Hey, let's arm Saudi Arabia to the teeth!

And Israel, too! It will be really cool.

The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve an arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors that is expected to eventually total $20 billion at a time when some United States officials contend that the Saudis are playing a counterproductive role in Iraq.

The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.

Funny that to sell $20 billion in arms to the Saudis, they have to pledge $30 billion in weapons to Israel.

Racism Against Interracial Football Marriage

Last football season a black running back scored a winning touch down in an important bowl, then ran over to the sidelines and successfully proposed marriage to his white cheerleader girlfriend, on national TV. Now comes word that some white retards are threatening the couple; not surprising, given the recent studies posted here by Steve. However, I prediction: unlike 30 or 20 years ago, 99.9% acceptance from white people, and this couple will go on to have a very prosperous life, living and working where they please.

Photo ID Voting Requirement in Michigan

Michigan's Supreme Court has approved a law requiring photo IDs at polling stations. Bravo. Opponents imagine that this will "disenfranchise" people who somehow can't muster the effort to obtain a photo ID; supporters cannot imagine ensuring against election fraud without voters providing this minimal evidence of their identity. My prediction: voter participation will not fall for any identified group of eligible voters.

Wait To Hear From Vick

Some people want Atlanta Quaterback Mike Vick's head already, based on the gruesome indictment of dogfighting. But as we have seen too often before, cops and prosecutors can make a big something out of nothing. We have not heard from Vick, and with these prosecutors seeming to be playing by the books so far, we might have to wait for trial to hear his side.

I think that nobody should lose a job over an arrest, especially if that person has done nothing in public to disgrace himself with regard to the charges against him. And let's also remember that every step along the road to justice risks a misstep: innocent people get convicted (Genarlow Wilson), and guilty people get found "not guilty" (OJ, Robert Blake). When the accused's story comes to light, we all have to make our decision about the person, not just the judge and the jury. This study concludes that judges and juries "get it wrong" over 10% of the time.

When Vick's story materializes, we might find that he really did know nothing about what his friends and relations did in the house he bought them. He could be a guy like me who loves animals and abhors dogfighting, but has some friends and relations from childhood who -- unbeknown to him -- have developed into severely retarded brutes. In this context, even if he gets convicted of some technicality, I will judge him favorably and support no sanctions against him. On the other hand, an examination by us in the public may show that he supports dogfighting. In this context, even if his fancy lawyers win all "not guilty" verdicts, I will consider him scum and cheer the most extreme sanctions against him.

Only one NFL player so far has exposed himself having a retarded brain and a cruel heart in this matter, Washington Redskins' Clinton Portis who said, ''I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, it's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it. I think people should mind their own business.''

Meat Eating Worse Than Car Driving

This Japanese study concludes that eating two steaks produces as much "greenhouse gasses" and consumes as much energy as driving 50 mi/hr for 150 miles, or three hours. I would love if Al Gore, Michael Moore, and Bill Clinton would join me in becoming vegetarians! If all this global warming hysteria leads to a drastic increase in vegetarianism, then at least I'll find some benefit in this madness.

Imus Return... With Black Castmember?

My fears did not materialize that MSNBC would replace its morning Imus show with something I liked less; the replacement show has more news discussion and less comedy, which is what I wanted. Also, the replacement show has a black castmate, which is a plus. Now come reports that Imus will return (somewhere), and with a black castmate, which he should have had to begin with. So I am glad with the outcome.

More Bush Regret: Pol Control of Surgeon General

What a disgrace that a president would control the Surgeon General like this. In conferring with previous SG's Bush's recently departed one concludes that he suffered more than they did in this regard. Another reason I'll vote libertarian: maybe we need to just eliminate this office, and thus the temptation of presidents to abuse it.

Critical Review of Michael Moore's Sicko

I believe that the US healthcare system is a mess. However, making it more socialistic will surely make the problems worse. I do not believe that the systems of France, Canada, and Cuba are better, especially within the contexts that enable their systems.

Gore Links Hussein's Iraq to Terrorism... in 1992

In 1992 Al Gore was certain that Iraq's Saddam Hussein dictatorship was a major sponsor of terror against the US, as well as a hider of banned WMD. Did all that change by 2001?

Warren Buffett Favors Tax Hikes, Democrats

I don't understand Warren Buffett's support for democratic candidates and their efforts to overturn Bush's tax cuts. If Buffett believes that government officials can better achieve his goal of "income redistribution", then why did he donate those billions to the private Gates Foundation, rather than straight to federal treasury? Does he employ accountants and attorneys to minimize his tax obligation? If so, why? How does he explain that Bush's tax cuts preceded a massive increase in tax revenues, uninterrupted economic growth, and low unemployment? Does he not believe that revoking that tax break would reverse these trends? How could that help facilitate "income redistribution"?

If government officials can better achieve "income redistribution" than can the private efforts of individuals (either by people helping those of meager means, or by those of meager means using their intelligence and effort to increase their income and wealth), then why not turn over to government officials other desired goals, such as building cars and investing capital?

I can understand Buffett voting democrat because he views the Iraq war as a disaster that harms the economy, but I cannot understand how he desires democratic tax policies, rather than regarding them as an unfortunate trade-off in electing a president most likely to end the Iraq war.

Here's an excellent analysis of Buffet's claim.

Flat Tax Reform We Can All Support?

Under Wyden's plan, all Americans—and all corporations—would use a one-page form. There would be three rates (15, 25 and 35 percent) instead of today's six (10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35) for individuals, and a single rate for corporations. The alternative minimum tax, which this year will ensnare 23 million taxpayers, would be abolished. The standard deductions (currently $5,000 for single filers, $10,000 for married couples) would be tripled. No fool he, Wyden flinches from severe flatness that would end the most popular deductions, for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Simplification would confiscate the intellectual capital of K Street, the habitat of Washington lobbyists, who toil to put complexities into the tax code for the benefit of clients.

Berry Bonds' Fraud; Not a Black Thing

From the essay:

Anyone who honestly thinks that Aaron is the bad guy and Bonds is the tragic victim either has absolutely no sense of American history, or is a complete idiot... I know exactly where this is about to lead. It’s leading to a barrage of “sellout” and “Uncle Tom” nonsense from folks who are anxious to misuse America’s most lethal weapon of mass distraction: race...

Are we so cockeyed by race in this country that they’d prefer to embrace lying, cheating frauds simply because they fit neatly into our own racial demographic?

