"Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."

"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm."

"99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name."

The latest coin of the United States Marines

The currency is good anywhere in the world:





From Dr. Jack Wheeler's "To The Point News."

CHILDISH LIBERAL ANGER

By Dr. Joel Wade

"Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - this is not easy." - Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, II, ix, 2)

It seems all the rage these days to be angry - angry at injustice, angry at past abuses, angry at "the system," at hypocrisy, or at anything at all. As one wag puts it, "I just hate intolerant people!"

This form of angry expression is not the strong and effective anger that we see in the resolve of someone like George Washington: the controlled and consciously directed anger that seeks to solve a problem or correct a genuine injustice.

It is instead a helpless anger, a whining anger, a pleading anger, the anger of a wronged and passive victim of felt injustice, looking for someone else to rectify it for them.

For the past several decades, our country, coached by childishly angry liberals, has been practicing how to throw childish temper tantrums. The consequences for us individually and as a nation are not good. Read more ...

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing community service this week".

The florist is pleased and leaves the shop. Next morning when the barber goes to open there is a thank you card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing community service this week." The cop is happy and leaves the shop. Next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a thank you card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Later a Republican comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing community service this week." The Republi can is very happy and leaves the shop. Next morning when the barber goes to open, there is a thank you card and a dozen different books such as "How to Improve Your Business" and "Becoming More Successful."

Then a Democrat comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing community service this week." The Democrat is very happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen Democrats lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the left and the right.

TO BE A GOOD LIBERAL .....

To be a good liberal, you have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Thomas Edison.

Will Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Curtail Future Military Adventures?

By Ivan Eland
The Independent Institute

"America’s problems in Afghanistan and Iraq may have one positive effect: They will cause the U.S. public to withhold support for future military interventions that are not absolutely necessary for U.S. security. That’s exactly what has happened in the past and there’s no reason to believe the current failed adventures will be different.

In the Korean War, for example, after back and forth offensives, the front stabilized at the 38th parallel, where the conflict had begun. With casualties mounting and no clear-cut victory in sight, the war lost much of its support. President Harry Truman was so unpopular by this time he decided not to seek re-election. During the subsequent eight years of the Eisenhower administration, the war-weary United States directly intervened militarily just once, in Lebanon in 1958." Read more...

Oil Falls Below $62, Canadian US Shipments Restart

"NEW YORK –- Crude oil fell below $62 a barrel after Enbridge Inc., which supplies Canadian oil to the U.S., resumed shipments through a pipeline that was fixed after it ruptured and leaked.

The company said deliveries restarted yesterday.

Canada was the biggest source of U.S. crude oil imports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Department."

Japan Mulls Moving Reserves from Dollar

"ABU DHABI -- Japan is cautious about shifting its foreign exchange reserves away from the dollar for fear of triggering a slide in the U.S. currency, Tokyo's top financial diplomat, Hiroshi Watanabe, said on Thursday.

At around $900 billion, Japan's reserves, held predominantly in dollars, are the world's second largest after China's and were built up mainly in 2003 and 2004 as the Bank of Japan bought dollars to check the Japanese currency's rise.

The dollar's slide against other currencies over the past three years has prompted central banks around the world to consider reducing their exposure to U.S. assets. The dollar tumbled to a two-year low against the euro this month." More....

A Look at the Venezuela of Today Under Hugo Chavez

From: A Second Hand Conjecture

Venezuela Under Socialism: An Interview with Manny Lopez

The Ginsburg Worldview

By David Limbaugh

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart illustrates the moral depths and quagmires of irrationality to which the political and cultural left in this country have descended.

‘First Line of Defense’ Teams Suggested for US Campuses
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – American universities and colleges should consider co-opting students, faculty and staff who have security backgrounds to provide a “first line of defense” for their campuses in the event of a terror attacks or other emergencies, a counter-terrorism expert here said...

