Consider Britain's bizarre standards:

1. Enemy leader Yasser Arafat was let into Britain in 2001. Arafat was the father of modern Islamist terror against westerners. He was the leader of the Israel front of the global jihad.
2. Enemy leader Assad of Syria was let into Britain in 2002. Syria is involved in killing British soldiers.
3. Enemy leader Khatami of Iran was let into Britain in 2006. Iran is involved in killing British soldiers.
4. Enemy leader King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was let into Britain in 2007. Saudi Arabia is involved in spreading Islamist hatred throughout the world.
5. The hate-preaching chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca was let into Britain in 2009. He says the Jews "are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. God .. made them monkeys and pigs and worshippers of tyrants."

6. Anti-jihad politician Tzipi Livni, Foreign Minister of Israel, Britain's only real ally in the Middle East, is threatened with arrest if she visits Britain, 2009.
   It is interesting that previously the National Front tried to have the Israeli Prime Minister arrested when he visited the UK in 1977.

7. Anti-jihad politician Geert Wilders was banned from Britain in 2009. Wilders is the leader of one of the most popular parties in Holland. He lives under constant death threat from the jihad.
8. Anti-jihad radio host Michael Savage was banned from Britain in 2009. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country". I am no fan of Savage, but I agree with Mark Steyn who asked: "How many members of King Abdullah's entourage at the G20 summit the other week live by Jacqui Smith's "standards and values"?"

• Petition to free the US Navy SEALs

• "Support The Navy SEALs who Captured Ahmed Hashim Abed" (Facebook group)

The mutilated bodies of the Blackwater contractors killed at Fallujah in 2004 are hung from a bridge. One of them was a former US Navy SEAL. And we are meant to care if the leader of these barbaric killings is assaulted?

Former US Navy SEAL Scott Helvenston competes against a chimp in an obstacle course on a TV show. Helvenston was killed and mutilated in Fallujah in 2004.

1. Julio Huertas acquitted.
2. Jonathan Keefe acquitted.
3. Matthew McCabe acquitted.

• Barack Obama
  • In defence of Obama

• Obama's surprisingly good Nobel speech, Dec 2009. Perhaps the first good speech he has ever given.

MQ-1 Predator drone, of the type that
President Obama is using to assassinate jihadis without trial.
Despite his awful rhetoric, he's not all bad.

"Civilians killed in Iraq since Obama was elected".
The left has also begun to notice that Obama has not ended the War on Islamism.
Absurdly, they blame Obama for killings done by Islamists (just as they blamed Bush for killings done by Islamists). Why not blame the people who are actually doing the killing?

More on Obama Body Count.

• Has the BNP "reformed"?

• The BNP has screwed up the immigration debate by turning it into a debate about race, when it should be a debate about ideas.

• Abu Ghraib

• Awards
  • The Nobel Peace Prize (and its worst previous disgrace)
  • Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize 2009

• Ronald Reagan, who ended the Cold War, and dismantled the Soviet Empire, received nothing.
• George W. Bush, who deposed Saddam and the Taliban, and defeated the Iraqi resistance, got nothing.
• Barack Obama, who has achieved nothing, wins the Nobel Peace Prize 2009. This cult of worship is out of control.
• The worship of Obama
• Child worship of Obama

• The EU
• FF refused to hold a referendum on their blasphemy law.
• 1st Lisbon referendum, 2008 was ignored.
• 2nd Lisbon referendum, 2009.
• Result: Ireland knuckles under. A sad day for Europe.

• Blogs I used to read
  • Andrew Sullivan, a great blog from 2001 to 2003.
  • LGF (Charles Johnson), a great blog from 2001 to 2007.
  • The LGF blog war, 2007 onwards.

• I have dropped LGF from my RSS feeds.
• Read Robert Spencer instead.

