COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Religion and Murder: It is worse than you think and the really great killers in history, like Lincoln, were eclipsed by the murders in the 20th Century


Posted on 04/23/2013 by Juan Cole
Contrary to what is alleged by bigots like Bill Maher, Muslims are not more violent than people of other religions. Murder rates in most of the Muslim world are very low compared to the United States.
As for political violence, people of Christian heritage in the twentieth century polished off tens of millions of people in the two world wars and colonial repression. This massive carnage did not occur because European Christians are worse than or different from other human beings, but because they were the first to industrialize war and pursue a national model. Sometimes it is argued that they did not act in the name of religion but of nationalism. But, really, how naive. Religion and nationalism are closely intertwined. The British monarch is the head of the Church of England, and that still meant something in the first half of the twentieth century, at least. The Swedish church is a national church. Spain? Was it really unconnected to Catholicism? Did the Church and Francisco Franco’s feelings toward it play no role in the Civil War? And what’s sauce for the goose: much Muslim violence is driven by forms of modern nationalism, too.
I don’t figure that Muslims killed more than a 2 million people or so in political violence in the entire twentieth century, and that mainly in the Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988 and the Soviet and post-Soviet wars in Afghanistan, for which Europeans bear some blame.
Compare that to the Christian European tally of, oh, lets say 100 million (16 million in WW I, 60 million in WW II– though some of those were attributable to Buddhists in Asia– and millions more in colonial wars.)


Belgium– yes, the Belgium of strawberry beer and quaint Gravensteen castle– conquered the Congo and is estimated to have killed off half of its inhabitants over time, some 8 million people at least.
Or, between 1916-1917 Tsarist Russian forces — facing the Basmachi revolt of Central Asians trying to throw off Christian, European rule — Russian forces killed an estimated 1.5 million people. Two boys brought up in or born in one of those territories (Kyrgyzstan) just killed 4 people and wounded others critically. That is horrible, but no one, whether in Russia or in Europe or in North America has the slightest idea that Central Asians were mass-murdered during WW I and looted of much of their wealth. Russia at the time was an Eastern Orthodox, Christian empire (and seems to be reemerging as one!).
Then, between half a million and a million Algerians died in that country’s war of independence from France, 1954-1962, at a time when the population was only 11 million!
I could go on and on. Everywhere you dig in European colonialism in Afro-Asia, there are bodies. Lots of bodies.
Now that I think of it, maybe 100 million people killed by people of European Christian heritage in the twentieth century is an underestimate.
As for religious terrorism, that too is universal. Admittedly, some groups deploy terrorism as a tactic more at some times than others. Zionists in British Mandate Palestine were active terrorists in the 1940s, from a British point of view, and in the period 1965-1980, the FBI considered the Jewish Defense League among the most active US terrorist groups. (Members at one point plotted to assassinate Rep. Dareell Issa (R-CA) because of his Lebanese heritage.) Now that Jewish nationalsts are largely getting their way, terrorism has declined among them. But it would likely reemerge if they stopped getting their way. In fact, one of the arguments Israeli politicians give for allowing Israeli squatters to keep the Palestinian land in the West Bank that they have usurped is that attempting to move them back out would produce violence. I.e., the settlers not only actually terrorize the Palestinians, but they form a terrorism threat for Israel proper (as the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin discovered).
Even more recently, it is difficult for me to see much of a difference between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Baruch Goldstein, perpetrator of the Hebron massacre.
Or there was the cold-blooded bombing of the Ajmer shrine in India by Bhavesh Patel and a gang of Hindu nationalists. Chillingly, they were disturbed when a second bomb they had set did not go off, so that they did not wreak as much havoc as they would have liked. Ajmer is an ecumenical Sufi shrine also visited by Hindus, and these bigots wanted to stop such open-minded sharing of spiritual spaces because they hate Muslims.
Buddhists have committed a lot of terrorism and other violence as well. Many in the Zen orders in Japan supported militarism in the first half of the twentieth century, for which their leaders later apologized. And, you had Inoue Shiro’s assassination campaign in 1930s Japan. Nowadays militant Buddhist monks in Burma/ Myanmar are urging on an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya.
As for Christianity, the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda initiated hostilities that displaced two million people. Although it is an African cult, it is Christian in origin and the result of Western Christian missionaries preaching in Africa. If Saudi Wahhabi preachers can be in part blamed for the Taliban, why do Christian missionaries skate when we consider the blowback from their pupils?
Terrorism is a tactic of extremists within each religion, and within secular religions of Marxism or nationalism. No religion, including Islam, preaches indiscriminate violence against innocents.
It takes a peculiar sort of blindness to see Christians of European heritage as “nice” and Muslims and inherently violent, given the twentieth century death toll I mentioned above. Human beings are human beings and the species is too young and too interconnected to have differentiated much from group to group. People resort to violence out of ambition or grievance, and the more powerful they are, the more violence they seem to commit. The good news is that the number of wars is declining over time, and World War II, the biggest charnel house in history, hasn’t been repeated.

162 comments:

  1. love the LARGE type for those jewish terrorists and groups.

    out of the 102 million killed what was the number killed by "jew" terrorists?

    100 people in 60 years? out of 102 MILLION?

    lol great blog yeah

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    1. Why do you single out the Jews?

      No one else does.

      Besides, Hitler was a Jew, according to the Nuremberg Standard. Responsible for at least 12 million of those deaths

      Must be why Wi"O" says ...

      "Hitler was right, my father wrong"

      Wi"O", never admitting a Jew could be wrong.

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    2. you get sicker by the day...

      Delete
    3. the giant text NIMROD, THE GIANT TEXT.

      Man you are one dumb idiot.

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    4. desert ratTue Apr 23, 07:54:00 AM EDT
      Why do you single out the Jews?

      No one else does.

      Besides, Hitler was a Jew, according to the Nuremberg Standard. Responsible for at least 12 million of those deaths




      only Rat would call Hitler a Jew. And now he will post nonsense to prove it... 3 2 1

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    5. Rat says: Must be why Wi"O" says ...

      "Hitler was right, my father wrong"


      no, Wio says this blog should be titled that. But you know that.

      You lie like normal people breathe

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    7. As to Wi"o" and "Hitler being right", well, no one else wrote it.

      He speaks for no one else.
      He wrote to Deuce of Hitler and "O"'s father, wanting Deuce to use the proclamation of Wi"O"'s newest epiphany, that ...

      Hitler was right, my father wrong"

      No one else has on the blog has ever spoken so highly of Hitler, as "o" did on that day.


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    9. If one were to read Israeli newspapers, back in 2010, they'd have learned ...

      DNA tests reveal Hitler's Jewish and African roots

      By Haaretz Service

      Geneticists identify groups of chromosomes called haplogroups, 'genetic fingerprints' that define populations.

      According to Mulders, Hitler's dominant haplogroup, E1b1b, is relatively rare in Western Europe - but strongest in some 25 percent of Greeks and Sicilians, who apparently acquired the genes from Africa: Between 50 percent and 80 percent of North Africans share Hitler's dominant group, which is especially prevalent among in the Berber tribes of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, and Somalis.

      More surprising still, perhaps, is that ...
      Hitler's second most dominant haplogroup is the most common in Ashkenazi Jews.


