Saturday night passion

Via Denny, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor... on a lute:




(No, he's not a Flying Karamazov.)

About talking without preconditions...

Obama is full of talk about tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.

Tough, direct presidential diplomacy with an enemy, be it Iran or other, without preconditions is a huge mistake, for the simple reason that appeasement never works.

City Journal has an article on Spain's ETA, the Basque terrorist Marxist-Leninist group founded in 1959 which continues to bring death. The article explains what happened when Zapatero sat down for his brand of "tough, direct presidential diplomacy without preconditions":

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Zapatero's decision in 2006 to negotiate with ETA without demanding that it first lay down its weapons proved a major miscalculation, threatening to reverse these gains. While ETA had entered into and broken temporary cease-fires with previous governments in 1989 and 1998, the Socialists had claimed, with much fanfare, to have brokered Spain’s first "permanent" cease-fire with the group. But the lull in terror lasted only eight months, shattering in December 2006 with ETA's airport attack. Though ETA had phoned in a warning, as it often does, two Ecuadorans, sleeping in their car while waiting to pick up passengers, died in the blast. The Socialist government suspended talks and increased police and political pressure on ETA.

Terrorism experts now agree that ETA simply used the cease-fire to rebuild, recruit, and rearm.

Tough diplomacy can only work if preconditions have been met and an enemy faces even more severe consequences, not appeasement. Zapatero's misstep is only one instance where appeasement didn't work.



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Willful Blindness reviewed

Via Memeorandum, Thomas Joscelyn reviews Andrew McCarthy's book, Willful Blindness: Memoir of the Jihad. McCarthy was the prosecutor responsible for leading the investigation of Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and others involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Joscelyn's review shows an overview of that case, but more importantly (emphasis added),

Had McCarthy stopped at telling the story of the many tactical failures that allowed Rahman's terrorists to menace America in the early 1990s, Willful Blindness would have been an invaluable addition to the literature of 9/11. But he takes his argument a step further, showing how these tactical failures were merely symptoms of a larger strategic failure to comprehend the nature of our terrorist enemies. In the process, McCarthy has given us one of the most important books on jihadist terrorism.

The strategic failure McCarthy exposes is ongoing, and extends even to something as basic as naming the enemy. Just as Willful Blindness was released, the State Department and other agencies published an edict banning the use of the word "jihadist" (as well as similar terms) from the government's lexicon. The thinking is that the terrorists like to call themselves "jihadists," thereby appropriating an Islamic term which can have far more benevolent meanings, such as the struggle for spiritual betterment or simply to do good.

It is true that, in some Islamic traditions, "jihad" has been endowed with such inoffensive meanings. But as McCarthy rightly argues, "jihad" has far more frequently been used to connote violent campaigns against infidels since the earliest days of Islam. When Sheikh Rahman called on his followers to wage "jihad," they knew that their master did not mean for them to become absorbed in prayer.

Moreover, Washington is apparently too obtuse to notice that Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda's terrorists, Tehran's mullahs, and Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi clerics have called for a militant brand of jihad persistently over the past several decades. All of these parties know how their words will be interpreted by the Muslim masses, and no fiat from the Washington bureaucracy will undo this widely accepted meaning.

Not only does Washington have a hard time properly naming our jihadist enemies, it still fails to understand that terrorist-sponsoring regimes have long backed them. Here, McCarthy has been at the forefront of explaining how jihadist terrorism is frequently, but not exclusively, a tool of hostile regimes: Writing in these pages in 1998 ("The Sudan Connection"), he explored the many ties between the 1993 plotters and the Sudanese regime then led by an Islamic radical named Hassan al-Turabi. Indeed, Turabi and Rahman were longtime friends and allies. McCarthy returns to this aspect of the story in Willful Blindness to show how Sudan's U.N. delegation provided material support to Rahman's terrorists as they plotted to blow up New York's landmarks. (The Clinton administration even expelled two Sudanese delegates because of their involvement.)

Sudan's sponsorship went far beyond Rahman's goons. In the early 1990s Turabi forged a broad terrorist coalition that included Osama bin Laden's core group of followers, all of al Qaeda's affiliates, and a number of other organizations. Turabi envisioned bringing all of these parties together in one grand anti-American terrorist coalition. And he received the support of the two leading state sponsors of terrorism: Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the mullahs' Iran. Out of this witch's brew of state and nonstate actors grew the network that we commonly call "al Qaeda."

It is beyond my scope here to summarize all of the evidence that supports this thesis, but suffice it to say that McCarthy is exactly right when he asserts,

It is not difficult to find some current or former intelligence official ready and willing to opine that Sunnis [such as Rahman and bin Laden] would never cooperate with secularists or Shiites--overlooking abundant evidence of the Ba'athist Saddam Hussein coddling Sunni jihadists and a years-long history of collaboration between al Qaeda and Shiite Hezbollah.

McCarthy argues that, more than a decade after the Blind Sheikh was convicted of inspiring terrorism on American soil, America remains largely blind. Even the September 11 attacks did not fully awaken our nation, or its leaders, from their slumber. An implacable hate drives our enemies to never-ending violence. For them, we are the "other," infidels who deserve to be slaughtered as victims of a religious jihad, and there are many who are willing to support their war on us.

Scott Johnson at Powerline points out that

In the Bush administration, the "willful blindness" takes the form of political correctness. This political correctness, however, is more than an intellectual failure. On the one hand, the administration has supported the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation and the naming of CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America as HLF's unindicted co-conspirators supporting Hamas. On the other hand, the adminstration continues to treat CAIR and ISNA, for example, as respectable organizations and occasional partners.

