SOME ECONOMICS
The real farm subsidy scandal: "The most enduring political illusion is that farm subsidies are necessary to maintain the small family farmer. ... Small family farmers are not the primary dollar recipients of federal subsidies, however. According to the subsidy watchdog Environmental Working Group, 71 percent of farm subsidies go to the top 10 percent of subsidy beneficiaries, almost all of which are large farms. In 2002, 78 farms, none small or struggling, each received over a million dollars in subsidies. The bottom 80 percent of recipients average only $846 per year."
The never-ending war on protectionist ignorance: "By the late 1990s, the protectionists --now rechristened "anti-globalizers" to reflect the expanded scope of their agenda-- seemed to have recovered some of their lost ground. Their newfound vocalism made headlines during the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Seattle in 1999. Today, however, advocates of globalization are gaining the upper hand again. Bhagwati's strikingly successful defense of open markets in his recent book In Defense of Globalization has been bolstered by another influential pro-globalization voice, that of Martin Wolf of the Financial Times. Wolf's weekly columns have already established him as one of the world's most respected economic journalists. Now his ambitious new book, Why Globalization Works, offers a patient and persuasive refutation of many of the arguments most frequently marshaled by critics of trade liberalization".
In defence of price gougers: Imagine a system that could instantly respond to a calamity like Hurricane Charley by mobilizing suppliers to speed urgently needed resources to the victims. Imagine that such a system could quickly attract the out-of-town manpower needed for cleanup and repairs, while seeing to it that existing supplies were neither recklessly squandered nor hoarded. Imagine that it could prompt thousands of men and women to act in the public interest, yet not force anyone to do anything against his will. Actually, there's no need to imagine. The system already exists. Economists refer to it as the law of supply and demand. Unfortunately, too many journalists and politicians call it by a more pejorative and destructive name: "price-gouging."
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Saturday, August 28, 2004
ELSEWHERE
From John Kerry's interview with GQ magazine: "GQ: You've never seen a therapist? JK: No. I had some nightmares when I came home, which is not unusual. GQ: Like what? JK: I can't say. To me Vietnam is an old place, an old memory. It is old history, it's gone, it's past. The less I have to talk about it, frankly, the happier I am." He must be the most miserable man alive if that's the case!
Peg Kaplan points out that only 6 out of 100 pages of Kerry's military records have been released and that his discharge was delayed for 6 years. Highly suspicious.
Hold the Mayo has lots on Kerry -- including comments on his old antiwar book that he is now trying to suppress. Lots of documentation here too.
Good comment from a reader: "Kerry's reaction to the Swift Boat Vets (censorship, lawsuits, threats) reminds me of Stalin or Hitler. If Kerry had their power I don't think there is much doubt that he would send his secret police to arrest the vets and throw them in the Gulag or the concentration camp".
Political censorship is a reflex for the Left: "I got an e-mail from a person who identified herself as Melissa Salmanowitz with a group called Media Matters for America. It supposedly is a watchdog on conservatives, and she was wanting me to write about her group's effort to get chain book stores to quit selling Unfit for Command due to accuracy problems. So I e-mailed Salmanowitz and told her that I'd write about their cause to quash the book's examination of John F. Kerry's military record and anti-war activities if they'd make the same appeal to the movie theaters to stop showing Michael Moore's documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. ... if Democrats and liberals nationally are going to dish it out, they should accept the consequences. They can't cheer the smear by Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg and Moveon.org, then try to silence the Swift Boat vets. That's too hypocritical, even for presidential politics."
People still escaping the socialist paradise: "A Cuban woman tucked herself inside a wooden crate the size of a small filing cabinet and had herself shipped from the Bahamas to Miami aboard a cargo plane. The woman, whose name was not released, will be allowed to stay in the United States. A cargo crew found her curled up inside the crate after unloading it late Tuesday at the Miami airport. 'Certainly she's lucky to be alive,' said Zach Mann, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. Under the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are usually allowed to stay, while those who are picked up at sea are sent home. Federal officials released no information on how the woman got from Cuba to the Bahamas. The 180-mile route is flown by a third-party contractor for the delivery service DHL, which said it was investigating."
From a Dennis Prager interview: "I believe that if I took a thousand evangelical ministers... and I took a thousand professors in the liberal arts, I would bet every penny I have that the moral acuity of the thousand evangelical ministers would dwarf the moral acuity of a thousand liberal arts professors. For which reason Lawrence Summers, for example, the president of Harvard, announced two years ago that the seat -- the seat -- of anti-Semitism in America had shifted to the university. The university had also been the seat of support for Stalin. The university in Germany was the seat of the place to get Nazi philosophers."
Dumb Canadians: "A July 2004 study by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, Paying, More, Getting Less, concluded that after years of government control, the Canadian medical system is badly injured and bleeding citizens' hard-earned tax dollars. The institute compared health care systems in the industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and found Canada currently spends the most, yet ranks among the lowest on such indicators as access to physicians, quality of medical equipment, and key health outcomes. One of the major reasons for this discrepancy is that, unlike the countries in the study that outperformed Canada--Sweden, Japan, Australia, and France, for example-- Canada outlaws most private health care".
"The left takes its vision seriously -- more seriously than it takes the rights of other people. They want to be our shepherds. But that requires us to be sheep." -- Thomas Sowell
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hatred is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
From John Kerry's interview with GQ magazine: "GQ: You've never seen a therapist? JK: No. I had some nightmares when I came home, which is not unusual. GQ: Like what? JK: I can't say. To me Vietnam is an old place, an old memory. It is old history, it's gone, it's past. The less I have to talk about it, frankly, the happier I am." He must be the most miserable man alive if that's the case!
Peg Kaplan points out that only 6 out of 100 pages of Kerry's military records have been released and that his discharge was delayed for 6 years. Highly suspicious.
Hold the Mayo has lots on Kerry -- including comments on his old antiwar book that he is now trying to suppress. Lots of documentation here too.
Good comment from a reader: "Kerry's reaction to the Swift Boat Vets (censorship, lawsuits, threats) reminds me of Stalin or Hitler. If Kerry had their power I don't think there is much doubt that he would send his secret police to arrest the vets and throw them in the Gulag or the concentration camp".
Political censorship is a reflex for the Left: "I got an e-mail from a person who identified herself as Melissa Salmanowitz with a group called Media Matters for America. It supposedly is a watchdog on conservatives, and she was wanting me to write about her group's effort to get chain book stores to quit selling Unfit for Command due to accuracy problems. So I e-mailed Salmanowitz and told her that I'd write about their cause to quash the book's examination of John F. Kerry's military record and anti-war activities if they'd make the same appeal to the movie theaters to stop showing Michael Moore's documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. ... if Democrats and liberals nationally are going to dish it out, they should accept the consequences. They can't cheer the smear by Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg and Moveon.org, then try to silence the Swift Boat vets. That's too hypocritical, even for presidential politics."
People still escaping the socialist paradise: "A Cuban woman tucked herself inside a wooden crate the size of a small filing cabinet and had herself shipped from the Bahamas to Miami aboard a cargo plane. The woman, whose name was not released, will be allowed to stay in the United States. A cargo crew found her curled up inside the crate after unloading it late Tuesday at the Miami airport. 'Certainly she's lucky to be alive,' said Zach Mann, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. Under the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are usually allowed to stay, while those who are picked up at sea are sent home. Federal officials released no information on how the woman got from Cuba to the Bahamas. The 180-mile route is flown by a third-party contractor for the delivery service DHL, which said it was investigating."
From a Dennis Prager interview: "I believe that if I took a thousand evangelical ministers... and I took a thousand professors in the liberal arts, I would bet every penny I have that the moral acuity of the thousand evangelical ministers would dwarf the moral acuity of a thousand liberal arts professors. For which reason Lawrence Summers, for example, the president of Harvard, announced two years ago that the seat -- the seat -- of anti-Semitism in America had shifted to the university. The university had also been the seat of support for Stalin. The university in Germany was the seat of the place to get Nazi philosophers."
Dumb Canadians: "A July 2004 study by the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, Paying, More, Getting Less, concluded that after years of government control, the Canadian medical system is badly injured and bleeding citizens' hard-earned tax dollars. The institute compared health care systems in the industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and found Canada currently spends the most, yet ranks among the lowest on such indicators as access to physicians, quality of medical equipment, and key health outcomes. One of the major reasons for this discrepancy is that, unlike the countries in the study that outperformed Canada--Sweden, Japan, Australia, and France, for example-- Canada outlaws most private health care".
"The left takes its vision seriously -- more seriously than it takes the rights of other people. They want to be our shepherds. But that requires us to be sheep." -- Thomas Sowell
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hatred is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Friday, August 27, 2004
JOHN KERRY: PSYCHOPATH
Sometimes little things can tell you a lot and John Kerry's totally implausible story about his dog is an example of that. It is a classic psychopathic lie -- something said which earns momentary acclaim but which is uttered without any thought of its being found out as false.
It is highly comparable to Bill Clinton's lie that his wife was named after Sir Edmund Hillary when in fact Sir Edmund was an unknown New Zealand farmer at the time of her birth. Kerry's lack of any consistency in what he says from occasion to occasion has always seemed suspiciously psychopathic but I think this seals the diagnosis.
Given the chronic lying of psychopaths, this story also begins to makes sense. It claims that the details of his war record posted on the net by John Kerry are fraudulent: "I looked at that Web site and the first thing I looked at was Kerry's Silver Star citation. Guess what? It is for an action that took place in 1969, but it is signed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Strangely, Lehman was secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987,"
I am also beginning to see why Kerry made his outrageous claims about American war crimes as soon as he got back from Vietnam. The sampan incident and various others incidents indicate that Kerry himself was something of a war criminal and it seems to be a reflexive Leftist strategy to accuse others of what are in fact their own faults (Freudian "projection").
Anyway, America survived the psychopathic Clinton reasonably well so it should be able to survive a President Kerry. It could even work out in an amoral sort of way. A psychopathic President would have no compunction about nuking Mecca if that seemed like a good idea at the time (remember Clinton bombing the Serbs) and that could save as many American lives as the atrocity that another Democrat President committed over Hiroshima.
In case anybody thinks I am talking through my hat about psychopathy, I should perhaps point out that I have had a couple of academic journal articles published on the subject of psychopathy in non-clinical populations (See here and here or here and here ).
****************************
Sometimes little things can tell you a lot and John Kerry's totally implausible story about his dog is an example of that. It is a classic psychopathic lie -- something said which earns momentary acclaim but which is uttered without any thought of its being found out as false.
It is highly comparable to Bill Clinton's lie that his wife was named after Sir Edmund Hillary when in fact Sir Edmund was an unknown New Zealand farmer at the time of her birth. Kerry's lack of any consistency in what he says from occasion to occasion has always seemed suspiciously psychopathic but I think this seals the diagnosis.
Given the chronic lying of psychopaths, this story also begins to makes sense. It claims that the details of his war record posted on the net by John Kerry are fraudulent: "I looked at that Web site and the first thing I looked at was Kerry's Silver Star citation. Guess what? It is for an action that took place in 1969, but it is signed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Strangely, Lehman was secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987,"
I am also beginning to see why Kerry made his outrageous claims about American war crimes as soon as he got back from Vietnam. The sampan incident and various others incidents indicate that Kerry himself was something of a war criminal and it seems to be a reflexive Leftist strategy to accuse others of what are in fact their own faults (Freudian "projection").
Anyway, America survived the psychopathic Clinton reasonably well so it should be able to survive a President Kerry. It could even work out in an amoral sort of way. A psychopathic President would have no compunction about nuking Mecca if that seemed like a good idea at the time (remember Clinton bombing the Serbs) and that could save as many American lives as the atrocity that another Democrat President committed over Hiroshima.
In case anybody thinks I am talking through my hat about psychopathy, I should perhaps point out that I have had a couple of academic journal articles published on the subject of psychopathy in non-clinical populations (See here and here or here and here ).
****************************
ELSEWHERE
There is an article from GQ here that says GWB's record in the Air National Guard is a bit murky because he was engaged in undercover work at that time. It gives a lot of detail and argument to support the claim. Excerpt: "Bush was serving his country elsewhere, in a clandestine military unit: the Special Undercover Missions Service (SUMS), an elite air-force agency specializing in national security and acts of espionage"
"Even if Kerry's Vietnam record is every bit as heroic as he presents it, the notion that this makes him fit to be president is ludicrous. The man spent four months in combat as a junior officer; he's not exactly Eisenhower." -- James Taranto
That wonderful "public" (free-rider) medicine: "Los Angeles County, which has lost six emergency rooms in a little over a year, is on the brink of a far more serious problem, facing more closures that could jeopardize emergency care for tens of thousands of residents, according to public officials and independent analysts".
An interesting article here on the close convergence between Australian and U.S. policy -- with a suggestion that U.S. interest in reducing income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax may have been sparked by the successful Australian introduction of just such a change.
Currency Lad has a good reply to the charge that Australia's present conservative government has made Australia "racist": He quotes famous anti-Asian remarks from two of Australia's most prominent Leftist leaders. He also has this delightful story of George Bush Senior trusting and welcoming a young woman purely because she was Australian! Good man!
Michael Darby is on the web again with a few new posts -- in particular he takes on the accusation that Australian conservative politicians are "chickenhawks" by listing the considerable number who have military connections.
Laugh at liberals has a comprehensive demolition of most of the dumb Leftist accusations that are routinely hurled at GWB.
I came across this good Reagan quote on the website of the dynamic Prodos: ""How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." Lots of other good stuff there too.
