Lou Minatti Makes French Toast

Lou dips them and serves them toasty brown:

• Dominique de Villepin, gloating, and taking credit for Iraqi democracy
• Jacques Chirac, French for "Jimmy Carter"

The pictures alone are worth the visit.

UPDATE: Our French-loving Friends have published an article that gives perspective on de Villepin's hero. Read "If Any World Leader Deserves to Be Compared to Adolf Hitler, Who (Besides Bush, Naturally) Should It Be?"

Is The Baroness Related To Jimmy Carter?

From the Highland Warrior at The Cabarfeidh Pages: More LibDem nonsense...

The Liberal Democrats in Britain are supposedly the party most closely associated with the cause of liberty. So it was particularly astounding to read here that Baroness Nicholson, a LibDem member of the European Parliament, had referred to the Islamic Republic as: " an advanced form of democracy in the region ."

Read the full Melanie Phillips article here.

Perspectives On Upcoming Canadian Election

What some Canadians are writing about the upcoming election:

1. The Last Amazon: There is no joy in this election for me. 11/29/05
2. The War Room: 10 THINGS FOR STEPHEN HARPER TO REMEMBER 11/29/05

This Is Close To Home

From MOB blogger Uncle Ben at Hammerswing75: Horrific News

This post is going to be difficult to write. Four civilians were kidnapped in Iraq on Saturday. I haven't been able to find lots of details, but here is the general story, which is:

Norman Kember, a retired professor from Pinner, north London, was abducted with two Canadians and an American in Baghdad on Saturday. Mr Kember, a grandfather in his 70s, had traveled to Iraq last week on a peace mission.

Mr. Kember is a good friend of my parents and a longtime member of my Granny's church, Harrow Baptist. I remember seeing him a few years ago when I stopped by in England to visit my Gran. We were at the church and he came over for some conversation. "I remember when you were this tall", putting his hand down by his knees. He is an extremely nice man who went out of his way to be friendly. His wife Pat, who possesses an equally wonderful character, must be in absolute shock.

My parents have asked for my prayers. There will be many. I, in turn, am asking for yours. I hope that there will be many.

I haven't even had time to get angry at the people who have done this. For the time being that isn't important. Our prayers are. Thanks

P.S. Please ask others as well.

Update: Mom has provided a further link, which includes a picture.

Go to his website for the links. (Hat tip to Bogus Gold.)

Venezuela Watch 11/29/05

Via Barcepundit: Arms Deal Proceeding

Spain agreed Monday to sell 12 military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a $2 billion deal that the United States has threatened to block.

The State Department repeated reservations about the sale because the planes and boats carry U.S. parts and technology, but Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono joined Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in saying the sale should not concern Washington.

"Is there some rule that prohibits this sale? ... There is no international embargo," Bono said at the signing ceremony.

Spain is selling 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 patrol planes, as well as four ocean patrol boats and four coast patrol vessels. It is Spain's largest-ever defense deal.

Read the rest.

Somebody Wants 15 More Minutes Of Fame

This is definitely news of the weird:

David Duke Joins Assad in Damascus to Confront Evil Zionism

One is tempted to think this is a spoof because it looks like a bad comic book story from another dimension. "Aryan Superhero Comes To Aid Of Oppressed Anti-Zionists." Unfortunately, this is all too real. Evidently that stake wasn't driven through Mr. Duke's heart. I would have printed some of his remarks, but it takes too long to get that c**p out of the memory once it gets in there. Read the story at Gateway Pundit.

UPDATE: And George Galloway, Too

On Blogging Anonymously

There are reasons to blog anonymously. Read the story of The Last Amazon here. She is a fine Canadian Blogger who keeps an eye on the Middle East. You should be reading her website daily.

Dust My Broom is also commenting on the M.D.E. story. This is another Canadian blog I read daily.

The Left Holds This Caribbean Paradise In High Esteem

CaribPundit updates us on the massive increase in the Cuban standard of living.

The Cuban government Thursday announced pay raises for the country's most productive, skilled and educated government workers.

The Communist Party daily newspaper said the raises will boost some government salaries by up to 50 percent, and for some people will be the first pay increases in 23 years.

Workers with masters degrees will receive a bonus of up to $4 a month, while doctors will get an extra $7, the BBC said. The average monthly salary in Cuba is $15.

Meanwhile, President Fidel Castro has blamed many of the country's woes on what he described as Cuba's new rich, namely intermediaries and independent restaurant owners who have profited from the economy's limited opening up to private enterprise.

She says, " ROFLMAO! This is the best comedy I've heard in a long time."

When You Care Enough To Tell The Truth

From The War Room: DOSSIER # 19: AIDS, LOVE, TOLERANCE & RHETORIC

Yet, I find these ads not only an insult to my intelligence but indeed counter productive to the cause that they purport to be dealing with. In particular, the presence of Christina Aguilera in this campaign, a woman who has become a multi-millionaire out of promoting the type of promiscuous lifestyle that directly leads to HIV/AIDS, is particularly noxious. I do not believe Christina Aguilera really knows or cares one whit about the fact that AIDS is perhaps one of the greatest modern threats to the human species. I admit I could be wrong, but I do not think her actions would prove me so.

In the interest of full disclosure I will reveal something here now to you. In January 1993 my older brother, whom I loved dearly, died of AIDS. It was right after Christmas and I was about to begin my winter exams. He was a wonderful human being and I think about him a lot. He was also gay and a skater for the Ice Capades. I was in university in a different city at the time and it saddened me that I could not be closer to him during his death. It is one of the great regrets of my life. My mother, a nurse and my grandmother, also a former nurse went and took care of him in the last two months of his life in his small, cramped apartment in Toronto’s Yonge and Carlton district.

