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

Saturday, March 08, 2008

THE ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL HUMAN SHIELD TACTICS OF HAMAS


VIA MATSAV.

  • PUTTING MILITARY ASSETS IN CIVILIAN LOCATIONS IS A VIOLATION OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS - SO IS THE USE OF HUMAN SHIELDS.
  • ALL COLLATERAL DAMAGE AND JUST ABOUT EVERY CIVILIAN KILLED BY THE IDF IN GAZA IS LEGALLY A VICTIM OF HAMAS AND THEIR ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL TACTICS.
  • THE PEOPLE WHO VOLUNTEER TO BE HUMAN SHIELDS AGAINST IDF ATTACKS DO SO BECAUSE THEY KNOW - UNLIKE THEMSELVES - ISRAEL WILL DO WHATEVER THEY CAN NOT TO VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAWS AND NORMS.
THE CREED WHICH JUSTIFIES THESE ACTIONS - FUNDAMETALIST ISLAM - IS EVIL.

HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH AIDED THE JERUSALEM MURDERER

Haaretz:
The gunman who murdered eight students at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem last Thursday was acting on instructions from Hamas leaders in Damascus, in coordination with Hezbollah, Palestinian defense sources said.

Over the weekend, eight East Jerusalem residents were arrested in connection with gunman Ala Abu Dhaim's shooting attack. Abu Dhaim's father, two of his brothers and two cousins are among those detained.

The father also removed Hamas and Hezbollah flags from a mourners' tent the family had erected, after being instructed to do so by police. According to the Palestinian news agency Maan, Abu Dhaim's father had in the past been a member of Hamas.
AND NEITHER HAMAS OR HIZBALLAH COULD SURVIVE WITHOUT IRAN.

IT'S TIME TO NEUTRALIZE IRAN.

ANTI-WAR CROWD MAY HAVE FINALLY FOUND SOMETHING TO HANG THEIR HATS ON: TINNITUS

They tried to say that the Iraq War turned vets into murderers. That failed. Then they tried to say that the Iraq War made them suicidal - that failed too.

Now... maybe they've found something: TINNITUS:

AP:
Soldiers and Marines caught in roadside bombings and firefights in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home in epidemic numbers with permanent hearing loss and ringing in their ears, prompting the military to redouble its efforts to protect the troops from noise.

Hearing damage is the No. 1 disability in the war on terror, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and some experts say the true toll could take decades to become clear.

Nearly 70,000 of the more than 1.3 million troops who have served in the two war zones are collecting disability for tinnitus, a potentially debilitating ringing in the ears, and more than 58,000 are on disability for hearing loss, the VA said.

"The numbers are staggering," said Theresa Schulz, a former audiologist with the Air Force, past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association and author of a 2004 report titled "Troops Return With Alarming Rates of Hearing Loss."
  • I THINK THE ANTI-WAR CROWD FEELS THAT THE SOUND OF A MUEZZIN IS A LOT BETTER THAN THE SOUND OF US KILLING ISLAMO-NAZIS.
  • I DON'T.
  • THEY CAN STICK THEIR ANTI-WAR CRAP UP THEIR EARS.
  • IF THEY REALLY SUPPORTED THE TROOPS THEN THEY'D WANT US TO WATER-BoARD DETAINEES AND INTERCEPT AS MANY ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS AS WE CAN - NOT AS MANY AS THE ACLU WOULD ALLOW!
BUT WE SHOULD DEFINITELY GET THE TROOPS MO'BETTER EARPLUGS.

FARC SUPPORTS OBAMA: KNOWS OBAMA WOULD APPEASE THEM AND HURT COLOMBIA


ROGER KIMBALL WRITES:
Why is John McCain's non affair front-page news while the appearance of Obama's name on the hard drive of a dead Columbia warlord isn't?
IBD (VIA ROGER KIMBALL OF PJM AND SCOTT JOHNSON OF POWER LINE):
Obama hasn’t said a whole lot about Colombia other than to criticize President Bush’s good relations with President Uribe. With this correspondence suggesting that FARC knows what he thinks, maybe the American voters have a right to know what he thinks, too. Five questions come to mind:

1. Is it true Obama would cut off Plan Colombia military aid to our ally, which would serve the terrorist group FARC’s interests?

2. Does Obama still oppose a free trade agreement for Colombia, even though that puts him on the same side as FARC in the debate?

3. Does Obama know or care that one of his staffers or supporters is claiming to disclose his positions in secret meetings with FARC terrorists outside government channels?

4. Can he tell us why his supporters would pass on such information to terrorists, and what he or she could gain from it?

5. Will Obama, as president, treat FARC as the serious terrorists they are, given that they still hold three Americans hostage?

These aren’t idle “gotcha” questions, by the way. Based on his campaign so far, Obama favors meeting and negotiating with rogue leaders without preconditions, passing secret messages to foreign countries at odds with his public positions and tolerating Che-flag wielding leftists among his supporters who advance a radical agenda in his name.

Now that FARC seems to have an inside line to Obama’s campaign, maybe he ought to come tell voters what he really stands for.

  • OBAMA WOULD BE AS ACCOMMODATING TO FARC AND CHAVEZ AS HE SAYS HE WILL BE TO IRAN, ASSAD AND THEIR STOOGES.
  • JUST AS AN OBAMA PRESIDENCY WOULD DESTABILIZE THE MIDDLE EAST, IT WOULD DESTABILIZE SOUTH AMERICA - AND IN BOTH CASES TIP THE SCALES TO FAVOR OUR ENEMIES.
  • A VOTE FOR OBAMA IS A VOTE FOR OUR ENEMIES - AND THE ENEMIES OF OUR ALLIES.
  • VOTING DEMOCRAT WOULD HELP ASSAD AND HURT LEBANON.
  • VOTING DEMOCRAT WOULD HURT COLOMBIA AND HELP VENEZUELA AND FARC.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

GROWTH IN ENERGY CONSUMPTION: STOP BLAMING THE AUTOMOBILE AND THE JET; IT'S YOUR COMPUTER AND TV!

