And the Nobel Prize for Hypocrisy goes to... Al Gore

So Al Gore is odds on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. How utterly consistent with the mendacious, trivial, banal and pretentious history of this "prize". Al the Hypocrite can join other fabulists like Rigoberta Menchu, thieves like Kofi Annan, terrorists like Yasser Arafat, retired terrorists like Menachem Begin, enablers and apologists for terrorists like David Trimble, military dictators like Anwar Sadat, war criminals like Le Duc Tho, and enablers of war criminals like Henry Kissinger. In all seriousness, I wouldn't be surprised if the next prize went to Osama bin Laden or Mahmud Ahamdinejad.

So here's to Al. I wonder if he can find room in his mansion for the...what do they give you? A gold plated mirror? I wonder if he'll take the Lear or fly first class? There is little better symptom of the decline of civilization than that this bloated, lying rent seeker has somehow become an "intellectual".

If there's one good thing to come out of this, it will be that Al's already etiolated moral sense, fueled by his swollen ego will lead him to challenge Billary for the presidency, thereby ensuring the final demise of the Democratic Party. Maybe he'll launch a 3rd party. I'd give him a Nobel for that.

Green Hypocrisy

AWOL Civilization's post on truth inspired me to another rant about green hypocrisy and the general tendency of the left to indulge in groupthink. Remember Dan Rather’s “wrong, but true” libel of the President? Dan-o has since veered off into full fledged conspiracy theory loondom, but the best exemplars are of course the environmental hypocrites.

Al Gore is of course the poster boy for environmental hypocrisy with his private jet, his 5000 square foot mansion, and his habit of purchasing carbon indulgences from a company owned by….Al Gore. Then there is the Learjet left who assuage their guilt over the latest trip to Exuma or Biarritz by getting peasants in India to give up their irrigation pumps for the treadmill. The hyperwealthy blowhards like Mike Bloomberg with his three palatial homes who are happy to send the price of food soaring by subsidising “biofuels”. Even W, in thrall to the fram lobby has signed on to this one. And the story is much older than that. Let millions of poor Africans die of malaria because DDT is banned, let Mexican peasants go without tortillas because the corn crop is diverted to biodiesel projects. We need to start calling these people on their disgusting hypocrisy, but their moral obtuseness will probably make that a futile effort.

MIT Department of Cluelessness

What an idiot.
Do people who are smart enough to get into MIT really wake one morning and say to themselves, "I think I'll wear a fake bomb to an airport and see what happens."

And not just any airport, but the Boston airport from whence Mohammad Atta and his band of Islamofascists launched their murder campaign. There are several possibilities here. She could be stupid, clueless, careless or another "Don't Tase Me Bro" jackass.

Maybe she was a diversity admission.

We Are All Lars Vilks

Yet another cheeky Scandinavian cartoonist has gotten up the snoots of Muslims. Lars Vilks' line drawings of Mohammad as a dog have resulted in a Rushdie-like price on his head from al-Qaeda thug Omar al-Baghdadi. As with the earlier Danish cartoons, it's our patriotic duty here on the mountain to publish these. Woof.

All Blacks v Portugal

Contrary to my original expectations, this game was pretty good. Although the final score was one sided, Os Lobos played with great spirit and were well supported by their fans. They never gave up, unlike the Italians who stood like stunned sheep as the AB's walked all over them. The 'Portagees' left the stadium with their heads held high. They faced the mighty All Blacks and played full on until the final whistle. Well done.

Gone Fishing (I Wish)

Trying to finish my last semester of law school and I am swamped with work. Postings will intermittent until after finals. I'll be back though. Check out the excellent folks named right in the meantime.

Meanwhile:
Europe-grow some balls.
Al Gore-you bloated hypocrite, I saw you on that antique fuel-sucking Learjet.
Nanny Helen-just call the bloody election and get it over with.
Osama-mate, you look like Rasputin with a bad hangover. Must be that diet of rats.
Britney-you looked like a dancing pig.
Ron Paul-go home, OK?
Portuguese Rugby Team-sucks to be you. Give the haka some respect and maybe we'll keep it in double digits.
Brit Rugby Team-if you think the Yanks spear-tackle, wait until you're looking Jerry Collins straight in the jockstrap.

"Your ideas are absurd"

I take it back about Tony Blair. Here he is. A little earlier would have been nice, but I'll take what I can get.

The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'

Ken Livingstone Begins to Understand.

The headline reads, "London Mayor defends Muslims as bomb plot foiled." This might lead the innocent reader into believing that the Mayor had delivered yet another clueless, PC, apologia for Islam. In this instance though, Livingstone offers only a pro forma plea for understanding, and then goes on to say what George Bush, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will not. The root of the problem is Saudi Arabia and its relentless funding of Wahabi death cult cells around the world. The sooner Britain, Europe, America and the Muslim countries of SE Asia wrap this package up and return to sender in Riyadh, the better. The two poles of Islamic fascism are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan where the shock troops are financed and trained. Perhaps deporting a few thousand homicidal maniacs back to the homeland would send a better message than either Foreign Office sweetness and light or large exploding objects.

"Allah, Allah!"

The NYT is not known for even attempting the truth much these days, but is it too much expect that the "Newspaper of Record" at least acknowledge the bleeding obvious?

Man wearing suicide belt leaps from burning car and struggles with the police while shouting "Allah, Allah." "Hmmm", say the brilliant reporters of the Times, "What do we have here?" Radical vegans? Oppressed Wiccans? Wait, maybe they're M-M-M-M-Muslims?

Nope, as it turns out, what we have here are just two more members of Britain's "South Asian" population struggling because they're "disenfranchised". Glad we cleared that up.

Will Gordon Brown Be Churchill or Chamberlain?

Britain's Islamofascists have welcomed Gordon Brown to Number 10 with a right kick in the balls and a spit in the eye as well. Two large carbombs in London, mercifully discovered and disarmed, and a firebombing at Glasgow airport. And what's missing from the MSM reporting? Any suggestion whatsoever that the obvious suspects could be responsible. "Everything is on the table" said the Independent. Yep, could be the Irish, animal rights activists, fox hunters, disgruntled Anglicans, anti-monarchists. Why, it could have been YOU, citizen. Bollocks.

Two "Asian" men are in custody in Glasgow. I'll wager large sums that they're not Korean, Japanese or Sri Lankan. I'll wager still larger sums that they're not Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, or Zoroastrian. I'll wager pretty much everything I've got or hope to have that one or both has some variant of the word "Mohammed" in their name.

Rudy Gets It.

A few politicians actually get it. In truth, I suspect a lot of them do, but they're too PC, or morally obtuse, or just plain scared to say what they know to be true. John Howard gets it, Helen Clark doesn't. Nicolas Sarkozy gets it, Luis Zapatero doesn't.

