LEFTISM AS PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Dr Sanity has been analyzing leftism for a while. now there's this from BABALU:

Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., M.D., a psychiatrist and the author of The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness, says:

“In his determination to control the world, [the liberal] constantly defends himself against what Karen Horney aptly described as the most basic of human fears: being alone and helpless in a dangerous, indifferent world, the nightmare of the abandoned, terrified child. Persons plagued with such fears easily conclude that it is in their greatest interest to dominate others, or to imagine that they can, and to set about achieving that goal through the manipulation of government power.”

BABALU: And what does this domination and manipulation lead to? Rossiter says it is nothing less than the “liberal agenda’s principles of coercive collectivism [in which] the citizen’s choices will be influenced by ideals of entitlement, welfare dependency, state regulation [and] moral relativism.”

The liberal, Rossiter adds, is

“not called to maturity but is instead invited to begin a second childhood. Like the child at play, he is given, or at least promised, ultimate economic, social and political security without having to assume responsibility for himself.”

Rossiter’s “diagnoses” complement those found in the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association.

More HERE. And MORE HERE from Rossiter.

It Is Not Just About The Next Move

We know the anti-Iraq War types hate genocide.

If one starts when we leave will we be willing to go back to stop it?

How about a general Mid East war starts. What then?

How likely are these possibilities and what should our contingent plans be?

It is not just about the next move.

The Democrats are selling that if we get out of Iraq all will be well. Maybe. What if Iran gives free passage to our enemies from Iraq so they can fight us in Afghanistan? Afghanistan is better terrain for guerilla warfare.

Then what?

We need to do a reckoning of probable costs as well as the likely profits. So far the Democrats have been running a great con. Keep your mind on the immediate profit and ignore the ballon payment that will be required later. Which is exactly what got us into WW2. Do we really have to repeat history?

Cross Posted at Power and Control

MASSIVE RALLY IN SPAIN AGAINST APPEASEMENT OF TERROR

MILLIONS TOOK TO THE STREETS OF MADRID BECAUSE SPAIN'S GOVERNEMNT HAS ONCE AGAIN CAVED INTO AND APPEASED TERROR.

AND WHO IS THE APPEASER? ZAPATERO - SPAIN'S SOCIALIST PM.

SOCIALISM AND APPEASEMENT GO TOGETHER.

WHICH IS WHY WE SAY:

TO DEFEAT THE TERRORIST ABROAD, WE MUST FIRST DEFEAT THE LEFTIST AT HOME.

ABU MAZEN, TRIPLE LIAR

An Israeli diplomat points out how Mahmoud Abbas has lied to them thrice:

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah has broken three explicit promises he made to Israel regarding diplomatic matters, and "cannot be depended upon." So says a top Israeli government official. [...] Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman, to whom the source spoke on condition of anonymity, reports that the first lie occurred last June, when terrorist prisoners in Israeli jails formulated what became known as the Prisoners Document. The paper's goal was to formulate guidelines for Hamas-Fatah understandings, and called for an Arab state in all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. It also emphasized no fewer than five times the so-called "right of return" for millions of Arabs to Israel, and encouraged further terrorism.

In meetings with Israeli officials, Abbas promised clearly that he would not support the document, which was drawn up under the leadership of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti. Not only did he support it, however, he made great efforts to have Hamas support it as well.

The second deception of Abu Mazen was just several weeks ago, on the eve of the Hamas-Fatah summit meeting in Mecca. Abu Mazen had promised beforehand that he would not form a unity government with Hamas unless it included the Quartet's pre-conditions: recognition of Israel and agreements signed with it, and renunciation of terrorism. In the end, however, the agreement signed in Mecca for a Hamas-Fatah unity government does not recognize Israel, does not renounce terrorism, and includes only an oblique reference to "respecting" - not "fulfilling" - past agreements with Israel.

Abu Mazen's third lie was revealed in the Maariv newspaper yesterday (Thursday). The paper reported that tax monies Israel handed over to Abbas, based on a clear understanding that they would not reach the Hamas government, in fact made their way to Hamas.

Abbas, viewed as a "moderate" by the United States and the international community, "is not trustworthy," the Israeli diplomat concluded.

He's just like the rest of the Moors (Muslims) of whom Cervantes wrote many centuries ago...

Reliapundit adds this note:

By 1570 Cervantes had enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish infantry regiment stationed in Naples, then a possession of the Spanish crown. He was there for about a year before he saw active service. In September 1571, Cervantes sailed on board the Marquesa, part of the galley fleet of the Holy League (a coalition of the Pope, Spain, Venice, Republic of Genoa, Duchy of Savoy, the Knights of Malta and others under the command of John of Austria) that defeated the Ottoman fleet on October 7 in the Gulf of Lepanto near Corinth.

Though taken down with fever, Cervantes refused to stay below, and begged to be allowed to take part in the battle, saying that he would rather die for his God and his king than keep under cover.

He fought bravely on board a vessel, and received three gunshot wounds – two in the chest and one which rendered his left hand useless for the rest of his life. In Journey to Parnassus, he was to say that he "had lost the movement of the left hand for the glory of the right" (he was thinking of the success of the first part of Don Quixote).

Cervantes always looked back on his conduct in the battle with pride: he believed that he had taken part in an event that would shape the course of European history.[5]

Cervantes: a brave soldier who fought in one of the most important early battles in the thousand year war: global jihad.

"THE GLENN AND ANN SHOW"

This isn't an important post, but it concerns something that is ... well, a puzzling fact: Instapundit is one of the most popular blogs in the world. A link from Glenn can bring your blog thousands or tens of thousands of hits. So... who does Glenn link to the most - nearly incessantly?

Ann Althouse. WHY?! Is she the most fascinating person/blogger in the world, with the most fascinating things to say NEARLY EVERY OTHER DAY?!? Or just to Glenn?! (Glenn also links a lot to Postrel, and he used to link to Lileks every other day, too.) He links to Althouse more than Michaels Yon or Totten, more than Steyn, more than all the PJM bloggers put together. Weird.

I guess he's just doing a person he likes a favor. Throwing a link to someone he likes every once and a while keeps THEIR traffic up, and while it doesn't cost him a penny, it might help them make a dime or two. Cool. There's nothing wrong with that. Zero. Reynolds calls his podcast "The Glenn and Helen Show"; perhaps he should call his blog "The Glenn and Ann Show". Heh.

I think Glenn would be the first to say that his blog is NOT meant to be a general clearinghouse; it's just his blog, and it just reflects his keen mind and broad interests. And his likes and dislikes. He has never recommended news-hounds make it a stop for all the news that's fit to blog.

