Samizdata

We do not hate the Americans and British, we hate the ideas they have brought here. We will now fight every person who tries to bring those ideas, including the Iraqi Governing Council. We do not want their capitalism, we do not want communism. We have our own ideas about how we want our country to be run in a Muslim way. We support the Shia leader Muqtada Sadr, not because of his ideas; they are not good or bad. We are supporting him with money, weapons and men because he is against the Americans.
– the commander of the mujahideen’s in Garma in the Sunni Triangle

Spotted in Friday’s print version of the Evening Standard:

Mr Blair’s two security advisers, Sir David Omand and Sir John Stevens, tell us each week that such bombs [in public places] are “unavoidable”, to exonerate themselves in advance from blame. They tell us to be fearful and vigilant. But they do nothing physically to protect us.

There are no walls going up to block Oxford Street from car bombs. There are no sniffer dogs at Holborn Tube or scanners at the entrance to Trafalgar Square. The citizens of London are being told, in effect, to look after themselves and don’t blame the Government. Meanwhile Sir David and Sir John spend millions protecting those for whom they work.
– Simon Jenkins

In other words: You are cannon fodder. The state is not your friend.

Have a cheerful weekend.

With thanks to Guy Herbert

To say that legislation can bring about an end to child labor is akin to saying that someone’s fever could be cured by dousing his thermometer in ice.
– Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Kids in Lee county, Florida are being thumb printed every time they get on or off a school bus. Yes, you read that right, thumb printed, in the name of safety. Could somebody please explain to me how thumb printing a kid when they get on or off a school bus increases their safety by one iota?

I read these stories, I wonder what kind of generation is being raised under these ludicrous “safety” rules, and I despair.

– Myria of It Can’t Rain All The Time

..members of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) were exposed to lead, teargas and explosions in training, and experienced high levels of physical trauma and stress.

– An Australian government report investigating the training of the SAS regiment, as reported in an Australian newspaper. (Well done to the guys who figured that out. Who could possibly have imagined that being in the SAS would involve stress and danger?)

(link via Geoff Honnor).

That’s my basic rule: whatever the problem, the government’s a bigger one
– Mark Steyn