MERRY CHRISTMAS to all who come by here
************************
THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED NEED NOT CONFLICT
"Christmas in America is done in a way that offends many people around the world, and also many Christians in the United States. The mega-bucks shopping, the over-the-top promotion, the non-stop jingles and carols, the light displays, yard decorations, huge inflatables everywhere -- must Christmas really be like this? No, it doesn't need to be. But neither should we be quick to take offense. A big Christmas need not be an insincere Christmas.
This point was made by Benedict XVI before he became Pope. He noted in a 1977 essay that .... "such criticism is largely justified, even though it might too readily forget that, behind the facade of business and sentimentality, the yearning for something purer and greater is not entirely extinguished; indeed, that the sentimental framework often provides the protecting shield behind which hides a noble and genuine sentiment that is simply reluctant to expose itself to the gaze of the other."
He is speaking about the core of good and virtuous intentions behind much of what is assailed as "commercialism." Much of what people buy is for others. But what people do to commemorate Christmas reflects an inner sense that something extraordinary is occurred and continues to occur on the night of Jesus' birth. All this fuss would not take place over a fat man in the red suit... From the earliest centuries, Christmas was not merely a private affair for homes and parishes. Christians obtain grace from reflecting on the miracle of the Incarnation but they have given the event called Christmas as a glorious gift to the world".
More here
******************************
Sunday, December 25, 2005
ELSEWHERE
I have always thought it crystal clear that the USA is the kindest nation that the world has ever seen. There is a short article by Herb London that gives a brilliant example of that.
Post from No Left turns: "This is amusing. I'm guessing that the New York Times is in need of copy because this report, filed from Kenya about anthropologists researching their so-called Dream Tribe is pretty empty. It seems that anthropologists--those who study human beings as if they were worms (that is, as if they have no rational faculties) and then call it science; or, those who study culture and cannot discover the human nature to be found therein--discovered the isolated Ariaal tribe, in the 1970's, in Kenya and started poking at them and asking them questions. The article notes--without even the depth of a Margaret Mead--that the tribesmen have been studying the anthropologists as well, and that they are disappointed when they get no feedback from the researchers. A chief, wearing a Boston University T-shirt and sandals made of used tires, said this: "We don't mind helping people get their Ph.D.'s, but once they get their Ph.D.'s, many of them go away. They don't send us their reports. What have we achieved from the plucking of our hair? We want feedback. We want development." The article notes some of the published studies to come from this research. For example, "In a study in The International Journal of Impotence Research, Dr. Campbell also found that Ariaal men with many wives showed less erectile dysfunction than did men of the same age with fewer spouses." Amazing.
Africa's war on poverty begins at home: "It is true that rich countries' protectionism harms some producers in the developing world but trade liberalization in rich countries as a cure for African poverty is often over-emphasized. The main causes of African impoverishment are internal. Africa lacks political stability and economic freedom. Its tariffs are high and private property rights weak. It is hypocritical for African leaders to call for greater access to global markets while avoiding policy reforms, including trade openness, at home."
Good to hear: "The city transit union sent its members back to work without a new contract yesterday after a three-day strike that brought subways and buses to a standstill, earning the union the wrath of commuters and millions in fines and lost pay. Union members were told to return to their jobs starting with the evening shift. Buses were scheduled to roll again by evening.... The walkout, which began early Tuesday, was New York's first citywide transit strike in more than 25 years. The workers left their jobs in violation of a state law prohibiting public employee strikes. The return to work was announced minutes before Mr. Toussaint and two top deputies were due in a Brooklyn courtroom to answer criminal-contempt charges that could have landed them in jail".
Unusual good sense in San Francisco "The ranks of homeless people on welfare in San Francisco shrank 84 percent over the last 18 months through the city's Care Not Cash program, and by next May, there should be no homeless people left on the rolls at all, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday in his second annual State of Homelessness address. The best news about that development, he told a cheering crowd of city workers, homeless people and social service providers, is that about half of the 2,106 homeless people who left welfare -- 1,101 of them to be precise -- are now living in newly created housing, Newsom said. And at a time when crucial federal funding for housing and other social programs is either being cut or put in danger of cuts, that's 'not bad,' he said. 'I remember my critics saying there is no way there will be a decline in (welfare) rolls with Care Not Cash,' Newsom said. 'Well, now that's 84 percent. ... We've done a very good job with that program... The voter-approved Care Not Cash overcame court challenges and premiered in May 2004, when 2,497 homeless people were receiving monthly welfare checks of as much as $410. Those checks are cut to $59 under the program, and the homeless are offered housing or shelter instead'"
Small steps toward immigration reform: "Congress passed an immigration bill last week that takes some small steps toward asserting control over our nation's porous borders. I supported the bill despite its lack of substance, in the hope that it will move America in the right direction on the critical issue of illegal immigration. Some measures in the bill sound good, but are in effect superfluous. Do we need new legislation requiring the Department of Homeland Security to achieve 'operational control of the borders?' Shouldn't the federal government already have 'operational control of the borders?'"
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
I have always thought it crystal clear that the USA is the kindest nation that the world has ever seen. There is a short article by Herb London that gives a brilliant example of that.
Post from No Left turns: "This is amusing. I'm guessing that the New York Times is in need of copy because this report, filed from Kenya about anthropologists researching their so-called Dream Tribe is pretty empty. It seems that anthropologists--those who study human beings as if they were worms (that is, as if they have no rational faculties) and then call it science; or, those who study culture and cannot discover the human nature to be found therein--discovered the isolated Ariaal tribe, in the 1970's, in Kenya and started poking at them and asking them questions. The article notes--without even the depth of a Margaret Mead--that the tribesmen have been studying the anthropologists as well, and that they are disappointed when they get no feedback from the researchers. A chief, wearing a Boston University T-shirt and sandals made of used tires, said this: "We don't mind helping people get their Ph.D.'s, but once they get their Ph.D.'s, many of them go away. They don't send us their reports. What have we achieved from the plucking of our hair? We want feedback. We want development." The article notes some of the published studies to come from this research. For example, "In a study in The International Journal of Impotence Research, Dr. Campbell also found that Ariaal men with many wives showed less erectile dysfunction than did men of the same age with fewer spouses." Amazing.
Africa's war on poverty begins at home: "It is true that rich countries' protectionism harms some producers in the developing world but trade liberalization in rich countries as a cure for African poverty is often over-emphasized. The main causes of African impoverishment are internal. Africa lacks political stability and economic freedom. Its tariffs are high and private property rights weak. It is hypocritical for African leaders to call for greater access to global markets while avoiding policy reforms, including trade openness, at home."
Good to hear: "The city transit union sent its members back to work without a new contract yesterday after a three-day strike that brought subways and buses to a standstill, earning the union the wrath of commuters and millions in fines and lost pay. Union members were told to return to their jobs starting with the evening shift. Buses were scheduled to roll again by evening.... The walkout, which began early Tuesday, was New York's first citywide transit strike in more than 25 years. The workers left their jobs in violation of a state law prohibiting public employee strikes. The return to work was announced minutes before Mr. Toussaint and two top deputies were due in a Brooklyn courtroom to answer criminal-contempt charges that could have landed them in jail".
Unusual good sense in San Francisco "The ranks of homeless people on welfare in San Francisco shrank 84 percent over the last 18 months through the city's Care Not Cash program, and by next May, there should be no homeless people left on the rolls at all, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday in his second annual State of Homelessness address. The best news about that development, he told a cheering crowd of city workers, homeless people and social service providers, is that about half of the 2,106 homeless people who left welfare -- 1,101 of them to be precise -- are now living in newly created housing, Newsom said. And at a time when crucial federal funding for housing and other social programs is either being cut or put in danger of cuts, that's 'not bad,' he said. 'I remember my critics saying there is no way there will be a decline in (welfare) rolls with Care Not Cash,' Newsom said. 'Well, now that's 84 percent. ... We've done a very good job with that program... The voter-approved Care Not Cash overcame court challenges and premiered in May 2004, when 2,497 homeless people were receiving monthly welfare checks of as much as $410. Those checks are cut to $59 under the program, and the homeless are offered housing or shelter instead'"
Small steps toward immigration reform: "Congress passed an immigration bill last week that takes some small steps toward asserting control over our nation's porous borders. I supported the bill despite its lack of substance, in the hope that it will move America in the right direction on the critical issue of illegal immigration. Some measures in the bill sound good, but are in effect superfluous. Do we need new legislation requiring the Department of Homeland Security to achieve 'operational control of the borders?' Shouldn't the federal government already have 'operational control of the borders?'"
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Saturday, December 24, 2005
INTERESTING SUMMARY OF THE VATICAN'S ATTITUDE TO THE AMERICAN PRESENCE IN IRAQ
The Vatican opposed the American invasion but now supports the American presence!
So during the months of the war in Iraq, various and sometimes opposing approaches operated at the highest levels of the Church, under the insignia of pope Wojtlya. But these different approaches were essentially reconciled beginning in the autumn of 2003. The turning point was the terrorist bloodbath in Nassiriya on November 12. And the new orientation was marked by cardinal Ruini's homily at the Mass for the nineteen Italians who were killed:
"To love even our enemies: this is the great treasure that we must not permit to be stolen from our consciences and our hearts, not even on the part of the terrorist assassins. We will not run away from them, but will face them with all the courage, energy, and determination of which we are capable. But we will not hate them; on the contrary, we will not grow weary of exerting ourselves to make them understand that all of our effort, including our military effort, is aimed at safeguarding and promoting a humane coexistence in which there is room and dignity for every people, culture, and religion."
From that point onward, beginning with that memorable "we will not run away," the Holy See consistently defined, not as an "occupation," but as a "mission of peace," the presence of Western troops in Iraq in defense of the nascent democracy.
This same realist line, which had forcefully opposed the war at the Vatican, now defended its results and demanded that the soldiers remain in Iraq as long as necessary, to safeguard the formation of a new order, free and peaceful, which, as precarious as it might be, is seen as much more acceptable than leaving this crucial country to its own devices.
More here
**********************************
ELSEWHERE
Projection again: It's the Leftists who live in a "bubble": "To a remarkable degree, America's liberal elites have constructed for themselves a comfortable, supportive, and self esteem-enhancing environment. The most prestigious and widest-reaching media outlets reinforce their views, rock stars and film makers provide lyrics and stories making their points, college professors tell them they are right, and the biggest foundations like Ford fund studies to prove them correct. It has been a disaster for them..... As a result, liberal discourse has become an in-group code, perfectly understandable and comforting among the elect, but increasingly disconnected from everyone else, and off-putting to those not included in the ranks of the in-group. Rather than focusing on facts, logic, and persuasion, liberals find it easier to employ labeling ("That's racist!") and airy dismissal of contrary views to sway their audience, and because their authority figures in the media and academia accept this behavior, they assume it is persuasive to the rest of us. Even worse (for them), the self-reinforcement they experience in their geographical, academic and media strongholds encourages more and more extreme expression of their worldview. Within the in-group, such strong expression of group norms earns prestige. But to the rest of society it becomes stranger and stranger, until it becomes repellant".
The Democrat love-affair with evil: "So what is the real reason the Democrats seem so eager to help Al Qaeda? There are two reasons: they like America and Republicans even less than they like Al Qaeda. Bleeding heart Democrats were once known to be pro criminal, and now they are know to be pro terrorist. They were and to a large, but quieter, extent still are pro criminal because they believed an evil, capitalist, individualistic, Republican America produced criminals, and so they did everything they could to coddle criminals and blame America for producing them. Fortunately, as crime then rose, the Democrats descended. But now the Democrats are back at the same concept with their pro-terrorist theme".
