The Decline Of Religious Freedom Across Southern Asia

A disturbing decision in Malaysia...

The highest court in Malaysia ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the Muslim Shariah courts, even though the Malaysian Constitution, which the civil courts are supposed to uphold, guarantees freedom of religion. The Shariah courts have been adamant that "apostasy" cannot be allowed; Muslims cannot become non-Muslims.

This has also become a disturbing trend in some of the states of our Indian "ally"...

Indian law tolerates missionaries but bars forced conversions. Nevertheless, any missionary activity generally provokes a harsh reaction — especially in states ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party or its allies, where the law has been used to harass, imprison or drive out Christian missionaries.

Paging Dr. Mengele III

Without comment...

Cosmetic abortion an ugly science

By Fred Reed
May 19, 2007

In England, it now seems, a baby can be aborted for not being pretty enough. Maybe this was inevitable as genetic screening and techniques such as ultrasound advanced.
The London Daily Telegraph Web site reports that the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has licensed a fertility clinic to screen embryos for a genetic defect that causes a severe squint.

This Is A Joke, Right ?

The Times of London fresh from its campaign against those who would deny alcohol to all those expectant mums out there now goes after Americans and their high falutin' view of their legal system.

American justice? Isn’ t that a contradiction?

Hmmm, do the writers at the Times read their own national press ?

"In 2004, police in England and Wales were given the power to issue £80 fixed penalty fines instead of an arrest for first-time offences and thefts of goods worth less than £200."

"Litterers could face on-the-spot fines as part of a government drive to clean up shabby streets and gardens.Councils could employ wardens to enforce the fines against anyone seen throwing rubbish on public or private land."

"Bar staff serving customers who are drunk could be hit with an £80 fixed penalty notice, the government has announced.
Ministers have revealed that the on-the-spot fines, aimed at cracking down on binge drinking, will be introduced on Monday."

"LONDON (Reuters) - It could be the 4 million closed-circuit television cameras, or maybe the spy drones hovering overhead, but one way or another Britons know they are being watched. All the time. Everywhere.

The latest gizmo to be employed in what civil liberty campaigners are calling Britain's "surveillance society" is a small, remote-controlled helicopter that can hover above inner city streets and monitor suspected criminals."

And from the Times, the day before the "American Justice" article...

"NEW anti-terrorism laws are to be pushed through before Tony Blair leaves office giving “wartime” powers to the police to stop and question people.

John Reid, the home secretary, who is also quitting next month, intends to extend Northern Ireland’s draconian police powers to interrogate individuals about who they are, where they have been and where they are going.

Under the new laws, police will not need to suspect that a crime has taken place and can use the power to gain information about “matters relevant” to terror investigations.

If suspects fail to stop or refuse to answer questions, they could be charged with a criminal offence and fined up to £5,000. Police already have the power to stop and search people but they have no right to ask for their identity and movements."

Softselling Third World Thugs II

Notice this rather strange AP posting. First the story...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's oldest private television station was pushed off the air as President Hugo Chavez's government replaced the popular opposition- aligned network with a new state-funded channel on Monday.

Radio Caracas Television shut down just before midnight Sunday as its broadcast license expired. Chavez refused to renew its license, accusing the channel of "subversive" activities.

And so what's the headline for this piece...

Chavez Launches New Venezuela TV Station

But then this has happened before has it not.

Getting Back to Christopher Hitchens....

After reading the recent review of Christopher Hitchens new book What I've Got Against God (or whatever it's called) in the New York Times Book Review and seeing his cheerful mug in two photos in the issue a thought suddenly struck me.
If a life of Atheism, and I mean a dedicated big "A" atheism, has left Hitchens with such a sour outlook on life then he may very well wind up becoming one of the best advertisements the world has for a life of faith.

In Memoriam......Charles Nelson Reilly

Memorial Day Greetings From The Left

The American Left at work....

ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. (AP) - Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.

Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been.

Let us see, how far is Portland from Seattle.


But remember.......don't say they don't support the troops.

Riverdale And Workers Rights

What happens when a Canadian "witty pop-culture-history" blogger tries to explain American culture to his fellow Canadians, especially the "creepy" Christian side of things.
Like Archie.

Well strangely enough you find out that striking is "essentially illegal" and picketing is illegal.

Can everyone repeat after me............common.... situs.


Hat tip Relapsed Catholic.

You'll Pry This Drink From My Cold....

The Times of London as well as assorted Tory women seem to have embarked on a strange crusade against the Blair "nanny state."

"pure nonsense"
"new alarm"
" Why does it always have to be the lowest common denominator that sets the standard?"

And the aspect of the state that has gotten them so worked up...........A British Department of Health guideline that pregnant women should abstain from alcohol.
That's it.

