COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Saturday, January 16, 2010

"Teddy always told me when you're in a fight, there's nobody like organized labor," Vicki Kennedy





Democrats turn out to shore up Bay State support for Coakley

By Karl Vick Washington Post
Saturday, January 16, 2010; 11:48 AM
For Massachusetts Democrats scrambling to reverse the momentum of Republican Scott Brown in the U.S. senate race, mission one is to motivate the faithful.

"Teddy always told me when you're in a fight, there's nobody like organized labor," Vicki Kennedy said Saturday morning at the Dorchester headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, where state Attorney General Martha Coakley kicked off a swing across the state. "You're about the future. You're about moving this country forward. You always have been.

"We can't go backwards now," she said.

The assembled union workers cheered the widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose August death opened the seat he had occupied for 47 years. But in the home stretch of a shockingly close race that could deprive the Democrats of the crucial 60th Senate vote, loyalties were in question.

Brown, an obscure state senator until a few weeks ago, was setting off on his own tour of the commonwealth, and had the attention of voters Democrats once relied on.

"We have a race on our hands," roared president Robert Haynes, Massachusetts AFL-CIO, in an address to assembled workers that was part warning, part admonishment.

"A lot of our members are dramatically uninformed about this election and about the positions of the two candidates," he said. "There is nothing less than the future of the labor movement in this election. I know right now there are people in this room who think that Martha Coakley has a bad position on health care."

Haynes set out to undo that notion, saying Coakley answered the union's 120-item questionnaire to the union's liking, while Brown declined both to fill it out, or even attend an interview.

94 comments:

  1. Can we be so lucky and see Obama get hammered on Tuesday?

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  2. I just got this emergency email:

    PA GOP Headed To Massachusetts
    Dear Friends,

    With less than 72 hours to go before Massachusetts voters head to the polls, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania is doing everything it can to ensure that Republican Scott Brown is victorious on Tuesday!

    Tomorrow, the PA GOP will be deploying a bus full of seasoned campaigners to help bring Scott Brown’s message of fiscal responsibility and opposition to government-run health care to the Massachusetts voters, but we need YOUR help getting there!

    Please consider making a secure online contribution to help pay for our transportation costs. Your donation of $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50, $25 or even $10 will help us cover our costs for this important venture.

    The outcome of the Massachusetts U.S. Senate special election will have a major influence on President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plans for government-run health care, national security and our economic future. Please consider standing up against their extreme liberal policies by making a contribution today!

    Please consider making a donation to support the PA GOP Express as we hit the road to ensure a Scott Brown victory!

    WANT TO VOLUNTEER?

    We have an incredible group of volunteers here in Pennsylvania and you can help put the GOP over the top in this critical race. You can join the fight to end the Democrats 60 vote majority in the Senate. Make phone calls today from your own home to the voters of Massachusetts, encouraging them to get out and vote for our Republican Scott Brown. Help send a message to Washington that we are tired of the Democrats liberal tax-and-spend agenda!

    To volunteer to help us win this race, please contact Deputy Technology Director Michael Glick at mglick@pagop.org and he can help you start making calls today.

    Onward to Victory,

    Luke Bernstein,
    Executive Director

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  4. Even if Brown doesnt win?

    it's a shot across the dem's bow, whether they listen, no telling...

    but I am a much happier ex-democrat today..

    so many Americans are pissed about the direction of the nation...

    it feels good...

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  5. The proposed 0.15 percent tax would last at least 10 years and generate about $90 billion over the decade, according to administration estimates. It would apply to about 50 of the biggest banks, those with more than $50 billion in assets, and include many institutions that accepted no money from the $700 financial industry bailout.
    Obama said that although the banks were facing a "crisis of their own creation," the "distasteful but necessary" taxpayer-funded bailout prevented an "even greater calamity for the country."
    Most of the banks have returned the money they borrowed, and Obama said that was "good news."
    "But as far as I'm concerned, it's not good enough," he said. "We want the taxpayers' money back, and we're going to collect every dime."

