Leftist Group tries to use ‘God Talk’ To Lure Christians To Democrat Party

Don't touch even a slice of Vanderslice

A two-year-old public relations firm called “Common Good Strategies” is working behind the scenes to help Democrats convince Christians that they should vote for Democrats of “faith.” The PR firm is headed by Mara Vanderslice, a 1997 graduate of Earlham College. Vanderslice formerly worked as an intern for Jim Wallis’ Sojourners organization, a far-leftist "Christian" group that is attempting to convince moderate or conservative Christians that Democrat policies are best for achieving “social justice.”

Jim Wallis has been consulting with Democrat strategists for years to lure Christians away from the Republican Party. TVC’s special report on Wallis reveals the consistent far left policies of the group – which have been more in line with the old Soviet Union than with America.

While at Earlham, Vanderslice was a member of the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports the release of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and embraces Marxist-Leninist political views.

In a feature on Vanderslice in the Earlham College Alumni Bulletin, Vanderslice notes she grew up in a spiritual but not religious and politically progressive home in Boulder, Colorado. She arrived at Earlham distrustful of Christianity but after taking Peace and Global Studies class and spending time in Bogota, Columbia, she became more committed to “strands” of Christianity that she found appealing....

“Mara Vanderslice’s attempt to convince Christians to vote for pro-abortion, pro-homosexual Democrats (who hide their real goals behind claims of ‘faith’) is working – and the Republican Party should take note,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “Tragically, Vanderslice’s brand of ‘progressive’ Christianity has more in common with Marxist-Leninist ideals than with orthodox Christianity.

More here

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THE DANGERS OF THE LEFTIST U.S. BUREAUCRACY

An excerpt from Powerline below

During the halcyon early years of the Bush administration, it still seemed possible that the President and his appointees could prevail over the inertia and, often, outright hostility of the almost-entirely-Democratic federal bureaucracy. One instance of the administration's effort to get beyond the bureaucracy's stale thinking was the Defense Department's Office of Special Plans, which was overseen by Douglas Feith, who was then Undersecretary of Defense for Policy.

Feith's group became known for challenging the CIA's dogmatic belief that Iraq's "secular" dictatorship couldn't possibly collaborate with radical Islamic groups like al Qaeda. The Office of Special Plans argued that the CIA consistently played down its own raw evidence of relationships between Iraq and al Qaeda because such evidence didn't fit the agency's theoretical framework. That act of lese majesty must naturally be punished.

So tomorrow, the Pentagon's own Inspector General will present a report to the Senate Armed Services Committee on whether--I'm not kidding--it was illegal for the Defense Department to independently analyze the data gathered by the intelligence agencies. You can breathe a sigh of relief, though; the Inspector General concluded that disagreeing with the CIA is not a crime:

What will be lost in news accounts of the IG report and Levin's fulminations is that Feith's group was right. We know now that there were many connections between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda, and that Islamic groups of various stripes, including those labeled "secular" by the CIA, are entirely capable of collaborating against their common enemies.

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ELSEWHERE



Material goods and "The Pursuit of Happyness": "Will Smith's latest movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, stands as an extended argument underscoring the truth of conservative values. This may sound like an improbable anomaly given the traditional political, ethical, and social allegiances of Hollywood, but the power of the story lies in its basis in fact, and this in turn prevents it from being appropriated as a tool for liberal political ideology. The narrative is inspired by the true life experiences of Christopher Gardner, a struggling and homeless single father turned successful stockbroker and CEO.... Absent from the movie are traditional hallmarks of liberal criticism of the market economy: Gardner's story is one that occurs within an America conceived as a meritocracy rather than one defined by racism or class struggle. All of the rich white characters in the film, with one possible exception, treat Gardner with respect, fairness, and dignity, even compassion. And Gardner does in fact fight against poverty, but he does so within a context that ultimately rewards his hard work and intelligence. While there are striking images that display the contrast between rich and poor, Gardner's financial success as a stockbroker is actually dependent upon the creation of wealth through entrepreneurship and enterprise in the stock market...."

Speaker Of The House Pelosi Has Expensive Traveling Tastes: "Nancy Pelosi has requested that the Defense Department supply her with an Air Force C-32 for traveling back and forth from San Francisco. The C-32 costs approximately $15,000 an hour to operate. Funds to pay for this travel will be from the Defense Department, which means the American taxpayer. The DC Examiner has reported that the C-32 would cost American taxpayers approximately $300,000 for her round trip to San Francisco. Commercial fares start at $233. The C-32 has 42 business class seats, a fully-enclosed state room, private bed room and a crew of 16. Stewards serve meals and tend an open bar, according to the Washington Times. A Defense Department source who wished to remain anonymous, said of Pelosi's request, "she wanted a plane that could carry an entourage just like President Bush, who flies on Air Force One, and Vice President Dick Cheney, who also always flies on military planes." Another source said the Defense Department will likely cave into Pelosi's request because of her and John Murtha's control over defense spending."

NYT protects Leftist mythology: "Abu Omar al-Baghdadi made his grand entrance onto the jihadist stage on October 12, 2006, and since then he's delivered two very important speeches - the more recent one came out last week - and has taken credit for much of the spectacular outbreaks of violence in Iraq of late, yet he still can't get his name in print on the pages of the New York Times. Why are the editors and reporters of that paper not telling their readers anything about Iraq's top terrorist? Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is Al Qaeda's guy in Iraq, and nowadays, the Sunni insurgency is being whittled down to Al Qaeda's activity in Iraq. It's that simple, and he's that important. So why isn't the Times writing that? I think the answer has something to do with what seems, to my eyes, to be a determined campaign to keep the American people from knowing the nature of the enemy in Iraq because identifying this enemy as Al Qaeda casts the debate about the war in a whole different light."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts

The Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives must decide whether to write a budget extending, expiring, or repealing the Bush tax cuts. These tax cuts have provided a convenient scapegoat for the nation's budget and economic challenges. Despite a 42 percent spending increase in 2001, critics charge that the tax cuts have starved popular pro-grams. Despite surging economic growth and 5 million new jobs since 2003, critics also charge that the tax cuts have not helped the economy. Finally, despite making the income tax code more progressive, critics charge that the tax cuts have widened inequality.