Canadians bow down to Islam: "On December 2, the Liberal candidate for Mississauga-Erindale, Omar Alghabra, made his victory speech after winning the nomination. In that speech, he reportedly exhorted his audience, "This is a victory for Islam! Islam won! Islam Won! ... Islamic power is extending into Canadian politics". Alghabra's victory speech was delivered to an audience of several hundred in the Coptic Christian Centre of the Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius in Mississauga. David Ragheb, a member of the congregation, reported that following Alghabra's victory speech, Markham Councillor Khalid Osman took to the stage and declared, "We have the east, we have the west, and now we have Mississauga!" to cheers and applause from the audience. Ragheb also reported that Rogers Cable was present throughout and may have filmed the event. "A member of parliament is supposed to represent my concerns about taxes and roads in Mississauga, not promote an Islamic agenda," said Ragheb. Victor Fouad, a Coptic Christian, was disturbed to hear of such Islamist rhetoric from a Liberal who could easily become a Canadian parliamentarian. Mr. Fouad assumed that Paul Martin would likewise disapprove of such incitement by a Liberal candidate, and so wrote to the Prime Minister detailing what had happened. That message was ignored. The event took place over 2 weeks ago, and Paul Martin's silence since that time can only be interpreted as approval of Mr. Alghabra's rhetoric".
With liberty and cacophony for all: "Last month's riots in France reminded me -- not that I needed reminding -- that I'm glad I emigrated to the United States and not to France. As is known by now, the Paris rioters went on a rampage because they, the children of immigrants, had long felt like second-class citizens in France, the land of their birth. After decades of being discriminated against and shut out from the mainstream, the dam apparently broke recently. Across the Atlantic here in this country, it is a different, more positive story. A group of us Indian-American immigrants sat around recently, talking, reminiscing, all with similar backgrounds: all had had a middle-class Indian upbringing, had been in this country for a decade or more, had come here with essentially the same things -- a good education, two suitcases and the proverbial 10 dollars in our pockets. And all had, through a combination of frugality, resilience, positive attitude and hard work, pursued and achieved the American Dream, more or less. Lest we get self-congratulatory, however, one in the group put it in proper perspective: Yes, we had done well, he said, but the credit goes, in large part, to the country and society in which we live."
In response to my recent posts about the U.S. birthrate a reader has sent me some interesting anecdotes and observations about which groups in the U.S. population are having the babies. I have posted the email here
China Hand has just put up his Christmas wishes together with some festive photos from China.
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
The Vatican opposed the American invasion but now supports the American presence!
So during the months of the war in Iraq, various and sometimes opposing approaches operated at the highest levels of the Church, under the insignia of pope Wojtlya. But these different approaches were essentially reconciled beginning in the autumn of 2003. The turning point was the terrorist bloodbath in Nassiriya on November 12. And the new orientation was marked by cardinal Ruini's homily at the Mass for the nineteen Italians who were killed:
"To love even our enemies: this is the great treasure that we must not permit to be stolen from our consciences and our hearts, not even on the part of the terrorist assassins. We will not run away from them, but will face them with all the courage, energy, and determination of which we are capable. But we will not hate them; on the contrary, we will not grow weary of exerting ourselves to make them understand that all of our effort, including our military effort, is aimed at safeguarding and promoting a humane coexistence in which there is room and dignity for every people, culture, and religion."
From that point onward, beginning with that memorable "we will not run away," the Holy See consistently defined, not as an "occupation," but as a "mission of peace," the presence of Western troops in Iraq in defense of the nascent democracy.
This same realist line, which had forcefully opposed the war at the Vatican, now defended its results and demanded that the soldiers remain in Iraq as long as necessary, to safeguard the formation of a new order, free and peaceful, which, as precarious as it might be, is seen as much more acceptable than leaving this crucial country to its own devices.
More here
**********************************
ELSEWHERE
Projection again: It's the Leftists who live in a "bubble": "To a remarkable degree, America's liberal elites have constructed for themselves a comfortable, supportive, and self esteem-enhancing environment. The most prestigious and widest-reaching media outlets reinforce their views, rock stars and film makers provide lyrics and stories making their points, college professors tell them they are right, and the biggest foundations like Ford fund studies to prove them correct. It has been a disaster for them..... As a result, liberal discourse has become an in-group code, perfectly understandable and comforting among the elect, but increasingly disconnected from everyone else, and off-putting to those not included in the ranks of the in-group. Rather than focusing on facts, logic, and persuasion, liberals find it easier to employ labeling ("That's racist!") and airy dismissal of contrary views to sway their audience, and because their authority figures in the media and academia accept this behavior, they assume it is persuasive to the rest of us. Even worse (for them), the self-reinforcement they experience in their geographical, academic and media strongholds encourages more and more extreme expression of their worldview. Within the in-group, such strong expression of group norms earns prestige. But to the rest of society it becomes stranger and stranger, until it becomes repellant".
The Democrat love-affair with evil: "So what is the real reason the Democrats seem so eager to help Al Qaeda? There are two reasons: they like America and Republicans even less than they like Al Qaeda. Bleeding heart Democrats were once known to be pro criminal, and now they are know to be pro terrorist. They were and to a large, but quieter, extent still are pro criminal because they believed an evil, capitalist, individualistic, Republican America produced criminals, and so they did everything they could to coddle criminals and blame America for producing them. Fortunately, as crime then rose, the Democrats descended. But now the Democrats are back at the same concept with their pro-terrorist theme".
Canadians bow down to Islam: "On December 2, the Liberal candidate for Mississauga-Erindale, Omar Alghabra, made his victory speech after winning the nomination. In that speech, he reportedly exhorted his audience, "This is a victory for Islam! Islam won! Islam Won! ... Islamic power is extending into Canadian politics". Alghabra's victory speech was delivered to an audience of several hundred in the Coptic Christian Centre of the Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius in Mississauga. David Ragheb, a member of the congregation, reported that following Alghabra's victory speech, Markham Councillor Khalid Osman took to the stage and declared, "We have the east, we have the west, and now we have Mississauga!" to cheers and applause from the audience. Ragheb also reported that Rogers Cable was present throughout and may have filmed the event. "A member of parliament is supposed to represent my concerns about taxes and roads in Mississauga, not promote an Islamic agenda," said Ragheb. Victor Fouad, a Coptic Christian, was disturbed to hear of such Islamist rhetoric from a Liberal who could easily become a Canadian parliamentarian. Mr. Fouad assumed that Paul Martin would likewise disapprove of such incitement by a Liberal candidate, and so wrote to the Prime Minister detailing what had happened. That message was ignored. The event took place over 2 weeks ago, and Paul Martin's silence since that time can only be interpreted as approval of Mr. Alghabra's rhetoric".
With liberty and cacophony for all: "Last month's riots in France reminded me -- not that I needed reminding -- that I'm glad I emigrated to the United States and not to France. As is known by now, the Paris rioters went on a rampage because they, the children of immigrants, had long felt like second-class citizens in France, the land of their birth. After decades of being discriminated against and shut out from the mainstream, the dam apparently broke recently. Across the Atlantic here in this country, it is a different, more positive story. A group of us Indian-American immigrants sat around recently, talking, reminiscing, all with similar backgrounds: all had had a middle-class Indian upbringing, had been in this country for a decade or more, had come here with essentially the same things -- a good education, two suitcases and the proverbial 10 dollars in our pockets. And all had, through a combination of frugality, resilience, positive attitude and hard work, pursued and achieved the American Dream, more or less. Lest we get self-congratulatory, however, one in the group put it in proper perspective: Yes, we had done well, he said, but the credit goes, in large part, to the country and society in which we live."
In response to my recent posts about the U.S. birthrate a reader has sent me some interesting anecdotes and observations about which groups in the U.S. population are having the babies. I have posted the email here
China Hand has just put up his Christmas wishes together with some festive photos from China.
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Friday, December 23, 2005
NEW FORMAT?
I believe that users of some minority browsers (Firefox?) are having trouble with this page seeming wider than the screen. It is because of the Table I posted on 22nd. IE handles it with no problems so the solution is to switch to IE or use the mirror site for a week or so until the table drops off the front page. The problem could also be caused by a low screen resolution so setting your browser or your screen to a higher resolution should help.
**********************************
I believe that users of some minority browsers (Firefox?) are having trouble with this page seeming wider than the screen. It is because of the Table I posted on 22nd. IE handles it with no problems so the solution is to switch to IE or use the mirror site for a week or so until the table drops off the front page. The problem could also be caused by a low screen resolution so setting your browser or your screen to a higher resolution should help.
**********************************
INTERESTING DATA: STUPID INTERPRETATION
New research by economists Professor Andrew Oswald at the University of Warwick, and Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee at London University's Institute of Education, reveals that the more daughters a family has the more likely the parents are to vote for left of centre parties. Sons, by contrast, make people more right-wing.... On average, each daughter raises the likelihood of left-wing voting by 2% percentage probability points....
The researchers believe there are subconscious reasons behind the observed voting decisions. Women, they argue, are inherently collectivist while men are individualistic. They point out that because there is pay discrimination against women, and females put greater importance on public spending on issues like community safety, females are thus intrinsically more left-wing than males. As men acquire female children, those men gradually shift their political stance and, through subconscious concern for their daughters, become sympathetic to the "female" desire for more public spending and thus a steeper income tax schedule. Similarly, a mother with many sons becomes sympathetic to the "male" case for lower taxes and a smaller supply of public goods....
Source
If women are inherently more Leftist, how come GWB got roughly 50% of the female vote in the 2004 Presidential election? The finding above more probably reflects some hormonal influence
**********************************
Brookes News Update
Clinton's boom holds lessons for Bush: By raising interest rates the fed has confessed that they had been forced below their market level
Australian economy: why the jobs figures are dangerously misleading: Tightening labour markets are not always indicative of economic growth. That Terry McCrann thinks otherwise is typical of our economic commentariat, despite the fact that classical economists knew better
How Australia's rightwing managed to discredit labour market reform: A competent economist would have immediately pointed out that there is no economic law that says free labour markets are sufficient or even necessary to promote productivity and economic growth. The 1960s is ample proof of this fact
Media lies about President Bush and "mass spying": Taking their cue from the NYT the media falsely accused Bush of mass spying against Americans. The media are the real scandal here -- not George W. Bush
Lebanese Muslim thugs spark riots and the media blame "racist" Australians: Lebanese Muslim goons have been terrorizing locals for years without a peep from those leftwing bigots who call themselves journalists
Muslim bigots impose blasphemy laws on Victoria: The Bracks Government suspended free speech in Victoria by imposing a blasphemy law dressed up as an anti-vilification law. Moreover, an EOC member who is a Muslim bigot conspired to persecute two Christian pastors
Letter to an American Soldier: We will not allow them to sully your honor or your service. We will not allow them to throw mud into the blood you have spilled
Kanye West 2006?: Good luck to Kanye and his political aspirations. Better yet, Kanye, don't give up your day job
Attempt to assassinate Iran's President fails: Rebels attacked Iran's Presidential convoy
*************************
ELSEWHERE
The Left are always claiming that the GOP are in the pocket of big business. There is an absolutely scandalous story just up on EDUCATION WATCH, which, I regret to say, confirms that accusation.
Chinese Repressed Again in Dongzhou: "Two weeks after a protest that culminated in gunfire and bloodshed, the rebellious farmers and fishermen of Dongzhou have been reduced to submission. Authorities have sealed off the seaside village and flooded its streets and lanes with police patrols, residents said, and an unknown number of men have been summoned by a knock on the door and hauled away for interrogation."
Apologists for evil out in force: "He co-founded the Crips gang to protect his neighborhood, not kill people or run drugs, and Stanley Tookie Williams died an innocent man, wrongly executed for four murders he did not commit. That's how celebrities, religious leaders and former and current gang members remembered the man who was executed last week for the 1979 murders of four people. It was a far different picture than the one painted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he refused to grant clemency to Williams who, Schwarzenegger said, did not demonstrate the remorse necessary to warrant consideration.... But Williams eventually came to renounce the Crips and other gangs, and in a tape he made from prison, he called on mourners to continue his anti-gang efforts. Teach them to promote peace and teach them to focus on rebuilding the neighborhoods that you, others and I helped to destroy," he said on the scratchy recording".
