Mind-Altering Worldviews

An unwelcome guest.

“We are fast approaching the point where either we must reject the pterodactyl-like hallucinations of irrational humanistic constructs that only produce mind-boggling complacent stupor, political correctness contrivances, and cowardice, or we will become a pitiful specter of our former selves through our utter stupidity.”

by Pastor Bruce Moon

Rose/Warraq Win Freedom Prizes

Flemming Rose and Leon de Winter in the Reagan Library’s “Oval Office” - photo: Roger L. Simon Flemming Rose - cultural editor of the newspaper Jyllands-Posten and the man responsible for the publication of the Danish cartoons - and the pseudonymous Ibn Warraq - most literally “son of a papermaker,” author of Why I Am Not a Muslim, among other works - were awarded Heroes of Conscience medals by the American Freedom Alliance at a dinner at the Reagan Library Sunday night. The AFA will be be sponsoring a conference - The Collapse of Europe? - starting June 10 at Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA. Speakers include Mark Steyn, Aayan Hirsi Ali and Leon de Winter.

Al-Qaeda Plays the Spanish Card in France An al-Qaeda cell has threatened to wage Jihad against France for voting the “wrong way.” The cell has a familiar name, connected with groups in Iraq and also with those who perpetrated the Madrid and London bombings. Is the threat real, or a part of a disinformation campaign?

By Richard Miniter, PJM Washington editor

Right Turn Republicans Bill Bradley wonders why California Republicans are insisting on falling on their already short sword, “The party has replaced Duf Sundheim, its moderately conservative Silicon Valley lawyer chairman and key Arnold ally with the very conservative Ron Nehring, a longtime employee and associate of controversial Washington right-wing fixture Grover Norquist, who runs a national anti-tax crusade and is a longtime associate of the neoconservative adventurers who brought you the Iraq War.” Read the rest HERE @ PAJAMASXPRESS.

Killing Kennedy Revisted Again Encore Redux Ron Rosenbaum is live-blogging his reading of two books on the Kennedy assassination, “The Warren Commission in other words had failed to solve the problem of motive. The report was weakest in sorting out Oswald’s actual political allegiances and personal psychology. So I’ve come to think that Oswald was the only one who fired shots that day but that a real and significant aspect of the case remains unsolved.” Read the rest HERE @ PAJAMASXPRESS.

The Hollow Men
Victor Hanson discerns the danger of “the smiley international corporation…. with the face of Birkenstocks, polo shirts, and an I-pod, run by the man who believes in no affiliation other than as an alumnus donor to his business school… who is pledged to nothing other than the notion of profit and the dangers to globalized profit that are posed by those who stand for ideas and values which get in the way of Kumbaya hedge funds and tranbordered consortia.” Read the rest of “Not With a Bang” HERE @ PAJAMASXPRESS.

Baghdad Report: An Update on the Security Situation

Violence is down in Baghdad just as it seems to be increasing in other strategic areas of Iraq. A sign that al-Qaeda is on the move, writes Omar Fadhil.

By Omar Fadhil, PJM Baghdad editor

It's the high price of haircuts - what’s a fella to do?

A Little More Encouragement: The Guardian reports that “Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal”.

Demonstrations in Iran: Iran in Focus has photo coverage of demonstrations in Iran here, here, here and here.

Phoney Money: The Emirates Economist describes the burgeoning Third World industry of transfering money by telephone and asks: if it telephone money real money can it be stolen? Can it be used to hedge against inflation?

Exchange of Fire: Melik Kaylan is with Ahmed Chalabi visiting sheiks in Diyala. Just then al-Qaeda pays a call too and Kaylan watches a pitched battle between Iraqi troops, local villagers and al-Qaeda terrorists.

Fireside Chat: General Petraeus sends an open letter directly to the Iraqi people. “Deny the enemy shelter … reject violence … embrace reconciliation … he Coalition can help you realize this objective. In the end, however, success depends on you.” (Blackfive)

Shake-out? In the latest Gallup Poll, “second tier” Presidential candidates are trending downwards. On the Republican side, Duncan Hunter, Jim Gilmore and Chuck Hagel garner less than one half of one percent of the vote, Ron Paul zero. For the Democrats, Dennis Kucinich is at one half of one percent, Mike Gravel zero.

