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."

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

There have also been calls from inside Israel for Obama to take a strong position with Netanyahu. Alon Liel, a former director general of the foreign ministry in Jerusalem and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, said last week that Israel's rule over the occupied territory amounts to an "apartheid state" – a once taboo comparison that is increasingly heard in the US.







Caroline Glick, Senior Contributing Editor of the Jerusalem Post said the Israeli people consider President Obama "a hostile president overall," on "Mornings on the Mall" on WMAL-FM in Washington DC.  

Appearing with Brian Wilson and myself Wednesday morning, Glick said the Israeli people "can't figure out what he's doing here," when asked about the mood in Jerusalem as the President's plane touched down for the first time in his presidency.  
"Essentially his goal is to empower the un-electable, incredibly radical left in Israel to put pressure on the Israeli government for whatever concessions he wants it to make to the PLO," said Glick in evaluating the reasons why Obama will be meeting with university students and members of the Palestinian Government during his visit. 

When asked about how the installment of Chuck Hagel as the Secretary of Defense was received by the Israeli people, Glick said, "It's a hostile act."  


-------------------

Obama urged: act tough on Israel or risk collapse of two-state solution

Critics warn that without US intervention Netanyahu's expansion of settlements will doom peace talks and threaten Israel itself

Chris McGreal, US correspondent 
The Guardian, Tuesday 19 March 2013 14.35 EDT


Barack Obama begins his first official visit to Israel on Wednesday amid growing warnings among some of its leading supporters in the US that the president needs to act more forcefully to save Israel from itself.
The White House has played down expectations that Obama will put any real effort into pressing Israel toward the creation of a Palestinian state after he was burned by an attempt early in his first term to pressure the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, into halting Israeli settlement construction in the occupied territories.
But there is increasing concern among some of Israel's backers in the US that without White House intervention the much promised two-state solution is doomed – and that will endanger Israel.
Among those sounding the warning is the US secretary of state, John Kerry, who said earlier this year that "the possibility of a two-state solution could shut on everybody and that would be disastrous, in my judgment".
The inclusion of hardline pro-settler ministers in Netanyahu's new government, who are expected to press for the continued expansion of Israel's colonies in the West Bank, has heightened concerns in Washington that physical realities on the ground are making the prospect of a negotiated agreement ever more difficult.
Others have pointed up a recent Hebrew University demographic study, which showed that Jews are now in a minority in the territory covered by Israel, Gaza and the West Bank – suggesting that Israel's democratic and Jewish character are threatened by its reluctance to give up territory to an independent Palestine.
That led David Aaron Miller – a negotiator in efforts by the Clinton administration to broker an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and an adviser on Middle East policy to six US secretaries of state – to advise Obama to "take a quick tour around Israel's demographic neighbourhood" in order to understand the issue that might be most persuasive in pressuring Israeli leaders to take negotiations with the Palestinians seriously.
"Demographic trends mean that Israel can't have it all. It can't be a Jewish state, a democratic state, and a state in control of its whole historical land. It can only have two of its objectives at a time," he wrote in Foreign Policy.
"The demographic imperative probably appeals to Obama, a rational thinker who understands the importance of acting in the present to avoid future catastrophes. He has at least once referred to the demographic realities in his speeches on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the president also knows from his own political choices that getting politicians to take risks now to prevent disasters and gain rewards later isn't so easy."
It is a warning echoed earlier this month by S Daniel Abraham, a US billionaire, confidante of American and Israeli leaders, and founder of the Center for Middle East Peace in Washington, who chided the president for not using his visit to press Israel's leaders to confront the looming "tipping point".
"Obama should realize that Israel's continued presence in the West Bank is an existential threat to its continuity as a democratic, Jewish state — and time is not on Israel's side," he wrote in the Atlantic.
"Right now – not in five or 10 years, but right now – only 50% of the people living in the Jewish state and in the areas under its control are Jews. The dreaded tipping point – which advocates of the two-solution have been warning about for years – has finally arrived."
That is a warning reinforced by an Oscar-nominated documentary, The Gatekeepers – in which former heads of the Israel's internal security organisation, the Shin Bet, warn that the occupation is endangering Israel – which has shaken up the assumptions among some in the Jewish community and among Israel's other supporters in the US.
Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel and now vice-president of the Brookings Institution, said it is clear there is a growing sense of alarm among some policymakers in the US. But he said it may be misplaced.
"My sense is that this is the view of Secretary Kerry – that there's an urgency to try to not just resume negotiations but to resolve at least some of the critical issues in the conflict because the two-state solution is in danger of cardiac arrest. I think there is an urgency, but I don't actually think that if the window closes it can't be prised open again," he said.
"The simple reason for that is there is no alternative to the two-state solution – except no solution. And no solution for the time being may suit both sides… in preference to the kind of compromises and the hard decisions that have to be made in order to achieve a solution. We are fond of saying, and our leaders are fond of saying, the status quo is not sustainable. But if you go out there on both sides, especially compared to what is going on around them – in Syria to the north and Egypt to the south – the status quo, it's OK."
Indyk said there will not be movement until leaders on both sides are prepared to make hard decisions, and that Obama is probably unwilling to force that after his "searing experience" of dealing with Netanyahu over the Jewish settlements four years ago.
"I think that there is something achievable, and I actually think it's very important. And that is that President Obama has the opportunity to reintroduce himself to the Israeli public. The first time he introduced himself to them was in Cairo, wherein he gave his speech in June 2009, which was, of course, addressed to the Arab world and not to Israel … And (Israelis) got the impression that he wants to distance the United States from Israel in order to curry favour with the Arab world," he said.
"It is hard to imagine that the president himself is going to do much more than make this visit. There are greener pastures that beckon him in Asia, and you can see, from a variety of other actions that he's taken or hasn't taken in the Middle East, that he would rather turn away from this region. John Kerry has exactly the opposite instinct. He wants to engage in the Middle East and, in particular, he wants to take on the Israeli-Palestinian challenge, and it's a high priority for him."
There have also been calls from inside Israel for Obama to take a strong position with Netanyahu. Alon Liel, a former director general of the foreign ministry in Jerusalem and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, said last week that Israel's rule over the occupied territory amounts to an "apartheid state" – a once taboo comparison that is increasingly heard in the US.
He called on Obama to remain at home if he does not plan to warn Israelis about the dangers of the looming "apartheid cliff".
"If you, President Obama, intend to come here for a courtesy visit, don't come. We don't need you here for a courtesy visit," Liel told a conference in Jerusalem.
"You cannot come to an area that exhibits signs of apartheid and ignore them. That would simply be an unethical visit. You yourself know full well that Israel is standing at the apartheid cliff. If you don't deal with this topic during your visit, the responsibility will at the end of the process also lie with you."
• This article was amended on 20 March to correct an error, introduced in the editing process, that referred to a Hebrew University demographic study and read: "Jews are now in a minority in the occupied territories". The corrected sentence reads: "Jews are now in a minority in the territory covered by Israel, Gaza and the West Bank".

184 comments:

  1. Are Egypt, Libya, Iran, Syria etc apartheid states?

    Where was St. Augustine from? Philly, Detroit, Chicago?

    Was it Egypt, Libya, Iran, Syria?

    Who even cares to remember these days.

    Where are the Jews, and Christians there in those now moslem countries?

    The few Jews are long gone, and the remaining Christians are being slowly killed as I write. Check the latest news on Egypt.

    Apartheid, what a loaded word.

    Meaningless.

    Sometimes an amicable divorce is the best thing, for domestic tranquility.

    Hamas wants a divorce. They wish to push the Jews into the sea, and live alone in the house.

    The Jews object.

    Having been put into the ovens of Europe by their millions and millions, they object.

    bob

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    1. About 3,700,000 results (0.40 seconds)
      Search Results

      Islamic Mob Burns Down Church in Egypt
      www.worldwatchmonitor.org/english/country/egypt/69546/
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      www.usatoday.com/news/.../2011-05-08-egypt-church-arrests_n.htm
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      May 9, 2011 – “Clashes” between Muslims and Christians in the Egyptian capital have left eight dead and more than 100 injured, and a church was set on fire.
      Muslim extremists burn down another Coptic Christian church in Egypt
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      May 8, 2011 – Muslim extremists burn down another Coptic Christian church in Egypt. H/T Armaros. The Guardian's “Arab Spring” hasn't been all too kind to ...


      bob

      Delete
    2. Apartheid.

      jeez

      From a man that is driven in a limousine and lives in a gated community and has not been in inner Philly in a decade, just jeez.

      You live in the west bank.

      Try it sometime.

      bob

      Delete
  2. Who says Gaza has to be part of "Palestine"?

