400,000 Murdered In Darfur ...

... And British academics are boycotting Israel?



This has been a good week for the Islamic Republic of Britain. Making all the right decisions there, boys.

H/t Darcey

Inflation As Theft: Wisdom From A Disgraced Former Man Of Reason

Infinite Unknown:

“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. … This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists’ tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists’ antagonism toward the gold standard.”

--Alan Greenspan

You can call it "quantitative easing" or you can call it "inflation" but, regardless of its name, it is nothing more than theft.

We're headed for hyperinflation over the next four or five years. This is especially true for the United States although we will hardly be exempt from the repercussions of their government's terrible mismanagement of money in Canada.

Keep that in mind when you're making decisions regarding your stock portfolio and are considering chasing the American dollar. As Peter Schiff says, the United States is the Titanic, financially speaking. All you can do is point survivors to the life boats.


UPDATE: Miserable little traitor

Geert Wilders's Presence In UK Would "Threaten Community Harmony" & "Public Security"

The following is the verbatim letter sent to Geert Wilders instructing him that he is no longer welcome to visit the United Kingdom as the result of his views on Islam.

Dear Mr Wilders

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the Secretary of State is of the view that your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society. The Secretary of State is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.

You are advised that should you travel to the UK and seek admission an Immigration Officer will take into account the Secretary of State's view. If, in accordance with regulation 21 of the immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, the Immigration Officer is satisfied that your exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy and/or public security, you will be refused admission to the UK under regulation 19. You would have a right of appeal against any refusal of admission, exercisable from outside the UK.

Yours sincerely,

Irving N. Jones

On behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department (*)

As John Derbyshire puts it:

Persons with incorrect opinions will not be admitted to the U.K., even if they are elected members of another nation's parliament. Nothing, nothing must be allowed if it gives offense to Muslims.

What fresh hell have we stumbled into here?

BREAKING: Geert Wilders Refused Entry Into Britain

Dutch MP Geert Wilders of Fitna fame has been refused entry into Britain, once again offering what is left of the free world a clear demonstration that the United Kingdom is traveling down the road to multi-culturally relativistic anti-western totalitarianism.

IFPS:

Dutch Right-wing politician and controversial anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders has been refused entry to the United Kingdom despite being invited to visit by a member of the House of Lords, the British parliament’s upper chamber.

Mr Wilders, who was due to go to London this Thursday, received a letter today, 10 February, from the British ambassador to the Netherlands telling him that he was not welcome, reportedly because his visit would constitute a threat to public order.

Losing our spines to save our necks. How revolting.

I can only reiterate my support for the words of Sam Harris who enunciated the real issue at work in the Geert Wilders controversy so very clearly:

Wilders, like Westergaard and the other Danish cartoonists, has been widely vilified for "seeking to inflame" the Muslim community. Even if this had been his intention, this criticism represents an almost supernatural coincidence of moral blindness and political imprudence. The point is not (and will never be) that some free person spoke, or wrote, or illustrated in such a manner as to inflame the Muslim community. The point is that only the Muslim community is combustible in this way. The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation of this psychopathic skewing of priorities has, more and more, taken the form of craven and blinkered acquiescence.

There is an uncanny irony here that many have noticed. The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for "racism" and "Islamophobia."(*)

Report To British Government: School Is No Place For Patriotism

England is screwed. First it was the "anti-Islamic activities" debacle, and now this:

Patriotism should be avoided in school lessons because British history is “morally ambiguous”, a leading educational body recommends.

History and citizenship lessons should stick to the bare facts rather than encouraging loyalty to Britain when covering subjects such as the Second World War or the British Empire, the Institute of Education researchers said. Teachers should not instill pride in what they consider great moments of British history, as more shameful episodes could be downplayed or excluded.

No, this is not a joke. British teachers aren't sure England was completely justified fighting that "morally ambiguous" bloke Hitler in World War II. I can't even summon up the usual vitriol. I'm just flabbergasted.

Three quarters of teachers felt obliged to tell students about the danger of patriotism. The survey suggested neither pupils nor teachers wanted patriotism endorsed by schools.

...

The report criticises the current drive to use citizenship lessons as a way of promoting pride in being British and developing a sense of belonging. It said: “To love what is corrupt is itself corrupting, not least because it inclines us to ignore, forget, forgive or excuse the corruption. And there’s the rub for patriotism.

