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30 April, 2008

Genocide in Pajamas

There seem to be very few defenders of comprehensive freedom of speech. The Left defend their right to say their stuff and attack the rights of others while Christians attack "obscene" speech and often lose in defending their own speech. The end result is that everybody feels somewhat restricted in what they can say. Even I do, libertarian though I am. Just to make sure that Google does not take any of my sites down, I always use the form "n*gger" if I have to discuss that word, for instance. I must say that I do not really understand why that small change -- which fools nobody -- makes such a big difference, but it seems to.

And what are we to make of the brave conservative bloggers at Pajamas Media? They have just expelled Gates of Vienna from their organization for using the "G-word": "genocide". GoV is a site that is devoted to defending Western civilization against Muslim attack and they frequently warn against what could happen in the future. One of the scenarios that they warned against recently was the eruption of outright war between Muslims and others in Europe, with one possible outcome of that being genocide of Muslims. The entire aim of GoV is of course to avert any such war by taking action now to defend our freedoms from attack.

GoV was quite clearly, therefore, NOT arguing for a genocide against Muslims -- quite the opposite. It aims to prevent that. But the mention of the G-word in the same sentence as a reference to Muslims was just impermissible speech to Pajamas media. What wimps and wusses they are! They have surrendered. They are doing the job of the Muslims and their Leftist allies for them. I doubt that I will ever again read or link to any of their sites. You will note that I have not done so here.

GoV have themselves been very magnanimous about the matter and have said that the Bananas in Pajamas had every right to do what they did. Undoubtedly they do but what does it say about their character or the value of reading them? Do drop by at GoV and give them what support you can.



Nationalism resurgent

With widespread ill-effects -- like food and oil shortages

The world isn't as flat as it used to be. During the long march toward globalization, international borders and trade barriers came down. Communism fell. Protectionist walls in Latin America and elsewhere were dismantled. Governments -- long prone to meddling in trade -- took a back seat to broader market forces. In a globalization manifesto, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman declared that the Internet and other planet-spanning technologies were erasing national boundaries. The world, he said in a 2005 best seller, was flat.

No longer. The global economy appears to be entering an epoch in which governments are reasserting their role in the lives of individuals and businesses. Once again, barriers are rising. Call it the new nationalism. "The era of easy globalization is certainly over," says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin, whose 1998 book, "The Commanding Heights," detailed the triumph of markets over nations, starting with British deregulation under Margaret Thatcher. "The power of the state is reasserting itself."

Just a decade ago, Asia, Latin America and Russia were on financial life support from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The U.S. was planning yet another round of global trade negotiations. The European Union was writing a constitution to shift power to Brussels from member nations. Now borrowers shun the IMF and World Bank. Trade talks are shelved. Barriers to foreign investment are rising around the world. State-owned companies are expanding, particularly in oil and gas. Public support of immigration restrictions is growing in countries from the U.S. to India.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

"Moderate" Muslim antisemitism: "Malaysian Muslim groups have called for protests when Chelsea football club visits in July because the coach, Avram Grant, and a player are Israeli. An alliance of 21 Muslim groups is angry the Malaysian authorities have given permission for the Israelis to visit the country with the London club. Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and the Malay Muslim majority is strongly pro-Palestinian. Malaysian citizens are banned by their government from visiting Israel."

UK: Elections "vulnerable to fraud": "Elections in the UK fall short of international standards with the system vulnerable to fraud, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust claims.Measures to improve choice for voters -- such as postal and electronic voting -- are actually risking the integrity of the electoral process, it said."

Multicultural nonsense: "The intellectually fascinating feature of multiculturalism is just how incoherent it quickly becomes. If one fails to accept multiculturalism, well then one is acting badly; but if one accepts multiculturalism, then no one can be blamed for anything at all since from some, however obtuse, cultural standpoint any conduct can be 'justified.' It would be far more enlightened to figure out some basic standards of human morality and then apply them to any society and culture carefully. The nihilism of refusing to judge is simply unavoidable to us -- even that refusal is a judgment and in need of rational support."

The lazy British police: "A family who dialled 999 when eight men wearing balaclavas burst into their home at 11.15pm were told by the police that they were too busy to come. Mathew Sims, 24, his partner Sarah Barham, also 24, and their two children, aged 6 and 5, ran upstairs when the men, one brandishing an axe, smashed the glass in a door that Mr Sims was trying to keep closed. Eventually the burglars left in two cars after stripping the downstairs rooms of electrical items. Three hours later the police turned up at the house - barely a mile from a police station - in Arnold, Nottinghamshire. Mr Sims said: "The minute we knew these people were in the house we rang the police, but they said it would be at least half an hour before they could come out. "No one from the police had turned up half an hour later, and when we rang again they said there was no one they could send." In a letter to the couple, Chief Inspector Andy Burton said that they deserved an apology and confirmed that an inquiry was under way." [If he had said that somebody had called him a queer, they would have been right out]

UN corruption again: "The United Nations has been accused of covering up allegations that its peacekeepers traded gold, ivory and arms with violent rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Confidential sources told the the BBC that Pakistani and Indian troops were implicated in arms deals. It is the latest scandal to hit the UN's mission to the DRC, where soldiers and officials have been accused of repeated sexual misconduct. The UN said that it investigated the accusations last year but could find no evidence that troops had supplied arms to militias. But the 18-month investigation by the BBC Panorama programme concluded that such deals had taken place, and that UN staff had been told not to pursue their investigations for fear of upsetting Pakistan - the biggest contributor of peacekeepers."

Proposed Mortgage Regulations Prompt Opposition: "The mortgage industry, facing the prospect of tougher regulations for its central role in the housing crisis, has begun an intensive campaign to fight back. As the Federal Reserve completes work on rules to root out abuses by lenders, its plan has run into a buzz saw of criticism from bankers, mortgage brokers and other parts of the housing industry. One common industry criticism is that at a time of tight credit, tighter rules could make many mortgages more expensive by creating more paperwork and potentially exposing lenders to more lawsuits."

Russian mafia trades weapons for Afghan poppies: "The heroin flooding Britain's streets is threatening the lives of UK troops in Afghanistan, an Independent investigation can reveal. Russian gangsters who smuggle drugs into Britain are buying cheap heroin from Afghanistan and paying for it with guns. Smugglers told The Independent how Russian arms dealers meet Taliban drug lords at a bazaar near the old Afghan-Soviet border, deep in Tajikistan's desert. The bazaar exists solely to trade Afghan drugs for Russian guns - and sometimes a bit of sex on the side. The drugs are destined for Britain's streets. The guns go straight to the Taliban front line. The weapons on sale include machine guns, sniper rifles and anti-aircraft weapons like the ones used in the attempt to assassinate the Afghan President Hamid Karzai last weekend."

Indiana 1, Vote Fraud 0: "You have to show a photo ID to buy beer or smokes. Now you have to show a photo ID to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold an Indiana law aimed at ending voter fraud. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the decision. Stevens said the law “is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting ‘the integrity and reliability of the electoral process’.” “We cannot conclude that the statute imposes ‘excessively burdensome requirements’ on any class of voters,” Stevens said. Indeed, the 2 plaintiffs who sued include a snowbird who was registered to vote in both Florida and Indiana. She was refused permission to vote in Indiana because she flashed her Florida driver’s license. In short, the law works."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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29 April, 2008

The Moment of Truth for the Left has Arrived

If you haven't listened to Jeremiah Wright's hate sermons at Hugh Hewitt's website, you must do so. Every American with open eyes and ears has to listen to the voice of racial hatred, coming not from the Klan but from a clergyman of the Christian Left. Reading his words isn't enough, because you won't hear the unmistakable meaning of his vocal intonations. If you are a person of good will you will feel upset. But it's of the utmost importance to understand this moment of truth.

Because Jeremiah Wright -- the respectful word "Reverend" seems grotesquely out of place now -- is shouting out the slander catechism of the Left. His sermons say exactly what other Leftists say in calm voices, over and over again. Mr. Wright just does it with real, raw hatred, and every new slam is cheered on by his jubilant congregation. His is not a lone voice. He just sings the music to fit the words.

We have been nursing a viper in our national bosom. Seven years after September 11, 2001, this is the moment of truth, when the Left must finally decide what side it's on. Wright's sermons may signal the end of the Obama campaign, and they may mean the breakup of the Democratic Party as we know it. I don't see how any centrist Democrat can still belong to this party if Obama is its nominee. Jeremiah Wright may mean the historical end of the Civil Rights Era, because fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Left's presumption of victimhood and innocence is now gone.

The Rev is only the visible bulge of this lethal political tumor. This is Saul Alinsky's sociopathic teachings on display, and this is what Hillary Clinton learned back at Wellesley College. It is the voice of feminists who hate all men, and of radicalized blacks who hate all whites.

Hate mongers collect injustices. If you and I did that, we could collect an endless laundry list about all the bad things somebody did to us. Maybe we have been hurt by men, or by women. Maybe we have been hurt by rich people, or by the angry poor. Maybe we have been hurt by Jews or blacks or whites, and we can put all our built-up rage on their heads. It's been done many times in the human past; that's exactly the psychology we see at work in Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, and various Muslim nations (among others), when explosive massacres take place. Mob psychology has been manipulated by demagogues throughout history. This is simply the another version of the Kluxers and Jim Crow lynch mobs. Today I see that psychology clearly enough on the Left, but outside of the ranting rooms of verifiable paranoids I don't see it many other places in this country....

For Jeremiah Wright, the enemy comes with a white skin. He has taken historical injustices and turned them into a lifelong call for vengeance. This is the official doctrine of Black Liberation Theology, and it is freely supported by powerful institutions on the religious Left. BLT's founder, Dr. Jim Cone, is a professor of systematic theology at the Union Theological Seminary. It's utterly bizarre but true.

So the entire American body politic has a festering sore on its hands. This will not go away by itself. It will not be bought off by more money. It must be repudiated by the sensible Left, if it is still there. Just as William F. Buckley denounced the anti-Semites on the right, and sensible Americans rejected segregation and the Klan, just as American unions expelled Stalinist unions from the AFL-CIO, the time has come for the decent Left to draw a bright line in the sand, and keep the hate mongers out.

More here

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Good humour from GWB

At the recent White House dinner:

"Senator McCain's not here," Bush said of GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain. "He probably wanted to distance himself from me a little bit. You know, he's not alone. Jenna's moving out too."

Bush then referred to scandals that have dogged the campaigns of the two remaining Democratic candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, in explaining their absence: "Hillary Clinton couldn't get in because of sniper fire and Senator Obama's at church."

Jenna is, of course, getting married. One of the other three is going to have to learn their comedy timing for next year's event.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Blacks honour black hatred: "The Rev. Jeremiah Wright gave a sermon this morning at the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. He received a standing ovation. FOX News reported: "The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the embattled pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama, gave a 45-minute sermon on Sunday that included a reference to his "public crucifixion" for past comments from the pulpit. Wright received a standing ovation from the 4,000 worshippers at Friendship-West Baptist Church, The Dallas Morning News reported on its Web site." Al Sharpton was an honored guest at the church earlier in the month. [Wright was indeed crucified -- by his own words]

Different But Equal? "Jake Tapper tells us about Jeremiah Wright's speech to the NAACP: "The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. "Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality," he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. "Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style," he said. "They have a different way of learning." And so on. I am trying to imagine the reaction if a white figure announced that black brains were different."

Hamas blocks fuel supplies for Gaza: "Hamas militiamen in the Gaza Strip on Sunday attacked fuel trucks headed toward the Nahal Oz border crossing, forcing them to turn back, sources in the Palestinian Petroleum Authority said. The fuel was supposed to go to the UN Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] and hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the sources said. "Dozens of Hamas militiamen hurled stones and opened fire at the trucks," the sources added. "The trucks were on their way to receive fuel supplied by Israel. The drivers were forced to turn back. Some of them had their windshields smashed." The Palestinian Petroleum Authority reached an agreement with Israel over the weekend to receive 250,000 liters of fuel after UNRWA complained that it did not have enough fuel to distribute food aid to more than 500,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

A conservative cannot be African? "Barack Obama's autobiography makes the "African-American" section in the Barnes & Noble on M Street in Georgetown. Clarence Thomas's autobiography does not. Wonder how that decision was made."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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28 April, 2008

Look Who's Talking about Change, Unity and Peace

As I get older, I become more convinced that hypocrisy and irony must be as blind as a bat, for those who practice it seem oblivious to the fact that they wear it like a clown suit at a formal wedding; plain as day, badly out of place and amusing to boot. This election year, we have provided with a classic example of this phenomenon, as evidenced by the Bobbsey Twins, Obama and Hillary, from here on referred to simply as OH for practicality, simplicity and accuracy.

To begin with, it has become painfully obvious to many that the more this duo tries to distinguish themselves one from the other, the more we realize that they are two sides of the same coin. They speak of change even as they are no change from typical elitist liberal socialism. They speak of change even as they represent no change from the usual Left strategy of pointing fingers at America instead of at her enemies. They speak of change even as the only thing they seem capable of changing is a tire, and certainly not any tire that would take America anywhere productive.

You can change clothes, you can change diapers and you can change the channel on your television set, but you have a better chance of finding change at a nudist colony than you have of finding it between these two.

Unity is another popular slogan but, if this pair is any indication, the only thing uniting liberals is their individual selfishness and arrogance undermining their collective interest and agenda. If too many cooks spoil the soup, then this soup has become a diluted, jumbled and highly intoxicating superficial stew.

OH speak of unity, brotherhood, sisterhood and neighborhood even as they prove on a daily basis that they need to check under the hood and see why their actions have never met their words. How can we believe two people who claim to be messengers of unity when they cannot even find a way to unify their own party? How can we listen to two people who ask us to hug each other when they seem more likely to slug each other? How can we heed their calls to heal our wounds when they seem more adept at rubbing salt in their own?

More here

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An elitist sneer from the Left

Michael Hirsh, writing in Newsweek, tells us what he really thinks about people who are different than he, and although I don't think he is clinging to any guns or religion, he does seem just a tad bitter at those whom he sees as having "a rather savage, unsophisticated set of mores" This is a stunning piece of self-revelation:

I've watched the Southernization of our national politics at the hands of the GOP and its evangelical base....

...the "radical nationalism" that has so dominated the nation's discourse since 9/11 traces its origins to the demographic makeup and mores of the South and much of the West and Southern Midwest--in other words, what we know today as Red State America. This region was heavily settled by Scots-Irish immigrants.... the Southern frontiersmen never got over their hatred of the East Coast elites and a belief in the morality and nobility of defying them.... a substantial portion of the new nation developed, over many generations, a rather savage, unsophisticated set of mores. Traditionally, it has been balanced by a more diplomatic, communitarian Yankee sensibility from the Northeast and upper Midwest. But that latter sensibility has been losing ground in population numbers--and cultural weight.

The coarsened sensibility that this now-dominant Southernism and frontierism has brought to our national dialogue is unmistakable. [....]

On foreign policy, the realism and internationalism of the Eastern elitist tradition once kept the Southern-frontier warrior culture and Wilsonian messianism in check. Now the latter two, in toxic combination, have taken over our national dialogue, and the Easterners are running for the hills.

There is more sneering, but fair use copyright limitations preclude further excerpts. This is a must-read for all those who doubt that elitism is a serious factor in American politics and journalism.

Source

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ELSEWHERE



Demographics: "If there was any surprise in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, it was that recent events had virtually no effect on the result. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could have stayed home for the past month and a half and the outcome would have been essentially the same. Women and older voters, for the most part, would have come out for Clinton; blacks, young people and the highly educated elite would have backed Obama. And Clinton would have ended up with a decisive victory unlikely to halt her opponent's march toward the nomination. .... But what is good for Obama now might be fatal later. Demographics don't necessarily favor him, or any Democrat, in the general election. Regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination, racially polarized voting patterns will remain a reality, argues Vincent Hutchings, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. If voters behave this year as they have in the recent past, upwards of 55 percent of whites will vote for the Republican candidate and somewhere upwards of 85 percent of blacks will vote for the Democrat. In 2000, Al Gore won an estimated 92 percent of the black votes. Hutchings doubts Obama could do any better"

British bureaucrats eat crow: "The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued an unprecedented apology to Wm Morrison for wrongly suggesting that Britain's fourth-largest supermarket group was guilty of fixing prices for butter and cheese five years ago. The competition watchdog agreed today to pay 100,000 pounds to settle a defamation case brought by the retailer over "serious errors" published in a press release last September. The OFT has also agreed to pay Morrison's costs in relation to the defamation case and a judicial review the supermarket launched in the wake of the OFT's strongly worded press release, which accused supermarkets of ripping off shoppers to the tune of 270 million. The OFT said in a statement today that its September release incorrectly stated that Morrison was the subject of a provisional finding of infringement in relation to the supply of butter and cheese in 2002 and 2003."

The corrupt EU again: "A British whistleblower who exposed alleged corruption at a European aid agency faces the sack after he told EU fraud investigators that his boss was involved in the scam. Terry Battersby, 53, from Manchester, has been removed from his job as head of information technology at the Brussels-based Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) and placed on a short-term contract. Battersby uncovered evidence that the agency's former director, Hamed Sow, who is now the energy minister of the west African country of Mali, approved the award of lucrative European Union contracts to a company in which he had a financial interest. Sow is alleged to have arranged for the CDE to back a loan of nearly 3m pounds to a textile company in Mali, without disclosing that he owned up to 20% of the company and was receiving payments from the firm. The CDE, set up to support the private sector in poor countries, receives more than 14m a year in taxpayers' money from the EU."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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27 April, 2008

U.S. military chiefs get ready for attack on Iran

The nation's top military officer said today that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a conflict with Iran would be "extremely stressing" but not impossible for U.S. forces, pointing specifically to reserve capabilities in the Navy and Air Force. "It would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability," he said at a Pentagon news conference....

In a speech Monday at West Point, Gates said Iran "is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons." He said a war with Iran would be "disastrous on a number of levels. But the military option must be kept on the table given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat."

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who was nominated this week to head all U.S. forces in the Middle East, is preparing a briefing soon to lay out detailed evidence of increased Iranian involvement in Iraq, Mullen said. The briefing will detail, for example, the discovery in Iraq of weapons that were very recently manufactured in Iran, he said. "The Iranian government pledged to halt such activities some months ago. It's plainly obvious they have not. Indeed, they seem to have gone the other way," Mullen said.

He said recent unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra had highlighted a "level of involvement" by Iran that had not been understood by the U.S. military previously. "It became very, very visible in ways that we hadn't seen before," he said.

More here

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More Brookes News

The US needs a good dose of supply-side economics: By drawing attention to the destructive effects of heavy capital gains taxes, supply-siders are have brought to light another economic fact: if you want less of a product, penalise it. As capital gains are profits that can be directed to investment, penalizing them produces less investment which in turn has a detrimental effect on real wage
George Soros, economic illiteracy and monetary policy: Soros is obviously a very successful currency speculator, but he is no theoretician or deep thinker. He has only demonstrated the adage that you do not need to be clever to make lots of money
Dan Rather: Cuba's useful idiot: Dan Rather has been long-time supporter of Castro's brutal dictatorship, continually running interference for it. Rather recently gave Americans another thoroughly dishonest account of conditions on the Castro brothers' island estate, once again revealing how corrupt the mainstream media are
It's not about saving the planet: it's about control: In the 1970s the imminent catastrophe of the day was 'global cooling'. Isn't it ironic that the same phenomenon now used to explain how the world is undergoing catastrophic warming was earlier claimed to be the source of unmanageable global cooling?
"We have met the enemy and they is us": In the past year the Democratic majority cut funding for the border fence, opened the door to illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded services and overturned a GOP proposal to prevent taxpayer-funded federal benefitsfrom being awarded to illegal immigrants
Israel: time to "Leave Egypt": Israel is on a front line of the war between Arab-Muslim expansionism and Western democracy. This war has already shifted to America and Europe
"Gay" activists risk your life - tolerate it!: Current U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood. Studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorically confirm that if MSM were permitted to give blood, the general population would be placed at risk

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ELSEWHERE

British Leftist government Takes From the Poor: "This was another bad week for Gordon Brown. Not even a year in office, the Prime Minister has already been in the soup for mishandling a banking crisis and for chickening out on early elections and an EU Constitution referendum. Now the Tories are taunting the Labour leader - who had made fighting poverty his No. 1 issue - as a tax oppressor of the poor. The charge has stuck and stung. Mr. Brown was forced Wednesday by backbenchers in his own party to mollify more than five million low-wage earners and pensioners who have seen their income taxes double to 20% this month. Even worse for a Labour leader, the tax hikes, which he passed last year when he was still Chancellor of the Exchequer but which came into force only this month, coincided with tax cuts for the middle class."

Politicians want it both ways: "It's infuriating how all three presidential candidates prattle on about the need to fight global warming while also complaining about the high price of gasoline. The candidates treat CO2 emissions as a social issue like gay marriage, with no economic ramifications. In the real world, barring a massive buildup of nuclear plants, reducing carbon dioxide emissions means consuming less energy and that means raising prices a lot, either directly with a tax or indirectly with a cap-and-trade permitting system."

Black members of the U.S. military once again outrage Japan: "Prosecutors charged a US sailor today in the stabbing death of a taxi driver, one of a series of alleged crimes by American service members that has stirred anger in Japan. Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian citizen serving in the US Navy, was charged with stabbing the driver to death near a US naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on March 19, the court said in a statement. The killing followed a string of accusations against American servicemen in Japan, stoking criticism of the 50,000 US troops in the country and calls for tougher military anti-crime measures. In a separate case, a US military policeman on the southern island of Okinawa was indicted today in an assault and robbery of a Japanese taxi driver in March, Kyodo News agency reported. The officer has been handed over to Japanese authorities. The sailor in Yokosuka today faced two charges: one of robbery and murder, and one of illegal possession of a weapon. Japanese police have said that he confessed to the crime."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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26 April, 2008

THAT WAFFLE WAS MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

Obama's now-famous remark: "Why can't I just eat my waffle?" has been much noted. Google has over 19,000 mentions of it. And the message taken from it has generally been that Obama is a haughty elitist who does not like to be questioned. I think that there is much more than that to it, however. Read the following report from last month to put it in context:

Early morning trainers and exercisers at the Greenville, Miss., YMCA on Mississippi primary day last Tuesday got a taste of Sen. Barack Obama's reclusiveness, which the traveling press corps has learned to accept.

