"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Saturday, May 27, 2006

A VIDEO OF THE TRUE ROOT-CAUSE OF JIHADOTERRORISM

THIS VIDEO IS ONLY 2 MINUTES LONG, BUT IT'S ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU CRY. FROM SUGIERO, VIA GATEWAY.

REMEMBER: JIHADOTERRORISM IS TAUGHT. SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE TRAINED. FROM A VERY EARLY AGE...

(More here, on recruiting and training of jihadomaniacs.)

TURKEY CRACKSDOWN ON IRAN

Turkish authorities have ... stopped a shipment of aluminum material to Iran at the last minute, seizing the material at Gurbulak border point with Iran. ... authorities have confiscated documents and computers from the companies and that the investigation was still underway. Most of the shipments to Iran by the companies included dual use material of aluminum, steel and iron products and electronic equipment which can be used in defense industry, it said.

The government report recommended that prosecutors file charges against three Iranians for smuggling and falsifying official documents, but it was not clear whether any of them were in custody. It also suggested the confiscation of the assets of both companies involved.
This is more proof that the neighborhood is increasingly and more openly hostile to Iran - and Assad - and the Iranian-Syrian jihadoterrorist proxies. (And this -- like the exit of Asad from Lebanon and the capitulation by Kaddafy -- proves that the Bush Doctrine is working):
Jordan recently caught Hamas red-handed, Egypt caught the palistani-terrorists (who had Iranian backing) behind the Sinai bombings; Lebanon has been openly hostile to Assad and his Hizballah stooges for months; Iraq wants the infiltration by jihaidsts over the Syrian border stopped; and now Turkey joins in the GET TOUGH stance against Iran.
The NOOSE is tightening - around Assad's neck, and Ahmadinejad's. Slowly but surely. Faster please...

Friday, May 26, 2006

BUSH - IN HIS OWN WORDS

THE LEFT IS FOND OF ATTACKING BUSH AS IF HE WAS A DUMB SMIRKINGCHIMP WHO WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY A PUPPET OF THE HOUSE OF SAUD AND THE LIKUD.

THAT'S HOGWASH.

HERE'S PROOF FROM THE BUSH BLAIR PRESSER; BUSH SPEAKING EXTEMPORANEOUSLY ABOUT IRAQ:
Q You both presented the Iraqi government as a substantial vindication of the conflict. Do you also accept, as a matter of harsh political reality, that the Iraq conflict has also left both of you politically weakened and, whether justly or unjustly, less able to give the kind of moral leadership that you're discussing today?

PRESIDENT BUSH: No question that the Iraq war has created a sense of consternation here in America. I mean, when you turn on your TV screen and see innocent people die, day in and day out, it affects the mentality of our country.

But here's what they're asking in America. They're asking, can we win? That's what they want to know. Do we have a strategy for victory?

And so the talk about the unity government -- you might remember there was some -- a lot of speculation as to whether there would even be a unity government. A couple of months ago, people were saying, well, they can't even get a unity government going.

But we have a unity government -- a Kurd President, a Prime Minister who is a Shia, a Speaker who is a Sunni. These are strong leaders. It's an indication that progress is being made.


Part of progress, of course, is on the political track. You know, we had elections in Iraq; 12 million people voted last December. Now, it seems like an eternity ago, I know, like a decade. But that's not all that long ago in the larger scope of things.

Twelve million people said, we want to be free. It was an astounding moment.

And this unity government is now formed, as a result of those elections, under a constitution approved by the Iraqi people. That's progress. It's certainly a far sight from the days of a tyrant who killed hundreds of thousands of his own people and used weapons of mass destruction and threatened the neighborhood. I mean, that is progress.


No question, however, that the suiciders and the killers and the IEDs and the deaths have an effect on the American people.

But one of the reasons that I appreciate Tony coming is that he brings a fresh perspective of what he saw, and the American people need to know we are making progress toward a goal of an Iraq that can defend itself, sustain itself and govern itself. That will deny the terrorists a safe haven.


You know, al Qaeda has made it clear what their intentions are in Iraq. I'm sure you've read some of the intercepts that are laid out there for people to see. And they have made it clear that it's just a matter of time for countries like Great Britain and the United States to leave. In other words, if they make life miserable enough, we'll leave. And they want us to leave because they want a safe haven from which to launch attacks, not only on us, but on moderate Muslim governments, as well.

These people are totalitarians. They're Islamic fascists. They have a point of view, they have a philosophy, and they want to impose that philosophy on the rest of the world. And Iraq just happens to be a -- one of the battles in the war on terror.


And Tony brings up a good point: Why are they resisting so hard, what is it about democracy they can't stand? Well, what they can't stand about democracy is this: Democracy is the exact opposite of what they believe. They believe they can impose their will, they believe there's no freedom of religion, they believe there's no women's rights. They have a -- they have a dark vision of the world, and that's why they're resisting so mightily.

So yes, I can understand why the American people are troubled by the war in Iraq. I understand that.

But I also believe the sacrifice is worth it and is necessary, and I believe a free Iraq is not only going to make ourselves more secure, but it's going to serve as a powerful example in the Middle East.


You know, foreign policy, for awhile, just basically said, if it seems okay on the surface, just let it be. And guess what happened? There was resentment and hatred that enabled these totalitarians to recruit and to kill, which they want to continue to do to achieve their objectives.

And the best way to defeat them in the long run is through the spread of liberty.
And liberty has had the capacity to change enemies to allies. Liberty has had the capacity to help Europe become whole, free, and at peace. History has proven that freedom has got the capacity to change the world for the better, and that's what you're seeing.

You know, the amazing thing about dealing with Prime Minister Blair is never once has he said to me on the phone, we better change our tactics because of the political opinion polls.

And I appreciate that steadfast leadership. And I appreciate somebody who has got a vision, a shared vision, for how to not only protect ourselves in the war on terror, but how to make the world a better place.


[...]

I'd like to see a United Nations that's effective, one that joins us in trying to rid the world of tyranny, one that is willing to advance human rights and human dignity at its core, one that's an unabashed organization -- is unabashed in their desire to spread freedom.

That's what I'd like to see, because I believe that freedom will yield to peace. I also believe freedom is universal. I don't believe freedom is just a concept only for America or Great Britain. It's a universal concept.

And it troubles me to know that there are people locked in tyrannical societies that suffer.

And the United Nations ought to be clear about its desire to liberate people from the clutches of tyranny. That's what the United Nations ought to be doing, as far as I'm concerned.
Eloquent? NO. But RIGHT ON! He get's it, and he has the heart and courage to see it through! Bravo!

