Food crisis? What food crisis?

The EU forced a producer of kiwis to dispose of 5,000 kiwi fruits for being 1mm smaller than the allowable size set by regulators. He has been banned from even giving them away - they must be pulped and disposed of.

Dr. Harry Burns claims that a smoking ban in 'Public' Places will 'virtually eradicate lung cancer in 20 years.

"Imagining Scotland with no lung cancer is not trivial speculation.” said the Doctor adding “In the 1960s, one in 100 men died of lung cancer. [...] Today, rates are falling all the time and thanks to the smoking ban, I expect the reduction in deaths to accelerate until dying from the disease becomes a rare occurrence.

"Anecdotal evidence shows that since the smoking ban, there has been a surge in the numbers of smokers seeking help to give up."

Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest) spokesperson Neil Rafferty sees otherwise, accusing the Doctor of painting a completely misleading picture.” Rafferty went on to say “The evidence from other countries shows that smoking bans have no significant effect on smoking rates," he said.

"Secondly, there is no conclusive evidence that lung cancer is caused by second hand smoke.
"We should really expect better of Dr Burns than to go around making such ludicrous claims."

From the Article:

Mr Rafferty said that by claiming such good results from the policy, the public could be misled into entrusting politicians with more power over people's lives.
Well Said Mr. Rafferty, Well Said.

I was watching euronews yesterday. They were showing that 71% of Europeans agree that Europe should promote democracy around the world compare to the US where only 45% of Americans think America should promote democracy in the World.

Then a guy started talking and said that the Americans were not "mature" enough to understand a foreign policy. They didn't have enough education.

I'm writing this because this isn't the first time I heard this, last time they said Americans were not "mature" enough (they used that word again)  to understand the European public healthcare system.

So all of this brings us to that conclusion: We (libertarians) aren’t mature enough to understand that the state is there to help us and is not a tyrant and will never be.

I guess one day they will say that we are genetically different.  read more »

The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) is an independent and non-profit policy research think tank dedicated to trade policy and other international economic policy issues of importance to Europe. It was founded in 2006 by Fredrik Erixon and Razeen Sally.

ecipe.com (via johannorberg.net)

About time. Brussels has now a free trade think tank. Let's hope it can influence the EU significantly. It's needed...  read more »

Scotland spends £12m a year to supposedly treat heroin addicts with Methadone but the Scotsman reports that:

A Key government drugs policy has been exposed as a shocking failure after it emerged that giving methadone to heroin addicts has a 97% failure rate.

In Flamman (Swedish socialist newspaper), an editorial attacks the new "Timbro-rightwings" and call them "Anarcho-Fascists". With this concept, the journalist tries to point out that the new right (libertarians) actually is "an anti-democratic thug-ism that wants to sell all that it’s owned by society and make the democratic institutions into empty shells without any power at all".

By the very definition "Anarcho-Fascism" is an impossible concept. The funny (and disgusting) thing is that the journalist tries to place libertarianism together with fascism. Someone should inform him that nothing in the libertarian view of society even resembles fascism, unlike his own socialist ideology.

Yes, we don't want institutions to have power to force people to do things they don't want to do and we don't want the state to be big. Who wants to force people? Fascists and socialists. Who wants the "society" (=state and its leaders) to own everything? Fascists and socialists.

Looks like you are on the wrong side of the road, dear journalist. Instead of all this mumbo jumbo, it would be nice if you could try and learn more about the ideologies you're referring to.

Promotion of democracy is more part of the agenda on the other side of the Atlantic... There is no single banner of democracy. And of course, any attempt to make a mechanical shift of democratic patterns from one country to another is detrimental to the notion of democracy,´ he added.

Comparing life in Sweden and in Turkmenistan, for example, the ambassador said ´They [Swedish people] might seem to be more free to an outsider. But if you ask them how they feel, the people in Turkmenistan might say that they are more happy.

euobserver.com (via johannorberg.net)

Hmm, okay... So if the people in Turkmenistan are more happy, then dictatorship is justified? As for the imagined survey mentioned, "you can´t make a reliable survey in a tyranny like Turkmenistan, where you are imprisoned and tortured if you answer in the wrong way" (Johan Norberg). I thought that these comments on democracy belonged to Russian ambassadors in the 20th century during the days of the Soviet Union. Well, at least we know that not much has changed Mr Ambassador! Russia is still very reliable when it comes to not promoting democracy.

