Vox Popoli

The entire board of Italian champions Juventus has resigned after days of press revelations over embarrassing telephone interceptions involving its top management.

The Italian Football Federation is investigating the content of tapped telephone conversations involving Juve general manager Luciano Moggi talking of refereeing appointments for games with a Football Federation official responsible for selecting match officials.

That would certainly explain all of those mysterious injury-time penalties that are inexplicably given every time Juve needs three points….

I don’t like Real Madrid. I actively dislike Manchester United. Galatasaray makes my skin crawl. But I absolutely loathe Juve, from their awful uniforms to their overrated strikers and their front-running fans.

Between this and Trotspurs, it’s been a good week. Let’s hope things continue on this vein through Wednesday in Paris.

Dear Mr. Day,

I am concerned about the recent post at the Fraters Libertas involving something called “American Idol”. While it was my original understanding that the individuals producing that blog were fine, upstanding Christian gentlemen, I am now worried that they may actually be pagan idolaters. Can you please tell me if my concerns are misplaced or if I should call for a gathering of right-minded folk during my sermon next week in order to stone the Northern Alliance studio?

Deuteronomically yours,
The Reverend Olaf Magnusson
1st Viking Lutheran
Lake Owasso, Minnesota

Dear Reverend Magnusson,

While your concern does you credit, sir, please be assured that a little research on the part of your Representative indicates that no worship of false gods on the part of any of the Fraters is involved. The matter is a serious one, though, as apparently JB Doubtless is experiencing a time of gender-confusion, as he reveals his disturbing familiarity with something better left to the wearers of clogs and the readers of US Magazine.

Please ask your congregation to pray for this troubled young man during his moment of desperate need.

Vox Day
Readers Representative
The Fraters Libertas

You can hear the excuse-making revving up in Republican circles already:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY….

The NSA’s domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and international e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA’s efforts to create a national call database.

In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. “In other words,” Bush explained, “one end of the communication must be outside the United States.”

In other words, Bush was lying. Again. Impeach the deceitful bastard already. I suppose his defenders will argue that “it depends on what the meaning of ‘focused’ is”.

Now, it’s quite possible that this program is helping prevent terrorist attacks. But I have no doubt that it would be even more effective if the federal government simply locked every American citizen in a jail cell. Strange, isn’t it, how “to create a database of every call ever made within the nation’s borders” is possible, but somehow finding illegal aliens isn’t.

Ladies and gentlemen, with this latest revelation I believe we have just witnessed the election of your 2007 Democratic House and Senate. Sure, the Democrats will soon enact similar, perhaps even more superlative, abuses on the American people, but at this point, I’d rather vote Democrat than Republican myself.

Of course, none of this is exactly shocking to those who have known about ECHELON for years. Anyone still want to argue that it’s just a figment of a paranoid imagination?

UPDATE – No, I’m not saying I would vote Democrat. Never have, never will. But I have to say that I’ve never been less likely to vote Republican either. It’s like being forced to choose between Helen Thomas and the corpse of Betty Friedan. Actually, now that I consider it, I’d go for the corpse. It would probably smell better and talk less.

It is impossible, we are assured by Dear Jorge, for the United States to deport 12 million illegal aliens. Now, he’s the president, so I suppose we have to assume that he knows what he’s talking about. No can do. But if we consider that the Germans managed to rid themselves of six million Jews, many of whom who spoke German and were pretty well integrated into German society, in only four years, basic math indicates that America could eliminate its entire illegal alien problem in eight years.

Given the creativity and productivity of the American people, I bet the job could be done in six.

On the other hand, perhaps we’d better keep them around. I have a feeling that sitting on the Cherry Blossom Throne is going to give the Lizard Queen a voracious appetite.

The man who wrote this is no lunatic:

Mr. President, history tells us that repressive and cruel governments do not survive. God has entrusted the fate of man to them. The Almighty has not left the universe and humanity to their own devices. Many things have happened contrary to the wishes and plans of governments. These tell us that there is a higher power at work and all events are determined by Him.

Can one deny the signs of change in the world today?

Is this situation of the world today comparable to that of 10 years ago? Changes happen fast and come at a furious pace.

The people of the world are not happy with the status quo and pay little heed to the promises and comments made by a number of influential world leaders. Many people around the world feel insecure and oppose the spreading of insecurity and war and do not approve of and accept dubious policies.

The people are protesting the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots and the rich and poor countries.

The people are disgusted with increasing corruption.

The people of many countries are angry about the attacks on their cultural foundations and the disintegration of families. They are equally dismayed with the fading of care and compassion.

The people of the world have no faith in international organizations, because their rights are not advocated by these organizations.

Liberalism and Western style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the liberal democratic systems.

That doesn’t mean that Ahmadi-Najad, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, isn’t going to prove an implacable enemy far more dangerous than the sock puppets of Al-Qaeda. But to call him insane and dismiss him would be a big mistake, if he is indeed the author of that letter.

He certainly appears to have a more rational picture of global realities than does President Bush or his cabal of World Demokratic Revolutionists, who insist that it is impossible to track down 12 million illegal aliens in our own country while simultaneously attempting to forcibly modify the religion and governance of one billion individuals living halfway around the world.

This is the first among an ESPN sportswriter’s recommendations for Augusta’s new chairman:

Women Members
We are a private club, but we are also a public golfing treasure. Outgoing chairman Hootie Johnson, and some of our more medieval members, never have fully understood that relationship. Hootie saw small picture (Martha Burk and bayonets) instead of big picture (it’s the right thing to do). So how about we join the 21st century and extend membership invitations to at least two women?

