Monday, 31 July 2006, 16:14 GMT

Civil olydnad

Allt du behöver veta om TV-pjeling. Civil olydnad och medborgerlig uppnosighet när den är som bäst. Vägra finansiera propagandan från Sveriges Television och Sveriges Radio!

Monday, 31 July 2006, 12:00 GMT

Dershowitz on the Lebanese War

Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz published an excellent article in the Jerusalem Post yesterday:

As Israeli ground forces cross over into Lebanon in an effort to destroy Hizbullah's capacity to fire rockets and missiles at Israeli civilians, the president of Lebanon Emile Lahoud is taking sides and flexing his nation's muscle for the first time.

He told a German magazine that he "respects Hizbullah" and its terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah, and he has threatened to turn the Lebanese army against Israel. This would cause a self-inflicted, and perhaps lethal, wound on Lebanon.

Militias associated with several Lebanese political parties—including the party of the speaker of the parliament and of the Lebanese Communist Party—have already joined Hizbullah in attacking Israel.

Up until now, the Lebanese government has claimed that it has no real army, not even one capable of controlling the Hizbullah terrorists who have "occupied" southern Lebanon. It has claimed an inability to enforce UN resolution 1559 which, adopted by the Security Council in 2004, "calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias," meaning Hizbullah. And it has disclaimed any responsibility for Hizbullah atrocities against Israeli civilians and kidnapped soldiers.

Now, all of a sudden, its tune has changed. Suddenly its army is strong enough to take on Israel, and it is willing to collaborate with the terrorist organization from which it previously sought to disassociate itself.

Of course they are liars. No government would allow a terrorist group to launch missiles into a neighbouring country. If the Lebanese government could not solve the Hezbollah problem by itself, they should have asked for help from the UN. But they did not, because they were never interested in disarming Hezbollah.

Israel will be criticized regardless of what it does or refrains from doing. If it succeeds in destroying Hizbullah, it will be criticized for the civilian deaths it caused, even though the civilian deaths are the fault of Hizbullah for operating from civilian population centers.

If Israel fails, it will be criticized for leaving the poor Lebanese in the grip of an emboldened Hizbullah.

Israel was attacked from areas that it does not occupy. It gave up this land as part of what peace-lovers in Israel believed was a swap of "land for peace." But Hizbullah and Hamas turned it into "land for rocket launching and kidnapping."

Israel is entitled to fight back and defend its citizens from aggression, as every other democracy would do.

The media and international organizations are focused on the plight of the Lebanese who have had to leave their homes, paying little attention to the thousands of Israelis who have had to leave their homes in Haifa, Safed, Nazareth and other cities in range of Hizbullah rockets. They are obsessed with comparative body counts, as Hizbullah complains that more Lebanese than Israelis have been killed.

Would they be satisfied if more Israelis had been killed? Would that render Israel's actions more proportional? Should Israel be blamed for having built bomb shelters for its civilians, while Hizbullah has built bunkers only for its leaders, leaving civilians exposed?

Unfortunately, he is right. Israel will be blamed whatever it does. Small but noisy segments of European Left simply hates Jews. They did so in the 1930s when they welcomed Hitler, and they do so now. The State of Israel has only made it easier to hide this fact behind talk of civilian casualties in Arab countries. But as Professor Dershowitz points out, the reason for the relatively few dead in Israel is that Israelis have built bomb shelters while the Lebanese have not. If the Lebanese looked after its people's interest, and Hezbollah stopped using civilian homes as hide-outs, the number of civilian deaths would not have been as alarmingly high as it is now.

Saturday, 29 July 2006, 18:21 GMT

Äntligen en vänsterbloggare mot antisemitismen!

Mattias Axelsson kallar sig frihetlig socialist och har en blogg som heter "Utsikt från höjden". I en artikel från igår skriver han:

Att stödja Hizbollah i det pågående kriget mot Israel är att stödja en antisemitisk organisation.

Inom den antiisraeliska vänstern finns det många som nu öppet stödjer den shiamuslimska terrororganisationen Hizbollah. Pesten kommer från väster skriver t.ex. "Man kan och bör glädjas åt att Hizbollah snarare stärks än försvagas". Andreas Malm skrev i förra veckans Arbetaren "att inte kunna ta ställning för frihetskamp med islamiska förtecken är sekulär puritanism". Jinge kallar Hizbollah för frihetskämpar. Och så rullar det på…

Problemet är att den vänster som ger stöd åt Hizbollah enligt logiken "fiendes fiende är vän" också måste bortse från att Hizbollah inte bara vill befria Libanon utan också utplåna staten Israel och de judar som bor där.

Jag blir glad av att åtminstone en socialistisk bloggare fått upp ögonen för vänsterns antisemitism. Att ge stöd åt en organisation som vill utrota det judiska folket blir inte mindre vidrigt bara för att Israel agerat på det ena eller andra sättet. Vänstern hyser dessutom en vidrig dubbelmoral när man i Sverige och Europa marknadsför sig som de främsta bekämparna av rasism och nazism men samtidigt ger sitt fulla stöd till rasistiska och nazistliknande organisationer i Mellanöstern. Det är bland annat denna typ av dubbelmoral som gjorde att jag för ett tiotal år sedan började omvärdera mina tidigare vänstersympatier. Jag tycker helt enkelt inte om den inkonsekvens som är resultatet av vänsterns relativism – det som är moraliskt fel på ett ställe blir inte bra på ett annat bara för att de yttre omständigheterna är annorlunda. Men vänstern har en tendens att alltid urskulda de mest ohyggliga företeelser när ideologiska vänner eller "fiendens fiende" är skyldiga till dem. Den klassiska liberalismen har sina brister, men den är konsekvent och följer en objektiv moral – den säger att tortyr, folkmord, rasism, homofobi, sexism och annat förtryck är fel oavsett var det förekommer och vem eller vad som ligger bakom.

Saturday, 29 July 2006, 12:55 GMT

Al-Zarqawi's Mom's Blog

Dear Mama Zarq,

I'm opposed to torture but my boyfriend's recently gotten me into light bondage. Does this make me a hypocrite?

Mama Zarq's answer is hilarious. A must-read.

PS! Check out the T-shirts!

Friday, 28 July 2006, 05:19 GMT

Linda Rosing blir politiker

Enligt en artikel i Expressen ska Linda Rosing starta ett politiskt parti som ska ägna sig åt kvinnofridsfrågor. Somliga blir säkert förskräckta, men själv tycker jag det är bra med mer anarki i politiken. För det är nog inte bara jag som tycker att svensk politik börjar likna italiensk? På kort tid har vi massor av små partier med färgstarka ledare som egentligen bara driver sin egen personliga övertygelse i en eller ett par frågor. Med Linda får Sverige kanske sin egen – om än nedtonade och mindre pornografiska – version av Italiens Cicciolina.

