LEFTIST "PRINCIPLES" VANISH ONCE AGAIN

In the Duke "rape" case

This case represents a profound abuse of prosecutorial power, a disingenuous attack by a politician on defendants who were exploitable during an election year. It is precisely the sort of injustice that should ignite outrage across the ideological divide. It is therefore curious that as of 10:30 pm EDT there has been virtually no discussion of today's extraordinary development on the major lefty blogs. Atrios, nothing. AMERICABlog, zippo. Nothing on the front page of Kos, nor at Kevin Drum's blog. Firedoglake: Nada. From Glenn Greenwald, who writes about legal issues all the time, deafening silence. Pandagon, which might be expected to write about a prosecution that threatens to discredit rape victims everywhere, has nothing today. The list goes on and on.

Now, I am not suggesting that there is anything hypocritical or otherwise snark-worthy about the lefty 'sphere's almost total indifference to the Nifong scandal. Almost all bloggers, including me, write quite selectively according to their interests and -- for those of us who work for a living -- free time. The case, though, is about the political application of the police and prosecutorial powers against manifestly innocent people, precisely the sort of thing that gets many lefty bloggers very agitated in the ordinary course. It is curious, therefore, that they are seemingly so removed from this case. Perhaps it is because the Nifong scandal involves various extremely inconvenient truths, including the revelation that women who level the charge of rape are not inherently truthful. Indeed, so powerful was the belief in the accuser's credibility that 88 Duke faculty members signed a petition 'saying "thank you" to campus demonstrators who had distributed a "wanted" poster of the lacrosse players and publicly branded the players "rapists"' (now removed without explanation).

More here. (If you have recently arrived from Mars, a summary of what the above is all about is here)

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NO NATIONAL MEDIA FURORE ABOUT THESE 3 ACCUSED COLLEGE RAPISTS

These college sportsmen are black --- unlike the 3 white lacrosse players at Duke U. Exact proof of how racist the Left-dominated U.S. mainstream media are

Three University of Minnesota football players were in police custody Friday, undergoing questioning after allegations of criminal sexual conduct, the university said in a statement. Coach Tim Brewster immediately suspended the players until the investigation is complete. The allegations come on the eve of the team's spring intrasquad game.

The players were identified by the university as Alex Daniels, listed as a 6-foot-3, 255-pound defensive end who came to the Gophers as a highly touted linebacker from Columbus, Ohio; Keith Massey, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound cornerback from Columbus; and E.J. Jones, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound running back from Edwardsville, Ill. Daniels and Massey are 20 years old. Jones is 19. A university spokesman said all three are sophomores, but Daniels is listed on the roster as a junior. It appeared they had not been charged with any crime as of Friday night, but they remained in police custody.

According to a police report, an 18-year-old woman was raped sometime between late Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The victim, whose name is not being released, was examined at a local hospital.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Fallout from racial hatred of whites at Duke U: "There are many victims in the case of the guiltless Duke lacrosse players. And many more perpetrators who, through wishful thinking, greed, arrogance or lunacy, kept this case going long after the accused boys should have received a heartfelt apology. But the biggest losers may be the ones you'll never hear about. These are the genuine victims of sexual assault: women who don't fabricate tales of brutality, or seek out the richest, whitest men to falsely accuse of forcing them into sex. Who will believe a rape victim now?

Britain running around in circles again: "Trains and tracks could be reunited and put under public control for the first time since privatisation, under plans to make Scotland a test case for the rest of the rail industry, The Times has learnt. Network Rail, the not-for-profit company created by the Government to run Britain's tracks, has held secret talks with Scottish Labour politicians about taking control of trains north of the Border. The move would reverse the fragmentation of the industry after British Rail was broken up and sold off in the mid1990s."

France shows some spine with the Palis: "The new Palestinian government must do more if it wants to end a year-old international ban on direct aid, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Monday. After meeting Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr, Douste-Blazy said France wanted to see better relations with the national unity administration, but added that it was too soon for Europe to open the financial taps. The French minister said amongst the pre-conditions for a normalisation of relations was the release of an Israeli soldier snatched by Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip in June. "The international community should be progressively engaged in a return of aid... but on condition the unity government meets previous engagements and makes additional gestures, notably the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit," he said. Shalit has French citizenship and was seized during a raid on army positions along the Gaza-Israeli border."

A BBC writer on anti-Americanism: "What is there not to like about the US? There are a number of possible answers, not all printable. But after weeks spent talking to anti-Americans in Paris, Cairo and Caracas, I am more convinced than ever that the anti-American mindset is often just that: a mindset, a prejudice. It is not racism - America has no racial profile to be hated - but nor is it simply a reaction to events and policies.... This creed is not reactive, it is visceral. Why else would English friends with impeccable anti-racist credentials ask about our children (who grew up in the US) "How will you get rid of their accents." Well, why would we want to?"