His death was not pleasant. It was not heroic. My brother was not a martyr. But he suffered. What bothers me about campaigns such as the ones above is that they do several things. They glamorize and heroicize the disease. By hiring beautiful young celebrities photographed in glossy B&W, these campaigns hurt more than they help. They create a visual romantic image of fighting HIV/AIDS that is just not true. These types of campaigns also traffic in rhetoric that is a staple of the fashion and entertainment industry. Let’s be blunt. HIV is predominantly (but not exclusively) spread by three factors:

1. Promiscuity
2. Anal sex
3. Dirty intravenous needles used for drug use

There are of course other factors such as blood transfusions that can also lead to the disease, but they are more rare.

Note the language I have used.

. . . . .

When my brother died, he did not look like Tom Hanks, or the dancing, enlightened, bohemian artists in Rent. There were no witty drag queens by his side and there were no ad agency execs telling him he was a martyr for the cause.

In his last weeks, he went in and out of blindness and struggled with mild forms of
dementia. He vomited profusely and his skin was covered in sores filled with puss. He went from being a muscular, handsome well built man to someone who was perhaps little more than 100 lbs. He bled out of various bodily cavities. There was no last minute cry and hug from a series of quirky artist types and Hollywood did not come to the rescue. In his last hours he was with my mother and grandmother. Both were Catholic and did not affirm his lifestyle but were there to the bitter end. They wiped his vomit from the floor, cradled him to sleep at night and when necessary helped him relieve himself in the bathroom. They ran to him when he moaned in the middle of the night. They were the only people with him in the hospital the night that he died. To this day my mother is haunted by the experience. It was her son. She would have died to save him. It is an experience very few will ever know.

That is love.

That is tolerance.

All else is rhetoric.

For the past four decades the West has been selling a lie to itself about the culture of promiscuity and sexuality. A lie about what the human body can take and what it is and is not designed to do. Until we quit lying to ourselves millions more will die.

I wonder if Mrs. Aguilera thinks about it in those terms?

Read the rest of his article to understand "the language (he has) used." He is correct when he describes this as love and tolerance. All else really is just rhetoric.

Chimpfest 2005

Tim Blair announces CHIMPFEST 2005:

Chimpy McBushitler? Chimpron W. Hitlerburton? Chimperial pResident of ZioniKKKa, Abu Jesus W. Chimplerstein? Come forward with your own suggestions as we search for the ultimate chimp-themed Presidential slur.

I think the rules of the competition are self-evident. Feel free to study Democratic Underground as a primer. Plagiarism is not allowed, but non-original submissions with proper attribution will be allowed. One must remember, however, that even proper attribution does not meet the test under the Democrat interpretation of Fair Use. Anyway, Tim Blair had 261 submissions of varying quality when this missive was composed. Please make your submissions to Tim Blair or here and I will forward them periodically to Mr. Blair.

The Irish Laffer Curve

From the Brussels Journal: The Myth of the Scandinavian Model

Ireland has proved that a substantial lowering of the taxation level can become the motor for launching even the most slackish economy into full gear. A drastic reduction of the Irish tax rate, from 53% in 1986 to its current 35% , has led to a continuous boom of wealth creation at an average rate of 5.6% during the past two decades, while the number of jobs has grown by over 50%. In barely 18 years Ireland jumped from the 22nd to the 4th place in the OECD prosperity ranking. Ireland did not reduce its social welfare benefits. On the contrary. The unprecedented growth led to an increase of fiscal revenue and social expenditure. It was sufficient to improve the productivity of the government.

One crucial element of the Irish model is its “fair tax” system, in which there is less emphasis on taxing labour and profit and slightly more on taxing consumption. This balance between direct and indirect taxation motivates labourers and entrepreneurs to make productive contributions. It stimulates new initiatives and guarantees a high degree of participation.

Such a fiscal system does not put the entire burden of financing social security on domestic production. Indeed, a consumption tax ensures that foreign production also contributes evenly.

The Irish model combines the so-called “active welfare state” of continental Europe with the Anglo-Saxon liberal economy in a balanced fashion. The model is efficient. Ireland surpasses all other EU members in prosperity, job creation, social expenditure and productivity per working hour.

Read the article for the full analysis.

Venezuela Watch 11/25/05

From Melena Zyla Vickers and Tech Central Station: Venezuela's Worrisome Export: Revolution

If all there was to the Venezuelan president was his backward socialist views, Chavez wouldn't be such a problem. He'd just be a hypocrite whose government enriches itself on highly globalized, state-controlled oil revenues, while he denies the region's privately owned businesses the same opportunity.

The trouble is, Chavez is about much more than hypocrisy. He's become an exporter of revolution, a socialist authoritarian with a Fidel Castro-style agenda to destabilize the region and with oil dollars to finance his ambitions.

Consider how his government takes advantage of Venezuela's oil wealth. When an American driver fills up at the local Citgo station, those gas dollars go from American wallets into Chavez's governing pockets -- after all, his government controls Citgo. From Venezuelan coffers, the money goes to fund leftist narco-insurgencies in Colombia, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries -- insurgencies the U.S. soldiers and U.S. taxpayers have expended great resources to tamp down.

Leftist guerrillas from eight Latin American countries have received training at Venezuelan military bases this year, according to an Ecuadorian intelligence report revealed in a Quito newspaper earlier this month. El Presidente Chavez of course denies the charges. But his recent vows to create a regional, anti-American leftist front, his alliance with Fidel Castro's Cuba, his rising military expenditures and persistent reports that weapons disappear from the Venezuelan military into the hands of regional leftist rebels, make the charges all the more believable. (emphasis added - ed.)

Read the rest of the story for details. Perhaps we should fulfil his paranoid prophecies of an invasion. Just kidding. We should, however, require Citgo to register as a foreign agent. Information on how Chavez's oil manipulation harms Caribbean countries will follow. Please read this to learn of his willingness to use open military aggression. (hat tip to Barcepundit.)

