FASCISM AND THE "THIRD WAY"

A reader writes:

I agree with your analysis of the leftist roots of Nazism. Although in some ways the fascists are actually closer to the modern "Third Way" people like Clinton, Blair, the Australian Democrats than the traditional "working class" social democrats or revolutionary marxist communists. The third way people try to be all things to all people, they don't put one social class above all others, and yet insist on putting the collective interest above all. They don't wish to eliminate private enterprise but regulate it or better still co-opt it, usually through some kind of corporatist structure. Same with the unions, the churches, etc etc.

As I see it there are three main differences between the modern third wayers and the fascists. First, the fascists were advocates of revolution to replace constitutional government by what they saw as "more modern" and "efficient" system of national authoritarian dictatorship. Second modern third wayers are usually strong in their anti-racism, indeed they make anti-racism a centerpiece of their ideology. The anti-semitism of the Nazis, not equalled by the Italian fascists, has no equivalent amongst the modern third wayers. Thirdly, the the third wayers are not advocates of foreign military expansion to glorify their homeland nation state.

These three differences are major differences, and I certainly don't think we need to worry about Tony Blair setting himself up as Fuehrer, but we should note that the three differences aren't quite the rock solid barriers you'd might imagine.

Firstly, third wayers are generally "democratic centralists" and favour constitutional reforms of all kinds that enpower the central state at the expense of private power, local or state government. In someways they are worse than outright abolitionists as they prefer to maintain the facade but gut the real power from the private and local sectors. They are not strict constructionists of their respective constitutions and favour reforms (like the main Republican lobby group in Australia) that centralise power. They have no problems with using technical strategems to subvert their constitutions, for example, through the use of international treaty powers to extend their agenda. They prefer central national power and supra-national power (EU, UN, Kyoto, WTO etc) because they see it as more 'modern' and 'efficient' than the 'messier' alternatives of individual freedom and local autonomy.

I will concede that Blair has advanced the cause of Welsh and Scottish nationalism somewhat but this may be just a tactical concession. In most other countries, third wayers are opposed to traditional federal systems and sometimes advocate 'regional' government as a sop, with "overall direction" and all the financial powers retained by the central government.

Secondly, third wayers are genuine anti-racists for the most part, at least insofar as anyone can be labelled anti-racist. But then again neither Germany or Italy in the 1930s was exactly what we'd call a "multi-cultural" society today. Except for Nazi anti-semitism, the "official racialism" of those regimes was very much oriented to national unity around the central state, reducing regional, religious or class loyalties to benefit the central state. And of course the Italian fascists were nowhere near as anti-semitic as the Nazis.

In some ways today "multi-culturalism" (at least in it's more dogmatic versions) is used by the Third Wayers to advance their democratic centralist agenda. The dominant ethnic communities of their society are generally conservative and generally oppose centralization. Multiculturalism can be used to 'divide and rule' (a tactic the British used in India to maintain the Raj) to enpower the central authority, whilst building constituencies dependent on central government grants and privileges. So in some ways multiculturalism today can play a similar role for the third wayers as "official racialism" did for the Nazis and fascists. Both can be tactics that reinforce the central state.

There is no real third way equivalent to nazi anti-semitism, although "xenophobes" have been cast as scapegoats for policy failure by multiculturalist states and have been subject to extra-legal intimidation, often by ideologically motivated thugs. The irony of course is that 'xenophobia' as witnessed by Hansonism, Le Pen etc is almost always a populist protest movement, a late growing reaction to policy failures by the central state. A further irony is that in many cases these 'xenophobic reactionary' movements are at least as ethnically diverse in their membership as the third way and 'anti-racist' opponents.

Third, the third wayers today are not exactly demanding "lebensraum" overseas but they do not seem to be shrinking violets when foreign military adventures are called either. In particular they have had a major role in advocating and supporting the new wave of "humanitarian interventions" we have seen since the end of the Cold War. Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, East Timor. The list is getting quite long. Blair in a recent press conference let slip that he found the 'humanitarian mission' in Iraq more to his liking than the anti-WMD or anti-terror missions. Most of Blair's fellow third wayers would have supported the Iraq War unambiguously had UN blessing been wangled. Maybe had France had a socialist government rather than a conservative one they would have acted less 'nationalistically' and signed on with Les Anglo-Saxons. In Australia, Hawke was the first Labor PM to advocate overseas intervention, breaking a near century long Labor tradition of isolationism in his support for the first Gulf War.

Listening to many third wayers and they seem to favour foreign intervention the most when the national interests of the homeland are the least. This is the opposite of the conservative notion of foreign intervention only where clear national interests are at stake. To third wayers, it is almost sinful to pursue your national security interests abroad, but they reject both isolationism and pacifism. What they favour is multi-national and/or super-national power. And this power is to be projected to support their ideas of social reform and harmony. In fact this is merely projecting onto the world the same democratic centralist agenda they pursue at home. In short "imperialism without nationalism".

Should we be unduly alarmed at these third way trends? I don't think so, the third wayers are basically decent chaps, democrats and they support the rule of law, however we need to recognise that their ideology is not quite as benevolent as they would have us believe, and sometimes the worst case scenario prevails.

I think this is an interesting thesis but also think that it runs up against the problem of defining the "Third Way". This site gives one view of the matter but, as I see it, the term is used for a pretty disparate bunch of characters -- from what I would call authoritarians like Lee Kuan Yew to moderate conservatives like Tony Blair to amoral centrists like Bill Clinton to Leftist ignoramuses like Australia's Democrats. Though in general, I would think that ALL modern-day Leftists are "Third way" in some sense now that Communism is dead. Only the loonies now think that government ownership of industry is any answer to anything.

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ELSEWHERE

Michael Darby has a review of a book of stories about Australian history.

Chris Brand thinks British academia is in a sadly declined state.

In my academic posting of April 25th. here, I review the research findings about stereotyping and show that what goes on in sterotyping is quite different from what is popularly believed.

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LOTS OF GOOD STUFF:

There is a short article that gives a burst of common-sense about human cloning in The Scientific American here Worth a read for the worry-warts.

The man who founded modern genetics with his discovery of the DNA double helix
wants governments, politicians and lobbyists to butt out of the genetic engineering debate. He says "I am against society imposing rules on individuals for how they want to use genetic knowledge. Just let people decide what they want to do."

Here is one feminist who has a realistic perspective: "The Great Truth is that women in our society constitute one of the most privileged and powerful classes of human beings on earth. The challenge is to make women believe in their power. "Woman as victim" is an idea whose time has passed."

Not content with dominating the universities, the Leftists and the Greenies are now devoting themselves to enlisting children -- even in kindergarten. See
here and here and here. Many of the kids will eventually rebel against all the stuff preached at them, however.

New technology that may allow for the manufacture of artificial oil from waste products looks like postponing yet again the doom that Greenies are always predicting for us.

Remember the big story last year about a Swedish team discovering that potato chips (“fries”), and other foods cooked at high temperatures cause cancer (see here)? The story has now been quietly declared a myth

A recent review of Peter Hitchens' analysis of how the politically correct helped crime mug the UK (some extracts from Hitchen's book are here and here)

An American ex-Marxist outlines how living in the UK helped her give up on socialism and liberalism

Here’s a petition that I support -- that the USA withdraw from the UN. It is being run by The Federalist so might have some impact.

