Matthew Syed says something useful

On 4th., I made a few comments about an article in "The Times" of London by Matthew Syed in which he attacked all mention of race. He has apparently done some reading since then. His latest article is still a rehash of a lot of old stuff but he has got to the point now of attacking Leftists for thinking that interracial differences have to be denied. Bravo Matthew! Keep up your reading.

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Media lies

Post below lifted from American Thinker. See the original for links and full details



Scott Beauchamp was the last straw. I realized that I need a scorecard to keep track of all the fallen journalists, journalistic mistakes and major and minor screw-ups in the media. I couldn't find one already made, although Wikipedia came close, so I started my own. I apologize if there is a good list already out there, but I looked and could not find.

Offenses include lying and fabricating, doctoring photos, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, falling for hoaxes, and overt bias. Some are hilarious, such as an action figure doll being mistaken for a real soldier. Some are silly, such as reporting on a baseball game watched on TV. Some are more serious. I leave it to you to judge whether the internet damaged "journalism's ability to do its job professionally", as Marvin Kalb accuses, or if the internet has in fact helped expose an already damaged "profession".

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Misleading Wal-Mart gloom

Wal-Mart stock got hammered today after the retailing giant cut its profit outlook for the rest of year, saying its customers were under "economic pressure." Now I can almost guarantee you that some congressman or think-tank economist somewhere is going to point to Wal-Mart's troubles (which many elites will delight in) as a worrisome symbol of growing income inequality, a sign that the company's supposedly lower middle-class customer base is getting left behind by the current economic expansion. A few thoughts on that:

1) Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott made a point of saying customers globally, not just in America, were under financial pressure. Indeed, one of Wal-Mart's biggest trouble spots was in Japan, where its retail unit, Seiyu Ltd., said it now expects to post its sixth straight annual loss on weak sales. Yet Japan is noted for its income equality, ranking second-behind only Denmark-among all nations, according to the United Nations.

2) Income-inequality worriers argue that it's basically only earners at the very tippy-top of the income ladder making any dough, with the rest of us just breaking even. If so, I would expect all manner of big-box retailers to be suffering. But that is certainly not the case. In its most recent earnings report, Target reported net earnings of $651 million, up 20 percent from a year earlier. At Costco, profits were up 14 percent in its most recent quarterly report. But Wal-Mart has them all beat. Its earnings rose 49 percent in the second quarter, but the weaker outlook-along with the sliding stock market-had Wall Street selling.

More here

Another comment: "The headline on the Reuters story syndicated all over the world today is "Wal-Mart Hits the Wall: World's largest retailer issues bleak forecast, pointing to cash-squeezed customers, higher fuel prices, interest rates." The accompanying story describes Wal-Mart as "struggling" -- which would carry dire implications for the U.S. economy, because Wal-Mart, which serves 127 million customers every week, "is considered a barometer of the health of the U.S. retail sector." The clear thrust of the article is that Wal-Mart, and hence the U.S. economy, is in trouble. Really? What the article actually shows is that Wal-Mart's second-quarter sales "were $91.99 billion, up almost 9 percent from a year ago." Moreover, its earnings rose to $3.1 billion, up from $2.08 billion a year ago. So, in reality, sales and profits were higher than last year. These are not the financials of a company that is in trouble"

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ELSEWHERE

Poles stand up for Israel: "A pro-Palestinian conference is scheduled for the last days of August at the European Parliament. The organizer is the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People famous for its ant-Israeli attitude. Members of that group are i.e. Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey. The topic of the conferece is "Human rights violation by Israel military". However there are scheduled working groups on "how to increase the resistance against Israel military". The Israeli Foreign Office has submitted the protest against the conference. President of Knesset, Dalia Itzik, sent a letter to the President of EP, Hans-Gert Poettering. There is no official answer yet. In the meantime the group of Polish MEPs deriving from all main political parties declared to boycott the conference and help to call off the event."

British bureaucracy at work: "The external gate of a jail with more than 1,000 inmates was left open at night to allow staff to park in a secure area within its walls, according to a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons. Anne Owers expressed concern at the general casualness about aspects of security at Ranby jail in Retford, Nottinghamshire. Security staff admitted that they were fighting a losing battle against drugs being smuggled into the prison, where there were difficulties in patrolling the perimeter fence. Ms Owers also highlighted a "large and unexpected" shortfall in the prison's accounts that could lead to delays in dealing with the problems."

Forget All Those Other Gaffes, This One Will Sink Obama: "Yesterday I said, "goodnight, Senator," and pretty much wrote off Barack Obama's chances of overtaking Hillary Clinton. Well, things just get worse for the Illinois senator. First it was his pledge to meet with every dictator with no conditions. Then it was threatening ground troops in Pakistan. Then it was taking nukes off the table. Then it was calling U.S. policy in Afghanistan "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians." Now, worst of all for his chances, comes this headline from the AP: Obama Says Bush Not Solely to Blame. I thought this man was running for the Democratic nomination. The party's base will never forgive a statement like that."

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

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

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

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

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Some good ways to handle those who want to dictate to us

Take Gov. Mike Huckabee of the Razorback State. When tax-lovers bashed him for refusing to jack up taxes to cover budget shortfalls, he created a public "Tax Me More Fund." That way people who get piggish about raising taxes can prove it with a voluntary donation.

Then there's Virginia Ham State Senator Warren E. Barry who filed a bill to create an opt-out registry for death penalty foes. If the registrant is murdered, the killer will be ineligible for execution and the victim's piggybank must posthumously support the expense of keeping the killer in the pokey.

Both of these moves, of course, are just pigs in a poke. They're designed to publicize the politician's position, not to be taken seriously. So why should libertarians cheer? Not because we agree or disagree with their options, but because of the kinds of options they offer. Options that put the opposition on the defensive by challenging them to put up or shut up.

Libertarians should piggyback on these reverse psychology tactics and offer our detractors exactly what they say they want. Take the whole anti-gun hogwash for example. If gun-banners really believe that hog heaven can be achieved by preventing everyone from hanging hoglegs on their hips they should be given the chance to proudly act on their convictions. Why should gun lovers be licensed and registered but not gun haters? Let's set up a web site and double-dog dare every gun basher to sign the "I'll Never Touch a Gun Pledge." In exchange for posting their names and addresses on the Internet they'll receive a big bright yard sign that says "No Guns In This House." Of course, their identities will be known to everyone, but so what? They'll be as happy as pigs in mud knowing that no intruder will ever be able to turn their own weapons against them.

Hog wild about the drug war? Great! Prove your pigheaded beliefs by joining the new libertarian organization called "Drug War Volunteer." When someone has their car seized and is never charged with a crime, DWV will call upon you to donate your own car to the victim. When the narco pigs ransack the wrong house, DWV will assign you to help clean up the mess. When someone is framed by crooked cops, you bail him out. When a single mother of three is killed in the drug war crossfire you'll become the kids' foster parent. Join the DWV today and prove you're not a hypocrite!

Opposed to education vouchers, charters, and other forms of school choice? Convinced that government schools will get better if we just shovel enough tax money at them? Print out the libertarian-supplied list below and carry it with you at all times.

