ELSEWHERE

” Three more Iranians set themselves on fire on Thursday in European capitals to protest a crackdown on an exile group in France”. The sad thing about it is that the arrogant French will not give a damn about the poor old self-immolators. “Imbecile” will be the ordinary French response if I know anything about it.

The lucky old British taxpayer: “Citizens of ten Eastern and Southern European countries will be entitled to UK social security benefits, council housing, treatment on the NHS and schooling when their countries join the European Union next year.”

Blogger.com does it again! “Bigwig” writes: “Silflay Hraka has moved to http://silflayhraka.com. Blogger went down for us on Friday night and never came back, so we were more or less forced out, though I'd been toying with the idea for a while.”

If only there were supermajority requirements like this everywhere: "The requirement is especially important this year, as California struggles with massive budget deficit of $38.2 billion_the legacy of an incredible run-up in spending in the late 1990s. The requirement of a 2/3rds supermajority by the California Constitution protects state taxpayers from government's natural instinct to raise taxes instead of cut waste and extravagant spending."

Arlene Peck has been to a Hollywood party and is amazed at the antisemitism of the Jewish Leftists she met there.

China Hand has discovered a Hong Kong equivalent of New York’s famous “Soup Nazi”

Michael Darby has a post which shows that Leftists totally ignore the realities of the Middle East.

Chris Brand has a few reflections about his long-standing advocacy of conservative causes even whilst almost all of his academic colleagues were Leftist.

The Wicked one is pleased at news of two successful fightbacks by ordinary ARMED Americans against criminal intruders.

In my academic post here (or here) I report a new way of measuring how ambitious people are. It works very well but psychologists generally still use older methods that can be shown to work less well. They are much more interested in confirming their prejudices than in finding out anything new.

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LEFT AND RIGHT IN TUDOR TIMES

I have often argued that a Leftist personality underlies the rhetoric of the Leftist ideologue. I think all history shows that Leftists are basically unhappy people with big ego needs -- needs that make them crave attention, praise and -- ultimately -- power. And along with that goes a hatred of any success, happiness or power in others. And the Leftist aims to exercise power by taking away the liberties and regulating the lives of ordinary people. But if such a Leftist personality does exist, it should have been around for a long time -- far longer than we have had the term “Leftist” for it. I believe that evidence of such personalities does abound in history and we see it in fact in one of the great eras of English history -- in the Elizabethan era. Note the following excerpts from a discussion of two of the most powerful politicians in the reign of Elizabeth I -- Sir Walter Ralegh and Elizabeth’s Prime Minister -- Robert Cecil:

Cecil's shrinking heart probably allowed him to receive only the unpleasing news of how much he was in Ralegh's debt. ‘He worked with a cold fervour for the things of this world,' writes C. V. Wedgwood, ‘but he did not love the world at all ... it seemed to him no more than a painful, unrewarding purgatory.'

Ralegh loved the world, and his work in it.

Robert Cecil was Secretary of State as well as Leader of the House of Commons, and made earnest efforts to regulate the private lives of citizens into a neat and tidy pattern. His paternal policy was one that has often since led to disaster. He tried to enforce economy by law; it was ‘most necessary' to insist on coarser bread, and thinner beer, and fewer ale-houses, and ‘opening hours' for them; they must be closed at least one day a week (as in the modern ‘Six Day Licence') and then, so he argued, people would grow more food. Sheep-grazing was also wrong, and must be replaced by crops of hemp and corn; though as he added, ‘in these last few wet years', their deaths might as reasonably be blamed on the weather. Cecil's piety failed to convince some of the M.P.s that men should be ‘compelled by penalties', as one complained, to grow the regulation amounts of wheat and hemp, etc.

Francis Bacon's outstanding intellect came to Cecil's help with heavily embroidered eloquence. This would be a ‘law tending to God's honour'....

By contrast with Bacon's incomprehensible rhetoric, Ralegh's forthright attack on the bill is startling. His pungent rejoinders made short work of the Government's high-flown theories. The practical knowledge he had gained as a child on his father's farm had shown him at first hand how absurd it was to try to legislate for land without experience of it. And there was something at stake more important to him even than the land -- and that was individual liberty. ‘I do not like this constraining of men to manure or use their ground at our wills; let every man use it to that which it is most fit for, and use his own discretion.' Let Parliament set corn and hemp at liberty, ‘and leave every man free, which is the desire of a true Englishman'.

IIe won over the whole House. They shouted ‘Away with the bill!' and persistently rejected it, though the Government pushed it twice to a division.

Ralegh, that 'liberal-minded independent',' also [opposed] the bills to enforce a right religion. There was one against the Sect of Brownists, whom he had agreed gravely were `worthy to be rooted out of any commonwealth'. But just how, demanded the uncompromising realist, were they to set about rooting them out? (`I am sorry for it, I believe there be ten or twelve thousand of them in England.') If by banishment, who was to pay their transport, and to where? And who was to maintain their wives and families? And did the House really know what exactly the Brownists were, even after a Committee had been locked in by Cecil to study a book of their Articles of Belief? They should be judged, Ralegh insisted, only by their acts, not by their opinions. Like his Queen, he would not admit to anyone the right to set up `window to peer into men's souls'.

His loathing of such spiritual tyranny helped to cut out the cruellest measures of repression. It was expressed again, in terms of sheer hard common sense, against the new bill to make church attendance compulsory, and the church-wardens act as informers to the J.P.s. With the brisk logic of mathematics, Ralegh pointed out that if there were only two offenders in each parish, their sum total, together with the church-wardens, would add four hundred and eighty persons to every quartersessions, and `what great multitudes-what quarrelling and danger may happen, besides giving authority to a mean churchwarden'.

In matters more vital it was Ralegh's voice more than any that persistently championed the poor. He attacked with open scorn the meanness of rich men who called it good policy to squeeze the pockets of the poor and oppress their liberties.

He championed the humble housewife as keenly as he did his sovereign lady, and more dangerously for himself. Robert Cecil spoke in patriotic praise of the news that ‘some poor people were selling their pots and pans to pay the subsidy.... Neither pots nor pans, nor dish nor spoon should be spared', he announced unctuously. He was sure it would have an excellent effect on the King of Spain when he heard ‘how willing we are to sell all in defence of God's religion', etc. His listeners applauded this noble sentiment. It has a hollow echo coming from a man who had made a large fortune, as Master of the Wards

His complacent eagerness to sacrifice the household goods of poor folk was backed by Bacon. The poor ought to be taxed as heavily as the rich: because, as he quoted in Latin, it was a right and ‘sweet course to pull together in an equal yoke'.

This smug hypocrisy brought Ralegh to his feet. `Call you this an equal yoke, when a poor man pays as much as a rich? His estate may be no better than he is assessed at, while our estates are entered as £30 or £40 in the Queen's books -- not the hundredth part of our wealth!' His outrageous frankness over this unfair advantage given to his own class, shocked his opponents. His final blow demolished them: ‘It is neither sweet nor equal.'