As predicted, the doctrinaire leftist Obama is not something new and post-partisan and unifying. Rather he is partisan, divisive, and increasingly unpopular. One would never guess this from reading the European media. Consider the following:

1. Mar 2009: Bush, 2 months in, had a higher approval rating than Obama, 2 months in.
2. June 2009: It was the 2008 economic crisis that won the election for Obama, but the voters aren't impressed so far. Voters now trust the Republicans more than the Democrats on the economy. Voters trust the Republicans more on all the economic and foreign policy issues asked - the economy, taxes, national security, and Iraq.
3. July 2009: More Americans disapprove (50%) than approve (44%) of the way Obama is handling healthcare. More disapprove (49%) than approve (47%) of Obama on the economy.
4. July 2009: 38 percent of voters Strongly Disapprove of the way Obama is performing as President. Only 30 percent Strongly Approve. Just 25 percent believe Obama's "stimulus" package has helped the economy.
5. July 2009: Obama is 10th in popularity among the 12 post-WW2 presidents at this point in their tenures.

It looks like the bid for democracy in Iran has been crushed by the regime (for now). One can't help feeling that:

1. Obama didn't support them enough. (The struggle of non-westerners for freedom against non-western regimes makes little sense to his cautious, realpolitik world view.)
2. The Iranians didn't fight hard enough for their freedom. (Yes I know it's easy to say that.)

The weak, half-hearted Obama seems not to care
whether the USA's no.1 enemy is toppled or not.

Michael Rubin on Obama's "realism": "Realism is about maximizing U.S. interests. Preserving an enemy regime is not realism. It is simply stupid. We should not be throwing a lifeline to the Islamic Republic, the fall of which would enable Iran to emerge as a force for moderation in the region, and allow the Iranian people to take their rightful place among nations."

Think what Reagan would be saying right now
as the Iranians fight for their freedom against the Axis of Evil!

Andrew Klavan on Obama's weakness, 22 June 2009: "Compare, if you can bear it, President Ronald Reagan's response to the 1982 crackdown on the Polish union Solidarity by the Soviet Union: "The struggle in the world today for the hearts and minds of mankind is based on one simple question: Is man born to be free, or slave?" ... In less than a decade, in startlingly large measure because this one idea found so mighty a voice, the Soviet Union was gone."

Israeli Premier, Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with the moral clarity that Obama lacks: "The Iranian regime oppresses is own people. ... The Iranian peoples' courage in their search for liberty is something that deserves notice from free men."

Mousavi is an Islamist thug (as are the other "opposition" leaders Karroubi and Kadivar). But this is bigger than Mousavi or any "opposition" figure. These are the biggest protests in Iran since the 1979 revolution. This could (let's hope!) spiral out of control. This could bring down the Islamic regime itself.

The 1979 Iranian regime falling would be perhaps the greatest event in the world since the fall of the Soviet Empire in 1989. It would be by far the greatest event of Obama's presidency. It would remove the nuclear threat to Israel and Europe. It would remove the sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah and Syria, and the killer of American and British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would deal a mortal blow to Islamism and jihadism worldwide.

Everyone should verbally support the revolt. Though after the bloodbath in Iraq when the West tried to help the Iraqis, no one is directly going to help the Iranians gain their freedom. They will have to do it themselves.

The death of Iranian protester Neda Soltani, June 2009.
The Iranians have to fight for their freedom. Wish them luck.

This tough new movie reminds us why the Iranians are struggling to be free of the vile clerics who control their lives.

Eight years we had to wait since 2001 for the first movie about the reality of Islamism. Why? Because it is politically "incorrect" to talk about it.

Local and European and Dublin Central and Dublin South.

Good news:

1. Anti-government vote goes to sensible, pro-market, centre-right parties rather than radicals. Martyn Turner gets it right. (Though he seems to think it is a bad thing!)
2. Anti-government vote in Ireland makes Fine Gael largest party.
3. Anti-government vote in UK makes Tories and UKIP largest two parties.

4. Libertas go from 0 to 5.45 percent (5th largest party) in Ireland. Anti-Islamist Philippe de Villiers wins European seat for Libertas in France.

5. Geert Wilders' party goes from 0 to 4 European seats (2nd largest party) in Holland. Despite my reservations, it sends an important message (that the infidels of Europe will not tolerate Islamism).

6. Mary Lou McDonald out. SF-IRA have no MEP from Republic.
7. SF-IRA vote static or down in local and European and NI European.

Bad news:

1. 2 European seats for BNP in UK.
2. 5 People Before Profit councillors elected.
3. Proinsias De Rossa re-elected.
4. Joe Higgins elected.
5. Richard Boyd Barrett elected.

