FROM BROOKES NEWS

The New York Times economic midget - and he is a conservative America's true national debt owed outside of government is just over $4.5 trillion, not $7.6 trillion.
Profits, wages and jobs Unfortunately the kind of nonsense Megalogenis wrote about wages, jobs and women is about par for the media
Economic costs of the greens' energy tax The real costs of the greens' energy tax is frightening
Stop Iran's mullahs Iran's mullahs have a long history of plotting suicide attacks, funding terrorism, waging war and silencing opponents
Fidel Castro: An outpost of tyranny next door Kim Jong-il and Iran's mullahs sign up with Fidel Castro
In America poverty is absolutely relative Has America wiped out poverty?
Uniting against radicalism The fact that the 9/11 attacks are widely believed to have been carried out in the name of Islam resulted in a great deal of prejudice against Muslims and misunderstanding of Islam

Details here

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Social Security reality: "Considerable public discussion and debate now rages over Social Security and how to reform it. As the system currently stands, as early as 2018, it will be necessary to finance a growing portion of its outlays to retirees by means of outside sources of funds, since at that point the sums paid into the system in the form of payroll taxes will begin to fall short of the sums it is obligated to pay out. What will bring this about is a substantial increase in the number of retirees, who draw from the system, relative to the number of workers, who pay into it. Some observers believe that the difficulties faced by the system will not begin until later, in 2042 or 2052. Between 2018 and that time, they believe, the system can draw down its vast accumulations of United States Government securities, which it has acquired over the many years in which it took in more in payroll taxes than it has had to pay out. I believe that 2018 is in fact the time when the difficulties will begin. The reason is that the government securities held by the Social Security system are not any kind of actual asset. They are a claim against the US Government to pay money that it does not possess and which it cannot obtain in any way other than by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or inflating the money supply.

Details of how GWB's social security proposals would affect individuals here. The Democrat "calculator" is of course the deceptive propaganda one would expect.

Another cost that needs more privatization: "Within a decade, the public sector will be paying nearly half the cost of U.S. health care, which is also swallowing an ever-larger chunk of the nation's resources, government economists reported on Wednesday".

Everybody pays for this: "During the Great Depression, the federal government started subsidizing family farmers who faced ruin because of unpredictable weather and dips in crop prices. Seven decades after the dust bowl years, the subsidy program has morphed into a gigantic giveaway for mega-farms, wealthy investors who may never set foot on their land and even dead farmers, whose estates exist only to collect the subsidies".

Scrappleface has an excellent satirical comment on the Larry Summers/Ward Churchill controversies.

Why do criminals break the law?: "Criminals are as much a victim as those they have victimized, right? After all, they do what they do because of poverty, or bad parenting, or lousy peers, mental illness or the availability of a gun, right? Well, no, says clinical psychologist Stanton Samenow, author of the book Inside the Criminal Mind. He says criminals are the way they are because that is what they choose to do."

GWB's basic doctrine: "A close reading of the President's second Inaugural Address reveals it is an effort to break down the dividing wall that has sometimes separated American interests and American idealism. The President's speech argues that pursuing our core principles will promote our national security - and that what happens within the borders of other nations is often of intense interest to our own..... The core of this doctrine rests on the President's belief that stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty - and as long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation and resentment, a cauldron of anti-Western hatred and violence..... Our Administration is not without its critics - but it is worth noting, I think, that our critics have offered no competing theory on how to address the generator of global terrorism. They may take issue with our execution of policy - but they have no conceptual theory to offer in its place. And that is itself revealing."

Leftism is feelings-based: "With the ascendancy of leftist values that has followed the decline of Judeo-Christian religion, personal feelings have supplanted universal standards. In fact, feelings are the major unifying characteristic among contemporary liberal positions. Aside from reliance on feelings, how else can one explain a person who believes, let alone proudly announces on a bumper sticker, that "War is not the answer"? I know of no comparable conservative bumper sticker that is so demonstrably false and morally ignorant. Almost every great evil has been solved by war -- from slavery in America to the Holocaust in Europe. Auschwitz was liberated by soldiers making war, not by pacifists who would have allowed the Nazis to murder every Jew in Europe.... The "self-esteem movement" -- now conceded to have been a great producer of mediocrity and narcissism -- was entirely a liberal invention based on feelings for kids. The liberal preoccupation with whether America is loved or hated is also entirely feelings-based. The Left wants to be loved; the conservative wants to do what is right and deems world opinion fickle at best and immoral at worst."

There was recently a much publicized study saying that medical costs are a major cause of bankruptcies in the USA. Mike Tremoglie exposes the authors of the "report" concerned for the Leftist liars they are. They even deny the existence of the huge waiting lists that are such a feature of the Canadian system! With typical Leftist arrogance they seem to think reality is whatever they say it is.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx wanted moderate Leftists eliminated. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at different usages of the word "spirit".

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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THE "GANNON" BEAT-UP

Another good comment on the disgusting Left from Powerline: "The American left has been guilty of many contemptible actions over the past twenty years, but few are so deeply offensive as its treatment of Jim Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon (His real name is Guckert, but he adopted Gannon as a pen name). Gannon is, apparently, a homosexual with a rather sordid past, including stints working as a gay escort. He is now trying to make a career for himself as a reporter; until a week or two ago, he worked for the online Talon News Service. He was able to get one-day-at-a-time passes to attend White House press briefings, where he committed the unpardonable sin of asking questions that had a pro-Bush administration twist. (Sort of like Helen Thomas, only in reverse, and nowhere near as one-sided.)

The presence of a Bush-friendly journalist in the White House press corps was taken by the left as a deep affront. A study conducted a few years ago found that the White House press corps is 90% Democratic; apparently the left won't be satisfied until the figure is 100%. So liberals began "investigating" Gannon. They found that he was a homosexual and started posting photos of him on their web sites, along with vicious personal attacks. Gannon, stunned by the virulence of the left's attack on him, quit his job at Talon. Subsequently, a low-life named John Aravosis who is a gay activist and has a web site, found nude photos of Gannon and posted them online.....

There is, I guess, a story here. But it has nothing to do with Jeff Gannon, a poor guy who thought he could put his past behind him and pursue a career as a reporter. No, the story has to do with the depth to which the Democratic Party and the American left have fallen. Desperate to change the subject in the wake of the Eason Jordan debacle, they seized on poor Mr. Gannon, made silly, baseless accusations against him, denounced him for being a homosexual, and, in the ultimate indignity, tracked down and published nude photographs of him. All to distract attention from Jordan, and to punish Mr. Gannon for the "sin" of being a Republican. Rarely have I seen such deeply contemptible conduct".