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  6. So, the President is pointing his long finger at the Wall Street Banks as the culprits behind the worldwide economic collapse. "They're to blame and they will pay."

    Sure, they share in the blame. We all do but will you hear a word from this President about the wholesale looting by the Democratic Establishment at Fannie and Freddie? I doubt it.

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  7. Ash linked...

    "Haiti has no oil, no natural gas, no coal – so people razed the woodlands for fuel. The result was the denuding of the hills, which, in turn, led to flooding, mudslides and, of course, a serious disruption of local ecosystems. Aid agencies have tried reforestation projects, but with limited success."
    ---
    Odd that the island is perfectly bifurcated geologically and climatologically, by a line that co-incides perfectly with the DR border.

    ...the rhetoric of victimology requires little evidence to support the narrative.

    ---

    trish said...

    "Having only just recently determined that I really, really do not like the GOP or Movement Conservatism - even from the standpoint of a lesser evil - I may never again attach myself to any Party or politician of any kind. I fairly marinaded in conservative policy and Republican politics for 14 years and I have a hard time fathoming ever doing anything remotely like that again.

    "Politics is a sewer," once said my dear companion and I believe it best to spend one's time mostly above ground. More hygienic at the very least.
    "
    ---

    Similarly, Trish's assertions from on high require absolutely no logical or factual support.

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  8. "include many institutions that accepted no money from the $700 financial industry bailout."
    ---
    Just as I said a few days ago, yet even at the bar some are eager to join the Neo-Populist Commie in damning the evils of capitalism.

    ...even evils mandated by the Feds.

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  10. Think of it, Quirk, poor Dubaians have no natural resources when it comes to mountains and frigid climates, cursing them to live out their miserable lives on hot, flat, sand.

    Perhaps we should allow their children to come here to spare them from the horribleness of it all.

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  11. :) :) :) :) :)

    Slut Spill

    Oh, Lord. That might be the funniest thing I've seen in years.

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  12. The accident may have been caused by some slut leaking into the cab of the bus and getting onto the driver.

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  13. I gets all my news from Onion News.

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  14. Who is to blame about the home loan issue?

    The BORROWERS....

    To BORROW....

    To request someone to PUT UP MONEY for YOU and PROMISE to PAY it BACK..

    PERIOD

    Those that BORROW OWE...

    No matter if it rains or pours, employed to not, in sickness and in health, if one BUYS a home and GETS other PEOPLE's money...

    Caveat Emptor

    Who to blame...

    Namely the PEOPLE who, by no coercion other than AVAILABILITY, recklessly bought PROPERTY above their means...

    Now is there blame for lenders to lend with ever loosened levels of accounting? Sure, it's called LOSS (verses PROFIT)

    Is there blame for the government to CHANGE the laws, in collaboration with builders, insurance companies, banks and developers to lower accept unreasonable risk? Sure, hence SOME of the bailouts...

    But maybe if you can't afford a house, you lose it

    Maybe if you make bad loans, you lose your profit and your bonuses, or maybe go out of business.

    But let's remember, it was the "free money" lust and greed that so many grabbed hold of as fast as a $3,000 visa cash advance to turn on easy credit cards...

    Cash, cars and now all have been dangled in front of us...

    all carry the obligation of paying your bills..

    the borrower is to blame....

    we all are just paying for 15% of America that are get it for nothing, no money down, get rich quick retards.... and we gave them the keys...

    fools are we...

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  15. If Bill Clinton is the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, shouldn't he be in Haiti instead of Massachusetts?

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  16. I like Kurt Warner but its a good thing I'm not heavily invested in the Cardinals. The second quarter has just started and the score is New Orleans 21, Arizona 7.

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  17. Trish's assertions from on high require absolutely no logical or factual support.

    Sat Jan 16, 03:43:00 PM EST

    Unlike poor Doug, who is condemned for eternity to cite Hugh Hewitt in support of his every statement, I am my own authority.

