The original of this mirror site is HERE. My Blogroll; Archives here or here; My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here. Other mirror sites: Greenie Watch, Political Correctness Watch, Education Watch, Immigration Watch, Food & Health Skeptic, Gun Watch, Socialized Medicine, Recipes, Tongue Tied and Australian Politics. For a list of backups viewable in China, see here. (Click "Refresh" on your browser if background colour is missing)
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31 May, 2007

NOT SO BAD

You know how bad things have got when Jimmy Carter's critique of your presidency is taken seriously. This week the former US President attacked the current one, saying that, "as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world", George Bush's Administration had been "the worst in history". It's one thing to have to listen to Bill and Hillary Clinton claim that things were better when they were in the White House, but Jimmy Carter? Being told by Mr Carter that you're the worst president in history is like being told by William McGonagall that your poetry stinks.

For the younger reader, perhaps already infused with a nostalgia that recalls the 1970s as a time of peace and prosperity, a brief reminder of the golden era of Carter is in order. It wasn't all disco and flared trousers and sex without condoms. Also fashionable in those days were unemployment, inflation and communism.

The US jobless rate was more than 10 per cent. Inflation touched 15 per cent. Soviet troops marched unmolested into Afghanistan. America watched helpless as its diplomats were held hostage by Iranian revolutionaries for 444 days. In the rest of the world, from Latin America to Asia, American power yielded to the communist advance; economically, America was being bested by Japan and Germany.....

Start with economics. America is not going to be overtaken by China any time in the next century. So large is the US advantage that, even growing at 3 per cent, the country's economy adds more to the level of global activity than China does growing at 10 per cent.

Its soft power may have been attenuated these past few years, but not destroyed. Who is there to replace America? China? Do me a favour. Does anyone out there really think they would prefer to live in China rather than America? Europe? Viewed from the comforting perspective of a pavement cafe in Paris, Europe might look a more appealing place. But the continent is in the midst of a long, slow suicide; falling birthrates and a moral surrender to the forces of relativism have left it an easy prey for less tolerant cultures.

There's no denying that Iraq is a self-inflicted wound and an energy-sapping one at that. But the scale of the damage to America there can be overstated too. All we've really learnt in the past five years is that even the US is probably not powerful enough to remake 700 years of history in five years. That doesn't mean America is weak, just less strong than it thought it was.

Of course, a president, an inept one, can set back the course of a nation's progress. Like Mr Carter before him, Mr Bush's ledger is heavy on the liabilities. But America recovered from Mr Carter, thanks to good leadership and the ingenuity of a people whose great gift is their constant capacity to recreate themselves. Who's betting it won't do so again?

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Slouching toward mercantilism: "The false logic of mercantilism is enticing but dangerous. As David Hume pointed out in 1758, the idea that a trade deficit is bad and a surplus good is 'a narrow and malignant opinion.' Undue attention to the bilateral trade deficit with China accounts for a large amount of the China-bashing going on in Washington today. By focusing on producers who may have been harmed by trade rather than on consumers who benefit, Congress commits the same fallacy of composition that Hume exposed. Moreover, by failing to recognize the widespread benefits of trade for all nations, protectionists have lost sight of the liberal idea best expressed by Hume that 'where an open communication is preserved among nations, it is impossible but the domestic industry of every one must receive an increase from the improvements of the others.'"

Muslim hate: "Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib has been charged after he allegedly called a police officer a "piece of s---" while dining in a McDonald's restaurant last week. The former terror suspect was charged with offensive behaviour after he allegedly launched a foul-mouthed tirade at police in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown at 5.30pm on Friday. The 50-year-old from Guildford is accused of calling police "pigs" before calling one officer a "piece of s---". Police sources said that the officers came to the fast-food restaurant to investigate a separate assault matter when Mr Habib allegedly began his verbal barrage. A McDonald's spokeswoman said the officers had just ordered coffees at the outlet when the incident occurred."

Tony Blair Still Gets It: "I was stopped by someone the other week who said it was not surprising there was so much terrorism in the world when we invaded their countries (meaning Afghanistan and Iraq). No wonder Muslims felt angry. When he had finished, I said to him: tell me exactly what they feel angry about. We remove two utterly brutal and dictatorial regimes; we replace them with a United Nations-supervised democratic process and the Muslims in both countries get the chance to vote, which incidentally they take in very large numbers. And the only reason it is difficult still is because other Muslims are using terrorism to try to destroy the fledgling democracy and, in doing so, are killing fellow Muslims. What's more, British troops are risking their lives trying to prevent the killing. Why should anyone feel angry about us? Why aren't they angry about the people doing the killing? The odd thing about the conversation is that I could tell it was the first time he had even heard the alternative argument."

Facts: The enemy of the Left: "Ari Kaufman's What Conservative Media? while spot on missed the point on why so may liberal leftists think the media is balanced or conservative. They know the political `stuff' is clearly biased in their liberal leftist direction, but they are railing against the news as a whole. I first became aware of this when discussing how liberal campuses are with a liberal acquaintance of mine. He vehemently disagreed. His rationale? All those science, math, business, and medical courses that would not yield to opinion or feeling - they were by definition (for him) conservative. Over time it became clear this was not a random opinion or thought process. Liberals find things that cannot be swayed by opinion or feelings to be intrinsically conservative. Hit them with facts and more facts and eventually their response will be some form of name calling. It's all they know to do - so far. But holding my nose and dipping into the DU from time to time and there is a sense of violence in the air when too many facts are presented and name calling no longer satisfies.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, 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.

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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30 May, 2007

Leftist wants someone to loathe

Australian Leftist columnist Phillip Adams often writes in a rather ironic way but the article by him excerpted below does seem to be a clear confession of the hate that drives him -- as it does with so many Leftists. That they hail the slightest negativity emanating from conservatvies as "hate" shows how urgent is their need to project their own failings onto others. Adams is commenting on the likely defeat of Australia's conservative government at the next election -- due later this year. Adams is a millionaire so his hate is not born of "poverty". And, yes, that poster he has on his library wall is who you think it is



For God’s sake don’t tell Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins, but despite a lifetime’s atheism I have, over the past decade, been driven to prayer. My increasingly desperate appeals have been addressed to Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Thor, Ra, Vulcan and sundry totems, jujus, graven images and idols - entreating one or more of them to end the Howard Government....

But nothing happened. To be perfectly frank the disappointing lack of response considerably added to my religious scepticism. But now, suddenly, the gods are acting! The various almighties are finally showing him the door! And I’m suddenly getting a bit worried. How will I get on without him? .... Just as Mum needed Kennett to give meaning to her existence, I may well be sustained by Howard hating. How will I get through the day without the prospect of the six o’clock news when I can, in the family tradition, yell at the screen?

The world faces a similar problem with George W. Bush. The most unpopular president since Harry Truman at his nadir - and as Jimmy Carter rightly says “the worst president in US history” - will soon be banished from the political stage. For nigh on seven years - though it seems almost an eternity - countless millions have loathed the man. He has increased the blood pressure of not only hapless Democrats but also a large majority of my fellow Australians and pretty much the entire population of Europe.... Where will all that hatred go when he’s gone? What will people do with it?

For 11 years John Winston Howard has been my central focus, my obsession, my bogeyman, my nemesis. To be without him might answer those prayers. But as has been wisely said “Beware the answered prayer”!

More here

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A Ted Nugent Anecdote

Below is the sort of thing that Leftists would immediately proclaim as "hate speech". Conservatives would most likely see it as a good come-back with an element of truth in it. Ted Nugent is a rock-star and an inveterate, unapologetic conservative. One time during an interview, a Lefty journalist was giving Nugent a hard time about his favorite hobby (deer hunting with bow-and-arrow). At one point the journalist asks him:

"What do you think the last thought is in the mind of a deer before you shoot it ? Is it, `Are you my friend?` or is it `Are you the one who killed my brother?'"

Nugent replied:

"Deer aren't capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, 'What am I going to eat next, who am I going to screw next, and can I run fast enough to get away. They are very much like the French."

(H/T to the "herrlich" Herr Licht -- Forgive the German pun)

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ELSEWHERE

EU watching Google: "An independent European Union panel is investigating whether Google 's internet search engine abides by European privacy rules. Google says it will answer the EU's privacy questions by the end of June. EU spokesman Pietro Petrucci said the 28-member panel, which advises the European Commission and EU governments on data protection issues, wanted Google to address concerns about the company's practice of storing and retaining user information for up to two years."

Ignorant AP economics writer: "Consider his lede paragraph today: "Sales of new homes surged in April by the biggest amount in 14 years, but the median price of a new home dropped by the largest amount on record. The mixed signals left no clear picture of whether the worst of the nation's housing slump is over." But? He should replace "but" with because. Lower prices should generate higher sales. This is why department stores hold "sales" - to sell products".

Leftist ostriches: "Although radical Islamists constantly declare that they are opposed to the West -- not just Bush-Hitler part but Nancy Pelosi and Michael Moore section too -- on a very fundamental level, there is an evergreen belief that if only a sufficiently liberal person were elected to the White House the War on Terror would just go away. It's hard to explain just exactly how this belief came into existence, but if the declarations of the Jihadis are anything to go by, then exactly the opposite must be true. The more liberal America becomes, the more hateful it will become to the Jihad; the more liberal the country, the more urgently it must die. Strangely, this explicit declaration of hostility against liberalism and the left goes largely unnoticed. Even by the infidel journalists who are a target of radical Islam."

A merciful man gets out of unjust imprisonment: "For nearly a decade, Dr. Jack Kevorkian waged a defiant campaign to help other people kill themselves. The retired pathologist left bodies at hospital emergency rooms and motels and videotaped a death that was broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes." His actions prompted battles over assisted suicide in many states. But as he prepares to leave prison June 1 after serving more than eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence in the death of a Michigan man, Kevorkian will find that there's still only one state that has a law allowing physician-assisted suicide - Oregon. Experts say that's because abortion opponents, Catholic leaders, advocates for the disabled and often doctors have fought the efforts of other states to follow the lead of Oregon, where the law took effect in late 1997".

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, 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.

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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29 May, 2007

Free Trade for Colombia

The recent deal between Congress and the White House clears the way for the ratification of free-trade agreements with Panama and Peru, two American allies in Latin America. But what about Colombia?

Colombia has risked the lives of its police and military and sustained huge casualties in an effort to do us a favor by keeping drugs off our streets. Our military aid to Colombia has not been frittered away on useless hardware or used to line some general's pockets, but has paid for a military that has disarmed the drug dealers' personal armies - 30,000 have been disarmed - and driven the leftist drug-linked guerillas into hiding in a remote jungle portion of the country. Unable to come out or mount operations in major urban areas, they are just trying to survive, to stay one step ahead of the American helicopters manned by brave Colombian soldiers that pursue them.

I recently visited Medell”n, Colombia, once the heartland of the Medell”n Cartel, the main drug ring in the hemisphere. Drug lords have been driven out of the area and there have been no kidnappings, once a staple of Medell”n life, in the past three years.

But Colombia is entitled to ask a basic question: If you don't want us to sell drugs to your children, why won't you at least let us sell you bananas, sugar, flowers, textiles and other products without imposing tariffs on us? Peru and Panama are both loyal allies, but their soldiers are not conducting daily drug sweeps through the mountains trying to stop drugs before they reach our schools. And Colombia is.

If the Democrats in Congress scuttle the Colombia free-trade deal, they will undermine and undercut Colombia's successful war on drugs. The troops in Colombia who risk their lives daily to smash labs, defoliate cocoa plants, and arrest drug lords will find themselves swimming against the economic tide. If the United States does not reward Colombia by making its exports - other than cocaine - profitable, it will leave the poor of that South American ally no choice but to go back to the drug labs.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

An amusing post here from a Leftist. As usual, disagreement with Leftist policies is "hate speech". But the really amusing thing is that he accuses conservatives of "sociopathy", which is an alternative term for psychopathy. But the defining characteristic of a psychopath is inability to tell right from wrong. So I guess it is conservatives who are always telling us that "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? Ha! I say more on psychopathy here.

I have always intended my FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC blog as a perfectly serious one but there are so many absurdities in the medical literature that what the blog reports can be quite entertaining at times. I think my second post down today should give most people a belly-laugh.

A strangely selective conscience : "There is an article on the Guardian site called Throw a pebble at Goliath: don't buy Israeli produce, by Yvonne Roberts, in which she urges people to boycott Israel because of its human rights record. Now I know nothing about Yvonne Robert and have never even heard of her before, but I assume she also an avid campaigner for people to boycott products from Cuba, Burma, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, China (good luck doing that), Iran, Syria, Belorus, Zimbabwe, North Korea (assuming they actually produce any products) etc. etc. etc... after all, if she is such a tireless campaigner for human rights, surely she could not possibly feel it was alright for people to trade with all those places, given the state of human rights in those places. Right? Anyone want to take any bets on this?"

Young American Muslims no cause for worry?: "Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is not alarmed at the Pew Research data showing one in four young Muslim-Americans supports suicide attacks. ABC News reports: "It's not an alarm. Nothing to be alarmed about," Ellison said, "although it is also important for mosques around the country to engage young people to make sure they have the proper understanding that Islam is about moderation and balance." I think it is time to revive and adapt the old lefty bumpersticker: "One suicide bomb can ruin your whole day" By the standards of all those in the media and Muslim community who think that there's nothing to worry about, someone playing Russian Roulette is nothing to be concerned about either. After all, 5 out of 6 chambers of the revolver are empty and harmless."

CBS helps Iranian nuke program: "How do you say, "Thank you, CBS!" in Farsi? The Jerusalem Post notes that CBS has alerted the Mullahs and their nuclear scientists to an intelligence black op that might have set back their nuclear program. Intelligence operatives in the US and its allied nations have sold Iran flawed technological components in an attempt to sabotage the country's nuclear enrichment program, CBS News revealed Wednesday evening. In January 2007, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Vice-President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said after an explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility (the first Iranian plant to attempt enrichment) that some of the equipment had been "manipulated." The explosion destroyed 50 of the plant's centrifuges. Other evidence has indicated that sabotage was the reason for some of the technical problems Iran has encountered in its enrichment enterprise. Sources told CBS intelligence agencies have altered technical data, making it "useless."

"Hello Media.you are killing us": "Okay, header space demands that I paraphrase the words of fed up Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Jim Funk who has written the following to the press: "Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers every day? You inspire and report the enemy's objective every day. You are the enemy's greatest weapon. The enemy cannot beat us on the battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you continually break the will of the American public and American government. "We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He doesn't see any accomplishments of the U.S. military"

Iran Drawing Up Plans to Strike European Nuclear Sites: "Iran is attempting to draw up plans to strike targets in Europe and has conducted reconnaissance of European nuclear power stations, a security analyst told a meeting at Britain's parliament Tuesday. Claude Moniquet, president of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a private think-tank in Brussels, said his organization also had evidence Tehran has increased numbers of intelligence agents across Europe. "We have serious signals that something is under preparation in Europe," Moniquet said. "Iranian intelligence is working extremely hard to prepare its people and to prepare actions." The center, which he said deals directly with European intelligence agencies, believes Iranian operatives have carried out "reconnaissance of targets in European cities, including nuclear power stations," Moniquet said. He mentioned no other specific targets."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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28 May, 2007

MEMORIAL DAY

I note Memorial Day at some length on POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

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The BBC blames Israel for 'unstable borders.'

Post lifted from American Thinker. See the original for links

In a shameless effort to rewrite history:

"The BBC News website is publishing a series of articles about the attempts to achieve peace in the Middle East and the main obstacles. Yesterday, Martin Asser looked at the question of Israel's borders and settlements."

Surprise! It turns out that Israel is to blame for its "unstable borders." By Gum, it's just as if Israel wasn't attacked by invading Arab armies from its first day of life in 1948, and again in 1967 and 1974, when it pushed back the invaders to achieve some measure of border stability. Reading Martin Asser's wildly anti-Israel BBC "history" of the past sixty years, those events never happened. So Israel's defensive push-back is twisted into offensive imperialism, and the Beeb manages to "confuse the fire with the fire brigade," in the apt words of Winston Churchill.

The BBC's dishonesty is beyond belief. But constant, relentless propaganda works. Most people can't resist the Big Lie when it is repeated over and over again. Naturally the Beeb's British and international audience hates Israel for making all the trouble in the world. Appeasers always look for scapegoats, and Israel is the natural choice. The BBC is run by the far Left in Britain, and once again, the extremes of fascism and the Left are allied, just as they were in the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1938.

As the Beeb's favorite philosopher said, "history repeats, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." [Marx]

The BBC's malevolence has unintended consequences, however --- such as the radicalization of thousands of domestic terrorists in Britain's own alienated cities. The men who suicide-bombed the London Underground on "7/7" were radicalized by Islamist imams peddling Wahhabi world conquest. British police and intelligence agencies have warned that thousands of homegrown Islamist extremists may be ready to place more bombs. But the ideological ground was laid for them by ... the BBC, which continues to pump out industrial-strength hatred for America and Israel.

The leftists who run BBC have naturally persuaded themselves that Islamist terrorism is not a real threat. Terrorism is all the fault of Bush and Blair. So today, an upside-down "history" of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is being peddled to push the incoming Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, into an anti-Israel stance. This is the message from the Labour Left, which controls the biggest tax-funded propaganda empire in the world --- more than six billion dollars per year.

Yet Islamist terrorism is a very real threat in Londonistan and Britanostan. Islamists hate Britain and the West, as well as Israel, for being Christian, Jewish or atheist, for being pro-Gay and pro-women, for being richer and more productive than the Muslim world, and for a hundred other reasons. So the BBC itself is radicalizing Britain's Muslim population, even while seeming to displace all blame on Israel. While the aim is to discredit and ultimately destroy Israel, the Islamist backlash will inevitably harm the people of Britain, just as the Underground Bombing did. The Beeb ends up cutting its own throat. So the biter was bitten on 7/7, and has learned nothing in consequence.

It may take more terror attacks to finally convince ordinary people that they have been systematically misled for decades. Unfortunately, Islamist terror bombs are far more likely to hurt innocent people than the sources of pernicious propaganda. George Orwell worked for the BBC, and satirized it in his dystopian novel 1984 as the "Ministry of Truth" --- which is of course the Ministry of Lies. The BBC continues to reveal a shameful black mark against a once-great country. Orwell lives.

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ELSEWHERE

I have just put up one of my now-rare posts on "Leftists as Elitists". It is about another arrogant Leftist journalist scorning blogs.

I have just put up a couple of good cartoons on my WordPress site -- IMMIGRATION WATCH. Don't forget to bookmark Immigration Watch in case Google closes this blog down.

There is a large article here which points out how Google censorship now extends to YouTube, which Google recently bought. You will not be surprised to learn that it is videos critical of Islam that they ban -- while allowing Jihadist videos free rein! Another reason to avoid Google, it seems to me. Don't forget live.com for your searches. Live.com gives you more results anyway. Just today I found some good stuff on live.com that I could not find on Google.

Chinese build five nuclear subs: "China has surprised the Pentagon with the pace of development of a new class of submarine that threatens the nuclear balance by providing Beijing with a more robust nuclear deterrent. According to the 2007 Pentagon China military power report -- details of which were obtained by the FT -- the Chinese navy is developing a fleet of five nuclear ballistic missile submarines [SSBNs]. The Jin class submarines would provide a much stronger nuclear deterrent because they would be armed with the new long-range JL-2 missile. ... China says it is engaged in a "peaceful rise". But some US officials and Chinese military experts say that the submarine could alter the strategic nuclear balance."

Democrats protect fraudulent voting -- I wonder why? "Nobody argues against the government's right to require that airplane passengers show a photographic identification; yet when government tries to impose the same reasonable requirement on voters, liberal lawyers and activists scream bloody murder. So it is that when the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in January (and effectively affirmed the decision by denial of a rehearing in April) that Indiana was within its rights to require photo IDs at the polls, the state Democratic Party and would-be voters represented by the ACLU decided (just last week) to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision. But the U.S. Constitution gives to state legislatures the responsibility to "prescribe" the "times, places and manner of holding elections," and the high court has consistently held that states have the right to impose regulations on voting in order to ensure the integrity and fairness of the balloting."

UAW Vultures: "The UAW is killing small town Indiana and while they are at it.America. I used to think the United Auto Workers union was in denial. Now, I realize it's us, not them, who refuses to deal with reality. It is time to stop and deal with the elephant in the room-the ideological and greedy union bosses who help turn small towns into ghost towns. With the sale of Chrysler to a management company known for restructuring failing companies by laying off workers and slashing costs to turn a profit, it would be reasonable to expect the trend of auto plants and suppliers to close. Those of us in the Midwest have become accustomed to the not-so-occasional plant closure. Plants in Kokomo, Marion, Connersville and around the Midwest continue to struggle to reduce production costs in order to survive. Let's not pretend. The reality is that the UAW leadership is content in killing certain communities in order to maintain wages and benefits for their diminishing union members that far exceed the market value. And while they continue to demand a 70-dollar-an-hour wage and health care coverage better than almost any other workers - Americans struggle to afford cars and trucks they slowly make and increasingly look to foreign automakers producing cars here in the U.S.

