US factories surge in Dec, helped by dollar :
“CHICAGO, Jan 2 (Reuters) – U.S. factory activity expanded at the fastest pace for 20 years in December, a survey showed Friday, adding evidence that a manufacturing recovery is under way and benefiting from the lower dollar in the form of higher exports. “
“Now .. here’s the part I don’t want you to read. It’s about a particular type of torture that American officials have discovered was used by Saddam’s goons in Iraq. It’s all very simple, really. You get a piece of PVC piping .. say two inches in diameter. You wedge a piece of cheese into the end of this pipe .. and Saddam’s agents would take that PVC pipe, have their victim’s pants removed, and then shove that pipe where the sun doesn’t shine. Then they would insert small rats into the open end of the pipe. The rats would eat through the cheese … and keep right on going. In other words, the rats would start eating Saddam’s victims from the inside. This would continue until the poor SOB died of blood loss from internal bleeding.
There .. I told you not to read it. But just in case you’re not much for following instructions and read it anyway .. this is the man that Howard Dean wishes was still in power in Iraq. No … don’t give me any flack on that statement. If Dean was opposed to the action that ousted Saddam .. then that means he necessarily wishes Saddam was still in power. Sorry, Deanie Babies. You can’t have it both ways. Dean is sure he wants Bush out of power .. but he says it only ‘might’ be a good thing that Saddam has been captured. Oh .. and ditto for many libertarians, I’m sorry to say.”
I can’t argue with any of this. I have many disagreements with Boortz, as longtime readers of this Blog will know. But flashes of brilliance like this is why he’s on my daily reading routine, and should be on yours.
Thanks to Beck for pointing out this one. Worthwhile.
Glenn Reynolds yesterday noted that:
“The BBC recently gave its radio listeners a chance to express their will, but did not want to hear the result. The great unwashed mass, who cough-up the license fees which pay the Beeb’s freight, were asked to suggest a piece of legislation to improve life in Britain, with the promise that an MP would then attempt to get it onto the statute books.
Listeners to BBC’s Today program (the very same show which claimed that intelligence on Iraqi WMDs had been “sexed up” respondednded with a suggestion that would allow homeowners to defend themselves against intruders, without facing legal liabilities. The winning proposal was denounced as a “ludicrous, brutal, unworkable blood-stained piece of legislation” – by Stephen Pound, the very MP whose job it is to try to push it through Parliament.”
Reynolds suggests, in a classic Reynolds understatment, that the legislatorsare out of touch, and notes that David Carr goes a bit further. I’d suggest reading Carr’s link. It tells part of the story, but not the whole story; The rest being that the government is unwilling to allow the people to defend their own… because they know full well, perhaps, that they will be the intruder someday.
Billy Beck gives an example of this factor from Reynold’s own pages about what happens when a leftist’s power gets threatened by the voters:
California Democratic Party Spokesman Bob Mulholland this weekend warned Arnold Schwarzenegger that “real bullets” will be coming his way during his campaign to be governor!
“Schwarzenegger is going to find out, that unlike a Hollywood movie set, the bullets coming at him in this campaign are going to be real bullets and he is going to have to respond to them,” warned Mulholland in an interview with a camera crew from ABC NEWS.
One line Carr comes up with though, is critical:
People are losing faith in the ability (and even willingness) of the state to come to their aid in time of crisis. As the police spend more of their time collecting taxes and scoring brownie points with their political masters, this disquiet will only grow.
The great socialist experiment in England has failed, and this BBC poll gave exposure to this.
Beck asks:
“(W)hat in the world is it that makes anyone believe that nations can, or will, vote themselves out of straits like these?”
… but I don’t think us in so dire a problem, as yet. It’s true, the leftists have been trying for years to move us in their direction…and away from our ability to protect ourselves… the direction we see so starkly depicted in this article. However, events since 9/11 see us moving away from that socialist horror quite quickly as an electorate. With the Leftist leader pulling only 35% of the vote in current polling, perhaps there is more hope than Beck is seeming to suggest, here.
010104224728– Niagara Falls, NY–
Happy New Year.
We’re up in Niagara Falls tonight, for the fireworks display at midnight. We’re actually not far from where I’ve written columns in the past.
They have two shows tonight. As this is written, it’s between shows, and we’re waiting for the Midnight show. We’ve already seen the one scheduled at 9:15 (though they actually went up at about 9:25). The Midnight show is supposed to be quite something; They’ll shoot fireworks off the top of the Skylon tower AND up out of the Niagara river gorge.
At moments like this one tends to wonder what lies ahead, and since I have the time, I may as well jot some notes down. Within this context, then, here’s my predictions for 2004, in no particular order:
*
Lord of the Rings Return of the King will be nominated for picture of the year, and will lose.
