● Ayatollah Rockenrolledya: Obama came up with an agreement that on the surface sounds like it will work in Iran. The goal is to negotiate a long term treaty stopping Iran from building nuclear weapons. This current deal would last six months, which would give everyone time to negotiate the longer deal. Under this deal, Iran will give up the following:
● Iran will halt (for six months) the installation of new centrifuges which are used to enrich uranium.In return, we have agreed as follows:
● Supposedly, this agreement caps and limits the amount and type of uranium Iran is allowed to enrich.
● Iran will stop working on some key components of their heavy-water reactor, which they need to produce plutonium.
● Iran will allow nuclear inspectors into Iran.
● We will let them access about $7 billion in frozen assets.As I said, on the surface, this sounds like a good deal. They stop doing bad things, we get to inspect them and watch them on a daily basis, and the price was letting them have some of their toys back. Sounds good... if it works out that way.
● We will exempt them from Obamacare.
Here’s the thing though. First, I can’t see Iran agreeing to this because we’re not giving anything up and we’re certainly not giving them what they want. So I suspect there's more to this and we should wait to hear the full price. Also, the Iranians are talented liars and they’ve played this game before of seeming to agree and then not agreeing. Nothing they’ve agreed to at this point really slows them except for a couple months tops. So I see this as nothing more than an agreement to keep talking. Still, if it works, I will happily give Obama credit for solving one of the world’s lasting problems... if it works.
As an aside, neither Israel nor Saudi Arabia are doing the happy dance about this.
That’s it for the good news.
● Afghanistan Sticking with 4th Century countries, Obama is trying to push a deal on Afghanistan in which 9,000 US troops would stay in the country to help fight off the Taliban for at least another decade. The Afghans have pushed off the vote on this horrible idea until next year because they are having problems getting their enrollment website working, but they’ll take it. Ug.
● So we’re going to continue to risk US lives to protect a cesspool of sub-humanity with no real end game.We’ve already been in Afghanistan (2001-present) more than twice as long as World War II took from start to finish (1939-1945), and adding ten more years means we will be there almost 4 times longer than World War II took. Does this strike anyone as wrong?
● Leaving a rump force only makes things a lot more dangerous for the troops who stay.
● So much for the trillion dollars in budget savings Obama was counting heavily on.
● Su casa es mi casa: Ug. China is setting up an “air defense identification zone” over some islands that Japan controls. That’s a bit like putting your mailbox in front of the neighbor’s driveway. Japan apparently has put together a plan to shoot down any drones China sends into the area, whereas China has warned that shooting down its drones would constitute “an act of war.” This could get ugly.
● Hot In The City: Public masturbation is on the rise (pardon the pun) in Vancouver. You would think this wouldn’t be a problem in Canada in the Winter, but apparently it is. Sounds like another horrible side-effect of global warming.
● The Noble Mailbox: Finally, I leave you with this thought. Have you ever thought about how incredible the mailbox is? It’s just a box, on a poll, with a door in the front and sometimes one in the back, and a little flag to alert the mailman that something is waiting inside. It’s so simple we don’t even notice it. Yet, it connects you to the world.
In this day and age of bells and whistles and operating systems and things that are obsolete by the time you buy them, think about the mailbox. It’s design cannot be improved. It is perfection, and it is elegant in its simplicity, and that is something truly special.
There is little in life that we can look at and say that we’ve found perfection, but the mailbox is one of those things. The next time you go get your mail, think about how amazing this little box is and what it says about us humans.
87 comments:
vis-a-vis mailbox design, about about designing a pneumatic tube to shoot the mail from the end of your driveway up into the house. Just saying ....
Jed, While that is possible, I suspect we will never see it because it isn't worth it value-wise to people. It's a nice walk to get your mail.
Andrew....What I find fascinating and sorta conspiracy-theorist in all this Iranian deal, is I read that Ms. Magic - Valerie Jarrett, has been doing the negotiating with the Iranians for months in secret. The same Val-Jal that was born in Shiraz, Iran. Granted to American parents, but she most likely has a warm spot in her heart for her birth country. I'm sure she negotiated only for America's best interests.
