Friday Morning Ramble - 11.12.15

“Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong
- but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong.”
~ Robert Heinlein

“Section 33 of the RMA - how devious Key plans to give water, property and power to iwis while claiming no national agreement.”
Transfers of power – NGA TOKI TAIAO

If you’ve ever wondered what the real point of Nick Smith’s Special Housing Areas might be, Greg Canavan explains how it worked in Melbourne.
Risk Free Property Gains for the Chosen Few – Greg Canavan, MONEY MORNING AUSTRALIA

Once you’re part of the “special club” …
The usual crony process – NO RIGHT TURN

“In a last ditch attempt to pay for his unaffordable vanity project, the City Rail Link, lame duck mayor Len Brown has decided to play the Grinch who stole Christmas one last time by targeting small businesses with a 145% increase in next year's targeted transport levy.”
Brewer rips into Brown over plans to target rate small business owners – JO HOLMES.BLOG

“But also look at the correlation between being on a benefit for 5 or more years (cumulatively between ages 25-34) and being at extreme or high risk of poor outcomes.”
Correlation between welfare and poor outcomes – LINDSAY MITCHELL

“At 6 per cent, our unemployment rate is no longer low.  And yet it seems to excite little interest, whether from  the media, economic commentators, the Reserve Bank, or the government.”
Why isn’t the high unemployment rate bothering more people? – CROAKING CASSANDRA

“A new report shows New Zealanders have the wrong ideas about the world around us.”
NZers think inequality is far worse than it really is – KIWIBLOG

Venezuela repudiates socialism. IBD and others “on the victory yesterday of the anti-socialist opposition, so huge that socialist thieves, thugs and imbeciles couldn't stuff the ballot boxes enough to steal the election.”
Venezuela throws out socialism – WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Venezuela Awakens From Its 17-Year Socialist Nightmare – IBD
Venezuela opposition wins majority in country's National Assembly – FOX NEWS

FROM THE ARCHIVES:

• A challenge for socialists under thirty, 2007
• Socialism still stinks in Venezuela, 2007
• Venezuela continues down the gurgler, 2007
• 'FARC off' says worldwide protest, 2008
• Hugo Chavez as dead as Venezuelan freedom, 2013
• Venezuela proves Hayek right again, 2014

“Rarely is there any positive news coming out of North Korea. But today, the Washington Post reports on a hopeful new development in the Hermit Kingdom: the establishment of 20 “economic zones”, where residents will be allowed to experiment with capitalism.”
North Korea Sets Up an Economic Zone – F.E.E.

“We cannot treat the word "fascism" as an empty insult. Fascism is the most successful ideology of the last century, and it is alive to this day.” Just look at the American presidential candidates . . .
Waking Up to the Reality of Fascism – Jeffrey Tucker, ANYTHING PEACEFUL

Have we found the moderate force we can put on the ground to fight ISIS?
'World's biggest' drug kingpin El Chapo declares war on ISIS with chilling threat – MIRROR

“How ISIS cannot be destroyed from the air. Or with nuclear weapons, if you're 7-years-old.”
ISIS Can’t Be Destroyed from the Air – Max Boot, COMMENTARY

“Where Jihadism grows: Does Saudi Arabia’s close relationship with fundamentalist clerics help radical Islamism spread and can anything be done about it?”
The West’s Alliance With Saudi Arabia Fuels Islamism – Toby Mathiesen, NEW YORK TIMES

“Terrorists are a real threat. So is government with a blank check.”
Terrorism is a a Real Threat; So Is Unlimited Government – John Stossel, CAPITALISM MAGAZINE

“Islam proves that a billion people can be wrong.”
~ Bosch Fawstin

“Unfortunately, political correctness has made it difficult to look critically at Islam and the Koran.”
Modernity and the Muslims – Ibn Warraq, et al, CITY JOURNAL

San Bernadino: “Neighbours have reported that their suspicions were aroused, but that they did not want to report anything out of fear of appearing racist.”
How To — and How Not To — Profile an Islamist Terrorist – Maajid Nawaz, DAILY BEAST

“The ultimate outcome of rejecting Syrian refugees is a propaganda victory for ISIS."
Hysteria About Refugees, but Blindness on Guns – Nicholas Kristof, NEW YORK TIMES

“Whatever one's opinion of the Muslim attacks and the perpetrators behind them, one thing is without dispute - the French response, which has been to quickly impose unlimited emergency laws, is nothing short of the second coming of "Operation Gladio."
"We Are Living Amid An Islamic Threat", French Mayor Says: "Our Country Is At War Inside Our Borders" – ZERO HEDGE

ISIS? ISIL? DAESH?

“Mark Steyn's statement to the U.S. Senate. It's long but it has some f'in hilarious (and 100% accurate) digs at people and institutions that richly deserve it.”
Mark Steyn’s illuminating and entertaining testimony to the Cruz hearing on climate today – WATTS UP WITH THAT
Mark Steyn rebukes democrats in climate hearing: ‘You’re effectively enforcing a state ideology’ - CACA

We should all “keep a watchful eye on what world leaders say and do in Paris, starting Monday. The heads of 190 countries, including President Obama, are meeting for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. Their goal is to reach an international agreement that will stall – or even reverse – human progress.”
Paris climate talks threat to human progress – Alex Epstein, OC REGISTER

Message to COP21:
The coalition of obsolete industries needs your support – UTOPIA—YOU ARE STANDING IN IT

A 20-minute breakdown of why human beings have so much difficulty constructively discussing issues, especially energy and environmental issues, with one another--and the fundamental way to fix the problem. (To learn more and get the full course, go to www.energychampion.net)
How to Talk to Anyone About Energy – Alex Epstein, YOU TUBE

How to get rid of the boom-bust business cycle.
Why Gold-Backed Money Doesn’t Bring Booms and Busts – Frank Shostak, MISES DAILY 

“The chart below crystalizes why the Fed is stranded in a monetary no man’s land.”
The Fed’s Painted Itself Into The Most Dangerous Corner In History—–Why There Will Soon Be A Riot In The Casino – David Stockman, CONTRA CORNER

Progress? Or a prelude to obfuscation.
Fed ends 'too big to fail' lending to collapsing banks - CNN

“Thanks to the disruption caused by Internet access, consumers have more power than ever before.”
Google, Facebook Make Consumer Regulators Obsolete – They Just Don't Know It Yet – F.E.E.