BTW: there isn't one single solitary Democrat Party leader who speaks as plainly about WW4 or the UN. Not a single one. Which is ridiculously pitiful. And reason enough to keep them out of power. (Watch the presser at C-SPAN.)

BLAIR ON WW4

MUST WATCH TV. (Via C-SPAN - of course!)

ONE HOUR OF WISDOM, WELL SAID. OF COURAGE. OF PRINCIPLED, AUTHENTICALLY LIBERAL REASONS WHY WE MUST PERSERVERE AND WIN THIS GLOBAL WAR. AND HE TALKS NICE, TOO.

(ARTICLE HERE. FULL TEXT HERE)

GORE'S INCONVENIENT MOVIE POSTER

The poster for Gore's eco-nazi propaganda flick features a few HUGE smokestacks spewing gases into an ominously scary vortex in the sky which beckons an impending disaster.

The message COULD NOT be clearer - OR MORE WRONG.

Gore's message is that, "Industrialization has harmed the Earth and threatens HUMAN LIFE ITSELF. Heck. it threratens ALL LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!"

NOTHING could be farther from the truth.

FACT: Global human population was very low for most of the time between 10,000 BC and the 19th Century. Earth's human population ONLY increased exponentially AFTER 1840, after the industrial age began. As a result of it.

FACT: As the overall human population increased, so did LIFE-SPANS for people in industrialized nations. This was a benefit of industrialization.

FACT: As life-spans increased, so did the STANDARD OF LIVING for people in industrialized nations. This too was a benefit of industrialization.

FACT: As industrialization increased, so did the WEALTH of people in industrialized nations. Another benefit of industrialization.

FACT: Even in the second half of the last century, the nations which made the greatest leap from poverty, short life spans and disease-ridden lives to wealth, long life spans, and health were the nations which INDUSTRIALZED - and engaged in global trade: South Korea, Taiwan, India, China, and so on.

FACT: The cure for Third World poverty and their short-lived, disease-ridden lives is INDUSTRIALZATION - and global trade. The Third World NEEDS SMOKESTACKS, not handouts (which their kleptocratic socialist leaders steal)!

FUNNY: industrialization and global trade just happen to be the two, twin enemies of the Left. Twin bogeymen I should say.

Which is why I say: "TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY, WE NEED TO MAKE THE LEFT HISTORY."


MY POINT: If industrializationwas really so bad for people and the Earth, then why do the people living in the industrialized world have much MUCH better lives IN EVERY WAY then their brothers and sister in the UNINDUSTRIALIZED THIRD WORLD!?

IN OTHER WORDS: industrialization is GOOD for one's health - and wealth. Because of industrialization, more people are living better, longer, healthier lives. Smokestacks: they make you healthy, wealthy and wise!

Oh, oh, oh, oh: WHAT ABOUT THE EARTH'S HEALTH?! Well, there are FACTS which are DISPOSITIVE of ANY AND ALL claims that CO2 emissions - or emissions of ANY so-called "man-made greehouse gases" - is causing global-warming:

(1) Global warming HAS NOT been constant since 1840; it has fluctuated. The decades between 194o-1970 actually got cooler, even though CO2/"greehouse gas" emissions must have increased. If CO2/"greenhouse gases" really cause global warming then this COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.

(2) There have been MANY periods in the last 500,000 years when the Earth has warmed (and then cooled), and MOST of these occurred BEFORE 1840, and before industrialization; IN FACT, they happened before Humanity emitted ANY serious amounts of CO2 or "greenhouse gases." There were NO SUV's 50,000 years ago when the glaciers receded from what is NOW the tempereate zone of the northern hemispere. NO MAN-MADE "GREENHOUSE GASES"!

Here's a link to a one-frame cartoon which says it all. EVERYONE should look at this cartoon and give it to an eco-nut they know. It should cure them of their IRRATIONAL fear of industrialization, once and for all.

ADDENDUM: Besides INDUSTRIALIZATION and GLOBAL TRADE, there is ONE OTHER THING which makes economic growth POSSIBLE - LIBERTY.

After all: PROSPERITY IS THE BY-PRODUCT OF LIBERTY.

BRIAN ROSS OF ABC PROVES MSM STANDS FOR "MENDACIOUS SCUM MANUFACTURERS"

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT HAS THE DETAILS. (Gist: Brian Ross has a history of bad-reporting and phony stories - like the rest of the MSM.)

Meanwhile, the idiots in the blogosphere keep catching them. Go figure.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

FRANCE LOSES BLIND WINE-TEST TO USA - AGAIN!

VIA NO PASARAN / UK TIMES ONLINE:
THIRTY years had passed since the Judgment of Paris, when French oenophiles received a red nose at the hands of American upstarts in a blind wine-tasting competition. But to the dismay of the French wine experts taking part in last night’s eagerly awaited rematch, Californian vintages have again trumped their Gallic counterparts.
France is truly in decline. The French wine mystique is GONE. French fashion hasn't caused a stir - or led a trend - in DECADES. Their cars always sucked. Their movies need subtitles. The best novel written in French in the last four decades was written by a RUSSIAN! And their politicians are inept or corrupt. WHAT'S WORSE: the way things are going, they'll be a Muslim nation in 2 or 3 decades.

At least they still know how to make incredibly delicious stinky cheese. Too bad. Not eveyone loves stinky cheese.

(BAD PUN ALERT: The oenophiles like the USA; the "weeniephiles" like France.)

FLASH: PJ O'ROURKE AGREES WITH RELIAPUNDIT ON TRADE

PJ O'ROURKE/WEEKLY STANDARD/TODAY:
"... there is no such thing as a trade imbalance. Trade can't be out of balance because a balance is what a trade is. Buyers and sellers decide that one thing is equivalent to another. Free trade is balanced trade. You might as well have free love then claim your partner had sex but you didn't."
I have been blogging this very argument for a year - most recently just earlier this week (on Tuesday, May 23 - three days ago):
Trade deficits are also BUNK - illusions - a bogeyman promoted by polemicizing Lefties. ... The so-called "trade imbalance" or "trade deficit" is a phony number derived by treating GOODS as VALUELESS - which is ABSURD.
I cited economist Walter WIlliams for this iron-clad argument. It's time that the anti-trade demagogies stopped using this intellectually fallacious and factually inaccurate argument. (MORE HERE - at post on this subject I blogged in July 2005!)

BOTTOM-LINE: Trade is good for everyone.

This article by O'Rourke proves one other thing: THE ASTUTE BLOGGER is ahead of the curve - in reporting news and analyzing it. SO: you all should be reading me EVERYDAY and should tell your friends. And blogroll me if you have a blog. NOW! Please.

LAY AND SKILLING: GREEDY CEO'S CONVICTED BY BUSH FOR CRIMES COMMITTED DURING CLINTON YEARS

LAY AND SKILLING ARE CONVICTED.

THEY JOIN A LONG LIST OF INCREDIBLY RICH AND GREEDY AND CRIMINAL CORPORATE BOSSES WHO COMMITTED CRIMES DURING CLINTON'S WATCH - CRIMES WHICH WERE PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FRAUDULENTLY INDUCED, IRRATIONALLY EXUBERANT STOCK BUBBLE --- A.K.A "BUBBA'S BUBBLE."

REPEAT: THE CRIMES WERE COMMITTED ON CLINTON'S WATCH, AND THE PERP'S CAUGHT AND CONVICTED ON BUSH'S.

YET, THE LEFT - AND THE MSM THEY DOMINATE, LET'S CLINTON COMPLETELY OFF THE HOOK, AS IF HIS ADMINISTRATION SHOULD ONLY GET ALL THE CREDIT FOR THE "BOOM", AND NONE OF THE BLAME FOR THE FRAUD WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE BUBBLE, OR FOR THE CRASH THAT FOLLOWED WHEN "BUBBA'S BUBBLE" BURST.

OF COURSE THIS IS PURE UNADULTERATED HOGWASH.

FACT: BUSH HAS CLEANED UP WALL STREET, AND PROTECTED ALL AMERICANS WHO INVEST IN STOCKS - AT THE EXPENSE OF THE CORPORATE CROOKS.

IF THE MSM WAS INTELLECTUALLY HONEST, THEN THEY'D PRAISE BUSH FOR DEFENDING THE LAW AND THE COMMON MAN AT THE EXPENSE OF CORPORATE GREED.

BUT THEY'RE INCAPABLE OF GIVING HIM CREDIT FOR ANYTHING, AND WOULD RATHER LIE, THAN ACCEPT OR TELL THE TRUTH.


ADDENDUM: Here's a cool list (incomplete!) - FROM DON SURBER (hat tip JIM ROSE)- of the other corporate crooks who Bush CONVICTED for crimes they committed during Clinton's watch; (Surber has all the hyperlinks):
Adelphia CEO John Rigas convicted. 15 years.
All First CEO Nathan Chapman convicted. 7 1/2 years.
ImClone Founder Sam Waksal convicted. 7 years.
Worldcom: CEO Bernie Ebbers convicted. 25 years.
Rite Aid: CEO Martin Grass convicted. 8 years.
WorldTeq: CEO Bruce Bertman convicted. 4 years.
Tyco: CEO Dennis Kozlowski convicted. 25 years.
The facts are clear: Clinton and Rubin (who promptly went to work for another bigtime Wall Street player who played fast and loose with the rules, and paid a HUMUNGOUS multi-HUNDRED-MILLION DOLLAR FINE as a result - SANDY WEIL) allowed wholesale corruption to go unchecked and unpunished. Bush was forced to clean up the mess.

[ASIDE: HEY: THAT'S NOT UNLIKE THE WW4: the jihadoterrorists attacked our embassies, the WTC in 1993, our military barracks overseas, and a navy ship - and Clinton did BUPKUS. Leaving to it George to clean up the mess. Thank God for George! And thank God for the men and women in out amred forces.}

SYRIA FEELING THE HEAT

DAILY STAR/LEBANON:
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Syria has not responded to UN Security Council Resolution 1680's calls for establishing diplomatic relations with Lebanon and that Damascus continues to treat Lebanon as a "client."

In an interview aired Tuesday on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiyya television network, Rice urged Syria to "stop treating Lebanon like a client ... Treat it like a neighbor. Treat it like an independent and sovereign country and then we can move on to a more peaceful and prosperous future for the Lebanese people."

Commenting on last week's clashes between Fatah al-Intifada, a Palestinian militant grouped backed by Damascus, and the Lebanese Army in which one soldier was killed, the secretary said: "Obviously, Syria wasn't listening. The resolution didn't say support a single Palestinian faction within Lebanon. It said treat Lebanon as an independent and sovereign neighbor that deserves to have a border that is demarcated and delineated."
CSM:
Syria launches crackdown on dissent

The biggest wave of arrests since 2001 hits advocates of better ties with Lebanon.

By Rhonda Roumani | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor


DAMASCUS, SYRIA – As if thumbing its nose at international pressure for democratic reform, Syria has jailed writers, activists, and intellectuals over the past week in a sweeping crackdown on internal dissent.
While those here who speaks out against the government puts themselves at risk, activists say more people have been arrested in this latest wave than at any time since 2001. This crackdown, they say, is aimed mostly at signatories of a declaration demanding that Syria improve relations with Lebanon.

"There is a preventive war being launched by the government and the ostensible reason is that people talked about an issue that is considered taboo: Syrian-Lebanese relations," says Yassin Haj-Saleh, an opposition figure who also signed the declaration, but has not yet been arrested.
These two articles reveal that Assad is REALLY feeling the heat. These arrests are OBVIOUSLY cowardly defensive measures intended to prevent regime change. IT WON'T WORK: the UN and the US are united on this front, and moving INEXORABLY toward Assad's removal.

I believe that the UN report - due soon - will directly implicate Assad in the murder of Hariri, and that this will ultimately lead to his utter isolation by every Arab nation (except for Iran) and that this will lead to his downfall.

He will be replaced by better people - LESS aligned to Iran and Iran's jihadoterrorist STOOGES: Hamas and Hizballah (and the other GANGS of jihadothugs who operate in the immediate vicinity).

This will be YET ANOTHER truly extraordinary and historic AND POSITIVE change for the Middle East - another one which BUSH IS DIRECTLY REPSONSIBLE FOR, and for which he receives NO CREDIT from the MSM:
Like Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon - after 23 years (which includes all 8 of Clinton's accomplishmentLESS 2 terms). Like Libya's renunciation of terror and WMD. Like the isolation of Arafat. Like the expansion of democracy and sufferage in Kuwait, Sauid Arabia and Egypt. SURE: WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO! But never before ahs so mich good thinsg happened on so many fronts inthe Middle East.
I PREDICT: that in the generations to come GWB will be seen as the progenitor of democracy for another ONE BILLION people on Earth, and regarded as one of the most important world leaders of all-time.

NOTE: If the BDS-MSMers were to talk about the situation in Syria the way they do the situation in IRAQ, then they would "BLAME BUSH" for this recent wave of political arrests in Syria (and NOT BLAME ASSAD), saying: "Bush's policies are actually leading to the ARRESTS of pro-democratic forces in Syria and setting BACK the movement; Bush shouldn't anger Assad, he should 'dialogue' with him."

This is ESSENTAILLY what their criticism of Bush's policy on Iraq amounts to: blaming Bush for the actions of those who oppose democracy and oppose our efforts to liberate our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, and help them achieve their universal Human Rights.

I'd love it if the Left would blame the enemy more than Bush. But they are driven less by sympathy to their fellow human beings who suffer under tyranny, than by their partisan hatred of Bush and by their cognitive dissonance, (which is caused by the fact that the organizing principles of Leftist ideology have been thoroughly discredited - first by Deng Xiao Ping in China in 1980, and then by the collapse of the USSR, and then by the resurgence of the USA under Reagan, the UK under Thatcher, and Ireland and India under administrations which rolled back socialism and Reaganized their economies and tax structure - leading to record growth and recortd investment).

REMEMBER: All the countries which have - since 1980 - followed Hayek (and rejected Marx and his ilk) have bettered the standard of living for their people and enlarged individual liberty, (of course: prosperity is the by-product of liberty!) - but this has happened at the expense of the State, and Leftists just cannot accept this. This leads them to become emotionally unbalanced, and to irrationally attack those who undermine their most basic beliefs in displays which are energized by classical cognitive dissonance. CD is what fuels their hatred and their denial.

That's why, even after Assad falls, these BDS afflicted Lefties will probably not be able to admit that they were wrong. Just as they now say that Iraq was better/safer under Saddam, they will argue that Assad was stabilizing, and that the inevitable chaos and power-plays which will result when Assad falls should have been anticipated, and would have been better avoided if there had only been better planning, or if we had just let "well enough" alone.

BAH HUMBUG! Tyrants like Assad, and Saddam never go without a push. And besides that, we have given Assad EVERY OPPORTUNITY to change. Just as we did Saddam.

But enough is enough. For Assad and his allies on the Left; (and this is true literally and figurativelt, for Assad is a Baathist and Baathism is a variant of socialism ad socialism is a variant of Leftism). The clock is ticking... on Assad, and on the Left, too!

Remember: IF YOU WANT TO MAKE POVERTY AND TYRANNY HISTORY, THEN YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE LEFT HISTORY!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

MSM COVER-UP: FORMER CLINTON AIDES IN MEGA-MILLION DOLLAR SCANDAL

WASH POST: The SEC fined Fannie Mae $400 MILLION for manipulating its statements just so that the top executives could reap HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in bonuses.

The CEO got $50 MILLION in bonuses, himself. He was Franklin Raines, a former Clinton Director of the OMB.

Of course, the WASHINGTON POST NEVER MENTIONED THE WORDS "DEMOCRAT" OR "CLINTON" IN THE ENTIRE ARTICLE. I WONDER WHY?! FUNNY: They also left these words out of an article about corrupt Congressman Jefferson!?

I also wonder why they never mention the fact that Jamie Gorelick was VICE-CHAIRMAN of Fannie Mae during the time these violations occured. COULD IT BE BECAUSE SHE WAS A CLINTON INSIDER, TOO?! Naw, ya think!? Sheesh.

The "CULTURE OF CORRUPTION" - a Democrat Party tradition and a Clinton Administration specialty.

ADDENDUM: Here's a link to a story about how the scandal was discovered. It's about a REAL whistleblower: one who blew the whistle on CORRUPTION
, (not a phony whistleblower who was really TRAITOR who shared vital national secrets with reporters from the NYTIMES and WASH POST just for partisan gain).

UPDATE: THE NYTIMES MAKES THE SAME OMISSIONS - their article doesn't mention the words: Democrat; Clinton; or Gorelick.

UPDATE #2: DITTO USATODAY and the AP.

MORE HERE.

"PHARAOH HIGH" - OR WHAT A TRAILER FOR "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" MIGHT LOOK LIKE IN TODAY'S HOLLYWOOD

EFFIN' BRILLIANT FAKE TRAILER! HILARIOUS!
NSFW; (some bad language). (Hat tip PAJAMAS MEDIA.)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

SO-CALLED "TRADE DEFICITS" AND "TRADE IMBALANCES": BOGEYMEN - or why the only way to "make poverty history" is to make the Left history

Economist and former Clinton Administration official Joseph Steiglitz is a NOBEL LAUREATE - (something he shares with ARAFAT!).

He wrote a knee-jerk Leftist column which repeats vestigial Leftist NONSENSE about world trade and national savings rates. EXCERPT:
In 2005, the US trade deficit was US$805 billion, while the sum of the surpluses of Europe, Japan, and China was only US$325 billion. Any focus on trade imbalances thus should center on the major global imbalance: That of the US. The task of assessing trade imbalances - whom to blame and what should be done - involves both economics and politics. Trade imbalances are the result, for instance, of household decisions about how much to save and how much, and what, to consume.

...With the US trade deficit the major global imbalance, attention should focus on how to increase its national savings - a question that US governments have struggled with for decades, and one that was frequently debated when I was chair of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers. We found only one solution: Reduce the fiscal deficit.

If the IMF does not direct its attention on America's need to reduce its fiscal deficits - through higher taxes for America's richest and lower defense spending - the Fund's relevance in the twenty-first century will inevitably decline.
Steiglitz - like most Leftist - gets it ALL WRONG. Trade deficits - and low savings rates - are chimeras - ("a fanciful mental illusion or fabrication"). Low savings is something the left likes to harp on - as if people wpouldf be better off if they oput their money in savings accounts instead of the place where they are currently puuting their savings: IN THEIR HOMES. And need I remind you that home values - and therefore SAVINGS - are SOARING?! This means savings rates are NOT as low as the Left would like you to believe. (The Left wants you to believe this so they can get more power for the State or for international non-elected UN-democratic organizations like the IMF. In his column, Steiglitz argues this point EXPLICITLY - see the red-highlight!)

Trade deficits are also BUNK - illusions - a bogeyman promoted by polemicizing Lefties. Here's proof:

When WAL-MART buys goods in China - and pays for them with an LC, (which is for all intents and purposes CASH) - Wal-Mart gets GOODS for this cash. There is NO IMBALANCE OR DEFICIT. Wal-Mart and their supplier have MADE AN EVEN-STEVEN TRADE: the supplier gave up GOODS for CASH; Wal-Mart gave up cash for GOODS. As a bookeeping matter, Wal-Mart decreases its cash balance and increases its goods balance - BY EQUAL AMOUNTS. Furthermore, WAL-Mart will MAKE A PROFIT SELLING THOSE GOODS, and CONSUMERS WILL GET A GOOD VALUE, TOO! The enitre transaction is GOOD.


Wal-Mart is NOT endangered because it buys goods from China, not anymore than you're endangered when you buy goods from your local grocery - as Walter Williams has PROVEN.

The so-called "trade imbalance" or "trade deficit" is a phony number derived by treating GOODS as VALUELESS - which is ABSURD.

These two BOGEYMEN (trade deficits and trade imbalances) were INVENTED AND PROMOTED by groups which had an interest in stopping or slowing international TRADE - like Leftist parties or unions or industries which wanted PROTECTIONISM so that they could continue to offer inferior GOODS to a CAPTIVE market.

It's long passed time that the public demanded that politicians and demogogues and other assorted protectionists stop using thess BOGUS terms.

International trade increases competition which in turn improves the quality of goods and services AND THEREFORE VALUES TO CONSUMERS. It is a good thing.

Nations which trade more with other nations improve the quality of life for their citizens. Protectionist nations do not. Protectionism helps a small segment of the economy - (a SPECIAL INTEREST) - and hurts ALL THE CONSUMERS; therefore it can NEVER be the greatest good for the greatest number.

Globalization is the second greatest engine for growth and IMPROVING the lives of poor people EVERYWHERE. The first is INDUSTRIALIZATION.

Africa needs factories and OPEN ECONOMIES, not foreign aid. Ditto the rest of the Third World. Asia went from being the POOREST PLACE ON EARTH in the 1970's - to the third richest, as living standards for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IMPROVED - because they gave up on "command economies" and protectionism, and got INDUSTRIALIZED. Asia still has a long way to go. As do Africa and South America. The poor people of the world need more liberty and more industrialization and more globalization.

The Left, which hates industrialization - (because in their fantasies it's "killing" the Earth) - also hates GLOBALIZATION. So, the Left is the MAIN OBSTACLE TO THE TWO THINGS WHICH CAN BEST END POVERTY IN THE WORLD.

TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY, WE NEED TO MAKE THE LEFT HISTORY.

(More HERE.)

IS LEFT-WING DOMINATED GOOGLE CENSORING NON-LEFT NEWS/COMMENTARY?

Maybe. At least according to these SEVEN (7) reports I got from GOOGLING "google censoring" at GOOGLE NEWS.

I went over to BLOG SEARCH at GOOGLE and put the same words in, and got 4.254 hits.

That's a big spread. IS IT PROOF THAT GOOGLE IS CENSORING NON-LEFTIST NEWS AND COMMENTARY AND TRYING TO COVER IT UP?!

I'm very suspicious because history is replete with Leftist states which have done the same thing. And are doing it today: North Korea; Cuba; Vietnam; Syria; Iran and Zimbabwe. And the like. All ruled by Leftist regimes. Like GOOGLE.

THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ IS NOT WHAT THE LEFT CLAIMS IT IS: WE'RE WINNING!

Hat tip the invaluble REAL CLEAR POLITICS:

WSJ; NYP; Shawcross. And remember this golden oldie from Hitch.

A lot is at stake in Iraq. It's no time to go wobbly - though that's exactly what the Left and Binladen would like.

ISRAEL NABS A BIG ONE - WHO HAD "GOTTEN AWAY"

BBC:
Israeli forces have captured the leader of Islamic group Hamas' military wing in the West Bank in a raid in Ramallah. Israel accuses Ibrahim Hamad, 41, of masterminding a string of suicide bombings, including attacks on cafes and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
... Mr Hamad has been wanted by Israel since 1998, and has been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for his anti-Israeli activities.

He was released by the PA in 2002, during a major Israeli military offensive in the West Bank.
The IDF is amazingly good at what they do, and what they do is good.

GORE IS WRONG, AGAIN: MAN-MADE GLOBAL-WARMING IS PURE HOGWASH!

Climate is More Than Mean Global Air Temperature; (hat tip POWERLINE):
In closing, let me state that climate is more than simply annually-averaged global air temperature. Too much focus has been placed on divining air temperature time-series and such emphasis obscures the true issue in understanding climate change and variability.

If we are truly to understand climate and its impacts and driving forces, we must push beyond the tendency to distill it to a single annual number. Proxy records, which provide our only possible link to the past, are incomplete at best.

But when these records are carefully and individually examined, one reaches the conclusion that climate variability has been a natural occurrence, and especially so over the last millennium. And given the uncertainties in the proxy and instrumental records, an assertion of any decade as being the warmest in the last millennium is premature.
David R. Legates, Ph.D., CCM
Associate Professor and Director
Center for Climatic Research
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware

RELIAPUNDIT: Somebody tell Al Gore to shove that global thermometer up his internet!

[ASIDE: So, why do they do it?! Why do Leftists - statists, the elitist know-it-all's - believe in this CRAP?! Because it appeals to their diathesis for PRESCRIPTIVE UTOPIANISM. This is what makes the Gore's and the Binladen's and the Stalins and Mao's and the Hillary's of the world so friggin DANGEROUS: they think that the world would be a better place - a UTOPIA - if only people did things the RIGHT WAY. Of course, they each define RIGHT WAY differently, but ALL would have an ELITE of like-minded people PRESCRIBE THEIR WAY on to the rest of us.

Non-statists like me, believe that the world will never find perfection, just as few of us will in our own lives, but that the best results are a product of personal choice, personal will, and personal responsibility. That's why we have confidence in the marketplace, for what is a marketplace except a place where free persons get to buy and sell - exchange - whatever they want, whenever THEY think it has a price which matches the value they put on it.

History bears out the non-statist view: free markets have always out-produced statist/command economies. Since 1980, China and Ireland and the UK and the USA and India have all borne this out. South Korea proves it most dramatically. Prosperity is a by-product of liberty. The free market is liberty in action. So free people are FREER than less free poiple - a good in and of itself,AND, they have more prosperous lives with better standards of living and better lifestyles - lifestyles they get to lead from their OWN personal choice. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?! it sounds better than the USSR to me!

Well... despite reality, Statists have no confidence in outcomes produced by the free market. The believe that since free markets don't produce perfect, UTOPIAN results, that THEY should just be given a LITTLE 3rd party control over markets so that they can pre-determine values and outcomes, and that then everything would be better. UTOPIAN.

They are so sure, that they are willing to use the coercive power of the state to take private property, or deny basic, Universal Rights and personal liberty. In fact, the impulse to pass so-called "Campign Finance Reform" is just this "prescriptive utopian" impulse. In this case the statists say, in effect, "We'll just curtail Free Speech a little. It doesn't really matter; the OUTCOME will be better."

The same people who liked Campaign Finance Reform liked Kyoto - or similar schemes. It empowers them - the elite - to prescribe goals and outcomes, and to levy taxes to finance an elite they designate who will set goals and determine outcomes.

This is ANOTHER reason that Leftists have affinity with the jihadomaniacs. Not only do they both hate Judeo-Christian ethics, Western Civilization, and objective rationcination, and abhor what they (incorrectly) see as centuries of European abuse of the Third World and of the Earth, but they also believe that the world would be perfect if EVERYBODY thought and felt and did just like they did. AND THAT THEY WOULD, IF THEY WERE AS SMART AS THEM, OR HAD BEEN "TAUGHT" AS WELL AS THEY HAD BEEN.

And they seek the power of the state to inflict that vision - like BULLIES - on everyone else.

For the common good.

Yeah, sure.

Their belief in global-warming, in Kyoto, in Campaign Finance, in windfall profits taxes, in progressive income taxes, in affirmative action - all stem from this impulse.

It is a dangerous and fundamentally anti-libertarian impulse. It's why they're all bullies. And why they all have the audicaity to say it's for our own good.

Well, you now what I say!? Shove your common good up your elitist arse!]

Monday, May 22, 2006

WE'RE WINNING: US ALLY NABS A BIG ONE!

BBC: Jordanian officials say they have arrested a senior al-Qaeda figure heavily involved in Iraq's insurgency. Security officials in Jordan's capital, Amman, refused to identify the man, said to be a key aide to Iraq's most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

LEFTISTS IN ITALY WASTE NO TIME: IMMEDIATELY OPENING IMMIGRANT FLOODGATES

BBC:
The new minister in charge of immigration in Italy plans to overhaul tough policies and relax the criteria required for being a legal immigrant. Paolo Ferrero says he intends to normalise the position of immigrants already in Italy, if they have jobs. Italy has a growing number of illegal immigrant workers arriving in the south of the country from Africa. Mr Ferrero was appointed by Romano Prodi, whose centre-left coalition came to power after winning April elections. ... Mr Ferrero, [is] a member of the Communist Refoundation Party ... surveys show most Italians would like to see illegal immigrants expelled.
Italy has one of the LOWEST birth-rates in the EU, SO THEY NEED IMMIGRANTS TO KEEP THEIR SOCIALIST PONZI SCHEME AFLOAT! BUT: Why don't they import Mexicans!? Mexicans speak a European language and practice a European religion, and would assimilate more easily. We could EASILY and CHEAPLY send them all the illegal ones we catch here. WE COULD JUST SEND THEM TO THE EU! We could fly them to Spain and Italy instead of flying them back to Mexico. I'M SURE THE ILLEGALS WOULDN'T MIND; IN FACT, THEY MIGHT PREFER IT!

It would be a win-win-win: Mexico wins - they can continue to export labor and receive cash; the USA wins - we can REDUCE our illegal immigrant inflow; and the EU wins - they get good labor which can more easily assimiliate into their culture.

FBI FEARS IRAN WILL USE JIHADO-STOOGES TO RETALIATE IN USA AND NY

Long ago I posted that Hizballah and Hamas (and other jiahdoterrorist groups) are proxies who are funded by and operate on behest of Iran. THIS STORY from the NY's paper of record seems to bear that out - OMINOUSLY SO. EXCERPT:
The nationwide effort to neutralize Hezbollah sleepers in the United States, being spearheaded by the FBI and Justice Department's counterterrorism divisions, was triggered in January in response to alarming reports that Iran's fanatical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, met with leaders of Hezbollah and other terror groups during a visit to Syria.

Among those attending the meetings, according to reliable reports, was Hezbollah's chief operational planner, Imad Mugniyah - considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world - who is responsible for the bombings of the 1983 U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and who, more recently, provided Iraqi guerrillas with sophisticated explosive devices.
The interface between state's like Iran and jihadothugs like Mugniyah remains the gravest threat to Western Civilization. (Followed by the fact that Europeans and Russians are NOT having children.)

I habe long argued that Iran wil try to ignite an Israeli-Arab War as a diversion. Israel's unilateral separation negates that, somewhat - by allowing Israel to reinforce defenses on its most important national assets by allowing redeployment of military assets from places that require a disproportionate amount of protection for their relative value, (namely the smaller West bank settlements). They will soon be impregnable

The endgame is advancing on many fronts: as Iraq stabilizes the USA and UK can redeploy troops in ways that put more pressure on Iran - and Syria; we are honing in on the murderous Bashar - a final report on the Hariri assassination is due in a few weeks; we are pressuring Syria to finalize its borders with Israel and Lebanon; Israel's new government will begin withdrawals from the West Bank; the UNSC will pass another anti-Iran-nuke resolution; a major Coalition offensive is rolling up jihadothugs in Afghanistan; and so on.

The wild card is all the 12th Iman BS: the feeling that Ahmadinejad will PREEMPTIVELY attack the West in order to bring on the catclysm he and his fellow cult members believe will bring on the appearance of the 12th Iman. Some people feel that his letters to Bush and the Pope presage a preemptive attack - and perhaps even a nuclear one.

I don't consider this likely. I feel that if Iran had nukes already that they would NOT be "acting out" so much; for example, a poker-player with a winning hand doesn't smirk and gloat and challenge his opponents (because they'll just fold, and he'll NOT win a large pot). NO, someone who holds a winning hand wants his opponents to think he's holding BAD cards, and is nervous, and unsure - so that the pot will get bigger.


That's why Ahmadinejad's bluster and dare seems hollow to me, phony. FOR THE TIME BEING.

Of course, given how the mullahs feel about their rights to have nukes, it's only a matter of time before they do get'em, UNLESS we: (1) preemptively attack their nuke assets; or (2) foment REGIME CHANGE INTERNALLY. The latter is of course preferential. After all, nukes themselves are not dangerous; their danger is purely a matter of who controls them. If a sensible, rational, international law-abiding/Universal Human Rights observing Iran had nukes I would not worry very much. But the fact is that Iran right now cannot be trusted with nukes and must not be allowed to get them.

Preemptively attacking them seems the MOST likely thing that will happen. If the GOP loses the House, then I expect us to attack before Christmas 2006 - (before Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Conyers initiate impeachment proceedings). In any event, Bush will NOT leave this problem for the next president to solve; therefore the outside date for action is January 5th, 2009. So that the Free World won't have to depend on President Hillary (God forbid!).

NOTE: The POSSIBLILITY of a preemptive attack by the end of this year IS ALL THE MORE REASON WE WILL SEE WITHDRAWALS OF US AND UK TROOPS FROM IRAQ: our troops in Iraq are the most likely retaliatory target - they would be the closest and largest target for the Iranians to hit.

BUSH AND BOLTON KEEPING PRESSURE ON ASSAD

AL-MANAR-TV/Lebanon:
Syria: Resolution 1680 constitutes unwarranted pressure and provocation

UN Security Council members issued resolution 1680 to crank up the pressure on Syria to agree to formal diplomatic ties and representation with Lebanon and to delineate their common border, especially in areas where the border is uncertain. Russia and China, two-veto wielding powers, abstained from voting on the new resolution sponsored by the US, UK, and France. ...

The resolution pushed Syria to take steps to quote "prevent arms flows from Syrian territory to militias in Lebanon", and it called on "all concerned states and parties" to co-operate with the Lebanese government and the United Nations in fully implementing the 2004 resolution number 1559. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said that language in the resolution referred to Iran and Hizbollah as well as to Syria. ...the resolution is a pre-emptive step preceding another step that would materialize in a month's time, when UN chief investigator Serge Brammertz issues his report over former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.
Syrian and Iranian tyrants don't like the new resolution. So it must be good. Reasonable observers must agree that things are getting tougher for Assad, not better. HE WILL SOON BE GONE: One less ally for Iran and their jihadoterrorist stooges.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

RUMMY AT VMI

Make 20 minutes available - ASAP - to listen to Rumsfeld's entire speech to the graduates of VMI. It's a truly moving and re-invigorating speech. HAT TIP OP-FOR.

MISSILE DEFENSE GAINS SUPPORTERS WORLDWIDE

WASH TIMES /JAMES HACKETT:
After decades of denial, European countries are starting to recognize their security also would be strengthened by a missile defense. West European governments have spent years denigrating America's missile defense plans as unnecessary "star wars." But now, thanks to Iran's drive for nuclear weapons and longer-range missiles, and the support of NATO's new East European members, NATO finally is stepping up to the plate.

On May 10, Marshall Billingslea, NATO assistant secretary general, presented the results of a four-year study of the missile threat to Europe and how to defend against it. While the report is classified, Mr. Billingslea said it found a missile defense of Europe technically and financially feasible. Now, he said, it is up to NATO nations to decide what to do. Recommendations are expected by next year.
HAT TIP Prairie Pundit - who adds:
When will the Euros and the Democrats admit that they were wrong about missile defense and that Bush and Reagan were right? Voters should be reminded this fall of the words of those who opposed missile defense.
Withdrawing from the ABM Treaty --- which was NOT "ABROGATION" (which was how Leftists like the NYTIMES portrayed it at the time); withdrawal had ALWAYS been part of the terms of the treaty --- was one of the BEST things GWBush did.

It made us safer; it did NOT destabilize the world or increase the arms race - as the Left claimed it would. Not surprising: the Left has been WRONG about EVERYTHING!

A world in which North Korea, Iran and Paksitan have or may-have nuclear missiles, is a world that NEEDS missile defense.

WHAT HOLLYWOOD AND POST-MODERNISM HAVE IN COMMON

THE 2008 GOP TICKET

Some see McCain as "The One" - as if it's his turn.
Some see him and Rudy as rivals.

Maybe that's why they'd be a great ticket?
OR: Either could run with Rice. AND WIN.

AND HEY: Don't discount Ridge - he was a VERY popular governor, he's a Vietnam vet, and he's from a KEY KEY KEY state which he could deliver. Ditto Jeb - on the bottom of ANY ticket.

I like George Allen. But rhetorically, he's a lot like W - and the electorate might be tired of that style.

I feel like if the GOP does as badly as the MSM claims (wishes) they will in 2006, that Cheney should resign and Bush should pick Rice to fill out the term.

This would position Rice to be on the ticket - with either McCain, Rudy or Allen - if she decides not to SEEK the presidential nomination.

It could also allow her to seek it, and end up on the ticket anyway. And if she sought it and won - (which is certainly NOT a given since she's got ZERO experience on the campign trail) - she could pick ANYBODY to be on the ticket and win. She could beat a Dem ticket of FDR/JFK and/or Clinton, (either one)!


Mitt is a wild card. Telegenic. GREAT rhetorical gifts. If this Mormon conservative can win in Massachusetts, then he can win ANYWHERE.

NEVERTHESS: MY MONEY would have to be on McCain - it's his to lose. If his cancer recurs, then he will lose. If he loses his temper, then he will lose. If he runs to the center-Left, then he will lose. He is more to the right on social issues than Rudy. They might spend the early months of the campaign ATTACKING each other --- which would open up the way for someone else. SO TONE WILL BE KEY. If McCain seeks to hurt Rudy by painting himas the social liberal, it could backfire.

Frankly, I thought Rudy's performance at the 2004 RNC Convention was SPECTACULAR - and so did several Lefties I watched it with. He's pugnacious, but he's got charm. He's got gravitas, and a sense of humor. And he's a plain-talker.

I think that Rudy is supremely confident in himself, so I doubt that any nasty fireworks willl be initiated by Rudy against McCain. Rusy can handle political defeat. But McCain might not be a gracious (his letter to Obama was red-hot and mean-spirited, albeit true, and funny). Anyhow, IF McCain is barely leading Rudy - and the others - in the weeks before the first primary, then I EXPECT the mercurial McCain to go ballistic. AND LOSE BIGTIME.

I hope we're all around to find out. And that the electorate - like most wise crowds - makes the right choice.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER - CHAVEZ : LATIN AMERICA :: NASSER : MIDDLE EAST

Chavez and Nasser: two Left-wing, anti-American, racist, anti-Semitic, pan-nationalistic socialist demagogues.

Some interesting analysis here, by PUBLIUS PUNDIT. (And TJ notes pro-Chavez puffery from the MSM here.)

Not to be overlooked: the fact that Chavez is actually aiding the jihadoterrorists (who are - NOT COINCIDENTALLY - ALL SOCIALISTS!). (See HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.)


One of the things that is so WEIRD about this - to me - is the "time-warp" aspect: Marxism has been absolutely thoroughly discredited (in the former USSR, in China, in India, in Korea, etc.), yet it still has populist appeal. WHY!? Because socialism exploits the covetousness so common in each and everyone of us; socialists essentially say: "Why work for the things one doesn't have; just TAKE them from the people that do have them - and get the STATE to help!"

