The vast right wing conspiracy at work? and today's articles

The vast right wing conspiracy at work?
Not one, not two, but three favorable items in the news today: two at the BBCA newscast, and one in the NYT.
After showing video of Hugo's thugs pelting the American ambassador's car, the newscast showed why he was attacked: The Beeb showed US Ambassador William Brownfield handing out baseball equipment to some kids in a poor neighborhood and being confronted by a man who told him all Americans should leave Venezuela. Ambassador Brownfield took the opportunity to declare to the media in perfect Spanish,

Brownfield declaró que acepta ''el derecho de protesta y de manifestación y de libertad de expresión'', pero rechaza la violencia.

''No acepto el derecho de un grupo de decirme con quién pueda reunirme a dialogar y con quién no'', explicó, para agregar que su trabajo ''es tratar de proyectar la imagen positiva del país y el pueblo que represento''

Brownfield stated that he "accepts the right to protest and to assemble, and to demonstrate, and of freedom of expression" while rejecting violence.

"I reject the right of a group telling me with whom to get together to converse", explained, and added that his job is "to try to project a positive image of the country and people I represent"

Unfortunately the Beeb's internet article missed that, but hey, they carried it on TV.

This morning the Beeb also reported on another good American (unfortunately they don't have either video or written article on him and I didn't get his name), who has been in one of the remotest areas in Pakistan for six months, since the earthquake, helping the locals get supplies. The gentleman in question was showing the reporter the newly-completed helicopter pad he designed and built with the locals (they physically had to carve the landing from the mountain itself), which took months. The only other way for relief supplies to reach the area is by foot, horse and donkey, but the problem is that after the earthquake all the ground is loose, making the journey incredibly dangerous (never mind this other problem).
Another American hero for you.

Nowhere near as heroic, but still favorable, a big article titled And on the Piano, Madame Secretary in the NYT Sunday Arts (not on line yet) about Condoleezza Rice's chamber music group, with full color pictures and statements such as

It was wonderful to hear chamber music as it was meant to be: Played by friends for their own enjoyment, in the confines of a living room, which makes the sound seem enveloping.

And yesterday, the Beeb had a guy from the Brookings Institute explain clearly and firmly that, on the leak row (as the Beeb calls it), the President has final say on what can be declassified, it doesn't constitute a crime, and the President has not broken any laws. Much to the anchorwoman's dismay, the Brookings man explained that this was a completely legal political maneuver. This was their opening lead story for the broadcast. Too bad they didn't quote him on the internet article. Am I seeing a disconnect between BBCA News and the online writers here?
(More at All Things Beautiful)

Today's articles from Maria
France seeks exit strategy as job law talks wind up

France's ruling party wrapped up three days of talks with unions over a divisive youth jobs reform, as business leaders called for a rapid end to the crisis to avoid harming the economy.

Unions and student groups -- in a position of strength after two months of demonstrations that have drawn millions on to the streets -- have threatened more mass protests unless the measure is abrogated by the end of next week.

slideshow here

DHS Child Sex Sting Official Is A Democrat Kevin has the details.

Italy thwarted a planned terrorist attack in the run-up to the April 9-10 elections

Mexico's the kidnapping capital of the world, and now U.S. exec abducted in Tijuana

Russian academy may consider Lenin burial

President Vladimir Putin said in 2001 he opposed the removal of Lenin's body because it might disturb civil peace.

LABOR BOSSES' LUXURIES

Immigration bill surprises

Like that surprise hidden on page 302 - which would replace the country's entire bench of experienced immigration judges with pro-immigration advocates.
. . .
The DREAM Act is a nightmare. It repeals a 1996 law that prohibits state universities from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. The principle, of course, is that no illegal alien should be entitled to receive a taxpayer-subsidized benefit that out-of-state U.S. citizens can't get. But the committee's bill allows illegals to be treated better than those U.S. citizens on tuition.

Ponder that for a moment: your children are subject to higher tuition if they come from another state, but would have the lower in-state taxpayer subsidized tuition rates if they were here illegally.

Hugh Hewitt also interviewed The overdocumented Mark Steyn on immigration, and on Joe Wilson

I think Joe Wilson does need discrediting, and I would support the government, actually...I would hope they were together enough to realize that what he was doing was he spreading disinformation, not only about general issues, but specifically about what people told him when he went on his ridiculous mission to Niger to find out whether Saddam Hussein had been trying to get yellowcake from Niger. The administration does need to discredit him, because he's a discreditable man who was very dishonest about what he found there. That's the story, and whether this ridiculous business about leaking this woman...she was practically driving around with a bumper sticker saying she worked for the CIA. This is a ridiculous...he's now on about the 12th version of his 15 minutes of fame, and there's no end in sight.

I still want to know, how undercover can a CIA agent who drives her convertible with the top down into the CIA building every morning to work there and poses for Vanity Fair Magazine possibly be?

