Free Trade for Colombia

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

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

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

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

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

More here

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ELSEWHERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MEMORIAL DAY

I note Memorial Day at some length on POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

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The BBC blames Israel for 'unstable borders.'

Post lifted from American Thinker. See the original for links

In a shameless effort to rewrite history:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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ELSEWHERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chinese Feed Americans

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

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

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

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

Source

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ELSEWHERE

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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BIBI ADVISES DIVESTMENT FROM IRAN

Today, the American people are invested in Iran. Not directly, of course. That is against US law. Rather, through pensions, savings plans, and other diversified investments, American money is invested in companies - mostly European companies - that do business in Iran. By insisting that their investment dollars not be used in Iran, the American public can send a powerful and effective message.

For pension funds and other savings investments, divesting from companies doing business in Iran will be relatively painless. In most cases, it will only entail substituting a few companies in a diversified portfolio. For some major European companies, a decision to pull the plug on investing in Iran will be more painful, but for most companies, Iran represents a tiny share of their revenues. These companies will adapt quickly to a divestment environment.

But for the regime in Teheran, the blow of divestment could prove fatal. Fewer and fewer companies will enter Iran. More and more will leave. Investment dollars and the technology it buys will dry up. The lifeline of the regime will be cut. Teheran will face a stark choice: Change its polices and win back investment, or maintain its policies and risk economic collapse.

The effort to divest from Iran could quickly bear fruit. Few people today have any idea they are supporting a regime inciting to genocide. When they do, they will want to stop that support. There are efforts underway in a number of individual American states to divest state pension funds from Iran. Similar divestment initiatives are being pursued against Sudan, a country in which genocide is actually taking place in Darfur. I see no reason why they cannot be combined -- why those working to stop genocide and those working to stop a regime inciting to genocide cannot work together. We in Israel must do our part as well. While the power of our investment dollars is infinitesimal compared to the US, if we hope to persuade the world to divest, we must lead by example. Therefore, I have submitted a bill in the Knesset that will outlaw investing in companies that invest in Iran and Sudan.

I know that there are some who are afraid of mounting a divestment campaign since there have been attempts in the past to divest from Israel. Some are concerned that by supporting divestment, we will be establishing a precedent that will later be used against Israel.

But divestment against Israel is wrong not because divestment per se is wrong. It is wrong because it is directed against Israel -- a democratic state that yearns for peace with its neighbors. Divestment against Iran and Sudan is right for the same reason why divestment from Nazi Germany in the 30s and 40s would have been right.

I said last year that it was 1938. But today, we have the lessons of the 1930s to guide us, and the power to choose a different course that will make all the difference. We must mobilize the power of the free world to confront the dangers in time. We must, as the old saying goes, put our money where our mouth is.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Another corrupted opinion poll: A recent poll by Pew which found that most Muslims in America were "good guys" in some sense always seemed a bit too good to be true to me. Someone who has looked closely at the poll protocol now confirms what I suspected -- the poll was blatantly distorted from the outset. The same poll showed that there are only 1.5 million voting-age Muslims in the USA -- much fewer than is generally claimed. SCA also has some acerbic comments on the results of the poll -- pointing out how dangerous it shows Muslims to be even if we take the (sanitized) results at face value.

Marines volunteer to return to Iraq: "Marine Cpl. Saul Mellado could be back in California, finishing the final months of his enlistment in a safe billet at Camp Pendleton. Instead, the 23-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico is patrolling these war-torn streets only recently wrested from insurgent control - and bracing for an expected counteroffensive. Under Marine Corps rules about "short-timers," Mellado could have skipped this return to Ramadi six weeks ago. But like 200 other members of the battalion - a quarter of its number - he asked to have his enlistment extended. Unlike a reenlistment, the move earns the Marines no bonus money, no promotion and no promise of a job shift or posting to a favored duty station. "For a lot of the guys, this is their first tour," Mellado said as his Humvee moved slowly through the rubble-strewn streets. "If anything happened to them, and I could have helped them, I couldn't stand that." Officials say extensions are not uncommon among the Marine Corps' 24 battalions, even as some return to Iraq for their third combat tour. In fact, they say, few records are kept because they are so common. But Marine generals who review the manpower of all infantry battalions say the 200 from the Two-Five, the most decorated battalion in the Corps, make up the biggest group.