Finland has proposed a ban throughout the European Union on working more than 60 hours a week.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is considering trying to negotiate the limit upward to closer to 70 hours a week. Business groups in Britain argue that the country's economy has been more successful than others in the union because employers have more flexibility on working hours and conditions.

Britain has an opt-out from a directive that sets a 48-hour limit on the workweek. Finland's proposal would extend the opt-out while cutting the cap from 78 hours a week to 60.

Via upi.com

Gee, thanks Tony! No, you should not try to negotiate the ban, you should argue against it altogether. If I want to work more than 60 hours a week, I want to be able to do that. That's it, end of discussion.  read more »

Sweden's new culture minister (president of the neo-liberal think tank Timbro) has not paid her "TV-licence" and many people now want her to resign. The TV-licence is money you pay to have the right to own a TV (!) and that goes to "public service". Johan Norberg gives the perfect explanation why all Swedes should refuse to pay this horrible tax.

It´s strange to see so many politicians who suddenly realise that they "forgot" to pay their TV license - including more than a third of all MP´s 124 of them. It´s tempting to conclude that at least some of them did it for ideological reasons. Ideological reasons that I share. But why? Why is this tax worse than other taxes?

The reason is this: In a democratic society with transparency and division of powers, you have private and voluntary organisations and institutions on the one hand, who have to rely on voluntary cooperation and payments - on the other hand you have the state and governmental organisations, with the right to enforce decisions and taxes. What you don´t have are privileged independent institutions with a legal sanction to use force and extract money from those who have never been asked if they want their services or not.

That´s a distant memory from the middle ages, with incorporated organisations, guilds and companies who got a specific royal sanction to use force. To a large extent, the liberal struggle in the 19th century was about fighting these guilds. Swedish public service television, with its legal sanction to take our money of we own a television, and its East German attempts to encourage neighbors, relatives and friends to be informers, is such an organisation. To collaborate with that system, for example by paying the license, is worse than not to. (Even though I do understand if people don´t want to follow their ethical believes when it´s against the law.)

So do I pay? The thought would never cross my mind. My wife does, but I am trying to hide the invoice every time they send us one.

johannorberg.net 

A Polish man is on the run from the state police after commiting an act of 'Flatuant Dissidance' Ananova Reports:

Police in Poland have launched a nationwide hunt for a man who farted loudly when asked what he thought of the president.

Hubert Hoffman, 45, was charged with "contempt for the office of the head of state" for his actions after he was stopped by police in a routine check at a Warsaw railway station.

He complained that under President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, the country was returning to a Communist style dictatorship.

When told to show more respect for the country's rulers, he farted loudly and was promptly arrested.

Hoffmann was arrested and released on bail but failed to turn up at a Warsaw court early this week to be tried, and the judge in the case rejected an appeal by defence lawyers to throw the charges out.

A court spokesman said: "Such a case of disrespect is taken very seriously."

Instead the court ordered the police to start a nationwide hunt for the man, and interpol have been alerted.

Our electronic teacher just told us the latest stupidiest law the European Union just made : For "ecological reason" we can't use lead when we sweat components anymore.

I don't know if you are familiar with electronics but when we sweat we melt an alloy of tin and lead. We use the lead to decrease the melting temperature. Not to spare energy (we wouldn't even spare a peny) but because higher temperature could dammage electronics components. Those could later blow up and ingnite hostile fire and put lifes in danger. For the moment we still use lead (I have pleny in my basement) but we don't know how we are going to sweat or components in the future.

So my point is that, by sparing some milligrams of lead, the governments with all their great intentions are ready to put lifes at risk and play with fire. And that's what we call ECOLOGY. thumbs up! the government is great, I'm sure I'll thanks them some time, for now I'm too young and imature to understand... I guess.  read more »

An editorial on the Swedish elections from Investors Business Daily 

Swedish voters rejected socialism 48.1% to 46.2% and rejected the much-praised "Swedish Model" of economic development.

Sweden's voters have sent a powerful message about socialism, suggesting that too much security is smothering and they'd like to see a horizon again.

The man who wrote this editorial doesn't know much about Swedish politics at all. The Swedish people did definitely not say no to the Swedish Model and they have not sent a message against security and socialism. The only message the Swedish people have sent, is a message to the Social Democrats that they don't like their way of running socialism. The Swedish so-called "right-wing"-alliance took over power on a program that is in the middle on the political scale. The alliance was able to take over power, just because they became more similar to the Social Democrats in the eyes of the voters.

