THE BRITISH DISEASE

Tony Blair's U.K. government has been caught ENCOURAGING massive immigration fraud: "It is hard to exaggerate the scale of the crisis that now faces Tony Blair and his Home Secretary. They are confronted with a failure of public policy of massive dimensions". And This is the sort of thing Blair's policies have brought about: "Dozens of refugees were living on Wrexham's Caia Park estate before the two nights of rioting that earned the place its notoriety last June. Now the old, white monoculturalism is back; the refugees have all but vanished without trace. At the Red Dragon pub, the scene of last summer's battles, a man was set upon a few weeks ago on the mere suspicion of being an Iraqi."

Peter Hitchens details why Britain's Leftist "New Labour" government has winked at mass illegal immigration. "One, it provides a constant excuse to censor the past and change the future. The false argument is made, for example, that migrant minorities will be offended if British history is taught as it should be, or if specifically Christian ceremonies are retained...Two, it props up the economy ...messed up welfare benefits at one end and penal taxation at the other mean that it simply isn't worth it for most British people to work for low-wage jobs. What's more, restrictive laws make it hard for small employers to create such jobs. .."

UK poll: "80% say that government policies on immigration and asylum are "not tough enough". ..a mere 4% share the view of some of the Government's critics that its policies are "too tough" and "76% back the expulsion or imprisonment of Muslim preachers who support extreme Islamic fundamentalism". It reminds one of a 1996 poll in Australia: "According to the results of a Herald-AGB poll released on June 19, Australians think their country is accepting too many immigrants, especially from Asia. About 65 percent of 2,063 people polled thought that immigration was too high; three percent favored more immigration..." 1996 was the year anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson arrived on the Australian political scene and challenged the major parties to respond to popular rather than elite opinion. Hanson's popular challenge was eventually taken up by the major parties but still has many of Australia's Leftists in denial. Will the UK Leftist elites be the next to feel the shock treatment? A few British National Party victories in the North have certainly rattled them.

Another triumph of British bureaucracy: "Britain spent 259 million pounds ($400 million) on a fleet of unusable military helicopters that can't fly through clouds, a public spending watchdog revealed today. Eight advanced Chinooks designed to carry troops and equipment in all conditions were grounded in the "massively botched" deal."

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ELSEWHERE

There is an intellectually rigorous paper from some economists here (short PDF) which treats Islamic martyrdom as a supply and demand phenomenon. The important conclusion from it is that the "payment" martyrs receive (fame, promises of paradise etc) is the main motivation. You have to stop communities from offering such rewards. Punishing (e.g. bombing) the community as a whole may be the only quick way to do that.

Most Shi'ite Muslims are moderate: "Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most recognizable and respected Shi'ite leader in Iraq, firmly believes in the separation of mosque and state. His belief is also held by mainstream Shi'ite Islam, which believes in the separation"

There is an excellent article in the WSJ on the old chestnut that blacks do poorly on IQ tests because of lack of motivation. The truth is that blacks try harder: When given unlimited time to do tests, blacks tend to stick at it longer. All that seems to be forgotten in the latest bout of weird reasoning, however. Leftist psychologists now say that "Stereotype threat" causes the low scores. The claim is that blacks try less because they fear that their poor results will reflect badly on blacks generally. One would have thought that such fears would cause them to try HARDER but all that is brushed aside. The WSJ concludes: "Lack of evidence and grave methodological defects haven't prevented the stereotype threat industry from taking off. Distortions are now pervasive." My fellow psychometrician, No. 2 Pencil, liked the article too.

There is a good conservative humour site called The Hatemonger's Quarterly. They have plenty to laugh at. From the beginning of one post: "A correspondent from our Boston (M.A.) office recently sent us a flyer from the dubiously titled "Boston School of Herbal Studies" Apparently, this veritable Vegetable University sponsored a fete called "Shamanic Plant Journeying", which was under the careful tutelage of one Tommy Priester, professional herbalist..."

My recipe for today is a Thai classic that is also easy to make: Pork with garlic and pepper. See here. Some readers have reported problems with getting my recipe blog to load lately. If that happens, there is a mirror site here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH.

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

America is engaged in a titanic struggle with hate. The American Left hate America, much of Europe hates America and, most of all, the Islamic fundamentalists hate America. Fortunately America is -- in every sense -- the world's strongest country.

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