The Finer Points of Warfare: up in Flame

BareNakedIslam: "More sinister than Stuxnet, Flame computer virus strikes Iran and other enemies of Israel"

Stuxnet has an even more ominous successor. Iranian security experts report a virus far more dangerous than the Stuxnet worm has struck the country’s computer systems. Dubbed the “Flame,” the virus is one that has struck not only Iran, however, but a number of other enemies of Israel as well. The country with the largest number of machines infected by Flame is believed to be Iran, following by the West Bank, and Sudan and Syria after that. Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have also been affected. (...) >>>

May 29, 2012
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"The Dystopia of Paradise": there's life after pomo

But it does take a country that is living with evil, on the edge of destruction, every day. So for now, don't hold your breath for the West to find out -

Caroline Glick: "Post-Zionism is so 1990s"

You can learn a lot about a nation's health by watching how it celebrates its national holidays. In Israel's case, compare how we celebrated our 50th Independence Day in 1998 to what celebrations involve today. During the 1990s, Israel's elite took a vacation from reality and history and they brought much of the public with them. Then-foreign minister Shimon Peres said that history was overrated. The so-called "New Historians," who rummaged through David Ben-Gurion's closet looking for skeletons, were the toast of the academic world. Radicals like Yossi Beilin, Shulamit Aloni and Avrum Burg were dictating government policy. The media, the entertainment establishment, and the Education Ministry embraced and massively promoted plays, movies, television shows, songs, dances, art and books that "slayed sacred cows." Everywhere you turned, post-Zionism was in. Post-Judaism was in. And Zionism and Judaism were both decidedly out. (...) >>>

May 25, 2012
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Obama's Radical Connections: the vetting continues

Update Apparently Dystel's partner, Miriam Goderich, says the whole Obama-born-in-Kenya thing was a fact-checking mistake by her. Not likely, says character witness -

Breitbart: "THE VETTING - EXCLUSIVE - OBAMA'S LITERARY AGENT IN 1991 BOOKLET: 'BORN IN KENYA AND RAISED IN INDONESIA AND HAWAII'

Note from Senior Management:

Andrew Breitbart was never a "Birther," and Breitbart News is a site that has never advocated the narrative of "Birtherism." In fact, Andrew believed, as we do, that President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961.
Yet Andrew also believed that the complicit mainstream media had refused to examine President Obama's ideological past, or the carefully crafted persona he and his advisers had constructed for him.
It is for that reason that we launched "The Vetting," an ongoing series in which we explore the ideological background of President Obama (and other presidential candidates)--not to re-litigate 2008, but because ideas and actions have consequences.
It is also in that spirit that we discovered, and now present, the booklet described below--one that includes a marketing pitch for a forthcoming book by a then-young, otherwise unknown former president of the Harvard Law Review. It is evidence--not of the President's foreign origin, but that Barack Obama's public persona has perhaps been presented differently at different times.

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Breitbart News has obtained a promotional booklet produced in 1991 by Barack Obama's then-literary agency, Acton & Dystel, which touts Obama as "born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii."
The booklet, which was distributed to "business colleagues" in the publishing industry, includes a brief biography of Obama among the biographies of eighty-nine other authors represented by Acton & Dystel.
It also promotes Obama's anticipated first book, Journeys in Black and White--which Obama abandoned, later publishing Dreams from My Father instead. (...) >>>

May 18, 2012
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Freedom isn't Free!: meet the new Warsaw Pact

New Zeal: "Russia Builds Military Alliance Against NATO"

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is planning to create a large military contingent comprising units and formations of several Central Asian states, the head of the post-Soviet security group said Monday. CSTO members – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – use the organization as a platform to fight drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime, and have pledged to provide immediate military assistance to one another in the event of an attack. The bloc has a Collective Rapid Reaction Force deployed in Central Asia, and is continuing to build up its military forces. (...) >>>

May 16, 2012
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In Defense of Liberty: Steyn's foreword to Wilders' book

- Artwork by Bosch Fawstein - 

NRO: "The Spirit of Geert Wilders - A foreword to Wilders’ Marked for Death", by Mark Steyn

When I was asked to write a foreword to Geert Wilders’ new book, my first reaction, to be honest, was to pass. Mr. Wilders lives under 24/7 armed guard because significant numbers of motivated people wish to kill him, and it seemed to me, as someone who’s attracted more than enough homicidal attention over the years, that sharing space in these pages was likely to lead to an uptick in my own death threats. Who needs it? Why not just plead too crowded a schedule and suggest the author try elsewhere? I would imagine Geert Wilders gets quite a lot of this. And then I took a stroll in the woods, and felt vaguely ashamed at the ease with which I was willing to hand a small victory to his enemies. (...) >>>

May 15, 2012
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Money & Economy: it's the deteriorating asset base, stupid!

Zerohedge: "Everything You Know About Monetary Policy Is Wrong... And Why This Is Very Bad News For Europe"

For over a year we have been cautioning that even more than a "liquidity versus solvency" debate, the biggest unspoken factor (though slowly gaining prominence) not only for Europe, although manifesting itself there most prominently, but all across the developed world is the quality of the (deteriorating) asset base, thanks mostly due to the Fed's influence over corporate cash misallocation, and courtesy of the fact that the bulk of credit money creation in the past decade has come via the shadow banking system, broad asset collateral. Last year MF Global taught us that it is this shadow collateral which exists merely in ledger entries between fractional reserve entities (mostly broker dealers and hedge funds), that is now extremely scarce and has to be pledged and repledged in daisy chains of ultra rehypothecation, and which just like robosigning exists until it is actually called for delivery, when the entire collateral<->money linkage falls apart. It is this intersection of traditional monetary liabilities and new shadow aggregates that is completely undiscussed by conventional economic literature, and is why traditional monetary theory is completely helpless in coming up with credible and effective means of returning the world to a growth state. In other words, the Krugmans of the world are absolutely unable to explain how shadow banking should be accounted for when explaining something as simple as the leverage collapse, first in Europe, and then in the US (we have covered the collapse of shadow banking repeatedly, most recently here). (...) >>>

May 5, 2012
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The Perversion of Development Aid: when growth is evil

May 1, 2012
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Turkey Trot: Turkey starts illegal drilling in N. Cyprus update

John Ward has an analysis of the situation (and while we're at it, might as well have a look at the rights situation: letters from political prisoners (where's Amnesty when you need them?)) -

The Slog: "MED ENERGY WARS: UK Foreign Office slumbers on as Israel/Turkey showdown grows ever nearer"

Veteran Sloggers are well aware of Erdogan The Mad: Turkish leader, free-speech crusher, Kurd-basher, Holocaust denier, energy thief, and best friend of Iran and David Cameron at one and the same time.

They’ll also know from earlier in the week that, ignoring existing territorial waters ratified by the UN, Rabid Recep and his Erratic Engineers have plonked a drilling derrick right next to Cyprus (having earlier this year threatened to annex it) and got right down to the task of tapping into other people’s oil.

