HEROVILLE

Herouxville, Canada has created a stir with this welcome to immigrants on its municipal website:

"We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," the declaration reads.

"We consider it completely outside norms to... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc."

In related news, a Montreal policeman is in strife for offensive lyric writing:

The song includes the lines: "We want to accept ethnics, but not at any price... if you're not happy with your fate, there's a place called the airport."

I blame global warming.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

It looks like eastern Australia is in for some rain:

A National Climate Centre report says the drought-producing El Nino event is weakening.

It says a switch to average or wetter-than-average rainfall patterns is likely in late summer or autumn.

Sydneysiders are doomed:

A report commissioned by the New South Wales Government predicts large temperature rises and a decrease in rainfall of up to 40 per cent over the next 70 years.

The study forecasts the city's average temperature will rise by up to 1.6 degrees by 2030 and 4.8 degrees by 2070.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has not held back in stressing the significance of the findings.

"[It is] alarming - it's a doomsday prediction but it's something that cannot be ignored," he said.

The report's author, Ben Preston, says it is probably too late to prevent temperature rises in the coming decades.

Quick, the government needs more power to... do something.

WHY AMERICA IS DESPISED THE WORLD OVER

Antony Loewenstein links approvingly to an expose by retired historian Chalmers Johnson that reveals the "facts of life" of why America is "despised the world over":

As a continuation of my own analytical odyssey, I then began doing research on the network of 737 American military bases we maintained around the world (according to the Pentagon's own 2005 official inventory). Not including the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, we now station over half a million U.S. troops, spies, contractors, dependents, and others on military bases located in more than 130 countries, many of them presided over by dictatorial regimes that have given their citizens no say in the decision to let us in.

This is, of course, utter nonsense.

The official inventory of "bases" cited by Johnson (Department of Defense, Base Structure Report, Fiscal Year 2005 Baseline) lists the following United States overseas military facilities: 16 large installations, 22 medium installations and 699 small installations/locations. Only a small minority of these facilities can be considered "bases' in the accepted sense. In everyday use a base is a military installation with significant support facilities, for example, retail outlets. The Army Air Force Exchange Service, operator of base/post exchange stores (size varying from corner shop to department store) and other military retail outlets worldwide, currently has facilities on bases in more than 30 countries outside the United States. The Navy Exchange operates in far fewer countries. Johnson is therefore way off the mark to claim the United States has bases in more than 130 countries.

Even a casual reading of the Base Structure Report shows Chalmers grossly exaggerated the number of U.S. bases abroad. The report lists 38 countries as having military installations/locations -- although the report almost certainly fails to list some sensitive military facilities, 38 countries is a far cry from 130 plus. Also, many of the listed facilities are quite small: the one man Yumurtalik Petroleum Products Storage Annex near Yumurtalik, Turkey, for example, is far from base-like. Finally, some 630 of the 737 military "bases" are located in just five countries (South Korea, Japan, Italy, the UK and Germany -- Germans might be shocked to learn that they host to over 300 "bases"). It is therefore impossible to come up with anything near 130 countries with "bases" -- subtracting 630 from 737 leaves room for only 107 unaccounted for "bases".

Chalmers' claim that many foreign U.S. "bases" are in countries "presided over by dictatorial regimes" is also bogus. The only base-hosting countries possibly qualifying as undemocratic are, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Cuba and the Trucial Oman Coast.

Interestingly, both Loewenstein and Chalmers are best-selling authors. It just goes to show you, quality and quantity are two separate things.


Note: the figures cited above may not be totally accurate but should be pretty close.

JUST LIKE A NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP

David Hicks reckons GITMO is "like a Nazi concentration camp" except without the summary executions, rampant disease, malnutrition, forced labour, gas chambers and all of the other features making Nazi concentration camps, well, Nazi concentration camps.

His lawyers were equally damning:

"He's not in very good shape, the conditions are pretty ordinary."

Hicks's poor decision making has nothing whatever to do with the predicament he's in:

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said Hick's fate was entirely the fault of Prime Minister John Howard.

"It's a terrible indictment of an indifferent prime minister who's so subservient to the President (George W Bush) that this has led to a shameful outcome for Hicks."

Yep, them Nazis sure hang in there together.

REWARD OFFERED FOR LOCATION OF WHALERS

Anti-whaling activists are desperate to find Japanese whalers in the Antarctic:

Activists intent on disrupting Japan's annual whale hunt have offered a $25,000 reward for information that leads them to the whaling fleet.

Like with cops, there's never a stool penguin around when you need one.

WAR IN EUROPE

Germany's luxury car-makers are unhappy with proposed limits on carbon dioxide emissions per kilometer:

"It is an attack on BMW, Mercedes, Audi and [Porsche] ... This is a business war in Europe. We will fight," Mr Wiedeking told shareholders.

The enemy: France's Renault and Peugeot and Italy's Fiat. To complete this scene Russia needs to join in and then switch sides.

EMPLOYEE OF THE DECADE

Good news that makes me grumpier than ever:

According to Jing Zhou – a professor of management at Rice University in Houston and co-author of a new research paper on job dissatisfaction – grumpy employees can be forces of good within an organization.

Cynicism and realism aren't the same thing. So there.

CANADA REJECTS REFUGEES

The Canadian government has rejected claims for refugee status lodged by 13 soldiers who fled the United States. Deserter Matt Lowell is one of those rejected:

"I wanted to go to Afghanistan and take down Osama bin Laden," Lowell said. "I was so proud . . . when I signed up."

Then, things changed.

"Everybody was watching the news and that's when I started hearing they still haven't found the weapons of mass destruction and they're bombing the hell out of Iraq," Lowell said.

"I felt it was the wrong war."

That's one of the troubles with soldiering: you don't get to pick wars, just fight them.

MUSLIMS ADVISED AGAINST IMMUNIZATION

Muslims now have two reasons to avoid immunizations: a conspiracy to render them infertile; and because vaccines are full of nasty ingredients:

Dr Abdul Majid Katme, head of the Islamic Medical Association, is telling Muslims that almost all vaccines contain products derived from animal and human tissue, which make them “haram”, or unlawful for Muslims to take.

Islam permits only the consumption of halal products, where the animal has had its throat cut and bled to death while God’s name is invoked.

Islam also forbids the eating of any pig meat, which Katme says is another reason why vaccines should be avoided, as some contain or have been made using pork-based gelatine.

Vaccines are unnecessary for devout Muslims, anyway:

“[Katme] argued that leading “healthy lives according to Islam” would be enough to ward off illnesses and diseases.

So, when the caliphate is eventually up and running there will be no need for a health care system: no sense wasting resources on those who are ill because they are insufficiently devout. That leaves more money for "defense". Yippe!

A U.S. bled dry by medical expenses will be unable to respond:

So in a nation where socialised medicine is a phrase to be spat out contemptuously, Americans are on course by the year 2050 to spend every cent the government takes in tax, on health-related claims. Nothing left even for the tiniest war.

Times a wastin'.

Via the always worth visiting Opinion Dominion.

EPIPHANY

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma wants Hizb ut-Tahrir banned:

"This is an organisation that is basically saying that it wants to declare war on Australia, our values and our people," he said.

"Enough is enough! And it's time for the Commonwealth to review this organisation's status and take the lead from other countries and ban them."

Iemma's attention was drawn by this guy:

A radical Muslim cleric has urged hundreds of supporters meeting in Sydney's south-west to join a global push to create an Islamic utopia.

Indonesian firebrand cleric Ismail Yusanto outlined his plan for instituting Sharia law, the absolute form of Islam, to a crowd of about 500 people gathered at the Khilafah Conference in Lakemba.

