[HT:YR]
Shortly after the London Tube bombings in 2005, a reader of Tim Blair, The Sydney Daily Telegraph's columnist wag, sent him a note-perfect parody of a typical newspaper headline:
"British Muslims Fear Repercussions Over Tomorrow's Train Bombing."Indeed. And so it goes. This time round – Mumbai – it was the Associated Press that filed a story about how Muslims "found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion"
At its annual convention in October 2001, the Society of Professional Journalists issued “Diversity Guidelines,” that instructed reporters and editors to, “Avoid using word combinations such as ‘Islamic terrorist’ or ‘Muslim extremist’ that are misleading because they link whole religions to criminal activity.”
Let’s see: In the past 30 years, the overwhelming majority of acts of terrorism were committed by Muslims. Most terrorist groups have names like jihad-this and Islamic-that. Terrorists regularly quote the Koran’s kill-the-infidels verses. (“O True Believers, when you encounter the unbeliever, strike off their heads!”) Al-Qaeda and company tell us that their goal is to advance the global jihad . Those inciting inter-religious violence have titles like sheikh, imam and mullah.
But linking Islam to terrorism is “misleading”? [snip]
And it's getting worse: if the U.N. has its way, soon, a commentary like the one you’re reading will be against international law...
[Recommended > ]
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A BRISBANE Islamic school has banned the national anthem at assemblies and sacked the teacher who asked for it to be played, The Courier-Mail can reveal. Australian International Islamic College teacher Pravin Chand was sacked after he proposed students sing Advance Australia Fair.
The song was ruled to be against the "Islamic view and ethos".
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A Russian warship passes through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II. Is it a mere annoyance or the beginning of a challenge in America's backyard? Once, the Panama Canal was considered a triumph of American technology and a symbol of American power. Today it's a waterway managed by a Chinese company with links to the People's Liberation Army through which Russian warships pass...
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Beijing - Local officials in China have been accused of using forcible psychiatric treatment to silence critics, it emerged yesterday, amid reports that at least 18 people bringing complaints against authorities were held in a mental hospital in Shandong province against their will. Authorities in Xintai district committed people who had pursued grievances ranging from police brutality to property disputes, according to the Beijing News. Some were force-fed drugs.
[Where's Pelosi refusing to trade with China (vs. Columbia} due to human rights concerns?]
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[UK]
Sales of electric cars have fallen by more than half this year, according to figures released two days after the Government’s climate change advisory body predicted a huge increase.
Only 156 electric cars were sold from January to October, compared with 374 for the same period last year.
Nice Car Company, one of the two main British distributors of electric cars, went into administration yesterday. Set up in 2006, the company had been selling an all-electric version of the French-made Aixam Mega. It had also planned to bring a range of new models to market by the end of the year.
However, sales have dropped to fewer than one car a week...
["cars nobody wants"? These are they - and our government is about to force our auto makers to produce them regardless...]
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Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said lawmakers will attach several conditions for Detroit automakers in return for $25 billion in federal aid. Frank said Sunday that automakers will be required to submit to Congress their plans for future economic viability and environmental efficiency...
[this new religion will lead to mass economic martyrdom...]
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Australia-bound air passengers will be hit hard by the British government's environmental impact tax, with those taking long-haul flights to be slugged by a new departure tax system.
Those flying furthest and having the biggest environmental impact will pay more, with travellers going to Australia forking out nearly A$200 in passenger tax in two years' time...
[a mechanism to tax, and so control, all activity. If you're a 'social engineering' fan, it's brilliant. {if into personal choice and liberties, not so much}]
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Obama's new budget chief, Peter Orszag, has expressed doubts about Obama's plan to spend billions on alternative energy schemes. In his previous job as head of the Congressional Budget Office, Orszag wrote a report in January saying that some forms of alternative-energy spending "are totally impractical" for stimulating the economy and others "could end up making the economic situation worse" by adding to the federal debt.
The specifics of the spending are crucial. Orszag's report said that grants to develop alternative-energy sources — which were one part of a Democratic stimulus package blocked by Republicans this fall — won't help spur the economy. And research money "is a transfer (of funds) to Ph.D. students," Reinhart said... [snip]
At a meeting Tuesday on energy with business and environment groups, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said an economic stimulus bill now being crafted could devote up to $100 billion to alternative-energy spending...
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In the social circles of the New York Times editorialists, it's OK to have one kid. Two is pushing the envelope. Three or more is déclassé, and a threat to the survival of the planet.
