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."

Monday, August 16, 2010

Jobs and the Economy

The United States’ bilateral trade deficit with China rose 17 percent in June, to $26.2 billion. That is the largest single month deficit in 40 months. The entire US trade deficit in June, rose to $50 billion. Meanwhile Obama and the Democrats are advancing another $10 billion to save 160,000 union teacher's jobs.

China passed Japan in GDP.

On August 10 President Barack Obama signed into law a $26 billion spending bill that will save the jobs of 300,000 teachers, police officers, and other public employees.


Where your low wages are going


BY PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

WWW.CREATORS.COM

Miami Herald

Where a man's purse is, there his heart will be also.

If you would know where the heart of the Obama party is today, consider. In the dog days of August, with temperatures in D.C. rising above 100, Nancy Pelosi called the House back to Washington to enact legislation that could not wait until September.

Purpose: Vote $26 billion to prevent layoffs of state, municipal and county employees whose own governments had decided they had to be let go if they were to meet their constitutional duty to balance their books.

Workers that their own governments thought expendable, Congress decided, were so essential that it borrowed another 26 thousand million dollars from China to keep them on state and local payrolls.

A nation whose national debt is approaching the size of its gross national product, that goes abroad to borrow money to keep nonessential workers on government payroll is a nation on the way down and out.

And anyone who thinks this Obama party is ever going to cull the armies of tens of millions of government workers or scores of millions of government beneficiaries to put America's house in order is deluding himself. As long as this Congress and White House remain in power, a U.S. default on its national debt is inevitable. The only question is when.

Nor is this the first time the Obama administration has rushed to save workers whom their own state, city and county governments were prepared to let go. Among the reasons the $800 billion stimulus failed is that so little of it was directed to firing up the locomotive of the economy, the private sector, and so much of it was spent to ensure that government workers did not have to share in the national sacrifice.

Why Pelosi & Co. felt compelled to return to D.C., to ensure that state and local government payrolls were not pared, is not hard to understand. Which party does the American Federation of Teachers; the National Education Association; and the American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees usually contribute to, work for, vote for? At which of the two party conventions are teachers and government employees hugely over-represented?
Consider, too, the states deepest in debt and facing the largest cuts in employee ranks, pay and benefits: California, Illinois, New York.

In these states, public employees earn at least $10,000 per year more in pay and benefits than the average America worker, who is bailing them out. Hence, we have a situation where private-sector workers in Middle America are being taxed, their children being driven ever deeper into debt to China, so government employees who have greater job security than they do and earn more in pay and benefits than they will ever earn, can stay in Fat City.

And folks wonder why so many Americans detest government.

Nor is this all Obama's doing. For most of the fat years of the federal workforce came while Washington was being run by a Congress of Big-Government Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney Republicans. No wonder the tea party is targeting both parties.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to believe that the Obamaites, who intervened twice and massively with bailouts to prevent minor layoffs of local and state government employees, have the stomach to do the major surgery needed to cut the federal monolith down to size. For the vast majority of the tens of millions of government workers vote Democratic, as do the vast majority of the scores of millions of beneficiaries of federal, state and local programs.
What Pelosi & Co. were saying with that $26 billion bailout is, ``We are going to protect our own.'' Which is why either Obama, Pelosi, Reid & Co. go, or we are gone.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/16/1777730/where-your-low-wages-are-going.html#ixzz0wl7fiQgN

191 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Counting children as "people," of course.

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  4. Something no parent would ever do. :)

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Of course, that's hyperbolatin, somewhat. Parts of the Government are self-financing, to a degree, at least. The Post Office is the Largest employer in the Gov, and they're pretty close to being self-financing. A lot of other agencies collect fees, and whatnot, and are to some extent self-funding.

    Still . . . .

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  7. Well, that was all fun, but it was all wrong. 17% of the "Workforce" works for the Government.

    Not 17% of all Americans.

    17% of the workforce would be about 23 Million.

    Still a sizable voting bloc.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 135 Million in the workforce

    23 Million work for the gummint.

    12 Million unemployed.

    100 Million paying the freight.

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  9. Goin back to bed.

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  10. End all double dipping by government workers, only one check at a time.

    That'd be the first step.

    If that can not be accomplished, and it will not be, no other "reform" will be implemented, either.

    As for the Democrats, they are doing just what they have always promised. It is the Republicans

    For most of the fat years of the federal workforce came while Washington was being run by a Congress of Big-Government Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney Republicans.

    That are the most vile of Governors, leading US with deceit and and out right lies as their standard.

    So, replacing the Democrats and Obama, with Republicans, that is not going to change a thing.
    Not at all.
    Proof of that is in the Bush years, 2001 through 2009.

    You fellas telling the whirled that the US is better off today, than in 2003.

    Wheres the beef, if that is the case?

    Yours is just partisan wailing, if you believe what you wrote, vis a vie the United States, 2003 and today.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Curious, I wondered what the actual numbers are.

    I Googled and ended up at WikiAnswers:

    According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, government accounts for about 8% of jobs in the United States. Here's the breakdown using numbers easily accessible on the BLS website (all numbers from 2006 or 2007):

    1,774,000 Federal government civilian employees, excluding Post Office
    615,000 Post Office
    1,172,913 Military enlisted
    230,577 Military Officers
    2,424,000 State government (excluding education and hospitals)
    5,594,000 Local government (excluding education and hospitals)
    That's a total of 11,810,490 government jobs.
    The total number of jobs in the U.S. in 2006 was 150,600,000, so government employment makes up 7.84% of all jobs.
    In 2007, the U.S. population (according to the Census Bureau) was 301,621,157, so about 4% of Americans are employed by the government.

    According to a study by Paul C. Light, a government professor at New York University, the Federal Government also employed 14.6 million contractors in 2006. This was an increase of 2.5 million since 2002, and the study attributes the increase directly to contractors hired as part of the war on terror. (reported in the Washington Post)


    Granted, the numbers are pre-recession.

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  12. "Yours is just partisan wailing,..."

    Getting a bit persnickety aren't we rat?

    .

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  13. One little clarification, and one nitpick, Trish.

    8% of workers work for the Federal gummint. Another 9% work for State, and Local, for a total of 17%.

    But, here's the "kicker:" How many of those 14 Million "Contractors" (about 10% of the workforce) work exclusively for the Feds?

    ReplyDelete
  14. persnickety?

    www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persnickety:

    1 a : fussy about small details : fastidious


    nah, not that.

    Not really a "small" detail.

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  15. Rat's here. One grouch is enough. G'nite.

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  16. As whit has often remarked, many think we are on the edge of a cultural chasm, a collapse of our civilization.

    Yet he has told us that the US is better positioned today, than in 2003.

    So either he thinks the cultural collapse is a good thing, for US, or he is pursuing a partisan propaganda playbook.
    One that he really does not buy into, by his own admission.

    No small thing.

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  17. Rufus, the 17% comes from a Gallup survey, not actual labor statistics.

    That's why I was curious about what the actual percentage of those so employed at all levels might be.

    BLS does leave out education and hospitals at the state and local levels, however. I don't know what that might add to the total were they included.

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  18. Yet he has told us that the US is better positioned today, than in 2003.

    Better positioned in regard to what?

    ReplyDelete
  19. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41076.html

    GOP takes harsher stance toward Islam

    By BEN SMITH & MAGGIE HABERMAN | 8/15/10 7:09 AM EDT

    The harsh Republican response to President Barack Obama's defense of a mosque near ground zero marks a dramatic shift in the party's posture toward Islam — from a once active courtship of Muslim voters to a very public tolerance after Sept. 11 to an openly aired sense of mistrust.

    Republican leaders have largely abandoned former President George W. Bush's post-Sept. 11 rhetorical embrace of American Muslims and his insistence — always controversial inside the party — that Islam is a religion of peace. This weekend, former Bush aides were among the very few Republicans siding with Obama, as many of the party's leaders have moved toward more vocal denunciations of Islam's role in violence abroad and suspicion of its place at home.

    The shift plays to a hostility toward Islam among many Republican voters, and it fits with traditional Republican attacks on Democratic weakness on security policy.

    "Bush went against the grain of his own constituency," said Allen Roth, a political aide to conservative billionaire Ron Lauder and, independently, a key organizer of the fight against the mosque. "This is part of an underlying set of security issues that could play a significant role in the elections this November."

    Obama's remarks provide a clear, national focus for the simmering question of Islam in American life, and Republicans showed every sign Saturday of beginning to capitalize on it, with Republican candidates in New York and Florida seeking to inject the issue into local races as Democrats largely held their silence.