Lebanese army gets help in fight against jihadists: "Two military transport planes landed at the Beirut airport on Friday, bringing foreign military aid to help the Lebanese army fight Islamic militants, security officials said. The development comes after the United States said it would rush supplies and ammunition to Beirut. Lebanese officials would not disclose where the military planes came from - whether directly from the United States or from US military depots in the Middle East. Late Thursday, a United Arab Emirates air force plane also arrived with supplies. The military refused comment on the airlift, a sensitive issue in this troubled country

Iran ignores mere talk: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday to push ahead with Iran's nuclear program, saying the West is trying to stop it to prevent Iran from emerging as a world power. The hardline president's comments came a day after the UN nuclear watchdog agency issued a strongly critical report that could spark new sanctions against Iran. The report said the country has expanded its uranium enrichment program in defiance of UN demands for a suspension, and it warned that the watchdog's knowledge of Iran's activities was shrinking."

The BBC still hates America: "White lynch mobs are back in the Deep South. At least according to the BBC, which is broadcasting a special program on it, headlined "Stealth Racism Stalks the Deep South." Apparently six young black men have been charged in an attack on a white student. The Bolshie Beeb knows this story line. It hasn't changed in a hundred years --- if you believe the Beeb".

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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Brookes News Update

When will the Bush boom crack?: Unfortunately every credit fuelled boom ends in recession. Although no one can really predict the actual timing of a recession one can look out for certain danger signals, the major one being manufacturing
How conservative columnists damage the free market case: The history of economic thought has a twofold function; to explain the past and to help us to understand the present. By examining the economic theories of the past we can learn to see the problems of earlier times, as it were, through the eyes of their contemporaries
It's the Democrats who are selling out America: The Democrats and their media pals have spent years peddling the canard that the Republicans are the party of the rich and is funded by "plutocrats". Any journalist worth his salt - and that ain't many - could easily provide evidence that in fact it is the Democrats who are the party of the rich and special interest groups
Wages, unions and leftist ignorance: People who ardently defend the thoroughly discredited myth that unions can raise real wages for everyone can do so only by ignoring the lessons of economics and history
Achieving a truly pro-American foreign policy: For the tragic political truth about America today is that it is no longer a democracy, with a government run by people elected by voters. Our government is run by unelected federal bureaucracies
Prius outdoes Hummer in Hummer damage: The Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it. So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB

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ELSEWHERE



An announcement above that I would like to see.

Military Recruiting Exceedingly Strong: "All branches of the military met their active duty recruiting goals for fiscal year 2006 and, despite Murtha, have met or exceeded their recruiting goals for every month since, but that doesn't stop the democrats from making bogus claims about our military and proposing a draft."

Paying rent for the dead in Berkeley: "For those of us in the business of highlighting the absurdities and outrages of the Left, Berkeley, California is the gift that keeps on giving. Staff at Berkeley's Housing Authority paid federal rent subsidies to landlords for at least 15 dead tenants - some for at least two years - according to two city reports that recommend firing all 22 employees in the department. The reports list 13 other instances of blatant misuse of some of $25 million in federal funds and claim that city staff "actively thwarted" an investigation by a new director who discovered the misspending after starting work last summer."

End it, don't mend it: "No government agency, no matter how well-funded and extravagantly staffed, can possibly have all the knowledge to manage markets efficiently; it is better that they get out of the business altogether. That's easier said than done though, as anyone who has seen the powerful farm lobby in action can attest. But a confluence of events this year -- a Doha round of free trade agreements in need of a kick-start, budget pressures and renewed commitment to fiscal responsibility from the Democrats in Congress, and growing public awareness of the failures of farm programs -- all point to the need for reform. The question is: with what do we replace the current expensive and outdated programs? How about nothing?"

Careless people want others to pay for their folly: ""Spooked by devastating wildfire seasons, the nation's top insurers are inspecting homes in high-risk areas throughout the West and threatening to cancel coverage if owners don't clear brush or take other precautions. The inspections have angered homeowners and watchdog groups that accuse the companies of trying to cut risk at the expense of customers, even while industry profits soar. 'It certainly isn't fair for these insurers to be dumping these last-minute requirements on homeowners,' said Carmen Balber of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights. 'It does make sense to require homeowners to take reasonable precautions, but some of the excessive demands that we've heard from homeowners are over the top.' The requirements can range from clearing brush to cutting down trees or even installing a fireproof roof."

Decentralizing Iraqi governance is the last hope: "After initially spurning the Iraq Study Group's (ISG) recommendations, President Bush now seems inclined toward the ISG's recommendation of transforming the U.S. military's role from fighting insurgents and militias into a smaller force that would train Iraqi forces in seeming perpetuity. Although this solution would lower U.S. casualties, and perhaps increase Republican chances in the 2008 elections, it will do little to dampen the combination of guerrilla and civil war in Iraq. A more radical solution is needed: a dramatic decentralization of Iraqi governance."

