CUT & RUN REDS IN THE HOUSE BEGIN TO TRAMPLE THE ECONOMY

Pelosi's Cut & Run Reds passed a bill yesterday which is comprised of cherry-picked items from the 9/11 Commission recommendations.

ONE ITEM: 100% inspection of all shipping containers heading into the USA. Currently every manifest is triple-checked to the point of origin. And there have been ZERO problems. But if 100% of the containers have to go though physical inspection, this will GREATLY SLOW SHIPPING AND HURT TRADE. 100% is ridiculous and unnecessary - like 100% inspection of all airline passengers. Both 100% inspection processes ignore the fact that SOME containers (like some passengers) are more risky than others.

Pelosi's Cut & Run Reds in the House KNOW THIS, and they passed the bill this way anyhow. WHY?!? For the SYMBOLIC effect: They know that the Senate will probably not pass a bill with this provision, and that it will fall out during conference. But passing it in the House makes them seem tough on the war on terror. Seeming trough is more important to the CUT & RUN REDS than actually BEING tough.

Cut & Run Reds love this tactic; it's a tactic most often called going for "SYMBOLIC VICTORY" - they're this using this tactic on the TROOP SURGE TOO! Instead of voting to prevent funding of any troop surge their just going to vote a non-binding resolution.

Too bad for us: the world, reality, and the the GWOT are MORE than merely symbolic. And the REALL EFFECTS of these Leftist anti-trade and anti-victory moves in the REAL are all bad.

FACT: if these two Leftist policies both became law -- if 100% container inspection were to pass the Senate - along with the increase in the minimum wage - (which WILL PASS) - then they would together lead to an increase in unemployment and a slow-down on the economy - by increasing costs for businesses.This will also lead to HIGHER INFLATION. The fact that Leftist policies hurt the economy is no surprise; ALL LEFTIST POLICIES - like those announced by Sheehan's "lover" Chavez - ALWAYS HURT THE ECONOMY.

FOOD FADDISM DEMOLISHED FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL

Not that the food faddists will take any notice

Food faddism is important to many people because it gives them both the illusion of control and an ego boost. One of the few things they have absolute control over is what they put into their mouths so they like to think that gives them some larger control over their lives. Food faddism also gives them a feeling of wisdom and righteousness because they attribute some universal truth and validity to their fads. It makes them feel wiser than the poor sods who do not share their "enlightenment". This latter has become particularly pernicious in recent years as the faddists have increasingly been able to force their beliefs on others -- via the demonization of "obesity" -- which they (falsely) claim shortens lifespans.

So it is a timely corrective that one population which has a characteristically "unhealthy" diet has recently been shown also to be one of the longest lived! Details on FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC.

(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 and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

MORE TROUBLE IN IRAN:

It appears that the problems in Iran are deeper than they appear to the West. After reading that thousands are dying each month from poor air quality in Teheran, it has now been reported that the Iranian Regime is planning to ration gasoline beginning in March.

Iran, which is one of the worlds largest oil producing nations, actually imports 57% of its refined gasoline. The smog reports indicate they are purchasing low grade product, which is sold at below-market prices, and which in turn is often being resold in the "free" market. This means that Iran lacks refining capacity to meet its own needs, and is using cheap petroleum to prop up it's regime - and that there are many profiteers enjoying the situation. (and I would guess that the biggest profits of this black market trade are going into the pockets of corrupt government officials and their relatives)

This demonstrates that the regime of Iran is in the process of ruining the economy - and that sanctions can be effective. However, North Korea is proof that a totalitarian regime - especially one with the valuable natural resources Iran posesses - cannot be persuaded by sanctions alone. That's why I expect military action against the nuclear facilities in Iran.

Backlash Against Ban on Use of Indian References in Sport

The number of white Americans who harbor ill-will towards American Indians these days must be so small that you would need a microscope to find them. But that does not suit the Left at all -- who need to see racism in others so badly that they even make up instances of racism and "homophobia" from time to time.

My most recent mention of such a crock was last December 29th.. And the Left have orgies of self-congratulation whenever they do manage to find something they can call "racism" or "homophobia". And, no doubt to their great delight, their deliberately wrong-headed approach to college sporting teams who use Indian names and mascots does at last seem to have provoked anger among students in the colleges affected. The Left have CREATED some of that lovely juicy "racism"!

