NHS WON'T PAY FOR LIFE-SAVING PACEMAKER SURGERY

BBC:

Man refused £8,000 heart surgery

A seriously ill man has been told he cannot have a potentially life-saving operation on the NHS because his local primary care trust will not pay for it. ... Paul Carter, 66, of Malvern, was told by a specialist he needed biventricular pacing fitted for his enlarged heart.

But Worcestershire Primary Health Care Trust has refused, saying the advanced pacemaker surgery would cost £8,000.

It said it could not afford the £400,000 it would cost each year to provide the surgery to patients.

IF SOCIALIZED HEALTHCARE DOESN'T WORK THERE, THEN WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT IT HERE!?

THE SARKOZY INTIFADA BEGINS WITH A RIOT IN THE GARE DU NORD

I think the islamo-thugs of the Parisian banlieue's (Muslim ghettos) are trying to do to Sarkozy - with riots/intifadas - what the islamo-terrorists did to Aznar's successor in Spain with the Atocha train bombings in Madrid.

Which means there'll be a lot more of thisbetween now and the election:

FOX/AP:

Riot police firing tear gas and brandishing batons clashed Tuesday with bands of youths who shattered windows and looted shops at a major Paris train station, officials said. Nine people were arrested.

Officials said about 100 people were involved in the melee at Gare du Nord, one of Paris' most important transport hubs. Officers and police dogs fired tear gas and charged at groups of marauding youths, some of them wearing hoods and swinging metal bars.

The youths responded by throwing trash cans and other objects at the officers. A group of youths smashed the windows of a sporting goods store and looted boxes of shoes. Others attacked automatic drink dispensers and set fire to an information booth.

CHANNEL NEW ASIA/AFP:

Dozens of rioters attacked windows, vending machines and shops in the main hall of the subway station in the afternoon, and it took police until nearly midnight to clear the station of rioters.

The trouble started when a 33-year-old without a ticket jumped the barriers in the subway station and was stopped by railway officials, police said. He tried to resist and is accused of injuring two officials. Police patrolling the station intervened and arrested him.

However, several young people who witnessed the incident began to gather in protest against what they perceived to be the use of excessive force by police. The passenger was removed from the station but the crowd grew.

Some began throwing plastic bottles at police and shouted insults at Nicolas Sarkozy, the former interior minister and centre-right candidate for president. They also chanted slogans of "police are everywhere, justice is nowhere" and "down with the state, police and bosses".

Police reinforcements soon arrived, but did not dislodge the rioters from the station until tear-gassing them shortly before midnight. The youths then played a game of cat and mouse with police in nearby streets, setting trash cans and signs on fire. Calm was restored only one hour later.

In autumn 2005, youths and police clashed every night for three weeks in France's worst riots for decades.

Sarkozy, who left the government on Monday to campaign full-time for the presidency, was accused of provoking the rioters by calling them "scum."

THE ISLAMO-SCUM WANT SARKOZY TO LOSE BECAUSE HE IS THEIR TOUGHEST FOE. (SARKO IS BLUNT ABOUT PROTECTING FRANCE, FRENCH CULTURE - AND THE EU: HE HAS EVEN ADAMANTLY OPPOSED TURKEY'S ADMISSION TO THE EU.)

[NOTE: The photo above is from 2005's French Intifada.] MORE HERE.

PRAYING FOR TONY SNOW

It broke my heart this morning to learn that Tony Snow's cancer has returned. Tony Snow is one of those stand up guys who most rational people can't help but love. He has always been a passionate voice for the conservative cause and yet, he is such a nice guy that it makes it hard for people to dislike him. LGF points out these hateful comments but these are by rabid, irrational, vicious leftists who are so filled with hate that they would never be capable of saying anything even remotely kind about anyone on the right.

Most of us conservatives had kind things to say about Elizabeth Edwards but the kindness and graciousness never seems to be reciprocated by many on the left. It is too bad because cancer is something that should evoke compassion in us all no matter who the person happens to be.

