IS BUSH JUST KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD, AFTER ALL?

• THE RECENT NIE ON IRAN AND RECENT THE BALI AGREEMENT ESSENTIALLY KICK THOSE TWO ISSUES DOWN THE ROAD FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT TO DEAL WITH.

• IN PRINCIPLE, IT'S BAD TO KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD.

• ESPECIALLY IF IN 2008, THE USA ELECTS A DEM. THEN THESE TWO ISSUES WILL HAVE TO BE DEALT WITH BY OBAMA. OR EDWARDS. OR HILLARY.
  

• THEN YOU CAN BET WE WILL LET IRAN GET NUKES AND WE'LL ADOPT A DRACONIAN SERIES OF TAXES AND REGULATIONS TO COMBAT THE PHANTOM OF AGW. AND REDISTRUTE WEALTH FROM THE DEVELOPED WORLD TO THE THIRD WORLD KLEPTOCRACIES. (AS IF THAT EVER WORKED!)
  

• EACH COULD RUIN US. BOTH MAY.

I BLAME BLUSH.

BOLIVIA STEPS CLOSER TO CIVIL WAR BETWEEN SOCIALISTS AND FREEDOM-FIGHTERS

CNN: FOUR BOLIVIAN REGIONS DECLARE AUTONOMY

Tensions were rising in Bolivia on Saturday as members of the country's four highest natural gas-producing regions declared autonomy from the central government.

Thousands waved the Santa Cruz region's green-and-white flags in the streets as council members of the Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando districts made the public announcement.

The officials displayed a green-bound document containing a set of statutes paving the way to a permanent separation from the Bolivian government.

Council representatives vowed to legitimize the so-called autonomy statutes through a referendum that would legally separate the natural-gas rich districts from President Evo Morales' government.

The move also aims to separate the states from Bolivia's new constitution, which calls for, among other things, a heavier taxation on the four regions to help finance more social programs.

"The statutes will be ratified," said Oscar Ortiz, Santa Cruz senator. "With a public referendum, the people of our region will legitimize their will."

About 35 percent of Bolivia's 9.5 million people live in the four states, according to The Associated Press.

... In the capital city La Paz on Saturday, Morales [A CHAVEZ-LIKE COMMUNIST] addressed thousands of flag-waving supporters in the Plaza Murillo, defending the new constitution and lashing out against what he called the racist policies of Bolivia's elite.

"They must give back the money they took from us," he told a cheering crowd, which included members of the Quechua and Aymara tribes. "We will retroactively investigate all the big fortunes, and the corrupt are now trembling with fear."

Morales also cautioned those who he said want a "a division, a coup d'etat," the AP reported.

"We won't permit Bolivia to be divided," he warned.

Morales -- who belongs to the Aymara indigenous group -- nationalized the country's oil and natural gas reserves when he took power in 2006, creating what became known as the "gas wars."

Running on a platform of redistribution of wealth among Bolivia's poor, Morales has defied countries such as Brazil and the United States for the exploration of Bolivia's natural reserves.

• CHAVEZ FELL.

• MORALES WILL FALL TOO.

PEOPLE EVENTUALLY FIGURE OUT THAT "POWER TO THE SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT" DOESN'T MEAN "POWER TO THE PEOPLE."

IS THE WORLD AT WAR?

VIA HYSCIENCE.

GLOBAL SKI REPORT: GRRRRREAT - LOTTSA SNOW!

UK GUARDIAN:

France

With more than a metre of snow falling across the country, it's a great start to the season with good powder conditions. Alpe d'Huez has 120cm of snow on its top slopes, with 24 pistes open, Courchevel has 103cm and Tigne and Meribel have 165cm. Over 20 resorts are due to open this weekend including Les Arcs and La Plagne and slight snowfall is forecast.

Austria

Heavy snowfall means most resorts have more than a metre of snow on their upper slopes. There's fantastic skiing at St Anton with almost three metres of snow at the top and 53 lifts open. Mayrhofen has 130cm and 24 lifts open, while Loferer Alm opens this weekend.

Switzerland

Switzerland has had heavy snow, especially in Verbier down to Le Chable. Leysin opens this weekend. Conditions in Davos and Klosters are good, with 152cm on top runs. Sunny skies expected.

Italy

A mix of sun and light snow flurries is forecast for most Italian resorts. Conditions in Cervinia are good with 100cm of snow on top slopes, while La Thuile has 130cm and 20km of skiing on nine pistes.

Bulgaria

Bansko is the only resort open for skiing, though Borovets and Pamporovo have good bases for 22 December openings.

USA and Canada

Huge snowfall has transformed conditions, with Mammoth and Squaw Valley receiving 50 and 40cm respectively. Deer Valley and Taos have opened with excellent conditions.

In Canada all three areas are open at Banff, while Kicking Horse has opened early with great conditions. More snow is forecast, with Whistler expecting over 70cm. Data Courtesy of the Ski Club of Great Britain (skiclub.co.uk)

THE AGW/AL; GORE CROWD ARE OBVIOUSLY ALL WRONG.

ALL THEY CAN SAY IS: "WHO YA GONNA BELIEVE, US OR YOUR LYING EYES!"

IS KOSOVO GOING TO CAUSE A MAJOR FLARE UP BERWEEN RUSSIA AND THE EU, AND ISLAM AND EUROPE?

• THERE'S SEEMS TO BE A MAJOR CONFLICT BREWING: RUSSIA SAYS IT'S WRONG TO ALLOW KOSOVO TO BECOME INDEPENDENT, AND THE EU IS PUSHING FOR IT. THERE MIGHT BE A BIG FIGHT OVER IT...

• SERBIA'S FUTURE - AS PART OF THE EU, OR AS PART PUTIN'S NEW RUSSIA - SEEMS TO HANG IN THE BALANCE.

• MIGHT THIS BALKAN STATE BE THE START OF A NEW COLD WAR WITH RUSSIA?

• SOME ARGUE THAT AN INDEPENDENT KOSOVO BE A HUGE GAIN FOR JIHAD.

STAY TUNED - A LOT WILL HAPPEN BEFORE JANUARY ENDS...

LOTS MORE AT GOV.

NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO NO #1 IN VENEZUELA: GUCCI CLAD MINISTER ATTACKING CAPITALISM

REUTERS:

A video of a Gucci- and Louis Vuitton-clad politician attacking capitalism then struggling to explain how his luxurious clothes square with his socialist beliefs has become an instant YouTube hit in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Pedro Carreno was momentarily at a loss for words when a journalist interrupted his speech and asked if it was not contradictory to criticize capitalism while wearing Gucci shoes and a tie made by Parisian luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton.

"I don't, uh ... I ... of course," stammered Carreno on Tuesday before regaining his composure. "It's not contradictory because I would like Venezuela to produce all this so I could buy stuff produced here instead of 95 percent of what we consume being imported."

