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Nader: One of my medical correspondents writes: "Around 1970, there was a hysterical reaction to "microshock" in hospitals. New electrical equipment made people cautious about leakage currents around central venous catheters, pacemakers, etc.. Under the right circumstances, very small shocks could cause cardiac arrest. The claim that "5000 people die from microshocks" caused a hysteria like never before - this was the typical liberal "zero risk" knee jerk - to prevent "microshock" billions of dollars were spent making every ICU bed like an operating room - isolation transformers, special isolated floors - added about $50, 000 to each bed. Of course, architects and electrical contractors were overjoyed. And Nader was one of the crusaders to "save lives from microshock." One of the staff at our hospital was a recognized expert in electrical safety. He searched for the source of such information and discovered - There was no source - the numbers were "made up" somewhere along the way and people rode with it. Some common sense eventually prevailed. The logical conclusion was that these "microshocks" were unusual, and deaths rare. So a more conventional approach - to use a good grounding system and be careful - was effective. Again, this "zero risk" mentality was typical of Greens - like Nader - who are not concerned at all with costs." So good old Ralph helped make medical care more expensive for everyone. Well done! No wonder the people-hating Greenies like him!

Dick McDonald of the California Republicans has sent me a detailed email about the peacenik votes of John Kerry in the Senate which I have just posted here. It shows that if Kerry's votes in the Senate had carried the day, the U.S. armed forces would now have hardly any of the weapons that now make them so effective. See also Joshua Muravchik for a broader coverage of Kerry's pacifist record.

There is a most detailed site here refuting the "Bush was a draft-dodger" lie. It appears that, like myself, Bush DID actually volunteer for service in Vietnam but was not accepted.

I think that the homosexual marriage issue is a Godsend to GWB. How many normal Americans are going to want their own marriages cheapened by calling anything a marriage? I think Bush could win because of his stand on just that issue.

On the "dumbness" of George W Bush -- Another view from Australia: "But most simply, media claims of stupidity have more to do with a sneering kind of elitism and faux intellectualism typical of many commentators rather than being based in fact. One remembers the famous "60 Minutes" interview with Pauline Hanson when she admitted to not knowing what "xenophobic" means. While this was taken up with much glee by the commentariat at the time as proof of Hanson's unsuitability for politics, for many supporters this was in fact seen as proof of her common touch - a much more valuable trait in the political process. No doubt in a presidential election year, some media commentators.. will take great delight in labelling President Bush and other candidates "dumb". And yet the lack of intellectual rigour involved in such analysis suggests that some media commentators, looking for an easy angle to their coverage are perhaps not so bright themselves.

I like it: "Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a 'terrorist organization' Monday, taking on the 2.7-million-member National Education Association early in the presidential election year. Paige's comments, made to the nation's governors at a private White House meeting, were denounced by union president Reg Weaver as well as prominent Democrats."

Review of Peter Brimelow's The Worm in the Apple: How the Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education: "The point here is not to debate the dubious merits of Mr. Bush's plan to improve accountability in the nation's failing schools. As Brimelow proves, the perverse incentives in this socialized system don't allow for much latitude. The thing to observe, however, is how masterful the educrats are at mounting a noisy, well-masked offensive at the slightest threat to their Soviet-style status quo."

"A northern Islamic state in Nigeria that is at the heart of a spreading African polio outbreak declared Sunday it would not relent on its boycott of a mass vaccination program which it called a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and infertility among Muslims". With great difficulty, I will refrain from comment.

A very interesting letter here from a reformed peacenik who now supports the U.S. presence in Iraq. Apparently 9/11 provided the needed dose of reality. Via Bunker Mulligan.

Amusing: Conservative bloggers were recently asked to nominate the dinner guest from Hell. Michael Moore was the "winner" by a long chalk. I voted for Noam Chomsky.

David's Medienkritik has a lot of posts on Michael Moore at the moment. Apparently they can't get enough of him in Germany. He is viewed as "educational" there. Apparently he has sold more books in Germany than in the USA.

The Wicked one has some wise words about speeding and parking tickets.

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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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