99 Comments

1. blogstrop:

Political correctness is to western societies as HIV-AIDS is to the human body.

Aug 22, 2009 - 4:57 am 2. what is occupation:

let’s be honest…

America this week released 75 Madr (iranian backed) terrorists in Iraq… Some with American Blood on their hands…

As Obama says “mutual respect” is what we need to do to make greater understanding with the lslamic world…

I advocate just executing the terrorists….

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:12 am 3. cellec:

Look at this simpering, sancitmonious bufoon trying to rationalize Al Megrahi’s release.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6803849.ece

Get that? To keep this multiple murderer in prison would be to “deny him compassion” and to go against the beliefs of the Scottish people. As far as I’m concerned deciding not to execute the bastard in the first place was an act of “mair-cee”.

This is moral idiocy, even moral masochism masquerading as moral enlightenment.

I’d call this pathetic, but we’re well passed pathos here. This is an ethical obscenity.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:59 am 4. Dr. Sanity:

So, real crimes and atrocities are minimized and the perpetrators treated compassionately (and can expect to be treated as heroes), while thought crimes are aggressively prosecuted in a no-nonsense manner. What a brave new world we live in.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:01 am 5. Starling:

@ cellec 3, “Look at this simpering, sancitmonious bufoon trying to rationalize Al Megrahi’s release.”

I wonder what kind of compassion John “We’ll set about you” Smeaton would have advised?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCqprbH7mrg&feature=related

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:30 am 6. Peter Boston:

How sincere was Obama’s “warning”? Or was it just political cover?

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:33 am 7. Talnik:

The Obama administration has made it quite clear the new policy toward Britain is “squat and dump”; it’s no suprise the Brits have decided to fling it back.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:50 am 8. joe buzz:

Back in the day compassionate treatment of suffering animals meant putting them down. I actually read some nonsense somewhere this week which suggested that since this tango surely didnt act alone, he should be released to spend the rest of his days in relative comfort.
All that remains for our world to be turned upside down is a shift of the magnetic poles……
HEY…. anybody want to help me start a company selling polar shift offsets? We can provide folks with something real, something substantial, something they can carry around in their pocket, hold in their palm or hang from their necks(recycled refrigerator magnets complete with instructions on how to keep them properly oriented for maximum offset affect). Anybody know a wildlife biologist that could gin up a big paper explaining that Canada geese have quit migrating because they have sensed the pending pole shift. We need some real science to get these magnet sales rolling!! Who finds the idea attractive?

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:50 am 9. Lifeofthemind:

Talnick,
Good point, I’m expecting to hear that US Ambassadors start getting doors shut in their faces and wedgies on the elevator. The Italians could kick out the Sixth Fleet and the Canadians must be reviewing their options.

Dr. Sanity,
On the other thread we were looking for you. Technically speaking, just how nuts is Obama?
Good on you for the use of video on your blog. That is my style also. Elmer Gantry is a keeper.

The Civil Service credo is, “A good idea is an idea worth stealing and a great idea is an idea worth backdating a memo for the file for, so you can claim you came up with it first.”

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:04 am 10. bob:

I’ll buy into your scheme, Joe Buzz. Seems like a winner to me, particularily given all the hours I’ve wasted listening to Coast to Coast. Pole shifts, ETs, conspiracy theories, spontaneous human combustions, crop circles, I’ve heard it all, and am beginning to believe it, too.

Sign me up.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:29 am 11. Tony:

Political Correctness? We’re a little beyond that, aren’t we?

President Obama buddies up with Chavez, was lusting for unconditional talks with the Iranians until the unfortunate buzz about their “elections,” sat and listened to Daniel Ortega berate America for an hour before responding that he was just a little kid when evil AmeriKKKa committed all those sins against the poor Communists in Central and South America, etc.

On the other hand, he says doctors chop off feet for quick cash, Nancy Pelosi declares the insurance companies that 85% of us are perfectly happy with as “evil” and the President says he doesn’t want to hear from those who disagree with nationalizing healthcare in the US. Oh, and President Obama “inherited” all his problems … by running for and winning the Presidency.

Let’s face it, it’s not a surprise that we get a President who thinks America sucks when he is voted in by an electorate who have been educated to believe America sucks.

Joe Buzz @8 – maybe we can cooperate. I will sell my global shaking preventive devices (you know America causes all the earthquakes in the world, right?) along with your Polar Shift Offsetters. I am selling very, very soft shoes and instructions on how the let half the air out of your tires so your car hits the bumps a lot more gently, thus reducing earthquakes, in much the same way as Al Gore has set up a $5B hedge fund selling devices to control the weather.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:42 am 12. trangbang68:

If it’s any consolation ,soon the cancer eating Magrahi’s innards will push him over the edge into the fires of hell even as the cancer of Islam pushed him over the edge into being a murderous swine.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:57 am 13. bob:

I tell ya, things is really really screwed up.

One of the few things I was certain of in my youth was that you had to have two citizen parents to be President. Winston Churchill couldn’t be President, though he had an American mom. Though I’d certainly vote for Winston.

The only office in our fair land with such a requirement, and for good solid reasons, the office of President. The Commander in Chief.

Now we’ve got a guy that is an illigitimate President in my view. And the courts have let us down.

I don’t have any idea what to do about it, maybe it doesn’t matter in the longer view of things.

I’m going to work to elect a young Marine to Congress from my district, help take the district back.

That’s about all I can really think of to do right now.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:00 am 14. Lifeofthemind:

bob,
Jeez you just don’t learn or stop with the Birther junk do you?

You raised it and it was debunked so do everyone a favor and stop dragging it into a thread where it doesn’t belong. There is nothing anywhere that states that two citizen parents are needed. Nada, zip, so stop it. You are in tin foil hat territory with it.

Churchill was born a British citizen at Blenheim Palace in England, got it?

For the record I already went over why I think BHO might not be “Natural Born” but you aren’t on the same page.

Good luck helping with the election. That I support.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:13 am 15. hdgreene:

It seems whenever “Health Insurance Reform” is discussed, Eleanor Cliff and Camille Paglia talk about President Obama’s deft handling of foreign policy. I believe Ms. Cliff even said the President had handled several of those 3 am phone calls. Now, I had not heard of these calls, but perhaps I am just deaf to his deftness — or alert to Eleanor’s daftness. Of course, she did say that he kept his head. Which reminded me of the old saying, “if you keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you don’t understand the situation.”

See, I think the ladies are mistaking drift for navigation. It’s like one of those Hollywood movies were the boat’s caught in the raging rapids full of rapacious rocks, and the guy in the front screams “No one steer this thing, No one steer this thing!” and everyone figures he is a strong leader and going where the current carries you is the best bet. Of course, he could be wrong. Then again, he may be in a panic, screaming “No one steers this thing!” Only time will tell, I’m afraid (and being afraid does not mean you are a coward — it’s in the same movie).

Personally, I think the Left should start talking about President Obama’s farm policy instead of his foreign policy. I’ve been driving through the countryside and noticed the farmers are still in the fields (at least when they are not all wet — the fields, not the farmers). They don’t look real happy, though. Could they have heard something about collectivization? Could it be they are not deaf to the daffy deftness of the Left, which rhymes with inept? Alright, maybe inept and Left don’t quite rhyme — but there is a strong association between the two.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:16 am 16. bob:

We disagree.

I ask you politely to read through Donofrio’s site, disregarding some of his paranoid leanings, and think the issue through again.

I think you are wrong.

We disagree.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:18 am 17. Fletcher Christian:

Talnik, I’d agree with you except for one point: It was not the decision of Britain as a whole – it was the decision of Scotland, which as you might remember lost 11 of its citizens to this jihadist scumbag as well. As an Englishman I object to being lumped in with Scotland.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:30 am 18. bob:

As a half Swede, I object to being lumped in with Norvegians, like Luddy Barsen!

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:35 am 19. Batman:

Bravo Dr. Sanity. That is precisely the problem with the left, and the main difference between left and right.

The left sees virtue only on the macro scale — utopian perfection for society at large. The right sees virtue more on the micro scale — personal rectitude.

