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FEBRUARY 14,  2011

MAKING WAVES – AT 9:28 P.M. ET:  British Prime Minister David Cameron's recent speech slamming multiculturalism continues to make waves.  It followed a similar speech by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  In turn, Cameron's speech was followed by comments by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who echoed the notion that multiculturalism has failed.

Daniel Hannan is a British conservative member of the European Parliament, and examines this phenomenon in, of all places, the very liberal Newsweek magazine, or what's left of it:

The shocking thing is that anyone should have been shocked. The British prime minister’s repudiation of multiculturalism was so uncontroversial as to be almost platitudinous. In a recent speech, David Cameron emphasized the distinction between Islamic devotion and jihadi extremism, and argued that the government ought not to fund organizations that reject democracy, women’s rights, and equality before the law. He set out certain basic values that a liberal society ought to expect from its citizens: secularism, representative government, personal freedom, and the rule of law.

Common sense, we think. 

To most British people, including most British Muslims, this was a statement of the Pretty Bloody Obvious. Cameron’s remarks follow similar speeches by his French and German counterparts. Across Europe, there is a recognition that multiculturalism has failed in its own terms, creating ghettos and cutting off some immigrant women, in particular, from full participation in a free society.

But there are vested interests:

The trouble is that it takes a long time for such sentiments to percolate through the government machine. State bureaucracies, especially in local government, remain wedded to their diversity advisers, their interpreters, their racism-awareness counselors. As Upton Sinclair once remarked, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends upon not understanding it.”

Wonderfully stated, and so true.

Idiotically, some Labour politicians have attacked Cameron’s speech as likely to give succor to racists. Their complaints are the authentic voice of self-interest, for it is those who work in the multi-culti apparatus who have the most to lose.

Multiculturalism has become a racket, deeply imbedded in the academic world, government agencies and the media of many nations.  But sane people are fighting back, tired of the racketeering.

One speech won’t solve the problem; but it’s a good start.

COMMENT:  The Europeans are now ahead of us in recognizing the danger.  Here, people who opposed the mosque at Ground Zero out of sensitivity to victims' families, were called racists, and Christiane Amanpour suggested that America is awash in Islamophobia.

President Obama is no leader in this area.  He's a multi through and through.  He would have been happy in the late sixties.  We hope for an American awakening. 

February 14, 2011     Permalink

IRAN UPDATE – AT 5:07 P.M. ET:  It is difficult to get accurate information out of Iran.  We do know that there were major street protests in several Iranian cities today, including, of course, Tehran.  From The New York Times:

Hundreds of riot police officers deployed in key locations in central Tehran and other major Iranian cities on Monday, beating protesters and firing tear gas to thwart opposition marches that marked the most significant street protests since the end of 2009, news reports and witnesses’ accounts from Iran said.

The size of the protests was unclear, although witnesses and opposition groups estimated that there were perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 demonstrators across the country. While the protests were ostensibly in solidarity with the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Iranian domestic repression quickly became the focus. But Iran, unlike Egypt, used force to quell them.

And...

In the central city of Isfahan many demonstrators were arrested after security forces clashed with them, reports said, and sporadic messages from inside Iran indicated that there had also been protests in Shiraz, Mashhad and Rasht. Numbers were hard to assess, given government threats against journalists who tried to cover the protests.

What we don't know, and can't know, is whether the demonstrations will continue or even grow, or whether this was a one-shot deal.  As the story points out, force has been used to crush the protesters. 

This time, the U.S. has tried to keep up with the story.  Hillary Clinton, who seemed to disappear at the end of last week, and who was rumored to be pictured on milk cartons, spoke up:

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday expressed support for the tens of thousands of protesters in Iran's capital, saying they "deserve to have the same rights that they saw being played out in Egypt and are part of their own birthright."

Speaking to reporters after meeting House Speaker John Boehner, Clinton said she and others in [US President] Barack Obama's administration "very clearly and directly support the aspirations of the people who are in the streets" of Tehran.