And Rudy Guliani gets it. Here he is, courtesy of the NRO.

“I’ve had to watch two Democratic debates in order to prepare for mine, and I noticed something: All those hours of debating, and not once did they mention Islamic terrorism…. Did they think it wouldn’t be p.c.? Did they think it would be insulting? When you say ‘Islamic terrorists,’ the only people you’re insulting are … Islamic terrorists. And, really, we don’t care if we insult them.”

Exactly. Now imaging Billary or Odumbo saying that.

How About an Anti Skull Fracture Bill

This poor child was certainly saved by the Anti-smacking Bill, what a relief. Oops, I meant to say

Barbarian not deterred from murdering a toddler by Sue Bradford's Bill

No one who would do this gives a rat's ass about Nanny's disapproval or whether section 87Z of the Nannny Will Get Extremely Cross Bill outlaws bashing in the brains of kid who's barely old enough to walk.

There, I said it.

I've supported GW Bush over the last several years because I believe both John Kerry and Al Gore are bloviating non-entities. I still think that, and I think the country would be worse off if either of them had been elected. I've put up with a lot of insults, derision and general anti-Yank sentiment in my new home because of my support for the president. I supported Bush while holding down my bile over his Nixonite domestic policy and his incessant ass kissing of his worst enemies because of one thing--there's an existential threat to civilization in the form of the latest variant of fascism. There's a war on, and I trusted him to get the job done. Instead, he's let himself get tied in knots by politcal correctness, less-than-half measures, inconsistency and an inexplicable willingness to let the incompetents at State and CIA run this war.

In other words, you've lost me, Mr. President and if you've lost me, I hate to think how many others are gone. You, sir, have proven yourself a knave and a fool, and I sincerely regret my support for you. If there is one consolation, and it would be a weak one, it's that the alternatives were worse,

It's Not Nice to Fool the Judge

Judges aren't known for for their sense of humour, and the one who sentenced Parisite to to the cooler obviously intended her to stay there. Back she goes, screaming for Mommy. One can only hope that he's also issued an order forbidding her to profit from her little stay by selling the story to the media. I wonder how much the sheriff got paid. Somebody ought to have a close look at his bank account.

There's a First Time for Everything

It's safe to say that Al Sharpton and I don't agree about much. But he's square on with this. It sound's so Leninist that I hate to say it, but this woman is truly a parasite. Paris Hilton is the mirror image of OJ Simpson. It's not about race, it's about money and if you have enough money in America, the law doesn't apply to you. Does anybody believe that a poor person with a DUI who showed up late for court wouldn't be staring at a cell wall for at least 30 days? This vicious, parasitical hag is laughing at you.

Goodbye and Good Luck to Clarity and Resolve

Clarity and Resolve is taking leave of the fight,hopefully temporarily. Patrick al-Kafir and the Hounds of Hell are heroes. Let's hope we see them again soon.

France Gets Real.

For those who mistook the French media and the left commentariat for the French people, the election of Nicholas Sarkozy is one of those surprises that periodically break upon the unobservant. Let those who mistake the views of the biacoastal American media for the views of Americans consider themselves warned.

Never mind that on an American political spectrum, Sarkozy would be slightly left of center. The point to grab here is, as Fred Thompson points out in the National Review, that French voters went to the polls under an unambiguous threat of violence by Islamists should they dare to vote for Sarkozy. To which the French gave a collective two-fingered salute and then did the right thing.

This is the latest of several signs that perhaps Europe is awakening from its socialist torpor, its post-modern ennui, and facing the existential threat represented by Islamist ideology. Denmark, the Netherlands, and now France have all had their had their multi-culti dreams rudely shattered by the cold reality of Islamist violence. Perhaps it isn't too late. After all, this is the nation of Charles Martel.

Not all MP's are flaming idiots, but this one is.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said that while a lot of gangs were involved in bad behaviour, not all of them were criminals.

"I'm not excusing any of the behaviour, it is totally unacceptable, but just like I'm not prepared to say that the police are all rapists I am also not prepared to say that all gangs are criminals."

Nope, some gangs are nice to puppies and old people, never walk on the daffodils, work nights at Starbucks and go to church on Sundays.

A Tui billboard in the making.

The Bloody Streets of Christchurch

Well, another bloody night in Christchurch. A combination of police incompetence and an obsession with softly, softly, gently handling the drunken thugs and psychopaths that own the city at night have led to dead and many injured.

Incompetence is a hard word, so let's look at it. First, the police should have cleared that party at the very first sign that there was underage drinking going on. They'd have had every right to so. Clearly, there were multiple criminal offenses committed before those two girls were murdered...disturbing the peace, obstructing traffic, drink driving, supplying alcohol to minors, assaulting police officers, unlawful assembly, at least. Anyone of these would have been enough for the police to clear that party an hour before. But no, they waited until murder was committed.

Second (and it'll be interesting to see whose account is true), the occupants of the house have told the Press that they asked police to disperse the outdoor crowd, having barricaded themselves inside with the invited guests. They also claim that the police then told them to send away the crowd. If this is true, it's outrageous.

Garry Moore can spread all the bullshit that he wants...Christchurch isn't safe after 9:00 PM on weekends and everybody knows it.

Blowhard of the Week

The hyperwealthy blowhard of the week is NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The mayor, whose personal net worth is in the near neighborhood of $10 billion, has some dandy ideas for helping the rest of us live righteously green lives. As the New York Post tells us, the Mayor wants the good people of Gotham to pay a $30 a year surcharge on their electric bills, be forced to switch to those expensive, dim, ugly fluorescent bulbs, and bear the cost of building code modifications. As Mayor Orwell puts it, the city will be "expanding programs to manage demand."

If this guy were merely thousands of times wealthier than the rest of us, I might be willing to lend an ear. But the Mayor lives, pretty much alone, in a 5 story 7,000 sq.ft. mansion. He also has houses in Bermuda, Vail and Connecticut when the strains of command get to be too much. Oh, and did I mention the TWO private jets? Look, he made his pile and he has every right to spend it any way he wants...divorce settlements, buying elections, whatever. But when comes to making economic decisions for everyone else, decisions that won't cost him the spare change from the sales tax on his dry cleaning bill, he should just stick his face in the same trough as Prince Charlie and Algore, and STFU.

Well, finally.

At last a politician somewhere who'll make the greenies choose between religions. What's it going to be oh green robed ones? Globalwarmenism or Antinuclearism? Good old John Howard. There are really only three choices, Green Ones, either we burn carbon, we split atoms or we turn off the lights.

