COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Monday, December 16, 2013

In mid December of 1967 I was living at The Acropolis Hotel in Larissa, Greece. It was my fifth month in Greece and three days from being told that I had to leave.

There had been a counter-coup against the military junta in charge of Greece,  led and instigated by King Constantine. The coup was failing and Constantine  lost his nerve and was fleeing the country.

My bridge partner, an Air Force Colonel  named Trakis, had supported the coup and was being arrested. I had been watched in my “meetings”  with Trakis and my boss advised me to get out of the country, fast. 

I checked out of the Hotel, drove to Athens in my white VW Beatle and spent the night at The Congo Palace before driving to Patras where I took a ferry to Brindisi, Italy. I drove to the Mont Blanc tunnel to cross into France and finally ended up in London waiting for orders.

I never heard from Trakis again. I doubt things went well for him. He was a good man and he supported a spoiled coward that lost his balls. Now Constantine is going home. Some will remember what a punk he really was:


Greece's former king goes home after 46-year exile

Constantine II stuns Greeks by moving back to his crisis-plagued homeland with his wife Anne-Marie

Helena Smith in Athens 

The Guardian, Sunday 15 December 2013 13.28 EST

Greeks who have the means may be leaving in droves, but after 46 years in exile the former king, Constantine II, has moved back to his crisis-plagued homeland.
The deposed monarch, who was forced to flee Athens shortly after the seizure of power by a group of army officers in 1967, has stunned Greeks – and most of his relatives in the royal households of Europe – by resettling in the capital where he was born and schooled.
"He and Anne-Marie have decided to move here permanently," said a member of Greece's small circle of royalists, referring to Constantine's Danish-born wife. "His son Prince Nikolaos and his wife Princess Tatiana made the same move a few months back."
Soaring property prices in London apparently spurred the move. But Constantine, who was dethroned by referendum on the return of democracy in 1974 and stripped of his Greek citizenship by the then socialist government 20 years later, is known to have been homesick.
More than a decade ago he told a Greek newspaper: "No one can keep me away. For so many years I have lived through my own Golgotha, now I am ready to return."
The 73-year-old, a first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince William's godfather, faced the double whammy of not only being unwanted in his country but also being financially constricted: in 1994 he suffered the humiliating blow of also seeing his palaces and other royal estates expropriated in a nation where republicanism runs deep. The European court of human rights, to which the monarch was subsequently forced to resort, did little to alleviate his plight when, more than a decade later, it ruled that the Greek state compensate Constantine for a fraction of the £320m he had originally sought in damages.
Earlier this year, however, Constantine struck lucky when he sold his north London mansion, his home for the past 30 years, for £9.5m. By contrast, property prices in Athens have plummeted to the point where real estate can be acquired for a song: studio flats, should the ex-king want one, are selling for as little as €6,000 (£5,000) in the city centre.
"From that point of view it was considered the very best time for his majesty to not only downsize but return," said another insider, adding that the royal was sending out scouts to scour the property market with a view to buying a permanent residence in Athens.
With Greece mired in a sixth straight year of recession and unemployment at record heights, an estimated 300,000 Greeks – the vast majority highly qualified professionals – have left the country since the eruption of its debt crisis. The reversal of that trend by Constantine, who has still not been forgiven for the support he initially gave the colonels – the junior army officers who threw the country into seven harsh years of military rule – is unlikely to be received lightly on the left.
The former monarch, who in recent months has been spotted cane in hand walking the streets of Athens, has repeatedly denied political ambitions. Instead he has long maintained that his former subjects have been "deliberately misinformed".
Constantine's treatment by his homeland has been an ongoing source of grievance for the British royal family with the Duke of Edinburgh, who was born on the island of Corfu, expressing fury at the way his cousin has been dealt with.

But the new generation of Greek royals appear to have forgotten the past. Prince Nikolaos, it is said, is now renting the apartment of the daughter of Andreas Papandreou, the late socialist leader who gave his father so much grief.

GREECE IN 1967

71 comments:

  1. Only one letter to The Guardian seems to understand what this man was all about:

    15 December 2013 9:55pm

    Recommend
    22
    The history of this former head of state does seem to have been somewhat glossed over.
    It is my understanding that not only did he fail to stand up to those who took over his country by force ( the duty of a constitutional monarch) but actually acquiesced and collaborated with the military government. It was for this reason that the people, when given the opportunity, voted to abolish the monarchy. He had proved himself to be neither use nor ornament.
    What I don't understand is why the article doesn't mention this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quirk, Hamdoon and I were on the quai at Smyrna when the first troop boats arrived, filled with soldiers with moustaches and rifles. Behind came the captives, civilians in chains, taken in the street fighting in the central parts of the cities, some bruised and bloody, many women among them. The worst part was when the soldiers cleaned the last of them, now dead, from the boats and dumped the bodies into the sea. The sky was beginning overcast, and across the way above the high hills the lightning was beginning to flash.