All that to say, I love the man and I will be praying for God's gracious, healing hand to touch him. I will be praying for a quick treatment and a speedy recovery because we need him in D.C. Click here to see the video of President Bush's kind words about him.

My message to Tony:

We love you and are praying for your speedy return!! Hang in there, you have a lot of people pulling for ya!

AUSTRALIA HAS A VERY CONSERVATIVE LEFTIST LEADER

In American terms, he would be the bluest of the "Blue Dogs"

We read:

KEVIN Rudd has risked a brawl with Labor's Left by placing economic growth and free trade at the core of a new policy platform. The Opposition Leader's proposals, obtained by The Australian, would denounce passive welfare, embrace the casualisation of the workforce, boost business grants and formally bury Mark Latham's disastrous Tasmanian forests policy with support for logging.

The draft platform, which also embraces public-private partnerships to fund roads andother infrastructure, ensures a showdown between Mr Rudd and powerful Left unions at next month's ALP national conference. Seeking to win over swinging voters, Labor dumps previous positions on welfare and indigenous affairs in the new policy platform as Mr Rudd shifts to the middle ground.....

More here

(For more postings from me, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

BIASED BRITISH UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS CHALLENGED

UCAS challenged over proposed new application form

A civil liberties group has asked the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] to intervene over the University and Colleges Admissions Service’s [UCAS] proposal to provide data about potential students’ ethnicity to Admissions Officers before rather than after the selection process is complete.

Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has written to CRE chair Professor Kay Hampton complaining about the proposal on the grounds that it would be in blatant breach of good equal opportunities practice propounded by the CRE over many years.

Monitoring forms the CRE has always argued should be anonymous, kept separate from any application form and from the entire selection process.

Where they are not this can and does allow ruthless discrimination at the selection process. This was evidenced notoriously by the use of equal opportunities data about their race being used last year to reject 289 white male applicants from consideration with Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire Police Services.

Mr Hartup stated: “We must learn our lesson. We cannot trust Chief Constables with confidential information but they were at least breaking the law. How can we possibly allow the careers of students to depend upon the self denying integrity of Admissions Officers under pressure to come up with the results necessary to achieve maximum funding.”

“Should UCAS go ahead with their misguided policy they must expect legal action by students who can never be sure that the reason for their failure to obtain a place at their preferred institution was because their race did not fit the Education Secretary’s matrix.”

Liberty and law has written to UCAS Chief Executive Anthony McClaren urging him to drop the scheme. It has also written to OFFA [Office for fair Access] that has “a role in identifying and disseminating good practice and advice connected with access to higher education.”

More here

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

Pulling Out Under Fire

I was visiting the Democratic Underground where they are actually having an intelligent discussion of the logistics of a pull out. The thread is kind of short (probably not many military experts at DU) but one commenter cuts right to the chase:

Moving the initial invasion force took three months, and nobody was shooting at us, and Halliburton started with the bases I believe six months in advance of intial forces

Pulling out also involves force protecion, since it will be under fire.

Let me look at my military dictionary for "pulling out under fire" and see what I come up with. I come up with retreat and defeat.

Not a surprise.

Cross Posted at Power and Control

DAVID HICKS FESSES UP

The Australian-born Taliban collaborator and Muslim convert has admitted his guilt:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - An Australian accused of helping the Taliban fight the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan pleaded guilty Monday to providing material support for terrorism, a step lawyers said would assure his transfer from Guantanamo to a prison in Australia.

David Hicks, 31, was the first of hundreds of Guantanamo detainees to make such a plea at this U.S. Navy base since the first terror suspects were brought here in 2002.[...]

According to the charge sheet, Hicks spent weeks trying to join the fight in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban against invading U.S. forces and their Northern Alliance allies, the charge sheet says, but the Taliban's lines collapsed barely two hours after he reached the front. He was armed with grenades and an assault rifle and his menial assignments along the way included guarding a tank.

