Excerpt from Bernard Lewis:
During the fighting in 1947-1948, about three-fourths of a million Arabs fled or were driven (both are true in different places) from Israel and found refuge in the neighboring Arab countries. In the same period and after, a slightly greater number of Jews fled or were driven from Arab countries, first from the Arab-controlled part of mandatory Palestine (where not a single Jew was permitted to remain), then from the Arab countries where they and their ancestors had lived for centuries, or in some places for millennia. Most Jewish refugees found their way to Israel.
What happened was thus, in effect, an exchange of populations not unlike that which took place in the Indian subcontinent in the previous year, when British India was split into India and Pakistan. Millions of refugees fled or were driven both ways -- Hindus and others from Pakistan to India, Muslims from India to Pakistan. Another example was Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, when the Soviets annexed a large piece of eastern Poland and compensated the Poles with a slice of eastern Germany. This too led to a massive refugee movement -- Poles fled or were driven from the Soviet Union into Poland, Germans fled or were driven from Poland into Germany.
The Poles and the Germans, the Hindus and the Muslims, the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, all were resettled in their new homes and accorded the normal rights of citizenship. More remarkably, this was done without international aid. The one exception was the Palestinian Arabs in neighboring Arab countries.
The government of Jordan granted Palestinian Arabs a form of citizenship, but kept them in refugee camps. In the other Arab countries, they were and remained stateless aliens without rights or opportunities, maintained by U.N. funding. Paradoxically, if a Palestinian fled to Britain or America, he was eligible for naturalization after five years, and his locally-born children were citizens by birth. If he went to Syria, Lebanon or Iraq, he and his descendants remained stateless, now entering the fourth or fifth generation.
The reason for this has been stated by various Arab spokesmen. It is the need to preserve the Palestinians as a separate entity until the time when they will return and reclaim the whole of Palestine; that is to say, all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel. The demand for the "return" of the refugees, in other words, means the destruction of Israel. This is highly unlikely to be approved by any Israeli government.
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
LIBERTARIAN/CONSERVATIVE DIGEST AND COMMENTARY FROM AN ACADEMIC PSYCHOLOGIST in Brisbane, Australia. My academic publications are widely read
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ok--NOW will the lefty apologists get it?
"Hamas on Thursday called on the UN to rescind the 1947 decision to partition Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs.
The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that “Palestine is Arab Islamic land, from the river to the sea, including Jerusalem... there is no room in it for the Jews.”
Regarding the partition decision, Hamas said that “correcting mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of, but prolonging it is exploitation.”
source:
Err...isn't Hamas the freely elected representative of the baby-bombers?
The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that “Palestine is Arab Islamic land, from the river to the sea, including Jerusalem... there is no room in it for the Jews.”
Regarding the partition decision, Hamas said that “correcting mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of, but prolonging it is exploitation.”
source:
Err...isn't Hamas the freely elected representative of the baby-bombers?
Cool! we know these guys. (self-indulgent post alert!)
A FOUR-year-old boy has been found playing in a croc-infested Territory creek after sneaking off pig hunting alone with four dogs and a puppy.The toddler was found five-and-a-half hours after he set off from his parents' house playing in a creek with the puppy.
Amazingly, Daniel Woditj also swam two creeks known to be inhabited by crocs during his adventurous romp."
source:
Gecko has a pic of Daniel and Captain when Daniel was a baby. Might have known he'd grow into an adventurous little guy, with the Woditj genes. :-)
Howard Was Out Of Touch?
By AR - Kevin Rudd announces his new ministry and, never short of a cliche, exhorts his ministers to shoulder the heavy burden for working families' hopes and expectations and to help people in their "workaday lives".
He should stick to meaningless cliches. Words have... nuance. Such as workaday - meaning commonplace, ordinary, prosaic, mundane.
Kevin07: out of touch already. The Australian, ABC News.
He should stick to meaningless cliches. Words have... nuance. Such as workaday - meaning commonplace, ordinary, prosaic, mundane.
Kevin07: out of touch already. The Australian, ABC News.
The savages won't get their blood, for now
Daily Mail - A British teacher accused of insulting Muslims after her class called a teddy bear Mohammed was found guilty and jailed for 15 days, a defence lawyer said tonight. Gillian Gibbons, 54, was ordered to be deported after she had completed her sentence. Robert Boulos, head of Unity high school where Gibbons worked, said: "We are happy with the verdict. It is fair. There were a lot of political pressures and attention." He added: "We will be very sad to lose her."
I read last night that some of the savages were calling for her execution, so much tolerance ey. Oh well, I'm thankful the poor woman didn't get the 40 lashes, she just has to hang in there for 10 more days and she'll be on her way home, having experienced the peace, tolerance and love of Islam in all it's glory. Unfortunately with the way things are going back home, I hope she won't assume that this sort of thing could never happen in Britain. Now, you will remember that all cultures are equal and you lot are just the same as these savages in Sudan, won't you.
I read last night that some of the savages were calling for her execution, so much tolerance ey. Oh well, I'm thankful the poor woman didn't get the 40 lashes, she just has to hang in there for 10 more days and she'll be on her way home, having experienced the peace, tolerance and love of Islam in all it's glory. Unfortunately with the way things are going back home, I hope she won't assume that this sort of thing could never happen in Britain. Now, you will remember that all cultures are equal and you lot are just the same as these savages in Sudan, won't you.
OZONE AND CO2: DEJA VU
An email to Benny Peiser from Canadian skeptic, Prof Timothy Ball [timothyball@shaw.ca] below
International Herald Tribune 22 November: The Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Song Dong is singing the same song we heard about CFCs. China (and India) said you have received the benefits of CFCs with a 30% reduction in food loss through refrigeration. Now you are telling us that this chemical is destroying the ozone and we should therefore forego the benefits you have already obtained. The proposal was the West reduce their CFCs and allow China and developing nations to increase theirs. We said no. They said fine, then we won't sign the Montreal Protocol.
I appeared before a Canadian Parliamentary Committee on the ozone issue and raised questions about this unilateral application problem. The aide to the Chair scurried out and returned 10 minutes later with the information that China and India were only producing 5% of the world's CFC production. I replied, yes, now, but if China and India increase their production to provide refrigeration for over 2 billion consumers how was our objective obtained? They changed the subject.
There never was a single piece of scientific evidence of CFCs affecting ozone in the ozone layer, no more than there is for CO2 and climate change except in computer models. Later, the IPCC TAR report identified changes in solar radiation as the most likely cause of ozone variations. This is isn't surprising because as I told the Committee and anyone else who would listen that ozone is created by sunlight or at least the ultraviolet portion. At that time climate science was still locked into the concept of a solar constant even though solar physicists were describing it as a variable star.
This mentality carried over into climate studies and still predominates today as two of the major changes in solar activity (Milankovitch Effect and the relationship between solar magnetism and cosmic radiation) that affect climate are ignored. As environmental activists have cynically understood, once politicians have something in their heads facts and logic are redundant. They are doing the same thing with CO2 - the parallels between CFCs and CO2 are amazing and the only difference is the magnitude of impact on western economies are profound.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
International Herald Tribune 22 November: The Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Song Dong is singing the same song we heard about CFCs. China (and India) said you have received the benefits of CFCs with a 30% reduction in food loss through refrigeration. Now you are telling us that this chemical is destroying the ozone and we should therefore forego the benefits you have already obtained. The proposal was the West reduce their CFCs and allow China and developing nations to increase theirs. We said no. They said fine, then we won't sign the Montreal Protocol.
I appeared before a Canadian Parliamentary Committee on the ozone issue and raised questions about this unilateral application problem. The aide to the Chair scurried out and returned 10 minutes later with the information that China and India were only producing 5% of the world's CFC production. I replied, yes, now, but if China and India increase their production to provide refrigeration for over 2 billion consumers how was our objective obtained? They changed the subject.
There never was a single piece of scientific evidence of CFCs affecting ozone in the ozone layer, no more than there is for CO2 and climate change except in computer models. Later, the IPCC TAR report identified changes in solar radiation as the most likely cause of ozone variations. This is isn't surprising because as I told the Committee and anyone else who would listen that ozone is created by sunlight or at least the ultraviolet portion. At that time climate science was still locked into the concept of a solar constant even though solar physicists were describing it as a variable star.
This mentality carried over into climate studies and still predominates today as two of the major changes in solar activity (Milankovitch Effect and the relationship between solar magnetism and cosmic radiation) that affect climate are ignored. As environmental activists have cynically understood, once politicians have something in their heads facts and logic are redundant. They are doing the same thing with CO2 - the parallels between CFCs and CO2 are amazing and the only difference is the magnitude of impact on western economies are profound.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Defending your castle - Wrong country mate
Man shoots teenager trespassing in his backyard - A Canberra man allegedly shot a teenager in the hip after finding the boy in his backyard early yesterday morning. The 63-year-old's due to face the ACT Magistrates Court today charged with intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm and possessing unauthorised firearms. Police say the man found the 16-year-old in his Downer backyard at about 2.30 yesterday afternoon and shot him. Officers searched the older man's home last night and allegedly found two unauthorised firearms and a large amount of ammunition. The victim's being treated in hospital.
If he was over in America, they'd probably shrug it off, no problem, scumbag caught in the backyard, shouldn't have been there, thanks for not killing him, maybe he'll change his ways. Over here, no way, don't work like that son, you're not allowed a gun old chap, we don't care if the scumbag has a gun or not. You are not allowed one, period. We prefer the headline, old timer bashed and robbed [shock/horror], police looking for teenager, call crime stoppers. If all your lifesavings were stolen, tough sh*t, go to centrelink, nobody cares for the law-abiding. You're not allowed to defend your castle, if you do, you're the bad guy and the crim is suddenly the "victim", quick - somebody get baby whatever he wants.
If he was over in America, they'd probably shrug it off, no problem, scumbag caught in the backyard, shouldn't have been there, thanks for not killing him, maybe he'll change his ways. Over here, no way, don't work like that son, you're not allowed a gun old chap, we don't care if the scumbag has a gun or not. You are not allowed one, period. We prefer the headline, old timer bashed and robbed [shock/horror], police looking for teenager, call crime stoppers. If all your lifesavings were stolen, tough sh*t, go to centrelink, nobody cares for the law-abiding. You're not allowed to defend your castle, if you do, you're the bad guy and the crim is suddenly the "victim", quick - somebody get baby whatever he wants.
Tony Blair’s Legacy
Daily Mail - English children's literacy levels are among the worst in the Western world, a devastating international survey has revealed. England has plummeted down a global league table of reading standards among primary school children, sliding from third place five years ago to 19th. We now trail Scotland, the United States, most of Europe including France, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states. The findings explode ministers' claims that standards have continually risen under Labour, which has doubled education spending on schools and nurseries to £50billion-a-year. At least £600million has been invested in primary school literacy initiatives alone since 1998. Yet our showing in independent international tests suggests that, far from improving, the performance of England's primary pupils has actually declined.
How many years has it been since Tony Blair and New Labor, out here in Australia we have a leftist promising an 'Education Revolution'. Look to the above if you want to know what lies ahead of us. Is there anything the left touch, that doesn't turn to crap. I read earlier in the week how Maori and Pacific Islander children in New Zealand are worse off than children of other ethnic groups, who's been running New Zealand for the last couple of years, who claims to "CARE" the most for them. Look on the bright side, they might not know how to read and write, but I'm sure they know how evil America is and how mean and horrible Christians are and how evil the British Empire was and how wretched the white man is and how wonderful all other cultures are, and off course Islam=Peace, all the important things in the new leftist utopia. Oh, and rest assured the leftist's answer will be to steal more money from the tax payer and put even more billions into education.
