Cuban Officials Say Equal Pay May Not Work, Dropping Wage Limits Could Help

Cuba is beginning the Long March To Joining The Rest Of The Western World. It seems, they are finding that, perhaps, Communism doesn't work after all:

HAVANA — The egalitarian wage system Fidel Castro spent decades building in Cuba is no longer viable, plagued by low pay, corruption and waste that can be eased by paying workers more for better work, a top labor official said in an interview published Wednesday.

Carlos Mateu, a vice minister of labor and social security, said many government companies have already eliminated caps on salaries for productive workers and the rest must do so by August.

The article in the Communist Party daily Granma contained few direct quotes from Mateu, a practice common in official Cuban media. But it said Mateu "underscored that there has been a tendency for everyone to get the same, and
that egalitarianism is not convenient."

"That is something we have to resolve," Granma said, adding that the traditional Cuban pay system saps employees' incentives to excel since everyone earns the same regardless of performance.

That is "unfair because if it's harmful to give a worker less than he deserves, it's also harmful to give him what he doesn't deserve," the article said.

Mateu said the new compensation system fits with the mantra of "socialist distribution" often mentioned by new President Raul Castro: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."

Excuse me for a second while I laugh.

That's meant to distinguish the current system from Cuba's ideological goal, Karl Marx's formula of communism: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

The vice minister was unavailable for further comment Wednesday, and a Labor Ministry official said she was not authorized to provide more information.

Details of the new system were not revealed. It is not clear if officials plan to pay higher regular salaries for better workers, or if they would just receive bonuses for good performance.

Ah, how difficult it is to come out and admit that you are a Capitalist Pig.

It would seem that American policy-makers ought to take note of this change and begin dialogue with the goal of easing Cuba towards a real Capitalist system. The principle of productivity-based pay applies to corporations, and whole sectors of the economy, as surely as it does to individuals.

That is the next realization the Cubans need to have. We could help them get there.

Palestine in 1695

Avi Goldreich is a resident of Caesarea, a lover of antiquarian books and Judaica. In Budapest, he found an old book, in Latin, which had been written by a Christian named Reland, chronicling his trip in the land of Israel in 1695/6. The outstanding conclusions are:

1. No settlement in the land of Israel has a name of Arabic extraction. The names of settlements are mostly of Hebrew extraction; some of Greek or Latin-Roman. In fact, no Arab settlement (except for Ramla) has had an original Arabic name to this day. Most names of Arab settlements are of Hebrew or Greek extraction which have been impaired and replaced by meaningless names in Arabic. There is no meaning in Arabic for the names Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Gaza or Jenin and the names of cities, such as Ramallah, El-Halil and El-Kuds have no historical or philological roots in Arabic. In the year 1696, the year in which the tour was taken, Ramallah, for example, was called Beit El, Hebron was called Hebron and Mearat HaMachpelah was called El Chalil (a name for Abraham of the Bible).

2. The land was, on the whole, empty and desolate; the inhabitants were few and concentrated in the cities of Jeusalem, Acre, Safed, Jaffa, Tiberius and Gaza. Most of the inhabitants of the cities were Jews, the others were Christian; there were very few Moslems, mostly nomadic Bedouins. Nablus (Schem) was different, with a population of about 120 people from the Moslem Natsha family and about 70 Shomronites. In Nazareth, the capital of the Galilee, there were approximately 700 people - all Christians.

3. The book totally contradicts the post-modern theory of "a Palestinian heritage" or a Palestinian people, and strongly supports the fact that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews and not at all to the Arabs, who stole the land, and the name Palestine, as well, stole from the Latin and still claim to possess even that.

The full name of the book and the publisher: Palestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrate / Adriaan Reland. Published by Trajecti Baravorum, Utrecht, 1714

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

A CONTRAST WITH "PALESTINIAN" CULTURE...

A lot of people were dismayed a few weeks ago by the behavior of "Palestinians" --not just the butchers of this huge turtle, but the gleeful, sadistic kids and others watching the slaughter-- on the Gaza beach. Sure, sea-turtle blood just might be a great cure for asthma, and the Zionist blockade has rendered these strangely plump folks desperately hungry, but didn't they seem just a bit too gleeful at the misery of this dumb creature?



