tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post113682130700328972..comments2024-03-26T16:03:42.608-06:00Comments on Flares into Darkness: Shifting Sands - Treasonambisinistralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03836786826294202405noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136882169282550922006-01-10T01:36:00.000-07:002006-01-10T01:36:00.000-07:00Buddy, Doh!Buddy, Doh!MeaninglessHotAirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11767916621253839341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136872487196207502006-01-09T22:54:00.000-07:002006-01-09T22:54:00.000-07:00I agree--the 'two' is really not a random number, ...I agree--the 'two' is really not a random number, it is the design of the system, whereby splinters are forced to create workable compromises inside a party, before presenting a platform to the election. Third parties just destroy the balance of the system and open it to demagoguery, log-rolling, featherbedding, and all that other courthouse-gang tomfoolery. <BR/><BR/>What we're talking about is the absorption of a broken party shell into a new meaning.<BR/><BR/>Having said all that, I loved Ralph Nader's candidacy, but hated Perots. Ha--pretty inconsistant, huh?buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136870701305683712006-01-09T22:25:00.000-07:002006-01-09T22:25:00.000-07:00Do you not think, though, that after the buyer's r...Do you not think, though, that after the buyer's remorse for Perot in the 90s, it would be more difficult for a third party to emerge and be seen as a viable option?<BR/>I keep thinking it would be too hard a sell to convince people to leave the major parties for<BR/>something so new, when there's so much at stake.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136869870894120672006-01-09T22:11:00.000-07:002006-01-09T22:11:00.000-07:00MHA, i think you meant "Iran"?MHA, i think you meant "Iran"?buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136868943593875372006-01-09T21:55:00.000-07:002006-01-09T21:55:00.000-07:00Rick,In any war, there's always going to be opposi...Rick,<BR/><BR/>In any war, there's always going to be opposition. On any policy whatsoever, there's always going to be dissent. Traditionally, there has always been a party which was isolationist and anti-war. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, it was the Democrats. Then the Republicans took the mantle, and now the Dems have it again. The isolationist party is almost always the one out of power. I don't really expect the Dems to go completely down the tubes, but it will take a long time before they start to become realistic about their plight. Many of them are still convinced that they didn't really lose the last two elections. Many of them live in an echo chamber like Boulder or the Bay Area where no one dare decry their moonbat policies, so it seems as thought there is no oppposition, and they cannot imagine that there is any need for a change. Eventually, they will realize it and they will change. It will be a matter of 40 years perhaps. In that timeframe, I expect another terrorist attack of major proportions, a war with Iraq, and a war with China.MeaninglessHotAirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11767916621253839341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136867926685055062006-01-09T21:38:00.000-07:002006-01-09T21:38:00.000-07:00You're right, Rick--the libertarians just don't qu...You're right, Rick--the libertarians just don't quite fit the bill for this emerging conservative bloc. I think the new party will be federalist with a vision of a smaller but stronger central government. A stripped down hot-rod, rather than this Dr. Seuss-looking thing we're driving around nowadays.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136867043022693972006-01-09T21:24:00.000-07:002006-01-09T21:24:00.000-07:00Charles Henry,The Republicans should have gone out...Charles Henry,<BR/><BR/>The Republicans should have gone out of business in '32. The total ineptitude of the fat cats then in control of the party is very comparable to the intellectual bankruptcy exhibited by the left (and controlling) wing of the Democratic Party today.<BR/><BR/>It took about forty years for the Rebublicans to begin to develop a coherent strategy to regain effective political control. It also took forty years for the Yellow Dog base of the Dems to begin to die off in sufficient numbers to make a shift in control possible. It may take forty years for the lefties who (along with their agitprop allies in the ever dwindling MSM) are currently running the party into the ground to die off to the extent that the party can rebuild internally.