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, July 03, 2010

Obama Everywhere: From Obama's Website






A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships. The sociologist Max Weber developed a tripartite classification of authority; the cult of personality holds parallels with what Weber defined as 'charismatic authority'.

A cult of personality is similar to hero worship, except that it is propagated by mass media. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of religious or non-political leaders.

Throughout history, monarchs were almost always held in enormous reverence. Through the principle of the divine right of kings, rulers were said to hold office by the will of God. Imperial China (see Mandate of Heaven), ancient Egypt, Japan, the Inca, the Aztecs, Tibet, Thailand, and the Roman Empire (see imperial cult) are especially noted for redefining monarchs as god-kings.

The spread of democratic ideas in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries made it increasingly difficult for monarchs to preserve this aura. However, the subsequent development of photography, sound recording, film and mass production, as well as public education and techniques used in commercial advertising, enabled political leaders to project a positive image like never before. It was from these circumstances in the 20th century that the best-known personality cults arose. Often these cults are a form of Political religion.

Personality cults were first described in relation to totalitarian regimes that sought to radically alter or transform society according to radical ideas. Often, a single leader became associated with this revolutionary transformation, and came to be treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation without whom the transformation to a better future couldn't occur. This has been generally the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies of the 20th century, such as those of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

Not all dictatorships foster personality cults, and some leaders may actively seek to minimize their own public adulation. For example, in the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia, Pol Pot's image was rarely seen. On the other hand, in North Korea there exists a very successful cult of personality, which includes actual semi-worship of both the father (Kim Il-sung) and son (Kim Jong-il).

Wikipedia


180 comments:

  1. There has never been a US President like this one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. trish said...

    "Did you notice, bob, that the Gulf oil leak is not the daily news obsession it was?

    We seem to have adjusted and moved on.
    "

    You can bet your bottom dollar if W was POTUS, it would be in our face 24/7, and everytime W was speaking, there'd always be a video in the corner of the screen showing the gushing oil or decimated wildlife.

    Instead, BHO's criminal neglect and obstruction is covered up by his co-conspirators in the "news"

    ReplyDelete
  3. "You can bet your bottom dollar if W was POTUS..."

    The mitigation operations would be a cakewalk and the whole thing would pay for itself.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gene Healy referred to and wrote about The Cult of the Presidency.

    This is not new.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jonah Goldberg once had to remind NRO readers that "the sun does not shine out of George W. Bush's shirtsleeves."

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think "Obama-Worship" is probably going to be the least of our worries.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Andrew Sullivan:

    The Green Shoots Of A Positive Conservatism
    02 Jul 2010 07:26 pm

    Erik Kain looks for signs of hope:

    One reason I enjoy the writing of center-right thinkers such as Reihan Salam or Ross Douthat (among others) is that rather than constantly taking a position against liberals or other conservatives, they are constantly on the prowl for good ideas.

    I think this is especially true of Reihan, whose wonkish blog over at NRO can only be described as a sort of positive conservatism. Instead of focusing on simply being in opposition to the liberal agenda – which is, really, a fairly easy task – this brand of conservatism is always perusing the market of good ideas. This doesn’t mean you can’t also be against bad ideas, but only that every oppositional stance should be paired with a positive solution. The bank tax is wrong – here’s why, and here’s a better idea. The healthcare bill is going to be a disaster – here’s why, and here’s a better idea. Positive conservatism, for it to be effective at all, also must avoid Utopianism if it is to avoid the progressive pitfall.




    "On the prowl for good ideas."

    I like that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jonah Goldberg and Andrew Sullivan are dicks.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  9. "On the prowl for good ideas."

    Here's one.

    The Native Americans are supposed to be 'sovereign' on their reservations.
    Well then they should go ahead and build on their lands those things that 'real' Americans seem to not want anything to do with, like:

    Nuclear Power Plants

    Oil Refineries

    Coal Fired Plants

    Rosicrucian Compounds

    I bet they could clean up.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Quirkster,

    Astrologer

    Possessor of "Secret Knowledge"

    Authority on "Dicks"


    Is there Anything our boy can't do?

    ReplyDelete
  11. trish said...
    "You can bet your bottom dollar if W was POTUS..."

    The mitigation operations would be a cakewalk and the whole thing would pay for itself.


    -exercise for your smile wrinkles

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bob, we're "Closing" oil refineries due to lack of demand.

    Coal is cheap, Now, but it won't always be (plus, who wants to breathe coal dust;) In other words, they can build it, but who's going to "buy" it?

    And, Nukes are getting expensive to build.

    The Indians need to build windmills, solar, and plant energy crops. The 20th century is over, folks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As much as I don't like ol' bumblefuck, he's right, and the Republicans are wrong about most of the major things. Especially, Energy, and the "Smart Grid."

    His main problem is he just doesn't know how to "get'er done." Neither, He, nor anyone in his administration, has ever run a business, much less a County, or State. They understand, on a gut level, where we have to go, but they're flailing around in trying to figure out how to "get there."

    ReplyDelete
  14. Looking back, not ahead.

    Grasping onto the past, while the future beckons.

    A million barrels a day, to replace Wahhabi oil.
    whit says that we should drill for it, here at home.

    So I went looking for some numbers, rather than to tell you all about my "feelings".

    In that search, I happened across this:

    - US offshore oil production is forecast at 31.4% (1.58 mbpd) of US crude production for 2010 by the EIA
    - Deepwater Gulf of Mexico is about 25% of US crude production.



    US production is running at 6 million barrels per day.

    To increase that by 20%, in the face of current and growing environmental concerns, and the current media, educational and political climate, here in the US, right there with impossible.
    So the story continues ...

    Loss of these volumes, assuming no offsets from increased production by Saudi Arabia, would result in a price increase of probably $10-20 / barrel, and would increase US imports by $150-300 mn per day, or approximately $50-100 bn per year.
    So the payback on allowing drilling at an environmental cost of $20 bn as opposed to higher imports on an annual basis of, say, $60 bn per year, is about four months.

    No one wants an oil spill, but on a coldly calculated cost-benefit basis, the math appears a no-brainer.

    Let's add to this dependence on OPEC. French oil major Total sees dependence on OPEC rising from 43% in 2008 to 54% in 2020.

