Obama's "patriotism". The empty vessel sounds again

Excerpt from Jeff Jacoby

Wrapping up an interview on "kind of a lighter note," a KCRG-TV reporter observed that Obama wasn't wearing a flag pin and inquired: "Is this a fashion statement? Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001." Obama could have lightly waved off the query -- "Nope, no fashion statement; I'm just not a lapel-pin kind of guy" -- and nobody would have given the matter a second thought. Instead he went out of his way to politicize it. "The truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," he said. But "that became a substitute for . . . true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security." And so, he declared, "I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism."

Obama brought up the subject again a day later. "I probably haven't worn a flag pin in a very long time," he told a campaign crowd in Independence, Iowa. "My attitude is that I'm less concerned about what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by being true to our values and ideals." As for Americans who do wear a flag pin, Obama was scornful: "I noticed people wearing a lapel pin and not acting very patriotic."

This, surely, is something new under the sun: a candidate for president disparaging the sincerity of voters who wear the American flag, and loftily insisting that he "won't wear that pin." Of course Obama is free to believe that "speaking out on issues" is the best way to show "true patriotism." But does he really imagine that the many Americans who do "wear that pin" do so as a *"substitute"* for true patriotism -- as a hypocritical affectation, in other words -- rather than as a *symbol* of it?

Perhaps Obama, reflecting the post-1960s culture in which he came of age, simply doesn't recognize the power and significance of such symbols in sustaining a nation's identity and values. Many contemporary Americans, raised on the dogma that what they feel in their hearts matters more than how they conduct themselves in public, have little appreciation for traditions, manners, and emblems that earlier generations were taught to honor. We live in an era, after all, when worshippers attend church in shorts and flip-flops; when the civic inspiration of Washington's Birthday has been replaced with the antiseptic nullity of Presidents Day; when smoking is taboo but foul language is ubiquitous; when countless couples disdain a marriage license as "just a piece of paper." So why should the American flag pin on someone's lapel be entitled to deference or respect? ....

Sure, there are some phonies in every crowd, but my guess is that most Americans who wear a flag pin are citizens who genuinely love their country. My guess is that most of them vote, too -- and probably not for the candidate who questions their patriotism.

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Newt Gingrich has here a very interesting comparison of mediaeval Venice and the USA today.

Why conservative think tanks are needed: "My own think-tank slogan is: "No one knows when the Berlin Wall will come down." It is imperative to maintain intellectual sanctuaries in a world where Harvard University forbids the discussion of certain important issues and Columbia University welcomes the contributions of a master terrorist. Our sanctuaries have been instrumental to the expansion of human freedom in recent decades. We are laying the groundwork for further advances--as opportunities arise, as they surely will"

Muslim abuse of defamation laws failing: "Nothing gets a journalist's attention like a subpoena. While authoritarian regimes silence critics by murdering or jailing them, journalists (and other critics) in the United States face gentler, but still effective, intimidation: libel lawsuits. Over the last few years, Islamists have tried silencing reporters, scholars, and citizens by suing them for defamation, often successfully. But recent legal cases in California, Massachusetts, and Minnesota suggest that the tactic may finally be backfiring, at least in the United States, if not in Britain, where libel laws overwhelmingly favor plaintiffs. The American lawsuits' outcomes-poorly covered by the media-represent victories for the free expression and public participation that the First Amendment guarantees.

British libel laws becoming less oppressive too: "A journalist who suggested that a former police officer may be corrupt was cleared of libel in the Court of Appeal yesterday. In a victory that strengthens the media's right to report on matters that are in the public interest, the appeal judges said that Graeme McClagan had acted responsibly in his research for the book Bent Coppers. Michael Charman, who was a detective constable in the Metropolitan Police, claimed that it was libellous because it suggested that there were grounds for suspecting him of involvement in corruption. The judges ruled unanimously that Mr McLagan had taken steps to verify the story and that as a result of his honesty, his expertise, his careful research and evaluation of the material, his book was protected by a defence of "public interest". It is thought to be the first time that the defence has been argued successfully for a book".

Walter Williams on Rush Limbaugh: "Over the span of some 20 years, Rush has been attacked from just about every leftist corner, as would anyone who tirelessly espoused the founding principles of our nation -- private property, rule of law and limited government. What has made Rush so effective with this message has been his ability to put things, and ask questions, in a manner that the average citizen can understand and relate to, and do so with a bit of humor. Humor creates madness among leftists who want their interventionist agenda taken seriously."

Paging Mr. Orwell: New Taliban Constitution would ban "un-Islamic thought": "The Taliban has published a shadow Afghan constitution outlining an alternative hardline government to that of President Hamid Karzai. The 23-page document envisages a country where women would remain veiled and uneducated, "un-Islamic thought" would be banned and human rights would be ignored if "contrary with the teachings of Islam". The Constitution of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, comes days after the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, said that the Taliban will need to take a role in the peace process in Afghanistan."