It's time now to put him in the clink for life.

LIBERAL CONSTITUTIONAL JURISPRUDENCE IN A NUTSHELL

POWER LINE (Paul Mirengoff):

the conventional liberal view of the Constitution: 20th century professors and law students are more enlightened than the Founders; Constitutional law is a vehicle for enacting policies too advanced for the voters of the time; "liberal" decisions are entitled to the deference of stare decisis, while "conservative" decisions are forever up for grabs.

BRILLIANT. AND ABSOLUTELY ACCURATE.

THE PELOSI PEANUT SHOOTER

THE LATEST ADVANCED WEAPON TO COME OUT OF THE DEMOCRAT CONGRESS: CHECK IT OUT! (VIA THE DISCERNING TEXAN.)

"HILLARYCARE" IS FAILING IN THE UK

UK GUARDIAN:

Support for pregnant women is being cut because of the NHS's financial troubles, a healthcare charity has warned. The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) says it is receiving "increasing reports" that NHS antenatal classes, breastfeeding services and postnatal visits are being cancelled.

NHS antenatal classes have been cut or suspended in at least 10 areas in England and Wales, according to the NCT. ... An NCT spokeswoman said: "These cuts in maternity services may reflect a more widespread pattern.

"The NCT is concerned that these short-term measures to ease financial deficits are having a negative effect on new parents and parents-to-be, preventing them from getting the information and support they need at this important stage in their lives."

SUNDAY MERCURY (BIRMINGHAM, UK):

Wonder drug NHS bosses can't afford to offer cancer victims

CASH-strapped NHS bosses are denying thousands of Midland kidney cancer patients two new 'wonder drugs' that could prolong their lives.

A Birmingham oncologist has likened the scandal surrounding Sutent and Nexavar to that of breast cancer treatment Herceptin, which was denied to sufferers until a public outcry last year.

Professor Nicholas James revealed that Midland health chiefs are refusing to fund some of his patients with the kidney cancer treatments, licensed for use in Britain last August. Trials have shown that Sutent and Nexavar can offer patients a dramatic improvement in quality of life - and increase life expectancy by two years. That compares favourably to Interferon-alpha, the kidney cancer treatment currently available on the NHS, which lengthens lives by just five months on average.

But Sutent and Nexavar cost £3,000 a month to fund, and have not yet been approved as 'cost-effective' by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).

IF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS FAILING IN THE UK - THE FIRST EUROPEAN NATION TO NATIONALIZE MOST INDUSTRIES - THEN WHY SHOULD WE TRY IT HERE!?

DO WE REALLY WANT INFERIOR CARE WHICH BANKRUPTS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND FORCES A SPIRAL OF EVER-INCREASING TAXES!? IT MAKES NO SENSE.

ITALIAN LEFT: APPEASERS; TRAITORS; AND COWARDS - AND JUST LIKE THE USA DEMS, THEY SUPPORT UNCONDITIONAL RETREAT

BBC:

Romano Prodi's fragile government faces another nail-biting vote on the Italian peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. The Senate has to agree the re-financing for the mission. But the parties on the far-left of Mr Prodi's alliance want the 1,800 troops currently deployed in Afghanistan to come home. [UMPH ADDED.]

It is barely a month since Mr Prodi lost a Senate vote on foreign policy and another defeat could spell the end for the prime minister.

WE'RE TALKING ABOUT FREAKIN' AFGHANISTAN, FOLKS! WHERE THE DEM LEFTIES HERE WANT YOU TO BELIEVE THEY'D PUMP UP US FORCES - AFTER RETREATING FROM IRAQ. YEAH SURE.

THE POSTMODERN LEFT IS THE SAME EVERYWHERE: THEY'RE SO ANTI-WEST, SO ANTI-USA, SO ANTI-MODERNITY THAT THEY'D RATHER SEE THE JIHADISTS WIN, THAN THE USA AND THE WEST.

