TUESDAY ROUNDUP

Once again I list what I think were the best posts on my various blogs in the preceding week.

On Dissecting Leftism I give some history of Leftist racism

On Political Correctness Watch I note that cake is now incorrect

On Greenie Watch I note the significance of the fact that the House of Lords has rubbished Britain's climate change policies

On Education Watch I note that a five-week teacher training course gets better results than a four year teaching degree

On Socialized Medicine I note the first official announcement of medical vouchers

On Gun Watch there is a spirited defence of gun rights from English libertarian Sean Gabb

On Leftists as Elitists I note that Democrat self-love is their undoing

On Blogger News I ask is the term "liberal" still meaningful? (Also posted on Conservative Philosopher)

On Majority Rights I note that feminism seems to be faltering

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ELSEWHERE

The motive behind the London bombings: "The post-modern liberal mind cannot make sense of terrorism -- why would anyone want to kill women and children? What would drive someone to do such things. Surely, our political system can provide a safe outlet for their grievances. Don't we have departments of multiculturalism? Don't we give foreign aid? Don't we have racial affirmative action? .... Such a response does not understand the terrorists. To understand them is simple, if terrifying: Read their writing and listen to their speeches. They want the world to be ruled by sharia law, where the only constitution is the Qu'ran. They want a theocracy, like Afghanistan was and Iran is, where infidels are killed, or kept in a state of submission, called dhimmitude. Read Osama bin Laden's speeches, not those of his lawyers and psychologists in the media. Like Hitler's Mein Kampf, bin Laden is plain about his intentions. There was no half way, no compromise, no win-win possible with Hitler. The Jews didn't do any one thing in particular to him -- he hated their very existence. The West didn't do any one thing to bin Laden that caused his hate -- other than to live freely and outside his authority. Sixty-five years ago, Britain understood Hitler was evil, and responded with Spitfires, not psychologists. Here's hoping Britain today has the same clarity of thought."

Australia's treasurer points to bias against conservative churches: "Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday lashed out at the hypocritical treatment of churches in politics, saying conservative churches were seen as sinister while Left-wing clergy won nothing but praise. Mr Costello strongly defended the Hillsong Church from charges it was "a danger to democracy". The Treasurer supported the mass-member Pentecostal worship in Sydney's outer suburbs against establishment churches. He said Left-wing leaders within the Anglican and Uniting churches were given more credence on social issues than conservatives from organisations such as Hillsong. "Everyone goes around and says, 'well we are worried about the influence of the Pentecostal churches'," Mr Costello said. "You know, they might get involved in politics, but we will defend the right of Anglican Archbishops to engage in politics. And the difference is the general view in the media is a churchman is entitled to speak on a social issue as long as he has a Left-wing perspective."

Commo-loving black "Democrat": "Congressman Charles Rangel-a frequent, forthright defender of civil liberties on national television-has long been a paladin of black political and human rights in this country... Because of his record, I was surprised when-as nonviolent Cubans had the courage to gather in Havana on May 20 for the first public mass meeting for their freedom during Castro's 46-year dictatorship-Rangel was among the only 22 members of the House of Representatives who voted against a resolution (392 in favor) supporting this "historic meeting." Then, as noted in last week's column, Rangel attacked American politicians who "refuse to give the [Castro] government the respect that it deserves." And he dismissed the Cubans defying the dictator-who, in 2003, locked up for long sentences more than 70 dissenters".

Radioblogger is an interesting site. Go there for all your transcripts of Leftists making fools of themselves on air. I liked this excerpt from an interview with Ronald Reagan junior -- who made the usual Leftist claim of "no connection" between Saddam and terrorism. Christopher Hitchens replied: "When I went to interview Abu Nidal, then the most wanted terrorist in the world, in Baghdad, he was operating out of an Iraqi government office. He was an arm of the Iraqi State, while being the most wanted man in the world. The same is true of the shelter and safe house offered by the Iraqi government, to the murderers of Leon Klinghoffer, and to Mr. Yassin, who mixed the chemicals for the World Trade Center bombing in 1993".

There is an article from last year here that traces the origins of Al Qaeda back to the Arab Nazis of WW2

That abuse expert and mini-Chomsky, Brian Leiter, has just copped another well-deserved blast for his anti-intellectualism. Leiter's highly intellectual response was to "out" his critic as homosexual. Charming!

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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A MARXIST WET DREAM OR A DEMOCRAT WET DREAM?

The following bit of fantasizing comes from Sam Webb, who is/was the "chair" (I hope someone sits on him) of the Communist Party of the USA. But it could just as well be Democrat propaganda. Neither has any idea of how their projected paradise might be brought about. Conservatives and anybody else in touch with reality know that it cannot. The Left had half the world to experiment on for most of the 20th century and made things infinitely worse there rather than better. In the excerpt, Comrade Webb is talking about what America would be like "after the revolution"

"I would expect that the economy would be a mixed one, combining different forms of socialist and cooperative property as well as space, within clear limits, for private enterprise. While democratic planning would begin to play a role in organizing economic life, market mechanisms would probably operate over sectors of the socialized economy for much longer than I thought years ago....

I have confined myself to the day after the revolution, but extending the time frame a bit further into the future brings additional images and possibilities. Homelessness and joblessness would be eradicated. Toxic dumps would be cleaned up and replaced with gardens and playgrounds.

Our skies would be blue and pollution free. Our neighborhoods would become places of rest, leisure, culture, and green space. The whole panoply of oppressions that scare our people and nation would be on the wane. Human sexuality and sexual orientation would be enjoyed and celebrated. The audiences at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall would look as diverse as the people of our city.

The prisons systems would be emptied and the borders demilitarized and opened. Women would be regularly receiving Nobel prizes in the sciences. The Pentagon would be padlocked and the swords of war would be turned into plowshares and we would study war no more. And, finally, the full development of each would be the condition for the full development of all."

And here is the current Democrat dream, only marginally less realistic and self-defeating:

If the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which is probably the closest thing Bay Area liberal Democrats have to a government in waiting, were to take over in Washington, these would become national policy:

Access to affordable, high-quality health care would be universal. Social Security benefits would be protected, along with private pensions. The minimum wage would be raised, and workers' rights to form unions would be protected. Expiring sections of the Patriot Act wouldn't be renewed, and Congress would fight media consolidation. U.S. troops would be brought home from Iraq "as soon as possible,'' and the government would work to "restore international respect for American power and influence.''

