THE BENEDICT EFFECT

FNC/AP:

MADRID, Spain — Hundreds of thousands of people led by 20 Roman Catholic bishops and conservative opposition leaders clogged downtown Madrid on Saturday in a demonstration against the Socialist government's bill to legalize gay marriage and permit gay couples to adopt children. Chanting in favor of the family and children's rights, the demonstration, called by a lay Catholic group, the Spanish Forum for the Family, was held in a festive atmosphere with participants waving colorful balloons and Spanish and regional flags.A half hour into the demonstration, organizers were claiming 1.5 million people had attended. But media eyewitnesses found the estimate difficult to believe, with most putting the crowd size at some 500,000. No police figure was immediately available.

This maybe the first PUBLIC display of "THE BENEDICT EFFECT" - a resurgence of unashamed, unabashed traditional Christian values in the public square of Europe. Look for another display in the German elections this fall.

BALLOT-STUFFING IN IRAN?

LAST NIGHT:

Rafsanjani, Moin head for Iran run-off vote -aides

By Paul HughesTEHRAN (Reuters) - Pragmatic cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was heading for a run-off vote against reformist Mostafa Moin after the two topped a field of seven in Iran's presidential election on Friday, aides to both men said.

TODAY:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led their rivals on Saturday in Iran's presidential poll, preliminary results showed. Sources close to the supervisory Guardian Council said Rafsanjani had taken 5.60 million of the 26.64 million votes counted out of an estimated 32 million ballots cast in Friday's election. Ahmadinejad was in second place with 5.24 million.

Hmmm: Last night REFORMER MOIN was in second-place, and today HARDLINER AHMADINEJAD is ahead of Moin and in second-place - which makes RAFSANJANI the "reformer" among the two candidates who are left and headed for the run-off.

Hmmm. Seems to me like something is rotten in the state of Iran - and it's called BALLOT-STUFFING! OBVIOUSLY the tyrannical mullahs want Rafsanjani to win. First they denied Moin a spot on the ballot. Second, after initial reports showed Moin coming in second and Rafsanjani NOT getting enough to prevent a run-off - a hardliner more religiously repressive than Rafsanjani has come second.

How convenient. How corrupt.

I wonder: When will the Iranian people stand up and demand their human rights, their innate God-given liberty? Do they have the courage? Looks like to me THEY DO NOT. Iranians are simply NOT as brave as Iraqis. Or even the Chinese of Tiannamen. I thinkm that the Iranians will remain in their chains until they have the courage to fight for their own freedom.

If the Iranian people stand up and take to the streets the way Ukrainians and Georgians and Lebanese did, then the USA will make sure they do not fail. But they must take the first step - the step into the streets. I'm waiting...

UPDATE: At 1PM, OTB posted some corroberation of my suspicions...

SOCIALIZED MEDICINE/UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SUCKS

BBC:

A hospital told a patient she would have to wait 18 months for an MRI brain scan, before giving a number to call for private treatment. King's College Hospital told Rachel King she could get the scan privately at the hospital in two weeks. The hospital accepted wait times were unacceptable and said it had recently got funds to help tackle the issue. It later revealed accident victim Ms King, 32, from Kent, would receive the scan on the NHS in September. ... [The patient] Ms King suffered head injuries, a broken collarbone, five broken ribs and a broken shoulder blade after a road accident in January. She was referred for an MRI scan after suffering dizzy spells and reduced vision. ... Health minister Lord Warner told the paper the government wanted to ensure the NHS delivered the best possible treatment as quickly as possible. "By 2008 no one will wait longer than 18 weeks from GP appointment to treatment." ... Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb added: "To have to wait 80 weeks just to get a diagnosis before you end up on the official waiting list figures is just simply not good enough."

If you think that this kind of healthcare is okay, then by all means support Democrat Party efforts to nationalize/socialize/UNIVERSALIZE healthcare. REMEMBER: getting the wait down to 18 weeks BY 2008! IS THEIR GOAL!

FOR HIS BIG MOUTH: TRENT LOTT RESIGNED FROM LEADERSHIP; SO MUST DICK DURBIN

Lott resigned from his leadership position because of an unpardonable utterance, one he APOLOGIZED FOR MANY TIMES ! (AT LEAST FOUR TIMES!)

