NEWSWEAK DIAGNOSES GWB AS MENTALLY ILL

Leftists have been accusing conservatives of mental illness at least since 1950. Given the Leftist talent for projection, I think that tells you who the real mentally ill ones are. So the latest malicious diagnosis comes as no surprise at all. I have commented on a couple of such "diagnoses" of GWB previously (here and here). The Anchoress, News Busters, The American Thinker and others have taken the latest nonsense apart pretty comprehensively so all I want to do here is say a few words about the psychiatrist who was dragged into the article to give it some semblance of authority.

Kerry Sulkowicz, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center is the dude. He is a psychonanalyst -- a devoteee of the evidence-free theories of Sigmund Freud. Although Freud was a good observer and an innovative thinker, his theories have failed the only really important test -- the test of whether they work or not. At least since the 60s it has been known that the cure-rate among those who undergo Freudian psychotherapy is no different from placebo. Psychoanalytic theories DON'T WORK. And the reason why they don't work is not far to seek. They are all speculation-based, not evidence-based -- and the sort of speculation indulged in by Sulkowicz is a good example of that.

Almost any psychologist will confirm what I have said above and psychoanalysis now has little following outside New York. That a psychoanalyst is one of the few people in NYC who will listen to you is my speculation about why they remain popular there.

So Sulkowicz adds no authority whatever to the article. He is just speculating. That is his trade. Sounding good is the criterion for excellence in psychoanalysis -- very similar to the criterion for excellence in Leftist thinking. Evidence is turned to only when convenient.

Maybe I should do some speculative diagnoses too. If Leftists can speculate so can I. In my view, GWB's failings stem from the fact that he is a true Christian gentleman. He is too kind, too forgiving and too trusting -- and other people take advantage of that. I think that theory matches reality far better than the hate-crazed accusations that Leftists pour out at him.

Update:

In case it is not immediately obvious, I suppose I should mention a couple of really basic points about the Sulkowicz and Newsweek "diagnosis":

1). Psychiatrists are supposed to do an extensive personal interview with the person concerned before they offer a diagnosis. Absent that, the diagnosis is garbage.

2). Making a diagnosis public is ethically challenged, to put it mildly. That Sulkowicz took part in this exercise reveals him to be an unethical charlatan.

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EUROPE IS AGAIN FINDING RUSSIA A LOT LESS KINDLY THAN THE USA IS

When will they ever learn who their real friends are? Never, I guess -- or at least not for long

Germany is making a last-ditch attempt to rescue a European Union summit with Russia from disaster, amid increasing calls within the bloc for a rethink of policy towards Moscow. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister, will fly to Moscow on Tuesday to try to prevent this Friday's summit from being dominated by disputes between Russia and former Soviet-bloc countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Estonia. "We are discussing an existing conflict situation between individual European Union member states and Russia and between the EU and Russia," he said.

The summit in Samara, Russia, would be "difficult", Mr Steinmeier said. He could not guarantee success for his meetings on Tuesday with Vladimir Putin, Russian president, and Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister. But he hoped to resolve at least one of the disputes. EU officials have in effect given up on achieving the bloc's central aim for the summit - of starting wide-ranging talks with Russia to deepen relations. Germany is anxious to show that the EU policy of seeking a "strategic partnership" with Russia can produce concrete results.

A series of disputes have erupted between Moscow and neighbours in the EU. These range from a Russian ban on Polish food products to a row over Estonia's decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial. Tensions have also risen in the wake of the US's proposal to install missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

In another sign of dissension within the EU, Anna Fotyga, Polish foreign minister, said she was not happy with the preparations Germany was making for the summit, saying the EU needed to show more solidarity with new member states over Russia's energy policy. Separately, Lithuania has said it is unwilling for the negotiations to begin while Russia does not resume oil supplies to one of its power stations, which have been interrupted for 10 months.

The election of Nicolas Sarkozy in France is also likely to bolster the ranks of those wanting a tougher EU line with Russia. In Russia, Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the Duma's international affairs committee, said the EU's failure to agree to start negotiations because of Poland's veto was a "significant drop in pace in the level of co-operation between Russia and the EU". He added: "Russia and the EU are moving forward with the speed of a cart and not of a high-speed train and this can only lead to regret."

Source

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ELSEWHERE



Muslim Adam and Eve above

Prof. Brignell has put up a very good summary of Tony Blair's appalling legacy in Britain.

Canadian bureaucracy at work: "Every one of the RCMP's explosive-sniffer dogs were away on training the day baggage containing a bomb was loaded on to a doomed Air India flight in 1985 in Toronto, a federal inquiry was told Tuesday. RCMP dog handler Gary Carlson, who was stationed in Toronto, testified that he and his dog Thor were on an annual refresher course in Vancouver. The course also brought together all five other bomb-sniffer dog teams that the RCMP had stationed near airports across Canada, he said. Mountie drug dogs could not be used as backup because they were trained only to sniff out narcotics. Mr. Carlson said it is highly likely Thor would have found the bomb that blew up the Air India flight if the animal had been given the chance. The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court of Canada justice John Major, has heard previous testimony that the Air India flight out of Canada on June 22, 1985 was considered at high risk of an attack bu Sikh extremists. RCMP airport security protocols in place at the time would have required the use of a bomb-sniffer dog to help screen luggage".

Democrat divisions over cars. Dingell vs. Obama: "Not long after President Bush said he had ordered federal agencies to enact new regulations cutting gasoline consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.) was in Detroit saying raising fuel-efficiency standards for U.S. cars and trucks was probably not the answer. Dingell, long a friend of the U.S. auto industry, told Detroit's Masonic Temple he doubted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were doing any good and that raising them would only punish auto makers.... He also criticized Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of Illinois, who told the same Masonic Temple last week that the auto makers were the authors of their own miseries and also called for higher fuel standards. But Obama may be a closer friend of Detroit than he seems. Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Phelan last week pointed out that Obama drives a V8 Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C, which, in Phelan's words, "emits a whiff of hypocrisy along with its exhaust fumes."

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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NYT ARROGANCE

Post lifted from SCA. See the original for links

Says Craig Smith of the New York Times of Nikolas Sarkozy:

Arrogant, brutal, an authoritarian demagogue, a "perfect Iago": the president-elect of France has been called a lot of unpleasant things in recent months and now has five years to prove his critics wrong.

Try this is on for size, Mr Smith: The New York Times has also earned the right to be referred to as brutal, authoritarian and a bastion of leftist demagoguery. In addition, the New York Times has proved it's preference for deceit when needed and deliberate disregard for the truth as a matter of course. Perhaps the New York Times can use the next five years to prove their critics wrong.

Mr Smith goes on to note that

Mr. Sarkozy's personal life has been less successful than his public one: in 1996, he divorced his first wife, with whom he has two sons, and married C,cilia Ciganer-Albeniz, with whom he had another son.