    Quirk took a drink from his vodka canteen, spat into the sea, lit a cigarette, smoked deeply and exhaling said:

    "Life sucks."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. You can't blame anyone else, ... , no one but yourself.
      You have to make your own choices
      Then live every agonizing day with the consequences of those choices.


      bob

      Delete
  3. Those people really don't think the days of "royalty" are over, do they? They think the rule of the royal family of Europe is just on hiatus. A little forced vacation.

    They might be right.

    Human beings, overall, haven't shown much facility (or affinity) for self-governance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The British are making a horrible mistake letting the old bitch "queen mum" and her horrible spawn live in those mansions, and ride around in their gilded carriages, putting on the daily pageant. It's going to come back and bite them in the ass. They'll be slaving for that dreadful bunch, again, before it's over.

      Delete

  4. Iran Has No Trace of Missing American: Zarif
    TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s foreign minister said the country has no information about an American national who vanished seven years ago, stressing that he is not in Iranian custody.


    In a Sunday interview with CBS News from Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made it clear that Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who is said to have disappeared in Iran's island of Kish in 2007, is not incarcerated by the Islamic Republic.

    “We know that he is not incarcerated in Iran. If he is, he is not incarcerated by the government and I believe the government runs a pretty much good control of the country,” Zarif explained.

    If he was ever found, Zarif said, the Iranians would certainly discuss whether they would return him to the US.

    “Everything’s possible, but I’m saying that we have no traces of him in Iran,” the Iranian minister added.

    Earlier in the day, Alireza Miryousefi, the spokesman for Iran’s UN mission in New York, urged the US administration to provide explanation regarding the mission of Levinson on the Iranian soil, after his connection with the CIA was earlier disclosed by the American media.

    “Actually the American authorities should explain about Levinson’s mission in Iranian soil. They are responsible and should respond,” Miryousefi told the AP.

    The Islamic Republic has been trying “to find any clue about Levinson’s situation for humanitarian and security reasons, but so far to no avail,” he added.

    “We also provided all possible assistance to his family. Unfortunately this is another case of US scandal.”

    http://www.tasnimnews.com/English/Home/Single/222647

    So sad

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Bush really bit the 'Big One' sending Levison into Iran without back up.

      'Bush the Younger' would not listen and Levison, he thought he was James Bond, little realizing that being a contractor for the CIA was not the same as being a Double "O" for MI6


      bob



      Delete
    2. Hamdoon and I tried to warn them both, in that Rose Garden meeting, but GW was on a roll, having taken down Saddam and thus, saving the world, he just knew that Levison could topple that Iranian regime, single handed.
      Levison, for his part, believed it too.

      The President would not let Hamdoon go along without me, and my hip hurt...
      Quirk was hitting the viagra, hard, and he would not leave Israel, prostitution being legal there.

      Thus we lost Levison to the evil doers.


      bob


      bob

      Delete
    3. You are getting the hang of it, Dear Imitator, especially the part about Quirk, Viagra and Israel.

      The rest was bunk but Quirk, Viagra and Israel was good.

      I would have specified Russian Israeli girls and put in the Russian vodka, but it was good, caught the spirit of old Quirk.

      Delete
    4. Something like this, Dear Imitator:

      "Quirk, who had lost his both Catholicism and his sense of shame at a tender age together, was never so content as when in a Tel Aviv hot tub with a Russian/Israeli hooker and a bottle of Smirnoff."

      Delete
    5. Rather:

      "Quirk, who had lost both his Catholicism and his sense of shame at a tender age altogether, was never so content as when in a Tel Aviv hot tub with a Russian/Israeli hooker and a bottle of Smirnoff, his pecker standing and peering out of the water like a periscope."

      There, that has it.

      Delete
  5. FOR RUFUS

    http://www.today.com/food/beer-concentrate-lets-you-take-brews-outdoor-adventure-2D11741579

    Beer Concentrate Lets You Take Brews On Outdoor Adventures

    RUFUS !!!!