Sometimes even lawyers can do good. There is a tribute to one here. Excerpt: "Few people know that every day, American JAG officers work in Iraqi courtrooms with Iraqi judges. They prosecute insurgents. McGovern did not know. But after the Akbar case, he was sent to Iraq to do just that. He would charge insurgents with murder and attempted murder. If he did not have quite enough evidence to get them on those charges, he would bring them up on illegal border crossings. He would argue his case using Iraqi laws signed in 1969 by Saddam Hussein. In five months, he worked with more than 400 cases and had a 90 percent conviction rate. He often sat close to those insurgents everyone hears about on the evening news."
Christian persecution growing : An array of activists yesterday offered a grim assessment of religious freedom around the world, saying that 2005 years after Jesus' birth, many of His followers are severely repressed. The chief villains in a "Christmas Under Siege Around the World" panel at the Capitol were Indonesia, China, Uzbekistan, Iran and North Korea. "Anti-Christian persecution and discrimination around the world ... the mass media seem to generally ignore or downplay its gravity,"
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
New research by economists Professor Andrew Oswald at the University of Warwick, and Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee at London University's Institute of Education, reveals that the more daughters a family has the more likely the parents are to vote for left of centre parties. Sons, by contrast, make people more right-wing.... On average, each daughter raises the likelihood of left-wing voting by 2% percentage probability points....
The researchers believe there are subconscious reasons behind the observed voting decisions. Women, they argue, are inherently collectivist while men are individualistic. They point out that because there is pay discrimination against women, and females put greater importance on public spending on issues like community safety, females are thus intrinsically more left-wing than males. As men acquire female children, those men gradually shift their political stance and, through subconscious concern for their daughters, become sympathetic to the "female" desire for more public spending and thus a steeper income tax schedule. Similarly, a mother with many sons becomes sympathetic to the "male" case for lower taxes and a smaller supply of public goods....
Source
If women are inherently more Leftist, how come GWB got roughly 50% of the female vote in the 2004 Presidential election? The finding above more probably reflects some hormonal influence
**********************************
Brookes News Update
Clinton's boom holds lessons for Bush: By raising interest rates the fed has confessed that they had been forced below their market level
Australian economy: why the jobs figures are dangerously misleading: Tightening labour markets are not always indicative of economic growth. That Terry McCrann thinks otherwise is typical of our economic commentariat, despite the fact that classical economists knew better
How Australia's rightwing managed to discredit labour market reform: A competent economist would have immediately pointed out that there is no economic law that says free labour markets are sufficient or even necessary to promote productivity and economic growth. The 1960s is ample proof of this fact
Media lies about President Bush and "mass spying": Taking their cue from the NYT the media falsely accused Bush of mass spying against Americans. The media are the real scandal here -- not George W. Bush
Lebanese Muslim thugs spark riots and the media blame "racist" Australians: Lebanese Muslim goons have been terrorizing locals for years without a peep from those leftwing bigots who call themselves journalists
Muslim bigots impose blasphemy laws on Victoria: The Bracks Government suspended free speech in Victoria by imposing a blasphemy law dressed up as an anti-vilification law. Moreover, an EOC member who is a Muslim bigot conspired to persecute two Christian pastors
Letter to an American Soldier: We will not allow them to sully your honor or your service. We will not allow them to throw mud into the blood you have spilled
Kanye West 2006?: Good luck to Kanye and his political aspirations. Better yet, Kanye, don't give up your day job
Attempt to assassinate Iran's President fails: Rebels attacked Iran's Presidential convoy
*************************
ELSEWHERE
The Left are always claiming that the GOP are in the pocket of big business. There is an absolutely scandalous story just up on EDUCATION WATCH, which, I regret to say, confirms that accusation.
Chinese Repressed Again in Dongzhou: "Two weeks after a protest that culminated in gunfire and bloodshed, the rebellious farmers and fishermen of Dongzhou have been reduced to submission. Authorities have sealed off the seaside village and flooded its streets and lanes with police patrols, residents said, and an unknown number of men have been summoned by a knock on the door and hauled away for interrogation."
Apologists for evil out in force: "He co-founded the Crips gang to protect his neighborhood, not kill people or run drugs, and Stanley Tookie Williams died an innocent man, wrongly executed for four murders he did not commit. That's how celebrities, religious leaders and former and current gang members remembered the man who was executed last week for the 1979 murders of four people. It was a far different picture than the one painted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he refused to grant clemency to Williams who, Schwarzenegger said, did not demonstrate the remorse necessary to warrant consideration.... But Williams eventually came to renounce the Crips and other gangs, and in a tape he made from prison, he called on mourners to continue his anti-gang efforts. Teach them to promote peace and teach them to focus on rebuilding the neighborhoods that you, others and I helped to destroy," he said on the scratchy recording".
Sometimes even lawyers can do good. There is a tribute to one here. Excerpt: "Few people know that every day, American JAG officers work in Iraqi courtrooms with Iraqi judges. They prosecute insurgents. McGovern did not know. But after the Akbar case, he was sent to Iraq to do just that. He would charge insurgents with murder and attempted murder. If he did not have quite enough evidence to get them on those charges, he would bring them up on illegal border crossings. He would argue his case using Iraqi laws signed in 1969 by Saddam Hussein. In five months, he worked with more than 400 cases and had a 90 percent conviction rate. He often sat close to those insurgents everyone hears about on the evening news."
Christian persecution growing : An array of activists yesterday offered a grim assessment of religious freedom around the world, saying that 2005 years after Jesus' birth, many of His followers are severely repressed. The chief villains in a "Christmas Under Siege Around the World" panel at the Capitol were Indonesia, China, Uzbekistan, Iran and North Korea. "Anti-Christian persecution and discrimination around the world ... the mass media seem to generally ignore or downplay its gravity,"
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Skin colour and brain activity genetically linked?
German (Austrian?) geneticist Volkmar Weiss has just pointed out that the effect of the recently identified skin color gene SLC24A5, which makes the difference between the white race and other races (See here), is more than skin deep. SLC24A5 is also active in the brain (See here).
Given the statistical linkage between IQ and skin colour (See for instance the Table below), that should not really be too surprising but there are none so blind as those who will not see. The Table is from an article by Donald Templer and Hiroko Arikawa that is in press at the journal Intelligence.
There are more details and some commentary about the article from which the table above is taken here but you need to scroll down to get to it. And see here for some interesting comments on Volkmar Weiss's observation.
********************************
German (Austrian?) geneticist Volkmar Weiss has just pointed out that the effect of the recently identified skin color gene SLC24A5, which makes the difference between the white race and other races (See here), is more than skin deep. SLC24A5 is also active in the brain (See here).
Given the statistical linkage between IQ and skin colour (See for instance the Table below), that should not really be too surprising but there are none so blind as those who will not see. The Table is from an article by Donald Templer and Hiroko Arikawa that is in press at the journal Intelligence.
There are more details and some commentary about the article from which the table above is taken here but you need to scroll down to get to it. And see here for some interesting comments on Volkmar Weiss's observation.
********************************
ELSEWHERE
Poor whites keeping the U.S. birthrate up? There is a big table of statistics here on female fertility in the USA. The figures that I found most interesting were from non-Hispanic whites aged 35 to 44. Women of that age will have mostly completed their families and the difference between the over 40 and under 40 sectors were in fact slight. Around 20% had NEVER had children, which, to the best of my knowledge, is what it has always been. There were plenty of maiden aunts in Victorian and Edwardian England, for instance. But most encouraging was the no. of children per woman in that age and racial group. At around 1.8 it is quite high compared with Europe. How many of the whites concerned were poor whites is however another matter. My guess would be that the white American birthrate is so high mainly because America has a lot of poor whites. In welfare states, of course, nobody is really poor.
Islamic Jew-hatred: "Outsiders are rarely aware of how intense the Muslim world's Jew-hatred is. "What has surprised me is the virulence of this new anti-Semitism throughout all the Muslim countries," the distinguished journalist and editor Harold Evans wrote in 2002. "It is frenzied, vociferous, paranoid, vicious, and prolific, and is only incidentally connected to the Palestinian conflict." It is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that accounts for this loathing of Jews. It is the loathing of Jews that accounts for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obsessive anti-Semitism almost always characterizes the most dangerous threats to America and the West. Nazism, Communism, Islamofascism -- one thing they have in common is intense anti-Semitism. Which is why Ahmadinejad's strident rhetoric should be setting off urgent alarms. Dictators who talk about wiping nations from the face of the earth generally mean what they say. We should know by now that it isn't only Jews who are endangered by the mullahs and their threats. All of us are. And time is wasting".
The German sickness: "Stern magazine (Germany's # 1 magazine by circulation) has finally discovered why life is so rotten in Germany these days. The Western world is breaking apart and its all America's fault. This time it's a commentary in Stern magazine with a dramatic title: "America is destroying the West." Like so many Stern pieces, this article has all the tell-tale elements of the perverted view of America that has come to dominate and cloud the minds of many in the German media establishment".
Stupid German Leftist women embrace Islam: " More than 1,000 people converted to Islam in Germany this year, the highest figure on record, and the majority were women who were not married to a Muslim, according to a report this week. "This is a considerable rise," Salim Abdullah, the director of the Central Institute of Islamic Archives in Germany, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. The Institute said its statistics showed that 14,352 of the 3.2mn Muslims in Germany are of German descent. More than 60% of the converts to Muslim are women and most of them are "university-educated and affluent", Abdullah said. Only a small percentage converted to Islam as a result of marrying a Muslim.
Dennis Prager comments: "Jews who support the Christian right are "Uncle Jakes." So says a pro-Israeli Jewish official in his recent column for the Israel Policy Forum, a pro-Israel organization. "Uncle Jake" is M. J. Rosenberg's term for Jewish equivalent of "Uncle Tom." Just as the left sees conservative blacks as traitors to African-Americans, so it sees conservative Jews as traitors to the Jewish people. I am the "Uncle Jake" most criticized in the Rosenberg column. That a Jew on the left would use this term to describe Jews who support conservative Christians gives one an idea of how irrational, how hysterical are the arguments of the Jewish (and non-Jewish) left. And lacking a rational basis, they frequently rely on name-calling... The use of this smear is the tactic of those who cannot argue".
Freeman calls Black History Month `ridiculous': Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous." "You're going to relegate my history to a month?" the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." Black History Month has roots in historian Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week, which he designated in 1926 as the second week in February to mark the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Woodson said he hoped the week could one day be eliminated - when black history would become fundamental to American history. Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."
Arnie strikes back: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city. The governor's request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger's decision last week to deny clemency to condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria".
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Poor whites keeping the U.S. birthrate up? There is a big table of statistics here on female fertility in the USA. The figures that I found most interesting were from non-Hispanic whites aged 35 to 44. Women of that age will have mostly completed their families and the difference between the over 40 and under 40 sectors were in fact slight. Around 20% had NEVER had children, which, to the best of my knowledge, is what it has always been. There were plenty of maiden aunts in Victorian and Edwardian England, for instance. But most encouraging was the no. of children per woman in that age and racial group. At around 1.8 it is quite high compared with Europe. How many of the whites concerned were poor whites is however another matter. My guess would be that the white American birthrate is so high mainly because America has a lot of poor whites. In welfare states, of course, nobody is really poor.