So,,,question: Can the President appoint anyone to negotiate for the USA? I just find this whole "treaty" suspect and think the US is getting rolled again. What we need to do is support putting the Prince Pahlavi back on the throne in Iran.
Patriot,
Jarret is a partisan hack. And, yes, Obama can appoint anyone to negotiate for the USA. As long as they are neither fiction nor dead, he can appoint them.
1. The Iran deal sounds reasonable, but I'm pessimistic (yes, I know you are all shocked) about Iran giving up its nuclear ambitions. The world community (including the US) has in the past accepted nuclear weapons once obtained as fait accompli.
Its the countries that don't have nukes that get hammered so a country which likes to provoke its enemies by dabbling in terror attacks has a strong incentive to obtain them.
While Iran getting nukes would suck, I don't see how its preventable. Destroying Iran's buried and scattered nuclear program would take an occupation (find and blow up everything, kill or capture everyone in the program) and an invasion of Iran (which unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, has a very strong tradition of suicide bombings) would make our prior wars in the region look like the invasion of Panama.
Even regime change/democracy wouldn't end Iran's nuclear ambitions because nukes are kind of to countries what sports cars are to guys in mid-life crises so the nuke program boasts very broad popular support.
On the upside, I think a nuclear Iran would be something the world could live with. Iran is happy to send deluded fools to their deaths, but as with Al Queda, even the most radical elements of the leadership are in no rush to collect their 72 virgins.
As I've noted before, Islamists in presidential palaces make very different calculations than Islamists living in hidden caves.
If Obama somehow proves me wrong, I'll be thrilled.
2. As for Afghanistan, let's leave the graveyard of empires behind. Going in was necessary after 9/11 but there is no winning there and nothing worth winning. We can use drones to kill whoever needs killing.
Of course, nuclear armed Pakistan is a worry, but while there is a strong connection between Al Queda and Pakistan (the Taliban came from Pakistan) boots on the ground in Afghanistan won't keep whatever is going to happen in Pakistan from happening.
I also notice that Afghanistan is planning to reintroduce stoning as a punishment. Oh well, at least we introduced them to democracy and all. (sigh)
As far as the Iran deal goes, all that's missing from this accomplishment are the newspapers proclaiming "Peace In Our Time."
RE: The Mailbox -- It’s design cannot be improved.
Except by decorating it to look like a bloated cow.
Well, the US and especially Obama has been such an incompetent loser with regard to Iran, it has forced an alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia. See, The One does bring people together!
Ha ha! The Denver Post is reporting that signup for Obamacare in Colorado is "less than half what they expected under the worst case scenario." LOLOLOL! This is after weeks of them telling us that Colorado is doing great! :D
Patriot, Obama can appoint anyone he wants to negotiate, but the more hackish they are, the harder it will be to get anyone else to get onboard. And this deal will require Senate approval
Right now, I tend to see this agreement as nothing more than a good faith exchange to keep talking. They haven't actually agreed to anything that is difficult for either side to accept, so this is only about 1% of the ultimate solution.
Kit, True, though I suspect Obama wouldn't appoint a fictional character if his aides didn't tell him not to.
TOTUS: "What? Uh, What do you mean Charlie Brown isn't real?"
Anthony, I agree across the board. I think there is no way to stop Iran short of all-out invasion and we aren't going to do that. So we need to think about an effective plan B and that involves making them more responsible. I think that is possible, but it will require some sort of shared influence in the region. It's a tricky balance, but it's ultimately the only solution.
Totally agree on Afghanistan. Staying is pointless. That just gives Islamists easy targets to go after, it gives them a cause, it does nothing the fix Afghanistan, and it weakens our military. Staying is a mistake.
I would actually suggest that our best plan is to part Afghanistan out and let the neighbors have the parts that are most like them.