"Our advice is simple: avoid alcohol if pregnant or trying to conceive," she said. "This advice could also be included on alcohol packaging or labels. The advice now reflects the fact that many women give up drinking alcohol completely during pregnancy. It is now straightforward and stresses that it is better to avoid drinking alcohol altogether."

But in the "drink to you're drunk" culture of the British Isles that is felt to be putting some insurmountable burden on the women of the land. Or as this Times writer puts it...

When I was newly pregnant the thought of not drinking for the next nine months seemed more daunting to me than the prospect of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Without legs.

OK.....maybe "The Snapper" wasn't an exaggeration.

May 28, 2007

Shades OF Herod

More from the world of the pangolin pizza...

Residents of a riot-hit area of southern China warned Friday of renewed violence if authorities resume a brutal campaign to enforce family-planning rules.

Tension remains high in the Guangxi region, nearly a week after thousands clashed with police over an official campaign that residents say included forced abortions, property destruction and crippling fines aimed at violators of the so-called "one-child policy."

Like Something Out Of "Lost"

Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.

The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.

According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.

Saturday Grab Bag III

1) Apparently Rosie O'Donnell is so used to being surrounded by sycophants and an audience that cheers her every lunatic raving, that having anyone stand up to her causes her to pick up her marbles and go home.

2) While in England...

Tul Bahadur Pun's extraordinary act of valour while fighting the Japanese during
World War Two even won him royal admirers. He was invited to the Queen's
Coronation and had tea with the Queen Mother. Yet despite his illustrious
service record, when the ailing 84-year-old former Gurkha soldier applied for
permission to live in Britain he was refused by government officials. Amazingly,
British officials in Nepal told the wizened old warrior who put his life on the
line for King and country: "You have failed to demonstrate that you have strong
ties with the UK." Explaining his reasons for the application, he said: "I take
a substantial amount of medication daily, without which I would die. There is
not always a constant supply. When it runs out I feel vulnerable. "There are no
doctors or nurses, no medical outposts. I wish to settle in the UK to have
better access to medication, care and support from doctors and nurses." The old
soldier has to travel from his remote home to the Gurkha camp at Pokhara once a
month to collect his pension - which pays for his medication. It involves a
day's walk - and as he is unable to walk that far, he has to be carried in a
basket by several men.

Now if he was a Polish plumber.

But this is typical of a Europe which spits on those to whom they owe so much but falls to its knees in front of these guys.

Sums Up My Feelings On The Immigration Bill Perfectly

For the Birds

Celebating 100

Tomorrow is John Waynes 100th birthday.

The War on.....Insert Word Here

"The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe. It's a bumper sticker, not a plan,"

How bankrupt for ideas is your campaign when you start attacking the "War on Terror."

Not whether we should be fighting a "war on terror" mind you or how we should fight the "war on terror," no he just doesn't like the term "War on Terror."

I don't seem to recall Thomas Dewey critiquing the term "World War II" for being too vague and suggesting it be renamed oh, I don't know, the "The Global Anit-Fascist War Against Germany, Japan and Italy(Kinda)."

I had thought that Edwards should move away from the poverty theme what with his recent pratfalls.
Now I don't know.
Maybe he should stick to trying to get the pirate vote.

Rosie (Need I Say More)

If Rosie"Hot Steel"O'Donnell can say 655,000 Iraqis have been killed by the United States well then I say 1 million kazillion Americans have been killed by the terrorists.

Both are rooted in about the same amount of truth

Hogerific

Hog on Ice dissect our favo-rite atheist in the little bedtime story "Christopher Hitchens Visits A Synagogue".

Wonders Of Education

Apparently they use audio-visual aids a lot in the Canadian public school system.

First it was his world history class. Then he saw it in his economics class. And his world issues class. And his environment class. In total, 18-year-old McKenzie, a Northern Ontario high schooler, says he has had the film An Inconvenient Truth shown to him by four different teachers this year.

"I really don't understand why they keep showing it," says McKenzie (his parents asked that his last name not be used). "I've spoken to the principal about it, and he said that teachers are instructed to present it as a debate. But every time we've seen it, well, one teacher said this is basically a two-sided debate, but this movie really gives you the best idea of what's going on."

and it's spreading...

n England, the government has made the movie part of the public curriculum.

In Spain, the government is buying copies of the movie for all of its schools. In Australia, private donors are buying copies for schools.

So she watched the film in world history, economics, world issues (????) and an environment class.
Hmmm, I wonder what other classes might be relevant to Al Gore's movie.

Phys Ed: Because when you're exercising strenuously you're contributing to rising levels of carbon dioxide.

