HOUSE DEMOCRATS WANT THE NSA TO INVESTIGATE EVIDENCE USED TO CONVICT AN IMAM WHO IS TIED TO THE GROUP BEHIND THE MUMBAI ATTACKS

ONCE AGAIN, THE DEMOCRATS ARE TAKING THE SIDE OF THE ENEMY:

Panel to Call for Probe Into Wiretapping of Scholar

By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN
[OF COURSE IT'S BY THEM! WHO ELSE!?]

A Congressional oversight panel plans to ask the National Security Agency to start an investigation into new evidence that the agency illegally wiretapped a Muslim scholar in Northern Virginia and concealed the eavesdropping during a 2005 trial in which the scholar was convicted on terrorism charges.

Representative Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, said in an interview that he planned to ask the inspector general of the N.S.A. to open what would be the first formal investigation by the agency into whether its eavesdropping program had improperly interfered with an American’s right to a fair trial.

... The scholar, Ali al-Timimi, once a spiritual leader in Northern Virginia and described by prosecutors as a “rock star” in the Islamic fundamentalist world, is now serving a life sentence in federal prison after he was convicted in 2005 on charges of inciting his Muslim followers to commit acts of violence overseas.

Prosecutors described Mr. Timimi as the spiritual mentor to a group of young men in Northern Virginia who were convicted of giving material support in Kashmir to Lashkar-e-Taiba — the separatist group blamed by the Indian authorities for the recent attacks in Mumbai.

Several of the Northern Virginia men had received paramilitary training in Pakistan, apparently at the urging of Mr. Timimi, but there was no evidence that they had taken part in any terrorist attacks.

Mr. Timimi’s lawyers maintain that the N.S.A., without acquiring court-approved warrants, used the eavesdropping operation approved by President Bush weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks to wiretap his communications, and that the interceptions might include evidence that would point to his innocence in what they regard as a free-speech case. They charge that the government has intentionally withheld that material despite repeated requests.

The Justice Department has denied that it had any other evidence of eavesdropping against him other than what it turned over to his lawyers.

• THIS IS HOW THE LEFT OPERATES: AYERS GOT OFF ON A TECHNICALITY, TOO.

• THESE LEFTIES: THEY'RE NOT FOR PEACE OR CIVIL LIBERTIES; THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE.

• THE NYTIMES HAS THE AUDACITY TO CALL THIS TERRORIST A "SCHOLAR"! HMMMM: JUST LIKE AYERS.

IF OBAMA GOES THROUGH WITH HIS PROMISED "REFORMS" - CLOSING GITMO, LIMITING NSA INTERCEPTS, AND THE LIKE - THEN WE ARE GOING TO BE MUCH MUCH LESS SAFE.

AND THE NEXT ONE HERE.... WELL, I PREDICT IT'LL MAKE MUMBAI LOOK LIKE AN AMATEUR DRESS REHEARSAL

TOM FRIEDMAN - LIBERAL FASCIST - PART 1,934,735

DINOCRAT:

[TOM FRIEDMAN:] When it comes to Detroit, my views are clear: I think we should be talking about “bail,” not “bailouts,” regarding the people running the Big Three car companies and the lawmakers who mindlessly protected them for so long. Still, I do not want to see jobs destroyed. But if taxpayers are going to give Detroit money, we must not entrust the spending to people who have run their businesses into the ground.

You want my tax dollars? Then I want to see the precise production plans and timetables for the hybridization of all your cars and trucks within 36 months. I want every bailed-out car company to move to hybrid electric drive trains, because nothing would both improve mileage and emissions more — and also stimulate a whole new 21st-century, job-creating industry: batteries.

It’s awfully nice of Mr. Friedman to take the time to design industrial policy for the US and the 3 automakers with their $400 billion in sales.

Perhaps he had his deep thoughts about how the American people should live and conserve energy while strolling the grounds of his considerable estate or while seated at a cozy fire in his 11,000 square foot mansion.

Questions: (a) what if producing hybrids does nothing to make the automakers profitable? (b) what if hybrids are a mere sandwich technology and not a long-term solution to anything? (c) what if Americans don’t want hybrids?

FRIEDMAN IS A LEFTIST MORON - LIKE HIS COLLEAGUE KRUGMAN.

UTOPIANIST "KNOW-IT-ALLS" LIKE FRIEDMAN - (LIBERAL "CHINA FOR A DAY" FASCISTS) - ARE THE TYPES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMMITTED MOST OF THE GENOCIDA; ATROCITIES IN HUMAN HISTORY, (AND THEY'RE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CURRENT FINANCIAL MELTDOWN).

THE EARTH AIN'T FLAT (ESPECIALLY NOT IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA!) - AND TOM FRIEDMAN'S HEAD IS EMPTY.

A SOUND LIKE NO OTHER: THE PEDAL STEEL GUITAR

Get your Taxpayer Bailout Blog Widget and Stop Federal Income Taxes for 3 Months!

Free blog widgets for everybody!


Copy the HTML code below and paste it into a blog post to express your support. The link goes to Newt Gingrich's wonderful Human Events article on the effects of a federal income tax holiday.

<a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29760"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5anqvBg-uemJ4qfHSmk6IosBgAtyhDuNt0Yx1l92e8BCRw3XrFB0z10C1iB4-UWkGZk30HniME_uO2BmCBPnDfBSuU6nQptJK8kQkRgCH1bL_XbWtJFzhs78wtdDikWJb8zD/s400/081206-taxpayer2.jpg" alt="Hey, here's an idea, Nancy Murtha O'Reid. How about you bail out the American taxpayer? Instead of swizzling around hundreds of billions in a fruitless central-planning exercise, cut federal income taxes to zero for 90 days. For every taxpayer. I can guaran-dam-tee that less mortgages will fall behind, more cars will be purchased, retail will go nuts, etc." title="Hey, here's an idea, Nancy Murtha O'Reid. How about you bail out the American taxpayer? Instead of swizzling around hundreds of billions in a fruitless central-planning exercise, cut federal income taxes to zero for 90 days. For every taxpayer. I can guaran-dam-tee that less mortgages will fall behind, more cars will be purchased, retail will go nuts, etc." border="3"></a>
The concept is simple: instead of swizzling around hundreds of billions in a fruitless central-planning exercise, how about cutting federal income taxes to zero for 90 days and letting taxpayers decide what to spend money on? Want to bet that more cars will get purchased, less houses foreclosed upon, retail sales will go up, etc.?

