ELSEWHERE

An honest politician at last! All the newly-elected President of Argentina is offering is fresh air: “We are going to bring some fresh Patagonian air to the capital to engineer a change," he said late Thursday.”

Somewhat to my surprise, there is a rather sensible editorial in USA Today about the Jayson Blair affair. It says that it may be justifiable to let minorities in the door under affirmative action programs but once they have been accepted into the institution they should be judged by the same criteria as anyone else. That would be a big improvement on doing anything to keep the minority numbers up -- which is what the usual system seems to be.

Caerdroia has a good formulation of what he thinks is the essential nature of America. He is obviously right but much of the rest of the world is too mean and nasty to believe it.

A great way to encourage motorcycling -- should be more of it: "Motorcyclists would be free to run red lights if they exercise 'due care,' under a bill overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate yesterday. The legislation was needed because many new model motorcycles do not have enough metal in them to trigger magnetic sensors that tell some traffic lights to turn green, Sen. Bill Clabough, R-Maryville, the bill's sponsor, said. 'Many new bikes are almost all plastic, and they sit there for a long time' ..."

Wendy McElroy is very critical of male bashing -- the stereotyping of men as brutal, stupid or otherwise objectionable: "Our sons, husbands, fathers and men-friends are gleefully slandered because they are male. They are subjected to malicious jokes and attitudes that would be decried if directed at blacks, Hispanics or women."

"As we observe the current frenzy of lawyers preparing to sue McDonald's and Burger King -- and even suing Kraft Foods, the maker of Oreos -- for allegedly causing their clients to suffer from obesity, we cannot help but wonder what lunatics have taken over the U.S. legal system.

One antiwar protestor sees part of the picture anyway: “"The most unsavory part of being against the war, for me, is the company one has to keep on the barricades. It's most uncomfortable being surrounded by Greens, socialists, effete literati, Hollywood bleeding hearts, European politicians, animal-rights protesters and a vast assortment of other wacko leftists who I'd forgotten were even still alive.”

Chris Brand notes that in Britain whites are guilty if blacks fail at school.

Michael Darby notes that if you really want to protect the environment, the first thing you have to do is to protect private property rights.

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with lots of interesting posts.

In my academic posting of May 17th here, I give chapter and verse on the strange contortions academic psychologists go through in order to see in their research results some shred of support for Leftist beliefs.

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PUTIN TALKS THE TALK

This should make Vlad think: "At least 14 people were reported dead in Chechnya yesterday when the second suicide bombing in two days narrowly failed to kill the Moscow- backed head of the local administration. The bombing came as Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, held talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Iraq and international terrorism, and just two days after a suicide bomber blew up an administration and security service building a few miles from the Russian border”.

And apparently it has. In his latest speech. he listed Russia's declining population, poverty, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism as among its most severe problems. He said Russia's bloated bureaucracy must be cut. But in a country that has seen political turmoil and constant change for 15 years, Putin warned against reform for reform's sake. “There cannot be a permanent revolution,'' he said. Also on Friday, Putin spoke with President Bush by phone about the need to increase joint anti-terrorism efforts.

Best of all, Russia now wants to make sure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. Since Russia supplies Iran with its reactors, they are in a position to get their way there.

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“BOURGEOIS” BLOGGERS FRUSTRATE A LEFTY CABAL

Most amusing: A Guardian/BBC journalist purports to identify the most influential bloggers around without mentioning a single conservative/libertarian blogger that I could recognize. Apparently even Instapundit’s 100,000 hits a day do not count! He then attacks bloggers as a “a self-referential group of average intellects” and implies that they are all “bourgeois”. Finally, he compares bloggers unfavourably with “proper journalists who know what having principles means, who aim for objectivity while accepting that it is unattainable”. What a laugh!! That a cabal of Lefty hacks has principles and aims at objectivity is definitely the best joke that I have heard for a while. But clearly we bloggers are beginning to annoy the cabal so that is good.

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ELSEWHERE

The WSJ has uncovered a truly huge fraud by Leftist psychologists (in defence of affirmative action) that we will surely be hearing a lot more about. It could even shoot down entirely the University of Michigan’s current Supreme Court defence of its racial favouritism.

A German economist describes the German economy as “the sick man of Europe”. They wouldn’t have a socialist government, by any chance, would they? But they are learning something from experience: They now seem to be edging towards agreeing with the US position over Iraq.

Another big airport screening bungle in the US! The US government is clearly a very poor protecter of the US public. A good thing so many of the US public own guns to defend themselves with.

