Catherine Kohtz

This is the face of Catherine Kothz. A woman who killed two children and maimed a third with her Volvo 850 in June 1999 in eastern France. She has now sucesfully sued Volvo and have got the company a "dissuasive" fine of 150 000 € who was found guilty of involuntary homicide and causing involuntary injury.



The "volontary homocidiac" on the other hand was fined 300 € for taking the lifes of an 11 year old girl and her 9 year old brother.



Kothz blaimed the accident on the car stating "that the brakes did not work". However, nor Volvos own technicians or third part techicians has found anything wrong with the brakes on this particular Volvo. On the other hand there had been trouble with this particular series of the car earlier on and Volvo had to call back several thousand cars earlier (among them Kothz car) to prevent any possible risc of accidents. But that is the reason why the car manufacturer lost the case.



"Volvo Cars spokesman in Sweden, Olle Axelson, said the company was still looking at the details of the verdict.

"This is a tragic incident for everyone involved," Axelson, while insisting that faulty brakes were not to blame.

"There was no problem with the brakes," he said."



"Volvo's lawyers denied any fault with the vehicle, suggesting the driver may have confused the accelerator and brake pedals in a moment of panic."



Here is the car in question after the accident. Do you think she had problems with the brakes or that she just happen to step on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal?


This is a narrow street in a small town in France where you usually can't drive more than max 15 km/h! (Also notice that Kothz were going uphill at the time of the accident). But Kothz now thinks "that justice have had it's way".

Two children dead and one seriously injured! I don't like to use the word- so excuse my French- but here we have the bitch of the year for sure! And the french court in question must be the "bitches of the year"- No offence to canine females- they are allright...

I wonder what the outcome of the trial would have been if it had been a French car manufacturer? I know one thing for sure, and that is that if it had happened here in Sweden Konthz would be behind bars as of this moment (or maybe not. No one really knows how far we have gone in to the PC, liberal relativistic swamp for the moment!).

No- you fucking can't turn over a car driving less than 15 km/h uphill! It's not possible! She first hit a car- which if she did'nt have the foot on the accelerator would have got her in to a dead stop!

She might be freaking mother Theresa otherwise, but what wrong she did was to denie that she had anything to do with the accidental manslaughter of two children! OK?

Volvo's own technichians AND  third party indipendant evaluation tech's came to the conclution that; nothing at all was wrong with the brakes!

What's nauseating is, that this woman had the nerve- THE NERVE- to file a law suite against Volvo!

She did a mistake! That's all there is to it!

But the mistake is her's!

Letter to Our European Friends

America is in the midst of an all-important electoral campaign. But, talking to Europeans, I've discovered that there is puzzlement and misinformation on your continent about what's happening on ours. Europeans feel an understandable confusion when faced with a political system consisting of two houses of Congress and a White House, and nobody is home in any of them.

Also, America's political parties are indistinguishable to the European eye. A British journalist once described the situation thus: "America is a one-party state, but just like Americans they've got two of them." (I forget which British journalist said that. But there are so many British journalists who should be forgotten. Maybe it was Alexander Cockburn.)

The difference between American parties is actually simple. Democrats are in favor of higher taxes to pay for greater spending, while Republicans are in favor of greater spending, for which the taxpayers will pay. In foreign policy, Republicans intend to pursue the war in Iraq but to do so with a minimal number of troops on the ground. This is not to be confused with the disastrous Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld policy of using a minimal number of troops on the ground to pursue the war in Iraq. Democrats intend to end the war, but they don't know when. Democrats are making the "high school sex promise": I'll pull out in time, honest!

Keep reading P.J O'rouke:s aticle over at Cato Institutes webpage

This must be one of the best explanations of the political scene in the USA I've ever read. Still it makes more sense than politics in Europe where we only have two flavours of politicians. One that are socialistic and one who actually doesn't deny that they are!

Shopping spree

It is estimated that the Gazan "palestines" has spent some 130 million dollars during the two days after the border wall against Egypt was blown up. 130 million dollars! Where do they get their money from? Because the lord knows that the only thing they export is quassam rockets! They have no industry to speak of and they are mainly just blowing away money that we in the west are handing them out. (And yes. I mean blowing it away in the litterally sense!).

Spit!

What Does Muslim Immigration Cost Europe?

Do gang rapes boost GDP? Was that an offensive question, you say? Well, according to Sweden's finance minister Pär Nuder, more immigrants should be allowed into Sweden in order to safeguard the welfare system. However, in reality estimates indicate that immigration costs Sweden at least 40 to 50 billion Swedish kroner every year, probably several hundred billions, and has greatly contributed to bringing the Swedish welfare state to the brink of bankruptcy. An estimated cost of immigration of 225 billion Swedish kroner in 2004, which is not unlikely, would equal 17.5% of Sweden's tax income that year, a heavy burden in a country which already has some of the highest levels of taxation in the world.
At the same time, the number of rape charges in Sweden has quadrupled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six times as common today as they were a generation ago. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm, who has investigated violent crimes in one court, found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or by foreign parents. Swedish politicians want to continue Muslim immigration because it boosts the economy, yet the evidence so far indicates that it mainly boosts the number of gang rapes. Meanwhile, research shows that fear of honor killings is a very real issue for many immigrant girls in Sweden. 100.000 young Swedish girls live as virtual prisoners of their own families.

This is an essay by Fjordman from Global Politician.

Indeed, survey after survey has pointed out and come to the conclusion that the immigration policies we have are costing us far more than any possible gain wer'e getting out of it. As a standard disclaimer I stress the point that I'm not against immigration or immigrants (statistically, I'm one myself). But, it is the form of immigration being allowed today that I'm against. It is the head over heels multi cultural and planly idiotic intergration sceme that bugs me off. Socialists all over the EU has for decades now been contemplating in a form of modern slavetrade, where ballot votes are being traded for permanent visas.

Meanwhile, we are reaping the fruits of mass immigration, with rape (gang rapes were unheard of 20 years ago- today it happens allmost on a daily basis), expressions of violence, robberies and other forms of violent crimes that virtually have exploded during the last two decades. Incidentally, this upsurge in violent crimes allmost exactly conformes with the rate of immigration.

But as allways- I'm not blaming the immigrants! I'm blaming our politicians who are whoring themselves out for another wote, all in the name of multi culturalism- without a clue!

A Visit to a Gaza Rocket Factory

[...]