Didn't President-Elect advocate a "bottom-up economy"? He can prove it by backing a 90-day income tax holiday for all American taxpayers.

KRUGMAN PROVES - ONCE AGAIN - HE IS A MORON: SAYS "US AUTO INDUSTRY WILL DISAPPEAR"

I KID YOU EFFIN-NOT; AP:

Krugman: US auto industry will probably disappear

Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman said Sunday that the beleaguered U.S. auto industry will likely disappear.

"It will do so because of the geographical forces that me and my colleagues have discussed," the Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist told reporters in Stockholm. "It is no longer sustained by the current economy."

• THE US HQ'D AUTO COMPANIES ARE DOING BADLY,
• BUT FOREIGN HQ'D AUTO COMPANIES ARE MAKING LOTS OF MONEY HERE - ON CARS THEY MAKE HERE.
• SO KRUGMAN IS ALL WRONG.
• HE'S NOTHIN' BUT A FREAKIN PARTISAN HACK.
• BTW: HE WON THE NOBEL FOR WORK HE DID DECADES AGO - BEFORE HE BECAME A LEFTIE PARTISAN HACK.

I WONDER IS PINCH IS TAKING HIS ADVICE?

THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY THE NYTIMES LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO OUT OF BUSINESS - JUST LIKE THE CHICAGO TRIB!

KRUGMAN LAST EMBARRASSED HIMSELF LIKE THIS AT A HEALTH CARE DEBATE. (KRUG'S IDIOCY WAS WELL COVERED AT THE TIME!)

WHATTA FREAKIN' JERK. MORE HERE.

*******UPDATE: AN ALERT COMMENTER POTED OUT THAT KRUGS CLAIMS HE WAS MISQUITED BY THE NYTIMES. IS THIS POSSIBLE!?!? YES. BUT HIS DEFESNE HIS LUDICROUS:

Me, misreported

Urk. I gather that there’s a report on the wires quoting me as saying that the US auto industry would disappear. What I actually said was that the concentration of the industry around Detroit would disappear.

And did I really say “me and my colleagues”? I guess it’s possible — but that doesn’t sound like I speaking.

IS THERE A CONCENTRATION OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY IN DETROIT?

NOPE: IT'S ALL OVER THE USA, ESPECIALLY THE SOUTH. WITH A LOT OF CAR DESIGN IN CALIFORNIA.

SO KRUGS IS WRONG AGAIN. HE'S A JERK.

TIME WROTE ABOUT THIS IN A LONG ARTICLE IN 2003:Why The Most Profitable Cars Made in the U.S.A. are Japanese and German

IT WAS TRUE THEN, AND IT TRUE NOW.

SO KRUGS: STFU.

OPEC PROMISES CUT IN PRODUCTION: OIL SOARS $1.33/BARREL TO ER UM 42! BWAHAHAHA!

EFF EM:

Crude oil rose for the first time in seven days in New York after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ president said there was consensus for a “significant” production cut when the group meets next week.

A “severe” cut may be needed to halt the decline in prices, group president Chakib Khelil told the Associated Press in a Dec. 6 interview. Slowing world economies will trim global demand growth to 0.2 percent next year, the International Energy Agency said Dec. 5.

Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as $1.33, or 3.3 percent, to $42.14 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $41.81 at 10:13 a.m. Sydney time.

Oil fell 25 percent last week, the biggest weekly decline since the Persian Gulf war of 1991...

OIL MIGHT SOAR ALL THE WAY UP TO...$50! BWAHAHAHA. EFF EM.

BTW: THE CUTS WON'T WORK: MEMBERS WILL CHEAT. BWAHAHAHA!

DOES OBAMA HAVE A PLAN?

In his commentary "A Team in Need of a Plan," which appeared in the December 2, 2008, edition of the Washington Post, columnist Eugene Robinson, a columnist with whom conservatives certainly do not always agree, addressed the problem of combating terrorism and, in my view, makes points worth noting.

A concept that excludes nothing defines nothing. That's why one of the most urgent tasks for President-elect Barack Obama's "Team of Rivals" foreign policy brain trust is coming up with a coherent intellectual framework -- and a winning battle plan -- for the globe-spanning asymmetrical conflict that George W. Bush calls the "war on terror."

Terrorism (for the umpteenth time) is a tactic, not an enemy; Bush might as well declare war against flanking maneuvers or amphibious landings. Everyone knows what Bush is trying to say, and no one can deny the potential of terrorist attacks to destroy lives and change the world. Few would doubt that a line can be drawn between the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and last week's bloody rampage in Mumbai. But is it a straight line or a zigzag? Is it bold or faint? Continuous or dotted?

The Bush administration correctly takes the position that all terrorism is evil. But that black-and-white view doesn't take you very far toward useful policy choices. Being firmly opposed to rainy days won't keep you dry in a storm.

The fact that all terrorism is evil doesn't mean that all terrorism is alike...

[...]

...Soon...it will be Obama's responsibility -- and that of Clinton, as the new architect of U.S. diplomacy -- to find a way out of this kind of logical cul-de-sac.

In his opening statement, Obama vowed to continue the fight against "those who kill innocent individuals to advance hateful extremism." Is that his definition of terrorism?...

[...]

There might be other issues that Obama and his team would like to tackle first. But as the carnage in Mumbai reminds us, terrorists don't wait their turn.

Mr. Robinson has, or wants to have, confidence in Obama's discernment. Agree with that confidence or not, the monstrous attacks in Mumbai bring to the fore once again the importance of the war declared by jihadomaniacs, who are poised as best they can to strike whenever and wherever they can.

My father used to say about the office of President of the United States, "Who would want such a job?" Obama apparently does, and one of his first tasks should be naming the enemy in something other than nebulous, politically correct catch-phrases. Perhaps he will take that step early in his term as President. But can he convince Americans in general that the threat of Islamic terrorism is real? Various surveys show that national security is not now high on the list of concerns of the average American. After all, it's much more comfortable to be an ostrich.

