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31 May, 2004

LAKOFF REVISITED

I have had a couple of shots on this blog in times past at George Lakoff -- the Leftist linguistics professor who thinks that conservatives all want to be punitive fathers. There is of course a Mt. Everest of nutty Leftist psychological theories around so why have I given Lakoff special attention? Because what he writes does, when you read it, sound very moderate, balanced and reasonable. It sounds good and it persuades many. But it is still nonsense for all that. In the past I have simply pointed out where and why it is nonsensical and contradicted by the evidence but I don't think that is enough to shoot down his theory. Theories tend to be killed off by better theories rather than by evidence. So I have just added a new introduction to my article on Lakoff that reads as follows:

"George Lakoff is a Leftist linguistics professor whose linguistic theories seem now to have fallen out of favour but who seems to think he knows all about the psychology of politics. Lakoff has written a book (reviewed here) which purports to explain the Left/Right polarity of politics as Mother-oriented politics versus Father-oriented politics -- a book called: Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think.

His program is an ambitious one. He rightly points out that there are many "contradictions" (I would call them compromises) in any real-life political program (he describes them eloquently here) and says he has a grand theory that explains how all such apparent contradictions arise -- a theory that shows the real consistency underlying the apparent inconsistency. That is undoubtedly a noteworthy and attractive claim.

I too think I can explain the inconsistencies Lakoff mentions but I think I can explain it, not in a book, but in one paragraph. Does that not trump Lakoff? I think it does. So here is the paragraph:

What I would say that is that the contradictions arise because neither side of politics is in fact much INTERESTED in being consistent. Conservatives don't like theories and just go by what seems to have worked well for people in the world to date -- in all the untidy complexity that the real world has. And Leftists are only interested in what sounds good at the time and are perfectly capable of advocating completely contradictory things from occasion to occasion as long as they sound good on each occasion [John Kerry, anyone?]. The example par excellence of Leftist contradiction is their common claim that right and wrong or good and bad is at least totally arbitrary if not meaningless altogether -- which claim can be followed almost immediately with a self-righteoous sermon on the rightness and goodness of (say) "tolerance". Leftists want to make us "better" while at the same time denying that there is any such thing as "better"!!

So Lakoff's program is foredoomed from the start. What he deals with is intrinsically INconsistent. There is no large-scale consistency there for a theory to describe. But a brief look at what he claims does nonetheless seem in order. His claim is an attractive one so deserves examination of its fit to reality...."

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ELSEWHERE

A reader draws attention to this bit of Leftist double standards: "They broke the rules and broke the law. Despite the controversy, some Tigard High School students will still get to participate in graduation. But fellow students are saying, 'Not so fast!' A letter sent to parents a few weeks ago seems to be very black and white, stating that any senior who is involved with drugs or alcohol in the last few weeks of school will not be allowed to take part in commencement ceremonies. But it didn't work. Six seniors were caught intoxicated at prom, but stop the band; they will be allowed to partake in graduation." My reader comments: "Though Tigard, Oregon, is not Seattle, (it's about 200 miles away) it is certainly a soulmate. I laughed out loud thinking about all of silliness regarding zero tolerence in our schools regarding anything that even closely resembles a weapon of any kind. Whether it's a toy gun, a sharp object or dinner utensils, anything brought on campus and discovered by the thought police (teachers) results in automatic suspension. I remember a story about a little boy who was suspended because he used his hand and forefinger like a gun. These students are just lucky nobody had a nail clipper on them. That would have been real trouble".

A reader responded to my post yesterday about Leftists being really interested only in power as follows: "I've got to agree with you on that. I've recently been trying to re-read Atlas Shrugged (not that I am really a libertarian ) because when I tried to read it twenty-five years ago I could not get past the radio speech. It amazes me how much the plot resembles what happened in Chile and what is now happening in Venezuela. Just in case you've never read the book, it describes a leftist government citing compassion in order to create the economic chaos preparatory to a takeover. Does this not resemble Allende's Chile, where the goverment policies drove inflation to over 200% and government policies on business which were ostensibly meant to help actually created more problems, and ended with the confiscation of private businesses and lands? Does this not now resemble Chavez's Venezuela? While Ayn Rand portrays the industrialists as implausibly noble, her portayal of the well-meaning idiots led by the unscrupulous does not seem at all far from the mark. The stories from France about the 15,000 dead in last summer's heat-wave, and the recently built Paris airport terminal falling down, also seem to agree with her plot-line of an increasing sacrifice of competence in leadership for political correctness."

Leftists excuse Stalin and hate Hitler, YET: "From 1929 to 1939, in peace time, Stalin and the Bolsheviks killed about 20 million Soviet citizens, for no predictable reason. Hitler and the National Socialists ruined the businesses and careers of hundreds of thousands of German citizens, but the number of people killed by them before the outbreak of the war was only a few hundred, most of them fellow Nazis and all of them for a predictable reason. Even immediately after the onset of the war, when it became known that the Nazis had begun to engage in mercy killings of the incurably insane (euthanasia), the Catholic bishops, led by Bernhard von Galen, openly protested, and German public opinion compelled the Nazis to halt the program. Bishop (later: Cardinal) von Galen survived the Nazi regime. Under Stalin and the Bolsheviks, any such opposition was impossible and Bishop von Galen would have been quickly disposed of." So what does that tell us? Easy: Stalin was even farther Left than Hitler so he was more murderous. Leftists love humanity -- it's just people they can't stand. It may be worth noting that Israeli historian Aryeh Unger long ago showed that Stalin was much more totalitarian than Hitler.

Bureaucratic idiocy: Butchers can no longer give the dog a bone: "Butchers across the UK are to be banned from giving left-over bones to customers' dogs. Under new EU rules bones are classed as a waste by-product and butchers must pay for them to be incinerated, says The Sun. Britain's 10,000 butchers are being sent letters by local councils warning them they face fines if they pass left-over bones to pet-owners in the traditional way."

Wicked Thoughts has been visiting a Greek Orthodox blog and even found some jokes there!

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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30 May, 2004

ONLY POWER MATTERS TO THE LEFT

I know I shouldn't be, but I was slightly surprised that my considerable efforts to point out that party politics in modern democracies are essentially centrist were totally lost on the Leftist bloggers (calling themselves "One Good Move") who have been criticizing Keith Burgess Jackson for some fairly ordinary statements he made about the sources of ideology. Who, for goodness sake, disputes that aging makes you more conservative? Practically every conservative intellectual there is (including Keith and including the dreaded Neocons) started out on the Left! I am a considerable rarity in being a lifelong conservative intellectual.

But the fact that a centrist such as GWB is hated with a passion by so-called American "liberals" (really Leftists. Liberty is a very low priority for them) is itself instructive. If you look at the legislation and policies that Clinton and GWB have supported and implemented, it would be a hard task to say which was the more Leftist. With his support for all sorts of expansion of government, I would definitely say that GWB is the more Leftist but the fact that the matter can be reasonably debated shows just how centrist both men are. So why do the Left loathe GWB? I know of nothing directed towards John Kerry by conservatives that remotely approaches the rage and hate that is routinely directed towards GWB by the Left. Contempt for Kerry's dishonesty is common among conservatives but that is about all. So why do American Leftists take their party politics so seriously? Why were the "One Good Move" bloggers so completely incapable of taking on board the simple fact that a vote for the GOP is NOT automatically a vote for conservatism?

A vote for the GOP is SOMETIMES a vote for conservatism but American politics are essentially interest-group politics. Each party has its client groups (mostly minorities in the case of the donkeys and particularly New Testament Christians in the case of the GOP) and it is speaking for them that brings in the great majority of votes -- which is why lots of GOP supporters who deplore GWB's expansion of government will still vote for him in the next election and which is why American blacks who are conservative on lots of social issues almost always vote for the donkeys. It is only small minority of centrist (swinging) voters who decide which candidate will win or lose and that is a major part of the reason why both candidates themselves have to be centrist.

So it all boils down to power. Does your team occupy the top positions or not? Are people you can identify with in charge? And for Leftists, politics is NOTHING BUT power. They have no principles and openly ridicule (particularly via postmodernism) the idea that anything could be right or wrong. Policies that were once popular but which have become unpopular (such as eugenics) are abandoned so completely by Leftists that only historians know that such policies once had large-scale Leftist support. And with the way antisemitism is surging on the Left, the time will come when people will have forgotten that Leftists were for a time anti-racist. So for Leftists it is only party that matters and conservatives such as myself and Keith who take ideas, principles and ideology seriously are simply incomprehensible.

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ELSEWHERE

I must say that it does rather surprise me how many bloggers depend on blogging software. I use blogger.com for this blog because of the permanent free blogspot hosting and to save a little bit of time but all my mirror sites are hand-coded. Basic html is very easy. I have never so much as opened a book on html or looked at a FAQ on it. I just see how other people have done things and copy that. So the only blogging software I use for my mirrors is a text editor plus what is in my noggin. I am rather moved to comment on the matter at the moment because of the loud grumbles coming from the MT people over recent price rises there. And some people pay for separate blogrolling software too! It all seems a bit sad to me when learning a tiny bit of html would enable people to do their blogging for free. I decided last night that I should put up some permalinks to the various parts of my online book about Leftism so I now know how to hand-code permalinks too -- dead easy! And hand-coded html loads twice as fast as the mass of junk produced by html editing programs. Here is a useful sample of my new permalinks (or here if that site is overloaded).

"A major poll of 1,388 American Roman Catholic voters shows Catholic presidential candidate John Kerry getting only 20% support among America's 51 million Catholics on issues where he opposes the Church's position -- with his support on some issues dropping as low as 6%."

Melanie Phillips on a "blame America" and "blame Israel" letter to The Guardian by Canon Paul Oestreicher of the Church of England: "This letter illustrates how the toxic combination of vicious prejudice and astonishing ignorance combine to produce an astounding inversion of moral values. These occupations [of Iraq and Palestinian areas] are not illegal. There is no brutal repression of civilian populations, but a defence against terror and mass murder in an attempt to restore order and respect for human life. As for his convoluted last thought, he appeared to be equating the deaths of Nazis during the occupation of France with the deaths of Israelis, Americans and British now, and proposing that Islamist mass murderers are the moral equivalent of the French Resistance."

Your government will protect you: "Australia admitted that its top spy agency ignored repeated attempts by convicted terrorist Jack Roche to warn it of the activities of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network two years before the Bali bombing".

Duplicitous translation: A Swedish speaker of Arabic compares mosque sermons to their press coverage: "America rapes Islam," the Imam roars in Arabic from the platform. The interpreter translates as: "We condemn USA's torture of Iraqi prisoners."

Don't laugh: The latest list of FBI Al Qaeda suspects includes a man raised on a goat ranch in Riverside County, Calif. He converted to Islam as a teenager after moving to Garden Grove, Calif. (presumably he was homesick!)

Slattery has picked out a nice selection of quotes from America's Leftist "celebrities". It certainly shows out of their own mouths what a nasty lot the "celebrities" are.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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29 May, 2004

FROM BROOKES NEWS

Democrats violate "separation of church and state" dogma by telling bishops to whom they can give communion and to whom they should not In a brazen act of outrageous chutzpah forty-eight democratic Catholic congressman publicly Dictated theology to the Catholic Church by telling her to whom she should give communion.
Journalist bashes President Bush on polls and Iraq Greg Hywood, the Sydney Morning Herald's editor, slags President Bush over funding, polls and the Iraq war ? and gets it wrong.
This tells us all we need to know about the media A picture about Nick Berg that exposes the media's double standards and moral bankruptcy
The media, Abu Ghraib and the forgotten massacres Abu Ghraib has given our leftist journalists a club with which to beat President Bush and the war to overthrow Saddam. This is the same rotten crew who never seriously protested Saddam's vile tortures and mass murders.
Free markets and Gradgrind executives In his novel Hard Times Charles Dickens' caricature of a free marketeer was the calculating and apparently cold-hearted utilitarian Gradgrind.
Journalist accuses America of war crimes in Iraq The Bush-hating Brian Toohey accuses the US of murdering women and children in Fallujah who were then buried in a mass grave in the town's football stadium. This journalist also defends terrorist as resistance fighters.

Details here

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ELSEWHERE

Sometimes the intellectual dishonesty (or should I say, the intellectual desperation) of the Left is so gross that it still has the capacity to amaze even me. After my big post yesterday pointing out that ideology and political party preference are only weakly correlated (25% overlap at a maximum) and that ideology therefore has to be studied separately fom party loyalty, the person to whom the post was replying emailed Keith Burgess-Jackson as follows: "I read John Ray's post. It was quite interesting. Nevertheless he presented no data that supports your assertions. Since you don't like exit poll data and John Ray's post attacks voting record as an unreliable way to identify ideology, I found some more stats for you. They are very much like the exit poll data, but are based on a survey. The stats still do not go in your favor". And what are the stats about? Political party preference! My entire post was devoted to pointing out the irrelevance of such statistics to the study of ideology yet he still claims to have read my post. What a fraud he is! And his claim that I "presented no data" is a colossal lie. I linked here to an academic journal article based on massive survey research that showed older people to have more conservative attitudes and I linked here to another academic journal article -- again based on massive survey research -- showing that people of higher socio-economic status tend to have more Leftist attitudes! Stalin's chronic lying has plenty of counterparts among modern-day Leftists.

America's so-called "liberal" intellectuals defended the Soviet system right throughout the cold war. And that still continues!. Popular young Leftist blogger, Matthew Yglesias, has just got himself into deserved hot water with his appalling claim that lots of Russians "got themselves killed" by Stalin: As if it were the doing of the victims rather than the doing of Stalin. See comments here and here. At the very least, it shows characteristic Leftist indifference to mass-murder. His further claim about the backwardness of pre-revolutionary Russia is sheer propaganda too. As one of the commenters on "Catallarchy" said: "Russia was not "a totally undeveloped country" in 1917. It was an industrial nation spanned by railroads with an emerging capitalist class, labor unrest, factory strikes and all the other attributes of a developed nation of the time.... Still, it had freed its slaves (serfs) before the US did and even gave them land though they had to pay for it in future installments." Russia was in fact the world's 4th largest industrial economy at the time and was steadily becoming more democratic -- and if the Tsar had not bothered his head with the Serbs, Russia would be a modern advanced nation today. There is even a photographic record of what Russia was like in the early 1900s -- in clear and brilliant colour too.

Brent Bozell notes some hate speech from Democrat leader Pelosi (about GWB, of course) and regrets that the media mostly ignored it. he says: "The public deserves to hear the words, and see the face, of the hate-filled Left."

I must say that I feel slightly overwhelmed by the fact that the National Library of Australia has just archived my entire website here: All 400+ files of it as far as I can see, including my blog archives. THAT'S backup for you. I suppose that being no. 42197 out of 20 million Australians is some sort of honour.

Great news for all internet users: "A US man who sent 850 million junk emails through accounts he opened with stolen identities has been sentenced to up to seven years in prison."

Rather surprising: The Australian presence in Hollywood goes back a long way. I didn't know that.

Arlene Peck has some more dreadful news from Israel: "there are actually children in Israel who are going hungry! Actually, to tell the truth, I was amazed that the situation has gotten so serious in Israel that there are now programs like Hazon Yeshaya soup Kitchens ... It seems the savage and senseless Intifada over the past few years has caused the number of Israeli children who live below the poverty line to be approximately 30% and climbing. That translates to over 690,000 Jewish children living in Israel who are going to bed hungry. Ironic how, one of the fears that we in America have is that school children are becoming obese because of lack of exercise and over indulgence in `junk food.'?"

Who moved my truth is really getting the knife into the female chauvinist sows.

David's Medienkritik has a fun picture from Germany of how one kid prayed for "peace" (meaning U.S. defeat) in Iraq.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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28 May, 2004

CONFUSING THE LEADERS AND THE LED

Keith Burgess-Jackson forwarded me a copy of the following email that he received: "Your recent article, "Expiating Liberal Guilt" seems to make two empirical claims. 1. There is a correlation between growing older and a predisposition to conservative politics. 2. There is a correlation between being brought up in a wealthy or at least middle class family and being liberal. I would have thought a scholar who describes himself as "anal" would have at least done a Google search to see if any statistics back up these claims. I found some exit poll data from the 2000 election that suggests you are dead wrong on both claims. I hope you will post a true mea culpa on your blog regarding this. If you do not, I question whether you are a philosopher who is interested in the truth. Here is the link".

The writer makes the common mistake of confusing the leaders and the led. There is a huge amount of research in the psychological literature showing that the two can be quite different. Keith was talking about those who preach "liberalism" rather than those who vote for the Democrat candidate in Presidential elections. The two are far from the same. Far more people vote Democrat than are committed to "liberalism". Only 20% of U.S. voters self-identify as "liberal". So why do so many others vote for Democrat candidates?

In part it is because ALL successful Presidential candidates (Democrat or Republican) are in fact centrists. They have to stay pretty close to the political centre (regardless of what their real, personal views might be) in order to maximize their appeal. No candidate can hope to win unless he appeals to a lot of centrist or "floating" voters and both candidates will try to offer something to everyone. The candidate can only be Right-leaning or Left-leaning rather than truly Rightist or Leftist. And there could be no clearer demonstration of that than John "flip-flop" Kerry. He carries the attempt to be everything to everybody to a ludicrous degree. And GWB too wooed "liberal" voters by stealing Leftist rhetoric and campaigning as a "compassionate" conservative. Another sign of how centrist successful Presidential candidates have to be is that there is a quite respectable case for arguing that Clinton was more conservative than GWB is. Work for the dole took off under Clinton and Clinton balanced the budget whereas GWB oversaw a major welfare expansion (prescription drug benefit) and ran the budget into deficit. So in those respects the two men did exactly the opposite of what the ideologies normally attributed to them would lead one to expect. Both have been conservative on some things and "liberal" on others.

