No, Tell Us How You Really Feel...

Bill Moyers gets on the couch and free associates about Rupert Murdoch...

...he is to propriety what the Marquis de Sade was to chastity.

...Mae West would be green with envy at his little black book of conquests.

...But he's accustomed to using journalism as a personal spittoon.

...Murdoch is just the predator of the hour.

...he's carnivorous: all appetite and no taste. He'll eat anything in his path.

Running out of analogies he turns to Shakespeare...

...he turned the dogs of war loose in the newsrooms of his empire and they howled for blood.

Forsooth.
And then a final massive irony alert...

His worst offense with Fox news is not even its baldly partisan agenda. Far worse is the travesty he's made of its journalism.

Tony Stark Sighting....

...in a theater near you.
Or Holland.

Cool Fridays

Planxty-The Jolly Beggar

Nothing To See Here, Move Along Please...

How is it that the FBI is more concerned with hypothetical crimes against a black columnist then with the real murders of a white couple?

The FBI is investigating threats against Leonard Pitts Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Miami Herald, after a column he wrote about black-on-white crime triggered a furor on white supremacist websites.

Days after The Miami Herald published Pitts' column, Overthrow.com posted his address, his home phone number and his wife's name. Several other white supremacist Internet sites followed suit, and one gave directions to his house along with a satellite image of the neighborhood.

Pitts said that none of the threats was specific and that ''nobody has come to the house.''

The crime that causes the FBI (Federal Bureau of Indifference) and Pitts to lose no sleep?

It seems that in January, a young white couple, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, were victims of a brutal crime. They were carjacked, kidnapped, raped and murdered. Cleaning fluid was sprayed into Christian's mouth. She was stuffed in a trash can and apparently suffocated. Newsom was shot and set afire. His body was dumped. Five blacks, one a woman, have been arrested.

The nuanced response of the Pulitzer Prize winning Pitts...

...one occasionally hears mewling noises from that subset of my white countrymen who feel put upon by big, bad racial minorities. This is one of those times. And Knoxville, Tenn., has become the capital city of that lunatic fringe.
/////
I am likewise unkindly disposed toward the crackpots, incendiaries and flat-out racists who have chosen this tragedy upon which to take an obscene stand. I have four words for them and any other white Americans who feel themselves similarly victimized.

Cry me a river.

You see in the racist world view of Leonard Pitts it is impossible for Whites to ever be oppressed, even as they are being tortured and killed by gangs of Blacks.

"It always amazes me when white people put on the victim hat."

How about the victim shroud, Mr. Pitts?

The Wall Street Journal Whistles Past Graveyard

Immigration Bill Suffers Setback

"Suffers Setback" ??

After You've Unsuccessfully Tried to Jam A Horrible Bill...

...down the throat of the American people it's time to sit back, relax and give yourself a pay raise.
No, really.

How To Bankrupt The Middle East Peace Process

If the President really wants a break-through in the Middle East, he should send America's foremost dealmaker, Donald J. Trump. Crazy idea? Not really.
Recognize that Trump's negotiating skills are second to none. Additionally, the Donald has been a prescient voice on world affairs even though he doesn't communicate in "diplomat-speak."....

Of course the question is what "speak" does he communicate in?

I think making it in the world of New York City real estate maybe tougher and probably far more difficult than brokering peace between all the factions in the Middle East - and Trump is the King.(???!!!)

Keep Digging Lindsey, Those Chinese Immigrants Sure Appreciate It

Well it seems Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Chihuahua) is finally able to recognize racism...

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is one of the architects of the immigration overhaul, said he also had received threats in telephone calls and letters to his office. Mr. Graham said several other senators had told him privately that they also received similar messages.

“There’s racism in this debate,” Mr. Graham said. “Nobody likes to talk about it, but a very small percentage of people involved in this debate really have racial and bigoted remarks. The tone that we create around these debates, whether it be rhetoric in a union hall or rhetoric on talk radio, it can take people who are on the fence and push them over emotionally.”

Alas, he wasn't so perceptive a few months ago...

Washington, DC – The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., will honor Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) at the 2007 NCLR Capital Awards gala on Tuesday, March 6 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

I'm sure glad those nice La Raza people don't use racial "rhetoric."

The Title Says It All....

Claim That Sea Level Is
Rising Is a Total Fraud

Rupert Murdoch Has The Nerve...

....to actually defend himself against the New York Times, which is engaged in a front page vendetta against him. He even suggest the Times has an agenda (imagine that, the New York Times with an agenda).
And what does he get for his trouble?
The Columbia Journalism Review calls him "pitiful"......and a "scoundrel."

Caution "Ethicist" At Work

Then there's Randy Cohen, who writes the "Ethicist" column for the New York Times and gave $585 to MoveOn.org, an Angry Left Group":

Cohen said he thought of MoveOn.org as nonpartisan and thought the donation would be allowed even under the strict rule at the Times.