All these points are part of the "Progressive Promise,'' an effort by the 59-member caucus of liberal House Democrats and one independent to reinvigorate the 15-year-old organization and make it more of a player in a capital city where conservative Republicans are solidly in charge

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ELSEWHERE

More strangeness from Arkansas: The retiring Republican governor of Arkansas (where Clinton hails from) Mike Huckabee, recently made a "joke" that has aroused a lot of anger. He seemed to think it amusing that "Southern white guys" like himself may soon be a minority in the State -- a State which has had a large influx of illegal Hispanic immigrants. Since large numbers of Americans are not at all amused by illegal immigration, the attitude to law enforcement revealed by the "joke" is pretty surprising in a senior Republican. There is an article here which has a sinister explanation of Huckabee's thinking. From an Australian viewpoint, the toleration of illegal immigration by America's political elites of both the Right and Left seems pretty contemptible. The Australian government has cracked down very heavily on illegal immigration.

Children of illegals NOT citizens by right: "We well know how the courts and laws have spoken on the subject of children born to non-citizens (illegal aliens) within the jurisdiction of the United States by declaring them to be American citizens. But what does the constitution of the United States say about the issue of giving American citizenship to anyone born within its borders? As we explore the constitutions Citizenship Clause, as found in the Fourteenth Amendment, we can find no constitutional authority to grant such citizenship to persons born to non-American citizens within the limits of the United States of America".

The Left never do care about reality: "The most fascinating thing about President Bush’s speech on Iraq last week was the reaction of many on the left, whose weird mind-set was best captured by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Bush’s speech, she said, tried to “exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq.” In effect, Pelosi was accusing Bush of failing to join in her favorite delusion, which is pretty funny when you think about it. It was a reminder that for Bush haters, the no-connection-with-9/11 canard has hardened into something like a religious belief. But to repeat the cliche, on Sept. 11 our world changed. We were at war — not a war in the conventional sense, against an identifiable regime with control over territory. But as in any war, we suddenly knew we had reason for heightened fear of what we did not know. Those of Pelosi’s ilk, by contrast, cling to the world of Sept. 10. They have refused to accept that we had to change our posture toward potential threats — such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. A corollary to the left’s no-link-to-Sept. 11 delusion is the belief that Hussein’s regime had no relationship with al-Qaida. Certainly, there’s little or no evidence that Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11 attack. But the relationship between al-Qaida and Hussein’s regime was fairly well-developed, as the Sept. 11 commission report made abundantly clear".

Can this be true? "Surveys completed in recent months by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that nearly a fifth of teens who have access to the Web have their own blogs. And 38 percent of teens say they read other people's blogs. By comparison, about a tenth of adults have their own blogs and a quarter say they read other people's online journals." [If it is true that is one hell of a lot of blogs. No wonder Technorati is overloaded into uselessness most of the time]

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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IMMIGRATION TO THE USA -- LATEST FIGURES:

Analysis of birth records shows that in 2002 almost one in four births in the United States was to an immigrant mother, legal and illegal, the highest level in American history. The enormous number and proportion of children from immigrant families may overwhelm the assimilation process, making it difficult to integrate these new second-generation Americans. At present, the U.S. government automatically gives American citizenship to all people born in the country, even the children of tourists and illegal aliens.

Among the study's findings:

In 2002, 23 percent of all births in the United States were to immigrant mothers (legal or illegal), compared to 15 percent in 1990, 9 percent in 1980, and 6 percent in 1970.

Even at the peak of the last great wave of immigration in 1910, births to immigrant mothers accounted for a slightly smaller share than today. After 1910 immigration was reduced, but current immigration continues at record levels, thus births to immigrants will continue to increase.

Our best estimate is that 383,000 or 42 percent of births to immigrants are to illegal alien mothers. Births to illegals now account for nearly one out of every 10 births in the United States.

The large number of births to illegals shows that the longer illegal immigration is allowed to persist, the harder the problem is to solve. Because as U.S. citizens these children can stay permanently, their citizenship can prevent a parent's deportation, and once adults they can sponsor their parents for permanent residence.

The large number of children born to illegals also shows that a "temporary" worker program is unrealistic because it would result in hundreds of thousands of permanent additions to the U.S. population each year, exactly what such a program is suppose to avoid.

Overall, immigrant mothers are much less educated than native mothers. In 2002, 39 percent of immigrant mothers lacked a high school education, compared to 17 percent of native mothers. And immigrants now account for 41 percent of births to mothers without a high school degree.

The dramatic growth in births to immigrants has been accompanied by a decline in diversity. In 1970, the top country for immigrant births - Mexico - accounted for 24 percent of births to immigrants, by 2002 it was 45 percent.

As a share of all births in the country, Mexican immigrants accounted for one in 10 births in 2002. No single foreign country has every accounted for such a large share of births.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Robert Mandel has a very good history lesson for the Islamic morons. If they really want to get Mecca nuked, we may eventually oblige them. (HT Les Bates)

National Association of Scholars responds to the Ward Churchill affair: "In the wake of the Churchill affair, the Regents of the University of Colorado intend to oversee a comprehensive review of the workings of the tenure process, probably the first within a major university since the formalization of the modern system in 1940. Their opportunity is not simply to avoid being stuck with more Churchills, but to restore to the process the integrity it was originally supposed to possess, or to change it as necessary. Tenure's weak point has always been its susceptibility to favor-trading-the all-too-human inclination to help the other guy if he'll be equally nice in return. Academe was once thought too high-minded for such cheapening accommodations, but apparently that is no longer so. If tenure is to be preserved in its present form, means need to be found for restoring the primacy of intellectual criteria over political ones, and frustrating the reciprocal "rent seeking" that drives down all standards. Given the strength of vested interests, this won't be easy to do. But it is an opportunity that still beckons".

Canada: Court orders US extradition of environmental terrorist: "One of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, a suspected eco-terrorist known as Tre Arrow, was ordered extradited back to the United States on Thursday to face charges of firebombings. Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of participating in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years."