We Are Still A Nation Of Immigrants

From Michael Yon: Americans Among Us

Lying in the hospital, still in Iraq, Walt Gaya was in the United States Army, but he was not an American. Not on paper, anyway: Walt was born in Argentina. He survived the blast, but his new wounds would preclude his flight from Mosul to Baghdad in time to participate in a swearing-in ceremony that would have been his official welcome as a new American.

Military service has been a traditional route for immigrant s to achieve naturalization. To those who choose this route, we say "thank you." Read the rest of Walt Gaya's story to better appreciate the seriousness of citizenship.

I Support M. D. E.

"When Democrats tell lies about Republicans, it's just politics. When Republicans tell the truth about Democrats, it's a dirty trick."


Go to Minnesota Democrats Exposed and read why a legal defense fund has been established. Please contribute. (Hat tip to EckerNet and MnOrgBlogs.)

Why The Vehemence Against Intelligent Design?

I love the line, " they have now lashed Intelligent Design to the track, hoping to run it down with their train of thought." Read the rest of Snidley Whiplash at the Washington Post, a bit of poetry from Plato's Stepchild.

A Grenadian Thanksgiving Day

From Caribbean Net News:Grenadians reflect on yet another historic day: October 25, 1983

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada: 22 years ago, on October 25, 1983, the people of Grenada witnessed a US-led intervention of a military force to restore order after Socialist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was murdered. On Tuesday, Grenadians celebrated "Thanksgiving Day" a national holiday instituted to commemorate the anniversary of October 25.

A national religious service was held in the Bethel Bicentennial Hall at St. Paul's Cathedral in the capital, under the theme "Love Hope and Gratitude". Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, and US Ambassador addressed the congregation which included government ministers, diplomats, and Grenadians.

Dr. Mitchell said 22 years ago the island was faced with an unprecedented challenge of restoring democracy to the country. "This challenge required the intervention of Caribbean and American military personnel to help restore our country to peace and stability. This, sisters and brothers, we must never forget," he said.

The Grenadian leader said the freedom, the peace and stability and the progress that the country has witnessed has continued without interruption ever since.

I have stood in the courtyard where Maurice Bishop was murdered and seen the impact points of the bullets on the stone wall. The driver we had hired that day took us on impromptu tour of Fort Rupert and told us what had happened there. We (my new bride and I) had spent several hours with him already and felt comfortable enough with him to ask him how Grenadians felt about the US invasion. He said that 70% of the people supported it. He said most of the support for the Cubans was in the rural areas. The only place we saw pro-Castro graffiti was outside of the cities.

One of the places we stayed in Grenada was the La Sagesse Nature Center on the east coast of the Island. La Sagesse is formerly the home of the late Lord Brownlow, Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, who in the early 1970s built the infamous Brownlow's Gate, which blocked public access to the beach. This gated, a symbol of colonial oppression, is one of the things that sparked the Revolution. All beaches in Grenada are public beaches and they are shared by all. In fact, one morning we shared the beach with three cows.

Read the rest of the article for more information about the invasion and the events that led up to it. I plan to add Grenada links to my link list. Grenada is still recovering from the damage done by hurricane Ivan and still could use some help in that effort. My wife and I plan to do our part in the recovery effort by returning there for vacation in a couple of years.

(edited for spelling - see comments)

When Life Has You Down . . . .

read Lou Minatti. The front page will lift your spirits. Lou does the research and finds that Chevy Suburbans are built by drunk, fat and stupid people. Get some commentary on country music. Find a wonderful picture of Spanish (soon-to-be-ex) Presidente Zapatero. Get a sensible plan for rebuilding New Orleans. Read some poetry. Find further proof that rap artists are unlikely to have second careers as brain surgeons. Learn something, laugh a lot. Life is good.

Where's The Killer Rabbit When You Need It?

From Gateway Pundit: Jimmy Carter Finds Angry Ethiopians Waiting for His Book Tour Why does anyone listen to this twit anymore? This is a man who was surprised to learn that the Soviets had aggressive expansionist intentions. Now he just ignores the actions of a Chavez or a Meles. Carter certified their elections and will continue to do so as long as they desire to be in power.

(hat tip to small dead animals.)

Do French Canaries In The Coal Mine Sing Like Edith Piaf Before They Fall Off The Perch?

The Brussels Journal's Fleeing France points us to Barricaded in Paris:

Paris was burning for two weeks this month. But Jewish Paris has been burning for five years -- a steady, fiery precursor that went largely ignored by the French authorities. The rise of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 sparked a wave of mainly Muslim-led, anti-Jewish violence in France that has since brought forth thousands of hateful acts aimed at French Jews and their places of business, study, recreation, prayer and burial.

Jew-baiting is but one bit of the ethnic disaster occurring in France today, but it is a telling bit: chiefly a case of entrenched European anti-Semitism against Arabs -- who, let's not forget, are Semites, too -- helping kindle a violent anti-Semitism against Jews.

The poor, disenfranchised Muslim youth who were rioting throughout France this month are the brothers of those who for years have been attacking France's Jewish population. Almost invariably they are members of a largely North African subculture of extremism -- a blister on the skin of France's overwhelmingly moderate and peaceful Muslim community of six million -- a subculture rising up after decades of maginalization, poverty and abuse.

I don't quite follow the logic of the second paragraph, as I don't see how anti-Semitism against very French Jews who come from communities centuries old is related to "anti-Semitism" against non-assimulated northern African Muslims whose communities have existed, at most, for a few generations. It may be technically true that these people are Semititc, but to call prejudice against them "anti-Semitism" is to deny the meaning of the term and excuse the French of racism and xenophobia. It is as if establishing a moral equivalence allows the French to be charged with a lesser crime.

Context For Understanding Ethiopia

Ethiopundit points to Comments on the Ethiopian crisis as "the very best summary of current events we have come across."