So the New York Times' advice columnist, oops sorry I mean "Ethicist", can't figure out the ethicity of his own political contributions. Heck, he can't even decide if they are political contributions.

Cohen goes on to show why he is the funniest read in the New York Times Magazine...

"But no such activity is or can be non-ideological. Few papers would object to a journalist donating to the Boy Scouts or joining the Catholic Church. But the former has an official policy of discriminating against gay children; the latter has views on reproductive rights far more restrictive than those of most Americans. Should reporters be forbidden to support those groups? I'd say not.

So the "Ethicist" says ..."if people get to belong to whatever church they want, then my boss has no right to tell me not to give money to left-wing loonies."


And if ethicity isn't a word it should be.

Ballots, We Don't Need No Secret Ballots

Republican efforts to save secret ballots in union organizing votes gets touted by Reuters as...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans on Tuesday rejected a bill to make it easier to form unions, defeating a drive by newly empowered Democrats to shore up a shrinking constituency -- organized labor.

Blair's New Job

From The Times
June 26, 2007

Blair set to clinch job as world’s man in the Middle East

It hasn't been announced yet exactly which world is sending him.

More Evidence....

....that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 1930's answer to Jimmy Carter.
With the added bonuses of course of a mansion, an annoying mother and a wheelchair.

Or as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it...

" a second-class intellect but a first-rate temperament."

Which I always thought was a prime example of grade inflation.

FOXNews, To Liberals As Garlic Is To...

....vampires.

“I saw no need to make fun of French people. It’s embarrassing,” said Garofalo during an interview in Boston last week.

The politically outspoken actress said she objected to a line of dialogue that made it into the film in which Colette equates her anger at the new chef to being French.

The former Air America radio host said she is against any kind of France-bashing.

“Fox News is embarrassing for everybody. As if the French are bummed that Bill O’Reilly doesn’t like them,” she said.

But do you think the walking dead are that hung up about that when sitting around discussing something like, lets say the weather, that they suddenly go off on a rant about "...and what about that @#$% garlic?"

"Yeah, and those crucifixes too."

How Virginia's Senators....

.....betrayed us...

Bush Tells The Truth....

....but claims he suffers from Obamaitis.

"You know, I've heard all the rhetoric -- you've heard it, too -- about how this is amnesty. Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally, and this bill does that," Bush said, according to the official White House transcript.

Later...

UPDATE: At 11:43 am, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow released a statement saying the president "misspoke."

The statement reads:

"This has been construed as an assertion that comprehensive immigration reform legislation before the Senate offers amnesty to immigrants who came here illegally. That is the exact opposite of the president’s long-held and often-stated position.

The Mexican Solution...

An interesting post from Human Events (via Cigars...Donuts.. and Coffee) on what we really need from Mexico.
Their stringent immigration laws.
They're all good(well almost), but my favorite section...

* Foreigners are admitted into Mexico "according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress." (Article 32)

* Immigration officials must "ensure" that "immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance" and for their dependents. (Article 34)

* Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets "the equilibrium of the national demographics," when foreigners are deemed detrimental to "economic or national interests," when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican laws, and when "they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy." (Article 37)

* The Secretary of Governance may "suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest." (Article 38)

Can you imagine the absolute howls if the United States based its immigration policy on principles like these.
Especially from the Mexican government.

And look how they treat legal immigrants who do not belong to the "Raza"

"Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country."
"Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners under equality of circumstances for all classes of concessions and for all employment, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable."

Do The Germans Ever Get It ?

The Germans, of all people, are getting pretty picky about what they consider religiously "appropriate"...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.

Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognise as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.

I've heard of script approval, but apparently the Germans now require religion approval.....for a movie about Hitler.

How do you say irony in German.

Or do they have a word.

In Order To Save The "Amnesty Bill"...

...all we have to do is surrender our 1st Amendment rights. According to Diane Feinstein,...

the measure before the Senate "fixes those flaws" but that doesn't get presented on talk radio, which she said "pushes people to ... extreme views without a lot of information."

Asked if she would revive the fairness doctrine, which used to require broadcasters to present competing sides of controversial issues, Feinstein said she was "looking at it."

"I remember when there was a fairness doctrine," she said, "and I think there was much more serious correct reporting to people."

If only there was a grammar doctrine.

Next Stop Carolingian France...

The Council of Europe is ready to rein in the dangerous "religious fundamentalists" who "could become a threat to human rights" an who "are out to replace democracy by theocracy."
No not the Islamists you silly, I mean the Creationists.
After all...

6. There is a real risk of a serious confusion being introduced into our children’s minds between what has to do with convictions, beliefs and ideals and what has to do with science, and of the advent of an “all things are equal” attitude, which may seem appealing and tolerant but is actually disastrous.

Or are they.

[25/06/2007] The Parliamentary Assembly culture and education committee rapporteur Guy Lengagne (France, SOC) on 25 June said he was ''flabbergasted'', ''appalled'' and ''shocked'' by the Assembly decision to refer to committee his report on the dangers of creationism in education.