“Remember how it used to be growing up in the black community?” said Cornwell. “Growing up, you didn’t have to just worry about your parents catching you if you were doing something wrong. It was all their friends and all the neighbors. If they caught you, sometimes it was handled right there and then. We don’t have that anymore and we need to get back to that. You don’t excuse bad behavior. You don’t look the other way at bad behavior just because they’re part of your community. You confront it and make them understand that will not be allowed in our community.

“Well we need to get back to that way of thinking again,” said Cornwell. “This goes from ‘Pacman’ Jones all the way to Barry Bonds. We can no longer excuse their bad behavior because they’re black. We can’t defend them by saying, ‘Well the white guy did it, too. What about him?’ That’s not how we were raised. That’s not how our parents and their generation handled their responsibilities of raising all the young men and women in the community.”

... ignoring the simple truth that he is guilty of cheating. This is not a court of law. This is the court of common sense. He admitted to a grand jury that he “unknowingly” used designer steroids. He had achieved a ridiculous muscle mass increase at too late an age. His career home run explosion magically coincided with his association with BALCO. But Bonds tells us he did nothing wrong, so who are we’re supposed to believe, him or our lyin’ eyes?

Fed Tax Revs Continue Slashing Deficit

I have in these pages repeatedly admitted to many mistakes committed by Bush II, the president that I voted for in each of his elections. But in one area I challenge my leftist adversaries to admit where he was correct: cutting tax rates for capital gains and some other areas as a way of stimulating economic growth and increasing federal revenues. At the time his tax cuts passed, lefty opponents insisted that this would lead to a massive ballooning of the federal budget deficit. Proponents like me of this economic policy predicted the opposite, and the facts sure seem to have confirmed our model: this latest report shows that the deficit has continued to shrink since its peak in 2004, and now sits at half that level, with fed revenues simultaneously climbing and both trends expected to continue.

New Bio of Clarence Thomas

The Washington Post reporter-authors of a new CT bio are lefties, as is this NYT reviewer of the book. However, the book and even the review present enough facts for an objective reader to reach independent interpretations of these facts. Objective lefties of course will likely reach interpretations similar to those of these lefty journalists. For their part, these journalists perform no hatchet job on CT, and offer him some much deserved respect.

But they see a contradiction in factors that do not contradict each other. For example, it perplexes them that CT would advocate fiscally and legally conservative views, yet in his personal life exhibit a great deal of compassion and afford enormous assistance to others. Yet that is the essence of CT's brand of conservatism: assistance to others should be provided not by The State taking money from all citizens and building big programs, but rather by fellow citizens helping their fellows.

Another 911 Defeat: Tourism

We libertarian supporters of Bush's war against Islamic imperialism always hated the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts. Aside from costing the US treasury zillions of dollars without benefit, while providing the Islamic tyrants the victory of having Americans inconvenience themselves mercilessly in the process of wasting all this money, we see now that these mindless overreactions are costing annual billions in lost international tourist dollars.

Bush II v. Clinton on Pardons

In this new essay by Bill Clinton, he explains why he pardoned so many people, including two of the pardons which have angered righties. Clinton's explanation seems reasonable to me, and until I read any convincing critique of it, I accept it. He wrote this in response to the recent explosion of outrage over Bush II's clemency for Scooter Libby, and the prospect of a full pardon to follow. This has triggered Bush supporters to point to Clinton's pardon-o-rama at the end of his final term.

I heartily support the presidential pardon as an executive check on a criminal justice system that we know unjustly convicts many, many people. According to Clinton, he pardoned about 400 people, whereas Bush II has so far pardoned only about 70. These figures both seem low to me compared to all the people languishing in prison who should not be. Clinton and Bush II both in their younger years engaged in activities that harmed no other people (cocaine consumption) but that could have landed them in the clink, with records banning them from many opportunities.

Bush's clemency of Libby does not disgust me, nor would a subsequent pardon, because I think that Libby did nothing wrong or illegal, and the facts against him in court fell far below the "reasonable doubt" standard. But it does disgust me that Bush has failed to use this power to help hundreds or even thousands of even more deserving people with far fewer resources. And as a two-time Bush voter, I am further embarrassed that simply as a matter of political coverage he has not pardoned hundreds of deserving people before and after Libby, just to quell his political opponents.

Just one of a growing number of reasons why I will vote for Ron Paul in the repo primaries, and then the Libertarian candidate in the general election.

Against Recycling

If people knew the facts about recycling, I think many fewer people would advocate it. Most materials earmarked for recycling ultimately get the same treatment as trash, but just at a much higher cost to city coffers.

Phoney "It's a Black Thing" Cracker Study

"It's a black thing. Crackers only understand if they buy a bag of misrepresented facts." (*)

A study shows that white folks would give up TV only for a million bucks, but would change their "race" to "black" for merely $1,000. You would think that this shows that white people are not very racist. But then, if you concluded that, you wouldn't be one of those people who sees racism every where. Of course if white people required $100 million to become "black", these "RACISM!" criers would interpret that as racist as well. But instead they're left with an opposite fact: whites don't much care if they got transformed into black folks. This leaves the RACISM! criers to figure out a way to interpret this finding as demonstrating what they already know: honkies are a bunch of racists.

Here's how they interpret the findings showing white ambivalence (read: non-racism) :"white folks don’t understand the Black experience." In other words, if these all-knowing black folks can just fill the heads of these ignorant white folks with a bunch of well-spun facts, those crackers will want more than just a measly $1,000 to turn black! For example, black folks earn less money than whites! They die at younger ages! They make less money! They pay more for insurance! So these data-spinners devise a hypothetical nation, one divided into two groups, one that makes less money, dies earlier, pays more for insurance, etc., and viola! The same crackers when ignorant of "the facts" who would require only $1,000 to become black now, with their heads filled with "the truth", want $1 million! And not only that, this new figure represents white support for "slavery reparations." (**)

Of course black folks in the US die younger on average than white folks; on average they make poorer health choices, regarding diet and exercise. Of course black folks in the US on average make less money than white folks; on average they make poorer economic choices, in terms of decisions to study and stay in school, whether to attend college and what majors to choose, etc. And of course blacks on average pay more for car and house insurance than whites in the US; blacks on average are choosing at a much higher rate than whites to commit the crimes covered by insurance, and thus more likely to reside in areas with elevated rates of these crimes. Black and white folks who make the same health and financial choices reap the same results, and who live in neighborhoods with similar crime rates pay similar insurance rates. This is why so many blacks immigrate here, and so few ever leave.

