A SLIMY AVENGER

There is so much distortion and evasion on Left/liberal blogs that I mostly do not know where to start in commenting on it so I leave the job to other conservative bloggers. But in that spirit of loyalty to friends which I regard as a major conservative virtue, I am going to say something about an attack on Keith Burgess Jackson by Liberal Avenger. I am also moved to reply because the attack does illustrate something that is quite pervasive among Leftists -- slippery standards. Leftists have no fixed principles. If a principle suits their rhetorical needs of today they will proclaim their loyalty to it -- and then cheerfully adopt the opposite principle tomorrow if that happens to suit the rhetorical needs of that day.

Some context first: One of the most pervasive themes in Leftist apologetics is that good intentions are what really matters. Leftists go into paroxysms of condemnation of anybody who is or was a Nazi but smile indulgently on people who were or are Communists. To conservatives, of course, both Communists and Nazis were brutal mass-murderers who deserve no exculpation. But what Leftists say is that Communists were really "idealistic" and "well-intentioned" so cannot be held to blame for anything. Their good intentions are all that matters in any evaluation of them. So it is perfectly proper to wear shirts emblazoned with images of the murderous Che Guevara but worthy of a fainting fit if anybody wears a swastika armband. So at the height of the Cold War the Soviet Communists were often referred to as being simply "liberals in a hurry". The obvious corollary -- that "liberals" are just slowed-down Communists -- tended not to be mentioned.

So what is Liberal Avenger's explanation of why the Left do not celebrate anything to do with the American intervention in Iraq? He says that only results count! He says that Leftists/liberals will only applaud the American intervention in Iraq when all the difficulties there have been overcome and it is a peaceful democracy with no more American troops on its soil. The good intentions of the Bush administration -- such as the removal of a Fascist dictator, the protection of America from possible WMDs and the promotion of democracy -- do not matter at all and are no cause for praise. What is cause for praise in Communists is justification for nothing more than abuse in George W. Bush. It would be hard to find a clearer example of fake principles.

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FROM BROOKES NEWS

The Great Depression - then and know It's 75 years later and our economic commentators still can't get their facts straight about the Great Depression
Condoleezza Rice branded a liar by journalist Eccleston's dishonest reporting on Condoleezza Rice has exposed him as a political bigot and a malicious liar
Elian raid excessive-force case begins `It wasn't Juan Miguel who wanted Elian back,' says Elian's uncle Lazaro in the indispensable book Unvanquished, by Enrique Encinosa. `It was Fidel.' And the media made sure he got him.
High taxes cripple economic growth Conservatives tend to instinctively realise that tax cuts stimulate savings and production. On the other hand, their opponents fully grasp that significant tax cuts weaken their power to bribe and punish
The gateway to the soul Greens and so-called progressives would tax and regulate Europe into abject poverty
Great Depression: defending capitalism against anti-market myths, part I Free market economics did not deepen and prolong the Great Depression - Hoover and Roosevelt did that
Associated Press put terrorist collaborators on its payroll We now have evidence that Associated Press has been collaborating with terrorists in Iraq

Details here

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ELSEWHERE

The psychopathic Left: ""Someone who does not know the difference between good and evil is worth nothing." -- Miecyslaw Kasprzyk, Polish rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust, New York Times, Jan. 30, 2005. It took a Polish rescuer of Jews in the Holocaust, cited this week 60 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and death camp, to best describe those people who cannot or refuse to know the difference between good and evil. They are "worth nothing." Since the 1960s, with few exceptions, on the greatest questions of good and evil, the Left has either been neutral toward or actively supported evil. The Left could not identify communism as evil; has been neutral toward or actually supported the anti-democratic pro-terrorist Palestinians against the liberal democracy called Israel; and has found it impossible to support the war for democracy and against an Arab/Muslim enemy in Iraq as evil as any fascist the Left ever claimed to hate... About 60 percent of the Iraqi people went to vote despite the fact that every Iraqi voter risked his or her life and the lives of their children, whose throats the Islamic fascists threatened to slit. Yet, the Left continues to label the war for Iraqi democracy "immoral" while praising the tyrant of Cuba. Leftists do so for the same reason they admired Ho Chi Minh and Mao Tse-tung and condemned American arms as the greatest threat to world peace during and after the Cold War. The Left "does not know the difference between good and evil." And that is why it is worth nothing.

