Notice how were to blame for everything...

Outrage as US baby wig craze hits Britain

Angelina Jolie: Frustrated Randian ?

Angelina Jolie will be costarring in the upcoming movie of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. OK, lets leave off about how Rand's novels are unreadable. And how they are only thought provoking if you happen to be a high school senior. What interests me is how all the publicity about the movie keeps talking about what a great fan Jolie is of Rand's work.
Is this the same Angelina Jolie who taken humanitarian missions to the likes of Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Tanzania? The Angelina Jolie who was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador? The same Angelina Jolie who said..

"We cannot close ourselves off to information and ignore the fact that millions of people are out there suffering. I honestly want to help. I don't believe I feel differently from other people. I think we all want justice and equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us."


I am not making light of all her efforts. But I do think that perhaps she should acquaint herself with some of the choicer quotes of the Merciless Ming... I mean Rand.


"It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master."

Or...


"The man who attempts to live for others is a dependent. He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves. The relationship produces nothing but mutual corruption. It is impossible in concept. The nearest approach to it in reality -- the man who lives to serve others -- is the slave. If physical slavery is repulsive, how much more repulsive is the concept of servility of the spirit. The conquered slave has a vestige of honor. He has the merit of having resisted and of considering his condition evil. But the man who enslaves himself voluntarily in the name of love is the basest of creatures. He degrades the dignity of man, and he degrades the conception of love. But that is the essence of altruism."

All in all I would rather be a Jolian than a Randian.

7-eleven Sells Out Satanic Citgo in order to Shield Fuel Share

DALLAS - 7-Eleven Inc. dropped Venezuela-owned Citgo as its gasoline supplier after more than 20 years as part of a previously announced plan by the convenience store operator to launch its own brand of fuel.

7-Eleven officials said Wednesday that the decision was partly motivated by politics.
Citgo Petroleum Corp. is a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company and 7-Eleven is worried that anti-American comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might prompt motorists to fill-up elsewhere.

Update:
Image courtesy of Sweetness and Light

The First Black Man on the Moon

This is a reasonably interesting article which shows how the Ethiopian government is using memories of the Cuban expeditionary forces to stir up it's people's nationalism, no doubt in preparation for a possible war with Somalia.
What struck me most was the jaw-dropping line toward the end.

"The first black Cuban, who set foot on the moon for the first time, Brig. General Arnaldo Tamayo took part in the discussions held between the PM and the military generals."


This is the real story of the Brigadier General.

Restored Me262 in flight: Very Cool

Footage of a restored Messerschmitt 262 from the ILA ( Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung ; International Aerospace Exhibition ) 2006 in Berlin

Rehabilitation: Celebrity Style

George Michael on tour, fresh from trolling the public restrooms of London, lets us know he's a good guy by beating a giant inflatable Bush (insert your own joke here ).
Mel Gibson promoting Apocalypto does the "I'm A Bipolar Anti-Semite, But I'm A Bipolar Anti-Semite Who's Against The War" dance. Apparently Michael Moore is running a 12 step program somewhere.

"Why I hate bin Laden just as much as I do little kids..."

For some reason this image kept flashing before my eyes during the Clinton interview with Chris Wallace.

NAMby Pamby II

Is it only a coincidence or does it seem there is some overlap between the membership of the Non-Aligned Movement and the new World Bank list of failed or failing states? In fact of the 26 "fragile" states the World Bank lists all but two are members of the NAM (and one of these is Kosovo which isn't even an independent state...yet). That gives the Non-Aligned Movement a 21% failure rate.

NAMby Pamby

Some qoutes from the Cuban Foreign Minister at the opening of the 14th Non-Aligned Movement Conference in Havana

Plagued by wars and the threat of new wars, the world we live in becomes more unjust and unequal with each day that passes…


. What we have witnessed, instead, is the growing hegemony of a nation that resorts to economic and political pressures unscrupulously, that feels entitled to invade any country in the world to reach its objectives and which is leading the world we all live in to its own destruction…

War and economic might are being used to impose a veritable dictatorship upon the world, while an intolerant and deceitful discourse aims to distort reality…


Democracy and human rights, today closer to pretexts than to objectives, cannot exist in a world that is increasingly unequal, where these words cannot even be read or understood by thousands of millions of people.
The concepts of limited sovereignty, humanitarian intervention, preventive war and regime change are fascist; they are not modern theories designed to defend freedom and combat terrorism. "Human safety” and "the responsibility to protect” are concepts which conceal the intention to encroach upon the sovereignty and do away with the independence of poor nations —never, of course, of powerful countries…

In this globalised world, poverty is the result of centuries of colonialism and neocolonialism and of an unjust and criminal international economic order, not of the supposed corruption and ineptitude of our governments, as they would have us believe. More privatization, more deregulation and more free trade spell more inequality, more poverty and more marginalization…


Terrorism is born of injustice, a lack of education and culture, of poverty and inequality, of the humiliation suffered by whole nations, of the contempt towards and the underestimation of belief systems, of arrogance, of abuse and of crimes. It is not a consequence of radical ideologies that must be swept off the face of the earth with bombs and missiles…


We must fight against a world in which a sovereign nation is denied the use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends while another is aided in the accumulation of nuclear arsenals…


A morally decadent empire attacked our small island with all of its hatred…

Karen Armstrong

At the Guardian, Karen Armstrong, author of The Battle for God, A History of God, and The Great Transformation among others, takes the Pope to task for his recent comments and manages to drop these pearls of wisdom.