      "The findings are fascinating if you look at them in terms of the Nazi worldview, which ascribed such an extreme priority to notions of blood and race," Decorte said.


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  2. Concentration camps were first established by the British, utilized in South Africa against the Boers.

    Part of Churchill's training grounds.

    But ...

    History starts on 7DEC41, for the Old Schoolers in the US, 11SEP01 for the children.

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  3. did ya forget about the turks and the armenians???

    that TAUGHT the germans how to mass murder....

    oh yeah they were moslems...

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    1. They came after the Boer Wars, nimrod.

      History is a real thing.

      The South African Wars, 1881-81 and 1899-1905
      The Armenian Genocide, 1915.

      The Brits taught the world.
      Benjamin Disraeli, Britain's only prime minister of Jewish birth did a lot of the teaching...

      wiki tells US ...
      Disraeli saw the situation as a matter of British imperial and strategic interests, keeping to Palmerston's policy of supporting the Ottoman Empire against Russian expansion. According to Blake, Disraeli believed in upholding Britain's greatness through a tough, "no nonsense" foreign policy that put Britain's interests above the "moral law" that advocated emancipation of small nations ...

      ...A leading proponent of the Great Game, Disraeli introduced the Royal Titles Act 1876, which created Queen Victoria Empress of India, putting her at the same level as the Russian Tsar. In his private correspondence with the Queen, he proposed "to clear Central Asia of Muscovites and drive them into the Caspian".[77] In order to contain Russia's influence, he launched an invasion of Afghanistan and signed the Cyprus Convention with the Ottoman Empire, whereby this strategically placed island was handed over to Britain.


      So A Jew was responsible for deaths of Hindus and Muslims, in India during the British rule, there. More than 100 were killed in that colony of England as the result of a Jew.

      One that put National Interests above Morality.
      Much like the Israeli, today.

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    2. sicker by the day...

      Delete
    3. excuse mr rat,

      I posted: did ya forget about the turks and the armenians???

      that TAUGHT the germans how to mass murder....

      oh yeah they were moslems...


      that was referring to the thread post.

      such an ego you have....

      my point still stands nimrod....

      no mention of the turks in the thread post.

      you really are lacking in analytic skills.

      Delete
    4. do you NOTICE when posts are INDENTED?

      you are the perfect nimrod

      Delete
    5. Betcha ten doughnuts to an Amero ...

      ... that the Armenians were allied with those pesky Russians, aye.

      Delete
  4. Muhammad’s atrocity against the Qurayza Jews

    How Sad made him glad

    James M. Arlandson

    In AD 627, Muhammad committed an atrocity against the last remaining major tribe of Jews in Medina: the Qurayza.

    He beheaded the men and the pubescent boys and enslaved the women and children. In doing this, he wiped an entire tribe "off the map" to use the language of the President of Iran, recently.

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    1. If we are going to the :Way Back Machine"

      The First Genocide ...

      Jews slaughtering the Canaanite, men, women and children, under the leadership of Joshua is the first recorded genocide.

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    2. Like the Muslims believe of their Jihad, the God of Abraham justified the Israeli murder of those nonbelievers...

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    3. In fact, the some folks base the current claims of Israeli sovereignty upon the results of that invasion and genocide.

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    4. Hardly history started thousands of years before the Jews

      but you know you are liar

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    6. Yes, you are so right, conquering being a euphemism for murdering the inhabitants, raping and pillaging and stealing everything and holding it. You conquer someone by putting an axe in their head or a arrow in their heart.

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    7. You think you are so special and so chosen by your god? No, you are no better or worse than all the other killer apes. What goes around, comes around.

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    8. Finally, there is further vindication, even Wi"o" now claims Israel is equivalent to its neighbors and others in the world.

      No longer does his spout gibberish of Israeli moral superiority, now he battles to gain what was always offered, equivalency.

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    11. While you are worrying about me, how many Christian Syrian families will our strategic ally protect from the Islamo-nazis?

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    12. Take them in for protection.

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    13. There were Israelis, 4,000 years ago.

      There were none, absolutely zero, 100 years ago.

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    14. There were Mayans 2,000 years ago, none today

      Aztecs, they controlled much of the Americas 600 years ago, none today.

      Same goes the Inca.
      They are all gone.

      Perhaps someone will form a new country and claim to the past reborn, in a few thousand years.
      But they will not have any lineage to the "past".

      No more than Hugo Chavez had to the mantle of Simon Bolivar.

      Just like the Israeli of today have no legitimate historical claim to the lands of Joshua and his Kingdom, now.

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    15. The legitimacy of modern Israel comes from the United Nations.

      Which many here think of as an illegitimate organization.
      One which they believe the US should abandon.

      Myself, well, I think there would be unforeseen consequence, if we did.

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    16. .

      The 'historical homeland' argument has always been silly just as was the argument that there was never a Palestine. Silly and also irrelevant in today's world.

      People have been living on the land currently called Israel long prior to 4000 years. There was a city surrounding the Temple Mount 1000 years before the Jews conquered it and changed it's name to Jeruselem. The land and the city have been fought over numerous times even among contending tribes of Jews. The land has been in the hands of the Jews far less time than it has been in the hands of other conquerors. It was a province longer than it was a kingdom. Prior to 1948, the last time it was in the possession of the Jews was before Pompei took it over.

      To argue that there have been some Jews inhabiting the land for thousands of years is meaningless, it's like the guy who camps out in line at Best Buy the night before Black Friday as a place holder. Likewise the argument that the Jews purchased the land. That too is meaningless when the lands remains within a province, kingdom, or land of another. It's like saying that if a Jew purchased a farm in Idaho it would suddenly become the 'New Israel'.

      These days, if there is a 'historical land' of the Jews it is probably the U.S. since there are more Jews living here than in Israel.

      Face it, the modern state of Israel came about in 1948 as the result fo a U.N. mandate. It remains a Jewish state because the Jews have designated it as such and defended it. It will remain as long as it can be held.

      .

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    18. League of Nation, never was.
      Not a League, fer sur.

      Just another bunch of Europeons who let Italy conquer Ethiopia.
      Not worth the spit it take to spit on 'em.

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  5. http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/ChristianAttacks.htm

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  6. The entire Bible from front to back is a record of murder and violence filled with killers and their victims. Good old Abraham was a good hand with the knife and anyone with a Great in his handle, always a bad sign, Herod the Great comes to mind. The very symbol of Christianity is the murderous and sadistic Roman cross.

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    1. Which Bible?

      Whose bible?

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    2. The one in all the hotel rooms that we are to study. The same that all allegiances to the US government is sworn on. The same government that is the lifeblood to your edition. Divined by the wizards in their dresses and beanies, Holy men all.

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    4. No one cares what book the Israeli use.

      Except maybe you.

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  7. The killer ape theory of war and aggression was the driving force behind human evolution. A theory proposed by Raymond Dart in the 1950s and expanded by Robert Ardrey.

    According to the theory, the ancestors of humans were distinguished from other primate species by their greater aggressiveness and this aggression remains within humanity, which retains many murderous instincts. Some are better at it than others. That makes sense since if you are not good at it, you die.

    OOrah

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  8. .