    (See slide 3;

    http://www.total.com/MEDIAS/MEDIAS_INFOS/2969/FR/Total-2009-mid-year-outlook-full-presentation.pdf).

    I asked Total CEO de Margerie what he felt about this forecast, and he described it as "optimistic". Reducing US production would simply hasten and exacerbate this situation.

    And I need hardly mention the externalities of dependence on Middle East oil; costofwar.com estimates the cost of the Iraq war at $700+ billion to date.

    Now, there are legitimate questions about whether we want to use our oil resources today or save them for the future. "The Optimal Timing of the Extraction of Non-Renewable Resources" would make an interesting econ doctoral thesis. Someone's probably written it already.


    It seems clear, at least to me, that the US will not be pursuing a "Drill, Baby, Drill, policy and that even if we did ...

    Realistically speaking Drill, Baby, Drill is neither viable, short term politically, nor is it a long term solution to our oil addiction. No, Drill, Baby, Drill is just an avoidance of an unpleasant reality, the 20th century is over and done.

    Oil is not, never will be, renewable.

    There is no expanding, exploitable ready reserve and oil in the United States, and it does not grow on trees.

    While ethanol does.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Authority on "Dicks"

    Well maybe I overshot the mark on Jonah Goldberg.

    He just trends toward 'dickness' on occasion.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  16. The talking head lady, at MSNBC, is saying that hotel occupancy, along the Emerald Coast, on this 4th of July weekend ...

    It's running at 75%.

    On what is normally a "sell out" weekend.

    There'll be a slew of Chapter 13 filings, by November.
    All along that stretch of beach.

    Ameros to doughnuts.

    ReplyDelete
  17. By the way, if you know a young guy, or gal, that likes to work outside, and is half-way bright tell them to look into getting certified as a Solar "Installer."

    Those guys are getting paid a fortune for installation.

    ReplyDelete
  18. They can manufacture solar for about $1.00/watt, now; but installation is running $5.00, or more. That is some sweet "juice." Really Sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The talking head lady, at MSNBC, is saying that hotel occupancy, along the Emerald Coast, on this 4th of July weekend ...

    It's running at 75%.

    On what is normally a "sell out" weekend.

    There'll be a slew of Chapter 13 filings, by November.
    All along that stretch of beach.

    Ameros to doughnuts.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Did you notice, bob, that the Gulf oil leak is not the daily news obsession it was?

    We seem to have adjusted and moved on."

    ---

    Jokes and giggles about W notwithstanding, my focus was on the fact that massive AVOIDABLE damage continues, but hey, the MSM have adjusted and moved on, so perhaps like good little sheep we should too.

    Certainly wouldn't want to call a spade a spade.
    ...move right along.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage

    All candidates at Ben Venue must pass a basic skills test showing they can read and understand math at a ninth-grade level.

    A significant portion of recent applicants failed, and the company has been disappointed by the quality of graduates from local training programs. It is now struggling to fill 100 positions.

    ReplyDelete
  22. They're "adjusting"

    ...but not moving on.

    It's the Chicago Way.

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

    ReplyDelete
  24. Assimilation and the Founding Fathers

    They would scarcely understand the language of the immigration lobby.

    Must every response to even the most modest of immigration enforcement measures be “RAAAAACIST”?

    The survival of the American republic, Hamilton maintained, depends upon “the preservation of a national spirit and a national character.”

    “To admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens the moment they put foot in our country would be nothing less than to admit the Grecian horse into the citadel of our liberty and sovereignty.”

    ReplyDelete
  25. Doug,

    I did look at your pictures last night. So there.

    I, who try to avoid such images...Not because they're Obama's dying birds. But because they're dying birds.

    (You're talking to the woman who established the very busy Breakfast Club For Our Winged Friends on her Colombian rooftop, turning her penthouse terrace each morning into a scene straight out of Hitchcock. Much to the amazement of her neighbors. Do you know how much bird crap that was for Eliadora to hose down every couple of days?)

    Would W have a harder time of this on the media front than Obama? Yes.

    Life isn't fair.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Susana Martinez Had a Pretty Darn Good June

    The bad news for Susana Martinez, the Republican candidate for governor of New Mexico, is that she’s way behind her Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, in campaign cash — about $300,0000 to $2.2 million as of June 25.

    The good news for her is that the trend is her friend:

    Martinez accelerated her fundraising after becoming the nominee and collected three times more money than Denish during the monthlong financial reporting period, which covers May 26 through June 25. Martinez received $611,247 in contributions, with all but about $15,000 of that received after the June 1 primary. Denish raised $187,629.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I see we're on full dick patrol, Quirk.

    "What are we made of? Our fathers came across the prairie, fought Indians, fought drought, fought locusts, fought Dix - remember when Richard Dix came in here and tried to take over this town? Well, we didn't give up then, and by gum, we're not gonna give up now."

    Keep up the good fight.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Would W have a harder time of this on the media front than Obama? Yes.

    Life isn't fair.

    ---

    Jeeze,

    The only reason I mentioned W was to point out MSM's BURYING
    Obama's criminal negligence and obstructionism.

    Rendering them complicit in the ongoing victimization of man and beast.

    I would like to see a Dan Blather like response by the blogging community, and am writing folks about doing it.

    Why the Hell was Blather not just the first but the ONLY "Blogswarm?"

    ReplyDelete
  29. They also constructed Fort Dix.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Martinez, Jindal, and that Carolina beauty...
    Not a bad crop of GOP Guvs.
    AND
    The Fat Man.

    ReplyDelete
  31. "I would like to see a Dan Blather like response by the blogging community, and am writing folks about doing it."

    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  32. You think that's because egos, turf and money have become the guides to the "influential" bloggers?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Great quote by Hamilton, Doug.

    (or was it a great quote by Doug Hamilton?)

    ReplyDelete
  34. I find it telling that some eliminated the "hat tip" some time ago even as Limbaugh continues to give attribution to sources.

    Basic rules of professionalism.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Alexander was reading the notes I wrote.

    ReplyDelete
  36. One More Jarring Statistic
    Jim Geraghty

    In June 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, just as it was in June 2010.