Shop Class: Ark building.

Psych: Do I have to say.

The Myth That We Care What Warren Brown Thinks About Anything

From the Washington Post's car columnist online chat via the Opinion Journal...

Clifton, Va.: Warren, my wife and I are considering a minivan in the near future. I like the idea of the Mazda5--truly a "mini" van--but saw that it's basically a Mazda3 with more seats and more metal. How woefully underpowered is the 5?

Warren Brown: Ah, Clifton,what do you mean by "underpowered"? For many people, the 153-hp offered by the Mazda5 is quite enough. For others, it isn't. Again, you can go to hell or to jail in a 153-hp vehicle just as fast as you can get to either one of those places in something with more horsepower. My thing is this: Horsepower should be taxed. The more you get, the more you pay. That seems fair to me in a world where only a few of us, mostly in military uniform, are paying dearly to secure oil for the horsepower the rest of us want. Or, is it that you accept the myth that we're fighting for "freedom" in Iraq?

I guess it just must gnaw away at some people working for a politically important journal like the Washington Post in our nation's capital....as the car guy.

The Washington Post: Eroding America's Resolve One Post At A Time

Frankly I Could Do Without Peaches.....They're Fuzzy

From one of the brilliant minds over at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish...

Funny you write that you got an earful down in Orange County. So did I last week when I was up in Napa and the Central Valley - and I bet what I heard, from two local farmers, was the diametric opposite of what you heard in Newport Beach. One held up a fancy white peach to me and said: "Today, you can buy this for about 35 cents in the Safeway. If I were paying my fieldworkers a regular minimum wage and benefits to care for and harvest that peach, it would cost you about $1.50. These people ought to think about that before they start raging against the immigration bill."

So is he making an argument for the amnesty bill or against the Emancipation Proclamation.

But wait there's more from our erstwhile Jefferson Davis...

He's right of course, these workers contribute to the wealth and prosperity of the rest of us quite directly - they fill water in our restaurants, wash our cars, trim our lawns, harvest our produce.

You know, I think he meant that without being sarcastic.

What irritates me about this entire debate is how these workers are demonized and abused. It's sickening, really - it brings out the worst in people, and increasingly it brings out sickening racism.

Now would that be "sickening racism" and abuse by the anti-immigration crowd or by the farmer you just quoted furious over the idea of paying somebody minimum wage for back breaking labor.

Finally he reveals the true enemy, and reveals himself to be a true Andrew Sullivan acolyte at the same time....

I wonder if all those Bible-thumpers in the anti-immigration crowd have ever taken out the good book and read Leviticus 19:33-34? It's the Lord speaking, incidentally.

Ah yes, all those "bible-thumpers" who have been, apparently surreptitiously, leading the debate against illegal immigration.

Unless of course he's talking about those other "bible-thumpers" the church sanctuary providers or those Catholic bishops who have been outspoken in their support for an amnesty plan.

Somehow I don't think he means them.

This Is Just Sad

GREENWICH, England (AP) -- A spectacular fire early Monday heavily damaged the clipper ship Cutty Sark, one of London's proudest relics of the 19th century tea trade with China designed to be the fastest ship of its day.

The ship, which was undergoing a £25m restoration, is kept in a dry dock at Greenwich in south-east London.

An area around the 138-year-old tea clipper had to be evacuated when the fire broke out in the early hours.

A Cutty Sark Trust spokesman said much of the ship had been removed for restoration and the damage could have been worse.

YYAAHHOOOOOOO.......

So we know what the Bush-McCain-Kennedy talking point is now...

'Lets figure out a rational way to do this.' But like the party, he's got these yahoos riding his coattails , a loud, vocal 25 percent of the party that doesn't want to do anything , and he has to deal with them."

I've been called worse.

In fact I kinda' like it.

Yep.

The More Things Change......

I know we often think of the Middle East as being backward, but it seems now they have been caught in some sort of science fiction time loop....

Artillery Fights Flare Around Camps in Lebanon
June 26, 1976, Saturday

PLAN TO END BEIRUT FIGHTING GOES AWRY
December 11, 1986, Thursday

Clashes Continue at Palestinian Refugee Camp
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 21, 2007

Colby's A Rat ??

I don't normally blog on television. I think I there's a lot more interesting stories in the real world.
But there are a few show I do watch regularly and that I consider myself a fan of, and Numb3rs is one of those. I've watched the show since the very beginning and I have always been impressed by the ensemble nature of the series.
Well last night was the 3rd season finale. I don't often believe the hype for these season enders that promise to "shock"us and I'm rarely caught off guard by a plot twist in any type of media.

And I am simply stunned.
You could have knocked me over with just about anything when Colby 'fessed up and said "Yep, I'm a Chinese agent."