So while it would be extremely odd indeed if conservative-leaning candidates were not preponderantly backed by conservative people, the differentiation is rarely strong (the strongest correlation I have found in my surveys was a correlation of .5 -- implying only a 25% overlap between ideology and vote). So GWB would have got votes from all sorts of people for all sorts of different reasons: For instance, as well as getting votes from Christians and committed conservatives, GWB would have got votes from centrists who liked his balance of "compassion" (i.e. being pro-handout) and caution about social change and from some genuinely compassionate "liberals" not because they liked his views in general but because they thought he would be most likely to bring about economic betterment for all (through economic growth etc.). A vote for GWB was, then, only only on some occasions an indicator of real voter conservatism.

Secondly, S.M. Lipset pointed out decades ago that vote is determined more by perceived economic self-interest (what in Australia we call the "hip-pocket nerve") than by ideological affinity -- so that you can have socially conservative working-class people (particularly blacks in the U.S. case) voting for Leftist candidates solely because they believe Leftist promises that the Left will give them personally a better deal. They might want to castrate homosexuals but they want bigger welfare cheques even more. See here.

So the fact that wealthier people were slightly more likely to vote for GWB is in fact good proof of Keith's contention. Wealthier people in general obviously saw GWB's policies as better for them but how come so many wealthy people voted against GWB? Obviously there was a big ideological pull among wealthy people that was influencing them to vote against economic self-interest. It shows that once you are well-off yourself, you are more likely to put money worries aside and concentrate on other goals -- such as telling the "peasants" what to do.

It has often been noted too (see again here) that it is education rather than occupation which is the major social class influence on ideology. Exposure to the educational system is a Leftist influence. And the Gore/Bush election results do show that. Gore's strength was among both those with the lowest level of education (for economic reasons) and those with the highest level of education (for ideological reasons). Just why education is a Leftist influence is set out at some length again here.

Economic self-interest matters a lot to older people too. The Democrats are big advocates of welfare and older people are big consumers of wefare so it was no surprise at all that GWB's share of the elderly vote was well-down. It was of course to help reverse his anti-welfare image among the elderly that GWB sponsored the prescription drug benefit initiative. Aging as such, however, is very strongly associated with conservative thinking. There is a list of some of the beliefs here that strongly differentiate the old and the young. You will see that what old people tend to believe is in fact rather amazingly Right-wing. Older people were likely to believe, for instance, that "Patriotism and loyalty to one's country are more important than one's intellectual convictions and should have precedence over them" and "Treason and murder should be punishable by death". They rejected views such as "Our treatment of criminals is too harsh: We should try to cure them, not punish them" and "People should be allowed to hold demonstrations in the streets without police interference".

So vote is the outcome of many influences and for most people ideology is not the crucial influence (remember that 25% maximum mentioned above). Ideology is important to party leaders and activists, however, so is still an important thing to study and analyse -- which Keith and I both have the habit of doing. I in fact have had over 200 papers reporting on aspects of it published in the academic journals.

As something of a footnote to the above, it may be worth noting that even self-identification as a "liberal" (etc.) may be misleading and unreliable. Not only vote but even self-identification may correlate poorly with ideology. Some recent Pew Research survey data (summarized again here) shows that the views held by so-called "moderates", for instance, can in fact be very Leftist. And there are no doubt many conservatives who regard themselves as moderate too. In other words, what people see as conservative, liberal etc varies widely. If GWB and Clinton are in fact both mostly centrists but are widely described as being of the Right or the Left, it should be no surprise that such confusions arise. It is only by asking questions about particular issues (as I did above in looking at the beliefs of the elderly) that one can have some hope of placing people realistically on an ideological spectrum. And it may be worth noting that when one does that, most people fall around the middle (in statisticians' terms, political ideology approximates a normal distribution) -- which is why successful politicians head in that direction too.

And some people reading this (particularly libertarians) will no doubt want to argue that the very idea of a Left/Right ideological spectrum is simplistic and wrong. To answer that, however, I will have to refer readers elsewhere.

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ELSEWHERE

The politics of unreason: "How do supposedly intelligent people view the Middle East? Recently: The Australian Broadcasting Company's former news director called for Israel's destruction. A majority of "quality" British newspapers falsely claimed Israel deliberately massacred large numbers of children in Gaza after two were killed by accident. A Canadian Broadcasting Company correspondent maliciously concocted a report to convince his viewers that Israel was responsible for the torture of Iraqis by US soldiers. That's in the moderate, Western, English-speaking democracies. Rather than easing the Middle East's madness, the West has caught the disease itself."

Homosexuals: An amusing comment from Interested Participant: "Preparations are well under way for this summer's Democratic Party National Convention in Boston and it appears that the Democrats are aggressively courting the homosexual population. According to this report, Democratic parties in 15 states and Puerto Rico are requiring that a specific number of their delegates be homosexual, bisexual or transgender.Quota numbers and specific states are not identified, but one has to wonder why 35 states are excluded in this affirmative action requirement for assignment of delegates. Certain populations of homosexuals will be geographically discriminated against by not being included in the quota scheme. Within the Democratic Party, it appears that homosexuals in some states are more equal than homosexuals in other states".

Professor Bunyip has divined the central motivations of Phillip Adams, Australia's best known Left-wing columnist: "[Adams] set out to provide further proof of his gifts by delivering a little lecture on the joys of Shakespeare. Well, that was the stated reason, but knowing Adams as we all do, the real inspiration was the usual one: "Look at me, my ignorant readers! Aren't I the smartie though, but?" Just a typical Lefty, in other words.

The movie reviewer in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of 27-May-2004 (Pg. T02), after saying that Michael Moore's Cannes winning documentary is even worse than his previous two efforts, called him the "Goebbels of the 21st century" (Not online).

One of my readers has put my "Hitler was a socialist" article online at Free Republic. It was interesting to read the comments. Several commenters seemed to think that everybody already knew that Hitler was a socialist. If only that were true. I have had many comments from conservatives saying that it came as news to them and Leftists all ridicule the idea, of course.

In my reading of other blogs, I occasionally come across references to the life of the academic. Here is an account -- only slightly tongue in cheek -- of what you need to do to get a Ph.D. and here is a very serious account of what you need to do in order to get a tenured university teaching job. My own experience was nothing like either of those accounts, however. I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation in six weeks and spent the rest of my Ph.D. period researching and writing for the academic journals. So when I applied for my first job, I already had several publications and was therefore not only given the job but was also given immediate tenure.

Wicked Thoughts has just put up a very topical joke.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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27 May, 2004

MORE ON GUN CONTROL

A reader who takes more of an interest in guns than I do has emailed me as follows:

"The Australian compulsory gun "buyback": See the red line in slide 17 of this Australian Institute of Criminology report (PDF). (Background to the report here). Note that the "gun buyback" happened in 1997 but the national homicide rate showed not a twitch in response.

A more international flavoured report is here (PDF) which describes Australia's gun-buyback scheme and associated bans as a "failed experiment". The article concludes: "In all cases, disarming the public has been ineffective, expensive and often counterproductive". Also of note is this summary of the Australian statistics -- showing that "The number of (firearm) offences has increased even when 642,000 guns were destroyed".

It is not necessary to agree with Lott's contrarian "more guns equals less crime" hypothesis to support the long established right to own firearms -- as this summary of British history shows. This Austrian paper (PDF), for example, accepts as a starting position the idea that reduced gun availability would reduce crime, but then argues that the cost of enforcement and the extent of evasion undermines the practicality of the whole scheme. The real value of Lott is that his work dramatically shows that the much more widely believed "less guns equals less crime" hypothesis is based on not much more than wishful thinking. Sometimes science requires stirrers to shift the dead weight of unthinking complacency. The relationship between guns and crime is probably complex, changeable, highly dependent on other factors, highly variable between societies and even generations within the same society, and not easily subject to any simplistic "one size fits all" rules.

Unfortunately legislators and antigun zealots think we belong to a deterministic world where humans behave as predictably as Skinner-box pigeons. As humans are not pigeons, their ham-fisted legislation almost always fails, usually producing unintended consequences that the hapless social engineers never imagined. In general the great cost of establishing and enforcing these systems is money that would be better spent on more direct crime prevention and law enforcement measures. Something many police forces have actually pointed out: "The New Zealand government discontinued firearms registration in 1984 after the New Zealand police recommended it's termination. The Canadian Police Association was at the brink ofwithdrawing it's support of the firearms registration because of it's serious shortcomings. At the height of the Austrian gun debate some two years ago leading police officials stated that a then called-for prohibition of handguns would not only be senseless and a waste of time and money, but that itwould be outright dangerous because of it's impact on the black arms market." (Source again here [PDF])

This Canadian site calls gun control advocates. Hoplophobics. It's great to see the old leftist debating device of psychologising every competitive opinion (eg xenophobia, homophobia etc) used against them!"

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An email from a born-in-Seattle reader: "More silliness in Seattle is on display as Seattle refuses to punish lawbreakers and votes to dump a law that impounded cars from people who had their licenses suspended. The newspaper headline is a classic, "City Council votes to dump unpopular impound law." I'm sure the law was unpopular with it's criminal targets. The argument used to oppose the law is a real head turner, "opponents said the law amounts to economic injustice because it treats violators who pay tickets better than those who do not, regardless of the public danger posed by both groups of drivers." The Seattle Council takes another step in the direction of creating another dysfunctional city".

Peggy Noonan: "Fast Eddy Doctorow told a story at the commencement all right, and it is a story about the boorishness of the aging liberal. An old '60s radical who feels he is entitled to impose his views on this audience on this day because he's so gifted, so smart, so insightful, so very above the normal rules, agreements and traditions. And for this he will get to call himself besieged and heroic -- a hero about whom stories are told! -- when in fact all he did was guarantee positive personal press in the elite media"

Amazing. The fat filmic slob is in favour of school choice: "Every parent wants to do what's best for their child. Whatever I can afford, I'm going to get my kid the best education I can get" More on Moore on the Adam Smith blog.

"Neocon" nonsense: "Although there are notable exceptions, many European commentators and much of the public are resorting to conspiratorial theories to explain the direction of U.S. foreign policy and somehow overlook the fact that American public opinion runs in favor of the president's handling of foreign affairs. Perhaps more important, however, they overlook the deep historical roots of the current direction of American foreign policy. It is not driven by a "neocon cabal." Rather, it is that certain individuals associated with the neoconservative label have been particularly articulate in expressing a set of policies that flow from two ideas that resonate deeply in American public opinion. The first is a belief that the United States has a responsibility to spread its vision of individual liberty. The second is that the primary and perhaps exclusive task of the federal government is to protect its citizens from external threats".

Carnival of the Vanities is up again -- blessedly free of strained attempts at humour this time.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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26 May, 2004

THE NOT SO SHEEPISH LAMBERT

Tim Lambert is a computer maven at the University of N.S.W. -- where I spent most of my teaching career many long years ago. He seems to have an obsession with catching out John Lott Jr. on gun-usage statistics and he has an occasional blog which seems to be mostly devoted to that. He does also however takes some interest in other scientific issues such as climate change. He has sent me copies of several of his past posts that I have not linked to because I thought that they were too intemperate. Not much light is generated by arguing with an angry man, in my view, and I think all conservative bloggers have to get used to ignoring rage-filled emails from Leftists. Leftists are very good at rage. It seems to be their principal emotion. I did nonetheless address on this blog what substance I could see in Lambert's various posts. Being a terrible tease from way back, however, I deliberately posted here recently another quotation from Lott. I wanted to see what heights of wrath Lambert might rise to this time. Sure enough, another email from Lambert popped into my inbox shortly thereafter. He seems to be learning, however, as his comment this time is principally factual. So, although I am no expert at all on the matter, I thought I might make a few comments on some of the points Lambert raises -- in case John Lott Jr. does not see fit to do so (I could say more about Lambert's whole post but I think that would be too tedious).

Lambert accuses Lott of selective use of statistics but almost any use of statistics has to be selective so the only interesting question is whether alternative selections of statistics show substantially different results. Lambert presents statistics to show that Australia's 1996 gun-control laws have been beneficial. He disputes Lott's claim that serious crime has risen since then. What Lambert's alternative statistics show to me, however, is more a pattern of no change than anything else. Deaths by firearm are surely the biggest issue but Lambert's table shows that the average rate of murder with a firearm before the bans was 0.37 compared with .30 after the bans -- with the figures in most individual years being .20 plus or .30 plus. Given statistical error and the range of influences which could have affected the averages concerned, the bans would seem to have achieved nothing significant -- a very poor result considering the vast expense in money and the significant loss of liberties associated with the bans. I note too that even the slight difference in averages observed seems to have been largely the result of a single very anomalous year in 1997 -- making the averages used a poor guide to any underlying trend. I think that for trend calculating purposes it would in fact be most appropriate to exclude both 1996 and 1997 -- and when one does that the "before and after" difference becomes very small indeed: .31 versus .28. The differences for other gun crimes also seem to be too small to assert a real underlying difference. And even Lambert admits a lack of a clear pattern when he notes that the "assault-with-firearm rate has increased". So Lott's statistical selection shows ill effects from the firearm ban and Lambert's selection shows no clear effect. It seems to me therefore that NEITHER set of statistics support the ban.

Lambert also weighs in on the global warming debate with a critique of another author who says that you can show either global warming or global cooling according to what set of statistics you use. Lambert makes some reasonable criticisms of the statistics which were alleged to show global cooling and recalculates the statistics concerned in a more orthodox way. His conclusion? "When analysed correctly, their data shows neither warming or cooling, regardless of which average is used". In other words, contrary to the Greenies, the earth is NOT warming up. That certainly fits in with all that I know on the subject! I must quote him on that again sometime.

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The North Carolina News & Observer has an article by a sociologist explaining why VOLUNTARY segregation of blacks and whites is somehow wrong. It's all the usual Leftist theorizing except for one bit of research that is quoted misleadingly: "no one has managed to demonstrate -- and people have tried really hard -- that there's any connection between that genetic marker for skin color and any of the things we observe as differences between races". That's just evasion of course. Who needs to look at correlates of the genetic marker for skin colour when they can look at skin colour itself -- and that has PLENTY of connections to other things -- crime-rate, for example. And there is almost a century of scientific evidence to show that the lower intelligence of blacks is genetically inherited. But who expects anything but propaganda from a Leftist sociologist? The real reasons for voluntary segregation -- that whites flee black crime and that people in general (black, white or brindle) tend to like best those people who are most similar to themselves -- were not mentioned. The real reasons would never have made it into print, I guess.

Conservative Australian film-critic and economist Paddy McGuinness has a few choice words about Michael Moore's win at Cannes. He even has a picture of himself accompanying the article -- a lot slimmer than when I met him years ago but still weighty. He starts out: "Who ever imagined that the big prizewinners in the international film industry would be fat, hairy slobs?"

Students rebel against arrogant Leftist preacher: "E.L. Doctorow, one of the most celebrated writers in America, was nearly booed off the stage at Hofstra University Sunday when he gave a commencement address lambasting President George W. Bush and effectively calling him a liar.... Those lines provoked an outburst of boos so loud the "Ragtime" author stopped the speech. Rabinowitz approached the podium and called for calm. "We value open discussion and debate," he said. "For the sake of your graduates, please let him finish." Some students and most of the faculty responded with a standing ovation.." (Via Norm Weatherby).

China Hand has just put up some more posts. He sees developments in Taiwan and Hong Kong as worrying.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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25 May, 2004

MEDICAL MADNESS

Bureaucrats from Mars: A female psychologist was punished by officialdom because she entered into a relationship with a convicted armed robber whom she had originally met in jail while she was a counsellor there. Why was that wrong? Because of the "vulnerability" of the armed robber. Let me repeat that: An armed robber was "vulnerable" and had to be "protected" from sex by the authorities! Clearly, it is the authorities who have lost all reality contact and who should be locked up for the safety of the public. And where is the Leftist outcry? The story has been going for ages so there was plenty of time for protest but I have heard of none. And "anything goes" seems to be the Leftist view of anything sexual. Why not in this case? But it is not of course "anything goes" when you are suspected of having some power. Power is the one unforgivable sin for Leftists and must be stamped on -- unless it is in their hands of course. I'll bet the poor woman concerned wishes she did have some power.

And how about the case of the pregnant woman who was told by THREE public hospital doctors that her baby was dead inside her, who refused her request for a scan and who then arranged to have the "remains" scraped out? Fortunately, the woman went and got a scan privately and found that the baby was perfectly OK. So, any disciplinary proceedings against the viciously negligent doctors concerned? No way! All they got was "counselling". See here (scroll down) and also my post of 6th.

More bankrupt socialized medicine: "France offers its citizens the best healthcare in the world, and it isn't only the French who will tell you so. The World Health Organization ranks France at the top of its list. The trouble is, the country cannot afford it. The French public health insurance scheme is heading for a $15.5 billion deficit this year, threatening to bankrupt the system. 'Our health system has gone mad,' Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a parliamentary commission earlier this month. 'Profound reforms are urgent.'"