Our Islamophobia dates back to the time of the Crusades, and is entwined with our chronic anti-semitism.

Let's see wouldn't that instead date to about right here.

It was when the Christians of Europe were fighting brutal holy wars against Muslims in the Middle East that Islam first became known in the west as the religion of the sword.

See comment above.

Until the middle of the eighth century, Jews and Christians in the Muslim empire were actively discouraged from conversion to Islam, as, according to Qur'anic teaching, they had received authentic revelations of their own.

Of course the reluctance to force conversion wouldn't have anything to do with the special head tax and the land tax that infidels and not Moslems had to pay. Or with the desire to keep the faith within the hands of a small military elite ruling over a subject population. No, not all.

Afghanistan with an ocean view

Apparently some of the Somali Jihadist didn't get this memo. Instead they substituted this one.

1) Attempt to assasinate ( in name only) president. Check.

2) Shoot nun in back. Check.

3) Butcher man for not worshipping moon. Check.

Why the Pope was wrong...

Though Christopher Hitchens is displaying his usual anti-Theism he's right about the singular stupidity with which Pope Benedict XVI has covered himself. While people fall over themselves in the rush to back Pope Benedict lets step back for a minute and see whatit is that is so praisworthy about his recent actions. Firste he gives a speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany the purpose of which is supposedly to show in some abstruse manner that religion and reason are friends not foes. In the body of the speech is a qoute from a fifthteenth century Byzantine Emperor which blasts Islam.

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached

It would be obvious to anyone who has been awake for the last decade what the Moslem world's reaction would be to the use of this quote. The quote is even more inflammatory due to the glaring unesessariness of the qoutation to support the point of the speech.

Then after the utterly predictable riots, fatwas, arsons, and other things without which modern Islam would not be itself, the Pope apologizes. Of course his backers insist this was not a real apology. However this just makes the case worst, since while papers all over the world carry headlines such as "Pope Apologizes" ( which certainly gives the impression he's sorry doesn't ), the Moslem world is still able to carry on fuming and demanding groveling admissions of guilt.
So he makes a statement that inflames the Islamists, and then proceeds to backtrack just enough to show the Fertile Crescent Fools that the Westerners are weak and spineless.

What is there to support in this..?

And consider this from Justin Raimondo over at the "Blame America First, Last and Always" crowd at antiwar.com. Of course he's looking at it from the opposite perspective but he's still right.

It is nonsense to characterize the Vatican as the enemy of Islam and the ally of Bush and the neocons in their efforts to spark a disastrous "clash of civilizations." Just as the Catholic Church was perhaps the most authoritative and powerful voice raised against the invasion of Iraq, so the Vatican clearly put the onus on the Israelis for launching an unjust war against Lebanon – and for essentially the same reasons. The Church has consistently condemned the brutalities of the Israeli occupation of the Holy Land and clearly sympathizes with the plight of the Palestinians. John Paul II characterized the Iraq war as "a defeat for humanity," and, citing the massive antiwar demonstrations that occurred all around the world on the eve of the invasion, called on Catholics to fast in protest. Benedict is not deviating from these stances, but is, instead, seeking to buttress the intellectual foundations of the doctrine – based on the interplay of faith and reason – that gives rise to the Church's antiwar, albeit not pacifistic, stance.

History News Newtwork

Does it strike anybody else that the History News Network is skewing their headlines a bit to the Left... or is it just the historians themselves?

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2006
Iraq intelligence reports are overclassified, senators say
New study claims conservative SCOTUS justices more activist than liberals in striking down federal laws
David Horowitz slammed in new book by academic critic
UNESCO sends experts to carry out technical assessment of the effects of the war on Lebanon’s cultural heritage
New Concern Over Fate of Iraqi Antiquities

...and they make the trains run on time.

Aparently the new overlords of rump Somalia ( that is Somalia minus Somaliland and Puntland ) the Islamic Courts Council, is on a global publicity push.

"Yesterday the West was talking about lawlessness in Somalia. Today everything is better because the Islamic courts have taken over," Abdi said. "Let us give these people a chance."

Apparently these people didn't get the message.

A Bigger Story ?

