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29 February 2012



Medicine Man

The only definition I found of venery was as follows:

noun Archaic.
the gratification of sexual desire.



Are you sure it's not "murder" of crows?


I'd make that a murder of crows.


Israeli PM demands Obama commit to military action if Iran sanctions fail: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/01/israeli-pm-demands-obama-military-action-iran
“Last week, 12 senators sent the president a letter warning that he should not allow Tehran to buy time by engaging in fruitless diplomatic negotiations, expected to begin in the coming weeks.” A proposal to demand from these 12 senators a loyalty oath to the US does not seem absurd. The experienced brass warns of dare consequences of an attack on Iran for the US interests, but the senators are not bothered by the warnings since their loyalty is profit-contingent.

Morocco Bama

Consider me guilty of it, then. Well, I will be tomorrow night since it's wine night.


Dan, alnval and gizmo,
It is a murder of crows. I was working a crossword puzzle this evening and that was one of the answers. Surely, a USA Today puzzle can't be wrong. And I thought of you all!

different clue

Maybe McCaffery said it to give people a chance to rally and organize pressure against it and lower the chances of the Israel government actually dropping atom bombs on Iran.
(If the Israel government is really thinking of doing that rather than just trying to scare-pressure someone else into doing something).


Mr. Lang,
I don't believe in social progress, I would merely welcome it. But man is man, with all his shortcomings and vices. A tribal mindsets is part of that, and that is a powerful force.

My point was that, as long as the grievance exists, the Palestinians will express that grievance. A secular person would express his views in secular terms. A Marxist will express it in terms of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. A religious person will express it religiously, and will search for and find religious arguments. My grandma, bless her, vetoed my dad being sent to an Adolf Hitler school because that would have been godless. People use the language they have.

As for group identity, religious or secular, of course that matters. And of course shared religion is a powerful bond. Yet I would narrow it down: It's not the group identity per se that kills. What makes group identity murderous is the extent to which it becomes exclusive.

That's what kills. It doesn't matter what the mortar holding together the group is - religion, ethnicity, social status, some ideology. The murderous part begins when groups decide they cannot coexist at the status quo any more.



As I recall "A Murder of Crows" was the title of a Lord Peter Wimsey story. pl



You are far too dismissive about this. You sound like all the social scientists in the word who want to know "what is REALLY going on." Islam specofically defines itself as an exclusive world community obeying God's will. The arguments among them are over deciding what is God's will. pl


@MB wine night....

but that would be vinery or maybe oenery, wouldn't it?

William Fitzgerald

Pat Lang,

I know McCaffrey or, rather, Iknew him, way back when he was a captain. He was a good fellow then and had good reputation as a company commander. My impressions don't jibe with what you heard about him not taking care of his men.

I think the remarks about Israel attacking Iran with nuclear weapons reflects reality. That is an option and we've heard repeatedly and ad nauseam from the Israeli and American governments that "all options are on the table". Having said that, I still can't conceive of Israel being that insane.


Morocco Bama

It would be both. Double Jeopardy. That about covers it, so I guess, considering that, I'm also plenery.



I was a good company commenader. So what? That was 40 years ago.

"I still can't conceive of Israel being that insane."

Why? pl

William Fitzgerald

Pat Lang,

I'm thinking that even the more messianic members of the cabinet and IDF realize that a nuclear attack on another nation would be a catastrophe for Israel. Still, I havn't heard anyone exclude the nuclear option from all the options on the proverbial table.

Yes, it was a long time ago, just thought Id contribute a personal impression


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