At the movies: "Ordinarily I am not a paranoid person, so this hypothesis of mine is not the usual type. But recently I have noticed that when I see serious American movies, mostly the ideological take in them tends to be anti-capitalist, anti-free market, against free trade, anti-business, anti-corporate -- in short against most things associated with the United States of America. Granted, there are policies by the US Government that I, too, find very upsetting but these aren't what these movies tend to go after -- like increasing meddling in people's personal lives, Court decisions that favor the government over the private sector, preoccupation with political correctness and so forth. No, the targets of these movies tend to be ordinary American values.'

Leftist solutions have not helped blacks: "Civil rights leaders like 57-year-old Prentice McKinney, who fought to free Milwaukee's blacks from the ghetto, say gangs, drugs and violence have left those who still live in the nation's urban cores in fear of the next generation. "Back then, the enemy was clear, it was white racists, and racist police officers," said McKinney, who was a black teen-age "commando" in the 1960s and now runs a tavern once frequented by fellow activists. "It was a legalized system of segregation. And so, the challenge was between the white establishment and the African-American population. Today, the African-American population is being destroyed by its own youth ... an enemy from within." He and others interviewed before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's six-day meeting beginning on Saturday see a changed city where a generation of blacks freed from the shackles of yesterday's legalized discrimination are held hostage by today's crime and poverty.... "We marched for fair housing, and now we have homelessness," Martin said. "I remember when there was good housing stock and families thrived. Now there is empty lots. I remember business districts that were as busy as any shopping mall and now they are vacant stores."

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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FROM BROOKES NEWS

The US trade deficit with China and protectionist myths The US trade deficit with China has rekindled cries about the "level playing field" and "fair trade" that are becoming ever more strident
Clerical hypocrisy takes aim at the Liberal Party It should be obvious, even to left-wing clerics, that if the churches insist on engaging in economic debates then they have a grave responsibility to educate themselves in economic theory
The Brotherhood of St. Laurence and its anti-job agenda The self-righteousness Brotherhood of St. Laurence claims that wage flexibility only "promotes greater poverty and misery for low wage workers and their families"
Union economist denies economic laws If your raise the price of any product above its market clearing value demand will fall and a surplus will emerge and vice versa. That is, unless you are a trade union
Unions, unemployment and wages Union leaders, social workers, clerics, labour politicians and 'journalists' are claiming that the Government's proposed labour market reforms will have terrible consequences for real wages

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ELSEWHERE

Will hard-Leftist Ken Livingstone admit he goofed? Unlikely "London Mayor Ken Livingstone's previous support of a Muslim cleric who advocates suicide bombings may cause him some embarrassment as he now must speak for the city in the wake of Thursday's terrorist bombings.... Livingstone has in the past labeled Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi a "man of peace" and a "moderate," despite the fact that Al-Qaradawi has supported suicide bombings and the targeting of American allies. Livingstone invited Al-Qaradawi to London's City Hall last year as an honored guest, and the mayor appeared in a video shown at a solidarity conference for the sheikh on Feb. 17 of this year in Doha, Qatar. Livingstone has publicly defended the sheikh against critics in the media and various grassroots organizations. The Anti-Defamation League has labeled Al-Qaradawi the "Theologian of Terror," while the website GayEgypt.com has dubbed him the "Dr. Goebbels of modern Egypt," for Al-Qaradawi's anti-homosexual rhetoric... Al-Qaradawi's theological justification for suicide bombings is entitled, "Hamas Operations Are Jihad and Those Who [Carry it Out and] Are Killed are Considered Martyrs" and appears on a website linked to the Hamas terror organization".

Northeastern Intelligence Network has a lot on the London bombings

Reliapundit has an apt comment on the London attack: "How long before the Left blames Bush"?

We had an eloquent warning over a year ago about the bombing proclivities of British Muslims. A pity the types concerned were not rounded up long ago. I imagine that nothing will be done about them even now.

The Australian government did NOT kowtow to China: "The former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, who defected from his post in Australia, has been granted a protection visa today. A spokesman for the Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says the visa will give Mr Chen all the entitlements of a permanent resident, and the visa will also apply to his wife and daughter. Chen Yonglin says he's delighted with the outcome, and has thanked the Australian Government for granting him asylum. Mr Chen claimed the Chinese Government has up to 1,000 spies operating in Australia who've been kidnapping Chinese nationals. Chin Jin from the Federation for a Democratic China, which is a political group set up after the Tiananmen Square massacre, has welcomed the news"

Muslims becoming Christians: "In the past few years, increasing numbers of Westerners have been converting to Islam. Agence France Presse recently reported annual figures in France alone of 30,000 to 50,000. But a new phenomenon - largely unreported in the Western media - is occurring: Muslims, especially in the Maghreb (north-west Africa) are becoming Christians... According to most reports, the culprits are American evangelical missionaries operating in major cities such as Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech and Fez to remote areas in the mountains or the countryside. The statistics differ wildly: Missionaries are reported to number anywhere from 150, according to French weekly newsmagazine Le Nouvel Observateur, to the 800-plus figure most often used. Converts are said to number anywhere from 7,000 to 58,000. These discrepancies are easily explained by the fact that both missionaries and converts have to stay constantly below the radar. Even though Morocco is a much more tolerant country than say Saudi Arabia regarding freedom of religion, it nonetheless imprisons anyone trying to convert a Muslim for up to three years."

The Supreme Court's decision on eminent domain in Kelo v. City of New London has sparked almost universal condemnation among conservatives. I myself could not see much wrong with the decision as long as just compensation was given and Hinderaker says much the same -- but more eloquently and in greater detail than I could. Anyone interested in balance should read Hinderaker's article. I liked his conclusion: "The principal threats to property rights lie elsewhere. In particular, regulatory actions often severely limit what an owner can do with his property. Unlike urban development projects, such regulations are often adopted in forums that are remote from, and unresponsive to, the political process. And what an owner generally hopes for in such situations is to be covered by the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of compensation for the loss of use of his property, which is automatic in the case of a condemnation. So it is a good thing that the Kelo decision has focused attention on the erosion of property rights; but, despite the critical consensus that has formed among conservatives, it is far from clear that the case was wrongly decided". There is also a libertarian defence of the Kelo decision here, rather surprisingly.