    Who says the West Bank, without Gaza, will not be incorporated into a State of Israel?

    Who says the major population centers of Jews in the West Bank will be incorporated into Israel and the rest of the land of the west bank is allowed to be just a stateless lands?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apartheid?

    Nonsense.

    The Arabs citizens of Israel are full citizens.

    the disputed lands of the west bank?

    that's to be discussed.

    sucks being the loser of a war you start.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I'm for the Jews.They've been kicked around enough. When the Christians and Jews can begin building churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia, I will begin worrying about the West Bank. But then I began thinking of the green hills of Africa,because there was nothing else to do and there is nothing I can really do about the world anyway, and I might as well think of something else, rather than the West Bank, and how book bag was mentioned, as an aside, and how it was all relaxation, really, some drinking of whiskey, for something to do, and some description of the countryside, which he was very good at, and a little pride and contest with Karl, and how he lost in the end and was gracious in his defeat, and then thinking how he got older, then he wrote about an older man and the sea, which is like a book from heaven, waiting for a human hand, to write it, and how it is so pagan, like Quirk at his worst, and yet he carries his own cross at the end, up the beach, like Quirk, and us all.

    bob

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    Replies
    1. It is the first days of spring now, and the sun also rises.

      bob

      Delete
    2. " When the Christians and Jews can begin building churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia, I will begin worrying about the West Bank"

      Which means never, of course. I won't have to worry about that coming to pass. Not until we are attacked with a nuclear weapon.

      Until then, let the Jews run the West Bank.

      As Churchill said, a great man like Lincoln, who said "if slavery if not wrong, nothing is" -

      The Jews own Jerusalem. They wrote about it.


      bob





      Delete
  5. Hamdoon gulped, looked far away, and spat, and said -


    "You are wrong, Bob,

    What Churchill said was -

    'Let the Jews have Jerusalem. It is they who made it famous.' "

    bob

    ReplyDelete
  6. .

    Obama can't do anything with regard to a two-state solution. He wasn't able to do anything four years ago (though he really didn't try) and he wouldn't be able to do anything now. While in Israel, he may talk about Syria or Iran but I doubt he will discuss a two-state solution in other than a perfunctory way.

    The only way a solution could happen would be through a cooperative effort by both sides. That won't happen. As noted in the article, both sides consider the current situation 'acceptable', Israel because the right is in ascendancy there and pushing their agenda and the Palestineans because they believe time is on their side.

    Within 20 years, we won't be able to recognize Israel.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No you wont recognize Israel. At the rate things are going? 20 years from now Israel will not out produce the entire combined arab world's gdp it will do so on a factor of 100. 20 years from now? Israel will be 100 times more prosperous, Once Israeli shale oil and natural gas is opened up expect amazing new things from israel. 20 years from now? Israel will be the hot spot of the planet attracting the best minds, the best scientists and the of course the hottest models.

      Israel is on a path to world success. Better strap in as it's going to be one ass kicking ride. From nano tech, to advanced medical devices that make the para and quad walk again. Israel is the start up nation.

      Now 20 years from now the arabs of the middle east? will still be murdering one another, chopping off perfectly good clits and of course slitting each other's throats...

      there will be no demographic crisis as the populations of arabs in the west bank and gaza have been grossly over exaggerated for decades to leverage addition aid from the saps they call the west.

      watch for vast numbers of gazans to flee into egypt when given the chance. AND for those arabs that live in the west bank?

      Civil war is coming. ala Syria

      Delete
  7. Quirk - You think that these people are going away? These people that fought to the last ounce of their lives in the Warsaw ghetto when they finally got some guns, against a whole German division? These people that have created nuclear weapons out in the Negev through their own science? These people that made that whole desert green with their own effort? These people that could have blown up the entire region long ago with their strength if they had wished to do so, they are going away?

    They ain't going nowhere.

    They are staying put, just as they should do.

    bob

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. .

    Bob, you fail to grasp the pebble. You are not ready, grasshopper.

    Over the past couple days, you have proved your inability to read a poem or a simple post and decipher what it means.

    I have not called you on it before because I consider it a waste of my time.

    In the past, I would have pointed out in excruciation detail what a silly man you are. However, this is a new blog, a new day, and a new Quirk.

    Now, I only ask that you go away.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can't even read the Illiad in a proper manner, moron.

      "Now, I only ask that you go away."

      I do not ask you the same. I am still hoping to educate you a little, a hard task, indeed.

      Nor can deuce, for that manner, even read the Illiad in a proper manner.

      "The Spirit of Christ hovers over the Illiad"

      But you do not feel it.

      And I fear, will never understand it.

      bob

      Delete
    2. Hamdoon sighed, and looked away, feeling how the spirit of Christ hovers over all sadness, and lit a cigarette.

      bob

      Delete
    3. .

      Your an idiot, Bob. The poem I posted wasn't from the Iliad. It was the first half of The Horses of Achilles by C.P. Cavafy a fairly well-known Greek poet. The only thing it had in the least to do with the Iliad was to use one of that book's characters, Patroklos, as a metaphor for man's mortality. You in your own pompous and pedantic way then jumped in and began commenting on something that didn't exist.

      Likewise, your post above. In response to my comment "Within 20 years, we won't be able to recognize Israel," you, in a rather bizarre brain-fart, take that to mean that I am saying the Israelis will disappear, be forced out, or just walk away.

      The way connections are formed in that brain of yours is a wonder to behold but it is a show I've witnessed many times before and have suddenly grown tired of.

      Just go away, or at a minimum, leave me alone and I'll do the same for you.

      .

      Delete
    4. I had an artist friend, an Armenian, FWIW, that had a nice looking note on the wall of his studio that he had penned which said:

      "Just Leave!
      ...but before you go, would you please leave me alone!
      "

      Delete
    5. Nice looking guy, if you have an eye for greasy Armenians.
      (that's what his best friend's (a Medical Doctor) wife screamed at the hubby in a fit of pique)

      ...but he mysteriously started dating a rather large lady, which our Doctor friend referred to as "The Beached Whale"

      Life was sweet, back in the day!

      Delete
    6. Up On reflection, I think it started "Please Leave,..."

      Delete
    7. Naw, then it would had 1 too many pleases, and that woulda crossed the bounds of an artist's license.

      Delete
    8. He taught art in Madison WI!

      Beserkely East, I'm told.

      Delete
    9. Jesus wept (Greek: ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς) is a phrase famous for being the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible, as well as many other versions,[1] though it is not the shortest in the original languages.[2] It is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 35.[3]

      This is the meaning of the Spirit of Jesus hovers over the Illiad.

      " The only thing it had in the least to do with the Iliad was to use one of that book's characters, Patroklos, as a metaphor for man's mortality."

      Tell us who you are quoting. It sounded like the Illiad to me, in its many translations.

      Then just quote the Illiad, asshole, in one of its many translations.

      If you want to rot, well then, rot.

      It's not that I could care less, I care, but not overwhelmingly.

      bob

      Delete
    10. The Spirit of Christ, rather, there is a difference.


      bob

      Delete
  10. It is from a Jew, Simone Weil, whom you have never read. You have 'hung out' too long at the barbershop.

    She died relatively young, alas.

    She knew, like Whitman, whereof she spoke, but died young.

    bob

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    Replies
    1. My artist neighbor in Santa Barbara had a "roommate" a sweet young thing of 21.

      A couple of years later she was dead.

      She had some Ovarian Cysts which they treated with hormones.

      Turned out to be gasoline on the fire.

      Asked our Doc friend what happened, he replied:

      "She got fucked."

      ...as did my wife, some 40 years later.

      Delete
    2. Did she have anything of merit to say before she died, or just kicked the bucket?

      bob

      Delete
    3. Because we were, or were trying to, talk of meaning here, and not biological process.

      This is unworthy of you Doug, and you know better, deep down.

      bob

      Delete
    4. I consider kicked buckets to be of more significance than mere words.

      No rhymne, nor reason, just stark reality.

      Sometimes I wonder if you have been possessed by the Satanic Ash of the Devil.

      Delete
  11. The former Israeli Ambassador to South Africa recognizes the uncomfortable word, “Apartheid”, as being appropriate in describing what is happening to the Palestinian lands surrounding Israel. It did not work for the European Dutch and English settlers, the Boers, in South Africa and it will not work for the European and Russian Jewish settlers. The Russians used the same strategy in Modlova and the Baltic States. Interestingly enough, the white South Africans made the same argument that the blacks never belonged in South Africa, because they were nomads that came in from the north.

    The South Africans used apartheid in their “Homelands” strategy. I added two maps above.