Now the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is denying Greek media reports that a Turkish Petroleum Company is carrying out oil exploratory works along the Greek continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea. (...) >>>

Apr 29, 2012
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Athens News: "Greece condemns Turkish drilling in Cyprus"

The Greek foreign ministry on Thursday sharply condemned the exploratory drilling launched by a Turkish firm in the region of Sygkrasi (Sinirustu in Turkish) near the town Famagusta in the Turkish-occupied northern third of Cyprus.

Foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras, referring to the drilling by a Turkish petrol company, stressed that this is another illegal Turkish move, blatantly violating the UN Security Council resolutions that call on all countries to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus. (...) >>>

Apr. 26, 2012
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Caucasian Heat: Russia gearing up for pushback on Iran, Syria

With tensions rising in Iran, and it's satellite Syria presently engaged in the Western operation dubbed Arab Spring, the Caucasus region is back in the news. Read also up on the developments on "The Levant's Intricate Intrigues", yesterday's entry April 11 (map right) -

Business Insider: "Russia Is Massing Troops On Iran's Northern Border And Waiting For A Western Attack"

The Russian military anticipates that an attack will occur on Iran by the summer and has developed an action plan to move Russian troops through neighboring Georgia to stage in Armenia, which borders on the Islamic republic, according to informed Russian sources. (...) >>>

Apr 12, 2012
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The Levant's Intricate Intrigues: Obama's dangerous game in Syria

Besides setting the stage for WWIII, what are the interests (strategics, geopolitical implications) Assigned reading! Check The Optimistic Conservative's Blog for more great posts (see also file "Caucasian Heat", entry Apr. 12) -

Hotair: Syria, Russia: It all looks different from out there"

(...) The US should be concerned about the danger as well – but instead, the Obama administration is seeking reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, backing it in Syria (see here as well), and proposing to fund and treat with the terrorist group Hamas. The Russians are justified in being worried that the US shows little discrimination in our choice of clients and protégés in the region. Whether the reason is ideological sympathy or ideological naïveté, the US administration’s affinity for the most radical, repressive, Islamo-statist elements in the Islamic world cannot be a basis for strategically responsible uses of power.

The Obama administration showed clearly during the Libya operation that it was committed to not using US power to achieve decisive political outcomes. Yet US power is the element most badly needed in the situation in Syria. The feat needed in Syria is one to which only America, up to now, has been suited: acknowledging the regional implications of any Syrian outcome; bringing Russia into a group effort; and yet also bringing an end to the Assad regime on terms favorable for the Syrian people, and acceptable to the Arab world, the West, and Russia.

Perhaps, in the weeks ahead, another nation will find a way to fill that role. France may shift her focus: from dismissing Russia and setting up a separate coalition, to trying to engage Russia. Turkey may be able to broker a group effort in which Russia gets a role.

Russian intransigence is marginally more likely to win out; I don’t think France and the UK are really stupid enough to provoke an armed standoff with Russia, even if the US is. But we are in uncharted territory, and that assessment may be wrong. (...) >>>

HotAir: "Report: Russian “anti-terrorism” troops arrive at Syrian port"

They’ve had military advisors inside the country assisting the regime for months and they’re doing their level best to meet Assad’s exploding demand for new weapons. But actually sending Russian special forces to Tartus, presumably to lend a hand in case Syrian troops need help with with their, er, “counterterror” operations, is a new one on me. Message to NATO and any other nascent western/Arab coalition: The price of intervention will be higher than you estimated. Time to start paying closer attention to Syria. (...) >>>

Apr. 11, 2012
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pOmo rAVagES: going pomo as a carreer choice

Big Government: "SOWELL: BELL WENT ‘INCOHERENT’ TO AVOID OBSCURITY"

Thomas Sowell’s syndicated column this week took on Derrick Bell, whom Sowell knew at Stanford. Sowell writes that Bell was not a leading scholar, and that he found himself between a rock and a hard place in career terms:

Derrick Bell's options were to be a nobody, living in the shadow of more accomplished legal scholars — or to go off on some wild tangent of his own, and appeal to a radical racial constituency on campus and beyond. His writings showed clearly that the latter was the path he chose. (...) >>>

Mar 14, 2012
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Science as a Narrative: pomo post normal science

Closely related to pomo science to post normal science. Watch also here on YouTube - Hat tip: @justintempler - There is of course something very wrong in mixing science and political agendas -

De Staat van het Klimaat: "Paltridge: postmodern science is a dangerous beast", by MARCEL CROK

There is an excellent op-ed by Garth Paltridge on the Australian Financial Review. I agree with almost everything he writes. I also much enjoyed his short book The Climate Caper. Paltridge explains why climate science is far from settled (...)

(...) From the social and economic side of things, one might take much more notice of the global warming scare campaign if it were not so obvious that many of its most vociferous supporters have other agendas. There are those, for instance, who are concerned with preservation of the world’s resources of coal and oil for the benefit of future generations. There are those who, like the former president of France, Jacques Chirac, speaking at a conference on the Kyoto protocol in 2000, look with favour on the possibility of an international decarbonisation regime because it would be a first step to global governance (the president’s actual words were “For the first time, humanity is instituting a genuine instrument of global governance”.) There are those who, like the socialists of the 20th century, see international action as a means to force a redistribution of wealth both within and between the individual nations. There are those who regard the whole business mainly as a path to the sort of influence which, until now, has been wielded only by the major religions. More generally, there are those who, like the politically correct everywhere, are driven by a need for public expression of their own virtue.

Of course there is nothing wrong, or at least not much that is wrong, with the ideals behind any of the above agendas except perhaps the last couple on the list. But the battles over them should be fought in the open and on their own merits rather than on the basis of a global warming crusade whose legitimacy is founded on still-doubtful science and on massive slabs of politically correct propaganda. (...) >>>

June 24, 2012
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Natural Resources: gas and oil in the East Med

RT: "New Mediterranean oil and gas bonanza"

The Middle East could soon see new battles over rights to oil and gas beneath the eastern Mediterranean in the Levant Basin and Aegean Sea. The discovery of huge reserves off Israel's coast is changing the geopolitical balance of power in the region. (...) Energy self-sufficiency had eluded the state of Israel since its founding in 1948. Abundant oil and gas exploration was repeatedly undertaken with meager results. Unlike its energy-rich Arab neighbors, Israel seemed out of luck. Then, in 2009, Israel’s exploration partner Noble Energy discovered the Tamar field in the Levantine Basin, some 50 miles west of Israel’s port of Haifa and with an estimated 8.3 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of highest-quality natural gas. Tamar was the world’s largest gas discovery in 2009. (...) >>>

Febr. 26, 2012
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Ethics of Capitalism: the African dream

Quite an achievement! Singing the praises of capitalism under a Leftist ethics program! This article did it! -

The Atlantic: "Africa's Amazing Rise and What it Can Teach the World"

(...) The economic evidence that they were right, building since the start of the new century, now seems incontrovertible. In the ten years from 2000 to 2010, six of the world's ten fastest-growing countries were in sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique, and Rwanda. In eight of the past ten years, sub-Saharan Africa has grown faster than Asia, according to The Economist. In 2012, the International Monetary Fund expects Africa to grow at a rate of 6%, about the same as Asia. (...) >>>

Feb. 26, 2012
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Under the Bus: Muslim power grab - who cares?