THE PUBLIC EDUCATION SUPPORTER PROMISE CARD

1. I will not laugh when a high school grad cannot make change for a five when I buy a bag of pork rinds.
2. I will not grimace when he tells me that our first president was George Harrison.
3. I will not squeal like a pig when I'm told that Idaho is an Arab-speaking country somewhere in France.
4. I will not question the logic when she tells me that angels must exist because no one can prove that they don't.
5. I will not complain when the three million dollars in renovation money for the pigsty that is Guido Junior High School ends up as raises for district administrators.

And what about the next election cycle? Libertarian candidates, ever hopeful of turning the sow's ear of big government into a silk purse of freedom, will once again run like stuck pigs in pursuit of public office. Dispensing campaign literature, bumper stickers, and yard signs. But what do you give to people who say they only vote Demo or `Publican? Or those who say, "The only choice we have is to vote for Boss Hogg or be the little piggy that stayed home"? Slap a pin in their palm that says "I Love Big Gov" and challenge them to wear it!

Let's give people what they say they want. Maybe they'll learn to say, "In a pig's eye!"

Source

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LEFTIST MEDIA FOLLIES (1)

Don't they know ANYTHING? Post below excerpted from Autonomist

What follows is a caption from the AFP, and below that, the picture that accompanies it: " An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City."



The only way those bullets hit her house was if someone threw them at her house. You see, they've never been fired. For those of you unfamiliar with firearms, only the little copper-looking tip is the actual bullet. The larger, cylindrical casing below it holds the primer and the gunpowder that propels the bullet out of the firearm. Nice going, AFP! Proof again, that members of the MSM are often dupes for terrorist propagandists, and know very little about things military. Look at it like this: That picture had to have passed through at least several news people, including AFP's editors, before it was posted. An AFP editor chose that picture as representative of the printed story. And none of the people in that chain knew anything about guns

Confederate Yankee notes that the rounds are not American military ammo anyway!

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LEFTIST MEDIA FOLLIES (2)



Stupid Leftist newspaper does not know Iran from Iraq. Though they have changed their online heading now. Hence the screenshot above. A pity for them that they cannot also change the heading in all the newspapers they printed. I gather that some of the Melbourne Jewish community are pretty peeved by the mistake

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ELSEWHERE

There is a book out lately that purports to describe the political teachings of Jesus. There is a critique of it here

U.S. shares info about Taliban bases with Pakistan, bases disappear: "Information regarding the location of 29 Taliban bases, ID'd by U.S. intelligence and shared with Pakistan, has lost its targeting value for Islamabad's promised offensive against the militant group with the apparent evacuation of 28 of the training camps along the country's northern border with Afghanistan"

Democrat need for doom and gloom: "One of the two major political parties of the United States has linked all its electoral hopes on domestic pathologies, economic downturns and foreign failure. It is actually difficult to name any positive development for America that would benefit the Democratic Party's chances in a national election. Name almost any subject, and this unhealthy pattern can be discerned. If African Americans come to believe that America is a land of opportunity in which racism has been largely conquered, it would be catastrophic for the Democrats. The day that most black Americans see America in positive terms will be the day Democrats lose any hope of winning a national election". [Mussolini and Hitler got into power amid economic and social crisis too]

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

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

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

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

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Leftism is a corrosive hatred of the world around you

My academic background is chiefly in the psychology of politics and in 2002, I wrote: "That permanent and corrosive dissatisfaction with the world they live in is alone what makes people Leftists. That is all they have in common". In other words, I have for a long time been saying that Leftism can only be understood as a psychology, not as a philosophy or a coherent set of ideas. The article below points out that too

"Everything must be different!" or "Alles muss anders sein!" was a slogan of the Nazi Party. It is also the heart's desire of every Leftist since Karl Marx. Nazism was a deeply revolutionary creed, a fact that is always denied by the Left; but it's true. Hitler and his criminal gang hated the rich, the capitalists, the Jews, the Christian Churches, and "the System". They went through their Leftist phase early in life, and then went on to discover Aryan racial purity as their beau ideal. (As a swarthy Italian, Mussolini preferred to appeal to ancient Roman imperial glory).

Nazism was hatched in the same little intellectual cafes as a myriad of Leftwing ideologies, like social-democracy, anarchism, the Socialist Workers' Party, Trotskyism, Proudhonism, the lot. Peter Viereck writing in 1941 saw fascism's origins clearly. In the back streets of European cities you can still find the local anarchist or Leninist storefront, with old guys wearing 1900 laborer's caps and big mustaches, and fierce revolutionary posters of Lenin tacked on the walls. You can also find them in Berkeley, California.

"Everything must be different!" is the core psychology of Leftism, and has little to do with reasoned political beliefs. Most Marxists in the English Departments of America have never read Karl Marx's giant tome, Das Kapital, which parades as a work of economics and history, but is in fact a ponderous update of the Prussian philosopher Friedrich Hegel, who is even more unreadable than Marx. Instead of going to the fount of all Marxist wisdom, our academic "Marxists" have read the 1848 Communist Manisfesto and some hero-worshipping Leftist magazines. They are what Lenin, with magnificent disdain, called "vulgar Marxists" -- that is, proletarian dupes who just don't understand the deep philosophical roots of the real thing.

There are only a few ideas in Das Kapital. One is that human history is driven by class struggle between the rich and the poor, a wild oversimplification of history's rich and colorful tapestry. The other idea, borrowed from Hegel and flipped upside-down, is that the inevitable culmination of History in a state of Paradise is a material and this-worldly society, the condition of universal Communism, instead of an other-worldly condition, as Hegel predicted. Hegel believed that the Prussian State was a model of Paradise to Come. But since Marx was a "scientific" materialist, his version of history was called "dialectical materialism."

The final idea in Das Kapital is that economic profit (called "surplus value") belongs only to the workers, and not to the providers of entrepreneurial capital, nor to entrepreneurs who start and run businesses, nor to the inventors and developers who build intellectual capital all the way from Silicon Valley to Shanghai. Naturally, the radical Left gets to control what the workers produce. That's it. There's nothing else; it's a huge and ponderous rationalization of the impulse to overthrow whatever exists.

At bottom, the key political idea of Marxism is "Alles muss anders sein!" --- Everything must be different. The workers are supposed to be the revolutionary engine of Marxism, but of course they must follow the "guidance" of the Party, which is the intellectual vanguard of the proletariat --- the Party ruling elite, who are inevitably the same gang of parasites who were hatched in the same backstreet cafes in which Lenin and Hitler learned their craft. If the workers and peasants don't follow orders they must die or be sent to Siberia, as a logical matter of policy. It's all for the good of mankind. Naturally the real beneficiaries are the Leftist apparatchiks, who happily end up stealing anything the workers produce.

The craving that "Everyhing must be different!" begins in personal psychology, and then becomes articulated in political beliefs. That's why the same people can turn into anarchists or Nazis, Communists, or today, Post-Modernists, Deconstructionists, Radical Feminists, Socialists, Hillary followers, Islamo-fascists, you name it. It is why the ACLU chooses the worst criminals to defend; they secretly adore criminals, who are the ultimate rebels against society.

