Anti-Jihad, Pro-US French Blog Suspended

The Gates of Vienna reports that one of my favorite French blogs, Le Blog Drzz, has been suspended due to an "illegal" comment by one of its readers. Drzz is a popular French blog that is anti-jihad, pro-USA and conservative. I still have them linked in my "Favorite French Blogs" section in the left sidebar. Except now when you click the link you get a message saying the blog does not exist.

The French blog host is called Over-blog. Apparently, Over-blog sent an email to Le Blog Drzz demanding that they remove the offending comment; however, they blocked access to the site so that the Drzz owners could not remove it. Since they didn't remove it, they were then suspended.

I have often quoted Miguel Garroté, a talented writer and reporter, from Le Blog Drzz. I will certainly miss his posts. Le Blog Drzz posted pictures of Ronald Reagan and quoted Thomas Jefferson, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Only they quoted it in French.

The purging and censorship of blogs for ridiculous reasons continues apace.

MEANWHILE, you can complain to Over-blog about this injustice. Send them an email in English and tell them to restore Le Blog Drzz TOUT DE SUITE. That's pronounced "Toot Sweet" and it means pronto, pardner. Write to them at abuse@over-blog.com.

The World Gone Mad, Part II

Iran's Coming Nuclear Attack on Israel

A former leader of the Israeli security agency Mossad says that Israel has only a year to stop the Iranian nuclear bomb. With Iran's new missile capabilities, it will be no problem for Iran to nuke Israeli cities and nuclear plants. There appears to be little doubt that they intend to do just that.

We should work with Israel to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities, as soon as possible. No nation building this time; no boots on the ground invasion; just destroy their nuclear facilities and any of their military plants and facilities that directly threaten Israel or the U.S. Blow them up and get out.

Don't worry, peaceniks; it probably won't happen. We'll try what has been tried countless times before and has always failed: appeasement. Tens of thoursands of Israelis will die.

Why Muslims Hate Jews

A new book is out about the Mufti of Jerusalem, who was an ally of Hitler and who raised his own division of Waffen SS during World War II. I heard the author discussing the book with Barbara Simpson, talk show host at KSFO radio in San Francisco; unfortunately, I didn't catch the author's name. He said, however, the Muslim Jew hatred is an integral part of the Islamic religion, taught by the example of Muhammad and the written words of the Qur'an and the Haddith. Islam may be the only major religion where hatred and genocide are articles of religious faith. Because Muslims deem the mass murder of Jews to be a commandment of God, it is almost certain that Iran isn't bluffing about "wiping Israel off the map."

The Coming Oil Blackmail of the Middle East

Iranian officials are now saying they will turn off the oil spigot if anyone attacks them. If we had bothered to develop our own oil resources back during the Clinton era, it wouldn't be that much of a problem. But we didn't, and we won't. We must protect the caribou of ANWR at all costs, and prevent oil spills on our coastlines. What is a new and severe economic depression, and a smoking hole where Israel used to be, compared to that? We must keep our priorities straight.

The New Treason of the New York Times

The Drudge Report says:

SOURCES: BUSH ANGER AT COMING NEW YORK TIMES STORY DETAILING HUNT FOR BIN LADEN... The newspaper is planning to expose a "highly classified Pentagon order" authorizing Special Operations forces to hunt al-Qaida leader in mountains of Pakistan.

It is high time the appropriate officials of the New York Times were arrested for treason and put on trial. It seems a case could be made for considering the New York Times "an accessory after the fact" to the attacks of 9/11.

Liberal Insanity

The Podunk Times, my hometown newspaper, had a guest editorial today. It was all about how right the Supreme Court was in granting Habeas Corpus to prisoners of war, and how evil Bush and company is in trying to prevent it. The moron writing the screed was one Sheldon Richman, of the "Future of Freedom Foundation." If asshats like Richman have their way, there won't be a future for freedom...unless you're a terrorist who wants to kill Americans.

I swear, liberals are a perfect reverse barometer of everything right, true and just. It's as if they had their brains put in backwards.

Gas Prices, A Conspiracy of Big Oil (Yeah Right)

The Podunk Times also ran an editorial cartoon today of a businessman reading a newspaper. The headlines say "Bush Calls for Coastal Drilling." The businessman, labeled "BIG OIL" is saying "YES WE CAN!" with a huge smile on his face.

Yeah, we need new sources of petroleum and fast, and oil companies can give it to us if we take off their government-supplied shackles. And in liberal logic, that makes them the bad guys. The next time you need to fill up your tank, call a Hippie.

Gas prices are the highest in history and will go higher - some say they will top $7 a gallon in two years. They are approaching $5 a gallon already in California (diesel is already there). Life will get tougher in the years ahead. It will be harder to make a living. The standard of living for Americans will surely decline unless something is done.

Liberals, you gotta love 'em.

On second thought, no you don't.

Starry, Starry Night

See my previous post about French art. Don McLean, one of my favorte singing artists, once recorded a song about Vincent Van Gogh called "Vincent," also known as  "Starry, Starry Night," named after one of Van Gogh's paintings that today hangs in the Musée D'Orsay in Paris.

Here is a video of McLean's song, along with pictures of Van Gogh's paintings. Enjoy.

La Place de l'Europe, temps de pluie

Pamela Geller just posted a painting of the French painter Gustave Caillebotte. I love his art. My favorite painting of his is "La Place de l'Europe, temps de pluie," which means "Europe Place on a Rainy Day." It's a depiction of downtown Paris in the rain, 1877. It's posted on the left.

Europe Place was a high rent district in Paris -- the wealthy frequented that section of town.

I love the picture of the office building in the background. Every office had its own fireplace, since they didn't have electricity in 1877. Note the complicated array of chimneys on the roof, each one linked to each apartment or office. When I was in Paris last Fall, I noticed that there are many similar buildings still in operation, still with the arrays of chimneys on the roofs, though the fireplaces are probably no longer used.

I love the details that allow the viewer to see everyday life in Paris in the 19th century. A man and his wife walk along the sidewalk, carrying umbrellas. Umbrellas in those days were reinforced with whale bone, which was the plastic of the 19th century. Whale bone was also used in women's hoop skirts. It must have been challenging to live back then, with horse manure all over the streets and horse-drawn carriages for transportation.

While in Paris, I visited the Louvre and the Musée D'Orsay museums, and saw many famous paintings up close: the Mona Lisa, Whistler's Mother, and Nuit Etoileé (Starry Night) by Vincent Van Gogh, the latter of which was the inspiration for Don Mclean's song "Vincent," also known as "Starry, Starry Night." Unfortunately, I didn't find any of Caillebotte's art. I was hoping to see "Temps de Pluie," but failed to find it. I don't know where the painting is today.

Où est mon amie Kate ?

Où est mon amie Kate? Kate, vous me manquez, écrivez-moi!

Global Jihad and Its Helpers

I found this cartoon at Le Blog Drzz.

It says a lot.

...

Another source of fuel to the fire, not shown here, is Western denial. Much of Europe refuses to deal with the reality of global jihad, or the real reasons for it, i.e. religious fanaticism.

...

