COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pakistan Shaking Down US for Another $2 Billion, Bin Laden Rests Comfortably.




Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration is putting the final touches on a security assistance package totaling as much as $2 billion over five years to help Pakistan fight extremists on its border with Afghanistan, senior U.S. officials and diplomatic sources tell CNN.

The aid is expected to be announced later this week when Pakistani officials are in Washington to hold high-level talks.

The package aims to address Pakistan's insistence it does not have the capability to go after terrorists, and needs more support from the United States, the sources said. The aid will help the Pakistanis purchase helicopters, weapons systems and equipment to intercept communications. (read enough yet?)



Osama bin Laden 'living comfortably in Pakistan'

Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living comfortably in a house in the north-west of Pakistan protected by local people and elements of the country's intelligence services, according to a senior Nato official.

By Rob Crilly in Islamabad
Published: 1:10PM BST 18 Oct 2010 Telegraph


The latest assessment contradicts the belief that the al-Qaeda leader is roughing it in underground bunkers as he dodged CIA drones hunting him from the air.

"Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave," according to an unnamed Nato official quoted by CNN.

He added that Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's second in command, was also living in a house close by somewhere in the country's mountainous border regions.

Pakistani officials on Monday repeated their long standing denials that the Saudi-born terrorist mastermind was being given safe haven.

However, the Nato official said bin Laden was thought to have ranged from the mountainous Chitral area near the Chinese border, to the Kurram Valley which borders Afghanistan's Tora Bora, one of the Taliban strongholds during the US invasion in 2001.

North Waziristan, in particular, has become a nexus for Afghan, Pakistani and Arab militants as they plot attacks against Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month a leaked White House report accused its ally Pakistan of playing a double game by avoiding "military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al-Qaeda forces in North Waziristan".

A senior Pakistani security official denied that bin Laden was being protected and said the latest allegations were designed to heap pressure on Islamabad ahead of talks in Washington this week that would focus on strengthening co-operation between the two countries.

"Every time something important is happening then things like this keep creeping out," he said. "If it's not bin Laden it's something else."

83 comments:

  1. The Pakistanis will come with a similarly mixed message. While Pakistan is grateful for the strong American support after the flood, Pakistani officials were quoted as saying, it remains frustrated by what it perceives as the slow pace of economic aid, the lack of access to American markets for Pakistani goods and the administration's continued lack of sympathy for the country's confrontation with India.

    Another potential bone of contention is one of President Obama's nuclear objectives: a global accord to end the production of new nuclear fuel. Pakistan has led the opposition to the accord.

    And without its agreement, the treaty would be basically useless, the Times said.


    Pact with Pakistan

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  2. Pakistan's powerful intelligence services were heavily involved in preparations for the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, according to classified Indian government documents obtained by the Guardian.

    A 109-page report into the interrogation of key suspect David Headley, a Pakistani-American militant arrested last year and detained in the US, makes detailed claims of ISI support for the bombings.

    Under questioning, Headley described dozens of meetings between officers of the main Pakistani military intelligence service, the ISI, and senior militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

    Guardian

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  3. More good news from the crusades or it sure was a good idea to execute Saddam

    Mr Maliki, who is on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals to drum up support for his bid to stay in power, had an audience with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    Two weeks ago, the Iranian leadership negotiated backing for Mr Maliki from the militant Shia grouping, the Sadrists, who had previously been deeply opposed to his candidacy.

    "The Iraqi nation is vigilant and aggressors cannot dominate this country again," Mr Khamenei told Mr Maliki, according to a statement put out by his office. "May God get rid of America in Iraq so that its people's problems are solved."

    Mr Khamenei's aggressive stance, while seeming to give his blessing to Mr Maliki, whose secular Shia State of Law party came a close second in Iraqi elections in March, will alarm the Americans.


    Telegraph

    ReplyDelete
  4. What was the title of the previous post?

    ReplyDelete
  5. What was the title of the previous post?

    I don't know and I don't care.

    Course I do....just don't know what to do about it.


    I am renaming some of my streets tomorrow, or the next day.

    They have rejected.....the stupid bastards.....some of my beautiful Nez Perce names, as being too long and not having any meaning that present people can understand.

    One meaning had the name of 'deep water underground'....cause that was where papa dug the first arteisan well, for our group....at mostly his expense....we donated the land....

    20,000 thousand year old water....the very best....which the City still discharges onto my land...my wife's land..... when the pumps go on and off slowly....so as not to abuse the mechanism.....

    I may fight about this, but they got the power.

    Also, the street after my wife's four lettered initials.

    They don't like initials.

    I am thinking of "Dumb Shit Street"....or maybe just "Shit Street" for some of the ones in dispute.

    Or maybe just "Old Senile Pathetic Man Street"....,

    Or" Quirk Street."




