For a while, the theory of Democratic Peace was popular, widely believed, and widely argued. Supposedly democracies do not go to war with each other. On the basis of this theory, Osama Obama and Bush have been promoting democracy in the middle east. Supposedly, if Muslims get to vote, they will vote against making war on us. Of course, one could look at much the same evidence and conclude that …
“Democracy never lasts longâ€
In 1814, John Adams, second president of the United States, and one of the revolutionaries that founded it, said Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. And that was the …
Google is evil
Firefox reports your IP and all nearby wifi systems to Google. Thunderbird reports your IP to Google. From the nearby wifi systems, Google can locate you relative to nearby wifi points.. From a multitude of browsers reporting in, it can locate wifi systems relative to each other. When it does ground level photo drives for Google Earth, it locates wifi systems relative to streets and houses. Knowing the location of …
Democracy in the Ivory Coast
The UN refugee agency estimates that over a million people have fled. Many of them are hiding in the jungle, and many of them have no food. However, it piously avoids saying who is fleeing whom, and why. The great majority of refugees are westernized Christians and animists fleeing Muslims with a markedly lower level of civilization. The great majority of refugees are not immigrants or the children of immigrants, …
The survival prospects of democracy
Until the American Republic demonstrated impressive longevity, the conventional wisdom was that democracy was inherently short lived. As soon as the masses discovered they could vote themselves rich, it would implode. Today, we observe that if it does not fall apart immediately, the elite import cheaper votes, and then it falls apart. The latest casualty of democracy is the Ivory Coast. According the the mainstream media, everything is just lovely …
Consensus
When Galileo explained the scientific method, he condemned consensus: The testimony of many has little more value than that of few, since the number of people who reason well in complicated matters is much smaller than that of those who reason badly. If reasoning were like hauling I should agree that several reasoners would be worth more than one, just as several horses can haul more sacks of grain than …
The end is not nigh
But it is in sight. There is a lot of ruin in a nation, but we have had a lot of ruin. The US government lacks cohesion, and is insolvent. Lack of cohesion means that in a crisis it is apt to disappear, dissolve into its parts, with each part seeking its own interest. Insolvency means a crisis is looming. I would expect the Euro to collapse before the US …
Who rules the world?
Tracing rulers academic connections yields an interesting picture. Thus Mugabe, like so many third world rulers, comes from the London School of Economics, but Harry Lee Kuan Yew was educated in Singapore. And lo and behold, Mugabe was installed in power by the “international community†aka the tranzis, while Harry Lee Kuan Yew was installed in power by Singaporeans. A similar trace is visible in the Ivory Coast, where shortly …
Hide the decline, part umpteen
Stephan and Rachit cored lots of trees, to estimate weather in past years. In a cold climate, near the tree line, a tree will generally grow more if the weather is warm than if it is cold, though lots of other things affect it too. Still, if you check lots of trees over a wide area of very cold land, other factors will probably average out, and the rate of …
Conservative bloggers declare victory
According to Strata and others, the outcome of the budget negotiations (to reduce by one percent spending that was recently increased by by thirty percent) was a mighty victory. By a vote of approximately ten to one, the US House of Representatives voted to continue at slightly lower speed on a course that leads to bankruptcy, hyperinflation, social collapse, and, if we are lucky, civil war in the next decade …