Is the Middle East Preparing for War?

Heck, they are always preparing for war, but I mean sometime real soon? This article from Newsmax.com seems to think there are many signs that say yes:

Source: U.S. Strike on Iran Nearing

[...] A number of signs indicate that, contrary to the belief President Bush is a lame duck who will not act before he leaves office, the U.S. is poised to strike before Iran can acquire nuclear weapons and carry out the threat of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to “wipe Israel off the map”:

According to intelligence sources, the administration now rejects the National Intelligence Estimate report issued in December that asserted Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in late 2003.

The French daily Le Monde reported in March that newly surfaced documents show that Iran has continued developing nuclear weapons. In late 2006, U.S. intelligence reportedly intercepted a phone conversation in Iran’s Defense Ministry in which the nuclear weapons program was discussed.

The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Admiral William Fallon, resigned in March amid media reports that he broke with President Bush’s strategy on Iran and did not want to be in the chain of command when the order comes down from the President to launch a strike on the Islamic Republic.

Democrats suggested he had been forced out because of his candor in opposing Bush’s Iran plans, and Esquire magazine contended that Fallon’s departure signaled that the U.S. is preparing to attack Iran.

According to a Tehran-based Iranian news network, Press TV, Saudi Arabia is taking emergency steps in preparing to counter any “radioactive hazards” that may result from an American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Saudi newspaper Okaz disclosed that the Saudi government has approved nuclear fallout preparations, and the Iranian network reported that the approval came a day after Cheney met with the kingdom’s high-ranking officials, further stating that the U.S. “is now informing its Arab allies of a potential war.”

The American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, has stepped up criticism of Iran, telling Congress last week that Iranian support for Shiite militias posed the most serious threat to Iraq’s stability. He told senators : “Iran has fueled the violence in a particularly damaging way.” Last week, the U.S. said Iran was providing insurgents with missiles that were killing Americans and hitting targets within the U.S. occupied Green Zone in Baghdad.

MSNBC Commentator Pat Buchanan said Petraeus’ remarks to Congress lay the groundwork for a U.S. attack on Iran.

President Bush said in a speech at the White House on April 10 that Iran, along with al-Qaida, are “two of the greatest threats to America.”

He said Iran “can live in peace with its neighbors,” or “continue to arm and train and fund illegal militant groups which are terrorizing the Iraqi people … If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests and our troops and our Iraqi partners.” [...]

These are just some of the reasons given, there's more details in the article. I've seen articles like this before though. It's easy to speculate, but harder to predict what actually will happen. Much depends on what any of the players do. The potential is certainly there. I've also read arguments about why it won't happen, but I don't think it's a certainty either way.

Ahmadinejad has been preparing for war for years, and has many reasons for wanting it to happen, based on his strong apocalyptic religious beliefs. As long as he is in power, war seems likely sooner or later. If Iran gets Nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia will want them too, and Turkey will feel compelled to have them as well, etc etc. If war happens THEN, it will be much worse than anything that happens now. If war is going to happen sooner or later, there may be advantages to having it sooner. It could be the lesser of two evils.
     

Barack Obama; the larger, complete picture

From Thomas Sowell: A Living Lie

An e-mail from a reader said that, while Hillary Clinton tells lies, Barack Obama is himself a lie. That is becoming painfully apparent with each new revelation of how drastically his carefully crafted image this election year contrasts with what he has actually been saying and doing for many years.

[...]

Speaking privately to supporters in heavily left-liberal San Francisco, Obama let down his hair and described working class people in Pennsylvania as so "bitter" that they "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."

Like so much that Obama has said and done over the years, this is standard stuff on the far left, where guns and religion are regarded as signs of psychological dysfunction -- and where opinions different from those of the left are ascribed to emotions ("bitter" in this case), rather than to arguments that need to be answered.

Like so many others on the left, Obama rejects "stereotypes" when they are stereotypes he doesn't like but blithely throws around his own stereotypes about "a typical white person" or "bitter" gun-toting, religious and racist working class people.

[...]

However inconsistent Obama's words, his behavior has been remarkably consistent over the years. He has sought out and joined with the radical, anti-Western left, whether Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers of the terrorist Weatherman underground or pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli Rashid Khalidi.

Obama is also part of a long tradition on the left of being for the working class in the abstract, or as people potentially useful for the purposes of the left, but having disdain or contempt for them as human beings.

Karl Marx said, "The working class is revolutionary or it is nothing." In other words, they mattered only in so far as they were willing to carry out the Marxist agenda.

[...]

It is understandable that young people are so strongly attracted to Obama. Youth is another name for inexperience -- and experience is what is most needed when dealing with skillful and charismatic demagogues. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) This describes so well what I was trying to explain about the wealthly San Francisco Democrats Obama was addressing: they purport to be for the working class, but they actually despise them. It was hard to pick excerpts from this, Thomas packed in so many relevant points, about Obama's senate record and much more. It's well worth reading the whole article.


John Fund at the WSJ also looks at Obama's flaws, and some of the reasons that they are only being examined now:

Obama's Flaws Multiply

Barack Obama's San Francisco-Democrat comment last week – about how alienated working-class voters "cling to guns or religion" – is already famous. But the fact that his aides tell reporters he is privately bewildered that anybody took offense is even more remarkable.

[...]

Mr. Obama has prospered in Democratic primaries. But as John Harris and Jim VandeHei note in Politico.com, that's in part because these primaries have "been an exercise in self-censorship" about Mr. Obama's weaknesses. It is "indisputably true," they write, that "Obama is on the brink of the Democratic nomination without having had to confront head-on the evidence about his general election challenges."

There are many. His statements that he wants to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, combined with his lack of foreign policy experience, could hurt him. And his aides are hard pressed to come up with any deviations in a voting record the nonpartisan National Journal calls the most liberal of any U.S. Senator.

As a state legislator he was even more off-center. In 1996, he opposed the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Senate approved 85-14 and President Clinton signed into law. He twice voted "present" on a bill to ban partial-birth abortions. In 1999, he was the only state senator to oppose a law that prohibited early prison release for sex offenders.

Mr. Obama also backed a total ban on handguns, a move his campaign now says was the result of a rogue aide filling out a questionnaire. But Mr. Obama's own handwritten notes were found on the questionnaire, calling into question the campaign's version of what happened.

Everyone knows Mrs. Clinton's electoral vulnerabilities – GOP consultant Mike Murphy jokes that "half of the country thinks she rides a broom." But Mr. Obama has shown weakness with key Democratic constituencies. He's had to fend off concerns about his Middle East policies with Jewish voters; he's also won only a third of Hispanic primary voters.

Then there is trade, where his insincerity is at least as clumsy as Mrs. Clinton's. During the San Francisco episode, Mr. Obama had a throwaway line about how working-class voters fixate on "anti-trade sentiment" in order to vent their frustrations. But isn't it Barack Obama who has been spending months stirring up "anti-trade sentiment?" He has threatened to yank the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement unless Canada and Mexico renegotiate it. Last week, he denounced the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

According to Canadian diplomats, top Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee admitted to them that they could dismiss his man's anti-Nafta rhetoric. All of this makes Democrats wonder if Mr. Obama is ready for prime time.

