COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Thursday, July 28, 2011

"Obama is dividing us as a nation," Langone said. "He's not bringing us together. He's willfully dividing us. He's petulant."

Obama 'Unpresidential,' 'Petulant' 'Dividing Us': Langone
Published: Thursday, 28 Jul 2011 | 8:55 AM
By: Jeff Cox
CNBC.com Staff Writer

President Barack Obama's conduct during the debate over the debt ceiling has divided the country and will inflict damage that will last well after the battle is over, former New York Stock Exchange director and Wall Street stalwart Ken Langone said.

While he believes a debt deal will get done and in fact favors a plan closer to what the Democrats are proposing, Langone told CNBC that Obama's behavior has been "unpresidential."

"He is dividing us as a nation," Langone said. "He's not bringing us together. He's willfully dividing us. He's petulant."

The co-founder of Home Depot [HD 35.88 0.255 (+0.72%) ]sharply criticized the president for promoting class warfare through his repeated attacks against "fat cat" business executives and his targeting of tax loopholes.

In sum, the behavior is symptomatic of Obama's disrespect for the office he holds, Langone said.

"Ronald Reagan would never go into the Oval Office without his jacket on—that's how much he revered the presidency," he said. "This guy worked like hell to be president...Behave like a president. Let me look at you as a model to how we should behave. What does he say? Fat cats, jet airplanes. What is the purpose? Us versus them.

"The thing I fear the most about the future of America is...divide us, we all lose. This has got to stop."

Langone said people with his wealth should pay more taxes, but the debate shouldn't be framed as rich against poor.

"He is not acting presidential. He is behaving in a way designed in my opinion to divide us, to make us look at each other with skepticism, with suspicion. That is the end of America as we know it," he said. "The destruction he is inflicting by his behavior will carry on long after we settle the debt limit."

Nevertheless, Langone said he expects a debt deal to happen as the warring factions will keep battling until the final hour. He suggested that Congress follow the adage of "keep it simple, stupid" when addressing the problem and conveying the solution to the American public.

"The debt ceiling will be raised, number one, by next week," he said. "They'll come to some juncture where they're going to say, 'This is not what I wanted but it's the best I can get.'"

One solution he proposed is higher taxation, particularly for the wealthier in society who are getting benefits they don't deserve from entitlement programs such as Social Security.

Cuts to those programs have been an especially sensitive part in the debate as deficit reducers on the right insist some reform will be needed in entitlements while opponents on the left insist on higher taxes for higher earners.

Langone agrees with the higher taxation argument as long as those revenues are used toward debt reduction.

"People like me have to understand that it isn't business as usual," he said. "I think it's a travesty for a man of my success and my means to get anything from the federal government. I think I should pay more taxes."

210 comments:

  1. Mark Steyn sez:

    Nobody in Greece, Portugal, Spain or Ireland is talking about “out years” and exciting plans for spending cuts in 2020. They’re getting on with it now – and they’re still being downgraded.

    By contrast, both US political parties are playing croquet on the lawn in August 1914 - and the ratings agencies are stringing along with them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All the rich republican whores are avoiding the Trillions the companies they're invested in have stashed, tax-free in Ireland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

    Tis "The Guns of August" all over again, is it not, T?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mean while I read the rural areas are down to 16% of the population according to the data from the last census. And are likely to continue dropping. We used to be a farming country, and though we still have great agriculture, people seem to head to the cities, where the jobs are, if there are any.

    So we are becoming a divided nation between rural and urban too. Even in the 1950's more people still lived on the farm than in the rat race cities.

    Great year for alfalfa. I can sit and watch it grow to a second cutting. Both my daughter and I can't believe how it is springing back up from the first cutting. Been perfect weather this year for alfalfa.


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is dividing the country is not the President, but the economics of wealth distribution:


    Financial Wealth distribution in the US:

    Top 1 percent = 42.7%
    Next 19 percent = 50.3%
    Bottom 80 percent = 7.0%


    This is what is dividing Ken Langone and his ilk from the majority of US residents.
    Certainly not Mr Obama's rhetoric, but the reality of economics in the US is the driving force of division.

    Stagnant incomes and rising costs for the vast majority of US, not Presidential rhetoric, is dividing US.

    Obama is merely putting voice the discontent with the status que, that the majority of US feel.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The wealth distribution has been more or less like that all my life, and long before I was born, too.

    Nothing new there.

    And we all know that money is basically mierda, you can't take it with you, and it doesn't make happy.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  6. The case can easily be made that the costs of government should be borne by those that have the capacity to pay.

    If 20% of the population controls 83% of the wealth, that is where the government revenue should be coming from.

    Instead, the vast majority of the labor force is paying 15.3% of their income, which the "rich" and their political proxies will not even admit is an "Income Tax".

    Payroll taxes not qualifying as Income taxes in DC speak.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those are shocking numbers, Rat.

    Any second now someone's going to start crying, "Class Warfare."

    ReplyDelete
  8. For most of your life, boobie, Federal revenues were well above the 14.9% of GDP that it is, today.

    Those at the top of the distribution curve have gotten a huge financial break, at the expense of the majority.

    They obtaining the benefits of life in the US, now without paying their fair share of the costs.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 80% of our citizens have 7% of the Wealth. That won't work in the long term.

    That's "Mexico" numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tax reform would be easy.

    Set a 15.3% income tax on all income, from everyone that has income. No deductions.

    This replicates the current payroll FICA tax.

    Then, for those earning over $106,800, institute a graduated income tax at whatever rates required to balance the Federal budget.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Many of my clients are extremely wealthy people, most are nice , some would make you a Trotskyite, but none of them with a straight face would tell you they are over-taxed. The problem is the vermin who rule us would take those taxes and overspend them as well. A statute limitation on federal spending along with a more progressive flatter tax system would suit me just fine.

    I believe that highly motivated ultra wealthy people are bottom line motivated. Taxing them higher is not going to make them go on a lifeline cruise. Many will be motivated to peddle a little harder.

    ReplyDelete
  12. When Warren Buffet's secretary pays a higher percentage of her income to the Government than Warren does you're going to end up in a jam. That is just common sense.

    ReplyDelete
  13. When Rufus pays more in Federal Income Tax than does General Electric you're totally out of whack.

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

    ReplyDelete
  15. I was one of those people, once, Deuce (maybe not as wealthy as your clients, but I was a "hustler,") and I never, ever, even considered the "tax rate" when I was trying to figure out whether to try to make a buck. I just tried All The Time.

    And, the more money I needed, the harder I tried.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Now if one wants to claim that the current income and wealth distributions in the US are the fault of Mr Obama, give it a go.

    But the reality of the current situation, it is the Ken Langone's of the country that are being petulant and willfully dividing US.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The fact of the matter is: Bill Clinton, and the Republican congress of the time, had the tax rate about right.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Humorless, jealous, uncouth, relentless and a terrible speller, is Rat.

    As always.

    But his wife is for Palin, which shows who's got the brains in that family, who's the better half.

    She evidently has tuned Rat out long ago. :) heh



    Someone pulled a 34.74 pound Rainbow trout out of American Falls Reservoir yesterday. One hell of a fish, which makes happy.

    Bye, heading to the stables with daughter.


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  19. And, the Real fact of the matter is: We don't have a "Spending" Problem, or a "Tax" Problem, nearly as much as we have a "Recession" Problem.