The video clip had been viewed more than 15,000 times on Thursday, a day after it was posted on the YouTube Web site.

• MOST VENEZUELANS KNOW CHAVEZ AND HIS CRONIES FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE: LEFTIST THUGS.

• THIS IS WHY THEY LOVED IT WHEN KING JUAN-CARLOS PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE, AND WHY MOST IMPORTANTLY THEY VOTED DOWN THE CHAVEZ "CONSTITUTION."

HERE'S THE VIDEO:

AMERICA: THE MELTING POT OF GOLD

VIA NO PASARAN:



ONLY IN AMERICA!

MORE H2H TRANSMISSIONS OF H5N1 BIRD FLU

GULF TIMES:

Probe into human-to-human bird flu transmission

ISLAMABAD: Health officials yesterday were investigating a possible human-to-human transmission of bird flu among four brothers in north-west Pakistan, two of whom later died.

Khushnood Akhtar, secretary in Pakistan's Ministry of Health, said the bird flu cases occurred last month in Manshera, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), when a man contracted the H5N1 virus while working on a poultry farm and helping to cull sick birds.

Human-to-human transmissions are extremely rare, with only three previous cases in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Pakistani man, who has not been identified, survived the virus, but may have infected three of his brothers, none of whom had ever been to the farm or were believed to have been in contact with sick birds, Akhtar said.

BETTER BRACE YOURSELF: IT'S COMING...

PUTIN BRINGS BACK STALIN'S PUNITVE PSYCHOLOGY

WIKI:

Punitive psychiatry in the Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, psychiatry was used for punitive purposes. Psychiatric hospitals were often used by the authorities as prisons in order to isolate political prisoners from the rest of society, discredit their ideas, and break them physically and mentally; as such they were considered a form of torture. The official explanation was that "no sane person would declaim against Soviet government and communism".

DAILY MAIL: Putin rival held in psychiatric ward 'to prevent him protesting against government'

A Russian opposition activist has been sent to a psychiatric hospital by authorities a day before a planned demonstration.

Artem Basyrov's detention is the latest in a series of incidents suggesting a punitive Soviet-era practice is being revived under president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Basyrov, 20, was ordered to be held at a hospital in the central region of Mari El on November 23, a day before planned demonstrations, said Alexander Averin of the opposition National Bolshevik Party.

The party is part of the Other Russia coalition which organised the so-called Dissenters' Marches across the country this year.

Mr Basyrov ran for the local legislature as an Other Russia candidate.

Police who originally detained him claimed he had assaulted a girl.

A local psychiatric board agreed, deciding the activist suffered from a mental illness and he was committed to the psychiatric hospital three weeks ago.

He was only transferred from an isolation ward and allowed to have visitors on Thursday, said Mikhail Klyuzhev, a National Bolshevik member from the city of Yoshkar-Ola.

The allegations against Mr Basyrov were "idiocy" and were "part of the hysteria" before Russia's parliamentary elections which were held on December 2, Mr Klyuzhev added.

Supporters said Mr Basyrov did not appear to have been mistreated.

A psychiatric board is due to review his case at the end of the month.

• PUTIN IS A MAJOR TREAT TO OUR SECURITY.

• HE IS BUILDING THE IRANIAN REACTOR

• AND ARMING IRAN AND SYRIA AND VENEZUELA.

THE NEXT PRESIDENT MUST BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN COUNTERING PUTIN THAN BUSH AND RICE WHO HAVE BEEN GREAT BIG ZEROS ON THE MATTER.

THANK YOU AMERICAN CITIZENS

The Israel Project conducted a positive poll:

(IsraelNN.com) Americans' support for Israel in the conflict with the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza remains extremely high, with 62 percent of Americans considering themselves supporters of Israel and only 9 percent as "supporters of the Palestinians." These are some of the findings of a new bipartisan poll commissioned by The Israel Project (TIP).

By a similar margin (61 to 10), Americans believe the U.S. should support Israel in the conflict with the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. TIP says this is in stark contrast to a 2002 poll, when fully 68 percent of Americans thought the U.S. should take neither side in the conflict.

The poll also shows Americans do not believe the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear projects and worry the NIE report will make the U.S. less safe. The survey shows that while 75 percent of likely voters had heard about the NIE report, only 27 percent believed its assessment that Iran’s nuclear program ended in 2003, while 69 percent believe that the nuclear weapons program is still underway. [...]

'Stop civilian nukes as well"
Americans are uncomfortable even with Iran's supposed civilian nuclear research program. When asked, “Do you think Iran should be allowed to continue its civilian nuclear research program or should the international community try to prevent Iran from further nuclear research,” 69 percent agreed with the latter. [...]

'Israel's reaction understandable'
A big obstacle, however, remains PA terrorism. Fully 70 percent of respondents agree that “Palestinian acts of terrorism are unacceptable, no matter the conditions in which they live.” Even though 60 percent were "largely unaware of the 2,000 rockets that have been shot into Israel from Gaza," 63 percent agreed that “Israel’s actions toward the Palestinians are understandable given the security threat they face,” while only 29 percent believe them to be an overreaction.

Of course they're unaware of the rockets: the MSM will not cover the majority of the cases.

MORE PROOF INSTAPUNDIT GLENN REYNOLDS IS A CONFUSED LIBERAL, A PSEUDO-MODERATE AND A HYPOCRITE

GLENN:

It's a bad idea to keep so many people in prison, and it's a worse idea to do so and then have them exposed to radical "clerics."

THIS IS A TYPICAL REYNOLDS MANEUVER: TRYING TO TAKE BOTH SIDES OF AN ISSUE: ON THE ONE HAND - LIBERAL, ON THE OTHER HAND - CONSERVATIVE:

• HE'S AGAINST THE TEACHING OF JIHAD IN PRISONS; (A GOOD CONSERVATIVE POSITION), BUT...

• HE'S ALSO BASICALLY AGAINST PRISON TERMS FOR MOST CRIMINALS; (A BAD LIBERAL POSITION).

THIS IS LIKE HIS 2ND AMENDMENT/DEATH PENALTY POSITIONS:

• HE THINKS IT'S OKAY IF PRIVATE CITIZENS USE DEADLY FORCE TO PREVENT A POTENTIALLY DEADLY FELONY (A GOOD CONSERVATIVE POSITION -- AND, HE IS EVEN OPPOSED GUN-FREE ZONES), BUT...

• HE OPPOSES THE DEATH PENALTY - (A LIBERAL POSITION); HE THINKS THE STATE DOESN'T HAVE THAT SAME RIGHT, EVEN IF A JURY AND UNGTEEN APPEALS COURTS SAY THE CONVICT IS GUILTY OF A CRIME WORTHY OF THE DEATH PENALTY.

• (IT'S AS IF GLENN BELIEVES THE SNAP JUDGMENT OF A CITIZEN PROTECTING LIFE AND LIMB WAS QUALITATIVELY BETTER THAN THE CAREFUL JUDGMENT IN OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM OVER YEARS!)