    As I noted in response to Jenny on the last stream, this blog has become all Israel all the time with two opposing groups of nitwits at each other's throats. The preceeding posts just one more example.

    With regard to the article by Jaun Cole, he makes one good point but the rest is pure drivel. He points out that Muslims are no worse than other religions in the world all of which think they are respositories of The Truth.

    In the rest he implies that the religions of the world are the reasons for the deaths in the world. Utter nonsense. The world has grown past the period when they thought they had to cut out the hearts of whole populations and offer them to their gods. Today, warring groups may use religion as an excuse for slaughter but that is all it is, an excuse. If they didn't have religion as an excuse they would find another and most times do.

    The CIA says that 89% of the world population belongs to some religious affiliation. Does anyone here think that if we did away with religion, as John Lennon imagined, we would do away with war? Ridiculous. The CIA estimates that about 9% of the world's population has no affiliation while only 2% are atheist; yet, we see that Mao, within a brief span of years was responsible for the deaths of 70-80 million. Yet, you argue over a piddly million here or million there.

    Grow up. The world is a shit place. Religion may contribute to the shit but it is not the prime mover.

    .

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    1. Exactly.

      Religion is an excuse, a crutch for those that refuse to accept human responsibility for the human condition.

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    2. .

      True.

      Religion is merely a reflection of man not the other way around.

      .

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  9. WE are being dragged into war with Iran. You may not believe it. I am thoroughly convinced of it. The latest:

    Israel Says Syria Has Used Chemical Weapons
    By JODI RUDOREN and DAVID E. SANGER
    Published: April 23, 2013

    TEL AVIV – Israel’s senior military intelligence analyst said Tuesday that the Syrian government had repeatedly used chemical weapons in the last month, and criticized the international community for failing to respond, intensifying pressure on the Obama administration to intervene.

    “The regime has increasingly used chemical weapons,” said Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, research commander in the intelligence directorate of the Israeli Defense Forces, echoing a recent finding by Britain and France. “The very fact that they have used chemical weapons without any appropriate reaction,” he added, “is a very worrying development, because it might signal that this is legitimate.

    General Brun’s statements are the most definitive by an Israeli official to date regarding evidence of chemical weapons attacks on March 19 near Aleppo and Damascus. Another military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the evidence had been presented to the Obama administration — which has declared the use of chemicals a “red line” that could prompt American action in Syria — but that Washington has not fully accepted the analysis.

    “When you draw a red line, you have very little interest in crossing it, if crossing it means you have to take action,” said the official, who was not authorized to address the matter publicly.

    In briefings on Tuesday, the Israelis said they believed that the attacks March 19 involved the use of sarin gas, the same agent used in a 1995 attack in the Tokyo subway that killed 13. The Syrian attacks killed “a couple of dozens,” the military official said, in what Israel judged as “a test” by President Bashar al-Assad of the international community’s response. He said the government had deployed chemicals a handful of times since, but that details of those attacks were sketchier.

    “Their fear of using it is much lower than before using it,” the official said. “If somebody would take any reaction, maybe it would deter them from using it again.” Regarding possible further attacks, he added, “Now I’m more worried than I was before.”

    Israel has been deeply reluctant to act on its own in Syria, for fear that it could bolster President Assad by uniting anti-Israel sentiment. But the public statements regarding the attacks, days after the British and French governments wrote to the United Nations Secretary General saying they, too, had evidence of chemical use, complicates the situation for Washington.

    President Obama said last month during his visit to Israel that proof of chemical weapons use would be a “game changer.” But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday that the intelligence regarding the attacks remained inconclusive, and his press secretary, George Little, said Tuesday that the Pentagon was continuing to assess reports on the matter.

    “The use of such weapons would be entirely unacceptable,” Mr. Little said in Amman, Jordan, where Mr. Hagel landed Tuesday. “We reiterate in the strongest possible terms the obligations of the Syrian regime to safeguard its chemical weapons stockpiles, and not to use or transfer such weapons to terrorist groups like Hezbollah.”

    Speaking about Syria at a conference of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies here, General Brun said “it is quite clear that they used harmful chemical weapons,” citing “different signs” including pictures of victims “foaming at the mouth.” He went beyond the March 19 attack to speak of “continuous” use of such weapons, and described a “huge arsenal” of more than 1,000 tons stockpiled in Syria.

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    1. If the Israeli are concerned, the Israeli should take action.

      Not look to Uncle Sam for blood and treasure.

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    2. The French could step up and take control of Syria, again.

      Serve 'em right.

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  10. The Netanyahu regime will not rest until the US is at war with Iran. I know the SOB.

    Sorry for the inconvenience that the subject bores you. The fact that you are above the fray is noted.

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    1. .

      Hmmm. Dragged into war.

      Rather than rewrite a response the following is one I posted to Jenny. The bulk of it would also apply to your assertion that Israel is 'dragging us into war'.


      QuirkTue Apr 23, 08:06:00 AM EDT

      .

      I doubt you would consider it a serious counter-argument Jen but then you are merely a one-note pony, showing up occasionally to vent your vitriol against Israel. It appears to be your reason d'etre.

      My argument is that blasting Israel is ludicrous. AIPAC is a lobbying organization guilty of the same sins as the NRA, AARP, AMA, the Christian Association, and the Trial Lawyers. Granted, since AIPAC represents the interests of a foreign country, IMO, they should register as such. However, the U.S. is responsible for its own actions. It's the U.S. that grants the foreign aid. It's the U.S. that sends the troops. It's the U.S. that initiates our participation in wars.

      Israel can't force the U.S. to do anything it doesn't want to do. The slimy bunch in OZ give into AIPAC the same way they give into LaPierre and the dicks that lead the NRA. If America goes to war, it does so because the munchkins in OZ chose to go to war. So why don't you put on your big-girl panties and go back to sleep.

      This blog has become bifurcated and bizarre, all Israel all the time, with two whack jobs on one side defending everything that Israel does and at least two nuts on the other side declaring Israel the boogeyman and the cause of all the world's problems.

      America is not some stinking third-world country. We ought to be able to acccept that our problems are our own, created by us, that we are ruled by the muchkins in OZ and populated by the sheeple that allow it. Stop looking for scapegoats.

      .

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    2. Funny, I do not see anyone that blames Israel for the problems of the whirled.

      I see some who think that Israel is the current focus of the anti-Colonial movement that spread across the globe, post WWII.

      Israel exemplifies the last grasp of Europeon colonialism, in an attempt to solve a political problem in Europe.

      As noted, across the globe the Europeons have been in retreat, post WWII, while often battling hard to maintain their colonies. In Indochina, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Algeria the body counts were high.

      The battle has moved to Arabia and North Africa, the natives throwing off the remnants of the governments established by colonial masters.

      Egypt the larges, latest example of such movement.
      In Syria, the Alawis, personified by the Assads, can trace their rise to the French era.

      The majority wants its voice. It wants its way and will not be deterred by morality or minority "rights". Caring only for what they think is in their "National Interest", like the Brits under Benjamin Disraeli.

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    3. The Congo, that was an Europeon colonial adventure that bleeds to this day.

      The Euopeons drawing maps that caused internal factionalization, as a tool of colonial power projection.

      Playing ethnic and tribal factions against each other, while surfing above the fray.
      That was the British way.
      The other Europeons tried to emulate the "Best".