Looking Backward, To Look Forward

To win you have to win tough.
From tigerhawk.

Returning To The Scene Of The Crime

The funny thing is, Ted Kennedy was the one who got us into this trouble to begin with.
A loooong time ago.


From Wikipedia....

The Immigration and Nationality Act amendments of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act, INS Act of 1965, Pub.L. 89-236) abolished the national-origin quotas that had been in place in the United States since the Immigration Act of 1924. It was proposed by Emanuel Celler and heavily supported by Senator Ted Kennedy.

During debate on the Senate floor, Senator Kennedy, speaking of the effects of the act, said, "...our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually.... Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset...." The act's supporters not only claimed the law would not change America's ethnic makeup, but that such a change was not desirable.

Kind of like getting Typhoid Mary to help you work on the Polio vaccine. Good only as a negative example.

Cool Fridays: Tintin Tinsel Town Bound

Legendary directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are teaming up to make a trilogy of animated films based on Tintin, the beloved Belgian comic strip hero.

They announced the deal yesterday with Spielberg promising the films would be shot in 3D, using motion capture technology to translate the movements of real actors into animated characters.

So the world's most famous Belgian cartoon character (not excepting Georges Simenon) is coming to life.
I think.

“[We are] faithfully replicating Herge’s original designs, but not rendering them as cartoons, or the familiar looking computer animated characters – instead we’re making them look photo-realistic, the fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair,” said Jackson.
“They look exactly like real people – but real Herge people!”

OK, I have to admit. I have no idea what they're talking about.

The Amnesty Plan (Or As I Like To Call It Death By Ten Million Cuts)

It takes a rare gift to create something that is both so utterly bad and utterly unworkable.

Global Village Atheist

Here from Youtube is the Hitchens appearance on Hannity And Colmes.
Revealing once again that their is nothing in the world that Hitchens hates like a dead person of faith. Especially one that actually went out and did some charitable works.

In fact if you think about why does he seem to so viscerally loath Falwell. For threatening people with a Hell that he believes doesn't exist? For his "hateful" rhetoric which of course pales beside the statements which Hitchens himself casually tosses off?

For "judging" people?

Yeah, Hitch wouldn't do that.

Da Debate

The two best comments....

McCain: "When we lost the war in Vietnam, they didn't follow us home. They will this time."

Romney: "I want them in Guantanamo. I don't want them on our soil. Some people have said we should close Guantanamo. I think we should double Guantanamo."

Pray For Chirstopher Hitchens

Pray for Christopher Hitchens.

It might do him some good.


And even if doesn't it will irritate the imaginary fiery place out of him.

I May Be Misreading The Constitution....

....but I thought the President was the War Czar.


A Harriet Miers like decision if I ever heard one.

Christopher Hitchens:Changing Hearts And Minds Through Withering Contempt

Having read Christopher Hitchens earlier outburst against Jerry Falwell and now having just seen his what can only be called hate fest on Hannity and Colmes I am struck how at no time in his long career did I hear Falwell speak with such total lack of humanity as I just saw from that eminent English Humanist.

In fact while watching Hitchens last night and hearing his use of the word carcass the picture that sprang to mind was of those charming souls of the Left chasing the nuns through the streets of Republican Spain.



UPDATE: I thought this part was really rich...

HITCHENS: The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing, that you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called reverend.

Calling yourself a journalist doesn't hurt either

Lincoln And The Religious Right

An interesting section from Hitchens' Falwell tirade on CNN...

Who would, even at your network, have invited on such a little toad to tell us that the attacks of September the 11th were the result of our sinfulness and were God's punishment if they hadn't got some kind of clerical qualification?"

I thought I might share with Hitchy, who has some affectation as a historian, this other God filled doom warning from America's past.

The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'.

So Hitchy baby which was it. Was Abraham Lincoln a charlatan or just evil.

Falwell III

Christopher Hitchens shows why he is universally thought of as such a level headed, reasonable and all round likable guy. Not like those mean spirited God botherers.

Falwell II

The "Wake" for Falwell on the Left has already begun. WorldNetDaily gives us a healthy dose.
Probably all you can stand at one sitting.

Texas Hair Follies

"7th grader Derek Jackson says he is back in his normal classes today following his placement in in-school-suspension for having a haircut that was too short; something the school says was both a violation of the school dress-code and a distraction."

"Leaders of Austin's NAACP are convinced the suspension of Derek Jackson is racially motivated. Nelson Linder with the NAACP says there's no other reason he can think of why a 7th grader would get in-school suspension for having hair that's too short."

Suspending a student for having hair that's too short. Stupid.