• DOES HE THINK THAT SOCIETY HAS NO RIGHT OF SELF DEFENSE?
• OR, THAT THIS RIGHT DIMINISHES IF THE PENALTY COMES YEARS AFTER THE CRIME AND NOT IN THE SPLIT SECOND OF THE CRIME?
• IT'S ILLOGICAL AND AN EXAMPLE OF HIS AMORAL HYPOCRISY.
  
• AND HOW HE PANDERS TO THE MIDDLE.

HERE'S ANOTHER:

• GLENN THINKS IT'S RIGHT AND MORAL FOR THE USA TO INTERVENE TO PREVENT GENOCIDE - IN AFRICA, FOR EXAMPLE OR IRAQ - (A CONSERVATIVE POSITION), BUT...

• THE STATE SHOULDN'T INTERVENE IF THE HUMAN IS STILL IN A WOMAN'S WOMB - (A LIBERAL POSITION).

• WHY?! I GUESS BECAUSE HE FEELS THAT THE UNIQUE AND UTTERLY VULNERABLE HUMAN BEING WHO IS STILL IN HER MOTHER'S WOMB DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME RIGHT TO LIVE THAT THE VULNERABLE AND IMPOVERISHED, IGNORANT, TRIBAL CHILDREN OF DARFUR HAVE BECAUSE THEY'RE OUTSIDE THEIR MOTHER'S WOMB.

• I'D GUESS THAT GLENN OPPOSES INFANTICIDE, AND GENDER-BASED ABORTION. SO... WHY ALLOW IT FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE MOTHER?
  
• THE FETUS IS NOT PART OF THE MOTHER; IT IS A NEW AND UNIQUE HUMAN BEING. ABORTION IS NOT AMPUTATION.
  
• (THE BABY IN THE JPEG TO THE RIGHT IS 20 WEEKS OLD - AND "ABORTIONABLE.")

I THINK GLENN IS LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT MODERATION IS ALWAYS BEST AND THAT ANY MID-WAY COMPROMISE WHICH SPLITS THE DIFFERENCE IS GOOD.

• BUT SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG DOESN'T YIELD SOMETHING THAT IS RIGHT.

• AND HYPOCRISY ON DEEP MORAL VALUES - APPLYING VALUES SELECTIVELY BASED ON HOW POPULAR THE OUTCOME MIGHT BE - CAN'T YIELD ANYTHING GOOD.

GLENN - WHO IS VERY OFTEN AND VERY WRONGLY CALLED A CONSERVATIVE - WOULD PROBABLY CALL HIMSELF A CENTRIST OR MODERATE AS IF THAT WERE A GOOD THING IN AND OF ITSELF.

BUT REMEMBER:

EXTREMISM IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE.

AND MODERATION IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE IS NO VIRTUE.

BUSH WINS IN BALI

NYTIMES/AP:

World leaders overcame bitter divisions Saturday and agreed to reach a new deal on fighting global warming by 2009, turning a corner in mankind's race to stave off environmental disaster caused by rising temperatures.

The contentious, two-week U.N. climate conference on the resort island of Bali ended with the United States, facing angry criticism from other delegations, relenting in its opposition to a request from developing nations for more technological help fighting climate change.

The new deal does not commit countries to specific actions against global warming. It simply sets an agenda and schedule for negotiators to find ways to reduce pollution and help poor countries adapt to environmental changes by speeding up the transfer of technology and financial assistance.

Despite an aggressive EU-led campaign to include specific emissions reduction targets for industrial nations -- by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 -- the final road map has none.

The guidelines were eliminated after the U.S., joined by Japan and others, argued that targets should come at the end of the two-year negotiations, not the beginning.

• IN TWO YEARS IT SHOULD BE CLEAR TO EVERYONE THAT THERE IS NO MAN-MADE GLOBAL-WARMING, AND EVEN PERHAPS THAT THE WORLD IS COOLING.

• SO... WE DODGED A BIG BULLET...

ASSUMING WE DON'T ELECT A DEMOCRAT TO THE WHITE HOUSE!

OF COURSE, THE AP, REUTERS AND THE BBC AND THE NYTIMES IS SPINNING THIS AS A LOSS FOR BUSH! HAH! THE PORTIONS ABOVE WHICH ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN RED PROVE OTHERWISE!

RECORD-SMASHING SNOWFALL IN NORTHEAST USA

REUTERS:

New England dug out on Friday from a record-setting storm that dumped 10 inches of snow on Boston, more than the city typically sees in the entire month of December.

...More than 400 flights were canceled at Boston Logan International Airport.

The National Weather Service said the region could expect another blast over the weekend, when a second storm is expected to drop 6 inches of snow and sleet starting on Saturday evening.

"It is a powerful Northeaster," said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts. "The difference in this storm is that it is going to occur during the overnight hours and on the weekend, so we wouldn't expect it to have the impact that this thing yesterday did.

Thursday's snowfall set a new one-day record for December 13, and was more than the 7.8 inches that typically falls during the entire month of December.

AS WE KNOW, EUROPE IS ALSO HAVING RECORD-SMASHING SNOWFALL, THE MOST IN 56 YEARS.

THIS IS HARDLY THE STUFF CATASTROPHIC GLOBAL WARMING IS MADE OF.

• DO THE PEOPLE DOWN IN BALI KNOW THIS?

• DO THEY CARE?

YES: THAT'S WHY THEIR EFFORTS ARE REALLY SO URGENT:

THEY KNOW WE'RE HEADING OUT OF A WARMISH PHASE AND HEADING INTO A COLDER PHASE - THEY ARE DESPERATE TO PASS THEIR LEFTIST GLOBAL TAX HIKES AND REGULATIONS SO THEY CAN TAKE CREDIT.

HAMAS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF PRAYING FOR GENOCIDAL TYRANNY

NYTIMES/REUTERS:

Celebrating Anniversary, Hamas Warns Of Intifada

Hamas threatened to launch a new uprising against Israel on Saturday when hundreds of thousands of Islamist supporters rallied in Gaza City to mark the group's 20th anniversary.

"Our people are capable of launching a third and a fourth intifada until the dawn of victory rises up," said Khaled Meshaal, the group's exiled leader, in a speech recorded on Friday at his base in Damascus.

The central square in Gaza City was awash with green flags and dozens of armed, masked men from the group's military wing patrolled in a crowd estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000.

Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said the movement was growing more popular because of its stance against the United States and Israel.

"Today is the day of Jihad, resistance and uprising," Haniyeh said. "Those who remain committed to the constant rights of their people, those who make an enemy of America and the Zionist occupation (Israel) gain popularity. This is Hamas."

• HAMAS IS A AVOWED ENEMY OF THE USA AND OUR BEST ALLY IN THE REGION ISRAEL.

