"Islamophobia" and antisemitism

There is no such thing as Islamophobia. Phobias are irrational fears. There is nothing irrational about fearing and disliking people who blow up your buildings, trains, buses and nightclubs. And since the 7/7 atrocity in Britain -- which was committed by Muslims who seemed to be well-assimilated into British society -- it is reasonable to fear or be wary of ALL Muslims. Nobody can tell which Muslim might be the next mass-murderer. It could be your neighbour or workmate and you could be among the victims.

So the term "Islamophobia" is just another attempt by Leftists to stigmatize normal attitudes. "Homophobia" is similarly misapplied. People who dislike or disapprove of homosexuality do not at all need to FEAR homosexuals. They may simply be disgusted by the thought of it -- as many are -- or they may think that the behaviour is simply wrong for one reason or another.

The term "Islamophobia" is useful for Leftists in many ways, however. There seems to be a fashion -- particularly in Europe -- to equate "Islamophobia" with antisemitism -- which is brain dead. I concede that many antisemites are perfectly rational people in general but it remains true that antisemitism is roughly as irrational as "Islamophobia" is rational. Only a Leftist would be unable to see the difference. Where Muslims are largely parasitical on Western civilization, Jews are great contributors to it, for instance.

A recent article in the WSJ makes similar points to what I have said above but makes that a jumping-off-place for discussing yet again the origins of antisemitism. The explanation favoured by the author -- Uriya Shavit -- is however a rather fanciful one. It is, somewhat amazingly, an attempt to show that there ARE important commonalities between "Islamophobia" and antisemitism. Shavit claims that both Jews and Muslims have territorial loyalties as well as religious loyalties. Jews are loyal to the land of Israel and Muslims are loyal to the Muslim "world" or "Ummah".

It is difficult to know where to start in commenting on that. For a start, it is a classic antisemitic slur to say that Jews have dual loyalties. I suppose it is true of some Jews to an extent but Shavit seems to be endorsing it as being true of Jews in general. And the claim that people are fearful of Muslims because of dreams in Muslim heads rather than because of what many Muslims actually DO is extraordinary.

I wonder if Shavit and A.B. Yehoshua (the writer to whom Shavit attributes his ideas) have ever talked to any actual antisemites. I spent some years doing so (see here, here and here) and found that most of the usual explanations for antisemitism were correct: Envy, scapegoating, a need for explanation etc. I also however found that the rather tribal morality that a subset of Jews practice was known and objected to (See here). So there is some minor rationality in antisemitism of that sort. Anybody who cannot see the difference between peaceful Jews and the actively hostile Muslims is not being serious, however.

As always, reality is complex but the reality Shavit discusses is one of the central issues of the day so dreamy simplifications of it do us all a great disservice.

So if "Islamophobia" is a myth, what expression should we use to describe wariness towards Muslims? Perhaps not surprisingly, we lag behind Germans in the matter. The two German terms "Judenhass" and "Muslimhass" are short and to the point: Translatable as "Jew-hate" and "Muslim-hate". Both terms are however exaggerations. I do know some antisemites who really do hate Jews and I have no doubt that some Germans hate Muslims but there are also many people who are simply wary or distrustful rather than actively hating anybody.

I think therefore that we should avoid ALL simplifications of this important matter. If we are talking about hatred of Muslims we should say "hatred of Muslims" and if we are talking about distrust of Muslims we should say "distrust of Muslims". Treating all negative attitudes towards Muslims as the same is a denial of reality.

I have also gone to great length to distinguish different negative attitudes towards Jews (See here and here) but I acknowledge that the term is too useful as shorthand for it to be abandoned.

Leftist "anti-Zionists" do however object to being called "antisemites" and they are correct in doing so. Some of them are stupid enough to believe all the old conspiracy theories of classical antisemitism but most hate Jews and Israel simply because both are successful and flourishing. They hate America and "the rich" for the same reason. So even use of the term "antisemitism" does obscure important truths. Unlike "Islamophobia", however, "antisemitism" does not embody false claims about mental health, so is much less pernicious.

Footnote: Being an incorrigible academic, I cannot resist noting that the term "antisemitism" (Antisemitismus) was coined in 1879 by a German (oddly enough!) named Wilhelm Marr -- who was hostile to Jews even though (because?) he was married to one!

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Media ignores Iraq because of success of surge: "Last weekend's news coverage of our veterans was welcome, but deceptive. The "mainstream media" honored aging heroes and noted the debt we owe to today's wounded warriors - but deftly avoided in-depth coverage from Iraq. Why? Because things are going annoyingly well. All those reporters, editors and producers who predicted - longed for - an American defeat have moved on to more pressing strategic issues, such as O.J.'s latest shenanigans. Oh, if you turned to the inner pages of the "leading" newspapers, you found grudging mention of the fact that roadside-bomb attacks are down by half and indirect-fire attacks by three-quarters while the number of suicide bombings has plummeted."

IEDs in Iraq drop sharply: "The number of roadside bombs found in Iraq declined dramatically in August and September from earlier this year, and U.S. officials say the discoveries of thousands of ammunition caches might explain the drop. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are responsible for at least 60% of U.S. casualties in Iraq... The numbers of IEDs found and the deaths they caused have declined steadily since June. In September, coalition forces found 2,022 IEDs. That's down 38% from March, this year's peak. On Monday, the U.S. command in Baghdad also said rocket and mortar attacks have dropped to their lowest levels in 21 months. The tallies were issued a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said suicide attacks and other bombings in Baghdad also declined."

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

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

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

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

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More deceitful statistics from the MSM

Post below lifted from Taranto. See the original for links

"Decades after the civil rights movement, the income gap between black and white families has grown," reports the Associated Press, citing a new Brookings Institution study. How could this be? Have all America's efforts on behalf of civil rights been in vain? Read on:

Incomes have increased among both black and white families in the past three decades--mainly because more women are in the work force. But the increase was greater among whites, according to the study being released Tuesday. One reason for the growing disparity: Incomes among black men have actually declined in the past three decades, when adjusted for inflation. They were offset only by gains among black women. Incomes among white men, meanwhile, were relatively stagnant, while those of white women increased more than fivefold.

The main story here has nothing to do with racial inequality--and while the AP presents all the relevant facts, it puts them in no particular order, so that you have to puzzle out what's actually going on. To get a clearer picture, go to the original study and look at Figure 1, on the sixth page of the PDF.

