Blog of the Week of December 26, 2011   Old is New

~The J-Bagger by Fork
 

Schumer bags a judge.

Schumer bags a judge.

Oh. Hi. Ho. A-way up yo.

Schumer bags a judge. ~

“Sen. Charles Schumer’s brother-in-law was quietly nominated this month to a federal judgeship in New Jersey . . .

“People involved in the judicial-nomination process in New Jersey told The Post they believe the surprise nomination was a naked political maneuver by the 87-year-old Lautenberg to stay in Schumer’s good graces. Lautenberg is worried that party elders will try to push him out of his beloved Senate seat because of his advanced age — something that Schumer, one of the party’s top opinion makers and fund-raisers, would be able to stop.”

“Schumer bro-in-law judge nod stuns NJ” By JOSH MARGOLIN, NYPOST.COM, December 26, 2011

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/he_schu_in_XaoXJibNNI16jjroHK7aUM

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~ What a country ~ 

"A wealthy Chinese couple have [sic] been evicted from their home, after the country’s strict one-child-family enforcers discovered they had eight babies.

"The unnamed couple, from the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, had four boys and four girls over a two-month period last year – with the help of two surrogate mothers – but kept the children a secret.

. . .

“The area’s deputy health chief said: ‘Why did they have to hire so many people to have babies for them? Did they think they had the right to bear children just because they were rich? Secondly, what respect to life did they show? Multiple pregnancies are super risky.’ ” 

“Wealthy Chinese couple forced to flee home after neighbours discover they have EIGHT babies” By Daily Mail Reporter, dailymail.co.uk, December 23, 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078050/Rich-couple-beat-Chinese-child-family-law-secretly-having-EIGHT-babies.html

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~ This time, the other Big O clutches the Constitution:  tough luck, Iraqis all; you cannot vote in the next major American election. ~

~ Like is this like bashing Bush’s War? ~

“Sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq escalated within days of the United States military’s withdrawal, but officials said in interviews that President Obama had no intention of sending troops back into the country, even if it devolved into civil war.”

“U.S. Embraces a Low-Key Response to Turmoil in Iraq” By HELENE COOPER and THOM SHANKER, nytimes.com, December 24, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/world/middleeast/us-loses-leverage-in-iraq-now-that-troops-are-out.html?_r=1&hp

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~ Sharia coming soon to your neighborhood? ~

~ Iran’s short on stones?  No surprise, there. ~

“Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 44-year-old mother of two, was convicted of conducting an ‘illicit relationship outside marriage’ in 2006 and has since been kept in Tabriz prison in the west of Iran.

“Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of the judiciary in East Azerbaijan, said on Sunday that the prison does not have the ‘necessary facilities’ to carry out the sentence of stoning. Therefore, he said, authorities are considering hanging as an alternative.”

“Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could be hanged in Iran: Judiciary officials exploring whether woman whose sentence to death by stoning was suspended can be hanged instead” by Saeed Kamali Dehghan, guardian.co.uk, 26 December 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/26/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-hang-iran

. . . . . . .

“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man's thoughts.”  Louis Aragon, né Andrieux

~ When is a slur not a slur?  Dunno?  When it’s a smirch, saying something stoopid, a slough, smudge, splotch, spot, stain, or stigma. ~

“He can't even run his own life

I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine...”

“Sunshine” by Jonathan Edwards, Capricorn Records, 1971

“Newt Gingrich’s campaign director said the candidate is viewing the setback in Virginia, in which he failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the state’s primary, as an ‘unexpected setback’ similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“ ‘Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941,’ campaign director Michael Krull wrote on the Gingrich Facebook page.”

“Gingrich camp likens Virginia ballot setback to Pearl Harbor” By Jonathan Easley, thehill.com, 12/25/11

. . . . . . .

