ARE ALL LEFTISTS UNPRINCIPLED?

Leftist intellectuals certainly are. "There is no such thing as right and wrong" seems to be one of their central doctrines. But normal decent working people who vote for Leftist political parties at election time are most unlikely to be so amoral. In between, however, there do seem to be some Leftists who take an intelligent interest in politics and who also also reject the amorality of the Leftist intellectuals. This writer would appear to be one of them:

"Several kids of my friends are amazed that: A) I could support the war in Iraq and, B) have a sympathetic view of Israel and blame the Palestinian leadership and Arab leadership for the plight of the Palestinians. In other words, their teachers have not even attempted to point out that their might be another side to the argument. In fact, the bias against Israel in schools, in Universities, in human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, and in the supposedly quality media (including or especially the BBC) has reached poisonous levels. This is more serious than bias on talkback radio etc which is not taken as seriously. Israel, it seems, is in the wrong when it takes action after suicide bombers have destroyed the lives of its citizens and after numerous others attempting similar destruction have been stopped. The fact that since the second war the Palestinian leadership and Arab countries have on several occasions rejected the offer of a continuous Palestinian state and have sought to destroy the Jews instead is blithely ignored. In fact, they are ignored to such an extent that I am no longer, in many cases, prepared to put it down to ignorance but rather down to anti-Semitism. From a left perspective, the anti-Semitism of many academics, intellectuals and social activists combined with their past ideological allegiances (to Marxism, etc) has made it far too easy for the right to claim the moral and intellectual high ground."

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ELSEWHERE

Well, I've learned that I am not the oldest guy in the blogosphere. Dick McDonald tells me he is nearly 70. And he started blogging only this year. And he's still got plenty of fire in him too. I hope I do as well.

Dick has just put up a new article by Evan Sayet -- taking pretty-boy John Edwards apart.

A comment from a reader about my musical tastes: "Somehow I can't see Philip Glass along with your otherwise impeccable (by my opinion,) tastes in music. Attached please find a cartoon about Glass with which I agree fully. I sent the cartoon to a Chicago area Classical Music radio host who had interviewed Glass among his many fascinating interviews of classical musicians. He said Glass described one of his early concerts where a woman came walking down the aisle during one number and started pounding on the floor with her umbrella next to the piano yelling, "Please stop, I can't stand it any more!"." Philip Glass is of course sometimes called the "cracked-record" composer for his mesmeric use of repetition. I have posted the cartoon here or here

"If intelligence mistakes are inevitable, is it better to worry too much about potential threats or to worry too little? Worrying too much -- if that's what happened -- resulted in the toppling of one of the planet's most murderous tyrants. Worrying too little resulted in 9/11." -- Jeff Jacoby

Windschuttle has just put up a lot of links to the latest expose of lying Australian Leftist historians.

Private education even helps Alzheimers: "A year ago, Alzheimer's disease was so advanced in her that she could hardly recognize a pencil. Now, after having an increasingly popular treatment in Japan called "Learning Therapy," her once blank expression is punctuated with smiles.... But thanks to methods developed by Professor Ryuta Kawashima of Tohoku University in Sendai and backed up by an army of volunteers and textbooks from Kumon Institute of Education Co. - Japan's largest private education company - she has regained an ability to communicate and interact with people".

OK to eat bacon but not OK to put a pig in a car? "A Florida woman who offered up a Yorkshire pig as bait to entice an escaped tiger back home will face charges of animal cruelty, local newspapers reported on Thursday... Meredith said that the trunk of her Cadillac was air conditioned and that she had planned to eat the pig anyway once it had grown up".

In another scathing review of the Michael Moore distortions, Paul Sheehan points out that even Moore's account of himself is a distortion.

Enron: "Is Enron what happens when markets are unsupervised and regulators are asleep at the switch? No, ... California's restructured electricity market was, in fact, the furthest thing from a capitalist jungle imaginable. The government forced electric utilities to sell-off most of their power plants and discouraged them from buying electricity outside of a complicated state-managed spot market. Furthermore, the electric utilities were forced to open their power lines to anyone who wanted to use them - like Enron - under tightly regulated terms and conditions. The day-to-day management of the grid was likewise taken from the utilities and given to state regulators. While wholesale electricity prices were deregulated, retail prices remained tightly controlled - a combustionable combination. In sum, the state was more heavily involved in the restructured market than it was in the old system we all grew up with."

Gun realism in India: "Bangalore City's spiralling crime rate has had one major spin-off. Instead of looking up to the guardians of law for security, why not arm oneself? This seems to be the one of the motives behind the gradual but steady rise in the number of gun licences among Bangaloreans. Going by statistics with the police department, there has been a two-fold increase in demand for gun licences during 2003 as compared to previous years. While in 2001, there were 145 applicants for gun licences, the figures have shot up to 399 in 2003. In 2004, as on June 24, there are 141 applicants. This includes the sixty licences that are yet to be issued. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Administration) N Shivkumar, people arming themselves is a healthy trend. 'Guns give people confidence. It is not always possible for the police to be there at the spot every time a person is attacked. Self defence is the next best alternative,' he says."

"It might as well have been Michael Moore - or the New York Times. It is hard to react any other way to "Pakistan for Bush. July Surprise?" That was the kooky story trumpeted late last week by the usually more responsible "progressives" at The New Republic. Putting down their "Bush is an imbecile" playbook momentarily to draw from their "Bush is a diabolical genius" script, the fellas at TNR (the ordinarily reasonable John Judis, joined by Spencer Ackerman and Massoud Ansari) contend that the imperious president has ordered Pakistan to capture Osama bin Laden - not to promote national security, not to smash al Qaeda, but to interrupt the four-day infomercial otherwise known as the Democratic National Convention."

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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Puzzle 1: Leftists always say that human nature is fundamentally good and that people can be trusted. So why do they say that whilst at the same time wanting to regulate everybody to death and take as many decisions and choices out of the hands of the individual as they possibly can? Easy: They say that about human nature because, if it is true, then THEY are good at heart and can be trusted -- and, given their destructive deeds, they need all the propaganda help they can get in that regard.

Puzzle 2: Why do "postmodern" Leftists make the strange claim that everything ever written has to be interpreted in terms of how it serves power? Easy: Because everything THEY say is directed towards getting themselves power

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