THIS IS JUST A VARIATION OF WHAT THE DEMS JUST DID IN THE US CONGRESS: VOTE FOR AN UNCONDITIONAL RETREAT FROM THE ENEMY.

PRODI MIGHT GO DOWN THIS TIME BECAUSE BERLUSCONI HAS RESCINDED HIS SUPPORT FOR PRODI ON ACCOUNT OF THE WAY PRODI HANDLED THE RECENT HOSTAGE HANDOVER - (BY PAYING OFF THE ENEMY).

THE "ARROW" HITS ITS MARK: IAF SUCCESSFULLY TESTD NEWEST ANTI-MISSILE MISSILE

IT CAN INTERCEPT AND DESTROY EVERYTHING SYRIA AND IRAN HAVE IN THEIR ARSENAL - INCLUDING A NUKE - YUP... A NUKE:

... on Monday the Israeli Air Force successfully conducted its 16th test of the Arrow missile defense system, which officials said was capable of intercepting an Iranian nuclear missile.

AND IT'S 20% CHEAPER THAN THE LAST ONE THEY TESTED. OH THOSE PESKY JOOOOZE!

HILLARY AND HUGO: TWO FOR THE ROAD TO SERFDOM

TEXAS RAINMAKER HAS PROOF OF THEIR THE EERILY SIMILAR AGENDAS.

I WONDER WHY!? COULD IT BE... THERE BOTH SOCIALISTS? YES. (VIA HYSCIENCE.)

Her leftism notwithstanding, Hillary really could be elected. Especially if McCain runs on a third party line. What would an accurate Hillary slogan sound like? THIS:

PRESIDENT HILLARY: SO FAR TO THE LEFT, SHE'LL MAKE CARTER LOOK LIKE REAGAN.

PRESIDENT HILLARY: SHE'LL DO WHAT HENRY WALLACE AND MCGOVERN NEVER GOT TO DO.

YOU GET THE IDEA... ANYBODY BUT HILLARY. (OR OBAMA. OR EDWARDS...)

Note - regarding Henry Wallace:

Following his term as Secretary of Commerce, Wallace became the editor of The New Republic magazine, using his position to criticize vociferously Truman's hawkish foreign policy. On the declaration of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, he predicted it would mark the beginning of "a century of fear." He left his editorship position in 1948 to make an unsuccessful run as a Progressive Party candidate in the 1948 U.S. presidential election. ... Historians Schapsmeier and Schapsmeier argue (1970 p 181)

"The Progressive party stood for one thing and Wallace another. Actually the party organization was controlled from the outset by those representing the radical left and not liberalism per se. This made it extremely easy for Communists and fellow travelers to infiltrate into important positions within the party machinery. Once this happened, party stands began to resemble a party line. Campaign literature, speech materials, and campaign slogans sounded strangely like echoes of what Moscow wanted to hear. As if wearing moral blinkers, Wallace increasingly became an imperceptive ideologue. Words were uttered by Wallace that did not sound like him, and his performance took on a strange Jekyll and Hyde quality—one moment he was a peace protagonist and the next a propaganda parrot for the Kremlin."

... In 1952, Wallace published Where I Was Wrong, in which he explained that his seemingly-trusting stance toward the Soviet Union and Stalin stemmed from inadequate information about Stalin's excesses and that he, too, now considered himself an anti-Communist.

Wallace - like Hillary and McGovern - was pink to the core. All three underestimated the biggest enemy of their time. Wallace later saw the error of his ways. But had he been elected in 1948, we'd all be speaking Russian and working in collectives.

But beyond that: Nothing Hillary has ever said or done has ever given me the feeling that she "gets" WW4 - or has the executive ability to be a wartime CinC.

ADDENDUM: Wanna see what Hillarycare would really be like - then check out these video-taped HORROR STORIES of socialized healthcare in Canada.