That being so, there's really no reason to let any car bigger than a Prius be built. Doing so just encourages the unenlightened to overbreed. And so it is that in its editorial of today, the Grey-but-barren Lady suggests that as a condition of the Detroit bailout, "Congress could consider demanding that Detroit simply phase out S.U.V.’s and vans by a certain date."
[and that's the defining difference with the Green Religion; adherence is compulsory {come to think of it, I can think of a 2nd religion with the same mindset... maybe we should refer to it as the Green Global Caliphate ]
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During the Presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama executed a series of extraordinarily successful "stealth strategies," enabling him to secure the support of key core groups without alienating the larger public. There were others, but perhaps his greatest stealth strategy was his promise to lower taxes for 95 percent of Americans, while quietly assuring his more liberal supporters that he'd let the Bush tax cuts expire -- which, without fanfare, would amount to a huge tax increase for all tax-paying Americans.
However, none of these stealth strategies holds a candle to President-Elect Obama's most brilliant stealth strategy for implementing "change." This involves not just a change in laws, but a change in the way laws are made and passed. This "change" is as simple as it is revolutionary: capitalizing on the economic crisis, Obama has challenged Congress to enact his near-trillion-dollar package of social changes -- disguised as a comprehensive stimulus/jobs bill -- and to have that legislation waiting to be signed immediately after his January 20th inaugural.
In the name of stopping the economy's free-fall, through a traditionally-liberal massive infusion of jobs, President-Elect Obama is also adroitly side-stepping Congress's time-honored system of passing legislation. By lumping all of his major new-initiative programs into an omnibus stimulus/jobs bill which has virtually no chance of not passing, these sweeping new programs will immediately become part of the American system of governance. All 'without need' of further hearings -- ensuring that there will never be any chance for Americans to speak out against these changes...
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You are sitting in a doctor's waiting room with eight other sick patients, and the nurse announces: The doctor will see all of you now -- at the same time. That's how the Boston Globe recently described 'shared visits' that are being used to cope with the long waits now customary in Massachusetts.
The group session consists mostly of hearing other people's complaints, while the doctor dishes out advice in front of all the patients. Privacy and modesty are gone, but you can pick up the germs of the other sick patients in the room with you. One doctor observed that
"this is not the type of medical care anyone with a modicum of intelligence would want."Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama are planning that the new Democratic Congress' first order of business will be to extend the Massachusetts health-care mistake to all 50 states. Like other legislative rush-acts (i.e., the 2007 amnesty bill and the 2008 bailouts), details are currently withheld to avoid giving members of Congress and the public adequate time to analyze the bill before the vote is called. [sound familiar {prior Brief}]
WASHINGTON - Recent data suggests that many borrowers who received help with mortgage modifications earlier this year tended to re-default on their payments, a top U.S. banking regulator said on Monday. "The results, I confess, were somewhat surprising, and not in a good way," said John Dugan, head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in prepared remarks for a U.S. housing forum.
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Washington - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled opposition to extending central bank loans to automakers, saying that would fall outside its traditional duties and suggesting options including a bankruptcy reorganization. [that's what it's for]
(Snip) It’s ''unclear'' whether the companies have strong enough collateral for the Fed to lend to them,
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More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took ISI's basic 33-question test on civic literacy and more than 1,700 people failed, with the average score 49 percent, or an "F." Elected officials scored even lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent and only 0.8 percent (or 21) of all surveyed earned an "A."
Even more startling is the fact that over twice as many people know Paula Abdul was a judge on American Idol than know that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" comes from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Other results from several basic survey questions:
• Some 30 percent of elected officials do not know that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
• Almost 40 percent of all respondents falsely believe the president has the power to declare war.
• Some 40 percent of those with a bachelor's degree do not know business profit equals revenue minus expenses.
• Only 54 percent with a bachelor's degree correctly define free enterprise as a system in which individuals create, exchange and control goods and resources.
• About 21 percent of Americans falsely believe that the Federal Reserve can increase or decrease government spending.
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"There is an epidemic of economic, political and historical ignorance in our country," says Josiah Bunting, III, chairman of ISI's National Civic Literacy Board. "It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned. How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don't understand the American experience? Colleges can, and should play an important role in curing this national epidemic of ignorance."
Big labor unions have destroyed countless American industries, including the Detroit automakers who are now begging Congress for a bailout. But these unions don't just control factories and assembly lines. Our public education system is a slow-motion car crash, driven the same union special interests that brought the auto companies to the brink of bankruptcy.
Compared to other developed countries, the United States has the worst educational quality per dollar spent on schools, ranking 18th in reading and 28th in math. Millions of American children are being shortchanged by dysfunctional schools, but efforts for education reform are invariably stopped by powerful union interests.
