Hugo Chavez - hero of the left

And the jailor of pro-democracy activists in Venezuela.

Lets get one thing straight. Socialism is the opposite of freedom.

Islamic propaganda exposed !

Sounds like the name of a late night TV show on Fox. But here it is nonetheless. A Danish Muslim leader touring the middle east used the image below to enrage Muslims by claiming that this cartoon shows that the Danish media is racist and hostile towards Muslim citizens:

As we've seen over the course of the last week, as well as during Newsweek's fake koran-flushing story, riots and violence have resulted and people have died from the rage created by these kind of stories.

But of course, it turns out that this photo was not a Danish cartoon directed against Muslims at all, as it was taken last August at a French pig-squealing contest.

eBay auction of the month

A guy sells a motorcycle helmet on eBay..so what ?
The story behind it is hilarious and will have you on the floor.

Eyes on Europe

This weekend resulted in the Norwegian and Danish missions in Syria being burnt down by angry mobs. Right now, European embassies throughout the Arab world are on high alert and have extra security guards. Although I don't mean to sound like I'm gloating, I guess the embassies now know how the Jewish community feels. It's synagogues, which have mostly been wiped-out throughout the Arab world, are prime targets of Islamic violence throughout Europe, Canada and Australia.

Michelle Malkin has a shocking photo essay of British Muslim protestors promising a "holocaust" and another terrorist bombing. Europe had better start waking up to the threat real soon. Andrew Sullivan says it best when he gives us the best description of these fanatics - brownshirts.

The Arab world's double standards

You know, most people figure that for each and every person to get along, you've gotta give a little and take a little.

You might want to argue over small things that annoy you, but you should try and let it go. You also gotta think twice before doing something that will directly hurt another person.

If everyone had thicker skin and a bit of sensitivity, then there probably wouldn't be any long lasting conflicts, especially those involving any violence.

But.. problems arise when one side believes in violent jihadi retribution, doesn't tolerate any criticism and doesn't respect the rights of other nations, cultures or religions. So it ain't gonna help much if Western culture has skin as thick as anything and bends over backwards to be politically correct and sensitive to Arab culture. Nothing exemplifies this much better than the young, mainly white, French teenagers marching in a demonstration against inequality, who were assaulted by black and Arab youths. This quote from a Tunisian teenager shows the mentality behind the attack:

Heikel, who attends a secondary school in the area, told Le Monde that the mainly white Parisian students who took part in the march - known in street parlance as “bolos” - were seen as spoilt and privileged, and therefore fair game.

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. And this week, we saw even bigger examples of Arab rage and anger directed against people who have been friends and supporters in the past. All this over a bunch of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed getting published in newspapers in Denmark, followed by France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Palestinian gunmen surrounded E.U headquarters in Gaza and stormed hotels looking for foreigners to take hostage. Flags of Denmark and Norway were burnt, Danish products face a boycott throughout the Middle East and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have protested against the cartoons. The reaction has been universal outrage in every Muslim country, including Libya and UAE and even Egypt and Jordan. And in a country recently liberated from a dictator's rule:

In Iraq, Islamic leaders urged worshippers to stage demonstrations from Baghdad to the southern city of Basra following weekly prayer services Friday. Afghanistan and Indonesia condemned the drawings, and Iran summoned the Austrian ambassador, whose country holds the EU presidency.

Remember the issue at hand here is a cartoon in a few European newspapers. No bullets fired, no tanks, no rockets or missiles or explosives. No threats of violence. This particular issue is very illustrative of the conflict between the West and the Arab world as a whole. Since the early '70s when Palestinian terrorists went on a hijacking rampage and European leaders across the continent bent over backwards to let them out of prison, right up till today when the global media has endless sympathy towards Palestinian statehood, to the point where they turn a blind eye to Palestinian terrorism, violence, anti-semitism, misogyny and corruption and ignore Israeli historic ties to the territories, calling them "occupied territories" full of "illegal settlements".

The US has poured billions into the middle east peace process. It intervened to prevent Kuwait from being invaded by Saddam Hussein. It helped Afghanistan in its struggle to end the soviet occupation. NATO intervened and removed Milosevic to prevent Muslim's from being slaughtered in Kosovo. Even the most loathed country in the world, Israel, has spent billions developing Palestinian infrastructure, providing food and aid and employment, arming and training the Palestinian police authority during the Oslo accords.

And what do they get in return ?

Terrorism. Suicide bombings. Kidnappings in Iraq. Beheadings. Friday sermons delivered in mosques calling for death to all infidels. Burning of flags. Rage... and more rage. When France-2 broadcasted images of Mohammed Al-Dura being shot throughout the Arab world, it blamed Israeli soldiers for the death despite evidence to the contrary. Synagogue throughout Europe were attacked and anti-semitism rose drastically. When Newsweek falsely reported stories of a US prison guard desecrating the koran, massive riots took place in Pakistan, with British and US embassies on high security after being the target of attacks and demonstrations.

The Western world has shown that its willing to be sensitive and compromise more often than people realise. Europe, the US and Israel have had a foreign policy based on appeasement for decades. The Arab world has reacted violently to the smallest of incidents, some of them imaginary.

Leftists always suggest that the solution to the conflict involves more dialogue. Well theres only one message the Western world should be sending out: Stop getting so easily enraged and offended. Stop resorting to violence. We aren't your enemy so stop treating us like one.

Cuba : What Fidel Castro hath wrought

There is a photo exhibit online of Cuban television sets.