The British government’s Foreign Secretary said the war could have been avoided if France and Russia had joined Britain and the United States in giving Saddam Hussein "a really tough ultimatum" on getting rid of weapons of mass destruction. I supect that he is right about that.

The BBC is criticizing the way some US TV programs covered the Iraq war! That’s rich -- when Britain’s own navy turned the BBC off in disgust.

Ann Coulter is good on the “controversial” topic of Christians doing relief work in Iraq: “Christians who are willing to leave the safety and comfort of America to go to barbarous lands, risking disease, pestilence and murder, simply because they so love their fellow man -- these are the miscreants who inflame and enrage liberals more than Saddam Hussein and his rape rooms ever did.”

Susan Blackmore is associated with TRANSFORM, a UK organization campaigning to legalise recreational drugs, their immediate goal is for a genuine and independent cost benefit audit of the UK drug enforcement expenditure.

Susan Blackmore took up psychological research in order to explore para-psychology with an "open mind" as often demanded by the New Agers, but after 30 years of work in this field she has given up (see her comments here) and is now a confirmed skeptic and supporter of Richard Dawkins (see here) ...who regards Darwin's theory as the 'best idea anybody ever had'

Chris Brand thinks that political correctness is going to sabotage the postwar reconstruction of Iraq.

Michael Darby has some poems about the personal tragedies of war.

China hand and everyone else in his part of China have been forbidden to travel by the Chinese government as part of its SARS crackdown.

The Wicked one suggests that an ultra powerful Cadillac car recently released must be for very small men.

In my academic posting of April 24th. here, I show that liking your own group or homeland (as in patriotism) does NOT lead to prejudice against other groups (such as blacks) -- contrary to what many psychologists claim.

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AN INSIDER’S COMMENT ON BRITAIN’S “NATIONAL HEALTH”

A British doctor who started out as an idealistic supporter of socialized medicine has been disillusioned:

I assume that most doctors would want to see that patients who had the greatest need and least capacity to help themselves, would be the ones who are most likely to receive help through a State system. Sadly, the experience of my professional lifetime is the opposite. The NHS is largely a system run by the middle class for the benefit of the middle class and with emphasis on the clinical conditions most likely to be suffered by the middle class. Services are poorest, and the doctors least well qualified and equipped, in the areas where the demand is greatest.

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LEFTISTS TOOK AL-SAHHAF SERIOUSLY!

A lovely quote (Via British Politics) from a British Leftist rag of April 3rd:

“Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf’s briefings of the international media have attracted attention for their informative and often cogent content, in contrast to the contradictions of the coalition spokespersons, who have had to field numerous questions regarding the misinformation they were spinning the day before."

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ELSEWHERE

Western Australia has introduced minor price controls on petrol (gasoline). The result? On average Western Australian motorists pay more than other Australians for it. Surprise! Surprise! There is nothing like unfettered competition for keeping prices down. Argentina’s Leftist dictator Peron threatened to shoot any shopkeeper who put his prices up. Maybe the Leftist West Australian government should try that!

An Australian flag now flies over al-Asad air base. Once home of the Iraqi air force. Nice that we made a difference. General Franks says we made a surprisingly large difference.

An initiative to eliminate Spam! Good if it works. Spam is getting overwhelming. I and many others spend a significant amount of time every day just deleting it. The best defence against spam, however, is one that we can all contribute to -- NEVER buy anything that is advertised via spam or popups.

Antiwar reporter gets the sack: It’s a long way from getting balanced journalism but it’s a start.

In his latest newsletter, David Horowitz says that the "anti-war" Left does not in fact care about Iraq at all. It is led by old-guard communists who care only about their hatred of American success: "The Neo-communist left opposes America's efforts to promote freedom and supports (sometimes "critically") America's declared enemies not because of what America does, but because of what they think America is. The Neo-communist left is impervious to facts because it is a political messianism, in essence a religious movement. Its delusions of social redemption are fed on a rich diet of anti-American myths".


Did I ever say that Leftists are exhibitionists? “Two war protesters smeared themselves with ketchup and cherry-flavored Kool-Aid and briefly interrupted a lecture given by a Pratt & Whitney Aircraft executive at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.”

Most university history professors are now Leftist and that is showing up in the grossly distorted history textbooks that kids are being given to read. Would you believe that the Vikings are now being portrayed as peaceful? Neil Gaiman has a good spoof of it all. Via England’s Sword.

Limbic Nutrition calls a spade a spade in discussing London’s huge problem with black crime -- something the London police are not allowed to do.

Bleeding Brain notes how most major countries washed their hands of Saddam and concludes: "The U.S, along with Britain and Australia are now clearly holding the rudder to the ark of civilization."

Chris Brand has a post on the failure of feminism to meet women’s needs.

The Wicked one notes that the Australian monarchy is not just for old fogies.

Michael Darby commemorates Anzac day and says a special thanks to Australia’s veterans of the Vietnam war.

China hand says extramarital sex has become common in his part of China but that most people turn a blind eye to it.

I have just put up a small collection of cartoons (non-political) that I found amusing HERE

In my academic posting of April 23rd. here, I point out that older women (but not older men) are prone to present themselves in an unrealistically favourable light.

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SOME SURPRISING MILITARY HISTORY

There has of course been much justified congratulation given to the US for its use of precision guided bombs to make sure that only the intended military targets in Iraq were hit. I wonder however how many people realize that Nazi Germany also successfully deployed precision guided bombs in WWII, over 50 years ago. I wonder why we took so long to catch up? The Nazis also of course used cruise missiles and ballistic missiles long before anyone else. If Hitler had let his generals run the Russian campaign they would have won the war. Feldmarschall von Manstein destroyed two Soviet armies even AFTER Stalingrad. It was also he who organized the Blitzkrieg through France -- and his conquest of the Crimean peninsula is legendary among military historians: a frontal assault against superior forces who had nearly every advantage: a fortified position, command of the sea, the air, and tanks, while his army had not one tank.

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THE GINGRICH BLAST

Gingrich made some good points in his blast at the State Dept.:

He dismissed the State Department aid arm, the U.S. Agency for International Development, as useless and said that it should be abolished.
Instead he advocated the Army Corps of Engineers the job of rebuilding Iraq, saying that in Afghanistan, where USAID is responsible for reconstruction, "not a single mile of road has been paved in two years."

He strongly opposed Powell's reported trip to Syria as long as the Arab state continues to support terrorist groups. Instead, he urged the administration to take advantage of the opportunity brought by the victory in Iraq and "apply genuine economic, diplomatic and political pressure." ... "The concept of the American secretary of state going to Damascus to meet with a terrorist-supporting, secret police-wielding dictator is ludicrous," said Gingrich.

I certainly think that the Syrians should be VERY heavily leant upon at the moment.

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ELSEWHERE

There is a fascinating piece of academic research reported in the latest issue of the highly respectable Journal of Developmental Psychogy. The researchers found that even among 19 month old children there were highly recognizable differences in aggression and that most of the difference in aggression was genetically inherited. So some kids are just born mean -- for all that Leftists would like to tell you to the contrary.