The vehicle finally stops at a dirt track. The Islamic Jihad rocket factory is housed in a kind of garden shed. The hut measures five meters by five meters, metal pipes with small wings lean against the wall in the corner: Half finished Qassams. There are several tightly packed garbage bags on a shelf. "TNT," says Abdul and produces a chunk. The explosive looks like lumpy sugar. A large cauldron is sitting ready on a gas cooker while bags with Hebrew writing are piled up high up against the wall. "Fertilizer for the rocket fuel," Abdul says and grins. "We get it in Israel." [my emphasis]

Abdul is 22 but, tall and lanky as he is, he could still pass for 16. He has been making rockets for three and a half years and says he has finished hundreds of Qassams. A veteran with a double life: He studies geography during the day and makes his contribution to the Jihad at night.

[...]

The team can make up to 100 rockets per night shift, but today it won't be more than 10. Instead of the usual 12, only three of Abdul's men have turned up tonight. "The other guys are over in Egypt, shopping," he says, adding that the militants are just ordinary people who want to experience the open border with the neighboring country. Will they be looking for ingredients for building the Qassams? "Hardly," the oldest of the group laughs. "They are buying potato chips. We have enough raw materials to last for a few years." [my emphasis]

The presence of smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border have ensured that there is never a lack of supplies. "The TNT comes to us from Sudan via Egypt." Other elements arrive by boat across the sea to Gaza. "We get some from Eastern Europe." The raw materials for one large rocket cost up to €500. The money to finance the operation comes the same route as the materials. "The Israeli blockade doesn't affect us; it's just intended to plunge the people into misery."

Read it all

Muslim mums win discrimination appeal

Two Muslim mothers have won a court appeal against a municipal pool in Gothenburg that required them to take off their veils and body-covering clothing.


The Court of Appeal for western Sweden found the City of Gothenburg guilty of ethnic discrimination and ordered the authorities to pay the women 20,000 kronor ($3,000) each in damages.

The women, Houda Morabet and Hayal Eroglu, were at the pool separately on two different occasions in April 2004, accompanying their young children but not to swim themselves.

Both were wearing veils, long pants and long-sleeved tee-shirts because their religion does not allow them to reveal parts of their body in public.

In its judgment, the court said that the actions of the swimming pool lifeguards, who insisted that the women should change into tee-shirts, could be deemed discriminatory even if this had not been their intention.

The nature of Sweden's discrimination laws mean that it was up to the City of Gothenburg to prove that the request for the women to remove some of their clothing had nothing to do with their religion.

"In the view of the Court of Appeal, the City of Gothenburg did not succeed in doing this," the court said in a statement.

In March last year, Gothenburg District Court ruled that the municipal pool had not discriminated against the women.

It ordered the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination, which had brought the case on their behalf, to pay the City of Gothenburg's costs of 30,850 kronor ($4,720 dollars).

The lifeguards testified that although there was nothing in the security regulations about veils, the rules did require people in the pool area to wear shorts and tee-shirts, even if they don't plan to swim.

The mothers' cumbersome clothing would have prevented them from coming to the rescue of their children if necessary, they argued.

Soo, the meaning of not wearing certain kinds of clothing is based on a hygenic basis. Not to hard to understand is it? But what the court of appeal have done now is to legislate that muslim religious body weare is more hygienic than other types (western) of clothing!

Who would you rather go for a swim with?



The problem is that the ladies in the blue burqas are tenfold more at risk of being raped or beaten silly or being killed by a close relative or just a man in their vincinity!

By all means. Do have your sharia swimmingpools (or really, really not). But for crissake, don't try to superimpose your medival, no midevil thinkings on us!

There is a reason for why you have to shift your clothing before going in to a swimming pool area. Does that not count for muslims?

An Open Letter to Expo and the Expressen Newspaper

Fjordman has over at Gates of Vienna published an essay wich in many matters says what I for a time now have been trying to say.

[The newspaper Expressen in Sweden recently published an article claiming that two members of the Sweden Democrats party have ties to neo-Nazi organizations. First of all: If these people really do have neo-Nazi connections, they do not belong in a civilized party and should in my view be expelled immediately. The SD will never be taken seriously if they have people like this in their party and they do not deserve to.

That is, however, not the only issue at stake here. The source quoted in this article is the organization Expo. Expo has released a warning against the rise of “organized Islamophobia.” A number of blogs with content that “should probably be banned” were mentioned, among them Gates of Vienna and Little Green Footballs. Two of the important Scandinavian blogs that were labelled “Islamophobes” were Snaphanen and Kurt Lundgren. As both of them have pointed out, according to the article it looks like Expo had access to lists of telephone conversations and bank account information about transactions made by a number of private citizens. If this is correct — and so far I know no more than what this article tells me — several readers suggest that this could be illegal political surveillance of free citizens by a private (but state-sponsored) organization.

Did Expressen journalist David Baas ask Expo how they obtained this information? And if the methods employed were indeed problematic, how many peaceful, private citizens have Expo also been checking in order to make this discovery? The article by Baas mentions the left-wing extremist organization Antifascistisk Aktion (AFA), which has for years and with near impunity been physically and verbally attacking any person deemed to be critical of Sweden’s insane immigration policies. Is the Expressen newspaper going to put the violent organization AFA under similar scrutiny? Can they, for instance, find out why members of AFA in 2007 were allowed to walk next to senior members of the Swedish cabinet, the Swedish media and the Swedish law enforcement despite the fact that AFA members had probably attacked the property of a judge only days before? How come AFA can openly brag about their violent, extra-legal activities for years without being stopped by the authorities? Is it possible that the political elites find them to be a useful tool against those criticizing mass immigration?

As Bruce Bawer writes in While Sweden Slept: “Sweden Democrats have been the targets of events that recall China’s Cultural Revolution. Staged ‘people’s protests’ by members of the ‘youth divisions’ of other parties have led to the firing of Sweden Democrats from their jobs. A few weeks ago, a junior diplomat was dismissed when it became known that he was a member of the party and had criticized his country’s immigration policy. On several occasions, thugs loyal to the ruling parties have broken up SD meetings and beaten up party leaders.”]

What few people realizes is that racist organisations by all means are leftists. They are socialists, communists- and yes- islamists. Because politically- and it is a political movement. Islam is more red than the blood spilled in it's name!

The Sweden Democrates on the other hand is an oxymoron or an enigma. While being better social democrates than the Social Democrates themselves (and that's where they get their new found voters from) they are also for greater restriction on immigration (where the socialists get
their votes from) and has been associated through out their history with nazis while at the same time being out right Israel symphatizers. How about that for a political mess? But that's how the political scene looks here in Europe. And one of the starchest supporters of nazi Germany here in Sweden in the 30:s and 40:s were the social democrates!

Then on the other hand we have the social democratic bed buddys- the communists. Who they syphatised with... Well I think you can guess.

Read the rest here.