    I went to the library and used the Japanese guys manual to the Nez Perce Language.

    I can tell you....it had never been opened....but they had a wonderful language.

    much wa wa....much w sounds....-----


    Tereisita.....don't give me any more crap about Hayden...

    go back to the Phillipines, to do better....if you must....or to Philly....or Detroit....


    I wish I'd win the lottery.....I'd tell them all to....get fucked

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Nez Perce had almost forgotten their language, until this Japanese linguistic resurrected it for them, with the help of some of the very oldest elders.

    It took him ten years.

    ReplyDelete
  7. They also had a lot of il...il or elils sounds.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've got the required four votes...maybe five...I just don't know how hard to push them....

    Mother fucks...

    VOTE SARAH

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fine rainy morning here in the city of brotherly love, you can't alway have drops of Jupiter

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, the beloved directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, were MURDERED during one of the worst terrorist attacks to strike India in recent memory.

    Jewish communities around the world reacted with shock to the loss of the couple, who were MURDERED Thursday at their Chabad House during an apparent standoff between Indian military forces and terrorists. Also MURDERED at the Chabad House were kosher supervisors Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum of New York and American-Israeli Bentzion Chroman. Citing confirmation from Israel's Foreign Ministry, the English Web site of Yediot Achronot reported the identity of a fifth victim as Israeli woman Yocheved Orpaz. At least one other hostage was reportedly MURDERED.

    "The attacks began on 26 November and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding 308.

    The targets were all located in the wealthy areas of town. They included the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel, the Oberoi/Trident Hotel, a Chabad House (an orthodox Jewish organisation), one or two hospitals, a railway station, the Leopold Cafe, a domestic airport and a police station. "

    The interesting thing? How FAR they had to travel to attack the ONLY JEWISH SITE in Mumbai..
    Through the heroic actions of his nanny, the Holtzberg's toddler son, Moshe, managed to escape many hours before Indian commandos stormed their building, known as the Nariman House, in the popular touristy neighborhood of Colaba. The Associated Press reported that the boy - whose birthday was Saturday - was unharmed, but was wearing blood-soaked pants.

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  11. I was wrong, there are 7 other Jewish sites in Mumbai

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  12. Initially it was reported that six Israeli Jews were being held hostage. Later Chabad spokesman in Israel Moni Ender said that there were at least eight Israelis inside the house, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka Holtzberg.

    The terrorists "would be told by their handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews." They were tortured very badly.

    ReplyDelete
  13. On Monday, Dec. 1, the UK Telegraph reported statements by doctors who examined the bodies of those killed in the Mumbai massacre. "Many of the bodies showed signs of torture," they said, one going on to explain that "of all the bodies, the Israeli victims [clarified elsewhere in the article to mean the victims at Nariman Chabad Center] bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."

    Horrifying. And mystifying -- because this news item, carried around the world, has been utterly absent from the mainstream U.S. media. Other than The Huffington Post and The Drudge Report (unusual bedfellows indeed), you cannot find this report anywhere on CNN, CBS, ABC, FOX, The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post -- nowhere.

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  14. Doctors expressed horror at the condition of the bodies recovered from the Nariman Building, which housed the Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch retreat.
    "I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was traumatised," a mortician said. "It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood."
    The group that stormed Bombay's most famous institutions displayed unrestrained brutality throughout the mission. The captain of a fishing trawler hijacked by the group in Arabian Sea was found with his throat cut.
    Police said 17 victims were pushed against a wall in the corridor of the Oberoi hotel and executed in a line.
    One man who served a glass of water to a terrorist at Bombay's main railway station was shot in the forehead.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The atrocities demonstrated with crystal clarity what the Islamist war is all about – and the western commentariat didn’t understand because it simply refuses to acknowledge, even now, what that war actually is. It does not arise from particular grievances. It is not rooted in ‘despair’ over Palestine. It is not a reaction to the war in Iraq. It is a war waged in the name of Islam against America, Britain, Hindus, Jews and all who refuse to submit to Islamic conquest. The Mumbai atrocities told us very clearly a number of things.
    The Islamists want to murder as many Americans, Brits, Hindus and Jews as possible. That is because they are waging all-out war against civilisation.
    ...
    They went to some lengths in addition to single out a centre for observant Jews. Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife Rivka were murdered not because of Palestine but simply because they were Jews. That is because hatred of Jews as Jews is fundamental to the Islamists’ hatred of the west – and of Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Please Note.... 1 billion Indians.... 5 thousand Jews..

    With over a billion people living in India, the terrorists sought out the most visible of its 5,000 Jews. That's because there is no hatred in the world like Jew-hatred, and today's Islamists are as expert practitioners as their European forebears. Jew-hatred has nothing to do with the State of Israel or any rational grievance against the Jewish people. It is the oldest hatred in the books. And it's not going to go away even if the Jews were to leave Israel for other parts of the world.

