WHY HARRY REID MUST RESIGN, NOW!

HERE ARE THE DETAILS.

MORE HERE AND HERE AND HERE.

WHO IS THE REAL GEORGE W. BUSH?

THIS .................. OR THIS?

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWER...
(OR CLICK HERE.)

BUSHITLER!? NO WAY. DUBYA STANDS FOR WIMP

The Left calls George W. Bush, BUSHITLER.
They are so wrong it's laughable.

Compared to other presidents the Left admires, Bush is MORE liberal and more of a DOVE!











Lincoln suspended habeus corpus.
But the Left still idolizes him.
Rightly so.
Lincoln knew he had to do whatever it took to defeat the Rebels.
And to put slavery on the road to oblivion.







FDR interned 50,000 Japanese AMERICANS in concentration camps.

But the Left still idolizes him.

And they've got a point: FDR ruthlessly fought WW2 - firebombing Dresden, Tokyo - to name just two cities he destroyed along with their civilian populations. FDR dedicated an amount nearly equal to the nation's GNP to build a nuclear bomb - and didn't even ever tell any of his Veeps! He made deals with the likes of Stalin to destroy the likes of Hitler and Tojo. FDR knew he had to do whatever it took to defeat the Nazis.

Bottom-line: FDR deserves adulation and thanks.

AND: NOTHING in Bush's Patriot Act is as anti-libertarian as what Lincoln and FDR did.


And Harry Truman, he was no wimp. He was a good liberal, too: tried to nationalize healthcare and integrated the military.

And, he used TWO Atom bombs to end WW2 - saving a few million of lives our GI's. And perhaps more than ten million JAPANESE lives were saved by his use of the Atom bombs.

Some Lefties decry and deride their use, but they are wrong. They claim he could have demonstrated them on a deserted island. HA! The proof is obvious: Truman had to use two on real cities before the Japanese would surrender. Not even ONE on a real city worked!

Truman knew he had to do whatever it took to defeat the Japanese.

Nothing Bush has done since 9/11 - not in ANY theater of combat - is one one-hundredth as militarily powerful as what FDR and Truman did during WW2.

THEY FOUGHT "NO HOLDS BARRED"; BUSH HAS US FIGHTING WITH ONE HAND BEHIND OUR BACKS.








And then there's the darling of the Left - JFK. In his inaugural, he said we would fight for liberty on any shore. In fact, his inaugural reads like a neocon tract.

JFK started the USA's nuclear arms build up, and tried to slow Soviet enlargement into SE Asia. During the Cuban Missile crisis he told Nikita we would nuke the USSR - and Nikita blinked. It was risky, but JFK knew he had to do whatever it took to defeat the Soviet Union's attempt to put nukes in Cuba.

Now, let's look at Dubya:


W is a buddy of Teddy Jo Kennedy - together they passed a HUGE federal spending bill for education.








W is a buddy of Clinton's - though he's not as close to him as his father!




W is an amigo of Mexican president's who want us to relax our immigration laws and give amnesty to illegals.







He is a big believer in the UN.










He believes the Saudis are our allies in the GWOT.





Comparing Bush to Lincoln and FDR and Truman and JFK, THEY ARE CONSERVATIVE HAWKS and George W. Bush IS A LIBERAL WIMP!

He let North Korea get nukes.
He's done NOTHING BUT TALK to punish "the assasinator" Assad.
He's done NOTHING BUT TALK to stop Iran from getting nukes.
He's letting Putin do whatever he wants.

He passed a HUGE increase in domestic spending: for education and drug-benefits for seniors. He wants to give illegal aliens amnesty.

He calls Islam "a religion of peace."

These are not the actions of a hawk or a right-winger.

They are the inactions of a dove and a liberal. And a wimp.

In fact, that's what "W" really stands for.

DUBYA STANDS FOR WIMP.

(PS: MOST OF THE PHOTOS HAVE EMBEDDED LINKS FOR THOSE WHO NEED MORE INFO.)

YUP: I'm fed up with Bush's HALF-ASSERY. I would NEVER EVER VOTE FOR HIM AGAIN.

That is, unless he ran against a DEMOCRAT!

CAIRO: EGYPTIAN-CANADIAN CONVICTED OF SPYING FOR ISRAEL

Bad but unsurprising news from Egypt:

It took all of 15 seconds, but for a former Toronto bank teller named Mohamed el-Attar those few brief moments spelled 15 years in an Egyptian jail.
In a one-sentence ruling issued here this morning, Judge Sayyed el-Gohary of Egypt’s State Security Emergency Court found el-Attar guilty on all three charges against him, all involving allegations that he betrayed the country of his birth by committing acts of espionage on behalf of neighbouring Israel.

Clad in a grey suit and a ceremonial green sash, the bespectacled judge gave no reasons for his verdict and promptly departed the courtroom as bedlam immediately erupted, with spectators swarming toward the steel prisoner’s cage where the diminutive el-Attar, clad in a white prison jump suit, was at once hustled away without saying a word.

Only moments earlier, he had entered the cage with both hands raised, fingers crossed. The gesture turned out to be futile.

“I was convinced he would be acquitted,” said Ibrahim Bassiouni, the Egyptian lawyer who represented el-Attar after another lawyer abandoned the case nearly two months ago. As he spoke, Bassiouni was surrounded by jostling camera crews from some 20 different Egyptian, Arab, and Canadian TV services, as well as a host of print reporters. “They had no concrete evidence against the defendant.”

Only an hour prior to today’s ruling, the silver-maned lawyer had been confidently predicting that his client would be acquitted.

Despite what they say, it doesn't surprise me at all that el-Attar was convicted. Not after how Israeli-Druze citizen Azzam Azzam was a decade ago in a similar situation.

Now, what needs to be done is to get el-Attar some foreign aid to be released.

THE 150 BILLION POUND GORILLA: HOW THE WORLDWIDE MUSLIM POPULATION IS DETERRING AN EFFECTIVE WAR AGAINST JIHADISM

If the 9/11 attacks had been the product of the KKK or the MAFIA or the WHITE ARYAN CHURCH or the BLACK PANTHER PARTY, then the US government would have utterly smashed them.

If the on-going terror attacks in Baghdad were perpetrated by a gang of non-ideological hoodlums, then we'da blown them to smithereens years ago.

But because the US government has been worried that using unrestrained military power against al Qaeda and its affiliates would antagonize (if not "militarize") the ONE BILLION Muslims on the sidelines, we have fought this world war with one hand behind our backs.

This has been a recipe for... well, for exactly what we've experienced in the GWOT since the overthrow of Saddam: years of ineffective, half-assed actions which have led half of our own population, (THE LEFT), to doubt we can win, and have led the enemy into thinking they can win.

Until we fight the war the way FDR and Truman fought WW2 - WITH NO HOLDS BARRED, we will remain in a situation which the Left, the enemy, and the MSM can successfully characterize virtual "quagmire".

We must take that one hand out from behind our backs, remove the gloves and fight with everything we got! Every weapon. Bar none.

And we must also diplomatically attack "the culture of jihadism" - by COMPLETELY shunning every nation which permits Islamo-misogyny, polygamy and endogamy. These three anti-humane practices create the conditions in the Muslim home which encourage young Muslim boys to become jihadists capable of genocide. HOW!? Well.... BOYS WHO GROW UP LEARNING IT'S OKAY TO MURDER THEIR SISTERS ARE OF COURSE GOING TO THINK IT'S OKAY TO COMMIT GENOCIDE AGAINST INFIDELS.