Computer problems

Having computer problems. I had to dig up my old Compaq Presario laptop. It works, but it is sooo slooow... Will go out the next weekend and buy me a new stationary. Anybody got any tips for what gets you the most "bang for the buck"? (Processor, mother board and graphic card wise.) I have sort of been out of the loop for a while.

Stowaway 'mini thieves' bag bus loot

A criminal network consisting of at least one person of very short stature is believed to be behind a recent spate of robberies on Swedish buses.

Police are advising travellers to avoid placing valuables in the luggage compartments of coaches amid suspicions that small thieves are being hidden inside large sports bags. The diminutive criminals emerge from the bags mid-journey before climbing back inside loaded with loot.

One woman travelling with Swebus from Västerås to Stockholm told police that she had watched as two men speaking poor English squeezed a very large, heavy bag into an already cramped baggage space despite the fact that there was an empty compartment towards the back of the bus.

On arriving at their destination, the men quickly left the bus, retrieved the bag and disappeared in a waiting vehicle.

When the woman checked her luggage, she was distressed to find that a camera, purse, portable hard drive and the packaging from an mp3 player had all mysteriously vanished. It is not known whether the thief in this case was a bantam adult or a child.

"It is very possible that a small person is being placed in a bag in order to search through the other bags. We have recently received several reports of thefts, including on the Västerås to Stockholm line," said Swebus spokeswoman Pia Kråvall.

Police say they have been alerted to a number of similar luggage compartment robberies in other parts of the country.

Swebus is currently looking at ways to tighten security around its terminals, said Pia Kråvall.

Hmm. Speaking poor English, a dwarf in a bag robbing other passangers valuables in the luggage compartement. Why do I feel that this could be a Monty Python scetch?

In memmory... Shoah

***

In the beginning was the Word

and the word was Jew.

And the word said Other, the word said Them.

Not Me, not You.

**

Then the ploughing of the minds and the sowing of the lies

and the lies said Rapists and the lies said Thieves

and the lies said Evil in disguise.

And the Word was Demonise.

**

Then the growing of the Weeds.

And the Weeds were Greed.

And the Weeds were Spite and the Weeds were Schadenfreude

and folk passed by on the other side.

And the Word was Bleed.

**

Then the writing of the Laws.

And the Laws said Jews

are not as other men.

No loving of your neighbour.

No Jews as citizens.

And the Word was Cleanse.

**

Then the packing into trucks and the tracks led east.

People carried like beasts and harried like beasts

and herded like beasts into pens.

And the Word was Untermensch.

**

Then the Words became a sentence

and it sent them to their death

by burdening the strong, who earned another breath

before they died, and murdering the rest, who simply died.

And the Word was Genocide

In memmory of the genocide- Don Barnard (Written for the 2005-01- 27 memorable)

Michael J. Totten

I urge you. Go to Michael J. Totten:s blog for some classy journalism.

And as allways- there are some gold nuggets in my side bar. Look through them if yoy allready have not!

Talk about religion

Warning!
What follows can be extremly offending to some.
If it is- Bite me!

Some of my best friends aswell in the virtual world as in the real one are belivers. They range from protestants, to free church evangelicans to catholics, jews, muslims, hindus and atheists (because atheism is a belife just as much as any of the others).

I don't care! I look at them as people, and I judge them by their actions, not by what supersticions they happen to belive in. I'm a beliver myself. As it happens, I belive in science- and as we all know it- some of the scientific theories are just as much based on a belife as any of the religions are.

So by all means- go to your churches, mosques, temples or whatnot (as long as they're not state financed that is), and pray away!

The whole problem with religion on the world scene could essentially be described as a bunch of orphan kids in a playground fighting over who has the strongest daddy. But in every playground there's allways one kid that is a bit stupider. A bit meaner. You all recognize them, it's that kid, a bit over developed physically, coming from a dysfunctional family- The playground bully!

Right now that bully is islam!

What distinguish the playground bully is his aptitude towards using violence and terrorising the others in the playground, stealing their lunch money and generally acting like Nelson Muntz.

But when in minority or when out powered these bullies tend to cry and accuse others of being the cause of their missfortune.

If you have faith- Good for you! If you have religion- You really need a major antibiothic cure!

Here are some thoughtful words from another beliver. The self proclaimed atheist Pat Condell (video).

Sorry...

... For the light posting. Have been in bed with stomach flu these last couple of days. It started with my son litterally "laying a pizza" at the bathroom floor a couple of nights ago. My first thought was "Oh- no. Here we go again!".

My son was was running around the apartement as usual the next morning while I was having a conversation with the bucket. Phew! Feeling better now, hope to be up to speed later this afternoon.

Until then...

The Lost Archive

On the night of April 24, 1944, British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college here housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. The 16th-century building crumpled in the inferno. Among the treasures lost, later lamented Anton Spitaler, an Arabic scholar at the academy, was a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran.

The 450 rolls of film had been assembled before the war for a bold venture: a study of the evolution of the Quran, the text Muslims view as the verbatim transcript of God's word. The wartime destruction made the project "outright impossible," Mr. Spitaler wrote in the 1970s.

Mr. Spitaler was lying. The cache of photos survived, and he was sitting on it all along. The truth is only now dribbling out to scholars -- and a Quran research project buried for more than 60 years has risen from the grave.

"He pretended it disappeared. He wanted to be rid of it," says Angelika Neuwirth, a former pupil and protégée of the late Mr. Spitaler. Academics who worked with Mr. Spitaler, a powerful figure in postwar German scholarship who died in 2003, have been left guessing why he squirreled away the unusual trove for so long.

Spitaler was a well- known arabist with dubious connections to the nazi regime. Why did he hide these documents? They prooves that there has been many different verisions of the quran. The islamists and the muslims (same, same but different?) on their hand means that the quran is universal and that the book is God's direct words in print. That means that islam is the only world religion that can academilly be prooved to be wrong! Talk about a hot potato...

Ms. Neuwirth, a professor of Arabic studies at Berlin's Free University, now is overseeing a revival of the research. The project renews a grand tradition of German Quranic scholarship that was interrupted by the Third Reich. The Nazis purged Jewish experts on ancient Arabic texts and compelled Aryan colleagues to serve the war effort. Middle East scholars worked as intelligence officers, interrogators and linguists. Mr. Spitaler himself served, apparently as a translator, in the German-Arab Infantry Battalion 845, a unit of Arab volunteers to the Nazi cause, according to wartime records.

During the 19th century, Germans pioneered modern scholarship of ancient texts. Their work revolutionized understanding of Christian and Jewish scripture. It also infuriated some of the devout, who resented secular scrutiny of texts believed to contain sacred truths.