Here we go! Archeological News Network: "Mob storms Maldives National Museum, destroys Buddhist statues" -

American Thinker: "Coup in the Maldives", by Rick Moran

Well here's a head-scratcher. The Religion of Peace backs a coup that overthrows a democratically elected government on Tuesday. On Thursday the US recognized the new government. There were reports that the police and security forces forced the president out, but Victoria Nuland, spokeswoman for the US State Department, saw no problem because "President Waheed, as you know, has committed to forming a national unity government." Of course he did. All any new tyrant has to do is coo magic words like "national unity government" and we bow before him. (...) >>>|

Feb. 12. 2012
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Transnat'l Progressivism: Davos: FU Capitalism!

While the real avant guarde is looking ahead what what to do after the onset of the bankruptcy of globalization (entry Jan. 26), the degenerated elite is breaking up its annual confab at Davos. Jeffrey Folks is looking back -

Jan. 30, 2012
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A new global paradigm -

If we can keep it together or not with the collapse of the monetary system and deliberately triggered revolutions that have destabilized the entire Middle East, this author is predicting the time of Cumbaya, #NWO, globalization, interconnectivity and interdependence, is over. Indeed, everything is in place for a new global paradigm -

Foreign Policy: "The End of the Win-Win World", by Gideon Rachman

I have spent my working life writing about international politics from the vantage points of the Economist and now the Financial Times. Surrounded by people who tracked markets and business, it has always felt natural for me to see international economics and international politics as deeply intertwined.

In my book Zero-Sum Future, written in 2009, I attempted to predict how the global economic crisis would change international politics. As the rather bleak title implied, I argued that relations between the major powers were likely to become increasingly tense and conflict-ridden. In a worsening economic climate, it would be harder for the big economies to see their relationships as mutually beneficial -- as a win-win. Instead, they would increasingly judge their relationships in zero-sum terms. What was good for China would be seen as bad for America. What was good for Germany would be bad for Italy, Spain, and Greece. (...) >>>

Jan. 26, 2012
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Globalists descend on Davos #NWO -

CanadaFreePress: "Capitalism is the Problem—Who Knew?", Daren Jonescu

The perfectly named World Economic Forum—that is, an organization dedicated to the creation of a world economic system—is meeting in Davos again to discuss the problems of the day, and to propose solutions. Although the official problem-solving has not yet begun, a hint as to the direction of said solutions can be found in the definition of the main problem to be solved, offered by the group’s leader: the “out-dated and crumbling” economic system, capitalism. Surprise!

Among the problem-solvers in attendance: the dean of the China European International Business School, a joint project of the Chinese communist and European socialist governments; the President of the European Central Bank, formerly the head of the Bank of Italy; the Treasury Secretary to America’s first openly redistributionist President; and Tunisia’s new Islamist prime minister, who recently stood with a Hamas Party deputy and called for the “liberation of Jerusalem.” Who better to reform the world’s economy? (...) >>>

Jan. 24, 2012
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Pomo Lingo: all about control and conditioning

The New Editor: Killing the Speech - "Modern" Kids losing Language and Confidence?" Hat tip: @victorsterren

Jan. 23, 2012
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Socialist Utopia Redux: Argentina's serial collapse

"War with Argentina might save the United Kingdom and see Scots abandon independence move", opines @PurpleLine - Indeed. More tinder added to the global powderkeg. Argentina's socialists meanwhile have no learning curve to speak of, as is usual with the Left. The narrative without a doubt: socialism proper has NEVER been tried LOL -

Zerohedge: "Another Consequence Of Economic Decline"

Nearly 10-years ago to the day, the government of Argentina collapsed. Beset by weighty deficit spending and a completely unrealistic currency peg to the US dollar, Argentina became the poster child for the golden rule of economics: ‘that which is unsustainable will not be sustained.’ It’s reversion to the mean. (...) At this point, it’s all just tough talk and petty annoyances. But here’s the thing– there are four billion barrels of oil estimated to be within the Falklands’ territorial waters. Given the utter insanity with which Fernandez governs her country and the desperation in the Argentine economy, one cannot rule out the possibility of her trying to grab Las Malvinas by force. After all, military conflict is the ultimate social distraction.

I’ve often written that economics drives everything. A solid, vibrant, competitive economy lifts an entire nation into prosperity, while deteriorating fundamentals and a socialist agenda create inflation, unemployment, and social turmoil. War is just another one of those consequences. And given the vast deterioration in the global economy coupled with deeply-seeded conflicts around the world, the Falklands is just one of many that we may have to look forward to in 2012. >>>

Jan. 10, 2012
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#Occupy: orc agit prop

NewZeal: "How serious is the left about disrupting America?"

Jan. 3, 2012
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Iraq: Obama's historical enormity

WaPo: "Obama’s worst error", by Jennifer Rubin

President Obama missed the boat on tax reform. He put politics above entitlement reform. He worsened already-tense relations with Israel. But the worst error, in large part because it was both avoidable and is not irreversible, was to pull all troops out of Iraq. (...) >>>

Dec. 25, 2011
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Political Correctness: merry solistice

This year's harvest of madness and preventive bowing to offended minorities -

OCR: "Mark Steyn: Even Christians taking Christ out of Christmas"

Dec. 17, 2011
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Rumbling Russia: danger zone

On the day Putin has his booing election loss "Medvedev ‘drops a bomb’ on missile defense"- Russia’s 'squeezed middle’ is disenchanted with Mr Putin, as his election humiliation shows – even his allies are getting nervous about his plans -

Russia Today: "Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party suffers poll blow"

Dec. 5, 2011
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China Chill: the hidden nukes

DailyMail: "China's nuclear arsenal could be up to FORTY times bigger than thought, three-year study of secret documents reveals"

China's nuclear arsenal may be many times larger than estimates suggest, a group of students have claimed after three years of painstaking researching through restricted documents. Led by a former top Pentagon official, the students at Georgetown University, in Washington DC, have scrutinised satellite imagery, translated Chinese military documents and filtered through thousands of online files. The focus of their extensive research has been the thousands of miles of underground tunnels dug by the Second Artillery Corps to hide China's missile arsenal. (...) >>>

Nov. 30, 2011
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The Dialectics: Hegel's rat wheel

Gold Werewolf: "Likely, the most important thing you will ever read"

Georg Hegel is probably the most important man that most have never heard of. Hegel’s theory of argument and persuasion absolutely pervades the entire way issues are viewed in the instant media driven 21st century. I have borrowed an excellent synopsis of Hegel’s methods from Niki Raapana and Nordica Friedrich.

