Friday, April 29, 2005
FOX NEWS: the REAL mainstream
"FOXNEWS CHANNEL LEADS CABLE BUSH PRESS CONFERENCE IN TOTAL VIEWERS : FNC -- 2,722,000 (final) CNN -- 896,000 (final) MSNBC -- 569,000 (final)"
And the anti-Fox folks would want you to believe that Fox has built its business by catering to only a segment of the potential audience: angry whte men. FOOEY! You don't the BIGGEST cable news channel by NARROWCASTING! Rather it is CNN and MSNBC who have - with their blatant anti-American/anti-Bush bias - painted themselves into a corner!
USA TODAY: "Speaking at a media breakfast last week, Ailes at first said he couldn't think of a single thing that No. 2-rated CNN does better than Fox — except get better press. CNN chief "Jonathan Klein is getting 50 great stories about what they are doing there, one of which is he thinks that there are not enough liberals in the newsroom ... 'need more progressives.' God, I hope he believes that," Ailes said.
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ASIA'S AND SOUTH ASIA'S TWO BIGGEST DEMOCRACIES GET CLOSER
Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi has met his Indian counterpart in Delhi, with both supporting each other's claim for a permanent UN Security Council seat. Mr Koizumi and Manmohan Singh signed a joint statement with an eight-point agenda for improved relations. Apart from the UN issue, it called for a high-level strategic dialogue and measures to improve economic ties. [...] The joint statement said India and Japan would "strive to develop closer dialogue and collaboration to secure peace, stability and prosperity in Asia". It said the nations' navies would increase cooperation in Asian waters and the countries would hold annual prime minister-level meetings. It also said the nations vowed to bolster bilateral trade, which has been around $4bn a year for several years.Ties between the two countries have warmed considerably since India's nuclear tests in May 1998, which led to Japanese sanctions on India. The sanctions were lifted in 2001. Since then India has become the largest recipient of development loans from Japan, outranking Indonesia and China.
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What the Third World needs now is... MORE FACTORIES, MORE REFINERIES AND MORE INDUSTRIALIZATION!
WHY IS THIS?
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CHECK-POINT ON TRUTH: THE SGRENA AFFAIR AND THE CALIPARI REPORTS
The United States and Italy say they disagree on the conclusions from a joint investigation into the killing of an Italian agent in Iraq by US troops. Nicola Calipari died trying to protect a freed Italian hostage - journalist Giuliana Sgrena - as their car came under US fire near Baghdad airport. US investigators are reported to have found the soldiers "not culpable". [...] The joint statement released on Friday said: "Investigators did not arrive at shared final conclusions even though, after examining jointly the evidence, they did agree on facts, findings and recommendations on numerous issues." [...] The US military said the car in which Mr Calipari and Ms Sgrena were travelling was speeding as it approached a temporary checkpoint and failed to heed warning signals to stop. Ms Sgrena, who was hurt in the shooting, said the car had not been speeding and that there had been no warning before the troops opened fire.
UPDATE - 9:22PM: LGF reports that US Spy Satellite info PROVES Sgrena's car was SPEEDING! "WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US satellite reportedly recorded a checkpoint shooting in Iraq last month, enabling investigators to reconstruct how fast a car carrying a top Italian intelligence official and a freed hostage was traveling when US troops opened fire. The report, which aired Thursday on CBS News, said US investigators concluded from the recording that the car was traveling at a speed of more than 60 miles (96 km) per hour." THERE'S MUCH MORE; GO TO LGF AND RTWT!
I think we should ALSO keep in mind what independent an un-embedded American journalist Bartle Breese Bull had to say on the matter of checkpoints in Baghdad - in the WASHPOST last month:
As an unembedded freelance journalist in Iraq, I have safely driven through scores of American roadblocks all over this country. I have also spent many hours with U.S. troops as they set up and operate these checkpoints. At the same time, like other reporters here who don't travel with armies of their own -- and like the millions of Iraqis who either have some money or are brave enough to participate in their country's reconstruction -- I live constantly with the fear of being kidnapped.
We see every day the damage done with the millions of dollars that Iraq's Baathist and Wahhabist insurgencies make from that appalling business. So as investigators try to sort out how U.S. troops could have fired on a car carrying newly freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, wounding her and killing the man who secured her release, I'm thinking about how checkpoints save lives. We don't know exactly what happened at the checkpoint on the way to the Baghdad airport. But I've seen how checkpoints work, and the American soldiers who man them are anything but trigger-happy. They know the consequences of making a mistake.
If the uproar over the shooting leads the Americans to further tighten rules of engagement, that will increase the danger to our troops and make commanders on the ground more reluctant to perform these dangerous operations. As a result, more foreigners and Iraqis will be running the risk of being kidnapped or blown up by suicide bombs. Traffic checkpoints are an essential tactic in the disruption of terrorism here in Iraq, since car bombers and kidnappers have to use the roads to conduct their criminal business. Apart from certain fixed locations, such as the entrances to the Green Zone or the Baghdad airport, most checkpoints aren't permanent, and they can be set up almost anywhere, in all sorts of situations.The details of Sgrena's release and wounding are still in official dispute, but on the street here there's nearly universal certainty that Nicola Calipari, the Italian government agent who died at the checkpoint, bought her freedom with a large ransom. Some Italian officials have intimated as much, though Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told an Italian newspaper that no money changed hands. It's also believed that the Italians ransomed two aid workers last fall. If so, this would mean that the Italian government is giving the terrorists money to conduct more violence even as 2,700 young Italians in uniform are helping rebuild this country.
The word here is that although Calipari had briefed the Americans about his mission, he withheld the details, partly because the Americans disapprove of paying off kidnappers, but more importantly because of the essential factor that foreign media coverage of Iraq usually ignores: the Iraqis. If the Italians paid a ransom, Calipari committed a serious crime in a sovereign state fighting desperately to establish the rule of law and defeat internal terrorism. Long before the Italian incident, orders had come down that deadly force was to be used only as a last resort -- after the failure of obstacles, then flares or smoke bombs or "star clusters," then warning shots, and finally efforts to take out the oncoming vehicle's engine block. These procedures are real. I have seen our soldiers' reluctance to use force and felt the fear it brings. Car bombs cause 30 percent of military casualties.
The checkpoint procedures, which the military calls "fire discipline" and "escalation of force," are designed to prevent soldiers from killing innocent Iraqis who somehow lack the information or common sense to slow down when they approach. Over the period of Sgrena's incarceration, I stood with American troops at various checkpoints between Fallujah and Ramadi in the Sunni heartland of Iraq's Wild West, an area that receives more than 10 times the national average of attacks on American forces. As I finished writing the previous sentence I heard the announcement over the base radio that two members of the combat team I was with had been killed -- by a suicide bomber driving up to a checkpoint. I didn't see that explosion, but I heard it; I had spent much of the day at another U.S. checkpoint not far away.
"Sitting ducks, that's all we are," a 20-year-old combat medic from Texas said to me as we watched Iraqi vehicles thread past the "Alert" sign and through the orange cones and concertina wire of a checkpoint last week. Later, when I asked the sergeant in charge of the platoon if he was enjoying himself, he responded, "Just hanging around waiting to get blown up." This unit has suffered very high casualties, most from car bombs. If any soldiers in Iraq could be expected to be jumpy and trigger-happy, it is the grunts of central Anbar province. But as I watched them run their checkpoint, both before and after the Sgrena incident, they were thoroughly professional.
Driving around this country with Iraqis, including people with quite a lot to hide, I've encountered scores of American checkpoints. Just about everyone knows what to do: You do a slow U-turn and go the other way, you find a route around, or you drive through slowly and wave at the polite 20-year-old from Nashville. In a very small number of cases, one side makes a mistake and something truly tragic happens.
I think that the Calipari shooting was a sad tragedy, and that it was likely the result of Italian secrecy and stupidly speeding at the wrong time in order to maintain that scerecy.
I believe this because this because of the last bit BARTLE BREESE BULL writes - I'll repeat it: "Driving around this country with Iraqis, including people with quite a lot to hide, I've encountered scores of American checkpoints. Just about everyone knows what to do: You do a slow U-turn and go the other way, you find a route around, or you drive through slowly and wave at the polite 20-year-old from Nashville." Calipari did NOT do that.
There's MUCH MORE IN THE BARTLE BREESE BULL ARTICLE; READ THE WHOLE THING.
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Lessons From the Fall of Saigon
This article PROVES that VIETNAM WAS A NOBLE WAR WHICH OUR ALLIES WERE WINNING, and that they ONLY LOST WHEN THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS IMMORALLY PULLED THE PLUG ON FINANCING THE South Vietnamese Government and their defense forces.
Here are a FEW extended excerpts; (READ THE WHOLE THING!):
Thirty years after the fall of Saigon the received wisdom among large sections of Western academia and journalism is little changed. The successive U.S. administrations that intervened in the Vietnam War are widely portrayed as foolish or immoral, while the activist opponents of the war are seen as wise and morally courageous. This simple picture is transposed to the Iraq war by many of today's antiwar generation. Yet the widely held image of the two sides is a crude misrepresentation. The Vietnam War provides few analogies for the Middle East, except as a demonstration of how so many in the West are willing to champion the cause of totalitarian states and movements that the U.S. opposes. [...]
Tragically for the South Vietnamese people, and for the South Vietnamese and U.S. soldiers who had fought so bravely, the Johnson administration's failed policies also generated a cynicism among the American public that imposed severe constraints on the foreign-policy options available to President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Yet, despite the difficult hand they were dealt, Messrs. Nixon and Kissinger did well. Their counterinsurgency policies were sufficiently successful that by 1972 the guerrilla insurgency had been defeated. Moreover, after years of training, the South Vietnamese army became responsible for all ground combat, and was able to defeat a massive North Vietnamese conventional offensive in 1972 with U.S. air and logistical support. The end of the draft and removal of American combat troops from Vietnam drastically reduced public opposition to administration policies. [...]
