A defence of Muslims by a Leftist elitist
I very rarely bother to fisk Leftist articles. It is much more interesting to spend my time looking at articles that endeavour to consider all the facts of a matter rather than looking at the very selective attention to the facts that characterizes Leftist writing. A reader has however drawn my attention to a typical bit of Leftist hate by Australian columnist Amanda Blair and offered some comments on it. I reproduce both the column and the comments on it elsewhere. I thought however that I might make a few comments in passing on the column myself:
Our wonderfully caring Amanda is unhappy with the way senior members of the Australian government have repeately told Australia's Muslims that they should shape up or ship out (See e.g. here). In response to that, dearest Amanda puts forward the hoary argument that since not all Muslims are the same we should consider them only as individuals and not as a group. That most Leftist discourse consists of NOTHING BUT talk about groups ("The poor", "Minorities", "Women", "Zionists" etc.) does not of course embarrass Amanda one bit. And according to Amanda's logic we should all in fact be struck dumb -- since all words in our language are words for categories. There are for instance large dogs, small dogs, black dogs and white dogs, tame dogs and fierce dogs so obviously we should not talk of dogs -- right?
Allowance should of course always be made in official policy for the characteristics of individuals (something that Leftists seem to find extraordinarily hard to do) but Prime Minister Howard has repeatedly done just that -- stressing that the problem lies with a minority of Muslims only, not with all Muslims. And yet it is of Mr Howard that sad Amanda is most critical.
What would you say about someone who was careful to speak slowly and clearly to someone who appeared to be of immigrant origin? Would you describe them as polite, considerate etc.? Amanda does not. When Mr Howard did that she made the very large leap of saying that it showed him to be a "little Englander". Since he is Australian, not English, that would appear to be a snide accusation of racism. The irony of the fact that the original little Englanders of the 19th century were radical opponents of imperialism is of course quite lost on our Amanda. She appears to be one of that fortunately rare but very amusing ilk who like to use big words and expressions without really knowing what they mean. She is, most probably, the product of a modern journalism education.
She also seems to be claiming that Australians are much less happy with their immigrants than are Americans. Since Australia has had for around 60 years now a policy of deliberately encouraging immigration -- something that only Israel could rival -- that is as fact-free as the rest of her diatribe.
To say any more about her pathetic outburst would, I think, be to take it far more seriously than it deserves. I have however interpolated into her text a few more comments in italics here. Note that the "caring" Amanda turns into the arrogant Amanda when she starts to talk about working-class Australians.
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NO PLEASING THE LEFT
Among the most heated debates of the last 40 years has been the debate over Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. What did he do when the greatest evil of his day engulfed Christian Europe? Was he "Hitler's Pope," as the name of a widely read book about him charged? Was he too reticent in speaking out against Nazism and the Nazi extermination of Europe's Jews? Was he perhaps even a Nazi sympathizer? Or was he in fact a great friend of Europe's Jews who did whatever he could to save tens of thousands of Jews, especially in Italy, opening up the doors of Church institutions to hide Jews?
It is not my aim here to offer an answer to that debate. But the attacks on Pope Benedict XVI may help shed new light on some of the motives for the attacks on Pius XII. It is true that we have always known that most, if not all, of Pius's critics were/are on the political/religious Left. But this no more discredited their critiques of Pius than the fact that the vast majority of Pius's defenders were on the political/religious Right discredited their defense.
But recently the critics have lost credibility. If the same people who attack Pope Pius XII for his silence regarding the greatest evil of his time are largely the same people who attack Pope Benedict XVI for confronting the greatest evil of his time, maybe it isn't a pope's confronting evil that concerns Pius's critics, but simply defaming the Church.
After all, has not Benedict done precisely what Pius's critics argue that Pius, and presumably any pope, should have done -- be a courageous moral voice and condemn the greatest evil and greatest manifestation of anti-Semitism of his time? Take The New York Times editorial page, for example. It is written by people who condemn Pius for his alleged silence and now condemn Benedict for not being quiet. According to the Times, Benedict will only create more anti-Western Muslim violence. But that was exactly the excuse defenders of Pius XII so often offered for why Pius XII did not speak out more forcefully -- that he was afraid it would only engender more Nazi violence. Yet Pius's critics have (correctly) dismissed that excuse out of hand.
Source.
(For a scholarly demolition of the scurrilous accusations against Pius XII, see here. Pacelli (Pius XII) was an Italian and there has long been very little antisemitism in Italy. In the early days, Jews were even prominent in Mussolini's Fascist party).
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ELSEWHERE
A new lot of Reds: "Democrats have an anti-religion problem. In fact, they have such a serious anti-religion problem that in 2004 they had to bring a leftist pastor named Jim Wallis to try to teach Democrat congressmen how to use "God talk" in their campaign speeches. This pathetic effort failed as will a new disinformation campaign called "Red Letter Christians." Wallis, founder of the left-wing Sojourners group, and self-described "progressive evangelical" Tony Campolo, have just founded a liberal front organization called the "Red Letter Christians." Wallis, Campolo, Father Richard Rohr, "Emergent Church" pioneer Brian McLaren, Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders, Rev. Noel Castellanos, and others met recently to form this new pseudo-evangelical group. These "Red Letter Christians" are supposedly trying to alert American Evangelicals to the importance of living the words of Jesus as highlighted in red in many Bibles. Their idea of living the words of Jesus, however, is somehow reinterpreted to mean support for every liberal political agenda on the horizon."
Cartoons of Pope OK: "A few months back, American liberal newspapers (which is to say, most of them) refused to publish cartoons previously published in a Danish newspaper, depicting Muhammad as the terrorist that he was... The liberal fourth estate in the US wants us to believe that it is "sensitive," a frequently bastardized word, now code, and akin to the newly equally manipulated word, "tolerant." [but] Neither the Associated Press, nor The New Haven Register, on Saturday, September 23rd, exhibited any compunction in showing an altered and vitriolic photo of a hideously defiled Pope Benedict XVI, sporting facial sutures, bruises, and an eye patch, with of course, Arabic writing above and below."
A former Prime Minister of Spain comments: ""It is interesting to note that while a lot of people in the world are asking the pope to apologise for his speech, I have never heard a Muslim say sorry for having conquered Spain and occupying it for eight centuries."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
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Thursday, September 28, 2006
WHAT THE POPE SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED INSTEAD OF STATING "REGRET"
Predecessors of Ratzinger in the Vatican had to oversee actual battle against hosts of Islam. Coastal Italy was subject to repeated Arab maritime depredation between 652 and 1087. In 846, an Arab force of 11,000 men borne on 73 ships entered Rome through the mouths of Tyber. They freely plundered the suburbs of Rome and despoiled the basilica of St. Peter and Cathedral of St. Paul before nonchalantly returning to their ships. When Pope Leo IV came to office in 847, he dedicated himself to fortification of Rome. The entire Vatican area, where St. Peter's basilica stood, was walled to form Civitas Leonina or the "Leonine City".
Corsica and other places in Tuscan coasts were also fortified under Pope's direction. But the Arabs caught with the Romans in 849, before the fortifications could be completed. But as the Arab fleet launched from the island of Sardinia approached Rome, the allied fleet of Gaeta, Amalfi and Naples, led by Caesarius of Naples, came forward to Rome's defence. Blessed by Leo IV, it gave a decisive battle to the Arab fleet. Storm kept a date with Arab fleet, and the aggressors were routed. Many Muslim survivors were mercilessly hanged, while others were pressed into slavery to build the incomplete walls and towers.
Yet Rome was so endangered by Arab pirates that Pope John VIII (872-882) had to pay the Arabs an yearly bribe of 25,000 mancusi! .The abbey of San Vincezo and the great monastery of Monte Cassino were burnt and destroyed in 883-884, as were they abbeys of Farfa and Subiaco in 890. Arab bases materialized, dangerously close to Rome, at Ciciliano and Saracinceso on river Garigliano, from where they indulged in wanton plundering. It took an impressive and heroic Pope John X (reigned 914 - 928) to rally the Byzantines, Lombards, Gaeta, Capua, Salerno, Beneventum, and other Italian states against the Arab aggression. Pope John X was himself present on the battle field when his alliance, in August 916 CE, routed the Arabs beside Garigliano River.
But Arabs, emanating from their bases in Sicily and Barbary (North African) Coast, continued to harass southern Italy past 916. They took Reggio in 918; overran Calabria; and sold many of its captured inhabitants into slavery in Sicily and North Africa. Their piratical activities were a constant bugbear to the Christian maritime commerce on the Mediterranean, and they extorted ransom from coastal cities of Italy.
Finally, Genoa and Pisa decided to take the bull by its horns. In 1015 and 1016 CE, allied Genoese and Pisan fleets, blessed by Pope Benedict VIII, raided the Tyrrhenian base of Arabs in Sardinia. The Arab resistance literally collapsed in the face of this Italian resurgence, and Pisa occupied Sardinia. In 1034 CE, they took the offensive to Bona, the Arab base on Barbary Coast. The booty captured in the campaign was given away to monastery of Cluny, from which Moors had extorted enormous ransom in 972 CE after captivating its revered Abbot St. Maiolus.
In 1062 or 1063, Pisan made a daring raid upon Palermo, in Arab Sicily, and extorted a booty, whose one sixth went to making of Santa Maria Maggiore. In 1087, Pope Victor III inspired a coalition of Italian cities Pisa, Genoa, Rome, Amalfi to raid Mahdia, a dreaded piratical base on Barbary Coast with 30,000 men borne on more than three hundred ships. It was an immensely successful attack and the Arab prince Tamim doled out huge tributes in gold dinars, and granted Pisan and Genoese merchants free access to his territory. He released all Christian captives and promised to stop piratical raids. Their victory was attained on the feast day of St. Sixtus (August 6) and Pisans and Genoese constructed Churches dedicated to that Saint with tributes extracted from Mahida. Pisa and Genoa, had swept clean the western Mediterranean of Arab scourge, on the eve of the First Crusades
A resurgent scourge of Barbary Pirates between 16th and 19th centuries held Europe into ransom. In 1571, Pope Pius V Michele Ghisleri played a seminal role cutting down the western expanse of Islam. He inspired the `Holy League' of Christian states that under the command of Don Juan defeated the Turks in sea battle of Lepanto on Sunday October 7, 1571. Coincidentally, it was on Sunday October 7, 2001 the President George Bush launched the US-led coalition attack on Afghanistan. Miguel Cervantes, the author of famous `Adventures of Don Quixote', world's first novel, was disabled in his one arm fighting the battle of Lepanto.
But four years later Miguel and his brother Rodrigo, while returning in from Italy to Spain in galley El Sol, in September, 1575, were captured by Barbary Pirates. Miguel Cervantes spent the following his four years as a slave of Arraez Ali Mami in Algiers until he was ransomed back by the monks of Trinitarian order. There were tens of thousands of Christian/European slaves in Algiers (also in Tunis, Tripoli, Sale etc) and most of them were not so lucky.
Pope Ratzinger, instead of apologizing to Muslims for his anecdote on Manuel III Paleologues, should have reminded them of these indelible facts of history. And these are only fractions of the whole story of Islamic torture of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism etc.
Source
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ELSEWHERE
Scruton on Chomsky: "For it is his ability to excite not just contempt for American foreign policy but a lively sense that it is guided by some kind of criminal conspiracy that provides the motive for Prof. Chomsky's unceasing diatribes and the explanation of his influence. The world is full of people who wish to think ill of America. And most of them would like to be Americans. The Middle East seethes with such people, and Prof. Chomsky appeals directly to their envious emotions... Prof. Chomsky is an intelligent man. Not everything he says by way of criticizing his country is wrong. However, he is not valued for his truths but for his rage, which stokes the rage of his admirers. He feeds the self-righteousness of America's enemies, who feed the self-righteousness of Prof. Chomsky. And in the ensuing blaze everything is sacrificed"
We the sheeple? "A clue to the real attraction of conspiracy theories, I would suggest, lies in the rhetoric of theorists themselves, which is filled with self-congratulatory descriptions of those who accept such theories as 'willing to think,' 'educated,' 'independent-minded,' and so forth, and with invective against the 'uninformed' and 'unthinking' 'sheeple' who 'blindly follow authority.' The world of the conspiracy theorist is Manichean: either you are intelligent, well-informed, and honest, and therefore question all authority and received opinion; or you accept what popular opinion or an authority says and therefore must be stupid, dishonest, and ignorant. There is no third option."
