VISIT TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM

(Courtesy of KKOH, RENO, NV)

The other day, I needed to go to the emergency room. Not wanting to sit there for 4+ hours, I put on my old Army fatigues and stuck a patch that I had downloaded off the internet onto the front of my shirt. When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all. Here's the patch below: Feel free to use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency service



For non-American readers: The ER is much used by illegal immigrants -- whether they have emergency conditions or not

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The mid-term Congressional elections

I am not blogging here on the elections for two reasons: 1). I am a bit far away from it all here in Australia; 2). I also blog at STACLU -- which is giving big coverage to election material -- so if I DO have something to say, I will say it there.

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Crisis of Faith

Sam Karnick reviews "The End of Commitment: Intellectuals, Revolutionaries, and Political Morality", by Paul Hollander -- excerpts:

In both practical and intellectual terms, Communism has been entirely discredited by the events of the past two decades. Nonetheless, a large number of people - and a significant proportion of Western intellectuals - still harbor a good deal of fondness for socialist ideals, and their politics demonstrate it vividly.

In The End of Commitment, the distinguished sociologist Paul Hollander, author of Political Pilgrims, investigates what causes people to adopt and steadfastly adhere to ideas that lead to mass murder and widespread suffering. Observing that many intellectuals placidly accepted and even enthusiastically approved of actions done for the ideal of Communism that would have horrified them if committed for any other reason, Hollander explores the amazing ability of true believers in political religions to persist in their faith despite mountains of contrary evidence.....

Hollander astutely observes, in a discussion of Soviet dissident and literary scholar Lev Kopelev, that his and others' faith in socialism was really a substitute religion, a matter of "profoundly and genuinely religious attitudes and beliefs." Kopelev's struggles, he notes, "indicate that intellectuals - no less than ordinary people and possibly more so - long for sustaining beliefs." Hollander writes vividly of Soviet intellectuals who endured frequent collisions with the authorities and even more persistent shock and revulsion at the brutality the Communist leadership engaged in and required their underlings to carry out.....

The danger under which Communist officials and intellectuals lived was in great contrast to the conditions enjoyed by their Western supporters. At a safe remove, Western leftists could easily remain ignorant or dismissive of any imperfections in the reality of life under Communism. And as Hollander notes, "the existence of adversarial subcultures in the West since the 1960s has made it easier to cling to beliefs and loyalties that have been discredited or undermined by historical events and experiences elsewhere."

Hollander provides copious examples of the appeal of Communism in the journeys of former Western sympathizers such as David Horowitz, Ronald Radosh, Eugene Genovese, Christopher Hitchens, Doris Lessing, and several lesser-known individuals. Hollander notes that Lessing eventually realized that the attraction of Communism in the West is caused "not so much because of moral indignation aroused by specific social injustices but rather due to disappointment with a wide range of unmet and unrealistic personal expectations."

The theme of alienation likewise occurs repeatedly in Hollander's descriptions of numerous non-famous American leftists who answered his call for self-revelations. Hollander writes, "Virtually every respondent harbored deep disaffection from American society and an acute awareness of its shortcomings and injustices, its unrealized ideals. . . . A wounded idealism seeking an outlet in leftist social or political activism appeared to be the most widely shared trait, indeed the defining characteristic of these respondents."

This alienation from American life and values is most evident in Hollander's account of linguist and political gadfly Noam Chomsky and his virulent, anti-American attitudes. Individuals such as Chomsky are so thoroughly alienated from their society that they find fault with everything about it and are quick to excuse any attack on it. Chomsky claimed, for example, that the 9/11 attacks pale next to the West's "deep-seated culture of terrorism." This sort of thinking has made him a hero to many American leftists.

Such a worldview leads easily to the demonization of one's enemies. Hollander observes that, like Islamic radicals, some Western leftists show a "ready acceptance of inflicting great suffering on behalf of glorious ends, in the untroubled subordination of ends and means." Hollander ends his book on a note of hope, observing that some individuals do indeed face the evidence and change their minds. Unfortunately, these individuals appear to be rather less common than the true believers, in Hollander's revealing account. The human capacity to pursue illusions is enormous, and as a result, the work of thwarting the politics of personal alienation is never done.

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ELSEWHERE

U.S. gets serious about Korean nukes: "The Pentagon is speeding up plans for possible military strikes on North Korea's nuclear programme as concern mounts that Arab states are also looking to acquire nuclear technology. US defence officials said detailed planning was under way for precision strikes on nuclear facilities such as the North Korean plutonium reprocessing plant at Yongbyon. The plant is thought to have supplied the plutonium fuel used in an underground nuclear test carried out by Kim Jong-il's pariah regime on October 9. A Pentagon official said "various military options" for halting North Korea's nuclear programme were under consideration. "Other than nuclear strikes, which are considered excessive, there are several options now in place. Planning has been accelerated," the official told The Washington Times. According to defence sources, one option includes strikes on Yongbyon by Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from submarines or ships. Precision-guided bombs and missiles could also be delivered by B-52 or B-2 stealth bombers."

Surprising sense from a senior British Leftist: "Gordon Brown has called for a new global alliance of governments, business leaders and public figures to fight the reactionary "Luddites" opposed to globalisation and break the "dangerous global log jam" that is threatening world trade. The Chancellor, writing today in The Times, challenges leaders to show the determination necessary to stop the world slipping back into a new era of protectionism, comparing it to the effort needed to rebuild the international order after the Second World War."

Chris Brand has just done a new lot of posts on his usual themes of race, IQ and political correctness -- with particular emphasis on the British scene.

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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Times Echoes

A distinct subculture, a belief system if not a religion, exists in the United States. Its members draw their instruction on what to believe and how to live from the New York Times. I call them the Times Echoes. They exist in urban social ecosystems all across American.

There are certain people you never forget. One is a man I knew who was an anomaly in more ways than one. He was a politically conservative Jewish septuagenarian living in Westchester County, NY, within the gravitational pull of the Den of Iniquity (that would be NYC). Possessing a genius IQ and intrepidity to match, on more than one occasion he told me of a technique he used when debating liberals. He'd say, "I can tell you what you believe on any issue. Name for me any issue, and I'll tell you what your position is." Not that he claimed powers of divination. He explained, "I can do this because I know they get their beliefs from the New York Times. All I have to do is open the Times, and that's what they believe."