Compare and contrast with the scene at Jisr al-Zarka yesterday, on Israel's northern coast, as a group of Israeli Jewish and Arab kids got together to celebrate a release of several rehabilitated sea turtles: Listen to the voices, the clapping, the cheers. Look at the faces of THESE kids. Which of these two scenes more closely approximates how God wants human beings to behave? Yet which culture is openly determined to annihilate the other, "in the name of Allaaahhh"?

It is not often appreciated, but in Biblical days the Sabbath day of rest was extended to beasts of burden-- God wanted the dumb animals to have a day of rest from their labors, too. Interesting contrast.

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

RON PROSOR: BRITAIN'S A HOTBED OF ANTISEMITISM

Ron Prosor, a former Israeli ambassador to Britain, has written in the Telegraph about how the UK has become a hotbed of anti-Israeli sentiment.

I really cannot see why anyone with common sense should want to have anything to do with a country as awful as Britain has become.

TOMORROW IS D-DAY FOR THE EUSSR AND IRELAND

I hope the Irish vote it down.

Looks like they will, and save Europe.

NYT:

The campaign is still too close to call, with roughly equal numbers in the “yes” and the “no” camps. But recent opinion polls suggest that previously undecided voters — possibly a third of the electorate — are leaning against the treaty.

GUARDIAN:

It is an unlikely alliance: ultra-rightwing Catholics, traditional nationalists, pro-American free marketeers and the far left. Add in a pop star and a turkey puppet called Dustin and you have a force which threatens to sink a reform project designed to transform how nearly 500 million Europeans are governed.

The Irish Republic goes to the polls today to ratify or reject the Lisbon EU reform treaty, which was meant to map out Europe's future in the 21st century. The potential for an upset is very real.

IF THE WEST IS TO SURVIVE AS JUDEO-CHRISTIAN AND DEMOCRATIC, THEN EUROPE MUST WIN ITS FIGHT AGAINST BOTH SOVIETIZATION AND ISLAMICIZATION.

IRELAND VOTING NO IS AN IMPORTANT STEP.

I'M PRAYING FOR YOU IRELAND!

OBAMA IS ALREADY IMPLODING...

OBAMA IS OFF TO AN AWFUL START: ALREADY ADMITTING HE WANTS TO RAISE TAXES, THROWING ANOTHER CLOSE ADVISOR UNDER A BUS, AND SO ON.. DON;LT FORGET HIUS WRIGHT/FARRAKHAN/AYERS CONNECTION, EITHER...

THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING, WHEN THIS THING IS OVER HE'LL HAVE MADE THE MCGOVERN LOSS LOOK LIKE A SQUEEKER!

DON'T TELL OBAMA: THE SURGE WORKED - WE'RE WINNING!

A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS - VIA GATEWAY:

Iraqis gathered in the Hayyaniyah district of Basra, Iraq to answer a recruiting call by the Iraqi army May 29. More than 3,000 Iraqi men from the area turned out for the event though the Iraqi army only had 1,000 positions available. (MNF-Iraq)

OBAMA'S RETREAT WOULD'VE MEANT DEFEAT - FOR US AND THE IRAQIS, AND FOR PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WHO LOVE LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY AND WHO ARE OPPOSED TO JIHADIST EXTREMISM AND RELIGIOUS TOTALITARIANISM.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MCCAIN AND OBAMA IN TWO WORDS

ON THE BIGGEST NATIONAL DEFENSE, MILITARY AND FOREIGN POLICY ISSUE OF THE DECADE, ONLY ONE MAN WAS CORRECT.


























VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

OBAMA BLOWS HIS FIRST BIG DECISION: JOHNSON OUT AT VEEP COMMITTEE

After George W. Bush clinched the nomination in 2000, he picked a HEAVYWEIGHT with GRAVITAS and an incomparable CV to chair hiS VEEP search committee - Dick Cheney, a former WH Chief of Staff, Congressman, and Sec Def.