(Quoted from p. 136 - 138 of That Great Lucifer: A portrait of Sir Walter Ralegh by Margaret Irwin [Bungay, Suffolk: Reprint Society, 1960])

So we see that, even back then, it was the conservative defender of individual liberty (Ralegh) who was -- as conservatives have always claimed -- the true champion and helper of the poor. While the power-mad control freaks such as the scheming Cecil and the intellectual Bacon had no real concern for the poor at all. Nothing has changed.

And in another very modern touch, Queen Elizabeth ended her reign by announcing a big tax cut (by abolishing government-granted monopolies) -- to much popular acclaim (p. 158). Big tax-cutters such as Thatcher and Reagan thus have a most respected and successful predecessor in English history.

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FOOLISH CHANGE IN BRITAIN TODAY

Tony Blair’s sudden announcement that he is going to abolish Britain’s ancient unwritten constitution and replace it with more “modern” arrangements is rightly being decried by most conservatives. A major objective is to make the appointment of judges less politicized, yet, as it points out here, the British judiciary is in fact already much LESS politicized than most. It is certainly less politicized than the US judiciary. So replacing such a successful system seems crazy. One reason that has been suggested for this attack on the British constitution is that Tony Blair and most of his senior ministers are in fact Scotsmen, who have no love for anything English. I think that is a red herring, however. It is almost certainly just another example of the Leftist conviction that they can “improve” anything by ever more legislation. Robert Cecil would understand.

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ELSEWHERE

There’s some amusing stuff in the WSJ today about clinical depression at Guantanamo Bay and the evils of dihydrogen hydroxide.

President Bush said Wednesday that he and other world leaders would not tolerate nuclear weapons in Iran. And after Iraq, that carries weight.

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with reading for all.

Chris Brand has a discussion of the connection between white guilt and coloured immigration.

Michael Darby has some thoughts about explaining tax reform better.

The Wicked one points out that George Bush supports big government.

In my academic posting here (or here), I re-do some research originally reported by Marxist psychologists and get results that totally undermine their conclusions.

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FOREBODINGS ABOUT MULTICULTURALISM

A reader writes:

I read your recent posting on multiculturalism with interest. There is something quite arrogant and self contradictory about 'multiculturalism'. On the one hand multiculturalists think it is arrogant and supremacist for western people to rate their own culture higher than other cultures, especially Third World cultures. They say it is xenophobic and racist for Australians to want to give preference in immigration to people with similar cultural traditions.

Yet how do they treat the experience of other nations, especially Third World nations? Look at the track record of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural states. Eritrea split from Ethiopia 1993. Czechoslavakia splits 1993. USSR breaks down into about a dozen ethnically distinct states 1991. Yugoslavia 1991. Lebanon effectively splits into Christian and Muslim regions 1975. Cyprus partitioned 1974. Hindu and Muslim areas of India split into India and Pakistan 1947, with muslim Pakistan and muslim Bangladesh further spliting on ethnic lines in 1971. Malay dominated Malaysia, expels Chinese dominated Singapore in 1965. Sri Lanka. Turkey. Iraq. Iran. Sudan. Chad. Nigeria. Ireland. Ulster. The German speaking South Tyrolians of Italy. Canada and Quebec. Even multi-ethnic Switzerland, which is effectively divided into linguistically homogeneous cantons each with local control over education and cultural affairs, saw the creation of a new Francophone canton of Jura within German Berne following years of terrorist activity.

Isn't it arrogant to ignore the numerous failures of other nations? Doesn't this imply that multiculturalists really believe, ...under their benign leadership, of course, that we are superior to the Ethiopians, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, Yugoslavs, Lebanese, Cyrpriots, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Sri Lankans, Turks, Iraqis, Iranians, Sudanese, Nigerians, Irish, Ulstermen, Italians, Canadians, Quebeckers and Swiss? Isn't their something self contradictory about the multiculturalists' failures to deal honestly with the real world failures of numerous multi-ethnic states? Isn't it a tad arrogrant to believe we can avoid the same fate if only we cast out our doubters?

Multiculturalism is an idealistic political programme. History shows that idealistic programmes don't last more than a generation, sometimes they linger for two, especially if the vested interests dig themselves in. Hopefully it will work and countries like Australia and the US will be spared the ethnic conflicts that litter the world. Just maybe we can show mankind a new, better way to live. But don't bet on it. Unfortunately, like communism, another highly idealistic program, the most likely outcome is that in it's wake it will leave a mess for the realists to sort out.

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ELSEWHERE

Is France now on the side of the mad Ayatollahs of Iran? “Masked and heavily armed police raided the compound of an Iranian opposition group Tuesday, detaining activists on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in France and building a support base for operations abroad.”

Language the French might underrstand: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told France on Tuesday it should ''shut up'' about his Middle East policy.

Hmmm... It looks like the British Conservatives have rediscovered traditional conservative values and are thus putting the heat on British Labour.

The total disregard for truth and honesty among Leftist academics is breathtaking --as we see here. They complain about the private funding received by conservative think-tanks whilst totally ignoring the vastly greater government expenditure in supporting Leftist institutions such as the Social Science and Humanities faculties of the universities and "public" broadcasters. And they even put such distortions into a "textbook"!

This should at least keep him away from children for a while: “The Roman Catholic bishop of Phoenix has been arrested over a deadly hit-and-run accident after US police said they traced the number plate of his car and found the windscreen caved in.”

Notice from Iain Murray: “A glitch in Blogger has meant that I have to unveil my new web site for The Edge of England's Sword a little earlier than I wanted. The new site is at: http://www.iainmurray.org/MT. The full iainmurray.org site is under development, and will hopefully contain links to all my published articles in weeks to come.”

On this day (18th June) in 1814 Ann Jane Burnside was born. She grew up to be less than 5' tall and obtained work in Northern Ireland as a child's maid. She was tried in court at Down on 26.3.1840 and convicted of stealing clothes. She was sentenced to transportation to Australia. She arrived on the "Margaret" on 17.8.1840 from Ireland. The convict ship records show that she could read, that her native place was Liverpool and that her religion was Presbyterian. She was my Great-great Grandmother.

I have just put up a new cartoon I like here and two cat and dog pictures here that I think most people will like.

I have a post on PC Watch that compares the big effects of Marshall Plan aid to Europe with the negative effects of aid money given to Africa.

Michael Darby has more on the legal machinations that force our insurance costs up.

Chris Brand points out how little UK academics are concerned about freedom of speech.

The Wicked one has a post about the black war on whites.

In my academic posting here (or here), I report that even back in the ‘70s, the English were not much bothered about Scotland becoming more independent.

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GLOBAL CYNICISM

See here for a translation of the National Academy of Science’s report on global-warming into more honest English. And Nobel prizewinner Kary Mullis explains it REALLY simply: “Environmentalists predict that global warming is coming, and our emissions are to blame. They do that to keep us worried about our role in the whole thing. If we aren't worried and guilty, we might not pay their salaries. It's that simple." There is a review of Mullis’s book here. Mullis recommends the "Public Choice" ideas of James Buchanan, 1986 Nobel prizewinning economist, to anyone trying to find out how publicly funded big science actually works. Interestingly, research in the field is increasingly labelled 'climate change' rather than global warming. A code word for hedged bets?

