I am trying not to laugh as I watch rock musician Bono hold forth on satellite television about issues of Third World debt and so on at the World Economic Forum held in New York. Perhaps we can look forward to getting Britney Spears on the fight against terrorism, Mick Jagger on Aids and Tiger Woods on global warming. I guess I am being irreverent, but what the heck, it’s Friday!
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…has collapsed during a speech. I received an e-mail pointing this out to me which asked if I cared? Yes I do care. I hope they bury her in Waco. Yes I realise she is not dead yet, which is why I wish someone would bury her in Waco. February 1st, 2002 | Comments are closed
 French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has demanded an end to free(ish) trade in favour of a global system of ‘managed trade’ called mastered globalization. In a typical stream of anti-life economics and adulation of force based resource allocation, Jospin states that he, and people like him, should have a say in what Americans or British or Japanese or Nigerian or Lebanese or Croatian people can trade with each other across borders and under what conditions. When he says “mastered globalization”, no prize for guessing who he has in mind to be the ‘master’. Jospin is a man who is responsible more than any other political figure in the EU (and that is saying something) for people like me being fined and harassed by EU states for trying to do business within the EU because I am an outsider, just another Slavic white nigger girl. Naturally he takes much the same view of Africans and Asians who try to do business in the EU. He called for donor countries at the Economic and Social Council in Paris to commit to “reduce poverty by 50 per cent until 2015”. He could of course do this at a stroke by resigning from office along with all the other lying Socialists, Social Democrats (socialists), Democrats (socialists), Liberals (socialists) and Christian Democrats (socialists) across Europe who prevent so much of the world from making a living due to their trade barriers that discriminate against us. If that happened, I guarantee poverty would be reduced by 50 percent by 2015. February 1st, 2002 | Comments are closed
The Opinion Journal’s newsletter is a good source of information, but they don’t always come down on the side of liberty. Recently they have been discussing the case of Tom Green of Utah, arrested for having a family with multiple wives. Today’s email newsletter states:
What the Opinion Journal neglects to mention is why the tenets of the Mormon religion were changed in 1890. Many would know Brigham Young led his people to Utah after years of persecution in the east. Few are aware of the continous battle fought by he and his people to be left alone. The difficulty was that polygamy was a tenet of those beliefs and was anathema to the majority religion of the populous eastern states. The first round in the running battle between freedom of religion and the Feds came with the 1858 Utah War sometimes known as ‘the Mormon War’. It was not exactly a shooting war as they were not a terribly violent people and had no particular desire to face off with the Federal troops that were sent in to put them in their place. Because of this experience, the Mormons later fought the Blackhawk War on their own for nearly 8 years to avoid more unwanted ‘assistance’ from Washington. Nonetheless, Federal Troops intervened in 1872. The final act came between 1887 and 1890:
So there we have it. The Green family is being persecuted for following the original tenets of their religion, tenets that their Church was forceably coerced into changing. The Waco massacre was nothing new. Freedom of Religion in the US has always existed on the sufference of the majority religion. As the Buffalo Springfield song said: “You step outta line, the man come and take you away” February 1st, 2002 | Comments are closed
Whenever you’re tempted to believe that those who are responsible for all of the world’s problems are involved in some vast conspiracy, consider the far likelier possibility that they’re just stupid. February 1st, 2002 | Comments are closed
Continuing in the same spirit of the last few posts, a tip of the space helmet to Samizdata reader Neil Eden for providing us with two excellent essays located on The Proceedings of the Friesian School website: The Fascist Ideology of Star Trek: Militarism, Collectivism, & Atheism Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace, A Response to Critics January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
A young German couple were sentenced today after being found guilty of the murder of a friend in a Satanic Ritual. The couple claimed to be under the influence of Satan when they stabbed the young man to death after luring him to their home. In their defence they both said that they were “only obeying orders”. Some things just never change, eh. January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
Like most of the Samizdatistas, I have my critiques of the Star Trek universe. I particularly like Lagwolf’s comment about it containing a lot of the 1960’s without the good bits, eg Sex, Drugs, Rock&Roll and Revolution for the Hell of It. But all that aside – I suspect the lot of us watch and enjoy them. Critique is not a dismissal. And for myself, if faced upon a winter’s night with the choice between BBC News and an old episode of Star Trek… January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
Star Trek is an odd combination of secular multi-culturalism and happy-clappy-ism. The overwhelming belief is that the Federation can solve all the universe’s problems. Its “let’s all be friends” mentality even when sometimes confronted with naked aggression is political correctness at its worst. Of course they have some temperance elements as well as there is no booze, drugs or tobacco around. Trek represents everything bad about the 60s and “boomer” generation without the fun bits. Babylon 5 however makes a point of establishing that humans and earth are not the centre of the universe. In fact, truth be told, humans are the equivalent of a pimple on a knat’s bum. We are so insignificant that there are species in the universe who can even be bothered to acknowledge our existence. Bab 5 was more a “space-opera,” having plots that went over several episodes and series. There is none of the “we can right it all in a hour” ethos as there is in Star Trek. So threatened were the producers of Star Trek that they pinched several of Bab 5’s writers to work on DS9. Of course, Bab 5 makes use of Cthulhu themes in its plot lines. The vitriol that one gets from trekkies upon criticising the show is a sign of religious-like fervor that surrounds Star Trek and its followers. No doubt a bunch of trekkies will try and launch an attack on Samizdata for blaspheming their blessed show. Lagwolf [Editor: with one exception the e-mails have been fairly temperate so far] January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
Perry left out the best bit of Ken Layne’s comments, namely:
I find that so inspiring. January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
Great Moments in Capitalist History: on this day in 1990 McDonalds opened its first restaurant in Moscow. January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
I had forgotten how popular critiques of science fiction are, but reader responses via e-mail have just reminded me of that fact following my less than flattering remarks about the politics of Star Trek! Here are some earlier articles on the same subject that produced much the same response: The trouble with the Federation Star Trek: the Post-Christian Generation! January 31st, 2002 | Comments are closed
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