''I can only see this as a ploy on the part of people who will use any means they can to combat the theory of evolution and impose creationist ideas. What we have here is the makings of a return to the Middle Ages, and too many members of this human-rights-based assembly fail to see it''.

What hidden hand lurks here?
Dick Cheney's perhaps....?

And You Think Massachusetts Is Bad...

Judge Julian Hall is at the centre of a storm over the "pathetically" lenient sentence he imposed after hearing that the girl had appeared much older than her age.

The same judge caused uproar earlier this year by setting free another paedophile and telling him to give his victim money "to buy a nice new bicycle".

In the latest case, Oxford Crown Court heard harrowing details of the assault on the ten-year-old. She was attacked in a park in Henley-on-Thames, South Oxfordshire, by Fenn and his accomplice Darren Wright, 34, on October 14 last year.

Fenn removed all her clothes and raped her, then Wright took her to his home in Mount View, Henley-on-Thames, and sexually assaulted her.

Yet Judge Hall - who referred to the girl as a "young woman" - said the case was exceptional because she had been wearing a frilly bra and thong.

The sentence?

Keith Fenn, 24, was given concurrent two-year and 18-month jail sentences at Oxford Crown Court by Judge Julian Hall for two attacks on the girl in a park.

Because of the amount of time he has already spent in prison awaiting sentence, Fenn could be free in a few months time.

Introducing...

.....the future former Senator from South Carolina.

Introducing...

Ah, The Joys Of A Part Time Legislature.

Virginia legislator, Del. David B. Albo, (R) crafts a bill that just happens to increase the business at his law firm. Between the likes of you and Del. Phillip "STD" Hamilton, (R) why is it that I shouldn't vote for the Democrats?

And take look here how the Washington Post never mentions his role in a law firm.
Great reporting guys.

Beware The Ideological Cousins

Roger Ebert does the chicken dance across a piece of paper and calls it a movie review.
A movie review of the latest "O' what a good person Anjelina Jolie is" pic, A Mighty Heart, which is supposed to be story of the search for kidnapped journalist David Pearl by his wife, Mariane Pearl.
If we are to believe Ebert's review the director Michael Winterbottom apparently has the "tact and taste" to make a movie about an act of Islamic terrorism that actually leaves out the Islamic terrorism.
If only Mr. Ebert had managed to exercise the same taste and tact, but alas he feels the need to throw some disjointed political commentary the readers way, such as...

We reflect that the majority of Muslims do not approve of the behavior of Islamic terrorists, just as the majority of Americans disapprove of the war in Iraq.

The Americans who complain about "negative" news are the ideological cousins of those who shoot at CNN crews.

At least he isn't sharing with us the latest "...if only I had had a gun and been assigned to interview Bush,...oops I mean Hitler" fantasies of some of his journalistic brethren.

Hat tip to Jules Crittenden...

Bwaaaaah......!

The Lucy and Ethel of the United States Senate want to rejigger our entire media landscape
and the Libs who fret and wring their hands over the civil liberty implications of the Patriot Act turn a blind eye.
But of course it's all for our own good.

Slave to The Metal

You think it's bad here.

From The Local, Sweden's news in English..

A Swedish heavy metal fan has had his musical preferences officially classified as a disability. The results of a psychological analysis enable the metal lover to supplement his income with state benefits.

Roger Tullgren, 42, from Hässleholm in southern Sweden has just started working part time as a dishwasher at a local restaurant.

Because heavy metal dominates so many aspects of his life, the Employment Service has agreed to pay part of Tullgren's salary. His new boss meanwhile has given him a special dispensation to play loud music at work.

The Wit And Wisdom of Mark Singer

Murdering Hitler. Giving money to Democrats.
It all works to the same end.
According to the world of New Yorker writer Mark Singer.

"Probably there should be a rule against it," said New Yorker writer Mark Singer, who wrote the magazine's profile of Howard Dean during the 2004 campaign, then gave $250 to America Coming Together and its get-out-the-vote campaign to defeat President Bush. "But there's a rule against murder. If someone had murdered Hitler — a journalist interviewing him had murdered him — the world would be a better place. I only feel good, as a citizen, about getting rid of George Bush, who has been the most destructive president in my lifetime. I certainly don't regret it."

You see for the liberal journalist the real hero of the story is always the writer.

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

Lynching In Texas

A Junteenth celebration in Austin, Texas turns bloody. Will anyone call it what it really is?
A race specific celebration swiftly turns into a mob that beats a member of another race to death for no other reason then that he defied the mob's wishes.
Will anyone even mention the racial angle?

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A crowd attacked and killed a passenger in a vehicle that had struck and injured a child, police said Wednesday.

