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October 31, 2005

Wiccans Offended by Halloween

Among those who get themselves worked up by missing the point of Halloween are certain Wiccans who are offended that the whole thing can't be more reverential. A devil costume in a local store "was like a slap in the face" to a Wiccan named Morning Dove, who didn't like that it included a pentagram. It seems that in addition to appearing in countless horror movies and in the elaborate logos of death metal bands, pentagrams (aka pentacles) are also the symbol of the Wiccan religion.

"How am I supposed to protect my son from that, that pentacles represent evil," Morning Dove wanted to know.

To Wiccans, October 31 is Samhain, allegedly a sacred occasion in pre-Christian Europe. But to everyone else, it's a time to lighten up.

Hat tip: ex-expat.

Posted by Van Helsing at 9:43 PM | Comments (7)

Halloween Banned

The Grinch has stolen Halloween from the Underwood Elementary School in Newton, MA this year. Because the holiday offends the religious beliefs of a tiny minority of parents, there will be no fun for anyone. After all, we have to be tolerant!

''Not everyone is going to agree with the decision, and I really understand that," said principal David Castelline. ''But I felt the goal was really important to make it a respectful and open and welcoming place for all members of our community."

As always, "all members of our community" excludes normal Americans.

In place of Halloween, the kids get a sterile "celebration of fall," which would go nicely with a "celebration of winter" to replace Christmas, a "celebration of spring" to replace Easter, and a "celebration of summer" to replace the Fourth of July.

''It's not good," said one student. ''Last year we got a Halloween party and it was really fun."

Too bad the ACLU doesn't stick up for the rights of American kids to celebrate their own culture by dressing up for Halloween. But at least it stands up for the right of convicted sex offenders to give them candy (tip from V the K).

Posted by Van Helsing at 7:49 AM | Comments (6)

October 30, 2005

Islam Screams: "WAKE UP!" — Prince Charles Snores

Apostles of the Religion of Peace have had a busy weekend.

AP reports that "unidentified assailants" attacked Christian school girls in Indonesia on Saturday, beheading three and seriously wounding a fourth in what looks like yet another heroic instance of noble Muslims defending their faith from infidels. The three severed heads were found several miles away.

The students were ambushed on their way to a private Christian high school in the central Sulawesi province, which is described as "tense" because Muslims don't like that half the population is Christian.

About 1,000 people were killed in religious violence in Sulawesi during the period 2001–2002. A government-mediated truce supposedly ended the conflict — but the Muslims, true to their faith, have kept on killing Christians, whose leaders have been complaining to no avail that the government won't do anything about it.

Meanwhile, India was rewarded for beginning talks to open the border in Kashmir in order to help victims of the recent earthquake by a series of coordinated bombings that killed at least 49 people and wounded plenty more.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw observed that the New Delhi bombings "appear to have been targeted at heavily populated areas to produce maximum carnage."

Do you think maybe Muslims are trying to tell us something? I'm hearing a subtle message along the lines of "WAKE THE HELL UP! DEFEND CIVILIZATION OR WE WILL DESTROY IT!"

This message is clearly not getting through to moonbats. Prince Charles, for example, is setting off on an 8-day PR campaign on behalf of Islam.

Making me very glad that Britain's monarchy has no more power than it has purpose, the prince has let it be known that he disapproves of America's "confrontational" approach to an evil ideology sworn to our destruction.

In typical moonbat fashion, Charles sides with the enemy by conspicuously not siding with his own culture. When he became the Supreme Governor of the Church of England in 1994, he proclaimed that he would rather be "defender of faiths" than "defender of the faith." He has urged the West to overcome our "unthinkable prejudices" toward Islam and its customs — quaint misunderstood customs that include severing body parts for minor infractions, stoning women for having been raped, flying passenger jets into office buildings, and now cutting off the heads of Christian schoolgirls.

Opines Supreme Governor Charles:

Extremism is no more the monopoly of Islam than it is the monopoly of other religions, including Christianity.

Prince Charles's place in history is assured — he will go down as the man who found the British monarchy an anachronism and left it a pathetic joke.

By now we know not to expect much from the Prince of Wales. But the rest of us had better rub the sleep out of our eyes before bombs in Indian marketplaces escalate to nuclear devices in American cities. It won't take long.

Hat tips: Wiggins, Bergbikr

Posted by Van Helsing at 2:23 PM | Comments (6)

A Request From Uncle Sam

Hat tip: Caption This!

Posted by Van Helsing at 11:18 AM | Comments (3)

October 29, 2005

Animal Rights Activist Advocates Murder

If only all animal rights activists were harmless kooks like Hot Lips. The Center for Consumer Freedom reports that during a hearing last Wednesday before a US Senate committee, animal rights activist Jerry Vlasak "reiterated his support of murder and other violence against medical researchers whose lifesaving work requires the use of animals."

According to Vlasak, the use of lab rats to find cures that have saved millions of lives and promise to save millions more has to stop. After all, the lives saved by scientific research are only human; the rats' lives are much more important, from a moonbat's point of view. If scientists won't stop when activists tell them to, then according to Vlasak, "one option would be to stop them using any means necessary."

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) confirmed this threat to be as ugly as it sounds by asking if Vlasak endorsed the use of deadly force. Vlasak responded that murder "would be a morally justifiable solution."

Congratulations to Vlasak for being ahead of his time. He has taken liberal ideology to its natural conclusion. Most liberals are still at the relatively primitive stage of siding with dictators and terrorists against their own country. But cutting-edge activists like Vlasak have advanced to siding with rats against their own species.

Vlasak would like to kill scientists not so much as punishment, but as a terrorist tactic, intended to intimidate. He holds that assassinating doctors and researchers "could be used quite effectively from a pragmatic standpoint … for 5 lives, 10 lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, 10 million non-human lives."

By the same logic, assassinating the children of doctors and researchers would also be justified, and might be more effective. But why stop at assassination? Torturing the children of scientists might be more effective still. Just by kidnapping the child of say, the head researcher at a pesticide company, and mailing back ears and fingers, you might save millions of cockroaches. Anything goes when moonbattery has liberated you from the concept of right and wrong.

The animal rights movement illustrates almost as well as communism that liberalism isn't the well-meaning wrong-headedness it appears to be at first glance. It is a form of degenerative moral insanity, that if unchecked leads by its own depraved logic to absolute evil.

Thanks to V the K for the tip.

Posted by Van Helsing at 11:32 AM | Comments (6)

October 28, 2005

Hot Lips Helps Ban Insensitive Food

Mike Farrell and Alan Alda aren't the only five-alarm moonbats to come flapping out of the sadistically long-lived sitcom M*A*S*H. Remember Loretta Swit, aka Hot Lips Houlihan? She's been righteously speaking up for oppressed geese in Chicago, at the expense of people's right to eat what they please.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a City Council committee has agreed to ban the sale of foie gras on the grounds that the gourmet food is hurtful to the geese.

While tearfully sermonizing against the oppression of waddling waterfowl, Swit had to disagree with her fellow moonbat, Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington, whom she quoted as saying that the making of foie gras — which entails overfeeding the birds — "may not be pretty, but it pales by comparison to problems like Abu Ghraib, police brutality and racial profiling." Hot Lips offered the following rebuttal:

Are we ever going to forget the memory of that girl smiling, holding a tortured prisoner on a leash and enjoying it? . . . She grew up with the acceptance of this kind of behavior in whatever form it was, whether it was torturing a cat or a dog or seeing somebody doing it and looking the other way.

If we look the other way — if we say, "It's a guinea pig. It's a mouse. Who cares? It's a kitten. Whatever," then why are we surprised at the existence of inhumane acts directed toward each other?

In Swit's addled mind, eating pate fits right in there with torturing cats as part of the slippery slope that led to Abu Ghraib.

Apparently missing the Abu Ghraib connection, Mayor Daley had this take on the issue:

We're trying to tell people they can't eat certain foods. They can't buy certain foods. They can't ship certain foods in. Pretty soon, you can't drink. Do you really want government to keep telling you every day what to do?

In a word, NO.

Hat tip: Political Correctness Watch

Posted by Van Helsing at 12:18 PM | Comments (8)

2,000 Deaths Party Time

Zombie has put up a cheerful collection of happy San Francisco moonbats celebrating the death of the 2,000th American serviceman in Iraq. (Thanks to V the K for the tip.) Here's a sample:

How can anyone say Americans are dying for nothing? Even if you don't think spreading democracy or combating al Qaeda are worthwhile objectives, it's got to be worth something to bring such glad smiles to leftists' faces.

