How do you translate “knuckle-dragging yokel?”

Pluc is insufficiant.

Yet another mayor found himself “empowered” by his inner twit. René Couanau, the mayor of Saint-Malo (35) in Bretegne uses the occasion of the commemoration of the liberation of the city from the Nazis to compare the (sorry, no points for guessing...) the Israelis to Nazis. A village scribbler called it son message de paix chaque été (an annual message of peace in summer).

« Comment nos pensées ne se tourneraient-elles pas aussi vers le Liban, où combattants et civils affrontent les mêmes épreuves, sous le regard du monde entier. », a déclaré René Couanau.

« Nous sommes en communion avec les hommes, les femmes et les enfants qui, à des kilomètres d'ici, mais si proches médiatiquement, revivent les mêmes heures de bombardements, de souffrances, de deuils et d'humiliations. »

“How could our thoughts not now turn to Lebanon, where combatants and civilians endure the same test, in view of the whole world [?]”, said Rene Couanau. “We are one with the men, women, and children who though they are many kilometers from here are so close in spirit, must endure the same long bombardment, suffering, mourning and humiliation.”

He either thinks the Nazis were okay, just “misunderstood”, or could otherwise have been persuaded to leave with sanctions.

But his notions are entirely misplaced. Imagine all the miserable people in the world whom he ISN’T wishing peace on, (like the southern Sudanese victims of Islamo-fascism,) and not dip their enemies in the pungent gelatin of Nazism (a movement ironically found to be in greatest abundance among ignorant young Europeans whose brains have become malleable as those of the altermondialistes.)

How does he see it? Saint-Malo was bombarded to free it of an occupying force, and Israel (aside from the fact that it withdrew from Lebanon years ago) somehow is a comparable occupier which wasn’t occupying diddly of Hizballah-stan when they trained rocket propelled artillery at Israeli civilians.

60 years ago, they wouldn’t have been overcome by the irony, the sane would have judged the Nazis for who they were. They would have to be fought that day, or the next day, month, or year. They understood that it couldn’t be made painless.

FACT: the residents of southern Lebanon (especially the Amal supporting Shiites and the Christians native to the border region) are put upon by an insidious occupation that Hizzoner might be please to learn is called Hizballah.

The fuse is lit!

Standing up to Hezbollah

If just one of these jokers gets so much as a scratch over there, the whole contingent will be shipped back to France.

Le Choc des civilisations s'en occupera

"L'Europe doit mettre en oeuvre tous les moyens dont elle dispose pour construire un espace méditerranéen de coopération et de négociation, seul antidote à la logique du choc des civilisations." ... tous les moyens dont elle dispose ...?!?!? L'Europe ne peut même pas se construire elle-même (merci surtout aux franchouilles). Comment et avec quoi compte-elle construire cet espace méditerranéen? Mouarf!

La Méditerranée, berceau de l'histoire, sera le tombeau de cette Zéropa, l'expérience ratée pondue par une flopée de sous-doués.

Chiraq: Small man, Big mouth

The French preSS is only too happy to change the subject from France's poule mouillée stance (hell, Koffee Hard-On is déçu by France's bed-wetting) to Israel's supposed cease-fire violations. For the Hezbollah boys, France is just a minor threat (they couldn't even pacify Clichy-sous-Bois).

Compete, compete, do it for the boys
Empty barrels make the most noise
You're always on the move
You've always got something to prove
What the fuck are you fighting for?
Is it because you're five foot four?
You better be happy with what you've got
You'll never get any more
You laugh at a man when he tries
You're trying to make up for your size
To you life is a rivalry
Keep a step ahead of me
SMALL MAN, BIG MOUTH

This is so strange, I can’t even repeat it.

I really can’t.

Ya allah!

The fuse is lit!