    YOU ARE NO LONGER CONFINED TO THE AREA BETWEEN THE COMPUTER AND THE FRIDGE !!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. “Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”
      ― Sean Covey

      Delete
  6. One thing leads to another. Strangely, one rarely hears about this occupation and ethnic cleansing or a return to pre-1974 borders or unresolved UN resolutions. And where is Mr. Kerry?


    The 1974 Turkish Invasion and its Consequences




    In 1967, a military junta seized power in Greece. The relationship between that regime and President Makarios of Cyprus was tense from the outset and became increasingly strained. President Makarios made it known that he was convinced that the Athens junta was involved in efforts to undermine his authority and policies through extremist underground organizations in Cyprus conspiring against his government and against his life.

    On 15 July 1974, the Greek military junta and its Greek Cypriot collaborators carried out a coup against the democratically elected president of Cyprus. Using this criminal act as a pretext, Turkey invaded Cyprus five days later. In a two-phase invasion in July and August, and despite calls by the UN Security Council [Resolution 353 (1974)] and the quick restoration of constitutional order on the island, Turkey occupied 36,2 percent of the sovereign territory of the Republic and forcibly expelled about 180.000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. Another 20.000 Greek Cypriots, who remained in the occupied areas, were also forced to eventually abandon their homes and seek refuge in the safety of the government controlled areas. Today, fewer than 500 enclaved Greek Cypriots remain in the occupied areas.

    Turkey still deprives the displaced Greek Cypriots of their right to return to their homes and properties. This has given rise to appeals to the European Court of Human Rights, which has issued major decisions on Turkey’s violations of the European Convention.

    In addition to the economic devastation caused by the invasion and the forcible population movement, over 3.000 persons were killed, while some 1.400 Greek Cypriots remain missing.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. The present close relationship between the U.S. and Turkey began with the agreement of July 12, 1947, which implemented the Truman Doctrine. As part of the cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more than $12.5 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance.
      http://www.eucom.mil/mission/the-region/turkey

      A GRAND total of $26.5 billion since 1947.

      The Israeli have received over $110 billion since the Camp David Accords.

      The level of concern, by the US, is in direct proportion to the money it has spent.


      boberta - the dancing queen

      Delete
    2. Turkey shipped arms to Syria rebels: report

      The Turks have a keen interest in Syria. It is Turkey's good fortune that nearly 1/2 of the Syrian population has been displaced. This will save Turkey the infamy of ethnic cleansing ala Cyprus and Armenia.
      In another six months, it is likely that most of Syria's remaining civilians will be either killed or displaced. This will leave the various and sundry combatants free to fight back and forth over the rubble without concern for collateral damage (as if there ever were).
      Had Israel inflicted 1% of the physical damage and killed or wounded 1% of civilians so far observed, the UN, EU, US, China, and Russia would be apoplectic. In 2006, when I thought Israel should have concentrated on Syria rather than Lebanon, I did not foresee anything like the present ruin of Syria. The Muslims have destroyed utterly one of Israel's great antagonists. It will take generations for Syria to recover, if ever. And the new Syria will substantially smaller than the old.

      Delete
    3. For slightly more than 400 years, what are now Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine were within the Ottoman Empire. Persia played no role ii the region. In fact the Ottomans and Persians fought only one war, involving Iraq. When the war ended, each maintained its own territory without further conflict. Since the fall of the Ottomans was less than a century ago, there are still roots throughout the ME from the Empire. Whether these can be reinvigorated and remain viable in the 21 C. remains to be seen. Iranian influence is recent and not uncontested. Therefore, given proximity, history, and military power, any advantage should go to the Turks.
      At the moment, Turkey, like Israel, has nothing to gain by military intervention is Syria. Fanatical Islamists are putting pressure on the Kurds, to Turkey's advantage. Hezbollah seems to be fully committed in Syria, to Israel's advantage. Egypt has Hamas tied down; and despite Hama's close relationship with Iran, it is neutralized by both Egypt and Israel. The West Bank is quiet and the odd man out. As to Jordan, the country is nonaligned at the moment and, if past is predicate, will take no active role until it can predict the winner. It is to be hoped that it chooses more wisely than in the past. If not, well, “Welcome to Palestine” (which was supposed to be the case).

      Delete
    4. I would not characterize the relationship between the US and Turkey as close.

      Delete
    5. Lebanon: If Hezbollah is sufficiently weakened from fighting in Syria and the Lebanese Army can be convinced to remain in barracks, the Christians of Lebanon will slaughter Hezbollah.

