MORE JUNK PSYCHOLOGY

There is an amusing post here, repeated here under the heading "Right Wing Personalities have greater trouble remembering what they read and making correct inferences". From that title one would expect that the post would have something to do with the conservative side of politics as we know it today. The author certainly seems to think that it does. BUT IT DOESN'T.

The post reports a bit of low-quality psychological "research" based on no sampling of any known population that relies for its measuring instrument on the old "RWA scale" devised by Bob Altemeyer. It is high scorers on Altemeyer's selection of questions who were "shown" to have poor memories. But the RWA scale has nothing to do with current politics. As I pointed out very recently:

Altemeyer's own statement about this may be worth noting (From p. 239 of "Enemies of Freedom"):

"right-wing authoritarians show little preference in general for any political party".

So the type of conservatism studied by Altemeyer is a rather peculiar subset of it -- one with virtually no everyday political relevance.

And note the implication: Voters for Leftist political parties are just as likely to be "Right-wing authoritarians" as are voters for conservative parties!

Confusing? Sure is! So how come? It all goes back to dippy old Altemeyer himself. He did not have a blind clue about what "right-wing" or "conservative" meant. He was so clueless about politics that he accepted the old Leftist lie that conservatives are simply people who oppose change! So, by his criterion, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan -- who were great advocates and agents of change -- were not conservative!

From Burke onwards, conservatives have been denying that they simply oppose all change but you cannot expect a Leftist psychologist to know any history, of course. I have summarized the history of what conservatives believe at geat length here and the ongoing theme is of course a belief in individual liberty.

So if poor old Alty did not know what conservatism was, it is no wonder that he found what he thought to be Rightist beliefs to be common among Leftists! Hilarious!

Other psychologists have made the same mistake. It shows what a bubble they must live in. All the conservatives I know would like to see a HEAP of things changed about our society. The idea that conservatives oppose all change is so totally brain-dead that anybody who believes it must never have talked to a real live conservative.

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In Spain, anti-Semitism is the new leftist trend: "Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain and Secretary General of the Socialist Party, arrived to power at a time nobody expected, not even inside the Party. Keen on populist tirades against the United States "Dickhead Bush" and "Ketchup Queen Kerry", his whole campaign did not bring much attention until the moment Al-Qaeda decided to blow up Madrid trains, killing almost 200 people and bringing to an end Spain's membership of the West. From that moment on, everybody knew nothing would be the same, and Spanish Jews knew there were hard times ahead.... Although many experts had foretold of the imminent disappearing of European Jews, nobody expected such a virulent explosion of anti-Semitism in Spain, not even under a Leftist government. The first signal came on Monday, 5 December, when during a dinner with the Benarroch family, Zapatero and wife began claiming what Vidal Quadras, member of the European Parliament, described on the radio as "a tirade of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism". By the moment the Benarroch couple had left the table to express their regrets, Zapatero was explaining his lack of surprise about the Holocaust: according to the people present, Zapatero claimed to understand the Nazis".

The difference that capitalism makes: "After 26 years of receiving food aid, China has emerged as the world's third-largest food donor, according to a report released by the United Nation's World Food Program. China donated 577,000 tonnes of food to more than a dozen countries in 2005, with the great majority sent across the border by rail to North Korea, which relies on aid to feed its poverty-stricken rural population. The findings of the report, which tracks all international food donations, underline China's growing economic and political clout in Asia, and show how far the country has come since the famines of the late 1950s killed an estimated 30 million peasants."

This sounds good for Britain: "Black and Caribbean girls will be the targets of the Government's latest drive to bring down the rate of teenage pregnancy, The Times has learnt. The move has been ordered by Beverley Hughes, the Children's Minister, who is concerned that teenagers from some ethnic minority groups remain much more likely to become pregnant than their peers from different backgrounds, even after taking into account factors such as deprivation and poor educational achievement."

British government wants to make restaurant restrooms as disgusting as public ones: "Restaurants and shops should "grow up" and let the public use their lavatories, Phil Woolas, the Local Government Minister, said. Mr Woolas was announcing a government strategy this week to shift responsibility for public conveniences to the private sector. He said that businesses should follow the example of McDonald's, which had a reputation for allowing non-customers to use its facilities. "Why should they be the only ones," he said. "And why does it have to be a furtive affair?" Public lavatories have been in inexorable decline, with many attracting drug users and criminals. Nearly half have been shut in the past decade and researchers say that there are only 5,500 left. Ministers believe that the public are prepared to pay to use lavatories." Is this the ultimate in socialism?