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John Howard's smart move: "Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has welcomed Australia's decision to dispatch 450 more soldiers to Iraq to protect Japanese troops and keep order in Muthana Province. ''We welcome and laud the decision,'' Mr Koizumi said at his office. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura made similar remarks earlier in the day. ''The Japanese Government greatly appreciates, welcomes, and rates highly [the Australian deployment]," Mr Hosoda said. The Australian troops will be based mainly in the provincial capital of Samawah, where nearly 600 Japanese troops are stationed for humanitarian and reconstruction work".

There is an amazing NYT article here. More Africans have now come to America voluntarily than came as slaves. And, as we all know, immigrant blacks (Colin Powell, anyone?) do much better than American-born blacks. Present-day American blacks have been spoiled by welfare and the Democrat-sponsored culture of grievance. Immigrant blacks haven't.

Harvard professors still trying to destroy their own reputation as scholars: "In a rare second faculty meeting in a week, set for Tuesday afternoon, critics of Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers are expected to excoriate him again for his leadership style and recent remarks about women in science and engineering". Interesting that it seems to be the students who strongly support Summers. They KNOW the ideological rigidity in what is taught and don't like it

Democrat racism: "The most powerful African-American member of the House of Representatives is calling on Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean to apologize for a racially insensitive joke he told Friday during an address to the Congressional Black Caucus. Asked on Tuesday if Dean should apologize for suggesting during his address that minorities usually work as servants, Rep. Charles Rangel told ABC Radio's Sean Hannity, "If he offended anybody, he certainly should." Critics say Dean crossed the line when he told the CBC, "You think the Republicans could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here." .... Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who is Maryland's first black to hold that office, joined with former Rep. J.C. Watts yesterday to demand that Dean apologize, and expanded on his complaint last night. "I think it is rather presumptive [for Dean] to presume that the staff in the hotel is African-American," Steele told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." Steele said the DNC chairman's remark was further evidence that the Democratic Party takes the black vote for granted. "If I or another Republican had made a statement like that, it would be all over the place," Steele added. "And so the reality is for me, when I read that and hear it, it's offensive, because what it says is you don't see me in any other role.""

Dick McDonald comments: "Doug Wead, part of Bush I's administration, has released tapes he secretly made of George W. Bush before he became President. Forgetting that he is selling a book, betraying a friend, and "not doing it for money", Wead has released a tape that the leftwing MSM has jumped all over that proves George W. Bush tried marijuana. This leaves the MSM in a quandary. By criticizing Bush, they criticise Gore, Clinton and the deliriously high editorial room at the NYT. By publishing the story, the author's book will reach a greater audience and that means the author's evaluation of Bush as a very important historical figure will be advanced. Dems won't like that".

Anti-democratic Democrats nabbed: "On 24 January 2005 five Kerry-Edwards campaign staffers were arrested for slashing the tires of 25 rental vans hired by the Republican Party to shuttle voters to the polls. If convicted, the suspects face a possible three-and-a-half years and $10,000 fine on each count of criminal damage to property. Those charged include Michael Pratt, 32, Sowande A. Omokunde, 25, Lewis G. Caldwell, 28, and Lavelle Mohammad, 35, all of Milwaukee; and Justin Howell, 20, of Racine. Among the Black defendants are the sons of prominent local politicians. Michael Pratt is the son of Marvin Pratt, who became acting mayor of Milwaukee when Mayor John Norquist stepped down in January 2004. Pratt lost the spring mayoral election under allegations of financial shenanigans, denying him the opportunity to be Milwaukee's first elected Black mayor. Pratt's wife famously blamed the loss on "White racism," calling Milwaukee "redneck America citifed." Sowande Omokunde is the son of Gwen Moore, a former state senator who last November became the first Black elected to the U.S. Congress from Wisconsin. The tire-slashing spree took place in the heart of her district - U.S. House District 4. At the foundation of Moore's campaign was a promise to prevent "voting rights violations." Yet she had 'no comment' when asked to explain her son's apparent desire to prevent elderly and handicapped Republicans from reaching the polls - a civil rights violation".

My latest posting on MarxWords shows what a feminist Marx wasn't. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Romans 1 & 2 and the Day of Judgment.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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TUESDAY ROUNDUP

Once again I pick out what I think are my best posts for the week:

On Dissecting Leftism I question the "gay gene" theory

On Greenie Watch I report on a Greenie faith-healing meeting.

On Political Correctness Watch I report on the incorrect sandwich issue at Rutgers

On Education Watch I note a movie about Communism with lessons for American academe

On Socialized Medicine I note how to kill a healthy baby and get away with it

On Gun Watch I note that Australia has a rising crime rate despite sweeping gun control

On A scripture blog I note that the immortal soul is a pagan idea rather than a scriptural idea

On Leftists as Elitists I note that socialism is inherently elitist

On MarxWords I note that Marx saw Jewish facial features as repulsive

On Majority Rights I note that Jews have now given up controlling the world!

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Bush-hating Jonathan Chait has come up with another lulu: "Liberalism's aversion to dogma makes it superior as a practical governing philosophy". Aversion to dogma?! There could be few things more dogmatic than the many dictates of Leftist political correctness! Political correctness is in fact more than a dogma: It is a whole catechism of things you are not allowed to say, think, do or discuss. It is the n commandments of Leftism. It's a wonder there's no Index expurgatorius to go with it but I guess they don't need one judging by how seldom bookshops display conservative books. But "liberalism" has its saints, of course: St. Sharpton, St. Jackson, St. Clinton, St. Roosevelt, St. Derrida, St. Foucault, St. Castro, St. Lenin, etc. -- all of whom are as near to sinless and faultless as you can get.

Troubling events in South Africa: ""We will kill the whites, all of them; Afrikaans and English," rioting Pasma students and their leaders at the university's Mamelodi campus chanted on Friday. Students barricaded gates with burning tyres in an effort to prevent police from gaining access and dispersing the crowds. Screaming "revolution is the only solution" and "kill the police, burn their cars", more than 200 students charged around the campus tearing up the university's flag, burning tyres and damaging trees..... Mahlangu, deputy secretary of the Gauteng Pasma regional office, promised that blood would flow at the university's main campus in Hatfield. "We have had enough of racist students and their lecturers who profess to have our interests at heart. We are tired of being discriminated against because we cannot pay the fees and because we are not passing".