Does welfare diminish poverty?: "Does government-provided poor relief decrease the amount of poverty? That it does is an assumption at the heart of our nation's very large antipoverty programs. In fact those programs were instituted for the purpose of making themselves obsolete. Shortly before passing the Social Security Act in 1935, for example, Franklin Roosevelt declared to Congress, 'The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief .... Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration, fundamentally destructive to the national fiber.'"

Democrat backdown: "Democrats yesterday abandoned their demand that a war funding Bill contain a withdrawal date for US troops from Iraq, thereby handing President Bush a victory in his fight with Congress over how to end the conflict. The decision to back down and give Mr Bush almost $90 billion, which he had requested in February to continue paying for the war, brought only a temporary end to the legislative showdown over Iraq, with Democrats vowing to renew calls for troop withdrawal this summer. The Democrat capitulation was a reminder that despite their takeover of Congress after the November mid-term elections, which many in the party saw as a popular call to end the war, their slim majorities in the lower house and Senate still leave them powerless to override a presidential veto."

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 MUSLIM TERROR OF SEXUALITY

The men of Islam are obsessed with sex beyond even the wildest imaginings of the Western male's mind. And the obsession is far from healthy and even further from reality. We frequently joke about men's preoccupation with sex and female body parts in the West, but our fascination with "T&A" is nothing when you consider that the Muslim world is literally consumed by female sexuality and with their fear of it. It is ironic that both Muslim men and women are under the mistaken impression that Western society is oversexualized compared to them, when in fact, it is practically impossible to be more obsessed with sexual matters than they are in Muslim communities.

Consider for a moment a culture that would prefer to let young girls die in a burning building than to risk having them run out of said building not clothed in properly modest dress; and tell me that such a society is less preoccupied with matters of sex than we are in the West.

Enormous effort goes into veiling women, dressing women modestly, silencing women, covering women's bodies, punishing women, controlling women, reviling women, humiliating women, beating women, subjugating women, avoiding the dishonor of women, keeping women uneducated, policing women, infantilizing women--in short, dehumanizing women in every way possible -- all under the guise of "protecting" and "honoring" them as they relegate them to animal-like status.

The women in this misogynistic Islam are brainwashed from birth into thinking that this cultural preoccupation somehow is necessary and that it "liberates" them in some bizarre manner.

Amazingly, this medieval culture has grasped the fundamentals of both Orwellian and postmodern rhetorical rationalizations, that are so prominent in certain intellectual quarters within our own culture! I have heard the canned rationalizations coming from their lips of muslim women myself; and they all claim that it frees them from having to be "sexual objects."

On the contrary, in Islamic society that is apparently the only role open to women. That, and breeders for the jihad.

This societal psychopathology poisons all interactions between the genders; takes up an incredible amount of time and effort in so-called "intellectual" circles and is the subject of religious edicts and innumerable rules and strictures on women's behavior and in the religious and social life; and causes the pseudoscientific rantings of arrogantly pathetic men (like the one above) who try to justify their misogyny so that they don't have to deal with the reality of their frightened and impotent masculinity.

Women become mere possessions-vessels/repositories of the impotent and inadequate male's honor. That men and women could relate equally in every sphere of human endeavor is a concept that is so alien and so threatening; I suspect it is what partly drives the rage the males feel toward western culture in general.

Without the subjugated woman, the entire house of cards of Islam and Arab culture will come tumbling down. And with at least 50% of their population de-humanized, is it at all surprising that Islamic culture wherever it has taken root inevitably evolves into backward, primitive, violent, and non-productive societies?

I have said it before and I will say it again here: the treatment of women under Islam is not only the key to understanding the pathology of the culture, but also the key to developing an antidote to its most poisonous and toxic elements.

Source

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ELSEWHERE



Another blogger who wants Fred Thompson for Prez. He'd be a shoo-in up against Hillary.

Taliban 'stalled by lack of commanders': "The Taliban's much-vaunted spring offensive has stalled apparently due to lack of organisation after dozens of middle-ranking commanders were killed by British troops in the past year, according to military sources. The death last week of the key Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah at the hands of American special forces has harmed the Taliban's morale to the point that local commanders are having to tell their troops to "remain professional" despite the loss."