According to this chart, the median personal income for white women in their 30s was $4,021 in 1975. For black women in their 30s it was $12,063. In 2005, the figures were $22,030 for white women and $21,000 for black women.

So black women in 1974--just a decade after the Civil Rights Act--were making three times as much as their white counterparts? How can that be? The footnote gives away the game: "All men and women ages 30-39, including those with no personal income, are included in these estimates."

It seems clear that in 1974 a much higher percentage of black women than white women had paying jobs, and that in the subsequent three decades huge numbers of white women entered the work force. In this sense the real story is a closing of the gap to the detriment of whites, as necessity forces more white women to work.

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Income Mobility - Moving On Up: "If you've been listening to Mike Huckabee or John Edwards on the Presidential trail, you may have heard that the U.S. is becoming a nation of rising inequality and shrinking opportunity. We'd refer those campaigns to a new study of income mobility by the Treasury Department that exposes those claims as so much populist hokum. OK, "hokum" is our word. The study, to be released today, is a careful, detailed piece of research by professional economists that avoids political judgments. But what it does do is show beyond doubt that the U.S. remains a dynamic society marked by rapid and mostly upward income mobility. Much as they always have, Americans on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder continue to climb into the middle and sometimes upper classes in remarkably short periods of time."

Stay in Iraq: Murdoch: "Rupert Murdoch has voiced his opposition to Australia withdrawing troops from Iraq, warning that any pullout would also "rupture" the coalition campaign in Afghanistan. The chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, owner of this newspaper, said yesterday that the war in Afghanistan and Iraq was almost won and should be seen through... Mr Murdoch said the soldiers should stay in Iraq regardless of the election outcome. "Australia only has a couple of hundred people there and I would hate to see them withdrawn," he said. "I think it would rupture the relationship totally, because you have got forces in Afghanistan." Mr Murdoch, professing to "know a bit about this", said the tide had turned against al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists and other insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "On the ground in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we are at the point of saying, 'you have almost won it ... you see this out'," he said. The big question now was whether strong governments could emerge in both countries."

The Jim Crow era was BETTER for blacks??: ""View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who grew up during the "Jim Crow" era, actually said that America is "not as free as it was when [she] was a kid." A few hours after this aired, Congressman Peter King (R) of New York was Steve Malzberg's guest on WOR radio. Malzberg read Whoopi's comments to King, who responded by first saying, "They are absolutely insane these people," and then explained how they "reflect that hardcore base which is driving the Democratic Party, and which is causing otherwise fairly responsible politicians in the Democratic Party to do really wrong things, and to act totally irresponsibly"

Pro-American government returned in Denmark: "Denmark's centre-right government of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has won a snap election, securing a third consecutive term in office. His Liberal-Conservative coalition and allies won 90 of the 179 seats in parliament, near complete results show. The centre-left opposition led by the Social Democrats secured 84 seats. Mr Rasmussen now faces tough talks on whether to expand the ruling bloc by including a new party led by a Syria-born Palestinian immigrant. Turnout was higher than in the previous poll, held in 2005, at over 86%."

Socialist stupidity in Venezuela: "At first glance the supermarket off Avenida Francisco Miranda appeared to be a gourmet dream. Smoked salmon in the freezer. An aisle filled with Italian olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pesto. Another aisle stacked with Perrier, champagne and the finest Scotch. But of milk, eggs, sugar and cooking oil there was no sign. Where were they? The question yesterday prompted a puzzled look from the manager. "There isn't any. Everybody knows that. Pasta is probably the next to go," he shrugged. Welcome to Venezuela, a booming economy with a difference. Food shortages are plaguing the country at the same time that oil revenues are driving a spending splurge on imported luxury goods, prompting criticism of President Hugo Ch vez's socialist policies. Milk has all but vanished from shops. Distraught mothers ask how they are supposed to feed their infants. Many cafes and restaurants serve only black coffee... Government price controls on staple foods are so low that producers cannot make a profit, they say, and farms and businesses hesitate to invest in crops or machinery, or stockpile inventories, for fear of expropriations."

A useful non-lethal weapon for Iraq: "Researchers at Eureka Aerospace are turning a fictional concept from the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious into reality: they're creating an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop. The system, which can be attached to an automobile or aircraft carrier, sends out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. Such a device could be used by law enforcement to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles at security checkpoints, or as perimeter protection for military bases, communication centers, and oil platforms in the open seas."

John Bolton gets it: "In Barry Goldwater's books, "The Conscience of the Conservative", and Why not Victory", I really found a lot of inspiration. One of the things Goldwater said in "The Conscience of the Conservative", is that his objective in coming to Washington, "was to repeal old laws, not pass new ones". I really thought that was right on target."

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

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

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

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

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HAS LGF GONE COMMERCIAL?

Charles Johnson's LGF is one of the most widely-read conservative blogs. I have often read and linked to it. Its coverage of the Muslim menace is particularly good. For some reason, however, Charles has been running an extensive campaign of attack on two European political parties -- in Sweden and in Belgium -- that are also energetically publicizing the Muslim menace. There seem to be two elements in his attacks: Attacks on the past of some members of the parties concerned and a very loose and quite Leftist definition of racism.

I know very little about either of the political parties concerned except that their proclaimed policies are clearly not racist. So I will simply make the general observation that large political parties -- which the Belgian one certainly is -- invariably have a considerable mix of members with all sorts of backgrounds and views. I would not remotely be surprised or alarmed to hear that some of the members had said hostile things in their time which they now regret and which they no longer believe. I would have thought that I did not have to draw attention to the fact that a former Kleagle of the KKK still sits in the U.S. Senate as a representaive of the Democrats. His change of views is accepted as sincere and his past views are seen as no detriment to him so why cannot others be accepted for their present rather than their past views?

Perhaps more surprising is that Charles appears to accept the Leftist definition of "racism". I have not been able to find any formal definition of the term from him but he appears to subscribe to the view that any mention of group differences is "racist". Given that definition, some of Charles' own comments on Muslims are racist and so is the New York Times. Rather strange.

The Leftist view is clearly brain-dead. Racism is hostile behaviour towards someone solely because of his race. Noting interracial differences is simply free speech. As I have often noted before, the erstwhile British Empire is an excellent case in point. Right up to and including Winston Churchill, almost all Brits believed that the English were obviously a superior race. In the addled minds of the Left, that makes it crystal clear that all the Brits concerned were racist.

