Change of Location
OK, so I doubt if any of you still check out this blog, but just in case, I thought I should let you know that this blog is official defunct.
I have, however, been invited to join the team over at GM's Corner. Though they are conservatives, not libertarians, I think I will enjoy my stay there. Please be sure to stop by and check us out.
I will also resume my writing at Balance of Power. So stop by there as well.
Lastly, for fans of Girl Friday, I will be starting a new blog dedicated to just that at Friday Girls. In addition to my normal selection of beauties that I glean from around the web, I am going to try to find actual amateurs to post as well. If you know anyone interested, let me know.
Thu, 09 Feb 2006 11:40:56 -0600
Political State of the Country
OK...so I have been absent for a couple of months, but I have no real complaints as my absence has been due to the success of my ongoing business endeavors and the greatly increased work load that success is bringing. Also other than being quite hot and humid, Hong Kong is a fascinating place and a good many of the people I deal with in mainland China are as adamantly anti-Communist as I am.
I am still just as busy, but I thought I should put my two cents worth in on this week's Balance of Power post concerning the current political state of our country. There is no doubt that our country is in a rather ugly place, politically speaking, these days.
They are determined to keep the country in an extended state of strife, no matter what that takes. Apparently through their rose colored glasses, this is what the country needs and even wants.
Two months ago it looked as if the Republicans were in a better position, but even then, I warned that a fight was coming. After their long exile from legislative power, the GOP regained power by putting forth the Contract with America. Well I am here to tell you that they are in complete default with the terms of that contract and a large portion of the Republican party is now figuring that out.
With both parties undergoing major turmoil, it is not surprising that they would seek to obfuscate this inner fighting with increased partisan attacks on the other party. What is the citizenry of this country to do when the Democrats have become become so farcical and devoid of rational ideas that they appear almost as a parody of themselves and the Republicans have completely dropped any facade that their goal is to reduce the scope of government rather than to remain in power?
Most other democracies in the world don't just have two major parties, but several smaller parties each of which is unable to get a majority on its own. They form coalitions with other parties that share some basic principles in order to form a controlling government. In many ways, that is what we have as well, but the differing factions first align under the umbrellas of the two major parties. Internal bickering is then settled in house. However, as of late, it is becoming apparent that these factions often has as much in different as they have in common and internal dirty laundry is spilling out for the whole country to smell (and believe me, it is not a pleasant smell).
I don't see the internal problems of the parties going away any time soon, so I doubt that the country will find any type of political peace soon. The more the parties fracture internally, the more they will strike out externally and the more divided the country as a whole will become.
Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:00:26 -0500
Touch of Liberty
OK...the highly anticipated remake of the "Touch of Liberty" skin is complete. Just click the skin of your choice over on the left.
Just a reminder..."Touch of Liberty" is NOT work safe.
Also, scroll all the way to the bottom for a new addition. Hope you enjoy!
Tue, 26 Jul 2005 20:07:20 -0500
Federal Involvement in Public Education
I have never been a fan of the federal government's involvement in public education. I believe that such things are best handled at the most local level possible. Actually, I believe that education should be handled privately, but since we live in a nanny state, that is not likely to happen. So given that, we should at least be nannied as locally as possible. The local community is certainly better in tune with its children's educational needs than a bunch of career bureaucrats in D.C.
Unfortunately, Uncle Sam didn't see it that way back in 1953. At that time, the country was still awash in putrid movement of the previous two decades to expand federal power beyond anything that even closely resembled constitutional restraint. Government was the answer to all that ailed you. So with such widespread sentiment, Eisenhower brought into existence the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Over the course of the next few decades, the guys and gals in D.C. became ever more involved in the social engineering of public schools. By 1979, that meddling became so pervasive that it was determined that it was time for the Department of Education to strike out on its own as an independent bureaucracy.
Both Democrats and Republicans alike, have continued to bloat the DoE's budget and meddling. I remember back in the 90s when many Republicans actually called for the elimination of the DoE. In fact, as this article points out, it was once even a part of the GOP platform:
The GOP platform was clear: "The Federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the market place. This is why we will abolish the Department of Education."
Alas, that was when they had no power. Now they are "compassionate" conservatives and free spenders.