"Once the program is ready it must be implemented as soon as possible," Dr Yusanto said.

"Once successful, the new order would be just the beginning of the new era in the application of Islamic ideology.

The cleric went on to remind his listeners of the ultimate sacrifice in achieving a utopian Islamic state.

"There is no victory and glory without sacrifice and hard work," he said.

"No pain no gain."

The only achievement of utopians is the death of many millions. Efforts to establish a caliphate -- global, naturally -- could make the 20th century look peaceful by comparison. Stay tuned.


Via reader "genius".

DOCTOR SEX CHOICE BANNED

In order to prevent discrimination against male doctors Swedish women are no longer allowed to opt for a female gynaecologist. Well, mostly:

Exceptions will be made in some cases, such as for women who come from parts of the world with 'patriarchal traditions' or for the victims of sexual assaults, the paper reported. These women could insist on a female gynaecologist.

In tangentially related medical news, a Swedish doctor is picking his patients:

"We went up there and the nurses were really nice. They did some swab tests, which they then passed on to a doctor," Johansson told The Local.

But when the American woman, accompanied by her husband and niece, went to meet the doctor in his treatment room, he declined to examine her.

"He said he didn't like Americans," said Johansson.

He also disliked hearing English spoken in his treatment room and soon walked out.

According to Johansson, the doctor was a Palestinian who objected to American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Whatever happened to "when in Rome..."?

BUTANE: BAN IT

16-year-old Dayle Koch died of a butane overdose. Following Dayle's death the West Australian government required retailers to restrict the sale of butane refill bottles. Some retailers are failing to restrict sales, however:

Jessica, 16, who bought butane at Crazy Clark's on Thursday, said: "I was shocked. I just went through the checkout and they didn't even blink an eye. It was like I was buying make-up or something; they were that casual about it.''

This is silly: it's not possible to protect every single person who chooses to engage in risky behaviours. Propane is also readily abused as an inhalant. Shouldn't every gas bottle in Western Australia be locked away? There was a big bush fire, probably set by kids, near my home today. Shouldn't the sale of matches, and magnifying glasses for that matter, be restricted? Very sill.

CORRECTION RECOMMENDED

For an academic Tim Lambert has produced little scholarly writing -- the dearth of output resulting in the deletion of his Wikipedia page. He is, however, a prolific blogger. He probably prefers blogging because he can write whatever he likes without being subjected to the rigours of peer review.

Not only that, a blog can be set-up so as to limit, or even eliminate, criticism and conflicting views. Academic writing is difficult, rigid and potentially disheartening (if writing is criticized or rejected, for example), whereas blogging is easy and the blogging environment totally controllable.

Blogging has another advantage for an academic like Lambert: he can pretty much attack anyone he wants and make up whatever stories he wants yet suffer no real consequences, ever. Blogging is perfect for the guy.

His latest attack on those he sees as his opponents is a classic Lambert post. In it he expresses concern that those linking to the questionable Khilyuk and Chilingar study have "discredited themselves by citing them" and recommends credibility restoring corrections be posted immediately.

Lambert himself does not do corrections. Well he does, but not honest corrections. He'll happily make a big deal out of correcting some trivial error but steadfastly refuses to correct untruths and major blunders. His refusal to correct the erroneous claim that the Washington Post buried the latest Lancet study is a classic example.

Earlier this year he did post a correction when caught providing misleading information about the fight against malaria. The thing is, he didn't post the correction on the front page of his blog, he hid it in the original, over-one-year-old post at his old blog (to get around link bouncing, copy and paste http://timlambert.org/2005/01/ddt ). The vague correction fails to mention his obvious manipulation of the information. Very tricky.

He also refuses to acknowledge a fabrication in his Best Blog Posts of 2006 contribution, "Andrew Bolt gets a perfect score on global warming": contrary to his claim, there is no evidence that rising sea level is forcing Tuvaluans to flee to New Zealand.

Anyway, his latest post is simply Lambert trying to feel better about himself through the attempted embarrassment of others. The thing is, he's trying to embarrass people who linked to a peer reviewed article by scientists in a recognized journal whereas Lambert excerpted and linked to an overtly silly Indymedia article written by a guy off the street.

Here's Lambert's suggested strategy for handling conflicting points of view:

Beck is a troll. He doesn’t actually believe the things he writes — the point is to get a rise out of the people he attacks. He’s been spectacularly successful with this latest effort. You should ignore his comments and his posts and never link to him. There is also a handy plugin for WordPress that bounces any links he makes to you. This seems to really annoy him.

Imagine trying to get that attitude past peer review.

PERTH HOT, NOWHERE NEAR A RECORD, JUST HOT

It's hot in Perth and the ABC wants to make a big deal out of it:

Perth has recorded its second hottest Australia Day on record.

The mercury climbed to 41.2 degrees (106º F) just after 5pm AWDT.

That is the hottest January day for nine years, and the hottest Australia Day since 1979, when the temperature reached 42.6 degrees.

So, let's look at the record. December 2006's maximum average was a bit above normal. January has, so far, been pretty mild. The highest ever January maximum was 45.8º in 1991. Perth can expect at least one 40º day in January; the last 40º day was 11 January 2004. The record number of 40º days in January is four, occurring in 1961, 1965 and 1968. Looks like we're in the middle of a cool spell.

YET ANOTHER JEW CONSPIRACY

The World Health Organization is following-up its successful smallpox eradication program with an assault on polio. With a number of recently reported infections, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan are of concern. The beneficial WHO effort is not running smoothly, however:

The main opposition to the drive in Pakistan came from local clerics who run illegal FM radio channels in many NWFP districts and the tribal areas, say officials.

Amirullah Khan, a resident of NWFP's Swat district, quoted Maulana Fazlullah of a local FM channel as telling his listeners the vaccination drive was "a conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to stunt the population growth of Muslims".

A WHO report for 2006 said 66 localities in these areas were not covered by the immunisation staff due to logistical problems, and coverage in 320 localities was "poor" because of the anti-vaccine propaganda.

In some areas immunisation teams were beaten up by local people, officials said.

It's really a shame the stupid are so fecund.

AUSTRALIA DAY

When I was a kid I was fascinated by some of the bits and pieces of memorabilia my father had retained following his WWII service in the Pacific. Most intriguing of all was a booklet, POCKET GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA, provided to U.S. forces by the War and Navy Departments. Here are some excerpts.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

You and your outfit have been ordered to Australia as a part of the world-wide offensive against Hitler and the Japs – a drive that will end in Tokyo and Berlin.

You're going to meet a people who like Americans and whom you will like. The Australians have much in common with us – they're a pioneer people; they believe in personal freedom; they love sports; and they're out to lick the Axis all the way.


Since American troops first landed in Australia, the Australians have gone out of their way to welcome them and make them feel at home. Australian newspapers have used up newsprint (and it's scarce) to print baseball scores and major league standing and home town news – and even American cooking recipes for housewives. The Government has made American money legal tender in the country and set up special exchange rates for American soldiers. And Australian audiences, at theatres and concerts, honor our national anthem by rising when the Star Spangle Banner is played.

No people on earth could have given us a better, warmer welcome and we'll have to live up to it.


The Australians need our help in winning this war, of course, but we need theirs just as much. You might remember this story when you get into an argument about "who's going to win the war": Not so long ago in a Sydney bar, an American soldier turned to an Australian next to him and said: "Well, Aussie, you can go home now. We've come to save you." The Aussie cracked back "Have you? I thought you were a refugee from Pearl Harbor."