For years, Ms. Sarkozy acted as Mr. Sarkozy's closest aide, but she left him to have a very public affair with another man in 2005. The couple have since reconciled, but Ms. Sarkozy has been notably absent from her husband's presidential campaign, fueling rumors that he will inhabit Elysee Palace alone.

Has Mr Smith referred to Hillary Clinton's private life as `less than successful' than her political life? Has Mr Smith or anyone at the New York Times made note of the former President's absence from Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign trail? Is Bill Clinton's invisibility on the campaign trail meant to imply that if successful, the Senator will inhabit the White House by herself? Does appointing the former president as `Ambassador to the World really mean there are irreconcilable differences between Senator and former president? Or do those kind of inferences selectively applied by the New York Times?

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A NATION OF MOOCHERS

Government grew under Clinton, and grew even faster under his successor. Government is so big today that more than half the population gets a major part of its income from the state. So says a study by economist Gary Shilling. Shilling, a Springfield, N.J., consultant and forecaster, says the portion of Americans feeding substantially at the public trough stands at 52.6 percent. In 2000, it was 49.4. It seems unbelievable that in 1950, only 28.3 percent of Americans lived off the taxpayers. Shilling projects 60 percent by 2040.

One out of five Americans works for some level of government or for a firm that depends on taxpayer financing. One in five also draws Social Security or a federal pension. That number will grow as the baby boomers move on to Social Security, which, let's not forget, is a transfer program. Among other recipients of largess: Nine million are on food stamps, 2 million received housing subsidies, and 5 million go to school on the federal taxpayer. In Shilling's reckoning, dependents of recipients are also part of the group he calls "government beneficiaries."

Wasn't the welfare system reformed in 1996? On the surface, yes. Cash payments are available only for a limited time and recipients are expected to work eventually. Millions of women once on welfare have gone to work. But the idea that the taxpayer has gotten a break or that overall dependency has decreased is a myth. As the AP reported: "The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid. The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor -- including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits -- are bursting with new enrollees. The result ... is that nearly one in six persons rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago."

More here

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Brookes News Update

US economy and China's currency - what gives?: It is still being said that manipulation of China's currency is undermining American manufacturing. Like so many things in economics this charge completely ignores the real forces at work
Australian economy: the recession it should have had, and its money supply: There was a time when economists would have looked at the money supply. Now they reach for the economic tealeaves otherwise known as the national accounts. Is that why our economists are so blase about the Australia's shrinking manufacturing base?
Remembering the Bay of Pigs: The Bay of Pigs 46 years ago but Cuban patriots still remember the courage and sacrifices of those who tried to rid their country of the cowardly and sadistic Dictator Fidel Castro
Why the Australian Democrats are not a respectable political party: The Australian Democrats are trapped in a downward spiral of politically suicidal decision-making
Israel has nothing to celebrate: Now Olmert is paving the way for more concessions to the Arab terrorists. It will create more demands from Arabs and more Jewish lives will be lost. Nothing will please the enemies of the Jewish people except our total extermination
The Democrats are worse than we thought: One of the few Democrats I know of who has consistently hoped for our troops to fail is Dennis Kucinich. The fact that Dennis Kucinich is now a Democratic trendsetter may just be the saddest thing ever

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ELSEWHERE

Chris Brand has a new lot of posts up on his usual themes

China Hand has just put up a new post on whether Confucianism is a religion or not

Rubin on the origin of anti-market bias: "Our primitive ancestors lived in a world that was essentially static; there was little societal or technological change from one generation to the next. This meant that our ancestors lived in a world that was zero sum -- if a particular gain happened to one group of humans, it came at the expense of another. This is the world our minds evolved to understand. To this day, we often see the gain of some people and assume it has come at the expense of others."

The dubious pedigree of the EU idea: "Ten years ago I wrote a book the first chapter of which examined Nazi and fascist arguments in favour of a united Europe. I used this Nazi pro-Europeanism scurrilously to discredit the claim made by today's pro-Europeans that the European idea was born out of reaction against Hitler, and to show that hostility to national sovereignty has an anti-democratic pedigree. Most of the quotations dated from 1941, European propaganda having been emphasised when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. By 1942, a conference was organised in Berlin by leading Nazi party officials and industrialists entitled `European Economic Community'. Of course, the Nazis did not invent the idea of a united Europe. That dream has been around since the collapse of the Roman empire, gaining new attractiveness after the Reformation and after the first world war. But Nazi pro-Europeanism was very detailed, concentrating on many of the technical aspects which we associate with the EU today, especially the Europeanisation of industry and agriculture."

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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Marxists and Islamists have a love-in in Toronto

Rather than focus on the evils of capitalism, the unlikely top billing of the opening night of the festival was devoted to a discussion about building unity between Muslims and the left; the keynote speaker was the controversial Islamic thinker Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, who is in the news these days because he is in the midst of a heated battle to open a mosque in Newmarket - not because he wants to see a dictatorship of the proletariat.Desperate for new brothers in arms, Marxism appears to be doing some serious social networking. If this weekend's series of workshops at the festival is any indication, Marxism has a disparate cadre these days: green activists, the anti-war movement, the transgendered, members of First Nations, traditional Islam.

Inclusiveness is the buzzword here, where the members of this hodge-podge gathering can be overheard calling each other brother and sister. Participants call this membership drive "building unity," a much-repeated mantra throughout the opening night. Self-proclaimed Marxist James Clark, who helped organize the event, said that while there are disparate groups in attendance, they can all still rally around a slogan like "Out of Afghanistan and into Kyoto."

More here

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I have put a couple of toty wee posts on my personal blog recently. "Toty wee" is a dismissive Scottish expression -- implying total insignificance. I enjoy Scottish expressions. I was brought up to think highly of Scotland and I still do. I greatly enjoyed my various trips to Scotland and would cheerfully live there except for the climate. Where I live in sub-tropical Brisbane has to be the dream climate. The nearest American analogue is San Diego. And San Diego has more admirals than any place outside Italy (The Italian navy has more admirals than ships). Navy men move about a lot so when an admiral decides where to retire he knows from experience that San Diego is the best.

France shows the way: "For Mr Sarkozy, who wants France to "work more to earn more", it will be straight down to business with the naming of his government on Thursday, to be headed by the socially sensitive senator Francois Fillon as prime minister. Economic and financial ministries are likely to be combined to avoid doubling up of treasury and finance staff. Symbolically, important ministries such as culture and agriculture are tipped to disappear, to be absorbed into more efficient super-ministries. In an interview with Le Monde, MrSarkozy said he was determined to change the country and ensure that only one in every two bureaucrats heading for retirement was replaced from this year."