What a marvellous story: An Indian bride got her groom sent to jail on her wedding day because he demanded money for marrying her! She is now deservedly an Indian national heroine.

The French have sent out a letter saying that the USA is slandering them: A White House official said the French allegation of an organised campaign was "utter nonsense". Quickly dubbed "the French letter," the missive became an object of derision and only heightened contempt for French actions. "It would be nice if the French foreign ministry would stop spreading lies about America, saying the Iraq war was about blood for oil and control of the Middle East," said another official.

Rather a good graphic about the continuing British Labour pary infatuation with European integration here.

Privatizing fish: New Scientist reports that we are running out of fish. A solution has been known for some time, resolving the "tragedy of the commons" in favour of private property rights. See here and here

Maybe we need to think about putting 'preservation orders' on the traditional two parent families... New Scientist reports some findings on the links between "Absent Fathers and Teen Pregnancy".... And biologists Martin Daly and Margo Wilson report that "A child is one hundred times more likely to be abused or killed by a stepparent than by a genetic parent."

China hand notes that many products now available in China -- things to kill mosquitoes and cockroaches, for example -- simply do not work and are essentially frauds.

Chris Brand has an extended commentary on TATU -- the Lesbian Russian pop singers.

The Wicked one reproduces a now rather famous defence of lowering taxes. And it’s pre-Reagan!

In my academic posting of May 16th about psychopathy, I report findings that should put a bomb under a major field of psychological research. But psychologists seldom read their journals and are good at ignoring what does not suit them so I doubt if the article had any impact at all. Google certainly has no references to it by other psychologists -- even though the article was published 20 years ago in a widely-circulated academic journal.

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CASTRO: A GREENIE HERO TOO

Via Aaron Oakley and Whacking day: "Our politically-correct Luddite fascist friends at the Green Left Weekly have published this sickening apology for Fidel Castro's brutal crackdown on dissidents. Oh, and there's this stirring defense of Castro's lovely worker's paradise, which is apparently being betrayed by those horrible brainwashed bastards who flee to the USA."

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“SHALOM” FOR ISRAEL

I post a lot on this blog that is in support of Israel and critical of Islam. Many Jewish bloggers do the same. I feel, however, that I should occasionally point out that I myself have no axe to grind in the matter. My ancestry is wholly Anglo-Celtic and I am an atheist from a Presbyterian background. But I do see the cause of Israel and the Jews as just and worthy. And as for the Arabs -- if I were religious I would think that they were Satan’s children, they are so destructive of both themselves and others. So:

Jeff Jacoby points to and applauds the warm support that evengelical Christians give to the State of Israel. Such Christians these days tend to see Judaism as part of their own tradition and defend it accordingly.

Arlene Peck has some pointed comments about the absurd “Roadmap” for Isaeli/Palestinian peace and sees in it an attempt at betrayal of Israel in the name of political correctness.

Writing on his “other” blog, China hand makes the important point that radical Islamists are a problem wherever they exist -- even in Islamic states. They always are and always will be vicious malcontents.

An Arab writes: "What makes Iraq's defeat a humiliating one, is not only the way the US chose to fight this dirty war, collect the spoils or reveal its 'wanted list' of Iraq's top alleged war criminals on decks of playing cards. The defeat was especially difficult because it exposed our incompetence." You said it buster

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ELSEWHERE

Concerning the NYT scandal, one of my readers writes: “Concerning the NY Times, here is an E-mail I sent to Clarence Page, a Black reporter from the Chicago Tribune: Last night on CNBC, you said you didn't believe Jayson Blair was treated differently than other reporters. If this is so, then the problem is much worse than I thought. If Affirmative Action was at fault, only 1/6 of stories from the Times would be suspect. If Affirmative Action is not at fault, 6/6 stories are suspect.”. I go for 6/6 myself!

I like this: The Harvard Divinity School is guilty of crimes against Arab literature: It published Jimmy Carter's autobiography in Arabic.

?????: A three-judge panel ruled that the word 'people' in the Second Amendment does not mean individuals."

LOL: "Those struggling to distinguish the small alpine country in Europe from Australia were dealt a blow when a kangaroo was hit by a car and killed in central Austria," the Associated Press reports from Vienna.

There is a rather appalling account of child-abuse in the name of political correctness on PC Watch.

It is interesting to compare how this story of child abuse within the Aboriginal community has been handled by the left liberal establishment compared with the Governor General situation. Has anyone been made to resign yet?