This came to mind when I read Clay Waters' piece on Timeswatch, "Richard Berke Bashes Blogs that Criticize the Times." Reporting on an event called Times Talk, at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan, Waters writes,

. . . what struck me was the condescending and sometimes paranoid liberalism of the audience questioners. Of the seven or eight audience members who addressed the panel, none said anything that could be remotely construed as Republican or even moderate. Instead, the panelists got foreboding questionings of whether Bush believed in democracy and whether Red State folk are as ignorant as they are because they don't read the New York Times.

Don't think this is unusual. For instance, I remember another septuagenarian, a woman I engaged in a political debate. She was an avid reader of the Times and when I asked her if she believed everything contained therein, her response was "yes." When I asked why, I was informed that it was because the people who write for them are "very intelligent."

To Times Echoes, the Times isn't merely an information source. It isn't even just the newspaper of record. It is an oracle, an inerrant purveyor of wisdom, compared to which the Bible pales. But the Times Echo is most certainly human. Although, if Christian theology is correct that it's intellect and free will that separate man from the animal kingdom, perhaps just barely so.

If you're offended by the Times Echo's query about ignorant Red Staters, don't be. Despite their delusion that they're possessed of sophistication, Times Echoes are the most callow, provincial of creatures. You see, they don't actually interact with people from the hinterlands and consider sufficient study of the latter's culture to be a screening of Deliverance.

More here

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"Spoilt Brat" Democrats

We're a country at war. Even if we could grant the cut-and-run caucus its fondest wish and remove our presence from Iraq on November 8, we would still be a country at war. The sad fact is there are millions of very dangerous people who loathe us and intend us great harm.

One can make arguments that the administration should have prosecuted the war differently. On the right side of our political spectrum, there is currently a spirited debate regarding the quality of the Bush administration's efforts, Donald Rumsfeld's value, troop levels in Iraq and what to do about Iran, Syria and North Korea. But what you don't see on the political right or in the Republican Party is denial. You don't see a childish worldview that American withdrawal will make us safe. You see a grim if often unstated acknowledgement of our distressing reality - we're in for a long war, and there will be a lot more blood spilled on all sides before it is done.

On the Democratic side, all you see is a blissful lack of awareness of that reality. Whenever you hear a Democratic politician whine for the involvement of the global community or some other simplistic claptrap plan that will purportedly bring an instant end to the world's turmoil, you're seeing the evidence of spoiled-brat thinking that holds that even the most intractable problems can be solved easily and painlessly. Were it only so. Even if the Democrats don't realize it, we're all going to have to roll up our sleeves and get dirty before this war is won.

They are not just wrong, but dangerously misguided. Iran doesn't want peace. The Syrian Baathists don't want peace. The fundamentalist terror groups like Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah don't want peace. Nor does the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or millions of fanatical Salafists in Saudi Arabia. We have a lot of malefactors out there, and they're not going to be mollified by a "more sensitive" war on terror.

We can only wish denial was the modern left's biggest problem. They actually believe that America mid-wifed terrorism and Radical Islam. They view America as the bad guy and American actions as the deus ex machina that made the world the dangerous place it is today. You can try to talk such people out of their views by pointing to the Muslim Brotherhood of the Saudi Salafists who have had global dreams of conquest before George W. Bush came out of the oil fields. But that just confuses them - they've never heard of either entity and thus figure they surely don't matter.

You can then try to reduce the argument to the simple facts that the first attack on the World Trade Center, the bombing of the embassies, the attack on the Cole and 9/11 all happened BEFORE the current Iraq war. But even that doesn't register. They refuse to relinquish the mindset that America caused its own problems.

In a way, this viewpoint serves them as a security blanket of sorts. Their simplistic logic holds that if American actions caused all our problems, then a reversal of course could make all those problems vanish. Thus, they focus on a the evils of the "Rethuglicans", which is surely a more pleasant mental exercise than picturing what we're actually going to have to go through before this country and the world are safe..... what the Democratic Party has transformed itself into leaves us little choice but to crawl over broken glass on Tuesday if necessary to pull the lever for Republicans.

The Democrats have made it clear to their supporters that they will use whatever power they accumulate to attack domestic demons. At this point in history, we can't afford to have such misguided and unserious people in charge of anything consequential. It's all something of a shame. If you read the leftwing blogs, you know they've got hate by the boatload. It's too bad that hate can't be channeled at the people who hate them back, the ones screaming for Jihad and pining for their deaths.

More here

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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NEW YORK TIMES PROVES THAT BUSH WAS RIGHT ABOUT IRAQ

So, the New York Times reports on its front page today that Saddam Hussein had the necessary information and expertise to build nuclear weapons as far back as pre-1991, and that the information is so damning even now that posting it on a public website fifteen years later could assist other regimes, including Iran, in building such weapons.

The Times has just confirmed two things: 1. President Bush was right when he said that Hussein was a threat to the world because, among other things, he would continue to pursue weapons of mass destruction; and 2. congressional Republicans were right in demanding a more aggressive and thorough effort by the Pentagon to interpret the enormous number of documents captured from the Iraqi regime.

The Times's emphasis on "Republicans" demanding the release of these documents and the administration's posting them on a public website was an obvious attempt by the newspaper to cause some kind of eleventh-hour Republican embarrassment. The Times had hoped the weekend before the election would be spent debating the handling of this information rather than its existence and substance. But it was wrong. This is a stunning find that confirms a primary basis for the president ordering the military to remove Hussein from power. This finding also strikes a blow to the Democrat mantra that the president lied to get us into the war with Iraq.

The Democrats and their partners in the liberal media demand to know what the president plans to do to stop Iran and North Korea from securing nuclear weapons. Yet, when he did, in fact, stop Iraq from getting those same weapons, he is loudly denounced for it.

Source

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"WE ARE SUPERIOR" IS THE ONLY REAL MESSAGE OF THE NARCISSISTIC LEFT

Why did the NYT shoot themselves in the foot?

In our political world, there is a great deal of Narcissistic investment in ideas that have become identified as "liberal" or "left." ... The reason I refer to these ideas as "Narcissistically invested" is that they are primarily designed to show that the proponents of the ideas are smarter, kinder, more caring than their opponents. Self described "liberals" or "progressives" are bolstered by such ideas which is why a common theme on the "progressive" web sites is that John Kerry was just telling the truth when he made his now infamous remarks.