Raising The Red Ensign Standard XXXII

Gen X At 40 has raised the Red Ensign Standard for the benefit of all. Read the introduction for a history lesson. (Why do Canadians always bring up that little American invasion thingy?) Be sure to follow the links and read the story of Molly Brant. This is followed by a quick summary of blogging from our Red Ensign Brigade compatriots. Find a listing of back issues here. (Hat tip to Dust My Broom.)

Thanks for Putting It In Writing

Muzzy, of Blogizdat, has begun recording his observations from a research project with a post entitled " Remembering Church" His writing is often poetic.

This is Weird: Conspiracy?

From the Kiev Ukraine News Blog: Exiled Russian Tycoon Planned Car-Bomb Attack During Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. This will give you ample material to "one-up" your conversational partners at the next conspiracy colloquium. On the other hand, perhaps this is a plot by Russian intelligence to discredit the Orange Revolution.

This One Flew Right Over My Head

You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.

Neo, the "One" 63% Batman, the Dark Knight 63% William Wallace 58% Lara Croft 54% Indiana Jones 54% James Bond, Agent 007 54% The Terminator 50% Captain Jack Sparrow 50% El Zorro 46% The Amazing Spider-Man 46% Maximus 46% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Batman won out on the tie breaker as I didn't feel that my kung fu skills were up to the levels they were 20 years ago. I do, however, have the sunglasses and good looks to be Neo. William Wallace placed high because my wife is the rightful heir to the throne of Scotland (clan Comyn,Robert The Bruce murdered most of her predecessors) and a kilt is both comfortable and functional. Lara Kroft is a bit of a puzzle. Maybe it's the travel adventure, or maybe it's because women's lingerie is comfortable, functional AND stylish.(Hat tip to Bogus Gold.)

Russian Canaries In The Coal Mine?

Sometimes a statue is just a statue. But then, sometimes it is more than that. Follow the links and get an education, unless you already know who the Khazars were and what the Pamyat' Society is.

Venezuela Watch 11/17/05

From CaribPundit: Cor blimey, mon! 5

Here's the case for Venezuela never having any kind of nuclear ability. Venezuela, which is south of TT, is claiming ownership of Bird Island, which is north-west of TT, and close to Antigua and Guadeloupe. Why? Oil. Moreover, Venezuela has sent military forces to occupy an outpost on the island which was under Dominica's jurisdiction.

Now, Dominica is a small island without a military that can go up against Venezuela and its warships. It's doubtful that any Caribbean country can go up against Venezuela. So, Venezuela is the bully in the U.S.'s backyard, claiming and seizing territory of other islands and its neighbors.

Where is the outcry against Venezuela's military aggression against poor little Dominica? Where are the protesters crying "no blood for oil"? If the U.S. had been the one seizing Bird Island, the world would know about it in a heartbeat. Hypocrites!

Why Is The Movie Always Different From The Book?

The Last Amazon reviews a politically correct Swan Lake and decides to stay home. How could she pass up an evening of lusty knights, gang-raped serving wenches, homo-erotic duets and lesbian nude lap-dancing. OK, so there wasn't any lesbian nude lap-dancing. (See a scene from a real performance of Swan Lake here. Hat tip Wikipedia)

With Friends Like These,

From the Kiev Ukraine News Blog: The Long and Winding Road West

Europe has its own problems. While former communist states such as Poland are agitating for Kiev to be allowed to join the (EU), the likes of Germany are wary of alienating President Putin.

Germany, once again, takes a principled stand in support of democracy.

The French Didn't Always Oppose The War In Iraq

From the Highland Warriors at The Cabarfeidh Pages:
THE FRENCH OFFERED TO HELP INVADE IRAQ:

France was not always opposed to the American invasion of Iraq. One persistent Pentagon rumor, however, might explain why the French came to oppose the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. In December, 2002, a French staff officer visited the Pentagon with a proposal from his government. France would send 18,000 troops (about what they contributed in 1991) to join the Iraq invasion force. However, France wanted a specific area of occupation after the war, with full authority in that area for as long as Iraq needed to be occupied. The American State Department backed the French proposal, but the Department of Defense didn’t trust the French, and were suspicious of their motives. So the French officer went home empty handed, and the French government decided that invading Iraq was really an evil thing to do.

What exactly were the French up to? No one is sure, but the most plausible theory was that the French wanted to be in Iraq, after Saddam fell, to make sure no embarrassing documents, or witnesses, showed up.

Go to the original to follow the link to the whole story.

Murder Mystery Gives Insight Into The Ukraine

From the Kiev Ukraine News Blog: Ukraine's Unfinished Revolution

WASHINGTON, DC -- Five years ago in Slate, Anne Applebaum told a "Ukrainian Murder Mystery" about the September 2000 killing of Gyorgi Gongadze, an Internet journalist almost certainly liquidated for publishing articles critical of then-President Leonid Kuchma. Gongadze's decapitated body was eventually found; his head was not.

As anyone donning an orange scarf on Kiev's Independence Square during last year's uprising could tell you, the Gongadze case has never simply been a crime. It has always been, from the moment the journalist was kidnapped and, soon after, beaten to death, a symbol of larger things.

Read The rest of the article to understand the difficulties of leaving the past behind.

Female Domination: South American Elections

From The Latin Americanist:

1. Peru: Flores builds on early lead
2. Chile: A new iron lady for Chile

Doesn't Need An Asterisk

From CaribPundit: An asterisk?

A Milwaukee journalist has described Clarence Thomas, one of the brightest and most original thinkers of all the Justices on the Supreme Court, as being an inauthentic black who should have an asterisk by his name because Justice 'Thomas doesn't count as a black'.

Well, black Americans should be mightily offended at this, not for what it says about Thomas—go read his judicial opinions (I did) and see that I do not overestimate his intellectual acuity—but for what the writer reveals of his thought concerning blacks as a whole.

Read the argument that follows (and a related argument here) to reach the conclusion, "This lil coconut here will stand with that un-authentic, bright, and original thinking black man, Justice Clarence Thomas."