    However, a year ago, the civilian labor force was 154,759,000, and now it is 153,741,000.

    In other words, 1.018 million people have dropped out of the labor force.

    The good news is that the country will be back to a relatively normal jobless rate of 6 percent once another 5.39 million of the unemployed stop looking for work.

    Naturally, President Obama cites the report as another sign “we’re headed in the right direction.”

    ReplyDelete
  37. 21 Die in Mexican Gun Battle, 12 Miles From U.S. Border...



    Just another lazy afternoon in old Mejico.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Let me just say, somewhat in the spirit of the day: Limbaugh is a giant sack of pus.

    ReplyDelete
  39. And Mark Levin is a syphilitic sore on the body of humanity.

    ReplyDelete
  40. And we were getting along so well...

    ReplyDelete
  41. A cancer metastasizing...

    ReplyDelete
  42. 25. twobyfour

    Sometimes I wonder if we here aren’t just an echo chamber of old geezers. The average age of BC posters would be prolly well above fifty.

    But then I see this and I know that there is hope.

    ReplyDelete
  43. He caught syphlis when your hero Sullivan Butt Raped him.

    ...or was it Wolcott?

    Age takes it's toll on my memory.

    ReplyDelete
  44. "And Michael Savage is?"

    The very rotting, larvae infested corpse of a once vibrant political movement.

    ReplyDelete
  45. We are certainly into diseases of the flesh.

    News Item a couple of days ago:

    Passengers had to switch planes when MAGGOTS were found in the overhead bins.

    ReplyDelete
  46. T party still extremely vibrant, btw.

    ReplyDelete
  47. But I have a social obligation later today. Must maintain the blithe spirit.

    Let's change the subject to raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, shall we?

    ReplyDelete
  48. Angle in Nevada is portrayed as a Wing Nut Wacko, but she sounds quite down to earth in interviews.

    Currently leads Dingy Harry by 9 in the polls.

    Thanks to Tea Party Express.

    (whatever that is, ...anybody know?)

    ReplyDelete
  49. How about kittens with worms?

    ...or dogs with dementia?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Symptoms:

    Aimless Wandering

    Disorientation

    Confusion about a previously familiar place (ie: gets lost in the house, can't find her way out of a corner, seems lost in her yard)

    Years of housetraining seem undone, as dog forgets to go outside or she forgets to let you know she has to go

    Forgetting to eat, even forgetting to drink in some cases

    Fails to recognize previously favorite people, or who she met recently, be it dog or human

    Sleeping pattern changes drastically

    Pacing

    No longer seeks attention, or wanders away

    ---

    Crap!
    I thot that was normal at my age.

    ReplyDelete
  51. It's a family affair, it's a family affair

    It's a family affair, it's a family affair

    One child grows up to be
    Somebody that just loves to learn

    And another child grows up to be
    Somebody you'd just love to burn

    Mom loves the both of them
    You see it's in the blood

    Both kids are good to Mom
    'Blood's thicker than mud'

    It's a family affair, it's a family affair

    Newlywed a year ago
    But you're still checking each other out

    Nobody wants to blow
    Nobody wants to be left out

    You can't leave, 'cause your heart is there

    But you can't stay, 'cause you been somewhere else!

    You can't cry, 'cause you'll look broke down

    But you're cryin' anyway 'cause you're all broke down!

    It's a family affair
    It's a family affair

    ReplyDelete
  52. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du6wiLRgm8o

    Julie Andrews. Just the ticket when facing an evening of shmoozing. That and a little pre-gaming.

    ReplyDelete
  53. The very rotting, larvae infested corpse of a once vibrant political movement.

    Quite good, quite good indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I saw some news item the other day where they found a load of human heads in the cargo bay. No one knew where they came from.


    From human bodies, I suppose, but that's just a guess.

    ReplyDelete
  55. "Quite good, quite good indeed."

    Thank you, bob. I do try.

    ReplyDelete
  56. "I see we're on full dick patrol, Quirk."


    It just feels good now and then.

    I see you have been indulging in a little cathartic release yourself.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  57. That I have. And I DO feel better for it.

    Thank you for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Abreaction is its own reward.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  59. : )



    Abreaction.

    At first sounds like a late night infomercial.

    No end of those seeking to lose unwanted belly fat by whatever promising devise.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Abreaction

    Some words have simultaneous meanings that really could apply, well, simultaneously.

    That's why I am selective about the 'dick list'.

    It's completely subjective.

    For instance, Glenn Beck is not on it. Not because half of what he says isn't kind of silly, it's just that on occasion I like listening to the guy and find him entertaining.

    More to the point, George Will is not on the list. Sure he is pompous and pretensious (not that that is necessarily a bad thing) but he also has a comprehensive yet facile mastery of the English language.

    I am impressed by words and the people who can use them. That may be why I find Orwell's concept of Newsspeak compelling.

    I also went to a Catholic grade school. In the third or fourth grade, we were forced to buy a dictionary and taught how to use it. One of the best pieces of advice I received from the nuns was when you look up a word, always look at the word before it and the word after it so as to build up your vocabulary.

    Vocabulary.com is very convenient but unfortunately, there is no word before or after.

    I probably have a half dozen dictionaries lying around the house. When I don't use Dictionary.com, I still look up the word before and after.


    .


    .

    ReplyDelete
  61. Words are magical things.

    I have one hardback English language dictionary. The AHD from 1992, I think it is.

    Much loved, much worn.

    And I have probably spent more time at dictionary.com in the past month alone than in the two years previous.



    A wise person once said to me, "Define your terms." (And we regularly resort to the dictionary as referee.)

    Maria Montessori said, "Fix the idea with a word."

    ReplyDelete
  62. I observed early on, however, that true facility is as much about cadence as about the words themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Words are just words without the music.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  64. (I can just hear it now:

    BUT WHAT DOES SHE MEAN?)

    ReplyDelete
  65. The Delphic musings of of a new age Sibyl.


    :)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  66. Words can be magical, indeed.
    Except when they are misused and abused as in some of Bob's poetry.
    Joyce Rules.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Music is just music without the words.

    ReplyDelete
  68. The Alien in the White House

    The deepening notes of disenchantment with Barack Obama now issuing from commentators across the political spectrum were predictable. So, too, were the charges from some of the president's earliest enthusiasts about his failure to reflect a powerful sense of urgency about the oil spill.