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ELSEWHERE

There is a facsinating interview with famous but anonymous Baghdad blogger Salam Pax here.

Black racism: “The inclusion of a white contestant in a pan-African version of the reality TV show Big Brother has ignited a heated debate about who can call themselves an African”

Better late than never, I suppose: “The European Union, in a significant shift towards United States thinking, says force might be necessary where diplomacy fails to address threats from weapons of mass destruction”

Most people around the world, including Americans, view US President George Bush unfavourably and think the United States was wrong to invade Iraq. That sounds bad but when we realize that the poll comes from as discredited an organization as the BBC, the “findings” are no surprise. For contrast, look at the professional polling results described by John O’Sullivan.

Andrew Bolt summarizes well the shocking story about how the exposure of systematic lies by Leftist historians caused not one shred of repentance among them. They of course attacked the man (Keith Windschuttle) who exposed them instead. Excerpt: “Windschuttle aims to take the discipline of history back to some golden age when it was all about facts," complained Professor Alan Atkinson. Well, yes, professors. That's his point.”

A victory for home schoolers against the Fascist educational authorities of Massachusetts.

Some U.S. libertarians have voted “Rabbit Proof Fence” as “Best Libertarian film”. I hope they realized that the film is fiction masquerading as fact. If anybody wants the true story see here.

From Brookes News: Plant closures and left-wing fallacies. Tariffs and the state of the textile, clothing and footwear industries should serve to remind us that socialist and statist economic fallacies are a bit like weeds, no matter how much intellectual hoeing we do they constantly return to pester us.
Is India stealing America's high-tech jobs? To cut to the chase, India has been subsidising the US economy. Think of it as foreign aid in reverse, with the benefits of Indian investments in computer science and engineering moving to the US whose highly advanced capital structure could accommodate the flow.

Michael Duffy points out that keeping Australian Aborigines isolated from mainstream Australia by way of “land rights” will leave them forever without hope of achieving white living standards

Arnold Kling sounds like he knows how to minimize the nuisance of spam. I would like spammers to be declared outlaws myself. People would be lining up to shoot them.

The problems of the Japanese economy certainly are an amazing test of whether Keynesian “pump priming” works. By itself it clearly does not. The Japanese experience certainly shows how hopeless and destructive it is to prop up failing or failed busnessses -- particularly banks in the Japanese case.

Hydrogen-powered cars are a Greenie dream but making them practical really is a dream. And if we did all convert to hydrogen powered cars, the effect on the ozone layer would probably be catastrophic! Erk! The Greenies might find that a problem.

Chris Brand thinks there are six dimensions of human personality.

Michael Darby has some suggestions for making public liability insurance cover more affordable.

The Wicked one is appalled at the extent of the battle against drugs in U.S. schools.

In my academic posting here (or here) I note hypocrisy among British Leftists who decry materialistic ambition and ambition generally without being any less ambitious and materialistic themselves.

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MULTICULTURALISM NEED NOT BE NEGATIVE

The usual "alternative" that Leftists offer to racial, ethnic or national consciousness is multiculturalism. Though what is inadequate about awareness of oneself as being simply an individual rather escapes me.

Leftists have undoubtedly given multiculturalism a bad name but I would argue that moderate versions of the idea are perfectly reasonable. There is surely a middle way between rejecting everything that is "foreign" and regarding Western civilization as little better than a criminal conspiracy. Multiculturalism is firmly entrenched in Australian politics as just such a middle way. There is general agreement that other cultures should be generally accepted and that we should all be open to whatever good might be in them.

And I fully accept that. What I do NOT accept is the claim that all cultures are equal or of equal value. I believe it to be pretty obvious that modern Western culture does best at delivering generally desired outcomes to its adherents. And it is also historically undisputable that, from early roots in the Mediterranean area, that culture has mainly been developed by a small group of interrelated peoples with origins on the fringes of North Western Europe. And those of us who are part of one or more of those peoples have every reason to celebrate it. And I am and I do. I am happy with who and what I am.

Critics of multicultural excesses are often portrayed as uneducated redneck yokels by the Left. But are Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr or Harvard's Samuel P. Huntington rednecks? Huntington sums up rather well the excesses that the chronic anger of the Left leads to:

"Historically American national identity has been defined culturally by the heritage of Western civilization and politically by the principles of the American Creed on which Americans overwhelmingly agree: liberty, democracy, individualism, equality before the law, constitutionalism, private property. In the late twentieth century both components of American identity have come under concentrated and sustained onslaught from a small but influential number of intellectuals and publicists. In the name of multiculturalism they have attacked the identification of the United States with Western civilization, denied the existence of a common American culture, and promoted racial, ethnic, and other subnational cultural identities and groupings. They have denounced, in the words of one of their reports, the "systematic bias toward European culture and its derivatives" in education and "the dominance of the European-American monocultural perspective." The multiculturalists are, as Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., said, "very often ethnocentric separatists who see little in the Western heritage other than Western crimes." Their "mood is one of divesting Americans of the sinful European inheritance and seeking redemptive infusions from non-Western cultures."

Clearly, there is absolutely no need for multiculturalism to be so negative. Only the chronic hatred of Leftists for the ordinary people around them can explain such negativity.

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INDIA

John O’Sullivan has been looking at international public opinion poll data and concludes that the big new division in the world may be between the USA and its Anglosphere friends on the one hand and the rest of the world on the other. But it is notable that he includes among the “friends” not only Britain and Australia but also India. The many years of the British “Raj” in India have of course left an enormous legacy there -- in that Indian English the only means many Indians have of communicating with one-another and English culture generally has become deeply integrated into Indian life. So even without common racial origins, common culture can be very important, influential and unifying. And Leftists want to throw that great cultural legacy away! I personally have known Indians since my childhood and very much like them so sharing a culture that unites me with one billion of them strikes me as a very good thing.

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ELSEWHERE

Saudi support for terrorist organizations is coming back to haunt them. They have just found a "huge" cache of weapons and explosives in Mecca itself. Since no “infidels” are allowed in Mecca, other Muslims were obviously the intended target.

Good! The French are peeved that the USA is largely ignoring their Air Show. They insult and disparage Americans and still expect American support?? So having got themselves into that pickle, what do they do? In a truly French display of brainlessness, they add more insults!

German practicality resurfaces: Even the German Greens now back Schroeder’s long overdue plan to trim Germany's welfare state and reduce job market regulation.

China has sacked two high-ranking naval officers involved in a fatal submarine accident. Encouraging. They are sounding increasingly Westernized. It might have happened under Mao but would never have been announced.

Chris Brand argues that recognizing inherited differences in IQ would be a positive for liberalism.

Michael Darby notes that the U.S. military have far more respect for GWB than they had for Clinton.

The Wicked one has a rather amusing post about atheist churches.

In my academic post of 15th. here (or here) I report a survey of white South Africans done during in the Apartheid era which found them to be no more racist than anyone else. Their refusal to give legal equality to blacks at that time was then an outcome not of racism but of of fear about what black control would lead to -- a fear that has now been amply borne out by the collapse of law and order in modern-day South Africa under black rule.