Republican wimps: "Republican staff in both the House and the Senate are stunned by the lack of push back from GOP members against House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who last week launched an unprecedented fishing expedition to get at the files of an opposition party. Waxman sent a letter to the Republican National Committee demanding copies of all the e-mails sent by Bush Administration officials 'for partisan political purposes.'"

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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GOOGLE BIAS

It looks to me very much as if I have become a victim of the bias against conservative sites at Google. In their addled thinking, anyone who is critical of Islam is guilty of "hate speech" and they have been known to wipe sites from their coverage because of that terrible offence. And I make no bones about being critical of Islam -- and of much else besides.

Google searches still do cover some of my articles but some that have been up for years and which were formerly covered seem to have vanished from the Google database. I have put in a request for them to index the whole of my most reliable site -- http://jonjayray.batcave.net -- so we will see what happens about that. Even aside from my own writings, I am constantly surprised by what Google DON'T cover -- even stuff on major conservative sites -- such as townhall.com. Sometimes I can find what I want only because I know my way around such sites -- with Google being no help at all.

Google is at the moment engaged in a collaboration with some major world libraries that aims to scan in and make available online all the world's printed books. Yet almost all of my non-blog writings are ALREADY archived online by the National Library of Australia in their "Pandora" archive (See here) but I have yet to see any link to anything in my Pandora archive on Google. And my 1974 printed book "Conservatism as Heresy" is already available in full online (See here) but only some chapters are accessible via Google. How odd if we have to wait for the completion of their book-scanning project for my book to become available via them when it has already been online elsewhere for years!

Meanwhile, live.com (the Microsoft search service) seem to cover everything I have online so once again I find reason to prefer them to Google. So I would again like to suggest to my readers that live.com seems to be a less biased search service -- and, as such, is more likely to yield what you are looking for.

Someone at Google will most probably read this post. They are quite good at recording what appears on blogspot blogs (they own blogspot) and they do seem to run checks on what is being said about them -- but it is most unlikely that they will be in any way influenced by what I have written. When you are a Leftist, you just KNOW what to do. Argument and reason are only for the peasants.

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The beast in man

Student 'Jews' were hit and spat on in a Texas school Holocaust re-enactment -- a re-run of the famous Zimbardo prison experiment. No conservative or Christian would be surprised to hear that people are not naturally "good"

A SCHOOL roleplaying exercise on the Holocaust went horribly wrong when some students took the lesson too far and the "Germans" spat on and punched the "Jews". The Academy school in Waxahachie, 50km south of Dallas, Texas, runs the roleplay every year to teach year nine students about intolerance and discrimination. During the roleplay students tagged as Jews were forced to stand against the wall as the "Germans" passed by the hallway, AP reported. The Jewish students had to pick up everyone's garbage at lunchtime and were the last to eat.

But students said the exercise got out of hand when the "German" students spat on and hit the "Jewish" students. "They would spit on them. They would push them down the stairs. They would be really rude," student Tiffany Zimmerman told AP. "I think it was too rough and over the edge."

Principal John Aune told a Dallas-Fort Worth television station the point of the lesson was "learning about the problems of intolerance and the problems of discrimination and helping kids understand what some people went through to change the world". Mr Aune said the school had run the Holocaust exercise for five years and had never received any reports of violence. "I think that some of the kids were kind of harsh, but it taught us a little bit about how it was back then," student Trevor Smith said.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

I don't always agree with SCA (he is a Christian psychotherapist) but he has a wonderful post here. I cannot summarize it. It just has to be read.

Disgusting Duke University professors ignore exoneration: "Meanwhile, the Group of 88 remains unrepentant. A tenured Duke biology professor says she still thinks that maybe a rape occurred. A new day will begin, sure enough. A day of a massive lawsuits against Duke, among others. I imagine the Sol Rosenberg rule of lawsuits will obtain -- Sue everybody. (Except the accuser; they've decided she's a "troubled young woman." Also, she has no cash.)" [It transpires that the whole prosecution was based on an accusation from a seriously deranged fruitloop]

Australian ISP blocks Google: "Telstra BigPond has slammed Google's spam fighting credentials, claiming the Gmail team was not proactive enough in monitoring spam sent by its users. The scathing comments came after some of Google's mail servers were blacklisted by BigPond for being used to distribute spam. The blacklisting resulted in BigPond customers being unable to receive emails originating from some Gmail accounts. According to comScore Media Metrix, Gmail is the third largest free email provider - behind Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Mail - with 51 million users worldwide. It is unclear how many of these accounts were blocked by BigPond. On the popular Whirlpool broadband community forum, a number of members reported experiencing the issue as early as March 23, but BigPond spokesman Craig Middleton said the blacklisting had only just been removed. He said Google had approached BigPond about the issue last Thursday but did not immediately take steps to address it."