Virginia Tech

A whacked out Korean kills 32 people then eats his own lead. The MSM has the predictable response---gun control. This of course begs the usual questions. First, psychopaths don't care about gun control laws. Second, if one of the victims had been armed, the whole affair likely would have ended very differently.

The BBC is Confused (Again).

Some times I think the BBC's site has been secretly hacked by The Onion. Or maybe they're just stupid, or maybe like most of the MSM, the BBC long ago gave up any pretence of professional journalism. Have a look at this story entitled "Confusion Over Iran's Intentions".

Right. There's a confession of complete journalistic incompetence. Iran, daily and in no certain terms, advises the world of its intentions. The confusion results from the refusal to take the mullahs and their squinting tool of a President at the plain meaning of their words.

Here's the Supreme Grand Poobah:""In case the enemies of Iran intend to use force and violence and act illegally, without a doubt the Iranian nation and officials will use all their capabilities to strike the invading enemies."

Now what exactly was confusing about the intentions expressed in that remark?

Here's the BBC:"It was an oddly defiant and hostile tone to strike for a new year speech." Well, no. Actually, that's the voice of sweet reason compared to the usual fire-and-blood. Perhaps the BBC is just indulging in a bit of British understatement.

Iran

What's this about? My own opinion is that when you add Ahmadi-Nejad's cancellation,the developingdust-up with the Brits, and the Iranians' continuous softening up of public opinion since last May for the inevitable withdrawal from the Non Proliferation Treaty and you come to the conclusion that Tehran has already decided that war is inevitable and probably imminent.

"Leaders" (and whacked out millenarian fanatics) like Ahmadi-Nejad don't lightly give up a chance to beard the Great Satan in his own living room. Think Khrushchev with his shoe pounding, Arafat with his pistol, Castro in his fatigues and Chavez with his comedy act.

Things could start going bang in the night very, very soon. This won't end well.

Autumn reruns

I was back over some old posts and found this one. I quite like it and I think it's still true. Those who defend Islamic racism need to consider just how much they personally are prepared to alter their behaviour in order to accomodate Muslim sensibilities.

"As some of my dissembling commentators know perfectly well, I'm not in the least concerned with private behavior. To clarify for the morally clueless: Are you, personally, prepared to give up drinking alcohol,eating pork or keeping a pet dog; if a woman, are you prepared to cover yourself from neck to ankle in public; if you are gay,are you prepared to go WAY back in the closet; or, if unmarried, to give up public displays of affection? Well, are you?

And those are just the things that offend moderate Muslims.

Why is it that people who have insisted on making a human rights issue out of the public display and public acceptance of their lifestyle at all times and in all places regardless of the offense caused are suddenly so reticent when it comes to Islamist sensibilities? Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

Blowhard Fatigue

First Al Gore, now Prince Charlie. It must be the week for hyperwealthy blowhards to tell the rest of us how to be virtuous. I've always known that underneath the liar (invented the Internet, inspired Eric Segal to write Love Story) and the lunatic (remember ALpha Male and Tipper's televised tonsil massage)lay gross hypocrisy.

Prince Charles, product of centuries of careful inbreeding, says why not just ban McDonald's? Very regal of you Chuck, shall we have them drawn and quartered as well?

This all began, at least in its modern, media friendly form with the arch-hypocrite John Lennon. I never liked the idea of some zillionaire stoner with a pink Rolls Royce and a nice piece of Manhattan real estate telling anyone else to "imagine no possessions".

Bush sounds retreat.

It's official. The neo-cons are out and Daddy's realists are in...and we all know what a great job they did..remember the "New World Order". Demoralised by the mid-term elections, the President has allowed himself and the country to get rolled by a sick alliance of cynical realists like Robert Gates and congentital idiots like Nancy Pelosi.

First, he cuts yet another deal with Kim Jong-il (Bouffant Boy really means it this time, then he decides he'll discuss Iraq with Boy Assad and the Mad Mullahs after all. We all know what's going to happen with the surge as well. They'll lay down enough firepower to pacify Baghdad for six months or so, declare mission accomplished, and slink home.

We'll live to regret this...at least those of us who don't get killed in the next wave of 9/11s.

Tariana Turia, Racist or Merely Stupid.

Never the sharpest tool in the shed, Tariana shows that she's either fundamentally racist or has the IQ of a penguin. Calling for limitations on immigration to New Zealand from "traditional sources" such as Canada and England (that would be white people for the subtext challenged), TT said this:

"No, we aren't playing the race card, because we are not talking about Asian immigration."

Nope, no racists in the Maori Party. And just when more than a few socially conservative voters were toying with giving them a party vote. Somehow, I don't think Pita Sharples would have said that.

Iraqi Prostitutes, NZ Sex Workers

TV One aired this CBS news report last night on Iraqi regugee women in Syria forced into prostituion through economic necessity. The report says that turning to prostitution is a "mark of desperation". Just so. Then why isn't it a mark of desperation when New Zealand women stand outside on Manchester Street every night? Why is it a lifestyle choice in Christchurch, but a humanitarian crisis in Damascus? Tim Barnett and all his enablers need to take a deep look inside their rotten souls.

Say goodnight, Joe.

Was that Joe Biden whistling past on his way to political oblivion? No one, and I mean no one, can sink a presidential candidacy faster than Joe Biden. Even pointy hat man David Duke and eco-nut Ralph Nader managed to stay in the race longer than Biden. Here he is on Barack Obama (see link to the Observer story above):

"Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

And I bet he's one of your best friends, too.

Dance, Hillary, Dance.

It's kind of fun watching Hillary dance around as she tries to figure out which the way wind is going to blow on the war. If she goes full tilt angry-left, she risks losing every vote that's more than 50 miles from either coast and not permanently resident on a university campus. If she backs the President, and he cocks up his last chance (something that's at least even money), BO and Edwards will outflank her on the left. If she does the "more in sadness than in anger" routine and starts voting to pull out, and there's another terrorist attack (something which also seems likely), she gets to follow John Kerry down the memory hole. I suppose there's always Option D-be a leader, just tell us what you really think and see if the people will follow you.

That of course would require a very un-Clintonian elevation of principle over ambition.

God Bless Barack Obama.

You gotta love Barack Obama. His initials are BO, his name sounds vaguely Muslim and his last name rhymes with Osama, his ears are a cartoonist's dream, he has less political experience than my cat, he's too black for the rednecks and not black enough for the race hustlers, but by Jove he's going for it. After BO announced his candidacy, Hilary looked like she swallowed something slimy. He can't win, but he can give the Angry Left somewhere to go besides Hil's place. They'll follow him off the cliff just like they followed McGovern and Humphrey and Nader and Gore and Dean and Kerry....