The revived Quran venture plays into a very modern debate: how to reconcile Islam with the modern world? Academic quarrying of the Quran has produced bold theories, bitter feuds and even claims of an Islamic Reformation in the making. Applying Western critical methods to Islam's holiest text is a sensitive test of the Muslim community's readiness to both accommodate and absorb thinking outside its own traditions.

Neuwirth, the professor that has taken over the archives, has locked them away in a bankvault and refuses to let anyone see them. Why?

Link to Wall Street Journal

Amazon's free shipping costing €1,000 per day in France

Did you hear the one about Amazon? It offered free shipping in France, got sued for it by the French Booksellers' Union, and lost. Now it's choosing to pay €1,000 a day rather than follow the court's order. Ba-da-bing!

No, it's not funny, but that's because it's not a joke. The Tribunal de Grande Instance (a French appeals court) in Versailles ruled back in December that Amazon was violating the country's 1981 Lang law with its free shipping offer. That law forbids booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price, and Amazon was found to be exceeding that discount when the free shipping was factored in.

The company was told to start charging within ten days or pay a daily fine. It also owes €100,000 to the French Booksellers' Union for the court battle and for the losses it has apparently caused them. With the holidays over and the ten-day grace period over, Amazon has officially announced its plan to ignore the court order and pay the fine instead, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Link

There is actually a law forbidding booksellers to give more than a 5% discount in France!

Can someome spell to protectionism and planned echonomy?

France is more and more looking like the Gaullian socialistic nightmare they refute to be. Take for instance the fact that France is behind the proposed legislation in EU of forbidding ordinary light bulbs in favour of low energy bulbs. And the high protective tolls on low energy bulbs from outside the EU meaning to protect the Europeian manufacturers. But this is of course not something that the Europeian manufacturers likes, because they all have outsourced the manufaction of the LE- bulbs to China! Which in turn means that the cost is so high that people does not want to buy them! Please, please , pleeease some one tell the French that planned echonomy never ever in history has worked. And while you're at it, give the message to (just about) all the other countrys in the EU...

Storms expected over Sweden

Uh, uh. Time to pull down the hat again!

[...]

The winds are forecast by Swedish weather service SMHI to draw in over western Sweden late on Friday evening or early Saturday morning, after which they will move eastwards across the country.

Wind speeds on Friday night in western Sweden could reach 28 metres per second (100 km/h). On Saturday morning areas of eastern Sweden could see gusts of up to 25 metres per second. Östergötland and Kalmar counties in south-eastern Sweden are expected to see the strongest winds in eastern Sweden. Gotland will also see heavy gusts.

This is where I live!

Immigrants face tougher rules on families

Immigrants to Sweden will find it harder to get residence permits for close relatives in future, after the four governing parties agreed to tighten policy on the issue.


The government agreed to the new policy on Thursday after the Christian Democrats dropped their objections. The party, a junior member of the coalition, had previously objected on humanitarian grounds to plans to force the immigrants to show that they could support themselves and had somewhere to live, according to SVT.

The negotiations between the four party leaders have resulted in a draft directive to a government inquiry, which will bring out concrete proposals for changes to the law.

The Christian Democrats' refugee spokesman, Lars Gustafsson, said his party had previously been "completely opposed" to a demand that relatives could support themselves, but said they had now agreed to "some form of demand that people support themselves."

"One thing that has been important for us is that someone who gets a residence permit should not be required to support his or her entire family. That requirement is now gone. It is enough to be able to support yourself," he said.

Link

Well, that's a step on the road. Now the taxpayers only have to provide for thirteen people instead of fourteen... What people does not realize is that the "next of kin permission" includes not only wifes, husbands, sons, and daughters- but also grandparents and their siblings. And when THEY in turn get permanent visas... Well it's like a pyramid scam. The problem with this is the muslim immigrants who often have very big familys (usama bin laden is one of 42 siblings I believe). The immigration policies here in Sweden is a mess, and it's a mess for all the wrong reasons.

Do come here! I like diversity. But frikking provide for your self!

The subs are as follows:

It feels like in Iraq or some other arab country. I like it here in Malmö.

(From a public service TV-show about immigrants in Malmö)

Living in lalalaland

According to a poll conducted by Professor Sören Holmberg at the University of Gothenburg; around 55% of the voters did not know which party that was the sitting governmental party (social democrates) at the election in 2006!

*Sound of hand slapping the forehead*

The poll also showed that first time voters was more unknowing of the facts and that the unknowing voters also tended to be social democratic voters (no real surprise there!).

"This is of course somewhat problematic" Prof Sören Holmerg says. No shit Sherlock!

If anything this shows that 18 year olds are not mature enough to vote! No wonder there are people in the socialist block lobbying for lowering the voting age to 16! I'd say that no one with out atleast a couple of years of work experience should be allowed to vote. Like- Wellcome to reality!

Ok, it was kind of a trick question. The social democrates was the minority elected governing party with the support of the communists and the greens, but still! Young people are to immature, to full of themselves and to head strong to make the countrys future... (Not all of them of course. I have met 18 year olds with brilliant minds. But who would you trust to govern a country- a teenager or a forty year old?).

Ethanol Program Milks Consumers Dry

Have you noticed how the price of milk has shot up in the past year? A big chunk of the blame lies with Congress and the ethanol program.

In its effort to promote the fantasy known as “energy independence,” the U.S. Congress favors the ethanol industry with a 51-cent-per-gallon exemption from the federal gasoline tax, and a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. By artificially stimulating the domestic ethanol industry, the program has created an insatiable demand for corn, driving up feed grain costs for dairy farmers, leading to higher prices for milk.

I’ve often disagreed with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on trade issues, especially his threat to slap tariffs on imports from China, but on this issue, the senator has positioned himself as the American consumer’s best friend. According to a story this week in the New York Daily News:

“Ethanol has increased the average American’s grocery bill $47 since July,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, citing figures from Iowa State University.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing for an immediate end to the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports as a way to increase the supply of the federally mandated fuel additive, reduce pressure on the corn market and bring down milk prices.

“Bring the cheaper ethanol in, reduce the price of corn, and then reduce the price of milk,” he said.

The senator is on to something. While were at it, let’s eliminate remaining U.S. tariffs on imported shoes, clothing, sugar, rice, cheese and, yes, milk.

Bloggers of the world

I have been hit with yet another virtual sledgehammer. It's that old MEME thing that everyone dreads but still want to get.

Mustang at Social Sense has nominated me for the "Bloggers of the world" award. There seems to be no actual rules about who you can nominate but for the fact that it has to be an "exeptional blog". So go ahead and nominate that Pokemon blog that you secretly visits twice a day if you want.

