DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
The H5N1 bird flu virus in Indonesia may have undergone a mutation that allows it to jump more easily from poultry to humans, the head of the country's commission on bird flu control said on Wednesday.MORE HERE AND HERE AND HERE AND HERE AND HERE.
What lessons have you learned from your first month at the Elysee [president's office]?GOOD TO HEAR AFTER THE MEANDERINGLY DISMAL AND UTTERLY CORRUPT CHIRAC YEARS.
I have tried to use this month so that - if the French people grant me a majority in the National Assembly - my government can set to work immediately after the general election. I was elected on the basis of a strong, consistent blueprint based on frankness and truth. My duty is to implement this blueprint.
I have had occasion to say that I will not allow anyone to distort it, in the economic and tax field.
I want to say equally forcefully, so that everyone fully understands it, that the same will apply to my commitment to an irreproachable Republic and an exemplary democracy.
Less than half of NHS patients are starting treatment within the Government's pledged target of 18 weeks, new figures reveal.YUP:12% WAIT FOR MORE REPEAT MORE THAN A YEAR.
The Government has promised that no patient should wait more than 18 weeks from a GP referral to the start of treatment by the end of 2008.
But only 48 per cent of patients in England are treated within that time – and 12 per cent have to wait more than a year, according to the Department of Health figures yesterday.
Miriam Freund of the Plant Protection and Inspection Services department at the Agriculture Ministry said.. it seemed highly unlikely that the Salmonella originated in Israel. Oded Yaffe of the private agronomy laboratory Shelef said... "The odds that the Salmonella happened to reach three different Israeli farms at the same time are tiny," he added... given Israel's position in Britain these days, a criminal involvement could not be ruled out. "Unfortunately, it appears as if someone just pasted Salmonella on the basil from Israel," he said.Maybe the British should start boycotting Israeli food exports. Boycotts fix everything. Oh - and Britain's hatred of Israel has in no way reached pathological, self-destructive levels. It's a very calm and level-headed approach to the Jewish State, totally proportional to Israel's behavior and having nothing to do with its existence as a Jewish State.
Fierce fighting has engulfed the Nahr al-Bared camp and its outskirts since Friday, when the army launched an offensive to drive the militants from their positions inside the camp. The army stepped up its offensive after the militants, who embrace an al-Qaida-inspired militancy and doctrine, rejected government demands to surrender and vowed to fight to the death. More than 100 people have been reported dead since the fighting first broke out May 20 between the army and Fatah al-Islam. It is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Fierce fighting has engulfed the Nahr al-Bared camp and its outskirts since Friday, when the army launched an offensive to drive the militants from their positions inside the camp. The army stepped up its offensive after the militants, who embrace an al-Qaida-inspired militancy and doctrine, rejected government demands to surrender and vowed to fight to the death.The last time Israel killed 100 people without hysterical cries of massacres and UN resolutions of condemnation was... anyone? Never? 60ish years of nationhood, and Israel has never been allowed to defend itself militarily without having to devote significant time, energy, and money to defending itself diplomatically in international forums. Maybe they should ask Lebanon what the trick is. We suspect it has something to do with "not being Jewish". You know what though? The Bush administration consistently restrained Israel throughout Lebanon II because it didn't want to undermine Lebanon's political stability. Nice to see that's working out so well.
So, we might be able to avoid another D-Day and we might not be. Either way, I think it's important that we remember.Short and very sweet. Go read the whole thing.
Italian police have arrested at least 10 suspected Islamist militants who are believed to be linked to the bombings that rocked Algiers in April.REUTERS:
The suspects, held in Milan, allegedly provided logistical and financial support for the militants in Algeria.
Two blasts killed at least 30 people and injured 160 in Algiers.
A group called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat said it carried out the attacks. It later changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. Police said the suspects were also believed to be linked to Islamist activities in Tunisia in January.
The Milan suspects are reported to be Tunisians.
