I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
That's easy. You're sane.
Who knows how people are wired?
This is because you have a conscience.
.
wow
These people are wired up differently than me.
-Insert Gitmo comment here-
frist??? maybe???
That conscience thing can be inhibiting!
It's easy when you have no conscience.
Of course not.
Sheesh.
That food thread was making me fat.
If you see the print edition, this is the article on A-1, above the fold on the right.
The "two more generals call for Rumsfeld to resign" article is, to be nice about it, somewhat less conspicuous.
Of course these people are wired differently than you, Duncan. You have a conscience. You care about your fellow human beings. In total, you are not a sociopath. The current administration is filled with sociopaths. It's hard for the sane to understand the insane. By the way: Nim said we were crazy for being Eagles fans. I think you should ban him for at least a week.
being decent and loving life is hard for wingnuts to understand
One word, Atrios: s-o-c-i-o-p-a-t-h.
unlike wingnuts, we don't take delight in genocide.
Maybe Rumsfeld sleeps in a fetal position underneath his bed.
That's easy. You're sane
I don't think tyhat being sane is particularly easy...at least not in America today.
Rummy and his ilk are morally bankrupt
their moral compass is broken
The "two more generals call for Rumsfeld to resign" article is, to be nice about it, somewhat less conspicuous.
No one listens to the generals. Even Tommy Franks on Tweety basically said Rummy was impossible to get along with.
I'm waiting for the day when Chimpy does something that's not robust.
Rummy and his ilk are morally bankrupt
their moral compass is broken
And like criminally incompetant scoutmasters, they're losing an entire country in the wilderness.
I think not attending funerals may help with the consequences thing.
Rummy and his ilk are morally bankrupt
This whole administration is morally bankrupt, but that what that winger religion will do to you. You're not responsible for your actions because all you have to do is pray and it makes everything you've done alright.
This whole administration is morally bankrupt, but that's what that winger religion will do to you. You're not responsible for your actions because all you have to do is pray and it makes everything you've done alright.
Handy, that!
the Bush Junta would destroy America and much of the world if it meant saving their own skins.
This is how guilty I am:
I still have dreams that I have teeth falling out because I didn't wear my retainer faithfully after 6 years of braces. Braces weren't removed until I was in my second year of college, so you can sort of understand why...
I also still have dreams about getting a "D" (which means I would not have been able to graduate because it was in my major area of study) in my American Lit class my senior year of college because I skipped the final exam in order to sleep with a cute fly boy on KI Sawyer AFB. I say this as I'm looking at my diploma from NMU.
I regret ~ forever ~ all of my stupid decisions (the above are two my the sillier ones), and I continue to beat myself up about them.
I cannot imagine taking a country into an illegal war and sleeping peacefully, without an examination of conscience. Hell, I can't sleep peacefully if I say something mean to someone.
So, yeah, wired differently.
I think they're psychopaths instead of sociopaths.
the Bush Junta would destroy America and much of the world if it meant saving their own skins.
No doubt about it.
Maybe Rumsfeld sleeps in a fetal position underneath his bed.
spinoza
Nah, he stands all night to show what a toughguy he is.
Reality is for people who can't handle denial.
I got my get out of Hell free card right here.
The first thing a Christian must do is overcome an obvious reality to believe what their faith tells them.
It's the same with all religious fundamentalists -- it's the defining characteristic of fundamentalism. Steadfast belief, in the face of all contrary facts.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is chronic, beginning in adolescence
and continuing throughout adulthood. There are ten general
symptoms:
not learning from experience
no sense of responsibility
inability to form meaningful relationships
inability to control impulses
lack of moral sense
chronically antisocial behavior
no change in behavior after punishment
emotional immaturity
lack of guilt
self-centeredness
Sounds like a few people I know (Lil Boots, Snarly McCrashcart, Condi(um) Rice, etc...)
I wonder when Cog will show up...
but that what that winger religion will do to you.
Jeebus died for their sins.
I think they're psychopaths instead of sociopaths.
I thought those were synonyms?
Reality is such a distraction!
the me that you know
is now made up of wires
that part of me
isn't here anymore...
Sounds like a few people I know
Don't it though!
really do wonder what it takes to support your own unwarranted arrogance when it confronts a reality completely at odds with reality.
I think I get the point, but that is one confusing sentence.
Heh, like the Emperor or Rumsfeld give a rat's ass.
They've managed to paint us into one of those corners they claim we've turned when it comes to Iran.
Rumsfeld already messed up Searle Pharm. Corporation in the '70s. He was in charge of the first downsizing - fired thousands of people. His goal was to briefly raise the stock price so the Searle family could sell it at a better price. He was the first CEO to be paid 1 million dollars, which at the time was an insane ammount of money for a CEO.