On the other hand, the left sees evil primarily on the micro — smoking is evil, obesity is evil, thought crimes and politically incorrect speech is evil. The right sees evil on the macro — Communism was evil, Radical Islam terrorism is evil.

So the left, having been silent on so many of the post-World War II evils now undertakes to get second hand smoke eliminated (I agree that second hand smoke is not good, but the intensity of the efforts to eliminate it even in people’s own homes or in wide open spaces is ridiculous) and to get high fat foods off fast food menus. And they undertake one grand project — Global Warming — and in so doing turn what should be a true scientific question into a quasi-religious one.

When I was in high school one of the favorite debate topics among the “egg heads” (the term then for nerd and geek) was whether the future would more closely resemble Brave New World or 1984, Huxley or Orwell. We may be on the cusp of a combination of both, but only on the cusp. Tea parties and town hall meetings are still legal. I hope this old poem still holds true. The next few years will tell us.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:37 am 20. Doug:

You lye about Barsen, Bob.
Lutefisk is Lutefisk,
no matter how you slice it.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:56 am 21. bob:

Hi Doug, long time, no talkee.

We’re heading back to Ohio in a few days.

I aim to get my wife registered to vote there, even if it’s legal.

Best to you, friend.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:01 am 22. RWE:

This is the kind of thing that leads me to daydream.

The jet takes off, and out of the cargo hold comes 3 men with M-16’s “You will take this airplane to the United States.” they order the pilot, “And by the way, we are all trained pilots so if you don’t we will.”

The airplane is intercepted off the coast of the USA by the USAF. After a short conversation with the F-15’s the two fighter pilots wave goodbye and head back to their base. The airliner lands at a closed military base in South Carolina where the terrorist is the guest of honor at an old fashioned necktie party and BBQ. Sara Palin is given the honor of slapping the horse on the rump to dispatch the animal to the far corner of the field and the terrorist to Hades.

In an alternate version, the terrorist is tied to the bumper of a pickup truck and they do some four wheeling before hitting I-26 and zooming up to 70 MPH.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:04 am 23. bogie wheel:

Fletcher Christian -

I was wondering when someone from across the pond was going to object to the lumpen “Britain” label. English, Scots & Welsh = three cats in a bag. RAWRRRR!

Reminds me of a joke I read a long time ago in Punch magazine. An Englishman is in the post office filling out a form on which it asks for “Country of Origin.” He fills in, “England.” Notices a guy beside him filling in the same form. Guy beside him writes, “Scotland.” Mutters the Englishman under his breath: “Bloody nationalist.”

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:24 am 24. bob:

heh, my old man was a lawyer, just a down home type of lawyer.

He had a case once, the Scottish Case, where some property was to be transferred from here to there.

They owned it, legally.

So he went to Scotland, on a 747, got the thing fixed up.

When he came back, he laughed like hell, recounting how these folks in Scotland were pissing and moaning about how bonny prince somebody or other would have won the battle, if he hadn’t been hung over that morning.

And how they would have all been rich, like they certainly should have been. if this would have taken place.

As it certainly should have, in their minds.

heh

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:33 am 25. bits:

these sorts of times – are when you need to go – quiet – i don’t mean that in any sort of run-away-and-hide sense – just the opposite in fact.

focus, we can see various futures, of present actions – some are far better than others — aim at them, assist them.

the elections of 2010 may very well be a significant tell-tale —

as the present executives support is waning to, or below, 50% – i’d like to think we can wait, and see, what that tell-tale tells.

the variables always become less, and clearer, as the event presents – patience, while not always a virtue, more often works for the – future, and, is thus always an option that should be entertained.

this varies within context, of course – but within this context, it is clearly there.

act to change things quietly, this next election – that should be our aim now.

the best lie, is the truth, and the best war, is never fought. and the most important acts, are never known.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:41 am 26. bogie wheel:

Meanwhile term ‘Facebook Rage’ is entering our language, often defined as feeling anger when a relationship breaks down and a former partner begins posting updates about their love-life.

You all may recall the recent nutbag who shot & killed three women in a gym here in Pittsburgh. Seems he had been keeping an extremely detailed online diary with, among other things, bitter poison pen descriptions of his mother, brother, neighbor & a local pastor. He was obsessed with women, particularly young college-aged women (he was 48) and how he could not get a date, and how he hadn’t been laid since, IIRC, 1990 or thereabouts.

When this whole sorry spectacle was washing over the news, and all these people in his life were stunned to find themselves raked over the coals on this guy’s website (and remember – cyberspace is forever), I found myself wondering how long it will be (and perhaps it’s already here & I just haven’t heard about it) before recounting, errr, intimate interactions with one’s paramour, in explicit detail, on one’s Facebook page becomes commonplace. Names included, of course. How does any particular person know they are NOT being written about in this fashion by someone they are dating?

Somewhere, at some point, some politician will get the notion that they have to pass a “kiss and tell” law banning such behavior.

May as well try to drink the Pacific Ocean with a straw.

It would be nice if the government could at least do the big things right, you know, the stuff like keeping in prison a man who deliberately slaughtered 270 innocent people.

As more and more big things seem beyond the will or capabilities of government, though, the more it seems nannying, hectoring, and bullying private citizens becomes an obsession of government. They have to assert their power somehow. Teenagers behaving badly on Facebook are low-hanging fruit.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:45 am 27. PA Cat:

The more it seems nannying, hectoring, and bullying private citizens becomes an obsession of government.

The next step will be forcing those of us who don’t give a hoot about Facebook to join — or else. Kind of like compulsory health insurance.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:52 am 28. JMH:

Political correctness is to western societies as HIV-AIDS is to the human body

I disagree. AIDS is the collapse of the immune system so that it cannot protect the body against a threat. Auto-immune diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis cause the immune system to attack healthy structures, turning the body’s own defenses against it, making the body’s immune system into a threat. That’s closer to what Political Correctness is doing.

But, whichever disseas it is, Political Correctness certainly is a deadly thing for a society to contract.

Aug 22, 2009 - 10:11 am 29. Lifeofthemind:

Take a look at today’s Rasmussen Daily Presidential tracking poll, http://tinyurl.com/5tnd2b. He is now at -10 in the Approval Index. If my prior analysis holds up then the strong negatives will probably level off in the 40% range until the end of September. After that they will probably go up to at least 50% strongly negative. His strong positives are due in the next couple of weeks for another precipitous drop from the 30% range down to 22-25%. He will probably recover about half of that by November. Of the third of the likely voters who are in the middle the pattern now is that about twice as many are likely to break against Obama to the right as move left and support him. Here is the URL for the chart, http://tinyurl.com/md9ka9.

This puts the Democrats in an almost existential position before the off year elections. While it is true that no congressional seats are at risk this year there are local contests.

The patronage jobs and union contracts riding on these elections are the life blood of the Democratic Party. The unhappiness this situation creates will be shared with Congress members. Given these facts it seems that the only way that Obama can push through any more power and money grabs is by using tactics that approach a Coup d’état. My prediction is that marginal or Blue Dog Democrats are going to be blackmailed and their families threatened. Some will break and go public about it.

Aug 22, 2009 - 11:16 am 30. RWE:

Bogie wheel #26

Relative to the nutjob in PA and his personal webpage, I even sent Wretchard a note asking “Who is watching these guys?” The nutjob was not unique; the one out in Utah who killed a rural family so he could practice pedophila on their children kept an on-line diary, too. How many more are out there? Has anyone looked? The guy who shot up the Luby’s in Killean was sending disturbing letters as well – that was before the Internet got popular.

There is nothing wrong – legally – with describing your plans on your webpage to shoot up a gym or a schoolyard. And there is nothing wrong – legally – with Bogie Wheel deciding Tuesdays is his day to follow said nutjob around with a loaded assault rifle at the ready and for RWE to decide he will do it on Wednesdays, and for Bob to decide he will do it on Thursdays and Luddy to do it on Fridays – and so forth. And I afraid that it has to come to that. The Warren Court ruled that you could not lock people up for being crazy if they had committed no crime, and the gates of the insane asylums were opened. We have to defend ourselves, because the courts and the cops and the Community Organizers out there are going to make damn sure the government does not do it.

