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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
SEPTEMBER 11TH--MY GENERATION'S PEARL HARBOR
I spent a lot of time trying to find the right videos for today. Something different, but equally as moving as some of those I've seen in the past. I thought both of these were good.
I am grieved today and it is not just over the horrible tragedy we suffered 6 years ago. I am also grieved at how callous and hateful many have become and how they seem to have forgotten we were all attacked that day. This growing conspiracy theory about how 9/11 was an inside job is such a slap in the face to all the victims.
Terrorists attacked us that day and they have caused unending horror for so many people. I watched some videos of 911 calls that day of people who were scared because they were afraid they were going to die. How many 911 operators have post traumatic stress disorder because of what they experienced that day? It seems to me that anyone who experienced and then survived the events of that day had a hard time picking up the pieces of their life.
September 11th is one of those days that anyone who lived through it will remember what they were doing that day. It is an event seared in people's minds like Pearl Harbor or the assassination of JFK. The reason it is so important not to forget is so we don't have to live through a similar event again.
May we never forget!!
Previous posts:
9/11 Tribute
The Importance of Remembering 9/11
9/11: NEVER FORGET
Today is September 11. We must never forget nor fail to learn the lessons of that horrific day in 2001 when al Qaeda attacked.More from Hot Air, Michelle Malkin and A Blog for All.
Picture from Adirondack Base Camp.
9/11 SIX YEARS ON
I can't believe it's been six years since the 9/11 attacks. I'm one of the few people in the country that still remembers the event (or at least isn't pretending it never happened). I had been living in Las Vegas for about 5 months and was working a night shift at a local television station. My phone rang early that morning. I don't remember the exact time, but it was much too early for anyone that knew my schedule. I picked it up and it was my mother. I was just about to lecture her for the umpteenth time about how the country is split into time zones and mine was far different from hers when she said, "Turn on the TV, they're flying planes into the World Trade Center!"
??? They? Who are they? Planes? Surely you mean little crop-duster type planes, right?
I watch the coverage for about an hour. I couldn't get my head around the fact that something like this was happening in the United States. I saw one of the towers collapse...still numb in disbelief. What am I seeing? Realization came slow.
I went to work for what would be a very long work week. The Las Vegas Strip was empty. What now?
Anyway, it's funny how the big events stick with you. This was the JFK assassination for my generation, and unfortunately, it's proved to be just as politically divisive.
??? They? Who are they? Planes? Surely you mean little crop-duster type planes, right?
I watch the coverage for about an hour. I couldn't get my head around the fact that something like this was happening in the United States. I saw one of the towers collapse...still numb in disbelief. What am I seeing? Realization came slow.
I went to work for what would be a very long work week. The Las Vegas Strip was empty. What now?
Anyway, it's funny how the big events stick with you. This was the JFK assassination for my generation, and unfortunately, it's proved to be just as politically divisive.
The latest from CIS (On immigration into the USA)
Re: 'Fixing Immigration' by Yuval Levin
EXCERPT: But I am afraid that Mr. Levin does not dig down deep enough to the source of our current immigration difficulties. The problem with immigration is not simply that we have (as he writes) 'a badly broken system of selecting, directing, managing, and assimilating' immigrants, true as that is. The fundamental problem is that mass immigration as such – regardless of how it is managed – is incompatible with the needs of a modern society. Mr. Levin himself suggests such a critique when he writes that our current policy arose 'in response to a very different world,' but does not follow the thread to the end . . .
********
100 Million More: Projecting the Impact of Immigration on the U.S. Population, 2007 to 2060
EXCERPT: This study uses Census Bureau data to project how different levels of immigration impact population size and the aging of American society. The findings show that the current level of net immigration (1.25 million a year) will add 105 million to the nation’s population by 2060. While immigration makes the population larger, it has a small effect on the aging of society.
********
Illegal Immigration and Gangs in Virginia: Preliminary Findings
PPT presentation
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
EXCERPT: But I am afraid that Mr. Levin does not dig down deep enough to the source of our current immigration difficulties. The problem with immigration is not simply that we have (as he writes) 'a badly broken system of selecting, directing, managing, and assimilating' immigrants, true as that is. The fundamental problem is that mass immigration as such – regardless of how it is managed – is incompatible with the needs of a modern society. Mr. Levin himself suggests such a critique when he writes that our current policy arose 'in response to a very different world,' but does not follow the thread to the end . . .