Nearly all of the conventional wisdom about the Bush tax cuts is wrong. In reality:

* The tax cuts have not substantially reduced cur-rent tax revenues, which were in fact not far from the 2000 pre-tax cut baseline and over the 2003 pre-tax cut baseline in 2006;
* The increased child tax credit, 10 percent tax bracket, and fix of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) reduced tax revenues much more than most of the "tax cuts for the rich";
* Economic growth rates have more than doubled since the 2003 tax cuts; and
* The tax cuts shifted even more of the income tax burden toward the rich.

Setting optimal tax policy requires governing with facts rather than popular mythology, which is why it is important to set the record straight by debunking 10 myths about the Bush tax cuts.

Much more here

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ARTICLES RECENTLY UP ON ICJS

The Left is onside with hate
Different sheiks shake the culture
ABC must put national values first
Fight for global Islamic state, conference told
Statement by Dr Salam Fayad
Islam and Western liberal democracy are incompatible
Combating Islamic Extremism
Nuclear program legitimises Iran's threat
Fairfax boss was troubled by left-leaning editorial culture
Islamic Prejudice, Islamic Denial
Islamic ticket sends all the wrong messages
Instinctive bias not among ABC's virtues
Concern about growing Muslim antisemitism
Muslim Womens rights
Ideology must not be allowed to trump reality in Iraq
Expert Search to combat antisemitism and racism
Hilali ridicules nation of convicts
Local push for Islamic state
Radical Islam & British universities
A sovereign Palestine? No chance
Free rein for media monitor

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ELSEWHERE

Interesting article by the British National Party here. The so-called "Fascists" have embraced libertarianism -- the diametric opposite of Fascism! Liberty is a great British tradition so there is no contradiction in them doing so.

So whom was this harming? "Inspectors will begin annual checks of anatomy laboratories after health authorities were forced to act over a body parts scandal involving claims that dead women were sexually fondled by a staff member. The University of NSW has apologised to the families of people who donated their bodies to its medical faculty, as it came under fire for claiming three months ago that the concerns were related only to body parts being mislabelled. In fact the university had by then already passed on to police details of "salacious" allegations by two staff members that a colleague, who has since left, had fondled breasts and vaginas."

U.S. economy booming under Bush: "Know what's really impressive about today's boffo 3.5 percent GDP growth number for the fourth quarter? It wasn't so long ago that Wall Street economists were wondering if the number would be a "one-handle"-meaning growth between 1.0 and 1.9 percent. And instead of a "hard or "soft" landing, investment pros are now talking about a "growth scare" where a surprisingly robust economy would push the Federal Reserve into raising interest rates. In any event, I am starting to lend more personal credence to the theory that a combination of strong growth, fat corporate profits, and already tight labor market might push the unemployment rate to lows we have not seen since the 1960s."

Australia doing well too: "The unemployment rate has fallen to a fresh thirty-year low as the resources booms and a strong services sector drive economic growth. The unemployment rate in January fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.5 per cent, the lowest since May 1976, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. January employment fell by overall a seasonally adjusted 3600, but full-time employment rose by a 3200, helping to push the unemployment rate down to a fresh low. The data reflects strong economic growth through 2006 and anaysts expect jobs growth will acelerate in 2007, which is likely to push the jobless rate down even further."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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LEFTISM AS ROMANTICISM

Romanticism has found a cozy home on the Left. Toss in a soupcon of “sympathetic vibration with the anger of the suicide/homicide bomber,” and disaster follows. It’s all part of a long tradition whose end is in sight.

[Romantics] believed in the necessity of fighting for your beliefs to the last breath in your body .they believed in the value of martyrdom as such, no matter what the martyrdom was for.. — Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism

When we think of Romanticism, we rarely think of rage and nihilism. Perhaps that's because, for most people, the word "romantic" has come to stand for a particular subset of the genre known as "romantic love."

But that's not what the word "Romantic" indicates in the philosophical and/or historical sense—a movement we may have learned about long ago in the classroom, when the concept didn't mean much to us except as something to memorize, be tested on, and then promptly forgotten.

But Romanticism (here's a good summary of the concept) is far more significant than that. It informs our lives in many ways, including-surprisingly enough—our political lives: [The Romantics] sought regeneration — a regeneration we can liken to that of the medieval heretic or saint. They favored selfless enthusiasm, an enthusiasm which was an expression of faith and not as the product of utilitarian calculation. Emotion — unbridled emotion — was celebrated irrespective of its consequences.

If Romanticism glories powerful emotion "irrespective of its consequences," it becomes easy to see why rage and nihilism are no strangers to the movement. And Jean Jacques Rousseau, sometimes thought of as the father of political Romanticism, was no slouch himself in the department of anger and paranoia.

In the realm of human emotions, there are few that are more powerful-and more commonplace-than anger. I'm no Freudian, but the much-maligned Freud introduced many useful concepts, and his term "Id" is one if them. The word "Id" covers forces that include the impulse behind anger, and is defined as the "part of the psyche associated with instinctual, repressed, or antisocial desires, usually sexual or aggressive." Its counterpoint, Freud's "Ego," refers to "a set of psychic functions such as reality-testing, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory." .......

A longer version of the Isaiah Berlin quote that began this article can be found in Armed Liberal Marc Danziger's discussion of some of these issues. The lengthier excerpt includes Berlin's assertion that the Romantics glorified those perceived as downtrodden: the failures and the minorities. Romantics didn't just express empathy or sympathy for them, but actually elevated them to a place more worthy and more noble than the successes and the majorities.

So, who are the Romantics of today? From the foregoing discussion, it should be clear: Romanticism has found a cozy home on the Left. Romanticism (and Leftism) dictates not just sympathy for the Third World, but near-veneration of those there who combine a sense of victimhood (real or imagined) with what the poet Yeats called passionate intensity, which is the essence of Romanticism.