How many years has it been since Tony Blair and New Labor, out here in Australia we have a leftist promising an 'Education Revolution'. Look to the above if you want to know what lies ahead of us. Is there anything the left touch, that doesn't turn to crap. I read earlier in the week how Maori and Pacific Islander children in New Zealand are worse off than children of other ethnic groups, who's been running New Zealand for the last couple of years, who claims to "CARE" the most for them. Look on the bright side, they might not know how to read and write, but I'm sure they know how evil America is and how mean and horrible Christians are and how evil the British Empire was and how wretched the white man is and how wonderful all other cultures are, and off course Islam=Peace, all the important things in the new leftist utopia. Oh, and rest assured the leftist's answer will be to steal more money from the tax payer and put even more billions into education.
Arrogant Afghan still ignoring the basic facts
Cosma Shalizi is a rather egotistical-sounding young man of apparently Afghan ancestry. He is also an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. On his blog, Three Toed Sloth, he has a long post demonstrating that a popular form of mathematical analysis generically called factor analysis cannot be used to demonstrate the existence of IQ (or 'g' as we psychometricans call it).
His criticisms are perfectly correct. Factor analysis cannot prove ANYTHING in fact. It is just a convenient but rather arbitrary way of summarizing a set of correlations. Factor analysis is such a weak technique that I myself in my more than 200 published academic papers have used it only rarely -- even though I normally present my research results in correlational form. Shalizi is also correct in saying that much of the research into IQ has used factor analysis as a way of summarizing findings. That the findings are not DEPENDANT on that descriptive technique is the point he appears to overlook.
The underlying finding for 100 years or more is that ability to solve one sort of puzzle generalizes strongly to the ability to solve other quite different sorts of puzzle. Problem solving ability is general, no matter how you choose to summarize that. And problem-solving ability is what IQ or 'g' measures.
OK. What I have just said above is an excerpt from what I said on October 25. I emailed Shalizi a link to the October 25 post and I hear that others did so too. He has completely ignored it. In fact he has a very inflated recent post here in which he uses his previously demonstrated "wisdom" to attack the article on IQ in Slate by Saletan. Shalizi is so sure of his wisdom that he can only ascribe discreditable motives to Saletan and his editors for publishing what they did. And other bloggers (e.g. here) have taken Shalizi and his conclusions at face value. They seem to think that Shalizi has made lots of large correlations between different types of ability tests suddenly disappear!
A matter I did not address in my previous post is heritability. Once again in this case, Shalizi uses perfectly legitimate concerns about the statistical techniques used in summarizing the findings to claim that no firm conclusions at all are possible. In so doing he is using an old Leftist dodge that I commented on many years ago. He sets the standard so high for what he will accept as satisfactory evidence that nobody could prove anything to him under such standards.
In most of science, maybe ALL of science, you cannot prove things beyond all shadow of doubt -- so someone who does not want to believe something will always be able to say that the evidence is still not good enough. But if we normally behaved that way we would disregard most science. But we don't. And that is because we get a lot further by accepting that science is an enterprise that deals in probabilities rather than in certainties. If you want certainty, you need to turn to either theology or mathematics and you might not even find it there.
So what Shalizi is doing is what is called "intellectual dishonesty" -- judging a matter not on the balance of the evidence for and against it but rather on whether or not the concusions suit him.
And again, when you look at the underlying evidence about heritability that the various statistical techniques try to summarize, there is a lot there that Shalizi just cannot make go away. The IQ scores of identical twins will almost always be strikingly similar, for instance -- much more similar than the IQs of normal brothers and sisters or even of fraternal twins -- and certainly much more similar than the scores of random strangers. The facts on the ground just don't go away, no matter how you choose to summarize them. And those facts show that IQ scores are clearly tied to your genetic inheritance.
Razib makes further points about Shalizi's shilly shallying. Razib shows that, if you look hard enough, Shalizi does in fact to a degree acknowledge the underlying realities in his writings. But you would never guess that from his dismissive conclusions.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
His criticisms are perfectly correct. Factor analysis cannot prove ANYTHING in fact. It is just a convenient but rather arbitrary way of summarizing a set of correlations. Factor analysis is such a weak technique that I myself in my more than 200 published academic papers have used it only rarely -- even though I normally present my research results in correlational form. Shalizi is also correct in saying that much of the research into IQ has used factor analysis as a way of summarizing findings. That the findings are not DEPENDANT on that descriptive technique is the point he appears to overlook.
The underlying finding for 100 years or more is that ability to solve one sort of puzzle generalizes strongly to the ability to solve other quite different sorts of puzzle. Problem solving ability is general, no matter how you choose to summarize that. And problem-solving ability is what IQ or 'g' measures.
OK. What I have just said above is an excerpt from what I said on October 25. I emailed Shalizi a link to the October 25 post and I hear that others did so too. He has completely ignored it. In fact he has a very inflated recent post here in which he uses his previously demonstrated "wisdom" to attack the article on IQ in Slate by Saletan. Shalizi is so sure of his wisdom that he can only ascribe discreditable motives to Saletan and his editors for publishing what they did. And other bloggers (e.g. here) have taken Shalizi and his conclusions at face value. They seem to think that Shalizi has made lots of large correlations between different types of ability tests suddenly disappear!
A matter I did not address in my previous post is heritability. Once again in this case, Shalizi uses perfectly legitimate concerns about the statistical techniques used in summarizing the findings to claim that no firm conclusions at all are possible. In so doing he is using an old Leftist dodge that I commented on many years ago. He sets the standard so high for what he will accept as satisfactory evidence that nobody could prove anything to him under such standards.
In most of science, maybe ALL of science, you cannot prove things beyond all shadow of doubt -- so someone who does not want to believe something will always be able to say that the evidence is still not good enough. But if we normally behaved that way we would disregard most science. But we don't. And that is because we get a lot further by accepting that science is an enterprise that deals in probabilities rather than in certainties. If you want certainty, you need to turn to either theology or mathematics and you might not even find it there.
So what Shalizi is doing is what is called "intellectual dishonesty" -- judging a matter not on the balance of the evidence for and against it but rather on whether or not the concusions suit him.
And again, when you look at the underlying evidence about heritability that the various statistical techniques try to summarize, there is a lot there that Shalizi just cannot make go away. The IQ scores of identical twins will almost always be strikingly similar, for instance -- much more similar than the IQs of normal brothers and sisters or even of fraternal twins -- and certainly much more similar than the scores of random strangers. The facts on the ground just don't go away, no matter how you choose to summarize them. And those facts show that IQ scores are clearly tied to your genetic inheritance.
Razib makes further points about Shalizi's shilly shallying. Razib shows that, if you look hard enough, Shalizi does in fact to a degree acknowledge the underlying realities in his writings. But you would never guess that from his dismissive conclusions.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
A Strong Cup of Tea
By AR - You could imagine the hilarity among the leftards if John Howard mentioned discussing real world matters such as terrorism with George Bush, "over a strong cup of tea". There would be howls of derision, comparisons of Janette and Hyacinth Bucket getting out the Royal Doulton tea-sets. So when Kevin Rudd describes a conversation with Alarming Al Gore as:
"We talked a lot about climate change and some of the important things that need to be done globally," Rudd said. "We'll resume that conversation in Bali over a strong cup of tea or something stronger."Will we hear any leftards invoking imagery of Nero fiddling or in this case, drinking tea, while Rome burns? No way, they'll lap this up.
Australia ranked world's third most livable nation
Ratings such as this are highly arbitrary. They are interesting only if you agree with the critieria used. The criteria behind this one seem reasonably down to earth. Silly old Donald Horne got one thing right when he called Australia the lucky country. Though Australia's easy life has more to do with the hard work and good sense of our forebears than luck. Still, we are lucky that they generally were people of such good attributes
AUSTRALIA is the third most desirable country to live in, according to an annual United Nations report that looks at wealth, life expectancy and educational levels. Australia came in behind top-ranking Iceland and Norway in second spot. The top three nations have not changed since last year's report, when Australia was again third but Norway was on top and Iceland second. AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states occupied the lowest rankings of the UN Human Development Index. As expected, rich free-market countries dominate the top places. Behind Iceland, Norway and Australia come Canada and Ireland. But the US has slipped to 12th, from eighth last year."
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
AUSTRALIA is the third most desirable country to live in, according to an annual United Nations report that looks at wealth, life expectancy and educational levels. Australia came in behind top-ranking Iceland and Norway in second spot. The top three nations have not changed since last year's report, when Australia was again third but Norway was on top and Iceland second. AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states occupied the lowest rankings of the UN Human Development Index. As expected, rich free-market countries dominate the top places. Behind Iceland, Norway and Australia come Canada and Ireland. But the US has slipped to 12th, from eighth last year."
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
I wonder if the school will go ahead
LiveNews - Police are investigating the discovery of two pigs heads at the site of a proposed Islamic school in Sydney's southwest. The gruesome discovery was made around 6am on Cawdor Road at Camden. Metal poles had been stuck into the ground with two pigs heads stuck on top of them. The area of land is the proposed site for an Islamic school, which has angered the local community.
If site can't be used any longer because of the pig's heads, then expect this to be the new form of resistance to the religion of peace and the multi-culturalists who are hell bent on shoving this down our throats, no matter what the people think. Leftists might look to banning pigs altogether in the name of diversity and choice.
If site can't be used any longer because of the pig's heads, then expect this to be the new form of resistance to the religion of peace and the multi-culturalists who are hell bent on shoving this down our throats, no matter what the people think. Leftists might look to banning pigs altogether in the name of diversity and choice.
*snicker*
"ALP friction over intervention
THE incoming government's support for John Howard's intervention to combat child abuse in NT Aboriginal communities faces growing opposition within Labor's Left."
THE incoming government's support for John Howard's intervention to combat child abuse in NT Aboriginal communities faces growing opposition within Labor's Left."
Casino gave $100,000 to Labor
"STAR City made a one-off $100,000 donation to the NSW Labor Party in the lead-up to the 2007 election - only months before it was due to begin negotiations with the State Government over its monopoly casino licence."
source
source
Manufactured "news"?
"Police investigate hoon video
WEST Australian police are investigating a video posted on the internet showing a police car doing "doughnuts" in a paddock.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows what appears to be a WA police car doing "doughnuts" in a red dusty paddock before onlookers.
A police spokesman said it was possible the video was taken near showgrounds in Carnamah, a small country town in the northern wheatbelt, in the state's midwest region, last September.
He said police were investigating and would comment later today."
news.com
On the face of it, a couple of irresponsible Police officers having fun and setting a bad example, right? A tasty little news story...
EXCEPT:
I got an email from a friend this morning who knows what actually happened.
(parts of the mail redacted to protect his privacy)
"They were at the Community Fair and were asked by the organisers of the fair to do some precision driving. It was done in full view of the whole fucking town at special request with safety barriers set up in front of the crowd.
deleted (who was driving) has been stood down pending investigation and they wanted to do it to the passenger as well.
Ch 7 News tonight even had the mayor of the town on the phone saying how they were requested to do it for the community fair..
This is just another beat up and witch hunt by people who want to disarm our police and want the right to misbehave any way they want and I'd like that to be known."
Can't have citizens getting behind their local Police officers, can we? Why, at this rate the interests of the communities they serve will come before the wishes of the latte' lefties!
WEST Australian police are investigating a video posted on the internet showing a police car doing "doughnuts" in a paddock.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows what appears to be a WA police car doing "doughnuts" in a red dusty paddock before onlookers.
A police spokesman said it was possible the video was taken near showgrounds in Carnamah, a small country town in the northern wheatbelt, in the state's midwest region, last September.
He said police were investigating and would comment later today."
news.com
On the face of it, a couple of irresponsible Police officers having fun and setting a bad example, right? A tasty little news story...
EXCEPT:
I got an email from a friend this morning who knows what actually happened.
