MORE PROOF THE ECO-NUTSIES ARE ANTI-HUMAN

UK GUARDIAN:

The new head of the Science Museum has an uncompromising view about how global warming should be dealt with: get rid of a few billion people. Chris Rapley, who takes up his post on September 1, is not afraid of offending. 'I am not advocating genocide,' said Rapley. 'What I am saying is that if we invest in ways to reduce the birthrate - by improving contraception, education and healthcare - we will stop the world's population reaching its current estimated limit of between eight and 10 billion.

... Rapley, currently head of the British Antarctic Survey and a passionate believer in man's influence on climate, is set to take charge of the museum, one of Britain's most challenging institutions, where strict academic requirements must be met while competing with Legoland and Disneyland to attract visitors. Only by tackling the issues of the day can he succeed, Rapley said. Hence his urging that we deal with overpopulation, a call of wide public interest and one that reflects the contents of the recent report by the Optimum Population Trust, which called for each couple in Britain to be limited to having two children each. 'A voluntary stop-at-two guideline should be adopted for couples in the UK who want to adopt greener lifestyles,' it stated. The interest of Rapley, 60, in this subject stems directly from his climatic concerns.

... He fears our planet faces a very hot and uncomfortable future. This belief puts him opposite climate-change deniers, about whom Rapley is generally vitriolic. He described the recent Channel 4 programme The Great Global Warming Swindle as 'a tissue of lies' while individual deniers, like Dominic Lawson, are dismissed in unexpectedly terse, Anglo-Saxon terms.

THE ECO-LEFT HAS BEEN WHINING ABOUT OVER-POPULATION SINCE 1968 AND PAUL EHRLICH'S BOOK THE POPULATION BOMB.

HE WAS WRONG THEN;L THEY ARE WRONG NOW.

The Left has ALWAYS advocated depopulation, abortion and state-controlled production and state regulated consumption of goods and services, and the Left has always blamed individualism - calling it selfishness.

The Left has always said that the oublic has to sacrifice for "the common good."

But the fact is that free-markets and industrialism and capitalism have done more to improve living standards and life-spans and improve the quality of life than any other thing EVER.


If organic food and sustainable economies and "pure" air were the best thing for humanity than why did cavemen die before they were 30!?

AGW caused by CO2 is just another bogeyman invented by the Left to enable them to gain control over the economy.

Don't fall for.

HAVE AS MANY BABIES AS YOU WANT!

Unless you're a Leftie, then PLEASE, by all means JUST HAVE 2!

ITALIANS BUST JIHADO-TERROR SCHOOL IN MOSQUE

FOX:

Operating in a nondescript mosque in Perugia, the central hill town known for its Renaissance architecture and idyllic countryside, a small extremist cell allegedly ran what Italian police say was a "terror school" that trained in hand-to-hand combat, bomb making and airplane piloting.

Anti-terrorism police said they arrested three Moroccans — an imam and two of his aides — on Saturday and raided the Ponte Felcino mosque on the outskirts of the Umbrian capital, finding barrels of chemicals hidden in the cellar, and documents including instructions on how to pilot a Boeing 747.

"The investigation has shown that, in the Ponte Felcino mosque, there was a continued training for terrorist activity," anti-terror police head Carlo De Stefano said. "We have discovered and neutralized a real 'terror school,' which was part of a widespread terrorism system made up of small cells that act on their own."

... In a statement praising Saturday's arrests, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the Perugia case "confirms the need to always maintain high surveillance in locations where only religious activities should take place."

THE BIG PROBLEM WITH MINISTER AMATO'S STATEMENT IS THE FACT THAT JIHADO-TERROR IS A RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY FOR MANY MANY MUSLIMS.

BOTTOM-LINE: WE OUGHT TO BUG ALL MOSQUES. AND MADRASSAS. AND SHUT OR DESTROY ALL THE ONES WHICH INCITE JIHADO-TERROR.

MORE PROOF OF MSM "DISTORTION MACHINE" AT WORK

THE AP REPORTED IT LIKE THIS:

On Friday, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands U.S. troops south of Baghdad, said it would take until the summer of 2008 to consolidate recent gains in his area, which controls land routes into the capital from the east and south.

Last week, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of combat-ready Iraqi battalions able to fight independently has dropped from 10 to six in recent months despite an increase in U.S. training efforts.

POWER LINE CONTINUES... Those grim assessments follow years of optimistic public statements from the Pentagon about the progress in Iraqi security forces and have fueled calls in the Democratic-controlled Congress to begin withdrawing from Iraq.

Note how the AP runs interference for the Democrats in Congress: the Pentagon has been optimistic before, but that optimism hasn't been borne out. And the Democrats are responding rationally to "grim assessments" by military officials.

I was curious about the "grim assessment" that ostensibly came from General Pace last week. If it really were true that the fighting ability of Iraqi forces were declining, that would be a significant fact. So I tracked down General Pace's comments to see whether they were being reported fairly by the AP.

POWER LINE FOUND THIS:

GEN. PACE: Yeah, I can tell you the numbers that are in my head. Last March, I think I said there were -- I did say and there were 10 battalions that were operating independently, and I think at the time I said there were another 88 operating in the lead. Today, the numbers I saw were six battalions operating independently and another almost 100 that are operating in the lead.

And so the question becomes, okay, how do you go from 10 to six, and why those changes? And the answer is, quite simply, that as units operate in the field, they have casualties. They consume vehicles and equipment, and need to come out of the line and be resupplied, just like our own units. So the fact that a number may be changing within a very narrow band shouldn't be of over -- overly of concern.

On the other hand, we do want to see the number go into double figures and start moving more toward more Iraqi units being able to operate on their own and more units that work operating side by side with us, moving into the lead. It is a valid thing to chase, but we shouldn't put too much weight on minor variations in those numbers.

SEC. GATES: I -- this subject hasn't come up in my conversations with members on the Hill. But if it had, I'd have said what he said.

POWER LINE COMMENTS: So the decline from 10 battalions to six results from the fact that Iraqi units have been fighting, as a result of which they need to be resupplied. This is a "minor variation" that is not "overly of concern." Meanwhile, the number of Iraqi battalions capable of operating in the lead, with American troops in a supporting role, continues to grow steadily, now up to around 100.

So the "grim assessment" did not come from General Pace. It came solely from the Associated Press, and the AP made the assessment grim by simply ignoring the explanation and the other numbers that were given by General Pace.

This is how news is reported from Iraq: bad news is cherry-picked, deprived of context, and characterized in the most negative way possible for the explicit purpose of providing cover to those in Congress who are trying to bring about our defeat.

BOTTOM LINE (RELIAPUNDIT):

THE MSM IS A BUNCH OF LEFTIST-LOVING, ENEMY-APPEASING, LYING SCUM.
THEY CARRY WATER FOR AL QAEDA AND THE DEMS.

THEY ARE ALL SCUM.

Canada's Human Rights Commission Targets Conservative Website With Mysterious "Hate Speech" Complaint

We read:

"Free Dominion, a Canadian conservative web forum, has been targeted via the Canada's Human Rights Commission (HRC) over allegations the conservative site promotes "hate speech."

"We have been waiting for six and a half years and the day has finally arrived, somebody is going to try to silence Free Dominion using the Canadian Human Rights Commission," Mark Fourier quipped in posting the letter. "Somebody has likely decided that because they can't defeat some argument presented by someone at Free Dominion they will instead try to silence the whole site. It isn't going to work."....

