BREAKING: CHINA'S MOST LIB VEEP CANNED

BBC:

China's vice-president loses job

Three of China's top politicians, including Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, have been dropped from the Communist Party's central committee, reports say.

WIKI:

Although known as a Jiang loyalist, most observers speculate that Zeng is more liberal than his mentor, and interested in political reform (transparency, institutionalization, and greater specification of powers) to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of party and state operations. Zeng remains an important figure within the highest ranks of party leadership.

After the death of Zhao Ziyang, the former party secretary who lost power following the Tiananmen Square protests, Zeng worked as the intermediary between the Zhao's family and the senior party leadership.

SEEMS TO ME LIKE CHINA NOT REFORMING, BUT IS ACTUALLY GETTING WORSE... LIKE RUSSIA.

NEWSWEEK: PAKISTAN IS THE NEW CENTER OF JIHAD

NEWSWEEK: Where the Jihad Lives Now

Islamic militants have spread beyond their tribal bases, and have the run of an unstable, nuclear-armed nation.

... Today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan.

It has everything Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists, an abundance of angry young anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas, access to state-of-the-art electronic technology, regular air service to the West and security services that don't always do what they're supposed to do. (Unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, there also aren't thousands of American troops hunting down would-be terrorists.)

Then there's the country's large and growing nuclear program. "If you were to look around the world for where Al Qaeda is going to find its bomb, it's right in their backyard," says Bruce Riedel, the former senior director for South Asia on the National Security Council.

The conventional story about Pakistan has been that it is an unstable nuclear power, with distant tribal areas in terrorist hands. What is new, and more frightening, is the extent to which Taliban and Qaeda elements have now turned much of the country, including some cities, into a base that gives jihadists more room to maneuver, both in Pakistan and beyond.

STAY TUNED; THINGS IN PAKISTAN ARE ONLY GOING TO GET HOTTER FROM HERE ON OUT...

IED'S: COMING TO A MALL NEAR YOU?

10/20/07 - MANILA, PHILIPPINES:

A powerful blast ripped through three floors of a shopping mall in the heart of Manila's financial district Friday, killing eight people and wounding about 130, authorities said.

DC (WASH POST):

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI agree that the homemade explosive devices that have wreaked havoc in Iraq pose a rising threat to the United States. But lawmakers and first responders say the Bush administration has been slow to devise a strategy for countering the weapons and has not provided adequate money and training for a concerted national effort.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who told the Senate last month that such bombs are terrorists' "weapon of choice," said yesterday at a local meeting that President Bush will soon issue a blueprint for countering the threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Chertoff's department said in a draft report on IEDs earlier this year that national efforts "lack strategic guidance, are sometimes insufficiently coordinated . . . and lack essential resources."

... U.S. authorities have long tracked the IED threat, since the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. But officials worry that Iraq -- where the explosives have killed or wounded more than 21,200 Americans -- has become a laboratory for bomb design, technologies and tactics that can be spread over the Internet.

... From the transit system bombings in Madrid and London in 2004 and 2005, to a disrupted Britain-based plot to smuggle liquid explosives onto transatlantic airliners in 2006, al-Qaeda-inspired cells may be importing that group's signature tactic of coordinated and spectacular attacks but using quickly assembled conventional weapons against softer targets, analysts said.

"As we saw in London and Glasgow, Scotland, in June, this trend has already begun," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said in August, citing the failed car-bomb attacks against a nightclub and an airport.

BTW: THE FIRST WTC ATTACK AND THE OK BOMBING BOTH HAD FILIPINO CONNECTIONS AND IRAQI CONNECTIONS...

ROUND UP AT MEMEORANDUM.

Anything a politician claims is "for the children" rarely is.

Liberals despise the Constitution and Bill of Rights, because they were designed as limitations on government. This is why liberals expend so much brain power trying to devise ways around them.

--from the "Forty beliefs about life from a conservative perspective."

I found it amusing that I had just discovered this list of 40 conservative beliefs via Frog Princess. The "for the children" one is so appropriate when it comes to the SCHIP bill.

Just some of the facts:

1) What the President and Republicans do want:
--to reauthorize the SCHIP program AND increase the funding
--to help low-income children without health insurance

2) What the President and Republicans do NOT want:
--to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get taxpayer-funded health care
--to have to pay the amount of money this new expansion would cost
--to pay for Adult health care at the expense of low-income children
--to pay for health care for families who make $80,000 a year
--to take a first step towards universal health care

Frank Luntz made some excellent points on Hannity and Colmes Thursday night. He was refuting Rep. Pete Stark's beyond the pale claims that the government should be funding SCHIP and not the war on terror. I couldn't find the exact quote but Luntz basically said that the Constitution says the government should pay to defend our country but nowhere in the Constitution does it say the government should pay for health insurance for families who make $80,000 a year. I couldn't have said it any better.

It is despicable how the Democrats have tried to mislead and manipulate people's emotions by lying about the expansion of SCHIP.

Here in KC, my Congressman Sam Graves has been stellar on this. Yet, when he voted against the expansion the Democrats went to town trying to demonize him and his vote. I got a phone call the next day from the Democrat Committee saying that I should call my Congressman and complain about him not taking care of the children. In fact, the Democrats were bragging about how Graves' opponent, our former liberal Mayor, was going to use this against him in the election next year.

In a recent Republican Committee Meeting, Graves' chief of staff talked about how Graves was getting enormous pressure to change his vote but that he was standing strong on principle. I am extremely proud of President Bush and Sam Graves for doing the right thing in the face of the pressure and manipulation. I was even happier when I saw that all the Republicans stood strong and the Democrats were unable to override the President's veto.

I'm not always a fan of Trent Lott but he did a very good job of explaining what the Republicans wanted to do with SCHIP. Here is how he described the GOP alternative:

"The Republican alternative to the SCHIP reauthorization was simple and focused on children who otherwise would have no health insurance. Our alternative was an $8 billion a year, or 33%, increase in the current program. A 33% increase in a program as large as SCHIP is hardly anti-kid.

Our alternative would have prevented “crowd-out,” where families drop their pre-existing, private insurance policies to sign up for an entitlement. Every dollar going to cover a middle-income adult is a dollar taken away from the very child SCHIP was intended to help.

To this, Democrats accuse Republicans of refusing to help children. That’s the height of political demagogy.

Congress is unanimous in its commitment to increase the SCHIP program by an appropriate amount that will preserve its benefits for those now on it and cover those eligible children not yet getting its help. What divides the Congress is the attempt by some to transform SCHIP into an expensive precursor of universal, government-mandated health care. Clearly there are grounds for a compromise that protects our children and at the same time keeps faith with the American taxpayers."

It now looks like the Democrats will have to take a closer look at the GOP's alternative since they were unable to override the veto.