In 1847 the London Communist League (Karl Marx and Frederick Engels) used Hegel's theory of the dialectic to back up their economic theory of communism. Now, in the 21st century, Hegelian-Marxist thinking affects our entire social and political structure. The Hegelian dialectic is the framework for guiding our thoughts and actions into conflicts that lead us to a predetermined solution. If we do not understand how the Hegelian dialectic shapes our perceptions of the world, then we do not know how we are helping to implement the vision.When we remain locked into dialectical thinking, we cannot see out of the box. (...) >>>

Nov. 29, 2011
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Rules for the Right: Rick Perry and the Aga Khan

WND: "Rick Perry's dangerous Muslim compromise"

(...) cause for deep concern is an apparently close relationship Perry has fostered over the years with a Muslim leader know as "His Highness" Prince Shah Karim Al-Husayni, the Aga Khan IV. Al-Husayni is the spiritual leader of the Shiite sect of Nizari Ismaili Muslims. Nizaris, a group with roughly 18 million adherents, believe that Al-Husayni is both the physical and spiritual descendant of Islam's prophet, Muhammad. Nizaris refer to Al-Husayni with such grandiose titles as the Imām-I-Zaman (Imam of the Age) and "the Face of Allah." (...) According to the Austin American-Statesman, Perry met Al-Husayni while vacationing with his family in Paris in 2000. In 2002, at a dinner in Houston hosted by Al-Husayni, Perry spoke glowingly of his new friend. Since this time, Perry has continued to attend various Nizari Ismaili Muslim events and by several accounts has become a close friend of Al-Husayni and the Nizari Muslim community. (...) >>>

Oct. 26, 2011
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Out of Africa: troops to Africa, Obama sends a letter

This may be the worst idea since Vietnam - the Obama sends the Speaker a letter that he's sent 100 service personnel to the hell of Africa (Uganda, South Sudan, DRC, and the Central Afr. Rep.) (WTF is Odinga?) *hm* to take the leader of the LRA "off the battlefield" -

Big Peace: "Uganda, LRA, And The ‘Christian’ Lie"

Joseph Kony, the monstrous leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, a group possibly more despicable than Hitler’s nazis, has apparently been targeted by the Obama administration. News broke on October 14th that 100 US troops were being sent to track Kony down. The meme that is being floated in the liberal media is that Kony is a radical Christian protestant. Obama’s apparatchiks might attempt to advance that meme as much as possible for political advantage against the Christian right. There’s a small problem with it. It’s a lie. (...) >>>

Oct. 17, 2011
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The Case for Neo Communism: agit art

Greek Communist Party (KKE) poster in Athens -

photograph by @MajaMischke



























Oct. 16, 2011
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The Nazi Appreciation Movement: little Hitler, Egypt edition

Founders of the Egyptian Nazi Party: All We Want is World Supremacy for the Egyptian Race
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Oct. 3, 2011
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On the Record: when's the next revolution?

BBC News: "Supercomputer predicts revolution"

Feeding a supercomputer with news stories could help predict major world events, according to US research. A study, based on millions of articles, charted deteriorating national sentiment ahead of the recent revolutions in Libya and Egypt. While the analysis was carried out retrospectively, scientists say the same processes could be used to anticipate upcoming conflict. The system also picked up early clues about Osama Bin Laden's location. (...) >>>

Sept. 29, 2011
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Justice, Pomo Style: giving justice its proper place

Justice isn't social justice or eco justice as leftist postmodernists have us believe. It's morality, the moral compass, which they prefer we think does not exist: the difference between right and wrong, truth from lie, true or false, good en evil -

Catholic Herald: "Full text: Pope’s address to the Bundestag"

(...) Allow me to begin my reflections on the foundations of law [Recht] with a brief story from sacred Scripture. In the First Book of the Kings, it is recounted that God invited the young King Solomon, on his accession to the throne, to make a request. What will the young ruler ask for at this important moment? Success – wealth – long life – destruction of his enemies? He chooses none of these things. Instead, he asks for a listening heart so that he may govern God’s people, and discern between good and evil (cf. 1 Kg 3:9). (...) Read it all >>>

Sept. 24, 2011
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TeaParty Album: the secret agenda

Hannan makes a correct observation. The Ruling Party prefers to deal with the Tea Party as an authoritarian mob. But there's another effect: the Overton Window. It lands the far Left somewhere in the mainstream -

AdamSmith.org: "The Tea Party tendency"

In his speech at the Liberal Democrat Party conference yesterday, energy secretary Chris Huhne declared: “we need no Tea Party tendency in Britain”. My view is completely different – I would argue that a Tea Party tendency is precisely what Britain needs. But let’s be clear about terms. As Daniel Hannan wrote on his blog yesterday:

The Tea Party, perhaps more than any other contemporary movement, brings out the 'Yeah, but what they're really saying…' tendency. The 'tea' stands for 'Taxed Enough Already' but, if you relied on the BBC and the Guardian for your information, you might not know it. Many Lefties pretend – or perhaps have genuinely convinced themselves – that the Tea Party is clandestinely protesting against immigration or abortion or the fact of having a mixed race president; anything, in fact, other than what it actually says it's against, viz big government. The existence of a popular and spontaneous anti-tax movement has unsettled the Establishment. They'd much rather deal with a stupid and authoritarian Right than with a libertarian one. Hence the almost desperate insistence that the Tea Partiers have some secret agenda… (...) >>>

Sept. 21, 2011
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The Flotilla Tactic: Turkey picking a war, GR, CY, IL pull together

DebkaFile: "Israeli-Greek defense pact invoked versus Turkish naval and air movements"

Israel and Greece have invoked the mutual defense pact they signed secretly only 12 days ago in the light of heavy Turkish sea and air movements in the eastern Mediterranean. DEBKAfile's sources report that this was decided in a long nocturnal phone conversation Wednesday night Sept. 14 between the Israeli and Greek prime ministers, Binyamin Netanyahu and George Papandreou, and at Israel's expanded cabinet of eight, which was called into session over the Turkish threat to its off-shore oil and gas rigs. (...) >>>

Sept. 15,2011
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Stop Islamization of America: a practical guide of the resistance

Atlas Shrugs: "THE BATTLEPLAN HITS BOOKSTORES TODAY!"

• Get your Autographed Copy Here
• Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance

You know what's at stake. We both do. That is why I wrote this essential primer for patriots. You must read this book. Go to SIOAbook.com Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance

The book is out! This must-have book is the how-to guide on how to fight the islamization of your town, your city, your country. This is a guide to protecting our country. (...) >>>

Sept. 6, 2011
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Smoke and Mirrors: fascism=Fabian socialism

Forbes: "Obama, Hitler, And Exploding The Biggest Lie In History", by Bill Flax

Numerous commentators have raised alarming comparisons between America’s recent economic foibles and Argentina’s fall “from breadbasket to basket case.” The U.S. pursues a similar path with her economy increasingly ensnared under the growing nexus of government control. Resources are redistributed for vote-buying welfare schemes, patronage style earmarks, and graft by unelected bureaucrats, quid pro quo with unions, issue groups and legions of lobbyists.

In Argentina, everyone acknowledges that fascism, state capitalism, corporatism – whatever – reflects very leftwing ideology. Eva Peron remains a liberal icon. President Obama’s Fabian policies (Keynesian economics) promise similar ends. His proposed infrastructure bank is just the latest gyration of corporatism. Why then are fascists consistently portrayed as conservatives?