    There should have been nothing puzzling about his response to anyone who has paid even modest critical attention to Mr. Obama's pronouncements. For it was clear from the first that this president—single-minded, ever-visible, confident in his program for a reformed America saved from darkness by his arrival—was wanting in certain qualities citizens have until now taken for granted in their presidents. Namely, a tone and presence that said: This is the Americans' leader, a man of them, for them, the nation's voice and champion. Mr. Obama wasn't lacking in concern about the oil spill. What he lacked was that voice—and for good reason.

    Those qualities to be expected in a president were never about rhetoric; Mr. Obama had proved himself a dab hand at that on the campaign trail. They were a matter of identification with the nation and to all that binds its people together in pride and allegiance. These are feelings held deep in American hearts, unvoiced mostly, but unmistakably there and not only on the Fourth of July.

    A great part of America now understands that this president's sense of identification lies elsewhere, and is in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in the White House, a matter having nothing to do with delusions about his birthplace cherished by the demented fringe.

    ...that would be you, Bob.

    ReplyDelete
  69. A Shrink Asks: What's Wrong with Obama?
    By Robin of Berkeley

    If my assessment is accurate, what does this mean?

    It means that liberals need to wake up and spit out the Kool-Aid...and that conservatives should put aside differences, band together, and elect as many Republicans as possible.

    Because Obama will not change. He will not learn from his mistakes. He will not grow and mature from on-the-job experience. In fact, over time, Obama will likely become a more ferocious version of who he is today.

    Why? Because this is a damaged person. Obama's fate was sealed years ago growing up in his strange and poisonous family. Later on, his empty vessel was filled with the hateful bile of men like Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers.

    Obama will not evolve; he will not rise to the occasion; he will not become the man he was meant to be. This is for one reason and one reason alone:

    He is not capable of it.

    A frequent AT contributor, Robin is a psychotherapist in Berkeley and a recovering liberal. You can e-mail Robin at robinofberkeley@hotmail.com. She regrets that she may not be able to acknowledge your e-mail.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Short Answer:
    The Perv Commie Buttfucked him as a kid.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Obama is everywhere and less and less people care. Can anyone identify one foreign leader, that matters, that takes him seriously or would risk political capital for him?

    ReplyDelete
  72. Stanley and Madelyn raised Obama from around age l0 through high school. Stanley, an impulsive and hard drinking man, made one of the most twisted of parental decisions -- to have Barry mentored by the elderly Frank Marshall Davis, purportedly a Communist who worked on behalf of the Soviet Union; a pedophile who wrote a book entitled "Sex Rebel: Black," an alcoholic, a racist, and a misogynist.

    Well regarded bloggers have raised the provocative question about whether Davis violated Obama, perhaps by molesting him. (Read Obama's college era poem Pop, especially the lines, "Pop. . . points out the same amber stain on his shorts that I've got on mine, and makes me smell his smell, coming from me," and see what you think.)

    Obama himself has said, in his autobiography, that "Frank" made him feel uncomfortable. Grandpa Stanley and Davis would sit around getting loaded, talking trash about women, and making up smutty limericks.

    ReplyDelete
  73. No Problemo, Deuce:

    Joe will pick up the slack -

    Biden Visits Iraq, Offering Diplomacy Amid Impasse

    BAGHDAD — A visit to Iraq by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signals a desire by the United States to step deeper into a four-month political stalemate that has become a backdrop to the drawdown of forces.

    ReplyDelete
  74. I think Trish or Q posted a statistic that 96% of blacks support Obama. Obviously their agenda is all about race. Nothing else matters to them. Anyone with such an agenda cannot be taken seriously, but they are.

    Obama has a hardcore of support that will never be shaken. He has gamed the system and will to the same to the so-called Hispanics with a presidential directive and amnesty. He will do it at the end of this term and especially so if he is a one termer.

    Obama will not go away. He will be a black maoist Carter and continue to push his agenda for as long as he lives.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Janet gets felt up by her dancers as part of her raunchy stage show.

    Although the singer's outfit was skimpy, she appeared to be well strapped in as she performed rigorous dance routines for a hot, high-energy two-hour set featuring all her hits including Nasty and Control.

    Sporting her new, chic short-cropped hairstyle, Janet sent temperatures soaring even higher towards the end of the show when she acted out an S&M scene with a male volunteer from the audience.

    He had his hands and arms strapped into a straight jacket as Jackson pretended to punish him, whip in hand.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1291680/Janet-Jackson-performs-S-M-scene-live-onstage-eye-popping-basque.html#ixzz0sem78oog

    ReplyDelete
  76. I think Trish or Q posted a statistic that 96% of blacks support Obama. Obviously their agenda is all about race. Nothing else matters to them. Anyone with such an agenda cannot be taken seriously, but they are.

    Obama has a hardcore of support that will never be shaken. He has gamed the system and will do the same with the so-called Hispanics by a presidential directive and amnesty. He will do it at the end of this term and especially so if he is a one termer.

    Obama will not go away. He will be a black maoist Carter and continue to push his agenda for as long as he lives.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Once a Maoist, always a Maoist,
    I always say.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Back in the 70's we knew a Black Professor at Cal Poly SLO.

    One of his wife's friends asked her why she was always talking about race.

    "What else is there?"

    She asked.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Almost kicked me out of the house when I mentioned John Wayne's last film.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Let me get this straight. The EPA will not allow vessels to skim, vacuum, or otherwise collect and clean oily water from the gulf if they can only remove 99% of the oil before discharging the water back to the gulf...

    Can that really be true?

    ReplyDelete
  81. A Whale is being tested close to the wellhead because officials believe it will be most effective where the oil is thickest rather than closer to shore.

    The ship arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday, but officials have wanted to test its capability as well as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump back into the gulf. Although the ship cleans most of the oil from seawater, trace amounts of crude remain.

    ReplyDelete
  82. That piece of Federal reality has finally sunk in, whit?

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

    ReplyDelete
  84. "A frequent AT contributor, Robin is a psychotherapist in Berkeley and a recovering liberal."

    Trust me I'm a professional?


