COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Obama's Press Conference

81 comments:

  1. It should be entertaining. Call it as you see it.

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  2. Let's see the market is up 197. Let's see what he can do to kill the rally.

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  3. He has been at it for 7 minutes and we are at 181

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  4. A good observation Deuce and one I'd forgotton.

    It's happened everytime he spoke before.

    Will history repeat?


    .

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  5. Thank the Lord I don't watch tv, and own no stocks. Isn't this like his second or third press conference, and people bitched cause Bush gave so few.

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  6. Has any reporter asked him a meaningful question yet about who the hell he is? Thank goodness it rained here today, I don't have to go mow lawns.

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  7. I guess I slept through it.

    Didn't matter; I wouldn't have watched it, anyway. Guy irritates the hell out of me.

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  8. COVINGTON, La. – An untested procedure to plug the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico seemed to be working, officials said Thursday...

    Which might have something to do with this:

    WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama defensively and sometimes testily insisted on Thursday that his administration, not oil giant BP, was calling the shots in responding to the worst oil spill in the nation's history.

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  9. Then Obama stretched out his hand over the gulf; and the BP caused the oil to go back by a strong mud pumped all night and all day, and made the oil stop flowing, and the waters were cleansed. So the children of America went into the midst of the marshes and cleaned them on their left and their right.

    Then Obama put his sword on his right hip and went out and beheaded Elizabeth Birnbaum.

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  10. Then Obama put his sword on his left hip and went out and beheaded Elizabeth Birnbaum.


    :)

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  11. From the Epistle of Whit 13:10:11



    .

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  12. but the market went up. so I am a happy guy.

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  13. I'm so out of it, who is Elizabeth Birnbaum? I only catch parts of "Dancing With Stars" with my wife, sometimes. They got some really good dancers, some even a litle better than me. Is she some kind of new conservative singer, or something?

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  14. Elizabeth Birnbaum ousted, officials say‎ - 1 hour ago

    Elizabeth Birnbaum, the director of the US Minerals Management Service, was given the opportunity to work elsewhere in the government but resigned instead, ...

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  15. Obama Says Agency was "Plagued by Corruption"

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  16. elizabeth birnbaum

    1st most popular search in the past hour.

    Hotness:Volcanic
    google.com/trends

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  17. Speaking of corruption, from the Morning Callhere's some, Chicago style:

    WASHINGTON
    President Barack Obama said the White House will clear up the alleged Joe Sestak job offer story "shortly."

    Asked about it this afternoon at a press conference, Obama said his administration is planning an "official response" and can "assure the public that nothing improper took place."

    "Can you tell the American public, sir, what your White House did or did not offer Congressman Sestak to not enter the Democratic senatorial primary?" Major Garrett, Fox News White House correspondent, asked.

    "How will you meet your levels of expressed transparency and ethics to convey that answer to satisfy what appear to be bipartisan calls for greater disclosure about that matter?" Garrett asked.

    "You will get it from my administration and it will be coming out shortly," Obama said. "When I say shortly, I mean shortly. I don't mean weeks or months."

    "But can you assure the public it was ethical and legal, sir?" Garrett followed up.

    "I can assure the public that nothing improper took place," Obama said, "but as I said, there will be a response shortly on that issue."

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  18. Obama: Go to Gulf beaches; most still open, clean

    The year was 1946. The president was Truman. The problem was Japanese tourism.

    "Visit Japan, most of it is not radioactive."


    We are well blessed with deep thinkers.

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  19. I got to thinking about something, today. We will, quite likely, feed the same number of cattle next year as we did in 2003, and run 10% of our cars on corn ethanol, from the same amount of Acres.

    How did we do this? Technology. Economists can't add-in "technology," or "Time." And, they're usually working with "imperfect knowledge." Good reasons to take everything they say with a large helping of NaCl.

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  20. Environmentally related.

    You have got to hear this podcast from the BBC

    Governments might legitimately exercise emergency powers in wartime so, argues Prof James Lovelock, they should have similar powers to deal with the threat of global warming - even if that means abandoning democracy.

    This is the far left; the radical environmental left.

    Listen here

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  21. They just couldn't know that Monsanto was going to boost corn yields 30 bu/acre in seven years.

    Not one economist in a thousand would have predicted, just a year ago, that you would be able to drive a very nice Sports Sedan in 2011 for $0.06/mile, regardless of the price of oil.