(*) Plenty of black folks reject this nonsense ("uncle toms", "sellouts"), and plenty of whites embrace it (the nearly half the white population who votes democrat). I am raising my negro daughter to be one of those sell-out aunt jermimas. Her grades in school in the 6th grade were a very high 3.9; in the 7th grade they dropped to 2.1. The white teachers didn't suddenly discover that she was black and start unfairly treating her. Instead, she changed her behavior, in a way that will lead to low income in addition to low grades.

(**) No word on reparations from black African groups whose ancestors enslaved and sold the black ancestors of today's black Americans, or on reparations from Italy, France, and Norway for the successive conquests by their ancestors of the ancestors of today's Britain, or on reparations from Morocco's government for their ancestors' conquest of Spain and Italy, or of reparations from Egpyt for conquering Ethiopia and Nubia some generations ago. Nadir should surely expect reparatrions from Britain for its historical conquest and subjugation of his Irish ancestors as well... though some of Nadir's Irish ancestors enslaved some of his African ancestors... and some of his African ancestors enslaved and otherwise conquered other black Africans... I don't know how all of this will work out. Will my daughter get just half reparations for her African ancestors?

Ex-Fanatic Blames Islam, Not Western Policies

"When I was still a member of the British Jihadi Network, we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror was Western foreign policy. Those who blamed the Government for our actions did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology." HASSAN BUTT, writing in London's Daily Mail

Yet More Science Refutes Gore's Hysteria

I don't understand why liberals and leftists reject Al Gore as a poor presidential candidate (he got a higher fraction of the vote than ever did Clinton, who received help from a rightist third party candidate, whereas Gore had votes taken from lefty Nader), yet embrace his global warming hysteria. From a new article:
===============================

For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported, "Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame."

Gore claims the snowcap atop Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro is shrinking and that global warming is to blame. Yet according to the November 23, 2003, issue of Nature magazine, "Although it's tempting to blame the ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain's foothills is the more likely culprit. Without the forests' humidity, previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine."

Gore claims global warming is causing more tornadoes. Yet the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in February that there has been no scientific link established between global warming and tornadoes.

Gore claims global warming is causing more frequent and severe hurricanes. However, hurricane expert Chris Landsea published a study on May 1 documenting that hurricane activity is no higher now than in decades past. Hurricane expert William Gray reported just a few days earlier, on April 27, that the number of major hurricanes making landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast has declined in the past 40 years. Hurricane scientists reported in the April 18 Geophysical Research Letters that global warming enhances wind shear, which will prevent a significant increase in future hurricane activity.

Gore claims global warming is causing an expansion of African deserts. However, the Sept. 16, 2002, issue of New Scientist reports, "Africa's deserts are in 'spectacular' retreat . . . making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa."

Gore argues Greenland is in rapid meltdown, and that this threatens to raise sea levels by 20 feet. But according to a 2005 study in the Journal of Glaciology, "the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland, with a small overall mass gain." In late 2006, researchers at the Danish Meteorological Institute reported that the past two decades were the coldest for Greenland since the 1910s.

Gore claims the Antarctic ice sheet is melting because of global warming. Yet the Jan. 14, 2002, issue of Nature magazine reported Antarctica as a whole has been dramatically cooling for decades. More recently, scientists reported in the September 2006 issue of the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series A: Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, that satellite measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet showed significant growth between 1992 and 2003. And the U.N. Climate Change panel reported in February 2007 that Antarctica is unlikely to lose any ice mass during the remainder of the century.

Juries, Judges Gettin' It Wrong

This new Northwester University study claims to have identified the erroneous judgment rates of US juries (17%) and judges (12%) . The rates are higher for convicting an innocent person than for acquitting a guilty person. The article does not explain how the researchers evaluated the judgments, but the figures seem about right to me.

The article also fails to compare these rates to those in other countries, or to previous times in the US. My sense is that these rates are much better today than in years past, and better today in the US than in any non-democracy / civilized nation.

Defending Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter is getting criticism for making the following four comments, which, when discussed in most articles (like the attached) never explain the context in which she made these comments.

1. "The 911 widows are enjoying their widowhood." Well, if they don't want to receive partisan criticism, they shouldn't use their widowhood to make political points.

2. "John Edwards is a fag." Well, if he doesn't want to get called a fag, he should stop posing as a folksy populist while getting busted for paying $1,000 for a haircut, which is what inspired Coulter's comment here."

3. "I wish John Edwards would get killed by terrorists." She made this comment because Bill Mahr received zero outcry when he stated the same about Dick Cheney, whereas Coulter received a great outcry for calling Edwards a fag. So rhetorically she said, instead of calling him a fag I'll just wish the terrorists would kill him.

4. "John Edwards has a bumper sticker that reads, 'ask me about my dead son.'" This comment was inspired by the revelation of the Kerry-Edwards campaign manager that Edwards goes around using a canned story about his son's death in order to ingratiate himself to people both privately, and in $100,000 speeches given to poverty groups. Her full comment, rarely quoted when condemning the shocking part: "If you want points for not using your son's death politically, don't you have to take down all those 'Ask me about my son's death in a horrific car accident' bumper stickers?"

If you simply read the attached article you would think that Coulter was insane, simply blurting out ugly comments about Edwards and one group of wealthy 911 widows. But of course that is not the case. This reminds me of the phony bluster of Joe Wilson reacted with shock and indignation when his wife Valarie Plame's name got dragged into the debate over his trip to Niger; well, if you didn't want her name in the debate, then why in the hell did you start the debate, using a job that she got for you?

What About the Other Nifongs?

This NYT articles describes prosecutors besides Mike Nifong who have behaved like he did in the Duke case, pressing obviously false charges, withholding exculpatory evidence, etc., and asks: why has only Nifong been disbarred?

Ignore Islamic Hysterics?

Christopher Hitchens concludes that media reports sensationalize and over-emphasize the murderously crazed Islamic tyrants who hyperventilate over demands that this or that expresser of some idea offensive to them get an execution that would make Mohammad proud. When some brave Dutch free-thinker publishes a cartoon of said cult leader, pull the cameras back and, Hitchey says, the rabid protesters burning US flags and hanging effigies are outnumbered by reporters; turn off the cameras and the retards dry their chins, pop their eyeballs back into their sockets, and join the background denizens going about their normal affairs. In such a context, paternalistic western liberals would stop appeasing these nutcases and could reserve all their energies for the religious nuts whom they won't appease: western christians who advocate laws to imprison Americans who burn their own USA flags, and deny tax funds and public spaces for art comprising statues of white Jesuses and Maries bathed in urine.

