Socialists Swamped in Spain

The folks in Spain are coming to their senses. Suffering from the highest unemployment rate in the industrialized world, they've taken their angst out on the socialist swine who've driven their economy into the ground.

Spain's ruling Socialists suffered a crushing defeat to conservatives in local and regional elections Sunday, yielding power even in traditional strongholds against a backdrop of staggering unemployment and unprecedented sit-ins by Spaniards furious with what they see as politicians who don't care about their plight.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the result was due punishment of his government for the state of the economy -- the jobless rate is a eurozone high of 21.3 percent. But he said he had no plans to move up general elections, which must be held by March of next year, and pledged to press on with job-creating reforms despite the loud outcry of opposition to his party.

The win for the conservative opposition Popular Party puts it in even a stronger position to win the general elections and return to power after eight years of Socialist rule.

In what Spanish media said was the worst performance on record by the Socialist Party in local and regional elections, the numbers reflecting the loss were stunning: the conservative Popular Party won at the municipal level by about two million votes, compared to 150,000 in its win in 2007, and in 13 regional governments that were up for grabs, Zapatero's party lost in virtually all of them.

One was Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain, where the Socialists have always held power. The Socialists also lost bastions like the town halls in Barcelona and Seville. The conservatives padded their majorities in Madrid and Valencia, in the latter even though the president is under investigation for corruption. Several other Socialist-controlled regional governments also fell. Spain's electoral map turned largely blue -- the color of the Popular Party.

Spain Socialists Brace for Humiliating Defeat

With unemployment over 21%, it's a surprise anyone would vote for Socialism. How many time must it be demonstrated that Socialism doesn't work and has never worked?

The ruling Socialist Party braced itself for stinging losses in regional and municipal elections Sunday amid unprecedented street protests that have caught the imagination of the nation.

The elections are a key test of how much the party's support has crumbled due to soaring unemployment and its handling of the financial crisis, and are seen as a prelude to general elections next year.

More than 34 million people are eligible to vote while in the background a growing protest movement has illustrated the strong disillusionment felt by Spaniards toward both main parties and what they call a political system that favors economic interests over citizens.

"I call for, encourage and appeal for a responsible, big turnout in these May 22 regional and municipal elections in all of Spain," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said as he emerged with his wife from casting his ballot.

Voter turnout by 2 p.m. stood at 35.9 percent, 1.7 percent higher than at the same time in similar elections in 2007, the electoral commission said.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Polls indicate Zapatero's party could suffer the humiliation of losing historic Socialist strongholds.

The financial crisis has forced deep cuts and left Spain burdened with 21.3 percent unemployment, the highest of any nation using the Euro as its currency. The jobless rate among the young stands at 40 percent and a total of 4.9 million people are out of work in Spain, the highest number since 1997.

A large proportion of those in work earn just €1,000 ($1,400) or less per month.

Spain is forecasting limp growth of just 1.3 percent for itself in 2011, but even the Bank of Spain has rated that prediction as optimistic.

Protests have swept across Spain. Let's hope today the Socialists get swept out.

They Love Us Now, They Really Love Us!

Obama's surrender to Europe has already begun paying dividends.

Austria rejects US Guantanamo detainee request
Austria said Monday it would not take detainees from the Guantanamo Bay center despite a request by President Barack Obama for help from European nations during his first major international trip as leader.

Austria was worried about the security threat to the European Union posed by the detainees, Interior Minister Maria Fekter told a meeting of her European counterparts.

Obama repeated his request Sunday for European countries to take some of the 60 inmates who will have to go to another country as they could face abuse, imprisonment or death if returned to their homelands. He has ordered the center to close within a year of his taking office.

Several EU countries, including the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, have already declined to take inmates.

"If the detainees are no longer dangerous, why don't they stay in the U.S.," Fekter told the meeting. "For Austria, I cannot accept Guantanamo inmates."

