Cronkite dubbing the DVD of "War in Afghanistan".

    Yesterday, the French lost a man in Afghanistan. In the reportage, it was said that 32 have been lost since 2001. Trish, in WWI the French took 550,000 casualties at Verdun, a number larger than the entire population of Wyoming.

    All the hubris surrounding global warming is another case in point. WE MUST HAVE something to show for our brief stay on earth, and better the villany of global warming than nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  115. 86 Million Acres, Bob. That's about average.

    ReplyDelete
  116. 165.2 bushels per acre deserves some kind of medal.

    Maybe the Nobel Peace Prize, really, keeping starvation and resource war away.

    ReplyDelete
  117. That's why you GOTTA HAVE Football, baseball, hockey, basketball.

    Ain't nothing more dangerous than a "Bored" Human Male.

    ReplyDelete
  118. I thought hell had no fury like a woman scorned.

    ReplyDelete
  119. "Sometimes, it seems we Boomers and the XYZ geners have to make a big show of everything we do for having missed the really big shows of our parents and grandparents."

    You know, I don't think that's it, allen, as much it's a reflection of an All Volunteer Force. A lot of that stuff is like little doggy treats or party favors handed out to the willing and able. To be fair, though, there's a goodly bit of it that's honest recognition of blood, sweat, and tears. Just depends. And every guy and gal has their favorites, the most meaningful to them personally.

    My husband's favorite is a medal he received in Iraq which was originally (in both senses of the word) designed and created by the US for a certain Iraqi with whom he worked. He has the only other one in existence, and it was his unofficial end-of-tour award.

    Sat inconspicuously on the mantle down South from the day he got home.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Oops, I'm late. Gotta go get ready for the "food riots."

    ReplyDelete
  121. Bob,

    Mel Brooks' grossly uncouth character in Blazing Saddles was Governor William J. Lepetomane.

    ReplyDelete
  122. The ‘accidental guerrilla' is the latest jihadi threat

    Worth reading all of it but here is the end of the piece:

    "The “accidental guerrillas,” Mr. Kilcullen writes, are “people who fight us not because they hate the West and seek our overthrow but because we have invaded their space to deal with a small, extremist element that has manipulated and exploited local grievances to gain power in their societies. They fight us not because they seek our destruction but because they believe we seek theirs.”

    By treating Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda as the No. 1 security threat, by throwing huge resources against them, by invading Muslim countries, and by declaring a “war” to be on offer, we have turned a “mouse into an elephant.”

    This reasoning is arguably a bit naive, since Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda do pose mortal threats, both to Western societies through terrorist acts and to Muslim regimes. It's their world view, coupled with the convictions of the religiously righteous, that makes them dangerous, in and of themselves, and as an inspiration for certain people raised in the Muslim faith.

    It is estimated that, for every dollar that al-Qaeda spent mounting the 9/11 attacks, terrorists inflicted $544,000 in damage (the cost in human lives and suffering, of course, cannot be measured). In response, the U.S. has spent $1.4-million for every al-Qaeda dollar.

    This is not a war in any traditional sense, in which overcommitment, overreaction and misuse of the forms of conventional power risk alienating the very populations on whom the blunting of al-Qaeda and its allies depends."

    ReplyDelete
  123. And the Husky puppy's going to the vet tomorrow. Husky puppy has worms.

    You do not want to see what I saw.





    From Ash's link:

    The key to breaking this cycle is winning the support of local populations: respecting their traditions, bringing them tangible help, ensuring their security, convincing them that al-Qaeda is a threat rather than an ally. Counterinsurgency, therefore, is not about killing al-Qaeda and other “scumbags,” as a Canadian general once said, but of winning the local population. Body counts, in other words, don't count, a lesson conventional militaries struggle to understand.



    It's not an either-or and, as importantly, you HAVE to do both. And you HAVE to do both at pretty much the same time.

    You cannot establish security (the biggest help of the "tangible help") for local populations without the pointy shit. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they're completely full of it.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Trish, jeez he was! I'd forgotten that!

    One of my cousins had a Le Petomane doll that he was always fooling around with, is why I remember the guy.

    ReplyDelete
  125. The catch 22, trish, is that the pointy shit tends to alienate those you wish to win over.