The New York Times has long been one of the leading voice of "liberalism" in our culture. Using their journalism schooled grasp of sophisticated language, they have done as much as anyone to promulgate the "Bush lied!" slogan, which has long since replaced logical argumentation by those who oppose the war in Iraq. The slogan has never had much validity. It never made any logical or psychological sense for Bush to lie us into Iraq, for oil or revenge or any other reason proposed to explain why any President would risk his political life for such illusory goals. In fact, the claim was not meant to be examined for any factual validity. It was meant to allow people to come out in opposition to the war while maintaining their political viability and, yes, their self esteem.

Here is how this works. In order for the "left" to maintain their self esteem, they must see themselves as being correct. To someone who has a Narcissistic investment in their ideas, to be seen as wrong is an intolerable humiliation. Almost anything is better than being publicly humiliated. Since George Bush and the dreaded Neocons were proposing ideas that were incompatible with the "left" someone must be wrong. How could the "left" be smarter than the moronic Bush if Bush was right about Saddam Hussein. The failure to find WMD was a gift of incalculable proportions to the "left." It allowed them to convince themselves that there were no WMD, that Saddam Hussein was never a danger to us, and that the entire invasion was a disastrous (moronic) mistake. All that was required was a face saving way to avoid responsibility for once having believed Iraq was a danger. After all, many of the leading lights of the "left" including John Kerry, Bill & Hillary Clinton, et al, had been on record in the 90s saying that Saddam was a danger. The Democrats overwhelmingly supported Iraq regime change when it was politically expedient but once the War proved to be more difficult than expected, a way out was needed. The important thing to remember is that for the "left" the content of their ideas never matters as much as the function of their ideas. Once an idea no longer serves to support their sense of their innate superiority, it can be easily abandoned. ...

Today's New York Times November surprise is another attack on the stupidity of the Bush administration. The article, U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer, discusses the archive set up by the government, much supported by the Neoconservative Blogosphere, to facilitate the translation of millions of documents taken from Saddam's Iraq:

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to "leverage the Internet" to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

John Stephenson has a terrific round-up of responses and links. He points out the truly astounding revelation that the Times prints with no trace of irony:

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq had abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein's scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

If you read this story from the point of view of seeking information you might be surprised that the Times reveals such explosive facts which one might expect to help the Republicans next week. Yet if you realize that the goal of printing the story is to frame the Bush administration as stupid and incompetent, so that their opponents, a group of which the Times is a charter member, can maintain the belief in their own intellectual superiority, the contradiction evaporates. To the "left" the story is their wisdom and the "right's" stupidity; they are so sophisticated they don't even see how they discredit themselves.

More here. See also Dr Sanity for some good comments on Leftist narcissism. I have been commenting on Leftist narcissism since 1990

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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BOORTZ ON ONE DANGER OF A DEMOCRAT CONGRESS

(From a comment of Nov. 1st.)

Democrats will tell you that they only want to raise taxes on the so-called "rich." Nancy Pelosi will probably come up with some figure in the $200,000 or $250,000 range to describe "rich" when she and her Democrat pals start to work on their tax increase plans. But here's a warning. If you happen to fall below that "rich" category, you're in their crosshairs as well. They have various schemes in the works to put you smack in the middle of the "rich" category, and thus set you up for some pretty substantial tax increases. One such scheme targets homeowners. It's called "imputed income," and its a brilliant and devious idea on how to tax your home ownership. Here's how it works.

Let's say that you've owned your home for about 20 years. For 20 years your home has been appreciating in value ... big time. Your monthly payments on that home are about $550 a month. Remember, it's a 20-year-old loan made when the cost of your home was much, much less. There isn't much of a home mortgage tax deduction left at this point since you almost have the home paid off, and the bulk of your payments go to principal instead of interest.

The very fact that you're living in such a nice home, and paying so little, attracts the interest of Democrats. They know that there are a lot of people in your neighborhood that paid a lot more for their homes than you did, and their mortgage payments are a lot higher. Not only that, but there are other people renting homes in your neighborhood and they're paying much more than you are every month. It's obvious that you're enjoying some great economic benefit due to the fact that you've owned your home for so long and your payments are so low. Well, where there's an economic benefit, there must be a tax!

Enter the concept of imputed income! Under this wonderful plan, first floated by Clinton Democrats before the voter revolution of 1994, the government would figure out how much your home would rent for every month. To do this they would use all of that census data they've gathered, plus any information that they can develop on current sale and rental prices up and down your street.

Let's say that the government --- the IRS, if you will --- determines that your home would rent for $3,250 a month. That would add up to $39,000 a year. But the IRS discovers that you're only paying $550 a month, or $6,600 a year in rent. Well, there's that economic benefit you're enjoying by virtue of your long-term home ownership. The economic benefit of your home ownership is the difference between the $39,000 you should be paying to live there, and the $6,600 you're actually paying. Do the math. You're getting away with $32,400 every year in non-taxed economic benefits!

The Democrat plan is simple. Just take that $32,400 and add it to your taxable income on your next tax return. Then you get the privilege of paying income taxes to the federal government on the economic benefit you derive from your long-term home ownership. The IRS has "evened the playing field" in your neighborhood ... so to speak. Your neighbors had to pay taxes on the full $39,000 they're paying to live down the street ... now you're having to do the same. After all ... it's only fair, right!