(parts of the mail redacted to protect his privacy)
"They were at the Community Fair and were asked by the organisers of the fair to do some precision driving. It was done in full view of the whole fucking town at special request with safety barriers set up in front of the crowd.
deleted (who was driving) has been stood down pending investigation and they wanted to do it to the passenger as well.
Ch 7 News tonight even had the mayor of the town on the phone saying how they were requested to do it for the community fair..
This is just another beat up and witch hunt by people who want to disarm our police and want the right to misbehave any way they want and I'd like that to be known."
Can't have citizens getting behind their local Police officers, can we? Why, at this rate the interests of the communities they serve will come before the wishes of the latte' lefties!
Paris burns for a second night
Telegraph.co.uk - President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is facing his first serious test of his law and order credentials after a second night of rioting erupted in northern Paris leaving more than 60 officers injured. Of the injured officers five are said to be in a critical condition with one of them reportedly being shot. Up to 160 riot officers fired tear gas and plastic bullets as they were pelted with stones and petrol bombs by youths in the high-immigrant area. The violence spread from the hotspot suburb of Villiers-le-Bel 20 miles north of the centre of Paris to several surrounding areas, police said.
When you read the news reports, it's very hard to tell where these "youths" are from, perhaps Bolivia or Vietnam or something, we just don't know, Nepal or Angola perhaps. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're the usual followers of the religion of peace and tolerance.
State prosecutor Marie-Therese Givry said witnesses had confirmed the police officers' version which said the bike smashed into the side of their car during a routine patrol. Neither youth was wearing a helmet. "This was a traffic accident between an unlicensed bike and a police car driving normally ... which was not chasing anyone and whose siren had not been turned on," she said. However, Omar Sehhouli, brother of one of the victims, accused police of ramming the motorbike - a mini-size bike not allowed on the road – and of failing to assist the injured teenagers. "This is a failure to assist a person in danger... it is 100-per cent a blunder. They know it, and that's why they did not stay at the scene," he told France Info radio. He demanded an apology from the police chief.
No Omar, your brother and his friend were both morons, they didn't have the brains to wear helmets and they didn't have the brains to ride that thing they were on, so they crashed into a car that happened to be a police car and they're now both dead. But just like everywhere else on the planet where these peaceful and tolerant Muslims move to it's always someone else, the world, America, the Jews, the moon, the sun, anything but themselves. Elsewhere Omar was showing his soft, artistic side.
Islam Online - Sehhouli told AFP the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage," saying he wanted the police officers "responsible" for the accident to be brought to justice.
Can they bring you and your band of savages to justice as well Omar? Oh and as for the charge of the police not helping, the reports are that they did, none the less would you hang around waiting for Omar and his gang of stupid, angry, savages to turn up so you can all hold hands and sing kumbaya, I didn't think so. Oh well, it's a terrible loss, two less to deal with, so sad, where are my tissues.
When you read the news reports, it's very hard to tell where these "youths" are from, perhaps Bolivia or Vietnam or something, we just don't know, Nepal or Angola perhaps. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're the usual followers of the religion of peace and tolerance.
State prosecutor Marie-Therese Givry said witnesses had confirmed the police officers' version which said the bike smashed into the side of their car during a routine patrol. Neither youth was wearing a helmet. "This was a traffic accident between an unlicensed bike and a police car driving normally ... which was not chasing anyone and whose siren had not been turned on," she said. However, Omar Sehhouli, brother of one of the victims, accused police of ramming the motorbike - a mini-size bike not allowed on the road – and of failing to assist the injured teenagers. "This is a failure to assist a person in danger... it is 100-per cent a blunder. They know it, and that's why they did not stay at the scene," he told France Info radio. He demanded an apology from the police chief.
No Omar, your brother and his friend were both morons, they didn't have the brains to wear helmets and they didn't have the brains to ride that thing they were on, so they crashed into a car that happened to be a police car and they're now both dead. But just like everywhere else on the planet where these peaceful and tolerant Muslims move to it's always someone else, the world, America, the Jews, the moon, the sun, anything but themselves. Elsewhere Omar was showing his soft, artistic side.
Islam Online - Sehhouli told AFP the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage," saying he wanted the police officers "responsible" for the accident to be brought to justice.
Can they bring you and your band of savages to justice as well Omar? Oh and as for the charge of the police not helping, the reports are that they did, none the less would you hang around waiting for Omar and his gang of stupid, angry, savages to turn up so you can all hold hands and sing kumbaya, I didn't think so. Oh well, it's a terrible loss, two less to deal with, so sad, where are my tissues.
The Travails of being a Telstra/Bigpond customer
For the benefit of overseas readers, Telstra is the main provider of telephone services in Australia and their Bigpond subsidiary is the main provider of internet cable connections. I have the misfortune to be a customer of both.
You can read details of the problems I have had in getting some sign of intelligence from them here.
If you ever want to express your disquiet at their poor service, the phone no. of the office of their CEO is 02 9329 2274. Getting Telstra phone nos. is a rare feat so you may want to bookmark this post.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
You can read details of the problems I have had in getting some sign of intelligence from them here.
If you ever want to express your disquiet at their poor service, the phone no. of the office of their CEO is 02 9329 2274. Getting Telstra phone nos. is a rare feat so you may want to bookmark this post.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
A SURGE OF GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ
Excerpt from Jeff Jacoby
The news from Iraq has been so encouraging in recent months that last week even the mainstream media finally sat up and took notice. Can the Democratic Party be far behind? In a story titled "Baghdad Comes Alive," Rod Nordland reports in the current Newsweek on the heartening transformation underway in the Iraqi capital: "Returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months," he writes, "I can actually say that things do seem to have gotten better, and in ways that may even be durable . . . There hasn't been a successful suicide car bombing in Baghdad in five weeks . . . Al Qaeda in Iraq is starting to look like a spent force, especially in Baghdad."
The signs of life, Nordland acknowledges "grudgingly" - his word - are undeniable. "Emerging from our bunkers into the Red Zone, I see the results everywhere. Throughout Baghdad, shops and street markets are open late again, taking advantage of the fine November weather. Parks are crowded with strollers, and kids play soccer on the streets. Traffic has resumed its customary epic snarl. The Baghdad Zoo is open, and caretakers have even managed to bring in two lionesses to replace the menagerie that escaped in the early days of the war. . . . The Shorja bazaar in old Baghdad, hit by at least six different car bombs killing hundreds in the last year, is again crowded with people among the narrow tented stalls. On nearby Al-Rasheed Street, the famous booksellers are back in business. . . . People are buying alcohol again -- as they always had in Baghdad, until religious extremists forced many neighborhood liquor shops to close."
Newsweek's isn't the only big media voice bringing tidings of comfort and joy from the Iraqi theatre. On Tuesday, The New York Times led its front page with a good-news headline - "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves" - and a large photo of an Iraqi bride and groom, bedecked in wedding finery and accompanied by a band. Below that: a picture of smiling diners at Al Faris, a restaurant on the Tigris riverbank that is booming once again. Inside, across four columns, another photo showed an outdoor foosball game in Baghdad's Haifa Street, once dubbed the "Street of Fear" because it was the scene of so many lethal sectarian attacks.
In another Page 1 story the day before ("U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Fell to the Level of Early Last Year"), the Times recounted some of the auspicious data: civilian fatalities down 75 percent in recent months, Iraqi security-force casualties down 40 percent, total weekly attacks nationwide down nearly two-thirds since June. The Los Angeles Times, too, fronted a story on the promising developments, describing last Monday an "unexpected flowering of sectarian cooperation" in which "Sunnis and Shi'ites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants." The results, the paper reported from the rural community of Qarghulia on Monday, "are palpable. Killings are down dramatically and public confidence is reviving." ....
With the media at last paying attention to the remarkable progress in Iraq, shouldn't leading Democrats think about doing the same? Perhaps this would be a good time for Hillary Clinton to express regret for telling Petraeus that his recent progress report on Iraq required "a willing suspension of disbelief" -- in effect, calling him a liar. Perhaps Senate majority leader Harry Reid should admit that he may have been wrong when he declared so emphatically: "This war is lost, and the surge is not accomplishing anything."
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The news from Iraq has been so encouraging in recent months that last week even the mainstream media finally sat up and took notice. Can the Democratic Party be far behind? In a story titled "Baghdad Comes Alive," Rod Nordland reports in the current Newsweek on the heartening transformation underway in the Iraqi capital: "Returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months," he writes, "I can actually say that things do seem to have gotten better, and in ways that may even be durable . . . There hasn't been a successful suicide car bombing in Baghdad in five weeks . . . Al Qaeda in Iraq is starting to look like a spent force, especially in Baghdad."
The signs of life, Nordland acknowledges "grudgingly" - his word - are undeniable. "Emerging from our bunkers into the Red Zone, I see the results everywhere. Throughout Baghdad, shops and street markets are open late again, taking advantage of the fine November weather. Parks are crowded with strollers, and kids play soccer on the streets. Traffic has resumed its customary epic snarl. The Baghdad Zoo is open, and caretakers have even managed to bring in two lionesses to replace the menagerie that escaped in the early days of the war. . . . The Shorja bazaar in old Baghdad, hit by at least six different car bombs killing hundreds in the last year, is again crowded with people among the narrow tented stalls. On nearby Al-Rasheed Street, the famous booksellers are back in business. . . . People are buying alcohol again -- as they always had in Baghdad, until religious extremists forced many neighborhood liquor shops to close."
Newsweek's isn't the only big media voice bringing tidings of comfort and joy from the Iraqi theatre. On Tuesday, The New York Times led its front page with a good-news headline - "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves" - and a large photo of an Iraqi bride and groom, bedecked in wedding finery and accompanied by a band. Below that: a picture of smiling diners at Al Faris, a restaurant on the Tigris riverbank that is booming once again. Inside, across four columns, another photo showed an outdoor foosball game in Baghdad's Haifa Street, once dubbed the "Street of Fear" because it was the scene of so many lethal sectarian attacks.
In another Page 1 story the day before ("U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Fell to the Level of Early Last Year"), the Times recounted some of the auspicious data: civilian fatalities down 75 percent in recent months, Iraqi security-force casualties down 40 percent, total weekly attacks nationwide down nearly two-thirds since June. The Los Angeles Times, too, fronted a story on the promising developments, describing last Monday an "unexpected flowering of sectarian cooperation" in which "Sunnis and Shi'ites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants." The results, the paper reported from the rural community of Qarghulia on Monday, "are palpable. Killings are down dramatically and public confidence is reviving." ....
With the media at last paying attention to the remarkable progress in Iraq, shouldn't leading Democrats think about doing the same? Perhaps this would be a good time for Hillary Clinton to express regret for telling Petraeus that his recent progress report on Iraq required "a willing suspension of disbelief" -- in effect, calling him a liar. Perhaps Senate majority leader Harry Reid should admit that he may have been wrong when he declared so emphatically: "This war is lost, and the surge is not accomplishing anything."
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The Senate battle begins
Leftist rage in evidence already. A wiser man would start negotiating -- and do so in a civil manner. But I guess his glass jaw is showing already. Flying into a rage when frustrated seems to be his form
Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says the Coalition is being "arrogant" if it thinks it can stand in the way of his Government's workplace reforms. Senior Coalition figures admit that Labor now has a mandate to abolish WorkChoices, but they warn that Senate support for the ALP's changes is not guaranteed. The Coalition will retain control the Senate until July next year but Mr Rudd says Opposition senators must listen to the voters.
"There could not be greater clarity about what we stand for and propose," he said. "Are the Liberals still so out of touch with working people in Australia that they think they have a mandate to retain WorkChoices? "Is that the sort of arrogant statement we're hearing from the Liberals two or three days after an election?"
Liberal leadership candidate Brendan Nelson says the Liberal party has received a strong signal on WorkChoices, but he has concerns about the impact of Labor's plans to change unfair dismissal laws. "We've got to make sure that the Labor Party does what it said it would do," he said. "We'll look very carefully at any legislation that is presented. I feel very strongly about any retreat at all on unfair dismissal law provisions."