    On top of, of course, an "unpaid for Foreign War" problem.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hell, I hate to say this, because a bunch of old, and poor folks are going to get hurt, but maybe they'll get hurt less if we have a temporary delay of bill-paying, Now, rather than if we keep slip-sliding away into oblivion with temporary "fixes," and accounting gimmicks.

    ReplyDelete
  21. In 1998, rufus, the numbers were, well, in a word, "similar":

    Financial Wealth
    Top 1 percent = 47.3%
    Next 19 percent = 43.6%
    Bottom 80 percent = 9.1%

    It seems though that the bottom 80% have taken the biggest hit, in the past 13 years of Bushenomics.

    While the government has moved from operating surplus and debt reduction, to huge deficits and greater economic division.

    Clinton/Gingrich seemed to have had the numbers "correct". More so than did Bush/Hastert/DeLay.










    5

    ReplyDelete
  22. When boobie is left without rational argument, he becomes quite petulant, does he not?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks like the 80 through 99 group came out the best doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  24. That top 1% probably got hit the worst in the stock market sell-off.

    ReplyDelete




  25. A remarkable study (Norton & Ariely, 2010) reveals that Americans have no idea that the wealth distribution (defined for them in terms of "net worth") is as concentrated as it is. When shown three pie charts representing possible wealth distributions, 90% or more of the 5,522 respondents -- whatever their gender, age, income level, or party affiliation -- thought that the American wealth distribution most resembled one in which the top 20% has about 60% of the wealth. In fact, of course, the top 20% control about 85% of the wealth (refer back to Table 1 and Figure 1 in this document for a more detailed breakdown of the numbers).

    Even more striking, they did not come close on the amount of wealth held by the bottom 40% of the population. It's a number I haven't even mentioned so far, and it's shocking: the lowest two quintiles hold just 0.3% of the wealth in the United States. Most people in the survey guessed the figure to be between 8% and 10%, and two dozen academic economists got it wrong too, by guessing about 2% -- seven times too high. Those surveyed did have it about right for what the 20% in the middle have; it's at the top and the bottom that they don't have any idea of what's going on.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Well, the Clinton tax rates kick back in at, what, the end of 2012?

    Iraq's winding down, and Afghanistan will, soon (hopefully.)

    That leaves the Recession, and that is caused by a big Petroleum Problem. And, 'That' is going to be the tough one.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I would have been "right there" with them, Rat. I would have missed the "Top," and "Bottom" by a mile.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Especially, that bottom 40% number. I would have simply informed you that you "dropped a decimal," or something.

    ReplyDelete
  29. That's why an extra couple of hundred a month for gasoline decimates the economy.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Because, the fact is, that top 20% own a lot of, to give an ex., Walmart Stock, and Walmart is getting hammered by empty stores at the end of the month.

    Same at Saveway, Family Dollar, and I would assume, most other low to mid-level retailers.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Wonderful, a nation of lawyers, bankers and clerks.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Not to put it "too" bluntly, the rich get their money by "farming" the poor, and the poor are becoming, increasingly, infertile ground.

    The Sauds are doing exceptionally well, however.

    ReplyDelete
  33. No one group has fucked the US economy as badly as the lawyers. The bankers are not even close.

    ReplyDelete




  34. Congress's Freshmen: 41 Lawyers, 7 MBAs

    - Washington Wire - WSJ

    ReplyDelete



  35. Your database search matched 78 members of Congress, including:

    19 Senators and 58 Representatives
    78 Republicans

    You searched for members of Congress who fulfill all the following criteria:

    They are Republicans.
    Their Professional experience includes "attorney".


    I found another 3 under lawyer for a total of 81

    By comparison there are 123 Democrats who listed attorney or lawyer as their profession.


    That's 201 lawyers out of 535 seats.

    ReplyDelete
  36. The Best thing the Rich could have done to further their own self-interest was to get behind the Bush/Obama Biofuel plans.

    Instead, they gazed, lovingly, at their Exxon Stock, and fought our "home-grown energy" tooth, and nail.

    Now, their fields are becoming infertile, and they can't figure out why.

    ReplyDelete
  37. That's 204 lawyers, out of 535 seats.

    Mea culpa

    ReplyDelete
  38. Meanwhile, their Saudi/Exxon friends are whispering sweet lies, comfortingly, in their ears, and peeing down their legs.

    ReplyDelete
  39. The mpg of the average car driven by those in the "lower 40" is, probably, in the 16 to 18, overall, range.

    That means, at today's price of $3.70/gal, they're paying between $0.23/mile, and $0.21/mile to go to work, and go grocery shopping.

    It's going to take some time, and effort to get that down to an affordable level ($0.10 - $0.15/mile.)

    ReplyDelete
  40. The mpg of the average car driven by those in the "lower 40" is, probably, in the 16 to 18, overall, range.

    That means, at today's price of $3.70/gal, they're paying between $0.23/mile, and $0.21/mile to go to work, and go grocery shopping.

    It's going to take some time, and effort to get that down to an affordable level ($0.10 - $0.15/mile.)

    ReplyDelete



  41. How Do You Feel About Wealth Distribution in the US?

    According to David Cay Johnston's new book "Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill),"
    the current distribution of wealth in the US is closer to that of Mexico and Brazil than any other countries in the world.

    The US currently has the third LOWEST tax rate of any industrialized nation. Only Korea and Mexico are below us.
    Imagine if the US was made up of 100 people and $100 was all the wealth in the country.

    1 person would get $34.30 each
    4 people would get $6.15 each
    5 people would get $2.46 each
    10 people would get $1.34 each
    20 people would get $0.56 each
    20 people would get $0.19 each
    40 people would get less than $0.01 each


    http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty…

    ReplyDelete



  42. ... the current distribution of wealth in the US is closer to that of Mexico and Brazil than any other countries in the world.


    Many still deny and scoff at the idea that there is a movement towards an American Union. While the economics of that unification are becoming well established.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Enough with Lawyers in Congress


    ... there is of course the 70,000 page tax code that God himself could not understand even if he had the help of the guy in charge of writing it (Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee – Charlie Rangle) and the guy tasked with enforcing it (Treasury Secretary – Tim Geithner). As the former is under investigation for tax evasion and the latter didn’t pay his taxes for years, with both suggesting they misunderstood the code, you begin to understand how complex it is.

    All of this is thanks to lawyers, lawsuits and plaintiffs seeking easy money or to impose their will on others. But mostly the lawyers – not the least of whom are the slip an fall type who are willing to use the courtroom to harass and extort money from companies both big and small. They are of course a big reason that health care is so expensive, as doctors feel the need to do a phalanx of unnecessary tests to protect themselves from malpractice suits. They are also the reason that thousands of communities around the country leveled their playgrounds and filled in their pools over the past two decades. They are the reason the Corps of Engineers had not strengthened the levees in New Orleans in 30 years despite the danger and the money having been allotted. They are also the reason that a wheelchair bound 80 year old grandmother is seen by the TSA as potentially an equally dangerous flyer as a 30 year old Muslim man traveling with no luggage.

    ReplyDelete
  44. .

    A statute limitation on federal spending along with a more progressive flatter tax system would suit me just fine.



    The trouble with Congress is that you can never actually believe anything they tell you. Even when the GOP talks about a balanced budget amendment, they state that there would be safeguards to be able to meet 'emergancies'. The trouble is one man's emergancy is another man's pork.

