Why bloggers enrage journalists

Excerpt:

All of these arguments about the need for reporters to report facts are dishonest. No one challenges this notion. No individual blogger could conceivably devote enough hours of his spare time (or his blogging time, if he does this full-time) to develop, confirm, and write a true bit of first-hand journalism once a week or so.

And the MSM knows that. They know their job on that score is secure -- simply because no one but a salaried reporter could put in forty hours a week working on a single story. (Especially because 99% of stories are not terribly important or remarkable, but still need to be reported -- but obviously no blogger could write up the Kalamazoo Crime Blotter three times a week and expect to be read by more than three thousand people as an absolute ceiling.)

What they are worried about is the decline in their influence as to matters not directly related to data-collection and not even remotely related to reportage. They're worried that they're losing their ability to shape (and mislead) public opinion in ways they find best for the public good. These people did not get into journalism, after all, to report on 3M's quarterly earnings advisory. They got into journalism to change things.

And they're desperately scrabbling to hold on tight to that bit of undeserved, undue influence by leveraging their entirely-unrelated qualifications to collect and disseminate raw information into a role they actually desire and feel they are worthy of-- a certified, credentialed priesthood of general wisdom, weighing in expertly on matters of politics, scientific and technological ethical dilemmas, foreign policy and of course military strategy, etc.

Source

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Brookes News Update

Blame central banks for sinking share markets: What a bizarre monetary spectacle. With one hand central banks raise interest rates to curb credit expansion while using the other hand to inject liquidity (credit) into the economy to prevent a recession that they think is caused by rising interest rates. Talk about economic schizophrenia
It's not the housing market that threatens the US economy: The recent financial turmoil had analysts and investors sweating bullets. What is being ignored is that the central banks that are seen to be salvaging the situation are the ones that caused it, particularly the fed. The US manufacturing index reveals that there could still be a lot of steam left in the current boom, assuming the fed allows the monetary expansion to continue
Stock market, interest rates and the business cycle: The turbulence in America's subprime market is being blamed for the current international financial crises, proving once again that our economic commentators are largely clueless on such matters
Is Russia's Power on the Decline?: Russia's power and influence are waning. If it were not for oil revenues and an unattentive Western media this would be reported, along with speculation about how long the thuggish Putin can hold on to power
Standing up to Islamic terrorism: Organizations that apologize for Islamic terrorists on a regular basis, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, are engaging in character assassination when they equate honest criticism of Islamic extremism with anti-Muslim or anti-Arab prejudice
Muslim terrorists chiefs have been igniting their followers by the word 'Jihad' - Holy War: Even the leaders of some Muslim countries are not able to resist temptation. Their true intent is a war against everything that is un-Islamic - that includes the West.
Monetarism and the US economy: Economic commentators are badly misreading economic history in comparing America's monetary policy with that of Japan's. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the Fed has swallowed the myth that money supply cannot be controlled and that there is no link between inflation and artificially low interest rates

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ELSEWHERE



According to Vanderleun, the individual above is female.

Brussels: Anti-American demonstration OK, anti-Sharia demonstration banned.

Norwegian woodenheads: "Norway had a unique way of handling crime. Criminals were tried, convicted and sentenced just like anywhere else. But then it was left up to the convict to decide if he would actually serve his sentence. And of course, this does not work. Small wonder that Norway's reported crime rate is double that of the United States. Police in Oslo are overwhelmed by crime. And a Norwegian newspaper reported that 70% of "Norwegians have no faith that they'll get any help if someone breaks into their home." The problem is that until recently, there was no law that required a criminal to report to prison to fulfill his sentencing."

UK TV provides a forum for Islamic supremacism and the delegitimization of Christianity: "There was no manger, Christ is not the Messiah, and the crucifixion never happened. A forthcoming ITV documentary will portray Jesus as Muslims see him. With the Koran as a main source and drawing on interviews with scholars and historians, the Muslim Jesus explores how Islam honours Christ as a prophet but not as the son of God. According to the Koran the crucifixion was a divine illusion. Instead of dying on the cross, Jesus was rescued by angels and raised to heaven... However, Patrick Sookhdeo, an Anglican canon and spokesman for the Barnabas Fund, which works with persecuted Christians, accused broadcasters of double standards. Mr Sookhdeo, who was born a Muslim and converted to Christianity in 1969, said: "How would the Muslim community respond if ITV made a programme challenging Muhammad as the last prophet?"