And "infidel" in this context means Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim of another sect, Bahai, Animist, or Atheist. IOW: Anyone who is not a jihadist. And that's more than one billion people. That's the rest of us: 5 billion of us. And it's time we demanded that our interests be put ahead of the one billion Muslims who are either jihadists, supporting jihadists, or silent on the issue.

1 - We should use bigger and much more terrible weapons than we have used to date - in Afghanistan, Waziristan, and Iraq.

2 - And we must utilize our enormous economic and diplomatic power to halt the culture of jihadism. We can do this simply: we withdraw ALL our support for the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, UNICEF and UNESCO until any and all nations which permit misogyny, polygamy, and endogamy are shunned.

Is there anything to be gained by delaying? NO. The longer we wait, the longer we fight using our half-assed tactics, the more of our brave troops will die. And the stronger the enemy becomes.

And... I think we have to act before a Democrat - like Reid or Pelosi or Edwards or Hillary or Obama - is elected president. Then it will be to late.

HEY MR. PRESIDENT: It's now... or never.

FRED PHELPS' CULT OF HATE

Fred Phelps' cult, The Westboro Baptist Church had planned on protesting at The Virginia Tech victims' funerals. This prompted me to do an in-depth post on just how evil Fred Phelps really is and how his "church" is in fact a cult as even described by some of his own estranged children.

I have now learned that Phelps has called off his planned protest because Talk Show Host Mike Gallagher has agreed to give him air time. Gallagher also did this after Westboro threatened to protest at the Amish school shooting victims' funerals. While I am glad that Gallagher is preventing further pain for the Virginia Tech victims' families this sounds a little like giving into the demands of terrorists.

REID'S DANGEROUS AND ILLOGICAL TREACHERY

Reid - and the Leftist base he serves - say we've lost in Iraq. And that we should retreat. And thereby cede Iraq - a nation of 26 MILLION people in an area the size of California - to jihadoterrorists whose hideous ideology which not only condones but HAILS their only effective weapon: genocidal suicide bombers who target innocent civilians. And kidnappings and beheadings - (tactics easily replicated all over the world - as daily headlines prove!).

If we do what Reid and the Left want, then we'd be telling the enemy that this strategy works - at least on Dems and lefties - and we'd be ENCOURAGING them to use this strategy everywhere else.

THAT'S WHY WHAT REID AND THE LEFT SUGGEST WE DO IS DANGEROUS.

Reid and the Left also say that jihadoterrorism is not as big a threat as man-made global warming.

But if an organization can make the USA - the most powerful military force in the world - RETREAT, and then TAKE OVER a nation the size of Iraq with a population of 26 MILLION - (which they will do IF WE LET THEM!), then they are a very real threat - to nearly every nation in the former Caliphate - which are the primary targets, for the time being.

Reid's defeatism actually proves that jihadism is a a very real existential threat. It is self-contradictory and illogical for Reid and the Left to argue that global jihad is not the global threat the Bush Administration says it is, and then to argue that we have lost in Iraq and must retreat.

Iraq seems to me to be as good a place to defeat the jihadists as anywhere else.

And the sooner we do it the better. They can only become stronger over time.

MORE HERE!

Criticizing homosexuaity

Michigan student suspended for wearing 'I'm straight' sticker

We read:

"A Christian student has been punished by his Michigan high school for demonstrating opposition to a school event celebrating the homosexual lifestyle. The boy's father, a pastor, says he's frustrated the rights of Christian students are being constantly trampled on campus.

Oakridge High School in Muskegon, Michigan, is one of many schools across the U.S. that took part in Wednesday's "National Day of Silence" -- an event promoted heavily by homosexual activist groups, which view it as a day to protest alleged discrimination faced by students who identify as "gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (GLBT)." At Oakridge High, duct tape was passed out for students to wear over their lips as a way to show solidarity with homosexual students who are purportedly suffering in silence.

John Gardner is pastor of Holton Family Life Worship Center in Holton, a community of approximately 2,500 about 17 miles northeast of Muskegon. Pastor Gardner says his 15-year-old son David, a student at Oakridge High, was suspended for a day by the school because he wrote with a black marker "I'm straight" on a piece of duct tape and attached it to his shirt. He explains that David donned the message to voice his objection to the school's participation in the Day of Silence.

"They asked him, at that point, to take it off," Gardner says, "and David [asked] why do the rest of the kids in the class get to wear theirs and I can't wear something about what I believe?" According to the pastor, the teacher then instructed David to remove the message or he would be "kicked out" of class. "And he said, 'Well then, you'll have to kick me out' -- and that's what they did," says David's father.

Source

But Still Possible to Criticize Homosexuality in Australia

ANZAC day is the day Australia remembers its war dead:

"An advertisement for a gay Anzac Day party that shows a near-naked man wearing a slouch hat has been branded a "desecration" of the Anzac spirit by the Victorian RSL.

Martin Stevens, who has worked as a Shrine of Remembrance guard for eight years, said yesterday he was horrified to discover he had become the unwitting star of an ad for an Anzac Day eve bash at the Peel Hotel in Collingwood. The ad was published in gay magazines and on the venue's website.

"I saw my face and next to it there's a near-naked bloke in an army hat," Mr Stevens said. "I was just horrified. It's insulting to the diggers [troops] and it's just plain wrong."

Victorian RSL president David McLachlan said the ad, which includes an image of the Rising Sun army badge, was an abuse of liberty. "This is a desecration of the Anzac Day memory and the Shrine of Remembrance, which represents the sacrifice of so many Victorians," he said.

A spokesman for the hotel, Tom McFeely, said management now realised the ad was in poor taste and had removed it from the venue's website. "I also delivered a hand-written apology to the RSL yesterday and we have made a donation to the Shrine fund," Mr McFeely said.

Source

ANOTHER BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL IS HEAVILY POLITICIZED: "Lancet" meddles in Australian politics!

Though anybody who knows of their absurd "600,000 Iraqi deaths" claim will not be surprised. The BMJ has also of course long been known for its frantic Leftism. This politicization does of course explain the very low intellectual standards in both journals that I have repeatedly noted on FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC. With their openly avowed contempt for the truth ("There is no such thing as right and wrong") and their failure to consider ALL the facts of most matters, Leftists corrupt everything they touch

A leading international medical journal has denounced the Prime Minister and urged its Australian readers to vote against him in the election. In an editorial titled "Australia: the politics of fear and neglect", The Lancet said John Howard had jeopardised Australia's enviable reputation in medical science with his suggested ban on HIV-positive migrants. It also censured the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, for saying those who spoke up for indigenous health were "simply establishing politically and morally correct credentials", and criticised the Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, for his stance on climate change. It said Australian politicians were scoring below par on health.

The journal said Australian clinical and health research was "an emblem of excellence" in the Asia-Pacific: "That enviable position is being put at risk by Prime Minister John Howard's indifference to the academic medical community and his profound intolerance to those less secure than himself and his administration."

The latest example was his comment last week that HIV migrants should not be allowed, says the journal, whose editor, Dr Richard Horton, spoke at a conference on global health in Sydney this month. "To any visitor, Australian culture feels progressive and inclusive," The Lancet says. "This attractive exterior belies a strong undercurrent of political conservatism, which Howard is ruthlessly tapping into." The Lancet has a significant readership throughout the world and regularly takes a stand on key medical issues.