The put-down of the Iraq elections as similar to the 1967 Vietnam elections seems to have been grabbed as a liferaft by Leftists all over the place. I thought my post of 3rd demolished the comparison in double-quick time but if you want a really comprehensive demolition of the comparison, read Christopher Hitchens on the subject.

Capitalism is more moral: "I suggested that the application of the force needed to redistribute wealth and to enforce "positive (welfare) rights" inherent in socialist policies was what made socialism highly immoral. Of course a capitalist society uses force too, but it is a force that protects negative (Lockean) rights (such as enforcing business contracts and protecting citizens from arbitrary state intervention), so it affects only those who do not respect the freedom of others. Capitalism, I explained, is not only good for an economy; more important, it is also morally good for the whole society, which is why capitalism is sustainable and why it works as well as it does"

I deliberately did not blog on President Bush's SOTU yesterday as I knew that the rest of the blogosphere would be all over it but Taranto says most of what I would have said anyway. I did however jib at this statement of his about GWB: "If he has a successful second term, he will probably rank as the most consequential president since FDR". To my mind Ronald Reagan was the most consequential President since Washington! I suppose that view of Reagan will get me labelled as a "Cold Warrior" but I will wear that badge with pride any day. I have been appalled by the brutality of Communism since I was 13 -- and that was 48 years ago.

My latest posting on MarxWords notes that Marx had a stereotypical view of Jews. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" notes more evidence from the Hebrew that Genesis 1:1 is a lot more vague than it at first seems.

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 Leftists 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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ARE "THE FAR-RIGHT" SIMPLY OLD-FASHIONED LEFTISTS?

I seem to be doomed to challenging conventional ideas about the nature of the political spectrum -- most notably in that I often point out that Hitler was a Leftist. I also however, have done a thorough empirical examination (via survey research) of the libertarian idea that the political spectrum is two dimensional -- and found that the evidence is against that as well. I now think I have a third rebellion to undertake. I think that the term "Far Right" is a misnomer altogether. The Far Right certainly does not describe Hitler and the Fascists but I don't think it even describes accurately the present-day racist groups who tend to attract that label. I think that the people so called are only another flavour of the Far Left. The so-called Far Right may say that they are against "Jews" whereas the Far Left say they are against "Zionists" but both are talking about essentially the same people. And even the "Anti-Zionist" mask of the Left tends to slip rather readily to reveal the real Jew-hatred underneath.

I am of course far from original in noting that there are very considerable similarities between the present-day Far Right and Far Left in what they say. When I have the stomach for it, I do read bits of what both of them say -- and on many occasions what the two groups say seems virtually interchangeable. And both of course have the same rage-filled tone. And both see themselves as a Herrenvolk, to use Hitler's word ("Master people"). The justification that the Right give for their claimed superior status is racial whereas the Left claim not only superior intellect but also (quite incredibly in view of their chronic rage) superior "compassion". But both see themselves as a misunderstood elite and as victims of conspiracies against them. It certainly shows Hitler's cleverness in claiming BOTH greater compassion and racial superiority. He got the full range of nuts on his side that way. What I see is that the alleged Far Right are in fact simply old-fashioned Leftists -- Leftists who have been stranded by history, if you like. What they believe would have made them normal Leftists in the early 20th and late 19th centuries. There is certainly nothing that they believe that cannot be found in Marx & Engels -- even the call for racial unity is there and Engels was very nationalist and a believer in racial superiority. And of course Marx was vehement in his hatred of Jews.

And the Chomsky-like disrespect for facts is there in the "Rightists" too. A recent personal experience of mine illustrated that rather vividly for me: As well as posting to my own blogs, I also post to Majority Rights, which attracts frequent comments from vehement Far Rightists who constantly rave on about Jews. Being an awful tease, I posted something there recently under the heading "The neocons were right!" To both Far Left and Far Right, "neocons" = "Jews" so I expected eruptions in the comments boxes and I got them. And one of the eruptions was this: "Ray and Schwarz share an employer: David Horowitz Frontpage magazine"

Old guy though I am, I was still amazed that a lie could be so immediate, blatant, unfounded and shameless. For the record, David Horowitz has never paid me a cent, though in the last 12 months or so I have donated several times to appeals he has sent out in aid of his various causes. So rather than David paying me, I pay HIM! Just as Chomsky and his ilk do, however, my "Rightist" critic has taken a fact and distorted it. He sees deep meaning in the fact that David Horowitz did on five occasions in 2002 and 2003 publish articles that I wrote and then submitted to him. The idea that David had to pay me to write what I did is a laugh, though. We academics are thoroughly used to not being paid a cent for our writings and so it was with the articles I submitted to David Horowitz. So I don't think that even the remarkably inventive U.S. Supreme Court would be able to use any of that to deduce that David is or was in any sense my "employer".

