WEEKEND WITH THE ARTS: RODRIGO

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 WEEK: Narciso Yepes plays the Fantasía para un Gentilhombre de J.Rodrigo

(IN HONOR OF KING JUAN CARLOS - A GENTLEMAN AND A DEFENDER OF DEMOCRACY):









OH: AND CHARLES (THE BANNER) JOHNSON, AT LGF, IS A GREAT GUITAR AFICIONADO - MAYBE HE'LL LIKE IT TOO!?

Marxist Nutroots Keep Impeachment Pressure On: Good for Republicans; Bad for the Country

It is growing increasingly clear that the Marxist Nutroot left is becoming more and more the dominant force in the Democrat party. The increasing heat from the MoveOn.org Left to actually try and impeach Bush and Cheney is obviously a sign that the party's leadership is losing control of this runaway train. Is the self-destructiveness of the Democrats a positive development politically for Republicans? Sure it is.

Yet I have to go on record here as not agreeing with Michelle Malkin's apparent inference in the above linked post that we should hope for impeachment proceedings to gain momentum, whether it would help Republicans or not.

To distract a President with trumped up hysterical charges, as he conducts a War and tries to protect our citizens from further horrific attacks--a move which would have no chance whatsoever of succeeding in the Senate--would be perilous both for the country's security and for the electorate's trust in our system of Government...

But, of course, for the Marxists on the Democrat Left, this is exactly why they want it to happen...).

I nevertheless do acknowledge her point that if the Dems were to make such a patently partisan and hysterical move as to attempt to impeach this President, it would definitely help Republicans in next year's elections; after all this President:

1. Is merely following a long-standing tradition in asserting Executive Privalege for his personal aides;
   
2. Is following many other Presidents' precedent of conducting surveillance of the enemy when the nation he was sworn to protect was at War and/or in danger of attack;
   
3. Is a President whose wartime actions do not hold a candle to the extra-constitutional wartime actions of Democrat hero FDR during WWII and Lincoln during the Civil War; and
   
4. Would easily have enough support to prevent the 2/3 majority needed to impeach.
   

Sure it might help Republicans if the Democrat leadership is imbecilic enough to push this forward; but would Impeachment now be good for the country? I say no: the means of getting that favorable political outcome are too fraught with risk. The Long War we are in is the most important conflict in our lifetimes; the heightened global tensions we face in places like Iran, Syria, Korea, are nearing critical mass; the precarious nature of the economy right now--all these are far too critical to the future of the country (and indeed, the World) to distract our Commander in Chief for such an outrageous display of blind partisanship.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows how I feel when Democrats have regularly put their party's fortunes ahead of our country's. The Financial Surveillance leaks, the Plame put-up job, Senators like Jay Rockefeller trying to sell their country's security for purely partisan political gain--these are reprehensible, even treasonous actions.

Yes, I understand the Republican political maneuver last week, when they changed their votes to keep the Kucinich resolution alive, simply to embarrass the foolish Democrats who proposed it in the first place. I understand their intent was not to actually move towards impeachment. But with the nutroots pulling the strings to the extent that they are, even that maneuver was risky.

It is difficult for me to imagine a scenario where it would be appropriate to try and impeach an American President in the middle of a War--unpopular or not. And it should not be cavalierly voted upon, by either party. Yes, if the Democrats are dumb enough to push this forward, it could well improve Republicans' chances next year.

But I have never argued here that putting the country at risk for purely partisan political gain is appropriate, and I am not going to start now.

Personally I think the nutroots have already begun to dig a deep enough hole for themselves that they might not come out of it unscathed. And impeachment proceedings at this moment in history is a really atrocious idea--not only for any sensible Democrats left out there in the ether who want to win next year, but also for the country as a whole. It should not be encouraged by any responsible citizen.

VIDEO OF THE BATTLE OF VIENNA

• THIS IS FROM A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WHAT WAS THE FINAL BATTLE BETWEEN THE WEST AND JIHAD - UNTIL KHOMEINI RETURNED IN 1979, THANKS TO CARTER.

• LED BY THE KING OF POLAND - JAN III SOBIESKI - EUROPE WON. WIKI:

  King John III Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been made Commander in Chief of
  
  * his own 30,000-man Polish forces (Lithuanians did not take part in the battle),
  * 18,500 Austrian troops led by Charles V, Duke of Lorraine,
  * 19,000 Franconian, Swabian and Bavarian troops led by Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck,
  * 9,000 Saxon troops led by John George III, Elector of Saxony.

• THE TURKS HAD 138,000.
  

• THE NARRATION IS IN GERMAN.

• I GUESS TO CHARLES AT LGF THAT MAKES ME A NAZI.

WAS THE PAINTER STEUBEN (1788-1856) A WHITE RACIST?

HERE IS A PAINTING BY STEUBEN - THE BATTLE AT POITIERS:

• IT DEPICTS THE DECISIVE BATTLE WHICH CHARLES MARTEL WON; IT'S THE VICTORY WHICH SAVED EUROPE FROM BEING ENTIRELY CONQUERED BY MUSLIMS IN OCTOBER OF 732 A.D.

• THE PAINTING WAS COMPLETED IN 1837.

• NOTE THE CROSS IN THE UPPER LEFT.

• IT IS A SIMILAR CROSS TO THE ONE CHARLES OF LGF DISPLAYS IN AN ANTI-VLAAMSE BELANG POST IN WHICH HE CLAIMS IT ALSO PROVES FILIP DE WINTER IS A WHITE RACIST.

• DOES THIS PROVE THAT STEUBEN WAS ALSO A WHITE RACIST.

• NO. BOTH CONCLUSIONS ARE FAULTY. BASED IN THIS AND OTHER EVIDENCE CHARLES OFFERS.
  

• BUT EVEN IF DE WINTER WAS A RACIST, IT WOULD NOT MEAN THAT VB IS OR GOV OR ANYONE/EVERYONE ELSE AT THE COUNTER-JIHAD SUMMIT. AND IT WOULDN'T MEAN THAT VB MUST BE SHUNNED AT THE PRESENT TIME. (HERE'S WHY.)
  

I FOUND THIS PAINTING AT ATLAS. HERE ARE LINKS TO MORE INFO ON THE BATTLE AND THE PAINTING.

BTW: HERE'S A VIDEO ABOUT MARTEL (FROM SIOE) - AND HIS DANISH ALLIES WHO FOUGHT AND DIED ALONGSIDE HIM IN THE WAR TO SAVE EUROPE.