Connie Wilkins of Free Dominion spoke with LifeSiteNews.com about the human rights complaint filed with the HRC by a certain"Ms. Gentes" accusing the site of promoting "hate speech" although the HRC has refused to say what protected groups are offended....

"I think the most significant thing about this is how much in the dark we are being kept," said Wilkins. "I mean you would think that if you're being charged with something and there is an allegation against, the first thing that they would do is tell you."

Source

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

Leftists are fearful and cowardly

Excerpt:

The real issue is simple: If Liberals admit there is a problem, they could be called upon to act. Liberals are blinded by the fear of action. They rest their hope upon the "reason" and "benevolence" of an enemy, an enemy who would slit their collective throats. Truly if they could understand, this adversary finds their existence useful but abhorrent---useful in that this enemy will support liberals' quest for power through their propagandist efforts; abhorrent in that liberals only seem weak and cowardly, which is detestable in these parts.

Liberals seek to destroy any institution of intrinsic value: God, country, family, honor, valor, courage, VIRTUE..Why? Because if such things exist, then they must be defended, which brings them back to their fear of action.

If foundations of a society capture the essence of a State---patriotism, faith--- they must be honored and defended, but this not a raison d'etre for a Liberal. That is why movies like "The Da Vinci Code" are so important to them, and the "Passion of the Christ" was so threatening..Why believe or fight for this thing called Christianity if it is based upon lies and deceit? If it is, then it does not need to be defended. Christianity becomes a target for them to be destroyed and in its place can be created a completely secular state, with no faith to hold dear to ones' heart. Legislation that permits the desecration of the American flag serves the same purpose, to destroy a symbol which, if honored, requires defense.

No, do not expect Liberals to analyze Islam and Mohammed. That requires action, which leads to fear, which leads to inaction. So do not ever expect the media to confront Islam and the problems of radical Islamic Fascism, theocracies/autocracies, and terrorism. It is far easier for Liberals to denounce our Judeo-Christian faith than to confront the truth that faces us all: that Islam is a religion of subjugation, submission and intimidation, whose teachings defend terrorism.

It is far simpler and easier for Liberals to say that Christians are terrorists, President Bush is a Nazi, Jesus Christ does not exist, and the defenders of their rights are "murderers". That way, they can hide behind free speech, a right provided by those who embody the very character traits and virtues which Liberals seek to destroy.

This concept is both puzzling and intriguing. Liberals hate those who defend them because they are afraid to be them. In doing so, they turn a blind eye to, and even celebrate, those who would destroy them because Liberals are afraid to confront them. In the long term, who really has the most to lose in this War on Terror? Liberals do, because we who defend them will never hate them. We will only pity them, while the Islamic fascist, theocrat/autocrat, and terrorist will slaughter them and take away any of the "rights" they have enjoyed.

More here

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

EUROPE AND AMERICA SHOULD DEPORT ALL MUSLIMS, INCLUDING MYSELF

Over at the Brussels Journal,I saw a link to a quote from Khudayr Taher which they are not allowed to publish on their blog under Belgian law.

Intrigued, I followed the link and here is the astonishing quote from this Muslim living in the U.S. which we are still, under Australian law, allowed to publish:

Khudayr Taher: Europe and America Should Deport All Muslims - Including Myself

Khudayr Taher, an Iraqi Shi'ite writer living in the U.S. and a regular contributor to the liberal Elaph website, had a quite illiberal suggestion - he asked why Europe and America shouldn't deport their Muslim populations. He wrote:

"Countries have the right to defend themselves and assure their citizens' safety from terrorism. Likewise, it is clear that the source of the terrorist crimes in Europe and America is the Muslims who live in these countries.

"The security services cannot know people's intentions and sort out who is the noble immigrant and who is a terrorist criminal. [But] wherever there are Muslims, their presence has produced crimes of terrorism and murder.

"Among those Muslims in Europe and America who do not practice terrorism, most of them do not have loyalty and sincere attachment to these countries that have offered them all of the means of life in dignity - housing, studies, work, and citizenship…

"The legitimate question is this: Since the security services cannot sort out the good immigrant from the bad terrorist… why don't these countries deport all Muslims, of all races, from Europe and America, and [thus] find rest from the danger of terrorism, and protect their peoples?

"I, as an Arab Muslim immigrant, sincerely call on the countries of Europe and America to deport all Muslims from their territories - including myself, despite my love and my sincere attachment to the U.S…"

What blows me away about all this is of course, firstly the amazing honesty of Khudayr Taher, who I would say is a far better citizen than the likes of Cindy Sheehan and co. but secondly that Brussels Journal is not allowed to publish this quote under Belgian Law. There will come a time in the not-too-distant-future that the whole of the internet will be standardized. We all know it.

Cross posted here

18 AL QAEDA TERRORISTS KILLED IN ALGERIA - I BLAME BUSHITLER AND THE LIKUDNIK-NEOCONS OF HALLIBURTON

KUNA:

ALGIERS, July 20 (KUNA) -- Algerian troops eliminated 18 gunmen belonging to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb throughout the country, an Algerian security source said on Friday.

The troops managed to kill 11 armed men in an area of Tizi Ouzou district (63 Kilometers east of Algiers), as a result of a combing operation that the troops were conducting since Saturday of this week, the source said.

The troops also arrested eight more gunmen and seized their weapons during the operation, the source added.

Furthermore, an outlawed military training camp was found and completely demolished by the troops, according to the source.

WHY IS AL QAEDA IN ALGERIA? DO JEWS RUN ALGERIA? DOES HALLIBURTON? WHEN DID THEY GET THERE, AFTER 9/11? AFTER THE "INVASION" OF IRAQ?

OR COULD... MAYBE.. YOU THINK... JUST POSSIBLY AL QAEDA HAS A PROACTIVE GLOBAL GOAL AND STRATEGY, AND NOT MERELY A REACTION TO ZIONISM OR BUSH OR OUR COUNTER-ATTACK?

IT'S THE LATTER: THIS NEWS PROVES ONCE AGAIN THAT JIHAD IS GLOBAL.

ALSO REMEMBER: THAT GLOBAL JIHAD IS ONE THOUSAND YEARS OLD. IT PREDATES MODERN ISRAEL AND THE GOP AND THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

BELIEVE IT OR NT: COMPANY TO MAKE MILLIONS FROM ECO-NUTSIES DUMPING IRON INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN!

WASH POST:

A small California company is planning to mix up to 80 tons of iron particles into the Pacific Ocean 350 miles west of the Galapagos islands to see whether it can make a splash in the markets where people seek to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.

Planktos -- with 24 employees, a Web site and virtually no revenue -- has raised money to send a 115-foot boat called the Weatherbird II on a voyage to stimulate the growth of plankton that could boost the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the air. The company plans to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide captured and sell it on the nascent carbon-trading markets.

... In a bid for attention for another of its projects, Planktos said earlier this month it would offset the Vatican's carbon emissions by donating credits from trees being planted in a Hungarian national forest.

The company said it would make the Holy See "the world's first carbon-neutral sovereign state." It released a video that panned across St. Peter's Square to music from Johann Sebastian Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" and then cut to Cardinal Paul Poupard, who thanked Planktos chief executive Russ George.

