The Ashura Massacre

Joe, havent you learned, these are people the Obama Administration can do business with. You shouldn’t be criticizing them like that.

So are we gonna see one of the Time reporters do a post on the stupidity of Janet “The System Worked” Napolitano. Wow, she is stupid.

” .. today’s violence surely makes the current regime’s moral standing less tenable…”

Well. Where is the perspective. Consistency?

Is “morality” an entirely subjective concept or can we imbue it a universality independent of nationality, race or supremacist/exceptionalist posturing?

The regime in Israel engages in orgies of wanton violence against the Palestinians quite frequently. Such orgy of gore and slaughter surely makes moral standing in the people and the regime in Israel less tenable.

But JK rarely perceived moral depravity in Israel’s predilection for gratuitous violence and gore. The failure by JK to condemn (what is frequently condemned by the community of civilized societies as) Israel’s crimes against humanity surely makes JK’s moral standing less tenable.

And thus JK’s pious condemnation of the failures he gleefully sees in others is therefore self-serving and hypocritical – as usual.

Wow. Is the sky blue on your planet?

” .. Is the sky blue on your planet ..”
No, old timer, according to our sages and telescopes on this wintry day we don’t have a tangible sky on, above or under our planet – blue of otherwise.
Instead we have a rapidly expanding universe ‘out there’ which is mostly filled with not-really-blue dark energy – with bits of matter (like earth and ‘spob’) thrown in here and there (for comic relief?)

Any chance Klein will comment on his go-to intelligence source, nutcase Pete Hoekstra, blaming the Obama administration for the attempted bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas?

Square–Hoekstra’s behavior is stupid on this one. By the way, I have had all of one conversation with the guy in my 40-year career. He was one of a half-dozen sources, Democrat and Republican, I spoke to about a FISA story that I got wrong (because I misheard one of my Democratic sources), but he was the only one who later identified himself as a source. But go ahead, snark away…

“(because I misheard one of my Democratic sources),”
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Not to open that can of worms again but I think this is news.
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Misheard what I wonder-not asking who, of course.
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Mr. One Conversation-in-40 years seemed to take “credit” for what you reported.
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“In his original column, Klein insisted that Democrats’ legislation to provide constitutional protections for government surveillance of Americans, or the RESTORE Act, would require a court order to spy on foreign terrorists (Klein has since recanted these statements). In the column, Hoekstra insists that “Klein was correct in his original contention.” In reality, as the legislation clearly states:

A court order is not required for electronic surveillance directed at the acquisition of the contents of any communication between persons that are not known to be United States persons .

Klein ignorantly claimed the RESTORE Act “would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans.” Hoekstra adds that Klein’s assertions are a “demonstratable fact.”
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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/29/hoekstra-joe-klein/
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What did you “mishear” from your Democratic Source?

Joe, are you serious? Hoekstra is being stupid? Shouldn’t you be posting on the DailyKos with that nonsense?

Speaking of stupidity (well, actually stunning naivete masquerading as erudition), here’s a quote from Obama in the aftermath of 9/11:
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We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.
We will have to make sure, despite our rage, that any U.S. military action takes into account the lives of innocent civilians abroad. We will have to be unwavering in opposing bigotry or discrimination directed against neighbors and friends of Middle Eastern descent. Finally, we will have to devote far more attention to the monumental task of raising the hopes and prospects of embittered children across the globe—children not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and within our own shores.

“Speaking of stupidity (well, actually stunning naivete masquerading as erudition), here’s a quote “

Is “stupidity” and “naivete” related to your quote? If so, then please explain – unless you think that they are clearly evident.
[A behavioural approach is welcome in this case.]

Well, cfukara, to quote a legal term, res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for itself. Obama’s 9/11 reaction is a hodgepodge of liberal shibboleths about root causes dressed up to explain an act of terror.
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It’s almost as trite as Jeremiah Wright’s “white man’s greed runs a world in need” speech, a speech, I might add, that inspired the same person who made those comments about 9/11.

By the way, Joe, where is Obama on this latest outrage by the criminals who run Iran?

“We strongly condemn the violent and unjust suppression of civilians in Iran seeking to exercise their universal rights,” White House spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement. “Hope and history are on the side of those who peacefully seek their universal rights, and so is the United States. “Governing through fear and violence is never just, and as President Obama said in Oslo — it is telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation.”

That answer your question spob?

Joe, thanks for highlighting the Iran carnage. As usual, the broadcast media are ignoring the important events in the world for the sake of wall to wall coverage of the sexy something-bad-nearly-happened on-a-plane story. Please stay on it.

Spob, of course, hasn’t followed these events, and so hasn’t a clue that Iran, which last year showed every sign of being amenable to diplomatic overtures, has now entered a new intransigent, diplomacy resistant phase, precisely because the regime is terrified of its own people, teetering on the brink of internal dissolution, and in more desperate need of a Great Satan than it’s been in three decades.

Joe Klein:
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As PNNTO noted, Hoekstra took credit for being your source AND defended the accuracy of your piece. The one you now concede was “inaccurate”. If you now deny that Hoesktra’s information was what caused you to misreport, then I am utterly perplexed as to why you would have allowed a clown like Hoekstra to misrepresent the facts. You could have spared yourself considerable grief by distancing yourself from Hoekstra long ago.
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If readers wrongly associate you with a clown like Hoekstra it isn’t “snark.” It is because of an impression that YOU CREATED through your reporting. Your reputation is your responsibility to maintain.
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When journalists rely on anonymous sources for stories, they are vouching for the honesty, credibility, and intelligence of the source. Whether you speak to a source 1 time or 1,000 times is your problem, not the readers’ problem.