      Delete
  7. Exclusive: Hungary seeks Israeli gas as alternative to Russian supply

    Hungary is looking to Israel and its newfound natural gas to help it shake its dependency on Russian energy...In a meeting with Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Szijjártó offered Israel access to Hungary’s 7 billion cubic meters of state-owned gas storage.

    “We could be a central European distribution hub for Israeli gas, and hope we will learn about your export strategy as soon as possible,” Szijjártó said. The other fields in which he hoped to strengthen ties included water, agriculture, and innovation... During his trip, Szijjártó also met with executives at Teva, including ousted CEO Jeremy Levin, to whom he awarded that Officer’s Cross of the Merit Award, one of the highest civilian awards in Hungary...While the EU issued guidelines in its Horizon 2020 platform that defined Israel within the green line, Hungary expressed unhappy with the developments....

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

      Delete
    2. How the history has changed for Hungary since 1956.

      Delete
    3. Although of no particular note, Hungary is one of ten EU countries where zoophilia is legal. Whether this should be a factor in determining the value of EU moral pronouncements is for the reader to assess.

      Is Bestiality Legal?

      Delete
    4. Russian actor wants to put all gay people 'in the oven'
      Former presidential candidate Ivan Okhlobystin tells Novosibirsk audience that all homosexuals should be burned alive


      A Russian actor best known for announcing a run for his country's presidency two years ago has stated that he would like to put all gay people "in the oven".

      Ivan Okhlobystin, a popular star with fiercely conservative views, told an audience in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk that all homosexuals should be burned alive. According to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, in comments translated by the Hollywood Reporter, Okhlobystin also compared homosexuality with fascism.

      "I would put all the gays alive into an oven," the one-time Orthodox priest has been quoted as saying. "This is Sodom and Gomorrah! As a religious person, I cannot be indifferent about it because it is a real threat to my children!"

      Okhlobystin later tweeted to confirm his comments. "The meaning was rendered correctly," he said. "Everyone has the right to express their opinions."


      ...All this from a a religious fanatic who lives in a country where one may have all manner of sex with all domestic fauna. Apparently, this moral "contradiction" does not trouble his keen sensibilities as "a father".

      Delete


    5. “If people try to judge you or punish or put you in an oven, you for doing safe,
      consensual things that make you happy, I can guarantee you they're bad people.”

      Delete
    6. A Madonna–whore complex is the inability to maintain sexual arousal within a committed, loving relationship:
      based on a man's primary hatred of women, stimulated by the child’s sense that he had been made to experience intolerable frustration and/or narcissistic injury at the hands of his mother. According to this theory, in adulthood the boy-turned-man seeks to avenge these mistreatments through sadistic attacks on women who are stand-ins for mother.
      The man is therefore reluctant to have sexual relations with his wife for, according to his unconscious mind, this would be incest. He will reserve sexuality for "bad" or "dirty" women, and will not develop "normal" feelings of love in these sexual relationships. This introduces a dilemma where a man may feel unable to love any woman who can satisfy him sexually and is unable to be sexually satisfied by any woman whom he can love.

      Delete

    7. Age of child prostitutes in Israel dropping, report finds

      Knesset study cites cases of 11-year-olds used for commercial sex that are among the several thousands of teenagers involved in prostitution.

      By Vered Lee

      http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.542420

      "Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."

      Delete
    8. A Madonna–whore complex is the inability to maintain sexual arousal within a committed, loving relationship:
      based on a man's primary hatred of women, stimulated by the child’s sense that he had been made to experience intolerable frustration and/or narcissistic injury at the hands of his mother. According to this theory, in adulthood the boy-turned-man seeks to avenge these mistreatments through sadistic attacks on women who are stand-ins for mother.
      The man is therefore reluctant to have sexual relations with his wife for, according to his unconscious mind, this would be incest. He will reserve sexuality for "bad" or "dirty" women, and will not develop "normal" feelings of love in these sexual relationships. This introduces a dilemma where a man may feel unable to love any woman who can satisfy him sexually and is unable to be sexually satisfied by any woman whom he can love.

      Delete
    9. Defining Paraphilias and Related Disorders
      Sexual compulsions, know as Paraphilias, are socially deviant, persistent, highly arousing, sexual fantasies and urges that cause personal distress and/or social difficulties.
      A paraphilia can revolve around a particular object (e.g., children, animals, feet, rubber) or around a particular act (e.g., exposing oneself, being physically injured).
      A peron with a paraphilia is preoccupied with the object or behavior and requires it for sexual gratification.