I think it only a matter of time before someone follows a nutjob around and blows him away before he can commit wholesale slaughter. I would pray for an opportunity to be at the right place to take out one of those mass murderers before he could do it. Then we will see who is on whose side.

But we need an organization, people to scan the Internet, people to be interceptors. I think it is a logical job for the NRA, but I don’t think they will touch it.

Aug 22, 2009 - 11:44 am 31. Lifeofthemind:

PJTV has a clip on ridicule as a political tool http://tinyurl.com/ktttdr.
Would love to hear from Dr. Sanity on that subject.

Can anyone give the source for the aphorism “Laughter Kills?”

Aug 22, 2009 - 11:49 am 32. Al_Batross:

“object to the lumpen “Britain” label” bogie wheel@23

Being of English, Scots & Welsh ancestry, I don’t object. Although born in England, English is a narrow definition, and I have always thought of myself as British.
The Wars of the Roses placed a Welsh dynasty, the Tudors, on the throne of England, and when that line ended with the death of Elizabeth I it was replaced by a Scottish dynasty, the Stuarts. It was James I (James VI) who referred to the result as “Britain”, derived from the Roman name.
The relative (repeat, relative) internal peace which followed these changes diverted energy into external aggression and expansion, with Scotland playing the role of the Sparta to England’s Greece, especially after the ‘45, when many Scots had little choice but to prove their loyalty through harsh military service, scattered across the globe.
The empire was a British creation, not an English one, and I consider it tragic that we are falling back into narrower identities. It is also dangerous, especially as the world has departed from a period of relative predictability, and entered a phase in which power ebbs and flows uncertainly.
How dangerous ? Well, The SNP was already noted for Islamist sympathies, and now Scotland’s devolved administration has, apparently off it’s own bat, decided to make a contentious concession to a Muslim power. But there may be much more, and much worse, to come, as back in July Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, backed proposals to encourage immigration to Scotland (yes, in July 2009, deficit-ridden, unemployment-rising 2009), which he was quoted as saying should become a “melting pot”.
As our decline accelerates, so the bad ideas come thicker and faster, like flights of beaten grouse over a misty moor. Kashmiri on the rocks, anyone ?

Aug 22, 2009 - 12:27 pm 33. Phil Ossiferz Stone:

The rumor amongst a lot of the British blogosphere — and some of the press, and a good many of the commentators — is that Megrahi’s trial was a politically-charged sham and, while not a nice man, he was actually innocent of Lockerbie and everybody knew it all along. See the ‘Devil’s Kitchen’ blog for a good example of this line of thinking.

I honestly can’t tell how credible this is, or whether they’re just trying to justify the thing after the fact. Nor do I have the stomach to research it. It makes me too weary at heart, and at any rate the deed is done.

Aug 22, 2009 - 12:27 pm 34. JFSanders031:

When you lie down with dogs you rise up with fleas. And buddy let me tell you WE as a country are infested. J.R. Nyquist explains the ARCTIC SEA

If you replace the words Russia, KGB with USA, CIA in his article. It doesn’t become irrational. Dear LORD, what have we become…

Aug 22, 2009 - 12:35 pm 35. Walt:

Joe Buzz @8 who has a great idea of selling refrigerator magnets to keep the poles from shifting.

Hey Joe, you’re on to something here
You name the place I’ll bring the beer
A TV blitz with crying baby geese
We’ll cut Al Gore in for a slice
Although on TV ‘twould be nice
If Al would show up not quite so obese
Refrigerator magnets scream
A con man’s everlasting dream
Instructions printed all with large size type
We’ll get some academics too
Who for a price will work with you
And generate some full time good time hype
I see it now, the dough is real
We’re millionaires, a tingly feel
It’s gonna be just great I know becuz
Ideas like this come so rare
They just electrify the air
And all because of one guy named Joe Buzz

Aug 22, 2009 - 12:56 pm 36. Belmont Club » What a wonderful world | Belmont live today:

[...] [...]

Aug 22, 2009 - 1:18 pm 37. 49erDweet:

When did all the “William Wallaces” springing from Scottish wombs turn into “Kenny MacAskills?” A once proud warrior nation is now preening about like an east-end tart. Oh, the shame of it all. No wonder Craig Ferguson emigrated.

Aug 22, 2009 - 1:20 pm 38. Marie Claude:

May-be Lybia wasn’t the real “backer” of Lockerbie but Palestinians and HBZ, backed by Iran !

“In June 2000, a transfuge Iranian secret service confirmed the involvement of the mullahs in this matter as had already been said.

On 24 February 1992, the Sunday Times published a secret report of the PLO claimed that Iran, not Libya, was behind the Lockerbie bombing which made 270 deaths in December 1988. The explosion during the flight of an airliner Pan Am, have been ordered and financed by Ali Akbar Mohtashami in retaliation for the destruction by the Americans of a civilian Iranian Airbus over the Gulf in July 1988 (see below Our revelations about this case). Lockerbie bomb was made by Khaisar Haddad, known as Abu Elias, a Lebanese Christian. The PLO considers qu’Abdel El Baset Ali Megrahi and Mohamed El Amin Khalifa Fhimah, two Libyans suspected by the Americans and British to be”

“This trace was abandoned in 1990-91 when it was necessary to integrate Syria to the “Coalition of the 1st Gulf War.” PFLP-GC is also suspected in the case of the bombing of the UTA DC10, which exploded over the Ténéré desert, causing 170 deaths, 19 September 1989″

Both the US and France (cuz we had hostages in Lebanon) found convenient to put the act on the Lybians, and Khadafi was aiming his arms and trade boycott to be released, but none had interest to show its weakness in this occurence, it was decided that Lybia, only, would endorse the terrorist act, that after a “fake” trial” 2 Lybians would be condamned, that Khadafi would endorse the pay-back to the families
(but that he recovered with the exchanges of the Bulgarian nurses, that EU re-paid-back to Kadhafi.

So this affair is a “messy”, or a “malicious” diplomaty gambling

http://www.iran-resist.org/article324.html

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:00 pm 39. Marie Claude:

La déposition d’un ingénieur en électronique suisse pourrait remettre en cause la responsabilité de la Libye dans l’attentat

The testimony of a Swiss electronics engineer could re put into question the responsibility of Libya in the bombing

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20070827.FIG000000327_lockerbie_un_temoin_capital_affirme_avoir_menti.html

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:00 pm 40. Marie Claude:

La déposition d’un ingénieur en électronique suisse pourrait remettre en cause la responsabilité de la Libye dans l’attentat

The testimony of a Swiss electronics engineer could re put into question the responsibility of Libya in the bombing

http : // http://www.lefigaro .fr/international/20070827.FIG000000327_lockerbie_un_temoin_capital_affirme_avoir_menti.html

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:01 pm 41. Marie Claude:

May-be Lybia wasn’t the real “backer” of Lockerbie but Palestinians and HBZ, backed by Iran !

“In June 2000, a transfuge Iranian secret service confirmed the involvement of the mullahs in this matter as had already been said.

On 24 February 1992, the Sunday Times published a secret report of the PLO claimed that Iran, not Libya, was behind the Lockerbie bombing which made 270 deaths in December 1988. The explosion during the flight of an airliner Pan Am, have been ordered and financed by Ali Akbar Mohtashami in retaliation for the destruction by the Americans of a civilian Iranian Airbus over the Gulf in July 1988 (see below Our revelations about this case). Lockerbie bomb was made by Khaisar Haddad, known as Abu Elias, a Lebanese Christian. The PLO considers qu’Abdel El Baset Ali Megrahi and Mohamed El Amin Khalifa Fhimah, two Libyans suspected by the Americans and British to be”

“This trace was abandoned in 1990-91 when it was necessary to integrate Syria to the “Coalition of the 1st Gulf War.” PFLP-GC is also suspected in the case of the bombing of the UTA DC10, which exploded over the Ténéré desert, causing 170 deaths, 19 September 1989″

Both the US and France (cuz we had hostages in Lebanon) found convenient to put the act on the Lybians, and Khadafi was aiming his arms and trade boycott to be released, but none had interest to show its weakness in this occurence, it was decided that Lybia, only, would endorse the terrorist act, that after a “fake” trial” 2 Lybians would be condamned, that Khadafi would endorse the pay-back to the families
(but that he recovered with the exchanges of the Bulgarian nurses, that EU re-paid-back to Kadhafi.