After speaking at Tougaloo College on Monday night, Obama went to the "Y" at 6:30 a.m. for a workout. He greeted nobody and did not respond when people there called out to him. That aloofness has been the pattern in the Democratic presidential candidate's behavior toward reporters who cover him.

After finishing his workout, Obama returned to his gregarious campaign mode with a visit to black-owned Buck's restaurant in Greenville before leaving the state. He won Mississippi comfortably against Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Source

The above quote and the waffle remark are both telling us the same thing: That Obama has difficulty keeping up his "nice guy" image. Keeping it up quite simply wears him out. It is not who he really is so keeping up that image tires him and he just HAS to rest from it. It is not who he really is.

And as someone who has studied psychopathy (I have a couple of academic journal articles on the subject) that is very familiar. Psychopaths also typically present a "nice guy" image -- something that sucks in the females wholesale. The psychopath says and does all the right things and people promptly put their trust in him. And then when they least expect it, he "goes bad" on them. "Why did he do that?" is the typical distressed response, "He was so nice and then he went and did ....".

The sucker in the story gets very thoroughly betrayed and has no clue as to why the psychopath suddenly changed. The answer, of course, is that the nice guy act was all a pretense in the first place and because it was not genuine the psychopath just could not keep it up for long. The "change" that distressed the sucker was the mask being dropped and the psychopath reverting to his true type.

And that is what we see in both reports of Obama's behaviour above. By the time he got to his waffle he just could not keep up his act, even under the full glare of media scrutiny. He HAD to have a rest from acting. So the Obama we see on the campaign trail is just a false front for the very dismal soul that lies beneath it. If America elects Obama, it will not get what it voted for. It will get a horror. An entire nation will have been conned.

Bill Clinton is a psychopath too. He too is known for suddenly "losing it" at times. But Slick Willy was led around by his penis. Obama will probably be led around by the hate that he sucked up in listening to 20 years of Jeremiah Wright's preaching.

*******************

ELSEWHERE

Hillary refuses to concede North Carolina: "Sen. Hillary Clinton is widely expected to lose North Carolina's Democratic presidential primary on May 6, but that isn't stopping her campaign from spending millions of dollars on advertising and holding rallies in dozens of communities throughout the state. Sen. Clinton wants to avoid the kind of blowout loss to Sen. Barack Obama she suffered in South Carolina in January. She is trying to demonstrate the breadth of her support to Democratic elected officials and other superdelegates who will sway the decision on the party's nomination. North Carolina has a large population of the economically hard-hit rural white voters among whom Sen. Clinton has fared well in recent contests."

British prison absurdity: "Prisoners are passing up opportunities to escape because they are more comfortable inside jails where there is a plentiful supply of cheap drugs, according to a prison officers' union leader. Staff morale is at rock bottom and many jails are close to anarchy because of underfunding, said Glyn Travis, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers Association. He gave warning yesterday that the drug problem was now "out of control" and said that even prostitutes were sometimes smuggled in. Mr Travis told of one institution in Yorkshire where members of the public were climbing over the prison walls to take drugs inside. "They put up ladders to climb over the walls, but prisoners were so comfortable in the environment they were living in that none tried to climb up the ladders and escape," he said, in a reference to Everthorpe Prison in East Yorkshire."

Iraqis winning: "When Nouri al-Maliki launched his surprise attack against the main Shia militia in Basra, the operation appeared to be a disastrous miscalculation pitting inexperienced Iraqi soldiers against well-armed and battle-hardened street-fighters of the Mahdi Army... One month on and Iraq’s leader can justifiably claim to have scored a stunning victory, probably the first of its kind by the post-Saddam Iraqi army. The most notorious areas of Basra are now under government control, the Mahdi Army of Moqtadr al-Sadr has been roundly defeated and the long suffering people of Basra are celebrating freedoms they did not enjoy during the four years of British military rule in the city."

Israeli Ambassador calls Jimmy Carter a "bigot": "Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter "a bigot" for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters. The ambassador's harsh words for Carter came days after the ex-president met with Mashaal for seven hours in Damascus to negotiate a cease-fire with Gaza's Hamas rulers. Carter then called Mashaal on Monday to try to get him to agree to a one-month truce without conditions, but the Hamas leader rejected the idea. The ambassador called last weekend's encounter "a very sad episode in American history." He said it was "a shame" to see Carter, who had done "good things" as a former president, "turn into what I believe to be a bigot."

What happened to the 4th Amendment ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures?: "Federal agents at the border do not need any reason to search through travelers' laptops, cell phones or digital cameras for evidence of crimes, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, extending the government's power to look through belongings like suitcases at the border to electronics. The unanimous three-judge decision reverses a lower court finding that digital devices were 'an extension of our own memory' and thus too personal to allow the government to search them without cause. Instead, the earlier ruling said, Customs agents would need some reasonable and articulable suspicion a crime had occurred in order to search a traveler's laptop. "

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

****************************



25 April, 2008

Red hair and another seder recollection

A VERY late arrival (about halfway through the seder) at my table was what I took to be a mother/son couple. The son was a serious but polite young man who arrived wearing what the Scots would call "trews": pants with a sort of loud tartan check in them. I gather that he was a rock musician of some sort (I know nothing about popular music. I am a Bach man). I am searching for the right word to describe the impression I got of him: "Eccentric" comes close but only in a way that is in my experience rather to be expected of pop musicians. I was for a time involved in selling music computers (Atari STs) so I got to see a lot of pop musicians at that time. And they do rather seem to live in a world not much influenced by convention.

He had VERY red hair which he wore VERY long -- and a short red beard to go with it. And his skin was VERY fair -- the sort of light-red colour that I recollect my father as having. My father was also a redhead. So how was this unusual person greeted by those present? He was greeted with great affection by many people. They had obviously known him for some time and loved him for the individual that he is.

I was greatly impressed by that. I too value individuality greatly and tend to find eccentrics most interesting. And I am MOST biased in favour of red hair. My first girlfriend was a redhead; The first lady I lived with was a redhead and two of the four ladies I married were redheads. And it gives me great joy to see redheaded children -- which I often do in the places that I frequent. I am most pleased with my son the mathematician (Yiddisher Mommas stereotypically like to refer to "My son the doctor" but I have a feeling that "My son the mathematician" trumps that) but there is a tiny twinge of regret that he is a blond rather than a redhead. There is red hair on his mother's side as well as on mine so it could have been.... I don't really know why I am mentioning these things but why not?

******************

The Democrats Have a Nominee

Says Dan Henninger of the WSJ

So what? Other than ensuring the Greatest Show on Earth will continue, does it matter that Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama Tuesday in Pennsylvania by nine-plus points? Barack Obama is the nominee. No matter how many kicks the rest of us find in such famously fun primary states as Indiana and South Dakota, it's going to be McCain versus Obama in 2008.

I believe the cement set around the Clinton coffin last Friday. The Obama campaign announced it had received the support of former Sens. Sam Nunn of North Carolina and David Boren of Oklahoma. Both are what some of us nostalgically call Serious Democrats. They represent what the party was, but is no more: sensible on national security, spending and middle-class values. Obama receiving their imprimatur is like hands reaching out from the graves of FDR, JFK and LBJ to announce: "Enough is enough. This man is your nominee. Go forth and fight with the Republicans." Make no mistake: Superdelegates with sway took notice.....

Sam Nunn and David Boren by political temperament should be in her camp. Instead, they threw in with Obama, who calls his campaign "post-partisan," a ludicrous phrase. The blowback at ABC's debate makes clear that Obama is the left's man. So what did Messrs. Nunn and Boren see? The biggest event was the Clinton Abandonment. In a campaign of surprises, none has been more breathtaking than the falling away of Clinton supporters, loyalists . . . and friends. Why? Money. Barack Obama's mystical pull on people is nice, but nice in modern politics comes after money. Once Barack proved conclusively that he could raise big-time cash, the Clintons' strongest tie to their machine began to unravel. Today he's got $42 million banked. She's got a few million north of nothing....

Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania prove it won't be easy. Barack Obama himself said Tuesday night, "I'm not perfect." He heads to the nomination freighted with all the familiar Democratic tensions that keep a Sam Nunn off the ballot: race and gender obsessions, semipacifism and you bet, bitter white voters. So be it. For modern Democrats, winning the White House always requires some sort of magic to get near 50%. For the Clintons, that bag is empty. The Democrats have a new magician. It's Obama.

Source

**********************

ELSEWHERE

Where's the food?: "In the 1830s, Richard Cobden and John Bright started a campaign against the protectionist laws that were keeping food prices high in Britain. After sustaining abuse for many years, they persuaded the government in 1846 to repeal the infamous Corn Laws, a move that helped usher in a long period of prosperity. I have been thinking intensely about these 19th-century heroes lately. The world needs a new Anti-Corn Law League, the movement they founded, if it wants to put a stop to the madness of escalating food prices and save millions of people, from Haiti to Bangladesh and from Cameroon to the Philippines, from starvation."

Britain: Five cases of lost personal data a week : "Five security breaches a week have been reported to the privacy watchdog since the loss last year of two government discs containing details of 25 million families. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, said he had been notified of 94 data breaches over the past five months. Two thirds - 62 - were committed by government and other public sector bodies. The material included a wide range of personal details, including health records. The data was recovered in only three of the 94 cases. Mr Thomas described the scale of the incidents, which come after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) mislaid discs carrying details of child benefit claimants in November, as "alarming".

Another brazen lie from a Leftist: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the Bible and is "fictional," according to biblical scholars. In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, "The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature." Distinguished biblical scholars, however, cast doubt on the existence of the passage. Claude Mariottini, a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Cybercast News Service the passage not only doesn't exist - it's "fictional." "It is not in the Bible," Mariottini said. "There is nothing that even approximates that."

Official Mexican scum: "Whether he was up to no good or simply desperate to play BrickBreaker, a Mexican press attache was caught on camera by Secret Service pocketing several White House BlackBerries during a recent meeting in New Orleans. Sources with knowledge of the incident said the official, whose first name is Rafael, took six or seven of the handheld devices from a table outside a special room in the hotel where the Mexican delegation was meeting with President Bush. Everyone entering the room was required to leave their cell phones, BlackBerries and other such devices on the table, a commonplace practice when high-level meetings are held. American officials discovered their missing belongings when they were leaving the session. It didn't take long before Secret Service officials reviewed videotape taken by a surveillance camera and found footage showing "Rafael" absconding with the BlackBerries. Sources said "Rafael" made it all the way to the airport, where the Mexican president was preparing to leave New Orleans, before Secret Service officers caught up with him. He was forced to return the BlackBerries."

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly "incorrect" themes of race, genes and IQ.

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

****************************



24 April, 2008

Rupert Murdoch on the betrayal of Columbia by the Democrats

Right now the U.S. has a test in its own backyard. Colombia is a nation that is fighting poverty, battling the drug lords, and taking on terrorists backed by foreign governments. Its citizens have suffered terribly from violence, and want peace and opportunity. So its brave and innovative president, Alvaro Uribe, is trying to bring the rule of law to people who have not known it.

All President Uribe asks of us is that we ratify the trade agreement we have negotiated with his nation. By ratifying this agreement, we would open an important market for American goods. We would demonstrate to millions in our hemisphere that the path to prosperity lies in freedom and democracy. And we would give strong moral support to a leader struggling to bring hope and opportunity to his people in an important part of the world.

Everyone knows this, Democrats as well as Republicans. Yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has effectively put off the bill by not scheduling a vote. We need to make clear to the leadership in Congress what killing this trade deal would mean.

Throughout Colombia, a defeat for the trade deal would be confirmation that the U.S. is not an ally you can count on. Throughout Latin America, a defeat for the trade deal would be exploited by thugs like Venezuela's Hugo Ch vez, who would tell the people, "See, the Americans will never accept you as equals and partners." And throughout the world, a defeat for the trade deal would be taken as another sign that the U.S. will not stand by its friends when the going gets tough. Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico's ambassador to the U.S., puts it this way: "The most important geopolitical mistake the United States could do today . . . is not ratifying that treaty."

The world is watching. The same values that we are trying to uphold in the Atlantic alliance are at stake now in Colombia. And if we fail to support them in Colombia, it will be harder to revive them in the alliance. As a man who was born in Australia, went to university in Britain, and made my home in America, I have learned that shared values are more important than shared borders. If we continue to define "the West" or "the Alliance" as a strictly geographical concept, the alliance will continue to erode. But if we define the West as a community of values, institutions and a willingness to act jointly, we will revive an important bastion of freedom and make it as pivotal in our own century as it was in the last.

More here

***********************

HILLARY TRYING TO BE NORMAL



This could almost be photoshopped but it is up on the MSM and it is only Palestinian photoshopping that they normally run

***********************

ELSEWHERE

Obama's Chicago friends getting roasted: "In politically explosive surprise move, a former high-ranking state official has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about campaign fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko's role in getting him a state job. Ali Ata is a former executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority. The 56-year-old said in a plea agreement Tuesday that Governor Rod Blagojevich was there when Ata gave Rezko $25,000 in campaign money. He says Blagojevich then asked Rezko if he had talked to Ata about a job. Ata's plea agreement refers to Blagojevich as Public Official A. Blagojevich has not been charged with wrongdoing"

Hamas rebuts Carter's claim of concession: "Hamas said yesterday it was prepared to accept a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, but contradicted a statement by former President Jimmy Carter that it would accept Israel's right to exist if that was the will of the Palestinian people. ... Mr. Carter -- who infuriated Israeli leaders by meeting in Damascus, Syria, with Hamas' political leader, Khalid Mashaal -- announced what appeared to be a significant concession in an address yesterday to the Israeli Council on Foreign Relations. ... However, at a later press conference in Damascus, Mr. Mashaal backed away from the concession announced by Mr. Carter."



Another government-caused food shortage "The Canadian government announced that it would pay pork producers as much as $50 million to kill 150,000 pigs by fall. It's an effort to reduce supply in order to raise the price of pork and help struggling hog farmers, says Clare Schlegel, president of the Canadian Pork Council.... In order to bridge that gap between supply and demand, Schlegel says, Canada plans to eliminate 2 percent of the North American breeding swine. "Canada and the United States are about 50 percent of the world export market," he says, indicating the global significance of the North American market. Those "eliminated" hogs will be killed — and not all of the meat will end up on dinner tables. Schlegel says food banks in Canada will receive 25 percent of the rendered meat, and the rest will go to the pet food industry."

"We did it!" says Al-Qaida: "Egypt - Osama bin Laden's chief deputy in an audiotape Tuesday accused Shiite Iran of trying to discredit the Sunni al-Qaida terror network by spreading the conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 attacks. The comments reflected al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri's increasing criticism of Iran. Al-Zawahri has accused Iran in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. The authenticity of the two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic Web site could not be independently confirmed. But the voice sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting where it was found bore the logo of Al-Sahab, al-Qaida's official media arm."

Maureen Dowd of the NYT thinks Obama is weak: "He’s never going to shake her off. Not all by himself. The very fact that he can’t shake her off has become her best argument against him. “Why can’t he close the deal?” Hillary taunted at a polling place on Tuesday. She’s been running ads about it, suggesting he doesn’t have “what it takes” to run the country. Her message is unapologetically emasculating: If he does not have the gumption to put me in my place, when superdelegates are deserting me, money is drying up, he’s outspending me 2-to-1 on TV ads, my husband’s going crackers and party leaders are sick of me, how can he be trusted to totally obliterate Iran and stop Osama? Now that Hillary has won Pennsylvania, it will take a village to help Obama escape from the suffocating embrace of his rival. Certainly Howard Dean will be of no use steering her to the exit. It’s like Micronesia telling Russia to denuke. “You know, some people counted me out and said to drop out,” said a glowing Hillary at her Philadelphia victory party, with Bill and Chelsea by her side. “Well, the American people don’t quit. And they deserve a president who doesn’t quit, either.” The Democrats are growing ever more desperate about the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman"

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

****************************



23 April, 2008

Israeli wine

I don't know much about this subject but I imagine that some of my Jewish readers do so I anticipate updates.

Israel has of course produced wine from ancient times. It is a Mediterranean thing. But what amuses me is that Israel somehow seems to have got a lock on the market for communion wine -- horrible sweet stuff that most Christian churches from Anglicans to Catholics seem to use. To my knowledge all Methodist and Presbyterian churches use grape juice at communion so the Israelis have not penetrated that market but elsewhere in Christendom they reign supreme.

The Israeli influence there must stem in part from their traditional provision of passover wine -- which is also sweet stuff. I was delighted therefore that at the recent seder which I attended, they had abandoned that stuff and provided a bottle of good full-bodied Australian dry red instead. Four small cups (and the rest) of that went down well.

I imagine that Israel also these days produces some good dry reds but how did they get such dominance in providing communion wine for Christian churches? Is it a religious thing or what?

****************

Brookes News Update

Obama's capital gains tax is a tax on economic growth: Obama's proposal to raise capital gains taxes would directly strike at economic growth. It would strip the economy of a vital pool of savings and could even result in capital consumption. It is now perfectly clear that Obama is a dangerous ideologue whose economics could kill investment in the US economy
Surpluses won't save the Australian economy: From March 1996 to May 2005 currency expanded by 76 per cent, bank deposits by 109.6 per cent and M1 by 102 per cent. These are terrible figures and things have not got any better. From May 2005 to January 2008 bank deposits rose by 36.5 per cent and M1 by 33 per cent. Unfortunately, our economic commentariat can see no significance in these figures, For them, monetary theory and capital theory just don't matter
Mining industry caves in to fanatical greens: It is high time the mining industry rethought its 'tactics'. Only when its executives finally accept the moral imperative of their case and confront will they have any hope of successfully defeating the green barbarism and recapturing the moral high ground which rightfully belongs to the industry
Why economic modellng fails: Because of the unique nature of human beings economics can only be a qualitative discipline. There are no fixed values or constant physical elements in economics as there are in physics. Therefore, econometric modelling is nothing more than playing with numbers
Has the market failed?: With a breathtaking degree of effrontery, we are being asked to take seriously the idea that the Federal Reserve the organisation - the institution responsible for the current crisis - should henceforth be accorded unparalleled powers of oversight
Does the Democrat Party belong in jail?: Congress, by failing to act in the case of a clear and present danger to parts of the American financial system, could reasonably be considered engaging in willful misconduct. The Democrats, rather than learn from the Republicans' mistakes, are now engaged in even more willful misconduct
Soros plays politics: Soros is at it again, using his vast fortune to fund leftwing anti-American groups. In the meantime, America's corrupt media run interference for him
Israel and the chronology of friendship: For 60 years Israel has been living under the threat of Arab terror with its hands tightly held by the international hypocrites who did not want to see the existence of the Jewish state in the first place

*******************

ELSEWHERE

Strange new respect for Hillary?: "Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on "Good Morning America" Tuesday. ABC News' Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

Giving these guys a State sure worked wonders: "The number of Palestinians who support attacks against Israelis continues to rise and more than half of them favor suicide bombings, according to a poll published this weekend. The survey also showed that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is still more popular than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The percentage of Palestinians who support "resistance operations" against Israeli targets rose from 43.1 percent in September 2006 to 49.5% at present. Support for this option was highest in the Gaza Strip, at 58.1%, with 24.5% in the West Bank agreeing. Palestinians who support bombing attacks against Israeli civilians rose from 44.8% in June 2006 to 48% in September 2006 and to 50.7% now. Again, more Gazans support these operations (65.1%), compared with 42.3% of Palestinians in the West Bank."

Anger Management: "Bob Kerrey defends John McCain against the absurd WaPo attack on his temper yesterday. "In a comment under my blog post last night noting McCain aide Mark Salter's aggressive rebuttal to a lengthy front-page Washington Post story examining the candidate's temper, Kerrey clarified his role in and explained the circumstances around the anecdote the paper used to lead its piece". We learn from Kerrey's comment that "The precise point of disagreement between the Senators was over a man name Robert Garwood", who is in fact quite controversial."

Be glad you are a conservative: "Chelsea Clinton stopped traffic Friday night as she wandered the streets of Philadelphia on a gay bar crawl, winning rave reviews for both her politics and her appearance. Led around the neighborhood by Gov. Ed Rendell, Chelsea was mobbed by local gays and lesbians, as she walked from one club to the next. They ran up to hug her, posed for pictures and certainly invaded her personal space. "I grabbed her ass," one young woman exclaimed to her friends after snapping a picture with her arm around the former first daughter."

Britain is becoming a 'why bother country': "Britain is suffering from a "why bother" economy because its benefits culture, high taxes and poor education system leave many people lacking the motivation or capability to succeed, according to a report. The cost to the economy of low social mobility is 32 billion pounds a year, or 1,300 to the average family, claims Reform, the independent think tank. This comes despite higher spending on benefits and public services that have served only to reinforce privilege, it says. Child poverty has risen, with the number of children classified as low income rising from 2.4 million to three million. State schools stand accused of a "dismal" record when it comes to educating the poorest in society, with school-leavers from poor backgrounds doing only half as well as average 16-year-olds.

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

****************************



22 April, 2008

NYT Hilarity!

The editors of the NYT admit that people no longer trust their paper and say that this undermines democracy. What utter nitwits they are! I'll let the Pajama man fisk the nonsense:

What a self-serving pile of drivel. These clowns have the temerity to say because people are ignoring them in ever-increasing numbers that democracy is in peril.