As I mentioned on May 19 last year, the University of Illinois has been excluded from some sporting events because of its traditional mascot -- "Chief Illiniwek", portrayed by a student dressed in buckskins who dances at home football and basketball games and other athletic events. That the chief HONORS the role of Indians in Illinois history all Leftists are apparently determined not to see.

Because of oppressive college speech codes, very few of the students affected say what they think about it all but under cover of anonymity, some students at the University of Illinois HAVE made their feelings heard. On a facebook website one student said:

"what they don't realize is that there never was a racist problem before ... but now I hate redskins and hope all those drunk casino owning bums die."

The sad thing is that Indians are getting the blame for what is mainly the work of hate-filled white Leftists.

(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 and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

THE INFIDEL BLOGGERS ALLIANCE RADIO SHOW

And now, coming to you live from the ongoing gang-bang in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's wife's bedroom, it's the Infidel Bloggers Alliance Radio Show.

The Fu2rman and I did our most recent version of the Infidel Bloggers Alliance Radio Show.

Tonights show featured the following:

1) A new video recording of the moments before Saddam's hanging. The henchmen asked, "Saddam, do you have any final words?" And, believe it or not, Saddam launched into a rousing version of Frank Sinatra's My Way. And, he kicked ass.

2) Interview with Stuck Mojo, the band that did the Open Season video which has caught fire across the internet.

3) The Ask The Imam show, featuring Imam Ali Allah Akbar Bibi.

IS FRANCE THE NEXT MAJOR TERROR TARGET?

WILL THE TERRORISTS TRY TO INFLUENCE THE UPCOMING ELECTION IF FRANCE THEY WAY THEY DID IN SPAIN? These items indicate to me that France might be targeted next:

XINHUA:

Two suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA were arrested earlier on Tuesday in a joint raid with French police in southern France, said the Spanish Interior Ministry on Tuesday. The interior ministry identified one as Asier Larrinaga Rodriguez and the other as Garikoitz Echeberria. These have been the first arrests of suspected ETA militants since the Madrid airport bomb attack on Dec. 30, 2006, which claimed two lives and destroyed a five story car park at Madrid's Terminal 4.

YNET/"Reuters":

French officials have arrested two Serbs on suspicions of having imported explosives to France, a judicial source said on Tuesday. Officials found four kilograms of the powerful explosive pentrite in northern Paris, the source said. Police suspected the men of wanting to sell the material to members of organised crime groups. One of the suspects was a bus driver regularly driving from Belgrade to Paris, the source said.

CBS/AP:

The leader of Algeria's main Islamic insurgency movement threatened American and French supporters of the Algerian government in a video posted Tuesday on an Islamic Web site. France's foreign ministry said it took the threat seriously, adding that it was monitoring the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French acronym GSPC. The group recently announced it had established links to al-Qaida. ...

GSPC operations have been confined to Algeria. But the group claimed responsibility for a November attack near Algiers on employees of an affiliate of the U.S. company Halliburton. French authorities have voiced concerns over potential GSPC cells in Europe. [Umph added.]

The more a nation appeases, the more attacks it incites. Which is also a good reason to expect the enemy to whack the UK pretty soon - (after all, both Blair and Brown have been sounding very Chamberlainesque lately.) [And yes: I know that ETA is not a jihadist group. It's just that I suspect they work with jihadists - as the IRA worked with FARC.]

PAKISTANI IMMIGRANT WHO PLOTTED SUBWAY BOMBING CONVICTED

Shahawar Matin Siraj, the immigrant from Pakistan who plotted to attack the Herald Square Station in NYC, was sentenced to 30 years in prison:

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Pakistani immigrant was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison for hatching an unsuccessful plot to blow up a busy Manhattan subway station as revenge for wartime abuses of Iraqis.

Shahawar Matin Siraj, 24, was arrested Aug. 27, 2004, on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Though there was no proof he ever obtained explosives or was linked to any terror organizations, prosecutors said his intentions were ominous: He wanted to blow up the Herald Square subway station, a bustling transportation hub located beneath Macy's flagship department store.