    ReplyDelete
  126. "...the pointy shit tends to alienate..."

    Or win friends and influence people. Depends on how and in many cases for how long you use it.

    But there's No Joy without it.

    ReplyDelete
  127. naw, I think that is what lies at the base of the our problems - the conception that "there is no joy without it". Just one counter-example would be the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian territories. They had minimal military resources yet they gained popularity and strength through their grass roots efforts - hospitals ect. One could point to the Velvet Revolution or the overthrow of Ceausescu in Romania as other counter examples.

    ReplyDelete
  128. "naw, I think that is what lies at the base of the our problems"

    I'm sorry, I don't agree.

    But, here, have this outstanding bowl of chili as a gift from me.

    Perhaps the best I've yet made and the daughter and I have roughly a gallon of leftovers.

    Powerfully good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  129. yum, sounds good. I'd bring the beer and/or a good strong wine if you were in the neighborhood. And some tortilla chips - I like chips with my chili.

    ReplyDelete
  130. The finest medical care in the world is there in Gaza. People flock there for treatment from all over. And the indoctination centers, er, schools, are the finest around.


    ululationululationululation

    ReplyDelete
  131. I used to be a saltines gal myself, but years ago I discovered, through the tireless research of Jane and Michael Stern, the Frito Pie.

    Fritos on the bottom, chili on top of that, cheddar on top of that. Let it sit for a few minutes so that there is a pleasing softness to the Fritos in the middle of the bowl and residual crunchiness toward the outside.

    Decadent, absolutely.



    Beer with chili. Never, ever, ever wine.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Wouldn't it be lovely--


    It’s the people’s seat, and it’s up for grabs.

    By Jeff Jacoby

    The policy differences between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown were as clear during last night’s debate as they have been throughout this short special-election campaig
    Coakley supports ObamaCare, opposes the war in Afghanistan, and favors higher taxes on the wealthy. Brown is against the health care legislation, backs the president’s surge in Afghanistan, and wants across-the-board tax cuts à la JFK. Coakley is an EMILY’s List prochoice hard-liner; Brown condemns partial-birth abortion and is backed by Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Coakley has no problem with civilian trials for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Brown thinks it reckless to treat enemy combatants like ordinary defendants.

    But the most striking thing about the debate was not that the very liberal Democrat and the not-especially-conservative Republican disagreed on the issues. It is that they are both viable candidates in a race too competitive to call. In Massachusetts!

    “I don’t know what’s going to happen on Jan. 19th,’’ Coakley said. She wasn’t being coy. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next week.

    When Ted Kennedy died five months ago, who would have guessed that the contest to replace him would be anything but a slam-dunk for the Democrats? Yet there was no slam-dunk on that stage last night, and the race certainly doesn’t feel like a slam-dunk now.

    “It’s not the ‘Kennedy Seat,’ ’’ Brown has been reminding Coakley lately. “It’s the people’s seat.’’ Amazing thing is, he could be right.

    ReplyDelete
  133. never, ever, say never - whilst I love beer I've managed to enjoy wine with most anything. A strong hearty cab will help the chili go down, the chili go down - even mary poppins can learn something new :)

    ReplyDelete
  134. Thanks Trish, the Gods are most often, not on my side, so when I saw the weather for Friday it kind of excited me. It's hard for me to do anything when it's 25 degrees. Although, you can't get any better than a Capricorn my blood tells me, I should have been born in the summer months.

    I also thought of you this morning as I was wrapping my pink and black scarf around my neck and covering my hands with pink gloves. But that's as far as it goes.

    Thanks Bob and Whit for the wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Friday's the day, huh? You missed Friday the Thirteen by two days.

    Good planning by somebody.

    ReplyDelete
  136. "I've managed to enjoy wine with most anything"

    Chili and wine.

    It just WRONG, I tell ya. Screamingly wrong, Ash.

    There oughta be a law.

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  137. "Thanks Trish, the Gods are most often, not on my side..."

    In my house we have a handy phrase for this lingering suspicion: Bad karma funnel.

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  138. Ash said...

    "Just one counter-example would be the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian territories."


    Ash, I can see where you would find Hamas as reasonable as yourself. But how about we see what other reasonable folk have to say about your friends?