Squander Two has an amusing article about British customer service. Everything he says is true with knobs on.
A new blog by a physicist who describes himself as a "warmongering neo-conservative, NRA life member, and professional laser-weapon designer... Supporter of nuclear power, the militarization of Space, and Microsoft's Freedom to Innovate" seems to be shaping up well.
One blog that I think might have a rather small "market" is a Catholic blog devoted to chastity, yes, chastity -- an apparently outmoded concept even among the Catholic clergy, to judge by their behaviour. But this post on sexual equality as a cause of fertility decline is interesting.
Carnival of the Vanities is up again with its usual big range of blogospheric reading.
Wicked Thoughts has a good John Kerry joke.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hatred is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
There is an article from GQ here that says GWB's record in the Air National Guard is a bit murky because he was engaged in undercover work at that time. It gives a lot of detail and argument to support the claim. Excerpt: "Bush was serving his country elsewhere, in a clandestine military unit: the Special Undercover Missions Service (SUMS), an elite air-force agency specializing in national security and acts of espionage"
"Even if Kerry's Vietnam record is every bit as heroic as he presents it, the notion that this makes him fit to be president is ludicrous. The man spent four months in combat as a junior officer; he's not exactly Eisenhower." -- James Taranto
That wonderful "public" (free-rider) medicine: "Los Angeles County, which has lost six emergency rooms in a little over a year, is on the brink of a far more serious problem, facing more closures that could jeopardize emergency care for tens of thousands of residents, according to public officials and independent analysts".
An interesting article here on the close convergence between Australian and U.S. policy -- with a suggestion that U.S. interest in reducing income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax may have been sparked by the successful Australian introduction of just such a change.
Currency Lad has a good reply to the charge that Australia's present conservative government has made Australia "racist": He quotes famous anti-Asian remarks from two of Australia's most prominent Leftist leaders. He also has this delightful story of George Bush Senior trusting and welcoming a young woman purely because she was Australian! Good man!
Michael Darby is on the web again with a few new posts -- in particular he takes on the accusation that Australian conservative politicians are "chickenhawks" by listing the considerable number who have military connections.
Laugh at liberals has a comprehensive demolition of most of the dumb Leftist accusations that are routinely hurled at GWB.
I came across this good Reagan quote on the website of the dynamic Prodos: ""How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." Lots of other good stuff there too.
Squander Two has an amusing article about British customer service. Everything he says is true with knobs on.
A new blog by a physicist who describes himself as a "warmongering neo-conservative, NRA life member, and professional laser-weapon designer... Supporter of nuclear power, the militarization of Space, and Microsoft's Freedom to Innovate" seems to be shaping up well.
One blog that I think might have a rather small "market" is a Catholic blog devoted to chastity, yes, chastity -- an apparently outmoded concept even among the Catholic clergy, to judge by their behaviour. But this post on sexual equality as a cause of fertility decline is interesting.
Carnival of the Vanities is up again with its usual big range of blogospheric reading.
Wicked Thoughts has a good John Kerry joke.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hatred is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Thursday, August 26, 2004
FROM BROOKES NEWS
John Kerry media jackals go after swift boat veterans Deeply worried that the swift boat veterans' ads are damaging John Kerry his media pals intensified their smear campaign to destroy the credibility of these veterans
John Kerry and his anti-American IPS playmates John Kerry collaborated with the infamous pro-Castro Institute for Policy Studies in undermining the military and sabotaging the CIA
Don't forget 'The John Kerry Committee' John Kerry used his Senate position to help Nicaragua's Marxist-Leninists stay in power
The consumption fallacy: another lesson for the US economy Consumption does nothing to improve the US economy because it does nothing to increase productivity
Scott Peterson trial: Don't you cry for Amber Frey Why the whole Scott Peterson trial is revolting and disgusting within itself
Economic reality and the self-righteous ignorance of the left Our economic meddlers are back in the news with the loopy idea that they can raise living standards by legislating for higher real wages
Details here
****************************
John Kerry media jackals go after swift boat veterans Deeply worried that the swift boat veterans' ads are damaging John Kerry his media pals intensified their smear campaign to destroy the credibility of these veterans
John Kerry and his anti-American IPS playmates John Kerry collaborated with the infamous pro-Castro Institute for Policy Studies in undermining the military and sabotaging the CIA
Don't forget 'The John Kerry Committee' John Kerry used his Senate position to help Nicaragua's Marxist-Leninists stay in power
The consumption fallacy: another lesson for the US economy Consumption does nothing to improve the US economy because it does nothing to increase productivity
Scott Peterson trial: Don't you cry for Amber Frey Why the whole Scott Peterson trial is revolting and disgusting within itself
Economic reality and the self-righteous ignorance of the left Our economic meddlers are back in the news with the loopy idea that they can raise living standards by legislating for higher real wages
Details here
****************************
ELSEWHERE
Jeff Jacoby: "With the exception of the Fox News Channel, the liberal tilt of the mainstream media - the major newspapers, the networks, National Public Radio, the news magazines - has long been a fact of American life.... Evan Thomas, the assistant managing editor of Newsweek, put it plainly last month: "Let's talk a little media bias here," he said on the PBS program "Inside Washington" on July 11. "The media, I think, want Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards . . . as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there's going to be this glow about them that is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that's going to be worth maybe 15 points.""
Oil. Letter excerpted from the Letters column of the Pasadena Star News, Pasadena, California, August 20: "What happened to the voices who said that President Bush had a deal with the Saudis to lower oil prices just before the election? Seems that conspiracy theory went out the window now didn't it? But I don't hear any of the Democrats who had this "knowledge' coming out and saying they were wrong. So I will. They are wrong again, but that won't matter, I'm sure they will have a new theory soon".
An excellent spoof by Rand Simberg. Excerpt: "Sixty years after Paris was seized by the "Allies," and the beginning of the American occupation, France remains a failed nation, mired in political corruption and beset by vast pockets of Muslim extremism and anti-semitism, into which the gendarmerie fear to tread. The economy continues to struggle under economic policies driven by failed ideologies"
Some Leftist propagandist has got into sports writing and asserts that because ONE white man won a sprinting event at the Olympic games, therefore blacks in general are not better at sprinting. Only a Leftist would bother with such non-logic. The writer also refers to that old Marxist propagandist, Stephen Jay Gould as an authority on race. Here is just one comment pointing out what a klutz Gould was. And for an exhaustive scientific refutation of Gould by an expert in the field, see here. Gould's distortions of the facts really are quite breathtaking.
Democrat principles on display: "Some 46,000 New Yorkers are registered to vote in both the city and Florida, a shocking finding that exposes both states to potential abuses that could alter the outcome of elections, a Daily News investigation shows. Registering in two places is illegal in both states, but the massive snowbird scandal goes undetected because election officials don't check rolls across state lines. The finding is even more stunning given the pivotal role Florida played in the 2000 presidential election, when a margin there of 537 votes tipped a victory to George W. Bush.... Of the 46,000 registered in both states, 68% are Democrats, 12% are Republicans and 16% didn't claim a party".
"Darfur is a remote part of Sudan -- itself remote from cosmopolitan centres of Europe and North America. There, in the arid deserts of the eastern Sahara, where living is a bitter daily struggle against sand and sun, a genocide is unfolding, with nary a whimper from the folks at the UN and sophisticates in cosmopolitan centres who remain outraged over American "imperialism" dismantling brutal rogue regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.... Here, the contrast between the Arab treatment of blacks, irrespective of whether they are Muslims or not, and the Israeli assimilation of black Jews of Ethiopia, known as Falashas, cannot go unnoticed."
Mike Tremoglie has a tremendous demolition of the Woodstock myth -- showing that it was in fact an ineptly run business venture that would have starved its patrons except for assistance from the establishment it condemned.
After a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court, a horde of sex perverts were released from prison and the media is giving the story bare mention. Details here. Excerpt: "According to this report, over 500 rapists, child molesters and other sexual offenders have been released from prison and taken up residence in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County within the past year".
Wayne Lusvardi reports another case where Leftist authorities resort to their usual kneejerk tax-and-regulate strategies when faced with what they see as a housing "crisis". All just to create further problems, of course.
Peg Kaplan has a couple of prize examples of one-eyed Stalinist thinking up at the moment.
Donald Luskin's latest demolition of Leftist hate-merchant Paul Krugman really pulls out the stops.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hatred is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Jeff Jacoby: "With the exception of the Fox News Channel, the liberal tilt of the mainstream media - the major newspapers, the networks, National Public Radio, the news magazines - has long been a fact of American life.... Evan Thomas, the assistant managing editor of Newsweek, put it plainly last month: "Let's talk a little media bias here," he said on the PBS program "Inside Washington" on July 11. "The media, I think, want Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards . . . as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there's going to be this glow about them that is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that's going to be worth maybe 15 points.""
Oil. Letter excerpted from the Letters column of the Pasadena Star News, Pasadena, California, August 20: "What happened to the voices who said that President Bush had a deal with the Saudis to lower oil prices just before the election? Seems that conspiracy theory went out the window now didn't it? But I don't hear any of the Democrats who had this "knowledge' coming out and saying they were wrong. So I will. They are wrong again, but that won't matter, I'm sure they will have a new theory soon".
An excellent spoof by Rand Simberg. Excerpt: "Sixty years after Paris was seized by the "Allies," and the beginning of the American occupation, France remains a failed nation, mired in political corruption and beset by vast pockets of Muslim extremism and anti-semitism, into which the gendarmerie fear to tread. The economy continues to struggle under economic policies driven by failed ideologies"
Some Leftist propagandist has got into sports writing and asserts that because ONE white man won a sprinting event at the Olympic games, therefore blacks in general are not better at sprinting. Only a Leftist would bother with such non-logic. The writer also refers to that old Marxist propagandist, Stephen Jay Gould as an authority on race. Here is just one comment pointing out what a klutz Gould was. And for an exhaustive scientific refutation of Gould by an expert in the field, see here. Gould's distortions of the facts really are quite breathtaking.
Democrat principles on display: "Some 46,000 New Yorkers are registered to vote in both the city and Florida, a shocking finding that exposes both states to potential abuses that could alter the outcome of elections, a Daily News investigation shows. Registering in two places is illegal in both states, but the massive snowbird scandal goes undetected because election officials don't check rolls across state lines. The finding is even more stunning given the pivotal role Florida played in the 2000 presidential election, when a margin there of 537 votes tipped a victory to George W. Bush.... Of the 46,000 registered in both states, 68% are Democrats, 12% are Republicans and 16% didn't claim a party".
"Darfur is a remote part of Sudan -- itself remote from cosmopolitan centres of Europe and North America. There, in the arid deserts of the eastern Sahara, where living is a bitter daily struggle against sand and sun, a genocide is unfolding, with nary a whimper from the folks at the UN and sophisticates in cosmopolitan centres who remain outraged over American "imperialism" dismantling brutal rogue regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.... Here, the contrast between the Arab treatment of blacks, irrespective of whether they are Muslims or not, and the Israeli assimilation of black Jews of Ethiopia, known as Falashas, cannot go unnoticed."
Mike Tremoglie has a tremendous demolition of the Woodstock myth -- showing that it was in fact an ineptly run business venture that would have starved its patrons except for assistance from the establishment it condemned.
After a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court, a horde of sex perverts were released from prison and the media is giving the story bare mention. Details here. Excerpt: "According to this report, over 500 rapists, child molesters and other sexual offenders have been released from prison and taken up residence in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County within the past year".
Wayne Lusvardi reports another case where Leftist authorities resort to their usual kneejerk tax-and-regulate strategies when faced with what they see as a housing "crisis". All just to create further problems, of course.
Peg Kaplan has a couple of prize examples of one-eyed Stalinist thinking up at the moment.
Donald Luskin's latest demolition of Leftist hate-merchant Paul Krugman really pulls out the stops.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hatred is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
SOME REFLECTIONS ABOUT AUSTRALIA
I have just been reading the thoroughly sensible things that Ambra, a black blogress, says about black English and standard English. She rightly says that being at ease in standard English is essential if you wish to communicate widely and easily with others. I note however that she seems to have no regrets about not speaking black English. I must say that I greatly regret my inability to write in broad Australian on this blog. I would love to refer to Leftists as "drongoes", "galahs", "ratbags" and "big-noters" and say that they are not "fair dinkum" or "ridjy didj" but I know that I would just not be understood outside Australia. Even many younger Australians might not understand. I grew up in the country before the age of TV so acquired a full measure of traditional Australian slang but the TV generation in Australia probably knows American slang better than they do their own vivid linguistic heritage. I also try to avoid obscure academic words such as "arcane" and "lacunae" and "orthogonal" but I slip up sometimes.
Australia must have the world's worst internet service provider. Our erstwhile telecoms monopoly, Telstra, runs an internet service that they call "Bigpond" and lots of people I know have been suckered in to signing up with them. So I have been sending emails to Bigpond addresses for years now. And Bigpond regularly "bounces" (fails to deliver) emails sent to it. They have been doing it for years, have allegedly spend hundreds of millions of dollars on "fixing" the problem but they still cannot get it right. One person I email regularly is in fact a Telstra techie but they are still randomly bouncing emails to him too. They are at least 100 times worse than any other ISP I know. Anybody with a Bigpond address is missing a lot of mail. The only way I can be sure my techie friend gets what I send is to copy everything to his Yahoo address as well. Those emails are never bounced, though they can occasionally be held up for a few hours. Government-owned bureaucracies just don't know how to be efficient.
******************************
ELSEWHERE
GWB as Not Kerry: Nothing that Bush has done, or will do, has anything whatsoever to do with John Kerry's truthfulness, his character or his mental stability. Humans are not a zero-sum game."