Anger is part of that passionate intensity, and it's often a dominant part. Anger is not only a strong emotion, it's a protean one, a shape-shifter. It can originate for one reason and towards one object and then its energy can be displaced and/or projected towards something or someone else. In its most intense form, it can result in suicide when it's directed at the self, and homicide when directed at another.

These two-suicide and homicide-are not at all mutually exclusive, of course. Although most suicides do not murder and most murderers do not commit suicide, there's a subset that does exactly both. The murder-suicide, traditionally occurring in Western culture mostly in the romantic (and Romantic) form of the spurned lover, finds its political expression in certain Arab countries in the form of the suicide/homicide bomber, who acquires extra motivation for his/her acts through the glorification of such deeds by that culture.

Political anger is not often severe enough to lead to suicide or homicide, at least not in this country. But the lesser and the greater forms of political anger have a similar etiology: in many cases, an individual who has a pre-existing higher-than-average level of anger (overt or repressed) for personal reasons—whether because of life experiences, or because of a somatic tendency towards anger—latches onto a political philosophy that further justifies that anger, fans it, and channels it in a particular direction......

There's an interesting socioeconomic trend to Romanticism: it's a philosophy that seems to attract a surprising number of the more well-to-do and well-educated. In Arab countries terrorists are at least as likely to come from the ranks of the relatively affluent as they are to be poverty-stricken. And in the West it seems to be the relatively well-to-do these days who are influenced most strongly by Romanticism.

Perhaps `twas ever thus. Romanticism-here and elsewhere—is not only fueled by the guilt sometimes felt by people who have relative plenty when others are suffering, but it's also fostered by an educational system that teaches and glorifies Romanticism in ways both subtle and overt.

So guilt and education are part of it. But there are other ways in which affluence-at least, relative affluence-feeds into Romanticism, especially in this country. Romanticism is idealistic (I would say, naively so). Belief in Romanticism in its purest and most philosophical form requires a certain remove from the struggles of day-to-day existence only available to those not on a subsistence level (see here for a more in-depth discussion of how this might work).

The affluent may also be attracted to the intensity of feeling and experience of the terrorist and the suicide bomber for another reason. Many human beings are probably hard-wired to seek excitement. Those who are no longer engaged in an obvious struggle for existence-no lion hunts, for example—can sometimes feel a sense of ennui and a lack of thrills. Filling this need can take the form of seeking out extreme sports such as skydiving or auto racing, or by high-risk behavior such as gambling or taking drugs. But for some people the quest takes the form of an urge towards nihilism.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

I have just put up here a review of a Greenie book that aims to put use of the Great Lakes under Greenie control.

Another "Thank you" to the UAW: "DaimlerChrysler is planning to make as many as 10,000 workers redundant and close up to three North American factories in a round of job cuts dubbed the "Valentine's Day Massacre" by union bosses. The carmaker's latest round of cuts, part of a wider strategic review called Project X by management, is to be announced on February 14, when workers might expect a more loving gesture than a redundancy notice. Investors are unlikely to be sending DaimlerChrsyler any love letters, either, as the plans will accompany the company's fourth-quarter and full-year financial results for 2006, which are likely to disappoint. The German-American carmaker surprised Wall Street in the third quarter with a $1.5 billion loss at its Chrysler division. Analysts expect the arm to show a loss of about $1 billion for the full year, with DaimlerChrysler as a whole remaining profitable."

'Heroism' of marriage praised: "The Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked the "commentating classes" for damaging marriage and destroying the "moral geography" of society. Dr Rowan Williams, speaking at the House of Commons at the start of National Marriage Week, criticised opponents of marriage for failing to recognise the "prosaic heroism" of people in long, successful unions and said that they were blinkered by their own familiarity with fluid, transient relationships. He said: "What we're up against at the moment is a society that has painfully and disastrously low expectations of relationships." The latest statistics show that the message of the churches on the importance of marriage might be getting through. The number of marriages in England and Wales that ended in divorce fell by eight per cent in 2005 to 141,750, the lowest annual total for five years."

Maoism? Church of England to have its own disruptive "cultural revolution": "A century or more ago, the Church of England sent missionaries to Africa with instructions to convert the heathen. Now, with attendance figures in sharp decline and the Anglican Church in turmoil over homosexuality, bishops are to be told that they must start converting the heathen closer to home. New mission orders are being drawn up to rebuild British faith, and in an ironic reversal of history, some of the missionaries could be from Africa and Asia. The orders form part of a new church law that will create a more flexible parish and diocesan structure. Under the new rules, bishops would be able to fly in a new priest to turn around a flagging parish while the incumbent is still there. The measure would allow evangelical bishops to assert their beliefs over liberal clergy by sending in like-minded evangelicals. Similarly, liberal bishops could defy parishes that were hostile to gays in the Church. Missionaries would also be sent to thriving parishes to offer a fresh perspective. Each mission would be assigned a monitor who would report on its activities to the bishop".

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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LEFTIST IRRATIONALITY ABOUT ISLAM

An excerpt from Dr Sanity

An alternative strategy adopted by those desperate to deny reality is to insist that merely by responding to terror attacks, we are creating more terrorists. In other words, if we just close our eyes and pretend it doesn't exist, it will all magically go away and everything will be hunky-dory. Oh, and by the way, it isn't historically significant anyway.

Those who profess this irrational perspective never seem to contemplate the reality that since the first WTC bombing--and even before then-- the U.S. followed that course and did very little to comprehensively respond to the rising terrorist threat in the world. And yet, 9/11 still happened. The Balinese did nothing, and yet, the Bali bombings still happened. The Spanish were opposed to the war, and yet, the Madrid bombings still happened. The British, the French, and the Dutch welcomed immigrants from Islam, and yet.... you get the point.