    With regard to statute limitations, we have already tried that with 'Pay-go' in the 90's. Instituted in 1990, Pay-go seemed to work. The budget was balanced by 1998 and the deficit for that period was reduced as a percentage of GPD.

    In FY 1991, the Federal deficit was 4.5% of GDP, and by FY 2000, the Federal surplus was 2.4%.[3] Total Federal spending as a percentage of GDP decreased each year from FY1991 through FY 2000, falling from 22.3% to 18.4%. Deficits, though, returned by the last year PAYGO was in effect: There was a "return to deficits ($158 billion, 1.5% of GDP) in 2002".[3]


    Pogo on Pay-go


    The problem was that once the budget was balanced, money started burning a hole in the pockets of the legislature. They started coming up with gimmicks like 'emergancy expenditures' in order to spend the money they had.

    The Dems started it out with 'pocket change' and then Bush came in and ran the practice to a whole nother level. Obama and the boys merely continue the slide at an accelerated rate.

    One would have to be demented or on a kool-aid sugar high to take any of the proposals currently on the board for settling the debt ceiling debate as serious. Even the CBO which merely scores what they are handed can't go along with the numbers submitted by either side. It's a continuation of phoney numbers, smoke and mirror accounting, and Pollyanna assumptions.

    It's all a game.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  45. I always laugh inwardly at the "extreme prejudice" 'gainst the poor lawyers here.

    One's own lawyer is a hero of course, it's all the other lawyers that are pricks. :)


    And we have that genius Ron Paul, non-lawyer extraordinaire who wants "jury nullification" !!! heh

    Might as well nullify the legislatures as that is what that amounts to.

    We could do a lot worse than have a legislature with a good number of lawyers in attendance.

    Warning: DON'T TRY TO BE YOUR OWN LAWYER!!!!!

    YOU'LL HAVE A FOOL FOR A CLIENT!!!!

    :)

    My daughter got a speeding ticket ninety dollars the other day on the highway for 2 miles per hour over the speed limit.

    I asked my lawyer what she thought she should do?

    By all means have her plead NOT GUILTY then she can try to negotiate out with the prosecutors.

    Lawyers ain't all bad.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  46. Well, we're "in line" for a good ass-kicking; these assholes are just moving us up a few spaces. Probably for the better, really.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Advice for which she will probably bill you $95.00, I imagine. :)

    ReplyDelete
  48. We know that in non-recessionary times Clinton's tax rate would get us about 19% of GDP.

    Take away the two wars, and the associated costs of recession (extended unemployment benefits, excess Social payments (food stamps, medicaid, etc,) and we've got spending down to around 22% of GDP.

    We can live, if not thrive, on a deficit of 3% of GDP, especially in a normal economy with 2.5% to 3% inflation.

    These assholes know all this, of course. They think they're just "stalling the ball" until the economy picks up.

    The Problem is, they've got that part about the "Economy Picking Up" wrong. And, That is where we are in for a good ass-biting.

    ReplyDelete
  49. 2nd qtr GDP is out, tomorrow. My gut has it between 1.0% and 1.5%.

    But, if you put a gun to my favorite dog's head, and made me pick "over 1.5%" or "under 1.0%, I'd have to take the Under.

    We'll see.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Financial Wealth distribution in the US:

    Top 1 percent = 42.7%
    Next 19 percent = 50.3%
    Bottom 80 percent = 7.0%


    Them's storming the Bastille numbers.

    Here's my thing. I get tired of the rhetoric from Buffet, Gates, et al about their paltry tax rates. Every time I do my taxes, there's a field asking me if I want to pay more. It's one thing for them to whine about how everyone else should pay more because they are druglord-rich, it's another thing to write a check, lead by example and STFU.

    I'm like a lot of Americans. I will pay more, but EVERYTHING must change. I will pay more and I want $800B cut from the budget RIGHT NOW. Gone. Close up shop. Send the bureaucrats home forever, done.

    Space program? It was fun. It was a state-run industry, and we have enough ICBMs to blow our enemies away tenfold. Mission accomplished. If we can mine nickel from asteroids and make a mint, let Paul Allen, Richard Branson and United Mines figure out the next era of space exploration. Other than an early warning system for asteroid, comet and gamma ray strikes, I don't see how it is a national priority anymore. The Red Menace is our ride to the space station now. Sounds like we sorted that out.

    Germany? Defend yourself now. Kosovo? Adios cucarachas. Japan? Hire the Vietnamese to protect you. Nobody can whip 'em and their labor rates are cheaper.

    Subsidies? Gone. For everyone.

    Welfare? Six months and you're out. It becomes a temporary cushion for a life transition.

    Combine fed income tax with FICA and SS and quit bullshitting us. Our marginal tax rate is 30% for everyone, since the Federals raid every "lock box" to pay for everything else. These ledger columns don't fool anyone.

    There have to be cuts to all entitlements and the Pentagon needs an enema on weapons procurement.

    Separate investment banks from regular banks and treat the regular banks as utilities. Limit the shit out of what the regular banks can do and let people make their own concsious decisions to engage with the Wall Street sharks to buy toxic, collateralized, securitized garbage that pays out a mythical CAGR of 20% a year.

    Reduce corporate tax rates significantly to bring capital back home. Flat income tax for individuals with all deductions removed. I'd prefer the Fair Tax, but Americans love the state poring over their income statements and are more comfortable licking that boot.

    I'm with Rufus on the need to get biofuels kicked into high gear at home. All the laid off .gov workers and scientists can learn to write business plans and get some of the trillions in venture capital waiting to be invested in growth industries. We have 300 million internal combustion engines that will gladly burn the fuel.

    What's missing from this whole debt debate is behavioral change by the government. Sure, we can all get strip-mined for more revenue, but the current dynamic promises that the clown car in DC will continue on its path of profligate spending and total corruption, and that we'll be right back where we are in six months.

    ReplyDelete
  51. I mean, What Brother D-Day said.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Bro D-Day knows the way!

    There'd have to be some choices made, priorities publicly debated and set.

    As there should be.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Great year for alfalfa. I can sit and watch it grow to a second cutting. Both my daughter and I can't believe how it is springing back up from the first cutting. Been perfect weather this year for alfalfa.

    And just a few months ago Bob was bitching for me to quit sending the rain his way. Now he can bitch about plunging alfalfa prices.

    ReplyDelete
  54. :)

    You're right, Miss T, I remember bitching to you like hell.

    But you didn't care what I said, and continued doing your thing.

    Bless you :)


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  55. They obtaining the benefits of life in the US, now without paying their fair share of the costs.

    Fine and dandy. Let's get a VAT tax rolling. When the rich people buy their Grey Poupon, 5% of the price of every jar they consume needs to go to the Federal Government. When they drive their Lexus, 5% of the money they use to pay for the gas should go in the kitty to help pay for the roads they're using. Fair's fair!

    ReplyDelete
  56. Nothing Brother D-Day proposes will change these numbers--

    Financial Wealth distribution in the US:

    Top 1 percent = 42.7%
    Next 19 percent = 50.3%
    Bottom 80 percent = 7.0%


    Them's storming the Bastille numbers.


    one little bit. Though he does have some good ideas.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  57. The outlines of the answer, however, already are clear. Officials have said repeatedly that Treasury does not have the legal authority to pay bills based on political, moral or economic considerations. It cannot, for instance, set aside invoices from weapons companies to preserve money for children’s programs.