Stupidity or dishonesty from Rosie O'Donnell?: "Let's start with Rosie's claim she was "taken out of context" by FoxNews for her statement that 650,000 Iraqis have been killed, so who are the real terrorists? FoxNews said that means that the US, and US troops, are the terrorists, according to her. She denies she meant that. But when Elizabeth Hasselback asks her to answer her own rhetorical question -- well, if she doesn't mean Americans are the "real terrorists," who did she mean? -- she refuses to answer several times, constantly changing the subject. Bonus stupidity: Barbara Walters offers her professional scary-smart media opinion that not all jihadis are Muslim. Not that not all terrorists are Muslim. She's claiming that not all jihadis (which she specifically contrasts with "terrorists") are Muslims. She does not mention which other religion even mentions "jihad," let alone celebrates it. Remember, though, her opinion matters, because she went to journalism school and has interviewed Burt Reynolds multiple times."

Swamp-dwelling Democrats: "When Democrats took control of Congress last year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., promised voters that her party would "drain the swamp" and "lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." Four month later, Democrats are reflooding the swamp with earmarks and more. They turned the defense supplemental bill into what Heritage Foundation president Ed Fuelner called a "$20 billion ransom note" sent to President George W. Bush - which he promptly vetoed. House Democrats have also attached $100 million of pork to the fiscal 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act, including a $23 million earmark for the National Drug Intelligence Center. The NDIC was established in 1993 to centralize drug war intelligence. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., pulled strings to get it placed in his district."

Democrats defend corrupt Murtha: "House Democrats rejected a Republican bid Tuesday to reprimand Rep. John Murtha, a senior lawmaker accused of threatening legislative reprisals against a GOP member who had crossed him. Before and after the largely party-line vote, which caused some Democrats discomfort, Republicans taunted Democratic leaders about their campaign promises to run a more ethical and open Congress. Murtha, known for his gruff manner and fondness of pork barrel projects, did not dispute claims that he charged across the House floor May 17 to confront Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike a $23 million Murtha earmark - a targeted spending item - for a drug intelligence center in Murtha's district. In a House speech Monday, Rogers said Murtha threatened him by saying, "you will not get any earmarks now and forever." Rogers, backed by House GOP leaders, said Murtha's threat violated congressional ethics rules."

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 REALLY bad President remembered

A response to the Peanut Pontifications

In the Carter years, the United States was an international laughingstock. This was not just because of the prevalence of his ghastly kin: the beer-sodden brother Billy, doing deals with Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi, and the grisly matriarch, Miz Lillian. It was not just because of the president's dire lectures on morality and salvation and his weird encounters with lethal rabbits and UFOs. It was not just because of the risible White House "Bible study" sessions run by Bert Lance and his other open-palmed Elmer Gantry pals from Georgia.

It was because, whether in Afghanistan, Iran, or Iraq-still the source of so many of our woes-the Carter administration could not tell a friend from an enemy. His combination of naivete and cynicism-from open-mouthed shock at Leonid Brezhnev's occupation of Afghanistan to underhanded support for Saddam in his unsleeping campaign of megalomania-had terrible consequences that are with us still. It's hardly an exaggeration to say that every administration since has had to deal with the chaotic legacy of Carter's mind-boggling cowardice and incompetence.

Source. There is more on the destructiveness and support for Islam of the Carter regime here.

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ELSEWHERE

Bill Whittle's latest essay is getting a lot of favourable comment -- as usual with his essays.

For history buffs, Dan Mandel has an excellent summary of how pro-Jewish Winston Churchill was -- despite much opposition from the "practical men" of his own cabinet and staff. My own comment about Churchill's politics is here.

Democrats Cave On Iraq Supplemental?: "In grudging concessions to President Bush , Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday. While details remain subject to change, the measure is designed to close the books by Friday on a bruising veto fight between Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the war. It would provide funds for military operations in Iraq through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year."

A good guess: "My best guess is that a strong and legitimate government of a unified Iraq will emerge more quickly if the United States withdraws. This is because the international journalists will mostly leave if the United States leaves, so the combatants will be free to use brutal methods that will more quickly and decisively exhaust the losers' will to fight. Unfortunately, we cannot reliably predict the nature of that ultimate national government."

The CIA obsession of the '60s revived: "A lunatic Leftist website claims that the Al Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Islam group that is fighting the Lebanese army in Tripoli was created by the evil CIA! The Wayne Madsen Report claims: "Fath al-Islam was reportedly started with funding and other support from the CIA and Lebanese Phalangist forces to act as a counterweight to Hezbollah. In reality, Fath al-Islam is designed to give the Bush administration, NATO, and the Fouad Siniora government a pretext for granting the U.S. military and NATO access to northern Lebanon and the Kleiaat airbase. Fath al-Islam's activities are already being blamed on "Al Qaeda" units operating in the north of the country."