      Delete
    10. An obsession with other men having sex with children is sick perversion

      Read: Spengler's Laws": When a nation is reduced to selling its WOMEN, it's lost.

      CHILDREN are not used like women, except to people like this guy and our Anonymous.

      The Lostprophets star has admitted to raping a baby and making child porn — but every time the TV news covers the story and plays his music, he gets royalties.

      Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pedophile-rocker-ian-watkins-raking-cash-article-1.1549005#ixzz2ngADPpms

      Delete
  8. Ya'alon: Israel holds Lebanon and its army responsible for killing of IDF soldier

    That is Hezbollah territory. What was a Lebanese army snipper doing that far south?

    It is reported that the Jewish NCO was driving a civilian vehicle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Israeli troops shoot two Lebanese soldiers in border skirmish
    Shooting took place hours after Israeli soldier was killed by Lebanese sniper on Sunday


    In the past year, six Israeli soldiers have been injured in explosions along the Lebanese border although it was not clear whether the incidents were accidents. Rubbish!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. End the OccupationMon Dec 16, 09:57:00 AM EST


      The Daily Star

      BEIRUT: An Israeli soldier was killed in the Ras al-Naqoura area on the Lebanon-Israel border, security sources told The Daily Star Sunday.

      Lebanese media reports said the Israeli soldier was killed by Lebanese Army fire after an Israeli Army unit attempted to cross the border in Ras Naqoura.

      Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Dec-15/241199-israeli-soldier-killed-on-lebanon-israel-border-security-sources.ashx#ixzz2neLTYbyy
      (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

      Always thought that the 'objective' was to get the lebanonese Army on the border and to diminish the Hezbollah military 'wing'. This seems to be happening and now allen, the good Israeli spokesperson, is fraught with dismay and angst because of it

      Delete
    2. Mohammed Zaatari Mon Dec 16, 10:01:00 AM EST
      and now allen, the good Israeli spokesperson, is fraught with dismay and angst because of it

      Dear Mohammed (Desert Rat)

      First, let me congratulate you on coming out of the hijab. Your nom de plume suits your Muslim der Geist seiner Zeit (Hegel).

      UNIFIL has the responsibility of securing that area, under Dr. Rice's deft diplomacy. Hezbollah has been adamant that all others, including the putative Lebanese Army, are interlopers and will be dealt with accordingly.

      The presence of the Lebanese Army suggests that Hezbollah's adventure in Syria may have exhausted its reserves.

      Mo, if I may be so informal, there is no dismay or angst at this point. At the worst, if you Muslims continue your misbehavior, Israel will do some architectural reworking and infrastructure adjustments. Sorrow for the loss of its son, may act as a catalyst for rethinking the current defensive boundaries by Israel; the Litani River offers a more sensible line of defense for Israel in the face of ongoing provocations. As usual UN observers will pose no obstacle to action.

      Delete

    3. “You presume to name those who have no name.
      We are pandemonium and disaster.
      We are the dancing, gibbering horror of the world.”

      ― Brenna Yovanoff

      Delete

    4. Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.

      The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given,
      he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

      Delete
  10. Can The Great War Happen Again?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/opinion/macmillan-the-great-wars-ominous-echoes.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

    "Archduke Ferdinand Still Alive: It Was All A Mistake"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. No, it cannot happen again, trench warfare is obsolete, the B61 nuclear bomb made it so.


      bob

      Delete

  11. Four gunmen killed in attack on Lebanese Army post


    SIDON: The Lebanese Army killed four gunmen who attacked one of its checkpoints in the southern city of Sidon, security sources told The Daily Star.

    A Lebanese Army sergeant, identified as Samer Rizk, was killed after gunmen in a silver Range Rover SUV attacked an Army post in the Awali region of Sidon. The security source said that one of the gunmen attempted to throw a hand greande at the soldiers after they asked the driver to pull over. The grenade, however, exploded before being tossed at the soldiers instatntly killing the gunman and wounding several soldiers stationned at the post.

    The Range Rover, however, sped towards downtown Sidon and as soon as it reached the seaside cornishe the remaining gunmen fled the car and took refuge in nearby orchards, the sources added.

    The Army swiftly launched a large-scale manhunt and was able to gun down three of them bringing the total to four. The identities of the gunmen remained unclear. Security sources said the killed gunmen did not have identification documents on them.

    This summer, Sidon has been the scene of brutal clashes between the Army and the suporters of Salafist firebrand Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, who remains at large.

    Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Dec-15/241213-four-gunmen-killed-in-attack-on-lebanese-army-post.ashx#ixzz2nePuLMdL
    (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

    ReplyDelete

  12. GENEVA (AP) - The United Nations said Monday it will need nearly $13 billion in aid in 2014 to reach at least 52 million people in 17 countries, including the millions of Syrians who have been displaced by their civil war.
    Related United Nations »

    ReplyDelete
  13. Borderland Beat Reporter ChivisMon Dec 16, 10:56:00 AM EST


    Interview with Templarios Leader "La Tuta" Featured on North American TV Tonight

    Tonight at 10/9 Central Time MUNDO FOX (KWHY-TV Los Angeles) will air an interview featuring Servando Gomez aka "La Tuta" premier leader of Los Caballeros Templarios (The Knights Templar).
    Monday December 16th at 10pm/9c

    Channels:
    Los Angeles view the red box below
    Fresno/Clovis (NorCal) Comcast@ 10, Direct TV 43
    Las Vegas Cox Cable 120 or 155 HD. Dish 32, Direct 34
    Del Rio TWC 72, Direct TV 10
    Houston Comcast 307 and 511 HD
    Chicago AT&T 13 and 1013 HD

    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2013/12/templarios-leader-la-tuta-interview.html

    ReplyDelete

  14. hat tip: allen

    "Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."


    Unlike many countries, prostitution in Israel is legal.

    To many people it is shocking to learn that in the "Holy Land" prostitution is allowed.
    Prostitution is legal, but what is not legal, is running a brothel or living off the earnings of a prostitute, in other words being a pimp.

    Prostitution in Israel is not kept on the down low.
    Everyone knows about it and where to go to find a prostitute.
    It is a choice whether they decide to pay for sex or not.
    Prostitutes are known to be discrete.
    They do not go around talking about the men they have sex with.
    Some of the places where prostitution is more popular is in cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa.
    That could be because the population is more secular and not as religious.
    Prostitutes can be found on the streets, strip clubs and "massage parlors."
    Politicians, businessmen and even police officers are known to visit the upscale "massage parlors" and high price strip clubs.

    Regular citizens are more likely to just look for a prostitute on the streets.

    When Arab Israelis or Orthodox Jews, whether married or not, want to have sex with a prostitute, they go somewhere far from their homes.
    The reason for them going far is so they will not be recognized by anyone.

    One negative effect of the rising popularity of prostitution is that venereal diseases have
    rapidly increased over the years.

    http://adsocceriloveran.blogspot.com/2013/05/prostitution.html

    "Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A Madonna–whore complex is the inability to maintain sexual arousal within a committed, loving relationship:
      based on a man's primary hatred of women, stimulated by the child’s sense that he had been made to experience intolerable frustration and/or narcissistic injury at the hands of his mother. According to this theory, in adulthood the boy-turned-man seeks to avenge these mistreatments through sadistic attacks on women who are stand-ins for mother.
      The man is therefore reluctant to have sexual relations with his wife for, according to his unconscious mind, this would be incest. He will reserve sexuality for "bad" or "dirty" women, and will not develop "normal" feelings of love in these sexual relationships. This introduces a dilemma where a man may feel unable to love any woman who can satisfy him sexually and is unable to be sexually satisfied by any woman whom he can love.

      Delete
    2. Vered Lee Mon Dec 16, 11:34:00 AM EST

      Age of child prostitutes in Israel dropping, report finds

      Knesset study cites cases of 11-year-olds used for commercial sex that are among the several thousands of teenagers involved in prostitution.
      By Vered Lee

      http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.542420

      "Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."

      Delete
  15. hat tip: allen

    "Jewish Law"

    This year, the rabbis cited
    “the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”


    ReplyDelete
  16. I see Whackopath is back in full bloom today.

    Thankfully, I am out for most of the day, tat ta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. ANONYMOUS: WARNING WE ARE IN AN OBAMA POLICE STATE ...

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7KWZwqFw4

      Thought I would post this before I left the house

      Delete

  17. "Jewish Law"



    TEL AVIV (JTA) — Amid calls for reform of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, leading Orthodox U.S. and European rabbinical organizations stressed its “essential role.”

    Representatives of the Conference of European Rabbis and the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America signed a convention endorsing the Chief Rabbinate at a gathering of the European group in Berlin.
    Israeli Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben Dahan also signed.

    “The rabbinical organizations are proud of their connection to Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and emphasize its importance and essential role for the entire Jewish Diaspora,” the convention read. “The Conference of European Rabbis and the RCA see the Chief Rabbinate of Israel as the guiding light of worldwide Orthodox Judaism, lighting and leading the way.”