Denial, plus unlimited immigration of unassimilable Muslims into the West, in the mistaken belief that they will meld peacefully with the indigent populations and become good multiculturalist democrats.

...

Perhaps there is yet another source of fuel to the fire: leftist self-hatred, the desire to destroy one's own civilization. It seems to me a form of madness.

New Project, Finally

I started a new project (work) yesterday, so posting will be light until the weekend.

Nancy Kwan in "Flower Drum Song"

I think Nancy Kwan is one of the hottest women of all time. This song routine from "Flower Drum Song" (1961) always made the steam come out of my ears. Enjoy.

French Jewish Teenager Attacked in Paris

From the French Blog Le Salon Beige
Translation by Stogie

An attack in a Parisian quarter: nothing but a very banal incident in our hyper-violent society. A 17-year-old Jew was attacked yesterday evening in the 19th urban district. He suffers from several broken ribs and skull fractures, and has been hospitalized in intensive care at Cochin Hospital. The victim was put into an artificial coma and is in stable condition.

The French President, abroad in Israel, announced his "deep indignation" and renewed "his complete determination to fight all forms of racism and anti-Semitism."

Five minors were arrested and held for questioning. Jewish groups have described the incident as an anti-semitic attack on an insolated person. However, confidential police sources describe a different scenario, that of ongoing scuffles over tobacco between groups of Jewish and African youths.

According to Ministry of the Interior spokesman Gérard Gachet, the motive was apparently anti-Semitism. François Fillon, Michèle Alliot-Marie, Rachida Dati, etc, all speak about a racist attack. UEJF and the National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism emphasize that Buttes-Chaumont Park, in the 19th borough, is a frequent scene of fights and name-calling between opposing groups of Jewish and North-African youths.

Stogie's analysis: The French news sources indicate this was not an isolated incident, but the result of ongoing strife between Jewish and North-African (spell that Muslim) youth in Paris. Of course, I do find it strange that we often hear of Jewish youth being beaten or murdered by French Muslims, but never the other way around. Maybe it isn't as morally ambiguous as the French media would have us believe.

Other sources say the boy was merely walking through a Jewish neighborhood wearing a kippa, a garment that identifies him as a Jew, when he was attacked by several youths wielding iron bars as weapons.

Update: Miguel Garroté of the French Blog Drzz reports that the 19th borough is in the process of Islamization. Jews moved to this neighborhood years ago to escape anti-semitism suffered in other districts, and the neighborhood now has 150 Jewish places of worship. After several years of peace, the Jewish community there is again subject to insults and attacks, as a result of Muslims moving in.

Garroté says the French mass media is very careful not to underscore this ongoing Islamization as a reason for the "galloping anti-Semitism" there. He calls it a "conspiracy of silence."

Aha, now we are getting to the truth.

2nd Update: A French reader writes (in the comments section):

An interesting analysis of more than 20,000 residents of France, classified by crime rates, has been published for the first time by Figaro. They are grouped by violent crimes (robbery, rape, etc) along with unprovoked assaults (because the victim gave a dirty look, wore a kipa, etc).

The statistics closely correlate with the number of African Muslims moving in [to a district], whether they be of the first, second or third generation. It seems that their mode of expression, of existence, of living is through violence, especially towards others who are not African.

This is why it is erroneous to speak of a "resurgence" of anti-Semitism. Actual hatred of Jews hasn't been seen in thirty years. What there is essentially arises from the African populations of the Muslim faith, whether northern or black. It's a new anti-Semitism, which can easily become anti-Catholic wherever Catholics are in the minority (who was it who said that Muslims respect only force?). You have to consult an analytical graph to understand the radical trends being imposed on our country.

P.S. The media take absolute precautions to avoid mentioning the ethnic origin of the aggressors...the poor things, we can't stigmatize them.

Emrys Myrdyn (translation by Stogie)

Sky Falling Scientist Calls for Trial of Skeptics

From the U.K. Guardian:
James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable.

Read it all.

Stogie's analysis:

Hansen is a fanatic and deserves our contempt. Like Chicken Little, he is screaming that the sky is falling. We are to believe him simply because he assures us that it is true. This modern Chicken Little, however, has a laptop with a computer modeling program. It says A+B = Global Warming. It is far from a true model of the climate and how it works; it can't even model past weather patterns based on known facts, let alone predict the weather of the future. But we are supposed to believe Hansen based on his minority, largely unsupported opinion, because if we don't, capitalism and prosperity won't be ended, socialism imposed and society heavily regimented, which is the real goal of the Global Scamming crowd.

A great many more climatologists are skeptics of global warming than are adherents. The latter are usually receiving lucrative research grants and have a vested interest in keeping the scam going.

Don't believe them.

A Message to Yaser Said

It's now been six months since you murdered your two teenage daughters, Yaser.  After molesting and abusing your daughters for years, you cowardly, sadistic pervert, you decided to kill them in a Muslim "honor killing," not in Egypt or Iran, but in the state of Texas. You murdered them New Year's Day, 2008, by driving them to a remote spot and then shooting each of them multiple times with a pistol.

You're still hiding out there somewhere in the Muslim community. We're waiting for you, Yaser. Time to come home, Yaser. It's time for bed, and we have one all made up for you, real warm and cozy. You must be tired from hiding in cellars and under chairs. Time for a nice long sleep, Yaser, courtesy of the State of Texas.

Hope you like the Photoshop picture, Yaser. It's a picture of your future, a picture of the actual chamber where we will send you to greet Allah, i.e., the Texas lethal injection chamber. It may take a while to find your sorry ass, but we're patient Yaser. We'll be here waiting for you. Watching and waiting.

.

We have a big reward out for your capture. Eventually, some fellow Muslim will need money and give into the temptation. Who can you trust, Yaser? Who will betray you? When they get tired of hiding you and paying for your upkeep, when they realize they are accessories to murder and face years in prison, then perhaps they will make that phone call to the police.

.

Someday soon will come the knock on the door or the rough hand on your shoulder, and it will be the law. Your doom is sealed, Yaser. You are a done deal.
.

The Real Oil Story

Arkansas Republicans has a great post on domestic oil sources.

See it here.

A World Gone Mad: Multicultural Fascism In Full Bloom

The free world is clearly quite sick and getting sicker. Due to the internationalism of the Left, national sovereignty is being eroded throughout the West. The laws of individual nations and the rights of their citizens are being subordinated to international norms and laws, even when the latter are less democratic and free.

Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who created the film "Fitna," has been charged with a crime in the Muslim nation of Jordan. It seems it's illegal there to tell the truth about the violence, hatred and intolerance known as Islam. So Jordan will seek to extradite Wilders through Interpol should he set foot in any western or other nations subject to its jurisdiction. Conceivably, Wilders could be extradited to Jordan, tried and convicted of "blasphemy," then beheaded. Jordan's Islamic tyranny will thus become international law, applicable to the formerly free citizens of Western civilization.