Additional reading:

1. "We Have Been Warned" (Front Page Magazine)

2. "Looking for the Ideal Spot to Make a [Foreign Policy] Speech" (New York Times)

The video below shows one Egyptian cleric's plans for Obama:




(Crossposted to Always On Watch)

DOVES TURNING ISRAEL UPSIDE-DOWN: TERRORISTS RELEASED; SETTLERS DEFENDING THEMSELVES PROSECUTED; PM ESSENTIALLY CALLS FELLOW JEWISH ISRAELIS NAZIS

HAARETZ HEADLINES:

Olmert: I am shamed by Hebron settlers' pogrom
PM says he told defense officials 'to do all it takes, with all the strength needed' to stop such attacks. 16:55
Tags: Israel News, Hebron

Settler who shot Palestinians in Hebron remanded 4 more days
Jerusalem judge rejects Zeev Braude's line of defense, says he clearly instigated clash with Palestinians. 18:02
Tags: Israel News, B'Tzelem, Hebron

Israel pulls 20 jailed Palestinians from list of 250 set for release
Ministerial removes Gazans from intended list as it approves goodwill gesture to PA President Abbas. 16:33

RECAP OF ABOVE:

1. THE DISGUSTING AND CORRUPT PM OF ISRAEL MIMICS THE JIHADISTS AND CASTS A SLUR UPON JEWISH SETTLERS; HE MIGHT AS WELL CALL THEM NAZIS.
2. THE SETTLERS WHO WERE DEFENDING THEMSELVES WILL PROBABLY BE PROSECUTED.
3. WHILE JIHADOTERORISTS ARE GONG TO BE SET FREE.

UNBEFREAKINLIEVABLE!

• WHEN JEWS DEFENDING THERE HOMES AND ANCIENT HOMELAND ARE JAILED FOR DEFENDING THEIR HOMES AND ANCIENT HOMELAND BY OTHER JEWS... WELL IT'S A SAD DAY.

• OLMERT AND KADIMA AND LABOUR HAVE DESECRATED ISRAEL AS MUCH AS THE HIGH PRIESTS WHO BROUGHT PAGAN IDOLS INTO THE TEMPLE.

SOME TRUTH REGARDING THE HEBRON SHOOTING HERE:

"It appears the incident did in fact begin with the suspect's actions; however, the rest of the incident and its conclusion, including its grave results, cannot, I think, be attributed to the suspect alone. On the contrary, the deliberate conduct of the Palestinians during the incident contributed greatly to its results."

WHEN THE DUST SETLLES, THIS INCIDENT WILL JOIN THE LIKES OF AL DURA AND JENINGRAD.

MORE LIES FROM OBAMA AND NBC: SHINSEKI WAS WRONG ABOUT TROOPS AND WASN'T FIRED

OBAMA ON MTP:

Transcript of Obama video clip:

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: Tomorrow, you had mentioned earlier, is when we commemorate Pearl Harbor, and so I'm going to be making announcement tomorrow about the head of our Veterans Administration, General Eric Shinseki, who was a commander and has fought in Vietnam, Bosnia, is somebody who has achieved the highest level of military service.

He has agreed that he is willing to be part of this administration because both he and I share a reverence for those who serve. I grew up in Hawaii, as he did. My grandfather is in the Punch Bowl National Cemetery. When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and, I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served -- higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate -- it breaks my heart, and I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home.

BROKAW: He's the man who lost his job in the Bush Administration because he said we will need more troops in Iraq than Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld thought we would need at that time.

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: He was right.

BROKAW: Yes, he was right. [I SAW BROKAW AGREE!]

THE NYTIMES SPREADS THIS LIE, TOO:

General Critical of Iraq War Is V.A. Chief Pick — CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, elevating the former Army chief of staff, who was vilified by the Bush administration on the eve of the Iraq war …

THIS IS UTTER BULLSHIT, ANOTHER LIE-OF-THE-LEFT... PURE UNADULTERATED PROPAGANDA!

FACT #1: THE NUMBER OF TROOPS:

• WE WON THE IRAQ WAR WITH FAR FEWER TROOPS THAN SHINSEKI WANTED:

• SHINSEKI SAID WE WOULD NEED AT LEAST 650,000 TROOPS:

WIKI:

Shinseki testified to the U.S. Senate Armed Services committee that "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" would probably be required for postwar Iraq. Then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz publicly disagreed with his estimate, Rumsfeld insisting that General Shinseki was "wildly off the mark".[1]

• BUT WE DID DO IT WITH FAR LESS THAN THE NUMBER OFF TROOPS SHINSEKI ADVOCATED!
  
• AT THE PEAK OF THE SURGE WE HAD 180,000 -
  
• LESS THAN ONE-THIRD THE AMOUNT SHINSEKI WANTED.

FACT #2: WASN'T FIRED FOR DISAGREEING WITH THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION OR RUMSFELD:

SHINSEKI WAS SCHEDULED TO RETIRE BEFORE HE MADE THE COMMENTS.

WIKI:

In the years since, his retirement is commonly reported to have been decided under pressure from opponents of his troop estimates.^{[citation needed]}

SEE THAT FOLKS: "CITATION NEEDED"! THEY NEED ONE BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE ONE; THEY DON'T HAVE ONE BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE; THERE ISN'T ONE BECAUSE IT'S A FREAKIN' LIE.

HUFFINGTON POST: "... the Shinseki myth."

It goes like this: Then-Army Chief of General Staff Eric Shinseki was fired from his post (or “retired” as John Kerry put it in a presidential debate last year) because he testified before Congress that an occupying force of “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be required in Iraq.

The latest Democrat to spread this myth was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. Appearing on The Daily Show Wednesday night, Pelosi said:

I remind you the president – when General Shinseki said that you need 300,000 troops in order to get the job done and come home safely and soon, he was fired. So this president saying that he listens to the commanders in the field, I don’t know about that.

Here’s the problem with that story: It’s not true. Shinseki wasn’t fired. He wasn’t retired early. He retired from the Army after serving out his full term.

OBAMA IS EITHER AN IGNORANT MORON OR WILLFULLY LYING.

SINCE HE OBVIOUSLY AIN'T A DUMMIE, WE CONCLUDE HE'S A LEFT-WING LIAR. (AND BROKAW LIED, TOO - NOT AN EASY FEAT, AS HE WAS FELLATING OBAMA AT THE TIME!)