Hitchens lets it rip. But then, when doesn't he?

In a lighter vein,
Wish I'd been there:

(click on photo)

(technorati tags Venezuela, Politics, Pakistan, Condoleezza Rice, Bush, Immigration, France, Italy, Mexico, Joe Wilson)

The economy: unemployment figures

US economy generates 211,000 new jobs

The number of people employed in the US climbed by 211,000 in March, pushing down the jobless count and reinforcing confidence in the health of the economy.
. . .
Economists at the Federal Reserve and in the private sector have expressed concerns that inflation may start to climb as the economy runs out of spare capacity. But so far there are few signs that the falling unemployment rate is leading to an unacceptable acceleration in wage growth.

The unemployment rate is now below 4.7% (in fact the exact figure was 4.654 per cent).

A new Fed report (pdf file) shows that, contrary to what Paul Krugman would want you to believe,

the low level of the participation rate is not artificially masking the extent of unemployment . . . so that the unemployment rate is providing a reasonably accurate picture of the state of the labor market.

(see page 58 in the pdf file)

In prior years:

Hat tip: Dr. Sanity

(technorati tags unemployment, Economics)

Surviving Munich athlete recalls the terrorist attack

Buried in page 8A of the Princeton Packet, below the Pet of the Week feature:
Israeli Olympian recalls 1972 Munich tragedy (emphasis added):

An Olympic athlete who survived the 1972 terrorist attack on the Israeli delegation in Munich gave a crowd of Princeton University students and local residents a personal account last week of how he survived — and insisted that people worldwide should not give in to terrorism.
. . .
"But three days later we had the problem of the terrorists," he said. "It made me forget what had happened three days before."
Mr. Alon recalled how the Israeli delegation had attended a performance of "Fiddler on the Roof" in Munich the night prior to the attacks.
"That's where really we had the last pictures together," he said.
At 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 5, Mr. Alon woke up to explosions and shouting.
"My wall was shaking a lot, so I jumped up from my bed," he said. He soon learned that one of the Israeli coaches was lying dead on the pavement outside.
Mr. Alon then overheard one terrorist talking on the phone with German police. Israel had to release 200 imprisoned Palestinians or the rest of the Israeli hostages would die.
"We knew we were now in trouble and that we had to escape," Mr. Alon said.
Five athletes managed to jump off Mr. Alon's balcony and reach safety with the German police. The nine remaining hostages weren't as fortunate.
"The next day in the morning, we flew back with 11 coffins to Israel," he said.
The attacks came as a complete shock to Mr. Alon.
"The Olympics symbolized for me a peace and friendship between nations ... a holy place for the athletes," he said. "We came there for sport, not for politics."
Mr. Alon quit competitive fencing two months later. He now has three children, lives in Tel Aviv and works in the plastics industry.
The former athlete was quick to praise Mr. Spielberg's cinematic version of the events.
"I think the movie is giving a big message for the world that it doesn't have to happen again," he said.
He hopes that recent publicity will result in a minute of silence at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing to commemorate those who died in Munich.

Mr. Alon stressed the importance of not submitting to terrorism, and thanked Americans for their contribution.
"I thank you ... and the president for what you are doing around the world to stop it," he said. "We Israelis cannot do it by ourselves."

Why wasn't this a front page story?

(technorati tags Munich, Terrorism, Israel)

Iran/Venezuela, and a few of today's items

I'm running behind in my posting since I attended the conference on Managing Emergency Management in New Jersey, but here are a few items,

Iran/Venezuela
Paxety Pages is posting on Iran, Venezuela, Cuba May Plan War Games Near US and has More On Iranian and Venezuelan Nuclear Development.
Here's my related post from Monday.
Update Via LGF, Victor Davis Hanson asks, Has Ahmadinejad Miscalculated?
Update 2: Mary Anastasia O'Grady's Terror's Apologist in Caracas: Hugo Chávez is engendering fear throughout Latin America

In a further demonstration of U.S. concern, the Pentagon announced this week that a U.S. Navy carrier strike group will deploy to the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. is taking Chávez seriously. Maybe the region's other democracies, who are more at risk, are doing so as well.

Oil-For-Food
Charles Pasqua's in court. Who's Charles Pasqua? Chirac's point man in Oil-For-Food:

Mr Pasqua, 78, is suspected of accepting allocations of oil from the government of Saddam Hussein.

This is not some sort of UN or US investigation, it is an investigation by the French authorities. More at Roger L. Simon's.

Global warmingness
CO2 Science reviews an article on Winter Warming of the Antarctic Troposphere and asks,

First, why did the surface of Antarctica cool over the past several decades while the troposphere above it warmed? Second, what are the implications of these findings?