So this affair is a “messy”, or a “malicious” diplomaty gambling

http : // www .iran-resist.org/article324.html

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:05 pm 42. Marie Claude:

http://www.iran-resist.org/article324.html

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:06 pm 43. Marie Claude:

La justice écossaise a-t-elle jugé « le » vrai responsable de la tragédie de Lockerbie ? Le doute s’installe au Royaume-Uni. De nouveaux éléments du dossier et une révélation sensationnelle viennent tarauder le bien-fondé du verdict qui, en janvier 2001, a condamné le Libyen Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi à 27 ans de détention pour 270 meurtres : les 259 passagers et membres d’équipage du vol PanAm 103 et 11 résidents du village de Lockerbie, en Écosse.

Agent des services de sécurité du colonel Muammar al-Kadhafi, al-Megrahi n’a cessé de clamer son innocence. Il a été reconnu coupable, par une cour écossaise siégeant aux Pays-Bas, d’avoir disposé une radiocassette truffée d’explosif Semtex, activée par un détonateur sophistiqué, dans une valise introduite le 21 décembre 1988 dans la soute à bagages du Boeing 747 de la PanAm. L’avion, qui assurait la liaison Londres-New York, avait explosé au-dessus de la petite ville écossaise de Lockerbie, 38 minutes après le décollage.

L’expertise scientifique a tenu un rôle déterminant dans l’argumentation de l’accusation. Alan Feraday, l’un des quatre experts en explosifs commis par la justice, avait reconstitué la machine infernale dissimulée dans le bagage grâce à un fragment de circuit intégré de la radio cassette. Toutefois, « cette pièce à conviction, décisive, est la seule ayant été visiblement altérée » relève Jim Swire, père d’une victime et porte-parole des plaignants de Lockerbie.

La compétence d’Alan Feraday, ancien employé du Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment, est contestée par la justice elle-même. Sept ans avant le procès du drame de Lockerbie, le Lord Chief Justice (président de la Cour de cassation) avait tonné contre l’expert infondé, selon lui, à se présenter comme « un expert en électronique ». Dans deux autres cas – le dernier en date, en juillet dernier – des condamnations prononcées sur la foi de ses expertises ont, aussi, été cassées.

Google translator :

Scottish justice she considered “the” true responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy? The doubt settles in the United Kingdom. New items in the folder and a sensational revelation came tapping the merits of that verdict in January 2001, condemned the Libyan Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi to 27 years in prison for 270 murders: the 259 passengers and crew PanAm flight 103 and 11 residents of the village of Lockerbie, Scotland.

Security Service of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, al-Megrahi has consistently maintained his innocence. He was convicted by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, for disposé une radio full of Semtex explosive, detonator activated by a sophisticated, in a bag made on 21 December 1988 in the baggage compartment of the Boeing 747 of Panama. The aircraft, which operated the London-New York, exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, 38 minutes after takeoff.

Scientific expertise has taken a leading role in the argument of the prosecution. Alan Feraday, one of four experts in explosives by the court, had reconstituted the infernal machine hidden in the luggage with a piece of integrated circuit radio cassette. However, this evidence, decisive, is the only one who was visibly impaired “notes Jim Swire, father of one victim and spokesperson for the complainants Lockerbie.

The competence of Alan Feraday, a former employee of the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment, was contested by justice itself. Seven years before the trial of the Lockerbie tragedy, the Lord Chief Justice (President of the Court of Cassation) had thundered against the expert unfounded, he said, to present itself as “an expert in electronics.” In two other cases – the last one in July – convictions based on its expertise have also been broken.

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:09 pm 44. Marie Claude:

source : http://www.iran-resist.org/article324.html

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:13 pm 45. virgil xenophon:

Joe Buzz@8

The much vaunted, long awaited, Polar Shift folks on Coast to Coast predict/preach about will happen for real before Obama and the rest of his minions in the PC Post-Modernist, Post-Colonial relativist, deconstructionist, neo-Marxist cum Stalinist-Statist multi-culti crowd ever get in touch with reality. As a matter of fact that crowd are such confirmed ideologues that it would take nothing less than a total Polar Shift to do so–and even then I ain’t takin’ bets or layin’ odds.

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:34 pm 46. Tcobb:

Dr. Sanity writes:
So, real crimes and atrocities are minimized and the perpetrators treated compassionately (and can expect to be treated as heroes), while thought crimes are aggressively prosecuted in a no-nonsense manner. What a brave new world we live in.

Yes–traditionally people were judged by their acts. The motives behind them were seen, if at all, something to be evaluated in mitigation of punishment. For the most part WHY you did something was immaterial, its WHAT you did that got you into trouble.

But to the totalitarian mind, which I fear describes a great number of the current political class, the only crimes which merit punishment are “thought crimes.” It does not matter what you did if your motives were in line with the current orthodoxy of thought. No matter what horrors or carnage you cause, if your motives are “pure” in the eyes of your betters you haven’t committed a crime at all.

To the totalitarian mind, crimes which don’t fit within the category of “thought crimes” really aren’t crimes at all. At the worst they are merely like parking tickets –something that may cause you annoyance but implies no stain on your moral integrity. Look at Bill Ayers. If your motives are pure, you can do no act that is wrong.

Oh Sinner! Are you washed in the blood of the Jackass? Once its
done, you can never sin again, and you can do anything you want. Its a definitional thing. Is that a deal or what?

Bower to da Beeple Comrats!

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:42 pm 47. Gaffe Prices:

I love the way we hear about all this and the release of hostages in North Korea after the fact. The scottish chap stresses on the tape that the authority to release this mass killer rested entirely with him. Really? It shouldn’t be that way. And there is much to suggest that there were other motives involved.

I saw John Bolton on tv last night, and he was saying that there are still outstanding warrants in this country for this perp Megrahi already.

So now its official, allied powers in a war with takfiri islam now make deals and negotiate with terror plotters, perpetrators, and the regimes that love them.

I’m not buying that the guy is terminal either.

Aug 22, 2009 - 2:45 pm 48. Talnik:

17 & 23: Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult anyone! When I wrote “Britain” I was referencing the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, which I have been lead to believe is a unitary state that includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales although none of them want to admit it. I am not aware of a Scot ambassador to the U.S. Please forgive me if I’m wrong (U.S. schooling and all).

Aug 22, 2009 - 3:32 pm 49. » Daily Links II - 08/22/09 NoisyRoom.net: Where liberty dwells, there is my country…:

[...] What a wonderful world [...]

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:21 pm 50. Subotai Bahadur:

I note for the record, but do not necessarily endorse, that the son of Khaddaffi has claimed that the release of Megrahi was tied to Libyan concessions in trade deals with Britain, primarily for energy.

Keep in mind the source of the statement may be lying and almost certainly has his own motives that may possibly be shared by the Libyan government. Further, this has been specifically denied by Gordon Brown’s Grey Eminence, Lord Mandelson. However, neither he nor Gordon Brown are famed for their devotion to the truth when short term political gain might be made by lying.

Here is part of the breakdown of the West. It used to be that we were close enough to Britain [or UK if you will] that we were pretty sure that they would not be working behind our backs to deliberately harm us. And vice-versa. International relations are reverting to a state of nature, red in tooth and claw. The sad part is that is amongst our allies! Think what our enemies are up to, as the occupant of the White House deliberately exposes the national belly to the sky.

I will give the link to Sky News about the claims of commercial motivations for the release. Y’all can evaluate as you will.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Lockerbie-Bomber-Release-Linked-To-Trade-Deal-With-Britain-Says-Colonel-Gaddafis-Son/Article/200908315366896?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15366896_Lockerbie_Bomber_Release_Linked_To_Trade_Deal_With_Britain%2C_Says_Colonel_Gaddafis_Son

Subotai Bahadur

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:22 pm 51. Roy Lofquist:

Bob @ 18,

Three of my grandparents were born in Sweden. My mother’s father was born in England. We used to let him eat at the grownups’ table on special occasions.

