FROM SOMALIA: MORE PROOF THE MUSLIM ENEMY IS UNITED

LONDON TIMES:

MIDDLE EASTERN countries secretly armed and supported suspected Al-Qaeda recruits in the failed state of Somalia in a direct challenge to western interests in east Africa, according to a United Nations report.

Hundreds of Islamist fighters were flown, with Eritrean assistance, from Somalia to Syria and Libya for military training. Others were taken to Lebanon to fight with Hezbollah, the report to the UN security council has revealed.

UN investigators also detailed military aid given to the Islamists by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Arab states friendly to the West. Iran also supplied 125 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, 80 of which arrived by sea in dhows and the rest by air.

All this goes on while China and Russia and France run interference for the jihadists in the UNSC.

I'm fed up with it! AS THE ABOVE ITEM PROVES ONCE AGAIN - THE ENEMY IS UNITED. Everyone in the conscious world knows that Syria and Iran aid the enemy in Iraq. And that Pakistan plays a double game in Afghanistan.

SHOULDN'T WE BE UNITED, TOO!? The ummah is attacking us - ON A DOZEN FRONTS, AIDED BY A LEFTIST MEDIA AND A LEFTIST DEMOCRAT PARTY - while we pointlessly argue about whether or not there is such a thing as moderate islam, and the Dems in Congress worry about war spilling over Iraq's border with Iran. HEY GUYS: THIS IS ALREADY A GLOBAL WAR! BORDERS DON'T MEAN DICK IN THIS WAR! (AND REMEMBER: No one ever demanded that FDR first get separate resolutions from Congress before invading Morocco and Italy and France, etc!).

Sunni, Shia, al Qaeda, JI, Hizballah, Iranian, Hamas, Chechnyan, Fatah - who cares what sect or what nation or which jihadist group they belong to. They're all bad and they all need to be destroyed. The sooner, the better.

It's time we acted on the Bush Doctrine and demanded that other nations choose sides: either they're with us or they're against us. And we must punish every nation that is against us. They must fear us more than al Qaeda, Putin, North Korea - and everyone else combined. Only then we will be safe, and only then will the gains humanity has blad for the last 500 years be protected.

PAPON IS DEAD, GOOD RIDDANCE

The AP reports that Maurice Papon, a nazi collaborator in France during WW2, is now dead:

PARIS (AP) — Maurice Papon, who was convicted of crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps during World War II, has died, his lawyer said Saturday. He was 96.

Papon, who became France's budget minister after the war, was taken to a clinic east of Paris on Thursday for heart problems and was to undergo surgery involving his pacemaker. Lawyer Francis Vuillemin told LCI television that Papon "died peacefully in his sleep."

Let's hope his journey to appear before the highest court won't be as comfortable.

Duke Lacrosse - A Black Man Speaks

A very funny video by a black man who gets the Duke Lacrosse case.

HOW TO WIN WW4 AND SAVE MUSLIMS: Ban Jihad, Ban The Stoning Of Apostates, and Ban The Subjugation of Women

Some people seem to believe that either Islam must organically morph into something akin to what reformists like Irshad Manji are tying to create or else we are doomed. I say that what Irshad Manji is trying to do will not work. I don't think Islam will, peacefully, or organically, morph into something other than what it is; a religion of the sword.

I think we have to force the issue by destroying the worst of the Islamic regimes, and forcing them to live a different way.

We basically have to become their jailers, and gradually teach them how to be free.

Did you see that video the other day from the Iraqi saying, "God Bless America"? HERE, WATCH THE WHOLE THING:


His point is, "We don't know how to be free. We have been enslaved for too long." He didn't say that we have to force them to learn, but come on, what other conclusion is there?

My whole probllem with what Bush has done is that it has not been forceful enough.

We really need to go in and wreck the place. That's the way you win wars. You scare the hell out of the people, so their will is totally broken. And, then you control their society. This is how we won WWII in Germany and Japan, and it is how we won the American Civil War. In each of those tremendously successful endeavors, we destroyed the enemy and then delivered a coup de grace blow, in the form of "scorched Earth," the Atomic Bomb, or the firebombing of Dresden.

And then, we went completely remade those societies in the aftermath of the war. We rewrote their Constitution, their laws, we banned whole sections of their national religions/ideologies. We were as merciless in remaking their culture as we were in destroying their armies.

That's the lesson I get from history.

Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician, made this same point the other day. We need to ban whole sections of the Koran.

Islam is incompatible with Democracy, so the answer is, we have to ban those parts of Islam which are incompatible with Democracy:

1) violent Jihad against the Infidels
2) stoning of apostates, adulterers and gays
3) the subjugation of women and the burqa

Whenever anyone is caught preaching any of these things, they need to be imprisoned and charged with sedition.

That is the answer.

We need to decide that this is the line, and we will not allow anyone to cross it, for any reason.

TIME OUT FOR THE ARTS: PUCCINI'S NESSUN DORMA, BY PAVAROTTI

Nessun Dorma - G. Puccini

Il Principe:

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza
guardi le stelle che tremano
d'amore e di speranza!
Ma il mio mistero
A chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun sapra!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dira,
quando la luce splendera!
Ed il mio bacio scogliera
il silenzio che ti fa mia!

Coro donne:

Il nome suo nessun sapra...
E noi dovrem ahima, morir, morir...!

Il Principe:

Dilegua, o notte! tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincera!
Vincera! Vincera!

Australia: Therapy plan for terror suspects

A bit bizarre, but treating Islamic terrorism as a mental illness has much to recommend it:

TERROR suspects could be given taxpayer-funded counselling for being angry or having low self-esteem. Under the proposal, the Federal Government would provide psychological counselling and anger management support to terror suspects and those subject to control orders. But secrecy surrounds the initiative because the Australian Federal Police has refused to reveal the specifics of its proposal.

Scant details were released through a Federal Government question on notice. "Some of the options considered include religious education, psychological support and assistance with issues such as anger management, low self-esteem, social identity and family separation," the AFP said, responding to a question on voluntary education programs for terrorists. "The AFP continues to examine how education and counselling may be used within the context of control orders. "Programs developed overseas in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are also being examined as part of broader AFP considerations." The AFP refused to say how much the program would cost....

(For more postings from me, see POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM . Email me (John Ray) here.)

U.S. HOUSE VOTES FOR DEFEAT

The U.S. House voted for a defeat in Iraq yesterday.