Thursday, 27 July 2006, 07:04 GMT

Howard Dean defends Israel

I am no fan of Howard Dean, but I must admit that his resolute stand behind Israel and criticism of the Iraqi prime minister impresses me. I thought he would be too afraid of the Jew-hating Daily Kos netroots that spent the last few days bashing Israel. But I was wrong. Dean did not back away from the Democratic Party's long tradition of supporting Israel. From an Associated Press article:

Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an "anti-Semite" for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel.

Al-Maliki has condemned Israel's offensive, prompting several Democrats to boycott his address to a joint meeting of Congress and others to criticize him. Dean's comments were the strongest to date.

"The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite," the Democratic leader told a gathering of business leaders in Florida. "We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah."

On Tuesday, leading Senate Democrats said in a sharply worded letter that Al-Maliki's "failure to condemn Hezbollah's aggression and recognize Israel's right to defend itself raises serious questions about whether Iraq under your leadership can play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East."

I don't agree with Dean on the issue of Iraq since even a bad government elected democratically is better than any dictator, but he rightly labels Nouri al-Maliki an anti-Semite.

Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 19:58 GMT

Bajs för Jesus skull

Ser ni de dansande på bilden? Dans under tända ljusrör i trist lokal påminner mig om tillställningar i regi av ABF eller någon liten stads RFSL-avdelning. Sådana tillställningar undviker jag som pesten. Inte för att de skrämmer mig, utan för att de är så händelselöst tråkiga. Hursomhelst så är denna bild tagen av Daniel Hjalmarsson under Pridefirandet i Riga. Det är personerna på bilden som Rigas anti-gay-aktivister kastade bajs på för Jesus och den goda moralens skull. Exakt var i Bibeln Jesus säger att man ska kasta avföring på bögar och lesbiska framgår inte av det material som Rigas homofober lagt ut på sin hemsida, men man får anta att de hittat en tidigare okänd vers som upphäver Jesus kända uppmaning till oss om att vi ska älska våra fiender och behandla våra medmänniskor som vi själva vill bli behandlade. Från Hjalmarssons ögonvittnesskildring i QX:

"Panorama", ett av de lettiska tv-bolagen, visade i nyhetssändningen under lördagskvällen bilder från en stillsam kransnedläggning vid monumentet till ära för dem som mördades i koncentrationslägren i Nazityskland. Efter inslaget hölls en 30 sekunder lång tystnad i tv för att sörja att "demokratin var död". Det är stora ord. Då börjar man förstå att det handlar om mer än bara bajsattacker.

Tidigare under dagen utanför Hotell Reval i centrala stan hade en mobb samlats i väntan på festen som utgjorde plan B eftersom paraden nekats genomförande. Mitt framför 10-talet tv-kameror och ett par poliser inom en radie av två meter går en av motdemonstranterna och spottar en kvinna i vårt sällskap rakt i ansiktet. Polisen ingriper inte utan påpekar att hennes närvaro är provocerande och uppmanar oss som sitter på terrassen att gå in i hotellet.

Fredliga festglada pridefirare låstes in på ett hotell då man inte tilläts gå i parad. Den ca 300 personer stora våldsamma demonstrationen utanför hotellet som angrep pridefirare och vanliga hotellgäster urskillningslöst skingrades inte trots uteblivet tillstånd för motdemonstrationer.

Snart är det Pridefestival i Stockholm. Då lär som vanligt Marie Söderqvist och Göran Hägg titta fram med några sura kommenterar om att det minsann inte finns någon homofobi, att homosexuella är så få och betydelselösa, att Pride är ett sexuellt spektakel, och att det minsann är de "normala" människorna det är synd om eftersom de drabbas så hårt av den politiska korrektheten. De kan åtminstone trösta sig med att de slipper att få bajs i ansiktet om de manifesterar sin heterosexualitet i Riga.

Monday, 24 July 2006, 05:56 GMT

Mr Gay Vatican City

This got to be a joke, right? Somehow I don't think the Pope would approve of Mr Gay Vatican City.

Monday, 24 July 2006, 05:53 GMT

The Loony Left's new best friends

The picture shows Hezbollah fighters salute during a graduation ceremony on "Martyr's Day" in Beirut on 11 November 2001. I don't think any comments are necessary. (Via Erik Svansbo and Copyriot.)

Sunday, 23 July 2006, 21:21 GMT

Varför just Israel?

Från en krönika av Per T Ohlsson i dagens Sydsvenska Dagbladet:

Kritik mot Israel är inte antisemitism. Även vänner av Israel måste se med förfäran på det raseri som släppts loss över Libanon. Men Thomas Friedman, kolumnist i New York Times, har erbjudit en utmärkt distinktion: "Att kritisera Israel är inte antisemitiskt. Men att välja ut Israel för smädelser och internationella sanktioner – utan att det sätts i proportion till någon annan part i Mellanösternkonflikten – är antisemitiskt, och att inte säga det är ohederligt."
Därför just Israel.

Ja, så är det naturligtvis. Exempelvis hade den svenska extremvänstern tjänat mycket på att sluta ge Israel skulden för allt som sker i Mellanöstern. Hade de också kritiserat islamisterna och inte bara urskuldat deras agerande så hade det varit lättare att tro dem när de hävdar att de inte är antisemiter.

Thursday, 20 July 2006, 23:02 GMT

Anti-Jewish terrorism in Sweden

The past week has seen an uprising in anti-Jewish sentiment in Malmö, Sweden's third city and with the country's largest Muslim population. Cheered on by the most extreme part of the Swedish Left, a local terrorist has now threatened to bomb the synagogue, which was built in 1903. I had planned to write something about the local hostility after an uncomfortable experience at a restaurant about a week ago, but for some reason I didn't. Now it makes sense to mention it.

I was eating a pizza at a restaurant nearby when I overheard a conversation at the next table. A group of five Swedes were discussing the Middle East conflict. At first, it seemed harmless, but after a while, things got really bad. When one in the group—a young man wearing a Ché Guevara T-shirt—said that Jews probably are born evil because of bad genes, none of the other opposed this claim. Instead, they approved and continued the discussion by airing most of the classic anti-Semitic lies that have haunted Europe the past two thousand years. This small group of people do not represent the average leftist person in Sweden, but the views they expressed are not uncommon among members of the Left Party.

