Thursday, October 3, 2002
Today the French are protesting privatization plans, citing "the examples of Enron, WorldCom and France Telecom, saying these companies got in trouble because they were privatised." Hehe. To be fair, they have few positive examples of privatization with which to pass judgement. Britain's railroad job was famously disasterous -- but only because they left the tracks still in the governments hands.
Politicians are reluctant to relieve all power in the process of privatization. But unless the hand-over is complete, there are mixed signals that can result in disaster, a la the California Blackouts. The failure of Soviet Union's collapse can be attributed to the gradualist strategy of privatization; leaving a crucial bit of it to the government(rapid transformation didn't work too well either, but I'll save that for another post.)
France is warming up to some liberal reforms. A recent headlines in the IHT read, "France is softening the bite of the 35-hour workweek. They're passing bills to relax payroll taxes, and working to raise the cap on overtime hours.
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Here's a very interesting site with information and documents on George W. Bush's military record.
George W. Bush served five years of his six-year Air National Guard obligation between 1968 and 1973. However, 1972-1973 records were redacted "for administrative reasons" and have not been released. After undergoing two years of expensive jet fighter training at taxpayer expense, in April 1972, during the Viet Nam War, George Bush simply quit flying. He did not show up to take his required annual flight physical, and the penalty he received was automatic suspension of his right to fly and a final 15 months of disciplinary action, for which he was demoted to the Obligated Reserve Section in Denver.
Connecting the dots:
— In April 1972, random drug testing was implemented in the military.
— Bush has previously stated that he had not used drugs “since 1974.”
— Official verbal answer from Bush campaign: Governor Bush “decided to not fly any longer” so he did not take the required military flight physical. However, as anyone in the military knows, one does not simply “decide” to give up a military assignment.
Wednesday, October 2, 2002 The Guardian has a story up on Israeli and American targeting Israel's critics via email harrassment and identity theft.
Throughout July and August, numerous organisations and individuals who support the Palestinian cause, oppose war in the Middle East, support human rights and are just generally critical of Israel, were harassed and interfered with. Among the victims was Monica Terazi, director of the New York office of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). She was harassed and her identity stolen by hackers, which resulted in, for a time, Yahoo groups taken her account off line. When she reported this assault to the FBI, she was told no law had been broken - no money had been stolen, no computers physically damaged, public safety had not been endangered. The entire hacker operation, according to the FBI, was simply an exercise protected by the First Amendment. Why should the FBI take such a dismissive position on activities that, in many states of the Union, are now recognised as a form of, to quote the Pennsylvania statute, "harassment and stalking by communication"?
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Borders is selling old Granta volumes for . I picked up one on Africa and another on "New Europe." The former has several gems, including an excellent long essay by Paul Theroux about his time in Malawi as a peace corp volunteer at the age of twenty-three. There is also a series of photographs capturing the unimaginable atrocities in Rwanda. The photographs especially resonante as the Ivory Coast -- long considered "the most stable" state in Western Africa -- has fallen to manufactured ethnic and religious tention.
No one likes to talk about Africa. It is the one place that consistantly breaks all rules regarding diplomacy except that, corruption begets corruption. Still, to believe an entire continent -- and one that is rich of natural resources -- is a wasteland because of political upheaval, is entirely too pessimitic. Then again, the only notable solution, as George Ayyitey spells out Africa in Chaos, is step back and let them on their own. Gary Dempsy best articulates the importance of non-intervensionism and the impossibility of nation-building in Fool's Errands.
However hopeless it may seem, it's important to note democracy did once exist in African tribes. They were leading something of a libertarian paradise before colonialists decended and attempted cultural hegemony. When they took off in 1960's the traditions were long broken and impossible to repair. What happened was, Western-worshipping dictators came to power expecting to build Africa's answer to Paris in a day. But they only succeeded in padding their Swiss bank accounts and killing ungodly numbers of civillians
Wednesday, October 2, 2002 "They wanted to go for the brass ring and really live the good life," Braxton said. "What they don't seem to get is that the key to living the good life is to avoid that brass ring like the fucking plague."
Today's Onion story Temp Hides Fun, Fulfilling Life from Office is all too true, as I watch my friends labor away at five jobs and law school applications. What's the rush? Aren't these supposed to be the golden years? To my family's chagrin, what I get out of an education in economics is the knowledge wealth isn't just currency. You can have a billion dollars but no leisure time, and thus what your life's value? Gain life experiences before work experiences. Don't find out when your thirty what you could have done at twenty. Do it now.
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
There's a good article in The Asia Times entitled, Bush shoots his Weapon of Mass Democracy:
The normally cool - if not coldly analytical - Anthony Cordesman was uncharacteristically heated as he warmed to his subject. "It may be excusable as a fantasy of some Israelis reacting to the trauma of the second Intifada. As American policy, however, it crosses the line between neo-conservative and neo-crazy."