To give a little context to the 2,000 deaths incurred while fighting a genocidal dictator and the people who crashed jets full of Americans into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and will do worse if we don't stop them, here are some stats on American combat deaths from the Civil War Center:

• Civil War: 184,594
• World War I: 53,513
• World War II: 292,131
• Korean War: 33,651
• Vietnam War: 47,369

Every death is a tragedy. So is the failure to appreciate the meaning of the sacrifices being made on our behalf in Iraq.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:42 AM | Comments (15)

October 27, 2005

USA Today Pulls Satanic Condi Picture

The MSM's subtle use of photographs to propagandize got a little less subtle when USA Today took this picture of Condi Rice:

and made it into this picture for publication:

But hey, at least they toned it down from this version, discovered on Cold Fury:

Having been nailed this time, USA Today has replaced their demonically enhanced Condi with an undoctored photo; the accompanying Editor's Note explains that their Halloween Photoshop fun was "not in keeping with our editorial standards."

As they say, what liberal bias?

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Posted by Van Helsing at 12:43 PM | Comments (9)

Pallywood

With thanks to Byron, here's an interesting short documentary from The Second Draft on the burgeoning film industry in the Palestinian territories. Highlights of its productions include a "corpse" that climbs back onto a funeral bier after being dropped, a brave Palestinian guerilla whose gunfire turns out to be directed into an empty room, a hospital that managed to sustain a dozen blasts from Israeli tanks without significant damage, and a man forced by the Israeli army to deliver his wife's baby while driving a car (the doctor who really did deliver the baby was filmed coaching him on how to tell the story).

War zone or movie set? It isn't easy to tell from watching the evening news — especially when the most informative parts of the raw footage end up on the cutting room floor. A few "hallmarks of Pallywood" can help clue you in that what you are watching is staged. Next time your TV set shows you ragtag Palestinians being put upon by Israelis, look for the following:

• Casualties that behave like football players hamming it up for the refs.
• Ambulances that appear instantly the moment someone is "wounded."
• Rough evacuations of "victims" that would be very harmful to people who really were injured.
• Onlookers nonchalantly enjoying the show while a few feet away, the stars of the performance frantically dodge phantom Israeli bullets.

Arabs don't fare well in fair fights, so they have had to rely on war by other means — namely terrorism and propaganda. Fortunately for them, they can count on willful credulity, if not overt editorial assistance, from their allies in the Western media.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:44 AM | Comments (4)

October 26, 2005

Pro-Terrorist MP on the Hot Seat

By now no one is expecting moral rectitude from the left, but you would think even the "antiwar" movement could come up with better representatives than characters like demented British MP George Galloway, who not only excuses Islamic terrorism but has openly attempted to instigate it, and who is now finding himself in hot water as a result of his corrupt dealings with the genocidal dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Washington Times reports that Galloway "solicited and received nearly $600,000" from shady deals related to the UN's corrupt oil-for-food program, according to US Senators.

Galloway's past bombastic denials may have won Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler's heart, but they didn't make much of an impression on Subcommittee Chairman Norm Coleman (R-MN), according to whom new findings "clearly demonstrate that the testimony given by Mr. Galloway in May was false and misleading."

Based in part on bank records and on interviews with senior officials in Saddam's cruel regime, including Tariq Aziz, the findings include the following:

• Mr. Galloway personally asked for and received from Mr. Aziz and others eight allocations from 1999 to 2003 for the rights to 23 million barrels of oil.
• Amineh Abu-Zayyad, Mr. Galloway's wife, received $150,000 in the summer of 2000 from Fawaz Zureikat, the Jordanian businessman Mr. Galloway acknowledges was his business representative in Baghdad.
• The Mariam Appeal was given at least $446,000 in bank transfers from Mr. Zureikat. These transfers and the one to Mrs. Abu-Zayyad came almost immediately after Mr. Zureikat was paid commissions for deals he brokered under the oil-for-food program.
• Two unidentified oil traders interviewed by the subcommittee said Mr. Zureikat met with them in summer 2000 and that it was made clear to them that the Jordanian was marketing Iraqi oil on Mr. Galloway's behalf. The deal fell through.
• Mr. Zureikat also paid more than $1.6 million in illegal surcharges back to the Saddam government, which demanded bribes from those receiving favorable oil-for-food deals. The Senate investigators said it was highly unlikely Mr. Galloway did not know of the kickbacks, but found no direct proof of his involvement.

Adding to his many other misdeeds, Galloway could now be charged with perjury, making false statements under oath, and obstruction of congressional proceedings as a result of the lies he told in the course of his demagogic grandstanding before Coleman's subcommittee last spring.

But I'm sure his place in Eve Ensler's heart is secure.

Posted by Van Helsing at 12:52 PM | Comments (4)

More Porcine Preposterousness From British Dhimmis

In their post-7/7 rush to abase themselves before Islam, British dhimmis continue their jihad against representations of pigs. They've censored Winnie the Pooh's friend Piglet and the Three Little Pigs — now they're banning piggy banks on the grounds that these "may offend some Muslims."

The Age reports that "Halifax and NatWest banks have led the move to scrap the time-honoured symbol of saving from being given to children or used in their advertising."

Although Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, was all in favor of this tyranny of the trivial, Labour MP Khalid Mahmoud of Birmingham tried to be reasonable:

We live in a multicultural society and the traditions and symbols of one community should not be obliterated just to accommodate another.

Mahmoud apparently hasn't grasped that multiculturalism has nothing to do with tolerance. It has precisely to do with the obliteration of the traditions and symbols of a certain culture that is despised by the left — the culture known as Western Civilization.

Hat tip: Wiggins

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:41 AM | Comments (1)

October 25, 2005

Spike Lee Confirms: Bush Blew Up Levees

It would have been truly irresponsible for Louis "Calypso Louie" Farrakhan to spread the notion that the destruction caused by Katrina in New Orleans was actually the result of a sinister Bush scheme that involved blowing up levees in order to harm black people. It would have been irresponsible, but it was only sadly comical — because the allegation is so childish and bizarre that no one could possibly be enough of a fool to take it seriously.

Well, almost no one.

Filmmaker and charter member of the PC pantheon Spike Lee, who has made himself very rich and famous by marketing neurotic race guilt to self-loathing liberal elitists, is now on the record as taking Farrakhan's psychotic delusions seriously.

He picked the ideal forum for his over-the-top moonbattery: the gut-twistingly vile Bill Maher's Real Time on HBO — the same venue used by Maher and Ward Churchill to browbeat and humiliate the brother of a 9/11 victim.

Lee got riotous applause from the audience with the pathetic suggestion that the 2000 Presidential election was rigged, then took the next logical step in support of Calypso Louie's premise:

If they can rig an election, they can do anything!

See the video here.

This posturing halfwit is held to be a profound intellectual by liberals, whose penchant for ridicule would be downright vicious if weren't unintentional and self-directed.

Posted by Van Helsing at 8:02 AM | Comments (6)

October 24, 2005

Hillary Guevara

Radical chic has never been known for its tastefulness, but this has got to be a new low:

Yes, this is a pair of underpants with a face on it meant to look like Hillary, in the style of the famous photograph of Che Guevara taken by Alberto Korda.

Che Guevara as a fashion accessory is certainly nothing new. The New York Public Library used to sell Che Guevara watches with the accompanying ad copy "Revolution is a permanent state with this clever watch, featuring the classic romantic image of Che Guevara, around which the word 'revolution' — revolves."

Anyone who is not disgusted and horrified by the enduring faddishness of Guevara's image needs to bone up on their Cuban history. A recent piece in FrontPage Magazine would be a good place to start.

Guevara was to Castro what Felix Dzerzhinsky was to Lenin, what Heinrich Himmler was to Hitler, and what Lavrenty Beria was to Stalin — namely, chief executioner. Guevara ordered thousands of executions during the first year of the Castro regime. Not that this lay heavily on his conscience; after all, the victims were all "imperialist spies and CIA agents" according to Che.

Here's what the eloquent Che had to say when a fellow revolutionary balked at the execution without trial of some "war criminals":

If your bourgeois prejudices won't allow you to carry out my orders, fine. Go ahead and try them tomorrow morning — but execute them NOW!

Guevara wasn't good for much besides murder. Despite attending medical school in Argentina, there is no record that he attained a medical degree. Prior to the revolution, he was a bum in Guatemala. Afterwards, his stints as Minister of Economics and Minister of Industries were unmitigated disasters — unless his objective in these roles was to deliberately destroy Cuba's economy, on the grounds that half-starved slaves are easier to control than a self-sufficient middle-class.

Despite the heroic battlefield exploits attributed to Guevara by his useful idiot fan club at the New York Times, there really wasn't much fighting involved in the Cuban Revolution — just a lot of shooting blindfolded men with their hands tied behind their backs.

Here are a few nuggets of the wisdom that has made Che so chic on the left:

Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!

We don't need proof to execute a man. We only need proof that it's necessary to execute him. A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.