********
100 Million More: Projecting the Impact of Immigration on the U.S. Population, 2007 to 2060
EXCERPT: This study uses Census Bureau data to project how different levels of immigration impact population size and the aging of American society. The findings show that the current level of net immigration (1.25 million a year) will add 105 million to the nation’s population by 2060. While immigration makes the population larger, it has a small effect on the aging of society.
********
Illegal Immigration and Gangs in Virginia: Preliminary Findings
PPT presentation
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
THINGS ONLY CLIMATE CHANGE CAN DO
An email from John A [climateaudit@gmail.com] of Climate Audit:
As you've noted, the BBC have declined to bore the license-payers into submission with "Planet Relief" although I think that its a shame that we don't get to save the environment by switching it off and doing something else instead. I think they might not have covered the costs of the "artists" fees let alone paid the cameramen, but that's just me.
So Richard Black and his merry band of "consciousness raisers" (what cute names they have for propagandists these days) will have to fall on the old standbys of reporting every extreme weather event as if it were the last portent of doom and every climate model as the definitive future of the planet. And to round off the good work, peppering every science or nature article with ridiculous non-sequiturs and flourishes of anti-science designed to bamboozle.
So in what can only be described as "Things only climate change can do" we have this story of hope where black-throated and red-throated divers are recovering in numbers in Scotland thanks to some artificial floating rafts. But this being a nature story there has to be a climate change angle and so right at the end a Dr Mark Eaton ends with this chilling warning:
Dr Mark Eaton, an RSPB scientist, said: "We feared the numbers of red-throated divers might drop because the warming of the North Sea seems to be reducing stocks of the fish they feed on. "The black-throated diver could also be at risk in the future, despite the recent increases. If climate change causes loch temperatures to rise, the small fish the birds feed on could grow too large to eat."
So there we have it. Climate change reduces the number of fish in the North Sea, but might make fish thrive in the lochs so much that they become too large to swallow. It's a double-edge sword of doom is climate change. I'm only grateful that in the last few million years climate hasn't changed by anything like the horrendous changes we see today, leaving the poor birds unable to cope. Obviously Dr Eaton is an expert in these matters, which is why nobody will call him on it. Certainly not the BBC.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
As you've noted, the BBC have declined to bore the license-payers into submission with "Planet Relief" although I think that its a shame that we don't get to save the environment by switching it off and doing something else instead. I think they might not have covered the costs of the "artists" fees let alone paid the cameramen, but that's just me.
So Richard Black and his merry band of "consciousness raisers" (what cute names they have for propagandists these days) will have to fall on the old standbys of reporting every extreme weather event as if it were the last portent of doom and every climate model as the definitive future of the planet. And to round off the good work, peppering every science or nature article with ridiculous non-sequiturs and flourishes of anti-science designed to bamboozle.
So in what can only be described as "Things only climate change can do" we have this story of hope where black-throated and red-throated divers are recovering in numbers in Scotland thanks to some artificial floating rafts. But this being a nature story there has to be a climate change angle and so right at the end a Dr Mark Eaton ends with this chilling warning:
Dr Mark Eaton, an RSPB scientist, said: "We feared the numbers of red-throated divers might drop because the warming of the North Sea seems to be reducing stocks of the fish they feed on. "The black-throated diver could also be at risk in the future, despite the recent increases. If climate change causes loch temperatures to rise, the small fish the birds feed on could grow too large to eat."
So there we have it. Climate change reduces the number of fish in the North Sea, but might make fish thrive in the lochs so much that they become too large to swallow. It's a double-edge sword of doom is climate change. I'm only grateful that in the last few million years climate hasn't changed by anything like the horrendous changes we see today, leaving the poor birds unable to cope. Obviously Dr Eaton is an expert in these matters, which is why nobody will call him on it. Certainly not the BBC.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
DISMANTLE THE UN'S SO-CALLED "HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL"
Congress may be taking a positive step for starters to that effect:
NEW YORK — Congress is poised to eliminate the 25 percent U.S. funding for the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying that the forum is dominated by human rights abusers and has become a forum to bash Israel.The less money the UN gets from any country with common sense, the better. Their so-called council, if it includes Saudi Arabia and Egypt, really doesn't have any reason to exist. Like the UN itself, it's not worth continuing with it. There's been some discussion in the past few years about why the US should leave the UN. I'd say the time has come to discuss it again.
The move against the council is part of a number of proposed cuts in U.S. funding for the world body now working their way through Capitol Hill. [...]
