They Might be Able to Parrot Diversity, but they’ll Never Quite Understand Pluralism

Imagine someone running for the highest office in Germany, the position of Chancellor, but was the political protégé of, and announced ones’ political career at a social event in the home of a member of the Red Army Faction or the Baader-Meinhof gang. Now imagine dad ort in them there Vereinigten Staaten, 80 to 90 percent of the population wanted Germans to vote for that candidate because there’s something superficial about the candidate appeals to their vanity.

That’s an analog of the example Clarsimonius uses when discussing German ideas of how Americans should vote, and for that reason alone, Americans shouldn’t vote their way. Much in the way that looking through a child’s eyes and hearing their comments tells one a great deal about what they are shown and how they were socialized, it’s revealing.

Now over to Observing Hermann:

But having said that… I want you all to know that Germany and the Germans are expecting a whole lot of you this US-American Presidential Election year 2008. And you may or may not be aware of this, although I wouldn’t know how you could not be, but 80 to 90 percent of the German population expects you to vote for you-know-who. That’s right, him. And by you-know-who I mean you-know-who, not that other guy, what’s-his-name. I’m serious here, by the way. With the numbers, I mean. When I say 80 to 90 percent of the German population expects you to vote for you-know-who and not what’s-his-name, I mean 80 to 90 percent of the German population. No fooling.

Stop and think about this for a minute. This is significant. Unlike us in the US, Germans regularly go 80 to 90 percent for people, things and ideas they like and then later reject. It’s just the way they are. We are a bit backward in that respect, I suppose, rarely able to get half the population to agree upon much of anything, especially these days. I don’t know why we are that way, but we are. Germany has it much better than we do in this regard. Things are so much more, well, homogeneous here.

Via the formerly dormant David’s Medienkritik, a portrait of the populist German view of the United States tells you even more about this wisdom – it delights in any shred of a theory about the smiting, hopeful downfall, or debasement of the US. They also as an almost uniformly simplistic and near monolithic social entity, want Americans to vote for Barack Obama, who has such poor judgment that Ayers’ terrorist acts (having occurred when Obama was 8,) has given Barack Obama his entire adult lifetime to realize that the Weather Underground hated America in the exact same way the RAF, Red Brigade, and the Baader-Meinhof gang hated their nations and were willing to use violent coercion to force on the population changes that the public would not have wanted.

It seems that what they really want is to see a snuff film starring America, and they would also tell you it’s because they’re a concerned friend offering advice.

Oiled up and ready for action

Well, thank goodness there will now be drilling off the coast of Florida. It may take a few years but this will help with world supply, world prices, and help elevate the standard of living a little bit.

Of course, there is only one slight problem:

The state-owned Cuban oil company says the country may have more than 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore fields - more than double the previous estimate.

Cubapetroleo's exploration manager said drilling in the offshore wells would begin as early as the middle of 2009.

Such reserves would place Cuba among the top 20 oil producing nations.

Glad to see that at least someone is taking energy sufficiency issues seriously. As capitalist countries become more socialist, why not the socialist ones becoming more capitalist?

Yes, the insanity of the US-centric environmentalist movement is clear to see.

J.H.C. on a rubber crutch!

Despite being possibly the only member of the NP staff (an admittedly junior member) who would consider voting for Senator Obama if possible, this editorial from the New York Times is beyond absolutely unbelievable and incredulous. Even a casual observer not living in the US is quite aware of what ACORN is and what they have been up to in terms of fraudulent activity. Still the NYT sticks its journalistic head (and its few remaining shreds of credibility) in the sand, deep:

In Wednesday night’s debate, John McCain warned that a group called Acorn is "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and "may be destroying the fabric of democracy." Viewers may have been wondering what Mr. McCain was talking about. So were we.

Acorn is a nonprofit group that advocates for low- and moderate-income people and has mounted a major voter-registration drive this year. Acorn says that it has paid more than 8,000 canvassers who have registered about 1.3 million new voters, many of them poor people and members of racial minorities.