John "Look At My Hair" Edwards

We all probably remember John Edwards' "Breck Girl moment" from his failed VP run in 2004 where he was captured on video carefully grooming, and primping, his "groovey" locks. In the event you do not remember:




John Edwards does have "cool, shiny, silky" hair. And thus, some refer to him as "Silky Pony." Of course, if you have hair this great, you must spend time and money on it. And that he does. He plopped His campaign committee plopped down $400 for a hair cut with celebrity stylist Joseph Torrenueva in Beverly Hills, and another $400 two weeks later, again at Torrenueva's salon.

A spokesperson said Edwards would reimburse the campaign for the $800 that was billed "in error" to them. Apparently he will not, however, dip into his pocket and pay back the campaign fund for the "$250 in services from a trendy salon and spa in Dubuque, Iowa, and $225 in services from the Pink Sapphire in Manchester, N.H., which is described on its Web site as 'a unique boutique for the mind, body and face' that caters mostly to women."

I have to say, this is not your typical male behavior. Some people (including Rush Limbaugh) would say this behavior is but one example of the "feminization of the American male."

Coincidentally, John Edwards does have the endorsement of many national LGBT leaders. In addition, "Pretty Boy" has the endorsement of Kate Michelman, abortion-rights veteran.

At a rally near the University of Cal-Berkeley recently, Michelman was asked about why she decided to back the former senator from North Carolina.

She responded by saying, "I've gotten to know a lot of political leaders over the years that I've been an advocate for women's rights. I know the difference between those who advocate as a political position and those who understand the reality of women's lives. As a lawyer, as a senator, as a husband, as a father of two daughters, he understands the reality of women's lives. He understands the centrality of women's lives and experience to the health and well-being of society as a whole. … He understands that on an extremely personal level," she said.

Of course this is all hogwash but this has prompted Rush Limbaugh to ask, as well as The New York Sun, "Could Edwards Become First Woman President?" in much the same manner as Bill Clinton being dubbed as America's "first black president."

Ah, yes ... the new American castrate(e).

Now of course he has the right to spend his money any way he so chooses. I am a capitalist at heart. You earn it - you spend it. It's yours. His money; but come on now, campaign money should not be spent in this manner.

However, regardless of where the money comes from, to pay this amount of money for her his hair styling, spaing, manicuring, massaging, and facials, he has a perception problem. A big one. Spending this kind of money on such things and living in a 28,000 square foot home, and having his wife Elizabeth ridicule a neighbor of theirs for having "slummy" property, does nothing to help him advance his cause in convincing the American people he is on the "right side" of the "Two Americas" issue that he tries so hard to advance.

Israel braces for missile salvos in next war

TEL AVIV — Israel's military expects the next war to include intense rocket and missile attacks on the Jewish state. Officials said the military has projected that the next war would be marked by missile and rocket attacks from Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority. They said this could mean that thousands of rockets would rain on Israel, exceeding that in the war against Hizbullah in mid-2006. Read on.

Morocco on 'extreme alert' for terror attacks

WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Morocco is bracing for imminent Al Qaida suicide bombings.

'Morocco is in a state of extreme alert and this situation prevails as
much in Casablanca as in other cities and sensitive zones in the country,' Moroccan Communications Minister Nabil Bin Abdullah said. 'Terrorism can strike any time.' Read more.

“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic...” — Justice Joseph Story

Virginia Tech and the heartlessness of our media and therapy culture.

bY Peggy Noonan

Why the bureaucracy wants to oust Paul Wolfowitz.

BY ROBERT B. HOLLAND III

YES EVIL EXISTS. IT'S OUT THERE. AND IT IS NOT GEORGE BUSH.

The Awful Truth
By Albert Mohler
Townhall.com

"The massacre of 32 students and teachers on the campus of Virginia Tech University forces us once again to confront the reality of moral evil. The moral category of evil is indispensable in this case--requiring us to make a firm moral judgment about the heinous, murderous, grotesque, abhorrent actions that now seizes the nation's conscience.

The late Alan Bloom wrote twenty years ago that 'There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.'

Well, look into those stunned and hurting faces of students at Virginia Tech. Those are not the faces of moral relativists. They know the awful truth. These acts were evil.