The dangers of a sleepy pilot in a warzone: "Israeli warplanes nearly shot down a US airliner flying from New York to Tel Aviv today when the pilot failed to respond as it approached Israel's coast. Two Israeli F-15s and two F-16s fighter planes intercepted a Boeing 777 operated by US Continental Airlines as it prepared to enter Israeli airspace without responding to control tower demands to identify itself, the official said. According to Israel's private Channel-10, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz and General Gaby Ashkenazy, chief of staff, were warned that the air force was on the point of shooting down a civilian plane suspected of being in the hands of hijackers. The Boeing pilot at the last minute realised the situation and the danger threatening his craft and established contact while still over the Mediterranean."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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THE INSTINCTIVE TOTALITARIANISM OF THE LEFT

An excerpt from Breath of the Beast below. He gets a lot right but fails to see the most basic thing that the Left and the Islamists share: Hatred of the world around them. See here and here for a summary of the basic role of hate in Leftism and here for more on the inherent authoritarianism of the Left

Kundera uses the word agelaste. Rabelais, he tells us, coined the word to denote people who do not laugh because they have no sense of humor and "are convinced that the truth is obvious, that all men necessarily think the same thing, and that they themselves are exactly what they think they are."

The moderate and progressive left for all its claims of good intentions and intellectual righteousness has for some time been slipping into a form of totalitarian fundamentalism. The totalitarian progressive left is, I fear an, as yet, undiagnosed epidemic among the upper middle class and the academic and political elites of Western Civilization. As with most epidemics, it has been hard to define in its early stages. In recent years however, it has begun to manifest itself in ways that are impossible to ignore.....

The modern Progressive, leftist and liberal movements lack any real humor. What passes for humor in those precincts is actually more accurately classified as ridicule and mockery. While driving the other day I saw an excellent example, bumper stickers that read, "So Many Right-Wing Christians So Few Lions". This is not humor. It is, rather, a kind of puerile, jejune attempt to wrap a hate message in a clever phrase and hurl it through the windshield of any car that had the misfortune to be driving behind. This is the very sort of message that the owner of that car would, no doubt, condemn utterly if it were aimed at any of the liberally approved minorities. How would he respond to- "So Many Black People, So Few Lynch Mobs"? I can't see how one is any worse than the other. Political correctness, tone deaf "humor" and the conceit of "true belief", are turning the mainstream left into a confederacy of Agelastes....

Totalitarian systems loath each other but they hate the individual human being, his sense of humor and his free thought much more. That is why the Totalitarian left and Caliphate Islam find common cause with each other. In each of them, it is the system not the people in it or the ideals they hold that are important; the individual is an object of suspicion and disdain. As Hannah Arendt wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism, "Totalitarianism strives not toward despotic rule over men but toward a system in which men are superfluous," The devotion to a strict fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran and the seemingly opposed devotion to the total and complete adherence to the intellectualized principals of the western left differ in their content but not in their disregard for reality and the complex nature of humanity.

This is why so many elite campuses are so inhospitable to Jewish and Christian speakers of any but the leftist point of view while they positively swoon in reverence over speakers from Islam who represent terror as an instrument of social control, the subjugation of women and death or conversion for all unbelievers. Even left wing speakers who do not toe the Agelaste Left party line are drowned out and not allowed to speak in today's academia. Speakers of both the left and right who dare defy the intellectual Taliban of academia and support Israel or speak in support of American values are routinely harassed, drowned out and intimidated socially, academically and even physically. This is a universal characteristic of totalitarians of any stripe, they are more comfortable with other totalitarians, no matter how diametrically opposed their ideas, than they are with those who can see and point out the absurdity of their slavery to empty ideas and pathetic rationalizations.

It is no accident that Academe is a stronghold of the Agelaste Left. In the hothouse of tenure, and with loyal cadres of duped and inexperienced students who eagerly shout down any opposition, the modern University is the last and most secure refuge for bright but craven and bone-lazy "geniuses" who spin vivid verbal riffs on their wishful dreams of what the world is like even as they are entirely insulated from the harsh realities that the business people and workers they so smarmily patronize have to face every day. Socialism and Communism have failed everywhere they have been tried except in the hermetically sealed aviaries of academia. Year after year the tenured Macaws of the professorate gather their favorite toadies up into their own self-congratulating ranks and push the rest out into the "real world" for which they have conspired to keep them ill-equipped. Thinking independently in some regions of academia calls down a fate worse than death- expulsion into the market place where only production of goods and services for which others will pay money earns a living. This is how the elite corps of the Agelaste Left terrorizes its true believers to believe even past the point of self-destruction.....

