Demolitions technicians, I guess he means.

Is that Little Dick Durbin behind him?

LOL THAT IS AWESOME

Always with the cig...

Charles, Abu Mazen doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

The moderate president said forming an administration of technocrats "could permit us to get out of the impasse, because the current situation is impossible."

It could stay in place "for several months" while Hamas and Fatah continue working on sorting out their differences.

Do you think they mis-heard him? Maybe it was "democrats" or "aristocrats."

Or, maybe feral cats?

What's a Technocrat?

A term adopted by Neil Postman to describe a society where tools play a central role in culture and everything must give way to the advancement of the tools, yet there are alternatives still present.

:D

Huh?

(think, Homer...think, Homer...) "d'oh!"

I get it now - it's a hudna between him and Hamas:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said he would like to see a temporary government of independent technocrats formed in order to give him and the Islamist movement Hamas time to sort out differences over a national unity cabinet.

Are we sure they translated this correctly? What the heck is a technocrat? Government by computer?

When in doubt, bring in the technocrats.

Abbas wants a unity government, between Hamas and his moderate
Fatah party, but Hamas refuse point blank to accept a moderate policy outline entailing even implicit recognition of Israel or past Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

The moderate president said forming an administration of technocrats "could permit us to get out of the impasse, because the current situation is impossible."

I call for dialogue between moderate technocrats.

It takes technocrats to develop an effective bomb and rocket campaign. Of course when that plan also fails, the Pali's would need more undertakers and proctologists.

Technocrat (comics), a DC Comics character and former member of the Outsiders..

I just knew it, Cartoons are involved once again!

Sound like a quote from Walter Lippmann and "Public Opinion."

#7 Amalie

Well, Abu Mazen's a tool, so this works.

16 Ward Cleaver

When Tools Rule!

It's derived from DEOMOCRAT.
I found a website:
[Link: www.technocrats.net...]

"Developing countries are often advised (or instructed) to undertake reforms recommended by "experts" who are called "technocrats" and are often backed by the IMF. Opposition to the reforms is usually dismissed as "populist". Countries that fail to undertake these reforms are dismissed as lacking political will, and soon suffer the consequences: higher interest rates when borrowing abroad. "
[Link: www.globalpolicy.org...]

From dictionary.com:

tech·no·crat (tkn-krt)

1. An adherent or a proponent of technocracy.
2. A technical expert, especially one in a managerial or administrative position.

Oh, thats what he means.

Tools? Why am I suddenly reminded of Bob The Builder?

/yes we can!

Here's the whole kit and kaboodle of definitions from wiki -

Technocracy ("techno" from the Greek tekhne for skill, "cracy" from the Greek kratos for "power") can refer to:

* The social and economic system proposed by the Technocratic movement and the organization Technocracy, Inc., which believes that modern technology and a government organized on a scientific basis can lead to a society of abundance.
* A political attitude common to Thorstein Veblen and H. G. Wells, who considered that the economy would be better off run by technical experts instead of private industry. This is somewhat similar to the ideas of the Technocratic movement, mentioned above. See also planned economy and anticipatory democracy.
* A term adopted by Neil Postman to describe a society where tools play a central role in culture and everything must give way to the advancement of the tools, yet there are alternatives still present
* Technocracy (bureaucratic), a government run by the highly educated. See also Auguste Comte's positivism and Saint-Simonists "technocrats" during the French Second Empire
* Groupe X-Crise, a French technocrat movement in the 1930s
* Technocracy (World of Darkness) (or Technocratic Union), a fictional world-wide conspiracy that employs a scientific paradigm to pursue an agenda opposed to superstition and faith-based belief systems and dedicated to the victory of science as the primary world belief system, in the role-playing game Mage: The Ascension.
* Technocracy (EP), a 1987 EP by the band Corrosion of Conformity
* A technocrat can be an individual who makes decisions based solely on technical information and not personal or public opinion. This definition is usually applied to political decision makers who use this method to guide their actions
* Technocrat (derogatory), a derogatory term used to describe a person with technical skills who doesn't always consider all possible consequences of their use
* Technocrat (comics), a DC Comics character and former member of the Outsiders

Some bureaucrats weren't sure we had passed the 300,000,000 mark today, so just to be sure, they're sending in 10,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to take in about 10,000 Burundian refugees -- some of whom fled their landlocked central African nation as far back as 1972 -- from Tanzania, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

"We are planning to offer permanent re-settlement to a group of Burundian refugees who've been in western camps in Tanzania," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters, saying an estimated 10,000 people would be offered residence.

