THE LEFTIST IDEAL IN ACTION

Sweden:

The extent of the failure of the Swedish model are both shocking and little known. For example, no new net jobs have been produced in the Swedish private sector since 1950. (By contrast, the U.S. created more than 60 million new private-sector jobs during the same period, from 52 million in 1950 to about 115 million in 2002.) "None of top 50 companies on the Stockholm stock exchange has been started since 1970."

Again, contrast this with the U.S. where many of our biggest companies had not been born or known of in 1970, such as Microsoft, Intel, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Cisco, etc., Mr. Karlson's litany of failures of the Swedish model include: "Sweden has dropped from fourth to 14th place in 2002 among the OECD countries (i.e., affluent industrialized countries) in terms of GDP per capita since 1970."

In addition, "well over 1 million people out of a work force of around four million did not work in 2003 but lived on various kinds of public welfare programs

More (much more) here

Eurozone:

Signs of shaky economies in France and Germany have sharpened worries about Europe's less-than-robust recovery - and underscored the struggle to shake up regulation-clogged economies in countries that use the euro.....

Private economists, however, point to shadows cast by Germany's rise in unemployment in December to 10.8 percent, and French government statistics showing zero economic growth in the third quarter. Unemployment there remains at 9.9 percent.

Economists expect fourth-quarter growth of 3.5 percent to over 4 percent in the United States, where unemployment was only 5.4 percent in December. Per-person U.S. gross domestic product of around $44,610 (34,100 euros) remains ahead of $30,746 (23,500 euros) for people in the 12 countries using the euro

More here

But there is no room for U.S. complacency:

US policies are falling behind global competitors: "America is losing its status as one of the freest economies in the world. The punitive U.S. tax code, out-of-control spending levels, and onerous regulations are making America less competitive in the international economy. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, the U.S. is no longer one of the top ten freest economies for the first time since the index was started in 1994. The Index, published by The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, found that economic freedom is spreading world wide, with 86 nations receiving better scores. Unfortunately, America's score remained the same while Chile, Australia, and Iceland further opened their economies and surpassed the United States. Currently, the U.S. is tied with Switzerland for 12th place."

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ELSEWHERE

That famous U.S. airport security again. Email from a reader: "A colleague whose husband is a commercial pilot told me this one: A pilot who is certified to carry a gun went through airline security - showed his card, etc.. They let him keep his gun, but confiscated his nail-clippers. The security people said that some terrorist might take them away and use them as a weapon". Even if it's an urban myth, it's probably "fake but accurate".

Fabulous: "The nuclear-powered US submarine that ran aground in the Pacific last week, killing a sailor and injuring 23 others, ran into an undersea mountain that was not on the navy's charts, a US defence official said today.... A senior defence official, who asked not to be identified, said initial reports were that the submarine was cruising at high speed at a depth of about 120 metres on Monday when it ran into an uncharted sea mountain". [Contrast that with the sad fate of Russia's "Kursk". The comparison may not be exact but the U.S. boat survived a catastrophic front-end accident whereas the "pride" of the Soviet fleet did not. Higher safety standards?]

There is an article here showing how successful films and other light entertainment were in Hitler's Germany. Hollywood is Leftist too, of course. But Leftists have to be good at propaganda or they would not survive. Reality (like that described above in Europe) does not suit them at all. The article mentions Nazi themes as "law and order", "national respect", "homeland", "discipline and obedience" without mentioning that they were all Leftist themes in Hitler's time. You can find such themes in the American "Progressives" of 100 years ago and also, of course in Marx & Engels. And if Marx & Engels were not Leftists, I do not know who would be. It is only silly old conservatives who advocate things like liberty and respect for the individual. Leftists hate patriotism now but they were happy to use it in the past.

Green-eyed envy about the world's most popular cartoon -- which has just been dropped by by the "L.A. Times": "Gene Weingarten, a humor columnist for The Washington Post and Washington Post Writers Group, praised the Times decision during his weekly washingtonpost.com chat yesterday. He said the paper displayed "the kind of cojones missing in too many places" and described "Garfield" as "a strip produced by a committee, devoid of originality, devoid of guts, a strip cynically DESIGNED to be inoffensive and bad, on the theory that public tastes are insipid. Now we need others to follow suit. Like the Post." [No wonder people are always picking on McDonalds, Microsoft, Wal-Mart etc. Infantile hatred of other people's success is all too common. Should I hate Instapundit? I don't.].

Vin Suprynowicz has an interesting update on the almost certainly-true claim that the "AIDS-epidemic" in Africa has been vastly exaggerated. Hardly any African said to have AIDS is ever actually tested for it. But it suits the do-gooders to says that any sick African has AIDS. And somehow it's all our fault, of course -- from evil drug companies to the CIA.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx advocated terrorism. See what a thoroughly modern guy he was? My latest posting on "A scripture blog" shows why the apostle John was a "Gnostic".

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

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

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

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.

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TUESDAY ROUNDUP

Once again I give links to what I think are the best posts for the week on my various blogs:

Dissecting Leftism has a defence of Wal-Mart

Political Correctness Watch notes that black homophobia is now being blamed on whites

Greenie Watch notes that the Greenies seem to have decided that DDT is OK after all

MarxWords notes that Engels claimed that Germany had a right to conquer other lands because it was more "civilized"

Scripture blog shows why John 1:3 undermines the Trinity doctrine

Gun Watch shows how GWB is helping gun owners

Socialized Medicine shows that drug companies do actually help the poor of the world

Leftists as Elitists looks at some of the disgusting ideas of Peter Singer

Education Watch says that even Europe offers more educational choice than the USA

On Majority Rights I question the idea that climate has much influence on what we are.

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THE U.N.