THE PEOPLE DOWN UNDER

Except for the 70,000 or so primitive "Abos" who roam the waste lands. the Australians are nearly 100 percent Anglo-Saxon stock – English, Irish, Scotch and Welsh who through courage and ingenuity made a living and built a nation out of a harsh empty land. They built great cities. organized a progressive democracy and established a sound economic system, for all of which they're justly proud.

And they're proud too of their British heritage and to be a member of the British Commonwealth – but they still like to run their own business and they take great pride in their independence. They resent being called a colony and think of themselves as a great nation on their own hook, which they are. And it's natural that they should find themselves drawn closer to Americans because of the many things we have in common. They look at the swift development that has made the United States a great power in a few generations, and compare our growth with theirs. Nearly 40 years ago, an Australian statesman said of the United States: "What we are, you were. What you are we will some day be." And just a short time ago Australian War Minister Francis Forde said: "We feel that our fate and that of Americas are indissolubly linked. We know that our destinies go hand in hand and that we rise and fall together. And we are proud and confident in that association."

You'll find the Australians an outdoors kind of people, breezy and very democratic. They haven't much respect for stuffed shirts, their own or anyone else's. They're a generation closer to their pioneer ancestors than we are to ours, so it's natural that they should have a lively sense of independence and "rugged individualism." But they have, too, a strong sense of cooperation. The worst thing an Australian can say about anyone is: "He lets his cobbers (pals) down." A man can be a "dag" (a cutup) or "rough as bags" (a tough guy), but if he sticks with the mob he's all right.


Of course, the best thing any Australian can say about you is that you're a "bloody fine barstud."

You'll find that the digger is a rapid, sharp and unsparing kidder, able to hold his own with Americans or anyone else. He doesn't miss a chance to spar back and forth and enjoys it all the more if the competition is tough.


Being simple, direct, and tough, especially if he comes from "outback," the Digger is often confused and non-plussed by the "manners"of Americans in mixed company or even in camp. To him those many "bloody thank you's" and "pleases" Americans use are a bit sissified. But on the other side of the fence, if you ask an Australian for an address in a city you happen to be, he won't just tell you. He'll walk eight blocks or more to show you.



The guide has this inside its front cover: "For use of Military Personnel only. Not to be republished, in whole or in part, without the consent of the War Department." I hope I don't get in any trouble.

One final thing, political correctness is not a recent innovation: the 1940s booklet makes no mention of Australia's days as a penal colony and does not contain the word "convict".

SWEDISH TRIVIA

According to The Local's blog:

It has been statistically proven that the most average Swedish couple is likely to be made up of people called Lars and Anna Johansson.

And they probably live in Hallsberg, Sweden’s demographic mid-point.

More importantly:

Anna Johanssons in [Borås] have more orgasms than women in any other Swedish town.

Try working that into a conversation.

IKEA: ADS BETTER THAN FURNITURE

Ads here, here and here. They're all good but the last one's the best.

METH MOUTH

Methamphetamine users are prone to dental problems produced by a combination of factors: failure to attend to oral hygiene; the drug is quite caustic; drug induced clenching of the jaw; and sweet drink craving (often slaked with acidic carbonated drinks) resulting from drug induced mouth dryness.

Yep, amphetamines will wipe that smile right off your face. Gimme a big kiss, baby.

Update: Meth mouth the video.

CHAVEZ OFFERS PROOF CASTRO JUST FINE

Hugo Chavez says uncle Fidel is so strong he's been up and walking, almost "jogging". As proof of the octogenarian tyrant's fitness Chavez offered, drumroll... a letter bearing Castro's signature. Well, that proves it: if there's one thing in Cuba that works, it's Castro signature machine.

LEFTY BREAKS RANKS, LAWSUIT PENDING

When announcing the renaming of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship the Prime Minster also said:

"The whole purpose of immigration is to recruit more people to the broader Australian family."

This seemingly innocent remark from Howard drawing a bitter reaction (make sure you read the comments, noting that many have been removed) from lefty wordsmith Kerryn Goldsworthy (she's gotta be good; she has two posts in Best Blog Posts 2006):

Oh, that's clever. Propose assimilation, a fundamentally racist policy that has been comprehensively and internationally outdated and discredited, and then dress it up with the 'family' reference, by which, as we all know, the PM means hubby, wife and 2.4 children, in that order. Two bits of reactionary rhetoric in one sentence.

This was too much for fellow lefty Steve Munn (Melaleuca), whose comments Goldsworthy removed, so he responded with a mildly worded post at his blog, eliciting this comment from Goldsworthy:

I have no idea what these unprovoked personal attacks you've been making on me lately are about, but I suggest you stop them, for your own good. My mate the lawyer is checking them out for me as we speak.

Munn's attack on Goldsworthy (a close Larvatus Prodeo ally) has upset dear old Mark Bahnisch:

Steve, I don’t see your campaign against Dr Cat as being polite, and I don’t want to link to it. I see your comments about her at multiple blogs - including this one - and the tone of them as being rather nasty and disturbing, quite frankly.

Don't get me wrong, I don't know the full background to this stoush so I'm not taking sides. I just enjoy watching the lefty hair-pulling. (The Munn versus Goldsworthy hilarity continues in comments at that last link above.)

Update: An unrelated Mark Bahnisch reaction to impoliteness:

I’m sorry, folks, I’m going to close off this thread if people (who presumably followed the link here from Tim Blair’s site) are going to post repulsive comments like this one:

i would not apologise to an abo… they are primitive, uncivilized,, look like shit, smell like shit, and they can go get fucked. they’re cunts… truly abysmal ppl.
p.s. you lefties can suck my dick

This sort of thing is absolutely unacceptable and unAustralian too. I am going out so don’t have time to stick around and moderate and sift through crap like this.

I can't recall any of Blair's minions sounding like that. If the comment is so offensive, why did Bahnisch post it?

Update II: Literary lefty Goldsworthy now says she never meant to suggest Howard is a racist, it's just that he favours assimilation which is racist. Weasel words are weasel words, even when all fancied up by a literary type.

TIM LAMBERT'S INDY MEDIA DDT "EXPERT"

Tim Lambert recently "debunked" some DDT myths by excerpting and linking to self-taught Indy Media bed bug "expert" Brent Herbert. Lambert trying to pass off Herbert as a reputable source is not unexpected: he's had to look out of the mainstream for his DDT stories, having trashed Nature Medicine's Apoorva Mandavilli and the World Health Organization's Arata Kochi.

Lambert's Indy Media DDT "expert" has posted a follow-up piece claiming his earlier piece prompted an anti-free-speech conspiracy:

I have done my own google news search, and found, much to my shocked surprise, that every single pro DDT story has now been pulled off the web. He reports that he found eight stories. Now only three remain, only one of which is pro-DDT. So I see that people have been busy pulling those stories, since they obviously were embarrassed by my post on Indymedia. Never let it be said that one person cannot make a difference, or that Indymedia does not matter, since apparently it does.

A commenter expands on the evil conspiracy:

It is interesting to note that, even though we have a pesticide resistant bed bug on the loose in the country, there are no media stories to be found when one does a search for the news about the pesticide resistant bed bug. You get zero results when you do a news search.

Now one must ask why this is true and one must also ask what this means. Why avoid an obvious angle on the story?

The answer is that the media is itself a large multinational corporation, and the chemical industry is a large corporate interest as well, and so therefore no news can come through to us until it has first been run through a giant corporate sieve. For this reason the media reports that 'no one knows why suddenly we have a spreading plague of bed bugs.' This is strange. Should not someone be asking questions so that we can find out why this is so, for to every question there is an answer.

