Blogging on liberty, capitalism, reason, international affairs and foreign policy, from a distinctly libertarian and objectivist perspective
05 July 2007
Alan Johnston's release
04 July 2007
Garuda banned from the EU
America's Cup loss
03 July 2007
Travel today and the friend of Ken Livingstone
02 July 2007
Religious madness, and another reason for the secular state
Ahmadinejad's popularity plummets
01 July 2007
Glasgow Airport and British Islamism
29 June 2007
Attempted bombing in London
28 June 2007
You don't own your body - the government does
The Blair years
I could say he has failed miserably to confront a wide range of problems in Britain, but would John Major have done much better? Unlikely. Will Gordon Brown? Highly unlikely. Would David Cameron? Well, except for perhaps more market in social policy, taking a tougher stance on the EU and opposing ID cards, there isn't much to choose from.
27 June 2007
Greens and communists
The shine comes off Cameron the unprincipled
26 June 2007
Video on demand entertainment on Air NZ Trans Tasman/Pacific flights
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The 767s fly all services to Cairns, Honolulu, Perth, and Tahiti, and some from Auckland to Apia, Nandi, Rarotonga, Nuku'alofa, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney, and extensions of flights from Apia, Nandi and Rarotonga to/from Los Angeles (the long slow way from Auckland to LA).
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The A320s fly all services from Wellington and Christchurch to Australia and the Pacific, and from Auckland to Noumea and Port Vila, and some from Auckland to Adelaide, Apia, Brisbane, Melbourne, Nandi, Norfolk Island, Nuku'alofa, Rarotonga and Sydney.
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Finally NZ can compete a bit better with the likes of Emirates across the Tasman, only the odd international 737 flight (usually to Niue and Norfolk Island, but occasionally elsewhere) will be without any decent entertainment. What the report doesn't note is that this means new seats on the 767s in both classes.
19 June 2007
Rushdie knighthood provokes murderous talk
13 June 2007
Nanny State UK on breasts
12 June 2007
Bill English provides hope?
11 June 2007
Herald on Sunday
Putin's week (by Hugo Rifkind)
“Now come on,” says Blair. “We let you into the G8. And Eurovision. What more can you want? Not Nato?”
“Ha!” I say, scowling as I realise how much nicer his suit is than mine. “Maybe I will run for the deputy leadership of your Labour Party, yes? Impeccable left-wing credentials, ha?”
“That is ridiculous,” says Blair, adding, “Gosh! Nice sandals.”
“Boom!” I say, darkly, and then wander off, to mutter combative things about whales to the man from Canada, and freak out Angela Merkel by inviting her to lunch. "
Albania welcomes Bush as a friend. Do you wonder why?
The first time I had ever heard of Albania was when National Geographic magazine visited it, in the early 1980s. It profiled a country that was, by and large, medieval. People went around in oxcarts, technology seemed to have passed it by, and it had what was, on the outside, a quaint insular appearance.
10 June 2007
Why freedom?
I do believe state welfare should be phased out, but that is hardly heartless. State welfare has provided a bridge for some, but for many it has sapped their will to do better. Worse, it has become a tool for electoral bribes, with Working for Families being the latest example of trying to bind most families to the state. It is far better for the state to not take any tax from those on low incomes and have a flat tax of every dollar earnt about a threshold of, say, $10000. Voluntary charity is far more caring, moral and effective. I don't believe there is a right to a living paid for by everyone else, what if everyone claimed that right?
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I don't believe that the state does a good job as a health or education provider, or that all children should have similar education. Children are as diverse as their parents, and parents generally know best what education their kids should have, as most parents love their children more than anyone or anything. Education should truly impart a spectrum of philosophies, a respect and appreciation for success - something that our current youth culture appears to denigrate especially amongst boys, especially amongst Maori boys. It is a damning indictment on post-modernist education that schools look to accommodate the tall poppy syndrome by catering for the average, instead of nurturing the tall poppies. I'm not interested in the average, very little of the difference between life today and life one thousand years ago is because of people being average.
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Health care is also diverse, and the system should incentivise people to live healthily, not through taxes or health campaigns that treat people like children.
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Most of all I oppose people who think they have the right to the property of others, unearnt, without choice. It could be those calling for unbundling Telecom's local loop, or any lobbyist wanting money from the government for their pet project.
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The fundamental measure of civilisation is the extent to which human beings are allowed to make choices, to use their minds to decide for themselves, on everything. As long as one human being does not initiate force against another, then they are civilised. Violence is the tool of the caveman. Using the state to apply the violence for you is no more civilised, it is the velvet glove over the fist. Ask yourself next time when you wish the government would do something (other than law and order and defence), whether you'd do it yourself, or whether you'd like the government to do it to you too.