But they have themselves to blame for letting him get this far largely unexamined. While Republicans tend to nominate their best-known candidate from previous nomination battles (Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and now John McCain), Democrats often fall in love during a first date. They are then surprised when all the relatives don't think he's splendid. [...]

That's almost laughable, except that the Democrats have take "emotional thinking" so far that Obama is practically already nominated, without even being thoroughly vetted and examined. I'm not sure which is more disturbing: the fact that he made it this far without being questioned and examined, or the fact that none of this seems to matter in the polls, as there seems to be a large mass of emotional thinkers who are going to follow their "feelings" and vote for him no matter what.

Also, I'm sure many of the Democrats running the party these days knew all these things, and didn't care. The Party has gone so far left, and they believe the American Public is so stupid, that they could ignore the inconvenient truths about him, and sell Obama "emotionally" as a Rockstar/Messiah/American Idol. Facts don't matter anymore, IF you can distract enough people from looking at them.


Neal Boortz has some more info on Obama's finances:

OBAMA'S DONATIONS

Interesting facts ... for anyone who thinks it matters.
     

Democrat Clowns Grab Spotlight, Fight Dirty

While the Obama - Clinton sideshow continues, dominating the Media Spotlight, the Democrats fight dirty by using every ploy available to them to try to tar John McCain with allegations of illegal campaign finance activity:

Democrats Sue FEC over McCain Finances

The irony is, they are suing the FEC for being non-functional. The FEC is non-functional because it has only two commissioners, not the needed four. There are only two because the Democrats have been blocking White House nominees for the commission since December 2005. They've even blocked a Democrat nominee. They are basically suing over a problem they have created and continue to perpetuate.

John McCain is being accused of exceeding spending caps, when he hasn't received a dime of public money. He filed an application, then withdrew it. The Democrats maintain that's a crime, while simultaneously making it impossible for the FEC to investigate. They cause the problem, then posture themselves as fighting for the solution. Typical Democrat BS posturing.

Meanwhile, Obama accepts funds from a sleazy lobbyist group, even as he claims he does not accept money form lobbyists:

Obama Took Money From Abramoff Firm? The Hell You Say!

That's a real story, more interesting than the Democrat's manufactured self-created drama with the FEC. We have more than enough of these Democrat clowns in the Congress and Senate, let's not put one in the White House too. John McCain would be a much better, serious choice.
     

From Hamas TV: "Brothers of Apes and Pigs"

Click here to view video clip

Hamas MP and Cleric Yunis Al-Astal in a Friday Sermon:

"We Will Conquer Rome, and from There Continue to Conquer the Two Americas and Eastern Europe"

Following are excerpts from an address by Hamas MP and cleric Yunis Al-Astal, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on April 11, 2008.

Yunis Al-Astal: Allah has chosen you for Himself and for His religion, so that you will serve as the engine pulling this nation to the phase of succession, security, and consolidation of power, and even to conquests thorough da'wa and military conquests of the capitals of the entire world. Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam – this capital of theirs will be an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread through Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, and even Eastern Europe.

I believe that our children or our grandchildren will inherit our Jihad and our sacrifices, and Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them. Today, we instill these good tidings in their souls, and by means of the mosques and the Koran books, and the history of our Prophets, his companions, and the great leaders, we prepare them for the mission of saving humanity from the hellfire on the brink of which they stand.

Yeah, we really do need to keep sending money to these folks. After all, they NEED us Apes and Pigs to keep sending them money to help them to destroy us. And lets send Jimmy Carter to talk to them too, Carter helped Iran to strengthen Hezbollah into what it is today, I'm sure he can help Hamas thrive and prosper too. After all, Carter is on their side. Just one of the many reasons Islamic fascists everywhere love our Democrat party.
     

Monday Funny 04-14-08

With tax filings due tomorrow, this joke I got in my email seems appropriate:

The IRS decides to audit Ralph, and summons him to the IRS office.
The IRS auditor is not surprised when Ralph shows up with his attorney.

The auditor says, "Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no
full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money
gambling. I'm not sure the IRS finds that believable."

"I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it," says Ralph. "How about a
demonstration?"

The auditor thinks for a moment and said, "Okay. Go ahead."

Ralph says, "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own
eye." The auditor thinks a moment and says, "No way! It's a bet."
Ralph removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor's jaw drops.

Ralph says, "Now, I'll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my
other eye. "The auditor can tell Ralph isn't blind, so he takes the
bet. Ralph removes his dentures and bites his good eye. The stunned
auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Ralph's
attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.

"Want to go double or nothing?" Ralph asks. "I'll bet you six thousand
dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that
wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in
between."

The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and
decides there's no way this guy can manage that stunt, so he agrees
again.

Ralph stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he
strains mightily, he can't make the stream reach the wastebasket on
other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the desk.

The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major
loss into a huge win. But Ralph's attorney moans and puts his head in
his hands.

"Are you okay?" the auditor asks. "Not really," says the attorney.
"This morning, when Ralph told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he
bet me twenty thousand dollars that he could come in here and piss all
over your desk and that you'd be happy about it."
     

HP to offer UMPC Mini-Notebook with Linux

HP will shortly be offering an UMPC (Ultramobile PC), aimed at the education market. There will be two versions, one offered at the end of April, and another more expensive version in May:

HP releases its first Linux-powered laptop

[...] The HP Mini is another UMPC (Ultramobile PC). Unlike Asustek Computer's Eee PC and Everex's CloudBook, the HP Mini is the first UMPC to arrive from a top-tier system vendor.

Like the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)'s XO Laptop and Intel's Classmate PC, the HP Mini is designed for the wear and tear of use by children. The 2.5-pound UMPC comes with an anodized aluminum shell that's designed to be sturdy. It also comes with "HP DuraKeys," a clear damage-resistant keyboard coating designed to help prevent chocolate-milk-induced system failures. It also includes the HP 3D DriveGuard, which uses a three-axis digital accelerometer chip to shut down the hard drive if it's dropped (or thrown, or kicked).

Besides the usual array of SLED software goodies, the system also includes educational software. Jim Mann, an HP technology strategist, credited Novell with putting together an excellent collection of educational software.

The PC itself comes in two different versions. Both models are powered by a 1.6GHz Via C7 processor. They also both have 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an 8.9-inch display with 1280 by 768 resolution. They each also include a pair of USB ports and Ethernet port. The cheaper model, the one that's aimed directly at the education market, comes with 1GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive. This system, which should be available by the end of April, will retail for $499. The higher-end system comes with 2GB, a faster 120GB hard drive and a larger six-cell battery. This system will be available by May and list for $799, HP said.