    It's time to face reality.

    ReplyDelete
  17. WiO: It is the oldest hatred in the books. And it's not going to go away even if the Jews were to leave Israel for other parts of the world.

    And the magic thing is, it's all black and white, us and them, if you're not wid'em, you're agin 'em, atherefore you hate Jews. If you don't borrow $3 billion dollars every year from the Chinese, with your unborn grandchildren as co-signers, and transfer that money to Israel, you're just as evil as the SS troops who loaded those trains with Jews for a one way trip to Auschwitz. Nice gig if you can get it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Europeon hate of Persians, that is older than the persecution of Jews in the "Western" whirled.

    The Greeks marched through northern Arabia, not giving pain to the Jews there. Though they decimated the Persians in the area.

    Indeed the JewishEncyclopedia says this, about Alexander:

    ... introducing Hellenic culture into Syria and Egypt, he had probably more influence on the development of Judaism than any one individual not a Jew by race.

    The web site SomethingJewish tells of a similar history of respect towards those of Judea.

    The other famous Talmudic story is that other local nations appeared before him and asked him to dispossess the Jews, but he allowed the Jews to defend themselves against false charges and their enemies were routed.

    Once again the Story of "o" misshapes the historical record to suit the current propaganda needs of the Israeli government.

    Extending the fiction of Jewish persecution throughout the ages. When that is not the reality, just the fiction of the Story of "o".

    ReplyDelete
  19. Those JewishEncyclopedia also give lie to the other fiction of the Story of "o", that Jewish culture created "Western" civilization.

    It seems that it was the Hellenic culture that had great influence upon Jewish culture, not the other way around.

    At least according to published accounts, at JewishEncyclopedia.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. desert rat is the new example of evil...

    he is a jew hater, an Israel hater and as such anything he says is tained by his (self confessed) murderous being..

    desert rat is also a "fake war hero" claiming without any proof, that he was a civilian contractor under ollie north, murdering his way thru central america...

    So really is his opinions about ANYTHING worthy of rebuttal?

    Naw...

    His is just scum.

    ReplyDelete
  21. .
    I could buy some of the views put forth here on foreign policy if they we more consistent.

    For instance, if someone is completely isolationist, while I would disagree to some extent with that viewpoint, I could still accept it as a legitimate although in my opinion an extreme view.

    However, when we start picking who is our ally and who deserves our 'support' it starts to get a little wierd in that it often involves forgetting that alliances are based on national self-interest and rarely last indefinitely.

    The idea that Israel is a big boy now and should handle their problems by themselves is humorous in that it assumes the US is currently doing them any favors. At best, current US policy towards Israel involves benign neglect. Bringing up $3 billion in 'aid' is rediculous. It's all in arms and U.S. companies get 75% of it back. You might as well call it what it is an effective jobs program and a pay off to the military lobby. And for that matter, who don't we sell arms to.

    The peace talks? No one expects them to go anywhere. All show for the elections.

    Israel is hardly perfect. As much as anyone here, with the exception of the rat, I have pointed out issues with Israel. But in fact, they have been one of our most consistent allies. We have taken heat for supporting Israel in the UN; but when is the last time Israel didn't support us there. And is anyone here naive enough to believe that we would suddenly be best friends with the radical nations of the Middle East just by the fact that Israel wasn't there. Get real.

    Who are our allies? Turkey? It's obvious that since the last regime change, Turkey has been moving away from the US and looking more towards the East than towards the West. They are pursuing what they perceive to be their own interests.
    The Israeli raid on the Gaza boats was hardly well planned and they took criticism for how it was handled. However, to blame Israel for deteriorating relations with Turkey is rediculous.

    Europe? The Europeans are looking to form an alliance with Russia for an expanded trade relationship. Why? Because Putin is so well loved? More likely, because they are dependant on Russian oil and gas. The protection the US used to give them, they feel they don't need anymore. What else can we offer them? Derivatives? Afghanistan?

    Those nations in the ME that support us do so because it's in their own self-interest to do so. (Saudi Arabia because we sell then $60 billion arms and we are an offset to Iran). If they didn't think they needed us could we expect any loyalty from any of them?

    We've seen how quickly our 'allies' like Turkey and Pakistan can turn on us. We have also seen how reality intrudes on issues with long-term allies (Japan) and enemies (Vietnam) when they percieve a need for us against a current threat (China).

    Latin and South America? Many nations there have a history of shifting from fascist to communist regimes and back again every generation or so. What could the US do to 'pay more attention to them'? Give them more aid? Trade agreements? (The trade agreements might make sense. I don't know that much about the three pending other than that it's reported they won't affect US jobs and will merely reduce tariffs.) What else?

