ISLAMIC TORTURE COVERED UP BY THE MEDIA

The same media who splash the smallest examples of abuse -- whether true or not -- by American forces have still not mentioned what blog readers have known for days. Comment by conservative journalist Don Surber below:

IF you know about the torture manual used by al-Qaida, then you did not learn about it by reading the Washington Post, the New York Times or sadly, this newspaper. Neither the Associated Press nor Reuters picked up on the story. Fox News was the only major outlet with the story. Rupert Murdoch's newspapers in Australia republished the Fox report. The handbook was posted at the Smoking Gun Web site. It showed -- with drawings -- how al-Qaida uses drills, irons, vises and other devices to mutilate their captives. This is true torture, the same kind employed by Saddam Hussein's henchmen at Abu Ghraib. The handbook helped explain why a few days later, U.S. forces liberated 42 victims of al-Qaida torture from a location in Iraq.

But while they ignored the handbook story, the New York Times and Washington Post did not hesitate to publish a press handout from the United Nations condemning Guantanamo Bay. Why? Because the jihadis we captured are not given lawyers quickly enough. Will someone tell me the name of Daniel Pearl's lawyer? This is the same United Nations whose "human rights council" includes every dictatorship from Burkina Faso to Zimbabwe.

Gitmo has been demonized in part by the false and preposterous allegation that a guard flushed an inmate's Koran down the toilet. The New York Times published no less than 29 stories about this lie. Small wonder most Americans think Torquemada, chief of the Spanish Inquisition, runs Gitmo. Then again, the New York Times is the home of the infamous "Memos on Bush Are Fake But Accurate, Typist Says" headline. That was the headline a copy editor slapped on a story that grudgingly conceded that Dan Rather's memo disparaging George Walker Bush's military service was a fraud, a phony -- another lie.

Publishing 29 stories about a lie about a flushed Koran is bad enough. But when a newspaper then refuses to publish one story about a very real handbook on torture that is used by the enemy, that newspaper is no longer being objective. It is taking sides. And not the right side, at that.

Source

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Brookes News Update

US economy, immigration and the fallacy of cheap labour: There is little doubt that illegal immigration has had a negative impact on US wage rates, particularly of the unskilled. A study by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center concluded that the flow of illegals drove down local wages by 11 per cent
Electronic money and the money supply: another fallacy emerges: Many economists and financial markets commentators hold that in de-regulated markets whenever a central bank tries to impose control, markets create a new form of money, thereby bypassing central bank supervision. This is a serious error
Is China trying to colonise Zimbabwe?: There is something very odd indeed about Chinese goods flooding the Zimbabwe economy. Thanks to Mugabe's stupidity the economy has been devastated, the currency is worthless and unemployment is massive. So who is really paying for these goods and what's the payoff for Beijing?
Still true - Arab men treat their farm animals better than their women: Women suffocating in the black burkasthat they are forced to wear has convinced me that their humiliating circumstances has yet to change. As `special' as the Saudis are in their primitive attitude towards women, they really are not unique
The ignorance and sheer bigotry of lefty journalists: The stupidity, ignorance and outrageous bigotry of leftists journalists continues unabated. Geoffrey Barker of the Sydney Morning Herald is a fully paid-up member of that nauseating breed of so-called journalists who not only think America stinks but also their fellow Australians
Internet racing insanity to extinction: The absurd liberal belief that everyone can be reasoned with (including Islamofascists but not evil conservatives) is leading us to a disaster of gargantuan proportions
Falwell's death reveals the left is consumed by hate and self-loathing: The recent media tempest surrounding the passing of Reverend Jerry Falwell has blown away the mask of sublime compassion and tolerance worn by members of the mainstream left
Working families need a break: It's time that working families were given a fair go. Perhaps one day a Labor politician will have the guts to suggest income splitting. Furthermore, Labor could come down on state governments - all of which are labor - and demand that they stop driving up the price of land and housing

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Surprise, surprise: "More than a quarter of Israel's Arab citizens believe the Holocaust never happened, and nearly two thirds of Israeli Jews avoid entering Arab towns, a poll by a University of Haifa sociologist showed Sunday. The poll, conducted by Sami Smoocha, a prominent sociologist at the University of Haifa, showed a wide gap of mistrust, anger and fear between Israel's majority Jews and its Arab citizens, who make up a fifth of Israel's citizens. In its most dramatic finding, the poll showed that 28 percent of Israeli Arabs did not believe the Holocaust happened, and that among high school and college graduates the figure was even higher - 33 percent."



