Auspundits

Rousseau Turns In His Grave

Jean-Jacques Rousseau famously wrote:

In order then that the social compact may not be an empty formula, it tacitly includes the undertaking, which alone can give force to the rest, that whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole body.

And thus were sowed the seeds of the modern welfare state. FDR revived it under the banner of the "The New Deal". Australia's only sacked Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, sold "It's Time" for universal welfare to the Australian public. And now Kevin Rudd, a man known for his control freak tendencies, is peddling Mussolini-lite feel-good, nanny-state policies. Examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here and of course here (almost within the first six months of a three year term). Anyone feel like a Change?

Well, Messers Sauders, Humphreys, Dubossarsky and Samild ride to the rescue and provide us a contemporary revision of Rousseau's old dictum: choose to be free. Through a confluence of classic liberal and obscure libertarian ideas, they succeed in fashioning a prototype post modern welfare state. Their suggestions are well reasoned albeit controversial.

Pat Condell on Victimisation

Of the Islamic sort.

Note: Crude language warning...

No-Go Areas

(Via Instapundit):

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN ENGLAND: "A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. . . . The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a 'hate crime' and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that 'no-go areas' for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities, as the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed in The Sunday Telegraph this year."

No sh*t. You don't say?

Camera Shy Rubber Rudd

That the Prime Minister of Australia allowing TV news crews to tape him during radio interviews is news is in and of itself a sad thing. At least he has the 2020 summit. And his community town halls.

Like his ideological counterpart in the U.S., unless Prime Minister Rudd has a script, he is a gaffe machine.

The Five Faces Of Darkness

Despite the setbacks that God has inflicted upon us, these painful blows will mark the beginning of the wiping out of America and the infidel West after the passing of tens of years, God willing. - Osama bin Laden, 17 December 2001

Liberal Party & Blogs

General info - Been very busy in the last few weeks, hence the low blogging volume. Hopefully, I can pick things up again going forward.

The Liberal Party in Victoria has sacked two staff members from its campaign unit to "publicly [undermine] the party's leader", Ted Baillieu. Now, being a NSW Young Liberal, this was concerning at first from a free speech angle, until it dawned on me that they were most likely paid staff members. In which case, tough luck and good riddance to the two.

When you are being paid by the party to successfully strategize for a coming election in a critical state, you shouldn't be seeking to destroy the leader of the party, either on the blogs or otherwise. That's disloyality and political stupidity.

Defending Mohammed

A lost cause supposedly. A district court in The Hague ruled that the:

[Netherlands Islamic Federation] did not disprove that ideas are prevalent in Islam that are at odds with democratic principles. The group also did not succeed, according to the judge, in refuting Wilders' view of Mohammed being a barbarian.

Oops. More here.

H/T: Moose

The Religion Of Fear

Pat Condell. Brilliant as usual.

Caution: Some course language.

Timing Is Everything

By Moose*

We all knew Fitna was coming. And now it is here.

Fitna

He had his hosting company take his website down. His short film was rejected for broadcast by all the major networks. Yet he is the subject of numerous death threats. Here is his film, Fitna. Here's the torrent. Also on Liveleak (well, for now anyway):

Update 29/03/08 8:45AM AEST: As anticipated above, the Liveleak video has been pulled. Update 01/04/08 6:00PM AEST: Fitna back up.

Warning: This video contains disturbing images. "In the end the price was too high." Go download the torrent.