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ELSEWHERE

Saudi support for terrorist organizations is coming back to haunt them. They have just found a "huge" cache of weapons and explosives in Mecca itself. Since no “infidels” are allowed in Mecca, other Muslims were obviously the intended target.

Good! The French are peeved that the USA is largely ignoring their Air Show. They insult and disparage Americans and still expect American support?? So having got themselves into that pickle, what do they do? In a truly French display of brainlessness, they add more insults!

German practicality resurfaces: Even the German Greens now back Schroeder’s long overdue plan to trim Germany's welfare state and reduce job market regulation.

China has sacked two high-ranking naval officers involved in a fatal submarine accident. Encouraging. They are sounding increasingly Westernized. It might have happened under Mao but would never have been announced.

Chris Brand argues that recognizing inherited differences in IQ would be a positive for liberalism.

Michael Darby notes that the U.S. military have far more respect for GWB than they had for Clinton.

The Wicked one has a rather amusing post about atheist churches.

In my academic post of 15th. here (or here) I report a survey of white South Africans done during in the Apartheid era which found them to be no more racist than anyone else. Their refusal to give legal equality to blacks at that time was then an outcome not of racism but of of fear about what black control would lead to -- a fear that has now been amply borne out by the collapse of law and order in modern-day South Africa under black rule.

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.LOTS OF GOOD SUNDAY READING

Carol Johnson has a good comment on looting: "There's much bias evident in this NYT article, but it is still a good read on the current state of affairs of the Iraqi oil industry. I find it very ironic that the truth appears to be that museum artifacts were not, after all, heavily looted, but the oil fields that the US was condemned for protecting, have, in fact, been targets of looting."

The Guardian, of all papers, has a furious attack on the anti-Americans who invented the "looted museum" myth in Baghdad.

The French “peacekeeping” forces in Africa under the auspices of the U.N. are a joke. All they are doing is observe while the slaughter goes on. But the poor dears got fired on yesterday!

There are some signs that moderate Muslims everywhere are getting sick of the extremists: In Australia, in Malaysia, in Italy and in Saudi Arabia itself. Obviously, however, there is still a long way to go. Some talk of the "Clash of Civilisations" with the West versus Islam. They have got it wrong. Terrorism is about those who are against ALL civilisation.

LOL: “Canberra's 25-year-old Aboriginal tent embassy was gutted by fire early yesterday - and angry indigenous residents on the site are pointing the finger at the Federal Government”

I think this is a disgrace: "In 1999, Ifaw found meat from a western Pacific grey whale on sale in Japan: no more than 100 or so are thought to survive."

A very good look at the history of Marxism here: "His coverage of Marx and Engels makes one ask the inevitable question, which is how two rogues such as these could have seduced a large portion of the world's population with their delusions. Marx appears to have been the prototype for what I call the 'self- righteous leftist' who still swings, like a Bonobo in search of a five second mate, from the girders of our political infrastructure today."

To make Social Security solvent over the next 75 years, either a permanent 15 percent increase in payroll income taxes, or a 13 percent reduction in benefits, or some combination of the two would be required."

Thomas Sowell: "The June issue of National Geographic contains one of the rare honest looks at India. The article ('India's Untouchables') gives a shocking picture of some of the most persecuted people on Earth. For far too long, India has been one of a number of countries used by the intelligentsia to denigrate the United States. The image or the insinuation has been that we are materialistic, they are spiritual; we are violent, they are peaceful ... and so on."

"If American education is to survive, it must completely abandon its current paradigm of enormous, age-segregated schools controlled by Federal monies and the NEA. A return to the one-room school house -- even in large metropolitan areas -- would be a massive improvement.... As long as we allow any government body to control education through funding, our children will continue to be either ignorami or bored stiff all day long."

Australians for Constitutional Monarchy takes a very relaxed stance on flag burning. Libertarians would argue that if you own the flag concerned it is up to you whether to burn it or not.

Australia's open ended welfare system -- with no limits on how long one can be on welfare -- is at last coming in for some criticism.

Genetic technology may revive extinct Tasmanian tigers ... so the Greens are against it, of course. What a horror it would be for them if the extinctions they love parading turned out to be reversible!

Peter Hitchens on what the EU means for the UK: Extinction of 1000 yrs of history. And his authority for that? None other than respected British Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell!

Arlene Peck’s latest article, “The gloves are off!” -- on the response to terrorism directed against Israel is up here

The Wicked one has a posting about enemies of free trade.

Chris Brand notes some tentative retreats from political correctness.

Michael Darby notes that ownership of personal compurters is now severely restricted in Cuba.

In my academic post here (or here) I report evidence that upsets a silly psychological theory that tries to blame the poverty of some nations on lack of ambition among their people rather than laying the blame for poverty where it belongs -- on socialist politics.

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THE TED STEELE DISGRACE

For anybody who still thinks our universities are places of light and learning, this story should be instructive:

"Dr. Ted Steele, senior academic and researcher in Wollongong University, well known for pioneering work in immunogenetics, was dismissed without warning and without pay more than a year ago. The legal battle to reinstate him has continued to this day. In the latest hearing, the Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox expressed shock at the University's behaviour, the sacked academic is treated 'worse than a murderer'. Steele won his case, but to his dismay discovers he will be re-instated, only to be immediately dismissed again.... Steele was sacked in February 2001 for defending academic standards".

Steele had said that "soft-marking" for fee-paying Asian students was common. See here. Apparently, however, after immense public pressure, the university did cave in and reinstate him. They really hated him for exposing their racket, though.

For some information on the rather revolutionary scientific work Steele was doing before dismissal see here. He is in the forefront of finding some Lamarckian processes in the evolution of the immune system. Marc Miyake also has some comments on the sacking here and here. Marc also found Steele’s home page.

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THOSE SUPERIOR CANADIANS AGAIN

A medical correspondent writes:

In Toronto, this medical student who was exposed to SARS was quarantined for 10 days (idiotic, especially when incubation has been up to 14 days) - so, predictably, on day 11 he goes back to work in the nursery, and on day 12 he comes down with symptoms. A lot of new mothers are really pissed offf because thay can't bond with their quarantined babies.

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ELSEWHERE

An amusing article in the New Statesman points out that Europe is indeed united -- in that all countries of Europe are now overwhelmingly dominated by American culture. In that context, the “Iraq refusal” by a minority of European States does look a bit Canute-like.

A climate of fear and paranoia is making men wary of joining the childcare profession. And the teaching profession too. Anti-men FemiNazis are successfully depriving many boys of any male role-models in their lives.

A great bit of sarcasm in the WSJ: “The American people deserve nothing less than a full congressional investigation into the false claims of antiwar politicians, scholars, journalists and activists. If they lied to us about Iraq, how can we ever trust them to talk us out of future wars?”

Astounding -- but very welcome if it’s true: “In a campaign against terrorism, the Saudi Government has fired several hundred Islamic clerics and suspended more than 1000 others for preaching intolerance. One month to the day after terrorist bombs killed more than 30 people in Riyadh, the Government announced on Thursday that it had implemented new regulations intended to stop the flow of Saudi money to terrorist groups overseas.”