And, perfectly summing up the mentality of communism, here's how Guevara described shooting a defenseless man in the head:

He went into convulsions for a while and was finally still. Now his belongings were mine.

The same execution inspired Guevara to write, "at that moment I discovered that I really like killing." It was this enthusiasm for senseless bloodshed that made him useful to Castro, who employed it for his own ends: the liquidation of political opposition and the paralysis by terror of the population.

As commander of La Cabana prison, Guevara had many opportunities to indulge this enthusiasm. He often did the killing personally. The FrontPage piece includes a chilling eyewitness account of Che blowing out a 14-year-old's brains.

Even Hillary is done a gross injustice by being associated with a demonic sociopath like Che Guevara. I wish I could say the same for everyone on the left.

Hat tips: Byron, Moonbat Central

Posted by Van Helsing at 9:04 AM | Comments (7)

Profiles in Moonbattery: Joseph Wilson

So who is this Joseph Wilson, who allegedly caused such ire in the Bush Administration as to inspire a sinister plot to publicize his wife Valerie Plame's employment at the CIA? In a word, he is a moonbat.

From Fox New's Special Report:

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, says he wanted the Iraq constitution to be rejected because he said that would force the U.S. to "go back to the drawing board" on its Iraq policy. Wilson told an audience at San Francisco State University Thursday that he was ashamed of his country, which he said had turned into "just another imperial power who has unleashed the dogs of war."

The Oakland Tribune reports that when Wilson was asked if he'd consider running for public office, he replied that he'd had "too many wives and taken too many drugs. And yes, I did inhale."

Wilson is by no means the tallest of the chihuahuas to have nipped at the ankles of the Bush Administration. Why would anyone risk breaking the law in order to discredit this guy? All they had to do was hand him a microphone and let him speak for 30 seconds — that should have cured even the MSM of taking him seriously.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:37 AM | Comments (3)

October 23, 2005

Geriatric Mayhem on Wheels

Do we let 12-year-olds drive? Of course not; it would be highly dangerous both for the driver and for everyone else on the road. 93-year-olds, on the other hand...

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal, on a tip from Wiggins:

ST. PETERSBURG — A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian, then continued driving through a toll booth with the man's body on his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker of Pinellas Park drove for 3 miles Wednesday night after striking the 52-year-old pedestrian with his gold 2002 Chevrolet Malibu, severing the man's right leg, police said.

A toll taker on the Sunshine Skyway saw the body stuck through Parker's windshield and notified police, Traffic Homicide Investigator Michael Jockers said.

There probably won't be any charges filed, because Parker is too demented to be held responsible for his behavior — though not too demented to be allowed to drive a car.

"He may have somewhere in his mind have realized it was a crash, but immediately forgot about it," Jockers said.

Clinton might have tried that defense if his rape of Juanita Broderick had ever gone to trial.

The good news is they might finally stop renewing Parker's license.

Posted by Van Helsing at 4:55 PM | Comments (5)

October 22, 2005

Academic Calls for Extermination of Caucasians

Ever wonder what gets said in "African Studies" classes? Some choice quotes by Prof. Kamau Kambon might give an idea. Here are some of the thoughts Dr. Kambon shared at the "Black Media Forum on the Image of Black Americans in Mainstream Media" at Howard University earlier this month:

Now how do I know that the white people know that we are going to come up with a solution to the problem? I know it because they have retina scans, they have what they call racial profiling, DNA banks, and they're monitoring our people to try to prevent the one person from coming up with the one idea. And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.

Hear it for yourself right here. The irony of leftists trying to paint conservatives as being somehow like Nazis gets more acute every time a moonbat opens its mouth.

By the way, your tax dollars help pay to have this sort of rhetoric fed to impressionable youths in lieu of an education. As recently as yesterday, Kambon was on the Africana Studies faculty list at taxpayer-supported North Carolina State University, where he has taught as a visiting professor.

Carolina Journal Online reports that prior to his gig at NCSU, Kambon was a Professor of Education at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, where he owns Blacknificent Books. Evidently his rhetoric resonates with other leftists; The Independent Weekly awarded him its Citizen's Award in 1999.

Absurdly and yet unsurprisingly, this open advocate of racial genocide is an opponent of the death penalty. Presumably when his moonbat final solution is implemented, it will be morally justified on the grounds that white people aren't really human. That approach has worked well for abortion advocates.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin, with thanks to V the K.

Posted by Van Helsing at 11:28 AM | Comments (3)

October 21, 2005

Shrinking Market for Moonbattery

The free market can potentially solve any problem you can think of — even moonbattery. No wonder liberals prefer socialized news like PBS, NPR, and the state-run propaganda services on which people rely for information in Europe.

The New York Times Co. has reported a 52% decline in third-quarter profit "due to expenses related to job cuts announced earlier this year, as well as ongoing advertising weakness at its New England media properties" according to MarketWatch (hat tip: Wiggins). And here I was thinking that job cuts were supposed to save money. If they could only revive their anemic circulation, the Times would be spared the expense of laying people off.

But at least the Gray Lady has a circulation. Their co-ideologues at Err America seem to have no listenership at all, at least not in DC. From the Washington Post:

Air America, the liberal talk network carried on WWRC-AM (1260), went from bad to nonexistent. After WWRC recorded a mere fraction of a rating point in the spring with syndicated shows from the likes of lefty talkers Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Stephanie Miller, Arbitron couldn't detect a measurable listenership for the station this time around.

Here we see one of the many pitfalls of capitalism, from the left-wing point of view. Give people a choice, and they just might chose wisely.

Posted by Van Helsing at 1:02 PM | Comments (6)

The Quintessence of Bigotry

If you want to find pure, unadulterated bigotry at its most narrow-minded and obnoxious, there's only one place to look — among the sneering hypocrites who populate the liberal elite media establishment. Mark Morford is a case in point, as illustrated in a tirade he recently disgorged onto the welcoming pages of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The piece expresses displeasure with an Arkansas family — and by extension, with red-state Americans in general — for producing too many children. The blindness and fanaticism of the unreasoning hatred on display is appalling to behold.

Morford accuses the Duggar family, which admittedly got a little carried away by having 16 kids, of being "spotless, white, hyperreligious, interchangeable people with alarmingly bad hair." The proud father is ridiculed for being named Jim Bob, and for "hankerin' to be a Republican senator."

Interchangeable. To sages like Morford, people in fly-over country aren't even human. They don't have unique personalities. They are just bodies that breed. Morford doesn't approve of all this breeding, which he refers to as "a massive viral outbreak of homophobic neo-Christians."

Imagine if someone accused members of an ethnic group other than Caucasians of breeding too much and being "interchangeable." Imagine someone publicly sneering at the religiousness of anyone but Christians.

If this weren't in the Chronicle, I would think it was a tasteless parody:

Why does this sort of bizarre hyperbreeding only seem to afflict antiseptic megareligious families from the Midwest? In other words — assuming Michelle and Jim Bob and their brood of cookie-cutter Christian kidbots will never be allowed near a decent pair of designer jeans or a tolerable haircut from a recent decade, and assuming that they will all be tragically encoded with the values of the homophobic asexual Christian right — where are the forces that shall help neutralize their effect on culture?

There's that word "homophobic" again. Accusing people of not embracing the gay lifestyle is the ultimate insult among liberals. "Homophobic" is used to mean "bigoted." The hypocrisy a character like Morford calling other people bigots is almost too much to get your head around.

Not only are they all white-skinned Christians lacking individual identities, red-staters don't even wear designer jeans. Too someone with Morford's moral depth, that must constitute an unconscionable crime.

This utterly vile diatribe goes on to ridicule the parents' belief that each child is "a blessing from the Lord" — a correct point of view, no doubt, would be to see children as cancerous growths that must be exterminated before they have a chance to grow into "über-white future Wal-Mart shoppers." At the end, he seems to call for laws to prevent people from having too many of the hateful little things.

There are countless reasons why I have no use whatsoever for the liberal point of view. But Morford personifies reasons number one and two: the profound moral depravity and thoroughly abhorrent chauvinism that characterize the left's self-proclaimed elite.

Thanks to V the K for the tip.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:45 AM | Comments (21)

October 20, 2005

Lessons Learned From the Northwest's Katrina

The 1973 Endangered Species Act, and its misguided application to the spotted owl, inflicted devastation on the Northwest. Because ideologues' erroneous conception of what was in the best interest of an animal was given priority over the clear best interests of human beings, the logging industry was crippled. The result, according to the Wall Street Journal, was 130,000 lost jobs and the closure of over 900 sawmills, pulp mills, and paper mills.