Terrorism has been on the rise since the first time the West appeased its violence and gave into its unreasonable demands, all the while pretending that the blackmail was reasonable and that the violence was only a problem confined to a few backward areas of the world (remember the Iran hostage taking in '79? Remember the Somalia debacle?). But those "few backward areas of the world" keep on expanding into the civilized one. As do the demands of the blackmailers.

The West closed its eyes and resolutely kept them shut for a quarter century. And still the terrorist threat continued to rise and their demands grew ever shriller and more insistent. The madrassas they set up both in their own lands and in the West had been teaching hate for more than a decade before 9/11. The nations of the Middle East were trying to wipe Israel off the map long before 9/11; the Palestinians under the Nobel Peace Prize winner Arafat were still enthusiastically blowing up innocents; but still, both they and their enablers on the left would have you believe that America brought 9/11 on itself; that America (or Israel) is the cause behind all their violence and deathl; and that America acting against Islam's documented desire for peace is only making it worse.

We hear issuing forth from the peaceful adherents of Islam, "Death to America!"; "Death to Israel"; "Death to those who insult Islam"; death, death and more death; always death. But the clear thinkers of the MSM and the left keep telling us that we are the ones who want to kill them. They want peace and brotherhood. Yeah, right.

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ELSEWHERE

Those pesky genes again: "Scientists have found an answer to one of the most intractable squabbles in family life - argumentative and disruptive children are born, not made. A study by American scientists has found that antisocial traits such as being argumentative, bullying and lying, are often inherited. The new research challenges the scientific consensus that difficult children are the product of disruptive homes and are copying parents' behaviour. The implication of the research, conducted by the University of Virginia, is that children with "antisocial" genes would behave badly even if they had been adopted and brought up in a happy family. The effect appears to pass down the generations. It means that couples who fight a lot may be driven by their genes and pass them on to their children, who tend to behave in the same way. The finding emerged from a study of 2,000 children born of 1,000 twins. Half of the twins were identical, meaning they shared all their genes, while the rest were fraternal and so shared only half their genes. The study of behaviour in twins and their children is a standard means of finding out which traits are inherited. Research has also found links between genes and other aspects of bad behaviour."

PETA extremism just alienates: "A few years ago, I worked with a woman that spent a large portion of her time as an activist for PETA. She spent her days off standing in front of furriers protesting the sale of animal pelts and was once arrested for standing outside an upper class department store spray-painting anyone that entered or left the store wearing a fur. Anyone she caught eating a hamburger, wearing leather shoes, or using a product that had been tested on animals, received her standard 10-minute dissertation on the horrors animals endured so that we could enjoy that particular product. She was of course a radical vegetarian and assured me that if I learned to like tofu I would never miss meat. The only reason I can think of for being a vegetarian is if you enjoy having gas 24 hours a day. We are omnivores. Vegetables are meant to accompany that nice thick steak or fish. For me, living in a world without bacon is too horrible to contemplate... Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is that activism is best in moderation. Any movement, philosophy, or political group can suffer irreparable damage at the hands of extremists because they talk the loudest. Your ideals are suddenly associated with radicals that are more intent on drawing attention to themselves than working on a solution"

South Africa's descent into African normality: The murder of David Rattray - gunned down in front of his wife - has caught the attention of the world and traumatised South Africa... Just over a week ago six young Africans carrying guns, one with his face hidden by a balaclava, entered Rattray's famous lodge at Fugitives' Drift (several survivors of the battle of Isandlwana fled there, two of them receiving posthumous Victoria Crosses) and demanded money. When the receptionist refused they asked for Rattray by name. The man in the balaclava entered the house, where he came upon Rattray's wife Nicky. She screamed and when Rattray came running he pleaded briefly with the gunman not to harm his wife or children. Then the man shot him. Rattray's friends abroad are mystified and horrified that someone known as a great philanthropist for the Zulu people could be murdered by members of that community. But within South Africa the killing has brought to a head public opinion that is already in a state of near hysteria over a crime rate which is 6.5 times worse than America's and sees more than 50 murders a day. There is a sense that Rattray's death is a symptom of a far deeper malaise. It has inevitably been an enormous blow to South Africa's tourist industry"

"Our friends, the Saudis": "A Saudi Arabian court has convicted and sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison for attending a party where alcoholic drinks were served and men and women danced, a Saudi newspaper has reported. The kingdom's religious police arrested 433 foreigners, including more than 240 women, for attending the "impudent" party in Jeddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz reported. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place. Judge Saud al-Boushi sentenced the 20 to three to four month in prison and ordered them to receive an unspecified number of lashes.

Australian department store sues Leftists: "In what is believed to be a world first, David Jones begins a legal case tomorrow in which it is suing the left-leaning think tank the Australia Institute and its executive director, Clive Hamilton, over claims the giant retailer's advertising eroticised and sexually exploited children. The case, in the Federal Court in Sydney, is thought to be the first time a court will consider the sexualisation of children in advertising. The retailer is suing under the Trade Practices Act, claiming the institute engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct. The avenue of suing for defamation was closed to big companies after the introduction of uniform defamation laws in January 2006. The case stems from a media release in October titled "Corporate paedophilia - sexualising children by advertising and marketing", which announced the launching of a discussion paper. The release named retail chains such as David Jones and Myer as having "jumped on the bandwagon" in eroticising children in the interests of the bottom line."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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A DAY TO REMEMBER

Today is the birthday of Ronald Reagan. There is nothing anyone can say about Ronald Reagan that goes anywhere near the words of Ronald Reagan himself so I simply reproduce below a quote that I think encapsulates the man:

“When I attended the commencement ceremonies at the Air Force Academy, I was surprised at how many of the graduating cadets came up to me, hand extended—930 in all—and told me they were praying for me. When I mentioned this to the commanding general, he told me that every morning you could find several hundred cadets in the chapel beginning their day with prayer. Hardly a day goes by that I’m not told—sometimes in letters and sometimes by people I meet—that they’re praying for me. It’s a warm but humbling feeling. Sometimes I answer when someone says that; I feel I have to say something. And I tell them that if they ever get a busy signal, it’s because I’m in there ahead of them. I grew up in a home where I was taught to believe in intercessory prayer. I know it’s those prayers, and millions like them, that are building high and strong this cathedral of freedom that we call America; those prayers, and millions like them, that will always keep our country secure and make her a force for good in these too troubled times. And that’s why as a nation we must embrace our faith, for as long as we endeavor to do good—and we must believe that will be always—we will find our strength, our hope, and our true happiness in prayer and in the Lord’s will.”