Hear here!: "The United States should be prepared to destroy North Korea's Yongbyon reactor if necessary to keep Pyongyang from trafficking in nuclear weapons, an influential member of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's advisory panel said on Wednesday. ... '[I] don't think anyone can exclude the kind of surgical strike we saw in 1981,' [Richard Perle] said, referring to Israel's surprise air attack that destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad on June 7, 1981."

And Britain is doing its bit: "TONY BLAIR is launching a drive to put maximum international pressure on Iran after concluding that it is well on the way to becoming a nuclear power”

And Tony Blair has finally beaten the rogue British firemen's union -- after 6 month's of strikes. They "only" wanted a 40% pay-rise! It's nearly as big a victory over union power gone mad as Margaret Thatcher's victory over the British miners.

Looks like those smallpox vaccinations are a pretty good idea: "Federal health officials Wednesday advised states to offer smallpox vaccination to anyone who might be at risk of infection with monkeypox. In an effort to contain the unprecedented multistate outbreak of the rare disease, they also halted the importation of rodents from Africa and banned the sale of prairie dogs and other animals that might carry the disease."

There is an interesting case here that "insider trading" on the stockmarket should be legal. I believe it still is in New Zealand.

Chris Brand notes big problems with both the Church of England and Islam in Britain at the moment.

The latest post by China Hand is fascinating. China is encouraging vigilantism as a way of dealing with thugs and robbers.

The Wicked one has some good jokes up at the moment.

Michael Darby still likes Margaret Thatcher’s ideas about British non-involvement with Europe.

In my academic post here (or here) I really take apart a typically careless piece of “research” by a Leftist psychologist.

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CANADA

Some comments from a U.S. reader:

"This weekend, I returned from Montreal. It was quite unnerving to hear Blacks (obviously not immigrants), Indians, and Asians speaking French. This culture is just one step more backward than the rest of Canada. Canadians love to consider themselves morally superior to Americans - they like "being European" - and their sick socialistic repressive economy reflects this - a Canadian dollar is worth about 60 cents American and hasn't changed much in many years - this says it all about a corrupt culture. Yet Canadians continue to self destruct to prove they are right.

Americans gave up many of Britain's "bad ideas" years ago, and kept "good ideas" like the language, legal system, etc.. In other words, they kept the better things and rejected the bad things. I assume Australians did some of the same (except obvious stupidity - like gun control). But the Canadians - they just love "being British" - like their gun control, and people still hold on to their delusion that "Universal Health Care" is good. But the French Canadians have carried this "cultural superiority" one step further - even though the French left Canada almost 200 years ago, the French Canadian Intelligentsia have embraced (by force - people are required to speak French, etc) a culture that is several steps more corrupt than the British culture. However, this corrupt culture has kept the Canadian dollar down, and makes for a cheap vacation for people like me.

The worst part of my trip was my trip to the Public Garden - truly a great place - I just got psyched up to see the Rose Garden - then, I just gasped when I entered to see only leaves (even Russia had roses in June last year). I had forgotten that Montreal is very far north of LA , and that the past winter was one of the coldest on record (all the great lakes and the St Lawrence river froze over) - And the Canadians just bought into this Kyoto nonsense!

I just hope the Canadian economy keeps up at its present level. I can't wait to take another trip to Canada."

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ELSEWHERE

The post of 11th on A Tangled Web is one of many deploring GWB’s failure to endorse Israel’s right to pursue terrorists. The USA can pursue Bin Laden and Saddam but Israel cannot pursue Hamas??

Or as the WSJ says: “The only way to stop the "cycle of violence" is to kill or incapacitate the instigators. If Abbas cannot or will not do so, how can anyone fault Israel for acting in its own defense?”

How amusing: Castro led an anti-Europe march through Havana. After Iraq, he’s getting rattled.

Amusing: Yahoo news has a story about Spanish and Polish troops going to Iraq as peacekeepers under the heading “Australia”. I am of course delighted. Obviously, the equation: “Australia = U.S. Ally” has gotten into a lot of minds.

Good to see Colin Powell so outspoken about the thugs who run Burma. But why does it always have to fall to the United States to make the running in these matters? Are the U.S. and its Anglosphere allies the only moral countries left in the world? What about the self-righteous hypocrites of Canada and France? What are they doing?

And some things are happening in the campaign to bring North Korea into line.

Distinguished bacteriologist Hugh Pennington has an article here that tells you about all there is to know about SARS so far. He compares it with the spread of smallpox many years ago and comments: “It is easy to forget how important the isolation of cases was in smallpox control. Vaccination was made compulsory in Scotland in 1863 but indigenous smallpox was not eradicated until 1904, after the Public Health (Scotland) Act of 1897 facilitated the building of isolation hospitals”

Good news for economic progress in China: “China had convened a secret top-level body to draft sweeping changes to its constitution so the property of private enterprises had equal legal protection as state-owned ones, The Financial Times website reported yesterday.”

The Misanthropyst has a good post on the relative importance of Fascist dictators and dumb American singers. And he also notes that the Saddam regime did not bother censoring the BBC. Saddam knew he could rely on them. The BBC self-censored instead!

The Bunyip is in fine form on tax. He says: “There are few times of year more galling than when the tax man walks away from the Billabong's bank account with a big chunk of whatever Mrs. Bunyip hasn't spent on shoes” and he rightly describes taxes as “commandeered labour”.

Hey! I like it. Bill Hobbs has got me listed as the sole entry under the “International Blogs” section of his blogroll. I certainly try to keep in close touch with what is happening in Australia, the USA, Britain and Israel -- with occasional excursions into India -- so it is good that someone thinks I have achieved it. Bill also makes a good point (see his post of 12th) about the world’s biggest killer of Muslims: Israel? India? the USA? No. Saddam Hussein. And Muslims CRITICIZE us for getting rid of Saddam??

Michael Darby has some poems that mourn the wild horses deliberately mass-slaughtered by a Greenie-influenced government.

I have just put up an amusing post on PC Watch about politically-correct shoes!

In my academic post here (or here) I look at an old Leftist contention that conservatives are authoritarian and that authoritarians are “intolerant of ambiguity”. I show, that, if anything, authoritarians are tolerant of ambiguity.

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COMPULSORY TREES

A Sydney reader writes:

Miranda Devine has a column outlining some of the sillier ideas from government town planners with big ideas. They want to plant trees everywhere whether anyone wants them there or not. Sydney has become a considerably greener city in recent years mainly due to the green thumbs of it's backyard loving suburban home owners. Suburban living has never been popular with the urban intellectual elite, who like to imagine everyone living on Paris's left bank. Of course, recent studies that show children raised with backyards and pets are fitter don't worry them the way Ronald McDonald does.

Hence the latest mantra of the greens and the urban planners is that suburbia is just not environmentalist enough. Low density, we are told uses too much space and needs too many cars. But high rise is too dependent on energy and air conditioning. So now medium density "backfilling" is the answer. This is music to the ears of budget consious bureaucrats. Unfortunately it promotes crowding, traffic congestion and stresses local services. Things most normal people think of as environmental problems. Once the greens wake up to this they will recommend we live in caves.