The tragic reality is that this one man caused death and pain beyond human calculation on his murderous rampage. Let's pray for these grieving families and a traumatized campus--and let's remember that the difference between good and evil really matters."

The Death of Europe: “Soft Islamization”

The Brussels Journal

A quote from Richard John Neuhaus in First Things, May 2007 :

[T]o invest in and sacrifice for the future of a people and its way of life—the most palpable form of which is in having babies—requires a timeline much longer than 2050. People who do not, in continuity with the world they know, hope to have grandchildren who will hope to have grandchildren do not have babies. The sacrifice of the identities of nations and peoples to the deracinated idea of “Europe” as institutionalized in the European Union, combined with the forceful counternarrative of Islam, does not suggest a future in which many will make an intergenerational investment.

Read on.

NICE TO SEE THE LEFT IN THE U.S. AND THE LEFT IN BELGIUM ARE ON THE SAME PAGE.

Population Replacement in the Capital of Europe

In 2000, the Belgian authorities voted a so-called “Quick Citizenship” Act, bestowing Belgian nationality on foreigners as a simple procedure. Everyone who has lived in the country for a number of years (usually seven, but in some cases barely three, and sometimes even only two years) is entitled to Belgian citizenship. One does not have to speak the language nor prove one’s will to integrate in the host country.

Read on.

Jihad and the Collapse of the Swedish Model

I decided to write this essay following the riots in Malm this weekend. Malm is Sweden's third largest city and by far the worst city in Scandinavia when it comes to Muslim aggression. I read recently that an Arab girl interviewed in Malm said that she liked it so much there, it felt almost like an Arab city. Native Swedes have been moving away from the city for years, turned into refugees in their own country by Jihad, not too different from the non-Muslims in some regions of the Philippines, southern Thailand or Kashmir in India, or for that matter Christian Serbs in Kosovo.

Read on.

Should Kohl Get Nobel Prize for Promoting EU?

It seems to be taken for granted that promoting the integration of the EU, an increasingly totalitarian political entity that is appeasing Muslims at home and abroad and may thus be paving the way for a new world war, should make you a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. More...

Political Science for Dummies

I have seen this before, but I thought it was worth posting. It is quite instructive.


DEMOCRAT:
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
Barbara Streisand sings for you.


REPUBLICAN:
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?


SOCIALIST:
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.


COMMUNIST:
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.


CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE:
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.


BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE:
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.


AMERICAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses. Your stock goes up.


FRENCH CORPORATION:
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.


JAPANESE CORPORATION:
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.


GERMAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.


ITALIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.


RUSSIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.


TALIBAN CORPORATION:
You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.


IRAQI CORPORATION:
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.


POLISH CORPORATION:
You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.


BELGIAN CORPORATION:
You have one cow.
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish.
The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy.


FLORIDA CORPORATION:
You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.


CALIFORNIA CORPORATION:
You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegals.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

Another White Man Bites the Dust

By Larry Elder
"The firing of the longtime host represents another example of hypocrisy, selective outrage and our society's obsession with the 'pervasiveness' of anti-black racism.

After first dismissing the remark as a joke, Imus apologized several times, and agreed to go on Al Sharpton's radio show for a beat-down. Follow the bouncing hypocrisy."

Read more.

A Trail of Slime

By Thomas Sowell
District Attorney Michael Nifong has apologized to the Duke University students he indicted for rape for "judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect." Contrary to the fashionable phrase, "mistakes were made," there is no reason to believe that any mistake was made by District Attorney Nifong in this case, or that he misjudged anything other than miscalculating what he could get away with. Read on.

(Bold emphasis is mine -HH)

I could not agree more.

UK SHINES AS EU STRUGGLES

UK firms 'dominating Europe'

UK companies generate more than a third of the profits made by Europe's 750 top firms, the government says.
Read on...

THIS IS GOOD TO SEE. WE NEED MORE OF IT.

BBC NEWS: "Karachi protest at Sharia mosque

Tens of thousands of people have protested in the Pakistani city of Karachi against a radical mosque and its religious schools in Islamabad.