The Danger of Fantasy in International Affairs: Palestine

Excerpt from a post by Shrink Wrapped

On occasion I have written about the danger that arises when international affairs are governed more by fantasy than reality.  My first post on the subject looked at the way in which the National fantasies (myths) in the West and within the Islamic world dovetailed in such a way as to guarantee misunderstanding and make the feared Clash of Civilizations more likely.  In my second post on the subject, I discussed the UN, a paean to fantasy in international affairs, and suggested that the anxiety that would ensue for people once they recognized the reality of the disaster that the UN has become, was sufficient cause for them to cling to the fantasy that the UN offered a way to minimize the danger of a break down in the international order.

Related to both of these posts is the idea that the source of much of the Arab and Muslim discontent with the West relates to the Palestinian and Arab conflict with Israel.  The fantasy structure includes the idea that there is a pool of support among the Palestinians and among Arabs in general that would support a two state solution with Israel, if only the Israelis would remove the terrible weight of oppressive occupation from the backs of the poor, benighted, essentially innocent Palestinians.  In one form or another, this fantasy animates much of the international community's approach to the situation; it also animates much of the media coverage of the Middle East.

The front page of the New York Times today contains no stories about the Palestinians and a search of the Times site reveals no mention of Hamas or Fatah.  A search on Google news for "Hamas" and "Fatah" brings up a front page with a number of stories from several days ago, but no stories linked from major Western news organizations today.  The top story is from Ha'aretz two days ago: Despite violations, Hamas-Fatah cease-fire holds. 

We have become inured to stories proclaiming the maintenance of Palestinian truces punctuated by attacks against Israelis several times a day, attacks typically ignored by the Western press, but here we see the template applied to inter-Palestinian clashes.  In fact, last night and this morning, the fighting in Palestine has been particularly vicious....

At this moment the Palestinians are engaged in a civil war; the goal of the war is to control all of the largess that the world continues to heap upon the Palestinians and maintain the dream, fantasy, and desire to destroy Israel.  Nothing out of Gaza or the West Bank gives any reason to question the goals of Fatah or Hamas (or Hezbollah for that matter) yet the International Community behaves as if their fantasy reflects reality.  Many more Israelis will die, and the Palestinians will continue to live in squalor amid a sea of violence and corruption, in order to satisfy everyone's fantasies.  Ultimately, only the Palestinians can decide who represents them, a question that will be resolved via the gun, and then, and only then, can questions of war and peace be addressed. 

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ELSEWHERE



The clenched fist is of course the traditional symbol of Communism -- for good reason: Leftists are full of anger and hate. Marx himself hated just about everybody -- including the workers and including his own mother.

Amazing Israeli tolerance: "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given permission for Jordan to build a large minaret adjacent to a mosque on the Temple Mount to call Muslims to prayer at the holy site, WND has learned. The minaret will stand at a site on the Mount where Jewish groups here had petitioned to build a synagogue. A minaret is a tower usually attached to a mosque from which Muslims are called to the five Islamic daily prayers."

ACLU as traitors: "Discussing the arrest warrants a German court had issued that day for 13 CIA agents in connection with the kidnapping of German citizen Khaled El-Masri and his lawsuit against former CIA Director George Tenet and others, filed with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Bill O'Reilly asked CBS News terrorism analyst Michael Scheuer on the January 31 edition of Fox News' The O'Reillly Factor: "Do you think these people are traitors, the ACLU? Are they putting us all in danger?" Scheuer replied that "they have a right to their opinion" but asserted, "[T]hey're very lucky that most Americans are willing to fight to protect their ability to denigrate America." O'Reilly then stated that the ACLU "go[es] beyond that" and that, actually, "they put us in danger." Scheuer agreed, saying: "Oh, I think they do. I think that's certainly true, sir." Scheuer, a former CIA analyst, was head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit during the Clinton administration."

Let's hope this is true: "A prize-winning Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the US State Department and broadcasts to Iran. An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service. Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons."



Obnoxious Soros says America needs to be "De-Nazified": "Senator Barack Obama might want to tell George Soros to shut up, now that the Hungarian-born billionaire has equated the George W. Bush administration with the Third Reich. Soros, who spent $26 million trying to beat Bush two years ago, is a key supporter of the media-darling Illinois Democrat's presidential campaign. But last week at Davos, Soros made folks like Gwyneth Paltrow and Sean Penn look downright patriotic. After asserting that the United States is recognizing the error it made in Iraq, Soros said, "To what extent it recognizes the mistake will determine its future." He went on to say that Turkey and Japan are still hurt by a reluctance to admit to dark parts of their history, and contrasted that reluctance to Germany's rejection of its Nazi-era past. "America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany," Soros said. "We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process."

National Guard forced to run: "A recent standoff between National Guardsmen and heavily armed outlaws along the Mexican border has rattled some troops and raised questions about the rules of engagement for soldiers who were sent to the border in what was supposed to be a backup role. Six to eight gunmen -- possibly heading for Mexico with drug money -- approached a group of Tennessee National Guard troops at an overnight observation post Jan. 3 on the U.S. side of the Arizona-Mexico border. No one fired a shot, and the confrontation ended when American troops retreated to contact the Border Patrol."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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CHRISTIANS UNDER MUSLIM RULE: BETHLEHEM & BEYOND

Post lifted from Daniel Mandel

The situation of Christians in the Muslim Middle East, as I have outlined earlier, continues to deteriorate, not least within the Palestinian Authority. To Khaled Abu Toameh's earlier account of the depopulating of Bethlehem's Christian community can be added his more recent piece describing their ongoing plight as a minority of 15% in a city in which they were once a majority. As Toameh reports, incidents include fire-bombing of Christian homes, theft of lands, and physical violence and intimidation of those Christians brave enough to complain or seek redress. Further bleak details also emerge in Elizabeth Day's account.