150 YEARS OF HYSTERICAL CLIMATE CHANGE REPORTAGE

"THE SKY IS FALLING!" APPARENTLY SELLS NEWSPAPERS, BECAUSE NEWSBUSTERS HAS A LIST OF AND EXCERPTS FROM DOZENS AND DOZENS OF "NEWS" STORIES ABOUT THE IMPENDING PERILS OF MAJOR CLIMATE CHANGE - GOING BACK TO THE 1890'S!

THESE "REPORTS" WERE WRONG THEN; THEY ARE WRONG NOW.

IRRELEVANT EXPERTISE: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CONSULT A ZOOLOGIST ABOUT STATISTICS

We read:

The British government was advised against publicly criticising a report estimating that 655,000 Iraqis had died due to the war, the BBC has learnt. Iraqi Health Ministry figures put the toll at less than 10% of the total in the survey, published in the Lancet. But the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser said the survey's methods were "close to best practice" and the study design was "robust".

The Lancet medical journal published its peer-reviewed survey last October. It was conducted by the John Hopkins School of Public Health and compared mortality rates before and after the invasion by surveying 47 randomly chosen areas across 16 provinces in Iraq.

Shortly after the publication of the survey in October last year Tony Blair's official spokesperson said the Lancet's figure was not anywhere near accurate. He said the survey had used an extrapolation technique, from a relatively small sample from an area of Iraq that was not representative of the country as a whole.

But a memo by the MoD's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Roy Anderson [A zoologist], on 13 October, states: "The study design is robust and employs methods that are regarded as close to "best practice" in this area, given the difficulties of data collection and verification in the present circumstances in Iraq."

To see what statisticians experienced in the research method concerned say, see here and here. I am myself a much published user of that research method and I made the following comments last year:

None of the comments I saw appeared to be by people who are experienced users of cluster sampling -- the method used for the Lancet study. I am a VERY experienced user of cluster sampling -- with many of my academic publications based on it. And the glaring error which rather explains why the study appeared in a medical journal rather than a more statistically sophisticated journal is that there was NO VALIDATION of the survey results. That your survey-takers might just sit down under a tree and "make up" their "interview" results is a routine peril and it is routine to take precautions against it -- usually by going back on a later occasion and checking with the alleged respondents a proportion of all interviews handed in. Just the awareness that a sample of the respondents will be re-interviewed tends to keep the interviewers honest -- though not always so, regrettably. So the results reported in the Lancet study have no credibility at all and must be regarded as garbage.

It is astounding that the authors of the study were so naive. Perhaps they WANTED their interviewers to "fudge" the results -- making clear what the desired results would be, of course.

Another oddity in the Lancet article that suggests something peculiar about the authors is the claim that their interviewers were all DOCTORS -- and not just any doctors but doctors bilingual in Arabic and English. I have never seen the like of that before. Experienced interviewers of some kind were what was needed and that is what is usually used, not doctors. Can we really believe that a whole corps of these rare doctors abandoned their medical duties for so long in order to do something outside their normal expertise? If true it certainly suggests a heavy political committment on the part of the doctors concerned -- exactly what one would NOT want in a study claiming to be objective. To me the whole claim seems like the sort of "gilding the lily" that con-men engage in.

Other critics have noticed other vast implausibilities in the results reported -- the amazingly high (98%) success-rate at getting people to consent to an interview, for instance --- garbage, garbage garbage. And the lie about the death certificates actually shows how bogus the results were.

"Those guys were not even trying to do real research. It was just a propaganda circus. I strongly support Moore's point about the survey's lack of demographic information. That is so unthinkable in survey research that the article would never have been published in an academic journal that knew anything about survey research. The Lancet should stick to medicine.

And as Iraq Body Count note:

"Between January and June 2006, there were 91 violent deaths recorded by the Lancet survey. This would correspond to over 180,000 deaths in the first 6 months of 2006, and an average rate of 1,000 per day. The daily death rate over the same period based on UN reports (which sum Baghdad morgue and Ministry of Health data) is 80 violent deaths per day. Cumulated media reports provide a somewhat lower figure. If the Lancet extrapolation is sound, this would imply a further 920 violent deaths every day (1000 minus 80) which have been recorded by neither officials nor the media. As these are averages, some days would see many more deaths, and others substantially fewer, but in either case, all of them would remain unnoticed."