That the whole plan is driven by Leftist envy is shown by the fact that its authors make a point of saying that they aim to use trees to block out the water views that better-off Sydneysiders love so much and pay so much for. Fortunately the plan has Buckley's chance of success. You can plant a tree but it can very easily have an "accident" some time thereafter. People are already rather free with herbicide, chainsaws etc in some places.

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ELSEWHERE

The Iranians are learning that it is easy to put the Islamic fundamentalists in charge but a lot harder to get rid of them. It seems that only the USA can do that.

The latest Australian legal provisions for questioning of terrorism suspects seem to offer a reasonable balance between preserving individual liberties and protecting our security.

India seem to be on the brink of approving use of a genetically-engineered potato with potential huge benefits to hundreds of millions of poor Indians -- but the Greenies are still condemning it on their usual flimsy grounds.

There is a rather silly criticism of the “Anglosphere” idea here. Michael Duffy implies that Anglospherists are racists and that they believe that “in our international dealings we have the right to impose our values on others” etc. The fact is that advocates of the idea say the exact opposite. They aim in fact simply to promote greater international co-operation. The political, cultural and social values of the English-origin countries are spreading rapidly throughout the world anyway regardless of what anyone does -- much to the fury of the Muslim fundamentalists! See The Anglosphere Primer.

American conservatism is traditionally isolationist but that has taken quite a battering in recent years. One U.S. college student who still thinks that way, however, is Ryan Thoryk. He has been casting a beady eye on the internationalists here.

The French government is at least doing the conservative thing on the home front: “THE French Government vowed to push through pension and education reforms in the face of widespread opposition, which last night sparked sporadic clashes between riot police and masked protestors. “

This article points out that "the Enron syndrome" (fraud) is rife in our society, and actually worse outside of the big business world: Especially in the academic and media worlds and among Leftists generally. At least in the marketplace, competition helps keep big guys honest. Of course lying has been around for a long time. Is it any more popular today? Do we tolerate it more now that "God is dead"? For a 'brief history of lying' see here.

“The punk was 17. Dangerous. Mixed up in drugs, with a nasty habit of robbing prostitutes and roughing them up. Judge James P. Gray was sitting on the Municipal Court bench back then, enforcing a plea bargain that was worked out up the food chain, in Superior Court. The kid would be behind bars for a few weeks. It was nothing. 'He had gotten away with it, and he knew it,' Gray says. 'It was wrong.'"

Carnival of the vanities is up again -- with 68 posts this time! Should be something for everyone.

Michael Darby has an open letter from some prominent Australians about the “Kyoto” Greenhouse nonsense.

Chris Brand reports increasing recognition for his views about IQ and suggests that he may in fact have been the first blogger! Were there any bloggers prior to 1996?

The Wicked one has another story of the bad guys not getting away with it and reports that private enterprise is alive and well and rather alarming in New Zealand.

China hand has seen fit to reply to the latest lulu proposal from Captain Clueless (that well-known Democrat voter and supporter of affirmative action). The proposal? That China take over North Korea with Western support!!

In my latest academic post here (or here) I tackle an old problem in analytical philosophy: What do we mean by “cause”?

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CHINESE INTERNET CENSORSHIP

I have had an email from Matthew Cowie in China about how Chinese internet censorship is affecting him. I am pleased to say that my "For China" mirror site is working for him. He writes:

I can view your site at http://users.tpg.com.au/jonjayra/tripod.html. Rumor has it that proximity to Beijing figures into internet censorship, although I haven't been down south yet to see if it's the case. The funny thing is that all the blocked sites are left-wing, like the BBC. (Plus the unfiltered Blogger, Geocities, Tripod, etc.). NYTimes and Washington Post are accesible since the outset of the Iraq war, but before that they were blocked. The weekly China-bashing editorials from the Washington Times have always been available. (Although I guess most Chinese haven't heard of the Washington Times so it's not considered a problem.) My blog is not viewable in China, although I can post. Since it is aimed at the home audience it isn't much of a problem.

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MOBILE PHONE PARANOIA

The recent story of a Melbourne snowboarder lost and injured in the British Columbia high country who used his mobile to call his parents in Australia to organise a rescue suggests how silly and counterproductive current technophobia is. Future generations will surely giggle at it -- just as we find quaint the old "Red Flag Act" (see here and
here) that required all cars to be preceded by a man walking in front and carrying a red flag.

The myth of the 'risk' of using mobile phones at petrol stations is surely a huge non-threat. As this industry site says: "There has been no actual incident of fuel ignition at petrol stations that has been demonstrated to have been caused by mobile phone use, anywhere in the world." Such scares tend to divert attention from real risks. There is, for instance. evidence of filling-station fires related to static discharge from customers wearing synthetic fibre clothing. But there are no warnings against that.

As New Scientist wrote in an article entitled "Dial F for Fear" a few years back. "Never have so many people worried so much about so little."

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ELSEWHERE

Marvellous: The US government is stepping in to reverse some of the damage that has been done to the nuclear power industry by the Greenies. For those of us who REALLY want a cleaner environment, nuclear power is the answer.

Incredible: The same knives that the 9/11 hijackers used still get through security and on to Australian aircraft! Trust governments to look after you!

And you can be as mad as a cut snake and still be allowed to drive trains in Australia.

Australia is talking to the United States about a new mission to intercept North Korean vessels suspected of carrying missiles, counterfeit money and drugs

Shame: “A Danish pizzeria owner who refused service to French and German tourists because their governments didn't back the US-led war in Iraq was convicted of discrimination today.”


There is some good stuff just up on Brookes News: Leftist economic illiteracy about wage-rates and a remarkable history of Castro’s military record.

Prof. David Flint observes that the voting patterns of the local football teams are a better guide to public attitudes than are “elite” opinions or the prognostications of the media! He also says that Australia's Governors and Governors General are far from being "Rubber stamp" functionaries and that we need more of their services not less. One would have thought that Australian Leftists would realize how significant our Viceroys are by now -- after Sir John Kerr sacked their great hero -- Gough Whitlam.

Luke Slattery has some interesting comments on the Left/Right division in modern politics. He argues that Leftists today are really conservatives and that they should become more so to be true to their ideals.

China hand has the inside story of how SARS got out of hand in Hong Kong.

Chris Brand notes that female chauvinist sows are active in the London literary scene.

I have up on PC Watch an argument in favour of stopping Islamic immigration.

In my latest academic post here (or here) I show that the Protestant ethic is not dead and that to this day committed Protestants are more inclined to strive to better themselves materially.

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IMMIGRATION PERVERSITIES

An Australian reader writes:

Peter Brimelow has a great "5 point" summary of the arguments against immigration. He includes a link to an article discussing economist Peter Bauer who made some key points in the economic case. There is also some discussion of the tensions between the welfare state and immigration. This one point was apparently lost on the left who went into a headspin when "One Nation" emerged as an electoral force in Australia in the late 1990s, winning up to 10% of the vote despite (or because of?) near universal condemnation by the country's political, academic and media elite.