Also, to add to my less than thrilled status with Mike Huckabee, here is where he stands on Bush's veto of the expansion (Hat tip: Cajun Tiger):

"Asked if he would support President Bush's veto of the budget-busting increase in the children's health care program SCHIP, (GOP presidential candidate Mike) Huckabee declined to say he would have issued a similar veto 'because there are going to be so many issues we've got to fight. And the political loss of that is going to be enormous.' Translation: When it comes to tough political fights on spending, don't look for a President Huckabee to be there."

- John Fund of Political Diary, 10/10/07

"Mike Huckabee continues to demonstrate his populist, anti-free market bent. Fresh from a debate in Michigan where he showed skepticism about free trade and President Bush's veto of a budget-busting health care bill, the former Arkansas governor has now embraced a mandatory cap on global-warming emissions."

- John Fund of Political Diary, 10/16/07

Bottom line: Bush and all the Republicans who voted against the expansion were exactly right and have achieved a victory. So much for Bush being a lame duck President.

THE NEXT FRONT IN WW4: PAKISTAN

More proof I was right earlier this week when I argued that Pakistan is emerging as the major front in the GWOT:

Pakistan plans all-out war on militants

An all-out battle for control of Pakistan's restive North and South Waziristan is about to commence between the Pakistani military and the Taliban and al-Qaeda adherents who have made these tribal areas their own.

According to a top Pakistani security official who spoke to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, the goal this time is to pacify the Waziristans once and for all.

BASICALLY, AFTER BEING DEFEATED BY THE USA IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, AL QAEDA IS NOW FOCUSING ON PAKISTAN.

Earlier posts here and here.

MULTICULTURALISM: A ROOT CAUSE OF THE DECLINE OF THE WEST

JPOST VIA HOT AIR:

Multiculturalism promotes segregation, stifles free speech and threatens liberal democracy, Britain's top Jewish official warned in extracts from his book published Saturday.

Jonathan Sacks, Britain's chief rabbi, defined multiculturalism as an attempt to affirm Britain's diverse communities and make ethnic and religious minorities more appreciated and respected. But in his book, "The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society," he said the movement had run its course.

"Multiculturalism has led not to integration but to segregation," Sacks wrote in his book, an extract of which was published in the Times of London.

RTWT. AND BUY THE BOOK.

The political force behind multiculturalism is THE LEFT. Multiculturalism is merely another Leftist weapon - one they have used to undermine our values, goals, traditions and institutions. Like their Gramscian Agenda, their multicultural agenda is intended to weaken our social and cultural foundations so that they can more easily replace them with statist, atheistic, amoral/morally relativist institutions.

DRAINING HILLARY CLINTON'S SWAMP: MORE BOGUS DONORS APPEAR

After the revelation that the Paw family of San Francisco -- whose head of household earned $49,000 -- had donated around $200,000 to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, I created a satirical, illustrated piece called Hillary Clinton's A-List Donors.


It turns out I was prescient. To its credit, the left-leaning Los Angeles Times took a hard look at Hillary Clinton's Chinatown donors in a recent expose entitled "An unlikely treasure-trove of donors for Clinton". The money parapraphs:

The Times examined the cases of more than 150 donors who provided checks to Clinton after fundraising events geared to the Chinese community. One-third of those donors could not be found using property, telephone or business records. Most have not registered to vote, according to public records... The tenement at 44 Henry St. was listed in Clinton's campaign reports as the home of Shu Fang Li, who reportedly gave $1,000... In a recent visit, a man, apparently drunk, was asleep near the entrance to the neighboring beauty parlor, the Nice Hair Salon... A tenant living in the apartment listed as Li's address said through a translator that she had not heard of him, although she had lived there for the last 10 years. A man named Liang Zheng was listed as having contributed $1,000. The address given was a large apartment building on East 194th Street in the Bronx, but no one by that name could be located there... In the busy heart of East Broadway, beneath the Manhattan Bridge, is a building that is listed as the home of Sang Cheung Lee, also reported to have given $1,000. Trash was piled in the dimly lighted entrance hall. Neighbors said they knew of no one with Lee's name there; they knocked on one another's doors in a futile effort to find him. Salespeople at a store on Canal Street were similarly baffled when asked about Shih Kan Chang, listed as working there and having given $1,000. The store sells purses, jewelry and novelty Buddha statues. Employees said they had not heard of Chang...

After the costly Norman Hsu debacle, you'd have thought the Clinton Machine would attempt to cleanse the donor pool of obviously suspect contributions.

Instead, it's just another chapter in the same, monotonous story. More dirty money funneled to the Clintons, much of with it either direct or indirect ties to China. Just what is it with the Clintons and China? It may take a lot more digging to find out.

Cross-posted at Doug Ross @ Journal

Reliapundit adds: GREAT POST! I think it's important to drum in this fact, too:

Hillary is NOT the victim here of some far-fetched plan to fill her coffers. This is a carefully planned and coordinated effort with comrades of hers which fills hr coffers, those of her supporters - in Congress and at institutions like the New School.

There seems to have been both a conspiracy to systematically violate federal campaign laws and violations of RICO.

Hillary and Bill are not just running for "re"-election; they're running a criminal enterprise. Which might have foreign beneficiaries.

HUDNA OR REAL PEACE?

Recently, well over 100 muslim "scholars" submitted a written appeal to the Pope in support of world peace. Text here.

This gesture is nothing more than an attempt to gain a cease fire - a Hudna - a pause in theological hostilities until conditions are more favorable for a return to open conflict.

If the religious leaders of Islam really want peace let them welcome Jews back to Israel, let them return the Temple Mount to the children of Israel, let them declare fatwas against acts of terror, violence and hate speech.

Anything else is just an empty gesture at best.

The Persecution of a Truth-Teller Continues

No free speech about blacks in either the USA or the UK:

"The Nobel Laureate who provoked an international row by apparently claiming that black people are less intelligent than whites left Britain in disgrace yesterday after being suspended from his job.

James Watson, in London to promote a new book, was forced to return to New York after Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island, relieved him of his duties because of his apparent views. It follows a hellish week for the 79-year-old geneticist who helped to unravel the structure of DNA more than 50 years ago.

Source

Note the comments attached to the article excerpted above.

There is also an insightful comment from London's "Evening Standard" below about the silencing of Watson:

"No contrary arguments or evidence need be offered, and no debate entered into (perhaps precisely because debate is feared?) There's an element of blind panic here. It just must not be so, it must be strictly unthinkable. And that's not science, it's prejudice. The disgrace here falls not on the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA but on the supposed guardians of scientific values in Exhibition Road [where Watson was due to speak]

(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.)

Exclusion of Alan Keyes

We read:

In what he called "a major abuse of the electoral process," former Reagan administration diplomat and long-time national conservative activist Alan Keyes has been blocked by the Florida GOP from participating in Sunday's Fox News presidential debate in Orlando.