Whenever he can, President Bush touts the huge spending increases necessary to promote his No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). But it's not just NCLB funding that has increased: the entire education budget has ballooned during the president's time in office. The Department of Education's budget has grown by 82.5 percent in real terms from $34.9 billion in FY2001 to $63.7 billion in FY2005. This is the largest increase of any president since Lyndon Johnson.
And President Bush's 2006 budget asks for more of the same. Every state sees an increase in grant money, nearly 5 percent on average. The average state receives a level of grant funding that is more than 50 percent higher than when President Bush took office; no state has an increase less than 35 percent.
But don't get confused into thinking that almost doubling federal spending on education is enough. Even with such huge increases in spending, there are constant calls for more:
In spite of the GOP's extravagance, Democrats constantly criticize the Administration for not spending enough. During the presidential campaign, Kerry told voters that the President was not serious about education and promised that, if elected, he would spend an additional $27 billion.
It is as if the politicians are all the title character in Brewster's Millions. They are in a race to see who can waste the most money and the prize is re-election. It doesn't help that they are being egged on by the NEA and AFT which scarily enough have even more influence on public education than Uncle Sam.
Meanwhile, such idiotic notions as social promotion and "whole language" persist. Public education has become nothing more than a wide scale social engineering experiment conducted by so-called education experts. It is no wonder that 25% of public school teachers either homeschool or send their kids to private school. If it is not good enough for those perpetrating it, it sure isn't good enough for my child.
Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:35:45 -0500
Just Like When I was a Kid
OK...not exactly. When I was a kid, I specifically remember my Dad pulling my some of my loose teeth using the ol' string trick. He wouldn't tie it to the doorknob, but would instead just jerk it hard and quick. It always went off without a hitch.
My daughter is at the point where she is about to lose her third and fourth teeth. I told her the story about my Dad and she wanted to give it a try. The tooth in question in at the point that she can literally push it to a perpendicular position in relation to the rest of her teeth, so I thought sure, we can do that.
I got a piece of dental floss and fashioned it into a tightening slip knot and looped it around her tooth. I then gave it a really hard jerk. Instead of a tooth dangling from a string and a happy child, I got a screaming little girl that wouldn't even talk to me for twenty minutes. Apparently that one little section still holding on is determined not to give up.
Needless to say, the rest of her teeth will be falling out of their own accord, just as her first two did.
Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:06:53 -0500
Global Warming
For those of you new to my site, I would like to let you know that in addition to this blog, I am also a member of a group blog called The Balance of Power. BoP is a bit different than most group blogs. Rather than a collection of like-minded bloggers forming their own echo chamber, we have a diverse group including liberals, conservatives and libertarians.
On Mondays and Thursdays, one member will pick a topic to post about and the rest of us then reply, in the same post, to what they have written. We also open up comments so that you can all give your thoughts on the topic at hand. Today's post at The Balance of Power is now up. This week's topic is that great canard, Global Warming. As always, you will find my response below as well as on BoP:
Great topic Zaph. There is much too much blind hysteria surrounding what I believe to be one of the great canards of our time. Indeed, those scientists in Europe are not alone in their skepticism:
At a news conference held in Ottawa, some of North America's foremost climate experts provided evidence demonstrating that the science underlying the Kyoto Protocol is seriously flawed; a problem that continues to be ignored by the Canadian government.
Some of us have been pointing this out for years. There are so many problems with the theories produced that it is almost incomprehensible that so many governments, pseudo-governments (UN) and environmental groups ran with this.
Carleton University Professor Tim Patterson (Paleoclimatologist) explains the crucial importance of properly evaluating the merit of Canada's climate change plans: "It is no exaggeration to say that in the eight years since the Kyoto Protocol was introduced there has been a revolution in climate science. If, back in the mid-nineties, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would not exist because we would have concluded it was not necessary."
Hopefully more scientists will see this as a call to come out of the closet, so to speak. The "global warming" hysteria has had far too many truly objective scientists afraid to speak out for fear of losing government grants and unwarranted hazing from scientists riding the GW gravy train.
Contrary to claims that the science of climate change has been settled, the causes of the past century's modest warming is highly contested in the climate science community. The climate experts presenting in the video demonstrate that science is quickly diverging away from the hypothesis that the human release of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide, is having a significant impact on global climate. "There is absolutely no convincing scientific evidence that human-produced greenhouse gases are driving global climate change", stated climatologist, Dr. Tim Ball.