    [...]

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  20. By the way, that was an awesome Springsteen video, Quirk.

    ReplyDelete
  21. AS APNewsAlert

    (AP) – 51 minutes ago

    KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan govt spokesman: President to order all private security firms disbanded within 4 months.

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  22. Hey Trish, what happens if you eliminate the unnecessary and redundant operations like DOL, DOC, DOI, ED, Homeland Security, Probably a third of Top Secret America, HUD, USDA, the quarter million government jobs Obama added during his term so far? (I mean besides adding 50% to the unemployment numbers.)

    Bloated (def): Being much larger than what is warranted.

    Every dollar that goes into government is a dollar that isn't going into the private sector to create value. Unlike the Romer-Bernstein model that predicts government spending has a constant economic multiplier effect, I believe the models that predicts government spending crowds out productive growth in the private sector and that the economic multiplier declines over time.

    .

    .

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  23. Deuce said...

    The question is:

    ...

    My question:
    "Is The United States better off than it was seven years ago?"

    Thu Aug 12, 05:57:00 AM EDT


    You said yes, then rolled your eyes over statements that advocated for equal rights for all married couples.

    ReplyDelete
  24. "Not really a "small" detail.


    A matter os perspective.

    Democrats.

    Republicans.

    A distinction without a difference.

    .

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  25. "Hey Trish, what happens if you eliminate the unnecessary and redundant..."

    How does one properly identify unnecessary and redundant?

    I realize it's rude to answer a question with a question, but still...

    And a third of Top Secret America?

    Well, that's just mean-spirited.

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  26. Re: Springsteen

    Yea, there are a lot of good old songs on his Seeger Sessions album.

    By the way, "Alice Deejay: Better off Alone" got locked in on my computer somehow and it automatically starts playing every time I pull up Youtube. To get rid of it I guess I'd have to delete it from 'favorites' somehow. Another dirty spy trick?

    Not too annoying though.

    .

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  27. "How does one properly identify unnecessary and redundant?"

    You form another government panel to review the matter and offer recommentations assuring that the panel itself is large enough to be statistically significant in measuring the totality of public opinion.


    Or you merely ask the Quirkster.

    .

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  28. "Another dirty spy trick?"

    There are no dirty spies. Not on our side, anyway.

    "You form another government panel to review the matter and offer recommentations assuring that the panel itself is large enough to be statistically significant in measuring the totality of public opinion."

    Sounds like a fine idea to me.

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  29. I see I'll get no satisfaction here.

    Me and the dog are going to get a bagle and some coffee.


    .

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  30. A leader of the Hamas terror group yesterday jumped into the emotional debate on the plan to construct a mosque near Ground Zero -- insisting Muslims "have to build" it there.
    "We have to build everywhere," said Mahmoud al-Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas and the organization's chief on the Gaza Strip.
    "In every area we have, [as] Muslim[s], we have to pray, and this mosque is the only site of prayer," he said on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on WABC.


    Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/hamas_nod_for_gz_mosque_cSohH9eha8sNZMTDz0VVPI#ixzz0wlxClGAc

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  31. DR,

    Re: Liberty

    ...read about 4 lines of your insulting lies at end of preceding thread...

    Yawn...scrolling...

    The law is the law and we have won.

    Israel 13, Yahoos 0

    Personally, I hope there is a Congressional investigation. It will arrive at the same conclusion as all the others. You and the midgets will refuse to accept the outcome...boringly predictable...so...40's

    Now, if you want to get my attention in a debate, try reading and commenting on some of the NSA & CSS material I have linked. Given that it, as most government paperwork, is written at the fifth grade level, it is not onerous.

    Several of your teammates have been so challenged. Each has responded with childish insult (usually directed at my lower bowel) and no reference to the aforesaid material at hand. This is odd, because their favorite authors on the subject had posited that once all the data was declassified, why, by golly, Israel would be proved guilty...baloney...Why read dry documents when you can bray to a sympathetic audience at the EB?

    Again, Israel 13, Oddballs 0

    Israel 13, Enemies 0

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  32. Israelis Divided on Deporting Children
    By ISABEL KERSHNER
    Published: August 2, 2010

    ...

    “We all feel and understand the hearts of children,” said the prime minister and leader of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of the cabinet meeting on Sunday. “But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The problem is that these two components clash.”

    There are 250,000 to 300,000 foreign laborers in Israel, about half them without valid documents. Israel has a population of 7.5 million, including more than 5.6 million Jews and 1.5 million Arab citizens. Out of security concerns, it began inviting foreign workers for limited periods to replace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to work in construction, agriculture and domestic work. Many have outstayed their visas, and their numbers have been swelled by African refugees and economic migrants who have come across the porous border with Egypt.

    Mr. Netanyahu said there were reports of “close to 500,000 migrants, and perhaps close to one million, in the past decade.”

    “This is a tangible threat to the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel,” he said. “Therefore we will make a decision that is balanced between the desire to take these children into our hearts and the desire not to create an incentive for continued illegal migration that could flood the foundation of the Zionist state.”

    ...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/world/middleeast/03children.html

    I find it interesting that, for Bibi at least, the crucial question to be answered regarding the children to be deported is their 'jewishness'.

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  33. Ash: I find it interesting that, for Bibi at least, the crucial question to be answered regarding the children to be deported is their 'jewishness'.



    Go fuck yourself

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ash...

    Really...

    Go FUCK yourself...


    Get it? Got it? Good...

    ReplyDelete
  35. Ash,

    Re: "jewishness"

    Yes, Ash, it is a scandal; the talk in chruches and synagogues all over Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

    Israel 13, Clowns 0

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  36. c'mon, there has got to be a better reason than 'the arabs are shits'.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Re: "Arabs are shits"

    Why?


    You may, of course, feel free to make stuff up and throw it against the wall. No one will notice or care...all in a day's work...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Nothing has been made up Allen, the issue is real, what Bibi said appears accurate.

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  39. Ash said...
    Nothing has been made up Allen, the issue is real, what Bibi said appears accurate.


    True and your are a shit...

    I'm just a guy at the bar..

    In real life?

    I'd have poured a beer on you by now...

    ReplyDelete
  40. for what, mentioning the debate that is occurring in Israel regarding the deportation of those children? Why does the mention of this fact offend you so?

    ReplyDelete
  41. Ash said...
    for what, mentioning the debate that is occurring in Israel regarding the deportation of those children? Why does the mention of this fact offend you so?


    You are not worthy to discuss anything that deals with Israel, Zionism or Jews.

    Keep your discussion to other subject...

    Again, you are not worthy...

    ReplyDelete
  42. it appears, WiO, that you are scurrying away with your tail between your legs.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Ash said...
    it appears, WiO, that you are scurrying away with your tail between your legs.


    No, I won't waste time arguing with you on any issue concerning Jews, Zionism or Israel. You have proven to be worthless on that topic. You seek nothing but to throw mud at those topics.

    You are not worth it...

    Really...

    You sling shit...

    I refuse to catch anymore...

    You are not worth the effort...

    ReplyDelete
  44. WiO,

    Re: worth the effort

    ...none of them are...

    That said, if we do not answer, may we initiate?

    ...been crunching numbers from NSA & CSS on Liberty...If you do you will see why none of our antagonists want to go near the "evidence".


    Israel 13, Naysayers 0

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  45. Deadliest for City’s Walkers: Male Drivers, Left Turns

    "Want to take a safe stroll around New York City? Avoid crossing at intersections. Pay special heed to cars making left turns. Do not go anywhere between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m., stick to the side streets and skip Manhattan entirely…

    "But a report released Monday by the city’s transportation planners offers unprecedented insight into the precarious life on the city’s streets — pinpointing where, when and why pedestrian accidents are likely to occur — while undercutting some of the century-old assumptions about transportation in the country’s biggest city.

    "Taxis, it turns out, were no careering menace: cabs accounted for far fewer pedestrian accidents in Manhattan than privately owned vehicles. Jaywalkers, surely the city’s most numerous scofflaws, were involved in fewer collisions than their law-abiding counterparts who waited for the “walk” sign.

    "And one discovery could permanently upend one of the uglier stereotypes of the motoring world: in 80 percent of city accidents that resulted in a pedestrian’s death or serious injury, a male driver was behind the wheel."


    Death on the Streets


    .

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  46. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  47. WiO, Allen, you both seem to think the decision to deport 400 children because, as Bibi said "But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The problem is that these two components clash.” is indefensible. I agree.

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  48. Ash said...
    WiO, Allen, you both seem to think the decision to deport 400 children because, as Bibi said "But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The problem is that these two components clash.” is indefensible. I agree.