Inquiry's Senator Coleman speaks: "While many questions concerning oil-for-food remain unanswered, one conclusion has become abundantly clear: Kofi Annan should resign. The decision to call for his resignation does not come easily, but I have arrived at this conclusion because the most extensive fraud in the history of the UN occurred on his watch. Annan was at the helm of the UN for all but a few days of the oil-for-food program, and he must, therefore, be held accountable for the UN's utter failure to detect or stop Hussein's abuses. The consequences of the UN's ineptitude cannot be overstated: Hussein was empowered to withstand the sanctions regime, remain in power, and even rebuild his military."

Diplomad on the U.N. in Indonesia: "What else is the UN up to, you ask? Oh the usual that you would expect from an organization with a dozen or so well-funded agencies supposedly devoted to emergency humanitarian relief . . . no, no, not feed people or provide them medical care, what do you think the UN is, the US military or something? What is wrong with you readers? Has The Diplomad taught you nothing? The correct response is put out a press release in New York claiming to be doing all sorts of things that others, e.g., US and Australia, are doing"

It's time to evict the UN: "People such as John Kerry are always eager to get the U.N.'s good housekeeping seal of approval before America makes a foreign policy decision. Or at least Kerry and company do when there's a Republican in the White House. I don't seem to recall it's having been quite so imperative when Clinton and Lewinsky were holding down the Oval Office. Be that as it may, what nation in its right mind would surrender even a scintilla of its sovereignty to a group as loathsome as the member states of the U.N.?"

To hell with the U.N.: "I don't have any objection to the United Nations' technocratic functions. As a practical matter, if it makes sense to have a central clearinghouse to organize the building of water treatment plants in the Third World, OK, fine. Most of us agree that helping victims of natural disasters, inoculating children, feeding the starving and so forth are good things -- just as we all agree it's a good thing for our garbage to be collected. But it is a huge intellectual leap to go from saying garbage should be collected to saying that the government should collect it. Similarly, you need to demonstrate that the United Nations' noble efforts cannot be carried out by someone else."

Spear Shaker has some rather sarcastic comments about France and the U.N. More and more elaborate ways of doing nothing seems to be the French genius. "Spear Shaker" doesn't seem to be a bad sort of guy for a Californian: He reads Australian newspapers and regularly ridicules both global warming and Jacques Chirac. An excellent start!

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ELSEWHERE

Orcinus strikes back. Dear me! The shallowness of Leftist thinking does give me lots of laughs at times. A little while ago, I did a demolition job on the naive pontifications of a Leftist tyro named Orcinus. It was such a good squash of poor old Orcinus that Instapundit linked to it and made the comment about me that you see towards the top of the Green column to the left of this page. Orcinus has apparently been seething about that ever since. I commented two days ago that Leftist ideologue Steve Kangas was "brain-dead". Orcinus posted yesterday what he seems to think is a "Gotcha" about that -- noting that Kangas in fact died a few years ago -- the whole of him, not just his brain! (I noted that fact yesterday myself). So Orcinus makes the highly original claim that I should have googled Kangas to check out whether he was alive or not before I criticized him! I at first thought that was a pretty hilarious requirement for Orcinus to have come up with all by his little self but on second thoughts I rather like it. Hey guys! Get the word out: If anybody is sprouting Leftist fruitcakery, he is probably DEAD! Let me say again, however, that I am sorry to hear of the sad way Kangas died.

More fun! Ron Bailey has a sarcastic article about a recent conference of political psychologists which paraded claims that Right-wing people are "authoritarian" and hence mentally diseased. Their basis for the claim was an old one, however: The work of Robert Altemeyer, who has produced a questionnaire (the "RWA scale") that supposedly measures this dreadful right-wing disease of "authoritarianism". But, guess what? Altemeyer himself reports (p. 239 of his 1988 book "Enemies of Freedom") that Leftists are just as likely as Rightists to get high scores on his scale! So what makes his RWA scale a measure of ANYTHING Rightist is a profound mystery. How can it be Rightist if Leftists score high on it? So even if what he studies is pathological, it is not particularly Right-wing! But Leftists never let evidence bother them, of course. There are heaps of cases of Leftist "scientists" ignoring their own evidence, in fact -- e.g. here. Bailey also refers to some even more antique claims of Rightist psychopathology that I have debunked many times. See here

Norberg comments on Swedish television: "When the TV4 reporter in Thailand criticised bad relief efforts, he complained that the rescue teams went up and down the streets, shouting out information and instructions - in Thai. "Of course that doesn't help Swedes", he complained. What? They speak Thai in Thailand? The arrogance! The insolence!"

Ralph Peters: "The Saudi Arabian government and individual Saudis have spent billions of dollars spreading Wahhabi extremism and fostering hatred. No expense is spared to vilify Israel or the West. But when it comes to easing the misery of their fellow Muslims, the world-champ hypocrites in Riyadh just ain't interested. As of last week, the Saudis had pledged a pitiful $20 million to the tsunami-relief effort. That's a Saudi prince's bar-and-bordello budget for a weekend in Paris. Even the devout Muslims of Indonesia's devastated Aceh province don't qualify for Saudi charity. The images of peerless suffering aren't enough to open any Arab wallets, for that matter".

There are some MOST disturbing cases of American injustice reported here. And at least some are from from impeccably conservative sources like Phyllis Schlafly and Cato. It makes me glad I live in Australia. I don't agree with most of the opinions expressed in the article but the facts it reports would worry anyone. And Jeff Jacoby's post on American adoption laws is very troubling too.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows that Engels advocated co-operation with other Leftists to achieve State control of industry, communications and education as steps towards Communism. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at John 8:58.

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

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

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

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.