Burundi has been plagued by civil strife since it achieved independence from Belgium in 1962. Thousands of Burundians from the Hutu majority fled ethnic massacres by the powerful Tutsi minority in 1972.

I wonder what they won't allow in their cabs?

Here's the Wikipedia definition:

A technocrat can be an individual who makes decisions based solely on technical information and not personal or public opinion. This definition is usually applied to political decision makers who use this method to guide their actions

Makes no sense. "Technical information" does not call for any kind of decision. It doesn't care. Only people see the need to make decisions, and they do it based on their opinions.

So a governement run by corrupt terrorists?

From Wiki:

The term was used in the American as early as 1919 by engineer W.H. Smith. It came into common usage through management theorist James Burnham's 1941 work Managerial Revolution. The term became widely used to describe politics and now generally refers to an elite who governs through use of technology/technological prowess.

The situation usually described is one in which the elite are selected through bureaucratic processes on the basis of specialized knowledge, rather than through democratic or other processes. Technocracy is often thought of as 'rule by scientists and engineers,' or bringing these groups into power, though this is only one form of Technocracy. The term may be either positive or negative. Typically a "technocracy" is a form of de facto elitism, whereby the concepts of "most qualified" and a ruling elite tend to be the same

Abbas says:

A government of technocrats would be the simplest and most practical solution," Abbas told journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Amalie says:

"A Palestinian government of monkeycrats would be the simplest and most practical solution."

Just keep your eye on the extremist death cult jihadi technocrats, that's all...

Or how about an even simpler solution? Recognize Israel's right to exist...even if you don't like it. Financial aide will come pouring in. Perhaps the Palestinian people will then be released from the abject poverty imposed on them by their so called "government". The resulting peace and prosperity will guarantee reelection.
Problem solved...Oh wait...What was I thinking? It can't be that simple. Forget I said anything. I'll go back to lurking.
Thanks Charles for opening registration. This is my first post on LGF.

23 Jammie

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to take in about 10,000 Burundian refugees -- some of whom fled their landlocked central African nation as far back as 1972 -- from

Tanzania

, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

Where are we going to put all those Tazanian Devils?

Hi Amalie,

Amalie says:

"A Palestinian government of monkeycrats would be the simplest and most practical solution."

Send in George and the Man in the Yellow Hat.

I guess my next question would be "where do they plan to find some technocrats?" The only skills the palis seem to have are in suicide bomb vest construction and acting. Neither of those seems to be of the right sort to run a society.

I thought they already had a government of turkey crap.

The ultimate SF story about a technocracy is CM Kornbluth's "The Marching Morons". In the series of stories derived from the original short, the High-IQ types end up emmigrating to the South Pole to escape the morons, and from there they control the world, much to their woe. (They would much rather be creating and doing rather than ministering to Morons)

Obviously Abbas never read the story, or perhaps he would not use the term when referencing the Palesinians....

#30 Craniac

Or how about an even simpler solution? Recognize Israel's right to exist...even if you don't like it. Financial aide will come pouring in. Perhaps the Palestinian people will then be released from the abject poverty imposed on them by their so called "government".

Have you lost your mind? That would require that they actually perform some W-O-R-K.

Amalie,

I'm not getting in his cab.

#24 dead sea squirrel

So they're gonna hire Mr. Spock? Illogical.

#30 Craniac 10/17/2006 03:01PM PDT

Or how about an even simpler solution? Recognize Israel's right to exist...even if you don't like it. Financial aide will come pouring in. Perhaps the Palestinian people will then be released from the abject poverty imposed on them by their so called "government". The resulting peace and prosperity will guarantee reelection.
Problem solved...Oh wait...What was I thinking? It can't be that simple. Forget I said anything. I'll go back to lurking.
Thanks Charles for opening registration. This is my first post on LGF.

Damn good first post.

Come on out of that Lurking Closet!

Guys, guys~!

It was just a simple translation error:

The word for "technocrat" in Arabic (alim-ne-he) is very close to the word "terrorist" (allah-he-he).

That should clear things up a little.

~(an arabic speaking) Norsk Troll

#33 galloping granny

I wondered that very thing. Maybe they'll put ads in the newspapers.

Craniac

Welcome to the funhouse!

tech·no·crat (tĕk'nə-krăt')
n.
An adherent or a proponent of technocracy.
A technical expert, especially one in a managerial or administrative position

Welcome, Craniac. Don't just lurk.

