BRITAIN'S LEFT-WING FOREIGN MINISTER UNLOADS ON OBAMA FOR HIS NAIVE, COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND ILLEGAL IRAN POLICY

GATEWAY:

Foreign Secretary David Miliband raised questions over Obama's Iran policy while visiting with Obama campaign officials this week.

The Times Online reported:

David Miliband has raised questions over Barack Obama’s policy on Iran, which officials in Washington and Europe fear threatens to undermine the tough stance adopted by the West towards Tehran over recent years.

GATEWAY ADDS:

Barack's chats with the Iranian leadership without preconditions also breaks 3 UN Security Council resolutions.

Amir Taheri asks:

Before starting his unconditional talks with Ahmadinejad, would Obama present a new resolution at the Security Council to cancel the three that he Islamic Republic president does not like? Or, would Obama act in defiance of the UN, thus further weakening the authority of the Security Council?

The preconditions that Ahmadinejad does not like and Obama promises to ignore were not set by President George W Bush.

They were decided after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ...

RTWT.

BRITAIN'S FAKE WAR ON TERRORISM

Michael Burleigh tells what's wrong now in Britain: they're not really combatting the threat of Islamic terrorism at all:

After spending time recently with senior Pentagon officials and other Americans involved in counter-terror-ism, I was struck by the global scope of their concerns. Above all I was reminded how different their attitudes are from those of their British counterparts, still obsessed with “community cohesion” and the “radicalisation” of young Muslims.

In Britain the views of the nonMuslim majority are largely ignored - or lead to them being branded as potential “Islamophobes”. In the United States the unthinkable and unsayable are debated openly.

Last month, for example, the Senate committee on homeland security heard evidence about the likely effects of a terrorist nuclear attack on Washington. It started with a chilling scenario: a 10-kiloton bomb in a truck beside the White House. First, the committee was told, it would kill about 100,000 people and erase a two-mile radius of mainly federal buildings. Most of the casualties would be burn victims, the majority of them African Americans who worked for the government.

About 95% of them would die in agony, because capacity to treat such cases is limited to about 1,500. Since the winds blow west to east, the ensuing radioactive plume would drift towards the poor black neighbourhoods of the capital’s southeast, where there is only one hospital. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the committee, concluded: “Now is the time to ask the tough questions and then to get answers as best we can.”

I can’t help wondering what preparations for such a nightmare scenario are being made here in Britain. Does anyone know if our parliamentarians are asking similar questions?

Read the rest of it, but I've got a sad feeling the answer is easy to guess.

Via Hot Air Headlines.

EPHRAIM SNEH TO LEAVE LABOR

The longtime Labor party member here is going to be quitting:

Labor MK Ephraim Sneh met with Labor Secretary-General Eitan Cabel Saturday, and announced his intention to leave the Labor party. He also informed Cabel of his intention to create a new political faction.

In response, Minister Ami Ayalon, also from Labor, called for Sneh not to leave the party, saying that the MK is of the most important personalities in the faction. He said that the loss of Sneh would be a strong blow to the party.

On Sunday, Sneh will address a press conference on the topic of his new faction.

Army Radio reported that Sneh is not satisfied with the state of the party, and that he had stated over a month ago that the party is going through hard times.

Earlier Saturday, Sneh denied that he intends to join Arkadi Gaydamak's new Social Justice Party.

Wow, that sure does hinder the left-wing Labor party considerably, doesn't it?

BRAVO: NYTIMES TRASHES SODERBERGH'S CHE AS NAIVE FANTASY WHICH IGNMOIRES GUEVARA'S BRUTAL ROLE IN CUBA'S TOTALTITARIAN DICTATORSHIP

BRAVO:

There is a lot, however, that the audience will not learn from this big movie, which has some big problems as well as major virtues. In between the two periods covered in “Che,” Guevara was an important player in the Castro government, but his brutal role in turning a revolutionary movement into a dictatorship goes virtually unmentioned. This, along with Benicio Del Toro’s soulful and charismatic performance, allows Mr. Soderbergh to preserve the romantic notion of Guevara as a martyr and an iconic figure, an idealistic champion of the poor and oppressed. By now, though, this image seems at best naïve and incomplete, at worst sentimental and dishonest. More to the point, perhaps, it is not very interesting.

BRAVO.

• HOLLYWOOD SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR GLORIFYING A MASS MURDERER WHO SUPPORTED A TOTALITARIAN TYRANNY.

• WOULD THEY DO THE SAME FOR STALIN?
  

• THEY MIGHT AS WELL IF THEY CONTINUE TO DO SO FOR THE LIKES OF CHE.

NAMES IN STONE

READ IT NOW.

IF YOU'VE READ IT BEFORE, THEN READ IT AGAIN.

GOD BLESS THE TROOPS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES SO THAT WE AND OUR DESCENDANTS WOULD BE FREE.

More on G*ogle hypocrisy

As I noted on 21st, G*ogle is very reluctant to remove Islamist content from its YouTube service. They are perfectly entitled to do (or not do) that, of course. What is striking, however, is their rationale for their actions. They say:

"YouTube's community guidelines prohibit hate speech and ask users not to post videos that show someone getting hurt, attacked or humiliated.

How come therefore that:

""Terrorists riddle American soldiers with bullets and explosives while chanting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is the greatest" in videos on the popular G*ogle-owned video-sharing website, YouTube. With a quick search of the site, the following can be found:

IEDs detonate on U.S. soldiers in a pickup truck

Graphic video of numerous explosions killing Marines

A U.S. medic being gunned down by a terrorist

A Humvee explodes, killing five U.S. soldiers

Chemical weapons attacks

A video entitled "Fight to the End" featuring a series of violent explosions killing American troops

Insurgent snipers picking off U.S. soldiers

Source

Clearly, G*ogle is saying one thing and doing another. What they do not admit but which their behavior clearly shows is that it is conservative content which they restrict. There are almost no restrictions for Leftists and Islamists. The restrictions apply only to conservatives and those who criticize Islam. G*ogle are, quite simply, political bigots.


Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

NEW REPORT: 'CHOOSE ECONOMIC GROWTH OR ACCEPT POVERTY FOR BILLIONS'

NEW REPORT: 'CHOOSE ECONOMIC GROWTH OR ACCEPT POVERTY FOR BILLIONS'

An official advisory body walks in the real world for once, sees gloabalization as a major factor in making poor countries rich

The world will contain 4 billion people living in abject poverty by 2050 unless the poorest countries adopt policies to deliver rapid and sustained growth over the coming decades, a report backed by the World Bank and the British government said yesterday.

After a two-year investigation, a group of policymakers and economists published a blueprint designed to allow the least developed nations to emulate the 13 countries that have expanded at an average rate of at least 7% a year for 25 years or longer since the second world war.

Professor Mike Spence, chairman of the Commission on Growth and Development, said there was no prospect of meeting the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations - which include halving of the number of people living in poverty by 2015 - without faster growth. Two billion of the 6 billion people in the world live in countries with stagnating or declining incomes, but the report said this figure would rise to 4 billion if they continued to suffer from low growth.

"The Growth Report kills off once and for all the misguided notion that you can lift people out of poverty in the absence of growth," Spence said. "It is impossible for poor countries to lift large populations out of poverty without growth. Equality of opportunity and a focus on individuals and families, gender inequalities and economic security, however, is critical to maintaining the support for growth-oriented policies."

The report said that the 13 countries that had grown rapidly in the post-war era were diverse, including Indonesia, Oman, Malta, Brazil, Botswana and China, but all had made the most of the global economy. "This is their most important shared characteristic and the central lesson of this report. Sustained growth at this pace was not possible before 1950. It became feasible only because the global economy became more open and more tightly integrated. The global economy is still a work in progress, of course, but its effects have already been dramatic.

The study acknowledged that faster growth might worsen climate change but said the onus was on rich countries to promote technologies for cutting carbon and saving energy....

