SOME VITAL EVIDENCE IN OLMERT CASE GOES "MISSING"

One of Ehud Olmert's associates in his illegal activities appears to be hiding evidence against him:

(IsraelNN.com) In a report Friday, journalist Yoav Yitzchak said that the company accused of bribing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by giving him a huge discount on the purchase of an apartment in a project for which he helped arrange hard-to-get permits had “lost” an important piece of evidence in the case. The Alumot construction company, which developed the Carmia project in which Olmert reportedly purchased an apartment at a $600,000 discount, says that it cannot find an appraisal document prepared by the company that states the developers could expect between NIS 1.8 million and NIS 2 million for dwellings of the type and size Olmert was able to purchase – for NIS 1.2 million.

Are he and they trying now to destroy evidence? It would seem that way.

UK'S NHS: PRAISED BY MICHAEL MOORE - EVEN THOUGH IT DENIES A WIDOW SIGHT-SAVING DRUGS

SHE IS NOW GOING BLIND.

SO IS MICHAEL MOORE, THOUGH ONLY FIGURATIVELY.

YO MIKEY, I GOTTA QUESTION FUHYA:

IF CUBAN HEALTHCARE IS SO GOOD, AND AMERICA'S SO BAD, THEN WHY ARE ALL THE CUBANS TRYING TO GET INTO THE USA?

AND WHY AREN'T HAITIANS TRYING TO GET INTO CUBA?!

THEY KNOW SOMETHING MOORE DOESN'T.

THE TRUTH.

"FEARLESS FRED!" FOR PRESIDENT

BETTER FRED, THAN RED!

WILL THE NEW IMMIGRATION BILL INCREASE CRIME?

Just asking.

I mean, er um... if the feds intend on putting a high price tag on the cost of "getting legal" (amnesty), then won't many of the people here illegally commit a crime to get that money fast?

It seems to me that this new immigration bill will give them an incentive to come up with a lot of cash all of once - which they might not be able to do on their hourly-cash wages...

Just asking.

"IT IS TIME TO ATTACK THE MYTH OF GLOBAL WARMING"

When our civilization is being attacked by purveryors of myths and outright lies, it is time to go on the attack. Meterologist Augie Auer debunks the Global Warming Myth. From the Australian Herald:

Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week.

Man's contribution to the greenhouse gases was so small we couldn't change the climate if we tried, he maintained. "We're all going to survive this. It's all going to be a joke in five years," he said. A combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype,and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it. "It is time to attack the myth of global warming," he said. Water vapour was responsible for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, an effect which was vital to keep the world warm, he explained.

"If we didn't have the greenhouse effect the planet would be at minus 18 deg C but because we do have the greenhouse effect it is plus 15 deg C, all the time."

The other greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, and various others including CFCs, contributed only five per cent of the effect, carbon dioxide being by far the greatest contributor at 3.6 per cent. However, carbon dioxide as a result of man's activities was only 3.2 per cent of that, hence only 0.12 per cent of the greenhouse gases in total.

Human-related methane, nitrogen dioxide and CFCs etc made similarly minuscule contributions to the effect: 0.066, 0.047 and 0.046 per cent respectively.

"That ought to be the end of the argument, there and then," he said.

"We couldn't do it (change the climate) even if we wanted to because water vapour dominates." Yet the Greens continued to use phrases such as "The planet is groaning under the weight of CO2" and Government policies were about to hit industries such as farming, he warned.

"The Greens are really going to go after you because you put out 49 per cent of the countries emissions. Does anybody ask 49 per cent of what? Does anybody know how small that number is?

"It's become a witch-hunt; a Salem witch-hunt," he said.

LISTEN TO FRED TALK TO MARK LEVIN ABOUT IMMIGRATION WITHOUT ASSIMILATION

LTTWT.

JIMMY CARTER ON IRAQ AND BLAIR: DEPOSING A GENOCIDAL TYRANT AND REPLACING IT WITH DEMOCRACY WAS A TRAGEDY

BREITBART/AFP (VIA DRUDGE): Former US president Jimmy Carter on Saturday attacked outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair for his "blind" support of the Iraq war, describing it as a "major tragedy for the world".

In an interview with BBC radio, Carter was asked how he would describe Blair's attitude to US President George W. Bush. He replied: "Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient.

"I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world."

RANT ALERT:

APPARENTLY, CARTER - LIKE NEARLY ALL OF THE LEFT -

THINKS THAT DEPOSING A GENOCIDAL TYRANT,

AND REPLACING HIS LYING, CHEATING, BRIBING, MURDERING, ECOLOGY-DESTROYING REGIME

WITH A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED CONSTITUTIONAL AND PLURALISTIC GOVERNMENT

WAS: "A MAJOR TRAGEDY FOR THE WORLD."

HE SAYS THIS EVEN THOUGH - FOR THE MOST PART - "THE WORLD" HAS STOOD BY AND DONE NOTHING TO HELP - AND HAS NOT BEEN HURT ONE IOTA BY THE CONTINUING BLOODSHED,

90% OF WHICH IS IRAQI-VERSUS-IRAQI OR MUSLIM-VERSUS-MUSLIM, AND NOT "OCCUPIER" VERSUS NATIVE.

THE FACT IS - NO MATTER WHAT IDIOTS LIKE CARTER SAY -

IRAQ IS WHERE THE FREE WORLD IS FIGHTING AND KILLING MOST OF THE JIHADISTS, AND WHERE WE MUST SUCCEED IF WE ARE TO DEFEAT THEM ANYWHERE ELSE,

FOR IF WE ABANDON THE NASCENT DEMOCRACY OF IRAQ - (THE WAY DOVES LIKE CARTER MADE US ABANDON THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT AND THE CONTRAS) --

A U.N. RECOGNIZED IRAQI GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS REQUESTED AND AUTHORIZED OUR CONTINUED PRESENCE, (ALONG WITH POST-WAR UNSC RESOLUTIONS) --

THEN WE SHALL SURELY NOT BE ABLE TO CONVINCE OTHER ALLIES AND POTENTIAL ALLIES THAT THEY CAN DEPEND ON US IN THE FUTURE BATTLES IN THE WAR AGAINST GLOBAL JIHADISM.

POLITICIANS LIKE CARTER - WHO CONTINUALLY ATTACK THE USA AND OUR ALLIES, AND MAKE THE EXACT SAME ARGUMENTS ABOUT OUR POLICIES AS DOES AL QAEDA - SHOULD BE CHARGED WITH TREASON AND TRIED - AND IF CONVICTED EXECUTED.