End the FDA! "Certainly one thing is clear and that is the FDA is far more harmful to our health than alternative medicine and supplements. It is time that the American people control their own health and medical choices with help from those in the medical field. ... It's time to end the FDA and turn over the power of medical choice to the American people. Since neither the Republicans nor Democrats will end this dangerous agency, the choice of who to vote for is clear."

"Cover the Uninsured Week" "Last week's national 'Cover the Uninsured Week' should have kicked off with a little honesty. The campaign is a coalition of over 100 groups that inundated Americans with advertisements, events, and pleas from former presidents and celebrity spokesmen 'to publicize the problem of allowing nearly 44 million Americans to live without health care coverage, and to highlight proposed solutions.' The first problem the coalition should have addressed is how it is misleading the public."

Can you have true health privacy? "Now some of the groups who previously supported federalizing health care and medical privacy are opposing the federal medical-privacy rule because they don't like how it applies to issues near and dear to them. And the problem with this rule -- as bad as it is now -- would only get worse with national health care, or a single-payer system."

The UK 14-year-old's 'secret' abortion shows that Left-leaning professionals now see Mum and Dad as the problem.

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Further to my recent comments about the neo-Nazi links of Noam Chomsky, there is a book online which documents the matter at great length. It also of course points out how distorted and dishonest are many of the purported "facts" that Chomsky trades in. Chomsky is Jewish and Jewish self-hatred is not a new phenomenon. It is perhaps an understandable response to a history of persecution. But in Chomsky it reaches really pathological heights. I guess he subconsciously hopes that "when they come for the Jews" they will pass him by. Or perhaps he just didn't like his Yiddisher Momma.

It has always seemed to me that Australian Leftists are in general much more conservative than their American counterparts and it somewhat confirms that to hear that Australian Labor Party leaders are resisting calls for homosexual marriage. Peter Beattie, Premier of my home State of Queensland, has made some pretty balanced comments on the matter. See here (scroll down).

Jeff Jacoby says that criticisms of the Patriot Act are hysterical and wrong -- and he makes his case by looking at what it actually says.

I have just put up here a few good paragraphs from Oriana Fallaci's new book which blame the present day aggressiveness of Islamic fundamentalism on the Left-weakened culture of the West.

Diary Date has a very funny letter up that SHOULD be for real. It is the sort of letter that might make "soft on terrorists" Leftists think. But don't hold your breath.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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24 May, 2004

THE JOKE THAT IS AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION

Even the brighter kids learn only a small fraction of what they could. As for the rest .....

Where does the idiotic opposition to phonics come from? "Last week, President Bush met with researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) who have identified successful reading-instruction methods that break words into sounds. For nearly a decade, however, districts have ignored such research, preferring to stick with traditional - and less-effective - reading instruction that expects students to memorize words. Today, many districts are switching to the NIH approach only because the federal government has offered $900 million in grants to encourage them to change". I guess that because phonics was the old-fashioned method of teaching reading, it HAD to be wrong in the minds of Leftist educational theorists. Too bad about many kids not learning to read at all the "correct" way.

Separating school and state: "Is anyone happy with the public schools? It seems not. Those with no financial stake in the schools have translated their unhappiness into various reform proposals, such as charter schools or voucher plans. Those who do have a stake in the current system -- the teachers' union, for example -- point to the schools' bad condition as a reason for the government to appropriate more money. Whichever way they lean, people generally believe that the schools are not doing what they are supposed to be doing."

Leave them behind? "The Arkansas Education Association (don't let the name fool you -- it's just our branch of the national teachers union) chose to welcome George W. Bush to the state the other day by urging the president to leave children behind. Naturally the AEA's spokesman didn't use those exact words. His boilerplate criticism of the administration's No Child Left Behind Act concentrated on the wrinkles that need to be ironed out in the law, not the whole fabric of accountability it has finally given American education."

"Philadelphia schools are typical of poor-quality big-city schools. Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer, in her article "District to Help Teachers Pass Test" (March 24, 2004) reported "that half of the district's 690 middle school teachers who took exams in math, English, social studies and science in September and November failed."... The unflattering fact that we must own up to is that many, perhaps most, of those who choose teaching as a profession represent the very bottom of the academic barrel". At that rate they are not even IN the academic barrel. And it's no surprise. Nobody with any choices would agree to stand up in front of an undisciplined rabble every day.

"At least 75 California teachers helped students cheat on standardized exams since a new testing program began five years ago, according to a newspaper report citing state documents. Incidents include teachers who gave hints by drawing on the blackboard or leaving posters on the wall, told students the right answers and changed the students' responses themselves, the Los Angeles Times reported, referring to documents obtained through a Public Records Act request." Smallest Minority has some comprehensive comments on THAT one.

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More glories of socialized medicine: "Overseas-trained doctors who have failed primary school level English tests are working in Queensland hospitals. An outraged Liberal Party deputy leader Bruce Flegg told State Parliament this week that there were hundreds of foreign doctors who could speak little better than "broken English"... A secret internal report by Queensland Health's medical adviser for rural health services, Denis Lennox, said a growing number of overseas doctors were being rushed into Queensland public hospitals and private medical centres to cover serious shortages, but their lack of competence was putting patients, employers and the community at risk"

John Lott Jr.: "Crime did not fall in England after handguns were banned in January 1997. Quite the contrary, crime rose sharply.... Before the law, armed robberies had fallen by 50 percent from 1993 to 1997, but as soon as handguns were banned, the robbery rate shot back up, almost back to their 1993 levels. Australia has also seen its violent crime rates soar after its Port Arthur gun control measures in late 1996. Violent crime rates averaged 32 per cent higher in the six years after the law was passed (from 1997 to 2002) than they did the year before the law in 1996. The same comparisons for armed robbery rates showed increases of 45 percent."

Dictators has some amazing and amusing stuff about the craziness of Mao Tse Tung. Mao sounds just as self-contradictory as modern American "liberals". Surprise!

Bill Whittle has another one of his famous essays up -- this time putting Iraq in full perspective. James Delingpole in The Spectator has a good summary of why we are in Iraq too.

Wicked Thoughts has one of his rare political postings up today. Sometimes reality can be pretty funny too.

I recently posted here a substantial article on Leftist elitism. Leftists do sometimes however fervently claim not to be elitists. That is much less true of Greenies. They are fairly outspoken elitists. They often say quite openly that they want to get rid of much of the world's population -- with the implicit sequel that they will then be left in sole command of a pristine planet. They are emphatic that they know best. Just to give substance to that generalization, however, it seemed worthwhile to gather on the same site just the most recent posts from "Greenie Watch" and this blog that record Greenie elitist attitudes. See here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

Note that I have just put up a new rubric below.

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The Left cannot face the fact that the American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq is fundamentally humanitarian. The most effective response to the 9/11 events and the one in America's own best interests would have been a retaliatory strike using nukes to take the whole of Afghanistan off the map -- followed by a threat that Mecca would go sky high if there were any further Islamic attacks on the USA or its allies. That would have made Islam a religion of peace overnight. But GWB rightly rejected that easy road because it would have involved the death of millions of innocents. He chose instead to go after just the bad guys -- an extremely difficult task. And its difficulty is causing continuing American deaths in Iraq to this day. But Americans have always given their blood in order to be humane. They did it in two world wars and in Vietnam and they are doing it now in the Middle East. The only alternative strategy that the Left have is to do nothing -- thus inviting more and more attacks.

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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23 May, 2004

FROM BROOKES NEWS

Journalist accuses America of war crimes in Iraq The Bush-hating Brian Toohey accuses the US of murdering women and children in Fallujah who were then buried in a mass grave in the town's football stadium. This journalist also defends terrorist as resistance fighters.
A journalist who lied about Iraq abuses also lied about Vietnam Selective outrage and cold-blooded lying come naturally to fanatical leftists likeAlan Ramsey of the Sydney Morning Herald. He lied about Vietnam and now he's reprising his role for Iraq.
Ignorant journalist claims minimum wages wipe out poverty One of the most damaging myths in economics is that effective minimum wages raise living standards. By effective I mean minimum wage rates that are set above market clearing levels. A minimum wage rate set below the market rate is ineffective because those to whom it will apply will either already be on that rate or even above it.
Ancient wisdom, minimum wages and media ignorance The late Spanish Scholastic (1300 to about 1550) warned minimum wages would cause unemployment and poverty. They, unlike profound thinkers of Adele Horin's intellectual standing, knew that people would not be hired if their wage rates exceeded the value of their services.
Beijing makes its move in Latin America Beijing has been using Cuba's Fidel Castro as a means to subvert South America and Central America while President Bush has been waging war against terrorism

Details here

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Ya gotta laugh! The latest idea of the obesity warriors: "Among the suggestions featured in the plan, which will not be legally binding, are... the development of video games powered by bicycle" The kids will love that one!

I post on this blog only a tiny fraction of the emails I receive but I think this one deserves an airing because of what it says about Leftist oppression: "I am absolutely enthralled by your article on the psychology of Leftism and so pleased I found it. It's like you KNOW the situation I'm in. I run a website in the UK, the simple purpose of which is to allow local residents in my area an open platform to express opinions and comment on what goes on locally, nationally and internationally. You would not believe the abuse targeted at me and the site from left-wingers, and the attempts they have made to undermine it and close it down - actually, having read your article I know you would believe it. It's as if you know the individuals concerned. They demonstrate precisely the behaviour and techniques you describe, to the lettter, especially labelling everyone as Nazis and accusing them of hatred. The frustrating irony is that the only hatred ever shown is by them and from them and it's directed at normal, ordinary, decent local residents who have the nerve to voice their honest and perfectly reasonable opinions. Strangely enough, while wearing their alleged compassion on their sleeves, they see no problem with attacking everyone at their most vulnerable points, including some of the old folk who contribute and who are dismissed with hurtful and disparaging remarks about their age. When some very sensible teenagers joined the site and expressed majority views out of step with left-thinking, they were targeted with unpleasant patronism and teasing, and I was accused of being a paedophile for allowing them to join the site".

The policeman's blog continues to be an amazing read. I won't even try to summarize it other than to say that politically-correct policing is even worse and more useless than you would have imagined.

The UN: A failed organization: "The U.N. recently passed another blatantly anti-Israel resolution in support of extremist Arab Palestinian claims. There is no longer any point in entering into any serious dialogue with this organization. In countless ways, over many years, the U.N. has proven to be a discredited organization, with lawless elements, which can no longer claim to have any moral standing. Very few of its 191 members can be counted upon to put principle ahead of crass expediency."

Make tax cuts permanent: "Some critics of the Bush administration charge the tax cuts have dramatically reduced government revenues, causing big long-term deficits that will hurt the economy by driving up interest rates. That, however, is a misguided argument -- not only because of a very weak relationship between deficits and interest rates, but also because historical budget data show tax revenues in future years will be at their historical average ... even if the Bush tax cuts are made permanent."

The multi-culti dictatorship: Apparently it is "harassment" to expose students and teachers to conservative viewpoints. You can only object to "white" racism, not Hispanic racism: "Complainants say they were repeatedly harassed by the math teacher.... Kehowski posted hundreds of Internet links relating to "racial hatred, intimidation and supremacy," with titles including "Mexicans Think U.S. Belongs to Them!" and "Mexican Double Standard"."

There is a good article here which documents at length how desperately the European Left hang on to their hatreds (of the USA and Israel mainly) and are supremely uninterested in the facts. It also shows how the lies of Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore play a large part in feeding the frenzy of European Leftist hate. I was unaware, too, how close the ties have been between Noam Chomsky and neo-Nazis. I guess shared hatreds explain it.

Free market environmentalism: "The most horrendous environmental disasters happened and are still happening in regions of the globe where public ownership of nearly everything is routine. China, Cuba, North Korea and less Draconian instances come to mind. Why would this be so? Well, the tragedy of the commons is a good answer, one that's been noticed from ancient times to the present: When things are owned in common, they tend to be neglected."

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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22 May, 2004

LEFTIST "IDEALISM"?

Doc Rampage has just put up a long post devoted to explaining why Leftists and conservatives don't understand one-another. He says, basically, that Leftists are aiming to produce perfect people while conservatives see that as an impossible goal. I think he has been deceived by Leftist rhetoric. Everybody knows that perfection is in the eye of the beholder so what is perfect for me will be imperfect for someone else. Similarly, people will differ over what is a good society. Spaniards think bull-fighting is a good thing. Anglos generally do not. Who is to say whether Spanish or Anglo society is objectively better? Certainly not Leftists. They don't believe in any objective values, standards or morality anyway. How can they makes us "better" when they think "better" is meaningless?

And even when they DO appear to advocate some standards, Leftists are far from consistent about it (which means it is not a standard). If "tolerance" is good, for instance, why do they have no tolerance of gun-owners and various other disfavoured groups such as "rednecks", Christians, patriots etc? So why, then, are Leftists -- as Doc Rampage has rightly noticed -- always trying to "improve" us -- by force and coercion if necessary? The answer is psychological, not philosophical: It's just to make themselves appear to be good and caring and wise (mainly because they are not). Other than that they don't really care what happens at all. Only their emotions matter to them. As a certain ex-"liberal" has just expressed it: "Liberalism has no soul, no brain, and no backbone. It is a seething cauldron of emotion: hatred, envy, fear, anger, and guilt"

The said ex-"liberal" (KBJ) does -- of course -- get hate-mail from unrecontructed "liberals" (which rather confirms his characterization of them!) but I was relieved to see in this example that he is merely a "charleton". It would have been a real worry if he were a "charlatan"!

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Japan goes for missile defence: "Japan is now thinking only to acquire a sophisticated missile defence system. This capacity will protect her against incoming missiles. In fact, Japan's Cabinet decided on December 19, 2003, to work with the United States to deploy a ballistic missile defence system (BMD). This decision is a significant shift from its "pacifist" stance and is likely to have far-reaching implications for security in the Asia-Pacific region. Until now, Japan's work on missile defence, spurred by North Korea's test of a long-range missile in 1998, has been limited to research and development. Under the plan, Tokyo will contribute 100 billion yen to acquire key US-made technologies, with a further 600 billion yen contribution expected over the next five years. Washington will provide substantial technological support for Tokyo's BMD project". It looks like they don't think that what the media calls "Star Wars" is so ridiculous.

More glories of socialized medicine: "Dozens of ambulances were left circling the streets yesterday after most of Sydney's hospitals were put on code red. Sixteen of the 24 emergency departments across the city were full and only accepting patients whose conditions were life-threatening. Tony O'Connell, in charge of improving patient flow through hospitals, said 32 ambulances were struggling to offload their patients after the hospitals went on code red from about 3.30pm to 4.45pm. And Mr O'Connell admitted the same problem had occurred the day before".

Bill's on our side! "Microsoft boss Bill Gates and the so-called Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, joined around 100 other luminaries this week in Microsoft's home town, Redmond, Washington, for the CEO Summit.... Much of the first day was taken up with web logs, commonly known as "blogs". Mr Gates didn't announce plans for his own web log, but his speech extolled the virtues of the online journals and related technologies".

Child abuse by the courts: "The judgement by a single judge of the Family Court approving sexual reassignment for a 13-year-old warrants review as it appears to be based on a lack of adequate medical evidence. There is a need for the State and Federal Attorneys-General to ensure that the case is assessed by a higher court, and to engage a more balanced selection of medical experts. Alex is 13 and suffers from a mental illness that causes her distress and anxiety and social dislocation. Her father, with whom she was close, died traumatically of a stroke. She has no contact with her mother who is remarried."

Leftist antisemitism becoming routine again: The magazine is Vancouver-based Adbusters, an often-subversive left-wing publication that made its name by opposing consumerism and advertising while supporting activism and anti-globalization efforts. In its March-April issue, it carried a piece by editor Kalle Lasn entitled 'Why Won't Anyone Say They Are Jewish?' in which he published a list of people he considers the 50 most influential neoconservatives in America and identified the Jews by putting an asterisk next to their names." Hitler's antisemitism too simply made him a normal Leftist of his day.

How surprising! -- NOT: "OutRage and Queer Youth Alliance went to the protest march at Trafalgar Square to show their support for people of Palestine. But they also urged the Palestinian Authority to halt the arrest, torture and murder of homosexuals. As soon as they arrived at the square to members of the two groups were surrounded by an angry, screaming mob of Islamic fundamentalists, Anglican clergymen, members of the Socialist Workers Party, the Stop the War Coalition, and officials from the protest organizers, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)."

Robert Musil has an amusing article on the mythical "man shortage" that many women past their first youth complain of. He has a story suggesting that the incredible fussiness of the women concerned is a major part of the problem. Feminists did tell them that they "could have it all", didn't they? Reality is not so accommodating. What man in his right mind would want to spend his life with a highly demanding woman anyway?

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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21 May, 2004

SOME ECONOMICS

US protectionists accuse economist of treason -- though he is of course a benefactor of U.S. taxpayers: "Sumner, an agricultural economist at the University of California at Davis, played a key role in an international trade case that is shaping up as one of the most significant defeats the United States has ever suffered on the trade front. An analysis that he wrote helped frame a preliminary decision issued two weeks ago by a World Trade Organization panel, which held that the federal subsidies paid to U.S. cotton farmers violate WTO rules because they cause overproduction, drive down world prices and impoverish farmers in developing countries". (See post of May 15th. The permalink is kaput).

How America came to dominate the phone business. America left it to the market. State control in countries such as France caused a much slower development of phone service there.

Indian Communists back globalization: "The communist leader of the Indian state of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, is quoted by the New York Times as declaring that "Globalization is a must." More meaningfully, he succeeds in implementing some policies that encourage firms such as Mitsubishi and I.B.M. to invest in West Bengal".