THEY FORGOT THEIR DIFFERENCES IN ORDER TO DEFEAT THE LARGER ENEMY, THE BIGGER THREAT.

IF THEY COULD DO IT, THEN SO CAN WE.

POLITICAL CRIME SYNDICATE: BILL, HILARY, PELOSI, CNN, AND INFO-USA'S VIN GUPTA

UNBELIEVABLY INCRIMINATING STUFF ABOUT BILL AND HILARY'S BIGGEST BENEFACTOR.

MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE DEMOCRATS: RETAIL SO FAR IS GRRRREAT!

BREITBART/AP:

The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country.

According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent to 5 percent.


"This is a really strong number. ... You can't have a good season unless it starts well," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, citing strength across all regions. "It's very encouraging.

When you look at September and October, shoppers weren't in the stores."

THIS IS REALLY BAD FOR THE DEMOCRATS.

• IRAQ IS GOING GOOD: SO THEIR DEFEATISM LOOKS DUMB.

• IT'S WINTER AND SO IT'S GETTING COLDER: SO THEIR CLIMATE CHANGE HYSTERIA LOOKS DUMB.

• AND NOW CHRISTMAS RETAIL LOOKS GOOD: SO THEIR ECONOMIC NAYSAYING LOOKS.

GEE: D'YA THINK MAYBE THE DEMS ARE WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING?

YES.

Update: Yes, we had this item a full day before Instapundit and Captain's Quarters. We lead; we don't follow the pack. Spread the word!

DESPITE CO2, AGW, AL GORE AND MSM HYSTERIA: EUROPE HAS LOTS OF SNOW

SKY NEWS:

Europe's ski resorts are celebrating record snow falls for November, which have helped soothe industry fears over global warming.

Last year, much of the continent saw a virtually snowless season, with some low-lying areas hatching plans to become winter hiking destinations.

But this year has had a promising start with some resorts enjoying early dumps of the white stuff.

Travel companies are also reporting strong demand from skiers eager to get a head-start to the season.

People in the Swiss resort of Verbier say they have had the best opening day they can remember. And Austria's Kitzbuhel - which last year suffered the warmest November on record - has opened six weeks earlier than planned.

AGW IS BS.

DON'T FALL FOR IT.

*******UPDATE: LONDON TIMES:

Something strange is happening at Europe’s ski resorts. It’s snowing

In Verbier, Kitzbühel and Klosters, global warming is, like, so last year. After suffering a delayed and, in some cases, virtually snowless season in 2006-07, European resorts are enjoying record November snowfalls.

Switzerland and Austria have had the best of the early snow, with even lowlying resorts that had been drawing up plans to become “winter hiking” destinations cranking up the chairlifts.

France is expecting significant snowfalls this weekend, as are parts of Germany; some Italian resorts are already open and Sweden and Norway are also hoping to join the party.

Zurich has had its heaviest snowfall since 1955 and the white stuff is settling all the way down to the beaches.

Travel companies are reporting a rush from winter sports enthusiasts keen to bag an Alp before Christmas as more and more destinations open up, if only for the weekend, much earlier than they dared hope. “Verbier has had 40cm [16in] in town and up on the slopes it is 60cm,” said James Cove, of the Ski Club of Great Britain, after visiting the Swiss resort.

“It opened in mid-November and locals who have been coming for years say it was the best opening day they have ever known,” he said. “Of course, snow in November does not mean snow in December but it is not a bad start.” It was not like this last year, or the year before.

Kitzbühel, in Austria, which has opened six weeks earlier than planned, suffered last year from the warmest November on record and had to cancel the celebrated Hahnenkamn World Cup downhill race in January.

Last winter in St Anton, Austria, the snow cannon in which it invested £12 million to provide artificial playgrounds for skiers and snowboarders were rendered useless by the wet ground that refused to freeze. This year it has already got a covering of natural snow and is due to open on November 30.

The climate change doomsayers said that we had better get used to shorter, later ski seasons in Europe but a couple of heavy snowfalls and forecasts of more to come seem to have turned back the clock all the way to the last century.

AGW IS BS.

PROOF FROM RUSSIA THAT CHARLES JOHNSON OF LGF IS WRONG, STUPID AND COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE REGARDING VLAAMSE BELANG AND "GATES OF VIENNA"

• TODAY GARY KASPAROV AND OTHER OPPOSITION LEADERS WERE ARRESTED AT THE BIGGEST ANTI-PUTIN RALLY IN QUITE SOME TIME.

• THIS RALLY WAS INTENDED TO EXPOSE PUTIN'S ELECTION-RIGGING BEFORE THE UP-COMING ELECTION.

• THIS IS NOT MERE PARTISAN ELECTIONEERING.
• PROOF: THE OSCE HAS WITHDRAWN ITS ELECTION OBSERVERS BECAUSE OF THE RAMPANT RIGGING AND THE MANY LAWS BY PUTIN WHICH WILL INTERFERE WITH TRUE OVERSIGHT, AND INSURE A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION.
• THE OSCE HAS SAID THEY WILL NOT CERTIFY THAT THIS NEXT ELECTION RESULT WILL BE DEMOCRATIC, AT ALL.

• ALSO AT THE RALLY: BORIS NEMTSOV - THE MAINSTREAM ANTI-PUTIN PARTY LEADER WHOSE PARTY IS ON THE BALLOT AND HAS A CHANCE AT GETTING A LOT OF SUPPORT AND MANY SEATS IN THE DUMA.

• ALSO AT THE RALLY: RUSSIA'S COMMUNISTS AND ANARCHISTS.

• EVEN CHARLES JOHNSON MAY BE ABLE TO RECALL THAT RUSSIA'S COMMUNIST PARTY WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMMITTING GENOCIDE, KILLING AS MANY AS 50 MILLION PEOPLE - AND FOR JAILING MILLIONS MORE IN GULAGS.
  
• THERE HAVE NOT BEEN MANY PARTIES ANYWHERE AT ANYTIME WHICH HAVE BEEN AS MURDEROUS AND AS EVIL.
  

• YET KASPAROV AND NEMTSOV STOOD WITH THEM. WHY?

• BECAUSE THE PROBLEM AT HAND (AND FOR THE TIME BEING) - EXPOSING PUTIN'S GROWING TYRANNY - TRUMPS PAST HISTORY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY.