Slimy Edwards again: "Business Week highlights a rather dubious practice of John Edwards: temporarily "parking" campaign staff in a non-profit organization set up for him at the University of North Carolina, escaping public reporting and apparently funding his preparation to run for office with tax deductible donations from persons and organizations unknown to the public."

Another French election coming up -- and looking good: "Campaigning for the French parliamentary elections began on Monday with polls suggesting President Nicolas Sarkozy's party will secure a strong majority for reforms and the left will get a fresh electoral drubbing. Sarkozy has promised to forge ahead with reforms but the right-winger cannot act until after the June 10 and 17 parliamentary polls when he is expected to call a special summer session to pass his first measures."

The apologetic Left: "Somewhere in the course of the evolution of the American Left and its party, the Democrats, the offering of formal apologies became an important political ritual. Most likely this grew out of the transition from an attitude of pride in America to an attitude of shame, a feeling that this country is the world's primary villain. Perhaps not coincidentally, the trend toward a sense of America the evil, a polity requiring apologies, accelerated when the Soviet Union was vanquished in the Cold War, collapsing of its own internal contradictions (as the Marxists would say), leaving American the world's sole superpower. Conceding the point that President Reagan led America, the good to victory over the true Evil Empire just raises too many awkward questions about the activities of those who opposed his policies at every step. Like American Thinker's Poet Laureate Russ Vaughn, I am astonished at the effrontery of liberals in the Democratic Party who now frequently call for apologies and reparations for historical crimes occurring before anyone alive today was born, notably the institution of slavery. In this they betray a total ignorance of American History."

"Galileo" -- another EU boondoggle: "The Open Europe Blog follows the financial meltdown of the European GPS system, Galileo. Not only has it been plagued by delays but there are real questions about whether a civilian market for it exists when a free service is already been provided by the US GPS system. One analyst said, "why pay for Pepsi Cola when you get Coca-cola for nothing?" EU Transport Commission Jacques Barrot says, "I don't think Galileo has actually failed! That's a misuse of language. we've had a change of scenarios." The EU Referendum calls it the scandal the media has missed. Thoughts of a Technocat notes that Galileo will have a European military role after all and may need it, for want of customers. Barrot provides this masterpiece of circumlocution to say I think, what he should say openly. That Europe is buying insurance against the loss of access to GPS simply because it is too important to lose."

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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Google: Getting there

We read:

"GOOGLE has revamped its internet search engine to integrate video, books, maps and news into "universal" results to online queries. Google spent two years transforming the architecture of its search engine to broaden results to include web pages that one had to previously seek out in separate search categories such as "photos" and "news." "It's all the stuff on the web," said Google's vice-president of search products and user experience Marissa Mayer. "The assumption is that if it is there and it is findable on the web we should get it." The "Universal Search" platform delivers more comprehensive results and raises the profiles of Google features such as online books and video Google co-founder Sergey Brin said."

They ARE getting better. In a quick look today I found only two articles online that they did not have: here and here. And in both cases they did have PART of the article concerned -- so that must have fooled their algorithms.

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THE CONSERVATIVE LEFT

An oldie but goldie post lifted from Ed Driscoll. See the original for links

Forgive me, please, for chuckling a little at Radley Balko's new meme, but he's definitely onto something:

"You know, you sometimes get the feeling the day after the polio vaccine was invented, today's left would have run editorials lamenting the good ol' days, when we were a little more cautious about what swimming pools we jumped into, and expressing sadness that we'd now have no new stories about the afflicted overcoming their disability to inspire the rest of us.

I'm not kidding. They're that resistant to change. Every mill that shuts down is a "sign of our sad times." No matter that the new mill will do things better, faster and cheaper than the old one. New farming techniques grow more food on less land. But dammit, if there wasn't something romantic about the old-stye "family farm" that's deserving of government protection. Innovation isn't celebrated, it's excoriated for displacing some idealized vision of the way things once were. In matters of progress and dyanmism, the left is far more conservative than the conservatives are.

Radley's far from the first guy to notice that the left are far more reactionary these days than the right ever was, but "the conservative left" is a great way to phrase it.

UPDATE: Let's look at the election from the point of view of the ones now standing athwart history and yelling stop (to coin a phrase). A narrowly-elected president who's spent the last four years toppling the Taliban, putting Al-Qeada on the run, arresting Saddam Hussein and getting Libya to allow inspections of its nuclear program, not to mention making the Tranzis of "Old Europe" look like fools, even as he enlarges several of your social programs has got to drive you absolutely, totally insane.

