Let's you and him fight!

RBC also attacks Silent Running's contract argument, saying

Maybe Silent Running isn’t for free markets and private property. With conservatives, it’s sometimes hard to tell.

Yeah, let's you and him fight. Though I'm somewhat curious - usually, Libertarians will defend unto death the sanctity of contracts. No matter how one-sided, onerous, or silly, if you signed it, you have to fulfil it (I should add that normally this position is taken in discussions of employment law, and how much better off low-wage workers would be if they could freely contract for their services rather than be oppressed by all that cruel government regulation on minimum wages and safety and such). Is RBC abandoning this? Is he for example suggesting that contractual clauses can be ignored if they are (in his opinion) "silly"? Or is he just denying the government the right to contract that he would grant to every other person or corporation, solely on the grounds that they're the government?

(I know that RBC thinks that government shouldn't be in the business of assigning landing rights (or anything else, for that matter), but the fact is that they are in the business. The question is why he thinks that a contract can be "fine if the owner of the airways and landing rights was a private entity", but unacceptable if said owner is the government. Does he have any answer other than the usual frothing at the mouth and raving about how Government is EVIL? I think not.)

Wet busticket

The US Army handed out honourable discharges for abusing POWs? Talk about a wet busticket...

Discrimination, part II

Running Blog Capitalist has the answer to Silent Running's problem with Air Emirates: Just discriminate back! This probably works fine if you're rich and powerful, but what if you're not?

More importantly, what if there are no alternative, non-discriminating providers? What happens if no-one is willing to sell you food, rent you a house, employ you, or even transport you to a less discriminatory regime? The Libertarian answer to this situation is simply "fuck off and starve". People with any sort of conscience will find that answer unacceptable.

(But then, this is Libertarianism in a nutshell, isn't it? "Inalienable" rights which are in practice worthless, because they are interpreted only in a negative sense. Even the right that seems most dear to them - the right to freely participate in the marketplace, to sink or swim according to your own merits - is poisoned by this. Such "rights" are as meaningless as those guaranteed in the old Soviet constitution; they're nothing but a cruel joke)

The reason we have a Human Rights Act and other anti-discrimination legislation is to realise those rights and allow everyone to participate fully in society. We cannot live together in a society where the weak can be victimised at will by those posessing market power, and we cannot under any circumstances allow a situation where an individual or a group is so discriminated against that they cannot participate fully in society (both morally and practically; it's a recipe for open warfare). This is why we insist that services be provided in a non-discriminatory fashion, that people not be victimised for their beliefs, sexuality, or the colour of their skin.

(Meanwhile, I leave it to the readers to savour the irony of a Righty defending anti-semitism, instead of using it to smear anyone who criticises Israel...)

New Fisk

British soldiers 'kicked Iraqi prisoner to death'

Manufactured politics

As if manufactured music wasn't bad enough, British TV producers are reportedly planning a political version of Pop Idol, designed to give us manufactured politicians. They even have the gall to try and sell it as direct democracy:

Government by focus group is something we all disdain as short-sighted and superficial - but what if the focus group were millions of people, actively deliberating together as we exercise our power?

I think that really depends on how superficially the program frames the issues. And given that this is RealityTV - a format notorious for concentrating on pointless arguments, tits and arse, and evicting anyone ugly or "boring" - I expect they'll be going for the most superficial, sensational treatment they possibly can. Anything to get those ratings up.

Sorry, but I think this is a bad idea. If you're trying to restore people's faith in politics, then making things even more superficial and manufactured is not the way to go about it. Though I suppose it might lead to prettier, better dressed MPs.

They made it!

NASA's Spirit rover has landed on Mars. Guess they stuck to metric the whole way through this time.

Still no sign of Beagle 2.

Bringing freedom to Iraq

Having censored the press, rehired Saddam's old secret police, and banned labour unions, the occupation authority has now banned all public demonstrations. Unless they're pro-American, of course - then they can get a permit.

This new American version of "freedom" is looking more and more like life under Saddam with every passing day. What next? "Elections" with only CPA-approved candidates?

New Fisk

Far From Baghdad, Soldiers And Pilgrims Shake Hands

Why the Dutch are better occupiers than the Americans

Because they at least bother to arrest people who shoot civillians. Unlike the Americans, who seem to be able to gun down entire carloads without penalty.

Discrimination

Via Darkness, Silent Running tells a story of blatant discrimination by Air Emirates.

It's a shame that Circling Apollo has quit; otherwise we could all look forward to a post about they have the right to discriminate against anyone they want to, and that the "Human Wrongs Commissariat" has no right to interfere...

Pacific Guantanamo

The Dominion-Post is doing its job, devoting the front three pages this morning to giving the Australians a damn good squicking over their concentration camp on Nauru. Conditions in the camp - little food or water, inadequate medical care - are so hopeless that they make Guantanamo look good; no wonder people are sewing their lips together and starving themselves to death.

While the government does not want to be used as a dumping ground for Australia's problems, we cannot condone this. We should take these people and offer them asylum - not from Afghanistan, but from the Australians. While Howard and his chums are shameless (they must be, to have established something this obscene), I still have some hope that the Australian people are not.