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms, including some with fictional names like Mickey Mouse and others for voters who are already registered.

Based on the information that has come to light so far, the charges appear to be wildly overblown — and intended to hobble Acorn’s efforts.

Someone needs to alert the FBI that they are wasting their time on the investigation into ACORN's activities.

Take a Closer Look at His Gift, and Tell Us…

(Thanks to Valerie)

European betters, defined

Whether it be the Guardian, Der Spiegel, Liberation, etc, Americans (US) are constantly harangued about their fast-food, Texas-laden, faux-nouveaux, Jerry Springer culture.

Why can't those bloody Yanks take a page from the European model, grow-up and behave appropriately:

Jobless George Lee, 28, hugs his pregnant wife Stacey, 21 — yet the baby boy she is carrying proudly is NOT his.

She inseminated herself using a 50p turkey baster and sperm from George’s stepfather Paul, 57.

Stacey and her hubby already have one child each from previous relationships but both youngsters are being looked after by Social Services.

Sit back and let the high European culture wash over you in waves.

Hope, Change, and Fraud

One of the many ways that actual spending on Obama’s campaign got past the $1 Billion mark when you include the unions and organizations tacitly running on his behalf without the direct consent of their members.

“Reduce Your Carbon Footprint”

Do as I say, not as I do. This is the left. FABulous elitism and a bunch of people who give themselves a million reasons to both burden everyone else to satisfy their needs to absolve themselves of guilt, while at the same time grinding others under their heels.

Finally, the working class proletarians can “reduce their carbon footprint” while they take a private jet tour around the world to tromp all over otherwise undisturbed areas that are only undisturbed because they want to take them out of any form of productive use to the people who live there.



This is all that this famous “but you can run your economy on eco-tourism” amounts to – setting it up so that happy peasants can appear to be stroking their dolphins, living happily in the 18th century to prop up their world view while they jet overhead. They will no doubt also be the recipients of even more influence and abused political power if Obama is elected.

- Thanky, Thanky to Strummin’ Joe

So Ayers Is a College Professor? Okay, But… What Exactly Would a Man Who Regrets Not Setting Off More Bombs Be Teaching in His Classes?

Welcome back, Expat Yank!

Those Funny Pages

A meme thing: Fausta sends us to Brian where the fun begins. The topic, a press release by Senator Obama's campaign that mysteriously appears situ verbatus in a New York Times article. No beef with the Senator's campaign, they are just doing their job. The NYT, well ..... perhaps they think they are just doing theirs as well.

The end of modern journalism? Nah, just another day at the office.

What Leftists Mean When they Say that they'll Cut your Taxes

What they mean is nothing but numerical parlor tricks. This, after he insisted that the Bush tax cut would be eliminated, of course.

Wonder where the "Hope and Change" theme came from?

Wonder no more. Mark Levin reads verbatim from Saul Alinsky's book Rules For Radicals (Thanks to Comrade Frank), "the book that Obama taught from — that Obama organized from".

Now Man I Don't Think We're Better Than Anybody Else; This Is America: We ARE Everybody Else!

(Thanks to unknown jane)

Obama to bring Gentle and Thoughtful “World Politics” to Ignorant American Ingrates

No thanks – because it’s precisely why Americans are always said to turn their backs on the world:

About 50 parishioners were locked into the Assemblies of God church before it was set ablaze. They were mostly women and children. Those who tried to flee were hacked to death by machete-wielding members of a mob numbering 2,000.

The 2008 New Year Day atrocity in the Kenyan village Eldoret, about 185 miles northwest of Nairobi, had all the markings of the Rwanda genocide of a decade earlier.

Thank you, Mr. Odinga. Which means it’s now time to trot out the idiotic buzz-phrases and fake adolescent 80’s poetry slam anger in the interest of Hope and Change.

