Fanfare for democracy
at Adam Keiper's. Beautiful.

Don't miss also

Magical thinking at the Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann wrote his novel The Magic Mountain after a stay at Davos. Back then, a stay at Davos was a matter of life-and-death. The sanatoria have closed, to give way to the glamorous, magical-thinking stars.

Look, there's Angelina Jolie! Angelina, how is the world faring on the health and human rights fronts? Oh, my gosh! It's Bono! Bono, what needs to be done about African poverty? Hey, Richard Gere and Sharon Stone, how can we tackle the AIDS crisis?

Scott points out the press even covered doodling at Davos.

After all this seriousness, the MSM can look forward to covering Michael Jackson's trial.

Arthur has the 20th edition of Good news from Iraq.
Among them,

In other recent security successes: the arrest of 50 suspected insurgents, including 17 wanted individuals near Kirkuk; discovery of yet another significant arms cache at Al Montessim; rounding up 25 suspects and weapons near Ad Duluiyah; rounding up more suspects and weapons around Mosul; detention of 36 suspects around Kirkuk, 36 suspects throughout Al Anbar province and 19 near Balad; detention by Iraqi police of a senior insurgent operating an illegal checkpoint in Baghdad; 59 suspects being rounded up throughout the Anbar province; and 42 suspects detained in the Mosul area. Lastly, "in eight separate locations near the Iraqi town of Latifiyah, Task Force Baghdad troops and Iraqi Army Soldiers uncovered a huge cache of weapons, munitions and explosives on Jan. 23... Thousands of small arms ammunition and hundreds of artillery, anti-aircraft and mortar rounds were uncovered west of the north Babil town. Hutton said the task force continues to uncover more munitions in the area, about 35 miles south of the Iraqi capital, putting a dent in any violent plans laid by insurgents."

And lastly, while Ukraine might be withdrawing its troops from Iraq after the election, its security services have made a considerable contribution to Iraq's security by preventing an $800 million deal to buy weapons and ammunition for terrorists in Iraq.

As someone said, failure is an orphan, success has many mothers. I wonder how long it'll take for the UN to take the credit.

As far as the news coverage, Deacon loved Geraldo. Now compare that transcript with France2's coverage of Dan Rather going nowhere near a polling place in Bagdad. (go to Journal de 20h Voir la vidéo, 5 minutes into the broadcast).

Barcepundit shows the ink-stained finger. He also says

OF COURSE NOT ALL, but some people in Spain can't fathom that, unlike what happened in Madrid on the general election on March 14, 3 days after the terrorist attacks, there's a dignified response to Islamofascism.

Take a look at the photos.

In quasi-related news, don't miss Jack's Carnival of the Commies and the reactions to the Iraqi elections.

From the Department of the Obvious
GOP negativity on Corzine isn't positive

Maybe they ran out of positive negativity.

What the hey's the matter with HamColl??
Here at the humble abode in The Principality we count two HamColl alumni, The Husband, and the Father-in-law (now deceased). We've attended alumni reunions, given money, and had a favorable impression of the school and its alumni. I don't exaggerate when I say that many, many Hamilton Alumni have become financially successful and very generously support the school's annual drive. The Husband and I were even looking forward to third-generation HamColl alumni.

Not any more.

Here's why: Hamilton College brings another controversial speaker. They're going ahead with the Ward Churchill lecture. Even Churchill's wife is invited, I assume with all expenses paid by the Kirkland Project. Last month the Kirkland Project invited ex-convict Sue Rosenberg to teach a course at the school on memoir writing. She later withdrew from the position.

Dennis has a picture of Ward Churchill in full Che drag. Belgravia Dispatch examines Ward's views, particularly the following, which he wrote on September 12, 2001 (Any visitors to this blog who want to read Ward's words at his website are free to google him. I'm not wasting time linking)

The [Pentagon] and those inside comprised military targets, pure and simple. As to those in the World Trade Center: Well, really. Let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire--the 'mighty engine of profit' to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved--and they did so both willingly and knowingly. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it."

Hey, Ward, I worked in downtown NYC for many years. It could have been me in that building.

As for HamColl, it can invite whatever many Che-wannabe-impersonators/colorful characters it wants. But as far as I'm concerned, my support has ended. They obviously don't need the gains from my enslavement to the "technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire".

Exciting day in the news
because of the Iraqi polling. Reuters says,

Even in the so-called "triangle of death," an insurgent hotbed south of Baghdad, turnout was solid, officials said.

In a somewhat related item, Reuters says BBC apologises for misinterpreting Iraqi death stats:

The BBC apologised on Saturday for erroneously reporting that U.S.-led and Iraqi forces may be responsible for the deaths of 60 percent of Iraqi civilians killed in conflict over the last six months.

The Beeb: Not fake, but innacurate?

Back to the election news, don't miss this morning's NY Times slideshow, which starts with a dad voting while holding his baby.

In addition to the Instapundit round-ups, Roger L. Simon started by live-blogging the cable news reports; Jeff Jarvis has military and Iraqi links; Arhtur's readers add their input. Friends of Democracy (via Samizdata) has information on the candidates and the elections.

Don't miss Wizbang's caption contest.

We are seeing wonderful things: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the elections in Afghanistan, the elections in Iraq. We live lives of privilege, and I'm thankful for our country, and for the people in the Service.

Iraqi election roundups
From Jersey bloggers Jane and Jeff, and Jack examines the use of the passive voice.

Arthur comments.

Chirac wants to raise your taxes
was the title of my September 21, 2004 post,

Jacques Chirac, arguably one of the most corrupt politicians of all time, yesterday gave a speech at the UN (that paragon of transparency) proposing to harness globalisation with a new "ethic for globalization". The new ethic takes the form of a proposed $50 billion global tax on financial transactions, greenhouse gas emissions, arms sales, airline tickets and credit card purchases.

Back then Jacques reasoned,

"It is up to us to give globalisation a conscience," he said. "There is no future in globalisation that tolerates predatory behaviour and the hoarding of its profits by a minority. There is no future in globalisation that destroys the social and economic balances, crushes the weak and denies human rights."

Considering Jacques's own financial history, I found it interesting that he'd bring up "predatory behaviour and the hoarding of its profits" at all, but I digress. The tax idea fell flat -- even the French didn't like it. Now Jacques is back with more of the same, but this time he wants the Tobin Tax to go towards AIDS relief, too, a cause Jacques hopes will make the tax more appealing.

Less grandiose measures, such as clean water, free trade, and lifting the ban on DDT would probably improve living conditions in poor countries faster and more efficiently than any tax.

EU Referendum comments

But then, if President Chirac really wanted to help the developing world, he and his country would not stand in the way of all attempts to make trade in agricultural goods free. Nor would France support every EU anti-dumping regulation. He would also support lifting all duty that is now placed in quite disproportionate degree on imports from developing countries.

The Economist realizes theineffectiveness of the Tobin Tax

. But in a hastily arranged speech delivered only hours earlier, Mr Chirac seemed to attempt to grab from Mr Blair (and Mr Brown) the intellectual lead on at least the second of those issues, by proposing new “international taxes or levies” to be used directly to finance development. For a start, he said, there should be an experimental levy to finance the fight against AIDS.

To what would this “international solidarity levy”—which Mr Chirac said could raise $10 billion a year—be applied? He had several suggestions: a very low rate of tax on international financial transactions, perhaps; a contribution by countries that maintain bank secrecy (hello, Switzerland) to compensate for the tax evasion they thereby facilitate; a tax on the use of fuel in transport by air or sea (which surely contributes to climate change); or even, say, a $1 levy on each of the 3 billion plane tickets sold each year worldwide.

This would not be, insisted Mr Chirac, that old French favourite, the “Tobin tax”, as proposed by the late Nobel prize-winning economist, James Tobin. But in the case of the levy on financial transactions, that is exactly what it would be. Such a tax has well-known disadvantages. It wrongly assumes that no cost would arise from the reduced liquidity in financial markets that would surely result. It also requires that all governments co-operate in levying the tax (unlikely, you might suppose); otherwise financial transactions would simply shift to non-co-operating countries.

Jacques made his speech via videolink. One wonders if he'll get to meet Angelina, Sharon, and Bono after all that mental effort.