White Cops Brutalize White Skateboarders

I wonder if Revs. Jesse & Al will take notice.

Louissiana High School Noose Case Update

Update to story about integrated high school in Louisiana where racist white guys displayed nooses where some black kids had broken an unofficial color line: The unrest sparked by the nooses led to some fistfights, wherein some black guys beat up a white guy. The black kids got charged by a white prosecutor, and charged big time, with attempted murder, as adults. I consider this a genuine act of white-on-black racism, and I support all efforts to exonerate these accused black guys. As far as I can tell, prior to this incident these black guys were not thugs terrorizing the school. Instead, they are just some teens who got rightfully upset about an act of racism. Considering all the high school fights that occur with no charges brought, these guys within the context of this situation should have received no criminal charges, or only the most minor ones. Meanwhile, any kids involved with placing nooses should surely get expelled, whereas in this case those kids only got a suspension.

[Update to the linked story posted above: The article fails to mention that the knocked-out white guy is a proud friend of the white guys who admitted to hanging the nooses, that prior to his beating one of the arrested black guys had been attacked twice by white boys objecting to him sitting under the honkey tree and attempting to attend a honkey party, and that the beatup white guy had moments before his beating taunted that twice-jumped black guy. For more see all postings marked "jena6". 2007-09]

Previous post.

Free Genarlow Wilson

I don't know if racism or just idiocy by the prosecutor explains why black Genarlow Wilson sits in prison for receiving consensual filetio from a fellow teenager, a white girl. But:

1. A white appellite judge has ruled in his favor, with a statement from the bench labeling his prosecution and conviction "a miscarriage of justice."
2. His white classmates made him homecoming king.
3. A group of rich white guys have raised $1 million to get him out on bail during the white prosecutor's appeal of the above appellate judge's ruling.

I hope that the Duke guys will rally around Wilson, and I regret that prosecutor seems to have covered himself much better than Nifong, protecting himself from ethics charges.

"Cultures and religions are not equal"

"The Koran is not a great book,"Ayaan Hirsi Ali told the national press club a few days ago. "The obsession with subjugating women is one of the things that makes Islam so low. And the agents of Islam know that any improvement in the lives of women will lead to the demise of Islam."

I caught her presentation, and she blew me away. Here below is most of her prepared remarks. I regret not finding the text of the Q&A that followed, which was equally excellent.

Why are Westerners so insecure about everything that is so wonderful about the West: political freedom, free press, freedom of expression, equal rights for women and men, gays and heterosexuals, critical thinking, and the great strength of scrutinizing ideas--and especially faith?

It is not the end of history. The 21st century began with a battle of ideas, and this battle is about the values of the West versus those of Islam. Tony Blair and the Pope should not be embarrassed in saying it, and you should stop self-censoring. Islam and liberal democracy are incompatible; cultures and religions are not equal. And perhaps most important of all, Muslims are not half-wits who can respond only in violence. The Koran is not a great book; it is reactionary and full of misogyny. The Byzantine emperor's analysis of Muhammad was correct: he spread his faith by the sword.

From this perspective journalists like all the rest of us face the unpleasant reality of taking sides or getting lost in the incoherence of the so-called middle ground. The role of journalists serving the West, who understand what this particular battle is about, will be to inform their audiences accordingly.

As I travel from country to country to testify from experience and observation that Islamic dogma creates a cult of death, a cage for women, and a curse against knowledge, I get both support and opposition. Europeans and Americans ask:

But what about the good Muslim living next to me? What about the different schools of thought in Islam? Is there no difference between the Muslims of Indonesia and the ones in Somalia, or the Muslims in Saudi Arabia and those in Turkey? Can we really generalize? What about the women who voluntarily wear the headscarf and the burqa and are happy to relinquish their freedom as their faith requires? If we give Catholics and Protestants and Jews their schools and their universities, isn't it only fair to give Muslims theirs, too? If generations of Jews, Italians, and Irish have assimilated, is it unreasonable to think that Muslims will assimilate too, eventually?" Isn't it more fruitful to engage in debate with your opponent and convince him through dialogue to take back his declaration of war than to attack him? Isn't it obvious that military attacks, such as those in Afghanistan after 9/11 and in Iraq, create more terrorists, and therefore more people who are determined to destroy the West than there would be if we had dialogue with them?

These questions are legitimate and deserve serious answers. Let's make a moral distinction between Islam and Muslims. Muslims are diverse. Some, like Irshad Manji and Tawfiq Hamid, want to reform their faith. Others want to spread their beliefs through persuasion, violence or both. Others are apathetic and do not care much for politics. Others want to leave it and convert to Christianity, like Nonie Darwish, or become atheist, like me.

Islam unreformed, as a set of beliefs, is hostile to everything Western.

In a free society, if Jews, Protestants, and Catholics have their own schools, then Muslims should have theirs, too. But how long should we ignore that in Muslim schools in the West, kids are taught to believe that Jews are pigs and dogs? Or that they should distance themselves from unbelievers and jihad is a virtue? Isn't it odd that everywhere in Europe with large Muslim organizations, demands are made not to teach kids about the Holocaust, while in mosques and Muslim bookshops The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is distributed?

And what about in Muslim lands, where Jews, Catholics, and Protestants cannot have their own schools, or churches, or graveyards? If Muslims can proselytize in Vatican City, why can't Christians proselytize in Mecca? Why do we find this acceptable? If Christians, Jews, and Atheists take to the streets in large numbers to protest against their own elected governments in objection to the war in Iraq, to the war against terror, why don't Muslims march in equally large number against the beheadings of Western aid workers? Why don't Muslims stand up for their own? Why are Jews and Christians and Atheists in the West the ones fighting genocide in Darfur? Why does it pass unnoticed in Muslim lands when Shias kill Sunnis and Sunnis, Shias by the thousands? It doesn't add up, does it? If you ask me, "What is the role of journalism today?" I would urge you to look into these questions.

