re: #63 jvic

Yahoo posts an AP account (boldface mine):

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers Friday that classified intelligence showed the deadly raid on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a terrorist attack, but that the administration withheld the suspected role of specific al-Qaida affiliates to avoid tipping off the terrorist groups.

The recently resigned spy chief explained that references to terrorist groups suspected of carrying out the violence were removed from the public explanation of what caused the attack so as not to tip off the groups that the U.S. intelligence community was on their trail, according to lawmakers who attended the private briefings.

The same from the NYT:

[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

WASHINGTON — David H. Petraeus, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told lawmakers on Friday that classified intelligence reports revealed that the deadly assault on the American diplomatic mission in Libya was a terrorist attack, but that the administration refrained from saying it suspected that the perpetrators of the attack were Al Qaeda affiliates and sympathizers to avoid tipping off the groups.

Mr. Petraeus, who resigned last week after admitting to an extramarital affair, said the names of groups suspected in the attack — including Al Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa and a local Libyan group, Ansar al-Shariah — were removed from the public explanation of the attack immediately after the assault to avoiding alerting the militants that American intelligence and law enforcement agencies were tracking them, lawmakers said.

And also:

[Link: abcnews.go.com...]

A senior U.S. official familiar with the drafting of the talking points provided some insights Friday into how they came about. According to the official, the talking points drafted by the CIA were “a reflection of the understanding at the time that could be provided at an unclassified level. They were preliminary and were never meant to be the final word on the issue.”

The official said that they were coordinated at a senior level within the intelligence community and “were not, as has been insinuated by some, edited to minimize the role of extremists, diminish terrorist affiliations, or play down that this was an attack.”

Because the talking points were to be unclassified, the official said intelligence and legal issues had to be considered. For one, the official said the information about the attack involving individuals linked to al-Qaeda came from classified sources. Secondly, the official said those links were “so tenuous, as they still are, it makes sense to be cautious before pointing fingers to avoid setting off a chain of circular and self-reinforcing assumptions. ”

The talking points used the term “extremists” to describe those behind the Benghazi attack. The subsequent political fight over whether the attack should have been described as a terrorist attack seems to have caught intelligence officials off-guard. ”People assumed that it was apparent in this context that extremists who attack U.S. facilities and kill Americans are, by definition, terrorists,” said the official.

“The controversy this word choice caused came as a surprise,” said the official.

re: #1 simoom

The same from the NYT:

[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

And also:

[Link: abcnews.go.com...]

I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that supposedly is the "scandal" here.

The talking points used the term “extremists” to describe those behind the Benghazi attack. The subsequent political fight over whether the attack should have been described as a terrorist attack seems to have caught intelligence officials off-guard.
”People assumed that it was apparent in this context that extremists who attack U.S. facilities and kill Americans are, by definition, terrorists,” said the official.

No shit. I hope someone has pointed this out with some force to Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

re: #2 Targetpractice

The same from the NYT:

[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

And also:

[Link: abcnews.go.com...]

I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that supposedly is the "scandal" here.

The timing.
/

Beautiful music!

re: #4 Kragar

The timing.
/

You question it?

/

re: #6 Targetpractice

You question it?

/

Well, yes. Not for some insane rant of course, but I do have some concerns that need addressing.

//

re: #6 Targetpractice

You question it?

/

I find it concerning.
/

re: #7 Dark_Falcon

Well, yes. Not for some insane rant of course, but I do have some concerns that need addressing.

//

So you're just asking questions?

/

re: #9 Targetpractice

So you're just asking questions?

/

Asking questions, trying to find ways to pin things on Obama, stuff like that.

//

re: #2 Targetpractice

I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that supposedly is the "scandal" here.

The scandal was in the, calculated for electoral advantage, reckless politicization of a tragic national security incident and the dishonorable conduct demonstrated by throwing sleazy charges about with zero evidence. A number of Republican "leaders", at the very least, owe Susan Rice a sincere apology for their recent assault on her character.

re: #9 Targetpractice

So you're just asking questions?

/

You've got to wonder what Obama had on Petraeus . Some people are asking questions.
///

Arpaio: ‘Illegal aliens’ escaping so all deputies will get ‘automatic weapons’

Newly re-elected Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday pledged to put an automatic weapon in the hands of every Maricopa Country deputy because “[m]ore and more illegal aliens are attempting to escape.”

An official press release distributed by the Maricopa Country Sheriff’s Office on Thursday told the story of several groups of “illegal aliens” that had tried to flee from deputies. In total, 16 allegedly undocumented immigrants were arrested during a two-day period. Several had tried to flee on foot or in cars and were chased down with helicopters and K-9 units. One vehicle was reportedly discovered with Hispanic males and “what appeared to be large bundles of marijuana.”

“Once again the entry into Maricopa County from Mexico by illegal aliens does not seem to have subsided by evidence of numerous arrests made by my deputies,” Arpaio said in the release. “Aside from their determination to get away we will continue to make every effort to pursue and apprehend human smugglers as well as drug traffickers.”

He added: “More and more illegal aliens are attempting to escape which places my deputies in dangerous positions. In the near future I will be issuing automatic weapons for all my deputies.”

So, Arpaio wants to gun down fleeing suspects with automatic weapons. Why am I not surprised?

Open thread..Right?
Chris Mathews is on Leno. So lets talk about pundits. I have never liked Chris for years..But tonight he really made a lot of sense overall. so I'll give him some props..Some I won't. I first saw Bill O'Reilly about 10 or 12 years ago in a hotel room. I despised everything he said that night and I refuse to watch his dog and pony show. I used to love CNN during the Gulf war and the TV was always on CNN. They have become so lame. When MSNBC first started they were great. We watched it all the time and my wife and I layed in bed drinking coffee and watching the OKC bombing.
The media has become disappointing. But I can check out thousands of links and viewpoints on LGF. I really like it here.

re: #12 Kragar

I hear CIA wanted to immediately tell the truth about what happened, and blow a lot of their painstakingly developed classified sources, but then caved to political pressure from somewhere in the Executive Branch.

re: #15 jaunte

I hear CIA wanted to immediately tell the truth about what happened, and blow a lot of their painstakingly developed classified sources, but then caved to political pressure from somewhere in the Executive Branch.

Blowing the cover of classified sources is Congress's job, dammit!

I was just looking at one of the shelves where I keep model aircraft and my model of the German FI-103R Reichenberg caught my eye. This was a piloted version of the notorious V-1 buzzbomb. Unlike the Japanese Okha, it wasn't supposed to be a suicide weapon but the pilot's alleged method of escape was so unlikely that it might as well have been. The pilot was supposed to aim the fiendish device at its target in a terminal dive, then bail out over the side to captivity. Quite a few people, mostly fanatical Nazis, volunteered for these missions but the machines were never actually used.

This set in motion a brief thought experiment dovetailing with recent events in Israel. My conclusion: The next step could be suicide attacks with piloted rocket weapons. Obviously Israel would have no trouble intercepting a V-1 type device but there are other ways. Without going into too much detail (on the off chance they haven't thought of it), this is actually possible with the rockets Hamas has now, with the addition of a few airframe and control items the Iranians are known to manufacture. Indeed, the airframe could be quite crude and could be made in Gaza itself.

re: #2 Targetpractice

GOP focussed like a laser on the economy///

HuffPo sees the method to McCain's madness:

John McCain's Benghazi Committee Plan Would Give Senator New Relevance

And the troll from the previous thread has finished cooking. Roast Troll is now being served, come and get it!

You know that Star Trek episode where that envious communications officer manipulates the computer log history so he can get Captain Kirk nailed on protocol?

That's what this whole thing feels like.

From what I've heard, general Petraeus' testimony supported what the administration has been saying from the start very well. Suspiciously well. Clearly Obama bought his compliance by enmeshing him in a humiliating career-ending scandal. It's the only logical explanation.

First Petraeus, and now Colbert...

Colbert admits to ‘improper relationship’ with his autobiographer

re: #14 BenghaziHoops

Open thread..Right?

When is it not?

re: #22 Sophist is the VillageGreen Preservation Society

Jerome Corsi's next book outline.

re: #19 Targetpractice

HuffPo sees the method to McCain's madness:

John McCain's Benghazi Committee Plan Would Give Senator New Relevance

Wow. interesting piece. He deserves Indian Affairs. Piece of shit is responsible for the whole GOP ignoring the fiscal cliff and the important work of government.

re: #21 dragonath

You know that Star Trek episode where that envious communications officer manipulates the computer log history so he can get Captain Kirk nailed on protocol?

That's what this whole thing feels like.

He manipulated the record to fake his death, in the hopes that doing so would ruin Kirk's career by essentially implicating him for murder. And he'd probably have gotten away with it if Spock hadn't realized that the computer had been tampered with.

This seems more and more like a replay of Whitewater, with the GOP trying to create an open-ended investigation that they can spin in whatever direction they like, keeping forever the specter of "Obama is hiding something!" as leverage when they get in trouble with the voters.

Well I guess the only place left that we will be able to find Ho Ho's and ding dongs is at the Pentagon

re: #23 Kragar

First Petraeus, and now Colbert...

Colbert admits to ‘improper relationship’ with his autobiographer

Yes, I heard that the head that wrote Colbert's autobiography and previously been used to jerk him off.