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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27 May, 2007

Chinese Feed Americans

This is the most hilarious bit of news I have read for a while. Under Communism, China was a big importer of food -- wheat particularly. Now guess what?

In the wake of this year's massive pet food recall, China has come under increasing scrutiny for its lax food safety standards. In fact, some have suggested that all food imports from China be banned.... But barring Chinese imports would be potentially damaging to the U.S. economy. Over the past decade, the United States has become increasingly reliant on China as a source of agricultural products and as a market for U.S. exports. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, China ranks third among world nations as a source of U.S. agricultural and forestry imports, and has held that position for some time.

And the Chinese influx shows no signs of stopping: In the first three months of 2007, Chinese agricultural imports increased by 30% over the same period in '06. Despite such soaring numbers, producers and representatives of four of the biggest Chinese import categories-rice, shrimp, tea, and feeds and fodders-said the United States could still meet the nation's demand for such products should the flow from China cease, most without a huge burden on American consumers.

The graver consequence of an agricultural trade shutoff with China would be on the U.S. export market. Several staple products in U.S. agriculture-soybeans, cotton and lumber, among others-have found the Chinese market ripe for trade. In the past four years, the total value of agricultural, fish and forestry products that U.S. businesses have exported to China has risen from $2.4 billion a year to $7.7 billion. The U.S. soybean industry, the world's largest exporter, is particularly indebted to China. In 2005, the U.S. exported about 25.7 million metric tons of soybeans, nearly one-third of soybeans produced in the country and the equivalent of $2.2 billion worth. Over the past five years, the percentage headed to China has steadily increased; last year, that amounted about 40% of the U.S.'s crop.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Accuracy in Media attempts the thankless task of pointing the misrepresentations of the facts that emanate from Rosie O'Donnell on ABC's "The View".

There is a very good excoriation of the huge hypocrisy of Andrew Sullivan here. Only the USA can do any wrong in Sullivan's eyes.



AP Article on Edwards and `War on Terror' Ignores Candidate's Past: "The Associated Press ran a story Wednesday entitled "Edwards Calls `War on Terror' an Ideological Doctrine". Unfortunately, the author chose not to look into former Sen. John Edwards' (D-North Carolina) past to see whether the presidential candidate had either referred to or supported this "ideological doctrine" himself. Had the AP done some homework, it would have found that not only did the former senator tell Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in October 2001, "I think that we will be united with the President throughout this war on terrorism," (Allah has video here), but also that he and Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) both referred to this war in their respective acceptance speeches at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.... And how about what Edwards said the night before when he accepted the Democrats' nomination for vice president: "And as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that we have to do more to fight the war on terrorism and keep the American people safe.""

Corrupt Chirac: "Papers seized by two investigating magistrates from General Philippe Rondot, a former head of the DGSE, France's intelligence service, show Mr Chirac opened an account in the mid-1990s at Tokyo Sowa Bank, credited with the equivalent of 30 million pounds. Saving his mayoral salary diligently no doubt, despite his weakness for Chateau Sempap"

N.O. residents don't want to go back. George Bush's fault?: "Despite oft-heard protests about the dearth of public housing in New Orleans, the Housing Authority of New Orleans said Monday that it has at least 283 apartments repaired, cleaned and ready for former public housing tenants. Problem is, it can't seem to entice former residents to return. "I'm just being honest: A lot of residents are saying, 'Not at this time. We're happy where we are,' " said HANO's government affairs liaison Darren Martin at a special meeting of the New Orleans City Council's housing committee in Baton Rouge. "Residents want to return back home," Martin said. "But there is the issue of crime. . . . Some of their kids are in better schools." The reasons for residents' delayed returns are complex, from the city's struggling public school system and lack of health care to the long-standing turf wars that make the idea of transplanting families from one end of New Orleans to the other a realistic risk of running into violence.

Leftist paper hides the news: "An illegal alien abducted a 7-year-old girl from her home in the middle of the night and so savagely raped her that she required surgery. The Indianapolis Star did not bother to mention his immigration status until the sixth paragraph. Then came the seventh paragraph. "Castillo also has prior convictions for two felonies - theft and residential entry - as well as driving while intoxicated and domestic battery, records show." How about we stop playing games with the facts and go back to reporting the news in a straight-forward manner: An illegal alien with a history of two prior felony convictions admitted .

Corrupt lawmakers: ""When the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives passed one of its first spending bills, funding the Energy Department for the rest of 2007, it proudly boasted that the legislation contained no money earmarked for lawmakers' pet projects and stressed that any prior congressional requests for such spending 'shall have no legal effect.' Within days, however, lawmakers including Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) began directly contacting the Energy Department. They sought to secure money for their favorite causes outside of the congressional appropriations process -- a practice that lobbyists and appropriations insiders call 'phonemarking.'"

Marine document details red tape delay over Iraq gear: "The system for delivering badly needed gear to Marines in Iraq has failed to meet many urgent requests for equipment from troops in the field, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. Of more than 100 requests from deployed Marine units between February 2006 and February 2007, less than 10 percent have been fulfilled, the document says. It blamed the bureaucracy and a 'risk-averse' approach by acquisition officials."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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26 May, 2007

BIBI ADVISES DIVESTMENT FROM IRAN

Today, the American people are invested in Iran. Not directly, of course. That is against US law. Rather, through pensions, savings plans, and other diversified investments, American money is invested in companies - mostly European companies - that do business in Iran. By insisting that their investment dollars not be used in Iran, the American public can send a powerful and effective message.

For pension funds and other savings investments, divesting from companies doing business in Iran will be relatively painless. In most cases, it will only entail substituting a few companies in a diversified portfolio. For some major European companies, a decision to pull the plug on investing in Iran will be more painful, but for most companies, Iran represents a tiny share of their revenues. These companies will adapt quickly to a divestment environment.

But for the regime in Teheran, the blow of divestment could prove fatal. Fewer and fewer companies will enter Iran. More and more will leave. Investment dollars and the technology it buys will dry up. The lifeline of the regime will be cut. Teheran will face a stark choice: Change its polices and win back investment, or maintain its policies and risk economic collapse.

The effort to divest from Iran could quickly bear fruit. Few people today have any idea they are supporting a regime inciting to genocide. When they do, they will want to stop that support. There are efforts underway in a number of individual American states to divest state pension funds from Iran. Similar divestment initiatives are being pursued against Sudan, a country in which genocide is actually taking place in Darfur. I see no reason why they cannot be combined -- why those working to stop genocide and those working to stop a regime inciting to genocide cannot work together. We in Israel must do our part as well. While the power of our investment dollars is infinitesimal compared to the US, if we hope to persuade the world to divest, we must lead by example. Therefore, I have submitted a bill in the Knesset that will outlaw investing in companies that invest in Iran and Sudan.

I know that there are some who are afraid of mounting a divestment campaign since there have been attempts in the past to divest from Israel. Some are concerned that by supporting divestment, we will be establishing a precedent that will later be used against Israel.

But divestment against Israel is wrong not because divestment per se is wrong. It is wrong because it is directed against Israel -- a democratic state that yearns for peace with its neighbors. Divestment against Iran and Sudan is right for the same reason why divestment from Nazi Germany in the 30s and 40s would have been right.

I said last year that it was 1938. But today, we have the lessons of the 1930s to guide us, and the power to choose a different course that will make all the difference. We must mobilize the power of the free world to confront the dangers in time. We must, as the old saying goes, put our money where our mouth is.

Source

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Another corrupted opinion poll: A recent poll by Pew which found that most Muslims in America were "good guys" in some sense always seemed a bit too good to be true to me. Someone who has looked closely at the poll protocol now confirms what I suspected -- the poll was blatantly distorted from the outset. The same poll showed that there are only 1.5 million voting-age Muslims in the USA -- much fewer than is generally claimed. SCA also has some acerbic comments on the results of the poll -- pointing out how dangerous it shows Muslims to be even if we take the (sanitized) results at face value.

Marines volunteer to return to Iraq: "Marine Cpl. Saul Mellado could be back in California, finishing the final months of his enlistment in a safe billet at Camp Pendleton. Instead, the 23-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico is patrolling these war-torn streets only recently wrested from insurgent control - and bracing for an expected counteroffensive. Under Marine Corps rules about "short-timers," Mellado could have skipped this return to Ramadi six weeks ago. But like 200 other members of the battalion - a quarter of its number - he asked to have his enlistment extended. Unlike a reenlistment, the move earns the Marines no bonus money, no promotion and no promise of a job shift or posting to a favored duty station. "For a lot of the guys, this is their first tour," Mellado said as his Humvee moved slowly through the rubble-strewn streets. "If anything happened to them, and I could have helped them, I couldn't stand that." Officials say extensions are not uncommon among the Marine Corps' 24 battalions, even as some return to Iraq for their third combat tour. In fact, they say, few records are kept because they are so common. But Marine generals who review the manpower of all infantry battalions say the 200 from the Two-Five, the most decorated battalion in the Corps, make up the biggest group.

Lebanese army gets help in fight against jihadists: "Two military transport planes landed at the Beirut airport on Friday, bringing foreign military aid to help the Lebanese army fight Islamic militants, security officials said. The development comes after the United States said it would rush supplies and ammunition to Beirut. Lebanese officials would not disclose where the military planes came from - whether directly from the United States or from US military depots in the Middle East. Late Thursday, a United Arab Emirates air force plane also arrived with supplies. The military refused comment on the airlift, a sensitive issue in this troubled country

Iran ignores mere talk: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday to push ahead with Iran's nuclear program, saying the West is trying to stop it to prevent Iran from emerging as a world power. The hardline president's comments came a day after the UN nuclear watchdog agency issued a strongly critical report that could spark new sanctions against Iran. The report said the country has expanded its uranium enrichment program in defiance of UN demands for a suspension, and it warned that the watchdog's knowledge of Iran's activities was shrinking."

The BBC still hates America: "White lynch mobs are back in the Deep South. At least according to the BBC, which is broadcasting a special program on it, headlined "Stealth Racism Stalks the Deep South." Apparently six young black men have been charged in an attack on a white student. The Bolshie Beeb knows this story line. It hasn't changed in a hundred years --- if you believe the Beeb".

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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25 May, 2007

Brookes News Update

When will the Bush boom crack?: Unfortunately every credit fuelled boom ends in recession. Although no one can really predict the actual timing of a recession one can look out for certain danger signals, the major one being manufacturing
How conservative columnists damage the free market case: The history of economic thought has a twofold function; to explain the past and to help us to understand the present. By examining the economic theories of the past we can learn to see the problems of earlier times, as it were, through the eyes of their contemporaries
It's the Democrats who are selling out America: The Democrats and their media pals have spent years peddling the canard that the Republicans are the party of the rich and is funded by "plutocrats". Any journalist worth his salt - and that ain't many - could easily provide evidence that in fact it is the Democrats who are the party of the rich and special interest groups
Wages, unions and leftist ignorance: People who ardently defend the thoroughly discredited myth that unions can raise real wages for everyone can do so only by ignoring the lessons of economics and history
Achieving a truly pro-American foreign policy: For the tragic political truth about America today is that it is no longer a democracy, with a government run by people elected by voters. Our government is run by unelected federal bureaucracies
Prius outdoes Hummer in Hummer damage: The Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it. So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB

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An announcement above that I would like to see.

Military Recruiting Exceedingly Strong: "All branches of the military met their active duty recruiting goals for fiscal year 2006 and, despite Murtha, have met or exceeded their recruiting goals for every month since, but that doesn't stop the democrats from making bogus claims about our military and proposing a draft."

Paying rent for the dead in Berkeley: "For those of us in the business of highlighting the absurdities and outrages of the Left, Berkeley, California is the gift that keeps on giving. Staff at Berkeley's Housing Authority paid federal rent subsidies to landlords for at least 15 dead tenants - some for at least two years - according to two city reports that recommend firing all 22 employees in the department. The reports list 13 other instances of blatant misuse of some of $25 million in federal funds and claim that city staff "actively thwarted" an investigation by a new director who discovered the misspending after starting work last summer."

End it, don't mend it: "No government agency, no matter how well-funded and extravagantly staffed, can possibly have all the knowledge to manage markets efficiently; it is better that they get out of the business altogether. That's easier said than done though, as anyone who has seen the powerful farm lobby in action can attest. But a confluence of events this year -- a Doha round of free trade agreements in need of a kick-start, budget pressures and renewed commitment to fiscal responsibility from the Democrats in Congress, and growing public awareness of the failures of farm programs -- all point to the need for reform. The question is: with what do we replace the current expensive and outdated programs? How about nothing?"

Careless people want others to pay for their folly: ""Spooked by devastating wildfire seasons, the nation's top insurers are inspecting homes in high-risk areas throughout the West and threatening to cancel coverage if owners don't clear brush or take other precautions. The inspections have angered homeowners and watchdog groups that accuse the companies of trying to cut risk at the expense of customers, even while industry profits soar. 'It certainly isn't fair for these insurers to be dumping these last-minute requirements on homeowners,' said Carmen Balber of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights. 'It does make sense to require homeowners to take reasonable precautions, but some of the excessive demands that we've heard from homeowners are over the top.' The requirements can range from clearing brush to cutting down trees or even installing a fireproof roof."

Decentralizing Iraqi governance is the last hope: "After initially spurning the Iraq Study Group's (ISG) recommendations, President Bush now seems inclined toward the ISG's recommendation of transforming the U.S. military's role from fighting insurgents and militias into a smaller force that would train Iraqi forces in seeming perpetuity. Although this solution would lower U.S. casualties, and perhaps increase Republican chances in the 2008 elections, it will do little to dampen the combination of guerrilla and civil war in Iraq. A more radical solution is needed: a dramatic decentralization of Iraqi governance."

Does welfare diminish poverty?: "Does government-provided poor relief decrease the amount of poverty? That it does is an assumption at the heart of our nation's very large antipoverty programs. In fact those programs were instituted for the purpose of making themselves obsolete. Shortly before passing the Social Security Act in 1935, for example, Franklin Roosevelt declared to Congress, 'The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief .... Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration, fundamentally destructive to the national fiber.'"

Democrat backdown: "Democrats yesterday abandoned their demand that a war funding Bill contain a withdrawal date for US troops from Iraq, thereby handing President Bush a victory in his fight with Congress over how to end the conflict. The decision to back down and give Mr Bush almost $90 billion, which he had requested in February to continue paying for the war, brought only a temporary end to the legislative showdown over Iraq, with Democrats vowing to renew calls for troop withdrawal this summer. The Democrat capitulation was a reminder that despite their takeover of Congress after the November mid-term elections, which many in the party saw as a popular call to end the war, their slim majorities in the lower house and Senate still leave them powerless to override a presidential veto."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH 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

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

"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.

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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24 May, 2007

THE MUSLIM TERROR OF SEXUALITY

The men of Islam are obsessed with sex beyond even the wildest imaginings of the Western male's mind. And the obsession is far from healthy and even further from reality. We frequently joke about men's preoccupation with sex and female body parts in the West, but our fascination with "T&A" is nothing when you consider that the Muslim world is literally consumed by female sexuality and with their fear of it. It is ironic that both Muslim men and women are under the mistaken impression that Western society is oversexualized compared to them, when in fact, it is practically impossible to be more obsessed with sexual matters than they are in Muslim communities.

Consider for a moment a culture that would prefer to let young girls die in a burning building than to risk having them run out of said building not clothed in properly modest dress; and tell me that such a society is less preoccupied with matters of sex than we are in the West.

Enormous effort goes into veiling women, dressing women modestly, silencing women, covering women's bodies, punishing women, controlling women, reviling women, humiliating women, beating women, subjugating women, avoiding the dishonor of women, keeping women uneducated, policing women, infantilizing women--in short, dehumanizing women in every way possible -- all under the guise of "protecting" and "honoring" them as they relegate them to animal-like status.

The women in this misogynistic Islam are brainwashed from birth into thinking that this cultural preoccupation somehow is necessary and that it "liberates" them in some bizarre manner.

Amazingly, this medieval culture has grasped the fundamentals of both Orwellian and postmodern rhetorical rationalizations, that are so prominent in certain intellectual quarters within our own culture! I have heard the canned rationalizations coming from their lips of muslim women myself; and they all claim that it frees them from having to be "sexual objects."

On the contrary, in Islamic society that is apparently the only role open to women. That, and breeders for the jihad.

This societal psychopathology poisons all interactions between the genders; takes up an incredible amount of time and effort in so-called "intellectual" circles and is the subject of religious edicts and innumerable rules and strictures on women's behavior and in the religious and social life; and causes the pseudoscientific rantings of arrogantly pathetic men (like the one above) who try to justify their misogyny so that they don't have to deal with the reality of their frightened and impotent masculinity.

Women become mere possessions-vessels/repositories of the impotent and inadequate male's honor. That men and women could relate equally in every sphere of human endeavor is a concept that is so alien and so threatening; I suspect it is what partly drives the rage the males feel toward western culture in general.

Without the subjugated woman, the entire house of cards of Islam and Arab culture will come tumbling down. And with at least 50% of their population de-humanized, is it at all surprising that Islamic culture wherever it has taken root inevitably evolves into backward, primitive, violent, and non-productive societies?

I have said it before and I will say it again here: the treatment of women under Islam is not only the key to understanding the pathology of the culture, but also the key to developing an antidote to its most poisonous and toxic elements.

Source

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Another blogger who wants Fred Thompson for Prez. He'd be a shoo-in up against Hillary.

Taliban 'stalled by lack of commanders': "The Taliban's much-vaunted spring offensive has stalled apparently due to lack of organisation after dozens of middle-ranking commanders were killed by British troops in the past year, according to military sources. The death last week of the key Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah at the hands of American special forces has harmed the Taliban's morale to the point that local commanders are having to tell their troops to "remain professional" despite the loss."

Stupidity or dishonesty from Rosie O'Donnell?: "Let's start with Rosie's claim she was "taken out of context" by FoxNews for her statement that 650,000 Iraqis have been killed, so who are the real terrorists? FoxNews said that means that the US, and US troops, are the terrorists, according to her. She denies she meant that. But when Elizabeth Hasselback asks her to answer her own rhetorical question -- well, if she doesn't mean Americans are the "real terrorists," who did she mean? -- she refuses to answer several times, constantly changing the subject. Bonus stupidity: Barbara Walters offers her professional scary-smart media opinion that not all jihadis are Muslim. Not that not all terrorists are Muslim. She's claiming that not all jihadis (which she specifically contrasts with "terrorists") are Muslims. She does not mention which other religion even mentions "jihad," let alone celebrates it. Remember, though, her opinion matters, because she went to journalism school and has interviewed Burt Reynolds multiple times."

Swamp-dwelling Democrats: "When Democrats took control of Congress last year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., promised voters that her party would "drain the swamp" and "lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." Four month later, Democrats are reflooding the swamp with earmarks and more. They turned the defense supplemental bill into what Heritage Foundation president Ed Fuelner called a "$20 billion ransom note" sent to President George W. Bush - which he promptly vetoed. House Democrats have also attached $100 million of pork to the fiscal 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act, including a $23 million earmark for the National Drug Intelligence Center. The NDIC was established in 1993 to centralize drug war intelligence. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., pulled strings to get it placed in his district."

Democrats defend corrupt Murtha: "House Democrats rejected a Republican bid Tuesday to reprimand Rep. John Murtha, a senior lawmaker accused of threatening legislative reprisals against a GOP member who had crossed him. Before and after the largely party-line vote, which caused some Democrats discomfort, Republicans taunted Democratic leaders about their campaign promises to run a more ethical and open Congress. Murtha, known for his gruff manner and fondness of pork barrel projects, did not dispute claims that he charged across the House floor May 17 to confront Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike a $23 million Murtha earmark - a targeted spending item - for a drug intelligence center in Murtha's district. In a House speech Monday, Rogers said Murtha threatened him by saying, "you will not get any earmarks now and forever." Rogers, backed by House GOP leaders, said Murtha's threat violated congressional ethics rules."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH 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

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

"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.

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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23 May, 2007

A REALLY bad President remembered

A response to the Peanut Pontifications

In the Carter years, the United States was an international laughingstock. This was not just because of the prevalence of his ghastly kin: the beer-sodden brother Billy, doing deals with Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi, and the grisly matriarch, Miz Lillian. It was not just because of the president's dire lectures on morality and salvation and his weird encounters with lethal rabbits and UFOs. It was not just because of the risible White House "Bible study" sessions run by Bert Lance and his other open-palmed Elmer Gantry pals from Georgia.