<BR/><BR/>I tend to believe that a new centrist/progressive party will arise prior to that time. Not for another ten years, perhaps, but not much later than that either. There are a number of contributors here who are uneasy enough with certain Republican policies to slide easily into a new centrist/progressive party - if it demonstrated a firm foreign policy.Rick Ballardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082425215912372067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136865015323051652006-01-09T20:50:00.000-07:002006-01-09T20:50:00.000-07:00Rick, I try and be optimistic most of the time but...Rick, <BR/>I try and be optimistic most of the time but it's hard to see a way for the Democrat party to rescue itself, surely <BR/>it is spiraling down a one-way trip to rest alongside the Know-Nothing party... maybe the current military situations<BR/>in Iraq and Afghanistan will yield an Eisenhower-type figure to do for the left as Ike did for the republicans in the fifties?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136862065900668562006-01-09T20:01:00.000-07:002006-01-09T20:01:00.000-07:00Except Bush won't let him quit smoking, and YOU wo...Except Bush won't let <I>him</I> quit smoking, and YOU won't let me.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136859415605340532006-01-09T19:16:00.000-07:002006-01-09T19:16:00.000-07:00well, peter, I'm not bitter for myself, just other...well, peter, I'm not bitter for myself, just others, young folks, trying to start-up a biz under the agency monarchy.<BR/><BR/>As i said, i kinda like being a worthless retired old fool. besides, I'm gonna run down a franchise on <A HREF="http://www.miravalresort.com/main.php" REL="nofollow">this</A>--and it never would've interested me had i not gotten depressed and let myself turn into a lump of smoking lard. The timing is right--parts are starting to fall off the forward edge of boomers--an avalanch of demand is coming.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007788" REL="nofollow">Besides (scroll down)</A>, some folks have REAL problems: <I>"The Sacramento Bee reports on an appearance by actor Sean Penn at a rally for hate harpy Cindy Sheehan: "Penn said Bush and the war in Iraq have made it hard for him to give up his addiction to cigarettes. 'It makes it very difficult to quit smoking under this administration,' <A HREF="http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14051133p-14882454c.html" REL="nofollow">he said."</A></I>buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136855437766256062006-01-09T18:10:00.000-07:002006-01-09T18:10:00.000-07:00damn, that IS a good read. Short and right up the ...damn, that IS a good read. Short and right up the funnel. Comments are excellent, too.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136851417767709942006-01-09T17:03:00.000-07:002006-01-09T17:03:00.000-07:00Sorry about the rant--just trying to let Mark know...Sorry about the rant--just trying to let Mark know that in my case--others may speak for themselves--his Konservative Kartoon Show is all baloney.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136850096938693782006-01-09T16:41:00.000-07:002006-01-09T16:41:00.000-07:00Not if he could distract the clerk, and slip one u...Not if he could distract the clerk, and slip one under his shirt.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136849619830149382006-01-09T16:33:00.000-07:002006-01-09T16:33:00.000-07:00Well, Peter, thanks, at least i'd have the one sal...Well, Peter, thanks, at least i'd have the one sale--but the transatlantic postage would probably eat up the profit. <BR/>\;-Dbuddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136849379800659012006-01-09T16:29:00.000-07:002006-01-09T16:29:00.000-07:00I averaged about 30/mo sales (my price was 'produc...I averaged about 30/mo sales (my price was 'producer', one step under 'wholesale, as the reefer needs and thin geo-mkt precluded my own distribution) at full creamery cap over the last 10 yrs. <BR/><BR/>I took home the leftovers after costs--about 5k/mo, the other 25k/mo going into the local 'depressed' cash economy, to feed stores and my chesse-processing ladies. <BR/><BR/>Once the State got thru with me, that 25k/mo was "zero", as it had been 15 yrs before.<BR/><BR/>Rick, wrt to Bush & the administrative-law sector, you're right, he's putting in real people and dumping the trash--and the trash lobby is utterly FURIOUS.