Yet the British Empire was undoubtedly the world's most humane polity of the time. At the height of the Empire it had brown-skinned men sitting in its Parliament and had a much-loved Jew as its Prime Minister. And I hope I don't need to remind anybody that Britain abolished slavery long before the USA did. Some racism!

So why does Charles seem to be influenced by the silly Leftist definition of racism? He is obviously a smart and realistic man in most ways so I can only assume that he wishes to broaden his audience to those who subscribe to such a definition. I understand that he derives considerable income from his blog so it is probably a purely commercial decision.

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The rich pay most of the taxes: "The latest data show that a big portion of the federal income tax burden is shoul-dered by a small group of the very richest Americans. The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 per-cent of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent-those below the median income level-now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes. These are proportions of the income tax alone and don't include payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare."

Jihadis are NOT poor: "Claude Berrebi, now of the RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice, wrote his dissertation at Princeton on the characteristics of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who were involved in terrorist activities. For example, he compared suicide bombers to the whole male pop-ulation aged 16 to 50 and found that the suicide bombers were less than half as likely to come from families that were below the poverty line. In addi-tion, almost 60 percent of the suicide bombers had more than a high school education, compared with less than 15 percent of the general population."

Murdoch plans fatter WSJ: "News Corporation's impending $US5bn Dow Jones acquisition would be the most important the company has made in the past decade. In an interview with The Australian yesterday, company chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch unveiled plans to significantly increase its size and eventually create new joint-venture editions in markets such as India and China. He stressed none of his plans would "diminish its existing coverage, which would be strengthened, but we will include more national and international news to broaden its coverage". News is expected to formally assume control of Dow Jones in the middle of next month. Mr Murdoch said it offered a unique chance to build a bigger audience in the US and around the world. "The first job would be to improve the paper (The Wall Street Journal) in America and its online site WSJ.Com to broaden its coverage," he said. Then the focus would be on Europe to boost its coverage of local and international news. The US print editions would be lifted in size by 15 to 20 per cent and the weekend editions eventually by 100 per cent, he said, depending on advertising support."

The US economy: Perception and reality: "Just when the news is fully saturated with the idea that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a recession caused by the bursting of the sub-prime lending bubble, we get some surprising news last week: The U.S. economy grew at a 3.9 percent (all growth rates are annualized) from July through September, the fastest rate in six quarters. Exports surged 16.2 percent and consumer spending remained strong. What's more, jobs are being created and the unemployment rate remains low. While economists had expected a paltry 80,000 new jobs for October, the government reported 166,000. Nevertheless, we continue to get doses of worrisome news ..."

Comic book propaganda: "A superhero killed the president this summer. Moments later, a shocked White House press corps watched as John Horus, his gleaming white-and-gold costume still soaked in blood, explained why. Because "the war in Iraq is illegal and predicated on lies," because "our people and theirs are dying for corporate gain," because of the "use of torture by our elected authorities," and because the president "stole the last two elections," the most powerful member of the Seven Guns could no longer "stand by while this administration commits crimes." In response, a terrified government imposed martial law, launching a nationwide manhunt for Horus' estranged teammates, whose reactions to the act ranged from horror to sympathy. That bit of propaganda-by-the-deed launched acclaimed British scribe Warren Ellis' Black Summer, an eight-issue comic book miniseries from Avatar Press."

Feinstein, Boxer face test over farm bill: "Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California can't continue to dodge the tough issues in this year's $286 billion farm bill. Californians now realize that this omnibus bill, like others before, is another big giveaway to wealthy farm interests with only meager nods to reform. Like previous farm bills, the legislation passed by the House and now in the Senate includes billions of dollars in subsidies to growers and processors of wheat, corn, sugar, cotton and rice. These subsidies damage the environment. They fill up our store shelves with cheap, corn-syrupy products. They reward automaton agriculture instead of the innovative practices of many California growers. Because of Boxer's and Feinstein's relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both are in a position to influence what comes out of Congress. Yet both have been cagey about their positions, partly because of some recent deal-making."

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

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

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

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

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Putin not impressed by Iranians

'Educational": That's how President Vladimir Putin's entourage described the Russian's recent whirlwind trip to Tehran. Islamic Republic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hyped the 36-hour visit as a "historic event." Some Western commentators even suggested that Putin and Ahmadinejad planned to create an axis to counter Western influence in the Middle East. In fact, the visit seems to have persuaded Putin and his closest advisers that the Tehran leadership is culturally and temperamentally incapable of playing the classical Cold War-style power games that the Russians are interested in.

"This was the first time that Putin was talking to senior Islamic Republic leaders in a substantive and focused way," says a senior Russian official familiar with what happened. "The president found his Iranian interlocutor weird, to say the least. The Iranians mouthed a lot of eschatological nonsense and came close to urging Putin to convert to Islam. It was clear they lived in a world of their own." Russian sources say that both Ahmadinejad and "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei gave the impression that they settle matters "in the metaphysical space" and with "the help of the Hidden Imam."

"The Iranians think they have already won," reports one Russian source who witnessed the visit. "So intoxicated they appeared with hubris that they did not even ask Putin to help them ward off further United Nations sanctions." Ahmadinejad gave the impression he sought neither advice nor support from the Russians. All he wanted was to project the Islamic Republic as the regional superpower and invite Putin to acknowledge its new status. "It was as if Russia needed Iran, not the other way round," says the Russian source. "Putin was taken aback. He had not expected what he heard."

None of this means that Putin won't use the Islamic Republic in his power game against the Western democracies. But his trip may have helped him understand the limits of playing the Khomeinist card. A member of Putin's entourage sums up the Russian leader's visit to Tehran: "He came, he saw, he was dismayed!"

Source

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HONOR BRIGHT



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There is a rather silly article in the NYT which claims to interpret people's feelings about politics from brain scans. Quite aside from the fact that the sample was too small for the differences described to be statistically significant, pretending to detect thoughts from something as crude as a scan of a whole brain area is absurd.

Roger Kimball sums up the disgusting Norman Mailer.

A truly loony Leftist blog: The "Think Progress" blog claims to be "non-partisan" but also claims to promote "progressive" ideas. So apparently it is Leftist and impartial at the same time. Maybe that makes sense to Leftists but logic obviously took a holiday from there a long time ago. In a recent effusion, they describe a TV weatherman who doubts global warming as "discredited" but give no information about how, when or why he became discredited. They say that his expertise in weather is not enough to qualify him to talk about climate. Apparently you have to have qualifications in climatology to talk informatively about climate. That requirement does exclude both Al Gore and the writers of Think Progress from commenting on climate but, with their usual freedom from logic, they do not seem to see that at all. Amy Ridenour and Noel Sheppard rub it in.

