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30 November, 2007

A small personal note



Life is not all politics (Thank goodness) so I cannot resist a little note of satisfaction here about the results my son has just got in his university examinations for the final year of his B.Sc. All his subjects were in mathematics and he got 7s (the maximum possible mark) in all subjects. He will be heading for his doctorate in mathematics now. I am sure it is very evil of me to say so (according to Leftists anyway) but it is a great satisfaction to have a very bright son. His mother is over the moon too.

Neither of us have ever "pushed" him in any way. He is just a natural-born academic. I can't imagine where he gets that from! Since IQ is not genetically inherited (according to Leftists) it must just be a random event! I will be going to his graduation ceremony in a couple of weeks. I wonder if I should wear my doctoral robes?

We will be having a small family celebration of the occasion this Sunday -- at which I will of course be opening a bottle of Penfold's Grange.

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"HATE" PICTURES

I mentioned recently that the Religion of Peace site has been "filtered" by several internet censoring companies as "hate speech". To get the filtering lifted they had to remove certain pictures. Following are links to the censored pictures. One depicts Iranian punishment for adultery and the second Iranian punishment for homosexuality. See here and here

Reality must be censored! You are too immature to be told the truth. Our wise Leftist guardians know best!

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ELSEWHERE

Iran has built a new submarine, with which it is threatening the world. A picture of it below:



It looks about the same size as a World War I submarine. Details of the huffing and puffing here

Qualifications for top job?: "If a CEO of a fortune 500 company were to retire, would anyone seriously consider his wife to be an adequate replacement simply because she was married to him when he ran the company? What about a Super Bowl winning football team? What do you think the reaction of their fans would be if their coach's wife was being seriously discussed as his replacement? It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Yet, Hillary Clinton has practically been anointed by the press and the punditocracy as our next President, despite the fact that her run at the presidency is almost entirely based on being Bill Clinton's wife. By that, I mean that if Bill Clinton had meant the sweet nothings that he whispered in Monica Lewinsky's ear and he had divorced Hillary and married Monica, today Monica would be planning her Senate reelection campaign while Hillary would probably be working as a lobbyist for the Chinese toy manufacturers association."

Muslim paranoia: "Doctors treating an Indonesian man known as "Tree-man" - because of root-like growths on his hands and feet - have been slammed by the country's health minister. Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari has criticised the US doctor treating 35-year-old Dede for taking blood and tissue samples out of the country, the UK newspaper The Telegraph reported. Dede, who lives in a village to the south of Jakarta, is believed to be suffering from a rare strain of the Human Papilloma Virus. The US dermatologist treating the fisherman, the University of Maryland's Dr Anthony Gaspari, told The Telegraph that money had nothing to do with taking the samples out of Indonesia. "We did take samples, and the reason we did was to render a diagnosis," Dr Gaspari said. "We did it for humanitarian reasons, to help the patient." [More here]

More Muslim paranoia: "A British teacher in Sudan faces lashes and deportation as she languishes in police custody accused of insulting the Muslim prophet for allowing young children to name a teddy bear Mohammed. Sudanese police arrested Gillian Gibbons in Khartoum on Sunday after parents complained that she allowed six-year-old boys and girls at an expensive English school to name the bear, and so insult the Prophet Mohammed. The penalty carries the death sentence for Muslims in Sudan, where Islamic Sharia law is enforced in Khartoum and the north, but a non-Muslim could face a maximum penalty of lashes, prison, a fine and deportation if found guilty. A shaken Ms Gibbons, whom a British embassy spokesman said overnight had not yet been charged and who never intended that naming the bear would cause offence, was poised to spend a second night in police custody."

NYC Murders Drop, Democrats Call for Cop Pull Out : "As the number of murders in New York City reached a 40-year low, Democrats in Congress introduced a measure calling for an immediate and total pull-out of law enforcement personnel citing the high cost of fighting crime, the risk to those in uniform and "lack of political progress" in the city. In a typical Congressional maneuver, Democrats attached the redeployment measure as an amendment to an unrelated bill, sponsored by Republicans, which would provide senior citizens with a taxpayer-funded MediCare prescription golf benefit. Official statistics show the Big Apple's murder rate is now less than a quarter of what it was in 1990, but Democrats in Congress say the reduction has nothing to do with the actions of the New York City Police Department or the policies of the last two Republican mayors. "The dip in the murder rate is certainly temporary," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, "and it presents us with a window of opportunity to safely extract our brave men and women in uniform before the slaughter returns to normal levels." [With grateful thanks to the inimitable Scrappleface]

OK to abort kids but not to spank them? "Parents who spank their kids - even in their own homes - would be slapped by the long arm of the law under an Arlington nurse’s proposal to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to outlaw corporal punishment. Kathleen Wolf’s proposed legislation will be debated at a State House hearing tomorrow morning. If signed into law, parents would be prohibited from forcefully laying a hand on any child under age 18 unless it was to wrest them from danger, lest they be charged with abuse or neglect. Rep. Jay Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat, submitted the 61-year-old Wolf’s petition at her request, but is not taking a position for or against corporal punishment."

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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29 November, 2007

Arrogant Afghan still ignoring the basic facts

Cosma Shalizi is a rather egotistical-sounding young man of apparently Afghan ancestry. He is also an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. On his blog, Three Toed Sloth, he has a long post demonstrating that a popular form of mathematical analysis generically called factor analysis cannot be used to demonstrate the existence of IQ (or 'g' as we psychometricans call it).

His criticisms are perfectly correct. Factor analysis cannot prove ANYTHING in fact. It is just a convenient but rather arbitrary way of summarizing a set of correlations. Factor analysis is such a weak technique that I myself in my more than 200 published academic papers have used it only rarely -- even though I normally present my research results in correlational form. Shalizi is also correct in saying that much of the research into IQ has used factor analysis as a way of summarizing findings. That the findings are not DEPENDANT on that descriptive technique is the point he appears to overlook.

The underlying finding for 100 years or more is that ability to solve one sort of puzzle generalizes strongly to the ability to solve other quite different sorts of puzzle. Problem solving ability is general, no matter how you choose to summarize that. And problem-solving ability is what IQ or 'g' measures.

OK. What I have just said above is an excerpt from what I said on October 25. I emailed Shalizi a link to the October 25 post and I hear that others did so too. He has completely ignored it. In fact he has a very inflated recent post here in which he uses his previously demonstrated "wisdom" to attack the article on IQ in Slate by Saletan. Shalizi is so sure of his wisdom that he can only ascribe discreditable motives to Saletan and his editors for publishing what they did. And other bloggers (e.g. here) have taken Shalizi and his conclusions at face value. They seem to think that Shalizi has made lots of large correlations between different types of ability tests suddenly disappear!

A matter I did not address in my previous post is heritability. Once again in this case, Shalizi uses perfectly legitimate concerns about the statistical techniques used in summarizing the findings to claim that no firm conclusions at all are possible. In so doing he is using an old Leftist dodge that I commented on many years ago. He sets the standard so high for what he will accept as satisfactory evidence that nobody could prove anything to him under such standards.

In most of science, maybe ALL of science, you cannot prove things beyond all shadow of doubt -- so someone who does not want to believe something will always be able to say that the evidence is still not good enough. But if we normally behaved that way we would disregard most science. But we don't. And that is because we get a lot further by accepting that science is an enterprise that deals in probabilities rather than in certainties. If you want certainty, you need to turn to either theology or mathematics and you might not even find it there.

So what Shalizi is doing is what is called "intellectual dishonesty" -- judging a matter not on the balance of the evidence for and against it but rather on whether or not the concusions suit him.

And again, when you look at the underlying evidence about heritability that the various statistical techniques try to summarize, there is a lot there that Shalizi just cannot make go away. The IQ scores of identical twins will almost always be strikingly similar, for instance -- much more similar than the IQs of normal brothers and sisters or even of fraternal twins -- and certainly much more similar than the scores of random strangers. The facts on the ground just don't go away, no matter how you choose to summarize them. And those facts show that IQ scores are clearly tied to your genetic inheritance.

Razib makes further points about Shalizi's shilly shallying. Razib shows that, if you look hard enough, Shalizi does in fact to a degree acknowledge the underlying realities in his writings. But you would never guess that from his dismissive conclusions.

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ELSEWHERE



Iraq involvement ending: "With the eyes of the world focused on the Middle East peace talks in Annapolis, Md., President Bush's war tsar, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, quietly announced that the American and Iraqi governments will start talks early next year to bring about an end to the allied occupation by the close of Mr. Bush's presidency. The negotiations will bring to a formal conclusion the U.N. Chapter 7 Security Council involvement in the occupation and administration of Iraq, and are expected to reduce the number of American troops to about 50,000 troops permanently stationed there but largely confined to barracks, from the current 164,000 forces on active duty. "The basic message here should be clear. Iraq is increasingly able to stand on its own. That's very good news. But it won't have to stand alone," General Lute yesterday told reporters in the White House."

More rocket attacks on Israel during Annapolis peace conference: "With the opening of the Annapolis Conference, Palestinian organizations in the Gaza Strip are sending a clear message to those gathering in Maryland. Tuesday morning the Popular Resistance Committees announced the beginning of operation "Autumn Storm" in which the organization plans to launch rocket attacks at Sderot and the western Negev during the conference. Meanwhile, fighting in the field has not ceased for a moment: in the last 24 hours at least eight Palestinians have died in a string of clashes with the IDF, including attempts to launch rockets and plant bombs near the border."



Muslim riots in Paris worsen: "French police beefed up security yesterday after riots continued for a second night in flashpoint Paris suburbs despite the launch of a judicial probe into the deaths of two teens, which sparked the violence. Police said yesterday 64 officers were injured in clashes with youths in and around the suburb of Villiers-le-Bel, adding that five were in critical condition. "One policeman was wounded in the shoulder after being hit by a high-calibre bullet," a security official said. The injuries followed rioting in Villiers-le-Bel and the nearby towns of Sarcelles and Garges-les-Gonesses, police said. Riots intensified in the town and neighbouring areas, police said yesterday. Six hours of violent clashes erupted in Villiers-le-Bel on Sunday after the teenagers' motorbike crashed into a police car. Yesterday, about 100 youths crouching behind bins in Villiers-le-Bel hurled objects at 160 riot police, who responded with rubber bullets and teargas. Police said young rioters in other towns were armed with baseball bats, Molotov cocktails and bottles of acid."

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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28 November, 2007

A SURGE OF GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ

The news from Iraq has been so encouraging in recent months that last week even the mainstream media finally sat up and took notice. Can the Democratic Party be far behind? In a story titled "Baghdad Comes Alive," Rod Nordland reports in the current Newsweek on the heartening transformation underway in the Iraqi capital: "Returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months," he writes, "I can actually say that things do seem to have gotten better, and in ways that may even be durable . . . There hasn't been a successful suicide car bombing in Baghdad in five weeks . . . Al Qaeda in Iraq is starting to look like a spent force, especially in Baghdad."

The signs of life, Nordland acknowledges "grudgingly" - his word - are undeniable. "Emerging from our bunkers into the Red Zone, I see the results everywhere. Throughout Baghdad, shops and street markets are open late again, taking advantage of the fine November weather. Parks are crowded with strollers, and kids play soccer on the streets. Traffic has resumed its customary epic snarl. The Baghdad Zoo is open, and caretakers have even managed to bring in two lionesses to replace the menagerie that escaped in the early days of the war. . . . The Shorja bazaar in old Baghdad, hit by at least six different car bombs killing hundreds in the last year, is again crowded with people among the narrow tented stalls. On nearby Al-Rasheed Street, the famous booksellers are back in business. . . . People are buying alcohol again -- as they always had in Baghdad, until religious extremists forced many neighborhood liquor shops to close."

Newsweek's isn't the only big media voice bringing tidings of comfort and joy from the Iraqi theatre. On Tuesday, The New York Times led its front page with a good-news headline - "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves" - and a large photo of an Iraqi bride and groom, bedecked in wedding finery and accompanied by a band. Below that: a picture of smiling diners at Al Faris, a restaurant on the Tigris riverbank that is booming once again. Inside, across four columns, another photo showed an outdoor foosball game in Baghdad's Haifa Street, once dubbed the "Street of Fear" because it was the scene of so many lethal sectarian attacks.

In another Page 1 story the day before ("U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Fell to the Level of Early Last Year"), the Times recounted some of the auspicious data: civilian fatalities down 75 percent in recent months, Iraqi security-force casualties down 40 percent, total weekly attacks nationwide down nearly two-thirds since June. The Los Angeles Times, too, fronted a story on the promising developments, describing last Monday an "unexpected flowering of sectarian cooperation" in which "Sunnis and Shi'ites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants." The results, the paper reported from the rural community of Qarghulia on Monday, "are palpable. Killings are down dramatically and public confidence is reviving." ....

With the media at last paying attention to the remarkable progress in Iraq, shouldn't leading Democrats think about doing the same? Perhaps this would be a good time for Hillary Clinton to express regret for telling Petraeus that his recent progress report on Iraq required "a willing suspension of disbelief" -- in effect, calling him a liar. Perhaps Senate majority leader Harry Reid should admit that he may have been wrong when he declared so emphatically: "This war is lost, and the surge is not accomplishing anything."

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Tony Judt is a New York historian who ignores history when it come to Israel. Why? It seems that he does not like being Jewish and slandering Israel makes him feel better about that. His superficialities are taken apart step by step here

Fred Thompson calls for flat tax: "Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson proposed an income tax plan Sunday that would allow Americans to choose a simplified system with only two rates: 10 percent and 25 percent. Thompson's proposal, announced on Fox News Sunday, would allow filers to remain under the current, complex tax code or use the flat tax rates. Asked whether the plan would cut too deeply into federal revenues, the former Tennessee senator and actor said experts 'always overestimate the losses to the government' when taxes are cut. 'We've known for years any time we have lowered taxes and any time we've lowered tax rates, we've seen growth in the economy,' Thompson said. Thompson added that money would be saved by his Social Security reform plan."

Jihadi Professor goes to prison: "A former professor accused of providing money to Hamas terrorists was sentenced Wednesday to more than 11 years in prison and fined $5,000 for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a former associate professor of business at Washington's Howard University, showed no emotion as US District Judge Amy St. Eve imposed the sentence. But several relatives wept openly in the courtroom. Ashqar was convicted earlier this year of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the Palestinian militant movement Hamas on June 25, 2003. But he was acquitted of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy aimed at bankrolling the terrorist group Hamas."

Reaganomics Sweeps the World: "If the supply-side tax rate reduction model is truly so abhorrent, why are so many nations around the world latching on to it? What explains the Irish Miracle? Why are Germany, France and the U.K. slashing their corporate tax rates? Why are there 18 countries with flat taxes? Are their leaders deranged, or been bamboozled by crackpots? Perhaps a better explanation is that they know intuitively what a new National Bureau of Economic Research study has found: Nations with low tax rates on business have statistically significant higher rates of new business formation, investment and income. History is clearly not on the side of the anti-supply-side attack dogs, and they're losing the policy debate every day in political capitals around the world. Poland just announced it wants to implement a 15% flat tax by 2009. But the American left's obsession with the notion that tax rates don't matter tells us something important about the future. They are preparing the ground for massive tax increases if and when they capture control of the presidency.

Maker of Undercover Mosque documentary considers suing police: "The documentary maker cleared by regulators of misleadingly editing a Channel 4 programme about extreme Islamic preachers is considering legal action. David Henshaw, the managing director of Hardcash Productions which made the Dispatches film Undercover Mosque, said he was still "very, very angry". With the backing of Channel 4 he hoped to launch a libel action against the West Midlands police and a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer who was quoted in a joint press release accusing Hardcash Productions of "completely distorting" what some of the preachers were saying. The media regulator dismissed the complaint saying it was a legitimate investigation. "I really don't like the libel courts and believe in a world of free comment. I don't mind abuse, but Hardcash's reputation has been severely damaged and it was a good reputation," Henshaw said. "The Ofcom judgment is great and if anyone bothers to read it they'll realise this was a bloody good programme. But damage was done that day in August, huge damage."

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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27 November, 2007

Traditional Catholicism reviving strongly in France

They give the traitorous "modernizers" who believe in nothing their answer. I don't believe in any of it either but nor do I pretend to be a Catholic. Those who do believe, however, have the very best of my best wishes

If the photographs in Les communautes traditionnelles en France are anything to go by, then just across the Channel there lies a whole rich seam of Catholic religious life that is young, vibrant and growing. In addition to youthfulness and success, there are two other common features that unite the communities featured in this book. One is that they all have the extraordinary form of the Roman liturgy - the "traditional" rites liberated by Pope Benedict XVI's recent Motu Proprio - as the heart and foundation of their spirituality. The other is that many of them long enjoyed the steadfast, if unofficial support, of a certain well-placed cardinal in Rome. His name was Joseph Ratzinger.

Looking at these particular images it is not difficult to understand just why the Pope and his right-hand cardinal have invested so much hope in these communities. Whether it is Solemn Vespers in a great baroque abbey, or low Mass celebrated on a rock in a clearing for scouts, the liturgical celebrations depicted in this book are all beautiful and dignified. The average age of the monks, nuns, friars and priests and seminarians is also remarkably young. According to Cardinal Castrillon, this should not surprise us. The message that these communities pursue is the message of Jesus Christ. This message is eternal, and therefore forever young.

These intriguing photographs invite us to enter into another world. Despite the obvious challenges implicit in a daily life circumscribed by rules and traditions, the subjects of these communities look remarkably happy. The text often talks of sacrifice and self-surrender, but the pictures show young faces that are smiling and laughing.

There is certainly no hint of any crisis of clerical identity. These young clerics do not rely on jeans or Che Guevara T-shirts to make them feel connected to the youth; rather, it is the authenticity of their life that seems to make that connection. We see seminarians effortlessly skiing through the alps in long black soutanes, while nuns in crisply starched wimples gather hay in the fields outside Marseilles. At the high point of the traditionalist calendar - the annual Pentecost pilgrimage to Chartres - thousands of young pilgrims walk behind priests, monks and friars on the three-day march from Paris. Carrying crosses and banners, they all look very glad, and proud, to be Catholic.

Neither is there any evidence of a decline in vocations. The story of the Benedictine convent of Jouques is typical. Since its foundation near Aix en Provence in 1967 this community has attracted so many vocations to its novitiate that it has been necessary to open daughter houses elsewhere in France and in Africa to house the overspill.

The monks of Le Barroux, north of Avignon, still wear the corona - the full monastic tonsure depicted in medieval woodcuts and books of hours. After humble beginnings in a caravan in 1970 this community now worships in a mighty abbey church which the monks built themselves in the form of a Romanesque basilica. In the early hours of the morning, this building hums like a holy beehive as the many priest-monks celebrate their private Mass at side altars, served by novices and lay brothers. The extensive choirstalls here are now so full that this monastery has been able to spare a detachment of young monks to found a daughter house not far from Toulouse.

All of the institutes featured in the book are run on strictly traditional principles. But this does not make them old-fashioned. Rather, it gives them a timelessness that many young people are finding increasingly attractive. Some of the communities are contemplative, but many are active. A good example is the Institute of Christ the King. From its picturesque Renaissance villa outside Florence "The Institute" has gradually grown into a global conglomerate. In addition to serving parishes in France and America, it also runs several missionary stations in Africa.

The recent Motu Proprio confirms what these communities have known all along: that the traditional Mass never was, and never really could be, abrogated. In his explanatory letter accompanying this decree the Holy Father stated that the extraordinary form of the liturgy is not just for an older generation that found innovation difficult to cope with. He wrote: "It has been clearly demonstrated that young persons, too, have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mysteries of the Most Holy Eucharist particularly suited to them."

More here

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ELSEWHERE



Don't you like the image above? It is about the recent but long overdue changes to the exchange-rate of the greenback -- changes that have American producers and manufacturers rubbing their hands with glee. The changes are just about the best news possible for their "buy American" campaign. But even if you don't read German, I think you can see that Spiegel magazine is treating it as something catastrophic. Like American Leftists, Germans don't want to believe anything good about America. Sad. David's Medienkritik has the details.