Thursday, 20 July 2006, 19:47 GMT

Respektlös bloggare sjunker rekordlågt

Få saker gör mig så arg som respektlöshet. Även om man är kritisk till någon så finns det sällan anledning att medvetet kränka vederbörande. Det finns dock en allt för stor grupp bloggare som inte håller med mig, utan som istället anser det vara "fair play" att såra och förnedra sina meningsmotståndare. En av de allra värsta på detta område är bloggaren Jan-Inge Flücht (känd som Jinge). Hans koncept för framgång är att skriva om snaskiga och tarvliga saker med en vänsterextrem vinkling. Och det fungerar, för med chockerande elakhet fångar man mångas intresse. Detta har gjort att många räds för att kritisera honom. Gör man det kommer nämligen förolämpningarna som ett rekommenderat brev på posten. I en diskussion om homosexualitet skrev Jinge denna smakfulla kommentar:

"Och kuk passar i fittan. Det var så det skulle bli. Av alla konstiga avarter och påfund i vår västliga välfärd och överflöd är detta den allra bisarraste modetrenden."

När jag i ett sammanhang kritiserade Jinges syn på prostitution skrev han ett vinklat inlägg där han påstod sig avslöja att jag varit prostituerad och beklagade att jag inte är tillräckligt stilig för att kunna fortsätta i branschen. Detta är naturligtvis enbart trams, men det inlägget fick avsedd effekt och jag fick ägna ett par veckor åt att radera homofobisk epost.

Jinge är inte bara oförskämd mot bögar och alla som inte delar hans åsikter, han har dessutom ett särskilt ont öga till judar. På hans blogg finns idag en post med en israelisk flagga på vilken Davidsstjärnan är utbytt mot ett nazistiskt kors. I inlägget kan man läsa följande apropå Israels uppmaning till palestinierna att inte gömma militära vapen i civila hem:

"Det handlar om folkmord, inget annat än folkmord. De kunde lika gärna gasa ihjäl alla palestinier med den bekanta gasen Cyklon B. Den har ju en del äldre israeler vissa minnen av, eller..?"

Jag tror det är omöjligt att bli mer respektlös. Staten Israel bildades av judar från Europa som överlevt nazisternas utrotningsläger. De drömde om ett judiskt hemland där de kunde leva fria från det mångtusenåriga förtryck deras folk utsatts för. Vissa misstags begicks och hade den nya statens grundare haft facit i hand skulle de nog gjort somligt annorlunda. Men gjort är gjort och nu, en dryg generation senare, försöker israelerna göra det bästa av situationen, vilket inte är lätt när samtliga grannländer attackerar med bomber och raketer så fort tillfälle ges.

De åsikter och den jargong som Jinge står för skulle ingen vanlig debattör komma undan med. Men har man den rätta politiska imagen och är populär inom extremvänstern så är det tydligen fritt fram att häva ur sig åsikter som högerextremister normalt brukar förknippas med. Min enda tröst är att få israeler kan läsa svenska och därför slipper stöta på Jinges antisemitiska blogg när de surfar på internet.

Thursday, 20 July 2006, 17:09 GMT

A day of protest

Yesterday was a day of protest against the homophobic Islamist regime of Iran. Around the world, gays joined by human rights activists showed their anger. Read more about the protests in different parts of the world on Michael Petrelis's blog. Read also this article in the Washington Post:

Over the past year, the ambiguity about why the boys were hanged has mostly faded from discussions on gay Web sites. Gay conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, who organized a protest in Provincetown, Mass., yesterday, referred to the boys recently as "two gay teenage lovers." A Romeo and Juliet glow has come upon them, two young people killed because of the cruelty and ignorance of an unjust world. As the two boys have taken on iconic status, the cultural difference between them and the rest of the gay world has evaporated. When Anderson looks at the pictures, he feels a powerful connection with the young men.

"For gay people, I think all of us have a fear of being killed, and of being killed for who we are," he says. What he sees is two young men being "executed for something you see in yourself."

The force of the images, for many gay people, has cut through any doubt about their particular meaning. Even if these boys were guilty of rape, there is no doubt that others have been killed simply for being gay. So the pictures are not so much forensic documents as they are dramatizations of something that almost certainly exists. And their power is undeniable.

There are two political aspects to this that few talk about outside the gay community. Firstly, why do so few heterosexuals care about the killing of gays and lesbians? And secondly, why is the European Left silent every time homophobia is linked to Islamists when they love to echo the gay activists' criticism of George W. Bush? I'm planning to write more on these subjects next week.

Wednesday, 19 July 2006, 04:45 GMT

Hume's Take on Religious Morality

The universal propensity to believe in invisible, intelligent power, if not an original instinct, being at least a general attendant of human nature, may be considered as a kind of mark or stamp, which the divine workman has set upon his work; and nothing surely can more dignify mankind than to be thus selected from all the other parts of the creation, and to bear the image or impression of the universal Creator. But consult this image, as it appears in the popular religions of the world. How is the deity disfigured in our representations of him! What caprice, absurdity, and immorality are attributed to him! How much is he degraded even below the character which we should naturally, in common life, ascribe to a man of sense and virtue!

What a noble privilege is it of human reason to attain the knowledge of the supreme Being; and, from the visible works of nature, be enabled to infer so sublime a principle as its supreme Creator? But turn the reverse of the medal. Survey most nations and most ages. Examine the religious principles which have, in fact, prevailed in the world. You will scarcely be persuaded that they are other than sick men's dreams; or perhaps will regard them more as the playsome whimsies of monkeys in human shape than the serious, positive, dogmatical asseverations of a being who dignifies himself with the name of rational.

Hear the verbal protestations of all men. Nothing they are so certain of as their religious tenets. Examine their lives. You will scarcely think that they repose the smallest confidence in them. (XV)

– David Hume, The Natural History of Religion (London, 1889).

Wednesday, 19 July 2006, 02:33 GMT

Stop the Killing in Iran

Today is the International Day of Action Against Homophobic Persecution in Iran. British gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell writes about it here, conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan here, Persian Gay & Lesbian Oraganization here, and American journalist Doug Ireland has the full story and a list of places and details of events during the day here.

Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 18:41 GMT

Don't hold hands in Zimbabwe

I fully understand that some people don't like to see certain things, but there has to be some limits to what you can expect to be protected from seeing. Criminalizing two men holding hands is outright stupid. Anyone that afraid of homosexuals needs help. From an article on the 365gay.com website:

Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe's government has made it a criminal offense for two people of the same sex to hold hands, hug, or kiss. The "sexual deviancy" law is one of 15 additions to Zimbabwe's criminal code quietly passed in Parliament last week. The sections involving gays and lesbians are part of an overhaul of the sodomy laws. Until now laws against sodomy were limited to sexual activity. The revised law now states that sodomy is any "act involving contact between two males that would be regarded by a reasonable person as an indecent act".