More welfare, more poverty: "News that the poverty rate remained at 12.6 percent last year, statistically unchanged from the year before, has set off a predictable round of calls for increased government spending on social welfare programs. From the New York Times to the Democratic Leadership, we hear familiar complaints about how George W. Bush and congressional Republicans have 'slashed' anti-poverty programs. Yet, last year, the federal government spent more than $477 billion on some 50 different programs to fight poverty. That amounts to $12,892 for every poor man, woman, and child in this country. And it does not even begin to count welfare spending by state and local governments. For all the talk about Republican budget cuts, spending on these social programs has increased an inflation-adjusted 22 percent since President Bush took office. Despite this government largesse, 37 million Americans continue to live in poverty."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Predecessors of Ratzinger in the Vatican had to oversee actual battle against hosts of Islam. Coastal Italy was subject to repeated Arab maritime depredation between 652 and 1087. In 846, an Arab force of 11,000 men borne on 73 ships entered Rome through the mouths of Tyber. They freely plundered the suburbs of Rome and despoiled the basilica of St. Peter and Cathedral of St. Paul before nonchalantly returning to their ships. When Pope Leo IV came to office in 847, he dedicated himself to fortification of Rome. The entire Vatican area, where St. Peter's basilica stood, was walled to form Civitas Leonina or the "Leonine City".
Corsica and other places in Tuscan coasts were also fortified under Pope's direction. But the Arabs caught with the Romans in 849, before the fortifications could be completed. But as the Arab fleet launched from the island of Sardinia approached Rome, the allied fleet of Gaeta, Amalfi and Naples, led by Caesarius of Naples, came forward to Rome's defence. Blessed by Leo IV, it gave a decisive battle to the Arab fleet. Storm kept a date with Arab fleet, and the aggressors were routed. Many Muslim survivors were mercilessly hanged, while others were pressed into slavery to build the incomplete walls and towers.
Yet Rome was so endangered by Arab pirates that Pope John VIII (872-882) had to pay the Arabs an yearly bribe of 25,000 mancusi! .The abbey of San Vincezo and the great monastery of Monte Cassino were burnt and destroyed in 883-884, as were they abbeys of Farfa and Subiaco in 890. Arab bases materialized, dangerously close to Rome, at Ciciliano and Saracinceso on river Garigliano, from where they indulged in wanton plundering. It took an impressive and heroic Pope John X (reigned 914 - 928) to rally the Byzantines, Lombards, Gaeta, Capua, Salerno, Beneventum, and other Italian states against the Arab aggression. Pope John X was himself present on the battle field when his alliance, in August 916 CE, routed the Arabs beside Garigliano River.
But Arabs, emanating from their bases in Sicily and Barbary (North African) Coast, continued to harass southern Italy past 916. They took Reggio in 918; overran Calabria; and sold many of its captured inhabitants into slavery in Sicily and North Africa. Their piratical activities were a constant bugbear to the Christian maritime commerce on the Mediterranean, and they extorted ransom from coastal cities of Italy.
Finally, Genoa and Pisa decided to take the bull by its horns. In 1015 and 1016 CE, allied Genoese and Pisan fleets, blessed by Pope Benedict VIII, raided the Tyrrhenian base of Arabs in Sardinia. The Arab resistance literally collapsed in the face of this Italian resurgence, and Pisa occupied Sardinia. In 1034 CE, they took the offensive to Bona, the Arab base on Barbary Coast. The booty captured in the campaign was given away to monastery of Cluny, from which Moors had extorted enormous ransom in 972 CE after captivating its revered Abbot St. Maiolus.
In 1062 or 1063, Pisan made a daring raid upon Palermo, in Arab Sicily, and extorted a booty, whose one sixth went to making of Santa Maria Maggiore. In 1087, Pope Victor III inspired a coalition of Italian cities Pisa, Genoa, Rome, Amalfi to raid Mahdia, a dreaded piratical base on Barbary Coast with 30,000 men borne on more than three hundred ships. It was an immensely successful attack and the Arab prince Tamim doled out huge tributes in gold dinars, and granted Pisan and Genoese merchants free access to his territory. He released all Christian captives and promised to stop piratical raids. Their victory was attained on the feast day of St. Sixtus (August 6) and Pisans and Genoese constructed Churches dedicated to that Saint with tributes extracted from Mahida. Pisa and Genoa, had swept clean the western Mediterranean of Arab scourge, on the eve of the First Crusades
A resurgent scourge of Barbary Pirates between 16th and 19th centuries held Europe into ransom. In 1571, Pope Pius V Michele Ghisleri played a seminal role cutting down the western expanse of Islam. He inspired the `Holy League' of Christian states that under the command of Don Juan defeated the Turks in sea battle of Lepanto on Sunday October 7, 1571. Coincidentally, it was on Sunday October 7, 2001 the President George Bush launched the US-led coalition attack on Afghanistan. Miguel Cervantes, the author of famous `Adventures of Don Quixote', world's first novel, was disabled in his one arm fighting the battle of Lepanto.
But four years later Miguel and his brother Rodrigo, while returning in from Italy to Spain in galley El Sol, in September, 1575, were captured by Barbary Pirates. Miguel Cervantes spent the following his four years as a slave of Arraez Ali Mami in Algiers until he was ransomed back by the monks of Trinitarian order. There were tens of thousands of Christian/European slaves in Algiers (also in Tunis, Tripoli, Sale etc) and most of them were not so lucky.
Pope Ratzinger, instead of apologizing to Muslims for his anecdote on Manuel III Paleologues, should have reminded them of these indelible facts of history. And these are only fractions of the whole story of Islamic torture of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism etc.
Source
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ELSEWHERE
Scruton on Chomsky: "For it is his ability to excite not just contempt for American foreign policy but a lively sense that it is guided by some kind of criminal conspiracy that provides the motive for Prof. Chomsky's unceasing diatribes and the explanation of his influence. The world is full of people who wish to think ill of America. And most of them would like to be Americans. The Middle East seethes with such people, and Prof. Chomsky appeals directly to their envious emotions... Prof. Chomsky is an intelligent man. Not everything he says by way of criticizing his country is wrong. However, he is not valued for his truths but for his rage, which stokes the rage of his admirers. He feeds the self-righteousness of America's enemies, who feed the self-righteousness of Prof. Chomsky. And in the ensuing blaze everything is sacrificed"
We the sheeple? "A clue to the real attraction of conspiracy theories, I would suggest, lies in the rhetoric of theorists themselves, which is filled with self-congratulatory descriptions of those who accept such theories as 'willing to think,' 'educated,' 'independent-minded,' and so forth, and with invective against the 'uninformed' and 'unthinking' 'sheeple' who 'blindly follow authority.' The world of the conspiracy theorist is Manichean: either you are intelligent, well-informed, and honest, and therefore question all authority and received opinion; or you accept what popular opinion or an authority says and therefore must be stupid, dishonest, and ignorant. There is no third option."
More welfare, more poverty: "News that the poverty rate remained at 12.6 percent last year, statistically unchanged from the year before, has set off a predictable round of calls for increased government spending on social welfare programs. From the New York Times to the Democratic Leadership, we hear familiar complaints about how George W. Bush and congressional Republicans have 'slashed' anti-poverty programs. Yet, last year, the federal government spent more than $477 billion on some 50 different programs to fight poverty. That amounts to $12,892 for every poor man, woman, and child in this country. And it does not even begin to count welfare spending by state and local governments. For all the talk about Republican budget cuts, spending on these social programs has increased an inflation-adjusted 22 percent since President Bush took office. Despite this government largesse, 37 million Americans continue to live in poverty."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
The jihad against the Pope
Excerpts from Melanie Phillips
In fact, the Pope's real crime surely lay in speaking a truth that is denied by the many who claim that Islam is a religion of peace. On the contrary, Islam does indeed have a long history of imposing its faith on the world by the sword. The Emperor whose remarks sparked this furore had spoken in despair when his empire was under siege from the Ottomans. It is that religious tradition of holy war which is precisely what is driving the global Islamic terrorism that currently threatens us all. Which is why the Pope's observations were a contribution to a crucial worldwide debate which must be had.
Certainly, many Muslims who reject this tradition of violence are appalled by acts of terror in the name of their faith and insist that Islamic theology dictates that it is a religion of peace. It might also be argued that, contrary to the Pope's remarks, Christianity also spread itself by the sword before the Reformation ended its own religious wars.
The extent to which holy war is an expression of religious belief or politics - or a fusion of the two - is a perfectly legitimate debate. So it is obviously essential for people to be able to express their opinion about Islam and to criticise it, just as they should be able to criticise any other religion. But it seems that we are fast getting to the point where people are being intimidated into silence about Islam, since it appears that no one can criticise it without violence and mayhem breaking out. This deadly process of intimidation started in the West in 1989 with the fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie, after he was held to have insulted Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses.
Last year, the re-publication of Danish cartoons protesting at Islamic violence that included depictions of the Prophet Mohammed, which Muslims regarded as an insult, led to rioting, kidnap attempts, and the murder of some 140 people across the world. As with the Pope's remarks, the trigger for the violence on each occasion was the claim that Islam had been insulted. But religion generally provokes strong passions, and one faith almost inevitably gives offence to another. If all such offence is to be prevented, vital debate will be stifled, too - and if violence is used to bring this about, freedom itself will be brutally stamped out. For free expression lies at the core of a free society. Sure, it isn't absolute; some limits are placed on it, but only where such expression threatens fundamental human rights, such as the right to life or to live as a free and equal individual (which should surely mean that Mr Choudary should be prosecuted).
The warriors of the Islamic jihad wish to destroy that whole way of life. Which is why it is absolutely vital that we stand up for free speech and act as one in staunch opposition to murder and mayhem. Unfortunately, there are some in our society who are not prepared to do so but who seek instead to appease the aggressors and blame their victims....
The BBC, in particular, has behaved in a very questionable manner. As so often, it has given undue airtime to extremists, thus lending credence to the false interpretation of the Pope's remarks. In common with several newspapers, it wrongly said that the Emperor Manuel had accused the Prophet Mohammed of bringing into the world `only "evil and inhuman" things'.... And it wrongly reported in news bulletins and on its website that the Pope had apologised - rather than merely expressing regret for the misinterpretation of his remarks - thus helping Islamic extremists believe that the forces of intimidation had cowed the Pontiff and scored a notable victory in the war against western civilisation.
Our greatest danger comes from those in the West who, in these and other ways, have mentally surrendered to the irrationality and false logic of those who accuse the West of aggression simply because it defends itself against Islamic holy war. This surrender has already resulted in a degree of self-censorship and back-to-front thinking, with accusations of ` Islamophobia' hurled at those telling the truth about the violence practised by some Muslims in the name of Islam.
If we are ever to defeat the global jihad against free societies, it is vital to tell that truth - that it is the West that is under attack. It is in that context that the Pope's remarks must be seen - defending Christianity and western civilisation from an onslaught that has not just snuffed out many innocent lives, but seeks to snuff out freedom and truth itself.
More here
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ELSEWHERE
Interesting news from China: China Hand reports that blogspot sites are once again accessible from behind the great bamboo wall. No official announcement so we can only guess why.
Like most bloggers, I occasionally put up reports of my daily doings. I do so rarely, however, so I have decided to consolidate all such posts in a separate blog. You can find it all here or here. I have just put up a new report there.
Genetics again: "The way people behave as children can determine whether they will become dangerous drivers, an Australian psychology professor said today. University of Melbourne professor Margot Prior said that children as young as five who showed signs of aggression and hyperactivity were more likely to become a risk taker behind the wheel once they reached adulthood. Professor Prior's finding comes after a 20-year study of Victorian children. The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) was a study of the psychosocial development of a sample of children born in Victoria between September 1982 and January 1983. The study traced the children over a 20-year period to investigate what influence personal, family and environmental factors had on an individual's emotional and behavioural development. "Between the ages of five and eight, the children at risk for dangerous driving in early adulthood were characterised by teacher reports of hyperactive and aggressive behaviours," Professor Prior said. "As teenagers, they experienced more behaviour problems, less social competence and more friendships with antisocial peers."
Churches rally for GOP: "Worried that discontent among conservatives and the lack of a clear standard-bearer to follow President Bush might cost Republicans in November, top evangelical leaders pleaded with their followers Friday to put aside frustrations and turn out for GOP candidates. The appeals, coming on the opening day of a weekend-long rally and strategy conference, included entreaties to pastors to use their pulpits on behalf of the social conservative agenda. "There is no choice, because the alternative is terrible," said James C. Dobson, founder of the influential group Focus on the Family, referring to the potential for a Democratic takeover of the House and Senate in November. Dobson's organization recently launched a major voter recruitment drive in eight battleground states that will include placing registration tables outside Sunday worship services at conservative churches."