*
The Democrats will swing so far left in search of primary voters, they will be easy targets during the general election
*
Yet more links will be revealed between Saddam and Bin Laden, and the left will try to deny such revelations are of any import.
*
More links between Saddam and Syria, as regards Saddam’s weapons programs will be found and the left will try to deny such revelations are of any import. These denials will be ignored, given the obvious.
*
Howard Dean will win the Democrat nomination.
*
Following that convention, polling data will show Howard Dean with less than 40% of the support in a general election.
*
Hilary Clinton, who wants Dean nowhere near the leadership of the party, will try to step in at the last minute to supposedly “save the situation”. Her greed will be shown and understood at last… even by the Democrats.
*
Despite this, and in fact because of it, to a large degree, George W. Bush will win a second term as President with around 60% of the popular vote.
*
Tony Blair will face an election, and will win again.
*
Nancy Pelosi will be a disaster for Democrats in the ’04 election cycle, particularly in the south, where Republicans will pick up more seats, and governorships.
*
The Democrats will scream about how polarized politics has become, as the majority moves to the Republicans. It’s only way they can explain away their losses.
*
“The 2004 election campaigns will break a record in money spent on elections, but a little noted factor will be how much of that money did not come from PACs and corporations, but from everyday people… which is a ratification of President Bush’s policies… and that grassroots movement, that majority will be the biggest push toward the Republican electoral victory in ’04.
*
The situation in Iraq will continue on it’s course of steady improvement. Of course the Democrats will deny it’s an improvement, and we’ll see occasional statements that we were better off with Saddam.
*
To the dismay of the un-American left, Bin Laden will be captured in mid-summer.
*
Bills and proposals regarding homosexual ‘unions’ will become a political ‘third rail’ as polls will report 70% percent of Americans against allowing them despite decades of attempts to change that situation.
*
Given court rulings allowing any two persons to “marry” we’ll see the ACLU come out in support of the legalization and normalization of all kinds of kinks, including bestiality and necrophilia, incest, polygamy, pedophilia, and so on. They will argue that such restrictions are unconstitutional, and will use the pro-homosexual rulings as their basis for motion.
*
The long awaited “liberal radio network’ will be near stillborn, being heard on lower power and “rimshot” stations only, in the few markets it manages to get into. It will die quietly inside two years.
*
Dow at or above 12,000. So great will be the growth of the economy, in fact, that the Fed will be forced to react with increased prime rates.
*
As an indication as well as an outgrowth of that fact, IT spending will skyrocket and the IT services field will see large growth. This spending will more a more careful spending than we saw in the 90’s, since we won’t have the 2000 bug to worry about, but will instead focus on the ROI for each company.
*
Linux will increase it’s hold on the desktop.
*
As bandwidth gets cheaper, we’ll see higher and higher speed internet connections at the home desktop level. This trend is actually already established, but will continue exponentially.
*
AOL/Time Warner will split in ’04, leaving AOL to boil in it’s own juices for a short time, before AOL gets swallowed up by some other ISP, and the AOL shell will die the death it’s deserved for decades.
*
Voice over IP will become a household phrase, and will clearly demonstrate that government regulation hobbles development. Calls will begin to be made to eliminate such regulation. Democrats will of course fight it. May not be resolved in ’04, but the path will be clear by ’05.
*
George Soros will no longer be the 38th richest man in America, but will fail in unseating Mr. Bush.
*
Castro dies. The end of communism is in sight on Cuba.
*
By year’s end the number of states that will have enacted conceal-carry permit laws, will be at or above 40. The associated drop in crime will be ignored by the leftists, who will be suffering apoplexy about how ‘wild west’ things have gotten. (Disconnection from reality is a safe bet for the left in ANY year, after all.)
* There will continue to be an amusing struggle among Democrats seeking to describe the recently passed drug bill as corporate welfare for the drug companies, when despite their protests, it’s exactly what they’ve been pushing for decades.
By the way; here’s a link to the display we saw at Midnight
CNN.com is reporting this morning that:
“BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. forces operating in the so-called Sunni Triangle — the region of Iraq most loyal to captured former dictator Saddam Hussein — found a significant weapons cache that included al Qaeda literature and videotapes, the U.S. military said Tuesday. “
AHA! So, now we know. I wonder if we’re going to see arguments about this from the left again, about how there’s no linkage?
Oh, by the way, at the second levels of this story is info that’s coming out about Saddam’s activity…
Allawi said Saddam admitted he invested stolen Iraqi money — which the Iraq Governing Council estimates at $40 billion — in Switzerland, Japan and Germany, among others, under fictitious company names.
So, then here’s the story; Germany objects to the action against Iraq because of the financial impact on Germany… all those billions of stolen Iraqi money being frozen would certainly cause issues in the German economy, eh?
I notice the CNN story is very scrupulous about not mentioning that France was on that list.
According to other sources, though, they are indeed among the places Saddam invested billions.