To add insult to injury, the draconian logging restrictions didn't even help the owls. The spotted owl population continues its tailspin, declining 7% a year in Washington State. This is because their population problems had nothing to do with logging, but have been caused by barred owls, a hostile species that seems to be getting the better of them in the time-honored tradition of Darwinism.

This was at least dimly understood even back in the early 90s. But the point of extremist environmental regulation isn't to help animals. It's to hurt humans. Deep down, all moonbattery is an expression of self-hatred. Moonbats hate their own country, they hate their own race, they hate their own history and civilization. It's a small surprise that some find excuses to side against their own species.

But there may be a change in the air. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) has passed a species reform act through the house. Two features could help put an end to the type of economically devastating moonbattery the spotted owls caused. For one, better science will be required, so that whole industries can't be choked to the edge of death on the basis of unsubstantiated ideology. For another, "critical habitat" will be abolished, preventing activists from designating vast areas of land off-limits to humans.

It's too late to repair the lives that were broken when spotted owl lunacy tore through the Northwest like a hurricane, destroying family businesses, throwing tens of thousands out of work, inspiring divorces and suicides. But the important thing now is to put the era of environmental fanaticism behind us, so that they we can move on toward a saner future.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:38 AM | Comments (7)

October 19, 2005

New Belfry for Mother Moonbat

Cindy Sheehan's 15 minutes certainly seem to be winding down. Is it too soon to ask, "Where is she now?"

In case you were wondering, she is right where you might expect: Berkeley, California, where she has moved into a new apartment following the disintegration of her marriage. The Ditch Witch reports that when she told Senator George Allen (R-VA) that she had moved to Berserkly, he laughed and said, "Well, of course you did."

Not that she's done with jihad. Her latest campaigns include an assault on Hillary Clinton, who she claims "sounds like Rush Limbaugh." Evidently Sheehan is offended that New York's junior Senator won't come out against the war in Iraq. Still more unforgivable, Clinton has been ignoring her.

Look for that to change. As Sheehan's stock slides among all but the most extreme leftists, I'm guessing Hillary will exploit her the way her husband used Sister Souljah, in order to her shore up her new, painstakingly contrived image as a moderate.

Hat tips: Bob, TMH's Bacon Bits

Posted by Van Helsing at 9:48 PM | Comments (6)

And the Nobel Prize for Blogging Goes to...

No one can say that moonbat bloggers are totally useless — not so long as The Iraq War Was Wrong Blog is around to chase your blues away with a guffaw-inducing level of illiteracy. By comparison with this guy, Harold Pinter could almost pass for a college graduate. The foreign policy analysis is cutting edge, in the Michael Moore tradition. This is from a recent post entitled "Waht dictatorship RELLY looks like":

Over this past weekend, a dark curtain fell over Iraq while the world stood idly by. The Neocons engineered the whole rigged process where by just for having the numbers(a numbers shell-game basically), they could ram a "so" called "Constition" through on The Iraqi's.

Completely against the wishes of the Iraqi's (i.e. The Sunnis) themselfs.

This is American style "democracy" (more like dictatorship of the numbers) imposed on a innocent nation (Iraqis i.e. Sunnis). All they needed was the collaboration of a willing populous of a bunch of collaborating Quigleys (Shites). Thats how easy it is folks. While we stood by and did nothing(for example- I went for Indian that night (Chicken Tiki/Narn/Lentel cracker ect)- talk about fell guilty the next day)

The dhingers are now running around saying this makes the war was right. But you know waht. There 180 degrees backwards(yes 180 - its not 360 like dhinger dumbies probably thing). This is one of hte most powerful illustrations possible how why The Iraq War was wrong.

If I'm interpreting this essay correctly, the author is unimpressed with the historic vote on the Iraqi constitution over the weekend. Now you know better than to take heart in Iraq's steady progress toward democracy.

If this whole site is a joke, kudos — someone did an excellent job. If not, too bad they don't give Nobel Prizes for blogging, because this would be a sure winner.

Hat tips: Carrie, The Indepundit

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:44 AM | Comments (7)

Another Sinister Bush Plot

From the Letters to the Editor section of Washington State's The Olympian Online:

I read with trepidation the news article regarding Bush's plans to combat possible Asian bird flu by calling in the troops. His comments brought to mind 1930s Germany, with the Gestapo (Homeland Security) and storm troopers (Rumsfeld's Pentagon) in the wings.

I wonder, could a sitting president, twice elected, and supposedly the epitome of patriotic manhood, consider consolidating his ebbing power by bringing an epidemic to his own people? Would he use this ploy to institute martial law?

If he would give funds to Halliburton to organize the hurricane recovery in the South — the same Halliburton that scammed millions of dollars in Iraq — then I suppose, with the enthusiastic support of his moneyed power base, he would.

The fact that Congress voted funds, not for public health but for Homeland Security, strengthens this suspicion.

This is a sad day for our United States of America.

The good news is that tinfoil hats protect against Bush's epidemic.

Hat tip: OpinionJournal

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:40 AM | Comments (2)

A Halloween Wish

This Halloween, let's leave dogs out of it. Via Welcome to the World Wide Weird:

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:37 AM

October 18, 2005

Brought to You by the People Who Think Their Beemers Run on Pixie Dust

This from an article about an explosion at a Houston oil refinery in the San Francisco Chronicle, thoughtfully passed along by Byron:

At full strength, the refinery produces 268,000 barrels a day of crude oil.

A refinery that produces crude oil? They must think sawmills produce trees.

No wonder MSM journalists seem to be opposed to all the various activities that lead to our energy needs being met. They simply have no clue.

Posted by Van Helsing at 9:28 PM | Comments (6)

Border Moonbattery Has Had It

The surest indication yet that the insanity at the border is passing its peak comes on a tip from Byron: The Houston Chronicle reports that even confirmed moonbat Sheila Jackson Lee wants to crack down on the ongoing invasion:

Her bill, called the Rapid Response Border Protection Act, calls on the government to train enough new recruits so that 1,000 Border Patrol agents could be mobilized to respond during an emergency on a particular stretch of the border. She also proposes equipping the agents with better helicopters, boats, trucks, computers, radios and night-vision goggles.

The addition of 100,000 detention beds would allow the government to hold and then deport more illegal immigrants. Currently, some illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico are released because the government doesn't have anywhere to detain them.

Jackson Lee isn't the first Democrat to try outflanking President Bush on the right on this issue: Arizona's and New Mexico's Democratic governors have declared a state of emergency. But Jackson Lee is almost certainly the farthest out there on the left-wing lunatic fringe of anyone who has acknowledged the very serious problem of our undefended border.

Of course, having been an advocate of illegal aliens, she wants to have it both ways:

Jackson Lee said the proposal does not represent a departure from her long-standing position as an advocate for immigrants, including illegal immigrants. Experts estimate there are 11 million illegal immigrants now in the country, and Jackson Lee said it would be impractical for the government to deport all of them. She has proposed offering them "earned access to legalization," which would allow them to become U.S. citizens over time.

Opponents of illegal immigration don't like Jackson Lee's proposal to legalize those now in the country, which they consider an amnesty.

But the important thing is that the political winds are blowing hard enough to move even Jackson Lee's considerable mass. Clearly politicians will avoid the border situation at their peril.

There are promising signs that President Bush realizes this. At a signing ceremony today for a law authorizing DHS spending, he made all the right noises, asserting that "To defend this country we've got to enforce our borders." The bill includes money for border security, including cameras, sensors, and detention centers. More encouraging words from the President:

We've got to stop people from coming here in the first place. Secondly, we must improve our ability to find and apprehend illegal immigrants who've made it across the border. If somebody is here illegally, we've got to do everything we can to find them. And thirdly, we've got to work to ensure that those who are caught are returned to their home countries as soon as possible.

How soon the border will actually be closed is anyone's guess, but momentum is gathering for serious reform.

Posted by Van Helsing at 8:52 PM

Now This Is More Like It

From Breitbart.com, via South Park Pundit:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department aims without exception to expel all those who enter the United States illegally.

"Our goal at DHS (Homeland Security) is to completely eliminate the 'catch and release' enforcement problem, and return every single illegal entrant, no exceptions.

"It should be possible to achieve significant and measurable progress to this end in less than a year," Chertoff told a Senate hearing.

Thousands of "Mexicans who are caught entering the United States illegally are returned immediately to Mexico. But other parts of the system have nearly collapsed under the weight of numbers. The problem is especially severe for non-Mexicans apprehended at the southwest border," Chertoff explained.

"Today, a non-Mexican illegal immigrant caught trying to enter the United States across the southwest border has an 80 percent chance of being released immediately because we lack the holding facilities," he added.

"Through a comprehensive approach, we are moving to end this 'catch and release' style of border enforcement by reengineering our detention and removal process."