There is another stupid attempt here to portray the Bush administration and its Christian supporters as "Fascist". One wonders if these galoots ever read history. Fascist regimes ensure that both the schools and the press are under tight government control and say only those things which support the government line. The USA is so far away from that that GWB cannot even get all the schools to use phonics in teaching kids how to read! And if you think that the New York Times and CBS and all of the rest of them support the Bush administration, you live in a parallel universe! I have commented on this brain-dead accusation at greater length before. See here and here

Using their usual "projective" propaganda technique (accusing others of what are in fact your own faults) Leftists very often accuse conservatives of rigging the vote when they in fact are great practitioners of bogus voter registrations and "voting early and voting often" themselves. Powerline notes a case of voter fraud on behalf of the NAACP which has now actually resulted in a conviction.

Newspeak anyone? "In Western political history the big breakthrough came when classical liberals identified the human individual as having the right to liberty. This took centuries of development, but with John Locke and other such liberals it emerged as a solid, coherent idea. Every adult is sovereign, self-ruling, not a subject of others' will, be these others neighbors, family, bureaucrats, a monarch, the majority, or whoever. Professor Fisher, however, wants to assimilate all these often mutually exclusive ideas of liberty and freedom, so that every tradition -- including those actually quite antithetical to individual liberty -- in which the words have appeared is pacified."

My latest posting on LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS records the words of a Leftist newspaper editor who resigned his job in disgust because the newspaper's readers made it too hard for him to inject his biases into what he published! These arrogant swine actually think it is their RIGHT to decide what the public will be allowed to know!

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx greatly admired a pro-German racist. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at the nature of the Holy Ghost.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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REGULATION ROBBERY

What would you do with an extra $8,000 this year? Pay off your credit card debt? Fully fund your 2004 and 2005 I.R.A.? Make a down payment on a new car? On the other hand, if the government announced plans to increase your taxes by the same amount, you'd certainly raise a ruckus. That's probably why the government keeps quiet about exactly how much its regulations cost.

Economists Mark Crain and Thomas Hopkins did a study for the Small Business Administration and found that in the year 2000, federal regulations cost us $843 billion. That's $8,000 per household -- almost half the amount collected in federal taxes that year. In other words, Washington didn't overtly increase your tax burden last year. However, its policies cost each American household more than $8,000 in hidden regulatory expenses.

That's unfortunate, because while some federal regulations are justified, even critical, many aren't necessary. And Congress needs to identify which are which. ... The Bush administration can help out, too. The president should let all federal agencies know that reining in regulations is a priority. He also ought to continue strengthening the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget. Again, before a new regulation is put into place, the government should have to explain what it will accomplish and how much it will cost.....

Things have only gotten worse in recent years. Because of the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform law, businesses spend more than ever to comply with federal regulations. In fact, some firms have gone so far as to buy back their stock and retreat from public markets. That won't help the United States remain the world leader in capital markets. Simply put, our economy is over-regulated. There's a saying, "Thank goodness we're not getting all the government we're paying for." Well, if we reduce the burden of unnecessary regulations, we'll have less government -- and pay less for it.

More here

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Good comment from Bill Vallicella: "It is difficult to get lefties to appreciate the moral equivalence of the two totalitarian movements because there is a tendency to think that the Commies had good intentions, while the Nazis did not. But this is false: both had good intentions. Both wanted to build a better world by eliminating the evil elements that made progress impossible. Both thought they had located the root of evil, and that the eradication of this root would usher in a perfect world. It is just that they located the root of evil in different places. Nazis really believed that Judentum ist Verbrechertum, as one of their slogans had it, that Jewry is criminality. They saw the extermination of Jews and other Untermenschen as an awful, but necessary, task on the road to a better world. Similarly with the Commie extermination of class enemies".

There is pretty accurate article here that says the Left can be divided into the stupid Left versus the Satanic Left. Excerpt: "The Stupid Left says it favors equality. The Satanic Left favors transferring power to itself so that it can oppress others. The Stupid Left supports Marxist groups all over the world because it thinks these are non-violent and favor pluralism. The Satanic Left supports them because they know these are violent and totalitarian. The Stupid Left thinks animals should be treated like humans. The Satanic Left thinks humans should be treated like animals".

The Fascism of the prewar Left: "Paterson was appalled by the love for state planning that ruled the literary intellectuals of the '30s. Many were fascists, many communists, but hardly any believed that individuals or markets should be left to run freely. The standard opinion of the time was that markets required technocratic planning. The political themes fully expressed in The God of the Machine began showing up in Paterson's columns (which were never strictly about reviewing books) in the '30s and early '40s. These ideological intimations led Edmund Wilson to dismiss her as irrelevant, declaring her 'the last surviving person to believe in those quaint old notions on which the republic was founded.'"

Yucky Africa: Many Africans are beginning to think that probably we chased the Europeans out too early. Some Africans are so disillusioned that they are nostalgic about those days when the Europeans were in absolute control. Africans have joined the rest of the outside world to refer to their homeland as a lost cause. An African man after a recent visit called his homeland "bush" and swore never to step in there again. He had thrown in the towel and turned his back permanently. Other Africans, who still care, do so reluctantly. Some are just waiting for their parents to die off before they finally slam the door on Africa. For the rest, it is a constant prayer that the immigration office will one day let them bring out their loved ones. Once that is accomplished, it is goodbye Africa.... An African-American kid was reported to have been asked by his teacher what he thought about Africa and he responded, "yucky, yucky". The same expression he uses when his mother asks him to taste broccoli or uncooked tomatoes".

Values matter: "About a decade ago, Columbia University professor Andrew Delbanco wrote an elegant book, The Death of Satan, in which he argued that America had lost the ability to speak in terms of evil. He called it a 'tragedy of the imagination,' and he was right. For decades, a therapeutic culture of 'understanding' was on the rise. Except for acts of racism and so-called homophobia, there was a mad rush to 'understand' evil people. Were they victims of a racist culture? Were they abused themselves? Were they expressing their natural frustration with the patriarchal capitalist system? Blah, blah, blah. The tragedy of the imagination was that we couldn't appreciate that evil is real and it exists."