    My god.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  85. Robin of Berkley is a dick.





    .

    ReplyDelete
  86. It was 91%

    Same as January

    Gallup said it.

    In the bedroom with Quirk

    Who, also, is a Dick.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Fer calling all them other peoples, Dicks.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Obama is everywhere and less and less people care. Can anyone identify one foreign leader, that matters, that takes him seriously or would risk political capital for him?

    Mark Steyn has an article about this at Real Clear Politics but for some reason I can't get back to it, some computer glitch here. Anyway even Karzai is giving us the finger, and why wouldn't he, we've said we're leaving.

    ReplyDelete
  89. "Fer calling all them other peoples, Dicks."

    Thanks Rufus for helping me see the light.

    You dick.

    And I didn't call them Dicks. I called them dicks.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  90. Little Nixons, that's what you're calling those folk, Q.

    Little Nixons.

    For heavens sake!

    ReplyDelete
  91. I observed early on, however, that true facility is as much about cadence as about the words themselves.
    Trish.

    There ya go. I offer up the first short chapter of a " A Farewell To Arms" as evidence, perfect in its own way.

    You can find the same thing in "Huck Finn" in some of the floating on the river passages.

    No big words necessary, on the other hand there are wonderful folk like Sir Thomas Browne--example--

    "Festination may prove Precipitation; Deliberating delay may be wise cunctation."

    Topic: Haste
    Source: Christian Morals (pt. I, sec. XXIII), (paraphrasing Caesar)

    no cadence at all, but

    or

    "Continuing a short series on topics of Christian apologetics: I desire to exercise my faith in the most difficult point, for to credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but persuasion. Some believe the better for seeing Christ's Sepulchre, and when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not the miracle. Now contrarily I bless myself, and am thankful that I lived not in the days of miracles, that I never saw Christ nor His Disciples; I would not have been one of those Israelites that passed the Red Sea, nor one of Christ's patients, on whom He wrought His wonders; then had my faith been thrust upon me, nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not."

    there's some here

    ReplyDelete
  92. We had a late furniture delivery, bob.

    I got a reprieve.

    Miracle of miracles.

    I've just been hanging out.

    ReplyDelete
  93. John Buford - The Gettysburg Campaign

    He denied Lee the "High Ground." And, The Victory.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Reading through a deep discussion of the Algorecapade, I came upon this exchange---

    Reply to this
    Matt morehouse| 7.2.10 @ 10:15AM

    What puzzles me about this is why didn't he just order up a high priced hooker? Or, maybe he did and the hotel screwed up and sent him a legit LMT.

    I think that is what happened.
    Reply to this
    ncatty| 7.2.10 @ 10:48AM

    Yes Matt, you have to give Eliot Spitzer his due. He wanted a whore and was willing to pay for it. None of this shilly-shallying about a "massage."
    Reply to this
    Ken (Old Texican)| 7.2.10 @ 10:23AM

    Matt..

    Ooooooh...interesting thought.


    It does seem a little odd when you think about it. I'll ask mee'mi next I see her.

    ReplyDelete
  95. On a totally other topic, reading the comments after an article about Israel and Iran, someone expressed the view that the world might be a better place if the Germans had won World War One. This is not a view one often hears, in fact I'd never thought of it before. But, France would be conquered, and have made an accommodation, England would still be a going concern, and have her Empire still, perhaps a good thing even for the colonials, Russia would have been spared the worst of Bolshevism perhaps, there would have been no hyper inflation, no Hitler, no holocaust, and, no WWII. Just a mind game.

    ReplyDelete
  96. SHOCKING: Kagan's Princeton Thesis Cited German Socialist Who Endorsed Nazis

    Kagan lied to Supreme Court in 9/11 case, should be disbarred

    Elena Kagan criticized for getting Supreme Court to block 9/11 suit targeting Saudi Arabia

    Why she must be blocked


    Atlas Shrugs

    ReplyDelete
  97. "But why fly in the face of facts? Few people love the writings of Sir Thomas Browne, but those who do are of the salt of the Earth." —Virginia Woolf

    ReplyDelete
  98. In vain do individuals hope for Immortality, or any patent from oblivion, in preservations below the Moon: Men have been deceived even in their flatteries above the Sun, and studied conceits to perpetuate their names in heaven. The various Cosmography of that part hath already varied the names of contrived constellations; Nimrod is lost in Orion, and Osyris in the Dogge-starre. While we look for incorruption in the heavens, we finde they are but like the Earth; Durable in their main bodies, alterable in their parts: whereof beside Comets and new Stars, perspectives begin to tell tales. And the spots that wander about the Sun, with Phaetons favour, would make clear conviction.

    There is nothing strictly immortall, but immortality; whatever hath no beginning may be confident of no end. All others have a dependent being, and within the reach of destruction, which is the peculiar of that necessary essence that cannot destroy it self; And the highest strain of omnipotency to be so powerfully constituted, as not to suffer even from the power of it self. But the sufficiency of Christian Immortality frustrates all earthly glory, and the quality of either state after death, makes a folly of posthumous memory. God who can only destroy our souls, and hath assured our resurrection, either of our bodies or names hath directly promised no duration. Wherein there is so much chance that the boldest Expectants have found unhappy frustration; and to hold long subsistence, seems but a scape in oblivion. But man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing Nativities and Deaths with equall lustre, nor omitting Ceremonies of bravery, in the infamy[25] of his nature.

    Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible Sun within us. A small fire sufficeth for life, great flames seemed too little after death, while men vainly affected precious pyres, and to burn like Sardanapalus, but the wisedom of funerall Laws found the folly of prodigall blazes, and reduced undoing fires, unto the rule of sober obsequies, wherein few could be so mean as not to provide wood, pitch, a mourner, and an Urne.{26}

    Five Languages secured not the Epitaph of Gordianus;27 The man of God lives longer without a Tomb then any by one, invisibly interred by Angels, and adjudged to obscurity, though not without some marks directing humane discovery. Enoch and Elias without either tomb or buriall, in an anomalous state of being, are the great Examples of perpetuity, in their long and living memory, in strict account being still on this side death, and having a late part yet to act upon this stage of earth. If in the decretory term of the world we shall not all dye but be changed, according to received translation; the last day will make but few graves; at least quick Resurrections will anticipate lasting Sepultures; Some Graves will be opened before they are quite closed, and Lazarus will be no wonder. When many that feared to dye shall groane that they can dye but once, the dismall state is the second and living death, when life puts despair on the damned; when men shall wish the coverings of Mountaines, not of Monuments, and annihilation shall be courted.