It was because, whether in Afghanistan, Iran, or Iraq-still the source of so many of our woes-the Carter administration could not tell a friend from an enemy. His combination of naivete and cynicism-from open-mouthed shock at Leonid Brezhnev's occupation of Afghanistan to underhanded support for Saddam in his unsleeping campaign of megalomania-had terrible consequences that are with us still. It's hardly an exaggeration to say that every administration since has had to deal with the chaotic legacy of Carter's mind-boggling cowardice and incompetence.

Source. There is more on the destructiveness and support for Islam of the Carter regime here.

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Bill Whittle's latest essay is getting a lot of favourable comment -- as usual with his essays.

For history buffs, Dan Mandel has an excellent summary of how pro-Jewish Winston Churchill was -- despite much opposition from the "practical men" of his own cabinet and staff. My own comment about Churchill's politics is here.

Democrats Cave On Iraq Supplemental?: "In grudging concessions to President Bush , Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday. While details remain subject to change, the measure is designed to close the books by Friday on a bruising veto fight between Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the war. It would provide funds for military operations in Iraq through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year."

A good guess: "My best guess is that a strong and legitimate government of a unified Iraq will emerge more quickly if the United States withdraws. This is because the international journalists will mostly leave if the United States leaves, so the combatants will be free to use brutal methods that will more quickly and decisively exhaust the losers' will to fight. Unfortunately, we cannot reliably predict the nature of that ultimate national government."

The CIA obsession of the '60s revived: "A lunatic Leftist website claims that the Al Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Islam group that is fighting the Lebanese army in Tripoli was created by the evil CIA! The Wayne Madsen Report claims: "Fath al-Islam was reportedly started with funding and other support from the CIA and Lebanese Phalangist forces to act as a counterweight to Hezbollah. In reality, Fath al-Islam is designed to give the Bush administration, NATO, and the Fouad Siniora government a pretext for granting the U.S. military and NATO access to northern Lebanon and the Kleiaat airbase. Fath al-Islam's activities are already being blamed on "Al Qaeda" units operating in the north of the country."

Slimy Edwards again: "Business Week highlights a rather dubious practice of John Edwards: temporarily "parking" campaign staff in a non-profit organization set up for him at the University of North Carolina, escaping public reporting and apparently funding his preparation to run for office with tax deductible donations from persons and organizations unknown to the public."

Another French election coming up -- and looking good: "Campaigning for the French parliamentary elections began on Monday with polls suggesting President Nicolas Sarkozy's party will secure a strong majority for reforms and the left will get a fresh electoral drubbing. Sarkozy has promised to forge ahead with reforms but the right-winger cannot act until after the June 10 and 17 parliamentary polls when he is expected to call a special summer session to pass his first measures."

The apologetic Left: "Somewhere in the course of the evolution of the American Left and its party, the Democrats, the offering of formal apologies became an important political ritual. Most likely this grew out of the transition from an attitude of pride in America to an attitude of shame, a feeling that this country is the world's primary villain. Perhaps not coincidentally, the trend toward a sense of America the evil, a polity requiring apologies, accelerated when the Soviet Union was vanquished in the Cold War, collapsing of its own internal contradictions (as the Marxists would say), leaving American the world's sole superpower. Conceding the point that President Reagan led America, the good to victory over the true Evil Empire just raises too many awkward questions about the activities of those who opposed his policies at every step. Like American Thinker's Poet Laureate Russ Vaughn, I am astonished at the effrontery of liberals in the Democratic Party who now frequently call for apologies and reparations for historical crimes occurring before anyone alive today was born, notably the institution of slavery. In this they betray a total ignorance of American History."

"Galileo" -- another EU boondoggle: "The Open Europe Blog follows the financial meltdown of the European GPS system, Galileo. Not only has it been plagued by delays but there are real questions about whether a civilian market for it exists when a free service is already been provided by the US GPS system. One analyst said, "why pay for Pepsi Cola when you get Coca-cola for nothing?" EU Transport Commission Jacques Barrot says, "I don't think Galileo has actually failed! That's a misuse of language. we've had a change of scenarios." The EU Referendum calls it the scandal the media has missed. Thoughts of a Technocat notes that Galileo will have a European military role after all and may need it, for want of customers. Barrot provides this masterpiece of circumlocution to say I think, what he should say openly. That Europe is buying insurance against the loss of access to GPS simply because it is too important to lose."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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22 May, 2007

Google: Getting there

We read:

"GOOGLE has revamped its internet search engine to integrate video, books, maps and news into "universal" results to online queries. Google spent two years transforming the architecture of its search engine to broaden results to include web pages that one had to previously seek out in separate search categories such as "photos" and "news." "It's all the stuff on the web," said Google's vice-president of search products and user experience Marissa Mayer. "The assumption is that if it is there and it is findable on the web we should get it." The "Universal Search" platform delivers more comprehensive results and raises the profiles of Google features such as online books and video Google co-founder Sergey Brin said."

They ARE getting better. In a quick look today I found only two articles online that they did not have: here and here. And in both cases they did have PART of the article concerned -- so that must have fooled their algorithms.

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THE CONSERVATIVE LEFT

An oldie but goldie post lifted from Ed Driscoll. See the original for links

Forgive me, please, for chuckling a little at Radley Balko's new meme, but he's definitely onto something:

"You know, you sometimes get the feeling the day after the polio vaccine was invented, today's left would have run editorials lamenting the good ol' days, when we were a little more cautious about what swimming pools we jumped into, and expressing sadness that we'd now have no new stories about the afflicted overcoming their disability to inspire the rest of us.

I'm not kidding. They're that resistant to change. Every mill that shuts down is a "sign of our sad times." No matter that the new mill will do things better, faster and cheaper than the old one. New farming techniques grow more food on less land. But dammit, if there wasn't something romantic about the old-stye "family farm" that's deserving of government protection. Innovation isn't celebrated, it's excoriated for displacing some idealized vision of the way things once were. In matters of progress and dyanmism, the left is far more conservative than the conservatives are.

Radley's far from the first guy to notice that the left are far more reactionary these days than the right ever was, but "the conservative left" is a great way to phrase it.

UPDATE: Let's look at the election from the point of view of the ones now standing athwart history and yelling stop (to coin a phrase). A narrowly-elected president who's spent the last four years toppling the Taliban, putting Al-Qeada on the run, arresting Saddam Hussein and getting Libya to allow inspections of its nuclear program, not to mention making the Tranzis of "Old Europe" look like fools, even as he enlarges several of your social programs has got to drive you absolutely, totally insane.

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ELSEWHERE

Read about the making of the great Fred Thompson video about Cuba and Michael Moore here. I love that guy, cigar or no cigar.

An Irish paradox: "Three days before the Republic of Ireland goes to the polls Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach [Prime Minister] and Fianna Fail leader, has yet to convince voters that his stewardship of Europe's leading economic success story merits returning him to power for a third term in office. It is the Irish conundrum: after more than a decade of Celtic Tiger wealth and job creation, a series of budget surpluses and the spectre of Irish terrorism vanquished, why is Mr Ahern struggling to survive? "It's not the economy, stupid" could be the theme of the strangest election in decades."

Sweden finds a decent Muslim: "In a tall, blond government, a small black woman like Nyamko Sabuni was always going to stand out. It is, though, the former refugee's outspoken views that have demanded attention in her adopted Sweden, where she wants a ban on the veil for under-15s and compulsory gynaecological checks for all schoolgirls to protect against genital mutilation masquerading as "female circumcision". Her views have led to death threats and round-the-clock protection in Europe's most tolerant country. Being appointed Minister for Integration and Equality in the right-wing Government provoked a petition signed by 50 Muslim organisations declaring that she "breathed populism and Islamophobia". Ms Sabuni, 38, whose mother was a Muslim but who describes herself as "not religious", is unrepentant. "Arranged marriage is not something recommended by Islam," she told The Times. "Nor is genital mutilation. Many people say this is our tradition, our religion. But it is unacceptable, whatever the reason. I will not be scared into silence. I will never accept that women and girls are oppressed in the name of religion."

Israel-hating British doctors get a reply: "" We are being innudated with support..." was the reply by Esti Sherbelis, International Public Relations Officer of the Israel Medical Association in response call for physicians signatures by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East to a letter from the the IMA to the British Medical Association and World Medical Association. This initiative was in response to a call by a 135 British physicians to ban the IMA from the World Medical Assocation recently published in the Guardian."

British journalists confess to their bias against Israel: "At their annual meeting in April, Britain's National Union of Journalists passed a resolution asking for "a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid South Africa led by trade unions, and [for] the [Trades Union Congress] to demand sanctions be imposed on Israel by the British government." In itself, this is a remarkable display of bias by journalists covering one of the modern world's most contentious conflicts. The New York Times' ombudsman, Byron Calame, observed last year, "Keeping personal opinions out of the public realm is simply one of the obligations for those who remain committed to the importance of impartial news coverage." The NUJ also "called for the end of Israeli aggression in Gaza and other occupied territories." Since NUJ members presumably read newspapers as well as write for them, they should be aware that Israel expelled all of the Jews from Gaza in 2005. Other than kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, there are no more Jews in Gaza. Israeli troops have only returned to the Gaza Strip in response to continued attacks originating from that increasingly fortified territory. The NUJ failed to publish their resolution on their Web site, perhaps sensing their prejudice was only exceeded by their ignorance."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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21 May, 2007

STATE AND LOCAL "INCENTIVES" TO BUSINESS ARE JUST MORE STUPID SOCIALISM

Money doesn't grow on trees, but that hasn't stopped Dollar Tree Stores from generating forests of revenue. In 2006, sales at the retail chain, where every item costs a buck, were $4 billion. That's up 17 percent from the year before. The company now operates more than 3,200 stores around the country, as compared with just over 2,900 a year ago - an increase of more than one per weekday last year.

So this capitalist success story is an obvious candidate for a taxpayer subsidy, right? That's what Virginia thinks. On February 12, Democratic governor Tim Kaine announced his plan to award $200,000 in state money to Dollar Tree for an expansion of its corporate headquarters in Chesapeake. The cash comes out of something called the Governor's Opportunity Fund, which spends more than $15 million per year on companies that seek financial help. "We view it as a deal-closing fund," says Christie Miller of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, a state agency. "It's for attracting business to Virginia and keeping it here, too."

Giveaways to flourishing companies may not sound like a discount-store bargain for taxpayers, but they're standard operating procedure just about everywhere. Even local governments are getting in the act: The city of Chesapeake agreed to inject $200,000 of its own money into Dollar Tree's project. Around the country, this marriage of Big Government and Big Business carries a price tag of $50 billion each year, according to an estimate by Alan Peters and Peter Fisher of the University of Iowa. For the most part, however, these so-called business incentives "don't accomplish much of anything," says Peters.

That's not entirely true. They can accomplish quite a bit for politicians such as Kaine, who wasted no time in issuing a boastful press release about his Dollar Tree deal: "Governor Kaine Announces 100 New Jobs for Chesapeake." Yet these little exercises in industrial policy rarely drive economic growth. And sometimes they aren't so little: Last summer, then-governor George Pataki of New York, a Republican, approved a $1.2 billion package of grants and tax reductions for AMD to build a microchip factory in Saratoga County. The project is supposed to create 1,200 jobs, which works out to a price of $1 million apiece for New York taxpayers - a deal that might make even George Steinbrenner blush.

Perhaps these corporate-welfare schemes would be worth it if they created more jobs, helped depressed areas, or expanded a region's tax base. Evidence suggests that they don't accomplish any of these goals. "After decades of policy experimentation and literally hundreds of scholarly studies, none of these claims is clearly substantiated," wrote Peters and Fisher in their exhaustive analysis. "Indeed . . . there is a good chance that all of these claims are false."

This should come as no surprise. Politicians and bureaucrats in the grip of what Hayek called the "fatal conceit" - the notion that they can pick economic winners and losers better than the invisible hand of the market - have an exceedingly poor track record. The Mackinac Center, a think tank in Michigan, analyzed the performance of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA), the state's most visible corporate-subsidy program. It found that among 127 deals whose employment promises were fully measurable through 2004, only 10 had met their projections. "MEGA is another in a long line of political programs disguised as economic ones," says Michael D. LaFaive, a co-author of the study. "They're great for giving politicians cover but do little to produce real job growth."

More here

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Which minorities should we favour?

Post lifted from Discriminations. See the original for links

ABC News reports today that new census figures "Add Fuel To Fiery Affirmative Action Debate; Critics of Diversity Programs Say the Latest Census Figures Justify Their Stance."

"As America becomes increasingly multi-ethnic and multiracial, it becomes more and more untenable for some people to get preferences on the basis of race or ethnicity," says [Roger] Clegg [president of the Center for Equal Opportunity]. "I think it makes it harder and harder to justify giving some groups special treatment because it becomes more difficult to pick and choose who deserves special treatment." ....

Ward Connerly, the California businessman leading the drive behind the ballot initiatives, says the new census figures show that America is no longer the place it was when affirmative action policies were put into place in 1961. "We are a nation of minorities now; the idea the government can prefer one group over another is insane," Connerly says. "Racial preferences are fundamentally unfair and marginalize the very people they're intended to benefit."

Naturally, those who support racial preferences disagree.

Gary Orfield, the co-director of the Civil Rights Project and a professor of education at UCLA, says the basic structure of discrimination and inequality against African-Americans and Latinos remains in place and has never been resolved.

Orfield and friends would "resolve" this problem by keeping affirmative action, which itself is a massive "structure of discrimination," in place forever, or at least until the ever-present playing field is leveled, which is the same thing.

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ELSEWHERE

Every now and again, I collect the more interesting pictures, graphics and cartoons I have recently put up on my various blogs and post them all together in a single file of pictures. Most of them are pretty entertaining. The latest is here (or here).

A couple more Obama lies spelt out here

Nonie Darwish: "In her native Egypt, she is the daughter of a hero, a soldier killed while fighting the hated Israelis. In America, she is a hero, a Muslim-born woman who stands up for the Jews and Israel, and speaks out against the oppression by Islam against her sex. Her website, the provocatively titled Arabs for Israel, promotes Muslim support for the Jewish state. These are controversial messages that have seen her banned from the campus of at least one Ivy League university. Her email inbox bulges with insults. "Sometimes they say things like 'Jihad is our pride' or 'You are a pig and an ape like the pigs and apes you defend'."

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up.

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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20 May, 2007

THE FORCED WOLFOWITZ RESIGNATION

By Greg Sheridan

Paul Wolfowitz is a good man brought down by a shabby, politicised witch-hunt. The terms under which he was forced to deal with his partner when he joined the World Bank may well indicate that he was set up for a fall. Wolfowitz tried hard to avoid personnel issues surrounding his partner. He sought advice, and followed it. The spouses of other executives had been allowed to keep working at the bank but the hostility to Wolfowitz, which is a displaced enmity for US President George W.Bush, exacerbated by Wolfowitz's exotic name and reputation as an architect of the operation in Iraq, was present from day one.

I have known Wolfowitz for many years. He is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful men I know, the very opposite of the idiotic caricature of him as a Dr Strangelove super hawk. He was one of Washington's most committed proponents of engagement with Islam, and long before 9/11. He was a superb and popular ambassador to Indonesia, is deeply concerned with human rights and has supported many Asian dissidents.

He is formidable, if donnish, and an intensely hard worker. The last time I saw him was several months ago. His days started early but he was happy to talk policy at 9pm in his Washington office. Wolfowitz had his faults but he is a dedicated servant of humanity. He was disliked at the complacent and incompetent bureaucracy of the World Bank because he shook things up, insisting on a better vision for fighting poverty and corruption. His likely replacement is Bob Zoellick, a former US deputy secretary of state, who would be a fine World Bank president.

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Test Shows Conservatives More Mentally Complex Than Liberals

Post excerpted from Cheat-seeking Missiles

I'm not sure that this is what Jonathan Haidt, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, set out to do, but his research into the basis of our morality has shown what is obvious to most of us: Liberals run on a pretty simple clock, whereas the clockwork of conservatives is far more advanced and complex. Did he really say that? You bet:

Haidt argues that human morality is a cultural construction built on top of - and constrained by - a small set of evolved psychological systems. He presents evidence that political liberals rely primarily on two of these systems, involving emotional sensitivities to harm and fairness. Conservatives, however, construct their moral understandings on those two systems plus three others, which involve emotional sensitivities to in-group boundaries, authority and spiritual purity.

Got that? Liberals are worried that the guppy doesn't get hurt and that everyone sings Kumbaya with perfectly balanced voice quality. Conservatives are all for not harming and being fair, but create a much more complex structure for their moral measurements.

Adding in-group boundaries basically means we conservatives are conformists and are more likely to find immorality in the wanton destruction of social mores than liberals, who tend to see such destruction as a moral attribute. Rage against the machine, fight the man. Authority means, of course, respect for authority. Liberals get no moral readings from that attribute, but it's big to conservatives.

Haidt's last point is interesting: the spiritual roots of moral decisions. I think he's wrong here because his survey focuses on religion, not on beliefs. Dennis Prager correctly states that there is more dogma in the Liberal faith system (environmentalism, human rights, tolerance) than in any established religion. If Haidt had designed his survey instrument differently, I believe "core belief systems" would have scored as high with the liberals as with the conservatives, if not higher.

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ELSEWHERE

Immigration is a hot topic at the moment with a new bill going through Congress. I will not be saying anything about it here. Why? Because I have a whole blog devoted to immigration matters -- and I am certainly following it there.

We see here clear proof that the Democrats do NOT support the troops

It seems that former ambassador John Bolton gave the BBC a bit of a shock.

More Leftist hypocrisy: "Associated Press writer Nancy Benac plays the "diversity" card with a piece tallying up how many women and minorities service in power positions for the various presidential candidates. The hit piece slamming Republicans for not promoting enough non-white people is titled "Democrats seek diversity in advisers:"... Perhaps Ms. Benac--journalistic concern troll for "diversity"--should start counting the racial and ethnic beans at her own organization. Take a look at the [all white] AP Board of Directors. Not unsurprisingly, it's "Do as we say, not as we do" with the liberal media elite."

Israel surges economically: "A bloody and costly war, the constant threat of terror attacks, a string of political scandals and a land almost devoid of natural resources. Only in Israel could this be the backdrop for the most impressive economic success story of the modern Middle East. Despite the war with Lebanon, 2006 was a golden year for the economy of the region's only liberal democracy. GDP grew by 5.1 per cent, competitiveness improved sharply and the stock market surged. Israel came fifteenth in the World Economic Forum's global competitive index, topping the list of Middle East states and up from 23rd place the previous year. Its nearest regional rival, the United Arab Emirates, came 32nd. In recent years, this small state has turned itself into a "world technology powerhouse", according to Augusto Lopez Claros, the WEF's chief economist. Much of the credit must go to Binyamin Netanyahu, who as Finance Minister in 2003 cut a deal with the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, that gave him free rein to push through market reforms. Mr Netanyahu sold off state assets, liberalised Israel's monolithic banks and slashed its corporation taxes."

Mubarak knows Hamas: "Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has admitted what we have known for a long time, but which still seems to elude policymakers in Europe and Washington: Hamas will never make peace with Israel: "Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expressed great concern over the increasing strength of Hamas in talks with senior diplomatic officials on Wednesday, declaring that the organization will never sign a peace agreement with Israel, Haaretz has learned. He said that the Egyptian government is at a loss regarding the future of the Gaza Strip. However, he also proclaimed that Egypt is making great efforts to end the Hamas government and support Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "With Hamas no way," he reportedly said. Mubarak painted a dark picture of the situation with Hamas and said there was no chance for peace with the organization. "Hamas will never sign a peace agreement with Israel if it stays in power," the Egyptian president said"

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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19 May, 2007

DISPLACEMENT

Post lifted from Dr. Sanity

Displacement is one of the primary psychological maneuvers that covers-up or disguises blatant self-deception and self-delusion. It is, for example, behind most of the more vicious attacks on President Bush for anything he does; and for anything he doesn't do. He is behind every evil like some modern-day Moriarity, a criminal and godlike genius who is simultaneously a moron and incompetent. We are not talking about a mere dislike of the President; nor is this simply "politics as usual". Rather, it is an unreasoning and implacable, visceral hatred of George W. Bush for the sin of existing. This hatred is so intense that it is stunning to any rational observer; and its manifestations have been justly made into a diagnosis of "Bush Derangement Syndrome". Clinically, the symptoms of this syndrome are as disabling and as dysfunctional as any other post-traumatic stress disorder.

Displacement is the separation of an emotion from its real object and its redirection toward someone or something that is less offensive or threatening in order to avoid having to deal directly with what is frightening or threatening. It is a very useful type of psychological denial which distorts and obscures reality.

You suspect that this type of denial is at work when an individual expresses an emotion toward someone or something (e.g., anger or fear) that is way out of proportion to the reality of the situation. Ordinary dislike is transformed into a visceral, implacable hatred; anxiety morphs into hysteria; and ordinary frustration at being thwarted in one's desires becomes rabid, impassioned rage.