In the Thirties, intellectuals smitten by progressivism considered limited, constitutional governance anachronistic. The Great Depression had apparently proven capitalism defunct. The remaining choice had narrowed between communism and fascism. Hitler was about an inch to the right of Stalin. Western intellectuals infatuated with Marxism thus associated fascism with the Right. (...) >>>

Sept. 4, 2011
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Transnational Bankruptcy: the racist anti racism counter conference

Durban III: "What happens when a group of states collude to corrupt the meaning of human rights?"

Aug. 31, 2011
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The Political Pathology Asylum: Muslim Denial Psycho Explained

pOmoLanD: "OUCH! Psycho Explaining Muslim Denial"

In Judeo-Christian guilt culture we attach a lot of value to truth, sincerety and individual rights. The feeling of guilt is allowing us to live in accordance with our own morality and the dominant ethics system. But in the Arabic-Islamic shame culture it's more important how others see you. In this culture honor must be preserved and shame must be averted at all cost. You have basically carte blanche to do whatever evil comes to mind, as long as no one finds out about it (the hypocs!). Just consistently deny everything! (...) >>>

July 10, 2011
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Antisemitism: Council of Churches joins Islamo-Socialist Nexus

YNet: "The churches against Israel"

(...) The World Council of Churches, an ecumenical Christian body based in Genève and boasting 590 million worshippers, just ended a four-day conference in the Greek city of Volos. Not a single word of criticism was uttered there against the Islamists who are persecuting Arabs who believe Jesus.

Lutherans arrived to Volos from the United States, Catholics and Protestants from Bethlehem and Nazareth, Orthodox Christians from Greece and Russia, lecturers from Beirut and Copts from Egypt. The conference declared the Jewish State "a sin" and "occupying power," accused Israelis of "dehumanizing" the Palestinians, theologically dismantled the "choseness" of the Jewish people and called for "resistance" as a Christian duty. (...) >>>

6 juni 2011
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Pakistan's Double Bubble: oops! NATO/Pak tiffie

Someone who was at Tora Bora asserted these tiffies are happening all the time. It is said these are 'rogue elements in the Pakistan army' -

As John Kerry is despatched to smooth feathers ...

NYT: "Pakistan and NATO Forces Exchange Fire"

Pakistani ground troops opened fire on two NATO helicopters that crossed into Pakistan’s airspace from Afghanistan early Tuesday morning, the Pakistani Army said in a statement. In the firefight that followed, two Pakistani soldiers were wounded, it said. The clash provided another irritant to the already sour relationship between the United States and Pakistan in the wake of the May 2 Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden at a compound deep inside Pakistan, heightening American mistrust of Pakistan and inflaming Pakistani sensitivities over sovereignty.

The exchange of fire on Tuesday took place at Admi Kot Post in the North Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan, an area that American officials have long regarded as a haven used by militants to attack coalition forces inside Afghanistan. NATO officials said they were looking into the incident, and could not immediately confirm whether the helicopters had indeed entered Pakistan’s airspace. Pakistani military officials said the NATO helicopters came about 400 yards into Pakistani territory. (...) >>>

May 17, 2011
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GWOT: Obama's pics ban starting to look suspect

- Panetta: O-Team watching black screen -

Do the math! The Blaze: "CIA DIRECTOR: THERE WAS NO LIVE VIDEO OF OBL RAID"

Reuters: "Photos from the Bin Laden Compound"

Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons. The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters. None of the men looked like bin Laden. (...) >>>

May 5, 2011
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The Pomo White House: defeat Obama campaign opens

Omaba, the visionary, foresees what can only be concluded with hindsight: "(...) 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; (...) "
--Barack Obama (Nomination Victory Speech 3rd June 2008) -

Don't forget to check the dedicated dossiers (scroll to bottom for Related).
__________________________________________________________

Defeat Obama Campaign: "TV Ad: Barack Obama's Legacy of FAILURE"



Apr 10, 2011
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Unless specifically pertaining to campaign issues, as of Barack Obama's election as President of the Unites States on 4th November 2008, the new dossier is "The Pomo Presidency".
The dossier has now officially been re-opened to cover the Obama un-re-election campaign.

Joe Six Pack and "the graveyard of empires" -

WND: "LETTERGATE - Busted! Obama praise planted in U.S. newspapers - Bogus messages from 'president's supporters' infest American print"

Obama supporters are flooding unsuspecting newspapers with pro-Obama letters purportedly from average citizens – with duplicate messages appearing in more than 70 publications across the nation. One writer identified as "Ellie Light" has published identical form letters in newspapers around the country. Sabrina Eaton of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Light claims to have different hometowns within the respective newspaper readership areas. Each letter is nearly identical in grammar, style and subject. (...) >>>
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One of those double digit unemployed? Go astroturf for the Obama:

WND: "Help wanted: $24,000 to stop Glenn Beck, 'tea-baggers' - 'Grass-roots' organizers sought to 'counter hysteria and lies'"


Jan. 26, 2010
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Mao Tse Dunn on media strategy:

WorldNetDaily: "White House boasts: We 'control' news media - Communications chief offers shocking confession to foreign government"

President Obama's presidential campaign focused on "making" the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was "controlled," White House Communications Director Anita Dunn disclosed to the Dominican government at a videotaped conference.

"Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control," said Dunn.

"One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters," said Dunn, referring to Plouffe, who was Obama's chief campaign manager.

"We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it," Dunn said. (...) >>>

Oct. 19, 2009
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The Foundry: "Obamabots Know Where You Live"

It’s hard to pick out the scariest part of the still unfolding story of how unionized state government workers violated Joe the Plumber’s privacy for political ends. The Columbus Dispatch reports today that President-elect Barack Obama supporter, donor, and director of Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services Helen Jones-Kelley “had no legitimate agency function or purpose” for pilfering the files of Joe the Plumber. Last month the Dispatch reported that Jones-Kelley personally requested state employees to search Joe’s files after Joe publically criticized then-candidate Obama.
The Inspector General report also found that Jones-Kelley committed a “wrongful act” (...) Ohio State Auditor Mary Taylor has called on Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland to hold Jones-Kelley accountable: “I urge Gov. Strickland, who campaigned on the promise of running an ethical administration, to ask for the resignation or terminate Ms. Jones-Kelley immediately.” So far, Jones-Kelley has only received one month unpaid leave slap on the wrist as punishment. Now we now how serious the left actually is about ethical government and protecting your privacy. (...) >>>

Nov 24, 2008
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NewsMax: "Audit of Obama Fundraising Unlikely"

The Federal Election Commission is not likely to conduct a potentially embarrassing audit of Barack Obama’s record-breaking fundraising campaign despite allegations of questionable donations and accounting. That’s the disclosure from Politico.com, which reports that Obama will probably escape scrutiny in large part because unlike John McCain, he declined to accept $84 million in public financing. Accepting that money automatically triggers an audit, meaning that the FEC is obligated to thoroughly audit the McCain campaign’s coffers, which will take months and cost McCain millions to defend.
Another factor that will discourage an Obama audit by the FEC is the sheer size of his fundraising haul — more than $650 million — which minimizes the significance of any errors. (...) over the course of the campaign FEC analysts have written more than a dozen letters to Obama citing hundreds of cases in which the campaign did not supply adequate information regarding contributors or accepted donations exceeding the legal limit. “The media — first conservative outlets then mainstream publications — seized on the FEC letters to Obama, singling out donations from apparently fictitious donors as well as from foreign addresses,” Politico reported.
One of the first to focus on the Obama campaign’s questionable fundraising tactics was Newsmax correspondent Kenneth R. Timmerman. (...) >>> (follows a list of Timmerman reports)

12th Nov 2008
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... here we have another instance of 'criminalize the critics' - a very troubling feature of Obamaism ...