• IF WE EXTEND THE VERY SAME REASONING WHICH CHARLES EMPLOYS TO ATTACK VLAAMSE BELANG AND "GATES OF VIENNA", (AND ALL WHO ATTENDED THEIR RECENT COUNTER-JIHAD CONFERENCE IN EUROPE) ... IF WE EMPLOY IT IN RUSSIA WITH REGARD TO THE ANTI-PUTIN RALLY THERE, THEN WE'D HAVE TO ATTACK KASPAROV AND NEMTSOV.

• THIS WOULD BE STUPID, WRONG, AND COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

• ERGO, CHARLES JOHNSON'S ATTACK ON VLAAMSE BELANG AND "GATES OF VIENNA "AND THE COUNTER-JIHAD EFFORT IS ALSO STUPID, WRONG, AND COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

END OF STORY.

• NOTE: THE "ASSOCIATION" BETWEEN KASPAROV (AND OTHER ANTI-TYRANNY/ANTI-PUTIN PARTIES) AND THE COMMUNIST PARTY IS NOT NEW. THE CP HAS JOINED WITH OTHER ANTI-PUTIN PARTIES IN RALLIES BEFORE. SEE HERE AND CLICK THE JPEG AT RIGHT; (YES: THE RED FLAGS ARE CP FLAGS!).
  
• AND HERE'S BBC VIDEO REPORT FROM A FEW YEARS AGO.
  

• CHARLES JOHNSON THINKS HE IS "HOLIER THAN THOU."
  
• BUT HE IS JUST "STUPIDER THAN THOU."
• BOTTOM-LINE: REMEMBER, EVEN IF YOU BELIEVE ALL THE LEFTIST GARBAGE CHARLES JOHNSON HAS REGURGITATED ABOUT THE VLAAMSE BELANG, THEY ARE NO WHERE NEAR AS BAD AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY.
  

CHARLES JOHNSON OWES VLAAMSE BELANG AND "GATES OF VIENNA" AND THE COUNTER-JIHAD AN APOLOGY.

*******UPDATE:

• HERE'S PROOF FROM IRAQ: CHARLES JOHNSON IS PRO-IRAQ WAR, AND PRO-IRAQ DEMOCRACY.
  
• YET THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT - WHICH HE SUPPORTS - IS ANTI-ISRAEL, AS ARE MOST IRAQIS.
  
• IF CHARLES JOHNSON CAN SUPPORT IRAQI SELF-DETERMINATION DESPITE HOLDING SOME OPINIONS - (SUCH AS HIS UNABASHED ZIONISM) - WHICH ARE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO THOSE HELD BY MOST IRAQIS, THEN WHY DO PEOPLE ORGANIZING AND ATTENDING A CONFERENCE TO FIGHT EURO-DHIMMITUDE HAVE TO SHARE EVERY OPINION WITH EVERY OTHER GROUP THAT JOINS THEM IN THAT FIGHT!?
  
• I WOULD EXPECT CHARLES JOHNSON TO OPPOSE IRAQIS IF AND WHEN THEY SUPPORT AL QAEDA AND ALLOW THEIR NATION TO BE A BASE FOR AL QAEDA.
  
• BUT AS LONG AS IRAQIS ARE ON OUR SIDE IN WW4, WE CAN AND SHOULD TOLERATE DIFFERENCES OF OPINION ON OTHER ISSUES.
• WE HOPE THAT OUR CURRENT JOINT EFFORTS IN WW4 WILL LEAD TO IRAQIS MODERATING THEIR VIEWS ON ISRAEL - AND OTHER ISSUES.
• AND I AM SURE GATES OF VIENNA HOPES THE SAME REGARDING SOME GROUPS WHICH ARE JOINING THEIR EFFORTS TO MOBILIZE EUROPEANS TO OPPOSE DHIMMITUDE.
  

THIS IS EVEN MORE PROOF THAT CHARLES JOHNSON OWES VLAAMSE BELANG AND GATES OF VIENNA AN APOLOGY.

ADDENDUM: WHAT HE SAID: HE BEING ROBERT SPENCER:

I am pronouncing no anathemas, although I repeat: I completely disavow and repudiate any neo-Nazi or white supremacist individual or group. I am just watching and waiting for what VB and SD will do now, and I hope that tempers will cool on both sides and we can all continue to work together against the jihad and Islamic supremacism. There are few enough of us as it is.

WELL SAID. THANKS TO ALWAYS ON WATCH FOR THE LINK.

I STILL THINK CHARLES OWES VB AND GOV AN APOLOGY: HE OSTRACIZED SHUNNED THEM AND WAS THE ONE WHO FIRST STARTED THROWING THE MUD AND THE GUILT BY ASSOCIATION ARGUMENTS.

LABOR PARTY ASKED TO CONSIDER A DIPLOMATIC PLAN BY BENNY ELON

Not that I actually support this Knesset member - he does happen to be responsible in his own way for damaging the National Camp movement in the last elections - but this is an interesting development:

Labor central committee members were surprised at Sunday's diplomatic forum when a gentleman wearing a kippa approached everyone in the crowd and gave them a letter calling for the committee to consider adopting National Union chairman Benny Elon's diplomatic plan.

The letter came from Eli Sadan of Ramat Gan, who heads Labor's forum of religious and traditional members. Elon said he had never met Sadan, but that he was not surprised, because he had already received support for the plan from ministers and MKs in Kadima and the Pensioners Party.

"Labor has Peace Now people, but there are also realistic hawks in the party, who think we need to safeguard the state," Sadan said. "Israel has to find a solution and I think the Jordanian option makes the most sense. With all the rocket attacks on Sderot, we need to put on the brakes, and that's what I intend to tell [Labor chairman Ehud] Barak."

Elon's plan, called the Israel Initiative, calls for the dismantling of Palestinian refugee camps, Palestinians in the West Bank becoming citizens of Jordan and Jews in the West Bank remaining there as citizens of Israel.

"We are hearing ricochets from other parties as awareness of the plan grows," Elon said. "I will start an effort soon to sell the plan to MKs across [the] political spectrum."

Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu read from the plan from the podium of the Knesset plenum. Kadima MK Marina Solodkin said she would endorse part of it.