Black South Africa: "Thabo Mbeki's presidency faced a crisis yesterday after sensational claims that his controversial Health Minister was an alcoholic who jumped the queue to receive a new liver. The allegations about Manto Tshabalala-Msimang came as Mr Mbeki was already facing growing criticism for standing by the minister, who believes that a diet of olive oil, beetroot and garlic is the best way to combat South Africa's Aids pandemic. The claims were made across three pages of the Sunday Times, the country's biggest-selling weekend newspaper. They included allegations that the minister, while in exile in neighbouring Botswana in the 1970s, was convicted of stealing jewellery, hats and handbags from hospital patients."

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

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

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

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

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WESTOPHOBIA?

Comment received from Larwyn below -- finding a common thread in some recent reports. Her links are very up-to-date and worth following:

Dr Sanity would like to call what Islam preaches daily to their masses, the hatred and fear of the West A SERIOUS CASE OF WESTOPHOBIA. I would be happy if we would finally call it something to counter "Islamophobia", if Infidelophobia or Kaffirophobia won't do, Westophobia is fine with me, with this one disclaimer: Westophobia can't really be used to only label Islamists, it encompasses every sect and ideology who hates Western civilization. The LEFTISTS suffer from Westophobia and Condi's getting a case of it, trying to talk the vibrant capitalistic democracy of Israel into an appeasement of the thugs of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and therefore, also Iran.

What other than Westophobia can explain the gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair by the left over the Jose Padilla Conviction? For Le Monde -- Al Jazeera on the Seine -- "Jose Padilla's guilty verdict symbolizes the excesses of America's war on terror."

Had certain parties in our State Dept and Media not suffered from Westophobia, the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq would have been handled quite differently with some real "excesses" of America's power. Too worried about the Arab Street , who hate us anyway, Powell & Armitage allowed Turkey to deny us our assault route down from the North via Turkey, who the ADL does not wish to offend by calling the genocide of the Armenians, genocide. Of course, 80% of ADL members probably vote for Dems, which proves their self hate. Has to be self-hate when a people make decisions to fight a war with Rules of Engagement that give all the benefits to the enemy.

So the big question now, will Westophobia, this self hate, influence G. W. Bush to become LBJ in planning the bombing of Iran? That's what SANE is asking, that's what Pierre is asking. That's what this cadre of "where do we find such men" are probably wondering, as they deal with the many, who should long ago have felt our full wrath -- those responsible for Defeating the enemy at Donkey Island near Ramadi

And what is an even greater proof of the rampant Westophobia than the Bestialization of Intelligence and Lost Posterity as we build monuments to our enemies. Some get it Burnett Sr: "Withhold my son's name from 9/11 Islamic Memorial"

And some wish to hurry our destruction by any means: Global Warming Litigation Planned By Blue States, even though the climate alarmists were wrong before

They would burden us with taxes for Socialized Medicine the Hillary Way and even Soviet Sanitarium Redux.

No wonder we're confused and some think Hurricane DEAN is God's Wrath against Bush

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ELSEWHERE



The airheaded John Edwards, a would-be President, did not even know that Cuba's healthcare system is government-run! It seems that he is even more of an empty vessel than Obama. No wonder his wife so often has to speak for him. But facts never do matter to Leftists. They just KNOW what should be done.

The Associated Press has a crazy Leftist fantasy story about U.S. police being unable to get enough ammo because it is all being used in Iraq! Have these guys no idea about how the market works? The whole fantasy is amusingly debunked here

Blind man wins case after Muslim cabbie refused dog: "A blind man denied service from a Muslim taxi driver for "religious reasons" has been awarded $2,500, the result of a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal discrimination settlement reached on Friday and made public yesterday. It was cold outside, and raining. Mr. Gilmour was attempting to return home after spending time with two friends at a West Vancouver coffee shop. A taxi was called. On arrival, the driver would not allow Mr. Gilmour's golden retriever, Arden, into the car. An argument ensued and the cabbie then drove off, without his two passengers. Mr. Gilmour complained to North Shore Taxi the next day. He was told that the driver's Muslim faith prohibits him from associating with dogs, hence his refusal to provide service. Mr. Gilmour decided to fight back. He hired a lawyer, himself a Muslim, and filed a formal complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal, alleging discrimination. The tribunal was to hear Mr. Gilmour's case on Monday; however, a settlement was reached last week with Mr. Saidy and his taxi company."

