J. M. Verville

This flies in the face of what most sources put at it:

What really is behind the numbers reported on the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip? Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported Thursday that a doctor working in Gaza’s Shifa Hospital claimed that Hamas has intentionally inflated the number of casualties resulting from Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. 

“The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter,” according to the newspaper article. 

Ynet

It makes sense why he woudl choose to remain anonymous when we see that Hamas will occasionally shoot people for celebrating weddings with music… Of course they would shoot any credible source that stands against their propaganda machine of lies. (more…)

Of course, the guy has nothing to do with Gaza yet he is prepared to cancel his interview… Pshaw:

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — The head of the U.N. nuclear agency canceled interviews with the BBC over its refusal to air an appeal for victims of the Gaza conflict, saying Wednesday that the decision violated “basic human decency.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei added an influential voice to growing criticism of Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster, which says airing the appeal would have damaged its impartiality in coverage of the conflict.

ElBaradei’s office said he had canceled scheduled interviews with BBC radio and World Service television because he believes the broadcaster’s refusal to air the appeal “violates the rules of basic human decency which are there to help vulnerable people irrespective of who is right or wrong.”

AP

The BBC produces enough bleeding hearts over their coverage of Gaza. It is pretty odd to think that the news stories themselves do not speak enough concerning the suffering of the Gaza people… And… Uh, Hamas. (more…)

If other news about the economy was not bad enough…

World economic growth is set to fall to just 0.5% this year, its lowest rate since World War II, warns the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In October, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 2.2% in 2009.

It now projects the UK, which recently entered recession, will see its economy shrink by 2.8% next year, the worst contraction among advanced nations.

The IMF says financial markets remain under stress and the global economy has taken a “sharp turn for the worse”.

In another gloomy view of the UK economy, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Britain would be saddled with government debt for more than 20 years.

IFS director Robert Chote warned that spending would have to be cut or taxes raised by more than planned to allow public finances to recover.

Boom & bust, boom & bust.

Now the evil ‘t’ word has reared its head and who knows? Will the people have the courage to say “No, not really. How about we make the lazy people work?” (more…)

This is something hard for non-believers to understand:

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday addressed for the first time the uproar over his decision to rehabilitate a Holocaust-denying bishop, expressing solidarity with Jews and strongly condemning Holocaust denial.

Naturally, the Pope then goes on in his statements to show entire love and respect for our Jewish brethren. But more of the story:

 On Saturday, the pope revoked the excommunication of four schismatic bishops from a traditionalist sect, including Bishop Richard Williamson, who in an interview broadcast in Sweden last week and widely available online said he believed that no more than 300,000 Jews perished during World War II, none of them in gas chambers.

NY Times (more…)

You know you are in trouble when 29% of your country has AIDS and the Communists are about to take over:

SOUTH AFRICA’S ruling African National Congress (ANC) has veered sharply to the left and will go into elections, expected to be held in April, with a manifesto largely dictated by the country’s Communist party, according to senior party officials.

Under Jacob Zuma, its new leader, it has quietly adopted a radical platform of social policies which the business community claim are unaffordable.

The ANC already promises a free allowance of water and electricity to all and has introduced the largest welfare state ever seen in a developing country, with more than 40% of the population in receipt of state handouts.

Under the influence of its firebrand new secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, a former leader of the mine-workers’ union and chairman of the South African Communist party, it is adopting policies and rhetoric based on left-wing states such as Cuba and Venezuela. (more…)

Oh, boy — the country has issues but let’s hope we are not seeing them try to solve them by adopting policies that we know do not work:

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivians approved a new constitution Sunday and handed a victory to populist President Evo Morales in his campaign to establish a new economic and political order in Latin America’s poorest nation, preliminary results indicated.

Television stations reporting early vote counts projected voters had approved the constitution, 60% to 40%, in the national referendum. A simple majority is needed to approve the constitution.