Actually, democracy is threatened far more when the alleged paper of record spills national security secrets on its front page. Get a load of this pap:

It might seem a bit self-flagellating for the editorial board of the New York Times to bemoan the collapse of Americans' trust in the press over the last 30 years. But it seems that the media's fall from grace is undermining democracy.

Oh my. Now because people aren't getting their marching orders from this socialist rag, the bumpkins in flyover country may not vote the way the elitist snobs in Manhattan want them to. Perish the thought.

The news media is supposed to serve the voting public by providing information about candidates' positions, and thus help voters shape their preferences. But the function breaks down, apparently, when the voting public doesn't believe what the news media says.

No shit. Especially when what the news media says is seen through worldviews to the left of Joe Stalin. God, these people are blithering idiots.

Indeed, new research underscores how the unpopularity of America's traditional news media has promoted political polarization by disconnecting voters from reality, as it were, and thus leaving them to vote exclusively on the basis of ideology and partisan affiliation.

Wow, what a novel concept. People making up their own mind based on what they see from candidates and voting accordingly. Can't have that in a democracy. Not only do people no longer trust a large portion of the media, but it's this smug, condescending arrogance and supercilious pomposity that leads people to go elsewhere in search of information.

Let's hope they never figure it out.

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Are "Christian Seders" Inappropriate for Passover?

I am rather pleased that some Bible-oriented Christians are at last taking Christ's command seriously and celebrating the Passover instead of the pagan Easter. My entire Scripture blog was devoted to noting how far away most Christians have drifted from what the New Testament actually says. Michael Medved comments wisely below:

Rabbi Mark Glickman of the very liberal Reform branch of Judaism recently wrote a Seattle Times column decrying Christian congregations that celebrate their own Passover Seders. Rabbi Glickman claims the Seder was developed long after the Exodus events it commemorates, and was supposed to convey powerful anti-Christian messages, making Christian participation inappropriate.

In truth, there's nothing in the ancient formulation of the Passover Haggadah-the book of Seder liturgy-that disrespects or contradicts Christianity or Jesus, and most Jews passionately disagree with Rabbi Glickman. Retelling the story Exodus and affirming Jewish faith doesn't amount to an attack on Christianity - any more than affirming Christian faith amounts to an attack on the Old Testament or Judaism.

The two religions certainly disagree on key theological points, but share a commitment to remembering God's deliverance from Egyptian bondage as a liberating moment in human history. Christian rediscovery of the Jewish roots of Christianity is actually good for Jews, Christians and humanity.

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ELSEWHERE



The French don't like the truth: "An unusual warning has been added to a Paris exhibition that has shocked some visitors and media, despite the absence of sex, violence or religion. The photographic show has caused offence by depicting the French capital in the Second World War as a sunny place, where people enjoyed life alongside their Nazi occupiers. Bertrand Delanoe, the Mayor, ordered a notice, in French and English, to be handed out at the door of the municipal exhibition of colour photographs that have stirred ghosts that Paris preferred to forget. The 270 never-published pictures avoid the "reality of occupation and its tragic aspects", says the warning. In the French collective memory, early 1940s Paris was a black-and-white hell of hunger, Nazi round-ups, humiliation and resistance. Films and books have in recent decades modified the cliche. The breathtaking colour series by Andre Zucca, a French photographer, show as never before a gay Paris that got on with life without great hardship."

Bureaucratic Brits keep denying an old lady her social security payments: "A blind and deaf woman has been forced to live off her savings for almost a year because the Post Office will not let her withdraw her pension as her signature does not match the one in its records. Joan Hopton, who is deaf and blind, has not been able to collect her pension for over a year Joan Hopton, 81, of Cheltenham, Glos, lost her pension card in May last year. However, when she applied for a new one she was told by the company that it could not be issued because the name on the bottom of the letter did not match her original signature. She used to collect a pension of 104 pounds a week and is now owed about 4,000 pounds since she lost her card. Despite repeated attempts by members of her family to come to some arrangement with Post Office Ltd the company will not let her access the money"

Police those credit cards: "The burdensome, patronizing, new credit card regulations proposed in the wildly misnamed 'Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights' will hurt just about every type of U.S. consumer. Indeed, the new restrictions that self-styled 'consumer advocates' and their trial lawyer allies envision will result in immediate, sizeable interest rate and fee increases for the majority of Americans who pay their credit card bills on time."

Greedy Muslim country endangers us all: "Over nearly 60 years, the World Health Organization has developed sophisticated systems for monitoring the emergence of seasonal influenza and possible pandemics as well as arming scientists with the tools to develop vaccines. Now, one country is jeopardizing all that, putting itself and the rest of the world at risk. The culprit: Indonesia. Its Health Ministry refuses to give the WHO avian flu virus samples taken from Indonesian victims. This matters because sample sharing allows experts around the world to track mutations of the virus and spot dangerous mutations. Even more important, sharing allows researchers to develop vaccines. Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari asserts that Indonesian bird flu is a form of intellectual property, from which the country should benefit."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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21 April, 2008

Media lies about the Pope

A reporter reports his own ideas as the Pope's. Post below recycled from Gateway Pundit. See the original for links

Pope Benedict spoke to the United Nations General Assembly today. The AP religious writer Eric Gorski reported this on the pope's speech:

Pope Benedict XVI told diplomats at the United Nations on Friday that respect for human rights was the key to solving many of the world's problems, while cautioning that international cooperation was threatened by "the decisions of a small number." The pontiff, addressing the U.N. General Assembly on his first papal trip to the U.S., said the organization's work is vital. But he raised concerns that power is concentrated among just handful of players. "Multilateral consensus," he said, speaking in French, "continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a small number." The world's problems call for collective interventions by the international community, he said.

Now if you read through the pope's speech (As I did twice) you will not see anything about "power concentrated among just handful of players." It's also not clear where the AP came up with the "multilateral consensus" statement, either. This would have been surprising coming from a man they call "God's Rottweiler" because he is considered to be such a strong enforcer of the faith.

What Benedict did speak on was human rights- rules that do not limit freedom (not socialism). He also emphasized religious freedom. He did not, as the AP suggested, give some kind of socialist US-bashing manifesto. Here is the transcript of Pope Benedict's speech today to the United Nations.

The most important segment of his speech dealt with religious freedom. This is something the pope has spoken about recently with the Saudi Kingdom. Religious persecution is a frequent theme in his speeches. Pope Benedict urged UN member states to value the right of religious freedom:

"Human rights, of course, must include the right to religious freedom, understood as the expression of a dimension that is at once individual and communitarian - a vision that brings out the unity of the person while clearly distinguishing between the size of the citizen and that of the believer. The activity of the United Nations in recent years has ensured that public debate gives space to viewpoints inspired by a religious vision in all its dimensions, including ritual, worship, education, dissemination of information and the freedom to profess religion and choose .

It is inconceivable, then, that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves - their faith - in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one's rights. The rights associated with religion are all the more in need of protection if they are considered to clash with a prevailing secular ideology or religious positions with majority of an exclusive nature.

The full guarantee of religious liberty can not be limited to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due consideration to the public dimension of religion, and hence to the possibility of believers playing their part in building the social order. Indeed, they actually do so, for example through their influential and generous involvement in a vast network of initiatives which extend from Universities, scientific institutions and schools to health care agencies and charitable organizations in the service of the poorest and most marginalized.

Refusal to recognize the contribution to society that is rooted in the religious dimension and in the quest for the Absolute - by its nature, expressing communion between persons - would effectively privilege an individualistic approach, and would fragment the unity of the person.

Sadly, this was not even mentioned in the AP's report.

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ELSEWHERE

Hillary has her own terrorist problem: "With the media focus this week on Sen. Barack Obama's relationship with the notorious Weatherman Underground figure William Ayers, voters should be reminded of Sen. Hillary Clinton's ties to terrorists, says political analyst and former Clinton adviser Dick Morris. Morris insists Clinton has plenty of radical political skeletons in her closet that have not been fully investigated. "In the 1980s, Hillary served on the board of the New World Foundation, which gave a grant to the PLO, then designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group," Morris noted. In 1996, he added, Clinton organized a White House conference for the American Muslim Alliance. Clinton took a $50,000 donation from the Alliance when she ran for the Senate and tried to hide it on her forms by calling it the 'American Museum Alliance, Morris said."

Exodus from UK shows little sign of slowing: "Any idea that the exodus from Britain of those settling abroad might be waning appears wildly premature. The latest survey predicts 1.8 million Britons retiring abroad by 2025 and 3.3 million by 2050. The survey, on behalf of NatWest International, provides further evidence that the majority of those making the lifestyle change do not look back. Nine in 10 expats said they enjoyed better quality of life and six in 10 said they did not intend to return to the UK."

War not responsible for economic downturn: "I am no fan of the war in Iraq, but it simply has not been a major contributor to the financial crisis and the impending recession. The high price of oil is largely the result of strong demand, notably from China and India, pressing against a limited supply. The global oil supply is growing more slowly than it could because of politics and policies in many places - Russia, Mexico, Nigeria and Venezuela as well as the Middle East. Fears that the turmoil in Iraq might spread have probably given a boost to oil prices, but nowhere near enough to account for the huge price surge. Absent the war, Iraqi oil production under Saddam Hussein might have been somewhat higher, but not by enough to affect the American economy. Iraqi oil production has been very volatile and has experienced a downward trend since the late 1970s, despite its vast potential. One sign that the war in Iraq is not the primary cause of the rise in oil prices is that metals and commodity prices across the board have risen sharply. Surging demand in Asia, coupled with supply that grows only slowly when prices increase, is the main story not only for oil, but for commodities broadly."

McCain "trusted his life to adolescents": "This is a pretty thought-provoking piece by PJ O' Rourke on John McCain. O' Rourke spends time on a carrier, getting to know the naval aviators and what they do. Some say John McCain's character was formed in a North Vietnamese prison. I say those people should take a gander at what John chose to do-voluntarily. Being a carrier pilot requires aptitude, intelligence, skill, knowledge, discernment, and courage of a kind rarely found anywhere but in a poem of Homer's or a half gallon of Dewar's.... Some people say John McCain isn't conservative enough. But there's more to conservatism than low taxes, Jesus, and waterboarding at Gitmo. Conservatism is also a matter of honor, duty, valor, patriotism, self-discipline, responsibility, good order, respect for our national institutions, reverence for the traditions of civilization, and adherence to the political honesty upon which all principles of democracy are based. These are supremely dangerous jobs. And most of the flight deck crew members are only 19 or 20. Indeed the whole ship is run by youngsters. The average age, officers and all, is about 24."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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20 April, 2008

Pesach seder (Passover celebration)

Australian time is nearly a day ahead of American time so I have just got back from my first seder. It was with a local conservative congregation so there was lots of Hebrew chanted and sung -- and we used an Orthodox haggadah. I enjoyed it. It was a relaxed and happy occasion, as it should be. We even had some very pleasant Israelis present.

Will I attend another seder one day? Perhaps. I am not religious so that is a counterindication. But I enjoy Biblical exegesis so if an opportunity came up to attend one in very scholarly company I would be keen. I have only a Christian knowledge of the Torah so I would appreciate a deeper discussion of it. But there are no Yeshivot in Brisbane so I am not holding my breath.

I would be particularly interested in an exegesis of Exodus 12: 43-49. On the face of it, the Lubavitchers have got it right. But, as with all good law, there is a loophole: verse 48. I would fail the loophole myself but there other cases where defining the exception would be interesting.

I think that I should in closing express my great appreciation of the inimitable Garek Fish, who led the Beit Knesset Shalom congregation through the seder ceremonies with thoroughly admirable gusto.

Update:

I am reminded of something that Karl Popper once said: "It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood."

When I said above that "We even had some very pleasant Israelis present", that could be construed as implying that Israelis are not usually pleasant! That was not at all my intention, of course. I guess that I should have said that "We even had some Israelis present, who were very pleasant". In these days of political correctness, one has to watch one's words. I say a little more about my visit to the shul on my personal blog

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THE DEMOCRAT MENTAL WORLD

Some excerpts from Dr Sanity

I made the mistake of watching some of the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on Capitol Hill yesterday, with the subsequent questioning by many posturing senators who seemed indifferent to anything the General or the Ambassador might have to say since they were already committed to their own agenda. It was, for the most part, a rather pathetic performance.

I was particularly unimpressed with Presidential candidate/ Senator Obama's questioning which while not confrontative like some of his Democratic colleagues, was significantly underwhelming in its content and direction. The usually slick Obama appeared to be completely out of his depth when not appealing to those abstract concepts of 'hope' and 'change'. Also, he looked nervous and sometimes tongue-tied as he sought to phrase each question in the most politically correct manner. In short, he had absolutely nothing of substance or originality to contribute to the discussion.

All in all, the entire production (except for the information imparted by the General and Ambassador) amounted to a a waste of my time. It was particularly annoying to watch and listen to the antics of the lunatic Code Pink clowns, who have come to symbolize the lack of seriousness with which the left takes national security issues....

Until the Iraqi government decided to finally deal with the issue of Moqtada Al Sadr and his militia (and indirectly with the reality of Iranian interference), the Iraq story had basically dropped off the radar of both the MSM and the Democrats. Because the Surge was working, both realized Iraq had become an issue that could not possibly benefit them and their strategic goal of reclaiming the White House. Hence, the silence was rather deafening as they retreated from their original talking points about the war being lost and were mostly confined to trying to tie the cost of the war into their economic doom and gloom package.

Then along comes Basra and Sadr, and these loyal American 'patriots' nearly wet their pants at the possibility that they could use this violent confrontation to justify their desire to surrender and confirm that the whole enterprise is a HOPELESS QUAGMIRE. For a party that is betting everything on HOPE and CHANGE, their hopelessness about the possibility of defeating Al Qaeda and their lack of interest in the CHANGE in the strategic map of the Middle East is somewhat amazing.

The Democrats and the left live (and die) by polls. Popularity means everything to them. Other people's opinions are the foundation of all their "principled" stands on issues, and you can always count on them to be a weathervane showing which direction the winds of ego gratification blow. It's really too bad for them that external reality is not decided by a poll; nor is it decided by feelings, or pandering to feelings. Their self-induced blindness and utter refusal to acknowledge the realities of Islamic fanaticism and the war on terror in general; as well as the realities of the specific Iraqi theater of that war is truly astonishing.....

For the Democrats and their increasingly histrionic leftist base, denial--not America-- has been their country of residence since September 11, 2001. Generally, it has been a safe and happy place for them to be; because as long as they can hate and vilify George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and all those evil Republicans and Lieberman Democrats out there; and as long as they can pretend that the objects of their hate are the real cause of any problem; then they don't have to deal with the external reality of Islamofascist terror, or face the truth about their own unacknowledged and pathological internal reality. They can continue to cling to the holy, neo fascist socialist faith, newly risen from the ashes of the 20th century; and delude themselves into thinking that they are wonderful, caring, loving and reality-based people.

Let's face it, the myths that fuel the left's denial are designed to make sure that they--not America--come out the winners; and that they never have to say they are sorry for enabling the enemies of America and for helping them to kill their fellow Americans.



(Graphic via Siggy)

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ELSEWHERE

Media Bias Alert: Pentagon Study "Iraq War is a Debacle" - NOT!: "At least that the way the anti-Bush rag McClatchy summed it up. Unfortunately for them it's not the truth. Small Wars Journal did a little digging and interviewing the author of the study and former Sec. Rumsfeld deputy Joseph Collins and discovered that journalists sometimes toss the truth and go for the good old fashioned BS."

He who must be middle-named : "Now let's turn to another ad/web video, this one from AmericansComingTogether, entitled, "Younger Than McCain." As you can guess, this one attacks McCain's age... The ad also introduces him as "John Sidney McCain." Hey, guess what guys? "Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama." Thanks for making middle names fair game in this contest; I'm sure that will work out well for your side."

Booing The New Politics: "Reliable lefty Matt Stoller derides Al Gore's attempt to reach out to leaders of the other side, including John McCain. See, the new politics of hope and change aren't really meant to include the Republicans - that's just marketing to buffalo the embittered, gun-clinging, bible-thumping racist rubes."

McCain in the middle?: "Just where does John McCain fit in the political spectrum? While conservative talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh's paint McCain as a moderate, some in the mainstream media have begun arguing that McCain is a strong conservative. This debate could well determine who votes for him in November. Libby Quaid, with the Associated Press, claims that people are misled in believing McCain is a political independent. His article on Monday argued that despite how McCain 'antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats. ... a different label applies to his actual record: conservative.' But Quaid's analysis faces several significant problems. While focusing on McCain's votes on abortion, gay rights and gun control, no explanation is offered for why certain votes are examined and others are not, and she fails to compare how McCain ranks relative to other senators."

Springtime for Stupid Ideas: "In the realm of energy policy, there are a great many bad ideas and a very few good ones. The usual practice of presidential candidates is to 1) sift through all these proposals, 2) separate the wheat from the chaff, and 3) keep the chaff. This year, the two parties are competing to show who is most eager to discard sound economics and long-term prudence in favor of appeasing aggrieved motorists. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are pandering with a proposal to punish oil companies with a windfall profits tax. John McCain has targeted the same group by urging a federal gas tax holiday from Memorial Day to Labor Day. What motivates them is high pump prices, which are at odds with the popular view of cheap gasoline as a national birthright. One common defect of the candidates' measures, though, is that they would not actually reduce prices."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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19 April, 2008

No Great Depression

`Depressing" is the adjective we're hearing a lot when it comes to the U.S. economy. There are reports of how the University of Michigan's consumer-sentiment poll is lower than at any time in the past quarter century. Senator Obama speaks of how, in some places, "the jobs have been gone 25 years and nothing's replaced them." A recent Pew survey suggests that fewer Americans see their lives improving than at any point in almost half a century. The gloom is so thick that it feels positively German. And that's just our domestic press. The Brits have long since decided that doom is around the American corner. Covering Bear Stearns Cos., a reporter from the Independent wrote, "Wall Street traders said they had never experienced such fear."

The suggestion behind such talk is that the current situation isn't merely depressing. It is that the slowdown is like the Great Depression of the 1930s. You almost expect Senators Obama and Clinton to repeat the lines from President Roosevelt's inaugural address of 75 years ago: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

The analogy is absurd. This economy is to the Great Depression what an April drizzle is to Hurricane Katrina. So far, the Dow has declined about 12% from its record high of last fall. In the Depression, it dropped more than 80%. Unemployment is about 5%. In the Depression it was 25%. Maybe 2% of mortgages are in trouble, and abandoned homes line some parts of Cleveland Heights. During the Depression, more than half of Cleveland was underwater. Today, one big bank has collapsed. In 1931, 1,400 banks collapsed. Even a comparison with more recent periods is a stretch.

Today, everyone is concerned about the consequences of the Bear Stearns rescue. On the right, critics argue that the Federal Reserve's decision to make funds available to Bear created moral hazard on a scale that can bring down our markets. These critics forget that in 1984 Washington actually nationalized a big bank. That bank was the nation's seventh largest, Continental Illinois. Yet the Reagan Revolution didn't stall. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Dow languished in the 800s for a period longer than it takes to collect a college degree. Unemployment in 1982 was close to 10%. Yet you didn't hear too much talk about the New Deal or FDR's speeches.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Dumb talking head: "At 7:16 this morning on Good Morning America, Dan Harris reported on the upcoming Papal Mass from Nationals Park in Washington. "This is a brand new ballpark opened just two and a half weeks ago and this morning it's been transformed into a giant outdoor church. Behind me, in the outfield, there is a 75-foot-high altar." A 75-foot-high altar? Does that mean the Pope would have to say Mass on 75-foot-high stilts? Clearly, there was a 75-foot-high stage, but the altar was its usual human-friendly height. (Photo by MRC's Michelle Humphrey.) It's frightening that ABC is putting Dan Harris on the religion beat, and he doesn't know what an "altar" is. Webster's defines it: "In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table." This is a massive blooper to anyone who attends a church with an altar."

Kossacks Plot Laughable Boycott of ABC and Disney: "Recycle videos, buy used cars, eat non-Nabisco cookies, and drink microbrewery beer. These are among the highly laughable suggestions promoted at the Daily Kos as part of their proposed boycott of ABC and Disney because Barack Obama was finally asked some tough questions at Wednesday's Democrat debate in Philadelphia. It was only 23 minutes into the debate before the boycott thread was posted at the Daily Kos with the outraged title of Tomorrow We Take On ABC, and Disney. It is hard to figure out which is funnier, the boiling outrage over the fact that their blessed messiah was asked challenging questions or the incredibly lame ideas for the proposed boycott"

The Left turns on itself: "This has been a hilarious day, especially if you're on the right looking at the rabid left bloviate about how ABC had the "audacity" to dare to question their candidates on issues specific to their, hrrrmp! "Character". I don't know why the left is in such a flounder about the questions because it's their and Clinton and Obama's fault. After all throughout the campaign season they have touted themselves as some type of "higher beings" beyond the corruption and above the dubious connections which they have been all too ready to connect the dots when it referred to Republicans. So why wouldn't America care about Hillary's lies about her "sniper experiences" and Obama's connections - however old or slim - with domestic terrorists? If ABC had questioned Republican candidates in such a manner they would have applauded"



Tyranny's Enabler: "Jimmy Carter's pathetic need for political rehabilitation following a presidency widely regarded as one of the worst in American history is once again making news. He reportedly will meet this week with Khaled Mashaal, the Syrian-based leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestinian arm, Hamas - an internationally recognized terrorist organization. In point of fact, it seems there is scarcely a serious bad actor on the planet with whom Jimmy Carter has not met. He is a serial tyrant-enabler, the very personification of Rodney King's risible appeal, "Can't we all get along?" Mr. Carter has come to epitomize the notion that "dialogue" is always in order, no matter how odious or dangerous the interlocutor - or the extent to which they or their agendas will benefit from such interactions. As Barak Obama (whom Carter has all but endorsed) is as wedded as the former President to the idea of condition-free dialogue with tyrants, it is worth reflecting on just a few of the many example's of how this Carteresque practice has produced disastrous results"

Bush Depicted as Foul-Mouthed Frat Boy: "Oliver Stone's new film,W, portrays George Bush as a foul- mouthed, dried-out drunk with a baseball obsession and a difficult relationship with his father. Filming is expected to begin any day in Louisiana. The movie should be in cinemas before Mr Bush leaves office next January. Stone says the film won't be an anti-Bush polemic. Rather, as he told Daily Variety, it will be "a fair, true portrait of the man that asks the question: how did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?"