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SOME ECONOMICS

That evil capitalism! "It should come as heartening news that 2004 was one of the most prosperous years in history. Not because the U.S. economy grew by a solid 4.3 percent, but because developing countries experienced an explosive 6.1 percent economic growth. According to a recent study by the World Bank, 2004's growth reflected "an expansion without precedent over the past 30 years." Equally encouraging, the report notes that "the rapid growth of developing economies ... has produced a spectacular, if not historic, fall in poverty." Amazingly, the World Bank report did not get much coverage in our mainstream media. It seems the press was more interested in covering the evils of globalization than in taking notice of how world trade -- which grew by an astounding 10.2 percent this year -- is driving economic growth.... In fact, the recent success of developing countries at fighting poverty could be an Economics 101 lesson for today's American classroom. In East Asia and the Pacific region alone, the number of poor dropped from 472 million in 1990 to 271 million in 2001. By 2015, that number should shrink to 19 million, according to the World Bank.

"Buy American" hurts Americans: "President Bush has a plan to address the so-called trade deficit, which worries people so much. According to the wire services, Bush said, 'People can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit.' That will appeal to many Americans in a nationalistic fever. What could make them feel better than passing up inexpensive, high-quality, foreign-made products and buying pricier, American-made counterparts? But it won't help the economy or the American people in general. Frankly, I can't tell whether President Bush is kidding or not."

Big shrimp: A protectionist mess: "Critics often accuse free trade proponents of carrying water for big business. But maybe unrestricted trade isn't always in the best interest of all business. Manufacturers who use steel (car and appliance makers, for example) oppose tariffs on imported steel. However, steel producers of course support them, as they keep competitive foreign steel off the market. While the car maker might opposed steel tariffs, they might support tariffs on foreign-made cars -- to protect their share of the domestic market. And steel manufacturers would likely oppose them, as they make it more difficult to sell U.S. steel overseas. Protectionist policies often become quite convoluted. Recent shenanigans from the U.S. shrimp industry present an excellent opportunity to examine how big business' support for free trade isn't as firm as conventional wisdom might suggest."

Rent control to go? "Rent control perversely hurts the very people it is supposed to help. New York City, for example, is chronically short of housing, and rents are outrageously high. Many New York apartments are "rent stabilized." It's no surprise that developers prefer to build condominiums or cooperatives, which they can sell outright. Such sales give them real profits-- or at least the prospect of gains--and none of the risks of politicians forcing them to charge rents that are not economical. Chicago, in contrast to New York City, has no rent control, and it has abundant housing for all levels of income earners. Free markets work when politicians allow them to.... the state of Hawaii put a cap on the amount of rent that oil companies can charge their service stations. A federal court has recently ruled that form of rent control as being unconstitutional, saying that such a cap discourages investment and therefore leads to fewer independent dealers. If the Supreme Court upholds this finding, then rent control in New York City and elsewhere could very well fall by the wayside.

Old jobs have to go: "Saving time and freeing up resources for other, more efficient uses, is good. Sure there is displacement and alienation: 50-year-old pipe-fitters who may never again make union scale and parents who rarely see their infants awake. But -- and I apologize for being so presumptuous at my still tender age -- that's the way the world works. Would we prefer to be in stasis and consign the next generation to dead-end jobs at best? Or to deny young people the opportunity to give their progeny the material comforts and fancy educations they may have lacked growing up? Or maybe we should skip the industrial revolution too and have everybody working the fields: full employment!"

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ELSEWHERE

On Dec. 26th., I reproduced two excellent letters from readers of the Pasadena Star Weekly. The lady who wrote the second letter has just emailed me as follows: "Thank you for finding and posting my "Jesusland" letter to the Pasadena Weekly. As you know, I was crucified as a "pseudo-intellectual" who voted for the fascist Bush and am willingly sending my family members to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I write this, my son-in-law has been coming under mortar attacks and is bravely doing what he believes to be right for his country and his beautiful little girl. I have been attacked by many Leftists who tell me and secretly hope that my family in the military will die and are fighting a useless battle. My friends served in Vietnam and I have never, never seen such vileness and hatred. You have given me a bit more resolve to go on. Bless You!"

Hmmm... I got a lot of email in response to my posts about the Trinity. I do rather regret raising the matter as I think that what I wrote did disturb a lot of good Christian people whom I really had no wish to disturb. For that reason most of my replies were a bit brief as I was reluctant to continue the discussion. Even so, I think that what I wrote did seriously disturb the faith of some. So that gives me a real dilemma. I could paternalistically refuse to continue the discussion, which does not treat my readers with much respect, or I could continue the discussion under DO NOT GO HERE warning flags. I have chosen the latter. I will for a time put up a separate blog devoted to scriptural exegesis which I would advise readers NOT to visit unless they are prepared to risk exposure to possibly threatening unorthodox views. So see "A scripture blog" for that. Today I look at John 1:3.

There is a rather aptly named Australian Leftist blog called "Cut-price Commentariat". A recent post there referred to "A Western Heart" (a group-blog I post to) as "Mike Jericho's posse of (now) out-and-out fascists". Why? Because one of the contributors welcomed the rumour that Osama has been warned that he risks Mecca being nuked if there are any more attacks on the USA. It should be noted that there have been no attacks on the USA since 9/11/2001 so the rumour is a plausible one. Our Lefty blogger however seems to think that using the THREAT of nuclear attack (which was also what kept the Soviets at bay and ensured the long post-1945 peace in the Western world) is "Fascist". Like most Leftists, however, he conveniently forgets his history. Who was the only national leader who ACTUALLY USED nukes? It was of course Democrat President Harry Truman, the heir of that great Leftist hero, FDR. So Harry Truman was clearly a "fascist" by the lights of our Lefty blogger -- which makes about as much sense as Leftist accusations usually do.