A great quote: "You don't understand the class structure of American society," said Smetana, "or you would not ask such a question. In the United States, the working class are Democrats. The middle class are Republicans. The upper class are Communists." (from Witness by ex-Communist Whittaker Chambers, p. 616). Lots more good quotes here

The daily blog of "Enter Stage Right" is back online at a new location. See here

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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Wow! The London horror seems to have overloaded a lot of the internet. Blogger.com was slow to respond and I cannot get into Hotmail at all -- after several hours trying. Gmail is still accessible, though.

RACE AND POLITICS

In what must be one of the best coverups of all time, most people today are totally unaware that Leftists were great racists before World War II. Racist beliefs were almost universal at that time but Leftists were the great preachers of it. Even Marx and Engels were furiously racist and if they were not Leftists, who would be? I have documented all that at length here and here and here and here.

Conservatives, by contrast, have generally been moderate in their racial views -- which is why the British Conservative party made an outspoken Jew their Prime Minister at the height of the British empire. And to this day conservatives take a moderate view of race -- rejecting for instance the Leftist claim that the problems of blacks are all the fault of whites. As always, conservatives think in terms of individuals rather than in such crude racial terms. Leftists have now reversed the polarity of their racism but they are still the ardent racists they always were. It is just another instance of their characteristic simplistic thinking. The dreadful Hitler episode made pro-white racism unmentionable just about everywhere but since they really believe in nothing at all other than their own entitlement to power, sophisticated Leftists immediately became anti-white without a qualm. Because of their claim to have an explanation for everything, they NEED simplistic thinking.

Less sophisticated and more down-to-earth Leftists could not do a backflip so quickly or easily of course -- as we saw in the American South. The opponents of racial integration in the 1960s American South (George Wallace, Orval Faubus etc) were of course prominent Democrats, members of America's mainstream party of the Left. And the Southern Democrats had not long before been the great bastion of support for the socialist FDR. Even in 1932, Roosevelt won all the southern states. Even the Ku Klux Klan was basically a Democrat organization. A former Klansman (Byrd) sits in the U.S. Congress as a Democrat to this day.

And as for FDR, note this quote showing that FDR too was a typical (racist) Leftist of his era:

"For an excellent illustration of just how little FDR cared for the desperate plight of southern blacks, you can study what happened to the Scottsboro Boys, eight young black men unjustly accused of raping two white women in 1931 Alabama. Even the more level-headed Southerners eventually came to see that no rapes had occurred and that the accused were innocent. But given the region's fierce pride, untangling the legal mess created by their conviction took many years. FDR could have waved it all away with a single signature on a federal pardon, knowing that the party's southern leadership would see that it never became a political issue. Instead, he did nothing."

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ELSEWHERE

The London outrage: This is of course the sort of multiple attack that Bin Laden specializes in so there is no doubt of its origin. Hostility to the West is so widespread among Muslims in Britain, however, that catching the culprits and preventing recurrences seems unlikely to be achievable by normal police methods. London already had extensive security measures in place which appear to have achieved nothing. It seems to me that Britain could only make itself safe from more of this sort of thing by exporting all its Muslims to their ancestral homelands. Given the enormous British tradition of restraint and moderation, that won't happen this time but a drastic response such as that will surely happen if such attacks continue.

Another crooked poll. Look at the source: "A vast majority of Americans disagree with President George W. Bush's stance on global warming, a new poll said Tuesday amid reports of a widening rift over climate change between the United States and its partners in the Group of Eight (G8) dominant countries. ''Going into the G8 Summit, nearly all Americans feel that the U.S. should not be a laggard, but should be ready to do as much as most other developed countries to reduce emissions that cause climate change,'' said Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), which surveyed 812 people late last month." The Locker Room has some germane comments too.

Good comment from The Locker Room: "As they say on lucianne.com when a particularly offensive lefty-bias story is posted, "Barf alert!" This latest one is from The Guardian and it reports on a UN "human development report" that finds that rich countries spend 25 times more on their defense budgets than they give away to benighted socialist hell holes in the Third World (that's my characterization, not The Guardian's). First reaction: This is news? You might as well write a story saying that American middle-class families spend 10,000 times more on their kids' educations than they give to burnt-out winos begging at freeway ramps. That "study" would be just as relevant to anything in the real world".

There is a good brief summary here of the issues surrounding the next Supreme Court appointment. It notes that even a thoroughly conservative appointment would not mean a reliable conservative majority.

There has long been a view that the American Indians were unlikely to have been the first human occupants of the Americas. It looks like we now have proof of that. So the American Indians were "invaders" too. I guess that that should upset the simplistic moralizing of the Left a bit.

Bureaucrats determined to get Scrushy: "The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to press its civil fraud case against HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy despite his acquittal on criminal charges of orchestrating a $2.7 billion accounting fraud. The SEC's case, seeking nearly $800 million from Scrushy, has been on hold for two years because it was deemed to be in conflict with the Justice Department's criminal prosecution of HealthSouth, the medical rehabilitation services chain he once led."

I have just had posted on Conservative Philosopher a brief article about the meaning (or lack of it) of the word "liberal". I would be interested in any comments on it. Note that you have to register first to use the comment boxes on that site. Emailing me might be easier for those who do not regularly visit that site.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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

That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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AID TO AFRICA?