Islamic Jew-hatred: "Outsiders are rarely aware of how intense the Muslim world's Jew-hatred is. "What has surprised me is the virulence of this new anti-Semitism throughout all the Muslim countries," the distinguished journalist and editor Harold Evans wrote in 2002. "It is frenzied, vociferous, paranoid, vicious, and prolific, and is only incidentally connected to the Palestinian conflict." It is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that accounts for this loathing of Jews. It is the loathing of Jews that accounts for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obsessive anti-Semitism almost always characterizes the most dangerous threats to America and the West. Nazism, Communism, Islamofascism -- one thing they have in common is intense anti-Semitism. Which is why Ahmadinejad's strident rhetoric should be setting off urgent alarms. Dictators who talk about wiping nations from the face of the earth generally mean what they say. We should know by now that it isn't only Jews who are endangered by the mullahs and their threats. All of us are. And time is wasting".
The German sickness: "Stern magazine (Germany's # 1 magazine by circulation) has finally discovered why life is so rotten in Germany these days. The Western world is breaking apart and its all America's fault. This time it's a commentary in Stern magazine with a dramatic title: "America is destroying the West." Like so many Stern pieces, this article has all the tell-tale elements of the perverted view of America that has come to dominate and cloud the minds of many in the German media establishment".
Stupid German Leftist women embrace Islam: " More than 1,000 people converted to Islam in Germany this year, the highest figure on record, and the majority were women who were not married to a Muslim, according to a report this week. "This is a considerable rise," Salim Abdullah, the director of the Central Institute of Islamic Archives in Germany, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. The Institute said its statistics showed that 14,352 of the 3.2mn Muslims in Germany are of German descent. More than 60% of the converts to Muslim are women and most of them are "university-educated and affluent", Abdullah said. Only a small percentage converted to Islam as a result of marrying a Muslim.
Dennis Prager comments: "Jews who support the Christian right are "Uncle Jakes." So says a pro-Israeli Jewish official in his recent column for the Israel Policy Forum, a pro-Israel organization. "Uncle Jake" is M. J. Rosenberg's term for Jewish equivalent of "Uncle Tom." Just as the left sees conservative blacks as traitors to African-Americans, so it sees conservative Jews as traitors to the Jewish people. I am the "Uncle Jake" most criticized in the Rosenberg column. That a Jew on the left would use this term to describe Jews who support conservative Christians gives one an idea of how irrational, how hysterical are the arguments of the Jewish (and non-Jewish) left. And lacking a rational basis, they frequently rely on name-calling... The use of this smear is the tactic of those who cannot argue".
Freeman calls Black History Month `ridiculous': Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous." "You're going to relegate my history to a month?" the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." Black History Month has roots in historian Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week, which he designated in 1926 as the second week in February to mark the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Woodson said he hoped the week could one day be eliminated - when black history would become fundamental to American history. Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."
Arnie strikes back: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city. The governor's request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger's decision last week to deny clemency to condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria".
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Liberalism as Socially Motivated Cognition
Excerpt below from a post by Dr Helen. My own comment on the "study" that got her dander up is here
"I have mentioned a research study by the APA entitled, Political Conservatism as Socially Motivated Cognition, that appeared biased against conservatives. The study pointed out that there had been little research done on the traits of liberals--but they must have overlooked this article in Clio Psych's Journal from 2003. Here is an excerpt from the article that mentioned research on liberals from 1982--I guess the writers of the APA's biased article did not see fit to go back that far.
And if you ever wondered why some liberals seem wishy-washy at times--this paragraph from the same article might explain things:
Hmmm.... I don't agree here that it is lack of self-esteem that would cause liberals to seem spineless. I think it is their desire to avoid responsibility at any cost".
*********************************
ELSEWHERE
There is a useful summary here of the recent Steven Pinker lecture in which Pinker came out in favour of the argument that Western Jews are genetically more intelligent than other Westerners: "Though the moderator thanked him for a very 'even-handed' presentation on a controversial topic, to my ear what Pinker presented was a spirited endorsement of the Cochran-Hardy-Harpending (CHH) paper. The presentation generally seemed to fill the need to present these controversial ideas to a very interested audience by a trusted authoritative source. It didn't seem to me that Pinker added anything that Cochran or Harpending could not have provided themselves except proximity to NYC and comfortably strong Ashkenazik credentials. Overall Pinker emphasized the reasonableness of the authors' hypotheses, the generally better quality of the genetic evidence over the environmental, the non-rational basis of much of the opposition, and the paper's strong foundation in the current state of knowledge". There is another account of the talk here.
Media New Orleans backtrack "In the traditional winter/spring crush by major newspapers to publish investigative stories that land them on finalist lists for hotly contested journalism awards, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both put forth front-page stories this weekend that dramatically contradict much of their own coverage of the disaster. The New York Times found that of 260 deaths it analyzed, "Of those who failed to heed evacuation orders, many were offered a ride or could have driven themselves out of danger," while the Los Angeles Times found that "the well-to-do died along with the poor." Despite media coverage that focused on poor blacks, of the 380 bodies formally identified in New Orleans thus far, the Los Angeles paper said, a disproportionate number were white -- as measured against the city's population"
A wonderful article here by a man who gave up journalism to join the Marines. Excerpt: "When people ask why I recently left The Wall Street Journal to join the Marines, I usually have a short answer. It felt like the time had come to stop reporting events and get more directly involved. But that's not the whole answer, and how I got to this point wasn't a straight line. It's a clich‚ that you appreciate your own country more when you live abroad, but it happens to be true. Living in China for the last seven years, I've seen that country take a giant leap from a struggling Third World country into a true world power. For many people it still comes as a surprise to learn that China is chasing Japan as the second-largest economy on the globe and could soon own a trillion dollars of American debt. But living in China also shows you what a nondemocratic country can do to its citizens. I've seen protesters tackled and beaten by plainclothes police in Tiananmen Square, and I've been videotaped by government agents while I was talking to a source. I've been arrested and forced to flush my notes down a toilet to keep the police from getting them.... When you live abroad long enough, you come to understand that governments that behave this way are not the exception, but the rule. They feel alien to us, but from the viewpoint of the world's population, we are the aliens, not them. That makes you think about protecting your country no matter who you are or what you're doing".
Now for the Senate: "House lawmakers opened the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one of their last acts of an all-night session Monday bringing their legislative year to a close".
I have just posted here a challenge to the "anti-vilification" laws in the Australian State of Victoria that have been used to prosecute two Christian pastors for quoting the Koran(!)
The latest issue of Ovi Magazine is out. I have an article or two in there somewhere. It's a magazine to browse through rather than look for particular content. Could be handy during the Christmas break.
Jim Paine is continuing his monitoring of the disgusting but basically empty-headed Prof. Ward Churchill and his supposed "Indian" ancestry. It should be a wonder that an American university continues to employ such a chronic liar but I am afraid that it is not. Leftists have never rated the truth as very important.
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Excerpt below from a post by Dr Helen. My own comment on the "study" that got her dander up is here
"I have mentioned a research study by the APA entitled, Political Conservatism as Socially Motivated Cognition, that appeared biased against conservatives. The study pointed out that there had been little research done on the traits of liberals--but they must have overlooked this article in Clio Psych's Journal from 2003. Here is an excerpt from the article that mentioned research on liberals from 1982--I guess the writers of the APA's biased article did not see fit to go back that far.
Research on the psychology of radical activists helps us to understand this mismatch between Chomsky's ideas and his personal style. In the 1970s, Stanley Rothman and Robert Lichter administered Thematic Apperception Tests to a large sample of "new left" radicals (Roots of Radicalism, 1982). They found that activists were characterized by weakened self-esteem, injured narcissism and paranoid tendencies. They were preoccupied with power and attracted to radical ideologies that offered clear and unambiguous answers to their questions. All of these traits can be found in the work of Chomsky and other anti-imperialist intellectuals.
And if you ever wondered why some liberals seem wishy-washy at times--this paragraph from the same article might explain things:
The unwillingness to offer alternatives reveals a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem. If they offered their own policy ideas they would be vulnerable to criticism. They would run the risk that their ideas would fail, or would not seem persuasive to others. This is especially difficult for anti-capitalists after the fall of the Soviet Union. It has also been difficult in the war against terrorism because Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are such unsympathetic figures. Psychologically, it is easier to blame America for not finding a solution than it is to put one's own ideas on the line.
Hmmm.... I don't agree here that it is lack of self-esteem that would cause liberals to seem spineless. I think it is their desire to avoid responsibility at any cost".
*********************************
ELSEWHERE
There is a useful summary here of the recent Steven Pinker lecture in which Pinker came out in favour of the argument that Western Jews are genetically more intelligent than other Westerners: "Though the moderator thanked him for a very 'even-handed' presentation on a controversial topic, to my ear what Pinker presented was a spirited endorsement of the Cochran-Hardy-Harpending (CHH) paper. The presentation generally seemed to fill the need to present these controversial ideas to a very interested audience by a trusted authoritative source. It didn't seem to me that Pinker added anything that Cochran or Harpending could not have provided themselves except proximity to NYC and comfortably strong Ashkenazik credentials. Overall Pinker emphasized the reasonableness of the authors' hypotheses, the generally better quality of the genetic evidence over the environmental, the non-rational basis of much of the opposition, and the paper's strong foundation in the current state of knowledge". There is another account of the talk here.
Media New Orleans backtrack "In the traditional winter/spring crush by major newspapers to publish investigative stories that land them on finalist lists for hotly contested journalism awards, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both put forth front-page stories this weekend that dramatically contradict much of their own coverage of the disaster. The New York Times found that of 260 deaths it analyzed, "Of those who failed to heed evacuation orders, many were offered a ride or could have driven themselves out of danger," while the Los Angeles Times found that "the well-to-do died along with the poor." Despite media coverage that focused on poor blacks, of the 380 bodies formally identified in New Orleans thus far, the Los Angeles paper said, a disproportionate number were white -- as measured against the city's population"
A wonderful article here by a man who gave up journalism to join the Marines. Excerpt: "When people ask why I recently left The Wall Street Journal to join the Marines, I usually have a short answer. It felt like the time had come to stop reporting events and get more directly involved. But that's not the whole answer, and how I got to this point wasn't a straight line. It's a clich‚ that you appreciate your own country more when you live abroad, but it happens to be true. Living in China for the last seven years, I've seen that country take a giant leap from a struggling Third World country into a true world power. For many people it still comes as a surprise to learn that China is chasing Japan as the second-largest economy on the globe and could soon own a trillion dollars of American debt. But living in China also shows you what a nondemocratic country can do to its citizens. I've seen protesters tackled and beaten by plainclothes police in Tiananmen Square, and I've been videotaped by government agents while I was talking to a source. I've been arrested and forced to flush my notes down a toilet to keep the police from getting them.... When you live abroad long enough, you come to understand that governments that behave this way are not the exception, but the rule. They feel alien to us, but from the viewpoint of the world's population, we are the aliens, not them. That makes you think about protecting your country no matter who you are or what you're doing".
Now for the Senate: "House lawmakers opened the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one of their last acts of an all-night session Monday bringing their legislative year to a close".
I have just posted here a challenge to the "anti-vilification" laws in the Australian State of Victoria that have been used to prosecute two Christian pastors for quoting the Koran(!)
The latest issue of Ovi Magazine is out. I have an article or two in there somewhere. It's a magazine to browse through rather than look for particular content. Could be handy during the Christmas break.
Jim Paine is continuing his monitoring of the disgusting but basically empty-headed Prof. Ward Churchill and his supposed "Indian" ancestry. It should be a wonder that an American university continues to employ such a chronic liar but I am afraid that it is not. Leftists have never rated the truth as very important.
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
RACE IS REAL -- AGAIN
Even mentioning the word "race" makes one into something of a polecat these days but reality does not go away because it has become unfashionable and reality is my no. 1 interest in life. The only "reality" Leftists have in mind when they claim to be "reality-based" is their devotion to a theory! And the theory concerned -- evolution -- is a highly imperfect one!