Police believe 2,000 to 3,000 people were in the area for a Juneteenth celebration when the attack occurred Tuesday night. The man who was killed had been trying to stop the group from attacking the vehicle's driver when the crowd turned on him, authorities said.

The Austin Police Department identified the victim as David Rivas Morales, 40. The child was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

I am waiting with baited breath for the press release from Reverend Al.
That is if he can pry himself away from the Paris Hilton circus.

Has anyone else noticed that Juneteenth is rapidly becoming the African-American version of the Easter pogroms of Tsarist Russia? Not just in Texas but also in New York and Wisconsin.
And that is just this year.

British Honors Committee....

.....emerges from their deep cave, blinking in the harsh glare of sunlight....

The committee that recommended Salman Rushdie for a knighthood did not discuss any possible political ramifications and never imagined that the award would provoke the furious response that it has done in parts of the Muslim world, the Guardian has learnt.

It also emerged yesterday that the writers' organisation that led the lobbying for the author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses to be knighted had originally hoped that the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia.

You Could Just Here That Moustache Twirling

I mean come on, he is called Ravenal...

Gov. Mark Sanford has suspended state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel after it was announced Tuesday the Charleston Republican had been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent distribute cocaine.
/////
Ravenel in April was named the state chairman for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

Maybe ....

...El Dubya could import a few decent candidates for me to vote for in '08.

The Line Forms Right Here...

I wish a few more public figures would leave the Republican party and start trying to survive politically on their own winning personalities.

“If you want to be the person who keeps families apart, bring this bill down,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and another of its architects, said Wednesday on the floor.

"There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life," he said. Michael Bloomberg, sometime Republican.

Alert The Press: Michael Bloomberg Isn't A Republican....

.....like you needed somebody to tell you that. This will up the salivation quotient for all those media types hoping for a self financed run by Bloomberg for the Presidency (despite his protestations to the contrary.) Their dream outcome would then be within reach, Hillary for the Dems, Rudy for the GOP, and Bloomberg as an Independent. To put it another way a liberal Democrat from New York, a liberal Republican from New York, and a liberal Independent from...(drumbeat) New York.
Finally a field that looks like America.
And if I had to spend a half hour trapped in an elevator with any of them I'd shoot myself.

....and Mayor Bloomberg has such an original philosophy too,..

Mr. Bloomberg said the presidential candidates were exploiting the threat of terrorism, and failing to deliver solutions to problems such as illegal immigration, health care, and education.

So basically what we have here is an enormously wealthy, unattractive John Edwards.
Wait.
John Edwards is enormously wealthy.
OK.
A gigormously wealthy, unattractive John Edwards.

A Legacy Blair Could Do Without

From the Telegraph...

The number of women having abortions has increased 3.9 per cent to an all-time annual high of 193,700, with the highest increase among teenagers.
Last year 41,286 under-20s terminated a pregnancy - a rise of 2,287 compared to 2005.

There was also an increase in the number of abortions by under 16s, from 3,786 in 2005, to 3,990 last year.

The news comes days after Government-funded advisers warned that teenagers are in the grip of a sexual health crisis fuelled by a celebrity culture which condones alcohol abuse, drug addiction and promiscuity.

The Independent Advisory Group said Britain now has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies and sexual infections in Europe and blamed restrictions on the advertising of contraceptives on television as well as the lack of compulsory sex education in schools.

"Blamed restrictions on the advertising of contraceptives on television"
Hmmm...

...a Unicef investigation that put Britain last in a table of 21 countries for children's well-being and found that more British children had sex by the age of 15 than in any other country.

They were also the third highest users of cannabis and more had been drunk by 11, 13 and 15 than anywhere else.

Not to be too self righteous though, the US is only just above the UK in most of the report.

For Charleston, South Carolina

Old Heresies, New Faces.....Or The More Things Change...

As I mentioned before those Episcopalians are a brrrooad minded bunch.....

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she's Christian and Muslim.

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she's ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she's also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

I find myself profoundly moved by the end of The Brothers Karamazov but I've never considered becoming Russian Orthodox.

Redding, who will begin teaching the New Testament as a visiting assistant professor at Seattle University this fall, has a different analogy: "I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both."

Brilliant analogy......except for all the black women I see walking around everyday...

Ironically, it was at St. Mark's that she first became drawn to Islam.

In fall 2005, a local Muslim leader gave a talk at the cathedral, then prayed before those attending. Redding was moved. As he dropped to his knees and stretched forward against the floor, it seemed to her that his whole body was involved in surrendering to God.

Then in the spring, at a St. Mark's interfaith class, another Muslim leader taught a chanted prayer and led a meditation on opening one's heart. The chanting appealed to the singer in Redding; the meditation spoke to her heart. She began saying the prayer daily.

Ah, the virtues of interfaith dialogue...

Redding's bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vincent Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting. Her announcement, first made through a story in her diocese's newspaper, hasn't caused much controversy yet, he said.

Of course the main "possibility" I see is the "possibility" him losing all his parishioners.