Only 2 Democrats showed they had courage:

Representative Jim Marshall
Representative Gene Taylor

17 Republicans showed they had no spine:

Representative James T. Walsh
Representative Walter Jones
Representative Wayne Gilchrest
Representative Michael Castle
Representative Richard (Ric) Keller
Representative Philip Sheridan English
Representative Ronald Ernest Paul
Representative Frederick Stephen Upton
Representative Thomas M. Davis
Representative Mark Kirk
Representative Howard Coble
Representative John J. Duncan Jr.
Representative James Ramstad
Representative Steven C. LaTOURETTE
Representative Robert Inglis
Representative Timothy V. Johnson
Representative Thomas Petri

SEGOLENE ROYAL'S COLLAPSE CONTINUES

UK GUARDIAN:

Ségolène Royal is hoping her appearance on a prime-time TV show on Monday night will win over a sceptical French public after a week of campaign traumas including an economic adviser's resignation, lacklustre poll ratings and children booing her at a sports ground.

"Maman Ségo," the first woman with a chance of becoming president of France, was supposed to have spent this week basking in glory after setting out her socialist programme to protect the nation's poor and vulnerable in the face of her rightwing opponent Nicolas Sarkozy's plans for tax cuts and free market economic reform. But Ms Royal, a mother of four who has styled herself as the mother of the nation, instead faced polls showing Mr Sarkozy stretching his 6-8% lead. The French left as a whole is now at its lowest popularity rating since 1969...

ZAMAN/REUTERS:

Socialist Royal, hoping to revive her election campaign after several gaffes and reports of internal party divisions, told supporters she would boost education spending if she was elected in the April/May poll. "If the nation is capable of freeing money for a second aircraft carrier, I am pledging here that this additional room of maneuver, this money, will not go to national defense but to national education," she said in a speech late on Thursday.

SHE'S PROMISED MORE WELFARE, HIGHER WAGES, MORE PROTECTIONISM, AND NOW MORE TEXTBOOKS INSTEAD OF A ROBUST NATIONAL DEFENSE. THIS IS ALL TYPICAL LEFTIST CRAP. WHAT IS NOVEL IS THAT THE FRENCH SEEM TO BE IGNORING THE BS. PERHAPS THEY ARE WAKING UP FROM THEIR LONG SLUMBER... I HOPE SO... I PRAY SO!

ABC DOES SOMETHING RIGHT FOR A CHANGE

ABC named Burt Brady their person of the week. If you can watch this without tearing up you have a heart of stone. It is wonderful to know that there are people out there supporting our troops instead of bashing them.

GLOBAL WARMING IN PERU ONLY?

Read the report from today's news below and then the skeptical report from India below that. Although it happens all the time, the term "local warming" seems to be entirely absent from the Greenie vocabulary. Note that the central United States experienced local COOLING during the 20th century

The principal glacier of the world's biggest tropical ice-cap could disappear within five years as a result of global warming. The imminent demise of the Qori Kalis glacier, the main component of the Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes, offers the starkest evidence yet of the effects of climate change, one of the world's leading glaciologists said today. Although scientists have known for decades that Qori Kalis and the other Quelccaya glaciers are melting, new observations indicate that the rate of retreat is increasing, Lonnie Thompson, of Ohio State University said.

When he visits this northern summer, he expects to find that the glacier has halved in size since last year, and he believes that Qori Kalis will be gone within five years. "This widespread retreat of mountain glaciers may be our clearest evidence of global warming as they integrate many climate variables," Professor Thompson told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Francisco. "Most importantly, they have no political agenda."

The Quelccaya ice-cap, covering 44sq km in the Cordillera Oriental region of the Peruvian Andes, is the world's largest tropical ice mass. Qori Kalis, its biggest glacier, has receded by at least 1.1km since 1963, when the first formal measurements were made from aerial photographs. The rate of retreat has increased: between 1963 and 1978, it shrank by 6m a year, a rate that has now risen tenfold.

Professor Thompson predicted six years ago that the celebrated snows of Kilimanjaro would be gone from Africa's highest mountain by 2015, and he now thinks that that estimate may have been too conservative. He said: "Tropical glaciers are the canaries in the coalmine for our global climate system, as they integrate and respond to most of the key climatological variables - temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, humidity and radiation."

A critical piece of evidence from almost 50 scientific expeditions to seven shrinking tropical ice-caps points to global warming as the reason for their decline. In all but one case, snowfall has increased as ice volume has fallen. More snow should mean advancing glaciers, unless rising temperatures are melting the extra precipitation and the ice tongues themselves. The fate of tropical glaciers globally will have an impact on water supplies relied on by more than 4 billion people.

Source

(For more postings from me, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, DISSECTING LEFTISM and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Beady Eyes on Another Fancy-Dress Party

Having a private fancy-dress party and circulating pictures of it seems to be an increasingly risky thing to do these days. Some students at Cal State U Sacramento (the women's soccer team) did so and it even got referred to the police. Why? Apparently because some students in the pictures had bad words like "bitch" written on their bodies with marker pens. The fact that all the pictures show nothing more than a group of kids having fun seems not to matter.

You can see the pictures here and further media comment here.

I am guessing that the real problem is that some of the women were wearing sombreros. Nobody has figured out how to prove that as "racism" so they are picking on anything they can.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

GLOBAL LEADERS REACH CLIMATE DEAL: MCCAIN PLAYS GLOBAL WARMING FIDDLE

It cracks me up when I hear polls and pundit talk about how John McCain is a front-runner for the GOP nomination for President in '08. Unless the Republican Party has completely sold its soul (always a possibility), McCain doesn't have a chance in hell. But wait, some love to say, he may have pissed off the GOP base with his aversion to the Bush tax cuts, campaign finance reform and his love affair with media, but he's really strong on the war on terror.

Oh, really?

While Muslim terrorists plot our demise, the world's socialists are working day and night "fighting" global warming, and McCain is no different as this quote from the BBC proves:

US senator Joe Lieberman forecast that the US Congress would enact a law on cutting emissions by the end of next year, possibly this year. And presidential candidate John McCain, who is co-sponsoring climate legislation with Mr Lieberman, was emphatic on the need for new initiatives. "I am convinced that we have reached the tipping point and that the Congress of the United States will act, with the agreement of the administration," he told the forum.

And you thought Nero spent too much time with his precise violin (a story that may be a myth, but that's for another post).

I'm constantly amazed at the time, money and effort that is being spent to fight a natural phenomenon, while a group of evil zealots plot the destruction of not only America, but the very socialists that attend these ridiculous forums.

PARLIAMENT TO HONOR THATCHER

DAILY MAIL (HAT TIP DRUDGE):

At the House of Commons, in just under a week's time, Margaret Thatcher — who so significantly transformed the fortunes of this country and the world — will come face to face with herself in the form of a 7ft 6in statue in the Members' Lobby. For this extraordinary woman, who still remains the butt of the sniggering classes after leading the country for 11-and-a-half years, the unveiling will be 'a 2 proud and moving moment'...

MORE ON HOW THE IDIOTIC TORIES CUT HER THROAT, HERE.