Anyway, there are a few scientists -- mostly Asian -- who continue to do research on human genetics that includes mention of race. And they of course uniformly find that the allegedly "social" construct of race in fact has an overwhelmingly genetic basis. The more genetic markers they use, the more accurately they can tell what your racial origins are. I reproduce the abstract of the latest such study -- by Tang et al -- below. Note that they could even pick out Hispanics reliably on the basis of their genes -- presumably because Amerindians are distinct genetically and "Hispanics" are in fact mostly Amerindian.
Still, I suppose all those Leftist "intellectuals" who cannot believe the evidence of their own eyes as they walk down the street (all those black skins are "socially constructed", don't you know?) are not going to be much moved by research of any kind. The PDF of the whole study is here
****************************
ELSEWHERE
There is a post here which is a very good example of Leftist elitism. The writer dismisses the Iraq election on the grounds that Iraqis are too simple to have minds of their own. So a nice dictatorship is all that they are fit for. And did you know that the only reason American troops are in Iraq is "Bush's vanity"? A lot of these Leftists really are sick puppies.
Adult Stem Cell Research Discovery Could Change Entire Embryonic Debate: "Scientists at the University of Louisville say they have made a discovery of a certain kind of adult stem cell they say could drastically change the debate about embryonic stem cell research. The researchers have reportedly found stem cells from adult mice to change into brain, nerve, heart muscle and pancreatic cells. The ability to take on the characteristics of other cells is the primary selling point for using embryonic stem cells, which can only be obtained by destroying unborn children in their earliest days. The discovery could greatly expand the dozens of therapies and treatments already available from adult stem cells and the researcher say it could end the entire stem cell research debate. "We have found a counterpart for embryonic stem cells in adult bone marrow. This could negate the ethical concerns""
Michigan Brownshirts Rampage for Race Quotas: "Momentum continues to build for a noisy showdown over racial preferences in Michigan. Just how ugly the issue could become was starkly demonstrated last week in Lansing, the state capital. The state’s Board of Canvassers, a four-person body split by law between Democrats and Republicans, was meeting to decide whether to certify for the 2006 ballot a referendum that would ban the use of race in state hiring and admissions policies. But no sooner had the meeting started than a mob of mostly black students from Detroit schools, led by a radical national outfit calling itself By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), stormed the building, overturning tables, jumping on chairs, stomping their feet and yelling “They say Jim Crow – We say hell no.”"
If you have broadband (or a lot of patience) there are some excellent and revealing photos here which were taken outside the gates of San Quentin Prison on the evening of December 12, 2005 during a vigil marking the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. They show the Left at their looniest and most intolerant and also show the media displaying their usual bias.
Hopeless British Tories: "But the Cameron thing is not a revival of Conservatism. Early indications are that the arrival of this apparently young, dynamic leader may well boost his party's standing in the polls. But in political terms, his accession marks the final demise of anything that might be recognised as a Tory Party. The political emptying-out of Conservatism, a process that has been proceeding in faltering fashion for some time, is now set to accelerate towards a conclusion. Many comparisons have been made between Cameron and prime minister Tony Blair. Here is one that seems to have escaped the notice of most commentators. We now effectively have a non-Tory leading the Conservative Party, to go with our non-Labourite leader of the Labour Party".
Apply zero tolerance to something that matters : "He was once in the Air Force, he says, refueling jet fighters. He once worked for a military contractor, building nose cones for missile defense systems. But he can't work for the city of Scottsdale. The city this week pushed Garrett Ross out of his job as a building inspector. This, because of a 4-year-old speeding ticket. Or more precisely, his failure to disclose said speeding ticket when he applied for his job in 2004. How the city and its bureaucrats managed to survive with such a hardened criminal in their midst is beyond me. Fortunately, they caught on last month. 'This letter is your notice that under the provisions of Sec. 14-74 of the Scottsdale Revised Code request that your presence is required at a Pre-Termination Hearing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005 ... ,' said a Nov. 29 ungrammatical letter from Frank Gray, general manager of Planning and Development Services."
See here for America's first libertarian student newspaper, the Pennsylvania Independent. They aim to make sure the next generations of Americans value liberty, and hope to be the first in what is to be a rightward shift toward libertarian principles and values. It has some good articles.
Chris Brand has just done a new lot of posts -- on his usual themes of IQ and race.
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Even mentioning the word "race" makes one into something of a polecat these days but reality does not go away because it has become unfashionable and reality is my no. 1 interest in life. The only "reality" Leftists have in mind when they claim to be "reality-based" is their devotion to a theory! And the theory concerned -- evolution -- is a highly imperfect one!
Anyway, there are a few scientists -- mostly Asian -- who continue to do research on human genetics that includes mention of race. And they of course uniformly find that the allegedly "social" construct of race in fact has an overwhelmingly genetic basis. The more genetic markers they use, the more accurately they can tell what your racial origins are. I reproduce the abstract of the latest such study -- by Tang et al -- below. Note that they could even pick out Hispanics reliably on the basis of their genes -- presumably because Amerindians are distinct genetically and "Hispanics" are in fact mostly Amerindian.
"We have analyzed genetic data for 326 microsatellite markers that were typed uniformly in a large multiethnic population-based sample of individuals as part of a study of the genetics of hypertension (Family Blood Pressure Program). Subjects identified themselves as belonging to one of four major racial/ethnic groups (white, African American, East Asian, and Hispanic) and were recruited from 15 different geographic locales within the United States and Taiwan. Genetic cluster analysis of the microsatellite markers produced four major clusters, which showed near-perfect correspondence with the four self-reported race/ethnicity categories. Of 3,636 subjects of varying race/ ethnicity, only 5 (0.14%) showed genetic cluster membership different from their self-identified race/ethnicity. On the other hand, we detected only modest genetic differentiation between different current geographic locales within each race/ethnicity group. Thus, ancient geographic ancestry, which is highly correlated with self-identified race/ ethnicity-as opposed to current residence-is the major determinant of genetic structure in the U.S. population. Implications of this genetic structure for case-control association studies are discussed".
Still, I suppose all those Leftist "intellectuals" who cannot believe the evidence of their own eyes as they walk down the street (all those black skins are "socially constructed", don't you know?) are not going to be much moved by research of any kind. The PDF of the whole study is here
****************************
ELSEWHERE
There is a post here which is a very good example of Leftist elitism. The writer dismisses the Iraq election on the grounds that Iraqis are too simple to have minds of their own. So a nice dictatorship is all that they are fit for. And did you know that the only reason American troops are in Iraq is "Bush's vanity"? A lot of these Leftists really are sick puppies.
Adult Stem Cell Research Discovery Could Change Entire Embryonic Debate: "Scientists at the University of Louisville say they have made a discovery of a certain kind of adult stem cell they say could drastically change the debate about embryonic stem cell research. The researchers have reportedly found stem cells from adult mice to change into brain, nerve, heart muscle and pancreatic cells. The ability to take on the characteristics of other cells is the primary selling point for using embryonic stem cells, which can only be obtained by destroying unborn children in their earliest days. The discovery could greatly expand the dozens of therapies and treatments already available from adult stem cells and the researcher say it could end the entire stem cell research debate. "We have found a counterpart for embryonic stem cells in adult bone marrow. This could negate the ethical concerns""
Michigan Brownshirts Rampage for Race Quotas: "Momentum continues to build for a noisy showdown over racial preferences in Michigan. Just how ugly the issue could become was starkly demonstrated last week in Lansing, the state capital. The state’s Board of Canvassers, a four-person body split by law between Democrats and Republicans, was meeting to decide whether to certify for the 2006 ballot a referendum that would ban the use of race in state hiring and admissions policies. But no sooner had the meeting started than a mob of mostly black students from Detroit schools, led by a radical national outfit calling itself By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), stormed the building, overturning tables, jumping on chairs, stomping their feet and yelling “They say Jim Crow – We say hell no.”"
If you have broadband (or a lot of patience) there are some excellent and revealing photos here which were taken outside the gates of San Quentin Prison on the evening of December 12, 2005 during a vigil marking the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. They show the Left at their looniest and most intolerant and also show the media displaying their usual bias.
Hopeless British Tories: "But the Cameron thing is not a revival of Conservatism. Early indications are that the arrival of this apparently young, dynamic leader may well boost his party's standing in the polls. But in political terms, his accession marks the final demise of anything that might be recognised as a Tory Party. The political emptying-out of Conservatism, a process that has been proceeding in faltering fashion for some time, is now set to accelerate towards a conclusion. Many comparisons have been made between Cameron and prime minister Tony Blair. Here is one that seems to have escaped the notice of most commentators. We now effectively have a non-Tory leading the Conservative Party, to go with our non-Labourite leader of the Labour Party".
Apply zero tolerance to something that matters : "He was once in the Air Force, he says, refueling jet fighters. He once worked for a military contractor, building nose cones for missile defense systems. But he can't work for the city of Scottsdale. The city this week pushed Garrett Ross out of his job as a building inspector. This, because of a 4-year-old speeding ticket. Or more precisely, his failure to disclose said speeding ticket when he applied for his job in 2004. How the city and its bureaucrats managed to survive with such a hardened criminal in their midst is beyond me. Fortunately, they caught on last month. 'This letter is your notice that under the provisions of Sec. 14-74 of the Scottsdale Revised Code request that your presence is required at a Pre-Termination Hearing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005 ... ,' said a Nov. 29 ungrammatical letter from Frank Gray, general manager of Planning and Development Services."
See here for America's first libertarian student newspaper, the Pennsylvania Independent. They aim to make sure the next generations of Americans value liberty, and hope to be the first in what is to be a rightward shift toward libertarian principles and values. It has some good articles.
Chris Brand has just done a new lot of posts -- on his usual themes of IQ and race.
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Monday, December 19, 2005
THE MASK SLIPS
Thomas Lifson gets it. Just an excerpt:
The past year has seen a spate of shocking statements revealing hatred and contempt for President Bush and his supporters on the part of important media figures who claim objectivity and sneer at conservatives unafraid to characterize themselves as such. Regrettably, we cannot credit a sudden outbreak of honesty for this phenomenon, and thereby anticipate improved news coverage from these folks. A pathology is at work.
A sudden loss of status and influence is a profound shock to most people who have spent their lives aimed at the acquisition and enjoyment of socio-political standing. Relieved of the ability to shape the consciousness and behavior of others, a certain number unburden themselves of the inner restraints which kept them from openly voicing the condescension and scorn they have for those whom they regard as their social, intellectual, and moral inferiors.
The rise of alternate media - talk radio, Fox News, and the internet - has not simply allowed competing voices to be heard in the public square, it has robbed many media grandees of the ultimate reward of their striving after careers as shapers of mass opinion. Some have become unbalanced mentally, and emotionally overwhelmed by the loss. They strike out with blind fury at their "enemies" (the subjects whom they have covered as "unbiased" journalists), and thereby let the mask of objectivity slip from their faces, revealing spiteful, arrogant and bigoted visages. By dismissing those who disagree with them as unworthy of consideration, they expose to light the long-hidden dark vision of the rest of humanity that enables them to regard themselves as worthy.
***********************
ELSEWHERE
Another example of antisemitic stupidity from a black political leader: "A Dallas city councilman is accusing a councilwoman of making an insensitive religious comment during a heated argument Thursday. Councilwoman Maxine Thornton-Reese made a remark about Jews during a backroom debate regarding police response to burglar alarms, Councilman Mitchell Rsansky said. NBC 5 reported that both council members returned to the council chamber visibly shaken and that Rsansky told other members what Reese had allegedly said. Councilman Ron Natinsky described the comment as "you Jews controlling city hall," and said it was "fairly shocking." Anti-Defamation League representative Mark Briskman called on Reese to apologize. "This specific incident is very hurtful, very troubling, and I think it would be appropriate that there be an apology," Briskman said. Reese has promised a written response about her comment, NBC 5 reported".
