Commies Want Illegals To Unite

One of the important organizers of tomorrow's illegal immigrant gathering is ANSWER, currently America's premier Communist organizer. Here's what they've got to say about their little get-together:

It's important at this critical moment to keep up the pressure and continue to focus on the streets and the mass action of the people and never allow the politicians to decide how much equality or how much inequality, or how much repression, should be meted out to the millions of hard working immigrant families.

So politicians aren't to decide? Then who, exactly is to decide? Why, the demented Communist minority!

The politicians and their corporate backers would like to see this new mass movement end because they know it could be the spark that ignites a revived nation-wide anti-racist labor movement. Immigrant workers, including the undocumented workers, are the sisters and brothers and allies of all those struggling for justice.

Yes, indeed! Workers of the world unite ... no, untie yourselves from these thrown-back whackos.

Now compare all that to how Sergio, a 27-year-old illegal day labor, explained to the OCRegister why he'd be working tomorrow:

I will work. I need to eat. This is not my country for protesting. The government is not mine. The government is yours. (not available on line)

That's right; it's ours. Now if we can just get our elected politicians to cut benefits to illegals, secure the border, and create an immigration policy that rewards those who follow a sound and reasonable legal immigration process.

The Calm Before The Storm?

Isn't it nice that the Meixican-American Political Association, which is rallying the illegals in Orange County, made its fliers in a nice, patriotic red, white and blue (with yellow fringe). Not a hint of Mexicano green.

That doesn't stop them from lying on their "All Against the Wall" campaign:

All Against The Wall! Now it's our turn to shout that because right now, the U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would build a muro (wall) along the Mexico-U.S. border. The plan would also grant local police officers the authority to act like Immigration Officers to arrest and deport people based solely on their appearance.

It's bad enough in English, but imagine an illegal who isn't likely to ever comprehend the actual language of the bill reading "deport people based solely upon their appearance." So how many of the people demonstrating tomorrow will be demonstrating for the wrong reason?

Last night, a friend told me about how he hired some streetside illegals to move furniture out of a rental. After a crowd of them chased down his car and aggressively tried to jump in for the work, they were ready to pile out when he offered them $8 an hour -- well over miniumum wage. And that was four years ago! What's their "minimum" now?

The LATimes, interestingly enough, had no preview article to advise its readers what to expect. Strange. Are they afraid to hint that the illegals they defend may cause some real chaos tomorrow? By comparison, the OCRegister gives us OC residents a good run-down.

What do I expect? Trouble here and there. A serious effort to look like good "citizens." And more debate. And more disappointment that our electeds can't get this one right.

Mexico's New Drug Law

As most of you know, MexPrez Vincente Fox is expected to sign into law a new bill that decriminalizes, as the NYT reports, possession of up to "5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine."

That's not accurate. Other drugs, including Ecstasy, are also included in the decriminalization.

Scanning the blogosphere, it's no surprise most blogs -- liberal or dopehead in nature -- think it's a great idea. Well, most blogs are written by idiots.

My wife has made a film that chronicles what happened to four families because of the casual -- not big time addictive, but "safe casual" -- use of the drugs Ecstasy and Ketamine. In it, she tells the story of Erin, who now struggles painfully to get through life because of a severe brain injury caused by "safe casual" use of Ketamine, an anaesthetic used primarily by vets. (You can meet Erin at the link above; there's a preview.)

The Ketamine Erin took was purchased in Mexico and brought back to California. It was easy for the boy who bought it to accomplish the trick, as you can see from this photo of a Mexican pharmacy. Now the trick will be done with heroin, opium, coke, various methamphetimine drugs and pot.

That's very bad news for our kids.

And it's bad news for our border police, who are already overwhelmed with the human illegals, and now will have to deal with the drug illegals, too.

More and more, Mexico is our neighbor, but not our friend. And you know what they say to do when you've got a bad neighbor: Put up a good fence.

Tags: Mexico, Drugs, Legalization, Heroin, Marijuana, Opium, Ecstasy, Ketamine

Is It Meximerica Or Americo?

Incredible Daughter #1, who created the stellar CS-M masthead artwork, was at it again last night, photo-commenting on the upcoming immigration demonstrations. You know, the demonstrations that want to accomplish this:

In the Internet forum that she pretty much lives on, there was a spirited discussion of the immigration debate -- interesting, since it's a BMW forum, not a political forum -- and the translated Star Spangled Banner came up. A couple "trolls no one likes anyway" were for the translation, as was another because it would only rile up citizens and force a right solution.

Most were opposed, including one guy who said, "This is the United States of America, not Mexico II. The first one isn't that great; we don't need or want a sequel." That inspired I.D. #1 to create this:

Now playing in the theaters of our minds everywhere.

Tags: Immigration, Demonstration, Illegal immigrant, Illegals

Victory in Nepal

That's a pro-democracy Nepalese celebrating on the flag-bestrewn statue of a former king. What's to celebrate? The Nepalese parliament reconvening first the first time in four years, after King Gyanendra backed down from dictatorial rule in the face of protests.

People of Iran, take note. There are peaceful ways to get rid of power-usurping, dangerous, unwanted leaders.

Much more at the Times of London.

Tags: Nepal, Democracy, Iran

IAEA: Iran Enriched Uranium (Wow!)

I hesitate to call the IAEA watchdogs. More like lapdogs. Here's all you'll get from the IAEA site on the organization's investigation of Iran's nuke program:

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei today released his report Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report was prepared at the request of the United Nation´s Security Council. Its circulation is restricted, and unless the IAEA Board of Governors and Security Council decide otherwise, the Agency can not authorise its release to the public.

A really big thank you for that.

Here's the BBC report:

Iran has ignored a UN Security Council call to suspend all nuclear fuel enrichment, a report by the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has concluded.

Mohamed ElBaradei's report said that Tehran had done little to answer questions over its nuclear intentions.

The UN wants the research halted amid Western fears - denied by Iran - that Tehran might develop nuclear weapons.

Tell us what we don't know. But perhaps I'm too hard. ElBaradei has a solution:

"After more than three years of agency efforts to seek clarity about all aspects of Iran's nuclear programme, the existing gaps in knowledge continue to be a matter of concern," his report said.

"Any progress in that regard requires full transparency and active co-operation by Iran."

Sure, that'll happen. Mah- I'm- in- the- moud- for- noncompliance Ahmadinejad (rhymes with "I'm the Twelfth Imam's lad") will only become transparent when the tissue falls off his bones.

Besides such revelations in the IAEA report as, quoting BBC here, "Iran's claim to have enriched low-grade uranium appears true," it mentions undeclared Iranian plutonium. Yikes.