Searle never recovered. A huge source of jobs is gone for North Chicago.
He was arrogant and worked by intimidation then; it's not surprising that it's still his MO. He's doing what he did to Searle Co. to the US military.
It was obvious in the early '70s that he had a Napoleon complex.
A psychopath is a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
Sound familiar?
Mr. left rev., one of the most gentle, calm and polite persons I've ever met, was playing his guitar on our front porch last night. All of a sudden, as he is belting out some Cat Stevens, something washed over him and all the pent-up frustration and anger came piuring out of him. Without even missing a beat or a note, he suddenly screamed
"BUSH IS AN ASSHOLE!"
then went on singing "Peace Train" with more raw power in his voice than I've ever heard.
He came in an hour later, planning to go appologise to our neighbors for his outburst. I dissuaded him because I think the whole incident was good for him, and probably good for the neighbors...
But, he was concerned that he had been too offensive and was ready to take responsibility and stand up.
I esp. liked this:
Far from being daunted, one of them, Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq as recently as 2004, went further in his criticisms during a telephone interview on Friday. He said the number of forces that went into Iraq was insufficient for the ultimate task and said of Mr. Rumsfeld, "His arrogance is what will cause us to fail in the future."
Shorter Gen. Swannack: Bring it on, motherfuckers!
Hey, when supreme fuckups are called "heckuva job"s then i guess complete delusions aren't that hard to understand.
Yeah: I could have said it a lot quicker.
Rummy was a sociopath then, and he's a sociopath now.
Something cool - I just heard from a friend in Omaha that his son flew home from college to organize a demonstration against the segregated school districts - and hundreds of students participated!
Without even missing a beat or a note, he suddenly screamed
"BUSH IS AN ASSHOLE!"
then went on singing "Peace Train" with more raw power in his voice than I've ever heard.
You made me cry, left rev. I want a man like your husband.
I don't think tyhat being sane is particularly easy...at least not in America today.
It really is tough being sane today. My in-laws have recently become Faux News wingers. It's very hard to have a conversation with these people because their opinions have no basis in reality. For example, my father-in-law sent me a petition to support the "Pledge of Allegiance" because Faux News schools were trying to ban it. You have to take a deep breathe and plaster on a smile when you go into the "real world" these days.
he suddenly screamed
"BUSH IS AN ASSHOLE!"
how odd. i had a situation like that last week. noone heard me, but it felt good to say it out loud to no one in particular.
Far from being daunted, one of them, Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq as recently as 2004, went further in his criticisms during a telephone interview on Friday. He said the number of forces that went into Iraq was insufficient for the ultimate task and said of Mr. Rumsfeld, "His arrogance is what will cause us to fail in the future."
See, that there is an example of how the media is losing this war!
/winger
But isn't that part of the reason w can't admit this mistake. Then he would have to take responsiblity for over 100,000 deaths. I couldn't sleep at night if I had that hanging over me. No amount of denial could convince me it was just a little mistake.
by the way, speaking of heckuva job, for the people who missed it this morning, check out what FEMA is calling livable:
http://seaxneat.blogspot.com/200...a-job-
fema.html
I want an atevi tea-break.
Rummy has too much hubris, and the punishment for tht is nemisis
You made me cry, left rev. I want a man like your husband.
Vicki, Hippie Freak
I'm too selfish to share 
He's a keeper, for sure. As are most of the guys around here, I'd wager. Good peoples to know.
Rummy has too much hubris, and the punishment for tht is nemisis
IF we see a "battle between Generals", presuming that those who are critical of Rumsfeld are correct, the message applies to those defending him as well. What does this say about current military leadership then? I seem to remember Hackworth's phrase Perfumed Princes as being applicable.
My father worked with Rummy in the 70s at Searle. The day he was named to the DOD my father literally got sick to his stomach.
Literally sick.
He also said - "Rumsfeld is going to ruin our military."
The meterologists lie. We were supposed to have a deluge today. It's freakin' 80 degrees and sunny. So much for my mini Mel Brooks marathon. I guess it's shopping at the Gap.
I'm beginning to get the feeling that for a very long time the citizens of the US will be like the Germans after WWII: ashamed and deeply disturbed by what was done in their name.
Picture me shuddering.
Can we now say, there is a split in the military?
I thought there was no I in team?
Apparently, rummy thinks there is.
What is Rumsfeld's military background? I honestly can't remember reading about a medal studded career or anything remotely memorable.
But, he was concerned that he had been too offensive and was ready to take responsibility and stand up.
Let mr. left rev. know it's BUSH that's being offensive.
t-cho asked me yesterday what Rummy's qualifications were for SoD. i confess, i don't know. what in his background, apart from being an aviator, gives him credentials for SoD?
for that matter, for any of most of the previous people? I lked Cohen, but wasn't he a senator?
