OVERGENERALIZING ABOUT GERMANY AND FRANCE

Andrew Sullivan�s recent article in the Sunday Times seems very superficial to me. Equating Germany and France because of their present alliance is ludicrous. You would not want to tell the average Frenchman that he had anything in common with the Germans!

And saying that neither country has the social and organizational diversity (pluralism) of the English-speaking countries is ridiculous too. I am sure that there are just as many sporting clubs, special interest organizations, and school/parent associations in France and Germany as anywhere else.

And we must not confuse Germany's present government with Germany. Germany and Australia both normally have pretty conservative governments but with occasional lapses into Leftist craziness. Australia's last such crazy-Leftist government (under Whitlam) was in the 70s. It lasted only 4 years. I don't see Germany�s Schroeder lasting much longer either. The recent Land elections (German State elections) gave huge majorities to the German conservative parties so that should give Chancellor Schroeder a hard time in the Bundesrat (German Senate) if I understand German politics rightly.

But if I think Sullivan is wrong on the points above, I think he was absolutely right in his judgement of my hero: Ronald Reagan. Contrary to all the Leftist mockery, Sullivan said some time ago of the Gipper: �He was one of the most intellectual presidents in history. If you doubt it, you need to read Sullivan�s article.

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ELSEWHERE

Libertarians will like this link. It shows how the internet is enabling small companies and individuals to do the sort of basic and applied scientific research that could once only be done by big organizations -- generally government-funded ones.

Bob Park has a good laugh at the �Freedom Car� -- GWB�s sop to the Greenies -- but agrees that it is a cheap sop at least.

Nice to see a prominent Canadian attacking anti-Americanism.

There's a big strike at affirmative action on Clubbeaux

If the opposite of pro is con then the opposite of progress must be congress. As a libertarian, I LIKE that! From Commonsense & Wonder

It is hard to believe that this I love Saddam article could be published in any Western newspaper. It is eerily reminiscent of the sort of �happy worker� stuff pro-Stalin Western Leftists used to write years ago. Yet it appeared a few days ago in the Washington Post. Via Commonsense & Wonder

Michael Darby has a speech by a conservative politician with an academic background which makes the good conservative point that academic theories often do not work in practice and says that politicians should therefore be more critical of such theories.

Chris Brand asks why we can accept black athletic superiority but not white intellectual superiority.

The Wicked one says what a great racket deathbed repentance is.


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