Next up: The US, Britan, France, Germany, China and Russia will have a little chat about nuke totin' mullahs on May 2, and Condi talks to the other Security Council members on May 9. They are Argentina, Congo, Denmark, Ghana, Greece, Japan, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia and Tanzania.

A mixed bag. As with all matters with the UN, expect little.

Tags: Iran, IAEA, UN, Condi, Security Council

Appendix Surgery In Libya

It sounds like the latest Hollywood hack 'em up thriller, but it really happened to Victor Davis Hanson. Can you imagine anything more frightening than having emergency surgery for a burst appendix in Libya?

Radioblogger has the fascinating transcript from Hanson's recent appearance on Hugh's show ... including his interesting assessment of Libya's state of affairs.

What a loss it would have been if Hanson hadn't been placed in the hands of a skilled surgeon ... one pretty much without pain-killing drugs, but skilled.

hat-tip: Blogotional
Tags: Libya, Victor Davis Hanson, Appendix

She's Gotta Be Running

Why else would Hillary show up at a swank event at NYC's Cafe Milano celebrating the 10th anniversary of Fox News Sunday, a.k.a. Tony Snow's going-away party?

Here's the write-up in Media Bistro's Fish Bowl Blog, which noted there were Fox News Sunday posters, napkins, cigars, candle holders and:

... there were even search lights, in case, you know, Batman might want to stop by (he is, after all, fair and balanced when it comes to crime).

Moment I would have liked to have seen: Hillary bumping up to another VIP guest, Dick Cheney.

hat-tip: Media Bistro
Tags: Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney, Fox News Sunday, Tony Snow

If You Can't Make It There ...

... can't make it anywhere. Air America bombs in New York, New York.

As If You Needed One ...

... here's another reason not to watch The View.

Journalists, Jail and Pulitzers

Former spy Ralph Peters just put a new book out. If his NYPost op/ed of today is any indication of what's between the covers, I'm buying myself a copy of New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremecy.

Peters is writing about journalists who publish intelligence secrets during war time and win awards for it.

He begins with:

If a street-corner thug knowingly receives stolen goods for profit, he goes to jail. If a well-educated, privileged journalist profits from receiving classified information - stolen from our government - he or she gets a prize.

Is something wrong here?

And ends with:

If you draw a government (or contractor) paycheck and willfully compromise classified material, you should go to jail. If you are a journalist in receipt of classified information and you publish it to the benefit of our enemies, you should go to jail (you may, however, still accept your journalism prize, as long as the trophy has no sharp edges). And consider yourself fortunate: The penalty for treason used to be death.

When a journalist is given classified information, his or her first call shouldn't be to an editor. It should be to the FBI.

Hurrah! He also says leaks shouldn't come from the White House. I disagree, so long as the decision is presidential, not staff, because we must be able to count on our president to consider the impact of the leak on America, its troops and its agents. If a president were to put troops and agents at risk for political reasons, we the people would take care of that.

And no, Valery Plame, was not put at risk. She wasn't secret, she hadn't been posted overseas for some time, and she apparently wasn't operating any overseas networks.

hat-tip: Real Clear Politics
Tags: Plame, Pulitzer, CIA, Peters, Dana Priest, New Glory

Peace Or Riot On May 1?

Nation editor and leftyblogger Mark Cooper has an op/ed on Monday's immigration rallies in today's LATimes that includes this:

The millions of workers in the nation's underground economy who pick our crops, cut our lawns, pluck our chickens and slaughter our hogs have gotten a bum deal. We make them run a perilous gantlet at a rough-and-tumble Mexican border.

I'll skip the cheap shot, because his point isn't that we push them into this, it's that we don't give them an easy way to do it legally. And if it's not easy to do it legally, we shouldn't expect them to be legal.

That's always been the liberal rub, eh? Quick, painless and easy could be the three platforms of the Democratic Party. Anything, like the war in Iraq, that's hard and drawn out is not a Dem platform-maker. "Raise a tax, create an entitlement, run and hide. Just don't make me work at it."

Cooper does a couple good things, though. He points out that International ANSWER is working hard to radicalize the march. People need to know that the Socialist- Communist- Anarchist faction is all in a tizzy about this little effort.

And he doesn't think people should walk off their jobs -- a late afternoon demonstration would be better. As if illegals get afternoons off. As if public transportation would deliver them in time. Cooper's a bit of an elitist here.

He's not anti-walkout because jobs are sacred or anything, but because he feels Big Mo is in the illegals direction now, with Congress working on an approach to reform he blesses as good, i.e., easy. A big to-do and Congress might just consider illegals to be illegal.

So, which are we pulling for on Monday, a calm, respectful march, or a huge walkout that gets out of hand?

Tags: Illegal immigration, Illegals, May 1, Demonstation, International ANSWER

Another One Bites The Dust

More good news from Iraq:

U.S. forces, acting on Iraqi intelligence, raided a house where Hamid al-Takhi, the local al-Qaida in Iraq leader, and the two other insurgents were hiding just outside Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Al-Takhi, known as the "emir" of Samarra, was gunned down while fleeing the house, and the other two militants were killed while trying to defend it with grenades, the U.S. military said. After they were killed, the U.S. troops found a car parked nearby containing a grenade launcher, rockets, AK-47s, grenades and a shotgun, the U.S. military said.

Iraqi police said al-Takhi had been responsible for many insurgent attacks against coalition forces and civilians in the area.

I particularly like the part about Iraqi intelligence ferreting out Al-Takhi's location, and the part about him being "gunned down while fleeing the house." I hope he felt each bullet, that he felt overpowered, small, vulnerable, frightened and alone as each of them ripped into his despicable body.

I wish he could have told his followers that he found flame, not virgins, waiting for him on the other side.

Tags: Iraq, Insurgent, Insurgency, Al-Takhi

Whoa! That Class Of '68!

I was fortunate to go to the American School in Japan (you can take a tour here), which was a pretty elite place -- there were 104 in my graduating class; 103 went to college. We were the children of ambassadors, diplomats, business leaders, missionaries ... and then there was me, scrawny 17 year-old me.

I just caught up with some of my classmates via the quarterly school magazine, Ambassador. Wow.

Annie Sung Bernstein lives in Honolulu, HI, where she teches tai chi and qi gong and keeps the creative juices flowing through the practice of Chinese calligraphy.

Kathy Chih has finished her tour of duty in Kuwait and has returned to San Diego. She can't believe that she survived the 140 degree heat and sand in Kuwait, but is proud to say she served. [Thank you for your service!]