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  18. At 6:48 in the second quarter, its now 28-14, Saints.

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  19. WiO: all carry the obligation of paying your bills..

    the borrower is to blame....


    People were paying a thousand for rent, and someone told them they could live in a $400,000 house for the same amount, interest only loan for the first two years, but don't worry, house prices always go up, at the end of that two years you can sell your house for $500,000, pay back the loan, and put $100,000 in your pocket? Now isn't that better than giving your landlord $1000 a month and kissing it goodbye? "Uh...yeah..." Now it's two years later, the house fetches $250,000, so if they sell the house, they'll be $150,000 in the hole, and if they keep the house their Option ARM resets and they suddenly pay $3000 a month. But don't walk away, WiO says you have a moral obligation to pay your loan. "Whatever man. Bye."

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  20. Whit: If Bill Clinton is the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, shouldn't he be in Haiti instead of Massachusetts?

    I Tweeted that little blurb, Whit, and the Top Conservatives on Twitter are eating it up.

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  21. Doug Odd that the island is perfectly bifurcated geologically and climatologically, by a line that co-incides perfectly with the DR border.

    The question I want to ask Danny Glover is who told Gaea there even was a Copenhagen summit that failed, leading to the Haiti quake? Moron.

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  22. Glad to be of service, Lil.

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  23. WiO @ Sat Jan 16, 04:45:00 PM EST

    Excellent.

    -------

    I see I gotta go tune in some football.

    .

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  24. The Cardinals are scoring at will. 36-14 with a minute left in the first half.

    How a team with a defense like Arizona's can be in the playoffs is a mystery.

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  25. correction. 35-14.

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  26. Quirk, that news story really hit home.

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  27. WiO, you make a good point about folks borrowing and being responsible for their debts. Unfortunately the Crisis that occurred last year was not simply one between mortgagee and mortgagee and the lender but those nice banking folk took the mortgages and diced them and sliced them into a new beast called 'mortgage backed securities which became an 'asset' that they could then leverage to the tune of 30+ to 1 and the house of cards became a towering structure imperiling the whole damn system (and that was a simplified version of events - toss in a few collateral debt insurers and mark to fantasy accounting rules to further paint a relatively real version of what occurred).

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  29. ummm, doug, the Dominican Republic is no model country either

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  30. The Cardinals in the playoffs, a tribute to their Division, whit.
    Same as last year, only Warner does not have the magic touch, today.

    Would have cruised by that slut spill, had it been in the neighborhood.

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  31. Let's see...

    you buy a house with no money down, based on a 1000 a month payment, that you used to throw down as rent...

    You now spend 12k a month on a loan, based on 30 years, you reduce your taxes by 7k a year in actual dollars due do to the deductibility of same loan.

    Over a period of 15- 20 years you pay off you note, your property does appreciate to some degree, but you now own the home out right, 15- 20 years from now that 400k purchase, that dropped will be worth about (historic trends) about 600 - 800k in 15 - 20 years...

    No one forced you to buy at 400k at 5%-9% (which compared to interest rates during the carter admin are GOOD rates) and if property values go down, so what?

    Your idea that people thought they could flip and make a fast 100k is the issue...

    greedy, greedy people, being taken advantage of by greedy, greedy loan officers, banks and others...

    if you get a cash advance check from visa (at 29%) if you cash it and think it's free money? you are a retard...

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  32. ash: nice banking folk took the mortgages and diced them and sliced them into a new beast called 'mortgage backed securities which became an 'asset' that they could then leverage to the tune of 30+ to 1 and the house of cards became a towering structure imperiling the whole damn system (and that was a simplified version of events - toss in a few collateral debt insurers and mark to fantasy accounting rules to further paint a relatively real version of what occurred).


    I dont disagree.. however the ROOT of the issue is irresponsible borrowers, irresponsible bankers, irresponsible government..

    However the ONE missing component to BLAME is the ACtUAL JACKASS that lived in a "MacMansion" and was actual the janitor at the local wendy's....

