Hot Times at the SPECTRE Hoedown!

Number 1, Ernst Blofeld, was there in the flesh and he was foaming at the mouth:

The Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal was "a moment of truth" for the United States as severe as the September 11 terrorist attacks, billionaire financier George Soros told a gathering of liberal activists yesterday.

Yikes, how could I have missed it! Hmm, maybe Georgie is spending a bit too much time watching nekkid pictures?

"The picture of torture in Saddam's prison was a moment of truth for us," Mr. Soros said. "I think that those pictures hit us the same way as the terrorist attack itself. Not quite with the same force, because in the terrorist attack, we were the victims. In the pictures, we were the perpetrators and others were the victims."

George seems confused, but then we knew that. I wonder what he thought of real torture where anatomical portions are removed or mutilated, like Saddam and his kids used to enjoy. He probably called it "high impact yoga".

There was some fecal matter in the punch bowl though. He had been introduced by the junior Senator from New York who has to at least pay lip service to the concept of patriotism. Thus Soros' 9/11 Zing Chills Hill:

Last night, Clinton's spokesman said, "Sen. Clinton doesn't believe that 9/11 is comparable to anything else."

The chilly statement contrasted with Clinton's warm praise of Soros immediately before his speech, as she introduced him at a meeting of the Campaign for America's Future.

Calling him "fearless," she commended him for spending $15 million of his own money to defeat the president.

Her Heinous obviously meant "rich".

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:33 AM -

 
What a hoot!

Spain - from New to Old Europe in 100 days:

In case you wonder if Europe is truly screwed: the Spanish Prime Minister José Zapatero has awarded medals - Cross of Military Merit - to his Defence Minister and three generals, not for anything as mundane as bravery or distinguished service, but... wait for it... for withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq!

The controversy that consequently erupted, has forced the Defence Minister to hand his medal back, but if the trend catches on across the continent we can surely expect the French to introduce the new Médaille pour la Collaboration.

Don't anybody tell Lurch!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:42 AM -

 
Ignore the man behind the curtain!

Blogger seems to have made an "enhancement" in the last 24 hours resulting in the whitespace above. It'll likely be a while until I fix it or they do.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:33 AM -

 
And speaking of useless wankers

Mark Steyn has some fun with the perpetually clueless Polly Toynbee - A broadside in the war on blubber:

Just for a change in the old columnar diet, I thought I'd weigh in on Britain's obesity epidemic. But, on closer inspection, the war on blubber seems to be the war on terror by other means. In the Guardian, for example, Polly Toynbee had no hesitation in deciding on the root cause: "America has by far the most unequal society and by far the fattest," she wrote. "Britain and Australia come next. Europe is better and the Scandinavian countries best of all. No doubt there are also social policy reasons for this: the best social democracies pick up family problems earliest... But the narrower the status and income gap between high and low, the narrower the waistbands."

Plenty to chew on there. Just for the record, the fattest people in the world aren't the Americans but our Commonwealth cousins in the Pacific - the hearty trenchermen of Nauru lolling atop their island of guano deposits. Still, there are 300 million Americans and a mere 10,000 Nauruans, and if you stuck every single one in a New Jersey mall no one would even notice. So let that go.

Also, when it comes to Ms Toynbee's "income gap", the United States is 41st in the world, the United Kingdom 63rd and Australia 74th. But OK, by Fleet Street standards of pundit accuracy, that's close enough. Oh, and the Greeks have less income inequality than the British, but are much fatter. And the country with the highest obesity mortality rate in the world is apparently Denmark. Don't ask me why. I saw a report at the weekend detailing the remarkable rise in Danish breast size over the past two decades, so maybe it's sweaty Danish fat guys keeling over at the sight of all that fabulous Jutland cleavage.
...
This has been a barely disguised subtext of the new war ever since 9/11. In February 2002, Salman Rushdie reported back to New York Times readers his experience of metropolitan dinner parties. "In the non-American west, the main objection seems to be to American people. Night after night, I have found myself listening to Londoners' diatribes against the sheer weirdness of the American citizenry. The attacks on America are routinely discounted. American patriotism, obesity, emotionality, self-centredness: these are the crucial issues."