On the Democratic side, the failure runs deeper. Listening to the Democratic debates over the past year, one could not help but be struck by the candidates' understanding of the Bush administration as an enemy far more formidable than any we are facing beyond our borders. Next to the Bush administration, the threats posed by Iran, Syria and their terrorist proxies pale in comparison. Should the Iranian Revolutionary Guard be designated a terrorist group? According to Barack Obama, this is going too far: the Bush administration is merely engaged in "saber rattling." He would prefer to rattle the tea cups with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

Scott quotes from Bruce Thorton's review,

This jihadist ideology motivated Abdel Rahman and the 9/11 jihadists, and continues to motivate Islamic terrorism today. But, then and now, this obvious traditional belief is ignored or rationalized away by those entrusted with our security: The secretary of state publicly croons that Islam is the "religion of peace and love," and the State and Homeland Security departments instruct their employees not to use words like "jihad" or "mujahedeen" (holy warrior) in their communications. In contrast to this delusional thinking, McCarthy bluntly, and correctly, states the obvious: "Islam is a dangerous creed. It rejects core aspects of Western liberalism: self-determination, freedom of choice, freedom of conscience, equality under the law." We refuse to face the truth about Islam, and thus we disarm ourselves before "a doctrine that rejects our way of life and a culture unwilling or unable to suppress the savage element it breeds wherever it takes hold."

In yesterday's podcast Dr. Andrew Bostom discussed his book The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History where he examined a vast amount of Middle Eastern Islamic anti-Semitic literature that has endured through the ages, literature that goes ignored. From the Middle East through Europe, the US and Latin America, the Jihad continues.

We are blinding ourselves again and again to the reality of Jihad. When will we wake up?



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Playing golf 'adds five years to your life', says the Telegraph, but tango's more fun

Via Don Surber, Playing golf 'adds five years to your life': The Swedes say so,

But golf could have greater health benefits than walking and even more strenuous forms of exercise, according to research in Sweden which shows that playing the game adds an average of five years to your life.

The study's authors, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, calculate that this adds an extra five years on to the average player's lifespan.

How is that, pray tell?

"A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours, walking at a fast pace for six to seven kilometres, something which is good for the health," he said.

Walking?



What do you mean, walking?

Prof. Ahlbom continues,

Prof Ahlbom said that other factors outside the golf course, such as the fact that people who enjoy sport also generally lead a healthier lifestyle,

I'm all for drinks at the clubhouse and walking instead of taking the golf cart, but it's not looking like my lifespan will extend for 5 more years, because

The lowest death rates were found among players with the lowest handicaps.

Alas, my handicao is in the low four figures. Tell Tiger Woods that for my funeral I want everyone to go for drinks and dinner at Triumph.

Tango, however, has significant health benefits:

According to a study conducted by the Society for Neuroscience, challenging leisure activities such as dancing not only keep the aging body in shape, they also help to sharpen the aging brain by requiring memorization of dance steps and sequences which boost brain power and improve memory skills.

The New England Journal of Medicine found that ballroom dancing at least twice a week made people less likely to develop dementia while some people with Alzheimer's disease were able to recall forgotten memories when they danced to familiar music.

Better yet:

"Tango is a culture. It's a kind of healing. It's for people who have forgotten how to touch, how to look into each others eyes, how to respect a woman and how to respect it when a man leads. It's a lifestyle basically," she said, echoing the sentiments of others.

And there's also the shoes...



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When will Obama meet with Petraeus?

My friends Sean and Atilla have the video:


Go to Iraq, Senator Obama.



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The collapsing Venezuelan oil industry

Venezuela's Petroleum Imports Surge. No, it's not a typo. It's imports they're talking about (emphasis added):

Venezuela's state petroleum company, Petroleos de Venezuela, increased petroleum imports by nearly 150% between the first quarter of 2007 and the same period this year, bank statistics show.

A report by the Venezuelan central bank this week demonstrated that petroleum imports reached $1.5 billion during the first quarter of 2008. The imports, which include diesel oil, gasoline and chemical additives for gasoline products, are the country's highest in more than a decade.

Additionally, Venezuela's lying about its total oil production:

Venezuela's state oil company says it produced 3.15 million barrels per day last year. Analysts including the Paris-based International Energy Administration put Venezuela's production at around 2.4 million.

Mr. Garcia said that while the petroleum sector reported growth of 3.3% in the first quarter, this figure is "not consistent with the number of active rigs." PDVSA declared an emergency shortage of oil rigs last July, and the company's year-end report showed they had just 111.

My friend Brian Faughnam of the Weekly Standard Blog:

Venezuela should be awash in wealth derived from the high price of oil, but Chavez's government has been siphoning off oil profits rather than reinvesting them in production. Combine that with the seizure of assets from private companies and the confiscatory windfall profits tax on the private firms that remain, and suddenly Venezuela seems unable to make money off its vast oil resources. (More on the failures of state-owned oil companies here.)

This is more bad news for Hugo Chavez, who has seen Brazil check his ambitions in the region, and who has been embarrassed by the discovery of his ties to FARC (the death of whose leader is mourned by Chavez). At home his enemies are finally presenting a united front against him. It may be only a matter of time before Chavez has to decide whether to depart the scene gracefully, or to cling to power by force.

The US Congress should jump at this opportunity and aggressively enact laws allowing drilling at ANWR and offshore, the further development and use of coal, and the building of oil refineries and nuclear power plants. These measures would all cause the price of oil to drop immediately and in the long run. They would also substantially weaken the power of oil tyrants like Chavez and the Middle East dictators.

Will Congress do that?

Of course not.

UPDATE
Via Larwyn, Don Suber posts that

Newt Gingrich gets the petition rolling to get Congress to open up offshore drilling.
...
The group is American Solutions, a 527 started by Newt Gingrich. Sign the petition here

Let's see if Congress will listen.

Via Denny,


House of Oil Repute



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Nancy does it again, and other roundup items

Never shy of stealing the show by cozying up to the tyrants, Nancy Pelosi, after her Hermes tour of Syria and giving Colombia the "Chavez rule", now Nancy
Hails Iranian Goodwill in Iraq.

But let's not question whose side she is on!

Betsy:

Pelosi is so hung up with trying to prove that the Iraqi government is failing because to acknowledge otherwise would be to hint that something has gone right in the past year with our new strategy in Iraq. And she can't do that because she is politically invested in that strategy's failure and her party's efforts to pull the rug out from under those efforts. So her solution is to praise the "goodwill" of those who are behind a lot of the violence that we see in the entire Middle East. Her ignorance and partisan approach to reality is breathtaking.