Whitman's sampler
From Roberto,

Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind research center did a poll of New Jersey voters, asking them to pick the best and worst New Jersey governor. The poll respondents were asked to pick from a list of the six most recent governors: Richard Hughes, Brendan Byrne, Tom Kean, Jim Florio, Christie Whitman and Jim McGreevey. Tom Kean got the highest percentage for best governor and in a shocking upset, Christie Whitman tied Jim McGreevey for worst governor. I say "upset" because even though I really don't like the two of them, I would have picked Jim Florio, but "flim-flam Florio" was picked as third worst governor.

I would have picked "Comeback Kid" McGreevey and "Tax-the-toilet-paper" Florio for the top 2 spots. At least Whitman doesn't have an arena named after her . . . yet. Betsy blogged about the survey, and has a link to Patrick Ruffini's article, comparing the GW Bush re-election to Whitman's. Will Franklin speculates,

One wonders if Whitman wrote most of her book prior to November, expecting the President to lose, so she could swoop in and claim that she knew what direction to take the GOP. When Bush won, one wonders if Whitman had to go back and edit the book to be less embarrassing to her.

Ed Driscoll links to a photo of Whitman and Jimmy Carter laying flowers at Arafat's grave. Not the best of company, in my opinion. Joe predicts more Whitman book tour appearances,

Watch for her upcoming appearances on Lou Dobbs, The Daily Show (oi), and, at some indefinite point in the future, check her out on Air America radio, on 60 Minutes, in The New York Times, in Michael Moore's next film: The Evils of Fat, Rich, White Men Who Aren't Me, in her new Prius, wherever the nearest non-fat double-tall low-foam half-caf latte can be found, and at Ted Kennedy's next soiree.

Meanwhile, even the RINOs are in the picture.

Still Revulsed by Pérez-Reverte
Last January 16 I wrote about an article written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte in a Spanish newspaper. The article was supposed to be humorous, but it bombed. I was particularly annoyed by this paragraph (my translation),

But just take a look at this season. In order to arrive in Spain, the Kings must cross the Orient, as always. And that's all f*ck*d up. They have to cross the Tigris and the Euphrates without having the American Marines liberate them from themselves, as the Marines have done with the rest of Iraq, and spraying them with bullets as they ride by. But then, if the Magi survive those sons of b*tch*s, they'll still have to deal with other sons of b*tch*s a little nearer to us here; as they [the Magi] cross Israel they'll deal with the sons of b*tch*s with side curls, and yarmulkes on their noggins, and rifles and Markava tanks protecting their backs; or the son of a b*tch who's wearing a munitions vest (chaleco de cloratita note: the word cloratita is a new word to me, but in context, I take it to mean munitions vest) of the Allah Akbar variety, and so long suckers.

and posted my reaction,

Where do I start to describe why I find the above paragraph offensive? Do I start with the cultural note on the Iraqis being "saved from themselves", as if murderous dictators were exclusive to that country? Do I look at the murderous Marines statement? Do I wonder about any depths to that anti-Americanism? How about that anti-Semitic, Judeophobic cliché, lifted right off the worst propaganda? In the interest of fairness, do I bother wonder what the average Palestinian would think of that portrayal? Do I show annoyance at the gratuitous mocking of a religious holiday? Or do I ponder the moral equivalency of it all?

Clearly I wasn’t the only one annoyed. Other bloggers wrote about it, among them Roger L. Simon, who wrote Resigning from "The Club Dumas" - More Racism from "Old Europe". Aapparently APR’s agents and friends received a flood of emails and instant messages protesting APR’s attitude.

Pérez-Reverte has replied with El domingo que fui Goebbels The Sunday I was Goebbels (link via Barcepundit), and he’s sticking to his guns. He starts the article by saying,

Me telefonean mi agente norteamericano, Howard Morhaim, y Daniel Sherr, y algunos amigos argentinos, franceses y españoles, todos judíos hasta las cachas, para decirme qué pasa,
(my translation:) My American agents, Howard Morhaim and Daniel Sherr, and several Argentenian, French, and Spanish friends, all Jewish to the hilt, called, asking what’s the matter

Consciously or not, with this opening sentence APR starts by making sure we know
1. he has Jewish friends.
2. the people complaining are Jewish.

I don’t need to go into the bigotry shown by the statement “some of my friends/best friends are [fill ethnic/religious group]”.

As to the people complaining, Mr. Pérez-Reverte is cordially invited to read this blog. Like millions of people of Spanish origin, there’s a high probability that back in the Dark Ages or Middle Ages my ancestors were Jewish/Muslim/Visigoths/Roman/Celts, even when the last 5 generations or so of my family are/were Catholic (some have strayed to other faiths or agnosticism.) It is "I" who's complaining. I'm not Jewish. I didn’t get the article through an email chain, or through instant messaging., I read it directly from the ABC/El Semanal website. The point I want to make clear is that I'm not blindly following anyone's lead; I'm voicing my opinion.

No, not all the people complaining are Jewish.

In the new article Pérez-Reverte mentions that some TV commenter called APR Goebbles and Himler, for which he's right to be outraged. The woman who did so on TV should lose her job.

On to the second paragraph,

Que el 2 de enero publiqué un artículo en el que, entre otras cosas, apuntaba que en Israel hay ---se sobreentiende que entre otras--- dos variedades que detesto: “Hijo de puta ultra con trenzas, kipá en el cogote, escopeta y tanque Merkava guardándole las espaldas, o hijo de puta con chaleco de cloratita en la variedad Alá Ajbar y hasta luego Lucas
(my translation:) That, on January 2, I published an article in which, among other things, I noted that in Israel there are – among others, it is understood – two varieties that I hate: “the sons of b*tch*s with side curls, and yarmulkes on their noggins, and rifles and Markava tanks protecting their backs; or the son of a b*tch who's wearing a munitions vest of the Allah Akbar variety, and so long suckers.”

As I noted before, APR uses an anti-Semitic, Judeophobic cliché, lifted right off the worst propaganda. He's doing the Palestinians no favors, either.

Está claro para quien no sea un malintencionado, un fanático o un imbécil, que la frase no sólo alude a judíos, sino también a palestinos, aunque los fariseos escandalizados omitan esto último.
Clearly, anyone that’s who doesn’t have bad intentions (i.e., has an agenda), a fanatic, or an imbecile, would know that the statement doesn’t only allude to Jews, but also to Palestinians, even when the scandalized Pharisees omit the latter group.

Were the articles written by a less capable writer, I might not pay so much attention to the choice of words, but, coming from APR, a writer that I used to admire, I can confidently assume that each word carries weight. So let's look at that paragraph.

For as long as I’ve been an adult I've been very opinionated, but my intent in airing my opinions is to open towards a dialogue. That's my only agenda -- if any. To me, both articles show bigotry. Would it be unreasonable to believe that at least some of the people criticizing APR share my concern? Does that me us "fanatics", or "imbeciles"?

Culturally, I grew up around Spanish men who assumed that their points of view should go unquestioned, and that those who disagreed by definition were fanatics or imbeciles (or worse yet, an American woman, such as myself?). Be that as it may, the fact is that, when criticized, APR has resorted to name calling.

Incidentally, in my prior post you can see that one of the reasons I found APR’s article offensive was his attitude towards Palestinians. Palestinians would be right to take umbrage. I also submit to APR the idea that any one of his readers doesn't have to be exclusively pro-Palestinian/anti-Jewish or exclusively pro-Jewish/anti-Palestinian. One can grieve for both sides.

Finishing the paragraph, APR resorts, again, to anti-Semitic imagery by the use of the word Pharisees, who, after all, were thrown out of the Temple by Jesus himself.

APR continues,

Pero es que, además, ni siquiera utilizo la palabra judío, pues no me refiero a quienes pertenecen a esa religión y usan la dignísima kipá ---el gorrito mosaico---, sino a un grupo concreto que vive en Israel. Ese “ultra” con “escopeta y tanque Merkava guardándole las espaldas” alude a los colonos armados, extremistas y fanáticos, que, criticados por sus propios compatriotas y enfrentados al gobierno israelí, al que acusan de blando ---y ser más duro que Sharon tiene tela--- agravan el conflicto con su cerril intransigencia.
But that also, I didn’t even use the word Jew, since I don’t refer to those who belong to that religion and wear the very worthy yarmulke, but also to a particular group living in Israel. That “ultra” with “and rifles and Markava tanks protecting their backs” refers to the armed, extremist, and fanatical colonists, who, when criticized by by their fellow countrymen and confronted by the Israeli government, which they regard as being soft – and it takes a lot to be tougher than Sharon – aggravate the conflict with their intransigence.

