The Drumbeat

The drumbeat. It's always there. Day and night. Rain or shine. Winter or Summer. Sunday or Monday. It comes at you from every direction. It comes over the TV, the radio, at work, at school, in music, in the newspapers, from the politicians, in conversation with others, even in church. It wears you down. It robs you of the will to resist its message. Even short-lived victories, which stop it briefly, leave you with the knowledge that it will return; each minor victory bound to be lost to the redoubled efforts of this patient and persistent force. You can't escape it. It never stops. It never gives up. It never ends. It rains upon you from every possible angle, from every possible source.

It's the drumbeat of the left. It is political, philosophical, theological, and social. It pervades every activity. It is post-structural, post-modern, post-everything in the parlance of the day. It is tolerant, diverse, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, egalitarian, politically correct, multicultural, globalist, and collectivist. It insists that there are no rights and wrongs, no moral absolutes. It turns everything upside down in its looking glass world. It denies the correctness of all that produced what our culture revered before the deconstruction of the world in accordance with the tenets of cultural Marxism.

It denies God, human exceptionalism, and the soul. We are reduced to Darwinian animals floundering in an amoral sea of meaninglessness. It is a product of the nihilistic, existentialist philosophical movement, which went hand in hand with modern art, atonal music, scientific materialism and modern physics, and the generally discordant nature of the twentieth century.


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Quake confusion after bomb explodes
Austrian authorities say what initially appeared to be a small earthquake which rattled Vienna turned out to be the explosion of a large Second World War bomb.


France ban on internet alcohol advertising hits industry
France may be home to some of the world's finest wines but it could be about to join the tiny club of Muslim states that forbid their promotion on the internet.


Channel tunnel fire's cause still as dark as the tunnel itself
A week after fire transformed one of Europe's most important transport arteries into a closed incinerator that destroyed a freight train and all 27 trucks on board, French and British investigators and the tunnel's operator have provided little insight into how it all occurred.


15 injured in bus-train collision in L.A.
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A metro train and a bus collided Friday, injuring at least 15 people near downtown Los Angeles, officials said.


Bombing at Hotel in Pakistan Kills at Least 40
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 250, the police said.


Chinese state media say fire kills at least 43
State media say a fire has killed at least 43 people in a nightclub in China's Guangdong province.


Nigeria militants turn against each other in delta
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian militants clashed with each other in the restive Niger Delta, a military spokesman said on Friday, highlighting the complex security situation in the oil-rich region.


Arabs Denounce Cleric's Edict to Kill Satellite TV Station Owners
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content.


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Livni stunned as Mofaz quits politics

On her first day as Kadima's new leader, Tzipi Livni received a startling blow: Shaul Mofaz, whom she ended up beating in Wednesday's party primary by only 431 votes, announced that he was "taking a break" from political life.

A shocked Livni tried to reach Mofaz to persuade him to reconsider, but he refused to meet with her, aides said.

Mofaz, in a speech conceding the Kadima leadership race to Livni on Thursday evening at his campaign headquarters in Givatayim, said he was quitting the cabinet and the Knesset.

The decision was a surprise to even his closest advisers, and the ministers and MKs who sat next to him also appeared to be stunned as he made the announcement.



Syria state-run paper: If Livni wants peace, she will achieve it

"If Livni desires peace - she will achieve it," an editorial in the official Syrian state-run newspaper Tishreen proclaimed Saturday, in what is the first Syrian reaction since Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was elected chair of the ruling Kadima party.

Issam Dari, the editor-in-chief of Tishreen, suggested in his editorial that Livni's family background as daughter of a Jewish pre-State underground member makes her ill-equipped to denounce Palestinian terror.

"Livni should bear this in mind: If your house is made of glass, don't go hurling stones on others," the editorial warned.

"We hope you won't be quick in accusing Palestinians and Arabs of terror, because with your record - you can't blame others for doing what you have done all your life."



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Russia Successfully Fires New Ballistic Missile
Russian Defense Ministry officials say the Bulava missile was launched Thursday from a Russian nuclear submarine. Its warheads struck their designated targets on Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.


Russia ratchets up US tensions with arms sales to Iran and Venezuela
The head of the state arms exporter said that he was negotiating to sell antiaircraft systems to Iran despite American objections. Russia has already delivered 29 Tor-M1 missile systems under a $700 million (£386 million) deal with Iran in 2005.


Serb president prepares for U.N. Kosovo struggle
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Serbia's president acknowledged Friday that he will face a tough struggle when he seeks U.N. support for his country's bid to challenge Kosovo's independence before the International Court of Justice.


Ukrainian rivals spar over ties to Moscow
KIEV: The Ukrainian prime minister on Wednesday accused the president of spoiling the country's relationship with Russia, a broadside that came one day after their governing coalition collapsed.


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Morgan Said to Continue Merger Talks After Rescue
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley, whose 50 percent share price plunge forced it into merger talks, is continuing negotiations after the government announced a bailout plan aimed at stabilizing financial companies, a person close to the investment bank said.


Morgan Stanley may sell stake to Chinese sovereign fund
MORGAN Stanley, the second-biggest independent US securities company, may sell a larger stake to China Investment Corporation and is in talks about a possible merger with Wachovia, a source familiar with the matter says.


Financial Crisis: US calls on world to save banking system
The US government last night urged other countries to follow its model of bailing out stricken banks after Treasury secretary Hank Paulson unveiled an unprecedented $700bn (£380bn) rescue plan to prevent a collapse of the financial system.


Banking crisis: World markets soar on US rescue hopes


Oil prices creep higher in choppy trade


Italian consumers stage "bread strike" over prices


On the ground with an Ethiopian farmer


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Back in Iraq, Jarred by the Calm

BAGHDAD — At first, I didn’t recognize the place.

On Karada Mariam, a street that runs over the Tigris River toward the Green Zone, the Serwan and the Zamboor, two kebab places blown up by suicide bombers in 2006, were crammed with customers. Farther up the street was Pizza Napoli, the Italian place shut down in 2006; it, too, was open for business. And I’d forgotten altogether about Abu Nashwan’s Wine Shop, boarded up when the black-suited militiamen of the Mahdi Army had threatened to kill its owners. There it was, flung open to the world.

Two years ago, when I last stayed in Baghdad, Karada Mariam was like the whole of the city: shuttered, shattered, broken and dead.



6 Children in Ark. Custody After Raid on Compound

Six minors have been temporarily placed in state custody as part of a child porn investigation after a raid on a ministry run by a man who says "consent is puberty" when it comes to sex, officials said Sunday.



Baroness Warnock: Dementia sufferers may have a 'duty to die'

Elderly people suffering from dementia should consider ending their lives because they are a burden on the NHS and their families, according to the influential medical ethics expert Baroness Warnock.

The veteran Government adviser said pensioners in mental decline are "wasting people's lives" because of the care they require and should be allowed to opt for euthanasia even if they are not in pain.

She insisted there was "nothing wrong" with people being helped to die for the sake of their loved ones or society.

The 84-year-old added that she hoped people will soon be "licensed to put others down" if they are unable to look after themselves.