“Countries are morally ambiguous entities: they are what they are by virtue of their histories.”

The authors added: “It is hard to think of a national history free from the blights of warmongering, imperialism, tyranny, injustice, slavery and subjugation, or a national identity forged without recourse to exclusionary and xenophobic stereotypes.”

...

“Are countries really appropriate objects of love? Loving things can be bad for us, for example when the things we love are morally corrupt. Since all national histories are at best morally ambiguous, it’s an open question whether citizens should love their countries.”

The institute - part of the University of London – asked nearly 300 pupils aged 13 to 14, and 47 teachers, in 20 London schools, how patriotism should be handled. About 94 per cent of teachers and 77 per cent of teenagers said that schools should give a balanced presentation of opposing views. Fewer than 10 per cent felt patriotism should be actively promoted.

However, 19 per cent of teachers and 16 per cent of teenagers thought schools should support patriotic views when expressed by pupils.The historian Tristram Hunt said of the institute’s report: “I think it’s a very immature approach to the topic. The point is not whether history was right or wrong from a 21st Century liberal-left perspective. It’s about teaching students to understand the mindset and context of our forebears.

“The real problem isn’t that our children are being indoctrinated with patriotism, but that they don’t know enough British history."

Frightening stuff, my friends.

H/t Ace

Harper Steps Up Pressure On NATO Allies

I didn't post on it yesterday but I'm sure most of you know by now anyway; Jack Layton has been telling reporters that Canada and our international coalition isn't strong enough to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan and so we need to run away. I know it sounds like I'm giving the story Conservative spin but that's nearly a direct quotation.

According to The Star, this is Layton's official position on Afghanistan:

The Taliban cannot be defeated by international troops and there's no point continuing to fight an unwinnable war in Afghanistan.

What a noble man. As the story mentions, it's clear that Layton is thinking about the next election and trying to corner the market on the anti-war vote by painting himself as the only true coward of the three major parties. Dion, who has been characteristically back and forth on the mission, says that he at least supports the troops as long as they're there whereas Layton's policy calls for a complete and immediate withdrawal from the country.

His logic is flawless: lets engage in tooth and nail warfare in a foreign country full of terrorists for a couple of years, wait until the country's deeply entrenched in violent conflict, and then leave before any real progress has been made to watch them sort out the mess themselves. And the NDP are the party of compassion? What about the Afghani men and women who don't feel like being slaughtered by the Taliban, Jack? Got any compassion in that great big heart of yours for them?

On the other hand, Harper has been glorious as always and has been stepping up his pressure on major NATO allies to supply 1,000 more troops for the Kandahar region in southern Afghanistan. Reportedly, he talked to President Bush about it for 20 minutes yesterday and he's calling British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today.

The National Post reports:

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper escalated diplomatic pressure on Canada's NATO allies yesterday, warning Britain's Gordon Brown that Canada will end its combat mission in Afghanistan next year unless the military alliance supplies 1,000 more troops for southern Afghanistan.

For the second consecutive day, Mr. Harper pressed a major Canadian ally to step up cooperation, calling the British Prime Minister the day after he delivered the same message to U.S. President George W. Bush in a 20-minute telephone call.

Mr. Harper briefed both leaders on last week's report of the independent Manley panel and its core ultimatum: Canada will end its combat operations in Kandahar by February, 2009, unless its allies provide another 1,000 troops and much-needed military hardware.

"Without that, Canada's mission will end in a year's time," said a statement from Mr. Harper's chief spokeswoman Sandra Buckler.

The Prime Minister has been aggressively defending the mission since the Manley Report was released and he's made it clear that he's sticking to his guns regardless of dissent from the NDP and, to a lesser extent, the Liberals. Layton and Dion seem to think the key to the next election will be the anti-war, or at least the soft-on-the-war, ballot but as things get better and better in Iraq, popular opinion should swing around towards creating stability in the Middle East just in time for the next Canadian federal election.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is next on Mr. Harper's call list, before he moves on to tougher challenges such as the leaders of Germany and France.

NATO is supportive of the Manley report and has pledged to help Canada find the support it needs to keep its 2,500 combat troops in Kandahar.

Britain will also get a firsthand briefing today when its Foreign Office Minister, Kim Howells, visits Ottawa for meetings with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and senior Foreign Affairs officials.

Story from Bourque News