The Florida party used a 1% or better showing in polls from three of six polling firms as their criterion for inclusion in the event, even though none of the selected polling firms included Keyes, the latest entry in the presidential race, in any of their statewide surveys to date.

However, had Keyes been included in these polls, objective observers - including staff of some of the polling firms in question - agreed, based on past electoral performance in Florida, and on current polling that is taking place in other states, that he would have received a percentage meeting or exceeding the threshold.

Source

This is pretty ham-fisted. Had Keyes been a hysterical Leftist, he would be playing the "race card" by now. That he has not done so shows what a gentleman he is.

Clearly, the stage is going to be cluttered for the debate and Keyes is nowhere in the polls so the thinking behind his exclusion is clear enough but what an opportunity the GOP is missing by failing to present a black face to the many African-American voters. Dumb and dumber!

(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.)

IRAN'S NUKE NEGOTIATOR RESIGNS; IRAN TO TAKE EVEN HARDER-LINE...

BBC:

Iran's chief negotiator with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme, Ali Larijani, has resigned.

A government spokesman said Mr Larijani had repeatedly offered his resignation and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had finally accepted it.

Mr Larijani had differences with the president over how to proceed with the negotiations, correspondents say.

Western countries suspect Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons but Tehran says its programme is peaceful.

The spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, said a deputy foreign minister, Saeed Jalili, would replace Mr Larijani in time for a meeting on Tuesday with the European Union's foreign policy head Javier Solana.

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says Mr Larijani has had differences with President Ahmadinejad over how to proceed with negotiations over the country's nuclear programme.

Mr Larijani has favoured further negotiations with the West over Iran's uranium enrichment programme, as opposed to the president's more hard-line approach, our correspondent says.

THIS IS A BAD SIGN. AHMADINEJAD AND KHAMEINI WILL NOT APPOINT ANYONE WHO WILL CHANGE POLICIES; THEY'LL APPOINT AN EVEN WORSE PERSON.

ATMOSPHERIC CO2 BOOM: IT'S THE OCEANS, STUPID

BBC:

The amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the world's oceans has reduced, scientists have said.

University of East Anglia researchers gauged CO2 absorption through more than 90,000 measurements from merchant ships equipped with automatic instruments.

Results of their 10-year study in the North Atlantic show CO2 uptake halved between the mid-90s and 2000 to 2005.

Scientists believe global warming might get worse if the oceans soak up less of the greenhouse gas.

OF COURSE, THE ICE CORES SHOW THIS IS A LAGGING INDICATOR AND NOT A CAUSE...

BUT IF I WERE TO POINT TO A CAUSE IT WOULD BE THE OVEANS: THEY'RE MASSIVE... THEY'RE ... OCEANIC!

SERIOUSLY: THEIR ABILITY TO ADD OR DETRACT TO OUR CLIMATE IS BIGGER THAN ANTHROPOGENIC INPUTS.

WEEKEND WITH THE ARTS: Tower of Power

There's more to life than war, taxes and politics - and a lot of it's more fun, too! That's why every WEEKEND, here at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, we post some of the cultural things we're into, things we think you might also find entertaining, enriching, and stimulating. After all, the arts - ALL ARTS, not just fine arts - are a big part of what our liberty is for, and what we're fighting to defend!

THIS WEEKEND: TOWER OF POWER!

SOME UK HOSPITALS SO UNSANITARY THEY MIGHT BE CRIMINALLY CHARGED

REUTERS:

LONDON An NHS trust could face criminal action after a damning report said appalling hygiene, a shortage of nurses and poor management contributed to outbreaks of a hospital superbug that killed about 90 patients.

... The commission found that on several occasions nurses had told patients to "go in their beds" rather than helping those with diarrhoea to get to a toilet or bathroom. Some patients were left for hours in wet or soiled sheets.

Patients with the bug were moved between wards and managers of the Trust in Kent had failed to set up special isolation areas for them. The watchdog blamed a focus on meeting government targets for emergency admissions.

"It took four months to establish an isolation ward exclusively for patients with C. difficile. In our view this was partly because of the pressure on beds and the trust's desire to meet targets," the report said last week.

The bacterium, commonly transmitted while patients are in the hospital, most often affects those with weak immune systems and the elderly. Figures show cases of the potentially lethal bug in hospitals are on the rise.

IF IT DOESN'T WORK THERE, THEN WHY DO IT HERE?

IT MAKES NO SENSE.

I CERTAINLY DON'T WANT ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN MY FUTURE.

GAZA KIDS PLAY FATAH VERSUS HAMAS

YNET: Jews no longer the enemy? Gaza children take up new war game: Hamas vs. Fatah

Two groups of children "fighting" each other are a common site in many places around the world, although the "parties to the conflict" are usually different depending on where the game is played. Now, after long years where the Palestinian version of the game pitted "Arabs against Jews," recently a new version has been taking over the Gaza Strip – "Hamas vs. Fatah."

In this version of the game, the children are divided into two camps – Fatah and Hamas "members." The kids then proceed to fight each other using plastic weapons, until one of the sides surrenders and hands over its weapons to its rivals.

• IF THEY CAN'T MAKE PEACE WITH EACH OTHER, THEN HOW CAN ANYONE EXPECT ISRAELIS TO MAKE PEACE WITH THEM?

• ANNAPOLIS WILL BE A WASTE OF TIME - AND IT'S RESULTS, OR LACK THEREOF, WILL PROBABLY HURT ISRAEL.

THERE IS ONE WAY TO ACHIEVE PEACE: VICTORY.

JINDAL AND GOP TO WIN LOUSIANA GOVERNORSHIP

AP: Bobby Jindal is leading in the race for Governor of Louisiana

US Rep Bobby Jindal, the Oxford-educated son of Indian immigrants, is looking to win election outright in Saturday's primary to become Louisiana's first non-white Governor since the 1870's.

Four years after he lost a heated battle for Governor, the 36-year-old Jindal is well ahead of the pack in a repeat run. If he gets more than 50 per cent of the vote in the primary, he will win election outright and avoid a runoff. If elected, he would be the youngest US Governor currently in office.

The Republican's prospects have brightened thanks to three years of Congressional experience, a splintered Democratic field and an incumbent whose political fortunes were done in by Hurricane Katrina.

• THE FIRST GOVERNOR OF COLOR SINCE RECONSTRUCTION.

• AND HE'S A REPUBLICAN. JUST LIKE THEN.

ASIDE: THIS WILL MAKE IT TOUGHER FOR THE DEMS TO TRY TO USE THEIR KATRINA LIES IN 2008.

GORE AND THE LEFT HAVE CAUSED OIL TO RACE TOWARD $100/BARREL

HOW?

SIMPLE: BECAUSE OF THE TOTAL BS ABOUT AGW BEING CAUSED BY MAN-MADE CO2, WE CAN'T BUILD ANY NEW/CLEAN POWER PLANTS HERE WHICH USE OUR MOST ABUNDANT RESOURCE: COAL.