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  22. Obama Says Agency was "Plagued by Corruption"---who would have guessed that?--all the people he put in--heh--

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  23. The objection to burning "food stocks" for transportation is less important, to the greenies, than the fact that burning ethanol releases carbon dioxide.

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  24. Burning biomass is CO2 Neutral, Whit.

    It takes in the CO2 when it grows; it releases it when it's burned, or when it rots.

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  25. The Greenies simply hate You, and your lifestyle. They want you back in your cave, eating roots, and dying from the cold.

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  26. And, Many of those groups are funded by Oil Companies.

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  27. And, the fact is, there is NO evidence, whatsoever, that CO2 has the slightest effect on Global Temperatures. None.

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  28. "eating roots"---The Camus Prairie, Idaho, is where the future is at, where I used to farm.---http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/plants/camas.aspx

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  29. Deuce,

    I knew you want to see this straight off the presses:

    Guardian nukes story 'simply ludicrous'

    Possibly an entire thread could be dedicated to this bit of real news. I say "real news" because, rather than book-pushing innuendo, rumor and hysterical carping, we now have the current president of Israel and the former president of South Africa denying it.

    No doubt we will soon be informed that, like the “white wash” of the attack on the USS Liberty, this too is a massive, systemic cover-up orchestrated by Eurotrash.

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  30. Re: Nukes to South Africa

    It would be helpful to have the testimony of some of the key players in the alleged nuke transfer affair. After the passage of what, thirty-five (35) years, most of the players are, well, dead. How fortunate for the author and the publisher.

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  31. According to the folks at the Oildrum this "topkill" ain't killing.

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  32. Now, the Alaskan Pipeline is shut down. Leaks. BP, of course.

    BP - Beneath Pisspoor

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  33. Grow, Baby, Grow!

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  34. What does "Deep Water," Arctic Oil, and Corn Ethanol have in common?

    A: Absolutely Nothing. Ethanol Works.

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  35. ... and corn is not even the most productive route, to ethanol.

    You're being had by the elites of the status que in:

    Energy,
    Banking,
    Mass Communications
    Military/Industrial,
    Permanent Government.

    The revolving doors.
    The frat boy brotherhoods.

    What the United States does best, not even trotted out, by he power elites, as even part of the energy solution.

    On either side if the MSM debates.

    Little wonder, that.

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  36. Deuce,

    I knew you want to see this straight off the presses:


    Not only do I think it would be a good idea, I invite you to post it as a comment, as Q does with his work, and I will Post it with the appropriate accouterments.

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  37. Allen, WiO:

    The Guardian calumny makes no sense except in the context of demonizing Israel. South Africa was perfectly capable of developing their own nuclear program and did.

    Re: The anti-Semitism/Zionism/Christianity.

    Rat is right about one thing; the tide has turned against Israel. It's only going to get worse. My advice is to find a middle ground so that you don't exhaust yourself trying to refute every charge.

    In the meantime, please, everyone, give it a rest at the EB will ya?

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  38. Okay, a show of hands.

    Who listened to that BBC podcast about the radical greenies ready to do away with democracy in order to save the planet from global warming?

    Anybody?

    Anybody?

    Bueller?

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  39. I think we can stipulate that I Despise Obama.

    He is the most shallow rooted if not the astro turfed American President with no American roots, but do you think he could pretend that he is president of all 57 states.

    Listen to what Barack Hussein has to say about boycotting Arizona

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  40. Whit

    you said:

    Rat is right about one thing; the tide has turned against Israel. It's only going to get worse. My advice is to find a middle ground so that you don't exhaust yourself trying to refute every charge.


    To allow "charges" that demonize Jews, Israel or Zionism to stand unchallenged just aint going to happen.


    Not that I advocate banning anyone. But maybe you should look at the one throwing firebombs, rather than those trying to put the fires out.

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  41. I just wish the press would finally turn against the guy. There is just a wealth of stuff they could dig up on the guy. But, being the American liberal press, they probably never will. I'm glad to see the Nation and Newsweek finally going down. What a waste of good trees they are.

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  42. Whit, I read part of the Transcript. You've got to remember that Fascism, Nazism, and Communism were/are ALL Liberal Movements.

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  43. All required force to attain, and maintain control.

