Where You Expecting Something Else?

A definition of "insanity" is to repeat the same behavior time and again and expect a different result. That appears the most true not only with New Jersey voters and Democrats raising taxes but also Senate congressional investigations. Time and again, New Jersey voters vote for the Democrat Party, the Democrats raise taxes, and New Jersey voters get mad. Repeat this every 4 years.

As disillusioned with the Republican party as I now am, there is no recourse in the Democratic party. Their only solution or desire is to raise taxes. Their plan is to promise moderate tax cuts on the campaign trail, get elected, and quickly raise taxes early in their term and hope that enough voters forget about the tax hike when re-elected comes in 4 years. How many Democrats promise either tax cuts or not to raise taxes and then do so once elected? Let's not forget Clinton did so in 1992. Corzine is the worst type of liberal as well...the limousine liberal a.k.a. the champaigne socialist.

TRENTON, N.J. -- If there ever was a political honeymoon for Gov. Jon Corzine, it appears to be over.

In his first four months in office, the Democrat has proposed an increase in the sales tax and broken a promise to give homeowners dramatic relief from the highest property taxes in the nation.

Corzine's approval ratings have sunk, and fellow Democrats in the Legislature are hesitant to back his budget plan.

But after inheriting a $4.5 billion budget deficit, Corzine called for $1.9 billion in tax increases -- including an increase in the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent -- and announced that the property tax relief he promised would cost too much at $550 million. He offered $100 million instead.

Corzine has met criticism on other fronts. His promise to restore ethics to state government was called into question when he put up $5,000 to bail a lobbyist and former campaign aide out of jail after she was accused of harassing a state lawmaker.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Corzine's job approval ratings plummeted in April to 35 percent from 43 percent last month....

James Florio was New Jersey governor from 1990 to 1994 and lost re-election amid public anger over tax increases he pushed through within months of taking office....

John Murphy, a local politician who sought the GOP gubernatorial nomination last year and proposed a rebate plan similar to the one Corzine promised, said Corzine could have pulled it off if he had been willing to make the painful decisions needed to cut spending.

The result of a Senate investigation is usually more or different bureaucracy. Senate has decided the best "fix" for FEMA is to change it's name. I'm sure they'd love to spend millions in renaming an organization, perhaps buy a new building, or slightly change it's bureaucratic heirarchy. This is all we get after 7 months and who knows how much money? The most we got out of the 9/11 commission was a new bureaucracy with a different heirarchy. Insanity.

A 7-month-long U.S. Senate committee inquiry says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is "in shambles" and should be replaced with a new agency.
In a report running more than 800 pages, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee made the recommendation in "Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared," the Washington Post reported.
"We have concluded that FEMA is in shambles and beyond repair and that it should be abolished," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who heads the committee.
It would replace FEMA with a new National Preparedness and Response Authority, whose head would report to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security but serve as the president's top personal adviser for national emergency management, the newspaper said.

Anchor (Babies) Away!

Any person born in the United States is a citizen. So says the 14th amendment. It was originally intended to give citizenship to former slaves. However, in recent years, this has been abused by illegal aliens, who give birth here in the States. After the kid becomes an adult, he can legally bring his parents, grandparents, and sibilings into this country. They've been come to be known as an "Anchor Baby."

The writers of the amendment didn't envision a people border-hopping to take advantage of welfare and social programs unheard of in 1866. Though being a strict constructionist, I don't agree with "re-interpreting" the Constitution. It says what it says. (Justices did find a right to abortion in the same 14th amendment.) However, if we had a fence or a some enforcement, pregnant women couldn't as easily cross to deliver babies.

So this woman was then taken to hospital by helicopter and given care. How much has that cost? People worry about healthcare costs, but when hospitals have to incur unreimbursable expenses, who do you think they pass those costs on to? You and me via higher insurance costs. I feel sorry for the girl, but allowing unfettered immigration allows Mexico to avoid making necessary soceital and economic changes.

An 18-year-old woman who gave birth in the desert used nail clippers to cut her baby girl's umbilical cord before being rescued by U.S. Border Patrol agents, authorities said Wednesday.

The woman was spotted Monday night by a Border Patrol helicopter pilot about 25 miles north of the border, said Ron Bellavia, commander of the agency's search, trauma and rescue operations in the Tucson sector.

The woman, believed to be an illegal immigrant, was with two other people, and all appeared in distress, agents said. Her nationality was not immediately known.

