Wednesday - April 02, 2008

Congress to Bush: $30 Billion? Ha! Make it $50 Billion

Congress Adds $20 Billion To AIDS bill

Proving that money really does grow on trees, and that largesse grows best during an election season, Congress has renewed Bush’s 2003 PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) plan, this time agreeing to spend $50 billion in 5 years instead of the measly $15 billion in 5 years the first iteration of the plan had. This time around the plan will also allocate funds to fight malaria and tuberculosis. The Senate version of the bill is ready to vote on. President Bush had only requested $30 Billion.

Most of the money is expected to be spent in Africa.

The House of Representatives yesterday passed a five-year reauthorization of the Bush administration’s global AIDS program, adding $20 billion to the $30 billion the president requested.

Although it contained controversial features, including a heavy emphasis on abstinence-oriented prevention strategies, the global AIDS program has been popular with lawmakers in both parties and has been praised around the world.
...
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the ranking Republican on the committee, said on the House floor that the bill “strengthens our national security” because AIDS is “destabilizing governments and societies” in entire regions around the world.

About $9 billion would go to fight tuberculosis and malaria, which are huge burdens in many countries where the AIDS epidemic is severe. Money would be used to buy food for AIDS patients and their families, provide clean water to communities, train health-care workers and provide “micro-credit” loans to women widowed by the disease or ostracized because they are infected.

If this mountain of money is spent wisely, I expect these diseases to be wiped out. After all, when you gold plate all the mosquitos on the continent they can’t fly around and bite people. Now, what you’d have to gold plate to stop AIDS is another story in itself.

Meanwhile, In India

Hey college kids, need a summer job? The Times of India has a great idea - go to America and earn up to Rs 3L! Sure, it’s doubtful that you’ll be doing anything really career oriented, but you can come over here and earn $8-$12 an hour bussing tables or driving a cash register. And you’ll go home with nearly Rs 2L, because The Times breaks down the expenses for you. Rs 3L means 3 Lakh Rupees. Lakh is a term that means 100,000. Right now 300,000 rupees is a bit over $7500, and that’s a decent amount of money in India.

The Times also points out that this isn’t a crazy scheme, but a program run by the US Government. I guess we don’t have enough kids of our own who want summer jobs, so we have to troll for them offshore. Hey, as long as you can speak English, Uncle Sugar will help you get a job. Amazingly, the program is dragging so badly that our government had to hire promoters to put the word out in India.

NEW DELHI: If you are a college student, here is something that could make your summer vacation memorable. There is a US government programme under which you can travel to USA and fund your trip by working there.

The work & travel’ programme is a US government initiative under which regular college students across the world can visit the country on temporary jobs during summer vacations—that is, from May to August. The scheme aims to enable students to “understand and experience American culture and life”.

Now, the US department of state’s Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) has hired two agencies in India—Kareer Krafters and Taurus International—as partners to administer the J1 visa programme meant for this purpose.

Any graduate or PG student can apply under the scheme. The applicant will be screened by the designated companies for suitability to visit the US alone. Vipul Mehta, MD of Kareer Krafter, said one of the prerequisites is a working knowledge of English.

Mehta said there is huge demand for students for doing summer jobs under the programme. “There are enough opportunities to absorb 40,000-50,000 students,” he said. However, as the scheme is virtually unknown in the country, only around 500 students were sent from India in 2007. So far, almost everyone who has applied got the visa, he added.

Students are normally offered unskilled jobs in retail outlets, tourist camps, entertainment park and restaurants, said Col Kulvinder Singh, MD of Taurus International. Students are paid $8 to 12 per hour. Wages for semi-skilled students from vocational courses like hotel management are higher.

So I guess your kid should have no problem finding employment this summer.

This can only help

Talented actress, budding video star, fashion designer and plastic surgery aficionado Heidi Montag is endorsing John McCain for President. According to US Magazine,

“I’m voting for John McCain,” she tells Us Weekly ...
“I’m a Republican and McCain has a lot of experience,” she explains.

Swampland, a blog cooperative between CNN and Time Magazine (and also the place that hired Wonkette) ran the story, and got McCain’s reaction:

PENSACOLA, FL. Asked for a reaction to the news that he’d been endorsed by reality-soap bad girl Heidi Montag of “The Hills,” John McCain told Swampland: “I’m honored to have Heidi’s support and I want to assure her that I never miss an episode of ‘The Hills,’ especially since the new season started.”