    Militant Palestinian Islamic movement. The group is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian Islamic state.
    ___Britannica Concise Encyclopedia


    A Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that was founded in 1987 during the Intifada; it seeks to establish an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip (the former mandate of Palestine).
    ___Columbia Encyclopedia



    The charter called for the total liberation of Palestine from Israeli rule, declaring that Palestine is Islamic waqf (religious trust) land that must never be surrendered to non-Muslim rule. HAMAS supported the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state in all of Palestine, in contrast to the PLO's vision of a secular state in the occupied territories.
    ___Mideast and North Africa Encyclopedia



    Hamas's 1988 charter calls for replacing the State of Israel with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
    ___Wiki


    …an aside: Article 7 of the Hamas Charter:
    "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

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  139. Anybody got the courage to predict Brown beats Coakley in Massachusettes next Tuesday?

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  140. I hear those hospitals in Gaza are great. That's where I'm going when Obamacare takes over here.

    And, to educate the grandkids too, if I ever have any, and if I have any say over it.

    Why not the best?

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  141. I'd like to try a military approach on Gaza for the 1st time.

    Complete and utter conquest...

    Surrender or die.

    Really...

    If they surrender? they are treated fairly and placed in a nice tent city in the center of the sinai...

    they would get a cot, food and medical supplies.

    hell they could even let the UNRWA send teachers and start re-educating them

    as for Gaza?

    Level it, and annex it...

    party over..

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  142. Ash,

    I forgot to point out that from my links yesterday you will discover that Egypt does not share your affection for Hamas. Egypt is building a (drum roll here) WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! to keep Hamas in Gaza and out of Egypt. Also, Ash, Egypt will no longer allow relief to pass through its territory to your poor, volatile friends.

    Wonder why Egypt has become so Judaized?

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  143. allen,

    Your responses to my point serves to underline how an apparently educated person is not necessarily very smart. I in no way endorse Hamas or their ideology but simply wish to note that their increased influence was not predicated upon their establishing security first.

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  144. I would like to know what Afghanistan would be like with the pointy end going in first...Huh?

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  145. Following events along the last few years, it looked to me like, Hamas undermined what security there was, had what amounted to a civil war with Fatah, bombings, shootings, street fighting, kinda won, and had some sort of election too, closely contested, and established their influence through the gun, not the hospital and day care center.

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  146. allen said...

    …an aside: Article 7 of the Hamas Charter:
    "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

    Tue Jan 12, 04:44:00 PM EST


    What? Cat got your tongue? No comment on the "religious fundamentalists" and "wing nuts" who put together Hamas' Article 7?

    This, Ash, is why you are merely a novelty at the EB: You are consistently blind to reality, either by choice or pathology.

    Earlier, I wrote that you are "stupid". Allow me to add "ignorant" as well.

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  147. from wiki:

    "Sheikh Ahmed Yassin returned to Gaza from Cairo in the 1970s, where he set up Islamic charities, founding Hamas in 1987 as an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. According to the Israeli weekly Koteret Rashit (October 1987), "The Islamic associations as well as the [Islamic university — founded in 1978 in Gaza] had been supported and encouraged by the Israeli military authority" in charge of the (civilian) administration of the West Bank and Gaza. "They [the Islamic associations and the university] were authorized to receive money payments from abroad." By the end of 1992, there were 600 mosques in Gaza. Hamas attracted members through preaching and charitable work before spreading its influence into trade unions, universities, bazaars, professional organizations and local government political races beginning in December 2004. “Thanks to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad (Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks), the Islamists were allowed to reinforce their presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, the members of Fatah (Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine) and the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression”, according to L'Humanité.[1] Indeed Israel supported and encouraged Hamas' early growth in an effort to undermine the secular Fatah movement of Yasser Arafat.[2] According to UPI, Israel supported Hamas starting in the late 1970s as a "counterbalance to the Palestine Liberation Organization".[3] At that time, Hamas's focus was on "religious and social work". The grassroots movement concentrated on social issues such as exposing corruption, administration of waqf (trusts) and organizing community projects."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hamas

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  148. bob said...

    "[Hamas] established their influence through the gun, not the hospital and day care center."


    Bingo for Gaza...