VIDEO OF HER LAST EXIT FROM #10 DOWNING STREET HERE.

WE NEED MORE LEADERS LIKE HER. GOD BLESS HER.

SOUTH DAKOTA PASSES A BILL TO BAN ABORTION

Panic spreads throughout Planned Parenthood and NARAL as their precious abortion on demand policies are challenged.

South Dakota is set to challenge Roe vs. Wade. This past wednesday South Dakota's Congress passed a ban on abortion and it is awaiting Governor Mike Rounds' signature. Here is what the sponsor of the bill had to say:

"The momentum for a change in the national policy on abortion is going to come in the not-too-distant future," said Rep. Roger W. Hunt, a Republican who sponsored the bill. To his delight, abortion opponents succeeded in defeating all amendments designed to mitigate the ban, including exceptions in the case of rape or incest or the health of the woman. Hunt said that such "special circumstances" would have diluted the bill and its impact on the national scene.

There are similar efforts in other states:

South Dakota is the first but not the only state to consider new abortion restrictions this year. Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky have introduced similar measures.

CHAVEZ: "ALL YOUR SUPERMARKETS ARE BELONG TO US!"

MORE PROOF THAT SOCIALISM = TYRANNY FOR THE "COMMON GOOD":

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said he will shortly decree a law giving the government the authority to expropriate supermarkets, stores and other businesses caught hoarding food or speculating on prices.

Chavez said Thursday the law will be used to severely punish businesses in food production and distribution that violate price controls set by the government.

THEN COME EVEN WORSE SHORTAGES. AND THEN, THEY START SHOOTING THEIR OWN.

BOLIVARIAN MY ASS. IT'S BOLSHEVIK.

UK: NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE MIS-SPENT NEARLY ALL FUNDS FOR STD'S

UK GUARDIAN:

England could suffer worryingly high levels of infertility and HIV infection unless NHS trusts stop misspending money meant to tackle the country's sexual health crisis, health experts warned today.

Cash-strapped trusts have used much of the £300m government funding meant to combat the country's sexual health crisis to balance their books, according to the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT).

Staff at almost two-thirds (59%) of primary care trusts - the bodies that commission and provide local NHS services - told the charity that either all or part of the money allocated for sexual health had been diverted elsewhere.

So... let's see... socialized healthcare denies life-saving care to the aged - (MORE HERE), and spends monies that were intended to treat HIV and gonorrhea on administrative things... SHEESH! Yet Hillary and Obama still want you to believe to would work better here!?!? Sheesh.

DON'T FALL FOR IT!

PELOSI THROWS AHMADINEJAD A LIFE-LINE

VIA DRUDGE: (AP) - Pelosi: "Bush Lacks Power to Invade Iran"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that President Bush lacks the authority to invade Iran without specific approval from Congress, a fresh challenge to the commander in chief on the eve of a symbolic vote critical of his troop buildup in Iraq.

I'D LIKE ONE (1) LEFTIE LOON TO EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BY PELOSI HELPS THE USA.

THE FACT IS THAT IT ONLY HELPS - AND COULD ONLY HELP IRAN. IT TELLS IRAN, "I WILL DO EVERYTHING WITHIN MY POWER, AND THEN SOME, TO PREVENT THE USA FROM USING FORCE AGAINST YOU."

PELOSI IS USURPING PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY IN A BALD-FACED ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE OFF THE TABLE. IT'S AN ATTEMPT AT UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT.

THAT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE: THIS CROWD OF DOVES AND LEFTIES ADVOCATED THE SAME UNILATERAL DISARMAMENT AGAISNT THE USSR. THEY ARE TRAITORS.

GOOD NEWS FROM FRANCE: SEGOLENE CONTINUES HER COLLAPSE

London Times:

The shaky campaign of Ségolène Royal for the French presidency took a fresh hit today after her senior economic adviser resigned amid growing Socialist dismay over her failure to revive her run for the Elysée Palace.

Ms Royal’s team was locked in a “spiral of depression” after the latest embarrassment hit her once once-flawless campaign, said Le Monde. Adding to the Socialist woes in advance of the April 22 first-round vote, Ms Royal, 53, was booed by schoolchildren on a visit to a sports ground on Tuesday and is being deserted by stars of the intellectual world, a traditional bastion of the Left.

As Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, candidate for the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement, retained a clear lead over Ms Royal in opinion polls, the Socialists sought to play down the departure of Eric Besson, the party’s chief of economic policy.

The MP walked out on Tuesday in a feud with François Hollande, the party chief and Ms Royal’s domestic partner, over the 100-point manifesto that Ms Royal unveiled on Sunday.

Ms Royal ordered her team to focus on promoting the generous financial measures that she was promising without being pinned down on their funding.

The "spend like there's no tomorrow" play-book is typical of the Leftist dominated Dems, too - and it hardly ever causes any intra-party squabbling. This little brouhaha over spending is merely an excuse for Besson to jump from a ship that's about to sink - probably because of his own ambitions.

Anyway, this is VERY good news. It makes it even more likely that Sarkozy will win. And a Sarkozy win is important for France, for Europe, and the West. I'm praying for him.

A GATHERING OF EAGLES

1000 Hours, March 17, 2007 - Viet Nam Memorial Wall - Washington, D.C.

From this source:

The anti-war/anti-America groups are planning a “march to the Pentagon” on March 17, 2007…this group has intentions that defenders of freedom cannot overlook or allow to occur…there must be a challenge.

Here’s a portion from the “anti-war” web site March 17 —

March on Pentagon!: Time to Turn Up the Heat! that causes considerable concern: “The biggest single group of new volunteers and activists are soldiers and marines who have returned from Iraq. Their family members and other veterans are also organizing to March on the Pentagon. The opening rally will assemble at the Vietnam Memorial (Constitution Gardens) at noon.”

The anti-war/anti-America group cannot be allowed to use the Viet Nam Memorial Wall as a back-drop to their anti-America venom and stain the hallowed ground that virtually cries out with blood at the thought of this proposed desecration… it must not happy...

Many are encouraging a ”Gathering of Eagles” (symbolic of our freedom) at the Viet Nam Memorial Wall on March 17, 2007...

Read the rest at Always On Watch Two.

KNESSET DRAFT BILL GIVES FARMERS RIGHT TO DEFEND PROPERTY WITH FORCE

A positive step in ensuring that farmers will be able to act in self-defense against intruders. From Israel Insider:

A new draft bill proposing that land owners who take physical action to defend against intruders on their property not be subjectable to prosecution self-defense passed a first reading in the Knesset on Wednesday. Inspired by the ordeal of a southern farmer who shot and killed Bedouin criminals he caught on his farm last month, former Agriculture Minister and Likud MK Yisrael Katz described his draft bill as "revolutionary."