HP has is going to offer it on it's HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, seen here with Windows Vista on the screen:


The Windows Vista version which is already available, is reviewed here:

HP 2133 Mini-Note PC

It didn't take long for PC makers to realize the gold mine ASUS struck with its Eee PC 4G. The Eee PC is a sleek, 2.2-pound ultraportable that costs less than $400—something the UMPC platform had promised but failed to deliver. Now, manufacturers are mobilizing to create an Eee PC "killer," so to speak. The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC ($749 direct) has the potential to be just that. It sports a sexy, 3-pound design, has features similar to the Eee PC, and offers a variety of operating systems to choose from. Even more compelling, however, is that this miniature device can be used by kindergarteners or top-level executives alike, and is affordable to most families with schoolchildren. My configuration was relatively expensive; others start as low as $499—a price that HP had to nail down in order for the Mini-Note to fly. [...]

Sounds intriguing! Although for that price you could buy a regular notebook computer with Vista, and install Linux over it or dual boot it with Vista. But this particular model of mini notebook is especially rugged and durable, and will have an appeal all it's own. I'll be watching the reviews, that's for certain.
     

Unusual Quake Activity off the Oregon Coast

Unusual earthquake swarm detected off Oregon

By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption - except there are no volcanoes in the area.

Scientists don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University.

There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin 150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and two others were more than magnitude 5.0, OSU reported. [...]

I've not felt any quakes. A ship is being sent out to take water samples. There are some other things that make it unusual... see the rest of the article for more details.
     

Farm Report 04-13-08: Trashy Fowls and Rats

Our First Chick reported on last week turned one week old on Friday:


It's wing feathers are starting to show, and it's already quite tame. Now it just needs some siblings to keep it company.

In the past week, I tried to save a Bantam chick that got crushed in it's egg a few days too soon before it was ready to hatch. I put it in a small incubator, it lived for a few days, using up it's yoke sack, but it then died anyway. Another Bantam chick was born in the coop yesterday, and I took it out before nightfall.

This is the reason I remove chicks from their trashy moms:



The Bantams like to crowd together in the nest boxes. There are four in this box. A fifth one climbed in soon after I took the photo. The larger pullets like to climb in with the Bantams and lay their eggs in the Bantam's nests too. As a result, eggs and chicks can get crushed. You can see Bantam #5 climbing in on the left:



The hens on the other nests are full sized pullets. They often sit on eggs in the morning but usually abandon them by the afternoon. In the photo below, you can see the empty nest boxes available, but the Bantams crowd together anyway.



The hen in the lower left corner is our Chinese Coachen. Of all our hens, she is the most reliable sitter for hatching out eggs. Some of the Bantams succeed, but it's hit or miss with them. Our most reliable Bantam from last year went out into the woods to make a secret nest, and probably got eaten by something.

We've had a rat problem that's been too big for the cat to handle alone, so "Victor" and I have been giving her a little help:




Some folks imagine that living on a farm is like a "Dr. Dolittle" movie. But the reality is, there are some critters you just can't waste time talking to.

And that's the end of this week's FARM REPORT.
     

Seeing the International Space Station from Earth

I've been collecting photos of the ISS. This one is currently my desktop wallpaper:


I believe it's taken from the shuttle, from a few missions back.

It's also possible to photograph the ISS from the earth, but it can be hard to do, because you need a telescope, and it's moving quite fast when it passes overhead, and is typically only visible for two or three minutes. Here is the result of one attempt that succeeded:




But you don't need a telescope just to see it pass overhead, it is visible to the naked eye, as a point of light moving across the sky. With good binoculars, you might even make out some of it's features. There is a place on the web where you can enter your location or zip code, and find out when and where it will be visable from your location:



Find out when the ISS passes over your city

Have you ever wondered what's been going on at the ISS? What's coming up next? Now you can find out, by checking this link for the latest news:

ISS News Releases

I've been reading it lately. There are all sorts of things going on all the time. Currently there is an overlap of station crews, which change about every six months. The former crew is due to return to earth April 19th. And South Korea's female astronaut So-yeon Yi is making her first flight and visit to the station. She is due to return on the 19th with the former crew, via a Soyuz spacecraft.

You can find out all the things that don't always make it into your local or national daily news, and keep in touch with the bigger picture. There is also lots of interesting links in the sidebars to explore. Great fun!
     

"Angry and Bitter" are Obama's Specialties

Once again we get a look at how Barack Obama really thinks, when he's addressing like-minded audiences in private. From the NY Times:

Opponents Call Obama Remarks ‘Out of Touch’

[...] At the fund-raiser in San Francisco last Sunday, Mr. Obama outlined challenges facing his presidential candidacy in the coming primaries in Pennsylvania and Indiana, particularly persuading white working-class voters who, he said, fell through the cracks during the Bush and Clinton administrations.

“So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” Mr. Obama said, according to a transcript on the Huffington Post Web site, which on Friday published the comments. [...]

Now he's been criticized by Clinton and McCain for those remarks. His response? Arrogance:

[...] “No, I’m in touch,” Mr. Obama said. “I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania, I know what’s going on in Indiana, I know what’s going on in Illinois. People are fed up, they’re angry, they’re frustrated, they’re bitter and they want to see a change in Washington. That’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America.” [...]

I don't doubt for one minute that he believes he knows it all. He certainly acts like a Know-it-all. And I'm not surprised he sees anger and bitterness everywhere, since he attracts it and surrounds himself with it. If you want to see anger and bitterness, just look at his wife. Just look at his "God Damn America" church. Just look at the Democrat party these days, which seems to define itself by negatives. They NEED people to be angry and bitter, to get them to vote. Unfortunately, they also need to KEEP their base angry and bitter, to keep them voting. Thus, they never solve the purported problems of their base; they just posture and stoke the anger, to help keep the Democrat fund raising machine rolling.

Pat commented on his blog about Obama's controversial remarks:

Obama just lost any Blue Dogs Democrats he had

[...] It was not a "problematic judgment call." Obama was in his element among the San Francisco elites. That's the way he and they think. That's why they love him. When I first moved to San Francisco I was told that everything east of Berkeley is populated by gun-toting, bible-thumping redneck troglodytes. No wonder Obama banned the press from the San Francisco fund-raisers.

Exactly. I had also commented on the the fund raising visit, because having lived there for 23 years, I know the people and political climate quite well. Obama knew exactly what he was saying at the fundraiser, because he understood who he was saying it too.

It seems his arrogant approach to defending his remarks didn't fly so well, so now Reuters is trying to help him spin it:

Obama says he erred in comments on "bitter" voters

[...] "I didn't say it as well as I should have," said Obama, who is vying with Clinton for the Democratic nomination and the right to run in November against presumptive Republican nominee McCain.

Obama said he believed many voters were indeed bitter about the economy and he meant to say "when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on."

"So people -- they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community," he said. But he said he had not meant to imply that was a bad thing.

"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us," he said. [...]

Well that's one way to spin the remark about "clinging" to religion and guns. But I'm not buying it. He didn't mean for it to sound like a bad thing? Consider the rest of the remark he made at the fund raiser: "... antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Basically, he's saying the white working class of Pennsylvania are racist people who are frustrated by their own ignorance.

Now consider the audience he was saying it to. "Everyone" in San Francisco knows that ignorant racist people "cling" to guns and religion. That's why "enlightened" people like San Francisco's socialist elites believe guns need to be pried out of those clinging hands, and "ignorant" religious beliefs need to suppressed, or better still, banned.