CARTER - LIKE THE REST OF THE LEFT - HAS FOR YEARS SUCKED UP TO, APPEASED CODDLED, COOED AND HUGGED NEARLY EVERY SINGLE TYRANT ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH - FROM KHOMEINI TO ARAFAT TO KIM IL SUNG TO FIDEL AND ORTEGA AND MUGABE AND CHAVEZ.

CARTER - LIKE THE REST OF THE LEFT - ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITICAL, COWARDLY ANTI-AMERICAN, LEFTIST SCUM.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM NEWS: Phony king - Abdullah II - pleads that more money be given to so-called "palestinians"

BBC:

Jordan's King Abdullah has urged the world to act to end what he described as the continuing suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

"There can be no more delay," he told some 1,000 politicians and businessmen at the World Economic Forum in Jordan. "This suffocating situation has brought poverty, malnutrition, frustration and radicalisation," King Abdullah said.

He urged the gathering to prepare investment plans for the "day after peace" in the Middle East.

IT IS OBVIOUS TO ANY SANE PERSON THAT THE SO-CALLED PALESTINIANS ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN IDIOTIC BLOODTHIRSTY IDEOLOGY: JIHADISM AND A BLINDING ANTI-ZIONISM.

There can be no peace within this "community" until they give up their genocidal and misogynistic, child-abusing manias - IOW: RADICAL ISLAM.

The fate of Arab Muslims living in Gaza is NOT up to the West, or Israel. It is up to them.

If they converted to Judaism or Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism a CIVILIZED religion then they would become civilized the fighting would end in an instant.

If Abdullah II was intellectually honest he - as a Hashemite descendant - would leave this hideous, genocidal faith and convert himself. Instead he wants the West to give these barbaric beast more money - which is like puring gasoline on a fire. It won't dampen the flames.

Radicalization of the Muslims is NOT because of Israel. Not in Gaza and not in southern Thailand and not in the Philippines and not in Kashmir and not in Algeria and not in Morocco and not in Iraq and not in Afghanistan and NOT ANYWHERE.

The problem is WITHIN ISLAM.

CHAVEZ DEMANDS POPE APOLOGIZE, AND REGURGITATES POSTMODERNIST LIES ABOUT CHRISTIANITY AND COLONIALISM

REUTERS:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez demanded Pope Benedict apologize to Indians in Latin America for saying this month in Brazil that the Roman Catholic Church purified them.

Chavez, who regularly clashes with the Catholic Church in Venezuela but had not directly criticized the Pope before, accused the Pontiff on Friday of ignoring the "holocaust" that followed Christopher Columbus's 1492 landing in the Americas.

"With all due respect your Holiness, apologize because there was a real genocide here and, if we were to deny it, we would be denying our very selves," Chavez said at an event on freedom of expression.

In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a visit to Venezuela's neighbor Brazil, the Pope said the Church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Indian leaders in the region were outraged by the comments.

Millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of European colonization backed by the Church, through slaughter, disease or enslavement.

TRUTH: The indigenous cultures of this hemisphere were among the most brutal, bloodthirsty and barbaric in all of human history on any continent. Christianity SAVED them from the horrifying brutality of their INDIGENOUS "CULTURE" and indigenous and internecine wars, human sacrifice and cannibalism. Perhaps some had Christianity imposed on them, and certainly they did have Western Civilization imposed on them. this was NET GAIN for them.

The story that the Conquistadors and the Church took over via racist genocidal warfare is ABSOLUTELY wrong and a LIE the Left has told and retold over and over - in almost all our academic settings - in order to promote the idea that the Judeo-Christian West is bad and Marxism good.

The Roman Catholic Church in particular saw EACH AND EVERY indigenous person as a full human with a full soul worthy of membership in the Apostolic Church. There were NOT churches for Europeans and others for indigenous people, there was one church for ALL. This is far FAR far FAR more humanistic and open than ANY and ALL cultures of the New World were.

Mayan and Aztec and Incan history is REPLETE with horrifying accounts of brutality which makes al Qaeda look tame. Many of the principalities of these "cultures" practiced human sacrifice WITH CANNIBALISM on a huge scale. For the dedication of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs may have ritually MURDERED tens of THOISUANDS of people and then cannibalized their remains.

This is worse than ANY AND ALL actions of the Church or the West aganist the indigenous cultures.

REPEAT: WE SAVED THEM!

REMINDER: Nobody from Mexico -- or any other nation in the New World - is "escaping" the West and sneaking into more naivistic/indigenous regions; THEY ARE ALL HEADING HERE. Just as Haitians head here and NOT CUBA.

If the Church and the West were so so so evil and bad, then they'd be leaving. In fact, the Pope's biggest problem in the region is the growth of Pentecostalism, and not drift back to nativism.

The LEFTIST TYRANT CHAVEZ is regurgitating old, tired old, tired old bald-faced lies.

And the MSM and the Academy sits idly by - because they are dominated by Leftist and have been brainwashed to believe these lies.

Modern Leftism DEPENDS on this basic lie - because Marxism predicted that the MOST INDUSTRIALIZED ECONOMIES would become communist first, and this never ever happened. So as Lee Harris has proven, the Left morphed and reinvented itself as a defender of the Third World. Hence their HATRED of globalization and industrialization - to things Marx himself thought were good.

And which human lifespans and living standards in the West PROVE ARE GOOD.

To improve the lives of BILLIONS of people in the Third World, they need MORE WESTERNIZATION, not less.

NOTE: READ THIS LEE HARRIS ESSAY TO FULLY GRASP THE WESTERNPHOBIA OF THE POSTMODERN LEFT.

ALSO NOTE: The fact that Hugo Chavez - SOCIALIST - attacks the Pope and EMBRACES Ahmadinejad is no accident; it reveals the core truth about postmodern leftism: it hates the West and will ally itself with jihadism to achieve this.

Conservative Radio Host under Attack

Media Matters seem determined to do Colorado radio host Bob Newman a favour by publicizing his views widely. Newman says that Muslims are dangerous and should be treated accordingly, so that is "hate speech", of course. And Newman disses a Quaker group! How could he? That the Quaker group itself says that it is devoted to "social justice" (Leftist code for enforced equality -- if it were really justice it would not need the adjective in front of it), Newman's comments about them are probably correct too.


(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.)

Test Shows Conservatives More Mentally Complex Than Liberals

Post excerpted from Cheat-seeking Missiles

I'm not sure that this is what Jonathan Haidt, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, set out to do, but his research into the basis of our morality has shown what is obvious to most of us: Liberals run on a pretty simple clock, whereas the clockwork of conservatives is far more advanced and complex. Did he really say that? You bet:

Haidt argues that human morality is a cultural construction built on top of - and constrained by - a small set of evolved psychological systems. He presents evidence that political liberals rely primarily on two of these systems, involving emotional sensitivities to harm and fairness. Conservatives, however, construct their moral understandings on those two systems plus three others, which involve emotional sensitivities to in-group boundaries, authority and spiritual purity.