British intolerance on display: "The Oxford Union debating society faced growing calls to cancel an evening with Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, and David Irving, who was jailed in Austria for Holocaust denial. The debating society’s decision to ask the pair to speak at a forum on the limits of free speech tonight has attracted fierce criticism from MPs, antifascist groups, and Trevor Phillips, the head of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, who said the invitation was a “disgrace”. Antifascist groups said that they expected hundreds of demonstrators to descend on the city to protest against the presence of the two men, and police have warned the debate’s organisers that they fear a number of ultra-rightwing activists will stage counter-protests.

BBC bias again: "Looking at al-Beeb's website this evening, I chanced upon the news that two Bollywood stars are claiming that they had racist remarks shouted at them from a passing car, as they shot a film in Southall. This, clearly very important and newsworthy, story is currently receiving second billing on the "England" section of the BBC News website, and has had quite a lengthy, illustrated, article devoted to it. Of course, the Beeboids did not see fit to publish a single paragraph on a rather more serious recent case in which a man had his skull sliced open with a machete in a racist attack, but that's understandable: the victim was only white, after all."

Official anti-father attitudes: "A woman who became pregnant after a one-night stand has been given the right to keep the birth a secret from the father. The Court of Appeal ruling came after a county court ordered the 20-year-old to tell both her parents and the father. The three appeal judges agreed "the ultimate veto" over who is told about the birth lay with the mother. Fathers' groups said the ruling treated the child as the property of the mother "to be disposed of as she sees fit". Fathers 4 Justice barrister Michael Cox said: "This father is the victim of a wicked deceit in which the State has been complicit. "It is now clear that the Government believes children have no entitlement to a relationship with their fathers and that children are the property of their mothers and of the State."

Donation racket in Britain too: "A builder who lives in a former council house in Newcastle and "can't stand" Labour has been named as one of Gordon Brown's biggest donors - prompting fresh questions over the party's finances. Ray Ruddick, who drives a battered Transit van, is officially listed as having contributed more than 104,000 pounds to the national party's coffers since Mr Brown became Prime Minister less than five months ago. His contributions, combined with those of a woman he is linked to, make him Labour's third biggest donor under Mr Brown"

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

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

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

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

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

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26 November, 2007

The EU hates Switzerland's low taxes

And they are using the flimsiest arguments to attack them. They are claiming that low taxes are "subsidies"!

Another round of fruitless discussions forming part of the ongoing battle between the European Union and Switzerland over the latter's corporate tax system took place in Bern on Monday. But while the European Commission has the obvious weight advantage over its more nimble neighbour, at present Brussels simply doesn't have the legal reach to deliver the knock-out blow that would oblige the Swiss to capitulate to its demands.

The dispute, and the focus of the latest discussions, centres on Switzerland's cantonal tax system. The European Commission considers certain cantonal company tax arrangements to be incompatible with the 1972 Free Trade Agreement - a notion that the Swiss government firmly rejects.

The EC argues these cantonal company tax regulations restrict trade in goods between Switzerland and the EU, and distort competition. However, this is only a part of the debate. At its heart is the Commission's complaint that the cantonal tax systems encourage EU-based firms to set up holding companies in Switzerland to avoid taxes in EU member states.

On the first point, the Swiss delegation, led by Alexander Karrer, Head of the Monetary Affairs and International Finance Division in the Federal Department of Finance, and including representatives from the cantons, argued that Swiss taxes do not distort bilateral trade, because the types of company concerned in Switzerland have no, or at most subordinate, business operations which are taxed normally. Regarding the second point, Karrer's delegation countered that in the case of holding companies, revenues from Swiss sources are taxed in the same way as those from foreign sources. Furthermore, the Swiss emphasised that both domestic and foreign-controlled companies are entitled to take advantage of holding-company privileges.

The European Commission is basing its legal argument against Switzerland on the latter's alleged breach of state aid rules, which, in the EU, are in place to prevent member states from favouring certain companies and industries with beneficial tax rules and subsidies. But the Swiss say that the EC's arguments rest on shaky very legal ground, pointing out that the country is neither an EU member or part of the Single European Market, nor party to the competition regulations of the EC Treaty, including those on state aid. Moreover, Bern insists that even if the tax laws in question were covered by the 1972 Free Trade Agreement, they would not fall under the EU's definition of state aid, because they do not favour certain companies or industries.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

I have added a fair bit recently to my "permanent" comments in the side columns of my various blogs. So if you have not looked at them recently you may find something of interest there. I have also put a few things up on my personal blog recently, for what interest that may have. See here or here.

Iraqi school guard and wife beheaded as children watch: "Three suspected al Qaeda militants, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife, forcing the couple's children to watch, Iraqi police said on Friday. The militants considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers, they told police interrogators after being arrested in Diyala province northwest of Baghdad. The three cousins executed Hayali and his wife Zeinab Kamel at the all-boys school in Jalawlah in Diyala province, village police chief Captain Ahmed Khalifa said..."

Strange Swede: "When I read that a Swede had been arrested for a vicious attack on a man in a pub-brawl in which the man's lip was bitten off, I was surprised. Whenever I had met Swedes either traveling or through business they were always polite, unflappable, and level-headed. Even when drinking way more than we should, the only physical danger you face from a Swede is being bear-hugged to death. There had to be more to this story. Whaddya know? There is... "The victim, a 23-year-old English tourist, suffered six months of painful surgery to repair his face after he was pinned down and half of his bottom lip bitten off to the chin. Diar Abdullah, a 28-year-old native of Sweden, was arrested at Sydney Airport about midday yesterday as he disembarked from a flight from Queensland." I'm just guessing, this native of Sweden probably doesn't have Viking ancestry?"

The Church of homosexuality: "The openly homosexual bishop whose ordination sparked the split in the Anglican Communion has claimed that the Church of England would come close to shutting down if it was forced to manage without gay clergy. The Bishop of New Hampshire in the US, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, who is divorced and lives openly in partnership with a gay man, said that he found it mystifying that the mother Church of the Anglican Communion was unable to be honest about the number of gay clergy in its ranks."

British officers quit army in record numbers: "The army has suffered an unprecedented exodus of more than 1,300 officers in the past six months amid anger about government cost-cutting and equipment shortages. The number quitting is more than double the rate in the previous 12 months and will add to pressure on Gordon Brown about the way his government is funding the armed services. Many of those who have resigned their commissions are from frontline units. Most are captains or majors with invaluable experience of battle. "The loss of a whole swathe of middle-ranking officers will leave us struggling to find the top quality generals of the future," said one senior officer. "But it is clear the government does not care and would be happy to see the army reduced to a token force."

Ian Smith was right: "Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian prime minister, who made his unilateral declaration of independence from Britain in 1965 and fought a bitter rearguard action to prevent black majority rule, never lost the ability to inspire strong emotion... Yet the odd truth is that in retirement after 1980, when Mugabe took over, Smith not only did not fade away but grew both in stature and popularity. As Mugabe's regime became steeped in blood and violence, Africans of all persuasions flocked to Smith's house to consult him. The (all black) student body of Zimbabwe University gave him a standing ovation for his ringing condemnation of "the gangsters", as he always called Mugabe's corrupt ruling mafia. Visiting him at his house in Harare (next to the Cuban embassy, the hammer and sickle flying) I marvelled at the fact that, after the death of his wife Janet, he lived alone with just a cook and minimal security. When he walked the streets of Harare, Africans would almost queue up to grasp his hand and wish him well." [I say more about Ian Smith and Rhodesia here]

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

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

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

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

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25 November, 2007

The Ruddslide

Some readers may be looking to me for a comment on the implications of the recent Australian Federal election. As I see it, one centre-right government has been replaced by another. As Andrew Bolt has pointed out, there are even some ways in which Rudd is to the Right of John Howard. And the policies of the two major parties on social issues such as illegal immigration, abortion and homosexual marriage seem to differ only in the smallest of details.

There are some causes for concern, of course, but nothing major is likely to change much. The Australian Labor party is arguably the world's most conservative Leftist party and they strongly reinforced that in the recent election campaign by their constant "me-toos" to the policies of the Howard government. They NEEDED to do that. Any hint of traditional Leftist policies would have sent them to oblivion again -- as it did in the previous election under the leadership of Mark Latham. In other words, they won by promising that there would be only micro-changes. That is pretty conservative in at least one sense.

There will certainly be a lot of rabid Leftists in the new Labor cabinet (government) but Rudd has immense authority for having led them out of the wilderness and he is also an obsessive bureaucrat who will not let much past him and he knows full well what his victory depended on. So any Bolshevik tendencies in the cabinet will undoubtedly be stared down.

If Rudd WERE to depart from his election promises to any substantial degree that would be a strong confirmation of what his electoral opponents constantly harped on during the campaign: Can he be trusted? And that would almost certainly lead to his defeat in the next Federal election in 3 year's time. And I know without looking that Rudd has far greater ambitions than being a one-term Prime Minister. So, ultimately, it is the electorate that is the watchdog watching him. And his recent success shows that he is too good a politician to be unaware of that gaze.

The biggest danger that I see is in his High Court appointments. Judges generally seem pretty power-mad and Rudd appointments could take the brakes off that. Australia has had a lot less legislating from the bench than the USA has had so it would be a great pity to lose that restraint.

The Rudd stance on the Iraq involvement is certainly weaker than that of John Howard but I again think Rudd will be cautious. His habit of caution and avoiding controversy should see any moves being slow and well-considered rather than hasty. He is certainly a lot less frantic about it than the U.S. Democrats are. Britain is already in the process of pulling out of Iraq, however, so that makes whatever Rudd does fairly inconsequential by comparison.




SO YOU THINK YOUR PHONE COMPANY IS HOPELESS!

By all accounts, the world's worst phone company is the major provider in Britain: BT. There is a good example of the way BT treat customers just up on Wicked Thoughts. A customer had to post his complaint on YouTube in order to get them to talk to him. A phone company that refuses to talk is pretty strange, isn't it?

But I am sure that many American readers have plenty of gripes with their phone company too. I myself have had innumerable run-ins with Australian phone companies. Talking to Telstra via their phone help-line or their email help-line is quite hopeless. You either get an insincere promise to look into it or you get told point-blank that they can't help you. Either way you have wasted your time.

Fortunately, there is a tiny chink in Telstra's armour. If you write to their chief executive you do get a mostly intelligent response and the response sometimes -- but not always -- does fix the problem. So I have only minor gripes with them at the moment. I thought it might be amusing, however, to put up copies of some of the letters I have had to write to them in the last few years. You will see how heavy I sometimes had to get in order to receive a helpful response. You can read the letters on Pondlife.

I imagine that there is already such a thing elsewhere but if I get enough emails telling of bad experiences that readers have had with their phone company, maybe I could start a site to publish such emails. It could well become both popular and a real help to people victimized by arrogant and unresponsive phone companies.

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Arabs are never to blame

When the US intervened in 1999 to stop the mass murder of a Muslim minority by Slobodan Milosevic, it was savagely criticised by a Europe desperate to distance itself from the action. Eight years later, the US is being savaged for a perceived lack of engagement in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

It is becoming increasingly de rigueur around the world and, for that matter, in certain segments of the Democratic Party, to place responsibility for all international crises on the US Government. When it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, it has attained the level of high fashion to ascribe the persistent absence of peace to a lack of adequate US "engagement" in resolving it. If the administration of President George W. Bush were truly engaged, the argument goes, the chances for Middle East peace would be greatly improved.

Next week's meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, between Israel and Arab representatives has the look and feel of more of the same. The State Department has sent out formal invitations to the event, but it remains unclear who will attend besides Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. If history is any guide, the meeting will yield unsatisfactory results, Israel will be blamed for failing to make the requisite concessions and the Bush administration will be criticised for its "failure to engage".

This analysis, simple and neat, and for so many so satisfying, would seem at odds with the historical record.... It was the Arab bloc, including the Palestinian leadership, that decided to reject the UN's 1947 partition of Palestine into two states, Arab and Jewish, living side by side. Instead, it invaded the nascent Jewish state rather than choosing to co-exist with it, spawning the conflict that has so burdened the world for the past 60 years. This was not a decision made by the US.

The US is also not responsible for the Arab world's choice not to create a Palestinian Arab state in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank from 1948 to 1967, when it easily could have done so -- before there were any Jewish settlements there to serve as the public object of Arab grievance. It was not the US whose leaders rejected peace with Israel, negotiation with Israel and recognition of Israel in 1967.

Nor can the Clinton government be criticised for failing to pursue Yasser Arafat with sufficient solicitude between 1993 and late 2000. The Clinton administration was, after all, the most ardent of suitors of the Palestinian leader -- only to be forced to watch Arafat reject an independent Palestinian state in all of Gaza and virtually all of the West Bank. It was the Palestinian leadership, not the US, that decided in 2000 that, rather than accept an independent Palestinian state.....

Under the circumstances, one might imagine that those in a position to improve the situation in the Middle East -- but who have chosen by their inaction to worsen it -- might feel sheepish about placing the onus for the absence of Middle East peace on the US. The only thing in shorter supply than sheepishness when it comes to the Middle East, however, is helpfulness. As far as helpfulness is concerned, it is past time for those who complain most about the lack of American engagement to begin providing some.

More here

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Yes. Australia now has a new Leftist government. But it is probably the world's most conservative Leftist government. Well to the Right of Tony Blair.

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ELSEWHERE

Syria 'was building A-bomb': "The secret Syrian structure bombed by Israeli planes three months ago was not a nuclear reactor for producing plutonium but a plant for building a bomb using plutonium that Syria apparently already had, an expert says. Uzi Even told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Syria had been far closer to a nuclear bomb than anyone believed. "In my estimation," said Professor Even, who had worked as a chemist at Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor, "this (structure) was even more dangerous than a reactor. I suspect that it was a plant for processing plutonium -- that is, a factory for assembling the bomb."

Denmark convicts men in bomb plot: "A court in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, has found three men guilty of planning bomb attacks. Mohammed Zaher, Abdallah Andersen and Ahmad Khaldhahi were part of a group of four men arrested after a raid in the city of Odense last year. Chemicals used to make explosives were found at one of the men's homes, the court heard. The men had also been recorded discussing targets to attack. The fourth man, Riad Anwar Daabas, was acquitted by the court.... The men were charged with acquiring chemicals and equipment used to make triacetone triperoxide (TATP) - an explosive compound used in the 2005 London bombings. The evidence against them included a bottle containing a small amount of TATP, found at one of the suspects' homes, and surveillance recordings in which the men are apparently heard discussing targets for possible attack".

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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24 November, 2007

Big day for Australia today

I have just gone and voted in Australia's Federal election. My local polling place was VERY well-staffed and well managed. I was in and out in 10 minutes -- unlike the way many Americans have had to line up for hours in their previous Federal elections. And because all votes are on paper, recounts are fairly easy and disputes about the results are rare.

We have separate ballot papers for the Senate and the lower house and the fact that the two ballot papers are very different in size means that it is almost impossible to get the two mixed up. Nonetheless there was a lady standing by the ballot boxes to see that everybody put their paper in the right box. Very good for absent-minded people like me!

I gave my Senate vote to Pauline, of course. Her policy of restricting Muslim immigration is the only sensible one for any Western nation, in my opinion.

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Why You Should Oppose 'Economic Development'

Economic development seems quite the fashionable occupation in many state and municipal circles these days, and why not? Who can argue with efforts by the government to bring in new business, to facilitate job creation, and bolster the tax base? That's what government is for, right?

But lost amidst the litany of public sector truisms is a glaring disassociation between goals and objectives. Economic development is a term so overused, so vague, and so misunderstood that its employment in public discourse has become the convenient wildcard for government to impose its various, indeterminable designs. Have a hankering for a new waterfront? Issue bonds and call it economic development. Looking to lower unemployment? Wield public funds to subsidize otherwise wary corporations into setting up shop for a little while. But what is it we're really trying to accomplish? It stands to reason that the impulse for myriad economic development programs - implemented for their own sake - might be supplanting long-proven policies of economic growth. In a sense, we're losing sight of the forest for the trees.

Unfortunately, all too often, folks with policy-making responsibility are either foreign or indifferent to the differences between development and growth: whereas development represents the byproduct of economic strength - effective infrastructure, bolstering human capital, and strong employment - growth is the traditionally prescribed, and proven, mechanism for putting dollars in our pockets, allowing the markets to naturally stimulate development. Id est, after economic growth may follow expansion, higher tax revenues, increased employment, and more investment. Instead, political interests have attempted to cut out that critical ingredient from the picture and leapfrog onto development, hoping that public monies can be applied to create the veneer of growth, of economic health. And all too often, the result is problematic economic consequences and an over-drafted bank account, resulting in elevated clamor for new taxes, more federal and state aid, and - ironically - more economic development programs.

Such is the case today. Here's a dirty little secret about economic development: across the United States, there is a depressing correlation between the incidence of economic development programs and low levels of economic growth. That's right - statistically, the more economic development programs you have in your state, the more likely it is to be mired in sclerotic annual growth levels. Is this just chance? Maybe, but probably not.

A perfect example of this phenomenon is tiny, proudly anti-tax Delaware. A feisty little state of hardly more than 700,000 people, it wields an impressive Gross State Product of over $60 billion and grew 3.3% in 2005. Compare this with neighboring Pennsylvania, a state inundated with layers upon layers of economic development authorities (see: Pennsylvania Economic Development Association, Governor's Action Team, Team Pennsylvania Foundation, Delaware River Port Authority, et cetera and et cetera), who registered barely more than half that growth (1.7%) in the same year.

At the end of the day, the key to promoting growth - and actual economic well-being - does not lie in politically motivated development programs so much as making careful investments in the mechanisms that do traditionally encourage and sustain growth: good governance/institutions and stabilization policies.

More here

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ELSEWHERE



Religion of Peace is a very informative site -- too informative. It has been "filtered" by several internet censoring companies as "hate speech". To get the filtering lifted they had to remove certain pictures. Pretty obnoxious!

Don't EVER get on an Indonesian airliner: "A chunk of wing dropped off an Indonesian passenger plane carrying 144 people minutes after take-off, forcing the aircraft to return to the capital, an airline official said yesterday. The incident at Jakarta airport renewed concerns about the safety of flying in Indonesia following two major air accidents this year. The Boeing 737-400 operated by Batavia Air landed safely and none of 138 passengers and six crew members were hurt, said Anton Situmeang, a spokesman for the airline."

What a laugh! Blacks score badly at school because of "insensitive" teachers? "Teachers in California may be required to take racial sensitivity training next year. The training would help close the "achievement gap" between students of different races; white and Asian students score higher on tests than their black and Latino classmates." [There sure must be a lot of insensitivity about!]

Bungling British bureaucracy kills: "An investigation has started into the criminal justice failings that resulted in a bus passenger being killed by a man who should not have been released from prison. Richard Whelan was stabbed seven times after trying to stop Anthony Joseph throwing chips at his girlfriend on the top of a double-decker bus. Joseph had been released from a young offender institution hours before the attack, despite a warrant being in force for his arrest on another matter. He pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, after jurors failed to reach a verdict on murder. He is being treated for paranoid schizophrenia at Broadmoor secure hospital."

Surge of Anglicans embracing Rome: "The Pope will discuss how to deal with the increasing numbers of disaffected Anglicans wanting to join the Roman Catholic Church at a meeting with cardinals from around the world. Benedict XVI, who is making the reunification of Christendom a goal of his pontificate, is considering requests from at least three US Episcopal bishops for reception into the Catholic Church. He has also been approached by an entire breakaway group of traditionalist Anglicans. The meeting in Rome comes on the eve of the consistory to create a tranche of new cardinals and as the Anglican exodus over gays continues."

Muslim denial: "Islamist imams and Muslim "civil rights" groups in the United States continue to attempt to shut down free discussion about their beliefs. They seem to have no legitimate explanation or defense of their own words, or of the actions of their coreligionists who kill in the name of their 'religion.' They attempt to silence any criticism of their beliefs, showing that apparently they are too weak and childlike to reform them. They attempt to pass their beliefs off as benign, and accuse anyone who knows better and says so of being a bigot, or a proponent of hate speech. They don't represent all Muslims -- but they do represent some."