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136848395100593742006-01-09T16:13:00.000-07:002006-01-09T16:13:00.000-07:00The crucial thing (sorry, i have to fin the story)...The crucial thing (sorry, i have to fin the story) was that, my first dozen years, i was under "Milk & Dairy Dep't". <BR/><BR/>I had no idea that technically i should've been under "Manufactured Foods Dep't". <BR/><BR/>Tho the 12 yrs of wrong regime was not my doing (I had been 'assigned' to it), the new regime came in like bulls, trying to find fault with the 12 yrs of smooth, professional dealings I'd had with M&D. <BR/><BR/>Yes, I was involuntarily in the middle of THEIR much larger turf war. <BR/><BR/>The first thing the new guy did was charge me plus interest and penalty for the 12 years of licenses from HIS dept (tho I'd been paying the other dep't for a similar operating license, for dairies). <BR/><BR/>I refused to pay the 'interst and penalty'--until I had to, to stop his recalling my product from grocery shelves. <BR/><BR/>And THAT is what put me into the crosshairs. <BR/><BR/>All the damage to me and my fine little growing business--employing ladies who had no job before or since--was done in those last three years under the new department.<BR/><BR/>A bureaucratic assassination, is what it was. I did 15 yrs hard labor on a false charge, basically, in effect, is how it ended up. <BR/><BR/>If i hadn't caught a drift of luck on real-estate and stocks, you'd have seen me on TV, "Local Farmer Arrested Driving BullDozer Into Health Dep't Building".buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136847828205335092006-01-09T16:03:00.000-07:002006-01-09T16:03:00.000-07:00Buddy,Extrapolate the behavior of the health comis...Buddy,<BR/><BR/>Extrapolate the behavior of the health comissars accross the vast spread of the federal bureaucracy and toss in thousands of meritless patronage promotions over eight years and it still does not cover one tenth of the damage done by Wild Bill and Comrade Hillary. While they were (and are) total failures at party politics they were masters at filling slots with sycophants.<BR/><BR/>On the optimistic side, Bush is the first Republican president who appears to understand the bureaucratic game AND has the talent pool to draw from in order to effect bureaucratic change. The number of fingernails being left in door jambs is another reason for the Dem hysteria. Barring the promotion of a junior level bureaucrat at the GS-13 level appears meaningless - until you repeat the process 10,000 times.Rick Ballardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082425215912372067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136847050287140742006-01-09T15:50:00.000-07:002006-01-09T15:50:00.000-07:00The business I shucked, I'd put fifteen years of 3...The business I shucked, I'd put fifteen years of 365-days/yr, 18 hrs/day effort into--and i'm not exxagerating. It gutted me, from a young strong confident guy to a divorced two-pack-a-day knees-gone slobbola. <BR/><BR/>The plan was to build a regional brand, and leave it to the kids, starting a thing that would employ people in this rural area where housewifes can't find work and the land won't support but a cow/20 acres (but far more goats), and giving my family a center so they wouldn't scatter to the winds like my sibs and I did. <BR/><BR/>And I did it, I built a local brand with 100% market-clearing (no mean trick w/ perishables), and a very loyal following. <BR/><BR/>It would've worked as planned had I not burned out, from the consequences of having insulted--and refusing to bootlick--one certain mid-manager down at the agency. One dickhead who delights in amping up his job-evaluations with tiny scalps from microbusinesses that lack the power to fight him.<BR/><BR/>So, Mark, I ain't 'The Man', I'm a shrimp under the gov't bootheel--just like you. <BR/><BR/>Difference is, I'm not welded to the Democratic party, and am thus able to think for myself about what the nation needs at this time, in a leader.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136846738974793022006-01-09T15:45:00.000-07:002006-01-09T15:45:00.000-07:00Buddy:Ahh yes, the inspectors. nasty little power ...Buddy:<BR/><BR/>Ahh yes, the inspectors. nasty little power hungry paper pushers.<BR/><BR/>I can remember milking when it was so cold the cows' tits were frost bit.<BR/><BR/>Now that takes courage.<BR/><BR/>And mark, what the hell are you talking about? I have worked all my life and I can honestly say that whether or not I made money had more to do with choices I made and did not make than it did with the man in the Oval Office.<BR/><BR/>I remember going into Home Health Care after I left the farm. Clinton was president and he cut medicare visits in home health care. Only a few weeks for each patient. The company almost went out of business and a lot of smaller ones did.