On 9th November last year I took exception to the constant Leftist insulting of Britain’s Prime Minister as “Bush’s poodle” and proposed here instead: “Let's resurrect a famous old metaphor for Britain on this occasion and start referring to Tony Blair as "Bush's Bulldog".” I am pleased therefore to see that the Editor of the “Washington Times” has had the same idea. He also gives the Australian Prime Minister a guernsey in the same article. Via The Federalist

I never thought I would agree with a Leftist about “asylum-seeker” policy but I agree with this comment about the Vietnamese boat people presently headed for Australian waters and who look to be in danger of sinking in the middle of the ocean: “There is only one humanitarian option here -- that is for the Australian authorities to get these people off these boats that are death traps and ensure that they are secure," I have great sympathy for the hard-working Vietnamese. They put up a great fight to save their country from Communism but were left in the lurch by a peacenik-influenced US Congress who cut off their military supplies.

What cheek! The UN has ruled that a sign at an Australian sportsground is offensive and should be taken down even though the Australian High Court has already ruled to the contrary! The sign is in any case just an example of perverse Australian humour but nobody would expect rthe UN to understand that. The sign refers to a famous Australian cricketer called “nigger” Brown -- called that because he was so pale-skinned!

A fun recap here of what the punditocracy were saying about the Iraq war while it was actually going on (not to mention what they said before it started!). They were declaring it to be a “quagmire” almost up until the day that Saddam’s statue fell. Interesting that the President and his team were infinitely more accurate and reliable than the media moaners were!

Even the San Francisco Chronicle sees that Senator Santorum’s rejection of legal activism concerning gays may not hurt him politically. What he said was no more derogatory than what “liberals” routinely say about Christians, conservatives and others they disapprove of. “Those who live in glass houses .....”

Carnival of the Vanities is up again. The Left get a bit more of a look-in this time.

China hand has some skeptical comments about the Chinese response to SARS.

On his other site, China hand has a snarl at the Leftist Australian media. As an ex-Leftie himself, he really feels these things.

Michael Darby has a report that “low cost” public housing in fact costs heaps more than privately-built housing.

Chris Brand notes that Britain’s favourable treatment of “asylum-seekers” is fueling a rise in support for the British National Party -- previously seen as “far Right”

The Wicked one is pleased to note that drinking tea is much better for your health than coffee-drinking is.

In my academic posting of April 22nd. here, I note the amazing "mental flexibility" that scientists can show in resisting demonstrations that their findings are spurious and point out that the phenomenon is widespread among psychologists.

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THE IRAQ LOOTING

A reader writes:

The "Looters in Iraq" issue has something of a life of it's own and facts are few and far between but this hasn't stopped all kinds of pundits from weighing in from every possible angle (including the idea that the Iraqis are just getting their own back). So maybe we can play the game and look at this "hypothetical" situation: Imagine if before the war Bush, Blair or Howard went back to their electorates (or, better still, went to the UN) and said that in addition to combat forces, they also want x thousand extra cops, jailers and peacekeeping troops to send in behind the combat forces to ensure that the iraqis don't pilfer their public hospitals, don't destroy their schools, don't loot food aid warehouses and don't smash their own museums. Can you imagine the response?

My guess is that such a request would be painted by leftists as a grossly insulting example of western arrogance and racism. Muslim and NGO spokespersons would be saying 'ordinary Iraqis are civilised and just don't behave like that'. A few ex-pat Iraqis and foreign visitors to Iraq would come on TV and tell how they left the house in Basra unlocked for years over there without being robbed. "You really want those extra troops to impose your will on a reluctant people, not to protect them".

Of course, assuming you got your peacekeepers, and once they had prevented social chaos, the same critics would use this success as evidence that your request was unwarranted and unnecessary. Am I being too cynical?

It is probably a good idea not to involve frontline troops too heavily in peacekeeping, so maybe this is why Centcom has not come down hard on Baghdad's "Ali Baba" looters as many Baghdad citizens would like.

British paratroopers in the Cold War were expected to have very short combat survival prospects when pitted against Warsaw Pact troops. So naturally their training and psychology was very aggressive as displayed in the Falklands. But putting them on the streets of Northern Ireland to deal with civil disturbances like "Bloody Sunday" probably only made a bad situation worse.. In fact the commander of the UK Paras in Northern Ireland's seems very cynical about politicians deploying combat troops to deal with civil order situations and then 'hanging them out to dry' when things go wrong.

On the other hand, history has shown, dealing sternly with looters and rioters, including the a credible threat to use deadly force, does seem to bring these situations under control quickly. But the international and domestic political consequences, especially back in the US and UK, if allied troops were to shoot rioters or looters would be enormous, even if it may just be true that most law abiding Baghdad citizens would welcome it.

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GREENS FOR SADDAM

Paul Sheehan lists the many measures of energetic support that Greenpeace worldwide gave to Saddam Hussein. It's "Green" to support a Fascist butcher? "Greenpeace" should be renamed "Redpiece". Saddam was a socialist dictator, after all. A reader adds:

Greenpeace's recent antics in Sydney harbour remind me of when i was a civilian dockyard worker at Garden Island Naval Dockyard in the 1980s where "no nuclear ships" was the flavour of the month. i was co-located with the dockyard's own safety and rescue personnel who, thanks to anti-nuke protestors, had the job of pulling any protestor or unfortunate cop in danger below a ship out of the drink. they were the last line of safety. owing to the risks these stunts (protests is not the right word) created for them, not only on the day of the stunt, but in their training as well... they didn't really share a high opinion of the anti-nuke crowd, despite a healthy cross section of political opinion in the team. Anyhow one day one of the safety team pointed out to me that prominent "peace flotilla" activist Ian Cohen, who has now turned his self-publicity efforts in for a New South Wales parliament (Upper House) seat, used to have his surf ski delivered to the waters of Woolloomooloo Bay courtesy of the roof rack of a commercial TV station's current affairs programme's van!!!

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ELSEWHERE

Somebody has kidnapped an Ayatollah! Should be more of it.

Australia’s major Leftist political party is attacking the conservative government because the government has not given enough tax cuts! Australia is a very conservative country by world standards.

If you have not seen it already, do not miss the hilarious "We were stun-founded" story about Islamic fanatics in Iraq in the WSJ. You will also find there a report that American feminists are supporting a man who allegedly murdered an entirely innocent woman! These hags seem to think that Muslim treatment of women is OK too!

There’s a report on PC Watch that Britain’s socialized medicine system plans to have doctors in its hospitals only during the day! Let us hope that they will at least have doctors on call somewhere nearby in the evenings and at night. Maybe not.

Michael Darby has a letter from one of his readers who is outraged at how the media reported the Iraq war.

The Wicked one is impressed by SOME of the things that the Archbishop of Canterbury says.

Chris Brand wonders whether political realignments in Britain and the USA might be sparked by the Iraq war.

I have just added three more fun pictures to my Picture Page.

In my academic posting of April 21st here, I look at the common view that “stereotyping” is a problem in race relations and point to research results showing that it is not.

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YOU DON'T NEED COLLEGE

I posted a comment here on 20th from a reader who believes that the pervasive Leftist influence in colleges and universities has degraded them to the point where their degrees are often useless. Another reader adds:

If any young people ever ask, you don't need college. I'm the network administrator (for the northwest U.S.) for a major corporation and I have no college degree. I am entirely self taught. Most U.S. job descriptions list requiring a college degree or equivalent experience (usually 4 years). So, if you can get into the field, and get 'real' experience, you can still be considered. Of course, this is not an excuse to fail to round out your education but there are libraries and we can read on our own. The beauty of self education is that you are paid to learn (at entry level jobs) rather than paying exorbitant sums to a university....

I also referred recently to a piece of research I did some time ago that showed that higher levels of education can actually reduce economic prosperity. And way back in the 70s Ivar Berg brought together a lot of evidence to show that college education does not benefit you economically. So most people would be better off to save their money and leave the Leftist college teachers to stew in their own juice.