My father was fluent in Swedish and was given to song. One that I heard far more than once went – “Ten thousand Swedes lay down in the weeds, all chased by one Norwegian”.

Smiles,
Roy

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:26 pm 52. bob:

Here all this time I thought it was:

“Ten thousand Swedes
Advancin’ through the weeds
Advancin’ on Copenhagen”

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:38 pm 53. Dave:

RALS the Svede was used to close the sheaf.

LARS the Norsky was used to open the sheaf.

That is the way I remember things from my
Four Deuce days at Hood.

(Right Add Left Subract) (Left Add Right Subtract)

See Cannooneer for corrections.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:39 pm 54. wretchard:

The contrast between the liberal attitudes towards physical crime and ideological offense are so marked they compel a closer examination. Otherwise it will be impossible to understand why so much sympathy is extended towards the serial killer or mass murderer facing execution (”inhuman”, “a violation of human rights”, “barbaric”) and why the casual termination of innocent people is not only regarded as licit, but almost a sacred duty (abortion==”right to choose”, “death panels”==”health care”). What is the logic behind these amazing somersaults? Why is there so much venom against the unborn child and so much hankie wringing sympathy for terrorists. It is simple.

All physical crimes are supposed to originate in ideological defects. Killers, terrorists, etc are ‘victims’ of circumstances; no ideological blame attaches to them because they have not rejected the politically correct truth. Tookie Williams may have killed a whole Chinese family but he never believed anything the NYT would object to. So where’s the beef? And the Chinese are a funny people anyway, a shade too practical, a shade to logical ever to be ‘cool’. Therefore Williams’ execution was barbaric because his sin was merely a sin of the flesh.

On the other hand the crime of a fetus is to smite political correctness in the face; the little thing provides ammunition for the argument that there is a “sanctity of life”. What sanctity? Sanctity is blasphemy. Ditto attempting to extend the life of grandma. She is no longer socially useful. She’s no longer cool. The party no longer cares about her. And to maintain her worth partakes of the offense of maintaining there is some other sources of value, some other ground of authority beyond the party line, er I mean, the politically correct stance.

Megrahi has not sinned against the ideology of the Left. A teenager who “bullies” on Facebook does because she is engaging in hate speech. Bullying today, independent opinion tomorrow. Notify ‘flag@whitehouse.gov’ immediately please. And in some sense, giving utterance to politically incorrect speech is a much worse offense than ending the life of a few hundred Europeans, as the Lockerbie bomber did. Lives are but transient but ideology is forever. The modern concept of crime is inextricably linked with liberal theology, with its strange gods. Most Christians will remember how the only unredeemable sin is the rejection of goodness itself, what is called the “eternal sin”. Unsurprisingly modern political correctness which is religion in another guise, has its equivalent of sin. Thou shalt not sin against it. Murder, they can forgive.

‘But the blasphemy against the Party will not be forgiven. Anyone who kills a man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Party will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.’

Yeah, man.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:41 pm 55. bob:

My aunt would mutter a little Swedish to herself, on occasion.

Time has passed, now we all talk the King’s English. And can read a few phrases in Spanish.

We went and tried to find the old homestead outside of Stockholm once. We got near it.

What I couldn’t figure was, why grandpa went half way around the world just to end up in exactly the same kind of country he left, rolling hills, pine trees, and cold as hell in the winter.

Couldn’t he have chosen California?

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:44 pm 56. 3Case:

My prediction is that marginal or Blue Dog Democrats are going to be blackmailed and their families threatened. Some will break and go public about it.

I had thought that a part of the “vetting” of the new Blue Dogs included mandatory spaying. I will be very surprised if any should manage to stand on their hind legs against the orders of Pelosi and Reid.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:50 pm 57. bob:

What a wonderful world. No one seems to have yet mentioned “The Life of Riley”. What a revoltin’ development this is.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:54 pm 58. Utopia Parkway:

Marie Claude, what you’re trying to say, and what is more interesting than this prisoner release, is that maybe the Libyans didn’t do it.

There has been a lot of evidence over the years that the Iranians were behind the Lockerbie bombing. They were mad as hell about the US shoot-down of their passenger jet in 1988 and the Lockerbie bombing happened only a few months later.

Apparently the Scots have recently reviewed the case and found a lot of evidence that the Iranians were behind it. One analysis that I read suggested that by releasing the convicted bomber they avoid any public revelations due to his appeals. If he had remained in jail then embarrassing things might have come out.

Either way the convicted bomber shouldn’t have been released.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:54 pm 59. PA Cat:

47 Roy Lofquist

My grad school advisor was a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus– he said the song was a St. Olaf College jeer at GA that went “Ten thousand Swedes ran through the weeds/Pursued by one Norwegian.”

I guess there are numerous versions of the ditty. Makes me glad my family is Pennsylfawnish Deitsch– let the Scandinavians fight it out among themselves.

Aug 22, 2009 - 5:58 pm 60. Habu:

14. Lifeofthemind:

You seem to have some difficulty with those of us who are not convinced by the lack of credible evidence that obama is an eligible person to serve as US President…so tell ya what…why don’t you just get the hell over telling us that we’re way off track, comprende? In fact allow me to quote that great American Senator, Arlen Specter, that what you consider a closed matter is “not proven”. While you’re at it perhaps you would like to inform us of exactly how we should think on other selected topics you have deemed settled matters. That should be rich.

Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, made the decision to release Megrahi on some totally whacked out Scottish sense of compassion. The next line in the story of course is all of the compassion Megrahi showed the passengers of Pan Am 103 who suffered a horrible death. Yes, the rapid decompression knocked them all out but doesn’t mitigate the malice of forethought in their deaths. Had they been grounded no doubt Megrahi would have taken great delight in slitting their throats on Youtube.,,

Dr.Sanity got it right in pointing out that in a world that will tolerate MacAskill’s decision but condemn and find totally unacceptable verbal abuse under the rubric of being “hate speech” or politically incorrect is a world that has lost touch with civility and any sense of proportionality in it’s application of distributive justice. .

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:09 pm 61. bob:

“We used to let him eat at the grownups’ table on special occasions.”

heh, that reminds me, we actually did have a grownups table at Christmas time, kids over there, minding their p’s and q’s.

What wonderful dinners we did put on.

What a wonderful world it was, snow chest deep, icicles from the roof to the ground. Presents half way up the Christmas tree, don’t get me started, I may break down and cry.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:11 pm 62. PA Cat:

To return to a comment earlier in the thread about the heirs of William Wallace, I have a question for Marie-Claude. I read in a biography of Mary Queen of Scots that in her day, tuer à l’Écosse was a common French expression for killing someone in a particularly brutal or cruel manner. I take it the French had (or maybe still have) a low opinion of the quality of Scottish mercy?

WWI buffs on this thread may recall that German troops on the western front hated having to fight Highland regiments, referring to the kilted lads as “the ladies from hell.”

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:12 pm 63. Tcobb:

What contemporary “progressive” political thought has done is to turn the idea of anti-social behavior upside down. What I tried to articulate, but failed to do so on an earlier post, is that:
(1) In most every culture, committing a crime consists of WHAT you do. Your motives for doing it are secondary at best. The WHY of it is secondary.
(2) In the brave new world of the “progressives,” it is the WHY of what you do that counts, and the WHAT that is immaterial or secondary. An act that would have been considered just merely rude or tasteless becomes a crime because of WHY it was done. Conversely, an act that would have been considered a barbaric crime if you focused on WHAT they did now becomes trivial because you focus on WHY the perpetrator did it, and you approve of his motives.
(3) The great thing about the traditional approach is that it focuses on the objective view. If there is a video tape of me robbing a store it becomes indisputable that I did indeed rob the store, but my motives can merely be guessed at by judges who view me through their own flawed lens.

We live in troubled times. Much of what passes for wisdom these days is nothing more than a political and sociological version of three card monte.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:22 pm 64. 3Case:

What is the logic behind these amazing somersaults?