APR didn’t need to use the word Jew. He already had used, as I said before, the necessary imagery. As to the second sentence, José Cohen explained in his blog the wrongs of equating the State of Israel and Jewish orthodoxy. José also correctly pointed out that Pérez-Reverte does not pretend to be anti-semitic. He is just a product of a society.

The next paragraph dwells into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I won’t examine the details since I am not knowledgeable enough. Undoubtedly the Palestinians have suffered, and continue to suffer. Pérez-Reverte mentions how thirty years ago he helped pull Palestinian children from a a building that was bombed by the Israelis, which must have been the most heartbreaking of tasks. However, the paragraph’s final sentence stands out,

Respecto al holocausto y el antisemitismo, tampoco me toquen la flor. Esa atrocidad ocurrió hace más de medio siglo, la recordamos todos muy bien, y no justifica lo injustificable.
As for the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, don’t go there. That atrocity took place more than half a century ago, we all remember it very well, and it doesn’t justify the unjustifiable.

The Holocaust is not simply something isolated and remote that “took place more than half a century ago”, in some far-away place. There were dozens of concentration camps, right in the middle of Europe, within driving distance of major cities.

We don't "all remember it very well" at all: it took all of 60 years for the UN to acknowledge the Holocaust this week.

Much of the current conflicts in the Middle East have roots in the Holocaust. As you can read in the following article, Nazi Roots of Palestinian Nationalism

The Mufti`s hatred of the West was matched only by his hatred of the Jews. It is not a coincidence that Germany suddenly abandoned the policy of expelling Jews and adopted far harsher methods a short time after the Mufti arrived in Germany. When Haj Amin came to Germany again, the Nazis decided to execute the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.

“The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry,” reported Eichmann`s deputy, Dieter Wisliceny. “[He had] played a role in the decision to exterminate the European Jews. The importance of this role must not be disregarded.... The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry.”

We do not know if al-Husseini played a major role in shaping the Final Solution. “There is, however,” wrote Joseph Schechtman, “abundant first-hand evidence of the part the Mufti played in making foolproof the ban on emigration (of Jews out of Germany).”

When the war ended, al-Husseini returned to the Middle East as a hero. On October 1, 1948, he was proclaimed the president of the government of All-Palestine. The government was fictional, however, because it did not control any land and was recognized by only a handful of Arab nations. In 1959 it was dispersed by its sponsor, Egypt.

By that time, however, another member of the al-Husseini clan was planning terror. Around the same time that the All-Palestine government was disbanded, a man by the name of Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ar-Rauf al-Qudwah al-Husaini – better known as Yasir Arafat – was busy organizing Fatah, which would go on to become the main faction of the PLO

Arthur Chrenkoff wrote on the fallacy of the Palestinian claims of genocide:

In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe was 9.5 million. By 1950 it was only 3.5 million. The total Palestinian population in 1933 was somewhere around 950,000 (mostly Muslim, some Christian) - it is now around 4.5 million. Based on the same rate of growth, the Jewish population of Europe could be 45 million today. I'm sure the European Jews of the yesteryear would have wished that the Germans had waged the same sort of "war of extermination" on them that the Israelis are apparently waging on the Palestinians today.

Back to Pérez-Reverte:

De cualquier modo, el mecanismo no es nuevo. En los doce años que llevo tecleando esta página, ha pasado muchas veces, y volverá a pasar. Cuando de fanáticos e imbéciles se trata, da igual que uno mencione a israelíes, a palestinos o a taxistas. La diferencia es que, cuando digo que un taxista es un ladrón y un sinvergüenza y los taxistas protestan porque insulto al gremio del taxi, la cosa queda en esperpento. Lo otro tiene ribetes más sombríos, pues prueba que quienes viven de ser víctimas, rentabilizando cada ocasión, se frotan las manos ante supuestas conspiraciones, enemigos y odios, sean judeófobos, nacionalistófobos, o capullófobos. Aún así, lo peor no son los manipuladores que sacan partido de esa murga, sino los cantamañanas que, ingenuamente, se dejan llevar por ellos al huerto.
Anyway, this is nothing new. In the twelve years I’ve been writing this page, it’s happened many times, and will continue happening. When it comes to fanatics and imbeciles, it’s all the same if one’s talking about Israelis, Palestinians, or cab drivers. The difference is that, when I say that a cab driver’s a thief and a bastard and the cab drivers complain to the taxi drivers’ union, the thing ends there. The other stuff has darker edges, since it shows that those who live from playing the victim, cashing in on each occasion, rub their hands [with glee] at each prospective conspiracy, enemy or hate, whether it’s Judeo-phobe, nationalistc-phobe, or whatever-phobe. Even then, the worst are not the manipulators that gain from it, but the fools that naively go along and get taken for a ride.

We're not talking about unionized cab drivers, and some of us simply write freely, out of our own volition, not cashing in, neither playing the victim nor victimizing anyone.

I have emailed a copy of this and my prior post to APR’s agent. I invite a dialogue from all visitors to this page, and from APR or his representatives, if they would honor us with their comments. But I urge you all to realize, that, when people are complaining about something they read it’s best to examine the point they try to make than what it is to dismiss their opinions as coming from “fools that naively go along and get taken for a ride”.

Reasonable people can disagree, and still maintain respect and civility. Otherwise, we are all fools.

In rememberance
Allentown man recalls months at Auschwitz
He saw his parents led off to die. Sixty years ago, Soviets liberated the Nazi death camp in Poland.

For his part, Jacobs works to ensure that new generations will know what happened to Jews during World War II. He talks to hundreds of students every year about his experiences after the Germans invaded his native Poland in 1939.

At that time, Jacobs was 13. The fact he was as young as the students he talks to really makes an impact on them, he said. He gets letters from students who say they won't forget his story.

''They will remember what I said for the rest of their lives,'' he said, gratified that he could make a difference.

While it was the R Russians who first arrived at Auschwitz, this article highlights anti-Semitism in Russia:

Earlier this week, a group of nationalist Russian lawmakers called for a sweeping investigation aimed at outlawing all Jewish organizations and punishing officials who support them, accusing Jews of fomenting ethnic hatred.

In Poland, a recent survey indicated that only about half of the population was aware that the majority of Auschwitz victims were Jewish -- a holdover mentality from the Communist era, when official historical accounts sometimes played down Jewish suffering in the Holocaust.

During Communist rule, a plaque that stood at Auschwitz- Birkenau failed to mention that Jews were killed there.

Russia's not alone in that; as VP Cheney said, the Holocaust "took place not in a remote section of the globe, but in the middle of Europe."

Additionally, Barcepundit sent this article (in Spanish) El gueto polaco de Lodz: Vivieron felices, pero engañados... También les mataron (The Lodz Ghetto: They lived happily, but deceived . . . They were killed, too) The article's about Henryk Ross's photographs. From Chris Boot Publishing,

In terms of its scope, all other photographic records of ghetto life pale in comparison… [these photographs] have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of ghetto life…” Thomas Weber


By turns poignant and deeply shocking, a unique historical document, as well as a crucial body of evidence.” Sean O’Hagan, The Observer


Henryk Ross (1910 – 1991) was a Jewish press photographer in Poland before World War II. Incarcerated by the invading Germans in the Lodz ghetto, he became one of its two official photographers. His duties afforded him access to photographic facilities which he used to secretly photograph the atrocities of Lodz, while also recording scenes of domestic life among the ghetto ‘elite’. As the Germans began the liquidation of Lodz in 1944, Ross buried his 3,000 negatives. Surviving the Holocaust, he recovered them and, from his post-war home in Israel, circulated images showing the horrors of Lodz. But until now, the bulk of his photographs remained unseen, including many of the milieu of the ghetto police. For an audience accustomed to dramatic photographs of Holocaust suffering, the quiet, domestic scenes he recorded are poignant and sometimes shocking, challenging us to rethink what we understand about ghetto society. With a foreword by bestselling Holocaust expert Robert-Jan van Pelt, and with an appendix of original documents, the book is introduced with an informative, illustrated essay by historian Thomas Weber.