#35 Thanos 10/17/2006 03:03PM PDT

The ultimate SF story about a technocracy is CM Kornbluth's "The Marching Morons". In the series of stories derived from the original short, the High-IQ types end up emmigrating to the South Pole to escape the morons, and from there they control the world, much to their woe. (They would much rather be creating and doing rather than ministering to Morons)

When can we send our LLL to the South Pole? This is brilliant!

Of course this also makes me a moron.

I guess my next question would be "where do they plan to find some technocrats?" The only skills the palis seem to have are in suicide bomb vest construction and acting. Neither of those seems to be of the right sort to run a society

He's been talking to the French, Chirac or D'Villepin, both technocrats

37 Jammie

LOL ~

I loved it!

Hrmm, maybe Palestine is looking to become a French Colony, .... or wait... maybe I have that backwards....

What I gather from this is that Abu just means a bunch of shells to "run" the day to day bureaucracy BS of the government while he and his minions uselessly try to find middle ground with the Hamas savages.

"Technocrat" sounds so much better than the Narcissistic Sociopathicrats

Oh, and welcome Craniac.

Ward Cleaver
Welcome, Craniac. Don't just lurk.

Thanks. Now that I am registered (and it feels soooo good!)I can actually participate instead of hiding. Thank you everyone for intelligent dialogue.

#45 Amalie,

yup we'll be the morons and send the LLL off. Sounds fine to me, they already think they run the world from their ivory towers. They're just really mad these days coz people voted in a president who wasn't what they call PLU - "people like us".

Hey, isn't that Joe Biden standing in the background? If they hired HIM, they can't tell a technocrat from an ass-a-crack.

Amalie,

Yes, by their definition the LLL are the smart ones, the "philosopher kings" who know what's best for all of us, so maybe they should emmigrate.

Here's the Wiki bio of the author of the humorous story

Kornbluth served in the US Army during World War II (European Theatre). He received a Bronze Star for his service in the Battle of the Bulge. After his discharge, he returned to finish his education at the University of Chicago, which had been interrupted by the war....

...."The Marching Morons" was one of Kornbluth's most famous short stories; it is a satirical look at a far future in which the world's population consists of a few million geniuses and five billion idiots, the precarious minority of the "elite" working desperately to keep things running behind the scenes. Part of its appeal is that readers identify with the beleaguered geniuses (which is entirely compatible with science fiction fans' broadly held opinion of their relationship with the mundane majority). Few people realize that "The Marching Morons" is a direct sequel to "The Little Black Bag": it is easy to miss this, as "Bag" is set in the contemporary present while "Morons" takes place several centuries from now, and there is no character who appears in both stories. The titular black bag in the first story is actually an artifact from the time period of "The Marching Morons": a kit filled with self-driven instruments enabling a far-future moron to "play doctor."

#4

I think that cigarette is Fauxtoshopped in.

Potential downside, or maybe upside of technocracy.

Human species 'may split in two'

Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.

Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

I suspect we may be closer than they think.

There it is, it will come down to Lizards and trolls.

Hey Charles, I think Abu may have taken up chewing tobacco instead of cigarettes. Take a look at this picture from JPost and notice his left cheek. (Unless, of course, that's his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek :-)

#57 JammieWearingFool 10/17/2006 03:25PM PDT
Potential downside, or maybe upside of technocracy.

Human species 'may split in two'

I love when scientists talk about 100,000 years from now.

Um im worried about what will happen to humanity in the next year.

Who cares about 100,000 years from now, Chances are human beings are long gone by then.

Stanford hosts scholar Electronic Intifada technocrat;

Scholar offers new insight on Mideast

“Please, don’t list all of them,” Ali Abunimeh quietly asked during the lengthy introductory list of his achievements and honors last night.

Abunimeh’s discourse, “Ending Apartheid in the Holy Land: A Future of Reconciliation,” centered upon the sensitive topic of similarities between Afrikaaner-Black ethnic relations in apartheid South Africa and Israeli-Palestinian relations in the current Israel.

The Palestinian Abunimeh began his nearly two-hour presentation with a quote from his book, One Country: A Bold New Vision for Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. He compared South African apartheid to the current situation in Israel, supporting his most controversial statements with quotes from scholars, journalists and former South African President Nelson Mandela. In both cases, he argued, the established, minority government presented the majority population a choice between submission and annihilation, with any other action inevitably ending in conflict.
-----
Some audience members vehemently disagreed with Abunimeh and made themselves heard in the subsequent question-and-answer session. With a deliberate calm, he answered questions ranging from clarification softballs to accusatory fireballs attacking the very core of his argument.

Notably, he dismissed the popular rumor that Palestinian children were taught “the Jews are our dogs” in school as a fabrication. In reality, he said, Palestinian curricular reform has been the most closely monitored in history.