It is not logic. It is justification, which is the reason no logic is apparent. Justification for what?…for theft and murder and all other manner of evil facilitative of their theft.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:30 pm 65. programmer:

The difference between liberals and conservatives

Telling which is which is left as an exercise to the student.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:39 pm 66. wretchard:

I reached 30 before realizing that one’s race was completely subjective. The first indication this might be true were reactions by “progressives” to what was deemed appropriate ethnic behavior. My problem from the beginning was that I naturally assumed an attitude of equality with everyone I met, whether Mangyan, garbage scavenger or a visiting “Western” academic. The Mangyan never wondered at the fluency of my Tagalog; but sometimes the Western academic would sometimes be visibly discomfited at the “nativeness” of my English. Could it be that I was a “real” Filipino? Then I realized that some people don’t want to see you as you are, but as they would like to imagine you to be.

Eugene Volokh wrote about how, over the years, Asians became “white”, a process amazing enough in itself. Then I discovered that blacks could be come “white” as well — like Condoleeza Rice or Clarence Thomas. They just had to believe in the ‘wrong’ things. And “white” men could become Indians, like Ward Churchill. They just had to believe in the ‘correct’ things. Then it hit me that “whiteness”, “authenticity” and even “negritude” was entirely arbitrary; it had nothing to do with the color of one’s skin or even the provenance of one’s culture but with conformance to a particular “politically correct” behavioral model.

Take the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. Megrahi was a victim only for so long as he conformed to the “politically correct” expectation. Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine that the convicted Lockerbie bomber had converted to Christianity, had written a book denouncing the Jihad, had expressed admiration for George W. Bush and devoted the rest of his life to calligraphy? What are the odds he would have been released on compassionate grounds by a liberal society? Nil, in my view. Why? Because he would have lost the constituency which secretly sympathized with a mode of behavior. Who would receive as a hero a man who regretted what he did? Who would sympathize with a man who affirmed the values of a condemned civilization?

Michael Totten told the story of how the population of Kosovo, which is actually Muslim, reacted with incredulity when a UN team showed up with a translator or a cultural adviser dressed from head to toe in a burkha. The person had been recruited in London. She was nothing like the actual Muslim woman in Kosovo. Her primary qualification was that she was exactly the Muslim woman that the Western left imagined to exist. I think there are any number of Third World ‘activists” who secretly go back to enjoying ice cream, eating at McDonald’s, or maybe even using plastic garbage bags when their Western academic grant funders have left. Who knows but that there are gays who are secretly straight, or even feminists who go abroad to have a baby, in order to keep their reputation intact.

Hypocrisies eventually catch up with a civilization. The First World War exposed the fact that the “public school boys” and the aristocrats did not always know best. Perhaps the crises of the coming years will do the same for politically correct society: one day we’ll wake up and see it for the sham that it is; laugh, because political correctness was always funny, even ludicrous. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it may be only when the chuckles are freed by pain.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:48 pm 67. JFSanders031:

Scots are the guys that taught the Norse what it was to fight like a berserker. There was a very good reason Hadrian never went north of his wall. And If my memory serves the French and Scots were friends in their hatred of all things Anglais. But didn’t care to correspond on anything else. But for this Scots-Irish lad I have no enmity toward the French.

As to the OP, we rational few understand the mental gymnastics that Leftist go through to justify their insanity. The elephant in the room is just what to do about it.

Aug 22, 2009 - 6:54 pm 68. bits:

this is the only serious blog i know that often makes me laugh out loud – and cry.

you people are wonderful, and – thanks – it’s good to laugh again. and cry.

our situation now can be settled peaceably, let’s do that

it’s not difficult, at all, to make things worse
where real skill comes in, is making things better
we have a process, let’s see what happens in the ‘10

we make our choices, because we can, and we want to keep it that way

and wretch – your #50 – good on you mate, wonderland. struth.

#58 “the ladies from hell.” heh -

they will amaze ya.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:03 pm 69. bob:

#63

And that’s the real reason my grandpa got the hell out of Europe.

And our local author here, Carole Brink, said it well, don’t bring the old crap here, don’t bring the old world to the new.

You haven’t accomplished much, if that’s all you do, bringing the old arguments to a wonderful new world.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:04 pm 70. Tcobb:

Hypocrisies eventually catch up with a civilization. The First World War exposed the fact that the “public school boys” and the aristocrats did not always know best. Perhaps the crises of the coming years will do the same for politically correct society: one day we’ll wake up and see it for the sham that it is; laugh, because political correctness was always funny, even ludicrous. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it may be only when the chuckles are freed by pain.
The great question is: what cost, in money and lives, the wake up call will have? The Great Murphy, whose law triumphs over all, and the Grim Reaper, who always gets his due, are waiting. And their patience is infinite.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:21 pm 71. Roy Lofquist:

Bob and PA Cat,

Lot’s of variations. My father was always a little bit off the wall. Never could figure out which wall, though. Looking back I think he may have been the wisest man I’ve ever met. I grew up in the stew of Boston – Italian/Irish, Catholic/Protestant. Dad always had things to say about these divides that invariably evoked a smile. Helped keep me halfway sane all these years.

Roy

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:25 pm 72. bits:

re: #62

content of character

that is what always has, and always will, prevail

evolution

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:31 pm 73. JFSanders031:

LotM; “Can anyone give the source for the aphorism “Laughter Kills?””

I’ve always said you can’t have a slaughter without laughter.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:33 pm 74. bob:

Roy at #67

Makes perfectly good sense to me.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:46 pm 75. PA Cat:

Roy at 67

If Bogie Wheel is around, he’ll appreciate this one. Back in the day when the two Pennsylvania NL teams were both in the Eastern Division, my dad used to describe an interfaith marriage as one in which a Phillies fan married a Pirates fan.

Aug 22, 2009 - 7:59 pm 76. bob:

God, that sounds terrible.

I’ve been out here cheering on the Idaho Vandals where we haven’t won a game in the last thirty years.

At least here, we are solidly married to a loser.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:17 pm 77. Roy Lofquist:

PA Cat @ 71,

Ah, the memories. The biggest argument we had as kids – Who was the greatest? Ted Williams, the Sultan of Swat, or Warren Spahn, he of the unbelievable leg kick.

Roy

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:26 pm 78. Alexis:

wretchard:

Megrahi has not sinned against the ideology of the Left.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Mary Beard were celebrating just as much as Moammar Gadhafi. After all, her statements about certain other massacres indicate that she regards the brutal murders of innocent passengers of airliners as completely justified.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:32 pm 79. Walt:

JFSanders

Tried to comment on your wonderful pics of dragonfly/yellowjacket, and could not post a comment. It keeps telling me to select a profile, none of which work for me. Visit my blog verse-afire.com/blog to get my email address and tell me what I need to do to leave a comment. Great pics deserve some notice!

Walt Erickson

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:40 pm 80. Charles:

69. JFSanders031:

LotM; “Can anyone give the source for the aphorism “Laughter Kills?””

I’ve always said you can’t have a slaughter without laughter.

Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith. For without fear of the devil there is no need for God. Connery, Sean

Ayreon Abbey Of Synn lyrics
Once upon a time as in Ancient history
High upon a hill in a shroud Of mystery
Loomed the abbey as we Journeyed through the night
And wended our way Towards the light
As we entered through the Gates
We heard the silent calls
There was something evil
That lurked within these Walls
As I relive my days in this Godforsaken place
All that appears before me Now…is her face
Another man died today like The ones before
With blackened tongue and Blackened finger
Within the labyrinth behind The bolted door
Lies the answer to our Mystery
Heed the book that kills -
It holds an evil power
Those who turn the leaves Wither like a flower
Well guarded by the seer Inside the abbey tower
For laughter kills the fear Within
The abbey of synn
We found the secret path That led us here to you
Give us the deadly book of Laughter
Too many men have died for A teaching of the few
Open up your heart reveal The mystery
Heed the book that kills -
It holds an evil power
Those who turn the leaves Wither like a flower
Well guarded by the seer Inside the abbey tower
For laughter kills the fear Within
The abbey of synn
And then she came 2 me Like a creature from the Dawn
Enchanting as the moon – Radiant as the sun
She took the boy in me and Gave me back the man
With a force I could not Withstand
The seer burned the abbey Down and perished in the fire
We couldn’t save the book The flames were rising Higher
So many died in vain for an Ancient discipline
Laughter kills the fear within The abbey of synn
Heed the book that kills -
It holds an evil power
Those who turn the leaves Wither like a flower
Well guarded by the seer Inside the abbey tower
For laughter kills the fear Within
The abbey of synn

Ayreon Abbey Of Synn lyrics

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:42 pm 81. Lifeofthemind:

Habu,
The nonsense about Winston Churchill obscures serious issues that might be worth pursuing with regard to BHO’s qualification for office. You know that. If you were planning an operation and a guy said “Send them on road X” and you told him “No, the enemy is waiting on that road so plan another route.” You would get upset if he kept bringing up road X. Don’t shoot me, and I think bob has good ideas also, this expression of all avenues of attack as being equally worth pursuing is a tick, a weakness. If we ever get news that makes a weaker one worth reopening then go for it but in the meantime I suggest concentrating our force on worthier targets.