*******UPDATE: THE LEFT IS REPEATING THIS OLD CANARD ALL OVER THE INTERNET:

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Obama Picks Shinseki to Lead Veterans Affairs — President-elect Barack Obama today will introduce retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki as his nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, bringing to his Cabinet a career military officer best known for running afoul of the Bush administration …

Link Search: Technorati, Google, IceRocket, and Ask

+

Discussion: James Fallows, ATTACKERMAN, Townhall.com, Informed Comment, The Atlantic Online, Outside The Beltway, Harry's Place, Swampland, MyDD, Taylor Marsh, Comments from Left Field, TalkLeft and Booman Tribune

–

Discussion:

James Fallows: Karmic justice: Gen. Eric Shinseki

Spencer Ackerman / ATTACKERMAN: We Need A Hero — A source close to the presidential transition …

Carol Platt Liebau / Townhall.com: Shinseki for VA — It's being reported that Obama …

Juan Cole / Informed Comment: Obama Taps Shinseki for Veterans Affairs; Ironies Abound

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online: Blind Into Baghdad — On a Friday afternoon last November …

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway: Shinseki to Head Veterans Affairs

Gene / Harry's Place: Shinseki appointment: a good omen

Joe Klein / Swampland: Pearl Harbor Day — I've just emerged after a week in Afghanistan …

Jonathan Singer / MyDD: Eric Shinseki is Reportedly Obama's Pick for Veterans Affairs

Taylor Marsh: Obama Gives A General His Due

Matttbastard / Comments from Left Field: Got Somethin' Stickin' In My Eye

Jeralyn / TalkLeft: Obama Names Shinseki as Veterans' Affairs Chief

Booman Tribune: Shinseki for Veteran's Affairs

» All Related Discussion

« Hide All Related Discussion

RELATED:

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
General Critical of Iraq War Is V.A. Chief Pick

Link Search: Technorati, Google, IceRocket, and Ask

+

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Washington Post and The Swamp

NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES AND NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE REPEAT THIS LIE, IT REMAINS A LIE.

CNN GETS THE FACTS RIGHT; HERE.

STEYN: "Demographic Deathwatch" for Britain

At this rate, Britain will not be British much sooner than you think:

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will publish figures showing that the UK's birth rate surged last year to a 30-year high, driven by a baby boom among immigrant families. Among all babies born in the UK, 23 per cent had mothers who were born abroad. Whereas British-born women have only 1.7 children each on average, the figure is 3.9 for Bangladeshi-born women in Britain, and almost five for Pakistani-born women.

By the way, that British-born 1.7 is only kept that high by the significantly higher birth rates of British-born women of Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent who now account for the main demographic energy in most English cities.

For Europe to remain European Europeans must reproduce and transmit their culture to their children.

IN EUROPE, NEITHER IS OCCURRING.

The Eiffel Tower and Big Ben will be a minarets calling the "faithful" to prayer.

Notre Dame and St. Paul's mosques...

This is not far-fetched: The second largest cathedral in the world became a mosque (and is now a museum which may become a mosque again if current Turkish political trends continue).

This time the hordes are invading via socialist aided immigration and socialist aided assimilation - (we are being forced to assimilate into their culture!) - and not military invasion.

If this bothers you, then you must fight both immigration and multiculturalism.

POLISHING DIAMONDS

AT THE KOTEL.

HINT: We are each diamonds in the rough...

STEIN BAGGER: A SHREWD PSYCHOPATH

At left: Asger Jensby - victim or partner in crime?

Reliapundit already updated our readers to the fact that Stein Bagger, embezzler extraordinaire, has turned himself in to the LAPD.

Allow me to add a few thoughts.

First of all, many are disappointed Stein didn't manage to prolong his existence as a fugitive.

The speculation and constant supply of new information has fueled a media frenzy in Denmark which captured the attention of the entire society.

Well, Stein wasn't on a freighter on his way to Latin America like in some classic black and white film from the 40's. He flew to New York, borrowed a friends Audi and credit card - and drove across the United States to turn himself in to the authorities.

When he did surrender he claimed that the past 4 years of fraud were the result of blackmail against himself and his family.

I do not believe it for a minute. How does the blackmail explain the apartment IT Factory purchased from his wife for 4.5 million kroner... or the Lamborghini that was parked there?

I believe Stein Bagger used this past week to move the 200 million dollars he / they embezzeled to more remote companies / accounts. Now, he will return to Denmark - do his time - maybe 3 years? - in a Danish prison (something like a Motel 6 - but the movies are free!) and when he walks he'll be in his late 40's and have $50 million. (I am assuming he has partners- perhaps C.O.B. Jensby - and money launderers to share his ill gotten gains...)

Just imagine - if the financial crisis had not dried up his access to further rounds of financing Bagger & Co. may have been able to embezzle 500 million dollars!

Atheist hate-speech in the Washington State capitol

Apparently the capitol traditionally included a Christmas tree and a nativity scene. There has been all sorts of grumbing about that from the Left in recent years, however, so this year an atheist group was allowed to put up a sign as well. Fair enough.

What is chiefly in contention is the hate-filled content of the atheist group's sign. They sure will not create much respect for the atheist viewpoint. The sign reads: "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Why insult the vast majority of the population so egregiously? Most people have some religious beliefs even if they don't go to church. And they are going to be very unimpressed to be told that they have hard hearts and enslaved minds. The atheist group could have put up many other more thoughtful and less insulting messages -- such as (say) "If God exists how come nobody can say where he is?" or "If there is a God why does he permit so much suffering?"

Committed Christians do of course have answers to challenges like that but even they do get troubled by such questions at times. And for less religious people, such questions might be decisive.

Clearly, the atheists concerned are just Leftist haters and spewing their hate against Christians is the only thing that really matters to them. They clearly have no interest in "winning friends and influencing people". But not all atheists are Leftist haters. We read:

"On Friday, some nonbelievers said they had very mixed feelings about the sign. Michael Amini, a University of Washington student and president of the Secular Student Union, says he's glad to see nonbelievers represented among the Capitol displays. But he doesn't like the sign's wording, saying it's inflammatory and divisive.

"Right now, the atheists are the least trusted minority in the United States," said Amini, who believes the foundation should spend its time and money trying to show people that atheists are "decent people, rational and sane, with legitimate world views. This sign does not send that message."