    The document likewise noted the importance of the RCA and the Conference of European Rabbis as the leading Orthodox organizations in the United States and Europe.

    The organizations pledged to “coordinate and decide on joint actions in order to promote and glorify Torah, to spread Judaism and strengthen observance of Jewish law and education everywhere.”

    The signing of the convention comes amid increased tensions between the Chief Rabbinate and the more liberal elements of the Israeli and American Jewish communities. Following the rabbinate’s rejection of a letter by liberal Orthodox Rabbi Avi Weiss of New York vouching for a couple’s Judaism, Israeli lawmaker Elazar Stern held a hearing on the rabbinate and relations with Diaspora Jewry.

    According to sources present at the meeting, RCA Executive Vice President Marc Dratch praised the Chief Rabbinate’s role, while Israeli religious pluralism activists and Knesset members, along with American Jewish leaders, called for its reform.

    The rabbinate is “sold on centralization, and American Judaism’s strength is that it’s decentralized,”
    said Seth Farber, founder of ITIM, an organization that helps Israelis navigate the rabbinate’s bureaucracy.

    “This is not the way Judaism ought to be.
    If we can mobilize Jewish communities to pressure the prime minister,
    this will move to the top of the agenda.”

    http://www.jta.org/2013/11/14/life-religion/european-american-orthodox-rabbis-recognize-israels-chief-rabbinate

    ReplyDelete

  18. Warren Goldstein eulogizes late South African leader calls South Africans a “nation of heroes”.


    “So too, Oh L-rd, your servant Nelson Mandela, like the biblical Joseph,
    rose up from jail to become President of a mighty nation;

    he too transcended his personal pain and years of suffering to forgive and to embrace his brothers and sisters who had inflicted so much pain on him and so many millions of others,

    in order that our diverse South African family would not be torn apart by hatred and division,”

    Rabbi Warren Goldstein stated.

    “Nelson Mandela spoke to our hearts. He brought us comfort. And through his mighty power of forgiveness he sustained us, and liberated our country from the pit of prejudice and injustice, unleashing the awesome generosity of spirit of millions of South Africans.”

    Calling South Africans a “nation of heroes,” Goldstein called upon the creator to grant consolation to Mandela’s mourners.

    In the days since Mandela’s passing, the Jewish community of South Africa held a series of memorials in synagogues around the country and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, a national umbrella group, praised him as the “father of our nation.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/S-African-chief-rabbi-compares-Mandela-to-biblical-Joseph-334560

      Delete
  19. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=4619">Generals John A. Lejeune and Smedley D. Butler

    I selected an enormous Marine Corps emblem to be tattooed across my chest. It required several sittings and hurt me like the devil, but the finished product was worth the pain. I blazed triumphantly forth, a Marine from throat to waist. The emblem is still with me. Nothing on earth but skinning will remove it.
    —MajGen Smedley D. Butler, recalling his time as a lieutenant in Asia. - See more at: http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/marine-corps-quotes#sthash.pKlkANxt.dpuf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On board the GANGES, about 12 mos. ago, Lt. Gale, was struck by an Officer of the Navy, the Capt. took no notice of the Business and Gale got no satisfaction on the Cruise; the moment he arrived he call’d the Lieut. out and shot him; afterwards Politeness was restor’d”
      —Signed “Yr obdt. Svt, W. W. Burrows, LtCol Comdt, MC” (2d CMC)

      Delete
  20. Detroit Institute of Arts

    The Pieter Brueghel the Elder is one of my favorites from that genre.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Theodore RooseveltMon Dec 16, 02:04:00 PM EST


      "The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic.

      He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American.”

      Theodore Roosevelt 

      Delete
    2. .Psychologists suggest that conspiracy theories often serve as a crutch for emotionally needy people, allowing them to feel good about themselves for seeing truth where others don't. They believe the world is being taken over by hidden forces, that an apocalyptic battle is at hand and now is the time for heroes to act.

      Delete
  21. Damn the big oil companies, they are about to ruin Peak Oil Theory -

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-16/north-america-to-drown-in-oil-as-mexico-ends-monopoly.html

    North America To Drown In Oil As Mexico Ends Monopoly

    ReplyDelete
  22. Genocide of whites is coming.....has already begun......in that multi-cultural paradise of South Africa -

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/12/white-washing_mandelas_memory.html?utm_source=12-16-13&utm_campaign=AT+Newsletter+12-16-13&utm_medium=email

    And this is why the whites are all beginning to flee.