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Brookes News Update

The American economy, recession and the housing boom: The idea that a housing slowdown could cause a recession does not deserve any serious consideration. The housing-recession idea assumes that instead of spending on real estate consumers will increase their cash balances which will reduce aggregate spending and so bring on a recession
Center for Defense Information tries to subvert US security: The anti-American Center for Defense Information demands that President Bush put America at the mercy of any lunatic regime that has nuclear tipped missiles. Which raises the question: Why do these so-called Americans hate their country?
The H. R. Nicholls Society torpedoes the case for deregulated labour markets: It isn't generally known that tackling the ACTU's researchers and media allies is like using a shotgun to shoot fish in a barrel. So why does the H. R. Nicholls Society insist on firing blanks?
Iraq is not lost: The US military and civilian leadership team in Iraq right now is as good as it has been. What needs to change, and change right now, are the operational and tactical means and methods we use to get to the strategic goals
Mainstream economics' cul de sac: The whole concept of the economy apart from individuals is not valid. In other words there is no such thing as the economy which can be moved by the government and the central bank

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ELSEWHERE

SCOTUS case: Are jury awards too high? "Jesse Williams smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 45 years. Following his death in 1997 after being diagnosed with lung cancer, his wife, Mayola, sued the Philip Morris tobacco company seeking $100 million in punitive damages. The Oregon jury that heard her case rejected the $100 million request. Instead, it awarded her $79.5 million. Tuesday, the case arrives at the US Supreme Court where lawyers for Philip Morris are asking the justices to strike down the punitive damage award as constitutionally excessive and fundamentally unfair. The case, Philip Morris v. Mayola Williams, is being closely watched to see whether a majority of justices are willing to issue strict guidelines to identify when a punitive damage award is unconstitutionally excessive."

Number of federal subsidy programs is soaring: "The proliferation of special interest spending in the federal budget in recent years has created much waste and corruption. Politicians have helped special interests while helping themselves. But the main problem has not been that politicians have their hands in the cookie jar; it is that the cookie jar has grown so large, says Chris Edwards, director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute."

Shortages, bloody shortages: "It seems that here in Romania -- the home of Vlad Dracula -- our hospitals are running out of blood. The number of people volunteering to donate blood has declined steadily in recent years. Health-care professionals fear that joining the European Union will bring crisis-level blood shortages. Why? European regulations forbid any kind of remuneration for this service."

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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V.D. HANSON ON KERRY:

Kerry surely must be one of the saddest Democratic liabilities around. Some afterthoughts about his latest gaffe, which is one of those rare glimpses into an entire troubled ideology:

(1) How could John Kerry, born into privilege, and then marrying and divorcing and marrying out of and back into greater inherited wealth, lecture anyone at a city college about the ingredients for success in America? If he were to give personal advice about making it, it would have to be to marry rich women. Nothing he has accomplished as a senator or candidate reveals either much natural intelligence or singular education. Today, Democrats must be wondering why they have embraced an overrated empty suit, and ostracized a real talent like Joe Lieberman.

(2) How could Kerry possibly claim that he was thinking of the uneducated in the context of George Bush, who, after all, went to Harvard and Yale?

(3) Some of the brightest and most educated Americans are not only in the military, but veterans of Iraq. Two of the best educated minds I have met-Col. Bill Hix and Lt. Col. Chris Gibson, both Hoover Security Fellows-were both Iraqi veterans. What is striking about visiting Iraq is the wealth of talent there, from privates to generals. Without being gratuitously cruel, the problem of mediocrity is not in the ranks of the military, but on our university campuses, where half-educated professors and non-serious students killing time are ubiquitous. Personally, I'd wager the intelligence of a Marine Corps private any day over the average D.C. journalist. Every naval officer I met at the USNA, without exception, seemed brighter than John Kerry, whose "brilliance", after all, has managed to offend millions of voters on the eve of a pivotal election. If the Democrats lose, it will be almost painful to watch the recriminations against Kerry fly.

(4) This is not the first, but third, time he has denigrated soldiers in the middle of a war-and there is a systematic theme: John Kerry's assumed superior morality allows him to pass judgment from on high about supposedly lesser folk who become tools of a suspect military: thus we go from limb-loppers and Genghis' hordes to terrorists to dead-beats. The only constant is that the haughtiness is always delivered in the same sanctimonious, self-righteous, and patronizing tone.

(5) The mea culpa that Democrats are blaming the war and not the warriors is laughable after Sens. Durbin, Kennedy, and Kerry have collectively compared American soldiers to Nazis, Pol Pot's killers, Stalinists, terrorists, and Baathists.

(6) The problem is that Kerry is not just a senator, but the most recent presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, and thus in some sense, especially given the diminution of Howard Dean, the megaphone of the entire party.

(7) His pathetic clarification, as he blamed everyone from Tony Snow to Rush Limbaugh, displayed the same Al Gore derangement syndrome, and thus raises a larger question: what is it about George Bush that seems to reduce once sober and experienced liberal pros to infantile ranting?

(8) And why is the supposedly lame Bush so careful in speech, and the self-acclaimed geniuses like a Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, or Howard Dean serially spouting ever more stupidities? For all the Democrats' criticism of George Bush, I can't think of a modern President who has so infrequently put his foot in his public mouth, and, by the same token, can't think of any opposition that on the eve of elections seems to have an almost pathological death wish.

The Democrats should use this occasion to have an autopsy of Kerryism, or this strange new tony liberalism, that has turned noblisse oblige on its head. It used to be that millionaire FDRs and JFKs felt sympathy for those of the lower classes and wished to ensure that the hoi polloi had some shot at the American dream. But today's elite liberals-a Howard Dean, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, George Soros, Ted Turner-love the high life and playact at being leftists simply because they are already insulated from the effects of their own nostrums that always come at someone poorer's expense while providing them some sort of psychological relief from guilt. Poor Harry Truman must be turning over in his grave-from bourbon, cigars, and poker to wind-surfing and L.L. Bean costume of the day says it all.

Source

Michael Medved and Taranto also have some good comments about what Kerry's remark revealed. And VP Cheney on Kerry's comments about studying and Iraq: "He was for the joke before he was against it".

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ELSEWHERE

Looming Court vacancies: Reason enough to vote: "Conservatives who contemplate sitting out the November 7 elections should quickly consider the number five. Five -- that is how many U.S. Supreme Court Justices will reach age 70 or older between this November 7 and the next nationwide election in November 2008. John Paul Stevens, the eldest justice, is currently 86. He'll be almost 89 before the next President is inaugurated, and statistics alone augur for a vacancy in his seat."

Scots want independence: "The majority of Scots favour breaking away from the rest of the UK and embracing independence, according to a poll on the eve of the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between Scotland and England. The ICM poll showed support for Scottish independence running at 51 per cent, the first time since 1998, the year before devolution, that support for separation has passed the 50 per cent mark. Only 39 per cent of Scots are for the status quo, and 10 per cent said that they did not know whether they wanted independence, according to the poll of 1,000 voters north of the Border.