The point is to get others to know your blog so you will get more visits.

The last time I got nominated for something it was the "Thinking bloggers award". Then you got a really cool alien thingy that you could put up in your sidebar (which I have not!). This time it's this rather... Well I have a dirty mind!

Not that I'm not proud and very honoured by Mustang nominating me. I enjoy his alsters on a daily basis and I grow an inch every time someone gives me any attention at all.

This time I will have to nominate some Swedish languaged blogs. I will not link to any of them, because I'm feeling lazy, but most of them you can find in my sidebar.

Here we go.

Skafferitrollen/Humle och Dumle: Everything is in Swedish. Rock Hard prose and what seems to be nice guys. Also very intelligent. I'm not sure about their possible conection to SD. But as long they make sense, they are my choise.

Anticant at Anticant's Arena: I consider him as one of my best virtual friends. We are separated by an ocean and several decades, but still, I would not be more satisfied than sitting down with him at a dinnertable just talking away. He also have a great sense of humor and are a damn good writer!

This time it's my turn to annoy one of my closest virtual friends. The enigma, the mystical super hero Yankee Doodle over at Stop Islamic Conquest. He is one of the most prolific bloggers that I know of. He has a very matter of fact writing style. That is when he's not writing his Gotham series. If you want to read some high class noire prose with some minbending twists, do not hesitate, you will have hours of reading there. Also he has some pretty revealing texts about everything from narco trafficking, islamism to world politics. I have found myself sitting in front of the screen reading his alsters for hours.

Angel at Woman Honor Thyself is also a very close V-friend. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She writes in a very specific way that gets you crawing for more. She is also a food junkie like me (c; If there is anything I could complain about her, it would be that she is too nice to people. Get those cat claws out girl!

The blog Flanders fields is a very intriguing one, There you get the perspective of an American living in the heartland of the EU. Always updated, always interresting and always with a polite word for anyone. Go there!

Freedom and reason- A swedish languaged blog from a man living in GB. Very up to date and with a very sharp (virtual) pencil. Do you know the lingo? Go there!

Hard to swallow is one of my favourite places to go. Poetry with a twist. Very intelligent. Very mindbending, and a very nice person!

I hav not been in contact with Falcon over at Sheepdogs blog for a while. He is over "in the sandbox" and apparently internet acess sucks there. But visit his blog and say hello. He is defenetily deserving an award like this!

There are many more who deserves the award (or what ever) and the attention, but I have to set a limit some where. Nobody spoken of- nobody forgotten!

All values are relative...

[Another resurrected previous post]

I remember, when I was a first-year undergraduate, one of those intense after-dinner discussions where an earnest young lady fervently proclaimed: “Nothing is absolute! Everything is relative!” This - even if illogical - is probably true. But it didn’t occur to me then that it would ever be used by self-styled ‘intellectuals’ to maintain that “and therefore, nothing is better or worse than anything else”. This is obvious nonsense, if only because if something is relative it has to be relative to some standard of value. As Orwell famously said, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".

Ancient and mentally out-dated I may be, but I would never have foreseen that anyone educated in the Western liberal tradition of free enquiry and open debate could seriously aver that closed thought systems of a totalitarian cast, whether religious, philosophical, or political, are entitled to equal respect and toleration – one-sided, of course – with democratic pluralism.

But such is the case nowadays. Incredibly, many of the trendy pundits of the near-brain dead, ‘postmodern’, Left are tumbling over themselves to assure us that Islam is deserving in Britain and other European countries of equal status for its adherents with the values and customs of our open secular society and the rule of law which we have slowly and painfully evolved over centuries of hard-fought struggle against tyranny. Are these ‘multiculti’ idiots seriously proposing that a primitive system of law such as Shari’a, which by Western standards is in many respects cruel and even barbaric, should be given even informal houseroom here?

If trumping our values is to be OK for Islam, why not for Roman Catholicism, fascism, communism, and other mind-controlling doctrines? All of these, whether religious or political or both - because all religion is political in its intent and operation - seek to dominate and control not only their own willing followers but, ultimately, everybody else. Whatever route they follow, their destination and ambition are always identical: their domination and others’ [i.e. our] submission – ultimately obtained, if necessary, by force.

There are indeed many and deep flaws in the practice of Western democracy in these grievous opening years of the 21^st century. Remedying these is surely task enough for anyone who cares about the health and future of our society, without embarking upon quixotic championship of Trojan horses in our midst.

By all means let us be relativist – but not mindlessly relativist in the fashion of W.S. Gilbert’s “idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone, all centuries but this, and every country but his own”.

"Anticant" at Anticant's Arena

Allah's ambassadors

Britain's summer of terror scares has yielded to a winter of disquiet about the nature of the evolving threat from imported Islamic fundamentalist movements. Police chief Sir Ian Blair recently warned Parliament that the terrorist threat to the UK is on the rise. His warning followed the publication of a police report documenting the ominous and growing influence in Britain of Deobandi Islam, an orthodox Sunni movement which is the ideological force behind the Taliban.

According to that report Deobandi Islam is now the dominant force in British Islam, controlling 600 of its 1,350 mosques and 17 of the country’s 26 seminaries. That means 80 per cent of Muslim clerics preaching in Britain are Deobandis. Yet despite its reach into the Muslim heartlands, very little is known of the roots of Deobandi Islam or what it stands for.

[But are we really surprised? Everyone with a tiny piece of knowledge about the islamic movement KNOWS that the radicals- who might or might not be a fraction of the muslim devotees- is ruling the rest. Not only has this been shown to be true through out history in country after country where muslims has gained power- mostly by force-, but also proved by the fact that their "holy" texts demands muslims to gain and be in power ruling the infidels. The quran explecicity tells the followers of muhammed to do this! And no muslim "moderate" could ever win a theological debate with a radical one, because islam and it's ruling books are considered universal and perfect. I have a number of times stated that a muslim very well can be harmless and a genuine good person (of western standards that is), but a greater concentration of muslims- a critical mass if you will- will infallbly lead to violence, totalitarianism and plain evilness! There is a reason why these people flees their barbaric countrys. Wonder what that might be? They are bringing the root of evil with them without realizing it themselves. Their beliefe!]

Few realise the origins of Deobandi philosophy lie not in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia, but in the world’s biggest secular democracy: India. The Darul Uloom madrassa, the second most important academic institution in the Islamic world (after Cairo’s al-Azhar), is in a small town of the same name in the poor north-western state of Uttar Pradesh; an island of Islam in a sea of Hindu saffron.
Although Darul Uloom, the House of Knowledge, claims it is a misrepresented keeper of the faith, terrorism-hardened Indian security chiefs see it as a crucible for Islamic fundamentalism in the region. They claim its alumni have gone on to operate across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as, increasingly, the mosques of Europe.