Defense attorneys had sought to convince U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon that Siraj's sentence should not exceed 10 years, arguing in recent court filings that their client was not a dangerous psychopath but more of a confused and misguided youngster.'' Prosecutors countered that the defendant deserved at least 30 years behind bars as the "driving force'' behind a "workable terrorist plot.''

Siraj was convicted of conspiracy last year based partly on the testimony of a police informant, Osama Eldawoody, who was recruited to monitor radical Muslims at mosques and elsewhere following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Inside an Islamic bookstore near a Brooklyn mosque, Eldawoody wore a wire and chatted up an employee who lived with his parents in Queens -- Siraj. When the topic turned to the war in Iraq, Siraj ranted about rumors among radicals that U.S. soldiers were sexually abusing Iraqi girls.

Send Siraj to the slammer for all eternity!

"PRESIDENT LIMBAUGH" SHOOTS TV GUEST SPOTS

From today's Rush Limbaugh Show:

RUSH: I had a great weekend, folks, but, I'll tell you what: I went out and did some television Saturday in Los Angeles. There's a new show that probably will air soon, I'm not sure when, but it's called "The Half Hour NewsHour." That's the working title of it now. I guess that's subject to change. Well, actually it's not, because if it changes I gotta go back out there, but nevertheless it's a parody newscast, takeoff on liberal media newscasts, and I play the president of the United States in the opening segments of this program.

I went out and shot three takes. Ann Coulter is the vice president. (laughing) It's hilarious. The whole thing is hilarious. I went out there and shot three opening segments. These things run anywhere from a minute to 90 seconds. It took eight hours to do these three segments on Saturday, all day long. I did it in the Fox Studios, then had a big after party at the Grand Havana Club. What a bash we had.

I can't wait to see this show!

German America-haters Crumble Under Blog Pressure

I mentioned on 6th, that the site of a major German magazine headlined America as a nation that "could not care less about other people." After the sacrifices of blood and treasure America made in two world wars, that was a grievous misrepresention of the truth -- particularly coming from a nation that showed rather vividly in the middle of last century just how much THEY cared about others.

All the blogospheric condemnation has had an effect, however. The hate-America speech has now been removed.

The narrow definition of hate-speech is its major problem. Only certain selected, privileged groups are usually seen as protected by the definition of it. If hate-speech prohibitions were widened to condemn hate speech against America or hate-speech against Christians, the prohibitions would soon lose all support. In the meanwhile we can only do our best to press for the same rules to be applied to all.

To misquote Shakespeare slightly: ""Hath not an American eyes? Hath not an American hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases. Heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer as a German is?"

(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 and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

COMRADE CHAVEZ OF VENEZUELA PROVES THAT SOCIALISM IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING

IF YOU OWNED STOCK IN CANTV, THE GOVERNMENT JUST TOOK IT AWAY FROM YOU.

Yes, that's right, the Venezuelan government, under orders from Hugo Chavez, just seized control over the nations telecoms, so, uh, kiss your stock goodbye:

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced plans Monday to nationalize the country's electrical and telecommunications companies, his boldest move yet to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.

"All of those sectors that in an area so important and strategic for all of us as is electricity — all of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized," Chavez said in a televised speech after swearing in a new Cabinet.

"C.A. Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV), let it be nationalized," Chavez said. "The nation should recover its property of strategic sectors."

When Chavez was re-elected by a wide margin last month, he promised to take a more radical turn toward socialism. Monday's announcement appeared likely to affect Electricidad de Caracas, owned by AES Corp., and CANTV, which is the country's largest publicly traded company.

CANTV's American Depositary Receipts plunged 14.2 percent to $16.84 (12.95 euros) before the New York Stock Exchange halted trading. [UMPH ADDED.]

Socialism, the gift that keeps on taking.

UPDATE (Reliapundit) - BBC:

Hugo Chavez gives a speech at Fuerte Tiuna in Caracas, 28 December President Hugo Chavez has pledged to nationalize key Venezuelan companies, as part of plans to transform the country into a full socialist state. He also called for an end to foreign ownership of lucrative crude oil refineries in the Orinoco region.

Mr Chavez's comments came in an address to the nation following the swearing in of his new cabinet. He will be sworn in for a third term of office on Wednesday, after winning presidential elections in December with almost 63% of the vote.