Social Security propped up by illegals: "There are two dirty little secrets behind the debate over the illegal alien issue that even the advocates of securing the borders first have failed to discuss. The first secret is that the estimated twelve to twenty million aliens living and working illegally in the United States have to commit identity theft to secure employment. The second secret is that without illegals' payroll tax contributions, filed under stolen or fraudulent Social Security numbers, the Social Security system would collapse years earlier than estimated."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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Brookes News Update

US economy and recession: theory and counter theory: When manufacturing was sinking 2000 and the US economy along with it the causes of the oncoming recession were still being hotly debated in some quarters, with very few focusing their attention on monetary factors
Effective minimum wages do cause unemployment: Economics teaches that if the real price of any service, including labour services, is raised above its market clearing level a surplus will emerge. In the case of labour the surplus is called unemployment
The `Real' War against Islam has begun: For years those who speculate have predicted Israel, not oil, would be the spark that lit the fire of World War III. Surrounded for decades by a religion that motivates its devotees with hate for Jews, Israel has been a boil on the Islamic body politic
Terrorism and Israel - one slice at a time.: A member of Hezbollah gloated that the Jews `fear death and love life. We are believers in another life, and we welcome death'. Well, it's time to give `em what they want!
The Bush tax cuts, capital gains and growth: Anything that hinders investment slows growth - and this where capital gains taxes do the most damage. Levied on the sale of assets, e.g., businesses and shares, they not only reduce savings they misallocate resources. This is because taxes on realised capital gains amount to transaction taxes as well as investment taxes
Taxing houses: more economic stupidity: Some economists think those who own their own homes should pay an imputed rent. No wonder so many people sneer at so-called rational economics (free market economics) when this kind of nonsense is seriously defended by economists are who paid to know much better
Politic$, Inc: Principle, Not Profit: The current political model is broken, due to professional politicians who are more concerned with personal advancement and financial gain than

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Heh! The success-haters lose one: "A first-of-its-kind state law that would have required Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health care in Maryland is invalid under federal law, a judge ruled Wednesday. The state law would have required non-governmental employers with 10,000 or more workers to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care or pay the difference in taxes. The measure was aimed at Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.... U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz decided that the Maryland Fair Share Health Care Fund Act would have hurt Wal-Mart by requiring it to track and allocate benefits for its Maryland employees in a different way from how it keeps track of employee benefits in other states. Motz wrote that the law "imposes legally cognizable injury upon Wal-Mart." Motz cited the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which he said pre-empts "any and all state laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan."

Coincidentally, the second edition of the Carnival of Wal-Mart is just up. See here.

Another example of general bodily fitness being indexed by IQ: "Social class [which is associated with IQ] determines how quickly the body ages, irrespective of factors such as health, diet and bad habits, research suggests. A groundbreaking study of twins led by British scientists has shown that people of lower socioeconomic standing, whether because of the job they do or the person they marry, age seven years more quickly than their more fortunate peers. Poorer health, worse habits and less pampering may have long been associated with shorter lifespans for Britain’s blue-collar workers, but now biological mechanisms have also be identified. The study, which involved more than 1,500 women, shows a dramatic and unexplained association between social class and the rate of the body’s cellular deterioration."

Blame Big Business for High Gas Prices: "This past week, the average price for a gallon of gasoline rose above $3 for the first time since the brief post-Katrina spike. On cue, politicians, journalists, and liberal agitators are crying "price gouging," and telling us we need federal policy to guide us towards a petroleum-free world. These complaints hold traces of the truth: (1) We ought to be angry at big business for the high gas prices; and (2) there is something the government can do about it. But the problem is not corporate "price gouging" and the solution is not new subsidies or regulations. The corporate misbehavior causing high gas prices is what I call "subsidy suckling" and "regulatory robber-baronry." The solution, as Ronald Reagan would tell us, is for government to get out of the way."