• YET WE TAKE NO ACTIVE ROLE IN DEFEATING THEM - OTHER THEN TO APPEASE THEIR POLITICAL FOE FATAH.

• BUSH'S RELUCTANCE TO TAKE MORE SERIOUS DIPLOMATIC STEPS AND EVEN KINETIC ACTIONS AGAINST HAMAS - AND ASSAD AND HIZBALLAH - HAS ONLY ALLOWED THEM ALL TO GET STRONGER.

• WE HAD ASSAD ON THE ROPES IN 2005.
• NASRALLAH'S THUGS MIGHT HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT IN 2006. WE DIDN'T LET ISRAEL FINISH THE JOB.
  
• BUT ALL THREE - HAMAS, ASSAD AND HIZBALLAH - HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO HANG ON.

IT'S DHIMMITUDE - APPEASEMENT, AND IT WILL WORK AS WELL NO AS IT DID IN THE 1930'S.

PITY. HAD HITLER BEEN STOPPED IN THE 1930'S, THEN 100 MILLION MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED IN EUROPE, RUSSIA AND CHINA IN THE BALANCE OF THE CENTURY.

OUR RELUCTANCE WILL HAVE SIMILAR RESULTS; WE ARE NOT ONLY DELAYING THE INEVITABLE, WE ARE GUARANTEEING IT WILL BE WORSE AND COST MORE LIVES.

ANTI-CHRISTIAN JIHAD IN NIGERIA

JIHAD WATCH:

Nigeria: Muslims rampage, ten killed, 3 churches set ablaze

“Even as I talk to you now, Christians are still being attacked and many are fleeing out of Bauchi.” Feel the love.

"Nigeria: Ten Killed, Three Churches Set Ablaze In Bauchi," from Compass Direct:

BAUCHI, Nigeria, December 13 (Compass Direct News) – Ten persons have been killed and three churches set on fire after Muslim high school students in this northern Nigerian city began a rampage on Tuesday (December 11) that spilled into the city. Today tensions were still high in the area.

An eyewitness at the high school said the Muslim students attacked their Christian peers after unidentified people pulled out two foundation blocks of a high school mosque under construction.

Area Muslims joined the attacking students, resulting in the deaths and damages in the city, including the burning of dozens of homes belonging to Christians.

The identity of nine of the 10 people killed has been kept secret as the Bauchi state government has ordered security agents to remove the corpses and bury them in a common grave. Eyewitnesses told Compass they were buried this morning.

The 10th person killed was a Christian security agent with the State Security Service, identified by eyewitnesses only by his surname, Bogoro, a member of the Church of Christ in Nigeria in Yelwa.

The three churches set aflame in Bauchi after Muslim students began attacking Christian students at the Government Day Secondary School (also known as Baba Tanko Secondary School) in the Yelwa Tudu area of Bauchi are Pentecostal: Elim Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Assemblies of God Church.

In addition, area Muslims set fire to dozens of houses belonging to Christians. Among the houses burned was that of the Rev. Umaru Sule, associate pastor of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA ) of Yelwa Makaranta, and that of the Rev. Maina Joshua of Kagadama.

• THIS WAS NOT CAUSED BY GEORGE W. BUSH.

• OR ISRAEL.

• OR NECONLIKUDNIKS.
• OR CHENEYHALLIBURTINLIBBY.
• OR THE CIA.
• OR THE IRAQ WAR.
• OR THE AFGHAN WAR.
• OR THE WAR FOR THE MORO ISLANDS.

IT IS CAUSED BY THE SUPPORTERS OF GLOBAL JIHAD.

WE EITHER FIGHT BACK OR SURRENDER.

AND IF WE FIGHT BACK, THEN WE MUST HAVE THE RESOLUTION TO FIGHT UNTIL WE WIN, AND USE WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY TO WIN.

MORE LINKS ON JIHAD IN NIGERIA HERE.

It's all in the parenting

Perhaps someone should use a phone tree to alert the Gaza PTO and School Board. Because instead of teaching, say, geometry and reading, Gaza's august school system is teaching hate, murder and genocide.

As my Mom says: it's all in the parenting.

Cross-posted at Doug Ross @ Journal

Leftist Journalist Wants Journalists to Censor Blogs

Unfettered 'citizen journalism' too risky, we read:

"Supporters of "citizen journalism" argue it provides independent, accurate, reliable information that the traditional media don't provide. While it has its place, the reality is it really isn't journalism at all, and it opens up information flow to the strong probability of fraud and abuse. The news industry should find some way to monitor and regulate this new trend.

The premise of citizen journalism is that regular people can now collect information and pictures with video cameras and cellphones, and distribute words and images over the Internet. Advocates argue that the acts of collecting and distributing makes these people "journalists." This is like saying someone who carries a scalpel is a "citizen surgeon" or someone who can read a law book is a "citizen lawyer."

Tools are merely that. Education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted professionals. Information without journalistic standards is called gossip. But unlike those other professions, journalism - at least in the United States - has never adopted uniform self-regulating standards. There are commonly accepted ethical principals..."

Source

This marvellous "professional" journalist does not even know the difference between a "principle" and a "principal"! What a clot!

(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, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

THE GERMAN VERSUS THE U.S. REACTION TO THE DEPRESSION

Further to my post yesterday, a reader writes:

Your article leaves out one very salient fact: Due to the French insistence on outlandish reparations after WWI, the Germans were saddled with unpayable debt which resulted in a huge inflation during the 20's and an economic downturn. The US prospered in the 20's (as did most of the rest of the western world) and therefore entered the 30's prosperous and contented.

Germany therefore had really two decades of economic depression versus the one suffered by the rest of the world. The German people, after losing a war were turned from being economically well off to being ravaged by lousy economic conditions for two decades. Even the best of men may turn the wrong way under those circumstances.

I have always felt that France was the most responsible nation for the German onslaught in Europe. Before Napoleon, Germany was a mix of different states which generally got along with their neighbors. When Napoleon went on his rampages he generally had to cross German territory to reach his goal. In those days most armies lived a great deal off the land and this was German land.

My parents immigrated from Germany in the 20's and I can honestly state that I never heard a harsh world about Jews from them or their German born friends. But to a person, they basically hated the French. When I grew up and learned the history of the two nations I began to understand why.

The above certainly reminds us of one important factor in explaining the rise of German Nazism. There were of course various factors involved -- including the personal political genius of Hitler himself. My purpose yesterday was simply to point out how a basic theme in conservative thinking was an important part of the total explanation.

(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, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

USA TO THROW ANOTHER $500MILLION DOWN THE BLACK HOLE OF PALESTINIAN SELF-RULE

HAARETZ/AP: U.S. to pledge $500 million toward helping rehabilitate PA

The United States will pledge about $500 million for the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank when Arab, European and other nations meet next week, U.S. officials said Friday.