Abandonment of conservatives may cost Bush the election: "The latest presidential election polling data should be giving President Bush's campaign staff a lot of concern. The most recent Zogby poll released earlier this week shows the Democratic presidential ticket of Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, leading President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney by a seven point margin at 50-43% which is the largest lead that Kerry has ever had over Bush since the man that conservative talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, has described as America's most accurate pollster, John Zogby, began polling when Kerry became the de-facto nominee back in February."
A huge cost everyone pays: "Federal government regulators issued 4,148 new rules in the 71,269-page Federal Register in 2003, 19 fewer than they did in 2002. The cost of those rules appears nowhere in the federal budget. In his fiscal year 2005 federal budget, President Bush proposed $2.4 trillion in discretionary, entitlement, and interest spending. Although that figure fully expresses the on-budget scope of the federal government, there is considerably more to the government's reach. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year on top of official federal outlays."
The marvels of socialized medicine in New Zealand: "Hundreds of Hawke's Bay people are waiting for gastroenterology procedures as the health board desperately appeals for general surgeons to help with the hospital's sole specialist's gruelling workload. Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital's only gastroenterologist and part-time general physician, Malcolm Arnold, said there were 458 patients were on his waiting list alone, with 180 still awaiting a definite time to have their procedures performed... Those with highest priority included patients with bowel cancer or cancer of the oesophagus".
An interesting article here on the neurological evidence that Leftists are driven more by emotion than by reason. I have been pointing out for years that Leftism is substantially genetic.
Drug terrorists: "A guns-drawn raid at a high school last year did not violate civil rights laws and the case is closed, the U.S. Justice Department said. The decision means there will be no criminal charges, said Andy Savage, a lawyer for officers in the sweep at the Goose Creek high school. Fifteen officers entered Stratford High School's main hallway and ordered 130 students to the floor November 5 of last year. They used plastic ties to handcuff 18 students and school officials opened and searched 17 book bags using a drug dog. Police found no drugs or weapons, but the raid frightened children, provoked marches and lawsuits and brought national media attention and the resignation of the school's longtime principal."
Bitchy feminists: "The Los Angeles, California chapter of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood has been the subject of several recent complaints of racism and discrimination by both African-American and Latino employees which were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as the California Fair Employment & Housing Administration. The complaints by the Planned Parenthood employees allege that the group is led by Caucasian women who have created a hostile working environment for men as well as minorities. In one sworn affidavit, an African-American employee said a female manager with Planned Parenthood looked directly at him and called him a 'nigger. ... I am African and was shocked by her cultural insensitivity,' the employee wrote in his affidavit and asked not to be identified."
Californian business-people are voting with their feet: ""Legislators don't seem to get it that businesses have far more options now. They can open another factory in another state, send manufacturing offshore, go into the cash economy, or even go out of business," says Mr. Kyser. "How they deal with the reforms will have serious consequences on states around us for years." Business raiders from Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas have been eager to welcome frustrated California businesses, and developers can barely suppress smiles over new home sales generated by newly arrived California families.... Partly because of California's housing costs, higher taxes, more regulation, and higher utility rates, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada are all faring better than California from job growth to personal income."
There is an interesting blog here from a conservative atheist medic with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Beat that!
GUN WATCH has an Oldie but Goldie up today. If it isn't true it ought to be. New rubric below today too.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of Great Britain -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hated is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
I have just been reading the thoroughly sensible things that Ambra, a black blogress, says about black English and standard English. She rightly says that being at ease in standard English is essential if you wish to communicate widely and easily with others. I note however that she seems to have no regrets about not speaking black English. I must say that I greatly regret my inability to write in broad Australian on this blog. I would love to refer to Leftists as "drongoes", "galahs", "ratbags" and "big-noters" and say that they are not "fair dinkum" or "ridjy didj" but I know that I would just not be understood outside Australia. Even many younger Australians might not understand. I grew up in the country before the age of TV so acquired a full measure of traditional Australian slang but the TV generation in Australia probably knows American slang better than they do their own vivid linguistic heritage. I also try to avoid obscure academic words such as "arcane" and "lacunae" and "orthogonal" but I slip up sometimes.
Australia must have the world's worst internet service provider. Our erstwhile telecoms monopoly, Telstra, runs an internet service that they call "Bigpond" and lots of people I know have been suckered in to signing up with them. So I have been sending emails to Bigpond addresses for years now. And Bigpond regularly "bounces" (fails to deliver) emails sent to it. They have been doing it for years, have allegedly spend hundreds of millions of dollars on "fixing" the problem but they still cannot get it right. One person I email regularly is in fact a Telstra techie but they are still randomly bouncing emails to him too. They are at least 100 times worse than any other ISP I know. Anybody with a Bigpond address is missing a lot of mail. The only way I can be sure my techie friend gets what I send is to copy everything to his Yahoo address as well. Those emails are never bounced, though they can occasionally be held up for a few hours. Government-owned bureaucracies just don't know how to be efficient.
******************************
ELSEWHERE
GWB as Not Kerry: Nothing that Bush has done, or will do, has anything whatsoever to do with John Kerry's truthfulness, his character or his mental stability. Humans are not a zero-sum game."
Abandonment of conservatives may cost Bush the election: "The latest presidential election polling data should be giving President Bush's campaign staff a lot of concern. The most recent Zogby poll released earlier this week shows the Democratic presidential ticket of Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, leading President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney by a seven point margin at 50-43% which is the largest lead that Kerry has ever had over Bush since the man that conservative talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, has described as America's most accurate pollster, John Zogby, began polling when Kerry became the de-facto nominee back in February."
A huge cost everyone pays: "Federal government regulators issued 4,148 new rules in the 71,269-page Federal Register in 2003, 19 fewer than they did in 2002. The cost of those rules appears nowhere in the federal budget. In his fiscal year 2005 federal budget, President Bush proposed $2.4 trillion in discretionary, entitlement, and interest spending. Although that figure fully expresses the on-budget scope of the federal government, there is considerably more to the government's reach. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year on top of official federal outlays."
The marvels of socialized medicine in New Zealand: "Hundreds of Hawke's Bay people are waiting for gastroenterology procedures as the health board desperately appeals for general surgeons to help with the hospital's sole specialist's gruelling workload. Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital's only gastroenterologist and part-time general physician, Malcolm Arnold, said there were 458 patients were on his waiting list alone, with 180 still awaiting a definite time to have their procedures performed... Those with highest priority included patients with bowel cancer or cancer of the oesophagus".
An interesting article here on the neurological evidence that Leftists are driven more by emotion than by reason. I have been pointing out for years that Leftism is substantially genetic.
Drug terrorists: "A guns-drawn raid at a high school last year did not violate civil rights laws and the case is closed, the U.S. Justice Department said. The decision means there will be no criminal charges, said Andy Savage, a lawyer for officers in the sweep at the Goose Creek high school. Fifteen officers entered Stratford High School's main hallway and ordered 130 students to the floor November 5 of last year. They used plastic ties to handcuff 18 students and school officials opened and searched 17 book bags using a drug dog. Police found no drugs or weapons, but the raid frightened children, provoked marches and lawsuits and brought national media attention and the resignation of the school's longtime principal."
Bitchy feminists: "The Los Angeles, California chapter of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood has been the subject of several recent complaints of racism and discrimination by both African-American and Latino employees which were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as the California Fair Employment & Housing Administration. The complaints by the Planned Parenthood employees allege that the group is led by Caucasian women who have created a hostile working environment for men as well as minorities. In one sworn affidavit, an African-American employee said a female manager with Planned Parenthood looked directly at him and called him a 'nigger. ... I am African and was shocked by her cultural insensitivity,' the employee wrote in his affidavit and asked not to be identified."
Californian business-people are voting with their feet: ""Legislators don't seem to get it that businesses have far more options now. They can open another factory in another state, send manufacturing offshore, go into the cash economy, or even go out of business," says Mr. Kyser. "How they deal with the reforms will have serious consequences on states around us for years." Business raiders from Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas have been eager to welcome frustrated California businesses, and developers can barely suppress smiles over new home sales generated by newly arrived California families.... Partly because of California's housing costs, higher taxes, more regulation, and higher utility rates, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada are all faring better than California from job growth to personal income."
There is an interesting blog here from a conservative atheist medic with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Beat that!
GUN WATCH has an Oldie but Goldie up today. If it isn't true it ought to be. New rubric below today too.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
**************************
The vast hatred of President Bush coming from the Left seems to focus almost entirely on his Iraq policy and a claim that it is "stupid" or dishonest. Yet the world's most successful and influential Leftist intellectual -- the Prime Minister of Great Britain -- is a vigorous supporter of that policy. It shows that everything said to justify the Leftist hatred of Bush is mere camouflage. What they really hate is someone non-Leftist wielding great power. The hated is purely emotional and envious -- with only the slightest pretense to reasoning tacked on. As usual, principles have nothing to do with it.
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
MORE TROOPS FOR IRAQ?
Wayne Lusvardi writes:
I refer to an article in "Foreign Affairs" headed "What Went Wrong With Iraq": The article is a sobering analysis of the Iraq War that makes the case that the main blunder was the lack of troop deployment by the U.S.
As a Vietnam War vet, I question the notion that what has been needed are more troops and a broader coalition with European forces involved. The experience of Vietnam is clear - the more troops you flood the country with, the more reliant the Iraqis will be on them to fight their war for them. This is what happened in Vietnam. The Vietnamese embraced the trappings of modernity (the motor scooters, the crappy American music, the money that comes from various sorts of prostitution and patronage) but, despite some valiant battles, didn't really want to fight their own war. The Iraqis don't even want to embrace modernity let alone fight for anything beyond their tribe. Flooding the country with more outside troops won't solve that. Like big welfare programs, big warfare programs will only make the populace more dependent. The prospect of a partition such as occurred in Korea and Germany is now becoming more apparent. But will Baghdad be in the Iranian camp or in the Iraqi camp?
*************************************
Wayne Lusvardi writes:
I refer to an article in "Foreign Affairs" headed "What Went Wrong With Iraq": The article is a sobering analysis of the Iraq War that makes the case that the main blunder was the lack of troop deployment by the U.S.
As a Vietnam War vet, I question the notion that what has been needed are more troops and a broader coalition with European forces involved. The experience of Vietnam is clear - the more troops you flood the country with, the more reliant the Iraqis will be on them to fight their war for them. This is what happened in Vietnam. The Vietnamese embraced the trappings of modernity (the motor scooters, the crappy American music, the money that comes from various sorts of prostitution and patronage) but, despite some valiant battles, didn't really want to fight their own war. The Iraqis don't even want to embrace modernity let alone fight for anything beyond their tribe. Flooding the country with more outside troops won't solve that. Like big welfare programs, big warfare programs will only make the populace more dependent. The prospect of a partition such as occurred in Korea and Germany is now becoming more apparent. But will Baghdad be in the Iranian camp or in the Iraqi camp?
*************************************
ELSEWHERE
A great letter from a U.S. Marine here: Just one excerpt: "The pre-emptive doctrine of the current administration will continue to be debated long after I'm gone, but one fact stands for itself: America has not been hit with another catastrophic attack since 9/11. I firmly believe that our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq are major reasons that we've had it so good at home. Building a "fortress America" is not only impractical, it's impossible. Prudent homeland security measures are vital, to be sure, but attacking the source of the threat remains essential".
This sounds apocryphal but I like it: "T. Bubba Bechtol, part time City Councilman from Pensacola, Florida, was asked on a local live radio talk show the other day just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience: "If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's scrotum to a car's battery cables will save one American GI's life, then I have just two things to say: "Red is positive, black is negative""
I have just been reading Michelle Malkin's brilliant book In Defense of Internment, which rightly says that "everything you have been taught about the World war II "internment camps" in America is wrong". A very minor bonus I got from the book is to note that her real surname is "Maglalang", which is obviously from the Tagalog language. I had always carelessly assumed that her ancestry was Japanese. From the name, it is in fact Filipino. As the WWII internments were the work of America's first socialist President (FDR), no conservative should feel much need to defend them but the facts show that what was done was both reasonable and carried out with overall humanity. And since Left-leaning historians have managed to convince just about everybody that the internments are a blot on America's honour (rather than on FDR's) it is good to find that the whole story about them is a great load of steaming dung. But I will not try to summarize a big book beyond that. Regnery are one of the few commercial publishers of conservative books so, if you are the book-buying type, log on here to read more about the book and perhaps buy it.
More glories of socialized medicine: "The healthcare research group, Dr Foster, reports today in the British Medical Journal that one in every ten patients admitted to NHS hospitals in Britain will suffer at the hands of medical errors. Such errors contribute to the deaths of 72,000 people a year, and are directly blamed for the deaths of 40,000 people. Medical errors in the NHS now constitute the fourth largest cause of death in Britain. The charity Action Against Medical Accidents states that the figures under-estimate total errors by not including those which take place at the primary care level of family doctors, and are based only on reported errors. The figures do not include hospital-acquired infections".
A pretty sensible editorial in USA Today about the importation of cheap drugs from Canada into the USA. If the U.S. administration had given the drug companies more support in their negotiations with foreign governments, the artificially high prices for Americans would never have happened.
There is a good post here pointing out that the Leftist hunger for change often leads to large costs (like death) for the individuals involved. I personally think that hunger for change for change's sake is pretty infantile. I have had a great life with lots of changes in it (including four wives) but I did not need to do anything radical in order to remain interested.