Reality denial: "Current examples are many political commentators, as well as elected politicians, who frequently say the country went from surplus to deficit because of the Bush tax cuts. The deficit actually was caused by a large increase in government spending (voted for by majorities of both parties), which began at the end of the Clinton administration, and the recession was under way when President Bush took office."

No to outsourcing? You're sure? "What's the dirtiest word in the United States political dictionary these days? That's easy: 'outsourcing.' There's an ironic aspect to this fear of outsourcing. The U.S. happens to benefit a lot when consumers in foreign countries outsource their wants and needs to American companies. Take the example of 'copyrighted' products such as software, motion pictures, and sound recordings. The U.S. exports $90 billion US worth of these items each year."

"Yes, gas prices have spiked upwards by at least 30 percent in most local markets this year, and yes, it's infuriating to pay $2.00 a gallon to fill up the tank. And yes, higher oil prices are a significant tax on the U.S. economy -- given that we're the world's largest importer of crude. But prices, properly measured, are nowhere near their historical peak. In fact, the long-term trend in oil, gas, and electricity prices is downward, not upward."

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ELSEWHERE

From the Sodakmonk: "I first noticed the (Left wing media) bias after Reagan was elected in 1980. My theory is that after Watergate, many libs became journalism majors as a way of advancing their political cause. They thought after Watergate that the Republican party would be a permanent minority. When Reagan swept into power in 1980 they couldn't believe it, and felt they had to correct what they saw as clearly a malfunction in our political system. That began their crusade." I think that the monk might have PART of the story there but I think that, in general, journalistic Leftism is just one instance of the Leftism that is to be expected of any elite group.

"The Democrats are the party of the elite. Consider Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In a 1948 student poll Thomas E. Dewey beat Harry Truman by 2 to 1. In 2000 Al Gore beat Bush, an Andover alumnus, by nearly the same margin, reflecting the Democrats' historic capture in 2000 of "professionals," a group well-represented among the parents of Andover students. Next to African-Americans, the most reliable Democrats in the electorate are women with post-graduate degrees".

What feminist hatred of men leads to: Guilt is presumed and evidence is manufactured. "A woman's admission that she lied in accusing 13 people of pedophilia — causing some to be imprisoned for up to three years — has riveted France and shaken the nation's legal system".

A tragedy caused by the perverse Leftist belief in nurture rather than nature: "David Reimer, the Canadian man raised as a girl for the first 14 years of his life in a highly touted medical experiment, committed suicide May 4 in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was 38."

Another battle honour for Scotland's Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders that will long be remembered -- this time in Iraq. With good British perversity, Sutherland is of course in the far NORTH of Scotland.

"Weblogs now make up 5 percent of the 128 million Internet-using American adults. A whopping 17 percent call themselves blog readers"

I can't believe the quantity of posts that the Judd Brothers put up in one day. All good too.

Carnival of the Vanities is up with its usual convenient index to blogospheric wisdom.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************



20 May, 2004

A SLIGHT EMBARRASSMENT

I mentioned yesterday that I make an effort always to write simply. But in my posts of just the day before I described Dick McDonald's writing as "trenchant" -- a word not in common use. Dick had to look it up to see what I was saying about him -- though he was very pleased when he found out.

I have always made an effort to express myself as simply as possible even in my academic writing. I have always said that unclear writing is a sign of unclear thinking. But there are some examples here which suggest that obscure writing can be even more discreditable than that. Sometimes it covers up the fact that the author -- typically a Leftist academic -- has nothing to contribute at all.

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BROWN

Few people now remember that the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown decision (forcing racially mixed schools) was substantially based on evidence from a psychologist -- fraudulent testimony, as it turns out. As Jonah Goldberg comments: " "The watershed moment for this thinking was when the Supreme Court cited those famous "doll tests" conducted by Kenneth Clark in their Brown v. Board of Education decision. The tests showed that black kids in segregated Southern schools preferred white dolls, and hence had low self-esteem. This low self-esteem, in turn, was cited as a justification for getting rid of the segregation.... Indeed, as former NR bright light Ernest van den Haag noted in 1960, the tests Clark conducted were, at minimum, irrelevant--and Clark was more than a bit dishonest. Writing in The Villanova Law Review, van den Haag noted that Clark also ran doll tests in integrated schools up North, and got the same or even more dramatic results as he did in segregated schools. Black kids everywhere chose white dolls over black ones; segregation was irrelevant. Clark didn't tell the Court about those tests" More on the Kenneth Clark fraud here

Patrick Buchanan summarizes the great damage to democracy done by the Brown decision.

End government schools: "Government school racism did much more damage than private enterprise could ever have afforded to do. It would have been better if government had stayed out of the schools altogether. The Brown decision ignores how government schools started the problem that Brown ended. When government began socializing schools in the late 1800s, it expanded government-mandated racism. Brown is another example of government peeing on everyone and then claiming that it was rain."

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ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY

Stephen Karlson has been writing a lot about the absurdities of academic life lately and Anthropology & Economics has taken up his question about why people do "useless" social science and humanities courses at universities -- and why they do Ph.D.s in particular. I actually think that most (say 95%) of the social science and humanities Ph.D. candidates have no choice. They are psychologically unfit for the real world or a real academic discipline and their "studies" are just a sort of sheltered workshop for them -- which is why they often take a long time to get the degrees concerned and which is why they rely a lot on post-doc programs after that. And it sure beats driving a cab. As I myself have done both (driven a cab and gotten a social science Ph.D.) I guess I know a little about it all. I myself did well in both academe and in business but that seems to be extremely rare. Most social science and humanities academics would not last 5 minutes in business.

And I notice that Marginal Revolution takes seriously the claim by Anthropology & Economics to the effect that anthropology and economics are just two different ways of looking at human values. I taught for 12 years in a university Department of Sociology & Anthropology and I have also taught economics so maybe I know a bit about that too. From my observations, both Sociology and Anthropology are 95% Marxist claptrap -- in no way comparable with economics. Margaret Mead, the lying Leftist propagandist, was not so much an exception in Anthropology as the rule. It has also recently come to light that modern anthropology actually started out on the basis of deliberately fraudulent work designed to prop up Leftist beliefs. Franz Boas was the fraudster concerned. See also here

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ELSEWHERE

Why is it OK to bomb and remove from office one brutal Fascist dictator (Milosevic) but not OK to bomb and remove from office another brutal Fascist dictator (Saddam)? These three prominent Democrats don't seem to be able to tell us but there is no doubt that they do see the bombing of the Christian Serbs as OK but not the bombing of Muslim Iraqis. Not really surprising, given the well-known Democrat hatred of Christians.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************



19 May, 2004

INFO ABOUT THIS BLOG

I go to some lengths to make this blog as easy to read as possible. I usually post only once a day (around 9am my time) and I use part of the rest of the time to ensure that I have expressed everything that I want to say as simply and clearly and accurately as possible. I also use no graphics so that the site always loads as quickly as blogspot will allow. There are quite a few blogs that I don't visit because they are so slow to load -- so I do my best to avoid that folly. On the odd occasion that I do want to use a graphic I post it elsewhere and refer to it with a link.

I have never however worked out what font is best to use. A big font makes it hard for readers to scan a page quickly and a small font may be difficult to read for those without 20/20 vision. I do wonder whether the font I am using here may be too small. If it is a bit small, there is an alternative. Because it still has over 70 links going to it from other blogs, I have resumed posting on my old site as well as continuing to post on my current site. And I use a somewhat larger font on my old site. The only other difference between my current site and my old site is that I post everything about half a day later on my old site. So choose your font!

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ELSEWHERE

Norm Weatherby has been having a discussion with the Sodakmonk. The monk seems to think that the main danger from militant Islam is spiritual. Norm disagrees emphatically.

David Kaspar notes some unusual sense from an Iraqi leader: "Amin has some advice for Arab sovereigns: they should follow George W. Bush's example and apologize for the crimes they've committed. "Washington is showing us how a democracy deals with criminal behavior," Amin says. "We should learn from this, not only here in Iraq, but throughout the Arab world."

America: the most polite nation in history? "American athletes have been warned not to wave the U.S. flag during their medal celebrations at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens, for fear of provoking crowd hostility and harming the country's already-battered public image. The spectacle of victorious athletes grabbing a national flag and parading it around the stadium is a familiar part of international sporting competition, but U.S. Olympic officials have ordered their 550-strong team to exercise restraint and avoid any jingoistic behavior. The plan is part of a charm offensive aimed at repairing the country's international reputation after the deepening crisis in Iraq"

Iraq's missing refugees: "the United States and the international community were very well-prepared for one crisis that never occurred: a massive outflow of refugees from Iraq to other countries. Refugees had streamed out of Iraq during the first Gulf War, and it was assumed the same thing would happen in the second" I think that's called voting with your feet.

Good to see: "Conservative political action committee RightMarch.com successfully recruited former Republican Utah state senator Matt Throckmorton to run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) in the upcoming primary to serve as 'a wake-up call' to all liberal Republican legislators who run as Republicans but subsequently abandon their conservative principles once they are elected into office. RightMarch.com claims credit for persuading Utah's GOP state convention delegates to 'put Chris Cannon last' by not electing him to another term. In just three days of fundraising, RightMarch.com claims it has been able to generate $7,500 in online donations ... calling this a 'victory cry for true conservative Republicans and a wake-up call to RINOs [Republicans In Name Only] ...'"

The slow suicide: "The government employee's perverted frame of reference ... becomes antithetical to the principles of freedom, liberty and limited government that are enshrined in the American Constitution and the Republican Party platform. And yet, the Republican Party leadership ... has been steadily increasing the population of those most likely to be hostile to the party's stated goals. When George Delano took office in 2001, government employees at federal, state and local levels consisted of 18.9 percent of the national labor force. Three years later, in 2004, that percentage has increased to 20.1 percent, an increase of 670,000 government workers in a time when total employment has dropped by almost 3 million."

Compulsion does not work: "In 1953, right before the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Atlanta Public Schools consisted of 600 schools serving 18,664 students. Black and white students were kept apart by the government. Fifty years after Brown, APS consists of 96 much larger schools serving 55,812 students of all races, and more than three quarters of them are still in schools where one race has a 90 percent majority. Atlanta's private schools today draw students from the same basic geographic area as APS, yet they are significantly less segregated than are the public schools. How can this be?"

More brainless education spending: "Initiative 884 calls for a 15.4 percent sales tax increase to raise one billion dollars a year in additional funding for our state's education system. Backers of the measure promise taxpayers the expenditures would be targeted, accountable and efficient. Unfortunately, they are wrong. Even if they could guarantee the money would be used for the programs proponents advertise, the programs themselves have shown little or no promise of increased academic achievement, which is the point of the initiative."

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************



18 May, 2004

CONSERVATISM

Hayek, like Burke, came to the profoundly conservative conclusion that human society is too complex to be modelled by anyone or be well described by any theory: "Hayek initially thought the dividing line between possible and impossible positivism lay in the distinction between natural sciences and social sciences, but by the 1950s he had come to understand that the issue was really one of complexity. A positivist, predictive science is possible only for phenomena, whether human or natural, that are relatively simple- particle physics, for example. One can never fully model and predict complex phenomena such as the spontaneous orders produced by the interactions of simpler agents. These orders include the human brain, whose higher functions cannot possibly be inferred from its physical substratum, as well as ecosystems and, of course, markets, cultures, and other human institutions."

Capitalism makes you happier than socialism does: "Lottery winners, trust-fund babies and others who get their money without working for it do not get as much satisfaction from their cash as those who earn it, a study of the pleasure centre in people's brains suggests. Emory University researchers measured brain activity in the striatum - the part of the brain associated with reward processing and pleasure.... "When you have to do things for your reward, it's clearly more important to the brain," said Greg Berns, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural science."

Job discrimination: "A recent headline about opposition to a new Louisiana state job application presents the perfect basis on which to explain the ridiculousness of the concept of 'employment discrimination,' ... the burdens that such a policy imposes on market participants, the inherently aggressive nature of addressing the issue through public policy, and how anti-discrimination legislation promotes slavery.... Demonizing 'preference,' a key characteristic of all human action, by identifying it as an intrinsic evil and labeling it 'discrimination,' is absurd on numerous grounds..... Such policies indeed violently rob individuals, under a threat of force, of their right to their property and mutually beneficial exchanges of that property."

Vouchers spur public schools to compete: "Competition is, in some circles, a much-derided word. Psychologists worry about the effects competition has on the mental and emotional health of children. Others become concerned when a parent takes competition too far, and fights break out at hockey or soccer games. Yet competition is, as Cicero observed, not about crushing one's opponent."

A true Christian conservative: "I attended the Memorial Service of Rev. Joseph Sheley yesterday. As I listened to speaker after speaker talk about Joe, it was clear that he was one of those who went to be with his Lord owning that most precious of possessions - a good name. Joe was not a flashy man. He was not one to push himself forward or to try to gain attention for himself. And he didn't have much in terms of this world's wealth. But he was a very rich man. He was rich in family who treasured him... Joe's children, grand-children, and great grand-children loved him, and with good reason. He loved them with all his heart, and taught them important life lessons that will stand them in good stead for as long as they walk the earth... He was rich in the esteem in which others held him. That was evident in the faces of the many who came to honor him at his memorial service... He accomplished many things for the Lord about which he could have boasted. I never heard him do so".

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ELSEWHERE

Jeff Jacoby: "This is the week that same-sex marriage comes to Massachusetts, and thus to the United States. The fundamental building block of civilization is about to undergo a radical change -- a change not only unsupported by a clear consensus, but opposed by a majority of American adults.... Chief Justice Margaret Marshall and three of her colleagues ruled in the Goodridge case last November that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples infringes the freedom and equality protected by the Massachusetts Constitution. The job of the judiciary is to interpret the law, but this was no mere interpretation. It was a wholesale rewriting of the law to make it say and mean things it had never said or meant before. In effect, Goodridge was a constitutional amendment dictated from the bench. It was something the Massachusetts Constitution expressly forbids: an exercise by the judiciary of legislative and executive power"

Does Hollywood unfairly "stereotype" Arabs? "Unsurprisingly, screenwriters focus on realities well known to their audience, and there is simply no escaping the fact that the Middle East abounds in terrorist groups. That is why the action in, for example, GI Jane (1997), takes place in Libya, rather than Costa Rica. That is why the terrorists in True Lies are Middle Eastern, rather than Scandinavian."

I have just put up Chris Brand's latests postings here. He notes a recent strong academic finding showing that anti-social behaviour (which generally means criminality) is 70% inherited! It is yet another bit of scientific evidence showing that criminals are born, not made -- which is the exact opposite of what Leftists preach. See also here.

Ally Eskin has revised her template so her blog is a lot easier to read now. And it's worth reading! Dick McDonald continues to post lots of trenchant comments on current events too. I don't comment a lot on day-to-day politics but Dick certainly does. And he generally gets it pretty right in my opinion.

Thanks to some constructive comments from one of my readers, I have just put up a further big upgrade to my article on why elites tend to be Leftist. I don't foresee any further revisions to the article so I have also now put up a copy of it that is viewable in China.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************



17 May, 2004

THE WEDDING

Many Americans may be unaware that the Crown Prince of Denmark has just married an Australian girl. The event got big coverage in much of Europe (and, of course, in Australia) and was even well-covered in China, but I believe that American coverage was minimal. I guess Americans are not too keen on Royalty. Was there a revolution or something? Australia is a monarchy, however, and I have always been a strong monarchist so I found it interesting and pleasing that the wedding got a lot of coverage around the world. Who says that monarchy is an anachronistic irrelevance? If it is, how come so many people watched a wedding in an ancient European monarchy? It was a beautiful show too, of course. Lots of Australian women in particular were absolutely glued to their TVs while it was all happening. So much nicer than watching anything to do with Iraq.

And, if I have any readers in Scotland, I would be pleased to hear whether I guess right in thinking that the wedding would have got blanket coverage in Scotland too. Why? Well, quite apart from normal Scottish sentimentality, the father of the bride is a Scotsman with a Scottish accent who wore the kilt for the occasion! There would have been not a dry eye in many Scottish homes, I think. I felt a bit teary myself, given my Scottish heritage.

And the wedding is another example of how pervasive the Australian diaspora is in the world. I think most people are aware of the big Australian presence in Hollywood these days and people who take an interest in business will be aware that Australians run both Coca Cola and McDonald's, but having an Australian as the future Queen of Denmark does rather set the seal on what a large and successful diaspora it is. And, unlike most diasporas, Australians are not driven abroad by poverty, warfare, persecution etc. They are just adventurous.

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ELSEWHERE

The Left of politics are of course doing everything within their power to blame the Bush administration for the prisoner abuse affair. There is a typical example here -- which says that the Guantanamo Bay detentions created an "atmosphere of lawlessness" in the U.S. Army and that led to the prisoner abuses. What utter rot! The U.S. armed forces have been amazingly disciplined in obeying their extremely strict "rules of engagement". If people dance in the street when you are attacked, do you fire on them? Most armies would. Most people would. But the U.S. army never has. The prisoner abuse affair is a very small lapse in that context. Most armies in history could be accused of far worse.

