ELSEWHERE

"Culturally enlightened French writers show simplistic Americans what justice is all about" They just LOVED 9/11. Ever since my first encounter with French literature in my teens (over 40 years ago) I have always thought French culture was endemically corrupt and devoid of any morality. A superficial cleverness is about all they rise to -- Camille Saint-Saens excepted, of course.

Wow! David's Medienkritik has hit the jackpot. He noted that much was being made of the fact that the suicide rate of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is 13.5 per 100,000. So he looked up the suicide rates in the German and French armies nestling cosily away in their home countries: 17.00 and 19.25!

Comment from a reader on THAT movie: "A lot of the fuss about THE PASSION actually comes from the "liberal" end of the Christian spectrum. Whatever the faults of the movie (and all movies have faults), I suspect even "liberal" Christians would agree that Gibson's movie is closer to the Gospel tradition (however interpreted) than JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, GODSPEL, LIFE OF BRIAN or THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (where he has sex with Barbara Hershey), the last big Hollywood Jesus movie. Gibson is being judged by a much tougher critical standard than that applied to his Jesus movie peers. I can sympathise with critics who focus on the blood and gore portrayed, but this aspect was almost entirely absent from all previous Jesus Christ movies like THE ROBE. Considering the subject matter, this absence has probably been a major flaw of the movies to date. Modern audiences, who demand gritty realism from movies like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN would probably find the classic movie portraits of Christ's death boring and uninteresting. Gibson deserves credit for putting his money where his mouth is, and letting his audience know how confronting the Gospel and the Christian message really is. Like it or not, the Christian message is not saccharine syrup. And you don't have to like it".

Britain copies GWB: "Tens of thousands of Polish, Czech and other eastern Europeans who have been working and living illicitly in Britain, some for many years, are to be given an amnesty in all but name from May 1, the Home Office revealed yesterday. The immigration minister, Beverley Hughes, said that if they ''turn legit' under the new migrant workers' registration scheme, they will not face any retribution. 'They have a right to be here and there is no need for them to carry on working illegally,' she said. The generous attempt to provide tens of thousands of illegal migrants with a route out of Britain's 'hidden economy' comes as new official figures backed up ministers' claims to have drawn the sting out of the asylum crisis."

Illegal aliens are imposing an additional cost amounting to $900 per American child (i.e. child of American-born parents) in the public school system.

Appalling Texas "justice": "Citing misconduct by Texas prosecutors, the Supreme Court Tuesday threw out the sentence of Delma Banks Jr., one of the country's longest-serving death row inmates whose execution was halted last year with minutes to spare. The high court, ruling 7-2, said Bowie County prosecutors allowed two key witnesses to lie to the jury at Banks' 1980 murder trial. They also illegally withheld from defense lawyers the fact that one witness was a paid police informant and the other a two-time felon who cut a deal to testify in exchange for prosecutors dropping an arson charge against him."

"A German drag queen has been given an honorary professorship from the University of Hamburg's faculty for Gender Studies to teach Queer Theory. Oliver Knoebel, better known in Germany as drag queen Olivia Jones, has said he feels honoured to have received the title of professor. ... Queer Theory is primarily concerned with how gender and sexuality bridges social gaps. The subject has developed out of feminist and gay-lesbian research and is mainly taught in the USA."

If he had been studying Queer theory, feminism or environmentalism that would have been fine: "The Supreme Court, in a new rendering on separation of church and state, voted Wednesday to let states withhold scholarships from students studying theology. The court's 7-2 ruling held that the state of Washington was within its rights to deny a taxpayer-funded scholarship to a college student who was studying to be a minister."

De mortuis nihil nisi bonum and all that but John Lennon still seems popular for his peacenik "philosophy". So see here for a dissection of his nonsensical political lyrics -- "Imagine" in particular. Beatle politics are like Hollywood politics: Good for entertainment only.

Michael Darby is back on the net with a big range of posts. Some of his headings:
Caffre the Fairy
Elections in Zimbabwe
Strong, Silent Men Make Good Presidents
Yet another "bank" scam
Don't Worry, Eat Happy
The Mufti of Australia Calls for Jihad
It Takes More Than Spin To Make A Steel Project
Archive of terrorist websites with links

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

Two more examples of Leftist dishonesty: They blame the 9/11 attacks on "poverty" in the Islamic world. Yet most of the attackers were Saudis and Saudi Arabia is one of the world's richest countries! They also say that they oppose racism yet support "affirmative action" -- which judges people by the colour of their skin

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