Thompson will run! "Fred Dalton Thompson is planning to enter the presidential race over the Fourth of July holiday, announcing this week that he has already raised several million dollars and is being backed by insiders from the past three Republican administrations, Thompson advisers told The Politico. Thompson, the "Law & Order" star and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, has been publicly coy, even as people close to him have been furiously preparing for a late entry into the wide-open contest. But the advisers said Thompson dropped all pretenses on Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with more than 100 potential donors, each of whom was urged to raise about $50,000."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL 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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Americans will die for liberty

Excerpts from a British writer:

We are inclined, in our snobbish way, to dismiss the Americans as a new and vulgar people, whose civilisation has hardly risen above the level of cowboys and Indians. Yet the United States of America is actually the oldest republic in the world, with a constitution that is one of the noblest works of man. When one strips away the distracting symbols of modernity - motor cars, skyscrapers, space rockets, microchips, junk food - one finds an essentially 18th-century country.

The sense of entering an older country, and one with a sterner sense of purpose than is found among the flippant and inconstant Europeans, can be enjoyed even before one gets off the plane. On the immigration forms that one has to fill in, one is asked: "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offence or crime involving moral turpitude?" Who now would dare to pose such a question in Europe? The very word "turpitude" brings a smile, almost a sneer, to our lips.

The quiet solicitude that Americans show for the comfort of their visitors, and the tact with which they make one feel at home, can only be described as gentlemanly. These graceful manners, so often overlooked by brash European tourists, whisper the last enchantments of an earlier and more dignified age, when liberty was not confused with licence.

But lest these impressions of the United States seem unduly favourable, it should be added that the Americans have not remained in happy possession of their free constitution without cost. Thomas Jefferson warned that the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots. To the Americans, the idea that freedom and democracy exact a cost in blood is second nature...

The Americans are prepared to use force in pursuit of what they regard as noble aims. It is yet another respect in which they are rather old-fashioned. They are patriots who venerate their nation and their flag.

The idea has somehow gained currency in Britain that America is an essentially peaceful nation. Quite how this notion took root, I do not know. Perhaps we were unduly impressed by the protesters against the Vietnam war. It is an idea that cannot survive a visit to the National Museum of American History in Washington, where one is informed that the "price of freedom" is over and over again paid in blood.... when the Americans speak of freedom, we should not imagine, in our cynical and worldly-wise way, that they are merely using that word as a cloak for realpolitik. They are not above realpolitik, but they also mean what they say. These formidable people think freedom is so valuable that it is worth dying for.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up.

China Hand has just put up a new post on the 6 power negotiations with North Korea -- designed to get the Koreans to give up their nuclear ambitions.

"Wicked Dox" is an unusual new blog. It aims to keep in circulation good older articles of a conservative bent that have either already vanished from the net or seem to be on the way out. The Anchoress notes how often reports that the Left do not like simply vanish from the net.

Those pesky genes again: "An unexpected link between genes and language suggests that humanity's earliest conversations were conducted in a tonal language. Unlike non-tonal languages such as English, tonal languages such as Chinese and Thai use changes in pitch to convey the meaning of words. Now British researchers have discovered that although there are no "genes for Chinese" or "genes for English", people who possess older versions of two brain development genes - ASPM and microcephalin - are predominantly speakers of tonal languages. When combined with evidence that modern humans arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago and the observation that nearly all sub-Saharan African languages are tonal, University of Edinburgh linguists Robert Ladd and Dan Dediu argue their finding suggests that the first languages were tonal."

More pointless and futile legislation -- just for show: "Have no fear, summertime drivers. Now that gasoline prices are hovering at a national average of $3.22 per gallon, Congress is ready to pounce on oil companies that allegedly charge you more than you should be paying at the pump. Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would impose fines of up to $150 million for oil companies that are found guilty of price gouging. The Senate will take up a similar measure after the Memorial Day recess. Wait--haven't we seen this before? Yep. During the last two decades, dozens of bills have been introduced that would freeze gas prices, prevent price gouging or punish oil and natural gas companies that engage in this behavior"

Find the missing words: "I'd like to draw attention to today's AP article entitled "Miss. Murder Cold Case Under Way." It concerns the trial begun today to prosecute Ku Kux Klan killers for the 1964 racial-terror torture-murders of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. The article notes that since the FBI was preoccupied with the "Mississipi Burning" investigation in 1964 they turned the investigation and prosecution of the killers over to the local authorities who promptly threw out all charges and released the suspects without further ado. Of course, the AP does not trouble to remind its readers that the Democratic Party had complete control of Mississippi government at all levels in that era."