Things are getting better in the USA: "Several social ills that loomed large in recent decades and seemed intractable have also turned around abruptly. Crime is way down: In Fort Apache, the Bronx, the subject of a popular 1981 film, the number of murders per year in the 1970s was about 130; in 2001, the figure was 12. During roughly the same period the number of traffic deaths per year in America fell about 10,000 or roughly 20 percent-even though the number of drivers has increased, the number of miles we drive has grown enormously, and we own more cars, almost one per adult. And despite all that driving, air quality is everywhere improved, as are all other forms of pollution, except for emission of greenhouse gases. Our progress is about a decade ahead of Europe 's, the usual rants in international forums notwithstanding. Our national mood is not disastrous either: The U.S. suicide rate is one-half of France's" Yet despite that, not everyone is happy. Why? See here and here and here and here. There is also a short article on the subject here

A major applied psychology organization says that how happy you are is 50% genetically inherited. Those naughty genetics again! Every Leftist will tell you that we just need to abolish things like inequality, racism and patriarchy for us all to be happy.

Fraudulent beggars:. I saw [the beggar] eyeing me up, but he didn't recognise me. So, as he approached, I asked him for $5 for my train fare. Stunned, he said no.... A doe-eyed plea for spare change for something to eat ended with fierce obscenities being yelled at me when I offered to buy her a hamburger instead of hand over my money."

"Yesterday the Humane Society of the United States, the nation's richest animal rights organization, named long-time vice president Wayne Pacelle as its new chief executive. Pacelle will have virtually unfettered control over the group's $96 million bank account. If you think this change amounts to a different leader's rubber-stamp on efforts to help puppies and kittens, think again. HSUS doesn't operate a single animal shelter, and it is completely unrelated to the local 'Humane Society' in your home town. In reality, it's a gigantic animal-rights lobbying group, focusing more and more on the food we eat. Wayne Pacelle is a strict, near-religious vegan, whose goal is to create 'a National Rifle Association of the animal rights movement.'"

A war on everything: "For all practical purposes, every time the State touches something, it makes war on it, even if it means to make things better. The 'war' on discrimination through affirmative action? It has instead set black against white, women against men, gay against straight, as each tries to use the political process to obtain power over the others. The road to Hell, obviously, is paved with good intentions. When the personal becomes the political, you can be sure war is to follow."

The Left like to portray the Bush administration as a coven of Christian fundamentalists but the Bush administration's has shown "Clintonian" tolerance of its own homosexual diplomats in Roumania.

PID has some more comments on the Zimbardo experiment and the Iraqi prisoner mistreatment affair.

The Policeman's blog continues to put up dreadful stories of the bureaucratic quagmire that is British policing today. Not much policing gets done.

A very pleased-looking Peter Cuthbertson has a photo of himself here with one of the two greatest visionaries of the 20th century.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************



16 May, 2004

IRAQ

I mentioned on 11th. the relevance of the famous Zimbardo experiment to an understanding of the Iraqi prisoner mistreatment affair. There is a more extensive account of the lessons to be learned from it here

Instant solutions in Iraq unrealistic "There were many Americans who earnestly believed after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that World War II was practically over. Now that the massive economic power of the United States was being directed against the Axis, the war could be won in just a few months. The rest was, in Churchill's later words, "merely the proper application of overwhelming force."

Iraq's new ruler? "As Mr. Saleh took command on April 30, the stocky general with a Saddam-style mustache wore his Saddam-era uniform, complete with maroon beret. In a scene broadcast across Iraq, he shook hands with Marine commanders and had the old Iraqi flag raised, to the cheers of onlookers. He set the tone immediately by declaring an intent to impose security and stability in Fallujah "without the need for the American army, which the people of Fallujah reject."

Victory is seldom pretty: "Watching the amazing ugliness and incoherence of the Iraqi battlefront of the war on terror, it is easy to understand Otto Von Bismark's comment that a special providence watches out for drunks, fools and the United States of America. Why? Because America is winning the war on terror. How? By slowly but surely making the Middle East safe for democracy. Indeed, it is even possible to argue that the American stumbling in Iraq is providing a cover under which reform can be presented as an alternative, even a rebuke, to American military power. In other words, the U.S. is winning the way it has often won, ugly."

"The Oil for Food scandal is already undermining the U.N.'s ability to contribute usefully to the reconstruction of a liberated Iraq. Thanks to the scandal, Iraqi citizens are reported to be very skeptical of the U.N. -- and rightfully so, as it is now clear that Oil for Food money which was supposed to be feeding them was instead employed for bribes and pay-offs with billions going to Saddam, himself, and other enemies of peace, possibly even including Al Qaeda."

The British role: "The view of this newspaper is that Britain's place is in the wider community of free, English-speaking peoples - the "Anglosphere".... The case for the Atlantic alliance is simple. More often than not, our interests and the Americans' coincide. Like them, we have an interest in stability and free trade among nations. This makes us especially hostile to local bullies and ready, if necessary, to deploy proportionate force against them. The Americans have invaded Iraq twice on these grounds; we have intervened no fewer than seven times."

The BBC: "Over the past few days, the BBC’s virulent bias over Iraq, America and Israel has gone into an utterly astounding overdrive. The scandal over the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners has clearly destroyed the last vestiges of any attempt at fairness as hysteria has descended on our public disservice broadcaster."

Toby Harnden talks to an anti-war journalist who wants to see more Iraqis die - so that Bush will be thrown out in November.

V.D. Hanson: "The 20th century should have taught the citizens of liberal democracies the catastrophic consequences of placating tyrants... What eventually contained Stalinism was the Truman Doctrine, NATO and nuclear deterrence--not the United Nations-- and what destroyed its legacy was Ronald Reagan's assertiveness, not Jimmy Carter's accommodation or Richard Nixon's detente."

Dick McDonald has some good posts on Iraq up at the moment.

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It seems that the American Catholic bishops are so pro-Democrat that they are about to fold even on the homosexual marriage issue. See here for the latest.

Sam Francis: "Big Business and its bottomless appetite for cheap labor are by no means the only pillars of the Open Borders Lobby that has helped flood the country with Third World immigrants. There are also the churches, themselves ever hungry for new members as their own religious liberalism drives away their old members."

An American Benedictine monk has some excellent comments on Leftist self-righteousness: "In my personal experience, people of strong character are quick to admit their own faults. People who constantly need to praise themselves are insecure or emotionally needy. Emotionally needy people often interpret any disagreement with them as "hate speech". And this leads to a very, very unhealthy escalation of overheated rhetoric in public debates"

Hilarious! Given their pervasive Leftism, Canadians LOVE indigenous people and HATE private health care. So what happens when indigenous people want to set up private health care? You guessed it: That love is soon shown for the sham it it. "YOU MUST CONFORM" is what Leftists really believe in. Natalie Solent has some good comments.

Keith Burgess-Jackson is an animal lover but he says: "With friends like PETA, animals don’t need enemies."

The wicked one has some more doggy wisdom for us.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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15 May, 2004

AN ANNIVERSARY TO BE MOURNED

When government of the people, by the people perished in the USA

"May 17 is the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that used federal force to integrate public schools in the US... Many on the liberal-left and in black civil rights circles have soured on Brown and regard the decision as contributing little to the "black freedom struggle" and even as a disservice to blacks.... Derrick Bell, a former NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney, has written that Brown was based on unwarranted faith in integrationist ideals and has harmed black education....

Brown still matters to the left, Garrow writes, because the power the Court seized in its Brown ruling can be used to mandate homosexual marriage. The Massachusetts court has taken the lead, and on May 17 homosexuals will be able to obtain state marriage licenses. This, Garrow writes, is a fitting tribute to Brown's constitutional vision on its 50th anniversary. Whether one looks with favor or disfavor on homosexual marriage, Garrow is correct. Brown gave the judiciary the power to impose its morality on society, regardless of legislation or societal values....

Brown did something else. It ushered in kritarchy - government by judges - as Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed recognized. Kritarchy is fundamentally at odds with the separation of powers and the character of the American political system. Now that judges rule, the fight over Court appointments has become a life and death matter for the two political parties.

Even worse, in place of good will and persuasion Brown substituted coercion as the basis for reform. May 17, 1954, is a day of infamy, because it is the day Marxism triumphed over liberalism in America.

Americans have forgotten that Brown was based in sociology, not in law. This was widely recognized at the time. "A sociological Decision: Court Founded Its Segregation Ruling On Hearts and Minds Rather Than Laws," read a New York Times headline on May 18, 1954. James Reston commented that "the Court's opinion reads more like an expert paper on sociology." Columbia Law professor Herbert Wechsler, a consultant to the NAACP in the case, said that Brown would have to be "accepted on faith" as there was no constitutional principle that justifies the ruling.

That's because the Brown decision was based on Swedish socialist Gunnar Myrdal's argument that all Americans (even Northeast Liberals) are so racist that democracy would forever uphold segregation. To get rid of the great evil, an elite would have to seize power and rescue America from immorality."

More of the above article here

It is also amusing to read the rather desperate piece of propaganda here which starts out trumpeting the success of school integration in mainly white Topeka, Kansas but which ends up admitting that the supposed aim -- better black educational achievement -- has not been attained and that there have been disadvantages as well as advantages in integration.

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ELSEWHERE

My post of 8th. on why elites tend to be Leftist was advertised on the most recent "Carnival of the Vanities" and seems to have evoked a lot of interest -- judging by the hundreds of extra hits I got on Thursday. I have therefore posted a much expanded version of the post here -- in which I point to the important role of the educational system in producing Leftist elites.

Sounds accurate to me: "KISS bass player Gene Simmons has caused an uproar among Australia's Muslim community by launching an attack on Islamic culture while in Melbourne. The lizard-tongued rock god who is touring Australia with the world's most enduring glam rock band launched an attack on Muslim extremists during an interview on Melbourne's 3AW radio - including comments which were labelled inaccurate. "Extremism believes that it's okay to strap bombs on to your children and send them to paradise and whatever else and to behead people," he said yesterday. The Israeli-born US musician went on to say Islam was a "vile culture" that treated women worse than dogs."

Open Stalinism still thrives among U.S. elites: "If you believe the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) - an organization that extols the virtues of communism and detests capitalism - North Korea is nearly a paradise. A nation where a peace-loving president governs a land of contented people, living a happy existence, with sustenance not even a tertiary concern. On September 29th, 2003, a self-appointed group of representatives of the United States of America traveled to North Korea to build a bridge between the two nations. The group consisted of four NLG lawyers... The NLG repeatedly claims there is no starvation in the DPRK."

Norm Weatherby outlines a much tougher approach to the war on Islamic terrorism than the approach the U.S. is presently taking. I myself think that, like the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, a tougher approach would save a lot more lives in the end.

Good news from Qom: ""Either officials change their methods and give freedom to the people, and stop interfering in elections, or the people will rise up with another revolution," Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri told me"

Keith Burgess-Jackson is obviously very cheerful and positive. He even has a post that praises the U.S. Postal Service! Brave man. He is happy that a letter posted on Monday arrives on Thursday. In Australia, it would USUALLY arrive on Tuesday. He also praises highly this article about bringing up boys. Maybe boys are different in Australia and in America but I would have thought that MOST boys are not like the two extreme types described there. They seem like two variants of the underclass to me. But, aside from that, Keith has helped two fine women to start blogging recently -- Ally Eskin and Peg Kaplan. Go visit!

The wicked one has the 2004 Darwin "awards" up.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me here or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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14 May, 2004

FROM BROOKES NEWS

Update from a reader in Denmark -- in my response to my post about today's Royal wedding and the award of the "Order of the Elephant" to the Princess-to-be:

"This is the highest order Denmark can dish out, she will join a small brotherhood of other mainly slim recipients, like Nicolae Ceausescu... NB: Breaking news on three channels, Mary dropped her hat!!!!! I can't wait for the endless repeats..."

Beijing makes its move in Latin America Beijing has been using Cuba's Fidel Castro as a means to subvert South America and Central America while President Bush has been waging war against terrorism.
Former diplomat savages Howard and Bush over the liberation of Iraq Richard Woolcott, a retired Australian diplomat, savaged Howard and Bush for liberating the Iraqi people from the sadistic Saddam Hussein. This brilliant diplomat now argues that only the UN can save the Iraqi people from "catastrophe".
Kerry's Vietnam mates claim he is unfit to be President 189 of Kerry's fellow veterans supported an open letter stating that he was not fit to be president. As expected, the mainstream media gave it a miss.
US trade deficits and foreign debt: problems or symptoms? The size of the U.S. deficit is causing alarm among some commentators who are using it to draw attention to America's foreign debt. But are trade deficits and foreign debt real problems or is something else at work?
Austrian economics and privatisation Socialists cannot grasp the benefits of privatization because they don't understand the nature of markets. It's not enough to empirically show that privatization has generated benefits. One must explain why free markets produce these results: this is where Austrian economics has been exceptionally successful.
Costs don't determine telecommunication prices It is what consumers pay for the final product that determines the prices of inputs. Therefore the view that prices must reflect costs is utterly fallacious.

Details here

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ELSEWHERE

Amusing: Australian Mary Donaldson is about to become a Princess of Denmark. In honour of the occasion, the Danes have just awarded her the "Order of the Elephant". A dubious honour? I thought she was quite slim myself.

Rather Biased has comprehensive comments on the refusal by CBS News and other mainstream media to broadcast pictures of Islamic barbarism (Berg's beheading) even though they featured pictures of American military police treating terrorist prisoners roughly. As one commenter said: "One of the few similarities between this war and Viet Nam is the consistently anti-American coverage the public is being fed by the media". Jeff Jacoby's latest column sums it up well too.

I am indebted to Brian Micklethwait (post of 6th) for pointing out that the British Left (the Whigs) of Napoleon's days so admired Napoleon that they had a lifelong hatred of the man who defeated him -- The Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame. The Leftist love for its country's enemies goes back a long way. They are enemies of their country themselves so it is not really surprising.

For some reason the BBC recently got the idiosyncratic conservative Peter Hitchens to make a TV program critical of Nelson Mandela. Perhaps they thought it would discredit conservatism to see a conservative criticizing a saint. What they got from Hitchens included some pretty silly stuff (saying Mandela was "too Thatcherite" and blaming him for not stopping AIDS!) but the BBC has still felt the need to present a more leftist view of Mandela here. It is amusing that the BBC says that Left-liberal pressure was the reason for the abandonment of apartheid whereas Hitchens says the reason was an excess of foreign debt. There is really only one reason for the end of Apartheid -- the courage and decency of President F.W. de Klerk, the head of the apartheid regime, who voluntarily gave up power. The foreign debt issue is a red-herring. South Africa could easily have repudiated its debt. South American countries do it all the time with no adverse consequences to themselves.

Most readers have probably heard by now about how the Christians of GWB's home town (Midland, Texas) are helping to bring peace between Muslims and Christians in Sudan. Here is an extended account of it.

An interesting article here on the one Anglican diocese in the Western world that has overflowing congregations. The Sydney diocese rejects both High Church traditionalism and modern "anything-goes" Anglicanism. Yet in their strong and forthright evangelical Protestantism their beliefs are very much like those expressed in the Church of England's own "39 Articles" of 1571. New Testament Christianity still has the great power it has always had -- something far beyond the ken of the wafflers and play-actors in "modern" churches.

How 'well meaning multiculturalism' frustrates Australians of immigrant origin: "From playground confusion to strangers' interrogation, not having blonde hair and blue eyes has proven to be a difficult reality. It's not that I ever complained. My siblings and I never got sunburnt at school swimming carnivals. We always had the largest number of friends and family attending annual award ceremonies and we always had the most interesting packed lunch.

The Kerry-Kennedy court: "Thus, in November, the voters will determine far more than who lives in the White House. They will determine, indirectly, who sits in the nine seats on bench of the highest court in the land. It's a choice between judicial restraint and judicial activism. It's a choice between what is actually written in the Constitution and what an unelected judge believes should be written there."

Carnival of the Vanities is still going strong with the latest edition here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me here or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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13 May, 2004

SOME POLITICAL HISTORY

There is a long and wide-ranging essay here which looks at the major influences in modern American conservatism. I am certainly inclined to agree with this: "From the 1950s to the present, libertarianism has been an important and influential - arguably the most influential - stream of thought on the Right, informing both Republican policy making and conservative ideology more generally". He faults libertarianism, however, for not coming to terms with the fact that lots of people seem to WANT big government and says that it is only the neoconservatives who are realistic about that fact. He presents the neoconservatives as being the practical, pragmatic dealers in political reality. He does definitely have a point but I would argue that no libertarian is unaware of how difficult it is to implement any part of a libertarian agenda and that ALL conservatives compromise with the possible. The difference is that the libertarians have the clearest vision of the direction in which they want to head -- and the best evidence that their ideas work for the general betterment.

There is another good review out of In Denial by Haynes & Klehr: Glenn Garvin opens his rather amusing comments on the ineptitude and dishonesty of America's many pro-Communist historians and other academics as follows: "In 1983 the Indiana University historian Robert F. Byrnes collected essays from 35 experts on the Soviet Union -- the cream of American academia -- in a book titled After Brezhnev. Their conclusion: Any U.S. thought of winning the Cold War was a pipe dream. "The Soviet Union is going to remain a stable state, with a very stable, conservative, immobile government," Byrnes said in an interview, summing up the book. "We don't see any collapse or weakening of the Soviet system." Barely six years later, the Soviet empire began falling apart."

