SOME HISTORY

Interesting historical comment from a reader: "Europe is startlingly different from the rest of the world when it comes to intellectual and social development. It is not that it "got lucky" once with Britain's industrial revolution. It has repeatedly developed structures and ideas which have not existed elsewhere. We find this in the intellectual and political ideas of classical Greece, the Roman Republic and Empire, the papacy, the Renaissance, the Reformation, Parliamentary government, the enlightenment and the industrial and scientific revolutions".

Maturin sees Napoleon as a kind of early Stalin: "Yes, I do agree with Maturin. Buonaparte did France -a country that he hated as a youth- very great harm indeed, not only because he brought about the death of vast numbers of Frenchmen, far more than even Louis XIV, but because he left the country with a curiously vulgar notion of glory, which Louis did not. I do not think he restored French national identity at all, but superimposed upon it a trashy chauvinism that is still sadly active"

Ludwig von Mises writing in 1944 on Marxism and Nazism: "The Nazis have not only imitated the Bolshevist tactics of seizing power. They have copied much more. They have imported from Russia the one-party system and the privileged role of this party and its members in public life; the paramount position of the secret police; the organization of affiliated parties abroad which are employed in fighting their domestic governments and in sabotage and espionage, assisted by public funds and the protection of the diplomatic and consular service; the administrative execution and imprisonment of political adversaries; concentration camps; the punishment inflicted on the families of exiles; the methods of propaganda. They have borrowed from the Marxians even such absurdities as the mode of address, party comrade (Parteigenosse), derived from the Marxian comrade (Genosse), and the use of a military terminology for all items of civil and economic life. The question is not in which respects both systems are alike but in which they differ..."

V.D. Hanson on General Patton in World War II: "D'Este was too much the scholar not to see that beneath Patton's repugnant crudity there was both talent and, in the end, humanity- and a tactical genius that simply overshadowed Eisenhower's and Bradley's combined... Sixty years later, however, it is hard to see as all that crazy Patton's claim that World War II had started to save Eastern Europe from autocracy, and had ended by consigning it to autocracy."

Steve Sailer points out that farm labour organiser Cesar Chavez has been adopted as a hero by pro-illegal immigration lobby in the US. Yet in fact Chavez was opposed to illegals at both a philosophical and practical level. ""Cesar Chavez, a labor leader intent on protecting union membership, was as effective a surrogate for the INS as ever existed. Indeed, Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union he headed routinely reported, to the INS, for deportation, suspected illegal immigrants who served as strikebreakers or refused to unionize.""

****************************************

ELSEWHERE

An amazing email from a reader here about the "energy vampires" at UCLA. It shows that Leftism is just deadly to any intellectual or academic standards -- not to mention common-sense. I guess Leftists never have been very good at distinguishing fantasy from reality.

Further to my mention yesterday of Killington, Vermont -- where a whole town wants to leave a high tax State -- Interested Participant has a post on the same subject. He notes that the citizens in Killington are primarily East Coast "liberals" who believe in income redistribution, just as long as it's not their income that's being redistributed!

Jeff Jacoby summarizes what the current post mortem into the 9/11 events shows: "Everyone got it wrong before 9/11". It would take a Leftist not to see that.

Now that the "antisemitic" characterization of THAT movie seems to have worn thin, the criticism that one hears most at the moment seems to be that it is "sado-masochistic". A reader comments: "My guess is that the "S-M" accusation is actually someone's idea of what they think is a clever bit of conservative-Christian baiting. The clever-dick movie critics must think that calling something "S-M" will shock conservative Christians or suburban mums & dads away from seeing Mel's movie. As if they read movie reviews anyhow."

I have just put up here a selection of Chris Brand's most recent postings. From them, one gathers that there does seem to have been a real awakening in Britain -- even on the Left -- about the big problems being caused there by hordes of unassimilating and mostly illegal Muslim immigrants. Rather amazingly, multiculturalism is now being officially disowned, in fact. The awakening is very late in the day -- as is usual for the British -- but if words are transformed into action soon, some return to the previous quality of life in Britain may be possible. To see all of Chris's recent postings, go to the BOTTOM of his page here.

My recipe for today is for Vietnamese lemon chicken. It is NOTHING like Chinese lemon chicken -- it is miles better in my view. Despite the proliferation of Vietnamese restaurants, you will rarely find it there. Perhaps they keep the best for themselves. It is quick to cook, too. See here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

********************************

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.

Three more examples of Leftist dishonesty: They blame the 9/11 attacks on "poverty" in the Islamic world. Yet most of the attackers were Saudis and Saudi Arabia is one of the world's richest countries! They also say that they oppose racism yet support "affirmative action" -- which judges people by the colour of their skin! They say that they care about "the poor" but how often do you hear them calling for the one thing that would bring about a worldwide economic boom in poor countries -- the USA and the EU abandoning their agricultural protectionism? Leftists obviously care more about conservative farmers than they do about the poor!

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.

Comments? Email me here or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************