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

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS: I wiser man told me this:

Some scientists have subsequently challenged the validity of the Lancet study. Questions have been asked about the survey techniques and the possibility of "mainstreet bias".

Dr Michael Spagat of Royal Holloway London University says that most of those questioned lived on main streets which are more likely to suffer from car bombs: "It would appear they were only able to sample a small sliver of the country," he said.

Dr Spagat has previously conducted research with Iraq Body Count, an NGO that counts deaths on the basis of media reports and which has produced estimates far lower than those published in the Lancet.

If the Lancet survey is right, then 2.5% of the Iraqi population - an average of more than 500 people a day - have been killed since the start of the war.

And no one reported it as it happened. This is simply NOT CREDIBLE by sane people. The "anti-war" BDS afflicted Rosie O'donnell-types have no problem believing it though!

Inherited Rights

Palestinians are claiming the "right of return" is an inherited right.

The right of return “is my right, which I have inherited from my parents and grandparents,” said Maha Bseis, 39, a Palestinian whose family comes from Jerusalem. “But if I have the right, I will not return because I was born and grew up here.”

There is no such thing as an inherited right along the lines the Palestinians claim.

In any case the whole idea is bogus. When 5 Arab Armies attacked Israel in 1948 the Israelis asked the Arabs living in Israel to stay. The attacking Arab Armies asked the Israeli Arabs to leave to make fighting easier. Those that stayed are Israeli citizens. Those that left are not. I think that is a pretty good resolution of the problem. No residency, no rights.

Other wise the Sudenten Germans will be asking for return and recompense. Or the Jews driven out of Arab countries for that matter.

H/T Israpundit

Cross Posted at Power and Control

ROSIE CRACKS THE BRITISH SAILOR HOSTAGE CONSPIRACY

Caught this on Hot Air. Rosie O'Donnell, the new high priestess of all things moonbat, was talking about the British sailors being held hostage by Iran this morning on The View. Rosie wouldn't go into detail, except to offer this little nugget: “I have one thing to say: Gulf of Tonkin. Google it."

For those unfamiliar, the Gulf of Tonkin was a pair of naval attacks on two American destroyers by the Viet Cong in August of 1964. Many today believe that these attacks were either exaggerated or, at worst, completely made up a la Hitler's claim of being attacked by Poland. Nevertheless, it was this incident that allowed LBJ to escalate the war, and we all know how well that worked out for him.

So, Rosie is implying that the UK (and I'm sure George W., he's responsible for everything) purposely provoked the Iranians into this conflict in order to have just cause for going to war with Iran.

As much as I hate to say it, I almost wish Rosie was right. If there were such a conspiracy afoot, that would tell me that the USA and UK were at least planning to strike Iran (something that should have been done 2-3 years ago!) instead of hitching their wagons to the U.N. and the "diplomatic process."

THOUSANDS RETURN TO HOMESH

Today, as many as 3,000 people went to the destroyed community of Homesh as a show of solidarity for it:

(IsraelNN.com) 3,000 young activists, and some of their families, have arrived at the site of the destroyed Samaria community of Homesh- unfurling an Israeli flag at the site for the first time in a year and a half. Hundreds more are on the way, having reached Shavei Shomron by bus and marching the remaining seven kilometers by foot. The IDF is guarding the marchers, but blocking vehicles from entering the area.

In an abrupt about-face, the security forces - army and police - decided last night (Sunday) that instead of mass arrests, threats to sue for law-enforcement costs, and possible violence, they would enable thousands of "orange" activists to reach Homesh today. They are considering allowing protestors to spend the night there as well.

If they're smart, they'll think to allow them to stay there for as long as they feel like. The destruction of the village of Homesh was one of the most obscene acts pulled by the Sharon government at the time. Now, it's time to mend the mistakes of the past.