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 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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Brookes News Update

The US economy's bubble: casting the runes: The real problem is not interest rates, exchange rates, unemployment, etc., it is bad economics. So long central banks and economists refuse to jettison Keynesian fallacies and the fallacy of the stable price level, and adopt sound money policies the US economy will continue to suffer periodic economic crises
What is happening to the US dollar?: Reading about the US dollar has once again brought home to me just how little our economic commentariat understand about the link between exchange rates, money supply and the balance of payments
Kevin Rudd promises us economic planning: Carr and Rudd can call their economic meddling `industry policy', `industrial intervention', `picking winners', `promoting sunrise industries', etc., but it still amounts to dirigisme. This kind of economic policy should remind us of the folly and arrogance of would-be central planners
Phoniness in and out of uniform and the Democrats: Democrats, Soros-funded bigots and leftwing journalists are waging an outrageous campaign of falsehoods against Rush Limbaugh. But their real target is the First Amendment
John Kerry and the Bruce Springsteen cavalcade of hatred: Poor little Bruce Springsteen is upset because patriotic Americans object to his anti-victory music. In this twerp's political world patriotism is wishing defeat for your country's defeat.
How the diseased left see the world: The same diseased left that supported every communist dictatorship that can be named is the same diseased left that refused to speak out against Saddam's sadistic regime, and opposed the liberation of Iraq. These totalitarians have made themselves willing accomplices of terrorism as the de facto alliance between the left and Islamofascism clearly reveals
The way to win the immigration battle: Thus, proposing the elimination of immigration is not only the right thing, it's the only thing. The present course of action guarantees eventual defeat
Return of Tariff Wars: Tariffs are back on the political agenda along with all the usual mercantilist fallacies
Silence in Syria, panic in Iran: Syria and the tyrants in Tehran are in a state of panic. They have just discovered that Israel and the US have developed the capacity to penetrate these tyrannies' air defences without being detected
A quiet triumph over Al Qaeda may be brewing: The Bush Administration, most likely through the CIA and DIA, has pulled off a fantastic maneuver to split the global Islamic jihad movement at its base. This is the kind of stuff we may not hear about in detail for another fifty years. Congratulations to our President and our brave soldiers and intelligence assets for making this happen
Osama bin Laden and Larry Flynt: Larry Flynt is another story. Where one thinks we have too much democracy (although the Osama crowd doesn't even know what democracy is), Larry is under the impression that we are fast losing ours. Funny, I happen to believe that is exactly what is taking place in America today
Greens using Wal-Mart to bully suppliers: In a squalid attempt to ingratiate itself with green fanatics Wal-Mart has turned to bullying its suppliers into accepting green mandates. It has also partnered a coalition of 315 institutional investors who have graciously taken it upon themselves to decide the planet's economic destiny. Aren't we the lucky ones?
Warm, watered and well fed is better: Even the dumbest sheep in Australia knows that being warm, watered and well fed is better than being cold, thirsty and starving. So what does that make politicians who fall over each other to praise the green myth of man-made global warming?

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ELSEWHERE

Terrified of the Greenies, GE gives its light bulb business to China: "General Electric is taking another step away from its industrial heritage by closing seven light-bulb factories in the US and Brazil with the loss of 1400 jobs. The move is part of a $US500 million ($568 million) restructuring of the conglomerate's slow-growing industrial unit and is aimed at reducing GE's reliance on low-margin businesses. Under the plan, GE would close one plant in Brazil, which has around 900 employees, six factories in Ohio, part of GE's 26 light-bulb plants in the US, and some operations in Mexico. GE's lighting division employs around 25,000 people around the world. GE had already signalled the intention to scale back its lighting division, which had sales of $US3 billion last year, and has been dogged by falling demand for traditional incandescent bulbs. But Thursday's decision to curb activities at a business that has been a cornerstone of GE for 128 years underlines the changing nature of the world's second-largest company. Jim Campbell, the head of GE's consumer and industrial unit, which has already lost 3000 people over the past year, said the restructuring of the lighting unit was "one of the most important things we have done in the 100-plus years history" of the business."

Making a difference: "Ordinary Americans are tracking down U.S. Web sites used by al Qaeda and jihadi sympathizers and then using the Internet to persuade the service providers to snuff out the sites. "I do this because it has to be done," says one blogger who calls himself a "counter-cyberjihadist" for his campaigns to post on the Web the Internet service providers (ISPs) that host the pro-jihad sites. A perfect storm of complaints forced several ISPs to shut down Web sites just days before al Qaeda released a tape of Osama bin Laden in August, says Aaron Weisburd, director of the Society for Internet Research and host of the Web site Haganah.us. He released a list of 19 pro-jihad Web sites, some of which were shut down in August. The tactic was so effective that al Qaeda later said it was forced to disseminate the video directly to the networks, Mr. Weisburd said."

Marriage of Muslim Woman to Non-Muslim Man - Forbidden and Invalid: "A fatwa issued in August 2007 by the secretary-general of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA), Dr. Sheikh Salah Al-Sawy, states that marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man is forbidden and invalid, and that children born of such a union are illegitimate. The following are excerpts from the fatwa, which was posted on the website www.islamonline.net: "Marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim [man] is forbidden and invalid - that is a consensus among Muslims. A [Muslim] woman who has taken the liberty [of marrying a non-Muslim man] has removed herself from the fold of the Muslim community - and one who has done so knowing that it is wrong, has done something strictly forbidden, and has committed an open [act of] abomination that may hurl her into the abyss of heresy and apostasy".

Helpfully highlighting Osama's next target: "New York's iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said. "This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah," according to a statement.

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 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 evidence for Neocommunism

There is a compelling factual case to be made that the contemporary radical Left can properly be called "Neocommunist." The Hard Left is grounded in Marxist vision of creating a "new man" under a system led by a vanguard that knows best what the rest of society needs. And Neocommies behave in patterns with startling parallels to Old Communist tactics.