“The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion.” Bodhidharma

“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”  Douglas H. Everett

~ Do you reckon there’s an Arabic word for nut-ball, whack job, loony, dupa, or the like? ~

~ There is potential for depravity in theocracy as in any governance.  Sayin' just seems easier. ~

“Radical Islamist Anjem Choudary, the jihadist who once called for the execution of the pope and whose militant group even asked if ‘the assassination of President Obama is legal’ — has released a Christmas message in which he asserts that Jesus, if alive today, would be a practicing Muslim. Not only that but, according to Choudary, Jesus (who he refers to as “Isa”) would also be leading the crusade to free ‘Muslim land’ and implement sharia law across the world.

“The militant also claims that ‘Christmas has many evils associated with it’ and that the ‘pagan holiday’ is something that ‘Muslims must put on their agenda, to forbid and to invite people away from’ by bringing them into Islam.

. . .

“Indeed, Jesus will return one day, and he will break the cross, and he will pray behind the Muslims. He will declare with them that indeed, he believes in the finality of the message of Muhammad, and in Islam.”

“Faith Islamist Anjem Choudary’s Christmas Message: If Jesus Was Alive Today He Would Be Muslim and Implement Sharia Law”, by Tiffany Gabbay, theblaze.com, December 26, 2011

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/islamist-anjem-choudarys-christmas-message-if-jesus-was-alive-today-he-would-be-muslim-and-implement-sharia-law/ 

. . . . . . .

“Arrogance diminishes wisdom”   Arabian Proverb quotes

"It is good to strike the serpent's head with your enemy's hand."  Chinese Proverb

“Paul Goldman, a Richmond lawyer who is a former Virginia Democratic party [sic] chairman, is helping represent a conservative group in challenging Newt Gingrich's disqualification from the Old Dominion ballot on March 6, Super Tuesday.

. . .

" ‘[T]his isn't a partisan or even candidate specific thing, but far more important, about the right to vote in Virginia on the presidency,’ Goldman wrote.”

“Paul Goldman helps Newt Gingrich with Virginia ballot” By MIKE ALLEN, politico.com, 12/26/11

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70866.html 
. . . . . . .

~What a difference an election makes - just 5 little years ago. ~

~ Have you considered that Newtie’s just a political shadow of a former self long-gone bye-bye, now appearing to be whatever in order to gitrdun?  Ya know, like the physics concept of length and width without depth.  You can see it, but holdin’ on just cain’t be done. ~

~ ’Nuff said. ~

“Gingrich ’06 Memo: ‘“Agree Entirely With Gov. Romney’ on Health Care”  By Jonathan Karl, abcnews.com, December 27, 2011

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/gingrich-06-memo-agree-entirely-with-gov-romney-on-health-care/

. . . . . . .

“Is that all there is, is that all there is.
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancin”

“Is That All There Is?” By Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, [mid?]1960s

~ Check it out:  “Hillary Clinton's Skeleton Closet” by People For Real Change, 2008

http://www.realchange.org/hillary.htm, among others ~

~ Shows character . . . of the admirers. ~

~ Come one!  Come all!  Shake the hands of the most admired.  Hot shower with ever shake. ~

“Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Again Top Most Admired List:  Clinton Most Admired Woman a record 16th time” by Jeffrey M. Jones, gallup.com, December 27, 2011

http://www.gallup.com/poll/151790/Barack-Obama-Hillary-Clinton-Again-Top-Admired-List.aspx

. . . . . . .

"They are like rats my son, deserving a sinking ship!" from The Borgias - said by Pope Alexander VI; said to Cesare; Episode “Poncianito”

“Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska announced his retirement from the Senate Tuesday, delivering a serious blow to Democratic efforts to hold on to the majority in the chamber next November.”

“Ben Nelson retiring from Senate” By JOHN BRESNAHAN, politico.com, 12/27/11 orig.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70879.html

. . . . . . .
 