Mr Chavez said Venezuela was moving towards "a socialist republic" that required "deep reform of our national constitution". "We are in an existential moment of Venezuelan life," he said. "We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no-one can prevent it."

Mr Chavez demanded an end to the current autonomy of the country's central bank and said he would ask Venezuela's parliament to grant him additional powers to legislate by presidential degree. ... "All of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized," Mr Chavez said.

At least Comrade Chavez comes right out and says it; Comrades Hillary, Pelosi and Reid dress their socialism up in "gradualism" (as in they will gradually nationalize the healthcare industry) and working-class moderation, (as in we will just raise taxes on the "wealthy"). YEAH, RIGHT!

1/09/07 UPDATE: CHECK OUT EVERY OTHER BLOG'S TIME-STAMP ON THIS STORY. YOU'LL SEE THAT TAB WAS FIRST. AS USUAL.

AND WITH THE BEST, HARDEST HITTING ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY.

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LOST INDONESIAN AIRLINER MAY HAVE BEEN FOUND

And, if so, it is, apparently, under water, and scattered in three major places in a several-mile radius, which would indicate that it exploded, or broke up midair for some reason:

MAKASSAR, Indonesia (AP) -- An Indonesian navy ship has detected metal on the ocean floor that might be the wreckage of a jetliner that disappeared one week ago with 102 people on board, a top commander said Monday. A more sophisticated U.S. Navy ocean mapping ship assisting in the search for the Boeing 737 was heading to waters off Sulawesi Island's western coast to do a more detailed survey, said Gatot Sudijanto, a commodore in the Indonesian navy.

"If that metal turns out to be what we are looking for, then thanks be to God," he said, adding that it was found in three locations within a several-mile radius.

The Adam Air plane left Java island for the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado on New Year's Day, but experienced 180 mph winds and storms halfway through the two-hour flight, forcing it to change course at least twice, officials said.

The pilot never issued a mayday or reported technical problems.
[Umph added.]

Air navigation can be difficult in Indonesia, which has been called the world's largest archipelago, because there are gaps in the communications systems.

The "Dangerous Christians" Theme of the Left

One of the ways the chronic haters on the Left excuse their love-affair with the hate-filled Islamics is by a claim that Christians are a much greater danger to America than are Muslims.

That is pretty hilarious to anybody who knows anything about the history of America. Christians were much more influential in the past so America today is a product of all that Christian "damage".

An example of the strange Leftist theory is a book called "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" by Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for the New York Times. That he learnt his trade with the NYT is rather what one would expect in the circumstances. The NYT is after all famous for printing "all the news that's fit to slant".

There is a surprisingly balanced review of the book by a history professor here. Although apparently somewhat sympathetic to the book, the reviewer knows enough history to point out major ways in which the book goes off the rails. The reviewer notes, for instance:

"Thus, Hedges concludes, the United States today faces an internal threat analogous to that posed by the Nazis in Weimar Germany

Christians as Nazis is just too much for the reviewer, however. He goes on to make a number of points in reply, with the following excerpt being very much to the point:

"Nevertheless, Hedges concludes that the Christian right "should no longer be tolerated," because it "would destroy the tolerance that makes an open society possible." What does he think should be done? He endorses the view that "any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law," and therefore we should treat "incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal." Thus he rejects the 1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech and religion, and court rulings that permit prosecution for speech only if there is an imminent threat to particular individuals.

Hedges advocates passage of federal hate-crimes legislation prohibiting intolerance, but he doesn't really explain how it would work. Many countries do prohibit "hate speech." Holocaust denial, for example, is a crime in Germany, Austria and several other European countries. But does this mean that Hedges favors prosecuting Christian fundamentalists for declaring, for example, that abortion providers are murderers or that secular humanists are agents of Satan? He doesn't say.

(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 and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

1970 versus 2007: AMERICA - THEN AND NOW; the Left then and now

It is interesting to draw a comparison to the famous Heiress of the Vietnam-Era - Patty Hearst - and the famous Heiress of the Post 9/11 Era - Paris Hilton. Those of you who are interested in astrology might notice they are born on the 17th and the 20th of February. And of course they both had very wealthy great-grandfathers. But the contrasts between these "princesses" are far more interesting.