Is the U.S. government infested with jihadist moles?: "Looks as if it is. And it is, of course, because of the government's politically correct eagerness to hire Muslims, to show that the war on terror is not anti-Islam or anti-Muslim. And because no one in the government is studying the jihadist ideology, no one has the faintest idea how to screen applicants for it -- or any interest in doing so".

Eleven-year-old girl wants to play judo wearing hijab: "Stories like this one make the news more frequently these days. I don't get it. Muslim reps always say, "No one is making me wear a headscarf. It is an expression of modesty", blah blah. Well: is it mandatory or not? If not -- and you say it isn't, not me -- then the girl can remove it to compete. The rules say you can't wear such a scarf. So take it off and follow our rules. Oh but wait: suddenly the scarf IS mandatory. See why we get annoyed?"

There is a 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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23 November, 2007

"AFFIRMATIVE ACTION" AND LAW SCHOOL

The essential first step to an understanding of Leftism is that Leftists do NOT care about the people they claim to care about. They care about their own personal glorification only. What they hunger after is an appearance of righteousness and wise nobility -- and an appearance of righteosness is indeed beneficial to almost anybody. Righteousness is no substitute for being right, however -- but Leftists don't care about that. Just the appearance will do them fine.

"Affirmative action" (a nice name for racial discrimination) is a perfect example of that. If Leftists really cared about minorities, they would abandon "affirmative action" immediately. Conservative commenters have been making that point for many years so all I want to do here is report a small personal example of how "affirmative action" actually works:

When I was teaching sociology in a major Australian univerrsity over two decades ago, I had in my class an Aborigine (Australian black). Just to get as far as university was a major feat for an Aborigine but the Australian government has for many decades had schemes in place to facilitiate black entry to higher education and the student I am referring to was the beneficiary of one of those schemes.

That he had got so far, however, meant that he could not be failed. Since he attended only a minority of the classes he was supposed to attend with me and showed little more than a sense of grievance in anything he said, I gave him a fail mark for the course. The School of Sociology, however, gave him a Credit mark for the year overall. His Sociology course was one that he had elected to take as one component towards a law degree but Sociology is in general vastly less demanding than Law so I shudder to think what his performance in his Law courses must have been.

He graduated, of course. And he was then immediately hired as a lawyer by a legal organization that represents blacks in court and elsewhere. They could hardly have done otherwise. Not to hire him would have been "racism". So the upshot of "affirmative action" in this case was that blacks came to be represented in court by probably the most incompetent lawyer in the whole country! Was that good for blacks?

When anybody points out ways in which "affirmative action" is bad for blacks (See, for instance, the research on law school admissions by Richard Sander -- here and here and here), however, Leftists respond not with concern about the problem but rather with rage and abuse towards the person revealing the problem -- plus attempts to deny or cover up the problem. They HAVE to respond with rage and denial. To do otherwise would be an admission of getting it grossly wrong and that would not be good for the image of wise nobility that they project for themselves. It would certainly deprive them of one of their major claims to righteousness and that would never do. Too bad about the minorities whom their policies hurt. Judge Clarence Thomas has of course recently waxed eloquent about how "affirmative action" hurt him.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY AMERICAN READERS!

And eat as much as you want of whatever you want. Almost all of the food and health "wisdom" that gets preached at you daily via the media is just another form of bigotry. The balance of evidence is against most of the claims that you hear. A browse through my FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC blog will assure you of that.

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ELSEWHERE

The revenge of the paleoconservatives: "The simple truth of economics is that not every business -- not even every American business -- deserves to survive. Bolstering economically unviable American businesses misallocates resources and deprives deserving American companies of the resources they need to stay ahead. But Buchanan and his ilk see economics in stark terms: buying American good, buying foreign bad. They ignore the fact that Americans do not have unlimited supplies of cash -- that if Americans are forced to buy poorly made, expensive American products, well-made American products may suffer the consequences. If the Republican Party embraces Buchanan-esque paleoconservative economics, it will precipitate prolonged recession. The Democratic Party will tout Keynesian economics as a response, necessitating higher taxes and massive government growth. The paleoconservative nightmare -- bigger government -- is the likely outcome of a paleoconservative economic program."

Dianne Feinstein, enemy of the left? "Last year, ultra-liberal elements within the Democratic Party waged a heated political battle against Sen. Joe Lieberman, their vice-presidential nominee of just six years earlier. But if you thought that liberal cannibalism stopped with the attack on Connecticut's junior senator, think again. The left wing has now set its sights on California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another centrist Democrat who has failed to walk in lockstep with the increasingly puritanical left. Why are the hardcore lefties so upset with Feinstein? In August, she voted for a bill reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- a vote they interpreted as a thumbs-up for widespread, unchecked domestic spying by the Bush administration."

British bureaucrats lose even MORE files: "At least two more CDs that could leave thousands of people open to identity fraud have been reported missing by staff at HM Revenue & Customs this week, The Times has been told. Police have started an investigation into the loss of the unencrypted files, which went missing in transit from tax offices in Washington, Tyne & Wear, and contain "sensitive information" including national insurance numbers and dates of birth. They were sent to offices in London and are yet to be accounted for. The loss of these files are in addition to a series of recent blunders by HMRC, including the announcement this month that a CD-Rom that contained information on 15,000 Standard Life customers had been lost.... Further questions about the standards of data protection at HMRC were raised yesterday by a solicitor who works routinely with the prosecution arm of the HMRC. Shawn Williams, of Rose, Williams & Partners, a legal firm in Wolverhampton that deals with tax fraud cases, said that his firm frequently received discs that contained personal data from the HMRC with the password included"

Britain's latest prohibition: Baby milk: "The advertising of powdered milk for babies on television, in the national press and through a NHS leaflet given to mothers will be banned from January, as part of a new EU directive on infant formula. The ban supports the Government's policy to encourage breast-feeding."

Deceptions about poverty: "Most of the income received by people 65 years old and up is not counted statistically as earnings. Only 24 percent of their incomes are earnings. Most of their incomes are from pensions or other sources known as "unearned income," such as returns on investments. It should hardly be surprising that people who have been around a long time would have accumulated more money in the bank and maybe have a little nest egg in a mutual fund, each of which provides a stream of income during their retirement years, even if that income does not get counted as earnings. Despite a drumbeat of political rhetoric depicting the elderly as being in dire economic conditions, the actual incomes of the elderly are more than four times what their earnings statistics might suggest - or what politicians can claim, citing those statistics.... There are of course some elderly people who are poor, just as there are some poor people in every age bracket. But statistics cited by politicians, journalists, and others who inflate the number of the poor need both scrutiny and skepticism."

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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22 November, 2007

The CIA is now just another inefficient Left-dominated bureaucracy

It now works at best only half-heartedly in America's interest

The story of the US government's bungling in the case of Nada Nadim Prouty - "Jihad Jane" - gets worse and worse. Here are two more danger signs in her background that got overlooked: her cousin the terrorist, and her family's involvement in the Syrian National Socialist Party. That's right: It's not just Prouty's links to the terrorists of Hezbollah that got missed, but her ties to a Nazi party.

Since Prouty pleaded guilty last week to naturalization fraud and conspiracy, as well as unauthorized computer access at her FBI and CIA jobs, the two agencies have launched probes of how they bungled background checks before employing her. Then came reports that her sister, now a commissioned Marine officer, pulled a similar sham-marriage scam to gain US citizenship. But the scandal will only grow with this new information.

The failure of the background checks on Prouty puzzles sources familiar with her family's background in Lebanon. The Syrian National Socialist Party is actually an organization in Prouty's native Lebanon, where everyone knows it's a pawn of Syria's Baathist dictatorship; its stated goal is the formation of a greater Arab state, including Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cypress and part of Turkey.

Prouty's maiden name is Al-Aouar - and the Al-Aouar family is noted back in Lebanon for its extremist political activity on behalf of the SNSP. That activism is all the more notable, because they are members of Lebanon's Druze minority - distinct from Syria's usual Shia Muslim allies there, and generally at odds with Hezbollah. And intelligence sources from Israel and its old ally, the South Lebanese Army, say that Prouty's cousin, Nidal Al-Aouar, was a terrorist - one who trained in North Korea and the old USSR and went on to set roadside car bombs in Lebanon on behalf of Syria.

That the CIA did not uncover these elements of Prouty's background is cause for concern, since it is hardly a secret in Lebanon and Syria.

Source

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Brookes News Update

Is the US economy facing a credit crunch? : Every time an economic crisis seems to be on the horizon you can bet your last dollar that scores of advisers will be warning that a drop in consumer confidence will cause a fall in consumer demand which will drive the economy into recession. So what is really happening?
Australia's plummeting jobless: miracle or good economics?: The economy is booming, unemployment is dropping, capacity utilization is at a record level and China's demand for our resources is rising. What could possibly be wrong with this picture? Unfortunately, quite a lot
Put the carbon killers last: Saturday's election could be crucial to Australia's future. Fanatical greens are making fantastic demands that would send the economy reeling into a permanent recession - and Mr Rudd promised to accommodate them.
Hollywood's Red Decade: The current crop of Hollywood anti-victory movies is nothing new. Hollywood leftists have a long history of making anti-American films
Hillary Clinton's corruption and the mainstream media's treason: Electorates are generally known for having short memories. Unfortunately this kind of memory loss can be hazardous to the body politic and a nation's economic welfare. This is why electorates need to be periodically reminded of the misdeeds and inordinate ambitions of those who lust for power
The Golden Compass has no moral compass: It seems the most militant anti-theist are either arrogant scientists or unrestrained licentious types whose main obstacles to faith are not intellectual, but moral - and that moral obstacle seems invariably to be sex

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Economist Arnold Kling has a good article on Race, IQ and Education. He implicitly accepts what any non-political person could see after not much observation at all: That blacks are on the whole less intelligent. He quite correctly, however, points out that this should not in general matter. Some blacks are highly intelligent and some whites are dumb so each person should be treated on his individual merits rather than on the basis of his race. It is only the race-obsessed Leftists who get hysterical over statements about groups. Conservatives have always held that it is the individual that matters. The KKK were Democrats, not Republicans. And Hitler was a socialist, not a conservative. It has ALWAYS been the Left who obsess about race. And via "affirmative action" etc they still do. They are incapable of treating people as individuals. That would be too complex for their simplistic style of thinking. Saletan covers much the same ground as Kling and comes to much the same conclusion but links a lot more to the scientific evidence on the subject. Note that even the super-correct American Psychological Association had to acknowledge that the AVERAGE black-white gap in IQ is one SD (15 points).

Strange Justice has had a lot of meaty articles up lately.

So much for that story about tourists avoiding the USA: "A record number of foreigners visited the United States this summer and spent unprecedented amounts of money, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday. "These robust summer travel numbers highlight the vitality of the American travel industry," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in a statement applauding the role international tourism plays in boosting U.S. economic growth. Six years after the September 2001 attacks put a big dent in visits to the United States, the weak U.S. dollar has made foreign travel in the United States a better bargain and helped to bring overseas travelers back." [The earlier story is here]

The Left's idea of "scary": "But of course there was nothing scary about Reagan. What frightened his opponents was his refusal to let them forget what they were really afraid of: an evil empire with weapons of mass destruction pointed at all of us, including Tony Lewis. Likewise, today's Angry Left is afraid of Giuliani (and George W. Bush) because he reminds them of a threat they are trying desperately to deny--a threat that will actually be greater if the cowardly deniers are allowed to make policy.

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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21 November, 2007

BBC bias again

A British Jewish community leader is demanding that BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen be replaced following contentious remarks about Israel made in a BBC memo. Andrew Balcombe, chairman of the Zionist Federation of Britain and Ireland, has written to the chair of the BBC Trust, Dr Chitra Bharucha, following a leaked e-mail Bowen sent last month that questions Bowen's impartiality as he appears to put the onus of blame for the violence in the region on Israel. The Middle East editor blames the "fragmentation of Palestinian society" on the "death of hope" citing Israel as the reason for this.

The e-mail, with the subject title, Mini briefing on the Israeli and Palestinians, was sent to senior BBC staff including BBC Director-General Mark Byford, head of the BBC's Jerusalem bureau, Simon Wilson, the BBC Editorial Board and the editors of the BBC's world bureaus. "What is new in the last year, and will be one of the big stories in the coming 12 months, is the way that Palestinian society, which used to draw strength from resistance to the occupation, is now fragmenting," the e-mail read. "The reason is the death of hope, caused by a cocktail of Israel's military activities, land expropriation and settlement building - and the financial sanctions imposed on the Hamas-led government which are destroying Palestinian institutions that were anyway flawed and fragile.

"The result is that internecine violence between Hamas and Fatah is getting worse. On Thursday six people were killed in clashes between them in Gaza. The death of a major figure on either side would spark something much more serious." He continues, "Israel's major military incursion into Ramallah on Thursday, killing four Palestinians after a botched arrest operation, was a reminder of the non stop pressures of the Israeli occupation."

In his letter to the BBC, Balcombe cited the press briefing released by the BBC when Bowen was appointed as Middle East editor in June 2005. "The new role is designed to enhance our audience's understanding of the Middle East; and to provide extra commentary, focus and analysis to an increasingly complex area of the world," the briefing said. "Recent events indicate that Bowen is unable to perform this role to the standard required," Balcombe insisted. "This simply does not represent balanced reporting and does not contribute to BBC viewers' understanding of the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this way Bowen is doing a disservice to the BBC's customers." ....

"Israeli policies towards the Palestinians create hardship and tough, critical reporting is legitimate, though it may make uncomfortable viewing for Israel supporters," said Gavin Gross, campaigns director of the ZF. "However, equal time and emphasis must also be given to presenting Israel's viewpoint and the threats it faces, or else it is bad journalism. Sadly, the BBC's coverage does not meet this test, which is why we are calling for Jeremy Bowen to be replaced as Middle East editor," he said.

More here

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Above are some of the kids that the "humanitarians" in the U.S. Congress want to betray. Story here

See here for a debunking of the recent CBS News story about a high suicide rate among soldiers who have served in Iraq. Iraq veterans in fact have a LOWER suicide rate than others in their demographic. Another media lie is that soldiers have been deserting a lot more since the Iraq involvement began. Debunked here.

What the French elite tolerate: "Last night at the Stade de France, France's showcase stadium in Saint Denis (the notorious Nine-Three [an area heavily populated by Muslim immigrants from North Africa]), France and Morocco played a 2-2 tie. Before the match, the French national anthem was widely booed by the "French youths" in attendance. French defender William Gallas, commenting the total absence of French flags in a sea of waving Moroccan flags, stated "I thought I was in Morocco."

Heading towards the police state: ""Every year the United States becomes less free; the state controls more of our lives, takes more of our money, and takes from us more choices of how we are to live our lives. This is not the result of some government plot to establish a dictatorship but simply the natural progression of the state. Unless freedom is defended diligently, it disappears and is replaced by the police state."

The greening of Wal-Mart: "Wal-Mart's support for the anti-free market agenda of the environmental movement is not silencing its liberal critics and may be undermining the company's financial future. Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott began pushing a so-called sustainability campaign in October 2005 as part of an ill-conceived attempt to deflect union criticism of its business practices. The campaign includes spending $500 million a year to cut greenhouse gas emissions to combat the unproven global warming threat, selling more sustainable products, using more renewable energy, and generating less waste."

Osama's quagmire : "We're floundering in a quagmire in Iraq. Our strategy is flawed, and it's too late to change it. Our resources have been squandered, our best people killed, we're hated by the natives and our reputation around the world is circling the drain. We must withdraw. No, I'm not channeling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. I'm channeling Osama bin Laden, for whom the war in Iraq has been a catastrophe."

Inbred British Muslims: "Marriages between cousins should be banned after research showed alarming rates in defective births among Asian communities in Britain, a Labour MP said last night. The report, commissioned by Ann Cryer, revealed that the Pakistani community accounted for 30 per cent of all births with recessive disorders, despite representing 3.4 per cent of the birth rate nationwide.... "I think this should be applied to the Asian community. They must look outside the family for husbands and wives for their young people." It is estimated that more than 55 per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins, resulting in an increasing rate of genetic defects and high rates of infant mortality"

Greed and ethics go hand in hand: "Greed is a universal human trait. The world is run on greed. All individuals make decisions in their best self-interest, even if it is doing something for someone else from their heart. They do it because it makes them feel good which is satisfying their greed, if you will, for being happy. The point is free trade and capitalism is the best system that allows for the most individuals to be able to satisfy their greed and self-interest while at the same time encourages ethical behavior."

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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20 November, 2007

"Imposed Mixing" of ethnic groups recommended

The academic journal article abstracted below (fuller summary here) is a bit alarming. It makes the unremarkable observation that the longer and vaguer are your borders with another group or nation, the more likely you are to get into conflict with the other group or nation. The recommendations the authors come up with from that are however a problem.

One recommendation -- strong and secure borders between different groups -- would I think be generally hailed by conservatives. But there is another very Leftist recommendation: "imposed mixing". Such an idea might seem impossibly Fascistic but some versions of it are sometimes agitated for by Leftists. They want to break up the voluntary self-segregation of blacks and whites by busing blacks into white areas or putting welfare housing into white areas, for instance.

We know pretty well now how that works out. Whites just keep moving away in order to keep themselves and their children safe from black crime and violence.

But what if a Leftist government seized on the study below as "scientific" justification for PREVENTING white flight in some way? It could happen. That the result would be INCREASED conflict we all know but Leftists are very good at ignoring the obvious.

So, if we are being all scientific, maybe I should draw attention to summaries of the scientific EVIDENCE for what the authors below propose. See here and here. DOES mixing people from different groups produce more harmony? The answer is that "It all depends" and what it depends on is rarely easily foreseeable. In short, the "mixing" policy recommendation below has already had lots of scientific testing and the testing does not support it.

Global Pattern Formation and Ethnic/Cultural Violence

By May Lim et al.

We identify a process of global pattern formation that causes regions to differentiate by culture. Violence arises at boundaries between regions that are not sufficiently well defined. We model cultural differentiation as a separation of groups whose members prefer similar neighbors, with a characteristic group size at which violence occurs. Application of this model to the area of the former Yugoslavia and to India accurately predicts the locations of reported conflict. This model also points to imposed mixing or boundary clarification as mechanisms for promoting peace.

Science 14 September 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5844, pp. 1540 - 1544

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There is another good article here pointing out that Christians were major opponents of Nazism in Hitler's day. Leftists try to claim the opposite but to do so is to ignore all history.

Jenny Bea has done a lot of research into the "undecided voters" who asked questions at the CNN Democrat debate on 15th. It turns out that all of them were Democrat operatives or have strong connections to Democrat causes. Apparently, someone feared that REAL members of the public might ask the "wrong" questions. The questions were essentially a deceptive piece of theatre rather than an exercise in open debate. Doug Ross has the pictures. And, yet again, the questions asked were scripted

Another crook has been found among the large donors to the Clinton campaign. Birds of a feather flock together and the Clintons and crooks have been flocking together for a long time. If "there's no such thing as right and wrong", why not?

Bill and Hill: "Sure, Hillary is fairly bright. But that is trumped by the fact that she married a philanderer and has stayed with him through public humiliation after public humiliation. That is not "love", nor is it "constancy", nor is it in any way laudable in my estimation. Frankly, it reeks of incredibly poor judgement, particularly since Bill has not apparently reformed since the Lewinsky affair; though admittedly he's less public about it since his wife began her run for the White House. OK, fine. She has chosen to stick with the jerk. What goes on in their bedroom (or doesn't) is none of my business. It's her problem and her cross to bear....but...but she seems to think--no expect, that I, as a woman, should be excited and revved up that she is running for President. Sorry, not interested in that line of propaganda. As far as I'm concerned, she's a complete loser as a woman and not at all a role model I'd hold up to my daughter. I don't care how many people she cons with this "I am woman, hear me roar" bullshit. Hillary Clinton is nothing more than a postmodern gold digger whose preferred "gold" happens to be political power."