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Turk Receives Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia

A Turkish-born barber, living and working in Saudi Arabia, was recently convicted for the ‘crime’ of apostasy and has been sentenced to death. The man, Sabri Bogday, had a quarrel with a person from Egypt and a Saudi during which he seemingly cursed the name of God. This is of course unacceptable in Saudi Arabia and… as a result, the judges of that country have decided that Bogday deserves to die.

Read all of it.
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Does Hillary have manhands?
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The Chinese may have copied the contents of the Secretary of Commerce's laptop when he was visiting China (h/t the Baron)
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Israel, Heart of the Middle East
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Not chump change: Mega-Scandal in Iran: $35 Billion in Oil Money Missing from State Coffers. That's billions with a "b"
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Forget the Tupperware—let’s have a miracle fruit party
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Yes, it's porch blogging weather, a joyful day indeed.





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Today at 11AM Eastern: Dr Andrew Bostom

UPDATE
You can listen to the podcast here
Dr. Andrew Boston talks about his new book, The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism in today's podcast at 11AM Eastern.

Chat's open by 10:45AM, and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Join us!



Please vote for my podcast at the Best of Blogs. Thank you!

Victor Davis Hanson and Rick Moran

About Me

What are the baby boomers' collective traits? Like all perpetual adolescents who suffer arrested development, we always want things both ways: Don't drill or explore for more energy, but nevertheless demand ever more fuel from other suppliers.

There are never bad and worse choices, but only a Never Never Land of good and even-better alternatives. Housing not only has to stay affordable for buyers, but also must appreciate in value to give instant equity to those who have just become owners.

When things don't go well, we always blame someone else. Why drill off Santa Barbara or Alaska when we can sue those terrible Saudis for not putting more oil platforms in their Persian Gulf?

And why accept that the conduct of all wars is flawed and victory goes usually to those who persevere in making the needed adjustments when we can just keep pointing fingers at the official who disbanded the Iraqi army or sent too few troops after the invasion?

The sense of self-importance is never far away. We "earned" our generous unsustainable Social Security benefits, so why should we have to suffer by cutting them?

Sociologists have correctly diagnosed the perfect storm that created the "me" generation -- sudden postwar affluence, sacrificing parents who did not wish us to suffer as they had in the Great Depression and World War II, and the rise of therapeutic education that encouraged self-indulgence.

Perhaps the greatest trademark of the 1960s cohort was self-congratulation. Baby boomers alone claimed to have brought about changes in civil rights, women's liberation and environmental awareness -- as if these were not prior concerns of earlier generations.

The boomers can't seem to realize that the Universe (or the world or whatever they call it) owes them nothing.

Unfortunately they are probably going to elect someone whose entire campaign is one endless promise of hope for yet more self-indulgent self-congratulatory policies. Rick Moran writes,

We are about to hand the presidency to the most ill-equipped, shallow, unschooled, and naive candidate in American history. Less than 4 years ago, Barack Obama was an obscure Illinois state senator with a paper thin record of accomplishment and a work history that included organizing inner city residents by bringing their resentments against white America to the surface thus motivating them to vote and put pressure on city hall.

Of course all the failings of an Obama administration will be blamed on the Bush administration because as VDH said, "When things don't go well, we always blame someone else."

All for the sake of hope and change.

Let's hope Rick is wrong.

[Yes, I'll post about Pelosi's lunacy later.]



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Liveblogging the Defending the American Dream Summit

Go to my Star Ledger NJ Voices for details!

More recent posts on top:
Press Conference: The Wall of Pork at the Defending the American Dream Summit

Liveblogging, continued: Guess who didn't come to the Conference?

Liveblogging the Defending the American Dream Summit

Is it the Onion, or is it Newsweek?

From Gerard by way of Lawyn, Obama Practices Looking-Off-Into-Future Pose

Then we go to Betsy, who recognized That Obama pose of nobility and saw this in Newsweek's cover story:

And now, two weeks later, he's on the cover again with a bit of light surrounding his head in that convenient halo effect that seems to surround so many pictures of Obama.

Jim Geraghty was in Ed's podcast yesterday and said that judging by his press coverage, Obama was born in a manger. Yes indeed, and his cohorts cloak him in Old Testament armor, too: Congresswoman Gwen Moore was saying that Obama wears

"The breastplate of hope. Wielding the shield of unity. Carrying the sword of truth. And feet marching to the beat of change!"

While Leviticus reads,

As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

And what better than these shoes can proclaim the gospel of peace when marching to the beat of change?
[CORRECTION: Patrick emailed to say,

Actually, it is St. Paul, Ephesians 6:15, who is making a reference to Isaiah 52:7.

If only I knew Scripture as well as I do shoes...]

I wonder what shoes Obama will wear to that trip to Iraq now that McCain has challenged him to see the facts in the country.

(video via Pamela)

Doug Ross has more on Obama.
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I'm heading to the Americans for Prosperity Defending the Dream conference this morning.

In the meantime, please vote for my podcast at the Best of Blogs Best Podcast/Video category. Thanks!



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The Soros-McClellan Connection

At LGF: The Soros-McClellan Connection

While Scott McClelland's doing great business with his new book and getting payback for getting fired, his publisher, Public Affairs Books, is owned by Perseus Book Group, which in turn is owned by ... you guessed it. Go read it.

UPDATE
More at Media Mythbusters.



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Expensive change

In today's WSJ, Change You'll Have to Pay For

Here's one "change" presidential candidate Barack Obama apparently believes in: higher prices. Witness his letter last week urging President George W. Bush not to submit the U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement to Congress for ratification.

Mr. Obama's objection, as stated in his letter, is that the deal "would give Korean exports essentially unfettered access to the U.S. market and would eliminate our best opportunity for obtaining genuinely reciprocal market access in one of the world's largest economies." In other words, ordinary American consumers would get too good a deal.

For an idea of how good, look at automobiles, about which Mr. Obama professes particular concern. The free-trade agreement would eliminate America's 2.5% tariff on most Korean car imports. Even better, it would phase out the 25% tariff on pick-ups and light trucks. Overall, the Korean trade deal would boost the U.S. economy by $10 billion to $12 billion.