TIM BLAIR: WORSE THAN FLIGHT
AFP claims:

Worldwide computer use requires 14 power stations for the necessary electricity, producing more harmful carbon dioxide emissions than the entire airline industry—not including the emissions created and manufacturing and shipping around the products in the first place.
CSMONITOR: As TVs grow, so do electric bills
Not long ago, Andrew Fanara was shopping with his wife for a new big-screen television. Everything was going fine, until the sales clerk discovered Mr. Fanara was an energy watchdog for the federal government. Pulling Fanara aside, the clerk confessed: His own new 61-inch TV gulped electricity the way a big SUV guzzles gasoline.

"The month after he got it, he got a call from his landlord, who noticed a big jump in the utility bill," recalls Fanara, team leader of the Energy Star program at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "It was the kid's big-screen television."

... Revelations about energy-munching appliances aren't uncommon in Fanara's job. But lately, he's hearing more about big-screen TVs - and that's worrisome. With sales expected to skyrocket - and with only outmoded testing and efficiency standards available to alert people about energy consumption - digital big-screen TVs are poised to generate big hikes in home energy use and pollution, unless manufacturers act swiftly to adopt more efficient technologies.

... televisions account for about 4 percent of annual residential electricity use in the United States - enough to power all of the homes in the state of New York for a year, according to a new NRDC study. Today there are about 266 million TVs, and that number is growing by 3.5 million per year. By 2009, when half of all new TV sales are expected to be extended- or high-definition digital sets with big screens, TV energy use will reach about 70 billion kilowatt-hours per year nationwide - about 50 percent higher than at present. Throw in a DVD and VCR player, a pair of high-definition set-top boxes, and other household TVs, and the total TV-related energy use for the home rises to about 10 percent, the NRDC estimates.

Bigger screens aren't the only culprits for TV's growing energy draw. The nation's move to high-definition TV, or HDTV, requires sets to deliver more picture clarity, which draws more power. Also, Americans are watching some 16 percent more TV than in the 1980s - if DVD and video-game viewing is included, according to the Nielsen Group.
WSJ: That Giant Sucking Sound May Be Your New TV - Flat-Panel Displays Devour
Power, Even Before Add-Ons

Prices for big-screen television sets are dropping, but the cost of home entertainment may still be headed up. That is because the fancy screens shoppers are lugging home this holiday season consume far more electricity than their old-school predecessors.

Consider that a 42-inch plasma set can consume more electricity than a full-size refrigerator -- even when that TV is used only a few hours a day. Powering a fancy TV and full-on entertainment system -- with set-top boxes, game consoles, speakers, DVDs and digital video recorders -- can add nearly $200 to a family's annual energy bill.
HEY, ATTENTION LEFT-WING ECO-NUTSIES: STOP PICKING ON THE FOLKS WITH SUVS, AND START DEMANDING FOLKS WITH COMPUTERS AND LARGE TVS BUY CARBON CREDITS.

FROM ALBERT "HUSSEIN" GORE JUNIOR, OF COURSE.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF LEFT-WING MSM PROPAGANDA: "AMERICANS POORER THAN A YEAR AGO"

  • THAT WAS THE HEADLINE: "AMERICANS POORER THAN A YEAR AGO" - AND IT'S FALSE.
  • IT'S A DELIBERATE DISTORTION OF DATA AND THE FACTS TO MAKE THE ELECTORATE MORE NEGATIVE ABOUT WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW - AND TO MAKE THEM DESIRE A CHANGE, IE: TO MAKE THEM VOTE DEMOCRAT.
PROOF AT BIZZYBLOG. EXCERPT:
  • The headline assumes that Americans on the whole were poor even before the fourth quarter drop in household net worth (you can’t get “poorer” unless you were “poor” already). This is beyond ridiculous and crosses the line into insulting our intelligence. Poor? Americans are clearly the richest “poor” people in human history. My math shows that the average person in America is worth $190,000 ($57.7 trillion divided by a population of 303 million).
  • The subheadline (”net worth down 3.6% in fourth quarter”) is flat-out wrong; the text of the article itself tells us that the drop is a “3.6% annual rate.” But what’s with the annualizing, anyway? The drop in household net worth during the quarter was 0.91%; the only reason to annualize it as Nutting did is to make the decline look worse than it really was.
... Nutting does make a valid point: The 3.4% increase in household net worth during 2007 is less than the year’s reported 4.1% inflation, meaning that real net worth indeed declined during last year.

... Real household net worth increased almost 28% between 2002 and 2006, before falling back a “whopping” 0.7% in 2007.
BOO-HOO'N WHOOPDY-FREAKIN-DOO. SEVEN-FREAKIN-TENTHS OF ONE-FREAKIN PERCENT. BIG DEAL.

READ THE WHOLE THING - HE'S GOT GRAPHS AND LINKS.

BIRD FLU NEWS FROM EGYPT TO BANGLADESH TO VIETNAM

REUTERS:
An 8-year-old boy in Fayoum province has contracted the bird flu virus after coming into contact with infected birds -- the 47th case among humans in Egypt since 2006, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The boy, Abdel Hamid el-Sayed Youssef, was taken to a local hospital with a high temperature, difficulty breathing and a pulmonary inflammation, spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said in a statement.

He moved to a Cairo hospital on Friday and is being treated with Tamiflu, the standard treatment for humans, it said.

An Egyptian woman from the same province southwest of Cairo died of the disease last week but a health official said there did not appear to have been contact between them.

Altogether 20 people have died of bird flu in Egypt since it arrived in the country in February 2006.
VIETNAM:
Some 3,700 birds were culled at a poultry farm in Soc Son District after a bird flu outbreak infected nearly two thirds of the farm’s livestock, the Hanoi Animal Health Department reported Thursday.

The northern province of Tuyen Quang also reported an outbreak in Son Duong District.

Northern Vietnam is seeing a massive outspread of bird flu epidemic as eight out of the 12 provinces and city hit by the epidemic nationwide are in the north, including Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Tuyen Quang and Hanoi.