Nevertheless, Instapundit ranks high as a blog that blog-surfers check out everyday a few times a day, (and wish they'd get MORE links from!) - even though there are many BETTER blogs which post more interesting news in greater depth & breadth, with more links, and with more incisive original analysis & more "in-depth" views more regularly, and they do it more quickly and more thoroughly, like DR SANITY, GATEWAY PUNDIT, AJ STRATA, and SONDRA K, THE AMERICAN THINKER, (and this group blog, too we hope!) - to name just a few. So I find it weird that Glenn's become so "central".

It's certainly not the bells&whistles at Glenn's blog - he doesn't have them. It's not the "community feel" either - he doesn't even allow comments!

I think it's his brevity, the illusion of comprehensiveness, and the illusion of "up-to-the-minuteness", he centrism (pro-guns & pro-choice for instance), and his ever-present snarkiness: the blogosphere just loves brief sarcasm and a link.

Especially a link to Ann - I guess... That's it.... this whining, jealous rant is over...

UPDATE - 3/11/07: Well well well... Ann will be guest-blogging at Glenn's for a while. So now more people will get to read her and decide for themselves whether they agree with me that she is one of the least interesting big bloggers in the entire blogosphere. Guesting along with Ann is TOM MAGUIRE - one of the BESTEST!

DC CIRCUIT UPHOLDS THE 2ND AMENDMENT AS AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO SELF DEFENSE

GOOD DECISION:

IF YOU CANNOT DEFEND YOURSELF YOU ARE A SLAVE.




IN FACT, THE HORRIFIC DRED SCOTT DECISION WAS BASED IN PART ON THE OPINION OF RACISTS, LIKE CJ TANEY OF THE SCOTUS, THAT BLACKS MUST NOT EVER BE CONSIDERED U.S. CITIZENS, FOR THEN THEY WOULD BE ALLOWED TO OWN GUNS!

(MORE HERE OR HERE.)





BTW: LOTTSA GOOD VIDEOS FROM THE NRA HERE.

GREAT ROUND UP HERE.

MUST SEE VIDEO: HILLARY AND EDWARDS IN A CAT-FIGHT!

And Bill comes to the rescue!

The sources of Leftism in intellectuals

Excerpt from here below. I have written on this at greater length here (or here)

Schooling, maintains Nozick, breeds in intellectuals a sense of superiority, and with it a sense of entitlement to the highest rewards society has to offer - not just top salaries but praise comparable to that lavished on them by their teachers. After completing their formal academic training in the centralized environment of the classroom, intellectuals go forth into a seemingly chaotic capitalist society, which purports to reward individual citizens by merit but in fact applies a different standard of merit from the one imparted in the classroom.

So an open, capitalist society falls just short of satisfying intellectuals' sense of entitlement. At least three points are worth teasing out of Nozick's essay. One, capitalist society allows wordsmiths to live comfortable lives-but those who excel outside the classroom often reap the highest material rewards. Entrepreneurship in business or other applied disciplines -- disciplines that may or may not depend on pure academic knowledge or verbal dexterity -- can bring a far more extravagant lifestyle than a career in journalism, government, or the academy.

This runs afoul of intellectuals' sense of their place in the natural pecking order. But it should have little bearing on intellectuals' attitudes toward the armed services, given the less-than-generous salaries and benefits paid to soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Servicemen rank well below wordsmith intellectuals from a purely material standpoint. This disparity should seem to reinforce intellectuals' sense of superiority.

But, American society reserves the highest respect and admiration not for professors or journalists but for those in practical disciplines such as the armed forces, law enforcement, firefighting, or emergency medicine. Americans typically rate the military at or near the top of the nation's institutions, with journalism and lawmakers near or at the bottom. This status deficit rankles intellectuals. While America certainly needs academic skill and enterprise, an open society maddeningly-prizes other things as much as if not more than the ability to turn a clever phrase.....

Nozick observes that academic training teaches intellectuals to prefer a centralized environment in which an authority figure, not the vagaries of the market, sets standards and dispenses rewards and punishments according to certain rational standards.

(For more postings from me, see Home Page.

9th Circus Says 'Family Values' is Hate Speech

We read:

" A ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that municipal employers have the right to censor the words "natural family," "marriage" and "family values" because that is hate speech and could scare workers....

However, as the Pro-Family Law Center noted, the court "completely failed to address the concerns of the appellants with respect to the fact that the City of Oakland's Gay-Straight Employees Alliance was openly allowed to attack the Bible in widespread city e-mails, to deride Christian values as antiquated, and to refer to Bible-believing Christians as hateful.

When the plaintiffs attempted to refute this blatant attack on people of faith, they were threatened with immediate termination by the City of Oakland. The Ninth Circuit did not feel that the threat of immediate termination had any effect on free speech."

Source

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Genocide Question

America left South Vietnam to its own devices in 1975, leading to 2 1/2 million deaths and totolitarian governments in Cambodia and Vietnam.

So I assume the anti-war mantra now is: if it turns out no worse than 'Nam every thing will be fine.

Also note that in '75 all the South was asking for was material support and airstrikes against the invading North.

The anti-war folks who constantly scream about genocide now want to enable another one.

OK.

So the question is: if our leaving initiates a genocide in Iraq should we go back to save the people we once promised to protect?

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

DEMOCRAT OBEY GOES BALLISTIC ON ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS

Check out this video!! Liberal Democrat, Representative Obey loses it when talking to the anti-war group, Occupation Project. He calls anti-war activists "idiot liberals". To read the transcript go here.

I find it enjoyable that the anti-war protesters are picketing liberal Democrats like my own Senator Claire McCaskill. Yet, I can see how it would be frustrating for them to have their own side attacking them. It just goes to show how extreme some on the loony left are.

Gun Control Struck Down In D.C.

This is simply huge. The right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. There are many good posts on this so I'm just going to provide links.

Classical Values has thoughts.

Orin Kerr has a link to the decision.

Clayton Cramer has a very excellent discussion.

The Volokh conspiracy discusses the dissenters.

JPFO - Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership doesn't have a post up yet. They are an excellent general resource though.

Instapundit provides his usual link fest.

Clayton Cramer discusses the decision in the comments at The Volokh Conspiracy.

Cross Posted at Power and Control

Childhood Trauma Leads To Depression

Anxiety Insights has a post up about childhood trauma and its relation to depression.

Childhood trauma, but not adult trauma, is strongly associated with depression and coronary heart disease in adulthood, say Emory University researchers and colleagues presenting at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, being held March 7-10 in Budapest, Hungary.

"Little is known about the long-term emotional and physical consequences of childhood trauma and whether it poses greater long-term health risks than other types of stressors," says study leader Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, professor of medicine (cardiology) at Emory University School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health.