To be Australian is to believe in the `fair go', even if it is not always clear what this means in practice.... examples suggest that the `fair go' in 19th century Australia was largely associated with a set of ethical principles which today we would recognise as `meritocratic'. The belief was not that everybody should end up with the same shares (egalitarianism), but was rather that everybody should get the opportunity to compete and thereby to improve themselves.... In August 2003, AC Nielsen carried out a survey of public opinion ... there was very strong (85%) public support for a meritocratic definition of fairness"

"One of the great goals of education is to initiate the young into the conversation of their ancestors -- to enable them to understand the language of that conversation, in all its subtlety, and maybe even, in their maturity, to add to it some wisdom of their own. The modern American educational system no longer teaches us the political language of our ancestors. In fact our schooling helps widen the gulf of time between our ancestors and ourselves, because much of what we are taught in the name of civics, political science or American history is really modern liberal propaganda.

Sowell: "Nowhere have whole peoples seen their situation reversed more visibly or more painfully than the peoples of the Islamic world... Why do they hate us? Maybe it is because the alternative to hating us is to hate themselves".

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Government by judges: "As an American in remission, I have a romantic fondness for the notion of constitutional government, which of course doesn't exist and never will again in the United States if it ever did. Face it: The constitution is deader than a doorknob. I mean a doorknob with melanoma and clogged arteries.... Courts run the country these days. The will of the people is irrelevant. When did you last hear of anything of lasting import being done by Congress? I can't either. But almost every week you read about some federal judge, or that ratpack of pompous drones on the Supreme Court, who have... defunded the Boy Scouts, or invented a constitutional right to abortion, or imposed integration, or outlawed the public expression of Christianity, or made it impossible to stop immigration. They tell you who you can hire, who you can sell your house to, what your children will be taught. They serve to impose what could never be legislatively enacted. The judges are out of control. They're at it again. Marriage doesn't mean what it has always meant. It means what some over-promoted nonentity wants it to mean. And the country will obey. Roll over. Bark. Fetch".

A million ... er, 2,000 march against guns: "About 2,000 people celebrated Mother's Day yesterday by attending a Million Mom March rally at the Capitol to demonstrate support for extending the nation's ban on assault weapons." Interested Participant uses the occasion to comment on the way the media usually accept Leftist overestimates of numbers.

About time! White House to impose sanctions on Syria: "President Bush will order economic sanctions against Syria this week for supporting terrorism and not doing enough to prevent militant fighters from entering neighboring Iraq, congressional and administration sources said Monday. The sanctions, which the White House will impose as early as Tuesday, are being ordered because the administration believes Syria has aggravated tensions in the Middle East by supporting militant groups."

There is another excellent letter from a U.S. soldier in Iraq here which tells the news from Iraq in a way that you will never hear from the mass media. And there is a very recent letter from Iraq here too.

Arlene Peck reproduces an email she received from a Palestinian girl who was publicly raped by her FATHER as punishment for criticizing the Hamas terrorists.

Metal Yarmulke is blogging again. He is a bit upset by "lookism" in the blogosphere. He has a point. Being fat is death to the acceptability of women in our culture but in China and the Middle East it is admired, from what I know.

Bill Keezer has a stab at explaining chaos theory to us all. I always DID suspect that butterflies could not cause hurricanes!

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me here or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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12 May, 2004

MEDICAL MAYHEM

Lies, Lies Lies: "Obesity is fast becoming one of the world's leading reasons why people die" See here for the real story.

Hating the life-savers: Perhaps no one is more consistently demonized for doing more good today in the United States than the pharmaceutical companies. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the new drug Avastin, which shrinks tumors. The medicine helps patients with advanced bowel cancer. Yet in the view of many Americans - not to mention politicians like Kerry - the pharmaceutical companies are the enemy.... Even the Vatican seems to have joined in know-nothing drug industry bashing. The firms demonstrated a "lack of social conscience" by making massive profits on AIDS drugs, charged Rev. Angelo D'Agostino, a Jesuit. But AIDS medicines exist only because of profit-making companies that conduct drug research. In the early 1980s, the disease was a death sentence, taking some 28 million people to their graves. Today, AIDS patients survive and even thrive because private companies have developed scores of medicines.

Drug fanaticism: "Here's a bit of legal information that may interest Rush Limbaugh: Under Florida law, illegally obtaining more than 28 grams of painkillers containing the narcotic oxycodone -- a threshold exceeded by a single 60-pill Percocet prescription -- automatically makes you the worst sort of drug trafficker, even if you never sold a single pill. Even if, like Richard Paey, you were using the drugs to relieve severe chronic pain. Although prosecutors admitted Paey was not a drug trafficker, on April 16 he received a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years for drug trafficking."

Sowell on socialized medicine: "Britain, which has had government-run medical care for more than half a century, has to import doctors from the Third World, where medical school standards are lower.... Only the patients will find out, the hard way, what declining quality means. I saw a vivid example of what bureaucratic medical care meant back in 1959, when I had a summer job at the headquarters of the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington. Around 5 o'clock one afternoon, a man had a heart attack on the street near our office. He was taken to the nurse's room and asked if he was a federal employee. If he was, he could be sent to the large, modern medical facility there in the Public Health Service headquarters. But he was not a government employee, so an ambulance was summoned from a local hospital. By the time this ambulance made its way through miles of downtown Washington rush-hour traffic, the man was dead. He died waiting for a doctor, in a building full of doctors. That is what bureaucracy means".

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I have a motto at the top of my blog and a rubric at the bottom of each day's posts which makes the point that Leftists owe much of their success with voters to their claim that they are "compassionate" -- a claim which the history of Leftist deeds shows to be a fraud. Whenever they get complete power (e.g. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot), Leftists are in fact ruthless murderers and have no concern for anybody but themselves. But few people know much history (and Leftist teachers do their best to keep it that way) so the Big Lie about Leftist compassion is often believed. A recent letter from a reader that Keith Burgess-Jackson posted on his blog is in my view an example of that effect. The writer is obviously a very good and kind man who votes Democrat because he thinks that they are more like him than conservatives are. Random Observations has however pointed out another important failure in the letter-writer's thinking. He points out that the letter-writer has committed a variant of what logicians call the ad hominem fallacy -- judging the truth of a statement by the person who utters it. The letter writer sees Leftists as kind people and conservatives as unkind people and infers therefore that conservative POLICIES must be unkind in their effects too. Adam Smith, of course, pointed out centuruies ago that selfish deeds by selfish people can and do have BENEFICIAL effects. So the letter-writer really IS a Leftist in one important respect -- he thinks very simplistically. It is the actual effect of the policies that matters, not who proposed the policies.

How un-Islamic! "A University of Illinois research team is working on turning pig manure into a form of crude oil that could be refined to heat homes or generate electricity."

Michael Moore doesn't understand the First Amendment works both ways. Disney doesn't have to publish his stuff if they don't want to

There is another mention here of the seeming paradox that one of the world's most pro-American places is Iran.

Halliburton: Odd profiteers. "But here's the funny thing. So far, the Iraq war hasn't proved much of a boon for Halliburton's shareholders. Because of incompetence, the chaos of working in the war zone, and a contract that limits profits, KBR's margins on its hazardous work are pretty marginal".

As a keen Chaucerian, I have got to give econoblogger The Man Without Qualities a plug. In his postings of May 3rd, he actually managed to find some wisdom about Iraq in Chaucer!

Dick McDonald has some good posts on the prisoner-abuse panic.

Che is Gay is an amusing site. I liked this comment: "It is ironic that the 'pro tree' element is usually 'anti Bush'. Work that one out!"

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me here or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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11 May, 2004

THE BLOGGER.COM "IMPROVEMENTS"

Hooray! The "improvements" at blogger.com (Pyra) seem not to have caused any crashes or prolonged service outages this time -- though the new software does not like the bit of Java I use to protect my Gmail address from spammers. My code worked fine on the old software but I did expect the "improvements" to be anything but. They no longer let you use the two-window "classic" interface either. Ho hum. Definitely a bureaucratic version of "improvement".

I emailed Pyra's Jason Shellen with an advance copy of the above comment. He replied: "Awfully pessimistic given the bevy of improvements like: this. There is even a way to preview your post on the page, if you do miss the 'classic' interface. See here".

My qualified relief was shortlived, however. As I originally expected, I had a lot of trouble getting this post up.

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SOME MORE ECONOMICS

Rent control as urban warfare. Economist Walter Williams rightly says: "Short of aerial bombardment, the best way to destroy a city is through rent control."

America's economic secret: A willingness to allow dying industries to die in peace. "A country with no declining industries is a country that doesn't have many better new ideas."

"Michael Barone, America's foremost political analyst, wonders why America produces so many incompetent 18-year-olds but remarkably competent 30-year-olds.... One answer to Barone's question is: schools. In 1900 only 10 percent of high school-age Americans went to high school. Subsequently, schooling became universal and then schools became emblematic of Soft America, suffused with ``progressive'' values -- banning dodge ball and other games deemed too competitive, attempting personality adjustment, promoting self-esteem and almost anyone with a pulse. In contrast, Barone says, ``Hard America plays for keeps: The private sector fires people when profits fall and the military trains under live fire.'' Soft America depends on the productivity, creativity and competence of Hard America, which protects the country and pays its bills."

Jobs: "Coming on top of the 337,000 new jobs created in March (revised up from 308,000), the economy has now created 625,000 jobs in just two months. This is a very impressive performance"

Protectionism via tax favouritism: "It started as an effort to eliminate a $5 billion tax break for exporters that irked the European Union. Since then, a tax bill has blossomed into a $170 billion cornucopia of special breaks for the cruise ship industry, former Oldsmobile dealers, NASCAR and makers of bows and arrows. Typically, critics say, it is during that dark of night that lawmakers slip such benefits into bills like the one now before the Senate."

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ELSEWHERE

Readers may note that I have a new motto at the top of my page. The only problem with it is that I myself feel a lot more goatish than sheepish! But you know what the man means. He preferred sheep. Not sure why. Woollier, I guess.

John Moore has reminded me of the famous experiment devised by Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo -- noting that it explains the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by American military guards. The Zimbardo experiment showed that putting almost ANYONE into the role of a prison guard will make them oppressive, sadistic etc. So the fact that there has been so little harm done to Iraqi prisoners shows in fact how restrained American military guards have been.

I believe the Colonel: "German troops serving with an international peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo have been accused of hiding in barracks "like frightened rabbits" during the inter-ethnic rioting that erupted in the province in March. A German police report sent to the government last week criticises the troops for cowardice and for their failure to quell the rioting, in which 19 people died and about 900 others were injured... The head of the contingent, Colonel Dieter Hintelmann, insisted that his men had simply obeyed rules of engagement" American rules of engagement are hobbling enough. What must EU ones be like? They're probably allowed to fire at Americans only.

Amusing: Brazil's President Lula is indignant at being portrayed as a "boozehound". Although I am 99% teetotal myself, I see drinking alcohol as a normal human recreation and he would surely be a pretty odd Brazilian if he did not like a drink or three.

Fascinating that the Iranian people (unlike their Ayatollahs) are very pro-American. Turkey is pro-Western too. It looks like the Islamic problem is mainly an Arab problem.

The Blowhards have an interesting short survey of conservatism in the blogosphere. The comments are good too. I liked this one: "The fundamental American stance - leave me alone, just leave me alone to live my life as I see fit, don't tread on me - is conservative"

Dick McDonald traces the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by American troops to the poor education the troops got from America's Left-dominated educational system.

There is an interesting new blog here. I think it is supposed to be called "Wide Open" but her professional web designer seems to have been too arty to make that obvious. Anyway, her post "Ladies, we did it to ourselves" is a good poke in the eye for the radical feminists.

The wicked one tells you all you need to know about dogs.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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10 May, 2004

SOME ECONOMICS

Globalization saves the day in New Zealand: " It's Saturday morning and you've just noticed that the data projector is missing a fairly important element, known as a power cord. The conference starts in 30 minutes. What does one do? There is no electronics shop open. But there is a Warehouse. Now the Warehouse does not have any power cords for sale, but it does have an electric jug selling for only $10, which uses the same sort of cord. The cost of the jug with cord is much the same as buying just the cord elsewhere, so one purchase is quickly made. Thank God for free trade and cheap China-made electric jugs". [Just by way of explanation, The Warehouse is a New Zealand version of Wal Mart and both Australians and New Zealanders mostly boil water in electric jugs rather than in electric kettles].

The roar of good economic news is getting louder. Our economy expanded 4.2 percent in the first quarter of the year. That follows 4.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter, and 8.2 percent growth in the quarter before that. Over the last three months alone, our economy created more than a half-million jobs. Business investment grew 11.4 percent. Wages and salaries jumped 4.8 percent... Surprised? There's no reason to be. In the second quarter of 2003, President Bush signed legislation that lowered tax rates on the money entrepreneurs invest in the economy -- and those rate cuts took effect immediately.

How much do economists agree among themselves? "The authors survey 1000 economists from the AEA roster; the data cover both 1990 and 2000. Here is one result: ...there was strong agreement with the propositions that restraints on free trade reduce welfare...and that market-determined exchange rates are effective...There was also strong disagreement with the propositions that increasing globalization threatens national sovereignty "

Facts about Sweden No new net jobs have been produced in the Swedish private sector since 1950. None of top 50 companies on the Stockholm stock exchange has been started since 1970. ...well over 1 million people out of a work force of around four million did not work in 2003 but lived on various kinds of public welfare programs, such as, pre-pension schemes, unemployment benefits, sick-leave programs, etc. Sweden has dropped from fourth to 14th place in 2002 among the OECD countries (i.e., affluent industrialized countries) in terms of GDP per capita since 1970.

An all-investor nation? "Imagine if every worker in the United States had the opportunity to become an investor. Well, that dream has a shot at reality. In his 2004 State of the Union address, President Bush suggested workers be allowed to redirect part of their payroll taxes into individual retirement accounts. That was a big statement. It means there's now a legitimate chance to transform Social Security from a financially bankrupt system into a source of real ownership and prosperity for all Americans. ... Since the Reagan presidency, the U.S. has made great strides toward democratizing capitalism by reducing marginal tax rates, deregulating the financial-services industry and creating savings vehicles like IRAs and 401(k)s. Mr. Bush's latest proposal for Lifetime Savings Accounts is another step in the right direction."

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An email I posted yesterday tended to give the impression that U.S. forces in the Vietnam war condoned prisoner abuse by allied South Vietnamese forces. Another reader who was there rejects that. He says: "I served as an advisor to a Vietnamese Infantry Battalion in the Mekong Delta. Concerning the claim that ARVN routinely cut off the VC's gonads: I NEVER heard of such a thing! We were trying to win the hearts and minds, etc. We actually punished our soldiers when they committed some crime (usually theft of something from a villager's hut). We didn't abuse, there were no rapes and no torture! I have seen my boss threaten to pull his advisory team when we thought that the ARVN were picking up too many villagers for questioning! Without an advisory team, the ARVN unit would not have been protected by American air support! I have seen an ARVN 1st Sgt beat the crap out of one of his soldiers for stealing from a villager in a village that was way out in VC controlled territory!" And, speaking of prisoner abuse, we won't mention Palestinian prisons and torture will we?

There is a good email here about antisemitism in Australia that notes the erosion of Australia's traditional tolerance by Muslims and their Leftist supporters.

Keith Burgess-Jackson has a good post on the sheer mindless evil of America's Left.

Amusing: "The National Women's Law Center has released its annual exercise in Bush-bashing in the guise of a state-by-state report card on women's health. Why, precisely, is the president at fault if women in some states don't eat their veggies?"

Steve Sailer has more on the 'story' doing the rounds on the web that Gore-voting US States have higher average IQs than Bush-voting states. It is a hoax of course but Steve has some REAL data showing that educational achievement does differ from State to State. So what characterizes the high-achieving States? Democrat voting? No. A higher percentage of whites in their population -- unsurprisingly.

Random Observations has a good essay on what conservatism is and why libertarians are wrong about Leftists. He seems however to have overlooked that many libertarians are Minimal Statists (as I am) rather than Anarcho-capitalists -- which is why they get on with conservatives. Both conservatives and Minimal Statists see SOME need for a State but the Minimal Statist wants to cut it back a lot further.

Iceland has libertarians too and this one blogs in English. I always think Icelanders must be pretty smart. They have kept out of other people's wars for around 1,000 years.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them some concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion. Voters, unfortunately, often believe the compassion is genuine

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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9 May, 2004

ERK! Blogger.com is going to be "down" tomorrow while they install some "improvements". Someone needs to tell them: "If it aint broke, don't fix it". After the last lot of improvements nobody could post for most of two days. So check my mirror sites if I seem suddenly to have fallen strangely silent. My only "consolation" for blogger.com's frequent problems is that the various other sites that I use all seem to have periodic problems too. I think most of the MT enthusiasts have found the same. The only reliable system is a redundant one -- which is why I put up mirror sites.


CONSERVATIVE THINKING

The genius of Edmund Burke: "After two centuries, there remains no better analysis of the first two years of the French Revolution than Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).... Had the English ministry and his fellow Parliamentarians followed his advice in the 1770s, they would never have driven the Americans to revolt and hence lost their most valuable colonies in the world. Had the French, they would have been spared the Terror, total war, and Napoleon".