Sarko's problem: "In my Languedoc village, Christian the local PC [computer] fixer has not hired anyone in 10 years because he says to do so he would have to take a pay cut. To hire anyone in France - who will work no more than 35 hours a week with generous vacations and who becomes immediately very difficult to sack - costs roughly 1,000 pounds a month. Before you have paid them a penny. In the next village over from me in England there is a fellow who does the same job as Christian and 10 years after starting a business in the same way, as a one-man band, has a fleet of vans running around the countryside staffed by eager geeks. The unavoidable question, Nicolas, is what are you going to do about this? I think I know. If you are to cut unemployment, you must stop taxing employers for creating jobs. It is, I think, that simple."

Signs of Intelligent Life in Europe: "Security officials from Europe's largest countries backed a plan Saturday to profile mosques on the continent and identify radical Islamic clerics who raise the threat of homegrown terrorism. The project, to be finished by the fall, will focus on the roles of imams, their training, their ability to speak in the local language and their sources of funding, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini told a news conference after a meeting on terrorism. Italian Interior Minister Guiliano Amato said Europe had extensive experience with the "misuse of mosques, which instead of being places of worship are used for other ends." "This is bringing about a situation that involves all of our countries and involves the possibility of attacks and developing of networks that use one country to prepare an attack in another," Amato said."



Fighting terror with a Law Enforcement Model -- who knew we got stupid again?: "Here we are again with the FBI trying to fit a law enforcement model over a terror war. In New Jersey the FBI admits that they know of 4 other "accomplices" who were seen in the company of the 6 already arrested but that they don't have enough evidence to arrest them. Haven't we been here before? So then are we at war or are we engaged in a massive law enforcement operation against those Muslims who are doing their best to duplicate 9/11's death toll? Did we or did we not learn any lessons from the debacle of having Moussaoui in our hands with the evidence that would have allowed us to stop 9/11? Are we still trying to fit a law enforcement model of operation over a war? Remember we had Moussaoui's laptop computer in hand and that the evidence inside of that laptop would have given us enough to stop 9/11 but oops in a Law Enforcement model you are not allowed to look into that laptop"

Pittsburgh imam ousted over 'death' remarks: "Imam Fouad ElBayly has been asked to step down from his leadership roles at the Islamic Center of Johnstown, based on his comments published by the Tribune-Review. ElBayly, who came to the United States from his native Egypt in 1976, expressed his views on apostasy -- abandoning one's religious belief -- during an interview prior to Dutch feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali's appearance April 17 at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He indicated that in the eyes of the Islamic community, a sentence of death would be warranted for Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee, women's rights advocate and atheist who has denounced the Islamic religion, criticized the practice around the world of female genital mutilation and spoken out against her Muslim upbringing. ElBayly, who tried to block Hirsi Ali's campus appearance, said her attacks on the Muslim faith were "poisonous." He did not threaten her, but explained that "all of her lies" warrant a death sentence. "The board and members of the Islamic Center of Johnstown were shocked and regret the comments made by Imam ElBayly regarding the visit of author Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The statements regarding the Islamic Center's reaction to her visit were incorrect, unfounded and not the views of its members," Dennis J. Stofko, the center's attorney, said in a letter to the Tribune-Review."

Jihadists smash mobile phones and cassettes, order tribesmen to grow beards: "Some 200 gun-toting Islamist militants smashed car cassette players and mobile phone cameras yesterday and ordered tribesmen in a Pakistani region to grow beards, part of a drive to impose Taliban-style values. The militants took up positions beside a road near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, and stopped and searched passing vehicles... A government official in Bajaur confirmed the incident but did not say whether authorities planned any action against the militants. Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, bordering Afghanistan, is known as a hotbed of support for the militants and critics say the government's influence there has weakened considerably since the authorities signed peace deals with the militants."

Israel to reward terrorism with more withdrawals: "The evacuation of Gaza was not Israel's last move, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in an interview with the Egyptian weekly al-Ahram published Saturday morning. "I believe I represent most Israelis and I can confirm that Gaza is not the last move. We are convinced that in order to establish a Palestinian state we must withdraw from additional territories," the minister added.

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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JEWS, JOOOOS and Hebrews

(JOOOOS is the way sane people mock antisemitic conspiracy theorists)

I do write rather a lot on this blog about Jews and Israel. Ever since Christianity erupted from it, that little sliver of land at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean has been a major source of controversy and contention. And all regular readers of this blog will be acutely aware that I am about as rock-solid a supporter of Israel as you can get.

I do nonetheless have the amusing distiction that I have often been accused of being both antisemitic and a Jew-lover. What that mainly tells you, of course, is how hysterical modern politics can get. Secondarily, however, it shows you that I am a true conservative -- determined to deal with the world in all its real complexity rather than resort to simple generalizations.

You can see why I have been the target of such contradictory accusations if you look at my big essay about Jews -- which I have revised a bit in recent times. It is a largeish essay so if you are in a hurry just read the last paragraph.

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ELSEWHERE

Theodore Dalrymple has an article discussing Sayyid Qutb -- seen by many as the founder of Islamofascism. Dalrymple says that Qutb is only to a minor extent a religious writer and that his writing is mainly political and has much in common with Marx -- including being filled with hate.

A new Hitler/Stalin pact: "The roster of Islamist-left alliances quietly grows every day: Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguistics professor Noam Chomsky praises Hamas and denounces America on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television. London Mayor Ken Livingstone invites a leading Islamist, Sheikh Yosef Al-Qaradawi, who is known for supporting suicide attacks, to visit his city. Iranian President Ahmadinejad calls for a world without America even as he plays host to a Tehran peace conference attended by American Mennonites, Quakers, Episcopalians, Methodists, and leaders of the National Council of Churches.... It's the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact for our age. The Left, with its insistence on multiculturalism and the end of religion in public discourse, has begun to ally itself with the most xenophobic religion on the planet, one which insists on transcendence in temporal matters above all other law. Its leaders now praise the same groups that target and kill civilians, oppress the media, openly practice anti-Semitism, and routinely stone those who have the audacity to date without permission from their families. In the case of Noam Chomsky, this seems particularly egregious, but not terribly surprising. Chomsky can talk about Enlightenment ideals out of one side of his mouth, as he did in Imperial Ambitions, and then warmly support Hamas, which completely rejects those ideals of freedom, liberty, and individual conscience.... People like Chomsky love Hamas and Hezbollah not for their supposed "Enlightenment ideals," but for their hatred of America. That's the one thread that follows through all of these alliances"

The Soros pincer move on Israel: "George Soros is deeply hostile to current American support for Israel. He publicly criticizes AIPAC and is exploring opportunities to form an anti-AIPAC. He also plans to launch a European version of the Council of Foreign Relations. Now, it seems as if George Soros may be launching yet another effort to try to influence the course of policy regarding Israel..... CAP just launched an alternative news and opinion service dubbed: The Middle East Bulletin. Given the time constraints that many people labor under, and the cutback in news gathering and analysis that media outlets have had to endure, given the changing economics of the industry, news services such as these alerts are becoming increasingly relied upon. The bulletin will go out three times a week and will be delivered via the internet to media outlets, Congressmen, and decision-makers around the world. How does George Soros fit in this picture? The Center for American Progress receives funding from George Soros. The first "issue" of the Middle East News Bulletin itself gives credit for "the support and cooperation of Americans for Peace Now, Geneva Initiative Israel Policy Forum and the New Israel Fund." None of these organizations are supportive of AIPAC and have proudly taken positions contrary to those of AIPAC and its many supporters."