The money would go toward a goal of $5.6 billion that former British prime minister Tony Blair hopes to raise to rescue the tattered Palestinian economy and reinforce institutions that would become the backbone of any eventual independent Palestinian state.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will deliver the pledge at a conference Blair has called Monday in Paris, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the figure has not been announced and might be changed slightly.

The money is part of world efforts to improve the Palestinians' financial position as new U.S.-sponsored peace talks begin.

Rice cannot promise that she can deliver on the pledge, which must be approved by the U.S. Congress. The money includes about $400 million that the White House has already announced, but that has not been approved by Congress.

Some members of Congress are worried that money spent to strengthen the West Bank eventually could benefit a rival radical-led government in the other, separate, Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. Other legislators want greater assurance that the West Bank government has shed its long reputation for corruption and cronyism.

• GIVING ABBAS MORE MONEY - EVEN THOUGH HE'S ACCOMPLISHED NONE OF WHAT WAS REQUIRED BY THE "ROADMAP" - IS IDIOTIC.

• REWARDS LIKE THIS MUST COME AFTER ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

BETWEEN WHAT THE HAMAS CROWD GETS FROM THE RICH IN THE UMMAH, AND WHAT ABBAS GETS FROM THE WEST, THESE PALIS HAVE QUITE A SHAKEDOWN RACKET, DON'T THEY!

WHO IS WORSE, DE WINTER OR COSSIGA?

AFP:

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga [AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER], who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy’s oldest and most widely read newspaper that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was common knowledge among global intelligence agencies.

In what translates awkwardly into English, Cossiga told the newspaper Corriere della Sera:

“All the [intelligence services] of America and Europe…know well that the disastrous attack has been planned and realized from the Mossad, with the aid of the Zionist world in order to put under accusation the Arabic countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part … in Iraq [and] Afghanistan.”

Cossiga was elected president of the Italian Senate in July 1983 before winning a landslide election to become president of the country in 1985, and he remained until 1992.

• THIS IS WORSE THAN ANYTHING DEWINTER HAS EVER SAID.

• YET DEWINTER AND HIS PARTY - VB - HAVE BEEN SAVAGED BY SOME IN THE BLOGOSPHERE, AS HAVE AMERICAN BLOGGERS ALLIED WITH DEWINTER BECAUSE OF HIS AND HIS PARTY'S FORTHRIGHT STAND AGAINST ISLAMICIZATION OF, AND DHIMMITUDE IN EUROPE.

• MUSHARRAF IS LESS SAVORY THAN DEWINTER.
• ERDOGAN IS LESS SAVORY THAN DEWINTER.
• MALIKI IS LESS SAVORY THAN DEWINTER.
• YET EACH OF THESE MEN ARE OUR ALLIES IN WW3.
  

IF WE HAVE PURITY TESTS FOR OUR ALLIES IN THE WAR AGAINST GLOBAL JIHAD, THEN WE'LL BE FIGHTING ALONE.

THERE'D BE ONLY ONE THING WORSE THAN HUCKABEE AT THE TOP OF THE TICKET

AND THAT'S A TICKET WITH HUCKABEE AT THE TOP... AND RON PAUL ON THE BOTTOM.

HUMAN BIRD FLU CASES SPREAD IN ASIA

• THE FIRST CASE IN BURMA.

• AND THE FIRST TWO CASES IN PAKISTAN.

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME...

Leftist Ignores the Facts about Noose Incidents

We read:

"The noose, that symbol of American racism associated with the Jim Crow South, is making a comeback. Following the notorious Jena, La., incident, a rash of noose-related hate crimes has surfaced around the country, at times in the unlikeliest of places.

These cases are not aberrations, but part of an endemic problem. On Oct. 9, 2007, in New York City, a noose was found hanging from the office door of a black professor at Columbia University Teachers College. On Oct. 10, an NYPD officer found a noose hanging over his locker. On Oct. 11, a noose was found hanging from a light pole in front of a post office near Ground Zero. On Oct. 22, a noose was sent to a high school principal, a black woman, in Brooklyn."

Source

This pathetic Leftist ignores the fact that in every case where a noose-scare perpetrator was traced, it turned out to be a sensation-seeking black or Leftist -- or there was no noose at all. See previous posts on this blog and also here and here.

There is a HUGE history of "hate crimes" faked by Leftists -- See here -- so unless proven otherwise it is reasonable to believe that ALL the noose incidents were the work of Leftists.

(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, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

"Perhaps the hardest question of twentieth-century history"?

I owe the following quotation from Harvard historian Niall Ferguson to Tiger Hawk

The contrast between the American and German responses to the Depression illuminates the central difficulty facing the historian who writes about the 1930s. These were the two industrial economies most severely affected by the economic crisis. Both entered the Depression as democracies; indeed, their constitutions had much in common -- both republics, both federations, both with a directly elected presidency, both with universal suffrage, both with a bicameral legislature, both with a supreme court. Yet one navigated the treacherous interwar waters without significant change to its political institutions and its citizens' freedoms; the other produced the most abominable regime ever to emerge from a modern democracy. To attempt to explain why is to address perhaps the hardest question of twentieth-century history.

Niall Ferguson sometimes says things congenial to conservatives but I think that the above quote shows very well that he is far from being a conservative. He seems blissfully unaware of one of the most frequent themes of conservative thinking: The importance of cultural continuity and the value of tradition. From Burke onward, conservatives have argued that the slow accumulation of "what has worked" in a given society is a valuable legacy that can only be lost or discarded at considerable peril. Yet that is exactly where Germany and the USA of the 1920s and 30s diverged.

Germany lost WWI and the USA won it. That did kinda make a difference. And the difference it made in Germany's case was great. Prior to 1918 Germany had been a constitutional monarchy where the legal powers of the monarch were not much different from the powers of the British monarch. But the traditions were very different. Where the British monarch conspicuously stayed out of politics, the Kaiser was very much a political voice. He made up for a lack of legal powers by using the great prestige of his office to persuade the politicians to do what he thought best for Germany. He saw his role as a check on the politicians and a voice on behalf of the ordinary people of Germany. He was, in short, an important father-figure and the embodiment of the Prussian traditions that were so influential and respected in most of Germany.

But after 1918 that was all thrown away. Not only did the Kaiser go into exile but many of Germany's previous constitutional arrangements were torn up and a substantially new system of government was invented largely out of thin air. All of the systems that had led to Germany's defeat were discredited and new systems had to be adopted wherever possible. Any conservative could have predicted where that would lead. And it did.

The USA, by contrast, came out of the war with flying colours, retained its traditional arrangements and remained stable -- despite the huge economic disruptions caused by its meddlesome Democrat President. The knowall FDR managed to convert a normal cyclic depression into the Great Depression by attacking business at exactly the time when business most needed support rather than hostility. (See also here and 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, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

EUSSR TREATY SIGNED IN LISBON

BBC:

It is a replacement for the EU constitution, which was abandoned following French and Dutch opposition.

EU leaders insist that the two texts are in no way equivalent.