Who did Obama pick? An inside the beltway lawyer/lobbyist/bureaucrat with very questionable relationships with bankers - Jim Johnson. So questionable he QUIT today.

Good riddance.

Obama' FAILED his first test.

NO: IT'S WORSE: IT WAS A PRE-TEST--- EVEN MCGOVERN DID BETTER!

And it came a day after Obama tried to quell the furor and stand behind Johnson.

Clearly, OBAMA FAILED THAT TEST, TOO.

Obama picked someone who represented everything Obama said he was against, and he was a lightweight who couldn't take the heat.

Like Obama...

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.


UPDATE - VIA ACE: GREAT VIDEO, EDITED TO EXPOSE HIS HYPOCRISY AND INEPTITUDE:




MCCAIN:

“Jim Johnson’s resignation raises serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment.

Selecting the vice presidential nominee is the most important decision a presidential candidate can make and one even Barack Obama has said will ’signal how I want to operate my presidency.’

By entrusting this process to a man who has now been forced to step down because of questionable loans, the American people have reason to question the judgment of a candidate who has shown he will only make the right call when under pressure from the news media.

America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours.

That’s not change we can believe in.” –McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds

VP Favorite Jim Webb Outed As Confederate Sympathizer

Excerpt:

"What goes around comes around. The Webb Campaign dug up confederate stories on Senator George Allen in the 2006 Virginia senatorial race. Liberal Webb supporters even created T-shirts to attack Senator George "Felix" Allen on his supposed confederate leanings. But, today it came back to haunt him. The Politico reported on Senator Webb's rebel roots:

"Barack Obama's vice presidential vetting team will undoubtedly run across some quirky and potentially troublesome issues as it goes about the business of scouring the backgrounds of possible running mates. But it's unlikely they'll find one so curious as Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb's affinity for the cause of the Confederacy.

Webb is no mere student of the Civil War era. He's an author, too, and he's left a trail of writings and statements about one of the rawest and most sensitive topics in American history.

He has suggested many times that while the Confederacy is a symbol to many of the racist legacy of slavery and segregation, for others it simply reflects Southern pride. In a June 1990 speech in front of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, posted on his personal website, he lauded the rebels' "gallantry," which he said "is still misunderstood by most Americans."

Webb, a descendant of Confederate officers, also voiced sympathy for the notion of state sovereignty as it was understood in the early 1860s, and seemed to suggest that states were justified in trying to secede.

Source

Typical Leftist hypocrisy. What's hate speech for you is OK for me.

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

Expecting To Be Treated With Prejudice May Be Self-fulfilling Prophecy, Study Suggests

What the study below concludes may be correct. There certainly are self-fulfilling prophecies. But the research below does not prove it. Inzlicht (the principal author) specializes in studying subtle influences on behaviour. But his own thinking is none too subtle. As far as I can see all that his work proves is that bitter women are more likely to behave in bitter ways, which is not much of a surprise. Certainly not groundbreaking.

How does he know that "These prejudice expectations come from actual experiences of prejudice"? He doesn't. Maybe the women concerned are just neurotic. Or maybe they are ugly and blame men for their own defects. It seems to me that Inzlicht is himself just another bitter Leftist Professor determined to think ill of the society he lives in. As far as I can gather, the women he studied were Americans so I think the society he is speaking ill of may actually be America, rather than his home in Canada. Again not much of a surprise -- JR

The groundbreaking study was done using a series of computer-animated male and female faces expressing a range of looks, from rejection to acceptance. Researchers created a slide show where the expressions on the animated faces morphed from looks of rejection to looks of acceptance, and study participants were asked to identify the point at which the expressions changed.

"Those female participants who told us men stereotyped them and treated them with prejudice saw rejection and contempt on the animated men's faces more readily and for a longer period of time than they did on the women's faces," says lead author Dr. Michael Inzlicht, assistant professor of psychology at U of T. "This shows that a person's level of sensitivity to being stereotyped -- their expectation that a person will behave prejudicially towards them -- may distort their perception of reality." On average, female participants who identified themselves as stigma-conscious saw expressions of contempt for a half-second longer on the men's animated faces than they did on the women's faces -- even though both sets of animated faces expressed looks of contempt for the same amount of time.