EGYPT:... British police carried out a further arrest linked to the swoop in Milan. ... British police did not give his nationality but said he was wanted for offences including terrorism and forgery and that the warrant alleged that "between 1997 and 1999 he convinced and organized volunteers to undergo military training in Afghanistan for jihad with the use of false documentation."
The arrests appeared to be the first against the group in Europe since it changed name in January to position itself as the North African arm of Osama bin Laden's network. France's top anti-terrorism investigator, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, told Reuters this week that the former GSPC might now try to expand its network into France, Spain and Italy.
"The GSPC has become, as it were, a sort of regional branch of al Qaeda, its mission being to federate all the radical, Salafist organizations in North Africa -- Moroccan, Libyan and Tunisian -- and, at the same time, to provide logistical support to the Iraqi networks," Bruguiere said.
Police arrested 105 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in the past two days, including two candidates competing in upcoming parliamentary elections, the group and police officials said Wednesday.THE SCOPE OF THE ENEMY'S ACTIVITIES IS ENORMOUS: NOBODY ANYWHERE IN THE WEST, OR ANY NATION ASPIRING TO WESTERN IDEALS IS SAFE.
The arrests were part of an ongoing crackdown that has intensified in the lead up to elections for the upper house of Parliament, known as the Shura Council.
The Brotherhood has announced it has fielded 19 candidates in the June 11 elections.
"We're expecting many more arrests leading up to Monday elections," said the group's lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud on Wednesday. "Brotherhood members in prison have exceeded 600," he added.
Nicolas Sarkozy is forecast to win a huge majority in forthcoming French parliamentary elections, handing him a free rein for his "economic revolution" in a country he claims is no longer ashamed to be rightwing.WITH THIS MAJORITY HE CAN REFORM FRANCE TOUT SUITE. AND THEN HE CAN MOVE ON TO SAVE EUROPE!
...The poll predicted that pro-Sarkozy MPs would take 42.5% of the French national assembly, with the Socialists and associated parties winning only 29%.
Several forecasts have shown that Mr Sarkozy's majority could end up with 420-460 of the 555 seats in mainland France, with Socialists hanging on to as few as 80.
Both Evil Glenn and Jonah of NRO ripped off this post without a hat-tip. Both were emailed this post last night at 10-ishPM. I can't prove that they used my link, but neither has ever linked to a Webwire story before. I emailed it to several big bloggers in the hope that it would get wider coverage, so I'm glad they posted on it. It would gentlemanly if they gave TAB a hat-tip.
The global warming debate has focused on carbon dioxide emissions, but scientists at UC Irvine have determined that a lesser-known mechanism – dirty snow – can explain one-third or more of the Arctic warming primarily attributed to greenhouse gases. ...
Dirty snow has had a significant impact on climate warming since the Industrial Revolution. In the past 200 years, the Earth has warmed about .8 degree Celsius. Zender, graduate student Mark Flanner, and their colleagues calculated that dirty snow caused the Earth’s temperature to rise .1 to .15 degree, or up to 19 percent of the total warming.
A day after two military judges ruled against the Bush administration’s system for trying terrorism detainees, Democrats seized on the rulings on Tuesday as evidence that Congress should restore the right of those held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detentions.THE DEMS WANT THE ENEMY TO HAVE MORE RIGHTS, AND THEREBY MAKE IT HARDER FOR US TO KEEP THEM INCARCERATED.
Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is the majority leader, said he would be willing to bring such legislation to the floor. The Senate Judiciary Committee is preparing to approve such a plan on Thursday.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the rulings on Monday in two cases added urgency to the push to restore detainees’ right to file habeas corpus suits. Congress eliminated that right last year while redesigning the military tribunals after the Supreme Court struck down the first plan.
Jordan's military prosecutors charged four men with smuggling heroin and weapons into Israel and the West Bank across the Dead Sea for trade purposes, according to an indictment made available Wednesday.I'm glad Jordan's authorities are showing responsibility here.