On a fortuitously related topic I just did a blog entry on hospitality and discourtesy and weaknesses in our political movement. It is available if you click my name but I do not think I should copy the whole thing here without encouragement from others. Still comments and criticism are welcome. More people would read them in here.

Aug 22, 2009 - 8:52 pm 82. whiskey:

I would venture, Wretchard, that the signal attributes of a Tookie Williams or a “facebook bully” or abortion is … how women react to each.

Take Tookie Williams. The very fact that he killed a family and an off-duty police officer (who was White) makes him “thrilling” to a group of women and feminized men. The way that the Petersons, Scott and Drew, or Johan Van Der Sloot, attract women left and right. Or OJ for that matter. NONE lacked for female admirers at any step of their notoriety.

Uncomfortable as it may be to those prone to “White Knighting” and chivalrous pedestal installation, a significant (not all, or even perhaps most, but certainly a critical subset) portion of women find killers deeply attractive, along with feminized men.

A natural “immune system” society would recognize the Tookies, or the KSMs, or the Meghranis, as a threat and decide to kill them as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Not out of revenge, hatred or anger — but simple self preservation. The same would apply to the Petersons, Drew and Scott, OJ, and Van Der Sloot. That this does not happen is a function IMHO of the immaturity of a group of young-to-forties women, cosseted and privileged at every turn, who know safety and security their whole lives, and take it for granted. Who believe, firmly that safety can NEVER go away. The Newsweek article I mentioned in my latest post, by writer Sarah Ball, is typical: war as “adventure” (instead of the horror that it is) and the longing for “sexy dominant men” who seek “adventure.” Only a child of total privilege could write that. “Mad Men” gets a tiny audience, but culturally punches above it’s weight by the female trend-setter opinion makers of wealth and privilege who set the table for cultural conversation.

A “facebook bully” is of course of interest ONLY to women. Any man who’s been in a fight or two, knows the difference between meaningless words and the hot fury that overtakes one as you trade punches and grapple, each determined to do as much damage. Facebook bullying by it’s very nature is only of interest to women. If a boy or a man wants to do something to you, he’s likely to look you up for some serious “tuning up” which most every man here is familiar with in one form or another.

Abortion of course is critical to maintaining an active, un-kid encumbered life, in pursuit of the Alpha male. It’s the last ditch alternative to having a kid when all other means of contraception failed. Abortion really is not much interest to “beta males” who have no real interaction with women who get abortions — it’s of interest to really just women (and a small subset of that considering how cheap, easy, and reliable contraception is).

Once again, you get a small subset of women, urban, yuppiefied, coastal, wealthy, liberal (but I repeat myself) and intent on preserving their salon of non-stop Alpha chasing and personal liberties.

I would be the FIRST to wholeheartedly endorse that the general improvement of women, including literacy, earnings, freedom, and contraception has been very good for the world and has also been one of the main drivers of the world-wide increase in wealth. But every sword has two edges, so to speak, and the other edge is the unparalleled power of a small group of very wealthy Yuppie women to drive the culture in their direction, regardless of who else (married older women, senior women, poorer women, etc.) of their own sex, let alone men, want.

Heck, when married women write about how they dream of sex with Obama! (not kidding either on that) in major magazines, this is a huge red flag.

While I agree not everything has a gender base, and much of American politics is the divide between “Celtic” populists and “Anglo” elitists (i.e. class divides) the gender overlay I think is significant and explains things that nothing else does.

[The WSJ reports today on a website devoted to identifying what female celebrities wear. It's quit profitable. Even today. One of its "typical" customers is a 23 year old loan officer. What Kay Hymnowitz in City Journal dubbed "the New Girl Order" -- much of it IMHO unsustainable. The same economic froth that supports websites detailing what grade D celebutante wore what designer, also supports the "frisson" of fear/delight in "Free Tookie" movements or Meghrani's release. That froth is simply unsustainable.]

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:09 pm 83. Alexis:

Last year, Mary Beard taught at the University of California at Berkeley.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:11 pm 84. Lifeofthemind:

wretchard,
the only unredeemable sin is the rejection of goodness itself, what is called the “eternal sin”

Thoughtcrime is Death
- G. Orwell

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:21 pm 85. Charles:

ayreon – abbey of synn
January 8, 2009

Abbey of Synn

Synn is the old spelling for ’sin’ and also refers to the important
role of the synthesizer on the CD. Inspired by the movie ‘Name of the Rose’
with Sean Connery, the song tells the story of a monastery where laughter
is strictly forbidden. One by one monks die mysteriously each having a
blackened finger and tongue. It turns out that the monks have discovered
a book of comedy written by Aristotle, but the pages are poisoned;
if you lick your finger to turn a page it will kill you.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:28 pm 86. Batman:

Wretchard’s post @50 is among the most important I have read on BC.

The left is utopian and seeks perfection on the grandest scale. In so doing they operate primarily on the basis of feelings. Wouldn’t it feel good if everyone lived in peace? Wouldn’t it feel good if all people were good inside? Wouldn’t it feel good if everyone were equal and no one made anyone else feel bad because of that horrible competition in the world?

And every exception to utopian perfection is because someone has the wrong thoughts, the wrong values, the wrong ideas, the wrong feelings. And everyone who either thwarts utopian perfection or who doesn’t believe in it is either mentally ill, mean spirited, selfish, greedy, or some other bad emotion.

On the Hugh Hewitt show this week Hugh played the Newsweek podcast to Mark Steyn. The reaction was typically hilarious as Steyn pointed out all the flaws in the podcast. Chief among them were the assertions by a Newsweek science consultant that the opposition to Obamacare was due to the opponents having too many incorrect brain circuits with too much fear and suspicion. In other words, there is no real basis upon which to disagree with the health care proposals; the real reason why people disagree is that they have flawed brain connections.

Conservatives on the other hand tend to turn to a combination of logic and experience together with a strong dose of common sense. They recognize that we live in a veil of tears and that this world, which we all want to improve, nevertheless will always be imperfect. And mankind consists of individuals who will always have a mixture of good and bad. It is precisely that skepticism about human intention that the Founders possessed and led them to craft a form of government that would counterbalance and offset human tendencies toward bad.

Those on the left emphasize feelings. Those from the conservative camp emphasize actions. John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth century liberal who would find himself more comfortable with Milton Friedman than with Karl Marx had he lived to know them, emphasized in Utilitarianism that the actions count more than the sentiment.

I think this is connected with the left’s preference for macro perfectibility while the right’s preference leans toward personal rectitude. While the left demands exhaustive “environmental impact” studies before any new thing is built, lest some poor insect or rodent be inconvenienced, they bypass such searching investigation of unintended side effects of their grand projects, because if the intention is good, that is all they need to know.

If only every voter would read Arthur Koestler — not just Darkness at Noon, but the brilliant expose of utopianism in one of his most neglected masterpieces, The Call Girls.

I’ll leave it to readers of this blog for now to discover for themselves the wit and insight of that book.