World Net Daily: "Cops at man's home for opposing Obama"

... here's the source of the breaking LA Times tape hostage story in her own words ...

Debbie Schlussel: "EXCLUSIVE: Ali Abunimah is Likely Source of Secreted Obama/Khalidi/Ayers Tape; LA Times' Wallsten Plagiarized Schlussel Back in April, Said Politico"

... and Jennifer Rubin on PJM in "This Is the Khalidi Obama Embraced" ... plus (wow, what a motivator!) Pamela on the Reverse Schlep (vid) ... and for the record, WaPo know what it is, "An 'Idiot Wind'" ...

1st Nov 2008
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... unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn also attended the dinner ...

WSJ: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?- Obama, Khalidi and the technologically backward L.A.
Times."
With the election just five days away, a Los Angeles Times story from April has occasioned an interesting journalistic and political controversy. Yesterday's L.A. Times has the story:

John McCain's presidential campaign Tuesday accused the Los Angeles Times of "intentionally suppressing" a videotape it obtained of a 2003 banquet where then-state Sen. Barack Obama spoke of his friendship with Rashid Khalidi, a leading Palestinian scholar and activist.

The Times first reported on the videotape in an April 2008 story about Obama's ties with Palestinians and Jews as he navigated the politics of Chicago. The report included a detailed description of the tape, but the newspaper did not make the video public.

"A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi," said McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb. " . . . The election is one week away, and it's unfortunate that the press so obviously favors Barack Obama that this campaign must publicly request that the Los Angeles Times do its job--make information public."

In the 1970s, according to the Times's April article, Khalidi "often spoke to reporters on behalf of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. (...) The L.A. Times says it promised its source that it would not release the videotape. As often happens in such cases, the paper is in the absurd position of defending itself for withholding information while thumping its chest about the public's right to know (...) >>>

30th Oct 2008
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Politeia: "Pomo Obama for Justice"

Mary Grabar's post on PJM's "How Critical Race Theory Molded Obama" tells of Subjectivism and how it is applied to the field of justice. Obama, it would appear, is full of it ... "at least by his teaching and academic background" as a student of Professor Derrick Bell, to which we might add, and by the company he keeps. Grabar cites the infamous Duke lacrosse rape case as an illustration of things to come. (...) You'll also be surprised how racist Critical Race Theory is. How pernicious and typical to Postmodernism it is, can be gauged from the Wiki: the theory states to oppose "the continuation of all forms of subordination," whereas its basic premises lead to precisely that. (...) As opposed to "all men are created equal" or "in God's image," applying the same standard to all no matter the person or the circumstances, in Subjectivist Postmodernism unequal groups are compensated in proportion to their inequality. (...) >>>

29th Oct 2008
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Politeia: "News for Activists: Call the LA Times"

(...) In 2003, Barack Obama lavished praise on Rashid Khalidi, a mouthpiece for Yasser Arafat. In the room were Weather Underground members Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. It was all caught on video. The Los Angeles Times blandly described the tape some time ago, but I'm told there is more to it than that — the tape shows enough sympathy from Barack Obama toward the causes of an Islamic radical that the American public has a right to see the tape. But the Los Angeles Times will not release the tape. Peter Wallsten, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times has seen the tape. (...) >>>
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Politeia: "2001: Obama's Principles for a Socialist State (analysis)"

In the following 2001 interview with Chicago Public Radio (Hat Tip All American Blogger) we can hear Barack Obama positing a couple of important matters, against the backdrop that redistribution of wealth is a value. Under discussion is, how come 'economic justice' isn't in place yet, and how can we bring it about. (...) >>>

28th Oct 2008
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Politeia: "A Comprehensive Guide to Youth for Obama"

(...) children of any age as a rule are innocent, vulnerable and impressionable. This is why we strive to shield them from predators and exploitation. Doses of reality are administered piecemeal in a controlled fashion, carefully dispensed when we believe they are able to handle a given situation. Children lack the mental tool to discriminate, and are therefore open to suggestion. Precisely because their minds are like sponges, soaking up all information that's available to them, the totalitarians of our world prefer their pawns young, at the earliest age possible. Watching the scene from a distance, all signs flare up in red alert, alarm bells toll at full throttle, but none of the caveats reach the general public who, as willing nymphets at the political lily pond are heartily enjoying their play of seduction with the Postmodern rendition of Peter Pan. Consider the conditions:

If children are becoming a lever in the campaign - or should we say 'movement' (see cashed screen shot of the top down "Grassroots 'Kids for Obama Parade' (Organizing)" - click to enlarge) - should we be surprised of creepy initiatives on the ground, signs that the malignant memes have long reached ground level? The child choir (...) >>>

27th Oct. 2008
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Politeia: "The Final Stretch" (includes photo material of Obama as a member of the Marxist New Party)

World Net Daily in "Obama spreads wealth – to non-taxpayers" Brad O'Leary, the author of "The Audacity of Deceit" rips senator's universal mortgage credit as socialist 'welfare wealth redistribution. " (...) Freedoms Defense Funds today released a TV ad on Obama's campaigning for Kenyan Communist agitator Raila Odinga. In the post "The O Plot Thickens: Law Suits Like Kittens" we reported in detail how Raila came into power by signing a pact with the country's Muslim representatives, imposing sharia law and evoking cooperation with the GWOT - which was particularly outrageous in the light that Obama in 2006, as a member of the Senate, campaigned in Kenya for his cousin at the taxpayer's expense. The post also contains a link to a PDF document stating that “Friends of Senator BO” are on the books for 66,000,000 Kenyan Shillings/US$1 million. In the post-election turmoil atrocities were committed against the Christian population. (...)

Investigator Stanley Kurtz, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has published the latest findings on Obama's associations with ACORN on the site of National Review. Kurtz in "Something New Here - Radical? Check. Tied to ACORN? Check. Redistributionist? Check.": "During his first campaign for the Illinois state senate in 1995-96, Barack Obama was a member of, and was endorsed by, the far-left New Party. Obama’s New Party ties give the lie to his claim to be a post-partisan, post-ideological pragmatist. Particularly in Chicago, the New Party functioned as the electoral arm of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). (...)