    The implication is that the government will need to pay bills in the order that they come due. President Obama has warned as a result that the government “cannot guarantee” payments of Social Security benefits or other popular programs. Officials also have disputed the assertion of some Republicans that the government could prioritize interest payments.


    Treasury - Hannity is full of shit

    ReplyDelete
  58. Bob might have hit a home run. Japan's alfalfa seems to be more radiation than protein.

    I'm guessing the alfalfa/beef prices will hold up good this year.

    ReplyDelete
  59. O Good An Obama Foreign Policy Victory

    Our Floppy Ears may not have known what he was doing, but he has by my criteria succeeded in weakening an Islamic State, a success.

    Libya partition in the works.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  60. They have a $90 Billion Bond Redemption on the 4th. I wonder if there is some mechanism that will allow them to do a simultaneous Bond Auction, and Redemption, and "technically" not be in default, even if only for a split second?

    ReplyDelete
  61. The question, or a question.

    Why does the debt ceiling legislation have priority over the Appropriation legislation?

    The Congress has already authorized spending the money, with an acknowledgement that the money would need to be borrowed, when it was appropriated.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Got me, Rat. If you find the answer get back to us, will you? :)

    This stuff makes me tired. Nap time.

    ReplyDelete
  63. I always lived in fear of the day that we really would get the government we deserve.

    Dozens of conservative house members going to the house chapel to pray. Asked if they were voting yes for the plant they said, "No," but they're going to "Pray," anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I wonder who means their prayers the most, the conservative congressmen, or those old people that are praying for their checks?

    ReplyDelete
  65. Libyan rebel chief gunned down in Benghazi



    (CNN) -- The commander of Libya's rebel army was assassinated in Benghazi along with two senior officers on Thursday, rebel leaders announced just hours after claiming big successes on the battlefield.

    ReplyDelete
  66. They have a $90 Billion Bond Redemption on the 4th. I wonder if there is some mechanism that will allow them to do a simultaneous Bond Auction, and Redemption, and "technically" not be in default, even if only for a split second?

    Rufus, if there's one thing I've learned about these grifters is if there ain't a mechanism, they'll make one up and laugh at anyone that protests.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Bob, why do you put idiot shit like that up?

    It's like you don't have a brain in your fucking head.

    ReplyDelete
  68. 3 ways Obama could bypass Congress
    By Jack M. Balkin, Special to CNN



    ... there's no similar limit on the amount of coinage. A little-known statute gives the secretary of the Treasury the authority to issue platinum coins in any denomination. So some commentators have suggested that the Treasury create two $1 trillion coins, deposit them in its account in the Federal Reserve and write checks on the proceeds.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Just naturally rides that far behind on the learning curve, rufus.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Bob,

    Isn't about redistribution. You make it easy to do business in this country and people get paid. The ratios take care of themselves.

    Create more opportunities for everyone and you create more wealth. The oligarchs who control the "two" parties working hard to keep the status quo and limit opportunities for others to "climb the ladder."

    In my book, if your earned it honestly, it's yours to keep.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Yeah, but damn, he's not only off the curve, the dumb fuck's all the way off the page.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Peter King, Rep from Iowa, was just on with Laura Ingraham talking the same old "prioritize" the spending nonsense, when the Treasury has said, "We can Not Legally do that; We Have to pay the Bills As They Come Due.

    Bob would be a perfect "Tea Partier." I thought they were being disingenuous. Now, I'm starting to suspect that they're, actually, really and truly, Dumb as a Box of Rocks."

    ReplyDelete
  73. Peter King, Rep from Iowa, was just on with Laura Ingraham talking the same old "prioritize" the spending nonsense, when the Treasury has said, "We can Not Legally do that; We Have to pay the Bills As They Come Due.

    Bob would be a perfect "Tea Partier." I thought they were being disingenuous. Now, I'm starting to suspect that they're, actually, really and truly, Dumb as a Box of Rocks."

    ReplyDelete
  74. heh Rufus always goes "ape shit" when anyone questions his "orthodoxy".

    Sometimes I do it just to get a middle Mississippi "reaction".

    Particularly when he's "hung over".

    Rufus would have made a great "Grand Inquisitor" back in the day. :)

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  75. Looks like my guy Raul Labrador is one of the House 'nos'.

    Maybe they truly are deadlocked and we won't pay our bills.

    But I doubt it.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  76. Two platinum coins with Obama's silhouette on one side and the tree of liberty on the reverse, struck at a face value of One Trillion Dollars.

    Wonder if he's proofed the artwork?

    ReplyDelete
  77. Federally minted coinage to be put on deposit with the Federal Reserve.

    Set a precedent that the Federals would not need to borrow at market rates, again.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Yeah, Bro, I'm sure they could rig up sumpin. In fact, that must be the plan, because they Never mention Aug 4th.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Pay off the National Debt with platinum coinage, which would allow a decrease Federal spending by 42%, which is the amount of Federal expenditures dedicated to interest on the debt.

    ReplyDelete
  80. I just had a revelation. I have a bunch of Gov. employees on payroll deduction. I usually get paid for them on the 5th. Oops.

    I'm not a "disinterested observer" any longer.

    Damn!

    ReplyDelete
  81. No vote on Boehner Bill, tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Tomorrow evening, after the markets have closed, the administration will announce its planss for paying (or, not paying) its bills in August.

    I think it will be a busy night at the nation's emergency rooms/cardiovascular units.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Ah, But There's Always A Lot Of Something In Nothing

    FTIOH


    (animated so even Rufus and rat can understand) :)

    well, maybe not rat

    ReplyDelete
  84. Don't bother putting up links for me, bubba. I quit clicking on'em.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Then you know not what you are missing, Buddha.

    :)

    g'nite Rufus

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  86. desert rat. Ever the Obama cheerleader.
    Sound a bit like van jones in those first few posts.
    About as knowledgeable

    ReplyDelete
  87. AP says wealth gap widens between whites and minorities.

    Rat says cost of government should be born by those with capacity to pay.

    Obama fan and sounds like van jones.

    Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Rich republican whores Rufus?
    Rich meaning couples with combined income greater than 250,000.

    From all according to their abilities, to all according to their needs. Thank you comrade rufus.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Deuce - u should let Rufus or desert rat run the bar.
    All drinks are free or prices are dependent on income.
    Good luck with the business model.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Work is the curse of the drinking class.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  91. I protest the idea of letting rat run the bar.

    Laughter and good humor would be outlawed, not even a smiley face allowed.

    A stern, overwhelming, cynical greyness would descend upon the place, a fog so thick with depression and back biting not even a Melody could lift it.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  92. The Bar does provide space and drinks for free, has for six years.

    Seems to be a successful model. Especially when it, like the United States are not businesses.

    Welcome to the 21st century.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Sounds like anon would enjoy a more feudal lifestyle, as long as he is the Lord and Master of the manor.

    Notice he does not offer a rational rebuttal, but behaves with petulance, instead.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Pay off the debt with newly minted platinum coinage, then there'd be no interest payments and then Federal revenues would match expenditures.

    ReplyDelete
  95. The search, anon, is for a model government, not a business model.

    Obviously that concept is over your head

    ReplyDelete
  96. desert rat said...

    Pay off the debt with newly minted platinum coinage, then there'd be no interest payments and then Federal revenues would match expenditures.