I am someone who has openly praised and supported the Fianna Fail / PD governments on my website. They have made Ireland rich, far beyond the achievements of any previous Irish governments. I name Bertie Ahern as the best Taoiseach ever on my site. Yes, there has been an economic crash starting in 2008, but this is a global problem, and it will pass. At worst we may go back to early 2000s level of wealth before things pick up again.

Before the blasphemy law, I was going to vote FF in the local election, European election and my local Dail by-election. Because of my anger at the blasphemy law, FF lost all my votes.

Fianna Fail threw away my otherwise certain vote
with their offensive blasphemy law.

The game "Faith Fighter".
The kind of thing FF are proposing to make illegal.
Click to play the game.

Father Ted.
The kind of thing FF are proposing to make illegal.

The Paddy Power "Last Supper" ad.
The kind of thing FF are proposing to make illegal.
See full size.

The Devils (1971).
The kind of thing FF are proposing to make illegal.

• The UN

• The UN's hatred of Israel

• 2009 World Conference Against Racism ("Durban 2").
• The planning committee included Iran, Libya, Cuba, Pakistan and Russia.
• Iran's racist leader gave the keynote talk.

Boycott Durban 2
I asked: "Will Obama have the guts to?"
The answer: Yes! Credit where it is due to Obama!

Watching what actually goes on at the U.N. "Human Rights" Council is the best cure for anyone who believes in the UN.

Dissident republicans, who no one would vote for, and who don't have the guts to stand for election, try to drag Ireland back into the abyss.

• RIRA kills two British soldiers, 7 Mar 2009. First British military killed in Northern Ireland since 1997.
• CIRA kills police officer, 9 Mar 2009. First police officer killed in Northern Ireland since 1998.

• These pointless killings illustrate well that, like the rich Saudis of Al Qaeda, like the Weathermen, like Baader-Meinhof, like Aum Shinrikyo, terrorism is not necessarily caused by "oppression". In all of the above cases of rich, comfortable people attacking rich, free societies, terrorism is caused by demons inside people's heads, not by "oppression".

Cengiz Azimkar, killed by the RIRA in Mar 2009
as they try to start a war that no-one wants.

The dissident republicans want all this to come back again.

Darwin in 1842. From here.

Until 1859, humans had no idea where they came from, and what made us. As Darwin showed, all our previous answers were wrong. It is hard to think of a more profound discovery in human history. Richard Dawkins sums it up:

"Living organisms had existed on earth, without ever knowing why, for over three thousand million years before the truth finally dawned on one of them. His name was Charles Darwin. To be fair, others had had inklings of the truth, but it was Darwin who first put together a coherent and tenable account of why we exist."

"He was the first living creature to understand what life really is. ... This kind, gentle old man was reviled by the orthodox and died plain Mister Darwin, but will be honoured till the end of our species."

I think America has just elected another weak, naive Jimmy Carter, and the West's enemies will be resurgent and triumphant on his watch.
I would love to be proved wrong.
From cafepress.com.

"The Presidential Pledge", Jan 2009.
Original here.
"I pledge to be a servant to our President and all mankind because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek."
This is seriously creepy stuff.
This Obama worship seems both irrational and deeply un-American. For heaven's sake, Obama is just a bog-standard left-wing defeatist. There's no need to get so excited about him.

The idealistic George W. Bush deposed dictatorships in Afghanistan and Iraq, killed thousands of jihadi fighters, and kept America safe from homeland attack for 7 years. Will the cynical, weak-kneed defeatist Barack Obama ever achieve anything like this? I doubt it. I would love to be proved wrong.

Summary: Israel left Gaza in 2005. All Jews were expelled. And yet the Palestinians got worse, not better. They looted their own infrastructure, elected Hamas, continued teaching their children to hate Jews, and did not stop but rather escalated terror attacks on Israel.

Conclusion: Israel ending the occupation won't bring peace. It will make the violence worse, not better.

• Gaza
  • Gaza offensive, 2008-09

• The Islamist way of war
• Israel - The future

Rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, 2000-08.
Note how rocket attacks escalate after Israel leaves Gaza in 2005.
See full size.