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 daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

FIRST VIETNAMESE-AMERICAN ELECTED TO CONGRESS; HE'S A GOP WHO DEFEATED A CORRUPT DEM!

NOLA:

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat.

With the upset victory, Anh "Joseph" Cao, a eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress.

... At Cao's side was his wheelchair-bound father, who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese prison camp during that country's civil war. In his closing, Cao offered thanks to the local immigrant community, and he made a special plea for peace in the country of his birth.

"I'd like to thank my Vietnamese community," he said, "and I'd like to encourage young Vietnamese in this country to work peacefully for a free and democratic Vietnam."

AMEN!

HAT TIP ACE.

MORE ON THE BOAT PEOPLE HERE.

BIDEN: THE DISAPPEARING MAN: LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY...

BIDEN IS DISAPPEARING:

Biden has pretty much gone down the memory hole even before Obama is sworn in. He simply isn’t in the news or doing much of anything. As The Politico noted earlier Biden pretty well is gone from public:

CHICAGO — More than three weeks into the transition, and Vice-President elect Joe Biden generates less buzz than the non-existent first puppy.

DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE IS VERY APT: I'M AFRAID IT'S BECAUSE HE'S GOT DEMENTIA:

• THOSE ANEURYSMS HAVE MORE THAN CAUGHT UP WITH HIM.

• I HAVE FELT THIS SINCE HIS UNUSUALLY IDIOTIC COMMENT ABOUT PRESIDENT FDR/THE 1929 CRASH AND TV.

• THIS WAS MORE THAN A LIE OR A FLUB;
  
• IT WAS A GROSS MIS-UNDERSTANDING OF SOMETHING HE SHOULD UNDERSTAND,
  
• AND ONCE PROBABLY DID.
  
• FORGETTING IT INDICATES MORE THAN FORGETFULNESS;
  
• IT SIGNIFIES AND GROSS DIMINUTION OF HIS MENTAL CAPABILITIES.
  

• WHEN COUPLED WITH HIS AWFUL PERFORMANCE AT THE PALIN DEBATE - (IN WHICH HE EITHER LIED, MISSTATED THE TRUTH, OR FABRICATED STORIES FROM WHOLE CLOTH IN ABOUT 80% OF HIS ANSWERS) - IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE BIDEN HAS MUSH MORE THAN A MILD CASE OF FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE;
  

• IT SEEMS LIKE A PRE-ALZHEIMER'S RELATED DISORDER, TO ME...

• YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.

• I PREDICT THEY SUSPECT THIS NOW; THEY WILL CONFIRM IT SOON, AND BIDEN WILL RESIGN TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH HIS FAMILY IN EARLY 2010.

• [IT GIVES ME NO PLEASURE TO PREDICT THIS.
• I HOPE I'M WRONG.
• IF I'M RIGHT... WELL, I WISH HIM AND HIS FAMILY ALL THE BEST - ADVICE: ENJOY LIFE WITH JOE WHILE YOU CAN...]
  

MORE ON "WHERE IS JOE?" HERE.

UPDATE: MORE HERE, TOO.

ZAKARIA: "As I love Muslims, I hate Islam."

NOT THE STUPID ZAKARIA, THE SMART ONE!

UPDATE: STEIN BAGGER - THE DANISH HELL'S ANGEL SWINDLER - ARRESTED IN CALIFORNIA

FOLLOWING UP TO OUR EARLIER POST:

IT Factory’s Bagger Arrested In California After Worldwide Search

An update on our previous article about bankrupt Danish company IT Factory and its missing managing director Stein Bagger: Bagger contacted local authorities in California and was arrested earlier today, say Danish news sites.

A translated version of one of the articles is here. A Danish reader named Marks Jensen writes to us:

The information is sparse right now, but the family left a post on their blog earlier today, stating that they had talked to Stein indirectly and knew he was okay. He had explained to them that he was forced into doing the fraud because he felt threatened, and that he wanted to talk to the officials in the country he was hiding in. Apparently he contacted the Californian police around 1 PM local time.

Stein Bagger is wanted by the Danish police for financial fraud and a possible link to an assault on a business man (alledgedly executed by members of the Hell’s Angels, a group he is possibly connected to). Bagger first disappeared a little over a week ago in Dubai, where he was attending a business conference with his family.

A lot of facts are still missing. We’ll update as this developS.

STAY TUNED...

"He who is kind to the cruel ends up being cruel to the kind."

The cruel and the kind:

This past Shabbat, the residents of Ashkelon had their Seuda Shlishit (3rd festive meal of the Shabbat) in bomb shelters.

Barak of course has done nothing against the Hamas and Jihad that have made a joke of the silly ceasefire, but yet shows big muscle against Jewish settlers.

Barak, the morally corrupt self-serving Defense Minister is merely trying to save his floundering party and dying political career.

Our sages described the anti-emuna Barak to the letter (see Yalkut Shimoni, Shmuel I:15, 121): "He who is kind to the cruel ends up being cruel to the kind."

Mister Barak has no answer to the constant threat of Missiles from Hamastan, and has been unable to bring Gilad Shalit home.

Yet, he does commando missions against women and children, illegally evicting them from their homes in the middle of the night.

The same Barak, who unilaterally pulled the IDF out of South Lebanon seven years ago, thereby putting Hizbolla on Israel's Northern border and destroying whatever was left of IDF deterrent power, ran on an anti-Orthodox hate platform of a secular revolution.

If it were up to him, he'd strip Israel of anything Jewish.

That's why he and his friends in Kadima have no qualms in surrendering everything that's holy to us, such as the Machpelah Cave in Hevron, Joseph's Grave in Shechem, and even East Jerusalem where out holy Western Wall is located, G-d forbid.

KADIMA SANS SHARON IS NO BETTER THAN MERETZ OR LABOUR - OR THE DEMOCRATS.

• THOSE WHO WOULD UPROOT JEWS FROM THEIR ANCIENT HOMELAND AND SUBJECT ISRAEL TO MORE DANGER ARE NOT JUST THE ENEMIES OF JUDAISM AND ISRAEL BUT OF PEACE.

• THAT MEANS BARAK AND LIVNI AND OBAMA.

• THE SO-CALLED "PEACE PROCESS" HAS ACTUALLY BEEN A PIECE PROCESS: SURRENDERING TO THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL PIECE-BY-PIECE.