I used to think that the "Far Right" differed from the Fascists and Communists in being anti-socialist. But when it comes to actual policy that is just not true. The "Far Right" are as heavily into autarky (national self-sufficiency) and against free-trade as the Fascists and Communists are. Both are thoroughly paternalistic economically.

I think the conclusion that I draw from it all is a very basic conservative one: All theories about society are oversimplifications and hence wrong but there is a great need that many people feel for oversimplifications and the the Left caters to that. So the oversimplifiers are all Leftists in the end, regardless of what their starting point may be and regardless of any claims to the contrary. And all the groups concerned seem to agree that if the facts don't suit the oversimplification, change the facts!

An important implication of what I am saying is that I don't think there CAN BE such a thing as an extreme conservative. Extremes are for theorists and conservatives are people whose modus operandi is to go by what can be shown to work for the good of people over the long haul, rather than going by any theories. And I just don't see how you can be extreme about that. So my (slightly) revisionist view of the political spectrum is that it has conservatives at one end and a motley assortment of dreamers at the other.

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ELSEWHERE

The "cowboys" were right! "The European Union has abandoned its target of becoming the world’s most dynamic economy by the end of the decade, and instead adopted as its next “big project” a less ambitious programme aimed at cutting the Continent’s massive unemployment. The European Commission’s new economic strategy, which promotes deregulation and free markets, draws heavily on the experience of Britain, the EU’s most successful large economy. It marks a sharp change of tack for the Commission, the EU’s executive body, which previously put more priority on social protection, as demanded by countries such as France and Germany.... The report suggests reducing regulations on business and deepening the single European market by reducing barriers to trade in services.... Socialist leaders in the European Parliament complained that it was “mimicking the American approach”."

The "cowboys" win again: "The productivity of American workers, the critical component for rising living standards, increased by 4.1 percent in 2004, capping a remarkable three-year period in which worker efficiency climbed at the fastest pace in a half century"

Libertarian Girl notes some research findings which show that the brain is not fully mature until age 25. Sure suggests some thoughts about youthful radicalism, doesn't it? Libertarian Girl also has some very sensible comments about the need for libertarians to be more inclusive and less fanatical. She's got brains as well as beauty, that girl.

Nathan Tabor has the story of the Leftist attack on Sinclair Broadcasting -- demonstrating the usual Leftist "tolerance" and respect for free speech, of course.

My latest posting on MarxWords notes how Marx celebrated the death of a relative. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Old Testament references to God in the plural.

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 Leftists 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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SOME ECONOMICS

Economic freedom greatest in middle America: "If you want to start a business but are not sure where to set up shop, should you head for a vibrant megalopolis like New York City? A nucleus of brainpower and venture capital like Silicon Valley? Or a city of flamboyant creativity like Miami? Actually, whether you're writing software or whipping up candy bars, chances are you would be better off in Kansas, according to The U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2004 Report, published by the Pacific Research Institute and Forbes magazine. The report says Kansas is the state with the greatest level of economic freedom in the country, as measured by tax rates, business regulation, the behavior of the courts, and how the government spends its money."

America is not facing an unavoidable energy shortage: "The year 2004 will be remembered as a year of high prices for gasoline and natural gas, and Americans are understandably worried about the cost of energy for 2005 and beyond. But the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released a preliminary version of its Annual Energy Outlook 2005, and it paints a surprisingly optimistic picture for the decades ahead. With regard to petroleum, EIA acknowledges that global demand will remain strong, especially with China's growing need for motor fuels unlikely to subside. Nonetheless, the report does not predict runaway prices."

There is a very well-researched article here which shows that countries with British legal traditions do a lot better economically than countries which use French-based law.