There is a roundup here on the aging Greenie 'kid' who put up the fake climate science journal recently. See also here

There is a very clear post here on Obama's "flexibility" over what he believes in. He shows himself as being completely psychopathic but, like psychopaths generally, he cannot see what is wrong with having no real principles, consistency or beliefs at all. And there's the story of another prominent leftist here who advocates lying in order to get elected and then breaking all your promises. Psychopathy is endemic to Leftism, sadly.

The reality of Vietnam veterans: "These interviews have afforded me the privilege to become acquainted with some of the finest people I have ever met in my life. These men and women are intensely committed to their communities, public-service oriented to an extraordinary degree, and have greater moral integrity than many, many of my peers. That simple fact may have profound implications for our nation. Now, obviously, to see all Vietnam veterans as heroes is unquestionably false. Of the 2.9 million men who served in-theater during the Vietnam War, some committed crimes and did things they look back upon now with shame. However, the stunning thing for me has been to find that so many of these men and women (despite whatever trouble they might have had earlier in their lives) have found ways to create for themselves, in the language of psychologist Erik Erikson, generative lives. They have struggled through their pain and healed their scars, and done things. In whatever way they have elected to do so, these Vietnam veterans contribute, give back, and make the world around them a better place to live in. Vietnam veterans are an active, important and productive segment of American society."

Deluded Germans again: "A majority of high school age students polled in East-Berlin (and sizable minorities of West-Berlin students) either agreed with or held a "neutral" position on the propositions that the GDR (the former East German regime that erected the Berlin Wall) was not a dictatorship and that the Stasi was just an intelligence agency like any other. This represents a dangerous ignorance of one's own national history as well as a frightening willingness to condone or overlook the crimes of the former East German regime."

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

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

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

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

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The NYT acknowleges genetic differences

It takes a lot for Leftists to acknowledge reality. Evidence about the importance of genetics in human differentiation has been plentiful for over a century but it seems to have taken advances in the decoding of DNA to have forced Leftist recognition of that. Repeated findings of IQ-related genes appear to be too much even for Leftists to ignore. Some excerpts from the latest NYT article on the subject below. The article is filled with hokey terror about what ordinary Americans might do if told the truth of the matter but, given history, I have a lot more confidence in what ordinary Americans might do than I have in what Leftists will do -- given the untold millions that Leftists have slaughtered worldwide in the last 100 years. Leftist arrogance about what people should be told is pithily condemned by KBJ.

Anyway, having an article in the NYT on the subject should help spread awareness of the facts more widely than would otherwise have been the case. Maybe even my outspoken comments on the facts of the matter might come to be seen as "mainstream" one day. I doubt that I will live to see it, though. Most of what I say about IQ has been fairly orthodox for some years in the academic journals of psychology but there is a big gap between what you can safely say in a scientific journal and what you can say to the general public. Fellow scientists can be trusted. "The people" cannot be. That is why wise Leftist shepherds are needed to guide "the people". That they usually in fact guide the people to poverty and disaster cannot be mentioned too often, however.

When scientists first decoded the human genome in 2000, they were quick to portray it as proof of humankind's remarkable similarity. The DNA of any two people, they emphasized, is at least 99 percent identical. But new research is exploring the remaining fraction to explain differences between people of different continental origins.

Scientists, for instance, have recently identified small changes in DNA that account for the pale skin of Europeans, the tendency of Asians to sweat less and West Africans' resistance to certain diseases.

At the same time, genetic information is slipping out of the laboratory and into everyday life, carrying with it the inescapable message that people of different races have different DNA. Ancestry tests tell customers what percentage of their genes are from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. The heart-disease drug BiDil is marketed exclusively to African-Americans, who seem genetically predisposed to respond to it. Jews are offered prenatal tests for genetic disorders rarely found in other ethnic groups.

Such developments are providing some of the first tangible benefits of the genetic revolution. Yet some social critics fear they may also be giving long-discredited racial prejudices a new potency. The notion that race is more than skin deep, they fear, could undermine principles of equal treatment and opportunity that have relied on the presumption that we are all fundamentally equal. "We are living through an era of the ascendance of biology, and we have to be very careful," said Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. "We will all be walking a fine line between using biology and allowing it to be abused."

Certain superficial traits like skin pigmentation have long been presumed to be genetic. But the ability to pinpoint their DNA source makes the link between genes and race more palpable. And on mainstream blogs, in college classrooms and among the growing community of ancestry test-takers, it is prompting the question of whether more profound differences may also be attributed to DNA.

Nonscientists are already beginning to stitch together highly speculative conclusions about the historically charged subject of race and intelligence from the new biological data. Last month, a blogger in Manhattan described a recently published study that linked several snippets of DNA to high I.Q. An online genetic database used by medical researchers, he told readers, showed that two of the snippets were found more often in Europeans and Asians than in Africans.

"There are clear differences between people of different continental ancestries," said Marcus W. Feldman, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. "It's not there yet for things like I.Q., but I can see it coming. And it has the potential to spark a new era of racism if we do not start explaining it better."

"I've spent the last 10 years of my life researching how much genetic variability there is between populations," said Dr. David Altshuler, director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "But living in America, it is so clear that the economic and social and educational differences have so much more influence than genes. People just somehow fixate on genetics, even if the influence is very small."

"Regardless of any such genetic variation, it is our moral duty to treat all as equal before God and before the law," Perry Clark, 44, wrote on a New York Times blog. It is not necessary, argued Dr. Clark, a retired neonatologist in Leawood, Kan., who is white, to maintain the pretense that inborn racial differences do not exist. "When was the last time a nonblack sprinter won the Olympic 100 meters?" he asked. "To say that such differences aren't real," Dr. Clark later said in an interview, "is to stick your head in the sand and go blah blah blah blah blah until the band marches by."

Source

Prof. Altschuler's claim above that the influence of genes is very small is misleading. It is true that the influence of genes ON SOME THINGS is very small but the influence of genes on other things (such as IQ and educational achievement) is large.