SOME ECO-NUTSIES OBJECT:

... if the company started selling large amounts of ocean-based carbon credits, it could flood the market, reducing incentives for more reliable and measurable projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

BOTTOM-LINE:

"The global market for voluntary carbon offsets is currently unregulated," said Derik Broekhoff, senior associate at the World Resources Institute, "which has led to growing concerns about whether buyers are really getting what they are paying for."

THE WHOLE DAMN THING - AGW AND CARBON CAPS ANDS CARBON CREDITS - IS A SCAM OF A HOAX OF A SHAM AND A FRAUD.

THE NYTIMES LIED ABOUT THE NIE: RISKS ARE DECLINING

FACTS HERE.

NO SURPRISES - JUST FACTS.

HOW COULD ANYBODY BE SURPRISED BY ANY TRAITOROUS LIE EMANATING FROM THE PAPER WHICH:

• EXPOSED THE NSA INTERCEPT PROGRAM AND THE SWIFT OVERSIGHT PROGRAM
• OVER-REPORTED THE ABU GRAIHB ABUSES
• PROMOTED THE PLAME-WILSON LIES AND THE CBS/TANG LIES (RATHERGATE)
• AND SPREAD AL QAQAAGATE LIES
  
• AND SPREAD THE LIES ABOUT THAT FAKE TURKEYGATE
• AND THE MENDACIOUSLY INFLATED CASUALTIES IN LANCETGATE
• AND TOTALLY FABRICATED LOOTED BAGHDAD MUSEUMGATE
• AND EQUALLY FALSE KORAN-IN-TOILETGATE
• (MORE HERE).

THE NYTIMES IS 1/2 ADS AND THE OTHER 1/2 ANTI-AMERICAN BDS LIES.

HOW WE CAN END POVERTY IN THREE GENERATIONS

Basically, the only way to end poverty is to make poor people RICHER.

How do we do that?

EASY: Let poor people KEEP all their social security taxes by letting them put it into a private investment account.

When they reach retirement age they will have hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not, a million) - money which they can give to their descendants - unlike the meager social security stipend which stops when they die.

Social security (technically a Ponzi Scheme) was designed 70 years ago - it no longer makes sense.

Would you want a 70 year old car or fridge or hairdo!? So why settle for a 70 year old retirement system!?

It makes no sense.

AND ANOTHER THING: All the other liberal "anti-poverty" programs were TERRIBLE FAILURES, TOO - just as Moynihan said in the 1960's. The poor black family survived slavery and the Civil War and Jim Crow and two World Wars, but it did not survive the Great Society: all measures of black family life suffered AFTER the liberal programs began: out of wedlock births, crime, and poverty all increased. WHAT DECREASED IT: welfare reform, and law & order policies.

HOW?

EASY: It's like this: hen you throw welfare at poverty you are merely APPEASING it.
But when you unleash the free-market - cut taxes and make employment cheaper, well, then you're defeating poverty.

The Left - and the party they dominate, the Dems - would rather that the poor be government dependent - and thereby a captive/compliant base, then have poor people get richer and mor INDEPENDENT.

There's another reason that they support large government programs: it increases the AFSCME/SEIU white collar unions -which financially support them. (Most of the Dem union support is WHITE collar; blue collar workers are not and Left and are shrinking as a percentage of the national labor-force; whereas the white collar unions are growing --- with Dem help!)

This is why it is true to say that the Democrat party is the party of TAX RECEIVERS.
And the GOP and Independents are people WHO PAY TAXES.

BOTTOM-LINE: The Dems would rather the poor stay poor and Democrat, then see them become richer and INDEPENDENT.

THE ORIGINAL PORKBUSTER AND DEFENDER OF JOHN DOE

CAPRA'S MR SMITH.

TOTTEN ON THE MSM'S IRAQ WAR COVERAGE: "The media is a total distortion machine."

TOTTEN IN BAGHDAD:

After the sun went down the air mercifully cooled, down to 100 degrees or so – which is lovely after 120, especially when there is no longer burning sunlight. Tiny bats flew over the base from the direction of a reedy lake a few hundred meters away. There were no bugs.

I watched helicopters fly over the city in the distance and launch burning white countermeasure flares to confuse heat-seeking missiles as the pilots flew over hostile parts of the city. This was the only evidence I saw that I was in a war zone. I heard no shots fired, and I heard no explosions.

After having spent several days Baghdad’s Green Zone and Red Zone, I still haven’t heard or seen any explosions. It’s a peculiar war. It is almost a not-war. Last July’s war in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon was hundreds of times more violent and terrifying than this one. Explosions on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border were constant when I was there.

You’d think explosions and gunfire define Iraq if you look at this country from far away on the news. They do not. The media is a total distortion machine. [UMPH ADDED.]

Certain areas are still extremely violent, but the country as a whole is defined by heat, not war, at least in the summer. It is Iraq’s most singular characteristic. I dread going outside because it’s hot, not because I’m afraid I will get hurt.

... Baghdad is gigantic and sprawling. It looks much less ramshackle from the air than I expected. Individual cities-within-a-city are home to millions of people all by themselves. The sheer enormity of the place puts the almost daily car bomb attacks into perspective. The odds that you personally will be anywhere near the next car bomb or IED are microscopic.

WE ARE WINNING.

WE CAN WIN IN IRAQ - AND HAND-OFF THE DEFENSE OF IRAQ TO IRAQI ALLIES.

OR WE CAN LET THE DEMOCRATS WIN AND HAND IRAQ TO IRAN AND AL QAEDA.

THE CHOICE IS OURS.

UPDATE: MORE PROOF OF DELIBERATE MSM LYING HERE.

ANOTHER INSTANCE OF MUSLIMS GETTING PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT

IT'S SICKENING. WATCH (VIA HYSCIENCE):

THE ACLU FIGHTS CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, BUT SUPPORTS MUSLIMS.

THE LEFT FIGHTS SCHOOL PRAYERS FOR CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, BUT SUPPORTS THEM FOR MUSLIMS.

THE LEFT:

THEY'RE NOT FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE; THEY'RE AGAINST JUDEO-CHRISTIANITY.

THEY'RE NOT FOR AGAINST THE WAR IN IRAQ, OR FOR PEACE; THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE.

HYSCIENCE HAS MORE.

Shockingly Bad Taste from NYTIMES: Promoting tourism to Chappaquddick the week of the 38th anniversary of Teddy's murder there

This week was the 38th anniversary of Teddy Kennedy's murder of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick.

Teddy chose to memorialize the date by pulling another all-nighter.

The NYTIMES chose to memorialize it by promoting tourism to Chappaquiddick!

EXCERPT:

On Chappaquiddick, Home Came From a Kit


By SARAH TUFF Published: July 20, 2007










SEVERAL good strokes of the kayak paddle, or even the doggie-paddle, can close the distance between Edgartown and Chappaquiddick, the small island off Martha’s Vineyard.









Vehicles, however, must wait for the three-car ferry that chugs back and forth from Edgartown and turns construction on “Chappy” into a painstaking process.

ARE THEY FREAKIN' SERIOUS!?!?

Opening the damn article by mentioning you can PADDLE there - or make the PAINSTAKING FERRY?!?!






Sheesh.

This article was published in the NYTIMES Travel section - which usually promotes travel to commie countries, or countries which are part of the Axis of Evil, or under attack by jihadists.