African economist says aid is poisonous: "The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.... Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid"

Africa already choking on aid: "Rambak threatens to become a bitter example of how development aid doesn't really help. Again and again finance is hurriedly provided for one project after another, without any evidence of a convincing overall concept. The money is just thrown at projects as quickly as possible. In this case, Norway has made $500,000 available for just 500 refugees in the camps. The windfall immediately sparked off further need and a second camp, this time home to 345 people, has sprung up. It is the Italians who are footing the bill for the new camp. Money is, for the Europeans, the solution to all of Africa's problems. But despite yearly payments of, at last count, some $26 billion, the majority of the continent resembles something approaching one big emergency military hospital. Already today there are increasing numbers of Africans who call for an end to this sort of support"

Even the L.A. Times says it: "Africa is filled with good intentions that ended badly. Half-completed hydroelectric dams covered with weeds, empty irrigation pipes decaying in the equatorial sun and roads that literally lead to nowhere dot the continent, testaments to corruption and bad judgment. Despite billions of dollars in aid, Africa has gone backward since the 1970s on every measurable level"

Africa's vast corruption: "The example of Nigeria says it all. Figures released last month by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, as reported in the London Daily Telegraph, reveal that in the 45 years since Britain granted independence in 1960 a succession of despots squandered $387 billion (that's a "b," not an "m"), almost to the dollar the sum of all Western aid to all of Africa between 1960 and 1997. One of the despots, Gen. Sani Abacha, now safely dead, is believed to have looted Nigeria's vast oil reserves of more than $5 billion in just five years. William Bellamy, the U.S. ambassador to neighboring Kenya, startled the guests at his Fourth of July garden party yesterday with just the kind of bluntness needed to keep African aid in realistic perspective. "Turning on the fire hose of international compassion and asking Kenya and other African nations to drink from it is not a serious strategy for promoting growth or ending poverty."

A view from South Africa: "African countries, including South Africa, have refused to give even the vaguest criticism of the almost unimaginably abusive Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe, maintaining that the crimes committed by that government are an internal matter. It is difficult to understand why no African leader will speak out and condemn such a clear case of evil, but in remaining silent they give their tacit approval and encouragement of the destruction of peoples' lives and livelihoods. Perhaps African leaders are just so removed from the lives of ordinary Africans that they cannot fathom any individual's need to provide for him or herself, to be self reliant and to take pride in what he or she produces.... So when the G8 countries, encouraged by Geldof and his platitudinous popstar friends, give money to Africa, they are rewarding the very people that cause poverty, destruction and death. If Africa wants to advance, it does not need more money.... They should be removing the harmful laws that give power to brutal policemen and frustrate enterprise and self-reliance. But of course it suits this political elite to get handouts from rich countries as it means they have to do less work to reform themselves and means they don't have to muddy their shoes by being concerned with the little people"

Australia thinks handouts are no answer: "Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has strongly defended Australia's foreign aid contributions, amid opposition claims the nation is not doing enough to eliminate global poverty..... Mr Downer said setting financial targets alone would not solve the problem of global poverty. "We think that the central issue here is targeting the quality of governance in countries and the quality of public administration, because that is why these countries are poor," he told ABC radio. "It's not the volume of aid, it's the quality of government on the ground which is the issue. "If governance is bad, if corruption is high, then issues like the volume of aid or debt relief ... they're just going to be meaningless."

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ELSEWHERE

Phenomenal!: "Japan's lower house of parliament has narrowly approved plans to privatise the country's huge postal system. The move is set to create the world's largest bank, as Japan Post controls 350 trillion yen ($3.2 trillion) in savings and insurance funds. The 233-228 vote was a victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who had pledged to push the reforms through before leaving office in 2006. But it was a tight call, with members of his own party voting against him. Under the proposed reforms, Japan Post would be split into four entities in 2007 in the hope of stimulating competition. Its savings and insurance arms would have to be sold by 2017. Advocates of the reforms claim that privatisation will make more efficient use of the service's huge funds for investment. But the country's 300,000 postal employees - a powerful lobbying group who are also instrumental in mobilising rural voters - opposed the bill, fearing for their jobs."

The Iranian election: Most Westerners seem to have accepted the recent election as in some sense legitimate and as representing the will of the Iranian people. That is incredibly naive. The election was thoroughly rigged. Some of the overlooked factors: "Most of the Iranian people rejected the elections and even stayed home in order to avoid being forced to go to the polls; The minimum age requirement to vote was reduced from sixteen to fourteen; The use of food coupons and admission in high school, college and university examinations required a seal on one's birth certificate indicating that the person had participated in the elections; Threatening hospitalized patients that if they did not vote, they would not receive their medications and other services; Threatening government employees that if they did not vote, they would lose their jobs; Increasing the hours of voting during the last minutes of the election day and transporting regime agents by bus from one polling place to others in order to increase the number of votes; Printing more than three million birth certificates with fake names and announcing that birth certificates without pictures would also be accepted as well as passports; Cheating in counting of votes which caused different voting results being announced by the Guardian Council and the Interior Ministry".

In case you have not seen it, there is a 2002 report here from country music star Charlie Daniels about what he saw when he visited Guantanamo Bay to entertain the troops. One thing I had not realized is that the Red Cross have people there watching everything.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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INTRODUCING THE ICJS

"ICJS Research formed to express the concerns of Australian citizens about a broad range of issues such as terrorism, appeasement, tolerance, war and justice in society. We note that these issues are not debated in the media, and where they are dealt with it is often done in an imbalanced manner. We struggle to redress imbalance in the media. ICJS Research has focused on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's recurring patterns of imbalance in many areas, such as the Iraq War, Middle East affairs, Green issues. ABC reporters and programming heads consistently make incorrect judgements on what is relevant to report in the Middle East".

Below are some of the more popular articles available on their site:

"T" is for Freedom fighter
Speech made at Columbia Uni by Brigitte Gabriel
Muslims join Jews to celebrate Passover
Daniel Scot's (in)credible testimony
Rabbi Groner
PA Corruption
ABA unwilling to confront imbalance
Faith in the path of the Tsunami
The question is: Can the ABC control its troops?
Secretary General's political capital
DiCaprio devastated by Tsunami
Pipes criticises Middle East leaders
Aunty won't be pleased!

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ELSEWHERE

How to piss on the Fourth of July . From a well-known anti-American rag: "There is an unwelcome comfort with the inequitable distribution of freedom even in our own country. There is a poisonous tolerance for the idea that freedom encompasses only the right to say positive things about America and its mission in the world". [Yech! HT Keith Burgess Jackson. That the NYT editorialist can freely say such poisonous things disproves what he says!]

British TV has just broadcast an interview with GWB in which they were absolutely determined to wrong-foot him. They failed. He gave some excellent blunt answers, particularly at the beginning. Worth a read.