BARONESS Thatcher returned to politics last night with an attack on the French, whom she accused of collaborating with "enemies of the West" for short-term gain. In a one-off comeback speech in New York, which broke a medical ban on speaking in public, the former Conservative Prime Minister attacked those who use environmentalism, feminism and human rights campaigns to fight capitalism and the nation state. She praised Tony Blair, but above all President Bush, for overriding the "rot" that "paralysed" the United Nations.

What a heap of nonsense: "As the Senate begins debate on taxes today, the White House and its Senate allies have resurrected a plan to phase in a sharp reduction in the tax on dividends and then to undo the tax cuts after five years -- a proposal they believe could break the deadlock over the linchpin of President Bush's economic growth plan."

The Wicked one celebrates how a gun enabled a 75-year-old man to defend himself.

Chris Brand writes on the psychology of aging.

Michael Darby observes the anniversary of the sinking of an Australian hospital ship by the Japanese in WWII.

In my academic posting of May 15th here, I reproduce an article that showed Australian patriotism to be strong even in the ‘70s and shows that it is NOT allied to racism. It was however somewhat allied with various types of conservatism.

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DID THE LEFT WIN?

A good bit of sarcasm from Christopher Hitchens:
“So it turns out that all the slogans of the anti-war movement were right after all. And their demands were just. "No War on Iraq," they said_and there wasn't a war on Iraq. Indeed, there was barely a "war" at all. "No Blood for Oil," they cried, and the oil wealth of Iraq has been duly rescued from attempted sabotage with scarcely a drop spilled. Of the nine oil wells set ablaze by the few desperadoes who obeyed the order, only one is still burning and the rest have been capped and doused without casualties. "Stop the War" was the call. And the "war" is indeed stopping. That's not such a bad record. An earlier anti-war demand -- "Give the Inspectors More Time" -- was also very prescient and is also about to be fulfilled in exquisite detail.”

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ELSEWHERE

More glories of socialized medicine: A Welsh hospital has apologised to a mother today after doctors mistakenly stitched her three-year-old daughter's tongue to her gum.

Among the world’s larger economies, Australia is second only to the United States in competitiveness.

The WSJ has an encouraging range of reports suggesting that the big suicide attack in Saudi Arabia may have turned most of the Arab world against not only suicide bombers but even against the preachers of hate who encourage them.

"Prices for medical services have been rising faster than prices of other goods and services for as long as anyone can remember. But not all health care prices are rising. Although health care inflation is robust for those services paid by third-party insurance, prices are rising only moderately for services patients buy directly". Funnily enough!

The idea that communism gave us SARS seems a bit extravant at first but it is true when you look into it.

How awful for the Leftists. It looks like the Arab street might be becoming more sympathetic to American values now that Saddam has been toppled.

I never thought I would agree with that famous Leftie twister, Robert Fisk but he seems to have got it right when he refers to “The corrupt, feudal world of the House of Saud” and says that “The Saud family is a real House that Jack built. Its thousands of princes are sublimely unworthy of rule”. Hear here!

What fun! Saddam's favourite artist was an American -- and an American woman at that!

More strangeness in British politics: A prominent Conservative passionately wants Britain in the Eurozone and Labour figures are keeping Britain out! British Tories have totally lost touch with their own traditions.

The U.S. Congress looks set to approve the construction of Tactical nukes. Might be useful against North Korea. Nukes saved a lot of lives when used against Japan in WWII.

How sad for the Greenies and other “alternative” types: A “natural” herbal medicine used by the wise African natives seems to give heaps of their kids cancer.

Lots of bloggers seem to like this report from France -- about the coming doomsday for the French economy

Uganda's answer to corruption: “Inside the hot, stuffy hearing room, already two months into the case of forgotten bank accounts and unexplained fleets of luxury four-wheel drive vehicles, Justice Julie Sebutinde loses her temper - again. She wags her finger at the witnesses, employees of Uganda's notoriously corrupt tax authority. "Today, I am going to have you for lunch and supper," she barks”
Good to hear but too little too late I fear. The efforts of the good lady judge really just serve to show how universal corruption is there.

New Policy in Iraq to Authorize G.I.'s to Shoot Looters. About time!

The NYT had a gloat about This story because a Christian college got caught out having a fraud for a president but it is also a good example of Christian ethics rising above political considerations.

Michael Darby has a disturbing report about Western women enslaved in the disgusting kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Chris Brand (post of 14th) has his say about the corrupt black reporter on the NYT.