Inzlicht warns against blaming the victim, though. "These prejudice expectations come from actual experiences of prejudice so it's very possible that the women who are vigilant for rejection are in fact more likely to objectively experience prejudice in everyday life."

Inzlicht said this joint study with University of Washington and University of California researchers is crucial for improving communications between diverse populations. "We've always known that stereotyping by dominant groups can negatively impact communications between groups," Inzlicht said. "This study shows it's also important to consider how the expectations and perceptions of marginalized groups can impact relations. Both sides play a crucial role."

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

UPDATED Quote of the Week (from the Mark Steyn "Show Trial")

This is quite simply, brilliant:

"Against the argument that you cannot cry fire in a crowded theatre: 'Oh yes you can — you must, if in your considered view there is a fire'."

"In that case there is a duty to cry fire."

--Julian Porter, Robson Square, Vancouver , June 6, 2008
Closing arguments in the show trial against Maclean's Magazine

The full statement was not bad either.

Meanwhile Steyn has a few choice words for the Kangaroo Court pretending to be a serious "tribunal". Kafka would have been proud--as would have Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine:

The man whose controversial writing is at the centre of a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal complaint is daring the tribunal to rule against him.

Two members of the Canadian Islamic Congress filed the complaint with the tribunal over an excerpt of Mark Steyn's book published in Maclean's magazine in 2006, saying it was hateful and showed contempt for Muslims.

"We want to lose," Steyn said Friday.

"We want to lose so we can take it to a real court and if necessary up to the Supreme Court of Canada and we can get the ancient liberties of free-born Canadian citizens that have been taken away from them by tribunals like this.

"We want those ancient civil liberties restored."

Steyn, who did not address the tribunal but was in the hearing room for some of the submissions, said he's "terrified" that the issue will be dismissed by the tribunal because the lawyer for the congress "put on such a staggeringly inept case."

Though not present for the entire five-day hearing, Steyn was not shy about how he feels towards the tribunal. He's called its members "pretend judges" and the system a joke.

"I think this court shames the province of British Columbia and is simply incompatible with the traditions of a great free society with a long, legal inheritance," he said outside the hearing room.

The lawyers representing Maclean's magazine chose not to present any witnesses to the tribunal, saying the complaint infringes upon freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

If you have not yet purchased and read Steyn's book--why not?? I got an autographed copy from his site, which he chose to dedicate to "The Discerning Texan" (for that reason alone, I ought to put it in a glass case...).

It is easily the most insigtful book on the subject to have been written in the last 5 years. And it is funny.

UPDATE: An exceptional piece from The American Thinker (read the whole thing):

If you want to look ahead to the United States under Barack Obama and an expanded Congressional majority for the Democrats, consider Canada.

Canada's greatest gift to the contemporary world of letters --- Mark Steyn --- is being persecuted for free speech in his home country.

Columnist Steyn is being hauled before something called the "Canada Human Rights Tribunal," a parallel legal system to the normal Canadian courts, without all the bother of due process, the presumption of innocence, a defined and limited legal venue, and protection for free speech.

Four Muslim law students complained about Steyn for accurately quoting Norway's infamous Mullah Krekar, a Kurdish mujaheed who has been twisting his Norwegian hosts around his little finger for years. You see, Norway can't deport a fraudulent asylum seeker if he is subject to the death penalty back home --- no matter how many innocent people he's blown to bits back in Kurdistan. It's just an invitation for killer mujahedeen to enjoy Norway's free hospitality forever, and Mullah Krekar has been taking full advantage of it.

Said Mullah Krekar to a Norwegian newspaper:

"We're the ones who will change you . . . Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes. Every western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries is producing 3.5 children." (italics added)

Steyn quoted Krekar in Canada's McLean's Magazine and both are now getting sued for reproducing Krekar saying that "the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes."

Thus Muslims are using the PC Police to accuse Mark Steyn of repeating what a Muslim agitator said. Telling the truth is no defense. In Canada it's a basic human right not to have your malignant heroes quoted against you. Thus are human rights twisted into their opposites.