Mugabe has a long history of homophobia. He regularly refers to gays and people he suspects to be gay as "less than pigs and dogs". Earlier this year the 82 year old went on a tirade calling homosexuality "a white disease". "Leave whites to do that," he declared.

Mugabe told the cheering throng that same-sex marriage is a threat to mankind and condemned churches that bless gay unions. He said his government would jail and clergy who performed a blessing ceremony for gay couples in Zimbabwe.

It's obvious that Mr Mugabe needs a psychiatrist.

Monday, 17 July 2006, 17:38 GMT

A Sign of Solidarity

While the bombs are falling and the European Left yab on about Israeli guilt, I think of the many casualties.

Sunday, 16 July 2006, 21:15 GMT

Moralists Link Sport Event to Sex Clubs

On 6 June I wrote an article on how the Swedish socialist Left acts and behaves like the conservative Right does in most other countries when it comes to sexual morality. I specifically wrote about ETC—a government-subsidized socialist media corporation—and their propaganda magazine targeting male sexuality and the legal sex trade in Germany, which they distributed during the FIFA World Cup. I quote myself:

To most Europeans moral conservatism is associated with the political Right, and appropriately so since this is a fact in most countries. But this is not the case in Sweden. Here the political Left advocates conservative morality on issues regarding sex. In fact, one might say that the ruling Social Democratic Party and their communist friends in the Left Party have taken the role organized Christianity plays in most of Europe.

One of ETC's main propaganda stunts was the confirmed lie that many sex clubs were built so serve the sex-crazy football fans that gathered in Germany for the World Cup. The message was that male sexuality is immoral, promiscuous, and therefore a menace to society.

A couple of hours ago I learned that the right-wing Christian organization Concerned Women for America is running a similar campaign at the Gay Games in Chicago, which began yesterday. Listen to this ten-minute long audio file and you can hear the exact same arguments, but with a homophobic twist. This time a big sport event is blamed for gay sex clubs where "HIV-positive people from overseas" will spread disease and immorality.

Sunday, 16 July 2006, 07:21 GMT

Hizbollahs megafon

När raketerna regnar över såväl Libanon som Israel är det bra att någon håller huvudet kallt och analyserar mediabilden. Bloggen TT-kritik skriver idag om hur propaganda från terrororganisationen Hizbollah blir objektiva nyheter i Sverige.

Tillägg: Missa inte heller Anna Veeders gripande inlägg med titeln Svår morgon i Haifa på bloggen Al Hamatzav.

Tillägg: Missa inte heller denna tankeväckande artikel av Louise Persson. Rubriken är en liten smula missvisande.

Sunday, 16 July 2006, 03:32 GMT

A landmark in the treatment of HIV

My HIV-positive friends have told me that one of the most difficult things in their everyday life is to manage the cocktail of drugs that inhibits replication of the virus. This is difficult because some cocktails contain as many as ten different pills. Now this might get a little easier. From an article in the Los Angeles Times:

Fulfilling a long-held goal of AIDS researchers, federal regulators Wednesday approved the first anti-HIV drug that requires patients to take only one pill once a day.

The drug, called Atripla, combines the three most widely prescribed HIV drugs into one pill, providing patients with a simpler medication regimen.

Atripla could slow HIV drug resistance by helping patients avoid missing doses. It could also lower their out-of-pocket expenses by reducing the number of co-pays under their insurance.

The approval is "a landmark in the treatment of HIV/AIDS," said Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, in announcing the approval.

It's not a cure, but it's progress.

Sunday, 16 July 2006, 01:10 GMT

Nietzsche's Take on Socialism

Socialism in respect to its means. Socialism is the visionary younger brother of an almost decrepit despotism, whose heir it wants to be. Thus its efforts are reactionary in the deepest sense. For it desires a wealth of executive power, as only despotism had it; indeed, it outdoes everything in the past by striving for the downright destruction of the individual, which it sees as an unjustified luxury of nature, and which it intends to improve into an expedient organ of the community. Socialism crops up in the vicinity of all excessive displays of power because of its relation to it, like the typical old socialist Plato, at the court of the Sicilian tyrant; it desires (and in certain circumstances, furthers) the Caesarean power state of this century, because, as we said, it would like to be its heir. But even this inheritance would not suffice for its purposes; it needs the most submissive subjugation of all citizens to the absolute state, the like of which has never existed. And since it cannot even count any longer on the old religious piety towards the state, having rather always to work automatically to eliminate piety (because it works on the elimination of all existing states), it can only hope to exist here and there for short periods of time by means of the most extreme terrorism. Therefore, it secretly prepares for reigns of terror, and drives the word "justice" like a nail into the heads of the semieducated masses, to rob them completely of their reason (after this reason has already suffered a great deal from its semieducation), and to give them a good conscience for the evil game that they are supposed to play. (473)

– Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All-Too-Human, translated into English by Helen Zimmern (New York, 2006).

Saturday, 15 July 2006, 09:01 GMT

My kind of holiday

I think I'll go for a New England getaway next summer.

Saturday, 15 July 2006, 08:37 GMT

Vänsterns parti för svaga

Den antisemitiske vänsterbloggaren Jan-Inge Flücht skriver i en kommentar på en blogg att en orsak till att så många inom högern sympatiserar med Israel kan vara att vänstern alltid tar parti för de svaga. Högerns agerande skulle alltså vara en reaktion mot vänstern. Jag hoppas han har rätt, med tanke på hur vänsterns solidaritet med svaga tagit sig uttryck. Om någon behöver påminnas så finns här bilddokumentation från åren 1917-1945 och 1945-2003.

Saturday, 15 July 2006, 03:02 GMT

Plato's Take on Freedom

Do you notice how all these things together make the citizens' souls so sensitive that, if anyone even puts upon himself the least degree of slavery, they become angry and cannot endure it. And in the end, as you know, they take no notice of the laws, whether written or unwritten, in order to avoid having any master at all.
   I certainly do.
   This, then, is the fine and impetuous origin from which tyranny seems to me to evolve.
   It is certainly impetuous. But what comes next?
   The same disease that developed in oligarchy and destroyed it also develops here, but it is more widespread and virulent because of the general permissiveness, and it eventually enslaves democracy. In fact, excessive action in one direction usually sets up a reaction in the opposite direction. This happens in seasons, in plants, in bodies, and, last but not least, in constitutions.
   That's to be expected.
   Extreme freedom can't be expected to lead to anything but a change to extreme slavery, whether for a private individual or for a city.
   No, it can't.
   Then I don't suppose that tyranny evolves from any constitution other than democracy—the most severe and cruel slavery from the utmost freedom.
(8.563-564)

– Plato, The Republic, translated into English by G. M. A. Grube (Indianapolis, 1992). [If you want to read Plato in English, Grube's translation is the best.]