Source

Any lingering doubts about the political motivation behind their "600,000 Iraqi deaths" claim should now be completely at rest. The editor makes clear that for him the term "conservative" is a term of abuse. Definitely the impartial scientist!

The Sixth Circle Of Hollywood Hell

One of the best bloggers out there is Robert at Seraphic Secret. Robert is a screenwriter. Recently, he has been writing a work which deals, to some extent, with women's prison system:

I get sent to a maximum security prison with several thousand really scary homicidal woman to research a film script.

At the end of each day at the prison I'd go back to my hotel room, call Karen and whimper for an hour or so. Karen would remind me that this was a job and I had to keep a professional distance from the inmates—a bunch of violent and manipulative sociopaths.

I'm always amazed that over-educated, over-bred do-gooders clamor to come into prison, set up incredibly sophisticated educational programs for murderers and sociopaths, and completely ignore the blue-collar Corrections Officers, hard-working chaplains, psychologists, and social workers, who labor in the underground world of our corrections system.

These peope struck me as being prisoners too.

They are amazing professionals, dedicated, criminally underpaid and no one that I am aware of, is spending any time giving them or their families a free college education.

For some reason, liberals find murderers and psychopaths incredibly attractive.

They have probably watched too many dopey Hollywood prison movies.

In any case, Corrections Officer Cindy is an amazing young woman, and she had my back the whole time I was on the yard.

If you want to catch up on the entire series:

• Part I, My Murdering Ladies
• Part II, Prison, Just Like High School
• Part III, Jane Austen in Prison

And, he finishes with: Karen and I wish you all a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.

JOHN VOIGHT: PATRIOT

RTWT.

THE SUN IS EVEN HOTTER THAN WE EVER KNEW

BBC:

Coronal loops are generated by the Sun's magnetic field.

... Solar explosions called micro-flares generate sound booms which are then propagated along the coronal loops. ...

The corona is an atmosphere of hot, electrically-charged gas - or plasma - that surrounds the Sun.

The temperature of the corona should drop the further one moves from the Sun. But, in fact, the coronal temperature is up to 300 times hotter than the Sun's visible surface, or photosphere. And no one can explain why.

The coronal loops arch hundreds of thousands of kilometres above the Sun's surface like huge fiery fountains, and are generated by the Sun's magnetic field. As solar plasma travels from the photosphere into the loops, it is heated from about 6,000 Kelvin (5,700C) to upwards of one million Kelvin. Solar explosions called micro-flares can release energy equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs.

BUT THE ECO-NUTSIES WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THAT THE INCREASES IN THIS ACTIVITY, (AND IN SUNSPOT ACTIVITY), DON'T HAVE AS BIG AN EFFECT ON EARTH'S WARMING AS "MAN-MADE CO2" - EVEN THOUGH CO2 IS (1) AN INEFFICIENT CONDUCTOR AND (2) A RELATIVELY TINY FRACTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE - (OF WHICH MAN-MADE CO2 IS MINUSCULE).

YEAH, SURE.

ACCORDING TO THE ECO-NUTSIES, THE WARMING EFFECT OF MAN-MADE CO2 FROM SUV'S IS WORSE THAN ONE MILLION DEGREE FLARES WHICH EXTEND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS INTO SPACE.

YEAH. SURE.

PROVEN SCIENTIFIC FACT: GLOBAL WARMING IS CAUSED BY FLUCTUATIONS IN SUNSPOT ACTIVITY AND COSMIC RAYS.

READ ABOUT IT HERE AND HERE AND HERE AND HERE.

FRANCE: Sarko leads, but Le Pen is surging...

AFP/PENINSULA:

The poll by CSA-CISCO shows right-wing candidate Sarkozy with 26.5 per cent and Socialist Segolene Royal in second with 25.5 per cent. The two frontrunners each lost half a point compared to the last poll. Le Pen clocked in at 16.5 per cent to overtake centrist candidate Francois Bayrou in first round intentions to vote. Bayrou lost one point to fall to 16 per cent.

SCOTSMAN:

Mr Le Pen is currently polling between 13 and 16 per cent, more than he was at the same period in 2002. Analysts warn that it is difficult to establish accurate voting intentions for the 78 year-old leader of the xenophobic far right because of his supporters' reluctance to admit their allegiance.

HERE'S WHY I FEEL SARKOZY WILL WIN, AND WHY I AM HOPEFUL FRANCE MAY SURVIVE: GUARDIAN:

Nicolas Sarkozy, the rightwing frontrunner in France's first-round presidential vote, has spent weeks stressing that he has mellowed. But at his final campaign rally in front of 20,000 people in Marseille, the former interior minister who once suggested wayward suburban youths were scum, sent a clear message: "I'm still myself."

Reclaiming the passion he had recently toned down, he dripped with sweat as he promised to be France's "protector" and restore faith in a country crippled by unemployment, economic stagnation and self-doubt.

"I hate this fashion for repentance that says France hates itself and its history," he roared. He said colonisation might have been an "unfair system" but would not apologise for it and talked of the debt owed to those "decent and hardworking French families" forced out of Africa. Boasting no fear of the "politically correct" lobby, he proudly repeated his codewords for a new moral and patriotic France. "Authority! Authority! Authority!" he shouted to wild cheers. He joked about critics' fears of a "police state", saying he would not back down on firm policing. The crowd went wild.

... For the awe-struck crowd at Marseille and millions across France, he is the only figure strong enough to restore French pride and kickstart the flagging economy by embracing liberalism with a more flexible labour market and lower tax. He promises to lock up young offenders, control immigration, rid the streets of crime and stop factories being moved from France to the lower-cost developing world. To his critics on the left, he is a divisive demagogue, a racist authoritarian, highly strung and driven by personal ambition.

Regardless of their political viewpoint, the majority of French people think he will win the second-round runoff on May 6 to become president of France.

IF SARKO IS DOING THIS WELL WITH HIS RIGHT-OF-CENTER RHETORIC IN THE ETHNICALLY MIXED MARSEILLE, THEN HE WILL DO EXTREMELY WELL IN THE NATION AS A WHOLE.

PERHAPS HE WILL DO BETTER IN THE FRST ROUND THAN THE POLLS SHOW - AND LE PEN WORSE.

J'ESPERE.

UPDATE: PJM'S Nidra Poller PREDICTS:

The candidates will effectively weigh in, as repeatedly predicted, in this order: Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP), Ségolène Royal (Socialist), François Bayrou (UDF), Jean-Marie Le Pen (Front National). The “small candidates” –Philippe de Villiers and Frédéric Nihous on the Right, Olivier Besancenot, José Bové, Marie-George Buffet, Arlette Laguiller, Gérard Schivardi Dominique Voynet on the Far Left will all be confined to the bull pen with low scores, 1 – 2 %, except for Besancenot who will probably reap 5%.

There will be no big surprises for Le Pen or Bayrou. Sarkozy’s lead over Royal should be in the upper rather than lower range …perhaps 5 points.

I DISAGREE. I THINK LE PEN WILL DO VERY WELL, AND FINISH IN SECOND. WHY?! LE PEN'S POLLING BETTER THIS TIME THAN LAST TIME, AND I THINK MORE OF BAYROU'S SUPPORT COMES FROM ROYAL, THAN SARKO'S COMES FROM LE PEN. HERE'RE MY NUMBERS:

• SARKO - 31%
• LE PEN - 19%
• ROYAL - 18%
• BAYROU - 17%
• ASSORTED LEFTIES - 15%

Je prie.