The purpose of displacement is to avoid having to cope with an unpalatable reality in order to maintain a belief, a world view, or even one's sense of self. By using displacement, an individual is able to still experience his or her anger or fear; but since it is now directed at a less threatening target than the real one, the individual is able to feel better. Thus, the individual can delude themselves into thinking they are doing something about what threatens them, when in reality, they are blind to it ("fiddling while Rome burns" so to speak). Conveniently, the individual using displacement (or any other form of denial) does not have to take responsibility for the consequences of his/her emotion and can also externalize any blame or consequence on the object of their emotional displacement. They simultaneously feel safe AND virtuous, even though neither emotion is justified--at least, not for long.

From BDS, whose sufferers claim that Bush is more evil than Bin Laden (a bit of intellectual idiocy from the moral relativists of the left!); to the insane belief that a Christian theocracy is imminently going to be imposed on the U.S. by the BushHitler, when radical Islamic fanatics are actively trying to do exactly that; to the latest jaw-dropping assertions we should be diverting resources to combat global warming because it is far more of a national security threat than Islamofascist terrorism--these are examples of the wonderful world that you too can live in if you are willing to subscribe to a creative interpretation (i.e. denial) of reality.



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Jet noise can make you rich

Market Watch is reporting the following: "The Justice Department and the U.S. Navy have reached a settlement agreement with approximately 3,400 property owners in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, Va., regarding litigation relating to jet noise at a naval air base. Under the terms of the agreement, the participating plaintiffs agree to dismiss their claims and acknowledge that the settlement does not constitute an admission of liability by the United States.

"'We are pleased that the federal government and residents near the Naval Air Station Oceana and Naval Auxiliary Landing Field, Fentress have been able to reach an amicable resolution in this matter and avoid further litigation,' said Matthew J. McKeown, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. 'This resolution signals an end to six years of litigation and provides positive results for the citizens as well as the government.'

The base has been in place since 1943.... And now the tax payer takes it on the chin on the order of $34 million because of underhanded civic dealings and stupid homebuyers?

More here

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ELSEWHERE

An interesting tale of CNN deceit regarding hurricane Katrina here. There has been so much backtracking over what happened in NO during the immediate aftermath that I have kept a big media report from the time in its original hard copy. Below is a scanned-in picture from it:



Government "services" in Britain: "Ministers were accused of decimating Britain's network of post offices after it was confirmed yesterday that 2,500 will be forced to close. Almost a fifth of post offices will be shut by early 2009 under a timetable announced by Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary. No decision has yet been taken on exactly where the cuts will fall, but the Post Office will begin drawing up plans within six to eight weeks. The Conservatives said that the announcement spelt the "near certain death of the village post office" and would leave vulnerable people, including pensioners, isolated. Campaign groups said that the closures would bring misery to rural communities and claimed that the Government's public consultation on the closures had been a sham."

Penalty for a Leftist crook: "Samuel R. Berger, the Clinton White House national security adviser who was caught taking highly classified documents from the National Archives, has agreed to forfeit his license to practice law. In a written statement issued by Larry Breuer, Mr. Berger's attorney, the former national security adviser said he pleaded guilty in the Justice Department investigation, accepted the penalties sought by the department and recognized that his law license would be affected. "I have decided to voluntarily relinquish my license," he said. "While I derived great satisfaction from years of practicing law, I have not done so for 15 years and do not envision returning to the profession. I am very sorry for what I did, and I deeply apologize." In giving up his license, Mr. Berger avoids being cross-examined by the Board on Bar Counsel, where he risked further disclosure of specific details of his theft."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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18 May, 2007

BBC can't take what they themselves dish out

The Beeb was doing a big report on scientology and the scientologists knew what bias they could expect from that. So they filmed the BBC team while the BBC was filming. They watched the watchers. Which of course meant that the Beeb could not do "creative" editing on what they filmed without being shown up as crooks. Filming the Beeb paid off. The Beeb could not bear being subject to scrutiny. The leader of the BBC team lost his cool:

"In the Scientologists' clip of the outburst, which it posted on the video-sharing website YouTube, Sweeney is heard screaming: "Now listen to me! You were not there at the beginning of the interview! You were not there! "You did not hear or record all the interview! Do you understand? "You are quoting the second half of the interview, not the first half. You cannot assert what you are saying!"

His shouting all but drowns out the Scientologist, who simply repeats over and over again: "Brainwashing is a crime against humanity."

On Sunday Sweeney said his behaviour had resulted in him having his "arse kicked" by the BBC. He said: "What I did was wrong and stupid and I am embarrassed about it. I let down the team and I let down the BBC. "It was my seventh day with the Scientologists and I snapped."

More here

I have no brief for the Church of Scientology but it is nice to see revealed the animus behind the anti-religious bias of the BBC.

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Brookes News Update

Inflation targeting and boom-bust cycles: In order to maintain an inflation target the Fed loosens its monetary stance i.e. lowers the interest rate and pumps money into the economy. This in turn stimulates the demand for goods and services and lays the foundations for a recession
Why did The IPA Review mislead readers about Islamic economics and teachings?: The Institute of Public Affairs owes the public an apology. It published a grossly misleading article (Islam and the Free Market) in which it not only whitewashed Islamic teachings it also made the founder of modern economics a fourteenth century Muslim historian! Perhaps its time the IPA closed its doors - for good
Industry policy, tariffs and the value-added fallacy: The Labor Party's economic illiterates are proposing an industry policy that if implemented would lead to the Federal direction of industry. In plain English, this amounts to a call for central planning
Islamist-Left alliance a growing force: Just as the left aligned itself with Hitler and Stalin the modern left has forged a destructive and treasonous alliance with Jew-hating Islamofascist terrorists. This makes these leftist thugs guilty of high treason
Corruption and the `Clinton Wall' at the Justice Department Government: A biting expose of the corrupt Democrats in the Justice Department and how they abuse their power by waging a war of personal destruction against Republicans while allowing the likes of Sandy Berger to walk away free. One of these corrupt officials is Lee Radek, head of the Justice Departments' Public Integrity Unit. Informed readers will note the unintentional irony
The temper tantrum that could kill America: The Democrat Party leadership has dedicated itself to America's destruction, and they deserve to be prosecuted under RICO statutes as a criminal conspiracy to dismantle America's national security
President Bush to kill pro-"gay" bill?: The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees `equal protection under the law' for all citizens. Not according to the Democrats

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FEMA Declares Itself Fixed: "The government has fixed most of the problems that undermined its response to Hurricane Katrina, even though an updated federal disaster plan is not completed, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief R. David Paulison told lawmakers Tuesday."

MSM's Entry Into Blogosphere Shows Its Leftward Tilt: "It's taken a while but I think it's safe to say that blogging has now become pretty universal within the MSM. Despite the howls of crusty old liberals like Bill Moyers, the web has fractured the political audience and the elite media are out for a piece of it. Big Media outlets like ABC, NBC, Time, CBS, and the New York Times are all blogging up a storm. Unfortunately for their claims of political objectivity, all the blogging has revealed what the center-right has said all along: the elite media in this country are skewed left in both demographics and content."

Some Episcopalians still respect Bible teachings: "In the biggest rift yet over gays, an entire diocese in the Anglican Church is to defect from the Episcopal Church of the US. The Anglo-Catholic diocese of Fort Worth, led by the respected traditionalist Bishop Jack Iker, said last night that it will seek "alternative primatial oversight" outside the liberal province that is at the heart of the Anglican dispute over homosexuality. Sources indicated that an African Primate was most likely to be approached. The decision will send shock waves through the Anglican Communion. Entire parishes have left the Episcopal Chuch to seek oversight from provinces such as Nigeria, but Fort Worth will be the first diocese to go. It is opposed to the ordination of women as well as to the consecration of homosexual bishops."

We must attack Iran before it gets the bomb: "A nuclear Iran would be as dangerous as "Hitler marching into the Rhineland" in 1936 and should be prevented by Western military strikes if necessary, according to a leading hawk who recently left the Bush administration. John Bolton, who still has close links to the Bush administration, told The Daily Telegraph that the European Union had to "get more serious" about Iran and recognise that its diplomatic attempts to halt Iran's enrichment programme had failed. Iran has "clearly mastered the enrichment technology now...they're not stopping, they're making progress and our time is limited", he said. Economic sanctions "with pain" had to be the next step, followed by attempting to overthrow the theocratic regime and, ultimately, military action to destroy nuclear sites."

West to blame for Arabs killing one-another!: ""The international community, Israel and Arab countries are to blame for the current inter-Palestinian fighting in the Gaza Strip for failing to lift an economic siege on the Palestinians, a senior Hamas official said Wednesday," according to the Jerusalem Post."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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17 May, 2007

NEWSWEAK DIAGNOSES GWB AS MENTALLY ILL

Leftists have been accusing conservatives of mental illness at least since 1950. Given the Leftist talent for projection, I think that tells you who the real mentally ill ones are. So the latest malicious diagnosis comes as no surprise at all. I have commented on a couple of such "diagnoses" of GWB previously (here and here). The Anchoress, News Busters, The American Thinker and others have taken the latest nonsense apart pretty comprehensively so all I want to do here is say a few words about the psychiatist who was dragged into the article to give it some semblance of authority.

Kerry Sulkowicz, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center is the dude. He is a psychonanalyst -- a devoteee of the evidence-free theories of Sigmund Freud. Although Freud was a good observer and an innovative thinker, his theories have failed the only really important test -- the test of whether they work or not. At least since the 60s it has been known that the cure-rate among those who undergo Freudian psychotherapy is no different from placebo. Psychoanalytic theories DON'T WORK. And the reason why they don't work is not far to seek. They are all speculation-based, not evidence-based -- and the sort of speculation indulged in by Sulkowicz is a good example of that.

Almost any psychologist will confirm what I have said above and psychoanalysis now has little following outside New York. That a psychoanalyst is one of the few people in NYC who will listen to you is my speculation about why they remain popular there.

So Sulkowicz adds no authority whatever to the article. He is just speculating. That is his trade. Sounding good is the criterion for excellence in psychoanalysis -- very similar to the criterion for excellence in Leftist thinking. Evidence is turned to only when convenient.

Maybe I should do some speculative diagnoses too. If Leftists can speculate so can I. In my view, GWB's failings stem from the fact that he is a true Christian gentleman. He is too kind, too forgiving and too trusting -- and other people take advantage of that. I think that theory matches reality far better than the hate-crazed accusations that Leftists pour out at him.

Update:

In case it is not immediately obvious, I suppose I should mention a couple of really basic points about the Sulkowicz and Newsweek "diagnosis":

1). Psychiatrists are supposed to do an extensive personal interview with the person concerned before they offer a diagnosis. Absent that, the diagnosis is garbage.

2). Making a diagnosis public is ethically challenged, to put it mildly. That Sulkowicz took part in this exercise reveals him to be an unethical charlatan.

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EUROPE IS AGAIN FINDING RUSSIA A LOT LESS KINDLY THAN THE USA IS

When will they ever learn who their real friends are? Never, I guess -- or at least not for long

Germany is making a last-ditch attempt to rescue a European Union summit with Russia from disaster, amid increasing calls within the bloc for a rethink of policy towards Moscow. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister, will fly to Moscow on Tuesday to try to prevent this Friday's summit from being dominated by disputes between Russia and former Soviet-bloc countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Estonia. "We are discussing an existing conflict situation between individual European Union member states and Russia and between the EU and Russia," he said.

The summit in Samara, Russia, would be "difficult", Mr Steinmeier said. He could not guarantee success for his meetings on Tuesday with Vladimir Putin, Russian president, and Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister. But he hoped to resolve at least one of the disputes. EU officials have in effect given up on achieving the bloc's central aim for the summit - of starting wide-ranging talks with Russia to deepen relations. Germany is anxious to show that the EU policy of seeking a "strategic partnership" with Russia can produce concrete results.

A series of disputes have erupted between Moscow and neighbours in the EU. These range from a Russian ban on Polish food products to a row over Estonia's decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial. Tensions have also risen in the wake of the US's proposal to install missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

In another sign of dissension within the EU, Anna Fotyga, Polish foreign minister, said she was not happy with the preparations Germany was making for the summit, saying the EU needed to show more solidarity with new member states over Russia's energy policy. Separately, Lithuania has said it is unwilling for the negotiations to begin while Russia does not resume oil supplies to one of its power stations, which have been interrupted for 10 months.

The election of Nicolas Sarkozy in France is also likely to bolster the ranks of those wanting a tougher EU line with Russia. In Russia, Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the Duma's international affairs committee, said the EU's failure to agree to start negotiations because of Poland's veto was a "significant drop in pace in the level of co-operation between Russia and the EU". He added: "Russia and the EU are moving forward with the speed of a cart and not of a high-speed train and this can only lead to regret."

Source

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Muslim Adam and Eve above

Prof. Brignell has put up a very good summary of Tony Blair's appalling legacy in Britain.

Canadian bureaucracy at work: "Every one of the RCMP's explosive-sniffer dogs were away on training the day baggage containing a bomb was loaded on to a doomed Air India flight in 1985 in Toronto, a federal inquiry was told Tuesday. RCMP dog handler Gary Carlson, who was stationed in Toronto, testified that he and his dog Thor were on an annual refresher course in Vancouver. The course also brought together all five other bomb-sniffer dog teams that the RCMP had stationed near airports across Canada, he said. Mountie drug dogs could not be used as backup because they were trained only to sniff out narcotics. Mr. Carlson said it is highly likely Thor would have found the bomb that blew up the Air India flight if the animal had been given the chance. The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court of Canada justice John Major, has heard previous testimony that the Air India flight out of Canada on June 22, 1985 was considered at high risk of an attack bu Sikh extremists. RCMP airport security protocols in place at the time would have required the use of a bomb-sniffer dog to help screen luggage".

Democrat divisions over cars. Dingell vs. Obama: "Not long after President Bush said he had ordered federal agencies to enact new regulations cutting gasoline consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.) was in Detroit saying raising fuel-efficiency standards for U.S. cars and trucks was probably not the answer. Dingell, long a friend of the U.S. auto industry, told Detroit's Masonic Temple he doubted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were doing any good and that raising them would only punish auto makers.... He also criticized Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of Illinois, who told the same Masonic Temple last week that the auto makers were the authors of their own miseries and also called for higher fuel standards. But Obama may be a closer friend of Detroit than he seems. Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Phelan last week pointed out that Obama drives a V8 Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C, which, in Phelan's words, "emits a whiff of hypocrisy along with its exhaust fumes."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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16 May, 2007

NYT ARROGANCE

Post lifted from SCA. See the original for links

Says Craig Smith of the New York Times of Nikolas Sarkozy:

Arrogant, brutal, an authoritarian demagogue, a "perfect Iago": the president-elect of France has been called a lot of unpleasant things in recent months and now has five years to prove his critics wrong.

Try this is on for size, Mr Smith: The New York Times has also earned the right to be referred to as brutal, authoritarian and a bastion of leftist demagoguery. In addition, the New York Times has proved it's preference for deceit when needed and deliberate disregard for the truth as a matter of course. Perhaps the New York Times can use the next five years to prove their critics wrong.

Mr Smith goes on to note that

Mr. Sarkozy's personal life has been less successful than his public one: in 1996, he divorced his first wife, with whom he has two sons, and married C,cilia Ciganer-Albeniz, with whom he had another son.

For years, Ms. Sarkozy acted as Mr. Sarkozy's closest aide, but she left him to have a very public affair with another man in 2005. The couple have since reconciled, but Ms. Sarkozy has been notably absent from her husband's presidential campaign, fueling rumors that he will inhabit Elysee Palace alone.

Has Mr Smith referred to Hillary Clinton's private life as `less than successful' than her political life? Has Mr Smith or anyone at the New York Times made note of the former President's absence from Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign trail? Is Bill Clinton's invisibility on the campaign trail meant to imply that if successful, the Senator will inhabit the White House by herself? Does appointing the former president as `Ambassador to the World really mean there are irreconcilable differences between Senator and former president? Or do those kind of inferences selectively applied by the New York Times?

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A NATION OF MOOCHERS

Government grew under Clinton, and grew even faster under his successor. Government is so big today that more than half the population gets a major part of its income from the state. So says a study by economist Gary Shilling. Shilling, a Springfield, N.J., consultant and forecaster, says the portion of Americans feeding substantially at the public trough stands at 52.6 percent. In 2000, it was 49.4. It seems unbelievable that in 1950, only 28.3 percent of Americans lived off the taxpayers. Shilling projects 60 percent by 2040.

One out of five Americans works for some level of government or for a firm that depends on taxpayer financing. One in five also draws Social Security or a federal pension. That number will grow as the baby boomers move on to Social Security, which, let's not forget, is a transfer program. Among other recipients of largess: Nine million are on food stamps, 2 million received housing subsidies, and 5 million go to school on the federal taxpayer. In Shilling's reckoning, dependents of recipients are also part of the group he calls "government beneficiaries."

Wasn't the welfare system reformed in 1996? On the surface, yes. Cash payments are available only for a limited time and recipients are expected to work eventually. Millions of women once on welfare have gone to work. But the idea that the taxpayer has gotten a break or that overall dependency has decreased is a myth. As the AP reported: "The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid. The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor -- including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits -- are bursting with new enrollees. The result ... is that nearly one in six persons rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago."

More here

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Brookes News Update

US economy and China's currency - what gives?: It is still being said that manipulation of China's currency is undermining American manufacturing. Like so many things in economics this charge completely ignores the real forces at work
Australian economy: the recession it should have had, and its money supply: There was a time when economists would have looked at the money supply. Now they reach for the economic tealeaves otherwise known as the national accounts. Is that why our economists are so blase about the Australia's shrinking manufacturing base?
Remembering the Bay of Pigs: The Bay of Pigs 46 years ago but Cuban patriots still remember the courage and sacrifices of those who tried to rid their country of the cowardly and sadistic Dictator Fidel Castro
Why the Australian Democrats are not a respectable political party: The Australian Democrats are trapped in a downward spiral of politically suicidal decision-making
Israel has nothing to celebrate: Now Olmert is paving the way for more concessions to the Arab terrorists. It will create more demands from Arabs and more Jewish lives will be lost. Nothing will please the enemies of the Jewish people except our total extermination
The Democrats are worse than we thought: One of the few Democrats I know of who has consistently hoped for our troops to fail is Dennis Kucinich. The fact that Dennis Kucinich is now a Democratic trendsetter may just be the saddest thing ever

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ELSEWHERE

Chris Brand has a new lot of posts up on his usual themes

China Hand has just put up a new post on whether Confucianism is a religion or not

Rubin on the origin of anti-market bias: "Our primitive ancestors lived in a world that was essentially static; there was little societal or technological change from one generation to the next. This meant that our ancestors lived in a world that was zero sum -- if a particular gain happened to one group of humans, it came at the expense of another. This is the world our minds evolved to understand. To this day, we often see the gain of some people and assume it has come at the expense of others."

The dubious pedigree of the EU idea: "Ten years ago I wrote a book the first chapter of which examined Nazi and fascist arguments in favour of a united Europe. I used this Nazi pro-Europeanism scurrilously to discredit the claim made by today's pro-Europeans that the European idea was born out of reaction against Hitler, and to show that hostility to national sovereignty has an anti-democratic pedigree. Most of the quotations dated from 1941, European propaganda having been emphasised when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. By 1942, a conference was organised in Berlin by leading Nazi party officials and industrialists entitled `European Economic Community'. Of course, the Nazis did not invent the idea of a united Europe. That dream has been around since the collapse of the Roman empire, gaining new attractiveness after the Reformation and after the first world war. But Nazi pro-Europeanism was very detailed, concentrating on many of the technical aspects which we associate with the EU today, especially the Europeanisation of industry and agriculture."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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15 May, 2007

Marxists and Islamists have a love-in in Toronto

Rather than focus on the evils of capitalism, the unlikely top billing of the opening night of the festival was devoted to a discussion about building unity between Muslims and the left; the keynote speaker was the controversial Islamic thinker Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, who is in the news these days because he is in the midst of a heated battle to open a mosque in Newmarket - not because he wants to see a dictatorship of the proletariat.Desperate for new brothers in arms, Marxism appears to be doing some serious social networking. If this weekend's series of workshops at the festival is any indication, Marxism has a disparate cadre these days: green activists, the anti-war movement, the transgendered, members of First Nations, traditional Islam.

Inclusiveness is the buzzword here, where the members of this hodge-podge gathering can be overheard calling each other brother and sister. Participants call this membership drive "building unity," a much-repeated mantra throughout the opening night. Self-proclaimed Marxist James Clark, who helped organize the event, said that while there are disparate groups in attendance, they can all still rally around a slogan like "Out of Afghanistan and into Kyoto."