    Arguing with yourself?

    It's not indefensible, but I shall not engage you, a troll, on any matters that concern Israel, Jews or Zionism.

    You are not worthy.

    ReplyDelete
  49. naw, it is a decision not worthy of even your attempted defense. Heck, even Bibi's wife is against it - publicly.

    ReplyDelete
  50. The fundamentalists appear to be in control of Israel's government!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Ash said...
    The fundamentalists appear to be in control of Israel's government!



    Perfect example of why you are a troll...

    No discussion...

    Go fuck yourself

    ReplyDelete
  52. Tamil refugees face deportation from Canada
    Posted in Immigration News
    No refuge
    June 18th, 2009
    Stefan Christoff - thehour.ca

    Montreal Tamil refugees face deportation back to Sri Lanka

    After months of intense warfare in northern Sri Lanka, thousands of Tamil civilians are dead and tens of thousands more displaced - many to Sri Lankan military-controlled displacement camps.
    Now Tamil refugees in Montreal fear they will be deported back to Sri Lanka, and an uncertain future.

    Although the federal government expressed "dismay and displeasure" over the Sri Lankan government's refusal last week to allow Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae to enter Sri Lanka, they continue to deport Tamil refugees in Canada.

    "Today the situation in Sri Lanka for Tamils is very bad. Canada is going to send me back to war and a government in Colombo that doesn't respect my rights as a Tamil," says Ratnam Thurai, a Tamil refugee who faces deportation.

    In Montreal, the Tamil Action Committee is working with numerous Tamil refugees fighting deportation orders. They estimate 200 Tamil refugees currently face deportation from Canada to Sri Lanka.

    "Canada is deporting Tamils to a war zone," says Jared Will, an immigration lawyer working on Tamil refugee cases in Montreal. "It is particularly appalling because the government has clearly recognized the situation in Sri Lanka, through setting up a special application process for refugee applicants in Sri Lanka, while still carrying out deportations. The hypocrisy is so clear."

    Tens of thousands of Canadian Tamils staged multiple outspoken protests over the past few months against the Sri Lankan military offensive, including a dramatic sit-in

    at the Parliament buildings in Ottawa which lasted weeks. Thousands of protesters in Toronto blockaded the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Notice every single statement by Ash about Israel, Jews or Zionism is a slam?

    Notice it's only Israel, Jews or Zionism that he/she/it attacks..

    Not one other nation, who has every deported a child is brought up...

    One standard for Israel, no standards for anyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I'm sure the Shas Party is just a middle of the road party in your view of the world WiO.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Children in immigration centres face deportation within weeks
    August 11, 2010 by admin
    Filed under Detention of Children/Alternatives, News
    Leave a Comment
    Pilot scheme gives families with children facing removal a two-week ultimatum to leave the country voluntarily
    Last week, Nick Clegg described the detention of children in centres such as Yarl’s Wood as a ‘moral outrage’. Immigration officials charged with carrying out the government’s pledge to end the detention of children in immigration centres have launched a scheme designed to deport them and their families from the country within weeks.
    The move dashes expectations of a more liberal alternative to child detention. Families with children facing removal are to be given a two-week ultimatum to leave the country voluntarily, according to a document seen by the Guardian.
    If they fail to go they will be told they will be deported “at some point” within the next two weeks, sometimes without being given a specific date or time to get ready.
    The pilot scheme, launched by the UK Border Agency, has been running in north-west England since early July as part of the review of alternatives to child detention. Failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants whose appeal rights have been exhausted are told they are taking part in the pilot when they report to the UKBA’s Reliance House in Liverpool.
    The government’s pledge to end the detention of children for immigration purposes was a flagship promise made within days of the coalition coming to power. Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, told the Commons last week that it was a “moral outrage” that more than 1,000 children had been detained during the last year of the Labour government. He announced the closure of the Yarl’s Wood detention centre’s family unit and pledged to “restore a sense of decency and liberty to the way we conduct ourselves”.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Washington - Guillermo Campos Ojeda stares blankly at the clouds from the jetliner’s window, mentally retracing the 22 years that he lived in the United States as an illegal immigrant.
    His odyssey began in 1988 with an illegal border crossing and ended in May when he was pulled over for driving without a license. In between were double shifts at a Chicago factory, a string of run-ins with the law, a marriage and his ultimate joy: the birth of his daughter, now 2, who is a U.S. citizen.
    Advertisement:

    But on this flight arranged by the federal government, his journey takes a new turn: Ojeda is being deported along with 52 other illegal immigrants. Their day starts at a suburban Chicago processing center and ends with a lonely walk across a bridge from Brownsville, Texas, into Mexico.

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  57. Noriko Calderon is almost indistinguishable from the other girls at her junior high school. She was born in Japan, spent her whole life here, and can only speak Japanese. However, it was discovered two years ago that her parents were actually illegal immigrants, so Noriko may soon be deported from the only country she has ever known:

    Calderon, who now goes to a junior high school run by the city of Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, said she had believed that she was Japanese until her 38-year-old mother, Sarah, was arrested in July 2006 for staying without a visa and the family was ordered to leave Japan.

    Although the family filed a lawsuit in December 2006 demanding that the deportation order be rescinded, the demand was rejected and they are currently on a provisional release status.

    Her parents “are keenly aware of their responsibility for their violating laws and staying illegally,” Watanabe said. “Yet we are seeking public understanding of their situation.”

    Calderon’s father, Arlan, 36, came to Japan in May 1993, a year after her mother moved to Japan. Both of them entered the country on a different person’s passport.

    Their fate will be determined next Thursday as immigration authorities will decide whether to take them into custody for deportation, extend their temporary permission to stay, or issue them with the special permission for residence as requested.

    Noriko and her friends were able to get 2,300 people to sign a petition asking the Japanese government to change its mind about deporting her, and a lot of press coverage was given to today’s official submission of the petition.

    ReplyDelete
  58. There you go again with the 'some other bad thing happened in the world therefore Israel can do it as well' defense. Two wrongs don't make a right is a simplistic formulation to help you understand WiO.

    If Canada actually does deport the Tamil refugees whom just landed you are welcome to criticize away. I doubt they'll be deported though.

    ReplyDelete
  59. TORONTO -- Cop killer Clinton Gayle has yet to be deported to Jamaica.

    But Citizenship and Immigration Canada is throwing the book at the law-abiding Mallozzi family?

    “You must leave Canada immediately,” a stark letter declares. “Failure to do so could result in enforcement action being taken against you.”

    That will be good TV if they drag Lee and Josie Mallozzi, and their young children Serea, 8, and Nico, 5, out in handcuffs to show how tough (I saw you laughing) Canada suddenly is on immigration.

    “We are having trouble sleeping,” said Josie.

    I don’t know how the immigration people can sleep themselves.





    What a disgrace. As my immigration expert colleague Tom Godfrey says “it seems heavy-handed” and it looks like the system has got “its token white family for the year.”

    And to think it’s all over what amounts to a clerical error.

    The Mallozzis came to Canada from Bath, England three years ago when Lee, 40, landed a $22-an-hour job as a site supervisor in the dangerous high-steel business. He and his employer received a temporary work permit.

    “The kids really fit in and we decided we would love to make a life here,” said Josie, 36.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Ash said...
    There you go again with the 'some other bad thing happened in the world therefore Israel can do it as well' defense. Two wrongs don't make a right is a simplistic formulation to help you understand WiO.


    Israel, Zionism and Jews are no concern of yours. You are not qualified.

    You are a troll...

    go fuck yourself...

    Might I suggest you look in your own imperfect homeland before throwing rocks outside?

    people (trolls in your case) who live in glass houses should not throw rocks..

    ReplyDelete
  61. Ash,

    Bites your ass that your opinion is worthless on this subject?

    But it is...

    Try posting something critical about your own land..

    look in the mirror...

    Your comments about Jews, Zionism and/or Israel?

    Doesnt matter...

    you are not worthy....

    ReplyDelete
  62. Loads of countries deport folk, children and all but the problem I see with the Israeli deportation is that 800 will be allowed to stay but 400 won't because, as the Prime Minister said "There are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel." Heck of way to decide which child should be allowed to stay or not.