"Spectator" on Go Nuclear: Makes a good case for atomic power but it relies too much on running-out-of-oil ideas: "Rod Liddle says the answer to our energy needs is obvious: cheap and reliable nuclear power. But before we can embrace a sane future we have to overcome the Cold War superstitions of the Green Left"
Gipperism of the week: "..when Reagan was offered a ride on a submersible to get a look at the continental shelf, The Gipper turned it down, cracking, "I get claustrophobia when I draw the curtains." "
Leftist warmongers: "Contrary to the conventional wisdom, American imperialism is, at its roots, a left-wing disorder rather than a conservative impulse. A seemingly ceaseless supply of new books and radio talk-show commentary in support of George W. Bush and his foreign policy give the impression that the only controversy in America worth mentioning involves patriotic Bush supporters and knee-jerk opposition to war by liberals. Two arguments are being made here: that the Iraq War and foreign-policy aggressiveness constitute the self-evidently correct conservative position and that liberals are philosophically and historically squeamish about going to war. The first of these arguments has been addressed at length in these pages. It is the second claim, involving the American Left's alleged aversion to war, that remains to be overturned, for ever since the Spanish-American War of 1898, leftists have more often than not been at the forefront of calls for American military intervention abroad".
Promethean Antagonist is a bit unusual. He not only blogs from Japan but takes astrology seriously. He notes that astrology seems to be mostly Left-leaning but explains why "that aint necessarily so". His account of his trip to Fascist China is more outspoken than we usually hear now that everybody wants to think the best of China's reforms.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
A great letter from a U.S. Marine here: Just one excerpt: "The pre-emptive doctrine of the current administration will continue to be debated long after I'm gone, but one fact stands for itself: America has not been hit with another catastrophic attack since 9/11. I firmly believe that our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq are major reasons that we've had it so good at home. Building a "fortress America" is not only impractical, it's impossible. Prudent homeland security measures are vital, to be sure, but attacking the source of the threat remains essential".
This sounds apocryphal but I like it: "T. Bubba Bechtol, part time City Councilman from Pensacola, Florida, was asked on a local live radio talk show the other day just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience: "If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's scrotum to a car's battery cables will save one American GI's life, then I have just two things to say: "Red is positive, black is negative""
I have just been reading Michelle Malkin's brilliant book In Defense of Internment, which rightly says that "everything you have been taught about the World war II "internment camps" in America is wrong". A very minor bonus I got from the book is to note that her real surname is "Maglalang", which is obviously from the Tagalog language. I had always carelessly assumed that her ancestry was Japanese. From the name, it is in fact Filipino. As the WWII internments were the work of America's first socialist President (FDR), no conservative should feel much need to defend them but the facts show that what was done was both reasonable and carried out with overall humanity. And since Left-leaning historians have managed to convince just about everybody that the internments are a blot on America's honour (rather than on FDR's) it is good to find that the whole story about them is a great load of steaming dung. But I will not try to summarize a big book beyond that. Regnery are one of the few commercial publishers of conservative books so, if you are the book-buying type, log on here to read more about the book and perhaps buy it.
More glories of socialized medicine: "The healthcare research group, Dr Foster, reports today in the British Medical Journal that one in every ten patients admitted to NHS hospitals in Britain will suffer at the hands of medical errors. Such errors contribute to the deaths of 72,000 people a year, and are directly blamed for the deaths of 40,000 people. Medical errors in the NHS now constitute the fourth largest cause of death in Britain. The charity Action Against Medical Accidents states that the figures under-estimate total errors by not including those which take place at the primary care level of family doctors, and are based only on reported errors. The figures do not include hospital-acquired infections".
A pretty sensible editorial in USA Today about the importation of cheap drugs from Canada into the USA. If the U.S. administration had given the drug companies more support in their negotiations with foreign governments, the artificially high prices for Americans would never have happened.
There is a good post here pointing out that the Leftist hunger for change often leads to large costs (like death) for the individuals involved. I personally think that hunger for change for change's sake is pretty infantile. I have had a great life with lots of changes in it (including four wives) but I did not need to do anything radical in order to remain interested.
"Spectator" on Go Nuclear: Makes a good case for atomic power but it relies too much on running-out-of-oil ideas: "Rod Liddle says the answer to our energy needs is obvious: cheap and reliable nuclear power. But before we can embrace a sane future we have to overcome the Cold War superstitions of the Green Left"
Gipperism of the week: "..when Reagan was offered a ride on a submersible to get a look at the continental shelf, The Gipper turned it down, cracking, "I get claustrophobia when I draw the curtains." "
Leftist warmongers: "Contrary to the conventional wisdom, American imperialism is, at its roots, a left-wing disorder rather than a conservative impulse. A seemingly ceaseless supply of new books and radio talk-show commentary in support of George W. Bush and his foreign policy give the impression that the only controversy in America worth mentioning involves patriotic Bush supporters and knee-jerk opposition to war by liberals. Two arguments are being made here: that the Iraq War and foreign-policy aggressiveness constitute the self-evidently correct conservative position and that liberals are philosophically and historically squeamish about going to war. The first of these arguments has been addressed at length in these pages. It is the second claim, involving the American Left's alleged aversion to war, that remains to be overturned, for ever since the Spanish-American War of 1898, leftists have more often than not been at the forefront of calls for American military intervention abroad".
Promethean Antagonist is a bit unusual. He not only blogs from Japan but takes astrology seriously. He notes that astrology seems to be mostly Left-leaning but explains why "that aint necessarily so". His account of his trip to Fascist China is more outspoken than we usually hear now that everybody wants to think the best of China's reforms.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Monday, August 23, 2004
BLACK ON BLACK GENOCIDE IN AUSTRALIA
On 15th., I mentioned here the summary by Windschuttle about the pygmy population that the early settlers of Australia found in the jungles of Far North Queensland. Julian Calendar in his post of 16th. has taken Windschuttle to task over the matter with the claim that the pygmies are not a remnant population but rather an adaptation to jungle life on the part of other black populations. I am no physical anthropologist but the sheer wrongheadedness of the claim seems fairly breathtaking to me -- particularly coming from an Australian. Australia not only has a halo of Melanesian nations (e.g. Papua New Guinea) to its immediate North but part of Melanesia is actually IN Australia (the Torres Strait Islands). And what do we know about Melanesia? We know that the jungles of New Guinea and its surrounding islands are as dense as jungles anywhere -- so they must all be pygmies too? The Melanesians of New Guinea and elsewhere are in fact a fine upstanding race of generally rather big men. The Fiji police force has long made female visitors to Fiji drool! And what about one of the world's most notable pygmy races -- the Bushmen of South Africa?. I suppose the Kalahari desert where they live is a jungle too? What utter rot it all is! Clearly pygmies are earlier races who have sought refuge in inaccessible places to avoid being totally wiped out by bigger and stronger races.
Further notes: Harpending & Eller (PDF) explain why even a low interbreeding rate could over time lead to the observed similarities in appearance between pygmy and surrounding tribes without at the same time wiping out all tribal distinctiveness and the rock-art record suggests a two stage immigration of primitive people into Australia.
************************************
On 15th., I mentioned here the summary by Windschuttle about the pygmy population that the early settlers of Australia found in the jungles of Far North Queensland. Julian Calendar in his post of 16th. has taken Windschuttle to task over the matter with the claim that the pygmies are not a remnant population but rather an adaptation to jungle life on the part of other black populations. I am no physical anthropologist but the sheer wrongheadedness of the claim seems fairly breathtaking to me -- particularly coming from an Australian. Australia not only has a halo of Melanesian nations (e.g. Papua New Guinea) to its immediate North but part of Melanesia is actually IN Australia (the Torres Strait Islands). And what do we know about Melanesia? We know that the jungles of New Guinea and its surrounding islands are as dense as jungles anywhere -- so they must all be pygmies too? The Melanesians of New Guinea and elsewhere are in fact a fine upstanding race of generally rather big men. The Fiji police force has long made female visitors to Fiji drool! And what about one of the world's most notable pygmy races -- the Bushmen of South Africa?. I suppose the Kalahari desert where they live is a jungle too? What utter rot it all is! Clearly pygmies are earlier races who have sought refuge in inaccessible places to avoid being totally wiped out by bigger and stronger races.
Further notes: Harpending & Eller (PDF) explain why even a low interbreeding rate could over time lead to the observed similarities in appearance between pygmy and surrounding tribes without at the same time wiping out all tribal distinctiveness and the rock-art record suggests a two stage immigration of primitive people into Australia.
************************************
ELSEWHERE
Powerline Blog seems to have managed to get into the thick of the Presidential election campaign. They note that political blogs generally are getting a lot more hits lately as people turn to them as an alternative to the pro-Kerry mainstream media. This blog has had a big increase in hits lately too.
Randall Parker has some news that the press seems mostly to have buried: The EU is now building a fence along its Eastern border to keep illegal immigrants from Russia and elsewhere out of the EU. In effect, the Berlin wall is being put up again -- only a lot further East this time. He rightly notes the hypocrisy of the EU in saying that Israel should not build its fence and also thinks America could do with such a fence on its Southern border. If it's good enough for those paragons of virtue in the EU, why is it not good enough for Israel and the USA?
Prominent UK libertarian Sean Gabb has an interesting history of his unusual schooldays here. He had a rough time of it and ended up largely self-taught. I too was largely self-taught (See here) but had none of the traumas he had.
Venezuela's Chavez: "For all Chavez's talk about bringing through a revolution in favour of the poor, his policies have been pretty conservative. There have been a lot of showy attacks on the old elite - he replaced judges, reshuffled executives on the state oil company, and undercut the Senate by establishing a new Constituent Assembly. But even Chavez sympathiser Richard Gott admits that he has been 'pragmatic' with the economy - bringing in an austere and orthodox economic policy, seeking to keep on the right side of international investors. Edgardo Lander, sociology lecturer at Venezuelan Central University, said: 'There has been no real redistribution of wealth, and land reform has been very timid. There's been hardly any private property confiscated...and hardly any changes in the tax structure....' In fact, the radical rhetoric is more a replacement for radical action than an expression of it".
A charming case of media bias in Australia. Sydney "Sunday Telegraph" columnist Diana Simmonds is apparently in Athens for the Olympic games and refers to Australia's Prime minister under the heading "Not a PM in sight" as follows: "I LOVE the Olympic Games -- the cathartic effect of a good bellow and leap up and down, followed by a bit of a snivel and a good blow is just the thing as winter drags on. And on. And on. And, as much as I adored Sydney and wouldn't have been anywhere else for quids, I'm loving Athens even more. Know why? Because there's no need to keep the thumb poised over the "off'' button in case the Kirribilli Squatter leaps into the picture to shower Our Kids with his appreciative spittle". [Kirribilli House is the Sydney home of Australian Prime Ministers]. Quote from p.123 -- not online.
An interesting email from a Canadian reader referring to my third post yesterday: "I am very impressed with the idea of the militants and leftists both embracing the idea of "dhimmi", it makes sense to me; unfortunately some of the people I know here seem psychologically ready to capitulate to Islam, and I wouldn't be surprized if some of the women I know convert in the next few years [they are single and way past the age of marrying] -- when I foresee pressure being put on Canadian municipalities where there is a large Islamic population being pressured to broadcast the call to prayer daily [and silence the church bells at the same time!] Let us hope it is just my paranoia!"
Further to my mention of film-maker Elia Kazan yesterday, there is more on the courage of Kazan here. Excerpt: "But for many of us he will not only be remembered for his art but also as a courageous man who fearlessly stood his ground against La-La Land's undercurrent of Stalinism and its mindless support of anti-American causes".
The policeman is a very funny guy if you like British humour. I do. Example: "I thought I would prepare for the forthcoming terrorist attack by manufacturing some ammunition. Above is a picture of my nine year old son holding the mould, while I filled it with molten lead (don't worry he's wearing gloves). The balls were allowed to cool and then inserted into shotgun cartridges, we later fired the 12-gauge lead balls into a tree trunk as a test. It worked, we are now fully protected from Al-Quaeda and social workers". He has a good cartoon in the same post as well.
Alan McCann responds to my post about St. Thomas Aquinas -- pointing out that NOTHING Thomas said justifies government redistribution of wealth.
I have just transferred here a new lot of Chris Brand's postings. As usual, he has found quite a few chinks in the armour of political correctness.
I have just put up a new post on LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS and there is an amusing post on GREENIE WATCH about Greenies contradicting one-another. GUN WATCH has a link to a great speech by Charlton Heston. On POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH there is a post which says that official anti-racist policies in Britain in fact make racism worse.
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Powerline Blog seems to have managed to get into the thick of the Presidential election campaign. They note that political blogs generally are getting a lot more hits lately as people turn to them as an alternative to the pro-Kerry mainstream media. This blog has had a big increase in hits lately too.
Randall Parker has some news that the press seems mostly to have buried: The EU is now building a fence along its Eastern border to keep illegal immigrants from Russia and elsewhere out of the EU. In effect, the Berlin wall is being put up again -- only a lot further East this time. He rightly notes the hypocrisy of the EU in saying that Israel should not build its fence and also thinks America could do with such a fence on its Southern border. If it's good enough for those paragons of virtue in the EU, why is it not good enough for Israel and the USA?
Prominent UK libertarian Sean Gabb has an interesting history of his unusual schooldays here. He had a rough time of it and ended up largely self-taught. I too was largely self-taught (See here) but had none of the traumas he had.