Getting the NAACP involved over the issue. Stupider.

Not being able to think of any reason for the controversy other than race. Stupidest.

Jackson's mother, Amanda, tells KLBJ that her son was given in-school suspension for violating a portion of the district's dress code prohibiting hair styles that are "disruptive". She says her son has had other run-ins with the school's principal.

Gee, you think that last line could have some relevance?

Falwell

Jerry Falwell, a man both better than and at the same time less influential then his many critics would admit.
Without Falwell to demonize how will our glorious national media be able to satisfactorily misrepresent the Evangelicals of America ? Without his motes to gleefully exult over how will they possibly avoid their own logs ?

It will at least give the media a plausible excuse to ruminate for the next week over how "extreme" or "polarizing" social issues are to the Republican Party. Or how "extreme" and "polarizing" they wish they were.

..... awaiting the obituaries with anticipation.

It's All About Where You Come From...

The current scenes of violence coming to us from Pakistan, might seem to Americans to be the same televised bloodshed we have become accustomed to from the Islamic community around the world. Well it isn't. The recent disturbances in the Sindh specifically in the monster city of Karachi (population 15 million) have 20th Century roots in the partition of India and in the mass movement of humanity that followed that event.
The riots are between the "native" Sindhi population and the Mohajirs (or Mojahir Urdu) who are the descendants of those Muslims who fled India during the Partition. The Sindhi who have often felt left out of the political loop due to what they feel to be historical Punjabi domination of Pakistan. The Mohajirs (which means essentially "migrants") feel them themselves to be true, sometimes the true Pakistanis, for all that they have suffered in the past. The dispute between those who consider themselves the natives and those who, justly or not, are considered the outsiders, combined of course with economic grievances and a political system that lacks respect for the rule of law has created a sweltering sub tropical gangland in one of the world's largest cities.
A city that most of the world is almost unaware exists.

Real Or Urban Legend ??

I am trying hard to confirm or disprove this little nugget...

"We hate Bush too," declares a poster from the new campaign promoting tourism to New York City, and which will soon be on display in Venezuela. To the Italians, New Yorkers say that they like football [soccer] too. To visitors from Singapore, they promise garbage, chewing gum and gay sex [outlawed in Singapore ]. The objective, into which the New York City Council will invest $15 million this year, is to reach an annual 50 million tourists by 2015 - six million more than in 2006. The creators of the campaign confirm that they intend to break New York of three bothersome stereotypes: that it's an expensive city, that New Yorkers are disagreeable and that crime abounds there.

It's Called Motivation, Dave

David Cameron needs maybe to stop touring the country and instead sit down with a good book

How opaque is the head of the British Tory Party?
Well here's the answer...from his web journal....

it’s hard to over-emphasise the importance of language. I know it sounds like a side issue, but it isn’t. We are just not getting this right. Every time the BBC or a politician talks about “Islamist terrorists” they are doing immense harm (and yes I am sure I have done this too, despite trying hard to get this right.) Think of Northern Ireland – “IRA terrorist” was fine because it marked them out as part of a terrorist group, Catholic terrorists would have been a disaster. Yet that is the equivalent of what we are doing now..

When they hear and see this kind of language, Muslims simply think – “they mean us.” Of course it’s impossible every single time to say “terrorists who are following a perverted strain of the true religion of Islam” but if we’re going to use shorthand we have got to do better.

That the fact that the IRA is secular, socialist organization dedicated to unifying all of Ireland under one government, and never ever used theological arguments to justify any of their actions seems to have escaped the head of one the two leading parties in the British Isles strikes me rather odd.

To add to the rich current of humor present in his writing he goes on in the same post to criticize the "deeply depressing and totally unacceptable" local schooling.

So on which subject is David Cameron more glaringly ignorant, 20th Century Irish Republicanism or our current batch of "Islamist", oops I'm sorry, I mean.... well I guess I mean " " terrorism.

The Taliban Song

Mullah Dadullah bo bullah.... bonana fana fo fullah,
fee fy mo Mullah, Dadullah.

Dead.

Strange Love

Never. Even. Occurred. To. Me.

from NRO...

Question: Could you introduce a character like Dr. Strange — who dresses like that, talks that way, sports a young Asian man-servant and has a really fabulous mustache — and have anyone believe he wasn't gay? I mean — By the Mystic Moons of Munnopor! — would anyone even try?

Update: Right. Forgot to mention this, from a reader:

Jonah,

Don't forget - his Sanctum Sanctorum was located in Greenwich Village. Make of that what you will.

Rudy Hates Ferrets

Yeah, because a dog in a small New York apartment is a good fit...

And The Winner In The Category For Funniest Presidential Candidate Goes To.....

