Cut Europe Adrift.
A Washington Post opinion piece by George Will, “Libya and the Potemkin Alliance,” began as a criticism of the refusal of the Obama Administration to abide by the War Powers Resolution with regard to their action in Libya. He then went a lot further in criticizing, not only the war but the lack of judgment in the US policy of propping up Europe militarily when Europe seems to have little desire to accept responsibility itself for its own defense.
When, in March, Obama said, “building this international coalition has been so important,” he meant merely that a minority of the members of a 62-year-old alliance would seriously participate. Eight of NATO’s 28 members are attacking Gaddafi’s ground forces.
Obama, a novel kind of commander in chief, explained in passive syntax that, “it is our military that is being volunteered by others to carry out missions.” These “others” would rather finance their welfare states than their militaries, so they cannot wage war for 10 weeks without U.S. munitions and other assets.
Last month, this column noted that NATO was created in 1949 to protect Western Europe from the Soviet army; it could long ago have unfurled the “Mission Accomplished” banner; it has now become an instrument of mischief, and when the Libyan misadventure is finished, America should debate whether NATO also should be finished. …
… Hence Gates warned that “there will be dwindling appetite and patience in” America for expending “increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.” Already, U.S. officers in Afghanistan sometimes refer to the NATO command there — officially, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) — as “I Saw Americans Fighting.” Read more »
War on Drugs turns 40.
Today, Nixon’s War on Drugs is celebrating its 40th birthday. Nanny staters everywhere are joining with sadists, wowsers, police state groupies, and dog haters in raising the odd glass, while thinking up new ideas to get tougher on the population at large. After all, ‘if it saves one life….”
Some of the images here are sickening to the point where most of our current crop of authoritarians will probably get off on it:
Australians remember Rudd’s War on drugs, but compared to these guys, he was not really taking it seriously. Of course, his was just one of the campaigns in his wider “war on everything.”
FEE has a fitting tribute to the occasion here including Nixon’s ‘mission accomplished’ statement.
Meanwhile, Arlo Guthrie credits the Narcs for his rise to success in his own inimitable way.
Pay politicians what they are worth.
When seeking pay increases, politicians are fond of lecturing us on how, “If we pay peanuts we will get monkeys.” Unfortunately, this does not guarantee that paying more will keep the monkeys out. There are many people who would be the right sort to trust in office, who have nothing but disdain for politics. Pay will not change this; it is the institution itself that they shun.
Queensland Labor backbencher Robert Schwarten, is the latest to launch into an irrational diatribe on the issue:
QUEENSLAND politicians are poorly paid and deserve more money, according to a senior Labor MP.
Member for Rockhampton Robert Schwarten today said fewer people were attracted to a career in public life because the profession had fallen behind in the pay scales.
“When I entered Parliament, backbenchers, such as I am now, were paid more than these high-school principals,” Mr. Schwarten said in a letter to his local newspaper. Read more »
John Hospers, RIP.
The following is from Wayne Allyn Root.
I have sad news to report…John Hospers, the very first Libertarian Presidential candidate in 1972, has passed away. John was 93. Because of our close friendship, I was asked to announce his death to the LP and his many fans and supporters.
John passed quietly away in his sleep, on Sunday morning June 12 without pain and suffering, of natural causes. He died only 3 days after his 93rd birthday.
He was a true friend of individual liberty and freedom.
A sad day for all. But a devastatingly sad for me, because John was a true friend to me as well. I spoke to John often. He was a trusted political advisor and confidant. And in his last years, when he was in the hospital, his friends always asked if I could cheer him up with a call. I came to enjoy those calls. John was my personal “Tuesday with Morrie.”
He was the sweetest man alive, and a very loyal friend of mine. He will be greatly missed by all. The Libertarian movement has lost a pioneer and hero.
I send my condolences to the Hospers family.
And I wish a lifetime in heaven for John.
Many of us in the libertarian movement know of John Hospers who was the LP’s first Presidential candidate in 1972. The ticket was made famous by receiving an Electoral College vote, when Roger McBride, a Republican delegate felt he could not support Nixon and opted for the LP candidates. I was fortunate enough to meet Roger when he addressed a Progress party meeting in Brisbane.
Bobs oddball new party.
The big news this week was the much anticipated arrival of Bob Katter’s bright, shiny, new, Australian Party.” After weeks of fevered anticipation on something new on the political horizon, the reality is like Bob himself, a mish mash of populist semantics, varying from the meaningless to the economically dangerous.