"Trauma occurring earlier in life is particularly harmful because it may disrupt the development of adaptive responses to stress. Future research on stress and disease should focus on early life stress," says Dr. Vaccarino.

Child abuse is one of the most pressing problems we have in the world brcause it leads to all kinds of maladaptive behavior and can also lead to illegal drug use as a form of self medication.

According to the study results, twins in the highest quartile of the Early Trauma Inventory were twice as likely to have major depressive disorder than other twins. Of the childhood traumas, emotional trauma was the most strongly associated with major depressive disorder.

Study participants with childhood trauma were also more likely to be exposed to trauma as adults and to develop post traumatic stress disorder. After adjusting for smoking, twins in the highest group on the inventory were two to three times more likely to have a previous diagnosis of coronary heart disease, including previous myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization and hospitalizations for coronary heart disease.

In contrast, no significant associations were found for adult general trauma and combat trauma with either major depressive disorder or coronary heart disease, notes Dr. Vaccarino.

Tobacco is an anti-depressant. So is cannabis.

We are wasting untold billions every year fighting drugs when we should be dealing with the root cause - child abuse.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

The Rush - War Cocaine

Mil-blogger Acute Politics has a post up called War Cocaine.

For those who like war stories, a must read. Plus lots of other good stuff.

H/T Jules Crittenden via Instapundit

Cross Posted at Power and Control

WOW, BRITAIN IS REALLY, REALLY PATHOLOGICALLY ANTI-SEMITIC ANTI-ZIONIST

When liberal cocktail party sophisticates read results like these, they wave them around as if it's supposed to prove something about Israel:

Israel, Iran and the United States are the countries with the most negative image in a globe-spanning survey of attitudes toward 12 major nations. Canada and Japan came out best in the poll, released on Monday... Israel was viewed negatively by 56 percent of respondents and positively by 17 percent; for Iran, the figures were 54 percent and 18 percent. The United States had the third-highest negative ranking, with 51 percent citing it as a bad influence and 30 percent as a good one. Next was North Korea, which was viewed negatively by 48 percent and positively by 19 percent.

Brits hate Israel more than they hate any other major country in the world.

More than Iran, which has been placed under UN sanctions for threatening to commit a modern day Holocaust - and where the population elected an anti-Semitic lunatic. More than Venezuela, where dreams of a modern day Communist revolution are incubated - and where the population elected an anti-Semitic lunatic (or where elections are rigged in ways that would have made Stalin blush... also not a reason for high popularity). More than North Korea, where... well, you know. It's North Korea. Think about that.

This is why you'll have to excuse us for remaining unimpressed in the face of massive British anti-Semitic anti-Zionist rallies. Their hatred for Israel is excessive to the point of the irrational pathology. They don't hate Israel because they oppose Israel's policies - they oppose Israel's policies because they harbor a deep, deep hatred of Israel beyond any reason or warrant.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

US STATE DEPARTMENT JUSTIFIES FUNDING HAMAS'S UNIVERSITY BY SAYING... IT HAS NO CONNECTION TO TERRORISM

As part of its ongoing effort to explain how US funds got into Hamas coffers, the US State Department has rolled out what is maybe the worst argument ever:

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said US officials concluded after a review that neither institution - the Islamic University of Gaza and al-Quds University - engages in terrorist activities.

The Islamic University of Gaza was founded by Hamas spiritual leader Yassin in the aftermath of the Camp David Accords, in order to create a base for terrorist attacks on Egyptian pro-peace forces and Israelis (see also Levitt at NRO). It has counted among its faculty such arch-terrorists as Abdul Rantissi, the head of Hamas until Israel put a stop to him.

But McCormack insists it was OK to pour US funds into there because... it has no connections to terrorists. It's the intellectual and sometimes military stronghold of Hamas - but sending students there and funding it in no way benefits Hamas. That's the official position of the United States State Department.

Take some time to mull that over.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

Relipaundit adds: Good post Omri, and welcome aboard! DOS has long been a pro-Arabist institution, undermining Israel whenever it can. Congressman Ackerman promises to investigate, and make sure US taxpayers funds are NOT reaching terrorists or heir supporters.

Affirmative action at work in Australia

Hiring someone on the basis of what they have between their legs is not likely to lead to a top quality appointment -- as Queenslanders are learning about their feminist governor.

The post is largely ceremonial but, being vice-regal, is very prestigious. The Leftist Queensland government that appointed her to the post is known for affirmative action appointments -- in the legal system particularly. The governor is formally the head of the legal system.

As we see from the excerpt below, she would appear to be a rather arrogant and unpleasant person when not on her best behaviour. Vice-regal figures are normally expected to be beyond reproach:

Government House has been thrown into turmoil with the dramatic arrest of a footman, the theft of jewellery and allegations of harassment and bullying.... The security breach is further embarrassment for Ms Bryce, who has been criticised for what staff say is her autocratic style....

Meanwhile, staff are leaving in droves with departures including three chefs, an under butler, a chauffeur, a personal assistant and a second footman. Staff complain of unnecessary interference by Ms Bryce, who even insisted that gardens be torn up so purple and pink flowers could be planted for International Women's Day.

There has been an exodus of long-serving staff since Ms Bryce, an ardent feminist, was given the plum job in July 2003. The vice-regal crisis worsened this week with whispers of possible strike action in support of a chauffeur, Lee Sinn..."

Source

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

A STRANGE COVERUP

Indonesia is a Muslim country so perhaps it figures

We read:

"Airport workers caused consternation yesterday by cutting off the tail of the wrecked Garuda passenger jet lying in a twisted, melted mess at the end of Yogyakarta runway, and painting out its company logo and registration number.

The dawn cover-up followed a similar attempt at concealing the identity of a crashed Adam Air Boeing 737 just two weeks ago, after what was described as a "hard landing" at Surabaya airport, in east Java, Indonesia. All passengers escaped from that incident unharmed, but the jet broke in two.

Indonesian air safety officials - including Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa - are facing tough questions about whether the country is serious about improving its appalling record.

Source

Note however that the flight recorder from Garuda flight 200 has arrived in Australia, so that should inhibit further coverups.

A comment from "The Times":

"Unpredictability, improvisation and casualness can be charming when you are travelling on a flexible schedule by boat or bus and train. But when it comes to aeroplanes, what you want most of all is for everything to be done by the book. In Indonesia, you sometimes get the impression that the book has been mislaid"

My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

The Carter Doctrine

I was ignorant of the Carter Doctrine until a poster at the Netscape blog informed me.

Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.

I guess he was a Blood For Oil kind of guy.