T-Rav, It's all those hippies. They're big on stoning.
tryanmax, That is true. LOL! Actually, I love that people decorate and personalize their mailboxes. There's just something so perfectly human about this. We all have this perfect box... and mine should look like a cow. :)
Koshcat, LOL! That's some very silver lining thinking! :D
The Saudi-Iran thing goes back to at least World War 2. There has always been friction between the conservative monarchies and the revolutionary republics. The dynamic has shifted a bit with the rise of Islamism and it replacing old era Arab Nationalism (think Ba'athists) which was usually more Communist/Marxist than Islamist.
The most prominent Arab Nationalist was Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, the most prominent Islamists are/were Bin Laden and Ayatollah Khomeini
The old Arab Nationalists thought of the monarchies as being outdated imperialist stooges (which, to a certain extent, was a bit correct), or some other Marxist term, while the Islamists think of the monarchies as being decadent and corrupt (which is largely true).
So, there you are. You now have the "Secular" Nationalist Republics that are holdovers from Nasserism and Arab Nationalism (Syria, Egypt), the Islamist Revolutionary Republics (Iran), and the traditionalist monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Jordan).
Note: I use "traditionalist" and "conservative" to describe the monarchies because there is no better word I can think of, even though some of them are fairly liberal when compared to, say, Iran. Emphasis on the word "fairly".
Kit, You also have the Shia v. Sunni issue, with Saudi Arabia being hardcore Sunni and Iran being hardcore Shia, with both sponsoring their own terrorists, and both sides seeing the other as heretics.
That too.
Any thoughts on the noble mailbox?
By the way, even when these countries have joined together to fight Israel, they will still find ways to try and stab each other in the back.
That they do.
They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
re mailbox?
Not much. You seem to be right.
"the Iranians are talented liars" Just like the House of Saud!
While the Iranian story might be grabbing the headlines, the China-Japan row is far more worrying. Whereas the Iran thing could, at worst, result in a local war similar to 1991 Gulf War or the Iran-Iraq War, the China Japan thing could become a World War between the US and China.
Public Masturbation in Vancouver? Between that and the cocaine snorting Mayor of Toronto it seems that Canada is having a rough news cycle.
A World War at worst.
But still, the dangers of a fight with China are much bigger than a scuffle w/ Iran.
Kit, The Japan thing is much more worrying. That has the potential to turn into a massive war if they aren't careful. At the very least, it will likely get Japan to re-arm, which isn't great for the region either... or for us, as we are the Sheriff around there.
Also along those lines, China is getting really belligerent in its rhetoric. They just launched a nuclear sub with a boast that they could not strike every city in America with nuclear weapons. Not very friendly.
Mailboxes are awesome my friend... worship the noble mailbox!
Yeah, Canada seems to be having issues at the moment. It should be fun to see what they do next. :)
The South Koreans do not like what China is doing either.
Lets hope things don't go 1914 on us with China.
Let's hope.
Andrew....I know treaties are supposed to be "approved" by the Senate, but what if Obama ignores them and "deems" the treaty an "understanding" and not a treaty? Of course the understanding would have the full weight of the United States behind it, regardless of what that "do-nothing" Senate does.
I don't put anything past this clown. "Past clown"......"pass clown"...."ass clown". That's the ticket!
Regarding O's gal pal Val Jar, think anyone (press) will ask Carney what her role in all this was? What am I thinking......I can hear his response now..."We are looking into this and I can't comment on an ongoing investigation."
Patriot, He can't deem it into existence... not legally possible. Besides, we're not actually doing anything, so there's nothing to deem except to continue negotiations.
As for Jarret, she's a troll, but so is his entire administration.
Any thoughts on mailboxes? They think highly of you, you know. :)
I think the release of the $7b in frozen assets could be done by executive order, since I think that is how they were frozen back in the Carter years but I could be mistaken.
Sending Valerie Jarret to negotiate a deal is basically like Bush sending Karl Rove to negotiate a deal.
I think that's right about the assets. And yeah, Darth Jarret is basically the mirror image of Darth Rove.
Or Nixon sending H.R. Haldeman to China instead of Kissinger.
"Darth Jarret is basically the mirror image of Darth Rove."
Well, to quote the Right Honourable Francis Urquhart, "A man of state needs helpers, little elves and sprites to do his bidding."