Richardson Throws Hat in Democrat Ring: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson formally entered the running to be the Democratic candidate in the 2008 White House. (News.com.au)

Sicko: James Christopher at Times Online reviews Michael Moore’s paean to the British NHS in his new movie, Sicko.

What he hasn’t done is lie in a corridor all night at the Royal Free watching his severed toe disintegrate in a plastic cup of melted ice. I have. I’ve spent more hours than I care to remember in NHS hospitals vainly waiting for stitches or praying for the arrival of a midwife. There are no such traumas in Moore’s rose-tinted vision of our glorious NHS. He travels to Paris and discovers it’s even better over there.

Giving Doctors Better X-Ray Vision: It’s technology more than a century old, but better X-rays are now under development using techniques borrowed from X-ray astronomy. (MIT Technology Review)

Fighting in the Lebanese Refugee Camps: Michael J. Totten explains the fighting between the Lebanese government and Fatah Al Islam. More from the Counterterrorism Blog.

The War On Funding: Power Line notes that “the Democrats threw in the towel today, leaking the news that they will pass an Iraq war funding bill that runs through the end of the fiscal year, without trying to add pork or deadlines for withdrawal.” Captain’s Quarters has more.

The "No Camera" Effect: Tigerhawk thinks through the whole question of strategy in Iraq by reasoning from a series of “minimalist assertions”. One interesting observation:

My best guess is that a strong and legitimate government of a unified Iraq will emerge more quickly if the United States withdraws. This is because the international journalists will mostly leave if the United States leaves, so the combatants will be free to use brutal methods that will more quickly and decisively exhaust the losers’ will to fight. Unfortunately, we cannot reliably predict the nature of that ultimate national government.

Ouch.

And You Meet, Not Really By Chance: Roger Simon describes meeting Flemming Rose of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which was at the center of the “Mohammed Cartoons” controversy. “The cliché goes that we live in a small world. It’s wrong. We live in a minute world these days - and it’s shrinking with every digitally-enhanced second.”

"Galileo Figaro-Magnifico" -- GPS Rhapsody: The Open Europe Blog follows the financial meltdown of the European GPS system, Galileo. EU Transport Commission Jacques Barrot says, “I don’t think Galileo has actually failed! That’s a misuse of language… we’ve had a change of scenarios.” The EU Referendum calls it the scandal the media has missed. Thoughts of a Technocat notes that Galileo will have a European military role after all and may need it, for want of customers.

Londonistan Calling: Christopher Hitchens returns to Finsbury Park, the land of his “lost youth”, and finds it lost. “How did a nation move from cricket and fish-and-chips to burkas and shoe-bombers in a single generation?”

Perpetual Copyright? Not Just Wrong, but Unconstitutional: Mark Helprin says “A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn’t Its Copyright?” Well, no. Not actually, notes Ilya Somin @ The Volokh Conspiracy. The Constitution still rules the whims of the information age after all.

Give an Immigration Bill, Get a No-Timeline Iraq Bill?: “In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday.” (Breitbart/AP)

"This Point of Pale Light"

Jimmy 4 President -- Instapundit Readers Speak on the Entertainment Value: Glenn Reynolds asks his readers if Jimmy Carter should run for President in 2008. “Yes, yes, yes!,” say over 75%. But would they vote for him? “No, no, no!,” say over 97%. Add your vote to the thundering herd HERE. And remember the latest stunning claim by Carter: “Well, I don’t claim to have any relevancy. I have a completely unofficial capacity. The only thing I lead is the Carter Center.” And he’s doing a fine job with that too.

Liveblogging the Turmoil in Gaza: here’s the latest by Israellycool.

Sarko's Home Run: Austin Bay thinks the appointment of France’s new cabinet, particularly of Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister is a touch of genius from Sarkozy. For some background, Michael Totten reprints an article about Koucher he wrote a while ago, since it’s relevant again.