Kinsey: "Kinsey was known as the great scientist of sex, the man who fearlessly and dispassionately sorted out the true nature of our sexuality from the false, unscientific beliefs that have for so long hidden the truth from us. The standard picture of Kinsey depicted during his lifetime was the dour scientist dressed in a lab coat, patiently sorting through reams of data with his equally reputable and objective coworkers. That picture of Kinsey does not reveal who Kinsey really was, however. In fact, such pictures were carefully staged by Kinsey and his "research" team as part of their ongoing propaganda campaign. Behind the scenes, we find the real Kinsey: a homosexual and a sado-masochist, bent on using the trappings of science to force his perversions upon society."

This is a rather encouraging article. Psychiatrists are actually beginning to recognize some criminals as "evil". Since psychiatrists normally belong to the "no such thing as right and wrong" brigade, it is a hopeful sign of sanity dawning.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Engels was a sponger too. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Matthew 25:46 -- "And they will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life"

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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GAY GENE OR GAY VIRUS?

There's a VERY interesting interview with an expert in population biology, Gregory Cochran, here on the subject of the so-called "gay gene" -- a gene nobody has been able to find. I didn't realize that the rate of discordance among indentical twins was so high. Identical twins are normally identical in just about EVERYTHING so the fact that only one of a pair of identical twins tends to be homosexual is most telling. It is just about as good a proof of NON-genetic causation as you can get. The idea that homosexuality is caused by such environmental influences as poor social skills or a female-dominated home would seem to be ruled out by the twin studies too as identical twins also tend to have a very similar environment as well as identical genes. There is another article by Cochran here setting out his thinking on the matter. Basically, he says that if genes and upbringing don't make you homosexual, viruses probably do. You can actually "catch" homosexuality. If ever his theories become widely known, I think his life will be in danger. At the least there would be attempts to lock him up for "hate speech".

I think, however, that he overlooks an important third possibility -- inadequate nutrition in utero. And, strangely, that could also explain the discordant findings among monozygotic twins -- via intra-uterine competition. Intra-uterine competition? Sometimes identical twins will come out looking very different because some accident of placenta placement has caused one twin to get a far better supply of blood and its nutrients than the other twin got. And if homosexuality is caused by an abnormality of fetal brain development -- as has often been suggested -- poor fetal nutrition generally (including that caused by intra-uterine competition) could be the cause of it. So I wouldn't start dodging all contact with homosexuals yet.

I disagree partly with Cochran's explanation for Jewish intelligence too. He seems to think that the Askenazim have been heavily endogamous. Endogamy is certainly their law but it is much belied by appearances. Many Askenazis are of a distinctly Mediterranean appearance but there are also lots who are distinctly Nordic in appearance. I have known several Jews of Lithuanian origin and they look an awful lot like other Lithuanians (very fair) to me. So I think one of Cochran's basic assumptions is almost certainly wrong -- though I can think of several ways out of the problem -- saying that the exogamy predated the selective pressures on IQ, for instance.

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This report by Tim Barnett, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California -- saying that the recent small rise in the earth's temperature can only be explained by man-made gas emissions -- has got an amazing amount of publicity. But the report has yet to be subjected to peer review, let alone be published in an academic journal. It shows how desperate the global warmers have got for any shred of comfort. The language of the author of the report -- that "rational" people could not doubt his conclusions -- has certainly got more to do with Barnum than science. I suppose the amusing part is that the warmers have finally found some real-world data that their models fit. Most real-world data does not. I guess they had to get lucky eventually.

But is that enough? "Television is responsible for the deaths of 20,000 Germans a year, according to a professor of psychiatry".

I noted yesterday a letter from Susan Estrich complaining that the L.A. Times did not print enough stuff written by women -- but only HER sort of woman counted, of course. A reader has forwarded me a picture of Ms Estrich which I have posted here (or here). It seems to tell us all we need to know about that particular lady. One should feel sorry for her, I guess.

FDR's failed "New Deal": "In 1939, after seven years of massive government intervention into the marketplace from a phalanx of ABC bureaucracies invented by Roosevelt's planners and a convoluted array of opportunist economic programs, we were as firmly and as deeply mired in the Depression as before. "In his first two full terms of eight years," writes biographer John T. Flynn, "President Roosevelt never produced any recovery whatever. When he was elected there were 11,586,000 persons unemployed. In 1939 -- seven years later -- when the war struck in Europe, there were still 11,369,000 persons unemployed. These figures are supplied by the American Federation of Labor. In 1932 when he was elected there were 4,155,000 households with 16,620,000 persons on relief. In 1939, seven years later, there were 4,327,000 households with 19,648,000 persons on relief. In the presence of these undisputed facts how can any sober-minded citizen suppose that Mr. Roosevelt brought recovery to the United States?"

Howard Dean, leader of the bikepath Left: "The essential characteristic of the Bike Path Left is its passion for lifestyle issues. Dean was famously the governor of Vermont, where lifestyle has become a religion for its urbane yet fashionably rustic citizenry. The flinty old Vermont of yore has given way to the Vermont of Architectural Digest and wealthy transplants from New York and Boston. Dean represented this transformation perfectly.... Simply because the BPL cherishes lifestyle politics doesn't mean it is always laid-back. Dean is, famously, a man of considerable rage. Just this week he remarked that he "hates Republicans." (Presumably all of those bumper stickers in Burlington proclaiming that "Hate is not a family value" will have to be scraped off.) And as the original bike path fight demonstrates, his passion about the importance of lifestyle trumps his faith in more traditional arrangements. Dean signed the first same-sex partnership law and is now a vocal advocate for gay marriage. This isn't a petty issue like a bike path"

A question for the Left: on what basis do you judge that Hitler was bad? : "After all, the left does not believe in Judeo-Christian morality, but rather embraces moral relativism. Moral relativism is a philosophy that holds there are no fixed values, that all value judgments on behavior have to be considered within the context of the culture of the times and the society in which they occur. No absolutes for them, as they ridicule George Bush and Ronald Reagan for using the simplistic and embarrassing term "evil" to describe foes. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is a typical leftist mantra reflecting this mindset. So, what moral or philosophical basis does the left have to prove that Hitler's storm troopers and Stuka bomber pilots who overran Europe were not "freedom fighters"? Wasn't Germany the victim of the Versailles Accords that ended WWI, with humiliating and punitive penalties placed on them just for losing the war?"

