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Salam Pax posted a big update yesterday, with photographs taken during a trip from Baghdad to Basra via Najaf. So, those of you who thought he was not ‘for real’… has this changed your mind? Whilst it is difficult to be sure, I have always suspected the ‘Baghdad Blogger’ was exactly what he said he was. May 20th, 2003 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
 As a break from the usual tread-mill of Libertarian Principles, here is a story that best reflects the ‘quagmire’ Britain got itself into by having anything to do with the EU and the countries using its institutions to their advantage. Despite the ravenous inclusiveness of the European Union, the one thing there is no room left for is common sense. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that Italian Parma ham must be packed and sliced in Parma itself to be marketed with its name of origin. The Asda supermarket chain has lost its legal battle to carry on selling Italian Parma ham, because it is packed and sliced in Britain. Asda’s Parma ham comes from Parma, but it is sliced and packaged near Chippenham in Wiltshire. Its delicatessen Parma ham also comes from Parma – but is sliced in its stores, in front of the customer. European judges have ruled that this is not enough under EU law to justify using the name.
According to The Daily Telegraph Asda claimed the Italian law was not part of EU law and could not be applied in the UK, but ham from Parma was registered under a 1992 EU rule protecting the use of geographical names on some products. The battle went to London’s High Court, which passed the matter to the Luxembourg judges for a ruling on the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) law. The Parma ham producers’ association, which owns the trademark Prosciutto di Parma, has been seeking an injunction against Asda since 1997. Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma won the battle despite judge’s recommendation to overturn the relevant European regulation and the advice the European Court of Justice received by one of its own members to invalidate the European Union rule. As Asda representative said last year:
In most cases the court follows such advice, for example, the European court’s advocate general delivered a similar opinion in a case brought against a company that grates the hard Italian cheese Grana Padana in France. Not this time though. When you next eat your Parma, you can rejoice in the knowledge that it has been subjected to the traditionally tough quality control by its Italian producer. I suppose there is a first for everything… May 20th, 2003 | 16 comments - (Comments are closed)
Not everything in this will make sense to everyone. Who’s Biagi? Just someone they quite like but argue with a lot, if memory serves. Who, for that matter, is Tupy, the poster of the bit below? He’s one of their ex-activists, now making his presence felt in the USA.
After a brief flirtation with Scotland, it would seem from that last bit that Tupy is becoming a full-blown American. Seriously, what this shows is how tenacious intellectual traditions at universities can be. And isn’t it interesting how these university covens are staying in touch these days, via the internet? Mind you, if the circa 2000 Liberty Club crowd do stay connected and have consequences, they won’t be the first St Andrews alumni to do this. St Andrews was the cradle, a quarter of a century ago and more, of this. May 20th, 2003 | Comments are closed
Cultural commentator – from a generally conservative vantage point – David Brooks has some interesting things to note about the popularity of men’s magazines like Maxim, and about what this says about our culture. In a nutshell, he suggests that this shows that the advance of feminism and even political correctness (however you want to define that) may not have produced the results some commentators may have wanted. He also makes the point, which to my mind rang true, that ‘reactionary’ attitudes are often not the preserve of the upper classes, but often most deeply held elsewhere, such as among America’s rap music artists. Here’s a nice quote:
This observation is hardly new. Yet even someone like yours truly, who likes to watch action movies, dreams of fast cars and feels no shame in enjoying pictures of lovely women, can feel a bit troubled about where things can be headed. I don’t know if the kind of things Brooks frets about are problems that have to be ‘fixed’ in some way. There definitely has been something of a backlash in parts of our culture against the dictates of political correctness. It doesn’t surprise me all that much that the kind of mindless dreck published by the Maxim mags of this world is so popular. Maybe we are just observing the cultural equivalent of Newton’s law at work – every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It applies to space rockets and it applies to culture as well, maybe. May 20th, 2003 | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)
First they went for New York, then they hit Bali, now they are hitting their own backyard. This is terrorism back in serious business? That’s what I was thinking, and now this guy, damn him, an unnamed e-mailer to this has said it all for me. Best to read the whole thing, but here are a few key paragraphs:
Why did they hit New York? Because they could. Now, they can’t. Why did they hit Bali? Because they could. Now they can’t. So why are they now hitting their own back yard? Because they can. And that’s all they can.