Youths challenge the French state: "Symbols of the French state, including policemen, firemen and postmen, are under intensified attack from disaffected youths as the country faces the worst race relations crisis in its history. Hardly a night passes without gangs - many of them from immigrant families - attacking police cars, buses and emergency rescue teams. Yesterday, the weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur published a confidential report drawn up by a public service trade union, the CGT, containing scores of eye-witness accounts of brutal attacks on public servants who work in the worst suburbs, or "banlieues", from gas board workers to staff from the electricity company. Its publication follows the revelation that attacks on police have soared this year, with some 14 a day, and a growing number of incidents in which officers have been lured into ambushes."

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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McCain replies to the "patriot" who went close to becoming President

John Kerry gave some advice to students recently, reflecting his long-standing contempt for America's military:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

I liked Senator McCain's reply:

"Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education. Americans from all backgrounds, well off and less fortunate, with high school diplomas and graduate degrees, take seriously their duty to our country, and risk their lives today to defend the rest of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. They all deserve our respect and deepest gratitude for their service. The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night. Without them, we wouldn't live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks."

Jeff Jacoby has some background about Kerry's "sense of humor". There is also an amusing theory here about what was behind the latest Kerry gem. Was it that devious Karl Rove again?

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THE NEED FOR AN ENGLISH PARLIAMENT



Devolution has not - as its cheer-leaders endlessly proclaimed- strengthened the Union. It is weakening it. In Scotland, the clamour for full independence grows apace, while in Wales, the Assembly in Cardiff is hungry for greater power - and is getting it. Meanwhile, the 49 million people who live in that neglected corner of the United Kingdom called England face a yawning democratic deficit. This slumbering giant has yet to be particularly exercised by the intrinsically unfair nature of New Labour's half-cocked constitutional settlement.

Scottish and Welsh MPs can vote on matters affecting English constituencies, while English MPs have no such reciprocal rights over what happens in Scotland and Wales. This potential instability needs to be addressed now. If there is any "unfinished business" in New Labour's constitutional reforms, it is giving the English greater control over their affairs. Specifically English laws ought to be dealt with by English MPs - just as the Scottish Parliament deals exclusively with Scottish measures and the Welsh Assembly, in the new powers it gained in July, deals with Welsh matters.

More here. See also here

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ELSEWHERE

There is a real lulu up on my FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC blog today.

Conservatives REALLY care: "Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right wing in America — and it’s making him nervous. The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income. In the book, to be released next month, he cites extensive data analysis to demonstrate that values advocated by conservatives — from church attendance to two-parent families to the Protestant work ethic and a distaste for government-funded social services — make conservatives more generous than liberals."

EU gloom: "The European Union will become older, poorer and increasingly vulnerable to wide-scale immigration from its neighbours, according to a new European Defence Agency report. The agency also highlights the problems of increasing unemployment and desertification in its 32-page "long-term vision" for European defence needs which will be presented to EU defence ministers meeting in Finland on Tuesday. The document, described by one diplomat as "pretty bleak", is the result of a year's work identifying the main trends for EU member nations and their defence needs. The overall picture is of an aging, less prosperous Europe surrounded by regions-Africa, Middle East, Russia-"which may be struggling to cope with the consequences of globalisation".

Religious Left hates low prices for the poor: "The Rev. Dr. William Jarvis Johnson was part of a successful effort to halt plans to open a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Inglewood in 2004. Now he works for Wal-Mart Watch, a national organization that is pushing the mega-retailer to offer better wages and benefits for its employees across the country. "Working on the fight in Inglewood, I saw just how widespread Wal-Mart devastates communities," Johnson said. Johnson is part of a burgeoning movement of religious leaders who are leading grass-roots efforts to aid struggling workers and their families. He is one of dozens of clergy of all denominations working together as Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice, whose members met last week in San Francisco."

MSM fading away: "The Audit Bureau of Circulations FAS-FAX report for the six-month period ending September 2006 released this morning confirmed yet again that major metros are struggling to show growth. The losses are steep while the gains are meager. This is the fourth consecutive semi-annual report to register a severe drop in daily circulation and — perhaps more troubling to the industry — Sunday copies. While the estimated decline 2.5% for daily circulation for all reporting papers may seem negligible, consider that in years past that decrease averaged around 1%. Sunday, considered the industry’s bread-and-butter, showed even steeper losses, with a decline of 3%".

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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RECENT ARTICLES UP ON ICJS

What a load of Goebbels
Time's up for a recalcitrant sheik
Islam's gender crisis
No, there are no excuses for anti-Semitic violence
Ex-jihadist seeks Islam's Martin Luther
Letter to the DPP on "Jihad Jack"
First it was the ABC, now senator has new target
We are biased, admit the stars of BBC News
Multicultural madness needs such antidotes
BBC mounts court fight to keep "critical" report secret
ABC sets new editorial benchmarks
Stamping out bias at the ABC
If ABC stands for Applying Better Control, it's not enough
New ABC boss vows no more bias
ABC shows to face tougher guidelines
Hard men turn to Islam to cope with jail
Prison Jihad?
Muslims must both denounce, renounce their violent hadiths
Agenda OF Islam - a war between civilisations
Not what it was, but what it does

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ELSEWHERE

Pope lectures Irish bishops: "Denouncing cases of clerical sex abuse as "egregious crimes", Pope Benedict has told Irish bishops that they must find out the truth, seek justice and do whatever is necessary to prevent abuse from occurring again. Meeting with Irish bishops on an ad limina visit to Rome, Pope Benedict said the crimes had caused deep wounds, ABC News reports. Bishops must find out the truth, seek justice and do whatever was necessary to prevent abuse happening again, he said... The Irish Church is reeling from more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse by 26 priests in the western Fern diocese between 1962 and 2002. More than 5,000 complaints have been registered and more than $330 million has been payed out in compensation, an AFP report added."