Steve MacDonald remains in northern Spain, enjoying the great food, wine and European trips. He and his wife recently signed off on final drawings for their main retirement home in the Philippines.

Sherrie Shibata Russell Miline recently won the US Fish and Wildlife Service federal duck stamp contest [shades of Fargo!] with her painting of a Ross' goose. Her work, on the right, was chosen from among 232 entries.

Wise Young and his work as stem cell researcher and medical activist were featured in the December 2005 issue of Esquire.

And my best friend, Peter Tsukahira, continues to lead Kehilat HaCarmel (Carmel Assembly), an evangelical, charismatic church near the peak of Mt. Carmel in Israel. That's him, with his wife Rita. He prayed for 20 years for my salvation, and broke down in tears in a post office in Haifa when my letter telling him I had accepted Christ arrived.

I would, quite literally, be lost without him.

As time goes by, a school and schoolmates that I took for granted despite my parents' signficant financial sacrifice to pay my tuition become more cherished and more important to me.

The Overwhelming Desire To Rear-End

Hat-tip to the Hedgehog for this beaut.

"Animals are little people in fur coats" summarizes everything wrong with the environmental movement: The refusal to accept that Man is on top of the global pecking order for a reason.

"Draft SUV drivers first" would be OK if there were a draft. But I prefer "Draft self-righteous Lefties in polluting old Accords first."

"End US Imperialism" makes no sense since it ended in the 1800s after not much of a run at all.

"Imagine no handguns" when Kevin Cooper or Gary Ridgway or Willie Horton come a-knockin'.

"Give peace a chance" is a fine idea, but it ought to be in Arabic.

What, no "Kerry/Edwards?" Embarrassed?

Why I Sometimes Hate California

It's a great state, don't get me wrong. Just too many stupid, wayward, backward, ward- of- the- state oughttabe Democrats. Get this!

The state Senate on Thursday spoke out in favor of a boycott of schools and jobs planned by immigration activists for Monday.

Senators approved a resolution officially recognizing the nationwide protest, which will include rallies in cities throughout California and the United States.

The resolution was submitted by Gloria Romero, who represents a number of heavily Hispanic areas of LA. You can email her at gloria.romero@ sen.ca.gov. She said the resolution doesn't ask students and workers to stay home ... how nice ... but says the boycott:

"is to educate people in California and across the United States about the tremendous contribution immigrants make on a daily basis to our society and economy."

The vote, of course, was on party lines.

Can we just boycott the California legislature for a day? You know, not really endorse leaving school or skipping work, but just "educate people in California and across the United States about the tremendous frustration we have with electeds who refuse to listen to electors because they see immigrants as the constituency of last resort to save their pathetic party."

Tags: Illegals, Illegal immigrants, May 1, Boycott, California legislature, Gloria Romero

A Bull**** Article About Bull****

The story is, quite literally, about what comes out the back end of bulls. And it's full of the same.

Reporting in the San Jose MercNews, journo-greenie Paul Rodgers hyperventilates:

Bay Area hikers heading to the Sierra Nevada this summer should be extra careful about where they find their drinking water, particularly if cows are nearby.

That's the upshot of a new study that found cattle-grazing in national forests between Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney is the leading source of E. coli contamination in Sierra streams and lakes.

In fact, nearly every stream and lake frequented by cattle or pack animals contained unsafe levels of E. coli -- a bacterium found in livestock waste that can produce severe stomach illness and even kidney failure in humans.

The study reportedly found no such incidence of E. coli when cattle weren't around. I don't believe it, and I don't believe that Rogers didn't bother to ask ... or bother to report the answer to, in any case ... the obvious question: Does a bear poop in the woods?

I saw a study of E. coli in ocean water in which DNA analysis was used to determine the source of the E. coli. While enviros would like us to think it all came from urban runoff (i.e., human, dogs, etc.), in fact it came primarily from sea mammals, followed by sea birds.

So I'd like to ask this study's author, Robert Derlet of UC Davis, why just cattle? Why not E. coli from squirrels, elk, bears, deer, rabbits, coyotes, pumas, skunks, birds, snakes and all the other wild critters for whom we are protecting these wilderness areas? Are they carefully burying their waste? Using outhouses? Just holding it in?

The enviro agenda calls for moving cattle out of national forests because it's supposedly so destructive of Earth Goddesses. (Greenies also call land that's been grazed for decades "pristine wilderness" if it's slated for development -- go figger.)

Derlet's study, published in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, for cryin' out loud, seems to be agenda-fodder, not real science.

Tags: Greenies, E. coli, Sierras

Felonious Friends Of Bill

How many convictions grew out of the formal investigations (Starr, Smaltz, campaign finance) of the Clinton administration?

Drug trafficking (3); racketeering, extortion, bribery(4); tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2); fraud (12); conspiracy (5); fraudulent loans, illegal gifts(1); illegal campaign contributions(5); money laundering (6)

What was the average number of "I can't recall" type of memory failures by the Clinton circus in their various under-oath appearances?

237

And how many under-oath memory lapses did Bill have during the Paula Jones testimony alone?

271

Hm. So Clinton really was above average ...

There's much more fun stuff at the Official Clinton Stat Board.

Tags: Clinton, Whitewaer, Scandal, Paula Jones

Crude Whining

Lord, I'm tiring of this Big Oil price fixing/gouging stuff, and I fear it's just getting started.

I recently heard "they" were doing "this" so we'd buy more Prius-type cars.

Really? The oil companies are raising prices so we'll buy cars that allow us to buy less gas? Interesting theory. I guess it makes sence once you find out the truth, that Toyota is really an oil company; it's just posing as a car company.

Thomas Sowell's got a great (of course) wrap-up on the ridiculousness of the issue at Real Clear Politics. It's like striking a vein of gems in your backyard mine. Here's just one passage:

Prices are a symptom of an underlying reality. Politicians can seize on the symptom and even pass laws dealing with it, without changing the underlying reality.

Prices are like a thermometer reading. When someone has a fever, it is not going to do any good to put the thermometer in ice water to bring down the reading. If you think the fever is gone, it may not be long before the patient is gone, if you don't do something about what is causing the fever.

Laura Ingraham was playing some idiot congressman this morning who faulted the President for not getting us all to walk and ride bikes to work after 9/11. Instead of whining, why isn't he trying to get his constituents to do it, and see how successful he is.

Besides, that would be 17 miles for me, each way. Our nation's neighborhoods have been planned in a free market, where responding to consumer demand is key. Consumers, most of them, don't want to live smashed into urban environments, so most of us live in suburbs. It's a phenomenon that started in the 1880s with the introduction of the streetcar, and it continues.