More here

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I have put a couple of toty wee posts on my personal blog recently. "Toty wee" is a dismissive Scottish expression -- implying total insignificance. I enjoy Scottish expressions. I was brought up to think highly of Scotland and I still do. I greatly enjoyed my various trips to Scotland and would cheerfully live there except for the climate. Where I live in sub-tropical Brisbane has to be the dream climate. The nearest American analogue is San Diego. And San Diego has more admirals than any place outside Italy (The Italian navy has more admirals than ships). Navy men move about a lot so when an admiral decides where to retire he knows from experience that San Diego is the best.

France shows the way: "For Mr Sarkozy, who wants France to "work more to earn more", it will be straight down to business with the naming of his government on Thursday, to be headed by the socially sensitive senator Francois Fillon as prime minister. Economic and financial ministries are likely to be combined to avoid doubling up of treasury and finance staff. Symbolically, important ministries such as culture and agriculture are tipped to disappear, to be absorbed into more efficient super-ministries. In an interview with Le Monde, MrSarkozy said he was determined to change the country and ensure that only one in every two bureaucrats heading for retirement was replaced from this year."

Sarko's problem: "In my Languedoc village, Christian the local PC [computer] fixer has not hired anyone in 10 years because he says to do so he would have to take a pay cut. To hire anyone in France - who will work no more than 35 hours a week with generous vacations and who becomes immediately very difficult to sack - costs roughly 1,000 pounds a month. Before you have paid them a penny. In the next village over from me in England there is a fellow who does the same job as Christian and 10 years after starting a business in the same way, as a one-man band, has a fleet of vans running around the countryside staffed by eager geeks. The unavoidable question, Nicolas, is what are you going to do about this? I think I know. If you are to cut unemployment, you must stop taxing employers for creating jobs. It is, I think, that simple."

Signs of Intelligent Life in Europe: "Security officials from Europe's largest countries backed a plan Saturday to profile mosques on the continent and identify radical Islamic clerics who raise the threat of homegrown terrorism. The project, to be finished by the fall, will focus on the roles of imams, their training, their ability to speak in the local language and their sources of funding, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini told a news conference after a meeting on terrorism. Italian Interior Minister Guiliano Amato said Europe had extensive experience with the "misuse of mosques, which instead of being places of worship are used for other ends." "This is bringing about a situation that involves all of our countries and involves the possibility of attacks and developing of networks that use one country to prepare an attack in another," Amato said."



Fighting terror with a Law Enforcement Model -- who knew we got stupid again?: "Here we are again with the FBI trying to fit a law enforcement model over a terror war. In New Jersey the FBI admits that they know of 4 other "accomplices" who were seen in the company of the 6 already arrested but that they don't have enough evidence to arrest them. Haven't we been here before? So then are we at war or are we engaged in a massive law enforcement operation against those Muslims who are doing their best to duplicate 9/11's death toll? Did we or did we not learn any lessons from the debacle of having Moussaoui in our hands with the evidence that would have allowed us to stop 9/11? Are we still trying to fit a law enforcement model of operation over a war? Remember we had Moussaoui's laptop computer in hand and that the evidence inside of that laptop would have given us enough to stop 9/11 but oops in a Law Enforcement model you are not allowed to look into that laptop"

Pittsburgh imam ousted over 'death' remarks: "Imam Fouad ElBayly has been asked to step down from his leadership roles at the Islamic Center of Johnstown, based on his comments published by the Tribune-Review. ElBayly, who came to the United States from his native Egypt in 1976, expressed his views on apostasy -- abandoning one's religious belief -- during an interview prior to Dutch feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali's appearance April 17 at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He indicated that in the eyes of the Islamic community, a sentence of death would be warranted for Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee, women's rights advocate and atheist who has denounced the Islamic religion, criticized the practice around the world of female genital mutilation and spoken out against her Muslim upbringing. ElBayly, who tried to block Hirsi Ali's campus appearance, said her attacks on the Muslim faith were "poisonous." He did not threaten her, but explained that "all of her lies" warrant a death sentence. "The board and members of the Islamic Center of Johnstown were shocked and regret the comments made by Imam ElBayly regarding the visit of author Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The statements regarding the Islamic Center's reaction to her visit were incorrect, unfounded and not the views of its members," Dennis J. Stofko, the center's attorney, said in a letter to the Tribune-Review."

Jihadists smash mobile phones and cassettes, order tribesmen to grow beards: "Some 200 gun-toting Islamist militants smashed car cassette players and mobile phone cameras yesterday and ordered tribesmen in a Pakistani region to grow beards, part of a drive to impose Taliban-style values. The militants took up positions beside a road near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, and stopped and searched passing vehicles... A government official in Bajaur confirmed the incident but did not say whether authorities planned any action against the militants. Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, bordering Afghanistan, is known as a hotbed of support for the militants and critics say the government's influence there has weakened considerably since the authorities signed peace deals with the militants."

Israel to reward terrorism with more withdrawals: "The evacuation of Gaza was not Israel's last move, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in an interview with the Egyptian weekly al-Ahram published Saturday morning. "I believe I represent most Israelis and I can confirm that Gaza is not the last move. We are convinced that in order to establish a Palestinian state we must withdraw from additional territories," the minister added.

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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14 May, 2007

JEWS, JOOOOS and Hebrews

(JOOOOS is the way sane people mock antisemitic conspiracy theorists)

I do write rather a lot on this blog about Jews and Israel. Ever since Christianity erupted from it, that little sliver of land at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean has been a major source of controversy and contention. And all regular readers of this blog will be acutely aware that I am about as rock-solid a supporter of Israel as you can get.

I do nonetheless have the amusing distiction that I have often been accused of being both antisemitic and a Jew-lover. What that mainly tells you, of course, is how hysterical modern politics can get. Secondarily, however, it shows you that I am a true conservative -- determined to deal with the world in all its real complexity rather than resort to simple generalizations.

You can see why I have been the target of such contradictory accusations if you look at my big essay about Jews -- which I have revised a bit in recent times. It is a largeish essay so if you are in a hurry just read the last paragraph.

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ELSEWHERE

Theodore Dalrymple has an article discussing Sayyid Qutb -- seen by many as the founder of Islamofascism. Dalrymple says that Qutb is only to a minor extent a religious writer and that his writing is mainly political and has much in common with Marx -- including being filled with hate.

A new Hitler/Stalin pact: "The roster of Islamist-left alliances quietly grows every day: Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguistics professor Noam Chomsky praises Hamas and denounces America on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television. London Mayor Ken Livingstone invites a leading Islamist, Sheikh Yosef Al-Qaradawi, who is known for supporting suicide attacks, to visit his city. Iranian President Ahmadinejad calls for a world without America even as he plays host to a Tehran peace conference attended by American Mennonites, Quakers, Episcopalians, Methodists, and leaders of the National Council of Churches.... It's the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact for our age. The Left, with its insistence on multiculturalism and the end of religion in public discourse, has begun to ally itself with the most xenophobic religion on the planet, one which insists on transcendence in temporal matters above all other law. Its leaders now praise the same groups that target and kill civilians, oppress the media, openly practice anti-Semitism, and routinely stone those who have the audacity to date without permission from their families. In the case of Noam Chomsky, this seems particularly egregious, but not terribly surprising. Chomsky can talk about Enlightenment ideals out of one side of his mouth, as he did in Imperial Ambitions, and then warmly support Hamas, which completely rejects those ideals of freedom, liberty, and individual conscience.... People like Chomsky love Hamas and Hezbollah not for their supposed "Enlightenment ideals," but for their hatred of America. That's the one thread that follows through all of these alliances"

The Soros pincer move on Israel: "George Soros is deeply hostile to current American support for Israel. He publicly criticizes AIPAC and is exploring opportunities to form an anti-AIPAC. He also plans to launch a European version of the Council of Foreign Relations. Now, it seems as if George Soros may be launching yet another effort to try to influence the course of policy regarding Israel..... CAP just launched an alternative news and opinion service dubbed: The Middle East Bulletin. Given the time constraints that many people labor under, and the cutback in news gathering and analysis that media outlets have had to endure, given the changing economics of the industry, news services such as these alerts are becoming increasingly relied upon. The bulletin will go out three times a week and will be delivered via the internet to media outlets, Congressmen, and decision-makers around the world. How does George Soros fit in this picture? The Center for American Progress receives funding from George Soros. The first "issue" of the Middle East News Bulletin itself gives credit for "the support and cooperation of Americans for Peace Now, Geneva Initiative Israel Policy Forum and the New Israel Fund." None of these organizations are supportive of AIPAC and have proudly taken positions contrary to those of AIPAC and its many supporters."

Bill Clinton on Israel's nuclear annihilation: "The next Ambassador at Large, should Mrs. Clinton become president, has gone on record in the belief that the main victims of a nuclear strike that destroys Israel would be Muslims, suffering from fallout. What a thoughtful guy!"

Nuke Mecca: "In the event of a nuclear terrorist strike on the United States, both Mecca AND Medina MUST suffer a nuclear strike in retaliation. It is the ONLY response that makes sense. Not only would it be necessary to nuke those cities, but it would ONLY be a sufficient response if the "dirtiest" nuclear device in the U.S. inventory were utilized in the strike. By "dirty" nuke, I mean a device that would make their two "holiest" sites completely uninhabitable (certain poison to human life) for the next 10,000 years. The nuclear contamination MUST be THAT severe. Okay. Now. WHY? Because it is the ONLY way to STOP the violence. The total, complete, and eternal destruction of their "holiest" sites would END Islam, once and for all. Islam is a system of "works". The fanatic element responsible for the violence is trying to perform "works" (on Allah's behalf) that will secure a guarantee of eternal reward (in paradise). One of their required works is that "at least once in their life" they must make a pilgrimage to their holy sites. If they can not make their pilgrimage, they can not complete the "works" required to secure their "salvation". By their own stupid rules, outlined their "holy" books, if Mecca and Medina were unapproachable, then ALL muslims all doomed to eternal damnation."

Dems Offer Reparations to Guam For JAPANESE War Crimes! "That's correct... Democrats are bringing legislation to the floor this week to pay Guam citizens for the crimes committed against them by members of the Imperial Japanese military forces during World War II!"

The farcical U.N. again: Zimbabwe, a country suffering from acute food shortages and rampant inflation, won approval to lead the important U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests from the U.S., European nations and human rights organizations. Africa nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and tourism, for the post, and the 53-member commission approved that recommendation Friday in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, said Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, the commission's vice chair. The post rotates every year among regions of the world and it was Africa's turn to sit in the chair. "We're very disappointed in the election of Zimbabwe as chair," said the U.S. representative to the commission Dan Reifsnyder, deputy assistant secretary for environment and science at the State Department. "We really think it calls into question the credibility of this organization to have a representative from a country that has decimated its agriculture, that used to be the breadbasket of Africa and can't now feed itself"

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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13 May, 2007

HEROISM IN IRAQ

Do the bloated toads in America's present Congress (e.g. Murtha and Kennedy) deserve the protection of men like this?

Late last year, Major James Gant and his men were returning home to Baghdad after weeks of fighting insurgents. Gant and his advisory team were riding in up-armored HMMWVs. These were not the HMMWVs of Jessica Lynch's era. These were mini-tanks on tires with bullet proof-glass, blast-proof armor plate and turret mounted machineguns. His men, Iraqi National Police, were riding in soft-skinned trucks.

Al-Qaeda had planned an elaborate running ambush in which they hoped to destroy the unit that had been their nemesis for more than a month. They had prepared three separate ambush sites along a four kilometer stretch of road. Gant and his commandos were forced to run a gauntlet of machinegun fire, mortar attacks and IEDs. The story of Gant's, fight that day is an amazing tale of heroism, filled with scenes you would expect to see on the silver screen. Gant repeatedly risked his life to save others. The insurgents had planted IEDs hoping that an explosion would force the embattled convoy to stop.

Gant ordered his driver to drive straight for the first IED. As they rolled within twenty feet, the device detonated. Miraculously, Gant's HMMWV was unscathed. Gant kept the column moving through a vicious gun battle. Another IED lie only five hundred yards ahead. Again, they went after the planted explosive and, again, a thunderous explosion failed to disable Gant's vehicle. Almost clear of the ambush, Gant noticed a third IED. He continued to push forward, bringing his convoy safely through the torrent of fire. Had Gant hesitated, good men would have died.

More here

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Yet more on media bias

Post lifted from Powerline . See the original for links

Yesterday, Scott wrote about the Appeal for Courage which was presented to Congress yesterday afternoon. You can read about the Appeal here. The Appeal was signed by more than 2,700 active duty servicemen and women. It says:

As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.

The Appeal was received yesterday in Washington by Minority Leader John Boehner and Senator Lindsay Graham. Did you read about it in your local newspaper? I didn't. Nor did I read about it on CNN, which, as best I can tell, has made no mention of the pro-Iraq war, anti-surrender petition signed by thousands of soldiers. CNN did report on this, though: "Retired generals, Iraq veterans launch anti-war ads":

Three retired generals challenged a dozen members of Congress in a new ad campaign Wednesday, saying the politicians can't support President Bush's policies in Iraq and still expect to win re-election.

Other veterans promoted the campaign at a news conference in Manchester, the start of a six-state publicity tour targeting Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Warner of Virginia, plus nine House members. All are Republicans.

This is almost like a laboratory experiment, isn't it? A handful of veterans (including three out of several thousand retired generals) oppose the war: News. Thousands of active duty personnel urge Congress to support the war effort: Not news. That pretty well sums up the journalistic standard that has been applied to the conflict in Iraq.

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Sure to be the fault of whites: "Caribbean nations, which most Americans perceive as sun-soaked paradises, are overwhelmed by the economic toll of the world's highest murder rates and need international help, according to a report released Thursday. A one-third reduction in the region's murder rate would more than double its per-capita economic growth, according to the study by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Caribbean nations have been battling drug-fueled crime by bolstering their police forces, but the report says crime rates are so bad that Caribbean governments need help from rich nations and multilateral institutions. "The report is a starting point of putting crime on the development agenda," said Caroline Anstey, the World Bank director for the Caribbean. The high crime rate not only is killing young people and adding to the cost of business, but it also keeps tourists in safe beach enclaves rather than having them spend more money exploring other parts of the Caribbean, Anstey said." [More detail here]

A Coulter excerpt: "With Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive victory as the new president of France, the French have produced their first pro-American ruler since Louis XVI. In celebration of France's spectacular return to Western civilization, I bought a Herve Leger dress on Monday, and we're having croissants for breakfast every day this week. This delicate French pastry, by the way, is in the shape of a crescent to commemorate the Crusaders' victory over Islam. Aren't the French just peachy? ... Only Spain remains a nation of women. As long as Spain exists, it will not outlive the shame of its gutless capitulation to terrorist bombings in 2004. It is worse than Sweden's neutrality toward Hitler. But France! Until this week, France seemed a less likely place to find someone who supports America than a meeting of Democrats. Apparently, even the French prefer Western civilization to clitorectomy-performing, car-burning savages. The Democratic Party is now officially the only organization on Earth that does not take the threat of Islamic fascism seriously. Between the Democrats and the media, America has gone from its usual position as the world's last hope to radical Islam's last hope."

More bungling British bureaucracy: "When Kay Rumble received her pension forecast from the Government, she knew that something was wrong. The 64-year-old from Berkshire had taken time out of her working life to bring up three children, but the Pension Service had failed to account for this in its calculations. "I argued about this," she said. "I can't tell you how many times I called them. Eventually they said that they had changed computers and one said that I was entitled to a bigger state pension and one said that I wasn't." In 1999 Mrs Rumble, an office manager, was told that she was likely to qualify for a basic pension of 25.23 pounds when she turned 60 in 2003. This was based on the expectation that she would, by 2003, have 15 years of national insurance contributions out of a possible 39. The forecast underestimated her pension by nearly half. After she pointed out the discrepancy, the Pension Service revised its figures. Once Mrs Rumble's Home Responsibilities Protection entitlement was included, her weekly pension increased to 45.12 pounds."

A wonderful memorial for a personal friend of mine: "It's over a year since Chris Tame, former Director of the Libertarian Alliance, died aged 56. Chris had built up and nurtured the libertarian movement in Britain over many years. Over the years Chris had accumulated several thousand books, many of which were about liberty and its issues, and which included many classic libertarian texts. Rather than let the collection be dissipated, Sean Gabb, current Director of the Libertarian Alliance, found a good home for them at the Economic University of Prague. He organized the transport of the books, no small operation, and some friends of Chris helped defray the cost. Chris Tame's library will thus continue to spread the message of liberty for years to come, making a wholly fitting memorial to Chris and the values he stood for."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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12 May, 2007

A LESSON FROM SARKO

In the campaign, Sarkozy argued that the French have to work longer hours and, in order to give them an incentive to do so, that they shouldn't pay taxes if they work overtime. He called for tax cuts to encourage investment so the private sector can create jobs. And critically, Sarkozy has said that the people must obey the law, that the creation of law and respect for the law is a central part of any civilized society.

Remember, this is a jarring message for a country that routinely accepts the burning of up to 15,000 cars a year by hooligans who, according to the elites, are simply "expressing their desire to disrupt society." It's jarring for a country that was very proud a few years back to have the first mandatory 35-hour work week in history. Yet an increasing majority of the French believes that without the kind of changes Sarkozy is calling for, France's stature will disappear in a wave of lawlessness and economic decay.

As for the opposition in the French election, much like the American Democratic Party, it is trapped by its commitment to big labor, big bureaucracy, high taxes and social values people don't believe in. Every time French voters seriously looked at Segolene Royal and the kind of politics she represents, she lost ground. She simply couldn't make the case that left-wing Socialist policies would work.

The result was a surprising and powerful upset by Sarkozy -- a victory by a center-right reformer, a member of the unpopular ruling party, who came to personify change. And here's where American Republicans really need to pay attention: In France, voting for change meant voting for the party in office, but not the personality in office. And voting to keep the old order meant voting for the opposition, not for the incumbent party.

If Republicans hope to win the presidency next year, they better find a candidate who is prepared to stand for very bold, very dramatic and very systematic change in Washington. Not only that, but they had better make the case that the left-wing Democrat likely to be nominated represents the failed status quo: the bureaucracies that are failing, the social policies that are failing, the high tax policies that are failing, and the weakness around the world that has failed so badly in protecting America.

Source

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It may seem perverse but the picture above all by itself tells me what a great nation America is -- in my view the greatest nation the world has ever seen. It grieves me greatly to see the extent to which it has at present falen into the hands of corrupt and venal Congressional cowards. You need to see where that picture came from. I hope others will see something of what I see in the picture above -- the inextinguishable pride for start. Perhaps because I have some small military background myself, it moves me deeply.

Historian Dan Mandel has an excellent put-down for those who try to distort what Winston Churchill stood for.

Outvoted by Hispanics?: "The 2008 election may see a vast number of new Hispanic voters streaming to the polls and voting Democrat, thanks to behind the scenes maneuvers by the Democrats' biggest sugar daddy of all. The outlines of the plan became clear yesterday when putting together stories in 2 of America's leading business publications. The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story on May10th regarding Univision's campaign to spur millions of Hispanic residents to become U.S. citizens. Univision is, by far, the largest Spanish-language broadcasting network in America. The Journal article pointed out the momentous electoral consequences of this development: since Hispanics tend to vote Democratic an increasingly large number of them with a right to vote will favor the Democratic party in 2008. This is particularly so since so many Spanish-speaking residents are concentrated in states rich in electoral votes. This unprecedented effort on the part of Univision could very likely swing the Presidential election to the Democratic Party."

U.S. economy is surging: "Mark Crutsinger of the AP did not disappoint me by burying his lead at the very bottom of his latest report on federal tax revenues and spending: For April, revenue receipts totaled $383.64 billion while spending totaled $205.97 billion, leaving a surplus for the month of $177.7 billion. While Crutsinger pointed out that revenues are always up in April, he did not bother to compare this April's figure to last April's. On May 10, 2006, Crutsinger reported that revenues were $315.1 billion in April 2006. This April's revenues were $383.64 billion - an increase of 22%. How will liberals spin this? Bush isn't spending fast enough? It is unlikely that the budget will be balanced this year, but the deficit looks to be far smaller than the one the Congressional Budget Office projected just 2 years ago"

Gonzales deflects Democrats' criticism: "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confidently deflected House Democrats' demands Thursday for details in the firings of U.S. attorneys, appearing ever more likely to survive accusations that the dismissals were politically motivated. Republican lawmakers rushed to Gonzales' defense as the attorney general denied anew that the firings last year were improper. The mostly muted five-hour hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee was a sharp contrast to Gonzales' sometimes testy appearance three weeks ago when Senate Republicans questioned his competence to run the Justice Department.

United Nations looniness again: "Britain and other Western nations were fighting a rear-guard action last night to block Zimbabwe from heading an influential United Nations organisation responsible for development. Despite running one of the world's most disastrous economies, Francis Nheme, the Zimbabwean Environment Minister, is expected today to become chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the body that monitors the environment and development."