Venezuela's Chavez: "For all Chavez's talk about bringing through a revolution in favour of the poor, his policies have been pretty conservative. There have been a lot of showy attacks on the old elite - he replaced judges, reshuffled executives on the state oil company, and undercut the Senate by establishing a new Constituent Assembly. But even Chavez sympathiser Richard Gott admits that he has been 'pragmatic' with the economy - bringing in an austere and orthodox economic policy, seeking to keep on the right side of international investors. Edgardo Lander, sociology lecturer at Venezuelan Central University, said: 'There has been no real redistribution of wealth, and land reform has been very timid. There's been hardly any private property confiscated...and hardly any changes in the tax structure....' In fact, the radical rhetoric is more a replacement for radical action than an expression of it".
A charming case of media bias in Australia. Sydney "Sunday Telegraph" columnist Diana Simmonds is apparently in Athens for the Olympic games and refers to Australia's Prime minister under the heading "Not a PM in sight" as follows: "I LOVE the Olympic Games -- the cathartic effect of a good bellow and leap up and down, followed by a bit of a snivel and a good blow is just the thing as winter drags on. And on. And on. And, as much as I adored Sydney and wouldn't have been anywhere else for quids, I'm loving Athens even more. Know why? Because there's no need to keep the thumb poised over the "off'' button in case the Kirribilli Squatter leaps into the picture to shower Our Kids with his appreciative spittle". [Kirribilli House is the Sydney home of Australian Prime Ministers]. Quote from p.123 -- not online.
An interesting email from a Canadian reader referring to my third post yesterday: "I am very impressed with the idea of the militants and leftists both embracing the idea of "dhimmi", it makes sense to me; unfortunately some of the people I know here seem psychologically ready to capitulate to Islam, and I wouldn't be surprized if some of the women I know convert in the next few years [they are single and way past the age of marrying] -- when I foresee pressure being put on Canadian municipalities where there is a large Islamic population being pressured to broadcast the call to prayer daily [and silence the church bells at the same time!] Let us hope it is just my paranoia!"
Further to my mention of film-maker Elia Kazan yesterday, there is more on the courage of Kazan here. Excerpt: "But for many of us he will not only be remembered for his art but also as a courageous man who fearlessly stood his ground against La-La Land's undercurrent of Stalinism and its mindless support of anti-American causes".
The policeman is a very funny guy if you like British humour. I do. Example: "I thought I would prepare for the forthcoming terrorist attack by manufacturing some ammunition. Above is a picture of my nine year old son holding the mould, while I filled it with molten lead (don't worry he's wearing gloves). The balls were allowed to cool and then inserted into shotgun cartridges, we later fired the 12-gauge lead balls into a tree trunk as a test. It worked, we are now fully protected from Al-Quaeda and social workers". He has a good cartoon in the same post as well.
Alan McCann responds to my post about St. Thomas Aquinas -- pointing out that NOTHING Thomas said justifies government redistribution of wealth.
I have just transferred here a new lot of Chris Brand's postings. As usual, he has found quite a few chinks in the armour of political correctness.
I have just put up a new post on LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS and there is an amusing post on GREENIE WATCH about Greenies contradicting one-another. GUN WATCH has a link to a great speech by Charlton Heston. On POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH there is a post which says that official anti-racist policies in Britain in fact make racism worse.
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Sunday, August 22, 2004
SOME MORE INTERESTING EMAILS FROM READERS
"I wonder if the current Arab militancy is motivated by the thought that oil will eventually run out, and that their influence and wealth will then cease. If they believe the dire predictions of the Greenies, they might just think that this is their last chance to be a force in the world."
"I just read an account of Lynddie England's testimony about Abu Ghraib. Apparently, her original testimony was that she dreamed up this stuff by herself with a few friends -- to have fun taking naked photos etc. Not difficult to believe. Of course, after consulting with liberal attorneys who hate Bush, she changed her story to "I was just folllowing orders". The attorneys argued that England simply wasn't smart enough to think of this stuff on her own. Where are the Bra Burners? Isn't this an insult to just about any woman anyhwhere -- that England wasn't smart enough to dream up this scheme of taking dirty pictures without someone else telling her what to do?"
"It is more than obvious to me that the "Dhimmi" idea of Islam rather suits modern Leftists. Both the Muslims and the Leftists want to subjugate other people. Apart from slight modifications and the obvious technological changes of today, the intention at least is to return us all to the mediaeval Dhimmi era. And then what? This Utopian crap is hard to fathom. But both Leftists and Islamists want the new worlds such as America and Australia -- the last frontiers, lands of opportunity, and a chance to a real start in a new life -- to end up the same basket-cases as in Europe and elsewhere."
*******************************
"I wonder if the current Arab militancy is motivated by the thought that oil will eventually run out, and that their influence and wealth will then cease. If they believe the dire predictions of the Greenies, they might just think that this is their last chance to be a force in the world."
"I just read an account of Lynddie England's testimony about Abu Ghraib. Apparently, her original testimony was that she dreamed up this stuff by herself with a few friends -- to have fun taking naked photos etc. Not difficult to believe. Of course, after consulting with liberal attorneys who hate Bush, she changed her story to "I was just folllowing orders". The attorneys argued that England simply wasn't smart enough to think of this stuff on her own. Where are the Bra Burners? Isn't this an insult to just about any woman anyhwhere -- that England wasn't smart enough to dream up this scheme of taking dirty pictures without someone else telling her what to do?"
"It is more than obvious to me that the "Dhimmi" idea of Islam rather suits modern Leftists. Both the Muslims and the Leftists want to subjugate other people. Apart from slight modifications and the obvious technological changes of today, the intention at least is to return us all to the mediaeval Dhimmi era. And then what? This Utopian crap is hard to fathom. But both Leftists and Islamists want the new worlds such as America and Australia -- the last frontiers, lands of opportunity, and a chance to a real start in a new life -- to end up the same basket-cases as in Europe and elsewhere."
*******************************
ELSEWHERE
"Sampan incident" belies Kerry heroic image: "John Kerry invented a 'war hero' persona in his private journals and in the home movies he filmed and staged in Vietnam. Playing the lead role, he developed a past intended to advance his future political ambitions. In reality, Kerry was regarded by his Navy peers as reckless with human life. Although Douglas Brinkley's biography 'Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War' recalls that Kerry used the call sign 'Square Jaw' for a short time, it doesn't mention the sign he actually used for most of his four months in Vietnam: 'Boston Strangler.'
What would Lincoln or FDR have done to someone like John Kerry who undermined the war effort in Vietnam? Answer here.
This article says that Kerry could lose because of the "dirt" associated with passionate New Jersey governor McGreevey.
Non-independence day: "Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of one of the major turning points in American social history. That was the date on which President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating his 'War on Poverty' program in 1964. Never had there been such a comprehensive program to tackle poverty at its roots, to offer more opportunities to those starting out in life, to rehabilitate those fallen by the wayside and to make dependent people self-supporting. Its intentions were the best. But we know what road is paved with good intentions. The War on Poverty represented the crowning triumph of the liberal vision of society -- and of government programs as the solution to social problems. The disastrous consequences that followed have made the word 'liberal' so much of a political liability that today even candidates with long left-wing track records have evaded or denied that designation."
Not only has France banned vending machines from schools, the country also now requires all food companies to include health warnings with their advertisements, or fork over 1.5% of their respective advertising budgets to the French equivalent of HHS.
Self-help: "On July 20th, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) introduced legislation to reform Social Security the right way -- with large personal retirement accounts and without tax increases or benefit cuts. These reform measures would allow all workers the option to invest up to half of their payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts and harness the impact of compounded interest -- what Einstein called the most powerful force in the universe."
Another triumph for America's Leftist educators: "He said Americans had a reputation for being ignorant of world affairs. The annual National Geographic Survey had thrown up the sad fact that only 23 out of 56 young Americans knew the whereabouts of the Pacific Ocean".
Marlon Brando's recent death has reminded many of his superb performance in "On The Waterfront". Less well known is that the movie's director Elia Kazan, who blew the whistle on communists operating in Hollywood, used 'Waterfront' to explain why he felt it necessary to expose his former party comrades. (See also here for more on the Hollywood Blacklist and recent findings that there WERE in fact Red operatives in tinseltown)
LOL: An hilarious excerpt here from the latest translation of the Bible -- recommended by the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Via Maverick Philosopher). How these alleged Christians hate New Testament Christianity! Although I am the most utter atheist you will ever meet (I don't even think the idea of God is meaningful) I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament -- so it saddens me to see it distorted out of all recognition.
Verbum Ipsum gives some interesting quotes about private property from the great Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (I read a fair bit of Thomas myself in my teens). From my reading of it, Thomas was much more respectful of private property than the present Pope is. Thomas sounds rather a lot like a modern conservative thinker, in fact.
Wicked Thoughts has some good stuff up at the moment: An excellent poem about media bias by a former member of the military and a humorous but thought-provoking projection of the news from the year 2035.
As there seems to be a bit of an oil crisis on at the moment, I have just uploaded a chapter by Milton Friedman from my 1974 book. What he says about the oil crisis of the '70s is still worth bearing in mind today. See here
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
"Sampan incident" belies Kerry heroic image: "John Kerry invented a 'war hero' persona in his private journals and in the home movies he filmed and staged in Vietnam. Playing the lead role, he developed a past intended to advance his future political ambitions. In reality, Kerry was regarded by his Navy peers as reckless with human life. Although Douglas Brinkley's biography 'Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War' recalls that Kerry used the call sign 'Square Jaw' for a short time, it doesn't mention the sign he actually used for most of his four months in Vietnam: 'Boston Strangler.'
What would Lincoln or FDR have done to someone like John Kerry who undermined the war effort in Vietnam? Answer here.
This article says that Kerry could lose because of the "dirt" associated with passionate New Jersey governor McGreevey.
Non-independence day: "Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of one of the major turning points in American social history. That was the date on which President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating his 'War on Poverty' program in 1964. Never had there been such a comprehensive program to tackle poverty at its roots, to offer more opportunities to those starting out in life, to rehabilitate those fallen by the wayside and to make dependent people self-supporting. Its intentions were the best. But we know what road is paved with good intentions. The War on Poverty represented the crowning triumph of the liberal vision of society -- and of government programs as the solution to social problems. The disastrous consequences that followed have made the word 'liberal' so much of a political liability that today even candidates with long left-wing track records have evaded or denied that designation."
Not only has France banned vending machines from schools, the country also now requires all food companies to include health warnings with their advertisements, or fork over 1.5% of their respective advertising budgets to the French equivalent of HHS.
Self-help: "On July 20th, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) introduced legislation to reform Social Security the right way -- with large personal retirement accounts and without tax increases or benefit cuts. These reform measures would allow all workers the option to invest up to half of their payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts and harness the impact of compounded interest -- what Einstein called the most powerful force in the universe."
Another triumph for America's Leftist educators: "He said Americans had a reputation for being ignorant of world affairs. The annual National Geographic Survey had thrown up the sad fact that only 23 out of 56 young Americans knew the whereabouts of the Pacific Ocean".
Marlon Brando's recent death has reminded many of his superb performance in "On The Waterfront". Less well known is that the movie's director Elia Kazan, who blew the whistle on communists operating in Hollywood, used 'Waterfront' to explain why he felt it necessary to expose his former party comrades. (See also here for more on the Hollywood Blacklist and recent findings that there WERE in fact Red operatives in tinseltown)
LOL: An hilarious excerpt here from the latest translation of the Bible -- recommended by the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Via Maverick Philosopher). How these alleged Christians hate New Testament Christianity! Although I am the most utter atheist you will ever meet (I don't even think the idea of God is meaningful) I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament -- so it saddens me to see it distorted out of all recognition.
Verbum Ipsum gives some interesting quotes about private property from the great Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (I read a fair bit of Thomas myself in my teens). From my reading of it, Thomas was much more respectful of private property than the present Pope is. Thomas sounds rather a lot like a modern conservative thinker, in fact.
Wicked Thoughts has some good stuff up at the moment: An excellent poem about media bias by a former member of the military and a humorous but thought-provoking projection of the news from the year 2035.
As there seems to be a bit of an oil crisis on at the moment, I have just uploaded a chapter by Milton Friedman from my 1974 book. What he says about the oil crisis of the '70s is still worth bearing in mind today. See here
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Saturday, August 21, 2004
SOME EMAILS FROM READERS
"Liberals" often reject any similarities between themselves and Communists. They reply "You should not label people with such a broad brush" or some such. My response: " YOU seem to do a lot of labeling: Labeling anyone who supports God (e.g. Bush) as a Christian fundamentalist; Or anyone who is on the Religious Right the "Christian Taliban". A tad hypocritical? Also: Liberals, Socialists and Communists hate being labeled as "fascists" by the Right, but they think that it's okay to be dependent on big government and label anyone different from that as a "fascist". Gee, how nice! I have also noticed that the Right is less conformist than those on the Left. Just look at anyone on the Left who has a different opinion on Bush and the war in Iraq (e.g. Joe Lieberman): They get booed by the crowd, because that crowd all conforms to the anti-war and anti-Bush position. The Right is more individualistic. The Right allows the Old Right to voice their opposition and don't seem to boo them the way the Left boo at anybody who disagrees with them -- even those from among their own ranks, such as Tony Blair. Consistently with their belief in the individual, the Right allows individualism in their ranks while the Left does not".