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says the Coalition is being "arrogant" if it thinks it can stand in the way of his Government's workplace reforms. Senior Coalition figures admit that Labor now has a mandate to abolish WorkChoices, but they warn that Senate support for the ALP's changes is not guaranteed. The Coalition will retain control the Senate until July next year but Mr Rudd says Opposition senators must listen to the voters.
"There could not be greater clarity about what we stand for and propose," he said. "Are the Liberals still so out of touch with working people in Australia that they think they have a mandate to retain WorkChoices? "Is that the sort of arrogant statement we're hearing from the Liberals two or three days after an election?"
Liberal leadership candidate Brendan Nelson says the Liberal party has received a strong signal on WorkChoices, but he has concerns about the impact of Labor's plans to change unfair dismissal laws. "We've got to make sure that the Labor Party does what it said it would do," he said. "We'll look very carefully at any legislation that is presented. I feel very strongly about any retreat at all on unfair dismissal law provisions."
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The piper is at the door
Yahoo!7 News - In another of Mr Rudd's priorities, the Labor leader says any apology to Indigenous Australians will only be made after adequate consultation with Aboriginal communities. Aboriginal elder Lowitja O'Donoghue says an apology from Mr Rudd would be meaningless unless he uses the symbolically-important word "sorry".
The Australian - THE ACT will use the election of Kevin Rudd to push again for gay civil unions, blocked by the Coalition twice in the past. ACT chief minister Jon Stanhope today said he looked forward to a better relationship with the Commonwealth under Labor and would be looking for support for its bill. "We have a clear mandate in government to pursue reform," he told ABC radio.
This is what the left are all about, we didn't hear much about all this during the election did we. I'm not so sure that most Australians will be happy with the above, but when the media refuse to ask the tough questions, then it falls to us to do our homework and a bit of remembering. I saw Bob Brown the other day, with a beaming smile telling us, now that we have a new PM, we would have a more "just" Australia. The left are still the same, they haven't changed, they just kept real quiet so you wouldn't notice. Maybe we didn't do our homework or this is what we want, either way it's time to pay the piper.
The Australian - THE ACT will use the election of Kevin Rudd to push again for gay civil unions, blocked by the Coalition twice in the past. ACT chief minister Jon Stanhope today said he looked forward to a better relationship with the Commonwealth under Labor and would be looking for support for its bill. "We have a clear mandate in government to pursue reform," he told ABC radio.
This is what the left are all about, we didn't hear much about all this during the election did we. I'm not so sure that most Australians will be happy with the above, but when the media refuse to ask the tough questions, then it falls to us to do our homework and a bit of remembering. I saw Bob Brown the other day, with a beaming smile telling us, now that we have a new PM, we would have a more "just" Australia. The left are still the same, they haven't changed, they just kept real quiet so you wouldn't notice. Maybe we didn't do our homework or this is what we want, either way it's time to pay the piper.
Did you read the terms and conditions?
SMH - The act of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol may create headaches for the incoming Labor government, an international law expert says. Without domestic legislation in place the new government could be in breach of its international legal obligations. Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd has said he will ratify the global greenhouse gas reduction agreement when he attends a meeting of world leaders in Bali next month.
During the campaign, he was going to sign Kyoto in micro-seconds after WorkChoices was burnt at Telstra stadium, gee I thought this was already done. What the hell PM Rudd, you have a mandate, what about the plans you told us about, didn't you know about all this? What's all this about flying off to Bali in carbon-belching planes for meetings and lawyers, we're going into Bushfire season soon mate. I mean we're all going to die from heat just now aren't we, we don't have time to dither, sign it and kick it through. Australia has to show leadership, fresh ideas and all that, for the love of Gaia, think of the working families and their children.
During the campaign, he was going to sign Kyoto in micro-seconds after WorkChoices was burnt at Telstra stadium, gee I thought this was already done. What the hell PM Rudd, you have a mandate, what about the plans you told us about, didn't you know about all this? What's all this about flying off to Bali in carbon-belching planes for meetings and lawyers, we're going into Bushfire season soon mate. I mean we're all going to die from heat just now aren't we, we don't have time to dither, sign it and kick it through. Australia has to show leadership, fresh ideas and all that, for the love of Gaia, think of the working families and their children.
Those friendly, tolerant, peaceful Muslims again
Reuters - A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam's Prophet by letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Mohammed, her school said on Monday. Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, aged 54 from Liverpool, told Reuters they feared for her safety after receiving reports that young men had already started gathering outside the Khartoum police station where she was being held.
Police arrested Gibbons on Sunday at her home inside the school premises, said Unity director Robert Boulos, after a number of parents made a complaint to Sudan's Ministry of Education. Boulos said she had since been charged with "blasphemy", an offence he said was punishable with up to three months in prison and a fine. Boulos said he had decided to close down the school until January for fear of reprisals in Sudan's predominantly Muslim capital. "This is a very sensitive issue."
I'm surprised they hadn't burned the school down, I mean paradise forbid the school taught their own children anything. Can't have any of that, they might catch what the filthy infidel has, they might make a better life for themselves, you know shuffle out of the stone age, violence, war, murdering and all that. Violent, intolerant, pig-ignorant, stupid savages, that's what they are. But don't you lot forget to be sensitive and tolerant and promote diversity and all that you hear!!
Better not forget it, if not the Islamic savages, then the leftist scumbags will get you, say it with me, SAAAAAAY IIIIIIIIIIT, Islam is peace, down with Christians, they are worse, sorry for the crusades, down with Christians, down with whitey, no to racism and western intolerance, er... make that white racism and white intolerance, global warming is more important, down with America. There, I hope I've filled my daily quota of leftist gibbering.
Police arrested Gibbons on Sunday at her home inside the school premises, said Unity director Robert Boulos, after a number of parents made a complaint to Sudan's Ministry of Education. Boulos said she had since been charged with "blasphemy", an offence he said was punishable with up to three months in prison and a fine. Boulos said he had decided to close down the school until January for fear of reprisals in Sudan's predominantly Muslim capital. "This is a very sensitive issue."
I'm surprised they hadn't burned the school down, I mean paradise forbid the school taught their own children anything. Can't have any of that, they might catch what the filthy infidel has, they might make a better life for themselves, you know shuffle out of the stone age, violence, war, murdering and all that. Violent, intolerant, pig-ignorant, stupid savages, that's what they are. But don't you lot forget to be sensitive and tolerant and promote diversity and all that you hear!!
Better not forget it, if not the Islamic savages, then the leftist scumbags will get you, say it with me, SAAAAAAY IIIIIIIIIIT, Islam is peace, down with Christians, they are worse, sorry for the crusades, down with Christians, down with whitey, no to racism and western intolerance, er... make that white racism and white intolerance, global warming is more important, down with America. There, I hope I've filled my daily quota of leftist gibbering.
Canada bends over:
Just north of the U.S., in Canada, a waitress is in danger of being imprisoned for posting non-PC Bible verses on the net.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has actually threatened to imprison 21-year-old waitress Jessica Beaumont for posting Bible quotations online.
The verses?
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
—LEVITICUS 18:22
and:
If a man lies with man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
—LEVITICUS 20:13
"The CHRT has barred her from posting similar remarks, even on websites hosted in other countries. By simply posting biblical scripture, she could be jailed for up to five years. How’s that for a precedent?"
from Aurora at The Midnight Sun
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has actually threatened to imprison 21-year-old waitress Jessica Beaumont for posting Bible quotations online.
The verses?
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
—LEVITICUS 18:22
and:
If a man lies with man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
—LEVITICUS 20:13
"The CHRT has barred her from posting similar remarks, even on websites hosted in other countries. By simply posting biblical scripture, she could be jailed for up to five years. How’s that for a precedent?"
from Aurora at The Midnight Sun
Religion of Peace update:
"Meanwhile, horrifying new details emerged last night of the attempt by suicide bombers to kill Ms Bhutto on her return home from exile last month. Investigators from Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said yesterday they believed the bomb, which killed 170 people and left hundreds more wounded, was strapped to a one-year-old child carried by its jihadist father."
Belmont Club
And still Western politicians, "journalists" and lefty apologists find excuses for these sick bastards.
Belmont Club
And still Western politicians, "journalists" and lefty apologists find excuses for these sick bastards.
The new Australian government and Kyoto: A brief comment
The new Australian government is remarkably conservative for a nominally Leftist government so it is likely that its Leftist moves will be more token than significant. And the resolve of Prime-minister-elect Kevin Rudd to sign the Kyoto treaty is a good example of such tokenism. Australia's emissions of carbon dioxide are already in line with what most of Europe has achieved so the signing will make little difference.
It should also be noted that Rudd will have to get the treaty through the Senate and, in a quirk of Australian politics, he is unlikely to be able to do that until July, 2008. Senate membership does not change until then and the present Senate is conservative-dominated. So Rudd's talk of "immediate" action is just the usual political flim-flam.
I doubt that the Iraq withdrawal will happen soon either. Time will tell.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
It should also be noted that Rudd will have to get the treaty through the Senate and, in a quirk of Australian politics, he is unlikely to be able to do that until July, 2008. Senate membership does not change until then and the present Senate is conservative-dominated. So Rudd's talk of "immediate" action is just the usual political flim-flam.
I doubt that the Iraq withdrawal will happen soon either. Time will tell.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Traditional Catholicism reviving strongly in France
They give the traitorous "modernizers" who believe in nothing their answer. I don't believe in any of it either but nor do I pretend to be a Catholic. Those who do believe, however, have the very best of my best wishes. Excerpt:
If the photographs in Les communautes traditionnelles en France are anything to go by, then just across the Channel there lies a whole rich seam of Catholic religious life that is young, vibrant and growing. In addition to youthfulness and success, there are two other common features that unite the communities featured in this book. One is that they all have the extraordinary form of the Roman liturgy - the "traditional" rites liberated by Pope Benedict XVI's recent Motu Proprio - as the heart and foundation of their spirituality. The other is that many of them long enjoyed the steadfast, if unofficial support, of a certain well-placed cardinal in Rome. His name was Joseph Ratzinger.
Looking at these particular images it is not difficult to understand just why the Pope and his right-hand cardinal have invested so much hope in these communities. Whether it is Solemn Vespers in a great baroque abbey, or low Mass celebrated on a rock in a clearing for scouts, the liturgical celebrations depicted in this book are all beautiful and dignified. The average age of the monks, nuns, friars and priests and seminarians is also remarkably young. According to Cardinal Castrillon, this should not surprise us. The message that these communities pursue is the message of Jesus Christ. This message is eternal, and therefore forever young.
These intriguing photographs invite us to enter into another world. Despite the obvious challenges implicit in a daily life circumscribed by rules and traditions, the subjects of these communities look remarkably happy. The text often talks of sacrifice and self-surrender, but the pictures show young faces that are smiling and laughing.
There is certainly no hint of any crisis of clerical identity. These young clerics do not rely on jeans or Che Guevara T-shirts to make them feel connected to the youth; rather, it is the authenticity of their life that seems to make that connection. We see seminarians effortlessly skiing through the alps in long black soutanes, while nuns in crisply starched wimples gather hay in the fields outside Marseilles. At the high point of the traditionalist calendar - the annual Pentecost pilgrimage to Chartres - thousands of young pilgrims walk behind priests, monks and friars on the three-day march from Paris. Carrying crosses and banners, they all look very glad, and proud, to be Catholic.
Neither is there any evidence of a decline in vocations. The story of the Benedictine convent of Jouques is typical. Since its foundation near Aix en Provence in 1967 this community has attracted so many vocations to its novitiate that it has been necessary to open daughter houses elsewhere in France and in Africa to house the overspill.