The Neocommies are not members of a Communist Party, and are part more of a movement than a conspiracy. They are utterly different from traditional liberalism in America and Europe. Traditional liberals were democratic -- people like Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson and Harry Truman. They fought passionately against the Totalitarian Left, as Ronald Reagan did when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Reagan started as a democratic liberal, and became the most famous conservative of the 20th century. As he said so often, he didn't leave the Democratic Party -- it left him.

Over time, the Democrats became more totalitarian in spirit and practice after the first wave of the New Left started its takeover of the Party in the 1970s and 80s. Half a century ago, true liberal Democrats like Harry Truman told Americans the truth about Stalin and the new Cold War -- and were hated for it by the Hard Left. The American Labor movement was dominated by true liberals like George Meaney, who earned their positions by expelling Communist infiltrators, and in some cases throwing out entire Stalinist unions like the Longshoremen's Union. Today's Labor movement has gone back to Leftist bosses....

True liberals drew a bright line in the sand to separate themselves from Communists, including the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), which literally took its orders from Moscow. Combined with strong Democratic support for the national defense, the purge of Communist elements is precisely why liberals earned credibility and trust from the American people. In much of the 1950s and 1960s, "liberal" was not a dirty word, it was a boast. Had the true liberals given in to the Communists, they would have been marginalized by American voters. A Democratic Party with a strong anti-military, anti-victory wing would never have supported a strong national defense, and would not have been trusted in the face of the obvious menace of Stalin and his heirs.

Today the voters have not yet caught on to the real radicalism of the Left. If they do, Democrats will once again have to choose between the totalitarian impulse and being small d-democrats. Because our Democrats are emphatically not small-d democrats. They will use and manipulate their voters, but they don't listen to them. Whenever possible, they accomplish unpopular policy initiatives through the courts, our least democratic government mechanism, one never designed to lead in formulating social policy.....

Today's Neocommunists prefer to call themselves Marxists, which has again become a respected word on college campuses. But Marxism is Communist ideology. What else could it be? If you read carefully, Neocommunism is really out there, only slightly disguised. Just as Soviet propaganda insisted America was rotten to the core, so does the Hard Left and the institutions it controls parrot the line. The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, now a favorite history textbook in the colleges, is proud to "revise" everything we think we know about America, from the true people's point of view.

The heroes of today's aging New Left are the Old Communist Left, not the democratic liberals of the past. Karl Marx is considered the most important "philosopher" in Britain according to the BBC's Radio 4, polling its own audience. Guess how the captive BBC audience learned respect for old Karl? From the BBC itself, one of the biggest neo-Marxist Organs of Propaganda, paid for by the suckered British license holders.... Along the same lines, famous Communist thug, hero, martyr, and poster-boy Che Guevara just received an adoring tribute from Reuters, the big European news service, for "Che Guevara's ideals."

A new Stalin-Nazi alliance is alive in Europe and parts of the US, as Leftists openly ally themselves with Islamic Fascists. Islamists worship Allah and the Leftists worship atheism, but the ideological differences are not that big compared to the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Common enemies and common goals overcome doctrinal differences, to be worked out later.... Conversions to Islam are now common in Britain, especially among "alienated youths." That's where the Nazis made their converts in the 1920s and 30s. "Alienated youths" are always the easiest targets for any totalitarian creed. It's another sign of political danger.

Today's resurgence of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda is yet another cultural alarm bell shrilling, kicked off by the new "Red-Green" alliance. (Green is the color of Islam.) London's mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone was elected by a Red-Green alliance. Even Britain's Prince Charles likes to parade around in a Lawrence of Arabia costume, according to Mark Steyn's recent column. Prince Charles is an empty-headed fool, but Mayor Red Ken Livingstone is a true knave and demagogue. Totalitarians need both knaves and fools....

The aging New Left has simply become the Neocommunist Left. If you don't believe it, just ask them politely what they really believe. Or check out Moveon.org and many other locations on the web. It's not a secret.

The methods of Neocommunism parallel those of Old Communism to an astonishing degree. The routine use of orchestrated group lying (so that many different people are suddenly making the same accusation); The constant use of innocent-sounding front groups like MoveOn.org and Media Matters; The use of stooges (like military retirees, both real and phony); The need to whip up the rage of the faithful with constant disinformation about the enemy (i.e., America and conservatives); The infiltration of media and government....

The ideological goals of NeoCommunism have not changed one bit, which is why the term "communism" is so accurate. The sucker goal is to create Paradise on Earth by overthrowing democratic capitalism. The real goal is to enable the rise of a new ruling class with huge power over ordinary people....

Much more here

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ELSEWHERE

Fantasies about Jewish power are the historical core of antisemitism: "What is anti-Semitism? Most any attempt to define the term or, even more controversially, pin the label on someone, brings to mind Justice Potter Stewart's famously pithy 1964 definition of hard-core pornography: "I know it when I see it." But, of course, different people see different things, and so the debate continues. In this instance it continues over at Open University, where Jeffrey Herf piggybacks on a recent review of John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt's The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, to make a point about the Judeocentric nature of Nazi anti-Semitism. According to Herf, "the distinctive and defining feature of Nazism's radical anti-Semitism was precisely the idea that Jews were at the center of mid-20th-century history, that they had started World War II, made possible the alliance between the Soviet Union and the Western democracies, and conducted the war as one of extermination aimed at the German people." Herf, a professor of history at the University of Maryland at College Park, concedes that racial biology played a role in the Nazi worldview, but maintains that at the core of modern anti-Semitism is "the attribution to Jews of enormous power used for evil purposes." It is that tradition of anti-Semitism that Herf hears echoes of in Mearsheimer and Walt's case against the "Israel lobby."