/Yes, it's a dirty joke.

re: #27 Targetpractice

He manipulated the record to fake his death, in the hopes that doing so would ruin Kirk's career by essentially implicating him for murder. And he'd probably have gotten away with it if Spock hadn't realized that the computer had been tampered with.

This seems more and more like a replay of Whitewater, with the GOP trying to create an open-ended investigation that they can spin in whatever direction they like, keeping forever the specter of "Obama is hiding something!" as leverage when they get in trouble with the voters.

The thing is that Whitewater actually nailed some people who had committed crimes, including Clinton's successor as governor of Arkansas. Benghazi has done no such thing yet.

re: #27 Targetpractice

He manipulated the record to fake his death, in the hopes that doing so would ruin Kirk's career by essentially implicating him for murder. And he'd probably have gotten away with it if Spock hadn't realized that the computer had been tampered with.

This seems more and more like a replay of Whitewater, with the GOP trying to create an open-ended investigation that they can spin in whatever direction they like, keeping forever the specter of "Obama is hiding something!" as leverage when they get in trouble with the voters.

Damn meddling kids and their dog...

Family Values...

Court records: Anti-abortion rep. pushed for wife’s abortions, slept with patients and coworkers

Court documents released on Thursday indicated that DesJarlais provided testimony during his 2001 divorce trial that he had slept with two patients, two coworkers and a drug representative, according to the Time Free Press. He also said that he had approved his ex-wife’s decision to get two abortions before the two were married.

“The power brokers in the Republican Party can no longer hide behind DesJarlais’ shameful and selfish lies,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said. “Reality is staring them in the face. It’s time they addressed these disgusting facts and held him accountable for his continued pattern of lies, deception and hypocrisy.”

Forrester insisted that DesJarlais should resign from office and “be barred from practicing medicine.”

Earlier this month, the Tennessee Republican was re-elected to office with the support of 57 percent of voters.

re: #30 Dark_Falcon

The thing is that Whitewater actually nailed some people who had committed crimes, including Clinton's successor as governor of Arkansas. Benghazi has done no such thing yet.

You noticed that too? I've had more than one wingnut tell me "This is bigger than Watergate!!," and when I point out that Watergate actually involved real crimes, they snort and tell me that the reason we don't know about the crimes involved with Benghazi is that the media "isn't doing its job."

Brian Kilmeade, Biggest Ass Hole at Fox

Fox News Host: Our Female Anchors Come From ‘Victoria’s Secret Catalogue,’ Luckily Can Talk

Mars radiation levels tolerable to humans
Neat.

re: #17 Shiplord Kirel

I was just looking at one of the shelves where I keep model aircraft and my model of the German FI-103R Reichenberg caught my eye. This was a piloted version of the notorious V-1 buzzbomb. Unlike the Japanese Okha, it wasn't supposed to be a suicide weapon but the pilot's alleged method of escape was so unlikely that it might as well have been. The pilot was supposed to aim the fiendish device at its target in a terminal dive, then bail out over the side to captivity. Quite a few people, mostly fanatical Nazis, volunteered for these missions but the machines were never actually used.

This set in motion a brief thought experiment dovetailing with recent events in Israel. My conclusion: The next step could be suicide attacks with piloted rocket weapons. Obviously Israel would have no trouble intercepting a V-1 type device but there are other ways. Without going into too much detail (on the off chance they haven't thought of it), this is actually possible with the rockets Hamas has now, with the addition of a few airframe and control items the Iranians are known to manufacture. Indeed, the airframe could be quite crude and could be made in Gaza itself.

Thank goudness that the Germans didn't implement the plan. As for the Iranis and Hamas, it's ridiculous to assume that any existing rocket system could launch without killing a human pilot. The acceleration is lethal.

re: #28 BenghaziHoops

Well I guess the only place left that we will be able to find Ho Ho's and ding dongs is at the Pentagon

And Twinkies!

re: #35 Varek Raith

Mars radiation levels tolerable to humans
Neat.

FFS, the comments are derp.

Curiosity is just looking for diamonds and gold. It's all about $$$ to the shadow government that funds these programs. They could just end poverty if they would give people the money they spent on these programs. Every single adult person in the USA would be rich. They don't even want to try and provide health-care for anyone who can't pay for it themselves. We are just ants on an ant-hill to them. Useless "eaters" who need to be killed.

re: #37 Dancing along the light of day

And Twinkies!

Yeah, but they've only had those since DADT was repealed.

[waves]

re: #33 Targetpractice

You noticed that too? I've had more than one wingnut tell me "This is bigger than Watergate!!," and when I point out that Watergate actually involved real crimes, they snort and tell me that the reason we don't know about the crimes involved with Benghazi is that the media "isn't doing its job."

The local right wing media jock's main complaint on Benghazi was tell me "why". coached in ~ please tell me what I need to survive the next 4 years of he OBAMA presidential administration.

re: #38 Varek Raith

FFS, the comments are derp.

That feller ain't been the same since the aliens probed him.

//

NASA budget for 2012 = 17.7 billion.

Whoops wrong number above.
Edited.

re: #42 Varek Raith

NASA budget for 2012 = 17.7 billion.

THAT'S 17 BILLION THAT COULD HAVE GONE TO JOBS HERE ON EARTH!
///

re: #44 Kragar

THAT'S 17 BILLION THAT COULD HAVE GONE TO JOBS HERE ON EARTH!
///

I've heard that argument before.
Except they were serious...
:/

re: #45 Varek Raith

I've heard that argument before.
Except they were serious...
:/

Yeah, I know.

re: #46 Kragar

Yeah, I know.

Makes you wanna bust out the clue-by-four.

Speaking of space, my old man's watching a show on the Science Channel about what it mean for humanity if we made contact with an alien civilization and they traveled here. And even though I'm a Trek fan, even I realize that if aliens show up, the odds of them being friendly are exceedingly slim.

re: #48 Targetpractice

Speaking of space, my old man's watching a show on the Science Channel about what it mean for humanity if we made contact with an alien civilization and they traveled here. And even though I'm a Trek fan, even I realize that if aliens show up, the odds of them being friendly are exceedingly slim.

Well, imagine how bad we'd likely be if we came into contact with a primitive alien species. We'd likely try to use them as dirt-cheap labor.

re: #34 Varek Raith

Brian Kilmeade, Biggest Ass Hole at Fox

Fox News Host: Our Female Anchors Come From ‘Victoria’s Secret Catalogue,’ Luckily Can Talk

This from the same network that, just yesterday, REPEATEDLY attacked President Obama for being "sexist" because he figuratively jumped in front of Susan Rice to protect her because he felt she was incapable of looking after herself.

Yes, really. In between the seventeen million mentions of Benghazi they were able to squeeze in this particular criticism of Obama at least five times.

re: #47 Varek Raith

Makes you wanna bust out the clue-by-four.

Please!

re: #49 Dark_Falcon

Well, imagine how bad we'd likely be if we came into contact with a primitive alien species. We'd likely try to use them as dirt-cheap labor.

Yep, pretty much.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

re: #51 prairiefire

Please!

In an educational way. I am thrilled at the intelligence of "the youth vote."

re: #50 dragonfire1981

This from the same network that, just yesterday, REPEATEDLY attacked President Obama for being "sexist" because he figuratively jumped in front of Susan Rice to protect her because he felt she was incapable of looking after herself.

Yes, really. In between the seventeen million mentions of Benghazi they were able to squeeze in this particular criticism of Obama at least five times.

re: #48 Targetpractice

Speaking of space, my old man's watching a show on the Science Channel about what it mean for humanity if we made contact with an alien civilization and they traveled here. And even though I'm a Trek fan, even I realize that if aliens show up, the odds of them being friendly are exceedingly slim.

Possibly, but here's how I see it.

If any alien species wanted to make contact with us, they'd obviously want to do some homework first. In that process they would probably discover that mankind is, for the most part, a greedy, deceitful, vindictive, selfish, power hungry species that does a poor job of taking care of its own people, the other species that inhabit this planet and the planet itself.

So, let's say we have an alien race drawing a conclusion of humanity based on a year of observations of global politics, entertainments and environmental activities. I can't say I'd be surprised if they were less then friendly if they decided to make contact.

re: #40 prairiefire

The local right wing media jock's main complaint on Benghazi was tell me "why". coached in ~ please tell me what I need to survive the next 4 years of he OBAMA presidential administration.

The wingnut meme now is that

BENGHAZI!!!

is bigger than Watergate. Yes, really.

Child, please.

re: #55 dragonfire1981

Possibly, but here's how I see it.

If any alien species wanted to make contact with us, they'd obviously want to do some homework first. In that process they would probably discover that mankind is, for the most part, a greedy, deceitful, vindictive, selfish, power hungry species that does a poor job of taking care of its own people, the other species that inhabit this planet and the planet itself.

So, let's say we have an alien race drawing a conclusion of humanity based on a year of observations of global politics, entertainments and environmental activities. I can't say I'd be surprised if they were less then friendly if they decided to make contact.

Best explanation I ever heard for it was that any species that is advanced enough to take to the stars very likely got that way through centuries of strife and warfare. So the odds that they purposefully sought us out for peaceful communication are very small.