Report from Mike Pechar: "On Tuesday, the teacher in my son's 12th-grade American Government class complained that Al Gore actually won the 2000 presidential election and George Bush was named President because of his buddies. Specifically, the teacher said it was relationships with brother Jeb Bush and Florida SecState Katherine Harris coupled with a majority conservative Supreme Court that made George Bush President of the U.S."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Excerpts from Melanie Phillips
In fact, the Pope's real crime surely lay in speaking a truth that is denied by the many who claim that Islam is a religion of peace. On the contrary, Islam does indeed have a long history of imposing its faith on the world by the sword. The Emperor whose remarks sparked this furore had spoken in despair when his empire was under siege from the Ottomans. It is that religious tradition of holy war which is precisely what is driving the global Islamic terrorism that currently threatens us all. Which is why the Pope's observations were a contribution to a crucial worldwide debate which must be had.
Certainly, many Muslims who reject this tradition of violence are appalled by acts of terror in the name of their faith and insist that Islamic theology dictates that it is a religion of peace. It might also be argued that, contrary to the Pope's remarks, Christianity also spread itself by the sword before the Reformation ended its own religious wars.
The extent to which holy war is an expression of religious belief or politics - or a fusion of the two - is a perfectly legitimate debate. So it is obviously essential for people to be able to express their opinion about Islam and to criticise it, just as they should be able to criticise any other religion. But it seems that we are fast getting to the point where people are being intimidated into silence about Islam, since it appears that no one can criticise it without violence and mayhem breaking out. This deadly process of intimidation started in the West in 1989 with the fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie, after he was held to have insulted Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses.
Last year, the re-publication of Danish cartoons protesting at Islamic violence that included depictions of the Prophet Mohammed, which Muslims regarded as an insult, led to rioting, kidnap attempts, and the murder of some 140 people across the world. As with the Pope's remarks, the trigger for the violence on each occasion was the claim that Islam had been insulted. But religion generally provokes strong passions, and one faith almost inevitably gives offence to another. If all such offence is to be prevented, vital debate will be stifled, too - and if violence is used to bring this about, freedom itself will be brutally stamped out. For free expression lies at the core of a free society. Sure, it isn't absolute; some limits are placed on it, but only where such expression threatens fundamental human rights, such as the right to life or to live as a free and equal individual (which should surely mean that Mr Choudary should be prosecuted).
The warriors of the Islamic jihad wish to destroy that whole way of life. Which is why it is absolutely vital that we stand up for free speech and act as one in staunch opposition to murder and mayhem. Unfortunately, there are some in our society who are not prepared to do so but who seek instead to appease the aggressors and blame their victims....
The BBC, in particular, has behaved in a very questionable manner. As so often, it has given undue airtime to extremists, thus lending credence to the false interpretation of the Pope's remarks. In common with several newspapers, it wrongly said that the Emperor Manuel had accused the Prophet Mohammed of bringing into the world `only "evil and inhuman" things'.... And it wrongly reported in news bulletins and on its website that the Pope had apologised - rather than merely expressing regret for the misinterpretation of his remarks - thus helping Islamic extremists believe that the forces of intimidation had cowed the Pontiff and scored a notable victory in the war against western civilisation.
Our greatest danger comes from those in the West who, in these and other ways, have mentally surrendered to the irrationality and false logic of those who accuse the West of aggression simply because it defends itself against Islamic holy war. This surrender has already resulted in a degree of self-censorship and back-to-front thinking, with accusations of ` Islamophobia' hurled at those telling the truth about the violence practised by some Muslims in the name of Islam.
If we are ever to defeat the global jihad against free societies, it is vital to tell that truth - that it is the West that is under attack. It is in that context that the Pope's remarks must be seen - defending Christianity and western civilisation from an onslaught that has not just snuffed out many innocent lives, but seeks to snuff out freedom and truth itself.
More here
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ELSEWHERE
Interesting news from China: China Hand reports that blogspot sites are once again accessible from behind the great bamboo wall. No official announcement so we can only guess why.
Like most bloggers, I occasionally put up reports of my daily doings. I do so rarely, however, so I have decided to consolidate all such posts in a separate blog. You can find it all here or here. I have just put up a new report there.
Genetics again: "The way people behave as children can determine whether they will become dangerous drivers, an Australian psychology professor said today. University of Melbourne professor Margot Prior said that children as young as five who showed signs of aggression and hyperactivity were more likely to become a risk taker behind the wheel once they reached adulthood. Professor Prior's finding comes after a 20-year study of Victorian children. The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) was a study of the psychosocial development of a sample of children born in Victoria between September 1982 and January 1983. The study traced the children over a 20-year period to investigate what influence personal, family and environmental factors had on an individual's emotional and behavioural development. "Between the ages of five and eight, the children at risk for dangerous driving in early adulthood were characterised by teacher reports of hyperactive and aggressive behaviours," Professor Prior said. "As teenagers, they experienced more behaviour problems, less social competence and more friendships with antisocial peers."
Churches rally for GOP: "Worried that discontent among conservatives and the lack of a clear standard-bearer to follow President Bush might cost Republicans in November, top evangelical leaders pleaded with their followers Friday to put aside frustrations and turn out for GOP candidates. The appeals, coming on the opening day of a weekend-long rally and strategy conference, included entreaties to pastors to use their pulpits on behalf of the social conservative agenda. "There is no choice, because the alternative is terrible," said James C. Dobson, founder of the influential group Focus on the Family, referring to the potential for a Democratic takeover of the House and Senate in November. Dobson's organization recently launched a major voter recruitment drive in eight battleground states that will include placing registration tables outside Sunday worship services at conservative churches."
Report from Mike Pechar: "On Tuesday, the teacher in my son's 12th-grade American Government class complained that Al Gore actually won the 2000 presidential election and George Bush was named President because of his buddies. Specifically, the teacher said it was relationships with brother Jeb Bush and Florida SecState Katherine Harris coupled with a majority conservative Supreme Court that made George Bush President of the U.S."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Transfer? It's Time!
By Arlene Peck
I'm much too young to be a political pundit but the fact is that, for more years than I care to remember, the thought of transfer, the enforced movement of the Arab population from their homes to Arab countries, has been criticized as irrational, immoral and impossible to implement. However, after the past two years of living through the horror of sometimes-daily terror attacks, almost fifty percent of the Israeli public supports transfer.
Despite that fact, the only party advocating it in the Knesset is Moledet. With only one representative in the Knesset, they are continuously held back by politics. Since transfer has gained so much support among the Israeli public, it is unconscionable that the politicians do not reflect that position. Unfortunately, the peoples' voice is drowned out by the Israeli political system. A system that so far refuses to accept the fact that it would eliminate the Arab demographic threat to Israel.
I remember having long dialogues with Rabbi Meir Kahane twenty-five years ago. At that time he prophesied: "At the rate that the Arabs are populating the Jewish state, they won't beat us with bullets. No, they'll beat us with ballots. Who but the Jews would put the enemy in power to vote them out? The average Israeli family has two children while an Arab family has five ."
Today it is easier to see that the transfer Kahane advocated would solve that problem immediately and the Jewish state would no longer have to concern itself with the Arab population doubling itself every sixteen years. At this point in time, the 22 Arab states have 289 million people and their numbers are soaring worldwide. By the year 2020 they will have 410 to 459 million. Even now, they are growing up violent and illiterate and taking over much of Europe. Today, many of the European countries are finding their cultures changed. Churches are being removed and mosques are being built in their stead.
Do you really think that the Arabs who walked away from 97% of everything on their `wish list' in the misplaced leadership of Ehud Barak would be satisfied with the land they've received from Gaza, Judea and Samaria? Pu-lezzz! The present day Arab considers the entire state of Israel as "Historically Palestinian." It's interesting how the world sees nothing wrong with uprooting over a quarter of a million people from lands that they have been residing in for almost forty years. Where do they think the Jews living in the `settlements' come from? Did they drop out of a pineapple tree? What about making it possible to have all the Jewish residents of Israel return who were chased out of any of the Arab countries 'return' to claim their property? If the despots in Iraq, Saudi Arabia or any of the surrounding Arabs states had not been keeping the Palestinians as an excuse for their efforts to destroy the Jewish state, they would have resettled their Arab brothers fifty years ago. Instead they have allowed the Palestinians to grow up for generations in the filth of the Palestinian dream.'
Knowing the Jewish mentality as I do, I am confident that Israel would be the first one to assist in building a Palestinian state on Arab land, helping their neighbors in in terms of agriculture, finance, industry and trade and all the other trappings of statehood. Which, considering if the situation was reversed, the Arabs wouldn't be happy until every Jew is dead and all of their historical sites renamed after Mohammed.
More here
***************************
ELSEWHERE
Swiss back tougher asylum laws: "Swiss voters supported tighter asylum laws in a national referendum yesterday, despite fears that refugees will be denied a fair hearing. Sixty-eight per cent of voters approved the new legislation, according to official figures. Christoph Blocher, the right-wing Swiss Justice Minister, had argued that tougher rules were essential to crack down on "bogus" asylum-seekers who allegedly exploit loopholes in existing laws. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders released a joint statement yesterday, describing the law as "unfit to solve the problems it seeks to tackle and contrary to this country's humanitarian tradition". The new law will require all asylum-seekers to present documents within 48 hours of making a claim. In response to allegations that it is often impossible for those fleeing their countries to collect the proper paperwork, Mr Blocher said that the law contains safeguards for those who are clearly refugees"
China Hand has an interesting comment on language policy in China. The last paragraph makes China seem very much like the Western world: "Suddenly we hear the term, 'cultural heritage' being used with great fervour. In Jiangsu all local cities are allowed to have programs in local dialect to promote knowledge of the local culture. The policy was simply too effective. It almost wiped out some local dialects. It's opposite will now prevail. Chinese policy, as it does so often, mirrors the developments in all modernizing countries. Having promoted uniformity until it looked like working, they now preach diversity."
Voting early and often: "Can I call 'em, or can I call 'em? Nearly four years ago, I predicted charges of electoral fraud before the polls had even opened in the 2002 elections. I was right, and such charges have only grown louder as in recent elections. It's easy to dismiss this as the grousing of losers, for the good reason that that's pretty much what it is. But although it's easy, fun -- and basically the right thing to do -- to heap scorn on the purveyors of silly conspiracy theories, we shouldn't stop there. One of the great risks of the modern world is that when a cause is propounded by loudmouthed fools, we tend to dismiss the cause as well as the fools. But in fact, there are lots of reasons to worry about ballot security."
Aaron Sorkin vs. the moralists: "Now, Studio 60 is by no means a 'libertarian' show. It seems too ready to be critical of the lowbrow pull that capitalism can sometimes exert (the producer's tirade includes angry references to the crassness of reality television), and, with the producer's labeling of TV as 'this country's most influential industry,' it will likely view Hollywood as too much of an instigator of social change. But even with these caveats, it's refreshing to see a show take up the cause of free speech so bluntly and so eloquently. For even when Sorkin's ideas lack credibility, they always make for compelling, thoughtful drama."
Accused denied due process in Duke case? "Do the principles of justice still operate in American courtrooms? The Duke Lacrosse case, in which three white male students are accused of raping a black woman last March, is also a case about race, class conflict and political ambition. For me, the case has become a litmus test for the American justice system. I believe the accused are blatantly innocent and that the prosecuting District Attorney Mike Nifong is acting with willful disregard for both the evidence in the case and the Constitutional rights of the accused. In this case, I believe the legal system is the enemy of justice ... and nakedly so."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
By Arlene Peck
I'm much too young to be a political pundit but the fact is that, for more years than I care to remember, the thought of transfer, the enforced movement of the Arab population from their homes to Arab countries, has been criticized as irrational, immoral and impossible to implement. However, after the past two years of living through the horror of sometimes-daily terror attacks, almost fifty percent of the Israeli public supports transfer.
Despite that fact, the only party advocating it in the Knesset is Moledet. With only one representative in the Knesset, they are continuously held back by politics. Since transfer has gained so much support among the Israeli public, it is unconscionable that the politicians do not reflect that position. Unfortunately, the peoples' voice is drowned out by the Israeli political system. A system that so far refuses to accept the fact that it would eliminate the Arab demographic threat to Israel.
I remember having long dialogues with Rabbi Meir Kahane twenty-five years ago. At that time he prophesied: "At the rate that the Arabs are populating the Jewish state, they won't beat us with bullets. No, they'll beat us with ballots. Who but the Jews would put the enemy in power to vote them out? The average Israeli family has two children while an Arab family has five ."