Lacking mass public support for their goals, but encouraged by weakening of the White House by the emerging Watergate scandal, the antiwar left took their battle from the streets to the corridors of the U.S. Congress. Guided by leaders lobbying in Washington, the small force of some 6,000 antiwar activists in major states, were able to pressure substantial number of congressmen into legislating against the military options available to the U.S. Inflamed with a hatred of American foreign policy, and a romantic infatuation with America's communist enemy, young activists like John Kerry spoke of systematic atrocities being conducted everywhere by U.S. forces, actress Jane Fonda warned of U.S. bombing North Vietnamese dikes to drown hundreds of thousands of civilians, while New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug spoke of hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in South Vietnam.
These tales were false and the reverse of reality: systematic atrocities were being conducted by the communists, and hundreds of thousands of political prisoners were rotting in the North Vietnamese gulag. But in the radicalized atmosphere of the times, many academics, journalists and congressmen inhabited a fantasy world. Many, like Sen. George McGovern, believed that the South Vietnamese government was the enemy of peace, while the North Vietnamese were merely victimized advocates of peace. Legislation to cut back U.S. aid to South Vietnam soon followed. This took place in a time of world-wide inflation, which meant that the South Vietnamese army that had repelled the Soviet supplied North Vietnamese army in 1972, was in need of more aid not less. But after the massive U.S. aid cutbacks of 1974, the South Vietnamese military could not defend its territory. Defeat in 1975 was thereby ensured. [...]
During the 1980s the cause of Third World totalitarian revolutions was transposed from Vietnam to El Salvador and Nicaragua. The congressional lobbying tactics learned during the Vietnam War were reapplied by the American left, to try to ensure communist victories in Central America. But greater world events conspired to defeat the "Sandalistas." The collapse of the Soviet Union pulled the military and economic rug out from under their friends. Democracy prevailed and the communists lost freely contested elections they wished to avoid. [...]
In the Middle East the task for the Left of finding a political cause to serve has been made more difficult by the weakness of communism and the ostensibly religious nature of so much anti-American politics. Radical Leftists prefer their utopian and messianic totalitarian movements to have a secular cast. Prosperous and democratic Israel today is the main enemy, as it was even before the expansionist settlement movement evolved. That is why the cause of some Palestinian factions has been embraced. But the bottom line for the radical Left everywhere is the undermining of American global power, and undermining rule by America's friends. If local people have to live under repressive movements or regimes as a consequence, such as the Baathists tyrannies in Iraq or Syria, this can always be rationalized or justified.
From such people policy-makers can expect no wisdom on how to pursue the war against Islamic terrorists, nor how to encourage political orders compatible with human freedom. Thirty years after the Left celebrated the American retreat from Southeast Asia, this much is clear.
More views HERE and HERE and HERE. UPDATE 5/1: AND A MUST READ HERE.
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HOW TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY COSTS WITHOUT CUTTING BENEFITS TO ANY RECIPIENTS
"... allow people of retirement age the option of continuing to work as long as they want, but tax-free. Since they are working, they would receive no Social Security benefits. Obviously this would not apply to any funds in a private account. Since they weren't going to be paying taxes anyway, there's no negative impact on revenues. Employers gain experienced help at a bargain. Seasoned Citizens get a whopping raise. And even if only a few percent take advantage for a few years, it could go a long way toward offsetting the shortfall. I'm not qualified to analyze the proposal in detail, but it intuits well. So I'm askin' ya: What do you think?
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British Educational Elite Sponsors Anti-Semitism and the Repression of Personal Opinion
"... in addition to a call for boycott [of Israeli schools and scholars], the AUT is ready to offer a waiver to scholars on condition that they publicly state their willingness to conform to the political orthodoxy espoused by the academics who sponsored your motion. Oaths of political loyalty do not belong to academia. They belong to illiberal minds and repressive regimes. Based on this, the AUT's definition of academic freedom is the freedom to agree with its views only. Given the circumstances, I wish to express in no uncertain terms my unconditional and undivided solidarity with both universities and their faculties. I know many people, both at Haifa University and at Bar Ilan University, of different political persuasion and from different walks of life.
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FRANCE AND GERMANY: ECONOMIC BASKETCASES ON THE VERGE OF RECESSION
Unemployment remains the second lowest in the Group of Seven industrial nations after Japan and interest rates, according to latest figures released by the U.K. government. Unemployment in the three months through February was 4.8 percent, according to the International Labor Organization. That compares with France's 9.8 percent, Germany's 9.7 percent and 5.4 percent in the U.S. in February. [...]
The number of home loans approved by U.K. mortgage lenders in March increased at the fastest pace in seven months, adding to evidence that the 3 trillion-pound housing market may be recovering from a slowdown that began in the second half of 2004. Approvals gained to 91,000 in March from a revised 86,000 in February, the Bank of England said in London today. That's above the six-month average of 84,000. Net mortgage lending grew 7 billion pounds ($13.4 billion) after increasing 7.1 billion pounds in the previous month. ``There's life out there,'' said Geoffrey Dicks, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in London. ``The figures are surprising on the upside. This may not have immediate policy implications but it does take away some of the downside risk.''
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Thursday, April 28, 2005
ANOTHER BIG LIE FROM THE HYPOCRITICAL REVISIONIST LEFT AND THE MSM THEY DOMINATE
And then he adds:
"... today’s (preliminary) report indicated real GDP growth of 3.1 percent over the first 90 days of the year. I mean, come on. It’s not like 1931 revisited. Plus, to put things into perspective, what, pray tell, was real GDP growth in the first quarter of 1997, when the media used to swoon about the economy nearly every single day? Yep, you guessed it, the very same 3.1 percent. In fact, in between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 1997, and despite the brewing tech/telecom mania, there were three separate quarters in which real GDP growth (annualized) came in at or below last quarter’s 3.1 percent expansion. (See here.)"
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BRAVE NEW WORLD: UK'S HOUSE OF LORDS APPROVES DESIGNER BABIES FOR SPARE PARTS
"The House of Lords have ruled that the creation of so-called "designer babies" to treat siblings with genetic disorders was lawful."
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LEFT-WING REVISIONIST LIES: FILIBUSTERS, IRAQ AND SCHIAVO
BOTTOM-LINE: Filibusters are NOT protected by - or even mentioned in the Constitution, and they were once scorned by the Left who now treats them as sacrosanct. The Left cannot get away with their hypocrisy or their lying about this.
They're claiming that it was a PARTISAN effort when it passed the Senate UNANIMOUSLY, and passed the House by 75% and had the support of liberal-lefties like Senator Tom Harkin, columnist Nat Hentoff, and so-called Reverend Jesse Jackson!
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005
SURRENDERING CALIFORNIA TO MEXICO
This is not true. As David Orland wrote:
As a matter of fact, the American Southwest was not, as MEChA claims, “stolen” from Mexico. Following the Mexican-American War, the government of Mexico legally ceded this territory to the United States (by the Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo, 1848). Nor has there ever been any place called “Aztlan” on American soil, much less a “Nation of Aztlan.” Invented 30 years ago by radical Latino activists, the Nation of Atzlan has more in common with Atlantis than with Israel. [...] MEChA plans for the American Southwest is to be a peaceful one — at least for the time being. By supporting continued high levels of Mexican immigration to the United States, MEChA hopes to achieve by sheer weight of numbers what the U.S. government long ago achieved by force of arms: the re-partition of the American Southwest. To this end, MEChA endorses a cocktail of pro-immigration policies. These include open borders, government benefits (including the right to vote and obtain drivers licenses) for non-citizens, amnesty for illegal aliens, dual citizenship, state recognition of Spanish as an official language, and racial set-asides in education and corporate hiring.
The membership of MECHA includes many prominent Democrat polticians, and the Democat Party panders for the "Aztlan"/Mexican-American vote by supporting policies which aid the accomplishemnt of the "reconquesta" goals.
If America continues its lax policies - allowing "Immigration without assimilation" then America is committing cultural suicide. We MUSTN'T let Mexicans do to us what Muslims are doing to Holland and France and Europe: conquer it by insidious invasion of their underclass and by the ensuing demographics.
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DUELFER, SADDAM, SYRIA AND WMD
Arguing against a WMD transfer to Syria, Mr. Duelfer said, was the fact that all senior Iraqi detainees involved in Saddam's weapons programs and security "uniformly denied any knowledge of residual WMD that could have been secreted to Syria."
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GUNS, BUTTER, DEBT AND THE LEFT
(a) "The New Deal... deepened the Great Depression, swelled the federal government, and prevented the country from turning around quickly. ... FDR’s federal programs hurt America more than helped it... Social Security actually increased unemployment ... higher taxes undermined good businesses... labor laws threw people out of work."
"The New Deal tripled federal taxes between 1933 and 1940 — excise taxes, personal income taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate income taxes, dividend taxes, and excess profits taxes all went up — and FDR introduced an undistributed profits tax. A number of New Deal laws, including some 700 industrial cartel codes, made it more expensive for employers to hire people, and this fed unemployment." Jim Powell, author of FDR's Folly - How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression
(b) "... without a shadow of a doubt–the New Deal hampered recovery from the contraction, prolonged and added to unemployment, and set the stage for ever more intrusive and costly government. Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate.
(c) The idea the FDR's New Deal got us out of The Great Depression "was never pervasive among economists, and even J.M. Keynes -- a liberal icon -- criticized some of FDR's policies as hindering recovery from the depression."Thomas Sowell, economist, author, columnist, Stanford University fellow.
(d) "Whatever it was, the New Deal was not a recovery program." Stanford University political historian David M. Kennedy: his 1999 book Freedom from Fear, winner of a Pulitzer Prize.
(e) "There is a critical and often forgotten difference between disaster and tragedy. Disasters happen to us all, no matter what we do. Tragedies are brought upon ourselves by hubris. The Depression of the 1930s would have been a brief disaster if it hadn’t been for the national tragedy of The New Deal." PJ O'Rourke.
Fact #2: By historical standards, the Federal Debt accumulated under Reagan was not great. And during his two terms the economy grew at its best historical rate even as the federal debt grew.
"The federal debt reached a peak ratio of 114 percent of GDP after World War II and declined to 26 percent by 1981, before rising again. But even with the subsequent deficits, it was still only 51 percent of GDP in 1992. " Robert Eisner was the William R. Kenan Professor of Economics at Northwestern University and a past president of the American Economic Association. He died in 1998.Fact #3: FDR and Truman accumulated the greatest debt as a percentage of GDP. From 1946-1950 the federal debt averaged 100% of GDP. From 1950-1952 it averaged 75% of GDP. During the entire decade of the 1950's the federal debt averaged 60%. This level of federal debt did not stop the US economy from experiencing its greatest growth period EVER - in spite of the fact that the rest of the world was economically hobbled and consuming very little.