Bill Clinton on Israel's nuclear annihilation: "The next Ambassador at Large, should Mrs. Clinton become president, has gone on record in the belief that the main victims of a nuclear strike that destroys Israel would be Muslims, suffering from fallout. What a thoughtful guy!"

Nuke Mecca: "In the event of a nuclear terrorist strike on the United States, both Mecca AND Medina MUST suffer a nuclear strike in retaliation. It is the ONLY response that makes sense. Not only would it be necessary to nuke those cities, but it would ONLY be a sufficient response if the "dirtiest" nuclear device in the U.S. inventory were utilized in the strike. By "dirty" nuke, I mean a device that would make their two "holiest" sites completely uninhabitable (certain poison to human life) for the next 10,000 years. The nuclear contamination MUST be THAT severe. Okay. Now. WHY? Because it is the ONLY way to STOP the violence. The total, complete, and eternal destruction of their "holiest" sites would END Islam, once and for all. Islam is a system of "works". The fanatic element responsible for the violence is trying to perform "works" (on Allah's behalf) that will secure a guarantee of eternal reward (in paradise). One of their required works is that "at least once in their life" they must make a pilgrimage to their holy sites. If they can not make their pilgrimage, they can not complete the "works" required to secure their "salvation". By their own stupid rules, outlined their "holy" books, if Mecca and Medina were unapproachable, then ALL muslims all doomed to eternal damnation."

Dems Offer Reparations to Guam For JAPANESE War Crimes! "That's correct... Democrats are bringing legislation to the floor this week to pay Guam citizens for the crimes committed against them by members of the Imperial Japanese military forces during World War II!"

The farcical U.N. again: Zimbabwe, a country suffering from acute food shortages and rampant inflation, won approval to lead the important U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests from the U.S., European nations and human rights organizations. Africa nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and tourism, for the post, and the 53-member commission approved that recommendation Friday in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, said Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, the commission's vice chair. The post rotates every year among regions of the world and it was Africa's turn to sit in the chair. "We're very disappointed in the election of Zimbabwe as chair," said the U.S. representative to the commission Dan Reifsnyder, deputy assistant secretary for environment and science at the State Department. "We really think it calls into question the credibility of this organization to have a representative from a country that has decimated its agriculture, that used to be the breadbasket of Africa and can't now feed itself"

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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HEROISM IN IRAQ

Do the bloated toads in America's present Congress (e.g. Murtha and Kennedy) deserve the protection of men like this?

Late last year, Major James Gant and his men were returning home to Baghdad after weeks of fighting insurgents. Gant and his advisory team were riding in up-armored HMMWVs. These were not the HMMWVs of Jessica Lynch's era. These were mini-tanks on tires with bullet proof-glass, blast-proof armor plate and turret mounted machineguns. His men, Iraqi National Police, were riding in soft-skinned trucks.

Al-Qaeda had planned an elaborate running ambush in which they hoped to destroy the unit that had been their nemesis for more than a month. They had prepared three separate ambush sites along a four kilometer stretch of road. Gant and his commandos were forced to run a gauntlet of machinegun fire, mortar attacks and IEDs. The story of Gant's, fight that day is an amazing tale of heroism, filled with scenes you would expect to see on the silver screen. Gant repeatedly risked his life to save others. The insurgents had planted IEDs hoping that an explosion would force the embattled convoy to stop.

Gant ordered his driver to drive straight for the first IED. As they rolled within twenty feet, the device detonated. Miraculously, Gant's HMMWV was unscathed. Gant kept the column moving through a vicious gun battle. Another IED lie only five hundred yards ahead. Again, they went after the planted explosive and, again, a thunderous explosion failed to disable Gant's vehicle. Almost clear of the ambush, Gant noticed a third IED. He continued to push forward, bringing his convoy safely through the torrent of fire. Had Gant hesitated, good men would have died.

More here

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Yet more on media bias

Post lifted from Powerline . See the original for links

Yesterday, Scott wrote about the Appeal for Courage which was presented to Congress yesterday afternoon. You can read about the Appeal here. The Appeal was signed by more than 2,700 active duty servicemen and women. It says:

As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.

The Appeal was received yesterday in Washington by Minority Leader John Boehner and Senator Lindsay Graham. Did you read about it in your local newspaper? I didn't. Nor did I read about it on CNN, which, as best I can tell, has made no mention of the pro-Iraq war, anti-surrender petition signed by thousands of soldiers. CNN did report on this, though: "Retired generals, Iraq veterans launch anti-war ads":

Three retired generals challenged a dozen members of Congress in a new ad campaign Wednesday, saying the politicians can't support President Bush's policies in Iraq and still expect to win re-election.

Other veterans promoted the campaign at a news conference in Manchester, the start of a six-state publicity tour targeting Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Warner of Virginia, plus nine House members. All are Republicans.

This is almost like a laboratory experiment, isn't it? A handful of veterans (including three out of several thousand retired generals) oppose the war: News. Thousands of active duty personnel urge Congress to support the war effort: Not news. That pretty well sums up the journalistic standard that has been applied to the conflict in Iraq.

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ELSEWHERE



Sure to be the fault of whites: "Caribbean nations, which most Americans perceive as sun-soaked paradises, are overwhelmed by the economic toll of the world's highest murder rates and need international help, according to a report released Thursday. A one-third reduction in the region's murder rate would more than double its per-capita economic growth, according to the study by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Caribbean nations have been battling drug-fueled crime by bolstering their police forces, but the report says crime rates are so bad that Caribbean governments need help from rich nations and multilateral institutions. "The report is a starting point of putting crime on the development agenda," said Caroline Anstey, the World Bank director for the Caribbean. The high crime rate not only is killing young people and adding to the cost of business, but it also keeps tourists in safe beach enclaves rather than having them spend more money exploring other parts of the Caribbean, Anstey said." [More detail here]

A Coulter excerpt: "With Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive victory as the new president of France, the French have produced their first pro-American ruler since Louis XVI. In celebration of France's spectacular return to Western civilization, I bought a Herve Leger dress on Monday, and we're having croissants for breakfast every day this week. This delicate French pastry, by the way, is in the shape of a crescent to commemorate the Crusaders' victory over Islam. Aren't the French just peachy? ... Only Spain remains a nation of women. As long as Spain exists, it will not outlive the shame of its gutless capitulation to terrorist bombings in 2004. It is worse than Sweden's neutrality toward Hitler. But France! Until this week, France seemed a less likely place to find someone who supports America than a meeting of Democrats. Apparently, even the French prefer Western civilization to clitorectomy-performing, car-burning savages. The Democratic Party is now officially the only organization on Earth that does not take the threat of Islamic fascism seriously. Between the Democrats and the media, America has gone from its usual position as the world's last hope to radical Islam's last hope."