In the halls of Turtle Bay and the streets of Paris and Berlin, people would have you believe that human caused global warming is as much a fact as gravity. Perhaps more bravery like that shown by these scientists will bring those people back to reality. Hell, who am I kidding, people treat environmentalism like religion.
Indeed, the effects of signing on to Kyoto are already taking their toll on countries such as New Zealand which is estimated to account for about .2% of global greenhouse emissions:
The cost of a Government Kyoto Protocol botch-up could soar as high as $1.2 billion more than double that estimated by the Treasury last month a new report claims.
The Government last month admitted that it had miscalculated New Zealand's greenhouse gas growth, for which it is liable under the Kyoto Protocol, resulting in an embarrassing $500 million bill rather than a $500m credit.
But the situation could be even worse, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) says.
The PWC analysis shows the company believes the $500m bill estimate is also wrong. It believes the liability will be more like $1.2b to $1.7b above the original estimate.
That is just one country, and a small one at that. My guess is that we will soon start hearing about more and more of the negative impact ratifying Kyoto is having on world economies.
Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:03:07 -0500
New Design
UPDATE: OK...several of my readers were having problems caused by one of the special features that I had incorporated into the design. There for I have implemented a change that should resolve that issue for them. In addition, it should fix the 800x600 issue as well. Thanks for bearing with me as I relearn the lesson that just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should do it.
OK...as you are probably blatantly aware (if you are a regular reader) I have COMPLETELY overhauled the design of my site. It is based on a Japanese art style called Ukiyoe. I have tested it in Opera 7, Firefox 1+, and IE 6 at both 800x600 and 1024x768. I think it looks best in Opera, but very good in FF as well. IE (due to its refusal to become standards compliant) is set up slightly different.
If you view it in 800x600, I recommend toggling (F11 key) to fullscreen as it looks better then. Since I refuse be one of those assclowns that force those viewing at that resolution to fullscreen, I may institute a popup alert recommending it.
The content area on my old site was wider, so there may be some pictures that are wider than the new area in the archives. If you ever come across any, let me know and I will resize them. I may go looking for them myself, but I really doubt it.
The new site is a bit fat due to the PNG-24 pics I used. I have a Photoshop plugin to compress them, but I haven't tried it out yet. The IE site is a bit lighter because I used PNG-8 pics (again because of IE non-compliance) and they are smaller.
I hope you like the new design. Be sure to let me know what you think or if you find any bugs. I am also going to redo the white "Touch of Liberty" skin when I get a chance.
Mon, 25 Jul 2005 17:15:52 -0500
In case you are not familiar with the LRC, it is a group of reform minded libertarians who understand that the Libertarian Party, as it is now organized, serves as more of an echo-chamber for those that score at the very tip of The World's Smallest Political Quiz (which I do), than as a political party striving to elect candidate in order to have a real impact on government and its abuses. Having a debate club is fine. I enjoy discussing libertarian philosophy more than most, but I want to actually see it put into effect one day. I will probably never know true freedom, but my daughter might.
Politics is an ugly business; that cannot be denied. However, no matter how unpleasant we as libertarians may find such things, it is a reality of the situation in which we currently find ourselves. Here in the US we were fortunate to have had founding fathers that knew first hand the crushing grip of tyranny. Thanks to their efforts, we have managed to stave off the specter of creeping Statism that has most of the rest of world completely engulfed. Make no mistake though, it IS engulfing us and unless we are willing to engage in the political battle, we leave the fate of freedoms to the likes of those currently deflowering our constitution at all levels of government.
If you are truly a freedom lover, then please take a look at the LRC. You do not have to be a member of the LP to join. You just have to be committed to political engagement of those who would strip you of the precious few rights you still have.
Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:24:02 -0500
Girl Friday Extravaganza
I am still working on getting the bugs out of the new design, but here is the highly anticipated Girl Friday Extravaganza. This should more than make up for any and all GF postings I have missed in the past. Enjoy:
Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:07:46 -0500
Slight Delay
Well, I intended to have the new site up by now, but I am having problems with the IE version (of course). The header does not want to load for some reason and the site loads REALLY slow in IE. The IE site is already limited due to it not properly handling .png file transparency. I have replaced the .pngs on that version with .jpgs and .gifs, but you will really miss out if you use IE because I plan to implement some cool features that just won't work in IE.
