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– Joss Whedon September 30th, 2005 | 16 comments - (Comments are closed)
 What does this, have in common with this, What’s different is also interesting. The police being used as as an instrument to suppress peaceful political dissent is one thing, but their doing it on their own initiative is if anything more worrying. September 25th, 2005 | 21 comments - (Comments are closed)
– Making the Law, Hansard Society, 1993. So much for separation of powers in the view of serious British parliamentarians. September 22nd, 2005 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
– Commenter thoreau, at Hit and Run. September 19th, 2005 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
For centuries, philosophers and poets have tried to understand what happiness is, and what might contribute to it. In recent decades, scientists have started to come up with the answers. Happiness is electrical activity in the left front part of the brain, and it comes from getting married, getting friends, getting rich, and avoiding communism. September 19th, 2005 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
In an interview for the New York Daily News in 1997, the actor and entertainer Clint Eastwood explained how the world would change if politicians adopted a flat tax:
Go ahead, Gordon. Make our day. September 18th, 2005 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
In fact, the only fun and spontaneous bit was booing Livingstone, but I assume that was edited out. If those feet in ancient times really did walk upon England’s mountains green, they’d have found themselves with Sue Barker sticking a microphone in their countenance divine… For our Trans-Atlantic brethren who do not get the reference, the words of the hymn Jerusalem can he found here or hear it here (Real Audio required). September 17th, 2005 | 11 comments - (Comments are closed)
I could not tread these perilous paths in safety, if I did not keep a saving sense of humour September 16th, 2005 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
In, you know, the first year in law school we all read the decision in Calder against Bull, which has the famous statement that the government may not take the property of A and give it to B September 15th, 2005 | 23 comments - (Comments are closed)
“Thanks to corporations, instead of democracy we get Baywatch” – George Monbiot, in today’s Guardian Sounds good to me. When do we start? September 13th, 2005 | 20 comments - (Comments are closed)
Totalitarian systems are not sustained at the top, but at the bottom, where a system of mutual surveillance prevails. The influence of Desert Islam on the region has engendered just such a totalitarian system, whereby a woman who refuses to wear the hijab is stigmatised, and possibly threatened with violence. Even in liberal Lebanon, where women have historically been highly expressive in their dress, the present generation is increasingly adopting the hijab and shaming those who don’t. Some people see this trend as a reaction to the West and modernity. It is anything but. It is merely a succumbing to the encroaching influence of Saudi-funded Desert Islam, a totalitarian system expounded by highly rational modern means. Note: This article was published on Social Affairs Unit blog and someone (we do not know who) redirected the url of www.islamchannel.com to point at it, to much consternation of the Islam Channel and bafflament and bemusement of the Social Affairs Unit. It also attracted some atypical commenters… September 6th, 2005 | 7 comments - (Comments are closed)
And another thing to think about when we start pointing fingers is this. The government is never equipped to handle a crisis like this. There’s too much bureaucracy – initiative-stifling bureaucracy which prevents swift, effective action. I would like to hear from government employees on this. The nature of that bureaucracy is such that you have very specific guidelines to follow for even the most minute tasks. You need approval for just about everything, and the person you need approval from usually needs approval to give you the approval. It’s not as easy as say rounding up 4 of your co-workers and saying, “We’ve got someone at such and such an address, let’s go grab her and get her out of there.” Now add a destroyed or disabled command and control center to that bureaucracy and you’ve got a total and complete mess. You (as a civilian) don’t need “Approved” stamped on 3 different forms before you can run into your neighbor’s house and pull them out. I hope this makes sense. Anyway, I’m sure there’s been human error in this catastrophe. How could there not be? But what I’m saying is that I’ve come to expect poor decision making and a total lack of initiative from government. They can’t even balance a budget, at the federal, state, or local levels. I could balance my checkbook and spend within my means when I was a teenager. But I’m not gonna point fingers and get into the blame game. If you want me to blame something besides the storm herself, I blame the nature of government in the first place. It’s too big, it’s too slow, it’s too inefficient, it’s too bloated, and it’s too intiative-stifling to be effective in normal circumstances, much less in a disaster. It’s a systemic issue, more than an issue of individual people in government. – The Interdictor writing yesterday September 5th, 2005 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
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