Stanford Daily solicits your feedback here.

Daniel Pipes had an interesting encounter with this walking Da Ali G show parody.

For my next shenanigan, I shall insert ciggie in mouth and blow smoke out my arse .. as usual.

Let's see, the moderate Fatah's want to kill the Jews, the radical Hamas want to kill the Jews, burn their remains,bury the ashes and sow salt over the land where the ashes are buried. OK I got it.

#61 bj

EEEeeewwwwwwwwwwww, BJ...

That's gross--even for a norsk troll like myself.

:(

;-)

~Norsk Troll

I think he simply misspoke. I'm sure he meant to say:

"A government of autocrats would be the simplest and most practical solution."

Or maybe he meant:

"A government of kleptocrats would be the simplest and most practical solution."

I'm sure he didn't mean:

"A government of theocrats would be the simplest and most practical solution."

That last one would be something I would expect out of the mouth of a Hamas representative, not a member of Fatah.

#40

The word for "technocrat" in Arabic (alim-ne-he) is very close to the word "terrorist" (allah-he-he).

Are you being sarcastic? I dont think thats correct.

According to Abbu Cadabra the Terrorist Palestinian Leadership to suceed must be replaced by opinionless Bureaucratic Tools to oversee their command and control to quash the endless internal bickering chaos sectarian violence and wholesale murder rampant in the Islamofacist Gulag of Gaza--I nominate "Canada Post"

Ciggie man is back and bigger than ever! Go Abbas! Shoot it up with Hamas!

Mike Dukakis was a darn good technocrat. But that ridiculous ride in the tank killed his chances for the Pali gig.

#65 gopninja

Jes' funnin', GOP.

Jes' funnin'

~Norsk Troll
Ps. I do speak a little arabic (*spit*), but I'm not versed in it well enough to translate on the fly. I'm much better at Norwegian and the other Scandinavian languages....

The 'tip off' is what I said the arabic word for terrorist is: "allah-he-he"

Think about it...

;-)

~Norsk Troll

Always a pleasure to hear total gibberish from the mouth of Abu Marlboro.

Personally, I don't give a crap who these monsters pick as their leadership.

What I really want to know is: ARE THEY GOING TO STOP KILLING ISRAELIS & ACCEPT PEACE ?

-"Its not our fault, not hte fault of Jews, that we find ourselves forced into the role of alien bodies in the midst of various nations. The ghetto, which was not of our making, bred in us certain anti-social qualities... Our original character cannot have been other than magnificent and proud; we were men who knew how to face war and how to defend the state; had we not started out with such gifts, how could we have survived two thousand years of unrelenting persecution?"

#30 Craniac

Welcome aboard. Pleased to see someone with the same name as one of my all-time favorite computer games.

As to Technocrats;

The Technocracy Movement was created in the mid-1930s by Howard Scott, who claimed an engineering background but never could produce a degree from an accredited school. His plan to get America out of the Great Depression was to give every American family a $20,000 per year income, with no one working more than 16 hours a week. He believed that our technological prowess in mass production, properly harnessed, could accomplish this, by the simple expedient of- well, he was sure it was a simple expedient, but he could never adequately explain what "it" actually was. He was in favor of nationalizing industry, however. He was also in favor of junking our monetary system, replacing uit with a "credit" system based on "ergs" (units of available energy) and "dynes" (actual units of work done with that energy). His explanation of the way they inter-related tells me he didn't understand MKS well, if at all. (I don't either, but at least I admit I'm a Neanderthal.) He borrowed most of his theories from a book titled "Virtual Wealth And Debt: The Solution Of The Economic Paradox" by Professor Frederick Soddy of Oxford. If you remember your physics, you may recognize his name. He was the first to postulate that splitting the atom could lead to an explosive reaction; his paper was the basis for H.G. Wells' "atomic bomb" novel, "The World Set Free". however good a physicist Prof. Soddy was, he was no economist. And neither was Scott. Nor was William Henry Smyth, another theorist whom Scott cribbed from; he had first advocated converting America to an "absolute industrial state" in a paper written in 1919. What all of them had in common was an infatuation with what we, today, would call syndicalist socialism; the government controlling all industry, and doling out requirements and rewards based on "need" and "work". (Ayn Rand fans will recognize this as the philosophy of the villains of her novel, "Atlas Shrugged".)
Scott had been a member of the International Workers of the World (IWW aka the "Wobblies") in the early 1930s. When this became public in 1936, Scott lost his chance at tenure at- Columbia University. (Excuse me while I laugh.) But by this time, after a few whistle-stop tours of the West and Midwest he'd done in 1934, Scott was the head of the "Youth Brigade", who smacked more of a cross between the Bauhaus architects (in dress- think grey, three-piece suits) and the Brownshirts in Germany (think everything else). he was enamored of Mussolini's brand of fascism in Italy, considering it the "first true technocratic state"- probably because he made the trains run on time. (It couldn't have been for the quality of their infantry arms, that's for sure.) he claimed steady gains in membership every year until 1942. At that point, he went to the Roosevelt Administration and basically demanded to be put in charge of war production. FDR, being no fool, told Harry Hopkins to get rid of him. Hopkins did, by the simple expedient of having Scott's tax returns looked into. That rather did it for Scott, and his "Youth Brigade".
By 1948, Scott was on the wrong end of several civil suits, notbaly one that claimed he pocked the dues of over 8,900 members of the "Youth Brigade" while not delivering on anything he had stated they were to get. (They even had to buy their own grey suits- from Scott, at $25 a popp, $22 for ladies' suits- less material, I guess.) While fighting the various suits, acting as his own counsel, Scott died later that year.
Other than a one-issue Fawcett magazine, titled "The Technocrat's Magazine", the Technocracy movement managed to exist for almost two decades while delivering basically nothing. But at least Howard Scott seems to have made a living off it.