    Now there's a hell of an idea.

    Why not pay off the debt with The National Platinum Credit Card?

    ReplyDelete
  97. The Treasury has the authority to mint the coins, given to it by Congress.

    Pays off the debt, cuts the interest payments from Federal expenditures.

    Cash flow balances, after cutting 42% of the budget, in one move, without raising taxes or cutting services.

    We can maintain those 12 carrier battle groups, and 700 foreign military bases, if we do.

    ReplyDelete
  98. It would not be on credit, anon, it's coinage, you know, real money.

    One of the reasons it is an unlikely solution

    ReplyDelete
  99. A government with a fiat currency, and a printing press can Only be brought down through Deflation.


    This ain't your "kitchen table;" it's government.

    ReplyDelete
  100. We're a "borrower" nation. Inflation is the Savior of the Borrower.

    ReplyDelete
  101. We could always start auctioning off Federal assets.

    Surly the Chinese would like to buy a fully equipped carrier battle group, or two.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Unfortunately, the trend is toward Higher Unemployment, and it's hard to sustain a highly inflationary scenario with High Unemployment.

    Don't jump on your keyboards and "remind" me of the Seventies. The Seventies was a special situation. Nixon had just taken us off the Gold Standard, and the world was sorting out the New reality of "Floating Currencies."

    ReplyDelete
  103. Striking those trillion dollar coins could be a tad inflationary, true enough.

    But the budget would be balanced, the Federal debts paid, tax loopholes would be untouched and services unrestrained.

    The further debasement of the dollar, just another step on a hundred year trail.

    Making the emergence of the Amero all the more likely.

    Maybe the Treasury will do it, unless the dollar comes under more pressure if they do not.

    North American unification is their real goal, the way to the geo-political expansion of DC power. Watch and learn anon.

    They're matching the economic realities of Mexico and the United States, as quickly as possible.

    The 57 States of Heinz

    ReplyDelete
  104. Mint the money, or borrow it from the Chinese.


    There are downsides to each scenario.

    Positives, too.

    ReplyDelete
  105. It'll all work out as long as it's not Deflation. Deflation is the killer.

    ReplyDelete
  106. The problem is, the Rich Republican Whore Bondholders Love Deflation.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Don't think much of a rebuttal is necessary for the view that one group of folks labor should be confiscated for the benefit of another. It's called slavery.

    Good luck with that guvmint model bro.

    ReplyDelete
  108. I don't know about you, but I paid more taxes last year than General Electric, BRO.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Does that mean I'm "enslaved" to GE?

    ReplyDelete
  110. Right in the middle of my 1.0% to 1.5%.

    ReplyDelete
  111. But, Holy Shit, 1st qtr revised Down to 0.4%

    ReplyDelete
  112. The economy grew at a less than 1% rate in the first half of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  113. My experience is: once the downward revisions start, they continue. Look for that 1.3% to be downgraded to approx 0.0 in the coming months.

    We are at "stall speed."

    Optimistically speaking.

    ReplyDelete
  114. My experience is: once the downward revisions start, they continue. Look for that 1.3% to be downgraded to approx 0.0 in the coming months.

    We are at "stall speed."

    Optimistically speaking.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Doubt ur taxes covered the cost of your free healthcare Rufus. GE is the corporate pal of the Obama administration. Doesn't fit the republican whores narrative Rufus.

    How bout this, instead of blogging everyday, go get a job in this recovery summer, and you won't have to depend on others giving u free stuff bro.

    ReplyDelete
  116. You have no clue. I lugged an M-14 around in mud up to my ass, getting shot at for 13 months for, if I remember correctly, $174.00/mo, and part of the deal seems to be that I get a co-pay worth about $24.00/mo on my generic drugs.

    And, btw, I didn't see Jeff Immelt, or Warren Buffet over there; but maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough. What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  117. (CNN) -- The commander of Libya's rebel army was assassinated in Benghazi along with two senior officers on Thursday, rebel leaders announced just hours after claiming big successes on the battlefield.

    In other news, three Taliban soldiers were assassinated when they opened fire on a Marine patrol in Kandahar.

    The Wyoming Veterans Memorial Park already has memorials dedicated to Wyoming's military people assassinated during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Freedom Memorial will be dedicated to men and women assassinated during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, the Iraq wars, the Cold War and other engagements, and during peace-time service.

    (Jesus, what do they teach these bozos in school these days?)

    ReplyDelete
  118. And, just to put your mind at ease, I paid more taxes in one good year than I will Ever get back from the government.

    And, don't think I wouldn't have rather put that money in my own IRA. But, guess what, I was paying my share for the ones that came before ME, and left me one hell of a country. I was, also, paying for Pell Grants, and College Aid for ones that would come after me. I was, also, helping out some that weren't nearly as fortunate as I.

    There's nothing more pathetic than a wealthy man whining about being "enslaved" by the poor. It's ludicrous, and it's delusional.

    ReplyDelete
  119. I think u should be respected for ur service.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Where are we going to get the money to buy all that platinum to mint all these new coins?

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  121. email from Dale --



    BECAUSE I READ MANY TIMES BEFORE THAT ELECTION THAT HE WROTE JUST THAT, THAT HE HATED AMERICA, HE STATED THAT ALL WHITES ARE EVIL AND HE WAS OUT TO DESTROY AMERICA; AND WHAT MAKES THIS UGLY PERSON MORE POISONOUS IS THE GANG OF EVIL THAT ARE TAG A LONGS WITH HIM IN HIS OFFICE AND IN DC.

    HIS VERY OBNOXIOUS WOMAN THAT IS JUST AS EVIL OR COULD BE MORE SO THEN ALL OTHERS THAT FILL IN HIS CABINET POSTS AND NOW THOSE SOME STUPID VOTERS, OTHERS THAT WANT A FREE RIDE EVEN IF THE VEHICLE IS A WRECK AND OTHERS ARE MARXIST, COMMUNIST, SOCIALIST AND ALL REALLY HATE AMERICA.

    I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ALL OF THOSE LISTED ABOVE WHEN EACH HAS LIVED IN FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN ALL MATTERS OF LIFE AND LIVING AND FOR THE MOST PART MADE THEIR OWN DECISIONS WHERE ON THE ROAD OF LIVING THEY MADE THEIR STAND; IS IT YOUR FAULT OR MINE THAT SOMEWHERE AND SOMETIME THEY MADE A SERIOUS OF WRONG MOVES AND THEY BECAME BITTER AT THE WORLD AND AT AMERICA AND MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE NOT POOR
    BUT HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY.



    -- Forwarded message --
    From: sondia
    To: undisclosed-recipients:;
    Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 05:03:27 -0700
    Subject: COIL OF RAGE
    I got got this from a dear friend in Australia! What does that say about our Country???

    Luv 'n' hugs....

    Subject: Fw: COIL OF RAGE



    This is your president's words in books written by him. Can he change his attitude, hate, and loyalty now that he is president. Can you not see by his actions that he has evil plans for our country. (Amnesty for 12 million illegal aliens)

    Sucking up to Muslim murderers. Breaking our country's economy.

    IT IS TIME FOR OUR COIL OF RAGE. VOTE THIS GUY OUT. HE IS TREACHEROUS.

    TREASONOUS (WON'T SALUTE OUR FLAG).




    Coil of Rage

    When you've read to the end, come back and read this first paragraph again.