As a final note, New Sisyphus today writes, The New Mein Kampf: Zarqawi Speaks

In the long run, we have hope. Because, like the Nazis before them, the Islamic leaders keep ruining the efforts of Western appeasers and cowards by continuing to bluntly state the bloody obvious: that they want to kill us and destroy our way of life.

Then, as now we fight for democracy.

In rememberance: The January Blogburst

The Holocaust, symbolized by Auschwitz, the worst of the death camps, occurred in the wake of consistent, systematic, unrelenting anti-Jewish propaganda campaign. As a result, the elimination of the Jews from German society was accepted as axiomatic, leaving open only two questions: when and how.

As Germany expanded its domination and occupation of Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, the Low Countries, Yugoslavia, Poland, parts of the USSR, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Italy and others countries, the way was open for Hitler to realize his well-publicized plan of destroying the Jewish people.

After experimentation, the use of Zyklon B on unsuspecting victim was adopted by the Nazis as the means of choice, and Auschwitz was selected as the main factory of death (more accurately, one should refer to the “Auschwitz-Birkenau complex”). The green light for mass annihilation was given at the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942, and the mass gassings took place in Auschwitz between 1942 and the end of 1944, when the Nazis retreated before the advancing Red Army. Jews were transported to Auschwitz from all over Nazi-occupied or Nazi-dominated Europe and most were slaughtered in Auschwitz upon arrival, sometimes as many as 12,000 in one day. Some victims were selected for slave labour or “medical” experimentation. All were subject to brutal treatment.

In all, between three and four million people, mostly Jews, but also Poles and Red Army POWs, were slaughtered in Auschwitz alone (though some authors put the number at 1.3 million). Other death camps were located at Sobibor, Chelmno, Belzec (Belzek), Majdanek and Treblinka.

Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945, sixty years ago, after most of the prisoners were forced into a Death March westwards. The Red Army found in Auschwitz about 7,600 survivors, but not all could be saved.

For a long time, the Allies were well aware of the mass murder, but deliberately refused to bomb the camp or the railways leading to it. Ironically, during the Polish uprising, the Allies had no hesitation in flying aid to Warsaw, sometimes flying right over Auschwitz.

There are troubling parallels between the systematic vilification of Jews before the Holocaust and the current vilification of the Jewish people and Israel. Suffice it to note the annual flood of anti-Israel resolutions at the UN; or the public opinion polls taken in Europe, which single out Israel as a danger to world peace; or the divestment campaigns being waged in the US against Israel; or the attempts to delegitimize Israel’s very existence. The complicity of the Allies in WW II is mirrored by the support the PLO has been receiving from Europe, China and Russia to this very day.

If remembering Auschwitz should teach us anything, it is that we must all support Israel and the Jewish people against the vilification and the complicity we are witnessing, knowing where it inevitably leads.

If you'd like to participate in today's blogburst, here's the information.

Despicable
Robert Byrd's attacking Condoleeza Rice. Power and Control has some background information on the former KKK recruiter. TFS Magnum read my thoughts:

Suppose an African American were to be nominated for Secretary of State by a Democratic Administration and 2 Republican Senators voted against that nomination. What would the news media be saying? What would NAACP say? What would the Democrats be saying? (Hint - the word starts with an "R.") So why the resounding silence? Oh, that's right, Democrats can't be racist (a priori, only conservatives are racist, liberals just believe that minorities need "help" to compete in America.) These votes are just everyday political infighting. Funny, but I don't think the media would accept that if it was coming from the other side of the senate floor.

At least some Dems are speaking out, among them Andrew Young

Black Democrats expressing support for Rice included Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor, congressman and United Nations ambassador in the Carter administration.

"Condoleeezza Rice not only deserves the support, but the country needs a strong, wise secretary of state with a bipartisan mandate to help establish democracy not only in Iraq but around the world," Young said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Young also suggested that the nation is not well served by having Democrats chip away at Dr. Rice's integrity just as she is about to take her place on the world stage

Michael King has more on the story.

Oscars nominations in
and I realized I haven't seen any of the five nominees for Best Picture. Cindi Adams (yes, she's still around) has a point,

MY close circle of avid movie-going friends on the Oscar noms: The actors all wonderful, wonderful, marvelous perfect. The films? Two women and two gentlemen pals left "Sideways." Didn't know why there was such a movie and thought Giamatti not enough to look at for another half hour. "The Aviator"? Too long. No real character delineation in the Howard Hughes role. One couple walked out on it. Ditto a lady publisher. "Ray," Jamie Foxx, excellent. But the film lasted longer than Ray's whole life. My friends got twitchy. They wanted 20 minutes hacked out. Flawed "Neverland," all agreed, was good, not great. "Million Dollar Baby" had superior Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank performances. But in today's clime they needed something that was less of a downer. Translation: Not the best bunch of movies they've ever seen.

According to the Internet Movie Database, The Aviator clocks in at 170 minutes; Sideways, 123 mins; Ray, 178 mins; Million Dollar Baby, 137 mins.
(Eternal Sunshine's only 108 mins but I've had it with Jim Carrey.)

Of that list, the only two films that interested me were The Aviator and Ray, and those are 3-hr movies. Unfortunately, recently I haven't had the time to dedicate an entire afternoon to either Howard Hughes or Ray Charles, so I'll have to wait until they're out on DVD. (Now that I've heard more about Sideways, I'll have to "go see".)

Maybe Hollywood if would realize that people outside the 18-25 demographic have demands on their time and released shorter films geared for grownups, theater sales would improve. It can be done.

Holocaust memorial opens in Paris
From the BBC

A stone wall engraved with the names of 76,000 Jews who were deported from France to Nazi death camps during World War II has been unveiled in Paris.
The "Wall of Names" memorial is located at the entrance to the French capital's newly renovated Holocaust museum.

Some 11,000 of those deported from 1942 to 1944 were children. Nearly all were killed - mostly at Auschwitz in Poland.

This is a positive step. As reported in the France2 news two nights ago (go to right sidebar, Editions du JT 23/01/2005 - JT 20h, 5 minutes into the program) nearly 60% of the French non-Jewish people sent to concentration camps survived while only 3% of French Jews survived. The Holocaust was essentially hidden from the French public for many years, starting with the 1945 exhibition ordered by Charles DeGaulle, which talked about the death camps but not the extermination of the Jews. In the 1950s Le Monde Illustré was the first newspaper to reveal the truth, by publishing photos of the Maidenek camp. Even then, a photo of a French guard at the only French concentration camp, Struthof-Natzwiller, was censured from the 1955 Alain Resnais film Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog).

Arthur writes that The UN contemplates Holocaust,

It's not that we don't know what the Holocaust was, or what its lessons are - it's just that whenever next crisis comes by we do too little too late because to act forcefully and in time seems too difficult, too costly and too messy. The problem is not ignorance. Cowardice, "realism", indifference, yes; anything but ignorance.

If you'd like to participate in Thursday's blogburst, here's how.

Redford says he won't move to Ireland,
or so they were saying in this morning's news. I guess Glenn Beckwon't be sending him there yet.

Redford claims he never said he'd move to Ireland, but this BBC news article contradicts that,

In the run up to the US presidential election last week, Hollywood veteran Robert Redford was asked what he would do were George W Bush to be reinstalled in the White House for four more years.

"I'll probably be in England, no Ireland," said Redford. Visiting or living asked the BBC reporter? "Living," replied the Oscar-winning actor.

Must be that the Sundance business is doing too well to leave behind, vis-a-vis the tax breaks in Ireland. Even the Restoration Hardware guy's joining the fun: Restoration Hardware founder leaves to head Redford firm. The politics are thriving, at least. Or are they?

There was much applause from the audience of 1,300, even as most everyone present understood that this premier American film festival already goes at its unifying mission as if it were a lone blue trout trapped in a vast red fish tank.

Liberal sentiments are no guarantee of successful filmmaking, as was exemplified by "Trudell," a gaseous documentary about the radical poet-philosopher at the hub of American Indian activism for three decades.