    In US foreign policy, apologizing to anyone who doesn't like us merely makes us look weak. The one way we can gain influence in the world is by regaining the economic strength we have lost. Then, there is an advantage to the nations of the world to be our ally.

    Criticizing Israel is legitimate. Kicking them to the curb to impress a bunch of pricks who refused to be impressed is ridiculous.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  22. .
    JetBlue attendant in famous meltdown pleads guilty


    The JetBlue Airways Corp. flight attendant whose job-quitting meltdown landed him in court avoided jail time in a plea deal Tuesday that requires him to undergo counseling and treatment for a least a year.

    Steven Slater spoke politely and calmly as he entered a guilty plea to a charge of second-degree attempted criminal mischief, a felony, and a lesser charge of fourth-degree attempted criminal mischief...


    District Attorney Richard Brown scolded Slater — and the public — for not taking his actions more seriously, noting it cost $25,000 to fix the slide and that the plane had to be taken out of service afterward, causing flight delays.



    Flight Attendant Pleads Guilty

    I wouldn't have minded seeing this guy get some jail time, but he did lose his job and may have to pay Jet Blue for expenses. I guess that's enough.

    .

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  23. Quirk said...
    .
    JetBlue attendant in famous meltdown pleads guilty




    I am surprised. That actually was the RIGHT thing to do. I hope he is not rewarded for his folly. But pleading GUILTY shows either some spine or no choice.

    Either way?

    I am glad he pleaded guilty

    Hope his 15 minutes are over.

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  24. Criticizing Israel is legitimate. Kicking them to the curb to impress a bunch of pricks who refused to be impressed is ridiculous.

    How about kicking them to the curb because we're broke?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Quirk: Bringing up $3 billion in 'aid' is rediculous. It's all in arms and U.S. companies get 75% of it back.

    Accounts payable is accounts payable. It's corporate welfare.

    ReplyDelete
  26. WIO: The terrorists "would be told by their handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews." They were tortured very badly.

    Well, since no less an authority that George W. Bush calls Islam a religion of peace, Republicans who want to toe the party line should hesitate to call the suffering of the Jews "torture" and think of it as tough love.

    ReplyDelete
  27. .
    Accounts payable is accounts payable. It's corporate welfare.

    You assume that if it weren't spend in Israel it wouldn't be spent.

    Perhaps I'm a little cynical in believing it would be spent somewhere.

    Now if you are calling for the suspension of all aid to everyone, as I've said, that is a legitimate position. However, if you are arguing for any aid to anybody, your comments on Israel are silly.

    .

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  28. I can think of very little that interests me less than Israel/Palestine/Gaza, etc.

    With the very serious problems we have, to risk the destruction of even one precious brain cell worrying about that mess seems an incongruency.

    Lord protect us from the "Religious" (and their wars.)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Please. Let me be the First.

    No. More. Aid. To. Anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  30. T is Right. We is Broke. I mean, Really Broke. We are getting in a World of Shit, Real Fast.

    Somebody Has to sit down with the Country's Checkbook, and Budget, and start figuring this shit out.

    You can't Spend $35,000.00 Every Year on a $20,000.00 Income.

    The Gummint Can't spend $3.5 Trillion every year on a $2.0 T income.

    You can get away with it (maybe) for One year. If you have really good credit, possibly even Two years. But, when you get to the Third Year,

    Somebody is going to start "calling your notes" pretty damned Q."

    We're in the "Third" year.

    ReplyDelete
  31. That was a nice melody, it had no time for hollow people (false, artificial, insincere)

    ReplyDelete
  32. .
    How about kicking them to the curb because we're broke?

    My comment was more on politics than the aid issue.

    However, $3 billion is chump change in the big picture. Getting out of Afghanistan would dwarf any actions with Israel in terms of saving money. Aid to Pakistan? Might as well flush it down the drain. I forget the details but as I recall through some of our initiatives on the nuclear weapons treaties we are even sending money to Iran.

    Our problems are measured in trillions not a few billions.

    Corporate welfare? Hell, we've had tariffs on sugar production since the early 1800's. Currently, subsidies, import quotas, and tariffs result in us paying $3 billion a year more than we should for sugar. We were also paying out about $1 billion a year to help countries that the import quotas hurt. Not to mention the jobs that have been lost in the US due to the high price of sugar.

    Get rid of corporate welfare? Right. Why didn't anybody ever think of that?

    .

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  33. Foreign policy wise I think we ought to get out of the UN, it's a farce, form a league of real democracies. That would include Israel.


    As for domestic policies, I'm surprised sometimes the country works at all, it is so complex.

    Keep the basics of capitalism, it is self correcting.

    ReplyDelete
  34. .
    Republicans who want to toe the party line should hesitate...

    It would be interesting to poll the bar and find out how many people here actually call themselves Republicans (or Dems for that matter) these days.