So. Must. Durbin. Apologize. And. Resign.

UPDATE: Durbin has issued a "non-apology apology" - BETSY and CAPT. ED have the details and more links. BOTTOM-LINE: DURBIN MUST PUBLICALLY APOLOGIZE - FOR REAL - AND HE ALSO MUST RESIGN: JUST LIKE LOTT.

UPDATE #2: at 7:02PM, POWERLINE linked to an article from the BOSTON HERALD which made the LOTT/DURBIN comparison and called on Durbin to resign --- which once again proves that GREAT MINDS THINKS ALIKE!

UPDATE #3: Some folks think Durbin should be CENSURED for his remarks. A BLOG DEVOTED TO IT IS HERE.

DURBINIZED AND DEANIFIED DEMOCRATS ARE A MORAL DISGRACE AND A POLITICAL DISASTER

The chair of the DNC - Howeird Dean - has been continuously saying some of the most outrageous things about the USA and the GOP. To date, only a few Dems have distanced themselves from Dean: Biden and Edwards and Richardson.

The number two Democrat in the Senate - Dick Durbin - made a truly outrageous and false charge against the USA and our military.

To date, NOT A SINGLE DEMOCRAT HAS CHASTISED DURBIN OR DISTANCED HIMSELF - OR HERSELF (HILLARY: ARE YOU LISTENING?!) - FROM DURBIN'S REMARKS. AND DURBIN HIMSELF REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE OR RETRACT HIS WORDS.

I argue that ONLY Democrats who have the courage to chastise Dean and Durbin - and demand that they be removed from power - can be considered PRESIDENTIAL.

By failing to chastise these two over-the-top, kool-aid drinking Leftists the Democrats show that they've got no moral courage and without that you cannot LEAD.

I'm a registered Democrat and I'm waiting... BUT I'M NOT HOLDING MY BREATH!

I think Zell Miller was right: The Democrat Party has been taken over by the Left and is a national party no more. Pity.

DURBIN JUMPS SHARK

I just watched an exchange on the US SENATE floor between Durbin, Warner and McConnell. Durbin STILL REFUSES to apologize for comparing the ALLEGED TREATMENT of a few detainees at Gitmo to treatment of prsioners by NAZIS, POL POT, AND STALIN.

The GOP Senators were really flabbergasted that Durbin wouldn't budge. I was, too. What Durbin said was as bad as anything TOKYO ROSE ever said about the USA in WW2. He should be censured. Warner and McConnell rightly pointed out to the little homonculus Senator from Illinois that Pol Pot murdered 2 million prisoners, the NAZIS 9 million, and Stalin 20 million (over 20 years). BUT DURBIN WOULDN'T BUDGE. What an IDIOT scumbag!

Naturally, Harry Reid came to his defense. IT MADE ME NEARLY PUKE! AND I'M STILL A REGISTERED A DEMOCRAT. Assholes like Durbin and Dean are why I could NEVER EVER VOTE DEMOCRAT EVER AGAIN! Zell Miller was right: they are a national party NO MORE; now they are a party of kool-aid drinking Leftists who make outrageous and false moral equivalencies which only serve to help the enemy!

HEY HILLARY: if you wanna have ANY chance at winning the presidency, then you'd better get rid of assholes like Durbin and Dean!

BY THE WAY: the allegation of mistreatment that Durbin thinks is NAZI-LIKE amounted to (1) shackling detainees in the fetal position on the floor for as long as 18 hours, (2) making them (in effect) defecate on themselves (because they weren't given bedpans while remaining shackled for that length of time), (3) they were forced to stay in a room that was very hot or very cold, and (4) they were forced to listen to loud RAP MUSIC.

WOW: how nazi-like....NOT!

POL POT, STALIN, AND HITLER MURDERED MILLIONS OF PRISONERS. SADDAM MURDERED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS. NOTHING - REPEAT N-O-T-H-I-N-G ALLEGED AT GITMO COMES EVEN CLOSE!

The failure of ANY Democrat to condemn Durbin's remarks REALLY MEANS that the entire Democrat Party has jumped the shark. PITY.