This insightful new video shows how teachers unions protect bad and incompetent teachers, block school reform efforts, and use their members' dues money to support a radical left-wing agenda.
The men from Detroit have come to Washington this week to make another pitch for a taxpayer rescue. Meanwhile, in the other American auto industry you rarely read about, car makers are gaining market share and adjusting amid the sales slump, without seeking a cent from the government, says the Wall Street Journal.
The root of this other industry's success is no secret, says the Journal. To put it concisely, the transplants operate under conditions imposed by the free market. Detroit lives on Fantasy Island. Consider labor costs:
Think the $25 billion is to help save the Big Three automakers and preserve manufacturing facilities essential to national security? Think again.(Snip)In fact, Tesla Motors, a struggling San Jose start-up manufacturer of electric cars in Feinstein's back yard, has already applied for $400 million in EISA loans to build a new plant for making a luxury $60,000, battery-powered family sedan.
So while some members of Congress tut-tut Detroit executives for wasting money on private jets, Washington is entertaining taxpayer-financed loans for an automaker that caters to Silicon Valley millionaires... [snip]
But a letter from U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., on Thanksgiving Eve makes clear what few taxpayers know: The billions in auto loans are a giant honey pot intended for any auto manufacturer in the nation. [snip]
Is its federal loan application seed money -- or bailout money? Auto analyst James N. Hall sees a grim future for the company: "If the market wants (electric cars) in the number Tesla is talking about," he told Business Week, "a larger auto company will bury them on cost."
[I.e., it's just another component of the Great Green Scam being perpetrated against us from every direction. Serious/big auto makers will make them in mass when the public wants them, and not before: all money prior to that change is waisted.]
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CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Nein didn’t have to come back here. He served in Iraq twice before and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions as a squad leader under fire. If anyone could have gotten a pass, it was Nein. But he wouldn’t take it.
"This is my job," he said. "This is what I chose to do, and it's what I'll continue to strive to do. I love what I do." [snip]Under heavy fire, Nein and his squad put themselves and their vehicles between the insurgents and the convoy. Nein and Army National Guard Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester led a counterattack that saw 27 insurgents killed, seven captured and no deaths in their unit. Two soldiers were wounded.
"I probably didn't have to be here this time, but I don't think that I would have missed it," Nein said. "I feel honored to be a part of this."READ MORE
“Even in hard times, if we can find a way to help support our troops, we do,” Paul Holton, founder and president of Operation Give, said. “Something as simple as a Christmas stocking is easy for people to handle. They stuff these stockings, knowing their little act of kindness is going to improve troop morale.”Operation Give, a Salt Lake City-based troop-support group, has had a “steady stream” of Christmas stockings coming in from all over the nation since they announced the event in the media and on their Web site earlier this year, Holton said.
[HT:BS]
“Terrorism is only as important as you let it be,” wrote syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer last week. [see prior pieces quip re: downgrading the threat] Tthere is one situation where it is almost impossible for policymakers to overreact: terrorists possessing unconventional weapons.
“Unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013,” states a report to be issued later this week by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism, a Congressionally sponsored panel. “America’s margin of safety is shrinking, not growing.”Once they get them, however, the odds shift dramatically in their favor. On a typical day, people successfully smuggle 21,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. On a typical day, 31,000 trucks, 6,500 rail cars, 1,200 buses, 50,000 cargo containers, and 334,000 cars cross into America. On a typical day, 134,000 pedestrians enter our country legally and another 14,500 people do so illegally.
Ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to review the question of membership for Ukraine and Georgia, leaders of the two former Soviet republics are stepping up appeals for a positive decision, but with little signs for optimism. (Snip) But few western European countries are expected to risk antagonizing Russia, a major source of oil and natural gas which has shown itself willing and capable of using its energy supplies as a political lever.
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[our insane energy policy empowers our enemies the world over. Not to worry, NATO is working on some important things...]
The lamb busters... Nato investigates claim that US pilots 'massacred sheep'
NATO is investigating claims that scores of sheep were massacred by American Apache helicopters after being mistaken for Taliban fighters. Nomad farmers in Laghman province, eastern Afghanistan, claim US pilots killed and wounded 140 sheep during a botched counter-terrorism operation. (Snip) A Nato spokesman said the Americans denied being involved in last Tuesday’s shooting.