The authors of the paper concluded "we are unable to attribute these changes [in tropospheric temperature] to increasing greenhouse gas levels at this time.". And, by the way, things have been cooling off in Flemington over the past 100 years.

On a lighter vein,

The Carnival of Bauer's up

(technorati tags Venezuela, Iran, global warming, Oil-For-Food, Jack Bauer)

Senators Reach Compromise on Immigration Measure. Will the real debate now begin?

Senators Reach Compromise on Immigration Measure

The compromise splits the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants into three groups, based on how long they have been in the U.S., for the purpose of setting rules on their eligibility to apply for legal status.

Whether this is a case of a camel being a horse designed by committee or not, the real issue is, as ShrinkWrapped states,

We need this debate to be about creating more Americans and not about empowering illegal immigrants.

TigerHawk asks today

The question should not be whether we can keep out Mexicans, but what we should do about the rising Hispanic culture in this country? Can we create a system under which Mexican immigrants are happy to fly the Star-Spangled Banner, sing our songs, join us in our wars, think of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and Adams as "founding fathers," and otherwise honor our great traditions? I think we can, but we have to let go of the twin sins of nativism and unthinking "multiculturalism" to do it.

Last Tuesday I attended a presentation by Marta Tienda, who mentioned in her presentation that immigrants a hundred years ago went through an Americanization process and became integrated into American society. In my post from last year I pointed out that

Prior generations of immigrants, once they arrived in the USA were taught, by the public schools and by other civic organizations, traditional American values; more specifically, middle-class, Protestant values, within a Judeo-Christian tradition. People learned to read English by reading the King James Bible. The Protestant work ethic was promoted through Horatio Alger stories, and the value of delayed gratification was spoken of. School curricula stressed discipline and the "three R's", and included famous sermons, such as Governor John Winthrop's A Model of Christian Charity. People were taught and encouraged to serve their communities through volunteering, a most American trait. In short, immigrants were directed towards what it meant to live in an American culture; no one assumed that simply knowing the language meant one was acculturated.

Last Tuesday I stated that

Directing these children towards what it means to be American would not deny them their heritage, but instead strengthen their values and their own selves, while opening their futures to the myriad opportunities that attract immigrants to our country.

The term "Hispanic culture" is misleading. There are 500 million "Hispanics" living in two dozen countries, each with their own culture, their own climates and geography, and in many instances their own regional languages, from every racial, ethnic, religious, educational, and economic status possible. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and have as much in common with a person from Mexico as my husband, who was born and raised in Pennsylvannia, has with a person from New Zealand. We can discuss all day whether there's such a thing as "Hispanic culture", but that's not the real issue. So let's focus on the real issue:

We have a compromise on the immigration bill.

Now, will we start focusing on how to create more Americans, please?

(technorati tags Immigration, Politics)

Tim Berners-Lee at PU

Later today I'll be posting about last evening's lecture.
In the meantime, here's TB-L's website, and the outline of his talk The Future of the Web.

(technorati tag Tim Berners-Lee)

The ACLU: Government land is good for Muslim camp, but not for the Scouts

ACLU vs Boy Scout Case Heads To Court Of Appeals. The ACLU, which claims the Boy Scouts discriminate against gays and therefore shouldn't be allowed to camp on government land, chooses to ignore the fact that the Boy Scouts have provided and are still providing assistance to Katrina victims in three states and, as I indicated on my Feb 10 post,

NEVER ONCE have the displaced persons been refused assistance on account of sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other reason at all. The only criteria was that the people were in need, and the Scouts are helping. There has been NOT ONE INSTANCE, I repeat, not one, of discrimination from the BSA on its hurricane relief.

But the ACLU has its priorities, and has ignored a Muslim camp to be built in Iowa on U.S. government land. I wonder if the ACLU has bothered look into this.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list
and blogroll. Over 180 blogs already on-board

(technorati tags ACLU, Boy Scouts)

Radical libertarians, and today's articles from Maria

Egalite, liberte, 401(k): Liberals have cashed out. The real radicals now are on the libertarian right

Under Murray's plan, all transfer payments would vanish, from Social Security and Medicare to corporate welfare and agricultural subsidies. In exchange, every low-income American over the age of 21 and not in jail would get $10,000 a year from the government. And everybody else would still get at least $5,000 a year from Uncle Sam. The only hitch is that people would be required to take out a minimal health insurance policy, and the tax code would stop favoring companies that offer health insurance.

In a flash, the working poor would be richer. Work even for a half a year at minimum wage, and the extra $10k would put you above the poverty line. The whole bloated, nannying welfare state would be a memory. Market forces would finally be introduced to the health insurance industry, driving down the absurdly high price of healthcare. Women who choose not to work so they can raise their kids would get the full $10,000 no matter how much their husbands earned, supporting families more than the current system and with less paperwork. Charities and local communities would be revitalized, enjoying a flexibility denied to traditional bureaucrats. Those who wanted to walk on the wild side would get pocket change to do so but would have to live with the consequences. The old problem of subsidizing out-of-wedlock birth would become an anachronism.