    The truth can be painful to see, but not all are morally blind.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You can click on either the map of the failed South African settlement strategy or the current Israeli attempt at the strategy for greater detail.

    Another similar argument and justification made by both the Europeans settlers in South Africa and the European settlers in Israel occupied Palestine is that in both cases the European settlers were better farmers, more productive and created more wealth.

    In 1951: The South Africans passed the Bantu Homelands Act: Through this law, the white government declares that the lands reserved for black Africans are independent nations. In this way, the government strips millions of blacks of their South African citizenship and forces them to become residents of their new "homelands." Blacks are now considered foreigners in white-controlled South Africa, and need passports to enter. Blacks only enter to serve whites in menial jobs.

    In 1952: The South Africans passed the Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act. The law required all Africans to carry identification booklets with their names, addresses, fingerprints, and other information. Africans were frequently stopped and harassed for their passes.

    Thousands of Palestinians traveling abroad have reportedly been stripped of residency status after the Tel Aviv regime executed the plan without warning.


    Documents from Israel's justice ministry reveal that Israel used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994, Ha'artz newspaper reported Wednesday.

    The report added that the procedure was used on Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank who wished to travel abroad via Jordan. They were ordered at the Allenby Bridge border crossing to exchange their ID cards for a card allowing them to cross.

    Palestinians who found themselves "no longer residents" include students who graduated from foreign universities, businessmen, and laborers who left for work in the Persian Gulf states.

    An Israeli human rights organization, the Center for the Defense of the Individual, has criticized the move and called it an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law.

    "Mass withdrawal of residency rights from tens of thousands of West Bank residents, tantamount to permanent exile from their homeland, remains an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law," the center said.

    The rights group noted that an unknown number of Gaza residents had lost residency rights in a similar manner.

    The center called on Tel Aviv to fix the ongoing wrong at once, restore residency rights to all affected Palestinians and allow them and their families to return to their homeland.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Israeli Arab village of Ein Rafa, located south of Abu Ghosh, which is discernible across Route 1 connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, is another case in point. Almost all the residents of Ein Rafa are families of refugees from the Palestinian Arab village of Suba, which was depopulated and destroyed in 1948, and their descendants. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli Independence War, some 20 residents were left in the area, who made their quarters on the banks of a nearby spring. Over the years, especially following the 1967 Six-Day War, they were granted approval for unification with their West Bank family members. Today, the village of Ein Rafa has a population of more than 1,000 residents.
    According to data released by the Israeli Ministry of Interior, since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 pursuant to the Oslo Accords — which marked out the border line between the Palestinian Authority territories and the state of Israel — until the year 2002, approximately 130,000 West Bank and Gaza Palestinians moved into Israel proper in the framework of family unification and were granted an Israeli ID card.
    The Israeli High Court of Justice refrains from action
    In the past decade, considerable efforts have been made in Israel to forestall family unification, culminating in the “Citizenship Law” pushed forward by the Israeli government and ratified by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in 2003. The move was motivated, in part, by security considerations and above all by demographic concerns. According to estimates presented by the Interior Ministry, some 200,000 Palestinians were expecting to acquire Israeli citizenship in the framework of family unification in the past decade alone. A number of appeals seeking the annulment of the law were submitted to the Israeli High Court of Justice over that time. However, they were all rejected.
    While for the Israeli government it is a primarily demographic issue, from the point of view of the Palestinians, it is first and foremost a matter of economic survival. A [Palestinian] manual laborer stands to earn 200 shekels [almost $52] a day if he is legally working in Israel, as against 70 shekels [just over $18] a day in case he is engaged without the required permits. When it comes to specialized professionals, the differences in income are even more significant. What’s more, in many cases legal employment in Israel involves fringe benefits such as social security or pension — concepts that have only recently been raised for discussion in the Palestinian Authority.



    Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2012/11/israeli-citizenship-is-worth-130.html#ixzz2O9zuvwMF

    ReplyDelete
  14. Israel unilaterally annexed Arab East Jerusalem in 1967, declaring its unification with predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem into what it called "the eternal capital of Israel".

    But the move has never gained international recognition as East Jerusalem is considered part of the occupied West Bank.

    Israel's main goal has been to reduce the number of Arabs in Jerusalem so that, in the event of a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel will be able to claim the city as its own without fear of a major challenge.

    Population challenge

    Palestinian Arabs have a higher rate of population growth than Israeli Jews, given that about 313,000 Jews have left Jerusalem over the last 25 years.

    As only 208,000 Jews moved to the city in the same period, Israel has adopted a series of measures to lay claim to Jerusalem.

    They include the physical isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, continued expropriation of land, discrimination in services provided to East Jerusalem and the revoking of residencies and social benefits of Palestinians who study or live abroad.

    The story is not new, but has taken a bizarre turn after Israeli troops unilterally "disengaged" from the Gaza Strip in 2005.



    Israel has maintained a strict security policy
    on Gaza despite pulling out in 2005 [Reuters]
    Israel started treating Gaza, which remains effectively (and according to international law) under Israeli occupation, as a de facto "outside entity".
    The awkward definition provided Israel with an opportunity to expand its long-standing policy of reducing the number of Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem by either revoking the ID cards of those who reside "abroad" or by barring their return.

    Suddenly, Palestinian Jerusalemites and West Bankers, who reside in Gaza for reasons of marriage or work, were treated by Israel as residing "abroad" - a de facto classification that serves Israel's declared goal of changing the demographics of the old city of East Jerusalem.

    All Palestinians hold ID cards that essentially dictate where they can live, work and move.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Smells like Phallus Impudicus to me.

    aka The Common Stinkhorn.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I never took you for a cryptologic whisperer.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Than what?
    ...the last time I soiled this site?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Badgers Sticky Stinky Tips, and Spore dispersal:

      The dispersal of spores is different from most "typical" mushrooms that spread their spores through the air. Stinkhorns instead produce a sticky spore mass on their tip which has a sharp, sickly-sweet odor of carrion to attract flies and other insects. Odorous chemicals in the gleba include methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide,[10] linalool, trans-ocimene, phenylacetaldehyde, dimethyl sulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide.[11] The latter compound has been found to be emitted from fungating cancerous wounds.[12] The mature fruiting bodies can be smelled from a considerable distance in the woods, and at close quarters most people find the cloying stink extremely repulsive. The flies land in the gleba and in doing so collect the spore mass on their legs and carry it to other locations.[13] An Austrian study demonstrated that blow-flies (species Calliphora erythrocephala, Lucilia caesar, Lucilia ampullacea and Dryomyza analis) also feed on the slime, and soon after leaving the fruit body, they deposit liquid feces that contain a dense suspension of spores.[14] The study also showed that beetles (Oecoptoma thoracica and Meligethes viridescena) are attracted to the fungus, but seem to have less of a role in spore dispersal as they tend to feed on the hyphal tissue of the fruiting body.

      There is also a possible ecological association between the P. impudicus and badger (Meles meles) setts.[15] Fruiting bodies are commonly clustered in a zone 24 to 39 metres (79 to 128 ft) from the entrances of setts;[16] setts also typically harbor a regularly available supply of badger cadavers—the mortality rate of cubs is high and most likely occurs within the setts.[17] The fruiting of large numbers of stinkhorns attracts a high population of blowflies to the badger setts; the proximity to badger carcasses entices the flies to lay their eggs (Calliphora and Lucilla breed on carrion)[18] and help ensure that they are more quickly eliminated, removing a potential source of disease. The laxative effect of the gleba reduces the distance from the fruiting body to where the spores are deposited, ensuring the continued production of high densities of stinkhorns.[16]

      Delete
    2. Mycology was my first love.

      ...i can still smell it...

      Delete
    3. (from the Greek μύκης, mukēs, meaning "fungus")

      ...also meaning out of control Socialism and Cultural Lassitude.

      All hail Obamacare.

      ...for the fungus among us.

      Delete
  18. European diplomats are calling for sanctions on Israeli settlers amid deepening gloom over the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

    A report by the European Union’s consuls general in east Jerusalem and Ramallah called Israel’s policy of settlement building in the West Bank “systematic, deliberate and provocative” and “the biggest single threat” to a two-state solution.

    The report — a British official called it the “darkest” the EU has produced on the conflict — urges member states to withhold funding that helps settlement building directly or indirectly and to ensure goods produced on settlements do not benefit from preferential trade agreements with Israel.

    Israeli officials responded tartly to the report’s conclusions.

    A diplomat’s mission is to build bridges and bring people together, not to foster confrontation
    “A diplomat’s mission is to build bridges and bring people together, not to foster confrontation,” said Yigal Palmor, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman. “These diplomats have evidently failed at this mission.”