An important message for Christmas 2008, thanks to Holocaust-denying fascist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, chosen to give the "Alternative" Christmas message on trendy, left-wing, anti-semite friendly, British TV station Channel 4, Dec 2008.

Who Would Jesus Kill? Apparently, Jesus would kill THE JEWS. And the Christians.

• Israeli ambassador: "In Iran, converts to Christianity face the death penalty. It is perverse that this despot is allowed to speculate on the views of Jesus, while his government leads Christ's followers to the gallows."
• Rod Liddle asks a good question: "Can you imagine, for even the briefest glimmering of a nanosecond, Channel 4 issuing a similar invitation to President George W Bush? It is unthinkable; it would not remotely occur to the executives."

Because Bush won't declare it. Because Obama will never declare it. Because the enemy will never declare it. Because the left will never declare it. Because the media will never declare it.

We declare Victory in Iraq. America and its brave allies, led by President George W. Bush, have delivered a crushing blow to the evil, oppressive global jihad. Tens of thousands of jihadi idiots died for nothing. They threw away their lives for nothing - for a worthless cause that has been simply abandoned. The jihad has given up in Iraq, and has retreated back to Afghanistan and Pakistan where it is trying desperately to recover morale. But every jihadi can see what has happened. The jihad lost. The Iraq War is over, and the good guys won.

No thanks to that weak-kneed defeatist Barack Obama. As Blackfive says: "the incoming President tried his damndest to lose the war and should not be allowed near a celebration".

What the allied troops deserve but will never get.

See full size. From here.
WW2 photo from here.
Iraq photo from here.

• Motion: "That this house would vote for Obama".
• For: Kate Fitzgerald (Democrats Abroad), Emmet Ryan (journalist).
• Against: Tony Allwright, Mark Humphrys.
• The motion was (of course) carried.

• See Tony Allwright's account.
• Kate Fitzgerald of Democrats Abroad wasn't just against the war - she cast aspersions on the American military. It was interesting that the American from Democrats Abroad was attacking the honour of American soldiers - while the two foreigners (Tony and I) were defending them. As Tony puts it: "of what other country do its mainstream representatives abroad attack the country and snub those few foreigners who dare to defend it?"

• Shockingly, Kate Fitzgerald took her own life on Aug 23, 2011, after a long struggle with depression, age only 25. RIP.

• The China games are the first Olympics to be held in a non-democracy since the Cold War. Shame on China for denying its people the right to free speech, freedom of religion and the right to vote.

• List of Olympic Games held in a non-democracy since 1945:
  • 1980 Olympics, Soviet Union.
  • 1984 Winter Olympics, Yugoslavia.
  • 2008 Olympics, China.
  • 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia.

From The Onion.

I voted No to the Lisbon Treaty myself. I'm not totally against the EU. I just want it to be a loose alliance of sovereign nations, not a united superstate under the rule of unelected and unaccountable continental elites. I resent the EU's lack of interest in democratic accountability, and regard its cause as the fact that democracy is still a new concept in continental Europe, whereas unbroken democratic traditions are much older in places like Ireland, Britain and America. For example, Lisbon itself was the capital of a non-democracy when I was young.

There have been ten thousand Islamic terror attacks all around the world in the period Sept 2001 - Nov 2007, killing about 60,000 men, women and children. And sadly, probably decades more of such senseless killing to come before the vile global jihad ideology burns itself out.

Nice to have something both left and right can agree on - that the Burmese regime has no right to exist and should be ended. Solidarity with the brave pro-democracy protesters. May Burma be free soon.

Salman Rushdie reads from "The Satanic Verses".
Start at 47:50.
This is a witty, intelligent and profound attack on the origins of all religions.
Every religious person should listen to this and think about it.

Ireland basically trusted FF to keep running the economy.

It was a bad election for the left. SFIRA made no progress. The Greens made no progress. Labour made no progress. The Socialist Party lost their only seat.

On the minus side, the PDs were wiped out. I have no idea why. They were what was good about FF.

Unfortunately, the anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-GM, anti-free trade, anti-capitalist Green Party are going to be in coalition government. There could be a threat to the use of Irish airports by the U.S. military.