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ELSEWHERE

Read about the making of the great Fred Thompson video about Cuba and Michael Moore here. I love that guy, cigar or no cigar.

An Irish paradox: "Three days before the Republic of Ireland goes to the polls Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach [Prime Minister] and Fianna Fail leader, has yet to convince voters that his stewardship of Europe's leading economic success story merits returning him to power for a third term in office. It is the Irish conundrum: after more than a decade of Celtic Tiger wealth and job creation, a series of budget surpluses and the spectre of Irish terrorism vanquished, why is Mr Ahern struggling to survive? "It's not the economy, stupid" could be the theme of the strangest election in decades."

Sweden finds a decent Muslim: "In a tall, blond government, a small black woman like Nyamko Sabuni was always going to stand out. It is, though, the former refugee's outspoken views that have demanded attention in her adopted Sweden, where she wants a ban on the veil for under-15s and compulsory gynaecological checks for all schoolgirls to protect against genital mutilation masquerading as "female circumcision". Her views have led to death threats and round-the-clock protection in Europe's most tolerant country. Being appointed Minister for Integration and Equality in the right-wing Government provoked a petition signed by 50 Muslim organisations declaring that she "breathed populism and Islamophobia". Ms Sabuni, 38, whose mother was a Muslim but who describes herself as "not religious", is unrepentant. "Arranged marriage is not something recommended by Islam," she told The Times. "Nor is genital mutilation. Many people say this is our tradition, our religion. But it is unacceptable, whatever the reason. I will not be scared into silence. I will never accept that women and girls are oppressed in the name of religion."

Israel-hating British doctors get a reply: "" We are being innudated with support..." was the reply by Esti Sherbelis, International Public Relations Officer of the Israel Medical Association in response call for physicians signatures by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East to a letter from the the IMA to the British Medical Association and World Medical Association. This initiative was in response to a call by a 135 British physicians to ban the IMA from the World Medical Assocation recently published in the Guardian."

British journalists confess to their bias against Israel: "At their annual meeting in April, Britain's National Union of Journalists passed a resolution asking for "a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid South Africa led by trade unions, and [for] the [Trades Union Congress] to demand sanctions be imposed on Israel by the British government." In itself, this is a remarkable display of bias by journalists covering one of the modern world's most contentious conflicts. The New York Times' ombudsman, Byron Calame, observed last year, "Keeping personal opinions out of the public realm is simply one of the obligations for those who remain committed to the importance of impartial news coverage." The NUJ also "called for the end of Israeli aggression in Gaza and other occupied territories." Since NUJ members presumably read newspapers as well as write for them, they should be aware that Israel expelled all of the Jews from Gaza in 2005. Other than kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, there are no more Jews in Gaza. Israeli troops have only returned to the Gaza Strip in response to continued attacks originating from that increasingly fortified territory. The NUJ failed to publish their resolution on their Web site, perhaps sensing their prejudice was only exceeded by their ignorance."

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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STATE AND LOCAL "INCENTIVES" TO BUSINESS ARE JUST MORE STUPID SOCIALISM

Money doesn't grow on trees, but that hasn't stopped Dollar Tree Stores from generating forests of revenue. In 2006, sales at the retail chain, where every item costs a buck, were $4 billion. That's up 17 percent from the year before. The company now operates more than 3,200 stores around the country, as compared with just over 2,900 a year ago - an increase of more than one per weekday last year.

So this capitalist success story is an obvious candidate for a taxpayer subsidy, right? That's what Virginia thinks. On February 12, Democratic governor Tim Kaine announced his plan to award $200,000 in state money to Dollar Tree for an expansion of its corporate headquarters in Chesapeake. The cash comes out of something called the Governor's Opportunity Fund, which spends more than $15 million per year on companies that seek financial help. "We view it as a deal-closing fund," says Christie Miller of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, a state agency. "It's for attracting business to Virginia and keeping it here, too."

Giveaways to flourishing companies may not sound like a discount-store bargain for taxpayers, but they're standard operating procedure just about everywhere. Even local governments are getting in the act: The city of Chesapeake agreed to inject $200,000 of its own money into Dollar Tree's project. Around the country, this marriage of Big Government and Big Business carries a price tag of $50 billion each year, according to an estimate by Alan Peters and Peter Fisher of the University of Iowa. For the most part, however, these so-called business incentives "don't accomplish much of anything," says Peters.