More here

US GETS ANOTHER AL QAEDA BIGGIE IN PAKISTAN - AND A STUDY IN CONTRASTS: HAWK VERSUS DOVE

THIS IS HOW WE'RE GONNA GET PEACE - BY KILLING THE ENEMY:

LATIMES:

Key Al Qaeda figure apparently died in U.S. strike in Pakistan

He's believed to be an Algerian involved in training militants and planning attacks on the West.

An Al Qaeda figure killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials said Friday.

The Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died May 14 in the strike that killed as many as 14 people and destroyed a compound near the village of Damadola, an Al Qaeda stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. A knowledgeable U.S. official and a senior European anti-terrorism official said Jazairi was thought to be dead.

U.S. anti-terrorism forces are targeting front-line planners in Pakistani hide-outs, and Jazairi would be another in a series of recent losses for the Al Qaeda leadership, the two officials said.

"He was a significant person within the Al Qaeda ranks," said the senior European official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic

THE LEFT HAS ANOTHER APPROACH: APPEASEMENT:

ANTI-WAR.COM: Negotiating with 'Terrorists and Radicals' Is a Must

NIXON NEGOTIATED A PEACE DEAL WITH THE NORTH VIETNAMESE AFTER BOMBING THE HELL OUT OF THEM. WHY? TO GET BETTER TERMS. (HE DIDN'T GET THE BEST TERMS BECAUSE HE DIDN'T KICK THE COMMIES' BUTTS ENOUGH. THE REAL PROBLEM CAME A FEW YEARS LATER WHEN THE DEMOCRATS ABANDONED OUR OUR SOUTH VIETNAMESE ALLIES!)

IF THE INTENT IS NOT TO CAPITULATE, THEN NEGOTIATING WITH ADVERSARIES REQUIRES STRENGTH AND RESOLVE. AND THE WILLINGNESS TO WALK AWAY FROM NEGOTIATIONS.

IMHO: THE PROBLEM WITH THE ANTI-WAR LEFT IS THAT THEY VALORIZE THE PROCESS OF NEGOTIATING AND NOT THE QUALITY OF RESULTS.

• THE KOREAN WAR WAS SETTLED ON BAD TERMS.
• AS HAVE BEEN ALL THE ARAB-ISRAELI WEARS.
• THE GULF WAR WAS SETTLED ON BAD TERMS.

ALL WERE BAD BECAUSE THE ENEMY WASN'T FORCED TO CAPITULATE.

VICTORY IS WHAT REALLY CREATES PEACE BECAUSE VICTORY FORCES THE ENEMY TO CAPITULATE.

WITHOUT CAPITULATION THERE IS ALMOST NEVER ANY PEACE.

WANT PEACE? FIGHT FOR VICTORY!

SOCIALISTS CONTROL 94% OF THE WORLDS OIL SUPPLY

BIG OIL = SOCIALIST STATES.

NO WONDER THE MARKETS ARE EFFED UP.

HOW TO OBSERVE MEMORIAL DAY

HOW TO OBSERVE MEMORIAL DAY:

"...gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime....let us in this solemn presence ren our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation's gratitude,--the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan."

--General John Logan,

General Order No. 11, 5 May 1868

The "Memorial" in Memorial Day has been ignored by too many of us who are beneficiaries of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Often we do not observe the day as it should be, a day where we actively remember our ancestors, our family members, our loved ones, our neighbors, and our friends who have given the ultimate sacrifice:

• by visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes.

• by visiting memorials.

• by flying the U.S. Flag at half-staff until noon.

• by flying the 'POW/MIA Flag' as well (Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act).

• by participating in a "National Moment of Remembrance": at 3 p.m. to pause and think upon the true meaning of the day, and for Taps to be played.

• by renewing a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, and orphans of our falled dead, and to aid the disabled veterans.

AN OPEN LETTER TO CHARLES ENDERLIN AND FRANCE2

From Breath of the Beast:

Thank You Charles Enderlin and France2-

We have to admit we were angry with you for libeling Israel that we wanted to get you to take it back. It wasn’t just anger. We wanted to make it impossible for you to ever release such a tidal wave of violence and blood on us again.

After the disastrous aftermath of your al Durah report, so many people suffered and died, we have come to think of you more as a war criminal than just an unethical journalist. Really, we do not feel that you deserve to be thought of as an honorable journalist. Fortunately for us your character flaws have relieved us of the responsibility to attack you.

If you had ignored our criticism, let the whole thing drop and not sued anyone you would still be on top of the world today and Israel and the Jewish people would still be blackened by your libel.

Your restless guilt and vanity would not let you do the smart thing, though, and you sued Philipe Karsenty. Only those blinded by self-importance and its underlying insecurity, on the one hand, and driven by a need to deny fault on the other, would have felt the need.

So you showed your weakness and hubris just by filing the suit. Even more important though, from your law suit flowed the healing drama in the French courtroom in March. First, you demeaned yourself by bringing obviously altered tape into evidence into the courtroom. Then you further revealed your self delusion by pretending not to notice the derisive laughter of the gallery or that even the judge who was questioning you was treating you and your evasive explanations with amused disdain.

Now that the judgment is published, Charles, we are very pleased to see that you are going to do your best to help us to help you to complete your self-destruction by taking it to a higher court.

We never had the stomach for the dirty fight you are waging we do not like to destroy other people- no matter how richly deserved. We, therefore are especially grateful to you that you have not had the moral fiber to resist you darker instincts and have thereby undertaken to do the job yourself.

We are not character assassins- but we are enjoying immensely watching your character commit a spectacularly public suicide.

Sincerely,

Yaacov Ben Moshe,

Second Draft

Has the GOP lost its mojo?

Excerpt:

This is supposed to be liberalism's year. We hear it from all sources on all points of the political spectrum. A miserable and disillusioned electorate, an energized base, an opposition both confused and demoralized - the 2008 election, we're assured, is the left's to lose.... This contention has become so widespread that it's achieved the status of a received truth, with the danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there's one problem with it: if the American left is in such great shape, why are all their programs collapsing? ...

Iraq has set the tone. The American left intended to ride the Iraq "disaster" to victory on all fronts, giving them a lock on political power unseen since the beginning of the Reagan era. That dream ended with the success of General David Petraeus's surge strategy, which routed Al Queda in Iraq with humiliating swiftness and thoroughness. Mention of Iraq then became scarce in the media and among left-of-center politicians.

There was a flurry of excitement a few weeks ago with "failure" of the Iraqi government's effort against the Shi'ite militias in Basra and Sadr City. But it lasted only days until it became apparent that something else was going on: that government forces were in fact engaged in a "cut and reduce" strategy, in which limited objectives are taken one after the other, rather than the swift, once-and-for-all sweep characteristic of Western forces. This is a common technique in Eastern warfare (Byzantium was conquered in exactly this fashion), and one that appears to work: Moqtada al-Sadr, the chief irritant, has steadily given ground, and the recent "truce", utilizing the good offices of Iranian middlemen, was effectively dictated by the Maliki government. Iraq is one step closer to pacification, and once again unsuitable for public discussion among decent people. (The American media has consistently misread Iraqi intentions and capabilities throughout this war, discussing the government and people as if they were average Americans and events were taking place in the area around Dubuque.)

But it didn't end with Iraq. In fact, the past year has seen a general collapse of liberal programs unmatched since the 60s and one that may well be unprecedented in such a short span of time. Global Warming was one of the more successful efforts at Green propaganda over the past decade, one that has paid a number of dividends (including financial). The science underlying warming was simplistic and badly worked out, and could not be expected to prevail for any extended period (e.g., the claim that CO2 was a major driver of global temperature, when in fact such elements as solar radiation, earth's orbital variations, and water vapor are all more important).