Cross Posted at Power and Control

IMAM CONVICTED FOR ATTEMPTING TO BUY ILLEGAL WEAPONS

Yassin Aref, the imam who attempted to buy weapons from undercover agents so that he could give them in turn to terrorists in Pakistan, was convicted today for his planned crimes, but the sentence is simply not enough, and there's sob story material in here to boot:

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Two leaders of an Albany mosque who were snared in an FBI sting involving a fictional terror strike were sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison. The former imam, Yassin Aref, professed innocence before his sentencing and criticized the government's treatment of Muslims. "I never had any intention to harm anyone in this country," said Aref, a 36-year-old Kurdish refugee. "And I don't know why I'm guilty."

Pizzeria owner Mohammed Hossain, a founder of the Masjid As-Salam mosque, said in a voice choked with emotion that he knew nothing about bombs and terrorism. "I do not know why it was me who was chosen. I was not a criminal," he said. "I was not even thinking of committing a crime."

Typical AP recording of a sob story, the last thing we need to know about any scumbags of that sort.

The two were convicted in October for their roles in a money laundering scheme involving an FBI informant who posed as an illegal arms dealer. The informant asked Hossain to launder $50,000 from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile from China that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City, authorities said.

The informant said he needed to conceal the source of the income and asked Hossain to take the money and return it through a series of $2,000 checks, according to court documents. Authorities said Hossain agreed to issue checks from his businesses and planned to keep $5,000 for laundering the money. Aref, spiritual leader of Hossain's mosque, acted as a witness to the transactions. Though the assassination plot was fictional, prosecutors in 2004 accused the pair of supporting terrorism.

Is it just me, or does this sound as though the AP is attempting to downplay the crimes these imams wanted to commit? Sick.

Aref was found guilty of 10 of 30 charges. In addition to counts related to the money laundering scheme, he was found guilty of lying to FBI agents about having known a terrorist leader, Mullah Krekar, when he worked for a Kurdish political organization in Syria. Hossain, 52, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bangladesh, was convicted on all 27 charges, including three counts of conspiracy.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericak argued during federal trial that Hossain wanted money, while Aref was drawn into the plot by ideology. Defense attorneys claimed the transactions were innocent, noting that Muslims often lend money to each other with clerics serving as witnesses. Aref and Hossain said they didn't believe any talk about a missile in New York. U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy cited the men's lack of criminal records, their character and a high level of community support in giving them lesser sentences than the maximum 30 years to life in prison.

Oh, I see. Because they didn't have prior crime recordings, that's why giving them smaller sentences is okay? I think not. This was simply pathetic.

IS NEWT GINGRICH VYING FOR DOBSON'S ENDORSEMENT?

In weighing my options for who I will support for the Republican nomination in 2008 many struggles have surfaced. Right now the front runner for my support is Rudy. The problem is since I am an Evangelical, pro-life Christian I know many of my fellow Christians will have a hard time supporting him.

I could care less who Falwell or Robertson endorse but the big question for me is who will James Dobson support? He has already made it clear that he won't support McCain for which I was immensely pleased but reality dictates that he probably won't endorse Rudy either. I see him having some difficulties with Romney so who does that leave?

Thus, I found it intriguing that Newt Gingrich's recent book, Rediscovering God in America has enabled him to make an appearance on Dobson's radio show yesterday and today. I like Newt so I'm pretty happy about this. After Rudy my 2nd and 3rd picks are Duncan Hunter and Newt Gingrich. Many people argue that Newt doesn't have a prayer and at one time I would've agreed with them but I see the winds changing. I don't know how much of a chance he has but he does have a shot.

To listen to Dobson's interview with Newt from yesterday go here.

A RARE MOMENT OF TRUTH FROM CNN: "DEMOCRAT TIME-TABLES HELP THE ENEMY"

CLICK HERE; SCROLL DOWN; WATCH THE VIDEO.

AND THEN SHOW IT TO A DEM. AND THEN ASK THIS DEM, WHY ARE THE DEMS PROPOSING POLICIES WHICH ONLY HELP THE ENEMY?

WHY RUDY IS NOT TOO LIBERAL TO WIN THE NOMINATION

WHY ISN'T RUDY TOO LIBERAL TO WIN THE NOMINATION?

SHORT ANSWER: IT'S THE WAR, STUPID!

When the liberal hawk Lieberman won re-election, most everyone thought that this indicated McCain could easily win.

I was the first to proffer that this was an indication that Rudy would do very well in a general election. (In that post, I argued that McCain is too conservative on key issues to get a lot of cross-over votes. Sure, many Dems like him, but I argued that they won't cross the line to vote for a man who is pro-life and pro-tax cut. I argued that Rudy's mix is better.)

Since then, Rudy is well up in the polls and McCain is way down. This has to do with many things - McCain's age is showing more and more, and rhetorically his "straight talk" is very "senatorial" compared to Rudy's managerial directness.

And then there's Rudy's accomplishments. The accomplishments associated with McCain are all bad for most GOP'ers: McCAIN-Feignold and McCAIN-Kennedy are bad bills and just plain bad-sounding for most folks in the GOP. Rudy's two terms - in which he SAVED NY! - compared very favorably to these two McCain "accomplishments."

And then there's this bottom-line: WE ARE AT WAR. And this issue will trump ALL the others for MOST GOP voters. And most GOP'ers want a COMMANDER IN CHIEF they feel has the guts and the executive ability to WIN THE WAR. (The Dems will nominate someone who will promise to "end" the war.) Rudy is clearly the most accomplished and toughest no-nonsense manager in the race; only Mitt comes close. And in the end, this may very well count much more than Rudy's stand on abortion, gay rights, immigration, and embryonic stem cells. Because we are at war.

Another plus: Rudy is very un-Bushlike, and the country has Bush-fatigue.

If and when Mitt proves he could manage a war better than Rudy, then I might change my mind.

In the meantime, I ask this: When Clinton picked fellow southerner/moderate (at the time) Gore it was seen a a bold and good move. COULD RUDY PICK MITT? OR RIDGE? OR WOULD HE HAVE TO PICK A WESTERNER OR SOUTHERNER?

War For Profit

I was reading a thread at the Netscape blog about why and how Iraq is lost. It made me clarify some of my ideas from an earlier post.

One commenter put forth the notion that wars are in fact diplomacy by other means and that the object is to gain a post war commercial advantage. When you are in such a war, profit and loss calculations are certainly in order. Our war with the USSR certainly was of that nature. The Soviets promised a chicken in every pot. America promised two (our poor people have a fat problem if that is any indication).

So the question again is: when is it wise to shake hands and make up and when must one fight on despite losses and adversity? It all depends on the enemy you fight. Do they want a chicken in every pot or Valhalla?

The Valhalla types require harsher treatment, because they will not respond to profit and loss except in extremity.