Immigration and Usurpation: Elites, Power, and the People's Will : "If mass immigration from Latin America has debatable benefits for the United States as a whole, if a majority of the American people is against it, and if immigrants cannot vote until they become naturalized (which can take years after their arrival), why would nine-tenths of the legislators we spoke with be so keen on increasing immigration? ... Also curiously, the Republican enthusiasm for increased immigration also was not so much about voting in the end, even with 'converted' Latinos. Instead, these legislators seemingly believed that they could weaken the restraining and frustrating straightjacket devised by the Founding Fathers and abetted by American norms. In that idealized 'new' United States, political uncertainty, demanding constituents, difficult elections, and accountability in general would 'go away' after tinkering with the People, who have given lawmakers their privileges but who, like a Sword of Damocles, can also 'unfairly' take them away. Hispanics would acquiesce and assist in the 'natural progress' of these legislators to remain in power and increase the scope of that power. In this sense, Republicans and Democrats were similar. ..."

Mideast Conflict Hard to Solve, Easy to Explain: "The Middle East conflict is difficult to solve, but it is among the simplest conflicts in history to understand. The Arab and other Muslim enemies of Israel (for the easily confused, this does not mean every Arab or every Muslim) want Israel destroyed. That is why there is a Middle East conflict. Everything else is commentary. Those who deny this and ascribe the conflict to other reasons, such as "Israeli occupation," "Jewish settlements," a "cycle of violence," "the Zionist lobby" and the like, do so despite the fact that Israel's enemies regularly announce the reason for the conflict. The Iranian regime, Hizbollah, Hamas and the Palestinians -- in their public opinion polls, in their anti-Semitic school curricula and media, in their election of Hamas, in their support for terror against Israeli civilians in pre-1967 borders -- as well as their Muslim supporters around the world, all want the Jewish state annihilated."

No doubt with reference to my recent birthday, a reader sent me this link about us oldsters. There are some serious points amid the humor. Turn your sound on. I have also just put up a few pics from my birthday bash here

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WIKIPEDIA BIAS

A lot of the entries on Wikipedia about psychology display a Leftist bias. So, as a conservative academic psychologist, I should step in and correct that -- right? Well, I HAVE tried but my corrections don't last long. See for instance this entry about a bit of nonsense called the "Right wing Authoritarianism" questionnaire, devised by Bob Altemeyer. I have had a great deal published in the academic literature (e.g here) about this questionnaire (or "scale") so I know it well. It exists as an attempt to show conservatives in a bad light but fails rather hilariously.

Note this statement from the present Wikipedia entry:

RWA is also correlated with political conservatism - not so much at the level of ordinary voters, but with increasing strength as one moves from voters to activists to office holders, and then from lower to higher-level officeholders

After that sentence, I added:

Altemeyer's own statement about this may be worth noting (From p. 239 of "Enemies of Freedom"):

"right-wing authoritarians show little preference in general for any political party".

So the type of conservatism studied by Altemeyer is a rather peculiar subset of it -- one with virtually no everyday political relevance. Like the Adorno F scale which was its ultimate inspiration, the RWA scale would seem to tap a particularly old-fashioned type of conservatism.

You will not find that piece of information there now. What I wrote has been erased completely. I could go on with further examples but what's the point? There is only one point that matters: Don't trust Wikipedia (or "Wackypedia", as I usually call it).

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The above is a picture of "socialist sandals" from The Real Cuba

Interesting press release about Afghanistan received from CENTCOM: "Coalition Soldiers have seized an estimated $3 million in opium from an extremist compound July 13 after a Coalition patrol held off more than two dozen fighters until additional firepower arrived. Following the engagement, the Soldiers found five dead extremists, but believe many more were killed. A search of the compound found 70 kilograms of opium paste, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, four rockets, an AK-47 and ammunition, a passport and other documents. "Recovering these weapons and drugs increases the safety and security of Afghans, and reduces the danger posed by criminals and extremists who might use those munitions indiscriminately to cause harm on the Afghan people, Afghan security forces or Coalition forces ," said Col. Thomas Collins, Coalition spokesman. "This engagement also confirms with physical evidence that the extremists are linked to the drug trade in southern Afghanistan."

Strange "terrorism" targets: "It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a child might have written: Old MacDonald's Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified "Beach at End of a Street." But the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, in a report released Tuesday, found that the list was not child's play: all these "unusual or out-of-place" sites "whose criticality is not readily apparent" are inexplicably included in the federal antiterrorism database. The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation. The database is used by the Homeland Security Department to help divvy up the hundreds of millions of dollars in antiterrorism grants each year, including the program announced in May that cut money to New York City and Washington by 40 percent, while significantly increasing spending for cities including Louisville, Ky., and Omaha. "We don't find it embarrassing," said the department's deputy press secretary, Jarrod Agen. "The list is a valuable tool."