Today it is easier to see that the transfer Kahane advocated would solve that problem immediately and the Jewish state would no longer have to concern itself with the Arab population doubling itself every sixteen years. At this point in time, the 22 Arab states have 289 million people and their numbers are soaring worldwide. By the year 2020 they will have 410 to 459 million. Even now, they are growing up violent and illiterate and taking over much of Europe. Today, many of the European countries are finding their cultures changed. Churches are being removed and mosques are being built in their stead.
Do you really think that the Arabs who walked away from 97% of everything on their `wish list' in the misplaced leadership of Ehud Barak would be satisfied with the land they've received from Gaza, Judea and Samaria? Pu-lezzz! The present day Arab considers the entire state of Israel as "Historically Palestinian." It's interesting how the world sees nothing wrong with uprooting over a quarter of a million people from lands that they have been residing in for almost forty years. Where do they think the Jews living in the `settlements' come from? Did they drop out of a pineapple tree? What about making it possible to have all the Jewish residents of Israel return who were chased out of any of the Arab countries 'return' to claim their property? If the despots in Iraq, Saudi Arabia or any of the surrounding Arabs states had not been keeping the Palestinians as an excuse for their efforts to destroy the Jewish state, they would have resettled their Arab brothers fifty years ago. Instead they have allowed the Palestinians to grow up for generations in the filth of the Palestinian dream.'
Knowing the Jewish mentality as I do, I am confident that Israel would be the first one to assist in building a Palestinian state on Arab land, helping their neighbors in in terms of agriculture, finance, industry and trade and all the other trappings of statehood. Which, considering if the situation was reversed, the Arabs wouldn't be happy until every Jew is dead and all of their historical sites renamed after Mohammed.
More here
***************************
ELSEWHERE
Swiss back tougher asylum laws: "Swiss voters supported tighter asylum laws in a national referendum yesterday, despite fears that refugees will be denied a fair hearing. Sixty-eight per cent of voters approved the new legislation, according to official figures. Christoph Blocher, the right-wing Swiss Justice Minister, had argued that tougher rules were essential to crack down on "bogus" asylum-seekers who allegedly exploit loopholes in existing laws. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders released a joint statement yesterday, describing the law as "unfit to solve the problems it seeks to tackle and contrary to this country's humanitarian tradition". The new law will require all asylum-seekers to present documents within 48 hours of making a claim. In response to allegations that it is often impossible for those fleeing their countries to collect the proper paperwork, Mr Blocher said that the law contains safeguards for those who are clearly refugees"
China Hand has an interesting comment on language policy in China. The last paragraph makes China seem very much like the Western world: "Suddenly we hear the term, 'cultural heritage' being used with great fervour. In Jiangsu all local cities are allowed to have programs in local dialect to promote knowledge of the local culture. The policy was simply too effective. It almost wiped out some local dialects. It's opposite will now prevail. Chinese policy, as it does so often, mirrors the developments in all modernizing countries. Having promoted uniformity until it looked like working, they now preach diversity."
Voting early and often: "Can I call 'em, or can I call 'em? Nearly four years ago, I predicted charges of electoral fraud before the polls had even opened in the 2002 elections. I was right, and such charges have only grown louder as in recent elections. It's easy to dismiss this as the grousing of losers, for the good reason that that's pretty much what it is. But although it's easy, fun -- and basically the right thing to do -- to heap scorn on the purveyors of silly conspiracy theories, we shouldn't stop there. One of the great risks of the modern world is that when a cause is propounded by loudmouthed fools, we tend to dismiss the cause as well as the fools. But in fact, there are lots of reasons to worry about ballot security."
Aaron Sorkin vs. the moralists: "Now, Studio 60 is by no means a 'libertarian' show. It seems too ready to be critical of the lowbrow pull that capitalism can sometimes exert (the producer's tirade includes angry references to the crassness of reality television), and, with the producer's labeling of TV as 'this country's most influential industry,' it will likely view Hollywood as too much of an instigator of social change. But even with these caveats, it's refreshing to see a show take up the cause of free speech so bluntly and so eloquently. For even when Sorkin's ideas lack credibility, they always make for compelling, thoughtful drama."
Accused denied due process in Duke case? "Do the principles of justice still operate in American courtrooms? The Duke Lacrosse case, in which three white male students are accused of raping a black woman last March, is also a case about race, class conflict and political ambition. For me, the case has become a litmus test for the American justice system. I believe the accused are blatantly innocent and that the prosecuting District Attorney Mike Nifong is acting with willful disregard for both the evidence in the case and the Constitutional rights of the accused. In this case, I believe the legal system is the enemy of justice ... and nakedly so."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Monday, September 25, 2006
Too Many Men is Bad for Society
Cultures that tend choose male babies over female babies could be unknowingly contributing to the destabilization of their society, according to a new study by researchers in England and China. The researchers say their study suggests men who find themselves without marriage prospects are more likely to turn toward antisocial behavior, like crime and terrorism.
The researchers report in parts of China and India there will be 12-percent to 15-percent more men than women over the next 20 years. "These men will remain single and will be unable to have families, in societies where marriage is regarded as virtually universal and social status and acceptance depend, in large part, on being married and creating a new family," write the authors.
The men who are not able to marry are more likely to be poorer and less educated than men who are able to find a wife, according to the researchers. "When there is a shortage of women in the marriage market, the women can marry up, inevitably leaving the least desirable men with no marriage prospects," they write. With no family or outlet for sexual energy, these men could be part of trend toward increased levels of antisocial behavior and violence.
A positive outcome of an unbalanced society could be the raised social status of women, suggest the researchers. The researchers propose measures to reduce sex selection, equal rights for women, and public awareness campaigns about the dangers of gender imbalance.
Source
The same applies of course to Islamic countries -- where poorer men are deprived of women not by infanticide but by polygamy.
************************
ELSEWHERE
Wal-Mart leads the way: "After mammoth retailer Wal-Mart announced plans this week to drop many generic drug prices to the cost of a cheeseburger, everyone it seems took note. From small independent pharmacists to big brand-name retail chains to individuals with mounting prescription drug bills, Wal-Mart's announcement that it's cutting prices of nearly 300 generic medications to as little as $4 for a 30-day supply has created quite a buzz. And it's already having an impact. Target announced Friday it will copy Wal-Mart's plan to sell $4 generics -- a move that experts say is likely to create a completely new and cheaper price structure for America's off-brand medicines."
UK: Courts set to admit wiretap evidence: "The attorney general has thrown his weight decisively behind the use of intercept evidence in court, making it highly likely that the ban on phonetap evidence will be lifted. Speaking out for the first time in favour of the move, Lord Goldsmith told the Guardian he was determined to find a way round the obstacles which now stop wiretap evidence going before a jury. 'I'm personally convinced we have to find a way of avoiding the difficulties,' he said. 'I do believe there are ways we can do that. Otherwise, we're depriving ourselves of a key tool to prosecute serious and organised crime and terrorism.'"
Sweden has learned from its own lesson: "The summary of Swedish success and failure is a story of markets against the state. Every time Sweden has taken a step towards freer markets, it has been very successful. And every time it has increased the size and power of the state, success has sooner or later faded away."
More of that great government "security": "Two teenage car thieves drove a stolen car on Wednesday without being stopped onto the US military base that commands much of the war on terror, triggering an investigation into the security breach, police and military officials said. Police in Tampa, Florida, said the joyriders were only stopped and arrested after ramming two police cruisers that had entered MacDill Air Force Base in pursuit. ... There was nothing at the gate preventing entry to MacDill, which houses the US Central Command, responsible for US military operations in the Horn of Africa, Middle East and Central Asia and therefore for much of the US war on terror. Public affairs spokesman Air Force Lt Larry van der Oord declined to discuss specific security measures in force at the gate but said an investigation had been launched."
The games bureaucrats play: "When a bureaucrat makes a comment that defies logic, like the following, it may mean something's up: It is misleading to imply that the commission could be the cause of delays. It is not up to us to tell Microsoft what it has to do to Vista. The onus is on Microsoft to design its product in conformity with European competition laws. The words are those of a spokesman for the EU, who is referring to a comment from someone at Microsoft to the effect that uncertainty over how the EU will act is making it hard for the company to make some critical decisions on how to design its new operating system, Windows Vista."
NY: 25 to life in race killing: "A homeless man was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for knifing a woman to death in a mall parking garage because she was white. ... [Phillip] Grant, 44, who is black, was convicted in July of murder as a hate crime in the killing of Concetta Russo-Carriero, a 56-year-old legal secretary. She was stabbed twice in the heart in June 2005 in the parking garage of the Galleria mall in downtown White Plains."
Kin's documentary seeks to reclaim Goldwater ideals: "CC Goldwater didn't want to send an overt political message with the documentary she produced on her grandfather, Barry Goldwater, but the message still comes through. Most of the Republicans who invoke Goldwater's name are frauds. Barry Goldwater became a national figure when he ran for president in 1964 and an icon after the conservative movement was reborn with Ronald Reagan's two terms in the 1980s. But as his name became popular, much of his philosophy was lost. That's the mistake his granddaughter tries to correct with Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater.
"Peak oil" or lots more oil?: "In May 2006 I wrote, 'I know about the 'Peak Oil' theory that says we either have or are about the reach the point of diminishing returns regarding the world's oil supply, but these recent discoveries suggest there is still plenty of oil to be found.' In that commentary I documented nearly a dozen new fields of oil and natural gas discovered since 1995. So I wasn't surprised when, on September 5, Chevron Corporation announced it had discovered new, huge reserves of oil some five miles below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. The initial estimates were that these reserves 'could boost U.S. oil reserves by 50 percent.'"
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Cultures that tend choose male babies over female babies could be unknowingly contributing to the destabilization of their society, according to a new study by researchers in England and China. The researchers say their study suggests men who find themselves without marriage prospects are more likely to turn toward antisocial behavior, like crime and terrorism.
The researchers report in parts of China and India there will be 12-percent to 15-percent more men than women over the next 20 years. "These men will remain single and will be unable to have families, in societies where marriage is regarded as virtually universal and social status and acceptance depend, in large part, on being married and creating a new family," write the authors.
The men who are not able to marry are more likely to be poorer and less educated than men who are able to find a wife, according to the researchers. "When there is a shortage of women in the marriage market, the women can marry up, inevitably leaving the least desirable men with no marriage prospects," they write. With no family or outlet for sexual energy, these men could be part of trend toward increased levels of antisocial behavior and violence.
A positive outcome of an unbalanced society could be the raised social status of women, suggest the researchers. The researchers propose measures to reduce sex selection, equal rights for women, and public awareness campaigns about the dangers of gender imbalance.
Source
The same applies of course to Islamic countries -- where poorer men are deprived of women not by infanticide but by polygamy.
************************
ELSEWHERE
Wal-Mart leads the way: "After mammoth retailer Wal-Mart announced plans this week to drop many generic drug prices to the cost of a cheeseburger, everyone it seems took note. From small independent pharmacists to big brand-name retail chains to individuals with mounting prescription drug bills, Wal-Mart's announcement that it's cutting prices of nearly 300 generic medications to as little as $4 for a 30-day supply has created quite a buzz. And it's already having an impact. Target announced Friday it will copy Wal-Mart's plan to sell $4 generics -- a move that experts say is likely to create a completely new and cheaper price structure for America's off-brand medicines."
UK: Courts set to admit wiretap evidence: "The attorney general has thrown his weight decisively behind the use of intercept evidence in court, making it highly likely that the ban on phonetap evidence will be lifted. Speaking out for the first time in favour of the move, Lord Goldsmith told the Guardian he was determined to find a way round the obstacles which now stop wiretap evidence going before a jury. 'I'm personally convinced we have to find a way of avoiding the difficulties,' he said. 'I do believe there are ways we can do that. Otherwise, we're depriving ourselves of a key tool to prosecute serious and organised crime and terrorism.'"
Sweden has learned from its own lesson: "The summary of Swedish success and failure is a story of markets against the state. Every time Sweden has taken a step towards freer markets, it has been very successful. And every time it has increased the size and power of the state, success has sooner or later faded away."
More of that great government "security": "Two teenage car thieves drove a stolen car on Wednesday without being stopped onto the US military base that commands much of the war on terror, triggering an investigation into the security breach, police and military officials said. Police in Tampa, Florida, said the joyriders were only stopped and arrested after ramming two police cruisers that had entered MacDill Air Force Base in pursuit. ... There was nothing at the gate preventing entry to MacDill, which houses the US Central Command, responsible for US military operations in the Horn of Africa, Middle East and Central Asia and therefore for much of the US war on terror. Public affairs spokesman Air Force Lt Larry van der Oord declined to discuss specific security measures in force at the gate but said an investigation had been launched."