The facts caught up with global warming last year. It became common knowledge that the earth's temperature had remained constant since 1998, a problem compounded by a sudden drop in global temperature of nearly a degree and a half Fahrenheit. Neither development was predicted by any climate researcher's model, nor could they be made to fit any accepted warming theory. The only alternative was the desperate adaption of an argument derived from a recent scientific paper released by the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, contending that the Atlantic MultiDecadal Oscillation is holding temperatures down and will continue to do so until at least 2015. (Just in time to save the polar bears, too.) Though warming advocates will not admit it, this represents a surrender flag -- what kind of overwhelming, universal climatic determinant is overthrown by a single oceanic variation? A more convincing explanation lies in the "quiet sun" thesis -- the contention that we're moving into a lengthy period of reduced solar activity. A few more cold winters will tell the tale.

Ethanol -- in its own way an offshoot of the warming panic, ethanol represents the latest "solution" to an environmental menace. None of these have ever been made to work (past environmental problems have almost universally been solved through conventional means), and ethanol is no exception. In short form: mandates for ethanol in gasoline to fight "global warming" and ease U.S. oil imports. The percentage of corn so used grew to one-third of last year's harvest. Coming during a shift in global agricultural markets and amid several unrelated agricultural difficulties, the ethanol mandates triggered a worldwide rise in grain prices that nearly doubled the cost of food in the U.S. and, far worse, created near-famine conditions in a number of marginal nations.

The "Recession" -- like global warming, the Great Recession of 2008 is a catastrophe that has not lived up to its billing. The economy is often a winner for American liberals (somewhat mysteriously, considering their actual history of economic ineptitude). Talk of recession began last summer, in the midst of a 4.9% economic growth rate, and continued through the new year. Signs of economic distress due to loose credit policies were taken as clear evidence of the "recession's" arrival. George Soros and both Democratic candidates -- Madame Hillary in particular -- hailed it as something along the lines of the Second Coming. They were echoed by almost the entire legacy media (Particularly the AP's Jeannine Aversa, who has been awarded legendary status by NewsBusters and the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web as the Cassandra of the third millennium. There wasn't a single dip that Aversa didn't see as a "chasm", a bad day in the market that wasn't a "nightmare", a slowdown that didn't become a "collapse". Somebody should give her a reality show.)

A classic recession was unlikely for a number of reasons: recessions are rarities during wartime. It would also be unusual for one to occur little more than five years after the last. Nor do recessions usually spring from weaknesses in a single sector. And as the year has progressed, so the specter of a full-blown recession has receded. The growth rate remains an anemic but still positive 0.6. The unemployment rate remains below average historical levels at a little over 5% The Dow Jones industrials has consistently remained in the 12,000 range, inching its way back up to 13,000.

We could go one to other, less critical ploys: the claim for mounting American unpopularity on the international scene, which doesn't look quite so compelling with the elections of Sarkozy, Merkel, and Berlusconi. Or the very public and utterly unwarranted humiliation of Colombia and its government, which, with the exposure of Democratic ally Hugo Chavez as aggressor and terror sponsor, could very easily be turned into an issue.

This is what the GOP is running against: people who want to lose a war, who are keeping alive an environmentalist scam, who (as a byproduct of that scam) have created conditions of serious hunger across the world, and who would not mind seeing a recession in the U.S., no matter how many people it hurts. How do you lose against a hand like this? You lose by throwing your cards down and collapsing under the table whining about being forced to play at all. That's what the GOP is doing -- it can't be described in any other way.....

More here

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

THE MASK SLIPS AGAIN: MAXINE WATERS EXPOSES THE SOCIALIST AGENDA AND KNEE-JERK COLLECTIVISM OF THE DEMOCRATS

HOT AIR HAS THE VIDEO.

SUMMARY:

• MAXINE WATERS - A FAMOUSLY CORRUPT CONGRESSWOMAN WHO BELIEVES THE CIA IS/WAS BEHIND DRUG DISTRIBUTION IN CALIFORNIA - THREATENED THE OIL CEO'S WITH NATIONALIZATION.
• THE OIL EXEC'S EARNED THIS ATTACK BECAUSE THEY HAD THE AUDACITY TO ARGUE THAT CONGRESS SHOULD ALLOW MORE DOMESTIC DRILLING, AND THAT THIS WOULD INCREASE SUPPLIES AND DECREASE PRICES.

EVIDENTLY, THE LAW OF SUPPLY-AND-DEMAND IS A CONCEPT WHICH IS BEYOND THE LEFTIST MIND.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE PREDICTION: MCCAIN DEFEATS OBAMA 380 TO 158

MCCAIN IN A LANDSLIDE.

HERE'S A LINK TO AN INTERACTIVE ELECTORAL COLLEGE MAP.

FIGURE OUT YOUR OWN PREDICTION TOTAL AND POST IT IN THE COMMENTS...

OIL, OIL, TOIL AND BUBBLE... ABOUT TO BURST

WASH POST:

"The high [PRICE OF OIL PER BARREL] is developing a momentum of its own," said a pair of analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, Germany. Bloomberg News reported that they said "the trend will soon be coming to an end, and that the subsequent correction will be all the more severe."

"We see many of the essential ingredients for a classic asset bubble," said Edward Morse, chief energy economist at Lehman Brothers. Morse estimated that $90 billion has flowed into the biggest commodity indices in just more than two years, and more money has flowed into other exchanges, pushing up prices.

... "Performance-chasing financial inflows to commodities cause prices to rise, thus delivering good performance and, in turn, attracting even more inflows. This phenomenon can be self-fulfilling," Morse said. Ultimately, however, "commodities markets still have a physical aspect to them that must fundamentally balance."

He said that once the size of oil inventories and worldwide spare production capacity becomes clearer, "markets may face a sharp correction."

THIS WILL HAPPEN SOONER RATHER THAN LATER, AND FASTER THAN YOU THINK.

WATCH OUT!

IT'S GONNA BE A TOUGH SUMMER FOR THE DEMS:

• THE WAR IN IRAQ IS GOING OK;
• THE RECESSION AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN;
• OIL PRICES ARE GOING TO DROP -
• AND THEY'RE ABOUT TO NOMINATE AN UNELECTABLE, INEXPERIENCED GAFFE-PRONE LEFTIST!

I FEEL SORRY FOR THE DEMS. DON'T.

WOMAN COMES BACK TO LIFE AFTER 17 1/2 HOURS WITH NO BRAIN WAVES

She suffered three hearts attacks and died. Rigor Mortis has started to set in. Now, she's alive.

Sounds like a candidate for Euthanasia.

That's sarcasm, if you didn't get it.

McCain on Obama

U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement:

"After Senator Obama's own advisors and supporters backtracked from his stated desire to hold summit meetings with the leaders of the world's worst regimes, Senator Obama himself has begun to reinterpret his stand. He now claims that some 'fear' to 'negotiate' with the likes of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who has called Israel a 'stinking corpse' or Ayatollah Khamenei, who called Israel a 'cancerous tumor.'

I have news for Senator Obama: I have met some very bad people before in my life. It is not fear that drives my opposition to unconditional meetings with Ahmadinejad, Khamenei, Kim Jong Il, and Raul Castro; rather it is my clear understanding that such a course will fail to eliminate the threat posed by these rogue regimes. I don't fear to negotiate. Instead I have the knowledge and experience to understand the dangerous consequences of a naive approach to Presidential summits based entirely on emotion.

"The question before the American people is which candidate is best able to secure the peace for the next generation of Americans, a peace that will keep our nation safe, prosperous and free. Senator Obama's desire to meet unconditionally in his first year at the presidential level with Iranian leaders is reckless, and demonstrates poor judgment that will make the world more dangerous.

With respect to Cuba, it is not America that needs to make unilateral concessions to the Castros - a 'gesture of good faith' as Senator Obama said yesterday - it is the Castro brothers who must allow the freedom they have so long denied to the Cuban people. Free the political prisoners, open the media, allow people to worship, schedule free and fair elections, and the United States will be happy to meet and talk. Until then, we cannot compromise our principles.