More here - at OTB.

LEFTIST LAWYERS LEAD ANTI-GITMO EFFORTS

MICHAEL RATNER - THE NLG COLLEAGUE OF CONVICTED "TERRORIST COMRADE" LAWYER AND COMMUNIST LYNN STEWART - IS LEADING THE LEGAL AND PROPAGANDA ATTACKS ON GITMO. A must read at FRONTPAGE. Along with this gem.

MORE FALSE MORAL EQUIVALENCIES FROM THE LEFT

The list is endless, so here are ONLY four memorable examples of false equivalencies from the Left:

"Jenin - Stalingrad" (FROM VIRTUALLY THE ENTIRE MSM)

"Gitmo = gulag" (FROM AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL)

"Bush = Hitler" (FROM KIM JONG IL SUPPORTERS AND ANTI-WAR PROTEST SPONSORS A.N.S.W.E.R & SENATOR DICK DURBIN)

"Abu Graib = Saddam's torture chambers" (FROM #1 LEFTY BLOGGER KOS)

Not only are these Leftists WRONG - logically and historically/based on the facts - THEIR LIES AID THE ENEMY.

The Left are NOT the loyal opposition; they are the enemy.

MORE GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ: "Sunnis Reach Accord With Shiites on Makeup of Charter Panel"

NYTIMES/By JOHN F. BURNS and TERENCE NEILAN/Published: June 16, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 16 - Sunni Arabs reached agreement today with the major Shiite alliance over increased Sunni representation on the committee that will draft the Iraqi constitution. The agreement represented a significant development in the weeks-long political deadlock between the Sunnis and the 55-member committee, and it came after considerable pressure from the United States and the European Union for Iraqis to reach a solution. It also signaled a willingness by the Sunnis, most of whom who refused to take part in the Iraqi elections on Jan. 31, to become more involved in the political process.

Only two (2) groups are UNHAPPY with this news: neojihadists (al Qaeda and the Iranian Mullahs); and Leftists. They'd prefer it if Iraq was an unwinnable quagmire - one they could make the USA abandon (as the Left - in alliance with the Vietcong - did in the case of South Vietnam).

HORRIFYING NEWS OF RITUAL HUMAN SACRIFICE IN THE UK

BBC:

Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police suggests. ... "For spells to be powerful it required a sacrifice of a male child unblemished by circumcision" ... "This report talks of rituals, of witchcraft, being practised in churches in London. It is described as big business." ... It said that people who are desperate seek out churches to cast spells for them. "Members of the workshop said for spells to be powerful it required a sacrifice of a male child unblemished by circumcision," the report said. Contributors said boys were being trafficked into the UK for this purpose, but did not give details because they said they feared they would be "dead meat" if they told any more. There were also claims that youngsters were being smuggled into the UK as domestic slaves and for men with HIV who believed if they had sex with a child they would be cleansed.

Okay, let's see... these horrifying and barabaric practices are committed by who??? By ZIONISTS!? By CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS!? By the Bushes!? By the US MILITARY?! By the GOP? By TOM DELAY? By RUSH LIMBAUGH?

NOPE. By AFRICAN ANIMISTS.

And I think that this type of ritual human sacrifice goes hand-in-hand with the ritual human sacrifice perpetrated by jihadomaniacal suicide-bombers who commit self-sacrifice in the name of Jihad and genocide. YUP: Animism and neojihadism are BOTH insane cruel vicious murderous EVIL creeds which induce people to commit HUMAN SACRIFICE (like beheadings) and that's why the purveyors of these evil creeds must be hunted down and brought to justice. They and their evil creed must be wiped-out, utterly crushed... ANNIHILATED.

Yet the Left - folks like Noam Chomsky, Dick Durbin (the Minority Whip of the US SENATE!) KOS, and other leftist Dems, and Amnesty International, and the ACLU, and the MSM (which the Left still dominates) all seem to reserve their contempt for the GOP or the USA or the Pentagon or colonialism (which died-out a half-century ago!) Christian fundamentalists or Israel, and (in good Post-modernist tradition - as if it was the root of all evil) Western Civilization itself. The Left attacks everything traditional, from heterosexual marriage, to references to God by U.S. presidents.