Mr. Odinga and Mr. Obama were nearly inseparable throughout Mr. Obama's six-day stay. The two traveled together throughout Kenya and Mr. Obama spoke on behalf of Mr. Odinga at numerous rallies. In contrast, Mr. Obama had only criticism for Kibaki. He lashed out against the Kenyan government shortly after meeting with the president on Aug. 25. "The [Kenyan] people have to suffer over corruption perpetrated by government officials," Mr. Obama announced.

"Kenyans are now yearning for change," he declared. The intent of Mr. Obama's remarks and actions was transparent to Kenyans - he was firmly behind Mr. Odinga.

Thereto we should find a growing appeal for over-exaggeration, emotionalism, mendacity, and the ridiculous assertions found out there in that gentle and caring world™®©, as lectured to us by our continental betters:

Mr. Odinga and Mr. Obama's father were both from the Luo community, the second-largest tribe in Kenya, but their ties run much deeper. Mr. Odinga told a stunned BBC Radio interviewer the reason why he and Mr. Obama were staying in near daily telephone contact was because they were cousins. In a Jan. 8, 2008, interview, Mr. Odinga said Mr. Obama had called him twice the day before while campaigning in the New Hampshire primary before adding, "Barack Obama's father is my maternal uncle."

These aren’t the ties that bind, and when it comes to ridiculous requests and demands based on that relationship, I’m sure President Superman will ignore them, unless there’s some sort of extortion opportunity involved that ‘his divine munificence’ has opened himself up to.

Mr. Obama's judgment is seriously called into question when he backs an official with troubling ties to Muslim extremists and whose supporters practice ethnic cleansing and genocide. It was Islamic extremists in Kenya who bombed the U.S. Embassy in 1998, killing more than 200 and injuring thousands. None of this has dissuaded Mr. Obama from maintaining disturbing loyalties.

Nonetheless Africans are sure to feel the hurt when the Hope and Change train changes and dramatically reverses US international policy in the interest of the caring and loving Bobos both in the US and in Europe.

So Are There Any Differences, and What Are They?

(Thanks to Valerie)

Continuing adventures in what really counts...

Ahhh governmentalism, keeping it real during financially chaotic times:

Any football match in France before which the country's national anthem is booed will now be "immediately stopped", French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot said Wednesday after meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The dramatic move followed the booing of "La Marseillaise" during France's 3-1 friendly win over Tunisia at the Stade de France in Paris on Tuesday.

"Any match when our national anthem is whistled will be stopped immediately," Bachelot said after talks with Sarkozy and French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes.

"Government members will immediately leave the arena where our national anthem has been whistled.

"When whistling of our antional anthem happens, all friendly games with the country concerned will be suspended for a period yet to be determined by the federation president."

EuroTrash

Could they be any more condescending? The interviewer is a French dork who split from his shithole country to work in an Silicon Valley start-up headed by Loïc LeMeur (ex-Internet consultant for Sarko's electoral campaign).

Note to John McCain:Barack Obama = Jane Fonda

What is it about leftist politics that you don't understand, John McCain? You who defend Barack Obama as a good family man who would make a terrific president…

Listen, if you haven't understood yet, this ain't officers' promotion roll, where in general, one officer's promotion to higher rank over another is, in the long run (and beyond the losing officer's entirely personal disappointment), no big deal. If you haven't understood yet, Barack Obama is, or is equivalent to, Jane Fonda. (Yes, that Jane Fonda.)

How do you think that, say (just to pick an example out of thin air), the prisoners of Hanoi Hilton would have fared had Richard Nixon run against Jane Fonda in 1968, had Nixon said that Henry Fonda's daughter had family values second to none and would make a terrific president, and had Jane won the elections of 1968 (and 1972)?

That may be stretching the truth a little bit, some might say, but certainly it is hard to say that Barack's friends and entourage are different from Jane's — unless you take into account that Obama's have a lot more power.