Well maybe it’s not all they can now hit, and sometime Real Soon Now maybe they’ll prove me, and this guy, wrong. I’m only optimistic that they won’t hit New York (or London, or Paris, or Rome) because a lot of smart and hardworking people are absolutely not taking this for granted. It’s like how you back a good sports team to win their big game, precisely because they don’t assume that they’ll win, that being all part of what makes them so good. That necessary caveat aside, my bet about how things are now going is the same as this guy’s bet:
Soon, in other words, they won’t even be able to hit their own back yard. With luck, and lots more not taking things for granted by our team, there will then, or eventually (after a few more horrors in out of the way spots), be a long period of silence. And then slowly, very slowly, it will dawn on everyone that it just might be … over. And the moral is, if you have a clever thought, post it fast, or someone else will get to it first. May 20th, 2003 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
I am not sure that there’s any libertarian principle that objects to planned failure in DVDs, or that there’s any logical distinction in the comparative consumer rights between DVD rental and DVD self-destruction. For that matter I’m not sure that there’s a logical distinction between (the much maligned) software rental contracts and leasehold on real estate, not while there is Copyright protection, anyway. I am sure, however, that a great many people of all stripes, including the most avowedly propertarian libertarians, hate the tendency in the entertainment and consumer software industries to enforce their intellectual property rights and create new, lesser rights in their products in which to sell licenses. I am also sure that Copyright is simply losing the minimal respect that is required for a law to be effective. That libertarians should be part of this too should tell us something. After all, we seem quite happy to take un-PC views on the side of big-oil, big-pharmacy, big-tobacco, big-corportate-bogeyman-of-the-week – and revel in how contrarian we seem, how opposed to the “idiotarian” received wisdom. Why not do we not support big-Hollywood too? → Continue reading: The death of copyright May 19th, 2003 | 48 comments - (Comments are closed)
It is becoming increasingly clear that Europe’s economic problems are a year or so away from becoming nightmarish. The international economic establishment is getting worried, G7 finance ministers, the OECD and the IMF are making increasingly gloomy noises. Deflation approaches like a glacier, slowly but almost impossible to stop without radical measures. The ECB’s constitution is inadequate to deal with the problem. It is charged with holding down inflation and maintaining price stability, not with encouraging economic growth. Inflation is not a threat, deflation is a real threat. Japan has had 41 consecutive months with no inflation, Germany is going the same way pulling Europe with it. The US has abandoned the strong dollar policy in order to reflate, devalue its debt and cheapen exports. Consequently the Euro has now strengthed over 40% from its lows, adding to the woes of exporters. Germany is mired in high taxes, social costs and rigid structural problems – Eurozone unemployment rates are nearly double that of the Anglosphere countries. Real interest rates (base rate – inflation) in the Eurozone are punishing compared to the US. Don’t even think about the unfunded pension problems. So what does the ECB do? Nothing. Last year many people laughed when 90 year-old Milton Friedman joked that he would outlive the Euro. If the ECB does not re-invent itself as a growth orientated central bank, Milton may yet have the last laugh. May 19th, 2003 | 20 comments - (Comments are closed)
Walt Disney will introduce self-destructing DVDs for ‘rent’ this August in a pilot project to crack a wider rental market. The discs, dubbed EZ-D, become unplayable after two days and do not have to be returned. They stop working after a change in colour renders them unreadable, starting off red, but when taken out of the package and exposed to oxygen, the coating turns black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser. The technology is impervious to hackers as the mechanism which closes the viewing window is chemical and has nothing to do with computer technology. However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any other DVD during that window. The only purpose behind this wasteful production of DVDs I can see (think of all the waste from the useless discs!) is Walt Disney having a go at the rental market in an attempt to recoup the return on films released on DVDs. Presumably licenses or other means used to control the rental market are not good enough for them. For the customer the benefit is marginal, I no longer have to remember to ‘return’ the disc, whose only use thereafter will be as a tacky coffee mug mat. In fact, there will cease to be rental market as such, as there will only be two kinds of DVDs I can purchase. The expensive ones that last and the cheap ones that will play only for 48 hours. It is not clear whether they will be distributed by a similar network of ‘rental’ shops. It certainly makes economic sense to do so, since one of the benefits of renting a DVD or a video is the convenience of being able to do so close to one’s home and at any hour of the day. I do not have sufficient detail to take a firm position on this one. My gut reaction is that any attempt to control markets by restricting either supply or demand eventually blows up in the face of companies whose delusions of market power got better of their business sense.  May 19th, 2003 | 17 comments - (Comments are closed)
