I dream of living in ... a World Without Dictators! I'm a Libertarian Paternalist in Slovakia - Freedom with Responsibility - 10% of income into your own Pension; Tax Loans for education, health, housing; now supporting Employment Maximizing Companies!

blog posts on immigration at The Truth Laid Bear

Where is the Palestinian Peace party

Will we be empowering one or the other anti-Israel parties in Palestine?

Corrupt Fatah or Sharia enforcing Hamas.

I understood that the Palestinian voters had a chance to "throw the bums out", meaning corrupt ruling Fatah, and voted to do so.  But Fatah had been successful at only allowing Hamas to be a viable political alternative -- was there ANY Palestinian party advocating peace with Israel?  I don't think so.

Maybe it's time for a 3-state solution!  Gaza = Hamastan, West Bank Fatah corruptistan, and Israel behind 8 ft high concrete walls trying to keep the crazy killers out.  With free, one-way bus ride tickets from the West Bank into Gaza for those who disagree.

I think it might be a good time for a West Bank referendum on peace.

Posted by: TomGrey at 07/23/07 01:11 | link | comments (1)
israel palestine

Mara on Zimbabwe

Mara is writing up a storm about Zimbabwe, including letters from the diaspora and how terrible it is when there is nothing in any shops.

"Shoe polish, dishwashing liquid and light bulbs were the three most plentiful products in a major supermarket in my home town by this weekend. This isn't a little family shop on the corner, its a branch of a national supermarket chain with outlets in most towns and cities around the country."


No Bono, no Peter Gabriel, no UN -- let them starve, rather than fight for freedom to eat.  Peace now -- the peace of death.

Posted by: TomGrey at 07/15/07 04:14 | link | comments
blogs, africa

Normblog hits & other quickies

Fine quick short story (500 words?) Little Hands.

Norm links to great foto of Mother and Child on Subway, it could be my wife and one of my 4 kids in expression.

Norm links to the Hamas Charter, in English.

PressThink offers more activity for me in OffTheBus.

Dr Sanity discusses the terrors of socialized medicine.  With good examples.

Posted by: TomGrey at 07/10/07 04:14 | link | comments (2)
blogs

Choices today means the war is not lost

MJT does GREAT work on being honest, observant, and such a fine writer. Such traits, when used supporting a conclusion one disagrees with, will of course be annoying -- but the essence of great journalism.

Here he talks about the Anbar Awakening and the Surge.

In his comments, an anti-war guy writes:
"we are wasting lives on a lost cause. the vast majority of americans have come to accept this fact."
Whether a cause is lost or not is not a fact if there is still a choice available.
We are fighting a Limited War. The choices are:
a) fight, or
b) lose.

Please point me to a poll that asks Americans whether they would rather continue to fight, or to lose now. Without such an honest poll question, I dispute your assertion that most Americans are willing to lose, now.


Remember Joe Biden saying it would take 10 years to achieve success (before the war)? Creating democracy, and self-reliance, takes some time. My view of Fallujah was that NOT taking it in April 2004, but waiting until Nov, was the right choice -- because it allowed (a la Ross above) the Iraqis to see the alternative to American supported rule...

Nobody knows, because it's never been done, how long it takes a non-democratic Arab people to be liberated from a dictator and then accept and support democracy (and human rights). Support meaning willingness to fight, kill, and die for the democratically elected leaders -- who are likely to be corrupt, incompetent, and/or cowardly (but PR savy! and power hungry!) (all too familiar to Americans).

If the democracy crop takes 10 weeks to ripen, it's silly to expect it to be ready after 4 weeks. I notice the "bring the troops home" folks are NOT talking about Germany (62 years of occupation now?) or S. Korea (55 years).


Rather than just 2, or 3, splitting the country into MANY cantons (Tribal), like the Swiss, should be the alternative. The desire of the "international" community of elites to have huge central power has been terrible.

Besides time, where are the metrics of how well the US is doing? I've long said mine: 2500 or less (Americans killed), Bush gets an A; 5000 or less, a B, 10 000 or less, a C.

I certainly consider losing 10 000 American volunteers over 10 years fighting for a successful democracy in Iraq to be "worth it" (far more than the D-Day invasion of France rather than containment, for example). Of course: a) it's not me, and b) what is "success".

What is any war worth?  To who?

Posted by: TomGrey at 07/02/07 00:11 | link | comments
iraq