And as far as friends (and buddies and colleagues) are concerned, John McCain, it's time you stopped looking at the Illinois senator as one — he is not a fellow officer, not a brother in arms — and you started looking at the members of your party base as as many intimates. Certainly, any friendship you get from Barack is, if not feigned, at best a stepping stone to personal power and to victory.

From Terrorist to Terroiriste

Marina Petrella's weakened state and "profound depression" is potentially life-threatening, the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy said, announcing that the French chief of state had annulled an extradition decree for humanitarian reasons.

Former Red Brigade terrorist Marina Petrella was imprisoned last year for life, convicted in absentia by an Italian court in 1992 for killing an Italian police commissioner. Since her health is poor, and that alone is an adequate reason to in all but name, absolve her of any guilt, the French government sought to release her back into the wild, rejecting an appeal by an Italian court to extradite her to Italy.

It Seems that the Snapper is Mightier that the Sword

It was sped up by Sarkozy sister in law, and was even made light pleasant by a call to Patrella by Carla Bruni, purportedly at the request of the President. Meddling in this whole matter is Carla’s sister, who took on the role of an advocate for Patrella using Carla to get the ear of Sarkozy.

Elisa Novelli, the daughter of Marina Petrella, also received a call Saturday for the first lady of France. "I was at home when I get this call. Madame Bruni-Sarkozy introduced herself and said the military clause had been applied on my mother (...). Of course I was surprised and saddened. I was extremely touched by his involvement, "she said on RTL."
"We appreciate the humane commitment of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and her sister Carla Bruni-Sarkozy", said Scalzone Oreste, a member of the committee to support Marina Petrella.

Thanks to the "pugnaciousness" of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, who "throughout the past two months has frequently spoken about this subject with my husband," that role "alert" played with the Chairman was possible, insisted Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to Libération.fr.

She stressed first be Marina Petrella went to prison in order to provide "a personal and very direct", then explained his views to his sister who "gave its assent to her husband."

"I just thought it was a terrible thing to die," the actor insisted.

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi is said to have also spoken directly with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who, she says, "absolutely listened. Then he met, I think on several occasions, doctors and lawyers. He studied the case," she went on to say.

There is no reason to believe that she would die, not that her murder and terror isn’t a reason to believe that she forfeited her life to begin with, but that just doesn’t matter.

After all, in Left-world, imprisoned terrorists are a cause, released terrorists are rock stars. Just as the likes of William Ayers is a trophy signaling to others that one is a elite of edginess, Marina Patrella who killed for the same causes and same ideology as Ayers will be no different.

Just watch as the posers and attention-seekers gravitate to her.

"Voter Registration"? No, That Is Not the Way to Describe ACORN's Moves…

This says it all:

After speaking, dramatically, of how others have “died so I can vote" and after evoking "one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all", Maryland ACORN president Rev. Gloria Swierenga adds that "the Palin campaign speaks for itself.”

If ACORN is non-partisan, as it claims to be, the attack on the Palin (or the McCain) campaign is out of bounds and shows its true colors.

True, this should not be surprising to anyone — as ACORN has publicly come out for Barack Obama — but the voter registration is depicted as a patriotic duty, and that ought to be non-partisan. But the people whom ACORN's workers are registering can't be described as voters, or even as American citizens; what they can only be described as is as Democrats — Democrats who think exactly like ACORN, to be specific… (Of course, some of the registered people can also be described as dead persons, but that's another story…)

So it isn't voter registration. It's Democrat registration, or, People-who-think-like-me registration. There's nothing incriminating in that in and of itself, of course… No…

Only: don't tell us that this is ACORN's patriotic gesture (as in its ALL-American gesture)!

Caption: Heeding the call, another voter feels it is his most solemn duty to join the Obama drive! (Merci à RV pour l'image et le hyperlien…)

Are People Voting for Obama Because of His Policies or Because He Is Black?

Are you more for Obama's policy because he is pro-life or because he thinks our troops should stay in Iraq and finish this war?