There is no conspiracy, of course. These two loons are simply ignorant of Google News's policy of listing current stories for only 30 days before removing them: the oldish stories they looked for weren't maliciously purged; they were rotated into the archive. Duh.

Such are the sources relied on by computer technician Tim Lambert -- bear this in mind if you're ever tempted to take him seriously.

FREE FOOD BOUGHT WITH TAXES

Most Europeans aren't eating the recommended 400 gram daily intake of fruits and vegetables. This is a problem. The EU has a solution: reimburse farmers for produce they give away. Now there's a blank cheque for bureaucratic expansion, corruption and wastage.

EDUCATION REVOLUTION PROPOSED

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd wants Australians to be the world's best-educated people. He proposes an "education revolution" to vastly improve the "dim and grim" education system.

Well, he's certainly right about the "dim and grim": the education system is dominated by dim (ever so smart but none too bright) and grim (relentlessly negative) lefties. Bringing some political balance to the system would indeed be revolutionary but isn't about to happen: there's not enough dynamite in Australia to shift the entrenched lefties out of their positions.

AUSTRALIANS FATTER THAN EVER; LIVING LONGER THAN EVER

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Australians live longer than ever. The fast food induced obesity epidemic mega-die off is just down the road a piece unless, however, a future leftist government saves us from ourselves. They will force us to be healthy with a tax to the max on everything we enjoy that is bad for us: we will then live much longer but enjoy life a lot less. Welcome to paradise.

SOME CANADIANS WORK HARDER THAN OTHERS

A Canadian study has worked out how many hours per week people work on average by province. In which province do people work the fewest hours? Come on, if you think about it you know the answer. (Here's a hint: "... Canadians work less than Americans, but more than French and Germans.")

The answer is here.

ERECTION POLICE

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has taken pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to court, seeking a ban on TV ads that are claimed to promote recreational use of Viagra:

The nonprofit group alleges the marketing of Viagra has fostered an increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Studies have found the drug is used - illegally - in conjunction with crystal methamphetamine to form a party drug "cocktail."

While crystal meth can heighten sexual desire, it also can impair the ability to have an erection, said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "In order to satisfy that heightened desire, you have to take Viagra," Weinstein told reporters.

These morons haven't been swayed by advertising and education campaigns on the dangers of unprotected sex and amphetamines but they do pay attention to Viagra advertising? Give me a break.

THE 50 MOST LOATHSOME AMERICANS

Number 16 on the list -- sandwiched between Tony Snow and James Dobson -- is you:

You’re Time magazine’s person of the year. So was Hitler.

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

Climate scientist Andrew Weaver characterizes the global warming evidence in the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report:

"This isn't a smoking gun; climate is a batallion of intergalactic smoking missiles."

Goddamn aliens.

AN APOSTATE MUSLIM FOR PRESIDENT?

According to this, Barack Obama did attend a madrassa but it's no big deal. I'm inclined to agree. It is a bit of a worry, however, that Obama is now an avowed Christian. I mean, how are the worlds 1.2 billion Muslims going to react if an apostate Muslim becomes president? Food for thought.

Update: Investor's Business Daily reckons concern over Obama's Muslim background is misguided; the real worry is his black militancy:

Obama embraced more than Christ when he answered the altar call 20 years ago at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Southside Chicago. The 8,000-member church describes itself as "unashamedly black" and holds classes in "African-centered Bible study." He also pledged to honor something called the "Black Value System," which is a code of nonbiblical ethics written by blacks for blacks.

This is what should give American voters pause.

According to its Web site, Trinity puts the "black community" first. Black members are encouraged to pursue education and skills exclusively to advance their community, and allocate their money exclusively to support "black institutions" and black leaders.

In short, it preaches from the gospel of blackness and black power. There's little room for white Christians at Obama's church. It disavows the pursuit of "middleclassness" — code for whiteness — arguing that middleclassness is a conspiracy by white leaders to keep talented African-Americans "captives."

So maybe those who speculated Obama's a Manchurian candidate got it wrong: his puppet-masters are blacks, not Muslims. Hey, he's a smoker; maybe it's big tobacco pulling his strings.

Editing note: the spelling of Manchurian corrected.

ARE YOU A COMMIE?

Take the Australian Politics Test to find out where you fall on the Australian political spectrum. The results so far are lefty dominated so get yourself over there to balance things out.

My results are not unexpected.

Via leftish Legal Eagle.

NO WONDER KANGAROOS GET HIT BY CARS

Roo, originally uploaded by RWDB.

IRONIC

A very short piece by Theodore Dalrymple. It's Dalrymple so it's gotta be read.

RUDE WEIRDO RETURNS

Tex is back with an in depth study of Cuban health care. Check it out, now!

OCKER BANNER CAUSES RACIAL TENSIONS

Big Day Out organizers want concert-goers to leave their Australian flags at home:

The organisers of the Sydney concert, which will be held on Australia Day, say they are not banning the flag but are discouraging people from carrying it in case they inflame racial tensions.

Tensions have thus been inflamed.

Update: Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett wants the flags left at home:

"There are people that seek to excuse extremely objectionable and dangerous sentiments simply by wrapping it in the flag," he said.

"If people love the flag genuinely and are proud of their country as we should be, then we should be concerned about misuse of the flag and should be supporting efforts to prevent the misuse of it."

It isn't the stars and bars or a swastika they're talking about, it's the Australian national ensign. Amazing.

Update II: Kevin Rudd reckons the idea is "political correctness gone mad." Mark Vaile says it's ludicrous. Nothing so far from Bob Brown.

UpdateIII: Here's the explanation from the event's organizer:

Event producer Ken West said the use of flags last year after the Cronulla riots and recent clashes between Serb and Croatian fans at the Australian Open tennis had forced his hand.

"I didn't like the behaviour of last year and we have moved the event from Australia Day this year partly because of the way the flags were used," Mr West said.

"The Australian flag was being used as gang colours. It was racism disguised as patriotism and I'm not going to tolerate it.

A lot of people aren't going to tolerate that sort of attitude.

BEST BLOG POSTS 2006: UPDATE ONE

Jeez, I've gone and upset the progressives. When I say upset I don't mean pebble-in-the-sandal annoyed. Nope, I'm talking PhD-candidate-neighbour-looks-over-the-fence-to-see-her-garden-digging
-bastard-cat-snagged-through-the-paw-by-a-meat-baited-treble-hook
-hanging-three-feet-above-the-ground-at -the-end-of-100-lb-test-line-in-my-backyard angry. (Don't be alarmed; there is no cat-owning PhD candidate next door. Not anymore.)

Okay I'll admit it, it was just a teensy bit rude of me to tell the progressives what everyone who isn't a super-brained lefty PhD candidate, holder or wanna-be already knows: that the Best Blog Post 2006 essay competition is more incestuous than 1930 Arkansas and that, really, most of the essays are about as stimulating as thinking about Mark Bahnisch naked -- I meant a naked Mark Bahnisch; if getting naked and thinking about Bahnisch is your thing, feel free. Anyway, mean ol' me had to go pass judgement -- not once, but twice -- on their hey-look-what-the-score-of-us-wrote-nominated-judged-and-won extravaganza.