The Reagan/Bush comparison: "Conservatives attack Mr. Bush most vehemently on excessive government spending, and there they have a point. He could have been more frugal, despite the exigent circumstances, especially in his first term. But it's also on the spending issue that the Reagan myth--Reagan as the relentless swashbuckler against spending--is most pronounced. He won an estimated $35 billion in spending cuts in 1981, his first year in office. After that, spending soared, so much so that his budget director David Stockman, who found himself on the losing end of spending arguments, wrote a White House memoir with the subtitle, "Why the Reagan Revolution Failed." With Reagan in the White House, spending reached 23.5% of GDP in 1984, the peak year of the military buildup. Under Mr. Bush, the top spending year is 2005 at 20.1% of GDP, though it is expected to rise as high as 20.7% this year, driven upward by Iraq and hurricane relief."

Immigration critics making headway in State houses: "The passage of 11 anti-illegal immigrant measures by a special session of the Colorado Legislature this week is just the latest sign that momentum in the volatile debate is on the side of hard-liners. Earlier this year, immigrant-rights groups were encouraged when the Democratic-controlled Legislature rejected several bills that party leaders characterized as extremist. Spring featured the largest political rallies Colorado had ever seen, as 75,000 immigrants and their supporters marched in front of the state Capitol demanding amnesty. But late Monday, the Colorado Legislature approved a ban on nonemergency state services to adults who fail to prove they are in the country legally, a measure modeled on a broader law that Georgia adopted in April. Democrats here began boasting that their measure was the toughest in the nation.... Polls have shown the population is similarly divided over illegal immigration, but that hard-liners are more motivated. That appears to be borne out in statehouses, where more than 400 anti-illegal immigration measures were proposed this year. The vast majority failed, but at least a dozen states passed bills targeting illegal immigration. Louisiana approved a law stiffening penalties for businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Wyoming barred students in the U.S. illegally from receiving some scholarships, while Missouri denied unemployment benefits to workers who weren't citizens. And states such as Pennsylvania and Maryland are considering benefit cuts modeled on those in Colorado and Georgia, which are the most far-reaching".

Sarkozy: speak English and work harder: "The French Interior Minister has a stark message for his countrymen. The French need to work harder and display less arrogance, if they are to recapture former glories, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, tells his countrymen in a highly personal 281-page book published yesterday. Just as they embark on their long summer break, he has a blunt message for them: the holiday is over. In an account that may make for uncomfortable reading on the beaches, M Sarkozy demands effort, reform and an end to the Gallic habit of delivering lessons to the rest of the world.... Hailing modern Britain as an example, M Sarkozy urges voters to remove their heads from the sand, accept that France is in decline and embrace the market economy as the path to revival."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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WHY THE CURRENT CONFLICT INVOLVING ISRAEL?

Find here the address by Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the Knesset last Monday. He speaks with blinding clarity about the present situation. Some excerpts:

Over the past few weeks, our enemies have challenged the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the safety of its residents - first in the southern sector, then on the northern border, and deeper into the home front.

Israel did not seek these confrontations. On the contrary. We have done a lot to prevent them. We returned to the borders of the State of Israel, recognized by the entire international community. There were those who misconstrued our desire for peace - for us and our neighbors - as a sign of frailty. Our enemies misinterpreted our willingness to exercise restraint as a sign of weakness. They were wrong!

The State of Israel has no territorial conflict, neither on our southern border nor on our northern one. In these two areas, we are sitting on the recognized international border - both vis-.-vis the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip, and in Lebanon. We have no intention of interfering in their internal affairs. On the contrary, stability and tranquility in Lebanon, free of the rule of foreign powers, and in the Palestinian Authority, are in Israel's interest.

The campaign we are engaged in these days is against the terror organizations operating from Lebanon and Gaza. These organizations are nothing but "sub-contractors" operating under the inspiration, permission, instigation and financing of the terror-sponsoring and peace-rejecting regimes, on the Axis of Evil which stretches from Tehran to Damascus.

Radical, terrorist and violent elements are sabotaging the life of the entire region and placing its stability at risk. The region in which we live is threatened by these murderous terror groups. It is a regional - as well as global - interest to take control and terminate their activity.