"This is one of the most significant civil revolutions in years," Katz said of his bill which was passed by a 37-19 vote. The bill needs to pass second and third votes to become law. Shai Dromi fired at Khaled al-Atrash and Ayoub al-Hawashleh who broke into his Negev farm in late January. Dromi was charged with manslaughter for the killing of al-Atrash. Al-Hawashleh was injured and was indicted for attempted burglary upon recovering from his injuries.

With this, I hope that Dromi will be fully exonerated soon.

The Amazing Leftist Dream that THEY are censored

Look at the Leftist cartoon below:

Leftists have control of most of the mainstream media and the universities yet they think that they are being SILENCED! One might at times wish that they would shut up but silenced they never have been.

As Dr Sanity points out, their self-image as persecuted lonely heroes speaking up against the misguided world is something that they psychologically NEED rather than something that has any correspondence with reality.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, DISSECTING LEFTISM. Email me (John Ray) here.)

HOW DO YOU SPELL WIMP? C-H-I-R-A-C

The news coming out of Lebanon today should not suprise us - but it appears France is leaning towards a softer stance with Iran out of fear that Hizb'allah will attack the French Unifil soldiers stationed in Lebanon!

Well, next time the French are asked to take part in a peacekeeping mission they should send a few busloads of schoolchildren - because according to their own leaders, a French solidier isn't much more than a HumanShield!

HAMAS/FATAH DISAGREEMENTS TAKE PLACE AGAIN

I thought it could happen:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh Thursday in a bid to resolve the political crisis in the Palestinian Authority. Abbas will deliver to Haniyeh the letter of appointment for the establishment of the coalition government.

The Palestinian unity government deal reached in Mecca between Hamas and Fatah was thrown into question Wednesday night when Abbas canceled the Thursday speech in which he intended to present the deal to the Palestinian people.

Abbas also called off a Thursday visit to the Gaza Strip, where he was slated to deliver to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh the letter of appointment for the establishment of the coalition government.

Palestinian sources said the crisis broke out due in part to disagreements over the Interior Ministry portfolio. According to the sources, the conflict primarily resulted from disagreement over appointments.

Haniyeh was supposed to serve his resignation Thursday immediately after Abbas' speech. Now, however, Haniyeh has delayed his resignation.

Hamas officials claimed the delay was due to technical problems, but Fatah representatives said it was because Hamas introduced conditions which contradicted the Mecca agreement.

Haniyeh won't resign. Not by a longshot. He'll keep on leading the Hamas itself in one way or another, for as long as he's in existence.

THE HALF HOUR NEWS HOUR

Make sure to tune into Joel Surnow's "The Half Hour News Hour" this sunday at 10 pm ET. It is going to be a conservative, comedy free for all. Below are 2 videos about the show. The first is a promo for the show and the 2nd is an excerpt. Pretty good stuff!!

MALICIOUS PROSECUTIONS

There is nothing just in the Fitzgerald prosecution of "Scooter" Libby. I'm outraged that an innocent man has lost his job, has had his name drug through the mud and is having to spend a fortune to defend himself against baseless charges. Even if he is found innocent his life will be forever tainted.

Former Senator Fred Thompson rightly blasts Fitzgerald and had this to say:

When you put too much power in the hands of unelected, unaccountable people who have every incentive to focus massive resources onto one particular person — who gets the plaudits in the media for doing so — it's a bad thing. And many, many times an injustice can occur," said Thompson in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

It is becoming all too apparent to me that if Democrats can't beat you in the ballot box they will resort to any other means possible. Ann Coulter nails it on the head in talking about the Libby case:

So why is there a trial? Because there is no penalty for using the threat of imprisonment as a political weapon against conservatives. Ask Tom DeLay or Rush Limbaugh.

If Libby were a Democrat, we would know the sexual proclivities of everyone in Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's office, Judith Miller would be portrayed as a "stalker," Tim Russert's cat would be dead, and the public would know about every toupee at MSNBC.

I'm not sure how we stop malicious, narcissistic, media whore prosecutors from ruining people's lives but they are starting to be all too common. Just ask Scooter Libby, the Duke LaCrosse players, Rush Limbaugh and Tom Delay. As Reliapundit once wisely said, they are scum.

TIME OUT FOR HAPPY MUSIC: PAOLO CONTE

SOCIALISM STRIKES AGAIN: CHAVEZ POLICIES CREATING SHORTAGES AND HAVOC - for "the common good", of course!

AP:

President Hugo Chavez threatened Wednesday to nationalize any privately owned supermarkets and food storage facilities caught hoarding inventories or violating price controls imposed on basic goods. Accusing private companies of hoarding beef and other foods, Chavez warned supermarket owners and distributors that he would nationalize their facilities as soon as they gave him ''an excuse.''

''If they remain committed to violating the interests of the people, the constitution, the laws, I'm going to take the food storage units, corner stores, supermarkets and nationalize them,'' Chavez said during a televised broadcast. ''So prepare yourselves!''

Chavez has been intent on nationalizing ''strategic'' sectors of the economy since winning re-election in December. He has moved quickly to buy out private interests in leading electricity and phone companies since the National Assembly gave him authority to enact sweeping measures by decree and accelerate the country's socialist transformation. Earlier this week the government signed deals to buy stakes in local companies owned by two U.S. corporations - Verizon Communications Inc and CMS Energy Corp. There are no major U.S. interests, however, involved in the supermarket or food storage business in Venezuela.

Chavez said his decree permitting takeovers of food stores and warehouses will take effect upon publication in the official gazette this week.

CHAVEZ IS DOING TO VENEZUELA WHAT KIM DID TO NORTH KOREA, WHAT CASTRO DID TO CUBA, WHAT MUGABE DID TO ZIMBABWE. AND SO ON.

VENEZUELANS WILL BE STARVING WITHIN A YEAR. THEN COME THE FOOD RIOTS. AND THEN CHAVEZ WILL START SHOOTING VENEZUELANS. FOR THE COMMON GOOD. OF COURSE.

NATIONALIZED HEALTHCARE IN BRITAIN DISCRIMINATES AGAINST SENIORS

HEALTHCARE NEWS:

New research in Britain has revealed quite shocking information regarding the treatment of senior citizens in the health system.

A newly released study shows that doctors and heart specialists who care for the elderly were all found to be influenced by the patients' age when making their recommendations; it seems the age cut-off for comparison was 65.

THE REVEALS ONE OF THE CHIEF REASONS WE MUST NEVER LET THE GOVERNMENT CONTROL OUR HEALTHCARE OR OUR PENSIONS:

IT GIVES THEM HUGE INCENTIVE TO DENY SENIORS CARE BECAUSE THEY REAP A HUGE DOUBLE BONUS WHEN THEY DENY CARE: FIRST, THEY SAVE THE COST OF MEDICAL CARE, AND SECOND THEY SAVE THEY SAVE THE PENSION BECAUSE THE PATIENT DIES SOONER RATHER THAN LATER!