There seems to be a fair bit of discussion lately about advertising and blog ethics -- e.g. here. All I can say is that I will never put up any advertising on any site of mine nor will I take money to promote anything. I live simply and already have all the money I want. I do however use various "free" hosting services to make some of my files accessible on the net and those services put up advertising to pay their way. What they put up, however, is their business, not mine. I neither notice nor care. When new bloggers ask me to help them promote their blogs, however, I do often oblige them with a link. But the payment I get for that is described in Ecclesiastes 11:1.

Wicked Thoughts has just put up some hilarious stuff -- particularly good if you get Jewish humour.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx put his writing before his family. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" shows that the immortal soul is not a Biblical idea.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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EXHIBITIONISTS GET MORE THAN THEY BARGAIN FOR

Lots of people like this news item:

"When 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail. What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement. "We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs," one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. "I've never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view." Another said: "I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot." Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: "Sod off, Swampy."

Greenpeace had hoped to paralyse oil trading at the exchange in the City near Tower Bridge on the day that the Kyoto Protocol came into force. "The Kyoto Protocol has modest aims to improve the climate and we need huge aims," a spokesman said. Protesters conceded that mounting the operation after lunch may not have been the best plan. "The violence was instant," Jon Beresford, 39, an electrical engineer from Nottingham, said. "They grabbed us and started kicking and punching. Then when we were on the floor they tried to push huge filing cabinets on top of us to crush us." When a trader left the building shortly before 2pm, using a security swipe card, a protester dropped some coins on the floor and, as he bent down to pick them up, put his boot in the door to keep it open.

Two minutes later, three Greenpeace vans pulled up and another 30 protesters leapt out and were let in by the others. They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts "open outcry" trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading. But they were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. "They were kicking and punching men and women indiscriminately," a photographer said. "It was really ugly, but Greenpeace did not fight back." Mr Beresford said: "They followed the guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement."

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Greenie restrictions on new housing come home to roost "A new report Wednesday fueled concerns that the high cost of doing business in Los Angeles and much of California puts the region at a serious disadvantage in trying to compete for high-tech businesses against less-expensive Western and Midwestern cities.... "The harsh reality is your state is suffering today not only from a corporate exodus but intellectual capacity (too). Some of your best and brightest college graduates cannot afford to live here; that's a huge problem," said John Boyd, whose company's report is based on information from corporate executives."

Islamic gratitude to GWB? "The Islamic Prophet Muhammad's original choice of a successor, Ali, was a Shiia whose claims were never recognized by the early leaders of the Islam. Ironically, it is the "infidel" Bush who had made it possible to restore legitimate Shiite rule to Iraq. And it is the "evangelical" Bush who has finally made more legitimate the incoherent war at home and abroad by pushing for democratic reforms in Iraq even when the silent goals of the war remain geo-strategic"

Israel betrayed by its own politicians: "As a courageous refusenik in the Soviet Union, Natan Sharansky became a hero to free people everywhere — nowhere more so than in Israel, the country to which he yearned to emigrate. His fight for human rights cost him nine years in the KGB’s dungeons, and when, in February 1986, he finally arrived in the land of his forefathers, it was to an ecstatic welcome by thousands of cheering Israelis.... But if Sharansky’s thinking carries great weight in America, in his adopted homeland it carries none at all. ‘‘I understand that in the Soviet Union your ideas were important,’’ Israel’s current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, told him last year, ‘‘but unfortunately they have no place in the Middle East.’’ No place, in other words, for the idea that peace between Israel and the Palestinians depends not on unilateral Israeli concessions but on the transformation of the Palestinian Authority. No place for the idea that freedom and democracy can have the same power in the West Bank and Gaza that they had in Japan and Germany after World War II. No place for the idea that Palestinian terror and violence will never cease until Palestinian dictatorship and repression cease".

Farmed robbery: "In his newly-released federal budget President George W. Bush promises to reduce farm subsidies. Predictably, on the day the budget was made public there were well-choreographed 'protests' by all the usual suspects, mostly millionaire corporate farmers camped out at the Mayflower or Four Seasons hotels in Washington, D.C. for a few days. The 'protesters' made it on to the evening news in their latest attempt to dupe the American public into believing that they were not really the millionaire owners of large corporate farms, but lowly dust bowl families just trying to make ends meet and feed their families."

EU arrogance faltering: "Probably it's a bit too much to say, on the eve of President George W. Bush's fence-mending trip to Europe next week, that a specter is haunting Europe, but let's say it anyway: A specter is haunting Europe and it is the possibility, after the elections in Iraq, that perhaps Bush is less of a dangerous bungler than so many Europeans previously believed him to be.... Certainly there has been no seismic alteration of the European view. Yet there are at least some strong anecdotal signs that Europeans are struggling with the difficult proposition that there might even be in the Bush doctrine of messianic democracy a dollop of what the other President Bush famously called "the vision thing.".... . ."The pictures of the people voting, even though it's hard to say it was worth two years of war, psychologically it was a turning point," Hassner said.... "

Tim Worstall spells out well the inconvenient fact (for Leftists) that the bigger the government gets the more they have to tax the poor. There are just not enough taxable rich people to go around once the State gets beyond a certain size.

An amusing email from a feminist moonbat accusing the Los Angeles Times of not printing enough stuff written by women. But what got her really charged was one particular story they DID print -- you guessed it -- by a woman! -- as the L.A. Times editor subsequently pointed out.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that he thought Jews looked ugly. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Isaiah 9:6 -- "And his name will be called "Wonderful Counseller, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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CONSERVATIVE PHILOSOPHER SCRUTON ON THE BRITISH LAW AGAINST HUNTING

The hunting Act vindictive in its aim and discriminatory in its effect. It takes away liberties from law-abiding people, destroys a deeply-rooted way of life and confers no benefit on any person or animal. It permits the dogs of Labour voters to pursue their favourite quarry, and forbids the dogs of Tories to go after theirs. It reflects no understanding either of hunting or of wildlife, and was passed in defiance of the conclusions of the Government's own official inquiry..... When, why and how is it right to disobey the law? If it is never right to disobey, then tyrants have carte blanche. The racist laws of Nuremberg, the Hindu law of suttee, sharia that condemns adulterers to stoning and a thousand other cruelties become obligatory on those who are commanded to obey them.

So what should we do? It was in answer to that question that Gandhi developed the strategy of "civil disobedience", directed against the authorities in British India. Civil disobedience does not mean breaking the law and then trying to evade it. It means breaking the law overtly and peacefully, while surrendering yourself for punishment. In this way, Gandhi thought, you put a spotlight on the law, draw attention to its injustice, and emphasise that you yourself are no criminal, either by nature or by intention, but simply labelled as such by a sovereign power that has overstepped the bounds of legitimate government....