The constant onslaught by the Left against traditional Western, Judeo-Christian values proves that the Left -- just like the neojihadists they tacitly support, (as Durbin did when he called the US military the equivalent of Pol Pot and the NAZIS and Stalin, yesterday on the floor of the Senate!) -- want to destroy traditional Western Civilization.

The Left is not the loyal opposition; THEY ARE THE ENEMY.

US AMBASSADOR CONFIRMS OBL NOT IN AFGHANISTAN

According to the BBC: "Mullah Omar is not in Afghanistan. I do not believe that Osama is in Afghanistan," US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said at a news conference in Kabul.

Khalilzad will soon be the US Amb. to Iraq.

The BBC seem to think Khallilzad was implying that OBL is in Pakistan. But maybe he wasn't; maybe he KNOWS OBL is in IRAN. Stay tuned...

PALESTINIAN GUNMEN SEIZE PM'S VACATION HOME

YUP: they seized one of his homes.This comes right after PM Qurei threatened to shut down the government because of rampant lawlessness mostly perpetrated (according to the Palestinian PM) by so-called security forces on the government payroll.

YOU KNOW WHAT'S REALLY FRIGHTENING?

Things can get worse.

And these animals think that they deserve a state and that Israel should trust them!? Yeah, right.

More and more I think the ONLY ANSWER is unilateral separation and a BIG WALL TO KEEP THE JIHADISTS OUT.

DEDUCTIVE PROOF THAT OBL IS IN IRAN

This week we learn that according to Kenneth Timmerman, (who appeared on CNN and FOX) - and some US intel' officials and a US Congressman - OBL is in Iran.

Also this week (right on the heels of the Timmerman/Weldon/Vallely accusation - as if in response to it), we learn that according to Musharraf and the Taliban, OBL is still in eastern Aghanistan/Pakistan's tribal region.

I believe Timmerman. WHY?! Because the TIMING of the DELIBERATE TALIBAN LEAK was so so SO VERY coincidental to Timmerman's accusal, and because it's NOT in the Taliban's interest to tell anyone-let-alone-everyone where OBL is - EXCEPT as a MISDIRECTION. (Albeit a clumsy one.)

ERGO: OBL MUST BE IN IRAN.

It's elementary. MORE HERE.

WHY HOLLYWOOD BECAME LESS PATRIOTIC

On March 9, 2005, Michael Medved posited that the reason Hollywood has become less patriotic is threefold: (1) Hollywood is more dependent on foreign income than ever; therefore they are pandering to foreigners; (2) Hollywood bought into the false idea (perpetrated by the Leftists who dominated - and still dominate the MSM) that the US military behaved badly in a bad and pointless war during Vietnam; because this false notion persists on the Left (ASIDE - yeah: FALSE! Vietnam was a noble cause, fought well - the SVG only fell a year after our withdrawal, and ONLY because the Democrats - who controlled Congress - stopped financing them) - and because the Left still dominates the MSM - anti-Military and anti-American themes still abound; (3) In the "good ol' days" (before Vietnam) Hollwood "players" were regular folk who had "made it"; today's Hollywood "players" are spoiled, insulated, and elitist; they are alienated from middle America - from "Red State" Americans.

I think Medved is right on the money, but also misses one KEY point: in Hollywood, during the GOLDEN ERA (when the greatest films were made, and most if-not-all were pro-America/pro-middle class values), the studios were run BY IMMIGRANTS. First generation IMMIGRANTS: people who had themselves fled tyrnanny - and the poverty and ingorance and hatred which tyrannies promote - and who had come to, AND WERE SAVED BY... AMERICA.

These studio moguls - Warner, Mayer and the rest - and also many of the greatest writer/director/producers, like Capra and Wilder and Kazan - did not take the American Dream for granted; America was not the object of their scorn; it was the object of their adoration.

It should still be.

It is NO COINCIDENCE that two of the most patriotic actor/producers in Hollywood are immigrants: Schwarzeneggar and Gibson (OKAY: Gibson was born here, but he was raisee in Australia!).