I've been thinking about the right-wing echo chamber that resides at Fixed News, and did y'all know that not one single pundit over there predicted an Obama victory? Not. A. Single. One. And, not only did they predict a Romney win, but they went full metal Dick Morris and predicted a landslide. The polls (albeit Rasmussen & Gallup) were pretty dead on, and PPP threw three double-bulls at the bullseye nailing it back in June. Math stares you straight in the face and you go "contararian." Fuck that propaganda.

re: #36 austin_blue

Thank goudness that the Germans didn't implement the plan. As for the Iranis and Hamas, it's ridiculous to assume that any existing rocket system could launch without killing a human pilot. The acceleration is lethal.

No, it's ridiculous to declare something impossible when you don't have the facts. OTRAG rocket. BIS Lunar Lander 1939. At one time, this concept was called a cellular rocket, the acceleration is kept within acceptable limits by firing only a few of the constituent units at one time. The OTRAG system actually used low acceleration liquid fueled units but the principle is the same with very high thrust, short duration solids. The Iranians have reaction controls, programmable sequencers, and other necessary equipment for their Scud-derived high end missiles.

re: #58 Four More Beers

I've been thinking about the right-wing echo chamber that resides at Fixed News, and did y'all know that not one single pundit over there predicted an Obama victory? Not. A. Single. One. And, not only did they predict a Romney win, but they went full metal Dick Morris and predicted a landslide. The polls (albeit Rasmussen & Gallup) were pretty dead on, and PPP threw three double-bulls at the bullseye nailing it back in June. Math stares you straight in the face and you go "contararian." Fuck that propaganda.

One exception: Their token liberal, Juan Williams, predicted the election correctly.

And another thing- About two-three months ago, the RCP average had the race at at a tie to Obama +3. Then, the unemployment rate was above 8% and the GDP at an anemic number. In any other election cycle, there is no way the incumbent could have poll numbers that good, and he should have been defeated but Romney STILL lost. That said a hell of a lot more about Romney then it ever said about Obama.

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

One exception: Their token liberal, Juan Williams, predicted the election correctly.

I don't think Juan Williams should be characterized as their token liberal unless you're being sarcastic. Williams has always come across to me as a moderate.

But you are right. Williams predicted an Obama victory months ago, and never wavered.

What I find spectacularly stupid is that the GOP is showing potential terrorists that they (Republicans) are willing to fuck the American government, give these potential terrorists a ton of unwarranted attention and these extremists are probably right proud of that. The GOP is being played. Willingly. For politics.

It's disgusting.

re: #64 Joanne

What I find spectacularly stupid is that the GOP is showing potential terrorists that they (Republicans) are willing to fuck the American government, give these potential terrorists a ton of unwarranted attention and these extremists are probably right proud of that. The GOP is being played. Willingly. For politics.

It's disgusting.

Apparently the concept that questioning the truthfulness of the administration in power is "unpatriotic" ceased 4 years ago.

You know who was awesome?

Columbo was awesome.

RT @760david: Republican Desperation Grows as Benghazi Backfires and Scandal Talk Fizzles politicususa.com/republican-des... #uniteblue #FF #p2

— PUDCAST245 (@pudcast245) November 17, 2012

re: #67 Joanne

[Embedded content]

Benghazi?

Oldest trick in book is for conservatives to create hysteria over something so they can swoop in w RW solutions. bit.ly/UKk1Vu

— DenisCampbell (@UKProgressive) November 17, 2012

re: #68 Kragar

Benghazi?

Sorry??

re: #69 Joanne

[Embedded content]

The GOP's in a massively poor position right now to do much of anything. Obama has them by the balls and they can't really do much except whine. If he wanted to, he could push out the negotiations til January, take the tax hikes, then propose middle class tax cuts and let the GOP publicly hang themselves with their own ideology.

re: #71 Targetpractice

The GOP's in a massively poor position right now to do much of anything. Obama has them by the balls and they can't really do much except whine. If he wanted to, he could push out the negotiations til January, take the tax hikes, then propose middle class tax cuts and let the GOP publicly hang themselves with their own ideology.

The proper response to that is to point out he acted in bad faith then refuse to meet with him at all until he makes some concessions.

My guest has arrived.

Good night everyone.

re: #72 Dark_Falcon

The proper response to that is to point out he acted in bad faith then refuse to meet with him at all until he makes some concessions.

They're in this position because they negotiated in bad faith to begin with. He wanted to make the middle class tax cuts permanent, but they refused and so got only a temporary extension they hoped to make permanent upon winning the White House. Likewise, they turned down a debt deal that would have agreed to $10 in cuts for every $1 in tax increases and instead backed a supercommittee they had no intention of supporting and sequestration that they figured they could go back on after the election.

For Obama to now say that he will not agree to any deal that does not include tax increases for the rich would not be bad faith. If anything, he could say that the GOP is in no position to be making demands after letting things go this far.

re: #66 Kragar

You know who was awesome?

Columbo was awesome.

If Columbo had discovered America, things might have turned out differently.

re: #75 The Questionable Timing of a Flea

If Columbo had discovered America, things might have turned out differently.

"Wow, this place is lovely, just lovely... but you know there is just one thing thats been puzzling me."

Per BBC: Israel strikes Hamas HQ.

re: #77 efuseakay

Per BBC: Israel strikes Hamas HQ.

That came quickly, even if expectedly.

re: #77 efuseakay

Photo: #Gaza goverment HQ after airstrike twitter.com/Solarah/status… (@solarah)

— Weed Dude (@weeddude) November 17, 2012

Photo: Israel bombs Hamas government HQ in #Gaza City, completely destroying it twitter.com/passantino/sta… (@passantino)

— Weed Dude (@weeddude) November 17, 2012

re: #79 Four More Tears

[Embedded content]

That could be a picture of a secondary explosion. The airstrike might have hit stockpiled munitions.

With war in the air once again, ironically I was about to put up a wartime song, on how Frank got famous - by singing with the Tommy Dorsey band in 1940:

re: #81 Dark_Falcon

That could be a picture of a secondary explosion. The airstrike might have hit stockpiled munitions.

Seems like a bad place to stockpile munitions, no?

re: #83 Four More Tears

Seems like a bad place to stockpile munitions, no?

Yes, but heads of tyrannical armed forces often what to keep some of their weapons close to hand to prevent a coup.

Al Jazeera story:

Deaths as Israel expands air assaults in Gaza

re: #78 freetoken

That came quickly, even if expectedly.

There will probably be a bit more to come.

re: #85 freetoken

Al Jazeera story:

Deaths as Israel expands air assaults in Gaza

Caution is advised, since Al Jazeera is still heavily biased against Israel.

re: #86 prairiefire

There will probably be a bit more to come.

Yeah, this is just getting started.

I just finished my painting for the game I'm running later this morning.

Gonna get some sleep, Good Night.

I'm sure CAMERA will have a fit over this NYT headline:

Israel Destroys Hamas Prime Minister’s Office

The Russian government controlled RT is doing a live blog of reports:

[Link: rt.com...]

Nov. 17, 08:05 GMT: One Israeli soldier has been injured after a rocket hit the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, AlJazeera reported.

Earlier today, over at the UK version of the Huffington Post, Mehdi Hasan, who is billed as "Political director of The Huffington Post UK", whatever that means, put up this post which no doubt will cause some to cringe:

Ten Things You Need To Know About Gaza

Morning, all

re: #48 Targetpractice

Speaking of space, my old man's watching a show on the Science Channel about what it mean for humanity if we made contact with an alien civilization and they traveled here. And even though I'm a Trek fan, even I realize that if aliens show up, the odds of them being friendly are exceedingly slim.

I don't see why. By the time an alien species developed the technology to make shipping stuff back from our planet to theirs remotely cost effective, they wouldn't need anything they could possibly take from us. Automation would render our value as labor worthless, and they would pass millions of better opportunities to harvest raw materials on the way here. Really, the only things I can imagine them wanting would be genetic samples of earth species for scientific research and cultural products for academic or recreational reasons. And given the technology difference, they could get whatever they wanted through trade, and get a better deal for it than we got for Manhattan. Unless you posit some sort of religious crusade or similar ideological motivation, I just don't see what's in it for them that would make them take the conquest route.

re: #92 freetoken

Here area couple of more accurate visual representations.

IS GAZA THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED PLACE ON EARTH?

Maps

And finally, a video:

While I'm no fan of EOZ the video he posted pretty much speaks for itself

re: #95 researchok

It's a tiny piece of the world. However, it does seem to disproportionately grab its share of world headlines.

re: #90 freetoken

For sure- everyone complains about how a headline could not possibly convey the complicated story of the ME.

With a headline.

re: #96 freetoken

Because everyone involved benefits from the staus quo.

When I wrote my recent pieces critical of Israel, I got hate mail you would not believe.

Perhaps I am getting too cynical in my old age, but when I read news like this I sort of shrug my shoulders. It's not like it wasn't expected. And furthermore, what can happen next? Not a whole I suspect, as an organization like Hamas can just break down to the cellular level, then recombine later when the Israelis withdraw.

In the meantime, others living in Gaza will just have more to help them hate Israel.

I don't expect the situation to change until the larger world system reorients to whatever is coming next. It'll take decades for the US to slip away from its control of the world militarily, and by then something new might have come along. Eventually, and it may take quite a bit of time, we will just lose interest to a point that some other major nation will come in with a different set of requirements for the whole region, then the small players will just realign or go out of existence.

re: #98 researchok

Everybody operates with an agenda. Deal with reality and you might as well paint a bulls eye on your back.