Eric at Classical Values has some thoughts. The Belmont Club post on the Three Conjectures is also apt.

Here is my position on Iraq:

In Iraq our enemies are stalemated just as much as we are. We only have to fight one day more than they do. However long that takes.

For those who need a little inspiration in these troubled times I can do no better than quote Winston Churchill extensively Which I do here. (also linked above)

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

AP: "Net worth of U.S. households skyrockets"

I BLAME BUSH:

The net worth of U.S. households climbed to a record high in the final quarter of last year, boosted mostly by gains on stocks, the
Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

Net worth — the difference between households' total assets, such as houses and bank accounts, and their total liabilities, such as mortgages and credit card debt, totaled $55.6 trillion in the October-to-December quarter.

That marked a 2.5 percent growth rate from the third quarter, the previous quarterly record high. Stocks gains helped fuel the increase in net worth, although real-estate gains played a role, too.

For all of last year, households' net worth rose by 7.4 percent

THE BUSH BOOM - NEARLY UNHEARD BY THE MSM, THE DEMS OR THE LEFTY... HEY, YO, KRUGMAN: WHERE'S THAT FRIGGIN' RECESSION YOU'VE BEEN PROMISING!?!?!

HYPOCRITE "KING" ABDULLAH OF JORDAN CAN CREATE PALESTINE WITH THE STROKE OF A PEN

HERE'S A PICTURE OF BRITISH MANDATE OF PALESTINE:

SEE:

IT INCLUDES ALL OF SO-CALLED JORDAN. ALL OF IT.

JORDAN DID NOT EXIST AS A NATION UNTIL GREAT BRITAIN CREATED IT OUT OF WHOLE CLOTH.

IT HAS NO UNIQUE LANGUAGE OR CULTURE (INDEPENDENT OF ARAB CULTURE/LANGUAGE) - AND NO INDEPENDENT HISTORY UNTIL THEN. THE KINGDOM OF JORDAN IS A FABRICATION OF HE UK. PERIOD,


IF THE CURRENT "KING OF JORDAN" FEELS THAT THE CREATION OF A "PALESTINIAN" STATE FOR ARABS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR WORLD PEACE, THEN WHY DOESN'T HE JUST CHANGE-BACK THE NAME OF HIS KINGDOM TO PALESTINE!?

DEMANDING THAT ANOTHER ARAB NATION CALLED "PALESTINE" BE CREATED OUT OF ISRAEL IS ANTI-SEMITIC, AND IT FLIES IN THE FACE OF SIMPLE JUSTICE.

ARAFAT KNEW THIS: HE ATTEMPTED TO OVERTHROW THE CURRENT "KING'S" FATHER IN THE 1970'S. WHEN ARAFAT WAS DEFEATED HIS FOLLOWERS CALLED IT "BLACK SEPTEMBER, AND PROMPTLY FLED TO LEBANON WHERE THEY SET ABOUT DESTROYING IT, TOO.

"KING" ABDULLAH'S HYPOCRISY IS DISGUSTING AND SELF-SERVING. IT DOESN'T SERVE WORLD PEACE, OR REGIONAL PEACE, JUST HIS OWN RICH, BRITISH-ACCENTED, SELFISH ASS.

(IF BUSH HAD ANY BALLS HE'D DEMAND THE "KING" GIVE-BACK JORDAN ITS ORIGINAL, TRUE NAME: PALESTINE.)

More HERE and HERE and HERE. AND A ROUND UP HERE. AND MORE HERE AND HERE.

U.N.-S.G. BAN KI MOON PROPOSES THE MEANS TO END ISLAMO-MISOGYNY - and with it islamo-terror

YAHOO/REUTERS:

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world body on Thursday to create a single agency to empower women and girls and fight for their rights.

In an address to mark International Women's Day, Ban said the 192-member United Nations should take the lead in the global battle with a fully funded new agency that combines the work currently done by three different U.N. bodies.

"Such a new body should be able to call on all of the U.N. system's resources in the work to empower women and realize gender equality worldwide," Ban said. "It should mobilize forces of change at the global level and inspire enhanced results at the country level."

A U.N. panel recommended in November that the U.N. Development Fund for Women, the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women, and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues be combined into one ambitiously funded agency. The combined budgets of the three units is currently less than $80 million annually.

Ban said much more needed to be done in the fight for women's rights, particularly in combating violence against women and girls around the world, which is the theme for this year's International Women's Day.

"Most societies proscribe such violence -- yet the reality is that too often, it is tolerated under the fallacious cover of cultural practices and norms, within the walls of the home," Ban told a U.N. International Women's Day event in New York.

"Or it is used as a weapon in armed conflict, condoned through tacit silence and passivity by the state and the law enforcement community," said Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister who became secretary-general on January 1.

Ban also suggested that the U.N. General Assembly discuss the problem of violence against women and girls once a year and that the Security Council establish a formal monitoring of violence against women and girls.

I THINK THIS COULD BE HUGE - IF HANDLED AGGRESSIVELY. I have long argued that these practices are banned by the UN Declaration of UNIVERSAL Human Rights.(MORE HERE.)

And I have further argued that the misogynistic practices - (described here in an article by American feminist Phylis Chesler) - are truly at the very core of jihadoterror:

Any culture which tells its young men that it is okay to abuse and even kill female family members (as in "honor killings"), will concomitantly tells them that it is okay to commit genocide against non-family members who are infidels (whether they are in a hatred sect of Islam or Jews or Christians or Hindus or Buddhists or atheists.)

Phrased another way: If a man will kill his daughter for his family's honor, then he will certainly kill or condone the killing of infidels.

REPEAT: If a boy learns in his home that it is okay for his father to beat his mother (and his half-brother's mothers, too), and kill his sisters - his own flesh and blood, members of his own race and believers in his own creed, then OF COURSE he is going to think it's just fine'n dandy to commit terror against infidels.]

REPEAT AGAIN: As long as their children are raised to accept terror within their own family, they will use certainly terror to settle all their differences with non-Muslims. And they will certainly condone genocide against infidels.

I think this is at the very core of the inhumanity of jihadism and radical Islam. This - more than economic hopelessnes, or nativism - is jihadoterror's ROOT CAUSE.

The UN should take a very aggressive position against misogyny, and demand that all misogynistic practices end. And it should threaten expulsion from the UN, economic sanctions, and banishment from all multilateral organizations, (like UNESCO, UNICEF, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, etc), to any and all nations which do not end these practices.

Nations and so-called cultures which permit these practices should not reap any benefit from any contact with modern, Western Civilization.

Previous TAB posts on ISLAMO-MISOGYNY HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. More from Phyllis Chesler HERE and HERE and HERE.

