ELSEWHERE

Well how about that! Australia and the USA have signed a free-trade agreement. It leaves out the one thing that would have benefited Americans most -- much cheaper Australian sugar -- but "protecting" the local farmers seems to be an almost universal human folly and America's folly in that regard is about average. India has set up a local free trade zone too but Muslim Bangladesh has of course shafted itself by staying out of it.

I think this is pretty silly but since I myself wear the kilt on Scottish occasions, perhaps I should shut up about it: "In what future generations may look back on as the birth of the Male Unbifurcated Garment movement, about 100 men in skirts marched in Manhattan to proclaim their right to wear women's clothing. "We're not transvestites, homosexuals or cross-dressers," David Johnson, a retired teacher, said. "We don't want you to call us Jean or Sally. We're men. Men who want the right to wear a skirt."

US budget: If you took all our government spend divided it evenly among all families of four in America, each family would be more than $50,000 richer. This is double the level of spending in 1960 and fourteen times the amount government spent in 1900, even after adjusting for inflation. The question American taxpayers need to ask is this: Does my family really get anywhere near $50,000 worth of services every year from city hall, state government, and Uncle Sam, Inc.? ...and...In 1935 there were 4,000 pages of federal regulations in the Federal Register. Now there are 68,000 pages. That's a 17-fold increase in sixty-five years. Since 1970 the number of federal regulators nearly doubled from 69,000 to 130,000. We work almost half our lives now complying with government rules, edicts, levies, paperwork requirements, taxes, and fees.

Arlene Peck disagrees with Ariel Sharon's policy of relocating Jews to Jewish areas and Arabs to Arab areas within Israel. For once I think she is wrong. Separating the two communities seems to be an elementary security measure to me.

Maybe I shouldn't laugh but this is a good one: Making a police speed camera issue fines to itself!. What class! Via Sam Ward. If it's true it's a good example of Australian irreverence for authority.

I have just put up Chris Brand's latest postings here. He is very amused at the attempt by Gabon's President Bongo to seduce Miss Peru and has some nice pictures of her.

The Wicked one defends stockmarket insider trading.

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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.

Another example of Leftist dishonesty: They blame the 9/11 attacks on "poverty" in the Islamic world. Yet most of the attackers were Saudis and Saudi Arabia is one of the world's richest countries!

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