Howard Stern's radio show adds a follow-up question (merci à Larwyn et François Guillaumat) while taking McCain's policies and pretending they are Obama's:

Now, if Obama wins, do you have any problem with Sarah Palin being his vice-president? … Are you glad he elected her to be the VP if he wins?

With allies at every layer of society who are willing to change rules, break laws, and flout procedures in order to bring Obama to power…

With "a vote fraud operation working on his behalf in states across America" and with "allies at every layer of society who are willing to change rules, break laws, and flout procedures in order to bring him to power", Christopher Cook worries about freedom of expression and even fears that The Second American Civil War Is Underway…

Ségo Light

Just as they did in France, suggesting that violence would break out if the conservative is elected, the Left in the US are injecting similar threats of violence in the rhetoric in another way. They’ve always used the same old word-dropping silliness, using the word “dangerous” in reference to their opponents, just as they do with those that disagree with them, but in this case it’s an attempt to revive fears of Dixiecrat style violence.

It’s a stunning inversion of the violence found in their own world view. Between one blogger referring to Palin as a M.I.L.P. (mother I’d like to punch), to former comedian Sandra Berhardt’s threat that “her in thin air, it’s patently obvious that Obama’s supporters are the ones desperate with rage.

Quagmire in Gaza

Same difference, and it probably took place between long-winded lectures about American lawlessness or maybe America being a ‘police state’ or something:

A police crew was caught in a real ambush yesterday around 4 pm on Rue Vestrepain in Toulouse. The patrol car was targeted by a about 40 individuals who hid their faces and threw projectiles at police: stones, cans and whatever they had on hand. To escape police used flash-ball rounds [ed.: a non-lethal weapon] on as well as tear gas. The policemen managed to leave the area without being hurt. None of the attackers has been arrested despite the arrival of reinforcements.

Otherwise there are sock-puppet Euro-intellectual types who are willing to crane their necks far enough to call a dump like that ‘a treasure’ – up until the moment they get treated like the Samoan in Pulp Fiction.

A Winning Strategy for McCain: Not Attacking Specifics, Simply Describing Patterns

It is not enough for John McCain to discuss specifics and attack specific details of Barack Obama's record every time they pop up. He must also speak of patterns.

It is not enough for John McCain to describe the present and state what he will do. He must also speak of the past make comparisons with the past. Specifically, his opponent's past.

In fact — what I am going to say now may sound senseless and outrageous at first, but read it through and see if you do not agree — in fact, that is the only (or at least the main) thing McCain should speak about. He should forget about challenging Obama and only speak of patterns in the Illinois senator's life, career, and speeches.

Challenging Obama — unfortunately — does nothing, or little, to make a dent in the Illinois senator's poll numbers.

Simply describe Obama's pattern(s) and leave it at that.

Stop looking for explanations or apologies from Barack Obama or his campaign on this topic or on that topic.

No. What must be adopted is a matter-of-fact tone that pictures Obama for what he is.

Not because this is a strategy. Not because this is campaigning.

But because this is — precisely because this is — the truth.

There is nothing to attack. No matter what he has said in the past, no matter what he will say in the future, Barack Obama is surrounded by radicals with radical ideas — end of story.

Simply describe Barack Obama for what he is.

It is vain to ask for repudiation of this associate of his and apologies for that other associate of his. What counts is to point out that his entire entourage bathes in radicalism. Point it out as a fact. A fact that asks for no explanations and no apologies — nothing more than a vote against the Democratic Party at the polls.

And a note to John McCain: By doing what I write about here, you are not using unfair tactics. You are doing nothing more and nothing less than giving a description — a highly accurate and objective description — of who is likely to be in the highest spheres of power should Barack Hussein Obama win the presidency. It is vital — even patriotic and, yes, honorable — to point out exactly what awaits America should Americans make the leftish choice at the polls.

Domestic Policy and the
Content of Obama's Character

The point about the Reverend Wright was never the "God Damn America" epithet itself. It was, first, that, given the evidence, this could only be illustrative of the personal pastor's message throughout the years (including the 20 (!) years the Obama family sat in his pews) and, even more importantly, that he is illustrative of the type of people that Obama has associated with before, associates with now, and will associate with in the future, especially if he wins the White House.