Obama knows who he was talking to. His remarks were meant for them, not the press. In San Francisco, people are always talking about how ignorant, racist and greedy the rest of America is. They complain about how the rest of America has too much freedom, because ignorant people don't know what to do with freedom, and therefor shouldn't have it. They need RE-EDUCATION. They need to be TOLD what to do and MADE to do the "right" things.

At best, Obama was pandering to them. At worst, he agrees with them, and didn't give what he said a second thought, because it was behind closed doors to like-minded people. I tend to think the later is the case.

He can try to spin it all he wants, about how he didn't mean what he said. The San Francisco elites will forgive him. I'm sure they are now all telling each other, "Poor Obama, he HAS to make excuses and pretend he made a mistake, because the rest of America is dominated by ignorant racist redneck bible thumpers. I know he doesn't really mean it, but he HAS to say he was misunderstood, so he can WIN".

Yeah, the ends justifies the means. Tell'em anything, just get the power.

Are the Obamas just black Clintons? Bill Clinton could deliver some pretty good speeches. Thus, the Clinton's were able to overcome the Democrats negativity problem by feigning optimism, although over time the negativity and ugliness it was covering became apparent. The lies and the cynicism showed.

Obama may seem positive with his shallow "Yes we can" slogans and speeches, but when you dig deeper, it's really just the same tired ideas, methods and Democrat misanthropy that the party has been suffering from for years. Where is the "change" we hear so much about? It's still the same old crap the Democrat Party has been shoveling for decades. The stuff that doesn't DO anything, except keep people angry and voting Democrat.
     

Selective Religious Tolerance: a Leftist Tool

One would think that "Religious Tolerance" would be about showing consideration for all religions, but clearly that is not the case in Europe, as Thomas Landen at the Brussels Journal shows us:

Dispatch from the Eurabian Front: Austria, European Parliament, the Netherlands, Belgium

The Austrian authorities have indicted politician Susanne Winter on charges of incitement and degradation of religious symbols and religious agitation. This offence carries a maximum sentence of two years. Last January, Ms Winter said that the prophet Muhammad was “a child molester” because he had married a six-year-old girl. She also said he was “a warlord” who had written the Koran during “epileptic fits.”

The politician, a member of the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, an anti-immigration party which is in opposition, added that Islam is “a totalitarian system of domination that should be cast back to its birthplace on the other side of the Mediterranean.” She also warned for “a Muslim immigration tsunami,” saying that “in 20 or 30 years, half the population of Austria will be Muslim” if the present immigration policies continue.

Following her remarks, Muslim extremists threatened to kill Susanne Winter and she was placed under police protection. Today, the Justice Department in Vienna announced that Ms Winter will be charged with “incitement and degradation of religious symbols” (Verhetzung und Herabwürdigung religiöser Symbole). If convicted she may have to serve up to two years in jail for her opinions.

However, Alfred Hrdlicka, the Austrian “artist” who depicted Jesus and his apostles engaging in homosexual acts of sodomy during the Last Supper, has not been indicted. Nor will he be. Depicting Jesus sodomizing his apostles is not considered to be a “degradation of religious symbols” in Austria, but referring to the historic fact that Muhammad married a six-year old girl is “incitement to racial hatred.”

Neither has Mr Hrdlicka been threatened by Christian assassins for his “opinions.” The difference between Christian and Muslim extremists is that the former do not aim to kill those who offend them, but the latter do – which is perhaps also why the European authorities fear the radical Muslims and persecute their opponents while they subsidize those who insult Christians. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) The rest of the article talks about Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, who have been threatened with death by Muslim fanatics for being critical of Islam. The forces of Europe's multi-culti political correctness are being mustered to deny them protection and effectively silence them and/or force them to leave. Ironically, this emboldens the most violent and threatening Muslims to continue being violent, threatening and intolerant. Why would that behavior be encouraged in a genuinely liberal and tolerant society?

Leftist socialists pretend to be liberal and tolerant, but in reality they are anything but. They are very selective about who and what they support. Any cause they can use against the establishment they support. Everything they do is a means of achieving power; freedom of speech and personal liberty are not values worth protecting for everyone, they are just tools to use selectively in pursuit of political power. The ends justifies the means.

In Turkey, the secular Left opposes the conservative Islamic AKP party. But in Europe, the Left supports Islamists. Why? Because in Europe, Leftists and Islamists have a common enemy they hate; Christian conservatives.

In Iran in the 1970's, the political Left joined forces with the Islamic Right to overthrow the Shah. The Leftists foolishly believed the Islamists would share power with them, and bring about a secular socialist state. Instead, when the Shah was driven out, the Islamists killed or exiled the leaders of the Left and subjugated their followers, under a rigid an intolerant Islamic theocratic state.

Leftists often have self-destructive tendencies, and also fail to learn from their mistakes, repeating them again and again. Even if they won't learn, surely the rest of us can? Their mistakes are a lesson for us all.


Related Links:

Hitler, Islamism and Leftist Liberals...

Political Correctness and Multiculturalism:
The New Tools of "Stealth" Socialism?

Radical Islam, the Western Left, and the
end of democracy; the problems and solutions

     

Jisus is coming, April 25th...

... and in multiple colors, too!



But only to stores in Europe, so far. From DesktopLinux.com:

Dutch UMPC runs Ubuntu Linux

Dutch integrator Van Der Led (VDL) Designs has announced a clone of the Asus Eee PC ultra-mini PC (UMPC) notebook. The WiFi-enabled "Jisus" UMPC is equipped with a Chinese-made 1GHz Loongson CPU, has an 8.9-inch display, and runs Ubuntu Linux.

The unusual name may be intended to remind shoppers of Asus, the better-known brand responsible for the popular Eee mini-notebook. Or, it may be derived from the device's Loongson 2F CPU: the Loongson was code-named "Godson" by its developers in the CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences) in the People's Republic of China. The Linux-oriented CPU is based on a derivative of the MIPS64 architecture, albeit without patented portions, such as unaligned 32-bit load/store support. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Wow. I knew that Christianity was taking off in a big way in China, but this it the first time I've seen it's influence manifested in the high tech world. It's not a big deal, but I find it interesting.

The rest of the article deals with the technical specs of the units, and compares them with the Asus Eee, which Jisus was made to compete with. I can only wonder if and when Jisus will make it to the United States. I hope it does. The more, the merrier! Would it keep the same name, and would Americans like it? It might be fun to see.
     

Does the internet indicate our next President?

Some people think the internet traffic and buzz say so. And they think it says it's going to be Obama. From Nathan Tabor at The Conservative Voice:

Obama Beating Clinton and McCain on the Internet

[...] if the internet is any type of serious gauge for political success, then Sen. Barack Obama will be the next president of the US. And John McCain is destined to finish out-of-the-money.

For example, according to alexa.com, an organization that monitors the traffic flow for web sites throughout the Internet, JohnMcCain.com is ranked 24,291, HillaryClinton.com is ranked 9,848, and BarackObama.com is ranked 2528. That's right. Out of the millions of web sites on the worldwide web, Obama's virtual "campaign headquarters" ranks 2,528.