On the other hand, none of those on the left who reflexively bash America and Israel for "crimes against humanity" are crowding onto airplanes to go live under The Caliphate and Sharia rule either. I think it's safe to say none of them would last a month in a country ruled by Sharia Law. Indeed, they would be lucky to only have their hands cut off rather than be buried up to their waists in the dirt and be stoned to death or have their heads sawn off with a bread knife in front of a video camera..... If its one thing the Agelaste Left enjoys more than mourning dead Jews, it's blaming America and finding fault with the very institutions that shelter them and their self-destructive antics from annihilation by the despots, terrorists and repressive maniacs they so lionize.

More here on the growing love-affair between the Left and the Jihadists

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ELSEWHERE



The Onion gets it right: "Democrats in both houses of Congress demanded a thorough inquiry Monday into whether or not the American people think they are doing a good enough job, and what, if anything, they should do differently. "We cannot afford to make a wrong move as we face this crucial crossroads in our nation's history, which is why we need to know for sure what decision you'll support the most before we make it," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Monday, scrutinizing the assembled crowd for signs of approval. "The question facing us today is simple: Do you like us? If not, why? We demand an answer."

Catching suicide bombers: "Suicide bombers are part of the arms race of the 21st century. And they have an advantage over their victims, whether civilian or military: even if caught, they can often still blow up the checkpoint where they were detected. One company claims to have developed a way around this: the first technology that automatically discovers the bombs from a safe distance. The system involves aiming a lowpower radar beam at people from as far as 100 meters (109 yards) away. Software within the system reveals concealed objects without showing the body underneath, which could violate subjects' privacy, according to the developers. The technology was described last month in Technology Review, a magazine of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

Duke lacrosse players exonerated at long last: "The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case. The three players, Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty, were facing charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree forcible sexual offense. The charges stem from an off-campus party on the night of March 13, 2006" [Now for charges against their lying black accuser? Don't hold your breath]

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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CHINA BLOCKS BLOGS AGAIN

Shades of Mao: After a short period of "letting a hundred flowers bloom", the authorities in China have now cracked down harder than ever on access to blogs. BOTH of the backup or "mirror" sites I had been putting up to make my blogs accessible over there are now blocked in at least some parts of China. I am not giving up yet however. I have transferred one lot of my mirrors to a NEW site that is not so far blocked. You can find a list of the new links on http://jonjayray.fortunecity.com/mirrors.html. If you are in email contact with anyone in China, please give them that link.

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"I love humanity. It's just people I can't stand"

That old summary of Leftism above is brought forcefully to mind by the behaviour of an arrogant rich bitch whose multi-millionaire husband claims to represent the "little guy". That such Leftist elitists actually despise ordinary people is all too evident in the story below -- lifted from Taranto

"Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the 'rabid, rabid Republican' who owns property across the street from her Orange County [N.C.] home--and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor," the Associated Press reports:

Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way near his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person.

"I wouldn't be nice to him, anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who, when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

Johnson says he appropriately brandished the gun to protect himself from trespassers. Mrs. Edwards has more grievances against her neighbor:

Edwards views Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres.

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract. "I have to budget. I have to live within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."

There are two Americas, and Elizabeth Edwards would just as soon not have to look at the other one. Maybe that's why she is so eager to live in the White House, the ultimate gated community.

Taranto's comment about two Americas is a reference to an Edwards theme -- that there are two Americas and Edwards represents the downtrodden one! The Anchoress also has some scathing comments on the hate-filled Mrs Elitist. For my comments on Leftist elitism in general see here. Given the initial use of anti-Christian bloggers by the Edwards campaign, I suppose it should not surprise us that Mrs Edwards would obviously not know Christian charity if she fell over it. The claim by Edwards that he is following Christian thinking is once again shown up as a false front.

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ELSEWHERE

Vanderleun has an amusing post about the terrible problem of offensive comments on blogs. Some nerd has proposed that a "civility button" is needed. An excerpt from Vanderleun: "This is why I really have to think that O'Reilly is into the whole "civility button" business purely to improve his own scent. All bloggers already have two buttons, the edit button and the delete button. That's all we need to crush dissent within our tiny little realms. Anything else just glorifies Emperor O'Reilly and he's already lording it over wage slaves daily. I don't see why I should join up. Unless he's going to pay me."

It's not only Christmas that Target hates: "Two Marines in their dress uniforms - the ones with white hats, khaki shirts and blue trousers with red stripe - say they were accused of recruiting at a Target department store here and told to leave. "We weren't recruiting," according to Cpl. Carlos Rodriguez, 22, who said he returned in October from his second combat tour in Iraq. "I just popped in to say hi to a guy I went to high school with. He works there." But an assistant manager who saw Rodriguez and the other Marine apparently thought otherwise and showed them the door, according to both servicemen".