Asked about his decision to join Fortress as a senior adviser in 2005, Mr. Edwards told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he did it “mainly in order to learn about the relationships between financial markets and poverty.”

But the reporters and editors at the A.P. didn’t let him off that easy.

Did he really have to join a hedge fund to learn about that? they asked Mr. Edwards, a former United States senator and trial lawyer. “How else would I have done it?” he responded.

Old Dominion Snafus

So what is it about coming to Virginia that throws those candidates for such a loop. Or should I say makes them so tired.

Mitt Romney spoke to an audience at Virginia Beach today:

"It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking," Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

A nice sign of the apocalypse.
If it were true.


Courtesy of Ed Driscoll.

Ghosts of 1928

Some days I think I could run Rudy Giuliani's Presidential Campaign (do you capitalize presidential campaign)better than the experts he currently is using. Heck who couldn't. As an example here is this non-abortion faux-pas in Iowa that will no doubt have to be damaged in that all for-some-reason important battlefield.
From the Google cache site of the Anamosa Journal-Eureka...

OLIN–Last weekend Deb and Jerry VonSprecken of Olin received a call from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign office asking them if they would be interested in holding a campaign rally on May 4, after she had donated to his campaign.

“We thought it would be an honor and agreed,” said Jerry.

The campaign office continued to contact the VonSpreckens throughout last weekend and were told a security check would be needed. The couple passed the security check and began putting plans in place.

“We started making phone calls. We got the sheriff and fire department and Olin school was going to let out early. We were also expecting kids from the Anamosa school,” Jerry explained. “Deb even went around and personally invited people.”

But then the snag...

On Tuesday Deb received a call from Giuliani’s Des Monies office and was asked to call New York.

“They wanted to know our assets,” she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle.

Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location.

“Tony said, ‘I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.’ then he said they weren’t going to be able to come,” Deb continued.

Nothin' better than smackin' them farm folks in the pride New York style.

Does the name Al Smith mean anything to Rudy. While everybody talks about the Catholic issue in 1928 they forget about the mistakes that came (and still come) from the peculiar provincialism of New Yorkers. Smith's use of the "Sidewalks of New York" as a theme song, cracks about lack of Sunday baseball out in the rural areas, an attitude that all lands beyond the Hudson are some strange unworldly place lost in time.

Hat tip to Pajamas Media.

Cool Fridays: French Election Rap Edition

For your viewing enjoyment, a selection of some of the lamest French anti-Nicolas Sarkozy election videos you are ever likely to see...












Gotta love that French rap.

This Is The Albino Hedgehog; The Albino Hedgehog Means No Blogging Today

Dentist today

Hmmm......

You will notice some gaffes are more equal than others.

Google News search 5/9/2007 12:00 PM bush gaffe 683 hits

Google News search 5/9/2007 12:00 PM obama gaffe 264 hits

Why Quibble....

10,000
10

It must be something about Richmond.
My wife makes that mistake all the time.

"They Are Not Amused"

President Bush welcomed the queen with a royal faux pas about her age, suggesting she had witnessed American independence in 1776. Expressing admiration for her long friendship with the United States, Bush noted that Elizabeth had dined with 10 presidents and had "helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 . . ." He quickly caught and corrected his mistake, "in 1976."
Her Majesty did not appear to be amused.
Laughter rippled across the South Lawn, but the queen, who celebrated her 81st birthday last month, shot Bush a look that he sheepishly acknowledged "only a mother could give a child.

That's the Washington Post. Paragraphs 4 and 5 no less.The BBC web site's headline was...

Queen triumphs amid Bush gaffes
We will never know what the Queen really thinks of George W Bush.

If by triumphs they mean looking either rigid or peeved then well I guess she "triumphed." As for knowing what she really thinks of George Bush does the BBC normally have a crystal ball at these events that allows them to read the inner workings of the human mind and heart?

Imagine if this was Lincoln or Truman or Carter, we would then be hearing not of their crudity but instead of how homespun they were or down to earth. George Bush however lacks the inestimable asset of having a "D" inscribed behind his name

Global Warming, Hurricanes, And Now Tornadoes, It's All You Know Whos Fault

Democrats use the terrible disaster in Greensburg Kansas to do what they love most in life....bash George Bush....

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius says the war in Iraq has exposed holes in domestic disaster response like the one currently under way in tornado-ravaged Kansas.

The governor said about half the state's National Guard trucks are in Iraq, equipment that would be helpful in removing debris. Sebelius, who asked the Pentagon in December to replenish lost resources, said the state also is missing a number of well-trained personnel.

Here. Here. Even China.