Europeans can't depend on their governments to protect them from this new international tyranny. Many of those governments are entirely sympathetic. Bloggers and cartoonists are being investigated and arrested at an increasing pace, merely for expressing opinions. Being anti-Islam is equated with being racist or "fostering hate," when the idea is to expose Islamic bigotry and hate. The U.N. banned "criticism of religion" in December 2007. Laws and traditions designed to protect the innocent against intolerance are being subverted to enforce intolerance. Free speech is repressed with a grim determination in Holland, Britain and France. Political correctness and multiculturalism are laws of the land, enforced by the police. Fines or even imprisonment are the penalties.

One has to wonder when the formerly free people of Europe will wake up and overthrow their new multicultural Fascist governments.

Beware of Dubious Requests for Political Donations

One of my relatives sent me an email purporting to be from "the National Organization of Hillary Clinton Supporters for John McCain." This group is asking for donations to (supposedly) pay for an ad in the Chicago Sun Times. Their web page is here.

However, I smell a rat. This organization or website could be a fraud. There were lots of websites and email requests for donations to the 9/11 victims, the Hurricane Katrina victims, etc that were bogus. The fraudsters attempted to prey on public sentiment and ask people to donate. Except that the money never went where it was supposed to go, it went into the fraudsters' pockets.

I DO NOT KNOW if "the National Organization of Hillary Supporters for John McCain" is legitimate or not. Nevertheless, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned. There is no address of the organization's attorney; no trust fund set up at a bank somewhere; no committee of reputable citizens; no phone number to call. The only name associated with the web page is that of Ed Hale, "former Democrat." We only have his word for it that the funds will be spent as described. Even if "Ed Hale" is on the level, we know nothing of his competence to carry out such tasks.

The website asks for donations to be sent via Paypal or to the following P.O. Box:

Hillary Clinton Supporters
for John McCain
P.O. Box 147
Wellington, Tx 79095

The donations are supposedly to pay for an ad in the Chicago Sun Times at some date in the future. However, the ad is little more than a childish rant. What's it supposed to accomplish?

If anyone knows anything about this organization, its website or Ed Hale, please communicate with us so we can determine if the organization is on the level.

UPDATE: There is an Ed Hale in Wellington, Texas. His address and phone number are listed, so he appears to be legit. The only question now is, do you want to trust a complete stranger with your money?

Associated Press Billing Bloggers for Quotes

The Associated Press has started billing bloggers for quoting excerpts of its news stories on blogs. The AP is demanding $2.50 a word, even for excerpts, which appear to clearly fall within the "fair use" rules. As a consequence, word is going out through the blogosphere to boycott AP stories. For our own protection, it's a good idea.

The idiotic AP doesn't seem to realize that by excerpting their news stories and supplying a link to the news site, bloggers are doing them a favor. Such activity merely directs much more attention and readers to the AP story and the AP approved news site. In the process, the news site's sponsors get a lot more bang for their advertising dollar. How is that a bad thing??

I am not going to go back through hundreds of posts to find previously excerpted AP material. However, I do not plan on excerpting any in the future.

Join the boycott of the Associated Press.

The First Time Ever I Saw Her Face

The first time I ever heard this song was on the radio in my apartment right after breaking up with someone I loved very dearly. Rather, she broke up with me. She was Chinese and her family did not approve of her marrying a white boy.

Hearing Roberta Flack's lovely words was like a knife in the heart, as they described exactly how I felt about my former love and lover. The emotion was intensely sweet and equally painful. The one that got away always owns a part of our heart, it seems, no matter how many years pass.

Later I found a new love, one much better suited to me. Now the words belong to her in far greater ways than they ever did to the lost love. Listen and enjoy.



The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the endless skies, my love,
To the dark and the endless skies.

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
And felt your heart beat close to mine
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command.

And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last till the end of time my love
It would last till the end of time my love

The first time ever I saw your face, your face,
your face, your face

75.8% of Palestinians Think Peace is Impossible

A Stogie translation of the French Blog Drzz.

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This month of June 2008, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has taken a poll in Judea -Samaria and Gaza. The results are illuminating. 75.8% of Palestinians think that peace is impossible for the present generation, even if Palestinians obtain everything they are asking for. 54.8% of Palestinians prefer Al Jazeera for news. 52.8% would vote for Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) and 39.5% for Ismael Haneyyeh (Hamas) if they had the opportunity.

47.0% of Palestinians say they are religious, 49.6% somewhat religious, and 3.2% not religious. 76.9% think that the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas is corrupt. 69% are dissatisfied with human rights and democratic rights under the Palestinian Authority, and 62% under Hamas.

56.9% of Palestinians approve of the rocket attacks on Israeli villages. 54.8% approve of the armed attacks on Israeli civilians. Clear?

Miguel Garroté

Note: In forging ties with French conservative bloggers, I will from time to time translate worthy blog entries from French blogs. This allows us to know what our French compatriots are thinking, as well as giving Stogie valuable experience in the French language.

Why Democrats Are to Blame for High Gas Prices

American Thinker lists the top ten reasons why Democrats are to blame for soaring gas prices. The article by William Tate notes such reasons as these:

ANWR - Bill Clinton vetoed the bill to allow drilling in ANWR in 1995. Had he signed the bill, we would have an additional million barrels of oil per day, reducing gas prices by 50 cents a gallon.

Coastal drilling - Democrats have consistently opposed drilling off of U.S. coasts, leaving it to the Chinese for exploitation, who are slant drilling 50 miles off of our coasts.

Nuclear power - Dems have not allowed new nuclear plant construction since 1977. France, by comparison, now produces 79% of its power from nuclear plants, with more on the way. France is now an exporter of cheap electrical energy.

Read the whole thing here.

A Strategy for Western Survivalists (a new Fjordman essay)

Fjordman argues at the Gates of Vienna that the European Union has been flawed from the start and that fixing it is impossible. The strategy of Western survivalists should therefore wait for the opportune time to reclaim Western civilization from the neo-Marxists who now control it.

He writes:

I have mentioned several times the possibility that we never won the Cold War as decisively as we should have done. The enemy has been regrouping and now largely controls our media and educational institutions less than a generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We did not have public trials against the supporters of Marxism just as we did against Nazism. That was a serious mistake, and it is of paramount importance that we do not repeat it. If or when the European Union collapses and Multiculturalism is defeated across the Western world, we need to stage public trials against the creators of Eurabia and the lies continuously told by our media and academia. They need to be exposed as evil and politically crushed.

I agree with Fjordman that holding traitors accountable is a delicious goal. But when do we reclaim Western civilization and how do we do it? He writes:

[Milton] Friedman believes that during a crisis, we only have a brief window of opportunity before society slips back into the “tyranny of the status quo,” and that we need to use this opportunity or lose it.

This is actually very good advice, and it’s in my view the strategy Western survivalists should now follow. When I first started blogging I was concerned with how we could “fix the system.” I’ve gradually come to the conclusion that the system cannot be fixed, and perhaps shouldn’t be fixed. Not only does it have too many enemies, it also has too many internal contradictions. If we define the “system” as mass immigration from alien cultures, globalism, Multiculturalism and suppression of free speech in the name of “tolerance,” then this is going to collapse. It’s inevitable.

The goal of Western survivalists — and that’s what we are — should not be to “fix the system,” but to be mentally and physically prepared for its collapse, and to develop coherent answers to what went wrong and prepare to implement the necessary remedies when the time comes. We need to seize the window of opportunity, and in order to do so, we need to define clearly what we want to achieve.