What is Rumsfeld's military background?
Doesn't have a background of military service.
hee, vicki, great minds...
What is Rumsfeld's military background? I honestly can't remember reading about a medal studded career or anything remotely memorable.
I think he was a peacetime Navy pilot...?
"But, he was concerned that he had been too offensive and was ready to take responsibility and stand up.
left rev."
Hey, being the weird old cranky guy down the street has a certain power to it. He shouldn't have to apologize.
There was an interesting, probably fictional, but really quite convincing blog diary linked to by Digby or someone at HuffPost, purporting to be from someone inside the White House. A lot of it had to do with some mysterious, mind-bending perfume worn by C. Rice. The important piece was that Bush is on a significant amount of antidepressant medication.
I regret to say I find this entirely believable.
Most people, having screwed the pooch as forcefully as he has on so many occasions, would have at least resigned and perhaps even taken the way alluded by Nixon to Haig, "leave a gun in the desk drawer"...
How can they stand to live with themselves?
according to his official bio, rummy was a pilot in the navy.
By definition, the only thing Bush can ever do wrong is to admit error. To fire Rumsfeld, or indeed to keep Rumsfeld on but not support him enthusiastically, would be a violation of Bush's #1 cardinal rule.
Let mr. left rev. know it's BUSH that's being offensive.
Oh, he KNOWS. And he's better with it today. In fact, he went to get some blank cds.
There may be some new compositions comingn out of this, and I doubt he'll be holding back.
I saw this at kos and googled it:
Cheney and Rumsfeld in 1975
he was SoD in 1975? i thought he was Chief of Staff...
Hey PoppieProng...
It just seems to me that we would have heard more about Rumsfeld...I started following politics during the Nixon meltdown, and I think we would have heard at least something about Rummy back then.
http://seaxneat.blogspot.com/2006/04/heckuva-job-
fema.html
1975 Cheney is a dead ringer for Chevy Chase.
A lot of it had to do with some mysterious, mind-bending perfume worn by C. Rice.
L'extract vanille.
Via WaPo:
The Left, Online and Outraged
Liberal Blogger Finds an Outlet and a Community
(snip)
These are mean times.
"I just want to see these [expletive] swinging from their heels in the public square," reads a recent comment from someone named Dave in a discussion about the Bush administration on a Web site called Eschaton.
I guess we're all nuts for being against a corrupt sadistic regime looting our nation and undermining the constitution. Hmm, go figure. Damn liberal media.
left rev - great story. I've noticed that even when talking with liberals, I keep my voice down when saying something negative about the regime. As if I'm afraid the thought police are gonna come and get me. I don't know when this started, or how, but they have done their job well.
okay, so ctrl+v is not working properly...
the only thing i know about rumsfeld in the 70s is that he worked with the general who dreamed up Operation Northwoods.
Can you say Power and Money? It's what they live for.
Now switch to Lincoln pacing the WH alone, burdened with the horror that he knew, however just, he would be judged by. That's why he went to the field hospitals, grasped hands, wept.
These fuckers don't know humanity from shit. That's because they live in shit.
A lot of it had to do with some mysterious, mind-bending perfume worn by C. Rice.
L'extract vanille.
More like L'extract santorum.
1975 Cheney is a dead ringer for Chevy Chase.
Don't know about that, but he's got that same humorless demeanor he has now.
"according to his official bio, rummy was a pilot in the navy.
PoppieProng, fka Seaxneat, fka"
Whose Navy?
Whose Navy
hehehehhee!
More like L'extract santorum.
Good one.
It's called "killing care." Secretive gatherings occur at the Bohemian Grove in Sonoma County, California once a year. They do a ritual called "The Cremation of Care."
The powerful "know" that they have to order people to their deaths, and so they go through these elaborate rituals to "justify" it.
Cremation of Care - doesnt really mince words, does it.
What was that about "compassionate conservatism?"
http://www.infowars.com/bg1.html
http://www.sonomacountyfreepress...s/
bohofact.html
Yick. I just received another anit-Muslim forward in my e-mail. I deleted it, but the last line on the page was:
LET'S BLANKET THE COUNTRY WITH THIS ONE! FORWARD TO 20 PEOPLE ON YOUR E-MAIL LIST.
I have never seen so much anti-Muslim hate mail as I have in the last month or two.
Maybe I should just go back to bed. It's depressing.
Yeah, maybe it's just the expression...
http://www.movie-gazette.com/
dir...chevy+chase.jpg
that's chevy chase from caddy shack. it's kinda similar.
I just received another anit-Muslim forward in my e-mail.
So where are they coming from?