As a woman in the West I have access to education. I have a job, and I can change jobs as I wish. I can marry the man of my choice, or I can choose not to marry at all. If nature allows it, I can have any number of children I want. I can manipulate nature and freeze my eggs. I can have an abortion. I can own property. I can travel wherever I want. I can read whichever book, newspaper, or magazine I wish. I can watch any movie I want or go to the museum of my choice. I can have an opinion on the moral choices of others and express my opinion, even publish it. And I can change my mind as time goes by. I can establish a political party or join an existing one; I am free to change parties or give up my membership. I can vote. I can choose not to vote. I can stand for election to office or go into business. This is what makes the West so great.

In Muslim lands, except for a very lucky few, women are denied education, have no job, and are forced into marriage with strangers. In the name of Islam, women are denied the right to their bodies; they cannot choose whether to have children or how many to have. They have no rights to abortion, and often they die trying to get one. They cannot own property, trade, or travel without the risk of robbery or rape. Most women (and men) live in state and religious censorship on what to read (if they can read at all) and what films to watch, and they have hardly any museums or art they can enjoy. Of the 57 Muslim nations that are members of the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference), only two are democracies. Both are frail and corrupt, and both face the risk of being overtaken by the agents of pure Islam. Turkey has a safety check in the shape of the army and Indonesia none. In none of these countries--except for the usual show-pieces to delude the West--are women allowed to establish their own political parties, play a meaningful role in one, vote, or run for office.

This obsession with subjugating women is one of the things that makes Islam so low. And the agents of Islam--from Riyadh to Tehran, from Islamabad to Cairo--know that any improvement in the lives of women will lead to the demise of Islam and a disappearance of their power. This is why, among other things, they are so desperate to cage in women. This is why they also hate the West.

Please don't be fooled by the few shrill voices--in or out of the veil--that enjoy the status quo and betray their fellow women.

If we do not understand the differences between Islam and the West--why one is so great and the other so low--and we don't fight back and win this battle of ideas in order to preserve our civilization, in my view there is no point to your profession or mine.

Honkey Jolie Portrays Mixed Baby

I'm all for race-neutral casting, even in historical films, such as the cracker Angelina Jolie portraying mixed baby Mariane Pearl in the new film about islamic nuts beheading her husband, the journalist Daniel Pearl. But sadly, such casting always favors white actors, never black. Will Danny Glover ever get to portray Patton? Let's hope that's the next step forward.

In passing, I will gratuitously state that Jolie is the most overrated bombshell ever. Her sex appeal rates a near zero with me, and in accounting for all the tattoos defacing her body, I'm actually repulsed.

Sicko Critique of US Healthcare System

Michael Moore finds some real problems with the US healthcare system. But his proposed solution will create an even worse mess: taxing all US citizens who have any incomes or wealth in order to purchase for every US resident routine medical checkups, bypass surgeries, CAT scans, erectile dysfunction drugs, cancer chemotherapy, skin grafts, etc.

The real problems afflicting the US healthcare system:
1. US citizens typically do not take responsibility for their health, and the current healthcare system encourages this view.
2. The insurance industry covers routine checkups and pharmaceutical treatments, rather than only catastrophic accidents and medical calamities.

Imagine how expensive auto insurance would be it it covered oil changes, tune-ups, and rust spots... and for every driver! Or if homeowners insurance covered repainting, leaky roofs, cracked driveways, broken windows, etc.

So on the one hand Americans typically create for themselves very refractory long-term illnesses (circulatory diseases and cancers account for 80% of US annual deaths; then there's the allergies, acne, and other chronic maladies) by eating terrible food, rarely exercising, and using toxic chemicals in their cleaning and other activities, and then expects to treat all these problems via insurance. Consider the average US worker: he pays $1,000 / year into his insurance, and his job pays about another grand. That's two grand annually, to cover all medical conditions, treated only only with expensive toxic drugs, invasive surgeries, and disease-causing radiation.

Now he wants his $2,000 worth. He gets a cold, and he wants a doctor to give him a "free" exam, and some "free" antibiotics. As his diet produced high blood pressure, rather than switch to a natural diet, treating himself with health-enhancing herbs and vitamins (not covered by insurance!), and exercising, he wants "free" hypertension drugs with an option for "free" bypass surgery.

Neither a free-market nor a socialist (Michaeal Moore) solution can work, though as in all cases the socialist option will fail even worse than the current socialis/capitalist hybrid approach. The only solution must involve two factors:

1. Americans start taking responsibility for their own health.
2. Health insurance covers only serious calamities. People must pay to treat their own acne, high blood pressure, allergies, and colds.

Now the competing capitalist or socialist solutions would address a much smaller list of problems.

Top 100 Films - Changes for Good & Ill

Here's the list displayed in full.

=Good News:
Kane, Godfather, and Casablanca remain on top (who cares what order!).

The 23 films dropped from the list, these deserved it, because....

...these were just too damned racist through their very premises, even though they represented technologial milestones. Screw 'em!
44. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
90. The Jazz Singer (1927)
wish we could add Gone With the Wind to this list; I'd certainly remove it.

...excellent, and genuine cinematic milestones, but just not one the 100 best films ever, though every film nerd must possess them in their vocabulary:

59. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
63. Stagecoach (1939)
68. An American in Paris (1951)
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
87. Frankenstein (1931)
89. Patton (1970)
91. My Fair Lady (1964)
99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

... just never was good enough to begin with
75. Dances With Wolves (1990)

"The Graduate" dropped in its ranking, and probably deserves to fall off entirely, though it's a pretty damn good film. And thank the lord that the list retains Midnight Cowboy, which I fear people are forgetting.

Of the 23 films that got added, these deserved it:

59. Nashville (1975)
61. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
63. Cabaret (1972)
67. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
77. All The President's Men (1976)
81. Spartacus (1960)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)

=Bad News:

Of the 23 removed, these certainly should have stayed (especially when you consider the garbage that got added):

39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
52. From Here to Eternity (1953)
53. Amadeus (1984)
57. The Third Man (1949)
67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
82. Giant (1956)
84. Fargo (1996)
86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
89. Patton (1970)
92. A Place in the Sun (1951)

The following got added, but they don't even deserve to be watched!
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (No. 50); Nadir's dad watched because he thought it starred Michael Flately.
Saving Private Ryan (No. 71); watchable, but not top 100.
Titanic (No. 83); barely watchable.
The Sixth Sense (No. 89); unwatchably awful.

I would watch any of the above undeserved dropped films 1,000 times before watching any of the above added movies just once.