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 INTERNATIONAL 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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NOT SO BAD

You know how bad things have got when Jimmy Carter's critique of your presidency is taken seriously. This week the former US President attacked the current one, saying that, "as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world", George Bush's Administration had been "the worst in history". It's one thing to have to listen to Bill and Hillary Clinton claim that things were better when they were in the White House, but Jimmy Carter? Being told by Mr Carter that you're the worst president in history is like being told by William McGonagall that your poetry stinks.

For the younger reader, perhaps already infused with a nostalgia that recalls the 1970s as a time of peace and prosperity, a brief reminder of the golden era of Carter is in order. It wasn't all disco and flared trousers and sex without condoms. Also fashionable in those days were unemployment, inflation and communism.

The US jobless rate was more than 10 per cent. Inflation touched 15 per cent. Soviet troops marched unmolested into Afghanistan. America watched helpless as its diplomats were held hostage by Iranian revolutionaries for 444 days. In the rest of the world, from Latin America to Asia, American power yielded to the communist advance; economically, America was being bested by Japan and Germany.....

Start with economics. America is not going to be overtaken by China any time in the next century. So large is the US advantage that, even growing at 3 per cent, the country's economy adds more to the level of global activity than China does growing at 10 per cent.

Its soft power may have been attenuated these past few years, but not destroyed. Who is there to replace America? China? Do me a favour. Does anyone out there really think they would prefer to live in China rather than America? Europe? Viewed from the comforting perspective of a pavement cafe in Paris, Europe might look a more appealing place. But the continent is in the midst of a long, slow suicide; falling birthrates and a moral surrender to the forces of relativism have left it an easy prey for less tolerant cultures.

There's no denying that Iraq is a self-inflicted wound and an energy-sapping one at that. But the scale of the damage to America there can be overstated too. All we've really learnt in the past five years is that even the US is probably not powerful enough to remake 700 years of history in five years. That doesn't mean America is weak, just less strong than it thought it was.

Of course, a president, an inept one, can set back the course of a nation's progress. Like Mr Carter before him, Mr Bush's ledger is heavy on the liabilities. But America recovered from Mr Carter, thanks to good leadership and the ingenuity of a people whose great gift is their constant capacity to recreate themselves. Who's betting it won't do so again?

More here

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Slouching toward mercantilism: "The false logic of mercantilism is enticing but dangerous. As David Hume pointed out in 1758, the idea that a trade deficit is bad and a surplus good is 'a narrow and malignant opinion.' Undue attention to the bilateral trade deficit with China accounts for a large amount of the China-bashing going on in Washington today. By focusing on producers who may have been harmed by trade rather than on consumers who benefit, Congress commits the same fallacy of composition that Hume exposed. Moreover, by failing to recognize the widespread benefits of trade for all nations, protectionists have lost sight of the liberal idea best expressed by Hume that 'where an open communication is preserved among nations, it is impossible but the domestic industry of every one must receive an increase from the improvements of the others.'"

Muslim hate: "Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib has been charged after he allegedly called a police officer a "piece of s---" while dining in a McDonald's restaurant last week. The former terror suspect was charged with offensive behaviour after he allegedly launched a foul-mouthed tirade at police in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown at 5.30pm on Friday. The 50-year-old from Guildford is accused of calling police "pigs" before calling one officer a "piece of s---". Police sources said that the officers came to the fast-food restaurant to investigate a separate assault matter when Mr Habib allegedly began his verbal barrage. A McDonald's spokeswoman said the officers had just ordered coffees at the outlet when the incident occurred."

Tony Blair Still Gets It: "I was stopped by someone the other week who said it was not surprising there was so much terrorism in the world when we invaded their countries (meaning Afghanistan and Iraq). No wonder Muslims felt angry. When he had finished, I said to him: tell me exactly what they feel angry about. We remove two utterly brutal and dictatorial regimes; we replace them with a United Nations-supervised democratic process and the Muslims in both countries get the chance to vote, which incidentally they take in very large numbers. And the only reason it is difficult still is because other Muslims are using terrorism to try to destroy the fledgling democracy and, in doing so, are killing fellow Muslims. What's more, British troops are risking their lives trying to prevent the killing. Why should anyone feel angry about us? Why aren't they angry about the people doing the killing? The odd thing about the conversation is that I could tell it was the first time he had even heard the alternative argument."