Fredrik Reinfeldt (leader of the "liberal-conservatives") has done the same thing as Tony Blair did in Britain and Clinton in the US. He gave the public what it wanted. What the public wants in Sweden is clear: Welfare statism. Reinfeldt moved the right-wing party in to the middle and was there able to take over voters from the SD's.

Sweden has not rejected the Swedish model. It has just approved new leaders to administrate it. If a vote for the right-wing party in Sweden is considered a vote for a non-socialist party, then we are in big trouble. After Labour's transition into New Labour in Britain, analysts claim that Margaret Thatcher have won every single British election since the 70's. Her policies are now being implanted also by New Labour. The same thing has now happened to Sweden, but in the opposite direction. The right-wing alliance may have won the battle, but it did lose the war.  read more »

The European Commission has released new figures showing that Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) spending jumped to a record €48.5 billion in 2005, up 11.2% over the previous year. By contrast, non-agricultural expenditure fell very slightly in 2005 to €56.3 billion.

From farmsubsidy.org (also see www.johannorberg.net).

Those of you who thought that the EU couldn't do more things wrong, think again. More tax money to French and German farmers who want the European people to pay for their living. The people still get higher prices and African farmers are still held in poverty due to CAP's disgusting effects. Europe needs to abolish subsidies not increase them.  read more »

The following is a hilarious post from the Berlaymonster blog:

A senior EU official has been injured in a high-speed attempt to introduce new EU laws.

Using a new and barely tested expedited procedure, Dirk Goelfink suffered a severe knee-jerk reaction while trying to usher in emergency regulations.

One colleague said Mr Goelfink was 'crazy' to try and steer the draft law through so rapidly.

The European Commission chose not to act swiftly in response, fearing further casualties. An ad hoc working party will report back to DG Admin next Spring with their interim findings before an online stakeholder consultation with the aim to present a green paper on the options for inaction with a view to presenting any necessary proposals on a change in the expedited procedure by year-end 2008.

The awesome slogan for berlaymonster is "derailing the gravy train." Nuff said.  read more »

The Prime Minister of Hungary finally tells the truth about the state of the country, not that he ever expected any of his countrymen to find out:

The prime minister of Hungary has confirmed the legitimacy of a leaked tape recording in which he says his government lied to win April's election and "lied in the morning; lied in the evening" during office.

The recording comes from a speech Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany gave to a closed party meeting shortly after his Socialist-Liberal coalition took office for a second term.

In the leaked speech, parts of which have been played on Hungarian state radio, he argued that major economic reforms were needed. "There is not much choice. There is not, because we screwed up," he said. "Not a little: a lot. No European country has done something as bone-headed as we have," he continued.

Now, of course, people are calling on the PM to resign and call for new elections. Funny how it's the lies that got his party elected, and it's the truth that may get them kicked out.

Not content with their upcoming ban on smoking in bars and pubs, Northern Ireland’s government is planning on setting up a special telephone hotline to help enforce this annoying law. Soon, pub patrons who tries to sneak an illegal cigarette can be reported in real time to the police by anyone with a cell phone. In a rare fit of rationality from a government official, Ulster councilor Hugh Smyth responded with this critique:  “If we’re going to have special hotlines, shouldn’t we be targeting … drunk drivers and pedophiles? Surely such people are a far greater menace to society than smokers.” Now if we just had a government abuse of power hotline.

Here in the heart of Europe, victories are few and hard to come by.  I consider the comment "Nothing else to add" to be a minor victory in a long battle between Reason and Racism alt:>insert prejudicial hypocritical behaviour here<. 

And yet the war is not over. 

The Lion shall not sleep until the Dragon is at last slain.

:-P  read more »

Déjà -Vu anyone?  More news from Belgium, this time from the  more socialist Wallonian half of the Country.  When Flanders secedes from Belgium, I might start building a big wall to keep them out!

I find it difficult to believe that the (alleged) Justice system has realeased such a murderer after such a short time.  In a country where taxes are so high, can we not afford to pay for Justice?  What does the government do with all that money? (I think the tax rate here is about 55 percent, from memory, and the standard of living is not really any higher than somewhere like, for instance, Australia)... Oh that's right, we have to pay the Eurocracy somehow as well, is that it?
So if this guy is the murderer, will he plead insanity too?  I seriously question the competence of the psychiatrist involved (who deemed him to be miraculously cured).  This smells really bad.  I feel sick.