More bungling British bureaucracy: "When Kay Rumble received her pension forecast from the Government, she knew that something was wrong. The 64-year-old from Berkshire had taken time out of her working life to bring up three children, but the Pension Service had failed to account for this in its calculations. "I argued about this," she said. "I can't tell you how many times I called them. Eventually they said that they had changed computers and one said that I was entitled to a bigger state pension and one said that I wasn't." In 1999 Mrs Rumble, an office manager, was told that she was likely to qualify for a basic pension of 25.23 pounds when she turned 60 in 2003. This was based on the expectation that she would, by 2003, have 15 years of national insurance contributions out of a possible 39. The forecast underestimated her pension by nearly half. After she pointed out the discrepancy, the Pension Service revised its figures. Once Mrs Rumble's Home Responsibilities Protection entitlement was included, her weekly pension increased to 45.12 pounds."

A wonderful memorial for a personal friend of mine: "It's over a year since Chris Tame, former Director of the Libertarian Alliance, died aged 56. Chris had built up and nurtured the libertarian movement in Britain over many years. Over the years Chris had accumulated several thousand books, many of which were about liberty and its issues, and which included many classic libertarian texts. Rather than let the collection be dissipated, Sean Gabb, current Director of the Libertarian Alliance, found a good home for them at the Economic University of Prague. He organized the transport of the books, no small operation, and some friends of Chris helped defray the cost. Chris Tame's library will thus continue to spread the message of liberty for years to come, making a wholly fitting memorial to Chris and the values he stood for."

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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A LESSON FROM SARKO

In the campaign, Sarkozy argued that the French have to work longer hours and, in order to give them an incentive to do so, that they shouldn't pay taxes if they work overtime. He called for tax cuts to encourage investment so the private sector can create jobs. And critically, Sarkozy has said that the people must obey the law, that the creation of law and respect for the law is a central part of any civilized society.

Remember, this is a jarring message for a country that routinely accepts the burning of up to 15,000 cars a year by hooligans who, according to the elites, are simply "expressing their desire to disrupt society." It's jarring for a country that was very proud a few years back to have the first mandatory 35-hour work week in history. Yet an increasing majority of the French believes that without the kind of changes Sarkozy is calling for, France's stature will disappear in a wave of lawlessness and economic decay.

As for the opposition in the French election, much like the American Democratic Party, it is trapped by its commitment to big labor, big bureaucracy, high taxes and social values people don't believe in. Every time French voters seriously looked at Segolene Royal and the kind of politics she represents, she lost ground. She simply couldn't make the case that left-wing Socialist policies would work.

The result was a surprising and powerful upset by Sarkozy -- a victory by a center-right reformer, a member of the unpopular ruling party, who came to personify change. And here's where American Republicans really need to pay attention: In France, voting for change meant voting for the party in office, but not the personality in office. And voting to keep the old order meant voting for the opposition, not for the incumbent party.

If Republicans hope to win the presidency next year, they better find a candidate who is prepared to stand for very bold, very dramatic and very systematic change in Washington. Not only that, but they had better make the case that the left-wing Democrat likely to be nominated represents the failed status quo: the bureaucracies that are failing, the social policies that are failing, the high tax policies that are failing, and the weakness around the world that has failed so badly in protecting America.

Source

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ELSEWHERE



It may seem perverse but the picture above all by itself tells me what a great nation America is -- in my view the greatest nation the world has ever seen. It grieves me greatly to see the extent to which it has at present falen into the hands of corrupt and venal Congressional cowards. You need to see where that picture came from. I hope others will see something of what I see in the picture above -- the inextinguishable pride for start. Perhaps because I have some small military background myself, it moves me deeply.

Historian Dan Mandel has an excellent put-down for those who try to distort what Winston Churchill stood for.

Outvoted by Hispanics?: "The 2008 election may see a vast number of new Hispanic voters streaming to the polls and voting Democrat, thanks to behind the scenes maneuvers by the Democrats' biggest sugar daddy of all. The outlines of the plan became clear yesterday when putting together stories in 2 of America's leading business publications. The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story on May10th regarding Univision's campaign to spur millions of Hispanic residents to become U.S. citizens. Univision is, by far, the largest Spanish-language broadcasting network in America. The Journal article pointed out the momentous electoral consequences of this development: since Hispanics tend to vote Democratic an increasingly large number of them with a right to vote will favor the Democratic party in 2008. This is particularly so since so many Spanish-speaking residents are concentrated in states rich in electoral votes. This unprecedented effort on the part of Univision could very likely swing the Presidential election to the Democratic Party."

U.S. economy is surging: "Mark Crutsinger of the AP did not disappoint me by burying his lead at the very bottom of his latest report on federal tax revenues and spending: For April, revenue receipts totaled $383.64 billion while spending totaled $205.97 billion, leaving a surplus for the month of $177.7 billion. While Crutsinger pointed out that revenues are always up in April, he did not bother to compare this April's figure to last April's. On May 10, 2006, Crutsinger reported that revenues were $315.1 billion in April 2006. This April's revenues were $383.64 billion - an increase of 22%. How will liberals spin this? Bush isn't spending fast enough? It is unlikely that the budget will be balanced this year, but the deficit looks to be far smaller than the one the Congressional Budget Office projected just 2 years ago"

Gonzales deflects Democrats' criticism: "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confidently deflected House Democrats' demands Thursday for details in the firings of U.S. attorneys, appearing ever more likely to survive accusations that the dismissals were politically motivated. Republican lawmakers rushed to Gonzales' defense as the attorney general denied anew that the firings last year were improper. The mostly muted five-hour hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee was a sharp contrast to Gonzales' sometimes testy appearance three weeks ago when Senate Republicans questioned his competence to run the Justice Department.

United Nations looniness again: "Britain and other Western nations were fighting a rear-guard action last night to block Zimbabwe from heading an influential United Nations organisation responsible for development. Despite running one of the world's most disastrous economies, Francis Nheme, the Zimbabwean Environment Minister, is expected today to become chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the body that monitors the environment and development."

Support For Israel: "The two leading partisan pollsters, Republican-leaning Public Opinion Strategies and Democrat-leaning Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted a survey (with link to questionnaire and results) of U.S. "opinion elite" attitude toward Israel. Opinion elite is loosely defined as college grad or post-graduate, all earning above $75,000, 99% saying they will vote in 2008,most regular readers of major newspapers, newsmagazines and TV news viewers. The result is comforting to its sponsor, the pro-Israel Israel Project. Support for Israel is at its highest since 2002, 63% very favorable toward Israel, an increase of 5%. 26% are very favorable toward the Palestinians, a decline from 31% in 2002. Focusing, when competing for support in "the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians" 65% support Israel but only 10% the Palestinians."