Sad news about the dippy Steve Kangas, whom I referred to yesterday. Gerry Jackson of Brookes News writes: "If this is the Steve Kangas I'm thinking of, he committed suicide sometime ago. Kangas was a very sad case and a very disturbed man. Nevertheless, he was still an "ass" who knew nothing about economic history, economics or any real political history. I completely demolished his defence of FDR's damaging economic policies. His response was pathetic".

The latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx believed in dictatorship.

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

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

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

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.

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ALARM-BELLS FOR AUSTRALIAN BLOGGERS!

Some academics from the peacenik end of the Australian church community were recently commissioned by the Australian Federal government to do a report on "Multi-faith" (translation: Islam-promoting) activities in Australia. Summary here. The full report (PDF) is mostly a combination of mush and political correctness but one of its recommendations is downright hilarious: It recommends that public use of the cross be discontinued and a "composite symbol" be developed to replace it. My mind it quietly boggling at what a composite of the Christian cross and the Muslim crescent might look like! Pretty confusing, I guess.

Another recommendation is not so hilarious, however. Under "Websites and Web Links" it says (p. 115): "The monitoring of Australian-based religious websites by religious leaders themselves and by government authorities charged with administering legislative acts concerning racial and religious discrimination has become a priority". And in their final recommendations under the heading "Constructing a Multi-Faith Australia" (p.125), it says this about websites: "The study uncovered legitimate concerns about the material of several websites of faith communities, particularly their links to racist websites offshore. At this stage, it is appropriate that a process of self-regulation remain in place but the issue needs to be monitored by the Council for Multicultural Australia. Accordingly, it is recommended that: All faith communities be encouraged to put in place mechanisms for a continual monitoring of their websites for materials or links whose content might damage the harmony of Australia's multi-faith society." (Translation: Criticism of Islam on the net must be censored).

So they think the government should censor websites that are critical of Islam but are being all moderate at the moment and are recommending self-censorship only. But the whole idea of political censorship of the net is of course obnoxious. So Australian readers should talk to whomever they can to make sure that this bit of Fascism goes no further. It WOULD of course be the Leftists who want political censorship. Hiding inconvenient information is essential to the Left and they are pretty good at it. How many people know, for instance, that Marx and Engels were antisemitic German nationalists long before Hitler thought of it? But for the web, I doubt that anybody reading this would know that. See MarxWords.

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ELSEWHERE

Wow! You learn every day! Like most people I had always accepted that Hitler's stated reason for invading Russia -- to beat the Russians to the punch before they invaded him -- was just a pretext. I should have known better. Hitler was as brilliant a political operator as he was an incompetent General. Up until the invasion of Poland, all his many victories -- including the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia -- had been political. It now turns out that he was absolutely right about Russia. He may have beaten them to the punch only by months. A book written by Victor Suvorov -- a former major in Soviet military intelligence -- has been excerpted here and what is tells is stunning. Just one point: The Soviets had over a thousand fast WHEELED (trackless) tanks by 1941 -- tanks which could only be used on Germany's autobahns. They would have sunk (and did sink) into the ground on Russia's rough roads. By striking into Russia first, Hitler rendered them all useless. A must-read for anybody interested in history or in militaria.

There was some stunning hypocrisy and inconsistency coming from the Democrats during the confirmation hearing for the Attorney General designate, Alberto Gonzales. All normal form for Leftists, I suppose. See here

Why the rules allowing filibustering may have to be changed: "It is worth recalling that Mr. Bush campaigned throughout 2004 against the Democrats' obstructionism in the Senate, which was most clearly epitomized by the unprecedented filibuster campaign the minority party waged against 10 judicial nominees to the nation's circuit courts of appeal. Indeed, the president's coattails played an indispensable role in ousting Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the leader of the filibuster campaign whose judicial obstructionism played a major role in his electoral defeat. ... During the 108th Congress, in a campaign of unprecedented scope and breadth, Democrat senators successfully voted 20 times to deny cloture on judicial nominees. Invoking cloture would have ended the Democrat filibusters being waged to prevent an up or down vote for the 10 nominees to the appellate courts. ... A review of Senate history illustrates just how unprecedented the Democrats' filibustering campaign against judicial appellate nominees has been. ... From 1949 through 2000, cloture was sought on only 13 judicial nominations, including twice for William Rehnquist, whose nominations as both associate justice and chief justice of the Supreme Court were filibustered. ... During President Bush's first term, however, cloture has been sought on 14 judicial nominations. ... Democrats have successfully filibustered 10 of the 45 circuit court nominations by President Bush that have made it to the Senate floor. That's more than 20 percent. It is a campaign that has been as unprecedented as it has been outrageous."

There is a pompous Leftist ass (as in donkey) called Steve Kangas who claims to have all the answers to why Leftists are right and others are wrong. I guess he has convinced himself but convincing others will be harder. I have shown here how far-Left and quite stupid is his treatment of one topic at least. He starts out by defining socialism in such a way that only Communists can be socialists and then defines socialism in a way that would exclude Stalin from being one! So is ANYBODY a socialist according to Kangas? Only Mr Brain-dead Kangas himself, I guess

One of my readers recommends the book The Virtue of War as making the case for the Iraq involvement from a Christian "just war" perspective. There is an interview with one of the authors of the book here

Awkward for the Left: "Those who made their annual trip to church on Christmas day will have to think again. Research shows that regular churchgoers live longer than non-believers. A 12-year study tracking mortality rates of more than 550 adults over the age of 65 found that those who attend services at least once a week were 35 per cent more likely to live longer than those who never attended church. The research also found that going to church boosted an elderly person's immune system and made them less likely to suffer clogged arteries or high blood pressure. Susan Lutgendorf, psychology professor at the University of Iowa, who carried out the study, said: "There's something involved in the act of religious attendance, whether it's the group interaction, the world view or just the exercise to get out of the house. There's something that seems to be beneficial."

