Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
December 16, 2012
I don’t believe there is any such thing as a “fundamental” human “right” or “freedom”.
Of course any society can establish whatever laws or rules and regulations it likes and insist – if it can – that its members follow these. Societies can define and adopt long lists of “fundamental human rights” or “freedoms” as privileges for their members. The granting of such “rights” does not – in itself – guarantee that members of that society always enjoy the rights accorded. Compliance with laws and rules and regulations is not in-built as with natural laws. Many of these “rights” and “freedoms” are contradictory and can be in conflict with each other. Some rights are used by some members to breach other rights and freedoms accorded to others. “Fundamental” freedoms are found to be unworkable and are then constrained or subjugated to other laws or rights. Some are made applicable to some and not to others. The will of the majority is expressed as laws for the majority which are sometimes used as a means for the oppression of minorities. Rights granted to individuals are subjugated to the rights assumed by the state. (It strikes me also that any “law” which does not in itself guarantee compliance is just a made-up rule and has no special “sanctity”. The “sanctity” of human laws is fundamentally suspect.)
None of the so-called human rights or freedoms are in fact fundamental or absolute in practice. Nor should they be. Common sense dictates that they must be constrained and circumscribed. But common sense is lost when the fanatical defense of any particular “right” takes on ideological proportions.
- The “right to life” is never absolute and is always circumscribed. States – and their organs – ascribe to themselves the right to take life in specific circumstances. Exceptions are made in cases of self-defense or abortions or accidents or actions in the service of the state.
- The “right of universal suffrage” is never absolute. There are always groups of individuals who are denied the right to vote (children, mentally disabled, resident non-citizens, criminals, certain occupations….)
- “Freedom of speech” is never absolute. What society considers to be libel, slander, blasphemy, hate or even politically incorrect is banned under pain of punishment.
- “Freedom of thought” is not as absolute as one may think. Thinking “terrorist” or “conspiratorial” thoughts is a punishable crime in many societies.
- The “right to liberty” is always constrained by the right of a state to incarcerate those it considers dangerous to society. Parents are allowed to curtail this right for their children. Doctors and hospitals are allowed to curtail the movement of their patients.
In the US it is self-evident that the “right to bear arms” is not sufficiently circumscribed. In spite of its implied “freedom to kill” it is fanatically defended to the point of absurdity.
The latest tragedy at Sandy Hook is part of a long history of school shootings in the US but the almost religious fanaticism surrounding gun rights has so far held common sense at bay.
Tags:Human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Right to keep and bear arms, Sandy Hook, United States
Posted in Behaviour, Politics, US | Comments Off on A “right” to bear arms must be constrained not to be a “freedom” to kill
December 4, 2012
It is not the first time that “activists” have turned to dubious and manipulated science to further their cause. And it will not be the last. The peer-review process which is supposed to catch this kind of politically motivated pseudoscience is often not capable of doing so – and certainly not when the purported science is presented in a stage manged PR exercise. Anything published by an advocacy group may – sometimes – contain some science but – and it should be axiomatic – no advocacy report is ever science.
In this case a “scientist” – Gilles-Eric Seralini – who is also a well-known activist campaigning against GM crops managed to get the reputed Elsevier Food and Chemical Toxicology journal to publish some highly dubious results that genetically modified corn caused tumors in rats. Seralini is also known for making up honors or paying for them to be awarded to himself! Perhaps this should be called the “Greenpeace syndrome”. Greenpeace is not averse either to making up science to further their political goals. (In fact Greenpeace just today published another apparently independent study in favour of wind power but which they had themselves commissioned!)
Reuters reports today that
(Reuters) – The publisher of a much-criticized study suggesting genetically modified corn caused tumors in rats has come under heavy pressure from scientists to retract the paper and explain why it was ever printed.
(more…)
Tags:Advocacy and science, Elsevier, Genetically modified food, Genetically modified maize, Greenpeace, Greenpeace syndrome, Seralini
Posted in Advocacy, Peer review, Politics, Science, Scientific Fraud | Comments Off on Science and advocacy do not mix (the “Greenpeace syndrome”?)
November 26, 2012
A new paper in the American Political Science Review suggests that European colonialism was the key driver in establishing democratic systems of government around the world. Only states which had strong established political structures prior to the colonial wave managed to resist colonial rule and/or the establishment of “democratic” European institutions. According to the author, Jacob Gerner Harir of the University of Copenhagen,
”This could mean that perhaps we need to adopt a new view of the colonial era. Even though it led to massive exploitation and oppression of many people in the Third World, we can now see that it also contributed to the spread of democracy.”
There is a hint of defensiveness here, almost as if this work is also an attempt to justify the oppression and exploitation that was the main-stay of European colonialism.
(more…)
Tags:Arab spring, Colonialism, colonialism and democracy, democracy, Harir, Middle-East
Posted in Behaviour, Development, Politics | Comments Off on Was European colonialism the force that spread democracy?
November 25, 2012
Influence peddling and other forms of political corruption are not of course restricted to Brazil or just to the developing countries. It is just a lot more sophisticated in the US and japan and Europe. But more mud is being flung and a great deal of it is now sticking to former President Lula’s period of office in Brazil.