Heads Up, Assad

No need to link to or watch the Saddam snuff film. I looked at the official one...I truly think that he didn't believe until the floor dropped away that they'd really do it.

Cremate him and use his ashes in the butt tray at the cigar bar in the Peninsula.

Swinging Saddam

Saddam to the gallows.

The real utility of stretching the Saddamite neck is the salutary effect that it will hopefully have on Boy Assad and various other jihadist enablers. The lesson for them is that regardless of what chaos and bloodshed may follow, if you provoke us enough, you personally will be on the gibbet. Make no mistake, they're watching.

John Kerry : Idiot.

The Dems must be wishing that John Kerry would just go away or maybe start campaigning for the Republicans. Everytime he issue some lame non-apology, he digs the hole a little deeper, shoves the foot towards his larnyx.

Check outthe "apology":

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform and I personally apologize to any service member, family memebr or American who was offended."

The problem of course is that that there wasn't any misinterpretation. The plain of meaning of his words could not have been misunderstood, and he didn't imply anything...he said directly that anyone serving in Iraq is there because they're either stupid, uneducated or lazy. Way to go Mr. Nuance.

Kerry's problem is that he lives with one foot in Zillionaireland and the other in 1970.

Bad Options and Worse Ones

North Korea's nuclear weapon leaves civilization with only bad options and worse ones. We've only ourselves to blame: 20 years of feckless American diplomacy, 20 years of Chinese encouragement and acquiesence, have brought us to this point. It's too late for a military solution and far too late for a political one. It is near inevitable that Japan will complete its own nuclear weapons program. South Korea will either follow suit or put its head even further in the sand. Having let Pyongyang build and explode a weapon, our impotence in regard to Tehran or any other third world shithole with an internet connection, two electricians, and a plumber is now obvious.

A least bad option? Call Hu Jintao and tell him that unless he puts the very hard word on Kim and backs it up--now--with action, the the United States will publically announce that it, in the current strategic environment, can no longer in good conscience object to a nuclear armed South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. What could China realistically do? For a start, Beijing could close down all North Korean connected businesses in Macau. NoKo trading and shipping companies in Macau act as Kim's defacto overseas banking and trade arm. The North Korean Embassy in Beijing should be closed. Again NoKo embassies in large part exist as smuggling operations for drugs and counterfeit currency, and Beijing has the biggest one.

Not much, but thanks to the studpidity of three successive American presidents, it's all we've got.

North Korea Tests Nuke?

Matt Drudge is reporting via AP and South Korean media that Bouffaint Boy has lit off a nuclear weapon.

Now what?

Nanny Must Be So Disappointed

Nanny Helen must be bitterly disappointed that after all work pretending that she thinks the UN is worth a rat's ass, they pass her over for Secretary General. I'm sort of bummed about it, too. At least she wouldn't have been a corrupt African quango, an unrepentant Nazi or the loser foreign minister of an Arab dictatorship. Also, if they'd picked Helen, New Zealand would have finally seen the back of her.

Asian Proliferation

If I were Hu Jintao,this would have me more than a little vexed. If North Korea does test a nuclear device, the only rational strategic response for Japan and South Korea is to do the same. On a list of things that China does not want to see in international politics, a nuclear Japan had got to come in at number 2, maybe even tied for first with an independent Taiwan.

From China's point of view North Korea must be like an ugly and unpleasant dog that the kids left behind when they went away to college. It snarls at the postman, barks all night, bites you when you pet it and shits on the carpet, but you just can't quite bring yourself to throw the damn thing into the river.

Didn't Work Then, Won't Work Now.

The Investors Business Daily has this editorial on the departure of arch-scumbag and congenital idiot Mark Foley. The Democrats have covered up, protected and preserved the careers of at least four of their number, including Bill Clinton, in the face of sex scandals as bad as or worse (in the case of Garry Studds) than Foley's. I'm sure this was intended as an October surprise. The benefit to Republicans of course is that they can point to their own condemnation, censure and probable prosecution of Foley in contrast to the Democrats' excusing their own creeps.

It's exactly like the Democrats sudden revelation of W's 30 year old DUI while the Chivas soaked Ted Kennedy remains an elder statesman. After all Ted only killed someone in his own alcoholic haze. Meanwhile Kennedy's degenerate nephew and Democratic Congressman goes racing around Washington soaked to the eyeballs in Scotch and tranquilisers. The voters smell hypocrisy a mile away...didn't work then, won't work now.

Well, I Guess That's It Then.

ViaMatt Drudge, it seems the Senate is now "in play".

Yep, a little more wishful thinking by the NYT, a few more felonies committed by Democrat supporters in the CIA or State, a few more smear jobs on George Allen (Did you ever try to put a deer head in a mailbox?), a few more psychotic episodes from Bill, and that should do it... a permanent Republican majority that is.

The hatchet job that the Wapo and the NYT are trying to pull on Allen is straight out of an old Soviet disinformation handbook. Get someone to make an outrageous statement (or just make it up), plant the story (Questions have emerged about.....), the wire services pick it up (The New York Times reported today that....)

It's sleazy, unprofessional, and so NYT. Welcome to the new Pravda.

Psychocrats

What is it with Democrat ex-Presidents and ex-almost-Presidents and loser candidates going loonier than a zoo after leaving office. As Mark Levin points out in the NRO, Bill Clinton is certifiable. Add to that Al Gore's lunatic rants, Howard Dean's primal screaming, and Jimmy Carter's paranoid fantasies, you get the picture that thorazine should be a big part of the Democrat primary process. The last Democrat to just go away and leave us alone was Lyndon Johnson, although he was about as stable as Macbeth, having taken over from the drug-addled sex addict Kennedy. OK, Nixon was no picture of mental health, but for the most part Republicans are sane to the point of boring.

Break Over.

I've been away and been busy. A lot of idiocy has occurred while I was taking a nap. John McCain turns into bizarre cross betweenNelson Rockefeller and Neville Chamberlain, Islamofascists see no irony at all for wanting to behead the Pope for suggesting that Islam might just have an anger problem, the Israeli government gets suckered by the UN one more time. On the other hand, Billy's little tantrum on Fox, the possibility that Osama may have died in his cave, paralysed, shitting himself and gasping for breath, and ever increasing signs that maybe the West is opening one eye to the new fascism help balance the ledger a little bit.

The UN Does What It Does Best..Nothing.

This would be funny if it weren't so pathetically stupid. The Secretray General, rising to ever more precious heights of obstructionism and hypocrisy says:

"It is not expected to achieve by force what must be realized through negotiation and an internal Lebanese consensus," Annan said in a report to the UN Security Council on implementation of the Aug. 11 resolution calling for an end to the Israeli-Hizbullah conflict."