I guess this means her acting career on The Hills is about over. You know how much Hollywood loves those Conservatives.

Yes, I’m sure the picture is Photoshopped. But it was the only one I could find with the two of them in it. And his expression is priceless. Unless you’d rather see Heidi by herself, in a swimsuit. In which Google is your friend.

And so it begins … this time in Japan

Overweight Japanese will no longer be employable

Today, the Japanese government institutes its compulsory “flab checks” for all workers over the age of 40.

To stem Japan’s “soaring obesity,” the health ministry has mandated that all waistlines among its 56 million workers over age 40 be below “regulation size” of 33.5 inches (for men). Any company failing to bring its employees’ weight under control — as well as the weights of their family members — will be fined up to 10% of its earnings by the government.

Diet, or lose your job. And nobody else will hire you either. And you’d damn well better get your family in shape too. Or else.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/japan">Says the UK Guardian,

According to reports, firms will be required to cut the number of overweight workers and their dependants by 10% by 2012. Those that fail to reach the targets face surcharges of up to 10% on contributions to a welfare fund for the elderly.

comments the blog Junk Food Science

And this is happening in a country with almost no fat people! Japan has one of the lowest rates of obesity of anywhere on the planet, except for starving, impoverished regions of the world. According to the IOTF, as of March 2008, only 3.4% of Japanese had BMI ≥30.

The director of the Medical Urban Clinic in Osaka, Toshio Mochizuki, told Bloomberg he is concerned about the new movement to castigate heavier people in Japanese society. “I’m worried that the overweight will start to be shunned at the workplace and these new rules will make no one want to hire them,” he said. Others have noted that older workers will also be hurt in employment by this.

Expect this attitude to spread worldwide within a short time. Fat people and smokers are the two groups people are actually encouraged to be prejudiced against. And white guys, but that doesn’t count.

Ok, is this Fascism, Socialism, or just plain Tyranny? These “it’s for your own good” programs leave me confused.

Islam - the ultimate excuse

THIS SECTION OF TEXT REMOVED. REMAINDER OF ARTICLE REWRITTEN TO REFLECT ACTUAL FACTS

Muslim Imam gets 10 years for rape

original here at The Sun London - An islamic “religious scholar” turns out to be a rapist. He tried to cover up his crime by having several of his mosque buddies lie in court that he was busy preaching at the time, but the truth came out and justice prevailed.

A MUSLIM leader who claimed he was preaching at a mosque when he was really carrying out a brutal rape was jailed for ten years yesterday.  Abdul Mukin Khalisadar, 26, held a knife to his victim’s throat as he attacked her in her home.  He persuaded seven men to back up his story that he had been in the mosque at the time.  Khalisadar later admitted raping the 27-year-old.
...
He was caught by DNA a year later after being arrested over another matter.

Their burqa-clad wives, present in the court, couldn’t believe this miscarriage of justice. They yelled abuse at the judge for punishing their husbands for practising their religion. They asked why was an act approved by Quran and practiced by holy prophet is punishable in a country which claims freedom of religion? It was clearly a discrimination against muslims and definitely an islamophobia. Now they realized how important it is for muslims to implement sharia in England as suggested by the learned Archbishop.

Abdul Mukin Khalisadar held a knife to his victim’s throat as he attacked her in her home.  He persuaded seven men to back up his story that he had been in the mosque at the time.
Khalisadar later admitted raping the 27-year-old.  He claimed a substance he took to help with fasting during Ramadan had made him “hyper.” The preacher forced his way into her home as she got back from a night out, the court was told.  He threatened to kill her — even after she claimed to be pregnant with twins to put him off, prosecutor Simon Carr said.  Khalisadar also stole a mobile from the house in Whitechapel, East London.  He was caught by DNA. Judge Timothy King blasted his “hypocrisy”.

Imam got 7½ years for rape and 2½ for conspiring to pervert justice.

Seven members of East London Mosque admitted perverting justice and got 12 months each.

Burka-clad women in the public gallery yelled abuse at the judge — and one screamed that the victim was a prostitute.

Somehow I don’t feel so tolerant anymore.