It seems to me that the crucial point is not the grandeur of the cause but the social impact of the injustice and the lack of an alternative remedy. In our society rules and regulations can be altered, and majority opinion will eventually have its way with them. However, minorities do not enjoy the benefit of majority opinion. Consider what a Muslim should do, when faced with a law that bans halal butchery. Majority opinion will never rescue him, for it is only the Muslim minority that is affected. A strategy of civil disobedience would make it obvious, even to the majority opposed to halal butchery, that you cannot go on sending law-abiding butchers to prison simply to satisfy your beliefs about a matter that does not affect you.

More here. For news on the law see here

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ELSEWHERE

Good to hear: "Contending that Americans benefit from free trade, President Bush said Thursday he would keep pursuing liberalization agreements around the world, even as critics say his policies have resulted in record trade deficits and millions of lost jobs. Bush's pledge came in his annual economic report to Congress, a 438-page document which argued that his economic policies, ranging from making his first-term tax cuts permanent to overhauling Social Security, will lead to greater prosperity. "I believe that Americans benefit from open markets and free and fair trade and I am working to open up markets around the world and make sure that the playing field is level for our workers, farmers, manufacturers and other job creators," Bush said in his message to Congress".

A teeth-grinder for Leftists: "The two largest U.S. retailers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. reported higher fourth-quarter profits on Thursday on double-digit sales growth. Wal-Mart, the world's No. 1 retailer, said quarterly earnings rose 16 percent as sales gained from store expansion, beating Wall Street expectations".

Futile but good for attention-seekers: "Perhaps no company has come under as fierce an attack as Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer. A 22-page report last year by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, echoed what many critics have said for years: Because nonunionized Wal-Mart pays lower salaries and health benefits, its employees must use subsidized medical care, free school lunches and other taxpayer- supported welfare services. Wal-Mart will be the target of a fresh campaign in the next couple of months, when the Organic Consumers Association will band together with labor and environmental groups to promote a "buy local" crusade".

Another setback for the food fascists: "Drinking coffee regularly can reduce the risk of liver cancer by more than one half, according to a study carried out in Japan on more than 90,000 people and published in the United States by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Taking into account anti-cancer properties of caffeine on lab animals, a team of Japanese researchers analyzed a public health report spanning a decade which allowed them to track a large number of patients, many with liver cancer, and their coffee consumption habits".

The future of the U.S. Supreme Court too? "The [Australian] High Court has been remade in John Howard's image. It is now so legally conservative that Michael Kirby [a Left-leaning homosexual] has become the biggest outsider in the court's history".

The wicked John Stossel has some good examples of where sharing is bad and selfishness is good.

Nathan Tabor has a comprehensive debunking of the "gay gene" theory. It is so typically Leftist that the one claim of hereditary influence that they accept is scientifically unfounded. Reality just does not suit Leftists at all. No wonder they have taken so fervently to calling themselves "reality-based" lately. Denial is a well-known psychological defence-mechanism.

Absurd demands on Israel: "There's lots of land in the Middle East. Most of it is populated sparsely by Arabic-speaking people, culturally, linguistically, religiously and ethnically at one with the so-called 'Palestinians,' a people who have never had a country of their own in the history of the world. Why then is it Israel's obligation to carve itself up to create this Palestinian state? The tiny sliver of land that represents the current state of Israel is only about one-tenth the size of the original United Nations mandate that created the Jewish state in 1947. Now, I'm not a Jew. I'm a Christian Arab-American journalist who believes in freedom first, peace second. And I've got to tell you that the demands on Israel right now are demands for the nation to commit political, military and cultural suicide."

A good email: "Paradoxically, the same (white) liberals who blame the "imperialist western countries" for the hatred some other peoples and religions have towards us, are the very main cause of such hatred: they themselves produced the culture of drugs, free sexuality and abomination which more traditional cultures of Asia and Africa deeply despise. How ironic".

There is another appalling news report on SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and some VERY interesting media quotations on LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS today.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows what a parasite and a cheat Marx was. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at the concept of the afterlife in the OT and the NT.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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NATIONAL SOCIALISM (NAZISM) REBORN IN SOUTH AMERICA

While President Bush's sweeping vision of worldwide democracy was never more vividly conveyed than in his recent inaugural speech, he has thus far failed to acknowledge an alarming anti-democratic movement festering within America's own hemisphere: the increased radicalization of Indians in South America's Andean region and their assumption of anti-democratic, reactionary and strikingly fascistic attitudes. This trend is increasingly powerful in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and, if not dealt with quickly, will lead to the region's collapse into a political, economic and social Stone Age, posing a danger to the entire world.

In addition to their vocal opposition to capitalism, the United States and democracy-all characteristics that explain their close ties to the Left in their countries as well as to the Chavez regime in Venezuela and to Castro's Cuba-these movements are also openly racist. Indeed, they advocate a return to the pre-Columbian Inca state, with the European cultural and ethnic (i.e. "white") additions removed-by force. In any other circumstance, the combination of racism and historic nostalgia would instantly produce cries of fascism from the politically correct Left. But, not surprisingly, it views the situation in South America far differently-after all, to the Left, the "oppressed" races cannot be racist, only the white "oppressors" can and are.

More here

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FROM BROOKES NEWS

Is Rupert Murdoch sheltering his own Eason Jordan? Peter Wilson, foreign correspondent for Murdoch's Australian, has also accused the American military of targeting journalists
Social security: how the Dems will cost you $3 million If you are under 55 years of age and don't read and understand this essay you will only have yourself to blame for not acting now and saving yourself and your family $3 million
The Democrats' drug-running links Rangel and other black Congressmen were told of Castro's drug running. Rangel's response was to blame it on the CIA
Chinese economy and savings The Chinese tend to have a low rate of time preference - and it is this rate that can quickly propel the Chinese economy. But how to do it?
More on immigration myths and wages So long as there is real economic growth, i.e., capital accumulation, then the means to support a growing suburbia will be generated

Details here

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ELSEWHERE

I am sorry to hear that Sam Francis has just passed away after heart surgery. I did not agree with everything he wrote but he was a great campaigner for conservative causes.