Read it all.

Fjordman is writing about Europe. We Americans too should be thinking about the coming socialization and ruin of the United States under Barack Obama and the increasingly Marxist nature of the Democratic party, our new rulers. When the Supreme Court no longer upholds the Constitution but actively undermines it, when political leaders undermine our own military in the field, you have to wonder whether the system works the way it was intended. And when these same politicians seek to centralize power, regiment society and usurp the private sector under the guise of environmentalism, the question becomes ever more pressing.

At what point does non-violent resistance begin? When should individual states like Alaska insist on the exploitation of their own resources, like ANWR, without the interference of the federal government? Or build new refineries and nuclear power plants? Or refuse to socialize their doctors and hospitals? Or refuse to adopt crippling emissions standards and caps on energy consumption, like those dictated by the Warner-Lierberman bill? Or insist on closing their borders to illegal immigration when the federal government refuses to act?

I think the time has come.

Charles Johnson Attacks Lawrence Auster

Heads roll in latest LGF purge

Charles Johnson and his troop of toadies at Little Green Footballs have attacked Lawrence Auster of View From the Right.

Following a post called "White Supremacists for Obama," the predictable member thread discussed all the Neo-Nazis, Klan and white supremacists on the Right.

Actually there aren't many except in the minds of Charles Johnson and his amen chorus. But when Charles gets his oh-look-how-liberal-I-am freak on, heads have to roll and virgins sacrificed to the Lizard God.

Among the names of the white supremacists and fascists thrown out were, among others, Peter Brimelow, Jared Taylor, Gordon Lee Baum and Lawrence Auster. Some of these names are certainly suspect, but Lawrence Auster? The thread quickly focused on Auster when some LGF lizards dared defend him.

Ten or twelve LGF members had their accounts promptly terminated for disagreeing with the group over Auster's alleged fascism. If you disagree that someone is a fascist, it is proof that you too are a fascist, or so CJ seems to think. In any case, LGF has had another of its many purges, with members banned for miniscule reasons. Merely voting up or down on a comment can get your membership instantly deleted if Charles disagrees with your vote. After being a member of LGF for a short time, it becomes obvious that you are not to express opinions of your own, but merely to reflect the great leader's opinion. It reminds me a bit of Stalinist Russia, with ongoing purges and pogroms. Every thread, every link, every vote is a chance to prove your loyalty to Charles; fail to do so and you are likely to be purged.

In this latest pogrom Charles Johnson once again comes off looking petty, mean, intolerant and paranoid, a cyber bully to his own members.

I don't always agree with Lawrence Auster; I think he is unnecessarily antagonistic towards some conservatives I really like, like Jonah Goldberg and Mark Steyn. Larry and I have had our arguments. But Larry is no fascist or Neo-Nazi or racist. He is a traditional conservative and one of the best critical thinkers I know. He routinely defends Israel.

LGF is still a valuable site to consult, but it has a kind of smell to it for me now. Sort of smells like...liberal mind control. LGF is no place for independent thinkers. I find myself consulting it maybe once a week, where I used to consult it several times a day.

Update: My estimate of three people banned in the latest LGF purge was a bit low. People at the scene are reporting 10 to 12. Here are some comments the purged members made to Lawrence Auster:

Auster: As I said some while ago, by his intolerance Charles has become that which he professes to most loathe.

Kevin V. writes:
Larry--It was good talking to you.... The final total over at LGF's banning party was 12, 7 of which are connected to Discarded Lies. The lizards seem to think that they have overthrown some secret cabal of fascist sympathizers who were this close to discrediting the Great Leader but for his heroic and timely action. It takes a bit to move me to anger on this kind of stuff, but the way in which Johnson is treating people really shocks me.

Evariste writes:
Hi Larry-I thought you would like to read this, since it involves not only Charles Johnson, but some of your correspondents, like Kevin V, me, and the guy Q who defended you on LGF. KevinV, "Q" (who is the same person posting as "solus rex" on my blog and who frequently links to VFR, by the way) and about ten other people got banned by Charles from LGF tonight, as a direct or indirect result of defending you or trying to make a distinction between you and, say, Adolf Hitler. At one point he realized that leaving up all the rational, thoughtful comments to which he replied with hysterical rhetoric, mindless insults and bans was making him look bad, so he deleted all the comments that were posted to protect his flock from cognitive dissonance. I regret that I didn't get a copy of everything that got posted, but some of the comments are reproduced on the thread I've linked.

Stogie's conclusions: As I mentioned before, some of the people discussed in the LGF thread are indeed suspect, Gordon Lee Baum in particular. Baum is a white supremacist. I know, because I've read his newsletter, from his group the Council of Conservative Citizens. Baum once denounced me for having a non-white wife. Jared Taylor is suspect in my mind; his magazine American Renaissance is read by a lot of neo-Nazis who like its racialist reporting. The others mentioned are not that familar to me.

The rule seems to be: be careful in your associations, but don't be paranoid either. When you're the latter, innocent people get hurt.

Secretly Blogging from Cuba

From NoSheeples:

When Yoani Sanchez, 32, wants to update her blog about daily life in Cuba, she dresses like a tourist and strides confidently into a Havana hotel, greeting the staff in German. That is because Cubans like Sanchez are not authorized to use hotel Internet connections, which are reserved for foreigners.

Sanchez blogs rather well, with a worldwide readership. The circumstances of her life, combined with her words and her incisive intelligence, make her someone worth reading. They also make her someone to fear, particularly if you are a Cuban official who’s only longing and intention is to maintain order and preserve the status quo. Dictatorships will smile benignly on philosophers and thinkers who fuss about grand issues like freedom, censorship and ineffective government using large, rectangular words. But when pretty young bloggers begin to describe the realities of life in words everyone can understand - toasters and oxen and lemons and milk - dictatorships pay attention.

Read it all.

Date Palm from Ancient Israel Returns to Life

World Net Daily has an interesting story about the revival of an extinct date palm from ancient Israel.

A Judean date palm, long extinct, has been "brought back to life" by scientists who unearthed a 2,000 year-old seed of the plant and germinated it. A healthy 4-foot-tall seedling, named Methuselah after the oldest living man in the Bible, now holds the record for the oldest germinated seed.

The seed itself, perhaps the last link to the vast date palm forests that once grew in the Jordan River valley, was first discovered in 1965, as archaeologists excavated the ancient Israel site of Masada. Seeds discovered at the site were put into storage for 40 years.

In 2005, the date palm now known as Methuselah was planted and sprouted. After it germinated, fragments of the seed shell clinging to the roots were carbon dated, placing the age of the date seeds sometime between 60 B.C. and A.D. 95, about the age expected for a seed that could have survived the famed attack on the Masada fortress described by the ancient historian Josephus.

Read it all.

The ancient date seeds are from Masada, the site in Israel where Jewish resistance fighters held off Roman legions for three years. Masada is a tall elevation where a fortress for King Herod was built millienia ago. In 73 AD, when Roman legions were finally able to scale the steep sides of Masada, the Jewish resisters committed mass suicide rather than surrender and be crucified.