There is an interesting review in Commentary of the book Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare by Jason DeParle. It shows from life-histories how 1990s welfare reform actually worked. Most dole recipients were working anyway and just worked harder when they lost benefits. The review also mentions calls for the government to somehow make black males into better fathers! That strikes me as terminally weird. There really are SOME limits on what governments can be expected to do.

The latest posting on MarxWords shows that Engels thought Germany had a right to conquer other countries because it was more civilized. Yes. That was Engels, not Adolf.

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

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

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

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.

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THE TRINITY REVISITED

This is not a religious blog -- with the fact that I am an atheist being no small part of the reason for that. I generally confine my comments on religion to profound reverence for our Christian heritage and profound dislike of Islam and all its works. I did however let my old theological interests off the leash long enough recently to post a few derisive comments about the doctrine of the holy Trinity ("So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God" in the Athanasian formulation). Naturally, I got a bit of return-fire over that. So for those who are interested, a few notes follow by way of a rejoinder:

Maverick Philosopher mentions the trinitarians' favourite text: John 1:1 "And the Word was God". Trinitarians say that John was clearly referring to Jesus in saying that but in so doing they overlook the very point John was making: That Jesus should be seen not only as a person but as a message of enlightenment from God. So it was the message or truth that was divine and eternal rather than the person. If John had meant to say "Christ", he would have. And it actually gets worse for the trinitarians if we concede that John was referring there simply to Christ. Because in the original Greek of the NT, the supreme being is always referred to as "ho Theos" (THE God). And in John 1:1, John specifically calls the Word "theos" (meaning "divine") rather than "ho Theos". So John is specifically saying that the Word was NOT the supreme being. So there is NO scriptural basis for the trinity doctrine.

{A detour here for Greek grammarians: It may be contended that John used the anarthrous form of "theos" purely because it was a predicate. It is true that there is some usage to that effect: Probably a lazy usage where the meaning is otherwise clear. But the question is: Was it John's usage? No. We see just a little later in the same text a predicative usage WITH the article: "kai ee zoe een to phos".}

The remaining point that a couple of people have made is that if Christ is not God what is he? I would have thought that was obvious -- one of the many people who have allegedly gone to Heaven.

And the comment on Northwestern Winds is just puzzling. He quotes Paul to say that you have to believe in the resurrection to be a Christian and seems to think that implies that you have to believe Christ is God. I would have thought it implied the exact opposite! Or was God dead for three days?

[Just a fun footnote: I have crazy interests for an atheist so I thought I might list the books I keep within arm's reach on my desk while I am blogging: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible; The Penguin Australian encyclopaedia; The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge; The Macquarie [Australian] Dictionary; Brewer's Politics; The King James Bible; an Italian/English dictionary; a French/English dictionary; a Spanish/English dictionary; a German/English dictionary; The Koran; The American State papers including the Federalist; an American desk encyclopedia; Pears Cyclopaedia; a dictionary of American slang; the poems and songs of Robert Burns; Mein Kampf; a Greek New Testament and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer with Hymns Ancient and Modern. So now you know what I think I often need to know more about!]

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ELSEWHERE

More on Wal-Mart. A reader writes: "My son, who is 20 yrs. old, works for Wal-Mart. He is in his sophomore year of a Business degree. His job at Wal-Mart is putting him through college and he makes good money for a kid his age, well above the minimum wage. But he plans to remain with Wal-Mart for his career. In fact he expects to move up into management this spring. His description of his work environment does not match the descriptions of those anti-capitalist Wal-Mart bashers. He laughed at these allegations. (I asked him specific questions based on the complaints I'd heard online)"

Windschuttle vindicated! Courageous historian Keith Windschuttle has stressed that support for the "White Australia" immigration policy (which excluded Asians) came mainly from the labour unions. Amazingly, the unions are still at it in 2005: "A major union has called on the Federal Government to block a move by a Victorian fruit board to import up to 10,000 fruit pickers from China.... Mr Shorten said "no growers or employers should be allowed to undermine the job opportunities of Australians and their legal wages and conditions. The Howard Government must act to ensure Australian workers are not disadvantaged by the importation of Chinese labour"."

Eurosclerosis: "While American soldiers were delivering emergency supplies to isolated disaster areas and Australian doctors were treating the injured, Europeans were having meetings or, worse yet, trying to set dates for meetings. The French Minister of Public Health, Douste-Blazy, posed a rhetorical question while visiting Sri Lanka: was it "normal" that his colleagues in Brussels held their first discussions on the subject a full ten days after the catastrophe?"

Still not good enough for the critics, of course: "Employers hired workers in 2004 at the fastest pace in five years, with overall payrolls rising by 2.2 million. December's job growth was a bit lower than expected, with the unemployment rate holding at 5.4 percent."

About time: "China is planning to make selective abortions of female foetuses illegal as a way to close the widening gap between the number of boys and girls in the country, the official Xinhua News Agency said."

The British view of other countries (poll results): "A glance down the column headed "The top five" shows the dominance of countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada and also the relevant insignificance of countries on the European continent. Canada, Australia and New Zealand are rated unusually safe and Australians unusually friendly. The USA has a more mixed reputation: dynamic and democratic, yes, but also dangerously unsafe.... most continental European countries scarcely feature in the ratings (and Spain, in particular, does not feature among the top or bottom five in any of them), Italy and France stand out as countries thought to have some of the world's most beautiful buildings and works of art. Against that, the French and the Germans are thought to be among the world's least friendly people. While Britain and several old Commonwealth countries have high ratings across the board, the survey reveals some places as being almost pariah states. Large numbers of Britons admire Indian food - but only provided they can eat it here".

Surprise, surprise! "Ten months after it received $1.6 million from Republican Gov. Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund, the Texas Energy Center has yet to create any new jobs and is without a director. Created in 2003, the center was proposed as a way to transform the energy industry by bringing together business and researches to develop new energy sources. It was to create thousands of jobs and bring millions of dollars in corporate investment to the Houston suburb of Sugar Land"

The latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx got money by deceiving relatives.