The Senate on Friday agreed to cut $3 million from its payment to the U.N. regular budget, the share that would normally be earmarked for the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. The House passed a similar measure this spring. [...]
Lawmakers this year have already sought to cut $20 million from the U.N. Development Program. That effort is led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, and Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota Republican, both of whom are upset at U.N. persecution of an employee who exposed the agency's payments of hard currency to North Korea.
MONITORING TELEPHONES SAVES LIVES!!!
It has now been reported that it was information gleaned from American monitoring of international telephone conversations that led to the raids and multiple arrests against a terror cell in and around Copenhagen last week.
As much as human rights activists want to limit the ability of governments to protect its citizens this is proof that the laws and efforts put in place after 9/11 have saved and continue to save many innocent lives.
Up to now there have been 3 terror cells that have been preempted by security forces in Denmark. You might like to know that court proceedings just began against the second cell: the Vollsmose Case. One of the defendants bragged that he knows how to mix TATP, he admitted that he made the TATP seized by police -but he claims it was for his sons birthday celebrations!!!
As much as human rights activists want to limit the ability of governments to protect its citizens this is proof that the laws and efforts put in place after 9/11 have saved and continue to save many innocent lives.
Up to now there have been 3 terror cells that have been preempted by security forces in Denmark. You might like to know that court proceedings just began against the second cell: the Vollsmose Case. One of the defendants bragged that he knows how to mix TATP, he admitted that he made the TATP seized by police -but he claims it was for his sons birthday celebrations!!!
On this anniversary of the mass murder perpetrated by the islamofacists we need to continue to be on guard and REDOUBLE OUR EFFORTS TO DEFEAT THEM!!!!
Monday, September 10, 2007
WAR AND COPPERHEADS AT YALE
We've posted on the similarities between todays; defeatist Dems and the Copperheads of Lincoln's era.
Gateway has too.
Here's an excerpt on the subject from one of academia's foremost historians - one at YALE (where they give to Dems over GOP'ers by 45-to-1!):
Gateway has too.
Here's an excerpt on the subject from one of academia's foremost historians - one at YALE (where they give to Dems over GOP'ers by 45-to-1!):
Victory in the war Americans confront today is not certain. If it comes it will arrive only after long and hard effort, but it is well to remember that the United States has lost war only when it has chosen to fight no longer.
There are defeatists aplenty among us today, and they too, shout that the war has been lost, that the government that conducts it is stupid and incompetent, that the war is not necessary and that our leaders lied to us in bringing it on, that nothing terrible will ensue if we abandon the fighting.
They, too, bewail the casualties incurred in the war and proclaim their support for the troops even as they delay voting a budget to sustain the military.
Such stratagems may work so long as a war goes badly. But what if the current president has found his Grant and a better strategy?
Like the Copperheads of the Civil War, today’s defeatists have a huge investment in defeat and live in dread of success in the field, which could turn into disaster at the polls.
In this, they would do well to understand that they are at odds with most of the American people, who are tired of the war and deplore the casualties and expense that goes with it. They want peace, but not one that is an illusion and will not last. Nor do they want a peace at any price that will bring fearful consequences and disgrace.
If the defeatists have their way that is the kind of peace we will get; the American people will know whom to blame and will not quickly forget.
— Donald Kagan is the Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University.
HILLARY WILL DO CRIMINAL CHECKS ON DONORS
WASH POST:
HEY, HILLARY DON'T RETURN THE MONEY - HSU IS PART OF YOUR BEST CONSTITUENCY: CROOKS!
Clinton's campaign ... has decided to increase its screening of major fund-raisers, requiring them to submit to the extraordinary additional step of a criminal background check, campaign aides said. ...This is a little weird - maybe even hypocritical, because the Dems want to give felons the vote, perhaps partly because they know they would vote Democrat 3-1!
Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign dramatically severed all ties to disgraced fundraiser Norman Hsu, announcing Monday night it will return more than $850,000 he raised from some 260 donors. ...
Hsu, an apparel businesman, fell from grace earlier this month after it was revealed he was a fugitive in a 15-year-old criminal case in California.
HEY, HILLARY DON'T RETURN THE MONEY - HSU IS PART OF YOUR BEST CONSTITUENCY: CROOKS!
LEG'S GOT SHOES
AND HSU'S GOT LEGS...
Whose money was it?
How could Hillary NOT have known such a prolific fundraiser?