Two of the suspects, identified as Yousef M., 23, and Ahmed S., 23, are in police custody. Two others, identified as Khaled Rashaydeh and his brother Ali - both Palestinian - are at large and are to be tried in absentia unless they surrender to police within ten days, the document said.
According to the charges, Yousef and Ahmed had agreed to hide the drugs and weapons on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea under a tree. The cargo was loaded on a boat which Khaled was to take to the Israeli side.
But an army patrol in the area uncovered the boat with part of the shipment as Khaled fled. The army confiscated the drugs, including more than four kilograms of heroin, several machine guns and ammunition. Yousef was arrested at the scene while the third suspect, Ahmed, was taken into custody in December.
The four men were charged with four counts, including exporting heroin for trade purposes and exporting weapons and ammunition without legal authorization, the court document said.
A four-foot swastika formed by 17 neatly arranged volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica was found in the parking lot of Bnai Keshet, the Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair. [...]That could explain how the diablos were able to go about doing the filthy deed without being noticed at ease. I think something's going to have to be done about these stupid "zoning laws", which may hinder the ability to spot criminals at work at ease.
Fred Glicksman, the synagogue's administrator, surmised that the incident occurred after 11 o'clock Sunday night, when zoning laws require that the synagogue turn off the lights that illuminate the parking lot.
"If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts.
That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when a federal appeals panel struck down the government policy that allows stations and networks to be fined if they broadcast shows containing obscene language.
Although the case was primarily concerned with what is known as "fleeting expletives," or blurted obscenities, on television, both network executives and top officials at the Federal Communications Commission said the opinion could gut the ability of the commission to regulate any speech on television or radio.
Source
Some 300 activists from the left-wing group Peace Now gathered in Hebron on Tuesday for a demonstration marking 40 years since Israel annexed the West Bank in the Six Day War. Substantial IDF and security forces were on hand to maintain order in case of disturbances, but the protest passed peacefully. However, local Palestinians threw stones at the Peace Now bus and a police vehicle after the demonstration. No one was hurt in the incident. The High Court of Justice authorized the protest on Monday. The group was protesting, among other things, the occupation of a Palestinian house by local settlers in April.The peace activists are characterized by two salient features: (1) they're Jewish (2) they're against a Jewish presence in the West Bank. Presumably, the Palestinians weren't throwing rocks at them because they don't like Peace Now's stance on the Occupation.
The radical Left that stands behind the initiatives to impose boycotts on Israel is attempting to create the impression that it is only harshly criticizing Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians. In fact, it is negating Israel's right to exist and is conducting the harshest campaign of demonization and de-legitimization since the UN ruled that Zionism was racist. The boycotts are the result of several causes, including fervent Palestinian activity in the public diplomacy sphere referred to as PR (hasbara) in Israel. The Palestinians have joined the radical Left, which has succeeded in taking over trade unions in several Western countries. They are also assisted by several dubious Jews and Israelis. On the other hand, Israel has neglected this front, which has become a key tool in running foreign and defense affairs.You can quibble with his solution - to demonstrate Israeli good will by appealing directly to the British public in the form of expanded cooperation. But when an international scholar of not exactly rightist reputation is saying these things about colleagues in other universities - to say nothing of his low opinion of Israeli useful idiots - then intellectualized anti-Semitism has gone from nudge-nudge wink-wink to openly vicious and vaguely genocidal.
The EU's carbon trading scheme has increased electricity bills, given a windfall to power companies and failed to cut greenhouse gases, it is claimed. An investigation by BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme has found that after two and half years the scheme has yet to cut in carbon dioxide emissions. The consumer body Energywatch said customers are getting a raw deal.IT'S A TOTAL EFFIN' SCAM: FIRST OFF, CO2 HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GLOBAL WARMING; SECONDLY, CO2 TRADING DOESN'T REDUCE CO2.