When it comes to blogger links on political websites, technorati.com, another organization that monitors Internet traffic patterns, shows that McCain's campaign web site has 12,863 blogger links, while Hillary's has 31,100 blogger links. But once again, Obama's numbers dwarf Clinton's and McCain's, with 37,295 blogger links.

Several observations can be made from these numbers: Obama is beating Clinton on the internet; while both Obama and Clinton are crushing Republican John McCain on the worldwide web.

According to political strategists who monitor the Internet, when you match these "virtual world" numbers up to fundraising figures in the real world, one sees a similar pattern: Obama first, Clinton second, and McCain third.

There's plenty of blame to go around for conservatives who have allowed this situation to occur. While conservative bloggers and Internet news websites present ideas and solutions to problems, those on the left denigrate, smear and ridicule those with whom they disagree. Yet, most Democrat officeholders on the national level know that these radicals on the net are an important part of acquiring more power. There is a "synthesis" of convenience between far-left bloggers and politicians.

Meanwhile, between conservative politicians and the conservative bloggers and commentators there is a major problem. The problem, for the most part, is there's no relationship to speak of. There's no building of relationships, no cooperation, and no coordination. [...]

The article goes on to give some examples of things conservatives could have done or can still do. But is there enough time? The lack of enthusiasm for John McCain by self-described conservative Republicans certainly isn't helping GOP fundraising.


It makes me think of that 60's song, with the lyrics "You can't always get what you want... but you just might get what you need". But of course if you don't take what's being offered, you get NOTHING. Or worse, what you dread.

But back to the article's premise: Is internet activity a true indicator of how the American electorate as a whole is going to vote? It might be, but I'm not so sure. I do have a theory.

I have seen that there are more left wing bloggers and people posting on the internet than right wing ones. I also believe there are more young people on the internet, and that they use it more often.

I've been on the internet since 1997. I use it a lot. But I don't use instant messaging and a host of other features that are available. But many younger people have been on the internet since they were children, and they use the internet for all sorts of things I don't even understand. And as time goes on, there will only be more and more such people.

Yet todays reality is, not everyone is online, and even among those who are, many of them aren't online a lot, and when they are, they aren't reading about politics. Many of them DON'T read blogs. I'm often shocked about things I learn about on blogs that are not even discussed in the MSM. Most of the people I know off-line never hear about anything that's not mentioned in the MSM.

So the stats about what people are reading on the internet tell us a lot about people who spend a lot of time on the web. But what about the majority of voters? What about the baby boomers of the 60's and 70's? How many of them have busy, full lives, and don't spend a lot of it on the internet?

My theory: I think it's possible that there are a lot of baby boomer Democrats and Republicans, middle class, middle aged, middle of the road, Chamber of Commerce types, that are going to vote for John McCain. They aren't spending a lot of time on-line following Obama or anyone else. But they already know what they want, they pay attention, and they vote consistently.

Time will tell if I am right, or if the internet traffic stats are. But even so, I think the internet IS telling us something. It's telling us that the younger citizens of our nation have no problem at all voting for a President who attends a "God Damn America" church that preaches against "Middle Classness". A man who refuses to wear an American flag pin or place his hand over his heart when our national anthem is sung. Whose wife has been ashamed of our country most of her adult life, and who says America is downright mean.

I find it sad. The Anti-Americanism, the hatred of our country by the Left seems to have been taught and communicated to our youth to the point where it's becoming mainstream opinion. Even if such a man isn't made president in 2008, how long will it before he or someone like him eventually is?

I don't think this bodes well for our Republic. Not for those who think it's worth cherishing and preserving. But I'm not sure how much of this is the Media trying to shape opinions, and how much of it represents real voter intention. I only know for sure that we will eventually see when the voters vote, which way the wind is actually blowing.

Here's another link to a Gallup poll. I'm not sure I want to keep linking to Gallup polls, because I'm not sure how much of it is real reporting, and how much they are trying to influence opinion. But for whatever it's worth, here it is:

Age, Vote More Strongly Related in Obama-McCain Matchup

by Jeffrey M. Jones

PRINCETON, NJ -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama appeal to opposite ends of the age spectrum, with McCain faring better among older voters and Obama among younger voters. Hillary Clinton fares less well versus McCain than Obama does among younger voters, but she does better than Obama among older voters. [...]

You can read the rest for more graphs and details, but this clearly shows that the next generation sees nothing about Obama to give them cause for concern. God Damn America? I'm not religious, but if that's our future, God help us.


Related Link:

Repeal the 17th Amendment

This was on Pat's blog this morning, and it's a topic I've been thinking about while writing this post. Why? Because prior to the 17th amendment, our system of choosing and retaining Senators was part of a system of checks and balances. The Senate was originally created as legislative buffer, a counter-balance to the House of Representatives. Since the 17th amendment, the brakes have been off, and our system of government has been deteriorating. I recommend following the link and reading the whole post, it's not very long, but it is very important. Our government, as it was created, could withstand just about anything. But as soon as the built in protections are removed, it can only falter and fail. We need to fix it before it's too late.
     

Obama visits San Francisco for donations

Obama visits the Getty's home in San Francisco's wealthiest neighborhood. The city's wealthy flock there to meet him and donate money. Here is the Getty's home, before people began to arrive:



Here are two links from Zombie Time of the event in San Francisco. His reports include lots of photos:

Obama Visits Billionaires Row

Here is one of the views residents of that neighborhood enjoy:



Seven Things About Obama I Never Knew Before

As is always the case with Zombie's photos and reporting of San Francisco events, it makes me feel like I'M THERE. I lived in San Francisco for 23 years. I've been down Billionaire's Row many times, I recognize the houses. I recognize the people. Limousine Liberals. Have a look at who owns Obama.

I wish I could convey why this is important. No doubt some people will say "So what, ALL politicians accept money from rich people". And yes, that's true. But the Obama campaign has been selling him as different, someone who doesn't take money from the rich, who gets his support primarily from "the little guy". The reality is, Obama isn't any different from his other Democrat predecessors. He still till serves the same Masters.

I doubt that any of this will matter to his supporters. As Zombie points out in his report, people, including the millionaires, are more interested in the IDEA of Obama than the reality.

I'm more interested in the reality, which is the problem I have always had with these folks. I'm not envious of rich people. I'm not bothered by their wealth, but I am bothered by what THESE people do with THEIR wealth, and WHY.

Most of them inherited their money, and didn't earn it. They are often completely out of touch with everyday reality, because they live in a world of IDEAS, fantasies, about the way the world SHOULD work, according to their feelings. Don't try and confuse them with the facts, they aren't interested in how reality actually works. They don't care, because they don't have to.

They are all for redistributing wealth, because they have so much of it that they know that not enough of THEIRS will ever be taken away to adversely affect them. So they easily make decisions that redistribute the wealth of other WORKING people, without feeling any consequences to themselves.

As Zombie points out when the crowd gathers, it's the millionaires that have to wait outside on the sidewalk. It's the Billionaires, the real movers and shakers, who are already inside. But they are all part of the Ruling Class of San Francisco, and they are high up in the Democrat party.