The games bureaucrats play: "When a bureaucrat makes a comment that defies logic, like the following, it may mean something's up: It is misleading to imply that the commission could be the cause of delays. It is not up to us to tell Microsoft what it has to do to Vista. The onus is on Microsoft to design its product in conformity with European competition laws. The words are those of a spokesman for the EU, who is referring to a comment from someone at Microsoft to the effect that uncertainty over how the EU will act is making it hard for the company to make some critical decisions on how to design its new operating system, Windows Vista."
NY: 25 to life in race killing: "A homeless man was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for knifing a woman to death in a mall parking garage because she was white. ... [Phillip] Grant, 44, who is black, was convicted in July of murder as a hate crime in the killing of Concetta Russo-Carriero, a 56-year-old legal secretary. She was stabbed twice in the heart in June 2005 in the parking garage of the Galleria mall in downtown White Plains."
Kin's documentary seeks to reclaim Goldwater ideals: "CC Goldwater didn't want to send an overt political message with the documentary she produced on her grandfather, Barry Goldwater, but the message still comes through. Most of the Republicans who invoke Goldwater's name are frauds. Barry Goldwater became a national figure when he ran for president in 1964 and an icon after the conservative movement was reborn with Ronald Reagan's two terms in the 1980s. But as his name became popular, much of his philosophy was lost. That's the mistake his granddaughter tries to correct with Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater.
"Peak oil" or lots more oil?: "In May 2006 I wrote, 'I know about the 'Peak Oil' theory that says we either have or are about the reach the point of diminishing returns regarding the world's oil supply, but these recent discoveries suggest there is still plenty of oil to be found.' In that commentary I documented nearly a dozen new fields of oil and natural gas discovered since 1995. So I wasn't surprised when, on September 5, Chevron Corporation announced it had discovered new, huge reserves of oil some five miles below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. The initial estimates were that these reserves 'could boost U.S. oil reserves by 50 percent.'"
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Sunday, September 24, 2006
SCRUTON ON IMMIGRATION
In the excerpt below, "indigenous" means "English"
Decisions can still be taken, but only in the hope of limiting the damage. And even now, when opinion across Europe is unanimous that immigration must be controlled, and that Muslims must be integrated into the secular culture, liberal politicians are refusing to admit to a problem or to confess that they are the cause of it. They still preach "multiculturalism" as the sign of our "vibrant" future; they still condemn "racism and xenophobia" as the enemy; they still try to state and solve the problem by the promiscuous multiplication of "human rights." Their Enlightenment creed makes it all but impossible for them to acknowledge the fundamental truth, which is that indigenous communities have legitimate expectations which take precedence over the demands of strangers. True, indigenous communities may also have duties of charity towards those strangers-or towards some of them. But charity is a gift, and there is no right to receive it, still less to force it from those reluctant to give.
The destructive effects of liberalism are not usually felt by the liberals themselves-not immediately, at least. The first victim of liberal immigration policies is the indigenous working class. When the welfare state was first conceived, it was in order to provide insurance for poorer members of the indigenous community, by taxing their income in exchange for the benefits which they may one day need. The rights involved were quasi-contractual: a right of the state to levy contributions in exchange for a right of the citizen to receive support. The very term used to describe the deal in Britain-"national insurance"-expresses the old understanding, that the welfare system is part of being together as a nation, of belonging with one's neighbors, as mutual beneficiaries of an ancestral right.
The liberal view of rights, as universal possessions which make no reference to history, community, or obedience, has changed all that. Indigenous people can claim no precedence, not even in this matter in which they have sacrificed a lifetime of income for the sake of their own future security. Immigrants are given welfare benefits as of right, and on the basis of their need, whether or not they have paid or ever will pay taxes. And since their need is invariably great-why else have they come here?-they take precedence over existing residents in the grant of housing and income support. Those with a handful of wives are even more fortunate, since only one of their marriages is recognized in European systems of law: the remaining wives are "single mothers," with all the fiscal advantages which attach to that label. All this has entailed that the stock of "social housing" once reserved for the indigenous poor is now almost entirely occupied by people whose language, customs, and culture mark them out as foreigners.
It is not "racist" to draw attention to this kind of fact. Nor is it racist to argue that indigenous people must take precedence over newcomers, who have to earn their right of residence and cannot be allowed to appropriate the savings of their hosts. But it is easier for me to write about these matters in an American intellectual journal than in an English newspaper, and if I tried to write about these things in a Belgian newspaper, I could be in serious trouble with the courts. The iron curtain of censorship that came down in the wake of Powell's speech has not lifted everywhere; on the contrary, if the EU has its way, it will be enshrined in the criminal code, with "racism and xenophobia"-defined as vaguely as is required to silence unwanted opinion-made into an extraditable offense throughout the Union.
The problem with censorship, as John Stuart Mill pointed out a century and half ago, is that it makes it impossible for those who impose it to discover that they are wrong. The error persists, preventing the discussion that might produce a remedy, and ensuring that the problem will grow. Yet when truth cannot make itself known in words, it will make itself known in deeds. The truth about Hitler burst on the world in 1939, notwithstanding all the pious words of the appeasers. And the truth about immigration is beginning to show itself in Europe, notwithstanding all the liberal efforts to conceal it. It is not an agreeable truth; nor can we, in the face of it, take refuge in the noble lies of Enoch Powell. The fact is that the people of Europe are losing their homelands, and therefore losing their place in the world. I don't envisage the Tiber one day foaming with much blood, nor do I see it blushing as the voice of the muezzin sounds from the former cathedral of St. Peter. But the city through which the Tiber flows will one day cease to be Italian, and all the expectations of its former residents, whether political, social, cultural, or personal, will suffer a violent upheaval, with results every bit as interesting as those that Powell prophesied.
More here
*************************
ELSEWHERE
Capitalism cuts health costs: "Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for forcing prices down to dominate nearly every market it enters, said yesterday that it would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not a customer has insurance. Using its might as the nation's largest retailer and its legendary ability to force suppliers to cut prices to the bone, the company will begin the $4 price program in its 65 stores in the Tampa area today, in all of Florida in January, and in as many other states as possible by the end of 2007. The $4 is for a typical monthly supply of medicine, and included on the Wal-Mart list are generic versions of many popular prescription drugs, including the antibiotic amoxicillin and the heart and blood-pressure treatment lisinopril, sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril. Health-care industry analysts said the program has the potential to transform the $230 billion prescription-drug business the way Wal-Mart has transformed other industries"
EU's Microsoft vendetta provokes backlash: "European consumers and small businesses are suffering the effects of the European Union's continuing vendetta against Microsoft, and they're finally speaking up about it. For years, European bureaucrats have cavalierly targeted Microsoft and other American companies like General Electric and Apple, assuming that they could do so with impunity. The predictable consequence of this E.U. campaign, however, is a de facto trade barrier, resulting in inferior products, fewer choices, higher prices and delayed access to the latest technological innovations for European consumers."
More Leftist lies: "Political ads have never set a high standard for accuracy, but the citizens of Montana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Florida have recently been treated to a particularly egregious display of political dishonesty. Americans United, a liberal front group, has been running ads attempting to frighten seniors with scare stories about Social Security reform. The ads suggest Republican candidates support cutting Social Security benefits in half and, as a result, forcing retirees to spend half as much on food and medications. These ads are simply wrong on the facts. None of the Social Security reform plans debated in Washington, including the one President Bush proposed last year, would cut or change benefits for anyone retired today or nearing retirement. These seniors will continue to receive every penny in Social Security benefits promised to them. To say otherwise is quite simply a lie."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
In the excerpt below, "indigenous" means "English"
Decisions can still be taken, but only in the hope of limiting the damage. And even now, when opinion across Europe is unanimous that immigration must be controlled, and that Muslims must be integrated into the secular culture, liberal politicians are refusing to admit to a problem or to confess that they are the cause of it. They still preach "multiculturalism" as the sign of our "vibrant" future; they still condemn "racism and xenophobia" as the enemy; they still try to state and solve the problem by the promiscuous multiplication of "human rights." Their Enlightenment creed makes it all but impossible for them to acknowledge the fundamental truth, which is that indigenous communities have legitimate expectations which take precedence over the demands of strangers. True, indigenous communities may also have duties of charity towards those strangers-or towards some of them. But charity is a gift, and there is no right to receive it, still less to force it from those reluctant to give.
The destructive effects of liberalism are not usually felt by the liberals themselves-not immediately, at least. The first victim of liberal immigration policies is the indigenous working class. When the welfare state was first conceived, it was in order to provide insurance for poorer members of the indigenous community, by taxing their income in exchange for the benefits which they may one day need. The rights involved were quasi-contractual: a right of the state to levy contributions in exchange for a right of the citizen to receive support. The very term used to describe the deal in Britain-"national insurance"-expresses the old understanding, that the welfare system is part of being together as a nation, of belonging with one's neighbors, as mutual beneficiaries of an ancestral right.
The liberal view of rights, as universal possessions which make no reference to history, community, or obedience, has changed all that. Indigenous people can claim no precedence, not even in this matter in which they have sacrificed a lifetime of income for the sake of their own future security. Immigrants are given welfare benefits as of right, and on the basis of their need, whether or not they have paid or ever will pay taxes. And since their need is invariably great-why else have they come here?-they take precedence over existing residents in the grant of housing and income support. Those with a handful of wives are even more fortunate, since only one of their marriages is recognized in European systems of law: the remaining wives are "single mothers," with all the fiscal advantages which attach to that label. All this has entailed that the stock of "social housing" once reserved for the indigenous poor is now almost entirely occupied by people whose language, customs, and culture mark them out as foreigners.
It is not "racist" to draw attention to this kind of fact. Nor is it racist to argue that indigenous people must take precedence over newcomers, who have to earn their right of residence and cannot be allowed to appropriate the savings of their hosts. But it is easier for me to write about these matters in an American intellectual journal than in an English newspaper, and if I tried to write about these things in a Belgian newspaper, I could be in serious trouble with the courts. The iron curtain of censorship that came down in the wake of Powell's speech has not lifted everywhere; on the contrary, if the EU has its way, it will be enshrined in the criminal code, with "racism and xenophobia"-defined as vaguely as is required to silence unwanted opinion-made into an extraditable offense throughout the Union.
The problem with censorship, as John Stuart Mill pointed out a century and half ago, is that it makes it impossible for those who impose it to discover that they are wrong. The error persists, preventing the discussion that might produce a remedy, and ensuring that the problem will grow. Yet when truth cannot make itself known in words, it will make itself known in deeds. The truth about Hitler burst on the world in 1939, notwithstanding all the pious words of the appeasers. And the truth about immigration is beginning to show itself in Europe, notwithstanding all the liberal efforts to conceal it. It is not an agreeable truth; nor can we, in the face of it, take refuge in the noble lies of Enoch Powell. The fact is that the people of Europe are losing their homelands, and therefore losing their place in the world. I don't envisage the Tiber one day foaming with much blood, nor do I see it blushing as the voice of the muezzin sounds from the former cathedral of St. Peter. But the city through which the Tiber flows will one day cease to be Italian, and all the expectations of its former residents, whether political, social, cultural, or personal, will suffer a violent upheaval, with results every bit as interesting as those that Powell prophesied.
More here
*************************
ELSEWHERE
Capitalism cuts health costs: "Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for forcing prices down to dominate nearly every market it enters, said yesterday that it would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not a customer has insurance. Using its might as the nation's largest retailer and its legendary ability to force suppliers to cut prices to the bone, the company will begin the $4 price program in its 65 stores in the Tampa area today, in all of Florida in January, and in as many other states as possible by the end of 2007. The $4 is for a typical monthly supply of medicine, and included on the Wal-Mart list are generic versions of many popular prescription drugs, including the antibiotic amoxicillin and the heart and blood-pressure treatment lisinopril, sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril. Health-care industry analysts said the program has the potential to transform the $230 billion prescription-drug business the way Wal-Mart has transformed other industries"
EU's Microsoft vendetta provokes backlash: "European consumers and small businesses are suffering the effects of the European Union's continuing vendetta against Microsoft, and they're finally speaking up about it. For years, European bureaucrats have cavalierly targeted Microsoft and other American companies like General Electric and Apple, assuming that they could do so with impunity. The predictable consequence of this E.U. campaign, however, is a de facto trade barrier, resulting in inferior products, fewer choices, higher prices and delayed access to the latest technological innovations for European consumers."