Cordesman, a Mideast specialist at the conservative Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, was speaking about the latest rationale offered with increasing insistence by forces both within the administration of President George W Bush and outside it for invading Iraq: the notion that ousting President Saddam Hussein would result in a flourishing of democracy, not just in Iraq, but through the entire Middle East
Tuesday, October 1, 2002 My protege is now my successor.
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
The kids at K5 are in heated debate over the Harvard divestiture proposal. Says one poster:
Dershowitz thinks that by simply claiming that there are not divestiture movements for Turkey, China, and Sri Lanka, people will take it at face value, and thus follow his conclusions that the people who are calling for Israeli divestment are raging Jew-haters. The fact that the poster of this article would have not even have questioned this premise enough to do 5 minutes of research to discover otherwise is a tribute to the hype that statements like Dershowitz's can generate.
There are divestiture movements for China, Turkey, and Sri Lanka. Many, many such movements. The majority of the people that signed the academic petition for Israeli divestiture are also active in these movements, and have signed similiar petitions. This can be researched and proven quite simply. Dershowitz knows this full well, but tried to obfuscate the issue in order to advance his agenda. Summers is just a stooge who will say anything to avoid getting in trouble.
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
Michael Manville has another insightful essay up on Freezerbox.
There have been too many dark hints, implied threats and strong words to simply walk away; the gun mentioned in the first act must always go off in the third. We have literally talked ourselves into fighting...
It should go without saying that this is a terrible reason to invade a sovereign nation, and to the Administration's credit, it has tried to come up with better ones. The problem has been twofold; lack of evidence and lack of consistency.
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
I never thought I'd be a welfare-state apologist, but libertarians have really got Scandinavia all wrong. Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway round up the top of Transparency International's least corrupt countries (as cited below.) Is it any wonder? They're genuinely nice, friendly people that have somehow contained vices to allow for an enormous government that works just as well (or just as badly) as our own.
I also don't want to argue with Hayek, but his 1977 interview with Reason perpetuates libertarian mythology:
Reason: If big government is really the culprit, why do Sweden and many Scandinavian welfare states seem to be prospering?
Hayek: Well, we mustn't generalize. Sweden and Switzerland are the two countries which have escaped the damages of two wars and have become repositories of a large part of the capital of Europe. In Switzerland, there is still some traditional instinct against government interference. Switzerland is a marvelous example where, when the politicians become too progressive, the people hold a referendum and promptly say, "No!"
Reason: Yet Sweden is reasonably successful...
Hayek: Yes. But there is perhaps more social discontent in Sweden than in almost any other country I have been. The standard feeling that life is really not worth living is very strong in Sweden. Although they can hardly conceive of things being different than what they're used to, I think the doubt about their past doctrines is quite strong.
Not really. It's irrational to believe the depression rate is correlated to anything greater than their long dark winters.
The smallness and intimacy of the countries, and hegemeny in ideals means they can use the public sector more effectively. Their governments have balanced budgets. Their people are also much more informed citizens. That is not to say a limited government would not thrive there. Not at all. That Scandinavia can work so well despite lack in fiscal freedoms, only shows how much more successful they can be with classically liberal policies. As soon as libertarians stop make excuses about the nature of countries they (often times) have never seen, we might effectively convince them to abandon their welfare ways.
Monday, September 30, 2002
How irritating the right-wing holds John Walker Lindh as poster-boy for the perils of liberal parenting. Look, he followed his dream; it just happens his dream was nuts. A true parenting failure is one of the many closeted homosexuals that brings a gun to his temple. When it comes down to it, the statism of the "left" is preferable to the "right." You can teach the former philosophy and economics; but you can never open a stubbornly closed-mind.
Speaking of lefties, the least corrupt country, according to Transparency International's Corruption Index, is Finland. Not to make this post the written equivalent of a Precious Moments figurine, but quality of life and open-mindedness go hand and hand ... into the sunset ... like two peas in pod ... double cherries, whatever. Finland's President is the bisexual Tarja Halonen, but hold your horses guys...
Monday, September 30, 2002
No, the Blogosphere is not lost. Do read the economist Max Sawicky's blog. Check out the posts, Fisk This and I'll Take Sweden. He's gone immediatly into my "daily" folder. On that note, today Justin Raimondo links to this nasty thread about a wardoll in a JC Penny catalog. The mud slings until someone comes along to silence them with something from Jane's
It is rather strange that the US media, with one notable exception, seems to be ignoring what may well prove to be the most explosive story since the 11 September attacks - the alleged break-up of a major Israeli espionage operation in the United States which aimed to infiltrate both the justice and defence departments and which may also have been tracking Al-Qaeda terrorists before the aircraft hijackings took place.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been quick to dismiss a 4 March report by Intelligence Online, a French web site that specialises in security matters (and expanded on by French daily Le Monde the following day) that US authorities had arrested or deported some 120 Israelis since February 2001 and that the investigation was still continuing. The FBI insists that no Israeli has been charged with espionage, but has agreed that an undisclosed number of Israeli students have been expelled for "immigration violations". Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden dismissed the espionage allegations as "an urban myth that’s been circulating for months..."