Mr. Obama thinks this benefit to U.S. consumers isn't worth the risk that South Korea might not live up to its promise to eliminate its own 8% tariff on U.S. autos and cut its bewildering array of nontariff barriers, such as arcane safety standards. This despite the fact that the deal includes enforcement provisions if Korea backtracks.

Obama's record?

On the record so far, Mr. Obama is the most protectionist U.S. presidential candidate in decades. In February he inserted a statement opposing the Korean trade deal into the Congressional record only days before securing the endorsement of the powerful Teamsters union. He also opposes the U.S.-Colombia pact, and he has called for rewriting Nafta – unilaterally if Canada and Mexico don't play along.

Unfortunately the repercussions for Latin America go well beyond prices for consumer goods here in the USA: Free trade is exactly what Colombia and the other countries in Latin America need to fight Chavez's Bolivarian revolution.

Obama's already said he's willing to talk without preconditions with Chavez and Cuba's regime. The rest of the Democrat party has already handed the Chavez rule. Don't expect things to goo well in Latin America if the Dems take the White House.



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Why I don't go to Sunday Catholic Mass

Francis Porretto shares my dislike of what passes for music at Mass,

The only deviation was the selection of liturgical music, and, as my voice sounds like a moose farting through a rusty bullhorn, that doesn’t matter much to me anyway.

Then there are the totally creepy puppets:


And even creepier: The Curt Jester has photos, but you can heave at the video, too, which includes a Lord of the Dance number and song(s) from... Jesus Christ Superstar.

It's enough to make The Anchoress say, "Please, make it stop".

Yes, I have gone to Mass - Episcopalian and Catholic - recently. The Episcopalians have good music, and if you go to the 8:15 Catholic Mass on weekdays you are spared the clowning.

Are you, gentle reader, as appalled as I at the current trend of entertainment passing for liturgy in your church?

UPDATE
Ed calls it Sid & Marty Krofft Mass. Welcome, Hot Air readers! Please visit often.



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Al Qaeda "pranks", and not

ABC News has this report, Al Qaeda Supporters' Tape to Call for Use of WMDs

"There have been several reports that al Qaeda will release a new message calling for the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against civilians," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told ABC News in an e-mail.

"Although there have been similar messages in the past, the FBI and [Department of Homeland Security] have no intelligence of any specific plot or indication of a threat to the U.S.," the e-mail said. "The FBI and U.S. intelligence community will review the message for any intelligence value."

The video in question appears to have been put together by jihadi supporter(s) and is already available on a YouTube channel devoted to spreading al Qaeda propaganda.

Counterterrorism blog states the video is

meandering, boring, and difficult to follow--and it certainly was not the product of Al-Qaida.

CT Blog points at the possiblity of a prank. Jawa is not alarmed but remains cautious to the possibility that the video may point to a bacteriological attack on September 2008.

However, in Iraq a new al-Qaeda cell has been created for Iraqis under 16 years old; the cell is named "The Youths of Heaven". And that is no prank. (h/t the Baron)

UPDATE
With al-Qaeda, it's starting to look as if it's a matter of women and children first...



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A Trip Across Israel

My friend Steven posted this video, A Trip Across Israel - as you can see,

This video documents a drive across the entire width of Israel from the West Bank wall to the Mediterranean Sea. The point is to illustrate how small and intrinsically vulnerable it is.

The video is at liveleak: A Trip Across Israel.



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Tuesday night tango: Mala Junta x 3

Natacha Poberaj and Eduardo Villegas

Same song, Natacha Poberaj and El Gaucho


Same song, with Gabriel Rodriguez and Geraldine Rojas

The al Dura case revisited

Nidra Poller writes in the WSJ European edition Al-Durra Case Revisited,

It's hard to exaggerate the significance of Mohammed al-Durra, the 12-year-old Palestinian boy allegedly killed by Israeli bullets on Sept. 30, 2000. The iconic image of the terrified child crouching behind his father helped sway world opinion against the Jewish state and fueled the last Intifada.

It's equally hard, then, to exaggerate the significance of last week's French court ruling that called the story into doubt. Not just whether the Israeli military shot the boy, but whether the whole incident may have been staged for propaganda purposes. If so, it would be one of the most harmful put-up jobs in media history.

You probably didn't hear this news. International media lapped up the televised report of al-Durra's shooting on France's main state-owned network, France 2. Barely a peep was heard, however, when the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in a suit brought by the network against the founder of a media watchdog group. The judge's verdict, released Thursday, said that Philippe Karsenty was within his rights to call the France 2 report a "hoax," overturning a 2006 decision that found him guilty of defaming the network and its Mideast correspondent, Charles Enderlin. France 2 has appealed to the country's highest court.

Judge Laurence Trébucq did more than assert Mr. Karsenty's right to free speech. In overturning a lower court's ruling, she said the issues he raised about the original France 2 report were legitimate. While Mr. Karsenty couldn't provide absolute proof of his claims, the court ruled that he marshalled a "coherent mass of evidence" and "exercised in good faith his right to free criticism." The court also found that Talal Abu Rahma, the Palestinian cameraman for France 2 who was the only journalist to capture the scene and the network's crown witness in this case, can't be considered "perfectly credible."
...
Judge Trébucq said that Mr. Karsenty "observed inexplicable inconsistencies and contradictions in the explanations by Charles Enderlin

France2's reaction? They haven't reported on the decision at all. The inconsistencies and contradictions remain.

Prior posts on the Al Dura case here. Last week's podcast here.

Don't miss also Richard Landes's Pallywood,




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Today at 11AM Eastern: Eneas Biglione of HACER

UPDATE
You can listen to the podcast here

In today's podcast, Eneas Biglione of the Hispanic American Center for Economic Research talks about Tirofijo's death, and other Latin American issues.

By the end of last week's podcast from Cannes Erik Svane was surrounded by girls in bikinis.


Today Eneas probably won't be surrounded by girls in bikinis, but it'll be a great podcast all the same.

Chat opens at 10:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639. Join us!


And don't forget to vote for my podcast in the Best of Blogs Best podcast/Video blog category.