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

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

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

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.

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Fun! It looks like Staples has caved in! See the last update here

WAL-MART REVISITED

An excellent email from one of my readers in response to my post yesterday about Wal-Mart:

"Sometimes economic and logical ignorance and anti-capitalist bias just must be rebutted, even though it should be obvious to everyone. In regard to the February 2004 report by the Democratic Staff of the House Education and Workforce Committee concerning the "federal costs" to taxpayers of "Wal-Mart's success in holding employee compensation at low levels," the following observations:

First, where do they think Wal-Mart gets these apparently exploited and "badly paid" employees? From the ranks elsewhere of better-paid full-time employees with full benefit packages? I haven't heard about any Wal-Mart gangs shanghaiing people and forcing them to work for Wal-Mart, so Wal-Mart's employees must be there voluntarily, presumable because Wal-Mart offers them better employment opportunities than they had before.

Second, even if it is true (which I doubt) that most of these employees rely on government-provided or subsidized health care and government assistance paid for by "US taxpayers," is it not then likely these same people were also relying on government-provided or subsidized health care and assistance before they voluntarily chose to work for Wal-Mart? So Wal-Mart's employment of these people would, at worst, have no effect on the cost to taxpayers for these people's government-subsidized health care and other government assistance. More likely, at least some of these employees would now qualify for at least some employer-provided benefits and others would have improved their economic lot sufficiently to pay for at least some of their own maintenance and health care, rather than relying on government assistance.

In addition, since these employees must now have better employment opportunities than they had had before, presumably most of them are earning more than they did before, and paying more taxes! In fact, some of these employees may have had no employment before and been surviving entirely on welfare benefits. Therefore, when Wal-Mart employs these people, tax collections go up, use of government-subsidized health care goes down, and welfare benefit payments go down, which is a net benefit to everyone. The only logical conclusion one can draw is that rather than costing "federal taxpayers ... a total annual welfare bill of $2.5 billion for Wal-Mart's 1.2 million US employees," Wal-Mart's employment of these people reduces the welfare bill the US taxpayers otherwise would pay for these people.

When such obvious logic and facts are omitted from a "report" damning a successful business operation, it is clear the objective is not truth, but rather, to bash successful business and to attack our competitive capitalist system.

I can just see how this logic will play out in the Dems next report attacking not only Wal-Mart, but also all US businesses large and small, for employing anyone at all. Given the actuarial imbalance in the Social Security system, each new hire can be expected to add tens of thousands of dollars to the actuarial deficit. When summed across the entire economy, the deficit is not just a measly $2.5 billion, but rather tens of trillions of dollars! As a result, all these evil businesses in the US are shackling the US taxpayers with TRILLIONS in future tax liability by employing anyone!"

Blithering Bunny has some useful links on the Wal-Mart haters too.

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ELSEWHERE

I have had some good laughs lately, but you should read this dippy email that someone sent Keith Burgess Jackson. Keith's reply is a bit too kind. The moronic email-writer said that he could only evaluate Keith's writings by whether or not Keith's university had a chapter of a prestigious student fraternity. I would have replied that anyone who is so incapable of evaluating arguments that he can rely only on the prestige of the author's employer must be a complete mental cripple. On second thoughts, I think there is a fair chance that the email is a student joke. Keith also has up at the moment some good comments on the many defamatory things that Leftists say about Karl Rove. "The pot calling the kettle black" rather sums it up. I wonder if young people understand that analogy? How many of them have ever seen a black pot or kettle? Perhaps they think the saying should be "The pot calling the kettle Afro-American".

Rafe Champion has just scanned in a great article about the so-called cultural cringe that allegedly afflicted Australian cultural life for most of the 20th century. Knowing the robust independence of most Australians, the whole claim has always seemed rubbish to me and the article demonstrates in great detail what rubbish it is. The only basis for the claim seems to be that certain self-proclaimed Australian cultural elites were not getting as much attention as they felt they deserved. I suspect that they actually got MORE attention than they deserved. I certainly found plenty of Australian books to read when I was a kid in the '50s but I guess much of my reading at that time was distressingly "popular" -- Ion Idriess and the like. I actually think Idriess did an incomparable job of popularizing Australian and Pacific history and I am delighted to say that I think I had read every one of his books by the time I was 12. My interest in history goes back a long way. And I cannot recollect ever hearing a single derogatory word about the Australian poets -- Lawson and Patterson mainly -- whose works I enjoyed learning at school. Lawson's "The Teams" is still one of my favourite poems -- partly because I know how accurate was Lawson's description of the taciturn, hard-working teamsters. My own grandfather was one of them, I am immensely proud to say.

Iraq and Indonesia compared. An email from a reader: "I have just caught up with a friend in the Royal Australian Air Force who has recently been in the Middle East and who has been working on relief flights to Indonesia. He tells me the image we get via TV news of the Iraq situation greatly exaggerates the chaos and violence factor. He says Aceh is the opposite. Nothing on TV shows the extent of the destruction and death. He says you can easily find areas where there are dead and dismembered bodies in every direction".

There are only two Governor's races taking place in the U.S. this year -- in Virginia and New Jersey. Since there are no national campaigns, these governor's races are going to be watched intently. Commonwealth Conservative has the lowdown on the Virgina race.

Brazilian blogger, Luis Afonso reports a couple more of ratty articles about American tsunami aid. Somehow Hiroshima and Nagasaki have got dragged in! I thought my link yesterday about the tsunami being the fault of "THE JOOOOS" was the ultimate but I am beginning to wonder.

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with a big selection of posts

The latest posting on MarxWords shows that Marx thought it essential to destroy human families -- nice guy!