    A Coil of Rage

    The character of any man is defined by how he treats his mother as the years pass .... need I say more about this person below other than there is no character, no integrity but there is a ton of attitude and arrogance that defines his shallow past and hollow future .... I rest my case..

    I bought and read Obama's book, Audacity of Hope. It was difficult to read considering his attitude toward us and everything American. Let me add a phrase he use to describe his attitude toward whites. He harbors a "COIL OF RAGE". His words not mine.

    THIS IS OUR PRESIDENT -- HE'S RUNNING AGAIN, YOU KNOW! Is anyone out there awake?

    Everyone of voting age should read these two books by him: Don't buy them, just get them from the library.

    From Dreams From My Father:

    "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

    From Dreams From My Father :

    "I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."

    From Dreams From My Father:

    "There was something about her that made me wary, a little too sure of herself, maybe and white."

    From Dreams From My Father:

    "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."

    From Dreams From My Father:

    "I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself: the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela."

    And FINALLY ........... and most scary:

    From Audacity of Hope:

    "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  122. Labor, anon?

    I've not discussed labor, but wealth.

    The two are not the same.

    Sorry, amigo, but you're off base and have been tagged out.

    ReplyDelete
  123. An once of platinum is all one needs, make about a $12 trillion in coinage with it.

    There is no correlation between the weight of the coin and the denomination of it.

    ReplyDelete
  124. As for the Libyan Commander, he was assassinated, Ms T.
    By the other rebel in their Council, not by the Colonel.

    Read a little deeper and you'll discover he had recently been detained and interrogated, by his confederates.

    Guess they found him guilty, of whatever the transgression was.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Or, anon, a penny would be worth about 3 cents. The Sacagawea and Presidential Dollars would be worth less than 8 cents apiece.

    ReplyDelete
  126. 8 cents worth of metal is worth a dollar, may as well make it a trillion.

    If it solves the Nation's challenge.

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

    ReplyDelete
  128. The paper and ink in a dollar bill has the same intrinsic value as a hundred dollar bill.

    What gives the coinage or folding money value, the Full Faith & Credit of the United States.

    Only the GOP wants to devalue that.

    May as well help them to their goal.

    Eliminate the debt and cut the budget, mint a dozen coins, that's all it takes to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  129. :)

    You're a true genius, rat.

    You shoulda bin a banker not a blogger.

    I'm walking down to buy the paper. See if there is something serious going on, like elk and wolf news, or big fish catches.

    If there is I'll post it to try and get the thread back to reality.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  130. Then, when the "Rating Services" downgrade the United States from a AAA risk, it'd make no difference, the Government would not need to borrow any money.

    Without the interest payments, Federal revenues and expenditures are balanced, already, today.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Wrong, again, boobie.

    Minting those coins, that is the anti-banker solution.

    ReplyDelete
  132. It's become o so obvious we've been on an unlucky patch, we shoulda had rat running the country all these years.

    But I believe I can improve on the minting a couple trillion dollar platinum coins. My engineer has a clay pit out by Boville with really high quality clay that they use in super hot industrial ovens and such. I'll have him get me a bucket full next time I see him and I'll mold up some clay tablets like they used for money in old Mesopotamia. I can mold 'em, then all we got to do is have an etching expert etch on there 1 trillion dollar tablest USA, and bake 'em up. An added benefit is you can't melt these down like you can platinum. Would save us on the cost of the platinum.

    All we need is two or three of them and the country is "home free".

    These is some wolf news in the paper and having solved the fiscal crisis I will turn to that in my next post, after some ice tea and a smoke or two.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  133. But boobie, the Congress has not already authorized clay tablets as legal tender. The Treasury has no authorization to use clay.

    The Treasury has been authorized to mint platinum coinage, by Congress.

    No further legislation would be required, than that which has already been passed and signed into Law.

    ReplyDelete
  134. What is going to be entertaining, if and when the President takes unilateral action, either by minting coin or using the 14th Amendment, those that claim he does not "lead" will holler and wail.

    ReplyDelete
  135. The coinage option would provide a lot of economic stimulus, while decreasing Federal debt.

    What could go wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  136. ATTENTION: GAG

    Idaho Sets Wolf Hunting Seasons

    The Idaho Fish and Game Commission adopted a ten month long wolf hunting season in the Upper Clearwater River basin Thursday and also increased the trapping season beyond what was recommended by the Idaho Fish and Game Department.

    The Commission, meeting in Salmon, lengthened the wolf season in the Lolo and Selway zones three months beyond what was recommended by wildlife biologists. Biologists have documented wolves are the primary cause of elk mortality in those zones.

    A wolf hunting proposal from the Department recommended the statewide season open Aug. 30 and run through March 31. Commissioners approved those dates for most of the state but in the Clearwater basin the season will run through June 30 so it stays open through spring bear hunting season.

    The trapping season was lengthened by setting the opening Nov 15 instead of Dec 1.

    Commissioners also reduced the price non-resident wolf hunting and trapping tags from $186 to $31.75, the same rate as for residents.

    Hunters will be allowed to kill two wolves and trap five.

    There are an estimated 1,000 wolves in Idaho.


    (o bullshit there are many more than that, they haven't counted the ones out on the farms or out of the wilderness areas -- bob)

    Quirk, they aren't allowing poisoning of wolves this year. Though it may come to that. No bounty payments either.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  137. Congress hasn't authorized clay tablets?

    Why, then, I'll just ring up Raul Labrador and have him introduce some enabling legislation.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete

  138. What could go wrong?


    should read, of course:

    "What could possibly go wrong?"

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  139. No, boobie, it should not.

    There are many things that could "possibly" go wrong, but what really would?

    That is the pertinent question.
    Realities, not possibilities.

    The reality is that the Treasury could issue two coins, solving the problem, short term.

    The Treasury could issue 12 coins and end the challenge for decades to come.

    ReplyDelete
  140. bwahahahbwabwabwawhahahahahahha!!!!!!!


    FTIOH

    I'm going out to the stables with some alfalfa for my daughter.

    I'm so so thankful rat's got it figured out.

    ReplyDelete
  141. Put those 12 coins in a "Lock Box", to be used to pay the interest and principle of the outstanding debt, as it comes due.

    Then, without that "debt anchor" the Congress's appropriations would be in balance with revenues.

    Stimulus provided, without incurring further Federal debt. The stimulus provided by paying the off that Federal debt, instead.

    ReplyDelete
  142. You're being petulant, again, boobie.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Three Coins In A Fountain


    Three coins in a fountain
    Each one seeking happiness
    Thrown by three hopeful lovers
    Which one will the fountain bless?

    Three hearts in a fountain
    Each heart longing for its home
    There they lie in the fountain
    Somewhere in the heart of Rome

    Which one will the fountain bless?
    Which one will the fountain bless?

    Three coins in a fountain
    Through the ripples, how they shine
    Just one wish will be granted
    One heart will wear a Valentine

    Make it mine
    Make it mine
    Make it mine


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  144. .

    Quirk, they aren't allowing poisoning of wolves this year. Though it may come to that. No bounty payments either.

    Read a couple recent studies that predicted that if any wolves are killed in Idaho this year, the median IQ of all sensient beings in the state would continue to plummet.

    It appears the wolves are right up there in intelligence with the native ravens and pigs, dolphins and whales having left the state long ago because it was hard to breathe and apes and chimps having departed millenia past because the place was so damned boring.