"I have met many lefties over the years who seemed completely oblivious to the very existence of any intellectual challenges to their position. This has included both the overtly political, even intellectual types as well as many far less-versed or even interested. It is this tendency on their part, I believe, which founds the core of their belief that their political opposition is essentially malicious, conspiratorial, and populated by those motivated by personal gain in association with business interests or as bribed apologists for such interests. On the other hand, I have met few conservatives (of any subdivision) similarly blinkered or intellectually isolated. Even conservatives of the most rigid and uncompromising sort are generally well-acquainted with most arguments contra and have reasoned responses, whether or not these are entirely satisfactorily constructed. Indeed, a significant portion of all those on the conservative side formerly occupied positions further to the left-- from which they had moved on the basis of quite rational considerations, sometimes occurring as a result of deliberate inquiry, sometimes gained through reflection on experience."
"To those who embrace the reigning conspiracy theory that the Iraq War is phony, that intel was at best bungled and at worst manipulated, that the U.S. lacks European alliances and can't go it alone in Iraq, that the abuses at abu Ghraib prison were suppressed, that courageous firefighters saved New York, that WMD's weren't used in Iraq (but apparently were in New York), that unlike Churchill or Roosevelt, Bush is an inept and uninspiring leader, but that we could get behind a real morally justified war like World War II but not a pre-emptive war like Iraq, I offer the following realities: In 1940 Britain was badly losing a war with Germany which had overrun Europe due to lack of pre-emption, did not believe Churchill was an inspiring leader, journalists were told to suppress knowledge of the fiasco of the British Expeditionary Force retreat across the channel from Dunkirk to Britain, the government fabricated German casualties figures, despite their heroism small fishing boats did not save many British troops in retreat from Dunkirk, the German Luftwaffe destroyed 800,000 homes in London, people were locked up for 5 years for criticizing the war, the only European ally Britain had was France which collapsed in the face of the Blitzkreig, and Churchill's famous speeches ("I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" and "we will fight on the beaches") were written by propaganda officers in the British Ministry of Information and delivered on the radio by a voice impersonator who was really a children's hour actor (like Mr. Rogers on TV in the U.S.). Later this was all considered Britain's "Finest Hour." All this is documented in the book 1940: Myth and Reality by Clive Ponting (1990). So much for the reigning preconception".
*********************************
"Liberals" often reject any similarities between themselves and Communists. They reply "You should not label people with such a broad brush" or some such. My response: " YOU seem to do a lot of labeling: Labeling anyone who supports God (e.g. Bush) as a Christian fundamentalist; Or anyone who is on the Religious Right the "Christian Taliban". A tad hypocritical? Also: Liberals, Socialists and Communists hate being labeled as "fascists" by the Right, but they think that it's okay to be dependent on big government and label anyone different from that as a "fascist". Gee, how nice! I have also noticed that the Right is less conformist than those on the Left. Just look at anyone on the Left who has a different opinion on Bush and the war in Iraq (e.g. Joe Lieberman): They get booed by the crowd, because that crowd all conforms to the anti-war and anti-Bush position. The Right is more individualistic. The Right allows the Old Right to voice their opposition and don't seem to boo them the way the Left boo at anybody who disagrees with them -- even those from among their own ranks, such as Tony Blair. Consistently with their belief in the individual, the Right allows individualism in their ranks while the Left does not".
"I have met many lefties over the years who seemed completely oblivious to the very existence of any intellectual challenges to their position. This has included both the overtly political, even intellectual types as well as many far less-versed or even interested. It is this tendency on their part, I believe, which founds the core of their belief that their political opposition is essentially malicious, conspiratorial, and populated by those motivated by personal gain in association with business interests or as bribed apologists for such interests. On the other hand, I have met few conservatives (of any subdivision) similarly blinkered or intellectually isolated. Even conservatives of the most rigid and uncompromising sort are generally well-acquainted with most arguments contra and have reasoned responses, whether or not these are entirely satisfactorily constructed. Indeed, a significant portion of all those on the conservative side formerly occupied positions further to the left-- from which they had moved on the basis of quite rational considerations, sometimes occurring as a result of deliberate inquiry, sometimes gained through reflection on experience."
"To those who embrace the reigning conspiracy theory that the Iraq War is phony, that intel was at best bungled and at worst manipulated, that the U.S. lacks European alliances and can't go it alone in Iraq, that the abuses at abu Ghraib prison were suppressed, that courageous firefighters saved New York, that WMD's weren't used in Iraq (but apparently were in New York), that unlike Churchill or Roosevelt, Bush is an inept and uninspiring leader, but that we could get behind a real morally justified war like World War II but not a pre-emptive war like Iraq, I offer the following realities: In 1940 Britain was badly losing a war with Germany which had overrun Europe due to lack of pre-emption, did not believe Churchill was an inspiring leader, journalists were told to suppress knowledge of the fiasco of the British Expeditionary Force retreat across the channel from Dunkirk to Britain, the government fabricated German casualties figures, despite their heroism small fishing boats did not save many British troops in retreat from Dunkirk, the German Luftwaffe destroyed 800,000 homes in London, people were locked up for 5 years for criticizing the war, the only European ally Britain had was France which collapsed in the face of the Blitzkreig, and Churchill's famous speeches ("I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" and "we will fight on the beaches") were written by propaganda officers in the British Ministry of Information and delivered on the radio by a voice impersonator who was really a children's hour actor (like Mr. Rogers on TV in the U.S.). Later this was all considered Britain's "Finest Hour." All this is documented in the book 1940: Myth and Reality by Clive Ponting (1990). So much for the reigning preconception".
*********************************
ELSEWHERE
Dick McDonald is blogging up a storm about John Kerry. Lots of good stuff.
The system's working! "U.S. Sen. Edward M. 'Ted' Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret 'no-fly' list."
This is an amusing Leftist article to read. Take a look at the angry face of its author first. The core assertion of the article is that: "In fact, liberal bias in the academy is a fiction". And, in good Leftist fashion, that is just given as an assertion without proof or evidence. No mention is made of the fact that something like 9 out of 10 professors in the humanities and social sciences are registered Democrats. I guess Democrats are not liberals! Pathetic! But since when did Leftists ever care about the evidence? The one half-way reasonable point the author makes is that there are some academic disciplines -- e.g. accountancy, engineering etc -- that do tend towards the Right. But a careful academic study of just how far they tend to the Right is instructive. Nakhaie & Brym found that professors of accounting, finance and mechanical engineeering are indeed to the Right of centre but only marginally so. They are in fact centrists rather than Rightists. Disciplines such as sociology of course were way to the Left. More details of just how far Left academe is in general can be found here.
A fascinating piece of new research by some economists here confirms the Lynn & Vanhanen finding that national average IQ is an important predictor of national economic prosperity: "we show that national average IQ has a robust positive relationship with economic growth". So brains matter and not all human groups are equally brainy. In general, the countries with the brainiest people are not only the ones who are already richest (which is what Lynn & Vanhanen showed) but are also the ones who are getting even richer.
Arnold Kling hits back at the latest bout of drug-company bashing. One excerpt: "Marcia Angell is outraged that pharmaceutical companies earn profits and use advertising to encourage people to use their products. To her, these are evil forms of incentives. However, the alternative to using profits and advertising is to use taxes and regulation. Those are even more coercive forms of incentives. I can choose not to buy pharmaceuticals, but taxes are unavoidable. I can ignore drug company advertising, but I cannot ignore government regulation."
The drug bureaucracy at work: "On February 1, 2002, Cecil Knox was seeing patients in his Roanoke, Virginia, clinic when more than a dozen federal agents burst through the doors with guns drawn. Helmeted, shielded, and wearing bullet-proof vests, they terrified waiting patients and employees. ... Knox, a pain management specialist who had been practicing medicine in Roanoke for seven years, was dragged out in handcuffs and leg irons."
In case anybody is interested, I have just put up here some photos from my recent vacation in Far North Queensland.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Dick McDonald is blogging up a storm about John Kerry. Lots of good stuff.
The system's working! "U.S. Sen. Edward M. 'Ted' Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret 'no-fly' list."
This is an amusing Leftist article to read. Take a look at the angry face of its author first. The core assertion of the article is that: "In fact, liberal bias in the academy is a fiction". And, in good Leftist fashion, that is just given as an assertion without proof or evidence. No mention is made of the fact that something like 9 out of 10 professors in the humanities and social sciences are registered Democrats. I guess Democrats are not liberals! Pathetic! But since when did Leftists ever care about the evidence? The one half-way reasonable point the author makes is that there are some academic disciplines -- e.g. accountancy, engineering etc -- that do tend towards the Right. But a careful academic study of just how far they tend to the Right is instructive. Nakhaie & Brym found that professors of accounting, finance and mechanical engineeering are indeed to the Right of centre but only marginally so. They are in fact centrists rather than Rightists. Disciplines such as sociology of course were way to the Left. More details of just how far Left academe is in general can be found here.
A fascinating piece of new research by some economists here confirms the Lynn & Vanhanen finding that national average IQ is an important predictor of national economic prosperity: "we show that national average IQ has a robust positive relationship with economic growth". So brains matter and not all human groups are equally brainy. In general, the countries with the brainiest people are not only the ones who are already richest (which is what Lynn & Vanhanen showed) but are also the ones who are getting even richer.
Arnold Kling hits back at the latest bout of drug-company bashing. One excerpt: "Marcia Angell is outraged that pharmaceutical companies earn profits and use advertising to encourage people to use their products. To her, these are evil forms of incentives. However, the alternative to using profits and advertising is to use taxes and regulation. Those are even more coercive forms of incentives. I can choose not to buy pharmaceuticals, but taxes are unavoidable. I can ignore drug company advertising, but I cannot ignore government regulation."
The drug bureaucracy at work: "On February 1, 2002, Cecil Knox was seeing patients in his Roanoke, Virginia, clinic when more than a dozen federal agents burst through the doors with guns drawn. Helmeted, shielded, and wearing bullet-proof vests, they terrified waiting patients and employees. ... Knox, a pain management specialist who had been practicing medicine in Roanoke for seven years, was dragged out in handcuffs and leg irons."
In case anybody is interested, I have just put up here some photos from my recent vacation in Far North Queensland.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Friday, August 20, 2004
FROM BROOKES NEWS
John Kerry and his Cambodian lie - why it is important John Kerry and his Cambodian lie reveals a dishonest man who will show weakness in the face of terrorism that would surely invite even more terrorism. Without a doubt, he is a very dangerous and very stupid man
John Kerry and the Bruce Springsteen cavalcade of hatred Bruce Springsteen, the John Kerry groupie, is a moral poseur who gets his jollies from making sympathetic noises about the poor while raking in millions of dollars by politicizing his music
The Washing Post slants tax report to favour John Kerry The dirty little secret that the Democrats' bigwigs and their media enablers keep from the public is that the party's super rich friends like Soros, Heinz Kerry, Buffet, etc., would not be affected by the Democrats' tax grab because the party would leave open the sort of tax loopholes that only the super rich can exploit
John Kerry has his vet pal slime the Swift Boat Veterans Perhaps the bottom line here is that Rassman's article reads as if it was taken from one of Beth Cahill's media releases. And that reminds me: if anyone gets involved in the Kerry campaign they are likely to end up lying next to Cahill, 'Mad Dog' Carville and Bully Boy Davis staring up at the sewer
Globalism and living standards Paul Craig Roberts argues globalism is lowering living standards. Is he Right?
Michael Moore slimes Cuban-Americans to curry favour with Castro To please Castro the cowardly Michael Moore smeared American Cubans as terrorists, gangsters, dope smugglers, burglars, and wimps
The Democrats' running theme One can't help but note the running themes of the Democrats: a penchant for relational dysfunction that plays itself out in hackneyed scripts of sexual domination, an inability to grasp base concepts of adult responsibility, and a disregard of fundamental tenets of national security
Details here
*******************************
ELSEWHERE
"What is liberalism all about?: Regardless of whether the particular issue is race, agriculture, housing, or a thousand other things, liberalism is about the government telling people what to do in their lives and work.... It has been said that knowledge is power but, politically, power trumps knowledge. When government agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the courts take statistical differences in the "representation' of various ethnic groups in an employer's work force as evidence of discrimination, they don't have to prove their belief to anyone. They have the power. Employers have to try to prove their innocence to them. When the people who run our schools and teachers colleges prefer the "whole language' and "whole math' approaches to teaching English and mathematics, it doesn't matter how many studies show that these approaches don't work. The education establishment has the power and power trumps knowledge".
Leftists afraid to be themselves: "John Passacantando, the executive director of Greenpeace USA, believes in confrontation. A prot,g, of Mike Roselle, co-founder of the radical environmentalist group Earth First, he's led Greenpeace to push the limits of civil disobedience..... So one might expect Passacantando to be thrilled by the prospect of bad behavior, and a lot of it, at the Republican National Convention late this month. Tens if not hundreds of thousands are planning to take to Manhattan's streets in protest, and plans are being hatched for widespread disruption.... But Passacantando isn't happy about what's about to happen in New York. In fact, he's terrified. Like a host of intellectuals, '60s veterans and activists desperate for a John Kerry victory in November, Passacantando worries that the delicious, so-close prospect of defeating George Bush in November will be swept away in the citywide chaos that anarchists have promised to bring to New York."
Welfare as power: "Most European politicians, bureaucrats, and even intellectuals will, of course, favor the massive and now virtually bankrupt welfare state there, in part because it keeps them in power. Europe, from where I originally hail, is to all intents and purposes a politically elitist continent and, sadly, most ordinary folks put up with this because, well, bad habits are hard to shake."