I must admit to being a little worried about blow-back from the highly educated Club Troppo and Larvatus Prodeo crews for calling BBP06 like I see it: it's a bit scary for an intellectual minnow like me to swim through a shoal of like-minded brainiacs bio-academically driven to fawn. So, I was both surprised and delighted to discover that I wasn't alone: Tim Blair finds the essays boring and, ay yi yi, poorly written; and Harry Clarke thinks... what the hell, here's Harry:

So the best blog posts of 2006 have been selected by Ken Parish at Troppo with assistance from a committee including Ken Parish, Nicholas Gruen and Helen Dale. Having co-operated in producing a shortlist, Ken then chose the best blogs with Nicholas acting as a ‘sounding board’.

I didn’t get a prize – indeed I didn’t get a nomination - so I’ll try again this year. I’ve already run off copies of the winning posts and I’ll try to imitate their style, humour, depth and lack of snarkiness.

The committee gave awards to, well, themselves (Ken Parish 1, Nicholas Gruen 1, Helen Dale 1). Others from Troppo such as Rex Ringschott and Don Arthur also got prizes. There were no prizes to anyone on the conservative side of politics except for Helen Dale – and yeah, she too was on the committee!

Dryly sly Harry didn't draw much of a reaction from the progressives. Blair and I on the other hand were hit with a blizzard of shit -- Okay, tofu -- from the aggressive Larvatus Prodeo herd; the tofu really hitting the fan when Helen Dale (skepticlawyer, catallaxy) -- with all due respect to Harry, Dale's a self-described libertarian; not conservative -- realizes my second post is up:

This is very funny and all, but unfortunately the misrepresentation isn’t over. There are a bunch more porky pies over at the RWDB, to which I’ve been forced to respond as one of the judging committee here.

For those unfamiliar with rhyming slang, porky pies = lies.

Whoa, a bit of skirmishing and then straight to the you're-a-liar nuclear attack. Some people are taking BBP06 very seriously, very seriously indeed. Fair enough.

It's only natural, and totally appropriate, for BBP06 nominees to be proud. That said, most of the nominated posts are, in my opinion, not worth the time it takes to read them. That doesn't mean the posts are poorly written; it means I don't like them. BFD.

The nature of the competition is another matter. It is, in my opinion, ludicrous for a closely knit group of progressives (plus a libertarian) to lay claim to the Best Blog Posts of 2006 when the project was advertised on only eight blogs over a period of some two weeks. This small group obviously has a very high opinion of its members' abilities.

When posts get this long Blogger starts doing weird stuff so I'll stop here. Part two is in the post immediately below.

Update: Tim "I can dish it out but can't take it" Lambert suggests LPers should consider bouncing my links. Lambert uses link-bouncing as a sort of electronic condom: it prevents contamination by icky conflicting views.

BEST BLOG POSTS 2006: UPDATE TWO

Right, that's the serious bit out of the way (see part one, above); back to the frivolous attack on my veracity. Helen Dale (you remember, the libertarian) didn't much like my second BBP06 post, responding with a post titled The straight dope -- you really need to read it; it's a scattergun classic. Her main points:

1. I made a number of accusations (unspecified)
   
2. I misrepresented her (unspecified).
3. I am irritated (about what she doesn't say).
4. I am a liar (my posts allegedly contain "a number of demonstrably untrue statements").
   
5. My commenters (I do have a few) are rude.
6. I accused Mark Bahnisch of co-ordinating the "competition" (as if there's something wrong in co-ordinating).
7. My post contains an immature sexual reference.
8. As the youngest ever winner of the Miles Franklin Award she knows "just a teensy weensy bit about good writing."

My responses:

1. My posts give a short history of BBP06's evolution plus opinions; there are no accusations.
   
2. In comments to Dale's post I repeatedly ask her to point out my misrepresentations. No can do.
3. I'm having trouble with a nagging rectal itch. Wonder how she knows?
4. She has been repeatedly asked to cites my lies. Hasn't happened.
5. My commenters did indeed make some rude comments. Big deal, catallaxy is renowned for rude comments.
   
6. Nope, I said Mark Bahnisch offered to co-ordinate. He did offer to co-ordinate.
7. Immature sexual references don't make me a liar.
8. I'm honoured to share the same continent.
   

In short, while my opinions are open to attack, the two posts in question are factually correct. I've repeatedly asked Ms Dale to specify what in my posts is untrue or misleading. She has not done so, thus rendering ironic her assertion that she dislikes being misrepresented.

The catallaxians obviously think there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Postscript: This little incident certainly hasn't upset me (this is hardly a nuclear retaliatory attack), I just want to see how this plays out. Stay tuned; I'm doing more research.

GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION MOOTED

It's very simple you see; all we have to do is shut down all the power plants and stop driving and flying. Why didn't anybody think of this before?

IGNORANT AUSTRALIAN

Australian John Pilger is remarkably ignorant of matters Australian:

Australia is not often news, cricket and bushfires aside. That is a pity, because the regression of this social democracy into a state of fabricated fear and xenophobia is an object lesson for all societies claiming to be free. In power for more than a decade, the Liberal prime minister, John Howard, comes from the outer reaches of Australia's "neocons".

Yep, you can't swing a wombat without hitting an Australian neocon. Read the whole article; Pilger-rage is a hoot.

AMERICA AIN'T GONNA SHARE ITS CRIMINALS WITH NO-ONE

President Bush has decreed that, if any American is arraigned before the International Criminal Court, he will personally lead in the marines killing everyone in sight. Yippee! But considering the source is Harold Pinter, that may not be exactly right. Damn. (If you do click on the link to the al Jazeera interview, see if you can count how many times Pinter smacks his lips -- it's mesmerizing, in a weird sort of way.)

Editing note: The John Pilger update has been removed and posted as its own item.

HUGO ENABLED

The Venezuelan legislature has made itself irrelevant by granting Hugo Chavez virtual dictatorial authority:

Legislative president Cilia Flores says the Bill authorises Mr Chavez to "rule by decree ... with the force of law".

"We welcome this enabling law, with the support of the National Assembly, which backs our leader," she said.

Hmm, enabling law? That seems to ring a bell...

GREAT MIND ADMIRED

Dominique de Villepin gazes lovingly at Harold Pinter, recipient of France's Legion D'Honneur. De Villepin apparently took pains to make it appear Pinter wasn't being honoured simply because he's anti-American but did indirectly slam America by praising Pinter's poem American Football:

"With its violence and its cruelty, it is for me one of the most accurate images of war, one of the most telling metaphors of the temptation of imperialism and violence," he said.

Judging by the look on de Villepin's face it's a safe bet he's chucking wood -- being a Frenchman, he no doubt finds Pinter's uncompromising radical intellectualism a real turn on. As do we all.

American Football is here -- if you're so inclined you can register and rate it.

RWDB CRITICISM UNAPPRECIATED

Club Troppo's Best Blog Posts of 2006 was announced on 16 December by Nicholas Gruen. Mark Bahnisch (Larvatus Prodeo) promoted the competition the same day. Skeptic Lawyer (aka Helen Dale, catallaxy) promoted the competition on the 17th. A subsequent Gruen post says seven blogs advertised the competition but mentions only Larvatus Prodeo and catallaxy by name.

Mark Bahnisch has at least two posts in the finals; a number of other finalists blog at Larvatus Prodeo or are frequent LP commenters. Helen Dale also has at least two posts in the finals and is on the judging committee.

It is therefore no surprise that the strongest reactions to criticisms (see here and here) of BBP06 have come from some of those with a personal interest in the competition: Bahnisch, Dale and the crew and commenters at Larvatus Prodeo. They find the criticisms and attached comments to be not very nice:

I should really be working but I have to say that I was totally gobsmacked disgusted and dismayed by things commenters said at Tim Blairs and JF Beck’s blogs about the writers of some of those posts. That anyone would think A. Duck’s post - about miscarrying a much wanted pregnancy - is a fit subject for ridicule just beggars belief, frankly. If Cristy’s reading I want her to know the comments around her post also made me furious.