• THIS COMES AFTER THE LEFT HAS SPENT THE LAST TWO DECADES FIGHTING NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS.

• THESE POLICIES OF LEFT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR TYHE HIGH COST OF OIL. PERIOD.

• A NEW/CLEAN COAL-BURNING POWER PLANT IN KANSAS WAS JUST TURNED DOWN BECAUSE OF ... CO2 EMISSIONS.

• WELL.... CO2 IS NON-TOXIC. REPEAT NON-TOXIC. AND IT'S A POOR CONDUCTOR. AND MAN-MADE CO2 MAKES UP A MINUSCULE PERCENTAGE OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

• THE ICE CORES PROVE THAT IT DOES NOT CAUSE "GLOBAL WARMENING"; IT IS A LAGGING INDICATOR. (ANOTHER LINK HERE.)

THEREFORE, A MORATORIUM ON COAL-BURNING PLANTS ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING E - X - C - E - P - T INCREASING THE PRICE OF OIL. PERIOD.

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS: WE ARE ALL NEEDLESSLY PAYING MORE FOR OIL - MOSTLY TO FOREIGNERS, MANY OF THEM "FRIENDLY" TO OUR ENEMIES - BECAUSE THE ECO-NUTSIES LED BY GORE FEEL THAT MAN-MADE CO2 IS CHANGING THE EARTH'S CLIMATE.

AS IF CLIMATE CHANGE WASN'T NATURAL; AS IF IT HASN'T HAPPENED MANY TIMES BEFORE.

AND AS OIL IS CLIMBS TOWARD $100 PER BARREL... THE CHIC DENERATI OF THE ECO-NUTSIE LEFT CONTINUE TO ZIP AROUND TOWN IN LIMOS AND TROT AROUND THE GLOBE IN PRIVATE JETS.

PAKISTAN OFFICIAL: "TALIBAN AND ALQAEDA BEHIND ATTACK"

AP:

A top provincial security official said Friday that the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaida-linked, pro-Taliban warlord based near the Afghan border.

The ''signature at the blast site and the modus operandi'' suggested the involvement of militants linked to warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaida, said Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the head security official in the province where Mehsud is based.

''We were already fearing a strike from Mehsud and his local affiliates and this were conveyed to the (Bhutto's Pakistan's) People's Party but they got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously,'' Mohtarem said.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing of the former prime minister's convoy, which killed up to 136 people as Bhutto triumphantly paraded through her hometown of Karachi Thursday.

On the eve of Bhutto's arrival, a provincial government official had cited intelligence reports that three suicide bombers linked to Mehsud were in Karachi. The local government had also warned Bhutto could be targeted by Taliban or al-Qaida.

AS I BLOGGED EARLIER THIS WEEK: THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A MAJOR JIHADO-TERRORIST OFFENSIVE AGAINST PAKISTAN. THEY'VE FAILED EVERYWHERE ELSE.

PAKISTAN IS THE TARGET OF CHOICE BECAUSE IT'S NEAR THEIR HIDEOUTS IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN AND WAZIRISTAN, AND IT HAS AN AMENABLE DOMESTIC POPULATION, AND A RICH PAYLOAD: THE NUKES!

AND... IRAN LIKES THE DIVERSION, TOO - SO EXPECT THEM TO HELP MORE AND MORE.

STAY TUNED...

THE ULTIMATE SCENT FOR PRO-DEMOCRACY VENEZUELANS

LGF: Venezuelan Monument to Che Guevara Destroyed

Hat tip: Hugo Chavez. Cross posted to Doug Ross @ Journal

ISRAEL HAD MOLE INSIDE SYRIAN NUKE FACILITY

ACCORDING TO ABC NEWS.

UPDATE: WE BEAT HOT AIR WITH THIS LINK BY 2 FREAKIN HOURS.

BHUTTO MAKES A GOOD POST-ATTACK STATEMENT

AFP/THE HK STANDARD:

Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto on Friday condemned a suicide bombing that killed at least 133 people at her homecoming parade in Karachi, calling it an "attack on democracy."

Bhutto was unhurt in Thursday night's attack, having climbed into her specially fortified vehicle just moments before two explosions ripped through crowds welcoming her back to Karachi after eight years in exile.

The streets, packed with hundreds of thousands of her jubilant supporters, quickly became a scene of bloody carnage. The campaign bus was scorched and dented.

"The attack was not on me, the attack was on what I represent," Bhutto said. "It was an attack on democracy and it was an attack on the very unity and integrity of Pakistan."

Bhutto pledged to defy the "cowards" from al-Qaeda, the Taleban and other militant groups who had vowed to launch suicide attacks against her before she flew home from Dubai.

"If it means sacrificing our lives, then we are prepared to risk our lives, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants," she said.

THE JIHADISTS AND THEIR ALLIES IN PAKISTAN'S ISI AND ARMY MUST BE ELIMINATED.

MAYBE BHUTTO WILL HELP MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

I POSTED EARLIER IN THE WEEK THAT PAKISTAN IS BECOMING THE NEW CENTRAL FROM IN THE GWOT. I FEEL THIS IS EVEN TRUER NOW.

WITH THIS CAVEAT: AL QAEDA WILL CONCENTRATE ON PAKISTAN. IRAN WILL CONCENTRATE ON THEIR NUKES AND ISRAEL/GAZA/LEBANON/SYRIA.

MORE HERE.

Eminent Scientist Censored for Truth-telling

Fury that anybody would say publicly what every single scientific study of the subject has shown

"A Nobel prize-winning scientist who reportedly claimed Africans and Europeans had different levels of intelligence is no longer welcome to deliver a lecture at London's Science Museum, the museum said Wednesday.

James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering DNA, drew widespread outrage when he told The Sunday Times that Africans and Europeans did not share the same brain power.

The newspaper quoted the 79-year-old American geneticist as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really."

The comments drew condemnation from British lawmakers, scientists, and equality campaigners.

Watson, who serves as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, was due to speak Friday at a sold-out event at the Science Museum, but on Wednesday night the institution said Watson's comments had gone too far and the lecture had been canceled

Source

Cautionary note: People have a tendency to see statements about groups as applying to all members of that group. That is rarely so and is certainly not true in this instance.

There is no inconsistency in saying that blacks as a whole are less intelligent while also acknowledging that some individual blacks are very intelligent. What is true of most need not be true of all.

Scientists have spent decades looking for holes in the evidence Watson was referring to but all the proposed "holes" have been shown not to be so. There is NO argument against his conclusions that has not been meticulously examined by skeptics already. And all objections have been shown not to hold up. There is an introduction to the studies concerned here

Some commentators have mentioned that old Marxist propagandist, Stephen Jay Gould, as refuting what Watson said. Here is just one comment pointing out what a klutz Gould was. And for an exhaustive scientific refutation of Gould by an expert in the field, see here. Gould's distortions of the facts really are quite breathtaking.