Paris Hilton is the epitome of self-promotion in the Age of Branding. Paris Hilton represents the ideal apolitical object of voyeurism and consumption-by-proxy - who serves and thrives in the marketplace. She represents a postmodern era that does not lack political ideals - but which is most comfortable avoiding the real political issues.

In the highly politicized Vietnam-Era, Patty Hearst was the target of a small group of extremists who used, and and later co-opted, the famous young "princess" to further their political goals. The ideology and rhetoric of the Symbionese Liberation Army - their expressed desire to destroy capitalist America, their willingness to murder innocents, and the belief that dying in the battle was in and of itself a victory, are clear evidence of the close parallels between left-wing extremism and islamofundamentalist terror. (I would like to point out, without any bias as to the merits of the action, that Dhimmi Carter commuted Patty Hearst's sentence, and later lobbied Clinton to grant her a pardon.)

Even the Democrats - who now control Congress - must admit that the islamoterrorists pose a far greater threat than the SLA! In fact, the islamoterrorists are a greater threat to the West than the Soviet Union ever was! (1. The USSR wanted to defeat the West, not destroy it! 2. Did the USSR ever murder 3000 civilians on American soil?)

Meanwhile it seems that a huge segment of the American public is not interested in these conflicts - or worse yet - doesn't get it!

I only pray that President Bush will wield the powers vested in him by the Constitution of the United States and redouble efforts to defeat the enemies of freedom, women's rights, and tolerance - before it is too late!

Reliapundit adds: Both then and now the Left supported the other side. The Left loved Mao and Fidel and Che and Ho Chi Minh. The SLA and the Black Panthers and the Weathermen were all of the Left. Nixon was demonized by the Left - even though, while he boldly fought and parried with the USSR, he started detente, opened China, completely Vietnamized the war, ended the draft, and restored law & order to the streets and campuses of the USA. And I think the fact that the Left was a Fifth Column then and that it's also one now speaks volumes.

THE CUT & RUN REDS ARE AT IT ALREADY: HYPERBOLIZING OUR CASUALITIES, WHILE PREPARING TO RETREAT AND ABANDON OUR ALLIES

GATEWAY PUNDIT:

They are going to do it again!
The democrats are going to lose another war for this great nation!

Historians have directly attributed the fall of Saigon in 1975 to the cessation of American aid.

The US lost 58,219 military personnel in Vietnam. The US has lost 3,012 solders and marines in Iraq. The US lost more innocents in 3 1/2 hours on September 11, 2001 than brave soldiers and marines in 3 1/2 years of fighting in Iraq; a country that has a lower violent death rate than New Orleans! RTWT.

And read this post too:

First 100 Hour Accomplishments:

• In First 100 Hours After Mass, Pelosi Proposes Aborting Embryos
• In First 100 Hours, Dems Plan Onslaught of Investigations
• In First 100 Hours, Dems Complete 1st "Contract With Al Qaeda" Item
• In First 100 Hours, Democrats Propose Ban on Oil Drilling
• In First 100 Hours, Democrats Give Standing Ovation to "Freezer Cash Stasher"
• In First 100 Hours, Dems Say Nuclear Iran Unacceptable- Demand Discussions!
• In First 100 Hours, Democrats Threaten Cuts in Military Funding for War!

With a Congress led by the Pelosi, Reid and the Left (the Cut & Run Reds) , I hope we last until 2008!

NEW DISCOVERY MOOTS EMBRYONIC STEM CELL DEBATE

BBC:

US scientists say they have discovered a new source of stem cells that could one day repair damaged human organs. Researchers successfully extracted the cells from the fluid that fills the womb in pregnancy and then grew them in lab experiments.

THIS MEANS THAT THERE IS NO NEED TO DESTROY ANY EMBRYOS IN ORDER TO EXTRACT THEIR STEM CELLS.

THIS NEWS MAKES INOPERATIVE THE ATTACKS AGAINST THOSE OF US WHO FAVORED USING ONLY ADULT STEM CELLS, AND DISFAVORED FARMING EMBRYOS.