    The report focuses on eastern Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 and maintains must remain the united capital of Israel.

    “Israel is actively perpetuating its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem by systematically undermining the Palestinian presence through restrictive zoning and planning, demolitions and evictions, discriminatory access to religious sites, an inequitable education policy,” says the report.

    However, settlement construction remains the biggest threat to the two-state solution, it says.


    {…}

    ReplyDelete
  19. {…}
    Construction in southern Jerusalem near Bethlehem, specifically the expansion of Har Homa, Gilo and Givat Hamatos, will “form an Israeli buffer that once complete will virtually cut off Jerusalem’s southern flank from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank,” the report adds.

    “With Israel’s most recent escalation of settlement activities in and around Jerusalem, the rise of settler violence and Israeli violations of international law and Palestinian rights, it is of utmost urgency for European countries to follow this courageous assessment with concrete and tangible steps and with punitive measures,” said Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi.

    “Therefore, we call on the European Union, whether as individual countries or collectively, to stand up to Israel and implement bold initiatives that demand European divestment from settlements and settlement products.

    Israel’s settlement campaign is the single most significant threat to the two-state solution
    “Israel’s settlement campaign is the single most significant threat to the two-state solution, and now is the time to exercise the political will that is required to hold Israel accountable before any and all chances for peace are destroyed.”

    David Kriss, press and information manager for the EU delegation in Israel, said, “The EU’s longstanding position is that settlements are illegal under international law and constitute an obstacle to peace.”

    The report comes three weeks before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in the region.

    Although U.S. officials have tried to downplay expectations and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the visit will focus on Iran and Syria, many expect Mr. Obama will try to revive some kind of Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He could pressure Israel to halt building in post-1967 areas.

    In the past, Mr. Netanyahu did agree to a partial freeze but has never agreed to stop building in eastern Jerusalem.

    The report is non-binding and has the status of an internal document. The diplomats need backing from EU ambassadors and foreign ministers for anything to become official policy.

    An official at Britain’s Foreign Office stressed Britain was not calling for sanctions.

    “The darker aspects of this report are a fair reflection of current EU thinking,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it reflects British thinking.”


    The Media Line, with files from The Daily Telegraph

    ReplyDelete
  20. Read THIS GD SATANIC SITE AND YOU'LL NEVER KNOW THE MEANING OF ANY WORD AGAIN:!

    http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/idiom.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Idiom: Fit of pique




    Idiom Definitions for 'Fit of pique'

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    If someone reacts badly because their pride is hurt, this is a fit of pique.
    Category: Character & appearance
    View examples in Google: Fit of pique

    Read more at http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/fit+of+pique.html#w7CdTjBjU3tYJfk1.99 "

    On second reading, that's not so bad.

    Mayhaps I was in the thralls of MY OWN
    Fit of peepee.

    ReplyDelete
  22. My Doc gave me a new concoction for my back.

    Reading about it, looks like a fair chance I might check out for good, or worse, descend into the pit of Bob's madness.

    Quirk's gonna flip out, and Deuce will have an empty bar.

    Correction:

    Library.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think I'm having a coronary.

    ...at least it's here for posterity, and posteriors to come, ad-infinitum.

    ReplyDelete
  24. What the hell is wrong with apartheid?

    Look to Rhodesia.

    The whites have fled.

    You go live in JoBerg now.

    The whites are fleeing,.

    I know a lady working in real estate here from S. Africa. She says they are all racists, meaning the new ruling group.

    It is not working.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. S. Africa is slowly becoming just another shit hole.

      It is not working.

      It will take longer than in Rhodesia.

      It is just a fact of life.

      bob

      Delete
    2. From the breadbasket of Africa, to two trillion percent inflation, and starvation, with a single vote, one vote, one time.

      That is Rhodesia.

      You know it, I know it, you are just out chasing Jews again, speaking of the horrors of apartheid, when you know as well as I the arabs want to exterminate the Jews. That is what there book tells them to do.

      bob

      Delete
    3. And the Jews don't like it, having been there before.

      bob

      Delete
    4. You know as well as I do The Joos are behind this.

      Delete
    5. Obama's brother said Kenya was better when the whites were in control.

      He lives in a hut.

      About ten by ten.

      Grow up.

      bob

      Delete
    6. Hawaii has some kind of chance.

      I think that is because there are four or five races there, and not just two to fight.

      bob

      Delete
    7. Portuguese, blacks, whites, Chinese, Japanese, native Hawaiians and others....


      bob

      Delete
    8. Hawaii's hope, as always, is that the great silver birds will continue to land, and disperse healing dollars upon us, forevermore.

      Aremen.

      We are well and truly blessed.

      The proof can be witnessed at the overflowing Costcos and Walmart.

      Just Two of many testaments to the healing power that comes down from the sky.

      Delete
    9. The Aina and The Keiki are nourished by this gift from above.

      Delete
  25. 80% of NYC HS Grads Entering City College Don't Have Basic Skills

    In his last State of the City address, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg bragged about his huge taxpayer investments in education. “Now, let me ask you: is there anyone who still believes that New York City can’t get big things done? Since we’re here in Brooklyn, I’ll say it again: Fuhgeddaboudit.”

    Bloomberg was right about one thing only: forgetting about it. Because not only are big things not getting done in New York City on education, even small things aren’t getting done. According to officials from City University of New York, a full 80 percent of high school graduates in New York City who are headed to CUNY colleges can’t read properly, write or do basic math when they graduate. As CBS Local reports, “They had to re-learn basic skills – reading, writing, and math – first before they could begin college courses.”

    And that’s for the students who graduate and head to CUNY. New York City has the lowest graduation rate for black and Hispanic male students in the nation, with only 37 percent graduating. But teachers start off making $45,530 with benefits, and max out at over $100,000.

    It’s not just Bloomberg and New York. In the city of Los Angeles, according to The Education Trust-West, just one in every 20 black kindergarteners will graduate from a four-year California college. Overall, a whopping 40 percent of high school students entering public colleges across the country require at least one remedial class in reading, writing or math.

    This is the legacy of a teachers union-driven system in our major cities. And it is minorities who pay the highest price.

    ReplyDelete
  26. JihadWatch

    Video: Lars Hedegaard, Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom and Tiffany Gabbay on the Islamic war against free speech
    Mar 20, 2013 11:59 pm | Robert

    Here is video of the event tonight in Stoughton, Massachusetts. This video is from the live stream, so don't be deterred by the lovely video of the potted plant. The event starts around the seven-and-a-half minute mark....
    read more
    Like Video: Lars Hedegaard, Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom and Tiffany Gabbay on the Islamic war against free speech on Facebook Google Plus One Button share on Twitter

    San Francisco officials in a froth over AFDI ads pointing out Muslim oppression of gays
    Mar 20, 2013 03:23 pm | Robert

    Help us keep these ads going: CONTRIBUTE HERE! The San Francisco Examiner headline is particularly egregious, as is the video here: both try to give the impression that our first ad "targeted Muslims," and our new ad "targets gays." In fact, we are calling attention the the violence that...
    read more
    Like San Francisco officials in a froth over AFDI ads pointing out Muslim oppression of gays on Facebook Google Plus One Button share on Twitter

    #MyJihad in Egypt: Muslims attack Christians over rumors of kidnapping of Muslim girl
    Mar 20, 2013 02:36 pm | Robert

    "Security chief Ibrahim Hudeib said the girl left her house with her gold and passport in hand and may have fled with a local Muslim boy." "Muslims Attack Christians in Egypt's South," by Mamdouh Thabet for the Associated Press, March 19 (thanks to Lookmann): Hundreds of Muslim villagers in Egypt's...
    read more
    Like #MyJihad in Egypt: Muslims attack Christians over rumors of kidnapping of Muslim girl on Facebook Google Plus One Button share on Twitter

    Sharia in action in Somalia: Gay man stoned to death
    Mar 20, 2013 02:26 pm | Robert

    Yet when Pamela Geller calls attention to the plight of gays under Sharia, it is she who is the villain. "And [We had sent] Lot when he said to his people, 'Do you commit such immorality as no one has preceded you with from among the worlds? Indeed, you...
    read more
    Like Sharia in action in Somalia: Gay man stoned to death on Facebook Google Plus One Button share on Twitter


    Goodnight.


    bob

    ReplyDelete
  27. I do not recall excusing you.

    Sir!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Replies
    1. Thankfully, Doug, there are very few arabs in Hawaii, or you would have real hell to pay.

      They would bomb your churches, stone women for bikini on beach, whine and murder as they always do.

      bob

      Delete
    2. And not let a normal man read his own normal books in the peace and quiet of his own normal two bedroom home looking to his own normal conscience as the normal the guide to his normal life.

      bob

      Delete
    3. That remains one of the most extraordinary things I have witnessed here, before 9-11:

      Statuesque tall women in Robes/Hoodies, strolling the beaches of Wailea, w/bin Ladens' yacht anchored off the coast.