All aboard the God-talk express: "Beware when politicians talk about "compassion," especially when they hold a "Compassion Forum" to do it, which is what they did at the appropriately named Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa. Politicians identify with the messianic because they think they are God's gift to America. The forum attracted Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but not Republican John McCain, who apparently saw it for what it was: an attempt by the Democrats to get back in the religion game. You've got to hand it to Clinton and Obama. They did their Sunday school homework. They quoted Bible verses and told religious stories like it was testimony time at an old-fashioned revival meeting. "Yes indeed, brothers and sisters. We Democrats have seen the light. We once were blind secular humanists, but now we see into the electoral Promised Land! Vote for us and we will deliver you from the sin of ever having voted for a Republican!"

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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18 April, 2008

Poor whites are NOT the base for the Republican party

Let's go back to first principles: what if Thomas Frank, the author of "What's The Matter With Kansas," the bedrock on which Obama chiseled his "bitter/cling" remarks last week, had it wrong? That's the thesis of political scientist Larry Bartels of Princeton, writing in Quarterly Journal of Political Science. Aggregating data, he finds that:

(a) White working class voters identify more with Democrats on cultural issues and more with Republicans on economic issues

(b) the salience of social issues has increased over the past two decades but more so among whites with college degrees

(c) Frank's trend finds statistical support only in the South, where it has an obvious explanantion: Democratic "strength" was "artifically inflated" by segregation and Jim Crow, according to Bartels.

The fundamental question that Frank and Obama both try to answer is why John Q. Pennsylvanian seems to vote against his economic interest? The embedded assumption is that it clearly is in his interest to support Democratic policies on fiscal policies (income redistribution) labor (a shift in the union/corporate balance), regulation (more, not less) but for some reason, he refuses to. Maybe he is bamboozled into supporting Republicans who convince him that they share his values more on cultural issues (which by their nature come from the gut) and convince him that cultural issues are more important.

The data to support this trend is at the very least, mixed. The trend over the past 50 years is clear: those voters with incomes in the lower third of the distribution have been trending Democratic. Among working class voters overall, the trend from 1952 to now is positive for Democrats.

In the white working class, as in the electorate as a whole, net Republican gains since the 1950s have come entirely among middle- and upper-income voters, producing a substantial gap in partisanship and voting between predominantly Democratic lower income groups and predominantly Republican upper income groups.

Frank is correct on one score: voters who make decisions based on their economic conditions are choosing Republicans more and more. But most of those voters are not poor. Indeed, the trend is mitigated somewhat by the better performance of Democrats among poorer voters.

Source

Monkey Cage makes a similar point. See the graphic below:



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For Clinton and Obama, the Trade Trap

It happens when you believe one thing and say another

What were the odds that a top Obama adviser, and then the top Clinton adviser, would find themselves in trouble with their respective campaigns over the issue of trade? Pretty good, actually. Next to race, trade has become the most explosive issue in the Democratic presidential contest. And especially at a time when Hillary Clinton is trying to build on her win in Ohio with a last-chance victory in Pennsylvania.

It's no accident that Austan Goolsbee, the top Obama adviser who told Canadian officials not to worry about Obama's anti-NAFTA posturing, became an issue during the campaign in economically troubled Ohio. And it's no accident that Mark Penn, the top Clinton strategist who has been demoted over his private-business promotion of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, has found himself in hot water in the midst of campaigning in Pennsylvania.

The two controversies point up one central fact: Many staffers and surrogates, in both campaigns, simply don't believe what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are saying about NAFTA, and free trade in general, on the campaign trail. But they can't say so. "A lot of them are free traders, but during the Democratic primaries they stay in the closet," one Democratic strategist who is not affiliated with either campaign told me Monday. "More the Clinton campaign than the Obama campaign, but probably both."

When I asked Will Marshall, a key figure in the centrist New Democrat movement and head of the Progressive Policy Institute, what was going on, he seemed genuinely dismayed. "There has been a kind of willing suspension of rationality when it comes to the trade debate," Marshall told me. "Apparently, the rule is that in the primaries, facts and evidence don't matter, so bashing trade becomes a way of validating the emotions of people who feel stressed by global competition, and the facts get trampled underfoot in the process."...

More here

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ELSEWHERE

The Puffington Host has given Ann Coulter a boob job. I thought she looked pretty good anyway, myself. The Left sure hate her. They cannot stand being laughed at.

U.S. Strike on Iran Nearing ?: "Contrary to some claims that the Bush administration will allow diplomacy to handle Iran's nuclear weapons program, a leading member of America's Jewish community tells Newsmax that a military strike is not only on the table - but likely. "Israel is preparing for heavy casualties," the source said, suggesting that although Israel will not take part in the strike, it is expecting to be the target of Iranian retribution. "Look at Dick Cheney's recent trip through the Middle East as preparation for the U.S. attack," the source said. Cheney's hastily arranged 9-day visit to the region, which began on March 16, included stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently told foreign journalists that Israel needs to confront the threat posed by Iran. Privately he has been telling associates his number one priority is have the Israeli military strike Iran if the U.S. is unwilling. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed that Israel is concerned that North Korea has transferred technology and nuclear materials to Iran to aid Tehran's secret nuclear weapons program. A number of signs indicate that, contrary to the belief President Bush is a lame duck who will not act before he leaves office, the U.S. is poised to strike before Iran can acquire nuclear weapons and carry out the threat of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "wipe Israel off the map":

WI Study: Banning smoking increases drunken driving: "Enacting city smoking bans appears to increase drunken driving, according to a new national study of arrests by Wisconsin researchers. Fatal accidents involving alcohol increased after communities banned public smoking, the study to be released by the Journal of Public Economics found. The authors attributed the increase to people driving farther to drink, either to a place with an outdoor smoking area or a city without a ban. 'The increased miles driven by drivers who wish to smoke and drink offsets any reduction in driving from smokers choosing to stay home after a ban, resulting in increased alcohol-related accidents,' the study says. The researchers, Scott Adams, of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Chad Cotti, now at the University of South Carolina, said they were surprised by the results. 'We thought we would see a reduction,' Adams said. 'Our first thought was, 'Throw it away, it must be wrong.' But it wasn't,' he said."

Welfare corrupts: "Before anything else it needs to be noted that most of the welfare recipients are not unwed mothers but people doing business as major corporations. They receive subsidies, bailouts, protection from competition and so forth, all undeserved, all unjust, all lacking any legitimacy in a genuine free country. American firms, as thousands of others around the globe, have managed to persuade politicians to provide them with benefits at the expense of people who haven't consented to any of the takings that provide the funds that make all this possible."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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17 April, 2008

McCain gets the economic basics

He says that he does not understand economics well but he sure understands it all better than Hillary or Obama do. Excerpts below from a recent speech

There's never been a problem Americans couldn't solve. We are the world's leaders, and leaders don't fear change, pine for the past and dread the future. We make the future better than the past. That is why I object when Senators Obama and Clinton and others preach the false virtues of economic isolationism. Senator Obama recently suggested that Americans are protectionist because they are bitter about being left behind in the global economy. Well, what's his excuse for embracing the false promises of protectionism? Opening new markets for American goods and services is indispensable to our future prosperity. We can compete with anyone. Senators Obama and Clinton think we should hide behind walls, bury our heads and industries in the sand, and hope we have enough left to live on while the world passes us by. But that is not good policy and it is not good leadership. And the short-sightedness of these policies can be seen today in Congress' refusal to vote on the Colombian Free Trade Agreement.

When new trading partners can sell in our market, and American companies can sell in theirs, the gains are great and they are lasting. The strength of the American economy offers a better life to every society we trade with, and the good comes back to us in many ways - in better jobs, higher wages, and lower prices. Free trade can also give once troubled and impoverished nations a stake in the world economy, and in their relations with America. In the case of Colombia, a friend and crucial democratic ally, its stability and economic vitality are more critical now, as others in the region seek to turn Latin America away from democracy and away from our country. Trade serves all of these national interests, and the interests of the American economy as well - and I call on the Congress once again to put this vital agreement to an up or down vote.....

It is not enough, however, to make little fixes here and there in the tax code. What we need is a simpler, a flatter, and a fair tax code. As president, I will propose an alternative tax system. When this reform is enacted, all who wish to file under the current system could still do so. And everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a generous standard deduction. Americans do not resent paying their rightful share of taxes - what they do resent is being subjected to thousands of pages of needless and often irrational rules and demands from the IRS. We know from experience that no serious reform of the current tax code will come out of Congress, so now it is time to turn the decision over to the people. We are going to create a new and simpler tax system - and give the American people a choice.....

In the same way, many in Congress think Americans are under-taxed. They speak as if letting you keep your own earnings were an act of charity, and now they have decided you've had enough. By allowing many of the current low tax rates to expire, they would impose - overnight - the single largest tax increase since the Second World War. Among supporters of a tax increase are Senators Obama and Clinton. Both promise big "change." And a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next decade would certainly fit that description.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

A formal debate has just been held in Australia on the topic "Islam is incompatible with democracy". Michael Darby was there.

Dictator-loving Jimmy Carter: "In a democracy, I realize you don't need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels," he said over the weekend, responding to a question from an Israeli journalist who noted that Mr. Carter had been snubbed by most of Israel's top leadership and reprimanded by its president, Shimon Peres. "When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that's the dictator, because he speaks for all the people." Come again? A dictator does not speak for the people. Properly speaking, a dictator speaks for none of the people. A dictator speaks only for himself, while "the people" are transformed, through force and fear, into an abstraction, an instrument, a rhetorical trope. On the contrary, it is only in a democracy where the government can morally and lawfully be said to speak for the people, since it was morally and lawfully chosen by the people to speak for them. Which means that Mr. Carter has matters precisely backwards: It is in democracies such as Israel where the views of the leadership matter most, and in dictatorships such as Syria where they matter least."

Same as it ever was: "On March 28, the United Nations Human Rights Council elected, by unanimous vote, a special rapporteur on the 'situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.' The nominee, Richard Falk, a veteran political activist and emeritus professor of law at Princeton University, was opposed by Israel for, among other statements, equating the situation in the Palestinian territories with the Nazi Holocaust. According to a spokesman for Israeli's foreign ministry, Falk will not be allowed through passport control in Tel Aviv. 'This is a very outrageous statement to us and a personal insult to every Israeli,' said spokesman Arye Mekel. 'How could he then come up with an objective conclusion about what Israel does or doesn't do in Gaza?' To the Israelis, Falk's appointment is but another indication that the Human Rights Council (UN-HRC), which replaced the corrupt United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in 2006, amounts to little more than a new acronym obscuring old anti-Israel bias."

Leftists really know how to hate: "Balloon Juice's John Cole unloads on Clinton: "I am well aware that I am beyond the point where I can discuss Hillary rationally, but I really can not stress enough how much I have grown to hate her.... This past week-end was just the final boiling point for me, as I watched her run to every microphone with a zeal that would impress Chuck Schumer to claim that America's blue collar workers are under assault from a San Francisco effete liberal latte-sipping out-of-touch Obama."

Unions pricing themselves out of work in Canada too: "Canada is losing tens of thousands of its best and most productive workers in the manufacturing slump caused by stiff foreign competition, the high dollar and the U.S. recession, says a new bank report. The Toronto-Dominion Bank estimates Canada lost 130,000 factory jobs in 2007 and will likely lose more this year as conditions worsen for manufacturers, particularly in Ontario and Quebec. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have often noted that Canada's strong job market has fortunately been able to replace those lost manufacturing jobs by strength in other areas of the economy. The report found that 55 per cent of the 212,000 jobs lost in the sector in the past five years have been unionized, which tend to be higher paying and more productive."

A Muslim description of paradise: "Harith Ibn Al-Muhasibi told us what would happen when we meet the black-eyed virgin with her black hair and white face praised be He who created night and day. What hair! What a chest! What a mouth! What cheeks! What a figure! What breasts! What thighs! What legs! What whiteness! What softness! Without any creams no Nivea, no vaseline. No nothing! He said that faces would be soft that day. Even your own face will be soft without any powder or makeup. You yourself will be soft" [That last bit does not sound too good!]

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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16 April, 2008

Lots to catch up with today so just short excerpts:

Hillary does McCain's work for him: "Hillary Clinton has created fractures within her own party after controversially slighting Al Gore and John Kerry while seeking to portray Barack Obama as out-of-touch with the American people. "The Democratic Party, to be very blunt about it, has been viewed as a party that didn't understand and respect the values and the way of life of so many of our fellow Americans," Senator Clinton said during a forum on faith yesterday. "We had two very good men and men of faith run for president in 2000 and 2004. But large segments of the electorate concluded that they did not really understand or relate to or frankly respect their ways of life." Senator Clinton, fighting a rearguard action for her political life, yesterday continued to pound the message that her rival was an elitist whose comments about the bitterness of small-town folk in middle America was proof he could not defeat John McCain in a general election. "He's a good man and a talented and gifted man, but I think his comments were elitist and divisive," she said earlier in the day."

Hillary's NAFTA pretensions: "Hillary was a strong supporter of NAFTA. Her official schedule reveals that she attended meetings designed to promote its passage and her memoir, Living History betrays no hint of any opposition to her husband's key legislative accomplishment of his first two years in office -- the ratification of NAFTA. Hillary and I spoke frequently through all of 1993 and 1994 and together we plotted to help NAFTA ratification. She was deeply involved in the decision to enlist past presidents in supporting the bill and followed the vote count with heightening anxiety as it appeared closer and closer."

Berlusconi back in Italy: "Self-made billionaire Silvio Berlusconi won a third term as Italian prime minister today after his centre-left rival, Walter Veltroni, conceded defeat. Mr Berlusconi, 71, had earlier all but claimed victory after poll results showed his centre-right alliance won six seats more than the minimum needed for an absolute majority in the all-important Senate. The media tycoon now returns to the prime minister's office for the third time since 1994, the year after he burst onto the political stage by creating the Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party. Victory in the Senate is essential to Italy's governability, and since seats are allotted on a regional basis the makeup of the upper house does not always reflect the national vote. In the lower house Chamber of Deputies - where the winning coalition is automatically awarded 340 seats of a total 630 - Mr Berlusconi's forces won 46.4 per cent, according to projections based on a 41 per cent vote sample. Mr Berlusconi formed his People of Freedom party (PDL) last year, absorbing National Alliance, and stood in the elections in coalition with the populist Northern League of Umberto Bossi. Trailing them were his main rivals, a centre-left coalition led by Mr Veltroni's PD party, which garnered 38 per cent in the lower chamber." [Comments here]

An amusing gaffe: "Senator Barack Obama's name has been mangled plenty of times during his campaign for the presidency, although never in the presence of 1,200 news executives and TV cameras. It happened today at The Associated Press' Annual Luncheon, where the Democratic presidential candidate spoke and took questions. Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP's board of directors and head of Denver-based MediaNews Group, slipped when asking the senator if he could envision sending many more US troops to Afghanistan, where "Obama bin Laden is still at large". Obama gave a quizzical look and said, "I think that was Osama bin Laden".

Olmert recognizes Israel's self-interest for once: ""Israel's secret service has declined to assist U.S. agents guarding former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit in which Israeli leaders have shunned him, U.S. sources close to the matter said on Monday. Carter angered the Israeli government with plans to meet Hamas's top leader, Khaled Meshaal, in Syria, and for describing Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories as 'a system of apartheid' in a 2006 book."

More media lies: "The San Francisco Chronicle aptly sums up the media's overall reaction to a new report on income inequality by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute: "Rich getting richer, poor getting poorer." It's a facile reaction to a publication heavily larded with policy proposals up-front that have to be endured before you get to the part that's causing all the fuss. And once you get to the meat of the paper, you find that the Chronicle's take is ... well ... untrue. According to Pulling apart: A state-by-state analysis of income trends, between 1987-1989 (the initial period studied) and 2004-2006, the bottom fifth of income-earners saw an 11.1% increase in real income while the top fifth of income earners enjoyed a 36.1% increase in real income."

The ever-meddling British government: "The government may tighten planning laws to end concentrations of student houses in England's university towns. The Department of Communities and Local Government is considering building on the introduction of licensing for houses in multiple occupation. It says 'studentification' makes some areas 'ghost towns' during holidays."

Vicious British bureaucracy: ""A woman who helped to set up the NHS Organ Donor Register says it was wrong to stop a mother who needs a transplant from using her daughter's kidneys. Rachel Leake, 39, of Bierley, West Yorkshire, was told that her daughter Laura Ashworth's dying wish to donate her organs could not be honoured. The 21-year-old's kidneys and liver went instead to three other patients."

Madison Ave starts to listen!: "In ADVERTISING AGE, a shocking message to advertisers: "Bashing Fathers and Husbands Isn't the Right Way for Marketers to Sell Products." Defenders of the advertising status quo generally put forth the following arguments: Males are "privileged" and "it's men's turn," so it's OK to portray them this way, and that men simply don't care how they're portrayed. Both of these arguments are highly questionable. Young males certainly aren't privileged. The vast majority of learning-disabled students are boys, and boys are four times as likely as girls to receive diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Girls get better grades than boys and are much more likely than boys to graduate high school and enter college."

Africa's Aid Problem: "William Easterly's 2006 book, White Man's Burden, places the amount of aid sent to Africa over the last 50 years at over $2.3 trillion dollars-yet poverty, corruption, and the AIDS crisis continue to be insurmountable problems there. Foreign aid's ongoing failure to spark change recently incited Edward Luttwak to declare that things would improve if only the international community would leave Africa alone. "If anybody cared about Africa what they really would want to do is to do the very opposite: do everything possible to bring about the disappearance of the state," Luttwak said"

Tracing the genes for IQ: "The genetic roots of reading and mathematical ability plus patients' responses to one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in Britain are to be investigated by the largest study of DNA and health. DNA samples will be collected from more than 120,000 people in a 30 million pound expansion of the Wellcome Trust's Case Control Constortium project (CCC), which is running the world's most comprehensive search for genetic influences on disease. The second phase of the project will allow scientists to examine how DNA affects the course of 25 diseases, as well as individual responses to statin drugs for lowering cholesterol. Since 2005 the project's initial phase has discovered dozens of common genetic variants that raise or lower the risk of 12 main medical conditions"

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly "incorrect" themes of race and IQ.

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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15 April, 2008

Some reflections on relationships between Jews and non-Jews

One of the privileges of being a blogger is that one gets in touch with many people whom one would not otherwise know at all. One person whose correspondence I particularly appreciate is the man I mentioned on a previous occasion as a descendant of The Landlord of "The Sun".

He is Jewish so of course noted with some interest my recent quest to attend a seder. He was particularly keen to comment on a speculation that I included in my first report on the matter:

"As the Lubavitchers are very fundamentalist, I think we might perhaps conclude that we see the basic difference between Jewish love and Christian love there. Jewish love is for Jews and Christian love is for all mankind"

I will let him take up the story from there. What I reproduce is an email he sent me which I reproduce with his permission. I am particularly glad to reproduce it because I think he strives hard for balance in the same way that I hope I do:

I just saw these comments and wanted to just say a couple of things: Jewish love is a mixed bag, and a result of 2000 years (or more) of anti-Semitism. There's a real chicken-and-egg thing...did intolerance lead to hate against Jews or did hate against Jews lead to our being intolerant? A little of both. In fact, according to our own tenets, we are supposed to love everyone, don't damn anyone to hell, accept converts...which was once quite easy, until persecution and even laws demanding death for those who converted Christians kind of put the kibbosh on that. I am not saying any of this is good, but it's what happened.

Because of my own background, I have been buffetted by the problems. My dad, being a Holocaust survivor, was intolerant to the idea that I would marry out, but even if they were to have an Orthodox and sincere conversion...no good. However, he even admitted it was wrong per the tenets of the faith, and he was not rational about it, because of what he had undergone. On the other hand, he was head of a microbiology lab and a university professor...and those who worked under him loved him, and he had a number of them who worked for him for 30 or more years, and none were Jewish...i.e. he treated them almost as if family...we still hear from them occasionally, though he's been gone 25 years now.

In the congregation I used to go, there are a number of converts, and I was very close with a convert and his family when in college. And it's an Orthodox congregation. I now go to a small Chabad synagogue, and there are converts-in-training there....now, you can say it's only because they are potentially Jews and that's why they are treated well...it would be untrue. I have never heard that particular Chabad rabbi (and like all groups, Chabad has no-goodniks and saints and everything in between) talk down Christians or Christianity. True, there is talk of "love of Israel", i.e. the Jewish people, but there is no negative talk.

Ironically, also, yesterday, I was at my old congregation for a bar mitzvah...and the rabbi there made a speech talking about precisely about how we need to be more outgoing, interact with the rest of the world. He was talking about the Seder and Passover, which is both a uniquely particularistic Jewish holiday, but has universal themes of freedom and liberty. But even in our household, at our Seder, and most of my family is Orthodox, we talk of the liberation from bondage in the historical sense, but leading to the Redemption of all Mankind in the Messianic Era. It is NOT limited to Jews (in fact, we talk about the Seven Noahide Laws, which if followed, enable non-Jews to go to the World-to-Come, or be labeled "righteous" or whatever...and in fact, what we did was make it much harder for ourselves, in a kind of nobless oblige fashion, to follow all the crazy laws we have, as Jews, to get there....we didn't expect anyone else to have to do that. In fact, one of the rationales now for not actively seeking converts (versus allowing conversion if pursued) is that "it's hard to be a Jew", an old saying, derived from both the external problems of anti-Semitism but MORE so from the internal obligations.