It is easy to see why Plato is considered the first communist by so many. For self-righteous leftist politicians, the fear of freedom legitimizes their actions.

Saturday, 15 July 2006, 02:56 GMT

Bloggare om konservatismen

Sedan en tid pågår en granskning av konservatismen på ett antal svenska bloggar. Det har talats om att konservatismen är "inne" och att en ung "pophöger" börjat ta plats i samhällsdebatten. För en filosofiskt intresserad nörd som jag är det naturligtvis intressant att följa diskussionen. Här listar jag de intressantaste inläggen jag hittat i den svenska bloggosfären. Jag har numrerat dem i den ordning jag tror man bör läsa dem för att få ut så mycket som möjligt av funderingarna kring konservatismen och dess förhållande till liberalismen och andra ideologier.

1. Den svenske filosofen Roland Poirier Martinsson skrev för knappt ett år sedan en essä i två delar om konservatismen som jag tror är bra att läsa först. Del ett finns här och del två här.
2. Carl-Robert Lindgren har på bloggen Kulturrevolution.se skrivit en essä om konservismen i tre delar med en fristående epilog. Del ett finns här, del två här, del tre här och epilogen här.
3. Bloggaren Lundensis har skrivit en essä om det europeiska fenomenet liberalkonservatism. Den hittas här.
4. Bloggaren Stefan Olsson har även han funderat över vad liberalkonservatism är. Hans inlägg hittas här.

Friday, 14 July 2006, 22:39 GMT

Contractarian Jesus

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
   They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
   At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
   "No one, sir," she said.
   "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. (John 8: 2–11)

– The Gospel according to John, from the New International Version of the Holy Bible. This passage proves—in my opinion—that Jesus of Nazareth was a contractarian philosopher, a belief I share with Immanuel Kant and many others.

Thursday, 13 July 2006, 13:11 GMT

Opposition parties gain popularity

With only sixty-six days to the Swedish general election on 17 September, the liberal-conservative opposition gains popularity according to the latest opinion poll by the research agency Demoskop.

• The Social Democratic Party – 35.7% (-1.7)
• The Moderate Party – 30.9% (+3.5)
• The Liberal Party – 8.0% (-0.8)
• The Christian Democrats – 5.3% (-0.4)
• The Centre Party – 7.3% (+1.9)
• The Green Party – 4.2% (-2.0)
• The Left Party – 4.4% (-2.5)

The four political parties that make up the opposition alliance are marked in blue, while the three parties of the governing coalition are red. The changes since Demoskop's poll in June are shown in brackets.

Wednesday, 12 July 2006, 18:02 GMT

The Tyranny of the Majority

Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the acts of the public authorities. But reflecting persons perceived that when society is itself the tyrant—society collectively over the separate individuals who compose it—its means of tyrannising are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political functionaries. Society can and does execute its own mandates; and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development and, if possible, prevent the formation of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own. There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence; and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs as protection against political despotism. (p. 8-9)

– John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays (Oxford, 1998).

Wednesday, 12 July 2006, 14:04 GMT

Reward for killing gays

As I predicted, religious groups are planning to abuse and even kill gay activists at World Pride in Jerusalem. Now an ultra-Orthodox group have promised to reward those who kill somebody at World Pride. Like so many homophobes before them, they are insinuating that gay people are paedophiles targeting children. From an article on 365gay.com:

Hundreds of leaflets distributed to homes in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox area and other parts of the city overnight offer 20,000 Israeli new shekels or about $4,500 US to anyone who kills gays marching in next month's World Pride in Jerusalem.

The flyers bore the name Red Arm for Salvation and said the money would go to "anyone who will cause the death of one of the Sodom and Gomorrah people."

"During this parade, 300,000 corrupt animals are anticipated to march through the holy city of Jerusalem, waiting avidly for the chance to put themselves on display before our children and our sacred Torah. They will try as hard as they can to defile as many of our innocent children as they can," the leaflets said.

The flyers also gave detailed instructions on how to make a Molotov cocktail, an incendiary bomb using a bottle, to be lobbed into the parade.

The leaflets made reference to Shai Schlissel, a member of the extreme Haredi Orthodox sect, who is serving a prison term for stabbing three people during last year's gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

Haredi leaders say they did not distribute the flyers and claimed no knowledge of the Red Arm for Salvation, suggesting the leaflets were a prank.

Police, however, are taking the threats seriously and said they were particularly concerned about the call to bomb the parade.

The constant hatred gays and lesbians have to face is becoming tiresome, and the use of God as an excuse for violence against us is truly perverse.

Wednesday, 12 July 2006, 01:40 GMT

Mer kärlek i bloggosfären

Passion på internet tar sig många uttryck. Jag upptäckte för en stund sedan att jag numera är ett eget tema på Intressant.se. Nyfiken kollade jag vad som dolde sig bakom mitt namn och fann att nio inlägg hade pingat "Aqurette" som tema. Vid en lite närmare granskning såg jag att samtliga pingade inlägg kom från samma blogg. En bloggare har alltså skrivit nio inlägg där jag är det centrala temat. Bara kärlek och hat kan generera sådant intresse från en person. Likgiltighet gör det inte.

Tuesday, 11 July 2006, 06:48 GMT

Artificial Sperm Made in Laboratory

British scientists have proved for the first time that sperm grown from embryonic stem cells can be used to produce offspring. From an article in the Guardian:

Scientists have paved the way for infertility treatments based on artificial sperm, following the first live births from sperm created in the laboratory.

Researchers in Newcastle grew the sperm from mouse embryonic stem cells and used them to fertilise eggs, resulting in the birth of seven mice, according to a study published today.

The work readies the ground for tentative attempts to grow fully functioning human sperm from scratch, a technique that—if proved safe—has the potential to help treat male infertility.

The research is expected to have greater impact, in the near term at least, by giving scientists the ability to follow the processes by which sperm develop, a powerful tool that could shed light on the root causes of some of the most poorly understood male infertility-related conditions.

"For the first time we have been able to produce sperm in vitro, and use these sperm to fertilise eggs and get live births in animals," said Karim Nayernia, who conducted the research at Georg-August University in Göttingen before moving to the Newcastle-Durham NHS Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine this month.

Other scientists have succeeded in generating sperm and even eggs from stem cells, but Professor Nayernia's group is the first to achieve live births.