"Benny was right to emphasize the refugee issue in his plan," Solodkin said. "There are of course things in the plan that I disagree with, but if I were the head of a party, I would include in my plan building permanent housing for Palestinians instead of the refugee camps, which are a cradle of discontent."

Elon also received support for elements of the plan from American legislators on a visit to Capitol Hill. Elon, who returned from Washington on Monday, said he had positive meetings with House of Representatives Republican whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and with Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-Nevada).

Berkley recently wrote US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a letter opposing the formation of a Palestinian state. Elon said he saw on his visit to Washington that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was exaggerating about support for the Annapolis summit among decision-makers in the US.

The Israel Initiative began a new online advertising campaign in English and Hebrew ahead of the summit warning of repeating the mistakes of Oslo and Camp David under the slogan, "Danger: recycling. It's time to think outside the box."

Or, to think more outside what's considered "mainstream". I have met both these two men mentioned here personally in years past, and it's a good sign that the Labor party has been asked to consider this plan.

WARNING TO THE USA: CHAVEZ IS ACHIEVING THE LEFTIST DREAM

LATIMES:

Venezuelans will be asked to vote on a whopping 69 constitutional amendments that would greatly reduce the country's democratic governance, strip citizens of still more individual liberties and thus expand President Hugo Chavez's power even beyond what it is today. The sad reality is that voters will probably approve the amendments ...

... Chavez already has assumed some of the powers he wants legitimized in the upcoming referendum. Approving the changes will merely legalize what is already in place and further reduce the options and safeguards available to those who disagree with him and his vision of "21st century socialism."...

Why would Venezuelans vote to curtail their own liberties like this? First, because the people remember that previous governments failed to serve popular interests, while Chavez promises them perks, such as six-hour workdays, and redress of their grievances against domestic and foreign oppressors, including the United States.

Self-destructive voting also can be understood in the context of the region's centuries-old Indian-Iberian culture, which historically stresses a paternalistic relationship between rulers and people, even if this paternalism in reality serves the wishes of the few over the needs of the many.

... The Venezuelan experience demonstrates clearly that when voters' perspectives are incomplete and their passions are ripe for manipulation, popular democracy may not serve their interests, but instead may lead to their virtual enslavement.

• THE SAME TYPES OF THINGS COULD HAPPEN HERE.

• AMERICA'S SOCIALISTIC DEMOCRAT PARTY - AND THEIR COMRADES IN THE MSM - ARE TRYING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN BY MAKING SURE THAT THE ELECTORATE HAS AN "INCOMPLETE PERSPECTIVE" ON IRAQ AND ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND ON THE ECONOMY.

• THE SOCIALISTIC DEMOCRAT PARTY AND THE MSM ARE MANIPULATING THE PUBLIC'S PASSIONS IN AN EFFORT TO ATTAIN THEW WHITE HOUSE SO THAT THEY CAN VIRTUALLY ENSLAVE THE PEOPLE WITH THEIR LEFTIST POLICIES.

DON'T FALL FOR IT.

PUTIN'S THUGS ARREST OPPOSITION LEADER GARY KASPAROV

• PUTIN IS THE MOST DANGEROUS SINGLE PERSON IN THE WORLD; (AHMADINEJAD IS A MERE FIGUREHEAD).

• PUTIN HAS ARMED CHAVEZ, AND ASSAD, AND IRAN.

• PUTIN HAS SOLD AIR-DEFENSE SYSTEMS TO ASSAD AND IRAN.

• AND PUTIN IS BUILDING IRAN'S NUCLEAR REACTOR.

• NOW PUTIN HAS HAD HIS FASCIST THUGS ARREST KASPAROV.

WE SHOULD CONFRONT AND ATTACK PUTIN - AT FIRST WITH SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA, AND BY GIVING DIRECT AID TO PUTIN'S OPPOSITION.

ANTARCTICA IS DANGEROUSLY ICY AND COLD

ICEBERG ATTACKS SHIP.

DESPITE GLOBAL WARMING.

OF COURSE THIS IS NOT REALLY SURPRISING: THE ANTARCTIC HAS MOE ICE NOW THAN EVER.

All is not lost in Australia

Yes. Australia now has a new Leftist government. But it is probably the world's most conservative Leftist government. Well to the Right of Tony Blair.

One needs to look at HOW Rudd got in: By saying "Me too" to 95% of the policies of the outgoing conservative government.

Promising and doing are very different of course but a substantial failure to keep promises would condemn the new government to only one 3-year term in office and I am sure Rudd has ambitions well beyond that.

(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.)

SO YOU THINK YOUR PHONE COMPANY IS HOPELESS!

By all accounts, the world's worst phone company is the major provider in Britain: BT. There is a good example of the way BT treat customers just up on Wicked Thoughts. A customer had to post his complaint on YouTube in order to get them to talk to him. A phone company that refuses to talk is pretty strange, isn't it?

But I am sure that many American readers have plenty of gripes with their phone company too. I myself have had innumerable run-ins with Australian phone companies. Talking to Telstra via their phone help-line or their email help-line is quite hopeless. You either get an insincere promise to look into it or you get told point-blank that they can't help you. Either way you have wasted your time.

Fortunately, there is a tiny chink in Telstra's armour. If you write to their chief executive you do get a mostly intelligent response and the response sometimes -- but not always -- does fix the problem. So I have only minor gripes with them at the moment. I thought it might be amusing, however, to put up copies of some of the letters I have had to write to them in the last few years. You will see how heavy I sometimes had to get in order to receive a helpful response. You can read the letters on Pondlife.

I imagine that there is already such a thing elsewhere but if I get enough emails telling of bad experiences that readers have had with their phone company, maybe I could start a site to publish such emails. It could well become both popular and a real help to people victimized by arrogant and unresponsive phone companies.

(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.)

RUDD WINS: LET THIS BE A WARNING TO US ALL

Rudd defeated Howard.

Howard lost. Despite Australia having has the best years ever during his watch, Howard lost.

Rudd won because of Howard fatigue, and Rudd used fear-mongering and appealed to the public's desire to be liked:

Rudd said he'd make ending global warming and reducing Australia's CO2 output the number one priority of his administration.

THIS INSANITY WORKED. The public felt Howard was out-of-step with th world because he was an AGW skeptic.

HERE'S WHY IT'S INSANE:

Australia produces about 1% of the world's man-made CO2. So, even if Rudd could bring that number down to zero (which is IMPOSSIBLE) IT WOULD HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT ON GLOBAL CO2. Zero. None. Because that 1% will be more than made up for by India and China's growth.