This is just as bad.

THEY ARE NOT DUMB.

THEY DO IT ON PURPOSE.

Scum.

Respecting Tradition

Randy Barnett has been doing some writing on Libertarians and War. Most recently this Wall Street Journal piece. Which has spawned a lot of discussion with Randy at the Volokh Conspiracy.

A number of commenters have noted that the Iraq War started without a declaration of war, but instead Congress gave the President an authorization to use military force (AUMF) and gave him the money to back up that authorization. Not good enough for some Libertarians.

What ever resources (including judgment) Congress put in the President's hands with respect to our jihadi (a term from the American Colonial period) enemies can be rescinded if the Congress sees fit. In fact some Dems are trying to do just that.

This is not a usurpation of power. It is delegating to the executive the implementation of the wishes of Congress. Just as the executive enforces laws Congress passes. That is the traditional role of the executive. Don't Libertarians have any respect for tradition?

Sometimes, I think reality makes Libertarians crazy.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

THE SURGE IS SUCCEEDING BRILLIANTLY: KEEP IT QUIET

The surge offensive ordered by Bush under the command of Petraeus is inconveniently kicking butt; inconvenient for those who want our troops to fail that is.

Kimberly Kagan [ED: a military historian who has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Yale University, Georgetown University, and American University. She is currently an affiliate of the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. Dr. Kagan previously held an Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History at Yale International Security Studies in 2004-2005 and was a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in 2002-2003. She is the author of The Eye of Command (University of Michigan Press, 2006) and editor of The Imperial Moment (under contract with Harvard University Press). She received her Ph. D. in History from Yale University. ] keeps a 'drily forensic' analysis of the war which is bringing leftists foaming at the mouth out of the woodwork flinging 'vituperative, sometimes obscene denunciations' from hate-blinded Leftist blogs.

Here is a summarized excerpt from her report on the progress of the latest surge:

"In January, as soon as Bush announced the surge strategy, Petraeus and his staff began active preparations for the principal objective: the clearing of subversive forces from Baghdad. The initial step was to establish in neighbourhoods dominated by Al Qa'eda and violent militias a network of joint security stations and combat posts permanently manned by American and Iraqi troops. I guess you could think of them as mini fortresses or super police boxes.

They have had the effect of at least easing the reins of terror exercised by insurgent gangs over the neighbourhoods. Progressively, Petraeus has also taken control, often in violent skirmishes in which the Americans appear to have had the best of the fighting of the industrial and semi-rural areas surrounding Baghdad where the insurgents maintained their supply routes, their bomb factories and their safe houses. In effect, Petraeus has encircled Baghdad with his troops and armour. He has established an inner line more or less tracing the city's perimeter and an outer circle 25-50 kms from Baghdad's edges.

As they arrived in Iraq, most of the reinforcements have been deployed in these encircling positions. Between January and June, the allied forces assumed control over virtually all the highways and river crossings within the encirclement that insurgents had used to move in and out of Baghdad, and along which they had transported supplies."

There is more and all of it's good. (Source: Frank Devine, The Australian (newspaper) 20th July)

No wonder the Left is enraged against this factual, real news report coming from Iraq countering the civilian death tally that the MSM is always drivelling out. This is good news. It shows that headway is being made in Iraq, despite the wishes of those who would like to see carnage and defeat.

What would a win mean? Well it would mean that George Bush could not be forced into a humiliating pullout from the war before he leaves office with the resulting fallout carried over to other allies such as Australia's leader, John Howard. It's no secret that the Left would rather see every last Iraq civilian and military person dead in the street before Bush would be permitted to claim victory for the war.

To read more, you can access Kimberly Kagan's excellent, if quite dense site here
Cross-posted here

ANOTHER BAD GUESS BY CLIMATE SCIENTISTS

Their models are full of guesses and now we hear that one such lot of guesses was quite wrong. Journal abstract follows:

Boundary Layer Halogens in Coastal Antarctica

By Alfonso Saiz-Lopez et al.

Halogens influence the oxidizing capacity of Earth's troposphere, and iodine oxides form ultrafine aerosols, which may have an impact on climate. We report year-round measurements of boundary layer iodine oxide and bromine oxide at the near-coastal site of Halley Station, Antarctica. Surprisingly, both species are present throughout the sunlit period and exhibit similar seasonal cycles and concentrations. The springtime peak of iodine oxide (20 parts per trillion) is the highest concentration recorded anywhere in the atmosphere. These levels of halogens cause substantial ozone depletion, as well as the rapid oxidation of dimethyl sulfide and mercury in the Antarctic boundary layer.

Science 20 July 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5836, pp. 348 - 351

Another summary of the above paper:

Tropospheric halogens affect the concentration of ozone, the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, and aerosol formation, all of which are linked to climate. The halogen chemistry of the frozen high latitudes has proven to be particularly interesting, not least because of the role of these regions as harbingers of global climate change, but a better understanding of that chemistry has been hampered by lack of data. Saiz-Lopez et al. (p. 348) present measurements of BrO and IO in the Antarctic boundary layer from January 2004 to February 2005. They observed high concentrations and persistence of these halogens throughout the sunlit period, contrary to expectations and unlike the situation in the Arctic, where IO has not been detected. The springtime IO levels they found are the highest reported anywhere in the atmosphere, and an apparent synergy between IO and BrO suggests an unknown halogen-activation mechanism. These levels of halogens also cause the rapid oxidation of dimethyl sulfide and mercury in the Antarctic boundary layer.

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

A long war ahead if we continue on our present course

Some excerpts from Shrinkwrapped

Jihadi extremism is a growing ideology. Sunni extremism and Shia extremism are merely different manifestations of an underlying supremacist ideology which has grown in response to the failures of the Muslim world in the face of modernity. Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, al Qaeda in Iraq are all different franchises and brand names. Franchises are successful when there are markets for their products, consumers, and workers to support the enterprise. Financial support, an eager population ready to consume the product, and an army of willing workers are all required for a franchise to thrive. Al Qaeda, the McDonald's of Islamism, and Hezbollah, the Burger King of Islamism, have been growing their franchises for years. It is only post-9/11 that the West has begun to offer alternatives. Unfortunately, the alternatives the West offers are completely incompatible with the cultures in which we are attempting to gain market share. We offer Sushi (democracy backed by the US military) and Tofu burgers (Western "soft" power) and as a result find few takers.

The Muslim world contains a combustible mix that is amenable to Jihad and inimical to modern liberal capitalist democracy. There is an extremely large cohort of young men with very little opportunity to achieve status, huge sums of money that have been generated by their parasitic perch on the primary source of the world's energy supplies, a culture that supports a supremacist ideology, and an information environment that facilitates the spread of Jihad propaganda.....

Complexity and fact have almost no chance in the short and medium term against a simple, convenient narrative. For example, the Nazi narrative was simple and convenient: Jews and other inferior peoples kept the Aryans from achieving their natural dominance. No amount of counter-narrative made much of a dent in it within the native German population. It required unconditionally defeating the Nazis in the kinetic war in order to discredit their ideology. We are facing a similar situation with radical Islam.

It should be clear to anyone who spends time in the blogosphere that reasoned debate based on complexity and fact has very little persuasive power. One of our great blind spots in the West is that we imagine ourselves to be so firmly wedded to our rationality that we do not realize how often we use our rationality to support emotionally charged and irrational ideas. Complexity and nuance are poor allies in the fight against a powerful ideology.