There is what’s known as a political chameleon, who will go wherever the political wind blows, design policies to the color of his surroundings, do deals that have himself as top priority while appearing to benefit the people he represents. He essentially stands for himself, in the name of others. Bob is a lot like this.
He is short on policy, preferring instead to come up with core principles, which are essentially a list of feel good vanilla flavored references to church, motherhood, sunshine, warm feelings, a greater more caring nation, caressed in the loving arms of the right sort of government. In other words, the usual guff most parties adopt. Read more »
Bloody Victorians, on the spot fines for bloody swearing.
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” – Mark Twain.
Well, there is the old adage, “Nothing any good comes out of Victoria.” Now it seems that police there are being given the power, (which they love,) of fining people on the spot for swearing. There is at the moment no news regarding poor grammar and split infinitives. Legislators claim it will allow police to deal with it on the spot rather than clog up the court system.
This probably has more to do with revenue raising than keeping a bit of couth and decorum in the state, even though those Victorian bastards like to consider their bloody state to be the home of culture. Lets face it, the cost of taking it to court to fight it is probably more than the fine of up to $240, even in the situation of a minimum wage earner who might barely take home that much in a week.
This is a bad move for the justice system for these offences to be taken out of the court system. Courts provide a vital moderating influence because there is an independent arbiter to consider the facts of what in most cases happens in the heat of the moment. After proper consideration, a judge might in fact decide that the cop was in fact a cockhead or a f**kwit.
This places the average citizen at the mercy of whatever cop they get on the wrong side of. It is particularly bad news if he has had a bad day and feels like making a prick of himself, or missed out last night and is determined to make some poor bastard pay.
Catallaxy Files- Why did this native born Hawaiian once describe himself as a Kenyan? May 18, 2012As the accompanying article on Drudge says, Obama was indeed born in Hawaii but asks why there has been so little vetting of the president. As they write: It is evidence–not of the President’s foreign origin, but that Barack Obama’s public persona has perhaps been presented differently at different times. The US is not really [...]Steve Kates
- Not all criticism of government is rent-seeking May 17, 2012Jess Irvine has an op-ed in the SMH where she makes the argument Meanwhile, business is acting like an adolescent, too, chucking hissy fits about workplace laws and taxation because it has learnt that this is an extremely effective parental manipulation strategy. In the teenage economy, the returns from rentseeking – or seeking special treatment [...]Sinclair Davidson
- Words from the wise May 17, 2012Graham Richardson has a must-read op-ed in the Australian today. He reveals the depths of hatred towards the PM. While it is clear Julia Gillard just doesn’t understand how bad things really are, she is at the very core of the disenchantment. These two MPs, who both voted for her in Kevin Rudd’s February challenge, [...]Sinclair Davidson
- Why did this native born Hawaiian once describe himself as a Kenyan? May 18, 2012
- inCISe
- Govt furphy on Indigenous homeownership May 16, 2012In a media release on the Indigenous Affairs part of the 2012 Budget, the federal government insists it ‘will continue to prioritise access to the new program for people seeking to move into home ownership on Indigenous land’ – but this is a furphy. The government is well aware that people living on Indigenous land will not be able to access money from the n […]Sara Hudson
- A move long overdue May 15, 2012At long last, services on Sydney’s highly inefficient rail network are getting some attention. Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian has announced that 750 jobs will be cut in a restructuring effort intended to reduce bureaucratic waste. Even more heartening is that RailCorp’s projected job cuts are relatively mild, consisting of voluntary redundancies to m […]Alexander Philipatos
- Generalising about racism May 14, 2012The Sydney Morning Herald is running a poll asking if Australians are Racist. So far 74% of respondents say yes and 26% say no. Some of the commentators include Larissa Berendt who argues that Australia is a racist country because Aboriginal people have a shorter life expectancy. However, there are many reasons why their life expectancy is shorter than the a […]Sara Hudson
- Govt furphy on Indigenous homeownership May 16, 2012
- IPA news
- The unhappy compromise of European 'austerity' May 14, 2012Has austerity worked in Europe? Well, if "austerity" means savage cuts to government spending, then there has been no...
- The politics of projection: there's a reason we can't all just get along May 12, 2012Politics is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder. Obviously conservatives, libertarians, progressives and...
- Great expectations vanish May 10, 2012The federal budget was entirely predictable. The dodgy accounting. The flimsy "surplus". The higher taxes on the wealthy....
- The unhappy compromise of European 'austerity' May 14, 2012
Oz Political Quiz