So we're not walking to work. We're not reducing our use of oil much at all, but we whine when prices go up. Of course they're up. Material costs are higher, demand is static and high, ergo prices go up.

Buy a hybrid, an E85 or a diesel, move next to your job, take the bus, or just grin and bear it, remembering that in Japan and Europe the price is $6 or $7 a gallon. Just don't whine.

Drill offshore, drill in ANWAR, exploit shale, build refineries. Just don't whine.

The important thing is to cut off the Middle East's terror-funding petrodollars. Not whining about ExxonMobil.

Tags: Oil, Gas prices, Price controls, ExxonMobil, Hybrid, E85, Diesel

Let's NOT Impeach The President

Sure, I used to crank up Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl really loud. Who didn't?

But times change, creativity fades, and you won't catch me twisting the dial up for these Neil Young lyrics from his new non-hit, Let's Impeach the President [with inserts from me]:

Let’s impeach the president for lying

And leading our country [that would be OUR country, you Canadian!] into war [based on intelligence even Kerry believed]

Abusing all the power that we gave him

And shipping all our money out the door [That explains the super-strong economy!]

He’s the man who hired all the criminals

The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors [Neil, it was Clinton that had the most cabinet members in history convicted!]

And bend the facts to fit with their new stories

Of why we have to send our men to war [Volunteers! And don't forget the women, you sexist.]

Let’s impeach the president for spying

On citizens inside their own homes [who talk to al Qaeda]

Breaking every law in the country [wow, even jaywalking laws?]

By tapping our computers and telephones [Yeah, sure, Neil -- when they're talking to al Qaeda]

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees [huh?]

Would New Orleans have been safer that way [huh?]

Sheltered by our government’s protection [Huh?]

Or was someone just not home that day? [HUH?]

Let’s impeach the president

For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected [I don't think Bush and Young share a religion, so what's with the "our?"]

Dividing our country into colors [Like, say, Al Sharpton?]

And still leaving black people neglected [Like Cynthia McKinney?]

Thank god he’s racking down on steroids [Well, that's new!]

Since he sold his old baseball team

There’s lot of people looking at big trouble [Like Rove?]

But of course the president is clean

Thank God

If you remember, Young's popular album featuring Cinnamon Girl was called "Everyone Knows This is Nowhere." A fitting title for a new album with this song, eh?

In contrast, yesterday I listened to Blowing in the Wind, sung in intense, nasal sincerity by Bob Dylan in the original 1963 recording. Think what you will of the song, but there's not a dishonest word in it:

How many roads must a man walk down
Before they call him a man
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand
How many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they are forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky
How many years must one man have
Before he can hear people cry
How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

What a sorry, small shadow of former greatness have the balladeers of today become.

Tags: Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Let's Impeach the President

500 km Closer

Missiles developed by Russia to fire from subs towards western targets have made their way to North Korea, where the NoKo's, who aren't interested in making Hyundais and feeding their people, improved their performance and sold them to Iran, which now can lock on western targets.

Funny how the Axis of Evil works.

The missiles are the BM-25, with a 2,500 km (1,500 mile) range, 500 km more than the Iranian's new Shihab 4, and 1,200 km more than their more ubiquitous Shihab 3.

That means Iran could take out the Jews and a whole bunch of Catholics all at once -- if fired from Western Iran, a BM-25 could hit Rome.

The info comes from Israeli intelligence, which also has one of the shorter projections of when the Iranians will actually be able to pull this off.

What's that I hear? Nero fiddling?

Tags: Iran, North Korea, Missiles, Jews, Catholics, BM-25, Axis of Evil

Union-Sponsored Plans Burn Teachers

The usually union-sympathetic LATimes probably lost a few union boss buddies today with this story:

Some of the nation's largest teachers unions have joined forces with investment companies to steer their members into retirement plans with high expenses that eat away at returns.

In what might seem an unlikely partnership, the unions endorse investment providers, even specific products, and the companies reciprocate with financial support. They sponsor union conferences, advertise in union publications or make direct payments to union treasuries.

The investment firms more than recoup their money through sales of annuities and other high-fee products to teachers for their 403(b) plans — personal retirement accounts similar to 401(k)s.

New York State United Teachers, for instance, receives $3 million a year from ING Group for encouraging its 525,000 members to invest in an annuity sold by the Dutch insurance giant.

The National Education Assn., the largest teachers union in the country with 2.7 million members, collected nearly $50 million in royalties in 2004 on the sale of annuities, life insurance and other financial products it endorses.

Teachers unions across the country — including those in Las Vegas and San Diego and statewide teacher associations in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Oregon — have struck their own endorsement deals.

Unions in Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle and Atlanta, among others, refer members to products approved by the NEA and typically receive a share of endorsement revenue in return.

The NEA, instead of representing reachers, is messing with their money:

Buyers of an NEA-endorsed annuity sold by Security Benefit Life Insurance Co. pay annual fees totaling at least 1.73% of their savings. That is about 10 times as much as they would pay in 403(b) plans available from Vanguard Group, T. Rowe Price and other low-cost mutual fund providers.

The costliest option in the NEA-endorsed plan charges 4.85% a year. That means an investor would have to earn a return of nearly 5% just to break even.

The story tells of teachers earning 3% on retirement plans -- in other words, losing money after fees -- while regular folkes not "represented" by a union are earning 15%.

How could this happen? Well, because unions are good and corporations are bad, of course!

Regulations require that those bad corporations screen investments in order to protect employees. Good unions have no such regulatory requirements -- because of their lobbying clout, natch -- so unscrupulous and underperforming investment companies rush to the unions full of union-trusting rubes who are easy marks.

So the question is: Are the teachers we trust the education of our children to getting smart enough to tell their unions to stop focusing on liberal politics and start focusing on them?

Tags: Union, Teachers union, LA Times, Teachers

Quote Of The Day

"We're the most investigated army in history and we are investigating ourselves and we take allegations of detainee abuse seriously. The Army does not tolerate detainee abuse. Army policy requires that all detainees are treated humanely."

-- Army spokesman Maj. Wayne Marotto

Marotto was commenting to the WashTimes at the near-conclusion of the Pentagon's investigation of charges of mistreatment ("torture" to the ACLU crowd) of detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and Quantanamo.

The Army has processed more than 56,000 prisoners during the GWOT, and is holding 15,000. More than 600 criminal investigations have been held resulting in charges against 251 soldiers. Three cases remain. They are not "torture" cases; they simply involve determinations as to whether the military code was violated.