What you don't here is that Governor Kathleen Sebelius isn't just a Democrat but is alos the Chariman of Democratic Governors Association and is grooming herself for bigger things in the party.

Same Old Same Old

Killers from the Balkans spreading their mania on our shores.
Yet again.
Charity to strangers from a strange land. Will their "appreciation" never end

A Little History For The Good General

Stealing from Samizdata again led me to this gem from General Sir Michael Rose KCB DCE DSO QGM MOUSE, late of Her Majesty's Forces in Bosnia, who reveals to us all...

"....we have to admit defeat.

"The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened. The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened.

"The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq."

Oh where do we begin.

The obvious retort of the Boat People I will not even bother with, instead lets just mention those unremarked dominoes Laos and Cambodia, which followed on the heels of South Vietnam, which followed North Vietnam, which followed Tibet, North Korea and China. Only the judicious (and sometimes injudicious) use of force stopped South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia from being added to that list.

Lurching back 200 odd years to a time period that the good general claims to have some knowledge of, surely he has of a little thing called the French Revolution which started just six years after the British leaving the shores of these United States. Which was followed by revolutions first in Haiti and then later throughout the entire Western Hemisphere until the whole political landscape of a good part of the globe was changed. I do not think it far fetched to see an American spark in many of these events, even if the French would prefer to believe that their revolution sprang up Athena like from the brow of the French people.

I seem to remember the British Empire playing some part in these events so I'm rather surprised that they seem to be beyond the General's vision.

The Forecast For France: Scrutiny

PARIS, May 6 — Arrogant, brutal, an authoritarian demagogue, a “perfect Iago”: the president-elect of France has been called a lot of unpleasant things in recent months and now has five years to prove his critics wrong.
But what is certain is that Nicolas Sarkozy, who won Sunday’s runoff election, is one of the most polarizing figures to move into Élysée Palace in the postwar era.

Look for the American press to quite suddenly discover how authoritarian an institution the French Presidency is.

"Hey How About A Little Eco Civil Disobedience"

From The Sunday Times
HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a 4x4 car and failing to reuse plastic bags, according to a report to be published tomorrow by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family’s carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

Yeah, Yeah, And The Egyptians Built The Pyramids....

More wisdom from the Red Guardian in the form of the scoldings of Soumaya Ghannoushi, the gist of whose argument is...

Without the gifts of Islamic civilisation in philosophy and astronomy, mathematics and physics, art and architecture, "modern" Europe would have been virtually impossible.

Of course a multitude of sins can be hidden in a "virtually".
And then she draws forth this old saw from her quiver... if I may mix metaphors...

When London was little more than a collection of huts built along the banks of a muddy river, a few hundreds of miles away, Cordoba, Granada and Seville were vibrant, flourishing metropolises which gave the continent its first universities, street lights, pavements, sewage systems, windmills and public parks.

The problem is that I found that line a lot more convincing when it was delivered by Alec Guinness in Lawrence of Arabia.

To quote an American sage "What have you done for me lately?"

New York Times Enlightens Us All

From the NY Times insightful reportage of Queen Elizabeth's visit.

WASHINGTON, May 4 — How does George W. Bush, a towel-snapping Texan who puts his feet on the coffee table, drinks water straight from the bottle and was once caught on tape talking with food in his mouth prepare for a state dinner with the queen?

"...Drinks water straight from the bottle." Drinks water straight from the bottle ?



Alright color me clueless.

Fighting The Creeping Islamisation of the Balkans

As a follow up on my previous posts on the Radical Islamists of the Balkans here is an article on the divisions within Islam in that part of the world.

Hat tip to Samizdata.

The Royal Treatment

That well known admirer of Chinese jurisprudence Ségolène Royal falls back on scare tactics to try to derail Nicolas Sarkozy's expected victory in this weeks French Presidential election.

Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice, Ms. Royal told RTL radio.
It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of (his) candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country (if he won), she said.

Pressed on whether there would be actual violence, Mr. Royal said: I think so, I think so, referring specifically to Frances volatile suburbs hit by widespread rioting in 2005.

She even gets unexpected help from the International Herald Tribune (owned by the NY Times of course) which is running headlines like...

Anger expected in suburbs if Sarkozy wins French election

But this man in the street(OK, mayor in the street) puts it best...

"If the only reason to vote for Ségo is fear of trouble in the suburbs, then democracy is in trouble," said Yves Jégo, the mayor of the immigrant-heavy northern suburb Montereau-Fault-Yonne and a staunch Sarkozy supporter.

So Are You A Man Or A....Chimp?

Fresh from the nut farm known as the European continent we have...

Activists Want Chimp Declared a 'Person'

In a case that could set a global legal precedent for granting basic rights to apes, animal rights advocates are seeking to get the 26- year-old male chimpanzee legally declared a "person."