Going....Going.....

Enraged Fatah leaders on Saturday accused Hamas militiamen of looting the home of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City.

"They stole almost everything inside the house, including Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize medal," said Ramallah-based Fatah spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman. "Hamas militiamen and gangsters blew up the main entrance to the house before storming it. They stole many of Arafat's documents and files, gifts he had received from world leaders and even his military outfits."

How do you say EBay in Arabic?

Forager

In honor of that other great seaborne invasion of June 1944, the landings on the Japanese island of Saipan on the 15th of June.


I know I'm a couple of days late, but I've been ill.

The Cornish...

....National Liberation Army?

Cool Fridays

Three cool sites for Cool Friday.
The first is The Great White Fleet, your one stop site for everything you could possibly want to know about the great 1908 around the world cruise of the US battle fleet. I'm a sucker for pre-dreadnoughts.
The second is the one of the coolest geography places on the web (yes, I know the very concept is nerdy) Geographic Travels with Catholicgauze!.
And finally a great comics site Rokk's Comic Book Revolution. Which I admit is so praiseworthy chiefly because I agree with almost everything he says on character, art and story.

Score Another One For Jimmy

November...

'Changed man'

There has been no reaction yet from Mr Ortega, who needed to win 40% of votes, or 35% and a five-point margin, to win outright and avoid a second round.

He will take office in January next year.

Mr Ortega led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, but says he has changed from the leader who seized property from the wealthy during the 1979 Sandinista revolution.

That assessment was endorsed by former US President Jimmy Carter, who was an observer in the elections.

Now...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's leaders on Sunday held talks with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, emphasising a shared distrust of the United States as Tehran seeks to bolster ties with US critics in Latin America.
////
Ortega, a Cold War foe of the United States, was welcomed personally at Tehran's Mehrabad airport by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an unusual step indicating the increasingly warm ties between the two nations.
////
Ortega later held talks with Iran's undisputed number one, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told the Nicaraguan president that "the United States is the most hated government in the world."

The BBC And The ABC

The BBC's Washington Diarist takes a cruise down to Charlottesville to report on what he apparently believes is the incipient Talibanizing of the Old Dominion. It seems some wealthy teacher decided to throw a keg party for her 16-year old son and his friends, which resulted in, surprise, the incarceration of said teacher.
Which leads to these words of wisdom from the roving diarist...

On that night in 2003 Elisa knew that she was breaking the law but since she was doing so at home, she did not think that anybody would know - or care, for that matter.

Well that just makes it all OK doesn't it
Or maybe it's OK because of "The bizarre and selective Puritanism of the US" that is "as old as the nation" or because...

This country boasts a multibillion dollar porn industry that dwarfs the GDP of most developing countries.

And of course the making of porn movies in California is deeply relevant to the minimum age of alcohol consumption in Virginia. Yeah.

Even better is the comments section where we can read the British (chiefly) lecture Americans on the superiority of the British attitude toward drink (cough !!!) and on how they're glad they live in a place where the government doesn't pry into people's lives (snort !?).

Is it too early for the 21st century to have filled its irony quota?

For a different viewpoint the Roanoke Times of a few days ago.

Had. It. Up. To....

...Right. About. Here.

Univision has invited the presidential candidates to attend two debates in Florida in September in which the questions will be asked in Spanish, according to Democratic and GOP sources. Fluent candidates could answer in Spanish, while the others can answer in English and have their questions translated into Spanish.
///////////
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) applauded the idea of a Spanish-language debate that focused on issues important to Hispanic voters.

And if you don't understand what's wrong with the idea then there's no use me telling you...


....in English.

Feeding Our Cars

From Tim Worstall...

It's something of a downer for the democratic system when an authoritarian one ends up making the correct decision:

China’s communist rulers announced a moratorium on the production of ethanol from corn and other food crops yesterday at the very time that Western leaders are rushing to embrace alternative food-based fuel technology.

Beijing’s move underlines concerns that ethanol production is driving up rapidly the costs of corn and grain. It appears to reflect a growing reality about food-based alternative fuel: it is far more expensive both economically and environmentally, than Western politicians are likely to admit.

Well I'm glad somebody is finally saying it.
It's a debate that needs a lot more coverage. I've found it a little scary lately how the Green Revolution is turning into the search for Black Gold.

And here's another thing. What about the water?

While the ethanol industry claims that each gallon of ethanol produced consumes three gallons of water, a 2005 Minnesota study showed the ratio was more like 4.5 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol. As more areas see falling water tables due to excessive use and insufficient rainfall to replenish aquifers, the issue of ethanol production is likely to become an even bigger issue.

But that is just the amount of water sued to produce the ethanol from the corn, not the corn itself.

Where Race, White Guilt And Method Acting Collide

I watched The Last king of Scotland the other night and generally found it a good movie if not a little over rated. However I made the mistake after of watching the special features on the DVD including the mini-making-of documentary Capturing Amin.