Chertoff's remarks in favor of returning "every illegal entrant, no exceptions" appeared to conflict directly with the US policy toward illegal Cuban migrants.

Though Cubans picked up at sea are returned to their country, those who reach US soil by air, sea or ground are allowed to stay and work — a fact Cuba says encourages dangerous illegal emigration attempts.

Unfortunately this is not good news for Cubans, but hopefully a better solution can be found to their predicament than allowing them to stay if they manage to escape Castro's prison and reach dry land.

For the rest of us, this is music to the ears. A "no exceptions" return policy is a crucial first step toward preventing illegals from entering the country in the first place.

Posted by Van Helsing at 4:51 PM | Comments (2)

Robert Mugabe Bids for Nobel Prize

The Washington Times reports that Marxist dictator Robert Mugabe used a United Nations ceremony to launch into a demented diatribe in which he touched on several of the Left's favorite talking points, including accusing President Bush and Prime Minister Blair of being "international terrorists," comparing Bush to Hitler, and by extension, comparing the USA to Nazi Germany.

If only he had written down his thoughts as free verse, spiced them up with a liberal dose of four-letter words, and included some obscene sexual references, he would have put himself in line for a Nobel Prize for Literature.

As it is, he's probably on the short list for the next Nobel Peace Prize, especially in light on his other accomplishments, which include punishing people for being Caucasian by seizing their property, rigging elections, brutally suppressing dissent, and converting the "breadbasket of southern Africa" into a basket case hellhole where starvation is common.

UN delegates broke into applause several times during Mugabe's speech.

Posted by Van Helsing at 1:21 PM | Comments (1)

The Government Gets Serious About Border Security

What a relief — the Government recognizes that defending our borders is absolutely critical to our national security after all.

Polli Keller of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that the Department of Border Enforcement Academy is now fully completed and ready for the business of training guards to protect the country’s borders. It looks like a nice place:

The construction and renovations of this facility include classrooms, administrative facilities, barracks, dining and maintenance facilities along with complete water, sewer and electrical systems.

It even features a "state-of-the-art dining facility." And there's more good news:

This academy will generate new jobs for the local economy. The facility will employ numerous officers, teachers, more than 800 trainees, and several civilians working as cooks and maintenance personnel.... During the construction, over three hundred local workers were employed.

Deep down I knew that eventually the Government would realize the defense of our borders is among its most fundamental duties, and clearly crucial in the struggle against Islamic terrorism. President Bush, how could I have doubted you?

Oh wait. This facility was built in Iraq. Never mind.

Hat tip: The Texas Songbird, on a tip from Byron

Posted by Van Helsing at 8:37 AM | Comments (4)

Border Security: Even the Gray Lady Gets It

Could the New York Times be more sensible than the Bush Administration when it comes to border security? If they still feel like this on the issue, the answer is yes:

Getting terrorists into the United States is a vital step in most of the worst terrorist scenarios. We now know that Al Qaeda has travel facilitators, who are experts at exploiting the weak points in our border security. The federal government needs to act quickly and forcefully to make their jobs harder, and the nation safer.

The solution? This editorial offered five, all of which sound downright sensible:

1. More Resources at the Borders — A growing number of non-Mexicans are crossing over the Mexican border. And suspected terrorists have long been entering the country from Canada. More guards need to be put in place, and there should be more use of fences and ground sensors to detect movement.
2. Better Means of Tracking People Who Overstay Their Visas — One of the biggest sources of illegal immigration is people who enter the country legally but decide not to leave. The Department of Homeland Security must push to complete work on the U.S.-Visit system so that the government can identify people whose visas have expired.
3. Better Information for Front-Line Immigration Officials — Stolen and lost passports are a major terrorist tool, and not enough is being done to detect them. There needs to be a greater international effort to centralize data about lost and stolen passports, and the data needs to be made available on computers so front-line immigration officials can consult it before admitting a visitor.
4. Shorter Lengths of Stay for Visa Holders — Most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were admitted as tourists and given automatic six-month stays, far longer than the typical vacation. Lengths of stay should be more precisely tailored to the needs of individual visitors — tourism, study or visiting relatives. This may require more resources, but it is worth it to ensure that terrorists are not guaranteed a half-year to prepare an attack.
5. Tougher State ID Requirements — The Sept. 11 hijackers obtained 13 driver's licenses. The rules need to be re-evaluated, so non-citizens cannot get such high-quality identification. This is a complicated issue. Congress needs to find an answer that would not violate civil liberties as some national ID programs would, and also gives undocumented residents access to some kind of driver's license for safety and insurance reasons.

They slip a bit at the end there. Undocumented residents are in this country illegally — they're not entitled to even be here, much less to be driving cars. But otherwise the Times was on the mark with this.

The warning signs can be found everywhere, even at the liberal core of the MSM. If only more people in authority would stop pandering for ethnic votes long enough to notice them.

Hat tip: Byron

Posted by Van Helsing at 7:50 AM

October 17, 2005

Will Loony Clooney's Movie Help Rehabilitate McCarthy?

Though it is a limited release movie that hasn't put so much as a nick in the box office, many critics seem to like George Clooney's new Good Night, and Good Luck — probably for the same reasons the Nobel people like granting prizes to hebephrenic lowlife like Harold Pinter. When it comes to culture's self-appointed guardians, left-wing ideology comes first, content sometime afterward. How can you go wrong bashing Joseph McCarthy, the liberal elite's favorite boogeyman?

As for the movie itself, I won't pay to see anything with Clooney in it, but according to Allan Ryskind at Human Events, the picture does not make much of a case. Clooney's awkward assault on the Wisconsin senator may actually assist in the rehabilitation his reputation has been undergoing recently (in part thanks to Ann Coulter's recommended book Treason). After all, if George Clooney — the personification of empty-headed, self-worshipping Hollyweird moonbattery — dislikes McCarthy enough to direct and help write a movie devoted to attacking him and glorifying his nemesis Edward R. Murrow, how bad could McCarthy have been?

In any case, the notion that McCarthy ever accused anyone of anything serious without justification remains unproven. Any attention directed toward the McCarthy era is welcome, because rational analysis is likely to lead to the conclusion that, for all his faults, McCarthy was defending liberty from communism — just as for all his smirking handsomeness, Clooney is a clueless fool.

Hat tip: Wiggins

Posted by Van Helsing at 7:42 PM | Comments (6)

Global Warming Myths

Undoubtedly swayed by the pernicious influence of sinister oil corporations that insist on providing us with energy in exchange for grubby profits, President Bush has shown no inclination to champion the moribund Kyoto accords, Mother Earth's last hope against the scourge of global warming. Now we are paying the price. The New York Times asserts that the autumn colors that make the Northeast so lovely in the fall may not be as bright as usual this year — and that global warming is to blame.

President Bush, sign Kyoto! Plunge us into a depression, but give us back our brightly colored leaves!

Getting serious for a minute, though the Kyoto accords would cripple our economy, they would have no significant effect on global warming, if there were such a thing. The good news is that there probably isn't.

If the NY Times manages to convince people that fall leaves are less colorful because of global warming, this will join a long list of global warming myths. Here are some other ones, listed and debunked by Friends of Science, a Canadian nonprofit organization that is fed up with the propaganda passed off as science in support of the Kyoto protocols:

Myth 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate.

Fact: Accurate satellite, balloon and mountain top observations made over the last three decades have not shown any significant change in the long term rate of increase in global temperatures.

Average ground station readings do show a mild warming over the last 100 years, but well within the natural variations recorded in the last millennium. The ground station network suffers from an uneven distribution across the globe; the stations are preferentially located in growing urban and industrial areas ("heat islands") which show substantially higher readings than adjacent rural areas ("land use effects").

Myth 2: The "hockey stick" graph proves that the earth has experienced a steady, very gradual temperature increase for 1000 years, then recently began a sudden increase.

Fact: Significant changes in climate have continually occurred throughout geologic time. For instance, the Medieval Warm Period, from around 1000 to1200 AD (when the Vikings farmed on Greenland) was followed by a period known as the Little Ice Age. Since the end of the 17th Century the "average" global temperature has been rising at a rate of 0.6 to 0.8 degrees Celsius per 100 years; although from 1940–1970 temperatures actually dropped, leading to a Global Cooling scare. The "hockey stick", a poster boy of both the UN's IPCC and Canada's Environment Department, ignores historical recorded climatic swings, and has now also been proven to be flawed and statistically unreliable as well.

Myth 3: Human produced carbon dioxide has increased over the last 100 years, adding to the Greenhouse effect, thus warming the earth.