Aug 22, 2009 - 9:47 pm 87. Charles:

50. Wretchard

Most Christians will remember how the only unredeemable sin is the rejection of goodness itself, what is called the “eternal sin”.
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Luke 12:10
10″(A)And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

Mark 3:28-30
28″(A)Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;

29but (B)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”–

Matthew 12:31-32
31″(A)Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32″(A)Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in (B)this age or in the age to come.
…………..

I’m not catholic myself but a quick search turned up this catholic website which seems to have a handy guide to those sins that offend the holy spirit. The list is a bit longer than Isaiah’s. Further, I’m not too sure at all that “offend” is of the same order sin as “blaspheme”. Certainly they serve as good guides to character.

Aug 22, 2009 - 10:36 pm 88. heyyoukidsgetoffmylawn:

PACat@58

Further to your post regarding “Ladies From Hell”

Perhaps of general interest on a Sunday afternoon to WWI history buffs and their patient friends and relations.

http://www.96th.ca/Warpipes_HighSpeed.htm

Aug 23, 2009 - 6:39 am 89. Charles:

House Divided Speech
Springfield, Illinois
June 16, 1858

On June 16, 1858, more than 1,000 Republican delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois, statehouse for the Republican State Convention. At 5 p.m. they chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. At 8 p.m. Lincoln delivered this address to his Republican colleagues in the Hall of Representatives. The title comes from a sentence in the speech’s introduction, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” which paraphrases a statement by Jesus in the New Testament.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.

Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented.

In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.

…………..
Matthew 12
A House Divided Cannot Stand

22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and[e] mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub,[f] the ruler of the demons.”
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
The Unpardonable Sin

31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Aug 23, 2009 - 7:01 am 90. Charles:

Sunday morning reflections from Oswald Chambers posted over at FR

Prayer— Battle in “The Secret Place”

Aug 23, 2009 - 7:32 am 91. fonman:

RWE @22: Nice fantasy, but if Ronald Reagan was in the White House now, the touchdown of Megrahi’s plane in Tripoli would have been immediately attended by a bouquet of Daisycuttters closely followed by a covey of Cruise missles. Oopsie!

Aug 23, 2009 - 9:11 am 92. RWE:

Fonman #90: I don’t think it would have ever touched down in Tripoli. Remember our intercept of the airliner that was carrying the terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro and killed Leon Klinghoffer, and elderly man in a wheelchair?

By the way, the Italians let all those terrorists go, just like the Scots, but with even less justification. They let the last one go home for a weekend visit and he just sort of never came back. He went back to terrorism and we killed him in Iraq a few years later.

Several years ago a man ran out onto a tennis court in Europe and slashed a professional player with a knife. Turns out she was Serbian and he was a Croat or something like that so they let him off with little more than a warning. Even NPR pointed out that the guy would have gotten more punishment than that in the USA if he had done nothing else but stalked her.

Europe is supposedly successfully getting past its past old hostilities but instead they seem to be merely thinking up more ways to keep them going, and safely for the aggressors.

Aug 23, 2009 - 4:27 pm 93. Rant of the Week: 8/23/09-8/29/09 » The Ethereal Voice:

[...] This week’s rant is “What a wonderful world” [...]

Aug 23, 2009 - 4:42 pm 94. Wadeusaf:

Wretchard @53,

As I read the post and replies yesterday, I puzzeled through to what I think now is a quick and dirty version of what has here been said.

It is simply this, half of the nation feels it is a just thing to call soldiers baby killers, no matter the ROE and no matter the modus operandi of the opposition, while the other half of the nation insists abortionists are baby killers. That abortion is infanticide, despite legal rulings to the contrary.

It is a stark contrast of perspective, and it is a matter around which I have long suspected a second civil war could ensue. Fortunately, thus far, I am wrong.

Aug 23, 2009 - 7:53 pm 95. Mad Fiddler:

I believe the entire point of inventing the “Thought Crime” resides in the ability it confers on the government to infer motives – and thus attitudes and thoughts – in a person whose behavior is otherwise without fault.

So, even though you have never done anything, harmed another person, stolen, spat upon the public way, failed to return a library book at its appointed due date, or had sex with your neighbor’s cat, you may still be condemned, sentenced to decades of forced labor, and forfeit (even “five-feit”) the wealth that took all your life to amass, at the whim of some bureaucrat.

“We ask that you forward any e-mails or the names of people spreading fishy stuff, lies and distortions of Glorious Leader’s health care program to the following address…”

Aug 23, 2009 - 8:09 pm 96. Mad Fiddler:

The decline of Europe started LONG AGO.

I spouted an opinion on how Europe has gotten itself into the current fix on my lonely little “Apsnyblog” a few years back in an article titled “Continental Drift.”

Things have only gotten much worse.

Aug 23, 2009 - 8:29 pm 97. Lifeofthemind:

Mad Fiddler,
The continued rise of the concepts of thought crimes, the allocation of punishment based on inferred intent or reliance upon either aggravating associations on the part of the perpetrator or membership in a protected class on the part of the plaintiff or victim. troubles me. First as you indicated it empowers a bureaucrat to make subjective judgements. Second is that is a return to the feudal concepts of special laws for members of special communities or guilds. In England Peers of the Realm can no longer demand trial before the Lords and you no longer face special punishments for offending the nobility. In America however if you are charged with an offense against a member of a protected group then your motives will be examined to determine if that aggravates the crime and increases your punishment. In America between the end of the oppressive Black Codes and the rise of the EEOC codes, and related criminal and civil procedures, there was a brief period when the only vestiges of such laws giving special punishments based on the identity of the victim was in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Aug 23, 2009 - 9:12 pm 98. Robohobo:

JFSanders031 @ 34:

When you lie down with dogs you rise up with fleas. And buddy let me tell you WE as a country are infested. J.R. Nyquist explains the ARCTIC SEA.

If you replace the words Russia, KGB with USA, CIA in his article. It doesn’t become irrational. Dear LORD, what have we become…

JF, I followed you down the rabbit hole and emerged on the other side, not with the Arctic Sea article but the one prior, “Secret Takeovers”. Holy sheep sh-t Batman! That one is frightening.

The take away or ‘money quote’:

What happened to Czechoslovakia and Venezuela can happen in America. Perhaps it has already begun to happen. I would like to end this column by quoting from a high-level Soviet Bloc defector named Jan Sejna, who explained: “Soviet ambitions towards the United States were aimed at the extinction of Capitalism and the ‘socialization’ of America…. The main strategic goals on the road to their fulfillment were: the withdrawal of the U.S.A. from Europe and Asia; the removal of Latin America from the United States’ sphere of influence and its incorporation into the Socialist bloc; the destruction of the United States influence in the developing world; the reduction of American military power to a state of strategic inferiority; the advent to power in Washington of a transitional and progressive government; and the collapse of the American economy.”

Which explains what so many of us feared was going on with The 0bamanation is most likely the case. He is ‘The Manchurian Candidate’.

Aug 23, 2009 - 10:17 pm 99. Fletcher Christian:

Talnik – The matter is a little more complex than that. All four of the countries that comprise the United Kingdom have differing laws and systems of government – Scotland is more different from England than either of the other two, and always has been, in its legal system.

In addition, there was a partial devolution of powers to Scotland some years ago. One of the powers devolved was the running of the justice system. So in fact, under British law the final authority over crimes committed on Scottish soil is the Scottish Justice Minister. Although in fact, Gordon Brown (himself a Scot) probably has quite a lot of influence.

Why is it like that? Simple. Labour has been kept in power in the UK as a whole, several times, by Scots electing Labour MPs. Some years ago, there was a real chance that Labour would be wiped out in Scotland by the SNP and thus lose control of Parliament. So they bought off the SNP with Scotland as the price, essentially.

Now, Scotland has complete control of its justice system and the social aspects of government such as the NHS. There are many things that the Scots get for free that the rest of the UK has to pay for (prescription charges for example) and they are paid for with English money.

Many people in England, including me, think that given this situation Scotland should indeed be independent. English taxes would immediately be lower.

That’s what the British Labour Party is like, folks. They are quite willing to oversee the breakup of the UK to keep their noses in the trough. For that and many other reasons, they are unmitigated scum.

Aug 24, 2009 - 2:03 am

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