Support For Israel: "The two leading partisan pollsters, Republican-leaning Public Opinion Strategies and Democrat-leaning Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted a survey (with link to questionnaire and results) of U.S. "opinion elite" attitude toward Israel. Opinion elite is loosely defined as college grad or post-graduate, all earning above $75,000, 99% saying they will vote in 2008,most regular readers of major newspapers, newsmagazines and TV news viewers. The result is comforting to its sponsor, the pro-Israel Israel Project. Support for Israel is at its highest since 2002, 63% very favorable toward Israel, an increase of 5%. 26% are very favorable toward the Palestinians, a decline from 31% in 2002. Focusing, when competing for support in "the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians" 65% support Israel but only 10% the Palestinians."

Hooray for feet and inches! "Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables can continue to be sold in pounds and ounces in Britain indefinitely, after a U-turn by the European Commission. The decision, disclosed in a letter made public last night, also means that fabrics, carpets and timber and other building materials can be sold in yards, feet or inches. Road signs can remain in miles per hour. The move delighted consumers and shopkeepers after a campaign by the Metric Martyrs that had been backed by the Conservative Party and the British Weights and Measures Association. The British Retail Consortium and other organisations representing butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and market traders had also lobbied hard to save imperial measures.The campaigners scented victory after saving the crown on a pint glass this year. Their instincts were confirmed by Guenther Verheugen, the Industry Commissioner, who agreed that dual marking of goods in Britain in imperial and metric measures can continue indefinitely. Brussels has insisted previously that the traditional British weights and measures should disappear from labels and shop counters by 2009. Business lobbyists said that keeping pounds and ounces made it easier for British companies to sell to the United States"

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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11 May, 2007

More evidence of media bias

Bernard Goldberg, renowned author and commentator on media bias (based on his 20+ years as a journalist) once wrote:

"Bias in the media isn't just about what they cover; it's also about what they don't cover. Sherlock Holmes once solved a particularly thorny crime using as his key piece of evidence the dog that didn't bark. It's the same with the news media. What they don't make noise about also tells us a lot about their preconceived notions and their biases."

Well surely Bernie must be feeling vindicated this day. For if there is ever a perfect example of the silence of the media dogs it is in the story of Tina Richards. I recently wrote here about the mother of a Marine and her efforts to meet with Democrats to urge them to end the war. Her tactics were not unlike Cindy Sheehan but instead aimed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi whereas Sheehan focused her PR effort on President Bush. I wrote that first article as much to bench mark media reporting as to provide the content. I wanted all to note that Pelosi has her own Sheehan and let's see were the media goes with it by way of comparison.

The result of my little experiment surprised even me, with my calloused eye towards the state of American journalism. Here is what is going on. It appears Tina Richards has been released from the big-house after being arrested for her sit-in at the Speaker's office and is continuing her activism. If you follow the desperately scant media reports on her you can find Richards' own website.

There she posts her thoughts in writing and video. Currently, Richards is organizing a political action called "Swarm on Congress". It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out that this is basically an assault on the mechanisms of government to call attention to her cause. You might think a planned congressional sit-in by an aggrieved military mother might qualify as news as it did in Sheehan's case. How wrong you are!

Source

There is also a well documented article here on how the media covers up for Obama's gaffes. Any Republican who got treatment like that would think he was in Heaven.

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ELSEWHERE

There is an interesting article here about Google's "Supplemental Index" -- which is apparently "Google Hell" for advertisers. Some of my articles are in the "Hell" concerned but they are all old ones that I rarely change so that bothers me very little. My content is pretty unique so even my stuff in the supplemental index seems to show up when you look for it. It is the articles that are not indexed at all that get me grouchy. But since I started complaining about it, almost all my stuff has been "rediscovered" by Google. Writing to Google seems to be pointless. It is only public complaints -- such as mine -- that get attention. There are still some strange omissions, though. Why did this article get missed, for instance? According to Google it does not exist anywhere on the net -- even though lots of other articles on the same site ARE in the Google database. The weirdness continues.

How reasonable! "Somali security forces are seizing and even burning Muslim women's veils in Mogadishu to stop Islamist insurgents disguising themselves for attacks, authorities and witnesses said on Wednesday. The Western-backed government's crackdown on veils is a highly symbolic turnaround for the Somali capital. When it was under Islamist control in the second half of 2006, women were instructed to cover their heads. Backed by Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes, Somali forces ousted the rival Islamist leaders in January and are trying to secure the capital after a surge of bloody fighting."

Congressional hissy fit: "Veteran political columnist David Broder set off a firestorm recently when he called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid an "embarrassment" for declaring the Iraq war "lost." From the assault subsequently directed at Broder - from other journalists, political operatives, left-wing bloggers and even the entire 50-member Senate Democratic Caucus - you'd have thought Broder had had an intimate encounter with an intern. Or, in the spirit of bipartisanship, had broken into Democratic National Committee headquarters. Broder committed no such dastardly deed, but merely did what he has done for the past 35 years. He called it as he saw it - just as Reid claims to have done, and that his defenders seem to find so refreshing. Nevertheless, the 50 Democratic senators felt compelled to respond.... It is perhaps admirable, and certainly reassuring to Reid, that his fellow senators came to his defense. But this kind of overreaction to a columnist is rare, if not unprecedented, and betrays a disturbing hostility to legitimate criticism. Though Broder is a great political writer, he is not the president of the United States. He doesn't command an army or meet routinely with heads of state to negotiate planetary alignment or even global heating and cooling. He's a commentator. And what, exactly, is a commentator supposed to do if not comment?"

Iran strikes advocated in Christian Science Monitor: "Louis Rene Beres is a nuclear strategist and professor of International Law. In today's Christian Science Monitor Beres calls for preemptive action against Iranian nuclear weapons development: "Unless there is a timely defensive first strike at pertinent elements of Iran's expanding nuclear infrastructures, it will acquire nuclear weapons. The consequences would be intolerable and unprecedented. "A nuclear Iran would not resemble any other nuclear power. There could be no stable "balance of terror" involving that Islamic Republic. Unlike nuclear threats of the cold war, which were governed by mutual assumptions of rationality and mutual assured destruction, a world with a nuclear-armed Iran could explode at any moment."

Deadly food fanaticism: "A vegan couple were sentenced to life in jail yesterday for the murder of their malnourished six-week-old son, who weighed just 3rlb (1.6kg) when he died. Jade Sanders and Lamont Thomas fed the boy, who was named Crown Shakur, a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice, the Atlanta court heard. The child was born in a bath-tub in the couple's home and never taken to see a doctor. He was dead when his parents took him to a hospital across the street from their flat on April 25, 2004. He was so emaciated that doctors could count his bones through his skin. The couple maintained during the trial that they did the best they could for the boy while adhering to their vegan lifestyle, a strict form of vegetarianism that does not allow the consumption or use of any products linked to animals." [May they rot!]

Socialist Angst, Cigarettes And Cheese: "Cigarette sales in France are on the rise. A mostly empty and crushed pale blue pack of Gauloise has become the broken badge of the socialists. A new dawn of awareness is adding to the French socialist woes. As they furiously smoke and curse `les stupides` and `les cochons` that voted for Nikolas Sarkosy, there are coming to an awareness they would rather not discuss. Socialists are going to have to work for a living. For the moment, despondent socialists are discussing broken strategies, broken ideologies and the future of their beloved `little people,' who so roundly rejected them and whole lot of what they stood for. For the first time in a very long time, they are having to deal with reality."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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10 May, 2007

The Kansas tragedy: Blame-Bush buffoonery

Hi, my name is Tim Schieferecke and I'm a native western Kansas farmboy. No, I don't know anyone from Greensburg as I'm from northwest Kansas, but I do know what rural folks from anywhere in Kansas are like. Apparently my current leftist Governor Kathleen Sebelius doesn't though, nor does she comprehend the availability of heavy equipment assets. It was hard for me to hold my lunch down when I heard her craft an anti-Bush spin on the disaster that befell the good people of Greensburg. Slow recovery? This statement is disingenuous at best but in local lingo better understood as a downright lie.

We need trucks? It seems the good Governor doesn't get out of Topeka much. Western Kansas is wheat country, and where there's wheat there's wheat trucks. Incidentally, they fill in quite nicely for hauling away debris when they aren't filled with grain. Why do they really need Hum-vees in the mix? What can they accomplish that a regular old four wheel drive pick-up can't? Other equipment? You can't spit without hitting a tractor, spit a little harder and you'll hit one that has a handy scoop.......

Also, I'd like the Governor to explain just how many National Guard troops it takes to seal off a little town of 1500 from looters? The good Governor points out plainly opportunistically that 40% of all troops overseas are National Guard. Now, assuming that 40% of Kansas troops are engaged elsewhere (that's 3,200 of approximately 8,000 total, there are an estimated 4,800 troops available). To guard a town of 1,500? Do they have that many down on the border? That sounds like overkill to me!

It is beyond me how these libs spin everything towards making our good President guilty of this or that. How is it that President Bush has anything at all to do with a slow response to the catastrophe? How could ANYTHING have been done differently. Oh yeah, I forgot, Bush created global warming by colluding with big oil, that created the perfect F-5 tornado, and if only he had signed Kyoto this tragedy never would have happened. Give me a break!

More here

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British TV veteran disses the BBC: "Sir Patrick Moore has identified an alien species that threatens to destroy intelligent life - the women who have taken over the BBC. The veteran astronomer celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Sky at Night with a withering attack on the female executives he believes have dumbed down the corporation. Sir Patrick's outburst echoes criticisms raised by Alasdair Milne, a former Director-General, who provoked a furious response when he accused a female-dominated BBC of producing "terrible" programmes. Sir Patrick, 84, was asked by the Radio Times if television had got better or worse during a career spanning the medium's life. The answer was worse - "much worse". He said: "The trouble is that the BBC now is run by women and it shows: soap operas, cooking, quizzes, kitchen-sink plays. You wouldn't have had that in the golden days." They have even destroyed sci-fi, Sir Patrick's personal passion. He said: "I used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC - making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching."

Mickey Mouse, jihadi warrior?: "Hamas has now enlisted Mickey Mouse in the War on Terror - as an advocate of Terror against America and Israel, attacking Pres. Bush, Sec. of State Rice and Prime Minister Olmert in a children's television program. They have renamed him Farfur, but he is still obviously and unmistakably our Mickey Mouse. So far, the Disney Corporation has nothing to say about it. The Mouse House is legendary for cracking down on commercial appropriation of their intellectual property. But I doubt they have ever negotiated a deal with a terrorist outfit like Hamas. So you have to wonder how far they will go."

The Danger From Within: "This week we found out that six Muslim men were arrested and charged with plotting to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey, with the intent of killing as many soldiers as they possibly could in the name of Islamic jihad. They were undone when they brought a video they had made to a retail store to be burned onto a DVD. A store employee's suspicions were aroused by the content - the men shooting assault weapons while shouting "Allah Akbar" (God is great) - and he alerted authorities. Will CAIR get involved in this "violation" of the men's civil rights as they did the six imams who were booted from a US Airways flight last year? Should photo store employees worry about being sued for reporting suspicious content as the unidentified employee in New Jersey did? The media was slow to include the suspects' religious affiliation, preferring instead to identify some of the men as being ethnic Albanians. Once the White House announced they were "Islamic militants," however, the cat was out of the bag"

The empty-headed Obama again: "The junior senator from Illinois must have the wettest feet in town because he keeps putting his feet in his mouth. His latest is that 10,000 people died in Kansas - and it is all George Bush's fault. The AP reported: " Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died.The death toll was 12."

Mohammed Philby?: "Dozens of suspected Islamic fanatics have been weeded out after attempting to join MI5 and MI6. They were identified by the vetting process applicants go through over six to eight months. The success in exposing the moles has underlined the dangers faced by the security services as they seek to recruit more Muslims. Assuming that most of these would be Mohammed Philbys are British citizens, wouldn't trying to penetrate British intelligence agencies be considered treason? The article doesn't mention any arrests. Are they simply being let go to toddle back off to the nearest extremist mosque?"

Big Win in France/Another Failure for the Media : "The Liberals claim that the world hates America and that anyone who supports America is doomed. Then John Howard goes on to win a decisive victory, Tony Blair is re-elected in historic fashion, Mexico and Canada move conservative and now France! Once again, it is as Bret Stephens wrote in the Wall Street Journal several years ago, that an historian looking for clues leading up to major events like the collapse of the Soviet Union or the end of the Japanese economic "juggernaut" would find (he says "most", I say all) contemporary journalism useless. Why is the contemporary press so useless? Stephens says it's sloth, incompetence and ignorance. I say it's multiculturalism -- the desire to use their power to "prove" that America isn't special. They simply NEED to create a world where the Soviet Union is just as successful as America, where Japan beats us in capitalism and where the rest of the world hates us. It doesn't matter that it's not true because truth is meaningless to the Modern Liberal"

Let the sun shine into the World Bank: "The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens gives us a glimpse of what has been going on inside the corruption-riddled World Bank. (What started as a faux scandal instigated by staffers against the President of the Bank may end up with a bright spotlight being shined on an institution which punished real whistleblowers who highlight theft of funds meant to alleviate world poverty.) A comparative analysis of project performance across six regions shows that during the tenure of Messrs. Sarbib and Madavo, Africa had the highest number of projects yet the lowest likely sustainability percentage, the lowest satisfactory percentage for bank performance and the lowest satisfactory borrower performance at implementation. Mr. Sarbib was subsequently promoted to senior vice president before retiring last year. Mr. Madavo is a visiting professor at Georgetown. Both men recently signed a public letter calling on Paul Wolfowitz to resign for damaging the bank's reputation."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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9 May, 2007

Democrat Congress Ignorant On Iraq

The Left-leaning "New Republic" asks (below): How Can Congress Run Iraq If It Doesn't Know A Thing About It?

Maybe it was a slip of the tongue. But, when Nancy Pelosi confessed last year that she felt "sad" about President Bush's claims that Al Qaeda operates in Iraq, she seemed to be disputing what every American soldier in Iraq, every Al Qaeda operative, and anyone who reads a newspaper already knew to be true. (When I questioned him about Pelosi's assertion, a U.S. officer in Ramadi responded, incredulously, that Al Qaeda had just held a parade in his sector.) Perhaps the House speaker was alluding to the discredited claim that Al Qaeda operated in Iraq before the war. Perhaps. But the insinuation that Al Qaeda's depredations in Iraq might be something other than what they appear to be has become a staple of the congressional debate over Iraq. Thus, to buttress his own case for withdrawal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "We have to change course [away from Iraq] and turn our attention back to the war on Al Qaeda and their allies" - the clear message being that neither plays much of a role there.

What is going on here? There are two possibilities: First, Reid and Pelosi could be purposefully minimizing the stakes in Iraq. Or, second, they don't know what they're talking about. My guess is some combination of the two. Political maneuvering certainly contributes to the everyday pollution of Iraq discourse. But a lot of the pollution derives from legislators being functionally illiterate about the war over which Congress now intends to preside. In this, of course, they're hardly alone. The Bush administration's wretched Iraq literacy has been well-chronicled. But, with Congress demanding a louder say in the management of the war, the same knowledge gap that plagued our arrival in Iraq looks like it will be revived just in time for our departure.

Whatever explains the literacy gap, this much at least is obvious: Having been called into being by politicians on both sides of the aisle, the war in Iraq no longer bears a relation to anything they say. You don't need to cherry-pick quotes to prove the point: Nearly every time a senator's mouth opens, something wrong comes out. A typical example came a few weeks ago when Senator Joseph Biden took to the op-ed page of The Washington Post. In response to an equally surreal op-ed by Senator John McCain, Biden wrote,

The most damning evidence that the "results" McCain cites are illusory is the city of Tall Afar. Architects of the president's plan called it a model because in 2005, a surge of about 10,000 Americans and Iraqis pacified the city. Then we left Tall Afar, just as our troops soon will leave the Baghdad neighborhoods that they have calmed.

A minor detail perhaps, but "we" never left Tal Afar. In 2006, the First Brigade of the First Armored Division replaced the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, actually boosting the number of Americans in the city. Biden's analysis will also come as news for the 25th Infantry Division, whose soldiers were patrolling the streets of Tal Afar even as the senator claimed otherwise. Not to single Biden out: Who can forget Representative John Murtha's suggestion that it would be a cinch for American forces to "redeploy" from Iraq to nearby Okinawa, 5,000 miles from Baghdad? Or House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes not knowing whether Sunni or Shia populate the ranks of Al Qaeda? U.S. officers in Iraq say that, during their briefings to visiting delegations, they routinely find themselves subjected to examples of congressional oversight along the lines of: Is (the northern city of) Mosul east or west of Baghdad? What's the difference between a brigade and battalion?

As to why some of Capitol Hill's would-be war managers can't name more than a single Iraqi province, officers and journalists offer all kinds of theories. A common explanation points to the shrinking percentage of veterans in Congress, which amounts to a paltry fraction of the World War II cohort that legislated the war in Vietnam (and, incidentally, did a lousy job). But the ranks of the confused feature enough veterans, most notably Reid and Murtha, to disprove the theory. Another blames the reluctance of delegations to venture beyond the Green Zone or the bases they visit - and, then, their reluctance to be dazed by the sheer unfamiliarity of it all. "I'll never forget the helicopters coming in at night delivering wounded to the hospital in the Green Zone," the Iraq Study Group's Leon Panetta marveled to The Washington Post. "We've all seen 'M.A.S.H.,' and yet it was happening right there." Which brings us to yet another explanation for the literacy gap: Today's wise men don't exactly rise to the level of their predecessors. In place of William Bundy and Walt Rostow, we have Panetta and Vernon Jordan; as the custodian of William Fulbright's legacy, we have Harry Reid. The former hungered for the data and lacuna of war; the latter seem frankly uninterested.

More than that, congressional leaders often seem loath even to hear about events on the ground. During General Petraeus's visit to Washington last week, for example, House Democrats at first denied the Iraq commander an opportunity to brief them, citing "scheduling conflicts." And, when he finally did brief Congress, the evidence of progress that Petraeus was expected to present was dismissed before he even offered it. "He's the commander," Senator Carl Levin reasoned. "We always know that commanders are optimistic about their policies." The joke here, of course, is that Levin and his colleagues were not so long ago denouncing the Bush administration - and rightly so - for the sin of disparaging military expertise. True, civilians have no obligation to heed that expertise. They do, however, have an obligation to be informed or, at a minimum, to listen.

But, then, expertise may be beside the point. Obliviousness, after all, has its uses. It comforts the sensibilities of politicians whose varying levels of awareness allow them to favor certain facts and not others. Obliviousness testifies to the virtue and good intentions of members of Congress who, in truth, couldn't care less what comes next in Iraq. It invites Americans to indulge in the conceit that what happens in Washington obviates the need to think seriously about what happens in Baghdad.

More here

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Kurds expose Palestinian failure: "I want to compare the Kurds to the Palestinians.... consciously or not, and I believe consciously, the Kurds followed the example of what the Zionists did from the twenties on. For several decades, even under the raging reign of Saddam Hussein, they built an educational system and a health system, they had a working Kurdish government that no one recognized, they paid attention to all of the requirements for civil society. There is a vibrant economy and it is generating serious foreign investment. It is true that, for the last dozen years or so, their ambitious ventures were implicitly and explicitly carried out under the protection of the U.S. Yet it was as if nobody noticed. The international system paid no attention, except to warn that there should not be a Kurdish state. There should not be a Kurdish state. There really should not be a Kurdish state. Yet there is a Kurdish state, and it will get along with Turkey. Contrast the Kurds with the Palestinians. Everyone is passionate for a Palestinian state.... But the Palestinians don't have a state, and it's not because Israel failed to give them one or negotiate one with them. The contrast is startling: no one wants a Kurdish state and yet there is one. Everyone wants a Palestinian state, people are willing to die for it and, what's worse, kill for it. Mahmud Abbas is president of the state, and there is an elected parliament with a designated prime minister and a "unity" government. But let's face it: the state of Palestine simply does not exist"

EU worried about Russia: "European Union policymakers have long sought peace, stability and prosperity on the bloc's borders and backed the vision of an EU surrounded by well-governed and well-intentioned neighbours. Unfortunately for the EU, however, today's European political reality is starkly different. With Russia in anti-Western mood over a mix of issues, including missiles, energy and the status of Russian minorities in the Baltics - as well as continuing uncertainty over Moscow's stance on the final status of Kosovo - the EU's hopes of stability on its frontiers are fading fast.

British Labour Party fading: " In the South West, where I was following the local results, the most striking trend was the virtual disappearance of the Labour Party. There are now 109 councils in England which either have only a single Labour councillor or - most of them - none at all. Four of these are in South or West Somerset; in a large number of our local Somerset wards, there was no Labour candidate. In England, Labour lost more than a quarter of its council seats; it is now in third place, 300 behind the Liberal Democrats, who are 3,000 behind the Conservatives. In Wales, Labour had its lowest share of the vote in almost 90 years

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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8 May, 2007

THE JOOOOS WIN AGAIN!