More general analysis of the Christian predicament in the region comes from the Spiegel Online and Zlatica Hoke, the latter including some little-known details regarding Israeli Christians, a rare exception to the trend of Middle Eastern Christian demographic collapse, demoralization and emigration.

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Obnoxious Penance "Scoop" Outrages Catholics

Post below excerpted from Newsbusters

How far will reporters go to get a juicy story: How low will they go? How many rules will they break? How many sacred cows will they make into hamburger? Reporter Riccardo Bocca of L'Espresso is attracting worldwide attention from Catholic media outlets and bloggers. Bocca stealthily visited confessionals at 24 Catholic churches in Rome, Turin, Naples, Milan and Palermo, and lied to each priest he visited, manufacturing false confessions for various sins. He said he wanted to show the disparity between what the church teaches and what priests do. Would they conform to Catholic teaching or slip out of orthodoxy to show sympathy? Bocca found priests who would step away from orthodoxy, although not on abortion.

Fox News explained that the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, was furious: "Shame! There is no other word to express our distress toward an operation that was disgusting, worthless, disrespectful and particularly offensive," the Vatican's paper said in an editorial headlined "Fake confessions in search of a shameful scoop." (Philip Pullella at Reuters also had a story.) I can't imagine even many "secular progressive" reporters finding it ethical to lie your face off in a supposedly sacred ritual.

Catholic blogger Mark Shea headlined his post From our "Take Off 50 IQ Points Whenever the Press Talks about Religion" File. His take is just as sharp as the headline:

So some jackass reporter goes around to different churches, lies about various sins and ethical conundrums in the confessional, gets 24 different pieces of advice from 24 priests and then compares them to what he calls the "official teaching" of the Church. Then he writes a "Gotcha" article which proves that priests are not computers dispensing dogmatic formulae, but shepherds who, within their varying abilities and limits, try to mercifully help struggling people do the best they can in living up the admittedly hard ideals of the Faith. Of course, he doesn't realize that's what he proves. He *thinks* he's proving that the Catholic Faith is crap, which shows what a jackass he is.

He also proves that he is a liar and a jerk, not to mention a blasphemer. I generally think it unwise to try to learn the truth about plumbing from liars, much less the truth about something weighty like a religion. I also think it unwise to try to learn the Catholic faith from people who neither understand nor believe it.

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ELSEWHERE

Judge rejects bid to make Simpson return book money: "A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit against O.J. Simpson over an advance the ex-football star and actor was paid for his scrapped, hypothetical book about the murders of his ex-wife and her friend. But the father of murder victim Ron Goldman intends to pursue his case in state court. US District Judge Manuel Real ruled yesterday that he had no jurisdiction in the dispute between Fred Goldman and Simpson over the reported $US1 million ($1.3 million) advance he was paid for the controversial book If I Did It.... Simpson was acquitted of the June 12, 1994, murders. A civil jury found him liable for the deaths in 1997 and ordered him to pay $US33.5 million in damages to the murder victims' families. Little of that judgment has been collected and Simpson has vowed never to pay voluntarily."

Brits flocking to the anti-immigration British National Party: "Success breeds success and we have enjoyed a great deal of success over the last 12 months! Election triumphs and legal victories have helped raise our profile and brought many new members into our ranks and this deluge of new blood combined with the most impressive renewal rates we have ever had, has caused a bottleneck in membership processing. The workload of the membership team has increased due to the changeover to the fairer rolling membership system and the introduction of a 2 month lapsed membership deadline, which caused an increase in the volume of enquiries to the department checking on the progress of applications, well before the 4 week grace period requested, in last months' BN. This has now pushed the processing time back even further."

U.S. Communists say terrorism doesn't kill enough people: "The Fox Television Network series "24" is an incredibly brazen example of the ultra-right-wing's use of that medium to spread fear to win support for its political agenda and for President Bush.... MSNBC commentator Keith Oberman rightly described "24" as "naked brainwashing." All people of good will, of course, oppose terrorism. The Communist Party USA has often pointed out that terrorism substitutes individual acts of violence for the mass action essential for real progressive change... Terrorism is a political tactic that should indeed cause all of us great concern. Unfortunately, "24" is an attempt to use fear, propaganda and lies to conceal the real perpetrators of terror, the ultra-right and George W. Bush."

Air strike targets senior al Qaida leaders in Iraq: "Coalition Forces targeted the leadership of an al-Qaida in Iraq related vehicle-borne improvised explosives devices network Friday during an airstrike operation near Arab Jabour. Intelligence reports indicated that this network is responsible for a large and devastating number of VBIED attacks in the Baghdad area. They are also responsible for IED and sniper attacks conducted against the Iraqi people and Iraqi and Coalition Forces. Coalition Forces believe that key terrorist leaders were killed during the airstrike. Results are still being assessed at this time. It is believed that several members of the VBIED cell, in addition to the targeted leadership, were present at the meeting place immediately prior to the airstrike"

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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SOME STRAIGHT THINKING FROM A U.S. SOLDIER IN IRAQ

A few excerpts from Sgt Jeffers for those who have not seen it already:

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It's not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you.

But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.

We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.

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NO WONDER THE FRENCH HATE AMERICA

An excerpt below from Jon Hall

Why do the French still celebrate Bastille Day? How can they even remember it without shame? It's not as though the French Revolution ushered in anything lasting, or that there weren't other French revolutions to follow.

Since the U.S. installed its first government, the French have had a monarchy, 5 republics, 2 empires, 3 restorations of the monarchy (including a Bourbon and an Orleanist), the Reign of Terror, various periods of anarchy, the Nazi-collaborationist puppet state of Vichy, and now the E.U., which the French feel that with their wealth of experience they are entitled to lead. A mere 10 years after the storming of the Bastille and 7 years after the founding of the First Republic, the French were back to dictatorship with Napoleon I. (If only the French Revolution had "swept across" France.)