AND RUDD CANNOT POSSIBLY REDUCE AUSTRALIA'S CARBON FOOTPRINT TO ZERO.

BUT TRYING TO DO SO WITH TAXES AND REGULATIONS WILL SERIOUSLY HURT AUSTRALIA'S ECONOMY.

Bottom-line: EVEN IF YOU BELIEVE THAT CO2 IS CAUSING AGW - (WHICH I DO NOT!) - THE POLICY GOAL WHICH RUDD HAS LAID OUT IS UNACHIEVABLE AND USELESS AT BEST.

EXCEPT AS DEMAGOGUERY.

Pure demagoguery.

Demagoguery aided by an MSM which constantly harangues the public with negative and distorted stories intended to scare-monger the people into supporting leftist goals and socialist polices.

It worked in Australia,

We mustn't let it work here.

EXILED RUSSIAN TYCOON FUNDS UNDERGROUND ANTI-PUTIN GROUPS

From Breitbart:

Exiled Russia tycoon Boris Berezovsky said Friday he is funding underground groups to "prepare people to go to the streets" to overthrow President Vladimir Putin's government. Berezovsky said Putin had violated the constitution and therefore his ouster was legitimate -- and forecast a possible uprising like Ukraine's Orange Revolution between elections in December and March.

"I don't fund parties which are openly presented on the Russian political scene because it's absolutely useless, but I (fund) people who are underground and that are trying to fight against the regime," he told reporters.

"They are doing what underground movements all around the world are doing, they prepare people to go to the streets, to fight, to use force power against a criminal government."

He said such an uprising could come after parliamentary elections on December 2 and before presidential polls three months later.

"I think it will be very dangerous months for Russia," he said.

Asked when such an underground movement could emerge onto the streets, he added: "I don't think it can work before parliament election, but it can work between parliament elections and presidential election."

The tycoon refused to rule out violence, but insisted the Kremlin would be responsible.

"It's impossible to exclude (violence) in Russia. But the responsibility for this violence is the responsibility of government, as is all the time when the people go to the streets."

"I mean force as what has happened in Ukraine, the Orange revolution, it was force because they pressed government but luckily without blood," he added.

Democratic movements staged the Orange Revolution in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine in 2004, a popular uprising that brought pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko to power.

Berezovsky, who faces a number of charges in Russia, was a key Kremlin insider in the 1990s, but left Russia after coming into conflict with Putin and was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003.

Benedict Murtha

HWT labels this artwork The face of the Left. It is reminiscent of John Murtha's statement that "we can't win militarily" in Iraq while we continue to win militarily.

Today's Democratic leadership cannot and will not admit that our troops are winning, even though the New York Times' op-ed columnists are saying so. John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi represent a failed and beaten Democratic contingent who cannot be called leaders. They are instead cheerleaders for a defeat that will never come and stewards for a policy of nothingness.

Some suspect that they suffer from a mild form of psychosis; a disease that the Washington Post calls "a state of denial." Voters will remind them soon that denial of very real American military successes and an inability to lead are an exceptionally poor combination.

Big day for Australia today

I have just gone and voted in Australia's Federal election. My local polling place was VERY well-staffed and well managed. I was in and out in 10 minutes -- unlike the way many Americans have had to line up for hours in their previous Federal elections. And because all votes are on paper, recounts are fairly easy and disputes about the results are rare.

We have separate ballot papers for the Senate and the lower house and the fact that the two ballot papers are very different in size means that it is almost impossible to get the two mixed up. Nonetheless there was a lady standing by the ballot boxes to see that everybody put their paper in the right box. Very good for absent-minded people like me!

I gave my Senate vote to Pauline, of course. Her policy of restricting Muslim immigration is the only sensible one for any Western nation, in my opinion.

(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.)

UNIONS DESTROY L.A. SCHOOLS

Due to the interference of Los Angeles' school unions, a horror is emerging in the city's schools which is verging on violent anarchy and complete chaos. And it's not as if they aren't well-funded. But what are they doing with the huge sums of money flowing into their coffers?

Ex-Liberal in Hollywood describes what he terms a "criminal enterprise" of startling proportions: the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). According to Baker, LAUSD has a total budget of $32 billion, which dwarfs the city of LA's $6.5 billion annual budget.

STERILISED UK ENVIRONMENTALIST: BABIES ARE 'SINISTER THREAT TO THE PLANET'

UK environmentalist Toni Vernelli has decided that babies are 'bad for the planet' and after an abortion 10 years ago, went on a quest to find a doctor who would sterilize her.

"Having children is selfish," she explains. "It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet."

I guess those of us who have had children are just plain selfish. How dare we put humans above Gaia!

JIHADO-TERROR IN IRAQ: COUPLE BEHEADED IN FRONT OF CHILDREN

IT IS WRONG FOR THE LIKES OF LGF TO BE BATTLING - OBSESSIVELY - THE LIKES OF PAUL BELIEN WHILE THIS ENEMY IS ON THE LOOSE - FOX/REUTERS:

Three suspected al Qaeda militants, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife, forcing the couple's children to watch, Iraqi police said on Friday.

The militants considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers, they told police interrogators after being arrested in Diyala province northwest of Baghdad.

The three cousins executed Hayali and his wife Zeinab Kamel at the all-boys school in Jalawlah in Diyala province, village police chief Captain Ahmed Khalifa said.

No further details were available.

WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO UNITE TO DEFEAT THIS ENEMY. SHUNNING AND OSTRACIZING AND FACTIONALIZING OUR ALLIES IS NOT PRODUCTIVE.

The Death of a Left-Wing Wedge Issue

It was not “politically correct” to oppose experimentation with embryonic stem cells even though said experimentation did not appear to offer much promise.

It has also not been “politically correct” to point out the flaws in man-made global warming presentations or to point out flaws in some of Darwinian theory.

In the latter two cases, much scientific evidence has accumulated recently that should make open-minded, reasonable people at least want to take a second look.

Instead, as with embryonic stem cells (where the issue is now moot), those who refused to run with the crowd have been denounced, their motives and their intelligence have been ridiculed, they have been denied tenure and their articles have been blackballed at some refereed journals.

This is the politicization of science as bad as the Soviet support of Lysenko’s absurd theories or the Catholic Church’s inquisition of Galileo.