House lawmakers call for new border fence : "The House called for construction of a fence along parts of the U.S. border from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico as a bill aimed at shutting down illegal immigration moved forward Thursday. The two-layered fence, about 700 miles long, would be built in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The provisions, passed 260-159, put priority on construction near Laredo, Texas. The city is across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where warring drug cartels have been blamed for more than 140 murders this year."
Illegals bill drops felony provision : "The House Judiciary Committee chairman yesterday backed off his provision to make illegal aliens felons and instead proposed a misdemeanor charge for unlawful presence, angering some Republicans who wanted the higher penalty. The House is expected to vote today on a border enforcement and employee work verification bill, which calls for more U.S. Border Patrol agents, mandatory database checks of employees' eligibility to work, expanding expedited removal of illegal aliens and allowing sheriffs along the border to help enforce immigration law. Some Republicans already were threatening to try to block the bill if they didn't get a chance to vote on amendments such as ending birthright citizenship and allowing local authorities to aid federal immigration officials. Yesterday's change just fueled their determination."
Potomac Fever: "Congress is being criticized for funding pork projects and for a general lack of fiscal restraint. Many people agree that there is a spending problem in Washington, but not many understand the fundamental causes. Why have Republicans abandoned their pledge in the 1994 Contract with America to cut 'government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money?' Did the GOP simply decide that it was good politics to buy votes with lavish special-interest spending? That is one cause of the budget crisis, but not the core problem. With the extraordinarily high reelection rates in Congress, any political advantage gained from special-interest spending is not crucial. The real problem is the pro-spending mindset ingrained in long-time legislators. It's called 'Potomac Fever,' and it causes members of Congress to see themselves as philanthropists with unlimited means to solve every problem in society."
Federal telephone excise taxes and you: "Some readers undoubtedly know that they pay a three percent federal excise tax on telephone service. Fewer may recall that the tax was enacted in 1898 as a temporary tax to fund the Spanish-American War and remains in place to this day, which is as good a reason as those countless others to be cynical about any government promise. What even fewer may have heard is that there are finally some cracks in the federal tax machine, thanks to federal appeals courts which are marching one-by-one toward voiding at least the part of that tax that applies to 'toll telephone' or long distance service."
Skewed tax cut spin : "Here's what you get from the New York Times when you try to honor Americans' innate, you might think, right to enjoy the fruits of their labors. You get: '(T)he House passed (a) tax bill . . . that would drain the Treasury of $56 billion of additional revenue over the next five years' -- a measure 'both unaffordable and gratuitous,' not to mention 'morally reprehensible.' All I can say is, let's hope that next year, the House and the Senate get really reprehensible. So low-down, so sleazy and gratuitous, that the whole tax-raising, tax-loving editorial page staff of the Times keels over in empurpled anguish. That might mean Congress, for the first time in a while, had done something profoundly constructive about the tax code's ongoing impositions. ... Washington mythology insists on two improbabilities: 1) that tax cuts benefit mainly 'the rich,' and 2) that they cause huge deficits. Republicans are elected to sneer at these improbabilities -- which, sometimes, they actually do."
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Thomas Lifson gets it. Just an excerpt:
The past year has seen a spate of shocking statements revealing hatred and contempt for President Bush and his supporters on the part of important media figures who claim objectivity and sneer at conservatives unafraid to characterize themselves as such. Regrettably, we cannot credit a sudden outbreak of honesty for this phenomenon, and thereby anticipate improved news coverage from these folks. A pathology is at work.
A sudden loss of status and influence is a profound shock to most people who have spent their lives aimed at the acquisition and enjoyment of socio-political standing. Relieved of the ability to shape the consciousness and behavior of others, a certain number unburden themselves of the inner restraints which kept them from openly voicing the condescension and scorn they have for those whom they regard as their social, intellectual, and moral inferiors.
The rise of alternate media - talk radio, Fox News, and the internet - has not simply allowed competing voices to be heard in the public square, it has robbed many media grandees of the ultimate reward of their striving after careers as shapers of mass opinion. Some have become unbalanced mentally, and emotionally overwhelmed by the loss. They strike out with blind fury at their "enemies" (the subjects whom they have covered as "unbiased" journalists), and thereby let the mask of objectivity slip from their faces, revealing spiteful, arrogant and bigoted visages. By dismissing those who disagree with them as unworthy of consideration, they expose to light the long-hidden dark vision of the rest of humanity that enables them to regard themselves as worthy.
***********************
ELSEWHERE
Another example of antisemitic stupidity from a black political leader: "A Dallas city councilman is accusing a councilwoman of making an insensitive religious comment during a heated argument Thursday. Councilwoman Maxine Thornton-Reese made a remark about Jews during a backroom debate regarding police response to burglar alarms, Councilman Mitchell Rsansky said. NBC 5 reported that both council members returned to the council chamber visibly shaken and that Rsansky told other members what Reese had allegedly said. Councilman Ron Natinsky described the comment as "you Jews controlling city hall," and said it was "fairly shocking." Anti-Defamation League representative Mark Briskman called on Reese to apologize. "This specific incident is very hurtful, very troubling, and I think it would be appropriate that there be an apology," Briskman said. Reese has promised a written response about her comment, NBC 5 reported".
House lawmakers call for new border fence : "The House called for construction of a fence along parts of the U.S. border from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico as a bill aimed at shutting down illegal immigration moved forward Thursday. The two-layered fence, about 700 miles long, would be built in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The provisions, passed 260-159, put priority on construction near Laredo, Texas. The city is across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where warring drug cartels have been blamed for more than 140 murders this year."
Illegals bill drops felony provision : "The House Judiciary Committee chairman yesterday backed off his provision to make illegal aliens felons and instead proposed a misdemeanor charge for unlawful presence, angering some Republicans who wanted the higher penalty. The House is expected to vote today on a border enforcement and employee work verification bill, which calls for more U.S. Border Patrol agents, mandatory database checks of employees' eligibility to work, expanding expedited removal of illegal aliens and allowing sheriffs along the border to help enforce immigration law. Some Republicans already were threatening to try to block the bill if they didn't get a chance to vote on amendments such as ending birthright citizenship and allowing local authorities to aid federal immigration officials. Yesterday's change just fueled their determination."
Potomac Fever: "Congress is being criticized for funding pork projects and for a general lack of fiscal restraint. Many people agree that there is a spending problem in Washington, but not many understand the fundamental causes. Why have Republicans abandoned their pledge in the 1994 Contract with America to cut 'government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money?' Did the GOP simply decide that it was good politics to buy votes with lavish special-interest spending? That is one cause of the budget crisis, but not the core problem. With the extraordinarily high reelection rates in Congress, any political advantage gained from special-interest spending is not crucial. The real problem is the pro-spending mindset ingrained in long-time legislators. It's called 'Potomac Fever,' and it causes members of Congress to see themselves as philanthropists with unlimited means to solve every problem in society."
Federal telephone excise taxes and you: "Some readers undoubtedly know that they pay a three percent federal excise tax on telephone service. Fewer may recall that the tax was enacted in 1898 as a temporary tax to fund the Spanish-American War and remains in place to this day, which is as good a reason as those countless others to be cynical about any government promise. What even fewer may have heard is that there are finally some cracks in the federal tax machine, thanks to federal appeals courts which are marching one-by-one toward voiding at least the part of that tax that applies to 'toll telephone' or long distance service."
Skewed tax cut spin : "Here's what you get from the New York Times when you try to honor Americans' innate, you might think, right to enjoy the fruits of their labors. You get: '(T)he House passed (a) tax bill . . . that would drain the Treasury of $56 billion of additional revenue over the next five years' -- a measure 'both unaffordable and gratuitous,' not to mention 'morally reprehensible.' All I can say is, let's hope that next year, the House and the Senate get really reprehensible. So low-down, so sleazy and gratuitous, that the whole tax-raising, tax-loving editorial page staff of the Times keels over in empurpled anguish. That might mean Congress, for the first time in a while, had done something profoundly constructive about the tax code's ongoing impositions. ... Washington mythology insists on two improbabilities: 1) that tax cuts benefit mainly 'the rich,' and 2) that they cause huge deficits. Republicans are elected to sneer at these improbabilities -- which, sometimes, they actually do."
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Sunday, December 18, 2005
UCLA RESEARCH CONFIRMS THAT THE U.S. MEDIA TILT LEFT
The study appears to have been carefully done but some of the detailed results are a bit weird
While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.
These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly. "I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are." "Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co?author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.
More here
******************************
ELSEWHERE
U.N. arrogance reined in: ""For years, United Nations diplomats were notorious for running up millions of dollars in parking tickets, then just laughing at the city's attempts to collect. Diplomatic immunity meant there was little U.S. courts could do about it. But the city's thousands of foreign officials have largely changed their ways since a threatened crackdown three years ago. According to New York's finance department, diplomats have gotten 90 percent fewer tickets since late 2002, when the U.S. threatened to revoke the plates of scofflaws and subtract however much they owed in fines from the foreign aid their countries received. Those who do get citations have gotten better about paying them. Of the 11,771 parking violations issued to diplomats in the past three years, 87 percent have been paid or successfully appealed, the city said."
Both parties disingenuous about privacy rights : "What is interesting about the concern with this right to privacy is how it has become the mantra of the American left. And it is the American right, led on the court by Justice Antonin Scalia, that has strong objections to it. Does this not strike anyone as paradoxical? American conservatives have been identified as individualists, especially when it comes to their economic views. They used to champion capitalism and the right to private property. This right they identified in the Constitution, especially the Fifth Amendment. When recently the court ran roughshod over this right in its New London (Conn.) v. Kelo ruling, the American right still voiced some protest. Indeed, its greatest hero on the court, Justice Clarence Thomas, was in the outspoken minority wishing to uphold that right. As to the right to privacy, we now have an American left -- which is notoriously anti-individualist and persistently demeans the right to private property -- declaring fidelity to it and insisting that it is part of the fabric of the Constitution"
An old-time ACLU member chides the Fascist ACLU of today: "In my judgment the ACLU of Michigan is deeply wrong to defend race preferences. We are disloyal to our own deepest principles when we do so. I may be in error about this. But if you believe that it is right to defend race preferences, say that forthrightly and give your reasons. That view will almost certainly be rejected by Michigan citizens, but at least you will then retain your good repute, and not besmirch that of the ACLU."
Mood in France turns Rightward: "The public mood in France has darkened and veered sharply to the Right in the two months since the Paris riots. Despite endless political hand-wringing over the failure of the French model of ethnic integration, the country is no closer to a national consensus about how to re-establish the core republican values of fraternity and equality. Indeed, the political centre of gravity has shifted in favour of Jean-Marie Le Pen, as Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin scramble to head off the lethal challenge from the far Right. Support for Le Pen's National Front - or at least its anti-immigrant ideology - has risen since the riots, sparking fears there will be a repeat of the 2002 presidential election, when the wily demagogue trounced the Left and almost snatched the presidency..... One in four French are in favour of Le Pen's ideas, especially regarding defence of traditional values and immigration. And 63 per cent say there are "too many immigrants in France", a 4 per cent rise since 2003. As the electorate turns increasingly inwards, heavy-handed solutions to the crisis of the French suburbs proliferate. The political elite is sending a strong message that France effectively blames its immigrants for the troubles, with renewed crackdowns on non-French residents, asylum-seekers or the "sans papiers" - illegal immigrants"
Moronic TSA again: "Sarah Zapolsky was checking in for a flight to Italy when she discovered that her 9-month-old son's name was on the United States' "no fly" list of suspected terrorists. "We pointed down to the stroller, and he sat there and gurgled," Zapolsky said, recalling the July incident at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. "The desk agent started laughing...She couldn't print us out a boarding pass because he's on the no-fly list." Zapolsky, who did not want her son's name made public, said she was initially amused by the mix-up. "But when I found out you can't actually get off the list, I started to get a bit annoyed." She isn't alone. According to the Transportation Security Administration, more than 28,000 people have applied to the TSA redress office to get on the "cleared list," which takes note of individuals whose names are similar to those on the terrorism watch list, but even getting on that list does not guarantee an end to hassles related to the no-fly list".