The left's pundits wondered aloud how Australia 1997, rightly thought of as more tolerant and cosmopolitan, could generate a mass populist anti-immigration movement, when the provincial and staidly Anglo-Saxon Australia of 1947 didn't. "Australia was not a multicultural society in 1947 when the first post-War Census was held. Indeed it recorded the lowest proportion of immigrants at any time since 1788 (among the non-indigenous) and for any time after 1947." As a result the left, who under Paul Keating's administration, often praised the Australian people for their tolerance, started to call the same people closet “rednecks”.

The real answer of course was obvious, and under their nose. The 1948 immigrants didn't come with a fat government welfare and multiculturalism industry price tag around their neck. In fact in 1947 refugee immigrants were required to labour for two years on public work projects. Thus "Citizen Bigot" in 1947 had less incentive to oppose immigration than did broad minded "Citizen Tolerant" in 1997 .

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ELSEWHERE

Life was meant to be cheesy: Dr Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, says cheese is addictive because it contains small amounts of morphine from cows' liver. .... 'There's a biochemical reason many of us feel we can't live without our daily fix. Cheese, for example, contains high levels of casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion to produce morphine-like opiate compounds, called casomorphins.'

Amusing: Carol Johnson supports the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop in the (U.S.) Episcopalian Church. But she also makes clear what sort of Anglican she is: She attends church there because they have pretty ceremonies and no stuffy dogmas: None of that silly old New Testament stuff! As an atheist myself, I wonder why she bothers.

BRITAIN is facing the prospect of co-ordinated strikes that could paralyse the public services as the country’s biggest union prepares to go to war against the Government. No doubt everyone and his dog will be comparing this with the famous “winter of discontent” that brought down the previous Labour government of Jim Callaghan. But in 1979 Callaghan had Thatcher challenging him whereas Blair’s Leader of the Opposition is a pusillanimous nobody.

Iraq: "To hear U.S. officials talk, the key to restoring livable economic conditions is the military working with regulatory agencies, international governmental bodies like the World Bank, and billions in tax dollars. That’s not true, of course. If Iraq is to be rebuilt into a functioning society again, it will be through the efforts of Haydar Hussain and other [individual Iraqis] like him."

Islamic “extremists” versus Jewish “extremists”: Hamas and Islamic Jihad want to drive Israel into the ocean, but the Jews are extremists too. They want to keep their homes!

“Canada has all but wrapped up its search through cattle country for mad cow disease without finding any cases beyond one confirmed in May, but its biggest export market, the United States, is not ready to lift a ban on Canadian shipments” Odd that! Where are your friends when you need them?

Canada's Trudeau invented multiculturalism as a clever trick to dilute Quebec secessionism.

We know from recent radio interviews (here and here) with Jerzy Zubrzycki, influential Australian immigration policy advisor, that the Whitlam govt used Canadian multiculturalism as a "model" for Australia's policies. Zubrzycki also reveals that besides Canada, another model, not publicly discussed, was 16th century Poland's Zlota Wolnoscz ("Golden Freedom") period. The subsequent history of Polish ethnic relations is hardly inspiring and probably indicates why the pioneer advocates of multiculturalism were not prepared to expose their model to public debate.

There are some skeptical comments about the inevitability of democracy here. It is certainly an undoubted historical fact that the normal human method of government is a tyranny of one sort or another. I myself think that it is only the temperament of a few closely-related races from the fringes of Northwest Europe that makes lasting democracy possible. And I don't think Iraq will surprise me.

It sounds like special pleading of the worst kind but it does seem that fox-hunting is good for the fox. For a fuller account of the fox-hunting issue see here.

Cecil Adams, author of THE STRAIGHT DOPE column has some clear thinking about DDT here. He says that Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” was not quite a pack of lies.

Michael Darby writes about the heartless bureaucrats who are supposed to be in charge of child welfare. Shooting would be too good for most of them.

Chris Brand notes that rising educational expenditure in the USA has been accompanied by falling educational standards.

I have recently noted on PC Watch that politically correct language can have the reverse effect to that intended.

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WHY THEY HATE US

Following is an interesting excerpt from a recent book review:

The designation of the US by the Iranian religious establishment as the Great Satan is something much more specific than a mere description of the US as extremely evil. Rather, the metaphor is used in the sense that Satan's role, in Islam and Christianity, is primarily to offer temptation. Satan is the great seducer, offering material and carnal delights to the faithful to tempt them away from righteous living.

Thus the roots of fundamentalist hatred of the US are not its support for Israel or any of the other litany of specific allegations levelled against it but that its material success offers Muslims, and Muslim societies, a great temptation to abandon the stringent practice of religion.

A more extensive excerpt from the review is to be found here.

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WILLIAM BLAKE

I mentioned recently the powerful effect that William Blake's great "Jerusalem" hymn has on me. An Indian correspondent comments:

"You may be aware that the Academy Award winning movie CHARIOTS OF FIRE is based on the poem by William Blake which you mentioned in your blog. It's about about an English Jew and a Scottish missionary in training competing in the Olympics (1924) and how their idealism at times impedes and obstructs their game but they stick to it no matter what. Incredibly inspiring -- considering today's narcissistic and dog eat dog culture. I absolutely love this movie and the movie gets me choked up as well: quite incredible considering the movie celebrates British victory at the Olympic games in the 1920's.

I mentioned this to some girls and they said that they didn't get what could be so emotional about the film. I hope they are satisfied with some retarded Meg Ryan chick flick. So apparently one doesn't have to be British to appreciate the visual translation of William Blakes poetry."

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ELSEWHERE

The latest finding from genetics researcher David Goldman at the NIH is exciting stuff for those of us who study variations in human personality. A single gene (the Catechol-O-Methyl-Transferase or COMTgene) has been found that determines whether you are a worrier or an action type. That sounds very similar to a major human trait that psychometricians call neuroticism/stability. Psychometricians have had evidence for some years now to show that the sort of person you are is mostly inherited but it is good to see the precise gene responsible for one of the major inherited traits being identified. The old Leftist whine that "education" can change everything about us is looking sillier every day.

Another good column by Jeff Jacoby. He says basically that "old Europe" has lost its cojones and that is why they hate America.

Some relentless logic that gave me a chuckle: "Either there is a justification for the war (objectively speaking) or there is not. If there is, then it doesn't matter what motivated President Bush. If there isn't, then it doesn't matter what motivated President Bush. Either way, it doesn't matter what motivated President Bush."

Lots of good stuff in the Spectator at the moment: More evidence of how much we are a product of our genetics; How bureacracy is strangling British schools; How Nike "sweatshops" are enriching the world's poor and Mark Steyn is skeptical about Iraqi democracy happening any time soon.

Amusing: A prominent Australian law professor has just realized something that social scientists have known for a long time: Prejudice can be a good thing.

There is a short, sharp and well-informed debunking of "natural" and "organic" food here. Yes, you guessed it, it can have MORE pesticide residues than normal food and it is much worse for the environment. And it tastes no better either. So there!