She was taken by helicopter to University Medical Center in Tucson, Bellavia said. Her daughter was carried on a four-wheel-drive vehicle about five miles to a road, where an ambulance transported her the hospital. AP

Hu says the AP isn't biased?

Hu Jintao, Communist dictator of China is in town and politicans and business leader put on chapstick to kiss his ass.

A Chinese Falun Gung dissident yelled at Hu, and she was esorted away by Secret Service. Of course this information was published back in China. However, the brilliant staff at the Associated Press think that the Chinese media IGNORED it, rather than the more appropriate word: CENSORED it. I also love how the AP writes: "ordinary Chinese commenting on Web sites accused President Bush of insulting Hu.", but those "ordinary" Chinese are later revealed to be people posting at a bulletin board which is effectively an arm of the official Communist government. How ordinary exactly are they?

Chinese Media Ignore White House Gaffes
BEIJING - Chinese news reports made no mention Friday of the protester who interrupted President Hu Jintao's visit with President Bush or a White House announcer flubbing China's official name. But ordinary Chinese commenting on Web sites accused President Bush of insulting Hu.

"You can see from Bush's lack of respect for foreign leaders just how lacking he is in class," said a posting on a bulletin board run by the People's Daily, the main Communist Party newspaper. AP

Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi had a very compelling editorial in the LA Times and I find it odd to be agreeing with Nancy Pelosi. Unfortunately, there is no intellectual honesty with Ms. Pelosi. When Clinton was in the White House, I do not remember her taking a stand against China, or chastising the Clinton White House for allowing missle technology to fall into Chinese hands. Nonetheless, if a Democrat was in the White House, some Republican senator would be writing an editorial on how evil Communist China is.

TODAY, PRESIDENT Bush will roll out the red carpet for Chinese President Hu Jintao, a leader whose government brutally crushes freedom, democracy and the religious expression of the Chinese and Tibetan people. Hu will receive the best welcome U.S. taxpayer money can buy, including full military honors and a 21-gun salute.

This is the same regime that provides military technologies to countries that threaten international security, including Iran and North Korea. The same regime that threatens Taiwan with a military attack, detains and tortures Chinese people for expressing their political and religious beliefs and arrests Tibetans for carrying a picture of the Dalai Lama. LA Times

One Brilliant Canuck

Another brilliant analysis by Canadian columnist Mark Steyn; this time on Iran. It's a long article but it is an important read and "one for the memory bank."

...Conversely, a key reason to stop Iran is to demonstrate that we can still muster the will to do so. Instead, the striking characteristic of the long diplomatic dance that brought us to this moment is how September 10th it's all been. The free world's delegated negotiators (the European Union) and transnational institutions (the IAEA) have continually given the impression that they'd be content just to boot it down the road to next year or the year after or find some arrangement--this decade's Oil-for-Food or North Korean deal--that would get them off the hook. If you talk to EU foreign ministers, they've already psychologically accepted a nuclear Iran. Indeed, the chief characteristic of the West's reaction to Iran's nuclearization has been an enervated fatalism.

Once again, we face a choice between bad and worse options. There can be no "surgical" strike in any meaningful sense: Iran's clients on the ground will retaliate in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Europe. Nor should we put much stock in the country's allegedly "pro-American" youth. This shouldn't be a touchy-feely nation-building exercise: rehabilitation may be a bonus, but the primary objective should be punishment--and incarceration. It's up to the Iranian people how nutty a government they want to live with, but extraterritorial nuttiness has to be shown not to pay. That means swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime--but no occupation. Wall Street Journal (which has taken a day off from its pro-illegal alien editorials).

Cheney: Still so evil?

As "evil" as Cheney is protrayed to be in the media and by left-wingers, he did donate 78% of his salary to charity. Sure, he is left with substantial income (mostly from stocks), but how many Hollywood liberals, with $20 million salaries donate nearly as much? I wonder how much money Arec Baldwin donated?

WASHINGTON - President Bush reported adjusted gross income of $735,180 for last year, on which he paid $187,768 in federal taxes, according to the president's return released Friday by the White House.

...The couple contributed $75,560 to churches and charitable organizations... Those included the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army's funds for hurricane relief in the United States and earthquake aid in Pakistan; Martha's Table, which provides food and services to the underprivileged in the Washington area; the Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic Charities; and the Mississippi Food Network.