We intend to do this. We will continue to operate in full force until we achieve this. On the Palestinian front, we will conduct a tireless battle until terror ceases, Gilad Shalit is returned home safely and the shooting of Qassam missiles stops. And in Lebanon, we will insist on compliance with the terms stipulated long ago by the international community, as unequivocally expressed only yesterday in the resolution of the 8 leading countries of the world

On both fronts we are exercising self-defense in the most basic and essential sense. In both cases, it is a matter whose importance and significance go far beyond the size of the military units involved. We are at a national moment of truth. Will we consent to living under the threat of this Axis of Evil or will we mobilize our inner strength and show determination and equanimity?

All of us - Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians - now stand as one person, as one nation, subject together to the same hatred and malice, and fighting against it in consensus and partnership. When missiles are launched at our residents and cities, our answer will be war with all the strength, determination, valor, sacrifice and dedication which characterize this nation.

There was a Solidarity with Israel rally held in the Australian city of Melbourne on the same day: Seven speakers including three Members of Parliament. To see photos and read some of the speeches, click here

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The official text of the Group of Eight nations meeting in Petersburg was released on Sunday night and is up here. It lays responsibility on Hizbolla and Hamas directly, and does NOT accuse Israel of using "disproportionate" or "excessive" force. It looks as if the G8 is tacitly happy for Israel to do what it takes to disempower the terrorists. Note that France is a member of G8.

There is an article here that outlines a VERY interesting development. The latest terrorist attacks on Israel are being CRITICIZED by much of the Arab world.

Arlene Peck thinks Israel is not being tough enough: "Israel, as it is well known, though not acknowledged by the European Union, United Nations, and much of the mainstream media, has been living under a barrage of "one slice at a time" from a multitude of surrounding enemies who regularly lob Katushas and Kassams across Israel's border. The world is and has been aware for many years of this deplorable situation that Israel has been forced to live under. Yet, the hatred for the Jewish state is so great that it has become ''normal'' to expect Israel to adhere to a different standard of behavior than that is expected of the terrorists who attack them. The European Union, United Nations, and all the Arab and Muslim states do what they always do: call for and get another emergency session to condemn Israel."

An interesting suggestion from a reader: "Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL to see the USS Cole off the coast of Beruit providing protection for 25000 fleeing Americans? I think that'd send a knife-like message to OBL, and those who got so much pr from attacking it. It's in the area, and just did a port call in Greece a week or so ago. I think in the War on Terror it'd be a great reminder of the USS Cole incident and as the world media reported its presence. Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, MSNBC, CBS, NYT....they'd all be compelled to report its significance, the attack done on it, and the effect of not responding to that attack. It's the modern form of gunboat diplomacy for asymetric warfare. It'd send a damn fine signal that America can be hit, but not sunk. Please send your comments and hopes that the USS Cole be positioned for the world to see off the coast of Beruit....to the President"

A dilemma for Leftist Jews: "The broadening violence in the Middle East is endangering a political species with deep roots in New York: the liberal Israel hawk. Although parts of the American left are more sympathetic to the Palestinian side of that conflict, "in New York the liberals are Zionists, because they're Jews," says Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens). But the anti-war, anti-Bush, pro-Israel "progressive" political space occupied by the likes of the upper West Side's Rep. Jerrold Nadler and national Democrats such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is shrinking. Israel's American allies are increasingly in the Republican Party, and leading journals of the American left have been skeptical of Israel's aggressive military response to the kidnapping of its soldiers. Nadler said he sees "an increasing strain on the far left that is unreasonably anti-Israel, which I do not understand." An unwillingness to support Israel's right to defend itself, he said, could be tantamount for supporting the destruction of Israel. "If this kind of support for genocide of Jews continues to infect the left - that's not a left I want to be part of," Nadler said. The criticism of Israel's recent response as "disproportionate" has widened the gap between Democrats who back the Israeli government and their more critical allies."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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THE PRESENT ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT

There are some good answers here to some of the stupid media statements being made about the present conflict. A few excerpts:

If Israel is so intent on creating a humanitarian disaster, why does she supply Gaza with electricity and water? Why is Israel constantly monitoring the situation and taking the risk of opening border crossings whenever Palestinian stocks of food and medicines run low? Why is Israel coordinating with international aid agencies?