The Wicked one thinks Neal Boortz has got something when he says that the USA is now to a significant degree a police state -- mainly courtesy of the “liberals”, of course.

In my academic posting of May 14th here, I try to make my fellow psychologists think a bit outside the box -- unsuccessfully. The article never got published.

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IS ETHANOL BAD FOR YOUR CAR?

A reader has found that Leftists can oppose the use of ethanol as motor fuel when it suits them:

Although I certainly consider myself a "greenhouse skeptic" and am opposed to environmentalism-as-a-religion, I certainly have no objection to measures aimed at reducing air pollution or promoting energy conservation and energy security, ... provided they meet the normal economic and effectiveness criteria we should subject all government programmes to. Unfortunately the messy world of politics tends to make even common sense projects go astray. For a fascinating "micro" story about how politics and the media work. See this story about ethanol as a fuel substitute. Even if the greenhouse models of the IPCC were ultimately proven true, it is situations like this that make me cynical about politicians ability to resolve the problem in any case. The pillorying of nuclear energy by self described 'green' advocates is another larger example of perverse politics at work.

For more on biofuels see here and here

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IS CYCLING "GREEN"?

A Sydney reader writes:

Note this article about cycling in Sydney. It makes the point that pro-cycling policies aren't necessarily green.. although they are sold that way. For example in the Sydney Eastern suburbs where both I and the author (Tim Dare lives) ... promoting cycling mainly impacts public transport passenger flows ..not cars. In fact I would say foot travel and public transit would be the main "losers" to cycles as it would mainly be relatively short haul trippers who would be impacted.

Although bikes don't generate smog themselves presumably they can still add to it especially where bike/car traffic interfaces add to congestion, traffic hold ups etc. A lot of these "green solutions" when examined in detail are often not that green. Dare is quite correct in saying a lot of the forecast increase in cycle traffic is sheer hokum. For example in my area kilometres of new cycleway have been added... so the numbers look good... but most are merely painted "lanes" running on odd road stretches that were for one reason or another wider than normal lanes anyhow.. so these "new cycleways" are just spare roadspace that cyclists used before anyhow! I'm not against cycling or cycling being genuinely encouraged to improve transport or smog problems, just pseudo-solutions!

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ELSEWHERE

What a lot of pansies the British police have become: “Judges ordered a British teenager to pay $160 to a policeman for "mental anguish" after calling him "fat," He is not doing his job unless he is routinely called worse than that.

The various island nations of the Pacific receive more foreign aid per capita than almost anybody else. But, as usual, it has not helped their economic progress any. They are totally stagnant in fact.

Barbara Amiel does a detailed rebuttal of the Drabble dribble here. Excerpt: “when it comes to facts or ratiocination, she should be put in care”.

Paul Sheehan has some good criticisms of the media crusade against the unfortunate Peter Hollingworth. Excerpt: “A vast edifice of smears, accusations and fabrications has been constructed”.

The British Tories are total lost souls. They seem to think that the way to beat Labour is to be more Leftist than Labour! Their latest caper is a promise to abolish all university tution fees -- while Labour is taking the economically responsible course of putting the fees up! Britain is a strange place these days.

Shooting the messenger: A small group of minority politicians and prominent religious leaders in Florida is threatening a boycott of some of the state's largest industries in the hope of forcing the suspension of an achievement test that thousands of high school seniors (particularly blacks and Hispanics) recently failed. Sadly, however, scrapping the test will not make them any smarter or more employable.

And in New York even a lot of the teachers cannot pass basic competency tests!

"From a military perspective, the case for American withdrawal from NATO seems to have already been made. A number of commentators ... have pointed out that NATO is an anachronism rendered helpless by distrust and infighting. But there are also compelling economic grounds for American withdrawal. Simply, the American security guarantee perpetuates the continuation of the European welfare states and thus encourages economic sclerosis across the European continent. Thus NATO is not only useless, it's harmful”.

The Misanthropyst has a link to a truly breathtaking bit of stupidity about economics. It might have sounded sensible in 100 years ago but most of us have learnt a few things since then.

Michael Darby has high praise for John Howard.

The Wicked one thinks the Spanish Greenies have got their priorities right -- sex!

In my academic posting of May 13th here, I do my best to be polite about the bias against conservatives in academe.