It is speculated that the ancient seeds were from dates eaten by the Jewish resisters of Masada.

It's interesting to note that the ungerminated seed has lain in the ground almost since the time of Christ, six hundred years before Muhammad. And today, one of those seeds has germinated and the plant lives again.

Those Israelis are pretty tough, and that includes their plants.

Obama's Birth Certificate Revealed!

The Obama Campaign today released a copy of Barack Obama's birth certificate. Obama has lately been dogged by rumors that he was born in another country and therefore ineligible to run for President of the United States.

It was hoped that this unaltered official copy of the birth certificate will lay these rumors to rest.

Barack Obama stated his feelings clearly to our reporter when he said, "Oomba melagga ptui!"

.Unfortunately, we don't speak Kenyan and couldn't understand a word he said.

Click on image to see for yourself.

Distribute freely. Let's all work to end these vicious rumors!

Obama's New Blog

Obama has a new (unauthorized) blog. It's called Obambi. Check it out (hat tip Atlas Shrugs).

You can contribute articles and photos to the blog by emailing them to the owner. I notice they have my Obama "Nope" poster up -- that's great!

I really, really have to learn to make both moving graphics and videos. I will work on that. Meanwhile, enjoy these from the Obambi blog.

UPDATE of 9/29/2011:  I see that the Obambi blog has morphed into a paranoid paleocon site since I first posted this information.   It is now a loony-tunes site for Ron Paul.

Kay Bailey for Veep?

From my friend, Jack Dallas:

If John McCain is listening, and he darned well better be, then he should take notice, assuming that he has not already, of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas as a possible choice for his Vice-Presidential running mate. If it is indeed the Year of the Woman, as supporters of Hillary Clinton have screamed to the rooftops, then this woman warrants consideration.

This amazing, seemingly tireless U.S. Senator, the only woman to date to have been elected to that office from Texas, has been working, almost unnoticed, for the betterment of the country since 1993. Her credentials are impeccable and her role in defense and foreign policy and in homeland security has been vital to the task of keeping this country safe from terrorist attacks.

Read it all.

Insurgent in a Burqua Dispatched by U.S. Army

From the U.K. Times Online:

The suicide bomb belt lies beside the body of the man shot in Lashkar Gar in Southern Helmand today.

Among the trail of clothes around him is the women's burqa with which he had disguised himself as he set out, explosives strapped to his chest, towards the police compound that was his target.

“He was shot in the forehead after he ignored warning shots and was killed on the spot,” said Hussain Andiwal, provincial police chief. “When we took off his burqa we found he was a man with a suicide vest tied around his body.”

Read it all.

You have to wonder how the dead assmunch is going to explain the woman's clothes to Allah. I do hope they bury him in that burqua.

French Army Falling Apart

From the U.K. Telegraph (hat tip the Brussels Journal):

According to confidential defence documents leaked to the French press, less than half of France's Leclerc tanks – 142 out of 346 – are operational and even these regularly break down. Less than half of its Puma helicopters, 37 per cent of its Lynx choppers and 33 per cent of its Super Frelon models – built 40 years ago – are in a fit state to fly, according to documents seen by Le Parisien newspaper.

Two thirds of France's Mirage F1 reconnaissance jets are unusable at present.

According to army officials, the precarious state of France's defence equipment almost led to catastrophe in April, when French special forces rescued the passengers and crew of a luxury yacht held by pirates off the Somali coast.

Although ultimately a success, the rescue operation nearly foundered at an early stage, when two of the frigates carrying troops suffered engine failure, and a launch laden with special forces' equipment sunk under its weight.

Later, an Atlantic 2 jet tracking the pirates above Somali territory suffered engine failure and had to make an emergency landing in Yemen.

Read it all.

One can only wonder if the French model of defense is what President Barack Obama has in mind for the United States.

Supreme Court's Pro-Terrorist Decision

[Excerpt from the Associated Press has been removed.]

The Supreme Court has voted that Islamist prisoners of war should have access to American courts where they can challenge their status.

Liberals and Democrats can always be counted on to do the opposite of what is fair, reasonable and good for Americans. Whether it is refusing to increase oil production in light of soaring prices, or giving rights to terrorist enemy combatants so they can kill more Americans, the Democrat compass will always point 180 degrees in the wrong direction.

It's as if they are programmed to self-destruct and take the rest of the country with them.

Oprah Takes It in the Shorts: the Obama Factor

From Newsmax.com:

Oprah Winfrey’s “brand” is still strong enough to give a huge boost to any book or other product she endorses, but Oprah “has taken some notable dings lately, largely of her own making,” Ad Age magazine observes.

Oprah’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president raised her “unfavorable” ratings, allowing her to be overtaken by daytime talks how rival Ellen DeGeneres as the most popular celebrity in the U.S. in a Harris Interactive poll, Ad Age reports.

A Gallup poll conducted shortly after Oprah announced her backing of Obama found that her “favorable” rating fell by 8 percentage points, to 66 percent from 74 percent in January of last year, while her “unfavorable” rating surged by more than half, from 17 percent to 26 percent.

Read it all.

Republicans, Democrats and the Price of Oil

Congress Roy Blunt has released a study showing the effects of policy on oil prices.

Blunt's schedule, is of course, an estimate. Nevertheless, it compares oil prices under Democrat policy against that of Republicans. The results are startling: they show that a price under Democrat policy results in a price of $3.99 a gallon compared to $2.06 under Republican policy.

Powerline has the article and the schedule.

Democrats have defeated every oil-producing bill to come before Congress. When you get outraged at the gas pump, thank the Democrats for your plight.

McCain and Hillary: Our Worst Fears Realized

Some lighter fare for a Wednesday afternoon.

Distribute freely.

Texas Fred Agrees With Murtha and Pelosi: Opposed the War In Iraq

My friends at American Power referred me to their previous blog (now inactive) called Burkean Reflections where they too had a run-in with "Texas Fred."

It seems Texas Fred opposed the Iraq War and also the surge and used a lot of leftwing polemics to defend his positions. If Fred is a conservative, I'll eat my next cigar.

Here's some of the posts that show Texas Fred's true sentiments:

Conduct Unbecoming? Texas Fred and the Collapse of Civil Discussion in Debating Iraq

In that piece, Texas Fred resorts to the Leftist "Chicken Hawk" defense. He says:

Don, how many years did you spend in uniform?? Leading men in combat?? Leading your own Intel unit?? Acting as liaison between civilian Intel agencies and the Corps?? How many Purple Hearts do YOU have?? How many other decorations did YOU earn Don??What was you rank at retirement?? What's your percentage of disability now that you're fully retired form those injuries?? Does that PhD reflect anything even remotely connected to War College??Let me tell you something your 'Mother Superior', I have earned the right to voice MY opinion, as have you, but I am of serious belief that if YOU are as learned as you would claim, you skipped class the day they had the course in 'common sense', if you think I am a liberal, you are really not very well grounded in anything other than Bush Bot politics...

Bush Bot politics?? Yeah, Fred, you really sound like a conservative. Professor Douglas responds:

I do see, though, that you've left your blog's URL, and I'll check to see all the high-powered military strategy and tactics you're spouting over there -- hopefully it'll be more than the same old "no more Vietnams" rehash...Perhaps you're not liberal, as you say, but you do have the Murtha/Pelosi talking points down.