Given that Gaza has been totally Judenrein [i.e. There are now no Jews there] for almost a year, why do UN agencies, NGOs and governments continue to depict Gaza as occupied territory? Could it be that recognising the change in status might highlight their own failures? Or is it a greater concern that if Gaza is no longer classified as occupied, not only would the Palestinians have to take responsibility for their own actions there, but the welfare agency employees may not be able to justify their ongoing employment?

Exactly what is the "proportional" response to thousands of rockets launched at a country by its neighbours? What is disproportionate about deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians being responded to with attacks on military installations and their support infrastructure? How would France, the UK and others act if civilians in over 20 towns and villages were faced with a constant barrage of rockets on their homes, schools, hospitals, trains, factories, fuel facilities?

Anti-Semitism rears its head as Israel is singled out time and again for criticism for real or imagined wrong-doings, when far worse atrocities are ignored around the globe. Worse is anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. The world doesn't consider Palestinian Arabs capable of being responsible human beings. They are not expected to govern themselves, live up to basic democratic values, eradicate hate, keep written agreements, or keep to international standards in the conduct of war. Excuses are made all the time, and their victims take the blame.

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Huge aid to Africa given but just wasted: "Unfortunately it was precisely in the most aid intensive continent that there were the biggest disappointments. After $568 billion in aid over 43 years since the era of independence in Africa, there has been virtually no rise in living standards of the average African, and I think that is very sad. It's heartbreaking to see all this money spent and not achieve effects for what are after all very poor, desperate people living on a margin of subsistence.

Japan Takes A New Bite Out Of Detroit : "Ever since Americans began their love affair with Japanese cars four decades ago, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have seen their share of the U.S. market tumble. Now those same automakers are starting a romance with a different Japanese industry -- parts manufacturing -- adding to the woes of troubled U.S. suppliers such as Delphi... Denso is clearly the leader. It has 23 U.S. factories, and all three Detroit automakers buy heaters, air conditioners, fuel injection systems, and other components from the company. Denso's sales to GM have doubled in the past five years; today 40% of its North American business comes from non-Japanese carmakers. In April, Bo Andersson, GM's global vice-president of purchasing, named Denso the company's top vendor. The outfit was "our best supplier based on timely delivery, quality, and warranty costs," Andersson says".

If the British police murder innocent people, it is just a "health and safety violation"!: "Sir Ian Blair has broken his holiday to be at his desk at Scotland Yard today to face a fresh crisis, as the Crown Prosecution Service puts his force in the dock over the Stockwell shooting. Ken McDonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions, is expected to announce that none of the 11 officers at the centre of investigations into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes will be charged, but the Metropolitan Police will face a corporate health and safety prosecution for bungling the counter-terrorist operation that led to his death and in its duty of care towards him"

I rather like these reports about Russia's President Putin. They show a sharp and well-informed mind and it seems a good thing to me to have such a mind in charge of such an important country. I wish I could say that sharp and well-informed minds are common among Western politicians.



A big announcement from Wal-Mart today: last year, the company donated more than $245 million to charities. In 2004, the Wal-Mart Foundation was the most charitable corporate foundation, and in 2005, giving increased by $38 million. More details here. This announcement comes on the heels of Forbes magazine naming Wal-Mart the most generous company in corporate America. Best of all, the majority of the donations were made at the local level where they do the most good.

The Autonomist has some good suggestions about how to make the New York Times think twice about its far-Left biases.



The Rotary menace: "Muslim fundamentalists aren't shy about naming their enemies. They've identified Zionists and secularists as particular foes of Islam; picked out apostates, Americans, and Jews for scorn; disparaged "crusaders" and imperialists; and even-like conspiracists everywhere-warned against the Freemasons. But Islamists have selected one enemy that's entirely baffling: Rotary clubs."

Charming Britain: "A convicted paedophile walked free from court because a judge who wanted to lock him up was told all the local prisons were full. Robert Wilby, 61, was found guilty of five counts of indecency with a child and two of indecent assault at Liverpool Crown Court last week"

There is a petition here which I have just signed. It petitions Chicago's far-Left DePaul University to reinstate Prof. Thomas Klocek -- who was fired for defending Israel to Muslim students.

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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My birthday celebrations

Unlike a lot of bloggers, I don't write routinely about my personal life but occasionally I do break out and I thought that a birthday is a reasonable occasion to do so. So here comes a very rambling account of my 63rd birthday celebrations on the weekend just past.