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    5. .

      Note that I do not in any way support AIPAC. They use money and influence like any other grubby lobbying group. Some of the demands they make and legislation they write for their minions in Congress are disgusting. As I've said before they should be forced to register as an agency of a foreign government since that is what they are. As to America 'at its core', a land of sheeple, a term I've come to use in place of the less polite 'friggin nitwits'.

      My only point is that regardless of how distastful AIPAC is, the responsibility for U.S. actions rests solely with our respresentatives in D.C. and the people who elect them.

      .

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  11. What are the ongoing affects of the last time we were dragged into a war?

    On April 15, the day the Tsarnaevs set off the pressure cooker bombs on Boylston Street, there were 40 bombings and shootings across Iraq that took the lives of 75 and wounded 350. No one in the outside world knows the names of those who set off these bombs, and no one cares. Boring !!!

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    1. .

      As I recall, it was George W. Bush that took us to war not Bibi.

      Just as you use religion as an excuse, you use Israel as an excuse for the bumbling actions of the boys in OZ.

      You argue Israel corrupts the munchkins. I don't defend AIPAC. I find them as disgusting as other lobbying groups. I have said they should be obligated to register as an agency of a foreign government. However, the only way you can be corrupted is if you are corruptible. The ultimate blame rest with the decision makers in D.C.

      You can look for scapegoats or you can look at the people WE elect to Congress.

      .

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  12. False flag ops in Canada

    DUBAI: Iran on Tuesday denied involvement in a plot to derail a passenger train in Canada that police say was backed by al Qaida elements based in Iran.

    Canadian police said there was no indication that the plot was sponsored by the Iranian state, with which Canada severed diplomatic relations last year. Iran nevertheless reacted angrily.

    "No shred of evidence regarding those who've been arrested and stand accused has been provided," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the Mehr news agency.

    He said al-Qaida's beliefs were in no way consistent with the Islamic Republic, and that Iran opposed "any kind of violent action that endangers lives".

    "In recent years, Canada's radical government has put in practice a project to harass Iran and it is clear that it has pursued these hostile actions," he added.

    Last September, Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran over its nuclear programme, its hostility towards Israel and what Ottawa said was Iran's support for terrorist groups.

    US officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto.

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  13. Yadlin: Iranian nuclear program crossed ‘red line’ By JPOST.COM STAFF04/23/2013 13:15

    Former military intelligence head: Tehran needs to make decision about nuclear program following Iranian presidential elections.

    Iran crossed the red line Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set in his speech at the UN in September, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin said on Tuesday.

    "By the summer, Iran will be a month or two away from a decision about the bomb," the current director of iNSS said at a conference in Tel Aviv. According to Yadlin, a decision will made after the Iranian presidential elections in June.

    Once Iran reaches this stage, "it will be very hard to stop Iran," Yadlin said. "If the US, Iran and Israel all stand behind its announcements, then we are on a course of collision towards the end of the year," he added.

    According to Yadlin, Tehran already has enough 3.5% enriched uranium for six bombs and nearly enough 20% enriched uranium for one bomb. "They have no problem reverting back what they allegedly turned to nuclear fuel. Within a week it could be turned into nuclear material for a bomb,” he warned.

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  14. Gantz: Iran is the main focus of IDF activities By YAAKOV LAPPIN04/23/2013 01:21


    IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. BennyGantz tells security conference in TA, "Iran must be pressured on its nuclear program and global terrorist activities."

    Iran is the main focus of the IDF's activities, and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, told a security conference held by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Monday.

    "Iran must be pressured on its nuclear program and global terrorist activities. The focus of our activities in the coming future, and in general, will be Iran," Gantz said.

    The Islamic Republic is continuing to "exploit ongoing dialogue to carry out strategic activity" linked to its military nuclear program, the chief of staff said. Sanctions and international isolation were having a big effect on Tehran, and might yet cause it to decide to change its path, he added.

    "Iran is striving for regional hegemony. In all of the places it is involved, the implications of its capabilities are far wider than something local or regional," Gantz stated.

    Turning his attention to Syria, Gantz said the country was marked by growing instability in areas where Basher Assad once ruled. "Iran and Hezbollah are involved up to their neck - and higher -" in attempts to safeguard the Syrian regime, while also preparing for a post-Assad future, Gantz said. "Strangely, there is Russian support for Assad," he added.

    Noting that some Israeli obverses are describing Syria as the new and local Afghanistan, Gantz said strategic weapons in the country could fall into the wrong hands.

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  15. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s president on Monday praised Azerbaijan for playing a key role in countering Iran’s influence in the Middle East as the Muslim country’s foreign minister visited the Jewish state for the first time.

    The visit by Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran.

    Israel believes Iran is quickly approaching the capability to build a nuclear bomb and has threatened to use military force if international diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb Tehran's nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes only.

    In talks Monday, President Shimon Peres told Mammadyarov that Israel considers Azerbaijan an important ally. He cited Azerbaijan’s "unique geographic location" and praised its government for taking a "clear stand" against war and terrorism.

    Mammadyarov said his country, located between Russia and Iran, “is not in an easy neighborhood" and that he sees a "huge opportunity" to expand ties with Israel.

    Although neither official said so, Azerbaijan could play an important role in the event of a military operation against Iranian nuclear sites, because it is next to Iran.

    Israel’s relations with Azerbaijan have grown since its once-strong strategic relationship with nearby Turkey, which also borders Iran, deteriorated.

    ReplyDelete
  16. JERUSALEM — The United States and Israel share a united front against Iran, and the U.S. commitment to defending its longtime ally in the Middle East remains unbreakable, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

    Hagel is traveling in the Middle East this week to meet with defense officials to formalize an agreement to sell Israel $10 billion in arms that could be used to confront Iran. They include advanced radars, aerial refueling tankers and missiles that can destroy air defenses.

    "This is a difficult and dangerous time; this is a time when friends and allies must remain close, closer than ever," Hagel said.

    Netanyahu restated Israel’s vow to strike Iran before it attains a nuclear weapon, a stance Hagel has said has U.S. support.

    ReplyDelete

  17. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
    My, oh my what a wonderful day!
    Plenty of sunshine heading my way
    Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

    Mister Bluebird on my shoulder
    It's the truth, it's actch'll
    Ev'rything is satisfactch'll
    Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
    Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Replies
    1. .

      More nonsense.

      Is Israel pressing for war and trying to drag the U.S. into it? Yes.

      Does the U.S. have to comply and attack Iran? No.

      It is Obama who issued the warning to Iran that they would not be allowed to achieve the 'capability' of making a bomb. It was his SOS and SOD that publicly stated that Israel has the right to 'defend' itself and that in that case we would have its back. It was the munchkins in the Senate that issued the feckless statement 'urging' that we support Israel. It is the representatives you helped elect that are currently getting us ready to launch into another expensive and useless war of choice in the ME.

      While you scapegoat Israel for doing what she sees as in her self-interest, you ignore the culpability of OZ and its attempts at, purposely or through incompetance, launching us into a war that is not in our self-interest.