Watson got such a lot of abuse over his comments that he has now denied that he made them. The newspaper that originally reported the comments stands by its story, however.

(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.)

MAJORITY OF KNESSET MEMBERS OPPOSE DIVIDING JERUSALEM

Here's a positive development that knocks down Ehud Olmert's attempts to divide the city he once mayored:

A majority of Knesset members signed a petition this week calling for Jerusalem to remain undivided in a move that could tie the hands of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in his negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Annapolis summit.

The petition drive, initiated by Likud MK Yisrael Katz, attracted support from some 30 coalition MKs, including ministers Ya'acov Edri and Ze'ev Boim of Kadima and the two Pensioners Party ministers.

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said he would sign soon. Thirteen Kadima MKs signed, including Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzahi Hanegbi. Every Pensioners MK signed.

The only Israel Beiteinu MKs who signed were David Rotem and Estherina Tartman and the only Labor MK who signed was MK Yoram Marciano.

Katz said the petition drive was intended to send a message to Olmert that he has no mandate to negotiate Jerusalem's future. In a further push to keep the future of Jerusalem on the agenda, the Likud faction will tour the walls of the Old City Tuesday and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu will brief the foreign press at a strategic site overlooking the city.

"Unfortunately the man who was mayor of Jerusalem is talking about dividing the city in order to take the public's attention away from the problems he is facing, like the Winograd Committee," Likud MK Reuven Rivlin said. "It is possible that Olmert could divide Jerusalem and we would have to face that reality, but it's illegitimate, especially because he's putting Jerusalem on the agenda to distract from his other problems."

And I hope he continues to have those problems long after he's out of office. Sooner or later, that's going to happen, and I hope he faces lawsuits to boot!

Update: here's an article from the Globe and Mail that, while it's got some predictable PC-biases included, it does tell that Arabs here do not want to live under Fatah/Hamas rule.

HOW PUTIN INTENDS TO ACHIEVE GLOBAL DOMINANCE

The Caspian Sea nations (Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan) are threatening the U.S. about rumors that the U.S. may attack Iran. But Putin has a far greater objective in mind by buddying up with Iran and he has a much bigger bone to pick with the U.S. than the threat to Iran.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin met his Iranian counterpart Tuesday and implicitly warned the U.S. not to use a former Soviet republic to stage an attack on Iran. He also said nations shouldn't pursue oil pipeline projects in the area if they weren't backed by regional powers.

DECRIMINALIZING TREASON

Hey, here's a brilliant idea: why don't we elevate any and all reporters in Big Media above all espionage laws? Not those amateur bloggers,only real "journalists"--you know--the ones who only tell you the "truth"; the ones being paid by newspapers, networks, and other media conglomerates. Let's grant them complete immunity, and shield them to revealing any of their sources of leaked information, no matter how dire the circumstances.

This is not just a passing thought; this is the latest brainchild of the saboteurs in the Democrat leadership of the US House of Representatives. In fact they have crafted a bill to do just that, entitled "The Free Flow of Information Act." And this bill has just passed the House and been sent on to the US Senate.

Revealing secret government financial tracking mechanisms to our enemy? Or the details of other classified surveillance programs? No problem. Warning suspected terror subjects about a pending raid by the feds--after being tipped off by someone inside the investigation? Child's Play: it's journalistic privilege! (And obviously the public--who in many cases elected the leakers in the first place--have no right to know who tipped the journalist off.)

Or let's go a step further: let's say a member of the United States Senate (or the US Congress, or perhaps the CIA or State Department...)--who is privy to highly classified information but sworn to secrecy under penalty of imprisonment--wants to get some damaging secret information out, simply to embarrass the Administration--or to sabotage the US War effort; something that will actually cost real American lives--as certainly as a Cold War outing of a double agent. The Democrats' new bill would protect them too. But more importantly (to the sponsors), it would protect not just the reporter; it would also shield the official(s)--and their staffers--who leaked the information in the first place. Names like Rockefeller, Schumer, Kerry, and Clinton come immediately to mind...

The Democrat Party and its friends in the CIA and State department--which have for several years now been overtly and covertly sabotaging the US War effort--suddenly are feeling the need to be protected from the E-vil Bush Justice Department. The audacity of Bushitler: so megalonamical that he's determined to stop wartime leaks. The gall...

In all seriousness, what better way to cover up its own treasonous behavior than by crafting a bill that protects the reporters who they leaked to. Because the alternative is: what if the very Senators and Congressmen which severely compromised our security by outing secrets they took an oath to protect--were to become known in an election year? And what if they were among the Senior Leadership in the Democrat party? Perhaps even a current or past Presidential candidate? That just wouldn't do.

This friends is the party which our asleep in the wheel electorate placed into power last year. These are the Bolshevik Vampires who now threaten to destroy everything good about America. This is the party that invented scandal. The party of Tammany Hall; of LBJ and dead voters voting alphabetically. The party of Joe Kennedy cutting deals with the Mob to ensure West Virginia and Chicago go to his son. The party of attempting to steal an election in Florida by suppressing Military votes there. The party of the Clinton Machine and George Soros. Whitewater. Stolen FBI files and shredded files at the Rose Law Firm. Travelgate. Juanita Broderick. Vince Foster. Trashing interns. Lying under oath to Grand Juries. Trashing the White House. Pilfering silverware from Air Force one. Contributions from Red China. Norman Hsu... And the beat goes on.

This, friends is the party that is the alpha and omega of scorched earth. This is the modern day political equivalent General Sherman marching to the sea--burning everything in his wake, allowing his troops to rape and pillage and kill. This is a party willing to Dresden fire bomb its own country in a figurative sense--if it means more power for them. Welcome to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and the 2007 Democrat Party...

If you think this carte blanche to leak whatever secrets it pleases is some sort of nightmare, think again. It is all too real. It just passed the House, for God's sake. And if the Senate does not kill this bill, the House may just have the votes to override President Bush's almost certain veto.

This is serious, sports fans. This law, if enacted, would allow almost anyone in the federal government complete immunity for revealing classified information critical to US National Security in a time of War--as long as they reveal it to a member of the MSM. Information that could cost lives. Maybe many lives. Or a even a city. Or start a nuclear war. This bill would make journalists permanently above the law.

I know it seems like everyday there is something coming out of this Congress which is even more outrageous than the day before. But that is exactly what is happening. I have never seen anything like it, and I am no spring chicken.

Is there any sanity left in my country?