The left blackballs the Black Caucus: "In the battle for control of the Democratic Party, the George Soros-MoveOn.org crowd is used to getting its way. So it's revealing to watch the consternation in those precincts to the Congressional Black Caucus decision to co-sponsor a pair of Presidential primary debates this year with Fox News. Liberal activists are livid, to say the least, with one anti-Fox pressure group condemning the Black Caucus for "dancing with the devil." Color of Change, a coalition of black online activists, says the collaboration promulgates "bigoted, hate-filled worldviews." Markos Moulitsas, the DailyKos front man, calls the CBC "corrupt and compromised" for "doing Fox's bidding." His implication is that Black Caucus Members have somehow been bought off, though there is no evidence to support the slur. This is to say nothing of some of the more vicious blog chatter, much of it carrying racial connotations."

Leftist "anti-Zionism": "As any state, Israel is imperfect. When, criticism of Israel is one-sided, slanted, or knowingly factually wrong, and far worse behavior by Palestinians is ignored, excused, or lies parroted, that IS anti-Semitism."

Britain's Leftist government shafts retirees and the poor: "To the great anger of the millions who have seen their retirements ruined as a result of his infamous tax raid on pension funds in his first Budget in 1997, official documents released under the Freedom of Information Act last Friday revealed that he had been well advised by Treasury officials of the disastrous consequence of his actions but chose to pursue them regardless. Now there is another great betrayal to expose: how Mr Brown’s policies have hindered, rather than helped, the poorest and most vulnerable in society, the very people he professes to champion. The Business has discovered the smoking gun and, as with the pensions scandal, the facts make for grim reading. Statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) unearthed by The Business reveal that the income of the bottom 10% of the population fell from £91 a week in 2004-2005 to £89 a week in 2005-2006, a 2.2% drop. In stark contrast, the top 10% saw their income rise from £820 to £840 a week; those in the fifth (or middle) decile saw their income rise from £283 to £286.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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A land fit for heroes

Post below lifted from Mark Steyn -- which see for links

As Britain's returning "heroes" [who gave in without a fight] are selling their stories for six-figure sums (in dollars), here's one who can't get a look-in:

Private Johnson Beharry's courage in rescuing an ambushed foot patrol then, in a second act, saving his vehicle's crew despite his own terrible injuries earned him a Victoria Cross. For the BBC, however, his story is "too positive" about the conflict.

The corporation has cancelled the commission for a 90-minute drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq.

How brave is Private Beharry? He's the first living recipient of the Victoria Cross since two Aussies, Keith Payne and Rayene Stewart Simpson, were honored with the Commonwealth's highest award for gallantry in 1969 for their service in Vietnam, and he's the first living recipient in the British Army since Lance-Corporal Rambahadur Limbu of the 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles won his in the Confrontation with Indonesia in 1965. Private Beharry is one of only 12 living Victoria Cross holders. But his story might "alienate" the British public.

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"Return" -- For whom? And to where?

One of the most annoying quirks of our major media outlets involves their consistently misleading characterization of the current debate about demands for a Palestinian "right of return." ....

Tzipi Livni, Israel's popular Foreign Minister, articulates the core issue far more clearly than Prime Minister Olmert. "Just as Israel is the homeland for 800,000 Jewish refugees who fled or were expelled from Arab countries," she says, "so a new state of Palestine should be the homeland for Palestinian refugees."

Actually, the Arab League and the United Nations currently count some 4.3 million Palestinians as "refugees" or the descendants of refugees - a hugely inflated figure which, if nothing else, gives the lie to claims of Israeli "genocide." After all, if 700,000 Palestinian refugees of 1948-9 have now become 4.3 million - multiplying by some 600% in less than 60 years-it's hardly an indication of genocide. Few populations on earth - certainly not American or Israeli - have boasted that sort of explosive growth during this period. Moreover, only a small minority of the refugees (and of the Palestinian population in general) were actually land-owners. Most were tenant farmers or "fellahin" or urban tradesmen, and most had arrived only recently in the area from their homes in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, lured by the economic opportunities presented by the surging Jewish population in the 1920's and '30's. The idea that the great-great-grandchildren of such arrivals possess some inviolable connection to specific landscape in today's bustling Tel Aviv or Haifa is both illogical and altogether unenforceable.

The Israeli position may sound harsh in Prime Minister Olmert's formulation, but it remains eminently reasonable: if the Palestinians will negotiate peace, they get to decide who lives in their new state, but they don't get to decide who lives in the neighboring state of Israel. What's the sense behind the very idea of a "two state solution" if the Palestinians insist upon a similar "right" to live in both states?

No, the debate isn't about compassion for refugees, or protecting the "Jewish character of Israel" (a phrase that brings up the old, discredited "Zionism-is-racism" charge), or ethnic cleansing, or any other distracting issue cited by the American press.