...The Cheneys reported adjusted gross income of nearly $8.82 million...The Cheneys donated just under $6.87 million to charity from the stock options and royalties from Mrs. Cheney's books. That left about $1.9 million in income on which the Cheney's owed $529,636 in taxes....AP

Reviewing and Analyzing Recent Polls

From some recent polls, it's interesting to see different people opinions on matters. Sometimes you see that people aren't as naive as polticians would hope. Sometimes, their answers aren't consistent.

Tax and Spend
"After federal taxes are collected from the American public, do you think Congress thinks of the money more as taxpayer money to spend carefully or as their money to spend as they wish?" Their Money: 80% Taxpayer Money: 10%.

Now sometimes polls reveal that how confused some people are. Look here:

"Now thinking about taxes: Do you consider the amount of federal income tax you have to pay as too high, about right, or too low?" Too high: 51%, About Right: 44% Too Low: 2% No Opinion: 3% The immediate follow question is "Do you regard the income tax which you will have to pay this year as fair?" Yes: 61%. So essentially 12% of respondents think that their taxes are too high but also think that is fair.

Similar numbers think that illegal immigration is out of control.

Immigration
"Do you think that illegal immigration to the United States is out of control, or not?" Out of control 81%

Religion
9/11 didn't make everyone immediately dislike Islam. I think many people gave it the benefit of the doubt that there were some extremists, but subsequent actions over the last four years have caused opinions to drop further. "What is your impression of [see below]? As of today, is it very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, very unfavorable, of haven't you heard enough about that to say?" Favorable: 19% Unfavorable: 45%. However back on 2/02, the same question received a Favorabe: 30% Unfavorable: 33%.

Adding to more confusion was people's reactions to the Muslim cartoons:

"Do you think the European newspapers that printed those cartoons acted responsibly or irresponsibly?" Responsibly 29%, Irresponsibly 61%.

"Overall, do you think this controversy is due more to Western nations' lack of respect for the Islamic religion, or due more to Muslims' intolerance of different points of view?" Western Lack of Respect 21% Muslim Intolerance: 61%

Which comes closer to your view? The U.S. news media have an obligation to show controversial items that are newsworthy even if they may offend the religious views of some people. OR, The U.S. news media have an obligation to avoid offending the religious views of some people even if that prevents them from showing controversial items that are newsworthy." Obliged to show: 57% Avoid offending: 33%.

So what you have is people who think that the European newspapers acted irresponsibly for printing the cartoons, but US newspapers should print them. The Europeans are irresponsible, but it's only a problem because of Muslim intolerance. That doesn't make sense. If the cause is unacceptable then the reaction should be justified.

Who's Side Are They On Anyway?

Rising Sun has a nice detail about this years winning Pulitizer Prize photos. Congressmen and the President take oaths of office to protect the US from "enemies foriegn and domestic". Ladies and Gentlemen, the introducing the Fifth Column of the United States:

Here are my results:
• U.S. troops injured, dead, or mourning: 3
(2, 3, 11)
• Iraqi civillians harmed by the war: 7
(4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 18)
• Insurgents looking determined or deadly: 3
(6, 15, 20)
• US troops looking overwhelmed or uncertain: 3
(7, 12, 14)
• US troops controlling Iraqi prisoners: 2
(16, 17)
• Iraqis celebrating attacks on US forces: 2
(1, 19)

Equally telling is what the photos don't show:
• US forces looking heroic: 0
• US forces helping Iraqi civillians: 0
• Iraqis expressing support for US forces: 0
• Iraqis expressing opposition to insurgents: 0

Amensty only creates more illegals

Amnesty (a sign of weakness) will invite more illegal migrants demonstrated by the article below. I do support increasing legal immigration levels and reducing red tape. I do not support a guest worker program. I want immigrants who come to America to love the country and want to make it better. I don't want 30 million people in the country with allegiances to another.

Migrants Rush to Border Hoping for Passage

..., the draw is a bill before the U.S. Senate that could legalize some of the 11 million people now illegally in the United States while tightening border security. Migrants are hurrying to cross over in time to qualify for a possible guest-worker program — and before the journey becomes even harder.

"Every time there is talk in the north of legalizing migrants, people get their hopes up, but they don't realize how hard it will be to cross," Loureiro said.

South-central Arizona is the busiest migrant-smuggling area, and detentions by the U.S. Border Patrol there are up more than 26 percent this fiscal year — 105,803 since Oct. 1, compared with 78,024 for the same period a year ago. Along the entire border, arrests are up 9 percent....

Many migrants said they were being encouraged to come now by relatives living in the United States.