Dr. David Yeagley questions Redford's politics:

Is Robert Redford different from any other Hollywood liberal? His politics don't appear to be distinguished from the most radical Leftist in Los Angeles. Is there some other unique notoriety about Redford that exempts him from criticism, or gives a free pass to use the Indian name "sundance" to validate his anti-American views?

Dr. Yeagley in a prior post states,

Redford himself has produced not a single Indian script or film. The Sundance Institute does not produce either, for anyone. The Institute is a brief, professional educational opportunity for those accepted, for those who have already completed their work, but want finishing touches, i.e., to make acquaintances with those who can "produce" their work. There is no stipend involved. One is provided a hotel room for a short duration of tutelage under professionals.

The Sundance offers misleading impressions about it's "work" for Indians. Under "Programs," one finds a "Native American" category. Yet, to apply, one submits his entry to the general application, for a decision from the board. Bird Runningwater, who heads the "Native American Initiative," has no say in who is awarded a stipend-less fellowship to come to the Institute. The Institute looks like is has an Indian program, but it really doesn't. They may as well have a Lithuanian Initiative, a Somalian Initiative, and have a token representitive, like Runningwater. Apparently Runningwater is the sole salaried beneficiary of the Institute. Yes, the Institute offers a giant step forward for Indiankind. Indeed. There is simply no special effort for Indians. The Institute offers only a fraudulent impression of interest.

The Institute lists a few Indians "who have gone on to have their feature films produce," and they include Greg Sarris (Federated Coast Miwok), writer/producer of GRAND AVENUE; Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), director/producer of SMOKE SIGNALS, SKINS and SKINWALKERS; Shirley Cheechoo (James Bay Cree), screenwriter/director/producer of BEAR WALKER; Randy Redroad (Cherokee), screenwriter/director/producer of THE DOE BOY; and Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d’Alene), screenwriter/director/producer of THE BUSINESS OF FANCYDANCING. Was this because they 'did time' at Sundance Institute? Is there any connection at all? "Gone on..." is the key phrase there. They were essentially already "there." The institute's influence for Indians is miniscule.

And how many Indians do attend the Institute? How many "fellowships" have been given? Is there a quota, a racial agitation clause, like every Leftist institution has? Forty Indian writers and directors have attended in the last twenty-three years. That's two a year, average. Sounds like a pretty low quota for an Institute with an Indian name, and a special "Native American" program

Learn about Dr. Yeagley's efforts to reclaim the Sundance.

Safire's retiring
from the NYT Ed/Op page to head the Dana Foundation.

When you're through changing, learning, working to stay involved - only then are you through. "Never retire."

I hope he stays with the On Language Sunday Mag articles.

Would you like to participate in the January Blogburst?
Next Thrusday, January 27, hundreds of bloggers will be remembering the Wannsee Conference and the liberation of Auschwitz.
Here's how to participate in the blogburst.
(please note the date correction. I had first posted "Tomorrow". My apologies.)

The USA Responds, and the UN?
asks The Diplomad

Of course, from the UN's point of view, too much is never enough.

Lord Layard's Joy Watch
From Roberto

Their plan would put a lid on property taxes based on income. If you make less than $100,000 a year, your property taxes would be a maximum of 5% of your income. Between $100,000 and $200,000 you would pay a maximum of 6% and there's no limit on those making over $200,000. In order to make up for the loss in property tax income, the plan would raise state income taxes on "the wealthy". Unfortunately, the plan defines wealthy as someone making more than $70,000 a year. In New Jersey, a family of a postal worker married to a school teacher makes more than that, and I wouldn't exactly consider them rich. And if the state doesn't raise the income tax high enough, the NJ Supreme Court will step in, point to the language in the NJ State Constitution about "thorough and efficient" education and order the state to raise income taxes even further

New Jersians are well on their way to being the happiest people on the planet.

Update Via Barcepundit, the joy spreads to Gibraltar.

Cover the war as a war
Everybody's been writing about this, but I just found it at Instapundit. It merits a comment.

Tim Blair first commented on this WaPo article, In One Night, Iraqi Turns From Friend to Foe: Man Who Supported U.S. Occupation Calls Americans 'the Devil' After Alleged Raid on His House

The article says the Devil Americans went into his house, searched his bedroom where they found his porn collection,

"It was a nightmare," he said. "I will never forget those bad soldiers when they put the Koran among the magazines.

Within 20 minutes, the soldiers left without arresting him or his mother. While the soldiers went next door to search his neighbor's house, Imaad began to slap his mother, he said. "The American people are devils," Um Imaad recalled her son repeating.

Heck, Dog The Bountyhunter's wife's been know to do more damage than that. First, Dog kicks the door in. Dog cuffs you before he asks questions. If there's nothing amiss, he might let you go. Then Mrs. Dog would come back and kick the young (but rapidly approaching middle age, since he's 32) porn collector's butt from here to tarnation if she found out he'd been beating up his mom. You don't want to mess with Mrs Dog.

The bloggers are all over this one. Roger L. Simon explores The Myth of the Foreign Correspondent; Sisyphean Musings notices that the neighborhood was raided after a car bomb explosion. He also explains what a cordon and search operation is. Neo Warmonger points out that Jackie Spinner, the WaPo reporter, didn't even know that Um Imaad means "Imaad's Mom". Whether Spinner knew or not, Um Imaad's got her work cut out for her since Imaad's off his meds.

So it comes down to this: The WaPo gives this sorry excuse of a journalist several column inches for an article that not only ignores vital details of a story, and provides no substantiation of Imaad's charges, and we're supposed to feel sorry for an out-of-control, w*nk*r thug?

Small wonder Hugh Hewitt wants the MSM to start covering the war as a war.

Update Say Anything's commenters argue on the issues.

My friend, M, wrote asking "what happened to your language? You usually write in more genteel terms", to which I respond, blame it on the cold weather.

New Jersey weather blogging round-up
Global warming, my A**. Right now it's still snowing, and the Weather Channel link says the temperature's "18°F, Feels Like: 3°F"

Barista's got a sledding survey. Mary's greying. Jeff spent ten hours trying to get home. Bill Power's been working long hours.

Kate bought herself some red snowboots (way to go!). Jim's noticing a State of Emergency, and went to the store.

Dan heard some news on the radio while driving in the snow.

Sluggo's angel is on the ground. John & Tracey already started shoveling.

Jack's got pictures, and don't miss his Carnival of the Commies ("We read the blogs that drive you nutty so you don't have to") while there.

I might do some shoe shopping while the guys shovel the driveway.

Whitman's sampler, continued

And I believe that anyone who buys this book at Barnes & Noble should be able to pick up a complimentary pound of coffee over at the Starbucks counter. And not decaf.

Paul Mulshine, in today's Star Ledger.

Prior Whitman's samplers here and here

Lord Layard's Joy Watch
Lord Layard's the guy who thinks higher taxes would make people happy

New Jersey's the place for him: Property taxes in New Jersey continued their relentless climb last year, with average tax bills rising 6.2 percent, according to a Star-Ledger analysis. Move to NJ, Lordy, and enjoy.

High taxes: my reason for bad hair, (this blog's raison d'etre, if you may); Lord Layard's reason for joy.

New Sisyphus on Bush vs Gore

We know what the Left, including law professors like Lawrence Tribe, think of the opinion: that the 5-justice Republican-appointed slim majority stopped the re-counting of valid votes, thereby selecting Geo. Bush as the next President of the United States.

This is nothing but a lie and a myth. The most cursory reading of Bush v. Gore lays to waste the entire Democratic mythology that has arisen about Florida. A quick look at the lies and the reality set forth in the opinion makes this plain.

New Sisyphus exposes three lies:

First Lie: The Democrats only wanted to count all the votes! The Republicans don't want to count the votes, they're disenfranchising people!!!
Second Lie: The Republican cronies in the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to stop the recount! How obvious can you get?!?
Third Lie: The U.S. Supreme Court anointed Bush President. He was selected, not elected!!!

And explains,

the first move to the courts to protest the election result was Vice President Gore's, and in his petition Gore asked only for recounts in Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. (Facts hurt, don't they?)