The issue, as always, is Arab refusal to accept Israel's existence and sovereignty. Until the Palestinians and their Islamic allies come to terms with the reality and permanence of a restored state on the ancient homeland of the Jewish people, and drop the ludicrous demands about a "right to return," peace negotiations will go absolutely nowhere.

More here

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Scandal: the welfare state of "Palestine": "According to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) tens of billions of dollars (one-third from US taxpayers, the rest mostly from Canada and European countries) have been spent over the last 50 years providing "Palestinian refugees" and their descendents. An estimated half million people 60 years ago, that number is now over four million and increasing daily. UNRWA's purpose: to insure the "Palestinian Right of Return" - the destruction of Israel. No Arab country except Jordan -- where they constitute more than two-thirds of the population - accepts them as citizens. Saudi Arabia, for example, recently passed a law allowing all foreigner workers in the country to apply for Saudi citizenship next year - except Palestinians. More than 400,000 "Palestinian refugees" living in UNWRA-supported "camps" in Lebanon cannot work or even go to school outside their designated areas. Ditto for Syria. Most "Palestinian refugees" listed by UNRWA (which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and Gaza) in 2002, don't even live in the camps, but in nearby villages and towns. All receive free assistance and services for the rest of their life, including their children, their grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, ad infinitum".

How the Left hate media that do not suck up to them! "Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday pulled out of a second debate co-hosted by Fox News Channel, saying the cable network has a conservative slant. The Edwards campaign said it will not attend the Sept. 23 debate hosted by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, but officials added that Edwards will participate in a different debate hosted by the institute and CNN. "We believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective," said Jonathan Prince, Edwards' deputy campaign manager."

Congress shafts the world's poor: "The cotton market, which provides nearly 70 per cent of impoverished Burkina Faso's cash exports and income for more than a quarter of its 13 million people, has been brought to breaking point by factors known locally as "the monster with three heads": a weak dollar, low world prices and US cotton subsidies. This year will be crucial for the futures of 10 million West African farmers as the US renegotiates its Farm Bill, which has attracted international condemnation. America's 25,000 cotton farmers receive subsidies totalling some $4bn, allowing them to undercut their developing competitors. The subsidies were ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation three years ago, yet only 10 per cent have been dropped so far, and Washington still pays many times more in subsidies to these farmers than it gives in aid to Africa each year. As a result, world cotton prices are now at the lowest since the Great Depression of the 1930s."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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 CONTRADICTIONS OF LEFTISM

Old hands will recognize that I am using a favourite Marxist term above. "Contradictions" were supposed to be the fatal flaws in capitalism. There never were in fact any such contradictions, merely tensions. Leftism however is replete with REAL contradictions. Projection at work again

The left, liberals and the academy are schizophrenic. One half of the split personality applies to epistemology, aesthetics and culture. In these areas "progressives" adopt a radically skeptical viewpoint, rejecting the importance of tradition, standards and culture. The ESR blog argues that this is due to Stalinist influence. However, this explanation does not explain the staying power of progressives' disdain for American culture more than a decade after the Soviet Union's fall and more than five decades after Stalin's death.

The other half of the split personality is that when it comes to public policy, the "progressives" adopt an aggressively rationalist stance, arguing that their managerial problem solving skills can solve all problems: from predicting the outcome in the war in Iraq; to running the New York City subway system; to understanding global warming; to understanding abortion; to understanding the optimal way Wal-Mart ought to run itself; to understanding how income taxation will influence capital formation. When it comes to culture, the left, liberals and the academy argue that nothing can matter and that everything is a matter of power, not reason. When it comes to public policy, the left, liberals and the academy argue that their reason is infallible.

Of course, the left's opinion that its reason is infallible is a delusion of grandeur. Hayek called this the left's "fatal conceit". In reality, most everything that the left has attempted to do has failed. Putting aside the mass murder and environmental destruction in the Soviet Union and China, even just limiting the discussion to their influence in the United States, virtually everything that liberals and the left have touched has been destroyed. New York is a shadow of its former self. The welfare system destroyed millions of lives. The health system is a pathetic joke. The education system graduates illiterates. The Federal Reserve Bank caused the depression of the 1930s...

An important reason for liberalism's, the left's, and the academy's fatal conceit is its failure to integrate time into its thinking. Economists tend to use cross sectional or limited time series-based studies to derive conclusions that may depend on many decades' worth of data. Government budgets are based on annual cycles. Decisions made in one year are forgotten only one year later. Revenues can be raised in year one without contemplating the costs in future years. For example, public sector pension funds have tended to use overly aggressive assumptions because such assumptions reduce contributions in year one while others bear the costs in future years.

Liberalism, then, is based on short term thinking and that is a critical difference between those who advocate laissez faire , i.e., those who value individual rights, and advocates of state-based solutions who favor the collective over the individual in the economic realm. The costs of state-based solutions are borne over many decades, in the end destroying the social fiber, the economy, wealth and the community. However, the benefits are typically short run.