    Easy money for cars, appliances, loans, vacations, time shares, cash advances and yet homes...

    buyer beware...

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  33. Beware of what, "occupation".

    Folks lived the good life for a decade or so, first flippin' and now skippin'.

    The "Buyer" was really the banks. The bought those loans, from brokers.
    And those banks, they were not wary, at all.

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  34. As any long time realtor will tell you, "occupation" the mortgagor really bought the property, the "owner" merely being a debtor in possession.

    Just like you, unable to become the "owner" without outside financing, now unable to refinance, unless the real owner is paid their fee.

    Besides that, if the banks overpaid for those properties, that's on them. The debtor is duty bound to bail on the property, if it is in their own financial interest to do so.

    That being the invisible hand that self-corrects our system, at work.

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  35. It is the "Bank" that is the professional expert, at asset evaluation for the purpose of collateral.

    It is the "Bank" that bought the customer, from the mortgage broker.
    At terms and condition set by the "Banks".

    To blame the borrower, for taking the financial experts considered opinion at face value, is to blame the victim of the chicanery.

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  36. Just like you, unable to become the "owner" without outside financing, now unable to refinance, unless the real owner is paid their fee.


    correct and since I am not desperate in any way shape or form I will chose what to do that best helps my situation.

    should I pay off 8.9% debt? Or shall I use excess profits to re-invest in myself...

    part of me would like to pay off the home loan, but in the end, since I can deduct the home interest and a home officewhy should I? 8.9% fixed 27 year note aint bad.... not great, but not bad...

    and if I wish to pay a bribe of 24-30 for a refi? I'll buy more inventory...

    the best part of all of it? the better I do the less I need the banks for....

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  37. no one forces anyone to sign on the dotted line for check advances, vacation homes, home refi's, reverse home loans, or gambling debt..

    to the borrower is the responsibility...

    his or her john or jane hancock is on the line...

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  38. "...don't walk away, WiO says you have a moral obligation to pay your loan. "Whatever man. Bye."

    Well L, "a moral obligation" wasn't such a seemingly quaint concept when I was being raised. You played your cards, took your chances, and paid off when you lost.

    Today I guess that seems kind of silly. (Probably the reason I will never be rich.)

    However, it's unlikely that just walking away is as easy as "just walking away". First, I assume you would have to go through bankruptcy. (And since Bush pushed through changes to the bankruptcy law I don't think that's as easy as it used to be.) Credit would be shot. Probably paying 20-30% on credit purchases. Might as well plan on paying rent for quite a while too. That's just off the top of my head.

    In your example, the homeowner is down $150,000. The value of the home will start coming back eventually, quicker in some places than in others. However, if he can't afford the new monthly payments that limits his options.

    The homeowner would have to lay out the pluses and minuses of each of the options open to him. Of course, if he was stupid enough to get into this situation in the first place, maybe he should hire someone else to lay out the costs and benefits of each option.

    .

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  39. Quirk, there's no bankruptcy involved in a foreclosure, you lose your house and your credit is fscked. That means you can't get another mortgage or even an auto loan now. But so what, the average Joe doesn't have a credit score of 804 so they can't get those things either right now. There's no downside, other than a loss of self-respect. That means something to me, I've been in this house since 2002 and I plan to stick it out. It doesn't mean much to other folks.

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  40. There are a whole slew of ARM mortgage coming due.

    These were seven year notes, issued in '02 and 03, that are now going to require refinancing.

    When that refi is unavailable, the owner is merely a debtor in possession.

    I know more than a couple of folks in this situation. There is no way for them to come even, there is no large stash of cash these families are sitting upon, to cover the spreads.

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  41. What was AIG's moral obligation?

    BoA's and CitiCorp's?

    We all play by the same rules, if you have an under performing asset, dump it.

    Don't throw good money after bad.

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  42. There are terms to the default, which all agreed to, at time of signing.

    It is a perfectly moral option to exercise.