I'm also concerned about the steps the Australian government has taken to keep their Pacific Guantanamo out of the public eye. They control all access to the island (all visitors must be vetted by Australia), and the local government seems to be little more than a puppet. As a result, they've been able to make sure that this has stayed out of the public consciousness, by denying access to refugee advocates, media, politicians - in short, anyone who cares. Australia is supposed to be a democracy, but they're using the tactics of totalitarians to prevent public oversight of their decisions. Perhaps Howard has a sense of shame after all... or maybe just a sense of fear at what the Australian public will think if they were confronted with what is being done in their name.

New Fisk

A Cruel Sense of Humor is All That is Left for Iraqis to Cling to After a Suicide Bombing
Mr Bush has one priority for 2004: Get America out of Iraq. Fast
Web lets Palestinian children find world beyond refugee camp

American airline craziness

The Americans seem to be in hyper-paranoid holiday mode, cancelling flights all over the place, sometimes even in mid-air, following them with fighters, or interrogating everyone at the other end only to find that their "suspected terrorists" are children and welsh insurance salesmen rather than democrats and greens (better update that watch list, guys). At the same time, they have differential security treatment for first-class passengers at their airports, because rich people shouldn't be held up by all this security kerfuffle, and everyone knows that terrorists are all poor arabs (and democrats and greens) anyway...

[Taps side of head] These RomansAmericans are crazy....

Why environmental regulation is necessary

One of the favourite memes of free-marketeers is that government regulation on pollution and the environment is unnecessary, as companies can and will voluntarily curb their emissions. Bush has bought into this hook, line, and sinker, and promoted a voluntary scheme to reduce carbon emissions. So, in the free market paradise that is America, you'd expect it to be a stunning succes, right? Wrong!

Only a tiny fraction of the thousands of U.S. companies with pollution problems -- 50 in all -- have joined Climate Leaders, and of the companies that have signed up, only 14 have set goals. Many of the companies that are volunteering say they did so either because reducing emissions makes good economic sense or because they were being nudged by state and federal regulators.

Industry groups, meanwhile, have crafted their own programs under a Bush administration initiative called "Climate VISION," but none of the programs requires individual companies to either enlist in the program or set goals for emission reductions.

Many of the companies with the worst pollution records have shunned the voluntary programs because even a voluntary commitment would necessitate costly cleanups or possibly could set the stage for future government regulation, according to industry insiders.

[...]

"Some just see it as a slippery slope," said a lobbyist for several major utilities.

Meanwhile, an administration official has the gall to claim "[Companies] are stepping up to the plate in a way they never have -- never did in the 1990s". Yeah, right. Most of the participants "are perennial 'good citizens' who were participating in 'green' programs years before Bush called for volunteers." Everyone else just goes on spewing their crap into the environment like they always did.

The reason voluntary schemes don't work of course is because polluters are not forced to pay the full cost of their activities. Rather than shell out for cleanup, health costs and mitigation of effects, they are able to externalise and dump these costs on other people (meaning, ultimately, us poor dumb schmucks at the bottom). This requires government regulation, either to impose those costs, or to threaten punishment unless polluters clean up their act.

Thoughts on Jennifer Government

If a rather nasty satire about the dreams of Libertarians, Randroids, and marketing-proles is the sort of thing that appeals to you, you'll probably enjoy it. If OTOH you take any of the above seriously, then you probably won't. Personally, I found it extremely funny. There was one bit, however, that really buried the needle on the ironometer: a rant about how without government interference, companies will be able to pay people to tattoo corporate logos on their foreheads, make computers that need repairs after three months, reward consumers who complain about their competitors in the media, pay children to recruit their siblings to their brand of cigarettes, and hire the NRA to eliminate the competition. Apart form the NRA thing, isn't all of that already happening?

Defence spending

ACT is whining about our low level of defence spending again, saying that we should "concentrate first on addressing future threats to our security".

What future threats are those? Australia? Nauru? Penguins from Antarctica? No-one is threatening us, and given our location at the arse-end of the world, no-one is ever likely to (or rather, no-one that we can defend ourselves against; anyone who can threaten us can also walk all over us). The only reason we even have an army is so we can give the loonies who like to play with guns something to do that doesn't endanger the rest of us.

I'm happy to spend "only" 0.9% of GDP on defence; hell, I'd be happy to spend less. But I certainly wouldn't be happy spending more. The government has far more important things to spend our money on - like health, education, welfare, or basic policing.

One rule for you, another for me

Having previously imposed lengthy bans on countries with BSE problems, the US is now demanding that similar restrictions on US beef be lifted. Because, like, it's American, and how dare those foreigners question the safety of Patriotic American Beef!

No doubt they'll be taking it to the WTO next, calling the restrictions a "barrier to free trade".

New Fisk

War Takes An Inhuman Twist With Cats, Dogs and Donkeys Turned Into Bombs.

Good news from Israel

An Israeli soldier has been arrested for shooting an unarmed British peace activist.

Now, if only they'd start arresting soldiers who shoot unarmed Palestinians as well. Shooting civillians is not war; it is not "self-defence"; it is murder. Israel claims to be a democracy and a civilised country; it is long past time they started acting like it.

New Fisk

The Occupiers, As Ever, Are Damned Either Way - Especially When The Innocent Die
UK Charity Seeks Compensation Over "Lost" Cancer Drugs For Iraqi Children
Clerics plead with guerrillas to think of civilians as US counter-attacks take toll