Americans already donate hugely: "Private American citizens donated almost 15 times more to the developing world than their European counterparts, research reveals this weekend ahead of the G8 summit. Private US donors also handed over far more aid than the federal government in Washington, revealing that America is much more generous to Africa and poor countries than is claimed by the Make Poverty History and Live 8 campaigns. Church collections, philanthropists and company-giving amounted to $22bn a year, according to a study by the Hudson Institute think-tank, easily more than the $16.3bn in overseas development sent by the US government".

The latest Doonesbury cartoon has inspired Iraq Now to make some pointed comments on attempted put-downs of bloggers by journalists and others. Since an awful lot of journalists are now bloggers as well, such attempts are pretty amusing anyway. And, as "Iraq Now" points out, bloggers are often a lot more expert than journalists. I for instance blog a lot on political psychology and I have more academic expertise in that subject than any journalist I have ever heard of.

La Shawn Barber reports: "I told him the liberal media propped up [Sharpton, Jackson etc.] because it's easier to get quotes and sound bites from so-called black leaders speaking for a group than it is to actually deal with blacks as individuals. In response, the caller said as a person of African descent, he appreciates what Jackson and Sharpton do. I interrupted him (rude, I know) and said as someone also of African descent, I did not, and I resented the white media's perception that they represent me and my interests. I asked: Are we sheep? Why don't other racial groups have leaders? Why only blacks? Are we children who can't think for ourselves and be responsible for our own lives? I don't think he answered me

EU stupidity: "Patients' lives are being put at risk because thousands of doctors working in the UK may not have sufficient English language skills, doctors warn. All medics from outside Europe are tested by the General Medical Council before being allowed to work, but those from within Europe are exempted. The British Medical Association is seeking legal opinion on whether the EU labour law ruling can be overturned".

The party of defeat: "Col. Charles Beckwith, founder of the Delta Force, tells a story about White House planning in April 1980 for the mission to rescue our 53 hostages in Tehran. Beckwith had visited the White House Situation Room to brief President Carter. In the meeting, according to one writer, "Charlie mentioned that his Delta shooters would 'take out' the hostage guards. "Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher looked over at Charlie, eyebrows raised. 'Take them out,' Colonel?" Beckwith replied: "Yes, Mister Deputy Secretary. We're going to double-tap 'em. Shoot 'em each in the head - twice." Christopher protested: "Couldn't you just shoot them in the shoulder or something?" And liberals wonder why conservatives consider them weak. ... Karl Rove was 100 percent accurate with his June 22 comments: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9-11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9-11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Liberals are livid, mainly because, secretly, they know Rove has them nailed.... Democrats forbid America to fight. For 70 years, they refused to take communism seriously. Now, they refuse to take terrorism seriously."

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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TUESDAY ROUNDUP

Once again I list what I think were the best posts on my various blogs in the preceding week.

On Dissecting Leftism I look at Leftism as motivated by a primitive longing for the hunter-gatherer tribe

On Political Correctness Watch I look at the naughty Mexican stamps with a Mexican "Sambo" on them.

On Greenie Watch I note that European governments are giving up on energy-use targets

On Education Watch I note that private schooling works best -- even in Africa

On Socialized Medicine I report that British public hospitals are seen as "war zone" by some of their staff

On Gun Watch I tell of a Trinidad granny defeating a gunman by sitting on him

On Leftists as Elitists I note that H.G. Wells was a very nasty Leftist elitist

On Majority Rights I discuss Booms and Busts and how to do well in real estate

On Blogger News I respond derisively to feminist claims about female friendships

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ELSEWHERE

I have known for years that psychologists are not really interested in the evidence for or against their theories and in recent years I have had to add most climate scientists to the league of the evidence ignorers. But yesterday's collision with comet Tempel 1 finally forces me to add astrophysicists to that list. In astronomical circles the description of comets as "dirty snowballs" is as regular as "global warming" talk is among research-grant-seeking climate scientists. So what happened to the dirty snowball when NASA flung a lump of metal at it? Did the lump sail right through the snowball without missing a beat? Far from it! It crashed into a big lump of rock, not a snowball. Rebel scientists have been producing evidence for years (e.g. here) proving that comets are electrically charged lumps of rock but the evidence keeps getting ignored. In the latest commentary, the orthodox crowd say of the blast triggered by the Tempel 1 impact that "Geez, and we thought it was going to be subtle... How a washing-machine sized impactor could produce such a large disturbance is going to take some explanation". It sure is -- for them. But they are STILL calling it a dirty snowball! I give up! Science and Voodoo have a lot in common. They both have fixed beliefs that are almost impossible to change.

Great news: "American troops on the Syrian border are enjoying a battle they have long waited to see - a clash between foreign al-Qa'eda fighters and Iraqi insurgents. Tribal leaders in Husaybah are attacking followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist who established the town as an entry point for al-Qa'eda jihadists being smuggled into the country. The reason, the US military believes, is frustration at the heavy-handed approach of the foreigners, who have kidnapped and assassinated local leaders and imposed a strict Islamic code. Shops selling music and satellite dishes had been closed. Women were ordered to wear all-enveloping clothing and men forbidden from wearing western clothes. Anyone considered to be aiding coalition forces was being killed or kidnapped. That included those with links to the government - seen as a US puppet - such as water or electricity officials. As a result local services had collapsed."

LOL: "Bush should nominate Ann Coulter [to SCOTUS]. She is constitutional scholar with a J.D. from a respectable law school. That's more than most of our Justices have had, historically. I'm serious. Either they confirm her, or they raise hell. Assuming they raise hell enough to block the nomination, anyone else Bush puts up as a replacement looks moderate by comparison. Then, he can name someone in the mold of Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas, and the opposition will have to give in, since the replacement will be soooooo much better than Ann Coulter. Heh".

Good post on poverty from Samizdata: "Next time you see a starving African child on the television, remember the culpability of Make Poverty History. MPH's will cause more poverty and more deaths than would otherwise have occurred. Socialism is killing the third world and Make Poverty History is going to make it worse. In a report by the Globalization Institute called More Aid, Less Growth, we learn that "for every 1% increase in aid received by a developing country, there is a 3.65% drop in real GDP growth per person. Contrary to the conventional wisdom in the aid industry, the study finds that even where recipients have good governance, the effect is also negative." So there you have it. The increase in aid prompted by Make Poverty History is going make things worse, not better."