Oh the in-Humanité

Raving, frothing madness: Now they do it openly. mush headed commies make the argument that when civilians are attacked, especially lefties who would be sympathetic to them, that it’s better to let them die then to permit the feelings of an violent, indoctrinated population to be hurt. L’Humanité in a article titled “Hizballah more popular than ever” is also so unaware that they’re being manipulated that they failed to conceal this:

« Anxious to communicate to the international media, they hung banners in English and French reading: “We won with our blood”, or: “It is your democracy”. The party of god also started to grant financial assistances. Between 10.000 and 20.000 dollars to buy products of first need and to find a housing. “Hassan Nasrallah (the chief of Hezbollah - note) said that it would do it and it does it. We believe in him”, underlines Abou Moussa, met in front of the cemetery of the city where the martyrs must be buried. In spite of that, it is difficult to find a family which really got such a sum. »

The author then proceeds to support that unsophisticated PR effort.
They then don’t ever get around to making the point that these people have been trained to throw their lives away for nothing, or that the conflict could have been entirely avoided by Hizballah by not initiating is. Alas, so be it. The reporter is writing for a Communist Fantacists living in the (relative) comfort of Europe and such attributions such as cause and fault don’t matter unless it’s politically useful.

That said, their glowing admiration for terrorists is only matched by their fawning over the UN, and a very randy UN at that which they won’t report on:

"MONUC has received allegations about the existence of a major prostitution ring involving minors, close to a large concentration of Congolese soldiers and Blue Helmets (UN forces) in South Kivu, (in the) northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo," the UN mission said in a statement Thursday.

A MONUC spokeswoman in the South Kivu capital Bukavu told AFP: "To attract the girls, the pimps used as a major advantage the fact that the Blue Helmets were there and could have money."

The statement did not mention the nationalities of the peacekeepers implicated, but the spokeswoman, Sylvie van den Wildenberg, said the region had UN troops from India, Pakistan, South Africa and Uruguay.

Maybe they’ll make a “things are tough at home” argument if L’Hueeeuuuu reports it at all. Maybe the story will sprout a new name for Mr. Happy: “The blue helmeted gladiator.”

How the left’s world view will see that (if they say anything at all) is a mystery. History says they will paper it over. It is after all a propensity they have – not so much to find good in people, but to shield their eyes from evil.

The fuse is lit!

Birds of a feather

"We are socialists, we are enemies of today's capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions."

source. Photo via Moonbat Media

So little has changed over the decades.

There have always been an few ignorant malcontents out there who (though living in the comfort of their freedom to speak out) thought it was okay to cheer on oppression and slaughter if there was some higher goal – but for those in the know who lived under the thumb of Communism and Socialism, there really isn’t anything noble about it.

Jack isn’t in a hurry today.

Says Madame X:

This is interesting because it is hard to imagine Kevorkian in his glory days not egging on someone in his own present condition. Old, imprisoned, and (in the words of his lawyers) a "walking cadaver," Kevorkian today certainly seems to fit the bill of someone who'd be better off dead. Many of his former patient/victims were in no worse straits, and where Jack saw "irremedial pain and suffering," he thought it best to cut to the chase. They were going to die anyway, so why not hasten the inevitable in the interests of pity?

So while there are still a few morons out there who consider him a ‘political prisoner’, the truth is out there.

Out of Kevorkian's more than 130 victims, a minority had terminal illnesses; most were people with disabilities who were not terminally ill. According to a review of Kevorkian's victims by the Detroit Free Press in 1997, 60% did not have terminal conditions.

Ironically, proponents became inheritors of Malthus’ philosophy, where we have to tell ourselves (much like environmentalists) that we weren’t welcome on this world to begin with. Being based solely on laziness and personal despondency it doesn’t so much speak to his thesis as much as it goads it. Fighting the reflex to strive to live, one has to ask the question “who’s paying to promote this?”

Thus we find colliding with it too something one can barely call a philosophical concept meeting the icky business of living and contending with serious decisions. Largely able-bodied and healthy, those who won’t contend will flatter their egos with something that seems to sound humanistic which is nothing more than a desire to avoid morally founded choices, deferring to a mushy notion that one shouldn’t burdening others is a meaningful substitute.