On the upside, at least you have the colored scrollbars in IE.
If anyone wants to take a look at the site and help me figure out what is wrong, you can find it here.
Oh, and the sooner it is done, the sooner I post my Girl Friday Extravaganza to make up for all those I missed.
UPDATE: OK, I just found a MAJOR flaw in the design that will require a fairly extensive rework (I think). It looks as if the debut of the new design will be pushed to Monday.
Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:09:01 -0500
Interesting Question
While I am working on the final touches of my redesign, I have decided to provide an open thread for the discussion of a question put forth in this article by Matt Welch.
You're on a lifeboat, but it can only hold 8 of the original 10 amendments without sinking, killing your whole family. Which ones go?
Please list the 2 you would sacrifice and why.
Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:39:34 -0500
I'm back!
OK, so I am now officially back. I was supposed to be in China right now, but something came up with a client that had me pinned here in the States, so my partner is handling things in China on his own.
The project I am working on here is in a temporary standstill until the completion of some required testing is completed. Unfortunately, that testing is behind schedule and I can't move forward until it is complete, so my time is relatively free for a while.
I am currently working on a complete site overhaul which I hope to have completed by tomorrow for a grand relaunch of my site.
Thanks for being patient with me. I hope I haven't lost too many readers (or links) while I was gone. If you took my advice and surfed my blogroll, you have been in good hands. There is lot's of exciting stuff happening now, so I hope to make it up to you.
Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:33:55 -0500
LP Billboard
OK, so I know I am supposed to be on hiatus, but I am a sucker for design contests like the one being held at Hammer of Truth. I am not particularly artistic, so they force me to work on a less developed skillset than I normally work with. Besides, I was able to use some of that wasted sleep time between 3 and 4 AM to do it.
Stephen is looking for designs for a billboard campaign in DC and once the design is chosen, he will be looking for monetary contributions as well. If you can contribute to either effort (or both) I am sure that it would be greatly appreciated.
Here is my first contribution:
Sun, 24 Jul 2005 00:40:52 -0500
Two Week Hiatus
As you are all aware, my posting has been extremely light and sporadic lately. I am quite busy with work now, so I am making my blog hiatus official.
I will try to be blogging again in two weeks. In the meantime, check out all the great blogs on my blogroll. Also, don't do anything drastic like removing me from your blogrolls.
I will try to pop in and comment on your blogs when I can.
Sun, 03 Jul 2005 14:10:56 -0500
Final Nail in the Coffin
I really don't have the time to be posting about this, but the Kelo vs. New London decision is too important. Before the end of the day I will have a post about this abomination.
Fri, 24 Jun 2005 09:08:21 -0500
Open Question
I am still quite busy, but came across this statement by Michael J. Totten in the comment section of one of his posts:
So my open question to my readers is what do you think of the veracity of this statement and why?
Wed, 22 Jun 2005 22:26:50 -0500
Girl Friday
Proving that not everything French sucks, Laetitia Casta:
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 01:18:46 -0500
Balance of Power
This week's Balance of Power post is up. This week's topic is abortion. Be sure to stop by and check it out.
Meanwhile, posting here will likely be light while I am making final preps for my upcoming trip to Hong Kong/China. I will try to get at least a couple of quality posts up soon.
When I'm not posting, be sure to check out my blogroll. There is a lot of talent to be discovered.
Mon, 13 Jun 2005 11:57:03 -0500
Palaces of Ineptitude and Deceit
Those that have followed my blogs for some time will be aware of the fact that I homeschool my 5 year old daughter. Due to the demands of my profession and the fact I am a single father, in a few months, when the new school year starts, I will probably have to enroll her in a regular school, though it will be a private school rather than public (at least assuming I am able to get her in one without the usual 1 year lead time required).
I attended both public and private schools growing up and I tell you, the thought of having to send her to a public school scares the hell out of me. So much so, that I may be forced to hire her a full time Nanny/Governess instead so that she can travel with me instead of being "institutionalized" at her Grandparents.
The public school system in this country has become a national disaster and regardless of the ever-increasing billions being flushed away, it is getting worse. Government has proven itself to be completely inept in the field of educating our youth to become productive individuals with the necessary critical thinking skills necessary to succeed. Logic has been replaced by calls to emotion. Perhaps this is fine if a parent wishes to indoctrinate their children into the nebulous of groupthink that now casts its shadow over this country, but I want something a little better for my daughter.