In-sourcing to America. The Chinese invest in America too: "many local officials in the US are jockeying for position to win Chinese investments. Massachusetts officials, besides trying to secure investments in the fishing business, think the area is ripe for investments in medical products and pharmaceuticals. "Ultimately as they bring their products over here and need the full licensing and permitting that is required on the high-tech end of things, Massachusetts is the logical landing spot [because of the presence of legal personnel who can take care of it]," says Julian Muennich, treasurer of the Massachusetts International Trade Council. Last week, Philadelphia officials met with a Chinese delegation in New York for the Chinabrand 2005 expo. They talked about the city's educational facilities and an upcoming extravaganza called the Splendor of China, which will attract 400 Chinese companies to the city"

Federalism beats Oregon: "The McDonald's restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon is outsourcing customers drive-thru meals to North Dakota. The restaurant on Highway 395 has outsourced one of the most important jobs at the drive-through window -- order taking. When a customer drives through, they'll be patched through to Grand Forks, North Dakota to place the order. Why? Because the minimum wage in North Dakota is five-dollars and 15 cents, compared to Oregon's seven-dollars and 25 cents".

Rafe Champion has up some interesting histories of economists who deserved to have more notice taken of them.

Canadian farmers are taking action over the way their livelihood and lifestyle is being destroyed by ever-multiplying government regulations.

Government hurts family businesses: "Conservatives who believe in both tradition and the free market sometimes have struggles within their heart when they see Mom and Pop shutter their hardware store on Main Street in the massive shadow of a Goliath Home Depot. Family business is good for the family and the community, but can we really overturn the 'election' results when consumers vote with their dollars for Megacorp? On top of that, providing a greater selection of goods for lower prices frees up more capital in a community, providing an opportunity for new stores or businesses to come in and compete for that leftover cash."

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ELSEWHERE

Wishful thinking at work? The Guardian was one of the newspapers taken in by the "captured soldier" hoax. There is a wiser version of the story here. Powerline has some acerbic comments. There is a picture of the toy here

The Guardian has also at last found a way of putting an anti-U.S. spin on the Iraqi election turnout. They say that the turnout in the 1967 South Vietnam election was good too. From that they somehow manage to deduce that both the Vietnamese and the Iraqis really hate America! Would it not be just a tad simpler to conclude that BOTH the Iraqis and the Vietnamese want democracy but that the Vietnamese didn't get it? And why did they not get it? Because a peacenik U.S. Congress cut off aid to the South Vietnamese while Russia and China did NOT cut off aid to North Vietnam. There is nothing like that happening in Iraq today. TCS has some interesting comments on the matter too.

Isn't welfare wonderful? "The number of people out of work in Germany has risen above five million for the first time since reunification in 1990, the Government is expected to announce today. The rate of unemployment is likely to exceed 11 per cent, heaping pressure on the Government of Gerhard Schroeder, the Chancellor, to speed up the pace of reform to kickstart the country's faltering economy".

That's democracy: "A quarter of a century after Saddam Hussein executed its leaders and drove their comrades underground or into exile the Iraqi Communist party has resurfaced and looks set to make a respectable showing once votes are counted in Sunday's elections"

Tom Wolfe says that America's intervention in Iraq is part of a long line of American interventions abroad -- most which were in fact under Left-leaning Presidents. A good quote from the very popular Theodore Roosevelt (founder of the "Progressive" party) in 1904: ""The steady aim of this nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail throughout the world the peace of justice. ...Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness and called it peace. ...The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven weakness, the peace of injustice, all these should be shunned as we shun unrighteous war. ... The right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right cannot be divorced." Very much like GWB's recent inaugural address.

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with a big range of select reading.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx despised the Russians. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at "In the beginning" in both Greek and Hebrew.

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 Leftists is perfectly shown by the 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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THE IRAQ ELECTIONS

Email about the election from an Iraqi doctor now living in America: "We have always known that the media has portrayed the Iraq liberation unfairly. On Jan , 14 , 2005 I gave my presidentail talk at the Louisiana Surgical Association: "Mesopotamia: The cradle nof civilization: From Hammurabi to Saddam and beyond". I clearly illustrated not just the negative side of the war but also the positive side of Iraqi liberation. I informed my friends at the meeting that that 80-85 % of Iraqis are very grateful to this nation for terminating Saddam and for staying the course so that the Iraqi people will establish a free, Federal and pluralistic government !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad to see that Iraqis very bravely went to the polls to let the world know that we are indeed grateful to the Americans and the British and to show our respect for our men and women in uniform ... etc. Iraqi success will bring a significant change in the Middle East".