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

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

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

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.

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BOYCOTT LEFTIST BIGOTS!

A fun idea over at National Center for Public Policy Research . Apparently Massachusetts-based office supply retailer Staples, Inc. has decided to withdraw advertising buys from news broadcasts on Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. television stations in response to an e-mail campaign by left-wing activists. The activists complained that Sinclair was "placing partisan interest ahead of the public interest" by broadcasting conservative and pro-President Bush commentaries. But scurrilously Leftist TV networks like CBS are apparently OK. It would seem a good time to nip such nonsense in the bud. If you want to help, email Owen Davis at Staples and tell him that you will be boycotting all Staples products until they abandon their Leftist bias. And how about a picket-line outside any Staples stores in "Red" States?

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TSUNAMI AID

An interesting email from Gene Berman (vze3rdxd@verizon.net):

"I have something I think may be of great use in the various efforts underway to aid tsunami-hit areas. It's not, unfortunately, something I am able to donate but even so, to the extent useful, would represent substantial saving over alternatives.

The basic item is an inflatable Pontoon Float. The unit consists of three inflatable tubes of heavily rubberized canvas duck (about 50 oz/yd). Each tube is 3 ft diameter X 22 ft. long. The unit package, in addition to the 3 tubes, contains nylon cord for lashing the tubes (the tubes are well grommetted), metal parts to form "edges" and to form bow and stern, and a suitable foot-pump (although any will do @ 2 psi). The entirety is export-crated and weighs right about 1000 lbs, about 800 lbs net of the crate.

When assembled and inflated, the resultant unit is a 9' X 22" X 3' high, barge-like unit, capable of supporting 12 tons. And, of course, units may be combined for larger surface area and carrying capacities as required and may be readily towed by powered craft. I've got 40 of the units ready to go @ US $4500 each. As a price comparison, nearly identical tube units are made by a US company named Demaree Inflatables. They make various configurations but one roughly similar to mine runs about $15-16G and the individual tubes themselves are priced at $5500.

These were formerly used by the US military for a variety of purposes, including the erection of temporary bridges, use as barges singly or in tandem, floating docks, piers, diving platforms, etc. They've since switched over to a different configuration and I bought them directly from the government. They're not used and all have been inspected to make sure they're in first-class condition.

I am making inquiries through USAID currently and naturally, it's tough slogging and slow--probably aggravated by demand for their attention on account of the disaster. I thought that you might have some suggestion or references as to people or agencies over there--a lot closer to the activity. (Technically, the units require clearance of the International Trade Administration before export--they're on the list covering munitions and strategic material--but I think that won't be much of a hurdle under present circumstances.)"

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HOW TSUNAMI AID SHOULD BE DONE (BUT WON'T)

An interesting email from Michael D. Greaney, Director of Research, Center for Economic and Social Justice (http://www.cesj.org)

I am concerned that aid to tsunami victims will be handled by "the usual suspects" and in the same old way. I (naturally) see a "two-prong" strategy to giving aid to the victims, to which I invite comments (mgreaney@cesj.org):

1. Immediate direct aid in the form of food, clothing and medical assistance should be given to affected individuals, regardless of borders, race, religious affiliation, or party membership. This aid should not be given to any government, state or local, except under closely supervised conditions to ensure that it reaches the intended recipients instead of brothers, cousins and uncles of the bureaucrats, who will sell it to pay gambling debts and purchase liquor, women, and pornography.

2. The rebuilding of infrastructure and businesses should be financed through local "Capital Homesteading" programs, so that ownership of even the largest enterprises becomes widespread and people own their own government and control their own incomes legally and directly, making the government accountable to them, not to international financing agencies, terrorist organizations, or foreign countries. The blueprint for Capital Homesteading can be found as a free download on the website of the Center for Economic and Social Justice ("CESJ") (http://www.cesj.org), under the title CAPITAL HOMESTEADING FOR EVERY CITIZEN. While designed for the moribund U.S. Social Security and Medicare systems, with very little tinkering it can be adapted to any country on earth.

The only problem with using Capital Homesteading in this fashion is that it builds economic (and thus political) power into ordinary people, not bureaucrats. If you want to discuss Capital Homesteading, CESJ's president, Dr. Norman G. Kurland, can be contacted as thirdway@cesj.org

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THE WAL-MART HATERS

It is basic to the Left to envy other people's success. So they have always hated successful businesses -- as Microsoft and McDonald's well know. So their hatred of Wal-Mart is no surprise. The N.Y. Review of Books has a big review of a number of anti-Wal-Mart books and, surprise, surprise, finds not one thing to criticise about any of the books concerned -- despite the inclusion of books that have been heavily criticized elswhere, such as the Ehrenreich tome. Let us just look at just one of the misleading statements in the "Review" concerned.

"One of the most telling of all the criticisms of Wal-Mart is to be found in a February 2004 report by the Democratic Staff of the House Education and Workforce Committee. In analyzing Wal-Mart's success in holding employee compensation at low levels, the report assesses the costs to US taxpayers of employees who are so badly paid that they qualify for government assistance even under the less than generous rules of the federal welfare system. For a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store, the government is spending $108,000 a year for children's health care; $125,000 a year in tax credits and deductions for low-income families; and $42,000 a year in housing assistance. The report estimates that a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers $420,000 a year, or about $2,103 per Wal-Mart employee. That translates into a total annual welfare bill of $2.5 billion for Wal-Mart's 1.2 million US employees".