Anti-Muslim hate spam?
The unholy trinity are all in this together.
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld are locked at the hip in this venture. They set the schedule early on and nothing will stop them.... unless....
The former Generals do understand that if just one of the trinity is taken down, the plans can not be completed. It's crucial that they succeed in taking Rumsfeld out of power.
Yah, it's a tad difficult living in a country run by a bunch of lunatics who have no fucking problem with consciences.
These are mean times.
Mean- 1. Selfish in a petty way; unkind.
2. Cruel, spiteful, or malicious. 3.Ignoble; base: a mean motive.
We're not mean; we're honest. What was done to and said about the Clintons was mean. What is being about Lil Boots and company is the truth. Enough with the "Democrats are mean" meme!
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld are locked at the hip in this venture. They set the schedule early on and nothing will stop them.... unless....
Military coups are kind of scary.
Dumb question, just how old is Rumsfeld?
¿Has anyone read that peice of crrrap story on the lefty bloggerros?
My Washeengpost registration ees no working, for some maldito reason.
Maybe thees ees for the best, no?
so.
I posted this story this morning in an earlier thread (Reuters Altnet)
this is from the Human Rights Watch website:
U.S.: Rumsfeld Potentially Liable for Torture
Defense Secretary Allegedly Involved in Abusive Interrogation
The question at this point is not whether Secretary Rumsfeld should resign, it’s whether he should be indicted.
- Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program director at Human Rights Watch
As sociopaths, they don't decompensate by hiding under the bed in a fetal postion, but I wouldn't assume that they're not falling apart. They do it in other ways--like saying "fuck you," on the floor of the senate or starting a crazy new war. They're not falling apart because they feel remorse, it's because their actions have caused people to doubt their public personas, which is the better part of their psyches, and is therefore very scary indeed to these reptile brains. If people doubt their public personas, they're truly threatened and even more dangerous than before. This is why they have to destroy everything and everyone that threatens their outward personas. They'll go after their critics, and if they can't destroy their critics--because they now make up a majority of Americans--they'll use their power to erect barriers. I heard recently that when Bush visited Iowa, he had the streets lined with with trucks and earth moving machines so that no one could see his motorcade pass. President Coo Coo Bananas, indeed.
Enough with the "Democrats are mean" meme!
In terms of meanness, Dems don't come close to Goopers.
I have never seen so much anti-Muslim hate mail as I have in the last month or two.
I don't get that crap anymore since I made it clear what I thought of it.
El Gato
Read it. My first thought was hey, they need a coutnerpoint, why don't they interview Gordo and his Blog activity?
The anti-Muslim E-mail came from an elderly gentleman with whom I'm acquainted. He's lonely, so I listen to him and write to him.
I can't tell from where it was generated...it was forwarded by white men, near as I could tell by the names...and that's a generalization, I realize, but it's the best I can do.
Military coups are kind of scary
Dropping nukes on Iran should scare you more.
It doesn't take a coup to ask that a man be held accountable for his incompetence.
These are mean times.
Yah, they are and it's ugly as shit and I'm really tired of it. It drags down the entire level of the country.
It doesn't take a coup to ask that a man be held accountable for his incompetence.
I hear you, but these dudes are powerful stubborn.
Military coups are kind of scary.
plantsman
No they aren't - they are real scary. No military coups - they inevitably lead to something worse than you had in the first place.
They're not falling apart because they feel remorse, it's because their actions have caused people to doubt their public personas, which is the better part of their psyches, and is therefore very scary indeed to these reptile brains.
I had to explain that point to my husband over dinner. The compassionate conservative schtick is dead. The American people are seeing sociopathy is action. They've picked behind the curtain and discovered a small, frail man.
The anti-Muslim E-mail came from an elderly gentleman with whom I'm acquainted. He's lonely, so I listen to him and write to him.
The Greatest Generation?
not so much.
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld are locked at the hip in this venture. They set the schedule early on and nothing will stop them.... unless....
Yep, if any one of those three goes first, it'll be Bush. He's their tool and is the most disposable.
Enough with the "Democrats are mean" meme!
Monica_A:
There was one repuke senator, I forget who, who said he was honestly surprised the dems were still fighting. He had expected everybody to just lose interest after the election. Sadly, I don't think the right or the moderates understand just how concerned the left is for the fate of our country.
Sheets
It isn't just the clusterfuck in Iraq. it's everything! Everything single thing "government" is supposed to help prevent. there's an interesting post up at http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/ about pathogens in our food, air and water here in the USA, the richest fucking country on the planet. In short, none of the people responsible for the processing of our food and water can be counted on to take the neccessary precautions to keep disease at bay because it would cost them money they'd rather spend on themselves!