FACT #4: Under President GWBush the federal debt as a percentage of the GDP is not historically large. In 2001 it was 57.5%; in 2004 it was estimated to be 65.3%.
[ASIDE: This is despite the fact that he INHERITED A RECESSION, and INHERITED TWO DISASTEROUS BUBBLES (the telecoms bubble and the internet bubble - bubbles which were allowed to exuberantly grow unchecked by the libertine Clinton, and which burst BEFORE the election), and he INHERITED and HORRIFIC ACCOUNTING SCANDAL. These abuses (like the UN Food for Oil stealing) occurred on Clinton's watch; the abuses were discovered on Bush's watch; the perps are being punished and the rules tightened on Bush's watch.]
FACT#5 - Defense spending increased every year from 1940-1994 - and the economy grew over that period; there were recessions and there was terrible inflation in the 1970's, but overall or economy grew. It grew especially well during the Reagan years when defense spending grew at its fastest rate since WW2, and federal debt increased. IN FACT, federal debt, taxes and defense spending grew almost every year between 1950 and 2000, and it had NO EFFECT on the overall economy - which see-sawed as a result of other factors.
CONCLUSION: The assertions the Left makes that we cannot have guns and butter is false.
The argument that if left unchecked that Bush's tax cuts and defense spending and domestic spending increases are inevitably leading us to an economic disaster is false.
History proves that we can have large deficits and larges increases in the federal debt as a percentage of the GDP without throwing the economy into either a recession or a depression.
Ultimately, the growth of the economy depends on the people - earning, spending, investing and consuming - and NOT the government.
And solutions to the national security crises we face (the GWOT, nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, etc.) should NOT be graded by their cost or their effect on the federal debt, but by how effectively they work to make us safer.
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Monday, April 25, 2005
IRAQ AND EUROPE: who will get a constitution first?
I THINK IT SERVES OLD EUROPE EFFING RIGHT! And I think the failure of the EU constitution would be a VERY GOOD THING. I think that the nations of Old Europe need a Thatcherite/Reagan revolution more than they need another corrupt layer of bureaucratic socialism.
Here are excerpts from and links to some articles which discuss the causes and implications of the impending collapse of the EU constitution:
"If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and accountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis -- a government based on respect for human rights, economic liberty, and internationally supervised elections [emph added]. [...] If we meet our responsibilities, if we overcome this danger, we can arrive at a very different future. The people of Iraq can shake off their captivity. They can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a democratic Palestine, inspiring reforms throughout the Muslim world.
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Sunday, April 24, 2005
THE LEFT'S LAST STAND: Bolton and Judges
The judiciary and the UN are two of the last strongholds of Leftism.
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Thursday, April 21, 2005
WHO IS THE MAINSTREAM?
It's SO LOONY that I had to GOOGLE it - and sure enough, AT HILLARY'S OWN SITE, I found it. Here's one of the LOONIEST sections; (Trey has this part at his blog):
Now how are they [the GOP] doing this? Well, they control the levers of power. They flaunt that power. And they adhere to a rigid ideology that is well outside the mainstream of American politics. It is an ideology that ignores some of the basic principles laid down by our founding fathers like the accountability of the checks and balances in government. Now their determination to do this, I think, has taken a lot of Americans by surprise. It seems so much out of sync with where we believe our country should be. So no wonder so many Americans believe that we are on the wrong track.
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BOLTON ACCUSERS ARE LYING LEFT-WING PARTISAN SHILLS
The latest accusations of abuse aimed at the president's nominee to be America's ambassador to the United Nations come from a self-described "liberal Democrat" who in 2004 helped organize the Dallas chapter of "Mothers Opposing Bush."
"Loyal Republican to the Core" Carl Ford Donated to Democrats - Self-professed “loyal, conservative Republican to the core” Carl Ford has not always put his money where his mouth is. Over the past five years, Ford donated more than $3,000 to a number of prominent Democrats including John Kerry and Charles Rangel, according to OpenSecrets.org.Ford has also donated to a number of Republicans, including President Bush. The Democrat donations include:
$1,000 Charles Rangel 8/12/04; $500, Daniel Inouye, 2/18/04; $1,000 Jane Harman, 12/8/03; $250 Jane Harman, 3/7/2004; $500 John Kerry, 11/9/99.
Why would a REAL conservative Republican give money to Rangel and Kerry - (and GOP moderate Arlen Spector, too)? It's NOT plausible. When Ford CLAIMED UNDER OATH to be a conservative Republican, he perjured himself and proved he's a phony and a liar.
The Left-wingers - and the Democrat Party they now control - are lying now about Bolton just as Joe Wilson and Dick Clarke and Sandy Berger and Dan Rather did in the past about Bush and other Bush aides.
HAVE THEY NO SHAME!?
International Business and Technical Consultants President [and Townsel's boss] Jayant Kalotra wrote a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee defending Bolton’s actions in Moscow concerning “Mothers Opposing Bush” volunteer Melody Townsel.
Now, before anyone tries to imply Kalotra is just another conservative Bolton supporter, consider these facts:
In the past five years, Kalotra has donated over $16,000 to political candidates, all Democrats, according to FEC records. That includes more than $3,000 to New Jersey Democratic congressman Frank Pallone, $3,000 to Dick Gephardt, $500 to Al Gore, $5,000 to the DNC, $1,000 to Maryland congressman Albert Wynn and $1,000 to New York’s Gary Ackerman.
ITEM #4: BELTWAY BUZZ -
When asked to explain why she did not bring allegations against Bolton during any of his previous confirmation hearings, [Bolton accuser]Townsel claims she was “too busy” raising her children and had stepped out of politics.
However, during the time Townsel claims she devoted to raising her children, she was in fact working for the very large public relations firm Ogilvy. She was so committed to her work that she became a senior VP and collected more than $1.5 billion in revenues for the company.
In addition, Townsel worked on “whistleblower” issues for the Androvett Legal Media and Marketing firm and ran her own firm, Townsel Communications. Hat tip to the Classical Values blog.
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BUSH HANGS TOUGH ON BOLTON NOMINATION
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday urged the Senate to confirm John Bolton as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations despite questions about his temperament that have stalled the nomination. [...] Bush's impromptu remarks, which came at the top of a planned speech in Washington before a meeting of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, were clearly designed to show that the White House is not giving up on Bolton. [ ...] The White House also offered to arrange private meetings between Bolton and any wavering Republicans. There was no indication that Bolton might withdraw. [Yesterday McClellan said,] "Senate Democrats on the committee continue to bring up these allegations that are unsubstantiated, that are unfounded, that John Bolton has addressed in his testimony" before the committee, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. "I think what you're seeing is the ugly side of Washington, D.C., that people are playing politics with his nomination," McClellan said.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
LIBERAL CHAFEE WAIVERING ON BOLTON
Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee is ``less likely'' to support John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations because of the allegations he mistreated subordinates, a spokesman for Chafee said. Chafee's vote against Bolton on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, combined with the united opposition of Democrats, would leave Republicans at least one vote short of recommending his nomination to the full Senate.
- phone his DC office: (202) 224-2921- email him: http://chafee.senate.gov/webform.htm- phone him in RI: (401) 845-0700 -or- (401) 453-5294
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BENEDICT NEWS ROUNDUP
UKTIMES: Analysis: what the Pope's first homily tells us
AU-TELEGRAPH: Benedict to meet reporters
NEWSDAY: Europe Religious Apathy May Challenge Pope
UK-GUARDIAN: Pope's Name Reveals Aspirations for Peace
"REUTERS": New Pope suffered brain haemorrhage in '91 - report
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SOROS FORMS "THE PHOENIX GROUP"
George Soros told a carefully vetted gathering of 70 likeminded millionaires and billionaires last weekend that they must be patient if they want to realize long-term political and ideological yields from an expected massive investment in “startup” progressive think tanks.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., meeting, called to start the process of building an ideas production line for liberal politicians, began what organizers hope will be a long dialogue with the “partners,” many from the high-tech industry. Participants have begun to refer to themselves as the Phoenix Group. [...] One source at the DNC with direct knowledge of the agenda said that the Phoenix Group had three specific goals at the outset. It wants to create liberal think tanks, training camps for young progressives and media centers.
The Democrats and the Left have truly become the party and the "movement" of BIG MONEY AND THE ELITES, and they are no longer the blue-collar party of the people.
UPDATE: Well, well, well: This post - and the one on BOLTON (below) - have sure struck a nerve in the heart of the Left! Here're my responses to some of the Leftie commenters -
(1) NOBODY repeat N-O-B-O-D-Y spent more money in the last presidential race than Soros and Peter Lewis - TWO UNABSHED LEFTIES. That's just a simple a fact; go to OPENSECRETS.ORG to verify. Soros alome spent $25 MILLION. Lewis around $15 MILLION. That's more than any Righty or any GOP millionaire. (2) Bush got more small donations from more people than Kerry. VERIFY THAT AT OPENSECRETS.ORG, too. (3) Blogosota (a commenter to this post) reveals the basically ANTI-FREE SPEECH/dialogue/debate attitude of the Left; it's why they are so anti-Fox: they just don't think that the Right has any right to public discourse. How PERFECTLY Stalinist.
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The Left - and the MSM they Dominate - are alienating Catholics
Hugh Hewitt:
Catholics in America are getting quite an introduction in agenda journalism today, as report after report sells the liberal line about the new pope. I devoted all three hours of my radio broadcast to Catholic callers' reaction to the new pope today, and only one of scores of calls was negative. This doesn't prove anything about the reaction within the entire American Church, but the downgrading or total absence of the perspective of joy at the succession of Benedict XVI among American Catholics is an indictment of the MSM's professional abilities. They cannot believe that the vast majority of American Catholics will approve of this new pope, so that possibility is left uninvestigated.
[...]