THE INSIDIOUS RECONQUEST OF EUROPE BY MUSLIM IMMIGRATION

FJORDMAN - VIA GATES OF VIENNA:

In 1974, former Algerian President Houari Boumedienne warned Europe in a speech at the UN :

“One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”

“Soon we will take power in this country. Those who criticize us now, will regret it. They will have to serve us. Prepare, for the hour is near.” — Belgium-based imam in 1994.

And the Leftist EU is facilitating the eradication of Judeo-Christian Europe via the immigration of Muslims and submission to Islam. RTWT.

SHOCKING ABORTION STATISTICS FROM THE UK

25% OF ALL PREGNANCIES ARE ABORTED.

AND 3% OF THOSE ABORTED ARE BORN ALIVE.

THAT'S 57,000 IN THE LAST 10 YEARS.

ABORTION IS LEGAL IN THE UK UP TO THE 24TH WEEK - WHICH IS BEYOND VIABILITY.

ABORTIONS ARE LEGAL LATER IF THE FETUS IS DISABLED!

MANY OF THE BABIES WHO SURVIVE THEIR ABORTIONS ARE DISABLED.

SOURCE.

I THINK THIS AMOUNTS TO EUGENICS - POLITICALLY INFORMED BY POSTMODERN LEFTISM, BUT WHERE THE POLITICS ARE INSIDIOUS.

INSIDIOUS EUGENICS IS JUST AS IMMORAL AS THE EUGENICS WHICH HITLER ADVOCATED.

SUPPOSE YOU WERE WINNING A WAR AND NOBODY REPORTED IT?

THE BDS-AFFLICTED MSM AND THE DEFEATIST DEMS WANT BUSH TO LOSE IN IRAQ.

THE SUREST WAY TO ACHIEVE DEFEAT IS SIMPLY TO DECLARE IT AND RETREAT.

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE MSM AND THE DEMS ARE DOING - IN CONCERT.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW THE SURGE IS WORKING, AND HERE TO READ ABOUT HOW THE DEFEATIST DEMS ARE AIDING THE ENEMY.

THE ONLY WAY THE JIHADIST ENEMY CAN WIN IS IF WE LOSE OUR RESOLVE.

THE MSM AND THE DEMS ARE DOING THEIR BEST TO MAKE SURE THAT HAPPENS.

THAT'S HOW THEY AID THE ENEMY.

REID EVEN SAYS WE NEED TO RETREAT FROM IRAQ TO FIGHT THE ENEMY ELSEWHERE.

AWHATTA!?!? LIKE... ER UM... THERE'S A BETTER PLACE TO FIGHT THEM!?!?

LET'S FIGHT THEM WHERE THEY ARE. AND WIN.

TO DO THAT WE NEED TO DEFEAT THE ENEMY'S FIFTH COLUMN HERE AT HOME: THE MSM AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY.

FRED THOMPSON AND GERTRUDE STEIN

Fred Thompson, the wild card candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination, has a great column in the National Review today concerning the Virginia Tech Massacre and wrongheaded policies that create "Gun-free Zones." While reading this, it occurred to me why Thompson has led many on the political Right to swoon over him. It comes down to a simple use of the language.

So Virginians asked their legislators to change the university's "concealed carry" policy to exempt people 21 years of age or older who have passed background checks and taken training classes. The university, however, lobbied against that bill, and a top administrator subsequently praised the legislature for blocking the measure.

The logic behind this attitude baffles me, but I suspect it has to do with a basic difference in worldviews. Some people think that power should exist only at the top, and everybody else should rely on "the authorities" for protection.

Look at that sentence in bold: "The logic behind this attitude baffles me." I guarantee you that 99 out of 100 politicians would have worded that sentence as "The logic behind this attitude is baffling." By added the personal pronoun "me" Thompson reminds us all that he is in fact a human being that has beliefs, morals, ethics, etc. He's not just made up of a bunch of focus-group created bullet points but in fact has a view of his own. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, with Fred Thompson, there is a there there.

You may see this as a stretch, but it's the little things in communication that mean a lot. A simple thing like using "I" and "me" statements instead of disingenuous "we" and "Americans" shows a human side to a man trying to succeed in a political world where they are very few real men left. Deep psychological stuff, I know, but it's my take and I stand by it, and I will accept history's verdict.

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS: Rhetoric is extremely important. It's one reason Governors get elected more than Senator. Governors - who must be clear and decisive in their jobs - tend to speak plainly; Senators - who are merely members of an elitist debating club - tend to orate.

And it is rhetoric that got Lincoln nominated and elected - specifically the COOPER UNION SPEECH.

Fred has the ability, perhaps, to do the same as Abe did. Lincoln was a former one-term Congressman who has recently Been defeated in a Senate race (though he won the popular vote). In that race, and in the years since, Lincoln proved himself an invaluable speaker on behalf of the Republican party - mostly in what was then called the West.

The Cooper Union speech made Lincoln famous in NY and led to appearances on behalf of state races in the east. These appearances made a huge difference for the GOP, and gave Lincoln national credibility. (MORE HERE.)

Fred is as homely as Lincoln was, and as warm and as folksy. And he's a sharp-minded lawyer, too. But - without a resume which radiates GRAVITAS (like Rudy, and even McCain) - he needs stage and a moment to really pound out a winning speech - AS REAGAN DID FOR GOLDWATER. Reagan's A TIME FOR CHOOSING speech (in 1964) made him the leader of the conservative movement.

The setting and the message of the Thompson announcement has to be BIG: Perhaps he should do it at West Point; or perhaps to our troops in Baghdad. Or even... at Cooper Union.

And it has to be a speech about leading a MOVEMENT and the GOP, and not just running for office.

Without a COOPER UNION moment, Fred is just another homely face - more real than his fellow lawyers pretty-boy Edwards and the loquacious Obama and the shrill Hillary - and even more real that the lawyer/MBA Mitt - combined. But still, just another lawyer/politician wannabe. And like Edwards, Obama and Hillary, one who lacks any executive experience.

I think he has the ability to pull it off. We'll see if he can. Time will tell.

Testing

Did you know that your soap can test positive for contraband by some field drug test kits?

Don Bolles, drummer for the legendary punk band the Germs, was going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with his girlfriend, 21-year-old Cat Scandal, after picking her up for "a day off" from drug rehab, on April 4, when they were pulled over in a traffic stop by Newport Beach Police. During a search of the vehicle -- to which Bolles unwisely consented -- police found a bottle of peppermint Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. According to a police field drug test, the soap contained GHB (gamma hydroxyl butyrate), a so-called date rape drug illegal under state and federal law.

It turns out that the police gave Bolles a tour of Orange County jails before releasing him after 3 1/2 days in the system. A better test verified no drugs in the soap. All charges were dropped.

The field test was performed by a kit manufactured by Armor Forensics/ODV called the Narcopouch 928. Armor Forensics/ODV did not respond to calls from the Chronicle about the false positives reported by its product. One man at ODV who refused to identify himself said only that he could not comment because of possible legal action.

The Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association did not respond to Chronicle queries about accuracy standards within the industry. In the group's defense, however, it should be noted that they were all out of the office this week attending a national drug testing industry convention.

The Newport Beach Police Department did not respond to calls from the Chronicle about the accuracy of the GHB field test.

There are no standards for field drug tests.