Marotto wouldn't say how many, if any, of the investigations found that torture had occurred. Several cases -- like an ACLU allegation of pulled-out toenails, electric shocks and beatings -- have been proven untrue.

Another detainee charged that U.S. soldiers attacked him with lions. The Army dutifully investigated the charge and determined the detainee, Mohammed (there's that Prophet of Peace name again!) Sabbar was lyin' about lions.

Now really, could you imaging a single Muslim Islamocracy bothering to investigate such charges ... other than to determine if the fangs and claws were sharp enough to inflict great pain?

p.s.: That photo's a set-up, so don't get all upset. The lion had been shot on a safari and the merry hunters set up this oh-so-cute photo, asking one of the crew to lie down and make it look like the lion had him. It's about as truthful as most ACLU/human rights charges drawn from detainee accounts!

Tags: Prisoners, Human rights, Torture, Army, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, ACLU

An Agenda Objectivity Swarm

One guy -- Greg Holland, head of the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research -- tells a scientific conference that 2005's hurricanes are the result of greenhouse gas and global warming.

Another guy -- William Gray, head of the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State, who's got more than 40 years experience in the field -- tells the same conference that's a bunch of hooey, and it's just salinity build-up due to natural ocean temperature heating and cooling cycles.

Enter CNN. Here's what you get:

Experts: Global warming behind 2005 hurricanes

MONTEREY, California (Reuters) -- The record Atlantic hurricane season last year can be attributed to global warming, several top experts, including a leading U.S. government storm researcher, said on Monday.

"The hurricanes we are seeing are indeed a direct result of climate change and it's no longer something we'll see in the future, it's happening now," said Greg Holland, a division director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Holland told a packed hall at the American Meteorological Society's 27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology that the wind and warmer water conditions that fuel storms that form in the Caribbean are "increasingly due to greenhouse gases. There seems to be no other conclusion you can logically draw."

Meanwhile, Dr. Gray's down there in paragraph seven, not reflected in either the headline or the lead.

Which confirms once again that the most dangerous source of global warming is hot air from the media.

CNN's little on-line poll shows it's effective -- 66% feel global warming caused the severe hurricanes.

Meanwhile, here's Gray's evaluation of his 1995 hurricane season prediction:

By the start of the hurricane season (June 1), we were predicting a very active season. However, we did not anticipate that this season would break many Atlantic basin records.

Our monthly forecasts for August-only and September-only activity were quite successful, especially when evaluated against the Net Tropical Cyclone (NTC) activity metric. The October-only forecast also successfully called for a very active month; however, we did not anticipate that this would be one of the most active Octobers on record. Overall, we consider our seasonal and monthly forecasts for the 2005 hurricane season to be one of the most skillful that we have issued.

Seems like a pretty credible guy, huh? But don't let that get in the way of CNN's agenda objectivity.

Tags: Global warming, Hurricane, Hurricanes, NCAR, CNN, Media bias

Being A Decider

I don't recall having attended an Upper East Side dinner party in the last week; I'm awfully busy, you know, but I just don't think so. So I missed the latest round of dinner chatter until today's NYT:

When President George W. Bush referred to himself as "the decider" last week, there was the ensuing list of dinner party queries: Is "decider" an actual word? (It is.) Is it applicable in the world of presidential politics? (Sure, whatever.) Doesn't everyone, politics aside, secretly believe that in interpersonal dealings, he or she wears the "decider" badge?

The article natters on about which member of a couple does the deciding, as if reporter Jennifer Steinhauer were actually plowing new ground. A guy decides it's time to leave one of those dinner parties. The gal's not sure. He declares himself the decider. A woman says she picked the Audi but her husband cut the deal. Fascinating.

Disclaimer: I'm a decider, but 'm rarely comfortable in the role, so I like to share the responsibility with my wife. She is to her bones a traditionalist -- not the Laura Ashley print kind of traditionalist, but the kind who, when asked in first grade what she wanted to be when she grew up, said, "A mommy!" Blessed with intuition, common sense and smarts, she's a great decider, but she naturally deferrs to me. I have to convince her to be the decider, then convince her again that she was, actually the decider.

Now, to a point and a story:

The president of the U.S. has astonishing powers. One word in an entirely different context -- he was talking about who decides whether Rumsfeld stays -- and he's triggered a national discussion. (Well, national, but not inclusive. Steinhauer didn't include a gay couple!) If Bush can decide the national topic du jour without even trying, I'd say he is more than a mere decider; he is Decider in Chief.

Now, the story.

A good friend of mine from church was recently at his grandparent's 60th anniversary. The guy's marriage was going through a rough patch, so he thought to seek the counsel of someone older and wiser, and asked his granddad the secret of their successful marriage.

"I let her make the little decisions, but I make all the big ones," gramps replied.

That seemed like a good idea, so he thanked his granddad, congratulated him again, and went back to the party, musing over the answer. After a bit, it hit him that he didn't understand the anwer at all, so he sought out his granddad.

"Granddad, how did you decide when it was a big matter that you had to be responsible for?" he asked.

"It hasn't happened yet, but I'll let you know just as soon as one comes along," the grandfather replied with a wink.

So, would I make it on the NY dinner scene with that? Maybe. But I'd flop when I said what I really believe: God puts couples together to complement each other and be partners, and important decisions require talk and prayer.

hat-tip: memeorandum
Tags: Decider, Bush, Couples, New York Times, Steinhauer

Lodi Loser Guilty!

Hamid Hayat, the produce-picker and jihadist wannabe from Lodi, was convicted today in what may be the most important post-9/11 terror case.

Really? Some punk goes to Pakistan, comes back, doesn't do anything, and goes to jail?

Yes, precisely because Hayat didn't do anything with his terrorist training. It's pre-emptive prosecution, and it's as important to fighting terror as global pre-emptive military strikes. We need new law like this for the new post-9/11 era, and we've got it.

Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi (note to Hayat: Maybe next time hire a nice, white kid, not a firey Arab) said mysteriously after the trial, "There were outside influences that affected their decision (but) I am not prepared to elaborate at this time." Halliburton? Scooter Libby? People pissed off about 9/11 and our troops dying in Iraq? Hard to say.

But Mojaddidi (rhymes with rabid kitty) did say she will appeal.

And it's a federal case.

And it's in the Ninth Circuit.

So the fat lady (that would be Reinhardt) hasn't sung quite yet.

Tags: Hamid Hayat, Lodi, Terrorism, Al Qaeda, Mojaddidi

Zarqawi Pulling Rank?

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has had his share of troubles lately. Criticism that he ought to stop blowing up Muslims, for example. Periodic open warfare between al Qaeda in Iraq and Baathist insurgents. You know, the usual war lord stuff.