The refusal of even a single day's honeymoon for the new pope from the scribblers of the left tells us a lot about the folks who work on editorial boards, and also a lot about diversity in America's newsrooms. Are there even five traditional, Mass-attending and confession-going writers among the five editorial boards sampled above? Is there even one who would step forward to defend the Church's teaching on human dignity and sexuality? There are tens of millions of American Catholics full of joy at yesterday's news, but do they have any voice within elite MSM at all?
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
PREDICTION: POPE BENEDICT WILL REINVIGORATE AND REPOPULATE EUROPE'S CHURCHES
“Cardinal Ratzinger presents a scenario of a shrinking Church of minority status, more concerned with creating small pockets of authentic Christian living than influencing the course of society.”
When JPII was selected many thought that the RC Church was signaling detente with the USSR (because as Cardinal Wojtyla JPII had coexisted with Soviet tyranny in Poland.)
As Michael Ledeen wrote:
We were in Rome when John Paul II was elected Pope, and, like most people, I didn't know much about him. Most of the commentary at that time described the Conclave's decision in political terms, and Karol Wojtyla was said to be a "detente pope," a gesture of peace toward the Soviets. I went over to Communist-party headquarters in Via delle Botteghe Oscure to ask them what they thought of it, and one of the real hardline Stalinists put it nicely: "Well," he said, "at least our Polish comrades won't have him around to (and here he used a colorful Roman phrase that roughly means 'give them a hard time.'). The Communist knew what he was talking about, and the scribblers and kibbitzers didn't.Instead, the world got a GREAT COLD WARRIOR who inspired Poles and gave them the courage to challenge Soviet tyranny.
I expect Pope Benedict to wage a SUCCESSFUL battle against relativism and THEREBY ENLARGE THE CHURCH ONCE AGAIN IN EUROPE.
You NEVER win by appeasing your enemy; relativism is the enemy; Benedict knows this and he knows that he must defeat relativism to win back Europe.
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BOLTON IS PERFECT; VOINOVICH IS A COWARD
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed a vote on the nomination of John Bolton as U.N. ambassador after a Republican senator said he was not prepared to vote for him on Tuesday and cast the nomination in doubt. "I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton," Ohio Sen. George Voinovich said, stunning fellow Republicans who were set to push the contentious nomination through the committee on a party-line vote. Without Voinovich's support, Bolton's nomination faced being bottled up in the committee on a 9-9 tie vote that would not advance it to the full Senate.
If you were mayor of NYC and had a real lousy school system for the last decade, and if REALLY wanted to fix it, would you want to appoint someone who'd been a SUPPORTER of that lousy school system for that decade? Or would you appoint somebody who'd been a sharp critic of it for the last decade!?
IF YOU REALLY WANTED TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO, AND IMPROVE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM, THEN YOU'D APPOINT SOMEONE WHO'D BEEN A SHARP CRITIC OF THE SCHOOLS WHEN THEY WERE BAD (and NOT someone who been an enabler of the decline of the school system)!
Opposition to Bolton is ONLY driven by 2 things: (1) irrational Bush hatred, and (2) Leftists who OPPOSE REFORM OF THE UN!
(a) email: http://voinovich.senate.gov/contact/
or (b) email here: voinovich@voinovich.senate.gov
or (c) fax: 513 - 684 - 3269
or (d) phone: 513 - 684-3265
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POPE BENEDICT!
[For what it's worth:
(A) I had Ratzinger as #8 on my list (only so low because of his relatively advanced age). The number 8 is - by many numerologists - regarded as the number most associated with Jesus. (B) Amazingly: The 16th Century predictions of Malachy foretold that the Pope succeeding JPII the great would be named Benedict. And - ominously - that he would be the LAST POPE. (For more on this prophecy-angle read HERE and HERE or just GOOGLE "Malachy Benedict "last pope.") (C) Pope Benedict is European and the single issue which I MOST STRONGLY expressed, in all my "predictions" about the successor to JPII the Great, was that he SHOULD be someone who could tackle the Church's problems in Europe. I think that by choosing a non-Italian European, the CofC recognized this - and it's another reason why he was a good pick.]
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Monday, April 18, 2005
SOROS: DANGEROUS, ILLOGICAL, LEFT-WING RELIGIOPHOBIC OLIGARCH
"Soros, who describes himself as an agnostic, contended that Bush's religious beliefs are in conflict with with America's democratic traditions. "The separation of church and state, the bedrock of our democracy, is clearly undermined by having a born-again president," he said. "Our concern about Islamic fundamentalism is that there's no separation between chuch and state, yet we are about to erode that here."
(1) "Binladen is religious; George Bush is religious; therefore Binladen and Bush are equivalent."
(2) "Binladen is dangerous and religious; George Bush is religious; therefore George Bush is dangerous."
(3) Binladen is a religious fanatic; religious fanatics are fundamentalists; fundamentalists are part of the religious right; George Bush is part of the religious right; therefore George Bush is a religious fanatic."
The second major ridiculous charge that Soros makes is that our democracy is based on the separation of church and state, and he extends this erroneous assertion to imply that any expression of religion by our government or by our elected officials violates the Constitution.
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Friday, April 15, 2005
TYRANT FIDEL THUMBS NOSE AT UN
Cuba has said it will not co-operate in any form with a resolution passed against it by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Moments after the vote was passed, Cuba's foreign minister described it as completely illegitimate. The resolution, brought by the US, calls for the renewal of the mandate of a UN envoy to investigate alleged human rights abuses on the communist island. The envoy was appointed in 2003, but Cuba has never allowed her to visit. Christine Chanet recently urged Cuba to release imprisoned dissidents and allow its people freedom of expression and freedom of travel.
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KOFI BLAMES US FOR OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL
The US and Britain have rejected allegations by UN chief Kofi Annan that they turned a blind eye to oil smuggling by Saddam Hussein's regime. Mr Annan had suggested the two had inadequately policed UN sanctions against Iraq, enabling the regime to earn huge amounts in illegal deals. ... The UN has itself been under fire over the so-called oil-for-food programme.
Clinton was scum. Bush RULES!
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CARTER BASHES AMERICA AGAIN
"Unfortunately, in the rich countries like ours, we really don't give a damn," said Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981 and who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He especially criticized the United States for failing to follow other Western nations which are increasing spending. Although America tops the foreign aid donor list in dollar terms, it falls behind the Netherlands, Canada and many other smaller, less affluent nations when contributions are measured on a per capita basis. U.S. foreign aid is approximately 0.18 percent of gross national product, the lowest of any G-7 nation and far below a 0.7 percent United Nations target that 22 of the world's developed nations have agreed to meet by 2015. A handful have met the goal, while others such as Germany and Great Britain insist they will achieve it.
Leftie Carter overlooks MANY facts, including:
(1) Total USG spending on HIV/AIDS exceeds that of all other donors and developing countries combined.(2) Relief and aid dollar counts NEVER include the contribution of the US armed forces - such as their INVALUABLE service after the recent Tsunami, and the fact that the US armed forces protect the entire free world - allowing Europe to spend next to nothing on defense and spend more on aid, and thus making that aid a bigger percentage of their overall budget. The US armed forces spent $35 MILLION just moving naval assets to the tsunami area. This is NOT counted either.(3) Foreign assistance for development and emergency relief rose from $10 billion in "liberal saint" President Clinton’s last year to $24 billion under "unilateralist neocon" President Bush in 2003. THAT'S RIGHT: BUSH MORE THAN DOUBLED IT!(4) The United States spent almost $15.8 billion for “official development assistance” to developing countries in 2003. Next closest was Japan, at $8.9 billion. That doesn’t include billions more the United States spends in other areas, such as AIDS and HIV programs and other U.N. assistance.(5) Natsios [USAID director] said the Paris organization's figures [used by Carter] overlook a key factor - the billions more Americans give each year in private donations. Americans gave an estimated $241 billion last year to charitable causes - domestic and foreign - according to a study by Giving USA Foundation. That's up from $234 billion in 2002. The foundation did not break down how much was for domestic causes and how much for foreign. "That's a European standard, this percentage that's used," Natsios said. "The United States, for 40 years, has never accepted these standards that it should be based on the gross national product. We base it on the actual dollars that we spent." "The reason is that our gross national product is so enormous. And our growth rates are so much higher than the other wealthy nations."(6) As a percentage of gross national product, the OECD's figures on development aid show that as of April [2004], none of the world's richest countries donated even 1 percent of its gross national product. Norway was highest, at 0.92 percent; the United States was last, at 0.14 percent.
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CHINESE HEGEMONY AND NATIONALISM CONTINUE TO GROW
Some analysts say the authorities have managed the protests deftly, though, tolerating and even encouraging discourse that would normally be taboo. "I think the movement has been heavily manipulated," said Yu Jie, a critic of the government who has written extensively on China-Japan relations. "The sentiment against Japan is real, but the government has co-opted it for its own purposes."
Officially, the Foreign Ministry says China had no choice but to allow people to protest. "This protest was held spontaneously by some Beijing people upset about Japan's wrong attitude and actions on the history of the invasion" of China and other issues, said Qin Gang, the Foreign Ministry spokesman.
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CHIRAC'S PRO EU CONSTITUTION TV SHOW WAS A DUD
From the NYTIMES:
Mr. Chirac's bold move - his first major effort on behalf of the constitution - occurred amid anxiety that next month's referendum will not pass. Opinion polls show increasing opposition to the document, led by many people who worry that a more powerful union will threaten French social benefits and lead to even higher unemployment, now riding at a five-year high of slightly more than 10 percent. [...]
According to a poll conducted for L'Express this week, 53 percent of French voters intended to vote no on the constitution compared to 47 percent who planned to vote yes. A poll for Le Figaro and for Europe 1 radio produced similar results. [...] Many commentators deplored what they said was a blurring of the line between staged propaganda and informed debate.
Asked by one voter why the unemployment rate was so much lower in the UK than in France, Mr Chirac replied that Britain had social rules that would not be "acceptable to us". Scrambling to reassert his authority, which has been badly damaged by the faltering start to the Yes campaign, the president said that France should be proud of its contribution to Europe and the spreading of civilised values around the world.