Oh, and have you seen this article in todays NYT: Bird Flu Virus May Be Spread by Smuggling ?
Poultry smuggling is a huge business that poses a unique threat: The (A)H5N1 bird flu virus is robust enough to survive not just in live birds but also in frozen meat, feathers, bones and even on cages, though it dies with cooking.
oopsie!
Mean is saying a child was conceived because of marital rape. Mean is calling the Presidential daughter a dog. I haven't heard one prominent Democrat (and please correct me if I'm wrong) say one thing about Jenna & Tonic. Not one thing!
Sheets? Oy, I just got here -
Most Americans Still Think Tax System is Unfair
Nice way to frame the article, assholes.
The perception of unfairness is spread fairly evenly across income groups — though their reasons may differ. More than half of those who make less than $50,000 a year said it's unfair, and more than six in 10 of those who make more than $50,000 felt that way.
Am I the only person in the kingdom who doesn't mind paying taxes? Gee, I like having nice roads to drive on and good schools for children to attend. I like knowing that the cops are around the corner, watching the neighborhoord. And if more people were paying their fair share of taxes, maybe my daughter wouldn't have such a financial burden ahead of her with regard to college expenses.
No they aren't - they are real scary.
If the freakazoid troika won't relent, at some point, if the disenchantment in the military spreads..........
the idea is bound to come up.
though it dies with cooking.
Excuse me, Quinn, but how many people eat raw chicken?
No they aren't - they are real scary. No military coups - they inevitably lead to something worse than you had in the first place.
Tena hippie extraordinaire
e.g. tanks in the streets, and that's just for starters. The real horrorshow comes later.
(PS Haloscan you are a malignant piece of shit...)
Rummy is really only a part of the story. Key sentence in the Times article:
"In defending Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Bush seemed to have been asserting his standing as commander in chief, sending a signal to the generals that criticizing the defense secretary is the equivalent of criticizing his own stewardship of the war."
Exactly.
Replacing Rummy suggests a change of direction. Bush won't. So whether Rumsfeld quits or is fired would be nothing more than a distraction for the MSM.
As far as I'm concerned, Rummy can stay because he's another symbol of a regime that's gone horribly awry.
What' REALLY necessary is for an effective opposition to gain control at least one, preferably both houses of Congress and paralyze Washington until the next Presidential election.
This, too, is what boggles me. How can the remain so detatched?
Last night, watching NOW (segement was bout abortion in SD) they were interviewing a fundamentalist christian running a "health clinic" that was essentially a anti-abortion base of operations.
I mentioned to my wife, the weirdly odd smile that all of these types have on their face. There is such a type of fundamental detatchment with reality. They are happy with their reality....it is so.. so just "happy" It is weird and cultish.
In her case she was completely detatched about the effectiveness of birth control. She simply and very happily stated "condoms fail"
Same thing with the architects of the war. There is this emotional detachment. They weave and dodge, almost unconciously of anything that may cause them remorse or emotional pain.
Also in same WaPo article:
To which Nite74 responds, "ADD implies that some attention span is already present to be deficient."
To which Linnaeus responds, "I might say, though, that saying he has ADD is an insult to those who actually have it."
To which Bill, responding to his responders, writes, "It was rather though[t]less of me to compare the most asinine, brutal, criminal, disgusting, enraging, felonious, gross, horrendous, incompetent, jaundiced, kleptocratic, lazy, malicious, nefarious, objectional, psychopathic, quarrelsome, repulsive, sanctimonious, treasonous, unfit, vindictive, wasteful, xenophobic, yahooish, zealotic piece of [expletive] inhabiting the White House and the planet to persons suffering with a neurobiological disorder."
I don't know the blog, but I like these people.
Chicken tartare..............GACK!
Am I the only person in the kingdom who doesn't mind paying taxes? Gee, I like having nice roads to drive on and good schools for children to attend. I like knowing that the cops are around the corner, watching the neighborhoord. And if more people were paying their fair share of taxes, maybe my daughter wouldn't have such a financial burden ahead of her with regard to college expenses.
well, i think the tax system is unfair because the people in top tier don't pay theirr fair share. i wasn't thriled with having to pay taxes this year, but it just means that my salary got higher, which is a good thing. it still hurt, but i appreciate all the things you mentioned.
My Washeengpost registration ees no working, for some maldito reason.
That's why there's Bug Me Not!
Maybe thees ees for the best, no?
Most likely...
e.g. tanks in the streets, and that's just for starters. The real horrorshow comes later
Word, baby - it's just utterly foolish to day dream about such a thing.
The military is not pacifistic - they wouldn't be upset about Iraq if it wasn't FUBAR. They'd be perfectly happy to be fighting, and don't ever think otherwise.