Another "brilliant" U.S. army firearm: "In 1990 I was issued an M1911A1 .45 caliber pistol that had been manufactured by Remington Rand during WWII. Though a stout and reliable firearm, my "Colt" had one limitation. Its accuracy. To put it mildly, I was surprised the bullets ever hit the ground. At 25m I had a shot group of around 2 feet. Now, I was (and still am) by no means an expert on firearms, and stories abound regarding the inaccuracy issues of the M1911A1, but the one thing I did know was the .45 was, and still is, used extensively in pistol competitions, so I knew the weapon design was not the issue, nor was the ammunition, but I was at a loss as to why I literally couldn't hit the target right in front of me. This went on for a year or so until we got a new Platoon Leader in our company who also happened to be something of a shade-tree gunsmith and a Colt collector. What he said was, no the weapons aren't bad, and the ammunition, while not match grade, wasn't the cause, but rather, the Army's level of "tolerance" in key components. Bottom line, all my troubles centered on the barrel and barrel bushing. Upon further inspection it was noted that when fully seated (slide all the way forward) my barrel was still capable of movement, a LOT of movement, as was explained to me, which obviously was having an effect on my accuracy. Unfortunately, as the LT explained, that "slop" was still within Army tolerance, so technically there was nothing to be done."

Even the stupid pro-Muslim Swedes get attacked: "Turkish hackers have attacked more than 5,000 Swedish Web sites in the past week, and at least some of the sabotage appears linked to a Swedish newspaper's publication of a disparaging caricature of Islam's prophet. Around 1,600 Web sites hosted by server-provider Proinet and 3,800 sites hosted by another company have been targeted, Proinet spokesman Kjetil Jensen said. Jensen said the hackers, operating on a Turkish network, removed all files on the Web sites and in some cases replaced them with messages. According to Swedish news agency TT, the Web site of a children's cartoon called Bamse was replaced by a message saying Islam's holy prophet had been insulted."

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 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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10 October, 2007

Brits getting poorer under socialism

While the average household gross income has climbed over the past decade from 34,796 to 53,835 pounds, people have far less of that money to spend each month after they have paid essential bills. In 1997, when Labour came to power, people were left with 34.5 per cent of their gross income once they had paid taxes, national insurance, mortgage or rent. Now they are left with 32.6 per cent, says a report by uSwitch, a price comparison website.

It is the latest survey to highlight how millions of households have failed to benefit from the strong economy because of rising taxes and escalating bills. Ernst & Young, the accountants, calculated this year that the average family had 838 pounds left to spend each month, compared to 899 four years ago. The uSwitch report makes clear that many household bills have actually risen more modestly than people's salaries, including the monthly, electricity, water and gas bills.

Increases have hit four key areas in the past 10 years. Petrol [gasoline] - often the biggest cost for a family after their housing - has increased by 55 per cent and phone and internet bills have risen 77 per cent as millions more use broadband and mobile phones. The cost of getting on to the housing ladder has more than tripled, but taxes are perhaps the most significant cost. Council tax rose from an average of 688 a year to 1,321 - an increase of 92 per cent, or three times the rate of inflation.

Mike Warburton, one of the City's most senior accountants, said: "The Government can argue that tax rates have not gone up and that they are merely benefiting from people's rising incomes. But a lot of indirect taxes have gone up, especially council tax. This is why pensioners - on fixed incomes - are so badly hit. The squeeze is definitely on." The report from uSwitch comes a week after it emerged that stamp duty had risen by more than 40 per cent in the past year alone, as the Government cashed in on ballooning house prices.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

The Leftist hatred of patriotism is self-defeating: "For the Left, with its traditional emphasis upon fraternite, or the cultivation of human solidarity and communal values, such realities are particularly difficult to reconcile with an ethos of limitless criticism. To say that we are a part of one another-or even to acknowledge that man is by nature a "political animal," thinking here of Aristotle and not of James Carville-is not merely to say that we should deliberate together; it is also to say that, at some point, the discussion ceases and we make a commitment to one another to act together. Furthermore, it is to say that we cannot sustain serious, demanding, and long-term commitments to one another if those commitments are regarded as provisional and easily revoked for light and transient causes. We make an agreement and we agree to stand by it. Call it a contract, a covenant, or a Constitution, it is the same general kind of commitment, a commitment not merely of the intellect but also of the will. For any freely organized political undertaking, this vital qualification presents a difficulty. But for the Left, it becomes a profound dilemma"

Media lies: "We are being fed false and misleading information, in matters big and small. It has come from trusted sources such as established newspapers, experienced journalists, Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel Peace Prize winners. It has been going on for a long time, sometimes by carelessness and sometimes by deliberate lying. I have compiled a list of 101 such incidents. Did you know that Time magazine and other news organizations had a Vietnamese communist on full-time staff in Vietnam during that war? Do you remember that ABC, CBS and NBC have all rigged cars or trucks with explosives or other devices to make them look dangerous on TV, or that Consumer Reports lied about the Suzuki Samurai enough to put it out of business? Do you know that multiple "veterans" of the Viet Nam and Iraq wars who told of atrocities there were never even in the military? Did you realize reputable news organizations such as the Boston Globe and Reuters cannot tell the difference between a real soldier and a toy doll, commercial pornography and soldiers committing rape, a burning tire dump and a bombed building, a fired and an unfired rifle round, or footage of the North Pole and a clip from the movie Titanic?"