Ken Timmerman on NewsMax has the latest on the credit card donation fraud. Daniel Pipes on Middle East Forum raises the question of Obama failing security clearance and the connections and even indebtedness, throughout his career, to extremist Islam. Also on NewsMax David A. Patten says that when it comes to offering the public documents about his own public and private activities, Obama’s record for openness gets an "F" grade. He maps what's on public record and what isn't. You'll be amazed. >>>

26th Oct 2008
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... we empathize with WSJ's James Taranto, who writes in an email that this issue keeps bothering him - likewise; we've been hearing it on and of over the last few days, haven't even had the time to put it on record, but the gaffe remains strangly annoying on a number of levels: the press bias, its enormity, and wtf did Biden mean, but most of all, what playbook has he blown the lid off ... have the feeling this may come down to haunt us ...

Related to campaign:

- "Astroturfing for O"
- "Obama's Radical Connections"
- "Americana"
- "The McCain-Palin Ticket"

Related to Presidency:

- "Ruled by the Mob"
- "The Obama Civil Defense Force"
- "Stop The Obama Constitutional Crisis"
- "Health Care"
- "Obama's Radical Connections"
- "The Pomo Presidency" (covering the period of the Obama tenure)

To archive >>>

Doing "a Maggy": Scott Walker in the Iron Lady's footsteps

WaPo: "Rubicon: A river in Wisconsin", by Charles Krauthammer

The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity. At the federal level, President Obama's budget makes clear that Democrats are determined to do nothing about the debt crisis, while House Republicans have announced that beyond their proposed cuts in discretionary spending, their April budget will actually propose real entitlement reform. Simultaneously, in Wisconsin and other states, Republican governors are taking on unsustainable, fiscally ruinous pension and health-care obligations, while Democrats are full-throated in support of the public-employee unions crying, "Hell, no."

A choice, not an echo: Democrats desperately defending the status quo; Republicans charging the barricades.

Wisconsin is the epicenter. It began with economic issues. When Gov. Scott Walker proposed that state workers contribute more to their pension and health-care benefits, he started a revolution. Teachers called in sick. Schools closed. Demonstrators massed at the capitol. Democratic senators fled the state to paralyze the Legislature.

Unfortunately for them, that telegenic faux-Cairo scene drew national attention to the dispute - and to the sweetheart deals the public-sector unions had negotiated for themselves for years. They were contributing a fifth of a penny on a dollar of wages to their pensions and one-fourth what private-sector workers pay for health insurance. (...) >>>

Feb. 25, 2011
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The French are 'at it' again. Sarko's turn to tame the beast -

Telegraph: "Protesters to hit France en masse"

Airport staff, bus and train drivers, teachers, postal workers and armoured truck drivers who stock cash machines will join refinery workers and others in a day of nationwide strikes against Mr Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age.

Fuel shortages will worsen as refinery strikes go into an eighth day, and the authorities will be alert for any escalation of sporadic violence on Monday in some cities, with small groups of troublemakers torching vehicles and scuffling with police. (...) >>>

Oct. 19, 2010
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Meantime in the home country... While calling for legislation to raise the legal threshold for triggering a strike London Mayor, Boris Johnson in his conference speech today is following Maggy Thatcher's footsteps -

CYBERBORISJOHNSON: "UNION BOSSES LOSE IT AS BORIS LAYS IT ON THE LINE"

Union bosses have gone absolutely beserk, and are seething with rage at the brutal honesty of Boris Johnson’s analysis of the transport strike in today’s Daily Telegraph. They say the truth hurts. In this instance, the truth hit all the strikers with such a karmic smack in the kisser than they ran squeaking to David Cameron like sissies, telling him to intervene, like a bunch of snivelling little girls. Geez! Is big bad Boris making you cry? (...) Boris said: “This is a nakedly political strike. It has nothing whatever to do with health and safety – nor have the union leaderships raised any such fears in the course of the negotiations. (...) >>>

Oct. 4, 2010
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Greek unions, tamed at last ... but it's a terribly close shave at a very high price -

FoxBusiness: "Greek Union, Employers Groups Clinch 3-year Wage Pact"

Greece's private sector umbrella union GSEE and the country's major employers' groups reached a three-year wage pact Thursday that freezes wages and pegs future increases to euro zone inflation. According to a statement by GSEE, Greek workers will get no salary increase this year, and will only see rises of roughly 1.5% in 2011 and 1.7% in 2012. Those increases, to be set each year on July 1, will be based on the prevailing euro zone inflation rate. Greece currently has an inflation rate hovering around 5% and has seen price increases traditionally outpace those of the rest of Europe.

As such, the agreement will translate into an effective loss in purchasing power for most Greek workers.The agreement comes after months of on-again, off-again negotiations that coincided with Greece's economic crisis and which forced the government earlier this year to seek an EUR110 billion loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Under the terms of that loan deal, Greece has cut worker protections, slashed public sector wages and extra month bonuses, while also cutting pensions across the board. (...) >>>

Jul 15, 2010
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EU chief delivers stark warning to unions -

MailOnline: "Nightmare vision for Europe as EU chief warns 'democracy could disappear' in Greece, Spain and Portugal"

Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned. In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money. The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds. (...) >>>

June 15, 2010
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Day of union violence, 3 dead -

Demotix: "Austerity protests turn violent in Greece"

Mass rallies organised to protests the austerity measures introduced by the Greek government following EU-IMF bailout deal turn into riots. (...) In Athens three people died after the bank in the entrance to their office block was firebombed. (...) >>>

May 5, 2010
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Greek CP can't pass up a good crisis -

We must assume the unions have no qualms about their endless demands, which in the end has caused this crisis - in the photo: KKE, the Communist Party of Greece trying to trigger a pan European revolution, seriously -

Telegraph: "Greek protestors unfurl banners on Acropolis"

Greek protesters have unfurled banners over the walls of the Acropolis attacking new austerity measures imposed as a condition of an international bailout. (...) >>>

May 4, 2010
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This May Day item while Greece is in turmoil is more about the usual anarchistic violence then anything else (I'll replace it ASAP), but it's a reminder that - if the Socialist PASOK Government is to clean up its own mess dating back to 2003 - they'll have to do a Maggy sooner rather than later. Greece's unions are the UK miners on steroids -

Reuters: "Greek police fire tear gas in May Day protest clash"

May 1, 2010
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Europe versus the welfare state Ponzi schemes -

Margaret Thatcher via last.fm

PJM: "European Welfare State Model under Strain as Labor Tensions Rise", by Soeren Kern

Europe has been hit by a wave of industrial and social unrest in recent days and weeks, as workers across the continent push back against efforts to cut government spending and drive down wages. The uncoordinated strikes and protests, which have taken place in at least a dozen European countries and have threatened to paralyze much of the continent, may be a harbinger of more unrest to come. With much of Europe in or just barely out of recession and many millions of Europeans out of work and collecting welfare checks, governments large and small are scrambling to fix gaping budget holes in an effort to stave off financial disaster.