More here.
Whose money was it?
How could Hillary NOT have known such a prolific fundraiser?
More here.
IRAN WANTS TO TURN IRAQ INTO LEBANON
WOULD THAT BE LEBANONIZE? HOW 'BOUT...HIZBALLIFY Never mind....
Seriously, I think this was one of the most interesting points Petraeus made. HOT AIR:
Seriously, I think this was one of the most interesting points Petraeus made. HOT AIR:
Update: Petraeus cites the capture of Hezbollah bombmaker Ali Mussa Daqduq as evidence that Iran is trying to build a parallel organization in Iraq to challenge the seat.
That ignites the first protest in the back of the room, which is indecipherable but doubtless has to do with neocons gunning for war with Tehran.
The Independent wrote the seminal article about Sadrist/Hezbollah collusion last month. Read it now if you missed it before.
Money quote:Speaking in Tufa in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Mehdi Army, admitted to “formal links” with Hizbollah.
“We have formal links with Hizbollah, we do exchange ideas and discuss the situation facing Shiites in both countries,” he said. “It is natural that we would want to improve ourselves by learning from each other. We copy Hizbollah in the way they fight and their tactics, we teach each other and we are getting better through this.”
Mr Sadr said members of the Mehdi Army had travelled to Lebanon, and would continue to do so.
When Petraeus says that "Iran is trying to build a parallel organization in Iraq to challenge the seat" he means that they are trying to turn Iraq into Lebanon: a diverse nation with an armed sectarian militia which operates as a law unto itself and challenges the real government as it militates for jihadism and sharia.
WE MUSTN'T ALLOW THIS.
PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL WOULD FACILITATE IT.
THE DEMS STATED POLICY OF EXPEDITED WITHDRAWAL BY A TIMETABLE WOULD ONLY HELP IRAN AND SADR AND AL QAEDA.
IS THAT IN OUR INTEREST!?
Any and all Muslim nations which want to have democracy and not sharia ought to be aiding us.
Now is the time to stand up to the jihadists EVERYWHERE - as Lebanon has just recently.
If Lebanon can defeat al Qaeda in Tripoli, then we can in Iraq.
We must.
WE MUSTN'T ALLOW THIS.
PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL WOULD FACILITATE IT.
THE DEMS STATED POLICY OF EXPEDITED WITHDRAWAL BY A TIMETABLE WOULD ONLY HELP IRAN AND SADR AND AL QAEDA.
IS THAT IN OUR INTEREST!?
Any and all Muslim nations which want to have democracy and not sharia ought to be aiding us.
Now is the time to stand up to the jihadists EVERYWHERE - as Lebanon has just recently.
If Lebanon can defeat al Qaeda in Tripoli, then we can in Iraq.
We must.
THE DEMOCRATS' ANTI-PETRAEUS EFFORT WILL LEAD TO A BACKLASH
In an earlier post, I asserted that since the US electorate holds the military in higher esteem than the Congress, that any effort to smear Petraeus and pre-judge his efforts and the report on his efforts would hurt the Dems.
The NYTIMES today published results of a poll which proof the foundation of my argument; (see graph on the left).
If the Dems don't relent - and give Petraeus at least the same trust as the public, they will suffer.
The Dem's leftist base - which seems to be calling the shots, folks like those at MOVEON, and MOORE and SHEEHAN AND KOS - hate the military, but the electriorate doesn't.
If the Dems cave into the base on this they are going to pay the price. BIGTIME!
PETRAEUS VERSUS AL QAEDA AND THE DEMS
Petraeus basically said that we can draw down troops starting this winter and that by next summer we can be at pre-surge numbers - while quelling the violence and killing al Qaeda.
That's seems good.
Democrats should accept this and MOVE ON - you should pardon the expression! This would make for fine policy and politics:
If the Dems give Bush and Petraeus a carte blanche and the results are good, then they moot Iraq as a divisive or decisive issue in the election.
If the results are bad, then they can say "DON'T BLAME US!" - and drub the GOP at the polls.
It's a win-win.
I mean: THE FREAKIN DEMS ARE IN THE CAT-BIRD SEAT AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW IT! AND THEY'RE GONNA FREAKIN' BLOW IT! WHY?! because, the Dems seem absolutely freakin' intent on getting Bush to admit defeat and retreating regardless of the consequences. It's as if they care more about hurting Bush than anything else.
I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS APPROACH - EXCEPT THE ENEMY.