Reuters reports:
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, moving quickly to nip a new scandal in the bud, ordered the dismissal on Saturday of government officials allegedly involved in a bribery ring, including the country’s deputy attorney general.
(more…)
Tags:Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President Lula, President of Brazil
Posted in Brazil, Corruption, Politics | Comments Off on Lula’s legacy in Brazil being badly tarnished by new corruption scandals
November 17, 2012
Hot on the heels of the report that the IPCC has not been invited to the COP18 meeting in Doha later this month comes this report that the US is trying to funnel large parts of what is to be discussed at Doha into other forums and effectively bypass and undermine the UNFCCC
Could it be the US and China and India and other non-European countries who are disillusioned with the IPCC, are responsible for the snub?
EurAktiv reports:
The US is considering a funnel of substantive elements of the Doha Climate Summit away from the UN framework and into the Major Economies Forum (MEF), a platform of the world’s largest CO2 emitters, EurActiv has learned.
Since 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has provided an umbrella for talks to curb global greenhouse gas emissions, and on 26 November, will host the COP18 Climate Summit in Qatar.
But it has been confirmed to EurActiv that Washington is increasingly looking to shift policy action to the MEF whose members account for some 85% of global emissions, and which the US views as a more comfortable venue for agreeing climate goals.
If the idea gains traction, it could demote the UNFCCC to a forum for discussing the monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions reductions projects, sources say. …
…… The MEF is a successor to the Major Economies Meetings set up by President Bush, and criticised by several governments for undermining the UN process.
Its participants include: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Tags:climate change, COP18, MEF, UNFCCC, United States
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, Politics, UN, US | 1 Comment »
November 17, 2012
Thessaloniki
If anything proves that he Greek crisis is essentially due to past profligacy it is the current improvement in the status of the finances of the city of Thessaloniki. And I have no doubt that it it was the entry into the European Union and the mirage which the EU creates of getting something for nothing which lay behind much of the public employees “jobs for life” attitude and the spendthrift behaviour that any self-respecting household would have eschewed. But of course the Greek crisis has been caused by just a small minority of Greeks. I suppose the analogy would be of a household where the husband was spending the family jewels on drink and a good time while his wife and family made do with whatever that was left. But what Thessaloniki is apparently showing is how to get out of the pit. And if Greece could have devalued their drachma and did not have the high value of the Euro as a millstone around their necks, the return of tourists and an escape from the depths would probably be faster.
Reuters reports:
With his craggy face, diamond earring and tattooed wrist, Thessaloniki mayor Yannis Boutaris looks an unlikely candidate to turn around the finances of Greece’s second biggest city.
But the 70-year old, who stands apart from the political mainstream, is pulling off reforms that have so far evaded the national government in a three-year-old debt crisis that has sucked in some 150 billion euros of international aid.
In contrast to the rest of Greece, this sea-front city of one million is shrinking debt, cutting business taxes to help firms and paying city employees and contractors on time.
(more…)
Tags:European Union, Greece, Greek Crisis, Thessaloniki, Yannis Boutaris
Posted in Behaviour, Corruption, European Union, Greece, Politics | Comments Off on Thessaloniki: One Greek city running a budget surplus and showing how it can be done
November 15, 2012
Political behaviour is always worth observing and fascinating though the line between high-farce and tragedy is quite thin.
The Sweden Democrats is one of the recent wave of far-right, anti-immigration, vaguely neo-nazi, political parties that have been been voted into parliaments around Europe over the last 15 years or so. (One of the characteristics of European politics has been the over-representation of marginal and extreme groups but in general – I think – countries just get the representation they deserve).
(more…)
Tags:Erik Almqvist, Jimmie Åkesson, Kent Ekeroth, Parliament of Sweden, Sweden, Sweden Democrat, William Petzell
Posted in Behaviour, Politics, Sweden | Comments Off on Sweden Democrats bring Swedish Parliament into disrepute
October 12, 2012
The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 and the choice only confirms that the Peace Prize has become ridiculous and irrelevant and has little to do with Peace in the World. The brand value of the Nobel prize is only damaged by the bizarre choices of the Norwegian committee which chooses the recipients.
The present Norwegian Nobel Committee (from left): Geir Lundestad (secretary), Gunnar Stålsett, Berit Reiss-Andersen, Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, Kaci Kullmann Five and Thorbjørn Jagland (leader) © Photo: Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen / Norwegian Nobel Institute
The recipient is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a 5-member committee appointed by the Parliament of Norway and which is now becoming a laughing-stock. The laureates chosen in this century demonstrate that the Committee is living in some dream world of its own. That the choice is a political choice is inevitable. But in this century the choices have all represented a “political correctness” which has bordered on the cowardly. The recipients have had very little – by way of achievements – to do with the furthering of peace in the world. Liu Xiaobo may be a very worthy individual but what on earth has he done for world peace? Barrack Obama was chosen on hope and not for anything achieved. The three winners in 2011 were chosen from a politically correct desire just to prove that developing countries and women were not being ignored. Al Gore & Co. were a sop to politically correct alarmism and not for any achievement. The choice of the United Nations was because nobody else could be thought of. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank may well have contributed to the development of rural areas (though not without controversy) but they did nothing for world peace. Martti Ahtisaari – for one – had actually been an effective mediator and he was at least active in the right field. But his achievements were not something so very extraordinary in the world context. The International Atomic Energy Agency made a complete hash of Iraq and its WMD. And what on earth did Wangari Maathai or Jimmy Carter or Shirin Ebadi or Kim Dae Jung actually achieve for world peace?