This new method gives hope to many childless adults. The next step will be to produce offspring using artificial eggs from stem cells. Some researches, though not mentioned in the article, have even suggested that humans will be able to reproduce outside the human body. But some worries about the ethical implications of the new scientific development. From a BBC article on the same subject:

Anna Smajdor, a researcher in medical ethics at Imperial College London, said: "The creation of viable sperm outside the body is a hugely significant breakthrough and offers great potential for stem cell research and fertility treatments.

"However, sperm and eggs play a unique role in our understanding of kinship and parenthood, and being able to create these cells in the laboratory will pose a serious conceptual challenge for our society."

As an adopted child myself, I do not think artificial sperms and eggs will have any negative impact on parenthood. However, the future technology will require rules and regulation to prevent misuse.

Monday, 10 July 2006, 07:12 GMT

My new job

About a week ago, I received an unusual email from the Moderate Party here in Malmö. I was offered the job as head of the IT-team during the election campaign. I had to think about it for a few days, but made my decision at the end of last week. So later today, I will tell the party that I accept the offer. This means that I will have many extra duties the coming weeks. My responsibilities will include maintenance of the party's local website, as well as creating new and exciting ones custom-made for the election. A project I have been working on for while is a website that will host presentations of Malmö's liberal and conservative candidates. The website is entitled Allians för Malmö—which is the official name of the local liberal-conservative, three-party alliance—and it will be ready in a few weeks.

I will keep my blog readers updated on what I do in my new job. In the coming weeks you will see a number of postings where I present a selection on local candidates. This might not interest everybody, but I know from emails that I have quite a few readers in Malmö, so I think these presentations will be useful when it's time to vote on 17 September.

Monday, 10 July 2006, 06:17 GMT

Kärlek i bloggosfären

"Den encelliga varelsen har nu dykt upp här, har just raderat en lögnaktig, elak och avundsjuk kommentar från föremålet i fråga. Jag har även bannat föremålets ipnummer och tänker behandla det som det internettroll det är samt radera allt från och med nu."

Så reducerar en socialistisk bloggare mig till föremål, och gör samtidigt sig själv till offer efter att i månader ha sökt min uppmärksamhet. Detta för att jag i en försiktigt kommentar påpekade att ministern i hans kärleksdikt i själva verket är partisekreterare.

Närmare den äkta passionen än så kommer vi nog inte i den politiska bloggosfären. För visst finns det något rörande i att lägga ner massor av tid på att söka kontakt med någon bara för att kunna meddela sitt förakt. Jag tror han är förälskad i mig – om än i smyg.

Monday, 10 July 2006, 04:38 GMT

Malmö's underground breakthrough

On 2 July, I wrote about the plans for Malmö's new skyscraper—to be built only a few kilometres from my home. I then mentioned the Citytunnel Project, a railway tunnel that will shorten the journey between Malmö and Copenhagen by ten minutes. In yesterday's Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Skåne's leading daily newspaper, I read an article about the project's first major breakthrough. At 12:53 GMT on 8 July, the drill used to make to tunnels underneath central Malmö came all the way through for the first time. It will still take a few years before the two parallel tunnels are finished and trains can begin to use them, but Saturday marked a big event nonetheless.

Sunday, 9 July 2006, 23:05 GMT

Conservative Progressivism

Connecticut blogger Genghis Conn asked Ned Lamont, a prospective Democratic candidate for US Senate, six questions in January. The answers this new star of the Progressive Movement gave are quite lame, but a comment by Conn says it all:

Y'know, I've heard the argument that Democrats never seem to be for anything these days, and to a certain extent that may be true. Many Democrats find themselves in the role of conservatives—not in the ideological sense, but in the sense that they are trying to protect the major social and political gains their party made over the last 75 years. They see the right, as personified by George Bush and his ilk, as trying to destroy that. Which, admittedly, they are.

So when you see a particular party or group coming out against a lot of things (like conservative Christians come out against gay marriage and abortion, for example) instead of promoting new ideas, they are trying to protect something. So now the question in the minds of Democrats is: Should the America created over the past 75 years be protected, or should it be allowed to fall?

Maybe I was wrong when I wrote that Swedish netroots are more conservative than their American namesakes are. Because it seems like the American Left faces the same problem as the Swedish Left—how will they be able to uphold their progressive image when all they really want is to protect the status quo?

Sunday, 9 July 2006, 22:08 GMT

The success of President Bush's tax reform

Earlier this evening, Sweden's leading conservative blogger Dick Erixon made me aware of an article by Lawrence Kudlow published on the RealClearPolitics website:

Did you know that just over the past 11 quarters, dating back to the June 2003 Bush tax cuts, America has increased the size of its entire economy by 20 percent? In less than three years, the U.S. economic pie has expanded by $2.2 trillion, an output add-on that is roughly the same size as the total Chinese economy, and much larger than the total economic size of nations like India, Mexico, Ireland, and Belgium.

This is an extraordinary fact, although you may be reading it here first. Most in the mainstream media would rather tout the faults of American capitalism than sing its praises. And of course, the media will almost always discuss supply-side tax cuts in negative terms, such as big budget deficits and static revenue losses. But here's another suppressed fact: Since the 2003 tax cuts, tax-revenue collections from the expanding economy have been surging at double-digit rates while the deficit is constantly being revised downward.

For those who bother to look, the economic power of lower-tax-rate incentives is once again working its magic. While most reporters obsess about a mild slowdown in housing, the big-bang story is a high-sizzle pick-up in private business investment, which is directly traceable to Bush's tax reform. It was private investment that was hardest hit in the early-decade stock market plunge and the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist bombings. So team Bush's wise men correctly targeted investment in order to slash the after-tax cost of capital and rejuvenate investment incentives.

The move paid off. Investors now keep nearly 50 percent more of their after-tax capital returns—an enormous increase that has resulted in a remarkably profitable and highly productive business sector. While the overall economy has grown by one-fifth since mid-2003, private business investment has expanded by 37 percent.

The dirty little secret here is that record low tax rates on capital are leading to continued job and income gains as businesses continue to expand. "But," you might respond, "I thought job gains were soft." Well, the marquis employment report for June may have showed "only" 121,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs, below Wall Street expectations. But this leads to another factoid that the mainstream media largely ignores: The household survey of job creation has been booming at a much faster clip than headline corporate payrolls. This months's household survey shows 387,000 new jobs in June, following 288,000 in May.

So much for the Left's claim that low taxes are harmful.

Saturday, 8 July 2006, 18:49 GMT

The right candidate wins in Mexico

Conservative candidate Felipe Calderón will be the next President of Mexico. After a second count of the votes from Sunday's general election, the result shows that Calderón won over leftist presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador by a margin of 0.58%, which is equivalent to 243,934 votes.

