A Conservative Compendium

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites

racarrera — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 06:25:44 +0000

If one doesn’t bother trying to put the pieces of the puzzle that is the Middle East together, one would find the headline counterintuitive. One should read history and learn the theological ties that bind the region. Saudi Arabia considers Israel little more than an irritant and a tool they can use to whip their citizens up into a frenzy in order to cover for their own criminal incompetence. Iran, however, scares the bejeezus out of them because the mullahcracy is nearing having nuclear arms. There is no love lost between Sunni and Shia Muslims, despite occasionally collaborating in levels for mutual benefit. If Saudi Arabia falls, and they well could to a well-armed Iran, that would give Ahmadinejad and the turbaned terrors massive control of a large part of the world’s oil supply. Hence, it is in the best interests of Saudi Arabia that Israel do the dirty deed of obliterating Iran before she gets too big for her britches.

Check out Hugh Tomlinson’s article at The (U.K.) Times here.

Exclusive footage gives rare insight into life in al Qaeda insurgency

racarrera — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:50:33 +0000

Given how grotesquely liberal and crappy the BBC News was when I lived overseas, I wasn’t feeling too keen on giving France24 the time of day. Let’s face it; thanks to toads like Jacques Chirac, a lot of my fellow Americans, expatriates included, considered the French to be, as that lovely sorbiquet goes… ‘Cheese-eating surrender monkeys‘. With the exception of Parisians, who are hopelessly rude, I wish to not only NOT bag on our Gallic friends, but give them kudos for some decent reporting. France24 hosted a round-table of sorts on video shot in North Africa of jihadis training, frolicking like Bambi and Thumper in the woods, et cetera. On the panel was Walid Phares, one of the sanest voices in terms of analyzing terrorism. The last time Europe had news TV worth watching was when Tim Sebastian was hosting HARDTalk. This channel may turn out to be worth watching.

Article Roundup for June 11, 2010

racarrera — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:29:45 +0000

Much to catch up on!

Iran and the ‘Freedom Recession’ – Fouad Ajami of the Wall Street Journal comments on the wretched response of the current president to the plight of Iranian dissidents being crushed by the mullahs.

The Cuckoo’s Nest – David Harsanyi of the Denver Post mocks the bitching and moaning of leftists who find normal people like Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman to be out-of-step kooks.

Brown: Goebbels crack ‘jogging talk’ – Maggie Haberman of The Politico writes on Jerry “California Über Alles” Brown’s nasty crack against Meg Whitman. No one talks to that lunatic because he is a gaffe machine that would make Vice-President Biden look as eloquent as William F. Buckley.

For Your Weekend Reading – If John Derbyshire is recommending books for your perusal, you may want to take him up on it. As a fine author on the subject of mathematics, he has impeccable taste in reading material. He will post his list at the Wall Street Journal, and I will place the link here when it’s up.

IPN announces Ninth Annual Bastiat Prize Competition – From the website: “For the ninth year, International Policy Network (IPN) is accepting submissions for its annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism. The Prize is open to writers anywhere in the world whose published articles eloquently and wittily explain, promote and defend the principles and institutions of the free society. Submissions must be received on or before 30 June 2010.”

Politically Correct Warfare – Arnold Ahlert of Jewish World Review wonders why the West has lost its spine when it comes to warfare.

Lee Harvey Oswald and the Liberal Crack-Up – An interesting essay by James Pierson of Commentary Magazine on where liberalism became unhinged.

New Silicon Graffiti Video: 1969—The Death of Modernism – Ed Driscoll offers more in regards to the liberal crackup.

Liberal Fascism: The Font – Another by Ed Driscoll. I love typography, and am probably among a handful of conservatives who enjoy avant-garde art movements. There’s something to the Helvetica font being utterly fascistic, though.

Conservatives for Kagan – Is Stuart Taylor at The Atlantic Magazine serious?! I didn’t know June 11 was a second April Fool’s Day.