There are also plenty of laws about how to treat the stranger...and that's what the rabbi was speaking of...but yes, over the centuries, we withdrew and became quite chauvinist at times...it's an incredibly complex topic. I'm not trying to excuse the Chabad folks there...my family would have the same problems here, meaning my mother and my sister, though I wouldn't mind at all and would LOVE to have you as a guest...I think you would add immensely to the discussions we have every year.

You probably have been warned, though, that the Reform...and I don't know how they are in Australia, but here, they are of course extremely liberal in every bad sense of the word, and I'm sorry you won't be able to attend a more traditional Seder. That doesn't mean that the one you'll be going to will be bad, or will have some of the ultra-liberal memes going on that we see here...but I wouldn't be shocked. Not all of it is bad...a lot of it is the usual liberal fairy-tale utopian ideals, but without a shred of common sense...but oftentimes far removed from the Jewish (as some of us see it) aspects, and so watered down as to be too universally-themed...a lot of kumbaya and can't we all just get along nonsense.

I don't know, for instance, if they will have this paragraph at the end, which we include:

"Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations that know Thee not, and upon kingdoms that did not call upon Thy name. For they have consumed Jacob, and laid waste his habitation. Pour out Thy rage upon them, and let Thy fury overtake them. Pursue them in anger and destroy them, from under the heavens of the LORD."

You can imagine that my dad would say these with a bit of passion. On the other hand, there is a lot about the stranger, and "let all those who are hungry come and eat"...and doesn't say "Jewish hungry". Mixed bag.

I would say it would be good to find a traditional haggadah, the 'book' that's used to retell the story of the Exodus, but not quite in any fashion one would recognize from the Bible. But even then, it would be good to see if someone can give you one that is annotated and has explanations/footnotes, because even for those of us who have done this for 50 years, there are still passages that make no sense...it's VERY different than one would expect, and is not a simple retelling of the story. In turn, it will be VERY different than the Reform version...as example, here's something I found on the Internet:

Or, even better, a broader article about the various Haggadot available...even at our Orthodox table, we use a lot of different versions, with different commentaries, though all are based on traditional sources for the commentaries...no "feminist" or "Humanist" ones here.

Probably more information than you wanted or needed, but I thought I'd try to clarify. I feel somewhat qualified to do this, having grown up with not only my dad, but with my mother's parents, who are now also gone; My grandfather's father was murdered in front of my grandfather, during the 1905 Revolution, but it was as much because he was Jewish, according to my grandfather...and my grandmother was from Poland, and experienced anti-Semitism there...pogroms...but lived to tell the tale.

Nevertheless, though my grandmother would spit on the sidewalk if she saw a priest or nun...the Polish Catholic Church was virulently anti-Semitic back when (Pope John Paul being a saint in my eyes, truly, as he was so different in that regards, as I actually believe Ratzinger to be too)....my grandparents were beloved by those they dealt with, Jewish or non-Jewish, because even with their own prejudices, they were able to overcome those in their day-to-day dealings and treated everyone as their equals, or judged them solely on their behavior, rather than on their background. But I grew up in the 60's, with "peace, love and rock'n roll", and so found all this stuff antiquated and silly...and then realized it wasn't! But I've genuinely tried to look at it from every perspective.

The "Chosen People" thing...even that is rife with complications. We werent' chosen to be the overlords nor the "best"...it was us being chosen to do obligations, to show a way. INCREDIBLY difficult to not be pain-in-the-ass "I know better than you" vs. "I'm just going to show by example"...and we're not always successful at it. But I can tell you that it is what we are SUPPOSED to do, to live and show by example, not be being utopianists who know it all...though liberal Jews, as all liberals do, go and do that. So the irony (and I'll finish finally) is that the most liberal Jews are the ones that know the least about Judaism, but are in the forefront of every nut movement from Communism to every dubious "rights" group...

I try to live by the creed of just trying to be a good human being, as were my grandparents and my dad, and treat everyone well, regardless of background, because that is the REAL creed Judaism is supposed to follow. I work in a hospital and I think there are a total of about 3 Jewish workers...I'm the only one in the Emergency room...but I love my coworkers and (I hope) they love me, even though we have such different backgrounds.

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Looks like there's a scandal attached to the Olympic torch relay and the pro-Tibetan protests against it. See here. The Chinese Communists may have got a bit too devious.

Grown-up politics goes up in flames: "While many have complained that the Chinese politburo is using the Olympics to promote a positive image of itself, which is no doubt true, the protests against China seem to be a no less spectacular self-advertisement. This was apparent in their theatrical nature -- that is, the protesters' self-dramatisation of moral virtue. Nowhere was this more evident than in the protests that seemed to be aimed at the TV cameras, and in the seeming determination to get arrested (there were 37 arrests in total). All you had to do was try to leap the security barrier, and make for the torch, whereupon you would be pounced upon by the police."

Don't laugh: Hillary portrays herself as a Pro-Gun Churchgoer: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton managed to co-opt Mr. Obama's message of hope and optimism, beginning a speech in Valparaiso, Ind., by talking about how positive and "fundamentally optimistic" Americans are. "We don't get bogged down and looking back - we're always looking forward," she said, as heavy applause nearly drowned out her words. "Whatever obstacle we see, we get over it. Whatever challenge we have, we meet it. We're the problem-solvers, we're the innovators, we're the people who make the better future." For the third time since Mr. Obama's remarks were made public Friday night, Mrs. Clinton criticized him at length, saying his comments seemed "kind of elitist and out of touch." "I disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in our country cling to guns and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration," she said. She described herself as a pro-gun churchgoer, recalling that her father taught her how to shoot a gun when she was a young girl and said that her faith "is the faith of my parents and my grandparents." [There's NOTHING that Leftists will shrink from saying if it will get them power]

McCain to win: "John McCain is in very good shape for the general election run. The Republicans have landed on the one candidate in their party ideally suited for the race this year, with broad appeal among Democrats and independents, a veteran and war hero during a time of war, a candidate with a reputation for being a straight talker (and not talking down to voters, or outright lying to them), and with real strength in larger swing states. McCain is also benefiting from the fact that the Democrats continue to snipe at each other rather than at him, and each candidate has exposed weaknesses in the other, which become ammunition for McCain in the fall campaign. Though there are more polls being generated this year than ever before, only two organizations are currently tracking national head-to-head matchups between McCain and either Obama or Clinton: Rasmussen and Gallup. My preferred poll is the Rasmussen survey, even though the Gallup survey has a larger daily sample, because Rasmussen also frequently conducts state polls, and has the tightest likely voter screen. The latest four day results from Rasmussen give McCain an 8 point lead nationally over either Clinton or Obama."

Another source of energy for the Green/Left to hate: "Japan is celebrating a groundbreaking science experiment in the Arctic permafrost that may eventually reshape the country's fragile economy and Tokyo's relationships with the outside world. For an unprecedented six straight days, a state-backed drilling company has managed to extract industrial quantities of natural gas from underground sources of methane hydrate - a form of gas-rich ice once thought to exist only on the moons of Saturn. In fact, the seabeds around the Japanese coast turn out to conceal massive deposits of the elusive sorbet-like compound in their depths, and a country that has long assumed it had virtually no fossil fuels could now be sitting on energy reserves containing 100 years' fuel. Critically for Japan, which imports 99.7 per cent of the oil, gas and coal needed to run its vast economy, the lumps of energy-filled ice offer the tantalising promise of a little energy independence. Environmentalists, though, are horrified"

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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14 April, 2008

Jimmy Carter and Unconscious Hate

Post below recycled from Shrinkwrapped. See the original for links

Manifest behavior is always the summation of competing wishes and inhibitions, most of which are unconscious. When someone makes a great show of his personal piety yet his manifest behavior is often damaging to others, it is worth wondering if he is expressing forbidden unconscious wishes in ways that are disguised and acceptable to himself. Jimmy Carter, our nation's worst ex-President, offers an excellent case in point.

Carter describes himself as a friend of Israel, only interested in Peace in the Middle East and the world. Yet he is now planning to meet with Khaled Meshal, one of the leaders of Hamas, an agent of genocide, in Damascus, the capital of a terror supporting and enabling state which oppresses its own people in ways that the left's fantasies of the Bush administration's tortures cannot even approach. While many believe, and he grants copious evidence to support the belief, that Jimmy Carter is in part motivated by anti-Semitism, let us take him at his word that he is not an anti-Semite and is in fact motivated solely by a desire for peace and love. What are the implications of such a position?

First of all, it is an impossibility. The Pope correctly beatifies those few individuals who live lives of such virtue and selflessness that we can truly believe they are containers of minimal stores of hate. For the rest of us merely human, our reptilian brains (midbrian and hindbrain) are filled with aggression, hate, lust, rage, and all manner of emotions unacceptable to civilized men and women. As I have pointed out before, the input descending from the most recent parts of the brain, the neocortex, is predominantly inhibitory on the lower strata of roiling emotions. Much of the chore of remaining civilized has to do with modulating the expression of those emotions and the behaviors that they would motivate.....

When one, instead of recognizing and metabolizing his hatreds and aggressive drives, denies their existence, they continue to live on in the unconscious, empowered by the denial. The expression of such denied aggression can be seen in the Preacher who is "holier than thou" and takes great pleasure in condemning the sinner to eternal torment. Some will happily supply details of the unimaginable torments (easily imagined by the Preacher) of those unfortunate consigned to the Preacher's vision of Hell.

Jimmy Carter is the Godfather of the modern leftist hater. He presents a pious mien, untroubled by rage or hate. He truly sees himself as a man of peace. Yet Hamas is openly and unapologetically genocidal. Jimmy Carter hates through others -- [thus] maintaining deniability of his own monstrous impulses. His evil is worse than the banality Hannah Arendt described because he should know better. The compartmentalization required to embrace the murderers of innocents while proclaiming their moderation is breath taking yet never seems to give pause to our ex-President. Jimmy Carter is a hate filled and bitter man and every effort he makes seems to support monsters. It is a mystery only to him.

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A brilliant takedown of Hillary supporters here

I am inclined to think that this stuff is beneath contempt but I will mention it anyway. The EU is sponsoring a project to find out why people are religious! The aim, no doubt, is to show that religious people are either mentally defective or deranged. I was very religious in my teens but have been an atheist for all my adult life and it seems to me that if you want to know why people are religious you just have to ask religious people. They will always tell you that it just makes sense for there to be a God. Human beings by their nature seek explanations for things so it is just a part of being human to seek explanations for our own existence. And it didn't take me millions of euros to find that out! Explanations can be wrong however and I am happy to say: "I don't know".

The only useful response to the economic shakeout: "... to bring a quick end to this recession, the best thing the United States can do is get out of the way of the entrepreneur. If government must act, it should make entrepreneurship more attractive and more viable for more Americans. It could relieve new start-up businesses of some of the tax burdens they face at the state and local level. It might relax labor rules for new firms for the first few years. It could create an expanded program of wage insurance for displaced workers. (Such a system would create a stronger incentive for finding work than the current system of unemployment benefits and, from the entrepreneur's perspective, might boost the velocity of workers eager to augment their skills or learn new ones on the job.)"

Vulture politics on the left: "On April 18, 2007, a series of five car bombs hit Baghdad, killing almost 200 people. Showing his customary lack of restraint and his trademark political opportunism, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, attempted to score partisan points. Seeking out a gaggle of press microphones the next day, Reid proclaimed, "This war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week." Reid's comments, so close on the heels of a massacre, provided a tidy snapshot of how the vultures of the left operate. Whether in the blogosphere, the mainstream media, or even the U.S. Senate, they wait for bad news from Iraq and then swoop in with abandon to derive political benefit from a tragedy. Reid's declaration of defeat would be an especially poignant embarrassment were the left capable of embarrassment. First of all, the intemperate and ludicrously premature comments in question came not from some 20-something blogger but from the Senate majority leader. And Reid was audaciously careless with the facts. When he declared the surge a failure in April 2007, it hadn't even fully begun. A large portion of the surge troops had yet to arrive in Iraq."

McCain has a shot in Massachusetts: "Can a Republican presidential candidate win Massachusetts? In most years, because of the state's dark blue reputation, the answer clearly would be no. But if the race is between John McCain and Barack Obama, there is an opportunity for a Republican to claim Massachusetts's 12 electoral votes. This opportunity exists because of the respective appeal of McCain and Obama to the true dominant political "party" in Massachusetts - the independents."

Lying Leftist British politician: "Des Browne, the defence secretary, appears to have misled MPs when he told them an independent report had ruled that the RAF's Nimrod aircraft were safe to fly. Browne made the claim while apologising to relatives of 14 men killed when leaking fuel led to an explosion which destroyed a Nimrod spy plane over Afghanistan in September 2006. A copy of the independent report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that it found the aircraft did not comply with the Ministry of Defence's own safety rules. The report, produced by QinetiQ in March last year, was highly critical, making 30 recommendations that had to be carried out before the aircraft could be deemed to be safe."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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13 April, 2008

Seder on 19th: Good news

I have long had a considerable correspondence with Jewish readers of this blog so I was quietly confident that my Jewish readers would do what they could to facilitate my wish to attend a seder. And that is why I reported my difficulties with the local Lubavitchers. I have no quarrel with the chabad movement at all and wish all Lubavitchers well but their rules did prevent me from fulfilling my wish to attend a highly traditional seder with them. I am in fact rather glad to find a religious group that resists secularization of its rules.

One of my Jewish readers even went to the extent of emailing the Brisbane chabad leader and arguing my case with him. But that did not work of course. Another reader suggested some local reform congregations that might be more accomodating and I have now been accepted as a guest by the Beit Knesset Shalom congregation on 19th. I am of course completely delighted and offer my warmest thanks to all those who wrote.

An amusing footnote, though. The congregation concerned has a seder for Ashkenazim on 19th and a seder for Sephardim on 2oth. It is only the seder for Ashkenazim that is open to non-Jews.

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The Left is terminally miserable

After blogging for the last five years I've come to realize that perhaps the greatest problem we have in this country is people like we see at FDR, the Daily Kos, DU and other terminally miserable websites. Quite frankly I believe they attract a lot of visitors in the way that crap attacks flies, by the smell of fear and decay. Liberals have been miserable for decades, complaining about this and that. You can hardly talk to one without them going off on a tangent about something negative. Most time one of them takes a picture they are always mad or yelling and screaming about something.

God they must corner the market on Pepto-Bismol, chugging down bottle after bottle as they find even more things to criticize and complain about. I think it's another reason that many of them are so damned ugly. Not only on the inside - where it really counts - but on the outside as well. Again, if the tree is bad the fruit is going to be rotten, and rotten fruit doesn't do anything but - you guessed it - stink and attract more flies.

To be blunt, you might wonder why they take their "screw them" mentality and simply put their heads into a collective oven, or even retire to a compound in, oh I don't know, some far away country and sip some Koolaid, and thus do the world a favor by cooling the planet down. With all that hate and anger they've got to be at least partially responsible for a few degrees of temperature rise.

The one thing miserable people hate is happy people. I wondered what a Kos Convention was like and actually asked someone who attended. He told me it was one of the most downer events he ever attended, mostly because of the anger and negativity there.

Source

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(Via Redplanet. See also Fausta for an interesting chart)

Media bias again: "I'm sorry to see unemployment climb to 5.1%, but by historic standards, that's not exactly a "grim picture." For example, nothing like the unemployment rates that, along with runaway inflation, propelled Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980. But I wondered about a more recent comparison. Do you remember 1996, when Bill Clinton swept to an easy re-election victory over Bob Dole, on the basis of what pretty much everyone in the press considered a near-perfect economy? No "pink slip nation" in 1996! Actually, though, the unemployment rate in November 1996, when Clinton rode a soaring economy to victory, was 5.4%. That's right--three tenths of a percent higher than the "grim picture" of a "pink slip nation" painted by this month's unemployment report."

Dems shaft Columbia: "The U.S. House of Representatives plans today to delay until after the November election a controversial trade pact with Colombia, sparing Democratic presidential candidates the need to choose between businesses that support the deal and unions that oppose it. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, campaigning in advance of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary where the economy has suffered blue-collar job losses, have voiced opposition to the accord."

BBC bias again: "Here's a great example from the BBC of the presumably unthinking double standard that guides so much Middle East reporting: "Egypt has sent 1,200 extra security personnel to the border area with Gaza, officials say. The Egyptians fear another breach of the frontier by Palestinians trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. A senior member of Hamas, which controls Gaza, threatened on Tuesday to repeat a breach of the border with Egypt earlier this year." So Egypt is trying to prevent "a breach of the border," while Israel is imposing a "blockade." Yet there is no difference between what the two countries are actually doing."

Penny-pinching British government under fire: "Families of British troops killed in war zones because of faulty equipment may be able to sue the Government for a breach of human rights after a landmark High Court ruling yesterday. The court set out new grounds for legal action by stating that the Army's duty to protect soldiers could extend to patrols outside a military base and even to a battlefield. After the judgment, some relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq - and who blame the Ministry of Defence for inadequate equipment, training or care - said they would consider bringing a group legal action. Mr Justice Collins, in a judgment on the conduct of inquests into the deaths of service personnel, said that members of the Armed Forces serving abroad could not receive absolute protection. But he ruled that the MoD had an obligation to avoid or minimise risks to the lives of its troops"

Forza Silvio again: "Silvio Berlusconi has said only "retards" will vote for his [Leftist] rivals in Italy's general election. "I do not believe that Italians could be retarded enough to fall into a trap like this," said the media magnate in his final rally in front of the Colosseum. Mr Berlusconi used the word "grullo", a grave insult in Florentine dialect. The phrase recalled his use of the word "coglione", or testicle, to describe opposition supporters at the last election in 2006".

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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12 April, 2008

The Democrats continue to lurch further Left

If there's any point to take away from this lobbyist-gotcha, it's just how far the Democratic Party has traveled down the protectionist and populist road. Take Mr. Podesta at his word last year, when he was quoted as saying that "I've never asked anybody on the Hill to do anything they didn't feel was good policy . . ." Let's assume he believes Wal-Mart - the largest private employer in the country - is good for the economy. Let's assume Mr. Penn knows free trade is crucial to the financial well-being of millions of Americans.

There was a day when Democrats could make these cases without fear of blacklist. Bill Clinton pushed for free trade. (Hey, it turns out he's even pushed for Colombia free trade!) Former Sen. John Breaux argued for competition in government-run health care. The late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposed cutting the payroll tax and letting Americans use the money for private retirement accounts. Blue Dogs voted not just against raising taxes, but for lowering them. It was possible for Democrats to champion strong companies, competition and a strong economy, even as they pushed for a larger social safety net.

These days, corporate bashing, closed borders and class warfare have become staples of the left. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have pushed these positions to new heights, in the process setting litmus tests for what counts as being a good Democrat.

Pharma companies? Rich and greedy. Fossil fuel companies? Dirty polluters. Multinationals who "offshore" jobs? Traitors. Americans who strike financial success? Fat cats. Developing countries working to open their borders? Job stealers. It rarely is noted that this vilification is encouraged by yet another set of lobbyists, those representing unions and environmental groups.

More here

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Brookes News Update

US economy, commodity prices and the trade cycle: Regrettably it is not as easy to refute the fundamental belief that the trade cycle is a sad by-product of capitalism, especially since the birth of Keynesianism. But until we do our economies will continue to undergo periodic booms and depressions
Interest rate targeting will stop the Fed's liquidity push: Despite a very loose interest rate stance by the Federal Reserve since September 18 last year liquidity conditions in credit markets have continued to deteriorate. The extra yield investors demand in return for holding corporate paper rather than risk free Treasury debt has been on a sharp increase since August last year
Interest rates and the Keynesian myth: If our so-called statesmen had adhered to classical principles the world not only be in a far better economic state it would not have had to bear the burden of publishing Samuelson's text book
Deficits never drove the US economy: So-called fiscal policy is a dangerous Keynesian fraud that generates inflation, causes balance-of-payments problems, distorts the pattern of production and triggers the boom-bust cycle
Congress' Oil Barons: Congress drives up food prices and puts energy production - except if it comes from sunbeams - in a regulatory straitjacket. So what does it do when the results of its criminal folly strike at living standards? They put the oil companies on trial
Barack Obama, his Minister, and the Wellstone Funeral: The inflammatory rhetoric of Obama's minister, and the indignant reaction to that rhetoric by the public at large, reminds me of the October 2002 memorial rally that followed the funeral of the iconic liberal Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone
Jews fighting for their country: Every single civilized nation on the face of the earth that kept ethnic demographic records on wartime service proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jews always did more than their fair share of the fighting when their country was at war

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McCain head-to-head with Obama: "Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama's 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released Thursday. The survey showed the extended Democratic primary campaign creating divisions among supporters of Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and suggests a tight race for the presidency in November no matter which Democrat becomes the nominee. McCain is benefiting from a bounce since he clinched the GOP nomination a month ago. The four-term Arizona senator has moved up in matchups with each of the Democratic candidates, particularly Obama.

How to bring up McCain's age: "While bringing up John McCain's age, DNC Chair Howard Dean says the Dems won't bring up McCain's age. Dean says that the Dems' "ethical bar" is too high for them to do that, adding, "We don't have any Lee Atwaters or Karl Roves on our side." After Dean said the Dems wouldn't bring up McCain's age after bringing it up, a pollster for Obama who worked on a poll with the DNC was also interviewed and was asked if he agreed with Dean about bringing up McCain's age while promising not to bring it up because of the party's strict "ethics." He also said the Dems wouldn't bring up McCain's age"

Nuke is back in the USA; "Westinghouse signs on to build a nuclear power plant for Georgia Power. Waynesboro, Ga., - the bird Dog Capital of the World - is about to get the first new nuclear plant built in the United States since the 1978 hysteria over a mild mishap at Three Mile Island in which no one was killed or even injured. Two nuke plants will be built in Georgia and two in South Carolina as part of a $13.7 billion deal, Business Week reported. Dow Jones quoted Westinghouse Chief Executive Steve Tritch: "Agreements like the one announced with Georgia Power will also ensure that the United States will have the power it will need to support long-term economic growth." Nukes supply about 19% of the electricity used in America. France is 78% nuke."