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  149. lordy, allen, you seem to have reading comprehension problems as well. What part of "I in no way endorse Hamas or their ideology..." do you not understand?

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  150. Things were pretty good in the middle east until some jackasses thought up "intifada." It's been downhill ever since. Gaza would undoubtedly be better off if Hamas had never come to power.

    The Palestinians and the Israelis both would be better off if the friggin UN had not insisted all these years that Israel is an occupier.

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  151. Ash,

    Please, STOP!

    Read CAREFULLY what you just posted from Wiki. It was obviously written by folk with an ax to grind, i.e. it is blatantly subjective; to wit:

    "Meanwhile, the members of Fatah (Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine) and the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression”

    Give me a break! :D)))

    This is why, Ash, scholars do not use Wiki as a serious reference source.

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  152. Ash,

    There is a good reason for nearly every country/regime in western Asia having driven the Palestinians out - among others, their murderous propensities.

    I recall reading of the great humanitarian work Mao's Red Army did in rural China before coming to power. Once installed, this same cadre murdered tens of millions of the same peasants.

    As Mao said, and as Hamas agrees, "Power comes from the barrel of a gun."

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  153. Anjem Choudary, Islam for UK

    This organization makes no secret of it's goal of using UK democracy to gain power and institute Sharia.

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  154. Mr. Choudry is an upstanding devout follower of the RoP.

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  155. Pat Buchanan adds his two cents on the current meme that the Islamists are attacking us because we are occupiers.

    Why are They at War With Us?

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  156. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  157. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  158. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  159. allen,

    we are discussing stuff in the comments section of a blog and wiki was the top selection that came up with a "hamas history" search. I'm sorry if that doesn't rise to suit your level of serious reference sources but it does serve to give a reasonable broad outline. Knock yourself out probing serious reference sources, but, as you are wont to say, you are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.

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  160. Ash,

    There is NOTHING "serious" about most of the autobiographical and current events "articles" at Wiki...Most are no better than your average People Magazine fluff…Sorry, if that bursts your bubble...

    It isn't really all that hard to find reputable scholarship via the net...But you do have to want to and you cannot be off put by what you find.

    O, and, Ash, by "scholarship" I DO NOT mean those with whom I necessarily agree - I'm talking about a rigorous, disciplined method of inquiry and dissemination.

    For example, Ash, I have sometimes posted here opinions that are not to my liking. I have had to apologize and retract or revisit previous postings, when others have brought flaws to my attention. That is called intellectual honesty…no sneaky, sneaky for scholars, Ash…its nose to the grindstone and Devil be damned.

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  161. I would like to know what Afghanistan would be like with the pointy end going in first...Huh?

    Tue Jan 12, 05:41:00 PM EST

    I'm sorry. Do you think we send in PRTs first?

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  162. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  163. You certainly are obstinate allen but sliding down the google search "hamas history" the second link, after wiki, contains:

    "According to documents United Press International obtained from the Israel-based Institute for Counter Terrorism, Hamas evolved from cells of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928. Islamic movements in Israel and Palestine were "weak and dormant" until after the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel scored a stunning victory over its Arab enemies.

    After 1967, a great part of the success of the Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood was due to their activities among the refugees of the Gaza Strip. The cornerstone of the Islamic movements success was an impressive social, religious, educational and cultural infrastructure, called Da'wah, that worked to ease the hardship of large numbers of Palestinian refugees, confined to camps, and many who were living on the edge.

    "Social influence grew into political influence," first in the Gaza Strip, then on the West Bank, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity."

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10456.htm

    and the third link provides:

    "After 1967, the main front organization of the brotherhood was Ahmad Yassin 's Mujama‘ (established 1973), a welfare charity (clinics, kindergartens, education), that was encouraged by Israeli civilian administration in Gaza to apply for registered charity status in 1978 and was indirectly funded by Israel as a means of dividing Palestinian society. It collected funds from from local zakat collections, Gulf Islamic organizations (often via Jordan), and expatriate Palestinians. Due to its identification of secular forces in Palestinian society as the main opponent, there was considerable tension with PLO,..."

    http://www.mideastweb.org/hamashistory.htm

    Now I'm not sure why you are so intent on disputing the truth of this history of Hamas but it does appear that YOU are the one being intellectually dishonest, or your prejudices have blinded you, or most probably, both.