   Tuesday - April 01, 2008

What is Gaddafi’s son REALLY doing in Iraq?

What is Gaddafi’s son REALLY doing in Iraq?

A guest post by DWMF

A letter from the wood-paneled study of your latest BMEWS news analyst.

I was looking through some Austrian news, when I chanced upon an item that there are two Austrians still being held hostage in North Africa, in the country of Mali, to be exact. It is an elaborate denial that Muammar al-Gaddafi (who we all know about) has sent his number two son, Seif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, to negotiate with the kidnappers (who announced themselves to be al Qaeda) for the release of the hostages. This runs contrary to other stories that he is doing exactly that.

Seif is also (nominally) in charge of his father’s charity, the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, which in the past has been instrumental in extracting other hostages from similar situations.

“I know that name”, I thought to myself. For not long before, I had read another item which placed him in Northwestern Iraq, in the area around Mosul, which still has bands of al Qaeda running wild. Iraq The Model also has an excellent article.

So there are three stories about this man.

Story 1: He helps to run his father’s charity foundation, which involves the in-flow and out-flow of large sums of money.

Story 2: He negotiates with al Qaeda kidnappers for the release of their hostages, probably paying them off in the process.

Story 3: He is the Mosul regional captain of al Qaeda himself, financing their campaign, and generating some Fear and Despondency in the Western media. Seif went into Iraq with a large company of palace guards (the Seifaddin Regiment) to add some military muscle to the campaign.

Let me fill in the gaps with some facts.

Fact 1: There has recently been an increase in terrorist activity in and around Mosul. Quote: “It is their strategic center of gravity. One-half to two-thirds of attacks in Iraq today are in and around Mosul.”

Fact 2: Libyans are the second largest nationality of foreign insurgent fighters (19%) in Iraq, after the Saudis.

Some other factors are worthy of note.

Note 1: During the Cold War, when an agent was sent out on his (or her) mission, he was given a “cover”(CIA-speak) or “legend” (KGB-speak), to give a legitimate reason for being where he was.

Note 2: Nothing in the Middle East is straightforward. There are always multiple motivations, more than one reason for anything happening, especially so since al-Quaeda became considerably more decentralized. The rationale of who did what and why is constantly being muddled by a “Billy the Kid” effect (see footnote). This constantly bamboozles the MSM, who don’t seem to get their heads around it.

Note 3: Seif’s father is a ruthless bastard. That is pretty much a given. Gaddafi wants to trade in either smuggled goods or political influence: smuggling antiquities (yes it still goes on), or getting in some last jabs in against the Iraqi government and the US forces to gain some kudos with the other regional dictatorships (Iran, Syria, Sudan).

Note 4: For a long time, Seif al-Gaddafi (number two son) was seen as the heir-apparent to be President of Libya. But there are reports that he was dropped in favor of his younger brother Motassim Bilal, also known as Hannibal. And yes, he is something of a cannibal. Seif would be keen to win his spurs on the field of battle and regain his father’s favor.

Conclusion: Gaddafi is again playing both ends against the middle. It reminds me of this character (picture in the middle) in the Rockford Files – one of my favorite programs which has recently had a re-playing on digital TV in the UK. (See the comments here.)

Footnote: The “Billy the Kid” effect is one of false attribution. For a few years, while Billy was still at large, it was common for young criminals to hold up a store or a stagecoach and announce that they were Billy the Kid. Word goes around, and in no time at all, a pretty fearsome reputation has been created, and a hitherto unknown talent for being in two places at the same time. Billy would not disown the crimes, for they make him appear mightier than he really is, and a large part of his modus operandi is the psychology. (No links, Google was no help.)

Postscript 1: Don’t you think Seif looks like Art Malik in True Lies? Maybe he can come to a similar sticky end, or crispy-fried a la Zarqawi.

Postscript 2: To those who think “Better inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in”, there is a third possibility – Inside the tent pissing on your shoes - which is what the Western powers are in danger of, unless they wise up and see Gaddafi for what he really is. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Presently, DWMF is our only reader in Switzerland Gnaargh!, AUSTRIA. (funny name for a town ) He also could use a hand with some plain old html. So, give his essay a read and a think, and leave an opinion and a response or two. And if you have impressive html skills and some time, lend him a hand. Or a keyboard. Thanks. If any of the links are beat, it’s my fault.