Reference:
Berg, I. (1973) Education and jobs: The great training robbery Harmondsworth, Mddx.: Penguin.

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WHERE THE WMDs ARE:

I said a few days ago that the US would have to go into Syria to find Saddam’s WMDs. This report from an Iraqi scientist confirms it:

The scientist told military officials that several months before the war, he watched as Iraqi officials buried chemical precursors for weapons and other sensitive material to conceal and protect them for future use. He said stockpiles of deadly agents and weapons technology had been transferred to Syria in the mid-1990s.

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TREACHEROUS TEACHERS

According to The Times, Britain's aptly-named NUT (National Union of Teachers) is trying to outlaw testing. They do not want people to realize how little the kids learn at some schools these days. The government responded:

The Department for Education and Skills condemned the decision. A spokesman said: "We are not going back to the days when we had no regular information about how pupils were doing in school. Testing at seven and 11 has meant that the literacy and numeracy strategies have produced improvements in pupils' learning that would never have been dreamt of five years ago."

In her post of 11th, Kimberly Swygert reported similar moves by Californian teachers. Teachers do tend to be Leftist worldwide. There are a lot of mini-Stalins there. They like being dictators.

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ELSEWHERE

Good to see that the Pentagon has a contingency plan for “surgical” bombing to destroy North Korea’s nuclear bomb-making capacity. Knowing of such a plan might make the North Koreans think twice about going much further with their program. Iraq will make them think twice too. Deterrence won the cold war. It could win this one.

If beautiful things give you pleasure and you are in a relaxed mood, I have just put up HERE some more pictures from an Australian garden.

Paddy McGuinness does a good job of debunking the Leftist journalists who are doing everything they can to find things to criticize about the US actions in Iraq. He says that there are reporting crimes as well as war crimes.

No comment: “New Zealand hunters, who have taken to the forests in large numbers this month in search of antler trophies, have been urged to wear orange hats or jackets after three were shot dead, mistaken for deer.”

The first trials of genetically modified crops in Africa have been a great success, leading to great increases in income among the black farmers: "The farmers were glowing, they were very happy.". But the Greenies, of course were not amused.

Chris Brand thinks that the real historical Jesus may have been quite a sexpot.

Michael Darby has an article about the Wahhabi menace from Saudi Arabia.

The Wicked one hopes that “Pope Peacenik” will not succeed in his efforts to lure back traditionalist Catholics.

In my academic posting of April 20th here, I point out that some Leftist Dutch scholars have ignored 40 years of research in their field -- thus managing to reinvent the wheel. Typical Leftist “scholarship”

My book about what Leftism is and why is online here but it runs to 200 pages -- so it may look like work for many potential readers. I have therefore divided the book into 7 parts and provided a table of contents so readers can see roughly what is in each part. That way I hope people will be able to pick out only the parts that interest them most. Part 1 together with a summary and the table of contents is given here.

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WORKING “FLAT OUT” IN BRITAIN

I received the following email from an Australian lady who is presently visiting Britain. She refers to my post of 19th about Americans working harder than Brits.

Just read your piece on the English attitude to hard work.... funny you should say that... My sister wanted to get a manicure done at short notice recently but was unable to get it done after trying 5 different "Nail Bars" in Cambridge and Saffron Walden.... a busy (now trendy) market town where she does her shopping... 50 miles from London.

Of the 2 we visited yesterday... one was closed for Easter.... an extremely busy day (Saturday) and at the other.... the one girl in the place raised her head from a personal phone call to say she was sorry she couldn't possible fit us in today as they were "flat out".... There was no one in the place!!... three seats sitting empty. Same thing in Cambridge.... two of the girls sitting chatting saying..... Oh no... sorry couldn't possibly fit you in today... and again... no one there!! One of the others was closing next month ... so wasn't taking any new clients... another had just opened as part of a solarium..... but wasn't taking bookings for nails until May??? I just don't know what the English definition of "flat out" is.

The two "Nail Bars" near where I live in Australia ...one run by Asians... are always working to full capacity ....several seats always full. I would call that being "flat out". Letting a customer out the door without fitting them in somehow.... I would say THAT is being "flat out". Very strange attitude to work here in England if you ask me.

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THE NEW LEFT

An Australian reader writes:

We have beaten back socialism but now we find our culture and media as offering fertile ground to 'new socialisms' like greens, indigenous, victim-group-of-the-month etc. The left can sound quite libertarian when defending gays or whatever and the old school christian conservatives can allow themselves to be painted as the authoritarians. This I think is short sighted, the left are I think still engaged in pushing the central state by other means, and their advocacy of gay rights, multiculturalism, a republic etc is all part of loosely connected drive to revolutionise society and by default or design put the central state in the middle of everything. So it makes sense for them to oppose family, nation, what they would call "traditional bourgeois culture" ... as these are roadblocks to the super-state.

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ELSEWHERE

We have just seen a lot of commercial Easter bunnies. HERE is a great picture of some real Easter bunnies.

The Anglican Primate of Australia added to his reputation as an inveterate Leftist by telling his congegation yesterday that “the ousting of Saddam Hussein did not justify the war”. Not much compassion for Iraqis there and no rejoicing at their rescue as lost sheep. Someone should also remind him that the founder of Christianity drove the thieves out of the temple.

The United States will seek continuing access to military bases in Iraq to maintain its strong Middle East presence. As it should. The big stick is all that Arabs understand so the big stick should stay nearby.

Exports of Australian wine to Europe have become so successful that the French are trying to find ways of banning it. Perhaps the English-speaking countries should try to find ways of banning French wine in retaliation! That would be about the only sort of “ethics” that the French understand.

The US army has just stumbled across $US650 million in cash in Baghdad cottages owned by Saddam and his supporters. And Leftists tell us that WE are to blame because Iraqi hospitals had no medicines to give sick children!

Silflay Hraka rather naughtily agrees with my suggestion that maybe the Nazis are criticized more furiously than Communists these days because Nazism is in fact more attractive to many people. He adds: “When it comes right down to it, Nazis are more appealing because they're prettier.”

A former Communist intelligence chief confirms that Joschka Fischer, Germany’s current foreign minister, was part of radical terrorist organizations for many years in his younger days. He was an anti-American thug then and not much has changed since. That he is also said to be the most popular politician in Germany today is therefore of some concern. Thuggish German politicians cost nearly half a million American lives in World War II.

A reasonable argument here from "Spiked" to the effect that the people in the crowds that the antiwar organizers attracted were mainly exhibitionists or nervous people who were afraid of the uncertainties that the Iraq war involved.

Jeff Jacoby points out that CNN is far from being the only “news” organization that sucks up to Islamic thugs. It is clear that what we get from most major media outlets about the Islamic world is little more than propaganda. The sooner that gets widely known the sooner people will switch off the outlets concerned -- and only THEN might we begin to see some ethical journalism from them.

Chris Brand notes that even The Guardian is now acknowledging biological differences between men and women

Michael Darby has a message of (faint) hope from Zimbabwe.

The Wicked one reports that the sun is not as stable as it looks.

In my academic posting of April 19th here, I look at three concepts much beloved by psychologists -- psychological rigidity, psychological authoritarianism and ethnocentism -- and point out that all three are “unicorn” concepts -- they stand for things that do not exist.