Is this the biggest bit of bulldust ever? "World leaders have praised the conduct of Iraq's first multi-party elections for more than 50 years. ... French President Jacques Chirac described them as a "great success for the international community". [I kind of thought it was a great success for AMERICA!].

After the election turnout ordinary Iraqis now have a victory: "The Iraqis now have their heroic story of resistance. Americans could not vote for them. We could not walk down Iraq's most dangerous highway in their place. Iraqis seized their own future. They have their narrative, their symbols, their victory..... the heroic effort of millions of Iraqis to un-pry the clenched fists of murderers is the stuff nations are built on"

We won! "The news from Iraq is spectacularly good: local authorities estimate almost 75 percent of the electorate has voted. This is a triumph for every Iraqi, for America, for the Muslim world -- indeed, for the whole world. But it is a particular victory for an exceedingly small group in Washington: those who maintained confidence in the appeal of democracy, in the commonsense and intelligence of the Iraqis, and in the correctness of the path taken by President George W. Bush to Baghdad and beyond. As stated, the group of non-Iraqis in America entitled to exult is tiny: it consists of President Bush himself, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, certain other members of the cabinet and defense establishment, and a highly exclusive media list: Bill Kristol and crew at The Weekly Standard, myself and some others writing on TCS and a handful of other publications".

Michelle Malkin summarizes: "With the exception of Sullivan, the top bloggers on the left side of the blogosphere have decided to mark this historic day by hiding under their bedcovers. As of 1:45pm EST today, Talking Points Memo is silent on the Iraqi elections. Atrios is silent on the Iraqi elections. Crooked Timber is silent on the Iraqi elections. And Daily Kos has one post today from "Armando," who sneered: "This Election is simply, in my estimation, an exercise in pretty pictures.""

Leftists: The new party of the status quo: "There was a time when liberals would cheer at the prospect of freedom and democracy in places long under the stench of oppression. Today, any attempts to right past wrongs and free men from tyranny are looked on with scorn. Yesterday's idealistic liberals are today's realists; preferring the `stability' of dictators to the spread of democracy. They are fearful of asserting themselves on the world stage without the approval of the United Nations. They refuse to judge other cultures but are quick to judge American actions as immoral".

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ELSEWHERE

Australia's Leftist leader opposes abortion: "Kim Beazley has publicly declared his opposition to abortion, sparking concern and division among pro-choice ALP MPs as a powerful bipartisan pro-life coalition entered the fray for the first time. In a clear shift from former leader Mark Latham's pro-choice stance on abortion, Mr Beazley said he did not support applying criminal sanctions, backing greater support and education for women. Mr Beazley, a committed Christian, described his view yesterday as a personal "moral stance" and strongly rejected any moves to criminalise abortion for women.

There is a very detailed article here showing that it was the American media that won the Vietnam war for the Communists.

Soviet America? "Every parent in America should be made aware of a presidential initiative called the "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health." This commission issued a report last year calling for the mandatory mental health screening of American schoolchildren, meaning millions of kids will be forced to undergo psychiatric screening whether their parents consent or not. At issue is the fundamental right of parents to decide what medical treatment is appropriate for their children. Forced mental health screening simply has no place in a free or decent society. The government does not own you or your kids, and it has no legitimate authority to interfere in your family's intimate health matters. Psychiatric diagnoses are inherently subjective, and the drugs regularly prescribed produce serious side effects, especially in children's developing brains. The bottom line is that mental health issues are a matter for parents, children, and their doctors, not government".

Blacks above the law? "The NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, is refusing to cooperate with an IRS investigation into whether its chairman made an improper political speech, charging that the timing of the probe was itself politically motivated. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in October that the group's tax-exempt status was under review after its chairman, Julian Bond, gave a speech that criticized President Bush. In a letter to the IRS on Thursday, NAACP attorneys said the group will not hand over documents requested in the probe ..... The IRS has said it's probing about 60 charities, churches and other tax-exempt groups for potentially breaking federal rules that bar them from participating in political activity".

