Bookworm Room

All of us have been worried that the Obama Administration, working in tandem with a wildly Democratic Congress, wants to clamp down on freedom of speech.  Heck, in true Orwellian fashion, the House of Representatives has already taken myriad terms off the table for fear that they might be used against their Fearless (albeit whiny) [...]

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We’re getting near the tail-end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that requires dawn to dusk fasting.  Now, I’m a gal who enjoys noshing during the day, so I’m not thrilled about abstaining from food and drink for 10 hours.  I’d be especially unhappy if it was a hot day, ’cause any type of drink [...]

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There is no bliss inherent in the ignorance displayed by one judge in England: A judge lambasted a rapist for claiming his victim was a liar – then commended him for becoming a muslim. Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC sentenced Stuart Wood for seven years for the attack, then told him: ‘You have turned to Islam [...]

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Before their cultural implosion, the English had a reputation for bravery and sangfroid.  Although they are taking a beating in Afghanistan (in large part because the morally bankrupt Labour government refuses to give them necessary support), the troops on the ground are still fighting, dying and showing extraordinary bravery under terrible circumstances: An heroic army [...]

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Today is the 70th anniversary of Germany’s bombing campaign against Poland, the official start of World War II.  I thought, therefore, that this song from 1941′s Babes on Broadway was just right.  It is an explicit tribute to beleaguered Britain, which was, at the only time, not only the sole nation fighting the Nazis, but [...]

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Faced with an epidemic, England is already planning on rationing: Thousands of patients could be denied NHS treatment and left to die under ‘worst-case’ emergency plans for a swine-flu epidemic. The blueprint would force doctors to ‘play God’ and prioritise intensive-care treatment for those most likely to benefit  -  ruling out patients with problems such [...]

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Here, at home, it’s barely news.  In England, it’s a true epidemic, with the current spread and death rate hinting at up to 65,000 deaths as the disease runs its course. Are we in the U.S. hit less hard?  Are we hearing less about how hard we’re hit? I’m asking, but I’m sure not answering, [...]

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Those who are pushing for universal health care here in America might want to take just a second to contemplate what Britain’s National Health Service (“NHS”) is doing in the area of teen sex.  Because Britain has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe, which no doubt is quite costly to the NHS, you might [...]

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England has generated a lot of pig headlines lately.  The first round involved Britons actually removing, just thinking about removing, pigs from public sight for fear of offending Muslims.  Those stories were scary in an attenuated fashion, because they symbolized England’s loss of will and her willing submission to a dominant minority. This current round [...]

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Remember how, in a thread a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the fact that there is no middle for European voters?  If they’re concerned about their own governments’ destroying their national cultures, or an unchecked flow of immigrants who (a) game the system and (b) are incredibly hostile to their new host countries, [...]

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Right now, Church of England officials are upset that the BBC’s religious programming department (which is, apparently, a very important department) is going to be headed up by a practicing Muslim.  It is unclear whether he got the position as a result of political correctness or employment mandates, but there he is.  Of course, the [...]

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Americans should be forced to read British newspapers every day, because it gives them an insight into the world of abasement to Muslims, big government and managed care.  Today’s horror story is one in which a senile old lady was snatched from her daughter’s loving care.  You can also read about the British government’s ongoing [...]

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Picture this:  You’re a believing Christian, and you work for a Christian charity that is under the patronage of your country’s major Christian organization.  One of your colleagues, in a private conversation, asks for yours views about your faith. You say that you’re opposed as a doctrinal matter, but that you don’t personally have a [...]

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When I was growing up, my father was a teacher with a lousy salary and lousy benefits.  The only good thing he had was his dental plan.  It was a wonderful dental plan.  Provided that we got our teeth cleaned and checked twice a year, it would pay the total cost of any dental work [...]

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For three years, a single British hospital that was obsessed with following government health care mandates to the letter, succeeded only in killing 1,200 patients unnecessarily: Twelve NHS trusts are being investigated following a damning report which today slammed ‘appalling’ care at a single hospital. Hundreds of patients may have died after bosses at Staffordshire [...]

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A young British woman, raised in the North of England, escaped her abusive Muslim father and converted to Christianity, a fact that saw her father lead an axe wielding mob clamoring for her death.  She wrote a book about her experience.  When the Times interviewer asked why she didn’t seek help from the authorities, the [...]

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The Brits turned Geert Wilders back at the border for daring to try to enter the country to show an anti-Islamic film.  Wilders isn’t too pure himself, since he advocates muzzling Islam, which just goes to show that Europeans fundamentally fail to understand free speech. (England once understood it, but a combination of leftism and [...]

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Rowan Laxton is Middle East expert and a high ranking official in Britain’s Foreign Office.  He is also a hard-core anti-Semite with limited impulse control (two things that seem to go together, by the way): A high-ranking diplomat at the Foreign Office has been arrested after allegations that he launched a foul-mouthed anti-Semitic tirade. Middle [...]

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The quest for ever greater bureaucratic efficiency, especially in a Europe without borders, means that Britain’s local Big Brother database is probably going to be released to the whole of Europe: Britons could find themselves forced to prove they are innocent of crimes abroad after the Government agreed to EU-wide access to its ‘Big Brother’ [...]

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Again, Britain reminds us of the possible consequences of allowing the government to control health care.  (See here and here.) As always, what amazes me about the Left is it’s never ending optimism about the government.  Its members will cheerfully concede that the government pretty much bungles most of the things on which it gets [...]

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Over at FrontPage Magazine, you can read an interview with Martin Durkin, describing Britain’s staggering social decline during its long years as a welfare state.  It was a slow decline at first.  When I lived there in the early 1980s, it still wasn’t clear that it was hovering on the verge of breaking entirely with [...]

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The hell with democracy.  In post-Blairite England, the Labour government is now demanding that gays be represented in parliament in numbers proportionate to their numbers amongst the general public: Controversial Government backed plans for a massive increase in the number of gay MPs are being opposed by Commons Speaker Michael Martin, it was revealed last [...]

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I’ve long seen Britain as a bellweather for progressive politics.  Everything the Left wants in America, has already happened in Britain — and with truly disastrous results. For a pithy summary of Britain’s horrible decline, don’t miss Melanie Phillips’ essay describing the ways in which Barack Obama reminds her of Tony Blair, and her description [...]

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The British papers are reporting that, if Obama becomes President, Oprah will become the Ambassador to Britain.  As is frequently becoming the case in today’s political climate, words fail me.  I guess I’ll add only that it makes sense for the most narcissistic President in the history of the United States to appoint to a [...]

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Watch Pat Condell quick before they try to ban him again: Also, if you’re British, sign the petition. And if you’re British and don’t have enough info to sign the petition, Condell provides these helpful links: YouTube censors comedian shock http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknew… Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/midd… Islamic finance in London http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/… http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6&s… http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfr… Saudi [...]

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