    I suspect it would be a lot less than a few years ago.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  35. I could sit here and write twenty pages about the crap I've been through just to get my project to the final approval stage......

    but you don't have the attention span and would bored.

    But she has been a....bitch.

    At this point I've walked in with some well thought out street names....we can't even agree on that.

    All I wanted in the beginning was a simple zone change.....

    Then I'm told I have to do the whole thing....no one can fore see that future....


    and we're talking about what MIGHT happen twenty years from now when most of us will be dead and gone....

    It's a crazy way to go about things.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Instructions for Congress - First Day:


    Leave Afghanistan + $150 Billion.

    Yep. A Good Start.

    End ALL Foreign Aid + $25 Billion.

    Yep. That would be Progress.

    Cut the Budget 10% ACROSS THE BOARD. + $350 Billion

    Now, we're getting somewhere.

    Make ALL Corporate taxes 15%, AND PAYABLE "RIGHT NOW." + $200 Billion.

    + $725 Billion so far. Now we're getting somewhere.

    Put top tax rate where Bill Clinton had it. + $250 Billion

    Brings us to $1 Trillion.

    Go to Lunch. Go easy on the Martinis; the afternoon is going to be a bitch.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I'm a Republican.


    It's the only party as stupid as I am.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I'm a Republican in the absence of anything better.

    I'm thinking along my aunt's lines, we might need a good prince.

    Alas always followed by aa bad one.

    The human race is ungovernable.

    I can't believe it works at all.

    There is no good solution.

    Vote Sarah

    She'll provide no real solutions either, but at least she's nice to look at.


    Pessimistic about this world, optimistic about the world to come.

    ReplyDelete
  39. If there were, however, an "Anarchist" Party, I would be a likely recruit.


    Right now, I just want to see ALL Incumbents gone.

    ReplyDelete
  40. The only one I'm even mildly intrigued by, right now, is Chris Christie.

    He's got some big old balls; and, he's not afraid to say, "No."

    And, he's not all "ate up" with religious bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
  41. I could live with Palin. I think she's got enough common sense to know there's some "budget-balancing" that's got to go on.

    ReplyDelete
  42. We need a melody for president...least we'd have some good music....a song and maybe even a dance....

    get out the old accordion....

    The sky is absolutely blue here today, not a cloud in sight....

    but the garbanzos are goners....

    I actually posted this myself

    By the way, when in Ely, we saw the most beautiful rainbow, double, I've ever seen in my life.

    Alas, the camera was in the motel.

    Hung there for maybe seven minutes, truly amazing.

    We tried to take pics with our cell phones, but they didn't turn out well.

    ReplyDelete
  43. HONG KONG — China, which has been blocking shipments of crucial minerals to Japan for the last month, has now quietly halted shipments of some of those same materials to the United States and Europe, three industry officials said on Tuesday.

    China Blocks Shipments of Rare Earths to the United States.

    This would be the time to Do It. 25% Tariff on ALL your damned products, you Communist Pricks. Fuck you very much.

    ReplyDelete
  44. The human race is ungovernable....

    the best solution is a rural society, with laws passed with ownership in mind, and an uncorrupt Judiciary.

    I can't really thing of much else.

    ReplyDelete
  45. rufus spouts: This would be the time to Do It. 25% Tariff on ALL your damned products, you Communist Pricks. Fuck you very much.



    Rufus, I always thought you were a pussy...

    25% tariff? that's what the YUAN should be revalued at...

    How about this?

    An immediate tariff of 25% (for trade penalty) and another 35% for being the pricks that they are?

    Then slap on a SLOW down on all chinese made products coming to the USA and a slow down on any and all exports to china?

    Then add in a EXPORT tariff on any and all FOOD?

    Seems we'd have nice trade war with China?

    Then nationalize the chinese debt...

    lol...

    Bet Taiwan will be shitting it'sself by morning...

    Best thing to do really is dive the dollar down 30-40 points...

    then they cant say we did it on purpose...

    just devalue the buck even more...

    strap in...

    ReplyDelete
  46. But bob, you oppose private and local ownership, in Idaho.

    Preferring instead to have Federal Socialism, there.

    Your hypocrisy is unending.

    We should have invaded Pakistan, not Iraq, after the campaign in Afghanistan. That was were the infrastructure of the 11SEP01 attacks was created and where the terrorist retreated to.
    We should have destroyed the Pakistni nuclear capability by 11SEP02

    Instead the Republicans sent the Pakistani over $10 Billion USD.

    The US military should have been withdrawn from Europe after the demise of the Soviet Union, that was almost 20 years ago, now.

    Anyone that claims to be for a smaller Federal government while supporting Republican candidates is fooling themselves, at best. At worse they are lying to themselves and the rest of the whirled.




    .