• Fianna Fail are not allowing this as part of their deal, though. And the anti-war left are horrified (and here and here) by the Greens' "betrayal".
• The Irish Anti-War Movement chairman said: "I am very disappointed ... We worked very closely with the leadership and the rank and file of the Greens since 2003 on the issue of Shannon and Irish neutrality. ... As recently as May 22nd, we had a message from Mr Gormley assuring us that the Green Party would always have the issue of Shannon in the forefront of their political agenda."
• Anti-War Ireland urged Green Party members to vote down "this shameful deal". "The alternative is to have your party co-equally responsible for the US military presence at Shannon".
• Richard Boyd Barrett said it was "a tragic betrayal of the anti-war movement and many of those who voted for the Green Party". So maybe it's not all bad.
• PANA's Roger Cole says: "A FF/PD/Green Party supported by a range of independents including Finian McGrath totally committed to actively supporting President George Bush's Imperialist war to gain control of the oil of Iraq and to consolidate US/Israeli military domination of the Middle East for years to come, will be elected to run the country for the next 5 years." Let's hope so!

Sarkozy wins France, May 2007. After Merkel's win in Germany and Harper's win in Canada, it feels like the West is back to normal now. The "Axis of Weasels" is finished. A depressing day for the West's enemies. Maybe they should just give up.

Power-sharing in Northern Ireland. After so many false dawns since 1994, it is hard to believe again. But I hope it works.

And sharing power does not change my opinion that the DUP and Sinn Fein / IRA are both extremist parties that no normal person should belong to, and that do not belong in any normal western government. The DUP are still 17th century religious fundamentalists. SF/IRA are still a criminal gang of Marxist-Leninist gunmen. But I still hope it works.

300 clip.
The King of Sparta declines to listen to
the "grievances" of Islamism the Persian Empire.

A bizarre, once-off, flash crowd took my site down in Dec 2006 - Jan 2007. Here's how it happened:

At some point, this page on my site became the no.1 hit in the world if you searched for "saddam" on Google Images. This would normally be odd (I certainly don't think it should be the no.1 hit), but not a problem.

But when Saddam was executed, this became a problem. Vast numbers of people typed "saddam" into Google Images, looking for images of the execution (there were no such images on my site). My site was hosed with about 10 times the normal amount of traffic. I got about an extra 100,000 visitors in a 1 week period, starting on 29 Dec 2006. The bandwidth quota I pay for was rapidly exceeded, and my site went down. It seems like it was a bizarre, once-off flash crowd that is unlikely to happen again.

Later: My site is no longer no.1 on Google Images.

The Pope Benedict riots in historical context.

Possible future nightmares

• Islamist nightmare scenarios

Lebanon ceasefire, Aug 2006

• Lebanon:
  • Hizbollah
  • Hizbollah terror attacks

• Israel war on Hizbollah, 2006
  • The Qana massacre, July 2006
  • The ceasefire, Aug 2006

• Iran:
  • Iran and Syria next

Some atheist arguments

• Atheism - Arguments
  • David Hume on miracles
  • The "Trilemma" ("Lord, Liar, or Lunatic")
  • Pascal's Wager

The Aug 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot

• The Aug 2006 aircraft plot

The Sudan genocide and how to prevent such genocides

• Sudan

• World bodies:
  • The UN has tyrannies as members.
  • Ideas for reformed world bodies
    • A UN of democracies
    • The Genocide Prevention Corps

• The TV movie Flight 93 - The best movie of the last 5 years.

• The cinema movie United 93 - After nearly 5 years, the first cinema-released movie about the war. The first cinema movie since 9/11 in which the bad guys are the modern Islamists.

The religious psychopath and butcher of Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, meets two 500-pound laser-guided bombs dropped from two USAF F-16s. As an Iraqi Shia says: "Zarqawi would not listen to ballots, today there is no mistaking that he listened to the bombs."

• The end of tyrants
  • The killing of Al-Zarqawi, June 2006

The killing of Al-Zarqawi.

A mother trying desperately to save her child
during The Flood.

The writings of Theodore Dalrymple

• The poor
  • The left don't understand the poor
  • What stops people getting out of the ghetto?