If you focus on the "God Damn America" alone or on a Weatherman's past alone — or one at one moment in the campaign and the other at a totally different moment — Obama's repudiation of Jeremiah Wright or claim of not knowing much about William Ayers puts an effective stop to the criticism or makes it look like unreasonable rants. But point out — matter-of-factly, with little or no emotion (and keep pointing out, without respite) — that these phenomena (violent ravings in the pulpit, violent attacks on American institutions) are only indicative of the (simplistic) beliefs of a great deal of people surrounding Obama and likely to be in his inner circle when/if he enters the Oval Office — they even seem to be the beliefs of his wife (if nothing has made her, will make her, proud of her country until her husband is elected president, then somewhere, in her opinion, it can only be true that America must be a pretty damned-awful country) — and there you get people (even, perhaps, some members of the mainstream media) to think.

Again, it does little good to focus on Jeremiah Wright for weeks or months (only to have Obama repudiate the Reverend), then, months later, on Billy Ayers (only to have Obama belittle the relationship and perhaps repudiate the former (?) Weatherman by the time of the election), then (if time allows) on someone else. From the beginning, the constant drumbeat should have been — and it must be from now on — on all the significant others, all the associates, and all the foreign "fans" (not to mention the spouse) whose just-as-constant refrain through the years (and through the decades) has been "God damn America" — or words to that effect ("America be damned", "a goddamn awful place to live", "Allah damn America", etc, etc).

It is next to worthless to make demands and requests upon Obama (i.e., ask for apologies or to denounce a certain person's views). This is what the mainstream media does — asking him to "explain" himself, saying "how do you respond to this (obviously unfair and hateful) attack?" and "What can you do — what can we do — to put this behind us and focus on the real (sic) issues", allowing him to spin an answer, however much truth there is in that explanation or not. If you come back to the issue in attack mode, Obama simply says — and his allies (and those include the media, naturally) simply say — that McCain is obsessed, extremist, and vindictive or that because of the polls, these are a campaign's act of desperation.

As I have written elsewhere, from the beginning, John McCain should have said as follows (and in the remaining three weeks this must his campaign's constant drumbeat):

You object to the Republicans' making an issue of your associations, your friends, and your allies. The problem, as I see it, is the number of radicals you are surrounded with whose basic message is (or is akin to) "God damn America"; and whose tenet that has been for the past two decades or more.. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright says "God damn America" — and it is hard to believe he hasn't been preaching as much during the past 20 years. The Weatherman terrorist from whose residence you launched your Illinois senate campaign, Bill Ayers, spouts — and continues to this day to spout — words to the effect of "God damn America." During his lifetime, the Communist Party USA member Frank Marshall Davis, whom your campaign has admitted was the "Frank" mentioned in your autobiography, used to shout (in so many words) "God damn America." The basic message of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, is "God damn America."

How about organizations such as ACORN and MoveOn? Is it unfair to say that the basic essence of the message in such damn-civilized-debate,-damn-the-voter-process groups is God damn the American Way? How about Tony Rezko — what does his travails say about his respect for America's rules and laws? And how about Michelle Obama? Being proud of her country for the first time if and only if her husband wins the presidency is akin to saying what, pray tell… The Middle Easterner Ahmed Yousef who spoke out in your favor, is a senior leader of the Hamas terrorist movement whose members regularly march through the streets, chanting God damn America. And what, pray tell, does Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say? Should Iran's president wish to meet with an American president (in order to be told that his country should not build nuclear weapons, a request which he can then ignore, as we know since George W Bush has been saying the same thing for years, as have the governments of France, Germany, and Britain), then you are his man.

All in all, that's a lot of friends and allies in your inner circle who dance to the tune of "God damn America!" That's a lot of admirers in the world, as well as same-minded activists, whose basic message is (or is akin to) "God (or Allah) damn America!"