The monks of Le Barroux, north of Avignon, still wear the corona - the full monastic tonsure depicted in medieval woodcuts and books of hours. After humble beginnings in a caravan in 1970 this community now worships in a mighty abbey church which the monks built themselves in the form of a Romanesque basilica. In the early hours of the morning, this building hums like a holy beehive as the many priest-monks celebrate their private Mass at side altars, served by novices and lay brothers. The extensive choirstalls here are now so full that this monastery has been able to spare a detachment of young monks to found a daughter house not far from Toulouse.
All of the institutes featured in the book are run on strictly traditional principles. But this does not make them old-fashioned. Rather, it gives them a timelessness that many young people are finding increasingly attractive. Some of the communities are contemplative, but many are active. A good example is the Institute of Christ the King. From its picturesque Renaissance villa outside Florence "The Institute" has gradually grown into a global conglomerate. In addition to serving parishes in France and America, it also runs several missionary stations in Africa.
The recent Motu Proprio confirms what these communities have known all along: that the traditional Mass never was, and never really could be, abrogated. In his explanatory letter accompanying this decree the Holy Father stated that the extraordinary form of the liturgy is not just for an older generation that found innovation difficult to cope with. He wrote: "It has been clearly demonstrated that young persons, too, have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mysteries of the Most Holy Eucharist particularly suited to them."
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
If the photographs in Les communautes traditionnelles en France are anything to go by, then just across the Channel there lies a whole rich seam of Catholic religious life that is young, vibrant and growing. In addition to youthfulness and success, there are two other common features that unite the communities featured in this book. One is that they all have the extraordinary form of the Roman liturgy - the "traditional" rites liberated by Pope Benedict XVI's recent Motu Proprio - as the heart and foundation of their spirituality. The other is that many of them long enjoyed the steadfast, if unofficial support, of a certain well-placed cardinal in Rome. His name was Joseph Ratzinger.
Looking at these particular images it is not difficult to understand just why the Pope and his right-hand cardinal have invested so much hope in these communities. Whether it is Solemn Vespers in a great baroque abbey, or low Mass celebrated on a rock in a clearing for scouts, the liturgical celebrations depicted in this book are all beautiful and dignified. The average age of the monks, nuns, friars and priests and seminarians is also remarkably young. According to Cardinal Castrillon, this should not surprise us. The message that these communities pursue is the message of Jesus Christ. This message is eternal, and therefore forever young.
These intriguing photographs invite us to enter into another world. Despite the obvious challenges implicit in a daily life circumscribed by rules and traditions, the subjects of these communities look remarkably happy. The text often talks of sacrifice and self-surrender, but the pictures show young faces that are smiling and laughing.
There is certainly no hint of any crisis of clerical identity. These young clerics do not rely on jeans or Che Guevara T-shirts to make them feel connected to the youth; rather, it is the authenticity of their life that seems to make that connection. We see seminarians effortlessly skiing through the alps in long black soutanes, while nuns in crisply starched wimples gather hay in the fields outside Marseilles. At the high point of the traditionalist calendar - the annual Pentecost pilgrimage to Chartres - thousands of young pilgrims walk behind priests, monks and friars on the three-day march from Paris. Carrying crosses and banners, they all look very glad, and proud, to be Catholic.
Neither is there any evidence of a decline in vocations. The story of the Benedictine convent of Jouques is typical. Since its foundation near Aix en Provence in 1967 this community has attracted so many vocations to its novitiate that it has been necessary to open daughter houses elsewhere in France and in Africa to house the overspill.
The monks of Le Barroux, north of Avignon, still wear the corona - the full monastic tonsure depicted in medieval woodcuts and books of hours. After humble beginnings in a caravan in 1970 this community now worships in a mighty abbey church which the monks built themselves in the form of a Romanesque basilica. In the early hours of the morning, this building hums like a holy beehive as the many priest-monks celebrate their private Mass at side altars, served by novices and lay brothers. The extensive choirstalls here are now so full that this monastery has been able to spare a detachment of young monks to found a daughter house not far from Toulouse.
All of the institutes featured in the book are run on strictly traditional principles. But this does not make them old-fashioned. Rather, it gives them a timelessness that many young people are finding increasingly attractive. Some of the communities are contemplative, but many are active. A good example is the Institute of Christ the King. From its picturesque Renaissance villa outside Florence "The Institute" has gradually grown into a global conglomerate. In addition to serving parishes in France and America, it also runs several missionary stations in Africa.
The recent Motu Proprio confirms what these communities have known all along: that the traditional Mass never was, and never really could be, abrogated. In his explanatory letter accompanying this decree the Holy Father stated that the extraordinary form of the liturgy is not just for an older generation that found innovation difficult to cope with. He wrote: "It has been clearly demonstrated that young persons, too, have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mysteries of the Most Holy Eucharist particularly suited to them."
More here
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
There goes the surplus..
News.com.au - KEVIN Rudd has told world leaders he will sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change within weeks and has ordered senior bureaucrats to act quickly to draft new industrial relations laws. Mr Rudd yesterday summoned senior bureaucrats to Brisbane for briefings, including talks on the timing of the Kyoto ratification, which formed a central part of Labor's policy on climate change. Unions, which backed Labor with a massive anti-Work Choices advertising campaign, are already agitating for Labor to act quickly and honour its promise to dump Mr Howard's workplace laws. John Robertson, head of Unions NSW, called for retrospective laws that would allow people who had already signed Australian Workplace Agreements to escape them. Mr Rudd will also face pressure from within Labor ranks to water down the Howard government's Northern Territory intervention program, with many concerned it is too draconian.
There goes the future of Aborigines, Mal Brough got the boot and he's quiting, you're on your own guys. I'm not sure but I think Kevin Rudd will say "sorry" or was that "apologize", but I think that's about all, look on the bright side, the hated white man won't "steal" any of you from poverty and no future. So much for Work Choices, even if you want it, you probably won't get them, sorry your rights at work doesn't extend to "Choices". Kyoto, bring it on Kevin, bring it on, sign it, the we can all start coughing up a bit extra for lights, we'll owe other countries money, but hey it'll get colder right, can we sign the wretched thing before the bush fires start.
Just on a side note, I'm having a hard time finding anything about "working families" after the election from Kevin Rudd, have they all retired now, did they all die or something? And another thing I saw Morris Iemma (our State Premier) on TV, he's alive and well folks. I thought aliens had abducted him and were conducting painful experiments on him prior to the election, they couldn't even find his DNA, but he's OK folks, call off the posse, don't worry, Morris our brave & dear leader has returned.
There goes the future of Aborigines, Mal Brough got the boot and he's quiting, you're on your own guys. I'm not sure but I think Kevin Rudd will say "sorry" or was that "apologize", but I think that's about all, look on the bright side, the hated white man won't "steal" any of you from poverty and no future. So much for Work Choices, even if you want it, you probably won't get them, sorry your rights at work doesn't extend to "Choices". Kyoto, bring it on Kevin, bring it on, sign it, the we can all start coughing up a bit extra for lights, we'll owe other countries money, but hey it'll get colder right, can we sign the wretched thing before the bush fires start.
Just on a side note, I'm having a hard time finding anything about "working families" after the election from Kevin Rudd, have they all retired now, did they all die or something? And another thing I saw Morris Iemma (our State Premier) on TV, he's alive and well folks. I thought aliens had abducted him and were conducting painful experiments on him prior to the election, they couldn't even find his DNA, but he's OK folks, call off the posse, don't worry, Morris our brave & dear leader has returned.
Britain's population increase, read the fine print
Daily Mail - Britain's population could soar to 90million over the next 50 years. The dramatic increase, fuelled by immigration and a rising birth rate, would add more than 50 per cent to today's population and put enormous pressure on housing, transport and public services. The estimate has been increased due to the surge in immigration in the past two years, particularly from the new EU states in eastern Europe.
Official statisticians now expect net immigration to run at 190,000 a year for years to come. Birthrate estimates have also been increased as immigrant women have, on average, more children than British-born women. The overall UK average is 1.84 babies. The average for British-born women is 1.6 and for foreign-born women 2.2. The highest birthrate in the UK is among Pakistani-born women, who have an average of 4.7 children each. Last year, 22 per cent of births in the UK were to foreign-born women.
Official statisticians now expect net immigration to run at 190,000 a year for years to come. Birthrate estimates have also been increased as immigrant women have, on average, more children than British-born women. The overall UK average is 1.84 babies. The average for British-born women is 1.6 and for foreign-born women 2.2. The highest birthrate in the UK is among Pakistani-born women, who have an average of 4.7 children each. Last year, 22 per cent of births in the UK were to foreign-born women.
Should've been 3 teens shot in self-defense
Three teens charged over man's bashing murder - Three teenagers have been charged over the brutal bashing murder of a man in Sydney’s south. Up to five males set upon the 20-year-old man just before midnight on Saturday night and Woolooware Oval. He was punched and kicked in the head. He died later in hospital from the injuries. Yesterday police arrested three local 16-year-olds and charged them with murder. They'll face Parramatta Children's Court today.
Another fellow, probably just living his life, is dead, kicked and bashed to death, unable to defend himself and not allowed to defend himself. Whether he saw it coming or not, he was on his own against the scumbags who shouldn't be alive today. The headline should have been, brave man shoots 3 attackers in self-defense. Instead they'll go before the court, didn't know that kicking and bashing a man in the head would kill him, all so terrible, we were having such a good time, he shouldn't have been there, blah, effing blah. The judge or magistrate will see the poor babies and give them 3 or 4 years for man-slaughter with parole in 2 or something useless and worthless like that. Up the calcium supplements folks, maybe it'll strengthen your skull-bone.
Another fellow, probably just living his life, is dead, kicked and bashed to death, unable to defend himself and not allowed to defend himself. Whether he saw it coming or not, he was on his own against the scumbags who shouldn't be alive today. The headline should have been, brave man shoots 3 attackers in self-defense. Instead they'll go before the court, didn't know that kicking and bashing a man in the head would kill him, all so terrible, we were having such a good time, he shouldn't have been there, blah, effing blah. The judge or magistrate will see the poor babies and give them 3 or 4 years for man-slaughter with parole in 2 or something useless and worthless like that. Up the calcium supplements folks, maybe it'll strengthen your skull-bone.
The EU hates Switzerland's low taxes
And they are using the flimsiest arguments to attack them. They are claiming that low taxes are "subsidies"!
Another round of fruitless discussions forming part of the ongoing battle between the European Union and Switzerland over the latter's corporate tax system took place in Bern on Monday. But while the European Commission has the obvious weight advantage over its more nimble neighbour, at present Brussels simply doesn't have the legal reach to deliver the knock-out blow that would oblige the Swiss to capitulate to its demands.
The dispute, and the focus of the latest discussions, centres on Switzerland's cantonal tax system. The European Commission considers certain cantonal company tax arrangements to be incompatible with the 1972 Free Trade Agreement - a notion that the Swiss government firmly rejects.
The EC argues these cantonal company tax regulations restrict trade in goods between Switzerland and the EU, and distort competition. However, this is only a part of the debate. At its heart is the Commission's complaint that the cantonal tax systems encourage EU-based firms to set up holding companies in Switzerland to avoid taxes in EU member states.
On the first point, the Swiss delegation, led by Alexander Karrer, Head of the Monetary Affairs and International Finance Division in the Federal Department of Finance, and including representatives from the cantons, argued that Swiss taxes do not distort bilateral trade, because the types of company concerned in Switzerland have no, or at most subordinate, business operations which are taxed normally. Regarding the second point, Karrer's delegation countered that in the case of holding companies, revenues from Swiss sources are taxed in the same way as those from foreign sources. Furthermore, the Swiss emphasised that both domestic and foreign-controlled companies are entitled to take advantage of holding-company privileges.