Russell Kirk : "Scholars who call themselves "Kirkians" or "traditionalist conservatives" tend to have severe reservations not only about the present Republican administration but also about some of the dominant strains in conservative policymaking, whether libertarian or neoconservative.... What Kirk extracted from Burke's thought -- and found embodied in the work of British and American figures as diverse as John Adams, Benjamin Disraeli, and T.S. Eliot -- was a strong sense that tradition and order were the bedrock of any political system able to provide a real measure of freedom... "The individual is foolish," wrote Kirk in The Conservative Mind, "but the species is wise." We have inherited from the past "the instruments which the wisdom of the species employs to safeguard man against his own passions and appetites... "The Kirkian tradition is in the minority within modern conservatism," says Mr. Cheek. "It is skeptical of foreign entanglements. It believes in the minimalist state, but believes that the government does have a role. Kirk had some skepticism about capitalism, which puts him at odds with the libertarians"

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Prisoner abuse: An interesting comment from a reader: "As a Viet Nam Vet of the U.S. Army 25th Infantry Division (Cu Chi, Vietnam 1967), perhaps I can put the war prisoner abuse media events currently swirling around the Bush Administration into perspective. I was a Spec/4 Medic in Vietnam assigned to work with the 25th Medical Battalion psychiatrist. I assisted in medicating and evacuating by helicopter "psychiatric casualties" of the war. This entailed flying into fire fights to pick up the wounded, including wounded enemy NVA soldiers. It was usual for the South Vietnamese ARVN soldiers to strip the enemy soldiers naked and cut their gonads off, then call in U.S. medical personnel to evacuate them as a prisoner. To my knowledge this practice was never covered by the media. To state the obvious: War is brutal. The media scenes the American public are now seeing on TV and the Net pale in comparison to the daily events in Vietnam, let alone what went on in Cambodia after the war with Pol Pot.

I have not so far said anything about the prisoner mistreatment scandal in Iraq but Bleeding Brain sums it up pretty well, I think. And Dick McDonald is irate at the way the media have treated it. And Matthew Cowie is one of many who have noted that one of the humiliated Iraqis still wants to come to America!

And yet the "feminists" stay silent: "Jihadists, like all totalitarians, oppose many kinds of freedom. What makes them unique, however, is their particular hatred of freedom for women. They prize their traditional prerogatives that allow them to keep their women barefoot in the kitchen as illiterate economic and sexual slaves." Most feminist activists don't give a damn about women, in other words. They just use women to excuse their hatred of their own society. Like Greenie activists, they are just another flavour of Leftism. If they really cared about women, they would be backing GWB to the hilt.

Fascinating. It seems that Canada is like Australia in that it is common for very religious people there to be on the Left as well as on the Right: "Devout Liberal MPs are appalled by their party's attempt to demonize the Conservatives as a bunch of extreme religious zealots". I have commented on the relationship between conservatism and Christianity at some length here.

The Leftist hatred of McDonald's is just another example of Leftist jealousy of other people's success. There is a short summary of how unreasonable it is to attack McDonald's here. What nobody seems to mention is that what McDonald's sells is just a minor variation on a standard Western diet of beef, bread, salad and potatoes. If that is bad for you we are all doomed. Funny that average lifespans are always getting longer in the West, though!

From Chris Brand: "According to environmentaloons, the human male's asthetic preference for women having the hourglass shape is due to `conditioning'. But new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society found that wasp-waisted women were 30% higher in the hormone oestradiol and would thus have double or treble the normal chance of conceiving during any one menstrual cycle" Another blow to the constant Leftist claim that everything about us is the product of our environment rather than of biology. Here or here are links to the academic article Chris mentions.

Some things that governments do you couldn't make up: Germany has passed a law to say that legal brothels must train apprentice whores! No doubt the usual 5 years of training will be necessary before they can do it.

What has the EU got in common with Robert Mugabe? A lot. As the case of Hans-Martin Tillack shows. They are using their police to intimidate an exposer of their corruption.

There is a review here of a new book: How Democracies Lose Small Wars: State, Society, and the Failures of France in Algeria, Israel in Lebanon, and the United States in Vietnam

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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8 May, 2004

WHY ELITES TEND LEFT

Why is a man as privileged as John Kerry on the Left of politics? Why are people who are well-organized, well-paid and successful in life often Left-leaning? Surely they should be thankful for the system that gave them their success instead of wanting to tear it down? The answer is really quite simple. If your life had made you feel superior to most people wouldn't you want to be treated in a superior way too? More importantly, wouldn't you feel that your inferiors should be got out of your way and told what to do? Wouldn't you feel that they should be herded onto public transport and thus leave the roads free for you to drive where you want without being held up by traffic jams? That is EXACTLY how elite Leftists think. Only they cannot say that out loud of course. To say it out loud would not only be obnoxious but it would also achieve nothing. So our elites are smarter than that. They know they have to cloak their oppression in the mantle of a claim that "It's all for your own good". And knowing how rich, clever and well-organized they themselves are, they are confident that they will be able to escape the limits and confines that they put on other people. Even high taxes are no worry to them when they already have most things that money can buy. So regulate, regulate, regulate is their cry. And that's Leftism.

A classic example was pre-Thatcher Britain in the 60s. The British Labour party had nationalized practically all the hospitals leaving only a very small and expensive private sector. And the nationalized hospitals were of course overcrowded and gave inferior service in various ways. Britain's "Red Queen" at the time was Barbara Castle, a minister in Harold Wilson's Labour government. She was famous for saying that it was "obscene" for anybody to "carve their way to a hospital bed with a chequebook": Good propaganda. But what did she do when her son got sick? Being very well-paid as a government minister, she got him admitted to a private hospital, of course, under a false name. When the press got wind of it were any on the Left upset by her actions? Not at all. They understood what she was doing and why. Harold Wilson ended up making the obscene one a Baroness, in fact. Leftist elites WANT one law for the rich and another law for the poor. That is why the British Labour party let a small private medicine sector survive in Britain. They knew that they might need it one day: No grotty public hospitals for them. Public hospitals are only for "the people".

And my post of December 12th, last year shows that the same mentality prevails among the Leftist British elite to this day.

And Leftist elitism even explains the current Leftist war on "obesity":

"Medical and public health authorities have determined a BMI of 25 or above is hazardous to a person's health. This belief, however, is not supported by the available evidence... In almost all large-scale epidemiological studies, little or no correlation between weight and health can be found for a large majority of the population... "overweight" people actually had a lower overall cancer mortality rate than "ideal weight" individuals.. Even massively obese men and women do not appear to be more prone to vascular disease than average... deaths from heart disease have been plunging at precisely the same time that obesity rates have been skyrocketing... on average, poor people in America are fat and rich people are thin. The disgust the thin upper classes feel for the fat lower classes has nothing to do with mortality statistics and everything to do with feelings of moral superiority"

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The media and the Democrats (same thing) seem to have gone rather quiet about GWB's "lies" over WMDs lately. Even John Kerry has hedged his bets. Could this be part of the reason why? "Jordan recently seized 20 tons of chemicals trucked in by confessed al Qaeda members who brought the stuff in from Syria. The chemicals included VX, Sarin and 70 others. ... There's a lot of reason to think (the source of the chemicals) might be Iraq..... The best U.S. and allied intelligence say that in the 10 weeks before the Iraq war, Saddam's Russian adviser told him to get rid of all the nerve gas."

Dreadful news for John Kerry: "A springtime surge in hiring rumbled into a second month as employers added nearly 300,000 new jobs in April, which lowered the unemployment rate to 5.6 percent".

There is a set of figures going the rounds on the net which purport to show that U.S. States which supported Bush in the last Presidential election have lower average IQs. This author wisely suspects that the figures are a fake. Chris Brand has contacted the author of the test concerned and he says that he knows of no authentic State-by-State averages for his test.

Catallarchy has a celebration of May Day which notes accurately what socialism has done for the workers.

Brigitte Bardot was once the symbol of France. It is good to see her defending the France she once stood for.

A blunt New Zealand comment: "Michael Moore is being interviewed on CNN as I blog. He actually used the term "crushing of dissent". Stupid fat bastard!"

China Hand has a big new post up on his recent travels around China -- with some striking photos.

Both China Hand and I found this article about British cars very funny -- despite that fact that China Hand is a car buff and I am anything but. It is British humour from an American. Page 3 is the best.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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7 May, 2004

FROM BROOKES NEWS

Sen. Lautenberg: Patriot or fifth columnist? Last week Frank Lautenberg took to the floor of the Senate and launched a vicious and insulting attack on President Bush and some of his advisers. Now it's time to look at Lautenberg's anti-American voting record.
Did Gorelick's infamous memo provide the missing link between Chinagate and 9/11? Jamie Gorelick not only blinded the US to foreign intelligence information, she also allowed Clinton to offer access and key strategic technologies to the highest bidder: China, and Indonesian/Chinese billionaire donors with close ties to China's dictatorial regime were recipients.
America's media subversives There is no escaping the fact that the mainstream media largely consists of leftwing political bigots whose contempt for the truth is only exceeded by the hatred for President Bush.
Oysters, the ABC and so-called market failure: Revealed it to be a myth that frees market policies allowed media owners to ruthlessly impose politically homogeneous views media reporting.

Details here

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Revel: Anti-Globalism = Anti-Americanism: "How to understand this war against globalization, which has grown in scope and virulence over the past five years? First, we must realize that it is a war in the real, not the figurative, sense of the word. It is a physical struggle being fought in the streets, not just theoretically. The demonstrators who are its shock troops are organized by activist organizations, many of them subsidized by governments, and they sack cities and lay siege to international meetings during their battles. What motivates this extraordinary resistance? Globalization simply means freedom of movement for goods and people, and it is hard to be violently hostile to that"

For those who want the detailed figures, Donald Luskin shows that the last U.S. economic recession took place under Clinton and that it was under the Bush administration that the recovery took place. His chart of GDP growth is pretty persuasive.

Hooray! "The World Trade Organization ruled that the government's multibillion-dollar subsidies to the U.S. cotton industry violate global trade rules. The landmark case could compel Washington to cut farm subsidies and force the United States, Europe and other wealthy economies to make greater concessions to poor countries at global trade talks. It was the first successful challenge of a wealthy nation's domestic agricultural subsidies."

Interesting comment from a reader: "In the Bible (Genesis 27: 29), there is a remark that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. Countries who are friendly towards Israel and/or who treat Jews equally do seem to have most prosperity and freedom, whereas antagonism towards Jews seems to be associated with poverty and oppression. Whether it is the work of God or a remarkably prescient comment on the human condition, it does seem to hold true."

CafeHayek says the statistics show SUVs are NOT safer than other vehicles (which their buyers often claim) but NOR are they more dangerous (which their opponents routinely claim).

David's Medienkritik points out that there is abuse of prisoners in German prisons too and asks why the German government is not apologizing: A very sarcastic post.

The Left are fervent in their belief that criminality is NOT genetically inherited but is due to "poverty", "discrimination" etc. So Chris Brand's latest post is a VERY interesting one: "Identical twins were found to share anti-social behaviour patterns "much more strongly" than did fraternal twins in a study of 670 twins pairs conducted from the University of Wales College of Medicine (Arch. Gen. Psychiat.; Times, 4 v). Apparently `basic' antisocial personality was "wholly genetic", though the environment added finishing touches." This is the academic article Chris is referring to (Summary only).

There is now a PDF version online here of Chris's book The g factor which is a bit more convenient than the previous zipped version. Chris has also advised that he is prepared to email to those who request it a copy of his chapter in the 2003 book The scientific study of general intelligence (edited by Danish psychologist Helmuth Nyborg and published by Pergamon). The chapter -- jointly authored by Brand, Constales and Kane -- is called 'Why ignore the g factor?' and contains new vindications of the strength of g, of the measurability of g and of g's 'differentiation' at higher-g levels. There is more about the book here. Email: cbrand@cycad.com or brand@crispian.demon.co.uk

Hmmm... I dabbled a bit with Technorati last night -- who track over 2 million blogs worldwide. From what I can make out, it seems that I am -- rather to my surprise -- the No. 3 Australian blogger. I seem to be behind only the two Tims in the number of other blogs that link to me: The Conservative Tim (Blair) has over 800 linkers and the Leftist Tim (Dunlop) has nearly 400 linkers whereas I have just over 300 linkers -- adding together those who link to me via my old site and those who link to me via my current site. I also seem to pick up quite a few unique links via "PC Watch". Australian blogging is only a small world, however, so being No. 3 is no great distinction.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here. GREENIE WATCH responds to the latest Greenie scare about kangaroos.

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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6 May, 2004

THAT WONDERFUL U.N.

Kofi-gate kickbacks: "Kickbacks paid to Saddam Hussein's regime on contracts signed under the United Nations' oil-for-food programme were far higher than the 10 per cent rake-off previously assumed to be the norm.... The discrepancy represents the kickbacks for leaders and regime officials who skimmed off billions of pounds from the scheme that was supposed to provide food, medicine and essential supplies for the Iraqi people... The inflated contracts were apparently not noticed or ignored at the UN in New York.

Kofi Annan was chiefly to blame for the Rwanda genocide: "During the hundred days of slaughter and until it stopped, says Hourigan, "consistently, repeatedly people like Kofi Annan failed to act. I think there can be nothing else to do for that person either to resign themselves or be replaced." And, added Colvin, the United Nations' own internal inquiry actually did blame Kofi Annan and the unit he led. "Yes," replied Hourigan, "the Carlson Commission did just that.""

The Sudan: "Now I'm in another Sudan, in the Darfur region to the west of the country, witnessing the horrendous and tragic results of a campaign of ugly ethnic violence, which has left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless". Where is "the international community" when you need them? Surely a U.N. resolution would fix the problem?

Setting the fox to guard the henhouse: "Sudan won re-election to the United Nations' main human rights watchdog on Tuesday, prompting the United States to walk out because of ethnic cleansing in the country's Darfur region..... Sichan Siv, the U.S. delegate to the council, accused Sudan of having no right to sit on the rights commission because of ethnic cleansing in Darfur where government troops are accused of backing Arab militia which pillage black Africa villages, raping and killing". See Dhimmi Watch for more on the delights of Sudan. Even though it's in Africa Sudan is definitely not a good place to be black. But, come to think of it, nowhere in Africa is nearly as good to blacks as the USA is. Mass death seems to be happening all the time somewhere or other in Africa.

Tim Worstall goes into a bit more detail about the strange membership of the UN "Human Rights" Commission.

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More glories of socialized medicine: A pregnant Australian mother was told by two public hospital doctors that the baby was dead inside her and she was sent for a curette to remove the "remains". She asked several times for an ultrasound scan to confirm the diagnosis but was refused because: "The obstetrician said she didn't want to place an undue burden on the ultrasound staff". While she was waiting to go into theatre -- a long wait, of course -- she felt that all was not right, checked herself out and went to a private doctor who booked her in immediately for a scan. The scan showed there was nothing wrong with the baby. So a precious life was saved because of Australia's large private medicine sector. In Canada the baby would be dead.

Socialized arrogance: "A huge headline on the front of a recent issue of the New York Times Magazine said more than was intended: 'Now are we ready to talk about health care?' Inside was an article with the same title by Sen. Hillary Clinton. The casual arrogance of that question is staggering. We talked endlessly about Hillary's proposed government-run medical system a decade ago and decided against it for many reasons. Now this rerun of the same issues proceeds as if the question is whether the rest of us are 'ready' to talk about such things."

Keith Burgess-Jackson has reproduced a letter originally printed in the New York Times in which a woman repeats the familiar complaint that men won't "commit" to marriage or any lasting relationship. She is surprised?? The way politically correct American divorce and palimony laws attack men, I wonder why ANY American male gets married or risks fatherhood. All who do are either heroes or incorrigible optimists. See here. Or maybe they don't know what they are letting themselves in for.

Silver lining? Has Islam killed multiculturalism? The Spectator thinks that may be so in the UK: "The rest of us might have suspected that multiculturalism was officially dead on 12 September 2001; but to hear multiculturalism disavowed, in public, by an organisation hitherto dedicated to its propagation is something else entirely".

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with a wide range of reading.

Dick McDonald reminds the younger generation of what the righteous Senator Ted Kennedy really is.

The wicked one tells you what you need to do to get to heaven. You'll never guess.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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5 May, 2004

FASCISM

I mentioned last Sunday the latest book on Fascism (The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert. O. Paxton) but was too deterred by its obvious biases to do anything more than link to my own article on Hitler so that readers could see for themselves what Paxton had "overlooked".

Marxist "superstar" Terry Eagleton has however now reviewed the book and most of what he says is surprisingly fair. He does, for instance, make clear the antipathy between conservatism and Fascism and even hints at Fascism's Leftist origins and its affinities with modern-day Leftist "post-modernism". He also concludes, as I do, that Fascism seems in the long run to have won the day and that most of the world's political systems are now at least moving towards what would once have been called Fascism.

One of my readers bridled at Eagleton's statement: "The assumption that the free market and political democracy go naturally together was always pretty dubious" but I am afraid Eagleton is right. Up until recently the world's most free market society was Hong Kong, with no democracy at all, and intensely capitalist Singapore has pretty limited democracy too. As in most of his comments, however, Eagleton is overstating his case. Although there is no necessary association between democracy and capitalism, the two do seem to have some rough association.

I should mention, however, that the opening of Eagleton's review is deceptive. He says that Mussolini (the founder of Fascism) opposed Socialism. He omits to mention that what was called Socialism in Mussolini's day was what we would now call Communism. Mussolini, like the Mensheviks, considered Communism/Bolshevism to be a deviation from true Marxist doctrine. Mussolini was a non-Communist Leftist, in other words -- something that is still all around us today. The main difference between the Communists and the Fascists was that the Fascists detested the idea of class-warfare. They wanted the people of their countries to be united in one brotherly band rather than at war with one-another. But both the Communists and the Fascists wanted (and got) an all-powerful State that would allegedly "look after" its people -- not much different in the end from what modern-day Western Leftists clamour for.