Everyone knows the truth- both sides exploit the status quo- but n one wants to admit to it.

As for the Gazans, don't kid yourself- they are taught to haye from an early age. As long as Israel exists, there will be hate.

Imagine a school that gave each student a glass of alcohol every day. Each day, beginning at tender nursery school age, the child was encouraged to drink the beverage that would come to poison his spirit, soul and mind.

Suppose that beverage was from the well aged bottle of anti Semitism.

Suppose also that once that child downed that alcoholic beverage, the teacher refilled that glass with more alcohol. This time, the flavor is religious bigotry directed at non Jews.

Imagine once that glass of alcohol was consumed by young dutiful children, the glass was immediately refilled with the beverage from the bottle of anti western and anti democratic values.

After decades those children, now adults, go home every day, turn on the television and read the newspapers and they are fed more alcohol. They get yet more when their kids come home from school, and share the same familiar poisoned ‘fire water.’ They poison they are fed gets the God’s seal of approval when fed to them from the pulpit- or so they desperately need to believe.

Of course, to keep a drunk or a junkie hooked, it takes an ever increasing amount of poison to induce the same stupor that blinds the drunk or the junkie to his own surroundings and dysfunction. The supply of poison never ends.

After years of such ‘education,’ it would be reasonable to expect that there would be a lot of alcoholics in the Arab world deliberately poisoned by the hate and ideologies of dysfunctional and corrupt leaders. Like alcoholics and substance abusers, they will tell you they ‘have it under control‘ and that they ‘can quit anytime they want.‘ In the Arab world, that translates into, “We really are civilized, it’s only the injustices of others that causes us to behave the way we do. We seek justice.” They are blind to their own dysfunction, they are blind to their own deceit and remain so by embracing hate. The message of far too many is clear:

‘Rid us of Israel,‘ they say and there will be no more need to drink.

‘It is the Jews- rid us of them and we will show you we are just like you,‘ they assure us.

‘Democracy conflicts with out values and culture,‘ they lecture us, as we try to empower them.

‘We are a proud people, too proud to take your help. We would rather wallow in the filth.’

‘If you accord our faith special status, we will have no reason to hate you or hurt you.’

These are the illogical and alcoholic-like induced arguments that emanate from much of the Arab world, every day. Like addicts everywhere, much of that Arab world are unaware of their own stumbling and off balance dysfunction. Like addicts everywhere, the whole world is to blame for their failures, never themselves. It is families suffering and imploding under the weight of the dysfunction and that ‘do not understand‘ them. It is their employer that is being unfair in demanding sobriety at work. ‘I have it under control,‘ is the mantra. Generations have been lost and families and even communities lie in ruin because of ‘I have it under control.‘

RT reports:

Nov. 17, 08:52 GMT: Islamic University in Gaza is targeted by Israeli air attack, Al Arabiya reported.

Don't know if the Al Arabiya story is true.

re: #101 freetoken

Unlikely- Israel doesn't deliberately target schools- unless the school was being used as a missile launch site or weapons depot.

Which has been done before.

The biggest victims of dysfunctional Palestinian leadership regimes have been the Palestinians themselves.

They get screwed from all sides.

What's really weird is watching all the retweets of a LaRouche website story that traces the origins of Hamas back to Israel.

All these stupid twitter users not realizing how on the fringe LaRouchians are.

re: #104 freetoken

Twitter retweeters not knowing what they are talking about???

NO!!!

////

National Racists Online prints (I discovered from numerous tweets about Hamas) an Andrew McCarthy screed that dumps the blame on Islamist-loving (in his eyes) President Obama:

Along Comes Hamas

We’re already seeing the wages of November 6.

The day of reckoning is here.

For over 30 years, the United States government and the institutions that drive public opinion have made like Susan Rice when it comes to the ideological threat that Islamic supremacists pose to freedom, fabricating reasons to remain in denial. Thus inured, the American people have elected, and now reelected, a president notoriously fond of America-bashing Islamists. The attraction would not be hard to understand if we were not so ideology-averse — GOP strategists having made Obama’s radicalism a subject nearly as off-limits as Islamic supremacism, helpfully leaving the Left to fill the canvas with their portrait of Mitt Romney: “Where Gordon Gekko Meets Michael Vick.”

The president is a movement leftist who sees in our society a condemnable legacy of racism, imperialism, and economic exploitation that cries out for “fundamental change.” That is not meaningfully different from the Islamist perspective of America: The Brotherhood’s self-proclaimed mandate to “eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within” by “sabotage” is, in effect, a cognate summons to “fundamental change,” even allowing that Islamists are driven to statism by sharia rather than Marxism. The Brotherhood’s American mouthpiece, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, brags that the president nabbed 85 percent of the Muslim vote on November 6 — larger even than Obama’s lopsided share of the Hispanic vote, which has GOP strategists hyperventilating. You wouldn’t want to take CAIR claims at face value, but their ardor for Obama, like the Brotherhood’s, is palpable. And as we’ve seen for four years, it is not an unrequited love.

[...]

And then people wonder why we call them National Racists Online...

re: #106 freetoken

He's an idiot.

It isn't as if he needs to stoop to stupidity to find ways to be critical of Hamas

The BBC correspondent at the site:

Several #Israeli drones whirring overhead as I stand at #Hamas's PM's HQ in #Gaza. Place deserted apart from a few guards milling around.

— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) November 17, 2012

At Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh's HQ which was hit last night in #Gaza by #Israeli strike. It is the most trashed of any building I've seen

— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) November 17, 2012

re: #82 freetoken

Good one- I almost missed that

A lifetime ago.

Giving the La Rouche organization a run for their money:

Qatari emir’s visit to Gaza aimed at locating Hamas leaders: Report

According to a report published by the Fars news agency, the emir of Qatar distributed a number of watches and ballpoint pens among Hamas leaders, which could transmit low-frequency signals to Israeli satellites.

The Israeli military officials would then use the received signals to spot the high-tanking Hamas fighters, and launch assassination strikes on them.

[...]

Perhaps someone has watched too many James Bond films?

re: #107 researchok

He's an idiot.

It isn't as if he needs to stoop to stupidity to find ways to be critical of Hamas

He's not looking for ways to be critical of Hamas. He's looking for ways to be critical of the the President.

re: #111 Sophist is the VillageGreen Preservation Society

He failed at both

re: #110 freetoken

You know, that would make for a good Bond movie...

Reportedly a video of the strike at Hamas headquarters:

[Link: www.ynet.co.il...]

re: #110 freetoken

This remains one of my most popular pages- from 2008

The Arab Conspiracy Theorists: The Saudi Royal Family Is Jewish And Al Qaeda Is A Jewish Organization

I'm serious.

re: #112 researchok

He failed at both

It's NRO. I think failing is part of their style manual.

re: #117 freetoken

I should have made Cuban coffee this AM

A good analysis of how the fight for gay rights and equality played out in this election and will into the future:

But the backing Mr. Obama received from gay voters also has a claim on having been decisive. Mitt Romney and Mr. Obama won roughly an equal share of votes among straight voters nationwide, exit polls showed. And, a study argues, Mr. Romney appears to have won a narrow victory among straight voters in the swing states of Ohio and Florida.

...

Democrats have been winning big over Republicans among gay voters, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and Jews. Some of the groups are relatively small, but together they make up about one-third of the electorate, forcing Republicans to capture much of the remaining two-thirds to win elections. By comparison, white evangelical voters, who vote overwhelmingly for Republicans, make up about one-fourth of the electorate, and their numbers are not growing as rapidly.

As with Latinos and Asian-Americans, the number of voters who say they are gay appears to be growing. Only 1.9 percent of Americans over 65 call themselves gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to the Gallup survey, while 3.2 percent of those between 30 and 49, and 6.4 percent of those between 18 and 29 do.

...

While polls show that a large majority of Republicans oppose same-sex marriage, there are small signs of a shift in tone among Republican officeholders. When Mr. Obama endorsed same-sex marriage in May, the response from Republican leaders was relatively muted.

Republicans in Congress “will tell me behind closed doors that this is the direction we need to go as a party,” Mr. Cooper said, “but publicly they’re not doing that.”

If the Republican Party does not make inroads among gay voters along with other minority groups, he said, the party risks going the way of the Whigs or becoming a regional party.

It's not just about gay voters either, it's about society in general, and younger generations in particular viewing equality for gays as a fundamental civil rights issue. As a straight man it's something that I couldn't even imagine compromising on, personal in the sense that I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I voted for or supported a political party that so egregiously sought to deny people the basic rights and equal protection under the law that everyone deserves. At 39 my generation has only been the transitional phase of a sociological evolution that started at Stonewall, before we were born and still continues.

In not too many years, maybe a couple decades at most, it will be almost impossible for people growing up to fathom State sanctioned anti gay bigotry in the same way it's difficult today to comprehend the mentality that generated Jim Crow.

Bwahahahaha...

I am currently under attack from demonic forces. Today, one of the few days I would gladly watch cable news all day, my cable is out. It hasn't been out for a year. *angry smileys*

Don't be silly, it isn't demons. It's just part of the conspiracy to stop you from finding out about the Benghazi cover-up!!!