[When ever there is a madrasa or a mosque, there will be extremists. That has been prooven time after time. I'm not saying that all muslims attending prayers or studies in mosques and madrassas are terrorists or radicals, but all the terrorists and radicals have been recruted through mosques and madrassas. That's where muslim radicalizes! Without mosques and madrassas (and without islam)= No more terrorism! (Or atleast 99% less terrorism)].

The madrassa is notorious for its rigid Islamic way of life, which is sealed off from the outside world. Access to outsiders is extremely rare, but a couple of years ago I gained entry to learn of their worldview first hand.

[Not only do the extremists isolate themselves from the rest of the world. The rest of the PC world isolates itself from them! It's a relativistic socialistic nightmare where our politicians goes for a "let them be" policy, believing that that is the remedy for the radicals to come to their senses. Yeah right- that has worked like dandy doodle dinky so far! Like Jens Orback- the former minister (S) of immigration said; "Let us be nice to them [immigrants] now, and they will treat us nicely when we [Swedes] are a minority."]

As a woman I required special dispensation from the madrassa’s Vice-Chancellor, Maulana Marghoob Rehman, so it was only after months of lobbying that I was finally cleared to meet the teachers of the Taliban.

[Note the "As a woman" I'm very curious about what the leftist feminist think of this?]

Darul Uloom is just five hours’ drive from Delhi and yet on entering the Deoband madrassa it feels like a different country. I arrived at sundown with my Sikh driver Mr Singh, a usually unflappable character who was uncharacteristically anxious as we approached the campus. He was well aware of the madrassa’s reputation.

[I'm likely concerned for Mr Singhs health. Having to take a fare to a location like that...]

A tight nexus of alleys and a medieval-style bazaar surrounded the school itself. Carts, sorrowful-looking mules and skittish goats thronged the dark walkways as crowds of white-capped and turbaned young men filled lanes lined with Islamic bookshops supplying textbooks, literature and copies of the Koran. No women were on the streets.

[Noooooooooo! Remember that all cultures are equal!]

If you got the stomach, read the rest here. (Not that is not a good article, I just find the actual facts repulsive.)

Sharing a virtual snaps with Anticant over at Anticant's Arena for the tip.

Food for oil?

EU admits biofuel target problems

The European Commission is re-thinking draft rules on reaching the EU's target to boost biofuels amid strong criticism by green campaign groups and development NGOs that the goal could lead to environmental damage and social dislocation.

The commission is due on 23 January to publish legislation on the production of biofuels, aimed at promoting the use of these alternatives to oil.

In March last year, EU leaders agreed that 10 percent of transport fuels should come from biofuels by 2020, a goal the commission is now turning into concrete legislation.

But even before making the legislation public, several expert reports have highlighted the possible negative consequences of the target.

Last Friday, a group of 17 NGOs - including Oxfam and Friends of the Earth - sent a letter to EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs, asking him to introduce much tougher standards for biofuel production or give up mandatory transport biofuel targets altogether.

They argued that the existing draft legislation does not provide protection for important ecosystems, such as savannas or permanent grasslands "that may be threatened by expanding agriculture to meet the EU's biofuel target."

"Destruction of these carbon sinks would lead to large emissions of carbon into the atmosphere, thereby reducing or neutralising the benefits from growing biofuels. Neither does the draft text provide any safeguards to protect water and soil resources," they said in a statement.

They also noted that "large scale biofuel production can cause negative indirect or knock-on impacts such as increasing food and feed prices and increasing water scarcity which would lead to negative impacts on the world's poor," in line with earlier studies by a number of experts on the issue.

Link

It's like... NO SHIT SHERLOCK! When even the greens are beginning to protest about "Bio Fuel" then there has to be something utterly wrong with the whole concept. Not really a surprise for you and me, but the nuckle headed politicians still not get it! There is no way to get around the fact that using energy will produce CO2- in what ever fashion you try to do it...

Then there is the factor of increased poverty and famine in third world countrys. The risening of food prices in the west (an estimated 30% over the next couple of years) and of course the fact that the Orangutans soon will be extinct because of "bio fuel" production.

Let my brothers and sisters live!

Mark Steyn: Capitalism is the real 'agent of change'

This past week's issue of the Economist has a heart-rending vignette from one of the most ruthlessly capitalist industries on the planet:

"In 2006 EMI, the world's fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free."

"That was the moment we realized the game was completely up," an EMI exec told the magazine. In the United States, album sales in 2007 were down 19 percent from 2006. Don't blame me. I still buy plenty of CDs. But that's because I like Doris Day, and every time I try to insert one of these newfangled MP3s into my fax machine it doesn't seem to play. But if you're not Mister Squaresville, and you dig whatever caterwauling beat combo those London hep cats are digging on their iPods, chances are you find the local record store about as groovy as the Elks Lodge.

Now there are generally two reactions to the above story. If you're like me, you're reminded yet again why you love capitalism. It's dynamic. And the more capitalist your economy, the more dynamic it is. Every great success story is vulnerable to the next great success story – which is why teenagers aren't picking their CDs from the Sears-Roebuck catalog. There's a word for this. Now let me see. What was it again?

Oh, yeah: "change." Innovation drives change, the market drives change. Government "change" just drives things away: You could ask many of the New Hampshire primary voters who formerly resided in Massachusetts.

Link

Think what you will about the opinions Steyn has in the rest of the article. My point here is that the abowe paragraphes are pointing out a very sustantial flaw in the market when it's the market (record music companys) and not the market powers (you and me) that's setting the agenda. Infallably, when there are new ways of getting anything that you want- cheaper, faster and better- the consumers will turn to this option. And that is what the record industry have failed to understand.

I'm not defending piracy file sharing morally, but the record industry have failed to understand what the consumers want's and now are making use of unethical methods to stop something that is unstoppable. They have made their own bed. And as you sew you may reap!

Besides the fact that the music I want is virtually impossible to get my hands on, at least not with out a lot of effort, and the fact that a CD costs $ 25- 50 here, there is also the factor of the record companies taking in the big bucks- not the artists themselves.

A lot of artists have come to the conclusion that it is easier to make money by letting people download their music over the internet, bypassing the vulturic record companies, many times for free (like Stuck Mojo) and has not only got a lot of attention, but also have got them the opportunity to tour and make concerts which in my mind should be the primary way of an artist to make money.

DRM, platform specific music files e t c will drag the industry in to the sewers. The costumers has seen this coming a mile away. Where is the brains in the record industry? The wheel is turning, but the hamster's not there!