Central provinces include Quang Nam and Quang Binh.

The southern provinces of Tra Vinh and Vinh Long are also hit.
BANGLADESH:
A poultry farmer was quarantined at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital as doctors suspect that he might be infected with bird flu virus.

Ashraf Hossain, 32, of Terokhadia Pashchimpara in Rajshahi was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday as he showed multiple symptoms of the disease. His blood sample was sent to Dhaka for test.

The above comments describe a suspect H5N1 case in Bangladesh.
FROM NORTH AFRICA TO CENTRAL ASIA AND THE FAR EAST: IT'S GETTING WORSE AND MORE WIDESPREAD EVERY WEEK...

UNSC FAILS TO CONDEMN TERRORIST ATTACK ON MERCAZ HARAV

More proof that they're worthless:
The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement overnight Thursday on issuing an official condemnation over the deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva because of Libyan opposition.

"Most members (of the council) wanted to condemn (the attack) but Libya blocked it," Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, told reporters.
In other words, they're slaves to Libya? Absolutely disgusting.

Meanwhile, here's a press release from the UJC condemning the terrorist attack:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2008

Contact:
H. Glenn Rosenkrantz, UJC Media Relations
212.284.6572 glenn.rosenkrantz@ujc.org

Steve Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz-Dorf Communications
202.265.3000 steve@rabinowitz-dorf.com

UNITED JEWISH COMMUNITIES AND JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA CONDEMN TERROR ATTACK AT JERUSALEM YESHIVA

New York – March 7, 2008 - United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Federations of North America condemn the brutal murders of at least eight Israelis, and the wounding of at least nine more, by a gunman who opened fire at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem on Thursday.

"The North American Jewish community mourns those lost in this tragic and senseless attack, and prays for the recovery of those who were injured, many of them critically," said UJC Chair Joe Kanfer. "Such premeditated and planned murders of innocent civilians, in this case those in a school, is nothing but inhumane and barbaric. Israelis desire to live in peace and security alongside their neighbors. As always, we stand with Israelis through this tragedy and we share their dream of peaceful coexistence.”

The attacks have been claimed by a variety of terrorist organizations and come during a time of heightened missile attacks by Hamas at Israelis living in the Sderot region.

United Jewish Communities (UJC) represents 155 Jewish federations and 400 independent communities across North America. Through the UJA Federation Campaign, UJC provides life-saving and life-enhancing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and translates Jewish values into social action on behalf of millions of Jews in hundreds of communities in North America, in towns and villages throughout Israel, in the former Soviet Union and 60 countries around the world.
I'm glad that they by contrast are presenting a good example.

DUTCH NEWS TEAM CAUGHT MAKING PRO-ISLAM/ANTI-WEST PROPAGANDA

GOV: Scandal around a burka movie
Amsterdam — BNN broadcasting company and the public broadcasting organization manipulated a movie about women dressed in burkas in such a way that it appears people in Amsterdam avoid and ignore humans [that’s what it said in Dutch!] wearing this dress.

We are pictured as a nation that intentionally ignores a woman in need who is wearing a burka.

However, another local broadcaster published this piece of pure disinformation.


For this movie a female reporter employed by 101TV was dressed in a burka and send on the street to see how folks from Amsterdam would respond.

From tapes it shows that the woman is ignored when she’s dressed in a burka, but not if she wears ordinary clothing. This is shown when the woman, while wearing the burka, drops a bag of oranges and is ignored by passers by. Without a burka everybody is willing to help her to collect the oranges.

By sheer coincidence, a local city broadcaster, AT5, was taping in the vicinity.

They show a very different side of this story. It appears clearly that bystanders who would like to help were stopped by the 101TV crew.
  • THE LIARS WHO MADE THIS FILM ARE THE SAME TYPES OF PEOPLE WHO DECRY GEERT WILDERS TRUTH-TELLING FILM, "FITNA" - AND WANT IT BANNED.
  • THEY ARE LYING LEFTIST MUSLIM-D*CKSU**ING DHIMMI SCUM.
  • THEY HATE THE WEST AND JUDEO--CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION AS MUCH AS THE MUSLIMS DO - THAT;S WHY THEY ARE ALLIES.
WHICH IS WHY I HAVE LONG ARGUED THAT TO DEFEAT THE ISLAMICIST ENEMY, WE NEED TO DEFEAT THE LEFTIST.

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: CONDELL'S LATEST ON ISLAM


VIA INFIDEL BLOGGERS.

PROOF THERE WAS NO SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE IN THE HILLARY COMMERCIAL


  • WELL, I FOUND PROOF IT'S BUNK:
KING:
The so-called "red-phone ad" was played all over the country and helped turn the tide for Hillary Clinton leading up to her big win in Ohio. The commercial suggested Barack Obama was too inexperienced to handle a national crisis.

But the young girl starring in the ad will actually be voting age next month and says she's no fan of Hillary Clinton.

Thursday night, the Knowles family of Bonney Lake, Wash., watched the Jon Stewart Show and saw the ad for the first time.

"I looked and saw a girl that looked like my sister and we rewound it and sure enough it was my sister," said Brady Knowles.

The first girl in the ad is young Casey Knowles. It's stock footage from eight years ago when she worked as a TV extra - footage owned now by Getty Images and used by the Clinton campaign.
STOCK FOOTAGE.

END OF STORY.

BTW: THE GIRL WILL SOON BE OF VOTING AGE AND SHE WILL VOTE FOR.... OBAMA!

Can the rift between Hillary and Obama be mended?

eHarmoney may be the one service that can heal the widening split between the two equally sized camps of the Democrat Party.

IF INDEPENDENCE IS GOOD FOR THE KOZOVARS, THEN WHY NOT FOR THE BASQUES?

JUST ASKING...

ABBAS TAKES OFF THE MASK


Jihadist tyrant Mahmoud Abbas took off the moderate mask in an Arabic language interview the Jordanian newspaper Al Dastur:
"I was honored to be the one to shoot the first bullet in 1965 , and having taught resistance to many in this area and around the world, defining it and when it is beneficial and when it is not... we had the honor of leading the resistance.We taught everyone what resistance is, including the Hezbollah, who were trained in our camps."
1965.


Before the election of President Bush.

Before September Eleventh.

Before the Iraq War.

Before the Intifada.

Before Israel assumed responsibility for Gaza and Judea & Samaria (the West Bank).

Abbas is a genocidal terrorist who is proud that his criminal gang provided training for other gangs of criminal terrorists.

And his criminal activities are funded by grants from the EU and the US!

That has got to stop.

And he belongs in a prison cell, not in a negotiating session.

See Joel Mowbray's article in the Washington Times for more.

ANOTHER MASS GRAVE FOUND IN IRAQ - PROBABLY ONE OF SADDAM'S

BBC:
Security forces in Iraq have found a mass grave containing about 100 decomposed bodies.

The grave, discovered in Khalis, north of the capital, Baghdad, is one of the largest such finds in several months.

...A US military spokesman said the bodies were mainly skeletal, indicating they may have been there a long time.

Iraqi army officer Major General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie added that the victims were beyond recognition.

"We can't identify them," he told AFP news agency. "There are just bones in there. At the moment we have left the remains in the grave itself."

Khalis Human rights groups believe there are many such mass graves in Iraq where thousands of people killed during the regime of deposed president Saddam Hussein were buried.
  • THE LEFT - INCLUDING OBAMA AND HILLARY - ARGUES THAT THE IRAQ WAR WAS A MISTAKE AND AN UNNECESSARY DISTRACTION; THAT SADDAM WAS HARMLESS, AND THAT WE ARE NOT SAFER AS A RESULT -- AND ARGUES THAT IT HAS WRECKED THE LIVES OF IRAQIS.
  • WRONG.
  • MORE DEFENSELESS IRAQIS DIED EACH YEAR UNDER SADDAM THAN EACH YEAR SINCE SADDAM WAS DEPOSED.
  • THEY WERE TERRORIZED BY SADDAM'S BAATHIST/SOCIALIST STATE EVERYDAY. AS WERE HIS NEIGHBORS.
FROM USAID:
Since the Saddam Hussein regime was overthrown in May, 270 mass graves have been reported.

By mid-January, 2004, the number of confirmed sites climbed to fifty-three. Some graves hold a few dozen bodies—their arms lashed together and the bullet holes in the backs of skulls testimony to their execution. Other graves go on for hundreds of meters, densely packed with thousands of bodies.


"We've already discovered just so far the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair on November 20 in London.

The United Nations, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) all estimate that Saddam Hussein's regime murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

"Human Rights Watch estimates that as many as 290,000 Iraqis have been 'disappeared' by the Iraqi government over the past two decades," said the group in a statement in May. "Many of these 'disappeared' are those whose remains are now being unearthed in mass graves all over Iraq."


If these numbers prove accurate, they represent a crime against humanity surpassed only by the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Pol Pot's Cambodian killing fields in the 1970s, and the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
YET THE OBAMESSIAH AND HILLARY AND DEMS SAY WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM ALONE.... SHEESH
  • THIS MASS GRAVE REMINDS US THAT HIS WAS A GENOCIDAL REGIME. AND THAT SANCTIONS HAD FAILED.
  • NOW, IRAQIS HAVE A DEMOCRACY AND ARE MORE AND MORE DEFENDING THEMSELVES.
  • PREMATURE RETREAT - WHICH OBAMA AND HILARY BOTH SUPPORT - WOULD OUT ALL OUR HARD-EARNED GAINS AT RISK.
A VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATS IS A VOTE FOR NEW MASS GRAVES IRAQ - EITHER FROM SECTARIAN STRIFE OR A WAR AGAINST AL QAEDA.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

OBAMA'S NANNY STATE: JUDGES RULE FOR "YOUR OWN GOOD"


A 17-year old high school student in foster care in the Los Angeles area had his foster parents' and his social worker's support to join the United States Marine Corps under the "Delayed Entry Program" which includes a $10,000 enlistment bonus.

But no.

But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen's hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.

In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children's Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn't approve of the Iraq war, didn't trust recruiters and didn't support the military.

"The judge said she didn't support the Iraq war for any reason why we're over there," said Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano of the Simi Valley USMC recruiting office.

"She just said all recruiters were the same - that they `all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.' She said she didn't want him to fight in it."

Sage, 17, said he begged for Mackel's permission.

"Foster children shouldn't be denied (an) ability to enlist in the service just because they're foster kids," he said. "Foster kids shouldn't have to go to court to gain approval to serve one's country."

This is the dystopian world the Democrats want to impose all over the country, and not merely for foster children.

Your hopes, your dreams, and your commitment to serving your country can all be dashed by the whims of an unelected, unaccountable governmental magistrate.

That is tyranny, plain and simple.

Marilyn Mackel should be removed from her position immediately. She is a disgrace. She is a shameful travesty of a mockery of a sham.

Shawn Sage should be allowed to enlist, which he is going to do anyway, when he turns 18. He is a hero.

Sage, who lives in Simi Valley but is originally from Florida, was abandoned by both parents when he was 2 and now lives in a foster home with his brother.

He had wanted to join the military ever since he'd met a service rep at school at age 7 - first the Air Force, then the Navy, finally the Marines.

His foster parents, as well as his social worker, supported his decision to enlist early. Despite being denied, he still shows up for USMC physical training.

"Did they ever kick my butt," he said proudly. "They still do."

When he graduates and turns 18 in June, it'll be all Semper Fi, bonus or no signing bonus, whether he's allowed early deployment or not.

As winner of Smyth's "there oughta be a law" contest, he will be flown to Sacramento to testify before the Assembly.

"I didn't do it for the signing bonus, because I'm a motivated kid," he said. "I am hoping to join the military before I graduate. I want to serve my country."

I am serious about that. He is a hero. Once he is in the Corps, he will not have much choice about the situations he may find himself in. Those situations may require that he act with courage in order to accomplish his mission.

And he has already made the decision to allow himself to be placed in those situations, should the need arise. That is real, down to earth, honest heroism.

I salute him.

IT'S ALL OVER FOR OBAMA

The only thing empty suit Barack [middle name redacted] Obama had going for him was his remarkable momentum. His run of wins made him look invincible and inevitable.

Now that the Hildebeest snapped his streak in Texas and Ohio, two very important states, he's done. His momentum, the only thing going for him, is gone.

If his new coalition can't stop Hillary after 12 straight wins, how can he possibly beat Senator John S. McCain?

Personal responsibility takes another dive in Britain



Lampposts on East London's Brick Lane have today been wrapped up in padding to protect Britain's clumsy texters. The renowned capital curry haunt has been highlighted as the most dangerous place for mobile phone users to be texting with Londoners frequently picking up injuries ranging from bruises to fractured bones.

Whether it be the perils of walking into a lamppost while not keeping your eyes on the road or careering into a bin after a couple of drinks at a local drinking establishment, the street apparently poses many menaces to dozy phone users. And in order to stem the flow of ailments anything potentially harmful is being wrapped in cotton wool, or at least brightly coloured padding. Brick Lane has now become the first 'Safe Text' street in the UK, with rugby post-like cushioning put around the 10 of the road's higher-than-average number of lampposts.

If the trial proves a success then other capital danger-zones, including Charing Cross Road, Old Bond Street, Oxford Street and Church Street, Stoke Newington, will also be set for some extra padding.

According to a survey of 1055 Britons by text information service 118118, which is overseeing the pilot scheme alongside public space charity Living Streets, one in ten Britons has injured themselves while walking and texting in the last 12 months. Nearly half (44%) of those asked said they would be happy to see protective pads put on lampposts, and one in four Britons (27%) would support a 'Mobile Motorway' - a coloured line on the road to keep texters out of trouble.

Fending off suggestions that the scheme was moving Britain further towards becoming a 'nanny state', Alex Wood, a spokesman for 118118, said it was backed up by the accident figures. "Ultimately you're never going to stop people from walking and texting so this is about pedestrian protection," he said. "We've had one case of a fractured cheekbone when someone went straight into a lamppost and another of a fractured knee."

Polls will be conducted on Brick Lane to gauge the response of locals and a nationwide rollout is likely - with streets in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Manchester earmarked for protection - if the scheme is well received. "We're updating Britain's streets to take into account a modern way of life - perhaps it's time for a change," Mr Wood added.

Source

The above is probably just an advertising stunt but who knows in today's Britain?

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your handy-dandy summary of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Democrats creating enemies around the world

Despite their spirited squabbling, the two Democratic candidates are united in the view that one of the big benefits of electing either of them would be an improvement in America's reputation and relations with the world. Hillary Clinton promises to send special envoys to foreign capitals the day after she's elected. Barack Obama offers to reach out to America's foes as well as friends. Unfortunately none of this will matter if they continue to spout dangerous and ill-informed rhetoric about trade.

For the rest of the world-particularly poorer countries-nice speeches about multilateralism are well and good. But what they really want is for the United States to continue its historic role in opening up the world economy. For a struggling farmer in Kenya, access to world markets is far more important than foreign aid or U.N. programs. If the candidates think they will charm the world while adopting protectionist policies, they are in for a surprise.

Already the mood is shifting abroad. Listening to the Democrats on trade "is enough to send jitters down the spine of most in India," says the Times Now TV channel in New Delhi. The Canadian press has shared in the global swoon for Obama, but is now beginning to ask questions. "What he is actually saying-and how it might affect Canada-may come as a surprise to otherwise devout Barack boosters," writes Greg Weston in the Edmonton Sun. The African press has been reporting on George W. Bush's visit there with affection and, in some cases, by contrasting his views on trade with the Democratic candidates'. The Bangkok Post has compared the Democrats unfavorably with John McCain and his vision of an East Asia bound together, and to the United States, by expanding trade ties.

For Obama, the backlash could be greatest because he's raised the highest hopes. A senior Latin American diplomat, who asked to remain unnamed because of the sensitivity of the topic, says, "Look, we're all watching Obama with bated breath and hoping [his election] will be a transforming moment for the world. But now that we're listening to him on trade-the issue that affects us so deeply-we realize that maybe he doesn't wish us well. In fact, we might find ourselves nostalgic for Bush, who is brave and courageous on trade and immigration."

The facts about trade have been too well rehearsed to go into them in any great detail, but let me point out that NAFTA has been pivotal in transforming Mexico into a stable democracy with a growing economy. And, in Lawrence Summers's words, "[it] didn't cost the United States a penny. It contributed to the strength of our economy because of more exports and because imports helped to reduce inflation." Trade between the NAFTA countries has boomed since 1993, growing by about $700 billion. There are no serious economists or experts who believe that low wages in Mexico or China or India is the fundamental reason that American factories close down. And labor and environmental standards would do very little to change the reality of huge wage differentials between poor and rich countries' workers.

The question needs to be asked why Democrats have let a few union bosses drag them into this international disaster in the making. They answer has to be among other things, their own incompetence and the incompetence of their economic advisers.

Source

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your handy-dandy summary of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Friday, March 07, 2008

IT'S 3AM, DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR PRESIDENT IS?


  • IN 1984, THE PHRASE WHICH CHANGED THE DYNAMIC OF THE RACE WAS "WHERE'S THE BEEF?"
  • THIS YEAR, THE PHRASE MIGHT VERY WELL BE THE ONE IN HILLARY'S ANTI-OBAMA AD: "WHO DO YOU WANT ANSWERING THE WHITE HOUSE PHONE AT 3AM?"
THE AD MIGHT WIN HILLARY THE NOMINATION, AND MCCAIN THE WHITE HOUSE.

HEH.

IT'S 3 A.M., DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR NEXT PRESIDENT WILL BE?

MCCAIN. IN A BLOWOUT.