This is not the way a free people should be conducting their affairs; this is not the way to continue the progress of the common man.

The Death of a Left Wing Wedge Issue: What are the Ethical Responsibilities of Scientists?

November 23, 2007, Discovery Institute

Richard Hayes, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Oakland, explains in an admirable Los Angeles Times article that many scientists who opposed embryonic stem cell research on various grounds were reluctant to say so until now: they didn't want to be seen helping President Bush politically. Hayes' candor is commendable, but the scientists' motives it perhaps unintentionally betrays are craven. It is, in truth, an indictment of the current politicization of science.

This is a serious matter. We can all be thrilled that new technology seems likely to make the use of human embryos an unnecessary source for stem cell production in research. It is a victory for human life and for common sense in laboratory science.

Politically, it takes off the table an issue that hurt conservatives and that the materialist Left has been using as part of an attack on pro-life forces, whom they represent as "anti-science." It was slated to become a major theme in the 2008 elections.

But politics should not trump everything else. If scientists who were skeptical of embryonic stem cell research remained silent for essentially political reasons or were influenced by the big bucks that were behind efforts in California and Missouri to use taxpayer funds to support embryonic stem cell research, they should be chagrined now. They let their politics take precedence over their calling as scientists.

Politics was definitely at play in Missouri, for example, where the issue of stem cells on a state ballot measure was used to defeat conservatives. It was a real "wedge" issue. You can understand why the Left deployed it; polls showed 2 to 1 public acceptance of embryonic stem cell research. But that doesn't let scientists who knew better off the hook, does it? It is appalling that some scientists privately opposed embryonic stem cell research on what they might regard as liberal grounds--such as the program's exploitation of poor women for their eggs--still were guided chiefly by political correctness and kept their peace. Some others surely would have spoken out if the media had asked them. But most of the media, too, are P.C., of course.

So, on how many other issues are dissenting scientists holding their fire because they don't want to be seen helping President Bush or social conservatives? How about end of life issues? How about Darwin's theory of evolution, the sacred writ of materialism?

In some periods of history courage is demanded of statesmen, or military men, or even economists. In our period, we need scientists to show the courage of their private convictions on the whole range of issues that pertain to human dignity and distinctive worth.

FRENCH RAIL STRIKE OVER; SARKOZY WINS; RAILROADS TO CUT PRICES

The French Railway strike is over. According to Le Figaro, the French government railway will try to make up the cost of the inconveniences suffered by its passengers, and will reduce ticket prices in January and allow tickets unused due to the strike to be exchanged or refunded. The monthly Parisian subway fare will also be reduced.

President Sarkozy announced that he had kept his promise to deliver the reforms for which the French electorate had voted him into the Élysée:

«Cette réforme, je l’ai promise, je l’ai tenue».

The President, however, will not announce the next steps until he returns from China. Far from exulting in his first triumph, he is proceeding quietly and deliberately, and with each step he takes, his power and influence will only grow.

This is the first of a series of victories for Sarkozy, for France, for France's allies, notably the United States, and for all mankind.

By the way, I won't be surprised if John Howard is elected to an unprecedented fifth term in Australia tomorrow.

DRED SCOTT PROVES THE 2ND AMENDMENT WAS INTENDED AS, A PROTECTION FOR AND UNDERSTOOD TO REFER TO, INDIVIDUALS

THE DRED SCOTT DECISION WAS RACIST AND WRONG. AND ONE OF THE CHIEF REASON THE MAJORITY ARGUED THEY WAY THEY DID WAS BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT BLACKS TO GET GUNS. (MORE HERE.)

WIKI:

In Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856) (the "Dred Scott Decision"),^[34] the Supreme Court indicated that:

"It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognised as citizens in any one State of the Union . . .the full liberty . . .to keep and carry arms wherever they went."

• END OF STORY.

• ASIDE: IF ALL BLACKS WERE ARMED - AS THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN - THEN THE KKK AND JIM CROW ERA MIGHT NEVER HAVE OCCURRED.

SELF-DEFENSE IS AN INALIENABLE HUMAN RIGHT.

Challenging Shari'a Law

Photo credit
Recently, Saudi Arabia defended the sentence passed on a nineteen-year-old Muslima who was gang raped. Originally she was sentenced to ninety lashes, but upon review the Saudi General Court in Saudi increased her sentence to 200 lashes. The woman had defied shari'a law in that she was in the company of an unrelated male. According to this November 21, 2007 article in the Washington Post,

The attack occurred in 2006. The victim says she was in a car with a male student she used to know trying to retrieve a picture of her. She says two men got into the car and drove them to a secluded area where she was raped by seven men. Her friend also was assaulted.

Justice in Saudi Arabia is administered by a system of religious courts according to the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Our State Department has "expressed astonishment" over the barbarism of punishing the victim. Hello, State Department? Are you unaware of how Saudi enforces shari'a law? Are you aware of how all-encompassing shari'a law is in some Muslim countries?

Read the rest at Always On Watch.

BRITAIN HAD A VERY COLD SUMMER THIS YEAR... AND "BLUE TITS WERE HARDEST HIT"

THE BLUE TIT IS A SPECIES OF BIRD:

SCOTSMAN: Cold summer gives birds worst breeding season

A COLD and rainy summer has given seven bird species their worst-ever breeding season, with ornithologists warning they are finding it difficult to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Last night, experts said some of Britain's commonest birds could soon find themselves on the red list of those which are a real cause for concern.

According to the British Trust for Ornithology, blue tits were one of the worst-hit species this year, with volunteer ringers catching just over half the young birds they would expect.

Mark Grantham, who runs the trust's Constant Effort Scheme, which monitors bird numbers, said: "The cold, wet weather over the early summer will have made life incredibly tough for adults that still had hungry youngsters in boxes.

"Each blue tit chick will need around 100 caterpillars every day, and finding enough caterpillars in the poor weather we've seen is no mean feat."

Overall, there were 48 per cent fewer chicks than expected. The other six species for which 2007 was their worst breeding season were: great tit (33 per cent below normal level), reed warbler (27 per cent), whitethroat (25 per cent), willow warbler (19 per cent), treecreeper (55 per cent) and willow tit (63 per cent).

WHERE IS GLOBAL WARMING WHEN YOU NEED IT!

