SOME HISTORY

Another answer to the Leftist lie that Russia was primitive before the Soviets took over: "Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level. In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history. No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost." Soviet defector, Oleg Gordievsky, letter to The Independent (London), 21st July 1998.

In defense of President Warren Harding: "In another 50 years, Harding will look much better than he does today. His most sensational move was to name Andrew Mellon, the Pittsburgh banker, Treasury Secretary, which is why the Twenties roared. Mellon was the best Treasury Secretary after Alexander Hamilton. Harding's second great move (which preceded his Mellon pick) was to name Calvin Coolidge his running mate. Coolidge is derided because he didn't advocate Big Government, but he was Reagan's hero."

Margaret Sanger and the human weeds: "Against the excuses of her modern defenders, it should be remembered that the founder of Planned Parenthood's main interest in the legalization of abortion was not that women should be freed from the bonds of childbearing, but that unsavory types should be cleansed from the larger population. ... The same woman considered a saint today by the pro-choice crowd warned supporters in 1939 that they did not want 'word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.'"

"The essence of Reagan's policies was always the same: trust the American people. Rather than trying to plan, fine-tune, manage, order, or cajole Americans out of doldrums, he turned the job over to them. He restored an environment in which people could build better lives for themselves -- low inflation so they could count on money they earned being there in the future, and fewer regulations so they could make decisions based on what the economy really needed, rather than on what some bureaucrat in Washington decided it needed."

Richard Cobden , early and largely successful British advocate of free trade, was born just over 200 years ago.

Vox Day has a good article here listing in full the "Fascist Manifesto" of Mussolini. There is plenty of socialism in it, showing that it is the Left, not conservatives, who are the Fascists.

Leftists praise Hitler: "Once in a while I like to take a dark trip down into the deep reaches of the Democratic Underground, a popular message board for ultra-left chatter. Personally, when the topic isn't just another round of Bush bashing, I'm curious to find what the big government proponents and anti-individualists have to say. It's like a frightening reality show guaranteed to give one occasional nightmares. In my browsing today, I came across two separate threads ( here and here) posted by those detailing why they believe Adolf Hitler was better than George Bush. Disliking Bush, even intensily, could be understandable and is not the issue here. Watering down the memory of the Holocaust and 'humanizing' Hitler to the point of making serious comparisons to US presidents is an issue. "We Must Never Forget"? I believe some have. Scary stuff". Since Hitler was a socialist such attitudes are not really very surprising, however.

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ELSEWHERE

Professional Skeptic James Randi debunks Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine by showing some of the techniques Moore uses. I myself think that Moore has devised a lucrative schtick and just plays it up for fun and profit. A lot of what he says is so extreme that he has got to be laughing at the sad souls who lap it up.

Tom Barrett: "Bill Clinton's book of "memoirs" is being advertised under the name "My Life." Someone obviously made a mistake when they titled it. Anyone who had actually read the book would have titled it "My Lies." It is a shameless attempt to distort history and whitewash Clinton's disgraceful legacy of sexual misconduct, lying under oath, and using the office of the presidency for his own personal gain."

The perils of conservative government: "Australia's economy has been voted the most resilient in the world for the third consecutive year by one of the world's most respected business schools. The International Management Development school in Switzerland also ranked Australia the fourth most competitive economy in the world - up from seventh in 2003. Australia was positioned number one for resilience to economic cycles, and the speed with which a new business could be started. It was second for consistency of government policy and transparency of financial institutions".

"Some of the erosion in Bush's numbers comes from a rather surprising cohort. While Iraq has undoubtedly hurt Bush, he is also facing trouble among his base. Bruce Bartlett recently speculated that Bush has lost the support of fiscal conservatives with his betrayal on a number of issues: tariffs, higher spending on education and agriculture, support for the National Endowment of the Arts, and, of course, the prescription drug bill. A look at the historical numbers from the Washington Post/ABCNews poll suggests this is true."

The death of Right and wrong by Tammy Bruce seems to be a very good book. The author is a former member of the homosexual elite. I say more about it on Leftists as Elitists. She says Leftists suffer from "malignant narcissism" (self-love).

Dick McDonald has some optimistic posts up today -- about immigrants etc.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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Leftism is more popular with young people than with older people largely because Leftism is itself juvenile: They criticize what they don't understand. Which makes it ironic that "We know best" and "It's for your own good" are the basic Leftist messages. Leftists have never got past the simplistic thinking or the arrogance that are the characteristic limitations of youth

"Created" equal in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is a religious way of saying that people are NOT equal but start out with the same rights

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