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A new class of victims

Democrat politics are all about making people believe that government is what will save all of us victims. Yesterday Obama was creating a new class of victims: veterans.

Powerline:

He continued with a town hall-style question and answer period that cast veterans in the only role with which the Democrats are comfortable--victims--and sought to politicize the holiday.

Victimology is what Democrat politics are all about, because, as TigerHawk explains,

Lots of victims are, of course, necessary to sustain statism, because non-victims can deal with their problems without any need for politicians. Still, the quantity of victims seems to increase during election years, particularly when Democrats are trying to take over from Republicans. Presumably the quantum of supposed victims in our society will decline in 2009 almost no matter who wins the White House, only to pick up again in the months before the next election.

TigerHawk is clearly an optimist. The Dems will continue to create new classes of victims the moment the 2008 election is done and they start with the next election.

By the way, Obama apparently doesn't know the difference between Memorial Day, which commemorates the dead, and Veteran's Day, which honors all veterans. But then, Veteran's Day comes after election day, so you can't really put those victims to political use.



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Carter: Since talking worked so well when he was president...

... we should be talking to the Iranians because,

"They are rational people like all of us in this room."

At least as rational as he, considering he's also blabbing about how Israel had 150 nuclear weapons.

The Iranians continue to withold information on their nuclear program, but Carter was too busy talking at the Hay-on-Wye literature festival to care.

Carter's day was not complete without also telling Hillary to drop out after June 3. He's ready for Obama to carry out Carter's second term.

Just in time, Doug Ross posts the Jimmy Carter Threat Level Advisory System.



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Benicio wins the Cannes' Best Actor award...

...for glorifying a psychopath mass murderer: Benicio Del Toro, 'Latino Brad Pitt', wins Cannes award as 'Che'

"I'd like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara," said the actor, after accepting his second big award under the US director's helmsmanship.

"I wouldn't be here without Che Guevera, and through all the awards the movie gets you'll have to pay your respects to the man."

As if there was anything to respect about Che Guevara.

The article continues,

Some critics slammed the film shot in Spanish for its length and meticulous documentary-style presentation, as well as for failing to focus on the politically controversial aspects of the Cuban revolution.

Soderbergh needed to tighten it for average movie-goers, they said.

Benicio has his share of the blame for this aberration:

Del Toro, who has a quiet but immensely strong presence, was involved from the start on the "Che" film, which took nine years of research and 60 million dollars to complete.

Too bad he couldn't spare fifteen minutes in the Cuba Archive.

I fully expect Benicio will get an Oscar for this movie. For now, he also got a Come Mierda Of the Week Award

Prior post: Benicio's Che vs reality's Che.



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The Tirofijo's-dead edition of the Carnival of Latin American and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Memorial Day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your links included on next week's Carnival please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com. Other than ads for vacation spots, I'll be happy to post your links.

The really big story: Tirofijo, the FARC top guy, is dead. The FARC has confirmed this news. There is much speculation as to the fate of the hundreds of hostages - among them Ingrid Betancourt - and as to how Marulanda's death will impact the FARC.

Of course you will find headlines glorifying the son of a bitch, as TIME magazine does with Colombia's Rebel Patriarch Is Dead. Patriarch of death, if anything. Notice also the photo showing his pious hands held in prayer (no, I won't post the photo here). The editors of TIME have earned my contempt.

BLOG OF THE WEEK
Investor's Business Daily blog

LATIN AMERICA
The Criminal-Terrorist Nexus and the DEA

South American Presidents Agree to Form Unasur Bloc: "The continental bloc, for now at least, is likely to exist only on paper."

ARGENTINA
Argentina: Epopeyas en pugna

BRAZIL
Las FARC sí pertenecen al Foro de Sao Paulo

CHILE
I wish I could think of a way to relate this to hippos

COLOMBIA
Colombia's FARC leader dead

Tirofijo dead?

Colombia's big news: "Tirofijo" FARC leader 'dead' says military

In addition to Tirofijo's death, yet another FARc criminal surrendered last week: Starving FARC Leader Surrenders in Colombia-- Responsible For Murder of President Uribe's Father Gateway Pundit also posts FARC Connections to German Leftists & US Democrats Exposed, also at Prairie Pundit, from Der Spiegel's German Left Wing May Have Ties to Colombian Extremists

Colombia's top FARC commander is dead - government source

Colombia probes 12 for alleged FARC ties

The computer files found with slain FARC leader Rául Reyes continued to reverberate in Colombia on Thursday with the announcement by prosecutors that they will investigate whether 12 people -- including three Colombian lawmakers and a retired American consultant -- had unauthorized contacts with the guerrilla group.

At least some of those now under investigation -- including Colombian Sen. Piedad Córdoba and American consultant James Jones -- have tried to get the FARC to release hostages they have kidnapped.

Merkel apoya a Uribe contra las FARC y el narcotráfico

Colombia's media
An icon reborn: The return of a campaigning newspaper

The Terrorists' Man in Washington

CUBA
Blogger creates freedom

From where I sit

The Cuban American Jewish Mission

The Jews of Cuba

ECUADOR
Ecuadoreans reject Colombia rebel probe

Ecuador names naval officer to head state oil company

JAMAICA
Allegiance and citizenship

MEXICO
It's Time to Bust the Telmex Monopoly

Education in Mexico: Testing the teachers

PERU
Peruvian Nazis rally for Hugo Chavez

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico's Historic Vote

Puerto Rico Gets Its Moment in the Sun (the Political One) as Primary Nears

Hillary and Obama Campaign in Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
The FARC files: Just how much help has Hugo Chávez given to Colombia's guerrillas?

Boris Johnson Ends Energy Accord Between London, Venezuela

London mayor Boris Johnson said the energy funding agreement between London and Venezuela's state- owned oil company will not be renewed on Aug. 20, according to an e-mailed statement from his press office.