George Bush murdered on Hamas puppet show

By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 1:37pm BST 01/04/2008

A children’s puppet show in which a Palestinian boy stabs George W Bush to death has been broadcast on a Hamas-owned television station in the Gaza Strip.

In full: Transcript of the puppet show (translated by Memritv)
The boy declares “I place my trust in Allah. I need to kill you”, before stabbing the US president in the chest, in the programme on the al-Aqsa station.

Watch: George W Bush murdered on Hamas puppet show
The clip, which was broadcast on Sunday, will increase concerns that the isolated Hamas regime is using modern propaganda techniques to encourage children to launch terrorist attacks.

The puppet show - an amateurish production filmed in front of a beige cloth - shows the Palestinian boy entering the White House to confront Mr Bush over the deaths of his father and mother during recent wars in Iraq and the Lebanon.

“You and the criminal Zionists also killed my younger and older brothers in the Gaza holocaust. I’m an orphan, you criminal!” he says.

“I have come to take revenge with this sword – revenge for my mother and my sisters,” he continues.

“You took everything from me, Bush! I must take revenge on you, with this sword of Islam, the Prophet’s Al-Battar sword.”

The quaking Bush puppet - which bears little physical resemblance to the US president - begs for his life to be spared, offering the boy “food and toys” for all his friends at the White House if he is allowed to live.

But the Palestinian child informs him that the White House has already been taken over by Muslims and has been turned into a “great mosque” which Mr Bush is too “impure” to inhabit.

“I will kill you just like Mu’az killed Abu Lahab. I will kill you, Bush, because that is your fate,” the child exclaims, before stabbing the puppet repeatedly.

The clip - translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri), an independent monitoring organisation - ends with the boy’s words: “Ahhh, I killed him”.

Last year al-Aqsa prompted a similar controversy by broadcasting a show featuring a Mickey Mouse-like character who urges Palestinian children to support armed resistance.

The Israeli foreign ministry denounced the programme and issued a lengthy statement accusing the programme-makers of using seeking to “indoctrinate Palestinian children to violence, hatred and murder”.

The issue of what children are exposed to in Israel and the occupied territories is highly sensitive. History books in Israeli schools contain maps that do not mark the so-called “Green Line” surrounding Gaza and the West Bank and which, critics say, suggest Israeli children are being taught that the occupied territories are Israeli.
http://tinyurl.com/yoef72

Bush so eager to build border fence he’s breaking the rules

This ties in with the earlier border story. This bit of news just broke about half an hour ago.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.

Invoking the two legal waivers — which Congress authorized — will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan.

“Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. “These waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward.”

As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year to meet the department’s goal. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations, the officials said.

Now let’s see it get done well before November. Like I said, come up with something like FDR’s CCC and put 50,000 people to work on it. Job would be done in a month, tops.

Daily Democrat Candidate Scandal, episode 87

Hillary Clinton Fired For Unethical Behavior

Oh relax. You knew this was just too good to be true and current news. This was ages and ages ago, when she was barely out of law school, and working on the Watergate mess.

As Hillary Clinton came under increasing scrutiny for her story about facing sniper fire in Bosnia, one question that arose was whether she has engaged in a pattern of lying.

The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.
...
Why?

“Because she was a liar,” Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”

Go and read it all here. She was trying to find a way to deny President Nixon access to legal counsel if he should have to testify in those hearings. She wrote a legal brief that was so wrong it would have gotten her disbarred. Naturally the brief has been lost, and secure documents are missing. Hmm, that sounds familiar.

The actions of Hillary and her cohorts went directly against the judgment of top Democrats, up to and including then-House Majority Leader Tip O’Neill, that Nixon clearly had the right to counsel. Zeifman says that Hillary, along with Marshall, Nussbaum and Doar, was determined to gain enough votes on the Judiciary Committee to change House rules and deny counsel to Nixon. And in order to pull this off, Zeifman says Hillary wrote a fraudulent legal brief, and confiscated public documents to hide her deception.

Don’t you just love the mud-fest going on between her and Obama? It never ends. I wonder what tomorrow’s counter battery will turn up on him?