Great news: "Coming soon: a non-stop, 19-hour flight from London to Sydney. For the first time in civil aviation history, a long-haul passenger jet was being unveiled last night that is capable of flying virtually halfway across the globe, making it possible in theory to link any two important world cities. The new Boeing 777-200LR rolled off the US company's assembly line in Washington state for the first time and is scheduled for delivery in the first three months of next year. It is expected to carry 300 passengers and cost up to $225 million (119 million pounds). It promises travellers the holy grail of air travel - no more layovers. Ever. The launch came less than a month after Boeing's bitter rival, the European company Airbus, revealed its very different vision of the future of air travel - the A380 "superjumbo" which can carry up to 850 passengers over just 9,000 miles"

Janet Albrechtsen: "Note to self: Wednesday: celebrate the right of women to be treated as equal to men; Thursday: cheer for the right for women to be treated differently; Friday: sort through conflicting messages scattered about by modern feminists on what women want."

Marginalizing unions aids prosperity: "Twenty years ago, workplace deregulation in Australia was a new and largely untested phenomenon that opponents characterised as bad and unfair for employees. The past decade, marked by historic levels of prosperity, has shown these claims to be unfounded. Far from leading to a "race to the bottom" in terms of wages, employment conditions or lower living standards, workplace reforms have underpinned strong productivity, real income growth, job creation, low unemployment, low inflation and rising wealth per capita".

There is a libertarian version here of the Mommy/Daddy account of politics -- much pushed by nutty Leftist linguist George Lakoff. It's a popular story but if it were true most women would be Leftists and most men would be Rightists -- but "it just aint so". In the last U.S. Presidential election the female vote split roughly 50/50 for and against GWB.

Leftists hate one-another too. They all want to be king: "While Republicans have been marching the family through precise formations and drilling them on party catechism, the Democrats are still chasing each other around the coffee table. They seem almost hopeless, really, unable to get themselves organized into a cohesive unit that can confidently articulate, and consistently follow, its shared values."

Good comment from India: "Nepal's Maoists may believe that power flows from the barrel of a gun. However, prosperity and happiness do not. Democracy is not a magic wand, but neither is Maoism a miracle-cure. Communism is an ideological tool for non-industrious people who want the state to take care of their needs. It will not make the Nepalese any better off. Incidentally, historical experience is not in favour of the communists. They often end up in Gulags (of Stalin) or killing fields (of Pol Pot), without any share of the chimera they were chasing. The Indian communists should be aware of this."

Pat Buchanan has an interesting history of how the arrogant Leftist monopoly of the MSM has gradually been eroded -- a process that started in the Nixon era.

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with a wide range of blogospheric reading.

My latest posting on MarxWords notes that Marx was a social Darwinist -- something modern leftists say is "Rightist". My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Luke 16: 22-25 -- "The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment.... "

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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THE SOCIAL SECURITY DEBATE

Australia has long had what GWB is advocating and it is uncontroversial here. I have said nothing on the U.S. debate so far because Dick McDonald does such a good job on it but here are some recent interesting excerpts anyway:

Leftists: Do as I say, not as I do "In the Democratic response to President Bush's call to make Social Security a better deal for younger workers through voluntary personal retirement accounts, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid likened the plan to a risky game of 'roulette.' New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called it a 'system in which workers engage in speculation that no financial advisor would recommend.' In opposing personal accounts, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) launched national ads stating: 'Winners and losers are stock market terms. Do you really want them to become retirement terms?' Given the way the Democrats and some commentators are talking about stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, you would assume that none of them invest any of their own money, and instead keep sacks of cash in their mattresses."

Pension funds invest in the stockmarket anyhow: "The debate over allowing younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts has become increasingly politicized, with some groups charging that the plan will amount to "gambling" in the stock market and giving billions in Social Security dollars to Wall Street pension fund managers. For example a recent series of television ads sponsored by the AARP depict a middle-aged man and woman saying, "If we feel like gambling, we'll play the slots... According to the Federal Reserve Board, public employee pension plans alone had nearly $2 trillion in assets as of September 2004. Overall, 54.8 percent of these assets were invested in corporate equities"

That wicked cigar fancier: "Perhaps hoping to win over undecided Democrats to President Bush's Social Security reform proposal, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told FOX News on Wednesday that former President Bill Clinton did 'a courageous thing' by pointing out the retirement program's problems. 'President Clinton did a courageous thing when he pointed out the looming insolvency of Social Security,' Rove said, adding that the current program is facing 'a demographic time bomb that's going to go off with certainty.' Social Security currently is taking in more money than it pays out, and is expected to do so for the next 13 to 15 years. But after that, the program will be paying out more money than it collects and is likely to go bankrupt by 2042 or 2052, depending on whose calculations are used."

Social security reform is anti-black? "Milloy contradicts himself. He lays out all the ways that we blacks are killing ourselves: cigarettes, unprotected sex, obesity and high salt intake. Then he indicates that somehow these self-inflicted wounds are about a "slave health deficit," and that some researchers say they have found links between hypertension and racism. He then concludes that somehow the president not only does not care but is a cheerleader for this black dance of death -- all because he wants privatization of Social Security so badly that he wants blacks to die early to make a case for it."

Jeff Jacoby: "You don't have to be a financial wizard to know that Social Security is a lousy investment. Unlike the money you deposit in a bank or salt away in an IRA, you don't own the money you pay into Social Security. You have no legal right to get those dollars back, and when you die you can't pass them on to your heirs. Nor can you use your Social Security account before you retire -- you can't borrow against it and you can't cash it in. You aren't allowed to put the money into a balanced portfolio. You can't even watch as the interest accumulates, since your Social Security nest egg doesn't earn any interest".

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ELSEWHERE

PETA doesn't care about evidence. They KNOW! "Somebody pass the butter. A recent Norwegian study reports that lobsters and crabs don't have the capacity to feel pain. And the animal rights nuts at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ... must be steaming. Animal rights wackos have a long history of pursuing 'lobster liberation.' PETA's own website offers helpful 'tips' on liberating lobsters from restaurants and supermarkets. ... The Guardian helps explain why lobsters and crabs can't feel pain, pointing out that they have only 100,000 neurons, whereas many vertebrates have upwards of 100 billion. Meanwhile, continuing its long tradition of ignoring inconvenient facts, PETA turns to supposed scientific evidence from the Coalition to End Animal Suffering and Exploitation to 'prove' that lobsters feel pain anyway."