A Special Relationship in Jeopardy – Eric Edelman comments on the sad state of affairs the Anglo-American relationship is in.

Clearinghouse Day

racarrera — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:24:57 +0000

Today is cleanup day for me. I ran the broken link checker, and to my surprise, only nine links died on me, and were easily fixed. I have thousands of links that need clearing from Firefox, so I leave you with this grab-bag of thought provoking articles I thought might be timeless enough to warrant your attention. Enjoy!

The Question of Style by Jason Lee Steorts on National Review Online

The Quotas That Won’t Die

He’s Not Our Daddy

racarrera — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:18:04 +0000

Nothing is more obnoxious than condescension. It’s made even worse when it comes from an incompetent leader trying to masquerade as a father figure. Rich Lowry has more here, courtesy of National Review Online.

The Case Against Keynes (With Some Questions for Krugman, Too)

racarrera — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:49:36 +0000

I have a dear friend of mine who has served as something of a spiritual mentor for years. He is brilliant in many ways, very conservative socially and religiously, but is a died-in-the-wool liberal from the 1960s who has yet to shake off the last vestiges of this poison. He insists Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning phony and hack for the disastrous Obama Administration, is worth taking seriously. I figure that when the Nobel cesspool that poses as a committee shows more balance in its choices rather than reflexively giving their doorstop of an award to hacks like him, they may be worth listening to again. In the meantime, Krugman, the great champion of economist John Maynard Keynes, boasts that “America is not Greece” when it comes to the nation’s fiscal disarray. “It’s worse,” says William Galston of The New Republic, a left-wing paper if there ever was one, as he sees America’s economy turning into one similar to the Japanese one which has been moribund for nearly three decades.

A shocking story of Israeli survival

racarrera — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:38:06 +0000

Wesley Pruden of the Washington Times nails it today, calling the phony anti-Semitic governments in Europe out for their “shock.” They are, at the very least, so naive as to not be worthy of their government posts, or at worst (such as in Turkey’s case) complicit in helping Hamas try to smuggle weapons into Gaza, a place that has absolutely no shortage of food, technology or anything else thanks in part to Israeli generosity on one side and smuggling tunnels on the other. This was a provocation, pure and simple.

Rush Limbaugh: I know I’ll be destroyed eventually

racarrera — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:23:46 +0000

I find it rather hard to believe that someone as so powerful and ubiquitous to political discussion such as Rush Limbaugh would consider himself a target for destruction. For the past 20 years, he has swatted the gnats who attack him with ease and amusement. If he was ever marked for destruction, it probably would have been under the Clinton presidency. Still, there is a segment of American society who drool at the prospect of Limbaugh being taken out. Such is the price for success in political pugilism.

Cuba Bites

racarrera — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:32:55 +0000

As if one needed any more proof, Jay Nordlinger of The Corner at National Review Online write on and links to video showing protester and filmaker Alexandra Joner getting attacked by the Cuban Ambassador’s wife, all while she insulted Joner with names beneath the dignity of her station. Norway should give the biter in question a boot to the rear and consider penalizing the Cuban Embassy as well for this disgusting display.

Go back to Mexico

racarrera — Sun, 23 May 2010 22:41:22 +0000

The disgusting display but on by Mexican President Felipe Calderón raised the ire of many Americans who have tired of the growing lawlessness in the borders of the Southwest portion of the country. I myself live in California, about 1 1/2 hour’s drive from San Diego, where we have our fair share of border-jumping. As there has been no serious effort to curb illegal entry (to call it immigration smacks the face of those who worked so hard to enter the country by legal means), states like Arizona are forced to deal with the issue themselves, federal government be damned.

The Washington Times excoriates the cretinous Mexican president, who has a large plate of domestic problems he should be handling (like controlling his own southern border, where Mexican federales routinely abuse Central Americans) and handling narco-trafficking scum rather than serving as a lackey for the current administration by mouthing their talking points. We need no lectures from a failed leader.