"The testing of substances for drugs is basically unregulated," Kevin Zeese, a prominent long-time drug reformer and political activist with expertise in the intersection of law and drug testing. "If it were the feds, the DEA would set the standards, but at the local level, it's state and local police who make the decisions. This all takes place within the criminal justice system; there is no regulation by the FDA or any other agency apart from law enforcement agencies," he told the Chronicle.

"There have been lots of cases of these sorts of tests not being accurate and causing problems, so this is not surprising," said Zeese. "Now, the local police are going to have to do something to correct their standards so they don't falsely accuse people. If they don't, this kind of thing ends up being regulated by the courts."

It is not just Dr. Bronners.

At least four other soaps have resulted in false positives in the Narcopouch 928 GHB test kit, including Neutrogena and Tom's of Maine. "We are testing more products and videotaping those tests. Products from Johnson & Johnson and Palmolive are testing positive, so we'll go to the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Fragrances Association, show them these products are testing positive, and then work through them to explore options for addressing the situation with these field drug test kits. Ideally, we could force a product recall, but we need at least a disclaimer if this product is going to continue to be sold. If they don't know soap tests positive, what else don't they know?"

Evidently the IVth Amendment no longer means what it used to. A series of excessive searches for contraband caused the founders to enact the prohibition against unreasonable searches. Why does that sound familiar? We now have a drug war contraband exception to the IVth Amendment.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

Don't Be A Living Fossil

I am a big Airplane fan (career as well as musical interest). So I was listening to some of what is available on the various video stores and came upon this "Crown of Creation" version from 1968. It is really good. It is done live not lip synched.

So I'm listening to the words. And I'm thinking of how very many of my compatriots are stuck in 1968. Not just in their musical tastes, but also in their view of the world.

You are the Crown of Creation
You are the Crown of Creation
and you've got no place to go.

Soon you'll attain the stability you strive for
in the only way that it's granted
in a place among the fossils of our time.

In loyalty to their kind
they cannot tolerate our minds.
In loyalty to our kind
we cannot tolerate their obstruction.

Life is Change
How it differs from the rocks
I've seen their ways too often for my liking
New worlds to gain
My life is to survive
and be alive
for you.

Which pretty much sums up how I feel about my former lefty comrades and brothers and sisters.

If you are not a lefty at 20 you have no heart. If you are still a lefty at 40 you have no head. Recent events at Virginia Tech show that where there is a will to resist lives can be saved. Flight 93 is another such lesson. And hard lessons they are. If you want peace be prepared to fight. Peace at any price comes with a very high price tag. First you will pay for peace and in the end you will not have it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

PERSECUTION OF BAHA'IS IN EGYPT AND IRAN FAILS TO GAIN INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION

Iran's systematic extermination of the Baha'i - stretching back to the earliest days of the Islamic Revolution - continues unabated. Here's a clip from a 1983 20/20 program about this program of quite literal religious extermination. People forget that in addition to deposing the Shah, eliminating Iran's Baha'i was an explicit part of Khomeini's agenda. Ignore the cheesy music and focus on the way that "enemy of Islam" was carved into mutilated bodies:


State organized persecution of the Baha'i is not exactly a secret in Iran. Now the same trends are emerging in Egypt. We're sure that you'll join us in being gratified that the UN is speaking out against these human rights atrocities. Except, well, you know.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

DANISH ISLAMIC SOCIETY HEAD: WOMEN WHO DON'T WEAR VEILS ARE ASKING TO BE RAPED

It's not so much where he blames rape victims for their own rape as where he compares being raped to being bought and sold:

According to Mostafa Chendid of the Danish Islamic Society (Islamisk Trossamfund), not only Muslim women but other women too should wear a veil. Why? Because five up to ten percent of all men cannot control themselves when they see a woman without a veil. Mostafa Chendid is considered to be the successor of Ahmad Abu Laban, one of the imams who was involved in the affair around the notorious Danish cartoons...

Earlier he had already succeeded to draw attention to himself by saying, on International Women's Day, to Jyllands-Posten (that's right: the newspaper with the cartoons) that not only Muslim women, but all other women too, should wear a veil.... According to him the veil also serves as a signal: women with a veil are not for sale. Moreover, the veil protects against rapes, he says: in the US for example, every half minute a woman is raped, and according to him that is because women continuously tempt men by going onto the streets without a veil. Maybe not all men have a problem to control themselves when they see a woman without a veil, and perhaps there is only a problem with five to ten per cent of the men, but he says that is nevertheless enough for all women to wear the veil.

Pathologically sexist filth.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

101 IMPORTANT PLACES SCREENED THE MOVIE "OBSESSION"

And now, the great, important event I announced earlier has taken place, and student Michael Abdurakhmanov has achieved a very important milestone. Jacob Laskin talks about it on Front Page Mag:

Last fall, Pace University student Michael Abdurakhmanov tried to hold a screening of Obsession, a documentary about radical Islam, on his campus. Hoping to show that Islam is home to moderates as well as extremists, and that it is important to distinguish between the two camps, he unexpectedly found himself beset by opposition. Muslim students angrily rejected the idea. University administrators took an even harder line, with the school’s dean ominously warning Abdurakhmanov that showing the film could be considered a “hate crime,” and intimating, less than subtly, that police might be invited to sift through his personal record.

Now Abdurakhmanov has received restitution in a big way. Not only has Pace president David Caputo tendered a personal apology to Abdurakhmanov for the school’s strong-arm tactics, but yesterday marked the first-ever “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Day,” a nationwide effort to call attention to the threat of militant Islam by holding a mass-screening of the film that Abdurakhmanov’s school, quite literally, didn’t want him to see: Obsession. In total, 96 colleges and universities, among them Pace University, Columbia, Duke, and other prominent schools, together with three high schools and two military bases, showed the film, which was sponsored by the Terrorism Awareness Project, a new program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Now with this accomplishment, I should hope that even schools for the youngsters will be next to get a proper education in what Islamofascism is really like.

NYTIMES: MUSLIM "HONOR KILLINGS"

NYTIMES: MUSLIM HONOR KILLINGS -

RAMLA, Israel — The Abu Ghanem women are buried just inside the main gate of the old Muslim cemetery, eight in the last seven years. Amama Abu Ghanem says her daughter Hamda had been beaten by her brother and complained to the police months before she was killed.

Reem eloped with a lover to escape an arranged marriage. Her brothers, one a pediatrician, are on trial for murder. Sabrin rests under a bare concrete slab with her name roughly scratched on by hand. She is said to have been killed by a cousin whom she refused to marry. Shirihan, 15, the youngest of the dead women, is also said to have rejected a marriage. Her stepbrothers are suspected of having killed her.

Others lie in crudely marked graves, covered with plain marble or a mound of earth marked with an oval of stones — all a few minutes’ drive from Israel’s gleaming new international airport, here in this hardscrabble town of 64,000 Jews and Arabs.

So-called honor killings among Muslims are a phenomenon across the Middle East, including in Israel, where Arabs, most of them Muslim, make up almost 20 percent of the population. The Israeli police and courts have caught and convicted some of the killers; unlike the laws in some Arab societies, Israel’s do not make allowances for such acts.

MUSLIM NATIONS DO MAKES ALLOWANCES FOR SUCH ACTS; IN FACT THEIR SO-CALLED CULTURE PROMOTES THEM.

AND ANY SO-CALLED CULTURE WHICH PROMOTES "HONOR KILLINGS" WILL OF COURSE TOLERATE GENOCIDE AGAINST INFIDELS.