LARGE QUANTITY OF URANIUM MISSING FROM CONGO

From the BBC:

The Democratic Republic of Congo's top atomic energy official is being held over allegations of uranium smuggling. Atomic energy centre director Fortunat Lumu and an aide have been questioned since their arrest on Tuesday.

A large quantity of uranium is reported to have gone missing in recent years, although state prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba did not reveal any figures. He told the BBC an "important quantity" of uranium was taken from the nuclear centre and they were investigating.

DR Congo's daily newspaper Le Phare reported that more than 100 bars of uranium as well as an unknown quantity of uranium contained in helmet-shaped cases, had disappeared from the nuclear centre in Kinshasa as part of a vast trafficking of the material going back years.

Oopsy. I mean, what are you gonna say, huh? I think one very important thing to note is that there is little chance that any entity other than a state could support the infrastructure needed to build a nuclear weapon. This must be understood and acknowledged. The implication of that simple fact is huge. It means that, if we ever get hit by a nuclear weapon detonated by a terrorist organization, there are only two ways they could have gotten their hands on that weapon:

1) a massive breakdown in security by a nuclear state

2) a nuclear state willfully gave a nuclear weapon into the hands of terrorists

In either case, if we ever get hit by nuclear terror, the only reasonable response would be to hold the state at fault to the strictest responsibility for their "failure." My opinion is, the only reasonable response would be to take out the state we suspect to have created the situation. In other words, what I am saying is, while it may seem on the facade that a state can not be responsible for a terrorist organization, it is a mistake to believe that.

Our doctrine must continue to be Mutually Assured Destruction. Ultimately, it is the only way to deter any nuclear strike.

Reliapundit adds: The only reason someone stole/hijacked/illegally bought this uranium is to give it to a state which can REFINE it and enrich it. And the only reason to do this UNDER THE TABLE is to enrich it to make NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

There is NO reason a legal user of uranium wold seek to get it on the black market. NONE.

The fact that this quantity is missing means that - if we are rational - we should fear a nuclear attack from a rogue nation - like Iran, or from jihadoterrorists. And it proves that we should be taking POSITIVE steps to prevent this. Like preemptively destroying any and all "rogue" nuclear facilities which might be used to refine and enrich this black market uranium. Like those in North Lorea and Iran - for starters.

ALSO: This news PROVES that uranium in Africa can be gotten surreptitiously - and that it can be kept a secret from our "special investigators" like JOE WILSON and his wife VALERIE PLAME.

ISLAMIC MOVEMENT LEADER ARRESTED FOR INCITING VIOLENCE

From Israel Insider:

Border guards and police arrested the leader of the northern faction of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, Wednesday for inciting violence and waving Syrian and PLO flags during an East Jerusalem protest.

He and another protester were escorted to the East Jerusalem police department for further investigation.

"This arrest and the police's violent behavior won't dissuade us from continuing our righteous and legitimate struggle," retorted spokesman for the Islamic Movement, Attorney Zahi Nujidat, "It's time they stopped abusing the al-Aqsa Mosque."

Salah, who is known for his inciting speeches, is already under investigation ordered by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz for provoking racism, rebellion and violence -- an investigation which was prompted by his comments at a February protest in Nazareth and his statements concerning the Jerusalem Mugrabi Gate issue.

People like him don't belong here, and should be exiled.

He Should Have Said he is a Muslim

We read:

"Celtics radio analyst Cedric Maxwell apologized on the air last night for saying that a female referee should "go back to the kitchen" after he disagreed with one of her calls.

Maxwell made the comment during the Celtics' 77-72 victory over the Rockets on Monday. He subsequently said, "Go in there and make me some bacon and eggs, would you?" in reference to referee Violet Palmer.

Source

I doubt that "back to the kitchen" implies female inferiority. I myself am greatly respectful of good cooks. I often drive for miles in pursuit of a good dinner.

But if we take it as given that the commentator was disrespecting women (and men and women OFTEN say disrespectful things about the opposite sex) then he should have said that he was a Muslim -- because female inferiority is part of Islamic doctrine and, as we know from experience, Islam is especially protected by the First Amendment. Christian utterances certainly are not -- as I noted on on 6th, for instance.

Anyway, what is wrong with men and women being good at different things? They always have been and always will be. And why must people not say so? Has reality been outlawed? Mentioning a lot of it certainly seems to have been.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Global warming bad for health?

The article below is from Australia but the claim is heard elsewhere too. It is a quite hilarious deception. It is COLD weather that promotes flu etc. Warm weather is good for you in many ways. Brisbane is warmer than Sydney. Does that mean it is less healthy? There is no sign of it. Australia is so big that people can choose just about any climate they like to live in. They do so now and they always will. Tropical North Queensland or chilly Tasmania? Take your pick!

And the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports: "There were no clear patterns in reporting of health-related actions between States and Territories" (p. 6 here). And note that one of the Territories concerned was the very hot Northern Territory! Both hot and cold climates have their advantages and disadvantages but overall there is a balance.

And if the 0.6 degrees C. warming observed across the 20th century is repeated in the 21st, they will not notice the difference even if they stay exactly where they already are

Children in rural Australia will face health problems as climate change starts to bite, and the impact on adults will go much further than the depression that is already affecting some drought-hit farming communities. A national rural health conference heard yesterday that health effects of climate change on rural communities would also include family stress, breathing and respiratory problems caused by more airborne dust and domestic hygiene and infection problems caused by poorer-quality drinking water.

Disruption to agriculture would affect food production, raising prices and lowering the quality and availability of vegetables and other healthy products. Rates of smoking, alcohol and other drug use could also be expected to rise.

Tony McMichael, director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, said in a keynote speech to open the conference in Albury, NSW, last night that there would also be direct effects, such as the increases in numbers of people killed by heatwaves, storms, floods and bushfires. Research by the centre and the CSIRO has forecast that, among people aged over 65 in Sydney, the death rate caused by heatwaves could rise from the 40 deaths per 100,000 people to between 79 and 239 deaths per 100,000.

Dengue fever and other tropical or mosquito-borne diseases - currently confined to the Top End between Broome and the Cape York peninsula - would also extend southwards as far as Carnarvon on the west coast and just north of Rockhampton on the east. Professor McMichael said recent research by his centre had also shown that parents' stress was conveyed into the family home and increased stress hormones in young children "with immediate and long-term implications for their emotional development and their general bodily health". "We need to be aware of the emerging problems here, and do proper research, and develop intervention strategies," Professor McMichael told The Australian. "We are not talking about new problems that people haven't had before in severe droughts. We are talking about them becoming long-term, and at some level permanent." Suitable strategies included better early-warning systems for severe weather events, better community supports and better infrastructure design.