Hooray for feet and inches! "Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables can continue to be sold in pounds and ounces in Britain indefinitely, after a U-turn by the European Commission. The decision, disclosed in a letter made public last night, also means that fabrics, carpets and timber and other building materials can be sold in yards, feet or inches. Road signs can remain in miles per hour. The move delighted consumers and shopkeepers after a campaign by the Metric Martyrs that had been backed by the Conservative Party and the British Weights and Measures Association. The British Retail Consortium and other organisations representing butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and market traders had also lobbied hard to save imperial measures.The campaigners scented victory after saving the crown on a pint glass this year. Their instincts were confirmed by Guenther Verheugen, the Industry Commissioner, who agreed that dual marking of goods in Britain in imperial and metric measures can continue indefinitely. Brussels has insisted previously that the traditional British weights and measures should disappear from labels and shop counters by 2009. Business lobbyists said that keeping pounds and ounces made it easier for British companies to sell to the United States"

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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More evidence of media bias

Bernard Goldberg, renowned author and commentator on media bias (based on his 20+ years as a journalist) once wrote:

"Bias in the media isn't just about what they cover; it's also about what they don't cover. Sherlock Holmes once solved a particularly thorny crime using as his key piece of evidence the dog that didn't bark. It's the same with the news media. What they don't make noise about also tells us a lot about their preconceived notions and their biases."

Well surely Bernie must be feeling vindicated this day. For if there is ever a perfect example of the silence of the media dogs it is in the story of Tina Richards. I recently wrote here about the mother of a Marine and her efforts to meet with Democrats to urge them to end the war. Her tactics were not unlike Cindy Sheehan but instead aimed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi whereas Sheehan focused her PR effort on President Bush. I wrote that first article as much to bench mark media reporting as to provide the content. I wanted all to note that Pelosi has her own Sheehan and let's see were the media goes with it by way of comparison.

The result of my little experiment surprised even me, with my calloused eye towards the state of American journalism. Here is what is going on. It appears Tina Richards has been released from the big-house after being arrested for her sit-in at the Speaker's office and is continuing her activism. If you follow the desperately scant media reports on her you can find Richards' own website.

There she posts her thoughts in writing and video. Currently, Richards is organizing a political action called "Swarm on Congress". It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out that this is basically an assault on the mechanisms of government to call attention to her cause. You might think a planned congressional sit-in by an aggrieved military mother might qualify as news as it did in Sheehan's case. How wrong you are!

Source

There is also a well documented article here on how the media covers up for Obama's gaffes. Any Republican who got treatment like that would think he was in Heaven.

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ELSEWHERE

There is an interesting article here about Google's "Supplemental Index" -- which is apparently "Google Hell" for advertisers. Some of my articles are in the "Hell" concerned but they are all old ones that I rarely change so that bothers me very little. My content is pretty unique so even my stuff in the supplemental index seems to show up when you look for it. It is the articles that are not indexed at all that get me grouchy. But since I started complaining about it, almost all my stuff has been "rediscovered" by Google. Writing to Google seems to be pointless. It is only public complaints -- such as mine -- that get attention. There are still some strange omissions, though. Why did this article get missed, for instance? According to Google it does not exist anywhere on the net -- even though lots of other articles on the same site ARE in the Google database. The weirdness continues.

How reasonable! "Somali security forces are seizing and even burning Muslim women's veils in Mogadishu to stop Islamist insurgents disguising themselves for attacks, authorities and witnesses said on Wednesday. The Western-backed government's crackdown on veils is a highly symbolic turnaround for the Somali capital. When it was under Islamist control in the second half of 2006, women were instructed to cover their heads. Backed by Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes, Somali forces ousted the rival Islamist leaders in January and are trying to secure the capital after a surge of bloody fighting."

Congressional hissy fit: "Veteran political columnist David Broder set off a firestorm recently when he called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid an "embarrassment" for declaring the Iraq war "lost." From the assault subsequently directed at Broder - from other journalists, political operatives, left-wing bloggers and even the entire 50-member Senate Democratic Caucus - you'd have thought Broder had had an intimate encounter with an intern. Or, in the spirit of bipartisanship, had broken into Democratic National Committee headquarters. Broder committed no such dastardly deed, but merely did what he has done for the past 35 years. He called it as he saw it - just as Reid claims to have done, and that his defenders seem to find so refreshing. Nevertheless, the 50 Democratic senators felt compelled to respond.... It is perhaps admirable, and certainly reassuring to Reid, that his fellow senators came to his defense. But this kind of overreaction to a columnist is rare, if not unprecedented, and betrays a disturbing hostility to legitimate criticism. Though Broder is a great political writer, he is not the president of the United States. He doesn't command an army or meet routinely with heads of state to negotiate planetary alignment or even global heating and cooling. He's a commentator. And what, exactly, is a commentator supposed to do if not comment?"

Iran strikes advocated in Christian Science Monitor: "Louis Rene Beres is a nuclear strategist and professor of International Law. In today's Christian Science Monitor Beres calls for preemptive action against Iranian nuclear weapons development: "Unless there is a timely defensive first strike at pertinent elements of Iran's expanding nuclear infrastructures, it will acquire nuclear weapons. The consequences would be intolerable and unprecedented. "A nuclear Iran would not resemble any other nuclear power. There could be no stable "balance of terror" involving that Islamic Republic. Unlike nuclear threats of the cold war, which were governed by mutual assumptions of rationality and mutual assured destruction, a world with a nuclear-armed Iran could explode at any moment."

Deadly food fanaticism: "A vegan couple were sentenced to life in jail yesterday for the murder of their malnourished six-week-old son, who weighed just 3rlb (1.6kg) when he died. Jade Sanders and Lamont Thomas fed the boy, who was named Crown Shakur, a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice, the Atlanta court heard. The child was born in a bath-tub in the couple's home and never taken to see a doctor. He was dead when his parents took him to a hospital across the street from their flat on April 25, 2004. He was so emaciated that doctors could count his bones through his skin. The couple maintained during the trial that they did the best they could for the boy while adhering to their vegan lifestyle, a strict form of vegetarianism that does not allow the consumption or use of any products linked to animals." [May they rot!]

Socialist Angst, Cigarettes And Cheese: "Cigarette sales in France are on the rise. A mostly empty and crushed pale blue pack of Gauloise has become the broken badge of the socialists. A new dawn of awareness is adding to the French socialist woes. As they furiously smoke and curse `les stupides` and `les cochons` that voted for Nikolas Sarkosy, there are coming to an awareness they would rather not discuss. Socialists are going to have to work for a living. For the moment, despondent socialists are discussing broken strategies, broken ideologies and the future of their beloved `little people,' who so roundly rejected them and whole lot of what they stood for. For the first time in a very long time, they are having to deal with reality."