Still no feminist outcry? "The Greek organizers of this summer's Olympics, which began in Athens yesterday, claim that more women athletes are competing than ever before.... According to officials in Athens, the number of Muslim women participating in this year's game is the lowest since 1960. Several Muslim countries have sent no women athletes at all; others, such as Iran, are taking part with only one, in full hijab. And state-owned TV networks in many Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have received instructions to limit coverage of events featuring women athletes at Athens to a minimum.... The Khomeinist version of the hijab, invented in the 1970s and now popular in many countries, including the United States, covers a woman's entire body but allows her face and hands to be exposed. Hijab theoreticians agree on one claim: a woman's hair emanates dangerous rays that could drive men wild with sexual lust and thus undermine social peace".
"Hispanic" Maths? 2+2=5?: "The University of Arizona will be the site of a Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos and Latinas. The National Science Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to create the center, which will team math and education researchers at the University of Arizona with the Sunnyside and Tucson unified school districts. The goal of the five-year grant is to advance math education by developing a model that connects math instruction and learning to the cultural, social and linguistic contexts of Hispanics, UA officials said"
What a laugh! Germany wants its "warmongers" (U.S. troops) back.
There is a great spoof site about North Korea here
This site has an excellent scriptural quotation about Right and Left on it
Gary Gravett is a very kind person. He hosts a whole list of Australian conservative bloggers. He has however had technical problems recently and I for one could not get on to any of his sites for several days. Everything seems to be working again now though so here is a list of his currently active sites if you want to check them out:
Mangled Thoughts
Bizzare Science
The Yobbo
Paul & Carl
Alan Anderson
Israelly Cool
Steve Edwards Daily Slander
The House of Rats
LOL: Keith Burgess-Jackson thinks my son Joe may become a bleeding heart "liberal". Joe does however seem to be like me: A born Tory. He was the cautious type even when he was aged 2. And at 17 he already defends conservative views at his school.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
John Kerry and his Cambodian lie - why it is important John Kerry and his Cambodian lie reveals a dishonest man who will show weakness in the face of terrorism that would surely invite even more terrorism. Without a doubt, he is a very dangerous and very stupid man
John Kerry and the Bruce Springsteen cavalcade of hatred Bruce Springsteen, the John Kerry groupie, is a moral poseur who gets his jollies from making sympathetic noises about the poor while raking in millions of dollars by politicizing his music
The Washing Post slants tax report to favour John Kerry The dirty little secret that the Democrats' bigwigs and their media enablers keep from the public is that the party's super rich friends like Soros, Heinz Kerry, Buffet, etc., would not be affected by the Democrats' tax grab because the party would leave open the sort of tax loopholes that only the super rich can exploit
John Kerry has his vet pal slime the Swift Boat Veterans Perhaps the bottom line here is that Rassman's article reads as if it was taken from one of Beth Cahill's media releases. And that reminds me: if anyone gets involved in the Kerry campaign they are likely to end up lying next to Cahill, 'Mad Dog' Carville and Bully Boy Davis staring up at the sewer
Globalism and living standards Paul Craig Roberts argues globalism is lowering living standards. Is he Right?
Michael Moore slimes Cuban-Americans to curry favour with Castro To please Castro the cowardly Michael Moore smeared American Cubans as terrorists, gangsters, dope smugglers, burglars, and wimps
The Democrats' running theme One can't help but note the running themes of the Democrats: a penchant for relational dysfunction that plays itself out in hackneyed scripts of sexual domination, an inability to grasp base concepts of adult responsibility, and a disregard of fundamental tenets of national security
Details here
*******************************
ELSEWHERE
"What is liberalism all about?: Regardless of whether the particular issue is race, agriculture, housing, or a thousand other things, liberalism is about the government telling people what to do in their lives and work.... It has been said that knowledge is power but, politically, power trumps knowledge. When government agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the courts take statistical differences in the "representation' of various ethnic groups in an employer's work force as evidence of discrimination, they don't have to prove their belief to anyone. They have the power. Employers have to try to prove their innocence to them. When the people who run our schools and teachers colleges prefer the "whole language' and "whole math' approaches to teaching English and mathematics, it doesn't matter how many studies show that these approaches don't work. The education establishment has the power and power trumps knowledge".
Leftists afraid to be themselves: "John Passacantando, the executive director of Greenpeace USA, believes in confrontation. A prot,g, of Mike Roselle, co-founder of the radical environmentalist group Earth First, he's led Greenpeace to push the limits of civil disobedience..... So one might expect Passacantando to be thrilled by the prospect of bad behavior, and a lot of it, at the Republican National Convention late this month. Tens if not hundreds of thousands are planning to take to Manhattan's streets in protest, and plans are being hatched for widespread disruption.... But Passacantando isn't happy about what's about to happen in New York. In fact, he's terrified. Like a host of intellectuals, '60s veterans and activists desperate for a John Kerry victory in November, Passacantando worries that the delicious, so-close prospect of defeating George Bush in November will be swept away in the citywide chaos that anarchists have promised to bring to New York."
Welfare as power: "Most European politicians, bureaucrats, and even intellectuals will, of course, favor the massive and now virtually bankrupt welfare state there, in part because it keeps them in power. Europe, from where I originally hail, is to all intents and purposes a politically elitist continent and, sadly, most ordinary folks put up with this because, well, bad habits are hard to shake."
Still no feminist outcry? "The Greek organizers of this summer's Olympics, which began in Athens yesterday, claim that more women athletes are competing than ever before.... According to officials in Athens, the number of Muslim women participating in this year's game is the lowest since 1960. Several Muslim countries have sent no women athletes at all; others, such as Iran, are taking part with only one, in full hijab. And state-owned TV networks in many Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have received instructions to limit coverage of events featuring women athletes at Athens to a minimum.... The Khomeinist version of the hijab, invented in the 1970s and now popular in many countries, including the United States, covers a woman's entire body but allows her face and hands to be exposed. Hijab theoreticians agree on one claim: a woman's hair emanates dangerous rays that could drive men wild with sexual lust and thus undermine social peace".
"Hispanic" Maths? 2+2=5?: "The University of Arizona will be the site of a Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos and Latinas. The National Science Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to create the center, which will team math and education researchers at the University of Arizona with the Sunnyside and Tucson unified school districts. The goal of the five-year grant is to advance math education by developing a model that connects math instruction and learning to the cultural, social and linguistic contexts of Hispanics, UA officials said"
What a laugh! Germany wants its "warmongers" (U.S. troops) back.
There is a great spoof site about North Korea here
This site has an excellent scriptural quotation about Right and Left on it
Gary Gravett is a very kind person. He hosts a whole list of Australian conservative bloggers. He has however had technical problems recently and I for one could not get on to any of his sites for several days. Everything seems to be working again now though so here is a list of his currently active sites if you want to check them out:
Mangled Thoughts
Bizzare Science
The Yobbo
Paul & Carl
Alan Anderson
Israelly Cool
Steve Edwards Daily Slander
The House of Rats
LOL: Keith Burgess-Jackson thinks my son Joe may become a bleeding heart "liberal". Joe does however seem to be like me: A born Tory. He was the cautious type even when he was aged 2. And at 17 he already defends conservative views at his school.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Thursday, August 19, 2004
SOME PATERNAL PRIDE
My 17-year old son Joe just got his certificate last night for completing his advanced placement course in Mathematics. He got a mark of 6 where the highest score is 7. But the University of Queensland is too PC to use the term "advanced placement" for university courses that selected High School students are allowed to enroll in. They call it an "Enhanced Studies Program". "Advanced" would offend against everybody being equal so you are only allowed to be "enhanced", you see. Anyway, Joe has just been named dux of his school in Information Technology too so there is no doubt how advanced he is. And he's no isolated nerd, either. After last nights ceremonies, lots of other students came over to talk to him and he soon became the social centre of the evening. Matthew 25:29.
*************************
ELSEWHERE
How GWB "attacks the poor": "A recent study by the Tax Foundation puts the number of tax filers who will pay no federal income tax at a record 44 million. The Bush tax cuts expanded this group from 29 million in 2000, an increase of 50 percent. Prior to the Bush tax cuts, 23.1% of filers paid no federal income tax. It is estimated that in 2004 that number surged to 33%, shifting the tax burden to the higher brackets."
Teacher's union misrepresents Charter schools: "Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the nation's report card, show students in charter schools doing less well than the nationwide public-school average, which includes middle class students from well-heeled suburbs.... Big deal. These results could easily indicate nothing other than the simple fact that charter schools are typically asked to serve problematic students in low-performing districts with many poor, minority children. Indeed, if the AFT believes these findings, it must also concede that religious schools excel. According to the same NAEP data from which the AFT study is taken, religious schools outperformed the public schools nationwide by nine points, a gap that is as large as the public school-charter school difference AFT is trumpeting".
The NYT has an unusually frank account of Saddam's abuse of the U.N. oil-for-food program: "Congress's Government Accountability Office, formerly the General Accounting Office, has estimated that the Iraqi leader siphoned at least $10 billion from the program by illicitly trading in oil and collecting kickbacks.... How did Mr. Hussein amass so much money while under international sanctions? An examination of the program, the largest in the United Nations' history, suggests an equally straightforward answer: The United Nations let him do it".
Elitist enemies of America: "Fighting to send arms to Saddam, resisting post-9/11 attempts to toughen visa requirements, struggling to keep American parents from rescuing their kidnapped kids in foreign countries, doing everything it can to shut down the Iraqi democracy movement -- amazingly enough, this is the record of the U.S. State Department, an often out-of-control organization that acts at odds with our nation's best interests more often than most Americans realize".
Arlene Peck: "Anti-Semitism is alive and well, and, today it's not just in those red-neck areas of Georgia where I grew up. Now they're more polished.... I've given up trying to understand why everyone hates the Jews. Although I tend to think I have a pretty good idea. I think it's because we gave the world a conscience with the Ten Commandments. Until then, they were perfectly happy coveting other people's wives and sleeping with their sisters or sheep. It annoys the Muslim world and EU that in fifty-six short years the Jewish nation has accomplished far more than most of them put together... People who get to be too successful aren't always liked. Those with no accomplishments and sub-human savage mentalities and actions are resentful of those whose technological and economic gains are light years beyond their comprehension."
American libraries: "the traditional mission of these august institutions of learning for generations of Americans is disappearing as they gradually turn into indoctrination centers against the United States and Israel. One of the main reasons for this tragic and disturbing turn of events is the American Library Association, where a clique of leftists has taken over, dedicating itself to padding libraries across America with anti-Israel books, videos and other materials, excluding both sides in the Israel/Palestine dispute".
"Morning sickness -- the nausea and vomiting that afflicts more than half of all pregnant women -- can be debilitating. There used to be an excellent prescription medication to treat it, but the manufacturer stopped selling the drug in the United States. Safety problems? Unprofitability? Not at all. Frivolous, debilitating lawsuits killed this drug."
Being "insensitive" to lawbreakers is out? "The Department of Homeland Security wants to restrict the U.S. Border Patrol's arrest of illegal aliens in the nation's interior, concerned that the recent apprehension of 450 illegals by agents in inland areas of Southern California failed to consider the 'sensitivities' of those detained. According to department sources, a formal written policy under review would limit Border Patrol arrests to areas along the nation's 7,000 miles of international border and give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws in the nation's interior."
Hilarious! Canada's socialized medicine system is failing badly at providing medical services. So what are they going to do about it? Hire more doctors at whatever price it takes to get them? No way! They want to spend a BILLION dollars to "set up an institute" to study the problem! Excerpt: "Canada needs to invest $1 billion over the next five years to reverse its serious shortage of doctors and ensure there will be enough health-care providers in future to reduce long waiting lists plaguing hospitals, the Canadian Medical Association says. The association wants Ottawa to create a national health human resources reinvestment fund, which would plan for future personnel needs and "help end the health human resources boom-and-bust planning cycle," outgoing president Dr. Sunil Patel told a news conference at the annual meeting in Toronto yesterday.... The proposed $1 billion fund would set up an institute to determine what the needs would be in various categories"
PID points out that Islamic economics has been about as successful as Nazi physics or Soviet agriculture.
A report in The Guardian links pollutants to a three-fold increase in brain diseases since 1970. Eugene Rants has an appropriate response.
Carnival of the Vanities is up again in fine fettle. Lots of good reading.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
My 17-year old son Joe just got his certificate last night for completing his advanced placement course in Mathematics. He got a mark of 6 where the highest score is 7. But the University of Queensland is too PC to use the term "advanced placement" for university courses that selected High School students are allowed to enroll in. They call it an "Enhanced Studies Program". "Advanced" would offend against everybody being equal so you are only allowed to be "enhanced", you see. Anyway, Joe has just been named dux of his school in Information Technology too so there is no doubt how advanced he is. And he's no isolated nerd, either. After last nights ceremonies, lots of other students came over to talk to him and he soon became the social centre of the evening. Matthew 25:29.
*************************
ELSEWHERE
How GWB "attacks the poor": "A recent study by the Tax Foundation puts the number of tax filers who will pay no federal income tax at a record 44 million. The Bush tax cuts expanded this group from 29 million in 2000, an increase of 50 percent. Prior to the Bush tax cuts, 23.1% of filers paid no federal income tax. It is estimated that in 2004 that number surged to 33%, shifting the tax burden to the higher brackets."
Teacher's union misrepresents Charter schools: "Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the nation's report card, show students in charter schools doing less well than the nationwide public-school average, which includes middle class students from well-heeled suburbs.... Big deal. These results could easily indicate nothing other than the simple fact that charter schools are typically asked to serve problematic students in low-performing districts with many poor, minority children. Indeed, if the AFT believes these findings, it must also concede that religious schools excel. According to the same NAEP data from which the AFT study is taken, religious schools outperformed the public schools nationwide by nine points, a gap that is as large as the public school-charter school difference AFT is trumpeting".
