Milestone
This is my 600th post. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.
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How it is!
Bill Whittle is back with a long essay titled Sanctuary
There is a lot of sense in the article making it a must read. A reminder, set aside some time to do so.
Bush beat-up
Along the lines of Ripley’s Believe it or Not Tim Dunlop has found a liberal arts educational institution with some staff and students who don’t like Bush!
George Bush, also known as the President, is giving a speech there soon, so you’d expect the usual sort of pro-God, pro-Republican tautological sucking up, right? Well, to the eternal (and I do mean eternal) credit of their faculty and students, not so much:Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Missouri describes themselves as;
…distinctively Christian, academically excellent liberal arts college that shapes minds for intentional participation in the renewal of all things.Running Scared posts that one third of the faculty members have signed a political add that will appear in the local rag on the day Bush visits at a cost of $2600 and more than 800 students, faculty and alumni have also placed a political add in the local rag on the same day to the tune of $9,600. Calvin College has 4,300 students so roughly a fifth have been convinced to back some of their teachers in this political exercise. The other 80% might like to ask where the $12,000 is coming from. In this startling, revelationary post Tim has so far established that a percentage of staff and students in a college in the US vote Democrat. As that would be the case on every campus in the country it’s hardly a scoop. I Googled Calvin College+Grand Rapids and studied the College’s website looking for Anti-Bush sentiment. Mmmm…a bit sparse. If Tim and Running Scared are to be believed you would think that if Students, faculty and alumni are forking out over $12,000 it would be all over the website. I did find some negative vibes but hardly a groundswell The front page of the students newsletter, the normal source of campus radical thought, offers little in the way of providing another source for the story. The College President says;
… that the response of alumni to news of the president’s coming has been overwhelmingly positive, although he has had a few alumni who object.Provost Carpenter says;
In response to rumors of possible protests, [he]… responds that although the event will unavoidably have political dimensions to it, it is “important to be good hosts and to show the personal and institutional maturity of being able to extend hospitality and a civil audience to someone whom we may disagree with.â€?No, I don’t know what the appointment ‘Provost’ is either but at least he hints at some political dimension to the visit. It all looks like a couple of bloggers have sat down and thought ‘ How can I put down on Bush today? They should have picked a better example, if there is one. 20% of the student body and one third of the staff disagreeing with Bush’s visit is hardly an election winner.
Shanahan’s slant on the news
Dennis Shanahan tends his weekly beat-up of the Liberal leadership fight that starts and ends with his columns but in another article stems the flood on anti-Indonesian feeling in Australia about Corby and the Bali Nine (and counting).
Dennis also has an article on the ALP’s response to the budget claiming Stephen Smith claims five reasons for happiness in justifying Labours strange reaction to the budget but after having written the article he sat back and thought..now where can I insert a mention of the liberal leadership fight.
He managed it;
Just a week after the most frazzled budget in the history of the Howard Government was finalised and bitter relations between John Howard and Costello were destined to overshadow the budget…I’m just surprised that he didn’t slip in a ‘bitter relations’ line in the Bali piece. If you only read Dennis you could be forgiven for thinking there was a leadership split happening next week. He wishes.
Aussies at war
The Bulletin magazine has a series of photos of Aussies at war. Worth a look.
Schapelle will be doin’ time
Bill Nicholson writes to the Editor of the Courier Mail saying everyone he talks to thinks Schapelle Corby is innocent and adds;
…If she is found gulity, the sentence will be seen as an obvious miscarrige of justice and will be deeply resented by almost all Australians.I’m glad Bill included the rider ‘almost’ as everyone I talk to thinks she’s guilty. Bill needs to talk to more people, get out and around more and stop asking silly-weed smokers for their opinion. As much as I would like to think she’s inncocent I have yet to read or hear of anything that proves this is the case. Nine days to go for a verdict. UPDATE: The Jakarta Post quotes Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda who said;
… that he had not received a formal letter from Australia regarding a prisoner transfer, but that his government would consider it. “In the practices of international relations, the handing over of convicts to their original country is not a strange thing,” Hassan said. “We are open, but what is needed is an agreement on transfer of prisoners that is effective in general.”The newspaper also mentions that the case is attracting a lot of press in Australia.
However, the government of Prime Minister John Howard has been under intense pressure to act Corby’s behalf. The case has received massive media attention in Australia, where most respondents to television station polls saying they believe Corby is innocent.Must be talking about the Ch 9 poll.
Torture Recommended
John Quiggin raises the issue of a SMH report that reports two Australian academics are advocating the legalisation of torture.
In the SMH Mirko Bagaric says;
“Let’s say that straight after the first plane hit in New York you had a person in custody who admitted they had overheard the [September 11] organisers’ plans and knew there were going to be further attacks, but then refused to say any more. “In those circumstances you would start with a minimum degree of harm; if that didn’t work, you would escalate it. And if that unfortunately resulted in an innocent person being killed, in those circumstances that would be justified. I think as a society we would accept that one person being killed to save thousands is legitimate.”I’m sorry, I don’t see what’s wrong with that statement, although killing the guy is a bit counter-productive. Hard to get life-saving info from a corpse. For all the bleading hearts about to attack…you will simply never know just how much of this type of thing has contributed to the society that you enjoy today.