Apart from this omission, Medved's written a fine, short essay - RTWT.

PALESTINIAN PM QUREI: INTERNAL ARAB VERSUS ARAB LAWLESSNESS THREATENS STATEHOOD

BBC: PALESTINIAN PM QUREI HAS, IN EFFECT, ADMITTED THAT ARAB-ON-ARAB VIOLENCE IS DESTROYING ARAB SELF-RULE IN THE TERRITORIES. AND THAT MOST OF IT - RIGHT, MOST OF IT - IS PERPETRATED BY MEMBERS OF THE SO-CALLED "SECURITY PERSONNEL." He is even threatening to shut down the government uintil the Security Commandants get control of their own forces.

And Israel is supposed to give these Arabs another state, and then live in peace, side-by-side with them!?!?!?! If they rampantly kill and steal from each other, how can they EVER be trusted to respect Israelis' rights!?!?!?!?

MORE HERE AND HERE AND HERE.

MARRIAGE BOOMING IN IRAQ

BAGHDAD, Iraq (LATIMES/CONCORD MONITOR):

In Baghdad, business is booming for the wedding DJ. Overwhelmed by the demand for marriage contracts, two judges in Basra are turning away would-be brides and grooms. ... Since Saddam Hussein was ousted two years ago, the number of nuptials in Iraq has soared, say party planners, judges and clergy members. Although there are no reliable countrywide statistics, those in the business estimate that "I do's"have doubled since the uneasy months before and after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some say a better living standard is driving Iraqis to the altar. ... Staff shortages also afflict the courthouse in Basra, in the country's Shiite south. "We are only two judges here, and sometimes we cannot finalize all the contracts within the limited work hours," said Ahmad Shaheeb Ahmad, a judge. Sometimes, "we tell the marrying couple to come in another day." The chief clerk, Mohammed Jasim Mohammed, said the number of contracts had increased fourfold, from 6,015 in 2002 to about 24,000 in 2004.

Maybe this trend ISN'T good news: maybe Iraqi men are getting married because they miss being tyrannized. HEH.

MICHAEL JACKSON, OJ SIMPSON, AND SADDAM HUSSEIN

I'm glad that Saddam is NOT going to be tried in California.

UPDATE: It's a good thing Charles Manson went on trial decades ago - way BEFORE California went COMPLETELY nuts. NEED MORE PROOF CALIFORNIANS ARE NUTS? Senator Barbara Boxer.

CHAVEZ JUMPS SHARK

BBC:

"Capitalism is the road to destabilisation, violence and war between brothers" said President Hugo Chavez during his SEVEN HOUR TV show [emph. added]. He also said: "... Latin American countries were moving towards socialist economic models instead of US-style capitalism. "

NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER THAN THE TRUTH; capitalism is the road to prosperity; socialism is the road to serfdom. That Latin America is moving toward the Left is a testament to their ignorance and their suceptability to demagoguery (like Chavez's) and their propensity to love TYRANTS AND STRONG PATERNALISTIC STATES and to fear and hate Yankees and "Gringos" - in other words: to their racism. YUP: Chavez and Fidel and Mugabe are all racist demagogues who use anti-Americanism/anti-colonialsm to hold on to power. (REMINDER: the USA, Canada, Australia, and India are all former colonies - yet all are prosperous - India most recently; therefore colonialism CANNOT be the cause of other former colonies continued poverty. SOCIALISM IS, NOT COLONIALISM.

I challenge Mr. Chavez - or anyone else - to name one single solitary socialist nation which has an economy which out-performs or has a higher living standard than the "evil, selfish" captitalistic, free-market Hayekian economies of the USA or the UK. Even China - a socialist nation - has only grown its economy and improved the material living standards of its people since after it introduced free markets and capitlaism (after 50 years of socialism had utterly BANKRUPTED IT). Ditto India.

Chavez is a moron and a fool and a tyrant and an ass. What Chavez advocates is nothing more than a forced march on the road to serfdom. The fact is, that since he's taken over Venezuela's standard of living has markedly declined. Socialism ALWAYS does this. Look at Cuba or Zimbabwe or North Korea. They SUCK because they are socialist.