That's not entirely true. They can accomplish quite a bit for politicians such as Kaine, who wasted no time in issuing a boastful press release about his Dollar Tree deal: "Governor Kaine Announces 100 New Jobs for Chesapeake." Yet these little exercises in industrial policy rarely drive economic growth. And sometimes they aren't so little: Last summer, then-governor George Pataki of New York, a Republican, approved a $1.2 billion package of grants and tax reductions for AMD to build a microchip factory in Saratoga County. The project is supposed to create 1,200 jobs, which works out to a price of $1 million apiece for New York taxpayers - a deal that might make even George Steinbrenner blush.

Perhaps these corporate-welfare schemes would be worth it if they created more jobs, helped depressed areas, or expanded a region's tax base. Evidence suggests that they don't accomplish any of these goals. "After decades of policy experimentation and literally hundreds of scholarly studies, none of these claims is clearly substantiated," wrote Peters and Fisher in their exhaustive analysis. "Indeed . . . there is a good chance that all of these claims are false."

This should come as no surprise. Politicians and bureaucrats in the grip of what Hayek called the "fatal conceit" - the notion that they can pick economic winners and losers better than the invisible hand of the market - have an exceedingly poor track record. The Mackinac Center, a think tank in Michigan, analyzed the performance of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA), the state's most visible corporate-subsidy program. It found that among 127 deals whose employment promises were fully measurable through 2004, only 10 had met their projections. "MEGA is another in a long line of political programs disguised as economic ones," says Michael D. LaFaive, a co-author of the study. "They're great for giving politicians cover but do little to produce real job growth."

More here

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Which minorities should we favour?

Post lifted from Discriminations. See the original for links

ABC News reports today that new census figures "Add Fuel To Fiery Affirmative Action Debate; Critics of Diversity Programs Say the Latest Census Figures Justify Their Stance."

"As America becomes increasingly multi-ethnic and multiracial, it becomes more and more untenable for some people to get preferences on the basis of race or ethnicity," says [Roger] Clegg [president of the Center for Equal Opportunity]. "I think it makes it harder and harder to justify giving some groups special treatment because it becomes more difficult to pick and choose who deserves special treatment." ....

Ward Connerly, the California businessman leading the drive behind the ballot initiatives, says the new census figures show that America is no longer the place it was when affirmative action policies were put into place in 1961. "We are a nation of minorities now; the idea the government can prefer one group over another is insane," Connerly says. "Racial preferences are fundamentally unfair and marginalize the very people they're intended to benefit."

Naturally, those who support racial preferences disagree.

Gary Orfield, the co-director of the Civil Rights Project and a professor of education at UCLA, says the basic structure of discrimination and inequality against African-Americans and Latinos remains in place and has never been resolved.

Orfield and friends would "resolve" this problem by keeping affirmative action, which itself is a massive "structure of discrimination," in place forever, or at least until the ever-present playing field is leveled, which is the same thing.

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ELSEWHERE

Every now and again, I collect the more interesting pictures, graphics and cartoons I have recently put up on my various blogs and post them all together in a single file of pictures. Most of them are pretty entertaining. The latest is here (or here).

A couple more Obama lies spelt out here

Nonie Darwish: "In her native Egypt, she is the daughter of a hero, a soldier killed while fighting the hated Israelis. In America, she is a hero, a Muslim-born woman who stands up for the Jews and Israel, and speaks out against the oppression by Islam against her sex. Her website, the provocatively titled Arabs for Israel, promotes Muslim support for the Jewish state. These are controversial messages that have seen her banned from the campus of at least one Ivy League university. Her email inbox bulges with insults. "Sometimes they say things like 'Jihad is our pride' or 'You are a pig and an ape like the pigs and apes you defend'."

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

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 FORCED WOLFOWITZ RESIGNATION

By Greg Sheridan

Paul Wolfowitz is a good man brought down by a shabby, politicised witch-hunt. The terms under which he was forced to deal with his partner when he joined the World Bank may well indicate that he was set up for a fall. Wolfowitz tried hard to avoid personnel issues surrounding his partner. He sought advice, and followed it. The spouses of other executives had been allowed to keep working at the bank but the hostility to Wolfowitz, which is a displaced enmity for US President George W.Bush, exacerbated by Wolfowitz's exotic name and reputation as an architect of the operation in Iraq, was present from day one.

I have known Wolfowitz for many years. He is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful men I know, the very opposite of the idiotic caricature of him as a Dr Strangelove super hawk. He was one of Washington's most committed proponents of engagement with Islam, and long before 9/11. He was a superb and popular ambassador to Indonesia, is deeply concerned with human rights and has supported many Asian dissidents.