She and "others"?  Hmm.  I wonder if that includes the president.  That's an odd construction.

There are widespread reports of friction between the president and Clinton over the handling of Egypt, with Mr. Obama apparently angry that the secretary didn't immediately embrace the street demonstrators, and called for a gradual transition.  Of course, Obama didn't immediately do anything, but when you spend your time raising your finger to see which way the wind is blowing, action becomes difficult.

A wise commentator wrote that the first rule of street protests is, "Never go home."  The Egyptian protesters refused to leave.  Will that be the case in Iran, or will the goon squads win, as they did in 2009?  We'll see what tomorrow brings to the streets.

February 14, 2011      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 9:19 A.M. ET:

From Townhall.com:  On Feb. 15, on the recommendation of its Peace & Justice Commission, the Berkeley (Calif.) City Council is set to vote on a resolution to invite "one or two cleared" Guantanamo Bay detainees to resettle in Berkeley.  Peace & Justice Commissioner Rita Maran told me that the idea was to invite to Berkeley "the kind of people you'd like to have living next door to you or dating your cousin."

What a a great Valentine's Day gift.  Everyone in Berkeley will be calling Cousin Arlene saying, "Have I got a guy for you!  Strong, outdoorsy, religious, international traveler..."  Yikes.

February 14, 2011       Permalink

GUESS WHO'S NOT COMING TO DINNER – AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  Some exciting space research going on.  From AP:

MOSCOW – After 257 days in a locked steel capsule, an international crew of six researchers on a mock trip to Mars is preparing to simulate landing on the Red Planet.

The crew of three Russians, a Frenchman, an Italian-Colombian and a Chinese entered a cascade of modules at a Moscow research center last June to imitate the 520-day flight. Three of the crew are to don space suits to perform the mock landing Monday.

As part of the simulation they are to plant the national flags of Russia, China and the European Space Agency, take rock samples and test scientific equipment.

COMMENT:  Notice which nation is missing.  President Obama has cut the guts out of the American space program, shattering the dreams of a generation of space scientists and astronauts. Within a few years, the U.S. won't even have a manned vehicle capable of going into space.  We will depend on others, the dream of the multiculturalists and left-wing activists who came to town with this administration. 

Apparently, the money cut from space can be better spent on social "programs" that too often go nowhere and achieve nothing.

Obama's cuts have come over the objections of Neil Armstrong and other pioneers of America's winning space program.

As a nation, we are falling behind in critical technological areas.  Just as important, the symbols of American achievement – and symbols are important to a nation's standing – are being eroded.  What will young Americans dream about in the future?  A new stimulus package?  The cash-for-clunkers program?

When man plants a flag on Mars, I want it to be American, and I have no apologies for saying that.

February 14, 2011      Permalink

WATCH YOUR WALLET – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  The budget battle in Washington begins today, and remember who's paying for all those lovely programs.  From The Politico:

Like fresh troops — or cannon-fodder — Barack Obama’s 2012 budget lands on Capitol Hill on Monday, and more than any of the president’s prior efforts, this one makes choices that help define the man himself.

He bets big on education spending — an 11 percent increase next year — while altering the Pell Grant program to try to save the aid levels now allowed for college students from the poorest families, The National Institutes of Health will grow by about $1 billion, even as old antipoverty programs and heating assistance are cut. And $62 billion in Medicare savings will be plowed back into paying physicians who care for the elderly.

Foreign wars, most especially the one of Afghanistan, drain Obama of $118 billion, but for the first time in many years, total expenditures for the Pentagon and military will begin to fall. And much as Republicans ridicule his five-year cap on domestic spending, it has bred new restraint in him.

COMMENT:  The annual ritual now starts.  No doubt Mitch McConnell will declare the budget Dead on Arrival.  The opposition always does.