The first birthday-related activity was when Jill -- one of the lovely ladies in my now rather distant past -- gave Anne and me a very fine lunch at her place. I drove my recently-acquired 1963 Humber Super Snipe to the lunch and Jill loved it. She did herself live in England in the 60s and at that time drove both a Hillman and a Bentley so she has a soft spot for old English cars.



I kept the Humber out of the garage when we got back from Jill's in order for Anne and me to take it out out that night as well. That night, we drove in it down to Wynnum, which is a seaside area of Brisbane. We had fish and chips on the esplanade, overlooking Moreton Bay, which was very pleasant, despite a rather cold wind. I know a place at Wynnum that does good fish and chips -- which any Englishman or Australian will tell you is important knowledge to have about where you live.

On Sunday morning, my ex-wife Jenny gave Anne and me brunch, with many good things to eat. My son Joe and his Thai girlfriend also attended. It was only a small occasion as the big family gathering was that night.

On Sunday night I hosted a dinner at a local Indian restaurant for "family" -- with "family" being rather loosely defined. There were 18 of us. The family concerned is unusually cohesive by Anglo-Saxon standards and gets together with considerable frequency for various occasions -- particularly birthdays, "visitors from England" etc., so it was certainly my turn to host something. We have a family "Christmas in July" coming up very soon -- an idea which makes sense only to English people living in Australia who have this odd notion that Christmas should happen in midwinter.

An Australian Christmas is of course in midsummer. My earliest memories of Christmas include seeing heatwaves rise like worms off hot bitumen roads -- in the tropics where I was brought up. That must be pretty incomprehensible to most of my readers, I am sure. It is sort of amazing that people could adapt to such extreme heat but the tropical-adapted population from which I come think nothing of it. We are definitely "white niggers" -- white people who are as at ease in the tropics as any black man -- though we get a lot more skin-cancer than black men do.

Anyway, as usual, the Indian food was good and we all enjoyed the occasion. In good traditional Australian/British style, the men mostly talked to the men and the women to the women but Anne is a great communicator so she talked to the men a fair bit as well. I am a rather silent type in person so I am always happy to have a lady in my life to do the talking. The late Hans Eysenck was the same. He wrote so much that he was at one time the world's most cited living psychologist but on social occasions it was his wife Sybil who did most of the talking.

So despite what may seem like some oddities, I greatly enjoyed my two days of birthday celebrations. I even managed to fit in more blogging than I thought I would. You can't keep a keen blogger down!

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ELSEWHERE

You can find here the words of the latest Bob Dylan song: "Neighborhood Bully". It is about Israel and sums up neatly the huge and irrational bias against Israel in the large part of the world that cannot cope with reality.

There is an article here about the worldwide base of support for the Bombay train bombers.

Why is this loony not talking to the terrorists?: "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Western powers were "keeping mum" over mounting bloodshed in the Middle East, warning that they would "pay the bill" by facing more terrorist attacks, Anatolia news agency reported. "Bombs are exploding, innocent people are being killed, infrastructures are being destroyed... The powerful continue to crush the weak, but unfortunately those who hold the power in the world are keeping mum," Mr Erdogan said in the northeastern city of Artvin. "Those who back global peace (only) with words will sooner or later pay the bill by facing global terrorism... This is what is provoking terrorism," he was quoted as saying. Mr Erdogan complained that violence in the Middle East was also damaging the United States' efforts to enhance democracy and human rights in the region, hinting that Ankara might reconsider its role in such initiatives."

Goodlatte: Bad Bet : "Bob Goodlatte says online gambling is illegal, and he wants to ban it. He sees no contradiction between these two positions. The Virginia Republican is co-author of a bill approved yesterday by the House of Representatives that threatens operators of online casinos and betting parlors with a five-year prison sentence. The legislation, which the Senate has not considered yet, also requires banks and credit card companies to block payments to such sites. Goodlatte says "it is time to shine a bright light on these illegal sites and bring a quick end to illegal gambling on the Internet." Yet he concedes that "under current federal law, it is unclear whether using the Internet to operate a gambling business is illegal." Confused? You're not the only one. The online gambling ban, which dictates what adults may do with their own money on their own computers in their own homes, is part of what Republicans proudly call their "American Values Agenda." Evidently those values do not include privacy, freedom of choice, individual responsibility, or free markets."