Seth Leibsohn and Andy McCarthy have written an excellent column on this abomination, which is a must read. But here are a few key grafs:

... They have disclosed, published, and broadcast to the world national security secrets from NSA surveillance programs to Treasury Department funds-tracking programs and they have outed allies who helped us hold high-value terrorist detainees such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

For this behavior has a single member of the press been investigated, much less prosecuted? No. Instead, they have given themselves Pulitzer Prizes. And this week, the House of Representatives has approved legislation that would give them something even more valuable: a new privilege, to be recognized in federal law, allowing them not to testify against those who have broken the law by giving them classified national-security intelligence. With this privilege, the media, unlike the rest of us, can now skirt a core obligation of citizenship: the duty to provide testimony when they witness crimes. Indeed, even if they aid and abet certain crimes, our lawmakers would provide them cover.

... The media may not like this, and the politicians and public officials who leak to them surely don’t like it, but unauthorized disclosures of information in government files is a crime. Government officials with security clearances take a solemn oath to keep classified information confidential. Leaking it is not only dishonorable; it is a crime. Moreover, even when information in government files is not classified, officials can be prosecuted — and jailed for up to ten years — under a federal statute that bars the theft of public money, property and records (Section 641 of Title 18, U.S. Code).

That is, a reporter who receives such a leak witnesses a crime every bit as serious — and sometimes more serious — than the journalist who happens to be in the bank when it is robbed. Government officials who leak information can severely compromise our national security, as we have seen only too frequently in recent years. People can die as a result of such leaks. It makes no sense to make them even more difficult than they already are to investigate.

... The First Amendment is not a license to violate the law. The prosecution of a journalist would be a very momentous step, one that should be approached with the greatest of caution. But questioning journalists about which government officials are leaking information that can so badly damage national security should be a no-brainer — especially during wartime and under circumstances where the enemy has already accomplished one devastating strike against the homeland and desperately seeks a reprise. It is simply mind-boggling that Congress would take what is very likely criminal behavior and turn it into immunized behavior — encouraging more top-secret disclosures and putting all of us at greater risk.

Our only hope is the Senate. We quite simply must get enough votes to sustain a fillibuster. And that, friends, is going to be completely up to us.

It's our country--at the moment anyway. We can either let it disintegrate completely, or we can fight with all our hearts to save it. What say you?

THE BENAZIR BHUTTO PARADE IS A METAPHOR FOR THE CURRENT STATE OF MODERATE ISLAM

AP/HAARETZ:

KARACHI - A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed 126 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan's biggest city after eight years in exile.

Two explosions struck near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house.

Bhutto flew home to lead her Pakistan People's Party in January parliamentary elections, drawing cheers from supporters massed in a sea of the party's red, green and black flags. The police chief said 150,000 were in the streets, while other onlookers estimated twice that.

The throngs reflected Bhutto's enduring political clout, but she has made enemies of Islamic militants by taking a pro-U.S. line and negotiating a possible political alliance with Pakistan's military ruler, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Authorities had urged her to use a helicopter to reduce the risk of attack amid threats from extremists sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qaida, but she brushed off the concerns.

"I am not scared. I am thinking of my mission, she had told reporters on the plane from Dubai. This is a movement for democracy because we are under threat from extremists and militants."

Last month, she had told CNN she realized she was a target. "Islamic militants, she said, don't believe in women governing nations, so they will try to plot against me, but these are risks that must be taken. I'm prepared to take them."

Leaving the airport, Bhutto refused to use a bulletproof glass cubicle that had been built atop the truck taking her to the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to give a speech. She squeezed between other party officials along a railing at the front.

Her procession had been creeping toward the center of Karachi for 10 hours, moving at a snail's pace while dancing and cheering supporters swarmed around the truck, when a small explosion erupted near the front of the vehicle. That was quickly followed by a larger blast just feet from the truck, setting an escorting police van on fire and breaking windows in Bhutto's vehicle.

Via PJM:

Ms Bhutto’s husband Zardari told Geo TV that he did not think that extremist elements were behind these blasts, adding that some elements within the government, including some ministers, were responsible for the blasts. He said the PPP was a democratic party and was not a threat to jihadi elements.

UPDATE: MORE BHUTTO DENIAL - VIA THE BBC:

Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto has accused supporters of late military ruler Mohammed Zia ul-Haq of being behind the bomb attack against her. ... Zia overthrew Ms Bhutto's father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977, and had him hanged two years later. ... Speaking shortly after the attack on her convoy, Ms Bhutto told Paris-Match magazine: "I know exactly who wants to kill me.

"It is dignitaries of the former regime of General Zia who are today behind the extremism and the fanaticism."

ZIA NOT AL QAEDA AND THE TALIBAN AND IRAN. SHEESH.

LET'S BREAK THAT DOWN:

• She knew she was a target of al Qaeda.

• Despite that - and specific warnings to delay her return by Musharraf - she went back. And she blames an old rival and her hubby blames Musharraf, not the Taliban or al Qaeda - even thought THEY made the threats against her. SHEESH.
  

• And instead of taking an unknown route back from the airport, or traveling by helicopter, or just driving at regular speed, she took a well-publicized route - AND WENT AT WALKING PACE.

She invited the attack. She thought it would not come, that she was bigger than "them" and her misplaced AUDACITY led to the slaughter of 128 people - SO FAR, and hundreds more injured.

THIS STRIKES ME AS A METAPHOR FOR THE CURRENT STATE OF MODERATE OF ISLAM:

Like Leftists here and in Europe, moderate Muslims from the Philippines to Morocco are willfully ignoring the very real dangers presented by the islamofascists. Like the Left, they deny the nature of the enemy - as if, like the ostrich with her head in the sand - that made them safer.

IF WE WANT TO WIN WITH THE LOWEST CASUALTIES, THEN WE MUST ALL UNITE - RIGHT & LEFT, CHRISTIAN, MUSLIM, HINDU, BUDDHIST, JEW AND ATHEIST - AND WE MUST GO ON THE OFFENSIVE.

Or one day - sooner than we think - an attack like this will be done with a WMD, perhaps a nuke... perhaps one of Pakistan's...

MORE ON PAKISTAN HERE.

WHY DID CECILIA SARKOZY SUDDENLY DUMP NICOLAS?

They are now divorced.

They'd had a rough couple of years, but seemed to be really happy together right after the election. The Sarkozy Elysee was compared to Camelot; she was praised for her style and brains.

Then...

She took up a very serious mission to save several foreigners on death row in Libya - AND SEEMINGLY SUCCEEDED WHERE EVERYONE HAD FAILED.

Then...

It was reported that - behind the scenes - France had made a big arms deal with Kadaffy, a deal which almost certainly had to be approved by President Sarkozy. Now, there's an investigation of the arms deal, the death row deal and her trip.

AND THAT'S WHEN SHE SUDDENLY SPLITS.

HERE'S WHAT I THINK HAPPENED:

I think Nicholas begged her to go on the Libyan mission by telling her only she could make the difference.

She went, and did well - SEEMINGLY SUCCEEDING WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAD FAILED.

Then the news of the arms deal comes out, and she confronts Nicolas - asking him if he knew about the arms deal before he asked her to go to Libya, and if he had just sent her as "cover."