Deadly British bureaucratic bungling: "Emergency services were expected to begin a search this morning for two people still missing after a fire erupted in a Cornish hotel. The fire has already claimed the life of a man who tried to escape by jumping from the third or fourth floor of the Penhallow Hotel, in Newquay. Anybody left in the rubble would have little chance of survival, police said. As the rubble of the hotel smouldered yesterday, the Fire Brigade faced criticism that firefighters were hindered by a 90-minute wait while vital equipment arrived from Plymouth, more than 50 miles away. The fire spread at devastating speed in the early hours of Saturday as firefighters waited for an aerial ladder platform. Both Newquay and Truro, 15 miles away, possess the equipment but both were under repair."

Anti-Israel "Greens": "Young "climate change protesters" attacked an Israeli warehouse yesterday near the Heathrow Airport outside of London where they are campaigning against Heathrow's planned expansion. They took down the Israeli flag at the warehouse... And... They hoisted the Palestinian flag. It was part of their protest against carbon emissions(?)"

There is a big new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly incorrect themes of race and IQ.

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

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

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

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

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Another Leftist blames Israel

British Liberal politician, Jenny Tonge, is best known for her remark that the "pro-Israeli lobby has got it financial grips on the Western World" -- a classic bit of antisemitism in which the money-grubbing Jew is pictured as controlling the world's financial system. So it should come as no surprise to see the following fantasy from her:

"The Palestinians have been brought to their knees. A cultured and well-educated society with high skill levels has been reduced to a Third-World country. The statistics are there for all to see."

I have no doubt that there have always been some cultured and well-educated Palis but to call cultured and well-educated a society mainly made up of peasant farmers and goatherders is just the usual Leftist lying propaganda.

Tonge is more airheaded than most, however. Leftists are supposed to love primitive tribes but she forgot that bit after a trip to Botswana paid for by an agency of the Botswana government. Speaking of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen of the Kalahari, she suggested they were trying to "stay in the Stone Age", described them "primitive" and said they were "holding the government of Botswana to ransom" by refusing to be evicted from their lands. The Left rounded on her over that so her latest fanciful remarks may be an attempt to restore her credit in Leftist circles.

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ACORN not so nutty

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has its roots in a coalition of welfare rights organizations which, since 1970, has fought for "social and economic justice" - in this, the land of social and economic freedom. The coalition experienced serious internal stresses when it was joined by organizations such as the Vietnam Veterans Organizing Committee (VVOC) and the Unemployed Workers Organizing Committee (UWOC), presumably a group that would punish the rest of us by...what?...refusing to accept their unemployment checks?

ACORN claims to represent more than 350,000 member families and 850 neighborhood chapters in 100 cities across the US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, and they credit themselves with successful campaigns for better housing, healthcare, schools, job conditions, etc. Their members participate in local meetings, work on campaigns, and pay the organization's expenses through membership dues and grassroots fundraisers."

That is the public face of ACORN and it all sounds quite benign...until we take a much closer look at the role they play in helping organized labor swell the ranks of uninformed, disinterested, but obedient Democrat voters. For example, just what are those "grassroots fundraisers" that ACORN relies on to pay their neighborhood "activists?"

In a July 30 Wall Street Journal article, titled "Whose Ox Is Gored," John Fund reveals the true face of ACORN. He tells us that, in 2006, ACORN registered more than 540,000 low-income and minority voters nationwide and deployed more than 4,000 get-out-the-vote workers. But since it was organized labor and the Democrat Party who paid by-the-head for the new voters, we have to wonder how many of the newly registered voters are actually living persons.

Fund reports that, on July 26, 2007, local prosecutors in Seattle indicted seven ACORN workers on charges of submitting phony registrations in what Secretary of State Sam Reed, himself a Democrat, terms the "worst case of voter registration fraud" in state history. (If Reed is actually capable of recognizing vote fraud, one wonders how he was able to preside over the Democrats' brazen theft of the Washington governors office in 2004.)