Got that? Liberals are worried that the guppy doesn't get hurt and that everyone sings Kumbaya with perfectly balanced voice quality. Conservatives are all for not harming and being fair, but create a much more complex structure for their moral measurements.

Adding in-group boundaries basically means we conservatives are conformists and are more likely to find immorality in the wanton destruction of social mores than liberals, who tend to see such destruction as a moral attribute. Rage against the machine, fight the man. Authority means, of course, respect for authority. Liberals get no moral readings from that attribute, but it's big to conservatives.

Haidt's last point is interesting: the spiritual roots of moral decisions. I think he's wrong here because his survey focuses on religion, not on beliefs. Dennis Prager correctly states that there is more dogma in the Liberal faith system (environmentalism, human rights, tolerance) than in any established religion. If Haidt had designed his survey instrument differently, I believe "core belief systems" would have scored as high with the liberals as with the conservatives, if not higher.

(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.)

I ENDORSE FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT

HERE'S ONE REASON: IT'S A SMALL WORLD.

HERE'S ANOTHER: THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI.

AND ANOTHER: YOUR LISTENING TO RADIO FREE CONGRESS.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND ALSO LISTEN TO HIM DELIVER THESE ESSAYS BY CLICKING ON THE PODCAST VERSIONS, TOO.

HE GETS IT, AND HE CAN COMMUNICATE IT.

I LIKE A LOT ABOUT RUDY AND MITT.
I COULD VOTE FOR EITHER AGAINST ANY DEM.

BUT I LIKE FRED THE MOST.

Instapundit Likes Murders, I Like Sex

Glenn Reynolds seems to like to do tabloid bits (who doesn't?) and today he is featuring the CHANNON CHRISTIAN / CHRISTOPHER NEWSOME KILLING, a particularly gruesome job, with black criminals and white victims. BTW note how important it must be to be ALL CAPS. Well at least he didn't go the extra step and BOLD IT as well.

Murders are so ugly, so instead I'm going to do a non-rape of strippers case with home video of nude strippers toying with college kids. Lots of alcohol. And two completely different views of the events of the fateful evening.

One view is the stripper's point of view. The other point of view is of the pledge master (did I forget to mention fraternities? - yep, two of them are involved) who hired the strippers. Yep. Two of them. Sorta like the Duke case, except the strippers are white. Plus lots of geeky frat boys. With that particular insolent affectation that some youth (boys especially) of that age have. Did I mention that there is video? Which is NOT WORK SAFE. OK? Raw Deal: A Question of Consent - 20 minute preview - NOT WORK SAFE. Oh yeah. You get to meet the mother and grandmother of the stripper who claimed to be raped.

Rape is a serious crime and not to be taken lightly. However, there are a lot of false rape claims.

Plus, it is a sad but true fact of life that the level of protection for women in that line of work is reduced. Because it blurs the lines of consent/non-consent.

I have watched the preview and I must say that the story is a strong one. Besides which would you rather do for your tabloid fix today? Read about gruesome murders or watch some strippers in action?

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

EGYPT ALLOWED TO JOIN UN'S HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

The sublining of this article in the Toronto Star says, "History of torture in African nation makes a mockery of UN, critics say". But what difference does it make when the UN happens to be corrupt already, and it's otherwise typical of them to allow corrupt countries like Egypt to join the wrong councils?

In Egypt, Canadian bank teller Mohamed el-Attar is facing 15 years in jail on spy charges he says he confessed to under torture. Human rights groups say prisoner abuse is routine in the North African country.

In New York yesterday, Egypt won an uncontested seat on the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council, which is meant to defend the rights of the vulnerable worldwide.

What part of this equation doesn't compute?

"Things like this leave one worried that all the fine things said last year when the council was created aren't being played out in practice," says Alex Neve, who heads Amnesty International's Canadian office.

Oh, Amnesty Intl. is the one to voice disagreements on this. They're just as bad and phony, so what's the use?

More than a dozen human rights groups asked the 192-country General Assembly not to vote for Egypt in yesterday's election to fill 14 seats on the Geneva-based council, charging that the country's record "is full of serious human rights violations that have been practised widely for long years."

They named torture, arbitrary detention, election rigging and the use of military courts for trying civilians as reasons not to back Cairo's bid.

Critics cite Egypt's win – along with Qatar and Angola, with similarly dubious human rights records – as a sign that the council, created last year to replace the politically charged UN Human Rights Commission which had become known as "the abuser's club," is already irrelevant.

"Sadly... the new council has not been an improvement over the much-derided commission," said a report from Geneva-based UN Watch.

"In some ways it has even been worse."

Yes, sadly, it has.

Naughty British Comedian Causes Upset in Berkeley

We read:

"A British stand-up has been accused of spreading `racist hate speech' in California. Pat Condell has faced a barrage of criticism after links to his anti-Muslim monologue on YouTube were circulated to commissioners in the city of Berkeley.

In the five-minute video, Condell condemns Islam as a religion of war and its prophet Mohammad as `some rambling ancient desert nomad with a psychological disorder'.

He attacks fundamentalist men as `primitive pigs whose only achievement in life is to be born with a penis is one hand and a Koran in the second' and accuses women who wear veils of their own will of being `mentally ill'. ....

Commissioner Michael Sherman said Condell's views were `stunning' because of his `stereotyping and bigotry of the tone and the language'. And commissioner Elliot Cohen called the tape `insulting, degenerating and racist'.....

Condell, an atheist, has released a number of monologues on the internet, criticising all religions. The anti-Islamic video has been seen almost 16,000 times on YouTube and more than 190,000 times on another file sharing site, LiveLeak.

Source

You can view the video concerned via the link above. Red Berkeley must be greatly peeved that it can do nothing to censor this entirely defensible evaluation of their Jihadist friends.


(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.)

An Australian Response to Attempted Media Censorship

The resource-rich Australian State of Western Australia covers an area greater than Texas and California combined. The resources boom has made it very rich, despite its having a Left-leaning Labor Party government. There has however been vast government corruption, which the local newspaper in the capital city helped to expose and publicize, resulting in the standing down of several leading government figures. Despite the fact that the newspaper concerned was in fact rather slow off the mark in publicizing the corruption, the Leftist government hates it:

The State Government has refused to introduce laws to protect journalists' sources unless The West Australian newspaper, sacks editor Paul Armstrong. Attorney-General Jim McGinty said The West Australian was the nation's most inaccurate and dishonest newspaper and until it lifted its standards it did not deserve shield laws. "The board of West Australian Newspapers needs to sack the editor. It is personally driven by a particular individual,'' he said.