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  43. In the US my understanding is the mortgage is secured simply by the house - nothing else. Here in Canada that is not the case. In Canada you can't write off you mortgage interest either.

    In any case, as an individual I take my debts seriously and I will do whatever I can to pay them off. I do, however, understand the need for individuals and companies to have the option of claiming bankruptcy.

    I find it funny that WiO takes the moral high ground with individuals walking away from their mortgages but, seemingly, has no similar outrage for bankers/financiers who do similar things or much worse. I mean, this whole thing of taking 'debt' making it an asset and leveraging it (30 to fucking 1). That's taking a 1 million dollar asset, say a house with the 'book value' of 1 million, and borrowing 30 million against it. The then take that 30 mil. and buy 'stuff' and walk home with the bonus associated with the 'hard earned profit' but disappear if/when it goes pear shaped.

    I find it

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  44. A friend paid about $325k for a home which if he could sell it would go for about $225k. I wouldn't blame him at all if he bailed.

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  45. ummm, to be fair to bankers, if you put 5% down when purchasing a house you are leveraging 20:1. I've read that European bankers were leveraging up to 50:1. The thing about folk working for banks is that they are not personally liable but they get the bonus if the 'swing for the fences' looks good for a year or two.

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  46. ash

    I find it funny that WiO takes the moral high ground with individuals walking away from their mortgages but, seemingly, has no similar outrage for bankers/financiers who do similar things or much worse.

    Dont laugh so quick ash...

    My point was that the only party NOT BEING BLAMED was the borrower...

    I have stated over and over again, the builders, banks, government, insurance companies all played a part..

    but what is missing from all the dialogue is any fault of the borrower...

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  47. Leverage is borrowing. The wall street muckity mucks were/are borrowing and gambling at a much higher ratio than the regular Joe. The whole kit and kaboodle is built on leverage from the bottom up.

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  48. What's up with Frigging Rasmussen?
    His "latest" poll for Mass is Jan 11!
    Is Scotty new to politics and not aware of the importance?

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  49. The Govt is based on THEFT from the top down.

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  50. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  51. WIO/Ash
    RWE used to come up with multiple examples from his neighborhood of flippers w/little income having outrageous mortgages, multiple investment houses, and etc.

    "Investment Houses" Ash,
    ...for the Little People.

    Highly recommended on TV.

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  52. Liar Loans, Liar Appraisals,
    Easy Money.
    Now the poor babies are upside down after taking out 4 mortgages on the homestead.

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  53. Ash said...
    "ummm, doug, the Dominican Republic is no model country either"
    ---
    ummm, Ash:
    You can see the difference in Land Management from f...... space from what I'm told.
    Have to check out Google Earth to resolve your complaint, OK?
    DR is not a rich country, but it is like night and day compared to Haiti's Hellhole.

    Let's look up Earthquake damage/deaths K?

    Nice rip-off of the Trish ummm technique tho.

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  54. Ash said...

    "Unfortunately the Crisis that occurred last year was not simply one between mortgagee and mortgagee and the lender but those nice banking folk took the mortgages and diced them and sliced them into a new beast called 'mortgage backed securities which became an 'asset' that they could then leverage... "
    ---
    DID YOU SEE THAT, WIO?
    I'm blinded by the New Revelation!!!
    Mirabile dictu!

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  55. Trish,
    One man's own authority is
    another man's POS.

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  56. 'Inspirational guru,' Montel, does not inspire his own children
    Talk show host's kids speak out against absentee dad.


    Dennis Hopper seeks divorce from deathbed
    The cancer-stricken legend has reportedly petitioned to split from his wife of 14 years...

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  57. Spanish lawmaker Gaspar Llamazares 'angered' his photo used for Osama bin Laden poster

    Gaspar Llamazares of the United Left party said he would no longer feel safe traveling to the United States after his hair and facial wrinkles appeared on a wanted poster updating the U.S. government's 1998 photo of the al-Qaeda leader.

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  58. Teresita Lives!