More media fakery in Israel: "A young Palestinian boy lynched by Jewish rock-throwers is in mortal condition." So repeated public Israeli news reports late last week - while in fact, the entire affair was staged by reporters.... Israeli television stations showed footage of an Arab lying on the ground and then two Jewish boys running towards him and throwing rocks at him. "That's not the story!" said A.D. "I saw this same Arab get hit in the head with a rock - and yet he continued to throw rocks, like a tiger, for the next 15 minutes! And then I saw some reporters go over to him and tell him to lie down and act as if he was unconscious. Later on, he was taken out walking on his own, holding on to a soldier; all this talk of his being mortally wounded is total nonsense."

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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

That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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THE PEOPLE'S ROMANCE (TPR)

There is an interesting article by Daniel Klein here (PDF) that gives Leftism a somewhat more creditable motivation than I am usually inclined to give it. Klein argues that because of our evolutionary past, people long to be part of one big group or "community". They in fact like to feel that everyone around them is on their side in some sense. It is a sort of genetic memory of the hunter-gatherer tribe supporting one-another against the elements. So people in whom that need is strong try to convert the whole of their country into one big brotherly tribe. To me as an instinctive individualist, it all seems rather pathetic and I have myself never knowingly felt that way. Being on good terms with just a few like-minded individuals is plenty for me. Nonetheless it is easy to see how such feelings must have evolved and I suppose the wonder is that such feelings are not strong among us all. So the idea is that Leftists are really trying to satisfy their primitive yearning for unity at the expense of all those who want no part of any such social straitjacket. It certainly helps explain the straitjacket societies developed under Hitler's national socialism and Stalin's "socialism in one country". An excerpt from the article:

Many people, particularly ones who in the American context would tend to vote Democrat or Green, are inclined to support economic restrictions such union privileges, occupational licensing, the minimum wage, housing market-controls, the postal monopoly, and import restrictions. Yet knowledgeable economists agree that these restrictions are bad for humankind.

Perhaps their support arises because TPR requires, as Bukharin and Preobrazhensky put it, that activities be statified. [not stratified] What seems primary is not often how well the program or policy achieves stated goals of improving education, mobility, opportunity, and so on but instead the collective endeavor itself.

Why do people who claim to be concerned for the poor so often support or go along with policies that are obviously and predictably bad for society and especially the poor? Why do they support government schooling, antidevelopment land-use policies, rail transit projects, and policies to discourage the use of the private automobile? TPR provides an explanation: these policies bind people together (like a bundle of sticks).

Many populists, right and left, oppose free trade, alleging that it will hurt low-skilled workers. Even if that claim were true, however, why do they leave out of their consideration low-skilled Chinese or Brazilians? Answer: TPR is about we Americans. "The People" excludes "the other people." TPR helps explain why "distributive justice" reaches only to the border. If you scratch an egalitarian you'll often find TPR.

I suspect that a large part of the impetus behind the welfare state is the yearning for a collective enterprise: "We" taking care of "Ourselves." In this theater, some have to be cast as the needy, helpless, disadvantaged, inferior, and so on. I suspect that one reason coercive egalitarians feel that "the disadvantaged" deserve government support is that the scheme demeans and exploits them, so that the assistance is a sort of compensation.

Why are people uneasy about globalization? The communitarian Alasdair MacIntyre rightly says: "Patriotism cannot be what it was because we lack in the fullest sense a patria. . . . In any society where government does not express or represent the moral community of the citizens . . . the nature of political obligation becomes systematically unclear (1984, 254). Globalization blurs the "we," dissolves political obligation, and deflates TPR.

Why are government officials and enthusiasts often hostile to leading corporations like Microsoft, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and Martha Stewart? Why are they often hostile to other bases for independent private cultural power such as private builders, private schools, and talk radio? Part of the answer may be that they are jealous in guarding their role as medium and focal point in TPR. Why are they hostile to placeless "suburban sprawl," private communities, private shopping malls, the private automobile (especially big ones), gun ownership and toting, and home schooling? Because these practices are means of withdrawing from TPR and creating an autonomous circle of authority, power, and experience.

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ELSEWHERE

It is the 4th of July in Australia as I post this so apologies if this note seems a bit premature. But, as always, Ronald Reagan said it best. There is nothing I can say that would improve on his tribute.

There is a wonderful story here about Ann-Margret and her support for U.S. troops in Vietnam -- quite the opposite of the despicable Jane Fonda. A must-read.

And see if you can read about Lt. Brian Chontosh USMC without a tear in your eye. America still produces real warriors.

Something nasty is happening to the Google listing of Steve Milloy's "Junk Science" site. See here. It looks at first like an ordinary Googlebomb but Steve's site does not come up among the top listings at all. The googlebombers must have linked heaps of sites as well as their main spoof site. Oddly enough, when I Google directly from Australia, Steve's site comes up first -- as it should. The above link uses an anonymizer so Google cannot tell where the query is coming from. That makes it look a bit as if Google themselves are involved in the prank. Anybody reading this who has a site should immediately link to Steve to help him out. Just reproducing this post would do the trick.

Amazing article here. A prominent American "liberal" journalist (Daniel Lazare of "The Nation") was asked: "Do you feel some sympathy for the so-called insurgents in Fallujah?" His reply: "Oh, absolutely yes, total sympathy, total solidarity." Next question to him: "So you're sticking with this comparison of the United States to Nazi Germany?". His reply: "I believe it. I believe it entirely". So how can anyone deny that the American Left is not only anti-American but also pro-Jihadi?