Professor Douglas finally decided Texas Fred wasn't worth the trouble and wrote:

It's simply impossible to have a rational, policy-related discussion with someone of Texas Fred's low-caliber intellect. No matter how reasoned an argument I might have put forward, Texas Fred would have popped back up -- like a "whack-a-mole" game -- with more of his gonad-driven attacks on my "inexistent credentials," or what not.

I could have given old Freddie a paddling in a real policy-related dialogue on U.S military policy and strategy. His lily-livered fake machismo just wasn't worth the effort.

Note, also that I suggested in my comments that I'd check out his blog to see "what high-powered military strategy and tactics he was spouting" over there. Well, I did mosey on over to old Freddie's page, but I found very few posts on military or strategic studies. I did find some of Freddie's supremely ill-considered ruminations on immigration policy: In response to one of his commentators, who called for illegal alien second-offenders to be SOS (Shot on Sight), Fred said: How do you determine if they are 2nd time offenders?? Just shoot the bastards and be done with it…

Brilliant! All of you members of "Reject the U.N." should now have a better idea of whom you are in bed with. Like my old Texas pappy used to say, "If you lie down with dogs you're gonna come up with fleas."

See also American Power's related blog post here. Interestingly, Texas Fred has advocated killing Mexicans who cross the border. As he wrote on his own website:

I am guessing that at least half of the 18 million or so WETBACKS in this
nation would be denied admission to the USA if we’d act, but the time to act is
NOW, put the National Guard on the border, with full combat capabilities and
tell em, ANYTHING coming over that border is an ILLEGAL invader, KILL IT!!

Piece of cake, we have dead wetbacks all over the place, now that’s what I call ‘Happy Holidays’!!

If I am to be called ‘racist’, if I am to wear the name, if it makes me a racist to stand up and defend MY nation and to call an illegal invader a wetback, to call them by the only name that truly describes them for what they are, WETBACKS, then you’re damn right, I AM a racist, and I’ll wear the title proudly...

The title is all yours, Texas Fred. No one can deny that you've earned it.

Texas Fred: The Bigot Connection

Texas Blogger "Hates" Michelle Malkin and "Gooks"; Former Guest on Fox News

Yesterday I posted an email exchange with Texas Fred of "Reject the U.N." Fred treated me to an extreme racist rant on how he hates "gooks" (bigot-speak for Asians).

It seems ol' Texas Fred has a lot of these blog roller lists. Besides "Reject the U.N." there is "Come and Take It," "Children of the Confederacy," "The American Conservative" and "Naked Bloggers." His personal website is "Texas Fred's." You can google them all, if you are so inclined.

Fred likes to pose as a great crusader for morality, particularly against pedophilia. We can all agree that pedophiles are scum; but what about bigots, Fred? Will you be starting a a new blog roll soon, perhaps "Bigots Hating Hatchet-Faced Gook Bitches"?

Strangely enough, "gook"-hating Fred appeared on Fox News back in August 2007, where he was interviewed as to his anti-pedophile activities. I wonder if Fox knows about his "gook"-hating activities? Hmm, guess I'll have to tell them.

No doubt most of the sites on Fred's blogrolls are not aware of his virulent racism; Fred doesn't generally advertise it. If you know who the site owners are on the list below, you may want to warn them away from any affiliation with Texas Fred.

Here is the blog roll for "Reject the U.N.," one of Fred's several blog rolls. Scroll down to see the entire list. Alert these bloggers to Texas Fred's racist opinions. If they choose to remain associated, it is to their own shame.

Texas Fred Shoots Himself In The Foot

Texas Blogger "Hates" Michelle Malkin and "Gooks"; Former Guest on Fox News

WARNING: FOUL RACIST LANGUAGE. Do not read if you are under 18 or if you are offended by human sewage.

You really have to be careful who you associate with on the web. This past week I linked to a group of bloggers touting a legend "Reject the U.N." I struck up a conversation with Texas Fred, the blogger who organized the group. He seemed okay. I have relatives in Texas and my parents were born there.

He wasn't okay. Texas Fred is a vile racist. Don't associate with him or any of his buddies. Not everyone who claims to be a conservative deserves our camaraderie or support.

This morning I sent Texas Fred the link to Michelle Malkin's site, proudly informing him that Malkin had used one of my Photoshops. The entire thread of our conversation is below.

On 6/9/08, Stogie <stogiechomper@gmail.com> wrote: Hey Fred, Michelle Malkin ran my Photoshop today of Father Pfleger as Vanilla Ice. See it here:http://michellemalkin.com/2008/06/09/michael-pfleger-returns-june-16-hes-a-black-jesus-stuck-in-a-white-mans-body/ It's at the bottom of the page on the left. Stogie

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 8:35 AM, TexasFred <texasfred@texasfred.com> wrote: I don't click on ANYTHING Malkin, sorry, glad for you, it should help your hits but Malkin is a shill for the FAR RIGHT... And I mean WAY out there far right..

On 6/9/08, Stogie wrote: Fred, I don't know what Far Right you are referring to or that she is shilling for. Can you be more specific? Stogie

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 9:17 AM, TexasFred wrote: She is a FAKE, she spouts off about stuff just to be saying it, she cares NOT what it is or who it may hurt as long as it gets her some notice, a Dramam Queen and "ME ME ME ME ME By God look at ME!!!" She is what makes the Conservatives of this nation look bad, my opinion... I refuse to click on her site...

On 6/9/08, Stogie wrote: Okay, Fred. I'm not gonna argue with you about it. What do you think of Ann Coulter or Pam Geller (Atlas Shrugs)? Stogie

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 9:41 AM, TexasFred wrote: What does it matter?? You initiated this and you brought Malkin into the picture... I gave you MY opinion of HER...

On 6/9/08, Stogie wrote: Well Fred, my opinion is that you haven't yet offered a coherent argument as to Malkin's alleged extremism. You sound just like a Democrat, making sweeping generalizations without an ounce of proof. I read Malkin all the time and she is not an extremist by any stretch. I asked you for specifics and you replied with more unsubstantiated generalizations. Needless to say, you didn't destroy her credibility with me, but you sure didn't help your own. I hope you do a better job of argumentation on your blog. Stogie

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 10:04 AM, TexasFred wrote: Here's a plan, take your opinion and stick it up your ass fuckwad... You asked, I told you and I am NOT a fucking Dem, and take the UN Logo and roll OFF of your site... I hate Malkin, she's a reactionary hatchet faced gook bitch and she released some peoples personal info, out of spite, and than went apeshit when they released her's in return, she is a hypocrite and apparently you are not as well aware of that bitch and her agenda as you think you are... As I said, you started this, I told you I had no use for the bitch, I still don't, adn now I have NO use for you...