Ohio to enshrine ignorance in its constitution: "Among the many ballot issues facing Ohio voters this November is a proposal to enshrine the minimum wage in the state constitution. The so-called "Ohio Fair Wage Amendment," a.k.a. "Issue Two," would amend the Ohio constitution to increase the state minimum wage to $6.85 in 2007, and then index the minimum wage to inflation thereafter. Additional provisions in the 1,000-word proposal would impose new record-keeping requirements on employers and facilitate class-action litigation. Ohio already suffers from an unfavorable business climate. Passing Issue Two would make it much worse. The economic case against a minimum wage increase is well known. Raising the minimum wage slows job growth by increasing the cost of labor. It is a basic economic truth that when the price of something goes up, the amount demanded declines. So, when the government mandates higher wages, unemployment rises as a direct result. Those workers who keep their jobs may earn more, but this comes at the expense of those who are left without jobs.... Among the forces behind Issue Two are labor unions and groups that could be referred to as the "religious left."

Not deaf enough: "The board of trustees of the nation's premier school for the deaf voted Sunday to terminate the appointment of the incoming president, former provost Jane Fernandes. The vote at Gallaudet University came after a month of protests by students and faculty members. ''Although undoubtedly there will be some members of the community who have differing views on the meaning of this decision, we believe that it is a necessity at this point,'' the board said. Protesters had said Fernandes, 50, was a divisive and ineffective leader. Fernandes said that some people do not consider her ''deaf enough'' because she didn't learn to use American Sign Language until she was in her 20s."

"Noble savages" thank their Leftist supporter: "South African Nobel laureate for literature Nadine Gordimer was robbed and locked in a store room by thieves who assaulted her in her home, police said Saturday. Police Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said Gordimer, 83, did not sustain serious injuries when she was assaulted on Thursday for refusing to hand over her wedding ring. He said the Gordimer was robbed of cash and jewelry when three unknown men gained entrance to her home at about 10.30am on Thursday. Gordimer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, is noted for her novels and short stories about the inhumanity of apartheid."

Soros the psychopath: "Chilling: That's the only word for the glimpse into the mind of George Soros provided by Steve Croft of 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast last night. Steve Gilbert of Sweetness & Light does an excellent job of highlighting and commenting on a partial transcript of the interview, concerning Soros' behavior during the Holocaust in Hungary, when he was a 14 year old Jewish boy posing as a Christian".

Why one Democrat likes illegals: "Nancy Pelosi has a special affection for illegal aliens, no doubt thinking how liberalized entry for poor migrant workers could help in staffing the non-union vineyards that Pelosi and her multi-millionaire husband own in Napa Valley. Pelosi, the ardent advocate for labor causes, apparently has chosen not to hire members of the United Farm Workers to pick her vineyard grapes while at the same time she has chosen to sell those grapes to non-union wineries. She has an obvious conflict of interest every time that she votes on an immigration security bill because she and her husband personally benefit from the influx of cheap labor without whom "[N]ot one bottle of wine would get made here," according to a farm worker advocate"

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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SCOTTISH DRINKING

For those who have a special affection for Scotland, there is a great article here by a Scotsman about the Scottish love of the bottle. He is trying to be censorious but cannot help celebrating Scottishness. A few excerpts:

The Buckfast fracas is emblematic of the ingrained, abusive and horribly destructive relationship between my countrymen and the bottle. We Scots make the best drink, and the best drinkers, in the world. No parties in the world can compare, in riotous enjoyment, with Hogmanay and Burns Night [Hear here!]. We just don't know when to stop...

Scottish humour and culture are soused in alcohol. Billy Connolly has long been sober, but his performance inevitably recalls, mocks and celebrates his legless days. Harry Lauder composed Glasgow's unofficial anthem as an ode to the city going "round and round" [That's from "I belong to Glasgow", which is usually attributed to Will Fife] on a Saturday night. John Reid, another reformed drinker, likes to tell a joke about how he found he was "allergic to leather" because he kept waking up with his shoes on and a splitting headache....

The drunken hero is a staple of Scots literature, and drinking has become culturally linked to the idea of liberty. Robert Louis Stevenson stated that "wine is bottled poetry" and Robert Burns himself wrote: "Freedom and whisky gang thegither." Somehow that sentiment has evolved into the freedom to get miserably blootered and die young....

The strange, miserablist tradition of Scottish drinking seems out of kilter with a nation that is increasingly self-confident, a country raking in money from tourists to spend on new livers. Today Scotland is wealthier, better educated and warmer than ever before. All dark, northern countries drink more deeply than those in the lighter south, [The French and the Italians might disagree with that] but now even Scottish weather seems to be improving. As I look outside the window, the rhododendrons are flowering for the third time, in late October.

As a child, I vividly remember the drunks lined up outside the hotel in our local village. Lurching, friendly men with wind-scoured faces, they would lean, patiently if unsteadily, against the wall between afternoon closing time and reopening in the evening regardless of the weather. My father insisted they were propping up the hotel.

Those drunks have long been gathered to the celestial tavern, but a new generation of Scottish drinkers is being pickled, with the freedom to drink all day, and alcohol comparatively cheaper than ever.

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ELSEWHERE

If there are any readers here who are willing to fire off an email in support of someone being badly treated by government, have a look here or here.

Feds spook illegal voters: "City officials and Hispanic community leaders objected Thursday to the federal government's plans to put monitors at city polling places on Election Day, saying those efforts could discourage people from voting. The Department of Justice this month asked a federal judge to authorize appointment of monitors beginning with the upcoming Nov. 7 election and ending in 2009. The government accused the city of failing to provide sufficient election materials in Spanish and not recruiting enough bilingual poll workers."

Business bankrolling of the left: "Big business primarily supports right-wing advocacy groups, right? Think again. A recent report from the Capital Research Center shows Fortune 100 corporate foundations give overwhelmingly to liberal groups. In fact, in the sample year studied (2001), these corporate foundations gave 14 times more money to liberal causes than business-friendly ones. Even more surprising, environmental causes got the most funding, approximately 75 percent of the $60 million from 53 corporate foundations."

What Iraqis think of Al Qaida: "Overall 94 percent have an unfavorable view of al Qaeda, with 82 percent expressing a very unfavorable view. Of all organizations and individuals assessed in this poll, it received the most negative ratings. The Shias and Kurds show similarly intense levels of opposition, with 95 percent and 93 percent respectively saying they have very unfavorable views. The Sunnis are also quite negative, but with less intensity. Seventy-seven percent express an unfavorable view, but only 38 percent are very unfavorable. Twenty-three percent express a favorable view (5% very)."

Muslims out of control in France: "An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism. "The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us," said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: "We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists." Car-burning has become so routine on the estates that it has been eclipsed in news coverage by the violence against police."