In teenagers the spirit of rebellion is perfectly normal, but it has its pathological extreme in what the psychiatric manual calls "oppositional personality disorder." The most psychologically acute philosopher in Western history, Friedrich Nietzche, called this oppositional personality syndrome the "reveral of values," and attributed it to Christianity (and its roots in Judaism two millenia ago). Christianity does tell us that "the poor shall inherit the earth," but like any other two-millenium religious phenomenon, it also includes far, far more than that. The wish that Everything must be different! is not limited to any faith or race, but is part of the human condition, to one degree or another. It's a normal part of growing up for most people.

But in some people it goes to murderous extremes -- such as the young Adolf Schickelgruber in Vienna, or the exiled Vladimir Ilyich Lenin not far away in Zurich. A young Cambodian named Pol Pot learned his version of Everything must be different! in Jean-Paul Sartre's Paris, was recruited as a promising candidate by the Soviet KGB, and then went back to Cambodia to kill three million people -- to create Paradise on Earth back home. Again. It's a predictable career path on the Left. Hugo Chavez today may follow the same logic as his model Fidel Castro.

What most conservatives don't understand is that the Left has reincarnated itself since the Soviet Union died. Conservatives think that obviously false beliefs should change; but that's not the way it works. Oppositional psychology is still at the core of the Left, and the mere crashing of the Soviet Empire and Maoist China hasn't changed a thing. The human condition is not that susceptible to reason or evidence. Oppositional personality just mutates and breaks out in other ways, like some insidious virus.

Marx thought that class struggle was the engine of history, but "deconstructionism," postmodernism, and the like have now generalized the class struggle to include race, class and gender, plus post-colonial revenge against the West, anti-rationalism, anti-scientific and anti-technology hatred, multiculturalism, militant Gays, transsexual gender benders, radical feminism, Afrocentrism, anti-Americanism, "man-boy lovers," the cultural assault against the traditional family, anti-Zionism, militant atheism, and all the other rabble-rousing "isms" of the Left. The key to all these movements is just one basic craving, that Everything must be different! ....

Oppositional personality syndrome explains a lot. When Yasser Arafat was asked who his personal hero was, he answered with a broad smile, "Mao Zedong!" That should have told us everything we needed to know. The Palestinian movement never builds anything, because its overriding impulse is to destroy, not to build. That famous Hamas-TV Mickey Mouse character didn't teach little kids to build a wonderful new Palestine, but only to kill Jews. Islamic Fascism is therefore just another revolutionary creed, with radically different beliefs from atheistic Marxism, but driven by exactly the same craving that Everything must be different!

That is why the Soviet-Nazi pact of 1939 was a natural alliance. It is why Islamic Fascists in London get along so well with the Socialist Worker's Party in the Respect coalition, fronted by "Gorgeous George" Galloway in the British Parliament. A radical's beliefs are only on the surface. It is the personal psychology that is always the same, and it always hankers to break down whatever humanity has built to date.

More here

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GOOD AND BAD MUSLIMS

There is a generally insightful post here which tries with only partial success to explain the fact that the Jihadis are only a small minority in the Islamic world. Most Muslims just get on with their day-to-day lives as we all do and ask little more than to be left alone.

So where do the Jihadis come from? The answer is really simple. The Jihadis are people who are frustrated enough to act upon what Western Leftists say. A corrosive dissatisfaction with the world they live in is what characterizes Leftists and they express that dissatisfaction vociferously day in and day out. And the Jihadis are usually educated people who have often heard that constant angry wail.

And Muslims have got more to be angry about than most. By most criteria, Islamic societies are the anus of civilization. They are brutal, backward, stifling, sexually repressive and poor. They contribute nothing to the world and function principally as parasites on the West. But it is a great human failing to blame others for your own problems and the Jihadis grab with great satisfaction what the Leftists say: That all the ills of the world (including the ills of the Muslim world) are the fault of America and the West.

That is of course a thoroughly stupid message and it is notable that you usually seem to need a Western university education to believe it. The 9/11 bombers and the British doctor bombers were all highly educated people who had lived for years in the West. They were not Egyptian peasants.

So the Jihadis are simply people who are dumb enough and frustrated enough by their own societies to put into practice what the Left preaches. Leftism is the real enemy egging them on, not Islam. It is no wonder that the Left does all it can to protect them.

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

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

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

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

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Will India pull ahead?

But will India always remain the tortoise-elephant to China's dragon-hare? If India could transcend its fractious politics (and there are signs in recent elections that it might), then it certainly has the potential to excel economically. It has a demographic advantage over China - it will have a larger working-age population by 2050. Its diversity is also a source of creativity - something its dour northern neighbour fears it may lack. And while China's rulers have managed economic liberalisation masterfully, it remains to be seen whether they can achieve the same miracle in the political sphere. China has enjoyed the short-term bonus of authoritarianism - the power to impose restructuring regardless of popular opinion - but authoritarianism also brings a lack of transparency. Many commentators believe this has shrouded serious overinvestment, bad debts and potential asset bubbles.

Moreover, China - unlike India - has not been effective at managing its gross regional inequalities. Few doubt that China's economic triumph will eventually bring political turmoil in its wake. India, unlike China, has had 60 years of experience in managing political turmoil. Though there are pockets of extreme radicalism, Maoist factions and Islamist extremism, mass revolutionary violence is highly unlikely; people accept the mediation of political conflict through elections. And so, paradoxically, though India's political life is chaotic, it is also curiously stable. India's elephantine advantages may yet win out.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Rethink in Germany: "After years of calling Iraq a disaster, debacle and quagmire, SPIEGEL ONLINE has decided to declare the following: "The US military is more successful in Iraq than the world wants to believe.". This all stems from last week's Der SPIEGEL magazine cover feature article by Ullrich Fichtner: An enormous, fascinating and remarkably honest report on the complex situation in Iraq. SPIEGEL ONLINE is also publishing Fichtner's report that US troops are in a remarkably good mood and have high morale. That also flies directly in the face of past SPIEGEL reporting that consistently depicted US troops as demoralized, depressed, defeated, prone to suicide and suffering from low morale. As a long-time observer of the publication, my first reaction to reading this on SPIEGEL ONLINE was: Are they on drugs?! - this directly contradicts everything they've reported for the past four years! My second reaction was: Have they finally gotten off the drugs?! Maybe reality is finally starting to sink in!"

Rare realism from a British charity: "One of Britain's leading charities has warned students not to take part in gap-year aid projects overseas which cost thousands of pounds and do nothing to help developing countries. Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) said that gap-year volunteering, highlighted by Princes William and Harry, has spawned a new industry in which students pay thousands of pounds for prepackaged schemes to teach English or help to build wells in developing countries with little evidence that it benefits local communities. It said that "voluntourism" was often badly planned and spurious projects were springing up across Africa, Asia and Latin America to satisfy the demands of the students rather than the needs of locals. Young people would be better off simply travelling the world and enjoying themselves, it added."