      Given the president's stated position, I put the odds of us going to war with Iran at 50/50. Either way we lose. If we don't go to war, we look like a paper tiger and it is one more piece of evidence that we can't be trusted to stand by our word. If we do go to war, the costs, as has been discussed before, will be significant and unintended consequences are likely. This situation is due to Obama's statements, not to anything Bibi has said.

      If we go to war with Iran, you can scapegoat Israel all you want, but IMO you are just passing the buck. The responsibility rests in OZ.

      .

      Delete
    2. While, Q, it is one of Israel's foremost supporters, in the US, that owns Mr Obama.
      Made Mr Obama a millionaire author, he did, before Mr Obama had writ
      ten a word.
      Or had Mr Ayers ghost write a single page.

      Another unregistered foreign agent, deeper in the bowels of power than any of the CAIR people that boobie worries over.
      Of more influence in the Oval Office than either AIPAC or CAIR could ever hope for.

      I'm not sure war with Iran is imminent, but the odds are getting better that eventually, push will come to shove.

      Who'd have guessed that putting the Flying Tigers over China would lead to Pearl Harbor and then the utter destruction of three major Japanese cities.

      Delete
    3. .

      Bluebird?

      No, I am the Walrus.

      .

      Delete
  19. Meanwhile:

    Walmart recently announced it is accelerating its target of being run on 100% renewable energy, and shaping their reputation as a leader in corporate sustainable development.

    At last week’s Walmart Global Sustainability Milestone meeting, company President and CEO Mike Duke said the retail giant plans to get or create 7 billion kWh of annual global renewable energy by December 31, 2020. That’s a 600% advance over 2010 levels.

    Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/23/walmart-targets-ambitious-renewable-energy-energy-efficiency-standards-by-2020/#boKOKDY4ioTfTxK1.99

    Clickable

    ReplyDelete
  20. I had hopes that Obama would be able to resist the siren song of war, but I'm becoming doubtful. Too bad.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The economy was starting to perk back up in Jan and Feb, but it looks like we ran right back into that stone wall in March.

    Warm up, go cold - as predicted. Here.

    This is going to get awfully "old" way before it gets better.

    ReplyDelete
  22. But while you wouldn’t always know it from the tone in Washington, the United States has made remarkable progress toward trimming its fiscal sails. We may not be doing austerity European-style (thankfully, if you’ve paid attention to recent economic numbers out of Europe), but American austerity, or at least steady deficit reduction, is well underway, as two new reports affirm.

    John Makin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, looks at the Congressional Budget Office’s projections and argues that “American fiscal austerity has been moderate and probably . . . has proceeded far enough for now.” A budget deficit that was more than 10 percent of GDP in 2009 is on track to be about half that this year. “The federal budget deficit is shrinking rapidly,” writes Jan Hatzius, the chief economist of Goldman Sachs, in an April 10 report. Goldman estimates that in the first three months of 2013 the deficit was running at 4.5 percent of GDP, and they forecast a deficit of 3 percent of GDP or less in the 2015 fiscal year. Hatzius adds that “there is still a great deal of room for the economic recovery to reduce the deficit for cyclical reasons.”

    Can Washington accept a Yes?

    ReplyDelete
  23. The friend is the new American secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel. And the gifts? Well, they are gifts the Iranian regime would prefer Israel didn’t possess: advanced radar packages that extend Israel’s ability to see east (and west, north and south, but east is what matters most at the moment), KC-135 refueling tankers, and V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft. The tankers will extend the range of Israel’s bombers, and the Ospreys are particularly useful for inserting commandos into enemy territory. The sale of Ospreys (these gifts come with a price tag, but the generous U.S. aid package means they’re subsidized) is particularly notable, because Israel will be the first American ally allowed to buy them.

    Hagel Bearing Gifts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1956 Technology, that's some cutting edge shit. Damned Jews don't even deserve a Modified DC-10.
      ...then we unload Rufus's Marine Wet Dream, on them.
      The Helicopter that rarely flies.

      The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft used by the United States Air Force to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities. Based on the C-135 Stratolifter airframe, various types of RC-135s have been in service since 1961. Unlike the C-135 and KC-135 which are recognized by Boeing as the Model 717, the RC-135 is internally designated as the Model 739 by the company. Many variants have been modified numerous times, resulting in a large variety of designations, configurations, and program names.

      The Boeing C-135 Stratolifter is a transport aircraft derived from the prototype Boeing 367-80 jet airliner (also the basis for the 707) in the early 1950s. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave the aircraft the internal designation of Model 717.[1] Since the first one was built in August 1956, the C-135 has been a visible fixture of the United States Air Force.

      Delete
    2. You'll notice I posted the article w/o comment. Evidently, that's what the Israelis wanted.

      I think we've already committed to giving them some F-35's.

      Delete
  24. QuirkTue Apr 23, 08:15:00 AM EDT

    .

    "More nitpicking from the 'great-white north'. Evidently, you would prefer us to say our new "frinds" in Syria."


    ummm, no Quirk, it is not a nit-pick to note that there actually is a lot of meaning (and action) attached to the term "Ally". If one likes to talk Foreign Affairs it makes even more sense to have some understanding of terms used.

    As to you brilliant put-down suggesting referring to them as "friends" well, that is stretching the truth as well. There is a brutal civil war going on in Syria and a brutal dictator is on one side of it and on the other is a motely crew of a large variety of people many of them bad. To suggest that the USA is allied with these people is just plain silly. It is also not at all accurate to refer to them as friends. At least in Libya you can point to some concrete action by the US to support the rebels there against Ghaddafi but even then it would be wrong to consider them allies and a stretch of reality to consider them friends and the case is even further out there in left field with regards to the Syrian conflict. But I do realize Quirk that you love a straw man to knock down so you can appear all intellectual as you condescendingly descend to converse with the "idiots" who continually spew "nonsense" here. Yes, I am quoting you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You left out "nitwits" and that old standby, "Dicks"

      Most of us do appreciate The Decensions however, giving us additional opportunities to observe the incorruptible one on the virtual stage of The Internets.

      Delete
    2. LOL, I did indeed leave out some of his standards.

      Delete
    3. Condescension notwithstanding.

      Delete

    4. .

      My, Ash, it seems you have your panties in a twist again. I'm sorry.

      It just seemed to me you were getting a little overly wrought about what we call these guys.

      You claim that the people we have been supporting in Libya and Syria are neither friends nor allies. I would ask what are they? How would you classify them.

      In both instances, the U.S. has interfered in the internal turmoil of sovereign nations. We have done it arbitrarily as is evidenced by the fact that these countries are exceptions. We haven't done it during humanitarian crisis in countries throughout Africa were populations were harrassed and killed by government and/or non-government thugs. We didn't do it in Egypt. We didn't do it in Bahrain.

      In Libya, knowing little about the people be were dealing with, we decided a particular group of them legitimately represented the Libyan people. We formally designated them as the legitimate representives of Libya. We then aided them in their struggle with equipment while attacking the existing government of a sovereign nation leading to the death of as many civilions as we used for an excuse of saving in the first place, destroying infrastructure, and leading to unintended consequences that were easily forseen beforehand. If we are to do this for people that are neither our friends nor our allies, what would we possibly stop at doing for our allies.