Candyfloss German pilots: "They are on the front line of the war on terror, but German pilots facing the Taliban are insisting they stop at tea time every day to comply with health and safety regulations. The helicopter pilots, who provide medical back-up to Nato ground troops, set off for their base by mid-afternoon so they can be grounded by sundown. Their refusal to fly in the dark is hampering Operation Desert Eagle, an allied offensive, which involves 500 Nato-led troops plus 1,000 Afghan troops and police. Although Germany has sent 3,200 troops to Afghanistan, they operate under restrictive rules of engagement. They spend much of their time in an enormous base, complete with beer halls and nightclubs, in Mazar-e-Sharif, a 90-minute flight from the fighting. They also have a base at Kunduz."

Muslims hurting Muslim women: "Male gynaecologists are being targeted by Islamic extremists in Iraq as they are accused of invading the privacy of women. Women's NGOs have raised concerns as there are few women gynaecologists in the country and their male counterparts are scared to continue working. "Extremists say that [male] doctors are not allowed to see the private parts of women and two male doctors were reportedly killed last week after leaving their clinics. A message was left near their bodies saying that was the end for any doctor who insists in invading the privacy of Muslim women," Mayada added."

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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19 November, 2007

Rare realism from a Palestinian

For Sari Nusseibeh, true peace between his own people and Israel won't come from canny manoeuvres at the negotiating table. Ultimately, the Palestinian philosopher and humanist argued in a recent lecture at McGill University, peace will result from the mutual realization and acceptance of the fact that neither side will get everything it wants. For Palestinians, peace will mean giving up on the long-held dream that they will return one day to land they left almost 60 years ago. For Israelis, peace has to mean giving up on the dream that it can hold on to occupied land or that Jerusalem will never be the capital of two nations.

"On both ends, I believe a new paradigm has to be created based on an equitable settlement," the 58-year-old Nusseibeh, the president of Al-Quds University in the West Bank, said in a relatively brief, 20-minute address to a crowd of about 600 in the Stephen Leacock Building. "In the final analysis, a peaceful future and a positive future are not impossible to achieve. The distance is not arduous - it is the distance between one side of a pane of glass and another," he said. The glass is transparent, but it must be "cracked," he added. "The Israelis and Palestinians have the power to change. If we don't, it is not because we were powerless, but because we could not see through the pane."

At McGill, Nusseibeh, who recently released his memoirs, Once Upon a Country: a Palestinian Life, appeared to live up to his reputation as a voice of moderation, humanism, and intellectual rigour regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nusseibeh recalled how, in 1986, he witnessed the "horrible" stabbing of a 90-year-old pious Jew and decided to condemn the crime in writing - an act that was looked upon suspiciously by Israelis and got him into trouble with his own community. "It is easier to say things that please people, but I say exactly what I believe. If I condemn acts of terror, it is because of my humanity," he said. "It has been a constant fight.

Nusseibeh, referring to the fact that he has been called brave for speaking out, said, "I speak not because I'm courageous, but because of my fear about the future." For Palestinians, he said a two-state solution will have to entail trading their "right of return" for their "right to freedom." "These are impossible to implement together," he said, although it has always been "taboo" for Palestinians to say as much.

Similarly, Israelis must be prepared to give up some of their own dreams, too. Jerusalem, he said, is destined to be the capital of two states, and occupied territories will have to be abandoned.

Asked about the continued level of violence in the area, Nusseibeh seemed to regret that Palestinians have not "reached a consensus" on the use of non-violence. Recalling the first intifadah in the late 1980s - in which he played an active role - Nusseibeh said Palestinians were once "very creative" in resisting Israel without violence. In reply to another question, Nusseibeh said the last five years have been "unfortunately" violent, with Hamas operating under a completely "different paradigm" in which the group's means don't necessarily appear to be related to appropriate ends, which should be a two-state solution. "Do the people who voted for Hamas support violence against Israel?" he asked. Not necessarily, he answered. "My sense is that the majority of Palestinians who voted for Hamas would also accept a peace solution that is tangible."

More here

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So much for government "security": "Investigators with bomb-making components in their luggage and on their person were able to pass through security checkpoints at 19 U.S. airports without detection, according to the Government Accountability Office. GAO officials are expected to testify about the investigation Thursday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform."

SC: Thompson urges million-member ground force for military: "Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson called yesterday for a million-member military ground force and more funding to equip and care for service members and veterans. Thompson said he wants a military ground force of 775,000 in the Army and 225,000 Marines, 23,000 more Marines than the Pentagon is seeking. 'Some would say this plan is too much and too big,' Thompson said at The Citadel, a military college. 'I don't believe that's the case, not at all.' Thompson didn't say how he would pay for the increase, but added that military spending should be set at 4.5 percent of the value of the goods and services the nation creates. His campaign said that would be the equivalent of increasing military spending by as much as $150 billion a year, but that those increases would be phased in and depend on economic growth."

California: Eminent domain state ballot measure takes aim at rent control: "Property rights activists are once again pushing a ballot measure aimed at restricting government's use of eminent domain, but this time there's a secondary target - rent-control ordinances. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the California Farm Bureau Federation and various property owner groups are expected in the coming weeks to submit more than a million signatures to qualify the measure for the June 3 ballot. Similar to Proposition 90, which state voters narrowly rejected last year, the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act would seek to ban the ability of state or local government to condemn privately owned land to assist private developers. Proponents of the Jarvis measure said it also would prohibit government officials from imposing price restrictions on the sale or lease of private property - a provision that would phase out rent controls including San Francisco's ordinance."

Germany to protect Israel? How?: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said she felt a moral duty to protect Israel and would stand firm in the face of Iran's nuclear ambitions and its threats to wipe the Jewish state off the map. After receiving a prestigious award from the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Merkel said the prize gave her a responsibility to fight racism and to foster close ties between Germans and the Jewish community. "It means intervening to protect the safety of Israel today and in the future, as well as our common values of democracy and the rule of law."

Canada: US Army cowards lose appeal for asylum: "Two U.S. Army deserters who fled to Canada and sought refugee status on grounds of their opposition to the war in Iraq have lost their bids to have the Supreme Court of Canada hear their cases. The court refused Thursday to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, who were rejected by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board in 2005. ... Hinzman and Hughey deserted the U.S. Army in 2004 after learning their units were to be deployed to Iraq to fight in a war they have called immoral and illegal. The men argue that serving in Iraq would force them to commit crimes against civilians, and that they would be persecuted if forced to return to the United States."

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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18 November, 2007

Truthless in Gaza

Post below excerpted from AWOL Civilization. See the original for links

Western journalists have a long record of collaboration with the Arab propaganda machine. Let me point to just one example with which I am familiar from personal experience. After the signing of the infamous Oslo Accords in 1993, the Western media was suppressing any news that would make the nascent Palestinian Authority look bad. This included a blackout on Arafat's belligerent posturing to the Arab world, in Arabic. Despite the peace treaty signed on the White House lawn, Arafat and his lieutenants continued to speak to their people as if the war against Israel was at its peak. One would never know this, however, from reading Le Monde or watching ABC news. (Unfortunately, this was before the advent of the blogosphere.)

I was in Israel some time later, working as a freelance journalist. I picked up a rather unusual assignment. A team of film technicians and translators had made videos of some of Arafat's Nazi-style, jihadesque speeches to the masses in Gaza. These chilling spectacles, which could make even the most hardened Arafat-watcher's hair stand on end, were translated into Hebrew and English. The team was looking for a native English speaker to present the videos to the Western media. I accepted the offer. At the outset, I was concerned that my personal safety might be endangered when the films were shown to a wide audience.

My fears were for naught. For several days, I visited with virtually the entire Western press corps in Israel: the New York Times, the BBC, Reuters, you name it. All of them courteously listened to my pitch. All of them tried to keep a poker face as they watched the video, but signs of shock expressed themselves in a rogue muscle twitch or bead of sweat. All of them responded at the end with some mumbo-jumbo such as "oh, that's just what Arafat's saying to his people; he has to do that to maintain credibility."

Sure, I said to myself. That's certainly what these journalists would say if I had shown them translations of Yitzhak Rabin making speeches in Hebrew calling for the Palestinian Arabs to be driven into the sea. Not a single one of those media outlets ran the story. The silence was deafening. Little did I realize, at the time, that this entire affair-just like al-Dura-was one more link in the long chain of media promotion of all that is anti-Western.

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Hitler's Revenge

In Diana West's book, "The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization," there is a brilliant analysis of the current Western decay. Excerpt:

And therein lies Hitler's revenge - the cultural leveling that either emerged from, or was, in some crucial way, accentuated by, natural outrage over the crimes against humanity committed by the Third Reich. Hitler, of course was totally defeated, along with his tyrannical notion of cultural (Germanic) and racial (Aryan) "supremacy."

But so, too, perhaps, were all notions of Western primacy regarding culture and race (which I take here to include nationhood) - even ones that supported, not supremacy in a murderous form, but judgment in a rational form. Grounded by notions of sovereignty and cultural affinity, such judgment determines the kids of attitudes and choices-on everything from religion to law to literature-that are expressed in cultural identity. In the case of the United States and its European allies, these attitudes and choices derive from a specifically Judeo-Christian identity forged in fire, ink, and steel by those whom our modern-day multiculturalists insultingly deride as "dead, white men."

Having failed to destroy the democracies by making Nazi war, then, Hitler may have unwittingly managed to destroy the democracies by effecting a post-Nazi peace in which the act of pledging allegiance to the flag itself, for example, would practically become an act of nationalist supremacism - racism, even; bigotry, too.

Quite sudddenly, it didn't matter whether the culture in question led to a reign of terror, or to liberty and justice for all. The act of maintaining or defending the culture, or ultimately, even defining it - whether through unabashed opposition to communist expansionism, purposefully selective immigration practices, or even sticking to the Western canon - became confused with and condemned as an exclusionary and, therefore, evil chauvinism. In this way, having won the great victory, the Allies lost the will to survive.

Having defined the ultimate evil of Nazism, not as the ultimate violation of the moral law as traditionally understood, but as the violation of liberal tolerance, postwar liberalism then set about dismantling all the existing ordinary particularisms of our own society (including, in the case of the EU, nationhood itself) in the name of preventing a resurgence of Nazi-like evil. This was the birth of political correctness, which sees any failure on our part to be completely open to and accepting of the Other - and thus any normal attachment to our own ways and our own society - as the equivalent of Nazism.

Openness and acceptance on every and any level - from personal to national, from sexual to religious - are the highest possible virtues of the postmodern Westerner. This makes boundaries and taboos, limits and definition - anything that closes the door on anything else - the lowest possible sins. Judgment, no matter how judicious, is tarred as "prejudice" and, therefore, a neobarbarous act to be repressed and ultimately suspended. Patriotism has been caricatured out of polite society as boorish warmongering. Western civilization itself, which may be taken as the product of both judgment and patriotism, has been roundly condemned for being both prejudiced and warmongering.

The overall effect has been to sap the culture's confidence in its own traditions, even - especially - in the classical liberal tradition that stiffened our spines against Hitler in the first place. The cultural anemia that began to take hold long ago has passively accepted the transformation of America the Western into America the Multicultural (and Western Europe into Multicultural Europe) as a good, or necessary, or even just inevitable thing. And thus - with the practical disappearance of the nation, or perhaps better, the culture, that defeated him - Hitler's revenge.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Pakistani troops attack Taliban: "Pakistani troops have launched a counter-offensive against pro-Taliban militants in the northwest, pushing them back into forests and mountains, officials and witnesses reported overnight. The fighting has left more than 50 rebels dead in two days, according to army accounts, as security forces struck back against sweeping gains made in the scenic Swat Valley by militants loyal to a radical cleric."

Deceit comes naturally to the BBC: "The BBC has apologised for adding the sound of babies crying to its footage of quintuplets born to a Russian woman. The five girls, delivered at an Oxford hospital on November 10, are the latest individuals to be drawn into the broadcasting fakery row. The John Radcliffe Hospital distributed clips of the five babies and their parents, who defied doctors in Moscow who advised they abort some of the fetuses. While broadcasters like Sky and ITN ran clips of the footage without the audio, the BBC's footage contains the sound of children crying, even though the babies have respirators in their mouths. A spokeswoman for the Oxford hospital said: "There was no audio on our clip." "The BBC must have put it over. "I thought they weren't supposed to do things like that." A BBC spokesman said the corporation should have left the footage alone. He said: "We received the film without sound and on reflection we should have kept it that way."

Documentation of Saddam's WMD's: "Finally, there are some definitive answers to the mystery of the missing WMD. Civilian volunteers, mostly retired intelligence officers belonging to the non-partisan IntelligenceSummit.org, have been poring over the secret archives captured from Saddam Hussein. The inescapable conclusion is this: Saddam really did have WMD after all, but not in the way the Bush administration believed... The gist of the new evidence is this: roughly one quarter of Saddam's WMD was destroyed under UN pressure during the early to mid 1990's. Saddam sold approximately another quarter of his weapons stockpile to his Arab neighbors during the mid to late 1990's. The Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last few months before the war. The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam's nuclear weapons labs, were still inside Iraq on the day when the coalition forces arrived in 2003. His nuclear weapons equipment was hidden in enormous underwater warehouses beneath the Euphrates River. Saddam's entire nuclear inventory was later stolen from these warehouses right out from under the Americans' noses."

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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17 November, 2007

DISRAELI

It is one of the better-established findings in psychological research that the relationship between attitudes and behaviour is not at all straightforward. That is particularly true when it comes to predicting behaviour from a person's racial attitudes and beliefs. For instance, Left-influenced psychologists long thought that a person who was very attached to his own group (race, nation etc.) would thereby automatically be hostile to outgroups (minorities etc.). It is however now well established that there is very little relationship between the two at all. One of my own papers on the subject is here and a review of the academic literature is here.

So you can get "racists" who are hostile to other races and "racists" who are benevolent to other races. Hitler is an obvious real-life example of the former and the 19th century British empire -- with its conception of duty as embodied in Kipling's poem "The white man's burden" -- is a notable example of the latter.

History is generally taught with such a Leftist bias these days however that it takes a lot to undermine the demonized conception of the British empire that people have in their heads. To make it clear how different the Conservative "racists" of the 19th (and earlier) century British empire were from the socialist racists of Nazi Germany, therefore, I often mention the case of Benjamin Disraeli, a Jew who was installed as Prime Minister of Great Britain by the British Conservative party and subsequently by the British voters. He was hugely influential and died among great expressions of national loss in 1881.

British Conservatives who believed that the English were a superior race made a Jew their Prime Minister. German socialists who believed that Germans were a superior race murdered Jews by the millions. Is THAT contrast stark enough? Does THAT show that racism is not monolithic? Racism per se need not be destructive at all. But when it is combined with the hatreds of Leftism, it certainly is.

Leftists however sometimes quibble with my history lesson by saying that Disraeli was not in fact a Jew. They have obviously not read Disraeli. The very name "Disraeli" (d' Israeli, meaning "of Israel") might have alerted them to something but there are none so blind as those who will not see.

The tiny hook upon which Leftists hang their quibble is that British law of the day said that a Jew could not enter parliament. So Disraeli's father wisely had young Benjamin Christened as an Anglican at age 13. Everybody understood this as largely a formality however and Anglicanism then, as now, asked little of its adherents. So how did his "conversion" affect Disraeli? Very little. He in fact often flaunted his Jewishness. He was not so unwise as to speak ill of Anglicanism -- he was a great lover of all things British in fact -- but he often pointed to his Jewish origins and Jewish traditions as major influences on his thinking and on what he was. He was notorious for NOT "fitting in" with English ways of the day, in fact. He would have fried in Nazi Germany.

Perhaps the most telling indication of how Disraeli was perceived at the time can be found in Bismarck's famous admiring comment about Disraeli. Did Bismarck refer to Disraeli as "The old Englishman" or as "the old Anglican"? No. What Bismarck said was: "Der alte Jude, das ist der Mann" (The old Jew. THAT is the man). Everybody knew what Disraeli really was and it was simply not held against him. Though it would blow the mind of any Leftist to think such a thought, racists can in fact be very tolerant.

Footnote: This is strictly irrelevant to what I have written above but the historian in me impels me to note that, given Bismarck's own coruscating political brilliance, his tribute to Dizzy's political brilliance that I have noted above shows just how outstanding Dizzy was. And even though he was not one of them, British Conservatives had the good sense and flexibility to recognize and accept Dizzy for what he was as an individual.

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Brookes News Update

The depreciating dollar and the US economy: It was domestic inflation that drove down the dollar. Those who argued that cheap imports kept inflation under control were oblivious to the fact that these imports were the result of the US 'exporting'. So what is really happening to jobs and investment?
Does irrational exuberance drive the stock market?: Contrary to Robert Shiller's thesis a sharp deviation of stock prices from their fundamentals is the result of loose monetary policies of the US central bank and not some mysterious impulse or "animal spirits" gone wild
Immigration, economic growth and jobs: The claim that immigration is generates economic growth is a myth. The anti-immigration assertion that immigration damages the environment, aggravates the housing situation and overburdens the infrastructure is also a myth
'Global warming' as pathological science: The Global Warming campaign is endangering real, honest science. Global Warming superstition has become an international power grab, and good science suffers as a result. When the truth-tellers in society begin to sell out and tell lies for some ideological goal, people end up dying
Giuliani and the right's shifting priorities: Not only does Giuliani lead as the candidate who is the first choice of Republican voters: he also leads as the second choice of Republican voters. This indicates a high level of comfort with Giuliani, even among Republicans who would prefer a more religious candidate

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ELSEWHERE

I mentioned recently the strangeness at LGF -- where Charles Johnson seems to be on a jihad against European political parties that oppose Muslim immigration. Johnson is himself critical of Islam but seems to accept what Leftists say about critics of Islam in Europe. All very strange. There are now a couple of detailed critiques of Johnson's dubious reasoning up here and here (second link a bit slow to load but worth the wait).

Our friends, the Saudis: "A court in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail. The 19-year-old woman - whose six armed attackers have been sentenced to jail terms - was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape,'' the Arab News reported. But in a new verdict issued after Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council ordered a retrial, the court in the eastern town of Al-Qatif more than doubled the number of lashes to 200. A court source told the English-language Arab News that the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media.''

Iran stops shipping bombs to insurgents: "Iran appears to have stopped shipping the deadliest type of weapons used against U.S. troops in Iraq after a European government confronted Tehran with proof that the weapons came from Iranian factories and Iraqi officials warned their neighbor that instability in Iraq affects the entire region, U.S., Western and Iraqi officials said. A senior U.S. general in Iraq said Thursday that Iran is upholding informal commitments it's made in the last several months and no new weapons caches have been found recently."

A good comment from a Leftist: "Nothing exemplifies the return of old junk more than the `new' anti-Semitism and the bad faith that often finds expression in the statement: "I am anti-Zionist but not anti-Semitic." The fixation on Israel/Palestine within parts of the left, often to the exclusion of all other suffering on the globe, ought to leave any balanced observer wondering: What is going on here?"

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

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

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

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

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16 November, 2007

"Islamophobia" and antisemitism

There is no such thing as Islamophobia. Phobias are irrational fears. There is nothing irrational about fearing and disliking people who blow up your buildings, trains, buses and nightclubs. And since the 7/7 atrocity in Britain -- which was committed by Muslims who seemed to be well-assimilated into British society -- it is reasonable to fear or be wary of ALL Muslims. Nobody can tell which Muslim might be the next mass-murderer. It could be your neighbour or workmate and you could be among the victims.

So the term "Islamophobia" is just another attempt by Leftists to stigmatize normal attitudes. "Homophobia" is similarly misapplied. People who dislike or disapprove of homosexuality do not at all need to FEAR homosexuals. They may simply be disgusted by the thought of it -- as many are -- or they may think that the behaviour is simply wrong for one reason or another.