      Delete
    4. You know full well there are occasional bouts w/Abbienormal.

      Delete
  29. A native Hula dancer friend of my wife was propositioned by one of the Arabs who had hired her to perform.

    ReplyDelete
  30. My interest is to keep the US out of another ME war. I prefer to see my young people alive, able to eat and piss on their own, able to walk and live a full normal life.

    The current political leader in Israel is determined to get the US involved in a war with Syria and Iran. He uses right wing religious fanatics in Israel and the US to do his cynical dirty work to achieve his political goals. We are still paying for the last debacle in Iraq and you think that is just great, all because some psychopathic killer’s name is written on some ancient scrolls. You are quite happy to have millions be murdered for the love of your favorite dead holy guy because some other religious fanatic believes you should die for his favorite dead holy guy. All of you will be going to on to a better place. Of course, you have to rot to get their to purify your soul for your eternal journey to bliss.

    It all sounds and smells like rot to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was my son's response this evening when I said I was toying w/giving religion one last try in the vain hope of being reunited our loved one.

      He was not receptive to the notion.

      ...to say the least.

      Delete
    2. Iran is already at war with the USA.

      Ignore it all you wish, but Iran keeps murdering Americans year after year.

      Delete
  31. She escaped unsoiled, to the best of my knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Replies
    1. I assume you refer to Bob, and not the both of us.

      Delete
  33. Yes, your powers of perception are as yet unscathed from your life of debauchery.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Obama:

    “More than 3,000 years ago, the Jewish people lived here, tended the land here, prayed to God here,” Obama said. “And after centuries of exile and persecution, unparalleled in the history of man, the founding of the Jewish State of Israel was a rebirth, a redemption unlike any in history. Today, the sons of Abraham and the daughters of Sarah are fulfilling the dream of the ages -- to be ‘masters of their own fate’ in ‘their own sovereign state.’ “

    Change a word or two

    “More than 3,000 years ago, the Lenape people, the Real People, lived here, tended the land here, prayed to the Great Spirit here,” Obama said. “And after centuries of exile and persecution, unparalleled in the history of man, the founding of the Lenape Nation in the former States of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey was a rebirth, a redemption unlike any in history. Today, the sons of Unami are fulfilling the dream of the ages -- to be ‘masters of their own fate’ in ‘their own sovereign state.’ “

    ------------------

    Those remarks will be welcome to Netanyahu. As the prime minister put it in a speech to the U.S. Congress in 2011: "It is time for [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud] Abbas to stand before his people and say... 'I will accept a Jewish state.' Those six words will change history."

    Obama’s praise for the “Jewish State of Israel” was unobjectionable. But it sat uneasily alongside another section of his remarks, in which he listed what he said were similarities between the United States and Israel beyond the fact that they were both democracies. The two countries, he said, “share a common story -- patriots determined ‘to be a free people in our land,’ pioneers who forged a nation, heroes who sacrificed to preserve our freedom, and immigrants from every corner of the world who renew constantly our diverse societies.”

    Not so fast. The United States is not a society defined by religion or ethnicity (although early Americans may have regarded themselves as citizens of an Anglo-Saxon, Protestant nation). Christians account for 78.4% of the U.S. population, but that doesn’t make this a “Christian nation” in the sense in which Israel is a “Jewish nation.” And while both Israel and the United States welcome “immigrants from every corner of the world,” U.S. immigration policy isn’t designed to reconstitute a dispersed people in their ancestral home. Israelis, on the other hand, prefer that immigrants be “the sons of Abraham.”

    ReplyDelete
  35. The one and same Abraham

    In roughly 2100 B.C.E. Abraham turned to Ishmael and said, “O my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice thee. So look, what thinkest thou? (Quran 37:101)”

    What a question.

    Even more shocking than Ishmael’s answer as recorded in the Quran (“O my father! Do that which thou art commanded.”) is that now, some 4,000 years after the event is said to have happened, 1.6 billion Muslims around the globe celebrate it as a major holiday.

    Eid al-Adha, a three day holiday also called, pointedly enough, the Feast of the Sacrifice, starts today.

    In the traditional retelling, god told Abraham to kill his son in a dream. Then, when Abraham was just about to bring the knife down, god had him kill a ram instead.

    So… what exactly is being celebrated? Actually three things:

    1) Abraham’s willingness to kill his son because god told him to.
    2) Ishmael’s willingness to die because god told his father to kill him.
    3) God was awesome enough to back out of the sacrifice at the last minute.

    This story (like the similar one in the Bible) is used today to talk about how good god is.

    But really, it makes god out to be some sort of psychopathic ex-girlfriend who needs you to sacrifice your son before she believes you love her.

    “Ok, Ok! You don’t need to kill him, I just wanted to know you would,” said god. And then he cried about it.

    That’s one father-son relationship that never recovered.

    The Quran, a book that reads like a trip record already, wants us to think this story is indicative of a god who gives a shit – about us.

    In reality this is just a story about an insecure supernatural being. It’s a divine cry for attention. (And a creepy holiday).

    So before you cry out “Eid Mubarak (have a blessed Eid)!,” remember:

    That literally means, “Have a blessed day celebrating the divine psychopath.”

    Allah Akbar indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Replies
    1. I was totally disgusted and appalled when I threw a trapped Gopher in a pail of water.

      Delete
    2. Taking out a Muzzie wife stoner?

      ...never got to try.

      Delete
    3. The .223 Sword of Justice!

      ...until it wasn't, and megatons of FUBAR were unleashed on this great land.

      Delete
  37. Three religions claiming to be fodder for the same psychopath.

    ReplyDelete

  38. A casual stroll through the insane asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
    -- Friedrich Nietzsche

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Friggin Nazi Wannabe.

      I'm devastated that I cannot afford a 356 Porsche.

      ...possibly not even a split window Fuher'sWagon, or whatever it was called.

      All because Adam Carolla and that Home Depot guy are not paying their fair share.

      Delete
  39. Gas, or Diesel? You Decide!

    News for obama limousine filled with diesel


    The Guardian

    President Obama's Limo Breaks Down In Israel After Being Filled With Gas By Mistake


    Jalopnik ‎- by Travis Okulski ‎- 22 hours ago

    President Obama is on his way to Israel for a state visit. His limo ... Apparently it just broke down because it was filled with gas instead of diesel.

    Obama's Limo Filled With Diesel By Mistake | Opinion - Conservative

    ---

    Damn Sequester's Gonna be the Death of this Great Nation.

    ReplyDelete
  40. What if the Joos switched fuels on the poor guy and his PresidentialMobile?

    Black Smoke Time!

    ...if only he had Rufie's Flex Fuel Malibu!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I've actually experienced FEWER suicidal thoughts since taking that magic elixer.

    ...contrary to popular wisdom.

    You guys have your razors at the ready, as a consequence.

    Do it in the tub for the wives and kids.

    Please.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "Gabapentin"

    This'll be an online swallow experience, not some panzy-ass self-snuff video.

    Be prepared, Scouts!

    ReplyDelete
  43. (Deuce notifies The Marshalls)

    It'll be the second time in two months they and the Ambulance Crew have payed me a visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Speaking of Panzy-Asses:

      Bobo would be bidding you a good nite.

      I'll go with:

      "We'll see what happens."

      Delete
    2. It's indicated for Schizos, as well as us Neuropaths.

      WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE'S TALKING TWO???

      Delete
  44. The Neuropath

    Those who like their psychopaths crazy and unpredictable will undoubtedly appreciate Neil Cassidy. Indeed, that man makes Hannibal Lecter look about as frightening as Sponge Bob. That guy is a scary freak, no doubt about it.


    Neuropath will challenge your perceptions, your sense of self, and the way you look at the world around you. It draws incredibly distressing conclusions that raise uneasy questions to ponder. Fascinating, stimulating, throught-provoking, tormenting, and downright worrying at times -- Neuropath is all that and more.


    Depending on how the publishers will push this book, it could potentially create a controversy. Religious groups will probably revile Neuropath (then again, they bitch about Harry Potter, so what the heck?), and its conclusions will likely come under attack by disparate groups and individuals. It could well be one of the most talked about novels of 2008.


    Regardless of the fact that it's a great thriller, Neuropath is not for everyone. Be that as it may, Neuropath is nevertheless one of the books to read this year.


    You can safely pre-order Neuropath. Love it or hate it, this is a work that will leave no one -- and I mean no one! -- indifferent. The US edition won't be published till the Fall 2008, so you might want to get the Canadian edition. . .