Mr McGinty said standards were so bad at The West Australian that if a competitor emerged that could break the paper's monopoly, the Government would consider redirecting its advertising to foster competition. "I think it is in the interests of a healthy democracy that we have competition. The public would then have a choice not to buy a crap newspaper,'' he said. Until standards improved at The West Australian, he said there would be no shield laws in his state to protect journalists' sources. "With the shield go responsibilities. And when you get a newspaper that is bigoted, lies, cheats and deceives, my view is that you don't get the shield,'' MrMcGinty said.

Mr Armstrong said yesterday he "could not give a fat rat's arse'' about what Mr McGinty said about him. "Do I care? Not in the slightest. If he hates us it tells me we are probably doing our job and doing it very well, as I know we are,'' he said. "But I would care if McGinty turned around and said that (the) newspaper and editor are excellent. That would tell me, as it would tell Chris Mitchell (editor-in-chief of The Australian), that we are a long way short of the mark,'' Mr Armstrong said.

Source

A very blunt Australian response that would be unthinkable in most of the world. Australia does not have a First Amendment but any serious attempt to hamper press freedom would trigger voter contempt so the editor could speak without fear. But the war continues:

"West Australian Newspapers has rejected calls by the State Government to sack The West Australian newspaper's editor Paul Armstrong. The Government - led by former television presenter Premier Alan Carpenter - yesterday escalated its war with the state's monopoly newspaper, repeating calls for Armstrong to be sacked.

But West Australian Newspapers chief executive Ken Steinke last night vowed the publisher would not be intimidated, attacking the Government's threat to shift millions of advertising dollars to any start-up competitor to the newspaper.... "One would assume taxpayers' money would be spent in a way that provided the best value for money - not according to which newspaper gave the Government the most favourable coverage," Mr Steinke said....

Armstrong also hit back at the criticism, comparing Mr McGinty to Stalin and saying the minister was using taxpayer funds to blackmail, threaten and intimidate a vocal but legitimate critic of the Government.

Source

I think this is all a bit of foot-shooting on the part of the W.A. government. They have allowed their hate to overcome their judgment.


(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.)

KUDOS TO TONY BLAIR

Tony Blair is by no means a conservative but he gets the "War on Terror". Blair's parting words yesterday were remarkable and courageous and I for one commend him for them.

We took a decision that we thought was very difficult, Blair said. I thought then, and I think now, it was the right decision.

Sometimes it's a controversial relationship - at least over in my country, he said Thursday. I have taken the view that Britain should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America after Sept. 11. I have never deviated from that view. I do not regret that view.

Too bad more politicians don't have a backbone like Tony Blair. Stand for what you believe in, no matter what the cost. Churchill would've been proud.

AND NOW, COMING TO LIVE FROM BETWEEN MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD'S WIFE'S THIGHS ...

... It's the Infidel Radio ShowThe Infidel Radio Show interview with Paul Williams.

Tonight we interviewed terrorism expert Paul Williams. Paul is the author of the new book on nuclear terrorism The Day Of Islam.

Paul is also the author of the recent article on Islamberg, the Islamic military compound in upstate New York.

Paul tells us about the "American Hiroshima" that the Islamofascists have planned for us.

Click here to listen to the show.

THE BUSH-KENNEDY AMNESTY BILL WILL MAKE THE HARRIET MEIRS NOMINATION LOOK LIKE A BRILLIANT STROKE

IDIOTS.

OUR NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM - COURTESY OF BUSH-KENNEDY AND AMNESTY

GET USED TO IT, AMIGO!

Venezuela's state-sponsored land theives reveal core hypocrisy of "land reforms"

NYTIMES:

1 - PROVING THAT THE CHAVEZ SOCIALIST POLICIES HAVE FAILED:

Eight years into his rule, their existence has become an uncomfortable reminder that Chavez's policies -- like those of his predecessors -- have failed to create enough stable, productive jobs despite a growing economy boosted by windfall oil revenues.

Street peddlers, pirate taxis, maids, and others toiling in Venezuela's informal economy account for 45 percent of the labor force -- at last count, 5.5 million people, according to the government's March employment statistics. The street sellers are the most visible face of this formidable off-the-books economy, a phenomenon common across Latin America.

2 - PROVING THAT THESE LEFTIST POLICIES ARE HYPOCRITICAL AT THEIR CORE:

Ms. Colmenares, holding her 6-month-old daughter, Luzelis. “We’ll never let what we have now be taken from us.”

A WHATTA!?!? SHE IS MORE "ENTITLED" TO THE LAND THE STATE STOLE FOR HER, THEN WERE THE LAND'S RIGHTFUL OWNERS!?!?

THIS IS THE AUDACITY OF SOCIALISM: PROMOTING FAILED POLICIES WHICH ARE HYPOCRITICAL AT THEIR VERY CORE.

MOVE AMERICA FORWARD HOLDS RALLY IN LAS VEGAS

Folks in the Neon City braved the heat to hold a rally outside the Las Vegas office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to protest his stand on the War in Iraq and show their support for the troops in Iraq. Here are a few snapshots:







They waved white flags in a jab at Harry Reid for saying that the War in Iraq is lost. They even brought along a surrender monkey.


More at Jim-Rose.com...

ESTONIA OPENS NEW SYNAGOGUE

An excellent development in eastern Europe:

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - Jewish leaders and politicians from Estonia and Israel celebrated the opening of the Baltic country's first and only synagogue Wednesday, six decades after previous houses of worship were destroyed in World War II.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres cut the red ribbon at the front of the $2 million, 180-seat ultramodern synagogue in Tallinn after the Torah scrolls were brought inside amid music and dancing.

"You can burn down a building, but you cannot burn down a prayer. And we are a praying people," Peres said.

Tallinn's previous synagogue, built in 1883, was destroyed in 1944 in air raids as Nazi troops fled the Red Army's advance. Tartu, a university town southeast of the capital, also had a synagogue, but it too was destroyed during the war.

Some 5,000 Jews lived in Estonia prior to World War II, enjoying cultural autonomy declared by the government in 1926.

The Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940 ended the Jewish cultural autonomy, and hundreds of Jews were deported, as were thousands of other Estonians.

When the Nazis invaded in 1941, a majority in the Jewish community managed to escape to the Soviet Union, but the roughly 1,000 Jews who remained behind were sent to concentration camps around Estonia.

They were later killed along with thousands of other Jews deported to Estonia from other European countries. Experts believe fewer than a dozen Jews survived the Holocaust in Estonia.