The term "Islamophobia" is useful for Leftists in many ways, however. There seems to be a fashion -- particularly in Europe -- to equate "Islamophobia" with antisemitism -- which is brain dead. I concede that many antisemites are perfectly rational people in general but it remains true that antisemitism is roughly as irrational as "Islamophobia" is rational. Only a Leftist would be unable to see the difference. Where Muslims are largely parasitical on Western civilization, Jews are great contributors to it, for instance.

A recent article in the WSJ makes similar points to what I have said above but makes that a jumping-off-place for discussing yet again the origins of antisemitism. The explanation favoured by the author -- Uriya Shavit -- is however a rather fanciful one. It is, somewhat amazingly, an attempt to show that there ARE important commonalities between "Islamophobia" and antisemitism. Shavit claims that both Jews and Muslims have territorial loyalties as well as religious loyalties. Jews are loyal to the land of Israel and Muslims are loyal to the Muslim "world" or "Ummah".

It is difficult to know where to start in commenting on that. For a start, it is a classic antisemitic slur to say that Jews have dual loyalties. I suppose it is true of some Jews to an extent but Shavit seems to be endorsing it as being true of Jews in general. And the claim that people are fearful of Muslims because of dreams in Muslim heads rather than because of what many Muslims actually DO is extraordinary.

I wonder if Shavit and A.B. Yehoshua (the writer to whom Shavit attributes his ideas) have ever talked to any actual antisemites. I spent some years doing so (see here, here and here) and found that most of the usual explanations for antisemitism were correct: Envy, scapegoating, a need for explanation etc. I also however found that the rather tribal morality that a subset of Jews practice was known and objected to (See here). So there is some minor rationality in antisemitism of that sort. Anybody who cannot see the difference between peaceful Jews and the actively hostile Muslims is not being serious, however.

As always, reality is complex but the reality Shavit discusses is one of the central issues of the day so dreamy simplifications of it do us all a great disservice.

So if "Islamophobia" is a myth, what expression should we use to describe wariness towards Muslims? Perhaps not surprisingly, we lag behind Germans in the matter. The two German terms "Judenhass" and "Muslimhass" are short and to the point: Translatable as "Jew-hate" and "Muslim-hate". Both terms are however exaggerations. I do know some antisemites who really do hate Jews and I have no doubt that some Germans hate Muslims but there are also many people who are simply wary or distrustful rather than actively hating anybody.

I think therefore that we should avoid ALL simplifications of this important matter. If we are talking about hatred of Muslims we should say "hatred of Muslims" and if we are talking about distrust of Muslims we should say "distrust of Muslims". Treating all negative attitudes towards Muslims as the same is a denial of reality.

I have also gone to great length to distinguish different negative attitudes towards Jews (See here and here) but I acknowledge that the term is too useful as shorthand for it to be abandoned.

Leftist "anti-Zionists" do however object to being called "antisemites" and they are correct in doing so. Some of them are stupid enough to believe all the old conspiracy theories of classical antisemitism but most hate Jews and Israel simply because both are successful and flourishing. They hate America and "the rich" for the same reason. So even use of the term "antisemitism" does obscure important truths. Unlike "Islamophobia", however, "antisemitism" does not embody false claims about mental health, so is much less pernicious.

Footnote: Being an incorrigible academic, I cannot resist noting that the term "antisemitism" (Antisemitismus) was coined in 1879 by a German (oddly enough!) named Wilhelm Marr -- who was hostile to Jews even though (because?) he was married to one!

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ELSEWHERE



Media ignores Iraq because of success of surge: "Last weekend's news coverage of our veterans was welcome, but deceptive. The "mainstream media" honored aging heroes and noted the debt we owe to today's wounded warriors - but deftly avoided in-depth coverage from Iraq. Why? Because things are going annoyingly well. All those reporters, editors and producers who predicted - longed for - an American defeat have moved on to more pressing strategic issues, such as O.J.'s latest shenanigans. Oh, if you turned to the inner pages of the "leading" newspapers, you found grudging mention of the fact that roadside-bomb attacks are down by half and indirect-fire attacks by three-quarters while the number of suicide bombings has plummeted."

IEDs in Iraq drop sharply: "The number of roadside bombs found in Iraq declined dramatically in August and September from earlier this year, and U.S. officials say the discoveries of thousands of ammunition caches might explain the drop. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are responsible for at least 60% of U.S. casualties in Iraq... The numbers of IEDs found and the deaths they caused have declined steadily since June. In September, coalition forces found 2,022 IEDs. That's down 38% from March, this year's peak. On Monday, the U.S. command in Baghdad also said rocket and mortar attacks have dropped to their lowest levels in 21 months. The tallies were issued a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said suicide attacks and other bombings in Baghdad also declined."

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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15 November, 2007

More deceitful statistics from the MSM

Post below lifted from Taranto. See the original for links

"Decades after the civil rights movement, the income gap between black and white families has grown," reports the Associated Press, citing a new Brookings Institution study. How could this be? Have all America's efforts on behalf of civil rights been in vain? Read on:

Incomes have increased among both black and white families in the past three decades--mainly because more women are in the work force. But the increase was greater among whites, according to the study being released Tuesday. One reason for the growing disparity: Incomes among black men have actually declined in the past three decades, when adjusted for inflation. They were offset only by gains among black women. Incomes among white men, meanwhile, were relatively stagnant, while those of white women increased more than fivefold.

The main story here has nothing to do with racial inequality--and while the AP presents all the relevant facts, it puts them in no particular order, so that you have to puzzle out what's actually going on. To get a clearer picture, go to the original study and look at Figure 1, on the sixth page of the PDF.

According to this chart, the median personal income for white women in their 30s was $4,021 in 1975. For black women in their 30s it was $12,063. In 2005, the figures were $22,030 for white women and $21,000 for black women.

So black women in 1974--just a decade after the Civil Rights Act--were making three times as much as their white counterparts? How can that be? The footnote gives away the game: "All men and women ages 30-39, including those with no personal income, are included in these estimates."

It seems clear that in 1974 a much higher percentage of black women than white women had paying jobs, and that in the subsequent three decades huge numbers of white women entered the work force. In this sense the real story is a closing of the gap to the detriment of whites, as necessity forces more white women to work.

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Income Mobility - Moving On Up: "If you've been listening to Mike Huckabee or John Edwards on the Presidential trail, you may have heard that the U.S. is becoming a nation of rising inequality and shrinking opportunity. We'd refer those campaigns to a new study of income mobility by the Treasury Department that exposes those claims as so much populist hokum. OK, "hokum" is our word. The study, to be released today, is a careful, detailed piece of research by professional economists that avoids political judgments. But what it does do is show beyond doubt that the U.S. remains a dynamic society marked by rapid and mostly upward income mobility. Much as they always have, Americans on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder continue to climb into the middle and sometimes upper classes in remarkably short periods of time."

Stay in Iraq: Murdoch: "Rupert Murdoch has voiced his opposition to Australia withdrawing troops from Iraq, warning that any pullout would also "rupture" the coalition campaign in Afghanistan. The chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, owner of this newspaper, said yesterday that the war in Afghanistan and Iraq was almost won and should be seen through... Mr Murdoch said the soldiers should stay in Iraq regardless of the election outcome. "Australia only has a couple of hundred people there and I would hate to see them withdrawn," he said. "I think it would rupture the relationship totally, because you have got forces in Afghanistan." Mr Murdoch, professing to "know a bit about this", said the tide had turned against al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists and other insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "On the ground in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we are at the point of saying, 'you have almost won it ... you see this out'," he said. The big question now was whether strong governments could emerge in both countries."

The Jim Crow era was BETTER for blacks??: ""View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who grew up during the "Jim Crow" era, actually said that America is "not as free as it was when [she] was a kid." A few hours after this aired, Congressman Peter King (R) of New York was Steve Malzberg's guest on WOR radio. Malzberg read Whoopi's comments to King, who responded by first saying, "They are absolutely insane these people," and then explained how they "reflect that hardcore base which is driving the Democratic Party, and which is causing otherwise fairly responsible politicians in the Democratic Party to do really wrong things, and to act totally irresponsibly"

Pro-American government returned in Denmark: "Denmark's centre-right government of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has won a snap election, securing a third consecutive term in office. His Liberal-Conservative coalition and allies won 90 of the 179 seats in parliament, near complete results show. The centre-left opposition led by the Social Democrats secured 84 seats. Mr Rasmussen now faces tough talks on whether to expand the ruling bloc by including a new party led by a Syria-born Palestinian immigrant. Turnout was higher than in the previous poll, held in 2005, at over 86%."

Socialist stupidity in Venezuela: "At first glance the supermarket off Avenida Francisco Miranda appeared to be a gourmet dream. Smoked salmon in the freezer. An aisle filled with Italian olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pesto. Another aisle stacked with Perrier, champagne and the finest Scotch. But of milk, eggs, sugar and cooking oil there was no sign. Where were they? The question yesterday prompted a puzzled look from the manager. "There isn't any. Everybody knows that. Pasta is probably the next to go," he shrugged. Welcome to Venezuela, a booming economy with a difference. Food shortages are plaguing the country at the same time that oil revenues are driving a spending splurge on imported luxury goods, prompting criticism of President Hugo Ch vez's socialist policies. Milk has all but vanished from shops. Distraught mothers ask how they are supposed to feed their infants. Many cafes and restaurants serve only black coffee... Government price controls on staple foods are so low that producers cannot make a profit, they say, and farms and businesses hesitate to invest in crops or machinery, or stockpile inventories, for fear of expropriations."

A useful non-lethal weapon for Iraq: "Researchers at Eureka Aerospace are turning a fictional concept from the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious into reality: they're creating an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop. The system, which can be attached to an automobile or aircraft carrier, sends out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. Such a device could be used by law enforcement to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles at security checkpoints, or as perimeter protection for military bases, communication centers, and oil platforms in the open seas."

John Bolton gets it: "In Barry Goldwater's books, "The Conscience of the Conservative", and Why not Victory", I really found a lot of inspiration. One of the things Goldwater said in "The Conscience of the Conservative", is that his objective in coming to Washington, "was to repeal old laws, not pass new ones". I really thought that was right on target."

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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14 November, 2007

HAS LGF GONE COMMERCIAL?

Charles Johnson's LGF is one of the most widely-read conservative blogs. I have often read and linked to it. Its coverage of the Muslim menace is particularly good. For some reason, however, Charles has been running an extensive campaign of attack on two European political parties -- in Sweden and in Belgium -- that are also energetically publicizing the Muslim menace. There seem to be two elements in his attacks: Attacks on the past of some members of the parties concerned and a very loose and quite Leftist definition of racism.

I know very little about either of the political parties concerned except that their proclaimed policies are clearly not racist. So I will simply make the general observation that large political parties -- which the Belgian one certainly is -- invariably have a considerable mix of members with all sorts of backgrounds and views. I would not remotely be surprised or alarmed to hear that some of the members had said hostile things in their time which they now regret and which they no longer believe. I would have thought that I did not have to draw attention to the fact that a former Kleagle of the KKK still sits in the U.S. Senate as a representaive of the Democrats. His change of views is accepted as sincere and his past views are seen as no detriment to him so why cannot others be accepted for their present rather than their past views?

Perhaps more surprising is that Charles appears to accept the Leftist definition of "racism". I have not been able to find any formal definition of the term from him but he appears to subscribe to the view that any mention of group differences is "racist". Given that definition, some of Charles' own comments on Muslims are racist and so is the New York Times. Rather strange.

The Leftist view is clearly brain-dead. Racism is hostile behaviour towards someone solely because of his race. Noting interracial differences is simply free speech. As I have often noted before, the erstwhile British Empire is an excellent case in point. Right up to and including Winston Churchill, almost all Brits believed that the English were obviously a superior race. In the addled minds of the Left, that makes it crystal clear that all the Brits concerned were racist.

Yet the British Empire was undoubtedly the world's most humane polity of the time. At the height of the Empire it had brown-skinned men sitting in its Parliament and had a much-loved Jew as its Prime Minister. And I hope I don't need to remind anybody that Britain abolished slavery long before the USA did. Some racism!

So why does Charles seem to be influenced by the silly Leftist definition of racism? He is obviously a smart and realistic man in most ways so I can only assume that he wishes to broaden his audience to those who subscribe to such a definition. I understand that he derives considerable income from his blog so it is probably a purely commercial decision.

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The rich pay most of the taxes: "The latest data show that a big portion of the federal income tax burden is shoul-dered by a small group of the very richest Americans. The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 per-cent of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent-those below the median income level-now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes. These are proportions of the income tax alone and don't include payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare."

Jihadis are NOT poor: "Claude Berrebi, now of the RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice, wrote his dissertation at Princeton on the characteristics of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who were involved in terrorist activities. For example, he compared suicide bombers to the whole male pop-ulation aged 16 to 50 and found that the suicide bombers were less than half as likely to come from families that were below the poverty line. In addi-tion, almost 60 percent of the suicide bombers had more than a high school education, compared with less than 15 percent of the general population."

Murdoch plans fatter WSJ: "News Corporation's impending $US5bn Dow Jones acquisition would be the most important the company has made in the past decade. In an interview with The Australian yesterday, company chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch unveiled plans to significantly increase its size and eventually create new joint-venture editions in markets such as India and China. He stressed none of his plans would "diminish its existing coverage, which would be strengthened, but we will include more national and international news to broaden its coverage". News is expected to formally assume control of Dow Jones in the middle of next month. Mr Murdoch said it offered a unique chance to build a bigger audience in the US and around the world. "The first job would be to improve the paper (The Wall Street Journal) in America and its online site WSJ.Com to broaden its coverage," he said. Then the focus would be on Europe to boost its coverage of local and international news. The US print editions would be lifted in size by 15 to 20 per cent and the weekend editions eventually by 100 per cent, he said, depending on advertising support."

The US economy: Perception and reality: "Just when the news is fully saturated with the idea that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a recession caused by the bursting of the sub-prime lending bubble, we get some surprising news last week: The U.S. economy grew at a 3.9 percent (all growth rates are annualized) from July through September, the fastest rate in six quarters. Exports surged 16.2 percent and consumer spending remained strong. What's more, jobs are being created and the unemployment rate remains low. While economists had expected a paltry 80,000 new jobs for October, the government reported 166,000. Nevertheless, we continue to get doses of worrisome news ..."

Comic book propaganda: "A superhero killed the president this summer. Moments later, a shocked White House press corps watched as John Horus, his gleaming white-and-gold costume still soaked in blood, explained why. Because "the war in Iraq is illegal and predicated on lies," because "our people and theirs are dying for corporate gain," because of the "use of torture by our elected authorities," and because the president "stole the last two elections," the most powerful member of the Seven Guns could no longer "stand by while this administration commits crimes." In response, a terrified government imposed martial law, launching a nationwide manhunt for Horus' estranged teammates, whose reactions to the act ranged from horror to sympathy. That bit of propaganda-by-the-deed launched acclaimed British scribe Warren Ellis' Black Summer, an eight-issue comic book miniseries from Avatar Press."

Feinstein, Boxer face test over farm bill: "Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California can't continue to dodge the tough issues in this year's $286 billion farm bill. Californians now realize that this omnibus bill, like others before, is another big giveaway to wealthy farm interests with only meager nods to reform. Like previous farm bills, the legislation passed by the House and now in the Senate includes billions of dollars in subsidies to growers and processors of wheat, corn, sugar, cotton and rice. These subsidies damage the environment. They fill up our store shelves with cheap, corn-syrupy products. They reward automaton agriculture instead of the innovative practices of many California growers. Because of Boxer's and Feinstein's relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both are in a position to influence what comes out of Congress. Yet both have been cagey about their positions, partly because of some recent deal-making."

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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13 November, 2007

Putin not impressed by Iranians

'Educational": That's how President Vladimir Putin's entourage described the Russian's recent whirlwind trip to Tehran. Islamic Republic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hyped the 36-hour visit as a "historic event." Some Western commentators even suggested that Putin and Ahmadinejad planned to create an axis to counter Western influence in the Middle East. In fact, the visit seems to have persuaded Putin and his closest advisers that the Tehran leadership is culturally and temperamentally incapable of playing the classical Cold War-style power games that the Russians are interested in.

"This was the first time that Putin was talking to senior Islamic Republic leaders in a substantive and focused way," says a senior Russian official familiar with what happened. "The president found his Iranian interlocutor weird, to say the least. The Iranians mouthed a lot of eschatological nonsense and came close to urging Putin to convert to Islam. It was clear they lived in a world of their own." Russian sources say that both Ahmadinejad and "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei gave the impression that they settle matters "in the metaphysical space" and with "the help of the Hidden Imam."

"The Iranians think they have already won," reports one Russian source who witnessed the visit. "So intoxicated they appeared with hubris that they did not even ask Putin to help them ward off further United Nations sanctions." Ahmadinejad gave the impression he sought neither advice nor support from the Russians. All he wanted was to project the Islamic Republic as the regional superpower and invite Putin to acknowledge its new status. "It was as if Russia needed Iran, not the other way round," says the Russian source. "Putin was taken aback. He had not expected what he heard."

None of this means that Putin won't use the Islamic Republic in his power game against the Western democracies. But his trip may have helped him understand the limits of playing the Khomeinist card. A member of Putin's entourage sums up the Russian leader's visit to Tehran: "He came, he saw, he was dismayed!"

Source

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HONOR BRIGHT



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There is a rather silly article in the NYT which claims to interpret people's feelings about politics from brain scans. Quite aside from the fact that the sample was too small for the differences described to be statistically significant, pretending to detect thoughts from something as crude as a scan of a whole brain area is absurd.

Roger Kimball sums up the disgusting Norman Mailer.

A truly loony Leftist blog: The "Think Progress" blog claims to be "non-partisan" but also claims to promote "progressive" ideas. So apparently it is Leftist and impartial at the same time. Maybe that makes sense to Leftists but logic obviously took a holiday from there a long time ago. In a recent effusion, they describe a TV weatherman who doubts global warming as "discredited" but give no information about how, when or why he became discredited. They say that his expertise in weather is not enough to qualify him to talk about climate. Apparently you have to have qualifications in climatology to talk informatively about climate. That requirement does exclude both Al Gore and the writers of Think Progress from commenting on climate but, with their usual freedom from logic, they do not seem to see that at all. Amy Ridenour and Noel Sheppard rub it in.

There is a roundup here on the aging Greenie 'kid' who put up the fake climate science journal recently. See also here

There is a very clear post here on Obama's "flexibility" over what he believes in. He shows himself as being completely psychopathic but, like psychopaths generally, he cannot see what is wrong with having no real principles, consistency or beliefs at all. And there's the story of another prominent leftist here who advocates lying in order to get elected and then breaking all your promises. Psychopathy is endemic to Leftism, sadly.

The reality of Vietnam veterans: "These interviews have afforded me the privilege to become acquainted with some of the finest people I have ever met in my life. These men and women are intensely committed to their communities, public-service oriented to an extraordinary degree, and have greater moral integrity than many, many of my peers. That simple fact may have profound implications for our nation. Now, obviously, to see all Vietnam veterans as heroes is unquestionably false. Of the 2.9 million men who served in-theater during the Vietnam War, some committed crimes and did things they look back upon now with shame. However, the stunning thing for me has been to find that so many of these men and women (despite whatever trouble they might have had earlier in their lives) have found ways to create for themselves, in the language of psychologist Erik Erikson, generative lives. They have struggled through their pain and healed their scars, and done things. In whatever way they have elected to do so, these Vietnam veterans contribute, give back, and make the world around them a better place to live in. Vietnam veterans are an active, important and productive segment of American society."

Deluded Germans again: "A majority of high school age students polled in East-Berlin (and sizable minorities of West-Berlin students) either agreed with or held a "neutral" position on the propositions that the GDR (the former East German regime that erected the Berlin Wall) was not a dictatorship and that the Stasi was just an intelligence agency like any other. This represents a dangerous ignorance of one's own national history as well as a frightening willingness to condone or overlook the crimes of the former East German regime."