So today, he released a new video. In an insightful analysis by Walid Phares on Counterterrorism Blog, seven points are made, two of which particularly caught my eye:

The first assertion by Zarqawi in this message is his "wala'" (faithful affiliation) to Usama Bin Laden, the "supreme Emir" of al Qaida: This is a dual message: Bin Laden will decide what Jihad to conduct in Iraq because he is the supreme leader. And his representative, hence Zarqawi. will execute. This is a message to all other Jihadists and Salafi activists in Iraq: There is a chain of command out there.

Second assertion in the message is about "humility." Zarqawi confirmed that he indeed is the "emir" of al Qaida's organization in Iraq, but at the same time, he is honored to be accepted as a member of the Shura Council in Iraq, the supreme Jihadi instance. This may sound complicated to lay people in the West, but in al Qaida's language, this means that al Qaida is an executive branch of a movement which the "Council" is the supreme and legislative body of. In other words, Zarqawi is asserting that he is not alone, and that there are plenty of clerics and ulemas around him, helping out in shaping the policy.

I've produced a corporate video or two in my time, and believe me, you don't spend two-sevenths of your time on organization charts. So what's up with Zarq?

Two things, in my view. One, a bit of kowtowing to Big Bin. More than just calling attention to the chain of command, he's personally acknowledging that there's a chain of command -- either because he stepped out of it ... or he didn't.

If he was out of line, attacks against civilians may decrease. If he made the statement as a confirmation that he's always followed Bin-biddings, expect more of the same.

Second, he's pulling rank. As a Navy brat, I remember rank-pulling with particular disdain; it's the characteristic of officers who aren't leading but are commanding others to respect their leadership. Pissants.

So the video may well be evidence of a man who's leadership is being effectively challenged, someone who's running a bit scared, so he's making sure everyone knows that he's the bully who's got the big bully behind him.

Finally, Athena at Terrorism Unveiled points out that Zarq is wearing a suicide vest on the video, as he always does, so he can "martyr" himself when we get close to capturing him.

Martyr schmartyr. Let's make him Hell's hamburger tomorrow.

Tags: Zarqawi, Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Iraq, Martyr

Wrong Hoover

Clint Taylor, who's been all over the Yale-iban story at both Nail Yale and Town Hall, was kind enough to drop a comment pointing out that I had the wrong professional bio of Mike Hoover linked on an earlier CS-M post. There are six Mike Hoovers on IMDb; I thought I had the right one.

Here's the correct link.

The rest of the story -- the fabricated CBS footage, the efforts to bring Rahmatullah Hashemi to Yale, the kumbaya-kraziness -- is correct.

Apologies ...

Tags: Hoover, Hashemi, Yale, Taliban, CBS

Forever A Dem, But Objective?

After Joe Klein was on Hugh's show schlepping his new book Politics Lost, How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who think You're Stupid, Hugh and I chatted on-air about the legitimacy of Klein

I thought he was posing as a free-thinker in order to sell books. I'm suspicious whenever an MSM journalist appears to be open-minded and critical of Liberal icons.

Hugh confirmed it: "Look, he's never voted for a Republican."

Let's put this insight into perspective. Here's what Klein says about Dukakis:

All of [Lee Atwater's work repositioning Bush the Elder as a populist candidate] might have provien disastrously risible if Bush hadn't lucked into an opponent (Michael Dukakis) who seemed even more effete than he did, a man who embodied all the wrong turns the Democratic Party had taken since the 1960s.

Granted, Bush doesn't come off much better in Klein's book -- "He seemed likable and energetic, but terminally preppy in a way that came off as puerile and condescending on the stump." Still, he "was solid and intelligent in private, a war hero .... He was the sort of man who might have reached the presidency through a backroom deal in the old days, but was fundamentally unsuited to campaign in the age of television."

Given the choice between everything wrong with the Democratic Party and solid, intelligent, but terminally preppy, Klein voted to go with everything wrong.

And he's one of the most presentable liberal journalists there is. But let's never, ever challenge MSM objectivity.

That said, the book is a great read, full of not just inside baseball, but he chin music of inside baseball, high and inside.

Tags: Joe Klein, Politics Lost, Hugh Hewitt

Nuke Dafur

Just one more reason to be concerned about Iran's nuclear program:

Iran's top leader said Tuesday that Tehran is ready to transfer its nuclear technology to other countries. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comments in a meeting with visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who said last month that his impoverished, wartorn country was considering trying to create a nuclear program to generate electrical power.

Given the Iranian regime's unequivocal support of Islamic terrorism and near-absent support of humanitarian or economic aid, I see this as a nuclear weapons proliferation threat.

But Juan Cole probably doesn't.

Tags: Iran, Nuke, Nuclear, Sudan, Dafur, Juan Cole

Hoover, CBS And Fake Footage

Some of you may have been following the Mike Hoover story for some time, but for those of you who, like me, are just getting into the man behind the Yale-iban, here's another update.

It turns out that when I wrote this morning that Hoover wasn't with CBS news, I was a bit off. Here's a juicy tidbit from FAIR dating back to 1989:

Dan Rather and CBS News ... adopted a cause throughout the 1980's--that of the Afghan mujahedeen. Sloppiness in the advocacy of that cause created a recent scandal for the network.

Beginning September 27th, a series of articles by Janet Wilson in the New York Post charged that Dan Rather's CBS newscasts had repeatedly "aired fake battle footage and false news accounts" of the Afghan War. Among the charges:

Fakery: CBS presented staged "action-packed commando" footage in which Afghan mujahedeen performed as actors in sequences purporting to show rebel advances, such as blowing up electric lines leading to Kabul. Scenes of mujahedeen stalking enemy positions and blowing up a mine were acted out and filmed in the safety of a Pakistani training camp. A Pakistani Air Force jet on a training mission was presented as "a Soviet jet bombing Afghan villages."

Invention: CBS News aired a segment in 1987 showing a bomb made to look like a toy allegedly planted by Soviet soldiers to injure Afghan children. The Post cited an unnamed BBC producer claiming the bomb-toy had been created for the CBS cameraman.

Distortion: On August 11, 1987, Dan Rather presented combat footage purporting to show what he described as "the biggest one-day defeat for Soviet forces since World War II," killing 800 Soviet troops. In reality, the battle was small and didn't involve Soviet forces.

The Post articles centered around Mike Hoover, a freelance cameraman responsible for much of CBS's suspect footage. Hoover, a self-proclaimed mujahedeen partisan, saw himself more as a filmmaker than a neutral newsman (L.A. Times, 7/29/87). According to the Post, Hoover orchestrated war scenes and encouraged mujahedeen to exaggerate their victories.