Regarding the president's bet on education:  It is misplaced.  I yield to no one in my belief that every American child deserves a first-class education, through the highest level that he or she is capable of attaining.  But we don't underfund education in America, we overfund it.  We spend enormous amounts and get too little in return.  And we never ask too many questions about what is actually being taught.

Just throwing more money at education will solve nothing, although it will make the haughty education establishment very happy.  I think it's time for the Republicans to take a cold look at federal aid to education, especially to some of our plush universities.  We should start to question every aspect of education, including the four-year bachelor's degree.  (It can easily be done in three.)  We can question, as the educator Robert Hutchins did in the last century, whether we really need a 12th year of pre-college education.  We could do it in 11 or even 10 without breaking much of a sweat.

We can question the intolerable length of summer vacations, which were originally established so that kids from agricultural families could work the family farm.  Not too many young people in that category these days.

Education has been a sacred cow, and a cash cow for the education establishment, including teachers' unions and wasteful universities.

Will questions be asked?  Don't hold your breath.  What would help would be a parents' revolt. 

February 14, 2011       Permalink

THIS IS WHAT WE'RE CONCERNED ABOUT – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  The Israel-Egyptian peace treaty is the cornerstone of American policy in the Mideast.  It has prevented an all-out Arab-Israeli war for a generation.  The Egyptian military has assured us that the treaty will still be honored, but a major opposition politician now sounds an ominous warning, emphasizing once again that we really don't know what the "revolutionaries" stand for.  From the Jerusalem Post:

An influential Egyptian opposition figure and likely presidential candidate called Sunday for Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel to be reassessed, the first sign since former president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster Friday that the 32-year-old agreement may be in jeopardy.

Ayman Nour, a former lawmaker and chairman of the Ghad (Tomorrow) party, told an Egyptian radio station that the 1978 Camp David Accords were no longer relevant, and said the country’s leadership should at least rethink the terms of the framework agreements that led to a peace deal between the erstwhile enemies the following year.

On Saturday, the Egyptian military confirmed it would abide by all of the country’s prior international agreements, an announcement welcomed in Jerusalem by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The conflicting signal heard Sunday from a potential presidential candidate – heading not an Islamist party, but one describing itself as secular, liberal and human-rights oriented – is likely to give Israeli decision-makers pause.

“The Camp David Accords are finished,” Nour said. “Egypt has to at least conduct negotiations over conditions of the agreement.”

COMMENT:  Great, huh?  And this guy isn't even an Islamist.   Washington has to monitor this kind of talk carefully, and do some fast, vigorous behind-the-scenes diplomacy, making it clear that we will not tolerate any breach of the peace treay.  The European Union must do the same.

Let's see if Obama does the job, or starts to do the left-wing hustle, preaching "understanding" of other cultures.  The lives of American soldiers are involved here.

February 14, 2011       Permalink

IRAN CLAMPS DOWN IN ADVANCE – AT 7:55 A.M. ET:  There's one thing the Iranian regime does very well, and that's crush dissent.  They have a bunch of apologists and explainers in Washington, and I'd love to hear their spin on this.  From The New York Times:

TEHRAN — Hundreds of black-clad riot police officers, some in bullet-proof vests, deployed in key locations in central Tehran on Monday to thwart an opposition march in solidarity with the uprising in Egypt — an event Iranian leaders cheered as the popular overthrow of an Arab strongman.

The police gathered in small groups at some intersections but they numbered around 200 in the major squares that carry symbolic importance for Iranians and are named revolution and freedom. Some of the security forces were on motor-cycles and carried paintball guns to fire at opponents. But with minutes to go before the planned start of the protest, there was little sign of organized dissent.

The authorities have made no secret of their resolve to stop the march and deny the protesters a permit to demonstrate.

“These elements are fully aware of the illegal nature of the request,” Mehdi Alikhani Sadr, an Interior Ministry official, said in comments published Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. “They know they will not be granted permission for riots.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was blunt.