This year’s choice of the European Union is about as ridiculous as they come. NATO would be a more relevant choice – but politically incorrect.
Alfred Nobel would not be pleased.
| 2012 |
The European Union (EU) |
| 2011 |
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman |
| 2010 |
Liu Xiaobo |
| 2009 |
Barack H. Obama |
| 2008 |
Martti Ahtisaari |
| 2007 |
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. |
| 2006 |
Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank |
| 2005 |
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradei |
| 2004 |
Wangari Maathai |
| 2003 |
Shirin Ebadi |
| 2002 |
Jimmy Carter |
| 2001 |
The United Nations ( U.N.) and Kofi Annan |
| 2000 |
Kim Dae Jung |
Tags:Alfred Nobel, European Union, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel prize, Norwegian Nobel Committee
Posted in Behaviour, Norway, Politics | Comments Off on Nobel Peace Prize committee has become ridiculous
October 10, 2012
A few months ago it seemed like a done deal.
The US economy was showing signs of recovery at just the right time for November. The Republican primaries – viewed from very far away – seemed to be self-destructive. The Tea Party kept shooting themselves in the foot and in other parts of their strange anatomies. Mitt Romney seemed to be a personally successful but a wooden candidate lacking the ability to catch the electorate’s imagination. The election was losing interest for me.
And now one Presidential debate seems to have changed all that. I thought Romney was good – engaged and articulate and focused. I did not think that Obama was all that bad but he seemed listless and lacking in the fire he showed 4 years ago. It showed up sometimes as a sort of frustration and he failed to enthuse. Clearly battling with Congress has taken its toll.
Perhaps the key point was that he did not himself seem especially fired up about continuing for another 4 years. He seems tired. From so far away my perceptions are just perceptions but the subject of the US Presidential election has become compulsive again. I am a little sceptical that just one Presidential debate can determine the outcome and suspect that it was the culmination of the many months of disillusionment with Obama and his own apparent loss of enthusiasm. In any event the prospect of a Romney win has become real again.
Who would I prefer to see win? US domestic issues do not affect me except in that they do provide direction for many others outside the US. Instead of looking at whose views I support I prefer to see which candidate better supports my views.
- In that sense Health Care models are universal and Obama has a healthier view than Romney’s dithering.
- In Foreign Policy I do not see that there would be much difference in their approach to the Middle East – and the Middle East is what has set the entire world scene over the last decade. Perhaps there is a higher chance of a strike on Iran with Romney (with its risk of World war 3). But neither is likely to reevaluate the relationship with Israel and Israel’s nuclear weapons. And without that the Middle East will remain a flash-point.
- The possibility of profligate support of subsidy regimes to push politically correct agendas is much greater with Obama. Many of these politically correct agendas are based on alarmism and bad science. Jobs come from wealth creation not from subsidising nonsense. Healthy job creation (sustainable jobs and not just increasing the public sector or throwing money at silly environmental projects) is more likely with Romney.
- Obama is likely to continue with a taxation view that is fundamentally flawed. Taxation has to shift away from penalising wealth creation and focus on being a disincentive to wealth destruction (by irreversible consumption). Romney will be constrained by taxation orthodoxy but is more likely to move closer to my view.
Not very easy to choose. My preference would be the Obama of 4 years ago against today’s Romney. But the Romney of today could be more interesting than the tired, frustrated and listless Obama on display. The world financial recovery is more likely with Romney than with Obama. I suspect Obama will still win — but the process has become interesting again.
If Ryan wins or draws the VP debate against Biden and if Romney wins the second debate he would – I think – become favorite.
Tags:Barack Obama, Middle-East, Mitt Romney, Presidential Election, US
Posted in Politics, US | Comments Off on Could Romney really upset Obama? US election gets interesting
October 9, 2012
Even if anthropogenic effects on climate were significant – which they are not – the arrogance of politicians and bureaucrats is astounding when they believe they can
- control the climate, and
- achieve this control by a “rebranding exercise”
The sun will continue on its merry way and our climate will perforce follow willy-nilly, even if our politicians and bureaucrats and so-called climate scientists think that modern day “rain dances” will give them climate control.
Perhaps they truly believe that man can control climate – and then it would not be arrogance – just gullibility or just plain stupidity! The modern-day King Canute syndrome.
Tags:climate, climate change, climate control, global warming, Politician, rebranding green energy
Posted in Alarmism, Behaviour, Politics | Comments Off on Climate control – no less!! “A world you like – with the climate you like”
The k2p blog 