It is a good thing that Mr López Obrador was kept out of office. The last thing Mexico needs is a socialist in power. But as I wrote in an earlier entry, Mr Calderón is only slightly better, and the question now is if he is the politician that can give Mexico the liberal change its economy needs. One thing that worries me is that Calderón is a social conservative, which might result in tougher abortion laws and anti-gay legislation.

In many ways, the Mexican election was a choice between really bad and not-so-bad. From an article in Reason magazine:

When asked whom she voted for in the Mexican presidential election, Marcela Armenta, a marketing assistant in Guadalajara, answered "The least worst option." That was an opinion voiced by many last Sunday.

Six years after Vicente Fox, running on an agenda of change, ousted the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexicans returned to the polls to face a stark choice: gamble on a left-leaning populist, pitching outdated economic proposals and a revival of the PRI corporatist system, or stick with the unremarkable governance and macroeconomic stability ushered in by Fox's conservative National Action Party (PAN).

Mexican voters have apparently opted for the latter, choosing the PAN's Felipe Calderon, a drab, Harvard-educated lawyer with a thin resume. (Fox was barred from seeking reelection).

"The PRI is a bunch of rats… the (Democratic Revolution Party) PRD is leftwing and is going to cause economic instability similar to Venezuela," she said.

After more than six months of nasty campaigning, which saw the PAN liken PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and skeletons tumble out of the supposedly clean PAN candidate's closet, the election ended with the two main contenders less than one percentage point apart. After a recount of the polling station results on Wednesday and Thursday, Calderon bested Lopez Obrador by a scant 0.6-percentage-point margin.

Thursday, 6 July 2006, 12:35 GMT

Photographs for the sake of it

The past few days have been unusually hot for Malmö, so I haven't felt like blogging. Instead, I have been taking long walks to clear my head before preparations for the election campaigning begin next week.

Yesterday I fell victim to a whim and bought myself a new mobile telephone—a Sony Ericsson W810i. Until now, I have been using an old Nokia model that lacked many of the features of modern telephones—one of which is a digital camera.

I am not a good photographer, but I had to try my new camera. I took the pictures seen here when I strolled about in one of Malmö's semi-rural suburbs a couple of hours ago. Not very interesting to watch, I know, but they are the first pictures I have taken in years. Hopefully I will be better at it with some practice and better knowledge of how my new camera works.

Tuesday, 4 July 2006, 12:48 GMT

Jerusalem's World Pride under attack

They can live with the terrorism, the killing of innocent civilians, and the religious hatred, but when gay love comes to town they simply must freak out. It happens over and over again—the religious nutjobs demanding ill-treatment of gays and lesbian. We have seen it in Russia, Poland, and the Baltic States. Now it's World Pride in Jerusalem they are trying to stop.

It is easy to get depressed when reading about it—especially if one go through the comments—but I like the words of Reverend Dr. Mel White, founder of SoulForce gay rights group:

"World Pride in Jerusalem, 2006, has become a symbol of hope and healing to sexual and gender minorities around the world. Each of us has suffered religion-based bigotry. Each of us has been abused by the antigay teachings of priest, pastor, rabbi or imam. Each of us has been rejected by deeply religious family or friends. Each of us has struggled to maintain our spiritual center when the Torah, the Christian Testament, the Koran and other religious writings are misused to caricature and condemn us. That's why meeting in Jerusalem has become such an amazing opportunity."

This is true. To be gay is in many ways to be hated by everybody. Whatever we do, the religious fundamentalists find some why to legitimize their violence and hate. The only problem for them is that God made gays and lesbians exactly what we are, so by attacking us, the attack the God they claim to worship. But that will probably not stop the Muslims, Jews, and Christians from putting their differences aside for a day and assault the men and women at the World Pride event.

Tuesday, 4 July 2006, 06:56 GMT

Bodströmsamhället 2.0

Så här ser Sveriges nästa statsminister ut – om Göran Persson får bestämma. Gillar du inte Bodströmsamhället bör du kanske fundera på om en röst på vänsterblocket är värt risken. Vänsterbloggare brukar försvara sig med att de borgerliga partierna skulle göra samma sak som Thomas Bodström, men det är ett desperat argument eftersom både moderaterna och centerpartiet varit mycket tydligt emot den utveckling mot ett övervakningssamhälle som socialdemokraterna står för. Dessutom blir argumentet märkligt eftersom det går ut på att man ska välja bort något som hypotetiskt kan vara fel för att istället välja något som bevisligen är det.

Med en socialdemokratisk seger lär vi med största sannolikhet få se Bodström som statsminister. Det finns då inte längre något som hindrar hans mest integritetskränkande förslag från att bli regeringspropositioner. Bodströmsamhället 2.0 är snart här.

Monday, 3 July 2006, 12:33 GMT

Mexico's election is too close to call

At 12:53 GMT, the margin between the two main contesters in Mexico's presidential election was 1,12%, which probably means that we will have to wait until Wednesday for the result. The close margin led to turmoil in Mexico City last night. From an article in the Los Angeles Times:

Mexico's presidential vote was thrown into turmoil late Sunday, with both leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon claiming victory as election officials announced that the two men were separated by a razor-thin margin.

The Federal Election Institute said the result would not be known until Wednesday and that the margin between the two leading candidates would probably be less than a percentage point.

Electoral institute President Luis Carlos Ugalde announced that a "quick count" based on a sample of the votes from about 7% of the precincts had produced a result within the margin of error. Only a full count of the more than 40 million estimated votes could determine the winner, he said.

Lopez Obrador nonetheless announced victory, soon followed by Calderon. Both said late Sunday that their own data showed them winning.

The leftist candidate told supporters late Sunday that the government wanted to cheat him out of a larger victory. "I want to inform the people of Mexico that according to our calculations we have won the presidency," Lopez Obrador said. The final difference, he said, would be 500,000 votes.

Calderon appeared moments later, to say that numerous private exit polls showed he would win. "Today the trends announced by several firms … show that we have won the presidential elections," he said.

If you wish to follow the counting of the Mexican votes, you can visit El Universal's election website.