A more annoying piece of moral relativism I have rarely seen. The white British crew wallowed in the typical "it was their colonial past that done them in" gibberish. That ten years passed from independence from Great Britain and Idi Amin's coup and that the ethnic/racial tensions inside Uganda played a major role in the blood bath that was Uganda in the 70's and 80's seems never to cross their minds. Hardly a bad word is spoken about Amin in the entire program except for the case of a son of one of Amin's victims who in my opinion was the most literate and least pretentious of anyone interviewed. Most of the Ugandans spoken to seem to suffer from the same sense of kitsch admiration that you often see to day Russia and China regarding Stalin and Mao.
But all of this is not half as annoying as Forest Whitaker's constant search for mitigation in the blood thirsty career of the tyrant. Here is a little example from USAToday...

A half-million countrymen were slain during Amin's reign of terror in the 1970s, but the actor found a man who was more than a monster. Whitaker told New York magazine: "He was responsible for major atrocities, but he also reshaped opportunities for people in his country. He was a person who was colonized, and he stood up to colonialism. And he was demonized for many things, but partly for standing up."

20 Years Ago Today....

And in case you're wondering what the afore mentioned Mr. Gorbachev is up to, well....

Gorbachev stated that when he was recently in London, "Somebody said, 'You may be sure that the Americans will make a correct decision, but only after they have tried everything else.' But we shouldn't experiment with such things. It is similar to experimenting with new pharmaceuticals. Europe is not a guinea pig. I do not understand what is going on."

Gorbachev said he agrees with President Putin in seeing this as an American attempt to "set Europe against Russia," but his greatest fear is that "the United States is driving itself in a corner" by "creating another arms race."

Gorbachev concluded, "I have an impression that the US Administration does not see any other possibilities of solving international and domestic problems, including that of economic growth. The -- what the U.S. professes is -- has exhausted itself. Now, the administration hopes that -- it sees militarization as a rescue, that it will create jobs and all that. This is another delusion."

Some walls don't come down so easily, like the ones an old man builds in his mind.

The Immigration Moebius Strip

US President George W. Bush was confident Monday that the most sweeping overhaul of US immigration laws in two decades will ultimately clear Congress once he gets home from his European tour.

And...

But he said that he would, upon his return to Washington, get in touch with leading Democrats and Republicans who do support the legislation to get it firmly back on track.

"I'll be going to the Senate to talk about a way forward on the piece of legislation," he said.

You'll notice there is nothing about making his case to the American people.

But then that has never been his strong suit.

The Horror. The Horror.

Vatican City - US President George W Bush drew gasps at the Vatican on Saturday by referring to Pope Benedict XVI as "sir" instead of the expected "His Holiness", pool reporters said.

They could clearly hear the US leader say "Yes, sir" when the pope asked him if he was going to meet with officials of the lay Catholic Sant'Egidio community at the US embassy later during his visit.

What with all the hyper ventilated groveling that accompanied Queen Elizabeth (excuse me, I mean Her Majesty's) trip to America, have we all become a country of monarchists ?

"A Movie About America"

Eli Roth, the "writer/director" of Hostel II ,does an Altman/Dixie Chicks and provides grist for the Anti-American propaganda mills of Europe...

Q. The country of Kazakhstan got upset with "Borat," for how he portrayed it. Have you heard anything from Slovakia about the impression that the country is a haven for torture and murder?

A. I went to a press conference in Prague with journalists from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and I said, 'Guys this isn't a movie about Slovakia - it's a movie about America.' Americans don't know Slovakia exists, they think Eastern Europe is full of whores who want to sleep with Americans. In the movie, everything that the Americans think about Europe is not true, but the stereotypes of Americans in the film are true. Only 12 percent of Americans have a passport, they don't travel, they don't know about history. The one thing that is true is that Eastern European women really are that beautiful.

Blah. Blah. "I make movies about the torture of young women, but I'm sophisticated....... because I have a passport" Blah. Blah.

Oh, and of course we all know who really is to blame...

Roth says this in his defence: "What's worse, my movie or Dick Cheney? Nobody actually died in my movie. People actually die because of Dick Cheney, and he doesn't allow you to see it."

Since I Brought Up Kent Brockman...

Soon to be a correspondent for Time Out London

Brillant !! (To Be Said As If You Were In A Guiness Commercial)

Senator Edwards is outlining a new national security strategy that includes the creation of a 10,000-person civilian peace corps to stem the tide of terrorism in weak and unstable countries.

So thousands of young Liberals are going to voluntarily ship themselves off to some of the world's worst Islamic hellholes.

I say lets fund it immediately.


Do you think the Daily Kos/Nutroots crowd will......what would you call it....enlist.


Hat tip to Little Green Footballs

The Daily Mail StirsThe Pot

Isn't it interesting how we are all not supposed to stress the Moslem nature of Jihadi terrorists yet when terrorist leaders are killed in the Philippines the Daily Mail gives us this headline...