    While some have studied Monuments, others have studiously declined them: and some have been so vainly boisterous, that they durst not acknowledge their Graves; wherein28 Alaricus seems most subtle, who had a River turned to hide his bones at the bottome. Even Sylla that thought himself safe in his Urne, could not prevent revenging tongues, and stones thrown at his Monument. Happy are they whom privacy makes innocent, who deal so with men in this world, that they are not afraid to meet them in the next, who when they dye, make no commotion among the dead, and are not toucht with that poeticall taunt of Isaiah.29

    ReplyDelete
  99. Margarita, anyone?




    I'll say it: Mark Steyn and Pamela Geller are dicks.

    Mee'mi, of course, is just one strange floozy.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Pyramids, Arches, Obelisks, were but the irregularities of vain-glory, and wilde enormities of ancient magnanimity. But the most magnanimous resolution rests in the Christan Religion, which trampleth upon pride, and sets on the neck of ambition, humbly pursuing that infallible perpetuity, unto which all others must diminish their diameters, and be poorly seen in Angles of contingency.30

    Pious spirits who passed their dayes in raptures of futurity, made little more of this world, then the world that was before it, while they lay obscure in the Chaos of pre-ordination, and night of their fore-beings. And if any have been so happy as truly to understand Christian annihilation, extasis, exolution, liquefaction, transformation, the kisse of the Spouse, gustation of God, and ingression into the divine shadow, they have already had an handsome anticipation of heaven; the glory of the world is surely over, and the earth in ashes unto them.

    To subsist in lasting Monuments, to live in their productions, to exist in their names, and prædicament of Chymera's, was large satisfaction unto old expectations, and made one part of their Elyziums. But all this is nothing in the Metaphysics of true belief. To live indeed is to be again our selves, which being not only an hope but an evidence in noble beleevers; 'Tis all one to lye in St Innocents Church-yard,31 as in the Sands of Ægypt: Ready to be any thing, in the extasie of being ever, and as content with six foot as the Moles of Adrianus.32

    Lucan

    Tabesne cadavera solvat
    An rogus haud refert.[33]

    ReplyDelete
  101. Now then, who can beat this, these days?--


    And if any have been so happy as truly to understand Christian annihilation, extasis, exolution, liquefaction, transformation, the kisse of the Spouse, gustation of God, and ingression into the divine shadow, they have already had an handsome anticipation of heaven; the glory of the world is surely over, and the earth in ashes unto them

    That's the good old style of Sir Thomas Browne.

    ReplyDelete
  102. She's a doozy of a floozy.

    ReplyDelete
  103. "...black maoist Carter..."

    The fun never ends.

    ReplyDelete
  104. So, bob.

    I've got time.

    Why'd you invent her?

    ReplyDelete
  105. The word of the day for yesterday during my 10m hour trip was fuck. I said it 46 times.

    Most use phrases were; What the fuck....Get out of my fucking way...are you fucking kidding me...

    ReplyDelete
  106. Me? I'm dying for a cigarette, this is the fifth day.

    ReplyDelete
  107. "beergaritas"

    : )

    Soco and lime?

    I shudder.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Lonely, and I wanted to help somebody.

    I'm gonna put her through college.

    She's gonna register after the Fourth, and adopt a grown up name, too, and change her ways, mostly.

    Svetlana, I think.

    Which means that divine light the world is bathed in, rare, untellable (Whitman, Bucke) that people don't see.

    No kidding, the
    Russians have some other word for regular light, I believe.

    ReplyDelete
  109. I'm sorry, bob. I feel for you.

    But I meant, why mee'mi?

    What purpose does she serve?

    ReplyDelete
  110. A word of potentially infinite utility.

    ReplyDelete
  111. I got to get some of that nicorette gum, or I don't think I'm gonna make it.

    ReplyDelete
  112. "Lonely, and I wanted to help somebody."

    Well. Okay then.

    ReplyDelete
  113. I'll bet I spend two hundred fifty dollars on my daughter tomorrow, what with the dinner, the gambling, the groceries, the gas....

    ReplyDelete
  114. Who knows, maybe we'll win, we never do, but there's always a first time, heh. And the fact she's taking a buddhism class can't hurt our chances. Can it?

    ReplyDelete
  115. Money well spent, I am certain.

    ReplyDelete
  116. How was the road trip?

    With 46 fucks it must have been stressful.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Except for the gambling maybe. I don't know. I don't gamble.

    I cringe when I see people buy lottery tickets.

    ReplyDelete
  118. You're smart, we go to the Coeur d Alene Casino, contribute to the betterment of the tribe.

    We have won once in a while, but it's a fools game here. One is better off in Vegas, but we didn't get down there yet, though I still hope to do so this summer. There are some pictures I want to take of the countryside, it's a pretty drive, no traffic, at all.

    ReplyDelete
  119. "With 46 fucks it must have been stressful."

    Well, other than that, I mean. : )

    ReplyDelete
  120. People just don't know how to drive. The first five were with in 30 minutes of being on the road and three of those were from NJ.

    I just don't understand how it's so hard for people to grasp the concept of "Keep right, pass left. It's the law."

    It's really not that hard to understand.

    ReplyDelete
  121. "People just don't know how to drive."

    Wait. Don't tell me.

    You were doing I95.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Well that's not surprising they say most accidents happen within 30 minutes from home, or something.

    ReplyDelete
  123. If she went from there to Tucson or where ever in two days she must have been doing 195.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Thing that bugs me?

    Cell phone drivers.

    Had I my way, they'd all be shot.

    ReplyDelete
  125. No, I went through Harrisburg and took, 81. It's really a nice drive when people stay out of my way. There was a lot of traffic because of the holiday weekend but I still averaged a speed of 70 mph. I would have liked to have gone 80

    ReplyDelete
  126. I had a cousin that drove from a teachers meeting in Maine back to Moscow, Idaho--left on a Friday afternoon and pulled in here on late Sunday, shit we couldn't believe it, he said never stopped once except for gas, beer and pissing, and just flew through the Dakotas and Montana, which had no speed limit at the time, 1967 Firebird I think it was.