One of them is Ramirez, a 30-year-old who earned about $80 a week at a rebar factory in Mexico's central state of Michoacan..."We want to try our luck up there," Mondragon said. "We can't go back to Michoacan because there is no future there." AP

Try to be Everything to Everyone

The old adage goes "try to be everything to everyone and end up pleasing nobody."

That's exactly what Bush has tried to do. While hardcore leftist try to Bush into a great (stupid) Satan, he's far from even being conservative. He's tried to build a party which has a super majority of voters which means an attempt to gain votes in the middle and grudgingly retain his base. He's trying to pander to so many demographics that he leaves no one happy. For the libertarians, it's tax cuts. For the neoconservatives, it's building a democratic Iraq. For liberals it's expansions in medicare and education, billions more to fight AIDS in Africa. For business, it's cheap Mexican labor. Let's keep Congress on my side by turning a blind eye to increases in pork spending.

Over the last few years, Bush has proven to be weak and ineffectual. He's a good campaigner, but ineffectual in leading his majority party in Congress.

The survey found that 38 percent of the public approve of the job Bush is doing, down three percentage points in the past month and his worst showing in Post-ABC polling since he became president. Sixty percent disapprove of his performance....

A majority of registered voters, 55 percent, say they plan to vote for the Democratic candidate in their House district, while 40 percent support the Republican candidate. That is the largest share of the electorate favoring Democrats in Post-ABC polls since the mid-1980s. Washington Post

So Orwellian

Why does some aspects of British society seem, to American eyes at least, to be so Orwellian? Speed cameras and constant surveillance already give me the creeps, but now there is the knife crackdown.

From this Coventry article:

Another horrifying knife was found at a house police were searching in Fowler Road, Radford. Officers had gone to the house using a search warrant for drugs and found the hunting knife. The owner handed it over under the amnesty."

And here are pictures of the "horrifying knives", all of a few inches long:

Blade Detectors are being used to randomly stop people. It seems there is also a Knife Registry: They would also like to make law the Coventry-pioneered voluntary knife code, where people who buy knives sign a register.

I'm not sure if this is one town's crusade or a country-wide thing, but like speed cameras it seems to be a heavy-handed approach to a problem.

The New Presidential Report Card

I first wrote up a Presidential report about 6 months ago, so now that another semester has passed, it's time to see what has advanced. I think Bush was a stronger leader when he first entered office but he's been getting advice and criticsm from many sides whom have many interests. Hence, why he values loyalty over everything else. Bush's actions 2000-2002 have been saving his Presidency so far, but the prognosis seems to be that he is weak. He will likely be a lame duck.


Foriegn Policy: B

So where are we in Iraq? Three years on it seems to be the status quo. What about Iran? Five bucks says we attack in October.



Jorge Boosh.

Immigration: F

Jorge Boosh. He constantly insults hard-working Americans by saying that illegal immigrants do the jobs that Americans don't want to do. Perhaps in his Andover education he never had to do any hard work, but many of us had less desirable jobs at some point.

Federal Spending: F

Bush has been completely ineffectual in curbing Congress's appetite for pork spending. The country cannot sustain large deficits forever.


Taxes: B-

While Bush's original tax policy deserves high marks, he still has made no effort to make these cuts permanent. Many will be expiring over the next 4 years. He could easily press for more tax cuts now that he has a friendly Senate, but he hasn't. Since he's spent like a drunken sailor, there are chances that he'll leave office and the cuts will expire. The next President will let the cuts expire and taxes will go up without anyone having to raise taxes. The other possibility is that they'll do it right before an election.


Economy: B

I still maintain that the economy could have fallen into a big depression like 30s if the President had made poor choices. As I said 6 months ago, the collapse of the bubble coupled with 9/11 could have done the economy in. However, the large budget deficits caused by constant Congress

Judicial Nominations: B

While I'd give Roberts a "B" pick (mostly due to his anonyminity), and Alito an "A", Bush only picked Alito after getting hammered by every sane person who objected to him hiring his personal lawyer whom had no judicial experience.

Gun Rights: B+

The President has been a supporter of the second amendment, but he really hasn't had to stick his neck out for them. If it was the media topic of the day, with the liberal press attacking him, I'm not sure if he would stand strong or cave.

Social Conservatism: B

There hasn't been any real issues one way or another to chance opinion from last semster.

Education: B-

There hasn't been any real issues one way or another to chance opinion from last semster.