Sarkozy is Jewish! But you don't mention it, of course. You use a slightly more devious term: "Neo-Con". Neoconservatism is pretty much a spent force in American politics after the Iraq difficulties so when you keep blathering about the neocons, you are referring to the ethnic identity of most of them. A typical excerpt below:

Specifically, Royal says, "I am not for a Europe that allies with the U.S. I have never been, and will never. apologize to President Bush for the position of France on the issue of refusing to send troops to Iraq."

Sarkozy denies making any apologies. He says that, under his leadership, France would be an independent player that would not be afraid to tell U.S. presidents when they are wrong.

But that has not stopped Royal's backers from trying to chip away at Sarkozy's popular appeal -- most of which appears to be rooted in the appeal of his tough approach to domestic issues such as crime and immigration -- by referring to him as "an American neo-conservative with a French passport." and producing a 9O-page review of Sarkozy's links with U.S. right wingers that refers to the conservative candidate as a "French unit of Bush & Company."

And the Sarkozy victory seems to have sent the demented Right even further around the bend than usual. Flopping Aces has a big post on the many attempts to demonize Sarko. See also The Times of London on that. Election night report from Nidra Poller in France here

More on Sarko's win: "Despite all the warnings of imminent havoc from Segolene Royal, his run-off opponent, and the left, the French have given a solid mandate to Sarko the Hungarian immigrant's son to apply the radical medicine that he has been prescribing for the country's ills. Sarko has won about 53 percent of the vote and Royal 47 percent with a very high turnout of about 85 percent. In his victory speech Sarkozy said the vote was a clear mandate for radical change. "Together we are going to write a new page of history," he told supporters. "The page, I am sure, will be great and it will be beautiful." Sarko delivered a lyrical victory speech, voicing his love for "this great and beautiful nation which has given me everything." He promised to be "the president of all the French" and fulfill his pledges of immediate reform. "The French have chosen to break with the ideas, habits and behaviour of the past," he said. "I will restore the value of work, authority, merit and respect for the nation." He would also rid France of its habit of "repenting" for its past historical sins. "This repentance is a form of self-hatred," he said. He offered friendship to the United States"

That the freely elected President of the French Republic is a Jew gives me a strange new respect for France

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ELSEWHERE

There is an interesting roundup here of the ever-changing Democrat positions on Iraq. When you believe that there is no such thing as right and wrong, there are only the opinion polls to guide you. Just one minute has more.

A typically crooked public opinion poll from Newsweak about the hopeless state of the GOP is dissected here. Captain Ed pisses on it too.

"Diversity" training is a crock: "Some decades ago, the powers that be declared that employee diversity was a good thing, as desirable as double-digit profit margins. It's proving just as difficult to achieve. Companies try all sorts of things to attract and promote minorities and women. They hire organizational psychologists. They staff booths at diversity fairs. They host dim-sum brunches and salsa nights. The most popular--and expensive--approach is diversity training, or workshops to teach executives to embrace the benefits of a diverse staff. Too bad it doesn't work. A groundbreaking new study by three sociologists shows that diversity training has little to no effect on the racial and gender mix of a company's top ranks. Frank Dobbin of Harvard, Alexandra Kalev of the University of California, Berkeley, and Erin Kelly of the University of Minnesota sifted through decades of federal employment statistics provided by companies. Their analysis found no real change in the number of women and minority managers after companies began diversity training. That's right--none"

The good old U.N. again: "TEENAGE Timorese prostitutes gather just before dusk opposite a hotel on Dili's waterfront where drivers in United Nations vehicles can be seen picking them up and driving away. "It's disgusting . these people who have supposedly come here to help the Timorese are abusing these poor girls," says an Australian mechanic drinking in the hotel's second-floor bar, who observes the scene every night. Some of the 2000 UN police and civilian staff from more than 40 countries are openly violating what the UN promised would be a "zero tolerance" policy towards sexual abuse and misconduct in the deeply religious country, sources say. Expatriates say a dozen brothels have recently opened in Dili, and that vehicles with UN markings can be seen parked outside them most nights. One of the brothels is employing a dozen ethnic-Chinese prostitutes, expatriates say. A UN employee who asked not to be named told the Herald the UN is "turning a blind eye" to prostitution. UN employees often earn as much in one day as many Timorese families earn in a year. "The so-called zero tolerance policy includes prostitution but nothing is being done stop it," she said"

Scotland a-kilter: "Last week, Britons gave the ruling Labour Party a dressing down in local elections. But the vote went further: An independence-minded nationalist party surged in the Scottish parliament, overtaking Labour. It was as if Texas voters had punished the GOP by voting for a secessionist party. The vote in Scotland was seen as largely a rebuke of Britain's three-term prime minister, Tony Blair, and his support of the Iraq war. Still, the Scottish nationalists did nearly double their seats, putting the Scottish National Party one seat ahead of traditional leader Labour ƒ_" though the vote count is being investigated. These nationalists have the goal of independence clearly before them. Three hundred years in a marriage with the United Kingdom is enough, they say. What's in it for Scots with the spoils of the British Empire long gone? Why not divorce and take their North Sea oil and gas riches with them? Look around the region, these Scots say: Scotland could mimic the success of an Ireland or Norway. If small nations such as Latvia can be members of the European Union, why not the same for Scotland? Last year, tiny Montenegro in the Balkans voted in a referendum to part from Serbia."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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7 May, 2007

Why Leftist Ideology Fails

Why isn't there a single example of a successful `People's Paradise'? How is it that the best of intentioned revolutionaries was never able to produce a single, sustainable and functional society? Why is it that societies that espouse economic equality and predicated on well meaning ideals, either secular or religious, have proved to be abject failures?

Leftists mistakenly believe that a collective `unity' of belief, thought and ideology empower a society. Their strength, they believe, are in the numbers of those who share their ideologies. Leftist believe that they have every right to design a society based on what they believe is in the best interest of that society. They also believe that an unwillingness to conform to their ideals, poses a threat, and quite possibly, a danger.

For example, those state that embrace various leftist ideologies, take a dim view of anyone or group that might demand lower taxes, or changes in the state welfare benefits. Millions of Frenchmen turned out to protest an employers right to fire them from their jobs- even if their job performance was sub par. The upcoming French election is no small measure revolves around that nation's stagnant economy and what painful changes will be needed to revive and repair that economy from the deep damage socialism has inflicted. Where the Socialist Segolene Royal and right of center candidate Nikolas Sarkoszy differ is in the method and approach to change, not on the need for change.

Leftists naturally see themselves as `progressive.' They believe their way of viewing the world is an improvement over the `old way.' The idea of hard work for greater personal gain an dsatisfaction, for example, is passe, and in their eyes, destructive, racist and representative of `colonialist' thought. Personal gain is selfish and narcissistic.

It is interesting to note how `progressives' have aligned themselves with Hollywood types- some of the most narcissistic and self centered group of people on the planet. These same Hollywood types, venerated by leftists, are also among the most removed from the real world, believing themselves to be a kind of aristocracy, entitled to material things that only they are entitled. There is much truth to the old saying. `You are known by the company you keep.' The `progressives' have made clear their attachment to the phony aristocracy of Hollywood trumps the relationship they might have with the rest of us, `the little people.'

Of course, the attachment of the left to Hollywood pales is no more than simple hypocrisy. The attachment the left has to every dysfunctional, racist and bigoted regime and leader is indicative of a far more dangerous pathology. When leftists speak of `freedom' and `progressiveness,' they do so standing on the corpses of millions, as they toast the leaders of regimes that have authored the slaughter of millions. As long as the leftist is feted and honored, the sins of the devil himself can be washed away.

It is the progressives that want to present their own versions of history, religion and ideologies- versions that only serve to endorse their views and their hypocrisies. Disagree with them and the fierce and frenzied wrath of the ideologues descends. No room for anything but group think.

In reality, the `progressives' are actually regressive. It is because of their single minded, lockstep thinking that we find ourselves in some of the messes that have engulfed us. They believe in the `my way or the highway' kind of thinking. Disagree with them and the world is coming to an end. The vitriol and visceral hatred directed of the current administration is a good example. No difference of opinion will be tolerated. Disagree and the well oiled machine of personal destruction comes out. The shameful display of that truth was evident during the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito. It mattered little that Quran desecration story was untrue. The vitriol was released nonetheless.

Over the decades, tens, if not hundreds of millions have died because of `my way or the highway' ideologies. Disagree with the powers that be or want to be, and there are calls of, "Death to." Disagree loud enough and you are marked for death. We all got a taste of that as the cartoon riots unfolded. It was `my way or the highway' unleashed on democratic societies. It was my way or the highway in the Soviet Union, Cambodia, Vietnam and in regimes in the Middle East. Antisemitism, virtually unknown in Venezuela, has reappeared simultaneously with the advent of Hugo Chavez.

`My way or the highway' is a nothing more than a regression to a more barbaric time, when disputes, disagreements and different ideas were settled only when blood was spilled. That is a derivative of `my way or the highway.' Mankind evolved and advanced when societies came to tolerate those with different ideas and beliefs. We advanced because we allowed each of us to exercise the freedom and the opportunity to achieve whatever it was we were capable of, in any endeavor we chose. No one told us what to do, what to think or what to invent.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

A good speech from Fred Thompson here. Fred is my nomineee for the next U.S. President. All the other GOP candidates are very stale.

Army Guard reaches 350,000-member goal ahead of schedule: "The Army National Guard reached its congressionally authorized end strength of 350,000 Citizen-Soldiers on March 30, six months earlier than originally projected, Army Guard officials have reported. "The strength of the Guard has been the amazing levels of retention among members of deployed units, surpassing all expectations," said Lt. Col. Diana Craun, the Army Guard's deputy chief for strength maintenance. "Retention is highest among units that have returned from deployments, and retention is an essential element in end strength," she added. It is the first time that the Army Guard has been at full strength since 1999, Craun said. Officials had projected that the Army Guard would reach 350,000 troops by Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year." [This gives the lie to all the attempts by the Leftist media to portray the army as struggling]

Plan for a second holocaust: "The extermination of Jews is Allah's will and is for the benefit of all humanity, according to an article in the Hamas paper, Al-Risalah. The author of the article, Kan'an Ubayd, explains that the suicide operations carried out by Hamas are being committed solely to fulfill Allah's wishes. Furthermore, Allah demanded this action, because "the extermination of the Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds." The killing of innocent Jews by terrorist attacks is portrayed as Allah's plan for the benefit of humanity."

Demonic Muslims: "American soldiers discovered a girls' school being built north of Baghdad had become an explosives-rigged "death trap," the U.S. military said Thursday. The plot at the Huda Girls' school in Tarmiya was a "sophisticated and premeditated attempt to inflict massive casualties on our most innocent victims," military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. The military suspects the plot was the work of al Qaeda, because of its nature and sophistication, Caldwell said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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6 May, 2007

More Google strangeness

I was looking at this old article by Tom Wolfe that appeared on "Wicked Dox" a few days ago. I decided to see where else it was available on the internet. The answer varied a lot according to which search term is used. If I used the string "adroitly papering over the fact that the Nazis" -- which is a phrase found well into the body of the article -- I found no full copies of the article available anywhere. If however I used the string "Did a single historian mention that America now dominates the world" -- which is from the beginning of the article -- I found various full copies of the article (e.g. here).

So what are we to conclude from that? I think Google must be working on the assumption that they only need to store the first bit of a long article to be able to retrieve references to it. So the Lesson is? Break your writings up into lots of small documents, I guess. Good for bloggers if for no-one else!

I usually don't use a string from early in the article if I am searching for it -- as your search results get cluttered up with a whole lot of partial quotations from the article that way. A search for text occurring well into the body of the article is much more likely to lead you straight to a full copy of the article. But I guess I will have to change my ways in future.

I think Google should announce how much of a given article they are likely to store but I guess I am pissing into the wind with that hope. How they hope to store all the world's books when they cannot store what is already on the internet quite escapes me. The only things they seem to store comprehensively are blogs -- rather strangely. I am the last one to bad-mouth blogs but they are hardly the last word in information. I can think of many that are the last word in crap.

The results of Google searches vary from day to day and from hour to hour so whether anyone else gets the same results as I did above remains to be seen, of course. They did not have the Wicked Dox article at all when I searched but seeing that it is on a blog, they should pick it up fairly quickly. Google make us bloggers into the elite of the internet so perhaps I should not criticize them at all! It seems a pity that they are such a poor guide to the net, though. And the biggest pity is that most people don't realize that.

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The U.S. Army brass seems to have climbed down from their opposition to military bloggers.

Doug Ross has a good post contrasting Democrat and Republican standards of behavior. Where President Bush consistently behaves like the Christian gentleman that he is, the Democrats usually display no scruples at all. Like the Jihadis, they see decency as a sign of weakness. I particularly liked Doug's details about voting abuses.

John Bolton's speech on America's unprincipled bureaucracy is not to be missed.

Bill Clinton has warned about the dangers facing the United States. They are apparently "worldwide famine" and "obesity" (!!!). (H/T Newsbuckit)

With Unemployment Rate Lower Than the 1990's... Media Spins Negative: "Today's New York Times' headline: "Economy Adds Fewer Jobs Than Expected". You'd think the employment situation was horrible from this and otherheadlines this morning. However... The current unemployment rate stands at 4.5%- over 1 full point lower than the 5.7% average during the 1990's. How many people do you suppose have heard that fact?"

Ace has a very sarcastic comment on a pathetic attempt by the "L.A. Times" to smear Fred Thompson. Patterico also has some good comments on the matter.

Sharia courts already operating in Britain: "Muslim radicals have established their own draconian court systems in Britain. Controversial Sharia courts have been set up in major towns and cities to impose Islamic law and enable Muslims to shun the legitimate British legal system. Last night religious leaders and politicians expressed outrage that Sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in our society. Critics insisted that the Govern-ment is allowing a two-tier legal system to flourish in the name of political correctness and that the authority of UK justice is being undermined. The Daily Express can reveal that one of the controversial courts has been set up in the home town of the 7/7 London bombings ringleader. The Dewsbury court is called the Sharee Council - another term for Sharia - and operates as a Muslim judiciary making decisions by which attendees must abide. Non-Muslims are excluded from the secretive court which is registered as a charity to receive British tax benefits. Although the court has no official legal standing, scales of justice adorn a sign outside a former pub building which has been converted by the Islamic Institute of Great Britain."

Chutzpah: "The head of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is complaining about Nigerian Anglican bishops coming to Virginia this weekend to formally install the head of the conservative breakaway denomination in this country. Here's what she said: "Such action would violate the ancient customs of the church." I kid you not. The female head of a church with a practicing homosexual bishop planning to "marry" his lover, a church that could accept into seminary the adulterous homosexual governor of New Jersey, a church that embraces splitting open babies' skulls and vacuuming their brains out, is complaining about violating ancient customs? Wow."

A VERY flashy black: "Frederick Chiluba, the former President of Zambia, has been found guilty by a British High Court judge of plundering 23 million pounds from his people. He used the stolen money to indulge his taste for clothes, jewellery, cars, luxury homes and handmade high-heeled shoes to boost his 5ft height. His people, meanwhile, were struggling to live on an average of 50 pence a day. Chiluba spent at least 600,000 pounds on designer clothes bearing his FJT monogram, representing his names Frederick Jacob Titus, Mr Justice Peter Smith said after a two-year legal battle and a four-month trial. "The most telling example of corruption," he said, "was the clothing acquired by FJT". The former President "had a worldwide reputation as being a smart and expensive dresser. He had his own stylish suits with his initials, FJT, monogrammed on them, a large number of specially made signature shoes and thousands of monogrammed shirts." During Chiluba's ten years in office, from 1991 to 2001, 600,000 pounds was spent at Basile, an exclusive Swiss clothes shop, all of which was stolen from the republic."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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5 May, 2007

You Shall Have No Gods Before Envy

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. --Winston Churchill

If you are a true leftist, then you shall covet. Your life is built around a chronic feeling of lack for which you imagine that others are responsible. Unlike some of the other commandments, which at least rouse the person into action -- however evil the action -- envy is entirely passive and internal, and can be done from the discomfort of your own head. While it can become active, it is generally powerless unless it embodies a pathological cultural value system or is translated into a collective political movement. Absent the collective will of envy, it can only ruin your own life.

Why is the commandment to envy so central to the nihilistic left? Lying, stealing, murdering and adultery all harm others, but envy seems only to affect oneself. True, it is absolutely corrosive to the self, but why should it be among the five horizontal commandments governing man-to-man relations?

Because envy is not just an emotion, or mental state. Rather, it is a relationship. It is a relationship with an other whom one feels possesses something lacking in oneself. It is actually first an internal object relationship, only projected outward. In other words, there is an envious mind parasite in dynamic rapport with a frustrating object it feels is "withholding" that to which it feels entitled -- ultimately it is a frustrated infant imagining a bountiful breast that is selfishly keeping its infinite supply of milk and other goodies to itself. Therefore, it will either seize the breast or attack it so that no one else can have it. At various times leftists can adopt either strategy toward the breast, which they call their "economic policy."

Now importantly, the leftist necessarily operates in an "insight free" zone, so he naturally focuses on the object of envy, and in fact, builds his entire worldview around feeling enviously entitled to the object he lacks.

The above is just a small excerpt from Gagdad Bob

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Saudi Arabia's jihadi chickens come home to roost: "For decades, Saudi Arabia's ruling family has lent political and financial support to the country's most fanatical Muslim clergy. The clergy received money to infest the world with their vision of violent jihad; the Al Sauds received religious support for their claims to absolute power. It has been a good marriage - but now the jihadi chickens have come home to roost. Last week, the Saudi government rounded up 172 men on charges of plotting to assassinate public figures, blow up oil refineries, and fly airplanes into buildings. Quite a few of them turned out to be veterans of jihad in Iraq, where the same Saudi government had sent them to kill Shiite Muslims. Another 136 Saudis were arrested in a similar sweep six months ago, and more will follow. Though the Saudi government calls them "deviants" today, the royal family used a more complimentary term when encouraging them to kill Shiites in Iraq, Russians in Afghanistan and Chechnya, Serbs in Bosnia, and Christians and Jews in Israel and the West: "heroes of the jihad."



Sarko ahead: "French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy extended his lead after a television debate with Socialist rival Segolene Royal and stayed on course for victory in Sunday's election, opinion polls showed on Thursday. A poll for the Opinionway institute showed 53 per cent of viewers found Sarkozy more convincing during the sometimes fiery debate, against 31 per cent who judged Royal better. A separate survey by the same polling organisation gave Sarkozy, who has come out on top in over 100 opinion polls since the start of the year, an eight point lead with 54 per cent support, versus 46 per cent for Royal. But with just over two days left until voting begins on Sunday morning, neither candidate relented. Both were back on the campaign trail on Thursday evening, with Sarkozy hammering his favourite themes of security and pride in being French."

Political balance pays off for NYC Murdoch paper: "Led by its Australian editor-in-chief Col Allan, The New York Post has again defied the continuing slide in US newspaper sales by posting a big 7.6 per cent jump in weekday circulation. Daily sales of the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid climbed to 724,748 copies for the six months to March 31, confirming its position as America's fifth biggest newspaper and stretching its circulation lead in New York over arch-rival The Daily News. The Post's performance was at odds with the overall 2.1 per cent decline in weekday newspaper circulation across the US reported by the US Audit Bureau of Circulations... But there's no denying that traditional newspapers are doing it tough. The worst circulation performers among the top 20 US newspapers yesterday came from the fourth-ranked Los Angeles Times (down 4.2 per cent), 11th-ranked Dallas Morning News (down 14.2 per cent), 12th-ranked Newsday (down 6.9 per cent), the 15th-ranked Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey (down 6.1 per cent) and the 18th-ranked Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St Paul (down 4.9 per cent). The nations's top three papers had mixed results, with USA Today up 0.2 per cent, The Wall Street Journal up 0.6 per cent and The New York Times down 1.9 per cent. The Times also dropped 3.4 per cent to 1,627,062 copies on Sundays."

Englishman's castle no longer exists: "The state now has 266 powers to draw upon when its agents want to enter homes, according to research. A report from the Centre for Policy Studies says that an Englishman's home is less his castle and more "a right of way'' for police, local government officials and other bureaucrats. In the 1950s just 10 new powers of entry were granted by statute. In the 1980s and 1990s an extra 60 were added. For the first time, Harry Snook, a barrister and the author of the study, Crossing the Threshold, has drawn together the full list of entry powers in the state's possession. Force can be used in most cases. The research comes at a time of heightened concern over the lengthening arm of the state, with ID cards around the corner and more sophisticated surveillance equipment being used to watch people. One of the most powerful bodies is HM Revenue and Customs whose officers can exercise a "writ of assistance" with almost unlimited rights of access. Its holders can break into any private house to seize any goods which the customs officers believes are liable to be forfeit without seeking prior judicial approval."