England honours Adam Smith: "A new 20 pound note featuring a portrait of the Scots economist Adam Smith is to be issued, reports the BBC. He will replace Edward Elgar, and become the first Scotsman to appear on a Bank of England note. This was not a government decision, but one made by Mervyn King, Bank of England governor. The governor delivered the annual Adam Smith lecture in Kirkcaldy, and trailed the idea (already suggested here) that the independent Bank of England model might be used to depoliticize other area of national life."

Hunting promotes conservation: "Rifle-toting tourists hunting exotic animals could actually help protect Africa's vulnerable species, a leading conservationist has suggested. Elephant populations had benefited from a permit system that allowed sport hunters to kill a limited number of the beasts, according to Eugene Lapointe. Mr Lapointe was head of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) between 1982-90. Animal welfare campaigners rejected the idea as "morally unjustifiable".

The British Labour government at work: "If the government really wants to do something to improve the lot of companies which create the wealth and jobs, it should immediately sack industry minister Margaret Hodge. As business writers point out, she has no ability or knowledge of the subject whatsoever, and seems to regard it as her job to impose a politically correct agenda dreamed up by her NGO friends to burden business with ever more costly regulations. The DTI, once there to better the prospects of British business, has become predator and parasite, inflicting real economic damage on both the business community and the country."

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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Brookes News Update

Economic growth and the credit myth : At least monetary cranks can be excused as economic illiterates but what are we to make of the great majority of economists who believe that central banks can promote economic growth by manipulating interest rates and the money supply?
Can a budget surplus really lower taxes?: Contrary to the conventional wisdom, a budget surplus i.e. a monetary surplus, doesn't automatically make room for lower taxes
Unions, capital and living standards: The continual increase in living standards is entirely due to capital accumulation, not unions or interfering politicians. In fact, politicians can exercise a malign influence on economic growth
The mid-term elections and the Colorado canary: The best outcome we can hope for is that the GOP dodges the bullet, barely, which then demoralizes the Dems so much they turn their anger against each other in recriminations
Fidel Castro's anti-Semitism : It turns out that Fidel Castro, "Hollywood's Favourite Dictator" and a media darling, is an anti-Semitic fanatic who tortures and murders his opponents, sponsors international terrorism and admires Adolf Hitler
Green fanatic wants to impose wealth destroying policies: Cathy Zoi, a former Clintonista, is another graphic example of the greens' shoddy intellectual standards. If this genius had her way we would all wind up in rags
Hillary Clintons treasonous record on national defence: Does anyone really believe Hillary Clinton has changed? Does anyone think that if she were president she would not bring in the same ratbag America-haters as before with all that that entails

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ELSEWHERE

Realism in Canada: "Canada, an immigration-hungry nation, has ruled out amnesty for an estimated 200,000 illegal aliens within its borders because of the unfairness of such a policy. According to a letter obtained by the Toronto Globe and Mail, Canadian officials have decided it would not be fair to those immigrants who have applied legally and are waiting in line. Allowing illegal workers to stay would likely "encourage more illegal immigration," noted Linda Arseneau of Citizenship and Immigration Canada's ministerial enquiries division in a letter to the Universal Workers Union."

Vietnamese capitalism working: "In the three decades since Vietnam has gone from communism to a form of capitalism, it has begun surpassing many neighbors. It has Asia's second-fastest-growing economy, with 8.4 percent growth last year, trailing only China's, and the pace of exports to the United States is rising faster than even China's. American companies like Intel and Nike, and investors across the region, are pouring billions of dollars into the country; overseas Vietnamese are returning to run the ventures. In the latest sign of Vietnam's economic vitality, trade negotiators from around the world are preparing, after more than a decade of talks, to put the finishing touches on an agreement, possibly by Oct. 26, for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization."

A "study" to find the obvious: "Politicians should think twice about allowing some flood-prone areas of the U.S. Gulf coast to be redeveloped in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a top research group said after studying floods around the world. The U.S.-based RAND Corporation looked at four 20th century floods in the states of Oregon and Mississippi, on the Yangtze River in China and in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands to see what lessons could be learned for the Gulf coast and New Orleans. "It has been the experience of history that sometimes you are better off conceding land to the water (because flooding will likely reoccur)," James Kahan, author of the RAND report, told Reuters on Tuesday."

How interference with trade makes us all poorer: "No one denies that international trade has unpleasant consequences for some workers. They have to find other jobs that might not pay as much, but should we protect those jobs through trade restrictions? The Washington-based Institute for International Economics has assembled data that might help with the answer. Tariffs and quotas on imported sugar saved 2,261 jobs during the 1990s. As a result of those restrictions, the average household pays $21 more per year for sugar. The total cost, nationally, sums to $826,000 for each job saved. Trade restrictions on luggage saved 226 jobs and cost consumers $1.2 million in higher prices for each job saved. Restrictions on apparel and textiles saved 168,786 jobs at a cost of nearly $200,000 for each job saved. You might wonder how it is possible for, say, the sugar industry to rip off consumers. After all, consumers are far more numerous than sugar workers and sugar bosses. It's easy. A lot is at stake for those in the sugar industry, workers and bosses. They dedicate huge resources to pressure Congress into enacting trade restrictions. But how many of us consumers will devote the same resources to unseat a congressman who voted for sugar restrictions that forced us to pay $21 more for the sugar our family uses? It's the problem of visible beneficiaries of trade restrictions, sugar workers and bosses, gaining at the expense of invisible victims -- sugar consumers. We might think of it as congressional price-gouging."

Prominent Democrat defends sexual harasser: "A former Oakland City Hall employee injected herself into the race for state attorney general on Thursday by charging that Mayor Jerry Brown "enabled" one of his former top aides, Jacques Barzaghi, to repeatedly sexually harass her and other women in the mayor's office.... She told reporters she sought a written reprimand of Barzaghi from Brown, but the mayor pooh-poohed her allegations, leading her to ultimately file a complaint against the city of Oakland in 2001.... Barzaghi, a quixotic and quirky friend of Brown's for more than 30 years, was fired by Brown in July 2004 after Barzaghi's sixth wife called police alleging domestic abuse. Lopez-Bowden's complaint was settled by the city for $50,000 in 2001. Barzaghi was suspended for three weeks without pay and ordered to attend counseling and sexual-harassment training. "I absolutely think it merited firing. He should have had no role in public service," Lopez-Bowden said. Before settling, the city hired an outside lawyer specializing in sexual-harassment cases to conduct an investigation. He interviewed 19 women who had worked with Barzaghi. The conclusion: Barzaghi had a pattern of harassing women other than just Lopez-Bowden. In a 2003 interview in the East Bay Express, Brown said he didn't think complaints by other women about Barzaghi were true. "There are different sides to the story," he said.