Post above lifted from Democracy Project. The writer does not understand why Leftists are so short-sighted and contradictory. Such Leftist characteristics are however diagnostic of a psychopathic personality -- which also features the moral blindness mentioned above

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Corn-based ethanol a crock: ""Good news: President Bush and Congress have found an energy policy they can agree on. Bad news: They both want to expand the use of ethanol. ... This mutual enthusiasm for the corn-based fuel may be good for the political environment, but not for the physical one. A new paper by The Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman road-tests the latest boondogglefrom Washington and finds that its earth-friendly claims are seriously overblown."

The ethanol alliance: "Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Camp David last weekend was meant to seal what is being dubbed as 'the ethanol alliance' between the United States and the South American giant. I have no idea whether ethanol will eventually deliver the grandiose promise of a clean environment or the bankruptcy of oil-rich despots. But I do know that there is a huge disconnect between the objectives of the ethanol alliance and current policy. If the United States wants to boost ethanol consumption and reduce oil-dependency, it needs to make a simple decision -- eliminate its 54-cents-a-gallon tariff. Experts tell us that corn-based ethanol, the kind being produced in the United States, is eight times less efficient than Brazil's sugarcane version of the biofuel."

Democrats still weakening America: "On Friday night, Rep. Duncan Hunter, former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and now its ranking Republican member, appeared on the Hannity and Colmes show on Fox, and I was astonished to hear him castigated for failing to see that our troops in Iraq needed equipment. He was specifically challenged on matter of the alleged lack of body armor for our troops in Iraq, and the administration's alleged failure to ensure that our troops had the protection the armor affords them. Ignored were certain inconvenient facts such as the amount of body armor that was available under Bill Clinton, which was zero. Today under President Bush and thanks to Duncan Hunter's work in the Armed Services Committee, which authorized the funds to purchase the body armor, the armed services have one million sets of body armor. That's one million! It's puzzling to see the media ignore the disastrous cutbacks in our armed services that took place under Bill Clinton, and the extraordinary efforts of the Bush administration and Hunter's committee to beef up our military. Under Clinton, for example, the number of armored Humvees available to the military was a pitiful 1,300. Under President Bush it's over 26,000. And it was not just Clinton who sapped our strength -- Congress under the Democrats has just turned thumbs down on the Pentagon's request for $4.75 billion for the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that can safeguard our troops from the IED explosions which are responsible for a large part of the deaths and wounding of our soldiers and Marines. Instead of funding that vital request in the $124 billion supplemental bill passed this week, the Democrats were able to find billions for such things as subsidies for spinach farmers and the shrimp industry, but not a dime for a vehicle that could save the lives of thousands of our troops in Iraq"

Revolting Brits?: "The government is predicting that some 15m people will revolt against Tony Blair’s controversial ID card scheme by refusing to produce the new cards or provide personal data on demand. The forecast is made in documents released by the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act. The papers show ministers expect national protests similar to the poll tax rebellions of the Thatcher era, with millions prepared to risk criminal prosecution. Opposition MPs said the new documents proved their case that the programme would never work. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: “This will cripple the system. Fifteen million is a massive number. What the Home Office is accepting in private, but refuses to accept in public, is that a massive number of ordinary law-abiding citizens simply will not go along with their scheme.” Davis, whose party’s policy is to scrap the cards, added: “This will render it completely useless as a security or check mechanism of any sort.” The documents, quietly released during parliament’s Easter break, also show that the government is planning to make ID cards compulsory in 2014, despite the expected revolt."

China Hand has just put up a new post. Blogspot blogs are once again blocked in China so there is a backup available here.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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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HOMOSEXUALITY DRASTICALLY SHORTENS YOUR LIFE

All the research so far seems to lead to that conclusion but Indiana Libertarian Ken Gividen has found some powerful new evidence. Following is an excerpt from a recent post:

"Legally married gays have 24 less years to live than married non-gays. That's the conclusion of a study presented to the Eastern Psychological Association's annual convention March 23. The report was prepared by Drs. Paul and Kirk Cameron

In Denmark, the country with the longest history of gay marriage, for 1990-2002, married heterosexual men died at a median age of 74 while the 561 partnered gays died at an average age of 51.

In Norway, married heterosexual men died at an average age of 77 and the 31 gays at 52. In Denmark, married women died at an average age of 78 compared to 56 for the 91 lesbians. In Norway, women married to men died at an average age of 81 vs. 56 for the 6 lesbians.

By comparison, smoking lessens one's life by seven years. The gay agenda is dangerous. Encouraging young people to explore the behavioral options is an invitation to an early grave. If accepted, lawmakers may sympathize with insurance companies who view the gay lifestyle as a liability more serious than smoking or skydiving. Programs to help gays abandon homosexuality will be seen as important life-saving efforts.