The 'working rich' bear virtually the whole cost of government and its extensive entitlement programs... but the left media is trying to convince us that the beneficiaries of our system are really its victims."

The Wicked one has a comment on why homosexuality among the top Nazis is denied or glossed over.

Michael Darby has a fresh lot of horror reports from Zimbabwe. Opposition still goes on there despite brutal repression.

Chris Brand reports that although IQ has been rising throughout the world and although American blacks have now had decades of interventions to help them, blacks scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test are actually falling

My latest academic posting here (or here) is one of my small number of academic philosophy papers. I look at what perception is.

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INSIDER TRADING

From FEE: “Martha Stewart has been indicted for lying about a stock sale that the government can't prove was illegal insider trading. That's bad enough, but she is also charged with securities fraud -- for proclaiming her innocence! Read all about it in "Free Martha!" by Sheldon Richman.” An Australian reader writes:

In Australia, stockbroker Rene Rivkin has just been jailed for 'insider trading' -- rather paralleling the US Martha Stewart case. Harry Browne says we are wasting public money on an absurd law based on the myth of an unobtainable 'level playing field'. William Anderson says that envy has something to do with it. Crikey makes the point that whatever the rights and wrongs of insider trading, putting Rivkin in prison is a waste of money. He's hardly a threat. A big fat community service order, say free financial advice to a public charity, makes more sense than Rivkin's weekend detention order.

One other link between Rivkin and Stewart is celebrity. This Yahoo article asks if law enforcement agencies stalk celebrities for their own PR purposes. Nobel prizewinning economist George Stigler once did an analysis entitled "Public Regulation of the Securities Market," which concluded that purchasers of new share issues fared no better (or worse) after the creation of the SEC than before. No wonder regulators feel the need to collect high profile scalps! The media, of course pull down prominent people for a living. See here for the BBC job on Martha.

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COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY?

I have now commented a couple of times on the way all sorts of colleges get “verbally upgraded” to being called universities. I seem to recollect that Sinclair Lewis had a satirical comment on that in “Babbit” many years ago too. Matthew Cowie comments:

I found this link which kind of goes into the differences between a college and a university in the US. My alma mater has only 1600 undergrad students, but calls itself a University because it has a law school and a separate undergraduate business school, in addition to offering far more majors than most colleges (hence making it more like a University). I think small schools that call themselves universities always get asked why they are a university (because the word invokes images of Division 1 football and at least 10,000 students), especially by parents when they visit with their children, so they are going to have some kind of answer.

I myself take the traditional British view that in a university those who teach are all supposed to have some involvement in research and/or writing as well.

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WIND POWER

Further to my recent mention of Greenie dissension about windmills, a reader writes:

“The American Wind Energy Association has a site, (www.awea.org) with some interesting papers. One paper stated: "Installed wind energy generating capacity now totals 4,685MW and generated about 1.2 billion kWh of electricity - less than 1% of US electricity generation"

Calculation #1: US electricity generation in 2000 was 3.800 trillion kWh according to the US energy department. Dividing 1.2 by 3800 yields 0.3%. (Yea, this is less than 1%, a LOT less.)

Calculation #2: Theoretical output = 4685 MW x 24 x 365 = 41.05 billion kWh. Actual output was 11.2 billion kWh 11.2 / 41.05 yields a paltry 27% efficiency. How do they make money? In some cases, the tax benefits per kWh are actually greater than the money they get for selling the power.

As a closure, I find it so Kennedyesque that Ted has suddenly done an about face regarding wind power when it comes close to home in Martha's Vinyard. Ultimate NIMBYism.”

The really HUGE cost of wind-power generators, however, is that you have to double them up with other types of generator for use when the wind is not blowing. The whole thing is utter nonsense, in other words.

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ELSEWHERE

Remember all the shrill Leftist denunciations of the US armed forces for failing to prevent the “looting” of all the Iraq museum treasures? Will they be retracting their criticisms now that almost all the treasures have been found NOT to have been looted? Don’t hold your breath.

Chris Brand thinks it may be mainly people of Chinese race who get SARS -- but that the PC media hide that fact.

Michael Darby has a speech which sets out a vision of what conservatism is all about

The Wicked one has some criticisms of the anti-tobacco extremists.

Writing on his other blog China Hand makes a case that being unsure of yourself is better than having convictions. But he is not too sure about it!

In my academic posting here (and here) I reproduce one of my analytical philosophy papers -- which tackles the basic question of meta-ethics: What is meant by such terms as “right” and “good”? I take the unusual step of using social science methods to help answer a question in academic philosophy.

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DEVALUED CREDENTIALS

Fellow blogger Carol Johnson, has emailed me about my post in which I mentioned that many British colleges are shortly to be renamed as universities for no good reason. She points out that such “verbal upgrades” go on all the time in the USA too. She questions my claim that people soon wake up to this and are not deceived by it.

To expand my view of the matter, what I think goes on is that people start looking more and more at the institution that grants the degree rather than the degree itself. So paper credentials in general get devalued and other things -- such as your performance on standardized tests, the prestige of your background or your family connections become the real credential in hiring decisions etc. In other words, the degradation of paper credentials has the effect opposite to that intended: Able people from poorer backgrounds find fewer and fewer ways to prove their worth.

“Verbal Magic” is of course a great Leftist ploy in general. They think that renaming things can do all sorts of wonders. That it cannot was shown very well many years ago in Australia. Shortly after WWII, a Leftist Australian government wanted to encourage immigration into Australia but faced prejudice against immigrants from many native Australians. The government thought it could fix this by banning the words “immigrant” or “migrant” and replacing it by the more positive term “New Australian”. And they did succeeed in getting their new term widely adopted. What they did NOT succeed in doing, however, was to alter people’s attitudes thereby. The term “New Australian” very rapidly came to be used with contemptuous connotations. People were NOT influenced by the attempted verbal magic.

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GREY GOO

In response to fear recently expressed by the Prince of Wales that micro-robots might one day turn the world into grey goo, a reader writes:

"Spiked" suggests that fears about nanotechnology or "Grey Goo" are probably just part of overall the green technophobia -- Fear of what you don't understand. The "Grey Goo" threat is also known as "The Star Trek scenario".

The term was coined by Eric Drexler, a kind of self promoting pioneer and prophet of nano-tech. Drexler is either a prophet or a nut depending on whom you talk to. His biographer Ed Regis says the public should just ignore his weird "Grey Goo" scenarios and look at the practical real world nano applications.

Nonetheless there have been some interesting advances in the nanotech world -- for example Nanotechnology May Help Overcome Current Limitations Of Gene TherapyFreeman Dyson also talks about Grey versus Green too. But he considers nano-technology, biotechnology and Genetic Engineering to be the true "green" technologies, not windmills and compost bins. These 'true' green technologies may revolutionise our "grey technology" and help overcome mass rural poverty around the world. See "Freeman Dyson envisions biotech solutions to rural poverty".

Some more of Dyson's surprisingly different take on the future are that Aeroplanes will become obsolete and we will have trees with leaves made of silicon and "Things are going amazingly well"

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