The West has lagged terribly in this aspect of the war. Six years after we realized we are in a war with a determined and amoral enemy we still have not even begun to engage him in the information war. We have no easily understandable counter-narrative to use against the allure of Jihad with its promises of glorious martyrdom and blissful, eternal sex.

Until we can find a way to discredit the Jihadis with a more powerful counter-narrative or find a way to destroy their ability to organize and survive (ie, via the kinetic battle and the financial struggle), the war will continue no matter what we do. Since there appears nowhere on the horizon any evidence that we are ready, willing, and able to mobilize our forces (since our intellectual elites, MSM, Hollywood do not see themselves as being stake holders) for engagement in the information war, the long war seems aptly named.

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

THE DHIMMI DEMS DEFEAT JOHN DOE - FOR NOW...

MCCARTHY/NRO/CORNER:

... The Democrats' maneuver here is also an obnoxious assertion of state power over the individual: If the state subpoenas you for information, you are compelled to provide it to the authorities whether you want to or not; but if you want to provide it voluntarily in order to protect your community, the Democrats say, "prepare to be sued."

What possible good reason is there to silence people who want to tell the police they saw suspicious behavior? Under circumstances where we are under threat from covert terror networks which secretly embed themselves in our society to prepare and carry out WMD attacks? Planet earth to the Democrats: To execute such attacks, terrorists have to act suspiciously at some point. There are only a few thousand federal agents in the country. There are many more local police, but even they are relatively sparse in a country of 300 million. If we are going to stop the people trying to kill us, we need ordinary citizens on their toes. Again, this is just common sense. ...

THERE'S MORE. RTWT.

IF THE DEMS ARE NOT ON THE OTHER SIDE, THEY SURE ACT LIKE THEY ARE.
THIS IS THE WORST BEATING JOHN DOE HAS TAKEN SINCE FRANK CAPRA.

BUT LIKE THAT JOHN DOE, WE WILL MAKE A COMEBACK

YOU CAN'T LICK US.

FELLOW INMATES TAKE REVENGE ON JIHADI IN BRITISH PRISON

REUTERS / VIA TIM BLAIR:

A man serving 30 years in jail for planning "dirty bomb" attacks in Britain and plotting to blow up U.S. financial institutions has been scarred for life after an attack in prison, his lawyer said on Monday.

Dhiren Barot, 35, considered by British and U.S. officials to be one of al Qaeda's most senior operatives in Europe after admitting conspiracy to murder last year, suffered a "horrific assault" last Friday, according to his lawyer Muddassar Arani.

... He pleaded guilty to planning to blow up the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Prudential in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey.

I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS THE BEST THING: MAYBE HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SKINNED AND BONED ALIVE FIRST.

I HOPE THE OTHER JIHADISTS IN PRISONS ALL OVER THE WORLD GET NEWS OF THIS.

I HOPE THEIR FELLOW INMATES DO AS WELL.

IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF REVENGE. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

HEY: MAYBE ALL THE JIHADIS IN BRITISH PRISONS WILL REQUEST TRANSFERS TO GITMO!

ANOTHER "UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE" NIGHTMARE: Woman dies waiting for brain scans

UK TELEGRAPH:

A high-flying television producer died from a suspected epileptic fit while waiting for vital brain scans on the NHS.

Laura Price, 30, who worked on shows such as Big Brother and Strictly Come Dancing, was found dead in her home just hours after she had been discharged from casualty.

The evening before she died, Miss Price, from Notting Hill, west London, had begged a junior A&E doctor for anti-seizure drugs but had been told they could only be prescribed by a neurologist.

Two days earlier she had visited a specialist at Charing Cross hospital and was told she would have to wait six weeks for a brain scan. She had felt "concerned and afraid" at having to wait that length of time for a test before being treated for a recurrence of childhood epilepsy, Westminster coroner's court heard.

IF SHE LIVED IN THE USA - AND EVEN IF SHE HAD NO HEALTH INSURANCE - SHE'D BE ALIVE.

IF SOCIALIZED DOESN'T WORK WELL IN THE UK, THEN WE SHOULDN'T TRY IT HERE - DESPITE WHAT THE SELF-AVOWED SOCIALIST PROPAGANDIST MICHAEL MOORE SAYS.

NATIONALIZED HEALTHCARE SUCKS.

DON'T LET THE DEMOCRATS DEMAGOGUE YOU - OR ANYONE YOU KNOW - ON THIS ISSUE.

THE FLYPAPER STRATEGY - part v -- or: What's at StrategyPage & Instapundit today was here on TUESDAY

INSTAPUNDIT TODAY:

A CYNICAL SAUDI SOLUTION:

While Saudi Arabia is not happy with how Shia Arabs have taken control of Iraq, and appear able to hold on to it, they are pleased with how the fighting in Iraq has greatly depleted the number of al Qaeda backers inside Saudi Arabia. Over 5,000 Saudi Islamic radicals are believed to have died in Iraq so far. For the last four years, up to half the suicide bombers have been Saudis, and about half the 135 foreigners currently held in U.S. military prisons over there, are Saudis. Currently, American intelligence believes about 45 percent of the foreign fighters (less than ten percent of all terrorists there) are Saudis. . . .

The few Islamic terrorists that remain at large are desperate, dangerous and good at avoiding capture. The only acceptable outlet for their zealous urge to kill, is Iraq. So the government has reached another informal truce with Islamic radicals. They can live in Saudi Arabia as long as they remain quiet and non-violent. The government will not interfere with their traveling to Iraq to do a little jihad. Apparently, most of these fellows do not survive the process.

Hmm. I wonder if this is the plan. [Umph added.]

WELL, WE POSTED ON EXACTLY THIS TWO DAYS AGO:

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

THE FLYPAPER STRATEGY: part IV THE SO-CALLED "WEST BANK" - 2002:

The IDF let the terrorists takeover large parts of the refugee camp in Jenin. Then they went in and killed them. Pretty surgically, too - (despite what the MSM reported at the time).

IRAQ: Bush said "BRING IT ON!" and al Qaeda went to Iraq. Many from Europe and Syria and Saudi Arabia. Since 2003, we have been killing them there. By the thousands. In 2005, we let them settle in Anbar; and we are now killing them there. MAYBE DAMN KILLED NEAR ALL OF THEM.

LEBANON: the Lebanese are killing jihadists in a refugee camp in Tripoli.

AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN: Musharraf ANNOUNCED that he would keep his hands out of Waziristan; al Qaeda fled there. Now Musharraf is killing them there. He let them take-over the Red Mosque, and then wiped them out.

DO YOU THINK THERE'S A TREND HERE, MAYBE EVEN A STRATEGY!?

I do. FLYPAPER: Let the enemy aggregate, then WIPE THEM OUT EN MASSE.

We are all safer when Saudi jihadists flee Saudi Arabia to BE KILLED in Iraq.
We are all safer when jihadists leave home and go to BE KILLED in Iraq.