The anti-Muslim E-mail came from an elderly gentleman with whom I'm acquainted.
You're so nice... 
The military is not pacifistic - they wouldn't be upset about Iraq if it wasn't FUBAR. They'd be perfectly happy to be fighting, and don't ever think otherwise.
Tena hippie extraordinaire
Nope, they're upset that the Army will soon be FUBAR. They don't care if Iraq is.
There probably aren't enough functioning tanks to fill many streets, IMO.
The military is not pacifistic - they wouldn't be upset about Iraq if it wasn't FUBAR. They'd be perfectly happy to be fighting, and don't ever think otherwise.
Gilliard had a good post on this.
The anti-Muslim E-mail came from an elderly gentleman with whom I'm acquainted.
You're so nice.
no kidding! and did the WaPo mention THAT? nooooooooooo! they just want to mention how ANGRY we are! rrrrowwwrrrr!
Buzz Bomb - Actually, you're right, according to Gilliard and I do think that's the case.
I read Gilliard last night and he makes an excellent point and I do think it's right.
It makes perfect sense.
I think they keep the psychotic breakdown at bay by just what we are seeing everyday: inability to admit mistakes, endless strawmen arguments, attacking patriotism, sliming dissenters.
Am I the only person in the kingdom who doesn't mind paying taxes? Gee, I like having nice roads to drive on and good schools for children to attend.
No, you aren't. I think the least I can do is pay taxes. Sure my son goes to a private school, but that doesn't mean I don't want other children to get a comparable education. I use the roads and traffic lights. It really is the least I can do for the up-keep of my country and I don't mind paying more.
Fucking Haloscan - Sorry to post almost the same comment twice - haloscan tried to convince me that the first one had disappeared.
And now it is telling me I've already said this - AAAaarrgh!
W's little harriet miers style mash note to rummy makes sense in that contest.
OK, that Bohemian Grove stuff is freakin' weird. Why do people like that do stuff like that?
buhos.
so.
Monica, they'll call you crazy for saying you'd pay more. In wingerland , that's blasphemy.
ConteXt.
heh.
And I'm married to a white guy. They'd have a field day with me.
The worst thing about the WaPO article is the photo of the blogger. Obviously the most unflattering shot they took was used to represent "the left".
Search for 'sex', found nothing. So folks missed the uberman/pedophilia/blackmail connection? I think we all seriously underestimate the value to secret organizations of 1) a ritual ceremony where the initiate engages in rape of children, 2) the leverage this gives the organization *in addition to* the feeling conferred on the initiate that he is one of the chosen elect, and that the rest of humanity is sub-human, meh-hums, animals, whatever. Combine this with presidential power, the ability to toss bombs across the world with a wave of the hand. These people aren't gods, but that's how they think of themselves. As for sleeping, just drink enough and get blown enough and you'll sleep like a baby too.
Atrios,
You are exactly right. They are wired differently and its done through repeated medication. Many of the most vociferous on the right NEED their happy meds as well as exposure lots of repitition of the current talking points to keep their conscious quiet.
It's no accident Cheney has Fox News on all the time. HE NEEDS TO HEAR THE BACKGROUND HUM of the propaganda TO KEEP HIMSELF CALM. Fox and their ilk aren't just for the zombie followers they are absolutely necessary FOR THE LEADERS to stay on track.
Rush's drug abuse is par for the course. Others have a more officially prescribed regimine. Powell talked about it publically at one point during his first term when he mentioned what he was "recommended" to take to sleep at night.
You are not arguing with people. You are arguing with people that hardwire themselves to a specific understanding. Literally the most active become robotic response machines. This is not the case on the left where we spend alot of time thinking and self-reflecting for our motivations to act.
Given this understanding of how your opposites are working, you need to rethink some of your strategies for dealing with them.
In The Rummy Mutiny, Maureen says that one of Rummy's guiding principles is to make new mistakes so that you don't make old ones. That's not what I see and I'd made that point in one of my latest original posts, Lightning Does Strike Twice.'
However, it's fascinating to me as a writer that Dowd would choose to compare Rumsfeld with MacNamara as I did. I suppose the comparison was inevitable.
But even MacNamara had the sense to know (eventually) when he and his dirty little SE Asian war was beaten. Now, as then, the ones paying the ultimate price for this hubris are the soldiers and their families.
Duncan, that's a really interesting question and a really fresh take on this whole matter. My take on the issue of anxiety over personal fuck ups is that you have to learn how to forgive yourself.
But how in god's name could anyone live with themselves after creating the havoc these guys have. But of course these guys lack any insight into what they've created. They're monsters.