“Mexican billionaire says his own charitable projects do not involve donating his shares – ‘foundations do not solve poverty, we need to create companies’.”
Carlos Slim on Zuckerberg plan: world needs jobs, not giveaways – GUARDIAN

“Laws are like Cobwebs, which may catch small
Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through.” 
~ Jonathan Swift

Does inequality kill?
Death by Inequality – Don Watkins, VOICES FOR REASON

“An individual’s life is not in any way made worse by other people having more money or opportunities than he has."
The Equality Equivocation – Craig Biddle, OBJECTIVE STANDARD

"Capitalism not only works. It’s MORALLY superior. [my emphasis] Capitalism—consistently practiced (it isn’t today)—rules out the use of force in human relationships. It gets rid of the pressure group warfare, the power politics and the ugly spectacle of career politicians in both parties, as well as ideologically wrong “soft” dictatorships like the one we have now. Why? Because government, under capitalism, does nothing, other than protect the citizens from force and fraud, foreign and domestic."
Capitalism: STILL the Unknown Ideal - Michael J. Hurd, LIVING RESOURCES CENTER

“If someone handed you a peach 6,000 years ago, you might be surprised: the sour, grape-sized lump you'd be holding would hardly resemble the plump, juicy fruit we enjoy today.”
Amazing Graphics Show How Much Fruits Have Changed Since Humans Started Growing Them – BUSINESS INSIDER

“Science Isn’t Broken: [but] the search for statistical significance over causation seems like a relevant factor in the rise of retractions.”
Scientific Stumbling – NEW CLARION

“Calling it a disease disempowers people and makes it into something that too big to overcome instead of helping people get REAL help and create real change. ‘They don't get the psychological skills addicts need to move on.’”
This Neuroscientist Argues That Addiction Is Not a Disease and Rehab Is Bullshit – VICE.COM

“Researchers have created the first skin patch that delivers Ibuprofen (painkiller) directly to a specific area, with drug loads that would otherwise not be possible through oral ingestion and 5-10 times higher than with other, current technologies.”
Researchers create World’s first ibuprofen patch – delivering pain relief directly through skin – RICHARD DAWKINS.NET

Sadly, being happy won’t necessarily help you live longer. It will just seem that way.
*Sad face*: Being happy does not help you live longer – NEW SCIENTIST

“Many grad students [and not just in] English suffer from a malaise without a name; the discipline has left them with feelings of confusion, inhibition and loss… Decades of anti-humanist one-upmanship have left the profession with a fascination for shaking the value out of what seems human, alive, and whole."
When Nothing Is Cool – Lisa Ruddick, THE POINT

A useful comparison for those who still don’t get it.
Differences between Montessori and Traditional Education – MONTESSORI AUSTRALIA

“If teachers guide this risky behaviour by encouraging pupils to take chances in a safe and secure environment, the students could challenge themselves more.”
Secrets of the teenage brain: a psychologist's guide for teachers – GUARDIAN

“According to Witold Rybczynski, it is partly a matter of size and shape.”
Why older halls for symphony orchestras sound better than new ones? – MARGINAL REVOLUTION

“Happens so often, it's probably a rite of passage for modern artists.”
A Janitor Accidentally Scrubbed Away a Million Dollar Art Piece – GIZMODO

“He argues that the great tragedies of the Greeks can help a contemporary audience grapple with everything from the trauma of being in a conflict zone to end-of life care.”
How ancient Greek tragedies can teach very modern lessons – RADIO NZ [AUDIO: 28:36]

“There is no future for the world except through a rebirth of the Aristotelian approach to philosophy. This would require an Aristotelian affirmation of the reality of existence, of the sovereignty of reason, of life on earth—and of the splendour of man.”
Leonard Peikoff on the future – EXALTED MOMENTS

Q: What's the appeal of Ayn Rand’s philosophy to adults? A: A philosophy for living on earth.

Every once in a while someone gets an advertisement really, really right. This is one of those times.

Louis Armstrong’s choice for his own funeral music.

Duke Ellington’s ‘thoughts’ about his late friend and musical partner, Billy Strayhorn.

And, from Massenet’s opera Thais:

[Quips from and hat tips and thanks to Stephen Hicks, Jamie Weinstein, David Freddoso, Don Watkins, Tom Bowden, Noah Rothman, Famous-Quote.net, Luis A. Apiolaza, Saura Johnston, Tufail Ahmad, Andrew Stroehlein, The Impact of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, & Jewish Cultures, Michael Niren, Montessori Australia, To Love Wisdom - a gateway to the heroic for the young, Tarryne West, Cato Center for the Study of Science, James Dalton, Tubel John, Aaron Day, Michael Yon, Petrolicious, Lawrence Reed, Phil Oliver, Michael Brown, Aaron Day, Paul Litterick, Mark Thornton]

Thanks for reading,
And for the support from all those who understand why the funeral music has been posted.
Cheers
PC