<BR/><BR/>A lot of old folks lost their help too. So it seems mark that Democrats can cut social programs too.<BR/><BR/>I can also remember my taxes going up at the time too, even as my pay check was getting smaller.<BR/><BR/>thanks Bill.<BR/><BR/>Peter, you sure do seem to rub mark the wrong way. He is probably French.terryehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16609746018265953069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136845780278887362006-01-09T15:29:00.000-07:002006-01-09T15:29:00.000-07:00Terrye, if not for one good exit-decision, i'd've ...Terrye, if not for one good exit-decision, i'd've been milking goats and making cheese until i fell over dead, probably in the dung-pile. <BR/><BR/>I was lucky enough to've so offended the local regulators--who were SO swelled-up under Clinton--that they hounded me outta business (on 'reporting' technicalities, I never failed a single hygeine inspection or test). <BR/><BR/>I just wasn't big enough--what with kids in college--to hire a dedicated FDA liason, and was so close to Austin HQ that health-inspectors could take a full day 'in the field' to make a two hour round-trip to my place [keeping the staff so busy on mickeymouse that we could barely operate], and then slide on into a 6 hour lunch to finish the workday. <BR/><BR/>So I finally quit, & put dairy proceeds into the stocks of the companies I knew from my pre-farmer career in the oilpatch. <BR/><BR/>These of course are the stocks that took off on long dub & trip runs that ain't over yet, making me a real-live Haliburton war-profiteer. <BR/><BR/>And now, everyday, I say a little thank-you to Bill Clinton for ruining my little micro agri-business, while hating him for sucking me into distortions where I make a buck off the nation's bad luck with energy reserves.<BR/><BR/>Few people realize how the big guy colors the attitudes of the regulatory agencies--which operate on their own, under a thing called Administrative Law--where if you dispute the agency, your hearing is AT THE AGENCY. <BR/><BR/>Of course, if you have the $, you can seek 'legislative relief'. By the time Bush came in and the regulators had to put their codpieces back in the drawer, I was--thanks Bill--already arranging my exit.<BR/><BR/>But, my point is always the same, the people whose meal-ticket is self-appointed control of everyone else's business, have to be kept out of power--or we're Franced.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136843508637222552006-01-09T14:51:00.000-07:002006-01-09T14:51:00.000-07:00Well actually mark I keep hearing Democrats say th...Well actually mark I keep hearing Democrats say that one of the reasons we need to dump the Republicans is that the Europeans and the Brits like Galloway don't like him. And sucking up to the European socialists is so important to them.<BR/><BR/>I too am a working stiff. I have one of those jobs with odd hours. But I am not nor will I ever be rich.terryehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16609746018265953069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136843136663811952006-01-09T14:45:00.000-07:002006-01-09T14:45:00.000-07:00Geez, I missed all that--and there i was wearing a...Geez, I missed all that--and there i was wearing a horse race. I knew Mark would call me a horse racist sooner or later--it's the Burden of the Southerner. I keep a skinny old mule to help me pull stumps outta the dry crik, and Tony Soprano calls me a Cavalier.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136841822916500512006-01-09T14:23:00.000-07:002006-01-09T14:23:00.000-07:00Which is of course, for some odd reason, overwhelm...Which is of course, for some odd reason, overwhelmingly Democrat.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136841688230774252006-01-09T14:21:00.000-07:002006-01-09T14:21:00.000-07:00Actually, I meant the "Loser Pays" rule in civil s...Actually, I meant the "Loser Pays" rule in civil suits. Make a case on somebody and lose, you pay the falsely-accused's defense costs. <BR/><BR/>Extremely sound law, and the only reason we don't have it here is that Congress set an early precedent, to allow lawyers to run for office (sorry julian, vnjagvet, others--I don't mean to say the profession is bad--just the ethics-lite tort bar).buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1136840948181021762006-01-09T14:09:00.000-07:002006-01-09T14:09:00.000-07:00It ain't that all democrats are con-artists, it's ...It ain't that all democrats are con-artists, it's that all con-artists are democrats. Except maybe that damned meme-destroying Abramoff.buddy larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17760847873026506988noreply@blogger.com