On 6/9/08, Stogie wrote: You're wrong, Fred. Malkin released information about extreme leftists at UC Santa Cruz, the university that honors Angela Davis, a longtime communist. She published the phone numbers of these commies on her blog, but the numbers were already on the internet, put there by the commies themselves. They were organizing more commies to protest military recruiters who were coming to the campus for a job fair. They succeeded, the recruiters left. Happy now? I thought you were pro-America, not pro-commie. You know why you're so mad? Because I just kicked your hillybilly ass in an argument. Yes, I am smarter than you. My wife is also Filipina, so watch your racist mouth, you fucking ignorant hick. Stogie, your intelllectual superior

Stogie to TexasFred show details 10:46 AM (1 hour ago) Reply
Fred, I already took the UN label off my site BEFORE you asked. I have no desire to identify myself with morons like you.

TexasFred to me show details 10:47 AM (5 minutes ago) Reply
Did she give you the clap?? Flips bitches are damn good for that... Now, take me OFF oyur list of email, not my fault you married a hatchet faced gook and couldn't get a WHITE woman...

Stogie to TexasFred show details 10:53 AM (0 minutes ago) Reply
Fred, I am going to post this entire conversation on my blog and warn people away from your site and your group "Reject the U.N." It's obvious you are just a lowbrow racist and not anyone I would want to associate with. Stogie

TexasFred to me show details 10:57 AM (11 minutes ago) Reply
Nothing LOW BROW about it, I am a racist, I hate fucking GOOKS... Put that in your post too asshole... And be sure and link the sites too, I appreciate ALL linkage, even from gook lovers... LMAO...

Stogie to Fred: Okay Fred, I'm sure you must be busy washing your sheet for your next cross burning, so I will post all of your vitriol on my site so the world can see what a complete jackass you are. Have a nice day. Stogie

Fred to Stogie: I told you once, go for it, what do you need?? Permission from your mommy?? Post it asshole, and be sure to post ALL of it too, you aren't the only one to save stuff.... Do you think you're the 1st asshole I ever told to fuck off?? Do you think you'll be the 1st one to threaten to publish it?? Who the hell's gonna read it?? You have a NOTHING site... You are way too impressed with your assumed power... Post it fuckwad, don't talk about it, DO IT, show everyone that you're just like your gook BITCH HERO... Fucking hypocrites, post a private conversation and show the world what a real asswad looks like, if this had taken place in public, you'd have every right, now go on and DO IT dickhead... I dare ya... Ya gutless gook loving fuck...

Stogie to Fred: It's posted asshole. You are disgrace to the conservative movement. Ignorant and inarticulate, completely unable to mount anything resembling a coherent argument. That's fine if my site isn't hugely successful, it is on the Google search engines, and anyone who is interested in your site or Reject the U.N. can find it. Happy now?

Update: I emailed Michelle Malkin warning her about Texas Fred and the group "Reject the U.N." and provided a link to this post.

Michelle Malkin Uses Another Stogie Photoshop

Michelle Malkin ran my Photoshop of Father Pfleger as "Vanilla Ice." See it here.

I sent it to her a few days ago for use as she saw fit. Michelle was the first person to describe Father Pfleger as "Vanilla Ice" and she gave me the inspiration for the Photoshop. Here's my post explaining the comparison to "Vanilla Ice."

Actually, it was a very easy Photoshop to make.

I'm glad she could use it! It's great to contribute something to the greatest bloggers among us, i.e. Pam Geller and Michelle Malkin.

Obama, Being of Light

Mark Morford is one of the zaniest moonbats in San Francisco. He writes for SF Gate, an online publication of the San Francisco Chronicle. Last Friday his column about Obama wasn't as much praise as it was worship. I think ol' Moonbat Morford has started a new religion. This must be what they mean by the Obamessiah.

Morford writes:

Here's where it gets gooey. Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.

He makes Obama sound like Obe Wan Kenobe, or some spiritual being with a third eye in the middle of his forehead, a first cousin to Vishnu. I feel like burning incense and chanting, while plunking out exotic notes from a sitar (doiiiing, doiiiiing, doing). I really do. Ommmm, Ommmm! That's just my mantra, don't be alarmed. The last time I felt like that it was the 1960's and I was beginning to suspect the pill someone gave me was not a Certs breath mint after all.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how Obama is a kind of political ink blot, a Rorsach Ink Blot, as in the psychological test of old, where mental patients would review a random ink blot and project their fantasies onto it. To some, the ink blot looked like a butterfly, to others, Dick Cheney.

Obama the Ink Blot is still working. Moonbats are still projecting their fantasies onto the empty suit, not only imagining that he is an intelligent, purposeful candidate, but that he is some kind of spirit being. No doubt it helps if you're high on something before meditating on the Obamessiah.

Assume the full lotus position, please. Ommmmm, Ommmmmm.

Colorizing a Black and White Photo

I am fascinated by past generations, the people who lived before us in this great nation. It ties in with my interest in history. I love to browse antique shops, where amidst the musty-smelling junk I sometimes find some an interesting artifact, a small window into the past.

Old photos are a favorite, just common photos of ordinary people. It's interesting to see what kinds of fashions they wore, what kinds of hairstyles. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, men often wore detachable collars held on to their shirts by brass studs. Some of those detachable collars look weird to us today - they could be very tall and look quite uncomfortable. Even more so when they were made of celluloid, a stiff paper-like material that was quite flammable. It could be dangerous smoking a cigar while wearing one of those!

I sometimes colorize old black and white photographs using Photoshop, just to see what the person would look like in the here and now. The results can be stunning. It's like breathing life into the old photos. Take for example this photo of a young woman graduate from New Haven, Connecticut, circa 1910. Colorizing her makes her seem more lifelike, more in the present. The past, after all, was not in black and white; only the photos were.

Bottom photo: a young businessman circa 1900. Note the high celluloid collar.

In Photoshop, you colorize a black and white photo, not by painting it, but by changing the color balance. Using the magic wand tool, you can select one area of the photo, say the face, and change the color balance by turning up the red. Each different area has to be cordoned off digitially, then colorized by changing the color balance.

It's also a great technique for restoring modern color photos that have faded.

U.K. Telegraph: "McCain Could Still Win"

The U.K. Telegraph wrote:

American patriotism, strong in all classes, is universal among blue-collar workers. McCain, a war hero, is its embodiment. And by taking too long to disavow Wright, Obama sowed doubts about his own patriotism that still linger. If not dispelled, those are McCain's single best hope of achieving a win against the odds.

Personally, I find the Telegraph to be naive in assuming that, except for doubts over Jeremy Wright, Obama has a lock on the presidency.

Doubts over Barack Obama include much more than Jeremy Wright. There's also Father Pfleger and Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn; there's Obama's anti-white racism: he once attributed minority poverty to "white greed runs a world in need."

Even more devastating: Obama is a radical leftist who wants to socialize the American economy while reducing our military and leaving Americans vulnerable to the terrorist threat. Obama's father is a radical Muslim and his mother a communist. Obama's personal affiliations and family background are cause for serious concerns over his beliefs and loyalties.

America under Obama would be European-style socialism and pacifism: higher taxes on everything from income to energy; a greatly weakened and demoralized military and heightened vulnerability; massive immigration, particularly of unassimilable Muslims; amnesty for all illegal aliens already here. Socialized medicine, where medical care will be rationed as it is now in Canada and Europe, leaving many to die from want of care. Greater governmental control and suppression of the free market in the name of "environmentalism," causing scarcities and prices to rise. Finally, nothing will be done to halt Iran's march to nuclear weapons. Expect a nuclear attack on Israel sometime during Obama's first four years.