[S]ome FBI officials did confirm at the time that the Israelis were running a major eavesdropping operation that had penetrated into the highest echelons of the US administration.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
The Hirshhorn film on James Nachtwey was excellent as expected. What was not expected is, Nachtwey has an eeiry resemblence to my father in both looks and demeanor. Nachtwey is not at all loud or extroverted (like Henry Rollins who was in the audience and couldn't shut-up until the film started,) but soft-spoken, gentle, and calm. As is indicated in this interview with PBS, he takes thoughtful pauses giving credibility to his conviction
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: You said when you were taking these pictures of Romania, you just wanted to leave, but you didn't leave. Why? What is the value? What is it you're trying to do?
JAMES NACHTWEY: If I cave in, if I fold up because of the emotional obstacles that are in front of me, I'm useless. There is no point in me being there in the first place. And I think if you go to places where people are experiencing these kinds of tragedies with a camera, you have a responsibility. The value of it is to make an appeal to the rest of the world, to create an impetus where change is possible through public opinion. Public opinion is created through awareness. My job is to help create the awareness.
Although I cannot begin to describe the documentary in so little space, I'll leave you with this quote:
It has occured to me that if everyone could be there just once to see for themselves what white phosphorous does to the face of a child or what unspeakable pain is caused by the impact of a single bullet or how a jagged piece of shrapnel can rip someone's leg off - if everyone could be there to see for themselves the fear and the grief, just one time, then they would understand that nothing is worth getting things to the point where that happens to even one person, let alone thousands
The antiwar movement has got to dump its sanctimony. Public opinion is never going to change until people understand its the lives lost, and not the loud mouths (like #!&$#! Henry Rollins,) that matter. But then there is that Catch-22. People like Nachtwey, try to "shake people out of their indifference," but don't want the spotlight.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
I spent today at the Indymedia center doing coding and pitching ideas to Zoe. I posted a few things, such as this little essay Strength in Numbers that were completely, suprise surprise, misinterpreted by the indyreadership.
There are a lot of misconceptions going around, namely, that these were not peaceful protests. The fuzz went apeshit and arrested everybody on bogus grounds -- like for jaywalking -- when they were centralized in a park. They detained the medics, the lawyers, and the media (including an NPR rep.) It was completely strategic. Conveniently, on the morning of the protest, the police busted a group house of legal assistants. So of course no one was there to get them out of trouble, as busloads of handcuffed college kids waited for ten hours without food or water to get fingerprinted.
And don't get me started on the "bomb" scare -- in the past the police have confiscated red peppers (you know, like what you put in a salad) and called them "molotov cocktails." Goodbye civil rights, then again, you guys were supposed to leave them at the airport.
One thing that infuriated the IMC is when the Palestineans step on their antiwar demonstrations. Since when is suicide bombing pacifism? Since a collective body can never see beyond its nose?
Sunday, September 29, 2002 Bill keeps trying to get me to read the Bleats (I don't know the URL, maybe www.bleats.com or www.lileiks.com) but nothing there ever catches my eye. He has pretty standard material that is not particularly clever. Or maybe it's because my "Bookmarks" take up a gig of my hard drive already and I've got to discriminate somehow (yellow background, red text? Click off!)
Before you know it, the blog trend will be shot. The Blogdex makes sites individually irrelevant. And as Google News has completely kicked Yahoo headlines to the curb, meanwhile providing a full information fix; what's the point in checking up on the usual suspects except maybe for a laugh (at their expense)?
That being said, I wish more of my friends had sites, so I could check in on them. I keep meaning to set something up for my friend and philosophy guru, James, so he'll have an outlet to discuss federalism (besides over the phone with me.) I really like Dennison's stuff and lament the deleted "in prague" section (just how many people live in the world's most beautiful city and model in Craid David videos?) Alina's Totalitarianism Today is going to turn the world upside down (unless she gets a job in the meantime.) Don't just take my word for it, check out what The Agitator has to say (or drool.) Zoe also gets groupies. She's a real internet celebrity via IMC (she's got a a folder in her email entitled "people obsessed with me.") Give her a couple of days to relay the atrocities of the IMF protests. Julian Sanchez has the only multi-paragraph posts I actually read, rather than skim through, but that's because he's funny. I've discovered my former coworker Jerry Brito's site through hefty detective work (no, not really.) He's the first person who ever told me we could do without any intellectual property. And indeed, that idea sent my mind around a serious bend.
The other two blogs I read are from casual acquaintances, Sasha Volokh and Gene Healy.
So the point of this post is basically I don't have time to care what nameless, faceless internet people blog about, because I'm pretty much up to my chin keeping up on the eloquent works of the people within this bubble of enlightenment I socialize with.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
Little known facts about me:
