catallaxyfiles

Don Arthur is one of the few Australian left-leaning intellectuals who actually bothers to understand other creeds and his piece on the American conservative-libertarian fusion is well worth reading.

David Gadiel takes on a rarely noticed form of corporate welfare in Australia - legislation that protects pharmacies from competition.

Mark Newton has all the facts on the Rudd internet censorship plan.

There are times when the objectives of developers and environmentalists, at least sane and rational environmentalists who genuinely prize efficient use of resources over mere aesthetics and sentimentality, will coincide. Concentrated high rise, by allowing for better use of land and facilitating economies of scale for mass transit systems while minimising use of the car (as well as economies of scale for other common facilities to be found in your typical apartment buildings) is a good means of reducing the ‘ecological footprint’ . It is a good means of revitalising community spaces insofar as it is combined with a lifting of regulations to allow more mixed use (residential and commercial developments in the one spot). It is probably good for public health by allowing people to walk to whatever commercial or other facilities they need. It is good for commerce and flexible trading hours. And it is good for developers that get to sell these nifty little packages. What’s there to complain about?

The recently announced decision of the NSW government to allow for more high density suburbs is surely one of those occasions and we will soon sort the rational environmentalist wheat from the inevitable leftist-aesthete NIMBY protesting chaff (who will undoubtedly be in alliance with some traditionalist conservatives):

Powerful new legislation underpinning a proposed metro network costing $13 billion will enable transport and planning officials to reshape the inner suburbs of Sydney, paving the way for apartment towers as high as 15 storeys as well as large-scale retail and office blocks …

Heritage inner-west suburbs such as Glebe, Leichhardt, Rozelle and Camperdown are to be among the first to face radical changes should both the $8.1 billion West Metro underneath Parramatta Road and the $4.8 billion CBD Metro go ahead.

A joint state and federal government study into the West Metro, leaked to the Herald, revealed it would “significantly reduce travel times between western Sydney and the Sydney CBD”.

“It would also provide significant support for transit-oriented development, urban revitalisation and services to new rail markets,” it said.

There is no reason once a critical mass is reached for such developments which were hampered more by government planning regulations than by lack of demand in the first place why mass transit cannot be turned over to profit making private enterprise.

And put me down for one of those underground permanently air-conditioned cities when that last taboo is breached

Commenter Fatfingers has outted himself as Jarrah Job and started his own blog here.

In this post he talks about Fred Nile’s disingenuous attempt to ban nudity on beaches using the excuse that he wishes to protect the sensitivities of Muslims and Asians. Meanwhile, in Asian and majority Muslim country Malaysia, dozens have been arrested for attending a no underwear beach party.

Another example of leftist anti-semitism with a twist:

… Spanish anti-Semitism is on the rise once again. According to a recent study published by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all Spaniards have negative views of Jews, a statistic that marks Spain as one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Europe. According to Pew, 46 percent of Spaniards hold negative opinions of Jews, up more than double from the 21 percent of Spaniards with such views in 2005.

Spain is also the only country in Europe where negative views of Jews outweigh positive views ..

Pew, in a politically correct sleight-of-hand, says the blame lies with “those who place themselves near the right end of the political spectrum.” But most professional observers of contemporary Spanish politics lay the blame squarely with Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who took office in 2004, and since then has managed to drive Spanish-Israeli relations to their worst point since bilateral diplomatic ties were established in 1986.

Zapatero, who makes no secret of his postmodern dislike of Zionism, is well known in Spain for his anti-Israel and anti-Jewish outbursts. At a dinner party in the Moncloa Palace (the Spanish White House) in 2005, for example, Zapatero addressed his guests by launching into a tirade of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric that ended with the phrase: “It is understandable that someone might justify the Holocaust.”

Zapatero has also sought to restore Spain’s traditionally strong ties with the Arab world by ingratiating himself with Israel’s enemies …

But just as Spaniards get smug about their perceived racial superiority, along comes a new study which implies that many Spanish anti-Semites actually have Jewish blood. An examination of the genetic signatures of the Spanish population shows that 20 percent of contemporary Spaniards have Jewish origins. As it turns out, far more Jews than previously thought did not comply with the order to leave Spain back in 1492 and simply converted to Catholicism instead.

Many of those conversos tried to blend in by adopting surnames that indicated trades or professions. One such Sephardic name is Zapatero, which means shoemaker.

RIP to Helen Suzman who showed no fear or favour to past and current South African governments:

Leading South African anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman, who for decades served as a lone voice of parliamentary dissent against white minority rule, died on Thursday at the age of 91 …

The feisty Suzman was the first lawmaker to visit Nelson Mandela in jail during his long incarceration.

However, she was also critical of the post-apartheid African National Congress Government’s record on fighting AIDS, crime and unemployment.

From 1961 to 1974, she was the Progressive Party’s sole representative and the lone liberal voice in the white-only Parliament and used her debating time to rail against forced removals, racial inequalities, the erosion of the rule of law, capital punishment, torture, censorship, police abuses and other trademarks of white minority rule.

Her two main targets became segregation - which saw about 3.5 million blacks removed from their homes - and the laws that allowed the state to detain political opponents without trial for 90 days.

There won’t be a weekend Open Forum but the previous one was getting very long. This also allows for a fresh start for some people willing to repent their erroneous beliefs.

Top marks for creative thinking in Afghanistan (link via Geekpress) - bribing warlord-informants with Viagra:

the man was a clan leader in southern Afghanistan who had been wary of Americans — neither supportive nor actively opposed. The man had extensive knowledge of the region and his village controlled key passages through the area. U.S. forces needed his cooperation and worked hard to win it, the retired operative said.

After a long conversation through an interpreter, the retired operator began to probe for ways to win the man’s loyalty. A discussion of the man’s family and many wives provided inspiration. Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.

Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.

“He came up to us beaming,” the official said. “He said, ‘You are a great man.’ ”

I was going to blog on the recent skirmishes in the Middle East but John Humphreys has already said what I wanted to say and more. The fact that John, who is inclined to look sceptically at any military action and is the least pro-Israel of the libertarian bloggers, thinks Israel is in the right here speaks volumes in itself. One of the points made by John is the attitude of some that Israel is the ‘bad guy’ in this because it has succeeded in killing more, Actually I noticed the same attitude, whether conscious or not, in the initial media coverage of the hostilities, which continually emphasised at the start how Israelis were ‘only’ injured whereas people were killed in Gaza. Based on this attitude we should let incompetent murderers walk free while arresting the person acting in self defence.

On the same blog Pommy discusses the bias against the Israeli actions.

Another great writer who spoke with great eloquence about this conflict and its precursors in 1983 had this to say:

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive.
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin,
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He’s the neighborhood bully…

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He’s the neighborhood bully

“paying interest on reserves has certainly applied deflationary pressure in the short run. It may eventually rank with the Fed’s doubling of reserve requirements in the 1930s and bringing on the recession of 1937 within the midst of the Great Depression.”

from http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/58090.html

Apparently paying interest on reserves has sucked money out of the system and into the federal reserve, if this is a significant deflationary effect it would be very very bad. We would be doomed to repeat the mistake of the great depression!

(I also like the point about interest rate targetting. the interest rate is a significant real variable and not just a nominal one like money supply. Although money supply does have real effects!)

It’s highly unlilkely I’ll be posting anything substantive until the New Year unless something really compelling comes to mind, so I’ve amended the open forum title accordingly. Merry X’mas to all.