YUP: WHEN THE GOVERNMENT PAYS FOR YOU HEALTHCARE AND YOUR PENSION, THE GOVERNMENT HAS AN INCENTIVE TO LET YOU DIE.

WE NEED TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY, AND WE NED TO EXPAND PRIVATE HEALTHCARE COVERAGE BY USING TAX INCENTIVES AND VOUCHERS.

WE MUST NOT LET THE LEFTISTS AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY THEY CONTROL NATIONALIZE THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY.

THAI MUSLIMS CONTINUE REIGN OF JIHADO-TERROR

APPEASEMENT NEVER WORKS:

Suspected Muslim insurgents shot four people to death and wounded four soldiers assigned to protect teachers in attacks Wednesday in Thailand's restive south, police said. Two herbal medicine sellers were killed by four drive-by attackers in Yala province's Bannang Sata district, said police Lt. Vannawut Sanseyah. The victims, a father and son, were Buddhist merchants from northeastern Thailand.

Another Buddhist man was shot dead while riding his motorcycle home in Rue So district of Narathiwat province, police said. In yet another incident in Yala, a 30-year-old Muslim rubber tapper was shot and killed by at least three assailants as he walked to work, said police Lt. Saravut Mahachai.

THIS JIHADOTERROR HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSHIES OR BIG OIL OR IRAQ OR NEOCONS OR ZIONISTS. IT IS UNPROVOKED. IT IS GLOBAL JIHAD - WW4. (MORE HERE.)

FASHION DESIGNER TAUNTS FUR ACTIVISTS: TRULY RIGHTEOUS!

This designer, likely, doesn't know how right he is:

Designer Julien Macdonald has declared war on animal lovers protesting against his use of fur in London Fashion Week. Some onlookers were shocked to see his autumn collection relied heavily on different types of fur - even to create an entire dress. But he remained unrepentant, saying: "People who don't like fur can p*ss off. I love fur. It's a beautiful natural product from animals."

The Bible says this is the way life should be as a result of the fall of man. We can not fix it. This is the way life is. Genesis 3: 21-24:

21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side [e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

God ordained that this is the way we are to live. We are to kill animals, eat them, and use their skins as protection from the elements.The anti-fur activists argument is with God, not with me. Screw them. We, as a Judeo-Christian Civilization really need to cut it out with the playing-by-the-rules of the heathen idiots who are trying to assail our whole moral ideology.

They do not hate fur because it comes from animals. They all wear leather shoes, and jackets, and purses. They hate fur, because they are at war with God.

Sounds crazy? Think about it. The same people also hate the Jews. Hitler was a vegetarian. I rest my case.

Once Again: Leftist Hate Speech is OK

Most readers by now will be aware that Democrat Presidential hopeful John Edwards put on his staff two Christianity-hating bloggers. Their extreme abuse of Christianity and Christians was widely protested -- by Catholics in particular -- and one of them, Amanda Marcotte, eventually resigned under that pressure.

But, as at the time of writing this, one was still employed by Edwards: Melissa McEwan. In one of her blog posts, she referred to religious conservatives as President Bush's "wingnut Christofascist base." If that's not hate speech and biogotry what would be? What would happen if someone referred to certain homosexual groups as the Democrat "wingnut AnalFascist base"? No need to guess, is there?

But Leftist hate speech is OK, apparently. That a Democrat as prominent as Edwards persists with employing a hater like McEwan shows that all the Democrat huffing and puffing about hate speech is pure hypocrisy. They don't care about hate speech at all. They just use it as a stick to attack Christians and conservatives with.

Details here and here. And Don Surber comments on Marcotte's claim that she is a "victim". Conservatives who break Leftist rules about speech are expected to apologize for it but there has been no apology from Marcotte.

Above post crossposted from Tongue Tied

MITT AND RUDY

Mitt Romney is in and last weekend he spoke at Missouri's Lincoln Days. For the audio go here.

Rudy gets a nod from a conservative I have a lot of respect for, Ted Olson. An excerpt:

Overall, Rudy's strength of character, his capacity for leadership in a time when a strong executive is important, his energy level, his ability to provide the kind of leadership that Ronald Reagan did -- I think that is going to be very persuasive with conservatives.

THERMOPYLAE : THE SPARTAN 300 : : BAGHDAD : THE AMERICAN 3000?

Will the 3000 brave American heroes who have given their lives for the cause of liberty and democracy and global security from jihado-fascism go down in history as the Spartan 300?

Maybe - if the Left has it's way, and if they succeed in pulling the plug on US military aid to the democratic republic of Iraq. Here's what the 300 did:

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece.

Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. A small force led by King Leonidas of Sparta blocked the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I could pass.

After three days of battle a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks, revealing a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines.

Dismissing the rest of the army, King Leonidas stayed behind with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers.

Though they knew it meant their own deaths, they held their position and secured the retreat of the other Greek forces.

The Persians succeeded in taking the pass but sustained heavy losses, extremely disproportionate to those of the Greeks.

The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for a naval battle that would come to determine the outcome of the war. Subsequent Greek victory in the Battle of Salamis left much of the Persian navy destroyed. Xerxes was forced to flee to Asia and left his army in Greece under Mardonius, who was to meet the Greeks in battle for one last time. The Spartans and other Greek allies assembled at full strength and decisively defeated the Persians in the Battle of Plataea, putting thus an end to the Greco-Persian War, along with Persian expansion into Europe.

The performance of the defenders at the battle of Thermopylae is often used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment and good use of terrain to maximise an army's potential, as well as a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds. The heroic sacrifice of the Spartans and the Thespians has captured the minds of many throughout the ages and have given birth to many cultural references as a result.

The 300 were betrayed by one of their own, just like the Left - (in the Congress and in the MSM) - is betraying US and the Iraqis struggling to defend their nascent democracy to the jihadofascists.

TRAILER HERE. And HERE. Check out this NPR interview with Frank Miller - author of the script of the upcoming movie.

IF OBAMA MISSPOKE, THEN ME CALLING HIM AN ASSHOLE IS A MISPRINT

MORE HERE.

BOTTOM-LINE: THE LIVES OF THE TROOPS WHO DIED IN IRAQ WERE NOT WASTED. OBAMA'S LIFE IS A WASTE - IF NOT OBAMA'S LIFE, THEN A LEAST HIS INTELLIGENCE AND LOQUACITY.

BONUS BOTTOM-LINE: A CANDIDATE WHO "MISSPEAKS" LIKE OBAMA - AND LIKE BIDEN (OR DURBIN)- IS UNFIT FOR THE OFFICE.