This case is apparently not just one of Animal Rightists pushing the envelope. They want the change in the ape's status so that they can better accept donations for his upkeep which is quite expensive. But this is a world where even the simplest legal decisions for the best of motives can have alarming repercussions.

If Hiasl gets a guardian, "it will be the first time the species barrier will have been crossed for legal 'personhood,'" said Jan Creamer, chief executive of Animal Defenders International, which is working to end the use of primates in research.
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Austria isn't the only country where primate rights are being debated. Spain's parliament is considering a bill that would endorse the Great Ape Project, a Seattle-based international initiative to extend "fundamental moral and legal protections" to apes.

I suppose what gets to me most is that in a world where such extreme measures will be taken to safeguard a chimp things like the denouement of the Terri Schiavo case can still take place.

Cool Fridays: Brit Comedy Edition

What Friday again! Well in honor of Missus "How Deserted Lies the City" I have enclosed links to Dawn French's, Alan Partridge's and Ricky Gervais's MySpace pages...

More Weird Al Pictures

Weird Al in Richmond

Some more pictures from the Weird Al Yankovic show in Richmond, Virginia (at the Innsbrook Pavilion in Glen Allen if you're picky)

Famous Visitors

..... besides the Archbishop and Queen Elizabeth dropping in we also had another illustrious visitor make an appearance....

"Weird Al" Yankovic started his North American tour in Richmond last night. And me and Missus "How Deserted Lies The City" were lucky enough to be there...

Here's the review from todays Richmond Time Dispatch...

Being Weird Al Yankovic means having a clever wit, a facility for words and song lyrics, a sneakily virtuosic musical ability, a head for pop culture and a dedication to his craft so extreme that he is willing to sport the worst hair in show business.

Actually, being America's foremost song parodist just means being more relevant than Mark Russell. But Weird Al does it with style, panache and a lot of awfully funny songs, as the enthusiastic crowd of 3,200 learned last night at a surprisingly unmuddy Innsbrook Pavilion.

I bet there are not many blogs tagged "Queen Elizabeth II" and "Weird Al."

Blogging The Occupation

Wow. What a big week in Virginia. The state capitol reopens, a NASCAR race in Richmond, and the Queen stops by for the Jamestown 400th anniversary celebration.
And it turns out another important official in the Anglican leadership will be stopping over also...

At the ceremony, scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge, Archbishop Akinola and four other Nigerian bishops will make Bishop Minns, 64, the head of the Fairfax-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America. He has headed CANA, in addition to pastoring the 2,300-member Truro (Truro Parish), since he was consecrated as a bishop Aug. 20 in Abuja, Nigeria.

It has not gone over well with the Red Guard of the Episcopal Church...

"Such action would violate the ancient customs of the church" in terms of the sacrosanct boundaries of individual bishops, the presiding bishop wrote in a letter released yesterday.
Archbishop Akinola does not have the permission to minister within the geographical boundaries of the Diocese of Virginia, which lost 11 parishes about 9,000 people to CANA last winter.
"We share the concerns of the presiding bishop," said diocesan spokesman Patrick Getlein, adding the diocese still refers to the 11 parishes as "occupied by Nigerian Anglicans."

"....occupied by Nigerian Anglicans."??

"Duh" Moment Of The Day

The American government wants to impose travel restrictions on British citizens of Pakistani origin because of concerns about terrorism, according to a report today.

You mean we don't already !?

Happy Workers Thinga Whatever Majiggy

oh yeah, don't forget to boycott the man, dude

Right Wing Lunatics for Blair

The Daily Mail gives Tony Blair, shall we say, a less than resounding send off.

Blair's legacy: 10 years that ruined Britain

Here he is. Lights, sound, camera, applause - let's hear it for our ten-year Prime Minister: Mister... Tony. . . Blair!

And so, next Wednesday, Tony will offer himself for our congratulations, a modest little joke on his lips, a modest little smile on his face.
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He will knit his brow to show how sincerely he means this. And up and down the land, the British people will respond with a monumental raspberry.

Somehow Tony Blair has become responsible for everything that has gone wrong in Great Britain over the last ten years. And the thing that most Americans hold him in esteem, supporting the United States like a real ally (as opposed to those whose relationship with us has always been either adversarial or parasitical) hasn't gone over to well with scribbler Max Hastings...

He is admired only by Right-wing lunatics in the United States, for the worst possible reason - that he backed Bush's Iraq adventure.

'Course maybe they don't like him because as Mark Steyn said back in '04...

We Bush warmongers have grown fond of Mr Blair: often, he's a better salesman for American policy than the President.