(As a side note I can tell you that I myself once was an owner of a very small record company- that was before internet exploded...)

The Moral Instinct

This article in The New York Times is very interesting. Be warned- it's very long but has some very good points to it. A little teaser follows.

Which of the following people would you say is the most admirable: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Norman Borlaug? And which do you think is the least admirable? For most people, it’s an easy question. Mother Teresa, famous for ministering to the poor in Calcutta, has been beatified by the Vatican, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and ranked in an American poll as the most admired person of the 20th century. Bill Gates, infamous for giving us the Microsoft dancing paper clip and the blue screen of death, has been decapitated in effigy in “I Hate Gates” Web sites and hit with a pie in the face. As for Norman Borlaug . . . who the heck is Norman Borlaug?

Yet a deeper look might lead you to rethink your answers. Borlaug, father of the “Green Revolution” that used agricultural science to reduce world hunger, has been credited with saving a billion lives, more than anyone else in history. Gates, in deciding what to do with his fortune, crunched the numbers and determined that he could alleviate the most misery by fighting everyday scourges in the developing world like malaria, diarrhea and parasites. Mother Teresa, for her part, extolled the virtue of suffering and ran her well-financed missions accordingly: their sick patrons were offered plenty of prayer but harsh conditions, few analgesics and dangerously primitive medical care.

It’s not hard to see why the moral reputations of this trio should be so out of line with the good they have done. Mother Teresa was the very embodiment of saintliness: white-clad, sad-eyed, ascetic and often photographed with the wretched of the earth. Gates is a nerd’s nerd and the world’s richest man, as likely to enter heaven as the proverbial camel squeezing through the needle’s eye. And Borlaug, now 93, is an agronomist who has spent his life in labs and nonprofits, seldom walking onto the media stage, and hence into our consciousness, at all.

[...]

The Tripartite Threat of Radical Islam to Europe

After the 2004 Madrid bombings, the 2005 London attacks, and the myriad terrorist plots thwarted over the last few years, commentators and policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic have come to the realization that Europe faces an enormous challenge from terrorism of Islamist inspiration. Yet terrorism is only the tip of the iceberg, the most visible manifestation of a larger problem. Europe faces today a tripartite threat from radical Islam, of which the terrorist is only the most immediate and evident, but not necessarily the most dangerous one.

The European Islamist Pyramid

This tripartite threat can be visualized as a pyramid. At the top of it are the violent jihadists, a few thousand individuals scattered throughout the continent who openly challenge the societies they live in, and are willing to spill blood to achieve their goals. Below them are what can be defined "peaceful revolutionaries," groups and networks that openly express their opposition to any system of government that does not strictly conform to shari'a (Islamic law), yet do not, at least openly, directly resort to violent means to further their agenda. Finally, the base, the largest section of the pyramid, is occupied by groups that publicly purport to support democracy and the integration of Muslim communities within the European mainstream, but quietly work to radicalize Europe's Muslim population.

Each of these aspects of radical Islam has a different presence, structure and modus operandi. Each, consequently, presents a different kind of challenge to European policymakers and intelligence agencies. And while Europeans are finally paying attention to the jihadist threat and have devised solutions to contain it, there is only a limited understanding of the other two threats.

Read the rest

How many?

I'm not against immigration. Heck! In statistics I do not count as a Swede, even though I'm born and raised here. People should be allowed to come here if they want to and can support themselves. The problem in many cases is that they don't!

2000 - 58.659
2001 - 60.795
2002 - 64.087
2003 - 63.795
2004 - 62.028
2005 - 65.229
2006 - 95.750
2007 Over a 100 000 people!

That's the official statistics- people having got a "personnummer"-(social security number- sort of). Then there are of course an uncounted number of illegal aliens living in Sweden.

Let's do a comparasion. New York city has about the same number of people that the whole of Sweden has. Let's say that 100 000 immigrants came to the city every year, most of them with no way of supporting themselves. Most of them muslims- in a country that does not want to assimilate them, but to "integrate" them, leaving them no option than to keep up the kind of lifestyles they originally fled from! There are whole parts of citys, or even citys themselves now that only has a few Swedes living in them. That's the crazy part. If you ask an Iraqi with Swedish citizenship what nationality he has, he will infallably answer you "I'm an Iraqi".

I'm not blaming the immigrants, but the politicians- especially the socialists that over a number of years have used pollicies of "importing" ever more people- primary muslims- because that's where they get their wotes from! It's just a modern form of slave trade- with the taxpayers paying the bill!

A very good article from Michael J. Totten

[...]

“The Al Qaeda organization is like a mafia or any other secret organization in the world,” Ahmed said. “If you enroll in that organization, that's it. You're gone. Nobody can get you out of that business. You're lost. It's a matter of trapping the man after letting him in. Then he's trapped, he's lost forever. He cannot go back because the Al Qaeda organization will get him.”

They are not just like a mafia. They are also like a murderous cult.

“The Al Qaeda organization has a core philosophy,” Ahmed continued. “When you join the Al Qaeda organization the first thing you have to do is get your parents far away from your mind. Your father and mother have to be away from your thinking. There can be nothing else. Only the Al Qaeda organization. Your kids, your wife, your family, your parents, your beliefs, all have to be out. Only then can you enroll in the Al Qaeda organization.”

But what is the root to the cause? Which came first- the hen or the egg? Is al- quaeda the product of mad men or is the mad men the product of islam? You be the judge!

Link

Aahhh- What do I know...

Victory for topless bathers

A swimming pool in northern Sweden has said it will allow women to bathe topless, following a campaign by feminists.

A spokesman for the pool, part of Sundsvall's municipal leisure centre, said that employees there had decided they would not act if women tried to bathe semi-naked.

"We're used to naked people. Nobody cares," Per-Erik Ulander told local paper Dagbladet, adding that women could still be asked to cover up if other bathers take offence.

The Bara Bröst network - which translates both as 'bare breasts' and 'just breasts' - last year started its campaign for women to be allowed to swim without tops by stripping off at a pool in Uppsala. The protesters were ejected from the pool. Since then, campaigners have launched protest actions across the country, which have usually resulted in them being asked to leave.

The decision by the pool is the first real victory for the group, which has around 40 members.

"This is positive," said group member Ragnhild Karlsson to news agency TT.

The group faced a setback in November after the Swedish sexual equality ombudsman (Jämo) ruled that it was not discriminatory for women to be banned from bare-breasted bathing. Karlsson rejected the ombudsman's conclusions:

"The only sensible thing is to have the same rule for men as for women. If women can't be without a top, then men shouldn't get away with it either," she said.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

Usually I don't like MSF movements but I'm all for this! Out of respect for (some) of my readers, I will not post any pictures of how it looked (I'm sure you can find them with a little googeling). I come from a part of the world where nudity is seemed as something natural and not noteworthy (in some places, like a sauna, we don't go around naked all the time. The arctic temperatures would not be good for your self esteem. At least not if you're a man...).