Or, in this case, soulless partisan hacks.
Kit, Only Spock could go to Romulus.
As for soulless partisan hacks, that about as close as it gets to elves in DC.
>>Public masturbation is on the rise (pardon the pun) in Vancouver. You would think this wouldn’t be a problem in Canada in the Winter, but apparently it is.>>
You answered your own question, AP: combat winter shrinkage with bringing one's maple leaf to fullest bloom. Oy, leave it to me to focus on the masturbation story ...
I like playing what if...? games. They're meaningless but fun.
What if Saudi Arabia and Israel became allies?
Eric, Personally, I think that's the wrong way to combat Winter shrinkage, but who knows?
As for picking the masturbation story, that's really what the Iran story is about too. ;-P
Koshcat, And what if they brought beer?!
Actually, it does make for an interesting alliance.
"To me it's all just mental masturbation."
S. HAGAR
Eric, Yep. Sounds about right!
My Dad pointed something out. Haldeman would've gotten us a better deal.
From what I know the guy was a real life Francis Urquhart.
Just to be a contrarian...I hate mailboxes. They are really stupid and are something only a government agency could design. I mean really, why are they domed? Mail is square, not round. Pee-shaw.
Actually, I find it interesting that mailboxes and bathrooms are our last vestiges of lines that we do not cross on pain of what...the law? I mean, if you peek into someone's mailbox, would you really go to jail? If so, I maybe I should work this into my retirement plan. If I steal someone's mail, I can get sent up the river for life (all expenses paid! medical expenses, food, lodging...kinda' like a cruise without the water.). Hey, if I steal tax returns would that send me to tax jai....okay, I'm just riffing here. I joking...really.
Bev, DO NOT SLANDER THE NOBLE MAILBOX!
Seriously, the mailbox is so awesome that I can't see this as a government achievement. They must have stumbled upon the idea and swiped it. A government designed mailbox would be12 feet high so the mailman could drive his horse right in, and would probably emit poison gas. :(
As an aside, it is funny that people do respect mailboxes for the most part. It seems sacrosanct... like smashing up a church or stealing from the Salvation Army: Thou shalt not mess with they neighbor's mailbox!
Kit, I think we got a good deal out of China. They got our jobs and we get the satisfaction of knowing they are all dying in work camps so we can have cheap sneakers. What more could you want?
1. What the heck is up with Canada? Here I always thought they were sane, drank really great beer and watched hahkey. It turns out they're just San Franciscans and Portland, Oreganders (where young people go to retire) quite literally on crack! But you've got to love them if just for their entertainment value. Seriously, who else could try to justify smoking crack by saying they were "in a drunken stupor". Yeah, that makes it sooooo much better!
2. I agree, Obama has achieved aligning Israel and Saudi Arabia. Look, Israel will do what it needs to do to protect itself. If that means nuking Iran's nuclear facilities, they will do it. They will take the heat just like they did in the '80's with Iraq. The world will publicly condemn them, but privately thank them. But don't kid yourself, if you think that the Middle East won't erupt into armageddon. We, as in Obama, have ceded our the Power and Strength of the US used in keeping the relative peace to what end? So, Obama could "pivot" away from the travesty that is Obamacare? Is he really that crazy to save his own but at the expense of the rest of the world?
3. I will think of #3 as soon as I wash the flour out of my hair...I've been baking all day!
Bev, 1. I have no idea!! Cabin fever? Mad moose disease? Maybe the whole "we are calm and polite and rational" thing was always an act? I do love that excuse though... "I was in a drunken stupor, so I'm not to blame." Using that excuse takes nerve!
2. I agree. Obama has neglected the Middle East and the Israelis and Saudis will do what they think they need to do. But in terms of the agreement itself, I think it's ultimately kind of pointless. It's just an agreement to keep talking with a $7 billion check attached. It basically changes nothing. And if Obama thinks this will distract anyone from Obamacare, then he's a fool. Foreign policy interests fewer people than a course on Medieval Pleasantries.