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Kevin Rudd cools on carbon targets
Federal cabinet is finalising a cautious emissions trading scheme offering higher compensation to big trade-exposed polluters and a ''soft'' start in pollution-reduction targets. With concern growing in the Rudd cabinet about the emissions trading scheme's potential to exacerbate already rising unemployment, particularly in crucial marginal regional seats (Snip) the Government will offer significant changes to its original formula offering wider compensation to trade-exposed emissions-intensive industries...
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Merkel: Jobs More Important Than Climate Change
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been keen to promote herself as a tough actor on climate change, but with a new EU climate deal in the making, she's issued a new caveat: It must not jeopardize German jobs [American jobs, ok.]. With the recession tightening its grip on the German economy, Merkel is betting that job reassurance is more important to the average worker than being a pioneer in tackling climate change. [apostate!]
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[Evidently climate realists aren't the only one who can be, well, climate realists {this is going to get confusing}]
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For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law, says the Associated Press (AP).
The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year; he said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them.EPA spokesman Nick Butterfield said the fee was proposed for farms with livestock operations that now* fall under federal Clean Air Act provisions.
If you needed any more proof that liberal media members don't give a darn about the state of the economy or the American people, and instead just want to raise taxes, you got it Sunday when Tom Brokaw advocated gas prices, which have plummeted recently, be kept at $4 a gallon with government keeping the added cost.
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The failure of American media to properly vet the political beliefs of Barack Obama during the just concluded presidential campaign was on full display Sunday when the president-elect made clear just how much of a socialist he really is, and did so with nary a challenge from "Meet the Press" moderator Tom Brokaw.
BARACK OBAMA: Well, I think what Joe meant is exactly what I described which is that if, if our entire economic policy is premised on the notion that greed is good and what's in it for me, it turns out that that's not good for anybody. It's not good for the wealthy, it's not good for the poor, and it's not good for the vast majority in the middle.
Normally, I'm for keeping church and state out of each other's business as much as humanly possible, mostly to protect religion from government intrusion and idolatry, but also to protect us from zealots who think Jesus wears an American flag lapel pin.
But lately, I'm beginning to think that Christians [and some of us atheists] who are complaining about the "War on God in America" have a point."There's a terrible movement to rewrite our history and obscure our faith,"
J. Randy Forbes, a Republican congressman from Virginia, told the National Review this week.
Take the new $621 million capitol Visitor Center, which opened this week to mixed reviews. Among the critics were Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who several weeks ago noticed that something was missing from a center's replica of the House Speaker's rostrum. The words "In God We Trust" -- engraved over the actual rostrum in 1962 -- were not included in the replica.The center identified "E. Pluribus Unum" (rather than "In God We Trust") as the official national motto.
Displays deleted these words from Article 3 of the Northwest Ordinance; "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind..."; and the words "in the Year of Our Lord" from Article 7 of the Constitution. [snip]"This is an intentional misrepresentation of our nation's real history and an offensive refusal to honor America's God-given blessings,"
DeMint told James Rosen of McClatchy Newspapers. DeMint and others say this is only the latest in a series of attempts to erase God from public life in Washington.
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[HT:TK]
The growth of transnational gangs has been a dangerous side effect of our failure to control the U.S.-Mexico border and our tolerance for high levels of illegal immigration. Transnational immigrant gangs are spreading out across the United States, researchers found MS-13 activity in 48 states.
The aliens arrested under Operation Community Shield (ICE) collectively represent a significant menace to the public, says CIS. The vast majority (80 percent) have committed serious crimes in addition to immigrant violations, and a large number (40 percent) have violent criminal histories.
ICE gang arrests have occurred nationwide, with the largest numbers made by the offices in San Diego, Atlanta, San Francisco and Dallas:
It is almost commonplace to accuse someone of being like Hitler or acting Nazi-like. (Googling "bush hitler" yields 1,300,000 hits, for example.) Yet you are considered beyond the pale, and possibly insane, to even suggest that someone might harbor Marxist sympathies. To question someone's dedication to traditional American or merely Western ideals = calling him communist = being Joe McCarthy = we now know you're nuts.
Case number one is Representative Michele Bachman. She merely suggested that the press should look more intently to see if some Democrats and Barack Obama in particular harbor anti-American attitudes. The headline at the Huffington Post? "Michele Bachman Channels McCarthy. Obama Very Anti-American. Congressional Witch Hunt Needed." Contributions to Bachman's political rival poured in.
Of course Rep. Bachman neither called Obama "very anti-American" nor called for a congressional investigation of any kind. But in a world where facts no longer matter, so what? (You can read the transcript of her Hardball interview here.) Even the Republican Party abandoned her, until it found out the controversy was bringing contributions into her campaign like crazy. Amazingly, she survived her re-election bid.