Neo-Cons and Neo-Commies: "Everybody talks about the evil Neo-Cons, but nobody talks about the resurgent Neo-Commies. "Communist" has been expelled from the Politically Correct lexicon -- which tells us a lot about the Commissars of the PC. They bear the most amazing resemblance to the old Commissars of (deleted) who killed 60-100 million people in the 20th century. (And Kim Jong Il, not to mention Red China, are still doing it....) Mikhail Gorbachev, who should know them when he sees them, recently warned about a "resurgence of Stalinism" in Russia and Eastern Europe. The history of Communist crimes was being erased, he said. Well, he was right. But resurgent Stalinism is not limited to those countries. It's in the US and all over the world, as David Horowitz, another former radical, continues to document in great detail... So here's a proposal. Let's allow the Left to rant about Neo-Cons; but conservatives will be allowed to call the "new" Left exactly what it is: The Neo-Commies. Fair's fair. Words mean things. These folks crawling all over Moveon.org and other Soros fronts are not "Marxists" or "Progressives," "Radicals" -- or especially "Liberals" in any real meaning of the word. They are Neo-Commies."

The Sun Rises In The East: "That this recent Gallup poll finds, "that only 9% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news `fully, accurately, and fairly,' " is about as surprising as a similar percentage might not believe the sun rises in the East. That, "Nearly half of Americans -- including over three-quarters of Republicans -- perceive the media as too liberal while fewer than one in five say the media are too conservative," is similarly not surprising. Study after study has found the overwhelming liberal orientation of most journalists, particularly at the national level."

Hillary has no problems with a crook: "Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry's presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton's campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton's admirers. "It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger's serious misdeeds," said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University"

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 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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Brits getting poorer under socialism

While the average household gross income has climbed over the past decade from 34,796 to 53,835 pounds, people have far less of that money to spend each month after they have paid essential bills. In 1997, when Labour came to power, people were left with 34.5 per cent of their gross income once they had paid taxes, national insurance, mortgage or rent. Now they are left with 32.6 per cent, says a report by uSwitch, a price comparison website.

It is the latest survey to highlight how millions of households have failed to benefit from the strong economy because of rising taxes and escalating bills. Ernst & Young, the accountants, calculated this year that the average family had 838 pounds left to spend each month, compared to 899 four years ago. The uSwitch report makes clear that many household bills have actually risen more modestly than people's salaries, including the monthly, electricity, water and gas bills.

Increases have hit four key areas in the past 10 years. Petrol [gasoline] - often the biggest cost for a family after their housing - has increased by 55 per cent and phone and internet bills have risen 77 per cent as millions more use broadband and mobile phones. The cost of getting on to the housing ladder has more than tripled, but taxes are perhaps the most significant cost. Council tax rose from an average of 688 a year to 1,321 - an increase of 92 per cent, or three times the rate of inflation.

Mike Warburton, one of the City's most senior accountants, said: "The Government can argue that tax rates have not gone up and that they are merely benefiting from people's rising incomes. But a lot of indirect taxes have gone up, especially council tax. This is why pensioners - on fixed incomes - are so badly hit. The squeeze is definitely on." The report from uSwitch comes a week after it emerged that stamp duty had risen by more than 40 per cent in the past year alone, as the Government cashed in on ballooning house prices.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

The Leftist hatred of patriotism is self-defeating: "For the Left, with its traditional emphasis upon fraternite, or the cultivation of human solidarity and communal values, such realities are particularly difficult to reconcile with an ethos of limitless criticism. To say that we are a part of one another-or even to acknowledge that man is by nature a "political animal," thinking here of Aristotle and not of James Carville-is not merely to say that we should deliberate together; it is also to say that, at some point, the discussion ceases and we make a commitment to one another to act together. Furthermore, it is to say that we cannot sustain serious, demanding, and long-term commitments to one another if those commitments are regarded as provisional and easily revoked for light and transient causes. We make an agreement and we agree to stand by it. Call it a contract, a covenant, or a Constitution, it is the same general kind of commitment, a commitment not merely of the intellect but also of the will. For any freely organized political undertaking, this vital qualification presents a difficulty. But for the Left, it becomes a profound dilemma"

Media lies: "We are being fed false and misleading information, in matters big and small. It has come from trusted sources such as established newspapers, experienced journalists, Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel Peace Prize winners. It has been going on for a long time, sometimes by carelessness and sometimes by deliberate lying. I have compiled a list of 101 such incidents. Did you know that Time magazine and other news organizations had a Vietnamese communist on full-time staff in Vietnam during that war? Do you remember that ABC, CBS and NBC have all rigged cars or trucks with explosives or other devices to make them look dangerous on TV, or that Consumer Reports lied about the Suzuki Samurai enough to put it out of business? Do you know that multiple "veterans" of the Viet Nam and Iraq wars who told of atrocities there were never even in the military? Did you realize reputable news organizations such as the Boston Globe and Reuters cannot tell the difference between a real soldier and a toy doll, commercial pornography and soldiers committing rape, a burning tire dump and a bombed building, a fired and an unfired rifle round, or footage of the North Pole and a clip from the movie Titanic?"