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  164. I meant to say, ...what Afghanistan would be like without the pointy end going in first.

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  165. It was in response to ashinine's aspersions.

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  166. That account of Hamas jives with my recollection of events. The PLO did humanitarian works in Gaza but they were always suspect. The bigger problem early on was the PLO. Israel made a big mistake in not wiping out Arafat and company when they had them on the ropes in Lebanon. Another mistake was similar to what the US did during in the cold war in making alliances with less than desirable allies or IOWs; shaking hands with the devil.

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  167. Oh crap!

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A powerful earthquake hit the impoverished country of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing the presidential palace and raising fears of substantial casualties in what the country’s U.S. ambassador called “a major disaster.”

    President René Garcia Préval was reported to be safe, but Radio Metropole of Port-au-Prince, the capital, quoted a government official as saying there were “certainly dozens of deaths.”

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  168. Hope all of our people are okay.



    "I meant to say..."

    Mmm. Never mind then. And I'm in a foul mood anyway. It's colder'n hell and I've been knee-deep in dog crap and vomit for the better part of the day.

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  169. Google said Tuesday that it may pull out of China because of a sophisticated computer network attack originating in China and targeting its e-mail service.

    Google has further decided it is no longer willing to continue censoring its search results in Chinese Google sites, Drummond said, and over the next few weeks it will discuss with the Beijing government how it may operate "an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all."

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  170. And the new hot water heater could not be installed today - second day without warm running water. And a shower.


    And my daughter is playing music that I can only handle in small doses.

    Small, small doses.

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  171. Trish, I am rolling over here. I need a new hot water heater, too. Do you know what it's like to only be able to shave one leg a night? And I have long legs so sometimes the whole leg doesn't get done in hot water. Grrrr...

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  172. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  173. Yes Allen, Wikipedia is a mouthpiece for the Obama Administration. True scholars use Conservapedia.

    Beneficial effects of Global Warming

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  174. My parents' hot water heater DIED the night before they left. And the nice man from their preferred plumbing place gave me the impression that barring a national catastrophe the new one would be installed today.

    What next, MeLoDy? What next?

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  175. The frugal man I call a husband will wait until I can't shave either leg in one shower. That's when I'll get my hot water heater.

    I think I'm going to go turn the dial to vacation.

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  176. Ash,

    I KNOW the history of Hamas better than you ever will. This is not a dispute about history.

    Think, Ash. What do each of my links to various encylopedias say?

    Okay...give up?

    All report Hamas's call for the destruction of Israel, Ash.

    Neither I nor the XXXXXX care about the humanitarianism of Hamas. We do care about it's first, founding principal: the destruction of XXXXXX.

    ...carry on

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  177. I don't know, Trish, shit on the curtains, no hot water and bad music. How long have you been home?

    You better go buy new pair of shoes.

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  178. Lilith said...

    Yes Allen, Wikipedia is a mouthpiece for the Obama Administration. True scholars use Conservapedia.


    No, my dear, it is the mouthpiece of the lazy and easily amused.

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  179. What a bummer of a way to get back to the land of milk and honey.

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  180. MeLoDy: Trish, I am rolling over here. I need a new hot water heater, too. Do you know what it's like to only be able to shave one leg a night? And I have long legs so sometimes the whole leg doesn't get done in hot water. Grrrr...

    God blessed me with very very fine vellus hair on my legs that you can only see with a magnifying lens or maybe if the sun is behind them. So I never had to shave my legs and I never will. And it's not strictly a racial thing, because some of my Filipina friends do have to shave their legs.

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  181. Personally, I like girls with one leg smooth as a school marm's, the other with a little wheat stubble :)

    I know I shouldn't have said that, but couldn't help myself.

    You think you girls have it bad, in Ohio right now there won't be any water at all further more, no sewer system.


    I've got to put that in. Other than that, the place is great, if it hasn't burned down, or been trashed.

    But, we don't have to worry about the cat.


    Five 'comment deleted' in the last little bit. Somebody's pissed.


    Ashinine---not bad, Whit.