Noam Chomsky: America's village idiot: "Some of Chomsky's most important claims cannot reasonably be considered scientific achievements at all. In this article I discuss the nature of scientific inquiry. I want to show that the standards of achievement for serious scientists such as the physicist Albert Einstein are far higher than those of MIT's professor of linguistics, Noam Chomsky. In fact, I hope to take it a step further and show that Chomsky's most important claims cannot reasonably be considered scientific achievements at all. Furthermore, what some of Chomsky's admirers claim to be legitimate achievements are in fact instances of intellectual "con artistry;" what is claimed as profound insight is nothing more than academic fraud."

There is an amazing quiz here that asks you to look at pictures of 10 different men. Each is either a serial killer or an inventor of a computer programming language. It is amazingly hard to tell which is which. I got only 7 out of 10 right.

There is a very good "Yiddisher Momma" joke just up on Wicked Thoughts

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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BIRTHDAY

It's my 63rd birthday this weekend and celebrations are already underway so I won't be posting much for a day or two but, for the moment, there are a few recent readings of interest below. As I write this I am listening to the wonderful music of J.S. Bach. Perfect birthday music for me. We have just had the cantata Wachet auf and have now moved on to Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben.

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ELSEWHERE

There is an excellent Australian satirical site here. It is in fact the funniest site I know but about half the references are Australian so readers elsewhere would not get the point of all of it. There is a post here, however, that I think most people would get -- libertarians particularly.

I had a laugh at this Russian comment on the English: "With English people emotions are like an illness." My comment on the same topic is usually: "Embarrassment is the English national emotion".

NOW hypocrisy: "China's one-child policy has had a devastating impact on the gender balance. China now has 119 boys for ever 100 girls, a gender imbalance that is far from the normal 103-100 ratio seen in industrialized nations across the globe. The imbalance has given rise to a culture of massive sex-trafficking and the kidnapping of teenagers and young adults to be forced into marriage.... And, where is the voice of the National Organization for Women (NOW) on this? Instead of expressing outrage at what is amounting to a systematic defeminization of the world's largest country, the now.org web site's home page includes, among other things, a complaint about the state court in New York refusing to recognize homosexual marriage; ... Its opposition to sex-specific schools (even though their superior educational results are undeniable); A spirited flogging of the falling-apart Duke lacrosse team rape case on behalf of the woman who brought the allegations. I would think China's "40 million missing girls" would at least merit a mention on NOW's home page. Nope."

When unions globalize: "Globalization continues to be a boon to mankind. Economic benefits once reserved to residents of the developed world are spreading rapidly throughout the developing world. Thanks to free trade, companies from rich countries are bringing improvements in health, safety, and environmental quality to their overseas employees and their communities. Across the world, countries freeing up their markets to foreign countries are benefiting the most. ... Yet another Western export threatens to derail this process. Labor unions are beginning to globalize, threatening to spread overseas the onerous rules and inefficiencies for which they're renowned in the West."

The disabled vs. the endangered: "The Smoking Gun Web site reported yesterday on the federal lawsuit filed by a New York man seeking to sunbathe nude with his service dog. Plaintiff Mark DelCore says that since 9/11 he has suffered from traumatic stress and a skin condition that requires full-body dosing by sunlight--with his animal for emotional support. His suit alleges that by banning service dogs on a nude beach, officials of Fire Island National Seashore violated the Americans With Disabilities Act. If the dispute were only between a disabled man and zealous park rangers, Mr. DelCore and his ADA claim might have a fighting chance. Buried in the fine print of his filing, however, is mention of an adversary that may turn out to be more formidable than any ranger. It seems that dogs are banned because they might disturb the piping plovers that breed on or near the beach. Uh oh. Protected wetland birds? Sounds like a trump card for the defense." (More details here)

Murderous British police to get a fine only: "No police officers will face criminal charges over the fatal shooting last year of an innocent Brazilian man who was mistaken for a suicide bomber by police, British newspapers said today. The Times, The Guardian and The Independent all carried reports that the Metropolitan Police officers involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on July 22 last year will not be brought before the courts. Instead, they said the force will face charges under Britain's health and safety laws for failing in it its "duty of care" towards the 27-year-old electrician, who was mistaken for a bomber following suicide attacks on the capital's public transport system two weeks earlier. A successful health and safety prosecution would mean an unlimited fine on the police authority but is unlikely to satisfy the dead man's family, who are keen for those responsible to be charged."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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)

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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