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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12 November, 2007

The NYT acknowleges genetic differences

It takes a lot for Leftists to acknowledge reality. Evidence about the importance of genetics in human differentiation has been plentiful for over a century but it seems to have taken advances in the decoding of DNA to have forced Leftist recognition of that. Repeated findings of IQ-related genes appear to be too much even for Leftists to ignore. Some excerpts from the latest NYT article on the subject below. The article is filled with hokey terror about what ordinary Americans might do if told the truth of the matter but, given history, I have a lot more confidence in what ordinary Americans might do than I have in what Leftists will do -- given the untold millions that Leftists have slaughtered worldwide in the last 100 years. Leftist arrogance about what people should be told is pithily condemned by KBJ.

Anyway, having an article in the NYT on the subject should help spread awareness of the facts more widely than would otherwise have been the case. Maybe even my outspoken comments on the facts of the matter might come to be seen as "mainstream" one day. I doubt that I will live to see it, though. Most of what I say about IQ has been fairly orthodox for some years in the academic journals of psychology but there is a big gap between what you can safely say in a scientific journal and what you can say to the general public. Fellow scientists can be trusted. "The people" cannot be. That is why wise Leftist shepherds are needed to guide "the people". That they usually in fact guide the people to poverty and disaster cannot be mentioned too often, however.

When scientists first decoded the human genome in 2000, they were quick to portray it as proof of humankind's remarkable similarity. The DNA of any two people, they emphasized, is at least 99 percent identical. But new research is exploring the remaining fraction to explain differences between people of different continental origins.

Scientists, for instance, have recently identified small changes in DNA that account for the pale skin of Europeans, the tendency of Asians to sweat less and West Africans' resistance to certain diseases.

At the same time, genetic information is slipping out of the laboratory and into everyday life, carrying with it the inescapable message that people of different races have different DNA. Ancestry tests tell customers what percentage of their genes are from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. The heart-disease drug BiDil is marketed exclusively to African-Americans, who seem genetically predisposed to respond to it. Jews are offered prenatal tests for genetic disorders rarely found in other ethnic groups.

Such developments are providing some of the first tangible benefits of the genetic revolution. Yet some social critics fear they may also be giving long-discredited racial prejudices a new potency. The notion that race is more than skin deep, they fear, could undermine principles of equal treatment and opportunity that have relied on the presumption that we are all fundamentally equal. "We are living through an era of the ascendance of biology, and we have to be very careful," said Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. "We will all be walking a fine line between using biology and allowing it to be abused."

Certain superficial traits like skin pigmentation have long been presumed to be genetic. But the ability to pinpoint their DNA source makes the link between genes and race more palpable. And on mainstream blogs, in college classrooms and among the growing community of ancestry test-takers, it is prompting the question of whether more profound differences may also be attributed to DNA.

Nonscientists are already beginning to stitch together highly speculative conclusions about the historically charged subject of race and intelligence from the new biological data. Last month, a blogger in Manhattan described a recently published study that linked several snippets of DNA to high I.Q. An online genetic database used by medical researchers, he told readers, showed that two of the snippets were found more often in Europeans and Asians than in Africans.

"There are clear differences between people of different continental ancestries," said Marcus W. Feldman, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. "It's not there yet for things like I.Q., but I can see it coming. And it has the potential to spark a new era of racism if we do not start explaining it better."

"I've spent the last 10 years of my life researching how much genetic variability there is between populations," said Dr. David Altshuler, director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "But living in America, it is so clear that the economic and social and educational differences have so much more influence than genes. People just somehow fixate on genetics, even if the influence is very small."

"Regardless of any such genetic variation, it is our moral duty to treat all as equal before God and before the law," Perry Clark, 44, wrote on a New York Times blog. It is not necessary, argued Dr. Clark, a retired neonatologist in Leawood, Kan., who is white, to maintain the pretense that inborn racial differences do not exist. "When was the last time a nonblack sprinter won the Olympic 100 meters?" he asked. "To say that such differences aren't real," Dr. Clark later said in an interview, "is to stick your head in the sand and go blah blah blah blah blah until the band marches by."

Source

Prof. Altschuler's claim above that the influence of genes is very small is misleading. It is true that the influence of genes ON SOME THINGS is very small but the influence of genes on other things (such as IQ and educational achievement) is large.

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Karl Rove on blogs: ""People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog," Mr. Rove said during a speech about politics and the Web at the Willard InterContinental, a hotel just blocks from his former place of employment. "I'm a fan of many blogs. I visit them frequently and I learn a lot from them," Mr. Rove said. "But there also blogs written by angry kooks." Mr. Rove cited the results of a study that found that writers and commenters on liberal blogs such as DailyKos.com cursed far more than writers and commenters on conservative Web sites such as FreeRepublic.com"

Arab Muslim Trafficking in African Slaves : "The United States is the main focus of world opprobrium for its historical involvement in the enslavement of black Africans. However, neither the Americans nor the Europeans were the primary traders of black African slaves. Most slaves in Africa were either taken by Arab Muslims directly, or sold to the Arabs by the victors in African intertribal warfare. According to some sources, more than 140 million black African slaves may have been trafficked by the Arabs in the centuries since the founding of Islam. These slaves lived in brutal conditions, and the majority died in transit across Africa, Arabia, or the Indian Ocean. Only a tiny fraction crossed the Atlantic to end up in what is now the United States. The Arab traffic in African slaves has not ended. Even though slavery is officially outlawed in all Muslim countries, the practice continues to this day."

Britain's far-Leftist Minister of State: "Foreign Office officials have turned on Lord Malloch-Brown, their minister, describing him as a "liability" for the government. Malloch-Brown, a former United Nations official brought into government by Gordon Brown, has fallen out with some diplomats who have dubbed him "Bollock-Brown" for his off-message views. The minister has clashed with David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and caused embarrassment for Brown before the prime minister's trip to Washington by saying that Britain and America would no longer be "joined at the hip". Malloch-Brown is said to have been reprimanded by Miliband for suggesting the British government was about to open talks with Hamas and Hezbollah, the Islamic militant groups, and was forced to "clarify" his remarks in the House of Lords, which irritated Labour Friends of Israel, the campaign group."

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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11 November, 2007

Senator Joe Lieberman, the honest Democrat, speaks up:

Excerpt:

Since retaking Congress in November 2006, the top foreign policy priority of the Democratic Party has not been to expand the size of our military for the war on terror or to strengthen our democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East or to prevail in Afghanistan. It has been to pull our troops out of Iraq, to abandon the democratically-elected government there, and to hand a defeat to President Bush.

Iraq has become the singular litmus test for Democratic candidates. No Democratic presidential primary candidate today speaks of America's moral or strategic responsibility to stand with the Iraqi people against the totalitarian forces of radical Islam, or of the consequences of handing a victory in Iraq to al Qaeda and Iran. And if they did, their campaign would be as unsuccessful as mine was in 2006. Even as evidence has mounted that General Petraeus' new counterinsurgency strategy is succeeding, Democrats have remained emotionally invested in a narrative of defeat and retreat in Iraq, reluctant to acknowledge the progress we are now achieving, or even that that progress has enabled us to begin drawing down our troops there.

I asked some of my Senate colleagues who voted against our amendment: "Do you believe the evidence the military has given us about the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guard] sponsoring these attacks on our troops?" Yes, they invariably said. "Don't you support tougher economic sanctions against Iran?" I asked. Again, yes - no question. So what's the problem, I asked. "It's simple," they said. "We don't trust Bush. He'll use this resolution as an excuse for war against Iran.".

there is something profoundly wrong - something that should trouble all of us - when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran's murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops. There is likewise something profoundly wrong when we see candidates who are willing to pander to this politically paranoid, hyper-partisan sentiment in the Democratic base - even if it sends a message of weakness and division to the Iranian regime.

Source

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Update to the story about Hillary's meanness to waitresses here

Violent crime moves to smaller cities: "As rates of violent crime fall in Boston, New Bedford, and Brockton, smaller cities and towns such as Arlington and Haverhill have seen aggravated assaults and robberies increase, according to figures compiled by police chiefs in 25 of the state's largest law enforcement agencies. While the reasons for the fluctuations are not clear, some police chiefs and analysts suggest that criminals and gang members are migrating to smaller, quieter municipalities on the outskirts as bigger cities effectively clamp down on violent felons. Others suggest that heroin use is fueling more robberies by addicts trying to feed their habit. "We can't stick our heads in the sand and not recognize that there has been an increase in crime," said Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan. Ryan said that Arlington's proximity to Somerville and Cambridge has contributed to making it the "recipient of some displaced crime from our more urban neighbors."

Impotent Europe: "For many critics of U.S. "unilateralism," there is an implicit assumption that the lack of allied participation in ongoing military efforts is due mainly to U.S. policies and the unfavorable European response to them. This begs the question of whether our European allies would be able to do much more than they are doing now, let alone respond to any unforeseen contingencies in the future, even if they were inclined to do so. The answer, to those who have examined the present state of the European defense establishment, increasingly seems to be "no": European armed forces are neither structured, nor equipped, nor trained to play a meaningful role in the scenarios most likely to challenge the security of the civilized world in the coming decades".

The Al Qaeda Reader and Mein Kampf: "A number of book reviewers have recently pointed to the similarities between The Al Qaeda Reader and Mein Kampf. For instance, writing in the New York Observer, James Buchan notes that, "In their [al-Qaeda's] brutality and candor, their fulminations against democracy and loose morals, their obsession with territory, their finicky racism and absolute disdain for the material needs of the public, these documents are a strange echo of Hitler's writings from prison." .... how is The Al Qaeda Reader similar to Mein Kampf? A single sentence from the introduction of the 1999 edition of Mein Kampf, published by Mariner Books, goes a long way in answering this question: "He [Hitler] had made his ultimate goals clear in Mein Kampf as early as 1926: rearmament, the abolition of democracy, territorial expansion, eugenics, the `elimination' of the `Jewish threat'" (Mein Kampf, xv). The Al Qaeda Reader dwells on, if not obsesses over, four of these same five "ultimate goals" of Hitler-everything but eugenics, which is a temporal byproduct of 19th century pseudo-scientific racial theories."

Positive Opinion Change on Iraq: "Being against the war after she was for it, could it be soon be time for Hillary to be for it again? The question arises in light of the findings by Charles Franklin at Pollster.com. According to his November 6th Pollster.com analysis, there has been a "remarkable" shift, in a positive direction, in public opinion on the war in Iraq."

Partial Birth Waterboarding: "Liberals wouldn't lift a finger to stop the torturing -- to the point of destroying -- unborn human life. But put a terrorist [or a baby seal, for that matter] in the block and watch them spring into sensitive-soul mode. Rosa Brooks epitomizes the mindset in her current LA Times column, "Torture: the new abortion." Her notion is that among Republicans, the new litmus test for presidential candidates is not opposition to abortion but support for U.S. officials who order the "torture of prisoners." .... Let's review the liberal moral compass: * Waterboarding a terrorist: an affront to our fundamental values. * Subjecting an unborn child to partial-birth abortion: we celebrate a woman's right to choose! To put things in perspective, and at the risk of being reductive, let me offer this challenge to Rosa Brooks. I'll call water boarding "torture" if she'll say the same about partial birth abortion."

Al Qaeda losing logistic battle in Iraq too: "The various terrorist groups in Iraq, especially the Sunni Arabs and al Qaeda, appear to be having supply problems. In a word, the enemy is running out of ammunition. Their logistical "tail" is being chopped to bits. Captured documents and prisoner interrogations mention these shortages. There are other signs as well. Many of the bomb factories, or bomb storage sites, are full of homemade explosives. Apparently most of the Saddam era, ready-made stuff, is gone. Most of the pre-2003 military explosives have been found and destroyed by American combat engineers over the last four years."

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly incorrect themes of race and IQ -- and featuring again a big coverage of reactions to James "Black IQ" Watson.

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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10 November, 2007

Naive technophiles

Mass production will soon begin on the XO, the "$100 laptop" that MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte believes will change the world. Behind the dream of empowering children through technology, however, lies a reality more complicated and far less idealistic. Professor Negroponte believes his non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) can help solve "whatever big problem you can imagine, from world peace to the environment to hunger to poverty." Early reviews of OLPC's finished product extol its many innovative features. None of these reviews, however, mention what the XO fails to provide, such as a source of clean drinking water, abundant and nutritious food, or medicines for curable diseases....

OLPC's business model actually requires substantial investment from the governments of developing countries, diverting limited resources away from a population's critical needs. The "$100 laptop," which actually costs $188, can only be purchased at a minimum quantity of 250,000. OLPC targets countries like Nigeria, where one out of three children suffer from malnutrition. There a $50 million minimum investment could instead be used to feed more than a million children for an entire year.

After unloading their product, OLPC relies on the naive assumption that governments will distribute laptops free of charge to deserving schoolchildren. This blind trust in corrupt governments will deprive children and ensure the creation of a robust XO black market.

Children will suffer if governments divert scarce resources away from essential services. To avoid that outcome, professor Negroponte should channel his ingenuity into a product compatible with existing markets. Success will be achieved not by forcing technology on children, but by bringing children to technology.

More here

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ELSEWHERE



Hillary fading? "After striding surefooted through the foothills of the Democratic presidential contest, Hillary Clinton's frontrunning campaign has spent the past week tripping itself up. The mis-steps began last Wednesday with one wobbly answer in a television debate - on whether to allow illegal immigrants drivers' licences. Mrs Clinton's response, in all its varied forms, has raised fresh questions about her candidacy. Her opponents ask if she is honest... A clutch of opinion polls over the past two days suggest that her support nationally among Democratic voters has ebbed from a high of more than 50 per cent to the low to mid 40s. One poll in New Hampshire, a key early primary contest which has always been seen as her firewall if she loses the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, shows her margin over Barack Obama falling from 16 points to ten. The loss of support has been greatest among male voters, widening an existing gender gap. For instance, the New Hampshire survey found that while 40 per cent of Democratic women have a "very favourable" view of Mrs Clinton, only 22 per cent of the state's Democratic male voters say the same. A national poll yesterday suggested that only 36 per cent of women would not vote for her, compared with 50 per cent of men."

Mukasey confirmed: "The Senate late Thursday narrowly confirmed former federal Judge Michael Mukasey as the 81st attorney general, giving the nominee the lowest level of congressional support of any Justice Department leader in the past half-century. The 53-40 vote came after more than four hours of impassioned floor debate, and reflected an effort by Democrats to register their displeasure with Bush administration policies on torture and the boundaries of presidential power. Seven senators, including those running for president, did not vote."

The Dems like the idea of voter fraud: "Measures that curb voter fraud on the one hand and encourage it on the other will be central to the 2008 election. The Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of Indiana's photo ID law next spring, while lawsuits challenging Gov. Spitzer's moves will be in New York state courts. Despite her muddled comments this week, there's no doubt where Mrs. Clinton stands on ballot integrity. She opposes photo ID laws, even though they enjoy over 80% support in the polls. She has also introduced a bill to force every state to offer no-excuse absentee voting as well as Election Day registration--easy avenues for election chicanery. The bill requires that every state restore voting rights to all criminals who have completed their prison terms, parole or probation.

GOP recovery?: "Gloom hangs over Republicans when they think of next year's elections - but it shouldn't. The sea change in political fortunes between 2004 and 2006 should not remind Righties only that the winds can change quickly - from a supportive breeze at your back, to a gale-force wind in your face - they should also be reminded that the political landscape can get better fast, too. Next year could be a surprisingly good one for the GOP, though it's clearly not guaranteed. The party will need good candidate recruitment, message discipline, a clear, unifying agenda, and a bit of good luck. But on a wide variety of fronts, there are pieces of good news"



Obsolete British military equipment endangering lives: "An RAF Nimrod flying over southern Afghanistan put out a Mayday call and made an emergency landing at Kandahar air base on Monday after crew found fuel pouring into the bomb bay. The aircraft was in the middle of refuelling when the crew discovered what several sources described as "a major fuel leak" in the bomb bay. The pilot immediately declared an emergency and broke off refuelling. It is a repeat of an incident in September last year, when an RAF Nimrod exploded over Kandahar province killing all 14 on board. The board of inquiry into that incident has yet to report but that Nimrod, tail number XV230, had just refuelled in mid-air and the board's initial findings blamed pressure from the air-to-air refuelling system for forcing a serious leak. The pilot of XV230 reported a fire in his bomb bay and attempted to land at Kandahar. He dropped 20,000 feet in just 90 seconds but at 3,000 feet the starboard wing exploded, followed by the rest of the aircraft" [The Nimrods are a military version of the old De Haviland Comet of the 1950s]

Arabs seeking Israeli citizenship: "The number of East Jerusalem residents seeking Israeli citizenship has risen sharply in recent months, an Israeli official said Wednesday, as talk of a possible re-division of the city gains momentum. The Interior Ministry has received hundreds of applications for citizenship from Arab residents of East Jerusalem over the past few months, instead of the average of several dozen, said ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad. Hadad was unable to provide specific figures but said there has been an increase of hundreds... When Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, the city's Arabs were given the opportunity to become citizens, yet they rejected it because they refused to acknowledge Israeli control over the city"



I wonder why?: "A scurrilous new e-mail is circulating about Barack Obama. Over the last few months there were the ones that suggested he was secretly hiding his Muslim faith. The messages suggest he refused to pledge allegiance this summer at a steak fry hosted by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.

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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9 November, 2007

Justice for the English!

Get out from under those socialist Scots!

Somewhere among the stiff upper lips and a fondness for queuing, a sense of fair play is to be found in any shortlist of the traits readily associated with the English. No wonder, then, that they are animated by the "West Lothian question"-the constitutional anomaly that allows Scottish MPs to vote on laws affecting only England but, since devolution in 1999, denies English MPs a say on a wide array of matters that pertain only to Scotland.

One answer to this question-limiting the right to vote on English-only matters, including health and education, to MPs with English seats-was proposed by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a Conservative MP, on October 28th. It is not yet party policy, but his plan for a "grand committee" of English MPs is being considered by the Tories.

The present arrangements are lop-sided but Sir Malcolm's proposals, experts say, could hasten the break-up of the United Kingdom. A government with a majority of British but not English seats might struggle to pass many of its manifesto pledges, and ministers from Scottish constituencies would be unable to vote on their own bills. This is not just a theoretical worry: the present cabinet is led by Scots, including the prime minister and his chancellor of the exchequer

Yet a glance at an electoral map explains why the Tories' views may be changing. Margaret Thatcher tried out her hated poll tax there and that, plus the impact of privatisation and union-bashing on Scotland's industrial economy, turned off voters north of the border. The Tories now have just one MP in Scotland.

More here

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Anglospheric dominance

Ever since the Glorious Revolution in 1688, Britain and America have been on the winning side, from the war of the Spanish succession to the cold war. The anglosphere's long streak of luck has preoccupied the losers more than the winners. Winston Churchill excepted, most Britons don't like being tied to modern America; Americans can't see what ancient Britain has to do with them. Yet for outsiders the link between the English-speaking peoples was horribly clear from the start: only a few years after the American revolution the French were sending back horrified reports that New England really was new England in spirit.

Mr Mead's own explanation focuses on God and gold. Britain was lucky: economically, it came good at just the right time. It had a Goldilocks location (close enough to Europe to imbibe its heat, distant enough to avoid many of its wars) and a Goldilocks state (strong enough to work, weak enough to keep out of the way). But its tolerance and brashness were also part of its economic strength: Donald Trump would have fitted into London.

More controversially, Mr Mead also claims that God was part of the anglosphere's competitive advantage. Both Britain and America kept a balance between reason, faith and tradition that their rivals did not. Religion helped to keep the state in check and supplied some of the verve to keep on trying to change the world.

Mr Mead also pinpoints an irony of Anglo-Saxon success. After each victory, the Anglo-Saxons have a rotten record of predicting what will come next, nearly always declaring some version of a new world order, only for a new evil to emerge. Often they seem blissfully unaware of the ire their success has caused. That could be the case with Islam now.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Business-school management and greedy unions are a great combination: "General Motors has posted a loss of $US39 billion for the third quarter on a massive accounting charge, even as it cited some improvement in its global automotive operations. The whopping loss was attributed to a $US38.6 billion non-cash charge largely related to establishing a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in the US, Canada and Germany, as well as mortgage losses at GM's former financial arm, GMAC Financial Services. A valuation allowance is taken when the future benefit of the deferred tax assets is less likely to be realised. The net loss amounted to $US68.85 per share, compared with a net loss of $US147 million, or 26 cents per share, in the third quarter of last year.