///

No doubt Israel is better off with Iron Dome than without it, but this article goes a fair way to explaining why it can't be an end game solution in and of itself:

Each missile fired from an Iron Dome unit costs around $40,000, but the cost appears to be offset by effectiveness. The Israel Defense Force has previously stated that as many as 85 percent of the enemy rockets can be intercepted. However, the current bombardment is more intense than previous situations when the Iron Dome was in use, and in one instance, the effectiveness reported by Israel was closer to 75 percent. As of Friday evening, current estimates. based on IDF reports. place rockets fired into Israeli territory at just over 600, with nearly 250 reported to be shot down by Iron Dome missiles.

Assuming that the 250 shot down represents the thick end of a 75 percent success rate then at least 333 interceptors were launched. At $40K per pop that's $13 & 1/3rd million spent so far, to knock down rockets that cost a fraction of that at best.

Fuck. Aetna just sent a letter to my wife's aunt telling her they're no longer covering the long-acting insulin she takes daily.

Um, shitheads, she needs that to live.

There's a death panel for you right there.

The Family Research Council prayer team needs you to pray with them in order to turn back the oppressive scourge of same-sex marriage!

Dear Praying Friends,

Religious oppression and persecution associated with legalized same-sex "marriage" (SSM) is already underway, and will only increase. Maryland, Maine and Washington state voters affirmed SSM on Election Day. Minnesota rejected a traditional marriage amendment and legislators are acting swiftly to legalize SSM there. Nine states - MD, ME and WA, plus CT, IA, MA, NH, NY, VT and Washington, DC, now allow SSM. While their laws masquerade as religion friendly (pastors are exempted from any requirement to perform same-sex "marriages"), Christian judges and justices of the peace are not exempted. Nor are Christian clerks who must issue "marriage" licenses; notaries who must notarize legal documents, photographers, florists, bakers, wedding venue operators, marriage counselors, lawyers, homeowners who wish to rent out their homes - all of whom will be required to accept, honor and serve same-sex "married" couples without objection - or face lawsuits and fines.

And what about churches? What will your church do when a "married" same-sex couple demands recognition? Have your pastor and church prepared you for such an eventuality? Will you stand on biblical truth? How about you and your family, when your child comes home from school talking about what he or she is being taught? If you as a business owner or employee are told to be complicit in supporting a same-sex "marriage," will you stand for your faith and close your business or ministry, or lose your job? Catholic Charities in Massachusetts closed their 100+ year old adoption ministry rather than comply with the law requiring them to place adoptive children with homosexual couples. These laws are splitting homes, churches, denominations and America, but the worst is ahead.

*sniffs, dabs at tears* My heart bleeds for them, to suffer such oppression is clearly unconscionable in a free country. Can't we all just go back to when Gays had to hide in the closet and everyone simply pretended that they didn't exist?

///

Ted Nugent continues his tirades of whiny butthurt about the election...

Nugent also amplified his attack on downtrodden areas of America, claiming that urban cities are "rusting wrecks full of unemployed scavengers." He singled out East St. Louis, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan, which he described as "hell-scapes of dependent hopelessness." In an October 30 interview with the Times, Nugent called the majority of Detroit residents "pimps, whores and welfare brats that have made bloodsucking a lifestyle."

Nugent continued to deride Americans who voted for President Obama in his November 15 column, describing them as only interested in "more free candy from Uncle Sugar Daddy." Following the re-election of Obama, Nugent sent out a series of tweets on November 7 calling Obama voters "subhuman varmint[s]" and "Pimps whores & welfare brats."

Go out and pay to shoot some animals in a fenced in "canned hunt" area like you usually do Ted, it will make you feel better. /

Good Morning Honcos.

re: #124 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Ted should go back to his native Michigan and hunt all the animals he wants and leave the rest of us alone.

re: #126 PhillyPretzel

Ted should go back to his native Michigan and hunt all the animals he wants and leave the rest of us alone.

"Double Live Gonzo" will always have a place in my heart.

re: #127 Cannadian Club Akbar

I can understand that. Ted even in his book(God, Guns and Rock and Roll) admits he is a braggart. It is getting on people's nerves.

re: #128 PhillyPretzel

I can understand that. Ted even in his book(God, Guns and Rock and Roll) admits he is a braggart. It is getting on people's nerves.

I hate to say this but this country has become hyper-political. Everything is the fault of Obama, Bush, etc. I blame the 24/7 news cycle. And just a reminder, I don't watch cable news. Or regular news. But when I read comments about a football game and someone is saying "he's prolly a liberal and was never taught to catch a ball" or "He didn't catch the ball because he was thinking of ways to avoid paying taxes", we, as a nation need to step back. Not stop but for fucks sake. Let it rest.

re: #129 Cannadian Club Akbar

That is why I love to watch PBS. Right now I am watch Paul Prudhomme cooking a Turduckhen.

re: #130 PhillyPretzel

That is why I love to watch PBS. Right now I am watch Paul Prudhomme cooking a Turduckhen.

I have posted links to "Frontline" for about the last 3 or 4 weeks. I love PBS. And since I don't own a TV, nice to be able to pick my own schedule of viewing. I have been watching, via youtube, "American Masters" about Pearl Jam.

re: #131 Cannadian Club Akbar

How has you and your roommate getting along?

re: #129 Cannadian Club Akbar

I hate to say this but this country has become hyper-political. Everything is the fault of Obama, Bush, etc. I blame the 24/7 news cycle. And just a reminder, I don't watch cable news. Or regular news. But when I read comments about a football game and someone is saying "he's prolly a liberal and was never taught to catch a ball" or "He didn't catch the ball because he was thinking of ways to avoid paying taxes", we, as a nation need to step back. Not stop but for fucks sake. Let it rest.

The new communications systems have connected us more intimately and allows information and opinions to pass faster and wider.

We've always been hyper-political, nasty, belligerent, ignorant, partisan, emotionally driven by rage, hate, and fear. New paths of communication only put us in touch with what's always been there.

re: #131 Cannadian Club Akbar

This is the website for Create TV. [Link: www.createtv.com...]

re: #132 Flounder

How has you and your roommate getting along?

I let him use my computer when I'm not here. I only get pissed when I'm in the middle of something either here or on FB and he has a sudden need to check his mail. Or FB. I had a conversation the other night with 2 FB friends that went for 2 hours and had 57 comments. I just prefer the interwebz for entertainment.

re: #133 Kronocide

The new communications systems have connected us more intimately and allows information and opinions to pass faster and wider.

We've always been hyper-political, nasty, belligerent, ignorant, partisan, emotionally driven by rage, hate, and fear. New paths of communication only put us in touch with what's always been there.

I agree. But 24/7 TV has changed things. I talk with people who watch food shows and they act as if they are chefs, because of the food network. But before it came out, they couldn't boil water.

People need to realize that we have a new invention. It's like two hard things with all this paper stuff in between. We should call it a "book".
///
We have a place here that has over 1,000,000 books either on hand or order able (from their local warehouse). Effing awesome.

re: #137 Cannadian Club Akbar

They also have old mags (Mad, Time, SI, Newsweek) in sleeves. Around $4, depending.

I would still vote for this guy, but I would be humming bow-chicka-wow-wow and other cheesy porn songs while in the polling booth.
[Link: www.syracuse.com...]
Giggity! Actually he should be very proud of his accomplishments.

Another sort of "viewpoint" on the violence in Israel and Gaza heard from...

LightOfMyLife:

These are truly amazing days to be alive, and to see prophecy before our eyes happening. I am hoping our blessed hope is very close. Come Quickly, Lord Jesus!

IMSAVED:

I hope this is it folks.I can already see my white robe.

Sandee:

Wow, truly exciting, come quickly Lord Jesus!!!

raptureholic:

Wow! I just got chills reading this! What a day to be alive and what an honor and blessing to witness the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!
I'm so excited now because its all coming down to Israel and knowing that our Lord will save her in the end!

Someone tries to inject some sanity...

bowhunter:

I really don't understand some of the responses to this thread.

As Christians, how can you all be "excited" over the potential loss of life???

I'm as excited as anyone else regarding the return of our Lord Jesus, but not "excited"that a large number of Palistinians and Israeli soldiers are about to die in yet another conflict.

That didn't go over so well...

Florian9:

So we shouldn't be excited about the Rapture either then right?
After all over three quarters of humanity (that's almost 5.5 billion people) will die within the next 7 years or so after our departure....

Joseph The Carpenter:

You are very wrong Brother.

M4EVERHIS:

No one here is excited about all the horror that is going to be unleashed. That is so heartwrenching. I have no doubt that is one reason why God is so longsuffering. He tells us he gets no delight in the death of the wicked.

These are horrible times we live in and will be getting worse.

Our excitement is in knowing our Lord and Savior is coming for us, to take us to our home- something Christians have been waiting for for over 2000 yrs and we may very well be the generation that is spoken about in Thessalonians- this is why there is excitement.

(and "Daedalus" calls me insane for posting that some evangelicals get off on and look forward to this shit?)

re: #138 Cannadian Club Akbar

A year old Newsweek is just as funny as a new issue of Mad magazine.

re: #136 Cannadian Club Akbar

I agree. But 24/7 TV has changed things. I talk with people who watch food shows and they act as if they are chefs, because of the food network. But before it came out, they couldn't boil water.