Obama is riding high in the polls now, but the campaign for the presidency has barely begun. Obama's negatives will be showcased, displayed and dissected over the coming months, and many voters won't like what they see. It is always naive to base a candidate's chances this early in the campaign, because early impressions can and will change. There are many speeches, debates, editorials and analyses to come; Obama will have to defend his radical ideas before unfriendly audiences. He's cute, but no one wants to elect a cute idiot.

"McCain could still win," but that possibility exists for many more reasons than Jeremy Wright. It is our job to make those reasons obvious in the coming months before the election.

McCain Wants a Man on Mars

Yesterday, John McCain announced his desire to put a man on Mars. However, it appears doubtful that Barack Obama will go along with it.

More as the story develops.

Obama: On Remaking the United States

Mark Steyn discusses Barack Obama's desire to remake the United States. Barack Obama, in his victory speech, said:

I face this challenge with profound humility and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people … . I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal …. This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation.

Mark Steyn asks a reasonable question: As for coming together "to remake this great nation," if it's so great, why do we have to remake it?

Steyn then remarks:

Speaking personally, I don't want to remake America. I'm an immigrant, and one reason I came here is because most of the rest of the Western world remade itself along the lines Sen. Obama has in mind. This is pretty much the end of the line for me. If he remakes America, there's nowhere for me to go – although presumably once he's lowered sea levels around the planet there should be a few new atolls popping up here and there.

Read it all here.

How true that is for all of us who have no intention of going along with the remake. If America becomes just another European-style socialist/pacifist dhimmitude, we're hosed. There is nowhere else to go.

We conservatives are quite determined, however, that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party will not remake America, elected or not. A President is not a dictator and Congress is restricted by laws and the Constitution. We must organize for maximum resistance to the neo-Socialists and their programs.

Who's Responsible for High Gas Prices?

Who's responsible for high gas prices, Republicans or Democrats? Powerline blog answers that question by quoting figures compiled by Congressman Roy Blunt:

ANWR Exploration
House Republicans: 91% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed

SUMMARY
91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of American-made oil and gas.
86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the production ofAmerican-made oil and gas.

If you like high energy prices, do indeed vote for Democrats - Change you can believe in, but may have trouble swallowing.

Remembering D-Day

Today marks the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, the massive allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France. On June 6, 1944 American, British and Canadian troops landed on the Normandy coast amid stiff Nazi resistance. The Americans landed on the worst beach, "Bloody Omaha." More than 130,000 allied troops landed on Normandy that first day. Many were killed before firing a shot. Able Company, the first company ashore, suffered severe casualties. Some landing craft were sunk and never made it to shore; one that did land had its entire content of soldiers machine gunned seconds after the ramp dropped. Everyone of them was killed.

Only two riflemen from Company A fought effectively that day. They joined a Ranger battallion and fought with them. In one day, American fatalities were greater than those suffered in four years in Iraq.

To fully comprehend the horror that day, read "First Wave at Omaha Beach" by S.L.A. Marshall.

Our friends at the French blog "Support American Soldiers" also has an extensive article on D-Day, complete with pictures and maps.

Give a thought today to the thousands of soldiers who died and those who survived. They were heroes in ways we cannot begin to understand.

My uncle went ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day+1. He was a medic. Before the invasion, he (and all other soldiers) received a printed message from General Eisenhower. I have that message, along with other artifacts from my uncle's participation. A scanned copy of it is below. Click on the image to see it full size.

Is Barack Obama a Marxist?

The nutroots are outraged because Tom Delay called Barack Obama "a Marxist" today. Delay was partially correct - from what we know about Obama, he is a member of the far left, but Marxism is probably not the correct category.

Marxism is totalitarianism where the entire means of production (the economy) is owned and directed by the state. It calls for armed revolution against the non-communist ruling class. Revolution is usually followed by widespread execution of capitalists, business owners and large farm owners. Does Obama believe that? Perhaps, but I haven't seen any evidence of that.

What Obama is, clearly, is a fascist. The most honest spin one could put on Obama's political leanings is that he is a democratic fascist. That's different than historical fascism, where the state is ruled by a single dictator. Democratic fascism would be ruled by a single political party, to the extent possible.

Traditionally, democratic fascism is made possible by major media who are in that party's hip pocket and who are the gatekeepers as to what news is heard and which is not, and the spin and intepretation put on that news. Expect Obama to reinstate the fairness doctrine, where conservative talk radio would cease to exist. Expect also a massive gerrymandering of congressional districts to create safe enclaves for Democrats. In those rare times when Democratic legislation is defeated, expect more Democrat "living constitution" judges who will legislate from the bench.

The Democrats may try to expand their constituency by giving citizenship to illegal aliens, and the vote to illegals by suppressing voter identification legislation. Finally, control of the ballot box will allow dead people to vote Democratic, as they have several times in the past. When all else fails, the Democrats can appoint special judges to persecute and prosecute Republicans, as they have done to Tom Delay and Scooter Libby.

There are many ways to compromise a representative democracy and Democrats are well schooled in all of them.

Fascism in its mildest form is still collectivist and socialist, but the state does not own the entire means of production. Many businesses are left in the hands of private owners, as long as they support the objectives of the fascist state. Nevertheless, historic fascism did nationalize certain key industries. Obama would probably nationalize the medical industry, as Hillary tried to do, but I know of no others. Of course, outright ownership of the means of productions isn't necessary to control industry. Industry can be intimidated and/or bribed to fall into line. The power to tax and regulate is the power to destroy, and very high taxes would be a hallmark of the Obama administration. Repeated IRS audits of conservative organizations, common during Bill Clinton's administration, provides great intimidation to those businesses who don't embrace "the program." For those who do support it, there are tax credits, corporate welfare and pork projects, paid for by the taxpayers.

No, Obama is a fascist within the correct historical definition of the term. See my post on Jonah Goldberg's book "Liberal Fascsim" for details.

Fighting Back: Send Mo-Toons to Islamic Embassies!

SIOE, or "Stop the Islamization of Europe" website is involved in active resistance to the islamization of Europe. But you probably figured that out by their title.

Upset by the recent bombing of the Danish Embassy in Pakistan (over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed), they have come up with a "strike back" strategy. The strategy is this: draw a cartoon of Mohammed, or use an existing one, and send it (anonymously) to Pakistani embassies. Every time the radical Muslims create terrorism over cartoons, more cartoons will result.

SIOE has posted a list of addresses for Pakistani embassies and consulates, as well as Pakistani news outlets and broadcasting organizations.

A word of caution: don't use the Danish cartoons, as they are copyrighted and you could be sued. Those cartoonists already have death threats and fatwas hanging over them, and don't want you to make it worse.

After you draw the cartoon, send it to SIOE. They will post the best cartoons on their site and, each Friday, will select the best cartoon for the week, and make a t shirt bearing the cartoon, as a prize to the creator.

For details go here.

Hat tip: Gates of Vienna