As a distraction, this is like walking into a theater showing Star Wars and yelling, "Come with me! Crossfire is on television!"
3. Yum, cookies. :D
Well, the Falklands (helped) save the then troubled Thatcher Government, but then again, that was an actual war.
Star Wars original release or Special Edition?
Andrew - I will ask my sister in law...she is Canadian and seem so sane, but I have to wonder...;-)
2. Obama IS a fool and does think that "PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST BECAUSE WE HAVE MADE A DEAL WITH IRAN" will make him look leaderly. It doesn't. It weakens the US in so many ways. Even his most stalwart yes-men (i.e. Chuckles the Schumer" are furious because they know how stupid it and pointless it is.
3. I knew I could come up with a #3! I am now in Dallas and I am sooooooo tired of the whole Kennedy thing. Just sayin'.
4. Oooh, a #4! I am going try one of your mother's cookie recipes. Wish me luck!
Bev, 4. Excellent! Which one?
3. I got sick of the JFK thing pretty quickly and I can imagine it's worse in Dallas.
2. Yep! I had to laugh that both the Democrats and the Republicans blasted Obama over this. Things are really bad when Democrats blast Obama!
1. Watch yourself. Those Canadians are crafty.
Kit, The original. The Special Edition isn't up to the task.
Are you saying Obama should invade the Falklands?
HAN SHOT FIRST!!!!!
I don't know about the Falklands. Perhaps Cuba? Maybe France, they need another invasion.
Kit, An invasion of Cuba might distract people. France would be too easy. Plus, we don't really want France.
I think I will start with the Vanilla Kipfernln...you Austrians with your too many consonants!
OMG! Dallas is trying to make amends for 50 years of...guilt. Flags at half staff...my parents are over it. Ooh, but my mother told me something that I didn't know. Oooh, ooh, off topic...but, remember the story about my mother almost being fired for feeding Gov. Connally chili? Well, actually it was "beef stew" and it was Dan Rather who reported on national tv that Gov. Connally wasn't eating (as if he was too snobby to eat the hospital food) and it was the the head of hospital, W.C. Price who almost fired her. He was furious that Connally wasn't being treated properly. My mother (remember, not a shrinking violet) reminded Mr. Price that perhaps wasn't eating because he was watching Kennedy's funeral at the time and wasn't hungry...
But, the Eiffel Tower...
Kit, I am thinking this may be the perfect time to invade Canada...they wouldn't notice anyway.
I think the Canadians would resist. They wouldn't want to lose their superior healthcare system.
BTW, everything is a distraction from Obamacare. Remember that.
Bev, Those are fantastic. :D
I've seen a lot of festivities in Dallas make the news this week and it all seems kind of silly. Probably 90% of Dallas residents weren't there when it happened. Silly.
Sounds like your mom wasn't going to take any garbage from anyone!
Tryanmax - But the Canadians are nervous about how they are going to supplement their "superior healthcare system", now that we've gone all Obamacare on their @ss...I think they would welcome the invasion. It would be the perfect excuse.
Kit, It's just scrap metal. Although, they did plant all those nice trees because Germans like marching in the shade. ;P
Bev, Good thinking! Let's take Canada while they're all hopped up on crack in their drunken stupors.
re Public Masturbation in Vancouver. Most of them are doing it between 5pm and 7am. Right now its 720 Vancouver time and its 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
Those must be some pretty tough perverts.
Bev and tryanmax, I would have laughed about the "superior" Canadian healthcare system... but then Obama had to go and ruin it for us. First to worst in one stinking President. :(
tryanmax, Obamacare itself is a distraction... and not just from Obamacare.
By the way, it is Benghazi or Beengassi?
Kit, How do you know when they're doing it? You don't get a newsletter do you? ;-P
Andrew, I think it's Degrassi. That was a good show. What were we talking about?
No, I don't get a newsletter. :/ I read it in a statement from the Vancouver Police.
LINK
I believe we were talking about something related to... er... um. Huh, this distraction stuff really does work! :D
Kit, LOL! Actually, I don't know why I'm laughing, there probably is a newletter out there somewhere.