“The conspirators are nothing but corpses,” Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the corps, said Wednesday in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. “Any incitement will be dealt with severely.”

COMMENT:  We'll be following this to see if any brave Iranian souls come out to challenge the thugs.  We have every right, in this situation, to expect the most vigorous denunciation from the president of the United States.  You will recall that, when Iranians rose up in 2009, it took four days for Barack Hussein Obama Jr. to make it to a microphone to put in a few indifferent words about democracy. 

February 14, 2011     Permalink

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

THIS SHOULD MAKE EVERYONE SLEEP BETTER – AT 11:48 P.M. ET:  We cannot confirm the accuracy of the statements made in this story, but the source appears thoroughly credible, and we felt compelled to report it.  From London's Daily Mail:

A port official has admitted that a 'weapon of mass effect' has been found by 'partner agencies' in the U.S., raising major questions over a possible government cover-up.

The disturbing revelation came in an interview with San Diego's assistant port director screened by a television channel in the city.

The Customs and Border Protection Department tried to dampen speculation over his remarks, but doubts remained over whether he had inadvertently revealed a dirty bomb plot to attack the U.S. mainland.

Concern over a secret WMD bust came after U.S. cables made public by the Wikileaks whistleblower website revealed terror groups were plotting a 'nuclear 911.'

In the interview screened by San Diego’s 10News, Al Hallor, assistant San Diego port director, said ‘weapons of mass effect’ had been found, although he did not specify exactly where or what they were.

Reporter Mitch Blacher asked Mr Hallor: ‘Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?’

‘At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things,’ the customs official replied.

So, specifically, you're looking for the dirty bomb? You're looking for the nuclear device?’ asked Mr Blacher.

‘Correct. Weapons of mass effect,’ said Mr Hallor.

‘You ever found one?’ asked Mr Blacher.

‘Not at this location,’ Mr Hallor said.

‘But they have found them?’ asked Mr Blacher.

‘Yes,’ said Mr Hallor.

COMMENT:  The law of averages is not with us on this one.  Sooner or later, a very dangerous device is going to get through.  This country is simply too porous to thwart every attempt.

Are we ready?  I doubt it.

February 13, 2011     Permalink

THE WEIRD MR. PAUL – Ron Paul has won the straw poll among potential 2012 presidential contenders at the big CPAC meeting in Washington.  Aren't you excited?

Charles Krauthammer said, correctly, that the CPAC meeting is bit strange.  It really doesn't represent either conservatism or the Republican Party.  It's well known that the Ron Paul alternative-universe crowd trucks in loads of true believers to vote in the straw poll.  The poll doesn't mean a thing, but the fact that a lunatic like Paul wins it every year should be an embarrassment.  William F. Buckley Jr. spent a lifetime fighting fringe elements on the right.

How bad is Ron Paul?  Consider this, from Human Events:

Right after the straw poll results showing Ron Paul as the winner were announced, people from Young Americans for Freedom began handing out memos declaring they had expelled Ron Paul from their advisory board. They didn’t just kick him out for non-payment of dues, or hogging the karaoke machine at the last YAF kegger, either.

“YAF’s concerns with Rep. Paul stem out of his delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe anti-war movement,” the press release declared. Specifically, they’re upset about Paul’s “journey into the anti-war left by laying the blame on America for the unprovoked attacks of September 11th. Additionally, Rep. Paul has not condemned the 9/11 ‘Truther’ conspiracy theorists that support him, and he has repeatedly insisted that the United States not bring justice to those who have murdered thousands of our civilians and soldiers at home and abroad.”

Since none of that is really new coming out of Ron Paul, I’m not sure how he got onto the YAF National Advisory Board in the first place, but here we are.

COMMENT:  It's important that people who fancy Ron Paul as a conservative understand exactly who he is.  He is, as the British would call it, a nutter.  He would bring the Republican Party back to the isolationism of the 1930s, but he won't get that chance.