MAYBE THE UK SHOULD ORDER SOME OF THESE (HAT TIP TIM BLAIR):

CO2 Generator

Carbon dioxide is one of the essential ingredients in green plant growth, and is a primary environmental factor in greenhouses. CO2 enrichment at 2, 3 or 4 times natural concentration will cause plants to grow faster and improve plant quality.

Modern growers are becoming increasingly aware of the value of CO2. Particularly now that most greenhouses are purposely shutting out CO2 to conserve energy.

The Johnson CO2 Generator automatically provides the carbon dioxide to meet maximum growing potentials - and operates for only pennies a day. The Johnson Generator can easily be installed in any greenhouse. No expensive ductwork is necessary and CO2 is diffused evenly without supplemental fans.

Join with modern growers everywhere - use Johnson CO2 Generators - the low cost way to produce CO2 - the nutrient of the new millennium.

Why you get more rapid and efficient growth and better plant quality with Johnson CO2.

Plants must absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) in combination with water, soil nutrients and sunlight to produce the sugars vital for growth. A shortage of any of these requirements will retard the growing process. Normally there are approximately 300 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere; when this level is increased to over 1 ,000 ppm, results are higher production and better plant quality. The Johnson Generator provides up to 1,500 ppm per unit in an average 24' x 200' greenhouse or an equivalent 50,000 cu. ft. volume based on one air change per hour.

Nighttime levels in a greenhouse range from 400 to 500 ppm due to plant respiration. Shortly after sunrise this level will drop to normal atmosphere (300 ppm) due to the plant using the early light to start photosynthesis. After 3 to 4 hours of early morning sunlight the CO2 level can drop to around l00 to 150 ppm, then growth is practically stopped. Supplemental CO2 added during this period can substantially increase your plant and flower production. By adding CO2, during winter months when greenhouse ventilators are closed and when low CO2 concentration becomes a limiting factor in growth, users are obtaining yield and bloom quality which is normally associated with spring and summer.

CO2 More Important Than Ever

The Johnson CO2 Generator is more important than ever because greenhouse growers, trying to conserve energy, are shutting out CO2. Rising fuel costs have forced many growers to use doubled-layered glass, etc., to conserve energy - as a result much less CO2 is entering the greenhouse.

How to use the Johnson CO2 Generator

When there is sunlight and the vents are closed, CO2 should be added continuously to your greenhouse. If the vents are opened because of heat build up the generator should continue to operate for about 2 hours and then be shut off. Approximately 1 Lb. of CO2 per hour per 1,000 sq. ft. yields 1,000 ppm's of CO2. A 4,000 sq. ft. house requires at least 4 Lbs. of CO2 per hour. If CO21evel drops off from 1,000 ppm's to 500 ppm's on a clear sunny day, you can easily adjust to a higher burning rate to make up for the more rapid absorption of CO2 by plants. Most growers use their Johnson Generator daily in winter from approximately 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Easy and inexpensive to install

You can install the Johnson CO2 Generator easily in any greenhouse. In fact, most growers do it themselves. No expensive duct work necessary. The CO2 is diffused evenly throughout the greenhouse without supplemental fans.

Automatic ...fully adjustable

Completely automatic, the Johnson unit comes complete with a gas pressure gauge. Simply set the gauge to the gas pressure desired for your greenhouse area and the Johnson Generator will automatically provide the correct amount of CO2. Just as you adjust the amount of water and fertilizer to meet the changing needs of your plants, you also set the Johnson Generator to produce the desired amount of CO2 for your greenhouse. The Johnson unit includes a 24V. gas valve. This can be activated by a timer or a combination timer thermostat, which automatically turns the units on in the morning and off in the evening as desired. (Optional).

Safe ...requires no floor space ...rugged construction

In case of flame failure, gas supply shuts off automatically and the Johnson unit saves you valuable floor space. It hangs from the rafters ...completely out of the way. It's only 18" in diameter and 20" high, it weighs 21 Lbs. and is easy to move.

MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL BUY ONE? IF IT KEEPS US WARMER THEN WE'LL BURN LESS HEATING FUEL IN THE WINTER. AND THAT'S GOOD FOR THE ECOLOGY. HEH.

AND IT WILL SAVE THOSE BLUE TITS!

THE SANE MAN OF EUROPE SPEAKS

An email to Benny Peiser from Roger Helmer [roger.helmer@europarl.europa.eu], Conservative Member of the European Parliament:

You may be interested in the letter below which I sent today to the Environment Editor of the Daily Telegraph, Charles Clover:

Dear Charles,

I was surprised to read in your piece in the DT yesterday that "no politician from a British party would side with the flat-earthers" (in your charming phrase) in the climate debate. I am afraid you are wrong. I myself have been campaigning against climate alarmism for some time. Only in April I conducted a major and very successful conference presenting the case against global warming hysteria, here in the European parliament in Brussels. My key-note speaker was former Chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby, who shares my view on the issue. I also took the issue to a packed fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in October.

The evidence shows that climate drives CO2 levels, not vice versa. And as an erstwhile mathematician, I know that the climate forcing effect of atmospheric CO2 is not linear, and certainly not exponential (as hinted at in Al Gore's mendacious disaster movie). It is logarithmic. We are already well up the curve, and further increases in CO2 levels will have a marginal effect on climate.

In the eighteenth century William Herschel showed that sunspots drive the price of wheat. We can now explain this phenomenon -- sunspots lead to an increase in the Sun's magnetic field, which reduces the cosmic ray flux in our upper atmosphere and reduces cloud formation, leading to warmer weather, higher crop yields and lower grain prices. Yet now you describe those who recognise that the Sun drives climate as "flat-earthers".

You would do well to read your fellow columnist Jan Moir in today's paper. "I've yet to meet the person, politician or otherwise, who takes carbon emissions seriously". This is my experience. While organisations, companies, political parties and the media buy into climate alarmism at the official level, I am astonished by the large numbers of well-informed people who admit privately that it's nonsense. This is a scare like the Millennium Bug. We shall look back from the cold winters of the 2020s and be astonished at our gullibility.

To be fair, the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph have given a good platform to the other side of the debate. But I am disappointed that you personally seem to see no need to report in a balanced way, but have chosen to act as a cheerleader for the alarmists.

(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 Simmering British Controversy

I thought I might bring readers up to speed on an acrimonious display of hypocrisy among British intellectuals that began in October but is now still simmering in late November.