Neo-Cons and Neo-Commies: "Everybody talks about the evil Neo-Cons, but nobody talks about the resurgent Neo-Commies. "Communist" has been expelled from the Politically Correct lexicon -- which tells us a lot about the Commissars of the PC. They bear the most amazing resemblance to the old Commissars of (deleted) who killed 60-100 million people in the 20th century. (And Kim Jong Il, not to mention Red China, are still doing it....) Mikhail Gorbachev, who should know them when he sees them, recently warned about a "resurgence of Stalinism" in Russia and Eastern Europe. The history of Communist crimes was being erased, he said. Well, he was right. But resurgent Stalinism is not limited to those countries. It's in the US and all over the world, as David Horowitz, another former radical, continues to document in great detail... So here's a proposal. Let's allow the Left to rant about Neo-Cons; but conservatives will be allowed to call the "new" Left exactly what it is: The Neo-Commies. Fair's fair. Words mean things. These folks crawling all over Moveon.org and other Soros fronts are not "Marxists" or "Progressives," "Radicals" -- or especially "Liberals" in any real meaning of the word. They are Neo-Commies."

The Sun Rises In The East: "That this recent Gallup poll finds, "that only 9% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news `fully, accurately, and fairly,' " is about as surprising as a similar percentage might not believe the sun rises in the East. That, "Nearly half of Americans -- including over three-quarters of Republicans -- perceive the media as too liberal while fewer than one in five say the media are too conservative," is similarly not surprising. Study after study has found the overwhelming liberal orientation of most journalists, particularly at the national level."

Hillary has no problems with a crook: "Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry's presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton's campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton's admirers. "It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger's serious misdeeds," said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University"

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 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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FAR-LEFTIST RAGE

The Far Left has seen their ideology resoundingly rejected by the American populace. While it may well be that a majority of Americans have grown weary and disgusted with the Iraq War and willing to punish the Republicans for our failures there, in fact, socialism and socialism-lite, ie the European model, have been found wanting by the voters. This is partially recognized by the fact that the Democrats routinely eschew calling themselves liberals and focus on the language of their politics rather than the ideological beliefs that underpin their policies. The recent unearthing of the memo from the early 90s suggesting achieving universal government run health care in stages, by stealth (re: the S-CHIP debate), is another example of the Democratic perception that a straightforward approach to their goals of increased government control over the economy is a losing proposition.

When one's ideas are rejected, especially when those ideas form an important part of one's self-image, it is a personal injury. People respond to personal injury with pain and anger. When the anger is internalized, the risk of depression and despair becomes significant. Many find it more tolerable to eject the anger, ie defense known as projection, and are then drawn into all the psychological problems that flow from that. One's opponents then become evil, rather than wrong, misguided or simply in disagreement, and every reverse simply fuels the rage burning inside. Such a cycle would appear as follows:

Anger -> Projection -> Attribution of unacceptable impulses to the "enemy" -> Fear of the projected/disowned anger being returned (retaliation) -> Overt paranoia -> Further rejection -> Intensified anger

Under the influence of such rage, encapsulated by the feeling that one is manifestly correct and no other possible interpretations of others' behavior are tenable, reason is lost. We see this rather graphically in the imbroglio over Rush Limbaugh and his supposed anti-military comments. I rarely listen to Rush and have not read a transcript, however, on the face of it, the charges against him are risible. No one with any sense is going to believe Rush is anti-military and people like Harry Reid and Tom Harkin are pro-military in comparison. Even the Far Left should be well aware that this is a losing argument. Yet they convince themselves they have a winning argument and only the weakness of their champions in the Senate and House prevent them from beating Rush and getting him off the air. Jane Hamsher, the proprietor of a major website on the Left, (see Siggy for a rather witty and biting appellation) can barely contain herself:

Is That A Fat Lady I Hear Singing? Pills Limbaugh just keeps diggin' and diggin'. I've been delighted to see that it's been all over cable news today, and Wes Clark has been promoting the move to get Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio Network.

She goes on to approvingly quote Digby:

Newtie's now irrelevant. Delay is gone. Only Rush remains and he is probably the biggest prize. On a purely practical, hardball political basis, the Democrats should have been working to take him out for years. Now is their chance to turn the Republicans' patented hissy kabuki back on them and hoist an avowed political enemy with his own poisonous petard at the same time. There are many others who will happily take his place, no doubt about it. But his voice is uniquely associated with the radical wingnuts, and it is an important symbolic message to the country if they can finally make an example of him.

I have become extremely reluctant to link to any Left wing sites because when visitors come here from their sites they come armed with invective and rarely read and understand what I write. For any visitors from the Left, I am not here commenting on your ideology; I have no problem with your distaste for Rush and I have no reason to support him. Beyond the fact that he hardly needs my help, I rarely listen to him, preferring NPR when I am interested in gaining any depth on issues (despite the fact that I so rarely agree with NPR's point of view.) I am suggesting that your tactics and strategy involved in going after Rush Limbaugh suggest an inability to adequately appreciate how your attacks are being and will be perceived. Your anger is blinding you and confusing you. As for the Democrats, ultimately, unless they can find a way to repudiate the most angry within their party, they will find themselves irredeemably tarred with all the worst aspects of the Far Left.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Tories crow, as Brown loses his bottle: "BRITAIN'S Gordon Brown is facing the gravest crisis of his brief prime ministership after a Conservative surge in opinion polls forced him to scrap plans for an early election to win his own mandate from voters. After two months of letting speculation run that he would call a poll in the autumn, Mr Brown told the BBC yesterday that there would be no election because he wanted time to show Britons his "vision" rather than merely his "competence". But as some cabinet members privately expressed disquiet over Mr Brown's handling of the issue, an elated Conservative leader, David Cameron, said the Prime Minister had "shown great weakness and indecision". [For non-Brits, the Cockney term "bottle" translates roughly as "courage"]

Christianism Alert! Presidential Candidate Preaches From Church Pulpit, Says Faith "Plays Every Role In Life": "I am sure the media, Democratic presidential candidates and Andrew Sullivan will be all over this outrageous violation of the separation of Church and State. Except the won't. Why? Because the Christianist in question is none other than the Obamessiah himself. Obama told the congregation at Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville Church, South Carolina, "I can be an instrument of God they same way all of you are." An instrument of God as President? Of the United States? Oh my. Funny, for all the media reports of Bush being a daffy Christian who talks to God, I don't remember seeing him actually preaching from the pulpit of a church."