I GUESS THIS MEANS THAT THE LEFTIES WILL HAVE TO COME UP WITH ANOTHER BOGEYMAN TO DEMAGOGUE US PRO-LIFERS WITH.

AND THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO COME UP WITH ANOTHER REASON TO JUSTIFY DESTROYING EMBRYOS.

***NOTE: I BET YOU THAT THEY KNEW THIS BEFORE THE LAST ELECTION AND THAT THEY HELD BACK THE NEWS IN ORDER TO HURT THE GOP. IT IS LIKELY: SCIENTIFIC PAPERS LIKE THIS TAKE MONTHS TO WRITE.

(CAPT ED CHIMES IN HERE. CNN/AP here.)

[**Aside: I believe that science could also moot the abortion debate. HOW?! By finding a safe and economical way for women with unwanted pregnancies to terminate their pregnancy without aborting the baby; their pregnancy could be terminated by extracting the embryo - and freezing it for later re-implantation in themselves, or donating it for later adotpion by another women. I think this is my fourth post on this in the last two years. IS ANYBODY LISTENING!?]

AMERICA ALONE: BROWN PROMISING TO ABANDON THE USA IN IRAQ

GUARDIAN/AP:

Treasury chief Gordon Brown, expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister by September, suggested Sunday that he will pursue an Iraq policy that is more independent of Washington than the current government. Brown acknowledged that mistakes were made in the aftermath of the invasion and promised to be ``very frank'' with President Bush. He also said that Britain is likely to scale down its commitment of troops to Iraq over the next year - even as the White House is considering dispatching thousands more, at least temporarily.

BROWN SAID THIS ON THE BBC. HE SAID THIS BEFORE BUSH HAS ANNOUNCED ANYTHING. HE IS LEFTIST SCUM, MORE INTERESTED IN PANDERING TO HIS LEFT-WING, THEN IN DOING THE RIGHT THING. HE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

Steyn is looking right on: America will have to face the enemy alone. There's no Churchill in England, no De Gaulle even! If Sarkozy doesn't win, and if Pope Benedict doesn't step up to the plate, then it's all over for Europe. I mean Eurabia.

*******UPDATE: Here's another reason to believe that it's all over for the UK (via PJM): the Muslims in England are building ...

a massive, intrusive — and bizarre — Sunni mosque complex to sit alongside the 2012 London Olympics centre. All the indications are that the go-ahead will be given.

The mosque is designed to be the largest religious structure in Britain. It will accommodate 70,000 people, of whom 40,000 can pray at any given time. According to the latest estimates, it will cost as much as £300 million to build. The complex will be known as the Markaz mosque, ‘markaz’ being the Arabic word for ‘centre’.

And, why d'ya suppose they want to build it so big, so imposing, so dominating a mosque? Duh. And the British are just rolling over and spreading their cheeks, so-to-speak. The Brits no longer seem to have what it takes - what they had in 1939 when they stood alone against Nazism - the lone defenders of the free world. Pity.

OUR LONG NATIONAL EGO-TRIP NIGHTMARE IS NOT OVER

Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times:

Is America frightened by women in power?

The issue was glimpsed last week, lurking in the shadows, when Rep. Nancy Pelosi took up her gavel as our nation's first female speaker of the House, though we haven't begun to confront it yet.

I thought we worked this all out in the 1970s. But women leaders must still be scary, at least to a portion of the electorate. Why else would the Drudge Report keep posting that photo of Pelosi brandishing a black leather whip? As if some have a hard time imagining a strong female beyond Cat-woman or Mistress Helga.

Complex. Freudian. Luckily, there's no need to fall over ourselves rushing to figure this out today. We have at least a year to wrestle with the issue, as Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign reaches its inevitable crescendo and flame-out.

No Mr. Steinberg, what frightens me is a person, man or woman, who goes on a huge ego trip like we've seen from Pelosi this week. My G-d... you won the Speakership, fine, now get over it and get to work.

I haven't seen this much self-aggrandizement since Terrell Owens was with the Eagles. It's like Rush Limbaugh always says: Liberals are bad losers, but they're even worse winners.

Either they're mad as hell that they don't hold every elected office in the country or they're going on a narcissistic binge like John McCain on speed.

President Bush, I really hope you have the courage to use your veto power, otherwise, it's only gonna get worse.