Compare this sorry history to that of America: We've had one continuous government under the same constitution since 1789. We even held elections during the Civil War. Yet, many in the American elite think we should look to Europe, and in particular France, for guidance on how to run our affairs. This is mind-blowing, considering that the most cataclysmic events of the last century started in Europe.

Of all the major nations of Europe, France is the least deserving of emulation. France has been in decline since Waterloo, and has not been a great nation since 1871, when they lost the Franco-Prussian War and had to cede the Alsace-Lorraine over to the Germans. Wasn't it Walker Percy who said that Pascal (1623-62) was the last sane French intellectual? The frogs have not been well-led since Charles Martel repelled the invading Muslim hordes at the Battle of Tours in 732. The U.S. bailed out France repeatedly in the 20th century and they have never forgiven us for it.

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ELSEWHERE



New priorities, not new prosecutors: "Buchanan took office six days before the attacks of Sept., 11, 2001 ... United flight 93 actually crashed to the ground in her district. One would think that might motivate a law enforcement official to devote all of her time and resources to protecting the country from future terrorist attacks. Instead, Buchanan has gone after bong sellers, pornographers, Dr. Rottschaefer, and, if you need another example, a couple of retired veterans who exaggerated their military experience. With that kind of record, you might guess that Mary Beth Buchanan was among those U.S. attorneys let go last week. You'd be wrong. In fact, late last year, she was promoted."

NYT in trouble: "Why do I feel so happy? The New York Times is writing off $814.4 million of the value of its New England newspapers. This catastrophic meltdown was presaged by a dreadful drop in quality. Need evidence? Try a search over at the Times site for the phrase "disastrous war." That's one of the Times' pathetic and oft-used catch-phrases that demonstrates a distinct lack of quality and creativity. The Times' mission of derailing the war effort relies upon a monotonic drumbeat of defeat. Reusing the same anti-American phrases for months and years on end has turned out to be a wonderful predictor of the paper's business results."

Paul Krugman On Useless U.S. Ethanol Subsidies: "Paul Krugman may be a left-liberal and so I very often disagree with him, but he is right on the mark when pointing out the irrationality of U.S. ethanol policy, which will do little or nothing to reduce oil consumption, while costing the U.S. economy far more than alternative policies to reduce oil consumption. The source of this irrational policy is the parasitical U.S. farm lobby which both the Republican and Democratic establishment panders to. What could be added to Krugman's piece is that the reason Brazilian ethanol isn't used instead of the far more costly U.S. ethanol, is the fact that the U.S. congress, led by Senatar Barack Obama has slapped punitive tariffs on it."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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LEFTIST HATRED OF THE TROOPS COMING OUT

There has been a lot of outrage about a prominent Leftist columnist calling the U.S. armed forces "mercenaries". The reaction below is lifted from the NRO Blog. In a twisted sort of a way, though, maybe the columnist was right, at least from his point of view. Leftists don't see themselves as part of America so the U.S. troops are in fact fighting for another country from their point of view -- which is the definition of a mercenary.

I think we're witnessing a very public meltdown over on WashingtonPost.com. Earlier today William Arkin published a new post responding to those who took issue with his characterization of U.S. troops as bloodthirsty and ignorant mercenaries. But while the post can still be found by following the direct link, it has vanished from Arkin's home page. Did someone at the Post direct him to take it down? Or did he himself have second thoughts about certain passages, like this one:

These men and women [in the military] are not fighting for money with little regard for the nation. The situation might be much worse than that: Evidently, far too many in uniform believe that they are the one true nation. They hide behind the constitution and the flag and then spew an anti-Democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the American people.

The best reaction so far is John's from OpFor: "If there is a war that's unwinnable, it's the war on this type of horrid ignorance."

Ace has a good question too: "Since Arkin asserts that the troops should not be allowed to influence the public's opinion on the war, and since the entire left demands that anyone supporting the war become a troop himself — has the left pretty much created a Catch-22 by which any and all support for the war is illegitimate?"

Allah has some related audio that you've got to hear to believe. Arkin's piece represents a turning point — "baby killer" coming back into vogue. How tragic.

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ELSEWHERE

It's a start: "The Bush administration yesterday proposed ending farm subsidies for an estimated 80,000 wealthy individuals as part of a broad plan that would close loopholes and cut traditional farm programs by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years. The proposal unveiled by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was the administration's opening move in what will be a lengthy tug of war with Congress over a new multi-year farm bill. The current bill, one of the most generous to farmers in history, expires Sept. 30. Debate on the new legislation comes at a time of major changes in agriculture. Booming demand from new ethanol plants has pushed corn prices to near-record levels. At the same time, U.S. trade partners are threatening retaliation unless the United States curbs crop subsidies that are said to promote overproduction here and low prices for farmers abroad."

The writing's on the wall for Iran: "The Bush administration rejected any reports that it planned to attack Saddam Hussein as 'urban legends.' The same language is now being used over the possibility of US action against Iran. But when the US is joined by the Saudis and the Israelis and their powerful supporters in Washington, it spells danger -- as the Soviets learned in Afghanistan and the Iranians in their war with Iraq."

Bush "spoiling for a fight" with Iran: "US officials in Baghdad and Washington are expected to unveil a secret intelligence 'dossier' this week detailing evidence of Iran's alleged complicity in attacks on American troops in Iraq. The move, uncomfortably echoing Downing Street's dossier debacle in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, is one more sign that the Bush administration is building a case for war."

"Price gouging" is essential and humane: ""Recently, Anderson Cooper and one of his correspondents, Gary Tuchman, condemned price gouging in New Orleans as if they were reporting an inherently unjust practice that no reasonable person would accept. So, once again, it needs explaining why price gouging is not only not bad, but is essential to the welfare of everyone involved. Without it, people don't get the essential goods they need after disasters. Free markets here are humane and necessary."