    ReplyDelete
  63. That Tunisian Envoy, That "First Iftar Dinner"

    "The first Muslim ambassador to the United States, from Tunisia, was hosted by President Jefferson, who arranged a sunset dinner for his guest because it was Ramadan --- making it the first known iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago." -- Barack Obama, speaking at the “Annual Iftar Dinner” at the White House

    See below for the entry in the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia on this temporary envoy whom Obama describes as the "first Muslim ambassador to the United States" and pick up, from a few details, a familiar scent. Neither Jefferson, nor any of the Americans involved, thought they were giving an "Iftar dinner" but simply dinner, at a time convenient for this envoy,accommodating him because he represented a primitive and barbaric Muslim statelet on the northern littoral of North Africa, was now attacking American shipping -- the protection of the Royal Navy having been withdrawn at independence -- and American ships and seamen seized, as were other Christian ships and seamen who did not have enough protection. Barack Obama's attempt to re-write history here, just a little, by calling Sidi Soliman Mellimelli an "ambassador" which implies to today's listener a permanent posting,

    ReplyDelete
  64. ...posting in previous thread:

    Foxconn's New China Plant to Produce 200k Phones/Day, Mostly iPhones

    Foxconn is building a new plant in Central China. The plant, to go online next year, will produce 200,000 phones a day and help relieve the company's production shortages. (Source: Xinhua)

    The plant will largely produce Apple iPhones. (Source: Mac Rumors)New factory should help improve employee working conditions

    In its bid to improve the working conditions of its employees, in the wake of a string of suicides, Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry has raised the pay of employees at its Chinese subsidiary Foxconn. Now it's announced more good news for Foxconn employees.

    Foxconn's subsidiary (yes, the subsidiary of the subsidiary) Futaihua Precision Electronics will build a new $100M USD plant in central China's Henan. That plant will employ almost 200,000 workers, will produce 200,000 phones daily, and will yearly produce $13B USD worth of exports. Previously the plant had been rumored based on job postings, but unconfirmed.

    ---

    Iphone Suicides:

    ReplyDelete
  65. Ash said...
    Loads of countries deport folk, children and all but the problem I see with the Israeli deportation is that 800 will be allowed to stay but 400 won't because, as the Prime Minister said "There are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel." Heck of way to decide which child should be allowed to stay or not.



    still arguing with yourself?

    Don't care about your useless opinion....

    You have no valid points to make about Israel.

    You are not worthy

    ReplyDelete
  66. The SE-30 was their greatest product ever.
    (for it's time, of course)

    Could probly make them in China now for under 100 Bucks...

    ReplyDelete
  67. HMED MOUSTAFA: AN EGYPTIAN SCIENTIST'S SUMMER IN ISRAEL
    By • Ahmed Moustafa
    Published in: SPME Faculty Voices August 6, 2010

    To go or not to go

    In 2008, I was invited to spend a summer conducting neuroscience research at both the Hebrew University (Jerusalem) and Al Quds Palestinian University (East Jerusalem /West Bank).

    As an Egyptian, I had grown up very cautious about interacting with Israelis; it had never occurred to me to visit Israel. Many other Egyptians and probably many people in other Arab states feel the same way.

    Some of my friends in Egypt advised me not to embark on such an “unethical” trip. For many in Egypt, setting foot in Israel is unthinkable, regardless of the purpose of the visit. But the Palestinian professors whom I consulted did not voice such criticism; they encouraged me to visit Israel. My friends in the United States did not make such criticisms either, and I realized that many Americans and Europeans who visit Israel hold different views on Israeli politics, yet they discuss their opinions openly with Israelis.

    The more I thought about it, the more I realized that regardless of the views my friends and I might have about Israeli politics, the opportunity to gain scientific experience at a good research institution was a separate issue, and nearly at the deadline for making the decision, I decided to accept the invitation to visit Israel.

    Time in Israel

    As I landed in Israel and went through Israeli customs and security, I had a few a worrisome moments. But my three months in Israel were scientifically enriching and socially rewarding. I spent most of my time at the Hebrew and Al Quds Universities, but I also occasionally visited Haifa University. Both the city and the university in Haifa have large Jewish and Arab populations, and the two groups mix more often than in Jerusalem.

    ReplyDelete
  68. In the very beginning, the Hebrew University kindly helped me obtain a visa for my visit. At the Hebrew University, I learned some scientific techniques on animal models of Parkinson’s disease with the generous help of Dr. Boris Rosin. Professors at the Hebrew University were very enthusiastic to have me as a colleague. I still consult with them on many open questions and research projects in the Parkinson’s disease field, in which the neuroscientists at the Hebrew University play a key international role.

    My social life in Israel and the West Bank was also rewarding and educational. I visited many parts of Israel with my Arab neighbors in Jerusalem, many of whom were students at the Hebrew University. I was also repeatedly invited to professors’ homes for shabbat dinner and social gatherings, and I was always warmly welcomed. At many of these occasions, I felt more welcomed than people visiting from European countries, perhaps because of my Egyptian background. Among Israeli and Palestinian students, I often found myself discussing political issues, including the role of Anwar Sadat ın the peace process, the Palestinian refugee problem, Jews from Arab lands, and others. I found that Israelis’ stands on political issues were not at all homogenous.

    Science

    Israeli universities produce scientific research comparable to that seen in Western countries. Israeli science institutions are constantly expanding. For example, the Hebrew University is currently building a new multi-million-dollar brain science research center, and plan to recruit top-notch scientists from around the globe. World-class scientists from Italy, the United States, Germany, Canada, Japan, and many other countries are constantly visiting and lecturing at Israeli universities. Israel holds many annual science meetings that researchers from various countries attend. Students from many European countries conduct their graduate work in Israel. Many Israeli universities have shown advancement in fields ranging from biomedical research to agriculture to engineering.

    It is sad that neighboring countries do not participate in these activities. There is no doubt that Israeli science institutions and Israeli researchers would welcome having Arab researchers visit and collaborate with them. It is an overall a win-win game for both sides, if not more beneficial for Arab researchers. Arab countries need more scientific interaction with the outside world, including Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  69. After gaining science and research experience at world-class Israeli universities, Arab researchers could definitely be great assets to their home countries.

    It is also beneficial to invite Israeli scientists and researchers to attend conferences and to lecture in Arab countries. Israeli scientists are frequently invited to lecture at large universitıes ın Europe and the United States; and even, in recognition of their scientific achievements, to give keynote lectures at annual conferences. Israeli scientists do, however, face difficulties attending conferences in Arab states. Should not we benefit from these minds as well? The Israeli experiment in science advancement is a good example for neighboring nations to follow, given the geographical and environmental similarities.

    While in Israel, I repeatedly visited the West Bank and many Arab towns in northern Israel, and they were all equally welcoming and happy with my visit. Many students and professors at Al Quds University also welcomed me as a colleague, and with them, I visited Bethlehem, Ramallah, and other Palestinian towns. Almost every Palestinian I met instantly recognized my Egyptian background once I said a word in Arabic. This is because many Palestinians, and other Arabs, have grown up watching Egyptian movies, and are very familiar with the Egyptian Arabic dialect. These were pleasing moments.

    Al Quds University in the West Bank has many collaborative scientific projects with Hebrew University, although in recent years, collaboration has not been as strong. I visited a few laboratories at Al Quds University. For example, Dr. Mukhles Sowwan, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, obtained his doctorate from the Hebrew University, under the supervision of an Israeli professor, and returned to the West Bank to start a top-notch nanotechnology laboratory at Al Quds University. Dr. Sowwan’s lab is enviable by many standards, and one cannot help but hope that other scientists in the Arab world follow Dr. Sowwan’s example. Why should not Arabs learn at Israeli universities? Like Dr. Sowwan, why should not Arabs get mentored by Israeli professors and go on to become independent investigators making their own contributions to the global scientific enterprise?

    For many in the Arab world, the word Israel elicits political thoughts only. However, it is important to appreciate Israel’s advanced science infrastructure and to recognize that, whatever one’s political views, scientific collaboration with Israel is not only possible but also potentially beneficial for Egypt and other Arab countries.

    Ahmed Moustafa, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

    ReplyDelete
  70. "You are not worthy"

    Tell us something we do not know, WIO:
    Ash ignores the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Israeli Economy Grows At Almost Twice Expected Rate

    In the second quarter of the year the Israeli economy rose 4.7%, shattering forecasts of 2.9%.

    The enormous growth comes after an increase of 3.3% in the previous half of the year and a drop of 1.5% in the first half of last year.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Netanyahu, Greece Agree on Security and Tourism Cooperation

    Greece and Israel deepened ties in the fields of tourism and security Tuesday with the first visit to Athens by an Israeli Prime Minister despite left-wing anti-Israeli protests.