It’s little more than a prisoner’s choice. The only reason anyone is thinking that way is because of the collectivism which makes every individual into a ward, and turns the entirety of their well-being into an imposition on society.

The debate resulting from his notoriety has made useful examples for those who don’t necessarily want people to be able to freely choose over the terms of their own lives, but for issues as pedestrian as nationalized health systems to get rid of them of them without that same choice. Human problem disposal for the state that assumed the responsibility and control of all human welfare. Pretty damn earthly, and awfully empty headed for people taking regard of their own lives as well, if you ask me.

The fuse is lit!

Thanks to Chirac, it will happen again

Source

Alas, cast your memory back to the usual talking in circles (28 July 2006):

Q. – If Hezbollah refuses to disarm and Israel accepts a conflict resolution scenario, who will disarm Hezbollah? The international force, the Lebanese army?

THE PRESIDENT – This is one of the real underlying questions. I do not believe that an international force, in the case where no political commitment could be obtained, would have the capacity or the mandate to disarm Hezbollah. It is up to the Lebanese authorities to do so. Which implies a political agreement. Hezbollah is currently in the Lebanese government. We can very well imagine, in any case hope, that Hezbollah will draw the conclusions from its presence within the government, and become a political force. This is why there has to be some contact between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah. Hezbollah once disarmed, is set to be a political force in Lebanon.

He actually used the word disarm!!!! Isn’t he just precious?!?

The fuse is lit!

Paper Tiger, Hidden Weasel.

Europe is confused today and has no clear policy up its sleeve. The unquestionable American dominance in the world has rendered it a paper tiger. Arab countries showed more courage than the European Union when they came out openly against Hizballah.

Europe is divided as well, speaking in a voice that is both weak and inconsistent. ...

...They cannot play a neutral role, and all the diplomatic exertions of Prime Minister Prodi and the journeys to our region by His Excellency Miguel Moratinos are but vain attempts to win sympathy in the Arab-Muslim world and bring Syria and Iran out of their isolation.

To which they are tossed a little lip service just to keep them coming back.

In other words, just put them in a dress.

The fuse is lit!

A Catalogue of Iranian Misfortunes

People are touting that the Israelis lost, but as any long-term observer that this is just the usual static. The fact that Hizballah maintains that they only lost 38 thugs is nearly Soviet in its’ implausible blatancy. The fact is that they would even sell out their Iranian backers for a nickel.

While the foreign ministry report highlighted the negative aspects of the UN resolution, the council’s document complained that Hizballah squandered thousands of rockets – either by firing them into Israel or having them destroyed by the Israeli air force.
The writer of this report is furious over the waste of Iran’s most important military investment in Lebanon merely for the sake of a conflict with Israeli over two kidnapped soldiers.
It took Iran two decades to build up Hizballah’s rocket inventory

And they pissed it away most of the launch platforms they spent a decade smurfing in.

The strategy evolving in Tehran since the ceasefire went into effect Monday morning requires Hizballah to employ a range of stratagems – not only to prevent the truce from stabilizing but to stop the Lebanese army from deploying n the south and, above all, the entry of an effective international force.

But that won’t be much of a problem anyway. Once again history will repeat itself: the Elysee will leave Lebanon hanging out to dry (again) In an interview with Le Monde, our favorite idiot foreign minister said:

The first is that no one talks anymore of a multinational force since the Lebanese Army has decided to deploy 15,000 men in southern Lebanon. That is an important political point. And then no one talks anymore of a force that will be given an offensive mandate to disarm Hezbollah. These are two new elements. They were the red lines for us.

The only political importance is the blatancy of the hypocrisy. A French general said the multi-national force drizzling the magical pixie dust of peace will take a year to build up to an effective degree, and this it would likely be a force they would command but staff rather lightly.