Check out this and that. 

Another two steps backwards (1 for democracy, one for freedom). 

I particularly like the line:

“The constitutional treaty is alive,” he insisted. “It was not the treaty which was rejected by a large proportion of those in France and the Netherlands who voted non or nee. Other reasons determined their choice.”

So in other words, when the voters voted no, they really didn't mean it, so we are going to ignore it.  Long live the coming EU dictatorship!  It will always truly represent Europe of course, even if Europe doesn't want it to. 

And, here in Belgium, we have two new martyrs, not one, for the cause.  I am not keen to see a third, and I hope it's not going to be me. 

At what point will the US accept me as a political refugee?  After the Dhimmi Eurocrats and Oiks take over and declare war on America?  Will someone please send me a gun with which to defend myself when that happens!

Amazing artcile from the Gaurdian recomends that the best way to save Vinice is to privatize it. UK Economist and Author John Kay says "Venice can no longer be ran like any other Eurpean city and turning into a theme park is it's best hope.  He recomends Disney, or a company like it, that is familiar with "providing entertainment for the masses" and that "right now, no one is running venice" 

I would LOVE to see a private company take over an entire city, and show the world that it can work.

"Environmentalists" are scared about a lot of things. It was once global cooling, then it was nuclear power, and now it is global warming. Ironic since nuclear power can reduce the pollution that we’re told causes global warming. I’m scared about a much more immediate threat: irradiated communist zombies. Please let me explain.

20 years ago there was an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union. Andrew Bolt writes in the Herald that various groups cite different death tolls for this tragedy. 30,000 people according to the Australian Conservation Foundation and 180,000 according to Britain's Green Party. Just recently GreenPeace issued a fundraising letter report that 200,000 people have died so far.

I should mention that Bolt is reporting fewer than 50 deaths but he’s a journalist so I think I’ll stick with the facts as presented by these "environmental" groups.

So the only explanation can be irradiated communist zombies wandering Europe. Because conscientious citizens can’t refute what environmental organizations tell us my only conclusion is that people died and then returned from the grave as undead making recordkeeping a bitch for the Friends of the Dirt. Why else could environmental groups have such seemingly erratic numbers?

The EU's approach to trade was today condemned by the UK's House of Commons International Development Committee as being unrealistic in it's demands that poor nations liberalise their economies while the EU carries on it's protectionist policies. Much of the blame lies at the feet of nations that rely heavily on the Common Agricultural Policy, such as France. Meanwhile, the USA didn't escape the attention of the committee, and was criticised for "shamefully restricting" an agreement on free market access for developing nations.

Johan Norberg received one of our Enjoy Capitalism Tees while he was a guest at a lunch focusing on the threat antitrust regulations pose to European Innovation. Norberg, of course, is well known for his excellent book “In Defense of Global Capitalism.”

- Help Johan spread the Enjoy Capitalism meme! -

In what I hope to be some to be a very sick joke PeTA’s masturbatory fantasy might be coming true, at least in Spain:

The socialist PSOE party is apparently intent on introducing a bill aimed at giving apes the same rights as man, "and the immediate inclusion of these animals as people." As a result, the bill adds that apes "should have the same moral and legal protection that humans currently enjoy."

Fernando Sebastian, the bishop of Tudela has termed the measure as "making oneself looking ridiculous in the name of progress, and then what about the rights of the fighting bulls?" Meanwhile, other political commentators have stated that as a result of these measures, it will not be long before apes names will start appearing on the electoral rolls.

This won’t be quite the victory that many Animal Rights Activist hope for however, as Spain is a Socialist country and Everyone’s rights are severely limited.  An unknown source says the Charlton Heston lead NRA is following this story very closely, and preparing for pre-emptive strikes, if necessary.

PHOTO CREDIT: Urban Outfitters

FLASHBACK: Making a monkey out of Stalin's Central Planning

Slobodan Milosevic is dead and if I had enough frequent flyer miles I'd fly to his final resting spot to dance on his grave. Nationalist, communist, socialist and killer are all apt labels for Milosevic. But here's the kicker: he was democratically elected. Millions of people cast a vote for him and watched as used his power to massacre thousands of Muslim men and boys.