Read the two statements below and ask yourself which is hate-speech and which is a policy proposal, a proposal that is perfectly consistent with most members of the group being unproblematical:

1). Someone is described as a: "racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals"

2). "The Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order. What sort of suffering? Not let them travel. Deportation - further down the road. Curtailing of freedoms. Strip-searching people who look like they're from the Middle East or from Pakistan... Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community and they start getting tough with their children..."

It will be not be the slightest surprise to hear that the kneejerk response to the second utterance above was to label it as "hate speech" -- but it in fact says nothing at all about any characteristic of the Muslim community or any member of that community. It is simply a harsh proposal about how to deal with the aggression that emanates from some members of that community. One may disagree with the proposal as unlikely to be fruitful (etc.) but that is another matter.

The first statement above, however, could not be more derogatory and is as hateful as can be. That statement is undoubtedly the work of a hater. And you may not be surprised that the one undoubted hater out of the two mentioned above was a Marxist -- Terry Eagleton. Marx hated just about everyone and most of his followers do likewise. The man of the extreme policy proposal was Martin Amis and it is HE, not Eagleton, who has been accused of hate speech. It was, incidentally, Martin Amis's father whom Eagleton described so derogatorily.

The latest shot in the war of words is here. Hitchens defends Amis here and Amis puts it all into context here

The most important context however is that whether a thing is called "hate speech" or not depends on who said it. Leftists just CANNOT utter hate speech, by definition, apparently. Cindy Sheehan wrote in her book Peace Mom: "I fantasize about killing Bush when he was a baby." Hate speech? Of course not! Hate-filled speech need not be hate speech, in the wonderful fantasy world of the political Left. Who the REAL haters are is crystal-clear, 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.)

QUOTE FROM AN ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UN

Something to think about:

HOW THE REPUBLICAN RACE IS SHAPING UP!

For me, it has come down to Rudy and Fred for the Republican nomination. A recent Missouri Poll shows that Missouri Republicans are favoring Rudy first with 21% and then Romney (17%) and Fred (16%) virtually tied for second. We get to vote on Super Tuesday so it will be interesting to see how things will look by then.

It is likely that McCain and Huckabee will have to drop out before Super Tuesday and it will be interesting to see who they will endorse and who their supporters will turn to. It is looking like it will come down to Rudy vs. Romney and if thats the choice then it will be Rudy for me. I've done much thinking, seeking wise counsel and praying and I am convinced that Rudy is the best option if it comes down to him and Romney.

I'm not that concerned about the Huckster because even if he does win Iowa he doesn't have a plan or much of a chance of winning anything after that. I view it as a good thing for him to win Iowa because then it may take some of the steam out of Romney's campaign.

Other related articles and posts:
The Two-Man Republican Race
Steve talks about the latest New Hampshire Polls
Proof Rudy Made a Huge Difference

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Thanksgiving is a perfect time of year to remember important speeches like the Gettysburg Address. It is important for us to remember these timeless speeches. I memorized this in the 8th grade and I have worked on it with my kids as well.

PROOF RUDY MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE

• RUDY SAVED NYC.

• THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE. BUT HE DID IT. DESPITE THEIR OPPOSITION. IT TOOK A TOUGH MAN TO DO THAT. A REAL LEADER.
  

• HE IMPROVED THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. IN A CITY MANY SAID WAS UNMANAGEABLE.

• HE HAD TO BATTLE EVERYDAY TO ACCOMPLISH THIS - THE LEFT, THE DEMOCRATS, THE MEDIA, AND THE NABOBS OF NEGATIVISM.
  
• BLOOMBERG IS ENJOYING THE FRUITS OF RUDY'S LABORS.
  
• IT WAS RUDY WHO DID ALL THE TOUGH LIFTING.
  
• BLOOMBERG HAS NOT HAD TO MAKE ONE REALLY TOUGH DECISION.
  
• AND NOT A SINGLE THING BLOOMBERG HAS DONE HAS IMPROVED THE CITY AS MUCH AS RUDY.
  
• RUDY ACCOMPLISHED MANY BIG THINGS.
• BLOOMBERG HAS NOT ACCOMPLISHED A SINGLE BIG THING.

• WE NEW YORKERS ARE ALL STILL ENJOYING THE FRUITS OF RUDY'S LABORS.
  
• NEARLY 16 YEARS AFTER HE STARTED. WOW.
  

FROM TODAY'S NYTIMES, PROOF THAT IT WAS RUDY, AND NOT NATIONAL TRENDS OR FEDERAL LEGISLATION:

PHILADELPHIA — The day after Michael Nutter won a landslide victory to become this city’s next mayor, he put on a charcoal gray suit and drove to his first public event: the funeral of a police officer shot in a brazen daytime robbery.

Two nights before he announced his choice for police commissioner, two more officers were shot and wounded. When Mr. Nutter takes office on Jan. 7, he will face a crime wave that has left at least 355 people dead so far this year and that gave Philadelphia the highest homicide rate of any big city in the country last year, with 406 killings — more than even New York City, which has six times the population.

Crime is clearly the biggest challenge facing the new mayor. It is also the reason for his surprise victory.

• PHILLY IS ONE A SEVERAL CITIES WHOSE CRIME PROBLEMS HAVE NOT ABATED THE NYC'S HAVE. CITIES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HAVE A GROWING CRIME PROBLEM.
• LOOK AT THE CHART ON THE RIGHT: MANY CITIES HAVE INCREASING MURDER RATES.
• NOT NYC.
  
• NOT SINCE RUDY.
  

• BUT PHILLY'S IS THE WORST: 405 KILLINGS... THATS LIKE SAYING THEY HAVE SIX TIMES THE MURDER RATE OF NYC. SIX TIMES!

• I WISH HIM LUCK.

• HE'D BETTER BE AS TOUGH AS RUDY WAS...

• PHILLY NEEDS A MAYOR AS TOUGH AS RUDY WAS...

WE COULD USE A PRESIDENT THAT TOUGH!

THE FIRST WIVE'S CLUB: HILLARY ENDORSED BY FAMOUS WIFE OF CROOKED, WOMANIZING FORMER PRESIDENT

HILLARY WAS ENDORSED BY BERNARDETTE CHIRAC - WIFE OF JACQUES CHIRAC, A WOMANIZING, CROOKED POLITICIAN. ( Hat tip: NRO.)

THEY HAVE A LOT IN COMMON!

(Welcome HOT AIR readers! Please heck out the rest of the blog!!