7 out of the 9 justices (and not, say 5 out of 9) found the Gore-sought, Florida Supreme Court-approved "a few counties only" recount plan in violation of the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitutionally sound election had taken place. In that election, people registered to vote in Florida voted, not the 9 justices of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court stopped the Florida Supreme Court's mandated "recount" because the recount was illegal and in violation of basic protections afforded by the Constitution. Thus, rather than "selecting" Bush, the Supreme Court stopped an illegal sham vote from proceeding in favor of the real vote, in which Bush won the plurality of votes.

Don't stop there; go read what he has to say about the Washington State election.

In his book No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton, Christopher Hitchens points out how Clinton "took every shred of New Deal Liberalism in his party and tore it to shreds", as the introduction tells us. New Sisyphus explains in today's post how the the Democratic Party, starting with Al Gore, have called into question the very legitimacy of elections. As The Economist was saying, "The biggest problem with the current Democratic leadership is not that it has lost the will to fight but that it has lost the power to think."

And by the Democrats doing this, we all lose.

Speaking of Hitchens (yet again) the NY Times Book review would have come up with a much more interesting review on the Abu Ghraib books (cashing in on current events, anyone?) if they had Hitchens review the books instead of Andrew Sullivan. At least Hitchens has been there, both in Saddam's time and after 2003.

Don't miss the Iraqi elections ads
at MEMRI TV (via LGF)

The only photos taken in Auschwitz by a prisoner
were shown last night in the France2 evening broadcast. The four photos were taken by a Sonderkommando inmate only known as “Alex” who was shot to death four days after taking them.

You can see it here. Note: It contains graphic, sorrowful images. The four photos are shown 30 minutes into the broadcast, but the evening’s report on the Holocast starts at 27:24 minutes with a former inmate bearing witness to a group of middle-school children. As stated in the article linked below,France's public school system

began teaching about the Holocaust in junior and senior high schools in 1983. Three years ago, faced with the wave of "new anti-Semitism", it added special classes for pupils as young as 9 or 10 years old.

This week former concentration camp inmates have visited classrooms bearing witness to history, and some have been shown in the evening news. As reported by Reuters, Holocaust lessons meet Muslim rebuff in France

Unlike their shameful coverage of the liberation of Paris, this week France2 has done a good job of reporting on the Holocaust. Last week their coverage of the tsunami was exceptionally good.

This guy would feel ecstatic in New Jersey
From the Economist book review of Happiness: Lessons from a New Science by Richard Layard:

And so, near the top of Lord Layard's list for improving human happiness, comes the following recommendation: much higher rates of income tax to tame the rat race.

Which shows you can be a Peer, notable enough to get your book reviewed in The Economist, and still be a fool.

Hitchens interview in Frontpage Mag!
Titled Love, Poverty and War, as is his new collection of essays, and he explains,

. It is, though, in its third section, directly concerned with the latest and bitterest war, namely the fight against jihadist nihilism, and it does contain my reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and some of my domestic battles with those who don't believe there is, or ought to be, a war in the first place.

Visitors to this blog know that I love Hitchens (I even kept my Vanity Fair subscription going -- long after VF had wilted into a propagandistic mess with celebrity photos -- because of Hitchens and Dominic Dunne.) The interview doesn't disappoint: Hitchens speaks on the Left,

Reflecting on where the rot set it, I have come to the temporary conclusion that much of the "Left" was forced by events to adopt a status-quo position. Thus, it neither really opposed nor welcomed (with some exceptions in both cases) the historic anti-Communist revolution of 1989. It sat on its hands during the Balkan conflict. It could find no voice in which to discuss the urgent challenge of holy war. When it came to Iraq, you could even hear leftists saying that an intervention might "destabilize" the region: a suggestive choice of term from supposed radicals, suddenly sounding like Kissinger Associates.
. . . But the Left is really doomed if all it wants is a quiet life.

He also talks about the Clintons, Mother Theresa, Michael Moore, religion, literature, and Noam Chomski.

On the subject of Chomski, Oliver Kamm considers a case for the defense.

Two great reads.

No Relief in Sight for the Lincoln
says this article Soldiers for Truth (via the Diplomad):

As I went through the breakfast line, I overheard one of the U.N. strap-hangers, a longhaired guy with a beard, make a sarcastic comment to one of our food servers. He said something along the lines of “Nice china, really makes me feel special,” in reference to the fact that we were eating off of paper plates that day. It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off his feet and choking him, because I knew that the reason we were eating off paper plates was to save dishwashing water so that we would have more water to send ashore and save lives. That plus the fact that he had no business being there in the first place.

And don't miss the mocchers,

We had to dedicate two helos and a C-2 cargo plane for America-hater Dan Rather and his entourage of door holders and briefcase carriers from CBS News. Another camera crew was from MTV. I doubt if we’ll get any good PR from them, since the cable channel is banned in Muslim countries. We also had to dedicate a helo and crew to fly around the vice mayor of Phoenix, Ariz., one day. Everyone wants in on the action.

And that's not the worse part. Read the article to find out.

Loved that gown, updated x 2

All that beading must have weighed a ton, but it was a fluid, elegant gown that looked great on her. I liked it a lot better than the Carolina Herrera gown from the prior evening. Others didn't like either.

Well, you can't please them all.

And don't miss the President's speech. As the WSJ said this morning, "Not since JFK in 1960 has an American President provided such an ambitious and unabashed case for the promotion of liberty at home and abroad."

Update Surprise, surprise. You can't please them all, alright, particularly the small and petty billionaires.

Update Speaking of small and petty billionaires,

Senator Corzine will do little else between now and November other than campaign for the governorship. Our other Senator, Frank Lautenberg, will do little else between now and November other than run Senator Corzine’s campaign. And, neither of them will lose his job.

Planeta Spanglish, a cool new blog,
features Spanish Speaking Bloggers Blogging in English. Cool. Very cool. And it won't leave Kathleen like this,

I feel like that damn dog in the Beggin' Strips commercial who doesn't understand that the Beggin' Strips are not, indeed, bacon. Unlike the dog, however, I don't even get the thrill and payoff of eating the fake bacon.

The Maltese, however, are in demand: EU still desperately short of Maltese interpreters and translators (via Manel),

With a budget for 90 full-time translators, assistants and other support staff for each of the new member state languages, DG Translations has so far found only 22 Maltese recruits. In the next worst position are Hungary, Latvia and Slovenia with 33 each. Interpretingwise, after Malta (8 interpreters), Latvia (48), Slovakia (48) and Slovenia (49) with Hungary topping the list (88).

Which brings this to mind,

José comments on my post,
Revulsed by Pérez-Reverte where I quoted José, and further explains,

About Pérez-Reverte...
My case here is that the guy does not pretend to be anti-semitic. He is just a product of a society.

Let me explain what I mean if I can.

1) in Spain there is a very old tradition of using foul language as a literary resource. You see it in Quevedo, in Nobel-laureate Cela, in Francisco Umbral, and in Pérez-Reverte. The vocabulary used by P-R in his article, shocking to someone unaccostumed, is a "convention", rather annoying most times, used to use shock as a part of the literary effect of the prose. If you are not aware of this, it probably hits you like a sledgehammer. When done well, it is actually quite entertaining. Unfortunately, for every master of that trade we get 100 lame imitators that just ape the m for an easy laughter.

2) P-R follows another time-honored Spanish tradition: to bitterly critize all he can, without leaving a single thing standing, unless that thing is small, dying, or oppressed, or all the above. You may be shocked of how he treats Jews (and Arabs), but he does the exact same thing with Spaniards, Frenchmen, English, politicians, fellow-writers, drivers, tv, modern consumerist society, and anything alive. So you are not alone guys. He just has to be a bad boy with whatever the excuse. In the process, he treads on the same values he professes to admire, with the excuse that they are already dead.

and 3) Spaniards know little of the Middle East conflict and P-R is not trying to explain, but to deftly wield half a dozen stereotypes in order to fill his weekly column. I would accuse him of flattering the lower instincts and of taking the easy road, but not of fanaticism. This text, like most of his columns, is an exabrupt, a sonorous belch after dinner to be celebrated by his followers. Whoever has read his books knows he has more to offer than that, but, as we say in Spain, "esto es lo que hay".