Thanks to the bastardized mixture of wide scale leftism and the worst ideas of conservatism that has taken grasp in the schools (at all levels), kids are forced to wade through their school years with an almost complete lack of clear direction. In addition, rather than being examples to be emulated, educators are increasingly becoming example of what is wrong with our society.
If you have children, that link is a must read. Even if you don't have kids, you should be aware of the things discussed by Ms. Snell.
Thu, 09 Jun 2005 14:19:38 -0500
Do you think it is possible that one or both major political parties could fracture in the next 10 years with the result being a new political party or major movement into an existing third party? If so, please explain your reasoning.
Thu, 09 Jun 2005 09:56:44 -0500
Diagnosis Blunder
Wow...all I can say is that I hope, for his patients' sake, that Dr. Dean was better at being a doctor than he is at being a politician. A diagnostician he is not, and his bedside manner is sorely lacking.
In what strange world could a person possibly look at the diseased state of the Democratic Party, survey the symptoms and come to the conclusion that they were suffering from a bile deficiency? Apparently Howard Dean was a graduate of the Bizzaro School of Medicine. Since his appointment as Democratic National Committee Chairman, he has been serving up unhealthy doses of hate, ignorance, and political ineptness.
His latest prescription was a tablespoon of ridiculousness. Meanwhile, the patients don't seem to be getting better. Judging by this, perhaps it was not the Bizzaro school but rather the Kevorkian school that Dean graduated from. He seems to be administering euthanasia to the party.
What should really bother the Dems is that it is happening at a time when there is internal strife within the Republican Party between its conservative and libertarian wings. They Republicans are weak, but the Dems are even weaker and in no position to do anything about it. Alienating large swathes of the population on an almost daily basis sure isn't going to help them.
Wed, 08 Jun 2005 11:40:49 -0500
United Nations Role in the 21st Century
The new Balance of Power post for this week is up. It was my week to choose the topic, so we are discussing the United Nations. Be sure to stop by and check out the entire post. As I always do, here is my initial contribution:
Sixty years ago, the United Nations came into being. Created as a replacement for its failed ideological ancestor The League of Nations, the UN was intended to be a forum for the stabilization of international relations in an effort to promote peace.
Just as the League of Nations failed at this task, so too has the United Nations. Looking back over the last 60 years, the list of accomplishments by the UN pales in comparison to its list of failures. These failures certainly come as no shock. Throughout its history, the UN has refused to uphold its own charter. Chapter 1, Article 2 lists a set of principles:
The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.
2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.
6. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll.
Violations of these principles are to be dealt with in accordance to Chapter 2, Articles 5 and 6 which state:
Article 5 A Member of the United Nations against which preventive or enforcement action has been taken by the Security Council may be suspended from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The exercise of these rights and privileges may be restored by the Security Council.
Article 6 A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
insofar as I can tell, Article 5 has rarely been used and Article 6 has never been used (please correct me if I am wrong on this point), though Taiwan, a member in good standing, was essentially expelled to placate the PRC.
Such failure to enforce these principles comes as no shock when you see that for the UN's entire history, Communist Russia, and more than half its history, Communist China have sat on the Security Council. These two countries alone account for roughly 100,000,000 deaths and have the bleakest human rights histories on the planet. It therefore comes as no great surprise that other violators would not be removed.
In addition, Chapter 2, Article 4 was apparently written only to take up space:
1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.
2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
Virtually every country on the planet is a member of the UN and if they all actually met the standards of Article 4, the world would be a much different place. As it stands, a large portion of those countries should never have even been admitted in the first place.
Unfortunately, since long before the UN came into existence, the world has been under constant assault by believers in moral relativism. The world has moved ever further away for the ideals of right and wrong towards a "who are we to judge" attitude. It was precisely this attitude that allowed countless dictatorships to not only join the UN, but to supposedly occupy morally level ground with countries that actually believe in human rights.