"Senator Obama has consistently offered his judgment on Iraq, and he has been consistently wrong. He said that General Petraeus' new strategy would not reduce sectarian violence, but would worsen it. He was wrong. He said the dynamics in Iraq would not change as a result of the 'surge.' He was wrong. One year ago, he voted to cut off all funds for our forces fighting extremists in Iraq. He was wrong. Sectarian violence has been dramatically reduced, Sunnis in Anbar province and throughout Iraq are cooperating in fighting al Qaeda in Iraq, and Shi'ite extremist militias no longer control Basra - the Maliki government and its forces do. British and Iraqi forces now move freely in areas that were controlled by Iranian-backed militias. The fight against al Qaeda in Mosul is succeeding in further weakening that deadly terrorist group, and many key leaders have been killed or captured.



As General Petraeus said last month, 'As we combat AQI we must remember that doing so not only reduces a major source of instability in Iraq, it also weakens an organization that Al Qaeda's senior leaders view as a tool to spread its influence and foment regional instability.' Iraqi forces have moved unopposed into Sadr City, a development the New York Times characterized today as a 'dramatic turnaround' as the government of Prime Minister Maliki 'advanced its goal of establishing sovereignty and curtailing the powers of the militias.'

"We continue to face challenges in Iraq, and we have a lot of work ahead. Yet the American people must ask whether we are more or less likely to succeed there if Senator Obama has his way. Each of these positive developments in Iraq is the direct result of the new strategy that Senator Obama opposed. Senator Obama consistently predicted the new strategy would fail, and at every step events have demonstrated his judgment was consistently wrong.

He now says that he intends to withdraw combat troops from Iraq - one to two brigades per month until they are all removed - regardless of the conditions in Iraq, irrespective of the consequences for our national security, and despite the best advice of our commanders on the ground. He is wrong again, and the American people deserve a President who has the strength, judgment and experience to keep our country safe and secure."

Source

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Update on a real warrior

The pregnant wife of a brave Marine - whose brush with death during a gun battle with the Taliban was captured in a dramatic photo - told FOXNews.com that she feared an early trip to the delivery room when she realized the leatherneck under fire was her husband.

A Reuters photographer captured Sgt. Bee's very close shave during a May 18 firefight in the Garmsir district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, where U.S. and British troops have mounted an offensive since April 28 against a supply route used by the Taliban to funnel insurgents and weapons along the Pakistan border.



Bobbie, expecting her first child - a boy - said her 26-year-old husband is a "poker-face guy" who "lives for the Marine Corps." She spoke with him Wednesday morning and he reassured her he was "perfectly safe."

Much was made of the photographs, which showed Sgt. Bee defending a mud wall without a helmet. Bobbie said her husband told her he was changing into fresh clothes when the company came under gunfire. "He said he turned around and did what he had to do."

I am glad he and his new family are OK. Semper Fi Sgt. Bee and keep that helmet handy.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

OIL IS $135 - AND A BUBBLE

IT'S A BUBBLE.

REALLY, AND IT WILL SOON BURST - JUST LIKE WHEAT DID.

OBAMA WILL LOSE FLORIDA IN NOVEMBER

WHY? THE JEWS.

EXCERPT:

A longtime Democratic constituency with a consistently high turnout rate, Jews are important to his general election hopes, particularly in New York, which he expects to win; in California and New Jersey, which he must keep out of Republican hands; and, most crucially, here in Florida, where Jews make up around 5 percent of voters.

...As in nearly every other voting group, support for Mr. Obama is divided by age — and Jews in Florida are on average older than Jews in other states. Half of Broward County’s Jews are over 59, and half of those in Palm Beach County are over 70, said Ira Sheskin, a demographer at the University of Miami.

... Senator Lieberman is expected to spend plenty of time in front of Jewish audiences, in Florida and elsewhere. A Democrat turned independent, an Orthodox Jew and one of Mr. McCain’s closest friends, Mr. Lieberman will promote Mr. McCain’s strong national security résumé and centrist stances.

...Mr. Obama has lined up surrogates like State Representative Dan Gelber, the House minority leader, and Mr. Wexler, both of whom are Jewish. Mr. Wexler said he would try to convert voters one mah-jongg table at a time, with town-hall meetings in the card rooms of high-rise condominiums and articles in community newspapers.

“Many of the political leaders in Palm Beach and Broward County were at my son’s bris,” he said.

Mr. Wexler said he had constituents who voted for Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential nominee, in 1928, “and they’ve never voted for a Republican since.”

“They are not going to vote for Senator John McCain,” he added.

Still, Mr. Wexler admits, he has not yet been able to persuade his in-laws to vote for Mr. Obama.

BASED ON MY CHATS WITH LOCAL JEWS - ALL LIFELONG DEMS, OBAMA MIGHT LOSE NY!

WINNING THE POLITICAL FIGHT HERE AT HOME IS JUST AS CRUCIAL AS WINNING THE MILITARY BATTLES OVER THERE

NONE of the victories we have won in the last three years would have happened under Kerry's watch - *had he been elected).

NONE.

No surge.
No Sunni uprising.
No retaking of Basra and Sadr City.

Just WITHDRAWAL. And the victory THAT would have signaled for our enemies.

Our troops are valiant and courageous and brave and honorable and doing really dangerous work that needs to be done.

But NONE of their brave work would've been possible without you and I winning here on the political fields of battle FIRST.

The same is still true: if we are to defeat the enemy abroad, we MUST first defeat the Democrats in the presidential election.

Nobody should feel that they can sit this one out, UNLESS they don't care if we win or not.

If you think we must win the war against islamofascism and global jihad, then you MUST vote for McCain.

There is no other choice.

We have to win the White House with the candidate we have, not the candidate we WISH we had.

DOES A MAJOR TOUTER OF PEAK OIL HAVE A GREEN AGENDA? YES - AND HE ADMITS IT, TOO!

NYTIMES:

Arjun N. Murti remembers the pain of the oil shocks of the 1970s. But he is bracing for something far worse now: He foresees a “super spike” — a price surge that will soon drive crude oil to $200 a barrel.

Arjun Murti at Goldman Sachs studied the 1970s’ oil spikes. One had drivers lined up at a gas station in San Jose, Calif., in 1974.

The oil options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange; oil prices touched $129.60 Tuesday.

Mr. Murti, who has a bit of a green streak, is not bothered much by the prospect of even higher oil prices, figuring it might finally prompt America to become more energy efficient.

Mr. Murti is hardly alone in predicting higher oil prices. Boone Pickens, the oilman turned corporate raider, said Tuesday that crude would hit $150 this year. But many analysts are no longer so sure where oil is going, at least in the short term.

Some say prices will fall as low as $70 a barrel by year-end, according to Thomson Financial.

Experts disagree over the supply of oil, the demand for it and whether recent speculation in the commodities markets has artificially raised prices.

As an energy analyst at Citigroup, Tim Evans, reportedly put it, trading commodities these days is like “sticking your hand in a blender.”

Whatever the case, oil analysts like Mr. Murti have suddenly taken on the aura that enveloped technology analysts in the 1990s.

• AND WE ALL NOW HOW THAT ENDED: THE BUBBLE BURST!

TODAY'S OIL BUBBLE WILL BURST, TOO.

AL QAEDA SMUGGLING IN HUGE QUANTITIES OF EXPLOSIVES THROUGH CROATIA

IOE: Bosnia: Al-Qaeda smuggling weapons into Croatia

Al-Qaeda and the Muslim fundamentalist Wahabi movement's operatives have been smuggling weapons and explosives into neighbouring Croatia, Bosnian daily Nezavisne novine reported on Wednesday.

Quoting Bosnian security sources, the paper said huge quantities of weapons and explosives have been smuggled into the areas of Croatia with sizeable Muslim population in recent months.

The weapons were shipped to the Croatian capital Zagreb, nearby Karlovac and the Adriatic port of Split, according to a document from the Bosnian security agency, quoted by the paper.