But He Wants To Kill Children With Toxic Emissions!

From The Cabarfeidh Pages (Highland Warriors): Gasp! Bush is GOOD for the environment?!!

Guardian environment correspondent David Adam reveals some shocking environmental news ... in his third paragraph:

The UK risks losing its international authority on climate change because of its failure to cut greenhouse gas pollution, according to a leading scientist.

Bob May, president of the Royal Society, said new figures showing that UK emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases which contribute to global warming have risen for the last two years, made it difficult for British politicians to be taken seriously on the issue.

He said: “It is very difficult to criticise other countries such as the United States if we are unable to meet our commitments. Indeed, emissions by the United States have actually declined over the last two years ...”

Excuse me? The US has actually become cleaner under the rule of enviro-hater Bush? You’d think—although May also notes that US pollutant outputs are “still some 20% above 1990 levels”—that this might rate more highly as a news story. Then again, Bush apparently reduced industrial pollution by 11% during his governership of Texas, and nobody cared for that news, either ...

More On The (Not-So) Grand Coalition

From The Brussels Journal: Merkel's Not So Grand Coalition

As the new coalition is a marriage of convenience rather than love, it is unfortunate that their baby is bad-looking and stupid. When an ugly and intelligent person marries a beautiful and foolish one, they sometimes end up with good-looking and bright offspring. Not, however, this time in Germany. Merkel’s baby, the new government’s program presented to the nation last Thursday, is so ugly that her “Grand Coalition” came under immediate attack from various quarters: trade unions, professional organisations, industrial leaders and the press from the left to the right. They all reproach Merkel for tinkering with the problems instead of applying radical solutions.

That's the fun part, please read the rest for the analysis.

Where Are The Dead When You Need Them?

As reported by Barcepundit: RESURRECTING FRANCO

Three decades after his far from untimely passing, Spaniards dust off their memories of former dictator Francisco Franco. But this time he's coming back as a panto villain, in hopes of drawing a torrent of boos and hisses to distract a public that is becoming increasingly critical of Spain's ruling leftists.

There's something stirring inside the tomb, and a whiff of nastiness sours the air. Should we fear the return of the undead - or is it a case of Resurrection Men digging up a corpse for their own nefarious purposes? The question is one that bears asking as Spain prepares for the thirtieth anniversary, on 20 November, of Generalissimo Francisco Franco's death - after 39 years as Head of State, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and caudillo de España by the grace of God, to go by his official titles.

Prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero may actually welcome the anniversary as a pretext for convincing people (including a disgruntled segment of his own Socialist Party) that no matter how much of a muddle he may get the country into, things could actually be a good deal worse, as indeed they were under a dictatorship still alive in the memories of many Spaniards. The more fuss made over Franco, the more emphatically the point gets driven home.

Waving the cape in front of the bull.

Graduating From "Gulag" to "Auschwitz"

From The Beatroot: A United States’ Auschwitz?

Speculation about CIA gulags in Poland reaches new heights of absurdity …and I get quoted in the Washington Post!

. . . . .
A ‘United States’ Auschwitz’ in Poland? This is an amazing claim to make, and I really think the guy who wrote that is a fool. Quite apart from the nauseating way that people, these days, over use words associated with the holocaust – and in doing so take away the unique horror of what happened during WWII – does he really think that another Auschwitz in Poland could be kept a secret? Does he know what the original Auschwitz was like?

Read the complete article for a good analysis of the politics surrounding this issue.

CaribPundit Rounds Up The Commies

1. Coming soon to countries near you

   Booker Rising points to Ethiopundit's post on the Ethiopian economy fourteen years after the ascendance of a Marxist government. If you're wondering what oil-rich Venezuela will look like after an extended period of Chavez's Castroite-communist government, wonder no more.

2. Castro-Chavez communist paradise 3

Cubanos must demonstrate fidelity to Fidel Castro even to the extent of infidelity to their marriage vows. A school teacher got a public dressing down for refusing to leave her husband, a Castro opponent, for the sake of ideological purity. "Maipú Pérez Naranjo refused to attend an October 14 meeting of teachers of the Silvio Flietas school at which director Osmayda Zacarías criticized her for consorting with a dissident, her husband, Guillermo Pérez Yera...." Another teacher who supported Maipú, "was later transferred to a remote school for three years of "rehabilitation."

The lesson: you have no being or rights that the State does not give you, so think and do as Castro wants you to ... or else!

Updating The German (Not-So) Grand Coalition

From EU Referendum: Over before it began

Remember those heady days when the German Christian Democrats under Angela Merkel were going to re-write the script in Germany? When they were going to introduce reforms that would free up the economy, lower taxation, decrease public spending, turn the country once again into the motor of Europe?

Well, no, as it happens I cannot remember them either. All too long ago and overlaid by weak campaigning, an indecisive result, shenanigans between the parties.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Read the rest.

MOB Aggregator Is Born!

Doug Bass has put together a Mn.Organization of Bloggers feed aggregator for your edification. (Birth announcement here.) Visit the site to find out what my brothers and sisters are up to. Thanks to Doug for taking a break from the crossword puzzle to do the work.

It's The Assimilation, Stupid

From PragueBlog:

This thread at A Fistful of Euros starts out with Scott MacMillan saying he will vomit if he hears multiculturalism blamed one more time for the French unrest.

I weigh in with the thought that the phenomenon of assimilation is the better place to be looking: why does it happen (relatively well) in the US and not in Europe?

Many Europeans like to think they are the tolerant, open societies of the world. They tell themselves they are more tolerant of others than Americans. To help picture what I mean, visualize for a moment the smug face of Dominique de Villepin admiring himself as he brushes his flowing hair 100 times in front of his vanity mirror before bed. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, why isn't everyone like me? It would be so much easier that way [head tilted, pouts]."