TO "DRAIN THE SWAMP", THE WEST MUST COMPLETELY SHUN ALL NATIONS WHICH PERMIT HONOR-KILLINGS, MISOGYNY, ENDOGAMY. AND POLYGAMY.

TERRORISTS ARE MADE, NOT BORN. THEY ARE MADE IN THE HOME - HOMES WHICH TEACH THEIR YOUNG BOYS THAT IT IS OKAY TO MURDER THE YOUNG GIRLS IN THE FAMILY.

THIS MUST BE STOPPED.

THE SYSTEMIC MISOGYNY IS SURELY AS EVIL AS SLAVERY WAS.

IF THE WEST COULD INTERVENE TO END SLAVERY, THEN THE WEST CAN AND MUST INTERVENE TO END THESE HIDEOUS PRACTICES.

JIHADOTERROR WON'T END UNTIL WE DO.

THE WEST SHOULD UNITE BEHIND THESE NON-MILITARY INTERVENTIONS.

THE WEST WOULD AND COULD IF ONLY THE LEFT WOULD COME ON BOARD.

SADLY, THE LEFT - NOW TRAPPED INSIDE IT ANTI-WEST, GRAMSCIAN AND POSTMODERNIST IDEOLOGIES - CANNOT SEEM TO DO THIS. UNTIL THE LEFT ABANDONS POSTMODERNISM THEY WILL NOT. UNTIL THEY ABANDON POSTMODERISM THEY WILL REMAIN A VIRTUAL FIFTH COLUMN OF THE ENEMIES OF THE WEST.

WHICH IS WHY I ALWAYS SAY: BEFORE WE CAN DEFEAT THE JIHADOTERRORISTS ABROAD, WE MUST DEFEAT THE LEFT AT HOME.

PAKISTANI JOURNALIST IN CANADA ASSAULTED WITH CRICKET BAT BY MUSLIM FANATICS

Whether or not the Pakistani journalist Jawaad Faizi is Muslim himself, that clearly didn't dissuade other, nastier ones from attacking him with a cricket bat:

Journalist Jawaad Faizi says he can still feel broken glass showering over him in his car as he fended off blows from a cricket bat in a surprise attack he blames on "religious fanatics."

Message to the ignoramuses at the Toronto Star who put in the quotations: they were religious fanatics. Do your homework.

A writer for the Pakistan Post, Faizi said he was beaten by three men because he mocked a Pakistani cleric in a column.

Faizi said the men smashed the windshield and driver's window of his car as he arrived at his editor's home about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. He said he was struck by the cricket bat and was cut on his forearm.

"They were smashing and smashing, hitting and hitting," Faizi said. "I could not stop them."

Faizi said both he and his editor, Amir Arain, recently received phone calls warning them to stop writing defamatory articles about the religious group Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran and its leader, Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri.

Faizi said he wrote a column two weeks ago mocking the cleric, who he said told a gathering in Pakistan "that he could write the name of Mohammed on the moon with his finger."

"He is always trying to fool the people," Faizi said.

The columnist said his three attackers screamed at him in Punjabi and Urdu to stop writing about Minhaj-ul-Quran.

He said they fled when he dialed 911 on his cellphone. He was treated at Mississauga's Trillium Health Centre and released the same night.

[...]

Last month, police were called after a phone-message threatened violence against two Greater Toronto members of the moderate Muslim Canadian Congress for "smearing Islam."

Faizi said he fears for himself, his wife and their three children. Two sons, aged 5 and 10, and a daughter, 4, are being kept at home at the urging of their school's vice-principal.

"It is very scary for all of us," Faizi said.

And that's one more reason why Islam will have to be banned.

Seeing that the weapon used was a cricket bat, that makes me wonder if this shows just how much influence British propaganda must've had on the Pakistanis, since England was the one that invented the sport, many of their Muslims there are Pakistani, and the British media, certainly the Guardian and Observer, are by far the most irrational.

HRT now linked to ovarian cancer!

The drumbeat of the anti-HRT war grows louder. Yesterday HRT was accused of causing breast cancer. Today it is accused of causing ovarian cancer -- on equally frivolous grounds. A PDF of the full journal article in "Lancet" is here. I reproduce a media report of it below. Rather than adding to my own comments of yesterday, I follow the media report with a reproduction of Prof. Brignell's comment on the nonsense. Prof. Brignell is a mathematician who campaigns against the ignorant and malicious misuse of statistics

HORMONE replacement therapy, a contested treatment for post-menopausal women that has already been linked to breast cancer, is also associated with ovarian cancer, a study in The Lancet said today.

Women who take HRT are on average 20 per cent likelier to develop and die from ovarian cancer compared to women who have never been on this treatment, according to the research. The evidence comes from a major British investigation into female health, the Million Women Study, covering 1.3 million British women from 1996-2001....

The British researchers assessed data from 948,000 post-menopausal women, who had been questioned and later given a follow-up exam some three years later. Around 30 per cent were current HRT users; 20 per cent had previously received HRT; and the remaining 50 per cent had never taken it. Across all three groups, a total of 2273 women developed cancer, and 1591 died from it....

The HRT link with breast cancer surfaced in 2002 [See my post of 14th. for a comment on THAT crap study], prompting many women in the US to drop the treatment - a trend that notably coincided with a sharp fall in new breast cancer cases in the US...

More here





The empire strikes back

By John Brignell

Like the environmentalists, the epidemiologists do not like to have their hegemony over their corner of the media to be challenged. No sooner has their dangerous and destructive nonsense over breast cancer been thwarted than they come out with even more dangerous and destructive nonsense about ovarian cancer. Valerie Beral, a women noted for the size of her Trojan Numbers, has come out with a relative risk of 1.2.

There are at least two well known confounding factors to which such an observational study such as this are prey:

* If the therapy is successful then the patient will have a marked change of life style.
* The reasons for which the therapy was prescribed in the first place might well pose a risk factor.

The second of these can be eliminated in a properly conducted double-blind randomised trial, but the first cannot.

A personal anecdote will illustrate how this factor works. Last year your bending author was reduced to life as a housebound cripple by a marked increase in arthritic inflammation. Eventually, therapy with Diclofenac and Co-Codomol restored an element of normal living and the patient celebrated by going out and digging over a large allotment. In retrospect this was rather foolish, a such violent activity after a period of forced idleness would have exacerbated any incipient heart disease. Fortunately, survival indicates that there was none.

It seems, however, more likely that the second of these confounding factors would be more important in this case, but more haunting is the possibility of confounding factors we have not thought of.

Which words in the truism "Correlation is not Causation" do the epidemiologists not understand? There is no reason to suppose from these tacky observations that any women at all have been killed by HRT.

Is there anything more despicable than pinning your claim to fame on scaring millions of women out of using a hugely liberating therapy? As for Cancer UK, which we all know from the constant begging letters, it could put the product of its suppliance to better use by supporting science rather than nonsense.

Source

Prof. Brignell is too contemptuous of the study to comment at length on it above but he is making essentially the same point that I do: The very low percentage of women apparently affected makes it highly likely that the result is random noise. That some of the results are statistically significant rules out only one source of random fluctuation -- small sample size. A large enough sample will make ANY observed effect statistically significant. Statistical significance does not and cannot rule out other random (or non-random) events, effects and influences.

