GREAT NEW BOOK BY JONAH GOLDBERG

Liberal Fascism : The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton Publisher's blurb follows:

Since the rise and fall of the Nazis in the midtwentieth century, fascism has been seen as an extreme right-wing phenomenon. Liberals have kept that assumption alive, hurling accusations of fascism at their conservative opponents. LIBERAL FASCISM offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg shows that the original fascists were really on the Left and that liberals, from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton, have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism.

Goldberg draws striking parallels between historic fascism and contemporary liberal doctrines. He argues that "political correctness" on campuses and calls for campaign finance reform echo the Nazis' suppression of free speech; and that liberals, like their fascist forebears, dismiss the democratic process when it yields results they dislike, insist on the centralization of economic decision-making, and seek to insert the authority of the state in our private lives-from bans on smoking to gun control. Covering such hot issues as morality, anti-Semitism, science versus religion, health care, and cultural values, he boldly illustrates the resemblances between the opinions advanced by Hitler and Mussolini and the current views of the Left.

Impeccably researched and persuasively argued, LIBERAL FASCISM will elicit howls of indignation from the liberal establishment-and rousing cheers from the Right.

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ELSEWHERE

Koran under legal attack in Germany: "At the prosecutor's office at Gorch-Forck-Wall 15 in Hamburg, an unusual letter was received Monday morning, containing an indictment filed this weekend. The indictment targeted the Quran, charging that the holy book of the Moslems, according to the accuser, is incompatible with the German constitution. The accuser is "Bundesverband der B_rgerbewegungen (BVB)", which concerns itself with, in its own words, "defending basic rights and freedoms" against Islam.... The indictment has been filed in several states, including Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bayern and probably more. In several talkshows on German TV, conservative politicians have pointed out that the Quran is incompatible with the German constitution. The Turkish-born writer Serap Cileli said on January 29 this year that "the Quran must be considered a historic document. It is not compatible with our constitution and Human Rights." Now the alliance wants the matter tried at the courts.... The indictment is against the 200 verses of 114 suras (ED:chapters) of the Quran that are not compatible with the constitution, including demagoguery, incitement to murder, murder and mutilation, war, acceptance of thievery against infidels, meaning all non-Moslems. Verses are also pointed out where the equal rights of men and women are not upheld and where people of different faiths are oppressed."

Blair turns down the heat to save the planet: "Tony Blair has promised to turn down the heating in 10 Downing Street as part of a new drive to persuade people to help the fight against global warming. The Click for the Climate campaign, launched to coincide with National Science Week, which begins today, hopes to persuade people to use energy-saving lightbulbs, cut down on car journeys and use the train instead of flying. The Prime Minister said: "I will be turning down the thermostat by one degree."

Israel gets tough: "Israel will determine its border with the West Bank if negotiations with the Palestinians fail, and then it will build a wall and move all settlers to the Israeli side, acting prime minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview published on Friday. Olmert told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that if the Palestinians "prefer to be dragged into the axis of evil of Iran", then Israel will change the path of its separation barrier in the West Bank according to national consensus and "Israelis will not live on the other side of the barrier". Olmert also threatened to assassinate incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas if he is involved in terrorism".

The Dutch crack down: "It is a lesson that Taida Pasic and her Dutch classmates will never forget. The hush of the classroom was shattered when immigration officers stormed in and snapped handcuffs on the 18-year-old pupil and took her under police escort to a deportation centre. She was four months away from taking her final exams and aspired to a place at university. Now she faces expulsion from the Netherlands and a life of uncertainty in a homeland that she barely knows... Ministers are arguing in public over the impact of the repatriation of up to 26,000 failed asylum-seekers and the Netherlands is left to consider what has become of the liberal traditions that have helped to forge the nation. Ms Pasic is one of thousands of refugees whose asylum applications were turned down and whom the Government has vowed to deport by the summer of 2007.... Ms Pasic slipped back into the Netherlands in January on a French tourist visa in an attempt to complete her education, a move that Rita Verdonk, the Dutch Interior Minister, described as fraud. And despite strong sympathy for the teenager, opinion polls suggest that a small majority of Dutch people support Ms Verdonk... Ms Pasic's lawyer has filed a final protest but said that prospects for a reprieve were dim. Her school has offered to let her sit her exams in Sarajevo".

Change among European Muslims? "As protests against the Danish cartoons fade, Europe's moderate Muslims are facing difficult choices about their faith, identity, and values. "The middle ground in Muslim communities is between a rock and a hard place," says Omar Shah, an Afghan-Danish commentator on Muslim affairs. "The moderate majority is having to decide where they stand." During a month of flag-burning protests in Europe against cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the voices of Islamic radicals were the loudest. As the flames die down,however,it is increasingly clear that the cartoon affair has reignited difficult debates within Europe's 20-million-strong Muslim community. Though radical organizations have gained strength, new "progressive" Muslim groups are beginning to challenge traditional ideas. In Denmark, where the cartoons were first published, Muslims who want to live in a pluralistic, secular, and tolerant Danish society have formed a new group to publicize their ideals".

Restoring the melting pot : "Latin will never be a truly dead language, at least not as long as 'E pluribus unum' appears on our money. That's our national motto: 'Out of many, one. 'We've always been willing to welcome immigrants and help them become Americans. But the unity we once valued is unraveling. Once, new Americans were welcomed with a solemn ceremony that matched their commitment to their adopted homeland. Today's new citizens have no such uplifting experience. To qualify they need only pass a standardized, multiple-choice test, often given in their native tongue. In fact, they're not required to show much knowledge of English. If they can transcribe just one of two dictated sentences (correct spelling and punctuation don't count), that merits citizenship. And the greater problem is that too many people don't even go that far. Millions of foreigners live here today with no expectation of ever becoming citizens."

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).

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Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.

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)

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