BBC presenter was NOT drunk! Oh no!: "Normal service will be resumed, the BBC has promised, after Radio 2 listeners raised concerns over another baffling early-morning performance by Sarah Kennedy. The broadcaster mispronounced words and let sentences tail off in a rambling show that prompted a number of listeners to voice fears for her health on the station's website. Kennedy, 57, referred to Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing a "pink polka blot" dress and described the victim in the Phil Spector murder trial as having a "gunshot to her month". She offered to send some "panties" to soldiers in Afghanistan and also appeared to have difficulty reading the newspaper review."



Cricket taking off in China: "Shouts of "Howzat!" resounded across a Beijing football pitch as China's cricketers battled yesterday for victory in the first final of the National Cricket Tournament. The winners of the inaugural national championship were the team from the Shenyang Sports Institute who defeated Shanghai Fudan University by seven wickets. A total of 59 men's teams and 19 women's teams took part in the tournament - an increase from the 37 men's teams who played regional matches last year. The first finals were played under rare blue skies in the usually polluted capital and on the grounds of Tsinghua University. In the absence of a pavilion, the players waited on the boundary, sipping iced water under red Coca-Cola umbrellas" [The headline on this article in The Times is amusing: "Oh no! Another country to beat us at cricket"]

A low, dishonest decade: "The Roosevelt Myth is more than a simple error of fact; it has a normative component that makes it one of the most pervasive and harmful in contemporary America. Forty years ago, historian Arthur Ekirch, Jr., wrote that 'the years 1929 to 1941 transformed the traditional values and attitudes of the American people, conditioning them to look, as never before, to the national state as the basic arbiter and fundamental factor in their lives.' And indeed, the notion that government planning rescued the economy -- or the almost equally perverse notion that it 'saved capitalism' -- is firmly embedded in the catechism of untruths that rationalizes the ambitions of both Left and Right. It does not appear that any politician since Ronald Reagan has seriously questioned the success of the New Deal, and even he did not challenge its theoretical assumptions or moral pretensions."

Freedom's example on Taiwan: "Democracy can be chaotic. While in Taipei last May I saw demonstrators inside the Chang Kai-shek Memorial. I read press critical of government policies. And I talked to opposition leaders plotting political campaigns to regain power. But from the messiness of freedom comes resilience, strength and order. Free people pursue their dreams, hold their leaders accountable, and accept the rule of law because they choose the lawmakers. The machinery of democracy allows competition while promoting compromise, cooperation and coalitions. It provides a peaceful pathway for change. Taiwan's rambunctious democracy rebuts Beijing's assertion that democracy cannot flourish in a Confucian Society."

Good news for Australian and Californian winemakers: "Britain faces a champagne shortage because vineyard owners in eastern France are refusing to sell tens of millions of bottles stocked in their cellars. Their unwillingness to give up what they see as their retirement nest eggs has left the country's most prestigious champagne houses struggling to keep pace with a rise in demand in the US and developing countries. Champagne experts say that producers will soon be unable to supply emerging markets in Russia, China and India as well traditional customers in countries such as Britain."

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

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

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

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

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Communism and Nazism

Excerpt from a review of: 'Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe' by Robert Gellately. There is a longer review here. That the Hitler regime differed in being more popular is undoubted. Detailed background on the Hitler regime here

In their different ways they were as bad as each other, the three monsters of 20th-century Europe. That is an oddly controversial statement. Hitler is almost universally vilified; Lenin remains entombed on Red Square as Russia's most distinguished corpse; and modern Russia is looking more kindly on Stalin's memory.

Robert Gellately elegantly scrutinises their differences and highlights their similarities. He places all three men in the context of a Europe shattered by the first world war. "Before 1914 they were marginal figures," he writes, without "the slightest hope of entering political life." The whirlwind of destruction that started in 1914 turned their fantasies of racial purity and class dictatorship into reality, killing people on a scale unknown in human history.

Anyone who still believes in the myth-assiduously propagated by the Soviet Union and its admirers-of the "good Lenin" will find the book uncomfortable reading. The author outlines with exemplary clarity Lenin's cruelty, his illegal and brutal seizure of power, his glee in ordering executions, the institution of mass terror as a means of political control and the construction of the first camps in what later became the gulag. "Far from perverting or undermining Lenin's legacy, as is sometimes assumed, Stalin was Lenin's logical heir," he writes icily.

Mr Gellately busts another myth too: that Hitler seized power by fear and force. The combination of anti-Jewish and anti-Bolshevik rhetoric played well with the German public. People felt humiliated by defeat and impoverished by recession, and Hitler blamed "the Jews" for both. Hitler looked on Soviet methods with contempt. His model was what Mr Gellately calls "consensus dictatorship": cautious, sounding out public opinion and changing course when necessary. Unlike Stalin, Hitler did not make a habit of murdering his closest allies. The Nazi party never experienced the ritual purges that were a habitual feature of Soviet Communist Party life under Stalin. Hitler's adversaries were so demoralised by the seeming success of his regime that few offered systematic resistance. It was only as defeat loomed in the last months of the war that ordinary Germans had a taste of the official paranoia that had been their Soviet counterparts' daily fare for 25 years.

The argument about the origins of Nazism will run and run. But there is little danger of Germany rehabilitating Hitler, even in the driest and most academic corners of historical theory. In Russia, by contrast, Stalin's memory is being burnished. A new guide for history teachers describes Stalin as the Soviet Union's "most successful leader"; it admits that "political repression" took place, but says it "was used to mobilise not only rank-and-file citizens but also the ruling elite." President Vladimir Putin, welcoming this guide, compared Stalin's Great Terror of 1937 with the allied bombing of Hiroshima. It would be interesting to hear Mr Putin's tame historians debate the Stalin era with Mr Gellately.

Source

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Some good sarcasm from Mark Steyn on the new NASA climate data: "Four of America's Top 10 hottest years turn out to be from the 1930s, that notorious decade when we all drove around in huge SUVs with the air-conditioning on full-blast" [The 1930s were of course the time of the Great Depression]

Misleading Reuters picture again: "News agency Reuters has been forced to admit that footage it released last week purportedly showing Russian submersibles on the seabed of the North Pole actually came from the movie Titanic.... it has now emerged that the footage actually showed two Finnish-made Mir submersibles that were employed on location filming at the scene of the wreck of the RMS Titanic ship in the north Atlantic some 10 years ago. This footage was used in sequences in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster about the 1912 disaster. The mistake was only revealed after a 13-year-old Finnish schoolboy contacted a local newspaper to tell them the images looked identical to those used in the movie.... The incident is doubly embarrassing for the agency since it follows a case in August last year in which it published an image by a freelancer of Israeli bombings in Lebanon that had been dramatised using photo manipulation, with the addition of smoke rising from allegedly burning buildings"

Liberals and the Gift that Keeps Taking: "While we're on the subject, yet another reason why I am not a leftist is that it is an ideology that undermines true brotherly love, which is to say, caritas. It is astonishing to me that the Democrats are able to fraudulently depict themselves as the "party of compassion," when their central program involves half the population voting to force the other half to give it stuff. You can be in favor of that, but just don't call it "charitable" or "compassionate." Call it what it is: a form of misguided self-interest. It is misguided because, as Tom Nugent explains today on NRO -- repeat after me -- "tax revenues will fall -- not rise -- when an economy slowed by tax hikes produces lower tax revenues. In all of this, the little guy -- not the rich guy -- is the one who's going to get hurt...."