The disgusting Durbin not off the hook: "More than two weeks after citing Nazis and other brutal regimes in criticizing U.S. tactics at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) remains under fire from critics who claim the lawmaker's subsequent apology was insufficient. Move America Forward, a group affiliated with the conservative political public relations firm Russo Marsh & Rogers, is planning a national ad campaign that scolds Durbin for his June 14 statements and what the organization refers to as his "non-apology.".... Durbin's Senate floor remarks addressed the details of an FBI agent's e-mail describing heavy-handed interrogation tactics at Guantanamo. Among other things, the e-mail described detainees being chained to the floor in severe temperatures and denied food or water for excessive periods. "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings," Durbin said.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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

That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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

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

BARRACKING FOR OBAMA

Although he has no slave ancestry (unlike Condoleeza Rice), Barack Obama seems to be the great black hope of the Democrats

The puffed-up Obama: "This week comes the previously careful Sen. Barack Obama, flapping his wings in Time magazine and explaining that he's a lot like Abraham Lincoln, only sort of better. "In Lincoln's rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat--in all this he reminded me not just of my own struggles." Oh. So that's what Lincoln's for. Actually Lincoln's life is a lot like Mr. Obama's. Lincoln came from a lean-to in the backwoods. His mother died when he was 9. The Lincolns had no money, no standing. Lincoln educated himself, reading law on his own, working as a field hand, a store clerk and a raft hand on the Mississippi. He also split some rails. He entered politics, knew more defeat than victory, and went on to lead the nation through its greatest trauma, the Civil War, and past its greatest sin, slavery. Barack Obama, the son of two University of Hawaii students, went to Columbia and Harvard Law after attending a private academy that taught the children of the Hawaiian royal family. He made his name in politics as an aggressive Chicago vote hustler in Bill Clinton's first campaign for the presidency."

Obama's stale New Deal: "Barack Obama's rousing oration at the August 2004 Democratic convention established America's favorite son of a goatherd as the shining hope of his desperate party. After humiliating the hapless Alan Keyes in November, he took his seat in Washington as the junior Senator from Illinois and set himself immediately to the thankless service of the workingman. On June 4, Obama appeared in Galesburg to deliver a commencement address at Knox College that has liberal scribes writing love poems and doodling hearts inscribed 'Obama 2008.' ... Jared Bernstein of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute quotes Obama, and asks, 'Did someone just open the window? Where's that breeze coming from?' A quick whiff suggests that it is coming from 1935 or thereabouts, which approximates the 'sell-by' date of Obama's vintage insights."

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ELSEWHERE

Stupid generalizations about America: "In fact while today’s armchair critics in Europe see America as a bloodthirsty warrior, its enemies have always seen precisely the opposite. Hitler thought Americans’ Aryan purity had been fatally weakened by immigration and ethnic diversity. The Russians thought years of capitalist decadence had sapped its resolve. Whatever else bin Laden and Saddam Hussein may or may not have had in common, they both believed Americans were essentially soft, would not have the stomach for a fight once engaged. Hit them hard and they may lash out at first, but they will bend and retreat at the first sign of a serious struggle — as they did in Beirut and Mogadishu".

The real abuse at Gitmo: "After speaking with soldiers, sailors, and civilians who collectively staff the Joint Task Force - Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on my recent visit to that base, I left convinced that abuse definitely exists at the detention facilities. But not the slander and hyperbole about alleged mistreatment of the unlawful combatants confined there that we've all heard. There is far more serious abuse: the relentless, merciless attacks on American servicemen and women by these same terrorist thugs. Many of the orange jumpsuit-clad detainees fight their captors at every opportunity. They attack guards whenever the soldiers enter their cells, trying to reach up under protective face masks to gouge eyes and tear mouths. They make weapons and try to stab the guards or grab and break limbs as the guards pass them food."

America's perverse "public" media: "The Soviet Union had no free press, privately owned, politically independent, competing publications dealing with ideas and whatever else readers would find of interest. The old USSR had Pravda and other state run newspapers and broadcast outlets. This kind of media exists in other parts of the world but the United States of America was to be a haven for a completely free press. Sadly, even there broadcast media fell into the hands of government .... Still, even with this intrusiveness, radio and TV do not get funded by monies extorted via taxation. There is still a pretty good semblance of competition on the airwaves, especially with the arrival a few decades ago of cable TV and the Internet. One thing is, however, way over the top in American media affairs. This is the prominence of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service."

Homosexuals in the Islamic world: "This weekend's Gay Pride festivities in New York City climaxed with Sunday's 36th annual parade down Fifth Avenue. As usual, the raucous affair thrilled some and rattled others, but everyone walked away intact. One would have to fantasize about such an occasion, however, in most Muslim nations where homosexuality remains as concealed as a bride beneath a burqa. When it peeks through, it isn't pretty. While many liberals (and President G.W. Bush) call Islam a religion of peace, 'celebrating diversity' is hardly on its agenda."

Compulsory time-wasting for tenants with children: "Six newspapers in New Hampshire have agreed to stop running real estate ads that suggest children aren't welcome at the properties following complaints that the ads violated federal law. Several dozens landlords and real estate agents also agreed to stop placing ads targeting adult tenants and to submit future ads to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentfor review. Federal law prohibits landlords from discriminating against children. The ads included promotions like 'one mature person,' 'quiet adult location' and 'great for a single person.' They are discriminatory because they make it harder for families to rent out the locations, said Christine Lavallee of New Hampshire Legal Assistance." [All it will do is make it harder for families with children to find out that they will not be accepted]

Racial disadvantage fostered by Democrat "welfare" : "If you listened to the rhetoric of black politicians and civil rights leaders, dating back to the Reagan years, you would have been convinced that surely by now black Americans would be back on the plantation. According to them, President Reagan and later Presidents Bush I and II would turn back the clock on civil rights. They'd appoint "new racists" in three-piece suits to act through the courts and administrative agencies to reverse black civil rights and economic gains. We can now recognize this rhetoric as the political equivalent of the "rope-a-dope.".... The strategy liberal Democrats have chosen, to prevent loss of the black vote, is to keep blacks paranoid and in a constant state of fear.... Only 30 percent to 40 percent of black males graduate from high school. Many who do graduate emerge with reading and math skills of a white seventh- or eighth- grader. This is true in cities where a black is mayor, a black is superintendent of schools and the majority of principals and teachers are black... In 1960, only 28 percent of black females between the ages of 15 and 44 were never married. Today, it's 56 percent. In 1940, the illegitimacy rate among blacks was 19 percent, in 1960, 22 percent, and today, it's 70 percent".

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

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"

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