And OBVIOUSLY, it is easier to kill these jihado-scum when they take over a town, than when they are dispersed in the shadows all over the world.
Permalink - Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:52 PM

WE BEAT STARTEGYPAGE AND INSTAPUNDIT. WE SPECIFICALLY LINKED TO THE ARTICLE ABOUT THE SAUDI-JIHADIS IN IRAQ. THE 2005 (!) ARTICLE SAID:

Who are the suicide bombers of Iraq? By the radicals' account, they are an internationalist brigade of Arabs, with the largest share in the online lists from Saudi Arabia and a significant minority from other countries on Iraq's borders, such as Syria and Kuwait.

AS I WROTE (ABOVE):

We are all safer when Saudi jihadists flee Saudi Arabia to BE KILLED in Iraq.

We are all safer when jihadists leave home and go to BE KILLED in Iraq.

YUP: TAB BEAT INSTAPUNDIT AND STRATEGYPAGE... THAT'S NOT BAD.

WE'VE PROVED ONCE AGAIN THAT WE'RE ONE OF THE BEST ORIGINAL BLOGGING OUTFITS OUT THERE.

REGULAR READERS KNOW THIS. IT HAPPENS A LOT.

SPREAD THE WORD.

THE AXIS OF EVIL MEETS IN DAMASCUS - AND ANNOUNCES IT WILL ATTACK ISRAEL THIS SUMMER

HAARETZ:

Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah chief Nasrallah meet in Damascus

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah while on a state visit to the Syrian capital of Damascus on Thursday, witnesses said.

Ahmadinejad welcomed what he called Hezbollah's victory over Israel in last summer's war in Lebanon and called for a similar "victory" this summer.

Iran and Syria are main backers of Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group that fought a war with Israel last year and holds two Israel Defense Forces soldiers it wants to exchange for Arab prisoners held by Israel.

THIS TIME, I HOPE ISRAEL FINISHES THE JOB:

• DESTROYING HIZB'ALLAH AND KILLING NASRALLAH;
• BOMBING DAMASCUS AND KILLING ASSAD;
• AND EVEN DEMOLISHING IRAN'S NUKE INFRASTRUCTURE - AND KILLING ALL THE MULLAHS ON THE SUPREME COUNCIL AND AHMADINEJAD.

I'D SETTLE FOR ONE OUT OF THREE.

FOURTEEN THOUSAND POINT FORTY-ONE REASONS FOR THE LEFT TO STFU

THE FREAKIN' DOW.

TAKE THAT KRUGMAN.

UP YOUR'S OSAMA.

EAT IT DEMS.

REVIEW: PAUL POTTS' "ONE CHANCE"

One Chance - Paul Potts (released, July 16)

IN recent years, it would be fair to suggest that the kind of people for whom we have voted for on Saturday night talent shows have turned out to be no more than a media-induced flash-in-the-pan. The list is endless: Shayne Ward, Michelle McManus, Steve Brookstein, Darius; all perfectly wedged into the "where are they now?" category.

This album, One Chance, by Paul Potts, feels somewhat different.

Rather than having the Simon Cowell stamp of one-hit approval, Potts, who recently won ITV's Britain's Got Talent, seems destined for better things.

Nessun Dorma, the song made famous by heavyweight tenor Pavarotti, is reintroduced to a new audience on One Chance, and Potts graces his debut album with a number of other classic cover versions.

Cautiousness is not Potts' style as he boldly pounds through classics like Music of the Night and My Way, creating an album which is as musically confident as it is emotionally humble.

EARLIER POSTS HERE AND HERE AND HERE.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRAITOROUS LEFT IS OUT THERE: 2 MUST READ BOOKS

1 - War Crimes: The Left's Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror

Book Description

In War Crimes, Lieutenant Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson (USAF, Ret.) lays bare the Left’s campaign against their own nation’s armed forces—in the media, on campuses, in popular culture, in Washington, and elsewhere, revealing:

• The roots of liberal enmity toward our military
• The five liberal lies about the war on terror
• How the mainstream media, Hollywood, and academia perpetuate these myths
• How liberal politicians engage in seditious acts for political gain, and what the costs of these acts are
• How America can and must defeat the liberal assault on America’s ability to defend itself against its enemies

Interviews with hundreds of soldiers, sailors, and airmen—including many on the ground in Iraq—reveal the alarming degree to which their burden is increased by second-guessing, pessimism, and outright revulsion for their mission on the part of the people they are fighting for. Studded with shocking quotations and astonishing actions from members of the Left, War Crimes is an eye-opening indictment of the true motivations and agenda of the American Left.

About the Author

A former military aide to President Clinton, Lt. Col. ROBERT “BUZZ” PATTERSON, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) lives near Atlanta.

2 - Sabotage: America's Enemies Within the CIA - by Rowan Scarborough

Book Description

Using his first-rate sources in all levels of national security-from field officers to high-ranking analysts to former intelligence heads-bestselling author Rowan Scarborough reveals how CIA bureaucrats are undermining President Bush and the War on Terror through disinformation, incompetence, and outright sabotage.

From the Inside Flap

How Bush-hating CIA Bureaucrats Are Sabotaging the War on Terror

Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, intelligence collection has become the number-one weapon in the effort to defeat al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. A plot penetrated is an attack stopped. And to the outside observer, the CIA has performed well as a key partner in the Bush administration's War on Terror. But as Rowan Scarborough reveals in this groundbreaking new book, significant elements within the CIA are undermining both the president and national security through leaks, false allegations, and outright sabotage.

Using his first-rate sources in all levels of national security--from field officers to high-ranking analysts to former intelligence heads--Scarborough paints a disturbing picture of partisan politics endangering the success of our campaigns abroad and the very lives of our soldiers and agents.

In Sabotage, you'll learn:

* How CIA analysts repeatedly leak details about classified intelligence programs with the dual intent of ending them and damaging the president

* How, on at least eight occasions, intelligence officials have made serious allegations of wrongdoing against the president's men--which turned out to be false

* Why, contrary to popular belief, the CIA has become predominantly liberal

* How a CIA turf battle prevented special operators from pursuing and capturing a notorious Taliban leader

* How current and former CIA officers fueled conspiracy theories that President Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on America

* How a CIA leak to the New York Times deprived the U.S. of critical information in the War on Terror

* How press leaks by the CIA have damaged relations with our foreign allies in the War on Terror

* How a CIA analyst worked with Democrats to sabotage the nomination of John Bolton to the UN

* How Clinton's downsizing of the CIA led to the closing of stations in scores of jihadist breeding grounds--including Hamburg, Germany, where the 9/11 plot was hatched

The CIA's job is to collect facts and let the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department make national security policy.

But, as Scarborough conclusively demonstrates, an agency that is supposed to be scrupulously nonpartisan has become increasingly political--during a time of war--against America's elected commander in chief.

BUY THEM. READ THEM. SPREAD THE WORD.

DON'T LET THE JOHN DOE AMENDMENT BE SABOTAGED BY THE DEMS

Audrey Hudson at the Wash. Times and Andy McCarthy at The Corner (via Michelle Malkin) inform us that the Dems are trying to dumb down Rep. Peter King's legislation that protects citizens from being sued for reporting suspicious actions that could be dangerous. Clearly, the Dems are attempting to placate CAIR, which should not be allowed. Contact their switchboard immediately!

WORLD WITHOUT PEOPLE: LIBERAL FANTASY

It's no secret that the Left hates the west, but did you know they'd like us all out of the picture? Yes, the entire human race. The ultimate moonbat fantasy has emerged in the form of a new book, entitled 'The World Without Us' by Alan Weisman, of Arizona University. So what's the fantasy? You guessed it; the demise of the species they hate the most, humans.