    The final verdict: 9/10

    ---

    Never have I tried harder to be Sponge Bob.

    Wish me luck.

    ReplyDelete
  45. DOWNLOAD HERE
    Adam and Doctor Drew

    Adam and Drew open the show by examining how people can be exceptionally smart when it comes to things that interest them and extremely inept when it comes to doing things that aren’t as important to them.

    Later they take calls on using opiates to combat back pain, the effects of e-cigarettes and erectile dysfunction with diabetes.

    ---

    This ain't no opiate, this a new chemical stew.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The Genius of Carolla.
    ...who has advocated the use of attack crows for law enforcement for years:

    "Tool making

    This species uses stick tools in the wild by finding small twigs and probing them into hole in logs in order to extract grubs.[2] New Caledonian crows are also able to manufacture tools by breaking twigs off bushes and then trimming them in order to produce functional stick tools.[2] The crows can make leaf tools by tearing rectangular strips off the edges of Pandanus spp. leaves.[7] The creation of such leaf tools allows these crows to exploit naturally occurring hooks – the barbs running along the edges of these leaves can be used as hooks if the tool is held such that the barbs point towards the crows’ head. Other naturally occurring hooks are also incorporated within tools, such as the thorns that grow on vine species in New CaledoniaHuntGray2004.Most impressively, these crows create hooks by crafting both wood and ferns into hooksHuntGray2004. It does this by trimming the junctions between two branches or fern stolons into a tick shape (i.e. one junction has a long piece of wood/stolon attached, one junction has a small piece of wood /stolon attached) and then removing material from this junction so as to create a functioning hook. This imposition of three-dimensional form onto a natural material resembles carving. The only other species to exhibit hook tool manufacture is humans.

    The New Caledonian Crow is the only non-human species for which there is evidence of cumulative cultural evolution. That is, this species appear to have invented new tools by modifying existing ones, then passing these innovations to other individuals in the cultural group. Gavin R. Hunt and colleagues at the University of Auckland studied tools the crows make out of pandanus (or screw pine) leaves:


    Crows snip into the leaf edges and then tear out neat strips of vegetation with which they can probe insect-harboring crevices. These tools have been observed to come in three types: narrow strips, wide strips and multi-stepped strips—which are wide at one end and, via a manufacturing process that involves stepwise snips and tears, become narrow at the opposite end.[8]

    Observations of the distribution of 5,500 leaf counterparts or stencils left behind by the cutting process suggest that the narrow and the stepped tools are more advanced versions of the wide tool type. "The geographical distribution of each tool type on the island suggests a unique origin, rather than multiple independent inventions". This implies that the inventions, which involve a delicate change in the manufacturing process, were being passed from one individual to another.[7]

    The New Caledonian Crow also spontaneously makes tools from materials it does not encounter in the wild, the only non-human species known to do so. In 2002, researcher Kacelnik and colleagues at the University of Oxford observed of a couple of New Caledonian Crows called Betty and Abel:
    "

    ReplyDelete
  47. Meta-tool use

    Recent experiments show that New Caledonian Crows are able to use one tool to affect another to achieve a task, at a level rivalling the best performances seen in primates.[11][12][13]

    One such experiment, conducted by the Auckland team, involved putting food in a box out of the crows' reach.



    This complex behaviour involved realising that a tool could be used on non-food objects, and suppressing the urge to go directly for the food.

    It was solved by six of seven birds on the first attempt, and had previously only been observed in primates.

    The crows also use tools to investigate potentially dangerous objects.[14]

    [edit] Mirror use

    Some crows that were captured from the wild showed the ability to use mirrors to find objects they could not see with a direct line of sight.

    The birds tested did not immediately recognise themselves in the mirror, which may be due to their never having seen a mirror before. Individual crows showed different levels of ability.[15]

    ReplyDelete
  48. ...leaves out that they used a shorter stick to retrieve a longer stick to retrieve the food.

    I think.

    Maybe just under the influence.

    ReplyDelete
  49. .

    Doug, saw your note above. Just a thought from the fool on the hill, do whatever comforts you. Tell Deuce and your son to pound sand if their advice goes against what you feel is good for you.

    I died four years ago. Now I bless every day I wake up in the morning (though I likely waste most of them). If you can take comfort in religion, spirituality, whatever you want to call it, do it. It does no harm and may help.

    Of course, just saying that you want it to happen won't make it happen. May be impossible.

    Just saying.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Besides, it never hurts to cover your bases.

      .

      Delete
    2. "Reunited and it feels so good..."

      In my dreams and nightmares throughout the daze.

      Delete
  50. .

    Abraham and Isaac, God and Job, Christ and the good thief. At their most basic, all three of the major monotheistic religions are the same, based on submission to God's will. Don't ask why? Do it.

    Yet asking 'why' is what separates man from the other sensient creatures.

    Did god create man or did man create god or was it a combination of both?

    I might not know 'if' there is a god but if there is one I'm pretty sure he won't resemble the fairy tales that have been written about him.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is really non sense. Abraham and Isaac can be read as a tale of the ending of human sacrifice in the surrounding culture, Job is simply one book, a cry of woe, out of many, and Christ of the gospels was all Imagination, willing to break rules when life required it.

      A very poor reading.

      'Was the Sabbath made for man, or man the Sabbath>'

      The whole thing is a long tale of descent and ascent read with an educated imagination.

      See -

      Herman Northrop "Norrie"[1] Frye, CC FRSC (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century and his work on Blake.


      bob

      Delete
    2. And much humor too.

      Noah for instance, that water fellow, got to shore, planted a vineyard, and got drunk.

      That is the human material we are working with, and he was thought salvage.

      The 'god' who created these stories was all imagination......our imagination.

      bob

      Delete
    3. For those that can see beyond picking their own toes.....



      And the 'three major monotheistic religions' are not that major at all, in the scope of time ....there is Hinduism, of course, and ancient Egypt, and all the myths of the world, and Greece, which are all a part of the stream of the perennial philosophy, not to mention the better part of our pre-Christian northern outlook.


      It doesn't take a quirk long to prove he is an unread fool.

      Happens every day, in fact.

      bob

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. .

      As I said, Bob, discussion with you is a waste of time. You make my point with every post you put up.


      Tell us who you are quoting.

      If you check back on the original post, you will see that I cited the author. You see only what you want to see.



      It sounded like the Illiad to me, in its many translations.

      Then just quote the Illiad, asshole, in one of its many translations.


      Do you fail to see how insane your comment is, how fixated, how self-centered. The quoted poem dealt with man’s mortality. Instead of Patroklos, the author could have used the death of any other hero, Lord Jim, Beau Geste, Gunga Din to make his point. The poem had NOTHING to do with the Iliad and you will note it was posted without comment so how could you possibly know what I was thinking?

      Hell, you presume to teach me about the Iliad when you don’t even know how to spell the title. Lord, you are dense.


      You devour literature like a binge eater with leaky gut syndrome and an inability to absorb the essential nutrients you take in. Then you purge it in a diarrheic shower you call ‘wisdom’ yet which is actually the residual offal resulting from faulty plumbing.

      Teach?

      Good lord. You are an intellectual midget with delusions of grandeur. You offer us superficial pablum and call it insight. You take in information like a speed reader on crack and them offer it back in some corrupted Cliff Notes version of a Star Magazine expose.

      Teacher?

      What impudence. What gall. The effrontery and delusion of the benighted. Need to get educated? Go see this hick in Idaho. He also sells snake oil and goat gland operations. And a real moralist to boot. He denounces slavery in one instance and then muses that apartheid wasn’t really that bad in the next. A real gem.

      Vapid and hypocritical, self-centered and pompous, conceited and pretentious, something for everyone.

      The saddest part is the self-delusion.

      .

      Delete
    6. .

      Job is simply one book, a cry of woe, out of many...

      Simpleton.

      The Book of Job contains the centrality of Jewish thought on their relationship with God as depicted in the Bible.

      .

      Delete
    7. "You devour literature like a binge eater with leaky gut syndrome and an inability to absorb the essential nutrients you take in. Then you purge it in a diarrheic shower you call ‘wisdom’ yet which is actually the residual offal resulting from faulty plumbing."

      ---

      Someone (you or Bob) should be able to sell that with a handsome prophet.

      ...but could it be "diarrheTic" or Dianetics?

      Delete
  51. Hi there! I've been following your site for almost 6 years now. Wow! That's a long fucking time. Anyhoot, I think that makes y'all worthy enough to help me celebrate my yearly good news, since all I find here is dark gloomy news about how our country is falling apart.