U.S. hands over a $10m bounty in briefcases for the killing of Muslim leaders

"I For One Welcome Our New Insect Overlords..."

Time Out London does a piece on how they imagine an Islamic Britain...

It’s the capital’s fastest growing religion, based on noble traditions and compassionate principles, yet Islam can still be tainted by mistrust and misunderstanding. Here Time Out argues that an Islamic London would be a better place

My favorite part is...

Inter-faith relations
In an Islamic London, Christians and Jews – with their allegiance to the Bible and the Talmud – would be protected as ‘peoples of the book’. Hindus and Sikhs manage to live alongside(???) a large Muslim population in India, so why not here? Although England has a long tradition of religious bigotry against, for instance, Roman Catholics, it is reasonable(??!!) to assume that under the guiding hand of Islam a civilised accommodation could be made among faith groups in London.

Ah, yes. The lion will lie down with the lamb and.......oh wait...that's the Bible.

Well at least I'm sure the trains will run on time.

Your Papers Please

Has any one else seen a rather spooky show on Animal Planet called RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes ? A show which in showing the training which young people go through in order to become an inspector for the Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals reveals the society to be strangely militaristic and more than a little fanatical.
For example here's their take on goldfish.

Cool Fridays

Bertam Wilberforce Wooster aka Hugh Laurie receives OBE.

Can We build It ? Yes We Can !

From the American Thinker.....

Take a look at these freeway noise barriers and see that there is more than a passing resemblance to various wall designs for the border barrier. Of course a border fence would have to be more robust, and it would not have the advantage of a nice highway to bring workers and material to the worksite. But it is not be that many orders of magnitude bigger a project than the highway noise barrier system.

Has the building of freeway noise barriers involved any national sacrifice? Have you ever fretted about how much money it has cost? Through the end of 2004, forty-five State DOTs and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have constructed over 2,205 linear miles of barriers at a cost of over $2.7 billion ($3.4 billion in 2004 dollars), more than the length of the US-Mexico Border (1,951 miles).

Remember He Is Doing It All For Our Own Good

Now why did our oh so senatorially looking Senator, John Warner (?-Va), vote NO on the Coburn amendment to the Amnes....I mean Grand Compromise Immigration Act.

An amendment that the temerity to ask...

that before the Kennedy-Bush bill can go forward, the president must demonstrate to Congress that current laws are being enforced.

As the Man Once Said......

.....no one ever got rich underestimating the gullibility of the American People

Look out, ABC -- NBC wants Rosie O'Donnell in a bad way.

New programming chief Ben Silverman is telling friends he will do anything to get O'Donnell onto the network, and not just in daytime. Silverman is talking to O'Donnell about hosting a prime-time game show he has up his sleeve as well as a daytime hour a la "The View."

Some Confusion Here

A strange aspect of California culture that I was unaware of...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles residents were urged on Wednesday to take shorter showers, reduce lawn sprinklers and stop throwing trash in toilets in a bid to cut water usage by 10 percent in the driest year on record.

Ha.Ha. Ha. Ha. $800,000 Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Introducing the Logo for the 2012 London Olympics...



When your logo starts giving people convulsions, real honest-to-gosh convulsions not figurative ones, then it's time do some more shopping.

I can't decide if it looks more like a rejected advertisement for a special episode of 21 Jump Street or a new design for the Ramen Noodles container.

Strange Bedfellows

A follow up to a story we covered a little over a week ago involving the struggle of Tul Bahadur Pun to acquire British citizenship...

Tul Bahadur Pun, 84, who wanted to move from Nepal for medical reasons, promised to be a "credit" to Britain and expressed "deep gratitude".

He was initially told he did not have enough British ties to move but was eventually granted a visa because his case was "exceptional".

An interesting twist...

Actress Joanna Lumley backed Mr Pun's campaign to live in the UK because she said he risked his life to rescue her father.

It seems that Ms. Lumley (who I will always think of as "Purdy") was born in India and comes from a family of some distinction in the John Company and the Indian Army.

The Shocking And The Blindingly Obvious

From the Times Online...

Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different spellings are included, was shared by 5,991 newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.

Oh, but they think they have an explanation as to why...

Scholars (???) said that the name’s rise up the league table was driven partly by the growing number of young Muslims having families, coupled with the desire to name their child in honour of the Prophet.

Really?
Do they think so?

In Praise Of Honeysuckle

Lonicera Japonica.
I know it's an obnoxious, invasive species, but nothing cries the beginning of summer to me like the smell of it on the evening breeze.

Thence to a richer growth I came,
Where, nursed in mellow intercourse,
The honeysuckles sprang by scores,
Not harried like my single stem,
All virgin lamps of scent and dew.
So from my hand that first I threw,
Yet plucked not any more of them.

Amnesty Now !!!!!....

.....for "Scooter" Libby.