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IMPARTIALITY AND FREEDOM REJECTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CA

Here are some academic ideals that the University of California REJECTS:

''To convert, or to make converts, is alien and hostile to this dispassionate duty. Where it becomes necessary, in performing this function of a university, to consider political, social, or sectarian movements, they are dissected and examined--not taught, and the conclusion left, with no tipping of the scales, to the logic of the facts.''

''Essentially the freedom of a university is the freedom of competent persons in the classroom. In order to protect this freedom, the University assumes the right to prevent exploitation of its prestige by unqualified persons or by those who would use it as a platform for propaganda.''

''Its high function--and its high privilege, the University will steadily continue to fulfill, serving the people by providing facilities for investigation and teaching free from domination by parties, sects, or selfish interests.''

There is a good site here that enables American college students to expose the biases of those who purport to teach them. It makes pretty disgraceful reading but it might help some students and parents to avoid the worst of the Leftist bias.

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LEFTIST UNIVERSITIES ARE USELESS

An Australian reader writes:

I do think left domination undermines the quality of education kids are getting. The world doesn't work the way they teach it and if students are to really learn (assuming that is what they want to do) they have to ditch their academic education. Most people who actually run anything or do real work tell you they didn't start learning until after university. This is probably a major cause of the "anti-intellectualism" of Australian society that leftist intellectuals are always whinging about. They don't see the irony in this. Thank God Australians are so deeply anti-intellectual, we would be a third world country if we actually listened to these guys.

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ELSEWHERE

The 10th anniversary of the holocaust at Waco orchestrated by Clinton and Reno has just passed. That Janet Reno survived the event with her reputation intact shows how little Leftists care for human life. I think she should have been put on trial. Then all the details might have come out. The whole thing could have been solved with patience -- not tanks and grenades. Bible-loving Christians are not Arab Fascists.

Best joke of the war: “American and British troops handed out food to hundreds of Iraqis. Not surprisingly, the Iraqis handed the British food back.” I grew up on British cuisine so I know what he means.

One of Saddam’s chemical warfare scientists is now in US hands but I doubt that the US forces in Iraq will find any of Saddam’s actual WMDs. I would expect that they are all in Syria by now. They may even have been transferred there before the war. Saddam had plenty of warning.

When I read that Iraqi looters have even looted hospitals and raped the patients I am beginning to wonder if they were worth liberating. Perhaps they deserved Saddam Hussein. It certainly seems clear that Iraqi looters have done far more damage than the war did.

Good news: Despite their opposition to the Iraq war, it seems that Russia is still fairly friendly towards the USA -- a pleasant contrast with French hysteria. Good to see that Schroeder has backed down too.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could write the sort of brain-dead stuff that Leftist columnists write in our mainstream newspapers. This loon says that Australia is to blame for much of the suffering under Saddam because we did not donate food and medical supplies. Australian taxpayers should have paid for stuff that Iraq’s own vast oil wealth could have bought? The fact that Saddam chose to spend the money on palaces and armaments is OUR fault?

An incredible story here about the bias and prejudice displayed by an official government body that is supposed to deal with complaints of bias and prejudice. Apparently, Muslims can do no wrong in the eyes of these politically correct morons.

I suppose I shouldn’t laugh: “Chicken Armageddon has come to the Netherlands, where more than 11 million birds have been culled to stop the spread of influenza, it was revealed yesterday”. Apparently it can affect humans but not severely. Will PETA now wage war on the Dutch?

The US government has finally taken a spammer to court. About time.

Chris Brand looks at the attempt by famous psychoanalyst Erich Fromm to explain love and sex. Chris notes some of the biological factors that Fromm overlooked.

Michael Darby has some reflections from a man who fought white rule in Zimbabwe and who now comments that Mugabe has done far worse than the white rulers ever did.

In my academic posting of April 18th here, I critique three papers by Leftist psychologists which purport to study authoritarianism and show that they do no such thing.

I have just done a big revision of my monograph on Leftism -- to include coverage of Iraq and other recent events. It is however now a 200 page document so it is only for those who want a comprehensive analysis of what Leftism is all about.

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THE REGULATORS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE REGULATED

This article from "Spiked" (which is well worth reading in full) argues that the debate about "designer babies" is driven largely by a resentment of the power over their lives and futures that modern technology gives to ordinary people: "Running through the debates about designer babies, from disability to sex selection to 'designing' a baby to treat a sick sibling, is a deep mistrust of individuals". The elites want all powers of decision in THEIR hands. They do not want ordinary people empowered. They are sure that they can do better for children than the parents of the child can. This is classic Leftist rubbish, of course: "Big brother" knows best. There are of course bad and uncaring parents but there are proportionately far more bad and uncaring bureaucrats. Let people make their own reproductive decisions. It is not a proper sphere for government and the courts. The elitists will be wanting to dictate whom we can have sex with and whom we can marry next.

Being myself a parent of an IVF child of whom I am immensely proud (pic here), I would like to punch some of these "ethicists" in the mouth. What right do these tinpot Hitlers have to tell other people what children they can have? There can be few children more wanted than an IVF child so the chances of such a child being mistreated in some way by its parents are vanishingly small. Compare that to how children are often treated whilst under "official" care in orphanages and the like.

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BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU

Bureaucrats in Melbourne (Australia) accused a woman of illegally sub-letting her apartment. They cancelled her rent rebate, upped her weekly rent by $110 and demanded bank statements and income receipts for her live-in companion, Barnaby, the teddy bear. Collingwood public housing authorities assumed she was living with someone because she mentioned the teddy bear on her answering machine. They could not be convinced otherwise until a consumer advocacy group intervened on her behalf.

Herald Sun (Australia) via news.com.au 8-Apr-03. Via Jerry Lerman.

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DO AMERICANS WORK HARDER THAN BRITS?

I never thought I would agree with a Pop star about anything but from my experience "Madonna" is entirely fair and accurate in these remarks:

The singer has declared that Britons don't work as hard as Americans.
"They're not willing to work - you know, stay in the office for 12 hours a day," Madonna said in remarks unlikely to impress many hard-pressed employees. "I find that people in Europe are much more interested in the quality of life. They're not so work-orientated”. "It's different. They know how to enjoy life better. But Americans know how to get things done quicker," she said.

Madonna, 44, who enraged British builders two years ago by accusing them of laziness - "the working week starts at noon on Monday and ends at noon on Friday" - added that living in England had made her appreciate the US more. "It was really important for me to get outside of America, to live in England and appreciate the fabulous things about America, like customer services and stuff."

But I think most Australians find the Poms to be resentful that they have to work. It seems probable that for centuries it was mostly the slackers who stayed at home in England while the more energetic Englishmen emigrated to where greater opportunities were to be found. Australians and Americans are the descendants of the emigrants. {Only about 3% of Australians have convict ancestry (though I am one of them) -- the rest are the descendants of free emigrants.}

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THE LOOTED IRAQI MUSEUM

We have an amazing sequel to the tale of woe about the Iraq national museum looted by the liberated Iraqis. I am sure that I am one of many who felt heartsick at the news of the losses but look what we find now:

Donny George, the director-general of restoration at the Iraqi Antiquities Department, Wednesday said his staff had preserved the museum's most important treasures, including the kings' graves of Ur and the Assyrian bulls. These objects were hidden in vaults that haven't been violated by looters. "Most of the things were removed. We knew a war was coming

Donny George? Not Abu Mohammed Hamas or some such name? Sounds like an American or a Brit to me. So our people DID protect the Iraqis from themselves after all! And why didn't US forces stop such looting as did take place? Because there were people in the museum who were firing on the US forces!