“Desperate men do desperate things, and stupid men do stupid things.”  Hunter Stockton Thompson

~ Ya think the Gangrich’s the sorta toady whom the big guys’d beat on just to hear him squeal and watch him go fetal? ~

" ‘I think Barack Obama is very destructive to the future of the United States. I think Ron Paul's views are totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent American, ’ Gingrich said Tuesday in a CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer.

“Could he vote for Paul?  ‘No.’  If it came down to Paul vs. Obama?  ‘You'd have a very hard choice at that point.’ "

“Gingrich Unloads on Paul: Worse Than Obama” By Jill Lawrence, nationaljournal.com, December 27, 2011

http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2011/12/gingrich-unloads-on-paul-worse.php
. . . . . . . .

~ There’s way too much of such protestin’ goin’ on out there. ~

“Huckabee Says Paul Supporters Not ‘Mainstream America’ ” by godfatherpolitics.com, December 27, 2011

http://godfatherpolitics.com/2846/huckabee-says-paul-supporters-not-mainstream-america/

. . . . . . .
 

~ No warrant, no probable cause, no knock, no record, no lawyer, no charge, no hearing, no release, no vote, no property, no privacy.  Now, no name. ~

[From Forbes orig., “Federal Judge Green Lights IRS Search For California Gift Tax Cheats” by James Novack, December 18, 2011]

“A federal district court judge [Morrison Cohen England Jr., Bush II appointee] has given the Internal Revenue Service permission to serve a ‘John Doe’ summons on the California State Board of Equalization demanding the names of residents who transferred property to their children or grandchildren for little or no money, from 2005 to 2010.”

“IRS Given More Power to Increase Revenue by Joel McDurmon” by The Godfather, godfatherpolitics.com, December 27, 2011

http://godfatherpolitics.com/2866/irs-given-more-power-to-increase-revenue/
. . . . . . .

~ No warrant, no probable cause, no knock, no record, no lawyer, no charge, no hearing, no release, no vote, no property, no privacy, no name.  No internet? ~

“SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act), also known as H.R. 3261, could end free speech on the internet, all in the name of protecting us from the nebulously defined on-line piracy problem. Sounds like a noble idea until you realize that if passed, a new government enforcement agency will be established, funded by tax dollars, and filled with government bureaucrats who will have to justify their existence by investigating complaints from every malcontent trolling the internet with a copyright claim.

“This piece of legislation would destroy the internet. Website owners would reluctant to post content because for fear that someone will claim copyright infringement.”

“The Most Dangerous Bill in Congress: SOPA” by The Godfather, godfatherpolitics.com, December 27, 2011

http://godfatherpolitics.com/2861/the-most-dangerous-bill-in-congress-sopa/

. . . . . . .

~ Are the Chicoms doing The Bernanke?  Or is The Bernanke doing the Chicoms? ~

“Gold exchanges in China outside of two in Shanghai are to be banned, authorities said in a statement released on Tuesday.”

“China Clamps Down on Gold Trading Frenzy” by Reuters, December 27, 2011

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45794782

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~ Some lists are way funner than other lists, ya know?  Ya know. ~

“Now Judicial Watch has released the Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians list.”

“America’s Most Corrupt Politicians” by Giacomo, December 30, 2011

http://godfatherpolitics.com/2887/americas-most-corrupt-politicians/ 

~ The little people.  The lit-tle peo-ple.  God bless you, l-i-t-t-l-e p-e-o-p-l-e. ~

~ Mooch: cadge; scrounge; sponge; schnorrer; bum; freeload; grub; doin’ what comes naturally to some ~

~ Q:  So mooch or not so mooch?
A:  What’s the freakin’ question? ~

“Mrs. Obama takes extravagant vacations to Spain and southern Africa. The president golfs obsessively and is currently dining at Honolulu’s ritziest restaurants. All while asking their fellow Americans to “sacrifice” during this time of not plenty.

“And they blow $4 million – mostly taxpayers’ money – on a vacation, while wondering if the small people can come up with $3.”