The New Victorians is an interest group that might be of interest to some of my readers. I am myself a member. I have always said that the people of the Victorian era had a lot of things right -- things that modern-day society gets wrong -- such as making a distinction between the deserving and the undeserving poor.

I know I should not give a fruitloop a link but I cannot help being amused that the blogger who runs a Leftist imitation of this site has not yet figured out how to put his archive links on a separate page, as I do.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx had the typical antisemite's deep suspicion of "Jewish bankers". My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Isaiah 43:10 -- "Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me"

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 Leftists is perfectly shown by the 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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TUESDAY ROUNDUP

Once again I pick out what I think are my best posts for the week:

On Dissecting Leftism I noted that Einstein was a Marxist.

On Political Correctness Watch I posted an email from the Deep South which says that conservatives treat women better

On Greenie Watch I have laugh at the latest Greenie whale research

On Education Watch I look at "thought crime" in academe

On Socialized Medicine I look at the mess that is the California medical system

On Gun Watch I look at the sad history of gun regulation in Britain

On Leftists as Elitists I posted an article that shows an incredibly hostile attitude to ordinary people

On Marx Words I note that Marx favoured race war

On A scripture blog I refute an "irrefutable" proof of the Trinity doctrine (based on John 1:3)

On Majority Rights I posted an email that started a big discussion about causes of the holocaust.

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ELSEWHERE

Spartac.us has a good roundup of Left and Right reactions to the Iraq elections. Some prime examples of Leftist carping, of course. There's even a lonely Massachusetts blogger who is celebrating the turnout. And, would you believe? Arab broadcasters were more positive in their coverage of the elections than the German ones were!" They're sick puppies over there in Germany.

Random Observations has an interesting angle on the claim that U.S. policy is run by the "neocons"

The world's leading dissident? "Shortly after his re-election, President Bush met with former Soviet dissident and now Israeli Cabinet Minister Natan Sharansky. Bush has read Sharansky's The Case for Democracy, as have several of his Cabinet members, including incoming Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. For his part, Sharansky called President Bush, 'The world's leading dissident.' Now that is a compliment!"

Sowell on MSM bias: "There are still people in the mainstream media who profess bewilderment that they are accused of being biased. But you need to look no further than reporting on the war in Iraq to see the bias staring you in the face, day after day, on the front page of The New York Times and in much of the rest of the media. If a battle ends with Americans killing a hundred guerrillas and terrorists, while sustaining 10 fatalities, that is an American victory. But not in the mainstream media. The headline is more likely to read: "Ten More Americans Killed in Iraq." This kind of journalism can turn victory into defeat.... there is the mainstream media's almost exclusive focus on American casualties in Iraq, with little or no attention to the often much larger casualties inflicted on the enemy. Since terrorists are pouring into Iraq in response to calls from international terrorist networks, the number of those killed is especially important, for these are people who will no longer be around to launch more attacks on American soil. With all the turmoil and bloodshed in Iraq, military and civilian people returning from that country are increasingly expressing amazement at the difference between what they have seen and the one-sided picture that the media present to the public here".

There is an article here which shows that the "evil" power companies during the 2000/2001 California electricity shortage were actually the heroes of the day -- running their plant at destructive levels in an attempt to meet demand. The real culprits were the Greenies and the politicians: "Deregulation was sold to the public as a way to lower electricity bills to consumers. But one of the reasons that deregulation unraveled was that California's monopoly utilities had to recover their unpaid sunk costs, called "stranded assets," for nuclear power plants besieged by environmental lawsuits and over-market subsidies for renewable energy plants (e.g., solar, wind, biomass). And municipalities wanted to siphon electricity ratepayer's monies off to retrofit old polluting power plants or build new peaker plants.... How much the restrictions on flows for the protection of salmon runs may have had a bearing on the plunge in hydropower remains uncertain, but many such restrictions kicked-in around 1999-2000".

California shiftiness: "California politicians love to gripe about how the state gets shorted by the federal government. Those complaints sound peculiar against the background of some recent news. Over the last three years, the state Department of Health Services has received about $100 million in federal funds to fight bioterrorism, and officials there can't seem to account for it".