SUNNI ARAB NATIONS RATCHETING UP RHETORIC AGAINST SYRIA

IHT:
Several Arab leaders say they may boycott the annual Arab summit meeting scheduled for this month in Damascus because of anger at Syria over its role in Lebanon and ongoing links to Iran.

The measures are part of an intensified campaign against Syria that comes alongside similar moves by the United States, which recently added several new financial sanctions on Syria and sent warships to cruise off the Lebanese coast - a gesture aimed directly at the Syrian government.

"There's a new initiative to completely isolate Syria and weaken its destructive influence in Lebanon," said an adviser to the Saudi government who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"We're not going to pull them away from Iran by talking to them; we're going to take them away from Iran by making them feel the pressure and making them understand that this time it's as real as it can get."

In the past week, Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador from Damascus and urged all its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible, indicating that it believes any Saudi here is now a target for Syria or its allies. Last month the Saudi government deposited another $1 billion into Lebanon's central bank in a show of support for Lebanon's government.

Syria's role in Lebanon is rooted in its alliance with Iran and Hezbollah, which it views as crucial weapons against Israel and the West. But most Arab nations, led by Sunni Muslims, view Shiite Iran as a dangerous and implacable foe, and they appear to have given up on luring Syria back into the Arab fold through diplomacy.

The conflict has grown increasingly bitter, with officials of Saudi Arabia and Egypt - with Jordan on board - complaining that Syria is deliberately prolonging the political vacuum in Lebanon through its support for Hezbollah, which opposes the Western-backed government majority. Lebanon has been without a president since late November.
RTWT.

WITHOUT SYRIA, HIZBALLAH CRUMBLES - AND IRAN LOSES TWO KEY ALLIES.
BUT FORCING SYRIA TO PART WITH THE SHIA IRAN WILL BE TOUGH: THEY HAVE SIGNED MANY AGREEMENTS (SOME MORE THIS WEEK) INCLUDING A MUTUAL DEFENSE PACT.

THE ROAD TO TEHRAN GOES THROUGH DAMASCUS - AND THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS GOES THROUGH BEIRUT.

SADLY - FOR AMERICA, THE SUNNI ARAB NATIONS ARE TOUGHER ON SYRIA THAN OBAMA AND THE DEMS!

The AP and the NYTIMES have been caught in another huge anti-McCain lie

THIS IS WHAT THE AP REPORTED:
McCain Flashes Temper at Reporter

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 7, 2008

Filed at 6:47 p.m. ET

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter Friday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being his vice president in 2004. ''Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation,'' McCain told the reporter. ''And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know.''

The reporter, Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times, was following up on a question McCain had answered at a campaign event Friday morning in Atlanta. Asked if he might consider Kerry as a running mate, since Kerry asked him in 2004, McCain said no.

Afterward, on a campaign flight, Bumiller said she looked in the Times' archives and that McCain had denied talking with Kerry in a May 2004 story.

McCain interrupted, saying that everyone knew he had a private conversation, and he kept interrupting as she tried to follow up. McCain clearly was irate.
HERE - WATCH IT RIGHT HERE:



THE AP AND THE NYTIMES - AND MOST OF THE REST OF THE MSM - ARE LYING LEFTIST SCUM.

IF I SAW BUMILLER ON THE STREET, I'D SPIT IN HER FACE. WHAT SCUM.

WATCH THE VIDEO AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELF.

UPDATE:

AS USUAL, MEMEORANDUM HAS THE COMPLETE ROUND UP.

GERE'S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE - NOTE THAT ALL THE MAJOR MSM NEWS-OUTLETS PICKED UP ON THE STORY-INE AND USED IT TO ATTACK MCCAIN.

IF THEY HAD HAD ONCE OUNCE OF HONESTY THEN THEY WOULD ALL APOLOGIZE TO MCCAIN AND CORRECT THEIR STORIES.

HERE - SEE FOR YOURSELF:

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:
McCain Loses Cool With NY Times Reporter — ABC News' Bret Hovell Reports: Senator John McCain grew agitated Friday with a New York Times reporter who asked about his 2004 conversation with then-Democratic nominee John Kerry about McCain possibly running as Kerry's vice presidential nominee.
RELATED:
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
MCCAIN GETS TESTY WITH THE PRESS — From NBC's Bethany Thomas — What began as a typical chat session with traveling reporters on the plane from Atlanta to New Orleans quickly became a testy exchange with McCain. The senator was questioned on the details of a conversation …
Michael Calderone / The Politico:
McCain clashes with NYT reporter — John McCain became hostile with the N.Y. Times' Elisabeth Bumiller on the campaign's plane today, after the reporter questioned him about a 2004 meeting with John F. Kerry, in which the Massachusetts senator suggested a VP slot. (Click here for audio clip, courtesy of Breitbart.tv)
Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
John McCain flies off the handle with NY Times Reporter over John Kerry VP question
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Strike Two for the Times15 minutes ago
Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
Elisabeth Bumiller / The Caucus:
McCain Asked About Kerry's V.P. Offer
Discussion: Below The Beltway
Libby Quaid / Associated Press:
McCain Flashes Temper at Reporter
NOT ONE OF THE NEWSPAPERS WHICH RAN WITH THE STORY DID ANY INDEPENDENT CHECKING.

THEY'RE ALL LEFTIST SCUM IN BED WITH THE DEMS.

WFB AND FDR: PATRICIAN PROFILES OF THE RIGHT AND LEFT


















  • THEY LOOK ALIKE, I THINK.
  • PARTLY IT'S THEIR SEEMINGLY DAUNTLESS JOY - AT POLITICS AND ... WELL LIFE.
  • PARTLY IT'S THEIR NICE NOSES AND GOOD CHINS.
WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO BEFORE WE HAVE ERASED ALL THE ARCHAIC AND STILL MALFUNCTIONING AND ECONOMICALLY DESTRUCTIVE SOCIALIST POLICIES OF FDR.

SIGH.

SEVEN YEARS AGO THE TALIBAN BEGAN DESTROYING THE BUDDHAS OF BAMIYAN














WIKI:

The statues were destroyed by dynamite over several weeks, starting in early March, carried out in different stages.