…

But preliminary results didn’t appear to indicate the overwhelming victory Mr. Morales’s party wanted. The projected 60% support would be enough to prevent opposition leaders from contesting the results, but illustrates how the country remains sharply divided. The margin of victory appeared to be less than a recall election in August, which Mr. Morales won with 67% of the vote.

If Morales is losing popularity as he goes, it is a good sign that the people are now more and more skeptical of the changes that he is bringing. Which, to say the least, is a breath of fresh air for a region trying to have a democratic, socialist revolution which has left many of us conservatives more than a little skeptical and ho-hum.

But really, I did not see it going anywhere else.

Socialism, when given the chance, will always fall flat on its face. It requires little to no pushing from behind from other nations.

The new constitution seeks to give the central government greater control over natural resources and “decolonize” the country by redistributing wealth and recognizing new rights for Bolivia’s majority indigenous population.

It also will allow Mr. Morales to run for another five-year term in general elections planned for December.

Bolivian political analyst George Gray Molina said despite flaws, the document may be a step towards uniting the divided country.

“What most Bolivians want and what I think we need is a hybrid constitution that can juggle liberal democratic values and indigenous rights,” which the new constitution does, he said.

Wall Street Journal

Unfortunately, indigenous rights does not mean controlling other people’s private property; collective ownership only results in the individual having their basic rights compromised. Everyone starts wearing the majority around their leg like a ball & chain.

Needless to say, collectivization of the economy has never resulted in long-term improvements for the people. Rather, it results in a long-term socialist stagnation where people are kept afloat by and dependent upon a government which has increasing power in their lives.

If the Bolivians are not careful they might find themselves in a similar position as the Venezuelans, whose conservative private schools are threatened to be shut down, or the Cubans, who have little to no free speech.

One good thing we are seeing out of Obama is a degree of moderation on his stance concerning emissions, falling much in line with the Bush administration:

President Barack Obama plans to call on the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to consider allowing states including California to regulate automobile greenhouse-gas emissions, said people familiar with the administration’s thinking.

The move will signal a major policy break from his predecessor on an issue that has divided key Democratic Party constituencies. Mr. Obama’s announcement is almost certain to spark a war between two key Democratic constituencies: environmentalists and state officials who want power to set greenhouse-gas rules, and auto makers and unions who say such rules would exacerbate the industry’s woes following the worst year of U.S. vehicle sales in more than a decade. (more…)

Politics truly is a comedy when you have talk show divas considered for replacing very serious Senatorial seats… Not even the people who run our country realize what a foolish mistake this would have been:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. Rod Blagojevich, taking his defense to television rather than his impeachment trial, lashed out at his accusers Monday and revealed he had considered naming Oprah Winfrey to Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.

The embattled governor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the idea of nominating the talk-show host came to him as he explored potential candidates for the job that federal prosecutors allege he tried to sell to the highest bidder. (more…)

Normally this is a time of growth during the December time period but, wow, this is hitting us:

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — The worst credit crisis since the Great Depression sent the U.S. economy into a tailspin at the end of 2008 as consumers and businesses retrenched, reports this week may show.

Gross domestic product contracted at a 5.5 percent annual rate from October through December, the biggest drop since 1982, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of Commerce Department figures due Jan. 30. (more…)

Obama admittedly had his heart in the right place for this one, or either he simply wanted to make a show of “fighting ear marks.” Either he is a naive junior on Washington Hill (who would’ve thought that could be the case with a 1 term Senator…) or he is the joker card trying to give you another session of parading his Hope & Change incorporated:

“‘No earmarks’ isn’t a game-ender,” said Peter Buffa, former mayor of Costa Mesa, Calif. “It just means there’s a different way of going about making sure the funding is there.”

It won’t be in legislative language that overtly sets aside money for them. That’s the infamous practice known as earmarking, which Obama and Democratic congressional leaders have agreed to nix for the massive stimulus package, expected to come up for a House vote this week. (more…)