The chief cleric of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), Abdul Aziz, had announced a Taleban-style Islamic court would be set up to curb 'vulgar' activities.

He also gave the government a month to close video shops and brothels.

The protest organisers, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), branded the mosque 'religious terrorists'."

Read more.

Turks argue over next president

Turkish MPs begin the election process for a new president amid controversy about political Islam.
Read on...

IF THE U.K. COMPLIES, I WILL HAVE LOST ALL FAITH IN THEM

Russia presses UK on Berezovsky

Russia asks the UK to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who called for President Putin to be ousted.
Read on...

“The writers of the U.S. Constitution understood the necessity for an armed citizenry. When only the government has guns, everyone else is just a slave. Gun-banners who would turn everyone’s life and liberty over to the care of an all-powerful, central government, don’t understand and don’t agree with that.”

—Alan Caruba

“Why is the Virginia Tech murderer always referred to as the ‘gunman’ and not the ‘murderer’? Had he stabbed a dozen students to death, would he be the ‘knifeman’?”

—Dennis Prager

“Unfortunately, the tax cuts that have produced our record-breaking government revenues and personal incomes will expire soon. Because Congress has failed to make them permanent, we are facing the worst tax hike in our history... Those who say they want a ‘more progressive’ tax system should be asked one question: Are you really interested in tax rates that benefit the economy and raise revenue—or are you interested in redistributing income for political reasons?” —Fred Thompson

Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, are sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee."

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” —Thomas Jefferson

A Minority View: Exploiting Ignorance

By Walter E. Williams
"So many Americans graduate high school and college having learned what to think as opposed to acquiring the tools of critical, independent thinking. Likewise, they have learned little about our nation's history. As such, they fall prey to the rhetoric of political charlatans and quacks. Let's look at a couple of examples.

One of the arguments against international trade is that companies such as Nike and Gap Inc. exploit workers in Third World countries by paying them wages far lower than those that prevail in the U.S. and other developed nations. Are the workers being exploited? It all depends on how you answer the following question: If someone comes along and offers you an opportunity superior to any other that you have, is 'exploitation' an appropriate term to describe that offer?

Put more concretely, if a U.S. company pays a Cambodian $3 a day, when his next best opportunity -- digging through trash at a nasty dump -- yields 75 cents a day, has that company made him worse off or better off? If your answer is 'better off,' how can 'exploitation' be an appropriate term to describe the transaction?" Read more.

Excellent point, don't you think?

Too many media choices! Or too few! The left can't make up its mind--but it wants control

BY ADAM D. THIERER

The Virginia Tech massacre, guns and pop sociology.

TAKE THE GLOBAL WARMING TEST

See if you can get all 10 questions correct. HH did. Can you?

Global Warming Test.

YES, EVIL DOES EXIST - - I KNOW IT IS HARD FOR SOME TO ACKNOWLEDGE

In the Face of Evil
—Michael Medved
Townhall.com

"The horrifying shootings at Virginia Tech have produced all the sad, shabby, predictable reactions from misguided commentators trying to make sense of mass murder.

On TV and radio, we've already heard that the killing spree was the product of too many guns, or too few guns, or violent video games, or the breakdown of the family, or ill-considered immigration policies or, even, global warming. Glib, shallow explanations allow us to turn away from the one real lesson of these events: that evil exists, and that dark forces--forces believers would call demonic or diabolical--play a powerful role in our world.

Regardless of the background or motivation of the killer, Virginia Tech reminds us of the most important truth of our time: that terrorist monsters can't be explained, or excused, or appeased, or ignored, or negotiated into civilized behavior. They must be confronted and destroyed--before they destroy more of the decent and the innocent."

EVIL AMERICANS, POOR MULLAHS

A very surprising opinion piece written in the German Der Spiegel by Spiegel Online’s Berlin bureau chief, Claus Christian Malzahn. It is fairly pro-American, but done thru the prism of German bashing.

Go read Evil Americans, Poor Mullahs.

Hat tip to American Future.