UPDATE PAxety asks, What's a Libertarian?

How is it that idiotic leftist policies are now labeled as libertarian? I've identified myself as a libertarian for more than 30-years - even worked for and held office in the Libertarian Party, and I can't imagine any libertarian being in favor of a government handout of $10,000 to each person. Isn't that what 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern wanted to do?

The goal of libertarians is to get the government off our backs and out of our pocketbooks - whether putting money in or taking it out. It appears that the left, not happy with appropriating the terms "liberal" and "progressive" are now trying to take over the term libertarian - and the right, in the person of Mr. Goldberg, is willing to give it to them.

As for taking out a minimal health insurance policy - Murray sounds like a right-wing talk show host such as Sean Hannity. Hannity and his buddies praise the Medical IRA as a panacea - and it would be a big change for the better, but only if everyone could participate. But everyone can't - there is a requirement that everyone take out a major-medical type policy. Try getting an insurance company to write such a policy if you have a pre-existing condition. They won't write one - and without the policy, one is not allowed to set up a medical IRA.

A true libertarian, unlike Mr. Murray, would argue that the government should get out of the way and let people take care of themselves. Lower my taxes so that I can afford my own health insurance, force insurance companies to be open in disclosing their finances, allow doctors and pharmacies to advertise so that a health-care consumer can make an intelligent choice - and drive down healthcare costs the good old fashioned way - through free market competition.

I just added Paxety Pages to the blogroll!

Talks With Tehran Spell Danger, Professor Warns

Those who openly advocate democracy in Iran are often killed, beaten, or imprisoned by the Iranian regime. Mr. Sariolghalam yesterday said that the prospects of democracy in Iran would be dimmed by the fact that "80 to 90% of those who receive an income receive it from the state." He suggested that America could "shift to a Nixon approach" - the way the 37th president dealt with Communist China - recognizing the current Iranian political system in exchange for changes in Iranian policy on Iraq, Israel, and the Palestinian Arabs, nuclear weapons, and "extremist" groups. "And let history do its work," the professor said.

Maybe. In the meantime, allow India to be armed to the teeth. India has as least as much to lose from Iran's Chinese and Russian weaponry as the US would if Iran were to sell those weapons to their new buddies, Hugo and Fidel.

One quote to remember from this article, Bird flu and Chicken Littles: The science may not support public health officials' dire predictions

The kind of real science found in these studies takes place in the laboratory trenches, not in the news conference or the cable news sound bite.

At the blogs
Jeff wants to protect congressmen/women from themselves

CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS #39: THE HALL OF FAME EDITION

Another article sent by Maria
Kosovo: The real test of U.S. foreign policy

Today's video, sent by Judith:
The world's least politically-correct SUV ad

(technorati tags Iran, India, politics, libertarians)

The UN's "swing space"

Read (if you haven't already) this article, How Corrupt Is the United Nations?, and then come back and read the front-page article in today's NY Sun, U.N. Provokes a New Standoff Over U.S. Demands on Budget

WASHINGTON - The United Nations has provoked an America-versus-the-world standoff pitting Ambassador John Bolton against the remaining 190 U.N. member states over America's effort to impose fiscal restraint on the $1.9 billion renovation of the world body's headquarters.

According to observers at the United Nations and documents made available to The New York Sun, the United Nations' Fifth Committee, the world body's budgetary arm, is pushing to appropriate an additional $100.5 million for design work on the much criticized refurbishment project.
. . .
The $100.5 million request for "design and preconstruction phases" of the Capital Master Plan, as the U.N. calls the project, comes on top of $33.1 million already spent and $51.3 million already appropriated for preconstruction work between 2001 and 2005, according to a November U.N. document.

It also comes before any signal that the United Nations has officially decided on one of the four strategies for refurbishment proposed in November by Secretary-General Annan.

Last year, its plans to house workers displaced by the renovation in a 35-story "swing space" tower built atop a neighboring city park were stymied by the New York State Legislature. Since then, the world body has been scrambling for other renovation options - including the possibility of renting hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space, or erecting a "swing space" building atop the North Lawn, a private park on the U.N.'s campus.
. . .
America, Ms. Zobrist and other observers said, has requested that any appropriation for design work be capped at $23 million. America shoulders 22% of the U.N.'s operating costs, and has already offered loans of $1.2 billion, at increasingly favorable rates, for the renovation - loans the U.N. has so far declined to accept.

And they will not accept any caps: it's the U.N., folks.

However, last year I suggested a new location for their "swing space". After all, it'd go to the place where "The Americans brought nylon stockings, chewing gum and swing music".