Taking inmates poses a security headache for the EU because 23 of its members share a common passport-free zone. If one of its members takes in a prisoner with a criminal record, all others in the zone will have to be alerted.

Jacques Barrot, the EU's justice and interior affairs commissioner told reporters that U.S. officials told him they intend to take in a share of the 60 prisoners.

"We European countries are now dealing with an American government which is showing good will and this good will is expressed now in the fact that they are willing to resettle some ex-detainees on their own territory," Barrot said.

Barrot said U.S. justice officials aimed to finalize new countries for the detainees by the end of June. He said the EU was receiving "detailed answers" about why the inmates are being detained and the potential security risk they could pose.

Any final decision on taking in detainees remains one for each of the EU nations.

France said Friday that it would be willing to take one of the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo, while Spain and Portugal have said they too could accept detainees.

About 250 detainees are still held, some without charge, at the Guantanamo Bay center, which was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

You should've talked to 'em in Austrian, nitwit.

Via Yahoo News

Sad News: Spanish Nightclub Cancels Boob Job Promotion

C'mon now, they're just trying to build up the self-esteem of some lucky girl.

A SPANISH nightclub has scrapped plans to stage a raffle for breast enlargement surgery after an uproar over the event.

The Pacha nightclub in the Mediterranean city of Valencia said it "apologised to all people and institutions which may have felt offended by this initiative", adding that "at no moment did it intend to disrespect anyone".

Adverstisements for the event called "Pretty Woman" that had been set for December 5 featured a picture of a woman with firm breasts who appeared to be holding a scalpel.

Tickets had been set at €20 ($39.40) with the prize said to be worth €4500 ($8860) .

"A tribute to women. Buy your ticket and take part in the raffle for breast enlargement," the club said on its website.

Club owners had said they were inspired by the popularity of such events in Argentina and stressed that the winner could chose to have laser hair removal instead of the breast implants.

But Health Minister Bernat Soria said he had launched an investigation into the planned event.

The minister said cosmetic surgery was regulated by health authorities and he expressed concern that minors would be able to participate.

Dopey Skanks Flummoxed by Poor Calendar Sales

Seriously, are these women that dumb? Would you really want a calendar with a picture of these two on it?

Seven middle-aged Spanish moms who posed for a tongue-in-cheek erotic calendar — a fundraiser for their children's tiny, rural school — are now saddled with debt and 5,000 unwanted copies.

One of the photos shows the mothers with Christmas tinsel as their only garb — no private parts on view. Other goofy poses include a shotgun-toting mom wearing only a fox pelt kneeling on a table, and another with a mother covering her body with a red umbrella on a picnic table.

The photos came out as calendars in November and at first proved to be a big hit. But the plan backfired.

The women acknowledge being rank amateurs in publishing and advertising, and because of a miscue with a distributor they missed out on the Christmas shopping rush. Now, sales of the euro5 (US$8) calendar have dried up and they owe a printer nearly euro10,000 (US$16,000).

"The sad part for us is figuring out what to do with them because it is not something you can recycle," said Rosa Garin, 36, one of the models in Serradilla del Arroyo, a village of 400 people in northern Salamanca province.

Maybe they ought to get jobs and stop whining. That or clean yourselves up a bit before the next photo shoot.

On Winning Friends And Influencing People

Russia rattles its depleted sabre in the Atlantic
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow

The Kremlin has flexed its military might off the European coastline as Russian warships and nuclear bombers test fired missiles close to the Iberian peninsula during the first major military manouevres in the Atlantic since the Cold War.

The RAF and the Norwegian Air Force were forced to scramble fighter jets to shadow Russian long-range bombers headed for the Bay of Biscay where vessels from the Northern and Black Sea fleets have begun three days of exercises.

The manouevres are the latest indication of Soviet premier President Vladimir Putin's intent to project Russia's growing military prowess to the international community and to pander to growing nationalist sentiment at home.

The Russian Air Force said that two Tu160 bombers, known in the West as Blackjacks, would conduct tactical missile launches off the Spanish and Portugese coastlines. Both countries, Russia said, had been informed in advance.