    ReplyDelete
  127. I gotta go to bed, gnite.

    ReplyDelete
  128. I'm not in Tuscon, I'm in Tennessee.

    And it's not the cell phone users, although, they are a problem, it's the fact that people want to pass but think they can't speed up to do so, so they end up riding along side the car on the right for miles, holding up everyone behind them.

    ReplyDelete
  129. "It's really a nice drive when people stay out of my way."

    Those ARE the best drives.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Yes they are and those are the ones that don't get cursed at.

    Smart fuckers, aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  131. Nite, bob.

    Cell phone drivers...Slow their speed by 5 or 10 MPH. Lane swerve.

    If people must, get a hands-free, I say.

    ReplyDelete
  132. And all I wanted to do was set my cruise control so I could stretch my right leg and I couldn't even do that.

    ReplyDelete
  133. I never use cruise control.

    My husband used to.



    I used to get a huge kick out of driving.

    During two years of not driving, I discovered that I could actually happily live somewhere that pretty much everything, for me at least, can be done on foot.

    And I did. Pretty much everything.

    ReplyDelete
  134. I do not miss being chauffered.

    ReplyDelete
  135. desert rat said...
    That piece of Federal reality has finally sunk in, whit?

    Sat Jul 03, 05:54:00 PM EDT

    ---

    Don't feel bad, Whit:
    It took Our Rodent two months to realize there were extensive oil slicks on the Gulf.

    ...and that the Admin was lying about keeping out superior foreign skimming vessels.

    ReplyDelete
  136. I'm not Tuscan,
    I'm Okie/Scotch/Irish,
    and I'm A-OK.

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

    ReplyDelete
  138. "it's the fact that people want to pass but think they can't speed up to do so, so they end up riding along side the car on the right for miles,"

    Untrue:
    They don't want to pass, and they are not hung up about speeding up.

    They just want to block any and everyone behind.

    ...at least that's the way it works on Maui.

    I think it's a cultural tradiion.

    ReplyDelete
  139. President Clarabelle
    Monty Pelerin

    The country faces grave danger immediately ahead. Increasingly, people agree with Pamela Geller's sentiments:

    I have come a long way from when I would listen with trepidation and fear for our nation, so under his spell was America. He [Obama] has long since been exposed as a clown. And folks, if they listen, can't help but see that. Watch him, and sit back and laugh.

    This nation has indeed come a very long way in a very short time with respect to its perception of its President. It took less than a year for the exultation that accompanied Obama's election to disappear. I cannot recall the perception of any other public figure changing so much in such a short period of time. The country and the world knows that the American electorate made a terrible mistake.

    While it is clear to most that he was not The One We Have Been Waiting For, the situation is much worse than that. Despite the protection of the press, increasingly the public realizes that the country is in a critical situation and that much of the responsibility for that results from the Clown in the Oval Office. Unfortunately this clown does not try to make you laugh. Worse, this clown does not realize he is a clown. It has gotten so that many of us long for the formerly "great days" of the Carter Presidency. Despite all his faults and bumbling, President Carter looked like Jack Welch in comparison to our current Bozo.

    While Ms. Geller sees humor in this situation (and there clearly is), there is also great danger. The world has become a much more dangerous place as a result of President Obama and his idiotic foreign and economic policies. Threats from abroad and the economic crisis are not going away. They will get worse, much worse, before they get better.

    Combine these real dangers with what appears to be a delusional personality and an Administration devoid of grownups and the situation becomes highly volatile. Self-proclaimed and self-imagined Saviors do not take kindly to being laughed at and ridiculed. It is only a matter of time until much of the country recognizes what much of the world already has -- we are being led by an incompetent. The laughter and disgust will continue to build. While real clowns strive for that reaction, narcissists do not.

    We are nearing the point where the survival instincts of the media and the Democrat party take over. Neither wants this President to fail. However neither wants his failure to destroy them. The rats will either begin to abandon this sinking ship or they will throw the Clown-in-Chief overboard. The situation is highly unstable.

    Our real-time version of a Greek tragedy probably metastasizes after the November elections. That could be a very critical time for the country and the President. Survival trumps loyalty. It is unlikely, if the people strongly express their dissatisfaction, that the President can hold either the media or his fellow Democrats. If the elections go badly, the laughter will no longer be hidden or limited to political adversaries. The Prince will be openly mocked and disrespected by his previous supporters -- his own party and the media.
    How the Narcissist-in-Chief reacts when it becomes apparent, even to him, that he has become a danger to the country and a laughingstock is moot. That only adds to the real dangers already existent.

    Will Clarabelle toot his horn more loudly or will some desperate action be taken in an attempt to regain respect?

    ReplyDelete
  140. President Clarabelle
    Monty Pelerin

    The country faces grave danger immediately ahead. Increasingly, people agree with Pamela Geller's sentiments:

    I have come a long way from when I would listen with trepidation and fear for our nation, so under his spell was America. He [Obama] has long since been exposed as a clown. And folks, if they listen, can't help but see that. Watch him, and sit back and laugh.

    This nation has indeed come a very long way in a very short time with respect to its perception of its President. It took less than a year for the exultation that accompanied Obama's election to disappear. I cannot recall the perception of any other public figure changing so much in such a short period of time. The country and the world knows that the American electorate made a terrible mistake.

    While it is clear to most that he was not The One We Have Been Waiting For, the situation is much worse than that. Despite the protection of the press, increasingly the public realizes that the country is in a critical situation and that much of the responsibility for that results from the Clown in the Oval Office. Unfortunately this clown does not try to make you laugh. Worse, this clown does not realize he is a clown. It has gotten so that many of us long for the formerly "great days" of the Carter Presidency. Despite all his faults and bumbling, President Carter looked like Jack Welch in comparison to our current Bozo.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
  141. {...}While Ms. Geller sees humor in this situation (and there clearly is), there is also great danger. The world has become a much more dangerous place as a result of President Obama and his idiotic foreign and economic policies. Threats from abroad and the economic crisis are not going away. They will get worse, much worse, before they get better.