Wicked Thoughts is now a well-established humour blog but it may rise to new heights now that a daily item of odd news is being added to the jokes.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx was hostile to his own mother. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at passages which refer to Jesus as being "worshipped"

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

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

That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftists is perfectly shown by the 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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HAPPINESS RESEARCH

There is another dummo academic (Richard Layard) reported here who points to the fact that getting richer does not necessarily make you happier. Any observer of Hollywood knew that long ago and I guess people have in fact known it for about 4,000 years. In 1 Timothy 6:10 St. Paul probably went a bit too far in saying that "The love of money is the root of all evil" but you get the idea. And the whole story of Job in the OT runs along similar lines. But these days, "If money does not make you happier, then take it away!" is the reasoning. So that old bit of wisdom has found a new use as the latest pathetic excuse to hike taxes.

But happiness is clearly a disposition. It is fairly fixed and soon (sometimes within minutes) reverts to its accustomed level after any ups and downs. Some people are happy in circumstances that other would hate. I know. I have observed perfectly cheerful people among the street-sleepers of Bombay. Some people are almost always happy. Some people are almost always whining. Some people just have happy natures and some do not. So looking at whether something makes people happy is largely futile. In statisticians' terms, you are looking for variance in something that is invariant. Or, putting it another way, correlations with something that is invariant will NECESSARILY be zero. So if you are interested in running a public policy that respects other people, you need to look at what they CHOOSE, not what makes them happy. And most people choose more money rather than less.

It is true that certain categories of people report being happier than others -- e.g. married people -- but that probably just shows that happier people are easier to live with.

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AIRBUS VERSUS BOEING

The issue of whether the Europeans are going to have much success with their new giant Airbus is a bit outside the mainstream of what I usually post on but what the heck! My brief mention of the matter yesterday got me a few emails which showed a variety of views on the matter. Most seemed to agree with me that it is Boeing rather than the Europeans that have got it right and one reader pointed me to this story showing that existing Airbuses are being phased out and replaced by Boeings. Another reader, however, had a quite different view, which I reproduce below:

The huge Airbus is I believe currently just short of the 100 orders it is said to need to break even. It is designed (believe it or not) for one main thing -- Hajj -- taking droves of Moslems to Mecca. The Moslems are converting and breeding at a great rate. Over the next 4 decades (expected life of the new Giant Airbus) the Hajj will fill the planes and pay back the investment. A secondary, but not trivial, market is airfreight and FedEX is due to get the first airfreight model off the line. The third market will be the military. The A 380 will be a "giant" success. Boeing's decline is a tribute to the destructive effects of a liberal State (Washington) and the attendant taxes, regulation, and blind obstinacy of labor unions.

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ELSEWHERE

A day of which every American can be proud: "Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century. "We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official".

Australian Prime Minister defends the USA: "During a vigorous panel debate on US global relations at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, several European officials attacked President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, but Mr Howard stood up to defend his ally. Earlier in the summit, Mr Howard attacked the European Union over the reintroduction of wheat export subsidies, which he said harmed underdeveloped nations and were contrary to free trade. "Some of the criticism (of the US) by some of the Europeans is unfair and irrational," Mr Howard said in the panel debate, organised by Britain's BBC TV. "I mean the negative mindset of the last five minutes (of this debate) is ridiculous - of course America has made mistakes," he said. Later Mr Howard told The Australian he found the European "irrational level of anti-Americanism" perplexing. "It is a sign of parochialism and it is disturbingly intense.""

Moronic German Leftists: "Australians are used to the idea of working for the dole, but the Germans have taken it a step further. A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services" at a brothel in Berlin faces cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year. Prostitution was legalised in Germany two years ago and brothel owners - who must pay tax and employee health insurance - were granted access to official databases of job seekers. The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe. She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile" and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did she realise she was calling a brothel. Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job or lose her unemployment benefit"

I love it! "Human Events has learned that a billboard blitz "thanking" Hollywood for the reelection of President Bush will be unveiled early next week. The advertisements feature the faces of liberal Hollywood icons Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Martin Sheen, Chevy Chase, Barbara Streisand, and Sean Penn, and offer thanks to Hollywood their help getting President Bush reelected. Two versions of the billboard were created, both "thanking" Hollywood -- the first for "4 more years" and the second for "W. Still President." Billboard creator Citizens United, a group that advocates a return to traditional American values, has purchased the use of three billboards near the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards) for the month of February, which includes Oscar Night, Sunday, February 27".