Stare Master

By JAMES TARANTO
Opinion Journal

"A headline in London's Sunday Times reads "Don't Stare at Muslims Says Advice to Schools":

Pupils and teachers have been told by an official body not to stare at Muslims for fear of causing offence.

A document intended to educate against religious intolerance and sectarianism urges teachers to "make pupils aware of the various forms of Islamophobia, ie stares, verbal abuse, physical abuse." . . .

Osama Saeed, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, accused officials of going too far. "There are far more serious elements of Islamophobia. People look at all sorts of things--that can just be a glance. A glance and a stare are two different things--glances happen naturally when all sorts of things catch your eye whereas a stare is probably gawking at something. "Personally I have not encountered much of a problem with people staring. I don't know how you legislate for that."

Good for Saeed for speaking out against this especially condescending manifestation of multiculturalism."

He Died Saving His Class

By JAMES TARANTO

Opinion Journal

"For those of us whose job it is to have opinions, an event like yesterday's massacre at Virginia Tech is a bigger challenge than, say, a terrorist attack. The murder of 32 people by South Korea native Cho Seung-hui is no less evil than massacres carried out by suicide bombers or hijackers, but it is harder to comprehend. Terrorism is carried out by an organized enemy with a political agenda; we can rally to defeat the enemy. The Virginia Tech shooter seems to have been a lone nut. He murdered all those people only to render his own life a nullity by committing suicide in the end.

So let's just note one act of heroism amid the horror, as reported by the Jerusalem Post:

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the [murderer] attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived--because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad--also an Israeli--told Army Radio.

Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he had blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out.

Librescu was a Holocaust survivor who escaped communist Romania for Israel in 1978 and moved to Virginia in 1986. By coincidence, he was murdered on Holocaust Remembrance Day."

Whitey, learn to keep your mouth shut

A racial storm in America
By Alan Davieson
TimesOnline

A racial storm in America Don Imus, the line-crossing talk-radio host who broadcast daily across America from his New York studio, has been fired for referring to a team of black women basketball players as “nappy-headed ho’s”. Imus, a former Marine with a gruff demeanour, had an unsentimental show or, as they might say in America, it featured “guy talk” (any Briton, by the way, who uses “guy” or “guys” deserves a glossectomy).

There was some banter and unsubtle opinions were aired. It was not out of control but it also wasn’t a sanitised PC affair. He’s quite amusing and articulate in a resolutely uncomplicated way and had a huge listenership generating vast advertising revenue. Consequently, he attracted significant political figures as guests, pretty much anyone bar the President, who, of course, is rarely free to speak in public unscripted lest he describe Condi Rice as “that Secretary of State ho” in a momentary lapse.

Nappy-head, it turns out (excuse my whiteyness), means a black person who has allowed their hair to grow naturally into a tightly curled afro. It’s a term that can be used self-referentially with pride or disparagingly about others. Being a racial thing, its power is in the mouth of the speaker. Or is it in the ear of the listener? It’s complicated, so, in the interests of a quiet life, don’t use it unless you are very confident or, in fact, a nappy-head.

Read on.

Dangerous Liaisons

Dismissing al-Qaeda – Hizballah Cooperation Fosters Dangerous Misconceptions
By Steve Schippert

"Understanding the nature of the enemy is fundamental to successfully engaging that enemy, be it on the battlefields of metal and flesh, the battlefields of ideas, or the battlefields of information and communication. To this end, it is absolutely critical that the West – and the American public in particular – understand that, unlike the way the American political landscape so often appears, our terrorist enemies are often more willing to lay aside their fundamental and substantive differences for the purposes of engaging a mutual enemy. There is no greater example of this than the cooperation between Sunni al-Qaeda leadership and that of Shi’a Hizballah and their Iranian masters."

Read on.

Paul Wolfowitz

Betsy Newmark has a good post on Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank kerfuffle relating to his girlfriend having a job there.

As usual, there seems to be more to it than what we are being told by the dinosaur media. We certainly would not expect them to give us all the details.