Syria: where 1930s Germany meets Borat: "The Jews did 9/11. They control the mass media, international banking, the UN, and Washington. The Holocaust never happened, or if it did, the Jews orchestrated it to exploit public sympathy for their "entity" in Palestine. Welcome to Syria, best described as 1930s Germany meets Borat, a land of paranoia where everyone is being watched. And that includes you. It is easy to miss this if, like most foreigners, you study Arabic at the university and your contact with locals is limited. But leave campus, speak only Arabic, immerse yourself in the society, and a totally different picture emerges. When I first arrived, a lot of people told me: "We are not against Jews, we are only against Zionists." But cross the language threshold and the extent and ferocity of the antisemitism hits you like a slap in the face. The guy who ran the corner shop near my flat refused to sell Coca-Cola because: "It is a Jewish corporation. Everyone knows that!" Walk into any Damascus bookshop and you will find all the classics, from Mein Kampf to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I once found a book entitled Jews of Damascus. Just don't ask why all the photos are black and white."

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 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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Megan McArdle misses some very basic stuff

Megan McArdle ("Jane Galt") is a very smart lady who seems to have learnt a lot about economics when she did her MBA. She has written much that I admire. She seems to be a bit light on psychology, however. Her recent article on racism and sexism in America shows very little understanding of impression-formation and the stereotyping literature, or, indeed, of current politics.

She quotes research studies which show that people with identical resumes get preferential treatment if they are white or male and infers racism and sexism from that.

She totally ignores the very well-known effects of affirmative action -- effects that Clarence Thomas has recently waxed eloquent about. The plain fact is that affirmative action has totally betrayed back people by creating the reality of a "black" university degree -- a degree which may signify negligible academic achievement because of the different standards applied to blacks both at the time of admission and during their university studies. There was even one case where a black graduate of a New York university was barely literate.

Does Megan think people are unaware of that? Does she think people are unaware of what has been one of the major political issues in America for decades? So if two people offer resumes that claim identical academic qualifications and one of the applicants is black, does Megan think that any rational person would regard the "black" degree as REALLY equivalent to the degree held by the white candidate? Surely the question answers itself. Under such circumstances it is a very good bet that the white candidate REALLY IS more qualified than the black candidate. Favouring the white candidate shows realism, not racism.

The situation with women is a bit more complex. Megan refers to a study by feminist Elizabeth Spelke which shows that men and women with identical mathematical qualifications are not treated equally. The male candidate is preferred. To understand that, it helps to know that the research literature on stereotyping shows the exact opposite of what most people believe. See here and here. What that literature shows is that impression-formation is very responsive to reality. If people think that women are not generally good at mathematics or interested in it, that will probably be true IN GENERAL (though not of course without exceptions).

And all the research that has ever been done on mental abilities has shown that women are best at verbal skills while men are best at mathematical skills. Does Megan really think that people are unaware of that difference between the sexes? They are certainly not. They might not know of the research but they know of the reality that it describes. So when people judge that men and women with ostensibly similar qualifications in mathematics are probably not really equally able at or interested in mathematics, they are simply doing something that humans do well -- using ALL the information they have to make a decision rather than just relying on a few bits of paper before them. Again, their lower expectations of female mathematical ability are realistic, not "sexism".

Megan should give her fellow-Americans more credit for intelligence and good sense.



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Articles recently up on ICJS

Was Israel hurt by Ahmadinejad at Columbia?
Bollinger stuns Ahmadinejad
Senator Troeth speaks out about kidnapped soldiers
Readers subjected to slant and error
Support Danny Lamm
Teach our 'nakba' too, say Arab-born Jews
A matter of education
The Question Of Islam
Crusader for refugees
Libel Tourism: Where Terrorism and Censorship Meet
Looking for Scapegoat, World Again Turns to Jews
In India a Jewish outpost withers

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ELSEWHERE

Ho Hum! UN fraud again: "Tsunami reconstruction funds worth $US500 million are being lost to fraud and corruption because of the failure by the United Nations to implement its own anti-fraud measures. This claim is made by the UN's former deputy director of investigations, Frank Montil, a former ASIO officer who for a decade was the deputy director of the UN's internal watchdog unit, set up to investigate fraud and corruption within the UN and its agencies. In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Mr Montil said "the oil-for-food scandal taught them nothing". The fraud and corruption which had been occurring during the tsunami reconstruction period would come back to haunt the UN, which had wilfully ignored all the warning signs. As a senior UN investigator, Mr Montil was sent to the devastated areas of Indonesia after the tsunami. His task was to assess the risks of fraud, waste and mismanagement to the public funding that the tsunami public appeal generated and for which the UN was responsible for allocating"

Waiting for the furious protests from Western Leftists: "Two men in Saudi Arabia have been sentenced to 7000 lashes each after being convicted of sodomy and have received their first round of punishment in public, a newspaper said today. The men, who were not identified, were meted out an unspecified number of lashes in public in the the southwestern city of Al-Bahah on Tuesday evening, the Al-Okaz daily reported. They were then returned to prison where they are to be held until the full punishment is completed, the newspaper added, without saying how many sessions this would involve. Homosexual acts are illegal in Saudi Arabia, which metes out strict punishment based on sharia, or Islamic law."