    176. Teresita:

    Mongo: on a different subject, didja ever think that some folks might refer to God, or god, as something other than an invisible guy who lives in the sky and needs attention? That the word can refer to something as nebulous as whatever it is in the human mind that has enabled the naked ape to survive via a sacrificial impulse, where willingness to die so another might live is about all the manifestation that ever shows?

    We hear stories of soldiers leaping onto grenades and suppressing the explosion as best as they can with their own body, sustaining mortal injury in the course of saving their buddy and demonstrating the words of Christ when he said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

    But if you attribute this act of love purely to a manifestation of God, you undermine the free choice of the soldier to perform this sacrifice. It’s like saying that God possesses the body of the soldier and causes his limbs to move in a way that results in the “sacrifice”, which then becomes no sacrifice at all. John Galt said, “A robot is amoral.”

    If one goes to the pages of the Bible to learn what the word “God” means, one finds that the meaning of the word shifted somewhat. At first God was a hands-on sort of fellow who liked to kick back after a six day week, walk in his garden, reboot his creation with a flood, go down to see what they were doing at Babel, and he even liked to wrestle, like Tulkas the Valar in the Silmarillion.

    Then around Genesis 16 we first encounter the “angel of the LORD” which is not a guy with wings and a halo, but a kind of avatar or manifestation of God himself, because when the angel of the LORD spoke it was with God’s identity and authority, saying things like “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude”. Thus begins a gradual evolution of God in the Bible from a very particular and demanding warrior-king into a merciful, omnipresent, and transcendent deity almost like the Matrix, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.”. Thus God becomes a grab-bag of different personalities perfectly suited for almost any application. Pat Robertson grabbed the early warrior-king God this week.

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  59. Jeeze,
    After all that fuss and bother!

    I nominate Ms T Drama Queen of the
    New Millenium.

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  60. An Angry Haitian Scholar on US News Coverage.

    (You'll like this Ash,
    It's our fault, from Jefferson to the present.)

    ht, the French Wench @ BC

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  61. But isn’t the US the greatest country in the world? In fact at one point, Mr. Williams went on to comments that aid was coming in from the “free world”. I presume that China and Cuba and Venezula don’t count? Let me tell you what the rest of the world has been doing:

    ---
    Meanwhile, China dispatched a chartered plane loaded up with 10 tons of tents, food, medical equipment and sniffer dogs that arrived in Haiti on Thursday. Accompanying the emergency materials were a 60-member earthquake relief team that had firsthand experience in the country’s own quake disaster two years ago.

    Umm, umm, umm!
    Three umms for China.

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  62. A Miller caller did have a point about China, however:

    Says they should be credited with ponying up $101 million, since they gave 1 million, and we borrowed the 100 million from China to give to Haiti!

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  63. The Cardinals are scoring at will. 36-14 with a minute left in the first half.

    That should have been "The Saints are scoring at will."

    The Saints were blessed. Final score Saints 45, Cardinals 14.

    Saturday was a day of one sided playoff games as Indianapolis beat the Baltimore 20-3.

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  64. More Fodder for Ash:

    You'd better appreciate me today, Ash!
    YeoDoug's work,
    if I do say so myself.

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  65. Kurt's amazing:
    All on or all off.

    Did he have time to pass, Whit, or did they maul and sack him to death?

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  66. Google China closes its door after talks with Chinese government officials failed. - News report from Boxun.

    Employees are given 6 months pay and are encouraged to apply for opening positions in other branches of Google operations in Asian & in US.


    Google China closes its door after talk failed

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  67. TEHRAN (Reuters) - Major powers will only achieve results in their meetings on Iran if they adopt a "realistic approach" and recognize its nuclear rights, the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

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  68. Katrina II !

    W had Schoolbus Nagin and that Dolt Louisiana Woman,
    Barry has the Haitians!

    Anger at US builds at Port-au-Prince airportUK

    "Let's take over the runway," shouted one voice.
    "We need to send a message to (US President Barack) Obama,"
    cried another.