San Francisco is famous for it's hippies, protesters, nuts and crazy people. Many of Zombies reports feature the antics of such people, but the crazies themselves are not the ones who make things happen, they are just the SIDE EFFECT. Follow the links and see the real people who make it all possible. Visit Zombie's links and get a taste of this genuine San Francisco treat.

I got these links from Pat's post on this topic:

Obama's "secret" visit to San Francisco

He gives a synopsis and his own commentary. Loved the comment about Diane Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi being the chambermaids of these folks... yes the shoe fits. If you think Obama gets most of his money and support from the average guy on the street, think again. He also serves the same Masters.
     

Food Prices & Climate Change Hysteria

What Happens When You Put Food Into Cars

Rising food costs due to Ethanol Boondoggle

When Ronald Reagan said "The government isn't the solution, it's the problem", he wasn't kidding. Ethanol is a prime example.

The Democrats are especially good at creating "solutions" that create even more problems, that in turn, require even more government. But this ethanol scam went through with the help of Republicans, who "felt" the need to "do something" in response to the global warming hysteria, instead of sticking with good science, reason and the known facts. This foolishness is the result of responding to hysterical hype.

Now the Democrats will use rising food prices as yet another reason to turn Republicans out of office, when in reality it was the Democrats who pushed hardest for the ethanol program. Yet it will be the Republicans that the MSM will blame.

The best thing the Republicans could do now is reverse this bad decision, but will any of them have the guts to do it, lest they offend the adherents of the Global Warming Religion?

UPDATE 04-09-08. This link from the "Government Is Not Your Daddy" blog:

Alternative Energy and the Law of Unintended Consequences

[...] Our national “investment” in subsidizing bio-fuel production has been so overwhelmingly successful that it’s had the effect of repurposing the majority of our corn crops to ethanol production. It has also motivated farmers to divert production from other crops to crops that can be used for biofuels.

Unfortunately, the unintended consequences of this noble effort have been to raise food prices, not only here in the U.S., but around the world. Rising food prices hit the poor the hardest, and accelerate the spread of poverty. In an article in Foreign Affairs, titled How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor, authors Runge and Senauer said ”Filling the 25-gallon tank of an SUV with pure ethanol requires more than 450 pounds of corn - which contains enough calories to feed one person for a year.” Even as food shortages increase in countries where people are already starving, the U.S. is being forced to reduce its international food aid due to rising food costs at home, largely due to the diversion of crops to biofuel production.

The high demand for biofuels is also having an unintended impact on some of the environmentalists’ own pet causes. [...]

This article also goes into detail about the harmful effects of diluting gasoline with 10% ethanol, and the many other unintended harmful side effects of the Ethanol Boondoggle. Read the whole thing... and weep! Then demand that our politicians not only stop this nonsense, but reverse course before the damage spreads further.
     

Human-computer interfacing (HCI) by 2020

While this is interesting, some of it sounds kinda creepy... mostly because a lot of it sounds so plausible:

Computing in 2020: erasing the boundary between human and PC

It's easy to view the computer interface as nearly static. Since the advent of mouse-driven, windowed interfaces over 20 years ago, much of human-computer interface (HCI) has gone the same route. But a proliferation of mobile devices is beginning to change that and, even if that weren't the case, important differences are developing in what information is available to computers, and how we access it. In March 2007, Microsoft Research invited 45 leading researchers to discuss where HCI would be in 2020; a report summarizing their conclusions has now been made available.

[...]

The report suggests that we're just entering the age of mobile computing, but, by 2020, we'll be in an era of ubiquitous computing. Instead of a few computers and devices, each user, by leveraging pervasive networking, will have access to thousands of computers, with various information and capabilities available through each.

With everything about a person being recorded, imaged, or twittered, and all of that information constantly available, the report claims that we're about to reach the end of the ephemeral. By having medical information, personal photos, and even minute-by-minute thoughts permanently stored online, people will voluntarily provide access to more information than government spies or advertising agencies could ever succeed in gathering. [...]

These are just a few excerpts, the article isn't very long, but it touches on a lot more, there's plenty of food for thought. There are some Borg-like ideas, and I'm reading it and thinking OMG, Brave New World, etc. Then the author concludes with a Brave New World comment, so I guess I wasn't too far off. If you read the full article, it has an embedded link to the referenced report. Yikes.


Related Link:     Coming soon: superfast internet
 
   

New Windows Version coming "soon"?

If you can call the next year or so "soon", and if you can believe Bill Gates:

Gates: Microsoft Windows 7 Sometime Next Year

Gates' comments are in line with a development cycle that usually releases a test version of the software before its official introduction.

MIAMI (Reuters)—Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said on Friday he expected the new version of Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released "sometime in the next year or so."

The software giant has been aiming to issue more regular updates of the operating system software that powers the majority of the world's personal computers. Nevertheless, Gates' comments suggested that a successor to the Vista program might be released sooner than was generally expected.

Microsoft has said it expected to release a new version of Windows approximately 3 years after the introduction of Vista in January 2007. A company spokeswoman said Gates' comments are in line with a development cycle that usually releases a test version of the software before its official introduction. [...]

Some people are speculating that Windows Vista was really just a test release, and that the next version will be the real one. Comparisons are being made with WindowsME, which was released about a year or so prior to WindowsXP. ME was considered a flop. Some people saw it as a transitional release from Windows 98 to Windows XP.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft actually has "Windows 7" ready for release in a year or two.


Related Link:

Win XP gets reprieve, while Linux advances
     

McCain, Obama, Gooses and Ganders

John McCain has been diligent in wanting to run a "clean" campaign, that's respectful of his opponents. I've had doubts that the Democrates would reciprocate, and it seems we may be seeing the first signs that they won't.

McCain Calls on Obama to Condemn ‘Warmonger’ Remark

John McCain’s campaign officials are calling on Barack Obama to condemn remarks made by an introductory speaker who called McCain “a warmonger” at a North Dakota campaign stop Friday.

Local liberal talk show host Ed Schultz used the term to describe the Arizona senator while warming up the crowd in Grand Forks, N.D., before Obama’s arrival at the state’s Democratic convention.

The McCain campaign likens the insult to the language used by conservative radio talk show host Bill Cunningham, who rallied the crowd for McCain in Cincinnati, Ohio, in late February by repeatedly invoking Obama’s middle name, “Hussein,” mocking him as a “hack” and suggesting that as president he’d cozy up to Hezbollah and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. McCain condemned Cunningham, prompting a fierce response from the talk show host.

On Friday, however, Obama thanked Schultz and called him the “voice of progressive radio.”

What’s fair is fair, the McCain campaign says.

“Sen. Obama has repeatedly said that words matter, they do, and for him to stand on stage and thank someone who just minutes before used hate-filled and inflammatory language to describe John McCain, someone who has served his nation in and out of uniform for over 30 years, shows Obama’s true colors, liberal Chicago-style politics as usual,” McCain campaign spokesman Jeff Sadosky said. “Americans want more; they deserve better.”

The Obama campaign has not yet commented on the matter.

