ELSEWHERE

The UCLA Faculty Senate has voted 180-7 to condemn the war, making it the first university to do so since Iraq's liberation. The value of a university education is becoming increasingly doubtful. I think all the people with real brains must have gone into business by now.

Great! The United States has invited its coalition partners to talks on rebuilding Iraq — but it has left out countries that opposed the war, including Germany, France and Russia.

Funny that! One day after the White House cancelled a trip by President George Bush to Canada due to what it said was lack of time, it announced the president would host the Prime Minister of Australia at his ranch in Texas

What a joke! THE Italian parliament has approved sending a contingent of paramilitary police to Iraq to help restore law and order. Italians are great people but nobody can be good at everything.

Speaking of the still-marching “peace” demonstrators, China hand asks: Now that order is returning to Baghdad one wonders what will the foam-flecked ones find to remonstrate against then? “Bring back Saddam”, maybe? China Hand also thinks that the recent “progress” with North Korea may be China’s doing.

An American Leftist’s comment on the recent American victory in Iraq: "It's demoralizing, there's no question about that,"

A committed Maoist gives his view of the way the mainstream Left opposed the Iraq war:
“It is too late for the so-called Left in Australia to stand anywhere but condemned for its failure to support the successful war to liberate Iraq. It stood on the side of reaction, and the history books must place its leaders alongside the British pacifists of the '30s who, as George Orwell pointed out, gave comfort and objective support to Hitler. The pseudo-Left proved not just that it can be wrong but that in the name of anti-Americanism it can support fascism.” Hard to argue with that.

The Times of London comments: “Tony Blair staggered the last stretch of his war marathon yesterday, a man now running on pure willpower, gaunt, gritted, visibly elated, and profoundly, knee-saggingly knackered“. The world certainly owes the Prime Minister a great debt of gratitude for the immense effort he put into this. His place in history as a truly sincere and committed humanitarian is now secure.

And a good comment from the Times on the leader of the British Liberals: With bright pink face and orange hair over a sludgy green tie, the leader of Liberal Democrats looked like a sunset over a sewage farm.

A very naughty question from Silflay Hraka: “If the Canadian healthcare system is so much better than that of the United States, why are there no SARS deaths here and 13 there?”

Chris Brand has just had a new essay on IQ published in an academic journal.

Michael Darby has a story from a peacenik who woke up to what was happrening in Iraq before the war.

In my academic posting of April 14th here, I point out how a comparison between two Australian States shows that high levels of education in the population can go with a SLOWER rate of economic development. Having lots of people in the population with university education can be bad for prosperity. It is not hard to think of reasons why.

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