Fact: Carbon dioxide levels have indeed changed for various reasons, human and otherwise, just as they have throughout geologic time. The CO2 increase was only 0.4% over the last 50 years, rather than the 5% per 100 years quoted by Kyoto. However, as measured in ice cores dated over many thousands of years, CO2 levels move up and down AFTER the temperature has done so, and thus are the RESULT OF, NOT THE CAUSE of warming. Geological field work in recent sediments confirms this. There is solid evidence that as temperatures rise naturally and cyclically, the earth's oceans expel more CO2 as a result.

Myth 4: CO2 is the most common greenhouse gas.

Fact: Water vapour or clouds, which makes up on average about 3% of the atmosphere by volume, and — according to several researchers — about 60% by effect, is the major greenhouse gas. 97% of greenhouse gases are water vapour by volume. Moreover, because of its molecular weight and absorptive capacity, water vapour is 3000 times more effective than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Those attributing climate change to CO2 rarely mention this important fact.

Myth 5: Computer models verify that CO2 increases will cause significant global warming.

Fact: Unfortunately, computer models predicting global warming are incapable of including the effects of the sun and the clouds. Further, the main cause of temperature variation is the sun. Its radiation changes all the time, partly in cyclical fashion. The number of sunspots can be correlated very closely with average temperatures on earth, e.g. the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period. Varying intensity of solar heat radiation affects the surface temperature of the oceans and the currents. Warmer ocean water expels gases, some of which is CO2.

Myth 6: The UN proved that man-made CO2 causes global warming.

Fact: In a 1996 report by the UN on global warming, two statements were deleted from the final draft. Here they are:

1) "None of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed climate changes to increases in greenhouse gases."

2) "No study to date has positively attributed all or part of the climate change to....man-made causes."

There is simply no scientific proof that man-made CO2 causes significant global warming.

Myth 7: CO2 is a pollutant.

Fact: This is absolutely not true. Nitrogen forms 80% of our atmosphere. We could not live in 100% nitrogen either. Carbon dioxide is no more a pollutant than nitrogen is. However, CO2 is essential to life on earth. It is necessary for plant growth since increased CO2 intake as a result of increased atmospheric concentration causes many trees and other plants to grow more vigorously.

Myth 8: Global warming will cause more storms and other weather extremes.

Fact: There is no scientific or statistical evidence whatsoever that supports such claims. Growing insurance and infrastructure repair costs, particularly in coastal areas, are sometimes claimed to be the result of increasing frequency and severity of storms, whereas in reality they are a function of increasing population density, escalating development value, and ever more media reporting.

Myth 9: Receding glaciers and the calving of ice shelves are proof of global warming.

Fact: Glaciers have been receding and growing cyclically for hundreds of years. Recent glacier melting is a consequence of coming out of the very cool period of the Little Ice Age. Ice shelves have been breaking off for centuries. Scientists know of at least 33 periods of glaciers growing and then retreating.

It's normal.

Myth 10: The earth's poles are warming; polar ice caps are breaking up and melting and the sea level rising.

Fact: The earth is variable. The western Arctic may be getting somewhat warmer, due to unrelated cyclic events in the Pacific Ocean, but the Eastern Arctic and Greenland are getting colder. The small Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica is getting warmer, while the main Antarctic continent is actually cooling.

Hat tips: Varla, Byron.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:41 AM | Comments (8)

October 16, 2005

Border Moonbattery Is Inviting Disaster

One of the purposes of the fighting in Iraq is to battle Islamic terrorists on their territory instead of our own. But the broader war has many theaters, and some of them are right here within (or at) our borders.

From an Insider Update email sent out by the office of Texas Congressman John Culberson:

You do not need to go to Iraq to see the war on terror, you can go to Laredo.

During a recent visit to Loredo, Rep. Culberson learned the following from the local sheriffs who are left with minimal support to defend our border with Mexico:

• A large, but unknown, number of al Qaeda terrorists and Chinese nationals are infiltrating our country virtually anywhere they choose from Brownsville to San Diego.
• One al Qaeda terrorist was held for several weeks after being captured on our border and is currently under FBI custody.
• Paramilitary training camps run by Special Forces officers trained in Nicaragua and Guatemala operate in the open near Matamoras. Terrorists, drug smugglers and killers are trained here within walking distance of Matamoras.
• A large number of Islamic individuals have moved into homes in Nuevo Laredo and are being taught Spanish to assimilate with the local culture.

How many terrorists are pouring over our virtually unguarded border, and what are they bringing with them? That's impossible to say, because in the words of Jon Amastae, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso,

You don't know about the ones you don't catch — that's the bottom line.

But even if we catch them, it might not make any difference. According to Carlton Jones, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector,

We think the basic reason for the OTM influx is that we've been releasing them on their own recognizance to see a judge.

OTM means Other Than Mexican. Apprehended invaders are being released to await court hearings. Of course, hardly anyone shows up for them, and terrorists are certain not to. The invaders just move along north to be absorbed by the underworld, where they can count on the protection of bleeding heart idiots who will prevent the police from even asking about their immigration status.

A country has every right to defend its borders. If anything is worth fighting for, it's our territorial sovereignty. If the government can't defend the border any other way, minefields would be a perfectly reasonable option. Hopefully it won't take a nuclear 9/11 to wake people up to the fact that border security is a serious issue.

Hat tip: Byron

Posted by Van Helsing at 1:37 PM | Comments (1)

Refco and Hillary

Something certainly smells rotten on the sinking ship known as Refco. Here are some interesting observations from John Mauldin at Thoughts From the Frontline:

I am compelled to make a comment on the Refco situation. Dennis Gartman has what he calls the cockroach theory. There is never one cockroach. If you see one, there are a lot of them in the walls. Observers have been seeing cockroaches at Refco for a long time. When the whole story comes out, it is not going to look good. How you can hide almost a half a billion in losses when going through a public offering is mind-boggling. Refco has had a long history of problems. Most never make the light of day, but there is one that you might recall.

This is the same firm that hid the transfer of $100,000 to the account of the wife of an obscure governor in Arkansas under the guise of trading cattle futures from information in the Wall Street Journal. The fact that Robert "Red" Bone was the broker for the general counsel of Tyson Foods was just a coincidence, I am sure. Hillary Rodham Clinton was allowed to order 10 cattle futures contracts, normally a $12,000 investment, in her first commodity trade in 1978 although she had only $1,000 in her account at the time. (Someone put cash in the account. Go figure.) And it gets murkier. Bottom line Refco was fined $250,000 for trading practices in cattle futures during that period, then the largest fine ever by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

As an aside, Senator Clinton is the only human being in the history of the trading world who could successfully turn $1,000 into $100,000 in a few months and then walk away and never execute another trade. I guess it was just too easy for her and she needed bigger challenges.

This cattle futures scam is a cockroach that certainly has its share of as yet undiscovered relatives not only at Refco, but in Hillary's history. Her best defense against revelations of her corrupt activities is the scandal fatigue that quickly set in during her husband's reign. People heard so often that the Clintons are shady characters that they stopped listening. The result was a sort of inoculation that enabled Bill to hang onto his presidency even after being impeached.

But who knows, maybe Hillary's inoculation will wear off by 2008. Maybe if people are reminded what a couple of lowlifes the Clintons are, they will remember how nice it is to have them out of the White House. It's certainly worth a try.

Hat tip: Byron.

Posted by Van Helsing at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)

October 15, 2005

Sloppy Stage Managing at the Today Show

So the MSM thinks Bush's teleconference with soldiers in Iraq last Thursday was staged? Wrong — this is staged:

NBC correspondent Michelle Kosinski was paddling her canoe through a watery apocalypse in Wayne, NJ yesterday when a couple of guys walked between her and the cameras, revealing the menacing floodwaters to be ankle deep.

"Why walk when you can ride?" Kosinski sheepishly explained.

Hat tips: Wiggins, LGF

Posted by Van Helsing at 2:13 PM | Comments (4)

Karl Rove Assailed by Giant Condoms

Why do I have such a hard time taking left-wing protestors seriously? Hat tip: Wiggins.

Posted by Van Helsing at 1:48 PM | Comments (3)

October 14, 2005

PETABOA

Sometimes it seems PETA is always picking on humans (well, not always). After all, animals kill each other every day. They have to in order to survive, because that's the way reality works. But reality has never encumbered left-wing activists before, so why should they cut animal-abusing animals any slack? It reeks of speciesism.

PETABOA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals by Other Animals) seeks to address this imbalance. With stirring slogans such as "Animals Are Not For Other Animals To Hunt" and "Animals Are Not For Other Animals To Taunt," they are sure to awaken a new consciousness in the animal rights movement. Collect shirts with all six PETABOA designs at Cafépress.com.

Hat tips: Byron, Lone Star Times, TripleNeckSteel

Posted by Van Helsing at 1:15 PM | Comments (1)

More Nobel Nuttiness

It isn't only the Peace Prize that is apparently awarded primarily on the basis of anti-American moonbattery. This year's Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Harold Pinter. A 2002 essay subtly entitled "The American Administration Is a Bloodthirsty Wild Animal" gives some insight into this character's mentality.