Above material sourced from

Sann, Paul. Fads, Follies, And Delusions of The American People. New York; Bonanza Books, 1967. PP 81-86.

cheers

eon

55 Thanos

. Part of its appeal is that readers identify with the beleaguered geniuses (which is entirely compatible with science fiction fans' broadly held opinion of their relationship with the mundane majority

This is too funny! I have so many moonbat friends who think of themselves as the "beleaguered geniuses" put upon by all the "morons."

WHY ZIONISM ? ? ?

" At last there comes again a man , who does not carry his Judaism with resignation as if it were a burden or a misfortune, but is proud to be the legal heir of an immemorial culture"

He means the "Corrupt-o-crats"
or the "Deathcult-o-crats"
?

Communism

*

Man-- every time I see this punk on LGF he's out there making smoking look bad. Bastard.

#75

ZIONIST is my Arizona Vanity Plate. I am not a Jew, but I believe a promise is a promise!

My guess is that a palestinian technocrat is a person who is familiar with Roberts Rules of Ordnance.

What the Hell is Abu Mazen talking about?

I don't know. Maybe we should ask Al Gore.

#27 Amalie

Aren't the monkeycrats running the show now?

Technocrat - Euro-speak for a 'bean-counter'. Still a step up for the paleos from a 'bomb-counter'. Of course, anything from Abbas is BS.

abbass just continues to come up with delay tactics instead of having a government that is actually responsible for its territory...

the mooslims will never quit trying to kill jews and push israel into the sea...at some point israel needs to watch godfather 2 and apply strategy from the film... take care of all family business...kill haniyeh the fat hamas loser, kill mashaal in damascus, kill nasrallah in lebanon and make a public statement that if they find any other "leader" with israeli blood on their hands they will find themselves meeting the same fate as those three scumbags.

verbal fire-ring jumping--technocrats.

Unforunately, all of the technocrats are Jews or Christian. This has been a problem for Middle Eastern rulers for centuries. As slaves, priviledged minorities, "seconded" administrators, or more recently as contractors, we have been keeping their societies watered, fed, electrified, and functioning for hundreds of years.

Islam cannot seem to produce independent thinking, problem solvers. My hypothese is that our God offerers freedom of choice, respect for life, and hope, while their god offers submission, slavery, and death. This mindset prevents their society from developing, one symptom is a lack of managers and professionals with desire and training to improve said society.

The cigarette is either fauxtoshopped (is it from Reuters?) or else Green Helmet Guy slipped it between his fingers to arouse sympathy for a poor, poor Palestinian, destined ultimately to die of cancer because driven to smoking by the humiliationoftheoccupation. All the fault of the Isra-aylis, of course.

Wikipedia has quite a few definitions, but the general gist of it seems to be leaders who make all of their decisions based on technological requirements.

I'd like to know if that's ever been attempted on the face of the earth, and how well it went. On the face of it, it strikes me as impossible. Any way you slice it, you're still leading and managing people, not technology.

Regardless, even if it doesn't work, most anything is better than what they have now.

It's all about the money. Make the IMF, EU and US think Hamas is not in charge, and the aid spigot will open again. Sadly, the ploy will probably work with the afore-mentioned bleeding hearts.