Action on Iran soon?: "A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000 working uranium-enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across the world yesterday amid fears that Israel would respond by bombing the country's nuclear facilities. Military sources in Washington said that the existence of such a large number could be a "tipping point", triggering an Israeli air strike. The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but officials say that Israel is a "different matter". Amid the international uproar, British MPs who were to have toured the nuclear facility were backing out of their Iran trip. Even before President Ahmadinejad's announcement, a US defence official told The Times yesterday: "Israel could do something when they get to around 3,000 working centrifuges. The Pentagon is minded to wait a little longer." US experts say 3,000 machines running for long periods could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb within a year."

The new France: "President Sarkozy of France yesterday dazzled President Bush and Congress by proclaiming his love for America as he sought to rekindle a long alliance that turned soured over war in Iraq. His address to both Houses of Congress was delivered in French. He began by breathing warm words of fidelity into the translation earpieces worn by almost all the US legislators. To the first of many standing ovations he spoke of the shared values and history of the two nations, dating back to the War of Independence, and declared: "France is the friend of the United States of America." At a dinner held in his honour the previous evening, Mr Sarkozy had signalled his amorous intentions when he toasted President Bush, saying: "On behalf of all Frenchmen, I want to reconquer the heart of America." Mr Bush replied by making a rare foreign-language foray, welcoming his guest with the words "Bienvenue a la Maison Blanche." The White House"

New allegations against Hillary: "A new book hit store shelves today, full of explosive revelations that could damage Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, including accusations of campaign finance violations and new revelations about harassment and threats by the Clintons and their associates. Released today by publisher World Ahead, TARGET: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton is the work of Kathleen Willey, a former White House Aide who says Bill Clinton groped her in the Oval Office. According to a press release from the book’s publisher, Willey also identifies the person who threatened her just prior to her testimony against President Clinton — a man who turned out to be linked to the Clintons."

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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8 November, 2007

Another IQ-related gene found

This is the second one within a week. See here for the earlier one. The earlier one is discussed more fully on my Food & Health blog (Scroll down)

Children with a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease already show signs of reduced cognitive function, a study has found. That raises the possibility that scientists could develop therapies to block the gene's negative effectsand stave off cognitive decline starting much earlier in life than previously thought possible, the researchers said.

The investigators, with Oregon Health & Science University, found reduced spatial learning and memory skills in children with one of a family of genes implicated in development and in nerve cell regeneration and protection. The results were presented Nov. 5 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.

Previous studies had found that a gene known as apoE4part of the socalled apolipoprotein E gene familyincreases the risk of cognitive decline due to age and brain injuries. Half of Alzheimer's patients carry apoE4, said study coauthor Jacob Raber. Many nondemented elderly also carry it, he added, but they tend to do worse than others on certain cognitive tests.

In the new study, Raber and colleagues examined 55 healthy boys and girls ages seven to 10, including eight girls and six boys who carried the apoE4 gene. The noncarriers showed better performance on a combination of paper and computerbased tests, they said. These included a virtualreality based spatial navigation task called "Memory Island" whose subjects must use memory to navigate to a location marked with a flag. The test mimics the Morris water maze, a standard tool for testing memory in rodents by training them to swim to a platform based on visual cues.

Source

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Brookes News Update

How long can the US economy defy economic gravity?: There comes a time when every party must end. And economic booms are no different. The trick is to get the timing right. At the moment it looks very much like the US economy will be steaming into 2008, much to the chagrin of the Democrats. Still, they might get lucky before the election
What's behind the Fed's aggressive cut in interest rates?: By attempting to counter various shocks that are predominantly the product of the Fed's own policies Bernanke is very likely going to make things much worse as far as real economic fundamentals are concerned
Greenspan absolves himself from current financial markets turmoil: Greenspan is trying to distance himself from the current financial tremors that are developing. That it was his loose monetary policy that generated a massive current account deficit that eventually drove down the dollar is something he would not like to be reminded off. However, in fairness Greenspan the rest of the world's central banker are not much better
Ethanol - "Fuelish Food Policies": A Judge in Britain got it right recently when he called Gore's film a biased political document with eleven specific claims not supported by any evidence. Politicians are about to inflict huge greenhouse costs on the whole community, for nothing
101 Love Crimes and Legislative Positions: Liberal politicians quiver in bliss - stroking their delusional consciences. They pimp a provocative fantasy that liberals are born superiorly caring and compassionate. For liberals, lamenting social injustices indulges some perverse pleasures
Friends and critics of Israel: Israel bashing has become a common substitute and camouflage of ordinary anti-Semitism, which hardly bothers with facts and common courtesy! At the same time, Jews and Jewish issues have become a magnet for distorted people who thrive on and need attention from others

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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7 November, 2007

Unshattered intelligence

James Flynn has a rather curious article just up which is headed "shattering intelligence". That title would however seem to be more an aspiration than an achievement. The basic point of the article is that the environment can in some cases make a considerable difference to the development of a specific ability. But nobody has ever said otherwise. The estimates of how much of IQ is genetically determined usually range around two thirds. The other third is environmental.

So, other than the title, Flynn's article is perfectly conventional psychometrics. He explains well that there is a high degree of generality to intellectual ability (IQ or 'g') and that efforts to improve on the environmental contribution to IQ tend to have only temporary success. The genetic influence keeps re-asserting itself.

His recommendation for improving one's IQ -- that one should immerse oneself in intellectual pursuits -- is fair enough. That should be of some small help in some problem solving. But if you are not pretty smart to start with you are just not likely to immerse yourself in that sort of thing. And if you are very bright, you almost cannot help yourself from getting immersed in intellectual pursuits. You just find complex things interesting and simple things boring. I think Flynn has put the cart before the horse and is not going very far that way.

For all that, his latest article reveals Flynn as much closer to the facts than he once was. His Leftist biases have led him into some pretty strange claims in the past.

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ELSEWHERE

How frustrating for miserable Leftists: "American voters are generally happy with their own lives. Eighty-six percent of Americans say they are content with their jobs, according to the General Social Survey. Seventy-six percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their family income, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Sixty-two percent of Americans expect their personal situation to get better over the next five years, according to a Harris Poll, compared with only 7 percent who expect it to get worse. Researchers from Pew found that 65 percent of Americans are satisfied over all with their own lives - one of the highest rates of personal satisfaction in the world today."

Mr. Perks goes to Lansing: "One newspaper calls Leon Drolet, head of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, 'a bully.' State Rep. Ed Gaffney calls him a 'brown-shirted, knuckle-dragging thug.' The Detroit Free Press calls him 'One of the most unpopular figures in Lansing,' Michigan's capital. What does all this name-calling mean? It means Drolet and the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA) are having a real impact. You see, the political establishment -- from politicians to special interests -- want to raise taxes. The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance does not want a tax hike. The group wants state government to make do with less, just as Michigan taxpayers are having to do during their state's recession."

Anti-Photo ID Legislation Would Promote Election Fraud, Says Group: "Legislation introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) to prohibit photo ID requirements for voting in federal elections would promote election fraud, say members of the black leadership network Project 21. "Representative Ellison's proposal is fundamentally flawed and potentially harmful to the integrity of our democratic process," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie. "Why invite that which can only lead to unimaginable fraud and corruption?" Imposing existing Minnesota election law on a national scale, the "Voter Access Protection Act of 2007" (H.R. 4026) would ban the use of photo ID for voter verification in federal elections. Rep. Ellison calls photo ID requirements "burdensome" and liken them to a "modern-day poll tax." He further charges that the Bush Administrations enforcement of voting rights issues effectively promotes "voter suppression of minorities, seniors and young people."

Saving Afghan kids: "About 90,000 children who would have died before the age of 5 under Taleban rule in Afghanistan will stay alive this year because of advances in medical care, according to President Karzai, who thanked international aid agencies and Afghan health workers yesterday. The under5 mortality rate has declined from an estimated 257 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to about 191 per 1,000 in 2006, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Some 250,000 underfives are still dying each year mainly from malnutrition, TB and malaria."

Lucky Belgium. No government! ""Belgium is heading for a record 150 days with no government unless the Christian Democrat and Liberal election winners resolve a spat blocking their bid to form a coalition. ... There is no deadline for forming a government, but the deadlock could lead some politicians to break from the effort and force the King to appoint a different Prime Minister-designate for new negotiations. Belgium faces the 150-day mark without a government on Wednesday."

Despite the Gloom, More Bush Boom: "If things are so bad, why are they so good? With all the gloom coming out of Wall Street, the Democrats on the campaign trail, and the mainstream media, a remarkable thing just happened: Real gross domestic product, the best summary report of the American economy, came in at a breathtaking 3.9 percent annual rate for the third quarter. In fact, following the 3.8 percent growth rate for the second quarter, the U.S. economy has posted its strongest quarterly growth in four years. The economy actually appears to be speeding up, following the relatively sluggish performance of the prior 18 months."

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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6 November, 2007

Olmert, the suicidal dreamer

Post below excerpted from Powerline. See the original for links and much more

What is being said about the upcoming Israeli-Palestinian talks in Annapolis is beyond delusional. The appalling Ehud Olmert sets the stage:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he may be able to make peace with the Palestinians by the end of 2008 as the United States vowed to defend Israel's security during the difficult process. "If we act decisively together, we and the Palestinians, there is a chance for us to reach real achievements, maybe even before the end of President (George W.) Bush's term," he said at the Saban Forum think-tank in Jerusalem.

Sure, peace by the end of 2008! This is just what we don't need: another American President looking for a "legacy" in the Middle East. Olmert digs himself in deeper:

"There is no intention to drag out the negotiations without end. There is no reason to again hit the foot-dragging that characterised our talks in the past," the premier said.

Foot-dragging? What foot-dragging? At Oslo, Israeli diplomats raced to give away the store, and a lot of good it did them. Let's not confuse "foot-dragging" with the genocidal patience with which the Palestinian Arabs and their supporters have plotted the destruction of Israel for two generations. AFP, the source of this particular news story, shares with other news agencies an odd incuriosity about the recent history of the region:

The two sides plan to launch intensive bilateral talks on a permanent agreement following the international meeting, aimed at reviving a peace process that has been dormant for seven years.

Gosh! Why has the "peace process" been "dormant" for seven years? I suppose AFP meant to tie this "dormancy" to the seven years that President Bush has been in office. In reality, however, the "peace process" is dormant because the Palestinians have failed to live up to any of the commitments they made in Oslo, and instead have continued to murder Israelis with rockets and suicide bomb belts.

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The REAL doers of good

Post below excerpted from Rand Simberg. See the original for links

Who is it that really changes the world, and for the better? I would argue that it is the people like Bill Gates, or Henry Ford, or Thomas Edison, or the Wright brothers, who have a much larger and more beneficial effect on the world than people who "want to make a difference."

Who is more of a humanitarian, a Norman Borlaug, who through his technological efforts saved untold millions from hunger, and even starvation, and was reasonably compensated for it, or an Albert Schweitzer or Mother Theresa, who labored to help a relatively few poor and ill, while living in relative poverty? Obviously the latter derived personal satisfaction from their hands-on retail efforts, but I don't think that they ever whined about their lifestyle.

These people do in fact need to grow up, and understand that there are other ways to help people than forming non-profits and NGOs, or working for a government bureaucracy. People are helped most by technological advances that make essential items--food, transportation, communication, shelter--more affordable and accessible to them, not by those who provide them with handouts and sympathy, and keep them in a state of perpetual dependency.

In many ways, Sam Walton was one of the great humanitarians of our time, in bringing our nation's poor closer to a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle, and he seemed to do pretty well by doing good. But don't expect very many of these idealistic overgrown adolescents to want to emulate him. Actually increasing wealth, for themselves and others, would go against everything they believe

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ELSEWHERE

Of two Swedish men, one is very pro-Israel and the other mourns the death of Arafat. Which gets called a "Nazi"? I think you can guess. The pro-Israel man belongs to a party that wants to restrict Muslim immigration into Sweden, you see. Details here. Rather strangely, it seems mainly to be LGF who is circulating the "Nazi" allegations in the English-speaking world. Gates of Vienna seems to agree that the Nazi allegations are Leftist in origin.

There is a recent interview with Ann Coulter here in which she is her usual witty self.

Even Maureen Dowd of the NYT is laughing at Hillary: "Women need to rally to support Hillary and send her money because there are men, men like Tim Russert, who have the temerity to ask her questions during a debate. If there are six male rivals on stage and two male moderators and heaven knows how many men manning lights and boom mikes, the one woman should have the right to have it two ways. It's simple math, really, an estrogen equation. If she wants to run on her record as first lady while keeping the lid on her first lady record, that's only fair for the fairer sex. And if she wants to have it both ways on illegal immigrants getting driver's licenses, then she should, especially if those illegal immigrants are men, or if Lou Dobbs is ranting on the issue, because he's not only a man, he's a grumpy, cranky, border-crazed man. She should certainly be allowed to play the gender card two ways, or even triangulate it. As her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, said after the debate, she is "one strong woman," who has dwarfed male rivals and shown she's tough enough to deal with terrorism and play on the world stage. But she can break, just like a little girl, when male chauvinists are rude enough to catch her red-handed being slippery and opportunistic."

Even the abortionists are not impressed by Hillary's flip-flopping: "Kate Michelman, a former NARAL President and admitted Edwards supporter posts at Open Left: "As a woman who's been in the public eye and experienced scrutiny, as a woman who knows how hard it can be for women to earn their seat at the leadership table, how hard women have to work just to get the same opportunities, this distresses me. It is not presidential. Any serious candidate for president should have to answer tough questions and defend their record. Any serious candidate for president should make their views clear and let the American people know where they stand on issues. And any serious candidate for president should be held to the same standard - whether man or woman. Have we have come a long way? Well, far enough to know better than to use our gender as a shield when the questions get too hot."

Crazy college costs: "Since 1990, the cost of tuition and fees at the University of California and the California State University system has climbed by 350 percent, while the general cost of living has increased during that time by 44 percent and personal income in California has grown 70 percent."

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

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

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

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

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

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5 November, 2007

Leftist logic again

Leftists repeatedly do everything they can to avoid looking at the facts of any issue they discuss. Instead they use moral outrage, ad hominem arguments, appeals to dubious authority, whatever.

Egregious Leftist columnist Dana Milbank is a good example. He appears to have been present at a launch at AEI of a new book "Abraham's Children: Race, Identity and the DNA of the Chosen People" written by Jon Entine. You may remember that Entine got into a lot of trouble a few years ago for arguing that blacks have a genetic advantage in certain sporting events -- an advantage any Olympic games spectator could see with their own eyes. Entine appears not to have been deterred by his critics however. The new book argues that the average Jewish IQ is unusually high and that the advantage is genetically inherited. The IQ research certainly supports that (See here and here) but it is again pretty obvious if you look at who is teaching in the universities etc.

Milbank reports that the arguments of the new book were generally accepted by the audience and then goes on to say:

Left unchallenged was the question of whether Jews are indeed smarter than others -- even though it would have only required a walk down the hall to the office of new AEI visiting fellow Paul Wolfowitz, whose leadership on the Iraq war and conflicts of interest as head of the World Bank demonstrate that Jews are capable of questionable judgment.

Where do I begin to comment on that pathetic apology for an argument? He thinks that the "questionable" judgment of one Jewish man is a serious challenge to generalizations about Jews as a whole. It would be equally logical to deny that dogs bark because some dogs do not.

But that's the sort of thing that Leftists do when all the evidence is against them. Anything rather than abandon the simplistic illusions that they so obviously desperately need.

There is nothing wrong with using examples and anecdotes to make vivid a statistical generalization but to use one example to challenge a statistical generalization is brain-dead. To challenge a statistical generalization you have to look at the evidence for and against it, and where IQ is concerned, Leftists avoid doing that like the plague. No mystery why.

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An amazing twist

At first it's just the Democrat corruption you expect... and then we find that the Dems have been in cahoots with one of the world's naughtiest men. It is probably more proof of how smart Watson is. He figured what he needed to do to get Federal funding for his lab

Lawmakers, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have taken thousands in campaign cash from an embattled Nobel-prize winning scientist while earmarking federal money for his New York lab. Mrs. Clinton and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, also a New York Democrat, requested a $900,000 earmark in June for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where James D. Watson served as chancellor before resigning last week after apologizing for comments that suggested that people descending from Africa aren't as intelligent as those from Europe.

Federal campaign filings show that Mr. Watson has donated more than $70,000 to candidates and their political causes, including a total of $3,000 to Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign on May 17 and June 25. Two days later, a Senate committee report showed that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Schumer earmarked $900,000 for the lab. The majority of Mr. Watson's donations over the years have gone to Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, who has received more than $30,000 from the scientist, records show. Mr. Harkin is chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health, human services and education.

Phillippe Reines, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, yesterday referred all questions about the earmark to Mr. Harkin's office but added that there was no connection between political donations and the earmark. "One thing had nothing to do with the other," he said. [Oh, no!]

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Surge in American Anti-Semitism : "This is a rather disturbing trend and it's likely a result of the nonstop Israel bashing by the left, who see a neo-con around every corner. Nearly 35 million American adults - 15 percent - hold views consistent with making them anti-Semitic, according to a survey released yesterday. The Anti-Defamation League survey, conducted from between Oct. 6 and 19, also showed that 31 percent of Americans believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America, and just over a quarter - 27 percent - believe that Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. The survey showed that the nearly 35 million adults Americans who held views making them "unquestionably anti-Semitic" increased the rating 1 percentage point from the 14 percent of the 2005 survey".

Money Train. Another subsidy, no real reforms for Amtrak: "Ronald Utt of the Heritage Foundation notes that in 2006, Amtrak lost enough money per passenger on at least three of their long-distance routes - Orlando to L.A., ($436 per passenger), Seattle to L.A. ($227), and New York to Florida ($132) - that they could have easily come out ahead by collecting passengers' fares and handing them round-trip airline tickets. As of August, Amtrak had lost approximately $845 million for the year.... It could not be clearer that inter-city passenger rail has lost its raison d'etre. Rail is a good way to move cows, logs, grain, and cars. It is not a good way to move people, except the ones who are willing to pay far too much (even after the subsidy) for a trip that takes far too long. Other industrialized nations are already privatizing - it is about time Congress gave someone else a chance to improve the margins on the most cost-efficient routes (in the northeast), and stop running the ones that lose the most money."

Thousands of Iraqis returning to Baghdad: "In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday. Saad al-Azawi, his wife and four children are among them. They fled to Syria six months ago, leaving behind what had become one of the capital's more dangerous districts - west Baghdad's largely Sunni Khadra region."

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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4 November, 2007

Times editorial: `Serious success in Iraq is not being recognised as it should be'

Post below lifted from Don Surber

Not the New York Times. Not the Los Angeles Times. Not the Washington Times. Not the St. Petersburg Times. Keep guessing. The Times of London editorializes:

"Is no news good news or bad news? In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months."

Yes. We are winning. This isn't some no-neck blogger or goofball columnist. This is the best newspaper in the world saying this. The war is not won, but we are winning. The Times of London wrote:

"The current achievements, and they are achievements, are being treated as almost an embarrassment in certain quarters. The entire context of the contest for the Democratic nomination for president has been based on the conclusion that Iraq is an absolute disaster and the first task of the next president is to extricate the United States at maximum speed. Democrats who voted for the war have either repudiated their past support completely (John Edwards) or engaged in a convoluted partial retraction (Hillary Clinton). Congressional Democrats have spent most of this year trying (and failing) to impose a timetable for an outright exit."

James Clyburn was right. Victory in Iraq is a very big problem for the party of defeat. The cheese-eating surrender monkey has replaced the jackass as the party's symbol. That is not an improvement. The bottom line of the editorial is the bottomline of the war:

"The instinct of too many people is that if Iraq is going badly we should get out because it is going badly and if it is getting better we should get out because it is getting better. This is a catastrophic miscalculation. Iraq is getting better. That is good, not bad, news."