(technorati tags United Nations, corruption, Oil-For-Food)

The Paris riots in today's articles from Maria

Latest Paris Demonstration Turns Violent yesterday, and today Protesters block roads, rail lines in second day of demonstrations. Second day? More like third week, and it doesn't bode well.

As The Economist said (emphasis added),

The delusion is that preserving France as it is, in some sort of formaldehyde solution, means preserving jobs for life. Students, as well as unqualified suburban youngsters, do not today face a choice between the new, less protected work contract and a lifelong perch in the bureaucracy. They, by and large, face a choice between already unprotected short-term work and no work at all. And the reason for this, which is also the reason for France's intractable mass unemployment of nearly 10%, is simple: those permanent life-time jobs are so protected, and hence so difficult to get rid of, that many employers are not creating them any more.

This delusion is accompanied by an equally pernicious myth: that France has more to fear from globalisation, widely held responsible for imposing the sort of insecurity enshrined in the new job contract, than it does to gain. It is true that the forces of global capitalism are not always benign, but nobody has yet found a better way of creating and spreading prosperity.

While last evening's France2 news assured us that in yesterday's demonstrations people were not mugged for their cellphones by nameless youths as they were last week, it looks like the youths's arson habit is still ongoing:

This photo's caption reads

Youths stand behind a fire after a demonstration in Rennes, western France, Tuesday, April 4, 2006. Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through cities around France, hoping to make their biggest show of strength yet to demand the repeal of a job law that has divided the country, known as CPE, and which would make it easier for employers to fire young workers.(AP Photo / Vincent Michel)

Update Via Dan, Office Space: Paris, 2006

Across the chunnel, they now have cautioned British burglars: 'Let burglars off with caution', police told. Next thing they'll be giving them burglar license ID cards. After retiring from a life of cautioned burglary, they'll be invited to train as geriatric nurses, of course.

Samizdata tells us that The Economist awaits a new editor

Hopefully the new boss is not the same as the old boss, who, in the last few years, edited a magazine that has increasingly moved away from its liberal tradition, perceptibly found more faith in government action and embraced a whole plethora of questionable agenda - most notably, global warming. I cancelled my subscription some time ago. Here's hoping the new editor gives cause to take it up again.

(technorati tags France, United Kingdom)

24: The dark suits

This season’s must-be-seen-in winner is the dark suit.

Prior seasons have seen the characters in various light-color garments (who could forget last year’s terrorist mom’s no-wrinkle blouse and stay-clean slacks, for instance). Early in this season there were many characters in ligh-color garments again, but they showed up in daytime only and then died of nerve gas poisoning. By now, everybody who’s not a dead body – at least for now – is wearing dark suits. The evil Russian guy, Bierko, managed to stay in his dark suit even after the gas plant went up in flames. There's even new suits from National Security taking over CTU, as opposed to the old CTU suits who normally took their turns at the revolving-door CTU management office.

Jack, of course, is always the exception. He’s wearing dark sweatshirt, work shirt, and jeans. Another exception is Chloe, in a nice embroidered sweater and coordinating top and slacks. Obviously, the wardrobe department’s telling us who are the two characters that really matter.

The crazy First Lady managed to get into a dark suit as the day wore on. Does that mean that President Logan’s plot is all about getting rid of her? Or does her later change of outfit into sweater and slacks signify she’ll outlive him?

There's the

coming up, but in the meantime, don't miss The Storyteller's Art: Cliffhangers

(technorati tags 24)

Hugo's billion $$ spending spree in the front page

Front-page story in the NYT today: Chávez, Seeking Foreign Allies, Spends Billions

The Center of Economic Investigations, an economic consulting firm in Caracas, issued a study recently that said Mr. Chávez had spent more than $25 billion abroad since taking office in 1999, about $3.6 billion a year, while First Justice, a leading opposition party, put the figure at $16 billion, based on Mr. Chávez's own declarations.

As the NYT article shows,

There is little doubt, however, that the spending has won Mr. Chávez stature and support abroad. For Argentina, the debt purchases helped President Néstor Kirchner, Venezuela's left-leaning ally, to pay off that country's $9.8 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund, ending Argentina's stormy relationship with the group.

In Cuba, Venezuela has supplied nearly 100,000 barrels of cut-rate oil per day — a deal Cuba repays with doctors and other services — making Mr. Chávez a benefactor on a par with the Soviet Union, which once bankrolled Castro's economy.

In the Bronx this past winter, Citgo, a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, provided heating fuel at a 40 percent discount to some 8,000 low-income residents of 75 apartment buildings.

Hugo's continuing to squeeze oil companies: Chavez hardens grip on Venezuela resources

APR. 3 5:44 P.M. ET President Hugo Chavez has tightened his grip on Venezuela's energy resources, following through on threats to punish international companies that resist government control of the nation's oil fields.