Thirty years of negotiation has brought us to the point of war. Earth to Kofi:

THE WHOLE ISSUE IS THAT THERE ISN'T AND PRBOBABLY NEVER WILL BE ANY "INTERNAL LEBANESE CONSENSUS."

Security will be achieved by force or it won't be achieved at all.

AP's Evasions

Here's the story from AP on the persons whose assets have been frozen by the bank of England in connection with the plot to commit mass murder in the sky. At the end, AP notesthat "many of the subjects had Muslim names". Of course that's not quite accurate. ALL of them, as in 100 per cent, had Muslim names. All right, there are a few non-Muslims with Muslim names, but I'll wager George Soros' dividend cheque that none of these lads went to mass yesterday. Here's the list: not a Seamus, Billy Bob, Juan or Sven among them. What could possibly be the point in pretending any further that this is not a Muslim problem?

1.ALI, Abdula, Ahmed

2. ALI, Cossor

3. ALI, Shazad, Khuram

4. HUSSAIN, Nabeel

5. HUSSAIN, Tanvir

6. HUSSAIN, Umair

7. ISLAM, Umar

8. KAYANI, Waseem

9. KHAN, Assan, Abdullah

10. KHAN, Waheed, Arafat

11. KHATIB, Osman, Adam

12. PATEL, Abdul, Muneem

13. RAUF, Tayib

14. SADDIQUE, Muhammed, Usman

15. SARWAR, Assad

16. SAVANT, Ibrahim

17. TARIQ, Amin, Asmin

18. UDDIN, Shamin, Mohammed

19. ZAMAN, Waheed

"We are at war with Islamic fascism"

W has uttered the truth at last. There is no war with some amorphous thing called terrorism. There is a war with the murderous proponents of an ideological movement, its state sponsors and its enablers. Islam in these terms is not a religion. It's an expressly political enterprise, an ideology and one that's practiced by an indentifiable group of people who can be located and dealt with as required.

When the names of the arrested are known, the list won't contain any Muellers, Mulligans, McDonalds, Matsumotos, Mas, Munoz's or Moskowitzs. There will be a number of Mohammads. They won't be of of Swedish, Burmese, Korean, Ugandan or Jamaican origin. They will be from Pakistan, Bangladesh or some other country that has Islam as a state ideology.

The next step is to demand that Muslims who want to live and let live disown the fascists among them.

A good question.

As noted first by Cartoon Nazi, there were 29 US senators who voted with the White House on the war. Only one of them is Jewish. Only one of them was particularly singled out by the moonbat left for defeat. Why not any one of the other 28?

Good news, but sad news.

Joe Lieberman's loss in the Connecticut primary and Cynthia McKinney's melt-down in Georgia are both good news. McKinney was barking mad and a racist at that, so good riddance whether a Democrat or a Republican ultimately takes her seat. Lieberman's demolition by the angry left is sign of the Democratic Party's further marginalization. Remember that this is the man who saved Bill Clinton's presidency, and who was deemed worthy to carry the party's banner as a vice-presidential candidate. Now the Democrats' moonbat wing has forced him from the party in what can be fairly described as a purge. As a conservative, I must admit that the spectacle of the party of FDR and John Kennedy turing into the party of wealthy eccentrics like Al Gore and Michael Moore, dimbulbs and dilettantes like John Kerry, Chivas-soaked has-beens like Ted Kennedy, and nutcases like Cindy Sheehan engenders a bit of schadenfreude. But as an American, I find it sad. The Democrats are headed for schism, and the Republicans will be the stronger for it, but politics in America will be the poorer. In a way this reflects the end of a Cold War consensus on national security that perhaps should have ended with the Cold War. Perhaps it will lead to ideological realignment similar to the UK's Tories and New Labour, but the road to a new stability where ideological differences end where existential threats to the nation begin will be a long and unpleasant one.

Gone Troppo in Reuterville

In Reuterville, everything is a sign of global warming. Fromthis article:"SYDNEY (Reuters) - Rare, mother-of-pearl colored clouds caused by extreme weather conditions above Antarctica are a possible indication of global warming, Australian scientists said on Tuesday."

Then later in the same article:
"Nacreous clouds can only form in temperatures lower than minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 Fahrenheit).

Meteorologist Renae Baker said a weather balloon in the vicinity of the clouds in the stratosphere about 20 km (12 miles) above the Earth's surface measured temperatures as low as minus 87 Centigrade (minus 124.6 F).

"That's about as cold as the lowest temperatures ever recorded on the surface of the Earth," Baker, who photographed the clouds, said in a statement.

This is, what's the word, STUPID, even for global warming cultists, even in Reuterville.

Wellington Blows.

Nothing like a trip to Wellington to make one appreciate Christchurch. How did this place ever become the capital? The road network was designed by bored crack addicts with no regard to either the permanent torrential rain or the frequent landslides, the street lights seem to be powered by cheap batteries and give off a weak, useless pink glow that does nothing to penetrate the gloom. Everything seems kind of fungal and mouldy and the whole city smells like it has athlete's foot.

Parking is double the price in Christchurch and what little there is of it has been contracted out to a deranged scalper named "Wilson".

The vaunted Wellington dining experience is the same generic Asian crap, pub grub, and American fast-food that you can get in Bluff or Eketahuna.

Theairport was apparently designed to channel the roaring 40s wind straight across the runway.

South Island independence anybody?

Why the NYT and not the WSJ?

My frequent correspondent B. Shuai asks why we lambaste the poor NYT but not the "right-wing" Wall Street Journal. Actually we don't particularly care for the WSJ's chamber of commerce brand of conservatism either, but that's another story. The answer to Brother Shuai's question is

here.

Te Papa

Te Papa? I'm sorry, but this is NOT a museum, it's an arcade. All the worthwhile exhibitions cost extra--a lot extra-- and there's only enough parking for about a tenth of the suckers, I mean patrons, who are trapped there by the crappy weather.

Mr. Assad, this is your wake-up call.

You have to like this. The last time the Israelis buzzed Boy Assad's house the sonic boom broke the windows. Message: We know where you live.

It must really suck to be a Great Dictator and not be able to take a nap when you want to.

New York Times: Yawn.

The latest act of treason at the New York Times should have been anticipated. The NYT long ago stopped having anything original to say. They're more like the old Pravda or the Peoples Daily in that on any issue you know, without reading the story, exactly what the Times is going to say.

They used to be important, then they were deliberately obtuse and kind of patronizing, now they're just boring.

Stop, or we'll blow ourselves up.

"Hamas Sets Conditions For Soldier's Release"

Doesn't look to me like the bright boys in Gaza City are in any position to have conditions about anything.

Report an Unusual Animal to ABC

Tim Blair has a capital idea. Report any sightings of unusual animals to ABC News. Of course since Tim lives in a place where the all the animals are weird, it's easy for him.