These very good films got added, though they don't belong in the best 100 ever, certainly not replacing any of the unjustifiably dropped films:
75. In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
85. A Night At The Opera (1935)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
96. Do The Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)

These films remain on the list, but never belonged there:
Schindler's List (1993)
Star Wars (1977)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

And Steven Freakin' Speilberg has the most films on the list (five)? Oh, please.
"King Kong" remains on the list, but none of the deserving Wes Anderson films made it (Rushmore and Royal Tannenbaums), nor has "A Face in the Crowd" made it.

Scentists Refuting Global Warming Hysteria Unite!

Proponents of global warming-by-humans hysteria point to big lists of scientists who support this view as evidence that they are 100% correct. Now scientists opposed to this view are starting to unify formally as well. In this article we see such a list, and more advocacy that solar events serve as the prime movers in Earth temperature changes. Also: prediction of global cooling soon to come.

And here the Czech Republic president continues his global warming apostasy. He seems to me that rare political leader, like South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, who has a real mind, and really uses it. He writes of global warming:
========================================

• Is global warming a reality?

• If it is a reality, is it man-made?

• If it is a reality, is it a problem? Will the people in the world, and now I have to say “globally”, better-off or worse-off due to small increases of global temperature?

• If it is a reality, and if it is a problem, can men prevent it or stop it? Can any reasonable cost-benefit analysis justify anything – within the range of current proposals – to be done just now?

Surprisingly, we can say yes – with some degree of probability – only to the first question. To the remaining three my answer is no. And I am not alone in saying that. We are, however, still more or less the silent or silenced majority.

===============

NYC Mayor Takes Subway; Kwame Chauffeured

The mayor of NYC, the USA's largest city, rides the subway to and from work, presumably with few or no cops acting as his private security detail / hang-out buddies. Meanwhile, the mayor of the USA's fastest shrinking, brokest city -- Detroit -- continues enjoying the nation's largest mayoral security detail and lavish personal driving accommodations... even as crime chases away residents, and bankruptcy reduces services. What if Kwame's private cops were working instead addressing crime?

Juneteenth Violence in Milwakee, Austin, Syracuse

I grew up attending Juneteenth celebrations in Austin at Rosewood Park, where violent outbursts were sadly an expected and anticipated occurrence during the late '70s and early '80s. This year, in Milwaukee three different fights broke out, and as crowds left the event at its conclusion, teens walking through traffic started attacking cars and the people inside, jumping on the cars, smashing out the windows, and assaulting passengers. Did the teen savages target whites? No mention yet of the "race" of these victims, as surely would have occurred had white teen savages rampaged black citizens. "It's the second year in a row that violence has broken out at the celebration."

The video shows some white cops using billy clubs to beat a woman trying to fight them, after cops had intervened to break up a fight between her and another woman. Obviously these cops could have subdued her without beating her with clubs. More here and here and here.

And back in Austin, a mob beat to death a Mexican immigrant returning home to his apartment after working all day at a paint job, when his car accidentally hit a child (who survived with minor injuries), and he got out to assist.

Meanwhile the Juneteenth celebration in Syracuse degraded into fights that included two stabbings and a shooting.

I think these behaviors support my view that 99% of the problems in these areas derive from the poor choices of the residents. If they only all did the best that they could, they would need no help from anybody to create safe and prosperous lives for themselves.

Bravo Sir Salman Rushdie

Normally I abhor anything pertaining to royalty, including the British Royal Family and its granting of knighthood. However, the reaction by murderous islmaic retards to the queen's recent knighthood of Pakistani Salman Rushdie has placed me squarely on her side, provided that she not give into their anti-civilization demands.

"We demand that Britain should refrain from such acts which hurt the sentiments of Muslims and take back the title of Sir given to Rushdie," Pakistani parliamentary affairs minister and bigot Sher Afgan said. "If somebody has to attack by strapping bombs to his body to protect the honour of the Prophet, then it is justified," Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul-Haq told the crazed national assembly, which unanimously passed a resolution proclaiming that the award would encourage "contempt" for the Prophet Mohammed.

As well it should! Mohammad was surely one of the most detestable humans to ever live, as these calls to execute his critics exactly mimic his own actions. Among Mohammad's many malevolent distinctions, he may be history's only figure who executed a standup comedian for any reason; in his case, a female poet-comedian who delighted Mecca's pre-literate, and pre-conquest audiences with jokes about Mohammad, for his pre-Islamic battlefield cowardice, for claiming to be the Jewish messiah, for marrying a much older woman when he was a teen, and for obtaining his wealth from that woman's business. The manner her decapitation delighted Moh: it occurred suddenly and from behind as she nursed her baby (not that he didn't also delight in torture, but that would have precluded the novel image of a suckling infant unaware that its heretical mother had just lost her head).

Even if you somehow (via ignorance?) decide to respect this malicious sexual pervert (who imagined heaven contain "beautiful young boy servants", who married a 9 year-old girl, who cuckolded his own son, ordered rape and sexual slavery for all surviving females of his numerous bloody conquests), all humans should enjoy the right to besmirch him. Homicidal nuts who demand respect for Mohammad or anybody else deserve to endure the very expression of ideas that they wish to silence with swords. In fact, their success in squashing such expressions is surely one reason for their mental retardation. Confronting them with blasphme surely represents one necessary component of curing their mental disease.

"Protesters in the eastern cultural hub of Lahore used their shoes to pound burning British flags in a show of disrespect." Civilized Britons responded not by furiously demanding the deaths of these people, but instead by yawning. (Note to US retards who want to imprison citizens who set fire to their own US flags: isn't forced respect even worse when imposed by the state rather than ravenous mobs?)

"Five people died in the Pakistani capital Islamabad in 1989 in riots against Rushdie's book." Nice to know that the universe does occasionally smite the wicked; can hardly imagine a better candidate for death-by-stampede than a religious nut demanding the murder of a blasphemer.

Father of Climatology Rejects Global Warming...

...caused by humans.
=================
Reid Bryson, known as the father of scientific climatology, considers global warming a bunch of hooey. The UW-Madison professor emeritus, who stands against the scientific consensus on this issue, is referred to as a global warming skeptic. But he is not skeptical that global warming exists, he is just doubtful that humans are the cause of it. There is no question the earth has been warming. It is coming out of the "Little Ice Age," he said in an interview this week.

"However, there is no credible evidence that it is due to mankind and carbon dioxide. We've been coming out of a Little Ice Age for 300 years. We have not been making very much carbon dioxide for 300 years. It's been warming up for a long time," Bryson said. The Little Ice Age was driven by volcanic activity. That settled down so it is getting warmer, he said. Humans are polluting the air and adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, but the effect is tiny, Bryson said.