CA: Bid to outlaw spanking stirs emotions: "Leigh Bailey will never forget the day her daughter, then 2, pulled her small hand away and darted into a busy street. Brakes screeched. Bailey ran to her. Then came the consequence. 'I got her back to the sidewalk, I took her over my knee and spanked her and said, 'Don't ever, ever do that again!'' The Berkeley mother of two said that was one of very few times she has spanked her children. 'To keep my daughter safe,' she explained, 'I had to make sure she knew it was wrong and dangerous.' But was what Bailey did equally wrong? The emotional debate over spanking reignited in California when Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, said she plans to introduce a bill this week outlawing anyone from swatting children age 3 and younger. Violators could face up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine."

Another setup for Wendy's? "A Nashville man is suing Wendy's Restaurant, saying there was human blood on a straw he used from the company's store at 719 Thompson Lane. William Hoover is seeking unspecified damages in a Jan. 24 lawsuit that was filed in Davidson County Circuit Court by his attorney, Harry W. Miller III. A call has been placed to the company's headquarters in Dublin, Ohio seeking comment. According to the lawsuit, Hoover noticed a red substance on the end of the straw after he drank a Frosty shake-style beverage from the restaurant. ... Hoover had the substance tested, and it turned out to be human blood, the lawsuit states."

It's not the yen, it's the mileage : "Ford Motor Co.'s announcement last week that it lost a record $12.75 billion in 2006 will tempt the new Democratic Congress to come to the rescue of Detroit's Big Three automakers. General Motors and DaimlerChrysler are also expected to announce SUV-sized losses for 2006, further revving the engine for congressional action. Momentum is already building to make Japanese and other foreign-owned automakers the scapegoats for what ails Detroit. Just after the November elections, Big Three executives met with President Bush to complain about 'unfair' competition from Japan. ... Despite its pleas, Detroit's woes are homegrown, not created abroad."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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 Pages are here or here or here.

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IRAN WOBBLING?

Is the Khomeinist leadership preparing to retreat from confrontation over Tehran's nuclear ambitions? Until recently, the answer was an emphatic "No." According to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, such retreat would limit Islamic sovereignty by giving the United Nations a veto on Iran's energy policy. But now Tehran is trying to forestall the passage of a second, and presumably tougher, resolution by the Security Council in March.

Several versions of the presumed Iranian initiative are in circulation. Former President Muhammad Khatami presented one to American and European personalities on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. In this scheme, Tehran is prepared to comply with the Security Council demand to suspend uranium enrichment - as part of a diplomatic package. In this plan, an arbitration group would inspect and assess Iran's nuclear program, reporting back after six months. The group would include the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, and India on behalf of the nonaligned movement. During the six months in question, the Islamic Republic would suspend enrichment of uranium. In exchange, the Security Council would postpone its March session on the issue and would suspend the sanctions it already approved. Tehran would also insist on an undertaking from the United States not to take military action against Iran. There are other signs that Tehran is trying to cool things down:

* It has not carried out its threat of suspending relations with countries that voted for sanctions, nor has it organized demonstrations by the usual suspects around the embassies of those nations.

* The regime has shown uncharacteristic timidity on the issue of its senior Revolutionary Guard commanders and intelligence officers who were arrested and are being interrogated by U.S. forces in Iraq.

* The Islamic Republic did not vote against a resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly last week condemning the denial of the Holocaust. (This was an indirect correction for Ahmadinejad, who re-launched the Holocaust-denial debate last year.)

"We hear a moderate message from Tehran," says a senior British official. "And that in a tone we had not heard since Ahmadinejad [became president]." That at least part of the Khomeinist leadership might want ways to defuse the situation is not surprising. The sanctions, though nothing more than a gentle rap on the knuckles, have already started to bite - with a disproportionate psychological impact on some players in the Iranian economy. Iranian businessmen see the measures as a kind of aperitif for a deadlier main course to be served later.

The Iranian currency, the rial, is showing the jitters as never before. Thousands of contracts remain frozen, pending the outcome of the crisis. If current trends continue, hundreds of thousands of Iranian workers may be thrown out of work within months.

The plummeting of oil prices has also done its bit. Over the past year, the Islamic Republic has seen oil revenues decline by almost 20 percent - even as Ahmadinejad's largesse, designed to bribe his constituency, has pushed public expenditure to an all-time high. In recent months, the government has been unable to pay the salaries and bonuses of some employees, including teachers, on time.

The perception that the Bush administration may be preparing military action has sent shivers down the spines of many mullahs and Revolutionary Guard commanders who account for a good part of the wealthy elite.

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ELSEWHERE

Why they are smashing online gambling: ""Government taxes your winnings at the casino and it taxes the profits of the casino. If you win the governments gets some. If the casino wins the government gets some. They are the protection racket of the Mafia writ large with one difference -- the Mafia took less. But online gambling is another matter entirely. The damn casino doesn't physically exist anywhere. It is an online entity. It may be a company registered in some primitive place with low taxes like Switzerland. The people who provide the service of gambling are being allowed to keep most of what they earn. And that is what drives greedy politicians into such a frenzy."

Wealth and economic freedom go hand in hand: ""Why are some countries rich and others poor? For more than a decade, the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have carefully examined the evidence. Every year, for the Index of Economic Freedom, they sift through data on everything from inflation to imports, from tariffs to trade -- and they do it for every country. And one big-picture message about poverty and wealth consistently shines through, year after year: Wealth and economic freedom go hand in hand, says Rebecca Hagelin, a vice president of the Heritage Foundation."

Moscow: Mayor calls gay parade "Satanic": "Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said Monday he would never allow a gay parade to take place in Moscow despite pressure from the West. 'Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as Satanic,' Luzhkov said at the 15th Christmas educational readings in the Kremlin Palace 'We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future,' said Luzhkov who has been in office since 1992. The conservative 70-year-old mayor of the Russian capital also banned Portuguese bullfights in Moscow in 2001 for their violence and did not let the St. Petersburg-based rock group Leningrad perform in the city because of their explicit lyrics."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

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

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

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