BBC bias to lessen? "Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, tonight warned broadcasters against becoming overly-cautious in their reporting on Islam for fear of causing offence to Muslims. Speaking at Westminster Cathedral Mr Thompson, a practising Catholic, said there was "a growing nervousness about discussion about Islam and its relationship to the traditions and values of British and Western society as a whole". He said that the BBC and other major channels "have a special responsibility" to ensure that debates about "faith and society" and about any religion "should not be foreclosed or censored".

CA: More waters may be off limits to oil drilling: "A stretch of the Pacific Ocean off California's wild north coast seems poised to get permanent federal protection from oil exploration and other development, in recognition that the area lies within one of the four richest marine feeding grounds in the world. The US Senate is expected this week to vote in favor of extending two marine sanctuaries to cover ocean waters off a 76-mile stretch of the Sonoma County and south Mendocino County coasts -- a move that would be a major victory for California in its 50-year battle to restrict offshore oil drilling. The House of Representatives approved the measure April 1. 'After decades of struggle, the door has opened to the national significance of this region,' says Richard Charter of the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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11 April, 2008

Some thoughts on Leftism from Gagdad Bob

Yesterday we discussed Voegelin's concept of political gnosticism, which first "condemns the existing world as broken and alienating, plagued by evil forces preventing a complete and happy restoration of man's spiritual and material life." This existential diagnosis is followed by the promise of "a mode of deliverance or salvation from the prison of the world for man through a secret gnosis" -- i.e., by the toxic political prescription of a secular priesthood. Progressives believe that by manipulating people with just the right coercive policies, the state can reconstitute paradise and create a "'kingdom of heaven on earth," for which Voegelin coined the ponderous term, "immanentizing the eschaton." ...

From Marx on down, the leftist fallacy follows from turning spiritual Truth on its head (or "inside-out"), so that man's spiritual crisis is seen as a material one (e.g. "robber barons," "global warming," "global cooling," "nuclear power," "income disparity," "corporate greed," etc.) instead of a psycho-spiritual one. This is the "fundamental assumption" which adherents of all the variant progressive systems within our epoch unconsciously presuppose.

For example, the progressive would say that Palestinians aren't evil, they're just poor. Which precisely inverts the truism that they are poor because they are evil (except for the few who are extraordinarily wealthy because they are evil, having been enriched by the largesse of Western progressives who give them money because they think it will stop them from being evil, when it always does the opposite, thus ensuring a constant cash flow from backward progressives).

So yes, secular progressives do begin with the same cognitive "deep structure" as those who are in touch with reality, but they promptly place their heads up their assumptions and de-spiritualize them, very similar to how the unconscious mind creates a sexual perversion. In order to create a perversion, the unconscious must "see" a truth it wishes to deny, usually revolving around the reality of sexual/generational differences. For example, many homosexual men compulsively attempt to incorporate the father's phallus in a direct instead of symbolic manner. An insecure heterosexual man might attempt the same thing by projecting this homosexual desire into women, thus having a compulsive need to "conquer" them in order to shore up his weak masculinity.

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Brits can't deport bin Laden's right hand man: "The government's anti-terror policy was dealt a double blow yesterday when firebrand preacher Abu Qatada won his fight against deportation, and ministers were forced to abandon their bid to eject a further 12 terror suspects from Britain. Qatada, a Jordanian once described as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", will remain behind bars while the Home Office appeals against his landmark victory in the Court of Appeal. In the second case, two Libyans known only as "AS" and "DD" won their appeals against deportation, leading the Home Office to drop proceedings against them and ten other Libyans suspected of terrorism."

The Afghanistan success story: "Most of the American media have continuously misreported the NATO mission in Afghanistan as a disaster unfolding, beginning before the effort even began, with warnings of the "brutal Afghan winter." More recently, the media are representing that the Taliban is "resurgent" (when in fact it was NATO that was on the offensive), that the NATO alliance is crumbling, and that Afghanistan is all but lost. I have shown that statements from NATO leaders have gone almost completely ignored when they do not sustain the "losing in Afghanistan" narrative. I remember one article in which the writer declared that the Taliban had "vast swaths of unchallenged territory, including rural areas." The truth of the matter was that NATO forces had pushed the Taliban out of the towns and villages and into the wastelands. But even a clear victory finds the media unable to represent the truth of the matter that we are holding, expanding and rebuilding in Afghanistan. To be sure, there are challenges ahead but the general trend is one of victory, not defeat."

McCain refuses to rule out preemptive war against Iran: "McCain, who has wrapped up his party's nomination to run for the White House in the November election, has maintained support for Iraq war and has said frequently that he would rather lose an election than a war. When asked at a town hall meeting about the Bush policy on preemption, McCain said: "I don't think you can make a blanket statement about preemptive war because obviously it depends on the threat that the United States of America faces."

Forza Silvio! "Silvio Berlusconi, who is ahead in the opinion polls before a general election in Italy this weekend, claimed that right-wing women were more attractive than those who supported the Left. Mr Berlusconi, noted for his impromptu gaffes, told a radio station: "The women of the Right are certainly the most beautiful." By contrast, "the Left has no taste, not even when it comes to women", he said. Giovanna Melandri, a leading centre-left politician and Minister for Sport and Youth in the outgoing Government of Romano Prodi, said that Mr Berlusconi's jokes showed "a repeated and denigrating conception of women"."

Jewish group angry over banned radio ad: "A Jewish advocacy group is steaming after a classical radio station in New York refused to run an ad that described the daily threat of missile attacks facing Israelis in the Gaza border city of Sderot. WQXR, which is owned by The New York Times decided not to run the 60-spot from the American Jewish Committee because it was out of the bounds of acceptability and could alarm the station's American listeners. AJC Executive Director David Harris issued a lengthy statement on the group's Web site decrying the decision as an attempt to 'silence' the group's viewpoint. Harris complained the station's managers wanted acknowledgment of Israel's own military actions in the ad."

Biting the hand that feeds you.: "A common complaint in Europe is that Israel is "starving" Gaza, and that vital medical supplies are not getting through to civilians. This - despite Israeli workers having to supply these essentials to Gaza under terrorists' fire and threat of bombing - is nonsense. Also, let's leave aside the orchestrated-for-Western-media Hamas "blackout" of Gaza recently. Here's an interesting report. 4 Palestinian Arab terrorists killed 2 Israeli workers Tuesday. Fair enough, some might think: the victims were Israeli "occupiers," after all. The terrorists infiltrated Israel from Gaza, and killed 2 employees of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. The thing is, this Israeli fuel terminal supplies Gaza with most of its fuel supply. Analogy: after the London Blitz, the world expects Britain to supply the Germans with food, medical supplies, fuel, etc. Morally, there is no difference here."

Veterans Affairs: Employees spend billions: "Veterans Affairs employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey -- and government auditors are investigating, citing past spending abuses. All told, VA staff charged $2.6 billion to their government credit cards. The Associated Press, through a Freedom of Information request, obtained the VA list of 3.1 million purchases made in the 2007 budget year. The list offers a detailed look into the everyday spending at the government's second largest department."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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10 April, 2008

Passover Seder on 19th

As a non-Jew and an atheist, I have never attended a pesach seder but I have great respect for Judaism (note the flag that I fly on all my blogs) so I thought that I would like to attend one. The local Lubavitchers do advertise a seder so I thought I might go to that one. Alas! They are of course very strict so, even though I explained that I knew something of the teachings of their Rebbe, their person in charge told me as politely as he could that it was for Jews only.

He got a bit incoherent when I pointed out that the Rebbe preached love but that did not sway him, of course. As the Lubavitchers are very fundamentalist, I think we might perhaps conclude that we see the basic difference between Jewish love and Christian love there. Jewish love is for Jews and Christian love is for all mankind. Exclusivity is a feature of many religions so I support their right to be exclusive but I don't think it is wise -- as I have pointed out at some length elsewhere

There are not many Jews in Brisbane so I think I have now missed any chance of attending a seder this year.

Update:

Although I have been an atheist for all of my adult life, I did of course grow up into a Christian milieu -- with its characteristic devotion to outreach and proselytization -- so the attitude of the Lubavitchers was rather shocking to me. Nonetheless I should not have been shocked. There were gnostic sects of Christianity in the distant past and there are some survivals of that into modern times (Masons, Exclusive Brethren etc.).

But anyway, I think I may renew my contact with my Christian roots this Sunday by going to a service at my old church -- Ann St Presbyterian. Just the smell of old French-polished wood will make me feel good as I walk in there -- and the handshakes at the door won't hurt a bit either.

Update 2

I have of course now received a number of messages from Jewish readers in which they kindly say that I would be welcome at their seder. Sadly, none of them are anywhere near to me geographically. I hope I did make clear initially above my recognition that the Lubavitchers do not speak for all Jews.

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Another reason why McCain might win

America is NOT a libertarian country

Anxious conservatives this year are evincing a powerful nostalgia for Ronald Reagan, giving the former president credit for fathering the modern era of consistent Republican victories. Reagan, the myth goes, kept together the three "legs" of the GOP "stool": social conservatives, free marketeers, and national security hawks. As a result, Republicans held the White House for 20 of the last 28 years, broke the Democrats' stranglehold on the House of Representatives, cut income taxes, and won the Cold War.

But in 2008 the stool seems on the verge of breaking apart. Less than two years after holding the White House and both houses of Congress, the Republican Party is threatening to squander all three. Already down 33 seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans are losing 26 incumbents to retirement compared to the Democrats' five and as of early March were behind on congressional fund raising by a ratio of 5 to 1, according to The Wall Street Journal. Democrats are widely expected to extend their 51-49 advantage in the Senate....

In Comeback, one of several new whither-the-party books by traumatized Republicans, former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum points out that the very Bush policies that fiscal conservatives like him despise-the prescription drug entitlement, the No Child Left Behind Act, campaign finance reform-were overwhelmingly popular among the American people. "On issues from Social Security to healthcare to environmental protection, conservatives find themselves on the less popular side of the great issues of the day," Frum writes.

The solution? Surrender: "There are things only government can do, and if we conservatives wish to be entrusted with the management of the government, we must prove that we care about government enough to manage it well." Republicans should cave on new spending and regulations, says Frum, in exchange for tax cuts. "This is not 1964," he writes. "The ideal under threat today is not the nation's liberty, but the nation's security, its unity, its effectiveness, and.its equality and beauty."

As Sasha Issenberg wrote in a perceptive Boston Globe story last November, "With Republicans no longer preaching suspicion of Washington, a new consensus has emerged, as both parties have come in their ways to stand today for a more robust, aggressive federal government. As a result, Goldwaterism is without a natural home in the two-party system." ....

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Petraeus calls for halt to withdrawal: "The top US commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, told Congress late last night that the surge of American forces to the war-torn country had resulted in a "significant but uneven" improvement in security. General Petraeus's politically charged testimony came after presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain yesterday accused his two Democratic rivals of backing a reckless withdrawal from the Iraq war. "Since ambassador (Ryan) Crocker and I appeared before you seven months ago, there has been significant but uneven security progress in Iraq," General Petraeus said in opening testimony before the Senate armed services committee. He said the drawdown of the 30,000 surge troops would be completed in July and followed by a 45-day review period to determine future force numbers and strategy. As fierce clashes between Shia fighters and Iraqi and US forces in Baghdad's Sadr City district killed at least 12 people and wounded 36, General Petraeus said Iran had fuelled violence in Iraq and that Tehran's influence on militias remained the longest-term threat to the country. Senator McCain stressed his commitment to the war in his opening address as the committee's ranking Republican."

Hillary's nutty Rabbi: "Have you heard about the Democratic presidential candidate who has links to a radical clergyman? Did you know that the clergyman was arrested for conspiracy and criminal political violence in the early 1970s? Some of the things the clergyman wrote around that time were: – "The Jewish community is racist, internally corrupt . . ." – "The synagogue as currently established will have to be smashed."  – "Black anti-Semitism . . . is not an anti-Semitism rooted in . . . hatred of the Christ-killers but rather one rooted in the concrete fact of oppression by Jews of blacks . . ." What's that you say? You had not heard that Barack Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, had been arrested for violent acts? You did not know he said these things? Wright was not the clergyman responsible for the above quotes and he was not arrested for conspiracy in the 1970s. And the candidate is not Obama. This article is about Hillary Clinton and her friendship with her "Politics of Meaning" guru Rabbi Michael Lerner; he wrote those things in a 1969 article in Judaism magazine."

UN "human rights" envoy blocked by Israel: "Israel has said it will refuse a visa for the new United Nations human rights envoy to the Palestinians after he said it was responsible for a "Holocaust in the making" in Gaza. Richard Falk, a Jewish-American law professor, is to assume the UN post of special rapporteur in June. But the Israeli government is furious as he compared it last year to Nazi Germany and has refused to retract his comments since his appointment. A spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry also accused his employers of bias. Israeli officials want the envoy to evaluate Palestinian human rights violations, including rockets fired on Israeli civilians, alongside any Israeli transgressions."



New leader for Holy Ireland: "A few pints may be sunk and a song sung tonight by Brian Cowen when he becomes leader of Fianna F il, and just a step away from replacing his boss Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach next month. Mr Cowen - known to admirers and detractors alike as "Biffo"* - has been Mr Ahern's anointed successor since Ireland's most successful party won last year's general election, for the third time in a row. It was Mr Cowen in whom Mr Ahern confided last week before springing his surprise resignation announcement, prompted by further questions about the Prime Minister's financial affairs. The seamless succession is unlikely to mean any big government reshuffles, with Cabinet ministers tripping over themselves last week to endorse Mr Cowen and name him as the only candidate in the race. The only question remaining is, who will step up to the role of Tanaiste, or deputy prime minister?"

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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9 April, 2008

Leftism and hate

I often point out the hate motivation that drives lots of Leftists. That does appear to upset some conservatives. Leftists are so constantly accusing conservatives of hate that some conservatives seem to think that it is not genteel to use similar language. "We should not stoop to their level" seems to be the thinking. Or maybe they hope that by not speaking about hate they will make all talk of it go away.

But that is exactly what preachers of Leftism want conservatives to do. Leftists know full well how much hate and anger burns in their own hearts but they also know that public awareness of that would discredit them. So they do all they can to prevent awareness of their motivations from rising to the surface -- by loud cries of good intentions, shallow arguments that what they want is all "for your own good" AND by accusing others of being what they really are -- using "projection", as psychologists call it.

And projection is a very effective and very old strategy for deflecting attention from your own weaknesses. Even Jesus was aware of it when he admonished people to get the beam out of their own eye before worrying about the speck in someone elses' eye (Matthew 7: 3-5).

We can see this hate of everything that is about them most clearly in the case of extreme Leftists. Communists and their ilk openly preach revolution -- destruction of the entire "system". And in their various campaigns in democratic societies they are often calling for something to be "smashed". I remember a time in Britain when "smash Maggie Thatcher's government" was a popular Trotskyist slogan.

And their chronic anger explains why Leftist policies are so uniformly boneheaded and fail to take account of all the factors involved. When you are angry, you haven't got the time or energy for calm and mature contemplation. You just seize on the simplest available alternative to whatever it is that you hate. And you don't really care if the alternative isn't a good one. All your energies are focused on attacking the status quo.

What it is that makes the Leftist so burnt up inside could be many things -- from being born ugly to a feeling that they are not getting the recogntion that they think that they deserve for their talents. And I should stress here that I am talking about the preachers of Leftism, not necessarily the poor schmucks who get conned into voting for them.

The Leftist hatred of the existing system can show up in all sorts of ways. Even I was a little surprised to see some freaky-looking female poindexter on the Leftist "Alternet" site getting all excited by some recent egghead pronouncement to the effect that the English language as we know it is dying out(!). The claim is that English will become fractionated into mutually unintelligible dialects in the next few hundred years. The Leftist lady comments:

"Although I am the daughter and granddaughter of English teachers and spent many years in an English department earning a PhD, I relish the prospect of my language changing and becoming incomprehensible to me. Maybe that's because I spent a year learning to read Old English, the dominant form of English spoken 1,000 years ago, and I realize how much my language has already changed. But my glee in the destruction of my own spoken language isn't entirely inspired by knowing language history. It's because I want English to reflect the lives of the people who speak it. I want English to be a communications tool"

"Glee in destruction". That's pretty clear, isn't it? And it's all an absurdity. First the printed word and now the broadcast media are making English more uniform. Far from fractionating into different dialects, English worldwide is becoming standardized on the usage of the world's largest English-speaking community: popular American usage. I myself used an Americanism above that would so far be not be generally understood in my own country of Australia: "poindexter" (meaning a geek or what the British would once have termed a "swot").

I am in fact a native speaker of a form of English that meets a lot of incomprehension in America. When I am writing and when I am overseas generally, I deliberately do not use the full range of Australian expressions -- but even then I quite often get tripped up. I use expressions which I think are standard but which are not. However, much as I love my native Australian language, it is constantly borne upon me that young Australians have lost a lot of their old Australian idioms and use American expressions instead (using "guy" instead of "bloke", for instance). English is quite plainly progressing towards worldwide uniformity, not fractionation into mutually unintelligible dialects.

So our sad Leftist lady will have to put up with something important NOT being destroyed. And note the characteristically pathetic rationalization she uses for her pervasive hatred of the status quo: She wants English to be "a communications tool". As if it isn't already!

Update:

An interesting email from an American reader:

"The internationalization of English doesn't come just from the spread of Americanisms. Last week I saw "gobsmacked" used by Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. I first learned the term reading British blogs. I've also heard youngish Americans use "bloke." We've come a long way since the American distributors of Mad Max decided they would have to have the film dubbed into American."

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The Charlton Heston the Left won't tell you about

Not very many people will remember that Charlton Heston picketed a segregated theater premiering his own movie; or that he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr on the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. All at a time when no one in Hollywood was willing to speak out against racism. It's more likely that he'll be remembered as the six foot three inch tall actor, who played Moses and Ben Hur, and later became the president and spokesman for the National Rifle Association advocating the right to keep and bear arms; or recall that he opposed affirmative action. But Heston the marcher and Heston the NRA president come closer together if one recalls that in the actor's mind at least, racial segregation helped the cause of Communism. The fight for freedom took many forms, but underneath its varied guises it was always the same thing.

Part of the problem with Charlton Heston wasn't that he was inconsistent, but that he was too consistent. And the common mistake, even of the Old Bolsheviks, was to suppose that following a set of principles was better following fashion. Those who wonder whether Heston had wandered off should ask themselves whether Martin Luther King, had he lived, might also have remarked to the nation's First Black President that "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns." After all, King was a Republican and nobody remembers that either.

Source

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Absolut apologizes for expanded Mexico ad: "The Absolut vodka company apologized Saturday for an ad campaign depicting the southwestern U.S. as part of Mexico amid angry calls for a boycott by U.S. consumers. The campaign, which promotes ideal scenarios under the slogan 'In an Absolut World,' showed a 1830s-era map when Mexico included California, Texas and other southwestern states. Mexico still resents losing that territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War and the fight for Texas independence. But the ads, which ran only in Mexico and have since ended, came as the United States builds up its border security amid an emotional debate over illegal immigration from their southern neighbor. ... The ads sparked heated comment on a half-dozen other Internet sites and blogs."

General election coming in Italy on April 13 & 14: "The Left?" asks Silvio Berlusconi. "The Left says it loves the poor". He pauses: the banner-waving supporters braving the rain in Piazza del Plebiscito, Naple's main square, wait for the punch line. "So it does. The Left loves the poor so much it creates more of them every time it gets into power". The crowd erupts, even though it has heard most of Mr Berlusconi's jokes before. He turns his fire on Walter Veltroni, the earnest, bespectacled new leader of the Centre Left and his opponent in next weekend's election. "Veltroni? He leads the Bikini Party - it shows a lot but covers up the Communist essentials". Another roar of approval, to the sound of Mr Berlusconi's campaign song "Thank God for Silvio". The two leaders are fighting a final battle for undecided voters, estimated at between twenty and thirty percent, in a country disillusioned with its chronic political instability, economic decline and self serving elite."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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8 April, 2008

One reason why McCain might win

Ask any priest, pastor, rabbi, teacher, psychotherapist, supervisor, or elected official and they will be happy to confirm that the people they deal with are all trying to work out their childhood agendas on any available authority figure.

Some of us want a `sugar daddy' and a `sugar family' who takes care of us, and we cede our personal power and freedom to this Democrat Parent/Party who promises security. The details of politics and policy positions pale into insignificance when compared to the need to escape from personal freedom and responsibility.

Some of us want a `strong daddy' who will protect us from danger and who expects us to be strong as well, and we vote for a Republican Parent/Party. We need to belong to a strong family with a strong leader so we will be safe. And once again, the details don't really matter that much.

No matter whom we are voting for we are voting for our kind of family, and our kind of parent. Most folks look at the candidate for the qualities they want that will fill their psychological needs. The issues aren't nearly as important as the personal evaluation of the person's character. If they like the person and trust them to be "their kind of parent," they will vote for them.

Some voters still embrace their personal freedom and the responsibility that comes along with it. They study the issues and they vote on the issues. But sadly, they are a distinct minority. Don't expect the American people to vote on issues. They almost never do. My guess is that more people will vote on how the candidate looks than what the candidate thinks. They vote for whoever meets their personal psychological needs. Thus someone like John McCain can lead the Republican Party even though the "party's issues" run contrary to his thinking.