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  182. Let's see:

    New septic tank

    New water pump (I think)

    New filters

    New hot water heater

    Some new plumbing

    Nice winter work if you can it

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  183. No offense, Lil, but I hate hair. Dark hair, light hair, short hair, hair you can only see in the sun and worse of all, hairy men. If you can see it shave it off. I made my daughter shave her legs the summer she was going into 6th grade.

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  184. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  185. 'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'

    - Reagan

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  186. I wish I'd never heard of the damn place, and that's the truth.

    But, there are deer in the back yard, and the tomato farmer wants to get me a special permit to kill 'em for him.


    Damn I hate hairy men, too.

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  187. An organization that was aided and abetted, by Israel, dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

    Yep, I can believe that, because they were to counter Arabfat's secular socialists.

    There are numerous reports of the Israeli aiding Hamas, back in the day.

    Times change, true enough, but the Hamas charter has not. It was acceptable to the Israeli, when Hamas was on the outs. Now it is a "all important".

    allen focuses upon the Hamas charter, ignoring Israeli actions that subsidized Hamas in Gaza.

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  188. allen wrote:

    "Think, Ash. What do each of my links to various encylopedias say?

    Okay...give up?

    All report Hamas's call for the destruction of Israel, Ash."


    wellllll, duuhhhhhh!!!

    which further goes to support my point that it has nothing at all whatsoever to do with the debate trish and I were having regarding the necessity of military induced order before social change but rather your interjections are a function of your intellectual dishonesty and blindness due to prejudice.




    melody, your long leg posts brought a smile to my face. wisdom does lie in the mundane.

    lilith - conservapedia LOL!

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  189. Ash,

    wrong, again...another day, perhaps

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  190. well, dude, if you have something to say regarding the necessity of military induced order say, 'cause you've not, once, addressed that question other than to say 'power flows through the barrel of a gun'. My, how cliche.

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  191. DR,

    Were I talking about American governance, I would reference the Declaration. Were I talking about a tasty duck, I would bow to Martha Stewart.

    As to XXXXXXX playing off adversaries, you betcha. That does not imply that XXXXXXX agrees with the charters of any. XXXX are not known to be especially suicidal.

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  192. With regard to the pending presidential election in Ukraine FOCUS News Agency speaks with Ukrainian political analyst Rostislav Martinyuk

    FOCUS: What is your prediction for the presidential election in Ukraine scheduled this weekend?

    Rostislav Martinyuk: Forecasts on the presidential election in Ukraine due 17 January have so far been made up by polling agencies and by circumstances. The first round apparently will be won the leader of the opposition Party of Regions, Viktor Yanukovych.

    ...

    FOCUS: Has there been any perceivable Russian influence in the campaign?

    Rostislav Martinyuk: Unfortunately the Russian influence has even got stronger since the 2004 election because Moscow has made it more logical and more pragmatic. Now a victory for either Tymoshenko or Yanukovych will suit Russia and it is obvious that Moscow has been working to prevent Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Viktor Yushchenko from making it into the runoff vote.

    ...

    FOCUS: So it would be safe to say that no matter if the victory goes to Yanukovych or Tymoshenko, Moscow and Kiev will warm up to each other?

    Rostislav Martinyuk: I think that warming would only be possible on equal international footing. Here, in either of the latter two possibilities, a sort of dependence will be reestablished – the sort that has been established with post-Soviet states like Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia.


    Surprise in Store

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  193. even a one-legged hirsute XXX, awash in ice water, holding a rusty safety razor, would not be inclined to suicide…

    trish,

    Alcohol in sufficient quantity cures every care.

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  194. Ahhh.. one of the joys of cohabitation...taking a long hot shower and finishing it off with a nice close shave, only to discover, without warning, the nicks and pulls of a razor damaged by the long female leg.

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  195. "You better go buy new pair of shoes."

    : )






    Husband gets back Thursday. Senor Esteven will make everything better. Won't you, Senor Esteven? (Who right about now is well on his way to getting hammered at the BBC. I expect no phone call tonight - though he did get a guffaw or three out of our conversation earlier today. Because that's the kind of really sick, twisted individual he is.)

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  196. Alcohol in sufficient quantity cures every care.

    Tue Jan 12, 09:23:00 PM EST

    Oh, if only. THAT we've got plenty of.

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