People should have the right to live their lives however they choose, providing they hurt no one else. They may eat themselves to death, smoke themselves to death or indulge in other harmful lifestyles. Taxpayers have no obligation to straighten them out. However, believing in human rights does not presume we must retreat to ignorance concerning the effects of behavior."

Unsurprisingly, that little bit of truth-telling got Ken condemned as "homophobic". Yet again, the truth is "hate speech". Anyway, Ken's blog got removed from various blogrolls because of his truth-telling so pay him a visit to show that such censorship does no good. Ken recycles a lot of my posts so he is obviously a good guy!

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Is the above pic a lot like what the Left want for us all? Pic lifted from Jules Crittenden

Taranto has a big follow-up to the post that I linked to yesterday -- in my comments about the infantile Left. It makes the excellent point that the infantile thinking concerned is largely the product of America's Left-dominated educational system.

The death-rattle of American car manufacturing? "FORD paid its new chief executive, Alan Mulally, $US28.18 million ($34.43 million) in his first four months on the job, the car maker said on Thursday. Mr Mulally's compensation included an $US18.5 million bonus that Ford - which reported a record $US12.7 billion loss last year - disclosed in September when it hired him from Boeing. Figures in Ford's annual proxy statement show that his pay was more than three times that of any other executive at the company. That includes the executive chairman, William Clay Ford jnr, who has kept a promise made in 2005 not to accept any new salary, bonus or stock awards until Ford can consistently earn a profit. Executive compensation at all three Detroit car makers has been closely scrutinised since they began revamping plans to close dozens of factories and eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. The companies are trying to overcome multibillion-dollar losses and become more competitive with foreign rivals like Toyota and Honda."

Pandering to nutters pays off. Prius powers Toyota to top: "New-vehicle sales fell in March at the three domestic automakers, but Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. continued to outperform the industry and posted its best month ever in the U.S. Toyota sold 242,675 vehicles, 12 percent more than a year ago, and showed strength on both the car and truck side of the business. Passenger-car sales jumped 19 percent as the Prius hybrid more than doubled, to 19,156, and the Camry, the industry's best-selling car, rose 8 percent as gasoline prices climbed during March. Prius sales have soared 80 percent this year after Toyota boosted production capacity for the car in Japan."

Auctioning off power in Washington: "Between the two party primaries and the general election, spending on the 2008 presidential race likely will exceed $1.5 billion (it topped $1 billion for the first time in 2004). Toss in congressional elections, and it's likely that total spending for control of the federal government in 2008 will top $5 billion (it was just under $4 billion in 2004). That doesn't include state and local races, nor does it include the money spent on lobbying, which topped $2 billion in 2004, a 35 percent jump from 2001. I tend to agree with many of the editorial boards and campaign reformers troubled by the escalation in the money we spend on federal elections. Unfortunately, campaign finance reformers (and lobbying reformers) seem to be troubled for all the wrong reasons. The problem with increasing amounts of money spent on lobbying and politics isn't that Americans are spending more and more money to buy some influence in Washington; the problem is that we're giving Washington more and more influence to sell."

It takes a Hillage: "In any free society, millions of people will have different ideas about how to form families, how to rear children, and how to associate voluntarily with others. Those differences are not just a result of a lack of understanding each other; no matter how many Harvard seminars and National Conversations we have, we will never come to a national consensus on such intimate moral matters. Clinton implicitly recognizes that when she insists that there will be times when 'the village itself [she means the federal government] must act in place of parents' and accept 'those responsibilities in all our names through the authority we vest in government.' She fundamentally rejects the American tradition of liberty. She says that government must make the decisions about how we raise our children."

Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims: "We are a group of Muslim apostates who have left Islam out of our own conviction when we discovered that the religion of Islam is not a religion at all. Most of us had taken a prolong period of time to study, evaluate, reflect and contemplate on this religion of our birth. Having scrutinized this religion with meticulous attention, we concluded that Islam is not at all a religion of peace as touted by many smooth-talking, self-serving Islamists and the Islamic apologists. The core of Islam, that is, the Qur'an, Hadis and Sharia are filled with unbound hatred for the unbelievers, unbelievably intolerant and exceptionally cruel and merciless to those who dare to deviate an iota from its doctrine. We discovered that Islam is beyond alteration, because Muslims who attempt to modernize and reform its unremitting bigotry, mindless rituals and its barbaric and draconian punitive measures are targeted for annihilation. Our verdict was that the only way to escape from the tyranny of Islam is to leave it for good. That is why we discarded Islam from our lives-to be free, to enjoy a normal, pleasant and humane life, in complete harmony with all people on earth irrespective of their religion, race or creed."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

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) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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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