Following a floridly psychotic diatribe on the evils of America, which he blames for Iraqi babies born with no rectums and even more bizarrely, for the millions of deaths that occurred in Southeast Asia when America withdrew and communists took over, Pinter offers the following analysis of the events of September 11, 2001:

The atrocity in New York was predictable and inevitable. It was an act of retaliation against constant and systematic manifestations of state terrorism on the part of America over many years, in all parts of the world.

According to Pinter's brilliant theories, any Islamic terrorism occurring in England is America's fault too — or more precisely, the fault of those who would side with America against terrorism and totalitarianism:

Terrorist attacks are quite likely, the inevitable result of our Prime Minister's contemptible and shameful subservience to America.

A true genius like Pinter recognizes the depth and complexity of any situation. Operation Iraqi Freedom, for example, was motivated not only out of an American desire to "take control of Iraqi oil, but also because the American administration is now a bloodthirsty wild animal."

But this sort of rhetoric is too gentile to earn a guy the Nobel Prize. Pinter could do better, as he proved at London's National Theatre, where he gave a reading of his anti-war poetry inspired by the liberation of Iraq. According to The Guardian, Pinter called the US Government "the most dangerous power that ever existed." For colluding with it, Tony Blair was called a "mass murderer." Pinter refused to acknowledge that President Bush was democratically elected, called Club Gitmo a concentration camp, and announced that when it comes to America,

There is only one comparison: Nazi Germany.

This is what passes for a great mind on the Left. This is the kind of deranged, half-witted scum that is granted hallowed prizes to honor its intellect. If I weren't having so much fun, I could rest my case against the whole suppurating sore known as the Liberal Elite Intelligentsia.

Hat tips: LGF, Ace of Spades HQ, Decision '08

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:35 AM | Comments (6)

October 13, 2005

Watch Jesse Squirm

Jesse Jackson has taken the government to task for not going into shelters to bring Katrina refugees back to New Orleans. As always, Jackson has turned his contrived indignation into a self-promoting spectacle, this time by spending two days trying to round people up at refugee centers and then busing 200 people "back" to New Orleans to take advantage of the job opportunities that the city's reconstruction will offer. Of these 200, only a minority were actually from Louisiana.

Now why would that be? Isn't it primarily because of the President's failure to pick them up by the scruff of the neck and carry them home like baby kittens that New Orleans residents don't return? Isn't busing in out-of-staters likely to worsen the housing shortage? Doesn't this whole farce fly in the face of Jackson's rhetoric about natives getting priority for reconstruction jobs? Click here to watch Jackson squirm and prevaricate as he neglects to answer these questions.

Hat tip: Byron.

Posted by Van Helsing at 9:56 PM | Comments (3)

Vietnam Vets Sue John Kerry

Bad news for Hanoi John Kerry: his despicable behavior is catching up to him in the form of a lawsuit filed by the Vietnam veterans that he has seen fit to abuse.

The plaintiffs include The Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation; Red, White, and Blue Productions; and journalist/Vietnam vet Carlton Sherwood. Their suit asserts that Hanoi John and his former Pennsylvania campaign manager Tony Podesta libeled them, slandered them, and caused them financial harm while using hardball tactics to suppress the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal prior to the 2004 election.

But the suit goes beyond the dirty deeds of Kerry and his henchmen during the last presidential campaign. It goes all the way back to his treasonous behavior during the war. From the lawsuit:

Sherwood established plaintiff Red, White, and Blue productions an independent film company which produced the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal....This documentary tells the story of Kerry's involvement with the VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) and his participation in the so-called "Winter Soldier" investigation...Stolen Honor also reports that...Kerry testified before the United States Senate that during the Winter Soldier investigation Vietnam veterans testified to war crimes...not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day to day basis with full awareness of officers at all levels of command...in fact the stories told by participants in the Winter Solider investigation were outrageous and slanderous falsehoods against Vietnam veterans...Stolen Honor accurately reported that Kerry's statements.. were lies concocted by antiwar activists...Kerry knew this testimony was false...Vietnam veterans including former POW's had been falsely tarred...Sherwood produced Stolen Honor to bring this otherwise ignored history to light ...and to explain the public sense of betrayal felt by many Vietnam veterans- particularly among former POW's — against Kerry and others who built their reputations slandering America's Vietnam veterans.

The suit also makes note of the fact that Kerry's contemptible lies were used by the North Vietnamese to threaten and demoralize American POWs.

This is certainly an intriguing case, considering that many people have been duped into thinking of Kerry as some kind of war hero. Look for the MSM to cover it avidly (just kidding).

In other Kerry news, it appears that Jean François, following the lead of the esteemed professor and unmitigated moonbat Cornel West, has released a rap album:

Hat tip: Byron.

Posted by Van Helsing at 1:11 PM | Comments (7)

Enviromoonbattery in the Courtroom

In yet another example of activist courts teaming up with moonbats in their onslaught against common sense, a federal court is forcing the Forest Service to suspend over 1,500 permits for a variety of activities that include fire prevention, Boy Scout meetings, and even the cutting of the Capitol's Christmas tree.

Projects determined to have minimal environmental impact used to be exempt from the requirement of spending $zillions on marathon legal battles against the well-heeled environmentalist lobby in order to get a permit. But the Earth Island Institute found a court willing to help them change that.

From The Washington Times:

Judge James K. Singleton of the Eastern District Court of California ruled in July against a project to remove charred and damaged trees, which could kindle a future fire, in the Sequoia National Forest.

The court said last month in a follow-up ruling that its decision in Earth Island Institute v. Ruthenbeck applies nationwide, rather than just to the local dispute.

As a result, the Forest Service immediately suspended all "categorical exclusions," which approved the Sequoia project and had been used since 2002 to allow permits of numerous other activities, including trail upkeep at ski resorts and issuing outdoor guide permits.

Among the projects to be hogtied in red tape:

• Hundreds of projects nationwide for fire prevention on tens of thousands of acres
• Nearly 100 guide permits for hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and fishing
• 150 wildlife habitat projects
• 165 permits to maintain camp grounds and trails
• 15 ski area projects that may shut down the upcoming ski season in some areas
• 40 permits for family reunions and Boy Scout and Girl Scout activities

Thanks to the new requirement of public notices, comment periods, and appeals, this year's Capitol Christmas tree should be arriving in Washington sometime around Valentine's Day.

On the bright side, employment prospects for lawyers are looking as sunny as ever.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:45 AM

October 12, 2005

Environmentalism Kills Africans

Runaway environmentalism isn't just bad for the economy — it's bad for human health. Take the case of DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane). This wonder chemical has saved millions of lives by killing the one species that has given the human race the most trouble — the mosquito. According to a WaPo op ed, the National Academy of Sciences estimated in 1970 that DDT had prevented 500 million deaths.

It would be saving millions of lives still, if it hadn't fallen afoul of environmentalists.

DDT has proven highly effective against the spread of typhus, dengue, and yellow fever, but it's best known from combating malaria, which would make it highly useful in Uganda, which had 12 million cases of malaria out of a population of 27 million in 2003. But the European Union doesn't approve of DDT, and is threatening Ugandans with crippling import restrictions if they employ the chemical.

There's no solid evidence that DDT is harmful to people. But when it comes to moonbattery, you don't need evidence, you just need to believe. One million people a year still die from malaria. But the most effective weapon against it can't be used, in order to indulge elite bureaucrats in their fashionably kooky environmentalism.

Thanks to Byron for the tip.

Posted by Van Helsing at 8:58 PM | Comments (4)

The Arab–Israeli Conflict Reflected at Home

As democracies locked in a struggle with Islamic terrorists, Israel and the USA are natural allies. You might even say that Israel's enemies are America's enemies. Why else would Palestinians dance in the streets and pass out candy to celebrate 9/11?

In light of this, it's no surprise that staunch Republicans like Tom DeLay support Israel. Nor is it surprising that the Democratic Party's sympathies appear to lie in the other direction — appalling, but not surprising.

James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, doesn't much care for Tom DeLay. A recent column prematurely gloating over DeLay's demise makes it clear why:

It goes without saying that Arab Americans and those concerned with Middle East peace will shed no tears over DeLay's fall from grace. The Congressman has long been a fierce opponent of all things Palestinian and Arab. In the 1990s he opposed President Clinton's proposal to provide aid request to the West Bank and Gaza. When President Bush proposed $20 million to support Palestinians elections, DeLay reprogrammed the money to pay an Israeli utility bill. He even forced humiliating conditions on President Bush's recent aid designed to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. De Lay, who once called himself "an Israeli of the heart," also rejected President Bush's support of a Palestinian state, calling it a "sovereign state of terrorists," and he even denied that there is any such thing as "occupied territory." During his tenure as leader, DeLay repeatedly pressured his Republican colleagues to vote for pro-Israel, anti-Arab legislation, even when the bills were opposed by the Bush administration. He will not be missed.