Today, most of Estonia's 3,000-member Jewish community lives in Tallinn. The country has a population of 1.3 million, and joined the European Union in 2004.

Speaking of the wartime occupations of Estonia, Ilves said it was a difficult time for both Estonians and Jews. "Estonia's Jewish community has always done good things for the Estonian nation," he said.

Roughly 500 people attended the ceremony, including members of the Knesset, Israel's parliament and the chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger.

Construction of the airy new synagogue started in 2005. The price tag was shouldered by U.S.-based Rohr Family Foundation and Estonian donors.

In addition to religious services, the synagogue will prepare and distribute kosher foods in a restaurant and present the history of Jews in Estonia.

Estonia chief Rabbi Shmuel Kot expressed hope that the new synagogue would strengthen the local Jewish identity.

"For a long time, it was not possible to practice Jewish life in Estonia," Kot, of the New York-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement, said Tuesday. "There was no rabbi, no kosher food ... no possibility to learn about Judaism."

"People will now have the possibility to feel as a Jew," he said.

While I'm not happy that Shimon Peres took part in this, as there's reasons why it just doesn't seem right, I am happy that Estonia's taken steps to help the Jewish religion to be practiced properly again. This is a good bit of news. Alos, here's the CIS Jewish Federation's website.

IAF WRECKS HAMAS COMPOUND

That's the right thing to do. Level their HQs:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli targeted Hamas with three airstrikes on Thursday, destroying a compound and a car carrying senior commanders of the Islamic group and killing three people in a new layer of violence added to Palestinian infighting that has paralyzed the Gaza Strip.

All of the strikes were in Gaza City, where 22 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in the most widespread factional fighting in nearly a year between Hamas and the rival Fatah.

I do not shed a tear for any terrorist from either side who bit the bullet. They're asking for it, from each other, and from Israel as well.

A LOOK AT WHAT IT'S LIKE IN SDEROT

Here's what may be the most honest article I can find from the AP telling just what problems the residents of Sderot have in being the target of Hamas missile attacks:

SDEROT, Israel (AP) - Schools closed and residents huddled in bomb shelters or fled in buses Wednesday as another barrage of rockets struck this Israeli border town, the target of thousands of Palestinian attacks since 2001.

Late in the day, a homemade rocket hit an electrical transformer in southern Israel, the army said, knocking out power to the 24,000 resident of Sderot.

More than 20 rockets were fired on the town on Wednesday, wounding two people. The attacks came a day after rockets injured five other residents and destroyed several homes in the town - along with any remnant of a sense of security here.

Hamas' decision to rocket Sderot this week appeared to be an attempt to draw Israel into Palestinian infighting as a way of uniting warring factions. Dozens of Palestinians have died since Sunday in a surge of violence between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements.

Mayor Eli Moyal said more than 4,500 Qassam rockets have landed in the working-class town since 2001, killing seven residents and wounding dozens. Real estate prices have dropped 60 percent, commerce has collapsed and a recent poll indicated about half the residents would leave if they could.

The main impact of the rocket attacks on Sderot has been psychological, with experts warning the damage would be long-lasting.

"The anxiety level with the kids is unimaginable," said Tami Sagie, head of psychological services in Sderot. "We have a whole generation that was born into the Qassams, children whose first word is 'boom.'"

More at the first link. One thing that's disagreeable in the article is how the writer, Aron Heller, uses the term "palestinians". But other than that, I'll have to credit the AP for writing something that's by far one of the most honest articles you can find about the crisis in Sderot.

ISLAMBERG: A COMPOUND OF RADICALISM IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

A disturbing story that's been virtually ignored by the MSM, Islamberg is a compound in the Catskill Mountains of New York where there appears to be terrorist practices being conducted. There's quite a bit of information about it available on the web, and it's something that certainly needs to be brought to full light.

Just recently, the Canada Free Press reported that a blogger received a death threat for writing about the subject. I hope he's getting proper protection, and that the police are investigating, because this is very serious, as is the case of Islamberg itself. (via SliwaNews.)

BBC can't take what they themselves dish out

The Beeb was doing a big report on scientology and the scientologists knew what bias they could expect from that. So they filmed the BBC team while the BBC was filming. They watched the watchers. Which of course meant that the Beeb could not do "creative" editing on what they filmed without being shown up as crooks. Filming the Beeb paid off. The Beeb could not bear being subject to scrutiny. The leader of the BBC team lost his cool:

"In the Scientologists' clip of the outburst, which it posted on the video-sharing website YouTube, Sweeney is heard screaming: "Now listen to me! You were not there at the beginning of the interview! You were not there! "You did not hear or record all the interview! Do you understand? "You are quoting the second half of the interview, not the first half. You cannot assert what you are saying!"

His shouting all but drowns out the Scientologist, who simply repeats over and over again: "Brainwashing is a crime against humanity."

On Sunday Sweeney said his behaviour had resulted in him having his "arse kicked" by the BBC. He said: "What I did was wrong and stupid and I am embarrassed about it. I let down the team and I let down the BBC. "It was my seventh day with the Scientologists and I snapped."

More here

I have no brief for the Church of Scientology but it is nice to see revealed the animus behind the anti-religious bias of the BBC.

Update:

The BBC reporter concerned had a previous history of abusing scientologists. No wonder they monitored him carefully! It tells you a lot about BBC bias, though -- a bit like sending Ulster's Rev. Ian Paisley to do a story about the Pope.

(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.)

Canada: OK to Bash Catholicism

We read:

"A CBC pilot program that portrays altar boys as druggies and the Catholic communion host as "munchable snack food, possible poker chips and a repository for drops of LSD" has sparked a complaint accusing the public broadcaster of blasphemy.

"Catholics should not have to pay for shows where their most sacred rituals and images are considered a starting point for dramatic licence," said the Catholic Civil Rights League, which intends to lodge a formal complaint today with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for airing The Altar Boy Gang.

"With this program, the CBC has moved into the area of blasphemy of sacred rituals."

The Toronto-based Catholic rights group says the CBC is guilty of a "double standard" by lacking sensitivity about the country's most dominant religion, while it hired a Muslim Canadian consultant last year to ensure that Islamic practices were respected in the program Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Source

So the super-sensitive Canadians who don't want to "offend" anybody or make them feel "uncomfortable" must regard Catholics as sub-human -- not worthy of the respect that human beings get. Hitlerian thinking lives!


(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.)

PROOF FROM THE UK THAT TAXPAYER-FINANCED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SUCKS: WHEELCHAIRS

EVENING NEWS 24: Norfolk wheelchair shortage

Disabled people in the county are being forced to wait months and even years for wheelchairs from the NHS.