In Spain, for example, the government spent twice as much as it took in during 2009, with unemployment benefits constituting the largest single component of government expenditures. Many other European countries are in a similar bind. Indeed, with millions of long-term unemployed Europeans on track to becoming permanent wards of the state, the European social model is under strain as never before. (...) even if European publics are in denial about the future viability of the European social welfare state, a growing number of European governments seem to be acknowledging, albeit reluctantly, that their social and economic model is unsustainable. Strange, then, that many Americans view the European model as something to emulate rather than avoid. What follows is a brief summary of some of the strikes and protest movements to hit Europe in recent days (...) >>>

Feb. 28, 2010
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Performing "a Maggy" in France, at your peril!

Our friends the French have finally managed to cross the fine line separating demonstration and striking rights from criminal behavior. It was a matter of time. It probably has something to do with the Rousseau inspired brand of revolutionary zeal, which goes along with a mentality in which 'the end justifies the means'.

Below is a link to a story of union members threatening to blow up a factory'; Dutch newspaper De Pers (no English language article as yet available) has it that: "French workers at a Michelin factory and an American manufacturer of cigarette paper Tuesday and Wednesday took several managers hostage. All were released shortly afterwards."

The Car Connection: "New Tactic For Unions On Strike: Threaten To Blow Up Factory"

Now a few members of GCT, the French auto workers union, have come up with a new and novel technique to keep their jobs--or at least to get a better buyout. They're threatening to blow up their workplace if they don't. French partsmaker New Fabris declared bankruptcy in April and closed altogether in mid-June, meaning its employees will receive unemployment payments but no severance money.

Last week, several dozen of its 360 workers occupied the company's parts plant outside Chatellerault, in the southwest of France. The factory is thought to contain about $5 million of parts and machinery. The strikers want 30,000 Euros (roughly $42,000) each from New Fabris clients Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroen to walk away from the threat. Both companies say it is not their responsibility to take care of their suppliers' workers. (...) >>>

July 23, 2009
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... the following are excerpts from a comprehensive article - for complete appreciation we recommend reading it in its entirety ...

WSJ: "Obama Is the Anti-Thatcher", by Andrew Wilson


The Democratic Party Convention in Denver has been called political theater, but it was really a masquerade ball. Again and again, speakers invoked the language of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan -- stressing the value of hard work and responsibility for self and family -- while advancing a set of pro-union and collectivist economic policies. If today's Democrats had their way, they would put the United States in the same approximate position as pre-Thatcher Britain, when the streets of London were choked with garbage because of a strike by sanitation workers and Britain was known around the world as "the sick man of Europe." (...)

When Mrs. Thatcher became Britain's prime minister in 1979, she assumed leadership of a country that had been devastated by several decades of ruinous economic and social policies. This was due to the same aversion to competition and international trade, and the same misplaced faith in the ability of government to act as the engine of progress and the guarantor of jobs. (...) One has to wonder who Mr. Obama thinks he is to suppose he'd be able to make so many correct calls in directing investment flows in one industry after the next while sitting in the White House. (...) The Labour Party politicians in Britain who came to power at the end of World War II shared the same enthusiasm for government direction and micromanagement of the economy. Like the Democratic Party of today, the Labour Party of yesteryear was obsessed with the issue of job security and fearful of competition from abroad. (...)

In revitalizing the British economy, Mrs. Thatcher lightened regulation, reduced trade barriers, privatized a raft of publicly owned companies, lowered taxes (especially for the most highly taxed, which is to say those at higher income levels), and went to battle against the powerful trade-union bosses in order to establish greater democracy within the unions. She outlawed the closed shop and required ballots before strikes and ballots in the election of trade-union leaders. One thing she did not do was to set a goal of full employment -- insisting that "jobs (in a free society) depend not on government but upon satisfying customers."

Contra Mr. Obama, she also stated: "The fact is that in a market economy government does not -- and cannot -- know where jobs will come from: If it did know, all those interventionist policies for 'picking winners' and 'backing success' would not have picked losers and compounded failure." (...) If, under an Obama presidency, the unions succeed in organizing Wal-Mart -- now the biggest target in their sights -- it will have one entirely predictable result: not the protection of jobs but the destruction of jobs by slowing or stopping Wal-Mart's growth. Nor will it help U.S. consumers if Wal-Mart is forced to hang out new signs saying "Everyday High Prices." >>>

Updated: 4th Sep 2008
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Times Online: "Weakened Gordon Brown gives in to union demands - Concessions on minimum wage and time off" (cartoon by Peter Brookes)

Gordon Brown has caved in to unions, allowing a series of concessions - including an extension of the minimum wage - in a move that sent shudders through the business community. Coming days after Labour’s humiliating defeat in the Glasgow East by-election, it also puts pressure on the Prime Minister’s weakened position. Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, hailed the deal as a return to Labour’s “core values”. (...) Business leaders gave warning that the measures, which include new rights to time off, would hit companies’ ability to compete during an economic downturn. Changes to the minimum wage in particular could cost businesses an extra £88 million a year.

The party also agreed to extend parental leave and to impose new limits on private contractors to the Health Service. (...) Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the CBI, said: “During an economic slowdown business can’t bear the burden of increased regulation. The flexibility of Britain’s labour market is an important competitive advantage.” >>>

Updated: 27th July 2008
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Spiegel Online Int'l: "Massive Strikes ahead of Greek Pension Reform Vote" - Hat tip: Phantis

With a critical pension reform vote set for Thursday, millions of workers walked off the job in Greece to protest the plan. Thousands rallied in both Athens and Thessaloniki. Greece was hamstrung Wednesday as millions of workers walked off the job to protest pension reforms being considered by the country's conservative government. Around 10,000 people gathered in central Athens at a rally to protest a bill that would re-structure Greece's debt-ridden pension scheme. (...) >>>

Updated: 19th Mar 2008
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...Progressives - so conservative!

Reuters: "Greek unions walk out over pension reform bill" - Hat tip: Phantis

Greek public transport halted, flights were disrupted and public services shut down during a three-hour walkout on Wednesday by unions opposing a pension reform bill they say hurts their benefits. Private and public sector workers walked off the job at 1000 GMT. State carrier Olympic airlines scrapped seven flights and rescheduled three so workers could take part in the strike action. Lawyers, doctors, port workers and engineers joined in. (...) >>> ... photos of bargage heaps will follow ...

Updated: 12th Mar 2008
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The Wall Street Journal: "French Street Fight"

Congested streets and idle trains are a familiar sight in France. But the huge transport strike, which paralyzed the country for over a week, could be one of the (...) >>>

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• Europe at Work - A Vision on Working Time (slideshare.net)

The following items provide some background to the dossier

- Telegraph: "David Cameron vows to repeat Thatcher's attack on unions"

- Palgrave: "The Politics of the Thatcher Revolution - An Interpretation of British Politics 1979 - 1990", by Geoffrey K. Fry

- ConservativeHome: "David Cameron to invoke the spirit of Thatcher in challenging the vested interests in the unions - and the big banks, with a bank tax"

- Iain Macwhirter Now and Then: "Margaret Thatcher. My Part In Her Downfall"