That's seems good.
Democrats should accept this and MOVE ON - you should pardon the expression! This would make for fine policy and politics:
If the Dems give Bush and Petraeus a carte blanche and the results are good, then they moot Iraq as a divisive or decisive issue in the election.
If the results are bad, then they can say "DON'T BLAME US!" - and drub the GOP at the polls.
It's a win-win.
I mean: THE FREAKIN DEMS ARE IN THE CAT-BIRD SEAT AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW IT! AND THEY'RE GONNA FREAKIN' BLOW IT! WHY?! because, the Dems seem absolutely freakin' intent on getting Bush to admit defeat and retreating regardless of the consequences. It's as if they care more about hurting Bush than anything else.
I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS APPROACH - EXCEPT THE ENEMY.
CLINTON & CO PREVENTED GENOCIDAL WAR CRIMINAL'S ARREST
BBC:
BOTTOM-LINE: CLINTON COLD HAVE SEEN TO IT HE WAS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE AND CHOSE NOT TO. MORE PROOF THAT CLINTON IS SCUM.A former aide to the UN's top war crimes prosecutor says Russia shielded Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic from arrest in 1997.
The former aide, Florence Hartmann, makes the allegation in memoirs published in France.
Ms Hartmann also claims a French move to arrest Mr Karadzic failed because the then US President Bill Clinton wanted Russia to be informed first.
Russia would not let the West arrest Mr Karadzic, she alleges.
Mr Clinton was supported by Britain and Germany, according to Ms Hartmann, who was spokeswoman for the UN tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, for six years up to last year.
Mr Karadzic remains a fugitive. He and his military chief, Ratko Mladic, are wanted on genocide charges by the UN tribunal in The Hague.
MSM GOING FULL TILT ON ANTI-MORMON PROPAGANDA - er um... I wonder why?
The NYTIMES has just featured two stories prominently:
And Hollywood just released this pic' about a real Mormon Massacre.
None of it puts Mormonism in a very good light.
Which hurts Romney.
That's their point.
And Hollywood just released this pic' about a real Mormon Massacre.
None of it puts Mormonism in a very good light.
Which hurts Romney.
That's their point.
HITLER: THE ORIGINAL 9/11 MASTERMIND?
"In the latter stages of the war, I never saw Hitler so beside himself as when, as if in a delirium, he was picturing to himself and to us the downfall of New York in towers of flame," wrote Albert Speer in his diary.
"He described the skyscrapers turning into huge burning torches and falling hither and thither, and the reflection of the disintegrating city in the dark sky."
Hitler’s “Amerikabomber”
FATAH GOONS BEAT UP STUDENTS AND JOURNALISTS
Fatah continues to dole out physical violence:
At least 22 students and journalists were injured, some moderately, when Fatah-controlled security forces raided Hebron University in the West Bank on Sunday to break up a press conference by the Hamas-affiliated student council.How much time will it be before a civil war breaks out around Hebron between these two wicked entities?
The press conference was called to protest against the university's decision to suspend loans to students.
This is the second time in less than two months that the security forces have raided a West Bank university. One student, Muhammad Raddad, was killed and dozens injured in the first raid on An-Najah University in Nablus.
The incident in Hebron, a traditional Hamas stronghold, is another indication of growing tensions between Fatah and Hamas.
THE PETRAEUS REPORT
Reliapundit has pointed out the Democrats are defeatists and are discrediting Petraeus' report before it even comes out, here and here.
As I write this Petraeus is about ready to give his report and the Democrats are blathering on BEFORE Petraeus even talks about how bad things are in Iraq. Lantos is completely despicable!! Now, Duncan Hunter is showing why I LOVE him, he is taking Lantos and the Democrats to task.
Yet, I have to build on what Reliapundit has said about the Democrats being invested in defeat. They and their allies in the Media have been trashing the Petraeus' report before it had even come out. My own KC Star had this headline on the front page of yesterday's paper, Setbacks Outweigh Successes in Buildup and the small line at the top said this, "Little reason for optimism seen". No liberal bias there (sarcasm)!! And how sad that both seem so invested in defeat that they can't even root for their own country and their own soldiers.
Look at the successes in the Anbar province which Chuck Schumer trashed and yet, let us not forget that even the NY Times said this is a war we might just win. Even Katie Couric (of all people) came back from Iraq with positive things to say.