Belgians find they need Google: "Belgian French-language newspapers were back on Google on Thursday after agreeing that the search engine can link to their websites, the first signs of a thaw in a bitter copyright dispute. But neither has so far settled on a key part of the dispute: the use of newspaper story links used on Google News. In February, Google lost a lawsuit filed by the newspapers that forced it to remove headlines and links to news stories posted on its Google News service and stored in its search engine's cache without the copyright owners' permission. Google had earlier removed all reference to the newspapers to avoid legal trouble, meaning that a search for even the name of Belgian daily "Le Soir" would not bring up the publication's website. But searchers will now find that paper and 16 others - although they will not be able to access stored versions of older content that the newspapers want to charge for. It is similar to the system used by The New York Times and others for premium content that marks stories with a "no archive" tag so it won't be cached."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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4 May, 2007

MORONIC U.S. ARMY BRASS

Army leadership is a byword for stupidity and bungling but this is REAL foot-shooting. As Atlas says: "The military is going to leave all of the war reporting to the jihad-loving mainstream media? We're screwed for sure!"

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

Military officials have been wrestling for years with how to handle troops who publish blogs. Officers have weighed the need for wartime discretion against the opportunities for the public to personally connect with some of the most effective advocates for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq -- the troops themselves. The secret-keepers have generally won the argument, and the once-permissive atmosphere has slowly grown more tightly regulated. Soldier-bloggers have dropped offline as a result.

The new rules (.pdf) obtained by Wired News require a commander be consulted before every blog update. "This is the final nail in the coffin for combat blogging," said retired paratrooper Matthew Burden, editor of The Blog of War anthology. "No more military bloggers writing about their experiences in the combat zone. This is the best PR the military has -- it's most honest voice out of the war zone. And it's being silenced."

Source. Some good comments here. And note how the Australian situation differs. The Australian army chief gave the censors a good kick. He WANTED to hear what his troops were saying.

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Brookes News Update

The US dollar and China's impending recession, part II: It is vitally important to understand that China is undergoing a massive inflation-driven boom. Like all such booms it is being funded by credit expansion. Further, trade with China does not determine the value of the dollar or US interest rates
Does inflation promote economic growth or does it damage it?: Mainstream economics views inflation as general rises in commonly accepted price indices. It is held that the rate of growth in economic activity is a key factor in determining the rate of increases in price indices. This is dangerous nonsense
The Australian economy: the case for free trade restated: One does not need a complicated theory to make the case for free trade. As Adam Smith observed, it is much better for people to produce those goods in which they have a cost advantage and then trade them for goods in which they have a cost disadvantage
Defending capitalism against Lynda Newnam: Charles Murton defends capitalism against one of its critics
Prodos: The Liberal Party and Australia: Liberal Party member Prodos Marinakis presents his case
Harry Reid should resign.but he won't: Most Americans are appalled at Harry Reid's declaration of American defeat in Iraq. Reid's actions are tantamount to treason. If the Democrat Party was genuinely patriotic it would force Reid to step down instead of trying spin his treason
Cho was a terrorist! Did leftists teach him to hate: What's the difference between Cho Seung-Hui and the many hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian and Islamic terrorists worldwide? It's a three-word answer: choice of weapon. Everything else is the same

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There is here a fabulous collection of postcards that were created 100 years ago in an attempt to prophesy what our present would be like. Only one of them (about TV) is roughly right.

9/11 Conspiracy Film on Virgin Airlines: "This qualifies as one of the outrages of the year: Virgin Atlantic Airlines is showing the evil, dishonest 9/11 conspiracy film Loose Change as inflight entertainment. Are these people insane? Maybe next they can have a retrospective of the works of Leni Riefenstahl."

There is a big post here about the appalling ignorance of Presidential candidate John Edwards.

World Bank hypocrisy: "Ms. Riza was eventually given an external assignment at the State Department with a salary (paid by the bank) of $193,000, up from the $133,000 she had previously made at the bank. To Mr. Wolfowitz's critics, this was improper and excessive, especially given that Condoleezza Rice makes about $10,000 less. But this is highly selective outrage given normal procedure at the bank. Of its roughly 10,000 employees, no fewer than 1,396 have salaries higher than the U.S. Secretary of State; clearly "fighting poverty" does not mean taking a vow of poverty at "multilateral" institutions. At the time of Ms. Riza's departure from the bank, she was a Grade "G" (senior professional) employee; the typical salary in that grade hovers around the $124,000 mark. For the next level, Grade "H"--the level to which Ms. Riza was due to be promoted--salaries average in the $170,000 range, with an upper band of $232,360. No fewer than 17% of bank employees are in this happy bracket." [More about World Bank corruption here]

Media Israel-hatred: "Here's yet another instance of what I like to call "selective" truth:-We're presented initially, via our intrepid (by which I mean "totally uninquisitive") photographers, with news that a man was found dead, shot somewhere in the Gaza Strip. This, as far as anyone can tell, is true. Cue: crocodile tears. We're also told, via captional inference, that the Israelis are being blamed for this shooting. Hello, conjecture. Finally, we're told that, according to Israeli records, no soldiers were in the area at the time. Enter, truth. This type of thing happens far more often than you'd ever think, yet time and time again, the press falls for the immediate blame-da-JEWSism spewed at them by the hostile locals and repeats the claims unquestioned. And time and time again, when the facts come in, the inital storyline is almost always shown to be false."

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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3 May, 2007

GERMANY REDISCOVERS THE US AS A PARTNER

An interesting development recorded in the excerpt from the German press below. Angela probably has her heart in the right place. She grew up in the Communist East so would have few illusions about socialism. She does however head a nation that is the home of socialism -- from Bismarck, through Marx to Hitler -- so her options are limited

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reoriented Germany away from Russia and toward the United States. Expanded economic ties are just one area of renewed cooperation...

The gift brought by a guest says a lot about his or her intentions. The love-sick romantic shows up with a dozen red roses. A box of Cohiba cigars is the classic gift between men in the West. Purebred horses and trained falcons, on the other hand, are the gift of choice among men in the Arab world. When German chancellors travel, their hosts usually receive the best Meissen porcelain, Junghans clocks or cases of Riesling wine.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel will present an especially generous gift during her trip to the United States this week. At a Monday ceremony in the Great Hall of the US Library of Congress, she will hand over to the Americans something Germans would normally be barred from even taking out of the country: a piece of Germany's national cultural heritage. The item in question is a world map drafted by Freiburg native Martin Waldseemller in 1507. It is a map which shows a rough outline of the new continent, and for the first time uses a name that the immigrants in the New World would eventually adopt for their own: America.

The actual transfer of the map from Merkel to Steny Hoyer, the Democratic Majority Leader in the US House of Representatives, is more of a symbolic act; the historic chart has been in the United States since 2001. But when it was first sent to the United States six years ago, then Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder did little more than shepherd the gift through the bureaucratic intricacies of getting an exit permit. Now, the current chancellor prefers to celebrate the act with fanfare, staging it as a gesture designed to underscore Germany's close friendship with America.

For Merkel, though, the closeness with the US is much more than mere symbolism. She sees America as "a force that has brought freedom to the peoples of the world." She now plans to make the most of that freedom by further strengthening the two countries' economic ties. In the storm of globalization, the United States and Europe plan to expand their cooperation to benefit both countries.

It is virtually unprecedented in German history for a chancellor to be so unreservedly aligned with the US. Adenauer, the first chancellor of West Germany, saw America as a guarantor of freedom, but also perceived it as an occupation force. Helmut Schmidt and Willy Brandt, both Social Democratic (SPD) chancellors, were pro-American but innately skeptical. Merkel, on the contrary, wants to expand Germany's close ties with the United States and is on the verge of making a pact with America the cornerstone of her foreign policy. Indeed, the resoluteness with which she has pursued this goal stands in conspicuous contrast with her government's lack of political progress back home in Germany.

More here

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ELSEWHERE



Some public antisemitism from San Francisco Leftist demonstrators above -- courtesy of Zombietime



The stupid Brits deserve this guy: "One of Britain's most infamous Islamist extremists is seeking three more wives through the internet. Omar Brooks, who described the 7/7 suicide bombers as "completely praiseworthy" and heckled Home Secretary John Reid in a high-profile confrontation last week, has signed up to a Muslim marriage website. Although already married with three children and reportedly living off 700 pounds a month in state benefits, the 31-year-old is seeking more wives, with the intention of fathering more than nine children."

There are incredible human rights violations going on throughout the Islamic word. So who is the Soros-funded Human Rights Watch monitoring? Wal-Mart! "A human-rights group released a critical report on Wal-Mart Stores Inc., alleging the retailer used security cameras to spy on union sympathizers and planted supervisors alongside pro-union workers to monitor activities, among other actions that violated federal labor laws. The 210-page report by Human Rights Watch is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the company's actions during union organizing drives, according to labor professors. It examines dozens of drives at a U.S. Wal-Mart store between 2000 and 2005 and cites 15 decisions" [More commentary here]

Slap on the wrist for fatally negligent British cops: "Two police officers have been disciplined for "unacceptable failings" after they failed to arrest a man who went on to commit murder. Paul Cooper, 42, complained to Greater Manchester Police in March 2005 that he had been attacked several times by Neil Read, who had mistakenly thought him to be a paedophile. At the end of an "horrendous campaign of violence", Read murdered Mr Cooper. Read, of Heywood, Greater Manchester, was convicted and ordered to be detained at Ashworth Hospital, Merseyside. The case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which recommended that the two officers should receive formal written warnings. Naseem Malik, IPCC Commissioner for the North West, said: "It is clear that there were unacceptable failings by those officers once the suspect was identified, which meant clear opportunities to facilitate Read's arrest were missed."

A Dutchman with sense: "Freedom Party PVV faction leader Geert Wilders is arguing that all Islamic schools in the Netherlands should be shut down immediately. He says this measure is necessary in order to "protect children against the spread of Islamic doctrine." ... "Islam is rapidly pushing our Western civilisation close to the edge of the abyss. We have too much Islam in the Netherlands. Islam is more a violent political ideology than a religion," the MP writes. He admits that he has taken a strong position in the debate on Islam. That is necessary, he says, because it is "the eleventh hour."

"Kill All Americans": "To the very last one". The Jerusalem Post reports that the acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, gave a sermon at a Sudanese mosque calling for the annihilation of America and Israel asked Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One".

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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2 May, 2007

The overrated Palestinian "cause"

Aaron David Miller writes another story touting the supposed importance of a Middle East "peace" agreement, and makes the factual error of asserting that the Bush administration has "for almost seven years, the Bush administration has hung a 'Closed for the Season' sign on serious Arab-Israeli diplomacy."

He must have a short memory. When former Gen. Anthony Zinni was the "peace" envoy every trip was greeted by multiple exploding Palestinians doing their worst to prevent any hope of such an agreement. Hamas was turning its children into ordnance to prevent such an agreement, and the Palestinians were celebrating this homicidal nonsense.

He can talk about weak leaders on both sides, but at its heart the reason there is no agreement is because the Palestinians have nothing of value to offer the Israelis. No one ever focuses on this reality. In fact people like Miller adopt the fiction that the Palestinians actually have the ability to offer peace when it is blatantly obvious they could not even if they had a government that wanted to. This is not the fault of the Israelis either.

The Palestinians have the equivalent of war lords who operate several factions whose main purpose is a genocidal war against Israel. There is no effective control over these factions nor is their any desire to control them. The so called leadership finds them convenient to prosecute an informal war while pretending to seek peace in order to get funds from the US and Europe. If the Palestinians had a leader who did want to make peace with Israel, he would be murdered by one or more of these groups......

More here

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In preparation for an event that may possibly happen

I got the post below from Norm Geras. For an expert on Marx, Norm is a rather jocular soul. The point he makes below is a fun one but it assumes that you can read Italian. Being a bit of a language freak, I can (sort of) do that but very few denizens of the Anglosphere could. Assuming that readers have command of various foreign languages (from Greek to French) is an old trick of Britain's educated elite that I rather miss. Why? Because educational standards have so declined that younger writers would simply be unable to play that little one-upmanship game. The Italian below translates literally as "Ring only in case of necessity". Because I read the Italian first and thus understood what was intended, I did not get the point of Norm's post straight away but I eventually got it

Sign beneath a bell in a public lavatory at a tourist site in Florence:

Sonare solo in caso di necessita.

Underneath it, this English translation:

Please ring just in case of emergency

Which isn't quite the same thing, is it? Though 'just' can often be substituted for 'only', the substitution doesn't work for 'only in case'.

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ELSEWHERE

Light bulbs that don't signify ideas: "Everything's difficult, isn't it? In the Democratic presidential candidates' debate, Sen. Barack Obama was asked what he personally was doing to save the environment, and replied that his family was "working on" changing their light bulbs. Is this the new version of the old joke? How many senators does it take to "work on" changing a light bulb? One to propose a bipartisan commission. One to threaten to de-fund the light bulbs. One to demand the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for keeping us all in the dark. One to vote to pull out the first of the light bulbs by fall of this year with a view to getting them all pulled out by the end of 2008."

French self-hate: "The French dislike themselves even more than the Americans dislike them, according to an opinion poll published on Friday. The survey of six nations, carried out for the International Herald Tribune daily and France 24 TV station, said 44 percent of French people thought badly of themselves against 38 percent of U.S. respondents who had a negative view of the French."

All Your Toilets Are Belong To Us: "I'm not sure of whether I should laugh or cry when I read recently how the Kansas City International Airport has decided to install "foot basins" in the restrooms at the airport to accomodate growing number of Muslim cab drivers at the airport. I suppose I wanted to laugh because in in all my years throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, I have never seen these so-called "foot basins" installed in a toilet for Muslims to wash their feet. If they need to wash their feet, then they need to go do that at a mosque and not in an airport toilet. What made me feel like crying was the fact that these naive Americans are diving headlong into appeasement without coming to the realization that this now steady flow of "demands" will not ever cease."

Hizbullah won propaganda war: "Hizbullah won the Second Lebanon War by achieving a propaganda victory over Israel, a Harvard University study has concluded. Aided and abetted by a compliant and credulous press, Hizbullah achieved victory by convincing the world that Israel was the aggressor and that Israel's retaliatory offensive was a "disproportionate" response to the kidnapping and killing of its soldiers. Israel's defeat came not at the hands of Hizbullah, however, but through the internal contradictions of being the region's sole functioning democracy in the Internet age. "An open society, Israel, is victimized by its own openness," Marvin Kalb and Dr. Carol Saivetz of the Shorenstein Center of Harvard University concluded in their research paper, "The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006: The Media as a Weapon in Asymmetrical Conflict."

Leftists help the poor? "Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez’s appears to be free to continue subverting democracy in his country; oil revenues are insulating his regime from the consequences of its economic mismanagement. Venezuela has dropped by two on the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report’s list of poorest nations, with over 2 million of the country’s 25 million people live on a daily income of US$1.

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

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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1 May, 2007

Brain differences in IQ

I suppose I rattle on rather a lot about IQ but the Left are so determined to ignore it that I feel a need to give countervailing attention to it. And as a much-published psychometrician myself I am in a good position to do so.

What no Leftist seems to want to believe is that IQ has a physical basis -- that smart people are born with better brains and there is not much you can do about it. Leftists hate that story because to them all the ills of society are due to things like "poverty" and it is only the deeds of a few evil people at the top who keep poor people in poverty. That a lot of poverty is due to the foolish decisions of the poor people concerned just cannot be allowed.

Anyway, there are quite a lot of brain differences that correlate with IQ but most of them require complicated instrumentation to detect. There is one, however, that can be examined very easily by anyone -- head size. People with bigger heads TEND (there are exceptions) to be smarter. The more grey matter you have, the smarter you are. Not really surprising but still anathema to the Left.

There is a research paper here which estimates that in the general population brain size (not quite the same as head size but closely related) correlates .50 with general intelligence. A correlation of .50 is quite huge in almost any study of human beings. Medical researchers would kill for a correlation like that. And the research was carried out by Phil Vernon -- one of the grand old men of psychometrics. And it was reported in one of the most widely cited journals in psychology. So even Leftists would find that hard to piss on. But the fact that Vernon studies such subjects at all makes him a "Fascist", of course.

Incidentally, autistic people, who very often have great mental abilities combined with poor social skills, also tend to have big heads and autism is an absolute plague in Silicon Valley, where you have to be REALLY smart to get anywhere. Anybody who has tried coding in "C" will know that. So it seems that, as with so many other things, you can overdo brain size too. When big-brained people in Silicon Valley mate they tend to have kids with even bigger brains and the result is a disaster. What seems to happen, as far as I can see, is that an extra large cerebral cortex firing into the rest of the brain overloads important centres in the rest of the brain. So the withdrawal that is typical of autistics is in fact an attempt to reduce stimulation that is already too great.

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A unitary Iraq is a hopeless proposition

It’s about UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the so-called “International Compact” he intends to co-launch with Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki in Eygpt on Thursday. It has a lot of admirable words about the fundamental democratic rights of all Iraqi citizens, national reconciliation and the need to ensure the optimal use of the country’s resources for the common good. Noble stuff indeed; all very nice and civilised. But it’s when you get to the underlying philosophy that you realise what a load of flawed and tokenistic rubbish it really is. The plan is rooted in al-Maliki’s determination that Iraq be one united country despite the dreadful and unrelenting sectarian violence that is showing no sign of abating. In other words, it holds that Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again and that’s what the world should be working towards.

Why is the UN lending its efforts to this foolishness? Surely the time has come for the international community to dump the idea of One Iraq and start working towards partitioning the country so the killing can stop. A compelling case for the UN to adopt just such an approach was made in one of its own reports released just last week. The 11th quarterly report of the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq illuminated in graphic detail just how bad things have become.

As the UNAMI report says, the rising levels of violence, terrorist attacks and sectarian conflict are “increasingly acquiring a self-sustaining dynamic that could overwhelm the country’s fragile political processes and institutions”. If that’s not a powerful argument for partition I don’t know what is. If partition can stop people being murdered on a daily basis and ensure that kids get a decent feed and go to school, then why not? Why is the idea of One Iraq more important than that?

It means the UN should stop wasting its time trying to put all those pieces of Humpty Dumpty together and instead it should be working with the various stakeholders on the best ways to achieve two things - a peaceful partition as soon as possible and a fair and equitable means of dividing and distributing Iraq’s oil revenues after that is achieved. So far there are candidates in the US presidential race advocating the partition approach - Democrats Joe Biden and Bill Richardson and Republican Sam Brownback. There are bound to be more in the coming months.

More here (I hope Riehl World will not flay me for putting up this excerpt. He gets pretty heavy with any conservative bloggers who depart from current U.S. policy. I've got a thick hide, though and I have always thought that partition was the only way to go in Iraq. I even supported the sadly forgotten Biafra way back when).

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ELSEWHERE

TV debate last chance for desperate Segolene: "Segolene Royal, the left-wing finalist for the French presidency, has appeared to acknowledge that she needed a near-miracle from a debate on Wednesday to save her from defeat next Sunday by the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. As opinion polls showed Mr Sarkozy maintaining a five-point lead over the 53-year-old Socialist, Ms Royal threw caution to the winds and said that she could appoint Francois Bayrou, the centrist who was eliminated on April 22, as her prime minister. Ms Royal needs most of Mr Bayrou's seven million voters from the first round if she is to have a chance of defeating Mr Sarkozy, leader of the governing Union for a Popular Movement, on May 6."

Hillary's dishonesty coming out: "Drawing on a trove of private papers from Hillary Clinton's best friend, the legendary Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein is to publish a hard-hitting and intimate portrait of the 2008 presidential candidate, which will reveal a number of "discrepancies" in her official story. Bernstein, who was played by Dustin Hoffman in the film All the President's Men, has spent eight years researching the unauthorised 640-page biography, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Bernstein reaches conclusions that stand in opposition to what Senator Clinton has said in the past and has written in the past," said Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Knopf, which publishes the book on June 19."

Fleeing France: "This Wednesday Marine Fretel, an intelligent, well-educated young French woman, will board a train to London. She has let her Paris flat, packed a large suitcase and said goodbye to family and friends. She does not expect to return. Fretel is one of the "Eurostar generation" of French professionals fleeing to London and other cities abroad in the hope of better careers in a land of opportunity. The farewell parties held each week in Paris are multiplying, and although the government puts a brave face on the exodus, this rush for the exit is an embarrassing symptom of chronic French woes as the country prepares to pick its new president. A dearth of jobs in France, the world's fifth largest economy, has turned London, less than three hours from Paris by Eurostar, into an eldorado for young professionals such as Fretel. Friends in London have told her that the British capital, unlike the one she is leaving behind, is a "city of dreams".... An estimated 300,000 French citizens live in Britain, which has the third largest expatriate community after Switzerland and America."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH 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

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

"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.

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" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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