Fighting fire with bureaucracy: "Firefighting is a dangerous occupation. Firefighters face an occupational fatality rate two to four times the rate of average Americans. In an attempt to mitigate the risks faced by firefighters, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires the use of protective equipment such as self-contained breathing devices and fire retardant clothing, and there the troubles begin. To achieve OSHA compliance, firefighters must carry the 30 pound breathing device and another 30 pounds of protective clothing for the duration of interior firefighting activities. Those 60 pounds increase the excessive physical stress a firefighter experiences and likely contribute to the leading killer of firefighters, cardiac arrest."

Competition undermines tobacco/government alliance: "Big tobacco was supposed to come under harsh punishment for decades of deception when it acceded to a tort settlement seven years ago. Philip Morris, R.J.Reynolds, Lorillard and Brown & Williamson agreed to pay 46 states $206 billion over 25 years. This was their punishment for burying evidence of cigarettes' health risks. But the much-maligned tobacco giants have subtly and shrewdly turned their penance into a windfall. Using that tort settlement, the big brands have hampered tiny cut-rate rivals and raised prices with near impunity. Since the case was settled, the big four have nearly doubled wholesale cigarette prices from a national average of $1.25 a pack (not counting excise taxes) in 1998 to $2.10 now. And they have a potent partner in this scheme: state governments, which have become addicted to tort-settlement payments, now running at $6 billion a year. A key feature of the Big Tobacco-and-state-government cartel: rules that levy tort-settlement costs on upstart cigarette companies, companies that were not even in existence when the tort was being committed. The 1998 scheme came under legal attack almost from the start. While the cartel has fought off most of these challenges, it has just taken a palpable hit. A federal court in New York tossed out a key antidiscounter rule, and the entire settlement could yet crumble. This is due to the doggedness of one Jeffrey Uvezian, who sells cheapie cigs under such brands as Cobra, Boston and Tough Guy, through his company, International Tobacco Partners".

Arlene Peck: "Not that they would notice, but illiteracy in the Arab world is at an all-time high and rising rapidly, with the out-of-control rise in population. It is possible when you're allowed four wives and have an average of ten children with each. Since they keep their women pregnant, barefoot and out of schools, over half of them are not even able to read or write. At the pace they're going in the Arab world now, it will take roughly 30 years to wipe out basic literacy".

On SOCIALIZED MEDICINE I have just put up a story that will make you pray that you never have to rely on socialized medicine. And there is a pretty amazing power-grab reported on LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS.

My latest posting on MarxWords notes what a sponger Marx was. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Matthew 25:41 and "The eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels ..."

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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TUESDAY ROUNDUP

Once again I pick out what I think are my best posts for the week:

On Dissecting Leftism I demolish an anti-American rant by N.Y. journalist Tony Judt.

On Political Correctness Watch I note that racial segregation is now correct again in Canadian schools.

On Greenie Watch I note the latest craze for diaper recycling and show how stupid it is.

On A scripture blog I note that the Church of England has now become the Church of the Environment.

On Socialized Medicine I note evidence that half of America's spending on health care is wasted

On Education Watch I put up a big lot of personal reports about home schooling.

On Gun Watch I note that concealed carry is now regarded as a proven policy in Texas

On MarxWords I note that Engels believed Germans to be a superior race

On Leftists as Elitists I note that the Democrats are now billionaire-oriented rather than people-oriented.

On Majority Rights I note the decline of civility in London.

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ELSEWHERE

Brookes News says Australia has its own Eason Jordan making scurrilous accusations against American troops.

There is a disgusting report here of a Leftist university professor showing a pornographic film to devout Mormon students and mocking them generally -- all in the name of teaching them how to write good English!

Trying to grok has a good example of why there is such high unemployment in Germany

Oppressive Leftist law defied: "About 50,000 people are to defy the ban on hunting which comes into force this week by taking part in choreographed trail hunts at the weekend using foxes that were killed earlier....Although all those taking part will ostensibly be setting off on legal trail hunts, with packs of hounds chasing the scent of a dead fox that has been dragged across the countryside... Mr Worsley warned that there was a higher risk of bad practice than ever before because the new sport would no longer be regulated by the Masters of Foxhounds Association. "The red book is out the window now," he said....With such large numbers of people engaged in the hunts, the expectation is that the police will find it difficult in the extreme to identify the perpetrators of any law-breaking that does take place....However, in its guidance to assistant chief constables, the Association of Chief Police Officers makes clear that the priority is to protect people, not animals."

Amusing conflict of obsessions: "The director of a German zoo has defended her campaign to mate a group of homosexual male penguins with females, arguing that it is the only way to preserve a dying breed from extinction. Heike Kück said that she had been inundated with criticism by the gay lobby after making public her plan. "We're simply trying to help save a threatened species," she said of the Humboldt penguin"

What a brilliant way of discouraging Muslim immigration! "The photograph of Muslim teenagers playing by an advertising hoarding emblazoned with a Nazi swastika and National Front logo could be straight out of a documentary on inner city decay. It is, in fact, just one of a series of grim portrayals being used by the British Council to promote the nation's image overseas. Other photographs in the exhibition include a picture of a smashed-up telephone box and the fenced-off entrance to the Channel tunnel. The council, which is now led by the former Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock, and which spends tens of million pounds a year on promoting Britain's cultural and artistic achievements, has included the photographs in an exhibition that it claims depict the reality of life in Britain's Muslim community.... Some of the photographs in the exhibition, which is called Common Ground, are accompanied by text depicting British Muslims as the victims of racial hatred and economic oppression".

An email about feminists getting it back to front: "I have always regarded feminism as perverse because it seems to be more about disempowerment than empowerment of women. The whole "fish without a bicycle" line about how much a woman needs a man overlooks the fact that the control some women are able to influence over some men is a very considerable form of power: the capability of getting more done than one could do on one's own."

Most readers of this blog will know that my online book about Leftism is available here or here. In 1974, however, I also had a book published, called Conservatism as Heresy. About half of it I wrote myself and the other half consisted of chapers contributed by various other authors. I got all my own chapters from it online about a year ago but I have been very slack about the other chapters. I have however had a bit of a burst of energy lately and put a few of them up. You can see the result here or here. There is a chapter here (or here) that is particularly good for showing that Leftist hypocrisy and anti-Americanism was alive and well during the Vietnam era.

My latest posting on MarxWords notes that Marx believed in a "Jewish" look. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at Matthew 13:37-43 and the "wailing and gnashing of teeth".

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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

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

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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

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