In an article here, a fellow moonbat, practically quivering with delight goes through all the delightful things that would happen to the planet if humans were to disappear: how the cities would rot and crumble, the animals would flourish and how the rest of the planet would breathe a huge sigh of relief that we were gone (except of course for the cockroaches and other similar creatures that 'live off our coattails'). He concedes that perhaps the planet might be a little dull without us however.

If you've ever wondered exactly where liberal pipedreams are taking us, look no further. Human extinction is their dream come true.
Cross-posted here
HAT TIP: The Wide Awakes

Google Biffs a Couple of Conservative Blogs

Google seems to have reduced the page ranking of Atlas Shrugs to the point where it now gets very few hits from Google. Atlas has not yet however been relegated to the supplemental index, which is where a lot of my non-blog writings are. Anything in the supplemental index comes up LAST when you do a search.

Rather worse however is that blogger.com (which is owned by Google) suspended Gates of Vienna for 18 hours so that nobody could post there for that time.

Both blogs are very outspoken about Islam so there is no great mystery about what is going on.

Atlas is banned in China too but that means little. China bans a whole heap of blogs.

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

People want security and order before democracy

As we also see in Russia these days. Excerpt below from Thomas Sowell

The great tragic failure in Iraq has been political failure, not military failure. At the heart of that failure have been two lofty notions - "nation-building" and democracy.

Nations cannot be built. You can transplant institutions from one country to another, but you cannot transplant the history and culture from which the attitudes and traditions evolved that enable those institutions to work. It took centuries for democracy to evolve in the Western world. Yet we tried to create democracy in Iraq before we created the security - the law and order - that is a prerequisite for any form of viable government.

Having made democracy the centerpiece of the reconstruction of postwar Iraq, Americans have been hamstrung by the inadequacies of that government and the fact that our military could not simply ignore the Iraqi government when its politicians got in the way of restoring law and order.

People will support tyranny before they will support anarchy. Both can be avoided by creating an interim government based on competence, rather than on its being an embodiment of democratic ideals.

Neither in Europe nor in Asia did today's democracies begin as democracies. As late as 1950, no one could have called Taiwan or South Korea democracies. Even today, Singapore does not have the kind of freedom that Westerners regard as democratic. But it is a decent and prosperous society, vastly superior in every way to what it was at the end of World War II.

Trying to create democracy in places where it has never existed - and where the prerequisites for democracy may not exist - has been a needless gamble. Among those prerequisites are a toleration of different views, an accommodation of different interests, and a willingness to put the national interest above one's own. The Middle East is the last place to look for such qualities. Such things evolved in the West only after centuries of different religions and peoples trying unsuccessfully to destroy each other.

More here

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

Winning

I just read a bit touting Bill Richardson as a strong Democratic contender for President. Here is a bit of what the stands for:

...he advocates complete and total withdrawal of troops from Iraq within six months...

You don’t make babies or win wars by total withdrawal.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

PEGGY NOONAN AND THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY

Has Peggy Noonan always been this pessimistic and defeatist and I just didn't notice it? As many of you know I have always been a fan of hers and her book on Reagan is outstanding. Yet, lately she has really had me scratching my head. Her latest column really plunged a dagger into my heart and I just can't comprehend how she of all people can't see the bigger picture.

Kudos to David Limbaugh for taking her on and expressing his disappointment in her as well. I am convinced that so many are going to look foolish in their strong, drama queen/king declarations about Bush in the scope of history. Why so many can't take a step back and look at the Bush presidency objectively, I just can't fathom.

To be honest at this stage of the game I'm not sure what to do with Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and now Noonan. The level that they have been willing to go to in their criticism of Bush is difficult for me to overcome. It remains to be seen if they will be able to redeem themselves.

Kudos to Wordsmith for his awesome post, On the Right Side of History which brought all of this to my attention. One has to wonder if many of these Conservative alarmists won't be issuing apologies and admitting they were wrong 5-10 years from now. I won't hold my breath but I do think history will prove them to be wrong in much of their criticism.

Wordsmith also made such an eloquent statement in response to a liberal on my Monday post that I quoted him on the radio show on Tuesday and I will quote him here:

Wave the white flag, if you will; but keep in mind, you'll probably look back and find yourself having stood on the wrong side of history, when the line in the sand was drawn, and when it mattered most.

I also used the following quotes to describe Bush on the radio show, they sum things up well:

"Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish others."--Mark Twain

"One Man with courage makes a majority."--Andrew Jackson

Kudos also to Rich Lowry for his excellent column, Last Hawk Standing.

HILLARY CLINTON: A CRIMINAL CAUGHT ON VIDEOTAPE

SHE SUBORNED PERJURY, OBSTRUCTED JUSTICE, AND BROKE SEVERAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS; SHE COMMITTED THE LARGEST CAMPAIGN FINACE FRAUD OF ALL TIME.

SHE SHOULD BE BEHIND BARS, NOT IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

NEED PROOF?

WATCH THE VIDEO.

SHE'S JUST LIKE HER HUBBY: SCUM. LYING SCUM.

Letterman, 9/17/01: "Rudy is the personification of courage"

Watch the whole thing. Again. The Giuliani comment begins at 1:35 in.

LISTENING TO THE ENEMY, AND UNDERSTANDING HIS MESSAGE

We hear a lot from the left on the need to understand our enemies.

But the leftists are not listening, and they do not understand.

When I watched Senator Joe Lieberman's remarks during last night's "debate," I realized that what distinguishes Senator Lieberman from Senator Reid, is that Lieberman is actually paying attention.

Senator Lieberman knows what Al Qaeda's leaders are saying, and he takes them seriously.

It does no good to pretend that Al Qaeda is not serious about destroying the United States and bringing down Western Civilization. They have openly announced those aims. And it does not matter if you don't happen to believe they can do it. They do believe they can do it, or they will die trying. And they have shown time and time again that nothing except dying trying will stop them.

We have to respond to the enemy as we find him, not as we wish him to be.

Karen Armstrong, Karen Hughes, and John Esposito have painted a lovely picture of a lovely, loving religion, which they identify with Islam. They have even found support for their vision of an Islamic religion of peace in their reading of the Koran. The only thing is, it doesn't really matter what kind of Islam Karen Armstrong, Karen Hughes, and John Esposito believe in. What matters is what kind of Islam hundreds of millions of real Muslims actually believe in.

The Muslim extremists who have launched nearly 9,000 terror attacks since September Eleventh believe their religion commands them to wage terroristic war against all infidels. They are not going to be persuaded otherwise by the sugar-coated homilies of Karen Armstrong, Karen Hughes, and John Esposito.

The West will have to respond to the jihadists as they are, not as we wish they might be, sooner or later.

DEMS' ATTEMPT TO TORPEDO IRAQ'S NASCENT DEMOCRACY FAILS

NYTIMES/AP BIASED HEADLINE:

GOP Torpedoes Iraq Troop Pullout Plan

TRUTH: IT WOULD HAVE BEEN VETOED EVEN IF IT PASSED THE SENATE AND HOUSE.