He admits the truth, telling her that he knew about the arms deal, and that the arms deal is what really "did the trick" (NOT her), and that this is how affairs of state are really managed.

She splits, furious at having been used. Angry at herself for having given such a ruthless man a second chance.

FINIS.

The again, maybe they were just tired of each other and tired of the charade.

WHO WON THE NOBEL PRIZE - KACZYNSKI OR GORE?

Take this test, here. See if you can identify which statements come from Al Gore's book, and which from Ted Kaczynski's manifesto (sample):

9. "And tragically, since the onset of the scientific and technological revolution, it has become all too easy for ultrarational minds to create an elaborate edifice of clockwork efficiency capable of nightmarish cruelty on an industrial scale. The atrocities of Hitler and Stalin, and the mechanical sins of all who helped them, might have been inconceivable except for the separation of facts from values and knowledge from morality."
Al Gore The Unabomber

10. "The modern individual on the other hand is threatened by many things against which he is helpless: nuclear accidents, carcinogens in food, environmental pollution, war, increasing taxes, invasion of his privacy by large organizations, and nationwide social or economic phenomena that may disrupt his way of life."
Al Gore The Unabomber

Then tell me who won the Nobel Prize for Peace this year.

HILLARY UNCENSORED TRAILER: #1 ON GOOGLE VIDEO... AGAIN!

Doug from Upland writes to alert us to a viral success story: the shocking trailer for Hillary Uncensored received nearly 110,000 page views on Tuesday.

If you haven't taken the time to view the controversial trailer, you'll want to see it.

The full documentary will be screened in the following locations -- if you're in the neighborhood, stop by to watch the power, the magic, and the glory that is Hillary Clinton.

Dartmouth College - Sat. Oct. 27, 2pm
Saint Anselm College - Sun. Oct. 28, 1pm
Metropolitan Republican Club of NY - Tues. Oct. 30, 7pm

A special guest at the Dartmouth and Saint Anselm screenings will be Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien. Katherine because famous for confronting Al Gore at a town hall meeting in late 1999 over Juanita Broaddrick's rape charge against Bill Clinton. A few months ago, she personally confronted Hillary. Hillary pretended to be unaware of someone named Juanita Broaddrick. It wasn't a convincing performance.

Postscript: this is my virgin post on The Astute Bloggers. I'd like to thank Reliapundit for the opportunity --- hopefully I can maintain the proud Astute tradition. If you're looking for a lower quality version of TAB, visit my normal haunts.

PAKISTAN IS BECOMING THE NEXT MAJOR FRONT IN WW4

• THINGS IN WAZIRISTAN ARE HEATING UP, AS MUSHARRAF ATTACKS AL QAEDA THERE MORE AND MORE. ANOTHER LINK FROM 10/17 HERE - IN FRENCH. AND ANOTHER FROM ASIA TODAY VIA DINAH.
  

• AND NOW - UPON BHUTTO'S RETURN - THE JIHADOTERRORISTS ARE STAGING NEAR-MEGA-ATTACKS IN THE HEART OF "CIVILIZED" PAKISTAN. AT LEAST 108 ARE NOW CONFIRMED DEAD IN TODAY'S ATTACK.
  

• ALL THIS IS OCCURRING AS IT BECOMES MORE AND MORE OBVIOUS THAT AL QAEDA HAS BEEN DEFEATED IN IRAQ

• AND FOR AT LEAST A MONTH NOW, FAR FEWER JIHADIS HAVE BEEN ENTERING IRAQ. SO, WHERE ARE THEY GOING?
  

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT AL QAEDA HAS PERHAPS MADE A STRATEGIC DECISION TO LEAVE IRAQ AND MAKE THEIR NEXT STAND IN PAKISTAN - AND IN THE WESTERN LAWLESS/TRIBAL AREAS AND EASTERN AFGHANISTAN. THEY HAVE PROBABLY DECIDED THIS FOR A FEW REASONS:

• FIRST, IT'S WHERE THEIR LEADERSHIP IS;

• SECOND, THEY WANT PAKISTAN'S NUKES AND THEY WANT THEM NOW.

• AND THIRD, THEY SEE MUSHARRAF AND PAKISTAN'S UNSTABLE DEMOCRACY/JUNTA AS THE WEAKEST LINK AND RICHEST TARGET IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. NO OIL, BUT NUKES.
  

IS BUSH A WEAK, EMBATTLED, LAME-DUCK PRESIDENT? HARDLY.

Despite the fact that the legacy media are trying to portray the las two years of the George W. Bushy presidency as weak, helpless, and embattled, the President is still able to prevent the Dhimmicrats from taking over the show.

The veto of the expansion of the S-CHIP program was sustained.

The attempt to impose even more bureaucratic red tape on the terrorist surveillance programs was thwarted.

The Reid-Pelosi Congress is one of the worst ever, and we are fortunate that the President still has the clout to withstand the Dhimmicrat's Gramscian subversion.

BUSH, THE DALAI LAMA, GERE AND HOLLYWOOD

NYPOST:

Gere said the "heartfelt involvement of the president" was obvious when Bush, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), awarded the Dalai Lama the honor.

"I have to give him credit," Gere said, referring to Bush.

Pointing to the fight against AIDS and on behalf of Tibet, Gere said of Bush, "He's been an extraordinary friend on both issues."

Bush praised the Dalai Lama as a "universal symbol of peace and tolerance, a shepherd of the faithful and a keeper of the flame for his people."

"Americans cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close our eyes or turn away," Bush said in the Capitol Rotunda before awarding the Dalai Lama his medal.

Asked whether the president's efforts were helpful to his cause, the Dalai Lama told The Post, "Certainly."

In his own remarks, the Dalai Lama praised Bush for his "firm stand on religious freedom and democracy."

You won't see this reported in any other MSM outlet; in fact, the entire Left ignores ALL of Bush's liberal efforts: it interferes with their Bushitler fantasies. He raised spending on education, on Medicare and Medicaid, and reduced taxes on the poor and middle class.

It would be nice if more of the Lefties in Hollywood acknowledged that Bush has been LIGHT YEARS better than Clinton on AIDS in Africa and Tibet - two of their favorite causes.

They are not constitutionally able to do so because it would mean they'd have to humanize the Right.

REP. PETE STARK--THE MODERN FACE OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY

"Where are you going to get that money? Are you going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."--Representative Pete Stark (D)

This is disgusting and gives you a glimpse into the face of the Modern Democrat Party!! Unbelievable!!

SOME GERMANS JUST HAVEN'T CHANGED

According to a recent poll in Germany (via Hot Air Headlines), 25 percent of Germans miss the "aspects" of nazi rule. And, despite what's implied here, I highly doubt the National Socialists had any real respect for mothers at the time, no matter what that sick talk show host was saying. (Plus, isn't Germany usually described as the "fatherland" in contrast to Russia's being the "motherland"?)