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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The Kansas tragedy: Blame-Bush buffoonery

Hi, my name is Tim Schieferecke and I'm a native western Kansas farmboy. No, I don't know anyone from Greensburg as I'm from northwest Kansas, but I do know what rural folks from anywhere in Kansas are like. Apparently my current leftist Governor Kathleen Sebelius doesn't though, nor does she comprehend the availability of heavy equipment assets. It was hard for me to hold my lunch down when I heard her craft an anti-Bush spin on the disaster that befell the good people of Greensburg. Slow recovery? This statement is disingenuous at best but in local lingo better understood as a downright lie.

We need trucks? It seems the good Governor doesn't get out of Topeka much. Western Kansas is wheat country, and where there's wheat there's wheat trucks. Incidentally, they fill in quite nicely for hauling away debris when they aren't filled with grain. Why do they really need Hum-vees in the mix? What can they accomplish that a regular old four wheel drive pick-up can't? Other equipment? You can't spit without hitting a tractor, spit a little harder and you'll hit one that has a handy scoop.......

Also, I'd like the Governor to explain just how many National Guard troops it takes to seal off a little town of 1500 from looters? The good Governor points out plainly opportunistically that 40% of all troops overseas are National Guard. Now, assuming that 40% of Kansas troops are engaged elsewhere (that's 3,200 of approximately 8,000 total, there are an estimated 4,800 troops available). To guard a town of 1,500? Do they have that many down on the border? That sounds like overkill to me!

It is beyond me how these libs spin everything towards making our good President guilty of this or that. How is it that President Bush has anything at all to do with a slow response to the catastrophe? How could ANYTHING have been done differently. Oh yeah, I forgot, Bush created global warming by colluding with big oil, that created the perfect F-5 tornado, and if only he had signed Kyoto this tragedy never would have happened. Give me a break!

More here

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ELSEWHERE

British TV veteran disses the BBC: "Sir Patrick Moore has identified an alien species that threatens to destroy intelligent life - the women who have taken over the BBC. The veteran astronomer celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Sky at Night with a withering attack on the female executives he believes have dumbed down the corporation. Sir Patrick's outburst echoes criticisms raised by Alasdair Milne, a former Director-General, who provoked a furious response when he accused a female-dominated BBC of producing "terrible" programmes. Sir Patrick, 84, was asked by the Radio Times if television had got better or worse during a career spanning the medium's life. The answer was worse - "much worse". He said: "The trouble is that the BBC now is run by women and it shows: soap operas, cooking, quizzes, kitchen-sink plays. You wouldn't have had that in the golden days." They have even destroyed sci-fi, Sir Patrick's personal passion. He said: "I used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC - making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching."

Mickey Mouse, jihadi warrior?: "Hamas has now enlisted Mickey Mouse in the War on Terror - as an advocate of Terror against America and Israel, attacking Pres. Bush, Sec. of State Rice and Prime Minister Olmert in a children's television program. They have renamed him Farfur, but he is still obviously and unmistakably our Mickey Mouse. So far, the Disney Corporation has nothing to say about it. The Mouse House is legendary for cracking down on commercial appropriation of their intellectual property. But I doubt they have ever negotiated a deal with a terrorist outfit like Hamas. So you have to wonder how far they will go."

The Danger From Within: "This week we found out that six Muslim men were arrested and charged with plotting to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey, with the intent of killing as many soldiers as they possibly could in the name of Islamic jihad. They were undone when they brought a video they had made to a retail store to be burned onto a DVD. A store employee's suspicions were aroused by the content - the men shooting assault weapons while shouting "Allah Akbar" (God is great) - and he alerted authorities. Will CAIR get involved in this "violation" of the men's civil rights as they did the six imams who were booted from a US Airways flight last year? Should photo store employees worry about being sued for reporting suspicious content as the unidentified employee in New Jersey did? The media was slow to include the suspects' religious affiliation, preferring instead to identify some of the men as being ethnic Albanians. Once the White House announced they were "Islamic militants," however, the cat was out of the bag"

The empty-headed Obama again: "The junior senator from Illinois must have the wettest feet in town because he keeps putting his feet in his mouth. His latest is that 10,000 people died in Kansas - and it is all George Bush's fault. The AP reported: " Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died.The death toll was 12."

Mohammed Philby?: "Dozens of suspected Islamic fanatics have been weeded out after attempting to join MI5 and MI6. They were identified by the vetting process applicants go through over six to eight months. The success in exposing the moles has underlined the dangers faced by the security services as they seek to recruit more Muslims. Assuming that most of these would be Mohammed Philbys are British citizens, wouldn't trying to penetrate British intelligence agencies be considered treason? The article doesn't mention any arrests. Are they simply being let go to toddle back off to the nearest extremist mosque?"

Big Win in France/Another Failure for the Media : "The Liberals claim that the world hates America and that anyone who supports America is doomed. Then John Howard goes on to win a decisive victory, Tony Blair is re-elected in historic fashion, Mexico and Canada move conservative and now France! Once again, it is as Bret Stephens wrote in the Wall Street Journal several years ago, that an historian looking for clues leading up to major events like the collapse of the Soviet Union or the end of the Japanese economic "juggernaut" would find (he says "most", I say all) contemporary journalism useless. Why is the contemporary press so useless? Stephens says it's sloth, incompetence and ignorance. I say it's multiculturalism -- the desire to use their power to "prove" that America isn't special. They simply NEED to create a world where the Soviet Union is just as successful as America, where Japan beats us in capitalism and where the rest of the world hates us. It doesn't matter that it's not true because truth is meaningless to the Modern Liberal"

Let the sun shine into the World Bank: "The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens gives us a glimpse of what has been going on inside the corruption-riddled World Bank. (What started as a faux scandal instigated by staffers against the President of the Bank may end up with a bright spotlight being shined on an institution which punished real whistleblowers who highlight theft of funds meant to alleviate world poverty.) A comparative analysis of project performance across six regions shows that during the tenure of Messrs. Sarbib and Madavo, Africa had the highest number of projects yet the lowest likely sustainability percentage, the lowest satisfactory percentage for bank performance and the lowest satisfactory borrower performance at implementation. Mr. Sarbib was subsequently promoted to senior vice president before retiring last year. Mr. Madavo is a visiting professor at Georgetown. Both men recently signed a public letter calling on Paul Wolfowitz to resign for damaging the bank's reputation."

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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Democrat Congress Ignorant On Iraq

The Left-leaning "New Republic" asks (below): How Can Congress Run Iraq If It Doesn't Know A Thing About It?

Maybe it was a slip of the tongue. But, when Nancy Pelosi confessed last year that she felt "sad" about President Bush's claims that Al Qaeda operates in Iraq, she seemed to be disputing what every American soldier in Iraq, every Al Qaeda operative, and anyone who reads a newspaper already knew to be true. (When I questioned him about Pelosi's assertion, a U.S. officer in Ramadi responded, incredulously, that Al Qaeda had just held a parade in his sector.) Perhaps the House speaker was alluding to the discredited claim that Al Qaeda operated in Iraq before the war. Perhaps. But the insinuation that Al Qaeda's depredations in Iraq might be something other than what they appear to be has become a staple of the congressional debate over Iraq. Thus, to buttress his own case for withdrawal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "We have to change course [away from Iraq] and turn our attention back to the war on Al Qaeda and their allies" - the clear message being that neither plays much of a role there.