The document said the operation has been masterminded by Bosnian Muslims Vladimir Popilovski, Kemal Alagic, Semsudin Mehmedovic, Naser Panaslamovic and Omer Murselovic.

No arrests have been made in connection with the allegation of weapons smuggling to Croatia, which is an official candidate for EU membership and hopes to join the bloc by 2010.

THE ENEMY IS ADVANCING... THE BARBARIANS ARE UNDER THE GATES... AND I DON'T THINK THEY'RE JUST TARGETING THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIAN REPUBLIC.

IMHO: THIS IS MERELY A PORT OF ENTRY FORE THEIR CONTINENTAL OPERATIONS.

OBAMA KNEW WHAT REZKO AND WRIGHT WERE ALL ABOUT FOR 15 YEARS

NICE DEB:

The Obama/Wright controversy that threatened to destroy Obama’s White House Bid back in March and April has gone into remission, but it will come back stronger in the fall. You can bank on it.

Here’s why: Nothing has been resolved, in fact more evidence keeps surfacing that Obama was involved enough with this radical church, that it would have been impossible not to know about its noxious brand of black liberation theology.

... he [OBAMA] has claimed not to know anything about black liberation theology, until it became widely talked about when the Wright story broke.

I don’t know how you go to a black liberation theology church for 15+ years and not know it.

That’s like going to a gay bath house for 15+ years and saying, “oh…was that bath house gay? Who knew!”

Who is he trying to kid?

... Stanley Kurtz is one Journalist who’s been doing his homework; pouring through past issues of The Trumpet, and posting his findings in a long article at NRO:

OBAMA LIED WHEN HE SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT WRIGHT'S CORE BELIEFS.

THERE'S A TROUBLING PATTERN HERE:

• ABOUT REZKO: WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT? OBAMA CLAIMED HE DIDN'T KNOW, BUT HE KNEW FROM THE VERY START.

• ABOUT WRIGHT'S RACISM: WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT? OBAMA KNEW IT FROM THE FIRST SERMON HE HEARD - AND SAID AS MUCH IN HIS BOOK.

OBAMA: RACIST; LIAR; PHONY; HYPOCRITE; APPEASER.

THE PERFECT STANDARD-BEARER FOR TODAY'S DEMOCRAT PARTY - A PARTY THAT KICKED JOE LIEBERMAN OUT TO HELP NED LAMONT.

"Man" Arrested With Explosive Residue At Swedish Nuclear Power Plant

From Sky News:

A nuclear power station in Sweden has been sealed off after a worker was stopped at the entrance with a plastic bag containing traces of explosives.

Investigators took the man, a welder who was scheduled to do work at the Oskarshamn plant, in for questioning. They later arrested a second man because "there is some uncertainty about who owns the bag", a spokesman said.

Plant operator OKG downplayed the incident, saying there was no threat to the safety of the plant, about 150 miles south of Stockholm. Police said the man carried a plastic bag with an unknown amount of triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an
explosive used in the London bombings in 2007.

A plant spokesman said there were no explosives inside the bag, but traces of the
explosive substance were found on the bag's handle. A bomb squad was sent to the plant to investigate the findings. Police set up a security perimeter with a 1,000ft (300m) radius around the plant, but workers already inside were not evacuated.

The plant continued to operate normally. The Oskarshamn plant has three nuclear reactors, which produce about 10% of Sweden's electricity supply.

Google it. Over fifty news stories so far, and none of them provide the name of the man.

Could have been a leftist, but if so, then why the reticence to release his name.

Don't worry, though. It was probably only a "man", not a Muslim.

UPDATE: two "men"... one had been previously under surveillance...

EXCELLENT: PHILLIPE KARSENTY WINS THE AL DURAH CASE

Finally, some justice has been found in this most notorious blood libel. As Richard Landes now reports at the Augean Stables, Phillipe Karsenty has won the case. If you can read French, here's something about this from Nouvel Observateur.

We now need to hope that France 2 television will fire Charles Enderlin, and have nothing more to do with the libelous fauxtographer who filmed the propaganda in the first place. They should and must do so if they're to hang onto their credibility as a TV network.

Not only that, but the law in France that allows "high-ranking" people like Enderlin to sue for alleged slander should be changed, just like Canada's alleged Human Right Commission should be discarded. Some calls should be start being made for the abolition of such foolish laws.

Until then, it's relieving to finally see the blood libel of the al Durah hoax discredited.

Pakistan Signs Peace Pact With Militants In Swat

From the New York Times:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's government promised to
"gradually" pull out troops from the northwestern valley of Swat after signing a
peace agreement with Taliban
militants on Wednesday.

The deal was done a day after the United States advised its ally
against negotiating with militants, saying it could give them breathing space to
plot attacks in Pakistan and abroad.

Authorities in North West Frontier Province also agreed to enforce
sharia, Islamic law, in Swat in return for assurances that militants led by
charismatic cleric Fazlullah will cease attacks, allow girls to go to school and
stop carrying weapons in public.

Let's be clear; this was done against USA wishes, by the Pakistani political parties which Joe Biden, John Kerry, and the Democratic Party in general, supported in the election.

This government also supports the Columbian terrorist group FARC.

The Democrats sure do know how to pick allies.

And, by the way, how long do you think the Hudna allowing girls to go to school will last? I give it three months.

You Can't Soak the Rich

Head of research at H.C. Wainwright & Co. Economics Inc. David Ranson:

"Kurt Hauser is a San Francisco investment economist who, 15 years ago, published fresh and eye-opening data about the federal tax system. His findings imply that there are draconian constraints on the ability of tax-rate increases to generate fresh revenues. I think his discovery deserves to be called Hauser's Law, because it is as central to the economics of taxation as Boyle's Law is to the physics of gases. Yet economists and policy makers are barely aware of it.

"Like science, economics advances as verifiable patterns are recognized and codified. But economics is in a far earlier stage of evolution than physics. Unfortunately, it is often poisoned by political wishful thinking, just as medieval science was poisoned by religious doctrine. Taxation is an important example.

"The interactions among the myriad participants in a tax system are as impossible to unravel as are those of the molecules in a gas, and the effects of tax policies are speculative and highly contentious. Will increasing tax rates on the rich increase revenues, as Barack Obama hopes, or hold back the economy, as John McCain fears? Or both?

"Mr. Hauser uncovered the means to answer these questions definitively. On this page in 1993, he stated that "No matter what the tax rates have been, in postwar America tax revenues have remained at about 19.5% of GDP." What a pity that his discovery has not been more widely disseminated.....



"The data show that the tax yield has been independent of marginal tax rates over this period, but tax revenue is directly proportional to GDP. So if we want to increase tax revenue, we need to increase GDP."

Source

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

The farm bill disgrace

Excerpt from DAVID BROOKS at the NYT, pointing out that it wasn't Obama who defied the old corrupt Washington system; It was McCain. Once again we see the paradox that McCain actually is what Obama falsely claims to be

Farm net income is up 56 percent over the past two years, yet the farm bill plows subsidies into agribusinesses, thoroughbred breeders and the rest. The growers of nearly every crop will get more money. Farmers in the top 1 percent of earners qualify for federal payments. Under the legislation, the government will buy sugar for roughly twice the world price and then resell it at an 80 percent loss. Parts of the bill that would have protected wetlands and wildlife habitat were deleted or shrunk.

My colleagues on The Times's editorial page called the bill "disgraceful." My former colleagues at The Wall Street Journal's editorial page ripped it as a "scam." Yet such is the logic of collective action; the bill is certain to become law. It passed with 81 votes in the Senate and 318 in the House - enough to override President Bush's coming veto. Nearly everyone in Congress got something. The question amid this supposed change election is: Who is going to end this sort of thing?

Barack Obama talks about taking on the special interests. This farm bill would have been a perfect opportunity to do so. But Obama supported the bill, just as he supported the 2005 energy bill that was a Christmas tree for the oil and gas industries. Obama's support may help him win Iowa, but it will lead to higher global food prices and more hunger in Africa. Moreover, it raises questions about how exactly he expects to bring about the change that he promises.