BARAK ASCENDENT? MAYBE, BUT HE'S PARTLY TO BLAME FOR MANY OF THE PROBLEMS ISRAEL NOW FACES

Ehud Barak, who was prime minister of Israel between 1999 and 2001, has announced that he will run again for head of the Labor party. Well as it so happens, he was the one whose actions led to the uprising by terrorists which erupted in 2000, in which two soldiers were lynched, and during which time, the al-Durah lie was perpetrated. Wesley Pruden of the Wash. Times rightfully panned Barak back in 2000 for these incredible errors.

So truly, is he a suitable candidate for prime minister, or even defense minister? The short answer is - no. But the MSM here, if anywhere, would rather you think otherwise.

THE EMOTIONAL JOYS THAT ARE THE ROOT OF LEFTISM: PART ONE -- EXPROPRIATION

What is the emotional fuel that powers the ideological engines of leftism? Is it an altruistic desire to help the downtrodden, as so many leftists would have us believe? Or is it something else?

One way to answer that question is to look at the pronouncements of leftists themselves. Let's return to Hillary Rodham Clinton's celebrated 2004 comments to a hotel ballroom full of wealthy women donors to the Democratic Party:

"Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you," she said at a fund-raiser for radical Sen. Barbara Boxer. "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good," the former first lady admitted.

(The Astute Bloggers commented on this statement in October, 2006.) Now let's look carefully at that key sentence:

"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

The sentence has two parts, an active part and an abstract part. One part of the sentence has a real subject and a real object, the other part refers to an abstract idea in a vague, abstract way.

It is obvious that the really important part of that sentence, to the mind that spoke it, is the active part, which has a real subject and a real object. It reads:

"We're going to take things away from you."

"We" is a real subject that refers to real people. THE LEFT.

"Take things" refers to a real action, involving real direct objects. TAXES.

"You" again refers to real people, the real indirect objects of the taking. THE PUBLIC.

Everything in this part of the sentence is quite concrete. Real world actions are described. Actions within the power of an elected majority.

The second part of the sentence is entirely abstract:

"On behalf of the common good."

First of all, "the common good" is an abstraction. It is an idea, or an ideal. It is not a tangibly real subject or object.

Further, what does it mean to do something "on behalf" of the common good? That again is a purely abstract notion characterizing some unidentified, unspecified actions.

In contrast, again, that "we" are going to "take things away" from "you" is a very real and very concrete action. There are real things that Hillary plans to take away from real people.

The emotional energy that fuels the leftist agenda is in the taking, not in the giving.

In fact, a recent comprehensive survey of charitable giving in the United States showed beyond the shadow of a doubt that conservatives are far more personally generous than leftists:

Why has America split into two nations: givers and non-givers? Arthur Brooks, a top scholar of economics and public policy, has spent years researching this trend, and even he was surprised by what he found.

In Who Really Cares, he demonstrates conclusively that conservatives really are compassionate-far more compassionate than their liberal foes. Strong families, church attendance, earned income (as opposed to state-subsidized income), and the belief that individuals, not government, offer the best solution to social ills-all of these factors determine how likely one is to give. Charity matters--not just to the givers and to the recipients, but to the nation as a whole.

It isn't just money:

The differences go beyond money and time. Take blood donations, for example. In 2002, conservative Americans were more likely to donate blood each year, and did so more often, than liberals. If liberals and moderates gave blood at the same rate as conservatives, the blood supply in the United States would jump by about 45 percent.

And as Jim Lindgren points out, the differences also involve other factors:

My first post related to Brooks’s book concerned, not liberals, moderates, and conservatives, but those who favor income redistribution v. those who don’t. Here the answer is more consistent: those who oppose income redistribution tend to be less racist, more tolerant of unpopular groups, happier, less vengeful, and more likely to report generous charitable donations.

This all ties in with the demonstration that the action which emotionally motivates even soft bolshevists like Hillary Clinton is the taking and not the giving.

The flowery language leftists use to justify their actions - (all that talk about income redistribution and providing universal health-care benefits for the downtrodden) - conceals their real motivation, which is simply to take other people's property away from them. It's the thrill of the grab that motivates the left, which is one reason that leftists have a spontaneous and visceral sympathy for robbers, muggers, and thieves. Which again is why the execution of a murderer and thief like Saddam Hussein so affronts their leftist sensibilities.