Venezuela seized two oil fields from France's Total SA and Italy's Eni SpA after the companies failed to comply with a government demand that operations be turned over to state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Monday

The Economist's forecast is glum as far as economic prospects, but Hugo's trying to bankroll his way into other countries' politics, therefore the continuing pressure on oil producers, his main source of income:

Mr. Chávez is "spending considerable sums involving himself in the political and economic life of other countries in Latin America and elsewhere, this despite the very real economic development and social needs of his own country," said John Negroponte, the American director of national intelligence, in February at a Congressional hearing in Washington.

Antonio Ledezma, an opposition leader and one of the president's more determined foes, said the policy's aim was to build "a political platform with an international reach."

However, while Hugo's support of Evo Morales worked in Bolivia, it appears that Mexicans aren't as glad to see their candidate having Hugo's support. Publius Pundit explains,

The obnoxiousness, the uncouth talk about lapdogs, and the disrespectful behavior of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez was apparently enough to affect Mexican voter sentiment - boosting the anti-Chavez right - as Mexican voters decided they had no intention of being pushed around.

Will Hugo's money make his candidate win the Mexican elections?

We'll find out next July.

Update, Wednesday 5 April Democracy at risk: Venezuela's ChÁvez is shackling the press

Now, Chávez and his government are moving systematically to undercut press freedoms and silence press criticism of his lurch leftward. A Venezuelan congress and judiciary effectively controlled by Chávez are enacting laws and regulations that criminalize dissent. “Social responsibility” laws are being used to impose de facto censorship on radio and television news and commentary. A tangle of new arbitrary laws, decrees, regulations and rules is being put in place to stifle press criticism and give Chávez and his revolution an ever freer ride in the media.

While Chávez's critics in the press are hounded and harassed, Chávez gets an average of 40 broadcast hours a week, unchallenged by critics, to harangue Venezuelans.

Not that this is news to our regular readers.
Hudo's just following on his mentor's steps

(technorati tags Hugo Chavez, Latin America, Mexico)

On Middle East politics and war

two must-reads from the WSJ:
Islam's Imperial Dreams: Muslim political ambitions aren't a reaction to Western encroachments

As a historical matter, the birth of Islam was inextricably linked with empire. Unlike Christianity and the Christian kingdoms that once existed under or alongside it, Islam has never distinguished between temporal and religious powers, which were combined in the person of Muhammad.
. . .
It is in recognition of this state of affairs that Zawahiri wrote his now famous letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, in July 2005. If, Zawahiri instructed his lieutenant, al Qaeda's strategy for Iraq and elsewhere were to succeed, it would have to take into account the growing thirst among many Arabs for democracy and a normal life, and strive not to alienate popular opinion through such polarizing deeds as suicide attacks on fellow Muslims. Only by harnessing popular support, Zawahiri concluded, would it be possible to come to power by means of democracy itself, thereby to establish jihadist rule in Iraq, and then to move onward to conquer still larger and more distant realms and impose the writ of Islam far and wide.

Something of the same logic clearly underlies the carefully plotted rise of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority, the (temporarily thwarted) attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to exploit the demand for free elections there, and the accession of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran. Indeed, as reported by Mark MacKinnon in the Toronto Globe & Mail, some analysts now see a new "axis of Islam" arising in the Middle East, uniting Hizballah, Hamas, Iran, Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood, elements of Iraq's Shiites, and others in an anti-American, anti-Israel alliance backed by Russia.
Whether or not any such structure exists or can be forged, the fact is that the fuel of Islamic imperialism remains as volatile as ever, and is very far from having burned itself out. To deny its force is the height of folly, and to imagine that it can be appeased or deflected is to play into its hands. Only when it is defeated, and when the faith of Islam is no longer a tool of Islamic political ambition, will the inhabitants of Muslim lands, and the rest of the world, be able to look forward to a future less burdened by Saladins and their gory dreams.

The Wrong Time to Lose Our Nerve: A response to Messrs. Buckley, Will and Fukuyama

Critics of the Iraq war have offered no serious strategic alternative to the president's freedom agenda, which is anchored in the belief that democracy and liberal institutions are the best antidote to the pathologies plaguing the Middle East. The region has generated deep resentments and lethal anti-Americanism. In the past, Western nations tolerated oppression for the sake of "stability." But this policy created its own unintended consequences, including attacks that hit America with deadly fury on Sept. 11. President Bush struck back, both militarily and by promoting liberty.
In Iraq, we are witnessing advancements and some heartening achievements. We are also experiencing the hardships and setbacks that accompany epic transitions. There will be others. But there is no other way to fundamentally change the Arab Middle East. Democracy and the accompanying rise of political and civic institutions are the only route to a better world--and because the work is difficult doesn't mean it can be ignored. The cycle has to be broken. The process of democratic reform has begun, and now would be precisely the wrong time to lose our nerve and turn our back on the freedom agenda. It would be a geopolitical disaster and a moral calamity--and President Bush, like President Reagan before him, will persist in his efforts to shape a more hopeful world

Read all of both articles.