Facts: The enemy of the Left: "Ari Kaufman's What Conservative Media? while spot on missed the point on why so may liberal leftists think the media is balanced or conservative. They know the political `stuff' is clearly biased in their liberal leftist direction, but they are railing against the news as a whole. I first became aware of this when discussing how liberal campuses are with a liberal acquaintance of mine. He vehemently disagreed. His rationale? All those science, math, business, and medical courses that would not yield to opinion or feeling - they were by definition (for him) conservative. Over time it became clear this was not a random opinion or thought process. Liberals find things that cannot be swayed by opinion or feelings to be intrinsically conservative. Hit them with facts and more facts and eventually their response will be some form of name calling. It's all they know to do - so far. But holding my nose and dipping into the DU from time to time and there is a sense of violence in the air when too many facts are presented and name calling no longer satisfies.

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 INTERNATIONAL 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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Leftist wants someone to loathe

Australian Leftist columnist Phillip Adams often writes in a rather ironic way but the article by him excerpted below does seem to be a clear confession of the hate that drives him -- as it does with so many Leftists. That they hail the slightest negativity emanating from conservatvies as "hate" shows how urgent is their need to project their own failings onto others. Adams is commenting on the likely defeat of Australia's conservative government at the next election -- due later this year. Adams is a millionaire so his hate is not born of "poverty". And, yes, that poster he has on his library wall is who you think it is



For God’s sake don’t tell Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins, but despite a lifetime’s atheism I have, over the past decade, been driven to prayer. My increasingly desperate appeals have been addressed to Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Thor, Ra, Vulcan and sundry totems, jujus, graven images and idols - entreating one or more of them to end the Howard Government....

But nothing happened. To be perfectly frank the disappointing lack of response considerably added to my religious scepticism. But now, suddenly, the gods are acting! The various almighties are finally showing him the door! And I’m suddenly getting a bit worried. How will I get on without him? .... Just as Mum needed Kennett to give meaning to her existence, I may well be sustained by Howard hating. How will I get through the day without the prospect of the six o’clock news when I can, in the family tradition, yell at the screen?

The world faces a similar problem with George W. Bush. The most unpopular president since Harry Truman at his nadir - and as Jimmy Carter rightly says “the worst president in US history” - will soon be banished from the political stage. For nigh on seven years - though it seems almost an eternity - countless millions have loathed the man. He has increased the blood pressure of not only hapless Democrats but also a large majority of my fellow Australians and pretty much the entire population of Europe.... Where will all that hatred go when he’s gone? What will people do with it?

For 11 years John Winston Howard has been my central focus, my obsession, my bogeyman, my nemesis. To be without him might answer those prayers. But as has been wisely said “Beware the answered prayer”!

More here

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A Ted Nugent Anecdote

Below is the sort of thing that Leftists would immediately proclaim as "hate speech". Conservatives would most likely see it as a good come-back with an element of truth in it. Ted Nugent is a rock-star and an inveterate, unapologetic conservative. One time during an interview, a Lefty journalist was giving Nugent a hard time about his favorite hobby (deer hunting with bow-and-arrow). At one point the journalist asks him:

"What do you think the last thought is in the mind of a deer before you shoot it ? Is it, `Are you my friend?` or is it `Are you the one who killed my brother?'"

Nugent replied:

"Deer aren't capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, 'What am I going to eat next, who am I going to screw next, and can I run fast enough to get away. They are very much like the French."

(H/T to the "herrlich" Herr Licht -- Forgive the German pun)

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ELSEWHERE

EU watching Google: "An independent European Union panel is investigating whether Google 's internet search engine abides by European privacy rules. Google says it will answer the EU's privacy questions by the end of June. EU spokesman Pietro Petrucci said the 28-member panel, which advises the European Commission and EU governments on data protection issues, wanted Google to address concerns about the company's practice of storing and retaining user information for up to two years."

Ignorant AP economics writer: "Consider his lede paragraph today: "Sales of new homes surged in April by the biggest amount in 14 years, but the median price of a new home dropped by the largest amount on record. The mixed signals left no clear picture of whether the worst of the nation's housing slump is over." But? He should replace "but" with because. Lower prices should generate higher sales. This is why department stores hold "sales" - to sell products".