Andrew said, "Any thoughts on mailboxes?"
A mailbox bit my hand once.
There will be a reckoning...
The fact that in Canada they call "Neighborhood Watch" a "Block Watch" just makes it funnier. :D
Rustbelt, Wow. And here I thought mailboxes were nonviolent. Clearly, there are some bad apples in their midsts.
Kit, Hmm. I don't get it.
You can join "Block Watch" to stop flashers.
You are just too far away from the mind of a 13 year old...
Apparently. Though I know some people who would dispute that. :)
On invading Canada...
I'm not sure that's a good idea. Everyone who's watched the NHL for any period of time knows that when a fight starts, (and the European players put up their gloves to surrender), the Canadians start swinging left and right with little care for whose teeth are about- sorry, aboot- to get knocked out.
There are just some people who go all-out Mr. Hyde when forced to not use the metric system.
You mean like the Hanson Brothers? LINK
Well, them, yeah. And these guys...
Speaking of the Metric system, what is up with that?? When I was in "school", "they" said we would be converting to "It" any day now. That was about 40 years ago. What is up with that? I blame Canada...
Whatever. We have Seann William Scott as the very underappreciated GOON!!!
Bev, I believe it was best put this way...
"Americans will never convert to the metric system because Americans are stubborn [expletive deleted], and I'm damn proud to be one of them!"
-Dee Snider ("Twisted Sister"), VH1's "I Love the 70's"
Bev, I'll go metric when they pry the cup measure from my cold dead hands. :D
Eric, I like to think we lead the world in goons. :)
Rustbelt, Nobody tops the Hanson Brothers! LOL! :)
Wasn't a system of inspectors set up to monitor the activities of Iraq after Gulf I including the production and stockpiling of Sarin gas which despite the protestation of the left in 2004 on he was doing. Every 500th shell was a gas bomb. Telling me he was not hiding "much" sarin gas when he was supposed to not have any does not mean he might as well had none.
Did we not have multiple issues with Iraq not allowing the inspectors in, not allowing the inspectors to go where they wanted and overall playing a game of shells looking for the poison gas pellet pea.
Was not this fraudulent activity the reason we had to continually bomb the country during the "truce" as no fly zones were violated and the refusal to play by the UN accords the reason we had to eventually go back to a ground war.
Now we are going to play a game of three card monte with Iran looking for the red haired plutonium bombshell queen.
How does this not lead back to war? or do we just assume a Republican will be in office when the bombs finally fly so the "right" people will take the blame for Obama's end game.
Oh well, maybe Jerusalem will look prettier if irradiated to the point that it glows in the dark, from a distance anyways.
"On the upside, I think a nuclear Iran would be something the world could live with. Iran is happy to send deluded fools to their deaths, but as with Al Queda, even the most radical elements of the leadership are in no rush to collect their 72 virgins."
First, we don´t know that for sure, Anthony. The most radical elements are not calling the shots today.
Second, history´s monsters never believed they would die. Like Hitler invading Russia, they expect to get away with it. And they often do. Hitler is the exception. Most monsters die peacefully in their beds after murdering millions.
Third, you don´t know which regime Iran will have in 10 or 20 years. Instability is our constant fear in Pakistan and that fear will double with every failed state that acquires nukes - and Iran will not be the last one either. Once the dam breaks, it´s gone forever.
Of course Iran can be stopped without an invasion or occupation. Destroy their means of producing and exporting oil - can be done in a few days - and you not only destroy their economy utterly but you put pressure on countries who give them cover who are net oil importers, like China.
The problem is, we are not ruthless enough even for that and the best time to do it was years ago.
Prohibiting a nuclear Iran would be worth the cost. There is no reason why any country in the second most dysfunctional region on Earth should have nukes. If this regime was rational, they wouldn´t run a proxy war against Israel and the US. They wouldn´t try to destabilize their Sunni neighbors. Never mind what they are doing to their own minorities.
Some will say, we could live with the Soviet Union. But the Soviet Union and its proxies killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions of others under the cover of MAD. Let us be honest: this time, we had a choice.
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