Tony Hobbs, a GP in the NSW Riverina town of Cootamundra, and chairman of the Australian General Practice Network, said rural doctors were already under pressure and said a significant rise in ill-health would probably force some care to be delivered by nurses and other health workers instead of GPs. "This drought has already had an impact - we have already seen rising rates of depression, including at my practice," Dr Hobbs said. "If this cycle were to continue, that would put an added burden on general practice."

Source

(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, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Why do psychically and economically marginal Westerners convert to Islam?

Excerpt from Dhimmi Watch:

There is no one reason. There are many reasons. Islam is wrongly perceived as a vehicle for "social justice." The fact that a rich Muslim can stand side by side with a poor one at a mosque is misinterpreted. The fact that Muslims are required to offer zakat to fellow Muslims is also misinterpreted as meaning that there is some kind of "sharing of the wealth."

But one has only to look at the history of Islam, and look at Muslim societies today, to see the extremes of wealth and power. In many Muslim countries the only way to get that wealth is for the rulers and their collaborators to help themselves to the national riches, whether those riches come from oil or smuggling (Syria) or Jizyah from Infidel lands (Egypt, the "Palestinians"). There are no Infidel lands that offer the same kind of gap between rich and poor, the ruler and the ruled, as do Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and other Muslim countries...

A second, and related reason for some to convert to Islam is that Islam is depicted as the belief-system that most accords with, and furthers the interests of, les damnes de la terre, especially non-whites. It is amazing how carefully campaigns are targeted at certain groups -- say, black prisoners in America and England -- without any countervailing effort by the authorities, or even by Christian groups, or even by black Christian groups, who could and should be funded for such undertakings. They could present the evidence about the history of Arab slavers seizing and castrating black African boys, or about the duration of the Arab slave trade, which began long before, and ended long after (where it did end) than the European slave trade, and the continued, indeed permanent, defense of slavery in the texts of Islam, which can never be overcome, and the continued enslavement of blacks by Arabs, in the Sudan, in Mauritania, and elsewhere, far from any Western reporters. There is so much information about this, but so little attempt to sensibly disseminate it.

Still a third reason for Islam's appeal is that it is so simple to become a Muslim. You don't have to learn a thing. You can become a Muslim without knowing a thing about Islam. So eager are Muslims for what are seen as recruits to the army of Islam that it doesn't matter if those converting or "reverting" know a thing about it, for it is not the saving of their souls that matters. All that matters for most Muslims is to swell further the ranks of Islam. That is why, early on, Islam required only a recital of the Shehada -- a single sentence, a single declaration -- and then one became a Muslim, and found out later what it was all about. But by that point one had no way to gracefully, or safely, within lands dominated by Muslims, get out of that faith.

A fourth reason is that not only is Islam a faith simple to join (whereas if you wish to become, say, a Christian or a Jew, you have to study, you have to actually learn something about Christian doctrine or Jewish faith) but it is a simple-minded faith, that appeals to the simple-minded. It is not a faith bent on questioning itself. It is the perfect faith for someone who cannot think, and does not like to think, and prefers to have handed to him a Simple and Total Regulation of Life, and a Complete Explanation of the Universe. For all those who need certainty, who cannot stand individual responsibility or moral choice, who prefer to be slaves of Allah -- well, Islam is just the ticket, it's just the thing for you.

(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, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

MONSTER JOHN COUEY IS CONVICTED

If John Couey doesn't make your skin crawl then no one will. This monster kidnapped 9 year old Jessica Lunsford, raped her and then buried her alive. Justice was served yesterday when a jury took four hours to find him guilty. The jury still has to decide whether he gets life in prison or the death penalty. If Couey isn't a prime candidate for the death penalty I don't know who is.

The only good to come out of this horrific crime is that many people finally woke up and started passing Jessica's law which hands out harsher crimes for sex offenders.

Go here to hear Bill O'Reilly's talking points on this case.

LIKE A TRUE LEFTIST, CHAVEZ JAILS ANOTHER OPPONENT

YAHOO/AP:

Venezuelan authorities have arrested a retired National Guard general on accusations that he plotted to overthrow President Hugo Chavez, the suspect's attorney said Wednesday. Gen. Ramon Guillen Davila was not involved in a purported plot to oust Chavez, attorney Guillermo Heredia told The Associated Press.

However, he said the retired general "is opposed to the communist regime in Venezuela because it violates democratic principles." Agents from Venezuela's Military Intelligence Directorate arrested Guillen Davila on Tuesday on allegations of "promoting a military rebellion to oust the president," Heredia said.

McClatchy:

In 2004, Venezuelan authorities arrested some 100 Colombians, a retired army general and four National Guard officers on suspicion of hatching a plan to overrun the presidential palace and assassinate Chavez.

The story, however, never quite fit. Only one Colombian had a weapon. The rest, including a pregnant girl and several minors, seemed to believe they were going to work on a Venezuelan farm. Eventually, 27 Colombians were convicted of plotting to overthrow the government and got six years in jail; 73 were freed. Two of the officers were sentenced to nine years and a third to 29 months.

CHAVEZ IS A DANGEROUS LEFTIST TYRANT. AND LIKE THE MULLAHS OF IRAN, HE COMES COURTESY OF DHIMMI CARTER.

AND THE CINDY SHEEHAN CROWD COULDN'T CARE LESS. TO THE AMERICAN LEFT, CHENEY IS MORE TYRANNICAL THAN CHAVEZ. JERKS.

SEGOLENE IS A HYPOCRITE AND A CHEAT

TELEGRAPH (UK):

Ségolène Royal's intention to fund a Socialist France with tax rises for the rich was brought under the spotlight yesterday when it was claimed her own financial contribution to the state was some seven times less than it should be.

According to Le Canard Enchaîné weekly newspaper, the property portfolio of the Left's presidential candidate and her partner, Francois Hollande, the Socialist Party leader, was undervalued by more than £500,000, meaning they paid significantly less in ISF 'solidarity' tax, a notoriously high duty imposed on anyone with assets of more than £500,000. [UMPH ADDED.]

UK GUARDIAN:

The paper alleged Ms Royal had underestimated its value on her tax return. It said other properties belonging to Ms Royal and her partner, the Socialist party leader, François Hollande, had also been undervalued. The couple had declared their entire portfolio, including their flat on the outskirts of Paris and Ms Royal's constituency home, to be worth €933,000. The newspaper claimed the portfolio's market value was just more than €1.8m. [UMPH ADDED.]

IHT:

Their vacation home in the south of France was estimated to be worth more than three times the amount declared in their tax form, the newspaper said. It was not the first time that Royal and Hollande's taxes have been dragged into the presidential campaign. In January she published a list of her assets after charges that they were trying to limit their fiscal exposure.