This will save an estimated 67,000 pounds ($133,000) per year in running and staff costs, Johnson said

Iran and Venezuela to launch joint bank

Linking Venezuela and the FARC

In Venezuelan Schools, Creating 'a New Man'

Indoctrination in the idiocy of socialism in Venezuela

Obama's Assessment of the 'Tiny' Threat From Iran, Venezuela, Cuba

Contemplating a Summit Between Hugo Chavez and President Obama

Delta Amacuro News and Views

Chavez's economic policy shifts as "solutions" have not worked

Venezuela-OPEC Oil Output Dispute to Be Resolved

Hugo and the Venezuela chocolate factory

No limit to oil price rise: Chavez

UPCOMING EVENT
Charleston Caribbean Festival

US Elections 2008
Obama's Latin America policy

McCain Gets It On Latin America

Will Obama free Cuba?

Obama, the One-Man Gaffe Machine

Special thanks to Maria, Larwyn, Eneas and Maggie.



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Another day, another vote!

Yes, it's a new day and you can vote again for my podcast in the Best Podcast/Video Blog category of the Best of Blogs awards.

For your listening pleasure, here are the podcasts.

Thank you for your support.

Memorial Day

The History Channel tells us that

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to honor the nation's Civil War dead by decorating their graves. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers.

Several bloggers are marking the day:
Blatherings has tribute and roundup freedom: priceless

Lance Fairchok at American Thinker: The Heroes That Dwelt Among Us

CatHouse Chat I remember and honor those who serve

Gerard van der Leun honors the other Gerard, The Name in the Stone, which he first published a few years ago.

The Anchoress: "Americans Will Die for Freedom!", and links to Americans will die for liberty

Pamela has photos from Fleet Week in NYC.

Siggy: Memorial Day And The Mirror Of Hope

Betsy: Honoring the dead

Special thanks to Larwyn for the links. The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean will be up in a few moments.



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Marvels of government-provided healthcare: Cardboard nurses

A couple of years ago I posted on the disastrous French healthcare system. Bad as it is, at least the French haven't resorted to the British healthcare's latest gimmick: CARDBOARD nurses.

Yessiree... cardboard nurses. Life-sized cardboard cutouts with voice boxes nagging telling people to clean their hands. The real problem is that bacteria-caused deaths are on the rise.

And how did that cardboard nurse program work out, you ask? Expat Yank has the details.

Maybe next time they'll come up with cardboard cutouts of Clive Owen or maybe Bear Grylls and see if people pay attention.



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Hillary drops pantsuit, Barack waffles in Puerto Rico

There you have it: In Puerto Rico, Hillary goes courting the votes at an evangelical church, and then hits the beach. The photo on the right shows the enthusiastically born-again singing and dancing with Hillary in their midst.

While at the beach Hillary was not wearing the pantsuit but was promising the moon, disguised as Presidential vote:
Clinton Brings Message of Equality to Puerto Rico

In her first official visit here as a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton came with one promise: that if she is elected president, one of her top priorities will be to give Puerto Ricans equal standing as Americans, primarily by giving them the right to vote in the general election.

"I think you should be treated equally, nothing less," she said. "That is the core of my agenda in Puerto Rico, a passionate belief in your right to equal treatment. This is the 21st century, we need to treat every person equally and certainly the United States government should be the model and set the example."

I promise you that if the "equal treatment" means having Puerto Ricans pay Federal income tax, the average Jose on the street is going to say, "No, gracias".

Fernando Suarez, CBS's correspondent, continues

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and doesn't share some of the same rights as American citizens, such as being unable to vote in the general election. Puerto Ricans, instead, are allowed to vote in the primaries and are allocated delegates who can cast votes for the nominee. But one key issue that has prevented the full right to citizenship has to do with taxes – Puerto Ricans are not required to pay federal income taxes, although they do pay payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare.

Suarez is correct.

Now comes a part no one is talking about: Hillary appears to have - inadvertently or not - promised statehood to the island:

"I promise you this I will work for a resolution of Puerto Rico's status by the end of my first term in office," said Clinton drawing thunderous applause from the crowd.

If she is saying that she's going to grant Puerto Ricans in the island to right to vote in the presidential elections (Puerto Ricans who live in the 50 states already can), and is committed to "a resolution of Puerto Rico's status" by the end of her first term, surely she has to realize that she would be granting statehood to the island.

I mean, Puerto Rico is already a Commonwealth. From her statement, Hillary believes that she considers the island's Commonwealth status as unresolved. If Puerto Rico's status was changed to independent, Puerto Ricans would be citizens of a different country, and would cease to be American citizens therefore losing the right to vote in US elections. Hence, for Hillary to propose granting the right to vote for Presidential elections AND resolve the status, she would have to make Puerto Rico a state. Of course the President does not have the power to do any of this.

So I must conclude that she's just an ignorant liar, because when she was at the church she said she had "no preference" on status.

Obama, on the other hand, waffled:

"We don't want to get too political here on the issues that are obviously so controversial here in Puerto Rico, but what I will say is that I am absolutely committed to making sure that Puerto Rico has the right to make a decision and to have self determination when it comes to its status, and making decisions about how they're interacting with Congress and the President of the United States. In the meantime, I will make sure that you are represented in these issues."

Which shows you that you can eat your waffle, and have it, too.



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Associated Press Truth Deficit Disorder

A couple of years ago I coined the term Associated Press Deficit Disorder (APDD)

the innatention of Associated Press and other news agencies to the actual words said by a person who doesn't fit what AP wants to hear.

Add to that Associated Press Truth Deficit Disorder, since AP is now into full fabrication mode: Gateway Pundit has the details, Busted!!... Iraqi Press Denies AP Report On Ayatollah Sistani

Iraqi Press: Sistani DID NOT issue a fatwa declaring it OK to kill US Soldiers!

Yesterday, the Associated Press released a shocking report about how moderate Ayatollah Ali Sistani was "quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops was permissible."

This was completely out of character with the previous fatwas and religious edicts by the moderate and popular Iraqi Ayatollah.

Today, Iraqi Nibras Kazimi at Talisman Gate, who has met Ayatollah Sistani before, countered the AP report.

Go to Gateway Pundit for links and details. In the meantime, Doug Ross has the sign:



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The ears have it!

Drudge says that a movie from Kazahstan won a prize at Cannes:

A first feature-length film by Sergey Dvortsevoy, the film is about a young man returning to the steppe after military service in the hope of becoming a shepherd.