    "In addition to issues of economic cooperation and prosperity for the two countries, like tourism, we also discussed issues of defense cooperation and security,” said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “We need a peaceful region--a peaceful Middle East region with direct talks with the Palestinian authority--the agenda on that is not fixed. We also hope that this trip will be a first step to keep improving bilateral relations with Greece."

    ReplyDelete
  73. please, Doug, give us truth!

    ReplyDelete
  74. Ash,

    As you may recall, Lebanon was established as a homeland and refuge for the various oppressed Christians of that region of the world. Why, our good friends the French and Brits were going to guarantee their safety and security. How did that work out?

    For a clue, check out the CIA year book, under demographics or religion. (Yes, Ash, the CIA will probably lie through its teeth, being a government show and heavy into conspiracies [one hopes]); but even without CIA input, Lebanon is a cesspool of Islamic cutthroats and other misfits. Presidents and ministers do not retire, they are turned into gelatinous blobs of protoplasm while driving. (The carbon foot print of this sort of mangling of the guard is unknown to me.)

    Since I have now raised the dread head of science, feel free to call me an "asshole" as you did the last time I recommended to you the scientific method as the metric of evidence. It won't change anything but it does make little boys feel empowered, and I do so like to do my part.

    As to Israel, a decision was taken nearly a century ago to create a Jewish state on a nearly unihabited (unhabitable) peace of real estate. (Do read the observations of that aweful liar, Mark Twain.) Oddly, the decision makers decided to create this homeland on land that had always been inhabited by Jews and which had been for hundreds of years the ancient state of Israel. Because of regressive, repressive policies of the Ottomans much of that proposed homeland had been reduced to desert wasteland.

    If you are truly concerned about genocide and ethnic cleansing, may I recommend, say, the Sudan to your attention. Without doubt the kind Muslims making life hell for others there will meet your peace proposals with outstreched arms ... as they attempt to tear your tongue from your mouth.

    Israel 13, Dumbfounded 0


    PS: If anywhere within this post, I have seemed sarcastic, I do apologize; you weren't supposed to notice. O, and Ash, if there were not large numbers of Jews settled on purchased land in fee simple, prior to '48, why then did the Grand Mufti and imams call for the purgings, say, of Hebron? Confusing? I know? But you will work it out. Until then, just continue doing what you guys do: Make stuff up, roll into little balls and throw them with reckless abandon. (And lest I stand accused of sexual discrimination, I use guys in its widest sense, goy.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Doug,

    Re: Jefferson and Islamic roasts at the Executive Mansion


    It is a fact that Jefferson rarely dined before 9pm - something John Adams found exceedingly decadant.

    ReplyDelete
  76. WiO,

    Thank you, so very much, my friend for the Mustafa testimonial...Of course, he must be lying because, as is well known hereabouts, Israel treats Arabs like concentration camp inmates.

    As an aside, WiO, isn't it ironic that the term "concentration camp" had its origin in South Africa c/o the Brits?

    ReplyDelete
  77. All those words you wrote allen can be boiled to one thing - look how bad others are. You did inclued one paragraph where you mention the idea of a Jewish state. So, to boil your argument down; the arabs are baaad people so therefore Israel can be bad as well. Israel can racially/relgiously discriminate in choosing which children shall be deported because the arabs are shits. Is that it? That is the sum total of your argument gussied up with a passing remark about the scientific method, as if saying the words made your argument somehow scientific.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Can we moderate the vitrole, please, Ash?

    ReplyDelete
  79. Ash said...
    All those words you wrote allen can be boiled to one thing - look how bad others are. You did inclued one paragraph where you mention the idea of a Jewish state. So, to boil your argument down; the arabs are baaad people so therefore Israel can be bad as well. Israel can racially/relgiously discriminate in choosing which children shall be deported because the arabs are shits. Is that it? That is the sum total of your argument gussied up with a passing remark about the scientific method, as if saying the words made your argument somehow scientific.




    Ash...

    One standard for Israel, and no standards for anyone else..

    In this case?

    you ignore 649/650th of the middle east, you know the place where those pesky arabs squat...

    you ignore that Israel, which sits on 1/650th of the middle east has 20% non jewish people as citizens...

    as for populations?

    arabs.. 330 MILLION

    Israel (including is ARabs) 10 million...

    I'd suspect that if you would give proportional representation to the other 649/650th ONCE in a while we'd actually speak with you...

    but you have ONE perfect standard for the Jews, none for anyone else...

    ash..

    really

    go fuck yourself...

    your a fucking bigot...

    we all know it...

    do us all a favor, go liberate a burka

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

    ReplyDelete
  81. ASH: Israel can racially/relgiously discriminate in choosing which children shall be deported because the arabs are shits. Is that it?

    _____________________

    Ash is ONE DUMB FUCK...

    is it just me or do you all not understand that the KIDS that are being deported are Filipinos?



    Some 400 children, including an undetermined number of Filipinos, may be deported from Israel along with their parents for failing to meet the qualifications set by the Israeli government for them to legally stay in the country.

    The Israeli government issued the guidelines as part of its crackdown on undocumented migrants that started last year.

    A statement in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website said the six guidelines are:

    The child must have been enrolled in the Israeli school system in the past year;

    Said child must be enlisted for the next school year in the first grade or higher;

    Said child must have lived at least five years in Israel;

    If born in another country, the child must have entered Israel before the age of 13;

    The child must be a Hebrew speaker; and,

    The parents of the child entered Israel using a valid visa.

    Of the estimated 1,200 undocumented children, the Israeli government said about 800 would “most likely" qualify while the remaining 400 might not meet the criteria.

    A Filipino migrants’ group earlier denounced the Israeli government’s crackdown on illegal migrants, which reportedly started as early as July 2009.

    According to the DFA statement, the Philippine Embassy in Israel is anticipating that many Filipino children would be eligible under the newly issued guidelines as long as they would submit all necessary documents to support their application.

    The Israeli government has given applicants 21 days to file their applications at the Ministry of Interior, the statement said.

    The Embassy meanwhile said it will assist qualified applicants and assured those who may not qualify that their rights will be respected by the Israeli government while their deportation is being processed.

    “For its part, the Embassy is ready to facilitate the issuance of necessary legal documents to all applicants. In anticipation of the possible surge in the number of applicants during the 21-day period, the Embassy has set up a task force in the Consular section specifically to address the needs of these children," the DFA said.

    “On the 400 applicants whose applications might be denied and while the exact number of Filipino children is not yet known, the Embassy reported that the Israeli government has emphasized that these disqualified applicants will be departing Israel with dignity and will be treated humanely," it added.

    Migrante-Middle East said in an earlier report that the Israeli government ceased implementing its 2006 policy of awarding Israeli citizenship to undocumented migrants, with only about 400 to 500 children and their families given recognition.

    The new ruling on undocumented migrants will cover children of migrant workers of Chinese, Filipino and Thai descent, the DFA said, citing news reports.

    Based on previous deportation cases, individuals are allowed to pack their belongings and leave quietly, and the Israeli government will shoulder their plane fare.

    Deportees may also appeal the ruling before the courts, the DFA added. -

    ReplyDelete
  82. Ash,

    You have done it! I am now adding you to the EB Mensa list.

    Congrats

    ReplyDelete
  83. and the Prime Minister when referring to those "standards" said:

    {"“We all feel and understand the hearts of children,” said the prime minister and leader of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of the cabinet meeting on Sunday. “But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The problem is that these two components clash.”


    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/world/middleeast/03children.html

    and, no, there is not one standard for Israel and another for the other Arab states. I find the discrimination practiced by the Arab states to be terrible. Still, this does not excuse institutional discrimination in Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  84. rat said:

    Deuce said...

    The question is:

    ...

    My question:
    "Is The United States better off than it was seven years ago?"

    Thu Aug 12, 05:57:00 AM EDT

    You said yes, then rolled your eyes over statements that advocated for equal rights for all married couples.


    Early in the day, I agreed with Rufus about Saddam Hussein. I said he "needed killin'."

    Later, late afternoon, I did indeed roll my eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Ash,

    A sovereign state may determine who qualifies for admission, either temporary or permanent.
    I am surprised you are unware of this, but given the abandonment of sovereignty by your government and mine, your ignorance is understandable. That you are also progressive explains much as well - that whole "We Are the World" mentality thingee going on there.


    You Canadians do seem to leave the door wide open to immigrants. I gather from this policy that you Canyucks cannot rise to the occasion (demographically speaking, as it were). With a low birth rate you have no choice but to allow others to pump you up.