I am continuing to follow news about the racial tensions in Sydney on my Australian Politics blog (mirrored here).
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
The study appears to have been carefully done but some of the detailed results are a bit weird
While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.
These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly. "I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are." "Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co?author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.
More here
******************************
ELSEWHERE
U.N. arrogance reined in: ""For years, United Nations diplomats were notorious for running up millions of dollars in parking tickets, then just laughing at the city's attempts to collect. Diplomatic immunity meant there was little U.S. courts could do about it. But the city's thousands of foreign officials have largely changed their ways since a threatened crackdown three years ago. According to New York's finance department, diplomats have gotten 90 percent fewer tickets since late 2002, when the U.S. threatened to revoke the plates of scofflaws and subtract however much they owed in fines from the foreign aid their countries received. Those who do get citations have gotten better about paying them. Of the 11,771 parking violations issued to diplomats in the past three years, 87 percent have been paid or successfully appealed, the city said."
Both parties disingenuous about privacy rights : "What is interesting about the concern with this right to privacy is how it has become the mantra of the American left. And it is the American right, led on the court by Justice Antonin Scalia, that has strong objections to it. Does this not strike anyone as paradoxical? American conservatives have been identified as individualists, especially when it comes to their economic views. They used to champion capitalism and the right to private property. This right they identified in the Constitution, especially the Fifth Amendment. When recently the court ran roughshod over this right in its New London (Conn.) v. Kelo ruling, the American right still voiced some protest. Indeed, its greatest hero on the court, Justice Clarence Thomas, was in the outspoken minority wishing to uphold that right. As to the right to privacy, we now have an American left -- which is notoriously anti-individualist and persistently demeans the right to private property -- declaring fidelity to it and insisting that it is part of the fabric of the Constitution"
An old-time ACLU member chides the Fascist ACLU of today: "In my judgment the ACLU of Michigan is deeply wrong to defend race preferences. We are disloyal to our own deepest principles when we do so. I may be in error about this. But if you believe that it is right to defend race preferences, say that forthrightly and give your reasons. That view will almost certainly be rejected by Michigan citizens, but at least you will then retain your good repute, and not besmirch that of the ACLU."
Mood in France turns Rightward: "The public mood in France has darkened and veered sharply to the Right in the two months since the Paris riots. Despite endless political hand-wringing over the failure of the French model of ethnic integration, the country is no closer to a national consensus about how to re-establish the core republican values of fraternity and equality. Indeed, the political centre of gravity has shifted in favour of Jean-Marie Le Pen, as Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin scramble to head off the lethal challenge from the far Right. Support for Le Pen's National Front - or at least its anti-immigrant ideology - has risen since the riots, sparking fears there will be a repeat of the 2002 presidential election, when the wily demagogue trounced the Left and almost snatched the presidency..... One in four French are in favour of Le Pen's ideas, especially regarding defence of traditional values and immigration. And 63 per cent say there are "too many immigrants in France", a 4 per cent rise since 2003. As the electorate turns increasingly inwards, heavy-handed solutions to the crisis of the French suburbs proliferate. The political elite is sending a strong message that France effectively blames its immigrants for the troubles, with renewed crackdowns on non-French residents, asylum-seekers or the "sans papiers" - illegal immigrants"
Moronic TSA again: "Sarah Zapolsky was checking in for a flight to Italy when she discovered that her 9-month-old son's name was on the United States' "no fly" list of suspected terrorists. "We pointed down to the stroller, and he sat there and gurgled," Zapolsky said, recalling the July incident at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. "The desk agent started laughing...She couldn't print us out a boarding pass because he's on the no-fly list." Zapolsky, who did not want her son's name made public, said she was initially amused by the mix-up. "But when I found out you can't actually get off the list, I started to get a bit annoyed." She isn't alone. According to the Transportation Security Administration, more than 28,000 people have applied to the TSA redress office to get on the "cleared list," which takes note of individuals whose names are similar to those on the terrorism watch list, but even getting on that list does not guarantee an end to hassles related to the no-fly list".
I am continuing to follow news about the racial tensions in Sydney on my Australian Politics blog (mirrored here).
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Saturday, December 17, 2005
SOME MORE ENLIGHTENMENT ON THE GENETICS OF RACE
A little striped fish is helping scientists solve one of the biggest mysteries in biology - which genes are responsible for differences in human skin, eye and hair colour. The large, international team of scientists have found a gene that makes African zebrafish of a lighter-than-normal colour - and say the same gene helps explain the light-coloured hair, skin and eyes of many Europeans. While they stress they have not found a genetic basis for race, [what is it that they have found, then?] they say just a tiny change in a single amino acid plays a major role in causing the distinctive light European colouring. The gene is called SLC24A5, Keith Cheng of Pennsylvania State University and colleagues said. "Our results suggest that SLC24A5 explains between 25 and 38 per cent of the European-African difference in skin melanin index," the scientists wrote in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.
Cheng's team was originally looking for genes involved in cancer. They were using zebrafish, a favoured tool of genetic researchers because they are small, reproduce quickly and are well understood. They found a gene that appeared to make some zebrafish "golden" - with lighter-than-usual stripes. Under a microscope, the skin of these fish have smaller, fewer structures called melanophores. In people of European descent, pigment granules called melanosomes are fewer, smaller, and lighter than those from people of West African ancestry. The melanosomes of East Asians fall in between. This suggested gene variations may be responsible and may be similar in vertebrates - which include fish, mice and people.
Scientists know that more than 100 genes are involved in pigment production, so the process is complex. But most of the genes identified so far are found in unusual conditions such as albinism, which causes very light skin and eyes. "...the genetic origin of the striking variations in human skin colour is one of the remaining puzzles in biology," the researchers wrote. But researchers have published several maps of the human genome and made them available to anyone. Cheng's team made use of them. They zeroed on on SLC24A5. Penn State pharmacologist Victor Canfield found that all vertebrates have a version of the gene. They found that one version appears to be the "base" version and is found in most people of African and East Asian descent. Europeans have a mutant version that differs by only a few letters of the genetic alphabet
Source. (The scientific abstract is here)
**************************
ELSEWHERE
Iraqi voters decide their own future: "Iraqis streamed to the polls amid minimal violence yesterday in a legislative vote many hoped would heal a nation wracked by sectarian conflict and bring minority Sunnis back into the political process. Electoral officials briefly extended voting owing to the massive turnout, which preliminary estimates put at between 60 and 80 per cent, higher than October's referendum, with Sunni Arabs casting ballots in unprecedented numbers".
The "no idea" Democrats: "To this day, Democrats have yet to offer a coherent strategy for winning the war in Iraq, and it is clear that they have none. Their attacks on Bush's 'failed' strategy have rung hollow all these years because they never had anything better to offer. And now their top leaders have revealed that their real goal all along was not to win, but to cut and run. They only waited this long to announce it because they have concluded that the poll numbers finally are in their favor. While Americans disapprove of the Bush administration's execution of the Iraq war effort, will they really embrace surrender as the alternative? Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi think so. We don't. The American people, rightly disturbed by serious administration mistakes, still want America to win this war. Unfortunately, the Democrats are quickly removing themselves as a serious foreign policy alternative to the Republicans, and that is damaging not only to them, but to the republic."
British legal piranhas get their comeuppance: "Some of the country's most successful law firms, which grew rich by exploiting sick miners, were told by the Government last night to repay more than 50 million pounds that they "outrageously" sliced from their clients' compensation. Ministers lambasted the firms for deducting money from payments to elderly pitmen suffering from chronic chest diseases as a result of their work".
A sincere Leftist agrees with neoconservatism: "What is neoconservative foreign policy? The best thumbnail definition is the one given by Paul Berman in his hugely influential Terror and Liberalism (2003) and quoted by Oliver Kamm: "Freedom for others means safety for ourselves. Let us be for freedom for others." It is that coupling, of national security with the promotion of freedom, that has given neoconservative foreign policy its potency, and why it is likely to last through a change of power in the United States after George W Bush - certainly if the Republican victor is John McCain, probably if the Democratic victor is Hillary Clinton."
There is a good article here about the many different attempts by the Irish government to create "affordable" housing by legislation and regulation -- attempts which simply drove the price of housing up, of course. Making things difficult for builders is not a good way to encourage them to build.
Pinter: Just another postmodernist hypocrite: 'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false." ...
Harold Pinter, explaining the difference between drama and politics in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the lofty realm of dramatic art, Pinter asserted, there can be nothing so clear-cut as truth. It is, however, a very different matter when it comes to American foreign policy. There, the distinction between true and false is as clear as that between day and night. It's simple. Every- thing the United States says is false, and everything its critics say is true.... But it's not Pinter's solipsism I really object to. It's the way he used his award to pour verbal kerosene on the crackling flames of anti-Americanism.... Truth and falsehood are indeed hard to distinguish in Pinter's drama, and his Nobel soliloquy was no exception. First, the true part. Thousands were indeed killed by US-backed dictatorships, especially in Central and South America. What is demonstrably false is that this violence is comparable in scale with that perpetrated by Communist regimes at the same time...."
I am continuing to follow news about the racial tensions in Sydney on my Australian Politics blog (mirrored here).
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
A little striped fish is helping scientists solve one of the biggest mysteries in biology - which genes are responsible for differences in human skin, eye and hair colour. The large, international team of scientists have found a gene that makes African zebrafish of a lighter-than-normal colour - and say the same gene helps explain the light-coloured hair, skin and eyes of many Europeans. While they stress they have not found a genetic basis for race, [what is it that they have found, then?] they say just a tiny change in a single amino acid plays a major role in causing the distinctive light European colouring. The gene is called SLC24A5, Keith Cheng of Pennsylvania State University and colleagues said. "Our results suggest that SLC24A5 explains between 25 and 38 per cent of the European-African difference in skin melanin index," the scientists wrote in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.
Cheng's team was originally looking for genes involved in cancer. They were using zebrafish, a favoured tool of genetic researchers because they are small, reproduce quickly and are well understood. They found a gene that appeared to make some zebrafish "golden" - with lighter-than-usual stripes. Under a microscope, the skin of these fish have smaller, fewer structures called melanophores. In people of European descent, pigment granules called melanosomes are fewer, smaller, and lighter than those from people of West African ancestry. The melanosomes of East Asians fall in between. This suggested gene variations may be responsible and may be similar in vertebrates - which include fish, mice and people.
Scientists know that more than 100 genes are involved in pigment production, so the process is complex. But most of the genes identified so far are found in unusual conditions such as albinism, which causes very light skin and eyes. "...the genetic origin of the striking variations in human skin colour is one of the remaining puzzles in biology," the researchers wrote. But researchers have published several maps of the human genome and made them available to anyone. Cheng's team made use of them. They zeroed on on SLC24A5. Penn State pharmacologist Victor Canfield found that all vertebrates have a version of the gene. They found that one version appears to be the "base" version and is found in most people of African and East Asian descent. Europeans have a mutant version that differs by only a few letters of the genetic alphabet
Source. (The scientific abstract is here)
**************************
ELSEWHERE
Iraqi voters decide their own future: "Iraqis streamed to the polls amid minimal violence yesterday in a legislative vote many hoped would heal a nation wracked by sectarian conflict and bring minority Sunnis back into the political process. Electoral officials briefly extended voting owing to the massive turnout, which preliminary estimates put at between 60 and 80 per cent, higher than October's referendum, with Sunni Arabs casting ballots in unprecedented numbers".