But the Lisbon treaty incorporates some of the draft constitution's key reforms, and several governments face domestic pressure over the document.

...The treaty creates an EU president and a more powerful foreign policy chief.

... Removes national vetoes in around 50 policy areas

• THIS TREATY REDUCES GOVERNMENT BY CONSENT AND MAKES THE EU MORE OF A GOVERNMENT BY DECREE.

THAT'S LESS DEMOCRATIC. AND IT'S BAD.

POWER LINE AND SENATOR LAMONT: WRONG ON THE IRAQ WAR

POWER LINE:

the Iraq war has been disastrous politically for the Republicans

THIS IS WRONG.

• THE GOP LOST CONTROL OF THE SENATE BECAUSE OF MACCACAGATE.

• AND THEY LOST CONTROL OF THE HOUSE BECAUSE OF FOLEYGATE.

• AND THE OVER-ARCHING ISSUE WHICH DAMPENED OVERALL GOP TURNOUT WAS THE FACT THAT THE GOP HAD NOT CONTROLLED SPENDING.

THE IRAQ WAR DID NOT HURT THE GOP IN THE 2006 ELECTION.

IF IT HAD BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN 2006, THEN JOE LIEBERMAN WOULD HAVE LOST.

HOUSE PASSES TERRORIST PROTECTION ACT

THE DEMS CARE MORE ABOUT THE TERRORISTS THAN US.

TWO IMPORTANT SPEECHES

First, Melanie Phillips points to a speech posted at Family Security Matters written by Newt Gingrich, that he gave at a JNF meeting at the Selig Center in which he really nailed what's wrong with today's politicians:

And let's be honest: What's the primary source of money for al Qaeda? It's you, re-circulated through Saudi Arabia. Because we have no national energy strategy, when clearly if you really cared about liberating the United States from the Middle East and if you really cared about the survival of Israel, one of your highest goals would be to move to a hydrogen economy and to eliminate petroleum as a primary source of energy.Now that's what a serious national strategy would look like, but that would require real change.

So then you look at Saudi Arabia. The fact that we tolerate a country saying no Christian and no Jew can go to Mecca, and we start with the presumption that that's true while they attack Israel for being a religious state is a sign of our timidity, our confusion, our cowardice that is stunning. It's not complicated. We're inviting Saudi Arabia to come to Annapolis to talk about rights for Palestinians when nobody is saying, ‘Let's talk about rights for Christians and Jews in Saudi Arabia. Let's talk about rights for women in Saudi Arabia.’

So we accept this totally one-sided definition of the world in which our enemies can cheerfully lie on television every day, and we don't even have the nerve to insist on the truth. We pretend their lies are reasonable. This is a very fundamental problem. And if you look at who some of the largest owners of some of our largest banks are today, they're Saudis.

You keep pumping billions of dollars a year into countries like Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Russia, and you are presently going to have created people who oppose you who have lots of money. And they're then going to come back to your own country and finance, for example, Arab study institutes whose only requirement is that they never tell the truth. So you have all sorts of Ph.D.s who now show up quite cheerfully prepared to say whatever it is that makes their funders happy – in the name, of course, of academic freedom. So why wouldn't Columbia host a genocidal madman? It's just part of political correctness. I mean, Ahmadinejad may say terrible things, he may lock up students, he may kill journalists, he may say, ‘We should wipe out Israel,’ he may say, ‘We should defeat the United States,’ but after all, what has he done that's inappropriate? What has he done that wouldn't be repeated at a Hollywood cocktail party or a nice gathering in Europe?...

What truly bothers me is the shallowness and the sophistry of the Western governments, starting with our own. When a person says to you, ‘I don't recognize that you exist,’ you don't start a negotiation. The person says, ‘I literally do not recognize’ and then lies to you. I mean the first thing you say to this guy is ‘Terrific. Let's go visit Mecca. Since clearly there's no other state except Israel that is based on religion, the fact that I happen to be Christian won't bother anybody.’ And then he'll say, ‘Well, that's different.’

We tolerate this. We have created our own nightmare because we refuse to tell the truth…None of our enemies are confused. Our enemies don't get up each morning and go, ‘Oh, gosh, I think I'll have an existential crisis of identity in which I will try to think through whether or not we can be friends while you're killing me.’ Our enemies get up every morning and say, ‘We hate the West. We hate freedom.

Gingrich makes a lot of good points about how it is the government itself that is making itself into modern-day Chamberlains and not willing to be truthful about the enemies of the west. Read the whole thing.

Next we have one given by Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset last week, in which he points out that we do not condition our existence on the enemies' agreement:

The UN resolution of November 29, 1947 recognizing a Jewish state was an important moment in the history of our nation, and an important moment in the history of all nations.

Since then, we have made peace with Egypt and Jordan, but the obstacle to widening the circle of peace remains what it has always been: the refusal of Israel's enemies to recognize the Jewish State in any borders.

Our enemies do not want an Arab state next to Israel. They want an Arab state instead of Israel.

Time and again they were offered an Arab state next to Israel: first, in the partition plan of 1947; then, indirectly, in the Oslo accords; later, unequivocally, at Camp David in 2000; and finally, in the countless declarations since then by both Israeli and international leaders which have called for two states for two peoples.

And how did our enemies respond to these offers? Time and again they violently rejected them. In 1947, they launched terror attacks and then an all out war to annihilate the Jewish state.

During the Oslo peace process, they terrorized Israel with suicide bombers; after Camp David, they orchestrated the Second Intifadah in which over 1,000 Israelis were murdered; since then they have fired thousands of Katushya rockets on the Galilee and thousands of Kassam rockets on the Western Negev in order, they say, "to liberate occupied Palestine" -- in other words, "occupied" Haifa, "occupied" Acre, "occupied" Sderot and "occupied" Ashkelon.

There's more to read of this too at the link.

Pakistan: Islamic Child Militancy

It is the major problem:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Poverty, a culture of weapons and reliance on schools that teach little but religion have fostered a growing wave of child militants, particularly in Pakistan's troubled tribal areas, experts said Thursday.

"Islamic militancy, in and of itself, is the major problem," said Attiya Inayatullah, a board member of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child. "Any use or exploitation of a child is unacceptable. We need to have a strong movement that says 'no.'"

Pro-Taliban militants have asserted growing control over Pakistan's impoverished northwest in recent years, challenging the authority of the state. As well as trying to impose an extreme brand of Islam, they have also recruited youths as fighters, reportedly offering payments to their parents.

The issue recently came under scrutiny after a militant video emerged of a 16-year-old youth beheading a soldier in lawless South Waziristan and images of preteens brandishing weapons. But it is not confined to religious extremist groups and has been fermenting for decades in remote areas where tribes wage war over grudges new and old.

...

Part of the problem is the drastic shortage of quality education, several experts said. The gap is being filled by religious schools known as madrassas that often focus only on Islamic teachings with no modern subjects and TV-watching banned as a sin. Funded by charities or rich donors, some madrassas have been acccused of promoting extremism. Many students live there because their parents can't afford to raise them.