Imagine too any future argument about “robust peacekeeping” ever being taken seriously again, except perhaps for its’ comic value.the fuse is lit!

Never send a boy to do a man's job

France, the country that glorifies all forms of imaginary resistance, is starting to have second thoughts about standing up to Hezbollah.

BHL speaking truth to morons.

Bernard-Henri Lévy minces no words in Article and Q&A in the New York Times on the subject of the Hizballah-Israel war.

Q. 1. Why do you only paint your story from the point of view of Israelis? Why do you assume that Hezbollah is an organization that is not wanted by the people of Lebanon, if they provide services, have elected representatives, and are the only ones able to defend their country?

A. Three questions in one, dear Cornelius. First, why the Israeli viewpoint? Because only the other viewpoint is seen and I do not like conformism, much less injustice. In other words, it’s okay to criticize Israel and debate the strategy adopted by the military command, which is not necessarily the right one. But-a little equity, please — let one begin by listening to what Israelis say and looking at what they are enduring: that’s what I did in this reporting. Next: Isn’t Hezbollah “wanted by the people of Lebanon”? Don’t they “provide services” and “have elected representatives”? Yes, of course, there is no dispute about this, but since when would that be contradictory with the fact of being totalitarians and even perfect fascists? Wasn’t Hitler — even though it’s not comparable — democratically elected? Didn’t Mussolini provide the Italian people every possible service? Indeed, isn’t that in a general way the precise definition of fascist populism? Things get complicated with your third question and the idea that the people of Hezbollah are “the only ones able to defend their country.” I hope you are joking! For in truth Hezbollah has been bleeding Lebanon and has literally taken it hostage and taken its own people hostage, turning them into human shields with mind-boggling cynicism — a bizarre way to “defend” a country.

It might come as a shock to many leftist to hear any European to remark: “defend their country? Lay off the shrooms, pal!” But Lévy is nothing if not a contrarian when the facts are on his side.
A paid link to the NYT is omitted, but we have even better play by play from the charming and talented Phoebe. Enjoy.

The fuse is lit!

Tyrant larger than life

A BBC celeb puff piece about a man who runs political prisons. His presence is felt across Cuba like a gun to the head for more than a generation, but when youre the beeb, you ignore all of that.

They call what is probably a nail-biting cold sweat about a potentially violent political struggle:

For those at the upper echelons of the Cuban government, it will be a novel experience.

As is so often is the case the BBC (and an endless supply of lefty morons) eats up Castros PR routine at home without questioning it. Who needs democracy and participatory government when the Lider Maximo is both the government and the loyal opposition!

Mr Castro has never tolerated formal opposition to his rule. Instead, he sometimes appears to fulfil the role of opposition leader himself, haranguing government officials on live television.

Yum, yum, eat em up!

The fuse is lit!

No wasted time looking for root causes here

Barbarians at the Gates. Europeans Leftists in Italy have built a wall around a bad neighborhood (cool man, it's got a checkpoint and everything!). Of course, sermonizing Europeans Leftists are not subject to the same trash talk they love to dish out to Israel Jews. You know, all that rubbish about Israel's the Jews apartheid wall and other such crap.


In Zeropa, the gated communities are to keep the poor inside.

Les pleureuses sont de retour

"Can a free press survive if the public concludes that it's in the business of purveying politically motivated propaganda on behalf of civilization's enemies?"



N'en déplaise aux sales pédaloïdes, planqués dans leurs bureaux cossus sous les lambris dorés des beaux quartiers, qui font sans arrêt l'étalage des mêmes photos.

Coward New Network

CNN reporters act as Hezbollah's poodles running dogs.

It's time to take them out

European radical pacifism and all-too-tolerant humanism.

To be fought to the death

Our greatest enemy? Perhaps, but at least that enemy is in our crosshairs. A more dangerous enemy to be targeted is European radical pacifism and all-too-tolerant humanism.