More Leftist lies: "Political ads have never set a high standard for accuracy, but the citizens of Montana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Florida have recently been treated to a particularly egregious display of political dishonesty. Americans United, a liberal front group, has been running ads attempting to frighten seniors with scare stories about Social Security reform. The ads suggest Republican candidates support cutting Social Security benefits in half and, as a result, forcing retirees to spend half as much on food and medications. These ads are simply wrong on the facts. None of the Social Security reform plans debated in Washington, including the one President Bush proposed last year, would cut or change benefits for anyone retired today or nearing retirement. These seniors will continue to receive every penny in Social Security benefits promised to them. To say otherwise is quite simply a lie."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Brookes News Update
The US economy, the housing slowdown and the November elections: The Fed's loose monetary policy fuelled the housing boom. Now it is tightening credit. Fortunately for President Bush oil prices have started to slide. This will probably ease the economic and electoral pain of a slowing economy before the November elections
The Australian economy and the decline of manufacturing - what is really happening?: When it comes to Australian manufacturing Australia's free-market commentariat adopt a blas, attitude. For them the money simply does not matter. This is why they cannot provide an adequate explanation of the housing boom, our foreign debt and the CAD
We Are Creating Unemployment!: Our anonymous Liberal Party bard has turned out another hit. This time it's not Liberal Party corruption but the union's moral corruption. Unless you think deliberately pricing people out of work is not morally corrupt
Joseph Stiglitz and Phillip Adams slime the US economy: Phillip Adams used Professor Joseph Stiglitz to attack the US economy by using phony statistics and outright lies. As an outrageous economic illiterate Adams could only parrot what Stiglitz had apparently told him
Media frenzy over bogus Cuba 'scandal': America's freedom-loving mainstream media is still doing Castro's dirty work for him. Leading the charge was the corrupt Miami Herald, a paper that recently put a Castro agent of influence on its payroll. It was followed by the treasonous New Times, CNN, USA Today. Their aim was to silence critics of Castro's Stalinist regime. These are the same American patriots that lie about the economy, about terrorism, about Bush, about Iraq. In fact they do nothing but - in between sucking up to leftwing dictators
New York Times advises on how to reveal state secrets and thwart the Federal Government: The 'paper of record' that betrays its country and does Castro's dirty work while demanding rights for terrorists is feverishly advising its traitors in residence on how to evade detection when they once again betray the America's state secrets to terrorists
Where is the Jewish leadership?: Ehud Olmert is a disaster. He is a dangerous, impotent fool, who is putting not only his country but world Jewry at risk every time he makes a decision
Are you ready to convert to Islam?: What brand of Islam are we supposed to convert to? Do we put on suicide belts immediately after conversion or wait for an order?
Do economic indicators really make any economic sense?: Economic theory, however, must only have one purpose - to explain the essence of economic activity. But statistical methods are of no help in this respect
*********************
ELSEWHERE
In case you have not seen it yet, there is a picture here of far-Leftist Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez displaying one of Noam Chomsky's books and recommending it. There is an old syaing: "know a man by the company he keeps". That far-Leftist Chomsky should be a inspiration to tyrants is of course no surprise. The last 100 years have been awash with far-Leftist tyrants.
Good to hear: "Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, claimed last night that the Bush Administration threatened to bomb his country "into the Stone Age" if it did not co-operate with the US after 9/11, sharply increasing tensions between the US and one of its closest allies in the war on terrorism. The President, who will meet Mr Bush in the White House today, said the threat was made by Richard Armitage, then the Deputy Secretary of State, in the days after the terror attacks, and was issued to the Pakistani intelligence director."
Familiar IQ findings under another name: "Research has found that key skills in learning to read and spell - the ability to sound out words and read unusually spelt words - are affected by your genes. The study, which examined 650 identical and non-identical twins, also revealed that the same sets of genes affect both reading and spelling. Assoc prof Anne Castles said the research found these reading and spelling skills were more than 50 per cent inherited, with experience accounting for the rest. It also discovered that reading and spelling had a common genetic basis so if children had difficulty reading they would also struggle to spell. "This is the first study to put reading and spelling together in genetic models," Prof Castles said. Prof Castles said researchers would now like to identify the genes responsible. The research was conducted in conjunction with Queensland Institute of Technology and Macquarie University".
28 hour week in Germany! : "Vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen AG said its sales for all brands through the end of August were up 11 per cent compared to last year, but warned that its German plants were barely profitable... The German plants have barely generated profits "and are miles away from our profitability goals,'' he said. Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, is seeking to drastically cut production costs for its VW-brand vehicles such as its flagship Golf, which are selling strongly but bringing in little profit. It disclosed last year that it intends to cut as many as 20,000 jobs in Germany. Since June, about 85,000 VW workers in western Germany have been offered severance packages ranging from euro 41,000 to euro 250,000 ($A69,338 to A422,797), depending on their salary level and years of service. The company also wants to extend the work week at six plants in western Germany that manufacture VW-brand cars from the current 28.8 hours to 35 hours, but talks with its union, IG Metall, have not yielded any deal. The talks are set to resume on Friday."
Cruel precedent: "That's how government abuses work. They start small. They start with an excuse that many of us are willing to buy. And then, as the public is desensitized, the abuses are gradually increased. By the time we realize the level of the abuse to which we're being subjected, it's too late for us to have nipped it in the bud. In fact, it's often too late to do much at all. But just as one kitten can be rescued, so can one gun owner. Just as one dog can be saved, so can one property owner. Precedents can be set in the opposite direction."
Advice to defendants: "I receive requests several times a week from defendants who suddenly find themselves forced to defend their lives, their right to use medical cannabis and even the Bill of Rights. Like you, each defendant is suddenly forced to cope with a predatory criminal justice system that judges them guilty, until proved innocent. This advice is intended to help provide you with the necessary tactics to succeed against the terrifying challenge you now face."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
The US economy, the housing slowdown and the November elections: The Fed's loose monetary policy fuelled the housing boom. Now it is tightening credit. Fortunately for President Bush oil prices have started to slide. This will probably ease the economic and electoral pain of a slowing economy before the November elections
The Australian economy and the decline of manufacturing - what is really happening?: When it comes to Australian manufacturing Australia's free-market commentariat adopt a blas, attitude. For them the money simply does not matter. This is why they cannot provide an adequate explanation of the housing boom, our foreign debt and the CAD
We Are Creating Unemployment!: Our anonymous Liberal Party bard has turned out another hit. This time it's not Liberal Party corruption but the union's moral corruption. Unless you think deliberately pricing people out of work is not morally corrupt
Joseph Stiglitz and Phillip Adams slime the US economy: Phillip Adams used Professor Joseph Stiglitz to attack the US economy by using phony statistics and outright lies. As an outrageous economic illiterate Adams could only parrot what Stiglitz had apparently told him
Media frenzy over bogus Cuba 'scandal': America's freedom-loving mainstream media is still doing Castro's dirty work for him. Leading the charge was the corrupt Miami Herald, a paper that recently put a Castro agent of influence on its payroll. It was followed by the treasonous New Times, CNN, USA Today. Their aim was to silence critics of Castro's Stalinist regime. These are the same American patriots that lie about the economy, about terrorism, about Bush, about Iraq. In fact they do nothing but - in between sucking up to leftwing dictators
New York Times advises on how to reveal state secrets and thwart the Federal Government: The 'paper of record' that betrays its country and does Castro's dirty work while demanding rights for terrorists is feverishly advising its traitors in residence on how to evade detection when they once again betray the America's state secrets to terrorists
Where is the Jewish leadership?: Ehud Olmert is a disaster. He is a dangerous, impotent fool, who is putting not only his country but world Jewry at risk every time he makes a decision
Are you ready to convert to Islam?: What brand of Islam are we supposed to convert to? Do we put on suicide belts immediately after conversion or wait for an order?
Do economic indicators really make any economic sense?: Economic theory, however, must only have one purpose - to explain the essence of economic activity. But statistical methods are of no help in this respect
*********************
ELSEWHERE
In case you have not seen it yet, there is a picture here of far-Leftist Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez displaying one of Noam Chomsky's books and recommending it. There is an old syaing: "know a man by the company he keeps". That far-Leftist Chomsky should be a inspiration to tyrants is of course no surprise. The last 100 years have been awash with far-Leftist tyrants.
Good to hear: "Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, claimed last night that the Bush Administration threatened to bomb his country "into the Stone Age" if it did not co-operate with the US after 9/11, sharply increasing tensions between the US and one of its closest allies in the war on terrorism. The President, who will meet Mr Bush in the White House today, said the threat was made by Richard Armitage, then the Deputy Secretary of State, in the days after the terror attacks, and was issued to the Pakistani intelligence director."
Familiar IQ findings under another name: "Research has found that key skills in learning to read and spell - the ability to sound out words and read unusually spelt words - are affected by your genes. The study, which examined 650 identical and non-identical twins, also revealed that the same sets of genes affect both reading and spelling. Assoc prof Anne Castles said the research found these reading and spelling skills were more than 50 per cent inherited, with experience accounting for the rest. It also discovered that reading and spelling had a common genetic basis so if children had difficulty reading they would also struggle to spell. "This is the first study to put reading and spelling together in genetic models," Prof Castles said. Prof Castles said researchers would now like to identify the genes responsible. The research was conducted in conjunction with Queensland Institute of Technology and Macquarie University".
28 hour week in Germany! : "Vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen AG said its sales for all brands through the end of August were up 11 per cent compared to last year, but warned that its German plants were barely profitable... The German plants have barely generated profits "and are miles away from our profitability goals,'' he said. Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, is seeking to drastically cut production costs for its VW-brand vehicles such as its flagship Golf, which are selling strongly but bringing in little profit. It disclosed last year that it intends to cut as many as 20,000 jobs in Germany. Since June, about 85,000 VW workers in western Germany have been offered severance packages ranging from euro 41,000 to euro 250,000 ($A69,338 to A422,797), depending on their salary level and years of service. The company also wants to extend the work week at six plants in western Germany that manufacture VW-brand cars from the current 28.8 hours to 35 hours, but talks with its union, IG Metall, have not yielded any deal. The talks are set to resume on Friday."
Cruel precedent: "That's how government abuses work. They start small. They start with an excuse that many of us are willing to buy. And then, as the public is desensitized, the abuses are gradually increased. By the time we realize the level of the abuse to which we're being subjected, it's too late for us to have nipped it in the bud. In fact, it's often too late to do much at all. But just as one kitten can be rescued, so can one gun owner. Just as one dog can be saved, so can one property owner. Precedents can be set in the opposite direction."
Advice to defendants: "I receive requests several times a week from defendants who suddenly find themselves forced to defend their lives, their right to use medical cannabis and even the Bill of Rights. Like you, each defendant is suddenly forced to cope with a predatory criminal justice system that judges them guilty, until proved innocent. This advice is intended to help provide you with the necessary tactics to succeed against the terrifying challenge you now face."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Friday, September 22, 2006
THE TAJ MAHAL IS A HINDU, NOT A MUSLIM CREATION
Standard histories credit the Arabs with a great civilization in the Middle Ages. Those who look at the detail of the civilization concerned, however, cannot help noticing that not much of it is Arab. It is generally derivative -- derived from the Byzantine Greeks whom they lived alongside for 500 years or from conquered people in Assyria, Persia etc. Some details of that can be found here. So was the Taj another example of that? Was it a product of Muslim culture or was it stolen from the Hindus? First let us have a look at a few pictures. First below, the dome of the Taj:
Now a closeup of the finial on the dome. Do you see Hindu cattle horns or an Islamic moon crescent?
And below we see the same inlaid pinnacle pattern in the courtyard
And below we see the sealed doors and windows at the back of the Taj
Below we see typical Vedic style corridors
Below we see a locked room on the upper floor
Below we see the OM in the flowers on the walls
Below is the staircase that leads to the lower levels
Below we see the 300 foot long corridor inside the apartments
Below we see one of the 22 rooms in the secret lower level
Below we see a secret walled door that leads to other rooms
Below we see a Vedic design on the ceiling of a locked room
Below we see a huge ventilator sealed shut with bricks
So what are we to make of all that? Below is an answer:
"If you have ever visited the Taj Mahal then your guide probably told you that it was designed by Ustad Isa of Iran, and built by the Moghul Emperor, Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Indian children are taught that it was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world.
This story has been challenged by Professor P.N. Oak, author of Taj Mahal: The True Story, who believes that the whole world has been duped. He claims that the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz Mahal's tomb, but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya), worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city. In the course of his research, Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace had been usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodelled the palace into his wife's memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building.
The use of captured temples and mansions as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Hamayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions.
Oak's inquiries begin with the name Taj Mahal. He says this term does not occur in any Moghul court papers or chronicles, even after Shah Jahan's time. The term 'Mahal' has never been used for a building in any of the Muslim countries, from Afghanistan to Algeria. 'The usual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani,' he writes. 'Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building.' Taj Mahal is, he claims, a corrupt version of Tejo-mahalaya, or the Shiva's Palace. Oak also says that the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story.
Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting that the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era:
* Professor Marvin Miller of New York took samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan.
* European traveller Johan Albert Mandelslo, who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs, but makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built.
* The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest that the Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah Jahan's time.
Oak also points out a number of design and architectural inconsistencies that support the belief that the Taj Mahal is a typical Hindu temple rather than a mausoleum. Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples.
Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences. The only way to really validate or discredit Oak's research is to open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal, and allow international experts to investigate.
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Standard histories credit the Arabs with a great civilization in the Middle Ages. Those who look at the detail of the civilization concerned, however, cannot help noticing that not much of it is Arab. It is generally derivative -- derived from the Byzantine Greeks whom they lived alongside for 500 years or from conquered people in Assyria, Persia etc. Some details of that can be found here. So was the Taj another example of that? Was it a product of Muslim culture or was it stolen from the Hindus? First let us have a look at a few pictures. First below, the dome of the Taj:
Now a closeup of the finial on the dome. Do you see Hindu cattle horns or an Islamic moon crescent?
And below we see the same inlaid pinnacle pattern in the courtyard
And below we see the sealed doors and windows at the back of the Taj
Below we see typical Vedic style corridors
Below we see a locked room on the upper floor
Below we see the OM in the flowers on the walls
Below is the staircase that leads to the lower levels
Below we see the 300 foot long corridor inside the apartments
Below we see one of the 22 rooms in the secret lower level
Below we see a secret walled door that leads to other rooms
Below we see a Vedic design on the ceiling of a locked room
Below we see a huge ventilator sealed shut with bricks
So what are we to make of all that? Below is an answer:
"If you have ever visited the Taj Mahal then your guide probably told you that it was designed by Ustad Isa of Iran, and built by the Moghul Emperor, Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Indian children are taught that it was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world.
This story has been challenged by Professor P.N. Oak, author of Taj Mahal: The True Story, who believes that the whole world has been duped. He claims that the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz Mahal's tomb, but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya), worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city. In the course of his research, Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace had been usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodelled the palace into his wife's memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building.
The use of captured temples and mansions as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Hamayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions.
Oak's inquiries begin with the name Taj Mahal. He says this term does not occur in any Moghul court papers or chronicles, even after Shah Jahan's time. The term 'Mahal' has never been used for a building in any of the Muslim countries, from Afghanistan to Algeria. 'The usual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani,' he writes. 'Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building.' Taj Mahal is, he claims, a corrupt version of Tejo-mahalaya, or the Shiva's Palace. Oak also says that the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story.
Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting that the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era:
* Professor Marvin Miller of New York took samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan.
* European traveller Johan Albert Mandelslo, who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs, but makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built.
* The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest that the Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah Jahan's time.
Oak also points out a number of design and architectural inconsistencies that support the belief that the Taj Mahal is a typical Hindu temple rather than a mausoleum. Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples.
Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences. The only way to really validate or discredit Oak's research is to open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal, and allow international experts to investigate.
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Thursday, September 21, 2006
A LEFTIST WISES UP TO THE DANGEROUS REALITY-DENIAL OF HIS FELLOW LEFTISTS
A cult of death is forming in the Muslim world — for reasons that are perfectly explicable in terms of the Islamic doctrines of martyrdom and jihad. The truth is that we are not fighting a "war on terror." We are fighting a pestilential theology and a longing for paradise. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims. But we are absolutely at war with those who believe that death in defense of the faith is the highest possible good, that cartoonists should be killed for caricaturing the prophet and that any Muslim who loses his faith should be butchered for apostasy.
Unfortunately, such religious extremism is not as fringe a phenomenon as we might hope. Numerous studies have found that the most radicalized Muslims tend to have better-than-average educations and economic opportunities. Given the degree to which religious ideas are still sheltered from criticism in every society, it is actually possible for a person to have the economic and intellectual resources to build a nuclear bomb — and to believe that he will get 72 virgins in paradise. And yet, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, liberals continue to imagine that Muslim terrorism springs from economic despair, lack of education and American militarism.
At its most extreme, liberal denial has found expression in a growing subculture of conspiracy theorists who believe that the atrocities of 9/11 were orchestrated by our own government. A nationwide poll conducted by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University found that more than a third of Americans suspect that the federal government "assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East;" 16% believe that the twin towers collapsed not because fully-fueled passenger jets smashed into them but because agents of the Bush administration had secretly rigged them to explode.
Such an astonishing eruption of masochistic unreason could well mark the decline of liberalism, if not the decline of Western civilization. There are books, films and conferences organized around this phantasmagoria, and they offer an unusually clear view of the debilitating dogma that lurks at the heart of liberalism: Western power is utterly malevolent, while the powerless people of the Earth can be counted on to embrace reason and tolerance, if only given sufficient economic opportunities.
I don't know how many more engineers and architects need to blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings or saw the heads off of journalists before this fantasy will dissipate. The truth is that there is every reason to believe that a terrifying number of the world's Muslims now view all political and moral questions in terms of their affiliation with Islam. This leads them to rally to the cause of other Muslims no matter how sociopathic their behavior. This benighted religious solidarity may be the greatest problem facing civilization and yet it is regularly misconstrued, ignored or obfuscated by liberals...
In their analyses of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy, liberals can be relied on to overlook the most basic moral distinctions. For instance, they ignore the fact that Muslims intentionally murder noncombatants, while we and the Israelis (as a rule) seek to avoid doing so. Muslims routinely use human shields, and this accounts for much of the collateral damage we and the Israelis cause; the political discourse throughout much of the Muslim world, especially with respect to Jews, is explicitly and unabashedly genocidal.
Given these distinctions, there is no question that the Israelis now hold the moral high ground in their conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah. And yet liberals in the United States and Europe often speak as though the truth were otherwise... To say that this does not bode well for liberalism is an understatement: It does not bode well for the future of civilization.
More here
********************
ELSEWHERE
Some amazing logic from "USA Today". They say: "The Iraq war continues to be problematic for Bush. Six in 10 people said he does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq (two-thirds said the same for Democrats), and 56% said Congress is not doing enough to oversee U.S. policy there. So more people (66% versus 60% for the GOP) say it is a problem for the Donks, yet "USA Today" says it is a problem for GWB?? Maybe "USA Today" does not know that two thirds is 66%. If the writer studied under Leftist professors, I wouldn't be surprised.
German economic doldrums: "German economic confidence has plummeted to its lowest level in more than 7« years this month, in what analysts said was a sign that growth is past its peak in Europe's largest economy. The unexpectedly sharp drop in the ZEW business confidence index, its eighth consecutive fall, will chip away at the determination of the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise interest rates. Concern among investors that a predicted slowdown in the United States could damage Germany's huge export sector helped to drive the ZEW index down to minus 22.2 for September, from minus 5.6 last month. It was the lowest level since January 1999. Rising interest rates and a plan to raise VAT by three percentage points to 19 per cent from the start of next year, which has been proposed by the coalition Government led by Angela Merkel, are also expected to damage business."
Archbishop speaks out: "The former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton has issued his own challenge to "violent" Islam in a lecture in which he defends the Pope's "extraordinarily effective and lucid" speech. Lord Carey said that Muslims must address "with great urgency" their religion's association with violence. He made it clear that he believed the "clash of civilisations" endangering the world was not between Islamist extremists and the West, but with Islam as a whole. "We are living in dangerous and potentially cataclysmic times," he said. "There will be no significant material and economic progress [in Muslim communities] until the Muslim mind is allowed to challenge the status quo of Muslim conventions and even their most cherished shibboleths."
Two reasons why I love international trade: "This Friday, after work, we are going to have a beer fest and take lots of photos to send back across the puddle to our new best friends in Austria. So, that is why I love international trade. It gives us the opportunity to see people from across the globe, not as scary and threatening foreigners who are a part of the monolithic 'Chinese' or 'Europeans,' but as fellow humans, individuals, parents, children, businessmen, innovators, friends and drinking buddies."
Duke's Reichstag fire: "More than six years ago, I wrote about contrived campus 'incidents' in which college students falsely report racial (white on black) or sexual attacks as a modern form of the Reichstag Fire. Certainly, the patterns are the same. After the 1933, the German parliament gave the Hitler government carte blanche to do whatever it wanted to 'prevent' future attacks .... Thus, we come to another version of the campus Reichstag Fire, that being the false accusations of rape against three Duke University lacrosse players. As has been documented in a number of previous articles, the charges are transparently false, and if any crimes have been committed, they were carried out by District Attorney Michael Nifong and the Durham police."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
A cult of death is forming in the Muslim world — for reasons that are perfectly explicable in terms of the Islamic doctrines of martyrdom and jihad. The truth is that we are not fighting a "war on terror." We are fighting a pestilential theology and a longing for paradise. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims. But we are absolutely at war with those who believe that death in defense of the faith is the highest possible good, that cartoonists should be killed for caricaturing the prophet and that any Muslim who loses his faith should be butchered for apostasy.
Unfortunately, such religious extremism is not as fringe a phenomenon as we might hope. Numerous studies have found that the most radicalized Muslims tend to have better-than-average educations and economic opportunities. Given the degree to which religious ideas are still sheltered from criticism in every society, it is actually possible for a person to have the economic and intellectual resources to build a nuclear bomb — and to believe that he will get 72 virgins in paradise. And yet, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, liberals continue to imagine that Muslim terrorism springs from economic despair, lack of education and American militarism.
At its most extreme, liberal denial has found expression in a growing subculture of conspiracy theorists who believe that the atrocities of 9/11 were orchestrated by our own government. A nationwide poll conducted by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University found that more than a third of Americans suspect that the federal government "assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East;" 16% believe that the twin towers collapsed not because fully-fueled passenger jets smashed into them but because agents of the Bush administration had secretly rigged them to explode.
Such an astonishing eruption of masochistic unreason could well mark the decline of liberalism, if not the decline of Western civilization. There are books, films and conferences organized around this phantasmagoria, and they offer an unusually clear view of the debilitating dogma that lurks at the heart of liberalism: Western power is utterly malevolent, while the powerless people of the Earth can be counted on to embrace reason and tolerance, if only given sufficient economic opportunities.
I don't know how many more engineers and architects need to blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings or saw the heads off of journalists before this fantasy will dissipate. The truth is that there is every reason to believe that a terrifying number of the world's Muslims now view all political and moral questions in terms of their affiliation with Islam. This leads them to rally to the cause of other Muslims no matter how sociopathic their behavior. This benighted religious solidarity may be the greatest problem facing civilization and yet it is regularly misconstrued, ignored or obfuscated by liberals...
In their analyses of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy, liberals can be relied on to overlook the most basic moral distinctions. For instance, they ignore the fact that Muslims intentionally murder noncombatants, while we and the Israelis (as a rule) seek to avoid doing so. Muslims routinely use human shields, and this accounts for much of the collateral damage we and the Israelis cause; the political discourse throughout much of the Muslim world, especially with respect to Jews, is explicitly and unabashedly genocidal.
Given these distinctions, there is no question that the Israelis now hold the moral high ground in their conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah. And yet liberals in the United States and Europe often speak as though the truth were otherwise... To say that this does not bode well for liberalism is an understatement: It does not bode well for the future of civilization.
More here
********************
ELSEWHERE
Some amazing logic from "USA Today". They say: "The Iraq war continues to be problematic for Bush. Six in 10 people said he does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq (two-thirds said the same for Democrats), and 56% said Congress is not doing enough to oversee U.S. policy there. So more people (66% versus 60% for the GOP) say it is a problem for the Donks, yet "USA Today" says it is a problem for GWB?? Maybe "USA Today" does not know that two thirds is 66%. If the writer studied under Leftist professors, I wouldn't be surprised.
German economic doldrums: "German economic confidence has plummeted to its lowest level in more than 7« years this month, in what analysts said was a sign that growth is past its peak in Europe's largest economy. The unexpectedly sharp drop in the ZEW business confidence index, its eighth consecutive fall, will chip away at the determination of the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise interest rates. Concern among investors that a predicted slowdown in the United States could damage Germany's huge export sector helped to drive the ZEW index down to minus 22.2 for September, from minus 5.6 last month. It was the lowest level since January 1999. Rising interest rates and a plan to raise VAT by three percentage points to 19 per cent from the start of next year, which has been proposed by the coalition Government led by Angela Merkel, are also expected to damage business."