      In Syria, we see the same scenario developing. Again, we have chosen sides and determined who we will aid. We have designated one group as 'legitimate'. We have provided one group with aid and although we not 'yet' put planes in the air or boots on the ground, our position is clear and over time hardening. Likewise, we have not uttered a word of dissent when our 'allies' (Saudia Arabia and Qatar) are arming the balance of the rebels including al Queda affiliates. We not only have not objected to our 'ally' Turkey supporting the rebels we have actually helped them do it by installing Patriot missiles on the border. We have used our 'ally' Jordon to funnel goods to the rebels. While we indicate we have not provided arms to the Syrian rebels, reports indicate that the our actions in Libya released large amounts of arms that found their way into the hands of the Islamist fighters there. While we haven't formally agreed to arm the rebels, we in no way have condemned our 'allies', Britain and France, for pushing to do so.

      The unintended consequences that came out of our actions in Libya would likely be small potatoes to those that would occur due to similar actions in Syria, yet you nit-pick over what we call these guys.

      Tell, so as not to offend you in the future, they are not friends, they are not allies, what are they?

      .

      Delete
    5. Clients, proxies, possibly pawns.

      Useful idiots?

      Delete
    6. .

      As I pointed out to you the other day, Dougo, I am trying to restrict the term 'dicks' to those who work in OZ and on Wall Street.

      I have adopted the term 'sheeple' as a more polite term describing 'friggin nitwits'.

      I will concentrate on coming up with a similar polite euphemism to describe your occasional trips off the reservation.

      :)

      .

      Delete
    7. Naw, it is you Quirk who gets all worked up about this stuff. Rat came up with some terms for you but, with respect to Syria, what support have we given to whom in that mess?

      Delete
    8. .

      ISTANBUL — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington will double its aid to the Syrian opposition, providing $123 million in new funding. He made the announcement after a meeting of nations that back the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's two-year-old civil war...

      --------

      Secretary Kerry reiterated the U.S. commitment to non-lethal aid but left open the door to a change in policy if political efforts to end the conflict fail.

      --------

      Steps were taken by the attending countries to bolster the legitimacy of the Syrian opposition. A commitment was made that all humanitarian aid will in the future be directed through the Syrian Free Army.



      http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-promises-to-double-us-aid-to-syrian-opposition/1645819.html


      You will recall that over the last day or so we have seen linked articles here indicating that U.S. aid now includes such 'humanitarian' aid as body armor and night vision goggles. We wouldn't want anyone tripping and hurting themselves in the dark. Also, the meeting offered no condemnation of U.S. allies, Saudi Arabis and Qatar, who have reportedly been pumping quantities of arms to the Sunni rebels.

      .

      .

      Delete
    9. .

      Humanitarian aid has now morphed into 'non-lethal'. What is next?

      The types of new non-lethal military supplies would be “determined in collaboration with SMC (the rebel Supreme Military Council) leadership,” it said.

      U.S. media had reported that Washington is preparing to provide the rebels with protective battlefield equipment such as body armor, armored vehicles and night-vision goggles, as well as communications gear — but not the arms they have requested.

      Kerry urged international donors to make similar pledges of assistance with the goal of reaching $1 billion in total international support for the opposition.

      He also announced an additional $25 million in food assistance to help people inside Syria and refugees in Jordan, to be distributed by the U.N.’s World Food Program.


      http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130421/DEFREG/304210010/U-S-Double-Aid-Syria-Opposition-Expand-Military-Assistance


      Communication equipment and armored vehicles, what every refugee needs.

      .

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

      Delete
    11. .

      In case you missed it, Ash, that's over $250 million in aid going to the Free Syrian Army. So far.

      And I didn't ask for what rat wanted to call them, I ask what you wanted to call them. You are the one who raised the objection to calling them friends and allies.

      .

      .

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

      Delete
    13. I thought Rat's terms pretty well covered it. Hardly friends but if they should prevails some goodwill could be useful.

      Delete
    14. Plus they are suffering pretty awfully - have you no heart?

      Delete
    15. .

      As are those loyal to Assad. As are those who were loyal to Gaddafi. Have you no heart?

      As are the Christians and non-Sunni who are persecuted by the Islamists in Syria. Have you no heart?

      As are people in dozens of other countries, yet I do not see you urging the U.S. or Canada to provide them with aid. Have you no heart?

      As are the minorities in many Sunni nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain. have you no heart.

      The hypocrisy and the arrogance is palpable.

      Not to mention, the humor. Good will. Right.

      .

      Delete
    16. Lordy, in quirks world there shall be mo charity because one cannot satisfy all.

      Delete
    17. .

      And, in Ash's world, he gets to choose who gets saved and who gets put down.

      It must be great being omnipotent and all-powerful, to choose which groups to save and which groups to let suffer, to say this group has to suffer because they support and asshole but this group will be rewarded because although they also support an asshole, still he is our asshole.

      Even better to argue that sometimes you have to burn a village to save a village. That it's our duty to pick and choose because we are so kool and knowledgeable. To be comfortable with the idea that sure we may make mistakes, there may be collateral damage, there may be unintended consequences, but gosh o rooney, ya gosta try. Gee willikers, you just got to do something. Yes, Ash, it must be a comfortable life being a naif in wonderland. And if things go to hell? Well, at least we tried. Tomorrow is after all another day and we can try always try again.

      By the way, are you allowed to walk around the neighborhood without a handler?

      .

      Delete
  25. OBAMA'S CHECHENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, they "came home" when Bush was da man.

      Delete
    2. The 9-11 Saudis came during Clinton

      Delete
  26. The Decension outweighs The Condescension.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Boston's emergency services and its hospitals have been praised for the speed and effectiveness of the medical response to the bombing last Monday. More than 280 injured marathon participants and spectators passed through the doors of Boston hospitals and clinics over the last week, but none have died beyond the first three fatalities and just two victims remained in critical condition as of Monday.

    But all that medical care costs money. Trauma care, surgery, hospital services, recovery and rehabilitation charges can quickly mount. Compared to other states with higher rates of uninsured people and weaker safety nets, the Massachusetts health care system is built to minimize the likelihood that huge debts will follow major injuries and illnesses.

    Massachusetts enforces an individual mandate that nearly every state resident obtain some form of health coverage, and it also provides subsidized coverage via Medicaid or private health insurance to low- and middle-income people who don't receive health benefits at work. This system served as a model for

    At least there's that

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All that Blood and very few deaths, very impressive.

      Mass. plan sounds similar to Hawaii's.

      I'd prefer Obamacare did not intrude to change them.

      But it will.

      As it does w/abortions and religion.

      Heil, Obama!

      Delete
  28. A comment of Wonkblog:


    Question: What do you call a man who scales Mount Everest, creates a multi-billion dollar company, cures cancer, and has sex with a sheep?

    Answer: A sheep f*cker.

    Lesson: No matter how successful Obamacare is, Fox "news" and other right wing outlets will be able to scrounge for enough dirt to run Obamafail stories 24/7. 2014 isn't going to be a pleasant year to watch TV or talk to your shrill conservative friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Socialism always works wherever it's tried.
      Honest.
      Centralization is more efficient than decentralisation.
      In some minds.

      Delete
    2. I agree. It's worked well for us, and for Germany, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and . . . . well, as you said, just about everywhere it's been tried.