A video available in some markets shows young boys chanting Islamic slogans at a madrassa as they tote rifles that are nearly bigger than they are and engage in martials arts training.

Exit question: Is it islamophobic to assume terrorism has anything to do with islam? Or is islamphobia itself terrorism?

I'm thinkin'... Aren't the West funding some of those madrassas?

So many questions and so little time!

Bonus links:
Islamophobiaphobia
Most peaceful country gives cash to terrorists.

Crossposted

Australia: Girl gang-rape warnings ignored by Left-indoctrinated social workers

You would have to be a Leftist moron to put the welfare of criminal black men ahead of the welfare of brutally-treated little black girls. Those, however, appear to be the sick priorities of political correctness

THE family of a 10-year-old gang-rape victim have revealed they had warned child safety authorities she would be attacked if taken out of a Cairns foster home and returned to their remote Aboriginal community of Aurukun.

Amid a continuing public outcry over the Queensland Department of Child Safety's failure to protect the girl and a Queensland District Court judge's controversial decision not to jail her attackers, her family has told of a community in crisis and "a little girl who has had the light turned off on her life". They expressed outrage at the sentence the nine males received, and claim some of the offenders had first raped the girl when she was seven. "She should never have been allowed to come back from foster care while those boys were still here. We told that to welfare. (Some of) those boys had raped her in the past," the girl's mother said.

In October, judge Sarah Bradley decided not to record convictions against six teenage attackers and gave three others, aged 17, 18 and 26, suspended sentences over the rape. The sentences will be appealed and dozens of other sex abuse cases from the cape reviewed after the lenient sentences in the gang-rape case were revealed. The prosecutor in the case, Steve Carter - who described the rape as "a form of childish experimentation" of which the victim was a willing participant - has also been stood down pending an internal investigation.

The girl's aunt said she was deeply offended by Mr Carter's claim that the victim had consented to the rape, and said suggestions underage sex was a fact of life in cape communities was abhorrent. "That's not right. It's not traditional to have sex without parents' consent. Something is not right. She is a little girl who has had the light turned off on her life," she said. Her uncle, the family patriarch, said sexual assaults, family violence and drugs had become so bad in the community he would support a Northern Territory-style intervention. "The violence happens all the time. Something needs to be done, we shouldn't have to live like this," he said.

Cape York Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson last night described the case as "just the tip of the iceberg" of dysfunction in indigenous communities. Mr Pearson blasted the notion that indigenous children taken into care and placed with non-indigenous foster carers were "another Stolen Generation" - as social workers in the Aurukun case believed. He said that where children's welfare was under threat, the placement should be "one of safety, whether it is whitefellas or blackfellas". "Those child protection practices that have sought to place Aboriginal children exclusively with Aboriginal carers have resulted in a great deal of harm for the individual children under care," Mr Pearson said.

"This is a case of children in urgent need of protection. As long as Aboriginal society is so dysfunctional that we have to take children into care and protection, we should never hear people bleat about some Stolen Generation. "Today children on communities are living in dysfunctional situations where their welfare is under threat. There should be no hesitation in taking them out of those threatening circumstances and placing them with carers - whitefellas or blackfellas."

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, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

BY GEORGE, HE HASN'T GOT IT

An email below to Benny Peiser from Henry N. Geraedts, PhD [arbutuspoint@gmail.com] in Canada

It certainly stretches credulity when the Guardian's George "Moonbat" Monbiot writes that environmentalists should "remember that while we have been proved right about most things, we have been consistently wrong about the dates for mineral exhaustion." Never bothered to read Julian Simon, it would seem.

The environmental movement proved right about most things? Right. Let's see now: DDT, nuclear energy, Erlich's global population explosion and famine, Borlaugh's green revolution, GMOs, the ozone layer and in the ongoing saga, AGW/ACC. Even the most cursory review tells us the environmentalists were fundamentally wrong on all accounts.

By their very nature, messianic movements like environmentalism are blind to their mistakes, and thus can not learn from them. Even when demonstrably wrong, environmentalists remain prisoner to the fallacies of static thinking and linear extrapolations. They are nevertheless as a matter of course always right. Left unchecked, they are also quite willing to resort to totalitarian measures to ensure that their view of thing prevails, as evidenced by the interview with Mayer Hillman in which he dismisses democracy and its principles as so much bunk to be cast aside so environmentalism can save the world.

The environmental movement in fact stands out as the true Flat Earth Society, constantly looking to build fences to save us others, the mindless masses, from falling off the edge.

(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, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

WHAT INSTAPUNDIT POSTED TODAY, WE POSTED THREE DAYS AGO

GLENN:

SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Reader C.R. Scott sees something familiar about Mike Huckabee. "My wife pointed out to me that Huckabee is the spitting image of Gomer Pyle. No wonder the Dems are angling him to win!"

Hey, Gomer was pretty popular. And gay-friendly!

posted at 09:28 PM by Glenn Reynolds

WE POSTED THIS LAST SUNDAY - 3 DAYS AGO:

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

I'd have more confidence in Gomer's foreign policy and his national security cred's than Huckabee's.

• WE'RE BETTER THAN INSTAPUNDIT.

• SPREAD THE WORD.

• BLOGROLL US.

"Miss Landers" conducts a First Grade Class/Republican Debate

The biggest loser in today's debate by far was PBS, whose tightly wound Des Moines Register schoolmarm moderator Carole Washburn did not allow any lengthy answers, nor meaningful exchanges between the candidates; she only wanted 30 second sound bytes, and it was an abject lesson in how NOT to conduct a debate about something as serious as choosing our next President. I cannot say enough bad things about this moderator; I'm not sure this wasn't worse than the ridiculous CNN DNC Talking Points ambush or the Chris Matthews/Keith Olberman circus. Today Washburn made it clear that it was her way or the highway, and almost no one I have seen discussing this thought she had any place on that stage.

Did PBS--arguably "ideological soulmates" of the Democrat party--purposefully "dumb down" this debate format, so as to insulate its "dream candidate" from any serious damage? Certainly this cannot be proven--but after CNN was caught rigging its debate, it is hard not to wonder about what is going on behind the scenes over there in Bill Moyers' parallel universe...

Anyway, it was a real shame that our media has once again let us down, because this was really an important day for most people on that stage--and for undecided Republican voters to really try and get their arms around a candidate. A matter as serious as a Presidential debate really ought to give the candiates an opportunity to truly distinguish themselves from their competition. This debate failed miserably at that task--and it just may have been intentional.

Still the consensus seems to be that Romney by far had the best performance today--at a time when his camp really needed a surge. I agreed with the Luntz focus group that Romney looked more Presidential than anyone on the stage, with the exception of Fred Thompson: I was pleased and encouraged that Fred was really on his game today--he not only stood up to the antagonistic, rigid, horrible moderator, he was very sharp in answering the questions he did respond to with authority--and with policy that made sense. But Fred also showed leadership in refusing to just lie down for Miss Landers' "show of hands" mentality that tells you absolutely nothing about what these candidates really think.