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  44. LOWER MANHATTAN

    Community Board 1 approved a plan to build a mosque blocks from the World Trade Center after a heated four-hour meeting Tuesday night that drew hundreds of people who expressed emotions ranging from fear and hate to grief and hope.
    “I’m so proud of the community board,” said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the spiritual leader behind the plan to build the new 13-story, $100 million mosque and community center called Cordoba House at 45 Park Place, shortly after the vote, which was 29 in favor, 1 against, with 9 abstentions. “They recognize us as neighbors.”



    Read more:

    Here are the members all but one voted to build a mosque at ground zero. How many were Obama supporters?

    MARC J. AMERUSO
    LINDA BELFER
    PETER BRAUS
    ROGER BYROM
    ALBERT CAPSOUTO
    SUSAN COLE
    MICHAEL CONNOLLY
    MARK COSTELLO
    ANN M. DE FALCO
    CAROLE DESARAM
    BRUCE L. EHRMANN
    JOHN FOSS
    JOHN FRATTA
    JEFF GALLOWAY
    DENNIS GAULT
    PETER GLAZIER
    TOM GOODKIND
    PAUL HOVITZ
    MARIAMA JAMES
    NOEL E. JEFFERSON
    MICHAEL KETRING
    JOEL KOPEL
    ELIZABETH LAMERE
    DIANE LAPSON
    JOSEPH LERNER
    BILL LOVE
    MEGAN MCHUGH
    CATHERINE McVAY HUGHES
    JULIE MENIN
    JEFFREY MIHOK
    PATRICIA L. MOORE
    ANTHONY NOTARO
    RUTH OHMAN
    UNA L. PERKINS
    HAROLD REED
    CHELSEA-LYN RUDDER
    COREN SHARPLES
    EDWARD SHEFFE
    LIAT SILBERMAN
    ANTONINA SIMETI
    PAUL SIPOS
    MICHAEL SKIDMORE
    REBECCA SKINNER
    BARRY SKOLNICK
    VERA SUNG
    ALLAN TANNENBAUM
    ROBERT TOWNLEY
    PAUL VIGGIANO
    ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
    TIFFANY WINBUSH

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  45. "But Eunice Hanson, who traveled to the meeting from Connecticut with her husband, Lee, said that she felt her life had ended when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, carrying her son, Peter Hanson, 32, his wife Sue Hanson, 33, and their 2 ½-year-old daughter, Christine. She held Islam responsible for her loss and thought that the mosque would be disrespectful to their memory.

    "This is sacred property and I'm completely against it," Hanson said. "This is abominable. It is a slap in the face to us."

    Lee Hanson, who said his son called him to say "don't worry dad, it will be quick" just before his plane hit the towers, said he thought the mosque should be built some place else.

    "I am not a bigot, and most of these people aren't bigots," Lee Hanson said. "I oppose this mosque because it is in poor taste."----Poor taste is an understatement. We ought to be opposing a mosque cause it's a damned mosque, with all the nonsensical teaching that goes with it. In fact, if we want to remember 9/11 in a proper way, we ought to be putting restrictions on mosques. they ought to be building a Swedish cultural center there, in memory of the Hansons.

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  46. How's that "Deep Water Thingie" working out for us? Thunderhorse Production Plunging

    Not so hot, it seems.

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  47. This well that just blew up might have supplied the world for 2 days.

    It might ruin the Gulf for TWO Decades, or more.

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  48. The article states they want to build the Mosque blocks away from ground zero, Deuce states they want to build it "at ground zero". How far do you think a Mosque should be from ground zero? 1 block? 2 blocks? 1 mile, 100 miles?

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  49. 10,000 miles. Or on the moon.

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  50. Though a mosque on the moon would kinda ruin it for all romantic intentions. Let them put it on Pluto.

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  51. "The Mosque on the Moon" might make a good title for a poem, a little like "The Triumph of Life".

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  52. In fact "The Mosque on the Moon" isn't a bad title. Brings up all the images of aridity, lack of intellectual oxygen, no water of life....not even a bone fragment from the life of yesteryear.

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  53. According to Aaron Klein, WABC NY, the mosque is two and a half blocks from ground zero and despite being 13 stories tall, is not visible from ground zero.

    According to the Imam developing the building, it's not actually a mosque but an Islamic cultural center similar to a YMCA. The Imam condemns radical Islam and says that no foreign money is being used to finance the building.

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  54. Nothing but taqqiya. Deception. They will go back to their old ways, sooner or later. They always do. All the south shore of the Med used to be Christian. Where are they now?

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  55. Taqqiya---http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/65699

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  56. 600 feet...

    How about ONE foot per MURDERED VICTIM?

    Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York imam, expects us to believe that jihad warfare was started by the West and can only be ended by the West. He is therefore either concealing or ignorant of the fact that violent jihad is a developed tradition within Islam and found in core Islamic texts (including but not limited to the Qur'an, as well as Hadith and books of Islamic jurisprudence). In those it has nothing to do with the behavior of infidels. It only has to do with the fact that they are infidels. Take, for example, this quotation from the Muslim prophet Muhammad:

    When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. . . . If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim, book 019, Number 4294)
    That is offensive jihad. It is buttressed by numerous other sayings of the Prophet, by the Qur'an, and by Islamic legal scholars. But Feisal Abdul Rauf puts it all on the West, and gets invited to Australia by Premier Bob Carr.

    The US and the West must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end, says an Islamic cleric invited to Sydney by Premier Bob Carr.
    New York-based Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who impressed Mr Carr at an international conference last year, arrives in Sydney today for two weeks of meetings and public talks.

    Speaking from his New York mosque, Imam Feisal said the West had to understand the terrorists' point of view.

    In a move likely to cause controversy with church leaders, Imam Feisal said it was Christians who started mass attacks on civilians.

    "The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians. But it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets."

    This is outrageously specious, but it depends on the ignorance of the listeners. The bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima were not justified by the bombers on the basis of Christian theology. The bombings by terrorists -- 9/11, 3/11, etc. -- are justified on the basis of Islamic theology. By claiming that they are equivalent, Abdul Rauf obscures the Islamic roots of modern-day terrorism, thus hindering the prospects for the reform within Islam that is so desperately needed if jihad terrorism is ever going to cease.

    Imam Feisal said the bombing in Madrid had made his message more urgent. He said there was an endless supply of angry young Muslim rebels prepared to die for their cause and there was no sign of the attacks ending unless there was a fundamental change in the world.
    Yes indeed. But displaying a lack of the self-critical faculty that he shares with radical Muslims, he makes no mention, at least according to this report, of the Islamic roots of terror, and of the need for Muslims who truly (rather than deceptively) oppose terror to address this problem.

    Imam Feisal, who argues for a Western style of Islam that promotes democracy and tolerance, said there could be little progress until the US acknowledged backing dictators and the US President gave an "America Culpa" speech to the Muslim world.
    Of course. The historical depredations of jihad, they were all the fault of the West. The fall of Constantinople? Probably because of Byzantium's support for Israel.

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  57. "Israel reportedly planned recently to bomb one of the arms convoys as it crossed the border into Lebanon, but the operation was called off at the last minute. Western intelligence sources say that the Israelis have yielded — for now — to American diplomatic efforts to persuade Syria to stop the arms transfers."

    "Arming Hezbollah was banned under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the 2006 war."
    (Given your scrupulous advocacy of the "Law of Nations", DR, I know you will be all over this. Maybe you can help create a thread)

    Syria accused of arming Hezbollah from secret bases

    There is going to be a war. No middle ground is possible.

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  58. When the Pro-Palestinians make it to Gaza they sure will be hungry...



    I hope they book a table or two at the follow local restaurant:



    Fine
    Dining at Gaza's Root Club, in Arabic, they have their own website of
    course!




    An
    English Version

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  59. How many Churches or Synagogues in Mecca? What happened to moral equivalence or do we reduce that to situational equivalence?

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  60. Deuce said...
    How many Churches or Synagogues in Mecca? What happened to moral equivalence or do we reduce that to situational equivalence?


    ZERO, NONE, NADA, ZIP...

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  61. deuce wrote:

    "What happened to moral equivalence "

    well, what about moral equivalence? Are you saying that because x broke law y therefore it is ok for you to also break such a law?

    WiO in particular regularly argues that because some muslims do bad stuff therefore whatever jews do is ok because of that bad stuff they did. Is this the foundation upon which rests your moral philosophy?

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  62. If someone slaps me in the face, my code tells me to knock them out.

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  63. Ash asks:

    WiO in particular regularly argues that because some muslims do bad stuff therefore whatever jews do is ok because of that bad stuff they did. Is this the foundation upon which rests your moral philosophy?

    Let see ash...

    Arabs have tortured, raped, enslaved, murdered my people (the Jews) for 3200 years, the collective people called "the arabs" kicked out the Jews from 649/650th of the middle east and then have proceeded to attempt genocide against the people "israel"

    Now ash asks if Israel's treatment of Arabs reactionary?

    yawn

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  64. Deuce speaks of individuals, "misdirection" speaks of groups.