Leftist ostriches: "Although radical Islamists constantly declare that they are opposed to the West -- not just Bush-Hitler part but Nancy Pelosi and Michael Moore section too -- on a very fundamental level, there is an evergreen belief that if only a sufficiently liberal person were elected to the White House the War on Terror would just go away. It's hard to explain just exactly how this belief came into existence, but if the declarations of the Jihadis are anything to go by, then exactly the opposite must be true. The more liberal America becomes, the more hateful it will become to the Jihad; the more liberal the country, the more urgently it must die. Strangely, this explicit declaration of hostility against liberalism and the left goes largely unnoticed. Even by the infidel journalists who are a target of radical Islam."

A merciful man gets out of unjust imprisonment: "For nearly a decade, Dr. Jack Kevorkian waged a defiant campaign to help other people kill themselves. The retired pathologist left bodies at hospital emergency rooms and motels and videotaped a death that was broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes." His actions prompted battles over assisted suicide in many states. But as he prepares to leave prison June 1 after serving more than eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence in the death of a Michigan man, Kevorkian will find that there's still only one state that has a law allowing physician-assisted suicide - Oregon. Experts say that's because abortion opponents, Catholic leaders, advocates for the disabled and often doctors have fought the efforts of other states to follow the lead of Oregon, where the law took effect in late 1997".

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 INTERNATIONAL 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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Free Trade for Colombia

The recent deal between Congress and the White House clears the way for the ratification of free-trade agreements with Panama and Peru, two American allies in Latin America. But what about Colombia?

Colombia has risked the lives of its police and military and sustained huge casualties in an effort to do us a favor by keeping drugs off our streets. Our military aid to Colombia has not been frittered away on useless hardware or used to line some general's pockets, but has paid for a military that has disarmed the drug dealers' personal armies - 30,000 have been disarmed - and driven the leftist drug-linked guerillas into hiding in a remote jungle portion of the country. Unable to come out or mount operations in major urban areas, they are just trying to survive, to stay one step ahead of the American helicopters manned by brave Colombian soldiers that pursue them.

I recently visited Medell¡n, Colombia, once the heartland of the Medell¡n Cartel, the main drug ring in the hemisphere. Drug lords have been driven out of the area and there have been no kidnappings, once a staple of Medell¡n life, in the past three years.

But Colombia is entitled to ask a basic question: If you don't want us to sell drugs to your children, why won't you at least let us sell you bananas, sugar, flowers, textiles and other products without imposing tariffs on us? Peru and Panama are both loyal allies, but their soldiers are not conducting daily drug sweeps through the mountains trying to stop drugs before they reach our schools. And Colombia is.

If the Democrats in Congress scuttle the Colombia free-trade deal, they will undermine and undercut Colombia's successful war on drugs. The troops in Colombia who risk their lives daily to smash labs, defoliate cocoa plants, and arrest drug lords will find themselves swimming against the economic tide. If the United States does not reward Colombia by making its exports - other than cocaine - profitable, it will leave the poor of that South American ally no choice but to go back to the drug labs.

More here

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An amusing post here from a Leftist. As usual, disagreement with Leftist policies is "hate speech". But the really amusing thing is that he accuses conservatives of "sociopathy", which is an alternative term for psychopathy. But the defining characteristic of a psychopath is inability to tell right from wrong. So I guess it is conservatives who are always telling us that "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? Ha! I say more on psychopathy here.

I have always intended my FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC blog as a perfectly serious one but there are so many absurdities in the medical literature that what the blog reports can be quite entertaining at times. I think my second post down today should give most people a belly-laugh.

A strangely selective conscience : "There is an article on the Guardian site called Throw a pebble at Goliath: don't buy Israeli produce, by Yvonne Roberts, in which she urges people to boycott Israel because of its human rights record. Now I know nothing about Yvonne Robert and have never even heard of her before, but I assume she also an avid campaigner for people to boycott products from Cuba, Burma, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, China (good luck doing that), Iran, Syria, Belorus, Zimbabwe, North Korea (assuming they actually produce any products) etc. etc. etc... after all, if she is such a tireless campaigner for human rights, surely she could not possibly feel it was alright for people to trade with all those places, given the state of human rights in those places. Right? Anyone want to take any bets on this?"

Young American Muslims no cause for worry?: "Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is not alarmed at the Pew Research data showing one in four young Muslim-Americans supports suicide attacks. ABC News reports: "It's not an alarm. Nothing to be alarmed about," Ellison said, "although it is also important for mosques around the country to engage young people to make sure they have the proper understanding that Islam is about moderation and balance." I think it is time to revive and adapt the old lefty bumpersticker: "One suicide bomb can ruin your whole day" By the standards of all those in the media and Muslim community who think that there's nothing to worry about, someone playing Russian Roulette is nothing to be concerned about either. After all, 5 out of 6 chambers of the revolver are empty and harmless."