There is also an article here that says that in fact Saddam and his son Uday were the chief looters.

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ELSEWHERE

Here is a good cartoon representation of what has just happened to Jacques Chirac.

Michael Darby presents a program for practical reform in Africa.

The Wicked one has a quite amazing post on the bumbling bureaucracy of socialized medicine.

Chris Brand points out that Prof. Pinker gets the wobbles when he uses his knowledge of genetics to address issues concened with race.

In my academic posting of April 17th here, I point out that “conservative” -- with its meaning of “opposed to change” -- is no longer an appropriate name for the political Right as there are in fact heaps of things about modern society that Rightists would like to change. I urge that academics at least should just call Rightists Rightists and stop calling them conservatives.

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FRENCH DECADENCE

There is an interesting book review here about the fall of France to the Germans in 1941. The combined British and French forces were in fact larger than the German forces so the defeat of the French, like the defeat of the Iraquis, happened so quickly mainly because the French did not want to fight. It argues that the French emphasis on culture, philosophy and the soft life made them unwilling soldiers and also made them arrogant towards everyone non-French. Not much has changed.

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FRENCH RACISM

A recovering Francophile tells us that antisemitism and racism generally is widespread in France with antisemitism being pervasive among the French Left:

There is little anti-Semitism among French conservatives today. They certainly do not make alliances with, or excuses for, people who cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as evidence of anything. Alas, this cannot be said for the old and young left that once prided itself on its principled animus to racisms of all sorts. La Nouvelle Judeophobie, written by Director of Research at the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique Pierre-Andre Taguieff and published in 2001 by Fayard, painstakingly documents how the core expressions of the self-described "anti-racist" left-- its intellectuals, academics, journalists, bien-pensants, and artists-- are downright anti-Semitic.... And their views are echoed by the polled public opinion of ordinary Frenchmen.

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NO “ROADMAP” TO PEACE POSSIBLE

In this review of Palestinian history, the author points out that all the evidence shows that the vast majority of Palestinians want nothing less than the total destruction of Israel and that they have held Jews in contempt for generations. So there is just no basis for our Western ideas of compromise there. I think the present Israeli policy of simply walling off the Palestinians from the Jewish areas is in fact the only viable solution. Excerpt:

I have come away from my examination of the history of the conflict with a sense of the instinctive rejectionism that runs like a dark thread through Palestinian history- a rejection, to the point of absurdity, of the history of the Jewish link to the land of Israel; a rejection of the legitimacy of Jewish claims to Palestine; a rejection of the right of the Jewish state to exist. And, worse, this rejectionism has over the decades been leavened by a healthy dose of anti-Semitism, a perception of the Jew as God's and humanity's unchosen

(This item crosposted on Dissecting Leftism and Israpundit.)

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POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IN THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY

“An SAS soldier has been charged with kicking a corpse and will be tried by a Defence Force magistrate.” How insane and trivial-minded can you get? How are soldiers supposed to express their feelings towards somebody who has just tried to ambush them? This is yet another bout of crazy political correctness -- one that the Army could certainly do without.

(This item crossposted on Dissecting Leftism and PC Watch)

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ELSEWHERE

One-time Leftist, William Shawcross has written a great article pointing out how hollow the usual criticisms of GWB are. A rather inspiational article, in fact, that expresses considerable admiration for GWB’s vision.

Good comment via The Federalist: “UN Secretary-General Annan said he thinks the arms inspectors should resume looking for weapons in Iraq. Forget looking for arms in Iraq -- how about looking for backbones in the UN?”

What a joke! “U.N. arms inspectors are ready to get back into Iraq to finish the job of looking for any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons but don't want to work under a new U.S.-led disarmament effort”

Snoofmadrune, who appears to be a bit of a linguist, has an amazing report from France. Apparently French “peace” marchers are claiming that THEY got rid of Saddam! You can’t beat French logic.

Michael Darby has a post about the destructive arrogance of Greenie bureaucrats in Sydney.

Chris Brand has just got a letter into The Times of London defending race realism.

The Wicked one has a bit of a laugh about a recent “time traveller” report.

In my academic posting of April 16th here, I try to point out to my fellow psychologists that conservatism in the sense of rejection of all change is essentially irrelevant to the present-day Right-Left divide and that studies of Rightism which define it as opposition to change are therefore irrelevant to current politics

Carnival of the Vanities is up again. If variety is the life of spice it is very spicy.

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THE IRAQ INVASION AS A WARNING

From the latest newsletter from David Horowitz:

The threat of pre-emptive war is a form of protection. It tells Iran and Syria -- the sponsors of Hizbollah and Hamas and al-Qaeda terrorists who have killed American citizens -- that the consequences of their covert aggressions can be deadly, to them. Syria and Iran have already done no less than the Taliban regime in Afghanistan when we attacked it. Should the United States tie its hands and force its citizens to wait for another World Center scale attack before allowing them a response?

Critics of the war in Iraq, claimed that the Administration should have allowed Saddam Hussein more time to continue his evasion of the UN resolutions and focused on the nuclear threat from North Korea instead. What credibility would American demands to North Korea have had, however, if we had continued to appease Saddam and ignore his defiance of UN resolutions? Far from being a distraction, the pre-emptive war against Saddam Hussein has enhanced the ability of the United States to deter North Korea from its sinister plans.

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DUBIOUS EU ENLARGEMENT

5000 pages of red-tape for the newcomers and little gain in economic clout

EIGHT former members of the Soviet bloc and two Mediterranean islands have signed treaties to join the European Union next year and reunite the continent a decade and a half after the fall of the Berlin Wall... The leaders of the EU's 25 current and soon-to-be member states met in the shadow of the Acropolis in Athens, the birthplace of democracy, to sign the 5000-page accession treaty... The EU is now set to expand to 450 million people, surpassing North America as the world's biggest economic zone.
But the new members will bring comparatively little to the table – their collective gross domestic product is the same as the Netherlands'

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HOW TWISTED CAN YOU GET?

From the WSJ:

But the majority of the American left, and especially its leading media voices, remain flummoxed if not embarrassed by America's Iraq victory. These include most Democrats in Congress, the editors (though not all reporters) of the New York Times and its acolytes at CNN and the major networks, and of course most academic experts. They can barely bring themselves to celebrate the downfall of a tyrant

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ELSEWHERE

Today’s silliest article: “USA Today” argues that Islamic terrorists have a presence in Africa and that the USA should therefore solve the problems of Africa. I think it would take the second coming of Christ to solve the problems of Africa. The British spent decades building up modern societies and economies in their African colonies and left thriving countries behind them when they pulled out. It has been all downhill in Africa since. The idea that the USA could suddenly reverse that is typical knee-jerk liberal nonsense.

Theodore Dalrymple explains why no African country will ever be like a Western one and why Westernizing tendencies make things worse rather than better for Africans.

Today’s silliest headline: HOW WE LOST THE IRAQ WAR. It is of course the work of a far Leftist -- Ted Rall. He claims that the Iraqis did NOT welcome US troops and that what we saw on TV was all a put-up job. What a sad dreamer!

Bill Clinton has just blasted current US foreign policy. Asked what he would do instead he said that that he would scrap the tax cut! Good liberal logic there!

