CONSERVATIVE PHILOSOPHER SCRUTON ON THE BRITISH LAW AGAINST HUNTING

The hunting Act vindictive in its aim and discriminatory in its effect. It takes away liberties from law-abiding people, destroys a deeply-rooted way of life and confers no benefit on any person or animal. It permits the dogs of Labour voters to pursue their favourite quarry, and forbids the dogs of Tories to go after theirs. It reflects no understanding either of hunting or of wildlife, and was passed in defiance of the conclusions of the Government's own official inquiry..... When, why and how is it right to disobey the law? If it is never right to disobey, then tyrants have carte blanche. The racist laws of Nuremberg, the Hindu law of suttee, sharia that condemns adulterers to stoning and a thousand other cruelties become obligatory on those who are commanded to obey them.

So what should we do? It was in answer to that question that Gandhi developed the strategy of "civil disobedience", directed against the authorities in British India. Civil disobedience does not mean breaking the law and then trying to evade it. It means breaking the law overtly and peacefully, while surrendering yourself for punishment. In this way, Gandhi thought, you put a spotlight on the law, draw attention to its injustice, and emphasise that you yourself are no criminal, either by nature or by intention, but simply labelled as such by a sovereign power that has overstepped the bounds of legitimate government....

It seems to me that the crucial point is not the grandeur of the cause but the social impact of the injustice and the lack of an alternative remedy. In our society rules and regulations can be altered, and majority opinion will eventually have its way with them. However, minorities do not enjoy the benefit of majority opinion. Consider what a Muslim should do, when faced with a law that bans halal butchery. Majority opinion will never rescue him, for it is only the Muslim minority that is affected. A strategy of civil disobedience would make it obvious, even to the majority opposed to halal butchery, that you cannot go on sending law-abiding butchers to prison simply to satisfy your beliefs about a matter that does not affect you.

More here. For news on the law see here

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ELSEWHERE

Good to hear: "Contending that Americans benefit from free trade, President Bush said Thursday he would keep pursuing liberalization agreements around the world, even as critics say his policies have resulted in record trade deficits and millions of lost jobs. Bush's pledge came in his annual economic report to Congress, a 438-page document which argued that his economic policies, ranging from making his first-term tax cuts permanent to overhauling Social Security, will lead to greater prosperity. "I believe that Americans benefit from open markets and free and fair trade and I am working to open up markets around the world and make sure that the playing field is level for our workers, farmers, manufacturers and other job creators," Bush said in his message to Congress".

A teeth-grinder for Leftists: "The two largest U.S. retailers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. reported higher fourth-quarter profits on Thursday on double-digit sales growth. Wal-Mart, the world's No. 1 retailer, said quarterly earnings rose 16 percent as sales gained from store expansion, beating Wall Street expectations".

Futile but good for attention-seekers: "Perhaps no company has come under as fierce an attack as Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer. A 22-page report last year by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, echoed what many critics have said for years: Because nonunionized Wal-Mart pays lower salaries and health benefits, its employees must use subsidized medical care, free school lunches and other taxpayer- supported welfare services. Wal-Mart will be the target of a fresh campaign in the next couple of months, when the Organic Consumers Association will band together with labor and environmental groups to promote a "buy local" crusade".

Another setback for the food fascists: "Drinking coffee regularly can reduce the risk of liver cancer by more than one half, according to a study carried out in Japan on more than 90,000 people and published in the United States by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Taking into account anti-cancer properties of caffeine on lab animals, a team of Japanese researchers analyzed a public health report spanning a decade which allowed them to track a large number of patients, many with liver cancer, and their coffee consumption habits".

The future of the U.S. Supreme Court too? "The [Australian] High Court has been remade in John Howard's image. It is now so legally conservative that Michael Kirby [a Left-leaning homosexual] has become the biggest outsider in the court's history".

The wicked John Stossel has some good examples of where sharing is bad and selfishness is good.

Nathan Tabor has a comprehensive debunking of the "gay gene" theory. It is so typically Leftist that the one claim of hereditary influence that they accept is scientifically unfounded. Reality just does not suit Leftists at all. No wonder they have taken so fervently to calling themselves "reality-based" lately. Denial is a well-known psychological defence-mechanism.

Absurd demands on Israel: "There's lots of land in the Middle East. Most of it is populated sparsely by Arabic-speaking people, culturally, linguistically, religiously and ethnically at one with the so-called 'Palestinians,' a people who have never had a country of their own in the history of the world. Why then is it Israel's obligation to carve itself up to create this Palestinian state? The tiny sliver of land that represents the current state of Israel is only about one-tenth the size of the original United Nations mandate that created the Jewish state in 1947. Now, I'm not a Jew. I'm a Christian Arab-American journalist who believes in freedom first, peace second. And I've got to tell you that the demands on Israel right now are demands for the nation to commit political, military and cultural suicide."

A good email: "Paradoxically, the same (white) liberals who blame the "imperialist western countries" for the hatred some other peoples and religions have towards us, are the very main cause of such hatred: they themselves produced the culture of drugs, free sexuality and abomination which more traditional cultures of Asia and Africa deeply despise. How ironic".

There is another appalling news report on SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and some VERY interesting media quotations on LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS today.

My latest posting on MarxWords shows what a parasite and a cheat Marx was. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" looks at the concept of the afterlife in the OT and the NT.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftists is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftists are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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