Prof. Brignell has some links in his article that I have not reproduced above. See the original for those links

This whole anti-HRT campaign is quite despicable. It aims to get women to take large risks (of osteoporosis etc.) in order to avoid tiny risks (of cancer)

(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 Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Pro-homosexual propaganda does work

Some news from Australia

"Lesbian kissing depicted on television has made young people more tolerant of same-sex liaisons. A research paper submitted to a conference of world sexual health experts in Sydney found that nearly half of adolescent girls surveyed through a Brazilian website considered it normal for a girl to kiss another on the mouth. Nearly one-quarter of those describing it as normal said they had held this view since a Brazilian TV prime-time soap depicted a lesbian relationship in 2004. In August 2003, pop stars Britney Spears and Madonna caused controversy for an on-stage open-mouthed kiss at a music awards show.

The research identified several other places where young people had witnessed same-sex behaviour. Of those who considered two girls kissing to be normal, 78 per cent said they had held this view since seeing it in a nightclub. Nearly half of the adolescent girls surveyed also said they had tried kissing a girl themselves....

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 Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

WE ARE ALL HOKIES TODAY

To honor the victims, April 20th is being declared "Orange and Maroon Effect" Friday.

Virginia Tech's alumni association is encouraging the nation to join the Virginia Tech family today and wear orange and maroon as a way to honor the families of those lost.

To learn more go here.

THE QUALITY OF HARRY REID

If you want an idea of the quality of a man like Harry Reid, consider this.

After the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Federal law proscribing "partial birth abortion" was in fact constitutionally valid, Harry Reid said: "I would only say that this is the only decision a lot of us wish that Alito weren't there and O'Connor were there."

Harry Reid voted in favor of banning "partial birth abortion" seven times! If the Court's decision upholding the law is so terrible, why'd he vote in favor of it seven times?

Due to all of the recent concern about maintaining civility in the blogosphere, I will refrain from a further characterization of Nevada's poor excuse for a Senator at this time.

NEW DURANTY TIMES CATCHES UP TO T.A.B. 4 DAYS LATER

The front page of today's New Duranty Times featured a story on the Iranian Supreme Court's decision to release from jurisdiction a death-squad of fanatical serial killers:

TEHRAN, April 18 — The Iranian Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of six members of a prestigious state militia who killed five people they considered “morally corrupt.” The reversal, in an infamous five-year-old case from Kerman, in central Iran, has produced anger and controversy, with lawyers calling it corrupt and newspapers giving it prominence. “The psychological consequences of this case in the city have been great, and a lot of people have lost their confidence in the judicial system,” Nemat Ahmadi, a lawyer associated with the case, said in a telephone interview. Three lower court rulings found all the men guilty of murder. Their cases had been appealed to the Supreme Court, which overturned the guilty verdicts. The latest decision, made public this week, reaffirms that reversal. “The objection by the relatives of the victims is dismissed, and the ruling of this court is confirmed,” the court said in a one-page verdict.

The Astute Bloggers discussed this horrific story last Sunday, noting that Harry Reid and his cronies had elected to hold their own private foreign policy discussions with the Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. in Washington. Dirty Harry violates the Logan Act because he wants to appease a regime that exonerates serial killers, while he does his best to discourage the American people at home and dishearten our brave troops in the field. The rot from within is truly worse than the threat from abroad.

Drill Team

Little Green Footballs put up this excellent video of the US Marines Silent Drill Team. The silent part means that no commands are given to initiate various actions as is done in normal squad manuvers. Commands like "About Face", "Forward, March", "Attention", "Present Arms", etc.

Which of course got me to thinking about my days as a Navy boot.

We drilled with the Springfield M1903. It is a very fine piece to drill with. They never trusted us with bayonets though. LOL (Boot camp for me started 11 Nov '63. NTC San Diego. Right next to Marine Corp Recruit Depot. We'd be having a smoke next to the fence watching the Marines double timing around the perimiter of the Recruit Depot. I know we thought "stupid Jar Heads". They probably thought "pussy Sailors". I'm sure the positioning was intentional. Motivation for both sides. LOL.)

BTW I love the way the fittings on the rifles rattle. It sounds like men going to battle since the age of metal weapons began.

Wiki on the 1903:

Due to its balance, it is still popular with various military drill teams and color guards, most notably the U.S. Army Drill Team. M1903 rifles are also common at high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units to teach weapons handling and military drill procedures to the cadets. JROTC units use M1903s for regular and inter-school competition drills, including elaborate exhibition spinning routines similar to a majorette spinning a baton.

For those of you who would like to see what the USNavy can do.

DR. ZAWAHIRI CAN RETIRE, HARRY REID IS DOING HIS JOB FOR HIM

One of Dr. Zawahiri's major tasks since the September Eleventh Atrocities has been to produce propaganda messages that are intended to bolster Al Qaeda's morale and destroy America's will to resist.

Well, he can take a vacation.

Senator Harry Reid is doing his job for him. According to news reports, Reid has publicly proclaimed that

this war is lost, that the surge is not accomplishing anything.

We've surmised for a while that the Democrat Party wants an abject American surrender in Iraq, so that its policy of worldwide appeasement can better take effect.

Now Reid has proven us right.

What would he have said after the Japanese took 50,000 British prisoners at the fall of Singapore? What would he have said during the Battle of the Bulge? What would he have said during 1863 and early 1864?

Harry Reid's statement will only aid the enemy. He has forfeited his privilege of serving in the United States Senate by helping the enemy's cause. He should be tried for materially aiding a foreign enemy who is at war with the United States.

THE RIOTS HAVE REACHED MALMö IN SWEDEN

I almost missed this, but it looks like Muslim riots similar to the ones that hit France and Australia in late 2005 have now reached Sweden as well (via Jihad Watch).

See also this item written by Fjordman over on Dhimmi Watch.

PROFESSOR LIBRESCU IS HERO IN TRAGEDY

Betsy's Page is absolutely right that Prof. Liviu Librescu is a hero for saving lives from the murderous rampage of the murderer at Virginia Tech, who, as discovered, had a sign on him that signaled that he could indeed have worshiped Islam. Here's an article about Librescu.

Librescu should most definitely be honored for his bravery. Update: and here's a petition asking to honor him too (via Michelle Malkin).

HITCHENS ON THE FORTHCOMING FRENCH ELECTIONS

Excerpt below:

The most salient fact about the French elections is the degree to which they show a France that is moving steadily to the right. "Sixty-five per cent to the right, in fact," as I am told by Louis Dreyfus of the Nouvel Observateur. Only 30 percent of even the dwindling blue-collar electorate can now be counted upon to vote Socialist or Communist. The surprise "centrist" figure in the contest, Francois Bayrou, is an upper-crust Catholic from the elite ranks of Giscard d'Estaing's rump conservative faction. The front-runner, Nicolas Sarkozy, is a "law-and-order" hard-liner who promises to get tough with young Muslim slum-dwellers and rioters. The superficially glamorous Socialist, Segolene Royal, who got the nomination only by forcefully repudiating her party's Old Left, has pitched herself as the spokeswoman for the holy trinity of the tricolor, the Marseillaise, and Joan of Arc.

M. Le Pen smirks broadly and says that everyone is moving his way in one form or another. And he isn't completely bluffing. There is a reason why the French Communist Party, which used to dominate the working class, the unions, and much of the lumpen intelligentsia, is now a spent force that represents perhaps 3 percent of the electorate. And that reason, uncomfortable as it may be, is that most of the Communist electorate defected straight to the National Front. Moreover, as Louis Dreyfus adds rather gloomily, none of Le Pen's last-time voters (who put him in the second round against Chirac and knocked the Socialist candidate out of the race) have any reason not to vote the same way this time.....