Thousands of illegal immigrants find their way into American hospitals every year for care they can neither get at home nor pay for in the United States. The good old generous American taxpayer!

Several people have made the point that Saeed al-Sahaf, Saddam’s delusional TV spokesman, would be perfect for a slot pontificating on public radio. His views would be respected among those who argue that there are “many realities”.

In her post of 11th, Kimberly Swygert points out that 72% of African American students in Los Angeles cannot read by the 10th grade level! So who said that the very low average score gained by blacks on IQ tests is meaningless or misleading?

Fun! Drinking bottled water has been linked to tooth decay.

Bulk, unsolicited email, or spam, will be outlawed in Australia, possibly by the end of this year, the Minister for Communications, Senator Richard Alston, said on Wednesday. Good if it has any effect.

Michael Darby has more bad news about Zimbabwe plus some optimism about Iraq

Chris Brand defends a Scotsman who was accused of racism for wanting to preserve traditional Gaelic culture.

The Wicked one thinks that “Pro-life” is a misnomer sometimes.

In my academic posting of April 15th here, I show that there is a slight tendency only for less educated people to be conservative.

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MONARCHY FOR IRAQ?

REALLY conservative readers may be interested to note that a leading member of the opposition Iraqi National Congress is also the head of the Iraqi Constitutional Monarchy Movement. He is Sharif Ali Bin Al-Hussein, an urbane, sophisticated and widely respected man, and a former investment banker. In fact, from its formation under the British mandate after the First World War, until the bloody coup in 1958 when most of the Royal Family were murdered, Iraq was a constitutional monarchy. More here

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WHY REDS ARE PREFERRED TO NAZIS

It really is pretty strange how being a Communist is usually seen as a minor peccadillo these days whereas being a Nazi is totally execrated. I would have thought that there was not much to choose between the two. A reader sent the following explanation to me:

You know how Hannah Arendt claims, in Antisemitism, that part of the reason why antiSemites hate Jews is that they fear that Jews might really be the "Chosen people"? Well, by the same line of reasoning, one could argue that the reason Americans hate the Nazis is this: Americans fear that the Germans might really be the Superior Race. That is probably why the U.S. Media focuses so much more on the crimes of Nazi Germany than those of Soviet Russia and Red China, despite the fact that Soviet Russia and Red China were each chock full of Concentration Camps too, and were at least as vicious and savage about how they had captured, tortured, and killed their victims.

I wonder if there is a grain of truth in that? I simply do not know. The idea that Northern Europeans are innately superior in any way is SO politically incorrect these days that one wonders whether a fear that the idea might have some truth in it might be part of the reason why it is rejected so furiously. I think the main reason for the difference, however, is that Communists are better hypocrites. They pretend to be compassionate where the Nazis did not so people give Communists the benefit of the doubt. No-one who knows history would do so, however.

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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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DEMOCRACY, MONARCHY AND WAR

The great hopes that are presently riding on a transition to democracy in Iraq remind me of a claim still popular in some circles: That democracies never make war on one another. It would be nice if that were true but those who know their ancient history point to the attack of the Athenian democracy on Syracuse as a counter example and those who know their modern history point to the American civil war as a counter-example. The Confederacy was roughly as democratic as the Union.

Those who favour the “peaceful democracy” theory manage to hem and haw their way out of the examples concerned by adding limitations to their theory, however, so let me point out another VERY large exception: World War I. Germany in 1914 was a democracy! And a rather enlightened one at that which took better care of its people than almost any other country at that time did. Wartime propaganda which portrayed the war as the doing of “Kaiser Bill” still lives on but the legal powers of the German monarch were in fact not dissimilar to those of the British monarch. This entry about the Kaiser from the Encyclopedia Britannica is a useful starting point for understanding what actually went on:

William often bombastically claimed to be the man who took the decisions. It is true that the German constitution of 1871 put two important powers in his hands. First, he was responsible for appointing and dismissing the chancellor, the head of the civil government. Admittedly, the chancellor could only govern if he could get a majority in the Reichstag, but this limitation on the emperor's freedom of choice was more apparent than real, because most members of the Reichstag felt it their loyal duty to support whomever the Kaiser appointed. Secondly, the German Army and Navy were not responsible to the civil government, so that the Kaiser was the only person in Germany who was in a position to see that the policy followed by the soldiers and sailors was in line with that pursued by the civil servants and diplomats. Thus, British journalists and publicists had some justification when during and immediately after the war they portrayed the Kaiser as Supreme War Lord, and therefore the man who, more than anyone else, decided to make war.

As time passes, however, historians are increasingly coming to see William as an accomplice rather than an instigator. In the years after 1890 the German upper and middle classes would have wanted a larger say in the world's councils no matter who had been on the throne, and this "urge to world power" was almost bound to bring them into collision with some of the existing great powers. The chief real criticism to be made of the Kaiser is that, instead of seeing this danger and using his influence to restrain German appetites, he shared those appetites and indeed increased them, particularly by his determination to give Germany a navy of which it could be proud. He was a quick-witted, well-meaning man who went with the stream instead of having the vision and strength of judgment to stand out against it.

So the difference between the British and German monarchies was not so much one of different legal powers but of different styles. The Queen is also legally the one who appoints British Prime Ministers and who is head of Britain’s armed forces. Just because the British monarch normally does not exercise visible power may create the illusion that he/she has no power but the power is in fact there. This is best shown in Australia, where the royal powers are vested in the Governors and Governors General. These viceroys have in fact twice in the last century exercised their vice-regal powers to dismiss elected governments! And if the newly restored King of Spain could face down a military coup in 1981, how much more authoritative the Queen of England would be if any such crisis arose!

I might add that the Britannica’s comment that the German parliament felt duty-bound to support whatever Chancellor (Prime Minister) the Kaiser chose is a gross exaggeration. Even the brilliant Chancellor Bismarck had a lot of trouble with German parliaments. Germany was undoubtedly in 1914 as much a democracy as the Britain it went to war with. Democracy is unquestionably a good thing but it is no guarantee of peace.

For those who take an interest in ancient history it is clear from the account of the Athenian attack given in Thucydides that Syracuse was also democratic. We read:

". . . Meanwhile the Syracusans burned their dead and then held an assembly, in which Hermocrates, son of Hermon, a man who with a general ability of the first order had given proofs of military capacity and brilliant courage in the war, came forward and encouraged them, and told them not to let what had occurred make them give way, since their spirit had not been conquered . . ." [later] "The Syracusans heard him, and voted everything as he advised, and elected three generals . . "

And as far as mediaeval history is concerned we might note that many of the Italian city States (such as Venice) were both democratic and aggressive. Although not exactly a case of one democracy attacking another, the account of the ancient and blind Doge (President) Dandolo sailing off at the head of the Venetian fleet to loot Constantinople is still one of history’s most remarkable and dastardly tales.

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ELSEWHERE

Is GWB smart? Success in Iraq proves Bush is smarter than his Leftist critics anyway.

One good thing about the Baghdad looting: “At the French cultural center, where looters burst water pipes and flooded the ground floor, books were left floating in the reading rooms and corridors, and a photograph of Jacques Chirac, the French president, was smashed.” I think that counts as very restrained in the circumstances!

Michael Darby has a letter of repentance from a Scotsman who now appreciates America much more than he once did.

Chris Brand thinks that the wide variety of choices now available to women will lead to a variety of reproductive contracts between people rather than the traditional monogamous marriage contract. Polygamy anyone?