CBS helps Iranian nuke program: "How do you say, "Thank you, CBS!" in Farsi? The Jerusalem Post notes that CBS has alerted the Mullahs and their nuclear scientists to an intelligence black op that might have set back their nuclear program. Intelligence operatives in the US and its allied nations have sold Iran flawed technological components in an attempt to sabotage the country's nuclear enrichment program, CBS News revealed Wednesday evening. In January 2007, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Vice-President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said after an explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility (the first Iranian plant to attempt enrichment) that some of the equipment had been "manipulated." The explosion destroyed 50 of the plant's centrifuges. Other evidence has indicated that sabotage was the reason for some of the technical problems Iran has encountered in its enrichment enterprise. Sources told CBS intelligence agencies have altered technical data, making it "useless."

"Hello Media.you are killing us": "Okay, header space demands that I paraphrase the words of fed up Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Jim Funk who has written the following to the press: "Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers every day? You inspire and report the enemy's objective every day. You are the enemy's greatest weapon. The enemy cannot beat us on the battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you continually break the will of the American public and American government. "We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He doesn't see any accomplishments of the U.S. military"

Iran Drawing Up Plans to Strike European Nuclear Sites: "Iran is attempting to draw up plans to strike targets in Europe and has conducted reconnaissance of European nuclear power stations, a security analyst told a meeting at Britain's parliament Tuesday. Claude Moniquet, president of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a private think-tank in Brussels, said his organization also had evidence Tehran has increased numbers of intelligence agents across Europe. "We have serious signals that something is under preparation in Europe," Moniquet said. "Iranian intelligence is working extremely hard to prepare its people and to prepare actions." The center, which he said deals directly with European intelligence agencies, believes Iranian operatives have carried out "reconnaissance of targets in European cities, including nuclear power stations," Moniquet said. He mentioned no other specific targets."

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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MEMORIAL DAY

I note Memorial Day at some length on POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

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The BBC blames Israel for 'unstable borders.'

Post lifted from American Thinker. See the original for links

In a shameless effort to rewrite history:

"The BBC News website is publishing a series of articles about the attempts to achieve peace in the Middle East and the main obstacles. Yesterday, Martin Asser looked at the question of Israel's borders and settlements."

Surprise! It turns out that Israel is to blame for its "unstable borders." By Gum, it's just as if Israel wasn't attacked by invading Arab armies from its first day of life in 1948, and again in 1967 and 1974, when it pushed back the invaders to achieve some measure of border stability. Reading Martin Asser's wildly anti-Israel BBC "history" of the past sixty years, those events never happened. So Israel's defensive push-back is twisted into offensive imperialism, and the Beeb manages to "confuse the fire with the fire brigade," in the apt words of Winston Churchill.

The BBC's dishonesty is beyond belief. But constant, relentless propaganda works. Most people can't resist the Big Lie when it is repeated over and over again. Naturally the Beeb's British and international audience hates Israel for making all the trouble in the world. Appeasers always look for scapegoats, and Israel is the natural choice. The BBC is run by the far Left in Britain, and once again, the extremes of fascism and the Left are allied, just as they were in the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1938.

As the Beeb's favorite philosopher said, "history repeats, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." [Marx]

The BBC's malevolence has unintended consequences, however --- such as the radicalization of thousands of domestic terrorists in Britain's own alienated cities. The men who suicide-bombed the London Underground on "7/7" were radicalized by Islamist imams peddling Wahhabi world conquest. British police and intelligence agencies have warned that thousands of homegrown Islamist extremists may be ready to place more bombs. But the ideological ground was laid for them by ... the BBC, which continues to pump out industrial-strength hatred for America and Israel.

The leftists who run BBC have naturally persuaded themselves that Islamist terrorism is not a real threat. Terrorism is all the fault of Bush and Blair. So today, an upside-down "history" of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is being peddled to push the incoming Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, into an anti-Israel stance. This is the message from the Labour Left, which controls the biggest tax-funded propaganda empire in the world --- more than six billion dollars per year.