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

    ReplyDelete
  30. Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. With ever shrinking government deficits for the past four years.

      Cause, effect or of no correlation?

      Delete
    3. Although, I'm not sure their deficits are continuing to shrink.

      Delete
    4. Then, there's the question of whether their "debt to GDP" is shrinking - which is a whole 'nother ballgame.

      Delete
    5. Some correlation, perhaps.

      The reality of shrinking deficits and contracting economies can suit either side of the debate if you think it through.

      One side claims the "cuts" were not big enough to free up private capital, the other side will advance that the shrinking deficits have a multiplier effect and forces a contraction across the entire economy.

      I don't think it creates a tipping point for either side.

      Delete
    6. Yeah, we're in great shape debt wise.

      Unless you believe there is a future subject to the same timeless realities that have always applied.

      Delete
    7. Debt to GDP was growing, while deficits were shrinking.

      The multiplier effect of the government spending cuts...
      The entire economy slows.

      Tough wave to surf.

      But if they had not instituted the cuts, and the economic contraction was not caused by the deficit cuts, the debt growth would have been even greater.

      I would think the cause of the EU economic contraction is more of an issue of Chinese growth than EU government spending levels.

      Delete
    8. I think it's pretty obvious that too much austerity is "short-term" bad medicine, at least.

      It's also logical that too much borrowing, and wasting, is poison "long-term" strategy.

      If I were to err, I would want it to be on the anti-austerity side. It's easier to "clean up after" an era of profligate spending (If, and this is a really, really important "if") if you are a government, than it is to get out of a depression.

      Delete
    9. Tough wave to surf, for sure.

      This whole deal gets really "iffy" without "growth."

      And, Growth gets very difficult when the oil peaks.

      Welcome to "peak oil." lite.

      Delete
    10. I say "lite" because we haven't hit the absolute peak, yet. But, we're getting uncomfortably close.

      Delete
    11. Well, we are in the era of "cleaning up after", while in need of another bump.

      Kind of like an addict kickin' it. As seen on TV.

      I think we ought to internalize, focus upon the Americas, and loose the reins on the rest of the whirled. We ought not be the whirled police, fire and rescue service.
      Not unless we collect some fees for service.

      The Hessians of the 21st century.

      Delete
    12. I would suggest that growth is slowing because of demographics as opposed to peak oil.

      Delete
    13. A combination of three, plus other factors.

      Demographics, EU is aging, China is young, vibrant.

      Energy costs are averaging all time highs, while production has not significantly increased, whirled wide. Stagnate global oil production levels do illustrate that it is not just a case of Federal obstruction.

      The State of Alaska recently slashed its State oil production taxes, in an attempt to boost production. We'll see if Alaska production does increase in the next 24 months. A test bed that will illustrate the real effect of taxes on production.

      Much of the EU industrial production capacity was dismantled and shipped to China, where the factory's carbon footprint does not matter. This lessened the EU capacity in export markets.

      Chinese "dumping" on the whirled economy, done through currency manipulation and State subsidies. This has cost the EU manufacturers both international market share, while the US has maintained its' export market share.

      I'm sure there are other factors, as well.

      Delete
    14. Those are points, Q, which I have held in varied degrees for forty years.

      As I aid, the four years of government "austerity" in the EU is not much austerity at all. The FP article made that point, specifically about England but it is true in varied degrees across the Continent.

      The EU has lost a lot of international trade to the Chinese. In fact most Chinese growth in international trade has come at the expense of the EU, in macro terms.

      I do not think that weaning the economy from the Federal debt teat should be done "Cold Turkey", but the fat content of the lactation is depleted.

      Delete
    15. The loss of international trade the major cause of the EU's general GDP stagnation,
      seems to me.

      Delete
  31. Prior to 2005 the World Oil Supply was increasing by about 2% per year.

    Since 2005 it has increased by a little more than 1/10th that amount.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Tsarnaev is a citizen, he deserves a trial.

    Other citizens deserve being droned.

    Hellfire, Damnation, and Obama!

    Or, as his preachers put it:

    Damn Nation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He does deserve a trial, the public especially deserves that he has a trial.

      If the Federals had a case against him and his brother, I would not have objected to them killing them, to stop them, if arresting them was not a viable option, prior to them killing the runners or other folk.

      Arrest and trial would be preferable.
      Killing 'em preemptively, once the decision is made, the weapons system does not matter.
      The 14SEP01 authorizes the President to act.

      Push to repeal the Authorization if the power it delegates to the President bothers you.

      Delete
  33. Snowing in April, what a country!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Flooded in '11. Drought in '12. Flooding again this year.

      Holy Moly.

      And, some people think that farmers are overpaid.

      Delete
    2. What????!!!!

      GREAT COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      All the rest of this thread has just been horse shit, except for WiO and whoever the anon is above.

      Delete
    3. By the way, the farmers around here a bailing out of the CRP program. Too much new red tape and new regulations and oversight in the new program, and the payments aren't worth it.

      Delete
    4. .

      Ironic in a way.

      From Wiki,

      NRCS's natural resources conservation programs help people reduce soil erosion, enhance water supplies with groundwater recharge, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, and reduce damages caused by floods and other natural disasters.

      Yet, the Idaho farmers are withdrawing from the program due to 'regulations and oversight' from the government.

      Sounds like a bunch of Wall Street bankers.

      :)

      .

      Delete
    5. I imagine it is the same in most places. The fines are new and draconian, I am told. Reseeding is nearly mandated. The money isn't worth it. Crop prices are higher now. You'd probably do the same.

      The program has been a good one.


      NRCS's natural resources conservation programs help people reduce soil erosion, enhance water supplies with groundwater recharge, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, and reduce damages caused by floods and other natural disasters.


      It has indeed done all those things. But with wheat at 8 bucks, they don't want to accept a payment that is in the range of maybe 3 bucks. All the other commodity prices around here are higher now too. Peas are 30 cents a pound, I sold at 5 1/2 one year.

      We can, and should, thank Rufus and his obsession with ethanol for a lot of this. The farmers are indeed indebted to Rufus.

      Delete
    6. The word in the back forty is the government is making it tough so as to discourage participation and save money.

      Delete
    7. .

      Stay out of the back forty. The wolves will get you.

      .

      Delete
  34. Was Hitler partly Jewish?

    http://hnn.us/articles/was-hitler-jewish

    Maybe but probably not.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Is being Jewish established by observing the tenets of the religion or is being Jewish established by birth, bloodlines and genetic traits?

    If it is established by observing the tenets of the religion, he was not Jewish
    If it is by bloodlines and DNA, he probably was

    The Government of Israel considers bloodlines when establishing an immigrants status as a Jew.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At most, he had a minority of Jewish genes.

      What is your point with this bullshit?

      Delete
    2. The point is to illustrate that the State of Israel has established that being Jewish is determined by bloodlines, not by following the tenets of the religion.

      Just as the Germans did in 1938, in their Nuremberg Laws.

      The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum tells US that ...

      The Nuremberg Laws, as they became known, did not define a "Jew" as someone with particular religious beliefs.


      Just as the State of Israel does, today, to Russian expatriates that have taken residence in Israel.

      Delete
    3. .

      News and views from Israel.