Astonishing news in organ transplants

American scientists from North Carolina's Wake Forest University have implanted the first laboratory-engineered organs, grown from the patients' own cells.
Breakthrough claimed in lab-produced organ transplants

To grow new bladder tissue, his team biopsied cells from the muscle and lining of the bladder walls in individual patients. These cells were cultured in the lab, then seeded onto a specially constructed, biodegradable mould, or scaffold, shaped like a bladder.

Over the next two months, the cells continued to grow into the mould, which was then sutured to the patient's original bladder. (The mould degrades as the bladder tissue integrates with the body.)

The first implant took place in 1999, and so far seven patients aged four to 19, who had poor bladder function because of spina bifida, have received transplants. The BBC reports (emphasis added):

The researchers surgically attached the engineered bladder to the patient's own bladder and followed progress for up to five years.

This is astonishing news. The technology avoids the moral dilemmas of organ transplants from donors, and from embryonic stem cell research.

While the technology is clearly in its infancy, I dare predict that the results would be even more encouraging than those of heart transplants thirty years ago.

(technorati tags Science, medicine, technology, transplants)

The allergy good news, and other articles from Maria

First, the allergy good news:
People with allergies are less likely to develop brain tumors, even when at times we feel like we're sneezing our brains out.

Maria's articles for today
Dr. Sowell asks, Are facts obsolete?

People who urge us to rely on the United Nations, instead of acting "unilaterally," or who urge us to follow other countries in creating a government-run medical care system, often show not the slightest interest in getting facts about the actual track record of either the UN or government-run medical systems.

For an oversight of the UN's corruption, perfidy, and criminality, read every word of Claudia Rosett's article How Corrupt Is the United Nations? You'll have second thoughts on their Millenium Goals, indeed.

If only Clinton had been a Republican

Getting back to the matter of the ports, I’m still not sure if it was a good idea or a bad one to allow the United Arab Emirates to manage those installations on the east coast. But I’m awfully curious why some of those same people who wanted Bush’s head on a pike weren’t the least bit upset when, during Clinton’s reign, Communist China was granted the authority to manage ports on the west coast.
. . .
Well, there’s no denying that the sleazebags at Enron donated over $400,000 to the party, and kicked in another $100,000 to help pay for the president’s inauguration. And there’s no getting around the fact that Enron’s chairman stayed at the White House on 11 different occasions. Talk about having access! What’s more, the Export-Inport Bank subsidized Enron to the tune of $600 million in a single transaction.

Clearly, where Enron is concerned, the president has a lot to answer for. But the president we’re talking about happens to be Clinton.

Update, Wednesday 5 April Art emailed to say that Kenneth Lay didn't stay in the White HOuse 11 times.

A great German word

I can't wait for the George Clooney film version of the story: Director John McTiernan was charged Monday with lying to the FBI, becoming the first entertainment industry figure accused in the unfolding federal investigation of wiretapping and other alleged wrongdoing by Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano.

Are we French yet?

I was hearing the sound of governance by street protests and mobs. Get used to it. If the Left has its way, that will be our governing method in the U.S. The stakes are far higher than just the outcome of the current immigration debate. The question is not only, how many immigrants, legal or otherwise, are we going to let in the country. The issue is, how do we conduct our politics and settle our differences. If the Left has its way, street mobs will be coming to a city near you.

Look at the photos from the rallies in France, and see the similarities.

And the French are having yet another general strike today again: French public transport and air services are being disrupted in a day of nationwide protests against a new youth employment law.


$1 for a bag of airline pretzels? And a blanket? At this rate, one of these days they'll be introducing non-stop flights where they hand you a parachute so you can sky-dive to your destination.

And in entertainment news, The Shaggy Dog beats Basic Instinct 2. I was hoping Larry the Cable Guy would, but he came close.
Don't miss the Sam Elliott interview at the same website.

Update James D. Hudnall writes about the American Intifada.

(technorati tags Health, United Nations, Sam Elliott, Anthony Pellicano, France, Film)

The Little Prince?

No, the tall Prime Minister:

(click on photo)

Iran: in the courts, and stirring the waters

Legal Judgments Soaring Against Iran

The sum of terrorism-related verdicts returned by American courts against the Iranian government and Iranian leaders stands at about $6 billion, according to court records and congressional reports. The rulings hold Iran responsible for terrorist attacks carried out by militant groups the country has sponsored, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The question is, how to collect the money? Well, at least for now, Congress says it's OK for it to come out of your pocket:

While Congress has allowed the plaintiffs in 16 terror-related cases to be paid out of the American treasury. Laws passed in 2000 and 2002 allowed payments totaling approximately $400 million to those plaintiffs. The sum corresponds to an amount the late Shah of Iran's government left in American military sales accounts.