    ReplyDelete
  47. Unfortunately, you're right, Rat.

    Mike Wallace asked the horrid Carly Fiorino at least five times point blank,

    "Just tell me ONE government program you'd cut. JUST ONE.

    She would never name One.

    ReplyDelete
  48. C.I.A. Was Told About Bomber of Afghan Base, Inquiry Finds

    Besides the failure to pass on warnings about the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the C.I.A. investigation chronicled major security lapses at the base in Afghanistan, a lack of war zone experience among the agency’s personnel at the base, insufficient vetting of the Jordanian, and a murky chain of command with different branches of the intelligence agency competing for control over the operation.

    The report found that the breakdowns were partly the result of C.I.A. officers’ wanting to believe they had finally come across the thing that had eluded them for years: a golden source who could lead them to the terror network’s second highest figure, Ayman al-Zawahri.

    ---

    Mr. Panetta said that it appeared that the C.I.A. operative in Amman was dismissive of the warnings from the Jordanian officer because he suspected that the officer was jealous of a colleague’s close relationship with Mr. Balawi, and might have been trying to scuttle the operation.

    Current and former C.I.A. officials said that the decision not to hold officers directly responsible for the bombing was partly informed by an uncomfortable truth: some of them might have been among those killed in the bombing.

    The officials said there was particular sensitivity about how much fault to assign to Jennifer Matthews, a Qaeda expert who was the chief of the Khost base.

    One former C.I.A. officer with Afghanistan experience said there was bitter internal debate over whether Ms. Matthews — who had little field experience — ought to be singled out for blame for the security lapses that allowed Mr. Balawi onto the base.

    “There’s a lot of built-up emotion over this, because one of the primary people accused is Jennifer, and she’s not here to defend herself,” he said.


    Mr. Panetta said that because he was considered a reliable source, normal security procedures were eased: Mr. Balawi was not subjected to screening at the perimeter of the Khost base, and a large group of C.I.A. officers gathered to greet him when he arrived at the base.

    C.I.A. officers became suspicious however, when Mr. Balawi chose to get out of the car on the side opposite the security personnel, who were waiting to pat him down. The security guards soon drew their guns, and Mr. Balawi detonated his suicide vest.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Chuck Devore woulda won and been a great senator.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Why are we so stupid?


    Cause we think, or think we think, in electronic video images.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Sharia? What Sharia?

    As Sharron Angle, Newt Gingrich and others have started making Islamic law (Sharia) part of the national debate, and Oklahoma actually moves to outlaw it, there is a new attempt to confuse the American people about the nature of the threat we face. It’s a large-scale mainstream media effort to deny both that there is any attempt to bring Sharia to the United States, and that Sharia is anything to be concerned about in the first place. Unfortunately, there is plenty of evidence of attempts to establish the primacy of Islamic law over American law, and much to indicate that Sharia is anything but benign.

    - Spencer

    ReplyDelete
  52. 2. Walt
    They welcomed the men
    And the women back then
    And they flocked to the city of gold
    Where they went on the dole
    And they murdered and stole
    There’s a lesson from history of old
    They were Romans in name
    Playing out their sweet game
    Pretty soon politicians took note
    And they joined in the ride
    And with fierce Roman pride
    Got elected with immigrant vote
    Now we know what came next
    It is there in the text
    Written history as plain as your face
    When you go down that path
    It is pure simple math
    That you wind up for good in last place

    ReplyDelete
  53. The ad flap was one of several major developments in the race:

    — A Canadian diplomat called on Angle to denounce her recent remarks that the "northern border is where the terrorists come through."

    ...

    — Controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio was scheduled to meet with the Tea Party Express at a country bar as it rolls through Las Vegas on its trip across the nation.

    — A group of U.S. senators that works to elect fellow Democrats released a TV spot urging Nevadans not to punish Reid for Nevada's woeful economy.


    Urging not to Vote

    ReplyDelete
  54. Rove doesn't think the Tea Partiers are "Economically Sophisticated."

    Really, Turdblossom?

    Not Sophisticated like the Elites that Crashed the Global Economy, and put us into a two + year recession, with back to back $1.3 Trillion Deficits?

    Not sophisticated like That?

    You fucking pussy, moron cocksucker.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Perhaps the biggest complication lies on the battlefield. As long as the Taliban believe they are winning, they do not seem likely to want to make a deal.

    ...

    So far, the insurgents have shown few public signs of wanting to give up. That much was acknowledged Tuesday by the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta.

    “If there are elements that wish to reconcile and get reintegrated, that ought to be obviously explored,” he said in Washington. “But I still have not seen anything that indicates that at this point a serious effort is being made to reconcile.”


    Afghan War

    ReplyDelete
  56. I've offered up changes to my street names---I've refused to change the long Nez Perce word for 'deep underground water'---we'll see where all this goes.