Oil tax insanity in California: "Now, as Californians debate the merits of Proposition 87, Clinton and Gore have forgotten their old personas to shill on television and at rallies for a clunker of a left-wing initiative that would hurt the economy, waste taxpayers' money and use Perot-style it's-that-simple arguments to claim there are easy answers to tough energy questions. The measure would tax in-state oil production to raise $4 billion for alternative-energy research. Its TV ads are beyond dishonest, asserting in baldly contradictory fashion that increasing the cost of domestic oil production would somehow lower gasoline prices and reduce dependence on foreign oil. They also imply that little alternative-energy research is under way, when in fact there is more such research than ever."

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

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

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

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

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RACE IS A LEFTIST OBSESSION

So many people are racists, it's hard to keep up! Let's take a look at this week's charges of racism, which come from the Left. They focus on two ads in the Tennessee Senate race. This race features Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford, Jr. Corker is a white, former mayor of Chattanooga, and owner of a successful construction business. Ford is a black Congressman from a prominent political family in the state.

Here's the TV ad in question. Go ahead and watch it. I'll be here when you get back. The alleged racism lies in the fact that a white, blonde woman says, "I met Harold at the Playboy party," and entreats him to call her at the end of the ad. The theory of those crying racism is that the idea of a white woman fraternizing with a black man was meant to conjure up some good Old South feelings about interracial dating.

It's a serious reach to assume that was the intent of the Republican National Committee. Had they featured a black woman asking him to call her, I'm sure there would have been some coded message there as well, like, "Harold Ford should stick to his kind." I don't know how the liberal mind works, but I've gotta believe if it weren't this racial overreach, it would have been another one.

People disagree with me on this. Republicans disagree with me on it. Ken Mehlman said he understands the other side's point of view and Corker disavowed the ad on the grounds that it was "tacky." Others have told me it was a Republican gaffe, racist or not, because it could be read as racist. Well, frankly, if we limit our political advertising things that won't offend liberals, we will have no political advertising.

Try the other one on for size. It's a radio ad, once again anti-Ford. Listen to it, here. Now, the "racist" story behind this one is that there are drums as soundtrack to the parts of the ad that talk about Harold Ford. Liberal blogs have referred to them as "tom-toms" and "jungle drums," and suggested that they're meant to evoke images of Africa, the Dark Continent, thus turning off lily white Southern voters. Of course, it's hard to make the argument that the anti-Ford ad is accentuating Ford's ethnic "savagery" when the ad copy refers to his prep-school education and Northeastern roots.

Is it just me or does it feel more likely that the people who see and hear these innocuous ads and immediately jump to accusations of racism are the ones with the racial hang-ups, not Republican Southerners?

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Some interesting evidence here showing that use of pornography DECREASES rape attacks. So the anti-porn warriors have a heavy load of guilt to bear.

Silver-tongued but still dumb: "Harold Ford, a handsome 36-year-old from Tennessee, has become one of the sensations of the mid-term elections in the US and a reason why Democrats are a good chance of winning back control of the US Congress for the first time in 12 years. But if Mr Ford, already a US congressman, wins his bid to become a more powerful senator, Australia had better watch out. Because according to Mr Ford, Australia has an interest in nuclear weapons and is part of the broader nuclear threat to the US."

Leftist judges thwart justice: ""People in the good state of Missouri need photo identification to cash a check, board a plane or apply for food stamps. But the state Supreme Court has ruled that a photo ID requirement to vote is too great a burden on the elderly and the poor. Go figure. Public polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Americans-regardless of age, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status-favor voter ID laws. And nearly half of the nation's states have passed them. Yet a string of recent court decisions has blocked their implementation in some places, thus siding with Democrats and liberal special interest groups who would rather turn a blind eye to voter fraud... Showing ID is an incidental cost of voting, like having to buy a postage stamp for an absentee ballot, or feed the parking meter when you go to the polling booth."

Danish court rejects cartoons suit: "A Danish court has rejected a civil lawsuit against a paper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The 12 cartoons sparked violent protests around the world after Jyllands-Posten published them in 2005. Seven Muslim organisations launched the lawsuit against the newspapers' editors, alleging defamation. But the City Court in Aarhus said there was not enough reason to believe the cartoons were intended to be insulting or harmful to Muslims. The organisations brought it in March after the Danish attorney-general's decision not to make criminal charges against the newspaper under racism and blasphemy legislation."

Some good things!: "All this focus on government and its misdeeds throughout the ages and around the globe can give the wrong impression. It is as if nothing good happened anywhere. But that is to confuse government with the rest of society. And in most societies there is ample good going on. Most human relations apart from government are pretty decent, even admirable. All the creativity and productivity we have around us -- those activities that enhance efficiency, those that contribute to beauty and comfort, those that heal and cure -- come not from government but from individuals cooperating in society. (I hesitate to call it the 'private' sector because strictly speaking these social undertakings are not private but very much cooperative.)"

Still in the market for reforms : "A year ago, Central Europe seemed like an example for others to follow. Today, it is a region marked by growing extremism and political instability. Some blame liberal reforms, claiming that capitalism concentrated too much money and power in the hands of the few. In fact, reforms did not go far enough. The business sector is overregulated and governments spend too much money. This fuels corruption and public dissatisfaction with the democratic process."

Giving chase in cyberspace: "In the debate over identity theft and online security, commentators often note that markets and private actors are better equipped than regulators to counter cybersecurity breaches and instances of copyright infringement. This paper considers an extreme instance of cybersecurity self-help: that of attacking the attackers. Internet vigilantes are already at work: The 419 Flash Mob, for example, works to disable and report to authorities the websites of 'phishers' who trick users into entering their information on phony websites made up to look like those of real banks and merchants."

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

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

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

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