WHY DRUDGE RULES: "HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER SNOW/ICE STORM "

But Gore ain't in DC is he!?!?! (THE GORE EFFECT.)

UPDATE:

INSTAPUNDIT POSTS ON THIS IN THE SAME WAY - 15 MINUTES AFTER WE DID!

HMMMM... THAT BOY GLENN IS SURE GETTING FASTER! OR HE'S READING HERE MORE OFTEN! AS YOU SHOULD BE! SPREAD THE WORD!

WHY ROMNEY CHOSE THE FORD MUSEUM

Much has been made of Romney's choice for a backdrop for his announcement. The left is feigning outrage.

More interesting comments are HERE an HERE and HERE.

ME? I think Romney first chose to announce in the Mid-West - which IMHO will be THE key region in play for 2008. And Michigan is the place in the Mid-West that his family has deep ties to. And I think he chose the Ford Museum for exactly the reason he gave: because it highlights to power of American ingenuity and diligence and investment in new technology.

NOW ASK YOURSELF THIS (if you owned Ford Motor Company): Of ALL the candidates in the race, who would YOU pick to become CEO and turnaround Ford?

Only Romney has the proven knowledge and leadership to do the job. (Giuliani - by virtue of his leadership in NYC for a decade, and during 9/11, also could probably do okay.)

NOW ASK YOURSELF THIS: If they couldn't turnaround Ford, what makes ANYONE think they could run the USA?

That's why - RIGHT NOW - I'm for Mitt... and then Rudy. Or Rudy and Mitt. Though both on th same ticket might not be the best - geopolitically speaking. That's why right now I'm thinking the best ticket might very well be Romney (or Rudy)-Ridge/Cornyn/Pawlenty/Rice or Jeb. (Rudy and Rice - sounds nice!) And, if Hillary picks Obama, then Rice as GOP VP candidate might a whole lotta sense.

(BONUS VEEP PICK: Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson - he's a good southern VEEP, if we need help in the region and Cornyn says no.)

MSM SPINS/LIES/DECEIVES IN FAVOR OF IRAN

CNN: Top general casts doubt on Teheran's link to Iraq militias

THIS IS DELIBERATELY MISLEADING HEADLINE (one repeated ALL OVER the MSM) - it's intended to spin the story in an anti-Bush way. Here is what Pace actually said:

"We know that the explosively formed penetrators are manufactured in Iran," Pace told Voice of America during a trip to Australia about what senior military officials call EFPs.

"What I would not say is that the Iranian government per se knows about this. It is clear that Iranians are involved and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved, but I would not say, based on what I know, that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit," Pace said.

Pace actually ONLY said there is no PROOF that the Iranian GOVERNMENT is involved. NOT YET. But he REAFFIRMED the FACT that Iran's is the major source for the arms which are killing the most Iraqis and US troops.

The MSM - and the Democrats and Zawahiri and the jihadists - want the public to think that Bush is lying about Iran's role in fomenting strife, mayhem, and death in Iraq. They want Bush to lose in Iraq - even if it means the USA loses and the enemy wins - and even if this leads to gemocide in Iraq, and the expansion of Iran's power in the region and the world. The MSM and the Democrats do this because - as post modern Leftist - they hate the Judeo-Christian West almost as much as the jihadists.

DON'T FALL FOR THE MSM LIES AND LEFTIST SPIN.

(BONUS LINK: DON'T THINK THE LEFT AND THE JIHADOSTS ARE ALLIES!?! Well, when the jihadists attack Bush they sound JUST like the Left! Pretty soon they'll call the GOP "BUSHIES!")

WHO DESERVES MORE PRESS, OBAMA OR MITT?

Mitt has been a successful businessman - building many businesses - for decades, and SAVED the Salt lake Olympics from bankruptcy and disaster, AND was a successful GOP governor in an OVERWHELMINGLY Democrat state. HE'S A TRUE LEADER WITH PROVEN RESULTS. And he has J.D. AND also an M.B.A. from Harvard - SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Obama - a first-term Senator, only half-way through his first term, who got a J.D. from Harvard - gave a good speech at the KERRY convention. Period.

YET THE MSM HAS RUN NON-STOP POSITIVE COVERAGE OF OBAMA.

I WONDER WHY? Heh. More on Barack Hussein Obama Junior HERE - and it's HILARIOUS!

TEEN SHOOTER IN SALT LAKE WAS BOSNIAN MUSLIM

When I first saw the name in the AP coverage of the gunman at a Salt Lake City shopping mall, which is Sulejman Talovic, I certainly had to wonder about the first name. Now, thanks to the Salt Lake Tribune I was shocked to find out, that it looks like the killer was:

The 18-year-old man who shot and killed at least five people Monday night at Trolley Square has been identified as Sulejmen Talovic, a Bosnian refugee who lived in Salt Lake City.

Little additional information was released about Talovic.

The Bosnian community, which numbers about 3,000 in Utah, planned a news conference later this afternoon.

Talovic parked his car in the west parking lot and walked into the mall, encountering two people, whom he shot. Then he walked further into the mall and shot a woman, said Police Chief Chris Burbank.

He then walked to a gift shop and shot five people. He shot several other people before he was gunned down by an off-duty Ogden police officer assisted by four Salt Lake City police officers, Burbank said.

He had a backpack that carried numerous rounds of ammunition as well as a .38-caliber handgun, said the chief.

Police have no motive in the killing.

Perhaps they might want to check into his religious educational background?

Update: The Islamic Threat has more.

Deconstructionism In Action: Obama "Restructures" Remarks On Dead Soldiers

Not "retracts" or "regrets", but RESTRUCTURES!?!? YUP: That's how the NYTIMES titled it!

This is Deconstructionism in action. Deconstruction - that's postmodern literary analysis. The text is not the authority, it is only a referent. The text is only the beginning of the project of the construction of meaning. The text becomes the work of everyone who reads it. In other words, meaning is a construct of consensus, not of words themselves. There is no real meaning to the text, in and of itself. There is no authority of idea. There are only opinions about the idea. There is no meaning to a group of words. There is only spin.

In this case, the news media, and Obama's handlers and fans have decided Obama "misspoke", and thus, as a group, we are all participating in the restructuring of Obama's words.

This is RIDICULOUS probamaspin(TM). At the end, he says he misspoke - LIKE DICK DURBIN!

Obama Restructures a Remark on Deaths
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

DURHAM, N.H., Feb. 12 — Senator Barack Obama of Illinois said Monday that he had misspoken when he suggested that the lives of more than 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq had been “wasted.”

As he arrived in New Hampshire, Mr. Obama said he would “absolutely apologize” to military families if they were offended by a remark he made in Iowa while criticizing the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.