I agree there's a feedback effect as new formats are offered and accepted.

Funny ATS conspiracy theory of the day, "the global elite had Tupac killed"...

Its wierd out that thread made me think of this and this is actually somethng that I think should be a general conspiricy. So in short I believe that TUPAC was taken out by these "global elite" or "they" as some like to refer to "them" for the simple matter of his voice being able to reach too many people. "They realized back then that if people like him were around now for their plans that he would be having it in every other song that so many others would be able to hear. "They used the whole "EAST COAST" -"WEST COAST" thing as a cover for what really happened....

If people think this is a joke or that I am a joke for writing this...just think about...think about his popularity even to this day and some of his songs...Dont you think that "they" would be worried about someone like this that could wake so many up with just a few simple songs? I do...

Alright then, now that that is settled can we move on to Jill Kelley's involvement in Benghazi!!?? I can't wait to hear your theories on that one...

///

WTF? I transferred my grades to the local CC here and they aren't accepting one of my English classes and one of my math classes. So now I have to do a redux on Algorithms?

re: #144 Cannadian Club Akbar

Nothing good comes out of the south!
/
And now for something completely different.
My 10 year old son has a friend over. I think boys net IQ's go down when playing together, it's like trying to herd cats.

Oh, this is nice. A bunch of Irish OB/GYNs, including doctors from the hospital where the woman died recently from sepsis, made a statement two weeks ago saying abortion was never necessary to save the life of a mother.

[Link: www.irishtimes.com...]

They're trying to split a hair and claim that they're okay with other procedures that have a side-effect of abortion. Sadly for them, what would have saved the woman in the recent case was, simply, abortion. That is what would have been necessary, in order to stop the infection from occurring.

re: #145 Flounder

Nothing good comes out of the south!
/
And now for something completely different.
My 10 year old son has a friend over. I think boys net IQ's go down when playing together, it's like trying to herd cats.

re: #145 Flounder

Nothing good comes out of the south!
/
And now for something completely different.
My 10 year old son has a friend over. I think boys net IQ's go down when playing together, it's like trying to herd cats.

As long as you don't leave the room and come back to something like this it's all good...

Oh, Hi Dad!

re: #145 Flounder

I worked with a guy that drove down my IQ many points. Here is one exchange:
"CCA, the fryer is on fire!!!"
"Then shut it off".
"It is off!!"
"Not it isn't".
"Yes it is. I shut it off".
I then proceeded to shut off the fryer and had to use an extinguisher to put out the fire. Then, get a new fir extinguisher. Grease on heating elements with an empty fryer causes, wait for it, fire.

Good morning lizards!

Nice! #Israel twitter.com/GOPcomedy/stat... A message to Hamas.

— ?????? ??????? (@ramonastewart) November 17, 2012

I love Saturday morning because I get to listen to sports talk for a couple hours. Kinda like during the week when I do the same.

Holy Crap!! My high skool won last night. I thought it was the last game of the year. Nope. First game of the playoffs. Result? 65-12. HA!!!

re: #48 Targetpractice

Speaking of space, my old man's watching a show on the Science Channel about what it mean for humanity if we made contact with an alien civilization and they traveled here. And even though I'm a Trek fan, even I realize that if aliens show up, the odds of them being friendly are exceedingly slim.

If we're unlucky it will be like in David Brin's Uplift Universe where the aliens would feel obligated to wipe out humanity because we're too stupid to live. Their evidence would be what a mess we've made of our planet in so short a time.

Later...off to work.

I guess the Evangelicals are not content with just screwing up the textbooks in Texas and African countries anymore...

India textbook says meat-eaters lie and commit sex crimes

New Healthway, a book on hygiene and health aimed at 11 and 12 year-olds, is printed by one of India's leading publishers.

Academics have urged the government to exercise greater control.

But the authorities say schools should monitor content as they are responsible for the choice of textbooks.

"This is poisonous for children," Janaki Rajan of the Faculty of Education at Jamia Millia University in Delhi told the BBC.

"The government has the power to take action, but they are washing their hands of it," she said.

It is not known which Indian schools have bought the book for their students, but correspondents say what is worrying is that such a book is available to students.

"The strongest argument that meat is not essential food is the fact that the Creator of this Universe did not include meat in the original diet for Adam and Eve. He gave them fruits, nuts and vegetables," reads a chapter entitled Do We Need Flesh Food?

The chapter details the "benefits" of a vegetarian diet and goes on to list "some of the characteristics" found among non-vegetarians.

"They easily cheat, tell lies, forget promises, they are dishonest and tell bad words, steal, fight and turn to violence and commit sex crimes," it says.

The chapter, full of factual inaccuracies, refers to Eskimos (Inuit) as "lazy, sluggish and short-lived", because they live on "a diet largely of meat".

It adds: "The Arabs who helped in constructing the Suez Canal lived on wheat and dates and were superior to the beef-fed Englishmen engaged in the same work."

I do have to applaud their ability to ignore their own true beliefs in order to tailor the message to the audience though. Just imagine them telling American Christians that God wants them to be vegetarians for a second...yeah, so not going to happen.

re: #156 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Adam and Eve? Is this guy Christian or something?

You can't tell me paradise didn't have a bacon tree.

I'm truly shocked that Mitt Romney doesn't seize a great opportunity to show America that they made the wrong choice. Bain Capital can buy Hostess and rescue it!

Throughout the news, all I see is "Obama and the Unions have Killed the Twinkie". Limbaugh spent hours on it. In fact, much of his girth is "creme filling."

Why don't the Republicans demonstrate how they can save an American institution?

Image: 306877_460562067315994_943168702_n.jpg

re: #157 dragonath

I don't know! In my bible it says "Adam and Chava"

I think it's certainly true that meat-eaters lie and commit sex crimes. But it's not a good argument.

Li's English skills say more about the man who will run the world's second-largest economy than just an ability to schmooze U.S. CEOs and European prime ministers - they were learned as a part of a surprisingly liberal university education.

Over three decades ago, Vice Premier Li entered prestigious Peking University, a member of the storied "class of '77" who passed the first higher education entrance exams held after Mao Zedong's convulsive Cultural Revolution, which had effectively put university education on hold.

More than any other Chinese party leader until now, Li, 57, was immersed in the intellectual and political ferment of the following decade of reform under Deng Xiaoping, which ended in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that were crushed by troops.

As a student at Peking University, Li befriended ardent pro-democracy advocates, some of whom later became outright challengers to party control. His friends included activists who went into exile after the June 1989 crackdown.
[Link: www.reuters.com...]

I need to look into this a bit more.

Be careful about what you broadcast....

BBC gets fooled again.

First good night's sleep I've been able to get in a week and kid wakes-up-me early.

you?

re: #162 Gretchen G.Tiger

"Good night's sleep"? I've heard about those, I think.

re: #124 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Ted Nugent continues his tirades of whiny butthurt about the election...

Go out and pay to shoot some animals in a fenced in "canned hunt" area like you usually do Ted, it will make you feel better. /

I see Ted is really helping out with the Republicans reach out to the minorities program.

"We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children." - Jimmy Carter #Israel #Gaza #Palestine @nickkristof

— Mandeep Minhas (@MMinhas) November 17, 2012

"time to declare Israel's policy toward Gaza and Hamas a failure. This is not an anti-Israel statement." slate.me/RJFjnt

— Sarah Posner (@sarahposner) November 17, 2012

Train ploughs into school bus in Egypt, 50 including 48 children killed goo.gl/fb/X7qPi

— NDTV News feed (@ndtvfeed) November 17, 2012

i'm going to have to try to sleep again.

re: #166 Gus

Maybe Sarah should ask Hamas to stop firing rockets.

re: #169 Cannadian Club Akbar

Maybe Sarah should ask Hamas to stop firing rockets.

A) Sarah Posner didn't write the piece in Slate and B) I'm willing to bet you didn't read it.

re: #170 Gus

A) Sarah Posner didn't write the piece in Slate and B) I'm willing to bet you didn't read it.

The fresh round of Israeli reprisals follows an uptick in attacks from militant groups in Gaza. It began last Saturday with the firing of an anti-tank missile at an Israeli army jeep that wounded four soldiers. Several days of intensive rocket fire from Gaza followed. Israel responded by assassinating Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, and launched an air campaign to try to destroy as many weapons depots as possible.

re: #171 Cannadian Club Akbar

I'm curious what's the meaning behind "Akbar" in your name.

re: #172 Gus

I'm curious what's the meaning behind "Akbar" in your name.

Well, AKBAR means "is great", correct?

The Egyptian President Plots a Dangerous Course

Kandil's visit has encouraged other Egyptian politicians and organizations to send delegations to Gaza, including former presidential candidate (and former MB leader) Abdel Monem Abouel Fotouh, the doctors syndicate, the engineers syndicate, and the Salafist Nour Party, while the MB has said that it is prepared to send its youth cadres. Earlier this afternoon, a coalition of political parties met with the MB and announced its intention to send a parliamentary delegation to Gaza in the very near future.