I reported the hedgehog that I saw wearing a Hawaiian shirt yesterday. Global warming or just a hedgehog with a fever?

What If There's Already a Warhead?

I hope (but without much confidence) that someone besides me is thinking about this. What if Bouffant Boy has already put some kind of warhead on the missile that North Korea is about to test? What if BB has decided that a demonstration detonation in the Aleutians or somewhere in the north Pacific would be a dandy way to impress the world with his seriousness? What do we know: 1) the NoKo's have at least one weaponized fission device; 2) the NoKo's have at least one--but probably only one-- long range missile; 3) the NoKo's are led by a man whose world view is not, strictly speaking, firmly grounded in objective reality. Given those three facts, shouldn't we (by which I mean the West), be giving serious consideration to destroying the launch site? We know where it is, we can see it and we have all sorts of large explosive devices that can be delivered with great accuracy. (right, Zark? What was that? You're gurgling again.) We do not, a week from now, want to be explaining why Seattle will be uninhabited for the next 400 years due to fallout from one explosion somewhere in Alaska.

Just Shoot It Down

If Kim "Bouffant Boy" Jong-il goes ahead with his missile test, the United States and Japan should make every effort to shoot the thing down. I don't know whether we have any functioning component of SDI in the area, but if so this would be as good a time as any for a live test. What are North Korean's going to do, complain to the UN? Then again.....

Keep Your Eye on the Red Dot

"North Korea appeared close Sunday to test-firing a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States, prompting the White House to warn of an appropriate response and Japan to threaten a "fierce" protest to the United Nations."

Just listen for the loud bang, Bouffant Boy.

What was that? Rosebud? Raisins?

"He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a news conference."

Rot in hell.

He's Dead Alright.

In the immortal words of Billy Bob Thornton "He needed killin'."

Abu al-Zarqawi, Dead Man.

If this BBC story is correct, it's a great day. Rumours of this thug's demise have been exaggerated in the past however, so I'll hold off on the celebrating until I see some body parts. Maybe one of those jammed machine guns let him down. At any rate he was a murderous, psychotic sub-human and he died like a rat in a hole.

Just When You Think It Can't Get Worse

Nurse Martin has not been struck off.

Granted the conditions imposed means that she's unlikely to practice again, but why didn't the board just say that this person believes that it is permissable to take a human life if she thinks her victim is suffering too much, and so is utterly unfit to be a nurse...and especially unfit to work in critical care and intensive care, which is her specialization?

Just imagine, you're in intensive care after an accident, in terrible pain and just this side of the grave, but man, you do want to fight, you do want to live...and who walks in but Nurse Angel-of-Death.

Just let me know which hospital she winds up at so I can avoid it.

Hospital Waiting Lists a Problem? Call Nurse Martin

TVNZ has this story on would-be murderer Lesley Martin's hearing as to whether or not she should be struck off as a nurse. Why, surely there's no reason why a woman who did her best to murder her own mother as an act of "mercy" shoudn't be allowed to nurse other peoples parents. To quote from the story:

"Martin, who is a nurse, was found guilty of attempting to murder her mother by an overdose of morphine, and spent seven-and-a-half months in Arohata prison.

The Nursing Council referred Martin to the Tribunal after conducting an investigation that concluded her conduct might affect her fitness to practise as a nurse."

Got that? Being a euthanasia campaigner and trying to commit murder MIGHT affect her fitness to be a nurse.

What do these 12 people have in common?

1. Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto;
2. Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.;
3. Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga;
4. Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga;
5. Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga;
6. Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.;
7. Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston;
8. Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto;
9. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto;
10. Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, Toronto;
11. Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga;

According to the Mounties, nothing at all. They're just lads from the "broad spectra of society" who "for various reasons appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda." "Various reasons?" "Appear to to have become"? Let's see if it works better my way, twelve urban dwelling Muslims purchase three tons of ammonium nitrate, enough to take out a city block. Nah, just a coincidence I'm sure. Probably just wanted to plant some potatoes in the vegie patch. Broad spectra of society? As Michelle Malkin puts it, a regular Benetton ad. Yep, no way twleve bearded Muslim men who attended training camp together could have anything in common, and you sir, are racist and a knave for thinking otherwise.

A Correction

I'm back. It's been a busy and rather unpleasant few weeks here on the mountain. Never mind that though, I have a correction to make, No, no not of any my stuff..but of a certain mindset held by those on the left. Contrary to received wisdom, conservatives for the most part are not inclined to support "the party" or even Our Leader, when they do things that are overly ideologically unsound or, worse, things that are manifestly stupid. For that reason, the Republicans are highly likely to lose at at least one house of Congress in the upcoming election.

Whereas the Angry Left and their fellow travellers will donate to and vote for anyone, knave or fool, who is not the Other, conservatives will let their man or their party go down in flames rather than vote for someone who they believe takes them for granted or for fools.

Thus as W morphs into LBJ, his approval ratings plummet. Those aren't Democrats causing the numbers to go so low they'll soon have ro be measured on the Kelvin scale. Democrats, even nominal ones, were never on the positive side of that question. Those are conservatives voting with their bare or booted feet against a President and a party who have failed them on trade, failed them on the deficit, failed them on taxes, failed to prosecute the war, presided over a massive expansion of entitlements and corporate welfare and then took them for idiots during the immigration debate. Are American conservatives to be left with a choice between bad and worse?

Democrats should make W a saint. He's all but detroyed the house that Reagan built.

Listen and Remember

UA 93. The last words on this tape are "a puff of smoke".

Reverse Invasion

This is bloody brilliant. I love it. The US will agree to allow open immigration from Mexico if Mexico extends the same privilege to American and Canadian citizens. That includes the automatic right to free (and bilingual) education,the right to work, the unrestricted right to buy land (foreign nationals in Mexico are highly restricted in what sort of investments they're allowed), to start and own 100% of a company, automatic Mexican citizenship on a reciprocal basis, etc. We'll see who changes whose country.

Affleckted

Ben Affleck moves from being a mere John Kerry suckass to being utterly deranged. I hope the Secret Service is having a heart to heart with him.

Media Idiocy on Iran.

Not even the Telegraph is immune from MSM idiocy. Granted, the story and the real idiocy appeared in the Washington Post, the Telegraph should have reworded the misleading headline. The story purports to show that President Bush is planning a nuclear strike on Iran. All that really happened though is that among any number of military options presented to the White House (not to mention those short of military action), was one for the use of nuclear bunker-busting armaments. Since those options presumably range from doing nothing at all to an all out invasion, the limited use of a single tactical nuclear weapon would be in there someplace. One hopes it doesn't come to that, but if its a choice between an dangerous wacko who thinks he's the second coming of the hidden imam with a nuke in each hand, and a tactical strike, well I know what gets my vote.

