The heading above draws attention to some of the most emotive issues in today's world but I have never been one to run from controversy and I am not going to start now. I just feel sorry for the Jewish people that the mere mention of their name is an "issue". I am myself a great supporter of Israel. The Israelis have bent over backwards to be fair to the other inhabitants of their ancient land and got only mass-murder of their people as a response. So I am delighted to note that our present Australian conservative government is also a resolute friend of Israel. A small excerpt:
"The Howard-Downer duumvirate in Australian foreign policy has changed our position on the Middle East at the UN in a way that is wholly remarkable, not only independent but positively brave, utterly politically incorrect and undoubtedly right in principle; and, amazingly, is meeting with success. Australia has always been a strong friend of Israel... the UN has established a vast bureaucracy dedicated to blackening Israel's name....
Most nations that Australians would regard as like-minded, such as the west Europeans, the Canadians and some others, traditionally find this all too hard to deal with and seek a coward's solace in abstaining from most anti-Israel resolutions and activities. Until about two years ago, that was Australia's way as well. But then came the wave of terror attacks on Israel, Israel's fence and the absurd overreaction to it. Alexander Downer and John Howard decided enough was enough.... it wasn't going to go along with the usual Israel bashing. In truth it was a proud moment in Australian foreign policy and certainly one of the deepest independence....
This vote was not a one-off. It has become the pattern of our voting on Israel-related issues. Canberra has attempted to use its influence with Pacific Island nations, and even in Southeast Asia, to try to produce a change. And, get this, it is working. Canada has joined Australia on some critical resolutions and the attitude towards Israel at the UN has begun to change noticeably."
And I again want to draw attention to Isi Leibler's article which shows, quite appallingly, that in Britain the Leftist intelligentsia are a greater source of antisemitism even than the Muslims. Thank goodness that their official leader, Tony Blair, is a decent man. If his name had been Adolf .....
Hooray! The good sense and moderation of ordinary British people has won the day again. There was an official move to ban members of Britain's anti-immigration party (the BNP) from being employed as firemen (firepersons?) in Dorset but the Dorset Fire Authority Committee rejected the move:
"One member of the committee stated: 'I think it is totally inappropriate to single out one political party in this way! The fact of the matter is, if any member or firefighter acts in an improper way, he will be dismissed." "And I don't see why we should single out this particular party. It is not proscribed, it stands in general elections, and I think it is totally wrong!" "If we were going to do it, we'd have done it with the Communist Party that had strong membership of the fire brigade union 20 years ago!" "We didn't do it then and I don't see why we should do this now!" The motion to reject the proposal was seconded, and a unanimous vote rejected the motion to ban BNP members from the Dorset Fire service."
And in my view it is the sense of moderation and fairness displayed above that has made Britain Great and which makes me proud of my British origins, remote though they now are. "First they came for the BNP ...." and in Britain people DID speak up. And I myself have spoken up in the most practical way that I know.
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ELSEWHERE
An email from Sean Gabb: "The Libertarian Alliance Conference is still open for bookings. This conference will take place on the 19th and 20th November 2005 at the National Liberal Club in London. You can book on-line either the whole conference (British Pounds 85.00 /$150 US/124 Euros) or for the banquet only on the evening of Saturday the 19th November (British Pounds 35.00/$65 US/55 Euros). You can check out who are the speakers for this conference - I am one! - or book on-line by going here. I do not wish to be gloomy, but this may be the last main public occasion for Dr Chris R. Tame Director of the Libertarian Alliance. As you may know, Chris was diagnosed last summer with advanced cancer of the bones. He regards this conference as his last organisational achievement"
Good article from Melanie Phillips. Excerpt: "I am currently in Australia, where I dropped in for the weekend (as one does) to attend a conference discussing the phenomenon of judicial activism. The meeting, which brought together lawyers, judges and other interested parties from Australia, the US and Britain, brought out in a particularly fascinating way the deep divisions between lawyers – particularly in the US Supreme Court and the Australian High Court – over judicial activism. In one camp were the judicial activists themselves, who bridled at the very suggestion that they were anything of the kind and then proceeded by everything they said to demonstrate conclusively that they were; and in the other camp were their legal and judicial colleagues who were aghast at the damage the activists were doing to the integrity of the law and the place of the judiciary in western society as the arbiters of dispassionate and objective justice".
I mentioned yesterday the Economic Freedom of the World 2005 Annual Report. Readers wishing to take a closer look at it can find the whole thing here
There is a rather satisfying post just up on Strange Justice
A little while back, I put up a post about Melanesians (and the people of New Guinea in particular) that speculated on why Melanesians seem pretty bright despite their having been in the Stone Age within living memory. A reader has emailed me some interesting observations on the factors which may have affected their evolution and the evolution of civilization in general. I have posted the email here
For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. And on Social Security see Dick McDonald
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Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)
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