Norfolk PCT admitted that in February this year there were 647 people across the county on the waiting list for wheelchairs, but says in recent months it has reduced that to just 240.

One is Marina McKay's husband Fraser, who has been waiting for a year for a wheelchair to replace the one he left behind after moving from a private care home in Northampton.

He was left brain-damaged after an accident in 1994 and because there was little provision to deal with such a severe brain injury in East Anglia, his family sent him to a clinic in Northampton.

But a year ago Mrs McKay, 58, who lives in Wymondham, decided her husband was better off nearer home at NHS-run Oak Farm, in Taverham, and moved him back, only to be told that he could not take his wheelchair with him when he left the clinic.

IF TAXPAYER-FINANCED/UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE DOESN'T WORK THERE, THEN WHY SHOULD WE DO IT HERE!? IT MAKES NO SENSE. YET THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY WANTS TO DO HERE.

DON'T FALL FOR IT.

MORE PROOF FROM THE UK THAT TAXPAYER-FINANCED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SUCKS: HEARING AIDS

OLDHAM CHRONICLE: Hearing aid delay disgust

Urgent action is needed to clear a half-million backlog of patients waiting for new hearing aids on the NHS.

The House of Commons Health Committee said not enough priority had been given to the supply of new-style digital hearing aids by the Government or local primary care trusts.

In Oldham, new patients who need a first digital hearing aid wait 18 weeks — seven for assessment and a further 11 for fitting.

IF TAXPAYER-FINANCED/UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE DOESN'T WORK THERE, THEN WHY SHOULD WE DO IT HERE!? IT MAKES NO SENSE. YET THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY WANTS TO DO HERE.

DON'T FALL FOR IT.

THE MUGABIAZATION OF VENEZUELA

NYTIMES:

Mr. Chávez is carrying out what may become the largest forced land redistribution in Venezuela’s history, building utopian farming villages for squatters, lavishing money on new cooperatives and sending army commando units to supervise seized estates in six states. ... Mr. Chávez’s supporters have formed thousands of state-financed cooperatives to wrest farms and cattle ranches from private owners. Landowners say compensation is hard to obtain. Local officials describe the land seizures as paving stones on “the road to socialism.”

“This is agrarian terrorism encouraged by the state,” said Fhandor Quiroga, a landowner and head of Yaracuy’s chamber of commerce, pointing to dozens of kidnappings of landowners by armed gangs in the last two years.

IT'S BIZARRE, TRULY. THIS STUFF HAS NEVER WORKED ANYWHERE; in fact, China was a starving nation until Teng Shao Peng adopted de-socialization policies in the 1980's. Chavez is doing to Venezuela what Mugabe did to Rhodesia - (once a RICH food exporting nations aNd now a poor starving socialist hell hole!), and Castro to Cuba (once the second richest nations in the Caribbean and now the second poorest. Only Haiti is poorer.)

And the NYTIMES!? They make the point in the article that what Chavez is doing is legal.

This from the same folks who WHINED and CRIED "CRIME!!!!!" as they exposed the NSA Intercept program - which has probably prevented jihado-terror attacks here and abroad. Sheesh.

This is sadly typical of most Lefties here, who are almost all very supportive of REAL tyrants like Chavez and Castro, as they deride Bushitler.

Probably *not* coming soon to a theater near you

The EU is a bit pleased with itself as some films it has part-funded are airing at the Cannes Film Festival, and rather thrilling they all sound too:

Here are some 'highlights':

Auf der Anderen Seite by Fatih Akin (MEDIA support €70,139) - Six characters seek forgiveness and reconciliation between Germany and Turkey. (I wonder if they succeed, or whether that is for AdAS II?)

La Soledad by Jaime Rosales (€50,000) - In Madrid the destinies of four women meet. (Gosh, that sets the pulse racing.)

Garage by Lenny Abrahamson (€23,857) – A small town misfit working in an Irish petrol station, comically searches for love, acceptance and the best place to display the motor oil. (Oh dear, that sounds 'wacky').

La question humaine by Nicolas Klotz (€25,000) - A human resource manager in a multinational who is losing his mind is told by his manager to psychologically assess the company's general manager. (And they get a full 90 minutes or so out of this?)

Tout est pardonné by Mia Hansen-Løve (€37,498) – When an Austrian couple move to Paris with their young daughter the family splits. Twelve years later, the daughter goes to see her drug addict father in Paris. (And this was only 53% as worthy as the film at the top? )


What, no films about ennui among Bulgarian turnip pickers? I suspect that none of these will be challenging for inclusion in the list of highest grossing films of all time.

Arcs and Sparks

I have been doing some electronic design work over the last few days in support of amateur fusion efforts. My focus was on how to make low cost High Voltage power supplies. While I was doing that I came across the really neat picture you see here. More pictures of a similar sort can be found at Tesla Down Under.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

JERRY FALWELL

Our hearts and prayers go out to Jerry’s wife Macel, his children Jerry, Jonathan and Jeannie, and his church. This is a tragic loss for them – and for all Americans. Jerry’s passions and convictions changed the course of our country for the better over the last 20 years – and I was proud to call him my friend.

It was Jerry who led an entire wing of Christianity, the fundamentalist wing, away from isolation and into a direct confrontation with culture. It was my honor to share the front lines with him in the battle for righteousness in our nation. We will continue that fight, in his honor, until our mutual goals are achieved.--Dr. James Dobson

Even though I consider myself to be a part of the dreaded "religious right" I wasn't the biggest fan of Jerry Falwell at all. I'm a Dr. James Dobson chic whereas Robertson and Falwell often said things that made me cringe. Probably, my biggest complaint about Falwell was his comments after 9/11. That said, I can't believe the absolute vitriol that is being spewed by the left about this man.

A lady at the entertainment network where I'm going to be doing my radio show commented that Conservatives have a bad reputation for being cold-hearted. I understood what she was saying yet, I think most of it is the way we have been demonized by the Drive By Media. Later, I thought to myself that the liberal left seems to have a lot more hatred for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tony Snow (when he got cancer) and now Jerry Falwell. You would never see your average conservative saying some of the vile things that the left seems to think are okay to say about someone whose body isn't even cold yet. As O'Reilly pointed out, at the very least, they greatly lack a sense of decency.

Jerry Falwell may have been the fall guy for those who hate Christians and he often said things that warranted criticism but he did do some good.

1) The University he started, Liberty University is an excellent school as far as I can tell. Its a quality school unlike some of the more questionable ones like Bob Jones, IMHO (I'm sure I'll get flack for that statement). The summer between my sophomore and junior year at Moody I stayed in Chicago. I got to know a group of college kids from Liberty that came for the summer and I was pretty impressed with them and what they said about the school.