Initially, the statues were fired at for several days using anti-aircraft guns and artillery. This damaged them but did not obliterate them.

Then the Taliban placed anti-tank mines at the bottom of the niches, so that when chunks of rock broke off from artillery fire, the statues would fall and be blown up again.

In the end, the Taliban tied ropes around some local Hazara men, lowered them down the cliff face, and forced them to place explosives into holes in the Buddhas.[9]

On March 6, 2001 The Times quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as stating, "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them."

He had clearly changed his position from being in favor of the statues to being against them.

During a March 13 interview for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel stated that the destruction was anything but a retaliation against the international community for economic sanctions:

"We are destroying the Buddha statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious issue".

[THEY WERE FINALLY DYNAMITED ON 3/21/01.]

  • GLOBAL JIHAD IS PURELY A PROACTIVE RELIGIOUS EFFORT.
  • AND REMEMBER, THESE BUDDHAS WERE DESTROYED BEFORE 9/11.
  • THEIR DESTRUCTION WAS NOT A REACTION TO WESTERN HEGEMONY.
  • IT WAS NOT TIT-FOR-TAT THEN AND IT ISN'T NOW, EITHER. NOT IN MARCH 2001 IN AFGHANISTAN AND NOT MARCH 2008 IN JERUSALEM.
  • IN FACT; ISLAM IS THE FOREIGN INVADER IN AFGHANISTAN: THE BUDDHAS PREDATED ISLAM'S ENTRANCE INTO AFGHANISTAN BY CENTURIES.

WHEN CONFRONTING THE EVIL PEOPLE AND EVIL IDEOLOGY WHICH CARRIED OUT THESE DASTARDLY ACTS, WE HAVE TWO CHOICES:

  • FIGHT OR SURRENDER.
  • COUNTER-ATTACK OR SUBMIT.
  • LEFT OR RIGHT.
  • DOVE OR HAWK.
  • DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN.
THE CHOICE IS OURS.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

How Much Does It Take For The Saudi Press To Blanch?

This much:
JIZAN, 7 March 2008 — Saudi tradition holds that people tend to marry young. But when families in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia wedded a 12-year-old boy to his 11-year-old cousin, even the Saudi press blanched.
Home from primary school, get married and then back to primary school.

Repelling.

Crossposted

Australia: A Leftist government that slashes welfare payments

The bureaucracy is sacrosanct: Must not fire any of them -- even though firing just one would free up money to pay dozens of welfare recipients. It is clear where the real priorities of a Leftist government lie. The power to control people is what matters -- not helping them. And the "climate change" fairy matters more than the old and the sick, of course. Excerpt below:

LABOR will scrap annual bonuses of $1600 paid to carers as its budget razor gang carves deep into welfare programs to cut spending and curb inflation. It will replace the payments with a higher utilities allowance but will leave the sick and disabled and their carers hundreds of dollars a year worse off. Although Families Minister Jenny Macklin refused to confirm the plan last night, she stressed the payments, created by the Howard government and paid for the past four years, had never been written into budget forward estimates and were "one-off".....

The payment is one of at least 30 Howard government programs, worth $3.6 billion, to be dumped under Labor as it struggles to slice spending to curb inflation it blames on reckless spending and vote-buying by the previous government. Prior to the federal election last November, Labor produced costings of its own election promises along with $5.4 billion in savings to be achieved through scrapping or modifying Howard government programs. The razor gang is striking across all areas of government, with many slashed programs to be replaced by other new payments.

While some, such as the Carers' Bonus, will leave recipients worse off, others will be replaced by more lucrative spending schemes based on changed priorities. For example, Mr Swan will replace the low-emission technology demonstration fund, worth $140 million over four years, with a range of climate change related spending worth significantly more. Similarly, many old rural grants programs are to be replaced by others aimed at helping farmers adapt to climate change. And Labor's abolition of a $359million dental health plan will be countered by more than $600 million in new spending.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and for a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. Also, don't forget your handy-dandy summary of Obama news at OBAMOLOGY

Why vote for McCain?

The writer excerpted below makes a good point but I think that McCain's probably more conservative nominations to the Supreme Court are reason enough to vote for him

Many Republicans-this writer included-are not happy with the thought of Senator John McCain as their presidential nominee. Many of these same Republicans are not happy with the Republican Party's drift toward big government and away from conservative principles. Instead of capitalizing on their control of both houses of Congress and the White House and ushering in decades of Republican control of the government, the administration has missed opportunity after opportunity to show real leadership and make government our servant rather than our master. And Senator McCain promises more of the same, with even more of a tilt to the left. Given this, why should conservatives vote for Senator McCain?

The conventional answer is that Senator McCain is the lesser of two evils and, as conservatives, we would be better off with him in the White House than either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton. But would we?

While a McCain administration could be expected to propose less "liberal" legislation and a somewhat less intrusive federal government than either Obama or Clinton, the differences would not be great. If one looks at the net result of legislative and executive initiatives, it could well be the case that more McCain-proposed legislation would be passed than that proposed by a Democratic administration. This would likely be the case if Republicans in the Congress functioned effectively as a "loyal opposition" and stopped the worst of any socialistic initiatives of the liberal Democrats. Those same Republicans would be reluctant to vote against legislation pushed by "their" president.

The question that Senator McCain must answer for doubting conservatives is "Why are we better off with you in the White House than we would be if a Democrat is elected president and Republicans retain enough power in Congress to stop Democrat programs harmful to the country?" Based on McCain's past record and positions, it is not readily apparent that McCain would be significantly better than the alternative. Certainly this is the case until McCain convinces conservatives that he shares many of their views on the critical issues of the day.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and for a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. Also, don't forget your handy-dandy summary of Obama news at OBAMOLOGY

WHY THERE'S A WAR WITH THE HAMAS

Barry Rubin talks about why there's a war with Hamas, and why it's important to understand it in light of the murder at Mercaz Harav by a terrorist yesterday.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

ARE PALESTINIANS ORCS?


