There is a lot more to this discussion but the simple glaring fact is that Europeans are exactly, ass-backward wrong. It takes often less than a single generation for immigrants to the states to be fully fitted out and comfortable - and often openly proud - in their new cultural suit. (Europeans I out that point to inevitably frown and pshaw.) It is inconceivable that the children of immigrants, born in the US, would reach young adulthood with no English. Boys and girls, that's because the society expects it, sees it as natural and a good thing and tells you so, pulls you along, encourages you and generally supports the movement toward acceptance and assimilation in many small ways. Sorry, but you can't legislate that. If the society in all its million and six little aspects is not generally creating a positive energy favoring assimilation but is in all those same little ways telling you "you will always be different yea until the children of your children" then no one government can do anything about it.

Because They Killed The Huguenots

From The Brussels Journal: The Breakdown of the Extended Order

It is the breakdown of our “extended order” – in other words Western civilisation rooted (whether one likes it or not) in the “symbolic truths” of Judeo-Christianity – that we are witnessing today in France. This breakdown was caused by the secularisation of Western Europe, which led to a demographic implosion because people no longer wished to be “fruitful” and to “multiply.” Secularisation has left both a religious and a demographic vacuum in Europe. This vacuum is being filled by a new people and a new religion. The latter religion, being of a more fatalistic kind (as it is originally the religion of a desert people), is less inclined to “replenish the earth and subdue it” because it accepts that the existing world is “the will of Allah” (Inch'Allah).

Islam is on the rise in Europe. According to some this is exactly the reason why its faithful are rioting, but the Muslims cannot be blamed for Old Europe’s problems. These are completely self-inflicted. Islam is not the cause but the consequence of the problems.

Devotees of Darwin failing the most basic Darwinian test.

Vaclav Havel Is No Jimmy Carter

From Blog For Cuba: "Compromise With Evil"

Former president Vaclav Havel praised Czech diplomacy for "taking again a principled attitude towards the dictatorial regime in Cuba," in an interview with CTK.

He was reacting to another in a series of diplomatic spats between Prague and Havana, which banned the celebrations of the Czech national holiday in a luxury Havana hotel on October 28 to which Cuban dissidents were also invited.
. . . . .

"When the European Union was going to adopt a recommendation to the member states not to invite dissidents to the celebrations of their national holidays, it probably wanted to prevent similar things from happening. But such a policy is extremely short-sighted. It is a compromise with evil, it is accommodating the totalitarian power. I am glad that they [Czechs] contributed to the rejection of the draft resolution," Havel told CTK.

Related News: Czech foreign minister threatened

Resisting European Union Hegemony

From The Beatroot: Brussels to the rescue?

Should the EU 'save' Poles from their '‘radical' government?

The outgoing president, ex-communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, told a British newspaper this week that the 'EU and NATO' will limit the more extreme tendencies of the new minority, populist, social conservative Law and Justice (PiS) administration.
. . . . .
All radical, or reactionary, stuff. But should President Kwasniewski be calling for the EU to save Poles from PiS and their rather strange friends?

After all, nobody is claiming that PiS won the election unfairly. There were no 'hanging chads' clogging up the ballot boxes.

At a time when many educated Poles throw up their hands in horror at the dismal level of turnout in Polish elections (if 50% drag themselves out to vote then it's considered quite a success in Poland - see my Silent Majority) then should we be hoping for the un-elected in Brussels to save Poles from themselves?

Many will find some of the policies of the present government repugnant, but hoping for bureaucrats somewhere outside the country to do something about it will only increase Poles disengagement from the ballot box, democracy and politics in general.

As has been said many times elsewhere, in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. If Poles don't like PiS then they can get rid of them next polling day.

One can understand when an old communist (Kwasniewski) doesn't understand the democratic process. It will be interesting to see if thbureaucratsBeaurocrats have any better understanding of the concept.

This Is Priceless

From the Brussels Journal: Sending in the Army Will Not Help. This is in response to the following from the article "Allons Enfants de la Jihad":

Yesterday, Michel Pajon, the mayor of Noisy-le-Grand near Paris, asked for the French army to intervene and stop the violence which is taking over France. The mayor – a Socialist – went on French radio to say that what is happening in his country is absolutely appalling:

They Have Read This In Israel

Darcy, of Dust My Broom, calls this the Spookiest news of the day:

Report: German firms provided missile tech to Iran, Syria
Read Darcy's closing comment.

Music From A Fellow Traveler

Muzzy, of Blogizdat, has published his latest GarageBand composition as part of this week's Music Monday. It is really quite good. Listen to it.

The Secret Love Life Of Jimmy Carter

Ethiopundit offers up Cargo Cult Economics 6 - Sachs & Violence. Jimmy Carter has a serious fetish for Third World totalitarians. Surely, socialism will work in third world countries because it works so well in textbooks and Eurabia. Is Paris still burning?

A Guilty Pleasure

From Lou Minatti: Why I am enjoying France's problems

(Hat tip to Some French Experts.)

Introducing The Viking Observer

Viking Observer has been added to the blogroll. (Thank you to small dead animals for bringing them to my attention.) Here is a listing (with some excerpts) of recent postings:

1. "victims"

   The full treatment by the Observer:

   Yet in a country where 28,000 cars have been burnt on housing estates this year alone, Sarkozy's gamble for the intolerant right-wing vote could still pay off. In today's Le Monde, the Interior Minister is unrepentant in a personal opinion piece titled 'Our strategy is the right one'.
   
   Last week, on the day Bouna and Ziad were killed, Jean-Claude Irvoas, 51, got out of his car in Epinay-sur-Seine to take a photograph. As his wife and daughter sat in the car, Irvoas was attacked by three men, said to be Arabs from a nearby housing estate, and savagely beaten. He died in hospital later that evening. While speaking of the perpetrators, Sarkozy speaks to France's 'victims' - and they don't live in Clichy-sous-Bois or Aulnay-sous-Bois.
   