The Jimmy Carter Style
of Foreign Policy

What is the major reason that Iran is our enemy today instead of our friend? Because Jimmy Carter wanted to teach a lesson to a faithful (if embarrassing) friend of America's.

Did you notice this at the debates? Most people don't seem to have: at one point, Barack Obama skewered John McCain and/or the Bush administration for not acting friendlier toward Iran or North Korea. At another, he issued threats to Iraq and Pakistan.

When Barack Obama criticized, first, Iraq and then Pakistan, McCain should have gone into pattern mode — evoking Jimmy Carter then and there.

Have you noticed how my opponent is always talking about having talks with our adversaries? He speaks of acting friendly with North Korea's Kim Jong Il and heading to Tehran to hold talks with a Holocaust-denyer (and a Holocaust-promiser!).

Yet Senator Obama also speaks about talking tough. Who does he speak about talking tough to? America's friends and allies. Iraq. Pakistan.

It's been tried before, my friends.

Some of you are too young to remember it, but back in 1976, Americans were hungering for change. And so they elected a man who was almost as young as Senator Obama. An idealist who spoke the same language and who boasted the same promises of hope and change, all with a winning smile and obvious reserves of good faith.

Jimmy Carter also spoke of dialogue. He spoke of solving all the problems and having his intervention solve all problems or inititiate a beginning to a solution for all problems.

In all this, the former Georgia governor was quite honest.

He opened up to our enemies and he closed the hatch down on our friends.

A man almost as young as Senator Obama, Jimmy Carter also thought that having talks with our enemies could solve — would solve — must solve every problem.

He criticized our friends notably in the Nicaraguan government and the Iranian government, talking tough with them. Those allies were sometimes distasteful allies, but in an imperfect world, they were America's allies nonetheless.

Thanks in great part to Jimmy Carter, those friends were overthrown. And in both cases, they were replaced not only with régimes that were inimical to America and to the West, but with régimes far more repressive and with far worse human rights records than those the criticized friends had reigned over.

The most conspicuous of these was Iran. And now Iran is in worse shape than ever. It is still a dictatorship — it is, in fact, a worse dictatorship than under the Shah — and it is now America's enemy and the enemy of the free world. And — need I tell you — it's in the process of getting nukes!

The Jimmy Carter version of foreign affairs has been tried before, my friends, and it doesn't work. It must be pushed out of the body politic.

It's a based on wishful thinking where no hard decisions must ever be taken, and all we must do is elect a young handsome candidate with a winning grin, and all will be well.

Not only does the Jimmy Carter version of foreign policy not work, but it is actually counter-productive. My friends, we do not need another four years like the Jimmy Carter era.

Spanish Foreign Minister Sees Syria as Home

Probably because it's a backwater and a cruel and retrograde dictatorship.

In an interview, Moratinos told Syrian TV: "Were it not for Syria's positive and helpful participation, the Doha Agreement and the steps that followed it would never have been achieved... Europe recognizes Syria's status and role, and that is why we are now seeing so many European foreign ministers lining up to visit Syria. As a matter of fact, all E.U. member states have good and positive relations with Syria."

On Spain's relations with Syria, Moratinos said: "There is nothing to prevent [us] from developing these relations, especially in this new era... In 2010, Spain will assume the E.U. presidency, and we must strengthen the strategic relations between Spain and Syria and include Syria in the E.U. framework. We share a long history and a rich culture, and there are many [potential] areas for cooperation between Spain and Syria

.Maybe this is more of that "telling people whatever they want to hear... maybe it's a sort of desperate latent desire to become a superpower for no particular reason, having had no particular role - especially in the making of any sort of just and durable peace for anyone, anywhere.

Maybe we can call this the Spanish fastasy pole.

"The unipolar world [order] has come to an end, as I have noticed in all my diplomatic activities. I have seen that countries and regions [now] shape their fate by themselves, without having to receive permission from Brussels, Washington or any other capital. This is a good [development], and its impact on the world will be a positive one."