Three-quarter year forecasts for 2006-7 showed that the health service was on course to break even. But this masked the £1.3bn in deficits forecast to be run up by the third of hospitals and primary care trusts which pay for local services. It was predicted these hospitals and trusts would not balance the books by the end of the year.ROBBING NURSE PETER TO PAY DR. PAUL.
These figures were almost exactly the same as the figures for 2005-6. The latest accounts will show that financial balance has only been achieved by taking money from elsewhere.
Go here to see my version of who is up and who is down this week along the lines of how the Beltway Boys do it, only LMC style!!
Critics of the American Medical Association, including economist Milton Friedman, have asserted that the organization acts as a government-sanctioned guild and has attempted to increase physicians' wages and fees limit by influencing limitations on the supply of physicians and non-physician competition [13][14]. They assert that these actions not only have inflated the cost of healthcare in the United States but also have caused a decline in the quality of healthcare.Now all this came up because Reliapundit and I disagree about the usefulness of the drug war. Here is a list of some diseases for which there is evidence that marijuana is an effective treatment. My take is that the medical cartel loves the DEA. Imagine growing your own medicine and taking it without a doctor's approval. If that sort of thing started happening on a regular basis people might get ideas.
REUTERS: PUTIN: I'M THE ONLY PURE DEMOCRAT:
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has described himself as the world's only "pure" democrat and attacked the United States and Europe, which have criticized him, for falling short of their own ideals.
In an interview with Western media released on Monday, he rejected Western criticism that he has centralized power in the Kremlin, marginalized the opposition and increased state control over the media.
Asked whether he agreed with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's description of him as an "impeccable democrat", Putin replied laughing:
"Of course I am an absolute, pure democrat. But you know the problem? It's not even a problem, it's a real tragedy. The thing is that I am the only one, there just aren't any others in the world."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday it was "too late" to stop Iran's nuclear program and urged the West and the United States to abandon their "arrogant policies" of setting conditions.
The Palestinian government has decided to support the cease-fireproposal of President Mahmoud Abbas. Ghazi Hamad, the Palestinian governmentspokesman, said: «We approve the idea of a broad, temporary, bilateralcalm».
Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.
POOR NHS treatment has led to almost half a million Scots dying in the last 30 years, a new study has revealed.
Doctors at Glasgow University found that between 1974 and 2003, a total of 462,000 people died in Scotland as a result of health service failings
It means Scotland has one of the highest avoidable death rates in western Europe.
The study examined the number of deaths caused by a lack of "timely and effective health care".
The vast majority of people - around 250,000 - who died due to inadequate or delayed treatment were heart or stroke patients.
Another 7300 had cancer and slightly more than 2000 were pneumonia patients.
And I will carry this. It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others.
It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son.
This is my reminder of lives that ended, and a task that does not end...
The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.
Fellow citizens, we will meet violence with patient justice assured of the rightness of our cause, and confident of the victories to come.
In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America.
President George W. Bush holds the badge of a police officer killed in the September attacks.THOSE WHO NEED REMINDING SHOULD LOOK AT THIS VIDEO.
Ayn Rand"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against . . . We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals.Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted [Editor: Obfuscation of meaning is a key element of the con games bureaucrats and politicians play.] -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.Since CAIR is probably the worst of these groups, that's why it's a good thing that they've been fingered as one of the Hamas' collaborators. It's time to shut them down and to prosecute them, and it's to be hoped that this'll lead to a major trial in which they're told to stand before the court.
Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
While the foundation was charged in the case, which was filed in 2004, none of the other groups was. However, the co-conspirator designation could be a blow to the credibility of the national Islamic organizations, which often work hand-in-hand with government officials engaged in outreach to the Muslim community.
A court filing by the government last week listed the three prominent groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators. The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."
[...]
The inclusion of the Islamic groups on the list of alleged conspirators could give ammunition to critics of the organizations. CAIR, in particular, has faced persistent claims that it is soft on terrorism. Critics note that several former CAIR officials have been convicted or deported after being charged with fraud, embargo violations, or aiding terrorist training. Spokesmen for the group have also raised eyebrows for offering generic denunciations of terrorism but refusing to condemn by name specific Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah.