Hamas and China

Vital Perspective is one of the few blogs to explore the links between Beijing and Islamists and China's hopes of using Islamism to harass and distract the US...as long as it doesn't include Muslims in Xinjiang of course. China has its own little Chechnya in waiting out there. I hope Zahar has time to get some suits made while he's in China.

Another Reason to Love John Howard

Mark Steyn has this from the almost the only world leader to tell the truth about Islam.

Don't Kill Zacarias Moussaoui.

Zacarias Moussaoui should be spared the death penalty. That's not a cry for mercy, it's a cry for justice. Justice dictates that he not get the martyrdom he craves. Justice dictates that he die old, sick,alone, and forgotten in the deepest hole in a federal prison somewhere in Montana or Idaho and then be buried, unmourned and unremarked in the same place. Let his name be erased. Let him go as a prisoner, a coward and a fool, as a fading symbol of the utter insignificance to civilisation of him and all his kind.

Your papers, please.

This needs the widest possible distribution. Tim Blair also a link.

University of Canterbury Staff: Good Riddance?

After all the pissing and moaning about academic freedom and the sacred arts, UC has laid off 8, count 'em 8, staff at the College of Arts. Frankly if they shut down the whole "Department" of American Studies, it would be no loss at all. Don't believe me? Take a look at the American Studies curriculum. Yep, I don't know how scholarship will endure without The Animal in Popular American Culture or Gender Busting and Other Radical Acts. How about all those panting to take "Hip Hop Culture"?

My personal favorite is The Body in American Culture where, I kid you not, Dr. Vernon Andrews will

marshal a variety of theoretical perspectives - race and ethnicity, feminism and queer theory, cultural studies and poststructuralism - in order to understand the importance of sport in society. It moves outside "traditional" academic texts and knowledges, employing sport biographies, movies, newsclips, sports pages and magazines to forge an understanding of contemporary issues on race and gender in America.

Oh yeah, sign me up for that.

Anybody see any history courses, you know, the ones that tell you what happened, when and why. Economics? Sorry, too many numbers. How about some study of US foreign policy or politics that goes beyond Bush hatred? No that would actually require someone to move beyond the cheap anti-Americanism that passes for political opinion around here.

Movies We'd Like to See

NRO writer James Robbins has a few movies we'd like to see those courageous folks in Hollywood make.

My personal favorite:
Ambush at Gush Katif: This film would dramatize the 2004 roadside attack in Gaza on a car driven by Israeli social worker and expectant mother Tali Hatuel. Two Palestinian gunmen rushed the vehicle and discovered that the driver was a pregnant woman — whereupon they pumped bullets into her stomach and face . . . and then pumped bullets into the face of her 11-year-old daughter . . . and into the face of her nine-year-old daughter . . . and into the face of her seven-year-old daughter . . . and into the face of her two-year-old daughter. The attackers were eventually shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. The next day, two Palestinian organizations, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committee, both claimed credit for the attack, and the official Voice of Palestine Radio called it a “heroic operation.” As an epilogue, the film would segue to the funeral for Hatuel and her daughters — which was interrupted when two more Palestinian gunmen, disguised as women, made it to the perimeter of the cemetery and opened fire on the mourners, including women and young children, who were sent scrambling behind parked cars and concrete barriers. Both gunmen were again shot dead by Israeli soldiers on hand to protect the crowd . . . and Islamic Jihad again claimed credit for the incident.

And another thing....

As some of my dissembling commentators know perfectly well, I'm not in the least concerned with private behaivior. To clarify for the morally clueless: Are you, personally, prepared to give up drinking alcohol; if a woman, to cover yourself from neck to ankle in public; if gay, to go WAY back in the closet; or, if unmarried, to give up public displays of affection? Well, are you? And those are just the things that offend moderate Muslims.

Why is it that people who have insisted on making a human rights issue out of the public display and public acceptance of their lifestyle at all times and in all places regardless of the offense caused are suddenly so reticent when it comes to Islamist sensibilities? Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

And what about YOU?

For all those who criticised the printing, posting and dissemination of the Mohammad cartoons, two questions:

1. How much are you, personally, prepared to do to accomodate Islamic sensibilities? Think about it before you answer. A lot of things you, personally, like to do, eat, drink, read, say, wear and think sorely offend Muslims.

2. Would you, personally, sign your name to a caricature of Jesus, Buddha, Mary or Krishna and post it where it would be certain to be seen? Now, what about Mohammed?

Global Warming Strikes Again.

More evidence of global warming. Bring your snow shovels.

Get out the chisels.

Michelle Malkin finds an image of Big Mo in an interesting place......the United States Supreme Court.

Buy a Dane a Drink

Long Live Denmark. They pounded the Gestapo, and they're pounding the Islamofascists, too.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

My favorite so far. I'll take it down when the Arab press stops printing racist cartoons about Jews. Courtesy of Silent Running.

Pajama Media vs. Mullahs and the State Department

It would also be wrong not put this up. There is no right to be shielded from satire in a democracy.

Mohammed Who?

It would be wrong NOT to link to this.Perhaps these cartoons will finally cause Muslims and the West to get a grip on what's really important.

Running Hot and Cold.

Now I get it. Global warming causes global cooling.
This from the Guardian:

"The powerful ocean current that bathes Britain and northern Europe in warm waters from the tropics has weakened dramatically in recent years, a consequence of global warming that could trigger more severe winters and cooler summers across the region, scientists warn today."

Viva Italia!

At last a European country with guts when it comes to Muslims. The NRO has this account of the Italian reaction to Iran's threats of genocide against Israel. Maybe the French will join in once its indigenous Muslims have finished burning down Paris...after all, even the Nazis never did that.

Bloody Typical.

This is typical of the New Zealand approach to bad behaiviour and, indeed, to crime in general. Instead of dealing harshly to offenders, let's inconvenience everyone else. In reponse to boorish drunken louts harassing others at cricket matches, New Zealand cricket will segregate families from drunks. So, if I want to take my kids to the cricket, I can't just buy a ticket and sit where I want, if I'm worried about some lager soaked idiot yelling obscenities into my ear. And here, I thought the law required drunks to be tossed out on their ass.

Drunk driving? Instead of locking up habitual drunk drivers, confiscating their cars, and banning them from driving for life, it's of course easier to make it impossible for anyone to have a couple of pints after work and then drive home.

Street crime? Instead of announcing that civilised societies don't surrender their parks and their inner cities to thugs at sundown and then putting enough cops on the street to make it happen, let's just warn everyone to take care, and maybe stay at home as well.