If elected, Obama's main opposition will not come from Republicans. It will come from Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill. Already, the Democratic machine is reborn. Lobbyists are now giving 60 percent of their dollars to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The pharmaceutical industry, the defense industry and the financial sector all give more money to Democrats than Republicans. If Obama is actually going to bring about change, he's going to have to ruffle these sorts of alliances. If he can't do it in an easy case like the farm bill, will he ever?

John McCain opposed the farm bill. In an impassioned speech on Monday, he declared: "It would be hard to find any single bill that better sums up why so many Americans in both parties are so disappointed in the conduct of their government, and at times so disgusted by it." McCain has been in Congress for decades, but he has remained a national rather than a parochial politician. The main axis in his mind is not between Republican and Democrat. It's between narrow interest and patriotic service. And so it is characteristic that he would oppose a bill that benefits the particular at the expense of the general.

In fact, in this issue, McCain may have found a theme to unify his so far scattershot campaign. He has always been an awkward ideological warrior. In any case, this year may not be the best year for Republicans to launch a right versus left crusade. But McCain has infinitely better grounds than Obama to run as a do-what-it-takes reformer. He has a long record of taking on not only the other party, but his own. In the current Weekly Standard, the brilliant young writer Yuval Levin suggests that McCain put reforming America's decrepit governing institutions at the center of his presidential race. Levin points out that the health care system, the immigration system, the regulatory system and the entitlement system all need reforms. Instead of talking about personal honor or perpetual tax cuts, McCain should focus relentlessly on modernization. In fact, Monday in Chicago, McCain declared: "In all my reforms, the goal is not to denigrate government but to make it better, not to deride government but to restore its good name."

Obama, sad to say, failed the farm bill test. McCain may have found a theme for a nation that has lost faith in its own institutions.

Source


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

Fathers no longer important in socialist Britain

"Fathers were last night effectively declared an irrelevance in modern Britain. The requirement for fertility doctors to consider a child's need for a male role model before giving women IVF treatment was scrapped by MPs.

In a free vote, they swept away the rule despite impassioned pleas that the Government plan would "drive another nail into the coffin of the traditional family". Labour rebels said it would send entirely the wrong signal to society as Britain faces a crisis in responsible parenting.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, had warned it would remove the father from the heart of the family. He accused the Government of putting the interests of "consumers" who want to become parents before the welfare of children. But in the Commons, ministers won support for the legislation.

Voting was 292 to 217, a majority of 75. In a second vote, a Tory attempt to underline the need for a father or "male role model" was rejected by 290 votes to 222, a majority of 68."

More here

Posted by John Ray.

SPECULATION, FEAR AND FRENZY DRIVE OIL UP TO $140 - IN 2016

FT: Shortage fears push oil futures near $140

Fears of a shortage within five years propelled long-term oil futures prices to almost $140 a barrel, further stoking inflationary pressures in the global economy.

The spot price of Nymex West Texas Intermediate hit a record $130.30 a barrel on Wednesday. On Tuesday investors had rushed to buy oil futures contracts as far forward as December 2016, pushing their prices as high as $139.50 a barrel, up more than $9.50 on the day.

• THIS IS IDIOCY.
• A BUBBLE.
• AND IT WILL BURST.
• SOONER THAN YOU THINK.
• THE FRENZY WILL STOP.
• WHEN?
• AS SOON AS THE DEMOCRATS ALLOW US TO DRILL FOR OIL IN THE USA.

OBAMA: GAFFE-PRONE IDIOT

A LIST WHICH PROVES IT HERE.

IMAM THREATENS SUIT OVER TRANSGENDER DRIVING INSTRUCTOR

DAILY MAIL: Muslim man threatens to sue driving school for sending transsexual instructor to teach his wife

For the past 12 months, she has proudly taken to the road as part of an all-female driving school.

But Emma Sherdley is not exactly all woman.

Until a few years ago she was a married father-of-two called Andrew. She is, though, in the middle of treatment to change gender and has the legal paperwork to prove it.

But that wasn't enough to satisfy one client who claimed he had been shortchanged when he booked a female instructor to teach his wife how to drive. He phoned the Laugh 'n' Pass driving school threatening to sue after Miss Sherdley, 42, turned up for the lesson.

'You have sent me a man. Send me a proper female. How dare you send a man with a deep voice,' he told Joanne Dixon, who runs the school in West Yorkshire.

The man, a Muslim from the Meadowhall district of Sheffield who has not been named, claimed the company deliberately sent a man disguised as a woman.

THE POSTMODERN LEFT VERSUS THE MUSLIMS - IN THE COURTS!

TOO BAD ALL THREE SIDES CAN'T LOSE!

Six degrees of Barack Obama -- Updated

On May 14 Barack Obama held a private and unpublicized meeting with Imam Hassan Qazwini at Macomb Community College in Michigan.

Qazwini heads the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Debbie Schlussel describes Qazwini as the Hezbollah terror group's foremost agent in America.

Qazwini is very open about his support for Palestinian homicide bombings, HAMAS, and Hezbollah. And he's a good friend of Hezbollah spiritual leader, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah--the man who issued the fatwa to Hezbollah terrorists to murder over 300 U.S. Marines and U.S. Embassy civilians in cold blood. Qazwini's mosque has held rallies and celebrations in support of Hezbollah, and many of Hezbollah's biggest money-launderers and agents in America are his congregants.

When I went undercover to his mosque in 1998, he and others welcomed Nation of Islam chief racist Louis Farrakhan as "our dear brother" and "a freedom fighter." Qazwini applauded Farrakhan's anti-Semitic statements saying that Jews were the "forces of Satan" and that there needed to be a "jihad" on the American people.

Obama's meeting with Qazwini was discovered almost by accident. The Detroit Free Press had a short piece on the meeting, which appears to have been sourced by Qazwini's mosque.



The Obama campaign remains utterly silent about the meeting and the mainstream media has kept its lips sealed.

Powerline's Scott Johnson adds:

The Free Press account states that the two discussed the presidential election, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Iraq war, according to Qazwini. Schlussel asks why "this open anti-Semite and supporter of Israel's annihilation" was afforded the privilege of discussing "the Arab-Israeli conflict" in a private one-on-one meeting with Obama. Perhaps they were discussing what Obama referred to as the "legitimate claims" of Hamas and Hezbollah in his chat with David Brooks.

In light of Obama's secret meeting with Imam Hassan Qazwini, I was forced to update my original "Six Degrees of Barack Obama" chart.

Like I said last time, it doesn't take six degrees to connect Obama to a bunch of virulent racists, hate-mongers and murderous terrorists.

One or two degrees is about all it takes.

And I'm starting to run out of axes. I'll have to go diagonal soon. And then 3-D.

NPR: US-BACKED "MALIKI SURGE" MADE BASRA SAFE

YEAH: EFFIN NPR:

Iraq

U.S.-Backed Offensive Weakens Basra Militias

Listen Now [4 min 17 sec] add to playlist

Morning Edition, May 20, 2008 · A government offensive in the southern Iraq city of Basra has met with success.

Initially, U.S.-led Iraqi forces met with stiff resistance from Shiite militias.

But after two months, Basra's streets are clear.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro.

THE BRITS ARE HELPING AGAIN:

British soldiers have re-established a permanent presence in the city of Basra, patrolling with Iraqi forces in "no-go" areas they were driven from months ago by Shia militants.

Commanders say the joint operations have, in a matter of weeks, brought a measure of normality to a city that had fallen under the sway of powerful criminal gangs and the Iranian-backed fighters.

BOTTOM-LINE: WE WON.

WHICH IS WHY THERE'S A VIRTUAL NEWS BLACKOUT.