Followed by this from Mark Bahnisch:

I haven’t read most of the comments on Tim’s thread but I’d certainly echo Laura’s sentiments about the comments on J F Beck’s. Mr Beck of course could disclaim responsibility, but if he does it would be reasonable to ask why he doesn’t intervene in the thread.

Stupid and insensitive comments are most unhelpful to say the least.

So, mean old RWDBs have been naughty, distressing the delicate progressives flowers, who are never, ever rude. Larvatus Prodeo is after all the home of civilized intellectual discussion. Where John Howard is unaffectionately called ratty, his face likened to that of a drug crazed beaver. Where "fuckwit", "cunt", "fuck", "shit" and the like are very much frowned on, except when contextually appropriate, of course.

Anyway, the whiners are whining because that's what they're the happiest doing -- really they should be happy some traffic was directed to their incestuous little event.

Update: Gummo Trotsky (Larvatus Prodeo; also a BBP06 finalist), inspired by Nicholas Gruen, was the first to suggest (10 December) the "best blog posts" idea. Gruen, no doubt inspired by Trosky (almost certainly Gummo, not Leon), proposed (11 December) an anthology of "best blog posts." Fifty one minutes later Mark Bahnisch offered to co-ordinate the project. (Collaboration between Bahnisch and Gruen is no surprise: they once discussed cross-posting between Larvatus Prodeo and Club Troppo.) Helen Dale quickly volunteered assistance.

There is nothing wrong or even improper with a few mostly like-minded bloggers grouping together to promote their writing. It is more than a little misleading, however, for this anthology of blog posts to be billed at On Line Opinion as the "Best Blog posts of 2006."

No matter who ultimately gets the best blog post gong, Mark Bahnisch will be the ultimate winner. He has high aspirations for Larvatus Prodeo and can now add numerous best blog post nominations to his ever more impressive list of accolades.

Note: BBP06 is incorrectly referred to above as a competition. A daisy chain is not a competition.

Update II: A Tim Lambert post has been included for a bit of diversity. The post is complete nonsense -- click here and scroll down to Perseus's comments -- but is now honoured as one of the best blog posts of 2006. Incredible.

Update III: Helen Dale responds with a catallaxy post titled The straight dope [on BBP06]. She reckons I'm a snarky liar. Ouch!

Editing note: BBOP06 was changed to BBP06.

CAPITALISTOCRATIC CRAPTACULAR

The Canadian bills itself as both a "national newspaper" and "Canada's Progressive Blog". Regardless which category it falls into, The Canadian is one strange website that shouldn't be included in Google News.

In amongst stories about HIV being a neo-con conspiracy to kill black Africans and absolute proof that human DNA is of extraterrestrial origin is a 1,200+ word article on the imminent dangers of global warming. Here's the summary:

The large scale 'owners of capital' have structured the prevailing capitalistic economy to principally serve their interests in the pursuit of money, status, and power for themselves. Like heroine or "crack" cocaine drug addicts, 'capitalistocrats' have become so addicted to the pursuit of a self-absorbing materialistic lifestyle predicted on money, status, and power, they would much rather apparently destroy our planet, and all life along with it, than to change their ways of drug-like abuse. Indeed, the mass-media in the prevailing capitalistocratic systems of Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, continental Europe, and elsewhere, are no less corrupt than the politicians which they are supposedly "holding accountable".
~
The "hellish" summer of 2005 internationally has poignantly showed relative to the comparatively milder Summer 2004, that changes due to the abusive activities by human beings on the planet can be sudden, and extremely drastic. The current quantuum advancing devastating destructive impacts of American-led "global capitalism" are threatening to precipitate a catastrophic global drought in vital agricultural areas internationally that the world has never ever seen; due to unending rising temperatures, that will make the traditional temperature characteristics of the tropics today (that have benefited from Arctic and Antarctic moderation) seem like comparative ice boxes. Worsening "hellish" summers will lead into hellish other parts of the year also, with the prospective disappearance of the Arctic and Antarctic climatic areas. The inevitable result of such allowed phenomenon will be an ensuing Global Famine that so far, the world has also never seen spreading from the United States and Canada, into Europe and the rest of the World.
~
In such a milieu of Global Famine, the world would be taken over by various warring military camps threatening each other with nuclear annihilation, and privately-run "terrorist" organizations trying to forcibly acquire what little of the Earth is left, for the exclusive use of elites, criminal syndicates, and gangs, leaving "masses" to perish in a milieu of spiralling global starvation, and poverty in a climate of socio-economic chaos and societal upheaval. Indeed, the mass-media has hypocritically ignored the extent to which 'capitalism' is actually the root cause of growing apparent "terrorism" as more and more people are turning to violent political extremism, in the face of environmental destruction, related oppression, and overall declines in quality-of-living.

Americans, being armed to the teeth both individually and as nation, will be sitting pretty.

Anyway, read the whole article; it's very high grade unintentional humour.

CHILDREN AND POLITICS INCOMPATIBLE

Julia Gillard reckons the rigours of top level political life are so great as to preclude having children:

In an interview with The Bulletin published today, Ms Gillard defends her decision not to have children, saying John Howard and Peter Costello could never have made it to the top of the political pile had they tried to care for children as well.

But some hard-working women have found time to have children:

Helena Morrissey, 40: CEO of Newton Fund Management Company, which manages in excess of £32.8billion. Lives in London with her husband and their seven children. Expecting her eighth.

Jeez, considering how active Ms Morrissey's sex life must be, it's hard to understand how she finds the time for anything else.

SO MUCH TO WORRY ABOUT

16 January 2007 - Disability support pensioner Gummo Trotsky (Larvatus Prodeo) worries that the government's expectation, that disability support pensioners who are capable of working should actually work, will disadvantage pensioners who are forced to seek employment -- entitlements are reduced during the period they are seeking employment.

26 September 2006 - Gummo Trotsky worries he will lose his disability support pension if he takes on full time study -- the thinking being the not unreasonable expectation that if he's able to study full time he should be able to work.

10 September 2006 - Gummo Trosky worries that the employed will be consumed by their envy of those (such as himself) who do not work.

8 May 2006 - Gummo Trotsky worries he might some day be expected to pay taxes.

And so it goes.

Gee, with all of the worrying this guy does it's surprising he finds time to blog.

Note: The first link above was dead as posted but now works.

LEFTIES FAVOUR BOOK BAN

The Grand Canyon Association (GCA) is a non-profit organization that publishes, sells and gives away a range of publications related to the Grand Canyon. Operating since 1932, the GCA has provided over $20 million in financial support to the Grand Canyon National Park. Perversely, the GCA has drawn the ire of book and freedom of speech loving progressives who object to Grand Canyon: A Different View being sold at the park. The book is, you see, a collection of essays written from a creationist perspective; and if there's anything guaranteed to rile committed lefties, it's creationism.

So contentious is the sale of the book at the park that New Scientist has seen fit to comment:

The Grand Canyon was formed a few thousand years ago by Noah's flood, and not a few million years ago by geological forces, right? So says a glossy book still on sale in Grand Canyon National Park, despite scientists' protests.

The campaign against the book is, however, being championed by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER):

“In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’”
~
Park officials have defended the decision to approve the sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, claiming that park bookstores are like libraries, where the broadest range of views are displayed. In fact, however, both law and park policies make it clear that the park bookstores are more like schoolrooms rather than libraries. As such, materials are only to reflect the highest quality science and are supposed to closely support approved interpretive themes.