In the present case, ACORN workers turned in registration forms containing the names of such well-know "Washingtonians" as Dennis Hastert (former House Speaker from Illinois), Frank Rich and Tom Friedman (New York Times columnists), as well as totally fictitious persons such as Stormi Bays and Fruto Boy. The addresses given were all traced to various homeless shelters. According to the indictments, of the 1,805 registrations submitted by ACORN, only nine have been confirmed as valid. Election officials are still trying to validate the remaining 34 registrants.

Election officials first became suspicious when ACORN delivered the registrations too late to meet the October 7, 2006 deadline. And when the registrations were refused, ACORN officials, fearing that they would not be paid the per-capita bounty, as promised, threatened to sue the county. However, when four ACORN workers were indicted by the U.S. Attorney in Kansas City on November 1, on charges of submitting some 14,000 bogus voter registrations, the Seattle ACORN officials dropped their threat.

Source

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Maine Democratic Party Stalks-Harasses Sen. Susan Collins (Video)

Post below recycled from Gateway Pundit

Democrats are already harassing Republicans a year before elections! And their violent tactics continue from assaulting conservative speakers, to spitting on soldier amputees, to ambushing speakers on stage, to screaming at conservative speakers during public events, to strange protests at senate hearings.

Former Nazi Youth member Hilmar Von Campe compares this behavior by democrats to the former storm troopers in Nazi Germany who would shut up the opposition.

Now the Maine Democratic Party is stalking Republican Senator Susan Collins a year and months before the election.
The stalker posted his video at the Maine Democratic YouTube page:

This violence worked well with Senator Allen last election so look for the democrats to continue their stalking this election cycle

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

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

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

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

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WHY I AM A FREDHEAD

The summary below is excerpted from a hostile source but I still like what I hear:



Thompson, who is expected to enter the presidential race formally in September, but plans to campaign in Iowa on Friday, was not known as a big-ideas guy and was hardly a heavy-hitter when it came to legislation during his Senate career from 1994 to 2002. Still, he was considered a reliably conservative vote on economic, security and social issues alike. He backed Bush's tax cuts, a prohibition on a late-term abortion procedure and voted to give the president the authority to invade Iraq.

More prominently, he established a reputation for working to limit the role of the federal government and protect states rights - an issue that remains very important to him and, perhaps, is an indication of what may lie at the root of his candidacy.

Broadly, he favors a strong federalist approach that emphasizes personal liberties and fiscal conservatism. "Centralized government is not the solution to all of our problems and, with too much power, such centralization has a way of compounding our problems," Thompson wrote in a recent column on his Web site. "This was among the great insights of 1787," when the Constitution was adopted, "and it is just as vital in 2007." He adds: "How we draw the line between federal and state roles in this century, and how we stay true to the principles of federalism for the purpose of protecting economic and individual freedom, are questions we must answer."

Thompson also:

* Splits with Bush on immigration, opposing the president's comprehensive immigration law overhaul bill and, instead, argues for increased border security as well as full enforcement of current federal immigration laws. The issue has divided the GOP, and Thompson is seeking the support of Republicans who object to illegal immigrants getting a path to U.S. citizenship. In one online column, he says: "Federal law must be enforced, or our neighborhoods will continue to be the scene of chilling and lurid crimes committed by those who broke the law in the first place to come to America."

* Appears to take a hard-line approach to foreign policy. He criticizes the United Nations, saying the world body "seems to oppose human freedom rather than promote it." And, in one particularly incendiary commentary for ABC radio in April, he carried on about the perception of the U.S. around the world and its relationships with certain countries. He assails Mexico on immigration, arguing that leaders there "apparently have an economic policy based on exporting their own citizens while complaining about U.S. immigration policies that are far less exclusionary than their own." He adds: "The French jail perfectly nice people for politically incorrect comments, but scold us for holding terrorists at Guantanamo." Thompson saves his most aggressive comments for Russia, contending that ex-KGB agents "apparently" run the country, use their oil wealth to engage in blackmail, and dispose of people who cross them. "Oppose the Russian leadership, and you could trip and fall off a tall building or stumble into the path of a bullet."