Wayne Lusvardi has sent me the following comment on the excerpt above:

"The excerpt highlights how Leftists often use statistical fallacies to deceive the public about Wal-Mart. The paragraph claims that Federal welfare subsidies to Wal-Mart employees -- because of their low wages -- amounts to $2.5 billion ($420,00 per Wal-Mart store). The statistical fallacy is one of extrapolation from individual income data while leaving household or family data out of the analysis. Many Wal-Mart employees are retired and have other sources of income that keep them from depending on welfare programs. Many other Wal-Mart employees come from two-wage earner families and also don't require welfare assistance. Many others have two jobs or additonal part time employment to supplement their Wal-Mart salaries. And, of course, many have spouses that have health insurance which covers them as well. The flaw in the Democratic Staff House Committee report cited is the fallacy of extrapolating from one hypothetical Wal-Mart employee living on an hourly wage of $8 per hour with no other income, family, or other non-government support to all Wal-Mart employees, which of course is nonsense. But an unquestioning media will morph this data into a "fact." What did social psychologist W.I. Thomas say? "A situation that is perceived as real, is real in its consequences." So expect this Leftist "factoid" to start showing up in your local newspapers as unions and NIMBY's fight Wal-Mart stores in their local communities."

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MORE FUN WITH LEFTISTS:

I guess these guys don't really matter. They can't even spell "specter", even though they use the word in their headline. And who reads Revolutionary Worker anyway? But it is instructive how they have to depend on lies to support their cause. Excerpts:

"The agenda of Bush and the Christian right is not limited to criminalizing abortion, outlawing gay marriage, forcing children to recite prayers in school, and mandating the teaching of Biblical creationist ignorance. Their ultimate goal is Christian fascist theocracy. Now, following the election, they feel emboldened-and compelled-to take their theocratic project to a whole new level... The Bible reflects and supports all that goes along with these class and social relations: wars of conquest and pillage; traditional relations of patriarchy and male domination; the division of society into rich and poor, exploited and exploiter; and the absolute power of rulers over ruled.... The Christian fascists don't believe religion should be an individual choice. They believe all of society, and indeed the whole world, must be ruled according to biblical law-in short, they believe in a theocracy with no separation between church and state".

Recognize anyone you know there? I don't. It is all just a fantasy. No Christian Church that I know of seeks such things. So what sources do they quote to back up their claims? The good old New York Times mostly. How surprising!

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ELSEWHERE

There is a "must read" story at Varifrank about European arrogance and stupidity over the tsunami. Knocking America is far more important to them than helping people. I feel acutely sorry for the Indian guy in the story. Follow Varifrank's link to Gail Halvorsen too. (Link via E-Nough)

Congratulations to A.E. Brain. He has found some loon who thinks THE JEWS were responsible for the tsunami. It was really caused by an underwater Jewish atom bomb, you see! Given that Germany is once again a largely antisemitic country, I am sure that the theory will be widely accepted there. Sie glauben doch daß Michael Moore recht hat!

It must be all that "outsourcing": "Manufacturing activity in the United States expanded for the 19th consecutive month in December, a research group reported Monday, suggesting that the industrial sector entered the new year with solid strength behind it. The Institute for Supply Management said that its main index measuring industrial activity rose to 58.6 in December from 57.8 in November. The December performance was slightly more robust than analysts had anticipated. A reading of 50 or above in the index means the manufacturing sector is expanding, while a figure below 50 represents a contraction. The index has been 50 or above since May of 2003, according to revised figures".

This Pakistani should end his days in prison: "A "British" businessman offered to sell at least 200 ground-to-air missiles for use in a deadly plot to terrorise airline passengers across America, a court was told yesterday. Hemant Lakhani, 69, from Hendon, North London, told an undercover FBI agent that the shoulder-held missiles could be used to shoot down ten to fifteen aircraft simultaneously on the second anniversary of the World Trade Centre attacks, it is alleged.... Mr Lakhani was arrested in August 2003 at a hotel overlooking Newark airport moments after delivering a sample missile to an FBI informant. He has since been held in the Passaic County Jail, New Jersey".

A lawyer's feeding trough to go: "Republicans will try for quick action on a measure that would end asbestos lawsuits in exchange for a trust fund to compensate victims, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday, despite a two-year deadlock".

The latest posting on MarxWords shows that Engels eagerly looked forward to new heights of mass slaughter. Hate-filled? You judge.

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

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

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

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

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.

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REPORT ON THE RELIEF WORK IN INDONESIA

From one of my Australian correspondents in Indonesia:

New Year's eve in Jakarta was very humble with the locals doing more praying than partying. However it is hard to believe it has been only 10 days since the disasters. President ad V-P Kalla have each made two trips to Aceh (Jakarta-Aceh is like Canberra-Cairns) as have most of the cabinet. Aceh has already been opened up to foreign aid agencies (50 of them so far!), foreign journalists and even the Australian air force and US marines are on the ground. The Aceh provincial government was virtually wiped out so too the local administrations of Bandah Aceh and the West coast regencies, the regional police lost half their men (and families) and old-time control freaks in the central government and army are, momentarily, sidelined.

Australia and the US are controlling air traffic at Banda Aceh airport, trucks are moving in from Medan and the east coast ports are chockers. Unfortunately the earthquake/tsunamis double whack destroyed roads and bridges into the west side where all the suffering is. What this means is there are mighty log jams which are preventing even more aid and personnel being shifted around quickly at this stage. Despite the cruelty of the thought, transportation and engineering specialists are needed first. Once the logistics are sorted out over the next few days I am sure the medical people will be streaming in. I am more concerned with the long-term capacity problem of local, useful institutions like the Indonesian Red Cross (which is getting a pittance of the charity money raised world wide) once the internationals move on to the next big show (or abuse their welcome) . and also the, to date unaddressed, need to get thousands of Acehnese out of the province until infrastructure can be restored (as done in Darwin in 1974).

Everyone is aware of the swift Australian support and our defence force team in Aceh is doing a great job in transportation and infrastructure. The latest news from the Australian Government of an extra $500 million to help rebuild the devastated areas is amazing.

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