Forget the Spanish Inquisition. They're so five centuries ago. Today Canada's Stalinoids can simply punish people for speaking their minds. The Left rediscovered its Stalinist roots in the 1970s when the Boomer brigade conquered the culture. That's when Canada's farcical "Human Rights Tribunals" were created. Today, eighty percent of American college campuses have speech codes prohibiting politically incorrect speech. The ghost of Stalin stalks the earth, looking remarkably healthy.

DEADLY TRAGIC EVENT ON MT RAINIER DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING!?

YAHOO/AP:

A hiker died on Mount Rainier and two others were awaiting rescue Tuesday at Camp Muir, high on the volcano's flank, officials at the national park said. Ranger Sandi Kinzer the three went on a day hike Monday and got caught in a blizzard on the Muir snowfield.

In a recorded message, park spokesman Kevin Bacher said rangers received a call at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday that the three hikers were trapped.

Weather prevented a rescue attempt at that time, but one of the hikers reached Camp Muir at 7:15 a.m. and directed rescuers to the other hikers near Anvil Rock, a large outcropping at the edge of the Muir snowfield. The surviving hiker was brought back to Camp Muir, a staging area for climbers, is at about 10,000 feet elevation on the 14,410-foot mountain.

AGW = PC + BS.

WE ARE PROBABLY HEADED FOR A MINI-ICE AGE - EVEN THE WEATHER CHANNEL IS REPORTING IT.

BOTTOM-LINE: MY CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY OF THE HIKER WHO CROSSED OVER...

DOES AN OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE EXIST?

Why on earth wouldn't Barack [middle name redacted] Obama put a pdf of his birth certificate on his campaign website? What in the world could he possibly be trying to hide?

And how long does he think he can hide it? (Answer: for as long as John Kerry has hidden his military service records, which is up until now!)

Were his parents unmarried? Was his original given name "Barry," and not "Barack?" Was a religion listed on his birth certificate? Does his Hawaiian birth certificate designate another location as his place of birth? But if so, it wouldn't be a birth certificate, would it?

What if there is no Hawaiian birth certificate for Barack Obama? What if he was born in Kenya? None of the theories advanced thus far to explain this failure to release the document make any sense. We're talking about the Presidency of the United States, here. Does failing to give up this tiny bit of privacy make any sense to you?

OBAMA AND ALFALFA: SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

JUST ASKING....

MAYBE THIS IS THE REASON OBAMA IS HIDING HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE?

MAYBE IF OBAMA PRODUCED HIS BIRTH MYSTERIOUS CERTIFICATE WE COULD PUT TO REST THIS ALFALFA/OBAMA RUMOR, AND THESE VICIOUS RUMORS TOO.

OBAMA, JOHNSON, SOROS AND BLATANT HYPOCRISY AND PHONIENESS

OBAMA IS A HYPOCRITE AND A PHONY
WITH A VERY RICH FRIEND WITH TOO MUCH INFLUENCE.


AND IT SMACKS OF CORRUPTION.

AND WHEN THE PURPORTEDLY LOQUACIOUS OBAMA TRIED TO BELITTLE IT
AT A PRESS CONFERENCE,
HE WAS TONGUE-TIED AND MISSPOKE.

BOTTOM-LINE: PEOPLE WHO THINK OBAMA IS A NEW KIND OF LEADER ARE SADLY MISTAKEN.

OBAMA IS JUST AN OPPORTUNISTIC POLITICIAN FROM A VERY CORRUPT MACHINE.

PBAMA'S BIG GOVERNMENT POLICIES ARE REALLY JUST BOONDOGGLES HIS FINANICAL-BACKERS PLAN TO PROFIT OFF OF.

AVRAHAM HIRSCHSON LINKED TO OLMERT INVESTIGATION

Well, I'd say it figures:

(IsraelNN.com) Former Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson has been added to the growing list of those who may be involved in campaign finance irregularities and other forms of corruption in the widening investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

As part of the criminal investigation of Hirschson, Israel Police revealed Tuesday they are examining possible links between him and the Prime Minister's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken.