Another step
Kuwaiti women win political rights
goos good news. Wonder where they got that idea from?
Kuwait’s parliament has granted women the right to vote and stand in elections for the first time in the Gulf state’s history.Could be
The decision on Monday, finalised after several years of debate, was passed by a 35-23 vote after one legislator abstained.Not unanimous but hey, it’s a start,
Newsweek aids and abetts Taliban
This weeks Newsweek, courtesy of Michael Isikoff and John Barry, release this story which sparks riots in Afghanistan leaving 15 dead and years of hard work up in smoke and then release this account of how Newsweek got it wrong.
The military are still to blame.
True, one would have to question a group of people who riot and kill each other because of a story about a book being damaged but I think Newsweek rushed the story to press, as trivial and unimportant as it was, to get an anti-Bush/Military article on the newsstands.
Austin Bay posts and mentions that news and pictures travels so fast and far in today’s e-world that Editors need to be aware of the ramifications of what they print because it’ll be read by some savage in the mountains of Afghanistan that very day. They are not writing for their readers in the Western world but for everybody in the world with all their weird thoughts on what is right or wrong
One particular reader leaves a telling comment,
AUSTIN: I’m on my way back to Kabul, as I typically do every summer, but my family is completely opposed to my travel and work this year in Afghanistan even though I’ve safely transited there, in and out of State and UN/NGO service for nearly 20 years. The word I receive from Kabuli friends is that Isikoff has singlehandedly turned US triumph in the country to a total disaster. It was thought an anamoly last summer that some wonderful–and tragically forgotten–American DynCorps workers (mostly ex-military and my good friends) were killed in an environment that was pro-American to the core. That could be seen as a terrible tragedy, an unreasonable sad event impinging on an overall positive atmosphere–a last ditch effort by desperate Al Qa’eda remnants from outside Afghanistan to vent anger at the overwhelming success of the Americans. Now thanks to one Bush-hating reporter (google Isikoff if you doubt his intentions,) the recidivist Taliban-Pathans of southeast Afghanistan once again have an issue to de-legitimize the Karzai-US alliance. This is a disaster perpetrated by a single reckless reporter…will he ever be required to answer for his sins? Fifteen dead so far…how many more? The streets of Afghanistan, just days ago filled with pro-American citizens, are now roiled with hatred. What has Newsweek wrought? Who will call Isikoff to answer in courts or Congress for his destruction of an important alliance? GW…it’s time for you to step up to the plate and talk directly about this issue, this renegade journalist, to both the American public and the Afghan people.MSM treatment of the misdemeanours at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo have done nothing but damage the fight against terrorism, giving the fanatics, both left wing and Moslem, the chance to rant about the evil US. Evil is slitting some innocent’s throat or forcing youths to blow themselves up in the presence of women and kids. It is not taking happy snaps of tied up prisoners. Neither is flushing pages from a book down the toilet. This type of rubbish enflames and emboldens weirdos and subsequently lengthens the war. Soldiers die because of this rubbish and still it comes. Can we expect the Left to mention the futile deaths in Afghanistan and apportion blame to the media.. No. Can we expect a meaningful apology from Newsweek. No UPDATE: Another viewpoint via Silent Running UPDATE II:Quote of the day from Right Wing News
“The media does in fact have an impressive fact-checking system. If a quote or purported fact portrays Republicans, the military, or America generally in a positive light, they check it to death to make sure they’re not spreading propaganda. But… if the quote or purported fact portrays those things in a negative light, it pretty much gets into print with only the most cursory once-over by the editors. If it agrees with their basic world-view — if it feels “right” in their gut — then it runs.Sounds about right to me.
Nappisan
Nappisan for Menopause.
Dear Nappisan
I’m writing to say what an excellent product you have! I’ve used it since the beginning of my married life, when my Mom told me it was the best. Now that I am older and going through menopause, I find it even better! In fact, about a month ago, I spilled some red wine on my new white blouse.My unfeeling and uncaring husband started to berate me about how clumsy I was and generally started becoming a pain in the neck.
One thing led to another and I ended up with a lot of his blood on my white blouse. I tried to get the stain out using a bargain detergent, but it just wouldn’t come out.
After a quick trip to the supermarket, I purchased a bottle of liquid Nappisan with bleach alternative, and to my surprise and satisfaction, all of the stains came out! In fact, the stains came out so well, that when the detectives who came by yesterday told me that the DNA tests on my blouse were negative and then my attorney called and said that I would no longer be considered a suspect in the disappearance of my husband.
What a relief! I thank you, once again, for having such a great product.
Well, gotta go. I have to write a letter to the Glad bag people…
Signed,
A Relieved Menopausal Wife
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