    I was a little confused last night about the year, but in the past I've always referred to the certificate that hung on my refrigerator that was given to me celebrating my one year anniversary, until a few months ago when I thought all pictures, magnets, and certificates, were clogging up my positive energy space and took them all down and put them away. Where? I haven't a clue.

    I knew it was definitely March 21st on a Sunday, I just wasn't sure of the year, so I looked it up and today at 8:05pm (see I even remember the time) marks the 9th year of me being smoke free. Yee haw...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have a clue what you are talking about, but it seems you have wasted six fucking years, but it is spring, and we who are getting older are no longer 'spring chickens' but for a joke we consider ourselves spring eagles.

      :)

      Happy whatever....


      bob

      Delete
    2. Congratulations, Mel. Good Job. :)

      Delete
    3. Congrats Melody! Giving up cigarettes was one of the hardest things I ever did. I did it 28 years ago but I still remember how hard it was.

      Delete
    4. Bob wrote:

      "I don't have a clue ..."


      No shit Sherlock!

      I'll give you this though - I always thought that you lacked any self awareness but that statement exhibits a little anyway.

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    6. Ash hasn't been hard in Decades, and it's no fault of the ciggies,
      Peripheral Neuropathy or no Peripheral Neuropathy.

      Delete
    7. Who really gives a fuck about someone's shitty little personal triumph when The World is going to Hell?

      Give us a freaking break, Mel.

      Call on Philp Morrieees!

      Delete
    8. Doug

      Your bi-polar tendencies are not sitting well with me these days. You seem like a decent man and I would hate to see you wither away from all the hatred and bitterness you have.

      I am not your enemy. I never was.

      Delete
  52. .

    .

    Sweet!

    Let the good times roll.

    (Now, we were talking about cigarettes, right, Mel?)


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Also, it is gratifying to know that you consider us all 'worthy' to share in your journey even if we are only passengers along for the ride.

      The Passenger

      .

      Delete
    2. Six years is a long time to be blogging with someone even if more than half the time I don't know a rats ass about what you're talking about. Some may consider you passengers along for the ride, some not. I have a hand full of E-friends 2 I've already met, and a select few on my "I don't want to call it a bucket list bucket list" that I want to meet.

      And yes cigarettes...it's one accomplishment, besides the birth of my children, that I celebrate yearly.

      Delete
    3. .

      You, know I wish you well in whatever you do, Mel.

      Just come up with some more anniversaries so that we can see you more often.

      .

      Delete
    4. Thanks, Q, and next time I am in your neck of the woods I will look you up. lol….

      Delete
    5. .

      Though I've never seen you, Mel, any you are not blond, you still remind me in many ways of the girl Penny on The Big Bang Theory, friendly, fun, uncomplicated, attractive, with a sense of humor, common sense, and great jugs.

      .

      Delete
    6. .

      Of course, my imagination often runs wild. It's one of my more positive attributes.

      .

      Delete
    7. Mel, do us all a favor and put up a pic on your profile of your jugs,

      It's not religion or politics and i bet you get a thumbs up from almost all the men! (must leave some wiggle room for one debatable male)

      Delete
    8. Indeed, Mel!

      You most likely will avoid the personal Hell my Sis is going in retribution for her lifetime of smoking, sitting at a desk job for life, and on the couch when she came home.

      A brain is a terrible thing to toast, smoked, or not.

      Delete
  53. For people looking to put their finances in the black, a new report suggests they may be wise to look green.

    That's according to a report released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that breaks down employment in green goods and services through 2011. As first pointed out by the LA Times, the report shows "green jobs" growing from 2010 through 2011 at a rate 4 times faster than all other industries combined.

    Green Job Growth Outpaces All Other Industries (fourfold)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here's an idea:

      What say we all pretend Rufie does not exist?

      ...like his fantasy Algore-Inspired "Green Jobs?"

      Scroll on, Christian Keyboard Warriors!

      Delete
  54. I just got up. Didn't see that 'smoke free '.

    Wow, congrats.

    If only Hamdoon could do as well.

    Was thinking of what a smoke filled room Quirk's mind is I guess.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Thinking?

      What a strange notion coming from you.

      Your entire life is based on the words of others. You suck them in and then regurgitate them in a depreciated amalgam of trite, superficial bromides you pass of as the ‘wisdom’ of ‘great thinkers’. However, the totality of this witches brew you offer amounts to nothing more than opinion, the value of which is no more than those offered by the common Joe who has accumulated a good amount of life experience, some knowledge of the world and how it works, and a modicum of common sense.

      The first sin was pride. Yours is an intellectual pride. You are an elitist, devoid of substance, who has nothing more to offer than the words of others in a digest format.

      .

      Delete
    2. That is pretty good, Quick!

      It is better than having nothing to offer of any sort at all, like yourself. And totally getting old stories wrong.

      :)

      bob

      Delete
    3. I must have injured your pride

      How about, an intellectual pride is better than a stupid one?

      :)

      bob

      Delete
    4. a depreciated amalgam of trite

      heh

      Not bad, at all.

      bob

      Delete
    5. .

      If you like it, check out the ones I posted upstream linked to your vapid post on monotheistic religions.

      .

      Delete
    6. It isn't worth it.

      And you Catholics shouldn't really be talking about monotheism.

      You have God, the Son of God, Mary, the Mother of God, all sorts of stuff, Saints all over the place.

      All I said was I don't think you have to worry about the Israelis and human sacrifice. Since the time of Abraham, they haven't been into it.

      I think you have read that story completely wrong. It might be seen as a switch hack to a hunter/gathering/herding mentality, and away from farming. It was with farming, and the plant life, and the building of cities, that human sacrifice got going good. So I have read. What have you read? And Abraham had left the city. In the desert they valued the children.

      In the gospels, this image still lives on, the seed must die, for new life to spring from it.

      John 12:24

      Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.


      bob

      Delete
  55. Abraham and Isaac

    Not to say that the practice still does not prevail at times among those that strap suicide vests on their young ones..

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps it is an old tale like this, of the turning away from human sacrifice, that might prompt us to take more seriously the statements by 'the leaders' of Iran, and that head scamp of them all, now deceased, who said if this country must burn for islam to prevail in the world, let it burn.


      And think more highly of our friends the Israelis, who after all want to raise their children.


      burn

      Delete
    2. that's bob not burn, I was thinking of an insane man, and his quote.

      Delete
    3. .

      Self-reflection can be disturbing.

      .

      Delete
    4. Yes!

      Try if sometime.

      It isn't worth it, reading your posts above, however.

      And you Catholics shouldn't really be talking about monotheism.

      You have God, the Son of God, Mary, the Mother of God, all sorts of stuff, Saints all over the place.

      All I said was I don't think you have to worry about the Israelis and human sacrifice. Since the time of Abraham, they haven't been into it.

      I think you have read that story completely wrong. It might be seen as a switch hack to a hunter/gathering/herding mentality, and away from farming. It was with farming, and the plant life, and the building of cities, that human sacrifice got going good. So I have read. What have you read? And Abraham had left the city. In the desert they valued the children.

      In the gospels, this image still lives on, the seed must die, for new life to spring from it.

      John 12:24

      Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.


      bob

      Delete
    5. And no Quirk, I don't much like that kind of idea. In the context, it smells of sacrifice, and someone else dying for me, and my sins, which I don't want them to do. I do think that death provides the path, means, way, whatever, to new experience.

      And we all agree with your intrepid insight that the body rots. Ask any undertaker.

      But the discussion is really not about the body at all, but it's informing principle, which is an entirely other and always new thing.

      A word some people use for that principle is spirit.

      These are my own words, and not that of some great thinker.

      With this, I am certain you will agree.

      :)

      bob



      Delete
    6. So I have read.


      :)

      :)

      Yes.

      What have you read?

      Because neither you nor I would know squat without reading.

      You are just being silly now..

      Having been defeated on the field of battle, like some old Greek at Troy


      bob

      Delete
    7. That smart ass little punky actor was really pretty good as Achilles in 'Troy'.

      They left out the good part, though, where the hero of the piece, Hector, the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, speaks with his wife, before being slain by Achilles. Their short talk together as usband and wife was the high point of it, for me.

      Speaking just for and by and to myself.

      bob

      Delete
  56. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      Quirk, you dead dumb fuck, let me put it biologically.

      Do you remember, if you still have a memory, and can recall the tale, how the defeated of Troy Escaped from the Back of the City through a Tunnel?

      To a Whole New Life?

      In Rome, even, with Hamdoon, perhaps, perhaps.

      Have you, O Quick, ever been 'through a tunnel' from 'one world to the next'?