• IT'S TIME EVERYONE RECOGNIZED THAT IT'S A SHAM AND THAT THE ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE PEACE IS THROUGH STRENGTH, IF NOT ... VICTORY.

5 nice songs...

SCREW THE NIXON-FROST MOVIE; I WANNA SEE NIXON-ELVIS!

Lefties can't get enough Nixon-bashing.




They seem to forget that he ended the draft, ended the Vietnam War, opened China, brought the EPA into existence, signed the FIRST Clean Air/Clean Water Acts, invented detente and signed the first USSR-USA arms treaties, aided Soviet Jewry - and so on - IN JUST FIVE YEARS!








That's more long-lasting good for the whole world in 5 years than Carter and Clinton in their 12! (WITHOUT ALL THE BAD CRAP, EITHER! LIKE IRAN AND RWANDA!)


But because they can't get enough of Nixon-bashing they've done another movie about the great man: NIXON FROST based on the play which was based on actual interviews David Frost had with a discredited Nixon.

WHAT A BORE IT IS BEING LEFTIST!

I'd much rather someone - like MAMET maybe - wrote a play about the time NIXON MET WITH ELVIS!

INJECTABLE ARTIFICAL BONE TO REPLACE BONE GRAFTS

ACCORDING TO NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS.

CAN A DAILY DOSE OF BACLOFEN CURE ALCOHOL ADDICTION?

YES - ACCORDING TO THIS FRENCH DOCTOR.

MISSILE DEFENSE: 37/47

VIDEO OF THE LATEST SUCCESSFUL TEST.

• WE'RE NOW 37/47.
• IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU MR. OBAMA?
• IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR POLAND!
  
• (AND THE REST OF THE NATIONS MENACED BY RUSSIA AND IRAN AND NORTH KOREA!)

EARTH'S HOMEOSTASIS: WARMING EARTH WOULD BIND MORE ATMSOPHERIC CO2

• WHEN IT COMES TO MAN-MADE CO2,
• THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT:
• AS THE EARTH WARMS, (REGARDLESS OF ITS CAUSE),
• OCEANS AND DE-ICED LANDMASSES WOULD SUPPORT
• MORE PLANT LIFE AND BIND MORE ATMOSPHERIC CO2.
• NET RESULT OF WARMING: GOOD FOR HUMANITY:
• MORE FARMING, MORE FISHING, MORE FOOD FOR EVERYONE!
• IF MAN-MADE CO2 HASTENS THAT, THEN BRING IT ON!
  

GOD AND MAN IN AMERICA: THERE IS NO BASIS FOR THE SEPARATION OF "FAITH" AND "STATE"

THE DECLARATION IS BASED ON NATURAL LAW AND BELIEF IN - FAITH IN - THE CREATOR, GOD.


THE CONSTITUTION FORBIDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ANY OFFICIAL STATE SECT, BUT NOT OF RELIGION OR FAITHFULNESS.


THE "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" MEANS "SEPARATION OF THE STATE FROM ANY PARTICULAR SECT", NOT THAT THE STATE MUST BE SEPARATED FROM ALL RELIGION OR FROM FAITHFULNESS, PER SE.

IT'S AN "ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE", NOT AN "ATHEISM CLAUSE".

ALL THE FOUNDERS WERE MEN OF FAITH WHO BELIEVED IN NATURAL LAW.

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON SPOKE OFFICIALLY OF PROVIDENCE AND GOD ALL THE TIME.


WASHINGTON'S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION IS BUT ONE EXAMPLE; (EXCERPT):

... text of the proclamation issued October 3, 1789:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE STATE IS OBLIGATED TO BE ATHEISTIC, JUST SECT-LESS.

IF AYERS HAS NOTHING TO REPENT, THEN WHY DID OBAMA THINK HE HAD BEEN "REHABILITATED"?

AYERS OP-ED IN THE NYTIMES IS A PACK OF DISGUSTING FILTHY LIES.

• HE CLAIMS THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND WAS NOT TERRORISTS AND DIDN'T TARGET PEOPLE.
• THIS IS A LIE. THEY TARGETED PEOPLE AND KILLED MANY.
• MANY MORE MIGHT HAVE BEEN KILLED.
• AYERS DESERVES WORSE THAN OJ SIMPSON.
• WILL NO ONE RID US OF THIS MENDACIOUS, ANTI-AMERICAN, VIOLENT AND DANGEROUS MAN!?

BOTTOM-LINE: IF AYERS HAS NOTHING TO REPENT, THEN WHY DID OBAMA THINK HE HAD BEEN "REHABILITATED"? WHAT HAD AYERS DONE WHICH REQUIRED 'REHABILITATION"?

THEY'RE BOTH LIARS.

UPDATE: BRILLIANT ANALYSIS HERE.

STATE DEPARTMENT OPPOSES JEWS BUYING OWN PROPERTY IN HEBRON

The US State Department once again shows why it's bad:

(IsraelNN.com) The U.S. State Department praised Israel's government for its actions in expelling Jews from their homes Thursday afternoon in the Peace House apartment building in Hevron, saying the residents had illegally occupied the site.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood characterized the violent clashes in which dozens of activists were injured by Yassam government forces as "a difficult situation." He added in his briefing Friday morning with reporters in Washington D.C. that the Israeli government was doing what it could to make sure the residents comply with the laws in Israel.

"They were basically arresting people -- removing people from a site that they were occupying illegally," said Wood. A reporter, asking for clarification, repeated the question, "Did you say a site they were occupying legally or illegally?"

Wood repeated, "Illegally."

Well! As we can see here, they're as bad as the British government, by condoning removing people from a legally bought house and then lying about it and concealing the exact details.

VIDEO: EVICTED HEBRON SETTLERS FIRED WEAPONS IN SELF-DEFENSE

LOOKS LIKE SELF-DEFENSE TO ME:



THE SO-CALLED "POGROM" OF JEWS AGAINST ARABS IN HEBRON IS PROBABLY AS REAL AS THE AL DURA MURDER AND "JENINGRAD" WERE - WHICH IS TO SAY FAKE, PROPAGANDA. PALLYWOOD.

THE REAL POGROM WAS THAT BY THE IDF AGAINST THEIR FELLOW JEWS.