    The death of the wolves would negatively effect the overall IQ since they register higher in IQ score than the slugs, Sasquatch, farmers and other homo erectus (Idahoan homos never having quite evolved to the level of homo sapien) that make up the majority of sensient wildlife in the state.

    ,

    ReplyDelete
  145. As or Libya:

    Rebel security reportedly arrived at Younes's operations room near the rebels' eastern front and arrested him and his aides early on Thursday.

    Security officials said at the time that Younes was to be questioned about possible ties to Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

    Younes was Gaddafi's interior minister before defecting to the rebels early in the uprising, which began in February.

    Jalil said that Younes had been summoned for questioning regarding "a military matter". He said Younes and his two aides, a colonel and a major, were shot before they arrived for questioning.


    Killed while he and his aides were under arrest, by the security service of the National Transitional Council.

    That's the rebel leadership, for those that may be confused of who the players are, without a either a score card or program.
    The same fellows that the UK has recognized as the legitimate government of Libya.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Gangland on Spike TV, this episode showcasing the Imperial Klans of America. A current version of the Ku Klux Klan.

    Filmed burning a cross in Christ's name and for his glory.

    "Real" Christians, at least as much as Doc Z is a "Real" Muslim.

    ReplyDelete
  147. I just posted an article the other day Quirk showing that Scandinavians like myself have the biggest brains of all, and are the smartest. Further north = brighter. You ought to be ok there in Detroit, bout the same latitude as me. We need to worry about the folks from Arizona and Mississippi though.

    The biological forms according to an old rule get larger and smarter as you move north. Holds for wolves, and people too.

    Boredom? Detroit, where I hear the City is trying to seduce settlers to live in the war zone with money payments for living there.

    Sounds exciting, all right.

    Here in Boredomville I just made agreement with Bill Greene of Bookpeople who is closing shop and leaving - alas, he is one of our good ones --made agreement to buy his total collection of the Hemingway Review, published right here at U of I.

    So when I get back to Ohio where there is nothing to do, I will get Aaron the tomato farmer to get me one of those all year anytime deer permits and I'll sit on the veranda sip my ice tea eat my potato chips read Hemingway Review and knock one over once in a while then call Jake the gutter to come gut him out then we'll split the meat three way, me, Jake the gutter, and Aaron.

    I be the big white hunter.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  148. The military leadership of Turkey, the four top dogs, are all retiring.

    Seems that not having the military option for a coup d'état has stifled their eagerness to serve Turkey, further.

    ReplyDelete




  149. Friction between the government and military, traditionally guardians of the secular state, has been fueled by the continuing trial of 200 military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

    The "Sledgehammer" case, arising from an alleged coup plan presented at an army seminar in 2003, is one of several setting Turkey's secularist establishment against Erdogan's ruling AK party. Critics say AK has a secret Islamist agenda, an allegation it denies.

    Some 165 military personnel, including more than 40 generals, are in custody in the coup plot trials ...
    ...
    A prosecutor investigating another alleged plot involving military officers on Friday sought the arrest of 22 people including the commander of the Aegean army, media reports said. It was not clear if the generals' move was linked to this.
    ...
    The Turkish armed forces carried out three coups between 1960 and 1980 and pressured the country's first Islamist-led government out of power in 1997.

    Such intervention is no longer regarded as feasible, as the power of the military has been curbed sharply under reforms carried out by Erdogan's government with the aim of winning European Union membership.

    ReplyDelete
  150. .

    I just posted an article the other day Quirk showing that Scandinavians like myself have the biggest brains of all,..



    There is a drawing showing the evolution of modern man. I think it's called 'The Progress of Man' or something like that. I'm sure you've seen it.

    As I recall, there are about seven or eight figures showing the evolution from Austalopithecus on the left hand side and progressing to modern man on the right hand side.

    About the third figure over counting from the left there is large ape-like figure with a huge head. He is carrying a stick. It seemed to me that in a couple of the drawings I saw there appeared to be a Royal Coachman hanging from a line at the end of the stick.

    Just saying.

    .

    ReplyDelete



  151. WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States pressed Libyan opposition leaders Friday to shore up any cracks in their front against Moammar Gadhafi's regime, after
    the mysterious killing of a top rebel commander raised the specter of infighting
    among the forces hoping to replace four decades of dictatorship with democracy.

    ReplyDelete



  152. Christian leader, in court outburst, says is persecuted


    Warren Jeffs interrupted his Texas child sexual assault trial on Friday, shouting that his religious rights were being violated and warning the court it was stomping on "sacred ground".
    ...

    Jeffs, 55, is considered the spiritual leader of the
    Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
    which experts estimate has 10,000 followers in North America.
    ...
    The sect teaches that for a man to be among the select in heaven, he must have at least three wives.

    "This is a sacred trust delivered to religious leadership, not to be touched by government agencies, no matter what," Jeffs thundered, referring to plural marriage. "We maintain the right of a free religion. You are now treading on sacred ground."

    ReplyDelete
  153. I can believe it, my ancestors was fishin' Royal Coachmans before the human race had gotten away from
    diggin' sticks, an pickin' berries.


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  154. Islamic Law Is Above The Constitution Yells The Egyptian Crowd

    Why, how can this be? rat was telling us just the other day all was well in Egypt.

    And maybe it is, from his warped point of view.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  155. Obumble down to 40% approval rating in Gallup.

    :)

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  156. Big BIG Goings On In Turkey

    Entire military high command resigns en mass.

    Prelude to a coup?

    Hope so.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  157. People in the street, boobie, are just that, street people.

    Nary a weapon in the bunch.

    Not a threat to the Egyptian military, just a bunch of unemployed demonstrators, looking for bread and circuses.

    The Turkish Army, it's been humbled by the EU membership drive, instigated by GW Bush and US.

    Things are going swimmingly, there.
    Democracy is prevailing.

    ReplyDelete
  158. Democracy in Egypt, that is still a generation away, if they're lucky.

    ReplyDelete
  159. The Turkish military, it has come under civilian control, as it should be.

    The Egyptian military, it controls the civilians.

    That you support military coups, against elected civilian governments, well, that says a lot about you.

    ReplyDelete
  160. Especially a government that is a NATO ally.

    ReplyDelete
  161. Really, boob, don't you think that God is Great?

    If not, then what?

    ReplyDelete
  162. Your God is ...

    Some what less, than Great?

    Average perhaps?

    Just one of the guys?

    ReplyDelete
  163. The Egyptian military will put Mubarak on trial, in Cairo, and the demonstrators will be mollified for another year or two.

    If the mob wants more blood than that, they'll give 'em his son, too. Perhaps a few more of the "Old Guard" will have to go, as well.

    But the military will remain large and in charge, in Egypt.

    ReplyDelete
  164. Goddamn you are an ignoramus. A true ignoramus.

    And everyone knows it, but you.

    heheh

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  165. You're becoming petulant, again, boob.

    Watch out for that, as it is a sign of growing senility.
    A regression to a child like mentality is often seen amongst some of the seniors.

    Goes with the diapers.

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

    ReplyDelete
  167. Anyway, boob, a God that is not Great, cannot damn me.

    No, it'd take a God that is Great, for that...

    ...and there are none of those around, you.