Since being outted for faking war footage and manipulating the MSM and -- worse -- the American people, has Hoover's career been in the trashbin where it belongs? Not hardly.

Fake footage or not, Hollywood's been very, very good to Mike Hoover.

Tags: Mike Hoover, IEF, International Education Foundation, Yale, Taliban, Mujahedeen, CBS, Rather

Democracy In Nepal

Nepal wasn't a target of Bush's democratization strategy, but the quick fall of tyrant wannabe King Gyanendra feels great nonetheless:

Jubilant Nepalis have taken to the streets in celebration after embattled King Gyanendra agreed to their demands to reinstate parliament. "

This is the people's victory! Long live democracy!" hundreds chanted in parts of the capital Kathmandu.

Opposition leaders say a huge anti-monarchy protest planned for Tuesday will now be a victory rally.

Next up: Will the Maoist insurgency that has killed 13,000 Nepalese in recent years continue? Or will the newly reinstated Democracy be able to fight it? Given the unstability that's wracked Nepal since the early 1990's, look for the Maoists to be back in action.

They're a brutal, evil bunch...

The insurrection has been waged through torture, killings, bombings, extortion, and intimidation against civilians and public officials. Police, armed personnel, insurgents and non-combatants continue to be killed in the increasingly violent "People's War." Rebel tactics include attacks on Nepalese Government facilities and commercial transport vehicles, indiscriminate bombings using improvised explosive devices, assassination attempts against Nepalese officials, and calls for localized or nationwide strikes). (source)

... so let's hope I'm wrong.

Tags: Nepal, Gyanendra, Maoist

CBS Producer And The Taliban

It looks like the jig is up for Rahmatullah Hashemi, the Yale Talibani. That's fine, but don't be confused. Yale (and academia in general) have learned nothing from the affair.

Witness Yale's announcement that it is thinking about bringing U of Mich. prof Juan Cole on board, to be a professor of contemporary Middle East studies. CS-M readers may remember Cole, who I recently headlined under "Wishful (Stupid) Liberal Thinking," for writing things like this:

Iran is a good ten years away from having a bomb, and since its leaders, including Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei, say they do not want an atomic bomb because it is Islamically immoral, you have to wonder if they will ever have a bomb.

What a fool! Is he too busy hating Israel and apologizing for terrorists to even bother to read what the leaders of Iran are saying about their desire to have a bomb?

But I digress. What I really want to write about is Mike Hoover and the International Education Foundation -- the bunch that brought Hashemi to Yale in the first place.

IEF is the ultimate kumbayah. If we only knew each other better, we would love each other. If America understood the terrorist bloodsuckers, we would love them; and they us. No, really:

Borders are effectively gone. (I heard an illegal immigrant apologist say that the other day -- see how united the Left is?) The computer and its world-wide-web have replaced the nation-state with the ‘market-state’.

The world has become one neighborhood because:
- economic growth and capital investment ignore borders.
- disease-famine-environmental-population problems ignore borders.
- human rights is now a world-norm that crosses all borders.
- mass-destruction weapons make the protection of borders ineffectual.
- global communications and mass marketing penetrate borders and threaten national languages, customs and cultures – like it or not….

This is an enormous structural change. The market-state has arrived and America is the prophetic nation. And, because America is the leader and the inventor of this new state – we are going to be blamed for this rough and dangerous radical change. America is the world’s image of this www-WTO-monoculture future. We are the epicenter of change – like it or not.

America has created a world where markets both build and destroy lives, and deliver freedom and exploitation together. Traditions evaporate and become volatile convictions with us as the target of any reaction. But now, without any effective borderbarriers, we are too slowly beginning to appreciate the need for a shift in security analyses. Borders as barriers are worthless and a failed trillion-dollar defense system is proof that our “security” methods need to be re-thought. Our front door is unlocked and we don’t have a secure relationship with the world community.

In fact, much of the world both admires us – and – hates us.

So since it's a given that dollars spent on defense are wasted and our borders are just, well, evaporated, they have a plan. Here it is:

OUR PLAN
...is to create a learning bridge between the people who “blame us” and the people “we blame”. Learning about them as they learn about us – international education. The first phase is modest: to take one former Taliban government official from Afghanistan and get him into a top university in the United States and support his education – and understanding.

And, while at that university, this Afghan will teach about the perspective and logic that led up to the Taliban playing a part in the action against us. Behind every action is a unique perspective and rationale. When this person returns to the political world in Afghanistan – he will be changed – those who met and listened to him – they will be changed.

Break out the guitars and the s'mores! This is great!

Update: There are errors in the next two paragraphs. See correction here.

What's unbelievable is that they accomplished their goal. Who exactly accomplished the goal? IEF director Mike Hoover led the charge, and he is ... get this ... a producer for CBS who works in a little LA development called ... I can't stand it ... The Garden of Allah.

No, he's not a news producer, but rather has been involved in production of everything from "Category 6: Day of Destruction," "Shark Attack" and "Vampire Journals" to "Spiderman 2," working primarily in computer graphic effects.

So this guy, who's apparently made millions by scaring the bejezus out of us, thinks the truly scary reality of our world is just misunderstanding, and is forcing Taliban officials on us because, while they subjugated women, destroyed the religious icons of others, murdered to stay in power, gave haven to al Qaeda and killed our troops ... it's just because we have a mutual misunderstanding.

More later ... have to run catch a plane.

Tags: Taliban, Yale, Hashemi, Mike Hoover, International education foundation

A Green Rag's Comeuppance

The Independent is one of England's premier green apologist rags, a major global warming fear-monger of a paper. One scientist, Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, had had enough and wrote them the riot act.

The Indpendent only excerpted the letter; Greenie Watch got the whole thing, which I'm copying below. It's long, but an important summary of the overblown hype that is global warming:

"Over the last few years your columns, and those of other leading British newspapers, have carried a steady stream of alarmist letters and articles on hypothetical, human-caused climate change. Similar articles in international magazines, such as the current issue of Time, have acted to exacerbate the propaganda barrage which faces the public. Each such alarmist article is liberally larded with words such as if, may, might, could, probably, perhaps, likely, expected, projected or modelled - and many involve such deep dreaming, or ignorance of scientific facts and principles, that they are akin to scientific nonsense.

The numerous letters that you have published so far in "Have your say on climate" exemplify the problem created by this alarmism, and by inadequate education systems, and it is not the problem of climate change. Almost without exception, your letter writers implicitly accept - as if they were articles of religious faith - that emissions of carbon dioxide are environmentally harmful, and that dangerous human-caused climate change is occurring.