      I will let you think a nano before I hint -







      "Birth Canal"

      whoooeie

      Now we begin to see how 'the spirit of Christ may hover' in many ways over the Illiad. What with the compassion for all the suffering, and the thought of new experience through death.

      yours, bobo



      Delete
    2. Hate, hate, hate!

      For Shame!

      ...as if you've ever experienced it.

      Delete
    3. .

      ... you dead dumb fuck...


      Wow, all the way up to four letter words already. Next, you will be giving us whole sentences. Probably not intelligible sentences (let’s not get ahead of ourselves) but still, progress.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      I think I'll stop baiting you now, Bob. Although it does give me guilty pleasure, it's much too easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. And everytime you open your mouth, you provide the ammunition.

      It's like teasing a child.

      Go back and re-read The Little Engine That Could. I know it may be difficult for you but just keep telling yourself, "I think I can. I think I can."

      .

      Delete
  57. QuirkThu Mar 21, 10:16:00 AM EDT
    .

    "Doug, saw your note above. Just a thought from the fool on the hill, do whatever comforts you. Tell Deuce and your son to pound sand if their advice goes against what you feel is good for you.

    I died four years ago. Now I bless every day I wake up in the morning (though I likely waste most of them). If you can take comfort in religion, spirituality, whatever you want to call it, do it. It does no harm and may help.

    Of course, just saying that you want it to happen won't make it happen. May be impossible.

    Just saying."

    .

    How very thoughtful of you, Quick.
    ...wish I knew how to make Valentine Emoticons, because I am rendered emotional, and in a sane World should be a Con, or at least an ex-con.

    ...a little surprised 'tho that you might think I take more comfort in religion than the sheer waste of day after day, after day.

    Honestly, I thought you were Quicker than that.

    I still harbor many thoughts of appreciation for your kind thoughts, however, and will carry them in my Black Heart to the Grave.

    ...and Fuck Bob for his heartless and thoughtless "kick the bucket" rants.

    He's kicked way too many clods in his day, and has been rendered a heartless, thoughtless clod-kicker, and no God-Damned English Degree can change that.
    May his GD John Deere rust in Hell!
    (sorry, it's the meds)

    As if I'm telling you something that you didn't already know.

    As L3 says:

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I misread that of Quirk, above, but my comment on the Illiad stands. If he has suffered a loss, I have too, in my past. And I know Doug has recently.

      And I get some comfort from my reading of the Illiad, and I hope Quirk, and Doug, and anyone else may do so too.

      bob

      said without any snarl at all.

      Delete
    2. How can one do that?

      Nevermind:

      Not interested.

      Delete
  58. The bottle clearly states "Take these capsules By MOUTH," but in a thoughtless fit of pique, fueled by Bob's cruel rants, I shoved one into my right ear, and now I've become the man w/two half-brains.

    ...although just a mere shadow of the man I once was.

    ...if I'd just stuck out that remedial English Course for the whole Semester, I'd probly be able to express myself more clearly.

    Like some Idehoe Potatoe Picker.

    Not.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Quick parades around in his faux Happy-Face, but we've finally flushed him out and got him to admit he died four years ago when Obama was elected. Phoney "Libertarian," Indeed!

    Never thought about it before, but at least my dearly departed wife got to be excused from a significant portion of his reign.

    Thank God for small favors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't thought about that reading of Q.

      But I think you are wrong, and that he has suffered a more than political loss.

      God Bless the old bastard anyway, as He inevitably will.

      bob

      Delete
  60. I still harbor sad thoughts that mom lived long enough to witness Atta and the boys handiwork live on TV.

    Those were NOT the days, irregardless (sic) of what some ranters here on this site might right.

    Might does not make write.

    ...except for Steven.

    ReplyDelete
  61. .

    one if by mouth, two if by ear

    one is just oral, the other makes it harder to hear

    but if you take enough of either and flush it with beer

    you'll soon guarantee you'll no longer be here

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Coroner's verdict: Rant assault by pedant.

      .

      Delete
    2. Reply link stopped working,
      I'm suffering a panic attack.

      In closing, just let me say, Be Well, Mel.

      Delete
  62. Our son's name is "William"

    ...but please don't.

    We got one two many poets here already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We got one too three many poets here already.

      Delete
  63. The European Central Bank stepped up pressure on Cyprus to seal a bailout agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund by Monday, making further funding for the island's ailing banks contingent on a deal.

    ...

    "Thereafter, Emergency Liquidity Assistance could only be considered if an European Union/International Monetary Fund program is in place that would ensure the solvency of the concerned banks," the ECB said.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Cardinal O’Brien initially stepped down from the church without admitting that there was any substance to the allegations. However a week later he released a brief apology which suggested there was some truth in what the priests were saying.

    But the statement lacked any precise detail.

    According to The Herald, the man who had been in a long term relationship with the Cardinal is known to have been in regular telephone contact with him until recently and was a frequent visitor to St Benets, his official residence in Edinburgh's Morningside.

    ReplyDelete
  65. I hadn't thought about that reading of Q.

    But I think you are wrong, and that he has suffered a more than political loss.

    God Bless the old bastard anyway, as He inevitably will.

    bob

    Though he might be aiming for sympathy, and just trying to get in Melody's pants.

    He was a supersalesman after all.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Cyprus announced plans on Thursday to overhaul its banking industry and force losses on big depositors as the European Central Bank threatened to withdraw crucial funding if the island’s government failed to agree on a bailout.

    ...

    “By establishing this legal framework, resolution measures will be imposed on Popular Bank [Laiki] so that it will be in a position to continue to offer banking services to its clients.”

    ReplyDelete
  67. Melody, here is the place to sell that book you mentioned whose title I have forgotten --

    http://internationalbookexchange.com/

    International Book Exchange

    But, it ain't open yet.

    Books just get better with age though.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, some do, some don't.

      Delete
    2. Good ones normally do. Though publishing prices have come down, and then there is Kindle to consider, and the expiration of publishing rights.

      But we don't need no stinkin' great books here, we just think for ourselves.


      bob

      Delete
    3. Who needs a stinkin' litatoor perfesser from the great white Canada who has spent his entire life with it to help you see the inner meaning of a poem, when we can just teach teacher ourselves, right here?

      bob

      Delete
    4. This is our motto -

      one if by mouth, two if by ear

      one is just oral, the other makes it harder to hear

      but if you take enough of either and flush it with beer

      you'll soon guarantee you'll no longer be here


      my dear

      We will see you at the condo

      We will go deco

      Ending the night disco

      I will paint with flambeau

      On your fresco


      bobo

      Delete
    5. In this day and age this line -

      one is just oral, the other makes it harder to hear

      should read of course

      one is just oral, the other your rear

      What with Barky coming out for gay marriage and all

      bob

      Delete
  68. NBC/WSJ Poll -

    Who do you trust more on the issues?:

    Looking Out for Middle Class - D+19
    Dealing with Medicare - D+16
    Defense - R+24
    Reducing the Federal Deficit - R+12

    ReplyDelete
  69. I hate labels. I’ve spent the better part of my adult life dodging bumper sticker nomenclature.

    ...

    Building resilience in these areas one step at a time will only increase your chances of survival. And may actually help you thrive.

    While this list is not exhaustive, it points us in the right direction.

    Food

    Grow your own or buy from local farmers. Doing this will accomplish several things:

    Strengthen your local food system. These producers live where you live.

    ...

    Health Vigilante – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

    90% of what we eat is the cause of our chronic health conditions.
    Be your own health vigilante. Take your health into your own hands.

    ...

    Invest in assets and skills

    By assets, I mean tangible items that hold value. Look up Alpha Strategy.



    ReplyDelete
  70. Medvedev also sought to find more unorthodox benefits for Russia in Cyprus's crisis. The Kremlin should develop islands, including the Kurils and Sakhalin, off the country's far east Pacific coast as alternative offshore banking destinations, Medvedev said.

    Russian sovereignty of the Kuril Islands is disputed by Japan, while Sakhalin is the site of a former Tsarist penal colony.

    The implementation of such a plan would have "ruinous consequences for Russia's financial system," former finance minister Aleksei Kudrin wrote on Twitter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, well Aussie was generously populated by lawbreaking scallywags too, Sam.

      "Rascals in Paradise."

      James A. Michener and University of Hawaii professor Arthur Grove Day.

      Copyright date: 1983
      (You get to renew the copyright?)
      ...I read it in college.

      Bob awards Doug 9 points.

      Delete
    2. And a free cheeseberger at Aloha McDonald's.

      bob, the rewarder

      Delete
    3. So you read this horseshit, and got picked up by your wife in the bushes, not really knowing where you were, and still know much much more than Quirk?

      I call that natural talent.

      bob

      Delete