    Control remained in the hands of US forces, who face criticism for the continued disarray at the overwhelmed airfield.

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  69. It wasn't Warner so much as the Ravens defense which smothered the Cardinal receivers all day. Seven of the Cardinals points came on the second play of the game with a long run for TD.

    To be honest, the games were so one-sided they just weren't that interesting.

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  70. "Stupid Death"

    Andy Cooper discovers that the World is not always as nice and pleasurable as a good Butt Fuck.

    AND he has a nice tite black T shirt, showing off that he's been weightlifting with that hunka burning love bod of his.

    The Imortal Larry K asks his usual acerbic and to the point questions.

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  71. I heard folks predicting a Cardinal win!
    What were the pre-game odds?

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  72. Another CNN Earthquake Stud in a tite black shirt!
    Jason Carroll -

    Wonder if he and Coop had a good time in the plane's bathroom on the way down?

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  73. 191. Marie Claude:


    Indeed, that’s ironical

    Doug, this woman doesn’t like your country where she lives, and will never acknowledge that she owes your country to be educated and wealthy

    you’re feeding some rabid dogs, so we do too

    if China wants t’em they can have t’em

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  74. Doug: I nominate Ms T Drama Queen of the New Millenium.

    Teresita stopped posting here, forever, and never stopped posting on the Belmont Club. Dig back a few posts to see, my friend.

    "We need to send a message to (US President Barack) Obama,"
    cried another.


    Ths message brought to you by Haitians for Scott Brown, Republican.

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  75. More stories from the trail:More stories from the trail


    — “While I live in a South Shore town that is as red as a Massachusetts town can get, I am a transplant and therefore still a little gun shy given the state's leanings and my predilections (strongly conservative). A friend had dropped off some Brown signs to me this morning and as I was putting them up on my lawn on a fairly well traveled street in my town, a car stopped. "Here we go," I thought. I can't wait to hear what this joker has to say, expecting the worse. "Where did you get those?" this perfect stranger asked me - and then asked if I could spare a couple. He told me a buddy of his that lives a few towns over had resorted to putting up homemade Brown signs because he couldn't wait to get the real ones from the local Brown campaign office. This complete stranger stayed and vented for three or four minutes about how we need to send a message, and how we had to "stop the nonsense in Washington." This thing has all the earmarks of a blowout. Keep your fingers crossed.”

    — I'm a resident of Brookline, MA, a very blue suburb of Boston wedged between the city and other very blue suburbs (Newton, etc.—all in Barney Frank's district). I have not seen a single Coakley sign in any of my travels through these neighborhoods, which in '08 were littered with Obama signs and featured several Obama fundraisers. Now, nothing, nada for Coakley. Not even on the streets in the vicinity of the home of Steven Grossman, the DNC chair in the late 1990s. The only Coakley sign I have seen at all is the IBEW sign on I-93 that your earlier correspondent mentioned. I have seen several Brown signs, though, in this area. Just stunning. Also, today I took the T into Boston (down Beacon St.). Typically, at Coolidge Corner (the intersection of Harvard St. and Beacon) there are several aging hippies on Saturdays waving peace flags and chanting anti-war slogans. Not so today. Rather—several folks holding Brown signs. It's a world turned upside down....”

    — “Just before 5 this afternoon I was driving home with my 11-year-old son when we drove past a restaurant with about 35 people milling around outside with Scott Brown signs...
    they go on.

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  76. The just like Brown because of his name!

    Hussein, not so much.

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  77. Doug: Nice rip-off of the Trish ummm technique tho.

    Ummmm....no.

    Wonder if he and Coop had a good time in the plane's bathroom on the way down?

    Doug, you need to flush that unhealthy image out of your head and this is just the thing to do it.

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  78. They put cloths ON to make out?

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  79. While I am a bigger fan of the safer and saner Lesbos over the many out of control homos, bathrooms don't make it.