    If it's any consolation, Ash, even Jews have to prove their bono fides to gain admission and gain permanent status. But playing by the rules is worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  86. You are avoiding the central issue in this particular case allen - they are all 'illegal' but Israel is choosing to let some stay and others to be deported with the criteria being as the Prime Minister stated.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Ash,

    Now that you have mentioned it, yes, others are FAR, FAR worse than we.

    There is the occasional troublesome Jewish religious fanatic who feels the overwhelming compulsion to confront a mini-skirted sabra (and I'm not talking Borat here). Sometimes, groups of these gentlemen will yell insults at Sabbath breakers, before being hauled away to court. We do not shoot them and they do not shoot others.

    On the other hand, the brave Islamic warriors of Iran et al will rape, sodomize and kill by slow strangulation at the end of a long rope a nine-year old girl for oogling a Jonas Brothers CD case. They hold as sacred books that give instructions on the care and coupling with sheep, goat and little boys. They want there women surgically mutilated, barefoot and pregnant. And good forbid that some loving Chirtian docs and nurses try to bring a bit of light and hope into one of the cesspools of Islam.

    So, yeah, Ash et al, I am a supremist when it comes to walking, talking, towel headed garbage, with a zinc deficiency. You bet your sweet bippy I am better! And proud of it, my man.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Ash,

    Listen carefully: Sovereign state get to pick and choose who will be allowed to stay. That is not evasion, that is fact.

    Were it up to me, I would summarily deport any and all illegals. Sounds like Israel, as usual, is behaving stupidly.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Sovereign States do indeed get to choose to be Jim Crow societies.

    Israel has chosen to be one, a bigoted place, by design and law.

    Confirming the last report by the United States that said it was, back in 2000.

    Proving the equivalency of the various Semitic tribes of Arabia, once again

    ReplyDelete
  90. Ash,

    ...just to show that we Euro-trash Jews, some "fucking Russian", have a sense of humor, if not ryhthm, I give you this...

    the light fantastic

    ReplyDelete
  91. I believe I just heard rodent flatulence, WiO. Next, we will hear the nibbling of dry excrement.

    ReplyDelete
  92. That was one for Jim Crow
    Zero against.

    Israel as a Jim Crow culture carries the day after US investigation and decision based upon the facts discovered.

    The equivalence of the Semitics proven, again, by the United States government.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Israeli doctors teach Chilean medics
    By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
    22/07/2010
    Mass Casualty course useful in earthquake.

    Although a five-day Israeli course taught in Chile on trauma emergency and mass casualty situations was initiated over six months ago, it came in very handy when it finally took place last week, as the South American country was hit by a powerful earthquake in April and is still coping with its aftermath.

    The course was given by a team headed by experts from Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, who returned a few days ago from Chile, where they found a lack of preparedness among many institutions and an urgent need for Israeli knowhow.

    The course was offered in Santiago to 300 medical personnel, among them senior members of Chile’s air and ground forces, as well as representatives of its rescue units and police force. News of the Israeli delegation spread, and 12 doctors and nurses from Paraguay also showed up.

    The April earthquake, which registered 8.8 on the Richter scale, was followed by a tsunami on the country’s southern coast. The catastrophe destroyed entire areas and caused the collapse of numerous structures, the Rambam experts said.

    The course was initiated by Dr. Alfredo Mizrahi, a Jewish local physician who works in Santiago’s Las Condes Hospital.

    Mizrahi, a longtime friend of Rambam, initiated the first such course in Chile – on organizing a trauma center – two years ago. The recent course, held under the auspices of the Jewish community, included lectures and workshops.

    Three Rambam representatives led the delegation: Dr.Moshe Michaelson, director of the trauma unit; Gila Hyams, head of the Teaching Center for Trauma and Mass Casualty Situations; and public relations director Nurit Naeh.

    The delegation also included Dr. Leon Poles from Rehovot’s Kaplan Medical Center, who is an expert in chemical warfare and mass casualty events; Dr. Amir Blumenfeld, former head of IDF Trauma Unit and a Health Ministry adviser on mass casualty events; and Chaim Rafalowski, Magen David Adom’s Chilean-born representative of emergency medicine.

    “The delegation members presented a broad array of ways to deal with these events,” said Michaelson, adding that “the response was incredible – the participants were hungry for knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  94. They didn’t stop showing interest and asking questions, and at the end of the course, we received many offers for cooperation and additional courses.”

    A day before the course began, the delegation toured the tsunami disaster site, which is being restored, partly with the support of the country’s 15,000-member Jewish community, which also donated two ambulances. These were dedicated at a ceremony attended by the Israeli delegation members, the regional governor and health minister and representatives of the Jewish community.

    “The pictures here are very difficult. Four months after the disaster, there is still damage everywhere. Where hospitals once stood, there are now tents,” said Hyams, who added that the Jewish community’s assistance has been very significant.

    “I was so excited to hear about the heroism of the medical teams that worked in such awful conditions during the catastrophe,” she added.

    During the tour, the delegation met with Dr. Daniela Guede, a young doctor who arrived in the area shortly before the earthquake and remained to treat the injured.

    The doctor, who also took part in the Rambam course, had met several months ago with Maj.-Gen. Elon Glazberg, head of the IDF trauma unit, who came to learn from the Chilean experience in coping with earthquakes. During his stay, Glazberg advised Guede on how to reorganize her clinic, which was destroyed in the tsunami and moved to a temporary shelter.

    Rambam’s Teaching Center is widely known for its experience in treating war wounded along Israel’s northern border and in accepting difficult trauma cases referred from other northern hospitals. Representatives from Rambam’s School for Organization and Treatment of Trauma travel around the world, and the center recently held a course in trauma for medical personnel in NATO countries.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Israel is recognized the world over as a leading source of knowledge and innovation in advanced research and technology.

    Israel's tradition of scientific excellence is widely appreciated, and Israel's technological achievements are at the forefront of communications, electronics, computer software, networking, defense, security and life sciences industries.

    More than 100 major technology firms maintain active R&D centers in Israel. Global business surveys consistently place Israel among the most attractive nations for advanced technology development.
    Israel's workforce is among the highest educated in the world - fully 20 percent of Israel's working population hold academic degrees. For each 10,000 employees, 140 are scientists or technicians, and 135 are engineers. Comparative ratios in the US, Japan and European nations all run a distant second place.
    The number of Israeli nanotech publications and patents ranked second and third in the world in 2002, respectively, after countries like Switzerland and Germany (calculated on a normalized basis in a study sponsored by the European Commission).
    Israel's small size and limited financial resources are serious challenges, but Israel's academic, business and government leaders recognize nanotech as a key platform for ensuring Israel's continued R&D excellence for decades to come.

    Nanotechnology is a natural enabler for Israel. In fact, our small size is also our advantage -- it means sharper focus, more efficient use of funds, fewer commercial obstacles, rapid prototyping and testing, and higher quality standards.

    Israel's outstanding track record is just a hint of what nanotechnology will bring. Israel and nano are a strategic fit.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Just a general observation.

    Good to see all the producers have been busy at the bar today.

    Doesn't appear many of the looters showed up though.

    Ironic?

    or

    Just too too funny?



    :)

    ReplyDelete
  97. Looters know better.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Yep, the Federals have many ways to achieve their means.

    No more EPA waivers.

    USA Today - ‎34 minutes ago‎

    The federal government will require environmental reviews for new offshore drilling projects and ban "categorical exclusions" while it conducts a review on how exemptions to oil and gas companies are granted, the Interior Department announced Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Just too funny. :)

    ReplyDelete
  100. I usta be a Praduser.

    I don remember having as much "free time" as taday's pradusers have.

    ReplyDelete
  101. I probly wasn't as effishunt as these guys, today.

    Didnt even have a blackberry, not to mention an iphone.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Some of today's producers are literate and utilize state of the art IT. Some also are sufficiently capitalized and have employees.

    Some of today's producers work wealthy urban markets that permit very comfortable lifestyles on a few transactions a year.

    Some of today's producers take multiple vacations during the course of a year, all in the course of business.

    Some of today's producers are not xenophobic; rather they welcome competition and learn and improve from it, working global deals.

    Life is good :)

    ReplyDelete
  103. ...the sweet ring of truth...Lordy...Lordy...Lordy

    ReplyDelete
  104. Imam Faisal, he of the Cordoba Initiative, is on a whirled-wide fund raising campaign while acting on behalf of the State Department in a Public Outreach capacity. So far, he as been in Malaysia and will be in the Gulf States around the 19th of September.

    Only in America!

    BTW - I believe he is traveling on our dime.

    ReplyDelete
  105. A couple had been married for 50 years.