Remember the Georgetown student who lost some big game because he accidentally threw the ball to the opposing team at the last minute and they scored the winning point. Everybody was saying "oh gosh, how awful, to screw up like that and have everybody see it on national tv." That kid probably lost more sleep over losing a ball game than these guys have over killing hundreds of thousands of people and throwing the whole middle east into chaos that will take decades to straighten out.
Excuse me, Quinn, but how many people eat raw chicken?
Tena hippie extraordinaire | Homepage | 04.15.06 - 1:36 pm | #
Nobody I know, I hope. But how about the poor people working in all those chain restaurants and fast food places? The ones handling all that raw chicken?
When you cook chicken at home, do you (as Julia Child recommended) cover every surface with newspaper so that there's no chance of any raw meat touching anything that won't be thoroughly washed in very hot, soapy water afterwards?
And that's just the beginning of what's necessary to properly protect people with safe food handling.
They are sociopaths, and you are not.
It's simple.
For example, my father-in-law sent me a petition to support the "Pledge of Allegiance" because Faux News schools were trying to ban it.
I was pleased to see an e-mail in my In-Box from a former co-worker who'd retired and moved to Delaware; I hadn't heard from him for months.
It turned out to be that goddamned petition to keep the Pledge, probably the same one you're referring to. I noticed, however, that his wife's name was the last one added to the list.
I guess she just sent the thing to everyone in their address book. My friend is a very nice guy, whom I've written about before. He's not a wingnut, but he is very uncertain and diffident-- childlike, actually-- when it comes to politics.
I rode with him in to work on the morning of the Iraqi invasion, and he voiced the familiar position that our leaders "must know more about the situation than us ordinary citizens", so he guessed we had to trust them.
We weren't arguing, and as much as I felt like reaching over and shaking him as hard as possible, I didn't. I don't know if he's evolved any since then, but I gather that his wife, like Smalfish's, is the family wingnut.
It creeps me out when friends and even my secretary sends me wingnut glurge-- from tired Hillary jokes to pure troll jingoism and superficial fundamentalism. The senders aren't obviously wingnuts; my sense is that they think the stuff they send is genuinely amusing or inspirational.
I just let it pass because it's not worth the trouble of challenging, for better or worse.
Why, because they're conscienceless wankers, that's why. One and all of them. Dubya isn't going down in history as one of the worst presidents in history, he's going down as THE worst, thanks to the massive budget deficits, unsustainable tax cuts, illegitimate preemptive wars, and tens of thousands of deaths due to his cock-ups. If only there was a god and an afterlife....
Dubya probably figures that God told him to invade Iraq and take out Saddam, so it's God's fault, not his.
doubt I'm alone in having occasional nontrivial anxiety bouts over some fairly screwup early in life which had relatively trivial consequences for me or those around me. I honestly can't imagine living with the responsibility for what goes on in Iraq day after day without either having some severe psychotic break or simply curling up under the bed in the fetal position
***
Funcan Hack thinks he has to point out the obvious; that he is different from real men.
I remember thinking this same thing back when Reagan and group bombed Ghadafi. On the very day that the bombs were blowing people up,, Reagan and Schultz and Weinberger, I think, were pictured on TV laughing it up about something or other. I THINK I would have been in church on my knees at that kind of moment. But, I've never been there, so maybe you have to just laugh it off when it gets THAT big.
For me it would have been a big thing, should I have taken Mary to the prom?; should I have had my way with Charity, like she wanted me to?....geez, either I would have probably married Mary right after high school; or I'd have made Charity preggers right after grad school, either way I'd be in a completely different place, person, and position, than I am now.
Sounds trivial to you, but it would have totally altered 2+ lives.
Now, per Atrios, multiply that by 1 million.
I actually think that the problem is that they DO have consciences. Deep down, they know they've screwed up, but they can't turn back and face the music. Instead, they've convinced themselves that their mistake isn't what they've done, it's that they didn't do it big and hard and forcefully enough; so they escalate, feigning confidence that it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. Therefore, they "stay the course," and escalate (not just in war, but everywhere -- just today Busholini called for permanent tax cuts), hoping that eventually the crackpot economic and geopolitical theories they've been touting will be vindicated, and the world will have a happy ending.
It's like somebody who loses the grocery money betting on horses -- he can either go home and face the music, or he can try to recoup his losses by betting the rent money, then the college fund, then the IRA,. . .
I think it's a particularly male trait. And the ability to compartmentalize also helps when your actions result in the hideous deaths and maimings of tens of thousands of innocents.
yes, indeed, the left is wired different than normal people - normal people do not enclose themselves in the progressivist virtual reality using real world only as starting point for progressive wanking with zero appeal to people doing it (using programs funded with taxpayers' money is another matter - hey, who doesn't like free like in free beer).