Mr. Flatow said it would be better to get the money from Iran directly, but he defended the government payments as similar to the compensation paid to victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. He said two bills pending in Congress would make it easier to collect the awards from Iran.

Think about that next April 15, and every time you remember our dependency on foreign oil. (And please, don't write telling me the Shah's funds were in "a lockbox".)

In the meantime, Iran announced it fired what it called the world's fastest underwater missile. Hugo's been saying that "Iran and Venezuela, these two brothers, are and will be together forever":

Rjock has also reported on a secret agreement made between Iran and Venezuela. The Iranians agreed to sell long-range missile to Chavez that would be transported on Venezuelan-flagged vessels traveling to Cuba. If true, this may be an indication that Cuba is interested in obtaining Iranian technology for ballistic missiles as well

There's some speculation that Chavez's government could be planning to provide Tehran with uranium for its nuclear program.

What to do? We just need to understand the "root causes" for the behavior of all these charismatic-leaders-helping-the-poor-offering-free-health-care-education-adult-literacy-and-job-training-initiatives-that-help-millions-of-[insert country name here], of course.

Update More at Dreams Into Lightning:

The regime's new weapons are formidable, but the rush to deploy them hints at desperation.

Read it all.
Update 2 Roger asks, What "end of history"?

(technorati tags Iran, Venezuela, Cuba)

Update on the Yale Taliban guy

John Fund today: Ivory Tower Stonewall
A 9/11 survivor asks Yale to explain why it admitted the Taliban Man

Ms. Pothier says she has been disappointed before by Yale's handling of the feelings of the families of 9/11 victims. In September 2001, she drove down from Boston to pick up her daughter at Yale for her uncle's memorial service. She was appalled when her daughter told her about a "town meeting" Yale's administrators had organized at Battell Chapel on Sept. 16. Its ostensible purpose was to explain the attack's significance to students.
"She went there to try to understand why her uncle was killed," Ms. Pothier recalls. "Instead she got something else entirely: the message that the U.S. may be partly to blame." The six panelists, led by history professor Paul Kennedy and former Clinton State Department official Strobe Talbott, all focused on the "underlying causes" of the attack and our need to understand those who hated America.

You read it here first, "former" top Taliban official Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi will one day be a Yale faculty member. If the current furor prevents that, then he'll be in the faculty of another university in the USA.

Because nothing makes us feel better inside than knowing that we're understanding the "underlying causes" of those who want us dead.

(technorati tags Yale University, Taliban)

Gateway Pundit's appeal, and today's articles

Gateway Pundit sends an appeal
Please Help... This US Iraq War Veteran Urgently Needs Assistance

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog

Today's articles from Maria
The French job funk

France's flirtation with and eventual embrace of socialism goes back more than a century. The late President Francois Mitterand effectively implemented socialism as national policy in 1981 when he issued his "110 Propositions," which included a program to nationalize many industries. Seven of France's largest 20 conglomerate industrial companies were nationalized, as were 36 banks and two finance companies. Mitterand's misguided plan was designed to ensure that the government would have sources of capital for the nationalized sectors.

The French state accounts for about one-fourth of the industrial output of France. Among those employment enterprises with 2,000 or more employees, one-half are in state enterprises.

In typical socialist fashion, Mitterand tried to reverse a stagnant economy with collectivist tactics instead of using capitalist tools. As would be proved in other socialist states, a heavy government hand stifles initiative, restricts capital creation and leads the worker for the state or state-subsidized enterprise into a false sense of job security. It also makes it more difficult for one to achieve independence and success, as part of an upwardly mobile career in a position that produces products and services consumers truly want and need. In a socialist society the reverse always occurs, resulting in despair, high unemployment, mutually shared poverty and riots in the streets to protest the broken promises of the state.

Teddy’s terror loophole: the Gerry Adams provision.

Simply put, the language Sen. Kennedy inserted into the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1990 states that consular officers cannot refuse a visa to someone on the grounds of advocacy of terrorism. He did this because his pal, Gerry Adams, had been denied a visa because of his role as an advocate for Irish Republican Army terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Prince Charming, who isn't.
Mexican illegals vs. American voters

Carnival time!
El Zorro Viejo's hosting Carnival of New Jersey Bloggers #46

Today's video
Matzo Wrap

One more thing
The last thing I'd need:
They're baaaack

Music, maestro!
Via Irwin, Bush was right

Update
Jay will be a guest in the Tammy Bruce Show today between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

(technorati tags France, Terrorism, Prince Charles, Immigration)

Resistance is futile

Bloggerfeld!

The Lagerfeld, he's the new borg.

(technorati tags Karl Lagerfeld, fashion, The Manolo)