    ReplyDelete
  168. God is.....Great

    Is a metaphor

    You stupid shit

    God is not...Great

    Apophatic theology (from Greek ἀπόφασις from ἀπόφημι - apophÄ“mi, "to deny")—also known as Negative theology or Via Negativa (Latin for "Negative Way")—is a theology that attempts to describe God, the Divine Good, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God.[1] It stands in contrast with Cataphatic theology.

    In brief, negative theology is an attempt to achieve unity with the Divine Good through discernment, gaining knowledge of what God is not (apophasis), rather than by describing what God is. The apophatic tradition is often, though not always, allied with the approach of mysticism, which focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception, an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion or the conditioned role-playing and learned defensive behavior of the outer man.

    Apophatic description of God

    In negative theology, it is accepted that the Divine is ineffable, an abstract experience that can only be recognized or remembered—that is, human beings cannot describe in words the essence of the perfect good that is unique to the individual, nor can they define the Divine, in its immense complexity, related to the entire field of reality, and therefore all descriptions if attempted will be ultimately false and conceptualization should be avoided; in effect, it eludes definition by definition:

    Neither existence nor nonexistence as we understand it in the physical realm, applies to God; i.e., the Divine is abstract to the individual, beyond existing or not existing, and beyond conceptualization regarding the whole (one cannot say that God exists in the usual sense of the term; nor can we say that God is nonexistent).
    God is divinely simple (one should not claim that God is one, or three, or any type of being.)
    God is not ignorant (one should not say that God is wise since that word arrogantly implies we know what "wisdom" means on a divine scale, whereas we only know what wisdom is believed to mean in a confined cultural context).
    Likewise, God is not evil (to say that God can be described by the word 'good' limits God to what good behavior means to human beings individually and en masse).
    God is not a creation (but beyond that we cannot define how God exists or operates in relation to the whole of humanity).
    God is not conceptually defined in terms of space and location.
    God is not conceptually confined to assumptions based on time.

    Even though the via negativa essentially rejects theological understanding as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not. One problem noted with this approach, is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality[citation needed]. It should be noted that this is also a kind of definition, namely that the Divine is an experience, which - because of the very definition of apophatic theology - the then Divine cannot be.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  169. I give up.

    rat is invincibly ignorant, and always will be.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  170. boob, you've not only become a wiki theologian, but you picked a wiki page that is nonsensical.

    That this particular author's thinking, as relates to God is some kind of fact, plain hubris.

    Sorry buddy, but he's talking about his own beliefs, as to the essence of God, not everyone else's.

    The idea that God is perfect goodness, is a child's fairy tale.

    You are becoming ever more petulant, really.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Obviously, boob, the essence of goodness would never damn anyone.

    So, boobie, that wiki page does not describe your God.

    The one you commanded to damn me.

    ReplyDelete
  172. You said you were leaving, going to go be with whit, remember?

    Or has your memory failed you, too?

    Along with most of your cognitive abilities.

    ReplyDelete
  173. Now if the God of Moses was not also the God of Mohammed, well would they not be dealt with, as were Korah, Dathan, Abiram and all those who followed them?

    But God is pleased with the Mohammedans, who call him Great.

    Or there'd not be over a billion of them.

    ReplyDelete
  174. They certainly have gone forth and multiplied.

    ReplyDelete
  175. Now would not a true Christian embrace the Muslims with love, leaving it to God to judge their righteousness?

    No "real" Christian could ask God to damn another, as that is not what God's love is about.

    No, a "real" Christian would leave it to God to know the truth of every action men take, and leave it to Him to judge accordingly.

    Same as the Muslims say they do.

    But both seem to fall short of God's intent.

    ReplyDelete
  176. Well, we are either in recession, or we're as close as you can possibly be to it without, officially, being there,

    China, and the rest of the world is slowing as well,

    The U.S., and Europe are pumping a Million barrels/day of Oil, and oil products (gasoline, and diesel) onto the market,

    and, still, Gas Prices hit $3.71/gal, today.

    Y'ouch.

    ReplyDelete
  177. O shit hahahaha


    But God is pleased with the Mohammedans, who call him Great.

    Or there'd not be over a billion of them.


    Jesus Christ, go read Hopi theology, then come back and talk to me.

    You won't, of course.

    I suppose by your 'thinking' above 'God' must not be pleased with Jews, as there are so few of them, righto?

    Here's a possible metaphor for 'God'--God is an old sow that gives birth and then eats her farrow.

    Not that I particularly like it. Leaves stuff out in my view.

    Being with Whit -- the downside is, I can't get my daily laughter out of you that way.

    I can't recall wanting God to damn you, though it might not be such a bad idea, and, frankly, I wouldn't put it past 'Him'.

    Go to bed now, rat.

    Get some rest.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  178. Here's another -- 'God' is a bumbling fool, good natured but unskilled.

    Some of the gnostics thought just that.

    Still leaves stuff out, in my view.

    One African tribe in Joe Campbell thought of 'God' as being in the form of a great Preying Mantis, they had a lot of those in their country.

    Some people even think of 'God' in the form of a man, rather than a Preying Mantis.

    Lots of possible metaphors.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  179. And indeed, the negative tradition thinks you can't say much about 'God' at all, only what 'He' is not.

    Meister Eckhardt said why do you flap your gums so about 'God'?

    But rat 'knows' what 'pleases' 'God' and what does not!!!

    hardyharharhar

    FTIOH g'nite

    ReplyDelete
  180. Ah hell, one more. If numbers count, I think it was either Abraham Lincoln or Walt Whitman, that said, "'God' must be pleased with the poor, he made so many of them." And the 'man/god' Jesus is reported to have said, "the poor you shall ever have with you."

    One can only conclude, rat/like, that 'God' is very pleased with the poor.

    Bob isn't however, whole thing kinda pisses me off. I wish no one poor, rather I wish all had enough to live a decent life.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  181. Anonymous said...

    Goddamn you ...
    ...
    FTIOH

    Fri Jul 29, 05:50:00 PM EDT


    Yes boob, your cognitive capabilities are slipping.

    ReplyDelete
  182. What I said, shithole, was

    "Goddamn you are an ignoramus. A true ignoramus."

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  183. Go to bed now rat it is way past your bedtime, I'm only up cause I got a couple business letters to write.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  184. Seems it is the very idea of what God is that is dividing us.

    To even try to define God, let alone institutionalize that those beliefs, hubris.

    To vilify other people, because they do not share a belief in any particular one of those institutionalized Gods, petulance personified.

    So, boob, God can be Great, or a dumb ass. Not necessarily a Christian.

    He can be all things to all people.
    He can even be a she.
    Or nothing at all

    ReplyDelete
  185. God damn you...

    Is what you said.
    Took the Lord's name in vain is what you did.

    ReplyDelete
  186. The Christians of Salem, Mass would have burned you at the stake, for that.

    ReplyDelete
  187. God is......the Lord

    Is a metaphor

    God is......not the Lord

    Apophatically speaking

    'He' is......nothing at all

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  188. Goddamn! YOU are an ignoramus.
    A true ignoramus.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  189. HTPA

    had to piss again

    BTB

    back to bed

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  190. Thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch!

    Thou art violently carried away from grace.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  191. Dr. Dalrymple

    Understanding murderous minds.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  192. Mexico's average standard of living – including health, education and per capita income – is now higher than those in Russia, China and India, according to the United Nations.

    Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/28/3799513/improving-mexican-economy-draws.html#ixzz1Tb3RSVQT

    ReplyDelete