Which is sadder ? The destruction of ancient Eskimo petroglyphs. The assumption that it has to be those crazy nearby Christians. Or the fact that a major revival has turned the lives around of many people among a forgotten group in the Canadian North and the only way it appears on the radar screens of the outside world is through the filter of concern over some 1,500 year old rock drawings. Let's see ...a) people's souls b) people's well being c) primitive rock art
.....Not that I have anything against 1,500 year old petroglyphs.

Enoch Powell

A very good article on Enoch Powell and his famous (infamous?) "Rivers of Blood" speech at the New Criterion. Here's Powell's page at Wikipedia.

Oriana Fallaci

War as a reflection

War as waged by the United States in 2006. War as waged by the United States in 1943.

10 Depressing facts

Timesonline has this interesting, but depressing read on the obstacles the West faces in the conflict with Islamists/Jihadists. Be sure to check out the first group of comments especially the second one which is from a guy who basically thinks " yep things are bad, we'd better give up"

The New Red and the New Black

Here are a few of the reason that so many of those on the Left, from the Democratic Party, from the British SWP, from ANSWER and everywhere else, seem to have such a soft spot for the Modern Jihadist. Or we could just ask Carlos. Or his wife.

More Moran

Rep. Jim Moran of the Eighth district here in Virginia puts his foot in it yet again. The comment is about halfway down the article. No ceremony is too august or emotion filled for him not to make a complete jackass of himself.

Warren Jeffs says: It's Brangelinamazing!!

In Esquire magazine Brad Pitt has announced that he and Angelina Jolie (here's their Wikipedia link in case you've never heard of them) will not be marrying until all who want to are legally entitled to do so (marry that is). Not withstanding the fact of course that they already have three marriages between them.
Immediately they were swamped by the support of the beautiful and powerful:

Moses: "Pharoah, let my people go... or Zipporah is outta' here."

Lincoln: "I will not speak to Mary Todd again until the curse of slavery is removed
from this land."

Charlize Theron: "How dare you steal my publicit......I mean my well thought out,
principled, public stand."

While in the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah (yes it's really called that) Warren Jeffs says "I am deeply moved. Thanks Brad and Angelina. Now if you would like to donate to my defense..."

Have you no shame Sen. Reid...

Let's see if I have this correct. Among the worries of the Democratic mavens of the Senate about ABC's The Path to 9/11 are:


"concerns...made all the more pressing by the political leaning of and the public statements made by the writer/producer of this miniseries Mr. Cyrus Nowrasteh, in promoting this miniseries across conservative blogs and talk shows."

OK. So Oliver Stone can make a movie about 9/11. Spike Lee can have a (near ubiquitous) HBO program on Katrina's effects on New Orleans. And Daniel Winterbottom can direct the new movie about the murder of Daniel Pearl...but "promoting...across conservative blogs and talk shows" sends the Left into paroxysms of outrage?

Red Scotland

A perfect symbol of the Neo-Marxist wave that has almost submerged the Old World is this disgraceful bit of vandalism that appeared on the tiny Scottish isle of Davaar that lies at the entrance to Campbeltown harbor on the Mull of Kintrye. The painting has existed since 1887 with the occasional touch up due to weather damage. It will require a lot more than that now thanks to some Red wannabe (or wannabes). Maybe we should ask these fellows.

Khatamimania II

Well at least I found one person on the right who agrees with me about Khatami.

He was set up by Rove

When former Illinois Governor George Ryan attempted to improve his image in the eyes of the world and posterity this is probably not what he had in mind.

Khatamimania

With former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami set to speak at Harvard University on September 10, it does well to remember that as dangerous as current president Ahmadinejad is, his predecessor Khatami was a liberal in that part of the world. People should keep that in mind before gagging at the idea of a prominent Iranian political figure speaking at an American university the day before the September 11 anniversary. Sure he has made the usual obnoxoius comments about US policy fueling terrorism but nothing worse than you might hear coming out of the mouth of Bill Maher (however I wouln't want either to speak at the National Cathedral). It also does well to keep in mind that Iran is not as monolithically Shi'a Persian as it is often portrayed.

Homeschooling on the border

A Homeschooled teen gets a lesson in law enforcement along the porous Arizona-Mexico border. And she's a 14-year old girl.

Mexico on the verge... of what?

Our Mainstream Media seems to be ignoring the election fracas south of the border. Presidential canidate Andres Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution refuses to concede defeat, his supporters camp in the streets and leftwing members of the Mexican congress physically prevent President Vincente Fox from delivering his last State of the Nation address. Today the Federal Electoral Tribunal declared Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party the president elect but whether Calderon will back down or will continue to escalate the crisis is anyone's guess. One thing for sure is that this election stalemate (which certainly seems more severe than the one we experienced in 2000) seems to hold no particular interest to anyone north of the Rio Grande.

Mr. Bates I presume...

Midwest Conservative Journal recounts the journey of an English reporter to deepest, darkest North Carolina where he visits with the Ummpa Loom...er, I mean Southern Baptists. Next week he will be visiting the fabled luutherians in the frozen wastes of Min-ee-apo-lis.

Very first post

This a test.