And anyone who tries to use that argument that "the trains all ran on time" ought to have their heads examined!

Update: Dr. Sanity (via Daled Amos) explains perfectly just what kind of "respect" the nazis had for motherhood, if they did. As does the History Learning Site, which explains how truly, any childbirth they advocated was in the ways of raising jihadists.

Obesity link to life loss: More Fraudulent "consensus" science

Once again we see a hope that majority votes will trump the facts. The facts are summarized here

OBESITY is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found. While smoking reduces life by an average of 10 years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says the obesity crisis in some Western countries is so severe it would take at least 30 years to reverse. It warns modern life -- with the easy availability of cheap, unhealthy food and a sedentary lifestyle -- means it is almost impossible for many to avoid putting on weight........

More of the trash 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.)

Immense Israeli restraint in the face of vast Arab incompetence

Excerpt:

Two years ago, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon led his country in a fateful decision to "disengage" from Gaza, uprooting 8,500 Jewish residents, many born in Gaza and some domiciled there for nearly four decades. Sharon did this because, as he put it to 1.3 million Palestinian Gazans,

"...it is not in our interest to govern you... we would like you to govern yourselves in your own country, a democratic Palestinian state."

Sharon held out hope that if things worked out in Gaza, he would move to withdraw from the West Bank as well. That this hope has turned to literal ashes is now well known.

Not only has a viable Palestinian government willing to live in peace and security with Israel failed to materialize, Hamas, a terrorist group whose charter explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel, won legislative elections and forcibly drove Fatah rivals out of Gaza. Gaza has become the locus for blatant acts of war against Israel, including repeated Qassam rocket barrages against Israeli residential areas and recurring efforts to infiltrate suicide bombers. Twelve Israeli civilians have died and countless thousands have been dislocated by these missiles. In the early hours of September 11, one rocket launched from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza hit an Israeli basic training camp in Zikim, wounding fifty military recruits. Israeli Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped inside Israel and is being held prisoner inside Gaza. Hamas has smuggled in large quantities of weapons through the porous Egyptian border. Twenty tons of materiel entered Gaza in July 2007 alone, and the IDF now believes that Hamas possesses anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank rockets, most likely Sagger guided missiles.

On September 18, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously to juridically recognize these facts: it declared that a terrorist organization has turned Gaza into "hostile territory." This declaration opens the way for Israeli authorities, at a time and in a measure of their choosing, to reduce the amount of electricity, water, and fuel they have continued to supply to Gaza since Israel's departure two years ago. [Egypt, during its entire occupation of the territory from 1948-67, never developed Gaza's energy infrastructure, leaving the strip destitute and primitive. Israel's integration of Gaza into its supply grid has allowed Gazans to develop their industry and agriculture.]

Despite the deliberative tone of the cabinet's decision -- it noted that "sanctions will be enacted following a legal examination, while taking into account both the humanitarian aspects relevant to the Gaza Strip and the intention to avoid a humanitarian crisis" -- critics hastened to denounce the move. One United Nations official interviewed on Israeli Army Radio termed the decision "collective punishment," and "a violation of international law," while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared that any interruption in the utilities would be "contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law."

The UN statements were, typically, hysterical in tone and dead wrong on the law. If Gaza is territory under the control of the enemy -- as it manifestly is under Hamas -- then the Israeli government is both within its rights and arguably obliged by its responsibilities to its citizens to treat the strip as "hostile territory." Siege and blockade of a hostile territory is a legitimate tactic of war, used in declared and undeclared (e.g., Cuban) conflicts and explicitly recognized by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The Conventions' sole limitation is that there be "free passage of all consignments of food-stuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers, and maternity cases" (Fourth Convention, art. 23) -- and even this exception was conditioned on there being "no reasons for fearing... [t]hat a definite advantage may accrue to the military efforts or economy of the enemy" (for example, if resources destined for humanitarian aid will be commandeered by the enemy). Israel has carefully respected this requirement.....

To the joy of Hamas, Gaza is now Judenrein. But it is a miserable place. Its residents, having voted for a regime that is waging war on Israel, must now suffer the consequences of their electoral (and military) support of the terrorist group. Of course, a cut-off of electricity, water, and fuel, might strengthen the extremists among them, so Israeli authorities are wise to weigh their actions carefully. But if they choose to reduce supplies to their enemy -- a measure far less aggressive than a military takeover -- they are absolutely legally entitled to do so. If Palestinians wish to claim equality among the nations of the world, they should expend energies building a state at peace with its neighbor and supplying its citizens with basic services, rather than devoting themselves to destroying their neighbor and then carping about the standard of living that Israelis allegedly owe them.

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.)

FRANCE: THE LEFT STRIKES BACK

• THE LEFT IN FRANCE IS MAKING ITS FIRST MOVES AGAINST REFORM.

• IF SARKOZY IS TO SUCCEED HE MUST SURMOUNT THESE EFFORTS.

DORIS LESSING: "POLITICAL CORRECTNESS" IS TOTALLY LEFTIST

On the occasion of her award of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the New Duranty Times republished an op-ed Doris Lessing wrote in 1992, "Questions you should never ask a writer." In the article, the former communist and fellow-traveler described how communist jargon and communist ways of thinking had infected mainstream culture. Her testimony indicates the success of the communists' Gramscian attack on Western culture, and underscores the importance of opposing it. She wrote:

There is a Communist jargon recognizable after a single sentence. Few people in Europe have not joked in their time about “concrete steps,” “contradictions,” “the interpenetration of opposites,” and the rest. The first time I saw that mind-deadening slogans had the power to take wing and fly far from their origins was in the 1950s when I read an article in The Times of London and saw them in use. “The demo last Saturday was irrefutable proof that the concrete situation...” Words confined to the left as corralled animals had passed into general use and, with them, ideas. One might read whole articles in the conservative and liberal press that were Marxist, but the writers did not know it. [Emphasis added.]

She goes on to note:

The phrase “political correctness” was born as Communism was collapsing. I do not think this was chance. I am not suggesting that the torch of Communism has been handed on to the political correctors. I am suggesting that habits of mind have been absorbed, often without knowing it.

There is obviously something very attractive about telling other people what to do: I am putting it in this nursery way rather than in more intellectual language because I see it as nursery behavior. Art — the arts generally — are always unpredictable, maverick, and tend to be, at their best, uncomfortable. Literature, in particular, has always inspired the House committees, the Zhdanovs, the fits of moralizing, but, at worst, persecution. It troubles me that political correctness does not seem to know what its exemplars and predecessors are; it troubles me more that it may know and does not care.

She concludes, ominously:

I am sure that millions of people, the rug of Communism pulled out from under them, are searching frantically, and perhaps not even knowing it, for another dogma.

RTWT.

And don't miss her candid reaction to being informed that she had won the Nobel.