Reality kept firmly at bay in cartoonland

Will someone please help deconstruct Monday (Sundays) Plantu?

It makes absolutely no sense. Even when you take into account Plantu's adolescent (now geriatric) difficulties with concept of authority, it still doesnt seem to have anything to do with reality.

Hizballah is magically transformed from terrorist organization into the Airport security trying to prevent it but you see thats still a bad thing since peace might be confiscated as potentially hazardous hand luggage.

Therefore, if we did nothing for the publics security, there would be no Hizballah, right?

Success and Sacrifice

There was even one instant where an Iraqi man spotted a suicide bomber approaching a polling station. He tackled him before he got close. The bomber detonated his explosives. Both were killed but at least the station stayed open. That is true heroism! Even more people showed up when the story got around.

Strangely enough, some of the events that Christian Isely noted in his Baghdad dispatch series during Iraq's first elections seem to failed to make it in the mainstream media. Strangely enough…

Baghdad Despatch # 24
Baghdad — January 31, 2005

The Election

The elections have now passed and the mood around the Green Zone is distinctly upbeat. Although the votes will take some time to be counted, the high turnout of about 60% is very encouraging. Clearly, the majority of Iraqis are participating in the continued development of a legitimate government. 60% is really quite amazing when one thinks of the open threats and violence committed against some of the unfortunate victims yesterday.

Most vehicle transportation was prohibited over the weekend. The idea was to prevent the use of car bombs to close polling stations. The insurgents resorted to suicide bombers instead who turned out to be very ineffective in throwing off the election. There was even one instant where an Iraqi man spotted a suicide bomber approaching a polling station. He tackled him before he got close. The bomber detonated his explosives. Both were killed but at least the station stayed open. That is true heroism! Even more people showed up when the story got around.

So what does this mean for us over here? First off, it reaffirms our sense of purpose and reminds us that we are actually achieving something despite all the negative reporting in the media. Our hard work is paying off. Our sacrifices have not been made in vain. This is proof that the majority of Iraqis do not side with the insurgency and that they see the peaceful development of their own legitimate government as the way to address their needs. We still need to wait for the official tally and then it will become clear how much of the Sunni population voted. We will then get a better idea of yesterday's success.

This success does not mean however that there is not more work to be done. The insurgency will continue although it has been dealt a serious blow. One can now say that the insurgents are not just fighting a foreign occupier but will now be fighting an Iraqi government chosen by the Iraqi people.

This success also does not mean that US can now start bringing troops home but it is a milestone in that direction. US troops must stay as long as is needed to safeguard the development of this nascent democracy.

This success also does not mean that Iraq, like Afghanistan, should stop receiving US reconstruction aid. Even after the majority of our troops come home, we should continue to provide funding for infrastructure projects and economic development . Let us also not forget that $18.4 billion spent in Iraq does not just go into Halliburton's pockets but also provides jobs for Americans and stimulates the Iraqi economy. It should not be looked on as just aid but as an investment our country is making in this part of the world, an investment in our own security.

Already, some of these investments have come to fruition. For instance, in my particular sector of the reconstruction effort, we have completed almost 200 km of rural village roads that are now enabling local commerce and access to schools and health clinics. This is despite the fact that most of these roads were located in Al Anbar province where the insurgency is still causing trouble.

I heard another piece of good news regarding sewer projects in the Shia slum of Sadr City. During the early half of 2004, this was a particularly dangerous area for Coalition forces. Basic services were non-existent. The sewer system had ceased to function and raw sewage flooded the streets. That is now changed. 75% of this massive sewer project is now complete and the majority of households now have a functioning sewer system and their streets are no longer flooded. Interestingly enough, this has been made possible by the hiring of contractors who were formerly affiliated with the Shia insurrection. By giving them work in their own neighborhoods, these former fighters have become active and productive members of the community. This is a clear success story. We don't see this in the news, do we?

Of course, it is hard not to let the bad news overwhelm us. I must say that despite the historic elections occurring yesterday, my thoughts were dominated by some bad news close to home.

