ELSEWHERE

The Irish show the way: "In 1985, the Irish economy was in a shambles. It was facing excessive budgets deficits and minimal growth. Its GNP p.c. amounted to only 65% of the Belgian level. In addition, Irish unemployment stood at 17% against 10% for Belgium. Until 1985 both countries followed similar Keynesian policies of deficit spending. In 1983 Belgian public spending even exceed-ed 50% of GNP. Excessive spending triggered a vicious circle of continuing rises of the tax burden and public debt. The graphs above show that until 1980 Irish public spending followed the same path as that of Belgium, with similar growth performance. However, in 1985 Ireland made a u-turn. It drastically lowered the tax burden. All wasteful government spending was eliminated. In three years time public spending was reduced by no less then 20%. The result was that Ireland entered a period of explosive GNP growth, averaging 5.6% from 1985 to 2002. This is rough-ly three times the Belgian growth rate. The boom went hand in hand with the creation of new jobs, which was far in excess of that in Belgium. Because of its awe-inspiring rise in prosperity Ireland has now more resources available for all sorts of social, cultural and environmental initiatives than Belgium does".

Stupid Californians try to destroy jobs: "The City Council here is set to consider whether to impose a living-wage policy for all companies that provide services to the city, a move airport officials warn could lead to the loss of millions of dollars in revenue. San Jose was the first major Bay Area city to establish the living-wage policy, which was put in place in 1998. But the mandatory wage increase has yet to be imposed on all companies, including airport rental car agencies, amid concerns that the policy could hinder San Jose's ability to attract and keep businesses..... Representatives of Hertz, Avis and Alamo/National rental car companies oppose the wage increase. "Is it fair to saddle an already unprofitable business with $1.5 million more in costs? No, said Hertz spokesman Rich Broome. "We believe the wages we offer are fair for the work being done.""

Confusing control and security: "Suppose you were a sadist and really hated your fellow men - what type of job would you try to get? Well, you might try to become head of airline security for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), where you could devise a system like the following. You would: * Hire people who are wannabee drill instructors, to order passengers around as if they were new Marine Corps recruits. * Demand passengers show their IDs up to four times before boarding, even though you know IDs are easily forged. ... * Take away relatively harmless personal items, such as tweezers, hat pins, sewing scissors, etc., while leaving people with items that are much more lethal in trained hands. * Harass small children, elderly women, infirm individuals and young attractive women by making them go through difficult body motions and inappropriate touching. ..."

Castro's daughter: "As a 3-year-old, Alina Fernandez didn't know that the Communist revolution that swept Cuba was led by her father. The only thing she could see was what the revolution did to her TV cartoons...... Eventually, the situation in Cuba worsened when the Soviet Union withdrew its support from Cuba in 1989. By 1993, she had to take her daughter out of school because there was no electricity - and no teachers. And by this time, she had already become a dissident. That's when she knew she had to leave, and she was able to smuggle herself out of the country with a little help and a fake passport. She has not seen her homeland or her father ever since."

Muslims find Christ: "Despite unprecedented press coverage of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East since September 11, 2001, one big story is not being told by mainstream media. Scores of Muslims are converting to evangelical Christianity and will be celebrating their first Easter this year, even amidst widespread persecution and the very real threat of death..... One Arab Christian leader tells me that based on his research with churches and ministries throughout the Islamic world, he now believes more than 1.5 million Muslims worldwide have trusted Christ since 9/11. Such numbers are difficult to verify, but the trend is clear. "More Muslims are becoming followers of Jesus Christ today than at any other time in history," a prominent Arab Christian leader told me recently, on the condition that I not mention his name or organization. "It's not something we talk much about openly, but it is very exciting and very important.""

A good example here of how Leftist pollsters can get any result they want out of a public opinion poll by asking loaded questuions.

I have just come across a Canadian blog that I really like. Dare I say it? Let it bleed is almost a Canadian version of Dissecting Leftism. It's got the same contempt for the Left, anyway.

My latest post on MARXWORDS shows that Engels thought native blacks to be dumber than German 8-year-olds.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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