    A generation from now South Africa will be just another African shithole.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Replies
    1. The Village Dance...codpieces galore...It stated as a good idea in a time without pockets, but men being men, one thing led to another and pretty soon you had a baseball bat in your pants.

      Delete
    2. It started too - as a good idea...

      Delete
    3. ...an original anti-Obamacare poster...

      Shakedown

      Delete
  24. Hmm, so how's oil doing, today?

    Up $1.65 to $110.46 / bbl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And, how's Mexico doing? Hmmm,

      Down from 3,500,000 bbl / day in 2005 to 2,500,000 bbl / day, today.

      Down a Million bbl/day (about 30%.)

      Delete
  25. .

    Quirk woke a little before noon. He had a dull headache and his throat felt raw. When he tried to open his eyes, the room began to slowly tilt and rotate. He tried to go back to sleep but the sun was shining through a slit in the curtains he had failed to fully close the previous evening. After a moment, he partially opened his eyes and stared at the faded green paint that marred the walls of his room. He reached for the girl. She was gone.

    A shame he thought, she had cost him more than a weeks rent. Of course, the Chuangye Starway Hotel was as mean as its name and one of its few attractions was its cheap prices and low rent.

    The night before, he had met the girl in the lounge at the Portman Hotel on Nanjing Lu. Her name was Alisa, a tall Russian with high cheekbones and a sad smile. She was a lovely girl but he likely would have ignored her as his tastes these days tended more towards the peregrine and exotic; however, after leaving the lounge for a few minutes, she returned and took a seat next to him at the bar. She smiled. He offered her a drink. And after some brief talk of trifles, they took a cab and headed for the Bund.

    The girl was lovely, the vodka was fine, and the evening was pleasant. But that was then and this was now. The girl was gone as was most of the vodka and Quirk felt like shit.

    He got up grabbed the bottle of Zyr from the nightstand and moved slowly to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and winced. Then he took a swig of the vodka and gargled to ease the pain in his throat. He then took another swig to calm his shaking hands. After relieving himself, he grabbed the vodka and took a seat by the window in the main room. He was feeling a little more steady but he noticed the hand holding the vodka bottle was still shaking a little. He finished off the remaining vodka.

    Looking out the window, he had an unobstructed view of the wide sweep of the Bund from the Waibaidu Bridge to Nanpu Bridge and then across the Huangpu to the high rises and towers of Pudong. On one side of the river, buildings in every imaginable architectural style standing as exemplars of Shanghai's storied past when the Bund was the center of politics, economy, and culture for China and Shanghai was the Paris of the Orient. On the other side, sits Pudong, the growing industrial center of Shanghai marked with high rises and communication towers. During the day, the Bund and Huangpu. At night, the florid lights on the boats on the river and the garish backdrop of the neon signage draped across the gaudy and slightly tacky backdrop that is Pudong. This was the other reason Quirk preferred the faded dump that was the Starway Hotel.

    But now he was nearly out of money and H and the Farmer had been waiting for him for two weeks. They would be surprised to know he was in Shanghai rather than Israel, but then on second thought, maybe not. After confirming his flight, he began packing the duffle that doubled as his go bag. He dreaded the struggle he invariably had with the desk clerk trying to check out and get his passport back. You would think that the damn guy would have learned a little English after all these years.

    He looked forward to a drink at the airport and a visit to Duty Free.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's funny. Of the many videos I have sent my niece, Whiskey was one of them. Under the heading how your uncle spends his time alone waiting for thee.

      Delete
    2. And it is wonderful to see Quirk finally beginning to speak some truth about himself.

      Delete
  26. Well my blessed niece - her new job in Dresden is associated with Max Planck too. This time PAID. So she went to Max Planck in Hamburg, practicing up so she can scan Quirk's brain when she gets back, then gets chosen #1 OUT OF FIFTY CANDIDATES for the Dresden position.

    She sounds extremely happy and confident now. And it is wonderful to hear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you down with a five month delay on your requested brain scan, Quirk-O?

      Delete
    2. .

      There is a café in northwest Shanghai called L'Autre, down an alley off a main road behind one of the ubiquitous KFC's that now dot all of China. Inside, for a price, you can get pretty much whatever you want or need to satisfy any taste from the nouveaux to the decadent. On one level, there is a room with a woman who provides brain scans performed with acupuncture needles laced with minutes traces of opium. The scan takes you to places you have never been before, places you may or may no want to go.

      The scan only costs 200 yuan.

      What does your niece charge?

      .

      Delete