However, Mr Chirac's greatest political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, the populist president of the ruling UMP party, yesterday contradicted the president's upbeat views by saying that the "French social model" was failing the people. In a speech in southern France, Mr Sarkozy said that with a 10 per cent unemployment rate France should stop saying its system worked better than that of others. "In 20 years both the left and the right have doubled the credits to combat unemployment but we have not produced one fewer unemployed person," he said.
Most French newspapers give President Jacques Chirac poor marks for his performance in Thursday's live TV debate aimed at producing a Yes vote in the EU constitution referendum. Faced with an audience in which the No camp seemed to be in the majority, the head of state often struggled to get his pro-European case across, throughout a programme which was often confused," says the leading conservative daily Le Figaro. Le Parisien is even less impressed, calling it a "complicated, chaotic and - all things considered - a very disappointing broadcast." [...] The French president stressed that the constitution sets a goal of full employment, and he told his audience that he opposed an "Anglo-Saxon, Atlanticist Europe".
French media has dismissed as unconvincing President Jacques Chirac's efforts to persuade his country to vote for the EU constitution in an upcoming referendum. [...] "In front of an audience in which those favoring the 'No' seemed to be in the majority, the head of state often struggled to make heard his pro-European plea during a muddled broadcast," the conservative Le Figaro wrote on its front page. "Chirac: difficulty reassuring," LCI television said, while the left-leaning Liberation newspapers said Chirac appeared "strained, almost clenched-up" in the meeting. Laurent Fabius, a former Socialist prime minister and leading "no" campaigner accused Chirac of trying to scare voters into backing the charter. "I found Mr. Chirac, like the constitution, long and not very convincing," he told RTL radio. "I was very struck to see Mr. Chirac saying on the one hand, 'don't be afraid', but his main argument was to try to create fear."
UPDATE - AFP(YAHOO): Chirac's TV show BACKFIRES:
PARIS (AFP) - Two new opinion polls indicated opposition in France to the European constitution has increased since an impassioned appeal by President Jacques Chirac to back the landmark treaty in a May referendum. The surveys were carried out the day after Chirac's high-stakes two-hour live television appearance late Thursday aimed at jumpstarting the flailing 'yes' campaign. One poll conducted by the CSA institute and which is to appear in Saturday's edition of Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui newspaper indicated 56 percent would vote 'no' in the May 29 referendum, while 44 percent would back the constitution. The figures compare to an earlier CSA poll, taken April 12 and 13, which showed 55 percent opposed the treaty and 45 were in favour. A second poll, released late Friday on the Internet site of Paris Match magazine, gave the 'nos' 56 percent and the 'yes' vote 44 percent. In an earlier survey for Paris Match, the IFOP polling institute had figures of 53 and 47 percent respectively.
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Thursday, April 14, 2005
RICE: IRAN AND EU HAVE SUMMER DEADLINE
Rice said efforts by Britain, Germany and France to wean Tehran off its suspected nuclear arms programmes were "the right course" but added, "obviously at some point in time the UN Security Council is an option." Asked how long Washington would wait before deciding to seek tougher UN action, Rice said, "I don't want to put a timeline on it, but I think we probably want to make an assessment this summer and see where we are and see how far we've gone."
WHY?
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BUSH BEGINS MOVES TO SOLIDIFY US-INDIA RELATIONS
(1) WASHINGTON: The External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, met the U.S. President, George W. Bush, on Thursday. Mr. Bush said he was "extremely excited" about the state of India-U.S. relations. — PTI(2) India and the United States today signed a landmark agreement, permitting any number of airlines to operate any number of flights to any point in each other's territory. The historic agreement was signed by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, and the visiting U.S. Transportation Secretary, Norman Y. Mineta, here. "If prior experience is any indicator, this bilateral `Open Skies' agreement between India and the U.S. will stimulate new passenger and cargo services, new partnerships, innovation, and lower prices to the benefit of our economies, our businesses and our citizens," Mr. Mineta said.
BRAVO!More here from the BUSINESS STANDARD:Signalling a new warmth in bilateral ties, President George W Bush today said the US held India as a “global power” and wanted to work together for mutual economic benefit and cooperate in the civilian nuclear and other energy sectors. During the 30-minute meeting with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh at the Oval office, Bush said the US regarded India as a global power with which the Washington wanted to work very closely for the common good, for world peace and for mutual economic benefit.
Bush told Singh that India and the US needed to work together in the energy sector that would include co-operation in civilian nuclear energy. Terming the Indo-US relations as the “best we have had for a very long time”, Singh said India was interested in having a “much closer relationship” during Bush’s second term in office.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said Bush told Singh that he was looking forward to his trip to India, hopefully within this year. The US President said he “very much looks forward” to receiving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington in the near future. Bush said he was “extremely excited” and “pleased” with the state of Indo-US relations. Saran described the meeting extremely warm, friendly and very productive. Terming India as a “flourishing democracy”, the President said he was going to use the next four years of his second term to further strengthen these relations to take them to a “much higher level.”
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
BOLTON'S ACCUSER IS A PHONY AND A LIAR
Here's why:
"Loyal Republican to the Core" Carl Ford Donated to Democrats -
Self-professed “loyal, conservative Republican to the core” Carl Ford has not always put his money where his mouth is. Over the past five years, Ford donated more than $3,000 to a number of prominent Democrats including John Kerry and Charles Rangel, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Ford has also donated to a number of Republicans, including President Bush. The Democrat donations include:$1,000 Charles Rangel 8/12/04; $500, Daniel Inouye, 2/18/04; $1,0000 Jane Harman, 12/8/03; $250 Jane Harman, 3/7/2004; $500 John Kerry, 11/9/99.
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FRANCE MAY SINK THE E.U. & THE EURO
(1) from theUK TELEGRAPH:
(2) from the UK TELEGRAPH:Deutsche Bank warned yesterday that a likely French 'No' to the European constitution could begin a wave of currency speculation across Eastern Europe, setting off a chain of economic disruption. Norbert Walter, the bank's chief economist, said rejection of the treaty in France's referendum on May 29 could halt the eastward expansion of the euro-zone. The Turkish lira is also vulnerable."There could be a wave of currency attacks in the new member states. These countries would then have to raise interest rates. We could see enormous exchange rate swings," he told FT Deutschland. "The problem is that the EU has no strategy for dealing with a rejection of the treaty. People may well question whether the eurozone should have any new members at all," he said. The warning follows eight consecutive opinion polls showing the 'No' side are ahead. An Ipsos survey for Le Figaro yesterday gave a six-point lead to opponents of the treaty prompting a front-page headline: "The No takes root".
(3) from the IHT:A top European Union official said France, Italy and Spain faced a catastrophic" slump in exports as a fresh batch of gloomy data hit the eurozone yesterday. French industrial output slumped 0.5pc in February, following a 2.2pc contraction announced last week by Germany. The slide was blamed on high oil prices and the continued strength of the euro against the dollar and key Asian currencies. The French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin admitted yesterday that he now had no hope of fulfilling his pledge to cut unemployment below 10pc over coming months. The yield on 10-year French bonds fell to near historical lows of 3.58pc. The aborted recovery is causing growing alarm at the European Commission and the European Central Bank. Both bodies have slashed their eurozone growth forecasts from over 2pc to 1.6pc in 2005. A senior EU official said the eurozone was now acutely vulnerable to any slowdown in the United States, having failed to generate enough internal demand to sustain recovery.
At a meeting in Brussels, EU leaders took a strong turn toward entrenching Europe's high-tax social model by backing away from a radical deregulation of the Continent's services sector. They wanted to assuage fears among voters in France and Germany that cheaper workers from the free-market economies of Eastern Europe would steal their jobs.
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Sunday, April 10, 2005
EL BARADEI: "AL QAEDA SOUGHT NUKES!"
El Baradei is NO FRIEND TO BUSH, THE USA, or THE GWOT. So his WARNING CANNOT be written off by Lefties as bellicose political maneuvering, and it's all the more reason we must URGENTLY CRACKDOWN ON THE NUCLEAR TYRANTS IN IRAN AND NORTH KOREA - they are the LEAST RELIABLE nuclear nations on earth. They could easily sell or give a nuke to neojihadists.The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said in an interview that al Qaeda and other extremist groups had sought to obtain a nuclear weapon, Norwegian television reported on Saturday. "They were actively looking into acquiring a nuclear weapon and other weapons of mass destruction," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in an interview in Vienna with Norway's commercial TV 2 channel. [...] ElBaradei as saying that proof had been found in Afghanistan, where U.S.-led-troops toppled the Taliban government in 2001 after it refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. "I would be surprised if they did not try to acquire nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. That would be the most horrible scenario because these extremist groups -- if they have the weapon, they will use it," ElBaradei said. He said there was a "race against time" to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and plug gaps in the security of atomic weapons and materials. "The more nuclear weapons that exist, the more threat we are facing. And the more countries that have nuclear weapons, the more danger we are facing," ElBaradei said. "We can't afford one single lapse in the system of security of nuclear material or nuclear weapons," he said.
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CHINESE NATIONALISM AND HEGEMONY REAR THEIR UGLY HEADS
"Stone-throwing protesters have smashed windows at the Japanese embassy in the Chinese capital, Beijing, during a big rally against Japan's war-time past. Japanese-owned businesses also came under attack during the march, which thousands of protesters joined. The protests come less than a week after China criticised Japan for approving new school books which it says gloss over Japanese atrocities. Protests on this scale are very rare in China's tightly-regulated capital."
Indeed, Beijing's overtures toward India are being contemplated with a keen awareness of China's rivalry with the United States, which has also jealously courted New Delhi, lately promising to help make it a "major world power in the 21st century. For that reason, Wen will come with a package of initiatives. They are aimed at drawing India and China, the world's two most populous nations, closer than they have been at any time since the 1950s. Both sides say they will push hard to resolve a decades-old border dispute. There is talk of a free-trade agreement as well as joint oil exploration and purchases of commercial airliners. China may even endorse India's bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, or at least strongly hint at its support."
This indicates to me that my point is NOT ONLY VALID, but URGENT! We must get India into our camp: it's both highly strategic and natural: we are both English-speaking pluralistic democracies with more to gain from each other than from strengthening ties to or appeasing an evermore hegemonic China. If India gets closer to China now, it is essentially nothing more than APPEASEMENT. By getting closer to us, India would be strengthening their independence.