That first paragraph is a bit tricky because it notes that the "official position of the national park" on the canyon's age is "no comment." The official position of park management is irrelevant to park visitors; what counts is the information provided by park rangers who actually come into contact with visitors:

If asked the age of the Grand Canyon, our rangers use the following answer.

The principal consensus among geologists is that the Colorado River basin has developed in the past 40 million years and that the Grand Canyon itself is probably less than five to six million years old. The result of all this erosion is one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.

The major geologic exposures in Grand Canyon range in age from the 2 billion year old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 230 million year old Kaibab Limestone on the Rim.

The GCA sells a wide range of scholarly canyon books and the park's official website specifies that some of the canyon's features are a non-creationistic 1,800 million years old so there isn't really anything for lefties to get all excited about.

Lefties opposed to non-scientific creation theories should give equal time to the official Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park site which states unequivocally:

We, the traditional land owners of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park, are direct descendants of the beings who created our lands during the Tjukurpa (Creation Time). We have always been here.

Nah, that would be politically incorrect. Not only that, Aborigines are predominantly lefty voters.

Update: Tim Blair has more on this story.

BEST NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Ken Parish and Nicholas Gruen have picked the "best blog posts of 2006" and are currently republishing them two-a-day at On Line Opinion. A few of the posts are worth reading but most are tedious, self-indulgent bullshit from self-important lefty academics. If this is the best the blogosphere has to offer, it's fucked.

If you can't be bothered reading through the "best blog posts," here's a representative example.

Update: With today's two additions the "best posts" list now totals 21. Not surprisingly (since this is a lefty dominated competition) almost half of the posts deal with gender issues or the trials and tribulations of womanhood. Some of the linked posts are indeed worth reading -- go to On Line Opinion, have a look around and decide for yourself.

Update: The latest is here.

MORE AUSTRALIANS ARE RACISTS SHTICK

Sheik Hilali didn't make the news because his remarks are outrageous. Nope. He made the news because the media was pandering to racist Australians:

I know ‘racism’ isn’t the correct term because the prejudice that seems to be endemic in Australia isn’t to do with nationality or ethnic origin. Nor is it quite to do with religion. There’s just an entrenched prejudice against Muslims from the middle east, and it’s a very sick influence in our society.

In other words, Hilali was right all along.

MALARIA EXPERT CONTRADICTS MALARIA "EXPERT"

Tim Lambert works on computers and reads a lot. He says DDT has never been banned.

Paul Reiter is an insects and infectious diseases specialist at the Institut Pasteur (formerly with the CDC). He says malaria's recent resurgence can be blamed, in part, on DDT being banned.

One of them is wrong.

BOSSES PSYCHOPATHIC

The number of psychopathic bosses has risen from 10 to 50% of all bosses in the last 18 months. Apparently managers don't need talent, they only need a malfunctioning brain.

MADONNA, LIFESAVER

Madonna and David Letterman discuss her adoption of a Malawian child. Her attitude has a lot to do with the furore surrounding her "humanitarian" efforts.

WESTERN CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: THE DAKAR RALLY

Merely nuts:

It’s not often that the Vatican and I agree on anything, but I was pleased to read that they have criticised - I might even go so far as to say “attacked” - the Dakar rally as “a bloody, irresponsible, violent and cynical attempt to impose questionable Western tastes on the developing world”.

Totally insane:

The challenge is therefore much larger than a simple motorsport event, and involves the confrontational relationship to technology that underpins contemporary automobility. This confrontational realtionship is organised around relations of risk and masculine performativity expressed through “P-plater moral panics” and obscene urban-driven 4WD SUVs as much as it is through organised motorsport.

Me like drive car. It fast and make big noise. Kangaroos better watch out.

DRIVING STONED NOT A GOOD IDEA

Canadian researchers have worked out that smoking marijuana greatly increases a driver's chances of being involved in a crash. Amazing.

HILALI SLAMS AUSTRALIANS, CLAIMS OWNERSHIP OF CONTINENT

Australian-hating Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Aldin Al Hilali has been shooting his mouth off, again:

"Their values [Australia's] are upside down. They have no democracy, no freedom. They are the worst liars and unjust people," the sheik said in the Arabic-language interview.

Alhilali also defended the Muslim men convicted of Sydney's gang rapes, a position that has caused controversy in the past.

"They arranged to meet in a public park at 2 or 3 am in the morning, and it (the sex) was agreed on," he said.

Alhilali also poured scorn on Australia's convict history and seemed to suggest Muslims were in Australia long before the British settled here in 1788.

"Australia is no longer Anglo-Saxon. We've been in Australia longer than them. Islam is deep rooted in the Australian soil. Islam was here before the English fleet."

If Hilali is any guide, Australian Islam is indeed rooted. I mean, speaking your mind is one thing; again excusing the gang rape of young women is damn near begging for a violent reaction. In any event, these moronic remarks aren't exactly going to help improve Muslim relations with the broader community.

Then again it might just be that Hilali shit stirs because he doesn't want Muslims integrating into the polluted Australian community. One thing's for sure though, the guy doesn't like Australia and Australians and should stay overseas.

Update: Like it or not, Hilali is a citizen courtesy of Labor:

This is the point, you see, he came here, he overstayed his visa under normal rules, that’s it, you’re out. But, and of course the Minister for Immigration wanted to throw him out, Chris Hurford as you said. Then we had this very, very intriguing intervention of Paul Keating and Paul Keating somehow managed to keep Sheik Hilali in the country.

Update II: As predicted in comments, Hilali's number one apologist is making excuses:

[Islamic Friendship Association of Australia] spokesman Keysar Trad says says he apologises for the comments if they have caused offence, but says the Sheikh has been misinterpreted.

Update III: The translation of Hilali's comments is in dispute.

Update IV: A video clip of the Sheik's comments, with translation, is here. He's one arrogant fool.

(Via reader "genius")

ANTI-MALARIA STATUS REPORT

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria founder Lance Laifer has emailed supporters a brief report on the organizations 2006 activities. Some highlights (my bold):

Malaria Free Zones

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria conceptualized the Malaria Free Zone project, recruited George Ayittey and the Free Africa Foundation to manage the rollout of malaria free zones throughout Africa, and raised the original $200,000 of seed money to establish the zones. During year one of the project, the Free Africa Foundation rolled out 12 malaria free zones exceeding the original target of three zones during year one.

Advocacy/DDT

During year one, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria partnered with Africa Fighting Malaria to help lead the global fight to reintroduce DDT as a primary intervention in the fight to prevent malaria. Nearly thirty years after phasing out the widespread use of indoor spraying with DDT and other insecticides to control malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) on September, 15, 2006 announced that this intervention will once again play a major role in its efforts to fight the disease. On April 25, 2007, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria will be holding its second event to benefit Africa Fighting Malaria, the world’s leading malaria advocacy group.

Dunk Malaria

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria conceived of the connection between basketball nets and bednets. Together with its partners, the New York Knicks and the United Nations Ministry of Sport, Dunk Malaria encouraged tens of thousands of people worldwide to dunk a basket against malaria and raise awareness of the emergency that is malaria.

Publicity

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria partnered with the Malaria Foundation International (MFI -
www.malaria.org) to raise public awareness of malaria with a series of conferences and the launch of the Malaria Awards Show an event created by Hedge Funds vs. Malaria. During 2006, MFI won the prestigious Media Tenor award for agenda setting.