Here's also the Jerusalem Post's article.

TONY BLAIR SPEAKS OUT AGAINST IRAN

I can't believe how little coverage the Drive By Media is giving to Iran kidnapping 15 British soldiers. My local paper, The KC Star had a small article from the AP about it in Sunday's paper buried on the 18th page with this pathetic title, 15 Seized British Confess, Iran Says. Al Jazeera would be proud of the AP for taking Iran's side on the issue.

Tony Blair finally came out swinging, warning Iran. Here is an excerpt:

"It simply is not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters and I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us," Mr Blair said.

"We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong."

Right Wing Rebel wrote an excellent post on this and I wholeheartedly agreed with his last 3 paragraphs:

"We already know that Iran has been helping the terrorists (I refuse to use the word insurgents) in Iraq, weeks ago ABC News reported about Iranian made weapons seized at the Iran/Iraq border. Also, Iran has vowed not to stop its nuclear enrichment activities and will limit its involvement with the IAEA.

Now they engage in what is nothing short of an act of war by holding prisoner British Sailors. How much longer is the US, Britain and the rest of the Western World going to stand by and let Ahmadinejad and the fundamentalist Iranian government bend us over throughout this long drawn out process of “diplomacy,” before somebody finally stands up to them?

Tony Blair is no Winston Churchill, but he’s no Neville Chamberlain either. Lets see if he has enough sack to stand up to the Hitler of Iran."

Articles recently up on ICJS

ICJS is an Australian Jewish site set up to counter media bias in Middle East reporting

BGU President Disses Overseas Donors
Zionism in the Age of Dictators
Liberalism a luxury during war
Concert
Jews against Zion
Liberty fades as rights talk grows
University accused of censoring anti-Semitic Islam lecture
Et tu, BBC?
Islamicization of Antwerp

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

Mysterious Criticisms "Racist"

About a month ago, a Law professor at University of Wisconsin/Madison, Leonard Kaplan, said in class certain things about the Hmong ethnic minority in Wisconsin. The Hmong are a people from Vietnam who live a primitive lifestyle but who opposed the Communists in the Vietnam war. To escape persecution by the Communists, many were given refuge in the USA -- where they have shown their gratitude by becoming a highly criminal group.

Kaplan was initially reported by someone who was not at the lecture of making some sweeping and derogatory statments about the Hmong. For a Jewish law professor to make sweeping and derogatory statemnents about another racial group does of course greatly strain credibility and the accusations were subsequently withdrawn. But around a month has now gone by and no-one so far seems willing to summarize what he did say. One has to suspect that he simply mentioned some undeniable truths. But whatever he said is still "racism"!

Source

Making ANY statements about ethnic minorities is probably "racist" these days. Maybe Kaplan referred to this notorious case.

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

RINO UPDATES ON MCCAIN AND HAGEL

If you want to hear passionate diatribes or see me ticked off just ask me my thoughts on RINO Republicans. The top 3 winners who most readily come to my mind are John McCain, Chuck Hagel and Arlen Specter. I am a loyal Republican but I have no use for the likes of them and don't consider them for the most part to even be Republicans.

Therefore, it irritates me up when people bring up how even Republicans are against the war, look at Chuck Hagel. Mark Levin got a chuckle out of me when a Liberal brought this pathetic argument up and mentioned that Chuck Hagel is against the war and he is a Republican to which Levin said, "He is?"

So whats the latest on the top 2 RINO's? Hagel sticks another knife in the back by suggesting that impeaching Bush might be an option. What do you even do with this? Hagel is on some serious drugs if he thinks that he'll get 2 votes when running for the Republican nomination for President.

The news on McCain is so good its hard for me not to be gleeful. He admits that he's not going to meet his fund raising goals for this quarter. Memo to Senator McCain: Republicans don't take kindly to nominating someone who shows disdain for his own party.