FDR has got a lot to answer for: "When Europeans express anti-American sentiments, in my opinion, they are actually acting as loyal servants of the America that conquered them six decades ago. Of course, Europe was invaded by tanks, airplanes and infantry - not diplomats, educators and aid workers. But the America that won World War II was a one-party state that had no place for the Right, and it recreated Europe in its own image. The cold war between State and Defense, eggheads and jocks, blue-state and red-state, broke out only after the shooting had stopped." [For more on the "Progressive" dominance of pre-WWII America, see here]

Dress standards still alive in British horseracing: "Don't come to Glorious Goodwood if you're a "chav". That's the supposed message from the Earl of March, heir to the Goodwood Estate, if you fancy attending the Flat season's most varied and joyful meeting this week. At least, that's how I would currently describe it. Comments like that risk sucking out all the fun. These five days celebrate Flat racing in all its guises against the country's most beautiful racecourse backdrop. More relaxed than Royal Ascot, it nonetheless retains an effortless sense of occasion. It's also a microcosm of British society enjoying itself at whatever level of expense they choose. So it's disappointing that the Earl hankers after a more rigorous dress code. Although he insists he did not use the word "chav", he does seem to have pretty fixed ideas on how best to dress. "I won't be asking that visitors wear morning coats but I would like to see the ladies in nice traditional English summer frocks, with linen suits and Panama hats for the gentlemen," he was quoted as saying." [In Britain, a "chav" is a flashily dressed working-class person -- generally considered to be stupid]

Some of our best people are in the military: "I spent a week in Iraq recently, and here's what impressed me most: the Americans. In particular, the quality and character of the American soldiers and Marines who are fighting there and trying to help rebuild the nation. I don't mean to slight, in some ethnocentric way, the steadfastness and courage of the Iraqi people. But it was meeting and watching the American soldiers at work that I found most interesting.... the soldiers who have done well in Iraq will be major figures in American life for the next couple of decades. These men and women are no less suited to national leadership than are entrepreneurs, lawyers or local community leaders. In fact, they've had to show more courage, they've had to operate in a more fluid and volatile environment--and they've risked their lives for their country".

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

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

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

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

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LEFTISTS FEAR THE FUTURE

Post excerpted from Breath of the Beast. See the original for links

Up to this point I have concentrated on the similarities between The Left and the Islamists. As important as it is to understand those similarities, we cannot solve the dilemma they put us in without looking at the ways in which they differ. Ironically, the only way to highlight those differences is to point out one last, critical similarity. That is, that they are both afraid of and at war with the future.

Now, it is true that to conceal this fear (even from themselves) both groups put up a brave front by claiming to be "the wave of the future". Communists and socialists, of course, have always presented themselves as the avant-garde. From the theses of Marx, to the perpetual revolution rhetoric of the Russians and the Chinese, to the presumptive (and pathetically hopeful) appellation "Progressive" that much of today's European and American left has adopted as its title, the left has always presumed that their ideas and practices would sweep away the "old order" and bring in a new and finer age of political, economic and social equality.

But we have seen that whenever a leftist government has been in control, change has immediately become the enemy, a new, more exclusive ruling class has arisen and extraordinarily harsh measures have been used to repress individual initiative and thought. That same fear of the future is what turns liberal western politicians into "control freaks". It fuels their desire to give the government control over all aspects of life. They want government health care, to make government the monitor of the balance of conservative and liberal conversation on the broadcast media, to call on government to become the enforcer of racial preferences on hiring and educational opportunity, it even (in Massachusetts, any way) wants the government to specify and police the fat content of perfectly edible foods. It is the atavistic fear of the future that desires the government to control the distribution of wealth and resources.

The left's fear of the future results in paralysis. The logical extension of those creeping government controls is a soviet-like, centrally controlled economy, and history has shown that to be a failure. It was that very central management of the economy and the stagnation it created, not any internal political heresy or subversion, that caused the Soviet Union to fall apart. The leftists paralyze themselves politically with their cultural relativism and the illusion that they can create equality in an unequal world. They are unable to make value judgments on cultural cornerstones such as family, education, morality and ethics because they are mired in intellectualized, multicultural "non-judgementalism". They have no way forward because they have prohibited themselves from favoring any one course over another- or even considering what the differences might be. Their ethos is one of an intellectually nomadic existence, wandering from one platitudinous, ineffectual idea to the next.

As long as the leftmost "progressives" are a tiny minority this might seem a harmless, if perverse, pastime. But they are never content with strangling and avoiding their own future. They are convinced that everyone must be forced to participate in their dystopian dream. The left is always attempting to force others to share their unproductive illusions. They take a particular interest in becoming educators and trying to bend, fold and mutilate the children of others into becoming the vanguard of the new social order of stagnancy they aspire to. My post about the "progressive" teachers who banned their classes from playing with Legos because, "the children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys - assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society - a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive" shows how they take normal childhood behavior and turn its energy not into a productive learning experience but a pedantic inquisition into thought crimes.

They don't seem to know who they are, really. They deny that they are children of this culture. They do not seem to recognize that they owe their education and freedom of expression to this culture. They keep themselves assiduously ignorant of the fact that no other culture in the history of the world was ever as free as ours, and that their pose as perpetual social gadflies and Cassandras would have landed them in prison or mental asylums in most other cultures. They are in total denial that is that very "ownership and social power" that they detest that has given them the opportunity to work with (and attempt to indoctrinate) the children of gainfully employed, productive citizens. This is a classic example of the dissociation of a borderline personality expressed in the cultural dimension. How else could a human being of at least average intelligence (many of these lefties are very intelligent) propose the least successful, most class-based (the ruling class in a communist system decides everything by fiat) and repressive system known in modern times as a "better alternative" to the most successful and freest one. Remember that the definition of Borderline Personality Disorder is, in part; "(3) self-image, (4) identity, and (5) behavior, as well as a disturbance in the individual's sense of self. In extreme cases, this disturbance in the sense of self can lead to periods of dissociation."