Yet Islamist terrorism is a very real threat in Londonistan and Britanostan. Islamists hate Britain and the West, as well as Israel, for being Christian, Jewish or atheist, for being pro-Gay and pro-women, for being richer and more productive than the Muslim world, and for a hundred other reasons. So the BBC itself is radicalizing Britain's Muslim population, even while seeming to displace all blame on Israel. While the aim is to discredit and ultimately destroy Israel, the Islamist backlash will inevitably harm the people of Britain, just as the Underground Bombing did. The Beeb ends up cutting its own throat. So the biter was bitten on 7/7, and has learned nothing in consequence.

It may take more terror attacks to finally convince ordinary people that they have been systematically misled for decades. Unfortunately, Islamist terror bombs are far more likely to hurt innocent people than the sources of pernicious propaganda. George Orwell worked for the BBC, and satirized it in his dystopian novel 1984 as the "Ministry of Truth" --- which is of course the Ministry of Lies. The BBC continues to reveal a shameful black mark against a once-great country. Orwell lives.

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ELSEWHERE

I have just put up one of my now-rare posts on "Leftists as Elitists". It is about another arrogant Leftist journalist scorning blogs.

I have just put up a couple of good cartoons on my WordPress site -- IMMIGRATION WATCH. Don't forget to bookmark Immigration Watch in case Google closes this blog down.

There is a large article here which points out how Google censorship now extends to YouTube, which Google recently bought. You will not be surprised to learn that it is videos critical of Islam that they ban -- while allowing Jihadist videos free rein! Another reason to avoid Google, it seems to me. Don't forget live.com for your searches. Live.com gives you more results anyway. Just today I found some good stuff on live.com that I could not find on Google.

Chinese build five nuclear subs: "China has surprised the Pentagon with the pace of development of a new class of submarine that threatens the nuclear balance by providing Beijing with a more robust nuclear deterrent. According to the 2007 Pentagon China military power report -- details of which were obtained by the FT -- the Chinese navy is developing a fleet of five nuclear ballistic missile submarines [SSBNs]. The Jin class submarines would provide a much stronger nuclear deterrent because they would be armed with the new long-range JL-2 missile. ... China says it is engaged in a "peaceful rise". But some US officials and Chinese military experts say that the submarine could alter the strategic nuclear balance."

Democrats protect fraudulent voting -- I wonder why? "Nobody argues against the government's right to require that airplane passengers show a photographic identification; yet when government tries to impose the same reasonable requirement on voters, liberal lawyers and activists scream bloody murder. So it is that when the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in January (and effectively affirmed the decision by denial of a rehearing in April) that Indiana was within its rights to require photo IDs at the polls, the state Democratic Party and would-be voters represented by the ACLU decided (just last week) to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision. But the U.S. Constitution gives to state legislatures the responsibility to "prescribe" the "times, places and manner of holding elections," and the high court has consistently held that states have the right to impose regulations on voting in order to ensure the integrity and fairness of the balloting."

UAW Vultures: "The UAW is killing small town Indiana and while they are at it.America. I used to think the United Auto Workers union was in denial. Now, I realize it's us, not them, who refuses to deal with reality. It is time to stop and deal with the elephant in the room-the ideological and greedy union bosses who help turn small towns into ghost towns. With the sale of Chrysler to a management company known for restructuring failing companies by laying off workers and slashing costs to turn a profit, it would be reasonable to expect the trend of auto plants and suppliers to close. Those of us in the Midwest have become accustomed to the not-so-occasional plant closure. Plants in Kokomo, Marion, Connersville and around the Midwest continue to struggle to reduce production costs in order to survive. Let's not pretend. The reality is that the UAW leadership is content in killing certain communities in order to maintain wages and benefits for their diminishing union members that far exceed the market value. And while they continue to demand a 70-dollar-an-hour wage and health care coverage better than almost any other workers - Americans struggle to afford cars and trucks they slowly make and increasingly look to foreign automakers producing cars here in the U.S.

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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Chinese Feed Americans

This is the most hilarious bit of news I have read for a while. Under Communism, China was a big importer of food -- wheat particularly. Now guess what?

In the wake of this year's massive pet food recall, China has come under increasing scrutiny for its lax food safety standards. In fact, some have suggested that all food imports from China be banned.... But barring Chinese imports would be potentially damaging to the U.S. economy. Over the past decade, the United States has become increasingly reliant on China as a source of agricultural products and as a market for U.S. exports. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, China ranks third among world nations as a source of U.S. agricultural and forestry imports, and has held that position for some time.