The European Commission is basing its legal argument against Switzerland on the latter's alleged breach of state aid rules, which, in the EU, are in place to prevent member states from favouring certain companies and industries with beneficial tax rules and subsidies. But the Swiss say that the EC's arguments rest on shaky very legal ground, pointing out that the country is neither an EU member or part of the Single European Market, nor party to the competition regulations of the EC Treaty, including those on state aid. Moreover, Bern insists that even if the tax laws in question were covered by the 1972 Free Trade Agreement, they would not fall under the EU's definition of state aid, because they do not favour certain companies or industries.
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Another round of fruitless discussions forming part of the ongoing battle between the European Union and Switzerland over the latter's corporate tax system took place in Bern on Monday. But while the European Commission has the obvious weight advantage over its more nimble neighbour, at present Brussels simply doesn't have the legal reach to deliver the knock-out blow that would oblige the Swiss to capitulate to its demands.
The dispute, and the focus of the latest discussions, centres on Switzerland's cantonal tax system. The European Commission considers certain cantonal company tax arrangements to be incompatible with the 1972 Free Trade Agreement - a notion that the Swiss government firmly rejects.
The EC argues these cantonal company tax regulations restrict trade in goods between Switzerland and the EU, and distort competition. However, this is only a part of the debate. At its heart is the Commission's complaint that the cantonal tax systems encourage EU-based firms to set up holding companies in Switzerland to avoid taxes in EU member states.
On the first point, the Swiss delegation, led by Alexander Karrer, Head of the Monetary Affairs and International Finance Division in the Federal Department of Finance, and including representatives from the cantons, argued that Swiss taxes do not distort bilateral trade, because the types of company concerned in Switzerland have no, or at most subordinate, business operations which are taxed normally. Regarding the second point, Karrer's delegation countered that in the case of holding companies, revenues from Swiss sources are taxed in the same way as those from foreign sources. Furthermore, the Swiss emphasised that both domestic and foreign-controlled companies are entitled to take advantage of holding-company privileges.
The European Commission is basing its legal argument against Switzerland on the latter's alleged breach of state aid rules, which, in the EU, are in place to prevent member states from favouring certain companies and industries with beneficial tax rules and subsidies. But the Swiss say that the EC's arguments rest on shaky very legal ground, pointing out that the country is neither an EU member or part of the Single European Market, nor party to the competition regulations of the EC Treaty, including those on state aid. Moreover, Bern insists that even if the tax laws in question were covered by the 1972 Free Trade Agreement, they would not fall under the EU's definition of state aid, because they do not favour certain companies or industries.
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The Ruddslide
Some readers may be looking to me for a comment on the implications of the recent Australian Federal election. As I see it, one centre-right government has been replaced by another. As Andrew Bolt has pointed out, there are even some ways in which Rudd is to the Right of John Howard. And the policies of the two major parties on social issues such as illegal immigration, abortion and homosexual marriage seem to differ only in the smallest of details.
There are some causes for concern, of course, but nothing major is likely to change much. The Australian Labor party is arguably the world's most conservative Leftist party and they strongly reinforced that in the recent election campaign by their constant "me-toos" to the policies of the Howard government. They NEEDED to do that. Any hint of traditional Leftist policies would have sent them to oblivion again -- as it did in the previous election under the leadership of Mark Latham. In other words, they won by promising that there would be only micro-changes. That is pretty conservative in at least one sense.
There will certainly be a lot of rabid Leftists in the new Labor cabinet (government) but Rudd has immense authority for having led them out of the wilderness and he is also an obsessive bureaucrat who will not let much past him and he knows full well what his victory depended on. So any Bolshevik tendencies in the cabinet will undoubtedly be stared down.
If Rudd WERE to depart from his election promises to any substantial degree that would be a strong confirmation of what his electoral opponents constantly harped on during the campaign: Can he be trusted? And that would almost certainly lead to his defeat in the next Federal election in 3 year's time. And I know without looking that Rudd has far greater ambitions than being a one-term Prime Minister. So, ultimately, it is the electorate that is the watchdog watching him. And his recent success shows that he is too good a politician to be unaware of that gaze.
The biggest danger that I see is in his High Court appointments. Judges generally seem pretty power-mad and Rudd appointments could take the brakes off that. Australia has had a lot less legislating from the bench than the USA has had so it would be a great pity to lose that restraint.
The Rudd stance on the Iraq involvement is certainly weaker than that of John Howard but I again think Rudd will be cautious. His habit of caution and avoiding controversy should see any moves being slow and well-considered rather than hasty. He is certainly a lot less frantic about it than the U.S. Democrats are. Britain is already in the process of pulling out of Iraq, however, so that makes whatever Rudd does fairly inconsequential by comparison.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
There are some causes for concern, of course, but nothing major is likely to change much. The Australian Labor party is arguably the world's most conservative Leftist party and they strongly reinforced that in the recent election campaign by their constant "me-toos" to the policies of the Howard government. They NEEDED to do that. Any hint of traditional Leftist policies would have sent them to oblivion again -- as it did in the previous election under the leadership of Mark Latham. In other words, they won by promising that there would be only micro-changes. That is pretty conservative in at least one sense.
There will certainly be a lot of rabid Leftists in the new Labor cabinet (government) but Rudd has immense authority for having led them out of the wilderness and he is also an obsessive bureaucrat who will not let much past him and he knows full well what his victory depended on. So any Bolshevik tendencies in the cabinet will undoubtedly be stared down.
If Rudd WERE to depart from his election promises to any substantial degree that would be a strong confirmation of what his electoral opponents constantly harped on during the campaign: Can he be trusted? And that would almost certainly lead to his defeat in the next Federal election in 3 year's time. And I know without looking that Rudd has far greater ambitions than being a one-term Prime Minister. So, ultimately, it is the electorate that is the watchdog watching him. And his recent success shows that he is too good a politician to be unaware of that gaze.
The biggest danger that I see is in his High Court appointments. Judges generally seem pretty power-mad and Rudd appointments could take the brakes off that. Australia has had a lot less legislating from the bench than the USA has had so it would be a great pity to lose that restraint.
The Rudd stance on the Iraq involvement is certainly weaker than that of John Howard but I again think Rudd will be cautious. His habit of caution and avoiding controversy should see any moves being slow and well-considered rather than hasty. He is certainly a lot less frantic about it than the U.S. Democrats are. Britain is already in the process of pulling out of Iraq, however, so that makes whatever Rudd does fairly inconsequential by comparison.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
They should name these sacks of filth
Daily Mail - Soldiers who suffered appalling injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan were verbally abused as they swam in a public swimming pool. During a weekly rehabilitation class at a council leisure centre, 15 servicemen – including several who have lost limbs or suffered severe burns – were heckled and jeered by members of the public. One woman was so incensed that the troops were using the pool at Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey that she told them they did not deserve to be there. She became increasingly abusive, screaming that it was wrong for staff to rope off a lane exclusively for the injured personnel from the nearby Headley Court rehabilitation centre.These sacks of filth deserve a whipping and a flogging, chain them in the town square and make an example I say. Shame, you whining gasbags, shame on you, you worthless leftist sacks of filth!!! Hat tip The Lone Voice.
Fathers, less rights than rapists and murderers
Daily Mail - A woman who became pregnant after a one-night stand yesterday won the right to keep the existence of her baby a secret from its father. In a landmark decision, three Appeal Court judges agreed that the 20-year-old single mother has "the ultimate veto" over whom should be told about the child, who is being put up for adoption. Describing the case as "on any view extraordinary", Lord Justice Thorpe ruled there was no justification for "breaking open the mother's secret". And Lady Justice Arden said this was not a violation of the father's rights to family life under the Human Rights Act because he had no rights to be violated.
Funny how the father of a child has no rights to family life under the Human Rights Act but rapists and violent murderers have a special place in that Act, trust leftist scum to care for and protect their most treasured pets.
Daily Mail - ....was punched in the face and indecently assaulted by Mohammed Kendeh, a 16-year-old from Sierra Leone. Astonishingly, at the time of the attack, Kendeh was under a supervision order for six other sex offences in the same park. Though the Home Office tried to deport Kendeh once he had served his sentence, an immigration judge overruled them. He ruled that Kendeh couldn't be sent back to Sierra Leone because the Human Rights Act enshrines his 'right to a family life'.
Daily Mail - The killer [Learco Chindamo] of headteacher Philip Lawrence poses a "genuine and present risk" to the public according to official papers handed to the courts by the Home Office, it was revealed tonight. Telegraph.co.uk - Why can't Learco Chindamo be deported to Italy? Article 8 of the Human Rights Act says that Chindamo has the right to a family life.
So there you go folks, rapists and murderers have more rights than a father in the glorious Human Rights Act. Maybe the father might love his child and want to be a positive influence on the child, can't have any of that can we, that would mean acknowledging that fathers play a role, can't say anything positive about bastard males can we. Will the child's wishes ever be considered, fat chance, it's leftists we're talking here folks, if they can't kill you before you're born, they'll punish you until you're dead.
Funny how the father of a child has no rights to family life under the Human Rights Act but rapists and violent murderers have a special place in that Act, trust leftist scum to care for and protect their most treasured pets.
Daily Mail - ....was punched in the face and indecently assaulted by Mohammed Kendeh, a 16-year-old from Sierra Leone. Astonishingly, at the time of the attack, Kendeh was under a supervision order for six other sex offences in the same park. Though the Home Office tried to deport Kendeh once he had served his sentence, an immigration judge overruled them. He ruled that Kendeh couldn't be sent back to Sierra Leone because the Human Rights Act enshrines his 'right to a family life'.
Daily Mail - The killer [Learco Chindamo] of headteacher Philip Lawrence poses a "genuine and present risk" to the public according to official papers handed to the courts by the Home Office, it was revealed tonight. Telegraph.co.uk - Why can't Learco Chindamo be deported to Italy? Article 8 of the Human Rights Act says that Chindamo has the right to a family life.
So there you go folks, rapists and murderers have more rights than a father in the glorious Human Rights Act. Maybe the father might love his child and want to be a positive influence on the child, can't have any of that can we, that would mean acknowledging that fathers play a role, can't say anything positive about bastard males can we. Will the child's wishes ever be considered, fat chance, it's leftists we're talking here folks, if they can't kill you before you're born, they'll punish you until you're dead.
SO YOU THINK YOUR PHONE COMPANY IS HOPELESS!
By all accounts, the world's worst phone company is the major provider in Britain: BT. There is a good example of the way BT treat customers just up on Wicked Thoughts. A customer had to post his complaint on YouTube in order to get them to talk to him. A phone company that refuses to talk is pretty strange, isn't it?
But I am sure that many American readers have plenty of gripes with their phone company too. I myself have had innumerable run-ins with Australian phone companies. Talking to Telstra via their phone help-line or their email help-line is quite hopeless. You either get an insincere promise to look into it or you get told point-blank that they can't help you. Either way you have wasted your time.
Fortunately, there is a tiny chink in Telstra's armour. If you write to their chief executive you do get a mostly intelligent response and the response sometimes -- but not always -- does fix the problem. So I have only minor gripes with them at the moment. I thought it might be amusing, however, to put up copies of some of the letters I have had to write to them in the last few years. You will see how heavy I sometimes had to get in order to receive a helpful response. You can read the letters on Pondlife.
I imagine that there is already such a thing elsewhere but if I get enough emails telling of bad experiences that readers have had with their phone company, maybe I could start a site to publish such emails. It could well become both popular and a real help to people victimized by arrogant and unresponsive phone companies.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
But I am sure that many American readers have plenty of gripes with their phone company too. I myself have had innumerable run-ins with Australian phone companies. Talking to Telstra via their phone help-line or their email help-line is quite hopeless. You either get an insincere promise to look into it or you get told point-blank that they can't help you. Either way you have wasted your time.