Opinion Journal also reporting:

The World Bank released its files in the case of President Paul Wolfowitz's ethics on Friday, and what a revealing download it is. On the evidence in these 109 pages, it is clearer than ever that this flap is a political hit based on highly selective leaks to a willfully gullible press corps.

Mr. Wolfowitz asked the World Bank board to release the documents, after it became possible the 24 executive directors would adjourn early Friday morning without taking any action in the case. This would have allowed Mr. Wolfowitz's anonymous bank enemies to further spin their narrative that he had taken it upon himself to work out a sweetheart deal for his girlfriend and hide it from everyone.

The documents tell a very different story--one that makes us wonder if some bank officials weren't trying to ambush Mr. Wolfowitz from the start. Bear with us as we report the details, because this is a case study in the lack of accountability at these international satrapies.

Read more.

This has been ... exactly ... my point

"What we should be communicating to the young of all genders and all races is that, as vile and wrong as Imus’ statement may have been, it has no power other than what they choose to give it. Contrary to Kim Gandy’s assertion, it needn’t change anyone’s life – because it does nothing to alter the fact of who these young women are, where they’re headed, and what they’ve achieved. Rather than imbuing the Rutgers team members with an aggrieved sense that they’ve been deeply injured and hopelessly humiliated, women like Gandy should be encouraging them to react with a disgusted shrug of the shoulders that dismisses Imus' comment with the contempt it so richly deserves." -- Carol Platt Liebau

Read her full column, Victimization or Courage?

Every One His Due

By LaShawn Barber

" It was like an episode of “Law & Order.” Three, drunken, rowdy, privileged, elitist, indulged, slur-slinging lacrosse-playing white men accused of beating, strangling, raping (vaginally and orally), and sodomizing a poor, oppressed black woman forced to take off her clothes for strange men in order to feed her children, while the lacrosse team erected a “blue wall of silence,” barricading themselves within the old-boy protection of the moneyed white male patriarchy – no writer could have penned a more gripping drama.

As every “Law & Order” episode ends with a twist, so has the Duke “rape” case. The real story wasn’t the heinous allegations. It was the district attorney’s unbelievably blatant political motivations for bringing charges against the men in the face of zero evidence.

It was a university’s rush to condemn the students in an attempt to prop up its Marxist, race-obsessed, radical feminist, and politically correct platform despite its obligation as a collective of administrators, teachers, and mentors to treat all students fairly.

It was national media’s frenzied, man-bites-dog, blood-in-the-water coverage of a story so laughably phony that even a blind man could see the farce 100 miles away." Read on.

Democrats fiddle while the world burns
The Democrats who say they're in no rush to approve emergency funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, may be digging themselves into a hole in the global war on terrorism......

Imus Affair: The Left Has Tasted Blood, Conservatives Warn
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) - The pressure campaign that led to talk show host Don Imus' ouster this week may embolden liberals to try to muzzle others, conservative analysts have warned.

After Imus' fall this week, the liberal website Media Matters ran the headline 'It's not just Imus' over pictures of conservative media personalities, including Rush Limbaugh, Neal Bortz and Bill O'Reilly.

That same day, the liberal Huffington Post blog displayed under the headline 'Flashback' perceived bigoted quotes by Limbaugh, O'Reilly and shock jock Howard Stern

Although Imus -- fired for denigrating the Rutgers University women's basketball team on the air -- was no conservative, the row over his remarks could affect conservatives, according to Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in the Media." Read on.

Iran Planning Destruction Worse Than Nazi Gas Chambers, Survivor Says
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to destroy the Jewish people in a way that would eclipse the gas chambers of the Nazi Holocaust, a Holocaust survivor said.

At a ceremony marking Holocaust remembrance day at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, on Sunday evening, Tommy Lapid -- who chairs the Yad Vashem council -- spoke on behalf of Holocaust survivors.

Six million Jews were not enough for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Lapid."

Read more.

French Security Police Probe Evangelical Churches
By Eva Cahen
CNSNews.com Correspondent

Paris, France (CNSNews.com) - Protestants in France have asked the country's national police intelligence service to explain why it has launched an investigation into evangelical churches.

Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the French Protestant Federation, told Cybercast News Service he had learned from several member churches that they had been contacted by the police service (the Renseignements Generaux or RG) and asked to pass along any information they had about evangelical churches in their region.

The RG has been sending Protestants a series of questions asking the names of evangelical churches and whether any of their activities might be causing harm.

'It is inadmissible that the RG should investigate evangelical churches,' said de Clermont. 'It is not part of their national mandate -- their mandate is to fight terrorism, prevent urban violence and other national threats against French society.

'The evangelical churches are not part of their mandate -- unless they are associated with terrorism,' he added." Continue reading....

Electric Bills Spark Debate on Global Warming Integrity
(CNSNews.com) - As Sen. John Kerry promotes his new book on the dangers of global warming, he’s been running up an average electric bill of $1,100 a month at his federal-style red-brick townhouse on Louisburg Square in the Beacon Hill area of Boston...

More Than Half of Americans Are on Government Dole

Democrats Plan $2,641 Tax Bill to American Families

Free Corn

By Lowell E. Hedges

I’m greatly concerned about the agenda of Nancy Pelosi and liberals/socialists in the new Congress. The agenda contains items that will put the security of our country at risk; proposals that will take away the freedom of speech for conservative groups; bills that would give the UN more control over the sovereignty of our country; and promises of more financial handouts from the government. In other words, the government can do a better job of leading our lives, than we can do ourselves.

I am reminded of the words of Ronald Reagan: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

I can best explain my concern about the new congress’s agenda, by using this analogy given to me by a former student of mine.

Several years ago I was supervising a beginning teacher in a city school system. One day during our end-of-the-day feedback conference, the young man gave a facial grimace and began to rub his back. I asked him if he had strained his back in the school lab. After a long period of silence, he sat down at his desk and explained that he had immigrated to the United States because of political problems in his native country. The discomfort in his back was caused by a bullet wound he had received while fighting the Communists who were trying to take over his country’s government. He was then a member of the underground nationalist force.

Then he asked me a surprising question: “Dr. Hedges, do you know how to catch a wild hog?” The question was completely out of context regarding the day’s classroom and lab teaching. I replied, “I”m not sure what you are talking about. Tell me.”

Read more about free corn and liberals.

“Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15.” -- Ronald Reagan

“The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution.” -- Ronald Reagan

“The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful.” —Calvin Coolidge

“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry... has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who... have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” —Thomas Jefferson

Imus isn’t the real bad guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying BEEPnappy-headedBEEP .. pimps and .. BEEPhosBEEP.

(DISCLAIMER: This has been edited by Heavy-Handed so as not to offend anyone with the use of nappy-headed..BEEP.. and .. hos..BEEP.)

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and w ait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves. Read more.....

Which is it? They cannot both be true?

Today I came across this news story:

Report: Boycott raises Palestinian poverty

The Western boycott of the Palestinians for the past year has pushed civilians into poverty and an international humanitarian agency wants that changed. Full story...

But yet on March 24th I posted a quoted paragraph that read:

"One year ago, the United States and the European Union decided to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority after Palestinians elected Hamas, a U.S. and E.U.-designated terrorist organization, to lead their government. Now, it turns out, Western sources, including the U.S. government, have actually put more money into the West Bank and Gaza since Hamas took over than in previous years."

I furnished the link to the full column as well. That column written by Linda Chavez also goes on to say:

"In 2005, the U.S. gave about $400 million in aid to Palestinians directly and indirectly through United Nations refugee agencies, according to recent press reports. In 2006, that amount went up to $468 million. And the E.U. and its member countries gave Palestinians about $916 million in 2006, not counting what they gave through U.N. agencies, up from $711 million in 2005.

U.S. and European officials claim that the increases don't constitute support for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority since the aid goes directly to individuals or is distributed by international organizations and aid groups."

You don't suppose todays' news story of increased Palestinian poverty because of boycotts that this "international humanitarian agency" is claiming could just be propaganda, do you? Hmmmm...?