Did I mention that Zogby is on the DNC's Executive Committee? Other disreputable organizations with which Zogby is associated include Democrat-friendly Human Rights Watch and the ACLU. Human Rights Watch endorsed the 2004 Civil Liberties Restoration Act, which was designed to roll back national security policies put in place to defend us from another 9/11. The act was introduced by Senators Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, Russell Feingold, Richard Durbin, and Jon Corzine. What a coincidence — all Democrats.

Dead people who vote have been known to favor Democrats (example example example example). I'm sure Yasser Arafat would be no exception.

Hat tip: Lone Star Times, on a lead from Byron.

Posted by Van Helsing at 6:38 AM | Comments (2)

October 11, 2005

General Zod 2008

Worried that you won't have anyone to vote for if 2008 confronts us with Hillary vs. McCain? There is another option. Vote for General Zod to be our future president and eternal ruler.

Here's how General Zod summarizes his campaign:

When I first came to your planet and demanded your homes, property and very lives, I didn't know you were already doing so, willingly, with your own government. I can win no tribute from a bankrupted nation populated by feeble flag-waving plebians. In 2008 I shall restore your dignity and make you servants worthy of my rule. This new government shall become a tool of my oppression. Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty. I only ask for your tribute, your lives, and your vote.

Zod kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia. The crowd reacted with "wild cheers and a fanfare of balloons and confetti" as the General announced:

Your lands, your homes, your possessions, your very lives — all of this and more you will gladly give to me! In return, I promise you lower taxes and cheap gas prices!

"That's my President right there," said Doris Eddins of Trenton. "I hear he's gonna put a lien on my house, but he's promising tax refunds. You hear that? The President's gonna send me a check!"

Zod's campaign platform includes some cutting edge concepts:

• I do not take orders. I give them. Congress shall no longer have the ability to impeach me or override my decisions, and the Supreme Court shall not meddle in government affairs.
• Eliminate the Iraq War. The Iraq War has shifted $187 billion to the defense industry. How is this "defense industry" to kneel before me? Are my praises to be sung as footnotes in their paperwork? You will stop giving these corporations your wealth. I suggest you put the money into your own schools and health care, so that I may have intelligent, healthy servants. I will indulge your wishes if you all want a Westernized, unpopular regime in Iraq, and I too shall gloat in its troubles, but it will not be done at my expense.
• Corporate reform. You people have become disgusting minions to these things you call "corporations". These things take your money and your land, put you into debt, send your jobs overseas, provide you with unsafe foods, and sue you when you say anything bad about them. Yet you people fatten them up at the ballot box. You give them free land, name your stadiums after them, allow them to telemarket you, and even sacrifice your own bankruptcy protections. Quite frankly it astonishes me. I will break this sickly codependency. It is I who shall be your ruler. I shall empower you with wealth to give me as tribute. A corporation cannot bow to me or give me tribute that comes from the heart.

If the campaign doesn't catch on, look for Zod to sign on as Hillary's running mate. Thanks to V the K for the tip.

Posted by Van Helsing at 12:10 PM | Comments (2)

Out in the Twilight Zone, Gore Discovers Some Common Ground

Those with enough caffeine in their systems to remain conscious through Al Gore's windy speech at the We Media conference in NYC last week were rewarded with some interesting clues into his psyche. For the curious, I'll touch on some highlights from the transcript (thanks to Wiggins for the link).

From the beginning of the speech, Gore made it clear that his mental equilibrium continues to wobble:

I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse.

This "strangeness" indicates to Gore that we might be slipping off into the Twilight Zone.

How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or a family member in the last few years remark that it's almost as if America has entered "an alternate universe"?

In this alternate universe that Gore has uncovered, America is a very bad country that does very bad things:

Are we still routinely torturing helpless prisoners, and if so, does it feel right that we as American citizens are not outraged by the practice? And does it feel right to have no ongoing discussion of whether or not this abhorrent, medieval behavior is being carried out in the name of the American people?

There are brief moments of lucidity, when American culture resembles something Gore can relate to. Take the aftermath of Katrina, where the media disintegrated into class warfare propagandizing and irresponsible hysteria, as a major city's police chief passed out lies about rape and carnage that the MSM swallowed without chewing, and editorialists twisted themselves into knots trying to blame President Bush first for the weather, then for the corruption and incompetence of Louisiana Democrats:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there was — at least for a short time — a quality of vividness and clarity of focus in our public discourse that reminded some Americans — including some journalists — that vividness and clarity used to be more common in the way we talk with one another about the problems and choices that we face. But then, like a passing summer storm, the moment faded.

Moments like that normally fade when the Thorazine kicks in. It would take a double dose to deal with Gore's paranoia:

And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President.

Who is the "they" that give digital brownshirts like myself their marching orders? Evidently, our orders come directly from the White House, which was responsible for the demise of The Dan:

...Dan Rather — who was, of course, forced out of his anchor job after angering the White House...

But let's get to the crux of the speech: The "marketplace of ideas" is being destroyed by television, and this is what results in the "strangeness" that Gore perceives. In order to safeguard the marketplace of ideas, Gore proposes — what else? — government intervention. Here's where he starts to get scary. He laments the passing of the outrageously anti–First Amendment Fairness Doctrine, and blames the demise of that appalling policy for the presence of "hate mongers" (i.e., people with whom he disagrees, like Rush Limbaugh) on the airwaves. If normal people are left to listen to those whom they trust and respect, very few of them will be listening to Al Gore and his friends (as evidenced by Air America's tailspin), so better to let bureaucrats regulate which opinions are broadcast.

But despite his kookiness and half-submerged totalitarian impulses, Gore said a few things that it's hard to disagree with:

We must ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all citizens without any limitation on the ability of individuals to choose the content they wish regardless of the Internet service provider they use to connect to the Worldwide Web. We cannot take this future for granted.

Of course, Gore is afraid that evil corporations will suffocate the Internet, as opposed to the more credible threats from the United Nations and reckless legislation like McCain–Feingold. But his final words on the Internet were downright quotable:

We must ensure by all means possible that this medium of democracy's future develops in the mold of the open and free marketplace of ideas that our Founders knew was essential to the health and survival of freedom.

Now there's a sentiment that we might all be able to agree on — provided the words mean the same thing in his world as they do in ours.

Posted by Van Helsing at 8:07 AM | Comments (7)

October 10, 2005

UNICEF's War Smurfs Terrify Children

UNICEF has produced a new commercial focusing on the horrors of war that features the cartoon characters known as Smurfs. Word is it hits hard — at least when it comes to kids, who reacted with wailing terror, as reported by the Washington Times, which describes the film like this:

It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand in hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom-shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

The Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

And I used to think Wiley Coyote got a raw deal. Supposedly, the piece would not be broadcast before 9:00 PM, and therefore would not be seen by children. UNICEF resorted to blowing up Smurfs "after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers."

The original plans were even more extreme, according to account director Julie Lamoureux:

We wanted something that was real war — Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head, but they said no.

Somebody always has to spoil the fun.

Posted by Van Helsing at 8:24 PM | Comments (3)

Olbermann and Farrakhan, Sitting in a Tree...

Would you like to get your TV news from Louis Farrakhan? Then you're out of luck for now, but you might give Keith Olbermann at MSNBC a try. Given their close compatibility in terms of both the nature and the severity of their paranoid psychoses, Olbermann and Farrakhan are the best argument for gay marriage I've heard yet.

Here's the latest on MSNBC's smirking tinfoil-hatter: The weekend terror alerts in New York City, whereby Major Bloomberg warned the city of a potential Islamic terrorist attack on the subway system despite the Department of Homeland Security trying to downplay the threat, was characterized by Olbermann as — ready? — an attempt to distract from news that Karl Rove would make another grand jury appearance in the absurd non-case of Valerie Plame.

Here's Olbermann raving on last Thursday's Countdown, via NewsBusters:

Stop what you're thinking. It's just an amazing coincidence. The terrorists just happened to wait to make these threats until there's bad news about the administration that it needs to preempt. Just a coincidence.

Apparently — in the dark universe inhabited by Olbermann — the DHS's downplaying of the threat was just a ruse, and Mayor Bloomberg's office is secretly taking orders from Karl Rove.

Olbermann also saw fit to accuse President Bush of McCarthyism for harping on this whole Islamic terrorism thing in the excellent speech he made last week:

About the speech, and again, not to question the existence of terrorism, but if a prominent politician takes any issue and seems to b