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THE HOUNDING OF BISHOP PETER

I have forborne from commenting on the latest media circus about Australia’s Governor General because of its sheer absurdity but I suppose I should devote a few words to it. What has just happened is that he has been forced to take leave of absence because some woman identified him in a group photograph as the man who raped her 50 years ago. Not only is the claim an unsubstantiated allegation which any woman could have made against any man for any reason but it now emerges that he was not even in the photo she identified! The earlier charges against him were equally flimsy. From the very moment that John Howard recommended the appointment of an archbishop to such a senior governmental role the media sensed a “story” in it and were out to get him -- despite his outstanding and lifelong devotion to charitable works.

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ELSEWHERE

Great! Saddam’s appalling “Dr. Germ” has now been captured.

One thing that the now-famous Drabble dribble does clearly show is that you are not dealing with rationality when you are dealing with Leftism.

"After the Avondale Estates [GA] Historic Preservation Commission rejected Pike's plan to add a rounded front stoop to a house he's renovating, he called two painters Wednesday to paint the front of his house lime green, with large, purple polka dots .... Pike doesn't plan to stop at dots. Scattering old toilets filled with geraniums tops his to-do list." Good man!

Buchanan knows his history: "Why do they keep digging up the corpse of Joe McCarthy for a ritual flogging? The Wisconsin senator died in 1957. He never killed anyone. He never sent anyone to prison. Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on two defenseless cities of a prostrate nation and sent 2 million Russian prisoners back to Stalin to be murdered in Operation Keelhaul. Yet Truman remains a hero to those who despise McCarthy with an undying hatred."

There is a newish New Zealand blog that ridicules life in that particular “worker’s paradise” rather well. To give you the flavour of it, he habitually refers to the New Zealand Herald as “The Daily Marxist”. I do find it pretty amazing that a “worker’s” government is spending millions on yacht racing -- particularly since they lost the last race to the Swiss, of all people.

U.S. airport security screening becomes a joke once again. Having the government protect you is very little protection indeed. They only want to look good. They don’t care about anything else.

"The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group denounced the U.S.- led occupation forces Sunday and demanded they pull out. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, made the call in this predominantly Shiite city despite the presence of a squad of U.S. Marines who were protecting him." Is there any hope for these loonies?

Poor old Michael Totten! The only thing he could think of that the Left could teach the Right is the desirability of Persian film festivals. The mind boggles!

“Two men came into Junkers Tavern ... wearing disguises. ... Within a few seconds, one of the men was pointing a gun in Emmons' face and grabbing $16 off the bar while the other gunman ran behind the bar trying to get money from the cash register. About that time a customer ... pulled out a handgun and shot the nearest robber in the head. ... The bar patron ... was charged with felonious assault and having weapons in a liquor establishment." Whose side are the police on? Don’t tell me. I know. Their own.

Europe’s biggest maker of computer chips is planning to move from Germany to Switzerland to move from a German tax rate on profits of 40% to a Swiss rate of 10%. It will be a big come-down for Germany if it happens. Why more German firms do not moved is the mystery. Switzerland is living proof that a country can be a great place to live WITHOUT high taxes.

God! What a lot of wimps people are about this smallpox vaccine. 30 years ago it was a routine vaccination for anyone travelling overseas!

One Hand Clapping summarizes the church scene in much of the USA as a religious and patriotic laity being not very impressed with a Leftist and irreligious clergy. What a strange world we live in!

What fun! “Security guards smashed their way into an official limousine with sledgehammers on Monday to rescue Thailand's finance minister after his car's computer failed”

“The gap between rich and poor in Britain is at its largest in 13 years and poverty levels under Tony Blair exceed those under Margaret Thatcher” So much for socialism!

Michael Darby (post of 12th.) takes a comprehensive swipe at the La Rouche nonsense.

The Wicked one (post of 12th) is amused by the unmentionability of blackness.

Chris Brand (post of 13th) notes that even photos of blackness are now non-PC

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NON-CAUSES OF RACISM

Psychologists have given much thought to the fact that some people seem to be more racist than others and have put forward various theories about it. A still widely-held view is that racism is a consistent personal disposition -- if you dislike one outgroup you will tend to dislike all outgroups. Another view is that it is the wicked conservatives who are racist. A third view is that people with a hostile or “authoritarian” personality are highly likely to be racists.

I have just put up here (post of 11th) three research reports that test those three theories. The survey research on which the reports are based was carried out in 1987 by an Australian postgraduate student in order to gather data for her dissertation. She designed a questionnaire with some reference to prior work of mine and administered it to a community sample of 250 Australians. When the work was done she handed the data to me for computer analysis and I wrote the three articles mentioned on the basis of what came out of the computer. The findings were unfavourable to all three of the psychological theories mentioned.