A relevant thought of the day is provided by Crasher atlshrg:

The biggest fallacy promoted during the 20th century is that Democracy is synonymous with freedom.

My first piece of propaganda was designed for a high school class when I was 16. The assignment was to design and silkscreen a t-shirt and even at that young age I despised excessive government power. For my project I chose the symbol for the Polish solidarity movement that helped to drive the communists out of power. To honor their struggle and celebrate their victory I created some desktop wallpapers for you to enjoy in the following sizes: 1280 x 768, 1024 x 768, 800 x 600.

My first piece of propaganda was designed for a high school class when I was 16. The assignment was to design and silkscreen a t-shirt and even at that young age I despised excessive government power. For my project I chose the symbol for the Polish solidarity movement that helped to drive the communists out of power. To honor their struggle and celebrate their victory I created some desktop wallpapers for you to enjoy in the following sizes: 1280 x 768, 1024 x 768, 800 x 600.

In November 2004, three men watched a naked woman on a large plasma screen. Over several hours they watched her  cuddling her boyfriend before undressing, using the toilet, taking a bath and sitting only in a towel.

Why should you care? Because the three men were bureaucrats who operate government closed-circuit television cameras that monitor the British people. The plasma screen was in a government CCTV control room. The British person being monitored just so happened to be a naked women in her home unaware that her government was watching her every move.

MICHAEL’s comment about taking a look at the list of what constitutes anti-social behavior in England got me googling.  I turned up the Anti-Social Behavior Act of 2003.   I loved the government’s website that helps the locals get a feel for how this benevolent act will improve their lives.

It has something for everyone:   I particularly loved the area labeled “I am an Anti-Social Behavior Practitioner”.   It’s always nice to know where to look when you wake up one morning and realize that you are a boil on the butt of society.  One clip-it from the scrolling headlines at the bottom of the page:   Jan 10 2006 Private householders will be thrown out of their homes if they refuse to stop anti-social behaviour, the Government said. Home Office minister Hazel Blears confirmed new measures would apply to people with mortgages or who own their homes outright, and would not be confined to council tenants.

But what if you are the butt of society rather than the boil?  Well the site helps you too.  Check out:  “I am a member of the public”.  See how many people the Brits employ to provide help to the locals in controlling these problems.

Just for grins take a look at “Taking a Stand Award”.  Learn how the government can help you lance that boil.   In 2004, there were 300 local winners of Take a Stand Awards.  This translated into a whopping 30,000 pounds of coinage being given to these do-gooders and their local groups.  The following year, there were 1000 winners (and 100,000 pounds of lucre awarded).  Most of the money has been spent setting up Neighborhood watch programs to lower crime, loitering, and other teenage anti-social behavior.

What amazes me is that the locals seemed incapable of dealing with the boils before the government intervened.  Are we to believe that except for the award of 1000 pounds, these people were powerless?  Were there no laws or societal backbone before 2003?  Why does it take an Act of Parliament to get the police to do their jobs or local residents to protect their property, their livelihoods, or their mental well-being from hooligans and petty criminals?

There’s even a section on what to do if your neighbor’s hedge is too high and the bureaucrats are kind enough to supply a brochure on proper trimming techniques and how to select a hedge that won’t contribute to juvenile delinquency.  How would you like to spend years at university getting your letters in public policy to be placed in charge of controlling antisocial behaviors associated with overgrown hedges?  Of course that’s only a rung on the bureaucratic ladder.  Perhaps by the time you retire you can be confiscating air guns.

All this goofiness got me thinking: “gosh with all this community involvement to create neighborhoods of little angels, pissless sidewalks, and neatly trimmed bushes those properties are going to really get to be valuable.”  Well the government is helping out there with the passage of the Compulsory Purchase Act of 2004.  Clarify the eminent domain laws for all those planning commissions so they can lay their hands on your nice new high value land.  Check it out.  Just in time for the London Olympics in 2012.  Building that new stadium will displace 300 businesses on East Side of London.

Surprise:  Some of them just aren’t civic minded enough to want to have their million dollar investments turned into an Olympic stadium.

The only difference between US eminent domain laws and England’s Compulsory Purchase Act is 20 or so years of active application of the law for the purpose of economic development on the part of the English.  We mealy-mouth around with our wording so it’s hard to tell what the statists are up to and the English come out and say it proudly:  Private property is yours until someone else wants it.