("esto es lo que hay" = that's what's there)
Y porque lo hay, lo protesto. And because it's there, I protest against it. Values die only if we allow them to die.
Many thanks to José for his comment.

Nutty nutrition guidelines
Sandy Szwarc at TCS says, Please Pass the Cake

As incredible as it sounds, nutrition is no longer the priority for the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The new guidelines put the entire nation on a diet and its key message is "eat less and exercise more to lose weight." This certainly isn't an unprecedented idea, but decades of following this advice has also shown it doesn't work. Tragically, the unsupportable and erroneous information about weight and nutrition in these new guidelines isn't just innocuous, but will likely have harmful consequences far beyond any good it might do, especially threatening our children and elderly.

Understandably so, considering the guidelines say that "Each day we're supposed to eat (women and men, respectively):

• 9 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables!
• 6 to 10 servings of grains.
• 5 1/2 to 7 ounces of meat or legumes.
• 3 servings of milk.
• 2 Tablespoons of oil."

The Guidelines tell us a serving size is 1/2 cup of vegs, 1/2 cup of fruit, 1/2 cup of cereal, and 8 ounces of milk. Therefore, what the Guidelines propose is that you eat

• 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups of fruits and vegs
• plus 3 to 5 cups of grains
• plus 1 1/2 pints of milk

every day. Because of hypoglycemia I can't tolerate more than 1 cup of starches/grains a day (remember, starches are metabolized as sugars), but I eat a lot of vegetables daily: at least 1 cup at lunch, and one at dinner, plus a salad at each meal, so trust me when I tell you that putting away a daily 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups of veg would constitute a gargantuan effort. Add 3-5 cups of grains and 1 1/2 pints of milk to that and you're really talking consuming mass quantities, which will certainly lead to weight gain -- unless you have the digestive capacity and the metabolism of that girl Michael was talking about the other day.

Additionally, we're supposed to excercise for "at least 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity" in order to sustain weight loss in adulthood.

Let's do the math for an average person: 8 hrs of sleep (Yes, my sleep is sacred. Family members can attest to that.) 8 hrs of work; 1 hr commuting (if! you have a short, 1/2 hr commute); 2 hrs eating/preparing meals/cleaning up (assuming you have a dishwasher); 1 hr housekeeping; 1 hr grooming, showering, and, for those who have young children, attending to their grooming; that leaves 3 hours for interacting with other family members, blogging, food shopping, leisure time, etc., half of which the Guideliners want me to spend in the gym? Fat chance!

French culinarian, Julia Child used to call experts advising healthy eating "nutritional Nazis" and say: "Those people see no beauty in food. It's a terrible thing. … I like real hamburgers and real meat, real butter. Eat everything. Have fun."

I hear, ya, Julia.

PS, Speaking of food, Birdwoman's not having the turkey.

Dr. Fleming says:
Libraries, the Princeton campus's unknown repository of sexiness (via Jack).

Dr. Fleming was one of the subjects mentioned in my Fashion report on The University's professors.

The NY Times's Boxer comes up

For further explanation, see Shame on the New York Times and Shame on The New York Times, Chapter II

It's here!
Jib-Jab latest, Second Term

Responsibility makes grown-ups
is the theme of Theodore Dalrymple's article, The Frivolity of Evil, where he writes about his experiences counseling welfare clients:

These words were a complete confession of guilt. I have had hundreds of conversations with men who have abandoned their children in this fashion, and they all know perfectly well what the consequences are for the mother and, more important, for the children. They all know that they are condemning their children to lives of brutality, poverty, abuse, and hopelessness. They tell me so themselves. And yet they do it over and over again, to such an extent that I should guess that nearly a quarter of British children are now brought up this way.

The result is a rising tide of neglect, cruelty, sadism, and joyous malignity that staggers and appalls me. I am more horrified after 14 years than the day I started.

Where does this evil come from? There is obviously something flawed in the heart of man that he should wish to behave in this depraved fashion—the legacy of original sin, to speak metaphorically. But if, not so long ago, such conduct was much less widespread than it is now (in a time of much lesser prosperity, be it remembered by those who think that poverty explains everything), then something more is needed to explain it.

A necessary, though not sufficient, condition is the welfare state, which makes it possible, and sometimes advantageous, to behave like this. Just as the IMF is the bank of last resort, encouraging commercial banks to make unwise loans to countries that they know the IMF will bail out, so the state is the parent of last resort—or, more often than not, of first resort. The state, guided by the apparently generous and humane philosophy that no child, whatever its origins, should suffer deprivation, gives assistance to any child, or rather the mother of any child, once it has come into being. In matters of public housing, it is actually advantageous for a mother to put herself at a disadvantage, to be a single mother, without support from the fathers of the children and dependent on the state for income. She is then a priority; she won't pay local taxes, rent, or utility bills.

As for the men, the state absolves them of all responsibility for their children. The state is now father to the child. The biological father is therefore free to use whatever income he has as pocket money, for entertainment and little treats. He is thereby reduced to the status of a child, though a spoiled child with the physical capabilities of a man: petulant, demanding, querulous, self-centered, and violent if he doesn't get his own way. The violence escalates and becomes a habit. A spoiled brat becomes an evil tyrant.

But if the welfare state is a necessary condition for the spread of evil, it is not sufficient. After all, the British welfare state is neither the most extensive nor the most generous in the world, and yet our rates of social pathology—public drunkenness, drug-taking, teenage pregnancy, venereal disease, hooliganism, criminality—are the highest in the world. Something more was necessary to produce this result.

Here we enter the realm of culture and ideas. For it is necessary not only to believe that it is economically feasible to behave in the irresponsible and egotistical fashion that I have described, but also to believe that it is morally permissible to do so. And this idea has been peddled by the intellectual elite in Britain for many years, more assiduously than anywhere else, to the extent that it is now taken for granted. There has been a long march not only through the institutions but through the minds of the young. When young people want to praise themselves, they describe themselves as "nonjudgmental." For them, the highest form of morality is amorality.

There has been an unholy alliance between those on the Left, who believe that man is endowed with rights but no duties, and libertarians on the Right, who believe that consumer choice is the answer to all social questions, an idea eagerly adopted by the Left in precisely those areas where it does not apply. Thus people have a right to bring forth children any way they like, and the children, of course, have the right not to be deprived of anything, at least anything material. How men and women associate and have children is merely a matter of consumer choice, of no more moral consequence than the choice between dark and milk chocolate, and the state must not discriminate among different forms of association and child rearing, even if such non-discrimination has the same effect as British and French neutrality during the Spanish Civil War.

The consequences to the children and to society do not enter into the matter: for in any case it is the function of the state to ameliorate by redistributive taxation the material effects of individual irresponsibility, and to ameliorate the emotional, educational, and spiritual effects by an army of social workers, psychologists, educators, counselors, and the like, who have themselves come to form a powerful vested interest of dependence on the government.

New Sisyphus brings up the same theme, quoting Robert E. Rector:

In fact, each of the central tenets of modern welfare is misleading and deeply flawed. Together they become a recipe for a disastrous system of aid which harms rather than helps, aggressively crushing the hopes and future of an increasing number of young Americans.