Condi should go to India ASAP; this should be followed by a visit by GWB.
(Previous post on INCREASING CHINESE HEGEMONY HERE.)
**** 4/10/05 **** UPDATE **** UPDATE:
China and India should work together to dominate the world's tech industry, bringing together Chinese hardware with Indian software, China's prime inister said Sunday. [...] The two countries have been improving ties despite decades of
frosty relations and rivalry. China is also a longtime ally and the main supplier of military hardware to Pakistan - India's archrival. [...] China is keen to develop a free trade area with a combined population total 2 billion, which would make it the largest free trade area in the world. India-China trade reached $13.6 billion in 2004, with India recording a trade surplus of $1.75 billion, Indian Commerce Ministry statistics show. On other issues, Wen and Singh are expected to discuss the more than 50-year-old border dispute over their 650-mile frontier, parts of which are not demarcated. A solution is expected to be reached during Wen's four-day visit. Wen is also expected to discuss with Indian authorities the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, Chinese officials have said.
As I said above: we need to contain and diminish China's power in the region, and contruct a wedge - leverage - against China's growing power. Building an alliance with India is the best way to do this. This means we need negotiate a FREE TRADE AGREEMENT with India and become their major arms supplier, and wean them away from the tyrannical hegemonic China. And we need to begin NOW!
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Saturday, April 09, 2005
THE CULTURE OF DEATH AND DECLINING EU BIRTH RATES
Nearly half the newborn babies who died in Flanders over a recent year-long period were helped to die by their doctors, a new study reported yesterday. Paediatricians in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium either discreetly stopped treating the babies or, in 17 cases, illegally killed them with lethal doses of painkillers. The study, published in The Lancet, examined the deaths of every baby who died within a year of birth in Flanders between August 1999 and July 2000. The results of a survey on the causes of death were stark: paediatricians who responded to the survey admitted they had taken "end of life" decisions in more than half the cases.
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NINTH CIRCUIT'S LEFT-WING ANTICS CONTINUE:
The 9th Circuit Court has now ruled that threatening to assassinate the President of the United States is protected speech under the First Amendment.
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Friday, April 08, 2005
LATEST PICKS AND ODDS FOR NEXT POPE
Here are my LATEST PICKS - IN ORDER - BASED ON MY ANALYSIS, HERE:
(1) Count Christoph v. Schoenborn, (Austria, age 60) - 16-1;
REMEMBER: Karol Wojtyla wasn't on ANYBODY'S list the last time,
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Thursday, April 07, 2005
"Who you callin' a VIGILANTE?!"
Web definitions for Vigilante :
One who takes the law enforcement into one's own hands. collections.ic.gc.ca/ghost/glossary.html
In modern terms, vigilantes are militias or police which attempt law enforcement, in the usual phrase, "by taking the law into their own hands". Vigilantes often operate in secret. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigilante
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
INCITING VIOLENCE: CORNYN VERSUS KERRY
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SMITH: MEDAL OF HONOR. MSM: BADGE OF DISHONOR
Today's MUST SEE video (C-SPAN): Pres. Bush in Medal of Honor Ceremony
From the White House in Washington, DC, President Bush participates in a Medal of Honor Ceremony. 4/4/2005: WASHINGTON, DC: 20 min.
Here's an interesting point from a man much wiser than me:
The New York Times chose to cover the award of a posthumous Medal of Honor to Sergeant Paul Smith with two small photographs of the ceremony at the White House. There was no article. Paul Smith willingly gave his life for his friends. He is credited with saving more than 100 American lives by taking actions of valor and courage, disregarding his own safety. He died in the defense of his country, in defense of a free and democratic Iraq, and in defense of the liberties that we all enjoy.
That the Times - and much of the other major Left-wing dominated MSM news-outlets chose not to report his example of heroism would be bad enough in and of itself. But the fact that the Times - and other MSM news-outlets - have repeatedly chosen in the recent past to devote nearly full-page profiles to deserters and war criminals, makes it a shame and it ought to be a scandal! Especially when one considers this years Pulitzer Award photography scandal.
WHOSE SIDE IS THE LEFT-WING MSM ON?! They're NOT neutral or objective or pacifist: THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE!
(BTW: you should always check C-SPAN for their videos - and then JACKSON JUNCTION.)
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MORE PROOF OF LEFT-WING COLLEGE FACULTIES
EXCERPT:
RTWT.I am European and came to America in 2002, where I teach at an elite Liberal Arts College. My native country is among the most socialized in the world, with strong leftist parties, from democratic socialists to outright communist. All across Europe the left – the far left, somewhere between Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean – has a very strong political position, as well as a clearly visible presence on university campuses. Despite my European background I found myself deeply surprised by the political bias on college campuses here in America. Left-wing bias is almost undetectable among European college faculty compared to America’s academic institutions. The bias that I have encountered has so many facets that I am still encountering new ones.
One of the first signs of political bias was an unqualified admiration for Europe in general and its welfare systems in particular. Having both personal and scholarly experience of those, I told new colleagues of all the problems that I saw there: unemployment twice as high as in the U.S., heavy welfare dependency, high crime, health care rationing, perpetually rising taxes, etc.. This image of Europe did not accord with what my new-found colleagues – overwhelmingly liberal – had decided that they saw over in the Old World.In fact, their uncritically positive image of Europe astonished me so much that I began trying to convince them that they were wrong. (In the name of free speech and an educated academic conversation – things that you would expect to find on a college campus.) This turned out to be a bad idea: my colleagues slowly but steadily changed their attitude toward me. I refused to acknowledge that the politics in Europe was as superior as European wine, cars or cuisine. (In fact, I prefer California wine, I drive a Chevrolet and I love pumpkin pie!)
The most feverishly liberal among my colleagues now began looking at me as a traitor. One told me to stop expressing my political views when other faculty was around. Why? Because, he said, “I do not want to have to defend why we have a conservative here” at our department.
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MSM JUMPS ALL OVER DELAY SCANDAL
WASHINGTON, April 5 - The wife and daughter of Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by Mr. DeLay's political action and campaign committees, according to a detailed review of disclosure statements filed with the Federal Election Commission and separate fund-raising records in Mr. DeLay's home state, Texas.
LOS ANGELES - Rep. Maxine Waters family members earned more than $1 million in the last eight years doing business with candidates, companies and causes she helped, a newspaper reported Sunday. Waters' daughter and son pocketed fees from campaigns endorsed by the congresswoman while her husband worked for a bond underwriting firm that received government business from her political allies, the Los Angeles Times reported. Waters, an influential Democratic lawmaker since 1990, whose district includes parts of Los Angeles, would not answer detailed questions on the business dealings, insisting her family's fortunes were kept apart from her political activities. . . . The Waters' close financial ties are not expressly prohibited by state laws or congressional ethics rules. The Times reported that Waters and her children are linked through a political organization called L.A. Vote that publishes an election mailer listing campaigns she endorsed. Some candidates are included free of charge, while others pay tens of thousands of dollars, it said. . . Of the $1.7 million that L.A. Vote collected in the last eight years, nearly $450,000 went to Waters' daughter, Karen Waters, and her consulting firm, public disclosure reports show. About $115,000 was paid to the congresswoman's son. Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, was paid nearly $500,000 for consulting work with Siebert, Brandford & Shank, a municipal bond company, and with politicians his wife supports, public records show. The Times reported that Williams helped the company win a $40 million school bond sale approved by school board members that paid Waters' mailer operation to advertise her endorsement.
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
WHO MIGHT BE THE NEXT POPE - UPDATED
Much of this post was originally researched and blogged in February)Here is the LINK TO CURRENT ODDS.
Here are my LATEST PICKS - IN ORDER - BASED ON MY ANALYSIS, BELOW:
Count Christoph von Schoenborn, (Austria, 60); Juan-Luis Cipriani-Thorne Peru, 62); Jean Louis Tauron [you must scroll down with this link] (France, 62); Vinco Puljic (Bosnia, 60); Josef Bozanic (Croatia 56); Crescenzio Seppe (Italy, 62); Angelo Scola (Italy, 64). [Links are for official Vatican bio's.]
THIS POST IS UPDATED FREQUENTLY: LOOK BELOW!
Pope JPII has been a Pope of great historic dimensions - within and without his Church. He helped defeat the USSR, and for this the whole of humanity owes him a great debt. As Michael Ledeen wrote in NRO's The Corner:
On other issues his record has been mixed, especially of late: I think that the Vatican has dropped the ball on their sex scandals, and that a return to a married clergy is needed to save the Church in Europe from disappearing.For Catholics, John Paul II will obviously be an inspiration for generations, and even those of us who do not share his faith have been ennobled and inspired by much of what he said and did. But for the entire world, he will forever stand as a symbol of the power of individuals standing firm for freedom. "Be Not Afraid" is indeed the phrase we will associate with him, as it was the phrase that inspired millions of people to risk all against tyranny.
Here is a list of the SEVEN Cardinals (and their birth-dates) who I feel might most likely be selected (in order of likelihood. You will not see these names in the MSM - mine is a list based on UNCONVENTIONAL thinking. BUT REMEMBER: NOBODY PREDICTED KAROL WOJTYLA! Links to mainstream picks are below) :
Juan-Luis Cipriani-Thorne (Peru, 12/28/43);
Jean Louis Tauron [you must scroll down with this link] (France, 4/3/43);
Polycarp Pengo (Tanzania 8/5/44);
Vinco Puljic (Bosnia-Herzegovina, 9/8/45);
Josef Bozanic (Croatia 3/20/49);
Crescenzio Seppe (Italy, 6/2/43);
Angelo Scola (Italy, 11/7/41).
(Links take you to official English Bio's/cv's and a photo.)
Other bloggers may have more insight into the current political intrigues of the CoC's. Or gossip. This list merely represents my somewhat educated guess. I think the CoC's will pick a conservative from a country or region that has seriously dealt with all forms of outreach and a Cardinal who has been good at it.
Additionally, the Church has been growing most in Africa and South America - which may give these two Cardinals an edge that they might not have enjoyed a few decades ago. All of these cardinals "look" papal.