The NYT has an unusually frank account of Saddam's abuse of the U.N. oil-for-food program: "Congress's Government Accountability Office, formerly the General Accounting Office, has estimated that the Iraqi leader siphoned at least $10 billion from the program by illicitly trading in oil and collecting kickbacks.... How did Mr. Hussein amass so much money while under international sanctions? An examination of the program, the largest in the United Nations' history, suggests an equally straightforward answer: The United Nations let him do it".
Elitist enemies of America: "Fighting to send arms to Saddam, resisting post-9/11 attempts to toughen visa requirements, struggling to keep American parents from rescuing their kidnapped kids in foreign countries, doing everything it can to shut down the Iraqi democracy movement -- amazingly enough, this is the record of the U.S. State Department, an often out-of-control organization that acts at odds with our nation's best interests more often than most Americans realize".
Arlene Peck: "Anti-Semitism is alive and well, and, today it's not just in those red-neck areas of Georgia where I grew up. Now they're more polished.... I've given up trying to understand why everyone hates the Jews. Although I tend to think I have a pretty good idea. I think it's because we gave the world a conscience with the Ten Commandments. Until then, they were perfectly happy coveting other people's wives and sleeping with their sisters or sheep. It annoys the Muslim world and EU that in fifty-six short years the Jewish nation has accomplished far more than most of them put together... People who get to be too successful aren't always liked. Those with no accomplishments and sub-human savage mentalities and actions are resentful of those whose technological and economic gains are light years beyond their comprehension."
American libraries: "the traditional mission of these august institutions of learning for generations of Americans is disappearing as they gradually turn into indoctrination centers against the United States and Israel. One of the main reasons for this tragic and disturbing turn of events is the American Library Association, where a clique of leftists has taken over, dedicating itself to padding libraries across America with anti-Israel books, videos and other materials, excluding both sides in the Israel/Palestine dispute".
"Morning sickness -- the nausea and vomiting that afflicts more than half of all pregnant women -- can be debilitating. There used to be an excellent prescription medication to treat it, but the manufacturer stopped selling the drug in the United States. Safety problems? Unprofitability? Not at all. Frivolous, debilitating lawsuits killed this drug."
Being "insensitive" to lawbreakers is out? "The Department of Homeland Security wants to restrict the U.S. Border Patrol's arrest of illegal aliens in the nation's interior, concerned that the recent apprehension of 450 illegals by agents in inland areas of Southern California failed to consider the 'sensitivities' of those detained. According to department sources, a formal written policy under review would limit Border Patrol arrests to areas along the nation's 7,000 miles of international border and give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws in the nation's interior."
Hilarious! Canada's socialized medicine system is failing badly at providing medical services. So what are they going to do about it? Hire more doctors at whatever price it takes to get them? No way! They want to spend a BILLION dollars to "set up an institute" to study the problem! Excerpt: "Canada needs to invest $1 billion over the next five years to reverse its serious shortage of doctors and ensure there will be enough health-care providers in future to reduce long waiting lists plaguing hospitals, the Canadian Medical Association says. The association wants Ottawa to create a national health human resources reinvestment fund, which would plan for future personnel needs and "help end the health human resources boom-and-bust planning cycle," outgoing president Dr. Sunil Patel told a news conference at the annual meeting in Toronto yesterday.... The proposed $1 billion fund would set up an institute to determine what the needs would be in various categories"
PID points out that Islamic economics has been about as successful as Nazi physics or Soviet agriculture.
A report in The Guardian links pollutants to a three-fold increase in brain diseases since 1970. Eugene Rants has an appropriate response.
Carnival of the Vanities is up again in fine fettle. Lots of good reading.
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
LUDWIG VON MISES AND "AUSTRIAN" ECONOMICS
Leftist economists have now admitted that the conservative economists such as Von Mises and Hayek were right: "As late as 1989, Samuelson claimed that "The Soviet economy is proof that, contrary to what many skeptics had earlier believed, a socialist command economy can function and even thrive." But then, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Soviet communism in 1989-90, economist Robert Heilbroner shocked his colleagues in the socialist world by boldly declaring that the long-standing debate between capitalism and socialism was over. "Capitalism has won, " he confessed. "Socialism has been a great tragedy this century." Furthermore, Heilbroner was forced to change his mind about Mises and the debate over socialism. Following the unexpected collapse of communism, Heilbroner admitted, "It turns out, of course, that Mises was right." And it wasn't long before Paul Samuelson did an about-face in his textbook, labeling Soviet central planning "the failed model."
Great turnabouts in economics: "The gradual transformation of Paul Samuelson from Keynesian to classical economics ... is a major chapter in famous cases of economists changing their minds. Nobody likes to admit he's wrong. You can probably count on your fingers the number of times scholars have renounced their theories and switched positions... Three prominent economists have admitted error and changed their thinking, and we can learn much from their experience."
There is an amazing story here about how the Nazis seized all the papers of Von Mises after he got out of Europe just ahead of them. But the papers were not lost. The Soviets confiscated heaps of Nazi archives after the war and archived them all nicely. And after the fall of the Soviets, Western economists were able to get copies of all of them! More here
And there is even a Batman & Robin episode featuring the "lost" Mises papers: "A female Robin describes in a postscript, "Von Mises' anti-authoritarian ideas were first a threat to the Nazis, then the Soviets, and to all increasingly regulatory governments in our own times. He was against socialism in all its many forms. He was an advocate of individual liberty, free speech, and free thinking"
***********************************
ELSEWHERE
An amazing article here about how the restoration of phonics to the teaching of reading and writing was the personal project of GWB when he was governor of Texas. Minorities in Texas were basically just not learning to read at all before the restoration of phonics but now they almost all do learn to read. As a current Bush advisor said: ""It is amazing to me that Bush is thought of as a right winger who doesn't care about minorities... He saved so many of their lives."
Interesting to read what Mark Twain wrote about his visit to Israel in 1867 -- before the Jews started returning there. There is no mention of the "Palestinians" we are always hearing about in the media these days. As far as Twain could see, the Arabs there were all just Syrians -- indistinguishable from the inhabitants of Syria -- which is on today's Northern border of Israel. There certainly is a Jewish people but not a Palestinian one. The only meaning to the term "Palestinian" is "the Arabs who live in Palestine". And the concept of Palestine itself is essentially a British creation -- what they called that part of the old Ottoman empire that corresponded to the ancient land of Israel. For those who have forgotten, Britain ran most of the Middle East after the defeat of the Turks in World War I.
There is a good article by Richard Dawkins here suggesting that post-modernism in the humanities is a deliberate fraud. I completely agree. These guys are just gaming the system and deceiving the gullible.
The school textbook war: "In few countries are the texts so consistently critical of the United States as they are in Canada, but in a couple of cases the rhetoric is alarming. For national security purposes, we should have read Saudi textbooks years ago, for even while Saudi diplomats were cooing to American officials, Saudi students were reading rants about "Crusader" and "Neo-imperialist" attacks on Islam."
There are almost twice as many female psychiatric patients as men, and more than half of these are prescribed psychiatric drugs... Young or old, women who take tranquilizers and antidepressants are at greater risk than men. So why do adult women willingly take these risks? One answer appears to lie in the obsessions of a sex-and-youth culture that is also beset by feminism. The notion that they can- and, indeed, should -"have it all" has resulted in women feeling defeated, whether they are married with children, "in relationships," or pursuing college and careers. The numerous changes in society, including sexual "freedom," have negatively affected women, contrary to advertisements portraying carefree women using "easy" birth-control patches... Ironically, many women want to perform certain functions, like grocery shopping and caring for children. This was not anticipated when the feminist movement began, and now that females make up half (or more) of the workforce, the results are in: Women on tranqs are overwhelmed by the enormity of their tasks.
A new book, Stalin's British Victims (reviewed here and here), reveals the extent to which members of Britain's Communist Party knew of Stalin's Terror even while it was going on - - and how, even when their own families were among the targets of the Soviet leader's bloodthirsty regime, they still defended his actions for the sake of their dream-world. It shows the power of their inhuman vision for the world and their utter lack of normal human feeling.
The work ethic wanes in the EU while time on the job increases in U.S. "In Europe, nothing happens in August. It is not, of course, that absolutely everyone is on holiday. There are still an unhappy few slogging in to work. But the commuter train is half empty, the flow of traffic at rush hour is uncannily smooth. Virtually no serious decision can be taken in a London office throughout this month because there is always at least one key executive on holiday. See also here.
"People driving or riding in a sport utility vehicle in 2003 were nearly 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in cars, the figures show. The government began keeping detailed statistics on the safety of vehicle categories in 1994."
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
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Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
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Leftist economists have now admitted that the conservative economists such as Von Mises and Hayek were right: "As late as 1989, Samuelson claimed that "The Soviet economy is proof that, contrary to what many skeptics had earlier believed, a socialist command economy can function and even thrive." But then, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Soviet communism in 1989-90, economist Robert Heilbroner shocked his colleagues in the socialist world by boldly declaring that the long-standing debate between capitalism and socialism was over. "Capitalism has won, " he confessed. "Socialism has been a great tragedy this century." Furthermore, Heilbroner was forced to change his mind about Mises and the debate over socialism. Following the unexpected collapse of communism, Heilbroner admitted, "It turns out, of course, that Mises was right." And it wasn't long before Paul Samuelson did an about-face in his textbook, labeling Soviet central planning "the failed model."
Great turnabouts in economics: "The gradual transformation of Paul Samuelson from Keynesian to classical economics ... is a major chapter in famous cases of economists changing their minds. Nobody likes to admit he's wrong. You can probably count on your fingers the number of times scholars have renounced their theories and switched positions... Three prominent economists have admitted error and changed their thinking, and we can learn much from their experience."
There is an amazing story here about how the Nazis seized all the papers of Von Mises after he got out of Europe just ahead of them. But the papers were not lost. The Soviets confiscated heaps of Nazi archives after the war and archived them all nicely. And after the fall of the Soviets, Western economists were able to get copies of all of them! More here
And there is even a Batman & Robin episode featuring the "lost" Mises papers: "A female Robin describes in a postscript, "Von Mises' anti-authoritarian ideas were first a threat to the Nazis, then the Soviets, and to all increasingly regulatory governments in our own times. He was against socialism in all its many forms. He was an advocate of individual liberty, free speech, and free thinking"
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ELSEWHERE
An amazing article here about how the restoration of phonics to the teaching of reading and writing was the personal project of GWB when he was governor of Texas. Minorities in Texas were basically just not learning to read at all before the restoration of phonics but now they almost all do learn to read. As a current Bush advisor said: ""It is amazing to me that Bush is thought of as a right winger who doesn't care about minorities... He saved so many of their lives."
Interesting to read what Mark Twain wrote about his visit to Israel in 1867 -- before the Jews started returning there. There is no mention of the "Palestinians" we are always hearing about in the media these days. As far as Twain could see, the Arabs there were all just Syrians -- indistinguishable from the inhabitants of Syria -- which is on today's Northern border of Israel. There certainly is a Jewish people but not a Palestinian one. The only meaning to the term "Palestinian" is "the Arabs who live in Palestine". And the concept of Palestine itself is essentially a British creation -- what they called that part of the old Ottoman empire that corresponded to the ancient land of Israel. For those who have forgotten, Britain ran most of the Middle East after the defeat of the Turks in World War I.
There is a good article by Richard Dawkins here suggesting that post-modernism in the humanities is a deliberate fraud. I completely agree. These guys are just gaming the system and deceiving the gullible.
The school textbook war: "In few countries are the texts so consistently critical of the United States as they are in Canada, but in a couple of cases the rhetoric is alarming. For national security purposes, we should have read Saudi textbooks years ago, for even while Saudi diplomats were cooing to American officials, Saudi students were reading rants about "Crusader" and "Neo-imperialist" attacks on Islam."
There are almost twice as many female psychiatric patients as men, and more than half of these are prescribed psychiatric drugs... Young or old, women who take tranquilizers and antidepressants are at greater risk than men. So why do adult women willingly take these risks? One answer appears to lie in the obsessions of a sex-and-youth culture that is also beset by feminism. The notion that they can- and, indeed, should -"have it all" has resulted in women feeling defeated, whether they are married with children, "in relationships," or pursuing college and careers. The numerous changes in society, including sexual "freedom," have negatively affected women, contrary to advertisements portraying carefree women using "easy" birth-control patches... Ironically, many women want to perform certain functions, like grocery shopping and caring for children. This was not anticipated when the feminist movement began, and now that females make up half (or more) of the workforce, the results are in: Women on tranqs are overwhelmed by the enormity of their tasks.
A new book, Stalin's British Victims (reviewed here and here), reveals the extent to which members of Britain's Communist Party knew of Stalin's Terror even while it was going on - - and how, even when their own families were among the targets of the Soviet leader's bloodthirsty regime, they still defended his actions for the sake of their dream-world. It shows the power of their inhuman vision for the world and their utter lack of normal human feeling.
The work ethic wanes in the EU while time on the job increases in U.S. "In Europe, nothing happens in August. It is not, of course, that absolutely everyone is on holiday. There are still an unhappy few slogging in to work. But the commuter train is half empty, the flow of traffic at rush hour is uncannily smooth. Virtually no serious decision can be taken in a London office throughout this month because there is always at least one key executive on holiday. See also here.
"People driving or riding in a sport utility vehicle in 2003 were nearly 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in cars, the figures show. The government began keeping detailed statistics on the safety of vehicle categories in 1994."
For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and GUN WATCH. Mirror sites here, here and here
********************************
Leftists acclaim "diversity" yet say "All men are equal". Figure that one out.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?
The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause
Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.
********************************
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