Social Security: B-

I generally liked his plan for Social Security, but lack of leadership in other areas reverberated when he tried to push through Social Security reform. If he was really a strong respected leader of the Republican party, chances are weasely members of Congress wouldn't have had the gall the go against him.


OVERALL: C-

What we say in summary? Slightly below average. He has 2.5 years left, in which to salvage his declining legacy.

All Hail Queen Cynthia

Why do some politicans think that they are above the law? Queen Cynthia. In typical liberal fashion, she tries to twist the story into making her the victim. In typical liberal fashion, the mainstream media will bury the story. Imagine if this was a white Republican.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Georgia, faces possible criminal charges for a Wednesday altercation with a Capitol Police officer, one of her lawyers said Friday that the real issues were "sex, race and Ms. McKinney's progressiveness."

In a news conference featuring actor Danny Glover and singer Harry Belafonte, McKinney said she would be exonerated and that "this whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female, black congresswoman."

She had little else to say, citing the ongoing investigation into her allegedly striking a police officer after he failed to recognize her at a security checkpoint and tried to stop her from passing....

During the conference, held at historically black Howard University in Washington, civil rights attorney James Myart said his client was "assaulted" by a Capitol Police officer, whose name the department refuses to release....

Members of Congress are allowed to bypass the metal detectors and security checkpoint. They are supposed to wear a lapel pin that identifies them as lawmakers. McKinney acknowledges she wasn't wearing one when she was stopped, but concurred with Myart that police should know who she is.

"The pin is not the issue," the six-time congresswoman said. "The issue is face recognition."... CNN

Update: Not only is she a violent queen, but she's a crook as well. All she has to do is give the money back. There is no punishment? How times does she steal governemnt money and get away with it?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Cynthia McKinney admits that she broke government rules by spending money to fly a celebrity to Atlanta.

Channel 2 Action News has uncovered documents showing McKinney, D-Ga., spent about $1,000 of taxpayer's money to fly singer Isaac Hayes to Georgia to help dedicate a new office in Atlanta.

The money came from a fund members of Congress are supposed to use for office supplies.

Using the money to pay for Hayes' airline ticket and hotel expenses is a violation of strict congressional rules. Those rules state that taxpayer money can only be used for "travel by Members, Members' employees and vendors. A vendor is an employee of a private company that provides maintenance and support for equipment and software"...

McKinney staffers say they will reimburse the congressional fund for the cost of Hayes' flight and hotel room. WSBTV

France's Sixth Republic?

France's Fifth Republic is holding on by a few strings, and I think we may see a Sixth Republic within a decade. What style of government, that is, remainst to be seen. There are many factors playing on the misery of France now.

On one side you have the French people who are used to their welfare state and the expected entitlements. Low fertility rates put a strain on the future income of the welfare state. Workers expect not get fired and employers are unwilling to hire people because they can't fire them. Even the simplest reforms cause riots.

On the other side you have an immigrant Muslim class, which was never properly integrated into society. Even if they wanted to, they really couldn't. Youth unemployment of the children of immigrants reaches 50%. Many then turn to crime and jihad. Lax law enforcement, only bolsters their bravado. Then enter Islamic extremists who recruit. Anti-seminitism and anti-French sentiment increase. France could be 1/4 Muslim in 2 decades.

France is the epitome of what liberal American socialists want here and I hope they take the time to look at the riot photos.

PARIS - A nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower and snarled air and rail travel for the second time in a week Tuesday while students barricaded themselves in schools to protest a jobs measure that has riven the country and put the government in crisis mode.

Protesters have mounted ever-larger demonstrations for two months against the law, which would make it easier to fire young workers. But President Jacques Chirac signed it anyway Sunday, saying it will help France keep pace with the global economy....

By midday, police said at least 100,000 people had hit French streets, including buoyant students parading through Marseille under a sunny southern sky and major marches from Nantes in the west to Saint-Etienne in the southeast. Protests even reached the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where 2,000 people marched.

Here is an excellent article on the increase in crime, much of which goes unreported:

It is the private complaint of everyone, however, that the police have become impotent to suppress and detect crime. Horror stories abound. A Parisian acquaintance told me how one recent evening he had seen two criminals attack a car in which a woman was waiting for her husband. They smashed her side window and tried to grab her purse, but she resisted. My acquaintance went to her aid and managed to pin down one of the assailants, the other running off. Fortunately, some police passed by, but to my acquaintance’s dismay let the assailant go, giving him only a warning. The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris

Attacks against Jews are also on the rise.