U.S. must do more to denuclearize N. Korea

United Press International - International Intelligence - Briefing: "WASHINGTON, April 13, 2007 (UPI) -- The United States can and should do more to speed up denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

With only hours to go until the deadline for North Korea to open its nuclear facilities to international inspectors, the research group Atlantic Council called for U.S. bilateral involvement as well as maintaining the current multilateral approach.

In addition, the council stressed that China must be a U.S. partner in any talks with Pyongyang.

'Parallel negotiations on critical political, military and economic issues will enable diplomats to also pursue nuclear disarmament,' Frederick Kempe, the council's chief executive, said in launching the study.

Regarding China, Kempe said that 'the most important thing is finding a way to work with China in a comprehensive way,' adding that 'it's an important process not just vis-à-vis our relations with North Korea, but also vis-à-vis our relations with China.' " Read on...

IN SHOCKING DEVELOPMENTS **cough,cough,wink,wink** .......

North Korea misses its' deadline for shutting down its' nuclear reactor and "South Korea is striking back at North Korea" by reviewing its aid plan to its communist neighbor for missing the deadline.

Read on...

But... but.... What about Global Warming?

Water, sanitation priority for world poor

Improving water and sanitation access in poor countries should be a top priority for the international community.
Read on...

Afghan rebels targeting civilians: rights group

Reuters - As the bloodshed in Afghanistan worsens, the Taliban are increasingly targeting civilians, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a new report on Monday.

Read on...

Chavez challenges U.S. with energy summit

Reuters - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will seek to use oil wealth to consolidate regional support for his anti-U.S. politics as he hosts an energy summit of South American leaders on Monday.

Read on...

ONE .... TWO.... WE HATE YOU

In the news today, you will find two of the biggest evils in the U.S. Two of the "biggies" (corporations, that is) that the left loves to hate make the news as:

Wal-Mart dethrones Exxon on Fortune 500 (AP)
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has reclaimed its position as the largest corporation in the U.S. among the Fortune 500, pushing Exxon Mobil down to number two.

Iran: Sanctions could push nuclear drive (AP)

AP - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday warned that Iran would respond to additional U.N. sanctions with new nuclear advances, in yet another show of defiance to international demands that the country roll back its atomic program.......

Al-Sadr's followers quit Iraq Cabinet (AP)

AP - Cabinet ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned on Monday to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal, raising the prospect that the Mahdi Army militia could return to the streets of Baghdad........

“President Bush was in Arizona inspecting an unmanned plane that’s used to patrol the border. At least the plane was supposed to be unmanned—turns out they found six Mexicans inside.” —Conan O’Brien

On Taxes

“We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him... But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure.” —Ronald Reagan

“The more one considers the matter, the clearer it becomes that redistribution is in effect far less a redistribution of free income from the richer to the poorer, as we imagined, than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State.” —Bertrand de Jouvenel

“Capital punishment is when Washington comes up with a new tax.” —Van Panopoulos

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” —Sir Winston Churchill

Excess of Idiocy

From the Detroit News --

“We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy an MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan. No cost estimate was attached to their hare-brained idea to ‘invest’ in education.”

Will anybody be there?

“If we do nothing when the jihad comes for Israel, comes for India, comes for Serbia, comes for the Christians of the Third World—who will be there for us when it comes for America?” —Don Feder

False Praise

“Too many Americans lack perspective... They ignore real problems and challenges and contrive silly ones. They praise people who are truly evil and demonize people, flawed though they may be, who are trying to do good. They lack the ability to discern. And if America doesn’t regain its perspective, it will lose the overwhelming blessings it continues to receive.” —Tom Purcell

Shadow Presidency

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration [last week] of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that ‘Israel was ready to engage in peace talks’ with Syria. What’s more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to ‘resume the peace process’ as well... Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message. ‘What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel,’ said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister’s office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that ‘a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel.’ In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel’s position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr.Assad’s words were mere propaganda... The really striking development here is the attempt by a Democratic congressional leader to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president. Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr.Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq. Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president. We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush’s military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi’s attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.”
—The Washington Post

Case closed: Tax cuts mean growth.

BY FRED THOMPSON