AND EVEN IF THE DEMS IN CONGRESS HAD BEEN ABLE TO PASS IT WITH A VETO-PROOF MAJORITY, THE POLICY OF RETREAT WOULD HAVE KILLED DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ, SO THE REAL HEADLINE SHOULD BE:

GOP SAVES IRAQ DEMOCRACY

BUT... YOU KNOW, WE WILL NEVER EVER SEE THE LEFTIST MSM EVER WRITE A HEADLINE WHICH PUTS ANY GOP ACCOMPLISHMENT IN A GOOD LIGHT.

LIKE THE STOCK-MARKET'S CURRENT HIGHS (WHICH THE MSM BARELY MENTIONS, AND THEM DOES SO ONLY WITH CAVEATS), THE BDS-AFFLICTED MSM ALWAYS SEES A DARK SILVER-LININGLESS CLOUD WHERE'S THERE'S A PARTLY SUNNY SKY.

THE "45 MILLION UN-INSURED" NUMBER IS BOGUS - THERE IS NO HEALTHCARE OR HEALTHCARE INSURANCE CRISIS IN THE USA

BMI; (VIA NEWSBUSTERS(:

the Census Bureau report “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005,” puts the initial number of uninsured people living in the country at 46.577 million. A closer look at that report reveals the Census data include 9.487 million people who are “not a citizen.” Subtracting the 10 million non-Americans, the number of uninsured Americans falls to roughly 37 million.

... But according to the same Census report, there are 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and 8.74 million who make more than $75,000 a year. That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance because they make substantially more than the median household income of $46,326. ... Subtracting non-citizens and those who can afford their own insurance but choose not to purchase it, about 20 million people are left – less than 7 percent of the population.

“Many Americans are uninsured by choice,” wrote Dr. David Gratzer in his book “The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care.” Gratzer cited a study of the “non-poor uninsured” from the California Healthcare Foundation.

“Why the lack of insurance [among people who own homes and computers]? One clue is that 60 percent reported being in excellent health or very good health,” explained Gratzer.

... Moore, Clinton and Obama have used the lie about 40-some million uninsured Americans to promote universal health insurance plans. Moore asserted in his film that providing health insurance to everyone is a moral and even religious obligation.

The mainstream media have played along, championing “ambitious” universal coverage plans and referring to the U.S. system as “deeply flawed.”

“Proponents of universal health care often use the 46-million figure -- without context or qualification. It creates the false impression that a huge percentage of the population has fallen through the cracks,” Gratzer told BMI. “Again, that’s not to suggest that there is no problem, but it's very different than the universal-care crowd describes.”

Dr. Grace-Marie Turner, a BMI adviser and president of the Galen Institute, agreed that “the number [on uninsured] is inflated and affects the debate.”

Turner also pointed out that “45 percent of the uninsured are going to have insurance within four months [according to the Congressional Budget Office],” because many are transitioning between jobs and most people get health insurance through their employers.

So what is the true extent of the uninsured “crisis?” The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit frequently quoted by the media, puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. That is a much smaller figure than the media report.

Kaiser’s 8.2 million figure for the chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more. It is also worth noting, that, 45 percent of uninsured people will be uninsured for less than four months according to the Congressional Budget Office.

THE LEFT LIES ABOUT THIS BECAUSE THEY NEED AN ISSUE TO DEMAGOGUE, TO SCARE THE ELECTORATE INTO THEIR SOCIALIST SCHEMES.

DON'T FALL FOR IT!

BTW: WE POSTED A GREAT SHORT VIDEO OF THIS STORY LAST WEEK - HERE.

SHOW IT TO YOUR LIB FRIENDS - IT JUST MIGHT LIBERATE THEM FROM LEFTIST LIES. WELL, ONE.

EU GENDER PAY GAP NOT NARROWING - I blame Bush!

BBC: EU gender pay gap 'not narrowing'

Europe has made little progress over the past decade towards ending sexual discrimination in the job market, the European Commission says.

Women still earn 15% less than men on average, compared with 17% in 1995, despite being better educated.

In some states, including Germany and Finland, the pay gap has grown.

Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said it was "an absurd situation" that required changes to employment policies and better application of existing law.

The pay gap is at 20% or above in six countries: Finland, the UK, Germany, Slovakia, Estonia and Cyprus.

"There is nothing to indicate that this gap is narrowing in any significant way," says a commission report published on Wednesday.

I BLAME THE BUSH POLICIES THE LAST TEN YEARS.

OH... WHAT!? ER UM... HE DOESN'T RUN THE EU!?!?

I GUESS THEN THAT NEITHER HE OR ROVE OR CHENEY OR THE LIKUDNIK-NEOCON HALLIBURTON ZIONIST CONSPIRACY CAN BE BLAMED.

DO YOU SUPPOSE IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH MATERNITY? NAH.

SERIOUSLY: THIS WILL NOT STOP THE DEMS AND THE LEFT FROM BLAMING BUSH FOR SIMILAR FIGURES HERE. WHICH IS BULLSHIT.

STUDY: COLLECTIVISM SHATTERS SELF-RELIANCE

FAMOUS NEO-CON WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:

"TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE."

MAO AND HILLARY AND THE DEMS:

"IT TAKES A VILLAGE."

HERE ARE THE RAMIFICATIONS, FROM YAHOO:

Rugged American individualism could hinder our ability to understand other peoples' point of view, a new study suggests.

And in contrast, the researchers found that Chinese are more skilled at understanding other people's perspectives, possibly because they live in a more "collectivist" society.

"This cultural difference affects the way we communicate," said study co-author and cognitive psychologist Boaz Keysar of the University of Chicago.

Simple study

The study, though oversimplified compared to real life, was instructive. Keysar and his colleagues arranged two blocks on a table so participants could see both. However, a piece of cardboard obstructed the view of one block so a "director," sitting across from the participant, could only see one block.

When the director asked 20 American participants (none of Asian descent) to move a block, most were confused as to which block to move and did not take into account the director's perspective. Even though they could have deduced that, from the director's seat, only one block was on the table.

Most of the 20 Chinese participants, however, were not confused by the hidden block and knew exactly which block the director was referring to. While following directions was relatively simple for the Chinese, it took Americans twice as long to move a block.

"That strong, egocentric communication of Westerners was nonexistent when we looked at Chinese," Keysar said. "The Chinese were very much able to put themselves in the shoes of another when they were communicating."

The results are detailed in the July issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Collectivist societies, such as the Chinese, place more value on the needs of the group and less on the autonomy of the individual. In these societies, understanding other peoples' experiences is a more critical social skill than it is among typically more individualist Americans.

IF YOU WANT TO BE SUBJUGATED TO THE COLLECTIVE, THE BRG, THE STATE, THE VILLAGE, THE PARTY THEN BY ALL MEANS VOTE SOCIALIST, COMMUNIST, OR DEMOCRAT. AND KEEP MARX AND OBAMA-EDWARDS-HILLARY.

I'LL TAKE SHAKESPEARE AND HAYEK.

CHINA WENT FROM BASKET-CASE TO POWERHOUSE BECAUSE THEY ABANDONED COLLECTIVISM.

ALL THIS STUDY REALLY PROVES IS THAT COLLECTIVIST IDEAS ARE PERSISTENT.

WHICH IS WHY - EVEN HERE IN THE USA AND IN EUROPE , EVEN AFTER THE FALL OF THE USSR AND RED CHINA - WE MUST FIGHT LEFTISM.