    Lawyer says Planning and Zoning has the final say....I doubt it....she is new, inexperienced...a completely unelected body, P and Z....anybody can walk in off the street....whole thing is ridiculous....I doubt such an issue has ever been to the courts....

    k has become ch, and a few other minor changes


    I offer this up to show how difficult things can become even on a minor project....we are stupid....

    Maybe I should just name them all after rock bands, or video segments

    or just A, B, C etc....

    maybe 1, 2 ,3....

    ReplyDelete
  57. or just A, B, C etc....

    maybe 1, 2 ,3....


    cept we already have those....

    A Reagan Street here....I wouldn't even try....

    it's best to live in the country

    ReplyDelete
  58. Leon is abusing the English language. Of course the Taliban shows no sign of a desire "get reintegrated".

    The Taliban NEVER was integrated with the Karsai cult. So it would be impossible to "get reintegrated".

    It just exemplifies the fact that trying to duplicate the failures in the Iraq experience, while proclaiming those failures as success is systematic to the dysfunction that permeates the Federals, both civilian and military.

    That the Iraq experience has degenerated into dysfunction, evidenced by their lack of a government after seven, almost eight months have passed since the election, late last March.

    Total failure of the grand cultural modification strategy proclaimed by Mr Bush, and implemented by the US military.

    The military architects of that failure then taking the "Plan" and attempting to impose it upon the culture, there in Afghanistan.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Maybe....


    Rainbow

    Brook

    Brown

    Cut throat

    Steelhead

    Lake

    Grayling

    Dolly Varden


    that ought to do it

    ReplyDelete
  60. After all they don't run their lives on egotism.

    ReplyDelete
  61. You were warned, bob.

    Enjoy.



    Rat, for once I totally agree with you.

    ReplyDelete
  62. You'll end up with building lots that no one will want to buy.

    Profiting only the lawyers and city planners, you providing the reason for their continued employment.

    According to the January 2010 Idaho Economic Forecast, a publication produced by the Division of Financial Management, Idaho's economy, which includes housing starts, will grow only modestly. Personal income, which had grown dramatically since 2002, actually shrank in 2009 and is predicted to recover to 2008 levels this year.

    Housing starts are a fraction of their highest mark of 23,418 in 2005. By 2009, that number had fallen to 5,890, but are predicted to improve to 7,756 starts for 2010


    While the number of bank owned repossessed homes homes on the market in Idaho skyrocket.

    ”It’s been the slowest October in years for home purchase applications. We’ve got to get unemployment down,“ said Suzi Boyle, a loan originator with Evergreen Home Loans in Eagle.

    Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/11/1374851/low-rates-a-windfall-for-a-lucky.html#ixzz12r4400lS

    While the "good news" is that those existing homes are getting ever cheaper, with no rebound in sight. New construction will not be able to compete, not for years.

    In areas like Idaho, the number of foreclosed properties is on the rise. It is feared that a second recession could hit the region. In fact, experts observe that a second recession could hit could sweep across major states in the US. The fears are being aggravated by factors like the feeble housing market and thriftiness among the consumers. People are indeed afraid of spending.

    Home prices are still very cheap. Despite prices remaining reasonable, people are refraining from buying homes. Experts observe that the primary reason for this is that the value of the homes has dipped to an all-time low. Home values have dropped by s much as 50 %. Home values are not expected to rise in the coming years.


    Happy you bet on the Obama recovery, aye?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Maybe, maybe not, the first part worked out good.

    I gotta go....

    it's there tiny details kinda get you after a while.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I thought them Pineapple Heads were just hillbillies with surfboards, but maybe they're smarter than I thought.

    Pineapple Heads Do Solar - Big Time

    ReplyDelete
  65. Solar hot water is huge here, Rufus. Every other house has got one. Damn near.

    ReplyDelete
  66. My country, my country
    My country, my land, land of my ancestors
    Revolutionist, Revolutionist
    Revolutionist, my people, people of perpetuity

    With my determination, my fire and the volcano of my revenge
    With the longing in my blood for my land and my home
    I have climbed the mountains and fought the wars
    I have conquered the impossible, and crossed the frontiers

    With the resolve of the winds and the fire of the guns
    And the determination of my nation in the land of struggle
    Palestine is my home, Palestine is my fire,
    Palestine is my revenge and the land of endurance

    By the oath under the shade of the flag
    By my land and nation, and the fire of pain
    I will live as a Revolutionist, I will remain a Revolutionist,
    I will end as a Revolutionist - until my country returns

    ReplyDelete
  67. An Israeli company has developed a new technique using fiber optic cables to scan for potentially malignant skin cancer moles.
    "Early detection is the key to battling the disease. With early detection, almost all forms of skin cancer are curable," says Col. (ret.) Yossi Biderman, CEO of Skin Cancer Scanning (SCS), an Israeli company that has developed a breakthrough technology using fiber-optic cables to scan for potentially malignant moles.

