Justin's 100 Treatises

I found this blog through another post on the Secular state.

Justin is a very intelligent young man who likes to cover political, philosophical, economic issues, and the topic of secularism and religion. In fact, part of me wants to defer to him on the topic of secularism and religion as he is wise beyond his age in thse matters.

He has just finished a three part post on Afghanistan that is most cogent and insightful regarding history and nation building. Unfortunately, the west likes to place its constructs upon a society which cannot work. The concept that nations can be built upon geographic, rather than cultural and ethnic lines is the cause of much conflict in Europe (Balkans), Africa, and Asia. Justin addresses the extreme multicultural society comprised by Afghanistan. Actually, Justin doesn't mention that this area combines Iran, Pakistan, and India by the nature of ethnic and cultural identites (e.g., Pashtuns).

I hope that decision makers consider Justin's comments and I hope those who read this take a look at Justin's blog.

I wish young Justin well.

We haven't heard the last from Tony the Weasel

Somehow in my state of political and current events ignorance, I've managed to keep it from my consciousness that Gordon Brown wants Tony "the Weasel" Blair to become president of the European Union.

Probably because I am glad he is GONE from British politics. I never liked him anyway since he made me feel as if I went to the wrong School or Oxford College when I met him. And this was pre-PM days. I had the fortune to attend Parliamentary discussions on License of Right in 1988.

My boss at that time told me that one day Tony Blair would be PM. Six years later, well...

The worst bit is that Blair reminds me of Alan B'Stard on the New Statesman. The really funny thing is that Rik Mayall claims he "discovered Tony Blair" in the Daily Mail.

Not as good as this from the Beeb: Explaining the defection to Labour, Mr Mayall said: "They are young, they are sexy and they are much more right-wing than the Conservative Party."

I guess my suspicions were correct!

And you wonder why I call him "Tony the Weasel".

Red or Blue: what's the difference?

Where I come from "Blue" means "conservative" and "Red" is usually some form of collectivist philosophy, such as Socialism or Communism. This colour scheme is true for most of the world.

Of course, the US in its arse backwards way has these reversed. Although, I am not really sure what US parties actually stand for since it appears to be the party of the rich and powerful v. the party of the rich and powerful (republicrats and Demicans). In fact, the parties are terrible at making any real political stands in such topics as gun control, health care, the environment, transportation, education, and pretty much everything in general. That is a major reason nothing seems to get done in this country, other than making a show of electioneering. We have "wedge issues" such as gun control and abortion, which are really non-issues since gun control and abortion should exist and shouldn't be any sort of "wedge".

Actually, I don't understand the progun crowd's disliking abortion since the children aren't alive anyway. They haven't been born, which means that life is speculative. On the other hand, the gun crowd sees no problem in the death toll in the USA. Perhaps, if we ensured that wanted children came into the world, we wouldn't have an issue with crime.

But the ultimate bottom line is the public welfare, which I see neither US party as being very interested in promoting. In fact, I am not very sure of what exactly the US parties are interested in promoting other than havoc.