After learning about Cunningham’s incendiary comments from advisers after the February event, McCain rebuked and disassociated himself with the talk show host minutes later at a press conference. The presumptive GOP nominee repeatedly has vowed to run a “respectful” race and campaign officials are attempting to draw a contrast between McCain’s quick condemnation of Cunningham’s remarks and Obama’s lack of reaction.

FOX News’ Mosheh Oinounou contributed to this report.

(bold emphasis mine) What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander... unless the Gander is a Democrat, then he can do whatever he wants. Only Republicans are expected to be held to any standards, it seems.


Related Link:

McCain, Kennedy, Feingold, Obama
     

Our first chick of this year...

It's also our first hybrid hatchling, a cross between our Chinese Coachen hen and one of our Bantam roosters. Born yesterday!
     

The Jihad Element in Turkish Culture

Turkey's ruling AKP party is Muslim and is often attacked by Turkey's secular socialist left. But Muslim Extremists are also unhappy with the AKP for cooperating with the US and Israel. Radical Turkish Islamists are increasingly preaching Jihad.



Imam Of University In Van: “Listen And Hear! Your Worst Enemy Is The Jew, the Jewish infidels; Even Allah Announced And Warned Us That The Jews Are Our Eternal Enemies”

At an Islamists meeting on March 17, 2008 in Van, organized by the ‘Solidarity with Palestine Platform’, the imam of the university in Van [YYU] Osman Gulacar spoke about the importance of making sacrifices for the Islamic umma and asked everyone in the audience to help the resistance by donating to Islam’s army, promising them rewards in heaven:

Follow the link for the text, and photos of the event. Not exactly a fun group.




Radical Islamist In Van: “There Are Many Brave Sons In Every Corner Of This Country Who Yearn To Sacrifice Their Lives To Defend Palestine Against The Rabid Jews Whom Allah Declared Our Enemy”

The Islamist activist and chief editor of many Islamist websites Nureddin Sirin is a permanent speaker in most of the increasingly frequent and jihadist Islamist events, rallies and gatherings all across Turkey. Following are excerpts of what he said on March 17, 2008 in Van:

You can follow the link for the text... Ugh. I had posted previously about religious reforms in Turkey that the government was introducing, to help bring Turkey and Islam into the 21st century. But whenever reforms are introduced into Islam, they are usually met with resistance, often violent. It would seem that the Jihadi element of Islam in Turkey is attempting to assert itself. But how large is it, and how large will it grow?

The secular socialist left maintains that the Islamists are a part of the AKP. The AKP, while being religious conservatives, maintain they are not extremists. Thus far they have not endorsed Jihad officially by their actions, although some AKP members have given speeches to the Jihadists that have encouraged them in their extremist views.

It seems the AKP is attempting a balancing act. How successful they will be at maintaining it remains to be seen.
     

Win XP gets reprieve, while Linux advances

When Windows Vista was released, support for Windows XP was supposed to end, but Microsoft keeps extending the support deadline as Windows Vista continues to have so many problems.

There are several reasons for this. A whole slew of inexpensive sub-laptops, commonly called UMPCs (Ultra Mobile Personal Computers), in the $200-$300 range. The profit margins on such devices is very small. Linux is free, and using it instead of Windows increases the profit margins for manufacturers.

Windows Vista also has a problem with UMPCs - it doesn't fit! It's memory requirements are too big, and can't be scaled down. But Windows XP can, and a scaled down version of XP has been made to compete with Linux in the UMPC market. Linux is still free, but XP has name recognition, and may keep Microsoft in the game on the lower end of the PC market.

With higher end computers, Microsoft has been losing market share to Apple. Thats been bad for Microsoft and PC manufacturers, who are also looking at Linux as an alternative to offer their customers who do not want Windows Vista. MS is still pushing Vista, but many people would rather have XP. There are plans for a service pack 3 for Windows XP, and some people are saying MS may be forced to continue supporting XP, because it is currently the most popular version of Windows.

Of all the versions of Windows I've used, I'd have to say XP is my favorite. It's not perfect, but it's been the most stable I've used and has had the least hardware and software compatibility problems. IMO, MS should have continued selling PC's with XP and Vista concurrently, giving customers a choice. They had an overlap period with Windows 98 and XP, and they should have done that again with XP and Vista, till the bugs in Vista were worked out. Instead they tried to force Vista on people, and now it's costing them market share as people turn to alternatives.

You can read more detailed analysis of these issues in the following articles:

Microsoft To Give XP Stay of Execution - for Budget Laptops

What do you do if your flagship operating system isn't designed to run well on a popular new class of hardware? It's a problem currently faced by Microsoft. Budget laptops like the Asus Eee PC with minimal amounts of RAM, relatively slow CPUs, and solid state storage have proven popular, and Vista wasn't designed to operate well within such hardware confines. In response, Microsoft is reportedly planning to extend the availability of Windows XP for the budget laptop category.

[...]

According to a report from InfoWorld, Microsoft is expected to make XP's stay of execution for budget laptops official later this week. A version of the Asus Eee PC with Windows XP is due to hit the market later this month, and early indications are that it will run XP just fine.

There has been a lot of resistance to Windows XP's imminent demise, with InfoWorld circulating a petition in an attempt to convince Microsoft to relent. XP is by far the OS with the largest installed base in the world; users and administrators alike are comfortable with it and some would love to continue using it indefinitely. [...]

Cheap Machines Give Linux Foothold in Desktop-PC World

[...] Laptops under $400 are real possibilities now, and some of the most buzz-worthy use Linux, such as Asustek Computer Inc.'s EeePC and the One Laptop Per Child Foundation's $200 "XO" computer for schoolchildren.

Linux also is available on slim little "netbooks" being pushed by Intel Corp.

Not only is Linux essentially free to the PC vendor, but the operating system also is better suited than Vista for cheap PCs' spartan hardware designs.

(Windows XP is available on scaled-back PCs like Intel's Classmate, but it's unclear what will happen after Microsoft soon stops selling XP to the general public.)

Amazon.com's top-selling PCs include several Asustek Linux machines.

Although Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently stopped a test run of selling Linux PCs in some stores, the company says it will continue to offer them online.

Business computing suppliers are finding open-source desktops especially gaining traction in cost-conscious developing markets. [...]

Linux's Impact: The Return of XP

[...] "In the long run," Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, told me in a recent conversation, "as hardware prices continue to come down and the cost of the operating system makes up more of the cost, Linux simply offers hardware vendors better margins. Thanks to that alone, Linux must continue to gain market share."

Microsoft, however, seems to have been waking up to the fact that it's stuck between Linux on the low end and Mac OS on the high end. It seems all but certain that Microsoft is going to keep Windows XP alive longer than it had planned.

That's the bad news. Microsoft had first planned to start taking XP out of circulation on June 30. Compared with Vista, or ME II as some of us have taken to calling it, Linux has been making serious inroads. XP, however, remains popular. XP Service Pack 3, whenever it comes out, is Microsoft's best Windows ever. [...]