    ESPECIALLY filthy public ones used to suck annonymous dic.

    ...and it's noteven a money thing:
    Elton John's John still does it there as well as everywhere else.
    Weird.
    See, you can't keep me distracted for long!

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  80. Vick Calls Fumble In Cowboys Game 'The Worst Thing I've Ever Done'

    ARLINGTON, TX—Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick apologized to fans immediately after his team's 34-14 wild-card loss to the Cowboys Saturday, saying his fumbled handoff attempt late in the first half was "absolutely the most damning and hurtful act of [his] life."

    Recent Sports
    Tom Brady: 'I'd Have Booed Us Too, But Patriots Fans Are Still Ungrateful Front-Running Shitheads'
    Colts To Rest Starters For First Game Of Playoffs

    Tom Coughlin Scores 2 Touchdowns In Season-Ending Speech To Giants Defense

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  81. Doug: They put cloths ON to make out?

    Obviously you're coming in at the end.

    Haiti response shows the difference between the EU and a superpower

    Within hours of Port-au-Prince crumbling into ruins, the US had sent in an aircraft carrier with 19 helicopters, hospital and assault ships, the 82nd Airborne Division with 3,500 troops and hundreds of medical personnel. They put the country's small airport back on an operational footing, and President Obama pledged an initial $100 million dollars in emergency aid.

    Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the European Union geared itself up with a Brussels press conference led by Commission Vice-President Baroness Ashton, now the EU's High Representative – our new foreign minister. A scattering of bored-looking journalists in the Commission's lavishly appointed press room heard the former head of Hertfordshire Health Authority stumbling through a prepared statement, in which she said that she had conveyed her "condolences" to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, and pledged three million euros in aid.

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  82. The article goes on (and makes me proud to be an American, as a matter of fact):

    Memories might have gone back to December 2004, which saw similarly contrasting responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe which cost nearly 300,000 lives. Again, within hours the US took the lead in forming an alliance with Australia, India and Japan, and had sent in two battle groups fully equipped to deal with such an emergency, including 20 ships led by two carriers with 90 helicopters. President Bush immediately pledged $35 million, later rising to $350 million. Because they were self-sufficient, the US forces pulled off a stupendously successful life-saving operation, almost entirely ignored by the British media, notably the BBC (whose journalists on the spot were nevertheless quite happy to hitch lifts from US helicopters).

    The EU, by contrast, pledged three million euros for the tsunami victims, called for a three-minute silence (three times longer than is customary to remember the millions who died in two world wars) and proposed a "donors' conference" in Jakarta nearly two weeks later to discuss what might be done.

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  83. Stick a fork in Coke Zero, she's done.

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  84. It wasn't Warner so much as the Ravens defense which smothered the Cardinal receivers all day.

    Ravens?

    Yesterday the Cardinals played the Saints.

    putz.

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  85. Okay, so this is stereotyping, but sorta funny.

    A Boston man has been arrested three times in three days in neighboring Massachusetts towns. Huy Quoc Le faces a number of charges after his string of arrests began Monday in Andover. Police said the 25-year-old was arrested on motor vehicle violations. He was charged with driving after suspension, attaching improper plates, forgery of Registry documents, and driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.

    On Wednesday, Le was arrested on charges accusing him of stealing nearly $10,000 from the business account of an Andover nail salon.

    Hours later, police in nearby Lawrence arrested him on allegations he broke into the home of a former girlfriend after officers found him inside.

    It was unclear if Le had hired an attorney.

    ___

    Information from: The Eagle-Tribune,

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  86. Whit: A Boston man has been arrested three times in three days in neighboring Massachusetts towns.

    The judges in that revolving door justice system would be right at home here in Washington, where we had six cops killed in as many months from assholes with mile-long rap sheets who made bail.

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  87. You should have went for the purple mocs:

    "If a woman does not keep pace with her companions, perhaps it is because she hears a different drummer. Let her step to the music which she hears, however measured or far away."

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  88. This comment has been removed by the author.

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