      Is Scarlett Johansson an Israeli? No, however, Israel could become here nation-state under the new Basic Law to be proposed in the Knesset

      As the daughter of a Jewish mother ‏(of Ashkenazi background from New York‏), American actress Scarlett Johansson is Jewish according to halacha, or Jewish religious law, and thus a potential Israeli according to the country's Law of Return. However, she will be surprised to discover that Israel will be formally recognized as her nation-state, according to the proposed Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which is on the agenda of the newly elected Knesset...

      http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/04/22/scarlett_johansson_is_not_an_israeli_105092.html

      .

      .

      Delete
    4. Then we move to illustrate just how the State of Israel is utilizing the issuance of marriage licenses, using the racial or ethnic background of the prospective bride and groom is deciding whether to issue the license, legitimizing the union, or not.

      As referenced earlier, the Israeli refuse to legally legitimize Jewish/Muslim unions.
      Just as in the NAZI Nuremberg Laws of 1938 the State is trying to impose racial purity upon its subjects.
      I realize that is any State's internal policy decision, to attempt to manage their subject's bed partners, to be sure, but one I find despicable when used by a State in an attempt to enforce bloodline purity.

      Delete
    5. All in an effort to illustrate and educate the US public to the fact that the State of Israel is not "Just like US" ...

      Delete
    6. Q, that's like the Mormons baptising Jews.

      At least the Mormons waited until the Jews were dead, before they claimed them.
      Boy, did the Israelis get mad, about baptizing their dead.

      How will folks feel when they become dual citizens?

      Will we be allowing all those folk unlimited, visa free access to the US?
      Deemed to be a friend of US, all based upon the bloodlines of the traveler's mother, not the real security status of the visitor.

      "Your pedigree papers, please"
      \

      Delete
    7. .

      Excellent point about the visa free access. It didn't occur to me.

      .

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

      Delete
    9. Well, quot, there you go.

      Dispute any point, en toto or singularly.

      Educate US.

      Delete
    10. Anyone in Chechnya that could convince the Israeli bloodline checkers that their mother was a "Mountain Jew" they'd be allowed free access to US.

      How can the Federals possiblly make the case that we can put US immigration security in the hands of Israeli bloodline checkers?

      How can the Federal tell US that the racial background of the promulgator guarantees the security status of the child?

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

      Delete
    12. Anybody that would listen to Rat might well believe that 'the Mountain Jews' are related to Chief Plenty Coups (otherwise known as Aleek-chea-ahoosh), of 'the Mountain Crows'.

      After all, they seem to both have Mountain in the names, and how do you explain that other than through blood relationship?

      Delete
  36. How To Fix Your Community's Mental Health Problems --



    Las Vegas Hospital Accused of Dumping Psychiatric Patients in California
    Health officials in Las Vegas are accusing of shipping patients on Greyhound buses with one-way tickets to California
    By Beverly White and Julie Brayton
    | Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 | Updated 5:42 AM PDT




    LA's downtown Greyhound bus depot may have been one of several California entry points for countless psychiatric patients from Nevada, if allegations against a Las Vegas medical facility can be proven.

    San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is formally investigating the complaints.

    And without naming the hospital, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich confirms he, too, is on the case.

    "We got preliminary reports about three to four weeks ago on this issue and immediately opened up a criminal investigation. We were looking at it, at first from the civil side, and we realized that the 150 patients allegedly have been dumped," Trutanich said.

    State law and city ordinances prohibit such practices, according to Trutanich, who said the practice is human trafficking as far as he's concerned.

    "The reason you dump patients is you want to get out from under the cost of them. You jeopardize their safety, and we have no idea what the elements are that these individuals who have been dumped, allegedly have been dumped onto our streets, are suffering from," Trutanich said.

    Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval stands by his state's hospital, but Trutanich said no one has been cleared yet.

    "We will find these patients," Trutanich said, "and we will bring the perpetrators of their dumping to justice."

    ReplyDelete
  37. The recent selling has left Chinese stocks trading at a discount. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is currently trading at 10.3 times expected earnings, compared with a ten-year average of 14.2 times.

    ...

    "There are some western investors talking about a financial crisis in China. They do not understand the Chinese government" has the firepower to step in and bolster the financial system if necessary, said Yuming Ying, managing director of China Eagle Asset Management in Hong Kong, which has $40 million of assets under management.

    Mr. Ying reduced his exposure at the beginning of the year, but has made some small stock purchases in the past two months because he believes Chinese shares are now cheap.

    ReplyDelete
  38. On this day in 2005, the first video was uploaded to YouTube by the site’s co-founder Jawed Karim. The 19-second video is a shot of Mr. Karim at the San Diego Zoo.

    ReplyDelete
  39. from the Never Trust A Libertarian Desk -

    Ron is fine with killing liquor store robbers with drones -

    heh




    Drones

    Ron Paul Fans Furious at Rand's Drone Flip-Flop




    Ron Paul fans furious over Rand Paul's drone flip-flop
    Posted By John Hudson Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - 6:30 PM Share

    Ron Paul's vibrant fan base is in open rebellion today over Rand Paul's reversal on domestic drone strikes. The Kentucky senator, whose famous 13-hour Senate floor filibuster did much to strengthen his ties with his father's hardcore following, told Fox Business Network on Tuesday he's OK with drone strikes on American citizens who, for instance, rob a liquor store.

    "I've never argued against any technology being used when you have an imminent threat, an active crime going on," Paul said. "If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and fifty dollars in cash. I don't care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him."

    While it's true that Paul has always made an exception for "imminent threats" -- a 9/11-like moment -- the liquor store scenario struck many libertarians as a very low threshold for domestic drone strikes, especially considering Paul's Senate floor remarks, which if you recall, took a more anti-drone stance.



    http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/23/ron_paul_fans_furious_over_rand_pauls_drone_flip_flop


    These Libertarians are a gas. We don't need Sam's humor. Some want to bring back involuntary servitude via the draft, and take all your money and property at death, and recycle it, presumably via some kind of ongoing National Death Lottery, while still supporting tradition marriage, others want to deny you your Social Security money because it suits their whim, and make some pay more in taxes than others, again according to personal whim, while others think heroin and cocaine should be sold to anyone over 21 at Wal-Green's. If these folks ever got a hold of policy, they would ruin what is left of the morals and ethics of the country and the country's entire economy in the space of under a year and a half, and that of the entire world in five years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Should read Rand Paul is fine, instead of Ron is fine with killing liquor store robbers with drones.

      I guess the threshold is fifty bucks. Above that, watch out above.

      Think of all the fine wines that might be lost in a drone attack near a liquor store!!!!!

      Delete
    2. Drone attacks on liquor store robbers.

      These Libertarians are sure confused.

      And a while ago I was saying I didn't think Rand was crazy like his father.


      bbwwwaahahahahaha

      Delete
    3. Won't happen in Idaho though. We've outlawed the use of drones in police work, which should cover the liquor store drone strikes.

      Delete
  40. On the other hand, the use of drones against people who endanger others by drinking and driving might be warranted. Think of some useless slob, from, say, the Great Detroit area who drives around drinking, and trying to do some thinking. The police see him weaving about. Would not a Hellfire missile through his back window make some real sense, and save the costs of a trial, and possibly save lives too?

    ReplyDelete