• Crime
  • Crime is not caused by poverty - Crime is caused by ideas.

Discussion with Fiona de Londras, Mar 2006

• Discussion with Fiona de Londras

The brave Jill Carroll, released Mar 2006

• Jill Carroll

The appalling "Christian Peacemaker Teams", rescued Mar 2006

• The "Christian Peacemaker Teams"

• The US military
  • The nobility and bravery of the US military

The Abdul Rahman case

• Afghanistan
  • The future
  • The Abdul Rahman case - What is the future of Afghanistan?

A parody of how Islamists like Bin Laden think

• "It's In The Koran", by "Patrick Henry"

V for Vendetta, Mar 2006

• V for Vendetta

The death of Milosevic, Mar 2006

• The end of tyrants:
  • The death of Milosevic

Discussion with a student, Jan-Mar 2006

• Discussion with a student

Sectarian Catholic thugs riot in Dublin, Feb 2006

• The Irish left:
  • Politics
    • SF-IRA

• Northern Ireland

• Nationalists:
  • Republicans
  • Republican crimes
  • SF-IRA's support for tyranny
  • SF-IRA use violence because the majority don't agree with them

The Muhammed cartoons hysteria, Jan-Feb 2006

• Criticising and satirising religions
• The Islamic street

• The Muhammed cartoons
  • The Islamic street disgraces itself again

Michelle Malkin's "First, They Came".
Click to play video.
Also here.

• Irish Nazis hate me. They call me a "Judeophile gobshite", a "Hasidic Gentile dickhead" and "human chaff".

• Fascism

Beccy Cole's tribute to the Australian troops in Iraq.

Name: Muktar Said Ibrahim.
Sentence: Minimum 40 years.

Name: Ramzi Mohammed.
Sentence: Minimum 40 years.

Name: Yasin Hassan Omar.
Sentence: Minimum 40 years.

Name: Osman Hussain.
Sentence: Minimum 40 years.

Live 8, July 2005

• The Third World:
  • Summary - How to end poverty in the third world
  • Live Aid and the Ethiopian communist democide, 1985
  • Why is the Third World poor?
  • Left-wing Charities do not understand how to end poverty

The 10 best countries in the world

• The world's 10 oldest democracies

Sartre centenary, June 2005

• The western left's long history of support for tyranny

• The left in France - The cradle of late 20th century tyranny

Cafe Mao, June 2005

• The Chinese democide

• Laughing at democide

The "Koran desecration" hysteria, May-June 2005

• The Islamic street
  • The "Miss World" riots of 2002
  • The Newsweek riots of 2005

• The left is racist - It expects Muslims and non-westerners to riot and kill when "offended", and makes excuses for them, instead of treating them as adults.

Amnesty's lowest moment - The claim that America runs a "gulag", May 2005

• Human rights groups
  • Amnesty
  • Amnesty's lowest moment - They compare Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet gulags, where 40 million innocent people died.

Christian Aid Week, May 2005

• Left-wing Charities

• Christian Aid

France votes No to the European Constitution, May 2005

• World bodies:
  • The EU

Lebanon election, May 2005

• Lebanon:
  • The Lebanon revolution, 2005

• Iran:
  • Iran and Syria next
  • People of Iran, Syria and Lebanon, liberate yourselves

George Galloway wins Bethnal Green and Bow, May 2005

• Modern leftists:
  • George Galloway

• The Iraqi fascist "resistance":
  • The left's support for the Iraqi resistance
  • George Galloway
  • What is the Iraqi resistance?

UK election, May 2005

I could not get so excited about the UK election. Between Labour and Tory, the choice was just not as clear-cut as it was in the US election or the Spanish election or the Australian election or the German election. The Tories did their best to convince us that they'd be weak on defence, but I don't believe them. I think they'd be fine.

• On the one hand, I'm a great fan of Tony Blair, the great liberal internationalist who understands the post 9/11 world - but the problem is I don't like much of the Labour party. I worry that after Blair goes, Labour will revert to its old anti-American self. If only one could vote for Blair without voting for Labour.
• On the other hand, I like Tory policies, and I think most of the Tory party are sensible, but I was turned off Michael Howard by his shabby, second-thoughts opportunism on Iraq. Howard is an alienator of potential new Tory supporters like me. I far prefer Blair to Howard.
• So I'm happy with a third Blair win. Maybe now the Tories will realise the kind of things that attract conservative voters to Blair.