The Wicked one is rather derisive about a practitioner of “Wicca”.

In my academic posting of April 13th here, I point out that some researchers who found conservatives to be “despairing” did not know how to measure despair.

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WONDERFUL NEWS

Maybe I am a sentimental old fool but I must admit that this comment about the seven rescued U.S. troops brought a tear to my eye: “This morning our family joins America in rejoicing over the news of the safe return of seven brave heroes to U.S. military custody in Iraq" I think that knowledge of the horrific treatment Saddam used to mete out to those who opposed him would make any civilized person glad that the troops were recovered alive and well. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who was rescued earlier, suffered a head wound, a spinal injury and fractures to her right arm, both legs and her right foot and ankle. At least it must be great for her to be back home in the USA.

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CHEEESH!!!

Blogspot was off the air for hours yesterday and now the host for my mirror site seems to be having a whole day off! But I will beat the Bs yet! I keep my blog entries as a file so it took me only two minutes to put up my stuff on a second mirror site! The site concerned is on Geocities and there is something about my code that causes them to give you no background colour until you hit the “Refresh” button. Exactly the same code works fine elsewhere. Weird!

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MORE GREENIE LIES

Both the Left and the Greens will lie and mislead at the drop of a hat. The truth is so inconvenient to them that they NEED to be liars. Note this Greenie comment on the retirement of the Concorde supersonic airliner “[New York residents] know all too well the Concorde's windows-rattling roar, and its seeming inability to stay in one piece," he said. "It should have been grounded a long time ago." Far from falling apart all the time, the Concorde has had only one crash in 30 years -- a better safety record than most. And the only reason why the Concorde was originally allowed to fly into New York was that it was found to be no noisier than other jets using the airport.

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ANOTHER VIEW OF HITLER

There is much of interest in Leonard Peikoff’s book. One quote:

Contrary to the Marxists, the Nazis did not advocate public ownership of the means of production. They did demand that the government oversee and run the nation's economy. The issue of legal ownership, they explained, is secondary; what counts is the issue of CONTROL. Private citizens, therefore, may continue to hold titles to property -- so long as the state reserves to itself the unqualified right to regulate the use of their property.

Sounds just like the Leftists of today.

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ELSEWHERE

Next stop Syria? It would be great to see another Arab Fascist regime go down. Syria is ruled by the same Ba’ath party that Saddam represented.

When so much of the media worldwide is Leftist, it is gratifying to see that Australia’s Rupert Murdoch used his many media outlets to support the war.

There is rather a good day by day account of the war from a journalist who was with the troops here.

I like it! Samizdata refer to France, Germany and Russia as The axis of feeble. He also calls them a Triumvirate of gilded irrelevences. We must not forget, however, that they do command great economic and military power between them so let us be glad of GWB’s “softly, softly” approach to them.

Further to my comment yesterday on many children's comic books now having a Leftist slant, Marc Miyake has emailed me to say that it is not as bad as it seems because “Captain America” and other Marvel comics are now almost exclusively bought by young male adults who presumably know about and like the slant they are getting. He says the comic-book writers concerned are just would-be Hollywood types.

Under the heading: The bigotry of low expectations, Marc Miyake makes a very strong case that racism is pervasive among Leftists today. Marc is a Japanese American so one would think that the alleged love of “diversity” among Leftists would cause him to be seized on eagerly for teaching jobs at American universities. But -- strangely -- the reverse appears to be the case.

"Sex Offenders vote Democrat" Why wouldn't they? It is the Dems who are soft on crime. The Dems sure have some great constituencies.

Glenn Reynolds says that the BBC is the mouthpiece of the 'new class' of State-funded elitists. His recommendation: 'ignore them'; That's the one thing they hate.

Michael Darby has a backgrounder on the Assyrian Christian minority in Iraq.

Chris Brand continues his series of comments on sex in the 21st century. He seems to think that the welfare state is good for women and bad for men.

The Wicked one has another example of the crazy Leftist doctrine that nobody is responsible for their own actions at work in the courts.

In my academic posting of April 12th here
I refer to an interesting research summary that seems to show conservatives as the luckier members of society, with better mental and physical health and greater satisfaction with their lives.

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THE WAR HAS OPENED SOME EYES LONG SHUT

John Lloyd, a columnist for Britain's Leftist New Statesman has finally given up on the Left after the Iraq war. He says:

A large part of the British left - and the left elsewhere - has made a fundamental mistake. In opposing the invasion of Iraq, it has shown itself incapable of thinking through not only the nature of the world as it is today, but also its own claims to be the leading force in making the world better.

I must say that he is only stating the obvious. Their support for the terminally brutal Saddam has forever exposed as a fraud the Left's claim to be "compassionate". If the Left were half-decent, this war would have been fought with virtually universal support rather with the support of conservatives only.

Though there was of course a tiny minority of decent Leftists (such as this writer) who supported the war from early on. I know of none of them who marched FOR war, however. And even the normally very moderate Australian Labor Party opposed the war.

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TOBACCO INJUSTICE IS INJUSTICE FOR US ALL

I personally detest smoking and am outraged when smokers think that they can impose their foul smells and pollution on me. As far as I am concerned, smoking should be something that occurs only between consenting adults in private.

But the way in which both the U.S. Federal government and private plaintiffs are overturning every concept of justice to steal from tobacco companies whatever assets they have is surely a warning to us all. The politically correct Leftist notion that people are not responsible for their own actions has now been enshrined in law and is the main instrument being used to rip off the tobacco companies. The companies are being prosecuted for what OTHER people in full possession of their faculties voluntarily did -- despite upteen warnings that what they did was risky.

That is a terminally dangerous precedent for us all. ANYONE who is worth suing could find himself stripped of all he owns now. All it needs is for someone to blame you for something that THEY did. The tobacco cases mean that there will now be NO defence against such a claim available in most such cases. We must do all we can to bring back a system where the person who is primarily responsible for his own misfortune must bear the full blame for that misfortune. None of us will be safe otherwise.

A reader refers to the famous poem by Pastor Niemoller:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
etc

And suggests it is now a case of "First they came for the tobacco companies" and maybe "Then they came for the xenophobes" and maybe "Then they came for the gun owners".

And we will almost certainly have to fight this one ourselves. The snivel libertarians have other, much more important fish to fry.

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ELSEWHERE

Hear here! “US Secretary of State Colin Powell today challenged Russian, French and German leaders' contention that only the United Nations has the authority to rebuild post-war Iraq.”

Retired Australian politician and one-time Leftist Michael Duffy addresses those who are still marching for "peace" with the question: “Why are 600 deaths caused by liberating forces so much worse than 66,900 deaths a year caused by Saddam Hussein?”

In case you have not seen it, here is the fan site for Saddam's incredible TV spokesman

It is disgusting how anti-American rubbish is now being spewed out by certain
children's comic books. I hope parents soon become aware of this and get something else for their children instead.

Chris Brand also comments on the defection of Leftist John Lloyd.

Michael Darby hopes that Iraq will not make us totally forget the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe. Toppling the Zimbabwean dictator would take only one thousandth of the force that it took to topple Saddam, so why not do it? The British DID intervene in Sierra Leone and the French intervene in Africa all the time so there is precedent.

The Wicked one has rather a fun posting about a maverick environmental scientist who thinks we should eat whales to save the planet.

In my academic posting of April 11th here I expose some absolutely crap research reported in a medical journal. At least the journal printed my critique.

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