Nearly 30% of the members of the UN Commission on Human Rights are listed by Freedom Houseas being "Not Free." In fact six members: China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe have the dubious honor of being on their "Worst of the Worst" list. Even if this were not the case, the UN has undertaken it as part of its mission to completely distort and muddle that concepts of rights. To this end, the UN, in 1948, issued a monstrosity entitled the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
If one were to judge this document solely on its name, they might think it strange that a labeled it a monstrosity. But as the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding." Keeping in line with the wishes of its leftist members, Articles 22 through 29 were inserted. These false positive rights are not rights at all and can only be achieved by the violation of actual negative rights, but of course they "feel" good, so the must be good. Take for example Article 26, Section 1:
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Sounds wonderful doesn't it? Free education! The problem is, no such beast exists in nature. True, it may not cost the student or the family of the student anything, but SOMEONE is most definitely bearing those costs, and quite likely against their will. It also states that Elementary education is COMPULSORY, i.e. you have no choice in the matter. Interestingly enough, those same people here in the US that would support not only the UN in general, but this declaration in specific would rather pretend that Section 3 of that same article did not exist:
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
In fact, the "bluer" a state is, the more likely it is to be opposed to ideas promoting school choice such as vouchers or low regulatory boundaries for homeschooling (with some exceptions).
The UN, like all bureaucracies, has grown to become a bloated nightmare inserting itself into virtually every facet of peoples lives that it can get a foothold on by such means as theConvention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and this report from the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development which calls for, among other things, an International Tax Organization and the imposition of global taxes.
In addition, this bloat has apparently made it impossible for the UN to regulate itself. Whether it be the Oil for Food Scandal, the various sex scandals involving "peacekeepers," or who knows what the hell else, the UN has demonstrated quite clearly that it is rife with corruption.
Naturally lip service has been given to the problems. Kofi himself has called for reforms in 1997, 2002, and 2005. The problem is Kofi has clearly shown that he is not capable of providing the leadership necessary to implement the kind of root level reform necessary to make the UN the bastion of legitimacy that it so clearly sees itself as.
For the UN to continue into the 21st Century in the role of an organization that has the moral authority to act as arbitror for the world, it will take more than lip service and failed leadership. It will take a complete ground-up re-organization based on actual rights and the stringent enforcement of the principles of freedom, democracy and rule of law. ALL dictators, thugs, and despots must be expelled so that it is made clear that they are not the moral equivalent of countries that believe in and follow the aforementioned principles.
Personally, I don't believe that such change is possible. The best that can be hoped for is that a few good countries, perhaps the US, the UK, and Australia, will leave the UN, taking their funding with them. This would undoubtedly cause the UN to implode. So be it. A turd is a turd no matter how you look at it. It is time for the UN to go the way of the dinosaurs and the League of Nations.
Mon, 06 Jun 2005 01:04:28 -0500
Lexicon Transmogrification
One of the things that has, for some time now, bothered me about the Left (and to a lesser extent the Right) is their twisting of the language, especially as it relates to the concept of liberty. Fortunately, I am not alone in this concern:
With the rise of Marxist polylogism in the 19th century, the words of the philosophy of liberty were perverted into their antonyms, rendered not only meaningless, but tools of the advancement of pernicious beliefs. They were systematically expanded to include their antonyms, their connotations were manipulated to produce the persuasive fallacies of Lenin and others. The result was the purposive encroachments of the same fallacies which had plagued mankind for all human history, now newly disguised.
Tom goes on to discuss the perversion of several words including "equality" and "inflation." One word that he doesn't mention, but the transmogrification of which I find especially heinous, is "progressive." Progressive means moving forward or advancing and more specifically in a political context means promoting or favoring progress toward better conditions. Progressive has a positive connotation. The problem is that the political ideas espoused by those using this moniker are anything but positive, that is unless of course you consider movement towards Socialism to be positive. I do not and no rational being could.
The removal of personal and economic freedom is not progressive, it is a regression into a state of slavery that has far too long plagued mankind. Our forefathers recognized these ideals as such and they fought and died to put an end to them. They established a country unique in its thinking. A place where the individual was free to live his life with minimal interference from the government. A place where that same government was a servant to the people instead of the other way around. They rejected the idea that government knows best and left man to succeed or fail on their own merits. Unfortunately, those days are now gone and we live in a world where large swaths of the population believe that government intervention is the solution to all problems and the individual is always subservient to the "common good."
Mon, 06 Jun 2005 00:14:13 -0500