It is useful to examine each of these cardinal liberal tenets individually. The first is that raising incomes is crucial to the well-being and success of children. The common liberal corollary to this premise is that poverty "causes" such problems as crime, school failure, low cognitive ability, illegitimacy, low work ethic and skills, and drug use. Hence, reducing poverty through greater welfare spending will reduce most social problems. History refutes this belief. In 1950, nearly a third of the U.S. population was poor (twice the current rate). In the 1920s, roughly half of the population was poor by today's standard. If the theory that "poverty" causes social problems were true, we should have had far more social problems in those earlier periods then we do today. But crime and most other social problems have increased rather than fallen since these earlier periods.”

to explain a central thesis, i.e., that lack of objective world responsibility allows nations to engage in cheap anti-American rhetoric and policies:

It was this key point—the creation of a dependence culture which gave rise to social pathology and ingrained values which were destined to fail in the culture at large—that formed the centerpiece of the debate. Rather than lift people’s lives by lifting their income, the fact of welfare worked against the values so central to middle class success in the United States. This fact of dependence created a social class with interests and values set against the mainstream, thus dooming generation after generation to poverty

New Sisyphus brings the question to the international scene:

What if, as in the individual sphere, dependence on the benevolence of the United States Government bred, in the international sphere, the same kind of pathologies seen in the welfare context? What if, rather than aiding the countries affected by American military dominance, we were harming them?
. . .If dependence theory holds in international relations, we have innocently caused such rampant anti-Americanism by trying to help. By taking over the tough issues of national security, defense strategy and multi-lateral relations, we have relieved numerous E.U. countries of their core responsibilities. In so doing, as with the welfare recipient of old, we removed the real-world check that forced those nations to deal with cold, hard reality in a grown-up serious manner. We have, as Victor Davis Hanson has so ably argued, created in the E.U. a permanent set of nations as sneering adolescent, constantly mocking and cursing “Dad” for doing what must be done since, at the end of the day, the adolescent is free to preen and pose and say anything that strikes his fancy, for he has no real responsibilities. Saying you’re for Kyoto, against landmines and, of course, against the War in Iraq is a lot easier if you’re not responsible for the world’s economy, defending South Korea or the number one target for terrorist groups seeking WMD.

New Sisyphus proposes International Welfare Reform,

It seemed counter-intuitive to many people in the early 90’s that by cutting off income support you could make people richer. And I suppose it seems similarly counter-intuitive that by stepping away from zones of responsibility the U.S. could increase its national security and standing in the world. But, as history teaches us, men are fundamentally rational; get the incentives right and the outcome is almost always what you’d expect. And right now it’s time for the E.U. to grow up.

Another organization that needs some Welfare Reform is the UN. The USA should cut off funding and support of this club of petty villains and corrupt bureaucrats. The UN is accountable only to itself, and knows that we're here to do the actual work, take the blame, and provide the funding, too. Today New Sisyphus states,

Right now the U.S. has the worst of all possible worlds: absolute responsibility without absolute power. The situation is untenable and calls for inventive, creative diplomacy.

The blogger diplomats are starting to make their voices heard.

The time is ripe.

Mentioned in the prior post, but deserving its own
Our Favorite Ten Lies, from The Diplomad

6) Fidel Castro may be a dictator but Cuba has high social indicators. The first part of this is right, but high social indicators? Highest rate of suicide in Latin America. Highest rate of people leaving the country and risking their life in the process. To the extent that there may be high literacy it's a legacy from the Cuba of the 1950s which had a higher standard of living than Spain and Italy and all but two Latin American countries. Now it's a basket case.

Don't miss the remaining lies.

Read Shawn Macomber's article
Voltaire’s Missing Brain,

With regard to the Holocaust, the facts are very basic. So, first and foremost, there is no reason to believe any true deniers could gain traction. The world, as a whole, has elevated the massacre to a place in human consciousness few other events hold. Ironically, the most powerful tool deniers have is this idea that they have been silenced and must have been silenced for a reason. If they are kooks (and I must reiterate, for sensitivities sake, I believe they are), why not let them be unmasked as such publicly, with all the ridicule that entails?

and don't miss his blog return of the primitive.

Kathleen's got the goods on Zedillo
and she's blogging about it:

You have to admit that I might be allowed a wee bit of incredulity when it comes to anything Zedillo says. If the name Ernesto Zedillo isn't ringing a bell, well, let me inform you: he was the last PRI (The Institutional Revolutionary Party---an oxymoron if there ever was one) President of Mexico. The guy that Vincente Fox replaced. He was also the guy who lost control of the government for the PRI, which is why he's hanging out in New Haven now, as the Director for the Yale Center For the Study of Globalization, and not in Mexico City. I can't think that Mexico is a good place for him to be right about now. Good thing Yale coughed up a job, eh?

I don't know much about Zedillo's background, or about his character, for that matter, but yesterday I posted about his Forbes article on reforming Latin American economies. Since Zedillo exhorted countries to invest more in human and physical infrastructure, guaranteeing the rule of law, and the removal of internal and external barriers to competition, I'm all for the proposal.

Sadly, Latin American economies are also saddled with a nationalism that prevents them from seeing beyond their borders. One could argue whether to include that in the barriers to competition, but it exists. For example, about a year ago I attended a lecture at the University on a proposed dam/power plant in Bolivia. Aside from the usual logistics, environmental, and human costs (moving people from their farms, etc) problems, which have put the kibosh on many such projects, one of the larger issues -- you could say, an overriding issue -- was that the work had to be done by Bolivians, and the investors (aside from the Bolivian government) had to be exclusively Bolivian. Considering how few companies around the world have the knowledge and resources to carry such a large-scale hydroelectric power project to completion, I was surprised about the first constraint, and amazed by the second. Bolivia is not a rich country, and power plants' costs reach into the billions of dollars. I raised my hand and asked if a public stock offering had been considered, and was met with silence. I explained that, for instance, the Chinese Three Gorges Dam project had attracted a lot of investors, not only Chinese, and that here in the USA in the 1970s I had invested in Texas Utilities, which paid a nice dividend and was a win-win situation: the utility was able to finance the project, the Texans got their power, and the investors got a nice return on their initial investment (I sold at a profit after a few years -- I haven't followed the company since). I also remarked that no time in the trasactions had anyone inquired as to my nationality. In all, I was told that, to the Bolivians, that sort of thing was out of the question.

Last I heard, no power plant in Bolivia.

But back to Zedillo. Kathleen asks, "Why Forbes gives this guy column inches, I haven't the foggiest idea." I don't either, but here's a guy I propose: Hernando de Soto.

Mary writes about the murdered Coptic family
in her excellent blog, Exit Zero,

In their report about the possible ‘religious’ connection in the gruesome slaying of an Egyptian-American family the New York Times says that the Copts in Egypt have a "fraught history with the country's Muslim majority"

That’s putting it mildly.

and a surprising connection to violence advocate Lynn Stewart.

MIchael lives near a Coptic church.

Robert Spencer has more on this story here, here, and here.

The case for reform, from Forbes:
In Latin America, by Ernesto Zedillo (my bold print):

Not every fiscal problem is the same throughout the region, however. Some countries raise high amounts of revenue but spend even more. Others spend more frugally but proportionally collect less in taxes. All spend too little on basic infrastructure. The general goal must be to achieve fiscal consolidations--either by axing current expenditures or by collecting more taxes. This would enable governments to apply countercyclical macroeconomic policies and to invest more in human and physical infrastructure.

Next in importance is guaranteeing the rule of law, under which falls the protection of property rights and the relentless fight against corruption. The rule of law is an essential requirement for the development of credit markets and other important aspects of a modern economy. Finally, the removal of internal and external barriers to competition must be part of any must-do list of public policy. Latin American economies need fewer and better regulations and must be more open to foreign competition and investment.

In Germany, by Paul Johnson: Eminent historian Johnson identifies three reasons for Germany's decline:

• The power wielded by its old-fashioned trade unions
• The input of the EU bureaucracy in Brussels
• Germany's acute sense of failure and unhappiness.

Johnson then proposes,

Along with reforming itself, Germany should be leading a campaign to reform the EU. The object should be to cast off the Francophile control executed by Paris and Brussels and give the EU a new direction that corresponds to its expanding membership. One change--both symbolic and substantive--would be to transfer EU headquarters from Brussels, with its 40-year accretions of bureaucratic barnacles, to a city such as Hamburg, with its strong entrepreneurial and trading traditions, or Aachen, once the capital of Charlemagne's Frankish-German empire and from which, in the late 1940s, the original concept of a United Europe drew its inspiration. Certainly the European capital needs to be closer to the Union's center of gravity. But more important, the EU needs a revolution in thinking, away from the regulations and controls that are turning the dream of a prosperous and peaceful Europe into a nightmare of discontent, depression and decline.

The EU is considering making temporary concessions to the countries affected by the tsunami

Stung by accusations that the EU's protectionism is doing immense damage to the Third World, our new Brussels trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, last week announced: "I want to find ways to assist people and businesses hit by the tsunami." He would "consider" moves towards trade concessions worth "tens of millions of euros". This compares with the Thais' own estimate that the shrimp tariff alone is now costing them £400 million a year.

Free trade is something not contemplated by the EU.