• Oliver Kamm sums up the election result: It's not quite a win, not quite a loss.
• It is interesting that Bush, Blair and Howard - the three leaders of the Iraq War of 2003 - all won re-election in 2004-05. Sure, the war was unpopular with some people. But the war's unpopularity has clearly been exaggerated. Much of the media bought into the "Bush lied. Blair lied." rhetoric. But most people didn't. They either supported the war, or opposed it but didn't care that much compared with other issues. The media's "Conventional Wisdom" version of history will forever portray this as an unpopular war. But the less dramatic truth is that it was not very unpopular.

I won "Best Overall Blog" in the Irish Blog Awards 2005 by the Freedom Institute (libertarian / neo-con group, formerly here and here).

The judges were Paul MacDonnell (Open Republic Institute), Paul Daly (Journalist) and Philip O'Sullivan (Freedom Institute).

The media and the left encourage the enemy

• The media and the left are partly to blame for Islamism

• Modern leftists:
  • Michael Moore
  • Terrorists love Michael Moore

The US Marines liberating Fallujah, Nov 2004

• Sign the petition to defend the Marine who killed the jihadi in Fallujah in Nov 2004. 350,000 people signed this.

• The Marine is cleared.

The death of Arafat, Nov 2004

• The death of Arafat

Bush wins, Nov 2004

Yes!

Thank you America! This is such a good day for the world.

On with the Bush revolution! All tyranny on earth must end.

Bush wins, Nov 2004

• U.S. election, 2004

• Bush wins

Election day, Nov 2004

Dear Americans: I live in Europe, but my loyalty is not to Europe. It is to the West. The attack on you on September 11th was an attack on me. On my world. We felt it. Millions of us all over the world felt it.

We are often a minority - sometimes a beleaguered minority - in our countries. But we want you to win. We want America to succeed, not to fail. We want America to be powerful and strong, not weak. You saved us from the Nazis in World War Two, and then you saved us from the Soviet Union. Our free, democratic, European world only exists because brave Americans are willing to defend it. And we are always grateful. And when you go into places like Iraq, we are not neutral. We hope for your victory.

Please Americans, make your beleaguered and loyal supporters in Europe happy. Make all the anti-American whiners furious. Tell that bastard bin Laden where to go. Vote for Bush.

Leaving the left

• Leaving the left:
  • Christopher Hitchens
  • Johann Hari
  • X leaves the left. Y attacks him. Later, Y leaves the left.

What countries in the world get criticised and why?

• The mind of the left:
  • Survey of human-rights criticisms by churches sums up the entire sickness of the western left.

• Some universal laws and paradoxes of human nature:
  • Paradox No.1: The most criticised societies will be the least criminal societies.

The challenge: Find any pro-Israel, pro-gay or pro-atheist group in the entire Arab Muslim world:

• The Irish left:
  • The Irish left and Israel
    • The Irish Peace Society

• The Irish Peace Society - Email exchange:
  • The challenge

Beslan, Sept 2004, and the killing of civilians by Islamists

• The Islamist way of war is all about killing civilians.
  • Beslan, Sept 2004

• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Suicide bombing of civilians and other war crimes
  • Killing civilians works
  • The killing of children
  • The Palestinians celebrate the killing of women and children

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible, The Skeptic's Annotated Quran and The Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon

• Religions:
  • Christianity:
    • The Bible

  • Islam:
    • The Qur'an

  • Mormonism:
    • The Book of Mormon

• The Irish left:
  • Media
  • RTE
  • Carole Coleman's interview of Bush

D-Day memorial, June 2004

• Europe and America:
  • Europe should support America

• The western media:
  • Bad news after the liberation of Europe, 1945

Israel

• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Why do people support the Palestinians?

• Suicide bombing of civilians and other war crimes
  • The killing of children

The Shroud of Turin

• Christianity:
  • The Shroud of Turin

1995 to 2003

Full contents by topic:

• Religion

• Politics