The western left seems always to be behaving as if they want to tear down the government and the culture that supports it while not admitting to the knowledge that were there to be a change of regime, even a leftist one, the vast majority of them would be among the very first to be purged, imprisoned or marginalized by whatever autocratic or totalitarian regime arose in its place. They are literally sitting on the limb that they appear to be trying to saw off. Either they have supreme confidence that nothing they do will actually cause the bough to break they are simply so blinded and consumed by their fear of the future, they are blind to the kind of future they would bring down on themselves if they were successful. They clearly do not feel at home in their own culture and have no clear idea of what their new home might look like if they could move to one or build it themselves. They only know what they hate (Bush, capitalism, ownership, power, competitiveness, patriotism and meritocracy, etc...) about this one. They really seem to be happiest knowing that the culture they despise will not hurt them, nor will it expel them thereby forcing them to fend for themselves in other, less hospitable, societies. They are homeless, nomadic foreigners in their own homeland. Which, in a cultural sense, is the first definition of pilgrim (with a lower case "p"): one who journeys in foreign lands: nomadic

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Crime in the chocolate city: ""In the two years since hurricane Katrina soaked the Big Easy, the murder rate has soared, and street justice has prevailed over the notoriously ineffective halls of justice. But there are signs now that this city, famous for its laissez-faire lethargy and laid-back detectives, is gaining some ground against a tide of criminality that residents say threatens to sweep away the promise of recovery. From Coronado Heights to Lakeview, hope is returning that 'the battle for New Orleans,' as residents call it, is winnable -- on the streets and inside the city's corruption-tinged criminal justice system. Reforms in the squad room and the courtroom have lifted the rate of solved murders here from 16 percent to 42 percent since January. Moreover, a new violent-crime unit has won convictions in 19 of 20 cases since April. It's a dramatic turnaround that may indicate an abrupt awakening to the need to check crime at this particular juncture in city history."

The religion of peace in India: "Muslim protesters assaulted the exiled Bangladeshi author and feminist Taslima Nasreen at a book launch in Hyderabad on Thursday, incensed by her repeated criticism of Islam and religion in general. Some radical Muslims hate Nasreen for saying Islam and other religions oppress women. On Thursday, lawmakers and members of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party attacked her at the press club in Hyderabad at the launch of a Telugu translation of one of her novels. An uneasy-looking Nasreen backed into a corner as several middle-aged men threw a leather case, bunches of flowers and other objects at her head and threatened her with a chair, according to a Reuters witness and television pictures. Some of the mob shouted for her death. Other men tried to shield her and catch the projectiles. She ended up with a bruised forehead, and described the attack as barbaric before being taken to safety by police".

Scrap scalping laws: "I'm not a sports fan; never have been. Maybe that's why all the atmospherics surrounding ticket scalping raise more questions in my mind than they answer. For example: Why is someone who sells tickets to a Red Sox fan outside Fenway Park for a heavily inflated price called a 'scalper,' while someone who charges the same fan $4 for a bottle of water inside the stadium is called a 'concessionaire?' ... But what I really don't understand about the scalping brouhaha is why anyone thinks the government should be involved in deciding how much a willing buyer can pay a willing seller for tickets to a lawful entertainment event. We all take it for granted that if you're willing to pay for the privilege, you can stay at the best hotel, live in the best neighborhood, eat at the best restaurant, or hire the best lawyer." [Note: Massachusetts is one of only 8 states where this is still illegal]

The Petri dish of terror is failure: "The terrorists and their supporters don't want to see western values (i.e., democratic principles) and successes brought into the Muslim world because western values and successes are antithetical to the ideologies of terrorist and their supporters. Terror flourishes when societies fail. Introduce values that embrace individual freedoms and the freedoms that allow an individual to succeed, and support for terror vanishes. The petri dish of terror is failure. If the terrorists and their supporters and apologists really wanted to better the lives of hundreds of millions of oppressed people, they would use America western freedoms as models for success. Instead, terrorists and their supporters seek to destroy the freedoms that have authored success. They deliberately want to keep failed leaders and failed ideologies in place" [A Petri dish is laboratory glassware in which "In Vitro fertilization" and the growing of bacteria and fungi takes place]

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

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

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

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

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The genesis of the modern world

Modern industrial civilization developed in countries with a large Protestant population -- mainly in England -- but is religion alone enough to explain why? There was certainly a long gap between the establishment of Protestantism in England (which stretched from Wycliffe in the 1300s to Elizabeth I in the 1500s) and the beginning of the industrial revolution in the late 1700s. I suspect that a combination of Protestantism with other factors -- such as the newly revealed one mentioned below -- made the difference

Gregory Clark, an economic historian at the University of California, Davis, believes that the Industrial Revolution - the surge in economic growth that occurred first in England around 1800 - occurred because of a change in the nature of the human population. The change was one in which people gradually developed the strange new behaviors required to make a modern economy work. The middle-class values of nonviolence, literacy, long working hours and a willingness to save emerged only recently in human history, Dr. Clark argues....

The Industrial Revolution, the first escape from the Malthusian trap, occurred when the efficiency of production at last accelerated, growing fast enough to outpace population growth and allow average incomes to rise. Many explanations have been offered for this spurt in efficiency, some economic and some political, but none is fully satisfactory, historians say.

Dr. Clark's first thought was that the population might have evolved greater resistance to disease. The idea came from Jared Diamond's book "Guns, Germs and Steel," which argues that Europeans were able to conquer other nations in part because of their greater immunity to disease. In support of the disease-resistance idea, cities like London were so filthy and disease ridden that a third of their populations died off every generation, and the losses were restored by immigrants from the countryside. That suggested to Dr. Clark that the surviving population of England might be the descendants of peasants.

A way to test the idea, he realized, was through analysis of ancient wills, which might reveal a connection between wealth and the number of progeny. The wills did that, but in quite the opposite direction to what he had expected. Generation after generation, the rich had more surviving children than the poor, his research showed. That meant there must have been constant downward social mobility as the poor failed to reproduce themselves and the progeny of the rich took over their occupations. "The modern population of the English is largely descended from the economic upper classes of the Middle Ages," he concluded.

As the progeny of the rich pervaded all levels of society, Dr. Clark considered, the behaviors that made for wealth could have spread with them. He has documented that several aspects of what might now be called middle-class values changed significantly from the days of hunter gatherer societies to 1800. Work hours increased, literacy and numeracy rose, and the level of interpersonal violence dropped.

Another significant change in behavior, Dr. Clark argues, was an increase in people's preference for saving over instant consumption, which he sees reflected in the steady decline in interest rates from 1200 to 1800. "Thrift, prudence, negotiation and hard work were becoming values for communities that previously had been spendthrift, impulsive, violent and leisure loving," Dr. Clark writes.

Around 1790, a steady upward trend in production efficiency first emerges in the English economy. It was this significant acceleration in the rate of productivity growth that at last made possible England's escape from the Malthusian trap and the emergence of the Industrial Revolution. It is puzzling that the Industrial Revolution did not occur first in the much larger populations of China or Japan. Dr. Clark has found data showing that their richer classes, the Samurai in Japan and the Qing dynasty in China, were surprisingly unfertile and so would have failed to generate the downward social mobility that spread production-oriented values in England.

What was being inherited, in his view, was not greater intelligence - being a hunter in a foraging society requires considerably greater skill than the repetitive actions of an agricultural laborer. Rather, it was "a repertoire of skills and dispositions that were very different from those of the pre-agrarian world." ...

Most historians have assumed that evolutionary change is too gradual to have affected human populations in the historical period. But geneticists, with information from the human genome now at their disposal, have begun to detect ever more recent instances of human evolutionary change like the spread of lactose tolerance in cattle-raising people of northern Europe just 5,000 years ago. A study in the current American Journal of Human Genetics finds evidence of natural selection at work in the population of Puerto Rico since 1513. So historians are likely to be more enthusiastic about the medieval economic data and elaborate time series that Dr. Clark has reconstructed than about his suggestion that people adapted to the Malthusian constraints of an agrarian society....