Death at the Palace

On Saturday night, a rocket struck the US Embassy and killed two people. I knew one of the fallen for I had worked with him on some of our projects. I didn't know him well but I knew him well enough to be left thinking about his loss. My last memory of him was just three hours before he was killed. I had just come from the mail room where I had picked up my recently purchased Johnny Cash albums, Solitary Man and The Man Comes Around. I was excited to get back to my trailer to listen to them and as I sped through the office I ran into Keith. I told him about my CDs and how their arrival made my day. He laughed and simply said, "That's great Chris! See you later!" Those were his last words to me.

Despite the two deaths, we were relatively fortunate. One of my coworkers was sitting at a desk that a piece of the rocket hit. He survived without a scratch albeit with high blood pressure. (The rocket did not explode.) Another two of my coworkers were having a meeting in the very spot that was hit just 5-10 minutes before.

The most bizarre aspect of this tragedy is how random it was. These rockets cannot be aimed at a particular target. They can only be fired in a general direction. The man I knew was sitting at his desk when it happened. It was like he was struck by lightening. When you travel into the Red Zone, you expect danger. When you are sitting at your desk inside a building, danger never crosses your mind.

Yesterday I was saddened by this loss but now that the elections have successfully occurred, at least I am comforted by the fact that this man's death did not occur in vain for he took the risk of coming here so that millions of Iraqis got the opportunity to have a say in their future.

Say “ah” the Reuters way!

Joan, a freelance writer living in Israel has cited an example of the ubiquity of the engineering of news: her editor at Reuters Medical information group wanted her to spin a medical story into a political one.

“When you’re pitching story ideas, you normally have 5 to 10 of them – instead they wanted me to cover something that really wasn’t a medical story at all.”

The only choice she felt comfortable with was to step away:

One of the reasons I stopped freelancing for Reuters medical Web site: Instead of doing a story about a massive Israeli hospital drill or the discovery of a new drug platform, Reuters wanted me to write about Israel restricting ambulances with pregnant and or sick women and children inside from entering Israel.

She notes that she could sense no specific plans or intent behind this editorial stance. We have seen this in often enough before – it seems more like the expression of a near universal application of attitudes on top of the news among the sort of folks that gravitate to working in the media. Since many don’t see this sort of information product as “hard news” they take liberties with sound reporting practices, or are showing their frustration with being a secondary tier branch of an information organization.

Moreover, by doing this to break up their own boredom or sense of inferiority, it’s taking column space and attention away medical news reporting. It forces the intended audience to navigate more than just advertising and stories motivated by product placement to get to the substance.

I tried to explain to the editor the reasoning behind this -- that on occasion, that bombs placed under these people were meant for being smuggled and exploded into Israel. She said no, to use her angle and to forget the "other reason" for this. In other words, never mind the truth.

Geared principally toward medical professionals and the more serious consumers (in other words, people with serious medical problems,) the site welcomes you with this display of wishful thinking:

“Reuters Health (RH) is the world's leading provider of medical and healthcare news. Reuters Health news services are internationally recognized as unbiased, authoritative, timely and dependable, with the reputation for quality that one expects from a Reuters company.”

That attitude: the lack of balance that spins news is taking any and all other areas of information with it. Imagine looking for further reading on a medical condition that you’re dealing with only to find political propaganda. If this isn’t a case of preying on the weak, I don’t know what is.

You would think that the operators of sector-specific information sources as outsiders to the politicized core of the ‘newsdrome’ that one would find freedom to take an deeper and more arcane interest in that area – in this case in medicine. One would imagine that they would not have to deal with the dramas as well – instead we find wannabees popping up over and over.

The imperiousness of that sort of editor of the less glamorous corners of an organization is also shown in the usual predictable ways too – they always seem to pay freelancers late. It’s not hard to see how they can probably take the calls from writers trying to track down unpaid invoices as a stroke toward their own aspirations of being something that they aren’t.