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Karl Rove on blogs: ""People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog," Mr. Rove said during a speech about politics and the Web at the Willard InterContinental, a hotel just blocks from his former place of employment. "I'm a fan of many blogs. I visit them frequently and I learn a lot from them," Mr. Rove said. "But there also blogs written by angry kooks." Mr. Rove cited the results of a study that found that writers and commenters on liberal blogs such as DailyKos.com cursed far more than writers and commenters on conservative Web sites such as FreeRepublic.com"

Arab Muslim Trafficking in African Slaves : "The United States is the main focus of world opprobrium for its historical involvement in the enslavement of black Africans. However, neither the Americans nor the Europeans were the primary traders of black African slaves. Most slaves in Africa were either taken by Arab Muslims directly, or sold to the Arabs by the victors in African intertribal warfare. According to some sources, more than 140 million black African slaves may have been trafficked by the Arabs in the centuries since the founding of Islam. These slaves lived in brutal conditions, and the majority died in transit across Africa, Arabia, or the Indian Ocean. Only a tiny fraction crossed the Atlantic to end up in what is now the United States. The Arab traffic in African slaves has not ended. Even though slavery is officially outlawed in all Muslim countries, the practice continues to this day."

Britain's far-Leftist Minister of State: "Foreign Office officials have turned on Lord Malloch-Brown, their minister, describing him as a "liability" for the government. Malloch-Brown, a former United Nations official brought into government by Gordon Brown, has fallen out with some diplomats who have dubbed him "Bollock-Brown" for his off-message views. The minister has clashed with David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and caused embarrassment for Brown before the prime minister's trip to Washington by saying that Britain and America would no longer be "joined at the hip". Malloch-Brown is said to have been reprimanded by Miliband for suggesting the British government was about to open talks with Hamas and Hezbollah, the Islamic militant groups, and was forced to "clarify" his remarks in the House of Lords, which irritated Labour Friends of Israel, the campaign group."

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

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

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

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

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Senator Joe Lieberman, the honest Democrat, speaks up:

Excerpt:

Since retaking Congress in November 2006, the top foreign policy priority of the Democratic Party has not been to expand the size of our military for the war on terror or to strengthen our democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East or to prevail in Afghanistan. It has been to pull our troops out of Iraq, to abandon the democratically-elected government there, and to hand a defeat to President Bush.

Iraq has become the singular litmus test for Democratic candidates. No Democratic presidential primary candidate today speaks of America's moral or strategic responsibility to stand with the Iraqi people against the totalitarian forces of radical Islam, or of the consequences of handing a victory in Iraq to al Qaeda and Iran. And if they did, their campaign would be as unsuccessful as mine was in 2006. Even as evidence has mounted that General Petraeus' new counterinsurgency strategy is succeeding, Democrats have remained emotionally invested in a narrative of defeat and retreat in Iraq, reluctant to acknowledge the progress we are now achieving, or even that that progress has enabled us to begin drawing down our troops there.

I asked some of my Senate colleagues who voted against our amendment: "Do you believe the evidence the military has given us about the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guard] sponsoring these attacks on our troops?" Yes, they invariably said. "Don't you support tougher economic sanctions against Iran?" I asked. Again, yes - no question. So what's the problem, I asked. "It's simple," they said. "We don't trust Bush. He'll use this resolution as an excuse for war against Iran.".

there is something profoundly wrong - something that should trouble all of us - when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran's murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops. There is likewise something profoundly wrong when we see candidates who are willing to pander to this politically paranoid, hyper-partisan sentiment in the Democratic base - even if it sends a message of weakness and division to the Iranian regime.

Source

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Update to the story about Hillary's meanness to waitresses here

Violent crime moves to smaller cities: "As rates of violent crime fall in Boston, New Bedford, and Brockton, smaller cities and towns such as Arlington and Haverhill have seen aggravated assaults and robberies increase, according to figures compiled by police chiefs in 25 of the state's largest law enforcement agencies. While the reasons for the fluctuations are not clear, some police chiefs and analysts suggest that criminals and gang members are migrating to smaller, quieter municipalities on the outskirts as bigger cities effectively clamp down on violent felons. Others suggest that heroin use is fueling more robberies by addicts trying to feed their habit. "We can't stick our heads in the sand and not recognize that there has been an increase in crime," said Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan. Ryan said that Arlington's proximity to Somerville and Cambridge has contributed to making it the "recipient of some displaced crime from our more urban neighbors."

Impotent Europe: "For many critics of U.S. "unilateralism," there is an implicit assumption that the lack of allied participation in ongoing military efforts is due mainly to U.S. policies and the unfavorable European response to them. This begs the question of whether our European allies would be able to do much more than they are doing now, let alone respond to any unforeseen contingencies in the future, even if they were inclined to do so. The answer, to those who have examined the present state of the European defense establishment, increasingly seems to be "no": European armed forces are neither structured, nor equipped, nor trained to play a meaningful role in the scenarios most likely to challenge the security of the civilized world in the coming decades".

The Al Qaeda Reader and Mein Kampf: "A number of book reviewers have recently pointed to the similarities between The Al Qaeda Reader and Mein Kampf. For instance, writing in the New York Observer, James Buchan notes that, "In their [al-Qaeda's] brutality and candor, their fulminations against democracy and loose morals, their obsession with territory, their finicky racism and absolute disdain for the material needs of the public, these documents are a strange echo of Hitler's writings from prison." .... how is The Al Qaeda Reader similar to Mein Kampf? A single sentence from the introduction of the 1999 edition of Mein Kampf, published by Mariner Books, goes a long way in answering this question: "He [Hitler] had made his ultimate goals clear in Mein Kampf as early as 1926: rearmament, the abolition of democracy, territorial expansion, eugenics, the `elimination' of the `Jewish threat'" (Mein Kampf, xv). The Al Qaeda Reader dwells on, if not obsesses over, four of these same five "ultimate goals" of Hitler-everything but eugenics, which is a temporal byproduct of 19th century pseudo-scientific racial theories."

Positive Opinion Change on Iraq: "Being against the war after she was for it, could it be soon be time for Hillary to be for it again? The question arises in light of the findings by Charles Franklin at Pollster.com. According to his November 6th Pollster.com analysis, there has been a "remarkable" shift, in a positive direction, in public opinion on the war in Iraq."