"It's like there is an elephant charging in and you worry about the fact that there is a fly sitting on its head. It's just a total misplacement of emphasis," he said. "It really isn't science because there's no really good scientific evidence."

... Bryson, 87, was the founding chairman of the department of meteorology at UW-Madison and of the Institute for Environmental Studies, now known as the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. He retired in 1985, but has gone into the office almost every day since. He does it without pay.

... So, if global warming isn't such a burning issue, why are thousands of scientists so concerned about it? "Why are so many thousands not concerned about it?" Bryson shot back. "There is a lot of money to be made in this," he added. "If you want to be an eminent scientist you have to have a lot of grad students and a lot of grants. You can't get grants unless you say, 'Oh global warming, yes, yes, carbon dioxide.'"... "There is very little truth to what is being said and an awful lot of religion. It's almost a religion. Where you have to believe in anthropogenic (or man-made) global warming or else you are nuts."
[con'd]

I'm Voting for Ron Paul

Ron Paul's the only Repo running who I trust to oppose expanded govt, including taxes.

Duke Rape Hoax Wrap-Up

This never came out until now: one of the rich duke crackers falsely accused of raping a crazy black stripper was, at the time, enrolled as the only honkey in in a "black studies" class. On top of that, his study partner for the class responded by authoring one of the countless groundless accusatory essays against him, published in one of the campus rags.

What a mess that was. Everybody "knew" that these guys were guilty assholes, and the same people lambasting them as racist hoodlums preposterously demanded that the accused should in news articles not be described as a "stripper" but as a "student and single mom." But the inciting incident did not involve her being a student or a single mom; she wasn't at the alleged crime scene dropping off her kid at day care or studying with a school mate. She was there as a stripper; her role as a mom and student were irrelevant to the story.

After getting disbarred, a reporter asked Nifong if he still thought that the Dukies assaulted Magnum (the accuser), he refused to admit the obvious, and instead held on beyond all logic: "something happened to make everybody leave that scene very quickly." Yes, clearly to all who have seen the facts: After a dispute over the money paid by the Dukies to the strippers, the strippers "left mad", with "Stripper 2" declaring that they were going to call the cops to report underage drinking and supplying booze to minors.

The NYT did a pretty spectacular job defaming the falsely accused, and bolstering the fantastic accusation long after it began falling apart; its report of the DA's disbarment received far less coverage. At least now the NYT reveals to its readers (who already know this from reading other sources) that the false accuser who had zero DNA from the accused had semen samples from four other men. Two of the falsehoods promoted by the NYT's biased reporting: that this cased "lacked DNA evidence", and that "most rape cases proceed without DNA evidence." To the contrary: this case *had* DNA evidence, albeit evidence that exonerated the accused; and approximately no rape charges survive such evidence. The oft-cited, and inappropriately applied statistic about lack of DNA evidence pertains to cases where, say, the accused comes forward weeks or longer after the alleged incident, when DNA evidence cannot be taken, not an hour later as in this case.

Finally, where are all the loud, angry supporters of this accusation? Shouldn't they either be protesting even more loudly now that the "mother and student" rape victim has been so thoroughly "disrespected" that all charges have been dropped, and the prosecutor now prosecuted? Or shouldn't they just as loudly as before now admit that they were wrong, cheer justice for the unjustly accused, and extend a hand of friendship to them in an effort to win their celebrated support for assisting others in a similar lot?

Nifong's Swan Song, by LaShawn Barber

Nifong confided to cops early on that the charges lacked evidence. "The testimony about Nifong from Det. Himan is key because not only does it provide strong evidence that the DA was intent on forcing a false first-degree felony case to trial based on nothing but the accuser’s shaky story, but also that Nifong knew he had no case when he came to Durham’s African-American community during a public forum at NCCU on April 11, 2006, two weeks after the allegations made worldwide news, and assured everyone, including Mayor Bill Bell, that despite a lack of DNA evidence, he would, and could, continue to seek justice."

Bush II Tax Rate Overview

George Will gives a real nice overview here of all the "Bush Tax Cuts" that produced current long economic growth (including a huge boost in tax revenues!) and which will expire a few years after he leaves office.

"By Any Means Neccessary!"...

...except school vouchers. Newark's government school system gets $17,000 / year per each kid in tax funding, with results that rank among the nation's worst, adding to the overwhelming proof that "lack of funding" cannot explain why so many government K-12 schools fail. The city's hip, young new mayor wants to address this problem via vouchers, proclaiming, "I'm the Malcolm X of education — 'By any means necessary'." However, political considerations block him from using the word "voucher."

Coerced Accusation in Genarlow Wilson Case?

Looks like the mother of the girl in the Genarlow Wilson case got coerced into pressing charges against the teen boys who had consensual sex with her daughter. She and the daughter wanted no charges pressed, but the DA "told her that if she didn't assist the prosecution, she could face legal trouble for 'neglect' as a parent." Interesting that while it tends to be lefties who defend guys like Wilson, it is lefties -- feminists, specifically -- who have gotten passed laws making it easier to make false rape allegations. Remember that Bill Clinton's mess with Monica Lewinski derived directly from his successful effort to give special status to sex crime accusations, replacing "presumption of innocence" with the surely now-disproved (thanks to the Duke rape hoax) maxim, "women never lie about rape." Thus when Jennifer Flowers sued Bill for sexually assaulting her, unlike for any other sort of accusation, her attorneys got enter facts about "previous conduct" unrelated to the specific incident; had Flowers sued Bill for pick-pocketing, her attorneys could not subpoena others to ask, "Has Bill ever taken a wallet out of your pocket? Did he have your permission?"

Update: Wilson described as 17-year-old who gets 10 years for receiving consensual felitio from 15-year-old schoolmate. Two years into this needless, unjust conviction, when a righteous judge overturns on appeal, prosecutors waste more time and money continuing to press the matter. This is what we get from combination of righties who get too hysterical over "tough on crime", and lefties who just as hysterically promote the claim that "women never lie about rape".

Czech Rep Prez Against Global Warming Hysteria

Vaclav Klaus writes powerfully in favor of personal liberties, free markets, and the resulting widespread prosperity as the best possible ways to obtain the best possible conditions -- including "the environment" -- for humans: I agree with Professor Richard Lindzen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said: “future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age”.