IMHO: Most on this particular oddsmaker's list are TOO OLD! In my opinion, a Cardinal is too old if he is older than 67. In my opinion, the CofC will ONLY pick an old Cardinal to be the next Pope is there is a long deadlock. I do NOT think that is likely - the Church is in great need of an ENERGETIC and young Pope who can be the kind of Pope that JPII was before he was shot (in an assassination attempt that was plotted by the USSR).
More HERE and HERE at ONE HAND CLAPPING. WELCOME CHRENKOFF READERS!
UPDATE 4/4/05: CURRENT ODDS (but remember - NO ONE had Karol Wojtyla on their lists the last time):
Dionigi Tettamanzi (Italy) 11-4; Francis Arinze (Nigeria) 11-4; Oscar Maradiaga (Honduras) 9-2; Joseph Ratzinger (Germany) 7-1; Claudio Hummes(Brazil) 9-1; Jaime Lucas Ortega (Cuba) 14-1 ; Count v.Schoenborn (Austria) 14-1 ; Ennio Antonelli (Italy) 14 ; Jose Policarpo (Portugal) 16; Giovanni Battista Re (Italy) 16 ; Dario Hoyos (Colombia) 18; Crescenzio Sepe (Italy) 18 ; Giacomo Biffi (Italy) 18 ; Keith O'Brien (Scotland) 20 ;
Godfried Daneels (Belgium) 20 ; Jorge Bergoglio (Argentina) 20 ; J-Marie Lustiger (France) 20 ; Angelo Scola (Venice) 20; Tarcisio Bertone (Italy) 20 ; Norberto Carrera (Mexico) 25 -1 ; Angelo Sodano (Italy) 25 ; Ivan Dias (India) 25 ; Juan Luis Cipriani (Peru) 25 ; Carlo Martini (Italy) 25 ;
Miloslav Vlk (Czech Republic) 33 ; Sean Patrick O'Malley (Boston) 33 ; Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (UK) 33 ; Marco Ce (Italy) 40 ; Wilfred Napier (South Africa) 40; George Pell (Australia) 50 ; Ruini (Italy) 66 ; Edward Cassidy (Australia) 80 ; Silvano Piovanelli (Italy) 80; Edward Clancy 100-1 ; Diarmuid Martin (Ireland) 100 ; Philippe Barbarin 100 ; Agostino Cacciavillan 125 ; Jose Mara Rouco Varela (Spain) 125-1
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IRAQ GOVERNMENT SET: Iraqis Agree on President and 2 Vice Presidents!
And it's really wonderfully and amazingly and incredibly fantastic when you stop to think about it. Iraq now has:
Is democracy wunnerful, or what?!?!A KURDISH president succeeding Saddam!!!!!!
And they have a SUNNI speaker in their assembly!!!
And the government will be run by a SHIA P.M.!!!!!!
God Bless George W. Bush and all the men and women in the military.
MORE HERE.
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WHY THE CONVENTIONAL PAPABILI PICKS ARE WRONG
Most of the candidates figuring in current speculation are in their late 60s or even in their 70s, which is no accident. After more than 26 years of the extraordinary leadership of John Paul II, who was elected at the age of 58, the electors may decide they want someone who will be more of a transitional figure until they can figure out which kind of leadership they want in a post John Paul world. "The greatest show on earth" might just want to slow things down a little.
I think the answers to these questions are obvious. And that's why I think the CofC will pick another young Caridnal to become the Pope. Like the late great Karol Wojtyla. One with boundless energy and a vigorous vision. Perhaps, one of the seven young cardinals I picked HERE:
Juan-Luis Cipriani-Thorne (Peru, 62); Jean Louis Tauron (France, 62); Polycarp Pengo (Tanzania, 61); Vinco Puljic (Bosnia-Herzegovina, 60); Josef Bozanic (Croatia, 55); Crescenzio Seppe (Italy, 62); Angelo Scola (Italy,64).
UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt AGREES! In a post today he argues that the serious moral controversies abounding in the world today mean that the CofC will not choose a place-holder as the next Pope: "If many Cardinals had the idea that a "caretaker" pope might be in order, the [Schiavo] drama in Florida works against that desire for a period of calm transition. Would the allies have selected a caretaker general on the eve of D-Day had Ike suffered a mishap?"
INDEED. FIRST, the world is awash in several serious moral controversies: euthanasia; abortion; embryonic stem cell research; and Gay marriage. SECOND, there're several CHURCH issues that need attention, NOW: Gay clergy; the vanishing Church pews in Western Europe; the virtually non-existent seminary students in the USA and Europe. These hotly contested issues, and dire Church problems, implore the CofC to pick someone as bold and as YOUNG and as energetic as the late GREAT PJPII was when they announced "we have a Pope," and the 58 year old - strong and smiling and young - Karol Wojtyla walked out on to the balcony in his Papal vestments, and waved to the happily astonished crowd. The CofC will - nay MUST - happily astonish the next crowd with an equally bold and young pick.
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Monday, April 04, 2005
MORE PROOF (FROM CANADA THIS TIME!) THAT SOCIALZED, NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SUCKS
The Wait Time Alliance‘s recommendations are a first step in setting final benchmarks aimed at speeding up patient access to cancer treatment, cardiac care, joint replacement, sight restoration through cataract surgery and diagnostic imaging, the specialty that underpins the other four. The alliance‘s interim report, released Sunday, says patients needing emergency diagnostic imaging and treatment should not have to wait more than 24 hours, whether it‘s for an MRI scan or radiation therapy for cancer. For patients whose conditions are deemed urgent or semi-urgent, X-rays, CT scans, RIs or other diagnostic imaging should be done within seven to 30 days.Doctors alliance sets out maximum wait times for 5 key health-care areas:
No cancer patient should wait beyond 10 working days for radiation, the report recommends, while cataract surgery should be performed within four months. When it comes to hip or knee replacements, urgent and semi-urgent cases should mean surgery within 30 to 90 days, while routine cases should be dealt with by nine months, including consultation with an orthopedic specialist and the subsequent operation, the report says. Waits for patients needing emergency heart bypass should not exceed 48 hours, with benchmarks for urgent and semi-urgent surgery set at three to 56 days and routine at 42 to 180 days.
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LIBERAL CONTEMPT FOR RELIGION
"... liberal opinion was guided by smoldering resentment toward President Bush and the rising contempt for religion in general and conservative Christians in particular. We seem headed for much more conflict between religious and secular Americans.
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Sunday, April 03, 2005
MINUTEMAN BORDER VIGIL WORKING!
Well, well, well: Contrary to what the Left argued, it led to arrests, not violent vigilantism. For more info: Minuteman Project:Phoenix: Volunteers for an effort to patrol the Mexican border reported their first sighting of suspected illegal immigrants, resulting in 18 arrests, authorities said Sunday. Participants in the Minuteman Project spotted the migrants Saturday near Naco as the volunteers were surveying the border to familiarize themselves with area. When agents arrived, they apprehended 18 people, Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame said. ``You observe them, report them and get out of the way,'' said Mike McGarry, a spokesman for the project, which begins Monday and is to continue for a month. ...
Minuteman volunteers planned to start regular patrols Monday, fanning out across 23 miles of the San Pedro Valley to watch the border and report any illegal activity to federal agents. It's an exercise some law enforcement authorities and others fear could lead to vigilante violence.
Law enforcement officials said the volunteers were keeping the peace, despite concerns they might become confrontational with immigrants. Many of the volunteers were recruited over the Internet and some plan to be armed. ``Everything seems to be going well,'' said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Office. The Arizona-Mexico border is considered the most vulnerable stretch of the 2,000-mile southern border. Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants caught by the Border Patrol last year, 51 percent crossed into the country at the Arizona border.
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NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IDIOCY EXPOSED
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PURE BS: SCHIAVO AND THE "COMING GOP CRACKUP"
... what has prompted the most recent bout of panic is the passionate - and legitimate - differences over the Terri Schiavo case. Just as hard cases make bad law, they also tend to make for bad analysis. Lots of people are pointing to the fact that the polls do not support Congress' decision to intervene on Ms. Schiavo's behalf (even as the nature of that involvement has been often wildly exaggerated). The Republican Party has exposed itself, if these pessimists are to be believed, with a dangerous overreach that will haunt it for years.
After talking about small government and the rule of law, Republicans overwhelmingly supported a piece of legislation intended to influence a single case, that of Terri Schiavo. As former Solicitor General Charles Fried observes:In their intervention in the Terri Schiavo matter, Republicans in Congress and President Bush have, in a few brief legislative clauses, embraced the kind of free-floating judicial activism, disregard for orderly procedure and contempt for the integrity of state processes that they quite rightly have denounced and sought to discipline for decades.I think he's right.
ACTUALLY, AN EXTREMELY BROAD MAJORITY of Americans support the GOP position on the Schiavo Controversy - (perhaps that's why the Schiavo Law passed UNANIMOUSLY in the Senate and passed by 75% in the House!).
Here's proof from FROM WILLISMS:
[POINT: Pollster Zogby asked non-LOADED questions which - UNLIKE THE MSM PUSH-POLLS - accurately reflected the true nature of the Schiavo Case - reliapundit]:ZOGBY QUESTION - "If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water," the poll asked.
A whopping 79 percent said the patient should not have food and water taken away while just 9 percent said yes.
The GOP position is the one most Americans agree with 4-out-of5! When a political party takes a moral and it's also VERY POPULAR stand it will not lead to a crack up. The GOP position is one held BROADLY, and not merely by a narrow minority of wacky theocrats.
This is why Reynolds and Sager and Sullivan are WRONG and why MARK STEYN is guffawing. And be sure to MICHELE MALKIN, TOO! More on the Zogby Poll here at THE AMERICAN THINKER, (hat tip POLIPUNDIT).
WELCOME CHRENKOFF READERS. He gave this posting the nod for Wednesday reading! If you haven't checked him out today, the use this link to see everything ELSE you should checkout on the blogs NOW!
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SAUDI JUSTICE
Yipes.
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MORE PROOF THAT SOCIALZED HEALTHCARE DOESN'T WORK
A survey has suggested the majority of sexual health clinics have turned patients away in the last year. It found that 34% of clinicians reported they had "often" turned people away without being able to offer them any help. Another 30% said they had "occasionally" had to do so.
