Lucky me!

It took them a week but Google have decided that this is not a spam blog after all. So they have lifted their restrictions. In the past, a review request to them used to produce a response within 1 or 2 days so I wonder what took so long this time. Maybe the fate of this blog had to be "kicked upstairs" to the "big boys" for a decision to be produced!

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Don't know much about history--Public officials edition

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday. Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI)....

Among the questions asked of some 2,500 people who were randomly selected to take the test, including "self-identified elected officials," was one which asked respondents to "name two countries that were our enemies during World War II." Sixty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Germany and Japan. Among the incorrect answers were Britain, China, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Spain.

Forty percent of respondents, meanwhile, incorrectly believed that the US president has the power to declare war, while 54 percent correctly answered that that power rests with Congress.

Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to "supervise the first televised presidential debates." In fact, the system of choosing the US president via an indirect electoral college vote dates back some 220 years, to the US Constitution.

The question that received the fewest correct responses, just 16 percent, tested respondents' basic understanding of economic principles, asking why "free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government's centralized planning?" ...

I think they have blundered into an explanation of liberalism. It requires an ignorance of history and economics to survive. As the recent Zogby poll indicated Obama voters were even grossly ignorant of facts related to the election campaign. What is really strange about this is that liberals tend to think they are the smartest people in the room. Go figure.

Source

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BrookesNews Update

America is in recession and the Democrat sare to make it worse: Obama's destructive economic program is causing havoc on the markets that could lead to a run on the dollar. His silence on the economy and what needs to be done is only aggravating the situation. One thing, however, is absolutely clear: Obama is utterly clueless on the economy
Why Obama's economic program will collapse: Any attempt to kick-start an economy with a program of public works, more regulations, higher taxes and greater government spending is doomed to fail. Such a program failed under Roosevelt, if failed in Japan and it will fail under Obama if he implements
Obama appoints Castro-lover as White House counsel : Obama's appointment of Gregory Craig as White House counsel is further evidence of just how leftwing - not to mention anti-American - the Obama regime could be. Craig is a truly nasty leftist and Castro-lover
The Democrats' economic stupidity and Detroit's big three : The majority of Americans are opposed to the Democrats' proposal to bailout Detroit. They are right to oppose it. The bailout would be the first of more payments all of which would be used to prop up an important Democrat constituency. If Detroit is to be then let the market do it. Any alternative is doomed to failure
Is "being born an American still first prize in the lottery of life?" : In the 1960s President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty. In the end poverty grew in numbers and trillions of dollars spent did nothing more than enlarge government
The Henry Waxman wane: Henry Waxman, green fanatic, bullyboy and political bigot has been made chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Further evidence of how extreme an Obama regime will be
Evil on a Minneapolis Campus: Political bigotry on campuses is not new, it is plainly clear, in these supposed bastions of free inquiry. They've become politicized to the core. Free speech itself is imperilled by oppressive codes. Leftwing professors rule. Conservatives are muzzled. It runs one-way on campuses, fiercely anti-Republican and, in general if not more so, wildly against all conservatives
Donkeys, rinos, and pumas. Oh my! Can we be please conservatives now: The Republican Party must become the new progressive. It must shelve its clever electoral strategies and muster the courage to be faithful to its principles even if polling data says to lie, or at least equivocate
Why they quit being leftists: Marxism is based on a major intellectual mistake and on a lamentable lack of morality that inevitably led to disaster and terror. That is why the more intelligent people, and those who were genuinely interested in their neighbors, abandoned it. The book Why I Quit Being a Leftist explains that with irrefutable clarity

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ELSEWHERE

The Teflon President-Elect : ""How long do you think it will take for the press to turn on Obama?" a friend asked. "Eight years, if he's in that long," I told him. "Doesn't matter what happens. Either they'll blame Bush or 'circumstances beyond Obama's control' while writing articles about how heroically Obama handles them." It's already started."

Some positive thoughts: "Many Americans have lost their homes or their jobs. Many others are struggling to afford gas or groceries. These times are not easy for anyone, but we should not despair. Our lives are not defined by how much we own or where we live. Our worth is not dependent on our material possessions. Our relationship to God and to our fellow man is what really defines us. God, family, and community always remain, despite our financial difficulties. These are the things for which we should give thanks. There is a temptation to worry obsessively about our financial plight. But this temptation betrays too great a reliance on self. God knows our needs and He cares for us. The Gospel of Luke assures us that God cares for the birds of the air, the lilies, and the grass of the field and that we are more valuable to Him than they (Luke 12). He assures us that he will provide for us if we will but seek his kingdom. In good times and bad, he exhorts us to place our confidence not in ourselves but in him. We, of course, have a duty to make wise, careful decisions, but we will not add "a single hour" to our lives by worrying. (Luke 12:25 NIV) We have better things to do with our energy. Worry helps no one and harms our souls"

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and Paralipomena

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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