[thanks to those of you that joined me in responding to the influx of >1M$ from Moveon.org to Michelle's opponent by donating to her website - it was a near thing. Read why this topic has moved from the lunatic fringe toward a rational, potential concern - Highly Recommended > ]
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OTTAWA -- The Carleton University Students' Association has voted to drop cystic fibrosis as the beneficiary of its annual Shinearama fundraiser, arguing that the illness is not "inclusive" enough. Cystic fibrosis "has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men" said the motion read to student councillors, who voted almost unanimously in favour of it.
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On Thursday’s "CBS Early Show," co-host Harry Smith talked discussed the Obama transition with Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer, who observed: "...a lot of people said this is going to be a very extremist president and all that, that he's a very liberal Democrat, but as we have seen in appointment after appointment, he's hewing to the center. He's picking a bunch of flaming moderates here, when you come right down t it.
In reality, Obama’s pick for secretary of state, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, has a lifetime American Conservative Union voting score of 9 [out of 100]. Obama’s pick for commerce secretary, New Mexico Governor and former Congressman Bill Richardson, had an ACU score of 18 while in Congress. Obama’s chief of staff, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, has a score of 16.
One would think that "a bunch of flaming moderates" would have ACU ratings around 50, voting liberal only about half the time, not 80% of the time or more.
[the old ploy: succeed in labeling them 'moderates', and anyone who disagrees with them are 'extremists' to be dismissed...]
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[ACTION ITEM]
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement will expand bilateral trade by lowering tariffs on a wide variety of products. Some Canadian agricultural products -- including wheat, barley and lentils -- and many manufactured goods will enter Colombia tariff-free immediately. Running in the reverse direction, Colombian producers will find a more open Canadian market and Canada's consumers will have more choice at better prices.
The agreement will also give new legal protections to investment and improved market access in services. It's what you call a win-win. But not for American exporters, who compete with Canadians in Colombia. Because Speaker Nancy Pelosi has blocked a vote in Congress on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, American goods will automatically be more expensive than those from Canada by the amount of the existing tariff.
Her protectionist stance has helped open markets for everyone other than the United States and harming what Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper "one of South America's most historic democracies improve the human rights and security situation in their country."
[because American unions don't want the competition. Sound familiar?]
READ MORE"PASS THE COLUMBIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT"
US President mailto:president@whitehouse.gov
Obama transition http://www.change.gov/page/s/contact
Your Senator http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Your Congressman https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
Barbara Boxer web mail http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm?CFID=9716973&CFTOKEN=89336911
Dianne Feinstein webmail http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe
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Strip shows to get tax breaks
The Hague - The Dutch Supreme Court has decided sex shows should be thought of as theatre - at least when it comes to taxes. The Netherlands' highest court has ruled that a peep show owner is eligible to pay sales tax at a lower rate because his establishments are a form of theatre. (Snip) The judges say in their ruling on Friday that because the strippers are on a stage being watched by a paying public their acts are theatrical.
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[HT:MD]
The military Friday shot down a mock enemy missile, employing a synchronized network of sensors in what officials called the largest and most complex test of the missile defense system to date.
Nice - France's President Nicolas Sarkozy says putting a missile defence system in Europe would do nothing to help European security. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev is arguing against any unilateral moves such as the US plan to put missile defence facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.
[this insane attitude is a direct result of our equally insane energy policy, which hands Russia - by virtue of our lack of energy competition - the means to blackmail Europe into whatever it wants]
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Tehran, Iran - The Iranian navy has test-fired a sea-to-sea missile during a six-day naval maneuver in the Sea of Oman, the country's state radio reported Sunday. The report quoted Adm. Ghasem Rostamabadi, the maneuver's spokesman, who said that the mid-range missile was launched from a battleship late Saturday (Snip)
The report did not elaborate on the range or give other details about the missile, dubbed Nasr-2 or Victory-2.
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You may recall the UN's 2001 "Conference on Racism" held in Durban, South Africa that devolved into such a horrifically anti-Semitic free for all that mild mannered Colin Powell ordered the entire American delegation to walk out in disgust.
Claudia Rosett writing in Forbes asks if you're ready for a rerun?