YES: IT APPEARS THAT THEIR CREED HAS INDEED TRANSFORMED THEM INTO ORCS.

US AND SOUTH KOREAN FIGHTERS INTERCEPT RUSSIAN RECONN JET NEAR KOREA

PUTIN'S PROBING:
A Russian reconnaissance aircraft approached a U.S. aircraft carrier on the eastern waters off the Korean Peninsula Wednesday, entering South Korea's air defense safety zone, a military source said Thursday.

Two U.S. F/A-18 fighters from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier participating in annual drills by South Korean and American troops successfully intercepted the Russian aircraft, a Tupolev TU-142 BEAR-F and escorted it out of the area, the source said, asking not to be named.

Four F-16 fighters of the South Korean Air Force also conducted maneuvers to support the U.S. fighters, he added.

``The U.S. military first detected the Russian aircraft and carried out counter-measures against it,'' said the source. ``Our fighters subsequently flew patrol maneuvers.''

The Russian plane came within three to five nautical miles and flew at 2,000 feet above the 97,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to the source.

The Russian aircraft entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ), designated by the commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Force Command in 1951 to prevent clashes in the air between countries surrounding the Korean Peninsula, he said.

The zone covers the sky over the country's easternmost Dokdo islets, which Japan has laid claim to.
  • LET THIS BE A REMINDER: PUTIN AND RUSSIA ARE A THREAT TO THE FREEDOM-LOVING WEST.
  • WE MUST BE VERY WARY OF RUSSIA AND THEIR DEALING WITH IRAN AND SYRIA AND CHAVEZ.
PUTIN DOESN'T REALLY MIND IF HE FAILS AT HEGEMONY, BECAUSE DESTABILIZATION WORKS JUST FINE FOR HIM: HE WILL DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO RAISE THE PRICE OF OIL.

ROUND UP HERE.

The ethical country of China

China has a troubling history of using any means necessary to acquire its critical intellectual property.
The Raw Feed reports:

Prosecutors in Seoul, Korea, indicted an ex-LG employee for spying for a Chinese company in a case they say cost the South Korean economy more than $1 billion. The Chinese company, Changhong-Orion PDP-Chaihong, reportedly paid the LG manager $300,000 per year, an apartment and a car (he was still collecting his LG salary) in exchange for copying 1,182 files from the LG network and giving it to the Chinese company...

The company then used that stolen data to copy LG's plasma display panel production technology. Changhong-Orion PDP-Chaihong plans to start making plasma panels with the stolen technology starting in December.

Hat tip: LGF quick links

A MEMO FROM ISRAEL TO THE SO-CALLED PALESTINIANS

GVDL @ AD:
To: The Palestinian People
From: The People of Israel
Re: Final Notice Before the Termination of Our Relationship
Date: "To Be Determined"
(To be filed in your "Permanent Conduct Record")

AS YOU KNOW from our repeated meetings over many years, we have repeatedly done our best to accommodate your incessant demands regarding employment, compensation, housing allowances, health benefits, and other items of mutual interest as we have endeavored to work together on "Project Peace in the Middle East."

We have, with your agreement and assurances of a better performance, given you time, money, professional help, medication and a more than reasonable offer of land for you to live in while you work out "your issues." In the course of these meetings we feel we have been more than forthcoming in our attendance to your "special needs."

From time to time we have accepted your written word that, given adequate resources, you would be working internally to resolve "your issues." We note, for the record, that at no time has your word proven to be worth the paper which we both so ceremoniously signed. Indeed, it has been our bitter experience that the working out of "your issues" most often involves explosive episodes on the streets of our country.

It has come to our attention, through a continuing rain of the body parts of our citizens onto our streets, that "your issues" do not seem to be resolvable through considered and mutually agreeable negotiations. The outcome of these 'negotiations' in the recent past seems to us to be one of we give and you take and then you kill us. We have decided that this is not a peace project that we wish to continue.
RTWT.
RTWT.
RTWT.

HOW DO YOU SAY "AXIS OF EVIL" IN SPANISH?

BBC: Nicaragua cuts ties with Colombia
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega - 6 March 2008 Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega says he is breaking off diplomatic relations with Colombia.

The move comes amid a growing crisis over a Colombian raid into Ecuador to kill leftist Farc rebels.

Venezuela and Ecuador have already broken off diplomatic ties and moved troops to their borders with Colombia.

Mr Ortega said "we are breaking off relations because of the political terrorism" carried out by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

He made the announcement in his capital, Managua, with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa at his side.

Mr Correa is on a tour of Latin American capitals to rally opposition to Colombia's cross-border raid on Saturday.

... Colombia has waged a four-decade conflict with Farc rebels who finance themselves through the cocaine trade and by kidnapping hostages for ransom or political gain.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had become involved in mediation efforts to free Farc-held hostages in Colombia, securing the release of six this year.

He branded the Colombian raid a "war crime", adding that Bogota, which receives billions of dollars in aid from Washington to fight drug-trafficking, was just a "lackey of United States imperialism".

He dismissed Colombian claims that a laptop found during its raid on the rebel camp in Ecuador held files indicating that Venezuela had given the Farc $300m (£150m).
  • CHAVEZ AND ORTEGA AND CORREA - ALONG WITH BOLIVIA'S EVO MORALES AND THE CASTRO BOYS - COMPRISE OUR HEMISPHERE'S "AXIS OF EVIL".
  • THEY ARE A THREAT NOT ONLY TO COLOMBIA BUT TO FREEDOM-LOVING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.
  • IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT CHAVEZ AND ORTEGA ARE BUDDIES OF AHMADINEJAD.
REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN WILL NOT ONLY HELP THINGS IN LEBANON AND IRAQ, BUT HELP THINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA, TOO.

Quote of the day: Mark Steyn on the evolution of "the politics of diversity" on the left

Forty years ago, advocating separate drinking fountains made you a racist. Today, advocating separate taxi cabs or separate swimming sessions makes you a multiculturalist.


MARK STEYN