The police are currently investigating allegations that NIS 100,000 was passed between Zaken and Hirschson to fund the former Finance Minister's election war chest in March 2004. At that time, there were no general or internal party primary elections, and the sum wasn't reported to the relevant authorities. Nor was it recorded in party financial ledgers, according to Israel Police sources.

Hirschson was forced to resign his post in July 2007 after being indicted on charges of embezzling millions of shekels from a non-governmental organization (NGO) during his tenure as head of the Histadrut National Labor Union.

This doesn't surprise me any longer. It could easily explain why Olmert appointed Hirschson a finance minister in the first place.

News Crew Believed To Have Been Kidnapped By Muslims In Phillipines

There are very few Jews in the Philippines, and very few Americans. The Philippines is not an imperialist power, waging war for oil. The Philippines is not encroaching on Muslim territory.

And yet, Muslims are causing much trouble in the Philippines?!?

Go figure.

From the New York Times:

MANILA - A network news team from the Philippines’s largest network including one of the country’s best-known journalists was believed to have been abducted by members of the militant group Abu Sayyaf, officials said Tuesday.

The journalist, Ces Drilon, a senior reporter for ABS-CBN, was with her cameraman and driver when they were intercepted on Sunday by armed men in Sulu, a province in the south where Abu Sayyaf, which is fighting for a separate Muslim state in the southern Philippines, and other Islamic extremists are known to operate, the police said.

Also with the crew was Octavio Dinampo, a professor at Mindanao State University who, according to the police, accompanied the news team on their way to meet with members of Abu Sayyaf. Abu Sayyaf is notorious for its kidnap-for-ransom activities and has victimized not only Filipinos but foreigners as well.

The militants have been blamed for several major terrorist attacks across the Philippines in recent years and are the target of a sustained military campaign being supported by the United States.

Although United States and Philippine officials say this campaign has considerably weakened the group during the past five years, analysts say the militants remain a high security threat.

The New York Times article neglects to mention that the first World Trade Center plot was hatched in the Philippines.

My father-in-law fought against these Muslim Jihadists on the island of Mindanao back in the 70's. My family had to leave the Philippines specifically because of Jihad.

Why is it that Muslims cause trouble in so many places in the world?

HUMAN SACRIFICE ON THE ALTAR OF GAIA: JAMES LOVELOCK AND THE RISE OF THE GREEN DEATH CULT

Excerpt:

[...] Lovelock assures us that he does not agree with the "totalitarian greens, sometimes called eco-fascists," who want to see most of the human race "eliminated" by genocide so as to leave a "perfect Earth for them alone." That's a relief. But wait -- he then tells us that if we survive the current crisis, our next goal must be to forcibly reduce our numbers: "If we are to continue as a civilization that successfully avoids natural catastrophes, we have to make our own constraints on growth and make them strong and make them now." As it is, we are unintentionally at war with Gaia and must agree to "wartime" rationing and temporary "loss of freedom." Strong constraints? Loss of freedom? What's the difference between this and ecofascism? And how far down will our population have to plummet to satisfy Gaia? Actually, Lovelock states that something like nine-tenths of our population must vanish: "Personally I think we would be wise to aim at a stabilized population of about half to one billion." To accomplish this goal, both the birth rate and death rate would have to be "regulated" as "part of population control." So we are to be bred, managed, and put down just like a herd of animals on a farm. If this isn't totalitarianism, what is?

[...] How could such a misanthropic ecofascism have spread so far, so fast? Very likely the decline of Christianity in the West has led to the rise of this neo-pagan abjection before the material world. Lovelock believes that all the traditional religions of the world are out of date, for they were all founded when we were few in number and when we "lived in a way that was no burden to the Earth." Past teachings on morality no longer apply now that we have become "six billion hungry and greedy individuals." He reserves a special animus for Christianity, where man is seen as the steward of creation: "The idea that humans are yet intelligent enough to serve as stewards of the Earth is among the most hubristic ever." What Christians need, he sneers, is "a new Sermon on the Mount" to tell us how to live "decently with the Earth." He finds fault with "secular humanists," too, for he thinks they need to turn to Gaia and "recognize that human rights and needs are not enough."