   If in the past the 'louts' were forgotten, it looks like they could now be used as pawns by France's politicians.

   If you, like me, want to express your disgust to the Obersver/Guardian, the following email addresses should be of help:

2. Background on the terror suspects
3. More on terrorist apologia

   Here is the relevant parts of the exchange that is creating an uproar in the mayoral race in Copenhagen. It is part of a series of exchanges between Liberal Candidate Søren Pind and Social Democratic candidate Ritt Bjerregaard, that is running daily in the paper Berlingske Tidende until friday.

4. Danish PM Fogh to take Turkish colleague to school over suppression of free speach

   Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Liberals) will personally teach Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan about freedom of the press and speech, when his Turkish colleague visits Copenhagen in a couple of weeks in connection with a NATO-summit.

5. Danish terror cell may have targeted Danish-Israeli football match

   Police had therefore decided to put a lid on information to the media about the terrorist cell. Six of its suspected members were arrested in the capital area on Thursday and Saturday after their names were linked to a large arsenal in Sarajevo last week, which included explosives, sniper weapons, and vests used by suicide bombers.

6. PM enters mayoral race over terror apologia

   The mayoral race in Copenhagen is heating up after Social Democratic candidate Ritt Bjerregaard on one hand tried to deny the Liberal candiate Søren Pind the security argument (rightwingers = more believable on security) while at the same time pandering to radical islamists by excusing terrorism.

7. Zero tolerance for Århus rioters

   Police in Århus have announced a zero tolerance policy over for the troublemakers who have been rampaging through a suburb of Århus during the weekend.The area of Viby, just outside central Århus has witnessed a spate of riots all weekend with shop windows being smashed, a kindergarten burnt out and general violence occurring between mainly young people with immigrant backgrounds and the police. The zero tolerance hard-line has met criticism from an expert in youth research. Susasne Branner Jespersen said that a zero tolerance stance only increases the hatred between the youths and police. The Mayor of Århus Louise Gade dismissed the concerns of experts and said that a hard-line must be taken with these troublemakers so ordinary law-abiding citizens could feel safe in their homes.

8. Islam vs. Free Speech: The case of Denmark

   I would hereby like to express my support for the newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishing cartoons of Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Freedom of speech is the lifeblood of a democratic society, and cannot be tampered with. Muslims in Denmark freely exercise this right, even to say things that people in Denmark find greatly offensive. A leading Danish mufti in 2004 said that Danish women not wearing the veil “were asking for rape.” Another imam wanted to import the sharia concept of blood money to Denmark, and pay the equivalent of 100 camels for a man’s life. If Muslims in Denmark think these are acceptable statements, they cannot by any right claim to be offended by a few simple drawings. At least not if they really mean that Islam is compatible with Western democracy.

9. A bit about the upcoming local elections in Denmark

   The one issue that has overshadowed alpint'sr of Pind's policies, however, has been immigration, after he launched a much-discussed strategy for integration in the city. The strategy's 14 points include plans to dissolve some of the city'ghettosc' ghettoes, implement more discipline in schools, and re-educate teachers to tackle the challenges of multicultural classes.
   
   The points that received most media attepint'swere Pind's plans to crack down on immigrant criminality, including a zero-tolerance amisdemeanorssdemeanours, an active effort to eradicate 'Mhonortern honour concepts', and a suggestion to the government to implement a 'three strikes and you're out' policy towards foreign citizens, automatically sentencing them to deportation after committing their third crime.

10. Imam opens for business in Danish Church

    As to the idea in and of itself, it just goes to demonstrate the self-hate evident in the leftist-dominated Peoples´ Church (the state church). Its not more than a couple months since it officially suggested, that proselytMoslemamong moslem immigrants was a bad idea.

Or Not The Intifada

From EU Referendum: Looking at France. The analysis argues against calling the riots "the French Intifada". The argument is made that the riots are a result of the French Socialist governments policies and that failure to recognize that gives cover to the Left everywhere. A favorite quote:

One of Goergens's postings deals with the architecture of the banlieus, the soullessness of the buildings and impossibility of a fruitful human existence in them. He traces the ideas behind those monstrosities to Le Corbusier, arguably one of the evil geniuses of the twentieth century with his ideas of social and cultural experimentation on human beings. We in this country, who have known the problems of the council estates, those tenth rate embodiments of Corbusier's plans, should not dismiss these arguments.

It is time that more people recognize the evil effect of Corbusier's fascist architecture.

Some Hope For The Canary In Europe

This is not another "Canary-In-The-Coal-Mine" report about anti-Semitism in Europe. On the contrary, there is an element of hope in this report from Barcepundit. 10,000 Italians demonstrated in Rome in support of Israel. He links to this article by Michael Ledeen, which yields this:

That would be extraordinary enough, but they have done far more than that. They have lifted the taboo on the discussion of Islam itself, and of the way the Islamic world has dealt with Israel since it creation. You know the taboo has been shattered when Magdi Allam, the (Muslim) deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading newspaper, writes a front-page editorial of the sort that was published earlier this week. Many Muslims, he began, are against the existence of Israel, and many others are afraid they will be called traitors if they approve of it. Allam asks, What will they have betrayed?

The Palestinian cause? But the Palestinians themselves recognized Israel's right to exist in Oslo in 1993. Islam? Which Islam? Bin Laden's, that mainly kills Muslims in addition to non-Muslims all over the world? That of the Muslim Brotherhood which has laid its hands on most Italian mosques, exploiting our democracy to propagate a fundamentalist and criminal ideology?