Stuff capitalism ! Behold the magnificent standard of living over in the Cuban socialist paradise. You will be amazed at the the technological complexity and superiority of the manufactured goods in a socialist command economy
[/sarcasm off]

I guess the journalists over at The Spencer Street Soviet currently under the authority of commisar Andrew Jaspan, will be disappointed to see that their beloved socialist Cuba is not such a paradise after all. More like a shit-hole actually.

Political Correctness: 1 - 0 :Freedom of Speech

The latest development is that a handful of newspapers across France, Germany, Italy and Spain had the balls to publish the Danish cartoon's that enraged millions of Muslim's worldwide. Unfortunately, the owner of France Soir newspaper caved in to political correctness:

France Soir originally said it had published the images in full to show "religious dogma" had no place in a secular society. But late on Wednesday its owner, Raymond Lakah, said he had removed managing editor Jacques Lefranc "as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual".

Now if that isn't a case of double-speak, I don't know what is. When you fire an editor, it shows you have respect for the beliefs and convictions of only one side. And that is the side of an intolerant religion which demands death from anyone who dares to draw the prophet Mohammed.

Please note that I have not commented on the content of these cartoons. The fact that they have offended people is beyond question. But in the civilised world, we write letters to the editor, not burn flags and declare war on Denmark. I myself have been shocked by the stream of anti-semitic cartoons from the Arab world and from local communist ratbag Michael Leunig. But they all have the right to say and draw what they please, just as readers have the right to say and draw what they think in response.

An amusing quote from the BBC article contains an illuminating quote:

The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Dalil Boubakeur, had described France Soir's publication as an act of "real provocation towards the millions of Muslims living in France".

Drawing cartoon = act of real provocation ? I think he reveals how volatile and aggressive large parts of the Muslim community is within France with those words. It doesn't take much more than a cartoon to set off racial tensions and violence from one particular group. It would be hard to imagine a world where Jewish leaders respond to anti-semitic cartoons, or gay activists respond to homophobic articles, by saying that they would lead to provocation (i.e violence is coming). No.. instead, they reason and destroy the cartoons on an intellectual ground, not through violence against its authors.

Going to war over a cartoon ?

I think the Cox and Forkum post on this subject sums it up well, but not nearly as well as their brilliant cartoons.

Hey big spender !

The Bush administration is off on another wild spending spree. Here are some interesting excerpts from yesterday's S.O.T.U speech, that may alienate a few Republicans:

We will choose to build our prosperity by leading the world economy or shut ourselves off from trade and opportunity. In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting yet it ends in danger and decline.

Umm.. paleo-cons and libertarians, who normally vote Republican, are an isolationist bunch when it comes to foreign policy. But Bush was not wise to mix up the two issues of trade and foreign policy. It makes perfect sense to have open trade to just about everyone (except the socialist left), but only the liberal hawks and neo-cons would support an interventionist foreign policy.

Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terror.

Ummm, Mr President ? I don't think Hamas received your memo. Maybe you should be talking about liberal democracies.

The Palestinian people have voted in elections now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism, and work for lasting peace.

Fat chance.

Saudi Arabia has taken the first steps of reform now it can offer its people a better future by pressing forward with those efforts

You've gotta be kidding me. Wonder if they still call for the destruction of America and Israel every week ? Do they still have a "no Jews" immigration policy ?

Every year of my presidency, we have reduced the growth of non-security discretionary spending and last year you passed bills that cut this spending

Yeah I wish, but you ain't a fiscal conservative. This president is one of the biggest spending presidents in history.

Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. Here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly 10 billion dollars to develop cleaner, cheaper, more reliable alternative energy sources and we are on the threshold of incredible advances. So tonight, I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative a 22-percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy...

Here's where the president goes off the rails into full lefty mode.... "addicted to oil" ?? Whoah there. You have a massive economy that produces a quarter of the world's output and consumes a quarter of the world's resources. What the hell is the problem if the economy chooses to meet its energy requirements from oil anyway, and why should it be referred to negatively as an addiction ?

Haven't you heard of free-markets ? To suggest that a commodity needs to be regulated is Marxist thought. Its been known for a long time, thanks to the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, that prices act as signals to market players. If oil supplies become scarce, prices rise and markets balance themselves. Thanks to our free markets which trade in futures, even if oil is anticipated to become more scarce given the available information, the price of oil will rise to accomodate this. If the price of oil skyrockets, markets will work efficiently and people's will meet their energy needs using other alternative sources that are cheaper. Market's work so why interfere and ruin things ?

Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.

Yeah good luck on that, I bet oil will still be cheaper than all alternatives for the next 100 years. Why do you think we consume so much of it now ? Because it is cheap. Why isn't it much more expensive if all these doomsayers predict we will run out of oil ? Well, because they don't put their money where their mouth is and because informed speculators disagree and aren't willing to stockpile oil today in anticipation of some hypothetical global shortage.

Tonight I announce the American Competitiveness Initiative, to encourage innovation throughout our economy, and to give our Nations children a firm grounding in math and science.

Oh great, pour MORE money into public schools. Lots of wasteful spending and bureaucracy there.

First: I propose to double the Federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next ten years. This funding will support the work of Americas most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources.

What bollocks ! You think American research needs government subsidisation to succeed ? Look at all the investment done by private markets, look at how research quickly gets built into commercial products and profitable ideas by entrepeneurs in America, and yet he still thinks big government needs to play a role here.

These gains are evidence of a quiet transformation a revolution of conscience, in which a rising generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment. Government has played a role.

WHAT A FRICKIN PARADOX. Yeah, you're all responsible individuals, because of government !

Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research human cloning in all its forms creating or implanting embryos for experiments creating human-animal hybrids and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator and that gift should never be discarded, devalued, or put up for sale.

Now that's more like it ! That's more like the religious conservative president I know. Still, its another stupid policy.