All this comes at a time when the French political elite is discredited and enervated to an amazing degree. There is general agreement that the country cannot afford any more featherbedding, but the Socialist program is only the most egregious in promising to pay people more than they earn. Anti-Americanism has reached a point of diminishing returns. A society that has benefited hugely from EU subsidies now resents the very bureaucracy at whose tit it has so long nursed. Amazing insularity is demonstrated in almost every presidential debate, with Mme. Royale the most astonishing in her apparent innocence of a world beyond the landlocked French district of Poitou of which she is regional president. (In the latest of many gaffe-strewn interviews, she seemed to be blissfully unaware that the Taliban was no longer the official government of Afghanistan. And which French Socialist does not know how to snigger at George Bush for his lack of sophistication in foreign affairs!)....

I don't think it is sufficiently appreciated that France has now become the most conservative major country in Europe, where different defenses of the status quo are at war only with different forms of nostalgia and even outright reaction.

More here

(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 Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

More on the strangeness of Google

What have Google got against "The Times" of London? I noted on 17th. that an interesting historical article from the "Times" could not be found via Google and I have encountered another example today. I tried to find this article via Google today but they had no record of it at all -- both via a web search and a news search. I DID however find a copy of the article in an Indian newspaper!

The article I could not find today was about immigration so maybe it fell foul of Google's notorious "hate-speech" filters. The article is a report of a speech by a British government minister, however, so only Google would see it as "hate speech".

Another possibility is that Google have been fine-tuning their algorithms lately to cut out duplicated content and the algorithms have got too smart for their own good -- cutting out far too much. Cutting out Britain's most famous newspaper is just ludicrous.

Google's censorship of my 200+ academic articles still seems to be absolute. I did find a record of one of them online today but it was given as a "Supplemental Result" -- meaning "no longer online". It IS however still online at the address given and always has been. I think the bosses at Google must be slowly losing their marbles.

(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 Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Good News - Fusion Project Funded

Mark of Ask Mark reports that because of Dr Bussard's winning the Outstanding Technology of the Year Award for 2006 and his widely reported Google talk the US Navy has decided to fund the final year of the his contract. (I contacted my Congress critter with no obvious result. However, maybe others had better results.)

That may be enough to get WB-7 and WB-8 funded. I hope his results from his new experiments will not be embargoed.

So far I have been unable to confirm this report. However, I have corresponded with Mark and from his e-mails he seems to be an OK guy.

Update: 19 April 2007 1200z

I found confirmation at Speculations 10 April 2007 post. There is no permalink for the post so I'm going to reproduce it here:

Greetings, future-watchers .... got some really interesting news about five minutes ago, straight from the man himself. Dr. Robert Bussard, of whom you may have heard, says that because of the publicity around his November 9th talk at Google and his International Academy of Science Outstanding Technology of the Year Award, the Navy has sent him a contract extension to continue his fusion research. It's two orders of magnitude below the $200 million Dr. Bussard says he needs to produce a full-scale 100mw system, but it's a start. If you're interested in helping out, see emc2fusion.org for more.

More details may be found in The Advent of Clean Nuclear Fusion: Superperformance Space Power and Propulsion, Dr. Bussard's contribution to the 57th International Astronautical Congress.

Come discuss this and other technology developments in The Expert Is In!

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

ON CONTROL:

In the aftermath of the VT massacre we owe the victims and their families a sober discussion of the issues at hand. It is amazing how quickly this became a GUN CONTROL issue. No matter what you think, believe, or feel about it, Gun Control will not remove all the weapons that are out there from the "equation", and, more importantly, it is doubtful criminals and psychotics will be hindered from aquiring guns, or other lethal tools. After witnessing Cho Seung-Hui's actions, statements, and previous behaviour it is clear that he was mentally ill. Psychotic murderers, like Cho Seung-Hui are motivated by their twisted logic and lack of SELF-CONTROL. If handguns were not available to him, Cho Seung-Hui would probably have found other weapons and methods to satisfy the evil within himself. It is sad that he was unable to find anyone among the 26000 people on the VT campus with whom he could interact, be friends with etc. But this is not a failure of the state to control the tools Cho Seung-Hui used. It is a failure of his family, friends and community to prevent this "mental case" from going beserk. So let's not waste time trying to amend the great Constitution of the United States. Lets try to have a society where odd people can fit in, and where sick people get help.

DHIMMITUDE IN BAGHDAD. NO REALLY - LITERAL DHIMMITUDE

Dhimmi Watch brings yet another report of the disturbing, medieval version of Islam that's slowly creeping into cultural and judicial life in Iraq:

An update on this story: "More on Muslims Forcing Christian Assyrians in Baghdad to Pay 'Protection Tax,'" from AINA, with thanks to all who sent this in:
(AINA) -- On 3-18-2007 AINA reported that Muslims were forcing the Christian Assyrians in the Dora Neighborhood of Baghdad to Pay the jizya, the 'Protection Tax' demanded from Christians and Jews by Islamic law. AINA has obtained testimony from two residents of Dora and an observer. All names are withheld to protect the safety of the individuals.

Baghdad Observer:
Elements of Al-Qaeda have moved into Dora from Anbar. No security forces are to be seen there, it seems to be abandoned by both Iraqi and Coalition. In Hay Al-Mechaneek (which is in Dora across the bridge) people have been warned by these insurgents to uninstall the satellite dishes since this is "Haram" (forbidden) in Islam. In Dora where christians live in Hay Al-Mualimeen [Teachers quarter] and Hay Al-Athorieen [Assyrian quarter] is where they are telling people to convert, leave, pay "Jizya" taxation.

He's got more letters and testimony in the original post. It's depressing to see that Iraq is getting more theocratic after everything the Coalition has fought for. But this will be the entirety of Iraq - and very soon afterwards the entirety of Syria and Egypt - if the US withdraws before establishing a stable, non-confessional Iraqi regime. Iraq will become the new Afghanistan (or is Afghanistan already the new Afghanistan)? Except it'll be what Afghanistan would have become if it was floating on a sea of oil.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

NYT GETS PULITZER FOR EXPLORING LIFE OF IMAM AND MOSQUE, FORGETTING TO MENTION ANTI-JEWISH SHOOTING RAMPAGES THING

The Pulitzers are awarded for journalism so inspirational in its topic and rigor as to be well above the average. It'd be interesting to find out, then, how Andrea Elliott's omission-filled journalistic roadkill was chosen for approbation:

The latest Pulitzer Prize awarded to the New York Times wasn't so honored when it originally came out -- by conservatives or even by some liberals. Andrea Elliott's three-part series exploring Islam in America through the imam Reda Shata of the Bay Ridge mosque in Brooklyn was powerfully critiqued by Washington Times columnist Diana West:

Both the New York Post and the New York Sun have already pounced on the most egregious flaw of omission: not a mention, in 11,000-plus words, of the day in March 1994 when a man walked out of that same Bay Ridge mosque and, inspired by the anti-Jewish sermon of the day (delivered by a different, unidentified imam), armed himself and opened fire on a van carrying Hasidic Jewish children. Ari Halberstam, 16, was killed. The Times series, as it happened, concluded on the 12th anniversary of his death.

First we have Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to people who dedicate themselves to genocidal warfare, and now we have the Pulitzers lauding journalists who do (at best) half-assed journalism. But hey, at least their hearts are in the right place.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]