His son, Rand Paul, was just elected to the Senate from Kentucky, after being muffled for most of the campaign by his handlers because he kept embarrassing himself.  He continues to.

If either of the Pauls ever makes it to the White House (it won't happen), look for property in Australia.

February 12, 2011      Permalink

IRAN...MAYBE, BUT ONLY MAYBE – AT 10:50 A.M. ET:  Dissenters in Iran asked for a permit to hold a mass demonstration on Monday.  The application was turned down, but there are some signs that the protesters may defy the state.  We stress that nothing here can be absolutely confirmed.  We'll have to wait until tomorrow:

As the popular uprising in Egypt draws to a successful conclusion, several other Arab and Muslim nations appear poised to become the next hotbeds of anti-regime demonstrations in the region.

Demonstrations are scheduled to take place on Monday against the regimes in Bahrain and Iran.

Calls made by the Iranian opposition over the Internet urging supporters to take to the streets in support of the Egyptian revolution, have garnered thousands of responses from supporters.

In a statement published on Kaleme.com on Sunday, the opposition renewed its supporters to rally on Monday in central Tehran and accused the government of hypocrisy by voicing support for the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings while refusing to allow Iranian political activists to stage a peaceful demonstration.

Several human rights groups in Iran have reported that the Islamist regime there has embarked on mass arrests of its opponents and ordered that two leaders of the opposition, Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, remain under house arrest.

That, of course, can kill the demonstrations before they start.  We eagerly await some comment by the president of the United States and mascot of the Chicago Bears.  We aren't hearing much.

Meanwhile, the Bahraini ruler announced Saturday a special payment of $2,650 to each Bahraini family, a measure designed to counter opposition demands.

I wonder how they arrived at that figure.  I guess it's a Mideast stimulus package.  Or anti-stimulus.

Thousands took to the street in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, on Saturday to protest the regime of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, clashing with local security forces who tried to disperse them.

The protest in Algeria appeared to have lost some of its steam in recent days, but following the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, demonstrators gathered once again in the streets, demanding economic measures to combat high levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing. In response, the regime in Algeria has restricted civil liberties and the country is being run like a dictatorship.

By the way, have you noticed something?  How many times have you been told by "experts," especially the ones with tenured positions in Middle East studies departments of our universities, that the Arab-Israeli conflict is at the heart of all Mideast problems?  Why, solve that and peace will come to Earth, the weather will get better, and the common cold will be cured. 

Please notice that the demonstrators in the boiling Arab countries haven't mentioned Israel once.  Kind of tells you about the experts, right?  I wonder how many federal dollars pour into developing that "expertise" each year.  I don't want to know.

February 12, 2011       Permalink

EGYPT LATEST – AT 10:37 A.M. ET:  The army is moving to meet demonstrators' demands, but there are loopholes.  From AP:

CAIRO — Egypt's military leaders dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution Sunday, meeting two key demands of protesters who have been keeping up pressure for immediate steps to transition to democratic, civilian rule after forcing Hosni Mubarak out of power.

The military rulers that took over when Mubarak stepped down Friday and the caretaker government also set as a top priority the restoration of security, which collapsed during the 18 days of protests that toppled the regime.

The protesters had been pressing the ruling military council to immediately move forward with the transition process by appointing a presidential council, dissolving the parliament and releasing detainees.

"In a country like Egypt, with a pharaonic legacy, having no president and no head of state is not easy," said Amr el-Shobaky, a member of the Committee of Wise Men — a self-appointed group of prominent figures who are allied with the protesters and helping mediate in the crisis.

Note the following asterisk:

In their latest communique, the ruling council said it will run the country for six months, or until presidential and parliament elections can be held. It said it was forming a committee to amend the constitution and set the rules for popular referendum to endorse the amendments.

COMMENT:  "...or until presidential and parliament elections can be held."  There's an opening big enough to drive an American-made truck through. 

We really don't know the outcome here.  It will be fascinating, but dangerous.

February 12, 2011       Permalink