What is going on here? There are two possibilities: First, Reid and Pelosi could be purposefully minimizing the stakes in Iraq. Or, second, they don't know what they're talking about. My guess is some combination of the two. Political maneuvering certainly contributes to the everyday pollution of Iraq discourse. But a lot of the pollution derives from legislators being functionally illiterate about the war over which Congress now intends to preside. In this, of course, they're hardly alone. The Bush administration's wretched Iraq literacy has been well-chronicled. But, with Congress demanding a louder say in the management of the war, the same knowledge gap that plagued our arrival in Iraq looks like it will be revived just in time for our departure.

Whatever explains the literacy gap, this much at least is obvious: Having been called into being by politicians on both sides of the aisle, the war in Iraq no longer bears a relation to anything they say. You don't need to cherry-pick quotes to prove the point: Nearly every time a senator's mouth opens, something wrong comes out. A typical example came a few weeks ago when Senator Joseph Biden took to the op-ed page of The Washington Post. In response to an equally surreal op-ed by Senator John McCain, Biden wrote,

The most damning evidence that the "results" McCain cites are illusory is the city of Tall Afar. Architects of the president's plan called it a model because in 2005, a surge of about 10,000 Americans and Iraqis pacified the city. Then we left Tall Afar, just as our troops soon will leave the Baghdad neighborhoods that they have calmed.

A minor detail perhaps, but "we" never left Tal Afar. In 2006, the First Brigade of the First Armored Division replaced the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, actually boosting the number of Americans in the city. Biden's analysis will also come as news for the 25th Infantry Division, whose soldiers were patrolling the streets of Tal Afar even as the senator claimed otherwise. Not to single Biden out: Who can forget Representative John Murtha's suggestion that it would be a cinch for American forces to "redeploy" from Iraq to nearby Okinawa, 5,000 miles from Baghdad? Or House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes not knowing whether Sunni or Shia populate the ranks of Al Qaeda? U.S. officers in Iraq say that, during their briefings to visiting delegations, they routinely find themselves subjected to examples of congressional oversight along the lines of: Is (the northern city of) Mosul east or west of Baghdad? What's the difference between a brigade and battalion?

As to why some of Capitol Hill's would-be war managers can't name more than a single Iraqi province, officers and journalists offer all kinds of theories. A common explanation points to the shrinking percentage of veterans in Congress, which amounts to a paltry fraction of the World War II cohort that legislated the war in Vietnam (and, incidentally, did a lousy job). But the ranks of the confused feature enough veterans, most notably Reid and Murtha, to disprove the theory. Another blames the reluctance of delegations to venture beyond the Green Zone or the bases they visit - and, then, their reluctance to be dazed by the sheer unfamiliarity of it all. "I'll never forget the helicopters coming in at night delivering wounded to the hospital in the Green Zone," the Iraq Study Group's Leon Panetta marveled to The Washington Post. "We've all seen 'M.A.S.H.,' and yet it was happening right there." Which brings us to yet another explanation for the literacy gap: Today's wise men don't exactly rise to the level of their predecessors. In place of William Bundy and Walt Rostow, we have Panetta and Vernon Jordan; as the custodian of William Fulbright's legacy, we have Harry Reid. The former hungered for the data and lacuna of war; the latter seem frankly uninterested.

More than that, congressional leaders often seem loath even to hear about events on the ground. During General Petraeus's visit to Washington last week, for example, House Democrats at first denied the Iraq commander an opportunity to brief them, citing "scheduling conflicts." And, when he finally did brief Congress, the evidence of progress that Petraeus was expected to present was dismissed before he even offered it. "He's the commander," Senator Carl Levin reasoned. "We always know that commanders are optimistic about their policies." The joke here, of course, is that Levin and his colleagues were not so long ago denouncing the Bush administration - and rightly so - for the sin of disparaging military expertise. True, civilians have no obligation to heed that expertise. They do, however, have an obligation to be informed or, at a minimum, to listen.

But, then, expertise may be beside the point. Obliviousness, after all, has its uses. It comforts the sensibilities of politicians whose varying levels of awareness allow them to favor certain facts and not others. Obliviousness testifies to the virtue and good intentions of members of Congress who, in truth, couldn't care less what comes next in Iraq. It invites Americans to indulge in the conceit that what happens in Washington obviates the need to think seriously about what happens in Baghdad.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Kurds expose Palestinian failure: "I want to compare the Kurds to the Palestinians.... consciously or not, and I believe consciously, the Kurds followed the example of what the Zionists did from the twenties on. For several decades, even under the raging reign of Saddam Hussein, they built an educational system and a health system, they had a working Kurdish government that no one recognized, they paid attention to all of the requirements for civil society. There is a vibrant economy and it is generating serious foreign investment. It is true that, for the last dozen years or so, their ambitious ventures were implicitly and explicitly carried out under the protection of the U.S. Yet it was as if nobody noticed. The international system paid no attention, except to warn that there should not be a Kurdish state. There should not be a Kurdish state. There really should not be a Kurdish state. Yet there is a Kurdish state, and it will get along with Turkey. Contrast the Kurds with the Palestinians. Everyone is passionate for a Palestinian state.... But the Palestinians don't have a state, and it's not because Israel failed to give them one or negotiate one with them. The contrast is startling: no one wants a Kurdish state and yet there is one. Everyone wants a Palestinian state, people are willing to die for it and, what's worse, kill for it. Mahmud Abbas is president of the state, and there is an elected parliament with a designated prime minister and a "unity" government. But let's face it: the state of Palestine simply does not exist"

EU worried about Russia: "European Union policymakers have long sought peace, stability and prosperity on the bloc's borders and backed the vision of an EU surrounded by well-governed and well-intentioned neighbours. Unfortunately for the EU, however, today's European political reality is starkly different. With Russia in anti-Western mood over a mix of issues, including missiles, energy and the status of Russian minorities in the Baltics - as well as continuing uncertainty over Moscow's stance on the final status of Kosovo - the EU's hopes of stability on its frontiers are fading fast.

British Labour Party fading: " In the South West, where I was following the local results, the most striking trend was the virtual disappearance of the Labour Party. There are now 109 councils in England which either have only a single Labour councillor or - most of them - none at all. Four of these are in South or West Somerset; in a large number of our local Somerset wards, there was no Labour candidate. In England, Labour lost more than a quarter of its council seats; it is now in third place, 300 behind the Liberal Democrats, who are 3,000 behind the Conservatives. In Wales, Labour had its lowest share of the vote in almost 90 years

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

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

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

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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