"I actually think that the problem is that they DO have consciences. Deep down, they know they've screwed up, but they can't turn back and face the music." - more like you can't face the hard reality. Of muzzies in Paris for instance. Yes, you see, they are really only Frenchmen underneath. The left is constantly self-deceiving when it comes to real human motives. Leftist garbage in, leftist garbage out. And hint, moron: I'm not even American.
Back in the day, I went with Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
4. requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
5. is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends, lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others; is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her; shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
And of course personality disorders often overlap; no need to rule out a mix-and-match.
/
George Bush has done exactly what he should have done in the interest of his nation. I wish Europe had such leaders. But Europe is like American Left: pretends there's no threat from Muslim fundamentalism and pretends to sell their nations out for oil crumbs from Middle East cleptocrats instead of having the balls like George Bush to change that mess after 50 years of failed leftie effect-free diplomacy. The contemporary left is no different from the past left bashing Reagan for his anti-communism. The verdict of history is that Reagan was right and the left was wrong. I have little doubt it will be different with George W. Bush, muzzies and the contemporary left. The best indicator of performance is past performance, and the left historically has proved its theories had zero predictive power and its diagnosis of reality turned out never to have been relevant after the fact.
"Narcissistic Personality Disorder" - hey, the symptoms fit contemporary left perfect: neurotic, detached and messianic.
"hoping that eventually the crackpot economic and geopolitical theories they've been touting will be vindicated, and the world will have a happy ending." - the crackpot economic theories with high taxation and welfare state are dying right now in Europe. It's not Europe that has 4.7% unemployment and solid economic growth. Face it, lefties - when it comes to economy, you lost it all. Simply everything. Not to conservatives necessarily, mind you. It's not that all conservative theories have to be adequate, since yours are inadequate. It means just that, that yours are completely inadequate.
"I guess we're all nuts for being against a corrupt sadistic regime looting our nation and undermining the constitution." - you don't have an idea what is a REAL corrupt and sadistic regime, loon. Not a faintest idea.
THat wapo article WAS a hit peice. I just read it.
Oh my. I really am pissed now.
Oh my God/Evolution! Oh my! smalfish is pissed off. Run for your lives people. Fasta, fasta. Go on, smalfish said he's pissed.
"I honestly can't imagine living with the responsibility for what goes on in Iraq day after day without either having some severe psychotic break or simply curling up under the bed in the fetal position."
That's because you aren't a giggling murderer.
"One word, Atrios: s-o-c-i-o-p-a-t-h."
The entire Repugnant Party?????
No, Luke, just the Dems are Virtal Imagination Party. :-D
I think Stuart Thiel is probably right.
Or the bush administration could populate an entire hospital for the criminally insane.
Take your pick.
"What is Rumsfeld's military background?"
I read that he was in the Navy and saw no action.
"He served in the U.S. Navy from 1954 to 1957 as an aviator and flight instructor. In 1957, he transferred to the Ready Reserve and continued his Naval service in flying and administrative assignments as a drilling reservist until 1975. He transferred to the Standby Reserve when he became Secretary of Defense in 1975 and to the Retired Reserve with the rank of Navy Captain in 1989."
Wikipedia
one of my favorite quotes;
"Ego is the anesthesia that dulls the pain of stupidity"
Yeah, exactly. We get to lose sleep over the actions of sociopaths. What else is new?
The leftie mode of "thinking" : sociopaths! racists! sociopaths! racists! sociopaths! racists! sociopaths! racists! sociopaths! racists! sociopaths! racists! - and then the dummies wonder why the voters take their votes to the right. :-D
You're not alone in having occasional nontrivial anxiety bouts over some fairly [minor] screwup early in life which had relatively trivial consequences for me or those around me.
I have similar anxiety bouts.
Oh my, the Trollmobile must have broken down. Give the Troll a word pay advance so it can get some wheels and get back to the circus.
After reading this post and commenting on it earlier I came to work and one of my coworkers was in the breakroom talking about how she'd made a fool of herself in the cafeteria. She's dropped her full plate of salad and created a scene.
She'll probably lose more sleep over that spilled salad than w, rummy and dick will over the hundreds of thousand they've killed.
A friend tells me that her daughter lives in Klamath falls and they've started flying nighttime practice missions out of the airforce base there. The last time they did that was before they bombed Iraq.
Oh, they just call a severe psychotic break "leadership."
It's all in the framing, doncha know!
Its not necessarily about arrogance, IMO. Its about Bush being a vapid lap dog who values little but loyalty and cronyism.
He's defending Rumsfeld and grasping on to him like a lost puppy because he knows Rumsfeld would do the same for him. They're two pathetic, lost would-be soldiers who can't fire off a decent shot between them. But they'll go down together because of their loyalty clause.
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