Allam, who has written an important book about the Muslims in Europe, knows that only a minority of them have "the intellectual lucidity and the human courage" to recognize Israel's right to exist. But he insists that they should, and that if they had done so at the beginning, the Palestinians would have had their state. He explodes the most cherished myth of the anti-Semites, the myth that Israel alone is guilty of the miserable state of the Palestinian people. Allam rightly holds the anti-Semites primarily responsible:

Precisely those who do not recognize Israel's right to exist have been opposed to the birth of an independent Palestinian state. Such as happened in 1948 when, in order to prevent the Jewish state from seeing the light of day, they only prevented the creation of the Palestinian state foreseen in 1947 by UN Resolution 181. And why did Jordan, instead of annexing Cisjordan in 1949 and Egypt, instead of governing the Gaza Strip in 1967, never agree to have a Palestinian state in those territories?

Once the taboo is broken, you can see the world plain, and recognize something that President Bush, to his historic credit, intuited several years ago when he was being stampeded toward a premature embrace of Arafat: If you don't embrace freedom whole, for everyone, you end up oppressing the very people you claim to be defending. Palestinian freedom depends on Israeli freedom, as Natan Sharansky has so eloquently reminded us. If there is no Palestinian state today, it is primarily the fault of groups like Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, and their Iranian terror masters, who delight in sacrificing the Palestinians in order to destroy Israel, just as the mullahs take great pleasure in sending Arabs to die in jihad against us. Allam lays it out with brutal precision: "There is a manifest connection between the recognition of Israel's right to exist and the acceptance of the value of one's own life and that of others. . . . today the true divide between civilization and barbarism is the recognition of Israel's right to exist."

The West, especially the cynical West European politicians, will deny this moral algorithm, but the terror masters know it is true. They know that the real menace of Israel is the threat of the spread of freedom — and thus their own doom. That is why they react with predictable venom to events like the Rome demonstration. The Iranian regime has targeted the demonstrators for the same obliteration it has so loudly proclaimed for Israel. The Fars Agency in Tehran, notoriously linked to President Ahmadi Nezhad, declared that "the Italians who participate in the demonstration against the Islamic republic are all Zionists," and called for a counterdemonstration in front of the Italian Embassy on the same day.

Here is a weird twist in the story. QuickRob, in a comment on Roger L. Simon, points us to this story about Michael Ledeen's involvement in planning the Iraq War. Italian trickery, Iraqi treachery, Iranian chicanery, and Neocon duplicity - what could be better? This is part one of a series. Read QuickRob's condensed version here.

Aptly Named: The French Intifada

small dead animals on the French "riots": French Intifada: Land For Peace!

Finally, the "riots" are called what they truly are. I heard on the radio today that French police had discovered a firebomb "factory". Suddenly, the events seem a little less spontaneous. Given French support for the Palestinian Intifada and the high level of anti-Semitism in France, one is tempted to say, "couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people." That response, however, would be uncaring and there are many of us who do care for the people of France. Uncle Ben is one of those who cares, and cares enough to suggest some possible solutions. Kate, on the other hand, advises discretion in the use of the term "Intifada" and states, "Of course, no one dares say such things out loud for fear of a French surrender."

Update: Read Paris is burning from Dust My Broom.

Coming To A City Near You Soon!

Read "Who will risk a screwdriver in the liver to safeguard the parking meters of Paris for an hour?" by The Last Amazon. Is your city all that different?

World Leader Beauty Contest Held

in Latin America. Read the results here. (Hat tip to The LatinAmericanist.)

Is This Penance For Victory?

What is the natural thing to do after you celebrate the 200th anniversary of the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar? You would, of course, close the last military explosives manufacturing plant in Great Britain and turn the production of said explosives over to the French. EU Referendum asks, Is our government completely mad?

The Culture War In Denmark

Denmark confronts the problem which much of the rest of Europe ignores:

Brian Mikkelsen, the Danish Minister of Culture and a member of the Conservative People's Party that forms a coalition with Mr. Rasmussen's Liberal Party, called for a new culture war. He told a party conference of the Conservatives that "a parallel society is developing in our country in which minorities cultivate their medieval values and undemocratic beliefs." Mikkelsen said that this was unacceptable and it had to be fought by confronting the Muslims with Danish culture and values.

Read "Out of the Iranian Frying Pan into the Danish Fire" to learn more about Denmark's struggle with The Religion Of Peace.

Kate, at small dead animals, points us to the Viking Observer's post, War in France, War in Denmark and reminds us that this is the one year anniversary of the murder of Theo Van Gogh in Holland.

Ethiocide

Ethiopian police shoot protesters

Two policemen and six protesters have died and dozens have been wounded in clashes sparked by poll protests in Ethiopia's capital.
. . . . .
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's EPRDF won a majority in polls but the opposition gained many seats.

The Ethiopian government has dismissed an assessment by European Union monitors that the elections failed to meet international standards.

(Perhaps the EPRDF should have had Jimmy Carter observe this election. He certainly would have certified it as fair.) To learn more about the context of this situation, read Tag Team from Ethiopundit.

1. From The BBC:
   • Analysis: High Stakes
   • Country profile
   • Timeline
2. allAfrica.Com: News Headlines
3. Technorati:
   • BBC Article
   • "Ethiopian police shoot protesters"
   • Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's EPRDF
   • Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD)
4. Wikipedia: Ethiopia

A Slice Of Life From Muzzy

Muzzy shares his daughter's insight into the origin of everything. Read Thinking Deep Thoughts.

Europe Argues With Itself

Read Europe vs. Europe

The fundamental disagreement is to what extent Europe should move away from the “social market economy” model that has left France, Germany and Italy in economic stagnation and towards a more classic market economy such as that practiced in the U.S.

Understanding The Polish Election Updated

Organizing the new government.
Original Post is updated here.

Update On Sulawesi Attacks

From the BBC: Police lead on Sulawesi attackers. Find out what they are investigating by reading Mighty Mohammedan Warriors Defend The Faith.

Scott Ritter: Mano a Mano

Tim Blair has dueling Scott Ritters. (At this point in time, some may be asking, "Who is Scott Ritter?")