“What I would say — and meant to say — is that their service hasn’t been honored,” Mr. Obama told reporters in Nashua, N.H., “because our civilian strategy has not honored their courage and bravery, and we have put them in a situation in which it is hard for them to succeed.”

A New Hampshire reporter asked Mr. Obama whether he regretted the remark, made at a rally on Sunday that “we ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged, and to which we now have spent $400 billion and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted.”

“Even as I said it,” Mr. Obama said Monday, “I realized I had misspoken.”

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS: Yeah sure... he MISSPOKE. Misspoke my ass. If he misspoke, then me calling Obama an ASSHOLE is a misprint.

WHY SHOULDN'T THE "BUSH DOCTRINE" APPLY TO AUSTRIA?

On September 5, 2006, President Bush made the following statement in a speech in Washington, reiterating what has become known as the "Bush Doctrine:"

After September the 11th, I laid out a clear doctrine: America makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror, and those that harbor and support them, because they're equally guilty of murder.

Today, February 13, 2007, the Telegraph published a detailed report describing Iranian arms captured by the US military in Iraq:

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids.

The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.

The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.

Those rifles were not brought into Iraq just for show:

Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.

And they're not cheap, either:

Over the last six months American forces have found small caches of the £10,000 rifles but in the last 24 hours a raid in Baghdad brought the total to more than 100, US defence sources reported.

So my question is this: why shouldn't the "Bush Doctrine" be applied to Steyr-Mannlicher, and to Austria, as well as Iran?

Mr. President: TAKE THEM ALL OUT.

And my fellow Americans: Boycott Steyr-Mannlicher, purveyors of sniper rifles to America's enemies.

Stifling Creativity

Due to inclement weather here, today's classes have been canceled. While I'm waiting to hear about my cousin's outcome today, I've decided to post a little something which has been on my mind ever since I read this February 7, 2007 article in the Washington Post. The article relates a new trend in toys known as Webkinz.

I find this trend in toys disturbing on several levels. First, instead of playing creative games with their teddy bears and dolls, children can log onto the Internet and interact with their toys via computer. Whatever happened to children creating their own games with their toys? When I was a child, I played for hours with various of my toys, creating dialogues and adventures for various characters. Second, I see potential for abuse when children, unsupervised, access the Internet. How long before the Webkinz site gets hacked by pornographers? Third, children today already have a problem with obesity. Won't Webkinz serve to further encourage children to be couch potatoes? Fourth, encouraging children to spend so much time online might possibly contribute to Computer and Cyberspace Addiction. I know from personal experience how using the Internet can become an obsession. Would not children be even more vulnerable than adults in that regard? Fifth, interactive toys such as Webkinz will make children less likely to enjoy reading and other activities which don't offer the flashy options. What book can as as well compete with customized interactive toys? Corollary to this point: What effect will Webkinz have on children's attention spans? Finally, these interactive toys are communicating a materialistic, self-centered values-system. What subtle message is being communicated with all the many options offered by Webkinz? Visit the manufacturer's web site to see for yourself the marketing ploys being used.

Escape from the real world is an important part of childhood, as is the creation of neural pathways which later make possible certain thought processes. Toys such as Webkinz blur the lines between the virtual world and the real world in ways which, particularly for children, might later have unforeseen consequences.

(Crossposted at Always On Watch)

JIHADISTS ATTACK BEIRUT WITH BUS BOMBS

HIZBALLAH - IRAN'S JIHADO-STOOGES - WANT TO DO TO BEIRUT WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO BAGHDAD:

Two bombs have exploded minutes apart near the Lebanese capital, killing three people and wounding 20 others.

The casualties were travelling on two buses near Bikfaya, a mainly Christian town in the hills north of Beirut.

Initial reports said 12 people had died. Investigators sealed off the area to collect evidence from the wrecks.

The bombings come at a time of acute political tension in Lebanon, and a day before the second anniversary of the killing of former PM Rafik Hariri.

Organisers of a mass rally planned in downtown Beirut on Wednesday to mark the Hariri assassination said there were no plans to cancel it.

WW4 - A GLOBAL, JIHADIST - WAR WILL NOT STOP UNTIL WE NEUTRALIZE IRAN.

They're doing it in Algeria, today, too. And in Thailand, and in Kashmir - and NONE of it has to do with the Bushies or Likudniks or neocons, or big oil, or Halliburton, or Abu Ghraib or Iraq.

HAS HOWARD COOKED OBAMA'S GOOSE?

The big publicity Australian P.M. Howard got in the USA for his comments about Obama must, if nothing else, have drawn attention to Obama's "cut and run" ideas about American foreign policy. I think that a "weak on terrorism" reputation will sink Obama and now people know about it. Below is an excerpt about the controversy from an Australian newspaper:

The White House has given muted support to Prime Minister John Howard's claim that al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq would be hoping for US Senator Barack Obama to be elected president.

Mr Howard refused to back down yesterday despite a storm of protest from both sides of the Pacific as his attack on Senator Obama's plan to withdraw US forces from Iraq by March 2008 triggered accusations he had endangered the US alliance.

White House spokesman Tony Snow has said Mr Howard, a staunch ally of President George W. Bush, was merely exercising his right to free speech when he made the comments. Mr Snow said: "The Prime Minister spoke his mind. It is what it is." But at the same time, Mr Snow underscored that US President George W Bush "hasn't talked to Prime Minister Howard since January 9th".

Labor leader Kevin Rudd accused his opponent of "gross insensitivity" after Mr Howard suggested Islamic terrorists would be barracking for a Democratic victory in next year's US presidential campaign. "If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats," Mr Howard said on the Nine Network's Sunday.

Mr Howard won support from George W. Bush's most senior military adviser, General Peter Pace, who warned that a premature withdrawal of US troops would be a "humanitarian disaster" and lead to terrorists "following us home" to Australia and the US. But Senator Obama, who suggested the March timeline for withdrawing US troops as he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination on Saturday, accused Mr Howard of "empty rhetoric". In a pointed reference to Australia's modest contingent of 1400 troops in Iraq and around the Persian Gulf, the Democratic star said: "So, if he's ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them up to Iraq."

Seeking to clarify his earlier remarks, Mr Howard said he was not speaking "generically" about the Democrats but was focused on Senator Obama, who is seeking his party's presidential nomination. "I don't apologise for criticising Senator Obama's observation because I thought what he said was wrong," he said, accusing the Labor leader of "double standards".

"Apparently it is in order for any number of people in the Labor Party to regularly attack George Bush, to regularly attack the American administration," Mr Howard said. "That is OK, but dare anybody criticise somebody who might agree with them on Iraq and then somehow or other I am interfering in the domestic politics of the United States."

More here

(For more postings from me, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM.

UTAH'S SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM NOW LAW!