Do American Sports Travel Well Beyond US Borders? Maybe they didn’t in the past, but Daniel Drezner thinks this seems to be changing.

The High Stakes of the Iraq War: “From time to time, nations face fundamental tests of character. Forced to choose between painful but wise options, and irresponsible ones that offer only temporary relief from pain, a people must decide what price they are willing to pay to safeguard themselves and their children and to do the right thing. America has faced such tests before. Guided by Abraham Lincoln, we met our greatest challenge during the Civil War and overcame it, despite agonizing doubts about the possibility of success even into 1864. The Greatest Generation recovered from the shock of Pearl Harbor and refused to stop fighting until both Germany and Japan had surrendered unconditionally. A similar moment is upon us in Iraq. What will we do?” (Frederick Kagan @ Weekly Standard)

McCain's Outburst, the Inside Story (Power Line)

Police Brutality Against Iranian Women Continues (Kamangir, with picture)

Carter Backtracks, Sort Of: “When pressed by NBC’s Meredith Vieira as to whether he was saying his remarks were careless or reckless, the former president said, ‘I think they were, yes, because they were interpreted as comparing this whole administration to all other administrations.’” (MSNBC)

Newspapers' Ills Continue: SF Chronicle will cut down 25% of jobs in newsroom. “This seems to be less belt-tightening than dropping down several pants or dress sizes… which had become smaller already.” (Joe Gandelman @ The Moderate Voice)

One Party's Fringe is the Other's Mainstream: Ron Paul “helps illustrate what may be the most significant difference between the two major parties today: Republicans who don’t take the threat of radical Islam seriously are marginalized. Democrats who don’t do so constitute their party’s mainstream.” (Jeff Jacoby @ Boston Globe)

Do As I Say, Not as I Talk: A Vallejo woman reportedly suffered minor injuries Friday when her car was rear-ended by an SUV driven by State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, talking on a cell phone while driving through Solano County … Migden last year voted for a new law that takes effect in July 2008 that will impose a minimum fine of $20 for anyone caught using a cell phone while driving without a headset, ear bud or other technology that frees both hands. (Vallejo Times-Herald)

Shoemaker's Son: The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called “repulsive.” (Salt Lake Tribune)

Lebanese Troops Tighten Siege: Lebanese troops are tightening a siege of a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli where a shadowy group suspected of ties to al-Qaida is holed up, pounding it with artillery a day after the worst eruption of violence since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

The death toll from Sunday’s violence climbed to near 50, but it was not known how many civilians have been killed inside the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli, the scene of the heaviest fighting. (AP/Breitbart)

Roger Daltrey Blasts Al Gore's Rockfest: “It’s sort of refreshing to see a celebrity with a realistic view of the limits of the power of celebrity.” (Professor Bainbridge)

The Greatest Long Tracking Shots in Cinema, all commented and youtubed. Enjoy. (Alan Bacchus @ Daily Film Dose)

Redacted Perhaps, but Not Really Secret: nor earthshattering, for that matter. The documents that Salon’s Peter Moore 8-year-old supposedly discovered by accident are in the public domain and easy to find in a few seconds of Googling. (Mike @ Lamplighter)

The Annotated Immigration Bill: N.Z. Bear @ The Truth Laid Bear has put it online in a format for easily browsing and linking; find it HERE.

Fred's Watershed? “On the day of the first Southern-state Republican debate on the Fox News Channel, one undeclared GOP candidate performed a media leapfrog.

With the help of one 38-second video clip and a great sense of humor, Fred Thompson, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee who is one sock away from dipping his toe into the race for the White House, remained just as relevant as the other GOP candidates.” (Salena Zito @ Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

The Unhinged Right? “It sickens us when Islamic politicians call us terrorists, or when Arabs use the term “Holocaust” to describe Israel’s defense of itself. People who disagree with George Bush’s policies and have hysterically demonized him. That type of behavior is now happening on the right, prompted by the immigration compromise.” (Paul Geary @ The New Editor)