The fact that these visits will encourage Hamas to intensify its fighting, rather than encouraging it to move towards a ceasefire, is perhaps the most obvious risk. But the bigger risk of Morsi's strategy is that an Egyptian might be killed in the crossfire while visiting Gaza. And if that happens, Morsi will almost certainly use the resulting popular outrage as an excuse for expelling Israel's ambassador to Egypt and perhaps unilaterally amend, if not break, the peace treaty.

For this reason, Washington must send Morsi a message - now - that by effectively encouraging Egyptians to cross into a war zone, he is putting his own citizens at risk

re: #173 Cannadian Club Akbar

Well, AKBAR means "is great", correct?

Less filling!

re: #173 Cannadian Club Akbar

Well, AKBAR means "is great", correct?

re: #175 sattv4u2

Less filling!

oh,, wait,, that goes with TASTES Great

Nevahmind!!

Wouldn't put it past Hamas to kill or deliberately put in the line of fire, an Egyptian politician.

re: #175 sattv4u2

Less filling!

[Link: www.urbandictionary.com...]
Most commonly known by the phrase, "Allah-hu Akbar" which means, "God is Great."
Not only did I spell my name wrong, I also have an avatar!!!

re: #174 Killgore Trout

The Egyptian President Plots a Dangerous Course

Last night someone here was speculating the Egyptian gov't would look the other way as their citizens crossed the border and entered the fray

Now ,, who was that masked Lizard ,,, hmmmm,

:)

re: #177 efuseakay

Wouldn't put it past Hamas to kill or deliberately put in the line of fire, an Egyptian politician.

And who would they blame?

re: #178 Cannadian Club Akbar

[Link: www.urbandictionary.com...]
Most commonly known by the phrase, "Allah-hu Akbar" which means, "God is Great."
Not only did I spell my name wrong, I also have an avatar!!!

Yeah ,, BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!?!?

Image: what-does-it-all-mean.jpg

oh, the humanity!!!

re: #180 Cannadian Club Akbar

And who would they blame?

Canada?

re: #181 sattv4u2

I should change my nic. We're only coming up on my 7 year anniversary.

re: #182 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Canada?

[Embedded content]

IIRC, nominated for an Oscar for "Best Song".

re: #183 Cannadian Club Akbar

I should change my nic. We're only coming up on my 7 year anniversary.

6 years for me, December 3

I wouldn't know what to change it too
I've been SATTV4U2 since back in the AOL chat days

re: #185 sattv4u2

6 years for me, December 3

I wouldn't know what to change it too
I've been SATTV4U2 since back in the AOL chat days

Had my AOL address since '97.

SO
Son is home for the "weekend" (arrived about 5 p.m. yesterday)

I get home last night (well, this morning) at 1:30 a.m. from work

Son is in his room watching a video

Informs me that he and wifey are taking me out for an early birthday dinner tonight (birfday is Monday,, son will be back at school and I'm working a 12 hour shift)

Also informs me he's going to a LAN tournament tonight at Georgia Tech. Has to be there by 8 p.m.

I woke up this morning at 9. Son was still up watching videos. He just went to sleep telling me to wake him half an hour before we go to dinner (he'll leave right from there for his tourney)

SO,,, I'll see him for a total of about an hour and a half this "weekend" (at dinner)

re: #186 King of the Douche, now you can bow

Had my AOL address since '97.

Oh hell, mine predates that by a LOT

re: #188 sattv4u2

Oh hell, mine predates that by a LOT

I think!

re: #180 King of the Douche, now you can bow

And who would they blame?

re: #180 King of the Douche, now you can bow

And who would they blame?

Rhetorical question, right?

[Link: www.thefreedictionary.com...]
3. To yield in defeat or out of courtesy; submit

Wow. Did not know this.

We've read about the Romney campaign's failed attempt to wield modern technology to its advantage: "Project Orca" was by all accounting a complete mess.

This is the first I've read about the Obama campaign's IT infrastructure, and boy is it interesting.*

They'd been working 14-hour days, six or seven days a week, trying to reelect the president, and now everything had been broken at just the wrong time. It was like someone had written a Murphy's Law algorithm and deployed it at scale.

And that was the point. "Game day" was October 21. The election was still 17 days away, and this was a live action role playing (LARPing!) exercise that the campaign's chief technology officer, Harper Reed, was inflicting on his team. "We worked through every possible disaster situation," Reed said. "We did three actual all-day sessions of destroying everything we had built."

Hatch was playing the role of dungeon master, calling out devilishly complex scenarios that were designed to test each and every piece of their system as they entered the exponential traffic-growth phase of the election. Mark Trammell, an engineer who Reed hired after he left Twitter, saw a couple game days. He said they reminded him of his time in the Navy. "You ran firefighting drills over and over and over, to make sure that you not just know what you're doing," he said, "but you're calm because you know you can handle your shit."

The team had elite and, for tech, senior talent -- by which I mean that most of them were in their 30s -- from Twitter, Google, Facebook, Craigslist, Quora, and some of Chicago's own software companies such as Orbitz and Threadless, where Reed had been CTO. But even these people, maybe *especially* these people, knew enough about technology not to trust it. "I think the Republicans fucked up in the hubris department," Reed told me. "I know we had the best technology team I've ever worked with, but we didn't know if it would work. I was incredibly confident it would work. I was betting a lot on it. We had time. We had resources. We had done what we thought would work, and it still could have broken. Something could have happened."

In fact, the day after the October 21 game day, Amazon services -- on which the whole campaign's tech presence was built -- went down. "We didn't have any downtime because we had done that scenario already," Reed said. Hurricane Sandy hit on another game day, October 29, threatening the campaign's whole East Coast infrastructure. "We created a hot backup of all our applications to US-west in preparation for US-east to go down hard," Reed said.

"We knew what to do," Reed maintained, no matter what the scenario was. "We had a runbook that said if this happens, you do this, this, and this. They did not do that with Orca."

Read the whole thing. If you want. Or, you know, don't. It's okay either way. But you should really read it.

* probably not interesting if you aren't a nerd.

re: #177 efuseakay

Wouldn't put it past Hamas to kill or deliberately put in the line of fire, an Egyptian politician.

They already did. The Hamas building hit over night hosted the Egyptian Prime Minister's visit yesterday.
Hamas says Israeli missiles wrecked prime minister’s office building and strike a police headquarters

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, said Israeli missiles wrecked the office building of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh - where he had met on Friday with the Egyptian prime minister - and struck a police headquarters.

Not sure if this is the same building but Hamas does use these for weapons storage.
IDF Pinpoint Strike on Hamas Commander's Explosives-Laden House in Gaza

re: #186 King of the Douche, now you can bow

Had my AOL address since '97.

I'm sure I could dig up my CIS account from '91

re: #194 Eventual Carrion

I'm sure I could dig up my CIS account from '91

I have a friend who likes to bust my balls because I have had the same email since '97. Hey, you never forget your first, right?

re: #195 King of the Douche, now you can bow

D'oh!! Corrected. Heh.

re: #195 King of the Douche, now you can bow

I have a friend who likes to bust my balls because I have had the same email since '97. Hey, you never forget your fist, right?

Sally Palm !?!?!

re: #196 King of the Douche, now you can bow

D'oh!! Corrected. Heh.

saved for eternity!!!

re: #198 sattv4u2

saved for eternity!!!

Asshole!!!
/

re: #192 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

I thought it was very interesting.

re: #199 King of the Douche, now you can bow

Asshole!!!
/

MY NEW SCREENAME!!!

I fucked up with my grammar and it has been corrected in regards to my nic. Unlike when I joined and fucked up with my spelling. Evolution!!!
///

re: #199 King of the Douche, now you can bow

Asshole!!!
/

speaking of which, I left you a response on Facebook re: your "the world's on fire." post

re: #202 King of the Douche, now you may bow

I fucked up with my grammar and it has been corrected in regards to my nic. Unlike when I joined and fucked up with my spelling. Evolution!!!
///

Actually, I think that's the 1st "conversation" you and I had. I asked about the extra "n"

re: #204 sattv4u2

Actually, I think that's the 1st "conversation" you and I had. I asked about the extra "n"

I haven't been asked about that in a while. But I'm sure people still think I'm Canadian. But I do love "Corner Gas".

re: #187 sattv4u2

SO
Son is home for the "weekend" (arrived about 5 p.m. yesterday)

I get home last night (well, this morning) at 1:30 a.m. from work

Son is in his room watching a video

Informs me that he and wifey are taking me out for an early birthday dinner tonight (birfday is Monday,, son will be back at school and I'm working a 12 hour shift)

Also informs me he's going to a LAN tournament tonight at Georgia Tech. Has to be there by 8 p.m.

I woke up this morning at 9. Son was still up watching videos. He just went to sleep telling me to wake him half an hour before we go to dinner (he'll leave right from there for his tourney)

SO,,, I'll see him for a total of about an hour and a half this "weekend" (at dinner)

Ahem...

///

Lizards startle U.S. Secret Service

[Link: www.upi.com...]

Great,, now the Secret Service is gonna be watching us !!

//

re: #205 King of the Douche, now you may bow

I haven't been asked about that in a while. But I'm sure people still think I'm Canadian. But I do love "Corner Gas".

Screw Canadians, they don't even know how to make bacon properly.

BACON IS NOT ROUND!!!

///

re: #208 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Screw Canadians, they don't even know how to make bacon properly.

BACON IS NOT ROUND!!!