But Asa must first marry and his potential bride apparently thinks his ears are too big.

A light-hearted comedy that features camels as well as sheep, Asa's friend tries to convince the bride's parents his ears are normal-sized by showing them a picture of Britain's Prince Charles.

"Is he an African prince?" they ask. "No, American," he replies.

Camels, sheep, and Prince Charles's American ears. All it's missing is the "swimsuit".
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Also via Drudge, Camille Paglia hits Hillary with the big stick

The next major female presidential candidate will be well advised to stuff any errant husband into a rucksack and chuck him down a laundry chute. If they are to be truly equal, women must fight their own fights and not rely on a borrowed spotlight.

Hillary has tried to have it both ways: to batten on her husband's nostalgic popularity while simultaneously claiming to be a victim of sexism.

Well, which is it? Are men convenient sugar daddies or condescending oppressors?

To the angry older dowdy woman who has sacrificed everything for her career and who thinks the world owes her something, the answer is, both.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The WSJ's Summer Book Guide is up.

This week's Five Best Books, works of war poetry, selected by James Winn,



--------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's shoes: Franco Sarto's comedy espadrille, available in nine colors.

Not sure how they pick names for shoes, but at least it sounds better than "tragedy espadrille".



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Colombia's big news: "Tirofijo" FARC leader 'dead' says military

FARC leader 'dead' says military

The leader of Colombia's largest rebel group, the Farc, has died, the military has claimed in a statement.

A national news magazine had earlier reported the death of Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda on 26 March, citing the defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos.

There has been no confirmation from guerrilla sources. The top rebel commander's death has been rumoured and disproved several times in the past.

But correspondents say the death would be a big blow to the Farc if confirmed.

The cause of death sounds like one of Ace's headlines: the Colombians say that three bombing raids had targeted the area where Mr Marulanda was believed to have been staying, while the FARC (unofficialy) say it was a heart attack. As Ace would put it, "Tirofijo dead of heart attack, or raid, but mostly raid". Either way, Tirofijo's dead.

Chavez is not going to sleep well tonight. He's been in bed with the FARC for a long time, and the FARC is now under siege. The Colombian government is fighting a winning battle against the FARC. The death of the head of the FARC is a huge blow to Hugo's Communist buddies. The CNN article reminds us

Established as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party in 1964, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The Economist has a good summary of Chavez's involvement with the FARC (regular readers of this blog know this, but here it is for review)
The FARC files: Just how much help has Hugo Chavez given to Colombia's guerrillas?

Batches of the documents have been seen by The Economist and several other publications. They appear to show that Mr Chavez offered the FARC up to $300m, and talked of allocating the guerrillas an oil ration which they could sell for profit. They also suggest that Venezuelan army officers helped the FARC to obtain small arms, such as rocket-propelled grenades, and to set up meetings with arms dealers.

Venezuelan officials have dismissed the documents as fabrications. That was contradicted by Ronald Noble, Interpol's secretary-general, who announced in Bogota on May 15th, after two months of study by a team of 64 foreign experts, that the computer files came from the FARC camp and had not been modified in any way. Mr Chavez called this "ridiculous", questioning the impartiality of Mr Noble, who is American, and labelling him a "gringo policeman". However, in one indication of their accuracy, the documents provided information that in March guided police in Costa Rica to a house where they found $480,000 in cash, as an e-mail suggested.
...
The captured documents seem to confirm that FARC commanders have co-ordinated closely with Venezuelan army and intelligence officers on the border for several years, according to a Colombian official.

The documents also cast light on the FARC's strategic thinking. Its overriding objective seems to be to obtain international recognition as a "belligerent force" and to persuade the EU to stop labelling it a terrorist group. The guerrillas are desperate to establish a "strategic alliance" with Mr Chávez. But that was still just an aspiration in early 2007, the documents suggest. "We don't know if we enjoy their trust," writes Jorge Briceño (alias "Mono Jojoy"), the FARC's military leader, to other members of the secretariat.

Contacts intensified last September after Mr Uribe asked Mr Chavez to mediate with the FARC to release the guerrillas' hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, a politician with French and Colombian nationality. The secretariat agreed to send one of its members, Iván Márquez, to meet Mr Chávez in Caracas to talk about swapping the hostages for jailed guerrillas—but also, wrote Mr Briceño, "to lay the foundations for mutual political relations...even though this might be in the long term."

At their meeting, Mr Chavez "approved totally and without batting an eyelid" a FARC request for $300m, Mr Márquez reported to his colleagues in a message published by Spain's El País and Colombia's Semana. In a long e-mail 12 days later, Mr Briceño notes that it was not clear whether the money was "a loan or for solidarity" but that the FARC should offer Mr Chavez help in return. According to a document obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Mr Chavez's interior minister, Ramon Rodríguez Chacin, asked the FARC to train Venezuelan soldiers in guerrilla tactics for use if the United States were to invade.

In an e-mail dated February 8th, Mr Marquez and a colleague report that Mr Chavez (whom they identify with the pseudonym "Angel") had told them that the first $50m was "available", with another $200m over the course of the year. However, there is no corroboration as to whether any money was actually paid. Colombian officials have long said that the FARC was wealthy through drug money. So why were they so jubilant about the loan? Perhaps because army pressure against the guerrillas has disrupted their drug business. The government has evidence that some FARC fronts are short of cash and have trouble paying farmers for coca paste, says Sergio Jaramillo, the deputy defence minister.

The secretariat's e-mail correspondence sheds light on several other matters. It confirms that Manuel Marulanda, the FARC's veteran leader, is still alive and apparently in overall command. It also shows the FARC's cynicism about the plight of its hostages. Mr Briceño says repeatedly that he does not expect to achieve the hostage-for-prisoners swap while Mr Uribe is in power but that the FARC will keep pushing it to create problems for the president. When Mr Chavez asked for Ms Betancourt's release "we told him that if we did that we would be without cards," Mr Marquez writes.