Strike 1 for the Teachers' Unions:

"The significance of this bill cannot be overestimated," said Andrew J. Coulson, Director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. "If passed, it will be an unprecedented step forward for educational freedom in America."

Utah's House and Senate have both passed a bill providing school vouchers for all kids in the state of Utah. Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. signed it into law yesterday so Utah will be the first state to have a state-wide voucher program.

Get out the moving boxes, I'm moving to Utah. This is awesome progress for the supporters of school choice. Kudos to Representative Stephen H. Urquhart for sponsoring the bill.

The Associated Press seems to be whining in their description of this news :-). I can't imagine why all the teacher's organizations would be against it. Perhaps, it is because it would strip all their power and money away. It doesn't matter that it will be much better for the kids.

Support for vouchers:

• Milton Friedman's article, Free to Choose
• Alliance for School Choice
• Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong

SENATOR MENENDEZ WILL INTRODUCE A BILL TO HELP THE ENEMY

YUP. He wants to give them more rights, and make it tougher to interrogate them, and make us have to handle them with kid gloves and more lawyers.

Is this anyway to win a war? Nope. But the left doesn't want us to win.

They're not for peace; they're on the other side.

And the corrupt Senator Menendez is proving it once again.

Which is why I keep saying: before we can defeat the jihadist enemy abroad, we need to defeat the enemy at home - THE LEFT!

THE ASTUTE BLOGERS SCOOPS INSTAPUNDIT - and his sidekick Althouse... AGAIN!

Thirteen hours after TAB posted on this item, Instapundit noted the news - linking to his... sidekick Althouse.

TAB was first and had mo' better analysis, too.

And with better snark.

Regular readers of TAB know we do this all the time. Spread the word.

QUESTIONS ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA JUNIOR'S PARENTS, CHILDHOOD, AND FAMILY

Barack Hussein Obama Junior (aka "Barry Soetoro") was born to a white mother and a black father - (see photo at left). But now, he seems to consider himself more black than bi-racial. Does this insult his mother's heritage?

Barack Hussein Obama Junior (aka "Barry Soetoro") was born to Muslim parents - (his mother was a convert to Islam from Atheism - though her family were Christians) - and first educated in a Muslim school - though there is some evidence he's trying to hide that fact from the electorate. Now he is Christian. Doesn't this make him an apostate, guilty of a crime whose punishment is death according to Islam?

One of Barack Hussein Obama Junior's books is called DREAMS OF MY FATHER. I haven't read it. If you have, can you tell me if he deals with his father's religious background at all in this - his first book? The Amazon blurbs/reviews make me feel he doesn't. Here's an excerpt of one:

The premise of Dreams From My Father is so unrighteous that it's skewed: it's an homage to his Muslim father, but his father is unmasked as an exorbitantly dislikeable renegade!!!! His dad is culpable for abandoning Obama's white mother and him at an early age; fathering scores of children in Kenya; being a drunk and abusive husband/father when he was ostracized from the Kenyan government's favor; and dying practically penniless without leaving his family anything.

His father's ignominious memory begs the question why Obama would write a book expressing such yearning for his father and his African heritage, yet the answer is found in reverse racism. Obama doesn't consider himself mulatto; he militantly views himself 100% black. This is desecration considering the whites in his life--Grampa, Toots, his mother--took care of him!!!!

Barack Hussein Obama Junior (aka "Barry Soetoro") has chosen, it seems, to consider himself the race of his father, but now taken on the former religion of his mother. How do his cousins feel about this?

Barack Hussein Obama Junior (aka "Barry Soetoro") has children - two daughters, Malia (born 1999) and Sasha (born 2001). How would he feel if they converted to their grandfather's religion? Would he try to talk them out of it?

More on Barry Obama Junior's odd biography HERE, and it has plenty of links and more than a few odd, lingering questions, if not MYSTERIES.

WHAT IS BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA JUNIOR HIDING? And where is his 1/2 sister Maya Soetero? Where is his mother? Given is very odd family background, shouldn't we learn more about them? (More than published HERE.)

Just asking.

Investigating Links Between Personality and Politics

The NYT has just put out an article on the above topic that is surprisingly balanced. All the ridicule heaped on the usual Leftist nonsense by conservative bloggers and columnists must finally have hit home. Indeed the article admits that previous views on the subject have been subjected to a lot of criticism for Leftist bias. I thought, however, that I might do a quick fisking of the article:

For a start: The idea that psychology underlies political orientation is not only strongly supported by genetics research but it is also a traditional conservative claim. Conservative thinkers (such as Burke (1790), Hayek (1944) and Oakeshott (1975)) have been claiming for centuries that conservatives have a cautious disposition rather than an ideology. The amusing thing is that Left-leaning psychologists in their writings seem to be totally oblivious of the fact that conservative thinkers were talking about the psychology of politics long before psychologists were.

John Jost, George Lakoff and Arie Kruglanski get an honourable mention in the NYT article. All three are essentially charlatans. See here and here and here. And any new comment on the egregious Frank Sulloway would be superfluous. Sulloway is a proven ENEMY of science. And the finding by Dana R. Carney, to the effect that Leftists live in untidier rooms, I have not even dared to look at in case I find something wrong with it. How can I object to a finding that shows Leftists to be more juvenile?

A generally rather sensible psychologist quoted was Jonathan Haidt. He does however gild the lily enormously when he says that most liberals think about morality in terms of two categories: how someone's welfare is affected, and whether it is fair. What utter rubbish! Leftist/"liberal" thinkers habitually reject ALL morality (except when it suits them). Who has not heard the great Leftist mantra: "There is no such thing as Right and Wrong"? It's part of their beloved "postmodernism".

Another claim that the NYT makes much of is that Leftists are more "open". Putting aside for the moment the thought that "vacant" is a near synonym for "open", this is a very strained interpretation of the data -- as my critiques of the research by Kruglanski and Van Hiel show in some detail. I note with some amusement, however, that, in the unusually careful research of Van Hiel, Kossowska & Mervielde (2000), people with a definite conservative orientation were shown to be just as likely as Leftists to be open to experience. Even more awkwardly, however, the subscale measuring openness to ideas in particular showed a positive correlation with conservatism among the politically aware respondents. Among politically-aware people it was LEFTISTS who were closed-minded!

I did however rather like the closing comment in the NYT article:

What is important, said Larry Bartels, a political scientist at Princeton University, is how psychological tendencies are translated into views about specific political issues: "In 2000, George W. Bush ridiculed nation-building; now he seems pretty committed," he wrote in an e-mail message. "Which of those positions (if either) represents rigidity, resistance to change, or discipline? On the other hand, how many flexible, curious, open-to-experience liberals do you know who want to experiment with restructuring the Social Security system?"

(For more postings from me, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page.