Oddly enough, in this case the appeal comes at the expense of the Lebanese and Israelis - two societies that actually DO share a value systemn that resembles those of the Europeans... but what does THAT matter when you're pandering to an audience?

Tea-leafing

Hmmm, watching a live presser from Paris in which the bigs of the EU are announcing the latest governmental plan to "tackle" the current economic situation.

Plenty of praise for President Sarkozy, as to be expected for the host and current holder of the EU Rota Presidency.

Oddly enough, from a European perspective, Chancellor Merkel is not on the dais and has not been mentioned except in passing. One would think that an issue of paramount EU-importance would include the leader of the largest country/economy on the continent.

It will be interesting to see/hear/read why she was absent.

Reds 2.0

Not to be out-done by those hacks at the Guardian, Ellen Barry of the IHT lays it on thick in beatifying the previous death throes of that loving, caring, and simpler communal form of existence, the Soviet:

Their faces registered grief: They had lost Russia. They were dying off themselves. On the sidewalk, Valentina Ivanova, 56, was wiping away tears. "We once were a great country," she said. "Now we are divided into the rich and the poor."

They were poor, the people marching in front of us. The posters read, "No more increase in the price of food!" and "Revolution will return!" and "Capitalism = Death." Igor Mishenev, marching at the end of the procession, described Russia's post-Soviet history as a long heartbreak: The life expectancy for men is 59; the birth rate is half what it was in the late 1980s.

A small portion may have become wealthy, he said, but millions suffer. "All our slogans," he said. "They all came true."

Oddly enough, no mention of the gulag, mass famine, Red Terror, or millions dead can be found in the article. Then again, that really isn't the point now is it?

Hypocrity as Heroism

Leftists, while always willing to accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being obsessed with Soviets, Communism, or some feature of the past, can't seem to realize that the past is something they're still living in and clinging to as if it will lend them comfort. Worse still, it's romanticized to forget the millions murdered by the shining lights of the left in the past: Hitler, Mao, Stalin, etal...

That never seems to stop them from living in the past themselves.

The men and women of the International Brigades came from across Europe and beyond, and from all sorts of backgrounds too. In one of the Manchester Guardian's regular lists of those killed, the name of Jim Foley, "an old member of the Irish Republican Army", is followed by that of Christopher St John Sprigg, "the author of a number of detective novels and books on aeronautics".

Winston Churchill's nephew Esmond Romilly cycled across France in order to fight, one of over 2,000 people from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth who joined the Brigades. Many were communists; all were driven by a loathing of fascism. They confronted it out of choice when Britain and France were still trying to appease Hitler.

They were heroes, but not treated as such, attacked in rightwing British papers as mercenaries (the Guardian published plaintive denials from the frontline) and neglected after Spain fell in 1939.

A little criticism from the beggining of the last century, and they still haven't gotten over it. Amazing. If the author had any idea what the scale, persistence, and nature the slander that his fellow travellers emit reflexively... Even though an individual's choice is the last thing that the left's world view would accept. ALL is for the guided greater good of the state and the Jesus-like sacrifice that whatever el lider type they have to lionize at the moment has made for them.

All hands on deck...

....for the coming apocalypse and how to solve the most pressing problems facing man-kind:

Bars are to be banned from offering free alcohol to women and free wine and beer tastings will be curbed under a new system of government restrictions to cut public drunkenness.

There will also be rules to limit "happy hour" offers that encourage speed drinking and soft drinks will have to be sold at the same discount during promotions. Wine in restaurants will have to be served in glasses with marked measures.

The proposals, drafted by the Home Office and the Department of Health, seek to transform social attitudes towards drinking by breaking the association between drink and sexual, financial and social success.

The nanny-statists and extreme environmentalists will no doubt have a hard time straight-facing the nonsense they peddle should the current slouch indeed slump long and hard.

(Update: As we said, quite hard to straight-face)