He is formidable, if donnish, and an intensely hard worker. The last time I saw him was several months ago. His days started early but he was happy to talk policy at 9pm in his Washington office. Wolfowitz had his faults but he is a dedicated servant of humanity. He was disliked at the complacent and incompetent bureaucracy of the World Bank because he shook things up, insisting on a better vision for fighting poverty and corruption. His likely replacement is Bob Zoellick, a former US deputy secretary of state, who would be a fine World Bank president.

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Test Shows Conservatives More Mentally Complex Than Liberals

Post excerpted from Cheat-seeking Missiles

I'm not sure that this is what Jonathan Haidt, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, set out to do, but his research into the basis of our morality has shown what is obvious to most of us: Liberals run on a pretty simple clock, whereas the clockwork of conservatives is far more advanced and complex. Did he really say that? You bet:

Haidt argues that human morality is a cultural construction built on top of - and constrained by - a small set of evolved psychological systems. He presents evidence that political liberals rely primarily on two of these systems, involving emotional sensitivities to harm and fairness. Conservatives, however, construct their moral understandings on those two systems plus three others, which involve emotional sensitivities to in-group boundaries, authority and spiritual purity.

Got that? Liberals are worried that the guppy doesn't get hurt and that everyone sings Kumbaya with perfectly balanced voice quality. Conservatives are all for not harming and being fair, but create a much more complex structure for their moral measurements.

Adding in-group boundaries basically means we conservatives are conformists and are more likely to find immorality in the wanton destruction of social mores than liberals, who tend to see such destruction as a moral attribute. Rage against the machine, fight the man. Authority means, of course, respect for authority. Liberals get no moral readings from that attribute, but it's big to conservatives.

Haidt's last point is interesting: the spiritual roots of moral decisions. I think he's wrong here because his survey focuses on religion, not on beliefs. Dennis Prager correctly states that there is more dogma in the Liberal faith system (environmentalism, human rights, tolerance) than in any established religion. If Haidt had designed his survey instrument differently, I believe "core belief systems" would have scored as high with the liberals as with the conservatives, if not higher.

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ELSEWHERE

Immigration is a hot topic at the moment with a new bill going through Congress. I will not be saying anything about it here. Why? Because I have a whole blog devoted to immigration matters -- and I am certainly following it there.

We see here clear proof that the Democrats do NOT support the troops

It seems that former ambassador John Bolton gave the BBC a bit of a shock.

More Leftist hypocrisy: "Associated Press writer Nancy Benac plays the "diversity" card with a piece tallying up how many women and minorities service in power positions for the various presidential candidates. The hit piece slamming Republicans for not promoting enough non-white people is titled "Democrats seek diversity in advisers:"... Perhaps Ms. Benac--journalistic concern troll for "diversity"--should start counting the racial and ethnic beans at her own organization. Take a look at the [all white] AP Board of Directors. Not unsurprisingly, it's "Do as we say, not as we do" with the liberal media elite."

Israel surges economically: "A bloody and costly war, the constant threat of terror attacks, a string of political scandals and a land almost devoid of natural resources. Only in Israel could this be the backdrop for the most impressive economic success story of the modern Middle East. Despite the war with Lebanon, 2006 was a golden year for the economy of the region's only liberal democracy. GDP grew by 5.1 per cent, competitiveness improved sharply and the stock market surged. Israel came fifteenth in the World Economic Forum's global competitive index, topping the list of Middle East states and up from 23rd place the previous year. Its nearest regional rival, the United Arab Emirates, came 32nd. In recent years, this small state has turned itself into a "world technology powerhouse", according to Augusto Lopez Claros, the WEF's chief economist. Much of the credit must go to Binyamin Netanyahu, who as Finance Minister in 2003 cut a deal with the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, that gave him free rein to push through market reforms. Mr Netanyahu sold off state assets, liberalised Israel's monolithic banks and slashed its corporation taxes."

Mubarak knows Hamas: "Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has admitted what we have known for a long time, but which still seems to elude policymakers in Europe and Washington: Hamas will never make peace with Israel: "Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expressed great concern over the increasing strength of Hamas in talks with senior diplomatic officials on Wednesday, declaring that the organization will never sign a peace agreement with Israel, Haaretz has learned. He said that the Egyptian government is at a loss regarding the future of the Gaza Strip. However, he also proclaimed that Egypt is making great efforts to end the Hamas government and support Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "With Hamas no way," he reportedly said. Mubarak painted a dark picture of the situation with Hamas and said there was no chance for peace with the organization. "Hamas will never sign a peace agreement with Israel if it stays in power," the Egyptian president said"

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

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

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

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

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

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