The British mainstream Left now appears to have taken up antisemitism. The British Conservative leader is a Jew and Labour party advertising is portraying him as a pig. Great for getting the Muslim vote, obviously.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx advocated race war. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Hebrews 1:8 "But of the Son he says, Thy throne, O God is for ever and ever"

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 Leftists is perfectly shown by the 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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EINSTEIN WAS A MARXIST

Which just goes to show you can be smart in one field and dumb in another. The drivel below was written by our Albert and appeared the 1949 edition of the Marxist Monthly Review .

"But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called "the predatory phase" of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.....

The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before. This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

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A BETTER-INFORMED VIEW OF SOCIALISM:

A small excerpt:

"It turns out not only that capitalism is not a system of the exploitation of labor, but that the actual system of the exploitation of labor is socialism. Socialism establishes the very kind of exploitation for the alleged existence of which people seek to overthrow capitalism. The socialist state holds a universal monopoly on employment and production. Its citizens are economically powerless in their capacity both as workers and as consumers. No economic factor compels the socialist state to take account of their wishes. From an economic point of view, the rulers of the socialist state need be concerned with the values of the citizens only insofar as it needs them to have the health and strength required to work.

Moreover, the leading moral-political principle of the socialist state is that the citizen is not an end in himself, as he is acknowledged to be under capitalism, but is a means to the ends of "society." Since society does not inhabit any known mountain top, and cannot be communicated with in any direct way, its ends can be made known only through the rulers of the socialist state. Thus, the principle that the individual is the means to the ends of society necessarily means, in practice, that he is the means to the ends of society as divined, interpreted, and determined by the rulers of the socialist state. And what this means is that he is the means to the ends of the rulers. A more servile arrangement can hardly be imagined.

Thus, the position of the individual under socialism is that he must spend his life in toil for the ends of the rulers, who have no reason voluntarily to supply him with anything more than minimum physical subsistence. They will provide more (assuming they have the ability to do so) only if it is necessary to prevent riots or revolution or as a means of providing special incentives for the achievement of their own values, such as, above all, the power and prestige of the regime. Thus, they will provide a relatively high standard of living for rocket scientists, secret police agents, and such intellectuals and athletes whose accomplishments help to reflect glory on the regime. The average citizen, however, is fortunate if they provide him with subsistence".

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ELSEWHERE

Wow! More British madness. The authorities have now just about banned car chases by British police -- generating this advice: "So if you’ve just stolen a car, or if you just don’t feel like stopping for the police because you’ve just committed some other crime, or if you’re so drunk you don’t know what you’re doing, drive on into the sunset because it’s just too dangerous for us to do anything about it."

Leftists will grab at any argument that suits them at the time. This NYT article is the latest: An argument that U.S. military intervention abroad is not needed because free markets will eventuallly overturn all tyranny. Marvellous how free-markets have overturned Castro and the N.Korean regime I guess. The argument may even be true in the long run but, as Lord Keynes observed, "In the long run we are all dead".

Migrant reform battle brewing: "A top Republican lawmaker challenged President Bush on Wednesday to first beef up border security before permitting millions of undocumented immigrants to gain a legal foothold in the United States. The clash between Rep. James Sensenbrenner and Bush offers a preview of the fight that lies ahead in Congress over the president's controversial guest-worker proposal. ... At a news conference, Sensenbrenner argued that national security and immigration matters are separate issues and that 'you can't mix the two.' But earlier in the day, Bush told reporters that Congress must deal with both issues because 'immigration reform is necessary to help make it easier to protect our borders.'"

Anti-Bush desperation has led some Leftist wackos into looking into his remote ancestry in hope of finding something discreditable there. Betsy Newmark has an excellent summary of what Bush's geneology really shows.

Interesting news from China: China is buying Boeing, not Europe's big new Airbus. Maybe that huge A380 freaks the Chinese the way it does me. I see another white elephant like the Comet and the Concorde coming up. I back Boeing's commercial judgment versus that of a government-run industry. (Yes. I know the Comet originated with DH).

Good to see that the Australian Labor Party has dumped its more radical policies. Their lurch to the Left was disastrous for them at the last election.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx foresaw genocide and welcomed it. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at TITUS 2:13: "The appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour, Jesus Christ"

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 Leftists is perfectly shown by the 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.

Leftists 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.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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