In the second part of this post, I will address the fact that when faced with a problem in their world, leftists never seek to change their own behavior, but rather strive to force other people to change theirs.

TRIUMPHS FORSAKEN: THE CUT & RUN REDS WANT TO ABANDON IRAQ LIKE THEY ABANDONED SOUTH VIETNAM

If the CUT & RUN REDS had not pulled the plug on the South Vietnamese government, then South Vietnam would be today as prosperous and free as South Korea is - instead of being an impoverished totalitarian state.

The CUT & RUN REDS did this to the democratic South Vietnamese government - OUR ALLIES - despite the fact that there were NONE/ZERO/ZILCH/NADA US ground troops serving in combat in Vietnam. Vietnam-ization had WORKED.

Now, while the USA and our allies are VALIANTLY trying to make Iraqi-ization work, the CUT & RUN REDS are essentially trying to do the same thing and pull the plug on our Iraqi allies.

At the present time, they are merely trying to tie the hands of our Commander In Chief and prevent him from ordering our military to do what must be done to help Iraqis defeat the enemy. Now, they are openly threatening to prevent the POTUS from ordering a Rapid Deployment Surge to assist our Iraqi allies halt the mayhem in Baghdad. But ultimately their aim is to force the USA to withdraw from Iraq on a predetermined and published timetable - something which ONLY aids the enemy.

This type of defeatism and appeasement has been standard Democrat Policy for decades. If you don't belive me, then read these three things:

First, read this column.

THEN READ THIS BOOK, "TRIUMPH FORSAKEN" (from Cambridge University press) - to find out how the our side was consistently WINNING THE VIETNAM WAR.

And then read THIS BOOK, "FAILING TO WIN" (from Harvard University Press) - to find out how the MSM and the CUT & RUN REDS succeeded in destroying our victory and handing it to our enemies.

(I will be excerpting key bits of these book in the next week or so.)

BOTTOM LINE: We should NOT have abandoned South Vietnam to totalitarianism - doing so condemned MILLIONS of people there - and in Laos and Cambodia - to concentration camps and genocide. There is no good reason we should repeat the defeatist and appeasing policies of the CUT & RUN REDS, and abandon the Iraqis and the Middle East to the same thing.

HOW TO WIN THE WAR: don't use half-measures

JACK KELLY:

The Ethiopian example -

How to win a war: Unapologetically use force against the bad guys

It's hard to win a war if you quit fighting in the middle. That's the lesson we should learn from Ethiopia's New Year's message to us. ... Ethiopia won in short order because it unapologetically used force against vicious killers who understand only force. They killed the people they needed to kill without worrying overmuch about collateral damage, and not at all about world opinion. And though the Ethiopian soldiers are Christians, they were hailed as liberators in this overwhelmingly Muslim country.

When, during the march on Baghdad, we unapologetically used force in Iraq, we also had rapid success with minimal casualties. But since the statue of Saddam fell in Firdous Square in April 2003, we've acted as if the war were over. Our focus shifted to peacekeeping and nation-building, though it's hard to be a peacekeeper when there is no peace to keep, and it's hard to rebuild a nation when the bad guys are still out there blowing things up.

We've become a Gulliver bound by our own politically correct strictures. ... Half-measures in war typically produce half-baked results. If the military measures we take in Iraq must first be approved by Iraqi politicians and the editorial board of The New York Times, we will not succeed even if we double the number of troops. But if we remember -- as Ethiopia did -- that the surest way to win in war is to kill the enemy, we may yet match Ethiopia's success.

TAB argued that half-assery ALWAYS sucks in war HERE - on 07/19/06.

MONDAY NIGHT ON PBS: "Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence"

From the PBS web site:

"Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence"

Monday, January 8, 2007 - 10 - 11:00 pm

Sixty years after the Holocaust, many parts of the world are experiencing a dramatic resurgence of anti-Semitism. This documentary explores the roots of anti-Semitism and examines how and why it continues to flourish today. (CC, Stereo)

Watch the broadcast to see how PBS deals with this topic. [Hat-tip to Nanc]