Yesterday, while the Democrats were on the Sunday morning shows sabotaging Petraeus, Senator Lindsay Graham shockingly, had this to say which I wholeheartedly agree with:
Gateway Pundit has an excellent post on this as well entitled, Media & Democrats Surge Against Surge Report. He links to a post the Prairie Pundit did where the author, Merv Benson is describing a poll that is the result of the attacks by the Democrats and the Drive By Media. He says it well:
The Democrats are cowards who are invested in defeat and they have already made up their mind not to accept the Petraeus report no matter what good news it may have. Despicable!!
As I write this Petraeus is about ready to give his report and the Democrats are blathering on BEFORE Petraeus even talks about how bad things are in Iraq. Lantos is completely despicable!! Now, Duncan Hunter is showing why I LOVE him, he is taking Lantos and the Democrats to task.
Yet, I have to build on what Reliapundit has said about the Democrats being invested in defeat. They and their allies in the Media have been trashing the Petraeus' report before it had even come out. My own KC Star had this headline on the front page of yesterday's paper, Setbacks Outweigh Successes in Buildup and the small line at the top said this, "Little reason for optimism seen". No liberal bias there (sarcasm)!! And how sad that both seem so invested in defeat that they can't even root for their own country and their own soldiers.
Look at the successes in the Anbar province which Chuck Schumer trashed and yet, let us not forget that even the NY Times said this is a war we might just win. Even Katie Couric (of all people) came back from Iraq with positive things to say.
Yesterday, while the Democrats were on the Sunday morning shows sabotaging Petraeus, Senator Lindsay Graham shockingly, had this to say which I wholeheartedly agree with:
...the troop increase is "undeniably working" and that "the only way we're going to lose this war is to have politicians in Washington undercut the surge."
Rather than withdrawing, he said on Fox, "Now's the time to pour it on."
Gateway Pundit has an excellent post on this as well entitled, Media & Democrats Surge Against Surge Report. He links to a post the Prairie Pundit did where the author, Merv Benson is describing a poll that is the result of the attacks by the Democrats and the Drive By Media. He says it well:
The poll also showed the effect of the unceasing attacks on the President by the most disloyal opposition in war time in history. This story and others suggest that the democrats are willing to turn the same venomous attacks on military leaders in order to secure their desperation for defeat. The current democrat party is willing to say and do anything to insure our defeat in this war and history should judge them harshly. The American people need to wake up to what the disloyal opposition is doing.It is not enough to attack Bush, now they are going after Petraeus. Who as Gateway Pundit also points out was approved by the US Senate 81-0.
I am reasonably sure that the 32 percent who do not trust the military are Democrats who make up the kook base of the party that is the driving force behind their desperation for defeat. They should be ashamed.
The Democrats are cowards who are invested in defeat and they have already made up their mind not to accept the Petraeus report no matter what good news it may have. Despicable!!
HISPANICS CAN DO NO WRONG
When Racism is "Mainstream"
The "La Raza" organization of Hispanics could hardly be more racist. "La Raza" means "The Race" -- the Mexican race. But are they ever criticized for that? Not that I have heard. In fact, we read below in the Left-leaning Associated Press that "La Raza" is "a mainstream advocacy group".
I wonder what the various white-racist groups around would have to do to become "mainstream" -- cease to be white, I guess.
No Protest against Incitement to Violence?
The image above is from a recent rally against the Minutemen. Story here. The "protester" is calling for the Minutemen to be "stomped". Mainstream whites, however, can be harried for just using certain words (such a the "N-word") without calling for ANY action against the minority concerned, let alone "stomping" them.
Where is the outrage? Where is the prosecution for the above "hate speech"?
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
The "La Raza" organization of Hispanics could hardly be more racist. "La Raza" means "The Race" -- the Mexican race. But are they ever criticized for that? Not that I have heard. In fact, we read below in the Left-leaning Associated Press that "La Raza" is "a mainstream advocacy group".
"Charlie Norwood, a congressman from Georgia who died earlier this year, appeared to accept the conspiracy at face value, accusing the National Council of La Raza, a mainstream Washington advocacy group, of acting as a front organization for the "radical racist group" MEChA, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan.
Source
I wonder what the various white-racist groups around would have to do to become "mainstream" -- cease to be white, I guess.
No Protest against Incitement to Violence?
The image above is from a recent rally against the Minutemen. Story here. The "protester" is calling for the Minutemen to be "stomped". Mainstream whites, however, can be harried for just using certain words (such a the "N-word") without calling for ANY action against the minority concerned, let alone "stomping" them.