Most people don't like Hillary and can't imagine her as a parent figure, unless it is the `Mommy Dearest' type. Obama isn't old enough to inspire parental psychological needs and the religious mass movement that is driving his campaign will probably falter because of weak faith.

McCain is a hero parent who will protect us from danger, and most people like him. Most Republican voters will overlook his policy positions, just like they overlooked strong and protective Rudy Giuliani's liberalness. Unless McCain screws up and shows signs of being a bad Dad, McCain will probably win.

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Rich bitch represents the poor?? "New York Senator Hillary Clinton and her husband spend a lot of time on the Presidential trail deploring the "wealthy" and "well-connected." As their newly released tax records for 2000 to 2007 show, they know of whom they speak. The former, and perhaps future, first couple earned $109 million over the past eight years, putting them among the top .01% of taxpayers. Apparently the Bush years haven't been a Depression era for everyone. The bulk of the Clintons' income came from speech-making ($51.9 million) and book-writing ($29.6 million)... We can also now understand why the couple took so long to release their returns, and are still reluctant to release other information. Their political status has given them access to wealthy folks who've helped make them rich. For example, Mr. Clinton raked in as much as $15 million working as an adviser and rainmaker for billionaire financier Ron Burkle's Yucaipa firm".

Cuba getting more capitalist: "In a country where almost everyone works for the communist state, dairy farmer Jesus Diaz is his own boss. He likes it that way -- and so does the government. Living on a plot of land just big enough to graze four dairy cows, Diaz produces enough milk to sell about four quarts a day to the state. This is independent production on a tiny scale, but it has proved so efficient that Cuba has decided on a major expansion of its program to distribute underused and fallow farmland to private farmers and cooperatives. ''It's a way for the land to end up in the hands of those who want to produce. I see it as a very good thing,'' said Diaz, 45. He received his land and cows from the state in 1996, and now hopes to get access to more property. The government is preparing for a ''massive distribution of land,'' Orlando Lugo, president of Cuba's national farming association, said last week. Private farmers have begun receiving land for the cash crops of coffee and tobacco, and will soon be able to lease state land for other crops."

Brainless Illinois Democrats: "Fresh on the heels of the decision last month by Cook County to more than double its sales tax, a decision giving Chicago the highest sales tax in the US, Democrats in the Illinois State Legislature are proposing to amend the Illinois Constitution in order to double the state income tax to 6% for those making over $250,000. As one supporter of the idea, Illinois state Rep. Joseph Lyons (D-Chicago), put it: "Let's take from the rich and give to the poor." The statement by Rep. Lyons wasn't just an offhand remark: the proposal is being called "The Robin Hood Tax" by its backers. These allusions to outdated ideas from a time long ago aren't unusual in Chicago politics."

'Ruthlessness gene' discovered. Dictatorial behaviour may be partly genetic, study suggests: "Could a gene be partly responsible for the behaviour of some of the worlds most infamous dictators?"Could a gene be partly responsible for the behaviour of some of the worlds most infamous dictators? Selfish dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to ruthlessness. The study might help to explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak - from national dictators down to 'little Hitlers' found in workplaces the world over. Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behaviour in an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game'. The exercise allows players to behave selflessly, or like money-grabbing dictators such as former Zaire President Mobutu, who plundered the mineral wealth of his country to become one of the world's richest men while its citizens suffered in poverty."

An amazing idea from a Leftist government: "School children in Britain could soon be signing up for controversial lessons in military drills and weapons training. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reportedly backing the plan, which aims to improve links between the public and armed forces. The plan has been drawn up after a review of the military's role in British society found that encouraging high school pupils to join the country's cadet corps could help improve discipline among teenagers, and improve attitudes towards the army, navy and air force. The Observer newspaper said the Labour MP who carried out the review for the government, Quentin Davies, was alarmed by how many pupils had no idea of military life. He wants high school pupils to receive basic military training to help foster a greater affiliation with the defence forces. "The prime minister is very, very keen on the opportunities represented by cadet forces and we will be making a number of recommendations to increase the use of this superb national asset," Davies told the newspaper."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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7 April, 2008

How Did We Reach The Point Where Air America Calls Hillary a 'Whore'?

Randi Rhodes [of Air America] called Hillary a `f*cking whore'. In and of itself, it's shocking, but it's otherworldly when we think about what Hillary Clinton has meant to liberals for most of the past sixteen years.... And if you've read any Hillary vs. Obama thread on a liberal blog lately, you know that there have been friendlier back-and-forth exchanges in snakepits.

There's something vaguely reassuring about all this, from the view of sitting on the right. It reveals to conservatives that the nastiness exhibited in our earlier disagreements with these folks was never personal; these people are clearly nasty to anyone who disagrees with them. Geraldine Ferraro's long service to the Democratic party means nothing to many Obama backers; she's a racist, "David Duke in drag," as Rhodes put it. I'm sure Senator Patrick Leahy thought his decades of work on the left side of the aisle had bought him some street cred from feminists, but no, he was called sexist when he called on Hillary to leave the race.

Hillary gets called a "monster" by Obama's surrogates; Hillary's surrogates wonder out loud if Obama ever sold drugs. Today Clinton surrogate Ed Rendell speculates that Americans know only half the story of Barack Obama. Day in, day out, in this race it continues.

Is there nastiness on the right? Sure. But it's hard to imagine somebody being the equivalent hero to the right the way Hillary was a hero to the left, so suddenly and severely pitched overboard - no, that's not it, denounced and demonized - when somebody else came along.

More here

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Another lie from Hillary: "Over the last five weeks, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has featured in her campaign stump speeches the story of a health care horror: an uninsured pregnant woman who lost her baby and died herself after being denied care by an Ohio hospital because she could not come up with a $100 fee. The woman, Trina Bachtel, did die last August, two weeks after her baby boy was stillborn at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio. But hospital administrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured. "We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story," said Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O'Bleness Health System. Linda M. Weiss, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit hospital, said the Clinton campaign had never contacted the hospital to check the accuracy of the story"

What I mean, not what I say: "When ABC reported the scoop that Hillary Clinton told Bill Richardson that Barack Obama couldn't win in the general election, I thought it was a good nugget but not surprising. It's not as if she'd previously said she'd be a better nominee because Obama is a bad dancer. The Clinton campaign has been arguing that Obama can't win in the general election for months. ... But as thoroughly obvious as the Clinton remark is, it's the kind of plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face statement that candidates are never supposed to actually make out loud. They'll walk you up to the idea. They'll even sound out the vowels to help you say it yourself, but in primary season, no one is supposed to actually say, 'He can't win' or 'He doesn't have the credentials to be commander in chief.' Her campaign will suggest that your sleeping children could be extinguished in their beds if Obama is elected, but when Clinton is asked at a debate if Obama is not ready to be president, she'll say that's for the voters to decide."

The immoderate voice: "At the so-called Moderate Voice, Sean Mullen has an interesting concept of terrorism. Former Sen. Phil Gramm, now an adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign, is a "terrorist in pinstripes" for his sponsorship of the Financial Services Modernization Act. Mullen blames the law for the subprime mortgage meltdown. because Barack Obama says so. You really cannot get more moderate than that. Okay, so maybe Mullen could get more moderate than that. For example, Mullen could have noted that the Financial Services Modernization Act was signed into law by then-Pres. Bill Clinton. Mullen could have noted that Obama, like Hillary Clinton, has taken plenty of campaign cash from the main players in the subprime-mortgage industry. Mullen also could have told his readers that Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee has defended the deregulation of mortgage lending on the op-ed page of the New York Times."

Hey Hollywood how about a movie about winning the war? : "Hey, Hollywood people, thanks for taking this meeting. I wish I had some good news about the new movie "Stop-Loss." But I don't. It's a bomb, a major disaster at the box office despite the presence of Ryan Phillippe. Sorry. One thing: Why do you guys keep making these Iraq war films when nobody wants to see them? I mean, "Home of the Brave" went straight to video, and most theaters wouldn't even consider "Redacted." I understand that billionaire Mark CubanMark-Cuban has no clue, but come on, the guy spends more than five million bucks on "Redacted" and it grosses about $65,000. Wow, that's some write-off. As you know, even the big boys are getting hammered with these anti-American movies"

Media score keeping in Iraq: "In the opening game of the baseball season between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics in Japan, 11 runs were scored. That lead would be unsatisfying to most sports fans because it doesn't indicate which team won. But it is very like most of the reporting of battles in Iraq: "The deadliest clashes were in Basra, where at least 47 people were killed and 223 wounded in the two days of fighting," wrote the AP's Kim Gamel. Mr. Roggio said his sources in the U.S. military tell him the Mahdi Army was getting pounded. "According to an unofficial tally . 571 Mahdi army fighters have been killed, 881 have been wounded, 490 have been captured, and 30 have surrendered over the course of seven days of fighting."

Surprise! Academics like an impractical dreamer: "In state after state -- from New Hampshire and Michigan to Texas and Ohio -- Obama runs unusually strongly in counties with large universities. Academics -- and I include here those who choose to live in university towns as well as those actually in or teaching school -- seem to find Obama particularly appealing."

In Wal-Mart we trust: "While the Federal Emergency Management Agency fumbled about, doing almost as much to prevent essential supplies from reaching Louisiana and Mississippi as it could to facilitate it, Wal-Mart managers performed feats of heroism. In Kenner, La., an employee crashed a forklift through a warehouse door to get water for a nursing home. A Marrero, La., store served as a barracks for cops whose homes had been submerged. In Waveland, Miss., an assistant manager who could not reach her superiors had a bulldozer driven through the store to retrieve disaster necessities for community use, and broke into a locked pharmacy closet to obtain medicine for the local hospital. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart trucks pre-loaded with emergency supplies at regional depots were among the first on the scene wherever refugees were being gathered by officialdom. Their main challenge, in many cases, was running a gauntlet of FEMA officials who didn't want to let them through."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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6 April, 2008

Oil idiocy



The latest in the series of pointless gestures that constitute Congressional energy policy came yesterday, when executives from five major oil companies were paraded before Ed Markey's House hearing on global warming. They served as political props for Members to denounce rising gas prices, ventilate Dick Cheney conspiracy theories and otherwise advertise their ignorance of the markets they purportedly oversee.

Democrats, for instance, might rejoice over higher energy costs, which is precisely the eco-policy they've been advocating for years. Until Congress finds a way to abolish the price mechanism, paying more for gasoline is the only signal that will tell Americans to cut their consumption. How exactly do Democrats think a carbon tax or cap-and-trade regime is going to work?

The oil executives performed a public service by pointing out other economic realities. About 70% of the price of gasoline is determined by the global price of crude, which is rising because of world-wide demand and volatility in the commodities markets, not to mention the Federal Reserve's easy-money policy. Congress might also look to its gas mandates and the corset it has laced around domestic production.

It's true that industry profits are at a record high, but oil is a classic boom-and-bust business, which is why billions in capital investments are folded back into exploration and production. Besides, the industry's effective tax rates are in the neighborhood of 40% to 44%. Over the past five years, Exxon Mobil's total U.S. tax bill exceeded its U.S. revenues by some $19 billion.

Mr. Markey also used the occasion to threaten special tax increases, grilling the executives about $18 billion in "subsidies," which are actually a tax deduction that Congress itself extended to all manufacturers, including Big Oil. And he demanded that the companies commit 10% of profits to renewable energy. But as an Exxon vice president put it, fossil fuels are still going to account for at least two-thirds of the world's energy consumption in three decades and whatever scientific progress is made, the practical prospects for alternatives remain "very, very small."

Source. Toon via Dr Sanity

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Obama advisor says 60 to 80 thousand troops need to stay in Iraq: "A key adviser to Senator Obama's campaign is recommending in a confidential paper that America keep between 60,000 and 80,000 troops in Iraq as of late 2010, a plan at odds with the public pledge of the Illinois senator to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. The paper, obtained by The New York Sun, was written by Colin Kahl for the center-left Center for a New American Security. In "Stay on Success: A Policy of Conditional Engagement," Mr. Kahl writes that through negotiations with the Iraqi government "the U.S. should aim to transition to a sustainable over-watch posture (of perhaps 60,000-80,000 forces) by the end of 2010 (although the specific timelines should be the byproduct of negotiations and conditions on the ground)." Mr. Kahl is the day-to-day coordinator of the Obama campaign's working group on Iraq"

A new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is out on Iraq and it shows a lot of progress in Iraq: "A new classified intelligence assessment on Iraq says there has been significant progress in security since the last assessment was delivered in August, a senior military official said. In most ways the new National Intelligence Estimate hews closely to the one delivered nine months ago. That document spoke of security gains since the increase in troop levels began in January 2007, the continued high rate of violence and uneven progress on the part of Iraqi security forces."

Why top Democrats and the media want to Clinton/Obama battle to end: "Clinton is validating all sorts of things Republicans will say about Obama if he's the nominee. For example, she said Obama's not ready to be president "on Day One" or receive emergency 3 a.m. phone calls on Night One. And when the Jeremiah Wright controversy was winding down, Clinton tried to reignite the firestorm by saying that Obama's choice of ministers is fair game. This is a wonderful boon to Republicans. Clinton's criticisms of Obama's foreign-policy inexperience and his association with Wright are both perfectly legitimate. But if she weren't making them, Democrats (and much of the press) would denounce Republicans for saying the same things. If Obama had secured the nomination by now, the Democrats would surely be labeling any criticism over Jeremiah Wright as unfair, racist "swift-boating." That's hard to do when Bill and Hillary Clinton are making this criticism bipartisan.

60 minutes of slime again: "Dana Jill Simpson told "60 Minutes" she called Karl Rove in Virginia to discuss politics. She also said she was at a KKK meeting and that she was working undercover for Rove. Rove says there were no calls to Virginia. He's never lived in Virginia. Every nutty story Dana Jill Simpson told has not panned out including the story that she talked with the crooked Alabama governor... But, this didn't stop "60 Minutes" from running a Rove hit piece based entirely on her testimony."

FAA Inspectors Say Concerns Ignored: "The whistleblowers who exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest Airlines told Congress their jobs were threatened and their reports of noncompliance were ignored for years. Federal Aviation Administration inspector Douglas Peters choked up Thursday at a House hearing and needed a few sips of water to tell lawmakers about how a former manager came into his office, commented on pictures of Peters' family being most important, and then said his job could be jeopardized by his actions. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said FAA managers' actions displayed "malfeasance bordering on corruption," adding that if presented to a grand jury, the evidence would result in an indictment."

Time to scrap the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act: "Hoping to be seen to be 'doing something' about the perceived problem of Internet gambling, Congress approved the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in October of 2006. The Act, however, seems unlikely to stop Internet gambling and could even threaten the stable, smooth operation of America's banking system. UIGEA and its currently proposed enabling regulations will undermine the financial privacy of all Americans and reduce the security of their bank accounts. In short, UIGEA makes almost no financial, social, or economic sense. It deserves reexamination."

John Lilburne: The first English libertarian: "The Levellers were a group of political activists in the 17th century, who campaigned for radical change, by writing and distributing pamphlets, petitions and manifestos; and by arranging meetings in taverns to spread their ideas. Among their leading writers and pamphleteers, besides John Lilburne, were Richard Overton, William Walwyn, Thomas Prince, and John Wildman. Probably the most famous document compiled by the Levellers is one entitled An Agreement of the People. The demands listed included regular elections, religious freedom, equality before the law, an end to conscription for war service, equal electoral districts according to population, and universal manhood suffrage."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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5 April, 2008

Small Victories over piranha lawyers

Foes of lawsuit abuse have been writing gleefully about the fall of Dickie Scruggs, Bill Lerach and Melvyn Weiss. All three lawyers are likely to spend time in jail for plotting to bribe a judge (Scruggs) or paying kickbacks (Lerach and Weiss). Good riddance. Locking them up will stop them from further damaging America - at least for a few years. But it's a small victory for reformers. New members of the parasite circus will just step forward to take their place. And what these aggressive class-action and securities lawyers do legally is more damaging to America than the crimes that Scruggs, Lerach and Weiss committed. They broke laws to cheat other lawyers out of some loot, but at least that barely hurt the public.

An editorial in this newspaper justifiably mocked Lerach for declaring his lawbreaking a mere "foot fault" ("I stepped over the line," he said). But at least paying off plaintiffs honestly reflects how such lawyers get rich. Often, they are less "officers of the court seeking justice" than businessmen colluding with plaintiffs in a lucrative extortion business. Legal extortion. But still extortion. Companies pay the lawyers to go away even when it's unclear that they did anything wrong.

Once companies pay, it's logical that the plaintiff/partner who helped the lawyers enrich themselves should get a cut of that loot. That's a fairer deal than what typical plaintiffs in class actions get: coupons or a check for perhaps $1.26.

A federal judge will soon decide whether to award Lerach his cut of what may be the biggest class-action legal fee ever. Lerach extorted - I mean persuaded - J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and a Canadian bank to give $695 million to him and other lawyers who claimed the banks were culpable in the Enron debacle. On March 19, 2007 an appellate court ruled that the banks were not culpable. But so what? Fairness doesn't necessarily govern this game. The game is more about rounding up lots of complainants and using America's one-sided legal system to terrorize businesses into settling. Companies could fight and win, but that distracts managers from what they ought to be doing. And they might get a bad jury and lose the entire company. It's safer to settle.

More here

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The myth of the just price: "The concept of the just price is the basis of a great deal of erroneous economic thought that permeates our supposedly free market, capitalistic society. Laws regarding usury, loan sharking, price gouging, ticket scalping, dumping, profiteering, equal pay, price discrimination, predatory pricing and lending, product bundling, and antitrust -- these are all prime examples of this fallacious way of thinking. Opinions expressed on these practices, and things like pay for supermodels, executives, actors, and athletes, as well as nebulous concepts of fairness, are likewise predicated on just price theory -- regardless of whether the opinionist has any concept of basic economics or has ever even heard of just price theory."

Demon seed? "Interview with Robert Paarlberg, author of Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa. Paarlberg: "My students know just what kind of food system they want: a food system that isn't based on industrial scale monoculture. They want instead small farms built around nature imitating polycultures. They don't want chemical use; they certainly don't want genetic engineering. They want slow food instead of fast food. They've got this image of what would be better than what we have now. And what they probably don't realize is that Africa is an extreme version of that fantasy. If we were producing our own food that way, 60 percent of us would still be farming and would be earning a dollar a day, and a third of us would be malnourished. I'm trying to find some way to honor the rejection that my students have for some aspects of modern farming, but I don't want them to fantasize about the exact opposite."

Newsweak shrinking: Hooray! "The staff of Newsweek will shrink dramatically, after 111 staffers on its news and business sides accepted a buyout last week. Among those leaving are some of the magazine's best-known, most-admired and longest-service critics, including David Gates, David Ansen and Cathleen McGuigan. 146 staffers were offered the chance to leave the magazine, with as much as two years of their current salary as a departing bonus, depending on their age and length of service. More staffers than expected accepted the offer, so at least some their jobs are likely to be filled by new hires. But dozens of positions will be eliminated permanently, Radar reports. The departure of so many senior staffers at once - all of them are expected to be gone by the end of this year - will mean the loss of much of the magazine's institutional memory, as well as many of its most talented writers and editors. All of the chief researchers are also leaving, and their positions may be eliminated"

EU regulations hit orchestras: "Along with other opera and ballet companies in the UK, Covent Garden is preparing itself for amendments to EU legislation relating to noise in the workplace. For most industries the regulations came into effect two years ago, but music and entertainment were granted an extra two years to find ways to adapt to the limits. That extension expires on Sunday, and orchestral managers have been thrown into a tailspin. They are spending tens of thousands of pounds consulting acoustic engineers and compiling complex databases, installing noise-reducing screens and buying earplugs for their players. They are metering their shows and rearranging their performance schedules accordingly, so that noisier productions are shared with quieter ones during the working week. And all without leaving audiences feeling that their musical night out has been compromised as a result. The regulations are designed to protect factory workers and other employees forced to carry out their jobs against a backdrop of loudly humming machinery. The irony is that for orchestras noise is their business, which makes it doubly tricky for them to function within the EU directive, especially when a Swan Lake clocks in at 90 decibels."

McCain has a personal stake in the war: "Sen. John McCain regularly talks about his military experience on the presidential campaign trail, but he draws the line when asked about his sons' service in the armed forces. Jimmy McCain, 19, who returned from Iraq in mid-February, is stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. Jack McCain, 21, is poised to graduate from the Naval Academy and could join the Marines as a second lieutenant. At a time when Democrats are calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, McCain has refused to use his children's experience to strengthen his arguments for keeping the U.S. military in the Middle Eastern country. McCain has appeared uncomfortable when asked about Jimmy's deployment to Iraq. When asked about it last month by Fox commentator Sean Hannity, McCain replied, "We really never talk about our sons. We have two sons in the military but we never talk about it, if that's all right." McCain added, "I am so proud of both of them."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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4 April, 2008

The despicable military-hating Jack Murtha

I wonder does he still have a hat? The equally despicable John Kerry does

Last week's development in the Haditha case -- the dropping of all the charges leveled against Lance Cpl. Stephan Tatum for actions related to Haditha, Iraq -- drives another nail into the shameful accusations made by Time magazine and Rep. John Murtha.

Time magazine, with an assist from the Pennsylvania Democrat, sparked a legal and media inquisition against eight courageous United States Marines. Both Time and Murtha claimed these Marines committed cold-blooded murder in Haditha during a 2005 engagement. They also alleged the Marines participated in covering up their alleged atrocities. But after years of litigation and estimated $40 million in taxpayer funds expended, none of the Marines have been found guilty of committing murder or war crimes.

On Nov. 19, 2005, during an insurgent ambush of the Marines of Kilo Company 3rd battalion 1st Marines, 15 Iraqi civilians and nine suspected insurgent ambushers were killed. One Marine was killed in an IED explosion and two others seriously wounded. Thanks to the battalion intelligence officer, Lt. Jeff Dinsmore, who monitored the daylong engagement, the entire Marine chain of command were given the full story of the engagement that very night and it was agreed that no further action in connection with the civilian casualties was needed.