The charities warn most of these patients would have been unlikely to have been able to access sexual health services elsewhere. They said this meant those who did have a sexually transmitted infection would have continued to experience symptoms themselves, and potentially pass their STI on to new partners.
The survey also revealed long waits for tests. It suggested one in five patients wait a month for an STI test and more than a third wait more than two weeks for an HIV test.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "This is a small survey that only looked at 15% of PCTs. "Tackling the rise in STIs is a government priority. And that is why we have just invested an extra £300m for sexual health." She said the aim was for all patients who needed an appointment would be seen within 48 hours.
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Saturday, April 02, 2005
THE LATE GREAT PJPII AND JUDAISM
READ MORE HERE, FROM THE A.D.L. - AT SOLOMONIA, NOW.
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KUDLOW ON THE POPE
(Hat tip Glenn.)
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A MESSAGE FROM THE SCHINDLER FAMILY:
(Hat tip to the invaluable K.J. LOPEZ at THE CORNER.)
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DAVID BROOKS: VICTIM OF "BELTWAY-THINK"
Brooks's Diagnosis:
This week the presidential panel on intelligence pointed to the same failings found by other reports. It said intelligence analysts "displayed a lack of imagination." They created artificial specialties - separating regional, technical and terrorism analyses. They built layers of hard analysis on fuzzy and impressionistic information. This commission does what so many others have done. It tries to reorganize the bureaucratic flow charts to produce better results. ...
Individuals are good at using intuition and imagination to understand other humans. We know from recent advances in neuroscience, popularized in Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink," that the human mind can perform fantastically complicated feats of subconscious pattern recognition. There is a powerful backstage process we use to interpret the world and the people around us. When you try to analyze human affairs using a process that is systematic, codified and bureaucratic, as the C.I.A. does, you anesthetize all of these tools. You don't produce reason - you produce what Irving Kristol called the elephantiasis of reason.
The first paragraph is ridiculously liberal on its face: Greater understanding of the broad range of human behavior (on the part of Intelligence Analysts) will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to aid our understanding of North Korea's KIM JONG IL, or of the MULLAHCRATS OF TEHRAN, or of NEOJIHADIST-TERRORISTS.I'll believe the intelligence community has really changed when I see analysts being sent to training academies where they study Thucydides, Tolstoy and Churchill to get a broad understanding of the full range of human behavior. I'll believe the system has been reformed when policy makers are presented with competing reports, signed by individual thinkers, and are no longer presented with anonymous, bureaucratically homogenized, bulleted points that pretend to be the product of scientific consensus.
I'll believe it's been reformed when there's a big sign in front of C.I.A. headquarters that reads: Individuals think better than groups.
There are COUNTLESS other examples of this phenomena; they all fundamentally reinforce what F.A. Hayek wrote about, and it's WHY free markets are more efficient than politburos and "wage & price boards."As it happens, the possibilities of group intelligence, at least when it came to judging questions of fact, were demonstrated by a host of experiments conducted by American sociologists and psychologists between 1920 and the mid-1950s, the heyday of research into group dynamics. Although in general, as we'll see, the bigger the crowd the better, the groups in most of these early experiments—which for some reason remained relatively unknown outside of academia—were relatively small. Yet they nonetheless performed very well.
The Columbia sociologist Hazel Knight kicked things off with a series of studies in the early 1920s, the first of which had the virtue of simplicity. In that study Knight asked the students in her class to estimate the room's temperature, and then took a simple average of the estimates. The group guessed 72.4 degrees, while the actual temperature was 72 degrees. This was not, to be sure, the most auspicious beginning, since classroom temperatures are so stable that it's hard to imagine a class's estimate being too far off base. But in the years that followed, far more convincing evidence emerged, as students and soldiers across America were subjected to a barrage of puzzles, intelligence tests, and word games.
The sociologist Kate H. Gordon asked two hundred students to rank items by weight, and found that the group's "estimate" was 94 percent accurate, which was better than all but five of the individual guesses. In another experiment students were asked to look at ten piles of buckshot—each a slightly different size than the rest—that had been glued to a piece of white cardboard, and rank them by size. This time, the group's guess was 94.5 percent accurate.
A classic demonstration of group intelligence is the jelly-beans-in-the-jar experiment, in which invariably the group's estimate is superior to the vast majority of the individual guesses. When finance professor Jack Treynor ran the experiment in his class with a jar that held 850 beans, the group estimate was 871. Only one of the fifty-six people in the class made a better guess.
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Pope JPII has crossed over...
And as Michael Ledeen wrote earlier today:
"... even those of us who do not share his faith have been ennobled and inspired by much of what he said and did. But for the entire world, he will forever stand as a symbol of the power of individuals standing firm for freedom. "Be Not Afraid" is indeed the phrase we will associate with him, as it was the phrase that inspired millions of people to risk all against tyranny. "
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LEFT-WING JUSTICE GINSBURG JETTISONS THE CONSTITUTION
She is quoted as having said (to a meeting of the American Society of International Law):
After a strongly worded dissent in a juvenile death penalty case from Justice Antonin Scalia last month that accused the court of putting too much faith in international opinion, Justice Ginsberg said the United States system should, if anything, consider international law more often.
"Judges in the United States are free to consult all manner of commentary," she said in a speech to several hundred lawyers and scholars here Friday. She cited several instances when the logic of foreign courts had been applied to help untangle legal questions domestically, and of legislatures and courts abroad adopting United States law. Fears about relying too heavily on world opinion "should not lead us to abandon the effort to learn what we can from the experience and good thinking foreign sources may convey," Justice Ginsburg told members of the American Society of International Law. ...
"The notion that it is improper to look beyond the borders of the United States in grappling with hard questions has a certain kinship to the view that the U.S. Constitution is a document essentially frozen in time as of the date of its ratification," Justice Ginsburg said. "Even more so today, the United States is subject to the scrutiny of a candid world," she said. "What the United States does, for good or for ill, continues to be watched by the international community, in particular by organizations concerned with the advancement of the rule of law and respect for human dignity."
In A Matter of Interpretation, Justice Scalia acknowledged that his textualist approach is regarded in "some sophisticated circles" of the legal profession as "simpleminded -- 'wooden,' 'unimaginative', 'pedestrian'" (Scalia, p. 23). He rejected this characterization and denied that he was "too dull to perceive the broader social purposes that a statute is designed, or could be designed to serve, or too hidebound to realize that new times require new laws;" he merely insisted that judges "have no authority to pursue those broader purposes or to write those new laws” (Scalia, p. 23). For his eleven years on the Supreme Court, Scalia has stuck to the "text and tradition" of our written Constitution and has rejected the intellectual fads and novel theories of interpretation that have the invariable effect of transferring power from the popular branches to the judges. In so doing, Scalia reminds his colleagues of the most important right of the people in a democracy -- the right to govern themselves as they see fit and to be overruled in their governance only when the clear text or traditional understanding of the Constitution they have adopted demands it.
CITIZEN Z has more - including some other links; GO THERE.
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THE LEFT TODAY: GUTLESS AND AMORAL
The expansion of freedom is a scary prospect for the Left.Let's reneg on all our commitments, and pull the rug out from under every brave Iraqi who ever took a risk on behalf of his country against terrorism and Ba'athism. Let's sell them down the river.And the elections? Let those be the last in Iraq. Let those be the last in the Middle East. ....They have no moral cognizance. They have no higher-level ethical reasoning skills. What the Left once was died long ago. All they have is reflex now. The left is morally brain-dead.They don't believe in taking a stand for the security of the only democracy in the Middle East until this year. They lifted not a finger to bring democracy to anywhere else. They don't even particularly believe in intervening to secure vital natural resources. "No blood for oil" has been a rallying cry for the ignorant for 15 years now.They no longer believe in the advancement of freedom. They no longer believe that people everywhere should have a voice. They no longer believe in people power. They no longer believe in democracy, or the idea that freedom is worth risk or sacrifice. They abandoned Kennedy long ago.
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Friday, April 01, 2005
MORE NEOJIHADIST TERROR IN CHRISTIAN BEIRUT
Syria maybe exiting, but perhaps they and Iran and their foot-soldiers in Hizballah are trying to fill the void by fomenting a civil war along the sectarian lines of the one that seems to be FAILING in Iraq.
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FLATTERY WILL GET YOU EVERYTHING - including an instalanche
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SCHIAVO AND THE STUFFED ANIMAL
A mockery of logic
If Michael really thought Terri was a vegetable, then why bother with the cradling and the stuffed animal?The legal and moral reasoning involved in this case is the soundest since Dred Scott.
EXACTLY. Gotta read COUNTERCOLUMN everyday...
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INSTAPUNDIT: a nasty clown
Although I've always tried to be pleasant to the Christian Right folks even where we disagree, I really think it's best if I don't weigh in right now.
Well, I always hope that people can disagree without being disagreeable. The people who can't usually wind up losing.
You know that the nasty folks [folks who attack Glenn's stand on the Schiavo case] are unrepresentative, but they're so damned energetic about it that it's hard to keep that in mind at times.
I don't think that they're [the Schindler supporters] nascent Mullah Omars, and I think that calling them that just makes the problem worse. This is a tragedy, and it's become a circus. Name-calling just makes you one of the clowns. [Emphasis added.]
But Glenn has been nasty, too. Glenn has called conservatives and the devout bad names.
HERE ARE JUST A FEW RECENT EXAMPLES OF GLENN'S NASTY NAME-CALLING:
"If you don't want to be confused with a movement led by theocrats, don't let actual theocrats be seen as your spokesmen. It may be impossible to shut Randall Terry up -- though if I were Karl Rove, I would have tried really hard -- but he needs to be loudly and regularly denounced as a nut."
"As I said about the antiwar people, you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Randall Terry's a dog.""I think that first crack is unfair to the snake-handlers."
"... not rushing to overturn all the rules because we don't like the outcome, seems to me to be part of being a member of civilized society rather than a mob. As I say, I thought conservatives knew this."
So when Glenn complains about the name-calling he's been the target of, it's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. This makes Glenn Reynolds a HYPOCRITE, and a weenie. And a nasty clown - to borrow HIS words, HIS characterization.
HEY GLENN: If you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the blogosphere! HEH! Indeed.
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BLOGROLL US!