Archbishop speaks out: "The former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton has issued his own challenge to "violent" Islam in a lecture in which he defends the Pope's "extraordinarily effective and lucid" speech. Lord Carey said that Muslims must address "with great urgency" their religion's association with violence. He made it clear that he believed the "clash of civilisations" endangering the world was not between Islamist extremists and the West, but with Islam as a whole. "We are living in dangerous and potentially cataclysmic times," he said. "There will be no significant material and economic progress [in Muslim communities] until the Muslim mind is allowed to challenge the status quo of Muslim conventions and even their most cherished shibboleths."
Two reasons why I love international trade: "This Friday, after work, we are going to have a beer fest and take lots of photos to send back across the puddle to our new best friends in Austria. So, that is why I love international trade. It gives us the opportunity to see people from across the globe, not as scary and threatening foreigners who are a part of the monolithic 'Chinese' or 'Europeans,' but as fellow humans, individuals, parents, children, businessmen, innovators, friends and drinking buddies."
Duke's Reichstag fire: "More than six years ago, I wrote about contrived campus 'incidents' in which college students falsely report racial (white on black) or sexual attacks as a modern form of the Reichstag Fire. Certainly, the patterns are the same. After the 1933, the German parliament gave the Hitler government carte blanche to do whatever it wanted to 'prevent' future attacks .... Thus, we come to another version of the campus Reichstag Fire, that being the false accusations of rape against three Duke University lacrosse players. As has been documented in a number of previous articles, the charges are transparently false, and if any crimes have been committed, they were carried out by District Attorney Michael Nifong and the Durham police."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
****************************
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
GERMAN FAILURE AGAIN
Socialism is very German (Marx and Engels were German, not to mention a certain National Socialist -- and Bismarck made Germany the world's first welfare State in the late 19th century) -- unfortunately for Germans
Koerber is one of 145,000 Germans who fled the fatherland last year amid record postwar unemployment, pushing emigration to its highest level since 1954, Federal Statistics Office figures show. Last year was also the first since the late 1960s that emigrants outnumbered Germans returning home from living abroad, the statistics office said. Even more troubling to German officials and business leaders, many were skilled workers like Koerber. The loss of such people, they say, may threaten Germany's economic competitiveness in the future.
"Many highly qualified young people are leaving our country to seek their fortunes elsewhere, while only very few top people have been attracted to Germany in recent years,'' said Ludwig Georg Braun, president of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, which represents more than 3 million companies. ``This development is causing us growing concern."
Unemployment reached 5.2 million, the highest level since World War II, in February 2005. Joblessness has declined since Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats took office last November. Still, the unemployment rate stood at 8.2 percent in June, according to internationally comparable figures published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. By the OECD's reckoning, the jobless rates in neighboring Austria and Switzerland were 4.9 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.
"People say things aren't getting better in Germany, and nothing's going to change any time soon,'' said historian Simone Eick, director of the German Emigration Center in the northern port city of Bremerhaven. Indeed, ``some indicators suggest that this may be the start of mass emigration."
For Koerber, the decision to leave was largely one of taxes. In Germany, where the highest tax bracket starts at 52,152 euros ($66,600), he would have to pay 42 percent of every euro above that level. In addition, the German value-added tax -- a kind of national sales levy -- is 16 percent, which is scheduled to rise three percentage points next year. ``I only get 25 percent deducted from my salary and that includes everything,'' said Koerber of his pay packet in Canada. ``And I'm in the highest tax bracket!'' The goods and services tax in Alberta is 6 percent, cut from 7 percent in July, he said.
Other German expatriates cite what they say is the over- regimentation of the labor force. ``Life in Germany is totally over-regulated,'' said Christian Kaestner, 38, an attorney who moved from Munich to Cape Town, South Africa, in 1997. ``There are hardly any freedoms left, and you keep bumping into regulations and prohibitions.''
Today's emigrants are likely to choose Canada, New Zealand and Australia, or, within Europe, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. An estimated 2,300 German doctors are working in Switzerland, more than 8 percent of the Swiss total, said the Bern-based FMH Swiss Medical Association. Taking into account gross pay, taxes, insurance and the cost of living, doctors make more money in Switzerland, said Matthias Dettmer, 31, an assistant pathologist in Zurich from the southern German city of Tuebingen. He makes more than double his former colleagues in Germany, who earn what he calls a ``cleaner's pay.''
More here.
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ELSEWHERE
The Communist roots of Islamic terrorism: "Modern terrorism was born within a year, 1967-1968. International socialists (communists) started the fashion all over the world simultaneously, which should make us suspicious about the common roots. National socialists followed suit, turning Marxists of Muslim origin into Islamists of Marxist origin. In May 18th, 1967, Yuri Andropov took over the leadership of the KGB. The Russian security services evolved into a state within the Soviet state, as it became clear when Andropov became the communist party's general secretary after Leonid Brezhnev's death, in 1982. During Andropov's era, which was far longer than that of any other KGB chief, the Soviet secret services supported international terrorism through satellite states and Marxist "liberation fronts". "On becoming chairman of the KGB in 1967, Andropov immediately announced his intention to revive KGB 'special actions' as an essential tool of Soviet policy during the Cold War."
A JUDGE to raise wages?? "The federal receiver in charge of fixing California's prison health care system asked a judge Tuesday to bypass the bureaucracy in Sacramento and grant $24 million in raises to medical workers in order to attract more of them to the state's penal institutions. Saying he was skeptical of the state's excuses for inaction on salary adjustments, receiver Robert Sillen asked U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to raise pay by up to 64 percent.... Sillen's "motion for a waiver of state law" was his first exercise of muscle since Henderson last winter hired him to bring the prison medical system into compliance with constitutional standards for humane care. A judicial order at the time specified that if the state put up legal or other roadblocks, Sillen should ask Henderson to set them aside. Sillen on Tuesday told Henderson that staffing vacancies -- 44 percent among X-ray technicians, for example, and 42 percent among pharmacists -- are crippling his efforts."
Why Michiganders are moving out: "Liberals dissatisfied with the Bush economy have, through the wonders of federalism, an alternative. They can move to Michigan. The state represents a rough approximation of ideal liberal economic policy. It is heavily unionized, taxed, and regulated in a failed attempt to close its eyes to the dynamic forces of the market and globalization all around it. This stew has helped make Michigan the economic sick man of the Midwest. It is suffering from a one-state recession all its own, mostly because it has failed to foster the most profound economic force in the universe - opportunity. The state has been losing out to more business-friendly environs both overseas and in other states for decades, but has refused to adapt accordingly."
The State: An Anecdote: "Reported in "Harper's Index" (Harper's, October 2006, page 13): Minimum amount of USDA farm subsidies since 2000 that have been paid out to people who do not farm: $1,300,000,000. That's $1.3 billion. One program. And this by an institution -- the state -- that many conservatives trust to build nations abroad and many left-liberals trust to make better decisions for each of us individually than each of us individually will make for ourselves."
Some new cities outsource city hall: ""Newly formed cities are giving the keys to city hall to private companies that say they can run a government better than bureaucrats. Mayors in 'contract cities' say they get better services for less money; more flexibility, because private employees can be hired and fired more easily than workers under civil service rules; and lower debt, because they can own fewer buildings and less equipment."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
**************************
"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
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Socialism is very German (Marx and Engels were German, not to mention a certain National Socialist -- and Bismarck made Germany the world's first welfare State in the late 19th century) -- unfortunately for Germans
Koerber is one of 145,000 Germans who fled the fatherland last year amid record postwar unemployment, pushing emigration to its highest level since 1954, Federal Statistics Office figures show. Last year was also the first since the late 1960s that emigrants outnumbered Germans returning home from living abroad, the statistics office said. Even more troubling to German officials and business leaders, many were skilled workers like Koerber. The loss of such people, they say, may threaten Germany's economic competitiveness in the future.
"Many highly qualified young people are leaving our country to seek their fortunes elsewhere, while only very few top people have been attracted to Germany in recent years,'' said Ludwig Georg Braun, president of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, which represents more than 3 million companies. ``This development is causing us growing concern."
Unemployment reached 5.2 million, the highest level since World War II, in February 2005. Joblessness has declined since Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats took office last November. Still, the unemployment rate stood at 8.2 percent in June, according to internationally comparable figures published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. By the OECD's reckoning, the jobless rates in neighboring Austria and Switzerland were 4.9 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.
"People say things aren't getting better in Germany, and nothing's going to change any time soon,'' said historian Simone Eick, director of the German Emigration Center in the northern port city of Bremerhaven. Indeed, ``some indicators suggest that this may be the start of mass emigration."
For Koerber, the decision to leave was largely one of taxes. In Germany, where the highest tax bracket starts at 52,152 euros ($66,600), he would have to pay 42 percent of every euro above that level. In addition, the German value-added tax -- a kind of national sales levy -- is 16 percent, which is scheduled to rise three percentage points next year. ``I only get 25 percent deducted from my salary and that includes everything,'' said Koerber of his pay packet in Canada. ``And I'm in the highest tax bracket!'' The goods and services tax in Alberta is 6 percent, cut from 7 percent in July, he said.
Other German expatriates cite what they say is the over- regimentation of the labor force. ``Life in Germany is totally over-regulated,'' said Christian Kaestner, 38, an attorney who moved from Munich to Cape Town, South Africa, in 1997. ``There are hardly any freedoms left, and you keep bumping into regulations and prohibitions.''
Today's emigrants are likely to choose Canada, New Zealand and Australia, or, within Europe, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. An estimated 2,300 German doctors are working in Switzerland, more than 8 percent of the Swiss total, said the Bern-based FMH Swiss Medical Association. Taking into account gross pay, taxes, insurance and the cost of living, doctors make more money in Switzerland, said Matthias Dettmer, 31, an assistant pathologist in Zurich from the southern German city of Tuebingen. He makes more than double his former colleagues in Germany, who earn what he calls a ``cleaner's pay.''
More here.
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ELSEWHERE
The Communist roots of Islamic terrorism: "Modern terrorism was born within a year, 1967-1968. International socialists (communists) started the fashion all over the world simultaneously, which should make us suspicious about the common roots. National socialists followed suit, turning Marxists of Muslim origin into Islamists of Marxist origin. In May 18th, 1967, Yuri Andropov took over the leadership of the KGB. The Russian security services evolved into a state within the Soviet state, as it became clear when Andropov became the communist party's general secretary after Leonid Brezhnev's death, in 1982. During Andropov's era, which was far longer than that of any other KGB chief, the Soviet secret services supported international terrorism through satellite states and Marxist "liberation fronts". "On becoming chairman of the KGB in 1967, Andropov immediately announced his intention to revive KGB 'special actions' as an essential tool of Soviet policy during the Cold War."
A JUDGE to raise wages?? "The federal receiver in charge of fixing California's prison health care system asked a judge Tuesday to bypass the bureaucracy in Sacramento and grant $24 million in raises to medical workers in order to attract more of them to the state's penal institutions. Saying he was skeptical of the state's excuses for inaction on salary adjustments, receiver Robert Sillen asked U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to raise pay by up to 64 percent.... Sillen's "motion for a waiver of state law" was his first exercise of muscle since Henderson last winter hired him to bring the prison medical system into compliance with constitutional standards for humane care. A judicial order at the time specified that if the state put up legal or other roadblocks, Sillen should ask Henderson to set them aside. Sillen on Tuesday told Henderson that staffing vacancies -- 44 percent among X-ray technicians, for example, and 42 percent among pharmacists -- are crippling his efforts."
Why Michiganders are moving out: "Liberals dissatisfied with the Bush economy have, through the wonders of federalism, an alternative. They can move to Michigan. The state represents a rough approximation of ideal liberal economic policy. It is heavily unionized, taxed, and regulated in a failed attempt to close its eyes to the dynamic forces of the market and globalization all around it. This stew has helped make Michigan the economic sick man of the Midwest. It is suffering from a one-state recession all its own, mostly because it has failed to foster the most profound economic force in the universe - opportunity. The state has been losing out to more business-friendly environs both overseas and in other states for decades, but has refused to adapt accordingly."
The State: An Anecdote: "Reported in "Harper's Index" (Harper's, October 2006, page 13): Minimum amount of USDA farm subsidies since 2000 that have been paid out to people who do not farm: $1,300,000,000. That's $1.3 billion. One program. And this by an institution -- the state -- that many conservatives trust to build nations abroad and many left-liberals trust to make better decisions for each of us individually than each of us individually will make for ourselves."
Some new cities outsource city hall: ""Newly formed cities are giving the keys to city hall to private companies that say they can run a government better than bureaucrats. Mayors in 'contract cities' say they get better services for less money; more flexibility, because private employees can be hired and fired more easily than workers under civil service rules; and lower debt, because they can own fewer buildings and less equipment."
For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.
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