Gaia Theory and Deep Ecology are two handmaids of the Culture of Death. Their precursor was the eugenics movement of a century ago that imposed birth control and forced sterilization on the supposedly "unfit." Today an artificially created panic about ecological catastrophe, derived from Gaia Theory and Deep Ecology, lies behind a seemingly unstoppable movement for sterile sex by way of birth control, sterilization, chemical and surgical abortions, homosexuality, and the infanticide of newborns (called "infant euthanasia"). Deep ecologists and Gaia theorists try to terrify us with environmental degradation in order to pursue their main program -- population control. For even when their prophecies of doom prove to be false or exaggerated, these zealots immediately point to another imminent disaster and call for man to reduce his numbers.

We should understand that when the leaders of the Culture of Death look at us, they don't see so many individuals with immortal souls and eternal destinies, each one having an incalculable value in the eyes of God, since the divine Word saved us with His own blood. Rather they see a plague of alien creatures infesting an imagined divinity. History shows that none are more fanatical than those on the march to Utopia. The Gaia theorists and the Deep Ecology zealots are certainly marching lockstep right now toward their imagined paradise. The mirage they have in view is one with so few people left on the planet that their great goal will finally be achieved -- the total "noninterference" of man with the wilderness of the Earth. What a dismal, misanthropic idea of paradise!

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

More lies about Bush lying

Excerpt:

Search the Internet for "Bush Lied" products, and you will find sites that offer more than a thousand designs. The basic "Bush Lied, People Died" bumper sticker is only the beginning. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, set out to provide the official foundation for what has become not only a thriving business but, more important, an article of faith among millions of Americans. And in releasing a committee report Thursday, he claimed to have accomplished his mission, though he did not use the L-word. "In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent," he said.

But dive into Rockefeller's report, in search of where exactly President Bush lied about what his intelligence agencies were telling him about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, and you may be surprised by what you find. On Iraq's nuclear weapons program? The president's statements "were generally substantiated by intelligence community estimates." On biological weapons, production capability and those infamous mobile laboratories? The president's statements "were substantiated by intelligence information." On chemical weapons, then? "Substantiated by intelligence information." On weapons of mass destruction overall (a separate section of the intelligence committee report)? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information." Delivery vehicles such as ballistic missiles? "Generally substantiated by available intelligence." Unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to deliver WMDs? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information."

As you read through the report, you begin to think maybe you've mistakenly picked up the minority dissent. But, no, this is the Rockefeller indictment. So, you think, the smoking gun must appear in the section on Bush's claims about Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to terrorism. But statements regarding Iraq's support for terrorist groups other than al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information." Statements that Iraq provided safe haven for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda "were substantiated by the intelligence assessments," and statements regarding Iraq's contacts with al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information."

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

WHY DID BIDEN AND HILLARY CALL OBAMA NAIVE?

BIDEN, HILLARY AND OTHERS HAVE CALLED HIM NAIVE.
NOT THE BEST QUALITY FOR A COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

WHY DO THEY ALL THINK THIS ABOUT OBAMA?

BECAUSE HE'S SAID SO MANY STUPID PLATITUDINOUS THINGS WHICH WOULD BE TERRIBLE FOR AMERICA IF THEY WERE EVER ENACTED.

OBAMA IS EITHER NAIVE, DUMB, A PHONY OR AN EMPTY SUIT.

OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.

I WANT TO SEE OBAMA'S COLLEGE AND LAW SCHOOL GRADES...

... AND HIS APPLICATION FOR ENTRANCE TO COLUMBIA AND HARVARD.

• WHY!?
• BECAUSE HE IS SO GAFFE-PRONE I CAN'T BELIEVE HE GOT GOOD GRADES.
• I MEAN: HE SEEMS LIKE DUMMIE TO ME, A SMOOTH-TALKING DUMMIE.
• UNTIL I'M PROVED WRONG, THAT'S WHAT HE IS.
• BUSH RELEASED HIS GRADES AT YALE AND HARVARD.
• I CHALLENGE OBAMA TO DO THE SAME.