Blog of the day

Serious gunnies might want to pay a visit to Cowboy Blob’s Saloon and Shootin Gallery once in a while. Lots of funny pics, stories about shooting competitions, and a bit of politics. And the occasional bit on gun safety, like the following, in which actress Summer Glau helps remind us to keep your finger off the trigger. Trigger? Finger? Where?

Overall, I like it. It’s totally a Guy Blog. 

Airmen shot down, families sue?

I’m not sure if I’m reading between the lines of this story correctly, but when I read “But lawyers for the relatives of the 10 men are expected to demand answers” that’s what I think it implies. Otherwise why would they need lawyers to represent them at a military inquiry?

Safety Foam Could Have Saved Plane?

A HERCULES plane carrying 10 military personnel, including an Australian airman, was not fitted with safety foam that could have prevented it being shot down in Iraq, an inquest has been told.

Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 35, died three years ago when the RAF transport plane he was travelling on with eight British airmen and a soldier was shot down by insurgents north of Baghdad.

An inquest began yesterday in southwest England, with coroner David Masters expected to examine why the plane was without a key safety device which could have prevented the crash.

Previous inquiries held by Britain’s Ministry of Defence have found the Hercules C-130 crashed after bullets pierced one of the aircraft’s fuel tanks, which exploded and blew off one of its wings.

The Australian Defence Force fitted its Hercules planes with the safety foam well before the 2005 crash which claimed the life of Flt-Lt Pardoel, who spent several years with the RAAF before transferring in 2002 to the RAF.

A Ministry of Defence lawyer, Jonathan Glasson, told the inquest that a program to fit all British Hercules C-130’s routinely deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan was completed last December.

But lawyers for the relatives of the 10 men are expected to demand answers from defence officials giving evidence at the inquest about why the aircraft shot down was not fitted with the safety foam and why not all Hercules used by British forces had ESF.

John Cooper, a barrister representing two of the British airmen, told the inquest that relatives of the servicemen had been led to believe all British Hercules would be fitted with the foam.
...
“We want to examine whether the lack of foam in this case was a matter of negligence.”

There’s that lawyer word. Negligence. So I’m wondering. I hope I’m wrong. But if I’m right, then this might be a legal first.

Donald Rumsfeld’s famous quote “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have” seems to apply here. But the thing about this fuel tank foam is that it isn’t new technology. The US has been using it since the end of the Vietnam war. The Austalian forces upgraded their airplanes years ago. But England and Canada are more than a bit behind the maintainence curve it seems.

(as of 2006) The Canadian military has 29 Hercules in operation. They are commonly used in Afghanistan. Although the American and Australian Hercules have a safety foam device, the Canadian Hercules do not.  “If there is such a foam, it’d be a good thing, but this is the first I’ve ever heard of it,” said Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor.

Let’s hope that they’ve both made the fix by now for all their aircraft, because this quote

A Ministry of Defence lawyer Jonathan Glasson told the inquest’s first day of hearings that a program to fit all British Hercules C-130’s “that are routinely deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan” had been completed last December.

still sounds a bit weasley. What about the aircraft that are only deployed there on occassion? What about the ones that never go there at all? Sure, it’s an expensive fix, but it’s a whole lot cheaper than a new airplane. Or a new aircrew.

Border Troubles

Mexican Drug hitmen torture and kill four

Drug hitmen tortured and killed four men, wrapping their heads in black garbage bags, as thousands of soldiers and federal police arrived to bolster security in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.
The bodies were badly burned, handcuffed and half-naked, shot between Sunday night and Monday morning and dumped on the street in different parts of the city, said the attorney general’s office for northern Chihuahua state.

The murders came as heavily armed soldiers and police set up roadblocks and raided houses over the weekend in the rundown city across the US border from El Paso, Texas, the start of a 2500-troop deployment aimed at crushing drug gangs.

Ciudad Juarez, which has drawn worldwide attention because of a rash of brutal murders of women, has had 200 people killed in drug-related violence this year - 10 times as many as a year ago.

City Hall said soldiers also arrested six local police officers in possession of large quantities of marijuana and blamed police corruption for drug cartels’ hold on Ciudad Juarez, a major narcotics smuggling point into the US.

“People have lost confidence in the police because they know the local forces have been infiltrated and act outside the law,” said Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.

Already about 25,000 soldiers and federal police have deployed in hotspots across Mexico, especially along the US border.