I keep saying; all this stuff is going to come out eventually…
USATODAY.com – State budgets gain some wiggle room
According to the story, the States aren’t in the financial problems they were just a year ago, and some are even considering spending increases.
So much for the oft heard mantra of how President Bush is ‘hurting the states’.
A dissenting student hounded for his views “A dissenting student hounded for his views”
So where are the leftists who were screaming about limitation of free speech about THIS case, eh?
(Heard: Crickets, light breezes, far away freight train)
Fitzgerald to head CIA leak probe
“The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday appointed Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, as special prosecutor to lead an investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA operative to a newspaper columnist. “
You’re going to see a lot of smoke on this one fro the left. But let’s cast a realistic pall over their ritualistic dancing, shall we? This is simply Ashcroft taking away a target of opportunity from the Democrats. if I were them, I’d not be dancing. Consider this question:
If it is found, as I have repeatedly suggested, that the Democrats were in fact involved with this ‘leak’, how would the reaction be if this accusation came from Ashcroft?
Certainly, the Democrats would claim the investigation was flawed and politically motivated. With Fitzgerald, that charge loses it’s bite.
And has anyone checked the cover of Vanify Fair recently?
Mr. Fitzgerald
New York Post Online Edition: POL: SKIP TIMES SQUARE
“Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) offered his regrets yesterday, telling The Post that he’d avoid the Times Square crowd because it’s a ‘tempting target’ for terrorists.
‘I wouldn’t go to Times Square. That is my opinion. It is one based on the reality that the government has declared a Code Orange,’ said Shays. “
I’m kinda torn on this one. While I understand his point, I have my doubts about it, on a number of levels. I’m curious, first of all, about the message this one sends about courage.
In any event, I’ll be at Niagara Falls tonight, myself.
Tags: BitsBlog
You will recall perhaps a remark I made some days ago, about how I was waiting for someone to blame president Bush for the Iranian Earthquake. According to The Axis of Weasels someone has, on national radio.
(shrug)
Every time I try to laugh about this stuff by being totally crazy, the leftists get crazier in reality. Amazing.
Yahoo! News – Journalist Lambasts French War Coverage:
“PARIS – Reporter Alain Hertoghe’s book accused the French press of not being objective in its coverage of the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news – web sites). His newspaper fired him.
The book, ‘La Guerre a Outrances’ (The War of Outrages), criticizes the French reporting for continually predicting the war would end badly for the U.S.-led coalition.
‘Readers can’t understand why the Americans won the war,’ Hertoghe said in a telephone interview. ‘The French press wasn’t neutral.’ “
Perhaps they’re taking their queues from the NewYork Times, huh?
The Constitution in wartime – The Washington Times: Editorials/OP-ED
As is usual for Mr. Hentoff, he takes the far out libertarian view, which he claims supports Padilla. And as usual, with libertarians, he’s strong anti-patriot act.
But wait just a minute. This is not the tyrrany the left and the libertarians claim it is. As even Hentoff notes:
“We are nowhere near a state of tyranny. The press is free. The civilian courts are open.”
Further, while Mr. Hentoff claims that…
“After being brought to the courts, the administration, still holding that view, claims that Congress’ Authorization for Use of Military Force joint resolution soon after Sept. 11 does give the president this authority over enemy combatants. But the Second Circuit found that this resolution “contains no language authorizing detention.””
..one wonders how Mr. Hentoff defines the phrasing in the law established by Congress in response to 9/11 gving the President authority to perform “any and all action” to secure our nation.
I fear that Mr. Hentof’s knee jerking is taking on proportions similar only to one other group; The far left. What about ‘we are under attack’ do you not understand, Mr. Hentoff? Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg will help?
Perhaps the words of Gentlemen, we are now in a state of necessity, and necessity knows no law –
The Racist Tapestry of Lord of the Rings !
Yes, that’s right. He claims the movie is racist symbolism, since the heroes are white and the vilins are dark-skinned.
I post this dreck only as an example of how far out in left field these idiots are. If you wonder why there’s a culture war out there… or, for that matter if you doubt there is one, , or if you wonder what their motives are, one need only read this article. They are anti-anything western culture.
One of the worst examples:
“The reason that Western medicine has not advanced to the enlightened technological level as Chinese herbal medicine and why most Western technology is diametrically opposed to all life on this planet, poisoning our air and water and causing widespread disease and death is for the simple fact that the Freemasons and the Church have not yet let go of the death grip they have on each other’s throats. In other words, the enlightened knowledge that the church has attempted to destroy that the Freemasons attempted to save and capitalize on with Western patents has turned into a death struggle that has created destructive technological paradigms here in the West that are now being forced on the populations of the entire earth destabilizing life and bringing with them the pollution of the air and water that once existed only in Christendom.”
This is the kind of alleged thought processes we’re up against, people.
Update:
The Dog has this as well.