    They were sitting at the breakfast table one morning when the wife says, 'Just think, fifty years ago we were sitting here at this breakfast table together.'

    'I know,' the old man said. 'We were probably sitting here naked as a jaybird fifty years ago..'

    'Well,' Granny snickered. 'Let's relive some old times..'

    Where upon, the two stripped to the buff and sat down at the table.

    'You know, honey,' the little old lady breathlessly replied, 'My nipples are as hot for you today as they were fifty years ago.'

    'I wouldn't be surprised,' replied Gramps. 'One's in your coffee and the other is in your oatmeal

    ReplyDelete
  106. :)

    Thanks, Sam.

    First good laugh I've had all day.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Let me know when the Elephant Bar starts talking about any other topic besides Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Teresita, you'll probably have one tit in the coffee, and . . . .. ..

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  109. I've had a full day of looting.



    Do you know what that's like in this heat?

    ReplyDelete
  110. A bomb scare closed streets near the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles.

    ...

    As videos of closed-off streets began surfacing on YouTube, police told several news agencies of the bomb threat.

    The city’s Israeli Consulate has been the target of previous bomb threats. On Dec. 18, 2007, the entire building, which houses the consulate, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Young Judea and the Israeli Scouts, was evacuated due to a bomb threat that was later found to be a false alarm.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Do I know what it's like in this heat?

    You shoulda been with me down in NOLA after Katrina.

    We cleaned out that little 'burg.'

    ReplyDelete
  112. Andrew Sullivan responded to this NYT article:

    August 14, 2010
    Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents
    By SCOTT SHANE, MARK MAZZETTI and ROBERT F. WORTH

    ...a glimpse of the Obama administration’s shadow war against Al Qaeda and its allies. In roughly a dozen countries — from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics crippled by ethnic and religious strife — the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy and training local operatives to chase terrorists.


    "It's a strange political landscape indeed where a bestselling author can assert in the pages of National Review Online that the President of the United States is allied with Islamist radicals in their grand jihad, even as that same president leads a global effort to kill al Qaeda operatives. I wonder if we aren't seeing the worst of all worlds here: the opposition party can neither help President Obama to carry out this far reaching effort, nor oppose it due to prudential concerns about executive power, because merely acknowledging that he is aggressively fighting terrorists undermines the fantastical narrative that he is soft on jihad.

    "Democrats are as silent about ongoing military operations in countries where we haven't declared war, or even debated it. So perhaps it's more helpful to see this through an institutional lens. As Gene Healy pointed out in a characteristically great column, our modern legislators are derelict in their duties. "The Constitution gives Congress vast powers over war and peace, and charges it with making the laws of the land," he wrote. "Yet our feckless legislators prefer to punt the hard decisions to the president and the permanent bureaucracy, even if it leaves the rest of us mired in uncertainty and crushing debt."

    "I am persuadable, though as yet unconvinced, that the imperatives of the modern terrorist threat requires covert military action. And I certainly cheer when I read about the death of high-ranking al Qaeda officials, whether in Iraq or Yemen. Maybe a policy like the one the Obama Administration is pursuing would make sense after careful reflection.

    [...]

    "It's especially interesting to discuss this policy at a time when so much of the right is insisting that we return to the vision of government laid out by the Founders. Needless to say, a president who wages clandestine wars on multiple continents is incompatible with the founding vision of the office, the ways it was designed to be checked, and its enumerated limits."




    Persuadable? Persuadable's good. Even if it merely issues from the fact that it's a different admin doing it. Which in this case it surely does.

    "Maybe a policy like the one the Obama Administration is pursuing would make sense after careful reflection."

    I'm inclined to believe it could and would make sense to a lot people heretofore opposed, if they were set down for a day of briefings. (With complimentary lunch and drinks afterward, because the government is just that nice.) And so encouraged to carefully reflect.

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  113. "We cleaned out that little 'burg.'"

    Next time you let me know. I shall bring my looting expertise and show you how it's done by the pros.

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  114. Will do. Next time I find a burg that needs "cleanin' out", I know just who to call.

    I hear the pickin's are easy in Paris.

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  115. Looting...all in a day's work.

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  116. Hey Mel!

    I heard some shocking news about you and hot tubs.

    Photos at 11:00

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  117. Chinese authorities recently disclosed that, based on monthly readings of electric meters, 65 million housing units in Chinese cities register zero power usage, indicating that they are unoccupied.

    2010 Census results say there's 130 million housing units in America. One in nine of these are vacant due to fallout from our real-estate bubble.

    But imagine a place where they built half-again as many housing units as exist in the entire United States, but no one can afford to actually live in them, and local governments are actually dead-set against building low-income housing because their budgets are supplied by tax receipts from the owners of these expensive but empty houses and apartments.

    China just managed to pass Japan this week in GDP to become the world's second biggest economy. But a big chunk of that activity is building houses that no one lives in.

    All it will take is an airstrike on Iran to jack up oil prices to $200 and pop that bubble.

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  118. Could you imagine if we all just hopped in at the same time?

    Of course I didn't learn my lesson as I had my cell phone attached to my ear talking to my sister and skimming the pool getting ready to swim as the thunder was rolling in.

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  119. OMG! There is.

    Well, I guarantee you she is the superior human being among them.

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  120. Sorry, I deleted my reference to a redhead being in the hot tub.

    In fact, there may be a couple of them.

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  121. Damn, this is better.

    Looks like the looters and pirates have retaken the bar.

    Much better.

    Kinda like that 15 minutes at the pool they gave the caddies in Caddie Shack


    Flesh For Fantasy

    With a Rebel Yell





    Dammit, Trish. I had to go through Alice Deejay to get to Billy Idol.

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  122. I watched that video again a few times today. I love it.

    It really does remind me of sitting, with computer, on the rooftop nights in Bogota.

    You poor guy. You are stuck with Alice DeeJay.

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  123. I like some electronic music and not others. Alice Deejay is pretty good.

    Techno was invented here in Detroit in the mid eighties. Its basically electronic dance music. They have a free festival here every year.

    I went a couple times in the nineties. Some of it is pretty good but I prefer the Jazz Festival.

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  124. All I know about jazz, I learned from Ken Burns.

    But that's how I knew Springsteen was speaking the God's honest truth at the start of that video. Rock and roll was not invented in the forties and fifties.

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  125. Al-Jazeera Introduces 'Lighter Side Of The News' Segment

    "It seems a certain suicide bomber paid the price for his sloppy job Sunday, when he failed to annihilate a Jerusalem pizza parlor, and himself along with it. After numerous attempts to detonate the homemade device hidden under his shirt, the bomber gave up and ordered lunch! Can you imagine the relieved look on that restaurant owner's face?!"

    Al-Jazerra Introduces Lighter Side of the News Segment

    .

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  126. Congress can continue to withhold federal money from ACORN following a federal appeals panel decision Friday that rejected a lower court's ruling about funding for the community activist group.
    New York's 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a district court judge that found Congress had violated the controversial group's rights by punishing it without a trial, The Associated Press reported.

    Federal funds for ACORN were cut off last year after the group was accused of violating the tax-exempt status of its affiliates with overt partisan politicking. ACORN also faced charges from conservative media of voter fraud after the 2008 election.

    The organization also made headlines after a video surfaced of a sting by conservative activists showing low-level ACORN staffers giving tax advice for what turned out to be a fictitious prostitution ring.

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  127. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  128. should have been "by" RIO

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  129. No, Rock and Roll is from the fifties. You had boogie woogie, and the back beat, and all the elements all the way back to probably somewhere before Soloman in Kenya, but it became Rock and Roll in the fifties.

    You can make an argument for This being the first rock and roll song. And, I'm tempted, because I really love Fats Domino. However, I think it's just a bit too boogy-woogiesh to be the one.

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  130. 'The Fat Man' -

    First record with back beat all the way through.

    So says Wiki.

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  131. Nope, Rock and Roll had to have Energy, Showmanship, an ELECTRIC Geetar. Ladies, and worms, I give you the inventor, and real, honest to God, King of Rock and Roll.

    Chuck Berry - Maybelline

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  132. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  133. Desperate Pandora Employees Scrambling To Find Song Area Man Likes

    OAKLAND, CA—The headquarters of personalized online music provider Pandora remained in a state of chaos Thursday as frantic workers struggled to find a song that 32-year-old Boston subscriber Dave Lipton would enjoy...

    Some Guys Have Particular Taste In Music


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  134. Yeah, you could make a real good claim for Bill Haley and the Comets. I always like this one Shake, Rattle, and Roll.