This last article also has details about "Atom", which is not only Intel's smallest chip to date, it also only uses only 2.4 watts compared with today's average laptop, which uses 35 watts. It performs exceptionally well with Linux. Read the details, it may be one of the next Big Things.

Microsoft has some real competition now. Thank goodness. It can only benefit the consumer.

UPDATE 11:30pm:

It's official, no reprieve after June 30:

Microsoft Windows XP Dies June 30, as Planned

They will stop selling it after June 30th, they will still support it for a while yet. MS feels that those that want it have plenty of time to buy it over the next couple of months. But it will be still offered on low-end UMPCs:

[...] Windows XP Home and Starter editions will still be preloaded on ultra-low-cost PCs through June 30, 2010, or one year after the launch of the next version of Windows - whichever comes first, the company said. [...]

That's interesting. Are they expecting the "next version" of Windows, post-Vista, to be able to fit on both low-end and high end machines? They certainly aren't committed to keeping XP for UMPCs past 2010, though a lot could happen between now and then. I suppose we shall see, eventually.
     

Are we becoming a nation of idiots?

This piece from the Dallas Morning News looks at several major factors in the dumbing down of public discourse, and gets it exactly right:

Susan Jacoby: Is America getting dumber?

[...] Dumbness, to paraphrase the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print (and by video, I mean every form of digital media); a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.

First and foremost among the vectors of the new anti-intellectualism is video. The decline of book, newspaper and magazine reading is by now an old story. The drop-off is most pronounced among the young, but it continues to accelerate and afflict Americans of all ages and education levels.

Reading has declined not only among the poorly educated, according to a report by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book – fiction or nonfiction – over the course of a year. The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing more than doubled between 1984 and 2004. This time period, of course, encompasses the rise of personal computers, Web surfing and video games. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Americans are reading less and less. The lines between news and entertainment are becoming blurred, into a mish-mash of "info-tainment". Focusing on video media instead of reading seems to also encourage shorter attention spans, which is even manifesting itself in the way presidential campaigns are conducted:

[...] As video consumers become progressively more impatient with the process of acquiring information through written language, politicians are under great pressure to deliver their messages as quickly as possible. Harvard University's Kiku Adatto found that from 1968 to 1988, the average sound bite on the news for a presidential candidate – featuring the candidate's voice – dropped from 42.3 seconds to 9.8 seconds. By 2000, according to another Harvard study, it was down to just 7.8 seconds.

The shrinking public attention span fostered by video is closely tied to the second important anti-intellectual force in American culture: the erosion of general knowledge. [...]

It's not my imagination the electorate seems to be getting dumber and dumber. A growing number of people seem to lack the most basic kind of knowledge. But it isn't just the lack of knowledge that is the the problem:

[...] That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it's the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place.

Call this anti-rationalism – a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism. The toxic brew of anti-rationalism and ignorance hurts discussions of U.S. public policy on topics from health care to taxation. [...]

Exactly. How are people who don't even understand the basics of the earth's physical relationship to the sun going to be able to even begin to understand debates about the weather and so-called "global warming"? They won't bother to understand; they'll just follow their "feelings". I find this pretty scary stuff. It's a kind of Brave New World that we don't need. This article goes into a lot more detail, and is well worth reading. Identifying the problem properly is the first step to begin turning it around.

And clearly, it DOES need to be turned around. The facts are appalling:

Only 1 of 2 students graduate high school in US cities: study

[...] "Only about one-half (52 percent) of students in the principal school systems of the 50 largest cities complete high school with a diploma."

Based on 2003-2004 data, the report said that across the country the graduation average for public school students is 69.9 percent, with the best success rate in suburbs -- 74.9 percent -- and rural districts -- 73.2 percent.

Asian-Americans score the highest graduation rate, at 80 percent, with whites at 76.2 percent and Hispanics at 57.8 percent.

Women graduate at a much higher rate than men, 73.6 percent to 66.0 percent.

In the country's city schools, the study found that in urban areas generally, just 60.4 percent graduate, and in the principal school districts of the top 50 cities, barely half graduate. [...]

And as if these figures are not bad enough, consider that many of the students who do graduate are "functional illiterates". They can read traffic signs and labels on packages at the supermarket, but they can't understand newspaper or magazine articles, comprehend written instructions, write letters or balance a checkbook. A high school diploma is worth less and less. Nowadays many employers consider applicants with less than two years of college to be unemployable.

All of this is fixable, but we need to start reversing it now. Political correctness and Self Esteem BS be damned.
     

Dr. Wafa Sultan condemned to death...

... for speaking out and telling the truth. More death-threat fatwa crap from Islamo-fascists. Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. at Townhall.com reports:

A Truly Endangered Species

[...] Dr. Sultan is currently in hiding somewhere in this country after an appearance on March 4th on the Islamofascists’ favorite television network, Al-Jazeera. In the course of a heated debate about the Danish cartoons with an Egyptian Islamist named Tal'at Rmeih, she bravely declared:

“All religions and faiths, throughout the history of humanity, have been subject to criticism and affronts. With time, this has helped in their reform and development. Any belief that chops off the heads of its critics is doomed to turn into terrorism and tyranny. This has been the condition of Islam, from its inception to this day. Islam has sentenced [its critics] to prison, and whoever crosses the threshold of that prison meets his death. The Danish cartoons have managed to break down the first brick in the wall of that prison, and to open up a window, through which the sunrays enter, after a lengthy darkness. The Danish newspaper exercised its freedom of speech. Liberties are the holiest thing in the West, and nothing is more important. But if Islam were not the way it is, those cartoons would never have appeared.”

Dr. Sultan added: “If you want to change the course of events, you must reexamine your terrorist teachings, you must recognize and respect the right of the other to live, you must teach your children love, peace, coexistence, and productive work. When you do that, the world will respect you, will consider you in a better light, and will draw you in a better light.”

On March 16, one of the world’s preeminent Islamofascists, Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi took to the airwaves of Al Jazeera to denounce Wafa Sultan and provide the religious basis for her murder. [...]

As if that isn't bad enough, the Murderous Sheik and his colleagues are engaged by prominent commercial institutions to serve as “Shariah advisors” ... read the whole article for the details. Such murderous thugs do not need to be supported by Westerners, and we certainly shouldn't be supporting commercial institutions that support them.

Here are Youtube videos, excerpts of the of the Al Jazeera appearance by Dr. Sultan on March 4th:



Dr. Sultan debates an Egyptian Islamist, Tal'at Rmeih, on the current state of Western-Islamic relations against the backdrop of the Danish Cartoon Scandal. The clips are divided into two segments, each is about 6 minutes long.



Al Jazeera later issued an apology for letting her speak, and on a later show, Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi takes it further... see the article for more details.

Closer to home, on a related note, there is this:

CAIR Portrays "War on Terrorism" as Malicious "War on Islam"

While it is certainly true that not all Muslims are our enemies, and we are not at war with the whole of Islam, it's clear that a portion of Islam is at war with us, whether we wish it or not. Those among us who support that war need to be exposed for who they are, and treated accordingly.


Related Links:

Wafa Sultan interview: A "crack in the wall"

Wafa Sultan and Nasar Khader both endure death threats