The entire editorial is here. I trust the Washington Post, which has supported the war through thin and thinner, will top that editorial on Sunday - if only to show its news editors who really is the voice of the newspaper.

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Republicans have TWO enemies to combat: The Democrats and the media



Just like so many reports before it, a joint survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy - hardly a bastion of conservative orthodoxy - found that in covering the current presidential race, the media are sympathetic to Democrats and hostile to Republicans. Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning news shows, which "produced almost twice as many stories (51% to 27%) focused on Democratic candidates than on Republicans."

The most flagrant bias, however, was found in newspapers. In reviewing front-page coverage in 11 newspapers, the study found the tone positive in nearly six times as many stories about Democrats as it was negative. Breaking it down by candidates, the survey found that Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the favorites. "Obama's front page coverage was 70% positive and 9% negative, and Clinton's was similarly 61% positive and 13% negative." In stories about Republicans, on the other hand, the tone was positive in only a quarter of the stories; in four in 10 it was negative.

Much more here

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ELSEWHERE

Great! Spammer jailed for two years: "A 28-YEAR-OLD man from the US state of New Jersey has been jailed for more than two years by a New York judge for his part in a spamming operation that sent out millions of unsolicited emails. Todd Moeller was today sentenced to a 27-month term and fined more than $US180,000 after pleading guilty earlier this year to sending out spam emails. Moeller was caught in a sting operation after agreeing to send junk email advertising an unspecified commercial product to around 1.2 million customers of internet service provider America Online (AOL)."

Leftist moral imbecility: "Like the infamous Newsweek cover that inspired it, this documentary treats both girls - Palestinian Ayat al-Akhras and Israeli Rachel Levy - as victims of "faith or fate that brought each of them to the end of her life in such a tragic manner." Appallingly, the filmmakers blur the distinction between murderer and victim, evil and innocence. The Israeli girl went to the market to buy Sabbath supplies; the Palestinian girl went there to murder strangers in a homicide bombing".

Leftist philosopher Peter Singer opposes censorship of IQ research: "Putting aside the specific claims that Watson made in his Sunday Times interview, a difficult question remains: should scientists investigate the possibility of a link between race and intelligence? Is the question too sensitive for science to explore? Is the danger of misuse of the results of such research too great? The dangers are obvious enough. Racist stereotyping harms the prospects of many non-whites, especially those of African descent..... Yet to say that we should not carry out research in this area is equivalent to saying that we should reject open-minded investigation of the causes of inequalities in income, education, and health between people of different racial or ethnic groups. When faced with such problems, a preference for ignorance over knowledge is difficult to defend."

Finally Filling the Fifth: "It's about time. On Thursday, October 24, by a vote of 59-38, the Senate confirmed Judge Leslie H. Southwick to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That might not seem like much. But if you've been following the "Judges War" since George W. Bush moved into the White House, then you'd know it's actually quite something after all. The judicial seat now filled by Judge Southwick has been without a Senate-confirmed jurist for more than eight years now"

Why Mrs. Clinton Wants Illegals to Have Driver's Licenses: "The background here is the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as "Motor Voter," that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993. It required all states to offer voter registration to anyone getting a driver's license. One simply fills out a form and checks a box stating he is a citizen; he is then registered and in most states does not have to show any ID to vote. But no one checks if the person registering to vote is indeed a citizen"

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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3 November, 2007

That unmentionable African IQ again

Anything that is almost universally regarded as being unmentionable has a high probability of being true and I reproduce below just a few tiny excerpts from the introduction to a large article in Gene Expression that gives you the actual scientific evidence on African IQ. Evidence is of course exactly what is usually missing from discussions of African IQ. But the evidence is there in great volume, it has been there for decades and it includes consideration of all the usual objections to it. Don't read the article if reality threatens you.

The public intellectual forum is being manipulated with intimidation and coercion and you are being lied to. The media is not doing its job, and the scientific community is not playing its proper public role as a beacon of dispassionate truth-seeking, as a conduit of knowledge to the public, or in fostering an open and fair intellectual climate. Both are abusing their power and authority to do the opposite of their honor bound social and intellectual roles; facts are being distorted in service of values.

It's difficult to name many more important living figures in 20th century biology than James Watson. He ushered in the current age of molecular biology with his achievements in 1953, he built up one of the world's greatest biological research facilities from damn near scratch, and he is a former head of the Human Genome Project. Given such an august curriculum vitae, you would think that this man perhaps understands just a few things about genetics. But given only the condescending media coverage, you'd think this eminent geneticist was somehow "out of his depth" on this one.

There's no point in rehashing the rapid sequence of events in detail: several of Watson's sold-out speaking engagements were cancelled, many critical articles appeared in the British press, trailed by the American press a few days later, hundreds of blogs were fuming with negative commentary, including ones by the editors of Scientific American and Wired Magazine, a number of associations issued statements condemning his words, and soon he was suspended from his chancellorship at Cold Spring Harbor. Watson cancelled his already ruined book tour and flew home to tend to the destruction. It was too late; the eminent biologist retired in disgrace on Oct. 26th.

One thing, though, was conspicuously missing from this whole irritating denouement: any semblance of factual refutation. There is good reason for this: everything Watson got in trouble for saying was entirely correct!

James Watson is one of the most important living figures in American science. The claim in his new book Avoid Boring People, that basic evolutionary logic predicts we should expect intelligence differences between racial groups is, if anything, an uncomplicated truth. Watson's claim in his recent interview with Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe that intelligence testing shows lower scores in Africa than Europe is likewise, entirely supported by the scientific literature. As is Dr. Watson's statement that there are many talented people of African descent, which clarifies he is speaking of different average scores, not that said populations are homogenous.

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Some more psychopathic lies

Go to www.hillaryclinton.com and check out Bill Clinton's syrupy five minute ad for Hillary. He introduces the commercial by saying that he wants to share some things we may not know about Hillary's background. His version of her biography is about as reliable as if it appeared in Pravda! So, I wanted to make a few corrections:

Bill says: Hillary never wanted to run for public office, but she did want to work at public service.

The true facts are: When Clinton was considering not running for another term as Governor of Arkansas in 1990, Hillary said she would run if he didn't. She and Bill even had me take two surveys to assess her chances of winning. The conclusion was that she couldn't win because people would just see her as a seat warmer for when Bill came back licking his wounds after losing for president. So she didn't run. Bill did and won. But there is no question she had her eye on public office, as opposed to service, long ago.

Bill says: In law school Hillary worked on legal services for the poor.

The true facts are: Hillary's main extra-curricular activity in law school was helping the Black Panthers, on trial in Connecticut for torturing and killing a federal agent. She went to court every day as part of a law student monitoring committee trying to spot civil rights violations and develop grounds for appeal.

Bill says: Hillary spent a year after graduation working on a children's rights project for poor kids.

The true facts are: Hillary interned with Bob Truehaft, the head of the California Communist Party. She met Bob when he represented the Panthers and traveled all the way to San Francisco to take an internship with him.

Bill says: Hillary could have written her own job ticket, but she turned down all the lucrative job offers.

The true facts are: She flunked the DC bar exam and only passed the Arkansas bar. She had no job offers in Arkansas and only got hired by the University of Arkansas Law School at Fayetteville because Bill was already teaching there. She only joined the prestigious Rose Law Firm after Bill became Attorney General and made partner only after he was elected Governor.

Much more here

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ELSEWHERE

I am constantly amazed at the way America's Left-leaning mainstream media not only run crooked public opinion polls but even then misrepresent the results they get if all the "engineering" doesn't produce a Leftist enough result. American Thinker has the latest egregious example. The Left sure hate facts and reality and do their best to misrepresent it. And that's just the media, let alone the Leftist politicians and "intellectuals".

Peggy Noonan summarizes what Hillary said in the recent Democrat debate: "Giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses makes sense because it makes sense, but she may not be for it, but undocumented workers should come out of the shadows, and it makes sense. Maybe she will increase the payroll tax on Social Security beyond its current $97,500 limit, to $200,000. Maybe not. Everybody knows what the possibilities are. She may or may not back a 4% federal surcharge on singles making $150,000 a year and couples making $200,000. She suggested she backed it, said she didn't back it, she then called it a good start, or rather "I support and admire" the person proposing such a tax for his "willingness to take this on." She has been accused of doubletalk and she has denied it. And she is right. It was triple talk, quadruple talk, Olympic level nonresponsiveness."

Al Qaeda weakness revealed around the world : "On Tuesday in Iraq's Anbar Province, where jihadi fighters once enjoyed sanctuary, Sunni Arabs turned out en masse to commemorate Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, a leader suspected of having been killed for helping the US rout Al Qaeda from the province. He was hailed as a "martyr." In Lebanon last month, the efforts of Al Qaeda-inspired guerrillas to take over a Palestinian refugee camp were crushed. And in his latest audiotape, Osama bin Laden adopted a rare contrite tone, admitting "mistakes" by some Al Qaeda militants in Iraq. Across the Arab world, where Al Qaeda had sought to build influence and bases of operation on the back of widespread anger against the US over its war in Iraq and the broader war on terrorism, the movement is now showing signs that it is stalled, if not in retreat."

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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2 November, 2007

Hillary supports driving licenses for illegals



Fred Thompson sums it up: "While Hillary Clinton was speaking out both sides of her mouth at last night's debate over the issue of drivers licenses for illegal aliens, what went unsaid is that this is a recipe for increased voter fraud. Under the federal "Motor Voter" law (the National Voter Registration Act of 1993), states must provide applicants for drivers licenses with the opportunity to register to vote. Giving legal drivers licenses to illegal immigrants is wrong and would provide them the opportunity to register to vote in our country. People who are not citizens of the United States should not be encouraged by pandering politicians to further break our laws and risk the health of our political system."

Rudy, Discussing Hillary's Licenses Gaffe, Sounds Happy As a Pig In... : "Rudy Giuliani was just on Sean Hannity's radio program, and the dominant topic of discussion was (what else?) Hillary's comments on offering driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Giuliani sounded as happy as a pig in... well, you know what. "(paraphased) Last night, we got our message out as much as the Democratic candidates. In fact, I think I won. I didn't make any mistakes last night. I didn't say I saw a UFO last night. I didn't give two answers in one minute to the same question." On Biden's jab at his qualifications and the line that Rudy's sentences include, "a noun, a verb, and 9/11.": "We know he read that line, I wonder who wrote it for him." (Hannity responded, "Probably Neil Kinnock.") "

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ELSEWHERE

Media Elite's Campaign News More Biased than Talk Radio: "According to a new study, those news organizations that hold themselves up as the most neutral and professional - big newspapers, the broadcast networks and taxpayer-subsidized National Public Radio - are actually producing campaign stories that are the most tilted in favor of Democrats, while online news and talk radio have actually been the most balanced. The study, released Monday from the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) and Harvard's Shorenstein Center, found newspapers and broadcast TV outlets devoted far more time to covering the Democratic candidates than the Republicans and that the tone of those stories was much more favorable to the Democrats, mirroring the results of a Media Research Center study released in August."

Bloggergate: "The Bloggergate scandal erupted when an anonymous video appeared on YouTube on October 2. It showed Hillary speaking at a conference of leftwing bloggers on August 4, 2007. In it, Hillary declared, "We are. putting together a network in the blogosphere". She attributed its success to the efforts of "institutions that I helped to start and support like Media Matters and Center for American Progress." With these words, Hillary confessed to a federal crime. Both groups are supposedly "non-partisan", 501(c)3 tax-free organizations, strictly prohibited from coordinating efforts with a national political candidate such as Hillary. More importantly, the two groups Hillary mentioned are deeply implicated in Bloggergate. Democrat billionaire George Soros launched the Center for American Progress in 2003 with a $3 million donation. The Center subsequently launched Media Matters for America in May 2004, which in turn launched the Center for Independent Media (CIM) in April 2006."

Paternity fraud: "Doug M. Richardson of Michigan discovered one of the two children born during his marriage were not his biological child. Armed with DNA evidence of this fact he tried to keep the court from ordering him to pay child support to his ex-wife. Nevertheless, based on his ex-wife's false testimony the court entered an order of child support against him anyway. Shortly after this his ex-wife abandoned both of the children, leaving them with the biological father of the older child. Along with this action, she filed for an 'abatement and redirection of child support' that caused Doug's child support payments to go to the biological father of the older child. Both actions were done without notifying Doug. Moreover, the Michigan courts are required by law to notify the child support obligator of any actions of abatement and redirection of child support and grant the obligator a 21 day period to appeal. The courts failed to notify Doug of this for over five years."

The unfortunate Bahais: "The Iranian government is currently intensifying its persecution of its largest religious minority, the Baha'is. This reveals something of the government's nature, and also sheds light on the hotly debated question: Does the regime remain a revolutionary one, or has it become instead a "normal country," one that, despite its fervent rhetoric, aspires only to international acceptance and regional power? The regime has always persecuted the Baha'is, of whom 300,000 (out of some 5 million worldwide) still live in Iran. The Baha'i religion was founded in Iran in the mid-1800s, and the regime demonizes its adherents as heretics or apostates from Islam, who therefore should have no legal status or protection and who should be eradicated. However, its program in the 1980s of murder and imprisonment drew too much international attention and condemnation. So the government decided to pursue a strategy of slow strangulation."

Guess whom Europe's subsidizing?: "The European Union and its member countries have been subsidizing various opponents of Israel for many years. A study, just published by the Dutch Center for Documentation and Information on Israel contains perhaps the most detailed investigation of one such case. A group called United Civilians for Peace is a joint venture of five Dutch NGOs. Fifty to 90% of their budgets are funded by the Dutch government and the European Union. A sixth partner left UCP in view of its extreme anti-Israeli activities. UCP - among other things - publishes research about "Dutch economic links in support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and/or Syrian territories." Journalist Joost de Haas, writing in the Dutch Telegraaf summed up the 50-plus page report by the Dutch Center for Documentation saying: "A peace organization financed with taxpayers money is guided by the Palestinian terror organization Hamas and supports the Iranian atom bomb."

Terrorists Prefer Hillary: "Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is gaining fans, even on the West Bank. “I hope Hillary is elected in order to have the occasion to carry out all the promises she is giving regarding Iraq,” said Ala Senakreh, West Bank chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Palestinian terror group. “I hope also she will maintain her husband’s policies regarding Palestine and even develop that policy. President Clinton wanted to give the Palestinians 98 percent of the West Bank territories. I hope Hillary will move a step forward and will give the Palestinians all their rights. She has the chance to save the American nation and the Americans’ life.”

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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1 November, 2007

President Bush urges Congress to pass needed spending authorizations

Excerpt:

Congress is not getting its work done. We're near the end of the year, and there really isn't much to show for it. The House of Representatives has wasted valuable time on a constant stream of investigations, and the Senate has wasted valuable time on an endless series of failed votes to pull our troops out of Iraq. And yet there's important work to be done on behalf of the American people. They have not been able to send a single annual appropriations bill to my desk, and that's the worst record for a Congress in 20 years. One of the important responsibilities of the Congress is to pass appropriations bills. And yet the leadership that's on the Hill now cannot get that job done.

They've also passed an endless series of tax increases. You know, they proposed tax increases in the farm bill, the energy bill, the small business bill, and of course, the SCHIP bill. They haven't seen a bill they could not solve without shoving a tax hike into it. In other words, they believe in raising taxes, and we don't. Spending is skyrocketing under their leadership -- at least proposed spending is skyrocketing under their leadership. After all, they're trying to spend an additional $205 billion over the next five years. Some have said, well, that doesn't matter much; it's not that much money. Well, $205 billion over the next five years in the real world amounts to this: $4.7 million per hour, every hour, for every day, for the next five years. That's a lot of money....

It's hard to imagine a more cynical political strategy than trying to hold hostage funding for our troops in combat and our wounded warriors in order to extract $11 billion in additional social spending. I hope media reports about such a strategy are wrong, I really do. If they're not, if the reports of this strategy are true, I will veto such a three-bill pileup. Congress should pass each bill one at a time in a fiscally responsible manner that reflects agreement between the legislative branch and the executive branch.

I again ask Congress to send me a clean Veterans funding bill that we have already agreed to by Veterans Day, so we can keep America's promise to those who have defended our freedom and are recovering from injury. I again urge them to pass a clean Defense appropriations bill, and a war supplemental bill to fund our troops in combat.

I know some on the Democrat side didn't agree with my decision to send troops in, but it seems like we ought to be able to agree that we're going to support our troops who are in harm's way. I know the members feel that way, standing with me. I hope the leadership feels that way, and they ought to give me a bill that funds, among other things, bullets, and body armor, and protection against IEDs, and mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles. It would be irresponsible to not give our troops the resources they need to get their job done because Congress was unable to get its job done.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Amusing: A Leftist journalist has put up a list of reasons why Rudy Giuliani would make a bad President. They actually sound like a list of reasons why he would make a good President. Rudy should thank her for the good publicity in an unexpected source.

Peace movement now bores everyone: "If the "peace" movement holds a protest and no one in the press covers it, does it still exist? If Americans are sick of the war, they're also sick of the "anti-war." Even the media have grown anti-war-weary. Rallies on October 27 drew only perfunctory news mentions. The peaceniks have now become a bipartisan political problem, now that the Democrats who control Congress haven't dared to placate the radicals by cutting off money for the troops. Cindy Sheehan is threatening to run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But suddenly - surprise, surprise - the media aren't interested in Sheehan's new crusade. Crusades only have a point when it's an anti-Republican point."

WaPo Writer admires Cuban system: "Imagine the ire the media would have, rightfully so, if George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney (and Sean Hannity and whatever other liberal bogeymen the ultra-left fear) could even dream of, much less institute, a block-by-block patriotism patrol answerable to the U.S. government. Of course that would not and could not ever happen under our Constitution. But the same essential thing was a building block of Fidel Castro's Marxist regime in Cuba, and, surprise, surprise, a Washington Post staff writer devoted an A-section article to its waning influence and substitute dictator Raul Castro's hope of reviving it."

Chris Matthews Warns People to be `Fearful' of Hillary Presidency: "You know when the liberal host of MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews, paints a grim picture of a Hillary Clinton presidency for investors on a financial show, things must be pretty dismal. "I know that most people are very fearful of Hillary being elected," Jim Cramer said to Matthews on the October 29 "Mad Money." "Well, they ought to be fearful," Matthews responded. "Democrats raise taxes and Hillary already said she's going to repeal the Bush tax cuts. The Republicans start this election with their hole card, the ace showing - they're going to keep taxes lower. That's always a big plus for Republicans."

FEMA again: "The chief publicist for America's Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has been fired from his new job before he even started, after it emerged that he staged a fake news conference about the California wildfires - at which he and his staff, posing as reporters, asked the questions. Of all the government organisations in America, perhaps only the beleaguered Fema - ridiculed for its late-response to Hurricane Katrina two years ago - could so effectively snatch defeat from the jaws of such a victorious disaster-response effort, led by California's resurgent governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger"

Israel steps up threats to invade Gaza Strip: "Israel escalated its threats on Tuesday to invade the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket fire after a plan to withhold key utilities drew objections from legal experts and foreign powers. Since quitting Gaza in 2005, Israel has mounted regular commando raids and air strikes on rocket crews but the salvoes have not ceased. Two such operations on Tuesday killed at least four Hamas policemen and wounded six Palestinian civilians. Islamist Hamas's takeover of the territory in June stoked calls in the Jewish state for a big military sweep."

Victory for Minneapolis Taxi Entrepreneurs: "Can an entrenched cartel of Minneapolis taxi drivers violate the civil rights of entrepreneurs and consumers? No, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin L. Noel. In an opinion released today, the judge recommended that a lawsuit brought by members of the taxi cartel to overturn the city's free-market reforms be dismissed. "This is a victory for both aspiring taxi entrepreneurs and for Minneapolis consumers," said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice who argued the case. "Established businesses should not be able to use the law to quash competition and close the marketplace. Today's ruling ensures that does not happen."

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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