The overall death toll associated with drug gangs in Mexico has rise to more than 720 this year, well above the count this time last year.

Mexico’s drug wars killed more than 2500 people in 2007.

What’s wrong with the USA? This is front page news - in Tasmania!!! But we only hear about this once in a great while. Fox ran a little report this morning, and I think they had another piece a month or two ago.

There is a war going on just south of the border, sometimes north of the border too. Mexico has called out it’s army to fight the drug gangs, and it’s a real war. Automatic weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, machine guns. Actual battles. Ok, large skirmishes. But it’s been going on for months. I’d think this would be in the news nearly every day.

I’d dream that the US was deploying thousands of troops to our side of the line, vigorously prosecuting any incursions, stopping the banditos in their tracks. Sort of pre-desert training. All while building a stronger, better fence as fast as possible, with a workforce of 50,000 or so unemployed people on workfare. Hell, I need a job, and if Uncle wants to pay me $20/hr to run a shovel for a couple months, I’d go. Yeah, I know no fence is going to stop it all. But a good one will stop some, and stopping some beats stopping none by a long shot.

April Fools? You Decide

Orlando Florida Demands Coverup

Anybody who’s ever seen a professional wrestler knows their bodies don’t look like most folks’.  But the wrestlers featured on a massive sign in downtown Orlando look even more unusual.
They’re missing nipples.  Yep. John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton and even Big Show. All nipple-less.

It’s rather unsettling.

And Ken-like.

Even more unsettling is the fact that government is partly responsible for the missing areolas on the banner that hangs on the side of the Lynx office building, facing Interstate 4, and promotes this weekend’s WrestleMania.

Mayor Buddy Dyer claimed to have the, um, skinny.

“Apparently there’s an ordinance that prohibits them from being displayed,” he said
...
He shrugged, saying, “It does seem a little overboard.”

It turns out, it was.  There is, in fact, no city law that bans the display of male chests.

Reports here say Al Bore is possible and this editorial says it’s time for Hillary to Step Aside.

It is simple. If Hillary wins the Jack-ass party nomination, John McCain will be the next President of the U.S.A. No right minded American wants a Clinton back in the White House. If Barry wins then it will be tough for McCain. However, either of these two Jack-ass party’s nominees is likely to start this great land of capitalist opportunity sliding down the slippery slope to Socialism. I cannot believe that right minded Americans will ultimately want to see their country in the same, sorry state as Europe is in today. Be warned American electorate.

Posted by Brit. resident in the U.S.A. on April 1, 2008 2:59 PM

Hillary Clinton should pull out
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 01/04/2008

Should she stay or should she go? With each passing day, the pressure intensifies on Hillary Clinton to end her campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for November’s US presidential contest.

This is not just because she has failed to gain sufficient votes during the fiercely contested primaries and caucuses against the political phenomenon that is Barack Obama; it is also the gradual deterioration in the tone of her campaign, together with her increasingly desperate tactics, that suggests the time has now come for her to bow out while she still retains some shreds of integrity.

Mrs Clinton is nothing if not a fighter, qualities that have served her well during one of the most exciting primary seasons in recent American politics. When Mr Obama first announced himself as a serious contender, with his stunning victory in the Iowa caucus back in January, Mrs Clinton responded to the critics who were already writing off her campaign by recording her own surprise triumph in the New Hampshire primary.

Since then, the “Comeback Gal” has given Mr Obama a run for his money, countering his ground-breaking victories in states such as South Carolina with impressive results of her own in Ohio and Texas.

But in terms of the damage done to her personal reputation and dignity, Mrs Clinton has paid a heavy price for remaining in the contest.

She was the first to introduce negative tactics, by clumsily playing the race card against Mr Obama, and then was caught out about her claims of derring-do in Bosnia and Northern Ireland in the 1990s.

Now she has reached the position where, because she can no longer win sufficient votes to secure the nomination outright, she must rely on the votes of the Democrats’ super-delegates if she is to contest the presidential election.

Although Mrs Clinton is perfectly entitled to hope for this outcome, such an arbitrary appointment after all the excitement generated by the primary campaign would serve neither the interests of American democracy, nor the credibility of Mrs Clinton as a presidential candidate.
http://tinyurl.com/3blljk

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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