Fortunately, there is a tiny chink in Telstra's armour. If you write to their chief executive you do get a mostly intelligent response and the response sometimes -- but not always -- does fix the problem. So I have only minor gripes with them at the moment. I thought it might be amusing, however, to put up copies of some of the letters I have had to write to them in the last few years. You will see how heavy I sometimes had to get in order to receive a helpful response. You can read the letters on Pondlife.
I imagine that there is already such a thing elsewhere but if I get enough emails telling of bad experiences that readers have had with their phone company, maybe I could start a site to publish such emails. It could well become both popular and a real help to people victimized by arrogant and unresponsive phone companies.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Congratulations Prime Minister Rudd
It's finally over folks, Australia has chosen and we have a new prime minister. I gotta say to the leftists, certainly took you long enough, enjoy it while it lasts. Soon you will realize the object of your irrational loathing and hate is gone.
Take heart Conservatives, there aren't many good things in this for us, but for once we won't have to listen to the incessant whining from the left, after all now that their leader has been elected and it's wall to wall Labor in this country, they cannot blame any thing on us anymore, it's all Labor and the left now. If they want to hate someone, they'll just have to hate their own choice now. I for one will enjoy playing offense.
Interest rates going up, sorry guys, don't look here, economic conservatives are on the left now.
Lose your job, sorry don't look here, Labor ran for your rights at work and to tear up IR.
Grocery & petrol prices going up, sorry don't look here, Labor's supposed to be "in touch".
Public health falling apart, sorry don't look here, the buck stops with Kevin Rudd.
Public Education down the crapper, sorry don't look here, the revolution starts with Labor.
Taxes going up, sorry don't look here; fresh ideas are on the left.
Roads getting worse, sorry don't look here; Kevin Rudd has all the new directions.
Strike action and work stoppages; sorry don't look here, your rights at work.
Rising unemployment, sorry don't look here, your rights at work.
Storms, heat, cold and drought, sorry don't look here, read the fine print on Kyoto.
Slow internet, sorry don't look here, goto www.kevin07.com.au
Carbon tax, sorry don't look here, you wanted climate change.
Crime going up, sorry don't look here, wall to wall Labor.
Declining surplus, sorry don't look here; somebody has to pay for fresh ideas and new leadership.
Australia not going the way you want it to, sorry don't look here, they never said fresh ideas were good ones or that new leadership was good leadership.
Thank you to John Howard for leading this nation so well, for so long, remember this, many of us voted for you not because we disliked Kevin Rudd, but because we liked you and what you did for this country. You must be so relieved to be free, free at last from all the hate and hostility from the left and the media, you've earned your peace, we wish you well and thank you once again.
When I wrote my final words on the election, I ended by saying, ignorance is bliss. Let me end this by saying, there's another saying, Prime Minister Rudd, careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
Take heart Conservatives, there aren't many good things in this for us, but for once we won't have to listen to the incessant whining from the left, after all now that their leader has been elected and it's wall to wall Labor in this country, they cannot blame any thing on us anymore, it's all Labor and the left now. If they want to hate someone, they'll just have to hate their own choice now. I for one will enjoy playing offense.
Interest rates going up, sorry guys, don't look here, economic conservatives are on the left now.
Lose your job, sorry don't look here, Labor ran for your rights at work and to tear up IR.
Grocery & petrol prices going up, sorry don't look here, Labor's supposed to be "in touch".
Public health falling apart, sorry don't look here, the buck stops with Kevin Rudd.
Public Education down the crapper, sorry don't look here, the revolution starts with Labor.
Taxes going up, sorry don't look here; fresh ideas are on the left.
Roads getting worse, sorry don't look here; Kevin Rudd has all the new directions.
Strike action and work stoppages; sorry don't look here, your rights at work.
Rising unemployment, sorry don't look here, your rights at work.
Storms, heat, cold and drought, sorry don't look here, read the fine print on Kyoto.
Slow internet, sorry don't look here, goto www.kevin07.com.au
Carbon tax, sorry don't look here, you wanted climate change.
Crime going up, sorry don't look here, wall to wall Labor.
Declining surplus, sorry don't look here; somebody has to pay for fresh ideas and new leadership.
Australia not going the way you want it to, sorry don't look here, they never said fresh ideas were good ones or that new leadership was good leadership.
Thank you to John Howard for leading this nation so well, for so long, remember this, many of us voted for you not because we disliked Kevin Rudd, but because we liked you and what you did for this country. You must be so relieved to be free, free at last from all the hate and hostility from the left and the media, you've earned your peace, we wish you well and thank you once again.
When I wrote my final words on the election, I ended by saying, ignorance is bliss. Let me end this by saying, there's another saying, Prime Minister Rudd, careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
Typical leftist filth
Now who honestly didn't see this coming?
The middle-aged woman drove at Sunday Age journalist John Elder outside the booth at Great Ryrie Primary School in Heathmont in the marginal Liberal seat of Deakin.
Elder had followed the woman to the ca park after she waved her arms at a Liberal worker, knocked down how to vote cards, pushed down all the bunting and took two posters.
"I stood in front of her car and she put her foot down," Mr Elder said.
Typical leftist scum. This is just more SOP from worms who need to be treated the way their beloved Vlad and Joe liked to treat people.
Something for all leftists to aspire to
Daily Mail - Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy. But the very thought makes her shudder with horror. Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.Incredibly, so determined was she that the terrible "mistake" of pregnancy should never happen again, that she begged the doctor who performed the abortion to sterilise her at the same time. He refused, but Toni - who works for an environmental charity - "relentlessly hunted down a doctor who would perform the irreversible surgery. Finally, eight years ago, Toni got her way. At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to "protect the planet".
This is what all leftists, socialists, commies, human-haters, criminals, crack-heads, eco-terrorists, marxists and what ever else makes up that rabble of vermin over on my ideological left should aspire to. I encourage you [Jewemy, unHappy Pustule, etc] to follow the path of Vernelli and her partner, maybe even commit mass suicide, planet earth will thank you, the animals will thank you, I will thank you and I think most Conservatives will thank you as well. Heck, I'll even kick the tin along with $10 to build a monument in your memory [don’t worry we’ll make it out of recycled trash], so that future generations will remember your sacrifice. Come on leftists, you know it's the right thing to do, it's the only way. Hat tip The Midnight Sun.
Big day for Australia today
I have just gone and voted in Australia's Federal election. My local polling place was VERY well-staffed and well managed. I was in and out in 10 minutes -- unlike the way many Americans have had to line up for hours in their previous Federal elections. And because all votes are on paper, recounts are fairly easy and disputes about the results are rare.
We have separate ballot papers for the Senate and the lower house and the fact that the two ballot papers are very different in size means that it is almost impossible to get the two mixed up. Nonetheless there was a lady standing by the ballot boxes to see that everybody put their paper in the right box. Very good for absent-minded people like me!
I gave my Senate vote to Pauline, of course. Her policy of restricting Muslim immigration is the only sensible one for any Western nation, in my opinion.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
We have separate ballot papers for the Senate and the lower house and the fact that the two ballot papers are very different in size means that it is almost impossible to get the two mixed up. Nonetheless there was a lady standing by the ballot boxes to see that everybody put their paper in the right box. Very good for absent-minded people like me!
I gave my Senate vote to Pauline, of course. Her policy of restricting Muslim immigration is the only sensible one for any Western nation, in my opinion.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Gun Control - Who's the dumbass!!
Folks, we've progressed far into that magical land of stupidity and the tooth fairy, we no longer use nasty guns and such rudimentary tools to protect ourselves. We bought the lie told by the gun-control and weapons-fearing fools of this world, in this magical world of ours we resort to that thing called the AVO (apprehended violence order). It's powers are magical folks, you just need to believe, until the world of the violent and evil collide with yours and you'll find the tooth fairy and the gun-control fool isn't around to explain their position. Since we banned guns and knives and all violence, you'd think we'd be a bit safer wouldn't you. The following just happened over a few days, read the paper ever week and you'll see that crime is on the rise, people are getting shot, stabbed, raped, bashed, robbed everywhere in this country.
Click here to read the rest.
Click here to read the rest.
Don't Tell Me Bush Was Right
By AR - Remember stupid old religious nut George W Bush and how he opposed scientific research on stem cells because they came from human embryos? Even though that research would have had Christopher Reeve walking again, and Michael J Fox cured of Parkinson's? All opposed because taking the stem cells required the destruction of the embryo which stoopid anti-science Dubya equates with destruction of human life even though they're just cells in a petri dish. Dopey George tried to tell us science had to find a better way. There is no better way, dumbo. Nothing beats fresh stem cells harvested from a healthy young embryo. Does it? Seems Bush was right all along...
"The scientific team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison created genetic modifications in skin cells to induce the cells into what scientists call a pluripotent state — a condition that is essentially the same as that of embryonic stem cells."
"The scientific team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison created genetic modifications in skin cells to induce the cells into what scientists call a pluripotent state — a condition that is essentially the same as that of embryonic stem cells."
A Simmering British Controversy
I thought I might bring readers up to speed on an acrimonious display of hypocrisy among British intellectuals that began in October but is now still simmering in late November.
Read the two statements below and ask yourself which is hate-speech and which is a policy proposal, a proposal that is perfectly consistent with most members of the group being unproblematical:
It will be not be the slightest surprise to hear that the kneejerk response to the second utterance above was to label it as "hate speech" -- but it in fact says nothing at all about any characteristic of the Muslim community or any member of that community. It is simply a harsh proposal about how to deal with the aggression that emanates from some members of that community. One may disagree with the proposal as unlikely to be fruitful (etc.) but that is another matter.
The first statement above, however, could not be more derogatory and is as hateful as can be. That statement is undoubtedly the work of a hater. And you may not be surprised that the one undoubted hater out of the two mentioned above was a Marxist -- Terry Eagleton. Marx hated just about everyone and most of his followers do likewise. The man of the extreme policy proposal was Martin Amis and it is HE, not Eagleton, who has been accused of hate speech. It was, incidentally, Martin Amis's father whom Eagleton described so derogatorily.
The latest shot in the war of words is here. Hitchens defends Amis here and Amis puts it all into context here
The most important context however is that whether a thing is called "hate speech" or not depends on who said it. Leftists just CANNOT utter hate speech, by definition, apparently. Cindy Sheehan wrote in her book Peace Mom: "I fantasize about killing Bush when he was a baby." Hate speech? Of course not! Hate-filled speech need not be hate speech, in the wonderful fantasy world of the political Left. Who the REAL haters are is crystal-clear, however.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Read the two statements below and ask yourself which is hate-speech and which is a policy proposal, a proposal that is perfectly consistent with most members of the group being unproblematical:
1). Someone is described as a: "racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals"
2). "The Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order. What sort of suffering? Not let them travel. Deportation - further down the road. Curtailing of freedoms. Strip-searching people who look like they're from the Middle East or from Pakistan... Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community and they start getting tough with their children..."
It will be not be the slightest surprise to hear that the kneejerk response to the second utterance above was to label it as "hate speech" -- but it in fact says nothing at all about any characteristic of the Muslim community or any member of that community. It is simply a harsh proposal about how to deal with the aggression that emanates from some members of that community. One may disagree with the proposal as unlikely to be fruitful (etc.) but that is another matter.
The first statement above, however, could not be more derogatory and is as hateful as can be. That statement is undoubtedly the work of a hater. And you may not be surprised that the one undoubted hater out of the two mentioned above was a Marxist -- Terry Eagleton. Marx hated just about everyone and most of his followers do likewise. The man of the extreme policy proposal was Martin Amis and it is HE, not Eagleton, who has been accused of hate speech. It was, incidentally, Martin Amis's father whom Eagleton described so derogatorily.