Months later, a Time story based on the testimony of two known insurgent propagandists and the stories of some Iraqi civilians falsely reported that the Kilo company Marines had wantonly murdered the dead Iraqis as an act of revenge after an IED explosion took the life of a fellow Marine. On the basis of Time's unsubstantiated allegations alone, Murtha publicly charged the Marines had gone on a rampage to avenge the killing of their comrade in the IED explosion and had committed cold-blooded murder. Time has been forced to issue four different retractions of details in their report.

Before any investigation had gotten underway Murtha went on a rampage of his own, attacking the Marines in venue after venue. In his original charges against the Marines, Murtha said there was no gunfire during the incident when there was in fact a daylong battle involving heavy insurgent gunfire directed at the Marines starting at the time of the IED explosion. Typical of Murtha's rantings were his comments on a May 28, 2006, ABC News broadcast. In response to George Stephanopolis' comment that he claimed to have been briefed several times since Nov. 19 and said that that the evidence showed that the Marines had committed cold-blooded murder, Murtha said: "Well there's no question in my mind, what happened was an IED exploded. It killed one Marine. And then a taxi drives up. When the taxi comes up there's four of five people in it. And they shoot . shoot those four or five people unarmed. "And then they go on a rampage throughout the houses and kill people.

More here

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Many readers here will probably be aware of the historical role played by Margaret Mead in the Leftist attack on sexual morality. Her influential book "Growing up in Samoa" paraded Mead's libertine ideology as anthropological fact. I have made a few comments on the matter over the years and Prof. Hiram Caton has recently taken me to task over some of my comments. You can read the dialogue here. The dialogue is actually about Derek Freeman, the man principally responsible for exposing Mead's lies. Freeman had to be an unusual character to take on such an acclaimed figure as Mead was and Caton says that Freeman was a nut. I suspect that Freeman simply had a strong ego but that the furious attacks that he sustained from the Left did unnerve him at times. But, as I initially pointed out to Caton, all that is ad hominem anyway.

Maybe there is something good about the U.N. after all!: "Al-QA'IDA number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has launched a blistering attack on the UN, calling it the enemy of Islam and Muslims in an online audiofile. "The United Nations is an enemy of Islam and Muslims: it is the one which codified and legitimised the setting up of the state of Israel and its taking over of the Muslims' lands," Zawahiri said. The audio released via the monitoring group the IntelCenter was the first installment in a two-part series to answer about 100 questions put to Zawahiri, known as al-Qa'ida's ideological thinker, via online militant forums. He grouped his replies into four sections - the killing of innocents, Iran, Egypt and Palestine - and denied that the al-Qa'ida network had been responsible for the loss of innocent Muslim lives."

Even dissolute Ted has some caution: "Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is jumping into the middle of an uproar within the gay community whose causes he has long championed. The Massachusetts Democrat is leading a push in the Senate for a federal ban on job bias against gays, lesbians and bisexuals - but not transsexuals, cross-dressers and others whose outward appearance doesn't match their gender at birth. "We will strongly oppose it," said Roberta Sklar of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "Leaving transgender people out makes that a flawed movement."

CBS lying again: ""At the age of 19, Murat Kurnaz vanished into America's shadow prison system in the war on terror. He was from Germany, traveling in Pakistan, and was picked up three months after 9/11. But there seemed to be ample evidence that Kurnaz was an innocent man with no connection to terrorism. The FBI thought so, U.S. intelligence thought so, and German intelligence agreed." Thus intoned CBS correspondent Scott Pelley on Sunday night in introducing the 60 Minutes report on former Guant namo inmate and book author Murat Kurnaz...... we know from Kurnaz's declassified Combatant Status Review file that US authorities have in fact upheld his original classification as an illegal enemy combatant. More to the point, far from "agreeing" that Kurnaz had no connection to terror, starting in 2002, Germany's Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BKA) - the German equivalent of the FBI - itself classified Kurnaz as a "security risk." This classification was based on a number of pieces of information linking Kurnaz to Islamic extremist circles in Germany, including to the milieu of the "Hamburg cell" that planned the 9/11 attacks."

A coverup? "NASA shut down a massive air-safety survey project without ever properly evaluating, explaining or publicizing its purpose and results, and thus lost a chance for valuable insight into safety issues, the space agency's inspector general said Monday. The watchdog office said NASA should interpret and analyze the results of its interviews with some 30,000 pilots, but NASA in a written response continued to reject that idea. NASA will evaluate the methodology that its staff used in the $11.3 million project, but going further to actually report on the findings isn't worthwhile because the interviews, which were stopped at the end of 2004, are less relevant with the passage of time, wrote the agency's associate administrator, Jaiwon Shin. The intent of the National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service was to help prevent aviation accidents by viewing air safety through the eyes of pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and air traffic controllers. Their insights would add to the picture provided by other aviation monitoring programs, the audit said.

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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3 April, 2008

Hillary's lying goes back a long way

As Hillary Clinton came under increasing scrutiny for her story about facing sniper fire in Bosnia, one question that arose was whether she has engaged in a pattern of lying. The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.

Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised the work of 27-year-old Hillary Rodham on the committee. Hillary got a job working on the investigation at the behest of her former law professor, Burke Marshall, who was also Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel in the Chappaquiddick affair. When the investigation was over, Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career. Why? “Because she was a liar,” Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”

More here

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Brookes News Update

Carbon emissions trading, the new Bubble Economy: Imposing a carbon emissions trading scheme is not justified by the science and is likely to be very costly and disruptive to the lives of all Australians. It is becoming very clear that carbon dioxide is not a key driver of earth's temperature, and attempts to reduce man's emissions of CO2 will do more harm than good
Dark Hour - a sign of the times: Earth Hour should be renamed Dark Hour during that consumers should also forgo the consumption of gasoline and diesel. Consumers should spend the hour they sit in the dark with no transport, air conditioning or hot coffee, remembering the contribution that carbon fuels have made to modern society
Buoy meets Gore: The global warming cult and its media allies suffered a severe blow when 3,000 automated ocean buoys actually detected a slight cooling. Moreover, NASA's eight weather satellites readings showed that temperature changes were well within the normal range
The Disgrace of Liberalism: The Democrats - with the indispensable aid of their media allies - successfully branded the Republicans as the 'party of corruption'. But this title rightfully belongs to the Democratic Party, that is utterly corrupt to its very core
Race card? Ask Obama... he brought it up.: Obama gave a speech to deplore the words of his trusted hatemongering preacher. Reverend Wright has been his mentor and spiritual advisor for the past twenty years. Yet, in that speech, he didn't disclaim the messenger
Race is not a factor this election: The Obama and Clinton campaigns are fostering a disconnected and artificial sense of race conflict as they desperately seek to extract a kernel of justification for their vacuous candidacies. Every comment or gesture from either side is weighed and parsed for race or gender bias
Morality and markets: Free market advocates place great store on moral frameworks and sound social institutions. Never forget that Adam Smith was first and foremost a moral philosopher

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The journalism of desperation here. They say that increasing use of food stamps is a sign of economic depression in America -- quite ignoring the fact that the government has recently expanded eligibility for food stamps. Taranto has the details.

The "recession" is a media myth: "During the 2000 election, with Bill Clinton as president, the economy was viewed through rose-colored glasses. According to polls, voters didn't realize that the country was in a recession. Although the economy started shrinking in July 2000, most Americans through the entire year thought that the economy was fine. But over the last half-year, the media and politicians have said we were in a recession even while the economy was still growing. Gas prices are going up. The economy is slowing. Talk of recession is seemingly everywhere. While the majority of people rate their personal finances positively, consumer confidence in the economy has plunged to a 16-year low, well below what it was during the last year of the Clinton administration when we were in a recession."

Nobody fears Hillary: "Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain. Be afraid. Be very afraid, for if you don't obey the Great and Powerful Oz will turn her wrath on you. Yawn. Hillary Clinton's favorite girlhood movie was the 'Wizard of Oz.' But now, as the primaries clank along, her subjects are refusing to wear the green-tinted glasses and buy her act. She's less and less terrifying every day, and fewer of those closest to her -- her Senate colleagues -- are intimidated. Despite their best efforts, the Clintons' powers seem to have gone on the fritz, and those Democrats who know Hillary best have strayed off to follow a new, more congenial character. Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr. was the most recent U.S. Senator to endorse Barack Obama for President. But he certainly is not the only one."

Limiting executive power: "Should the World Court be imbued with the authority to determine how Texans run their justice system? Does the president have the authority to impose an international court ruling on a state? Would such a notification have altered the outcome of the trial? During Medellin's appeal process, the consulate issue was raised in both Texas and federal courts. To this point, every court has found that notification was irrelevant to the case itself and to Medellin's richly deserved death sentence. And this week, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the president does not have the authority to order states to follow international agreements in the courts."

Another crooked black?: "U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson quit following calls by lawmakers for him to step down amid a federal criminal probe into contracts the agency awarded. ``There comes a time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters,'' Jackson, reading from a statement, told reporters in Washington today. ``Now is such a time for me.'' His resignation takes effect April 18." [Conservatives once had some hopes of Alphonso Jackson]

Another TSA abuse: "You may have heard, recently, of a woman, undergoing security procedures at one of this once-free nation's airport gulags, who was forced by Transportation Safety Administration goons to remove a pair of decorative metal rings from her nipples with pliers, even though the jewelry demonstrably posed no threat to anybody -- and she was reportedly willing to show them to appropriate female security personnal. There was no reason for this treatment. It's the kind of routine violation and harassment members of America's Productive Class have been increasingly subjected to by otherwise unemployable minimum wage thugs. It is, of course, only the latest in what the Founding Fathers would have called 'a long chain of abuses and usurpations"

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly "incorrect" themes of race and IQ.

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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2 April, 2008

Quite marvellous: An Individual With a Strong Voice Makes a Difference

Post below lifted from Bruce Kesler. See the original for links

Both houses of the New York State legislature have now passed what some are calling "Rachel's Law." It provides protection to American authors against "libel terrorism," seeking to enforce judgments in New York State that were granted in other countries without our level of free speech protections. The law now just awaits signing by NYS's new governor, David Paterson.

One of the co-sponsors of the law, Senator Skelos, says, "The truth is a critically-important component in the War on Terror.This important new law will protect American authors and journalists who expose terrorist networks and their financiers."

I spoke briefly with Rachel Ehrenfeld tonight. She is, of course, elated at this victory, which she stubbornly waged as an individual transplanted to our shores because of her belief in America's freedoms. Ehrenfeld agrees, "this is what America is about" when individuals can have this impact. Now, there remains a long road through the courts to overturn the "libel terrorism" judgment's enforceability in our courts. Financial help is needed. Click here to help, at the American Center For Democracy. David Siegel, longtime editor of the New York State Law Digest, wrote in the March 12 New York Law Journal,

[A]ny bill that tries to address any situation as complex as Ehrenfeld is going to pose constitutional issues. If I may be allowed a flippancy, so what! It will boil down to the classic situation in which a statute toils near the border of constitutionality and leaves it to the courts to draw the line. Far worse than that would be to do nothing in the face of what seems to me an egregious effort, in a forum with libel laws offensive to our own and a dubious venue for the Ehrenfeld case to boot, to let an alleged libel victim pull off a coup in which he makes it too expensive for a New York writer to contest his foreign lawsuit.

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ELSEWHERE

More bad history from Hillary. She condemns what Japan did in response to its credit crisis of the '90s but gets ass-backwards what they did. So what she advocates for America is exactly what failed in Japan. Those who will not learn from history.... Details here

Hamas's open ethnic and religious bigotry: "In the Katib Wilayat mosque one recent Friday, the imam was discussing the wiliness of the Jew. "Jews are a people who cannot be trusted," Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas told the faithful. "They have been traitors to all agreements - go back to history. Their fate is their vanishing. Look what they are doing to us." At Al Omari mosque, the imam cursed the Jews and the "Crusaders," or Christians, and the Danes, for reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. He referred to Jews as "the brothers of apes and pigs," while the Hamas television station, Al Aksa, praises suicide bombing and holy war until Palestine is free of Jewish control."

Growth is in the "red" States, not the senile Northeast: "Four Texas metropolitan areas were among the biggest population gainers as Americans continued their trend of moving to the Sun Belt in 2006 and 2007, according to Census Bureau estimates to be released Thursday. Dallas-Fort Worth added more than 162,000 residents between July 2006 and July 2007, more than any other metro area. Three other Texas areas - Houston, Austin and San Antonio - also cracked the top 10. Atlanta saw the second-largest population jump with just over 151,000 new residents. Phoenix was third with more than 132,000, and was followed by Houston, Riverside, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Austin, Las Vegas and San Antonio. Of the 50 fastest-growing metro areas, 27 were in the South and 20 were in the West. Two were in the Midwest, one - Fayetteville, Ark. - straddles the South and Midwest and none was in the Northeast."

Military families: "Military families are different from civilian families, and multi-generation military families are extraordinary in ways difficult to comprehend. I married into one, and as a civilian still find myself marveling at the sacrifices involved. My wife's borther, George Philip, is an Annapolis grad and retired after a 20 year career as a Marine Corps officer. Her dad, Col. Wilbur Helmer, retired as a colonel in the USMC,and fought in some of the toughest battles of the Pacific War. Her grandfather and great grandfather were Annapolis men and admirals. Her uncle, then-Ensign Joseph Taussig, left his leg on the Nevada. Her mom's first husband, Commander George Philip, went down with his ship at Okinawa. His cousin, John Waldron, led a famed torpedo bomber attack at the Battle of Midway. All of which is to say that they are different from you and I, and that difference should be honored by civilians again and again."

Altruistic Twist in Market Economies: "Democratic societies with market economies have a reputation as cauldrons of competition, materialism, and greed. There's another side to that coin, though. These societies also foster cooperation among strangers in order to achieve a common financial goal, say economist Benedikt Herrmann of the University of Nottingham, England, and his colleagues. In contrast, nondemocratic and other societies without market economies-marked by low civic involvement and distrust of public authorities-promote an ethic of punishing strangers who demand cooperation in a joint economic effort, Herrmann's group reports in the March 7 Science."

A Belgian Utopia: "Inadvertently, the Belgian government has proven that government is best which governs least. After spending 9 months in a political deadlock, the country found itself chugging along without so much as a hiccup. The Financial Times reports: "For all its regional rivalries, Belgium went about daily life as normal. Its famed bureaucracy chugged along under its own power. Guy Verhofstadt, the long-serving and outgoing prime minister, proved just as capable as a temporary caretaker. Social security benefits were paid and the trains ran on time. Politicians should take note. Belgium has opened the door to an enticing possibility. Non-government has attractions. Imagine living without fear of new taxes being levied or of a daily diet of attention-grabbing policies"."

Hopeless Brits still cannot run an airport terminal: "Five days after Terminal Five opened, ministers criticised anger at the chaos which has engulfed the multi-billion pound facility, while it also emerged that the turmoil had triggered a diplomatic incident. "It is extremely regrettable to say the least that passengers using T5 have had to suffer an unacceptably poor travel experience," Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick told the House of Commons. British Airways - the only airline using the new terminal - cancelled another 54 flights on Monday after a nightmare weekend, while a spokesman said another 50 flights will be cancelled on Tuesday. "We continue to work towards increasing the number of services we are operating to and from Terminal 5 in the days ahead," he said. Terminal Five has been blighted by logistical troubles ever since it opened to much fanfare on Thursday, with problems compounded by a major computer glitch in the luggage handling system. The luggage backlog has so far grown to 28,000 bags, and could take up to a week to return them to owners, the minister said. Earlier BA said there were 15,000, while the BBC published photos of the bags piled on top of each other. BA chief executive Willie Walsh was forced to make his second apology in three days on Sunday, as the airline scrapped dozens of flights over the weekend."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is a recent example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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1 April, 2008

Some more fictional history from the Left

Obama and Hillary are not alone. Real history is so pesky for Leftists that they have to make it up

We should read the Financial Times column written by Cambridge historian and New American Foundation senior fellow, Anatol Lieven entitled: "Why we should fear a McCain presidency?" His intriguing answer which appears in bold print in the paper edition is:

Some of the worst 20th century catastrophes were caused by brave men with passionate sense of national mission.

Really? I was curious. Who could he mean? I could not think of an example. Apparently, neither could he. The closest he came to naming names is comparing McCain to Andrew Jackson, a highly regarded 19th century Democrat president and not a particularly scary one. He does tell us that so extreme is the McCain presidency going to be that it will make leftists look back with nostalgia at George W. Bush. Indeed, European governments should start immediately planning on "how they could either prevent a McCain administration from pursuing pyromaniac policies or, if necessary, protect Europe from the ensuing conflagration."

But why should Americans believe that as experienced and knowledgeable a warrior as John McCain would behave so irresponsibly? Because he has an ungovernable temper, Lieven answers:

"Mr McCain's policies would not be so worrying were it not for his notorious quickness to fury in the face of perceived insults to himself or his country. Even Thad Cochran, a fellow Republican senator, has said: `I certainly know no other president since I've been here who's had a temperament like that.'"

Well, let me enlighten him. World War II hero and two term president Dwight Eisenhower was another military man with a lightening temper. In her book First Mothers, Bonnie Angelo describes his mother's failure to teach him temper control. "From childhood those lightening flashes were as much a part of Ike as the contagious smile," she writes.

Biographer Carlo D'este describes instances when "he totally lost his self-control -- whether beating an apple tree with his fists as a child, banging his head against a wall when playing poor tennis, or punching his fist through the wall of a cafe." White House seamstress Lillian Rogers Parks tells how his wife Mamie lived in constant fear of his outbursts. Angelo reports that presidential aides became most familiar with a vein in his forehead which would noticeably stand out during press conference he found annoying as signaling, "Caution: high voltage temper."

That said, Eisenhower did help win World War II but did not start World War III. He, merely, ended the Korean War and presided over 8 years of relative peace and prosperity. Not a bad record for a brave honorable, if temperamental, warrior. If temperamental McCain does as well we should all be very happy.

More here

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Explaining Obama, Clinton and Kerry's False Histories

Below is Bruce Kesler's explanation. I think he is too kind. Leading Leftists and many of their followers are just psychopaths, born defectives who are completely lacking any moral instinct. They virtually tell us so when they say: "There is no such thing as right and wrong"

It's a wonder to observers that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry so blatantly -- and relatively easily revealed as otherwise -- invented their histories as heroic, exemplary and worthy of leadership.

Their formative education coincides with a post-war radical trend in historiography called leftist revisionism. Although revisions of historical understandings are a commonplace occurrence as new sources come to light, the radical left in post-war America veered into a myth that the causes of the Cold War, and of Vietnam and now Iraq, came from avaricious and racist motives and are furthered by outright mendacity and secret cabals. The structures, and confusions, of institutional decision-making with naturally murky intelligence, the requirements of national security and alliances, the value or sincerity of Western values, these are treated as excuses that purposely hide the true intents and goals.

This radical leftist revisionism, while allied with and blending easily with Marxist opposition to capitalism, is distinct in its raising of the true enemy to heroic proportions, extra-powerful individuals. This demonization of our leaders leads to the need for heroic counters. Thus, Obama, Clinton and Kerry needed to re-invent themselves, both to appear as the answer, and to convince themselves they are worthy of being the answer. Their self-invention is as false as their root interpretation of history and the workings of politics and international affairs.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

A win for the new Iraq government: "Iraq's radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr last night ordered his fighters off the streets, paving the way for an end to clashes with security forces that have killed hundreds of people. "We want the Iraqi people to stop this bloodshed and maintain Iraq's independence and stability," Sadr said in a statement with his seal released by his headquarters in the holy city of Najaf. Sadr's latest call came after six days of fighting between Shia fighters and Iraqi forces in the southern port city of Basra, Baghdad and several other Shia regions that have killed at least 270 people. The clashes erupted last Tuesday when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an assault on Shia militiamen in neighbourhoods of Basra controlled by Sadr's Mahdi Army, the most powerful Shia militia in the violence-ravaged country. The Iraqi capital and Basra both remained under curfew last night although there was a lull in the fighting, according to residents of affected neighbourhoods. Mr Maliki had given a 72-hour deadline to Shia fighters in Basra to disarm after launching an offensive against them but the call was ignored by the militia. On the same day, Mr Maliki vowed to press on with his assault in Basra, saying the militiamen were "worse than al-Qa'ida"."

Black Liberation Is Marxist Liberation: "One of the pillars of Obama's home church, Trinity United Church of Christ, is "economic parity." On the website, Trinity claims that God is not pleased with "America's economic mal-distribution." Among all of controversial comments by Jeremiah Wright the idea of massive wealth redistribution is the most alarming. The code language "economic parity" and references to "mal-distribution" is nothing more than channeling the twisted economic views of Karl Marx. Black liberation theologians have explicitly stated a preference for Marxism as an ethical framework for the black church because Marxist thought is predicated on a system of oppressor class (whites) versus victim class (blacks)."

Socialist Britain now too poor to fix its potholes: "When is a pothole in the road not a pothole? When it is less than 4cm deep, according to new guidelines that have been adopted by cash-strapped councils across Britain. The councils are this weekend accused of contributing to the "chronic disrepair" of UK roads by redefining the size of potholes that they are obliged to fill. More than 20 local authorities are cutting road maintenance bills by refusing to repair potholes less than 4cm deep. Some councils have doubled the size of "actionable" potholes in recent years. The revelation comes ahead of a comprehensive survey of Britain's roads, which will this week reveal that local authorities are facing a shortfall of more than 1 billion pounds as they attempt to fill in 1 million potholes a year."

Surprise! "More than halfway through their five-year study on post-Katrina recovery efforts, researchers for the Virginia-based Mercatus Center are reporting the neighborhoods that rebounded the fastest generally had the strongest community leaders -- not the most government help."

For more postings from me, see OBAMA WATCH, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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