It's worth noting that Laifer, who is actively involved in the fight against malaria, thinks very highly of Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM), calling it "the world’s leading malaria advocacy group." On the other hand, self-styled malaria expert Tim Lambert has condemned AFM as an execrable killer of babies more interested in embarrassing environmentalists than it is in fighting malaria:

And this is the problem that pro-DDT groups like Africa Fighting Malaria cause. If a health organization decides that bed nets are more effective, AFM will attack them and accuse them of giving in to environmentalists.

It's also interesting that Laifer has witnessed a major shift in the WHO's attitude to DDT, while Lamber denies any shift in policy at all. Perhaps Laifer should do a Lambert and sequester himself in his office so he can read up on the subject. Then he too can claim to be an armchair malaria expert.

DEPORTING NON-CITIZENS NOT NICE

Non-citizen Stefan Nystrom's extensive criminal record has caused him to be deported to Sweden. Nystrom wasn't keen on getting kicked out of Australia, fighting all the way to the High Court, which provides this summary of his criminal activity:

Mr Nystrom has a "substantial criminal record"[65] within the meaning of s 501(7) of the Act. He appeared in the Children's Courts on 10 separate occasions between 6 April 1984 and 19 December 1989, on charges including theft, burglary and criminal damage. During this period he was placed on good behaviour bonds, periods of probation and supervision orders. On 14 December 1990, at the age of 16, Mr Nystrom was convicted of aggravated rape and intentionally causing serious injury for which he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, with a minimum term of seven years. He has subsequently been convicted of a large number of other offences, including arson and various offences relating to property damage; armed robbery, burglary and theft; various driving offences, including reckless conduct endangering life; and offences relating to the possession and use of drugs.

If a ne'er-do-well is going to be deported, a socialist paradise like Sweden seems the ideal destination. They should be happy to give him counseling and whatever other support he needs to help him sort himself out while they provide him a guaranteed income for life. I mean, isn't Swedish socialism all about being caring and sharing? Unfortunately for Nystrom, the Swedes don't want him.

Nystrom is not unwanted, however. Progressives want him brought back to Australia because his numerous crimes weren't really all that bad (it's not like he's a terrorist or anything) and because he has, you know, lived in Australia for such a long time and doesn't even speak Swedish and, anyway, Australia's immigration laws are "capricious and apparently utterly nonsensical."

I, for one, will sleep better tonight knowing the government is actively pursuing and kicking out criminal losers like Nystrom. More, please.

TIM LAMBERT AGREES WITH TIM BLAIR! AGAIN!

Tim Lambert is determined to embarrass Tim Blair but it hasn't quite worked out as Lambert intended. Follow along.

Asian-American Kunthea Ker wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald claiming she was racially abused by the crowd at Sydney's New Year's fireworks. The gist of her letter:

The degree to which racism is openly tolerated and practised in Australia is infuriating.

Blair has doubts about Ker's story.

Lambert sides with Ker. To prove Sidneysiders are racists he links to a Texas blogger who has never been to Sydney.

Blair responds by expressing doubt about the relevance of the contribution of someone who has never been to Sydney. Following Blair's link, his readers lodged numerous comments supporting him at the Texas blog.

Still hoping to embarrass Blair, Lambert points out that some of the comments lodged by Blair's readers are, well, rude. In the same post Lambert trips over his own dick by inadvertently doubting Ker's story:

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald printed five letters from Sydneysiders who found Ker's story credible. I agree with them -- Sydney is a tolerant place, but that doesn't mean that no-one would ever make a racist remark.

Ker's letter isn't about an isolated racist remark, it's about a crowd seemingly "full of people making racist, disparaging comments about Asians - not only within our hearing but to our faces." Lambert, like Blair, finds it hard to believe that Ker was confronted with a crowd of racists in tolerant Sydney.

You see, the racial abuse supposedly suffered by Ker and her family isn't Lambert's main concern: he's desperate to make Blair out a fool and this was the best he could come up with. Unfortunately for Lambert, he's made a fool of himself instead. He should probably stick with computer technicianing.

Update: Texan blogger Michele has wimped out. I'm guessing she ain't a native.

BAD GUYS MEAN TO SEAR

Perpetual whiner Jeremy Sear is all upset because ideologically opposed bloggers have been picking on him: a recent post by Andrew Landeryou prompting much boo-hoo-hooing from Sear and sympathetic commenters. Landeryou is pretty rough on Sear, who is unable to connect the tone and content of his posts to the treatment he receives.

Landeryou's post is a reaction to a Sear post which says parents who send their kids to private schools "should be ashamed of themselves." Landeryou points out that Sear attended a private school and is therefore a hypocrite for attacking private school parents.

Sear is also upset that Landeryou allegedly attacks his mother. In fact, Landeryou merely points out that Sear's mother not only sent her son to a private school, she is a private school teacher. Using Sear's impeccable logic it's double shame on you momma.

In comments Miss Politics points out that there's more to fear in this situation than merely a slagging:

Mr Lefty I understand it can be very taxing. These types of rat bags have even come onto the campus where I study and put all sorts of filthy pictures (clever photoshop skills they have indeed) and slanderous material up. They went to the trouble of gluing it on every wall and pole they could find. At one stage I was fearful they would hurt me physically or worse my daughter.

It's nonsense like that from Sear and his groupies that attracts the rough treatment he's been getting. A bit of self-reflection wouldn't go astray.

EUROPEAN SLOW LEARNERS

Russia cuts off the EU's energy supply a couple of times and straight away Europeans are screaming "unreliable":

Russia and Belarus' handling of an oil dispute has damaged their credibility as EU energy suppliers the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned, after Russia's Transneft admitted on Monday (8 January) afternoon that it cut off supplies to Belarus in a transit tariff row.

The statement by Transneft deputy chief Sergiej Grigoriev to newswire Reuters came after the IEA and the European Commission spent a whole day scrambling around for information on why the 1.8 million barrel a day Druzhba pipeline connecting Russia to Poland, Germany and Slovakia stopped Sunday night.

"If an energy supplier is going to cut off the power to your house, it's the least you could expect for him to warn you that this is happening and to say the problem will be solved in a couple of days," IEA executive director Claude Mandil told EUobserver. "This lack of information is much worse than the actual disruption in supply."

"I can't believe that nobody in Belarus or Russia stepped forward with an official statement. It's incredible. It makes them look unreliable," he added. "Russia's reliability was already a little shaken when it stopped the flow of gas to Ukraine [in January] last year. Now the same kind of thing is happening again."

Europeans have made a big mistake in making themselves reliant on Russian energy: since the EU is Russian energy dependent, Europeans can rely on the Russians to screw them over every chance they get.

HEY, WHAT'S THAT SPOOKY LOOKING THING RAINING DEATH FROM THE SKY?

It's an AC-130 gunship:

The U.S. military launched a strike against several suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, a government official said last night.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least one AC-130 gunship had been used in the Sunday-night attack.

CNN, NBC and CBS first reported the action. Citing Pentagon officials, CBS said the targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda member wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The same operatives are also believed responsible for a 2002 attack on Israeli tourists in Kenya and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli aircraft the same day, NBC News reported.

Hit the link for Spooky footage from Afghanistan.

ATHLETE HOMELESS

Kenyan born marathoner Mushir Salem Jawher has committed a crime so heinous his adoptive home, Bahrain, has revoked his citizenship. Jawher's crime? He ran in an Israeli marathon without his government's permission.

Here comes the ironic bit:

Following the race on Thursday, Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted Mr Jawher, whose original name is Leonard Mucheru, as saying Bahrain was a "free country" and "people should live together in harmony".

Welcome to the wonderful world of politics, Mr Jawher, you Zionist tool.