Partial Birth Waterboarding: "Liberals wouldn't lift a finger to stop the torturing -- to the point of destroying -- unborn human life. But put a terrorist [or a baby seal, for that matter] in the block and watch them spring into sensitive-soul mode. Rosa Brooks epitomizes the mindset in her current LA Times column, "Torture: the new abortion." Her notion is that among Republicans, the new litmus test for presidential candidates is not opposition to abortion but support for U.S. officials who order the "torture of prisoners." .... Let's review the liberal moral compass: * Waterboarding a terrorist: an affront to our fundamental values. * Subjecting an unborn child to partial-birth abortion: we celebrate a woman's right to choose! To put things in perspective, and at the risk of being reductive, let me offer this challenge to Rosa Brooks. I'll call water boarding "torture" if she'll say the same about partial birth abortion."

Al Qaeda losing logistic battle in Iraq too: "The various terrorist groups in Iraq, especially the Sunni Arabs and al Qaeda, appear to be having supply problems. In a word, the enemy is running out of ammunition. Their logistical "tail" is being chopped to bits. Captured documents and prisoner interrogations mention these shortages. There are other signs as well. Many of the bomb factories, or bomb storage sites, are full of homemade explosives. Apparently most of the Saddam era, ready-made stuff, is gone. Most of the pre-2003 military explosives have been found and destroyed by American combat engineers over the last four years."

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly incorrect themes of race and IQ -- and featuring again a big coverage of reactions to James "Black IQ" Watson.

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

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

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

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

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Naive technophiles

Mass production will soon begin on the XO, the "$100 laptop" that MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte believes will change the world. Behind the dream of empowering children through technology, however, lies a reality more complicated and far less idealistic. Professor Negroponte believes his non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) can help solve "whatever big problem you can imagine, from world peace to the environment to hunger to poverty." Early reviews of OLPC's finished product extol its many innovative features. None of these reviews, however, mention what the XO fails to provide, such as a source of clean drinking water, abundant and nutritious food, or medicines for curable diseases....

OLPC's business model actually requires substantial investment from the governments of developing countries, diverting limited resources away from a population's critical needs. The "$100 laptop," which actually costs $188, can only be purchased at a minimum quantity of 250,000. OLPC targets countries like Nigeria, where one out of three children suffer from malnutrition. There a $50 million minimum investment could instead be used to feed more than a million children for an entire year.

After unloading their product, OLPC relies on the naive assumption that governments will distribute laptops free of charge to deserving schoolchildren. This blind trust in corrupt governments will deprive children and ensure the creation of a robust XO black market.

Children will suffer if governments divert scarce resources away from essential services. To avoid that outcome, professor Negroponte should channel his ingenuity into a product compatible with existing markets. Success will be achieved not by forcing technology on children, but by bringing children to technology.

More here

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Hillary fading? "After striding surefooted through the foothills of the Democratic presidential contest, Hillary Clinton's frontrunning campaign has spent the past week tripping itself up. The mis-steps began last Wednesday with one wobbly answer in a television debate - on whether to allow illegal immigrants drivers' licences. Mrs Clinton's response, in all its varied forms, has raised fresh questions about her candidacy. Her opponents ask if she is honest... A clutch of opinion polls over the past two days suggest that her support nationally among Democratic voters has ebbed from a high of more than 50 per cent to the low to mid 40s. One poll in New Hampshire, a key early primary contest which has always been seen as her firewall if she loses the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, shows her margin over Barack Obama falling from 16 points to ten. The loss of support has been greatest among male voters, widening an existing gender gap. For instance, the New Hampshire survey found that while 40 per cent of Democratic women have a "very favourable" view of Mrs Clinton, only 22 per cent of the state's Democratic male voters say the same. A national poll yesterday suggested that only 36 per cent of women would not vote for her, compared with 50 per cent of men."

Mukasey confirmed: "The Senate late Thursday narrowly confirmed former federal Judge Michael Mukasey as the 81st attorney general, giving the nominee the lowest level of congressional support of any Justice Department leader in the past half-century. The 53-40 vote came after more than four hours of impassioned floor debate, and reflected an effort by Democrats to register their displeasure with Bush administration policies on torture and the boundaries of presidential power. Seven senators, including those running for president, did not vote."

The Dems like the idea of voter fraud: "Measures that curb voter fraud on the one hand and encourage it on the other will be central to the 2008 election. The Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of Indiana's photo ID law next spring, while lawsuits challenging Gov. Spitzer's moves will be in New York state courts. Despite her muddled comments this week, there's no doubt where Mrs. Clinton stands on ballot integrity. She opposes photo ID laws, even though they enjoy over 80% support in the polls. She has also introduced a bill to force every state to offer no-excuse absentee voting as well as Election Day registration--easy avenues for election chicanery. The bill requires that every state restore voting rights to all criminals who have completed their prison terms, parole or probation.

GOP recovery?: "Gloom hangs over Republicans when they think of next year's elections - but it shouldn't. The sea change in political fortunes between 2004 and 2006 should not remind Righties only that the winds can change quickly - from a supportive breeze at your back, to a gale-force wind in your face - they should also be reminded that the political landscape can get better fast, too. Next year could be a surprisingly good one for the GOP, though it's clearly not guaranteed. The party will need good candidate recruitment, message discipline, a clear, unifying agenda, and a bit of good luck. But on a wide variety of fronts, there are pieces of good news"



Obsolete British military equipment endangering lives: "An RAF Nimrod flying over southern Afghanistan put out a Mayday call and made an emergency landing at Kandahar air base on Monday after crew found fuel pouring into the bomb bay. The aircraft was in the middle of refuelling when the crew discovered what several sources described as "a major fuel leak" in the bomb bay. The pilot immediately declared an emergency and broke off refuelling. It is a repeat of an incident in September last year, when an RAF Nimrod exploded over Kandahar province killing all 14 on board. The board of inquiry into that incident has yet to report but that Nimrod, tail number XV230, had just refuelled in mid-air and the board's initial findings blamed pressure from the air-to-air refuelling system for forcing a serious leak. The pilot of XV230 reported a fire in his bomb bay and attempted to land at Kandahar. He dropped 20,000 feet in just 90 seconds but at 3,000 feet the starboard wing exploded, followed by the rest of the aircraft" [The Nimrods are a military version of the old De Haviland Comet of the 1950s]

Arabs seeking Israeli citizenship: "The number of East Jerusalem residents seeking Israeli citizenship has risen sharply in recent months, an Israeli official said Wednesday, as talk of a possible re-division of the city gains momentum. The Interior Ministry has received hundreds of applications for citizenship from Arab residents of East Jerusalem over the past few months, instead of the average of several dozen, said ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad. Hadad was unable to provide specific figures but said there has been an increase of hundreds... When Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, the city's Arabs were given the opportunity to become citizens, yet they rejected it because they refused to acknowledge Israeli control over the city"



I wonder why?: "A scurrilous new e-mail is circulating about Barack Obama. Over the last few months there were the ones that suggested he was secretly hiding his Muslim faith. The messages suggest he refused to pledge allegiance this summer at a steak fry hosted by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.