As in 2001, the U.N. pretext is to end racism. Or, in U.N. lingo--take a deep breath -- the aim is "the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."Get a load of the lineup of vice chairs on the prep committee for the shindig coming up in April of 2009:
Sounds great, right? Except the U.N.'s Orwellian twist, once again, is that this conference is configured not to end racism, but to stir up hatred. In a series of preparatory meetings over the past 16 months, the organizers have already taken aim at Israel as their prime target. Increasingly, the organizers are also priming the conference for a broader attack on other democratic nations, especially the U.S. Some are pushing for a U.N.-backed gag order that would enlist Islamic anti-blasphemy laws to stifle free speech worldwide. [snip]
Iran, Russia, Pakistan and Cameroon (which, according to New York-based Freedom House, still tolerates slavery in its northern reaches). Cuba--where wholesale repression includes the additional frill of job discrimination against Afro-Cubans--fills two seats at this Durban II table, which features both a Cuban vice-chair and Cuba as 'Rapporteur'.I once wrote that the UN is a useless organization because the entire body engages in a children's game of make believe. They are not serious about anything except maintaining their perks and their ability to avoid paying parking tickets in New York.
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What if Christians demanded the following:
1. If anyone around Christians at work or school eats pork then they would get fired ...
2. All public schools must have several regularly scheduled 15 minute breaks throughout the school day for Christians to roll pray for revival ...
3. Public schools must become sex-segregated so that we, the washed, and sanctified ...
4. Any and all the stupid, violent or sexually weird stuff that misguided Christians have done and are doing is to be scrubbed from the historical record ...
5. Footbaths are to be installed in whichever universities my brethren and I attend ...
6. Any video games that that might accidentally offend Christians must be 86’ed ...
7. We must receive exemptions from the IRS from paying interest on back taxes because that’s against Christianity ...
8. When the Christian church accidentally yields up a violent vocal dillweed from our ranks who hates America and is on the State Department’s terrorist watch list, instead of throwing that loopy bastard in prison we demand that the U.S. Army make him a sergeant.
9. Encourage the Christian high school student who wants to assassinate our President by giving him the “Most Likely to Become a Martyr” award during graduation.
10. Make students in the public school system who don’t believe in Jesus memorize portions of the Gospel of John, adopt Christian names and shout in the classroom, “I love Jesus, yes I do. I love Jesus. How ‘bout you?!”
Would any of points 1- 10 tick you secularists, atheists and agnostics off?
If Christians ever attempted any of the above they would be righteously ridiculed, castigated and condemned by the MSM, school administrators, cartoonists, talk radio, the blogosphere, Rosie, the coven on the View, religious leaders, the ACLU, Alec Baldwin and president elect Barack Obama.
Heck, Christians can’t even say “merry Christmas,” cheer on traditional marriage, or champion the life of an unborn baby without being called Hitler, haters of humanity and intolerant bigots of other people’s values.
But Islam can...
[Recommended > ]
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Russia resisted pressure from the U.S. and other nations to allow international monitors into the breakaway province of South Ossetia, which has been controlled by Russia since the war.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said "Russia has an obligation ... to let in international observers" that can monitor the situation in the separatist region.
"I'm afraid they are quite reluctant for observers to be able to see what actually happened, how much destruction the policy of ethnic cleansing brought in this region,"READ MORE
But the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, or SED as it is called, also left many large issues unresolved and served to highlight tensions between the world's biggest economy and the world's largest developing one.
For the Americans, they include efforts to open China's financial sector to U.S. securities firms and longstanding tensions over government control of the yuan, whose weakness against the dollar has helped fuel a yawning trade gap between the two countries.
Some economists say the government is intentionally pushing down its currency, a move that would help Chinese exporters by lowering prices on goods they sell overseas. Others say it's designed to warn the United States against pushing China too hard on trade, currency and other economic issues.
[being a totalitarian regime, China can, and does, use its economy as a weapon]
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[HT:JG]
Despite the apocalyptic fears ginned up by the warmist cult, The UK Guardian reports:
This year is set to be the coolest since 2000, according to a preliminary estimate of global average temperature that is due to be released next week....But don't worry - the faithful are not moved. They cite long term trends, perhaps thinking that the discredited "hockey stick graph" hasn't been discredited. The fact is that historic data on temperature in the pre-satellite era depends on thermometers that usually are near human settlements, which have increased in temperature more than the areas remote from human activity.
Poznan, Poland - The U.N. climate change organization has said the world's poor countries will need $130 billion dollars a year by 2030 to help them adapt to global warming and curb their carbon emissions.
The U.N. says rich countries need to increase their payments over the next 20 years to six times the funds available now, which is about $21 billion. The figures were presented Thursday during a conference of 190 nations on a new climate treaty.