They have also opened themselves up to manipulation by the parties at war in ways we’ve seen before. One that they don’t have the experience to defend themselves from, even if, unprompted, they want to do it for one side in a confict.

Canada’s National Post reports on an example that couldn’t have come from a trade sector of the information business, but from a news division, and when it isn’t in the ‘spin cycle’ at that:

The surgeon led a group of journalists over what remained [of his hospital in Tyre]: ‎mangled debris, shredded walls and a roof punched through by an Israeli shell. "Look ‎what they did to this place," Dr. Fouad Fatah said, shaking his head. "Why in the world ‎would the Israelis target a hospital?" The probable answer was found a few hours later in ‎a field nearby. Hidden in the tall grass were the burned remnants of a rocket-launcher.

Where that story belongs is clear. That it doesn’t belong in what amounts to the health supplement is also quite clear to the public, but not all that clear to an information industry that is growing increasingly disconnected with their readership, and with reality itself.the fuse is lit!

Political endomorphy

Cartoonist Nicholas Vial chose the right animal:
the leftist jackass not knowing what to do when evil appears.

- from Le Monde, 14-AUG-2006

They’re just looking out for you, Winston.

The social model is always looking out for the little guy, always acting in the public interest. In the interest of public safety, facing the immediate needs of entering a higher state of security with an international intelligence and police operation uncovering a terror plot that could have killed 4000 people, the French airport security workers union acted swiftly in the interest of their area of responsibility and competence. What might THAT be, you ask? Still can’t tell? Ask Bam-Bam. He’s quite familiar with terrorizing the public.

All the while authorities are maintaining their grand tradition of full disclosure.

All for one, and one for all – that’s for sure!

The Usual Violent Calls for Peace, Jihad, global Anarco-Maoist-Marxist-Leninist-Hoxhaism, etal...

Paris, 13-AUG-2006 – formerly a part of western civilization.

Taken by Hervé et Carine who tripped across this mess while on their way to the BHV of all places to pick up some kitchen stuff.



“Peaceniks” with Lebanese, Hizballah, and Palestinian flags. Flags from the former Iraq and the Soviet Unions, and flags with the image of Mao Tse Tung, of course. Cruise over to E-nough to see what these parading clowns think of “Peace”. Even though they only ever marched for peace as a pretense, they’ve shown an amazing lack of commitment to it, and show little more than an outright advocacy of Jihad.


Hizballah and UJFP – “Hey! You got chocolate in my peanut butter!”


We're all about peace and love, man.


Love is... a warm gun.

Some dude named Erik (does anyone know who this guy is?) also reports that the usual hijinx and antics were also on display. Especially the tactic where they pretend to be victims themselves. Apart from the fact that these folks are a gold mine for Psychiatrists because they’re trying to make other peoples’ politics personal, there is the phenomenon of tactics like that looking just plain stupid:

I chanced upon the sister demonstration in Paris. On Rue de Rivoli, posters of the head of Hezbollah as well as Hugo Chávez were carried. At one point, one of the chants the demonstrators yelled went "Hezbollah! Résistance! Hezbollah! Résistance! Hezbollah! Résistance! Hezbollah! Résistance!"

Also, a number of demonstrators, many of them kids as young as 5 or 6, paraded carrying signs saying "Je n'ai plus de…": "I have no more a home." "I have no more a sister." (I had to snicker when I saw one person carrying a sign saying "I have no more a grand-father". She was at least 65 years old.)

I still have to wonder if these dial-a-mob types ever get tired of doing the same chants, marches, and routine over and over. Why haven’t their message or their methods varied in 30 years? Haven’t they ever heard of “customizing” the protest to some actual current event? or, say, “common sense”, or maybe consolidating the inconsistency of what they always seem to demand from others?

Or maybe the immorality of their demands? Suddenly, they believe that ending violence is bad, the U.N. is biased toward Israel, and Iran and Syria are little darlings who couldn't find Lebanon on a map.