OBAMA REGURGITATES ANOTHER BIG LEFTIST LIE: "AMERICA CONSUMES TOO MUCH"

You know how it goes; the left has been using this line for decades: "America is 4% of the world's population but uses 25% of the worlds resources."

What a crock of leftist crap.

Obama recently rephrased it this way:

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

But what REALLY happens when the USA "consumes" less?

The rest of he world goes into RECESSION!

YUP: the rest of the world depends on USA "consumption" to earn a living and feed their people. If we didn't buy their raw materials and their manufactured goods, then they'd starve.

Here's how THE NYTIMES put it last year: "Asia braces as Americans consume less"

And this year - as the MSM's negative nabobs relentlessly heralded the "fact" that we're headed for a recession (which is NOT true!) world markets did as poorly as US markets: investors KNOW that the world's economy depends on US CONSUMPTION; if the US were really going to consume less, then the rest of the world would be going to suffer, too.

And let's take a close look at that word "consumption": the way the left uses it you'd think we didn't PAY FOR EVERYTHING WE IMPORT! We happen to PURCHASE what we import, and when we do the seller usually makes profit - and a living.


What knee-jerk leftists like Obama and his cult of followers fail to comprehend is that by advocating that Americans consume less they are advocating that the rest of the world should suffer MORE.

The poverty problem in the Third World is NOT that we consume too much; it's that THEY PRODUCE AND CONSUME TOO LITTLE.

What the Third World needs is MORE factories and power plants and yes SWEAT SHOPS. And power grids and highways and cars and trucks and refrigerators, etc.


The only things standing in the way ARE THE LEFT and their comrades in the GREEN movementM who think CO2 is a pollutant and THAT humanity is causing global-warming.

The LEFT: the enemy of the poor; the enemy of peace; the enemy of the capitalism, industrialism, Judeo-Christianity and the West.

BBC: CARBON NANOUBES MIGHT CAUSE ASBESTOSIS

'Asbestos warning' on nanotubes:

Carbon nanotubes, the poster child of the burgeoning nanotechnology industry, could trigger diseases similar to those caused by asbestos, a study suggests.

Specific lengths of the tiny fibres were found to cause "asbestos-like" inflammation and lesions in mice.

Use of asbestos trigged a pandemic of lung disease in the 20th Century.

There are high hopes for the tiny carbon molecules, which have remarkable properties that could be used for advanced electronics and materials.

"As a society, we cannot afford not to exploit this incredible material but neither can we afford to get it wrong - as we did with asbestos," said Dr Andrew Maynard of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, US.

TOO BAD: GLENN REYNOLDS NOW MUST FIND ANOTHER PANACEA...

[MORE ON ASBESTOSIS.]

THE PRICE PAID FOR FUNDING A MUSLIM SCHOOL WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS

In Minnesota, a TV crew for KSTP going to Tarik ibn Zayad to report about a state probe were attacked by two workers (via Michelle Malkin).

And so we see what can happen when taxpayer money is allowed to be given to these creeps. The two men who did that should be charged, and it should be demanded that they be fired from any job there.

MCCAIN VERSUS OBAMA WILL BE A RERUN OF LIEBERMAN VERSUS LAMONT

GUESS WHO WINS?


I MEAN, ER... UM... IF DOVE/APPEASER LAMONT COULDN'T WIN IN CONNECTICUT, (WHICH HAS VERY FEW BITTER WHITE FOLKS), THEN HOW CAN OBAMA - WHO IS TO THE LEFT OF LAMONT - WIN IN THE USA!?!?

IT CAN NEVER HAPPEN.

OR LOOK AT IT THIS WAY: EVEN HILLARY WOULD BEAT OBAMA IN A GENERAL ELECTION; THEREFORE, MCCAIN CANNOT MISS.

TOO BAD HE'S A LIB... JUST LIKE DUBYA. AT LEAST HE'S A FISCAL HAWK.

SIGH.

Speech to American Jewish Committee by The Hon. Alexander Downer MP, on the occasion of the conferral of the Ramer Award for Excellence in Diplomacy

The speech was delivered Thursday May 1 2008 at the 102nd annual dinner of the American Jewish Committee. Mr Downer is a former Australian Foreign Minister in the Howard government. I think the speech is comparable with the excellent speech to the Knesset recently delivered by George Bush.

The speech contrasts greatly with the outpouring of dishonesty and pure venom emanating from the Leftist end of the mainstream Australian media. See here, for instance. And our public broadcaster bewailed the fact that the venom concerned was not published more widely! Yet the reporting in the article concerned is so unbalanced that it is not even good propaganda.

"It is a great honour to be presented with this award by the American Jewish community. Indeed, I feel humbled that you have chosen me to be the recipient of an award which commemorates the extra-ordinary contribution to the American Jewish community by the Ramers.

The Australian and American Jewish communities have a lot in common. In both cases Jews have found in our countries the peace and tolerance which was denied them over the centuries in Europe and the Middle East: but they have not only found freedom and tolerance in Australia and America , they have contributed mightily to our two societies.

You haven't yet elected a Jewish President whereas we have had two Jewish Governors' General, the Governor General being the de facto head of state in Australia . But in both our cases the contribution Jewish people have made to science, academia, literature the arts and business has been magnificent.

An embattled, denigrated and persecuted people has come to our shores and in finding freedom has said 'let's build this place'. It's part of what makes our societies great.

In 1918, Australians and Americans went into battle together for the first time. We've done so many times since. It was at the Battle of Le Hamel, this being the first major American military action on European soil. Those of you with a sense of history may think the Americans fought under the redoubtable General Pershing but in this their first major battle in Europe they fought under the Australian commander, General Sir John Monash. Monash by the way was Jewish - so you won't be surprised to learn we won the battle!

In many ways, Australians and Americans are the most natural of allies. Our countries were settled by peoples fleeing persecution and discrimination and who sought the opportunity to achieve prosperity away from the class based elitism of the old world. We grew to love a life of individual freedom and to place equal value on every person.

We confronted and still confront three great adversaries over the last 100 years. We fought the bloody and heartless totalitarianism of fascism and we won. We fought the intolerance, cruelty and incompetence of communism and we won. And today we fight the fanaticism and ideological insanity of Islamic extremism - and we must win that fight as well.

Islamic extremism has several manifestations. There is Al Qaeda and its Asian variant, Jemaah Islamia. There is the Iranian theocracy. There is the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan .

These people are haters and many of them are killers. They hate our open, free societies that respect men and women equally. They want to destroy democracy and equality of opportunity in Iraq , in Afghanistan , in Indonesia and in Israel . They want to destroy modernity and plunge the world back into the Middle Ages. They want Taliban-style regimes not just in Afghanistan but throughout the world, particularly the Muslim world: regimes where girls are denied schooling, where the most powerful are chosen by a few zealots not the people, where the tools of modernity are disbanded and poverty becomes endemic.

Our great countries stand in their way. This is a tough fight because we are confronting people who have no concern for human life. No act of barbarism is beyond these people. To win we need to be clear eyed. This war is not popular with everyone, it's expensive and it's costing the lives of our young men and women.

But please, I implore you, contemplate the alternative: Victory for Al Qaeda in Sunni Iraq, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan , Hamas in total control of both Gaza and the West Bank, a Hezbollah-dominated government in Lebanon and what then? The Moslem Brotherhood taking control in Egypt, the Gulf States swept up in the euphoria of a resurgent, extremist Wahabiism. Would newly democratic Indonesia - the world's largest Islamic country succumb to extremism? Would New York again and Sydney become front line cities in the great ideological battle of our time?

And let's think about democratic, freedom-loving Israel . For those of us who live in Australia or America it is hard to conceive of life in a tiny country a fraction the size of our own, living cheek by jowl with people who want to destroy you.

It is easy for Australians, Americans and Europeans in the relative security of our homes to lecture the Israeli government to be more accommodating with its enemies, to criticise Israel for erecting a security barrier, to complain that Prime Minister Olmet won't hug a Hamas leader, to deplore Israeli attacks on rocket bases in Southern Lebanon and Gaza and Israeli attacks on Hamas terrorist leaders in Gaza and the West Bank. It's easy to lecture. But it is harder to understand.