Dr. Bowles, the Santa Fe economist, said he was "not averse to the idea" that genetic transmission of capitalist values is important, but that the evidence for it was not yet there. "It's just that we don't have any idea what it is, and everything we look at ends up being awfully small," he said. Tests of most social behaviors show they are very weakly heritable. He also took issue with Dr. Clark's suggestion that the unwillingness to postpone consumption, called time preference by economists, had changed in people over the centuries. "If I were as poor as the people who take out payday loans, I might also have a high time preference," he said.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Don Surber has a very amusing roundup of "The week that was"

Is there any end to U.S. airline stupidity? "An Australian woman was branded a criminal by airline officials after "swearing" on an American flight - with a classic, and utterly inoffensive, Aussie oath. "Fair dinkum," New South Wales woman Sophie Reynolds muttered when told by an air hostess that there were no pretzels for her to snack on. The next thing Ms Reynolds knew, the flight crew had demanded her passport to note down her details, telling her that swearing at attendants was a crime. The 41-year-old, who lives in Queanbeyan, near Canberra, was stunned to find three uniformed officers waiting for her when she left the flight in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "They said: 'You swore at the hostess and there are federal rules against that'," Reynolds told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And I said: 'I did not swear at the hostess, I just said 'fair dinkum'." Reynolds was travelling on a Delta Connection flight on SkyWest Airlines. Ms Snow said the Utah-based airline, which flies under contract to Delta Air Lines, was still trying to contact Ms Reynolds. She said no charges had been filed as a result of the incident and Ms Reynolds had been allowed to go on her way after talking to police." [In the context, the expression simply meant, "Really?". What sort of logic is it to describe as abuse words that they do not understand?]

Canada to build new military bases. How un-Canadian!: "Canada fired a warning shot in a new Cold War over the vast resources of the far North by announcing last night that it will build two new military bases in the Arctic wilderness. A week after Russia laid claim to the North Pole in what is rapidly becoming a global scramble for the region's vast oil and gas reserves, Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, said that Canada would open a new army training centre for cold-weather fighting at Resolute Bay, and a deep-water port at Nanisivik, on the northern tip of Baffin Island. The country is also beefing up its military presence in the far North with 900 Rangers."

'BET' Gets Thumbs Down Award From Journalists: "The cable TV channel Black Entertainment Television receives a "Thumbs Down" award from the National Association of Black Journalists at its annual convention. Its critics say BET has too much low-brow entertainment, portraying blacks in the worst possible way." [No comment]

Ski resort's 'Impeach Bush' vote backfires: "Some of the ski fans who have patronized Telluride, Colo., now are calling the ritzy resort "the land of radical liberals" and canceling planned vacations there because the town board voted to approve an ordinance calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. One ski club of 175 people already has made plans to go elsewhere, another skier has threatened to sell his home there and another critic predicted the town soon would bow to Mecca. "It's huge, unbelievable," said Telluride Mayor John Pryor. "Ski groups are canceling for the winter. Hundreds of people are bailing. The (town) website is flooded with people saying they're canceling their vacations here."

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

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

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

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

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Bill Clinton Says Hillary Is Winning Over the Military.... Here's How:

A really fun post below lifted from Gateway Pundit

Bill Clinton told supporters at a $2,300.00-a-plate dinner last night that Hillary is winning over the military.
Here's a reminder on how Hillary is winning over the military she loathes:

The COERCION PHOTO shows that this soldier has been thru Survival School and learned his lessons well. He's giving the sign of "coercion" with his left hand. These hand signs are taught in survival school to be used by POW's as a method of posing messages back to our intelligence services who may view the photo or video. This guy was obviously being coerced into shaking hands with Hillary Clinton. It's ironic how little she knew that he would so inform us about the photo -- perhaps because she's never understood our military to begin with.

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ELSEWHERE

Rupert to squash the NYT: "The News Corp chairman, Rupert Murdoch, has endured criticism "normally levelled at some sort of genocidal tyrant" during the three-month stand-off over his controversial $US5.6 billion takeover of Dow Jones. In his first public comments since securing the deal, Mr Murdoch gave investors a broad-brush look at his plans, including possibly scrapping online subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal, but stayed mum on specific plans for Australia. Buying Dow Jones "positions us to become the strongest company in the world in both information and entertainment", the 76-year-old media magnate said on a conference call early yesterday. News Corp would aggressively boost the Journal's coverage of national, international and non-business news to take on The New York Times and other rivals" [With Rupert against the America-hating Pinch Sulzberger it's not even a fight]

News organizations distrusted: "More than half of Americans say US news organizations are politically biased, inaccurate, and don't care about the people they report on, a poll published Thursday showed. And poll respondents who use the Internet as their main source of news -- roughly one quarter of all Americans -- were even harsher with their criticism, the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center said. More than two-thirds of the Internet users said they felt that news organizations don't care about the people they report on; 59 percent said their reporting was inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased. More than half -- 53 percent -- of Internet users also faulted the news organizations for "failing to stand up for America".

Academics vote with their money: "Nearly four years after academia donated almost $30 million to unseat George W. Bush and Republicans, college professors and others in the education field have contributed more money to federal politics than the oil industry and drugmakers, with a nearly unanimous goal of putting a Democrat in the White House. So far in the '08 election cycle, people who work for institutions of higher education have given more than $7 million to federal candidates, parties and committees, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Nearly 60 percent of that money has gone to presidential candidates. The industry's favorite, Barack Obama, has raked in nearly $1.5 million in the campaign's first six months, followed by Hillary Clinton with almost $940,000."

Alcohol nanny breathalyzers: "'Pre-emptive war' got us into a real mess in Iraq. So maybe we ought to think twice before adopting similar measures when it comes to traffic law. Specifically, when it comes to an idea floated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to require that all new cars be fitted with an ignition interlock that can detect alcohol in the driver's system -- and shut the car down if it does. Several large automakers (including GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda) also support the idea -- and are working on ways to get these things into new cars, maybe within the next two or three years, if not sooner. Sounds OK in principle -- sort of like the idea of liberating Iraq. The devil's in the details, though."

Vegan fanatics get the punishment they deserve: "A Scottsdale woman who severely malnourished her three children was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced Thursday. Kimu Parker was convicted on three counts of child abuse and received 10 years for each count, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said. The sentences will be served consecutively. "Thirty years in prison is entirely appropriate for a person who almost starved to death three defenseless children. We will strongly oppose any attempt to reduce this sentence," Thomas said in a press release. When she was arrested, Parker's 3-year-old weighed 12 pounds, her 9-year-old child weighed 29 pounds and her 11-year-old child weighed 36 pounds. The parents attributed the low weights to a strict vegan diet. The youngest child was taken to the hospital in April 2005 after suffering many seizures over the course of several hours. Police reports show the parents didn't call 911 for several hours".