The "no idea" Democrats: "To this day, Democrats have yet to offer a coherent strategy for winning the war in Iraq, and it is clear that they have none. Their attacks on Bush's 'failed' strategy have rung hollow all these years because they never had anything better to offer. And now their top leaders have revealed that their real goal all along was not to win, but to cut and run. They only waited this long to announce it because they have concluded that the poll numbers finally are in their favor. While Americans disapprove of the Bush administration's execution of the Iraq war effort, will they really embrace surrender as the alternative? Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi think so. We don't. The American people, rightly disturbed by serious administration mistakes, still want America to win this war. Unfortunately, the Democrats are quickly removing themselves as a serious foreign policy alternative to the Republicans, and that is damaging not only to them, but to the republic."
British legal piranhas get their comeuppance: "Some of the country's most successful law firms, which grew rich by exploiting sick miners, were told by the Government last night to repay more than 50 million pounds that they "outrageously" sliced from their clients' compensation. Ministers lambasted the firms for deducting money from payments to elderly pitmen suffering from chronic chest diseases as a result of their work".
A sincere Leftist agrees with neoconservatism: "What is neoconservative foreign policy? The best thumbnail definition is the one given by Paul Berman in his hugely influential Terror and Liberalism (2003) and quoted by Oliver Kamm: "Freedom for others means safety for ourselves. Let us be for freedom for others." It is that coupling, of national security with the promotion of freedom, that has given neoconservative foreign policy its potency, and why it is likely to last through a change of power in the United States after George W Bush - certainly if the Republican victor is John McCain, probably if the Democratic victor is Hillary Clinton."
There is a good article here about the many different attempts by the Irish government to create "affordable" housing by legislation and regulation -- attempts which simply drove the price of housing up, of course. Making things difficult for builders is not a good way to encourage them to build.
Pinter: Just another postmodernist hypocrite: 'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false." ...
Harold Pinter, explaining the difference between drama and politics in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the lofty realm of dramatic art, Pinter asserted, there can be nothing so clear-cut as truth. It is, however, a very different matter when it comes to American foreign policy. There, the distinction between true and false is as clear as that between day and night. It's simple. Every- thing the United States says is false, and everything its critics say is true.... But it's not Pinter's solipsism I really object to. It's the way he used his award to pour verbal kerosene on the crackling flames of anti-Americanism.... Truth and falsehood are indeed hard to distinguish in Pinter's drama, and his Nobel soliloquy was no exception. First, the true part. Thousands were indeed killed by US-backed dictatorships, especially in Central and South America. What is demonstrably false is that this violence is comparable in scale with that perpetrated by Communist regimes at the same time...."
I am continuing to follow news about the racial tensions in Sydney on my Australian Politics blog (mirrored here).
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Friday, December 16, 2005
Brookes News Update
Central economic planning makes a comeback: It looks as if the Australian Labor Party is about to put industry policy, aka central planning, back on the drawing board
Our rightwing failed on labour market reform and minimum wages: When it comes to debates about the minimum wage Australia's rightwing is in dire need of support. As I am here to help, I shall do what I can to assist them. After all, it is Christmas
Why the Palestinians should be terrified of Iran?: The Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia either become colonial subjects of Iran or they put themselves under the protection of Israel's nuclear umbrella
A socialist economist spews garbage on tariffs: Evan Jones, a socialist 'economist', made the absurd argument that tariffs lower prices
America's Ship of Fools: By failing to privatize we are sticking our kids with the impossible task of paying for our increasingly greater numbers of elderly citizens
Businesses do not pay wages -- consumers do: The nature of wages and purchasing power is something politicians, particularly Liberal politicians, seem incapable of grasping, not that most businessmen or CEOs are much better
Why are only Jews deported?: Critics of Israel love selective mentioning of UN resolutions, but they do not like when people actually read the original text of the resolutions
**************************
ELSEWHERE
Iran is being run by a full-on fruitcake: "Iran's hard-line president lashed out with a new outburst at Israel on Wednesday, calling the Nazi Holocaust a "myth" used as a pretext for carving out a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments drew quick condemnations from Israel, the United States and Europe, which warned he is hurting Iran's position in talks aimed at resolving suspicions about his regime's nuclear program. The White House said his remarks showed why Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Germany, one of three European Union countries leading the nuclear talks, called his statements "shocking and unacceptable.""
Child abuse by Planned Parenthoiod: "In the "Shared Stories" section of the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate web site, the group published a letter in which a young girl praises Planned Parenthood for not telling her parents that she was raped by her 17-year-old boyfriend when she was just 11 years old. Neither the letter itself nor Planned Parenthood made any mention of Planned Parenthood alerting law enforcement to this sexual abuse of an 11-year-old child."
French intransigence: "French farmers were accused of holding Europe and the world to ransom yesterday after official figures obtained by The Times revealed just how far European Union subsidies are skewed in their favour. Three times as many French farmers receive large subsidies from the EU than those of any other country. In total, France receives almost twice as much direct subsidies for its farmers as any other member state, and they are mostly channelled to large farmers rather than traditional small-scale land holders. Despite the huge discrepancies France steadfastly refuses to countenance any reduction in farm subsidies, bringing the EU budget negotiations in Brussels and the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong, both climaxing this week, to the brink of collapse".
Iraqis defy terrorists: "One anecdote from Mosul," said General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he spoke at the National Defense University earlier this month. "There was a police recruiting station. Forty young men lined up to sign up to become Iraqi policemen. A vehicle-borne IED explodes -- kills or badly injures 12 of them. The next day, the 28 remaining return to the same spot to sign up to be policemen. "And that kind of courage," the general told his audience, "is being shown across Iraq by literally thousands and thousands of Iraqis who want to serve their country.""
Tax bills soaring in socialist Scotland: "MSPs exploded ministers' claims that council tax rises next year could be pegged at 2.5 per cent, saying it was possible they could even reach 6.6 per cent. A devastating report from the Scottish Parliament's cross-party finance committee on the Executive's draft budget for the next financial year also said that, despite ministerial protestations to the contrary, councils were facing a funding shortfall of 85 million pounds, as well as having to find 58.5 million in efficiency savings".
The execution of thug Tookie Williams has brought forth the usual Leftist lies about capital punishment having no deterrent effect. Mike Tremoglie gives you the facts.
The "Dark Ages" myth: "Some of the "Dark Ages" innovations that show the folly of considering Greek and Roman culture the apex of civilization until recent times: The perfection and widespread use of waterwheels, windmills, and pumps, the invention of the compass, stirrups, the crossbow, canons, effective horse harnesses, eyeglasses, clocks, chimneys, violins, double-entry bookkeeping, and insurance? This list doesn't begin to do justice to this era that historians of science now refer to as an age of remarkable innovation and discovery. Perhaps the most revealing instance involves the "story" that in order to gain backing for his great voyage west, Columbus had to struggle against ignorant and superstitious churchmen who were certain that the earth was flat. Truth was that all educated Europeans, including bishops and cardinals, knew the earth was round. What produced church opposition to the Columbus voyage was that Columbus believed the circumference of the earth was only about one-fifth of its actual distance. Thus, the church scholars who opposed him did so because they knew that he and his sailors were bound to perish at sea. And they would have done so had the Western Hemisphere not been there to replenish their food and water". (See also here and here).
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
**************************
Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
*******************************
Central economic planning makes a comeback: It looks as if the Australian Labor Party is about to put industry policy, aka central planning, back on the drawing board
Our rightwing failed on labour market reform and minimum wages: When it comes to debates about the minimum wage Australia's rightwing is in dire need of support. As I am here to help, I shall do what I can to assist them. After all, it is Christmas
Why the Palestinians should be terrified of Iran?: The Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia either become colonial subjects of Iran or they put themselves under the protection of Israel's nuclear umbrella
A socialist economist spews garbage on tariffs: Evan Jones, a socialist 'economist', made the absurd argument that tariffs lower prices
America's Ship of Fools: By failing to privatize we are sticking our kids with the impossible task of paying for our increasingly greater numbers of elderly citizens
Businesses do not pay wages -- consumers do: The nature of wages and purchasing power is something politicians, particularly Liberal politicians, seem incapable of grasping, not that most businessmen or CEOs are much better
Why are only Jews deported?: Critics of Israel love selective mentioning of UN resolutions, but they do not like when people actually read the original text of the resolutions
**************************
ELSEWHERE
Iran is being run by a full-on fruitcake: "Iran's hard-line president lashed out with a new outburst at Israel on Wednesday, calling the Nazi Holocaust a "myth" used as a pretext for carving out a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments drew quick condemnations from Israel, the United States and Europe, which warned he is hurting Iran's position in talks aimed at resolving suspicions about his regime's nuclear program. The White House said his remarks showed why Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Germany, one of three European Union countries leading the nuclear talks, called his statements "shocking and unacceptable.""
Child abuse by Planned Parenthoiod: "In the "Shared Stories" section of the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate web site, the group published a letter in which a young girl praises Planned Parenthood for not telling her parents that she was raped by her 17-year-old boyfriend when she was just 11 years old. Neither the letter itself nor Planned Parenthood made any mention of Planned Parenthood alerting law enforcement to this sexual abuse of an 11-year-old child."
French intransigence: "French farmers were accused of holding Europe and the world to ransom yesterday after official figures obtained by The Times revealed just how far European Union subsidies are skewed in their favour. Three times as many French farmers receive large subsidies from the EU than those of any other country. In total, France receives almost twice as much direct subsidies for its farmers as any other member state, and they are mostly channelled to large farmers rather than traditional small-scale land holders. Despite the huge discrepancies France steadfastly refuses to countenance any reduction in farm subsidies, bringing the EU budget negotiations in Brussels and the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong, both climaxing this week, to the brink of collapse".
Iraqis defy terrorists: "One anecdote from Mosul," said General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he spoke at the National Defense University earlier this month. "There was a police recruiting station. Forty young men lined up to sign up to become Iraqi policemen. A vehicle-borne IED explodes -- kills or badly injures 12 of them. The next day, the 28 remaining return to the same spot to sign up to be policemen. "And that kind of courage," the general told his audience, "is being shown across Iraq by literally thousands and thousands of Iraqis who want to serve their country.""
Tax bills soaring in socialist Scotland: "MSPs exploded ministers' claims that council tax rises next year could be pegged at 2.5 per cent, saying it was possible they could even reach 6.6 per cent. A devastating report from the Scottish Parliament's cross-party finance committee on the Executive's draft budget for the next financial year also said that, despite ministerial protestations to the contrary, councils were facing a funding shortfall of 85 million pounds, as well as having to find 58.5 million in efficiency savings".
The execution of thug Tookie Williams has brought forth the usual Leftist lies about capital punishment having no deterrent effect. Mike Tremoglie gives you the facts.
The "Dark Ages" myth: "Some of the "Dark Ages" innovations that show the folly of considering Greek and Roman culture the apex of civilization until recent times: The perfection and widespread use of waterwheels, windmills, and pumps, the invention of the compass, stirrups, the crossbow, canons, effective horse harnesses, eyeglasses, clocks, chimneys, violins, double-entry bookkeeping, and insurance? This list doesn't begin to do justice to this era that historians of science now refer to as an age of remarkable innovation and discovery. Perhaps the most revealing instance involves the "story" that in order to gain backing for his great voyage west, Columbus had to struggle against ignorant and superstitious churchmen who were certain that the earth was flat. Truth was that all educated Europeans, including bishops and cardinals, knew the earth was round. What produced church opposition to the Columbus voyage was that Columbus believed the circumference of the earth was only about one-fifth of its actual distance. Thus, the church scholars who opposed him did so because they knew that he and his sailors were bound to perish at sea. And they would have done so had the Western Hemisphere not been there to replenish their food and water". (See also here and here).
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).
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Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
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