The e-mails show the extent to which the army has the FARC on the run: the secretariat members often complain of their difficulties in communicating with each other. Days after Mr Reyes was killed another member of the secretariat, Ivan Rios, was murdered by his own bodyguard. This week Mr Ríos's deputy, Nelly Avila Moreno (aka "Karina"), surrendered. But the FARC is far from defeated. In an e-mail last August Mr Briceño notes that guerrilla landmines are undermining army morale. Their impact is "very good and we are going to increase them," he writes.

Go read every word.

UPDATE
Via Poliblogger, Colombian government statement (in Spanish)


Welcome, Instapundit, Hot Air, Memeorandum, American Thinker and Gateway Pundit readers. Please visit often, and don't miss the Monday Carnivals of Latin America and the Caribbean.



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Benicio's Che vs reality's Che

Maria sent me the link to the NYT's review of the Cannes Film Festival review of the unfinished "saga" on the most romanticized serial murderer in the world, Che. (Erik skipped that one. It was a bore.)

There's a couple of interesting things about this film review:

First, the title of the article: Soderbergh and Che, Provocateurs, which summarizes Soderbergh's intention. Provocateur, being edgy, rhapsodizing about the revolution, and worshipping the idol of the bien pensant around the world. For that he is regarded as

one of the most protean and interesting of American filmmakers, exploring an astonishing range of genres and styles with consistent skill, intelligence and audacity

Protean indeed.
Soderbergh wasn't audacious enough to show the names of the hundreds of people Che personally killed.

Then there's the photo in the article,

Benicio in full Che drag, pistol in hand, being the very picture of the heroic bandido of popular lore.

And third, the reviewer, who gets paid to sit through the "four-and-a-half-hour exploration", at least has the delicacy to mention that

There is a lot, however, that the audience will not learn from this big movie, which has some big problems as well as major virtues. In between the two periods covered in "Che," Guevara was an important player in the Castro government, but his brutal role in turning a revolutionary movement into a dictatorship goes virtually unmentioned. This, along with Benicio Del Toro’s soulful and charismatic performance, allows Mr. Soderbergh to preserve the romantic notion of Guevara as a martyr and an iconic figure, an idealistic champion of the poor and oppressed. By now, though, this image seems at best naïve and incomplete, at worst sentimental and dishonest.

This is bad, not because preserving a romantic image of a mass murderer, but because "it is not very interesting."

Now let's examine the real Che as depicted by another interesting, skilled and intelligent man who I had the pleasure of meeting a few months ago, Carlos Eire. Carlos writes about Che the homophobe:

He thinks about that cruel ritual he has witnessed so many times, when the guards strip all the prisoners naked and parade the most handsome in front of the newly arrived inmates to find out who among them is gay. He thinks about how anyone who gets aroused is taken away for a special mandatory "rehabilitation" program that includes the application of electrical currents to the genitals.

The NYT photo from the movie gives you the impression that Che was heroic in battle, when instead

The "acrid odor of gunpowder and blood" never reached Guevara's nostril from actual combat. It always came from the close-range murder of bound, gagged and blindfolded men. He was a true Chekist: "Always interrogate your prisoners at night," Che commanded his prosecutorial goons. "A man is easier to cow at night, his mental resistance is always lower."

Humberto Fontova writes about Che's specialty:

Che specialized in psychological torture. Many prisoners were yanked out of their cells, bound, blindfolded and stood against The Wall. The seconds ticked off. The condemned could hear the rifle bolts snapping ..... finally – FUEGO!!

BLAM!! But the shots were blanks. In his book, "Tocayo," Cuban freedom fighter Tony Navarro describes how he watched a man returned to his cell after such an ordeal. He'd left bravely, grim-faced as he shook hands with his fellow condemned. He came back mentally shattered, curling up in a corner of the squalid cell for days.

And the NYT article doesn't show the firing squads of Cuban revolution:


No, the NYT writes up an unfinished movie. The same NYT which, to this day, won't bother reviewing Carlos Eire's book Waiting For Snow In Havana, even when the book won the National Book Award.

It's all a matter of priorities.

UPDATE, Monday 26 May
Benicio wins Cannes best actor award...



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Vote beg: Best Podcast

Please go vote for my podcast in the Best Podcast/Video Blog category!

What we can learn from Alice Walker's daughter

Alice Walker's daughter has learned many of life's lessons from experience, and there is much we can learn from her. This article speaks to me in more ways than I can explain in this blog because I too am surprised every day by what a blessing it is to be a mother. While some think Rebecca Walker is getting too much publicity saying thoroughly conventional things, those conventional things need to be said.

How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart.

You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.

Motherhood can, and indeed does, make you blissfully happy. Every day I spend with my son is a day I am blessed.

Rebecca Walker continues:

In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from 'enslaving' me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late - I have been trying for a second child for two years, but so far with no luck.

I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel children need two parents and the thought of raising Tenzin without my partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying.

As the child of divorced parents, I know only too well the painful consequences of being brought up in those circumstances. Feminism has much to answer for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence whatever the cost to their families.

Make no mistake: no matter how much you try to fool yourself, having a child means that is your top priority. Children need a mother and a father who are totally committed to their child(ren)'s well being. Rebecca Walker suffered because of her mother's misplaced priorities,

work, political integrity, self-fulfilment, friendships, spiritual life, fame and travel.

Narcissism, no matter how you brand it.

If you, gentle reader, think this would have a lesser effect on boys, you are grievously mistaken.

Like most teenage children of divorced parents, Rebecca looked for love by having sex, which makes the child less emotionally demanding of their parents while at the same time giving the illusion that the child in turn has become more independent, and after all, feminism is all about girls' independence, isn't it?

But here's reality: after she got pregnant at age 14 she had an abortion,

Although I believe that an abortion was the right decision for me then, the aftermath haunted me for decades. It ate away at my self-confidence and, until I had Tenzin, I was terrified that I'd never be able to have a baby because of what I had done to the child I had destroyed. For feminists to say that abortion carries no consequences is simply wrong.

Notice how Rebecca knows it was a child she destroyed, and she had to make that decision when she was fourteen years old.

Feminism has devastated the moral character of two generations and is leaving millions of profoundly wounded people in its wake. It's time we recognize that.

Having read Rebecca's article, I'm buying her book.



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