In Iraqi south, Shiites press for autonomy: "When Najaf unplugged its power station from the national grid last week, it was a sign of provincial dissent over the unequal distribution of electricity. But it also indicates a new assertiveness in the south, as Iraq's regional leaders seek to wrest control from a central government in Baghdad paralyzed by political infighting. Multiple visions for unifying the county's southern provinces are emerging. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), one of the most powerful Shiite parties, is leading the charge to form an autonomous 'South of Baghdad Region.' But 45 southern tribal notables in Najaf last week signed their own pact that envisions creating 'the self-rule government of the unified Iraqi south.'"

More British IT bungling: "A multimillion-pound government project to give greater protection to the public by managing offenders more closely is threatened with collapse because of financial problems, The Times has learnt. Ministers have halted all further development work on the project while officials conduct an emergency review of the costings and capabilities of the 244 million programme. The crisis is the latest setback to an IT system that underpins the whole of the Government's strategy to manage offenders from conviction and during their prison sentences to supervision in the community by the Probation Service. About 155 million has already been spent on the project but this year it was revealed that there was a 33 million shortfall on capital funding. It is understood that it has now been discovered that the initial costings did not include VAT and that cancelling the project will cost the Ministry of Justice 50 million in fees to EDS, the private contractor in charge of developing the system". [The British Health Service computer system has cost 12 BILLION and is still not working!]

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

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

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

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

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COLLAPSED BRIDGE IMPLICATIONS

The bridges of Hennepin (and every other) county: "Last week, a bridge on Interstate 35W in Hennepin County, Minnesota collapsed, killing five people, with at least eight more missing at this writing. 'For more than a decade the state of Minnesota has known of problems with the metal holding up the Interstate 35W bridge,' according to Minneapolis CBS news channel WCCO. Around the nation, 75,000 other bridges have similar problems, and 'are rated structurally deficient like the span that collapsed in Minneapolis,' according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer .... The next time you cross one of those 75,000 bridges, give a moment's thought to the way your tax money is being spent. Meditate on the built-in incentives .... that lead government to spend your money in counterproductive, inefficient, and often violent or unhealthy ways, and which eventually deprive 'basic government services' of the funds they need."

The wrong lessons of the bridge collapse: "The collapse of a bridge in rush-hour Minneapolis must be well known by nearly everyone in the United States by now. Whenever anyone dies, it's a tragedy; when many die, and expensive property (dozens of automobiles) is lost, that's obviously a tragedy. When all this loss of life and wealth happens because government bureaucrats did their jobs poorly or correctly, that's a preventable and costly tragedy -- bought at the expense of many taxpayers who likely would have done other things with their money than pay those bureaucrats. Remember, those who might have done other things with their money include the dead victims."

Politics, bridges, and one possible solution: "Ah, say the advocates of nationalization, the state can't afford major projects like this so it behooves the federal government to step in. Of course the federal government is deeply in debt so what the term 'afford' means is difficult to pin down in this case. Either way the federal government appears set to provide around $250 million for a new bridge. As for Minnesota not being able to afford the new bridge? Apparently they could afford to spend a lot more than that for a massive welfare check to a wealthy businessman. The government handed over $387 million in funding to Carl Pohlad, the owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise so that he could build himself a new ballpark. For good measure the legislature also stipulated, in the law, that the measure is exempt from any public referendum."

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Brookes News Update

US economy and the lessons of history: Unfortunately, what passes for economics and economic history today is simply unable to correctly interpret economic events even as they unfold before their eyes. The same thing happened in the 1920s and 1930s
Is the decline in housing to be blamed for US economic slowdown: As the effect from a tighter stance continues to gain strength bubble activities in various sectors of the economy are expected to come under pressure. Again the likely deflation of various bubbles is on account of the Fed policies and has nothing to do with the housing sector slump
China's economic growth is a boon, not a threat: Economic growth has been a process of providing for more and more people at ever-increasing living standards. (I guess this is why our green Herrenvolk detest the process). Therefore the idea that Chinese economic growth poses a dire threat to the planet is vicious green propaganda
Costs and protectionism: another economic fallacy re-emerges: Economics is emphatic about the benefits of free trade, just as doctors are emphatic about the benefits of a healthy diet. This fact should be borne in mind when reading the likes of Ross Gittins and Nick Gruen about the alleged detrimental effects of zero-tariff policies on output, wages and unemployment
Michael Moore's Sicko propaganda for Castro: It now seems that Michael Moore - the self-appointed tribune of the people - not only told outrageous lies (nothing new there) in Sicko, he also willingly collaborated with the DGI (General Directorate of Intelligence). This is Castro's equivalent of the KGB
Obama shoots self in foot, while media praises his flexibility: What a charmer that nice Mr Obama turned out to be. He has now publicly endorsed the murder of healthy newborn babies. I suppose that's another reason why America's Mainstream Media Party love him
Left smears war hero judicial nominee: Americans are becoming more aware of Judge Southwick's impressive credentials and the fact that he selflessly and heroically gave up a lucrative law practice so that he could bravely and honorably defend his country during a time of war
Israel - ratings down?: Our borders are open and criminals and terrorists are pouring in like water through a sieve. Then they wonder why the traffic is so bad

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ELSEWHERE

There are some good comments here about the weird economics spouted by the contenders in the recent Democrat Presidential debate.

A very interesting example here of that the media leave out -- the best part of a speech by Mitt Romney. They reported the bits before and after, though.



It's hard to believe but above is what a planned memorial in Arizona to the 9/11 victims is going to look like. It's in the shape of a Muslim crescent. The memorial glorifies the killers, not the victims. See LGF for more. Even more amazingly, it's not the only Crescent-shaped memorial to the 9/11 events.

BBC gave bonuses of 20 million pounds as it cut jobs: "The BBC spent nearly 20 million on staff bonuses last year, despite cutting thousands of jobs and missing performance targets. Almost half of its employees received bonuses, with an average payout of 1,805. One employee received 100,739. The corporation has also been criticised over the salaries of some of its biggest stars – such as the 18 million paid to Jonathan Ross – as it cuts 3,000 posts. A spokeswoman said: “Bonuses are a regular part of the BBC. They are extra recognition for exceptional performance, for staff who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.”

Former CIA Director: Terrorist Strike Within U.S. Real Threat: "Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey tells NewsMax in an exclusive interview that terrorists could strike the American homeland — possibly with a weapon of mass destruction — this summer or early fall. He also warns that if Iran fails to comply with international efforts to stop its nuclear weapons program, the U.S. will have no other option than to bomb it. "I think the threat of a serious attack in the next few months is very real," Woolsey said. A terrorist strike with a dirty bomb or with biological weapons was "a real possibility."

Europe to shoot its tourism industry in the foot?: "The European Union is threatening to impose tit-for-tat entry restrictions on all US citizens travelling to Europe in response to new American laws designed to strengthen security at airports and prevent would-be terrorists entering the country. US tourists can now travel to Europe without a visa. Franco Frattini, justice and home affairs commissioner, is drawing up plans for an EU-wide system of 'electronic travel authorisation' (ETA) similar to that written into US law by President George Bush late last week as part of new homeland security rules proposed by the 9/11 commission and endorsed by Congress."

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

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

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

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

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

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