    Clinical trials at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva in central Israel show the system to be 92 percent effective in detecting certain types of skin cancer at an early stage - a higher rate than that of any apparatus currently available. Now a marketable device called Skinscan 650 is close to being ready, Biderman stated "We assume we will have a working prototype by mid-to-late 2011."


    In a related article, our very own Rat's friends, the Palestinians, have invented a way for pregnant women to wear explosive belts....

    It's called the fetusbombbelt

    ReplyDelete
  68. Solar hot water makes a lot of sense in sunny places, Sam.

    I put together a Solar Hot Water deal back in the seventies. It was an elegant little business model. A bit too elegant, really. Basically made "beer money," but had a lot of fun. :)

    ReplyDelete
  69. Dancing With The Stars had an elimination shocker last night as Bristol Palin and pro partner Mark Ballas were saved from the chop.

    They had scored the lowest of all contestants on Monday night's show but were saved from elimination in the opening minutes of Tuesday's results show.

    Mark Ballas's face said it all as his jaw dropped at the announcement that he and Bristol were safe.

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

    ReplyDelete
  71. .
    Anna Chapman deserves the award she received from the Russian government.

    Anna Chapman Receives Russia'a Highest Award

    .

    ReplyDelete
  72. Mel is ignoring all emails relating to and or containing any words that in any way resemble barackobama.com. She is sticking to all medical advice that flows through the deep crevices of her mailbox.

    Up first women's health issue. Margaritas…The cure all…


    Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
    * Do you suffer from shyness?
    * Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?
    * Do you suffer exhaustion from the day to day grind?

    If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.

    Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you are ready and willing to do just about anything. You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

    Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Margaritas.

    Margaritas may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas. However, women who wouldn't mind
    nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

    Side effects may include:
    - Dizziness
    - Nausea
    - Vomiting
    - Incarceration
    - Erotic lustfulness
    - Loss of motor control
    - Loss of clothing
    - Loss of money
    - Loss of virginity
    - Table dancing
    - Headache
    - Dehydration
    - Dry mouth
    - And a desire to sing Karaoke

    WARNINGS:
    * The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not.

    * The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

    * The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to think you can sing.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Great News!


    Twelve Palestinians were injured from an explosion at a Hamas Kassam rocket training site in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Ma'an news agency reported.

    Five children and three women were among the casualties at the Al-Qassam Brigades site located in the Tel As-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah. Damages was caused to surrounding residential windows.



    I hope they have very painful wounds, I hope many of them linger for months til they pass from this earth....

    Man I love Darwin and natural selection.

    ReplyDelete
  74. The Region: Jihad is the answer
    By BARRY RUBIN
    10/18/2010 00:03

    The central question for many in M.East has for years been: Why is it – since we are a superior people (Arabs) with a superior religion (Islam) – that we are behind the West and what can we do about it?

    In calling for jihad against America, the West and Israel in terms virtually identical with Osama bin Laden’s rhetoric, the leader of Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood uttered one sentence that explains the contemporary Middle East.

    Here it is: “The improvement and change that the [Muslim] nation seeks can only be attained through jihad and sacrifice and by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death just as its enemies pursue life.”

    Here’s why that sentence is so important. The central question for the Middle East for many decades has been this: Why is it – especially since we are a superior people (Arabs) with a superior religion (Islam) – that we are behind the West? How that question has been answered has been the core of Middle Eastern politics. Let’s call it The Question.

    So how do Islamists deal with The Question? By saying: The reason we are behind is not mainly due to any internal failing but to the oppression of imperialism and Zionism, the treason of our governments and above all our abandonment of Islam. The solution is to have proper Islamic governments with dictatorial control, state domination of the economy, unity through a new caliphate, the systematic rejection of Western culture and making our society conform to Islamic law as we interpret it. These regimes will fight, defeat the West, destroy Israel, bring Muslim unity and fulfill Allah’s commands.

    Here’s where Badi’s statement fits in as the proposed solution: “The improvement and change that the [Muslim] nation seeks can only be attained through jihad and sacrifice and by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death just as its enemies pursue life.”

    Not through solving problems by compromise, not by ending foreign conflicts, not by better educational systems that are open to science and other imported ideas, not by modernizing Islam, not by granting equality to women, not by democracy, not by human rights. No and no and no. But only by: “...jihad and sacrifice and by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death just as its enemies pursue life.”

    Jihad they want and jihad they will get; death they want and death they will get; a generation of warfare they want and a generation of warfare they will get. They will fail and their claims will be seen to be hollow. Unfortunately, it will take about 50 years for that to happen. The result? Arab and Muslim-majority countries will be left even further behind the rest of the world.

    ReplyDelete