Meanwhile the consensus seems to also agree that Huckabee did not have his best day. But Huck was also protected by the inane format from doing anthing to hurt himself critically either. Rudy was even keeled--I don't think he significantly hurt nor helped himself. Ron Paul (who is nuts) and Duncan Hunter (who I really like) were pretty much non-factors. And what in the hell was Alan Keyes doing up on that stage?

Overall I think the debate--if anyone in Iowa was even paying attention at 1:00 in the afternoon (another ploy to lessen the impact?)--could end up tightening things significantly in Iowa, if it has any impact at all.

But as I said, to me the overall impression is that this debate format was designed by the moderator (and/or the lefties over at PBS..) to not have a serious impact. What a waste of a golden opportunity. And what a disservice to voters.

Some other takes:

• John Podheretz
• Michelle Malkin (liveblogging)
  
• Allahpundit
• Rich Lowry
• Tom McGuire (open thread)
• John Hawkins (liveblogging)
  
• Jim Geraghty (this one particularly struck a chord with me):
  

Saying I hated this debate is like saying George Soros can spare some change.

The retired brigadier general who was on Hillary’s gay and lesbian steering committee was bad. This one was… egregious.

Appalling. Extraordinarily frustrating. Alternately an uncontrolled circus and a banal snore-fest. Some of the questions were extraordinarily stupid – “is it more important to have a nominee that is socially conservative or fiscally conservative? What New Year’s resolution would you recommend for one of your rivals?” And what was with the video snippets of each candidate? What, each guy is going to get too much time with nine guys on stage?

This was a disastrous format, with insane time limits on candidates, all mismanaged by a brusque, snippy moderator who seemed to think Iowans did not want the candidates to finish their sentences. She seemed to want to ignore Alan Keyes, and when he was skipped over, he piped up and complained, and she allowed him to go on at length after that. It would have been better to not invite him.

Because the Des Moines Register included Keyes, and is not including Kucinich (on a technicality) nor Gravel on the Democratic side, I have to conclude that this was a bad faith effort to make the Republican candidates look bad.

Winner: Thompson. Don’t know if it will be enough, but he ought to get at least a little bump out of this. The moment he basically told the moderator where she could stick her “show of hands” question – well, I was inspired.

Helped himself: Romney. I concur with the generally positive assessments in the Corner. The issues – education, the budget – played to his strengths. I’m stunned – unless I missed it, no mention of the National Review endorsement. Well, if he’s not going to help advertise the magazine, then the editors ought to rescind it. (I’m kidding.)

Treaded Water, No Gain, No Loss: Huckabee. The time limits got in the way of his usual rhetorical smoothness, and I'm about one pun away from .* But he's a good debater, and rarely if ever turns in a bad performance. But maybe I kept waiting for him to point to Romney and shout, "Hey, look, it's one of those MORMONS!"

Kinda Got Lost Up There: Giuliani, as well as McCain: McCain didn’t look tired of the campaign, but he seemed tired of this style of debate early. He did seem above the fray, as I predicted, but because the debate organizers decided no questions on Iraq (what the hell?!?) he rarely got to shine on his signature issue.

And just because the media isn't as interested in hearing about Iraq now that the casualties are down, doesn't mean the issue doesn't matter. Thompson got one question on the NIE, why not everybody?

Giuliani, again, is a guy who needs more than thirty seconds to get rolling.

Really Got Lost Up There: Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo.

Achieved the Impossible and Made Me Hate Him: Alan Keyes.

* I'm apparently one more Huckabee pun away from being incapable of finishing my sentences.

Newt Gingrich's idea about how a debate for something as serious as the most powerful position on Earth ought to be conducted is looking more and more prescient.

UPDATE: Krauthammer: "the worst debate in Western history."

UPDATE: Dean Barnett (nice gig, Dean!):

"I don't mean to go all East-coast-elitist on you; I'm sure there are people in Iowa who could capably moderate a presidential debate. Unfortunately, and obviously, Carolyn Washburn is not one of them.

The bulk of the post-debate analysis will probably focus on how maladroit Washburn was at the job. She did the impossible--she moderated the last Iowa debate between the Republican candidates before caucuses and yet saw to it that none of the candidates engaged each other. In other words, the moderator ensured that the debate would be as lively as a 12 part PBS series on "How Grass Grows." A personal aside to the Des Moines Register--"boring" is not synonymous with "serious."

The problems went beyond Washburn's lack of mad moderating skillz. From the outset, Washburn announced that the candidates would not be discussing either Iraq or immigration. Swell! It's the biggest debate of the season, so let's take the two biggest issues off the table. For what it's worth, Washburn brought all the charm to her assignment of a latter-day Nurse Ratched.

LAME DUCK BUSH DEFEATS DEAD DUCK CONGRESS - AGAIN: GETS WAR FUNDING

CNN:

Democratic lawmakers and staffers privately say they're closing in on a broad budget deal that would give President Bush as much as $70 billion in new war funding.

Congress is likely to pass an additional $70 billion in new war funds, Democrats tell CNN.

The deal would lack a key provision Democrats had attached to previous funding bills calling for most U.S. troops to come home from Iraq by the end of 2008, which would be a significant legislative victory for Bush.

Democrats admit such a move would be highly controversial within their own party. Coming just weeks after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, vowed the White House would not get another dollar in war money this year, it would further antagonize the liberal base of the party, which has become frustrated with the congressional leadership's failure to push back on Bush's Iraq policy.

"The base will not be happy," said one senior Democratic aide, who requested anonymity to candidly discuss budget negotiations that have not been completed.

The Democratic aide acknowledged the president is likely to get new money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan before Congress adjourns for the year. "Yes, in the end, that's where we will be," the aide said.

A senior Republican aide also said both sides are nearing a deal that would give Bush a large chunk of the $200 billion in war funding he requested earlier this year. "We're not there yet, but we're close," the Republican aide said.

Privately, Democrats say they have little choice but to give the president at least some war funding because Senate Republicans have vowed to block any final budget deal unless it has at least some of the war funding Bush has requested.

• BUSH WINS.

• HOW LUCKY IS BUSH TO HAVE FACED THE LIKES OF KERRY AND PELOSI AND REID AND MURTHA AND DURBIN AND KENNEDY!
  
• I MEAN, THESE DEMS ARE SO DUMB, THEY VOTE FOR RAMADAN AND AGAINST CHRISTMAS!
  

• AND, THE DEMOCRAT NOMINEE IS GONNA BE A WHOLE LOT MORE LIKE THAT DEFEATIST CREW THAN LIEBERMAN.

WHICH MEANS THE GOP SHOULD RETAIN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2008.