The latest shot in the war of words is here. Hitchens defends Amis here and Amis puts it all into context here
The most important context however is that whether a thing is called "hate speech" or not depends on who said it. Leftists just CANNOT utter hate speech, by definition, apparently. Cindy Sheehan wrote in her book Peace Mom: "I fantasize about killing Bush when he was a baby." Hate speech? Of course not! Hate-filled speech need not be hate speech, in the wonderful fantasy world of the political Left. Who the REAL haters are is crystal-clear, however.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The war against boys:
"Christina Hoff Sommers details this obscenely sexist social engineering in The War Against Boys, where she writes:
There are now conferences, workshops and institutes dedicated to transforming boys. Carol Gilligan, professor of gender studies at Harvard Graduate School of Education, writes of the problems of boy’s masculinity. “We’ve deconstructed the old version of manhood, but we’ve not yet constructed a new version…” In the spring of 2000 the boys’ project at Tufts offered five workshops on “Reinventing Boyhood” where the planners promised emotionally exciting sessions: “We’ll laugh and cry, argue and agree, reclaim and sustain the best parts of the culture of boys, whilst figuring out how to change the terrible parts.
Christina goes on to quote the words of “gender experts” at a meeting made up of feminists from Harvard, Wellesley and Tufts:
“It may be too late to change adult men. Boys on the other hand are still salvageable — providing one gets to them at an early age.” As one keynote speaker said, “We have an amazing opportunity here, Kids are so malleable.”
Gloria Steinem is of the same opinion, once saying: “We badly need to raise boys more like we raise girls.”
This evil social engineering is now par for the course in the West — but it gets worse. When little boys rebel against this warped ideology of enforced feminisation, they are diagnosed with various psychiatric disorders and “ritalinned” to the eyeballs in an attempt to chemically achieve what brainwashing could not. In Britain, some 60,000 children, principally of course boys, now suffer this abuse." (bold mine)
From a brilliant post in Gates of Vienna
Make no mistake--this project is ongoing, right here, right now.
Unless good parents are able to reclaim the upbringing of their kids from the filth that Marxist teachers and academics fill them with, they have no choice but to stand by and watch as young minds and lives are corrupted, as kids are turned into mindless, obedient foot-soldiers of the Left.
Cannibals, Greens and Swedes
By AR - Armin Meiwes, the German cannibal who advertised on the Internet for a willing victim to be cooked and eaten, in the natural order of things, has been elected as his prison’s Green Party leader. The Green party in the maximum security prison in Kassel, consists of murderers, pedophiles and drug dealers which doesn't surprise me in the slightest.
When I read that a Swede had been arrested for a vicious attack on a man in a pub-brawl in which the man's lip was bitten off, I was surprised. Whenever I had met Swedes either traveling or through business they were always polite, unflappable, and level-headed. Even when drinking way more than we should, the only physical danger you face from a Swede is being bear-hugged to death. There had to be more to this story.
Whaddya know? There is... "The victim, a 23-year-old English tourist, suffered six months of painful surgery to repair his face after he was pinned down and half of his bottom lip bitten off to the chin. Diar Abdullah, a 28-year-old native of Sweden, was arrested at Sydney Airport about midday yesterday as he disembarked from a flight from Queensland. " I'm just guessing, this native of Sweden probably doesn't have Viking ancestry?
When I read that a Swede had been arrested for a vicious attack on a man in a pub-brawl in which the man's lip was bitten off, I was surprised. Whenever I had met Swedes either traveling or through business they were always polite, unflappable, and level-headed. Even when drinking way more than we should, the only physical danger you face from a Swede is being bear-hugged to death. There had to be more to this story.
Whaddya know? There is... "The victim, a 23-year-old English tourist, suffered six months of painful surgery to repair his face after he was pinned down and half of his bottom lip bitten off to the chin. Diar Abdullah, a 28-year-old native of Sweden, was arrested at Sydney Airport about midday yesterday as he disembarked from a flight from Queensland. " I'm just guessing, this native of Sweden probably doesn't have Viking ancestry?
"People who whinge and cry into cameras for The State to 'protect them' are simply weak and contemptible. One expects that from dependent children: not from free adults. An adult stares coolly at the distant watching enemy and shows them that killing a few thousand of us will accomplish nothing except get us pissed off and the enemy and his next of kin and entire way of life very dead.
As Heinlein said: "You can never defeat a free man. The most that you can do is kill him."
Dale Amon "The state is my enemy"
As Heinlein said: "You can never defeat a free man. The most that you can do is kill him."
Dale Amon "The state is my enemy"
"AFFIRMATIVE ACTION" AND LAW SCHOOL
The essential first step to an understanding of Leftism is that Leftists do NOT care about the people they claim to care about. They care about their own personal glorification only. What they hunger after is an appearance of righteousness and wise nobility -- and an appearance of righteosness is indeed beneficial to almost anybody. Righteousness is no substitute for being right, however -- but Leftists don't care about that. Just the appearance will do them fine.
"Affirmative action" (a nice name for racial discrimination) is a perfect example of that. If Leftists really cared about minorities, they would abandon "affirmative action" immediately. Conservative commenters have been making that point for many years so all I want to do here is report a small personal example of how "affirmative action" actually works:
When I was teaching sociology in a major Australian univerrsity over two decades ago, I had in my class an Aborigine (Australian black). Just to get as far as university was a major feat for an Aborigine but the Australian government has for many decades had schemes in place to facilitiate black entry to higher education and the student I am referring to was the beneficiary of one of those schemes.
That he had got so far, however, meant that he could not be failed. Since he attended only a minority of the classes he was supposed to attend with me and showed little more than a sense of grievance in anything he said, I gave him a fail mark for the course. The School of Sociology, however, gave him a Credit mark for the year overall. His Sociology course was one that he had elected to take as one component towards a law degree but Sociology is in general vastly less demanding than Law so I shudder to think what his performance in his Law courses must have been.
He graduated, of course. And he was then immediately hired as a lawyer by a legal organization that represents blacks in court and elsewhere. They could hardly have done otherwise. Not to hire him would have been "racism". So the upshot of "affirmative action" in this case was that blacks came to be represented in court by probably the most incompetent lawyer in the whole country! Was that good for blacks?
When anybody points out ways in which "affirmative action" is bad for blacks (See, for instance, the research on law school admissions by Richard Sander -- here and here and here), however, Leftists respond not with concern about the problem but rather with rage and abuse towards the person revealing the problem -- plus attempts to deny or cover up the problem. They HAVE to respond with rage and denial. To do otherwise would be an admission of getting it grossly wrong and that would not be good for the image of wise nobility that they project for themselves. It would certainly deprive them of one of their major claims to righteousness and that would never do. Too bad about the minorities whom their policies hurt. Judge Clarence Thomas has of course recently waxed eloquent about how "affirmative action" hurt him.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
"Affirmative action" (a nice name for racial discrimination) is a perfect example of that. If Leftists really cared about minorities, they would abandon "affirmative action" immediately. Conservative commenters have been making that point for many years so all I want to do here is report a small personal example of how "affirmative action" actually works:
When I was teaching sociology in a major Australian univerrsity over two decades ago, I had in my class an Aborigine (Australian black). Just to get as far as university was a major feat for an Aborigine but the Australian government has for many decades had schemes in place to facilitiate black entry to higher education and the student I am referring to was the beneficiary of one of those schemes.
That he had got so far, however, meant that he could not be failed. Since he attended only a minority of the classes he was supposed to attend with me and showed little more than a sense of grievance in anything he said, I gave him a fail mark for the course. The School of Sociology, however, gave him a Credit mark for the year overall. His Sociology course was one that he had elected to take as one component towards a law degree but Sociology is in general vastly less demanding than Law so I shudder to think what his performance in his Law courses must have been.
He graduated, of course. And he was then immediately hired as a lawyer by a legal organization that represents blacks in court and elsewhere. They could hardly have done otherwise. Not to hire him would have been "racism". So the upshot of "affirmative action" in this case was that blacks came to be represented in court by probably the most incompetent lawyer in the whole country! Was that good for blacks?
When anybody points out ways in which "affirmative action" is bad for blacks (See, for instance, the research on law school admissions by Richard Sander -- here and here and here), however, Leftists respond not with concern about the problem but rather with rage and abuse towards the person revealing the problem -- plus attempts to deny or cover up the problem. They HAVE to respond with rage and denial. To do otherwise would be an admission of getting it grossly wrong and that would not be good for the image of wise nobility that they project for themselves. It would certainly deprive them of one of their major claims to righteousness and that would never do. Too bad about the minorities whom their policies hurt. Judge Clarence Thomas has of course recently waxed eloquent about how "affirmative action" hurt him.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Final Words - Election 2007
Folks, we are at the sharp end, a decision will be made soon, it's not looking good for John Howard, the pundits might say Howard should have done this and done that, worn this tie and stood like that. I think he’s done the best he can and it’s up to us now. It falls to us to think long and hard before we cast our vote. We also have a responsibility to ensure the guy with substance wins not the guy with the best presentation and placards.
The opposition has a lot of slogans and fancy phrases, Kevin Rudd runs a hell of a campaign, but I feel he has not been tested, he’s just been around for a few months and most of us don’t know much about him apart from the fact that he’s suddenly become an economic conservative. The media in my view have given him a really soft ride, easy questions and given him a lot of coverage, I know whose side they’re on. Look at how the states are run and you’ll see the media bias, you know NSW has a premier right, hard to believe, cos the fellow is gone from the face of the earth, I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, last we heard he was headed off to China.
Click here to read the rest
The opposition has a lot of slogans and fancy phrases, Kevin Rudd runs a hell of a campaign, but I feel he has not been tested, he’s just been around for a few months and most of us don’t know much about him apart from the fact that he’s suddenly become an economic conservative. The media in my view have given him a really soft ride, easy questions and given him a lot of coverage, I know whose side they’re on. Look at how the states are run and you’ll see the media bias, you know NSW has a premier right, hard to believe, cos the fellow is gone from the face of the earth, I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, last we heard he was headed off to China.
Click here to read the rest
Getting Osama, Not PC
Remember 9/11, that atrocity that struck New York a few years ago, where thousands were murdered by ISLAMIC terrorists. Their leader is called OSAMA BIN LADEN, that scumbag has a bounty on his head, wanted dead or alive. Personally I want him captured dead if there is a leftist in the White House, otherwise get him alive and take him away for some bone density experimenting. You'd think that it's a good thing when ordinary Americans, the people who make America what it is, also want this fellow dead or captured. Think again folks, that's just you lot, we are just fools lacking nuance, in steps the nuanced gasbags from the DMV.
One more thing, all those leftist gasbags whining that the war in Iraq is a distraction from hunting Osama, can you quit whining that, since "Getting" Osama is no longer PC.
That's right folks, publicly wishing ill on the worlds most wanted sack of pig filth is "obscene, lewd, lascivious, derogatory to a particular ethnic or other group or patently offensive." Right now, I'd really like to lead the mob of angry Americans into the DMV, there needs to be a tarring and feathering, somebody needs to get the skin whipped off their ass for this stupidity and disdain for a taxpayer, a police officer and a patriot. Hat tip The Midnight Sun.FOXNews - Arno, a 21- year veteran of the NYPD, wanted to add vanity license plates reading "GETOSAMA" to the 1993 Ford Aerostar he had already hand-painted red, white and blue. But New York's DMV red-lighted the anti-Usama bin Laden plates, banning them under an agency regulation that prohibits anything "obscene, lewd, lascivious, derogatory to a particular ethnic or other group or patently offensive." Herwerth paid $68 for the new plates, which he received in the mail two weeks ago, but never received the matching vehicle registration. When he called the DMV to inquire about the registration, he was told he should never had received the plates in the first place.
One more thing, all those leftist gasbags whining that the war in Iraq is a distraction from hunting Osama, can you quit whining that, since "Getting" Osama is no longer PC.
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