None of the articles were accepted for publication in the academic journals despite the research being unusually soundly based. Psychologists base most of their published generalizations about human behaviour on studies of white rats or studies of college students so data derived from a human general population survey should have been unusually interesting, one would have thought. The fact that the findings upset preconceptions popular among psychologists would therefore seem to have had some role in the non-acceptance of the articles.

It may be of some interest to note in passing that the lady who did the research has generally Leftist views and is married to an Australian Aborigine.

For what DOES cause racism see here.

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One of my regular readers has sent me a large collection of thoughts which I reproduce below:

MINORITIES & IMMIGRATION

This VDARE article says that Black Congressional leaders are selling out the interests of poor African Americans rather than confront the possibility that illegal immigration harms the interests of poor black Americans. The author says many black leaders in the past, including Booker T Washington and W.E. Du Bois, quite openly opposed immigration as competition for their community.

This article has some quotes from Frederick Douglas and Booker T Washington criticising immigration's impact on black Americans..

Roy Beck, the director of US immigration reduction outfit “NumbersUSA” even says "...the most racist policy in this country for the past 25 years has been our immigration policy ..it has been the worst thing that has happened to the Blacks from the federal government since slavery."

Maybe the Congressmen should follow the example of Winston Peters, New Zealand's most prominent Maori politician, who founded the centre-left New Zealand First party which receives most of its support from Maoris and older voters. Peters and his party have long been critics of open door immigration ....

Of course not all criticism of immigration policy from minority leaders is defensible. Ron Brunton in this old article points out comments from (now deceased) Australian aboriginal activist Charles Perkins.

A bit of trivia. The term "melting pot" is widely used in immigration discussions. Interestingly the origin of the term goes back to a 1908 play called "The Melting Pot". The author of this item says the play has some lessons for 2003.

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KIDS AND PC BOOKS

This survey finds "Politically correct" books are just boring students to tears.

One series of novels, incredibly popular with Australian teens is the John Marsden “TOMORROW WHEN WAR BEGAN” series. John Marsden is Australia's no 1 bestselling writer for teenagers. The books feature a mixed group of teens struggling to survive and grow up in a future Australia under foreign military occupation. The book features resistance drawn from "pre-war" gun owners. Considering the way 'the gun lobby' has been portrayed in Australia in recent years, this is probably a small victory against PCness.

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ELSEWHERE

The French are experiencing lower demand for the latest releases of their wines so the prices they get are dropping. Seems fair to me.

Chris Brand (posts of 11th and 12th) very cheerily notes how his nemesis (Edinburgh University) has slipped in the latest rankings of UK universities.

Michael Darby (post of 11th.) gives us a report of April’s economic disasters in Zimbabwe.

The Wicked one has a very pleasing report on Australia/U.S. relations.

China hand is rather pleased that public servants in China -- even police -- can get sacked for slacking off.

I have just put up here (post of 11th) an article that I originally wrote some years ago but which I think is still as relevant as ever. It points out that the high failure rate among Australian small businesses is richly deserved.

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LOTS OF GOOD STUFF ...

Wow! What a scandal. Most people have long suspected that charities spend more on salaries for their staff than they do on the people who are supposed to be getting the help but a leading U.S. Democrat has just put together a study that tells us how much could be saved by small reductions in charity “administration” costs -- $100 billion! What a difference it would make if charities really were charitable! The only organization that I personally give money to is the Salvation Army. I think that they make a real effort and having God as supervisor should help keep them ethical. And I would never give a cent to the antisemitic fat-cats of the Red Cross.

I must say that I cannot agree with the push among some US conservatives to keep single mothers in the armed forces out of war zones. If you are in the army you have to be prepared to fight. Otherwise you might as well be a civilian clerk employed by the army. And if single mothers do not want to fight, why do they join up? It’s their choice and nobody else’s.

Iceland has the most conservative government of the Nordic countries. Let’s hope it stays that way after today’s elections.

A new blog I rather like is Prestopundit. It is fairly scholarly with a moderate libertarian orientation.

I like it! Somebody in Britain claims to be able to diagnose your personality from the biscuits (cookies) you eat. I eat very few biscuits but I do like Digestives (a sort of wheatmeal cookie) and here is my biscuit-o-scope: "Digestives are the favourite of technical specialists or financial experts who are logical types seeking precision and accuracy." Since I have been writing statistical analysis computer programs for 35 years and have also done very well as an investor, that is pretty good.