IF HEBRON CAN'T BE SAFE FOR JEWS, THEN NO WHERE CAN BE.


REMINDER:

ARMED JEW:

UNARMED JEW:

LIVE ACCORDING

AMERICA'S EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS ARE BETTER THAN EUROPE'S

France - 7.7
Spain 12.8
Germany 7.5
Euro-zone 7.6

The USA at 6.7 is the best. And the USA numbers doesn't include "make work"/fake gov't jobs which exist in so many of the Euro-zone countries and which they count as real jobs.

BOTTOM-LINE: Right now, we're doing the best in the whole world.

But Obama would turn our economy into one more like those in the Euro-zone - which, despite europhilia on the Left, is WORSE than America's!

OY.

OBAMA ANNOUNCES HUGE NEW FEDERAL BOONDOGGLE: CUI BONO?

NYTIMES:

Mr. Obama and his team are working with Congressional leaders to devise a spending package that some lawmakers have suggested could total $400 billion to $700 billion. Some analysts forecast even higher costs.

A big part of that will be public works spending, particularly on projects aimed at conserving or expanding energy supplies and cleaning up the environment. “We will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s,” Mr. Obama said.

... Mr. Obama also responded to criticism of waste and inefficiency in such programs by promising new rules to govern spending, like a “use it or lose it” requirement that states act quickly to invest in roads and bridges or sacrifice federal money.

“We won’t do it the old Washington way,” Mr. Obama said. “We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve — by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.”

Mr. Rendell said such rules would help get people to work right away. In his state, he said, contractors generally have 120 days to turn in bids for projects, but he will cite these rules to cut it to 30 days. “If they complain and moan and whine,” he said, “I’m going to say, ‘use it or lose it.’ ”

A substantial part of the proposed economic package will go toward creating so-called green jobs, those that benefit the environment or save energy. That part of the package could run as high as $100 billion over two years, according to an aide familiar with the discussions.

• THE CHICAGO MACHINE IS SALIVATING...

• WHO WILL GET THE CONTRACTS?

• THEY WILL DECIDE.

• I HAVE A FEELING THEY'LL PICK THEIR FRIEND$.

• FOLKS WHO MAKE REZKO SEEM LIKE A PIKER.

• AND IT'LL BE RUN AS HONESTLY AS THEY RUN THEIR CITY.

• OBAMA'S CITY.

• AND THE "GREEN JOBS" PART!? A TOTAL EFFIN WASTE AS THERE IS NO AGW;
  
• ALL CLIMATE CHANGE IS NATURAL, NOT ANTHROPOGENIC.
  

• FACT: 1998 WAS THE HOTTEST YEAR IN THE DECADE;
  
• 2008 THE COOLEST -
  
• YET CO2 HAS STEADILY INCREASED.
• THIS DISPROVES THE MAN-MADE CO2 THEORY.
  

• END OF STORY.
  

• PERIOD.
  

Universe's dark matter mix is 'just right' for life

From the New Scientist:

IT'S not just the nature of dark matter that's a mystery - even its abundance is inexplicable. But if our universe is just one of many possible universes, at least this conundrum can be explained.

The total amount of dark matter - the unseen stuff thought to make up most of the mass of the universe - is five to six times that of normal matter. This difference sounds pretty significant, but it could have been much greater, because the two types of matter probably formed via radically different processes shortly after the big bang. The fact that the ratio is so conducive to a life-bearing universe "looks like a tremendous coincidence", says Raphael Bousso at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ben Freivogel, also at UCB, wondered if the ratio can be explained using the anthropic principle which, loosely stated, says that the properties of the universe must be suitable for the emergence of life, otherwise we wouldn't be here asking questions about it. In order to avoid questions about how these properties became so finely tuned, the anthropic principle is combined with the idea that our universe is part of a multiverse, in which each universe has randomly determined properties.

Freivogel focused on one of the favoured candidate-particles for dark matter, the axion. Axions have the right characteristics to be dark matter, but for one problem: a certain property called its "misalignment angle", which would have affected the amount of dark matter produced in the early universe. If this property is randomly determined, in most cases it would result in a severe overabundance of dark matter, leading to a universe without the large-scale structure of clusters of galaxies. To result in our universe, it has to be just the right value.

In a multiverse, each universe will have a random value for the axion's misalignment angle, giving some universes the right amount of dark matter needed to give rise to galaxies, stars, planets and life as we know it.

Freivogel combined the cosmological models of large-scale structure formation with the physics of axions to predict the most likely value for the ratio of dark matter to normal matter that would allow observers like us to emerge. He assumed that the number of observers in a universe is proportional to the number of galaxies within it.

In Freivogel's model, changing the ratio of matter type impacts the formation of galaxies, and hence observers; for example, too little dark matter would prevent the formation of galaxies and stars. His calculations show that of all the observers that might exist across the many universes, most would live in a universe with the dark matter abundance found in ours. In other words, we would be less likely to be here if our abundance of dark matter were different (www.arxiv.org/abs/0810.0703).

KADIMA VIOLATED ELECTION LAWS WITH ANONYMOUS ATTACK ON NETANYAHU

Kadima published an anonymous attack ad against Benjamin Netanyahu, leading to the following:

(IsraelNN.com) Justice Eliezer Rivlin of the Central Elections Committee ruled Thursday that Kadima must either put its name on anonymous attack ads or take them down. The ruling was handed down in response to a petition from Likud MK Michael Eitan.

The attack ads in question target Likud head Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, and say, “Bibi? I don't trust him.” The ads have been posted on popular Israeli websites and hundreds of buses nationwide.

Rivlin gave the party three days to remove the ads or put its name on them.

This may have backfired already, as it would tell the public that Kadima is too cowardly to clearly identify themselves in an advertisement they've come up with.

Hundreds rally at UW against anti-homosexual-marriage column in campus newspaper

We read:

"About 200 people attended a rally Friday at the University of Washington to protest an anti-gay marriage column that ran in the student newspaper, The Daily. Protesters say language in the column, including a reference to bestiality, coupled with the accompanying image of a man standing next to a sheep, amounted to hate speech. But speakers differed on whether the paper should be censured.

Ana Mari Cauce, the UW's dean of arts and sciences, talked about her own struggles coming out as a lesbian and the hurt she felt in reading the column. "But the antidote to free speech is more free speech," she said. "I am thankful that I am living in a country where everyone has the right to express their opinions."