Repo & Demo Curruption

Many of us who voted for Bush and the Repos each of the last few elections expected that republicans would exhibit less corruption than the demos, as led by the Clintons in the 90s. Such was, afterall, one of the claims made by Bush II and the other repose. Of course they proved us wrong.

Now come the demos, who convinced a majority of voters the last election to give them majorities of both houses, claiming that *they* would "clean up" DC. Nancey Pelosi of course was one of the loudest sellers of this claim. As House Speaker now for less than a year, has she proven to be any "cleaner" than the previous Speaker, a Repo? Of course not. Here she advocates not for reducing congressional junkets, but rather for adding rep's kids to the trips... on the tax payer's dime.

Lefty Concern Over Global Warming Credibility

Here lefty pundit and Hilary supporter Camille Paglia rails: "Gore's preachy, apocalyptic fundamentalism has fomented an atmosphere of hysteria around this issue and potentially compromised the long-term credibility of environmentalism."

Causes of High Petro Prices

Many people -- Lefty and Righty alike -- charge "greedy" petro execs of fixing petro prices high. Yet petro companies report a constant profit margin of only 10% both during their lean, low-price years of the 1990s and today's reality of high prices and high profits. Meanwhile, consumer taxes from local, state, and federal agencies nab about 30% of what consumers pay at the pump. And we all know that a lack of refineries in the US, due to environmental regulations, contributes as well to US pump prices, surely more than the profit margin. This article explains how complicated government regulations also adds substantially to the pump price.

Justice, Finally, for Genarlow Wilson

A few years ago this then-17 year-old high school dude, Genarlow Wilson, woke up from a New Year's Eve Party and found himself in one of these Duke rape situations: arrested on a rape charge despite raping nobody. In this case, a 15-year-old girl who attended the party woke up and felt so bad about getting drunk and having sex that she filed a rape report. Oops. An appeal judge now agrees that the accused, who is black, got a bum deal. Georgia's state legislature had already expressed its support for the guy, by modifying its rape laws. Looks like he'll now get out, with his record cleaned, though not sanitized. I wonder what makes the girl, who I assume is white, feel worse: getting drunk and "giving it up", or getting some fellow drunk teen imprisoned.

By the way, this is not the case so famously profiled on HBO's sports show, which featured another black Georgia football teen, Marcus Dixon, convicted of consensual sex with an officially underage white girl. An appeals court also eventually released him.

AP Article on Wilson

States Join Fedl Govt in Reaping Tax Boon

The economic forces fueling record federal tax revenues are now appearing in state tax ledgers. Opponents of Bush's tax cuts predicted massive reductions in fedl tax revs, while its proponents predicted just this: a huge increase in the national economic pie, making a smaller fraction of that bigger pie (lower tax rate creates a larger economic pie) constituting a larger pie slice (higher tax rev) than the larger fraction (high tax rate) of a smaller pie (higher tax rate creates a smaller pie).

This article fails to connect these increased tax revs to the lower tax rates conceived by Bush and passed by the then-Republican congress and senate. Also, this article flatly reports state officials as "giving back" state tax income via lowering state tax rates. Prediction: the states that lower their tax rates will find that they get even larger tax revs by further boosting their local economies. Clearly, increased tax revs don't make states able to "afford" to lower their tax rates, but rather merely give state legislators ignorant of economic principles the courage to lower tax rates.

Shia Iran Arms Sunni Taliban Enemies

In targeting Iraq for replacement with a democracy in preventing future 911s, the neocons claimed that Hussein would help Al Qaida in attacking the US. The peacniks insisted that could never, ever happen, due to both Sunni-Shia and religious-secular differences. Yet here we have the violently retarded Shai tyrants who run Iran now arming the violently retarded Sunni tyrants known as the Taliban fighting pro-democratic forces in Afghanistan.

Racism, Racism Everywhere!

If pundits started calling Obama "too lazy" to win the presidency, of course the talk would righteously get branded "racist". But here prospective repo presidential candidate and honkey Fred Thompson suffers that criticism, and nobody notices or cares. This story reminded me of an experience last night at a bar, near my home in the mostly white Detroit suburb of Westland. I met two friends there, a couple, both black. The guy sees racism everywhere. I arrived there at about 11:30. They were the only blacks in the place, which had earlier hosted a black comedy show in the comedy club upstairs. By now only stragglers were left.

We sat at a U-shaped bar, in the middle of the U. On the left side a small group of honkies got served a pizza. "See, Paul. The barkeep just told us that the kitchen was closed." His girlfriend nodded in agreement: they had been denied service because they are black. The restaurant that had just opened itself to dozens of black folks paying money to employ black comedians had decided to sell liquor to a black couple, but to throw away food rather than trade it for money from black folks. And the two honkey bartenders knew this policy: sell 'em drinks, but not food.

But it's a pizza, they probably ordered it 30 mins ago. "That's true," the girlfriend said, seeming to by somewhat persuaded by my reasoning. About 30 mins later a small group of honkies to our right got served something in a basket; chicken bits or something, I assumed. "See!" exclaimed my friend. "What's your excuse for that?" I was shocked, I must admit. I walked over to the honkies, glanced in their bowl, and had my answer. "It's popcorn!" I reported back. "Why didn't we get offered popcorn?" Because you're black, of course was his unstated answer. I looked around. Of the 6 or so groups of people still at the bar, this was the only one with any popcorn. I pointed that out.

His response: to remind me that in Jan at a packed restaurant hosting a musical event, he and others in his group (all black) sitting far from the bar couldn't get the bartenders or waitresses to run a tab on their credit cards. However, those bartenders accepted mine for a tab with no hesitation. When I learned this, I investigated. The response I got from the manager: during this annual musical event, performed by a black group (this buddy belongs to the group, and the other members of his party were also "with the band") the house policy excludes tabs, except at the staff discretion.

And why would the staff take my credit card, but deny all the other people in my group, me the only honkey, they all black? Easy, says the manager: You are in here all the time. The staff knows what you drink (Guinness!), and they know you're name. The other people in your group they don't know.

Doesn't matter, though, these facts: the US is a stiflingly racist place, and racism is everywhere they look!

NASA's Top Official Doubts Global Warming

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin Questions Need to Combat Warming

believe that some amount of global warming is occurring, I doubt that the implications are catastrophic, I'm pretty sure that human activities can neither explain it nor alter it, and I'm certain that the hysterics are behaving poorly.

... & former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt casts his lot with the skeptics.