Sunbathing topless is concidered perfectly normal on the beaches in Europe, so why not at indoor swimmingpools?

Women bodys are sexually arousing because they are covered up- not the other way around! That's why muslim men tends to start drooling over an exposed ancle! They are sexually frustrated to the point that a exposed belly button for them is an invitation for a gang rape!

So give me more bare breasts. They are NOT a sexual organ. But I like them anyway, and given time I would stop staring I'm sure... Well maybe not.

Repost

I was looking through some old posts and this one is too good to be overlooked. Video

Swedish media have a secret. "Svenska hemligheter"

I do not entirely concur with the message of this video, but to much is true to be overlooked.

Video here!

Also here is another video that has an interesting message.

Disclaimer: I'm not sure who is behind these videos. It might very well be somebody that has diametrical opposed wievs from mine, but they are informative and they are also true to the message as far as I can conclude. Watch them and make up your own mind...

I'm a naughty little polluter

As I've recently learned, the US supreme court has descided that the naturally occurring gas CO2 is a pollutant!

Oooooooh- The HORROR!

I will never exhale again!

Fear of al-Qaida attack cancels Dakar Rally

The annual Dakar Rally was canceled Friday on the eve of the race because of terror threats and the recent slaying of a French family in Mauritania that was blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants.

Competitors stand near their cars as the organizers, ASO (Amaury Sport Organization) decided to cancel the Dakar Rally on the eve of the race in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday.
Photo: AP

It was the first time in the 30-year history of the automobile, motorbike and truck race across the Sahara Desert that it has been called off.

In a statement, organizers blamed international tensions, the tourists' Dec. 24 murders and "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations."

"No other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken," they said.

France, where the race organizers are based, had urged the rally to avoid Mauritania after the slaying of the four family members in an attack blamed on a terror cell that uses the Mauritanian desert as a hideout.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner praised the decision.

"In our opinion, in a complicated geographical context - and above all in a context of insufficient security - it seems very wise to have chosen security, and I commend them for it," he told France-Info radio.

Link

Well- what do you know. A French foreign minister that lay's down on his back. Surprise! But yes, it is probably wise to cancel the rally. But whos fault is it really? The presbyritans? The catholics? The protestants? The hindus?-HUH?

Well where are you- how are you?

Apparently National Geographic is concerned over the climat changes and are worried that the polar bears in Finland is on the way to extinction.

Ohh the horror! Considering that the only polar bears in Finland is being kept in ZOO:s...

On a side note- the polar bears ARE extinct in Sweden. The last one lived here over 10 000 years ago!

Thank you algore and CO for enlightening us!

Druggies left to die?

Washington State has a law allowing prosecutors to impose a special homicide charge on people who supply drugs to overdose victims. The problem is that the law itself may be causing more overdose deaths.

The state of Washington's position is clear: If someone calls 911 when a friend is overdosing, not only does the witness risk charges for possessing or selling drugs (which 911 callers in these situations have feared since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act), but he or she could be charged with homicide, too. The end result? Overdose victims—who might survive with prompt medical care—may be abandoned and left to die.

"It goes in the wrong direction and cuts against overdose prevention, overdose reporting, and taking someone to the hospital," says defense attorney Hiatt. "If I give you the drugs, I'll be less likely to take you to the hospital."

Well now, I'm no drug abuser- if you don't count salty/salmiac liqourice as a drug- but if I ever overdosed on the candy (which can be done) I really would like my buddy to get me hospitalized, without him being charged with attempted murder, riscing a capital punishment for he's "wrongdoings".

Drinking to much water can kill you (one way or another)- so by logic that means that every tap in the world should be sentenced to death? Or at least the municipal politicians that legislate thingys like this...

I don't know. But I think "The war on drugs" has become a "War on slugs". Meaning that the only ones getting punished are either the addicts or the prime source, namely poor farmers in third world country's.

Shees!

The great fall of China

The most important story to come out of Washington recently had nothing to do with the endless presidential campaign. And although the media largely ignored it, the story changes the world.

The story's unlikely source was the staid World Bank, which published updated statistics on the economic output of 146 countries. China's economy, said the bank, is smaller than it thought.

About 40% smaller.

China, it turns out, isn't a $10-trillion economy on the brink of catching up with the United States. It is a $6-trillion economy, less than half our size. For the foreseeable future, China will have far less money to spend on its military and will face much deeper social and economic problems at home than experts previously believed.

So one of "the fastest growing markets on the earth" is not growing as fast as some would like it to be. Of course this has obviously nothing to do with the fact that China still is a totalitarian regime run by a dictatorship with it's roots in the legacy of the megalomaniac a- hole mao? (which by the way sounds more like a kitten being kicked that a proper name!).

The other day I saw a guy with a che tatoo on his arm. I asked him politely if I could sand paper it off and offered to beat him uncontious as an anasthetic. He did not take the offering and he really did not get it either!

We are so red in this country that even the blues are pink...

Palestinians who prefer Israel

[...]

Financial considerations: "I don't want to have any part in the PA. I want the health insurance, the schools, all the things we get by living here," says Ranya Mohammed. "I'll go and live in Israel before I'll stay here and live under the PA, even if it means taking an Israeli passport. I have seen their suffering in the PA. We have a lot of privileges I'm not ready to give up."

Law and order: Gazans, note Israeli-Arab journalists Faiz Abbas and Muhammad Awwad, now "miss the Israelis, since Israel is more merciful than [the Palestinian gunmen] who do not even know why they are fighting and killing one another. It's like organized crime."

Raising children: "I want to live in peace and to raise my children in an orderly school," says Jamil Sanduqa. "I don't want to raise my child on throwing stones, or on Hamas."

A more predictable future: "I want to keep living here with my wife and child without having to worry about our future. That's why I want Israeli citizenship. I don't know what the future holds," says Samar Qassam, 33.

Others raise concerns about corruption, human rights, and even self-esteem ("When the Jews talk about swapping me, it's as though they are denying my right to be a person").

Daniel Pipes in the Jerusalem post

Last week two polls were publiciced that shows that the "palestinians" in Israeli "occupied territories" does not want to be subjected to "palestinian" ruling. The poll from Keevoon Research, Strategy & Communications shows that 62% wants to remain under Israelian ruling rather than being under PA ruling.

An other poll concludes that 78% of the "palestinians" is opposed to the transfer of the triangle to PA.

Not a real surprise there is it?