"I promise this to the people of Darfur: the United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world."--President George W. BushThe genocide in Darfur is one of those issues that I care deeply about. I did a comprehensive post on it a year ago where I highlight what was going on and what could be done to stop it. As I pointed out a year ago, I was skeptical that the UN would make any real steps to actually solve the problem. They have done nothing but pass resolutions which isn't effective in curbing the violence and President Bush has had enough.
When it comes to Sudan, President Bush knows it too well that he dedicated most of his efforts and time to issues affecting Sudan. There are even rumors that he has been nicknamed within the White House circles as "Sudan Desk Officer." It has been alleged that President Bush does not only passionately taken into heart the problems affecting Sudan but also developed some level of expertise on Sudan in the course of his tenure as president of the U.S.Now Bush is taking things a step further and issuing tough economic sanctions. He spoke on this last Tuesday. Here is some of what he had to say:
For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder, and rape of innocent civilians. My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. The world has a responsibility to help put an end to it.
Last month I announced that the United States was prepared to take new steps if the government of Sudan did not allow the full deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force; if the government did not begin living up to its many commitments, that the United States would act. I made clear that the time for promises was over, and that President Bashir had to do something to end the suffering.
The result is that the dire security situation on the ground in Darfur has not changed. And so today, at my instruction, the United States has taken the steps I announced in April. First, the Department of Treasury is tightening U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan. With this new effort, the United States will more aggressively enforce existing sanctions against Sudan's government.
Article 5The Parties undertake to promote the conditions necessary for persons belonging to national minorities to maintain and develop their culture, and to preserve the essential elements of their identity, namely their religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage.2. Without prejudice to measures taken in pursuance of their general integration policy, the Parties shall refrain from policies or practices aimed at assimilation of persons belonging to national minorities against their will and shall protect these persons from any action aimed at such assimilation.
Article 6The Parties shall encourage a spirit of tolerance and inter cultural dialogue and take effective measures to promote mutual respect and understanding and co-operation among all persons living on their territory, irrespective of those persons' ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity, in particular in the fields of education, culture and the media.2. The Parties undertake to take appropriate measures to protect persons who may be subject to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence as a result of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity.
Northern Mexico is in a state of war. Who is fighting? That’s hard to say. Officially, it is the drug- and people-traffickers against each other and the government. But in Mexico, you can’t tell the players even with a program. You cannot assume the police or the Army are loyal to their commands. Many are working on their own.
... It is not too much to say there is a war going on right across the border. It’s not a hot war with firefights all the time. It is not a cold war, either, with posturing and press releases. Let’s call it a warm war. Violence breaks out from time to time for reasons unknown to us, but completely unpredictabl
And here’s the part you don’t want to hear. Violence has spread across the border and has resulted in several deaths of Americans residents and visitors. Most such crimes are reported as isolated incidents. But the violence in northern Mexico is not stopping at the border. It’s headed this way and a lot of Tucsonans know it
You can’t learn about it in most media, but the whispers around town are people saying they are thinking of getting out. It looks like war and it’s coming here. No government has acted to protect Americans living in Southern Arizona. Our federal government is in full collapse as far as the southern border is concerned. All we get from them is talk. The only action we see is toward integrating Mexico into the U.S. and Canada.
What will it mean when the border is actually abandoned and anybody is free to enter without inspection? It will mean that Southern Arizona, specifically Tucson, could become like Cananea [where five policemen and two residents were assassinated] and other parts of northern Mexico. Violence will overtake local police. State and federal authorities will look the other way.
The federal government should put troops on the border to defend the United States and its citizens. The troops should be given orders to use as much force as necessary to accomplish that task. No soldiers should be detailed to do paperwork and forbidden to fire on violators. This is another war and if we don’t act like it, we will lose this one too.Reliapundit adds: If we were really protecting opur borders than Bush's amnesty for those here might pass. But without border security it will not.