Where is the outrage? Where is the prosecution for the above "hate speech"?
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Huge Leftist spin put on a simple psychological experiment
I have for some time been pointing out the very strong evidence that a Leftist or conservative orientation is largely hereditary. So politics do clearly have a physical basis. They do not materialize out of thin air. Just exactly what is inherited, however, no-one has so far conclusively shown. I myself would expect that conservatives have better reality contact and have less need for praise (i.e. healthier egos). Deficient reality contact is the prime symptom of schizophrenia so something as broad as loss of reality contact can indeed be inherited. At the moment, however, the detailed mechanisms are all speculation.
That does not hold up our propagandizing Leftists, however. There is a report here of a recent psychological experiment that involved tapping a keyboard in response to a flashing letter. It was found that conservatives and Leftists differed somewhat in the detail of their responses.
Just what one can conclude from the results is not at all clear. What the results showed was more emotional activity in the brains of Leftists when presented with a difficult task so I would see the results as yet another example of Leftists being more emotional -- as being emotionally-driven rather than reason-driven. I suspect that most readers of this blog would see Leftists that way.
That old anti-scientist, Frank Sulloway, however has a much more florid interpretation. We read:
Fortunately, the actual authors of the study were more in touch with reality:
For a comment on the parody of science that Sulloway's "studies of behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals" constitute, see here
The LA Times journalist who summarized the research led off with this:
I would have thought that the study showed the opposite: That Leftists get more het up in an ambiguous situation. But the reason for the vast over-interpretion by the journalist is that it is a very old Leftist trope that conservatives do not tolerate ambiguity well. It is seen as part of a syndrome of "mental rigidity". The only trouble, however, is that there appears to be no such thing. It has also been known for many years that some people are more rigid in some situations and some are more rigid in others. There is no overall trait of intolerance of ambiguity or rigidy for anyone to have -- be they Leftists or Rightists. See here for some references and a fuller treatment here.
And "intolerance of ambiguity" is in any case usually little more than an abusive spin on what would once have been seen as a desire for order. And seeking order in the world is what scientists do. So we could reasonably say that any evidence showing conservatives as "intolerant of ambiguity" is fact shows conservatives as more scientifically oriented. I would not argue with that!
Ace has some mocking comments on the nonsense.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
That does not hold up our propagandizing Leftists, however. There is a report here of a recent psychological experiment that involved tapping a keyboard in response to a flashing letter. It was found that conservatives and Leftists differed somewhat in the detail of their responses.
Just what one can conclude from the results is not at all clear. What the results showed was more emotional activity in the brains of Leftists when presented with a difficult task so I would see the results as yet another example of Leftists being more emotional -- as being emotionally-driven rather than reason-driven. I suspect that most readers of this blog would see Leftists that way.
That old anti-scientist, Frank Sulloway, however has a much more florid interpretation. We read:
Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, as a "flip-flopper" for changing his mind about the conflict.
Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas. "There is ample data from the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science," said Sulloway, who has written about the history of science and has studied behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals.
Fortunately, the actual authors of the study were more in touch with reality:
Lead author David Amodio, an assistant professor of psychology at New York University, cautioned that the study looked at a narrow range of human behavior and that it would be a mistake to conclude that one political orientation was better. The tendency of conservatives to block distracting information could be a good thing depending on the situation, he said.
For a comment on the parody of science that Sulloway's "studies of behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals" constitute, see here
The LA Times journalist who summarized the research led off with this:
Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work
I would have thought that the study showed the opposite: That Leftists get more het up in an ambiguous situation. But the reason for the vast over-interpretion by the journalist is that it is a very old Leftist trope that conservatives do not tolerate ambiguity well. It is seen as part of a syndrome of "mental rigidity". The only trouble, however, is that there appears to be no such thing. It has also been known for many years that some people are more rigid in some situations and some are more rigid in others. There is no overall trait of intolerance of ambiguity or rigidy for anyone to have -- be they Leftists or Rightists. See here for some references and a fuller treatment here.
And "intolerance of ambiguity" is in any case usually little more than an abusive spin on what would once have been seen as a desire for order. And seeking order in the world is what scientists do. So we could reasonably say that any evidence showing conservatives as "intolerant of ambiguity" is fact shows conservatives as more scientifically oriented. I would not argue with that!
Ace has some mocking comments on the nonsense.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
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