///

Canadian bacon is ham!! We should invade!!!

How does Chicken Cheddar Bacon Tater Soup sound?

re: #210 King of the Douche, now you may bow

How does Chicken Cheddar Bacon Tater Soup sound?

Depends.
Are you gonna make us all some?

disappearre: #210 King of the Douche, now you may bow

How does Chicken Cheddar Bacon Tater Soup sound?

re: #211 Varek Raith

Depends.
Are you gonna make us all some?

Well, I'll do a test run. I think this could work. Maybe with fresh Roma tomatoes as a topping/garnish.

re: #213 King of the Douche, now you may bow

Well, I'll do a test run. I think this could work. Maybe with fresh Roma tomatoes as a topping/garnish.

I don't want any if it gives you the runs!

It's getting cold here. I should make a tomato bisque. Mmm, with grilled cheese. A little redneck. A little style.

I can make an awesome grilled cheese sammich.

re: #216 Varek Raith

I can make an awesome grilled nuked cheese sammich.

ftfy

re: #216 Varek Raith

I can make an awesome grilled cheese sammich.

Texas toast, garlic butter, Swiss, provolone. cheddar, Gorgonzola...

re: #194 Eventual Carrion

I'm sure I could dig up my CIS account from '91

You and me both. Ah, the good old SysOp days!

Hmm. A grilled cheese on Texas Toast with Italian beef, mozzarella sticks and marinara. Yummy.

re: #220 King of the Douche, now you may bow

Hmm. A grilled cheese on Texas Toast with Italian beef, mozzarella sticks and marinara. Yummy.

I'll take one.

re: #216 Varek Raith

hey,, knock it off

Giant Sun Eruption Captured in NASA Video

[Link: www.space.com...]

I don't wanna get called into work today

Police: Utah Man Faked Cancer, Got Disneyland Trip

[Link: lasvegas.cbslocal.com...]

May rats eat his testicles!

re: #221 Varek Raith

I'll take one.

I'll never work in the restaurant industry again unless I own it, but my menu would rock.

re: #220 King of the Douche, now you may bow

Hmm. A grilled cheese on Texas Toast with Italian beef, mozzarella sticks and marinara. Yummy.

You can find Italian beef outside of Chicago? That's the only place I've ever had real Italian beef... except for Peoria at a just off-campus place owned by a Chicago native.

re: #223 sattv4u2

Police: Utah Man Faked Cancer, Got Disneyland Trip

[Link: lasvegas.cbslocal.com...]

May rats eat his testicles!

I faked an orgasm once. Wanna know how? I spit on her back!!!
/I am going to hell

Report: Hamas forbidding foreigners from leaving Gaza Strip

Hamas is forbidding at least 22 foreign nationals who wish to exit the Gaza Strip to do so, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

According to the Foreign Ministry blog, members of the foreign press including nine Italian citizens, six citizens of Japan, one Canadian, one South Korean and a French national are being detained.

Two Turkish Red Crescent members have also been refused exit, the Foreign Ministry said.

re: #225 allegro

You can find Italian beef outside of Chicago? That's the only place I've ever had real Italian beef... except for Peoria at a just off-campus place owned by a Chicago native.

All you need is the recipe.

re: #228 King of the Douche, now you may bow

All you need is the recipe.

Please share? (drooling at the thought)

Going to make Minestrone later this afternoon. Homemade chicken stock and home grown veg. I might even bake some bread if I'm feeling ambitious.

re: #225 allegro

You can find Italian beef outside of Chicago? That's the only place I've ever had real Italian beef... except for Peoria at a just off-campus place owned by a Chicago native.

I've had it not only in Chicago, but in the North End section of Boston, in Portland Maine in the "Old Port" area, and (surprisingly) at both a restaurant and a deli here in Atlanta

re: #230 Killgore Trout

Going to make Minestrone later this afternoon. Homemade chicken stock and home grown veg. I might even bake some bread if I'm feeling ambitious.

I made some the other night.
Turned out ok.

re: #227 Killgore Trout

Report: Hamas forbidding foreigners from leaving Gaza Strip

KEEP people in harms way!!

They get killed, BLAME ISRAEL! Tried and true method

re: #229 allegro

Please share? (drooling at the thought)

This is the site I share with everyone. Albeit, I would actually have to go to breakdown the recipe.
[Link: allrecipes.com...]

re: #229 allegro

Also, get the sauce recipe and just marinade and cook for about 12 hours. Low and slow, baby!!

A Philadelphia/eastern PA iconic image today, and I didn't have my camera along or enough time to snap a picture with my cell phone. :(

Was in Reading Terminal Market getting some bread and something for Thanksgiving dinner (smoked turkey breast). At the butcher's spot there that also sells sandwiches and stuff.

A young woman in Amish dress goes by behind the counter... carrying a open one gallon can of CheeseWhiz.

:D

re: #234 King of the Douche, now you may bow

This is the site I share with everyone. Albeit, I would actually have to go to breakdown the recipe.
[Link: allrecipes.com...]

Thanks! I will be making this soon... well as soon as I track down a crock pot.

re: #237 allegro

Thanks! I will be making this soon... well as soon as I track down a crock pot.

I would actually like to spin it to a "Mexican" recipe. A couple cans of tomaters and a couple cans Rotel. Would be awesome.

re: #238 King of the Douche, now you may bow

I would actually like to spin it to a "Mexican" recipe. A couple cans of tomaters and a couple cans Rotel. Would be awesome.

Chilis, cilantro, a bit of cumin... yup that would be tasty. But man, after all these years of craving, to wrap my face around an Italian beef sandwich with roasted peppers... ohhh my.

re: #239 allegro

Chilis, cilantro, a bit of cumin... yup that would be tasty. But man, after all these years of craving, to wrap my face around an Italian beef sandwich with roasted peppers... ohhh my.

Then just make it my friend. there are no recipes, only recommendations.:)

re: #240 King of the Douche, now you may bow

Then just make it my friend. there are no recipes, only recommendations.:)

I have some recommendations for you!!!

re: #240 King of the Douche, now you may bow

Then just make it my friend. there are no recipes, only recommendations.:)

Indeed. My limitations are living in a motorhome with VERY limited storage space. That makes an appliance like a crock pot, that for me would be rarely used and by necessity displacing something else, something to really have to think about first. RV life has awesome advantages - this isn't one of them.

re: #242 allegro

Indeed. My limitations are living in a motorhome with VERY limited storage space. That makes an appliance like a crock pot, that for me would be rarely used and by necessity displacing something else, something to really have to think about first. RV life has awesome advantages - this isn't one of them.

Think how much space you'll gain if you get rid of the toilet, get a crock pot, and use that for both crocking and ,, well,,, y'know!!!

re: #242 allegro

A crock pot is an awesome tool to have. You can prolly find one at a Goodwill store cheap. Just run it when you're not running.

Iran denies supplying Fajr 5 rockets to Gaza

"We deny having delivered the Fajr 5 to the Palestinian resistance. The aim of such accusations is to portray the resistance as weak whereas it is perfectly capable of producing the arms it needs," said Allaeddine Boroujerdi, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee.

But Palestinian terrorist groups claim the Iranian made rockets are the primary reason they feel confident launching an offensive.
Jihad leader: Tel Aviv rockets 'changed rules of the game'

For the third day in the row, rockets were fired at Israel's main commercial city on Saturday, but police said they failed to hit. Islamic Jihad and Hamas military wings have claimed the long-range fire.

Batsh said in a press statement the groups' use of Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles introduced a new regional dynamic.

re: #244 King of the Douche, now you may bow

A crock pot is an awesome tool to have. You can prolly find one at a Goodwill store cheap. Just run it when you're not running.

I had one for years, think it was a wedding gift. I used it a few times but everything came out of it cooked to mush and I wasn't impressed. We used it to make my husband's famous chili con queso for parties but that was about it. This recipe might change my mind...

re: #245 Killgore Trout

Iran denies supplying Fajr 5 rockets to Gaza

But Palestinian terrorist groups claim the Iranian made rockets are the primary reason they feel confident launching an offensive.
Jihad leader: Tel Aviv rockets 'changed rules of the game'

Yeah, pretty sure they can't make them in Gaza or the WB.

re: #245 Killgore Trout

here's the catch

""We deny having delivered the Fajr 5 to the Palestinian resistance."

Probably correct, in that the official Iranian gov't did not "deliver" them to Hamas

re: #248 sattv4u2

here's the catch

""We deny having delivered the Fajr 5 to the Palestinian resistance."

Probably correct, in that the official Iranian gov't did not "deliver" them to Hamas

I'm pretty sure they were being filtered through that facility in Sudan that blowed up last month.

re: #246 allegro

I had one for years, think it was a wedding gift. I used it a few times but everything came out of it cooked to mush and I wasn't impressed. We used it to make my husband's famous chili con queso for parties but that was about it. This recipe might change my mind...

Once a month I do a pot roast in ours. Set temp to low, put in a cup of chicken broth and one package of dry onion/ mushroom soup mix. Add the roast
7 hours later add a bag of baby carrots. Two hours later PERFECTO!
Carrots are cooked yet still firm, roast is melt-in-your-mouth

re: #249 Killgore Trout

I'm pretty sure they were being filtered through that facility in Sudan that blowed up last month.

I'm sure they have several conduits in place