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

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

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

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

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Justice for the English!

Get out from under those socialist Scots!

Somewhere among the stiff upper lips and a fondness for queuing, a sense of fair play is to be found in any shortlist of the traits readily associated with the English. No wonder, then, that they are animated by the "West Lothian question"-the constitutional anomaly that allows Scottish MPs to vote on laws affecting only England but, since devolution in 1999, denies English MPs a say on a wide array of matters that pertain only to Scotland.

One answer to this question-limiting the right to vote on English-only matters, including health and education, to MPs with English seats-was proposed by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a Conservative MP, on October 28th. It is not yet party policy, but his plan for a "grand committee" of English MPs is being considered by the Tories.

The present arrangements are lop-sided but Sir Malcolm's proposals, experts say, could hasten the break-up of the United Kingdom. A government with a majority of British but not English seats might struggle to pass many of its manifesto pledges, and ministers from Scottish constituencies would be unable to vote on their own bills. This is not just a theoretical worry: the present cabinet is led by Scots, including the prime minister and his chancellor of the exchequer

Yet a glance at an electoral map explains why the Tories' views may be changing. Margaret Thatcher tried out her hated poll tax there and that, plus the impact of privatisation and union-bashing on Scotland's industrial economy, turned off voters north of the border. The Tories now have just one MP in Scotland.

More here

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Anglospheric dominance

Ever since the Glorious Revolution in 1688, Britain and America have been on the winning side, from the war of the Spanish succession to the cold war. The anglosphere's long streak of luck has preoccupied the losers more than the winners. Winston Churchill excepted, most Britons don't like being tied to modern America; Americans can't see what ancient Britain has to do with them. Yet for outsiders the link between the English-speaking peoples was horribly clear from the start: only a few years after the American revolution the French were sending back horrified reports that New England really was new England in spirit.

Mr Mead's own explanation focuses on God and gold. Britain was lucky: economically, it came good at just the right time. It had a Goldilocks location (close enough to Europe to imbibe its heat, distant enough to avoid many of its wars) and a Goldilocks state (strong enough to work, weak enough to keep out of the way). But its tolerance and brashness were also part of its economic strength: Donald Trump would have fitted into London.

More controversially, Mr Mead also claims that God was part of the anglosphere's competitive advantage. Both Britain and America kept a balance between reason, faith and tradition that their rivals did not. Religion helped to keep the state in check and supplied some of the verve to keep on trying to change the world.

Mr Mead also pinpoints an irony of Anglo-Saxon success. After each victory, the Anglo-Saxons have a rotten record of predicting what will come next, nearly always declaring some version of a new world order, only for a new evil to emerge. Often they seem blissfully unaware of the ire their success has caused. That could be the case with Islam now.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Business-school management and greedy unions are a great combination: "General Motors has posted a loss of $US39 billion for the third quarter on a massive accounting charge, even as it cited some improvement in its global automotive operations. The whopping loss was attributed to a $US38.6 billion non-cash charge largely related to establishing a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in the US, Canada and Germany, as well as mortgage losses at GM's former financial arm, GMAC Financial Services. A valuation allowance is taken when the future benefit of the deferred tax assets is less likely to be realised. The net loss amounted to $US68.85 per share, compared with a net loss of $US147 million, or 26 cents per share, in the third quarter of last year.

Action on Iran soon?: "A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000 working uranium-enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across the world yesterday amid fears that Israel would respond by bombing the country's nuclear facilities. Military sources in Washington said that the existence of such a large number could be a "tipping point", triggering an Israeli air strike. The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but officials say that Israel is a "different matter". Amid the international uproar, British MPs who were to have toured the nuclear facility were backing out of their Iran trip. Even before President Ahmadinejad's announcement, a US defence official told The Times yesterday: "Israel could do something when they get to around 3,000 working centrifuges. The Pentagon is minded to wait a little longer." US experts say 3,000 machines running for long periods could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb within a year."

The new France: "President Sarkozy of France yesterday dazzled President Bush and Congress by proclaiming his love for America as he sought to rekindle a long alliance that turned soured over war in Iraq. His address to both Houses of Congress was delivered in French. He began by breathing warm words of fidelity into the translation earpieces worn by almost all the US legislators. To the first of many standing ovations he spoke of the shared values and history of the two nations, dating back to the War of Independence, and declared: "France is the friend of the United States of America." At a dinner held in his honour the previous evening, Mr Sarkozy had signalled his amorous intentions when he toasted President Bush, saying: "On behalf of all Frenchmen, I want to reconquer the heart of America." Mr Bush replied by making a rare foreign-language foray, welcoming his guest with the words "Bienvenue a la Maison Blanche." The White House"

New allegations against Hillary: "A new book hit store shelves today, full of explosive revelations that could damage Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, including accusations of campaign finance violations and new revelations about harassment and threats by the Clintons and their associates. Released today by publisher World Ahead, TARGET: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton is the work of Kathleen Willey, a former White House Aide who says Bill Clinton groped her in the Oval Office. According to a press release from the book’s publisher, Willey also identifies the person who threatened her just prior to her testimony against President Clinton — a man who turned out to be linked to the Clintons."

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

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

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

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

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Another IQ-related gene found

This is the second one within a week. See here for the earlier one. The earlier one is discussed more fully on my Food & Health blog (Scroll down)

Children with a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease already show signs of reduced cognitive function, a study has found. That raises the possibility that scientists could develop therapies to block the gene's negative effectsand stave off cognitive decline starting much earlier in life than previously thought possible, the researchers said.

The investigators, with Oregon Health & Science University, found reduced spatial learning and memory skills in children with one of a family of genes implicated in development and in nerve cell regeneration and protection. The results were presented Nov. 5 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.

Previous studies had found that a gene known as apoE4part of the socalled apolipoprotein E gene familyincreases the risk of cognitive decline due to age and brain injuries. Half of Alzheimer's patients carry apoE4, said study coauthor Jacob Raber. Many nondemented elderly also carry it, he added, but they tend to do worse than others on certain cognitive tests.