    There in lays the difference.

    Individual vs the "Group", the Europeons love to trash entire groups, religious & ethnic. Often committing genocide, as the do.

    Where as, in the United States, race, creed and national origin are not important, individual behavior is.

    "misdirection", he does not even like to use the hyphenated expression, as he drops 'American', when discussin' Miss USA 2010.

    Following Mr Luntz's advise, Arabs are now demonized, rather than just Palestinians.

    Learning boys, you're learning.

    Better thank trish, for your further edification, as concerns advancing your Israeli propaganda.

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  65. Rat says: Where as, in the United States, race, creed and national origin are not important, individual behavior is.


    And yet Rat admits to murdering people in Central America, how can anyone listen to anything he says?

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  66. "There is going to be a war. No middle ground is possible."---Unfortunately, I think that is true. I wish it weren't.----"If someone slaps me in the face, my code tells me to knock them out."----My attitude exactly, and is why we should have bombed Iran a long time ago.----I think we are in a very serious cultural war with the muzzies, and we better damn well wake up soon, or we might lose our very America. And more importantly, if you get right down to it, our women as well. This from Joseph Campbell, now deceased. Who always took the long view, and could get to the heart of human culture, such as it is. If we don't wake up, one of these days the women will be sitting in the back of some damned mosque or other. It is serious stuff, make no doubt.

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  67. Interesting point about the gaza war and israel

    as for targetting civilians in gaza, how are your math skills?
    according to wikipedia, israel launched 2360 air strikes during operation "cast lead", now the gaza strip is home to 1,5 mil people with a density of over 4,000 people per square kilometer, making it the 6th crowded place on earth. an f16 can carry more than 3 tons of bombs and an f15 even more but i'll go easy on you and make it 2 tons which means the entire payload dropped on gaza was about 4500 tons of different bombs and explosive, if indeed innocent 400 civilians were killed it means that on average it took over 11 tons of explosives to kill one innocent civilian in gaza, even wile e coyote would have more success than that :-)

    if the IDF had used a roulette or a random location generator to determine where to drop the bombs there would have been at least ten times the amount of people killed so how can anyone claim that israel targeted civilians? are the pilots blind? are the bombs duds? are arabs protected by magic force fields?

    If you know anything about modern weapons, you would know that if just one plane had targeted a heavy populated civilian are there would have been more than 1400 dead.

    The funny thing is this was just the air force i was using in the example , there were also thousands of infantry and hundreds of tanks and gunships involved which i guess share the pilots' lack of accuracy, either that or they simply were doing their best not to target civilians while fighting an enemy which operates solely from within civilian populations, but that would go against your strong beliefs wouldn't it?

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  68. And more importantly, if you get right down to it, our women as well.---Meaning, a woman is an independent free human spirit, which we would be damned fools to lose.

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  69. Murder?

    Is killing folk always murder?
    Is that what the Israeli did in Gaza?
    They murdered 800 innocent folk, women and children.

    You do admit to that, now, 'misdirection'.
    You admit to the legal and moral equivalency?

    As I have been saying, the Israeli are not morally superior, just a bunch of murders, as 'misdirection' says, just like US, just like the Arabs.

    Besides, I didn't shoot at women and children, I'm no Israeli.

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  70. Only a damned fool let's a recidivist rapist stalk the women of his community, without informing law enforcement of the presence of the rapist.

    A damned fool of no consequence.

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  71. No one that truly respected women would allow such activities to go unreported to law enforcement.

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  72. A self confessed criminal, a FELON, preaching, it would be laughable, if it weren't so damn sad. rat, get a JOB! Do something!

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  73. Meals on Wheels, rat, Meals on Wheels---something!

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  74. Besides, I didn't shoot at women and children, I'm no Israeli.---rat, you are so fucked up, it's beyond belief. Go to church.

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  75. Been to church, bob.

    Not going back.
    Those Christians, they blamed the Jews, for killing Christ.

    It sickened me.

    Had to leave that BS, behind.

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  76. The hypocrisy of the Christians, to much for me, boobie.

    Could see how it'd fit you, though.
    Hypocrisy is YOUR game.

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  77. "Been to church, bob.

    Not going back.
    Those Christians, they blamed the Jews, for killing Christ.

    It sickened me.

    Had to leave that BS, behind."





    :)




    .

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