And the Chinese influx shows no signs of stopping: In the first three months of 2007, Chinese agricultural imports increased by 30% over the same period in '06. Despite such soaring numbers, producers and representatives of four of the biggest Chinese import categories-rice, shrimp, tea, and feeds and fodders-said the United States could still meet the nation's demand for such products should the flow from China cease, most without a huge burden on American consumers.

The graver consequence of an agricultural trade shutoff with China would be on the U.S. export market. Several staple products in U.S. agriculture-soybeans, cotton and lumber, among others-have found the Chinese market ripe for trade. In the past four years, the total value of agricultural, fish and forestry products that U.S. businesses have exported to China has risen from $2.4 billion a year to $7.7 billion. The U.S. soybean industry, the world's largest exporter, is particularly indebted to China. In 2005, the U.S. exported about 25.7 million metric tons of soybeans, nearly one-third of soybeans produced in the country and the equivalent of $2.2 billion worth. Over the past five years, the percentage headed to China has steadily increased; last year, that amounted about 40% of the U.S.'s crop.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Accuracy in Media attempts the thankless task of pointing the misrepresentations of the facts that emanate from Rosie O'Donnell on ABC's "The View".

There is a very good excoriation of the huge hypocrisy of Andrew Sullivan here. Only the USA can do any wrong in Sullivan's eyes.



AP Article on Edwards and `War on Terror' Ignores Candidate's Past: "The Associated Press ran a story Wednesday entitled "Edwards Calls `War on Terror' an Ideological Doctrine". Unfortunately, the author chose not to look into former Sen. John Edwards' (D-North Carolina) past to see whether the presidential candidate had either referred to or supported this "ideological doctrine" himself. Had the AP done some homework, it would have found that not only did the former senator tell Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in October 2001, "I think that we will be united with the President throughout this war on terrorism," (Allah has video here), but also that he and Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) both referred to this war in their respective acceptance speeches at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.... And how about what Edwards said the night before when he accepted the Democrats' nomination for vice president: "And as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that we have to do more to fight the war on terrorism and keep the American people safe.""

Corrupt Chirac: "Papers seized by two investigating magistrates from General Philippe Rondot, a former head of the DGSE, France's intelligence service, show Mr Chirac opened an account in the mid-1990s at Tokyo Sowa Bank, credited with the equivalent of 30 million pounds. Saving his mayoral salary diligently no doubt, despite his weakness for Chateau Sempap"

N.O. residents don't want to go back. George Bush's fault?: "Despite oft-heard protests about the dearth of public housing in New Orleans, the Housing Authority of New Orleans said Monday that it has at least 283 apartments repaired, cleaned and ready for former public housing tenants. Problem is, it can't seem to entice former residents to return. "I'm just being honest: A lot of residents are saying, 'Not at this time. We're happy where we are,' " said HANO's government affairs liaison Darren Martin at a special meeting of the New Orleans City Council's housing committee in Baton Rouge. "Residents want to return back home," Martin said. "But there is the issue of crime. . . . Some of their kids are in better schools." The reasons for residents' delayed returns are complex, from the city's struggling public school system and lack of health care to the long-standing turf wars that make the idea of transplanting families from one end of New Orleans to the other a realistic risk of running into violence.

Leftist paper hides the news: "An illegal alien abducted a 7-year-old girl from her home in the middle of the night and so savagely raped her that she required surgery. The Indianapolis Star did not bother to mention his immigration status until the sixth paragraph. Then came the seventh paragraph. "Castillo also has prior convictions for two felonies - theft and residential entry - as well as driving while intoxicated and domestic battery, records show." How about we stop playing games with the facts and go back to reporting the news in a straight-forward manner: An illegal alien with a history of two prior felony convictions admitted .

Corrupt lawmakers: ""When the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives passed one of its first spending bills, funding the Energy Department for the rest of 2007, it proudly boasted that the legislation contained no money earmarked for lawmakers' pet projects and stressed that any prior congressional requests for such spending 'shall have no legal effect.' Within days, however, lawmakers including Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) began directly contacting the Energy Department. They sought to secure money for their favorite causes outside of the congressional appropriations process -- a practice that lobbyists and appropriations insiders call 'phonemarking.'"

Marine document details red tape delay over Iraq gear: "The system for delivering badly needed gear to Marines in Iraq has failed to meet many urgent requests for equipment from troops in the field, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. Of more than 100 requests from deployed Marine units between February 2006 and February 2007, less than 10 percent have been fulfilled, the document says. It blamed the bureaucracy and a 'risk-averse' approach by acquisition officials."

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

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

"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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