Presidential Timber ?

Not exactly "you have nothing to fear except fear itself."

On Monday, Bloomberg finally weighed in,(on JFK Terror Plot) but his response was not what some would have expected.

"There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life," he said.

I think it is retaining a life that has people all worked up.

5 June 1967

Forgotten.....?

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the Six Day War.
I am curious why the anniversary is not generating more of a buzz...

...could it be these recent headlines ?

Internal conflict corroding Palestinian credibility

Hamas Fires Mortars After Palestinian Is Killed

Militants kill two Lebanese soldiers as fighting spreads

Please, When....

......Vermont goes can it take New Hampshire with it ?

Vladimer Putin Auditions For Jay leno

Maybe this all sounds better in Russian...

"Of course I am an absolute, pure democrat. But you know the problem? It's not even a problem, it's a real tragedy. The thing is that I am the only one, there just aren't any others in the world."

"Let's look what happens in North America -- sheer horror: torture, the homeless, Guantanamo, keeping people in custody without trial or investigation,"

"After the death of Mahatma Gandhi there's nobody to talk to,"

Trust In Me....

Addressing one of the most sensitive issues in the measure, Bush expressed hope that the changes would reduce the need for a fence along the border with Mexico…

My only hope is that he has an evil twin and the real George Bush is locked away somewhere waiting to be rescued by Jack Bauer....or the A-Team.

Jedi Mind tricks On The US-Canada Border

"Let me see your identification."

"You don't need to see his identification."

"We don't need to see his identification."

"I'm not the personal injury lawyer you're looking for..."

"This isn't the personal injury lawyer we're looking for..."

"I can cross the border."

"You can cross the border."

Four More Immigrants Who We'll Have to Support For The Rest Of Their Lives

The JFK Terror Plot suspects......

Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana
Abdul Kadir of Guyana
Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad
Abdel Nur of Guyana

If Guyana and Trinidad seem unlikely homes for terror suspects, here are two articles from last summer on the Islamic terror connection to those countries...

The Threat of Religious Radicalism in Guyana

Trinidad: Special Report: Caribbean Jihad

But remember "War on Terror" is just an empty slogan.

The Virginia ACLU: Not For The Weak Of Stomach II

Our Media...

Google Search......."Ted Haggard" gay......390,000 hits 11:26 AM June 2, 2007
Google News Archive Search....."Ted Haggard" gay.....2,490 11:30 AM June 2, 2007

Google Search......."Charles Rust-Tierney"....13,400 hits 11:27 AM June 2, 2007
Google News Search....."Charles Rust-Tierney"....60 hits 11:29 AM June 2, 2007

The Virginia ACLU: Not For The Weak Of Stomach

A follow up on a prominent Virginia Liberal, Charles Rust-Tierney...

A former Arlington County youth sports coach who once headed the Virginia ACLU pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that he purchased child pornography so graphic that prosecutors called it "sadistic."

Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, admitted that he accessed more than 850 pornographic images of children as young as 4, including a six-minute video depicting the sexual torture of children set to a song by the band Nine Inch Nails. Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 10-year-old son's bedroom to view the files, some of which were contained on CDs bearing an American flag logo.

A regular Clarence Darrow...

It was Rust-Tierney who, nearly 10 years ago, had argued before the Loudoun County Library Board against any Internet filters on the computers at the public facility.

The library, which had been using filters on its computers, was ordered to change its policy by a federal court.

"The ACLU of Virginia urges the board to carefully consider a new Internet Use Policy that allows for maximum Internet access…," he said at the time.

He encouraged the library board to recognize "that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library," so therefore "the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to ... the Internet."

Saturday Grab Bag IV

From Scientific American....

In many ways, Europe is a more obvious candidate for re-wilding than North America. The reason: a large portion of species lost in the Americas do not have any close living relatives. Europe has also seen its share of extinctions, including the scimitar cat, cave bear, woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, steppe rhinoceros and giant deer, but many of Europe's lost species still survive or have close wild or domestic relatives elsewhere in the world. Europe also has a historical advantage: The disappearance of its megafauna to a large extent occurred more recently than in North America, with many species persisting well into the Holocene.

What ?!

But what about these guys......

George W. Bush: A Grover Cleveland For Our Time

President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder.

What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.

She's giving him rather too much credit. "Sundering a great political coalition." Exactly who is still supporting "W"?
I mean besides the Wall Street Journal and a few toadying professional politicians.

I Think I Saw This Whole Thing On Diagnosis Murder Two Weeks Ago...

The veeery strange case of TB Andy...

In a strange twist, Speaker's father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, is a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB and other bacteria. He said only that he gave Speaker "fatherly advice" when he learned the young man had contracted the disease.

You get a dangerous strain of Tuberculosis. Your father-in-law is a microbiologist at the Center for Disease Control.
Who specializes in the spread of Tuberculosis.

Who then only gives you "fatherly advice?"

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

Mattress Day