One of the lessons of history is to understand your adversary. The West professes with genuine sincerity to believe in Israel 's right to exist within secure borders. It argues for the two state solution as the only viable option for peace in the Middle East . They are right to do so. It is the only option.

But what some in the West, including a good number of Americans and Australians, don't understand is there are many in the Middle East who don't accept the two-state solution and Israel 's right to exist as a separate State. Hamas and Hezbollah believe in the destruction of the Israeli State . That is bad enough. But behind them lies the power, the finance and the weapons of Iran . When President Ahmadinejad says he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, he means it. He believes there should be no Jewish State of Israel.

Demands that Israel negotiate with those who wish to destroy it are unreasonable and worse: those demands weaken Israel 's diplomatic strength and help to undermine community support for Israel in Western countries.

Indeed I will go further: there has been a constant stream of criticism of Israel particularly from Europe and elements of the United Nations for each and every one of the defensive measures it takes. Building a security barrier is wrong, destroying terrorist bases is wrong, attacking terrorist leaders and planners is wrong, trying to stop missile attacks on villages in Northern and Southern Israel is wrong. It doesn't leave Israel with too many options.

These criticisms have been particularly vehement in much of the Western media. That has had an effect on public opinion which has become increasingly hostile to Israel. But Israel is a democracy. No Israeli leader can turn his or her back on the struggle against those who wish to destroy Israel . The world needs to respect that.

We also need to send out again and again a simple and clear message to the international community that peace in the Middle East can never come until Israelis are allowed to sleep in peace. That message needs to be transmitted not just in Europe and America. Asia needs to hear and understand that message as well.

Today, as the balance of global power shifts to the Asia Pacific region, your campaigns to ensure people understand the truth of the Middle East conflict must extend to China, Japan, India, Korea and Indonesia. Those countries are going to count for a great deal more in international fora in the future. But at present they are hearing just one side of the argument. When I have spoken about the Middle East in Asia I have felt somewhat lonely!

When I first heard last year of the destruction of a North Korean-built nuclear facility in Syria , I thought its destruction was a triumph. It was a blow for peace. What horrors would have occurred years from now if that project had survived? But the existence of this project, discovered only at a relatively late stage of development, reminds us of the immense dangers Israelis live with day by day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, these are tough times.We have to prevail over Islamic extremism. Liberal democracy has, once more, to triumph. But it won't happen by wishing and hoping: it will only happen through courage and action.

I know what your public are saying, I know there is pain at the costs both human and financial. But the true test of the statesman is to do the right thing by a troubled world, not play to a gallery.

Thank you again for this great honour: whether our political leaders are popular or not, our two great countries will always be the great beacons of hope to billions of people around the world who crave the liberties we are blessed to enjoy. And make no mistake, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Israel in its struggle to secure peace and freedom".

Source

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Chinese reluctance to accept earthquake help

What I reproduce below is an unusual news summary but it comes from someone I know personally (I am slightly amazed that three of my old friends are in China these days) so I thought I would pass it on:

At HK airport Sunday night and also in the Herald Tribune I read some interesting details I bet you wont read in China daily. Apparently China stores all its nuclear bombs in this earthquake zone as it's so remote. Also there are a number of nuclear reactors there to make bomb grade plutonium. They are supposed to be all reported as suffering none or little damage.

There was another news item about 2 foreign disaster relief teams from Scotland and Canada who arrived in HK with all their equipment...specialist earthquake relief teams...they tried to join the rescue effort but were refused visas in HK , the visa office their telling them they were not required. They had their own tents , food and specialist equipment to find the living buried in rubble.

After hearing about a Beijing Govt International apeal for International specialist help, they had advised the embassies of China in both Canada and UK they were able to come but received no reply from these embassies. Frustrated they flew out to HK anyway with all their gear only to be refused visas . They were returning home Monday.

In other articles there are lots of stories about people being refused visas to China in HK . Apparently the China Govt is now asking all Nationals to return to their home countries to get visas. Multiple entry visas are no longer being issued. Many foreigners who own businesses in China are whinging [complaining] as they need to come and go at short notice and now there are huge queues at the only mainland HK visa issuing office in Wanchai.

The situation is obviously very confused because I flew to Beijing OK last Thursday night without a Hotel voucher requirement and using the multiple entry visa in my passport which expires October 2008. However the Dragon Air flight was alomost empty...I have never seen a plane more empty....an A330 airbus capable of carrying up to 350 people with about 50 people on it.

At the new airport in Beijing I was stamped in without any questions. The China Govt seems to be getting more paranoid as the Olympics approaches.

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

CAN SOMEONE SEND ADAM AN ABSENTEE BALLOT?

JUST ASKING...

PROSTITUTE IN NAZI-FORMULA 1 ORGY IS WIFE OF BRITISH MI5 SPY

UNBEFREAKINLIEVEABLE:

GUARDIAN:

An MI5 officer whose wife was one of the prostitutes who exposed a sex scandal involving the motor racing chief Max Mosley has been forced to resign because he was a potential security risk, a Whitehall official confirmed yesterday.

The officer's 38-year-old wife is understood to have gone to the News of the World with the story of how Mosley, the president of the FIA, the international governing body of motor sport, took part in a bondage session with five prostitutes in a basement flat in Chelsea.

A counter-intelligence official yesterday said of the officer: "His partner being involved in prostitution obviously raised questions about his judgment."

IRISH INDEPENDENT:

BRITAIN'S MI5 was accused last night of failing to vet recruits properly after it emerged that one of its surveillance officers was married to a prostitute who exposed Max Mosley's (right) involvement in a sado-masochistic orgy. The MI5 officer was forced to resign last month when his wife's "inappropriate job" became known. It is alleged that he had failed to disclose her work when he was vetted for a post in the security service.

AP:

To a sordid story already dripping with sex and allegations of Nazi role-playing, add a dash of espionage.

British newspapers reported yesterday that a hooker involved in a five-girl sex romp with auto racing boss Max Mosley was married to an agent from Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5.

The Sunday Times said the agent left MI5 in April after admitting his wife was one of five prostitutes who took part in the sex acts, the details of which were splashed across the pages of Britain's biggest-selling Sunday paper two weeks straight.

The ensuing scandal has Mosley struggling to cling to his job as the president of Formula One's governing body.

The story, backed by a videotape which shows a man said to be Mosley speaking in German and being whipped, was particularly arresting because of the allegation there was a Nazi theme.

Mosley is the son of an infamous British fascist leader, Oswald Mosley. Max Mosley hotly denies the allegation of Nazi role-play and is suing the News of the World's parent company for breach of privacy.

XINHUA:

A mind-boggling sex scandal involving a top motor sports official and the prostitute wife of a British spy has raised urgent questions about the screening procedures employed by the MI5 security service.

The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph reported an MI5 officer had been forced to resign after it came to light his wife was one of five prostitutes who took part in an orgy with Max Mosley, president of Formula One's governing body, the FIA.

A security source contacted by Reuters did not dispute the reports but said any suggestion the orgy had been an MI5 'sting' operation to entrap Mosley was "nonsense."

"The service is very busy and constantly stretched by the demands of the threat from AQ (al-Qaida) and other terrorist organizations ...This is not how they're spending their time," he said when asked about the Mosley affair.

• WHAT SO FREAKIN WILD ABOUT THIS IS THAT THE AGENT WASN'T VETTED PROPERLY.
  
• THIS IS JUST LIKE THE CIA HERE IN THE USA, WHICH HAD A HIZBALLAH AGENT WORKING FOR THEM.
• THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SUPER-DUPER AGENCIES PROTECTING US, AND THEY CAN'T EVEN TELL A GOOD PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE FROM A BAD.
• CIA & MI5: IDIOTS AND INCOMPETENT AS**HOLES.