2) He was instrumental in Evangelical Christians getting more involved in politics and the culture and I think that has been a good thing. If someone had done this sooner Roe vs. Wade may never have happened.

Jerry Falwell wasn't the greatest guy but he was a decent, moral man who deserves better than how he is being treated by the looney left. As even Dennis Miller pointed out, at least put the shovels away before pulling out the knives.

SOCIALISM AND TRAINS, THEN AND NOW - OR MUSSOLINI VERSUS KIRCHNER

MUSSOLINI WAS A SOCIALIST WHO "MADE THE TRAINS RUN ON TIME."

ARGENTINA IS RULED BY A SOCIALIST WHO CANNOT - NESTOR KIRCHNER. (ASIDE: HE CALLS HIMSELF A JUSTICIALIST, BUT THIS IS A EUPHEMISM, LIKE FASCISM.)

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED IN ARGENTINA AS A RESULT:

A RIOT IN BUENAS AIRES. AND THE POLICE FIRED RUBBER BULLETS AT THE FED UP COMMUTERS.

BBC VIDEO HERE - (SELECT [PLAYER AND SEE THE STORY).

IRONY BONUS: The station is called "Constitution station."

EXIT QUESTION: IF A PRO-BUSH LATIN AMERICAN PRESIDENT HAD HIS POLICE FIRE ON COMMUTERS, WHAT WOULD THE MSM SAY? WOULD THEY BE SILENT ON THE MATTER?

THE PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY OF FRANCE GET RAVE REVIEWS

PRESIDENT AND MRS. SARKOZY BOTH WORE PRADA!

It is rare, if unheard of, for a president of France to be upstaged at his own inauguration. But when former model Cécilia Sarkozy swept up the red-carpeted steps of the Elysée palace yesterday, France's new First Lady stole the show from husband Nicolas.

Mrs Sarkozy looked more like a star arriving the Cannes film festival than the matronly presidential consorts France is accustomed to. Camera shutters whirred as the 49-year old, holding the hand of their ten-year-old son Louis, brought Jackie Kennedy glamour to proceedings in an ivory duchess satin Prada dress.

MORE HERE.

On a serious note: The Bush Administration is just as excited by the Sarkozy Administration.

THE FIRST ORDER OF PRESIDENT SARKOZY: THE LAST LETTER OF GUY MOQUET

Before Sarko left for Germany and his first foreign visit, hje ordered all French schools to red the last letter of Guy Moquet. (French-Wiki bio HERE. He was the youngest of 27 anti-Nazi militants executed by the Germans in 1940 - before the USA joined in the WW2.)

President Sarko said that all children should learn the horrors of war - but I think he also wants to remind them that the courage to fight for, and even die for a cause greater than yourself is important. Here is the "Google translation"; (a better one will soon follow):

My small mom cherished, my very adored little brother, my small loved dad,

I will die! What I ask you, you, in particular my small mom, it is to be courageous. I am it and I want to be it as much as those which passed before me.

Admittedly, I will have wanted to live.

But what I wish of all my heart, it is that my serf death with something. I did not have time to kiss Jean. I kissed my two brothers Roger and Rino. As for true I cannot do it alas!

I éspère that all my businesses will be returned to you, they could be used for Serge, who I it discount will be proud to carry them one day.

With you, small Dad, if I made you, like with small Mom, many sorrows, I greet you last once. Knows that I made my to better follow the way than you traced me. A last good-bye with all my friends and my brother whom I love much. That it studies well to be later a man.

17 years and half! My life was short!

I do not regret any, if is not to leave you all.

I will die with Tintin, Michels .

Mom, which I ask you, which I want that you promise to me, it is to be courageous and to overcome your sorrow. I cannot put some more. I leave you all, all, you Maman, Serge, Papa, I kiss you of all my heart of child.

Courage!

Your Guy who loves you

Last thoughts: “You all which remain, be worthy of us, the 27 who will die!”

The message for France: Be worthy. Be brave. Your true tests lie ahead.

FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE PUPPIES

IN THE ISLAMIC TOTALITARIAN STATE OF IRAN, THEY'RE ARRESTING MORE THAN JUST MEN WITH OUTLANDISH HAIRSTYLES, AND WOMEN IN PRINTED HIJABS - THEY'RE GOING AFTER PEOPLE WITH DOGS AS PETS.

IN FACT THEY CAME FOR THE PUPPIES FIRST.

Yeah, it sounds INSANE, and insanely repressive. I mean Hitler never did this. Or Stalin. But it's true.

AND THIS IS NOT SOME NEW CRACKDOWN; IT BEGAN YEARS AGO; THEY'RE JUST CRANKING IT UP A NOTCH.

4/20/06 - UK GUARDIAN:

Officers will also be authorised to confront ... people walking pet dogs, an activity long denounced as un-Islamic by the religious rulers.

10/14/02 - BBC (A YEAR AFTER 9/11 AND 6 MONTHS BEFORE THE IRAQ WAR):

A conservative Iranian cleric has denounced the "moral depravity" of owning a dog, and called for the arrest of all dogs and their owners.

Dogs are considered unclean in Islamic law and the spread of dog ownership in Westernised secular circles in Iran is frowned upon by the religious establishment.

"I demand the judiciary arrest all dogs with long, medium or short legs - together with their long-legged owners," Hojatolislam Hassani is quoted as saying in the reformist Etemad newspaper.

IT IS NOT A REACTION TO THE AFGAN WAR OR THE IRAQ WAR - OR EVEN 9/11; IT STARTED BEFORE 9/11.

THIS ARTICLE IS FROM 9/02/01 - JUST OVER A WEEK BEFORE THE ISLAMO-TERRORISTS ATTACKED US HERE - SFGATE/NYTIMES:

Periodically, the guardians of all things revolutionary and Islamic in Iran decide that the country's pet dogs must go.

"I would like to thank the honorable police and judges and all those who worked to arrest dog lovers and to confiscate short-legged dogs in this city," thundered Gholamreza Hassani, a mid-ranking cleric, in a recent Friday prayer sermon in the northeastern city of Urmiyeh.

The dead from the war against Iraq should consider themselves blessed, he intoned, because they did not live to behold such an affront to Islamic values.

"Happy are those who became martyrs and did not witness the playing with dogs! Now, in our society, women wear hats and men hold dogs," he said.

Although Hassani is known for occasionally eccentric topics, there is no mistaking the campaign against dogs this year. Dog owners say confiscations have been up sharply for months, and special television programs roll out experts to discuss diseases spread by dogs. In a general crackdown announced last week against what they termed moral depravity, the police said dog sellers would be arrested along with women wearing heavy makeup and storeowners displaying provocative mannequins.