Dear Mr. Wojciechowski,

I fail to understand your crusade against men being able to belong to private clubs, but I certainly await with interest your forthcoming excoriation of women’s clubs such as Curves, as well as blatantly sexist women’s sporting organizations like the LPGA. I would encourage you to expand your anti-sexist campaign to the federal prison system, which also exhibits open sexism by refusing to practice gender equality in its cell assignments.

As was well established in Brown vs Board of Education, separate is not equal. I hope you will soon address this terrible injustice in our society.

Regards,
Vox

Podhoretz tries the mathematically ignorant con on The Corner:

Derb, You Need… [John Podhoretz]

…to read Can She Be Stopped?, a book that explains why the third-party temptation for people on the Right is nothing less than a vote for the Left.

Yes, because to these Republican geniuses, 1+0=2. No wonder they can’t balance the budget. Perhaps I should explain for those of you who are too slow to grasp basic arithmetic.

Take three individuals, one Democrat, one Republican, and one Libertarian. The Democrat votes Democrat. The Republican votes Republican. Now, here comes the part that is too hard for the political pundit.

If the Libertarian votes Libertarian, how many votes have the Democrats received?

If you answered two, you just might be a Three Monkey Republican.

Update – Unsurprisingly, the faux conservative is pushing Giuliani as the Lizard Queen Killer. Yeah, I seem to recall that was going to be the strategy to keep her out of the Senate too. The amazing thing is how Podhoretz even attempts to explain away Murdoch’s fundraiser for Hillary as an attempt to keep her in the Senate instead of the White House. It’s hard to believe how much contempt this man has for his readers! One NROnik, Tim Graham, responds thusly:

J-Pod, I heard your third-party spiel on Hannity yesterday (nice), but you’re recommending running Rudy Giuliani. How is that not a vote for the left? Hey, let’s run a pro-gay, pro-abortion, liberal Republican with a tabloid-disaster marital record. Cut out his mayoral record on crime and his tough stand on terror, and he IS Hillary. (Well, actually he’s Bill on the cheating, but you know what I mean.) If you don’t want a third party in the race, don’t push for Rudy. Even a “nomination conversion” on social issues isn’t going to save him.

If Giuliani is the Republican nominee, we may only see a Hillary win, but a Hillary landslide. Republicans might as well put up an official “no conservatives allowed” sign as nominate that self-promoting shyster.

This is John Hawkins from Right Wing News. On Thursday of this week, I am going to be putting up an article entitled, “Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Favorite Columnists”. This is a once a year poll and you can sort of think of it as the “People’s Choice Awards” for conservative columnists.

Here was my list. And lest the usual suspects think I’m angling for votes here, time is up and it’s an invite-only vote anyhow. I actually forgot to put two of these on my ballot, but no matter, my choices tend to fair poorly anyhow, except for Coulter, Steyn and Goldberg. I do, however, expect Mike Adams to do well.

1. Ann Coulter
2. John Derbyshire
3. Pat Buchanan
4. Mark Steyn
5. Jonah Goldberg
6. Mike Adams
7. Joseph Farah
8. Thomas Sowell
9. Jay Nordlinger
10. Victor Davis Hanson
11. Ilana Mercer

This doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with the columnist, only that I like something about their perspective or writing style. For example, I think Hanson regularly draws incorrect conclusions from history, but I like how he at least attempts to seek a historical perspective, unlike almost every other political pundit except Buchanan. I think people would be shocked if they truly grasped the vast difference in historical knowledge between a Hanson or Buchanan and the Malkin/Shapiro sort.

And while I’m not a fan of Farah’s occasional tendency towards histrionics, his consistency is impressive considering that he writes a column every day. If I had to do that, I can’t even imagine how bizarre and meandering my column would become.

From Drudge:

Rupert Murdoch has agreed to host a political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton this summer, the FINANCIAL TIMES is reporting!

Murdoch’s surprise decision to raise money for Clinton in July, on behalf of NEWS CORP., parent company of FOXNEWS and the NEW YORK POST, underlines a dramatic turn of relations between Murdoch and Clinton, who in 1998 coined the phrase “vast rightwing conspiracy” to denounce critics of her husband.

Some say the move by Murdoch reflects approval of her Senate career, notes FT’s Caroline Daniel. Others point to Murdoch’s record for picking future national leaders. Last century, he threw over the British conservatism he’d long supported to back longshot Tony Blair. Clinton surprised Washington and media watchers recently by attending a FOX NEWS anniversary party, where she toasted Murdoch.

Political powerbroker and studio head Harvey Weinstein is said to have convinced Hillary that Murdoch could be a friend, not a foe, in her ongoing political maneuvers.

Hillary has now cornered the NY media market, by winning support from the NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS owner Mort Zuckerman — and now Murdoch and the NY POST.

CNN and Fox will never have me on as a political analyst because there’s not much to discuss when I can correctly call the presidential elections years before the nominating primaries.

PC reveals a certain ignorance about pretty much everything I’ve ever written:

He’s your Baby. You people have been shilling for this train-wreck of an administration since the day he was crowned by the Supreme Court. Now that it’s apparent to all but the borderline retarded that Bush and his handlers are both totally incompetent and barely closeted fascists to boot, you are trying to distance yourselves. Sorry, but it won’t work. Bush is the albatross tied around the neck of everyone who voted Republican in 2000, 2002, or 2004. You are guilty of hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. Your bio says you are a member of Mensa. Seems they let anyone in these days.

Seeing as I didn’t vote Republican in 2000, 2002, 2004 or nearly every election before that, I fail to see how Dear Jorge could possibly be considered my baby. And considering that I’ve been openly ripping Bush as a globalist tool since 2001, I conclude that the aptly named PC didn’t bother to look before he leaped.

Hee-hee! (spin-and-a-crotch-thrust)