    That line became part of the lexicon out in the country - Get out in that kitchen, and "rattle those pots, and pans.

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  135. Hey Ruf, did you have one of these?

    Sleepwalk

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  136. You mean, "record player?"

    I'm sitting here looking at one. A nice piece of furniture. My mother loved music. She had all the old Glenn Miller, Ink Spots, etc.

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  137. I would have loved to have followed this guy around. Ol' youknowwho

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  138. Well, that calmed me down. G'nite all.

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  139. One last thing:

    Mama Cass Elliot of "Mamas and the Papas" fame is about to get some much needed company in her final resting place. A 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art ham sandwich factory will serve the people that love them, churning out up to 50,000 ham sandwiches a day. There will also be an accompanying museum dedicated to celebrating the history of this especially tasty food item.

    "The ham sandwich is not completely 100% perfect", says the developer and future curator of the museum, Shark51, "but it sure is delectable, and so many people love it to this very day, and do believe it is 100% perfect. Yes, it is tragic what happened to Mama Cass, having apparently accidentally choked to death on one, but we must all remember that part of a ham sandwich was lost that day, too."


    Planning Board gives "Thumbs Up" to Ham Sandwich Factory on Mama Cass's Grave

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  140. A 30 foot tall statue of a half eaten ham sandwich will loom extra tolerantly over her headstone and grave, so that thousands a day may show up to worship its glory. And as for why the developer has chosen this particular site, he spoke of community and of America's traditions. The new company, "Fat Singing Bitch Who Eats Too Fast, Incorporated", will occupy the site and create the tasty delights.

    Asked if he thought the name of the company might be insensitive to some, especially given the proposed location of its manufacturing headquarters, the curator explained that a "Fat Singing Bitch Who Eats Too Fast" historically would represent a place where sandwiches and people have come together and existed very harmoniously. And developer Shark51 gives what they hope will be the last word on this story: "Anyone who finds this factory or its location offensive is really the offensive one."

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  141. A suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday among dozens of Iraqi army recruits who had gathered near a military headquarters in downtown Baghdad in a devastating strike that officials said killed 51 people and wounded 119.

    ...

    Officials at four Baghdad hospitals confirmed the casualties.

    ...

    Iraqi security forces have been trying to boost their numbers as the U.S. military begins to leave the country. All but 50,000 U.S. troops will go home by the end of August, with the rest to follow by the end of 2011 under a security agreement between Baghdad and Washington.

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  142. I am going to make you sit and watch the Ken Burns documentary, rufus.

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  143. Actually, I'd like to.

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  144. Yea Ruf, I still use the turntable now and then (not like the one from Youtube). I got and old Pioneer turntable and a lot of vinyl, mainly from the 70's and 80's. It also will play 45's and my wife has about 50 of the oldies but goodies on 45.

    It is a different sound but I'm no officianato. Why be when you can go to Youtube and pull up The Cars?

    My Best Friends Girl

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  145. I had that album and played the hell out of Shake It Up.

    Tenth grade, I think it was.

    I didn't have Rebel Yell, but I had Idol's first album.

    I collected my share of goofy shit like this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSwJ2rjUSdc

    But my brother was thrilled to find it and download it to his MP3 or whatever device he's now using.

    He has all my old albums, most of which were purchased in Germany, and recently asked if I would like to have them back. I told him to give them to my daughter, who has a turntable and has been collecting old vinyl for some years.

    My dad still has all of his albums. There must be 500 or so, going all the way back to his college days. And all of his reel-to-reels.

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  146. The documentary series is available on DVD, rufus. And well worth it. The kids and I first watched it one winter in Belgium.

    Come to think of it, you might also look into Hillbilly: The Real Story. Narrated by none other than the mullet king himself, Billy Ray Cyrus. Now available at Amazon.com.

    I enjoyed it.

    Almost as good as PBS's Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People

    http://www.appalachiafilm.org/

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  147. Yup, 10th grade and the biggest Cars fan ever.

    ReplyDelete
  148. ...Da, Da, Da...

    Crazy Germans.

    Makes one want to down a little absinthe and go decadant.


    .

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  149. I wouldn't say I was a "huge" fan of anyone in particular, Melody. I bought an awful lot of albums just for one song.

    I think it was the same year the Eurythmics came out with their Sweet Dreams album. I remember the evening I bought it and friends and I listened for hours.

    It wasn't on the album but this single came out shortly afterward and is still my favorite Eurythmics song:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6f593X6rv8&feature=av2e

    Annie Lenox has an incredible voice.




    Believe it or not Da Da Da was a huge hit, Quirk.

    Got Absinthe?

    We could pass it around during the next Looters' Hour.

    I'd really want Bob to be there for that one, though.

    Bob and absinthe. Oh, that is a precious thought.

    Also have to make sure Melody's nowhere near the hot tub. Melody plus absinthe plus hot tub. Would end badly somehow.

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  150. And I'm glad to see you corrected your spelling.

    Must go spend a couple of hours looting.

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  151. Mel plus absinthe plus anything would end badly, but if you're passing it around....

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  152. ...the next Looters' Hour.


    I think that those of us who proudly consider themselves part of the "Looter Faction" here at the EB, should get t-shirts proclaiming the fact.

    This is merely conceptional at this point but I'm thinking along the following lines.

    Color: Black (Also available in white for the ladies that plan on taking part in the wet t-shirt contests)

    Graphics: Pirate with eye-patch and cutless. (Back of shirt)

    Wording: EB monogram at left breast (subtle and stylish).
    Something catchy on the back like,

    Chaos Confusion Disaster

    My Job is Done Here


    Only pirates, looters, rakes, and mercs, courtesans and demimondes need apply (there is just so much absinthe to go around.)

    Perhaps Bob could be elected the first Captain (at least until he gets bumped off in a drunken brawl).


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  153. Note: On previous post.

    This could be a marketing opportunity for Deuce and Whit.

    Have em screen printed and sell from behind the bar (of course, within the restrictions noted regarding the Looter Faction membership).

    Also membership requires being voted into the Looter Faction and a small ceremony involving a minor scratch and a blood oath.


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  154. Still thinking.


    Maybe the slogan should be

    Chaos Confusion Disorder

    My Job Is Done Here




    I think replacing Disaster with Disorder helps make it flow better.

    Comments?

    Suggestions?


    .

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  155. This could be big.



    .

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  156. Perhaps "Looter's" under the EB on the front.

    EB

    Looter's



    (Possibly still not there but getting closer)

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  157. Looter Colors: Black, Red, and Orange (audacious)


    Impress your homies.



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  158. Kick-ass threads for the peeps.

    .

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  159. No Redheads Allowed


    Just to clarify Trish.

    You are obviously a looter. You just can't be in the band.


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  160. ...cutlass...

    (dammit)

    You realize if you weren't here Trish, I wouldn't have to keep making these corrections.

    You're the only one that gives a shit.

    Well, Deuce, but he's hardly ever around.



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  161. Better on the graphics,


    Chaos

    Confusion

    Disorder

    My Job is Done Here



    We may need a couple artist renderings to decide which looks better.

    .

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  162. If anything you have disorder right.

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  163. "Just to clarify Trish."

    I am relieved.

    I thought I was going to have to split off into the Liberal Social Federalist Faction and simply demand a cut of the loot.

    To be stored in my garage along with the Afghan heroin.

    And no self-respecting red head would share the stage with a bunch of vapid mannequins. (Redundant but I like the phrase.)

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  164. And it should be thus:

    My Job Here Is Done

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  165. Chaos

    Confusion

    Disorder

    My Job Here Is Done







    So let it be written. So let it be done.



    .

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  166. From AlterNet:


    10 Young Right-Wingers Being Prepped to Take Over the Conservative Movement

    What happens when the Old Guard moves on? Who will replace them? We take a look at 10 promising candidates.




    E. D. Kain, he of the obscure brews, is among those listed.

    : )





    How long can we keep squatting here on this thread?

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  167. To go back risks being contaminated by producers.

    However, I guess we will have to since it becomes a bit of a pain once a stream hits 200 posts. (I now see why T always tried to move in a new stream before it hit that mark.)

    I am also working on a new idea involving the "throw a party but don't tell him where it is at" concept.

    Still needs some work.

    Damn it's been so peaceful over here.

    Oh well.

    Into the breach.




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  168. "Damn it's been so peaceful over here."

    Yes. It. Has.

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  169. Well this suggests a strategy for the poor neglected looters.

    Once the conversation has moved on to a new stream, the looters can take over the abandoned thread and have some fun until we approach the dreaded 200 post mark.

    .

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