"In government, the scum rises to the top." – Friedrich Hayek
“Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job.” – G WMD Bush, September 2, 2005
Bush is Mad
I hadn’t looked at a copy of Mad magazine for over twenty years when, earlier this year, I came across this profound slam of Bush and his callous attitude toward dead American soldiers. After numerous technical difficulties, I now present it to those who (like me) are not regular readers of Mad magazine. Click picture for larger image.
Rockwell, Blum and Horton
Today on Scott Horton’s Weekend Interview Show (6-8 Eastern), Scott will be talking with Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and hardcore opponent of the warfare state, and then with Rick Blum of OpentheGovernment.org.
Statists Caught in Katrina Learn a Thing or 78 About the State
In a well-written account by two communist San Francisco EMS workers on their survival of Hurricane Katrina and Earthquake Government, one realizes something very ironic. In the wake of compounding disasters, ordinary people spontaneously kept a whole city fed, clothed, watered, and in some instances, even powered. At every turn, these civilizational functions were halted by slobbering subhumans with big guns, unlimited funds, and a license to kill — collectively known as the State.
The ironic part is that even these megastatists from one of the most state-ridden cities in the US experienced that the State was their enemy, and that people, even those of comparatively meager means, can provide for themselves and many others, with beneficial effects overlapping and covering even babies, elderly and sick, even in a horrendous catastrophe.
Anyone want to mock the “invisible hand” now?
Not Just a Bunch of Morons — Outright Liars, Too
I’m watching the City Attorney of New Orleans talking specifically about evacuating the city. She just said something to the effect that “At this time there have been no forced evacuations. Force is not being used.”
Well, then who was that frail old lady who was calmly talking to a bunch of cops in her kitchen when the fattest one of them hurled himself on top of her, crushing her into the corner between the wall and the floor, knocking kitchen items all over the place, and then dragging her, crying, out of her own home? Was she just over the border in Metairie? Huh? Her street was completely dry. Were they just trying to drag out somebody white to dispell the racial bias myth?
Thousands are dying because the government is a gaggle of morons and incompetents. They each have ONE job to do, and they’re too stupid to do them even halfway correctly. And then they have the balls to lie about something recorded and broadcast across the world the day before. It even makes an anarchist flinch.
Dept. of Explanations Owed
From that glorious libertopia the liberventionists promised us:
- Ukraine’s “orange revolution” has lost its lustre, with President Viktor Yushchenko sacking his entire government after its own members accused one another of sleaze, cronyism and debilitating infighting.
His sudden decision came just eight months after he and his team came to office promising to stamp out the gross corruption which had bedevilled previous administrations. …
“We are witnessing a paradox. Many new faces have come to power but the face of power has not changed,” [Yushchenko] said, referring to the previous regime of the Soviet-era apparatchik Leonid Kuchma which was widely regarded as being riddled with cronyism and corruption. “We need to halt disappointment in society and make sure that the ideals [of the orange revolution] are not cast into doubt.”
Love that passive construction. Those new faces who “have come to power” – how’d they get there, buddy? That Yushie is quite the straight talker:
- Mr Yushchenko said he had ordered an investigation into allegations that several members of his outgoing government were corrupt. He added, enigmatically, that the accusations were “groundless but very strong” and deserved close scrutiny.
I can hear the disappointment skidding to a halt already.
Oh, and any news on that poisoning? That story dropped right off the edge of the blogosphere. Here’s the latest I can find, from Aug. 30:
- An investigation into the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s president, is making progress, the Novosti-Ukraine news agency quoted Ukrainian National Security and Defense Secretary Petro Poroshenko as saying live on television Monday.
Poroshenko refused to divulge any details in the interests of investigation.
He won’t be releasing any more details, either, at least not in his official capacity. From the Independent article:
- Mr Poroshenko was the most high-profile figure to be accused of wrongdoing. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mr Yushchenko’s chief-of staff and the architect of the orange revolution, resigned from the government on 3 September, accusing Mr Poroshenko, a confectionery millionaire, of using his post to enrich himself, help wealthy businessmen and generally “usurp power”. Mr Poroshenko denied the allegations and resigned before the government was sacked so as not, he said, to obstruct an inquiry.
So many inquiries, so little time! No need to rush that investigation into the alleged ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE CURRENT PRESIDENT. But, um, given that Yushchenko knew who did it, when, and where, there should be some indictments a year later, right?
And an ethical question: do pundits who hype the claims and promises of foreign political parties have any duty to pursue the story once the hot babes have gone home?