The FACT that everywhere and everytime a centrally planned economy and redistribution has been tried it has created MORE poverty never seems to even get into the equation for so many people, (the Leftists and their acolytes). WHY!? Their avarice and greed and covetousness - and sloth - is so great. YEAH SLOTH: it's easier to steal something from others than to earn it oneself.

Some "leaders" like Chavez and Kim Jong Il MIGHT know that what they advocate is bad/harmful/vestigial, but advocate it anyhow for their personal gain. Other Leftist demagogues might actually believe it themselves; (as I imagine the French Leftists do. But then, they "believe in Jacques Derrida!).

BOTTOM-LINE: IT MATTERS NOT WHETHER THE DEMAGOGUES ARE DUPES OR JUST "DUPERS". The results are ALWAYS THE SAME: more poverty, less liberty. WHY IS THIS SO?! Because prosperity is the by-product of liberty. And because socialism reduces liberty - and personal incentives for personal growth, it always reduces prosperity.
FOR EVERYONE.

The current BACKSLIDE INTO SOCIALISM - in Italy, Spain, Latin America -- and soon perhaps France - MIGHT EVEN OCCUR IN THE USA! YUP: the American electorate might vote the Left back in power this Novermebr - and 2008. They will vote as if price controls, high-taxes, windfall profits taxes, nationalizing industries - and the like - EVER brought anything good. Sheesh.

A sucker is born every minute.

[WEIRD ASIDE: Can someone explain to me why the CONSERVATIVE is leading in the presidential polls in Mexico?! And I DON'T buy the "Chavez Backlash" theory. My theory is that the Mexicans in the USA - those WORKING illegally - are convincing their relatives of the benefits of the USA's non-socialist FREE ENTERPRISE system. The "BIG CONVINCER"?! ALL THE MONEY THEY SEND HOME!]

[BTW: One of the MAJOR reasons Chavez and Ahmadinejad are ALLIES is that they both USE Marxist rhetoric when describing the West and the USA - essentially, jihadoterrorists and Leftists employ the same CORE MEMES: (1) that Third World poverty is the result of First World colonialization; (2) that the State should be the final arbiter in the economic marketplace and the marketplace of ideas; (3) and that "individual liberty" is a lie/fantasy of the West; etc.]

[ADDENDUM: The resurgence of the Left is simply a REACTIONARY PHASE: we are in the midst of great changes in the world, principally driven by: the IT revolution; globalization; jihado-hegemonism; and the collapse of Marxist regimes, (and of the bi-polar world - which everyone over the age of 40 GREW UP IN. This is roughly half the world's population, and all of its decison-makers!).

These "change-makers are" ALL UNSETTLING to people, and when people get unsettled they get uncomfortable and insecure, and they crave ORDER and PREDICTABILITY.

Leftism - the ideologies which advocate the aggressive use of the State to predetermine outcomes, roles, distribution, etc - offers "benign" predictability. This is SEDUCTIVE in times of great change, and turmoil. Leftist ideologies appeal to peole who want.crave/need predictable outcomes; it makes them feel secure; they think outcomes based on rules alone are just/fair.

THE FACT THAT LEFTISM HAS NEVER DELIVERED "BENIGN PREDICTABILITY" IS RATIONALIZED AWAY BY BY LEFTISTS; THEY SAY, "Well, the USSR (for example) wasn't 'true' socialism. If we finally tried "TRUE scialism, it would work just fine."


Bah Humbug!

I ask Leftists to consider this: Economies are divided into two components: "GOODS" and "SERVICES." Why do you suppose the THINGS which people buy are called "GOODS"?! It's because the things which people CHOOSE FREELY to buy - WITH THEIR OWN HARD-EARNED MONEY - are things THEY consider good. Consumption of GOODS is GOOD; it's people exercising THEIR LIBERTY.

Poor people don't have the means to CONSUME ENOUGH GOODS. The problem of Third World poverty is NOT that the First World consumes too much; it's that the Third World consumes TOO LITTLE! And produces too little, too. The solution is NOT to have the First World consume LESS - as Leftists argue (as when they accuse the USA of "over-consuming". In fact, if the USA consumed LESS it would drive the ENTIRE WORLD into a RECESSION - raising unemployment WORLDWIDE, and INCREASING POVERTY!).

To increase the ability of poor people in the Third World to consume, we need to INDUSTRIALIZE the Third World, and liberate it from Leftism. After all. Leftism is the road to sefdom.

The Left is fond of believing that industrialization has been a great harm to mankind and the Earth. BUT THE FACT IS INDUSTRIALIZATION HAS BEEN A GREAT BOON TO MANKIND, AND NO HARM TO THE EARTH.

The overall human population, and life-spans, AND the average standard of living for all humans has actually increased ever since INDUSTRIALIZATION, and because of it. The best places to live on Earth are the INDUSTRIAL NATIONS.

And as for the INSANE, irrational, "change-phobic" Leftist/"green" charge that the "environment" is getting worse: BAH HUMBUG! If industialization was "bad for your health" then why do the populations in the INDUSTRIAL world have healthier, longer lives than those in the un-industrialized world?!?! THE ARGUMENT THAT INDUSTRIALIZATION IS BAD FOR OYUR HEALTH IS HOGWASH. It's good for workers, for consumers, and for people's health.

And as far as the "green" argument against industrialization: IT TOO IS HOGWASH! The history of industrialization is NOT one of depleting one resource despoiling the area of its origin and then moving on to the next resource; it is rather a history of DISCOVERING new uses for previously "useless" things, and offering them to FREE people to consume, if they so wish.

In 1840 oil was useless; in 1940 it was dear; it might become useless again, and probably will LONG BEFORE we run out. Silicon and titanium were uselsss in 1940; they are dear, now. In 100 years they might become useless, again. The FREE MARKET will decide. And since the FREE MARKET is nothing more than FREE PEOPLE FREELY making a choice about what to do with THEIR hard-earned money, it is both economically sound and morally sound.

Those who argue that the State should make these decisions, instead of free persons, are economically and morally WRONG. History proves this - I shouldn't have to!

I pray that we don't succumb to "change-phobia" and the Reactionary Left. But: Ya neva know. Fear of change - "change-phobia" - is a powerful motivator. It is fueling the Left, AND their Jihadoterrorist comrades.]

[EPILOGUE: Is this the CLINICAL problem? IS THIS THE ANSWER?]