The documents showing that she was paying a wealth tax hurt her image among some that she was the candidate of the "working class." The revelation that she was paying the wealth tax played particularly badly because Hollande had famously told a television talk show last year: "I do not like the rich."

JUST LIKE BREZHNEV AND GORE, (AND OBAMA AND HIS STOCKS, AND EDWARDS AND HIS MANSION), SEGOLENE ROYAL IS A LEFTIST WHO REFUSES TO PLAY BY THE RULES SHE ESPOUSES.

SHE TOO IS A PHONY, LYING, HYPOCRITICAL CHEAT. WHICH IS WHY SHE IS THE PERFECT NOMINEE FOR THE SOCIALISTS!

LIBBY JUROR SUPPORTS A BUSH PARDON

Drudge Flash featuring partial transcript from Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MSNBC host Chris Matthews spoke with Libby juror Ann Redington on HARDBALL. Juror [#10] says she would support a Bush pardon for Libby. Transcript:

Chris: You're for a pardon out of sympathy for the defendant.

Ann: Yeah, I think in the big picture, um, it kind of bothers me that there was this whole big crime being investigated and he got caught up in the investigation as opposed to in the actual crime that was supposedly committed.

Chris: Which is the leaking of a CIA agents name.

Ann: Exactly.

Uuuggghhh!! I swear to G-d I'm going to have a stroke! There was no crime committed!!! Valerie Plame was NOT covert!! and even if she was, it was the beloved Richard Armitage who outed her!!!! [And he outed her to buttress Wilson, not as payback or to thwart and whistle-blowing! Reliapundit!]

Hippie Shirts

Well the design is hippie. The sentiments not so much.

Click on the design to get one. Mugs and other stuff too.
The artists? Cox and Forkum of course

THE HALF HOUR NEWS HOUR GETS PICKED UP FOR 13 EPISODES

Rush announced today that The Half Hour News Hour did well enough to get picked up for 13 episodes. I can't wait!!

Previous posts

THE LEFTIST DOUBLE STANDARD: THEY CAN HURL ALL THE INSULTS THEY WANT

OK to Insult NASCAR Fans

The Leftist double standard is endless. You are not allowed to look cross-eyed at a black or a homosexual but you can insult white NASCAR fans all you like, apparently.

Some Democrat lawmakers speaking in the legislature of Washington State recently described NASCAR fans as

"toothless, white trash rednecks" and said of them "These people are not the kind of people you would want living next door to you. They'd be the ones with the junky cars in the front yard and would try to slip around the law."

Another high-powered intellectual in the State house -- the Speaker, in fact -- implied that NASCAR identity Richard Petty [above] looked like a drunken felon, saying "You mean the guy who got picked up for DUI?" In fact, Mr. Petty does not drink alcohol.

Details here Did anybody notice any of that wicked prejudice or stereotyping there?

There is a video of the wonderfully "enlightened" comments here. Those guys sure know how to set an example for us all.

You can imagine the endless caterwauling in the press if a Republican had said something similar about (say) the NBA.

That Contrast Again: The Case of Menachem Vorchheimer

As we saw on 6th., coming to a Mexican-themed party wearing a style of makeup favored by Mexican women produces immediate uproar and all sorts of accusations of prejudice etc. And nobody had to say a word for those accusations to fly.

So what happens when a Jewish man in a big hat not only has racial abuse hurled at him but he gets physically assaulted and his property stolen?

It happened last October in Australia. And the police have only just now got around to laying any charges against anyone. And that despite the fact that a policeman was driving the bus on which the thugs were traveling and that there were heaps of witnesses.

Even then it seems clear that the police would not have been prodded into action except for pursuit of the matter by Australia's Murdoch press (Yes. The same Murdoch who set up Fox News).

Details here. At least orthodox Jews so far feel free to wear their hats and caps in public in Australia -- unlike France. It should be noted that it was intervention by outraged Australian bystanders that enabled Mr Vorchheimer's attackers to be caught. The police (as usual) were no help.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM.

Do not appease hatred

(The article excerpt below is by Melanie Phillips. You can hear her answering criticisms in a radio interview here)

LONDONISTAN is a term of abuse coined by the French for a Britain that has allowed itself to become the European hub of al-Qa’ida. To me, it’s also a state of mind, when people not only seek to appease but come to believe and absorb the ideas and assumptions of the enemy that intends to destroy them writes Melanie Phillips

It’s a state of mind that applies not just to Britain but throughout the West, where people refuse to face up to the reality of the jihad because they can’t bring themselves to accept what must follow. It’s so much easier to take refuge in alternative explanations, particularly ones that blame themselves for their own victimisation. And just as they embrace their enemies, so they turn against their allies.

In Britain, the mainstream view is that Israel is the cause of the world’s problems. People believe Israel is the cause of Islamic hatred of the West, global terror and world instability, and that the Jews are putting them directly at risk. They believe Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians is the cause of Islamist rage; that the US was attacked on 9/11 only because it supported Israel; and that the only reason Britain is at risk from Islamist terror is because it supported the US in the Iraq war. This rampant hatred of the US and Israel has come to dominate and distort political debate.

It was hysteria over Israel’s conduct of the Lebanon war last summer that forced Tony Blair out of office earlier than he had intended to go. Indeed, sometimes it seems that Britain has turned into a latter-day Salem, with Israel, the US and their defenders the latter-day witches to be thrown to the flames.

Everything that happens is seen through the prism of this perceived conspiracy by Americans and Jews recklessly to put the world at risk in pursuit of their own interests. So Iran’s threat to commit genocide against Israel, and its race to obtain the nuclear weapons to put this often repeated threat into practice, is dismissed as mere rhetoric and instead the biggest threat is perceived to be an attack by the US against Iran.

There is a persistent refusal to accept that we are in the throes of a holy war waged on the Western world for more than 25 years without our even recognising it because it doesn’t fit our definition of war. It is a world war being fought in many disparate theatres with many proximate causes, but all with one single coherent aim: to defeat Western civilisation, establish Islam as the dominant power in the world and restore the medieval caliphate.

We can see the outcome: in the daily violence in the French suburbs, sanitised by the French Government but described by French police as a permanent intifada; in the similar violence in Belgium; in the murder of Theo van Gogh in The Netherlands and the terrorisation of Dutch politicians who speak out; and in the global riots, kidnappings and murders after the re-publication of the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

Yet little of this is reported and, when it is, it is generally presented as the fault of those being terrorised. Thus the French riots are blamed on French prejudice towards immigrants; the cartoon riots on media insensitivity towards Muslim feelings; and moves by the ultra-liberal Dutch or the Danes to ban the burka or restrict immigration as racism or xenophobia.

More here

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.