[the largest scam in the history of the solar system]
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Washington - President-elect Barack Obama and leaders in Congress are fashioning a plan to pour billions of dollars into a jobs program to jolt the economy and lay the groundwork for a more energy-efficient economy. The details and cost of the so-called green-jobs program are still unclear, but a senior Obama aide, (Snip) said it would probably include the weatherizing of hundreds of thousands of homes, and the installation of ''smart meters'' to monitor and reduce home energy use...
[big brother is coming, camouflaged in 'green'...]
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OPEC's president says oil markets should brace for big output cuts when the cartel meets Dec. 17. OPEC President Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's minister for energy and mines, told the Associated Press that a consensus has emerged among OPEC producers that a ''significant reduction'' is warranted by the current price slide.
[advanced warning of our continuing victimization by this extortion cartel {and funding mechanism to our enemies the world over}. If only we had our own resources to develop.]
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GM, Ford, Chrysler and Congress seem to be inching toward some sort of bailout that would give Washington unprecedented control over these major American companies. This is no way to help Detroit. Congressional Democrats are desperate to bail out the Big Three — but even more desperate to bail out the automakers' unions. After all,the UAW spent more than $11 million in the last election cycle to elect Democrats. They're owed.
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Times of emergency produce demands for action, and Barack Obama does not need to be urged twice. (Snip) Obama's plan is expected to call for a host of remedies — including extended unemployment benefits, aid to state governments, more infrastructure spending... [snip]
It brings to mind the character in Stephen Leacock's humorous novel "Gertrude the Governess," who "flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions."
[but government taxing and spending does bring more power to government...]
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As Obama promises massive public works spending, it is worthwhile looking at Japan, which has tried to use massive public works spending to lift its economy out of the doldrums for the better part of two decades.
The problem always is that when politics is in command of investment decisions, some useless projects get built at huge cost, while more pressing needs get ignored. After trying to preserve existing corporations for about a decade (known in retrospect as the "lost decade"), Japan finally bit the bullet and let major banks and other companies fail and be absorbed.
That has helped it recover, but the economy still relies far too much on government spending, which hasn't really accomplished the goal of boosting economic growth...
[when government spends money it has only two possible sources for it: robbing it from taxpayers/the private sector, or printing it afresh, making every ones' dollar less valuable. FDR showed us that massive government spending is exactly the wrong thing to do now - yet here we go...]
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Is the U.S. really about to become bailout nation? I sure hope not. Using Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a reorganizing tool is a much better idea than federal money. The airlines have used it. Steelmakers have used it. Retailers have used it. I don’t know why we didn’t use it for Lehman and the other banks. It’s a matter of first principles — and I’m talking about market principles. Bailout nation puts us on the wrong road... [snip]
Lower tax rates will boost asset values and reward successful producers and investors. That’s what we need. A $700 billion big-spending package merely moves money from the private sector to the government and then to a government-targeted bailout. That’s not growth. That won’t create new factories or new technologies or new risk-taking. Permanently lower tax rates will.
This is the cutting-edge issue. And I sure hope the Republican party in Washington and around the country gets on this message. There is an alternative to bailout nation. It’s called supply-side tax cuts. That will jolt the economy back toward growth.
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Socialized Medicine: "Consensus" has become one of the scariest words in America. It means officials have reached agreement on how to fleece the public. And it's being used in the same breath as "universal health care."(Snip)The alleged accord, says the Times, has been reached by "leading" business groups, medical facilities, physicians, unions, insurance companies, "senior lawmakers" and "members of the new Obama administration." [snip]
In other words, Democrats and Democratic Party supporters who will rule the capital for at least two years beginning in January. Meaningful Republican support, if it even exists, is not necessary. If there were a mere one or two from the GOP who had a modest role in this latest push for universal health care, the media would be calling it a "bipartisan" effort.
Before this juggernaut imposes its will on the American people, there are some questions that need to be asked and honestly answered. Who are the uninsured? How many are there? How long have they been without coverage? And most importantly, why? [snip]
A recent study found that only 38% of Americans agree the government — in reality, the taxpayers — should "definitely be responsible for health care." While there might be a consensus in Washington, there isn't one in the rest of the country.
Washington should also show why it is morally acceptable to make a portion of the population pay for the medical treatment of others, and to point to exactly which provision in the Constitution allows the national government to establish a health care system...
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As President-elect Obama's apparent choice for health and human services secretary and as White House health care czar, it is a fair guess that Tom Daschle's view on health care legislation may be decisive.
So it is worth reading his book "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis," in which the gracious former Senate leader lays out without equivocation both the policy he recommends and the tactics for how to pass it.