Earlier, the guided missile cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, took part in a live fire exercise that a navy spokesman said was 100 per cent successful.

Although Russia gave warning of the exercises to Nato countries last year, the operation is likely to cause an element of disquiet in the West - albeit more for political than military reasons.

As East-West relations have soured, Mr Putin responded last year by ordering a resumption of long-range bomber patrols in international airspace for the first time since the Soviet era.

He also threatened to retrain part of Russia's considerable nuclear arsenal on European targets if a proposed US missile defence shield, to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic by 2012, is not scrapped.

Yet for all the posturing, Russia still carries a small stick militarily - big enough to impress ordinary Russians at a time when Mr Putin is plotting to retain power behind the scenes after elections this March but too puny to frighten the West just yet.

While the president has sharply increased defence spending and commissioned a new generation of nuclear missiles, Russia's defence budget is a tenth of the United States' and is also smaller than Britain.

The Atlantic exercises - described by a Russian navy source as "the biggest exercise of its kind in the area since Soviet times" - have also shown that Russia's conventional military hardware remain in a sorry state.

For unexplained reasons, a number of ships meant to participate stayed at home and those that did sail are in poor condition. The Moskva is 30 years old, while the Admiral Kuznetzov, Russia's rickety aircraft carrier, spends much of its time in dry docks undergoing repairs.

In a token gesture of East-West co-operation, the French navy has agreed to send an anti-submarine frigate to join the exercises. The Russian flotilla had earlier docked in Toulon.

Given Toulon's status of being a major French naval installation, I'm sure the Soviet Russian high command arranged this visit for purely altruistic reasons - a cultural exchange, so to speak.

While Russia's military prowess may still be dubious, its growing status as an energy superpower is not. Russia and Serbia yesterday agreed a pipeline deal that will boost Moscow's energy control over Europe.

Last week a similar deal was agreed with Bulgaria.

Via The Telegraph

The Bush administration's Russian expert was too busy plotting the demise of Israel to comment.

Season's Beatings: Santa Gunned Down in Bizarre Spanish Video Ad

This is a curious way of promoting an ad campaign, to say the least.

Santa Claus is under attack by his traditional rivals in Spain, the Three Kings, in an advertising campaign that shows the jolly man in red shot down in an alley and calls him over-commercial and cruel to elves.

Spanish children traditionally receive Christmas presents on January 6, when parades commemorate the Three Kings said to have followed the Star of Bethlehem to bring presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Christ.

But in recent years Santa Claus has made inroads during the holiday season, helped by Hollywood films and shops eager to use his image to persuade parents to buy more toys.

Now, a Spanish advertising agency is fighting back with a campaign that includes posters on Madrid streets and a rap video criticizing Santa to win back the festive season for the Three Kings.

In the video, three rapping Kings backed by dancing girls taunt Santa as an overweight import whose red costume was popularized by a Coca Cola advertising campaign.

"We're the Three Kings -- who the Hell are you?" they chant in the expletive-laced video ending with Father Christmas being machine-gunned in an alley.

The video can be seen here. It's incredibly tasteless and violent, though I'm sure some will consider it edgy.

I just think it's sick.

Hugo Chavez Certifiably Insane

The gift that keeps on giving, Hugo Chavez, has come out with another beauty to certify that he is insane.

Chavez calls for cheap oil plan

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has called on oil-rich nations to dramatically reduce what they charge poor countries for the commodity.
The poorest countries should only pay about $20 (£9.60) for a barrel of oil compared with current market prices of more than $90, Mr Chavez said.

And, of course, the socialist/MSM/left-wing (but I repeat myself) dream of wealth redistribution comes up.

The Venezuelan leader said OPEC members should discuss preferential pricing at their upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, describing such a policy as a "marvellous mechanism of redistribution of the world's wealth."

"I would sell oil to a rich country at $100 and to a poor country perhaps at $20," he said.