Well yee haw! And don't forget the guns and pickup trucks. Big honking scary guns and huge smoke belching pickups. Now if we could only ship out the native sack cloth and ashes crowd to join their whining Euro chums, everyone would be happy! Hmm, here's the first candidate:

That's why Michael Moore makes such a perfect performing seal for the European intellectual class: the vast bulk of his credibility derives from his vast bulk; to the sophisticates at Cannes, he's their very own Uncle Tom who growed like Topsy.

Good riddance.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:28 AM -

 
George Soros has a SPECTRE hoedown!

Yep, it's the big shindig for the minions this week in Washington at the "Take Back America" conference. The opening act was tin foil beanie wearing Julian Bond, the NAACP Chairman, who fired up the crowd by comparing Republicans to terrorists. The prime movers of MoveOn, Joan and Wes, were there too but were snoozers compared to ole Julian. But it's all a preface for Number 1 who'll be speaking today. And Her Heinous will introduce him.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:17 AM -

 
Lurch is always a class act

Kerry 'Flips Off' Vietnam Vet

Democratic senator - and certain presidential nominee - John F. Kerry gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning, NewsMax.com has learned.

I guess we're lucky Lurch didn't moon him too.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:05 AM -

 
Don't bother asking me how much I care what the Frenchies think

Bush warned against comparing D-Day to Iraq

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:00 AM -

 
Here's a shock!

New York Times Streak of Page One Stories on Abu Ghraib ends at 32 Days!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:51 AM -

 
George Soros' Flying Monkeys Arrive

Ohio county provides microcosm of US race

On weekends, Republican volunteers have been hitting the streets, local foot soldiers in a statewide grassroots effort that the campaign says is the most extensive ever by the GOP in the Buckeye State.
...
Arrayed against the Republican volunteers are paid canvassers bearing hand-held computers who go door-to-door almost daily for America Coming Together, a controversial new political entity that the Republican Party tried unsuccessfully to have ruled illegal. Though ACT is technically independent, the organization to date has served as a proxy field organization for Senator John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Known as a "527" -- the section of the tax code under which these advocacy groups exist -- ACT intends to spend $95 million, donated mostly by millionaire activists, to turn out anti-Bush voters in Ohio and 16 other swing states.

"It will be the most sophisticated voter mobilization effort in history by either party," said Sarah Leonard, a spokeswoman for ACT.

In the past few weeks, the Kerry campaign has deployed a dozen staff members in Ohio to begin its own organizational effort, but ACT opened for business in Ohio last September, about four months before a single caucus or primary vote was cast for the Democratic nomination.

I'm sure glad we had campaign finance reform, otherwise we wouldn't have all those "independent" 527's to help us make up our minds.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:31 AM -

 
Trouble in Euroland

European Union Newcomers Anger France, Germany With Tax Cuts

The European Union's newest members are using corporate tax cuts to win a bigger share of investment in Europe, and putting pressure on French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to consider tax reductions to spur growth and increase employment.

Companies including Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker, France's PSA Peugeot Citroen and Siemens AG, Germany's biggest engineering company, are building factories and hiring workers in the eight Eastern European countries that joined the EU on May 1. The median tax rate in those nations is 19 percent, half that of Germany and compared with 34 percent in France.

Lower taxes! Wotta concept - no wonder the Euroburos are cranky!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:43 AM -

 
It's another of those pesky nuanced types!

If you're nostalgic for the high pitched whines from the Swedish Crapsack, you're in luck! Blix's Endorsement: Another foreign leader for Kerry:

Then on Tuesday a friend sent us the following excerpt from an interview published Monday in the Italian newspaper La Stampa:

Q: "Are you tracking the U.S. Presidential campaign?"

Mr. Blix: "I place my trust in the multilateralism of Democratic candidate John Kerry. And in any event, I think that the whole world should vote on 2 November because so much depends on the outcome of that vote."

Hans has about as firm a grasp of voting laws as he did on Saddam's weapons programs. In recent memory, has there been anyone working in a prominent position at the United Nations who had any clue whatsoever? Silly me, clue lack is likely a job requirement.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:05 AM -