In the new study, Raber and colleagues examined 55 healthy boys and girls ages seven to 10, including eight girls and six boys who carried the apoE4 gene. The noncarriers showed better performance on a combination of paper and computerbased tests, they said. These included a virtualreality based spatial navigation task called "Memory Island" whose subjects must use memory to navigate to a location marked with a flag. The test mimics the Morris water maze, a standard tool for testing memory in rodents by training them to swim to a platform based on visual cues.

Source

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Brookes News Update

How long can the US economy defy economic gravity?: There comes a time when every party must end. And economic booms are no different. The trick is to get the timing right. At the moment it looks very much like the US economy will be steaming into 2008, much to the chagrin of the Democrats. Still, they might get lucky before the election
What's behind the Fed's aggressive cut in interest rates?: By attempting to counter various shocks that are predominantly the product of the Fed's own policies Bernanke is very likely going to make things much worse as far as real economic fundamentals are concerned
Greenspan absolves himself from current financial markets turmoil: Greenspan is trying to distance himself from the current financial tremors that are developing. That it was his loose monetary policy that generated a massive current account deficit that eventually drove down the dollar is something he would not like to be reminded off. However, in fairness Greenspan the rest of the world's central banker are not much better
Ethanol - "Fuelish Food Policies": A Judge in Britain got it right recently when he called Gore's film a biased political document with eleven specific claims not supported by any evidence. Politicians are about to inflict huge greenhouse costs on the whole community, for nothing
101 Love Crimes and Legislative Positions: Liberal politicians quiver in bliss - stroking their delusional consciences. They pimp a provocative fantasy that liberals are born superiorly caring and compassionate. For liberals, lamenting social injustices indulges some perverse pleasures
Friends and critics of Israel: Israel bashing has become a common substitute and camouflage of ordinary anti-Semitism, which hardly bothers with facts and common courtesy! At the same time, Jews and Jewish issues have become a magnet for distorted people who thrive on and need attention from others

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

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

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

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

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Unshattered intelligence

James Flynn has a rather curious article just up which is headed "shattering intelligence". That title would however seem to be more an aspiration than an achievement. The basic point of the article is that the environment can in some cases make a considerable difference to the development of a specific ability. But nobody has ever said otherwise. The estimates of how much of IQ is genetically determined usually range around two thirds. The other third is environmental.

So, other than the title, Flynn's article is perfectly conventional psychometrics. He explains well that there is a high degree of generality to intellectual ability (IQ or 'g') and that efforts to improve on the environmental contribution to IQ tend to have only temporary success. The genetic influence keeps re-asserting itself.

His recommendation for improving one's IQ -- that one should immerse oneself in intellectual pursuits -- is fair enough. That should be of some small help in some problem solving. But if you are not pretty smart to start with you are just not likely to immerse yourself in that sort of thing. And if you are very bright, you almost cannot help yourself from getting immersed in intellectual pursuits. You just find complex things interesting and simple things boring. I think Flynn has put the cart before the horse and is not going very far that way.

For all that, his latest article reveals Flynn as much closer to the facts than he once was. His Leftist biases have led him into some pretty strange claims in the past.

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ELSEWHERE

How frustrating for miserable Leftists: "American voters are generally happy with their own lives. Eighty-six percent of Americans say they are content with their jobs, according to the General Social Survey. Seventy-six percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their family income, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Sixty-two percent of Americans expect their personal situation to get better over the next five years, according to a Harris Poll, compared with only 7 percent who expect it to get worse. Researchers from Pew found that 65 percent of Americans are satisfied over all with their own lives - one of the highest rates of personal satisfaction in the world today."

Mr. Perks goes to Lansing: "One newspaper calls Leon Drolet, head of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, 'a bully.' State Rep. Ed Gaffney calls him a 'brown-shirted, knuckle-dragging thug.' The Detroit Free Press calls him 'One of the most unpopular figures in Lansing,' Michigan's capital. What does all this name-calling mean? It means Drolet and the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA) are having a real impact. You see, the political establishment -- from politicians to special interests -- want to raise taxes. The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance does not want a tax hike. The group wants state government to make do with less, just as Michigan taxpayers are having to do during their state's recession."

Anti-Photo ID Legislation Would Promote Election Fraud, Says Group: "Legislation introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) to prohibit photo ID requirements for voting in federal elections would promote election fraud, say members of the black leadership network Project 21. "Representative Ellison's proposal is fundamentally flawed and potentially harmful to the integrity of our democratic process," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie. "Why invite that which can only lead to unimaginable fraud and corruption?" Imposing existing Minnesota election law on a national scale, the "Voter Access Protection Act of 2007" (H.R. 4026) would ban the use of photo ID for voter verification in federal elections. Rep. Ellison calls photo ID requirements "burdensome" and liken them to a "modern-day poll tax." He further charges that the Bush Administrations enforcement of voting rights issues effectively promotes "voter suppression of minorities, seniors and young people."

Saving Afghan kids: "About 90,000 children who would have died before the age of 5 under Taleban rule in Afghanistan will stay alive this year because of advances in medical care, according to President Karzai, who thanked international aid agencies and Afghan health workers yesterday. The under5 mortality rate has declined from an estimated 257 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to about 191 per 1,000 in 2006, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Some 250,000 underfives are still dying each year mainly from malnutrition, TB and malaria."

Lucky Belgium. No government! ""Belgium is heading for a record 150 days with no government unless the Christian Democrat and Liberal election winners resolve a spat blocking their bid to form a coalition. ... There is no deadline for forming a government, but the deadlock could lead some politicians to break from the effort and force the King to appoint a different Prime Minister-designate for new negotiations. Belgium faces the 150-day mark without a government on Wednesday."

Despite the Gloom, More Bush Boom: "If things are so bad, why are they so good? With all the gloom coming out of Wall Street, the Democrats on the campaign trail, and the mainstream media, a remarkable thing just happened: Real gross domestic product, the best summary report of the American economy, came in at a breathtaking 3.9 percent annual rate for the third quarter. In fact, following the 3.8 percent growth rate for the second quarter, the U.S. economy has posted its strongest quarterly growth in four years. The economy actually appears to be speeding up, following the relatively sluggish performance of the prior 18 months."

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

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

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

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

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

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