The dubious view of dogs is traced, of course, to Islamic teaching. There is just one vague reference in the Koran to a tribe owning dogs. However, the Hadith, the sayings of the prophet's contemporaries that is the basis for much Islamic law, contains about 430 references to dogs. ...

"Angels do not enter a house that has either a dog or a picture in it," reads one. Another says, "Whoever keeps a dog except for hunting, guarding cattle and crops will lose one large measure of his reward every day."

Should even a sanctioned guard dog lick a piece of household china, there is real labor involved in restoring its cleanliness.

"When the dog licks the utensil, wash it seven times and rub it with earth the eighth time," advises one Hadith.

In the Shiite branch of Islam prevalent in Iran, learned scholars write lengthy tomes about customs and practices that the faithful turn to for advice. The chapter on daily living inevitably censures dogs.

The Islamic Propaganda Office in Qom, the center for religious studies in Iran, publishes an abridged compilation of the teachings called "Everything You Need to Know." The 10 things listed as unclean and best avoided include beer, wine, infidels and dogs.

I LIKE BEER, WINE, NAKED INFIDEL WOMEN, AND DOGS.

I HATE ISLAMISTS.

LET'S DESTROY THEM. AND SAVE THE PUPPIES.

BTW: The people of Iran - THE PERSIANS - LOVE DOGS! The pic' to the left is of an ancient depiction of a Persian woman playing music FOR her Maltese puppy!

And remember, they do NOT speak "Iranian" over there; they speak PERSIAN. They're culture is NOT Shia, it is Persian.

The islamo-fascists are attempting to destroy Persian culture.

I hope the Persians RISE UP, and overthrow these horrifying tyrants.

For the puppies!

AN INDEPENDENT NON-PARTISAN PATRIOT TAKES A LOOK AT IRAQ AND WASHINGTON POLIITICS

JOE LIEBERMAN:

"These are fateful days and critical decisions we are making about Iraq.

We must make them with our eye on the safety of America’s next generation, not the outcome of America’s next election."

RTWT.

Greenpeace Builds Noah's Ark

Istanbul - The environmental pressure group Greenpeace said on Wednesday that its volunteers were constructing a model of the Biblical Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey to raise public awareness over global warming.

"Greenpeace started to build a Noah's Ark on the Mount Ararat to point to the threat of the new climate catastrophe," Andree Bohling, the group's energy campaigner, told a press conference here.

"Global climate change is the biggest threat to our planet since the times of Noah," he added. "We are about to face a new flood."

I'm thrilled that they're doing this. Why? Fifty years from now when I'm in my 80's and the human race is still here, still prospering on this great planet of ours, I want this thing to still be sitting there in dry-dock. I'll make the trip to Mount Ararat and take a picture of the boat. It will be called, "The Folly of Man."

Idiots.

IAF ATTACKS HAMAS HQ IN GAZA

Well, this is getting somewhere, especially considering that they smashed into the lair of the Hamas:

(IsraelNN.com) Israel Air Force jets attacked a Hamas headquarters in southern Gaza Wednesday afternoon, killing at least four terrorists. The attack on the command post in the southern Gaza border city of Rafah also injured about 20.
This was the first IAF attack of its kind in some six months, ever since Hamas declared a ceasefire with Israel and then promptly broke it.

The attack was decided upon at a security consultation in Defense Minister Amir Peretz's office Tuesday night, following a barrage of at least 20 Kassam rockets on Sderot and environs leading to the hospitalization of 30 people. Peretz said that Israel cannot afford to accept a situation in which its citizens are attacked.

Unfortunately, if he's not willing to authorize a ground attack, then he hasn't earned any true credibility. If that's how it's going to be, then he's certainly not fit to be defense minister.

British university allows Leftist goons to prevent free speech

Excerpt:

The leader of the British National party, Nick Griffin, has been barred from speaking at Bath University amid fears the event would bring chaos to the campus. Earlier this week the university had said that Monday's meeting, which Mr Griffin was due to address, would go ahead because of the institution's commitment to freedom of speech.

But as the scale of the opposition became clear yesterday the university backed down. In a statement published on its website it said many students had expressed fears for their safety if the BNP leader was allowed to appear. It added: "The university has now learned that a very large number of protesters intend to arrive on campus. This creates the likelihood of substantial public order problems and real possibility of disruption ... making it impractical for the university to allow the event to go ahead. In the light of all these considerations the university has decided to refuse permission for the event to take place."

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.)

NEWSWEAK DIAGNOSES GWB AS MENTALLY ILL

Leftists have been accusing conservatives of mental illness at least since 1950. Given the Leftist talent for projection, I think that tells you who the real mentally ill ones are. So the latest malicious diagnosis comes as no surprise at all. I have commented on a couple of such "diagnoses" of GWB previously (here and here). The Anchoress, News Busters, The American Thinker and others have taken the latest nonsense apart pretty comprehensively so all I want to do here is say a few words about the psychiatrist who was dragged into the article to give it some semblance of authority.

Kerry Sulkowicz, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center is the dude. He is a psychonanalyst -- a devoteee of the evidence-free theories of Sigmund Freud. Although Freud was a good observer and an innovative thinker, his theories have failed the only really important test -- the test of whether they work or not. At least since the 60s it has been known that the cure-rate among those who undergo Freudian psychotherapy is no different from placebo. Psychoanalytic theories DON'T WORK. And the reason why they don't work is not far to seek. They are all speculation-based, not evidence-based -- and the sort of speculation indulged in by Sulkowicz is a good example of that.

Almost any psychologist will confirm what I have said above and psychoanalysis now has little following outside New York. That a psychoanalyst is one of the few people in NYC who will listen to you is my speculation about why they remain popular there.

So Sulkowicz adds no authority whatever to the article. He is just speculating. That is his trade. Sounding good is the criterion for excellence in psychoanalysis -- very similar to the criterion for excellence in Leftist thinking. Evidence is turned to only when convenient.

Maybe I should do some speculative diagnoses too. If Leftists can speculate so can I. In my view, GWB's failings stem from the fact that he is a true Christian gentleman. He is too kind, too forgiving and too trusting -- and other people take advantage of that. I think that theory matches reality far better than the hate-crazed accusations that Leftists pour out at him.

Update:

In case it is not immediately obvious, I suppose I should mention a couple of really basic points about the Sulkowicz and Newsweek "diagnosis":

1). Psychiatrists are supposed to do an extensive personal interview with the person concerned before they offer a diagnosis. Absent that, the diagnosis is garbage.

2). Making a diagnosis public is ethically challenged, to put it mildly. That Sulkowicz took part in this exercise reveals him to be an unethical charlatan.

(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.)