On Page 179, he writes, "The Federal Health Board wouldn't be a regulatory agency, but its recommendations would have teeth because all federal health programs would have to abide by them." But here is the kicker: Although his board technically would have no say on the 68 percent of health care that is provided through the private sector, at the bottom of Page 179, Daschle modestly adds:"Congress could opt to go further with the Board's recommendations. It could, for example, link the tax exclusion for health insurance to insurance that complies with the Board's recommendation."
Those last 19 words would spell the end of independent private-sector health care in America...
[this is important to know because we won't be told about it until after legislation passes... - Recommended > ]
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Here's an interesting quote from today's Boston Globe:
Men are losing jobs at far greater rates than women as the industries they dominate, such as manufacturing, construction, and investment services, are hardest hit by the downturn. Some 1.1 million fewer men are working in the United States than there were a year ago, according to the Labor Department. By contrast, 12,000 more women are working.We will not see congratulatory triumphant letters coming from such pressure groups because their vested interest (as is true of all interest groups) is to perpetuate the view that a major problem (environment, global warming, you name it) not only still exists but is actually worsening.
This gender gap is the product of both the nature of the current recession and the long-term shift in the US economy from making goods, traditionally the province of men, to providing services, in which women play much larger roles, economists said. For example, men account for 70 percent of workers in manufacturing, which shed more than 500,000 jobs over the past year. Healthcare, in which nearly 80 percent of the workers are women, added more than 400,000 jobs.
[history]
Starting in the late 1920s, Stalin set out to collectivize and hobble the Soviet peasantry. His aim was to crush "the peasantry of the U.S.S.R. as a whole, and the Ukrainian nation," wrote Robert Conquest in his groundbreaking book, "The Harvest of Sorrow." The result:
[UK]
A grandfather was left humiliated after being handed a £60 litter fine when his cigarette was knocked out of his hand as he walked past a scuffle between police and shoplifters. (Snip) But the pensioner did not have time to bend down and pick it up before a council warden pounced on him and hit him the fixed penalty for littering...
[he inevitable evolution of government social engineering...]
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California
Supporters of gay marriage have reacted with anger at the passage of California Proposition 8, which amended the California state constitution to provide that only marriages that fit the traditional definition (one man, one woman) will be recognized. The resulting protest movement has devolved into anti-Mormon bigotry which has been met with silence by liberal civil rights groups. The anti-Mormon fervor has become so nasty, and is growing at such a pace, that it is time to speak out against the "Mormon boycott."
While the web is filled with hate speech by fringe elements directed at many groups, the anti-Mormon efforts are openly embraced and promoted by a wide range of anti-Prop. 8 groups. Anti-Mormon hate speech no longer is on the fringe, it is at the heart of the post-election anti-Prop. 8 campaign. The examples are too numerous to list completely. This sampling reflects the breadth and increasing scope of post-election anti-Mormon activities: [snip]
What is most disturbing is that there has been complete silence from groups that normally defend religious freedom. ...
[ah but 'hate speech' protections only protect some kinds of hate. Recommended > ]
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Obama pledges not to smoke in White House
WASHINGTON- Barack Obama says you won't catch him lighting up a cigarette in the smoke-free White House. "There are times where I've fallen off the wagon," the president-elect said when asked in a broadcast interview whether he has kicked the habit. "I've done a terrific job, under the circumstances, of making myself much healthier," he said. "And I think that you will not see any violations of these rules in the White House,"
[what has this country come to when this is a topic of national conversation not just among adults, but the 'leaders' of the free(?) world? PC run amok. It won't stop until stopped.]
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America Is Not DecliningBarack Obama and the next Congress will take power at a time when the financial crisis and Mesopotamian misadventures have spurred talk of America’s decline. Last week, a Russian analyst was even giddily forecasting the collapse and breakup of the United States, with Russia and China becoming joint global hegemons.
Such predictions may comfort critics and opponents of American power, but they lack any real basis. In fact, long-term demographic and economic trends suggest that the age of American dominance won’t end anytime soon.
In Futurecast (St. Martin’s Press, $26.95), economist Robert Shapiro, a founder of the Progressive Policy Institute and now chairman of the consulting firm Sonecon, examines how the relentless forces of demographics and globalization will shape the world of 2020. His analysis suggests that the United States will remain the leading global power. Europe, Japan, and China, meanwhile, have reason to worry... [snip]
In all likelihood, the United States will continue doing well in the white heat of international competition, while the highly regulated economies of continental Europe and Japan will stumble. Barring a departure from open markets, the vast and flexible U.S. economy will remain a magnet for investment that funds innovation, which will ensure that U.S. workers remain among the most productive and highly paid in the world.
[Recommended > ]
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