    Combine these real dangers with what appears to be a delusional personality and an Administration devoid of grownups and the situation becomes highly volatile. Self-proclaimed and self-imagined Saviors do not take kindly to being laughed at and ridiculed. It is only a matter of time until much of the country recognizes what much of the world already has -- we are being led by an incompetent. The laughter and disgust will continue to build. While real clowns strive for that reaction, narcissists do not.

    We are nearing the point where the survival instincts of the media and the Democrat party take over. Neither wants this President to fail. However neither wants his failure to destroy them. The rats will either begin to abandon this sinking ship or they will throw the Clown-in-Chief overboard. The situation is highly unstable.

    Our real-time version of a Greek tragedy probably metastasizes after the November elections. That could be a very critical time for the country and the President. Survival trumps loyalty. It is unlikely, if the people strongly express their dissatisfaction, that the President can hold either the media or his fellow Democrats. If the elections go badly, the laughter will no longer be hidden or limited to political adversaries. The Prince will be openly mocked and disrespected by his previous supporters -- his own party and the media.
    How the Narcissist-in-Chief reacts when it becomes apparent, even to him, that he has become a danger to the country and a laughingstock is moot. That only adds to the real dangers already existent.

    Will Clarabelle toot his horn more loudly or will some desperate action be taken in an attempt to regain respect?

    ReplyDelete
  142. {...}While Ms. Geller sees humor in this situation (and there clearly is), there is also great danger. The world has become a much more dangerous place as a result of President Obama and his idiotic foreign and economic policies. Threats from abroad and the economic crisis are not going away. They will get worse, much worse, before they get better.

    Combine these real dangers with what appears to be a delusional personality and an Administration devoid of grownups and the situation becomes highly volatile. Self-proclaimed and self-imagined Saviors do not take kindly to being laughed at and ridiculed. It is only a matter of time until much of the country recognizes what much of the world already has -- we are being led by an incompetent. The laughter and disgust will continue to build. While real clowns strive for that reaction, narcissists do not.

    We are nearing the point where the survival instincts of the media and the Democrat party take over. Neither wants this President to fail. However neither wants his failure to destroy them. The rats will either begin to abandon this sinking ship or they will throw the Clown-in-Chief overboard. The situation is highly unstable.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
  143. {...}Our real-time version of a Greek tragedy probably metastasizes after the November elections. That could be a very critical time for the country and the President. Survival trumps loyalty. It is unlikely, if the people strongly express their dissatisfaction, that the President can hold either the media or his fellow Democrats. If the elections go badly, the laughter will no longer be hidden or limited to political adversaries. The Prince will be openly mocked and disrespected by his previous supporters -- his own party and the media.
    How the Narcissist-in-Chief reacts when it becomes apparent, even to him, that he has become a danger to the country and a laughingstock is moot. That only adds to the real dangers already existent.

    Will Clarabelle toot his horn more loudly or will some desperate action be taken in an attempt to regain respect?

    ReplyDelete
  144. "Increasingly, people agree with Pamela Geller's sentiments..."

    You deliberately intend to spoil my morning.

    ReplyDelete
  145. I wake, eyes to ceiling, thinking of nothing else.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Is that like a "Wolcott" perchance?

    ReplyDelete
  147. I still maintain there is nothing about his "work habits" that shows anywhere near the focus necessary to write the book that William Ayers wrote.

    There just could be a reason we have not seen page one of ANY of his records.

    Party on Dude:
    Don't let that 38 million dollar staff go to waste.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Now, doug, I was just channeling J Wahhabi and whit, their calls for patience and time, to learn the truth.

    Time for that giant Maytag machine that is the Gulf of Mexico to clean up after BP.

    Just as J Wahhabi knew that the spew was of little consequence, but that the mismanagement of this minor industrial accident was proof of the Presidents' major incompetence.

    It cannot be both ways.

    J Wahhabi told US that the NOAA folks were incompetent, that their estimates could not be taken seriously. That to believe the NOAA estimates was to admit that CO2 may be negative to our whirled.

    And we cannot be having that.

    That the US has a 100% percent perfection or do nothing standard, for Federal approval and action, well, that's just how we roll.

    ReplyDelete
  149. The only story that is important, about Obama's books, doug, is who pre-paid for them.

    Who bought Obama?

    Other than that, those books are just another "Profile in Courage".

    ReplyDelete
  150. Whit, time to take some of them books off the shelf baby!

    ReplyDelete
  151. Weird that they would try to sell the 5,000 barrels a day, or whatever they claimed, when NOAA had a pretty close estimate of the monsterous quantities on day 2 or 3.

    ReplyDelete
  152. Putting the A Whale near the blowout sounds like a pretty good idea.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Nothing like waking up on a Sunday morning to find egg all over the front door.

    ReplyDelete
  154. That's interesting about the egg cuber...It was made in China.

    I wonder if the same guy persevered with the idea until he got someone to cube watermelons?

    ReplyDelete
  155. As Oil Industry Fights a Tax, It Reaps Billions From Subsidies


    "According to the most recent study by the Congressional Budget Office, released in 2005, capital investments like oil field leases and drilling equipment are taxed at an effective rate of 9 percent, significantly lower than the overall rate of 25 percent for businesses in general and lower than virtually any other industry.

    "And for many small and midsize oil companies, the tax on capital investments is so low that it is more than eliminated by var-ious credits. These companies’ returns on those investments are often higher after taxes than before.


    BUT



    "The American Petroleum Institute, an industry advocacy group, argues that even with subsidies, oil producers paid or incurred $280 billion in American income taxes from 2006 to 2008, and pay a higher percentage of their earnings in taxes than most other American corporations...


    More Giveaways

    Our tax system is so convoluted it's possible that both of the statements above are true. Heck, because of subsidies, we pay twice as much as we should be for sugar and only one company in Florida benefits.

    Subsidies (of all kind) are a racket. Once instituted they are there forever. And one wonders why the country is so sour on D.C.

    The last paragraphs in the article kind of points out the problem.

    Removal of some of these subsidies would pay for a lot of the unemployment benefits caused by the petro industries' actions.


    .

    ReplyDelete