* Emphasizes individuals' right to keep and bear arms, as well as the right to own and keep property. He suggests in one online piece that the Virginia Tech massacre could have been deterred had those who were at least age 21 and met certain criteria been allowed to carry concealed weapons on school grounds. In the Senate, Thompson voted against requiring criminal background checks for purchases at gun shows.

* In a recent commentary, he assailed a 2005 Supreme Court decision giving local governments broad power to seize private property to generate tax revenue.

* Calls Bush's tax cuts a "success story" that helped grow the economy and says: "Letting them expire would amount to a tax hike of historic proportions." He also says the president should hold the line on spending.

More here. And another interesting post on Fred here

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ELSEWHERE



Soviet-style patience required for life in bureaucratized Britain: "A customer who was trying to report a problem to BT [British Telecom] was kept hanging on the company's helpline for 20 hours without getting an answer. Hannah King, 51, rang an 0800 number after a telephone line she had paid for was not installed at her new home. From 1pm until 9pm she listened to piped music and a recorded message every few minutes. She gave up until the next morning, when she dialled the same number and waited another eight hours without a reply. The next day Mrs King tried between 8am and noon - but again no one from BT picked up. "I was so frustrated and angry I broke down in tears," she said. "It is a helpline for goodness' sake, surely a company as big as BT can answer their phones." Mrs King, who has a new flat at Milford Haven, called the helpline after an engineer failed to turn up. She said: "The problem is that if something goes wrong you have no other point of contact with BT. You have to ring their helpline number and you end up listening to music and voice prompts without ever speaking to a real person."

Europe rediscovers babies: "Europe is in the midst of a baby boomlet after fretting for two decades that European women weren't having enough children to replenish graying populations and sustain economic growth. At least 16 countries, stretching from Iceland to Italy, saw modest upticks in their birthrates from 2004 to 2006. Roughly half the continent has reversed declining fertility rates or halted their slide, says William Butz, president of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau (PRB), which tracks worldwide population trends. The increases are small, but the trend bucks a 20-year decline"

Why rebuild New Orleans?: "The Drudge headline read: "MUCH OF NEW ORLEANS IS STILL VULNERABLE TO FLOODING." It linked the New York Times report: "One Billion Dollars Later, New Orleans Is Still at Risk." Of course most of New Orleans is still "at risk" of flooding; most of the city is in a flood zone because most of the city is below sea level. The nation is throwing away money rebuilding the city because of racial politics and piss-poor reporting. Democrats charged that George Bush "ignored" New Orleans because he hates black people. To prove them wrong, Bush promised to rebuild New Orleans bigger, stronger, better. This is machismo politics at its worse. Whatever happened to mitigation? FEMA rules say you don't rebuild in the flood zone. You move people to higher ground. There are flood zones all over the place - even in the hills of West Virginia. Intelligent people do not build there."

Do we need a t-shirt tax to save jobs?: ""Virtually all of America's 114 million households (most of them 'working families') buy shirts every year. In fact, last year, Americans bought 4.5 billion T-shirts and other apparel tops, 94.3 percent of them imported. That's an average of almost 40 shirts per household. But very few U.S. workers -- fewer than half a million -- make their living producing T-shirts, other apparel and textiles. Yet Obama and the union audience clearly side with the one third of one percent of American workers who still make shirts and other clothing rather than the 99.7 percent who unambiguously gain from being able to buy their clothing at more affordable prices. Democrats and their union allies are not representing 'working families' against big corporations, but a small and declining share of U.S. producers and their employees at the expense of the vast majority of American households."

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

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

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

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

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Matthew Syed says something useful

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

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Media lies

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



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

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

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Misleading Wal-Mart gloom

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

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

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

More here

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

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ELSEWHERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE PUBLIC EDUCATION SUPPORTER PROMISE CARD

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

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

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

Source

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LEFTIST MEDIA FOLLIES (1)

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

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



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

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

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LEFTIST MEDIA FOLLIES (2)



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

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ELSEWHERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Leftism is a corrosive hatred of the world around you

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More here

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GOOD AND BAD MUSLIMS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Will India pull ahead?

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

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

Source

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ELSEWHERE

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Communism and Nazism

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source

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ELSEWHERE



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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