The facts speak differently.

Carbon dioxide is a natural trace component of the atmosphere the presence of which carries many benefits. The two most important being that carbon dioxide encourages prolific plant growth, and probably also causes mild warming. ("Probably" because although the molecular properties of carbon dioxide make it one of a number of greenhouse gases, increasing its abundance causes both temperature positive and negative feedback loops, the balance of which remains unknown.) The latter fact notwithstanding, and despite a strong public impression otherwise, no simple or significant relationship has been established between the post-industrial increase in human emissions of carbon dioxide and increasing temperature.

Measurements from ground-based thermometers and independently from satellite and weather balloon sensors all agree (i) that a minor warming trend of a few tenths of a degree occurred during the last two decades of the 20th century, and (ii) that that trend has now flattened out. The warming occurred at a rate which is not known accurately but lies between 1 and 2 degrees C /century. Such rates fall comfortably within the multi-decadal warming and cooling rates of up to 3 degrees/century that occur commonly in the recent geological past. Ice core data from Greenland, and other geological data, show also that the magnitude of the late 20th century warming peak has been nearly matched or exceeded many times during climatic cycling in both the recent and deep geological past. Thus neither the rate nor the magnitude of late 20th century warming can yet be shown to be in any way unusual.

You are correct in identifying a huge problem with "climate change", but the problem is political, not environmental or scientific. The ineffectuality of the Kyoto Protocol now being apparent to all, climate policies in countries such as New Zealand (a Kyoto co-signatory with Britain) have descended to farce. One day a carbon tax is on, the next off. Politicians of all stripes reveal abysmal ignorance of the science of climate change on a daily basis. And that measures such as taxing farmers for farting cattle have been seriously entertained as public policy says it all.

A good place to start sorting out the mess would be to read again last year's House of Lords report on climate change, which contains much wise analysis, and at the same time to replace the government's evangelistic advisors on the matter with better versed persons."

Tags: Global Warming, Kyoto, Kyoto accords

Well Done, Marcus Glimpse

They held a funeral for Marc Glimpse yesterday. I didn't know him -- OC is far too large for many of us to actually know him -- but I wish I had known this young marine who died a week ago in Iraq, because he was this sort of guy:

... the service moved outside the sanctuary of the Newport Mesa Christian Center.

There, as a Marine rifle detail provided the traditional 21-gun salute and taps was played, a Marine funeral detail folded the American flag from Glimpse's casket and presented it along with a Purple Heart to his family, most of whom sobbed as the finality of the moment sunk in.

It was the most formal part of the service, and something his little sister suggested Marc Glimpse would probably have been too modest to enjoy.

"I know he's looking down on us right now, saying, 'Why are you doing all this, because I don't deserve it,'" [his 15-year-old sister] Mandy Glimpse said earlier during the service.

"But he did."

Read the entire tribute at the OCRegister. He deserves a moment of your time.

La Figaro: France's System Sucks

I put the picture of the French students on the left because really, where else would you put it?

They are the inevitable personification of what the American Left would like to do to America: Entitlement all the way, cradle to grave government comforting.

It sounds so nice until you apply it to the spoiled brats of France -- be they the Muslim crybabies of a few months back, or the Franco-sissies of this spring's pity parties.

All Lefties (and you, too, if you want some fun) should read La Figaro's little sociology lesson entitled Why Young Americans Go to Work, and Young French Go on Strike. The link is to a translated version on Watching America which presents a if- I- read- thes- slowly- enough- maybe- you'll- get- it tone that I hope is present in the original French.

It is a wonder to see the French look in awe and envy at our systems, to see simply and clearly the error of their ways and the rightness of ours:

If American students aren't afraid of unemployment, it is also because American employers aren't afraid of hiring. In America, the notion of a "work contract" only applies to a declining minority of union workers, sports personalities or entertainment stars. The norm is to be hired without a contract. Hiring is therefore fast and remarkably informal.

Here's the wrap-up, capturing the feeling American college grads experience when they're ready to walk into a big, wonderful, uncoddled life:

The "commencement ceremony" is also an important celebration. The expression "commencement ceremony" is emblematic. Far from mourning the end of a sheltered life punctuated by long vacations, the American diploma is when life "commences" (starts) for good. It is not at all tainted with fear of lack of job security. On the contrary, it is filled with optimism and motivation, like American culture itself, which is turned toward the future rather than preserving the past. The judgment of 90% of American companies naturally confirms this state of mind: the labor market is "good, very good or excellent."

"Turned toward the future rather than preserving the past" ... aren't you glad we're on this side of the pond?

hat-tip: Watching America
Tags: French student riots, France, Job guarantees, Unions, America, Socialism, La Figaro

Osama Ready To Fight In Dafur

Osama bin Laden has said what the politically correct governments of the West and the puffed-up buffoonocrats of the UN have been afraid to say: The brutal, rape- and- pillage destruction of Dafur is just good ol' Islamic expansionism.

Here his is in his latest tape:

I call on mujahedeen and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan. Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people.

I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur.

When non-Muslim nations attempt to save a people being ravaged by expansionist Islam so they can enjoy their lives as they did before Islam came a-knockin', it is we that are warring against Islam, not they that are warring against Christians or animalists. In bin's world, he is always right, we are always wrong.

So be it. Let bin's warriors for Mohammed start blowing up starving mothers and children in Dafur. Let them kill the boys in powder blue from the U.N. Maybe, just maybe, the apologists for, and ignorers of, Islamofascism will take notice if it's not our soldiers who are in the crossfire.

Tags: Osama bin Laden, bin Laden, Dafur, Islamofascism, Jihad

Israel's Anti-Semitic Cartoons

We'll start with the self-depreciating humor, a wonderful Jewish trait that is celebrated in many of the 100 cartoons in the Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest. The contest grew out the Mohammed cartoon riots -- but what a wierd way to respond!

On one level, the cartoons are not that different than Americans drawing anti-American cartoons -- something we see nearly every day on our editorial pages, and in leftists publications, Web sites and blogs. But this is different. For example, the winner donated the $600 prize to organizations like Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli charity that supports rights for Palestinians.

That's not normal, but then, neither is the winner's cartoon:


And that's relatively mild to some of the really nasty stuff -- blood of Christian babies in the matzoh, the Jew-as-devil, holocaust denial. They go way beyond self-depreciation; they go to self-loathing and beyond: to loathing their nation, their own people, the faith of their forebearers.

Of course, they just call themselves Leftist Israelies. Like our Leftist Americans.

Tags: Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoons,, Anti-Semitism, Cartoons