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 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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More Leftist bigotry from NPR

National Public Radio was one of the first out of the box greeting Clarence Thomas's memoir, My Grandfather's Son. Nina Totenberg acknowledged that it was, "in some ways a beautifully written book" but went on to declare it "a book of complete bitterness and rage." The Washington Post's front page announced that Thomas had "settled scores" in his "angry" book. And Washington Post columnist (as well as Charen pal) Ruth Marcus writes of Thomas's "blast furnace" anger.

Imagine that. He hasn't gotten over it. Totenberg, for those who may have forgotten, was the journalist who first reported that Anita Hill had made allegations against Thomas (though at the time, Hill had not agreed to go public). And she was a prominent Hill enthusiast during the contretemps.

Totenberg affects surprise that Thomas is angry? It would require a masochist not to be angry. Imagine that your spotless reputation had been thoroughly trashed before a worldwide audience. Imagine further that everything you had attempted to accomplish in your career was undermined in two weeks by ideological opponents ready to do anything to keep someone with your heterodox views down. It is my experience that people often become enraged when they read even small inaccuracies about themselves in the newspapers. Contemplate enduring a campaign of vilification. How many years is it supposed to take to get over something like that? Is Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky thing?

Actually, speaking of President Clinton, the brouhaha over Thomas and what he did or did not say to Hill now seems almost quaint in retrospect. Even if we assume (and I do not) that the worst of Hill's allegations were true, they do not stack up to the kind of brutish behavior attributed to Bill Clinton by Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick. But the very same people who adjudged Thomas one of the lowest creatures on Earth, found Clinton's behavior a private matter of no consequence with no public implications.

More here. For a brief but thorough refutation of the Anita Hill perjury, see here.

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ELSEWHERE

Several readers have asked me to link to Stewart Dimmock Day. Stewart Dimmock is the British truck-driver who got the British High court to criticize Al Gore.

An amusing comment from Taranto: "Apparently there are a lot of New York Times readers who go to bed hungry each night. Well, that's probably true. They're all on a diet."

How stupid can an Archbishop get? "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has launched a renewed attack on the war in Iraq and called for "urgent attention" to stabilise the country. [And just how does he propose to do that?]

BBC admits goof: "Peter Fincham, the Controller of BBC One, resigned yesterday after the publication of a damning report outlining a litany of errors that led him to release inaccurately edited footage of the Queen. Following him was Stephen Lambert, the producer of the footage, which purported to show the Queen storming out of a photoshoot when she was actually walking in. Accused of "cavalier" editing, Mr Lambert was forced to quit his job as chief creative officer of RDF Media - the production company also behind Faking It. A three-month inquiry by Will Wyatt, a former senior BBC executive, concluded that the incident revealed "misjudgments, poor practice and ineffective systems", with BBC employees described as "naive" although nobody "consciously set out to defame or misrepresent the Queen". [I doubt that there was anything unintentional about it. Lots of BBC types are anti the monarchy]

It's the Joooos again: "When I asked Hersh who wants to bomb Iran, he said, "Ironically there is a lot of pressure coming from Democrats. Hillary Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have all said we cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran. Clearly the pressure from Democrats is a reflection of - we might as well say it - Israeli and Jewish input." He added the obvious: "a lot of money comes to the Democratic campaigns" from Jewish contributors." [A now familiar phenomenon: Antisemitism from a Leftist Jew who hopes they will come for him last]

Anthropologists join war against Taliban: "In this isolated Taliban stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, American paratroopers are fielding what they consider a crucial new weapon in counterinsurgency operations here: a soft-spoken civilian anthropologist named Tracy. Tracy, who asked that her surname not be used for security reasons, is a member of the first Human Terrain Team, an experimental Pentagon program that assigns anthropologists and other social scientists to American combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq. Her team's ability to understand subtle points of tribal relations - in one case spotting a land dispute that allowed the Taliban to bully parts of a major tribe - has won the praise of officers who say they are seeing concrete results. Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division unit working with the anthropologists here, said that the unit's combat operations had been reduced by 60 percent since the scientists arrived in February"

1 in 5 Dems admit they want to lose war : "Nearly one out of every five Democrats thinks the world will be better off if America loses the war in Iraq, according to the FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll released Thursday. The percentage of Democrats (19 percent) who believe that is nearly four times the number of Republicans (5 percent) who gave the same answer. Seven percent of independents said the world would be better off if the U.S. lost the war."

Decency prevails at last in Britain: "Iraqi interpreters and other key support staff who have risked their lives to work for Britain are to be allowed to settle in the United Kingdom, The Times has learnt. Hundreds of interpreters and their families are to be given assistance to leave Iraq, where they live under fear of death squads because they collaborated with British forces. Those wishing to remain in Iraq or relocate to neighbouring countries will be helped to resettle. After a two-month campaign by The Times, Gordon Brown is set to announce that interpreters who have worked for the British Government for 12 months will be given the opportunity of asylum in Britain. The offer also applies retrospectively to interpreters who worked for the Government but have ceased to do so. Government sources have disclosed that a few hundred vital support staff would also be helped, although they declined to give details."

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

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

"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 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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