On the other hand, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) this week passed a resolution demanding the paper apologize. However, the editor-in-chief of The Daily, Sarah Jeglum, said this week she stands behind the decision to run the column and isn't planning any sort of apology. In a Friday column, Jeglum said she'd learned "Free speech is for everyone. It's not just for the majority, and it's not just for the minority."

That difference of opinion, if not resolved, could lead to a showdown between the editors of the paper and the elected student-body representatives who sit on the publications board which oversees The Daily. Dave Iseminger, GPSS vice president, hinted at such a showdown when he said at the rally that lacking an apology, his group may work to change the composition of the paper's editorial board.

Source

The column concerned was a perfectly rational one. Here is an excerpt:

"Race is a biological state; homosexuality is more of an emotional condition, and we should not, for that reason alone, start passing laws condoning it. Being homosexual, like other emotional tendencies, doesn't make someone a bad person, but it's a problem that needs to be dealt with, not denied. Now, there are several major problems with legalizing gay marriage. Once you've legalized gay marriage, why not polygamy, incest, bestiality or any other form of union? If the only criteria is that people love each other, then who says it's wrong for a 70-year-old man to marry 10 underage girls?

Source

Rational debate is beyond the Left. All that they are good at is hate.

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 daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

Instinctive influences on morality

I am one of the many who believe that we all have inborn moral responses. So when people say that something is "just wrong" they are not really being incoherent but are being guided by strongly felt moral instincts in themselves. I set out my thoughts on the matter at more length here.

A recent piece of research rather strongly supports that view. The research was based on the responses of a small group of (mainly) young women attending a minor British university so we must not get too excited about its generalizability but it may be a straw in the wind nonetheless. Below is one summary of it:

"A new study has found that people are more likely to be lenient in making decisions if they have just washed their hands. British scientists who carried out the research said the findings suggest that jurors in criminal trials who have cleansed their hands may make their verdict less severe. And voters may be more likely to excuse a politician's misdemeanours when going to the ballot box if they have just had a shower.

In the study, 22 people who had washed their hands, and 22 who had not, were made to watch a disgusting three-minute clip of heroin addicts from the hit film Trainspotting. All 44 were then asked to rate how morally wrong they deemed the series of acts shown to them on a scale of one to nine, with one being acceptable and seven being very wrong. The actions included stealing money from a wallet, lying on a job application, cooking and eating the family dog, killing a dying plane crash survivor to avoid starvation, and abusing a kitten. All said they thought the actions were 'wrong'. However, the participants who had washed their hands were less likely to judge the actions as harshly as the group who had not.

In another experiment, a group was asked to read sentences with words such as 'purity' and 'cleanliness' before being posed the same moral dilemmas. Another group was given sentences with neutral words. Again, the 'clean' group judged the unethical behaviour less harshly.

Lead researcher Dr Simone Schnall, a psychologist at the University of Plymouth, said: "We like to think we arrive at decisions because we deliberate, but incidental things can influence us. "This could have implications when voting and when juries make up their minds." Lancaster University psychologist Professor Carey Cooper described the findings as "terrifying". He said: "It suggests that washing can make us more prepared to accept wrongdoing. "It is very scary when you think of the implications, especially in the judicial world."

The original report of the research is here.

So judgments of right and wrong are simply not rational. They are instinctive. I think conservatives will be a lot more comfortable with that than Leftists are. Leftist don't think ANYTHING (except homosexuality) is instinctive.

One should note however that the setting of the research was deliberately designed to draw out instinctive responses. People on a jury (for instance) may be less influenced by irrelevancies. Nonetheless it has long been known in psychological research that incidental factors can influence research results. This is merely the latest instance of it.

The original research article gives some interesting and plausible theoretical background to what they found.

If I were being devil's advocate, I would say that the results show that middle-class young women in Britain have been taught to associate cleanliness with virtue and to associate virtue with mercy so the old "more research is needed" applies here too. Would you get the same results with Lebanese? Maybe not.

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 daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

LEBANESE BANKERS: SMART, OR DID THEY KNOW SOMETHING?

From the BBC:Lebanon 'immune' to financial crisis

Beirut: The world maybe in meltdown but Beirut is booming. The country best known for wars, turmoil and instability has not just survived the global financial crisis, it seems to be thriving because of it.

Deep down in the basement of Lebanon's Central bank treasury vaultsare full. Cash has been flowing in like never before, Lebanese banks are posting record deposits and bankers say this is the best year in Lebanon's financial history.

According to the country's chief banker all of this is because while the world was shocked when in September the banking giants began to wobble, Lebanon was prepared.

"I saw the crisis coming and I told the commercial banks in 2007 to get out of all international investments related to the international markets", says Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's Central Bank.

"You could have thought they had a crystal ball"
Edward GardnerInternational Monetary Fund

Immigrants must learn English to qualify for a British passport

Immigrants who make little effort to integrate into society will wait longer before they can become British citizens under changes to citizenship rules. As part of the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill, they will have to “earn” the right to a passport rather than simply achieving it through five years’ residence. The latest measure will end the automatic right to stay and replace it with a new system of “earned citizenship” and temporary residence.

Arrivals will have to demonstrate a good ability in English and a knowledge of life in Britain before becoming citizens. Immigrants who do no voluntary work will qualify only after eight years and those who become unemployed will be asked to leave.

The Bill will deny full access to social benefits, including social housing, to those who have not completed a new period of probationary citizenship of between one and five years. The aim is to link the gaining of a British passport to a greater commitment to the British way of life. Immigrants convicted of serious criminal offences could be barred from citizenship and those found guilty of minor crimes may face delays in having their applications processed.

The suggestion of a Bank Holiday to celebrate Britain appears to have been abandoned.

The Bill will also reduce the restrictions on people from overseas, but who have a British-born mother, applying to become a citizen. Children born to British mothers before 1961 will be able to apply for citizenship. Previously it was passed on through fathers.

The Government proposes to levy a top-up fee on immigrants to create a fund expected to run to 20 million pounds. Cash from the fund will be distributed to local authorities facing short-term pressure because of an influx of migrants.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “These proposed reforms are a tacit admission that the Government has failed in its seven previous immigration Bills. We need to re-establish controls over our borders so we can count people in and out.”

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 daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here