No, it is you who are stupid.

” … liberal shibboleths about root causes “

Do wingnuts subscribe to the concept of “root causes” or would they embrace the preordained – destiny?

Is the environment/circumstances one is in, or one grows up in, capable of, to use a phrase in vogue, “bend the curve”? Does the environment have an effect on behaviour, attitudes, responses, resentment, perception of available opportunities, alienation etc?

Do wingnuts grant that humans are rational and that we choose to act or react depending on particular circumstances?

Sean: “We strongly condemn the violent and unjust suppression of civilians in Iran seeking to exercise their universal rights,”

Can’t remember if the same declaration was issued recently by the WH when the demonstrators in Copenhagen were violently suppressed from exercising their universal rights.

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“Hope and history are on the side of those who peacefully seek their universal rights, and so is the United States.”

From one who proposes that peaceniks King and Ghandhi were naive!
What happened to my-stick-is-bigger-than-yours BHO who sees Al Queda behind each nation that resists our imperialist expansionism?

Do we assume that a just war prompts no demonstrations or resistance by people seeking their “universal rights”?
Conveniently, BHO has not elaborated precisely what he means by “universal rights” and what the universal basis of those “rights” is.

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” .. it is telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people ..”

Where do we place the measures such as tracking what one reads at the libratries and internet as well as the patriot acts – and the profiling of Muslims and mosques in USA?

” .. teetering on the brink of internal dissolution, and in more desperate need of a Great Satan than it’s been in three decades. “

Really? I suppose that our enemies propound such hallucinations each time some disgruntled elements like the teabaggers and pro-lifers in USA become rowdy or carry guns.

You must have picked that briefing up from BHO-supported Twitter – which is considered by citizens of Iran as seditionist. So long for soaring rhetoric about respect for the sovereignty of other nations. Just words.

If at any time Twitter came to be relied upon by would-be seditionists in USA and was deemed to be furthering their activities and interests … you’d be singing a different tune. And Twitter would (forced) take steps to shut them down.

You must be on some strong stuff. Can I have some of whatever you are smoking?

Speaking of massacre this gives me a very bad feeling-

“Communist Laos guaranteed the safety of some 4,000 Hmong refugees whom the Thai government began to forcefully deport across the border Monday, state media reports said.”

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20091228-188520.html

Once again, a sycophant willing to clown himself. I’m stupid because I point out what any person with an IQ above room temperature knows–that Napolitano’s “system worked” comment was dumb. Whatever, Cliff.

Wow, Sean D., that’s pretty Reaganesque. Too bad everyone knows that the Obama Administration considers the thugs who run Iran people with whom it can do business. Here’s a quote from Hillary from this summer answering a question about whether we’ll support regime change:
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“Well, no, but there’s a lot of ongoing instability and jockeying for power. But that’s up to the Iranians, so what we are doing is dealing with the people who hold the power now.”
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Given Obama’s cave on Tibet, his indifference to the plight of Iranians and picking the wrong side in Honduras, one has to wonder whether Obama only cares about the so-called rights of people like Khalid Sheikh Muhammed instead of the human rights of millions.
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The quote you tout, Sean D., looks like lip service to me.

Spob-You called Janet stupid not just her comment dumb. As in “wow she really is stupid.” There is a difference as I am sure you already know.
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Having said that, I happen to agree with you that her comment was dumb because if “the system had worked” it would have been effective enough to prevent the guy from being on the flight in the first place. And I was unaware that part of our system seems to be not only having fellow passengers report suspicions, but also tackle would be terrorists in the act.
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Another thing that concerns me is that we seem to be placing way too much reliance on lists and not enough on real investigation, communication between government agencies and cooperation with other governments. Not all terrorist are going to appear on lists. Especially when the terrorists know you have them.

Yeah, gunny, I get the difference. Problem is that this isn’t this hack’s first time. Remember, she was the one that said that entering the US illegal wasn’t “per se” a crime. She also said that DHS would be doing a lot to prevent an anti-Muslim backlash (Query: how many man-hours were spent doing that?). She also signed off on, then defended, then retracted a threat assessment report which focused on all those ex-military guys.
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Gunny, she’s a joke. Time for the Administration to cashier this bozo.

http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTc4MWMxNzhjYjVhZTI0YTZkOWQxZTgyZWI5MjFmMTY=
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Let’s see if our intrepid news media asks this question.

Spob-Now apparently she has backtracked on the latest also.
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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano conceded Monday that the aviation security system failed when a young man on a watchlist with a U.S. visa in his pocket and a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a fight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
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The Obama administration has ordered investigations into the two areas of aviation security – how travelers are placed on watch lists and how passengers are screened – as critics questioned how the 23-year-old Nigerian man charged in the airliner attack was allowed to board the Dec. 25 flight.
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A day after saying the system worked, Napolitano backtracked, saying her words had been taken out of context.
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“Our system did not work in this instance,” she said on NBC’s “Today” show. “No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.”

You are such a joke, spob.
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In all seriousness, why not go post where someone gives a crap about your kindergarten comments? Haven’t the teabaggers figured out how to set up a webpage with comment threads? Clearly nobody here takes you seriously.

Oh really? I seem to recall clowning you on the Sotomayor’s Ginsburg’s opinion would have affirmed my decision in Ricci gambit.
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Moreover, genius, the notification timeline is somewhat important.

http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/12/28/heckuva-job-janet/
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Ha ha.

[...] self-perpetuating cycle, in which almost every action it takes in response to the protests seems to only further erode its standing among Iranians and strengthen the opposition. And this is at the heart of what the protesters are [...]