Chavez should be overthrown (at the very least) and replaced with someone who knows something about government and economics, someone who at least knows that for prosperity take hold and markets to grow, governments must get out of the way of the economy and entrepreneurs.

HOUSE TO VOTE ON U.N. REFORM ACT OF 2005

WASH TIMES:

A House committee yesterday voted to slash U.S. dues payments to the United Nations by half if the world body fails to enact sweeping reforms to its budget, human rights arm and peacekeeping missions. ... The United States pays about 22 percent of the annual $2 billion general U.N. budget, a figure that does not include major peacekeeping, education and development programs. ... The bill would also require the president to veto any new or expanded U.N. peacekeeping mission until U.N. troops are trained in an extensive new code of conduct. "We've waited and waited and waited," said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican. "The U.N. is fully capable of reforming itself, and they just haven't done it. We have to conclude that up at the U.N., they just don't get it."

HERITAGE FOUNDATION:

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, has put forward the U.N. Reform Act of 2005, which he says will help create a “more focused and accountable” United Nations. The U.N. Reform Act is very comprehensive. It requires broad, important reforms of many parts of the United Nations system and backs these reforms with financial withholding of 50 percent of the U.S. assessed contribution to the United Nations regular budget until the Secretary of State certifies that at least 32 of 39 reforms have been adopted. This is a very powerful inducement for the organization to reform in specific, measurable ways. ... The bill also calls on the U.N. to shift 18 programs from the assessed budget to voluntary funding. Other parts of the U.N. system already operate in this manner: UNICEF, the U.N. World Food Program, and the U.N. Development Program operate without funding from countries’ assessed dues. In addition to lowering member countries’ assessed dues and providing countries with more control over their relationship with the U.N., moving programs to voluntary funding would make them more accountable to the countries that choose to fund them. Under Hyde’s proposal, the United States would redirect a portion of the assessed contributions to these 18 programs to voluntary contributions in support of internal oversight, human rights, and humanitarian assistance.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGER called for this in December of '04. Let's hope it passes the House and then succeeds in the Senate and gets signed into law by W. AND... that the UN cleans up its act. Then again, if they don't: SCREW'EM!

A SOLUTION FOR THE IMMIGRATION "ISSUES" IN THE USA AND THE EU AND LATIN AMERICA

The USA has been the recipient of MILLIONS of immigrants from Latin America - folks from Mexico to the tippy-toe of South America; they are largely hard-working, God-fearing folks who have contributed to America's wealth and well-being and our culture.

Many have been ILLEGAL immigrants, and this ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION creates many problems for the USA - problems I don't need to go into here, in this post.

The EU has also been the recipient of many immigrants - most from former colonies and most of them MUSLIM. Bat Ye'or and others have written extensively about the ISLAMIFICATION of Europe; this is due to the in flux of Muslim immigrants, the high birth rates among Muslim immigrants, and the low birth rates among Europeans. Bat Yeor and others - myself included - believe that European culture is under threat and could dissapear; I have written that Paris could become Paristanbul and the Notre Dame Cathedral a mosque. But Europe has BIG DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS: the EU population is AGING TERRIBLY FAST, and they need an influx of young workers to keep their Welfare States afloat. Muslims have filled this role/need.

Perhaps the USA and the EU and Latin America could come up with a better solution to their immigration woes - one that would help ALL THREE: encouraging Latin American immigration to EUROPE!

Latin Americans are Christian, and speak a LATIN-based language (most speak Spanish, others speak Portuguese). Assimiliation would be easier for them in Europe - AND... Europe would not be as threatened (with major cultural shift away from Christianity and Western Civilization) by Latinos as they are by Muslims (whose culture is very un-European).

Spain could play a leading roles in this - by being the GATEWAY for the ambitious and hard-working Latin Americans heading back to Europe for jobs.

This is a win-win-win answer to the immigration issues of the three regions: Latin America gets a continued outlet, the USA gets relief from inundation by ILLEGAL immigration from Latin America, and Europe gets relief from too much Muslim immigration.

All we need to do is give trans-Atlantic boat tickets to all Latin Americans who want to leave Latin America and are willing to go to Europe.