Here's how this would actually work in the real world.

If you take an item the market values at $100 a barrel and sell it at an artificially low price of $20 a barrel to a certain group of customers, those customers will then turn around and resell it at the market $100 price and pocket the $80 profit themselves.

So the reality is, the product will end up being sold at $100 a barrel; it's just a matter of who pocket the money. If Chavez is so worried about these poor countries, he should just write them a check and be done with it.

Socialists never quite grasp the reality that they can not rig the market value of an item.

Meanwhile, the crackpot communist is now threatening King Juan Carlos of Spain, demanding an apology after the King rightly told him to shut up.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez demanded on Tuesday Spain's king apologize for telling him to shut up, warning that Spanish investments could suffer in its former colony because of the spat.

Chavez, who railed against imperialism and capitalism, named banks Santander and BBVA as possible targets, saying the OPEC nation did not need Spanish business.

"The king lost it," Chavez said at a late-night political rally. "He should say, '... I, the king, confess, I was beside myself, I made a mistake.'"

Like I said, he's certifiable.

'Terror Tycoon' Busted

A notorious Syrian arms dealer who lived above the law for three decades while arming terrorists around the globe and building a vast fortune has been nabbed on federal charges for conspiring to kill American military personnel.

The spectacularly wealthy Monzer al Kassar, 61, was forced to trade his palatial estate in Marbella, Spain, for the confines of a prison cell after authorities grabbed him at Madrid's Barajas airport Thursday.

His downfall came as the result of a Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation. He allegedly agreed to sell a staggering array of weaponry and a small army of men to a terrorist organization battling U.S. military in Colombia.

Known as the "Prince of Marbella," al Kassar has been considered one of the world's most prolific arms dealers since the 1970s, supplying military equipment used in conflicts from Iraq and Iran to Somalia, Croatia and Bosnia.

More from the Washington Times:

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Karen P. Tandy said Syrian national Monzer Al Kassar, 61, of Marbella, Spain, along with suspects Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi, 60, of Lebanon, and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, 58, also of Marbella, were arrested as they prepared to finalize a multimillion-dollar deal with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to pay for the weapons.

Mr. Kassar was arrested on the U.S. charges by Spanish authorities in Madrid; simultaneously Mr. Ghazi and Mr. Moreno Godoy were arrested in Romania.

The Post editorial shreds John Edwards.

Fifteen Arrested on Terror Charges in Spain

Good thing they up and ran from Iraq, otherwise they'd really have a problem on their hands.

Fifteen North Africans were arrested in Spain on Monday on suspicion of recruiting volunteers to fight in Iraq and other countries.

Spain's Interior Ministry said computer material, jihad propaganda and several cell phones were seized during at least five pre-dawn raids throughout Spain. No arms or explosives were discovered.

Thirteen of the 15 were Moroccan and two were from Algeria, according to the statement, which said the group was operating as a cell that allegedly send money and fighters to different terrorist organizations in north Africa, Iraq and other countries.

"The arrests are further evidence that Spain is part of the battlefield of international terrorism," said Jesus Nunez Villaverde, an expert on the Islamic world and director of a Madrid think-tank, the Institute of Studies on Conflict and Humanitarian Action.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, Spanish police have arrested hundreds of Islamic terror suspects, many in connection with the 2004 train bombings in Madrid, which killed 191 people.

Spain's Feminized Terror War

Soeren Kern has the depressing details at American Thinker.

But what do the terrorists think? They seem to understand Zapatero better than Zapatero understands himself. Indeed, in March 2007, Al-Qaeda launched new threats against Spain, this time over its military deployment in Afghanistan. In a video, a hooded man said the presence of Spanish troops in Afghanistan "exposes Spain again to threats" unless they withdraw their troops from the country. "The Spanish people have been tricked by a socialist government which withdrew troops from Iraq and sent 600 to Afghanistan," the man proclaimed. So much for Zapatero's truce with Islam.

Read the whole thing.