And Eagleton's description of Fascists as "uncouth bruisers" is absurd. Eagleton admits that Britain's Sir Oswald Mosley was an "exception" to that but so was Mussolini. Like many modern-day Leftists, Mussolini was an intellectual. He read poetry and philosophy voraciously, including Socrates and Plato. He spoke several foreign languages, was always interested in discussing political and philosophical ideas with almost anyone, had considerable acceptance in his early days as a leading Marxist theoretician, wrote over 40 books, and was a tree-lover and environmentalist 50 years before Greenies were thought of!

I linked to a review of Eagleton's own recent book on 29th April. That reviewer noted Eagleton's superficial cleverness. A good example of it can be found in the last sentence of his review of the Paxton book.

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The hysteria about childhood obesity is rising -- as this article shows. Obesity is a great discovery for the Left. It will NEVER be cured so they will be able to go on for years making nuisances of themselves over it.

Statistical expert John Lott Jr. sets out why California's virtual ban on electonic voting is just ignorant technophobia. Australia has paper voting only so I have no personal knowledge of alternatives but his claim that electronic voting is in fact more secure than paper voting seems reasonable to me. Voting security in Australia is a joke -- leading to Al Capone's famous saying "Vote early and vote often" being regarded as good election-day advice in some Australian Leftist circles. Rather like Pakistan.

From one who knows: "I was on Mr. Kerry's boat in Vietnam. He doesn't deserve to be commander in chief."

Steve Sailer tells us what few others will about Europe's Gypsy problem.

How odd! Many of the "ex-diplomat" critics of Tony Blair are so involved in businesses in Arab countries that they are known as the "Camel Corps". But none of them declared a conflict of interest, of course.

This very amusing but serious article by David Carr on the recently enlarged EU shows all by itself why "Samizdata" is such a popular blog.

Who armed Saddam? There is a great chart here showing that 57% of Saddam's arms imports came from Russia, 13% from France and 1% from the USA.

In his post of 28th April (no permalink) Snowball sets out a whole host of criticisms of the proposed ID card for the UK. There is opposition to national ID cards on both the Right and the Left but I must say that they seem a reasonable way of limiting fraud to me. Perhaps I am not paranoid enough.

Icelandic blogger Willy Sutton has now started a separate blog for what he calls "visual economics". See here. It's a good idea to show the follies of socialism in pictorial form and he does have some good pictures.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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4 May, 2004

LADY THATCHER

I was delighted to read that Lady Thatcher has made a good recovery from her recent illness and bereavement. And this comment rings true too:

"She remains a self-effacing, charming, polite woman in private, never seeking to be the centre of attention - though of course she cannot help but be in almost every setting - and with an immense humanity that her critics simply refuse to believe exists. Her sincerity and basic decency illustrate one of the most important and fundamental truths about her, that she was never in it for herself."

That self-effacement is precisely what I noted on the occasion that I met her at a small garden party in Kent in 1977. When people began to make her the centre of attention then (while I was talking to her as it happens) she turned around and did her best to break it up.

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ELSEWHERE

Jeff Jacoby points out that America's marching feminists are not feminists at all, just far-Leftists. If they were really concerned about women, they would be attacking Islamic fundamentalists, not GWB. But you never hear a word from them about the suffering of women under Islam: The usual total hypocrisy of the Left.

Sad: The Australian Federal government is trying to bribe young men into taking up primary school teaching. Given the prejudiced way false allegations of sexual abuse against male teachers are handled, I can only hope that no young men are desperate enough to take up the offer. They risk having their lives ruined if they do.

Shawcross on Iraq: "Do not forget that during the 1990s, when there was no war in Iraq, perhaps tens of thousands of Islamic warriors were trained in the bin Laden camps in Afghanistan. That was a time when the US president, Bill Clinton, was working overtime to create an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The US finally came to the rescue of Muslims in Bosnia, after Europe had failed to do so, and then led the effort to save Muslims in Kosovo. None of that stopped bin Laden from building up his organisation and attacking the US wherever he could.... They live to kill. The most determined and, by their own standards, the most devout live to die. They cannot be appeased." Note that Shawcross was an ardent Leftie once. See here. He now says: ""As in the twentieth century, so in the twenty-first, only America has both the power and the optimism to defend the international community against what really are the forces of darkness." How awful for the Left!

The man behind most of the anti-Bush ads: "During the eighties he grew more corporate and at the same time more radical, building offices for Fenton Communications in New York City and Washington while fattening his payroll by performing services for various communist state and "liberation" groups, including the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, the dictatorship of Grenada's Maurice Bishop that President Ronald Reagan sent troops to overthrow in 1983, the El Salvadoran terrorist Farabundo Marti National Liberation group and the conspiratorial Christic Institute, which spread vicious, baseless smears about retired U.S. military heroes." So you know you can trust him.

Some good quotations recently in The Federalist:
"The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly." --Theodore Roosevelt
"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong." --Calvin Coolidge
"The elements of our strength are many. They include our democratic government, our economic system, our great natural resources. But, the basic source of our strength is spiritual. We believe in the dignity of man." --Jeane Kirkpatrick
"Eternal vigilance is only part of the price of freedom. The maturity to live with imperfections is another crucial part of the price of freedom." --Thomas Sowell

Amusing. Chris Brand has started off his postings for May with a full measure of the incorrectness that he is known for: "Star slut Sharon Osbourne was also in trouble at the Grauniad for saying she wanted to have sex with a well-hung Black man before she died. What could she mean, asked the troubled Grauninannies? She surely could not be referring to Phil Rushton's anathematized findings, contested by the small-peniled left, - findings which actually take no account of the pretty minimal staying power of the average Black or of females' greater interest in property values than in penile volume. [While we're at it, it should be noted that the evolutionary advantages of a modest and amply-foreskinned penis are to avoid frostbite while hunting in northern climes and to allow of ready erection in days before Viagra. Sluggish AIDS-prone slit-splitting members are of more interest to pervs than to women.]" I have added a couple of links and edited the quote slightly to make Chris's telegraphic style a bit easier to follow but you can find the original at the BOTTOM of his page here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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3 May, 2004

SOME ECONOMIC REALITIES

Marginal Revolution discusses (Nobel prize winning economist) Gary Becker's plan to cut drug prices by cutting FDA red tape: "...a return to a safety standard alone would lower costs and raise the number of therapeutic compounds available. In particular, this would include more drugs from small biotech firms that do not have the deep pockets to invest in extended efficacy trials. And the resulting increase in competition would mean lower prices - without the bureaucratic burden of price controls..."

Is the EU a tax cartel? "Germany yesterday threw cold water on the festive mood ahead of this week's European Union enlargement by telling its eastern neighbours that low corporate tax rates used to attract foreign investment were unacceptable"

In Argentina privatization of the water supply led to a drop in child mortality of 5-7 percent, with reductions of 24% in the poorest areas

The Stossel "problem": "According to some leading journalists and consumer activists, ABC's news division suffers from a major problem: John Stossel. He used to be such a good consumer reporter, years ago, worthy of his numerous Emmies. But now he thinks that markets protect consumers better than governments do, and he's skeptical of all sorts of beliefs that we all just know are right. ... The real Stossel problem is that he's so alone..."

The private sector in Australia has been using new technology (mobile phones and trunk radio) to provide a better service to taxicab users. So the government wants to ban it: "Groups of entrepreneurial cabbies have created a thriving business providing luxurious, limo-class service at cab prices. The passengers are thrilled and the drivers are getting ahead in an ingenious example of how the market can outwit the leaden bureaucracies of big government regulation. But last week, the Transport Minister, Michael Costa, spoiled it all. As part of his "reform" of the taxi industry, Costa announced a ban on "private network" cab drivers who use mobile phones to service private clients, threatening fines ranging from $1100 to a staggering $110,000"

South Africa today. "South Africa now has a high rate of taxation, restrictive labor laws, is Africa's largest welfare state and has Africa's largest, most politically well-connected and politically influential labor union movement... At the present day, an estimated 42% or 8-million employable non-white South Africans are unemployed. The unemployment among this segment of the population is higher today than at any time during the apartheid era... South Africa's long term economic future appears bleak due to the policies that the nation's government has already enacted. The disarming of the civilian population has left it at the mercy of armed criminals."

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ELSEWHERE

On Saturday I linked without comment to an article about gun control that referred to work by John Lott. John Lott has of course been much criticized by Leftists because he could not produce the original data behind one of the surveys he quoted --- a fact originally brought to light by a libertarian blogger. Lott says he lost the data in a computer disk crash. As I have myself lost stuff that way despite being generally very careful about backups, I sympathize with such problems. Conservatives are divided over Lott's claim but I note that The person who knew Lott's work best at that time has testified in Lott's favour and that even the Leftist Mother Jones says that the particular survey concerned "isn't central to the argument".

There is a recent scholarly paper by G.A. Mauser here (PDF) surveying the results of gun control in Britain, Canada and Australia which describes Australia's gun-buyback scheme and associated bans as a "failed experiment". The article concludes: "In all cases, disarming the public has been ineffective, expensive and often counterproductive".

Nader: A man of principle? "Despite the millions of dollars he commands, he historically paid his professional staff less than minimum wage... When I worked for Ralph Nader in 1980-81, he paid us $8,000 a year, hardly enough to get by on even then. We could scarcely afford the time to spend money, though, because Nader expected staff to work around the clock.... Though Nader claims he wants to fight discrimination, he and his staff asked me my age, religion, sleeping habits, family tree, medical history and a lot of other highly personal questions in violation of District of Columbia's employment law".

More glories of socialized medicine: Canadian healthcare workers are on strike because their government wants to cut their annual leave from 9 weeks to a "measly" eight weeks! The poor darlings!

Crystal ball experts: "The United States said Monday it would not force the issue of placing armed sky marshals on trans-Atlantic planes if European countries reject such anti-terrorist precautions.... Portugal, Sweden and Denmark have signaled they prefer canceling flights to deploying armed guards on planes if there is a strong suspicion of an attack."

Hooray! "A Southern California college professor who received wide media attention when she claimed that racists had vandalized and defaced her car with ethnic slurs was charged on Monday with filing a false police report and insurance fraud.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

********************************

The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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2 May, 2004

"THINK ISRAEL"

Some recent articles on Think Israel:

"SHARON'S DISENGAGEMENT PLAN"
"ISRAEL'S GAZA GAMBLE"
"ISRAEL'S REAL CHOICE IS EITHER TO FIGHT AND SURVIVE, OR TO CAPITULATEAND BE DESTROYED"
"PALESTINIAN FALLACY"
"SHI'ITE IRAN: THE KEY TO THE MIDDLE EAST:
"AN UNTONED-DOWN COMMENTARY ON SUDAN"
"MAKING THE CASE FOR JEW HATRED: Martin Jay Explains How Jews Cause Antisemitism"
"ISLAMIST FIFTH COLUMNS"

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"THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW"

Thought you should know is site worth bookmarking. It is not quite a blog as the owner of the site lets the news stories and articles he links to speak for themselves. But he sure get some good ones. A quick sampling of recent headlines:

Homosexual Leader Vows to 'torture' Opponents
N. Korea banks on Kerry White House
'Several Thousand' Foreign Fighters Slip Into Iraq
Detroit Woman Tells of Self-Defense Shooting
Heroes and Wusses
Al Qaeda and Converts to Islam
Liberals ARE Unpatriotic

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ELSEWHERE

Australia's Leftist State governments are proposing a massive re-socialization of schools and hospitals: "EIGHT Labor premiers and chief ministers are working on a radical plan to overhaul the way the nation runs its hospitals and schools. They are considering proposals forcing all schools - public and private - to accept students who cannot afford to pay fees. They also are looking at "enrolling" families with a selected GP or health clinic for life." Too many Australians have escaped to the private sector for the idea to be a vote-winner, though.

The NYT has an adulatory review of the latest book about Fascism: The anatomy of Fascism by Robert. O. Paxton -- in which the author claims that Hitler was an "antisocialist". That would have been news to Hitler! Hitler did after all call the political party he led "The National Socialist German Worker's Party". I might say more about all the Leftist distortions involved in Paxton's book at greater length tomorrow but I suspect that I have said it all already.

USA Today is back to doing good editorials again -- this time condemning government intervention in the airline business. Excerpt: "That's the type of meddling Congress rejected when it deregulated the industry 26 years ago to let customer demand, not federal bureaucrats, determine flights and prices"

Have Saddam's WMDs been found? "In virtually every case - chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missiles - the United States has found the weapons and the programs that the Iraqi dictator successfully concealed for 12 years from U.N. weapons inspectors."

There has of course been lately much pontificating about the nature of Islam and why it is so anti-Western. Two of the better efforts are here and here. I myself don't think such debates matter a hill of beans. It is clear that only an armed response has any chance of restraining the terrorists. They won't be debated into giving up violence. Israel has been very peaceful lately after they knocked off the last two Hamas leaders.

This may be the last we hear of the disgusting Amirault case -- where virtually the entire Massachusetts establishment colluded to keep an innocent man in jail for 18 years. But since when did America's so-called "liberals" ever really care about liberty or the little guy? All they cared about in this case was saving face for themselves and their cronies.

The Policeman's blog continues to show what a mockery British policing is these days. I don't think I'll visit Britain again any time soon. "The old grey mare aint what she used to be".

China Hand is back blogging again -- with posts on buying a car and running a small business in China.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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1 May, 2004

GUN CONTROL

Guns save lives: "How strange it must be to be a liberal. Driven by slogans, blinded by superstitions, dazzled by fantasies, the liberal stumbles through life oblivious to facts. There is almost nothing the liberal thinks he knows about race, social policy, sex roles, individual differences, and even history that is not some combination of slogan, superstition, and fantasy. John Lott's soberly brilliant More Guns, Less Crime could not possibly be a more convincing demonstration that what liberals think they know about guns is fantasy, too. The liberal view, of course, is that private citizens should not have guns and that gun control will stop violence. Prof. Lott, who teaches law and economics at the University of Chicago, makes an air-tight case for the opposite view"

Shoot attacking cougars or wave at them?: "California game wardens now visit elementary schools, advising children to stand still, wave their arms and shout when they encounter one of these deadly predators. It's good advice as far as it goes -- the animal is far more likely to take a small human for prey if it tries to run away. But shouldn't the kids yell something else, first? Something like, 'Daddy, shoot the cat?' For most absurdly of all, the pathetic bedwetters who have taken over the state of California have made it almost entirely illegal to carry a firearm for self-defense in precisely the places citizens are most likely to have this kind of unpleasant encounter -- the state's parks and recreation areas."

And in Alaska, the do-gooders fight bears with pepper spray. How dangerous can the antigun mania get?

Peter Hitchens has a good article on the gun-control lunacy in Britain.

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ELSEWHERE

More glories of socialized medicine: "Senior health officers tried to disguise the truth from a mother desperate to know if a hospital blunder had put her baby in danger.... It is just one example of how health chiefs blamed for substandard care in Sydney hospitals attempted to "spin" their way out of the crisis. A Daily Telegraph investigation has uncovered at least five cases of patients who received substandard treatment being deliberately misinformed or having relevant facts withheld from them, their families and the public".

Plain talk: "The advanced state of Britain's utter moral bankruptcy is on vivid display today with the publication of the scream of venomous outrage by 52 ex-diplomats against Tony Blair's backing for George Bush over Iraq and Blair's failure to rein him in over his support for Israel. Their letter speaks volumes for the rancid prejudice which animates so much of the British foreign policy mandarinate, and has now unfortunately influenced the attitude of so much of the population".

Keith Burgess-Jackson recently had an article on Tech Central Station explaining why Leftists are such an angry, hate-filled lot. He got a heap of attention out of it, including lots of emails. He posted on his blog a lot of the critical emails he got from Leftists. He must have hit where it hurt because some of his Leftist critics even went so far as to criticize him for saying that Leftists believe in equality! But then other Leftists have said that Communists like Castro and Stalin are conservatives (!) so it just goes to show that Leftists will say anything that suits them at the time. Truth doesn't matter to Leftists -- only their own pathetic over-inflated egos matter.

The National Center for Public Policy Research responds to the "Nightline" stunt about America's fallen soldiers.

Amazing: Kofi Annan supporting Ariel Sharon and criticizing the Arabs: "U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Yasser Arafat Friday to give Israel's Gaza pullout plan a chance".

More amazement. Australia's Leftists are making the teachers shriek: "Labor's plan to give more money to poor private schools would hasten the flight of middle-class students out of the state system, defenders of public education have warned. Chris Bonnor, president of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, said the "populist" pledge to take money from wealthy private schools and redistribute it to needy non-government schools would make low-fee schools more attractive to parents".

Wonders will never cease: Australia's Leftist wishy washies calling for Koalas to be shot. They are right for once: "A koala population explosion on an Australian island has prompted calls for 20,000 of the furry, native marsupials to be shot to stop them destroying their island habitat".

There is a good post here on the utter brainlessness of John Kerry's solution to the outsourcing "problem".

David's Medienkritik has made an amazing find: A pro-American and pro-Bush article in a major German newspaper!

The wicked one has got some good pictures for you.

Dick McDonald is still blogging up a storm. He covers a lot of the stuff I would cover if I were more energetic. I urged him to start blogging because I liked his emails and he has not disappointed. He's got a good colour scheme too!

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here. PC WATCH notes some pretty alarming attacks on free speech in connection with immigration.

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

Comments? Email me or here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

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