The fuse is lit!

¡Por El Pueblo! The Heroics of the Hero of Venezuela

…when President Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999, he started squeezing even more money out of the firm [Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA)]. By 2000 investment had fallen to $2.5 billion.

Not only does an Economist special report refute the common conception that the world's major oil companies are arrogant and greedy Western hegemons who control everything, overtly or otherwise — "PFC Energy, a consultancy, calculates that 77% of the world's oil and gas is found in countries whose production is controlled by state-owned oil firms and their partners" — Oil's dark secret also puts the history of Hugo Chávez's revolution in a slightly different light than the heroic one we are used to seeing in the media and among street demonstrators.

… Mr Chávez denounced the [PDVSA] strikers as saboteurs and sacked them all. The toll was highest among skilled workers: two-thirds of managers and technical staff went. At a stroke, PDVSA lost almost all of its most experienced and best-qualified employees, with an irreplaceable understanding of the idiosyncrasies of its wells and fields.



Critics say that the government restaffed the firm with incompetent cronies and placemen. Contractors whisper that it is having trouble spending even its reduced investment budget.…

Staffing has certainly become more political. Mr Chávez's cousin, Asdrubal, runs the firm's shipping arm. The president's brother, Adan, helps to co-ordinate the company's subsidised oil sales around the Caribbean as ambassador to Cuba. Those who signed a petition advocating a recall election for Mr Chávez complain that they cannot get jobs at PDVSA or its contractors.


Politics has begun to intrude into the firm's strategy, too. Mr Chávez wants PDVSA to do less business in the United States and more in Latin America. In the name of regional integration, he is pushing for an expensive natural-gas pipeline from Venezuela to Brazil, which would “bring gas that does not exist to markets that do not exist”, in Mr Giusti's view. In theory, the hugoducto, as the pipeline is sarcastically known, will be a money-making venture, but Mr Chávez has also dragooned the company into all manner of charitable works. He insists that the firm spend a tenth of its investment budget on social programmes, and has pledged its help, in the form both of cheap oil and technological assistance, to allies from Argentina to the Bahamas.

Clearly, Venezuela's oil company no longer operates at arm's length from the government. Its head, Rafael Ramírez, is also the Minister of Energy and Oil. “The president tells PDVSA to commit suicide, and he says, ‘Yes sir!'” gripes Elie Habalian, a former Venezuelan representative at OPEC, with a mock salute.

The company is also becoming more secretive. … Its finances are certainly getting murkier: it now transfers much of its earnings directly to a development fund controlled by Mr Chávez, rather than sending them all to the central bank as it used to.

Despite these worrying trends, the government claims that PDVSA has fully recovered from the strike and sackings, and is now producing more than it did beforehand. Officially, it is still planning to raise output to almost 4m b/d by 2012. But observers scoff at such notions. The company can no longer maintain its own fields, let alone complete the many new projects it is pursuing, says Diego González, who used to work for its gas division. Wood Mackenzie estimates that output slumped to less than 1.2m b/d in 2003. It subsequently recovered a bit, to 1.6m b/d, but is now falling again.

These failings have not stopped Mr Chávez from forcing most foreign oil firms in Venezuela to go into partnership with its national champion. It is now running the resulting joint ventures—presumably no better than it runs its original fields.

¡Recuerdén! It's all for the good of el pueblo!

Socialists, Nazis, Leftists -- all the same

This guy hits the EuroWanker charts with a bullet. Let a thousand sermonizing Euro-humanist books bloom.

Why? Just because.

Meet Jacob the hamster. Visit him at The Scratching Post, where they're making the business case for kindness..

The fuse is lit!

Just another day in Berlin

“Peace” and supporting terror.

Then the approaching shouts across the loudspeakers. "International murder center USA!" ... "'Stop the Israeli murderers!"... "Allah Akbar!"

Irony noted.the fuse is lit!