...The testimony of this 17-year-old femme fatale who happily offered herself as “bait” in the kidnapping of Ilan Halimi, whose tortured body was found on wasteland, has shocked a country which is haunted by a painful history of anti-semitism....
Besides Yalda, several women have been arrested in an investigation into their role in botched efforts to lure other Jewish men into “honey traps”.

“He wanted a Jew,” a girl called Audrey told police, referring to Youssouf Fofana, the charismatic leader of the Barbarians, who was listed by the girls in their telephone directories as “Youssouf the barbarian”. Times

Guns & the British

I went on a road trip with 1 Scot and 2 Englishmen to San Antonio and Austin. Besides having a great time, we talked a little politics. Having not been in the States before, they were surprised that not everyone was blatantly walking around with a gun, so we got to talking. One big difference between the US & Britian is general attitude towards gun rights. I think it boils down to where people focus their attention. Many British people claim that gun laws better society in general, while Americans focus more on indivdual rights. If I hear someone break into my house, I'm not worried about societal stastics. I'm worried about myself and my family.

Even if you insist that you have a less likely chance of being attacked in Britian, you have a 0% chance of defending yourself. A gun is also a great equalizer. A large man can easily harm an old lady if they both only have their fists or knives. Armed with a gun, the old lady can defend herself. Britian's gun ban has left the old and handicapped defenseless. They essentially agreed on my arguments that gun laws benefit society. However, British people never hear the "other side of the debate."

Subsequent research shows that the British gun ban has only lead to an increase in gun crime, now that criminals know that citizens are defenseless. In 2004, in Britian there were 10,670 crimes involving a gun. In 1997, after the Dunblane massacre, which lead to the gun ban, there were 2,648 gun crimes. Even the Beeb acknowledges that gun laws have done little to curb crime. Britian is also an island and should have an easier time banning guns. Marijuana is completely illegal and we all know how successful that effort is.

Finally, where would you prefer to rob a house, England or Texas?

The Dalai Lama

Liberals must be in a huge dilemna. They can figure out whether to cheer for the Dalai Lama for his opposition to killing terrorists or shun him for his opposition to homosexuality.

While the death of Bin Laden could have propoganda/martyr value, you also can just sit back and get repeatedly attacked. Quietly offing Bin Laden and let him disappear from thought rather than be martyred is the best option.

Some of what else the Dalai Lama was saying is important though.

The Dalai Lama says that were Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden killed that hatred would cause another 10 like him to spring up, in an interview with a British newspaper.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader told The Daily Telegraph that terrorists should be treated humanely.

He also revealed the workings of his relationship with US President George W. Bush, said Westerners had become too self-absorbed and repeated his opposition to homosexuality in a wide-ranging interview.

The Dalai Lama said modern terrorism was born out of jealousy of Western lifestyles
Fundamentalism is terrifying because it is based purely on emotion, rather than intelligence," the 70-year-old monk said at the seat of his government-in-exile in the northern Indian hilltop town of Dharamsala.

"It prevents followers from thinking as individuals and about the good of the world.

"This new terrorism has been brewing for many years. Much of it is caused by jealousy and frustration at the West because it looks so highly developed and successful on television. Leaders in the East use religion to counter that, to bind these countries together."

Terrorists, he warned, must be treated humanely.

"Otherwise, the problem will escalate. If there is one Bin Laden killed today, soon there will be 10 Bin Ladens. Awesome. Ten Bin Ladens killed, the hatred is spread; 100 bombed, and 1,000 lose members of their families."

Although he appeared not to approve of the war in Iraq, he was admiring of Bush.

"He is very straightforward," said the monk....

"It is fascinating. In the West, you have bigger homes, yet smaller families; you have endless conveniences -- yet you never seem to have any time. You can travel anywhere in the world, yet you don't bother to cross the road to meet your neighbours," he said.

"I don't think people have become more selfish, but their lives have become easier and that has spoilt them. They have less resilience, they expect more, they constantly compare themselves to others and they have too much choice --- which brings no real freedom." AFP

Well that's a big Duh

Well I could have told you this without needing a big fancy study.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sexually charged music, magazines, TV and movies push youngsters into intercourse at an earlier age, perhaps by acting as kind of virtual peer that tells them everyone else is doing it, a study said Monday.

"This is the first time we've shown that the more kids are exposed to sex in media the earlier they have sex," said Jane Brown of the University of North Carolina, chief author of the report