The French Trade Unions are up in arms at the disgraceful antics of pro-government activists. It seems that in response to the national strike by bureaucrats desperate to preserve their looting rights, a group of libertarian and pro-market conservative activists bombarded the mail servers of the trade unions with several million email messages crying out a stronger version of “Enough is Enough!” [“Ras le Bol!”]. As Marc Blondel, the General Secretary of FO (Force Ouvrière = “Workers’ Power”) bleated: “This is no way to engage in dialogue”. The anti-strike campaign was launched by “Droite libre” (“the Free Right”) a faction in the pro-government party. The grouping is led by former candidate to the UMP leadership, Rachid Kaci. He described the action as “supporting the reform of [state bureaucrats’] pensions. They blocade France, we blocade their email inboxes.” The campaign will continue in retaliation for any further strikes by the transport and teaching unions. I thought that I might include the list of email addresses being bombarded by the Free French forces, just in case any foreigners might wish to add their comments: secgene@snes.edu; SUD-Rail@wanadoo.fr; sudrailpaca@free.fr; g10nat@ras.eu.org; sud.education@laposte.net; mblondel@force-ouvriere.fr; rhoup@force-ouvriere.fr; mbiaggi@force-ouvriere.fr; jmbilquez@force-ouvriere.fr; bdevy@force-ouvriere.fr; jjayer@force-ouvriere.fr; jcmailly@force-ouvriere.fr; jcmallet@force-ouvriere.fr; mmonrique@force-ouvriere.fr; mspungier@force-ouvriere.fr; rsantune@force-ouvriere.fr; rvalladon@force-ouvriere.fr; info@cgt.fr; cgt-com@cgt.fr; presse@cgt.fr; scbc@cgt.fr; synd-societe@cgt.fr; environnement@cgt.fr; territoires@cgt.fr; act-eco@cgt.fr; eco-sociale@cgt.fr; doc@cgt.fr; jeunes@cgt.fr; orga@cgt.fr; form-synd@cgt.fr; polfi@cgt.fr; revendicatif@cgt.fr; formation@cgt.fr; emploi-garanties-coll.@cgt.fr; culture@cgt.fr; travail-sante@cgt.fr; protection-sociale@cgt.fr; compta.conf@cgt.fr; ugict@cgt.fr; ucr@cgt.fr; ihs@cgt.fr; indecosa@cgt.fr; lepeuple@cgt.fr; webmaster@fsu.fr; unsa@unsa.org; cnt@cnt-f.org Vive La France Libre! May 19th, 2003 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
The election results from Belgium are the usual mess: there are two sets of political parties, which hate each other on linguistic as well as political grounds. Because of proportional representation, this means a compromise of morals, beliefs and meaning. At this time it is not clear whether the French speaking socialist leader will agree to let the Flemish speaking socialist become the new prime minister, or whether the Flemish free-market liberals will do a deal with the Flemish socialists and retain the leading position in government. Either way, it looks like more cuts in public spending and taxes, with the outgoing coalition partners (the Greens) having taken a big electoral kick up the backside. The Flemish Greens, appear to have lost all their seats to the Vlaams Blok, a party which campaigns for Flemish independence and against ‘mass-immigration’. The next government will continue to implement the Euro-bank’s economic policies (a big improvement on any Belgian policy since … who knows?). This means that the opposition nationalists combine breaking up Belgium and effectively the European Union. With any luck, next time the Belgians vote the European Commision will have to pack up and move to Warsaw. May 19th, 2003 | 7 comments - (Comments are closed)
I cannot speak for other of course but, as far as I am concerned, if you’re not making enemies then you are not trying hard enough. Conciliation is for wimps. With this is mind I must commend the blogosphere (well, certain sections of it anyway) for their admirable efforts as enemies are, indeed, beginning to nail their colours to the mast. Case in point here is a certain Bill Thompson who wants the world to know that, while he loves blogging, he is very worried by actual bloggers:
Mr.Thompson names a few names in his diatribe (but rudely fails to mention the Samizdata) and ruminates darkly about ‘economic libertarians’ and their ‘voo-doo’. Looks like the large preponderance of libertarians in the blogosphere has not gone unnoticed in places where we sincerely hoped we would be noticed. Given that Mr.Thompson appears to be a acolyte of the BBC/Guardian Axis, his animus is hardly surprising. Indeed, it is welcome. We cannot honestly argue that we have even reached base camp until we are well and truly getting up the noses of people like him. And getting up his nose we most certainly are. Mr.Thompson makes not even a faint attempt at concealing his haughty indignation that this gathering moss-ball of independent voices does not include any (trumpet fanfare, please) ‘PROPER JOURNALISTS’. Yet, lacking in some such official stamp of professional approval, we spout off like men and women possessed, filling cyberspace with our dangerously ‘un-approved’ ideas. I am going to hazard a guess that Mr.Thompson doesn’t quite get it. Perhaps it is simply beyond his ken that it is exactly his brand of arthritic leftist orthodoxy that we are aiming to disassemble. Or perhaps he does get it. Maybe he can see that the writing on the blogs is, as far as he an his ilk are concerned, the writing on the wall. Hence his complaint of us being ‘unaccountable’. To whom or what does he expect us to account to? The government? The BBC? A committee of appointed poo-bahs? Or ‘the people’, that abstract, meaningless totem on behalf of which guardianistas like Mr.Thompson love to crusade but which is, in fact, a euphamism for a committee of appointed poo-bahs? It matters not. What matters is that Mr.Thompson is seething with resentment. He doesn’t like us and thinks we are far too wrong and far too influential. Good. All that says to me is that we are doing something right and that we must keep on doing it. [My thanks to Steve Chapman for the link.] May 19th, 2003 | 36 comments - (Comments are closed)
British academic communists suffer from ideology, which is a brain virus. It takes every natural, logical and honest thought and turns it into a version of itself. So everything becomes political. A person is either good (communist) or bad (capitalist), poor and trodden-upon (good), white and privileged (bad) and so on. American communists, however, live in an intellectual and informational vacuum. So they make it up as they go, creating the most marvelous conspiracy theories as they go along. May 18th, 2003 | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)
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