Property crimes? Instead of declaring someone a habitual criminal after three (or 5, or even 10) convictions and sending them down for a long stretch, after 60 or so convictions we'll consider locking up the crims for a few months. Maybe the victims can meet with their burglar for some "restorative justice". Restorative justice is sending the bastards to the darkest hole in New Zealand for a significant and highly unpleasant experience.

The Grinning Face of Evil

Silent Running has Zombietime's pictures of the urban left's celebration of the 2000th American death in Iraq. Look at the smiles on their well made-up faces as they mug and caper and think about the post rally Chardonnay while their fellow citizens sweat and die and dream of clean water. This is disgusting. I can only wish for them to be reborn in bin Laden's world.

Dominos ain't just a pizza.

And down they go....Iraq, Lebanon, Syria....just like W. said they would. Brother Mubarak isn't looking too well these days either. Maybe we should send Saddam into exile in France, Assad and Mubarak can follow on. They could get a nice apartment in the 5th. They could play bridge every day with Baby Doc Duvalier, of course they'd all cheat.

I feel a little sorry for Boy Assad, he never wanted to inherit the family strongman business anyway.

Say Goodnight, George.

In the "Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy" category, the facts of George Galloway's secret life as one of Saddam Hussein's paid apologists have come to light. The Telegraph, among others, has the story.

Come on, you just knew it was true all along, didn't you?

Princess Pinhead

If ever there was a tradition that needed dumping on the compost heap of history, it's the whole idea of royalty. Why should these people be any more entitled to have their boneheaded opinions respected than, say, Paris Hilton or Tariana Turia, just because their ancestors managed to steal most of the real estate in some corner or another of the planet. Princess Irene (Irene?) of the Netherlands has suggested that the West should "open negotiations with al-Qaeda. Perhaps the royal moonbat would like to join Osama's harem as well.

Lest We Forget Them

Of the three great marshals of the Cold War, Margaret Thatcher is the last survivor. Ronald Reagan and John Paul II were the others. These three rallied the free peoples of the world against a ideological and physical menace no less mortal, pervasive, remorseless and relentless than was Fascism. Where are those who would rally us now against Islamism?

In the Meantime....

In the meantime, here's someone who does deserve a Nobel prize.

Nobel Peace Prize

And the Nobel Prize for anti-Americanism, lying through one's teeth, corruption, thuggery, empire building, and pedantic, irritating behaviour (oh, Peace they call it) goes to Mohammad (Call me Closeau) el-Baradei and his bureaucracy over at the IAEA. This is the guy who completely missed fully developed nuclear weapons programs in North Korea, Libya, and Iran; who allowed AQ Khan to run his Nukes-R-Us operation in Pakistan; who failed to catch Saddam's second nuclear program in the late 80's; who never lifted a finger to stop unemployed Soviet bomb designers from plying their trade anywhere they pleased.

Other notable winners include Kofi Annan and the UN, who managed it just as the true multi-billion extent of UN corruption became clear; Le Duc Tho and Henry Kissinger for making Indochina safe for Pol Pot; Mikhail Gorbachev for knowing when to cut his losses; Yasser Arafat, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin for general and historic thuggery, excellence in military dictatorship, and terrorism; David Trimble and John Hume for releasing convicted IRA terrorists back into society while Sinn Fein was still plotting ethnic cleansing in Ulster; Jimmy Carter for a failed presidency and being a general pain in the ass; and my personal favorite, Rigoberta Menchu Tum.

Remember her? Thought not. She won the prize for the originally titled book, "I, Rigoberta Menchu" in which she detailed atrocities inflicted on her family by Guatamalan authorities, including the death of her brother from starvation. Problem was, her brother turned up alive and well and pointed out that Rigoberta had made the whole thing up. Never mind, it could have been true.

The Literature prize has some real winners too, but that's a subject for another day.

More on Harriet Who?

Charles Krauthammer joins the dump Hattie brigade. He's spot on when he compares Harriet Miers to Nixon crony G. Harold Carswell.

What Does a Guy Have to Do To Go to Jail Around Here?

Nanny's little helpers spend a lot of time and the MSM spends a lot of ink wondering why there's so much crime, especially the burglary, dairy robbery, purse snatching, graffitti scribbling, boy racing, village idiot level crime that fills those little side bars in the papers. Here's a hint. How about the failure to lock up recidivist crims after their third, or tenth, or fiftieth, or sixty-fifth conviction?

This is ridiculous even by New Zealand standards. Young Joshua Lukic has finally been sent down at the tender age of 17 after admitting to 62 crimes between 2002 and 2004, plus eight convictions in adult court. Even making the highly dubious assumption that this is the extent of Lukic's crime wave, the public can be forgiven for wondering why this little thug was still walking the streets.

Maybe "three strikes and you're out" is a bit harsh, but how about, say, "10 strikes and you're out". In a moment of masterful understatement, the Probation Service said that it's "sceptical of Lukic's attitude to rehabilitation."

Don't Confirm Harriet Miers.

It took Osama bin Laden to save George W. Bush's presidency. There, I said it. I'm as conservative as one can be here in Godzone without being arrested for thought crimes, and I have swallowed much principle to support W because I believed (and still do) that his leadership is needed if civilization is to triumph over Islamofascism. His domestic policies however have been erratic and unprincipled to the point of stupidity. Now however he has committed an error of judgement so gross as to cost him the support of his greatest well wishers.

In nominating the unqualified and unserious Harriet (Harriet who?) Miers to the Supreme Court, he has betrayed his party, the cconservative cause, and worst of all, the Constitution. What did he do, throw a dart at a list of his cronies? George Will has the best and most stinging take on this, but the conservative blogosphere is on fire with criticism. If Harriet Who? has a single conservative bone in her body, she withdraw her name and urge the president to nominate any of tens of thousands of more qualified people.

Barbara's Global Weather Emergency

Well known geophysicist and famous person, Barbara Streisand declares a global warming emergency. I hope she's right because my I am freezing my ass off here on the mountain.Hurry up will you?

John and Yoko's Bogus Adventure

John and Yoko-The Musical. Won't this woman ever go away? Not as long as there's still a buck to be wrung from aging hippies. The real story, just waiting to be told is how two of the most banal, pretentious, and narcissistic people on the planet managed to find each other--and without the Internet. I never cared much for some mega-bucks stoner in a pink Rolls-Royce telling ME to imagine no possessions.

It's About Time.

Finally, some law enforcement agency has saidwhat what everyone knows to be true, instead of inconveniencing an entire population or blowing the heads off poor Brazilian electricians, the police are going to concentrate on searching the people who are known for a fact to be the problem. As the good Constable put it, "We aren't going to waste time searching old white ladies."