Monday, 3 July 2006, 11:38 GMT

Idag gillar jag Katrine Kielos

Möjligen kränker jag nu Katrine Kielos' upphovsrätt, men jag väljer ändå att citera hennes senaste blogginlägg i sin helhet:

Jag ska försöka ta min del av ansvaret, jag inser att jag som medlem i s-studenter är ansluten till SSU. Anna Sjödins uttalande om Israel är hyfsat groteskt och bara alltför typiskt. Jag har skrivit om frågan förr och egentligen orkar jag inte mer. Blir mest trött. När ska den svenska vänstern sluta bedöma Israel och just Israel hårdare än alla jämförbara stater? Vilken annan stat i världen som befinner sig i en väpnad konflikt blir beskylld för självmordsattacker som utförs av den andra sidan? Vilken annan stat blir beskylld för att vara det enda skälet till att det inte blir fred i regionen när dess motpart i förhandlingar för bara ett par år sedan tackade nej till ett erbjudande som gav dem i princip allt de krävde (hela Gazaremsan, 94-96 procent av Västbanken samt kontroll över Östra Jerusalem) utan att ens komma med ett motförslag? I vilken annan konflikt i världen jämför man rakt av våldsdåd vilka har ett uttalat syfte att döda så många civila som möjligt, med militära attacker som oftast har till syfte att minimera antalet civila offer? Jag vet inte och jag orkar inte ens spekulera. Om man inte ens kan ha en förnuftig diskussion om det hela såhär på avstånd från Sverige, ja då vet jag inte…

Kielos inlägg generade ett stort antal kommenterar på hennes blogg, och det dröjde naturligtvis inte länge förrän den konspirationstörstande delen av vänstern började spekulera om hennes bakgrund. För den antisemitiske är det naturligtvis omöjligt att tänka sig att någon som hyser sympati för staten Israel inte har åtminstone lite judiskt blod i sina ådror. Trams, naturligtvis, men det är så många extremister tänker. Hursomhelst så gillar jag Katrine Kielos' försvar för Israel – kanske mest för att mina egna fördomar om henne och andra bloggande socialdemokrater gjorde att jag utgick ifrån att hon skulle ha rakt motsatt åsikt.

Sunday, 2 July 2006, 12:30 GMT

Oväntat populär på Intressant.se

Jag blev lite överraskad när jag för någon minut sedan besökte Intressant.se och upptäckte att min bloggartikel om Nätrot är den mest välbesökta. Detta var oväntat eftersom jag inte pingat artikeln och därför inte förväntat att den skulle vara där. Jag brukar nämligen enbart pinga artiklar och notiser som jag skrivit på svenska och som jag själv tycker har något att tillföra. Hursomhelst så måste någon ha pingat åt mig. Jag har ingenting emot det, för visst är det lite smickrande att någon tycker att något jag skrivit var intressant, men lite oväntat var det att hitta artikeln bland favoriterna.

Sunday, 2 July 2006, 07:07 GMT

Malmö's new skyscraper

Malmö, Sweden's third largest city, is home to the tallest building in Scandinavia. It's called Turning Torso because of it shape, and it has impressed many since the construction was completed a year ago. Now Malmö is preparing an even taller building to be erected in Hyllie, an empty flatland area only a few kilometres south of the city centre. One of the favourite suggestions for the new skyscraper is seen on the picture above.

When the ongoing Citytunnel Project is completed in 2010, the Hyllie area will have a new underground railway station with express trains leaving for Copenhagen every fifteen minutes. With the new rail link, the new exiting buildings, and the city's vast population growth, Malmö and Copenhagen will nearly grow together. The Sound will still separate the two cities, but with a travelling time of less than twenty minutes between them, this will not be worse than the commuting within any larger metropolitan area.

Sunday, 2 July 2006, 04:40 GMT

Election Day in Mexico

In a few hours, the Mexican polling stations will open and the people will elect a new President. From an article on The Economist's website:

Mexico prepares to vote on Sunday July 2nd, but the presidential race remains too close to call, while Congress is likely to be divided in thirds

A campaign rally is a bad place to decide who is likely to win an election. But standing in the middle of the Zocalo, Mexico City's central square, it seems most likely that Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the city's former mayor, will win. The square, one the world's largest, is filled with his supporters attending his last campaign rally. His image is everywhere, in picture and caricature. The crowd seems to be unstoppable.

Nonetheless, his principal opponent, Felipe Calderón, also draws tens of thousands to his last rally in Mexico City, held at a sports stadium. Mr López Obrador held the slightest lead in the last polls to be published, more than a week before the election. But the two go into Sunday's vote in what is a statistical tie. Running under an alliance of left-wing parties, pre-eminent among them the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Mr López Obrador had led in the polls for nearly three years, until a few months before the election.

On 28 June, I wrote about Mr López Obrador, the man who seems to win today's election. I wrote that it would be unwise to elect a man who had made anti-trade policies such an important part of his politics, and that the Mexicans should vote for a liberal candidate instead. When reading my article, some might have gotten the impression that the other candidate, Mr Calderón, is a liberal. He is not. As The Economist writes further down in the article I quoted above, the PRD is "far from a laissez-faire rightist party". Unfortunate for Mexico's voters, there doesn't seem to be any liberal candidate. Like the citizens in much of Europe, Mexican votes only have a choice between the Moderate Left and the Loony Left. Sad, but true.

Saturday, 1 July 2006, 13:21 GMT

Swedish netroots are fake

From an article in last week's The Economist:

They call themselves 'netroots', ie, grassroots campaigners linked by the internet. There are a lot of them: their most popular meeting-place, a blog called the Daily Kos, attracts hundreds of writers and perhaps half a million readers a day. They are the most disruptive force in Democratic politics today. Their aim is to transform the party by backing candidates who will 'fight back' against Mr Bush.

When I read the article I came to think of a group of Swedish bloggers who see themselves as netroots. These people had a meeting in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on 20 May. The Swedish netroots imply that they are like the American netroots, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The Swedish bloggers that gathered in Stockholm are all very loyal to the Government and the ruling elite. And unlike their American namesakes, they oppose all change. But since they are socialists and communists they cannot think of themselves as anything but radicals, which is why they claim that helping the party that has governed Sweden for nearly eighty years is progressive.

According to The Economist's article, one of the fundamental ideas behind the American netroot movement is that ordinary voters run it. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation, an organization that finances the ruling Social Democratic Party's election campaigns and in effect rules the country with it, employs blogger Rosemari Södergren, who initiated the netroot meeting. In other words, the Swedish netroot movement is the creation of the political elite. So don't be fooled by the use of words or the confusing terminology—the Swedish netroots are nothing like the American.

Update: A few hours ago, Rosemari Södergren published an entry on her blog in which she states that the netroot meeting in Stockholm was initiated by leftist bloggers who contacted her and asked if she could arrange it. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation did not ask for any favours and do not expect anything in return from the participating bloggers. Swedish bloggers are independent and not controlled by anyone, Södergren writes.

OK. Fair enough. I do not claim to know more than Södergren on the subject, I took notice of the many differences between the Swedish and American netroot movements. By the use of the same terminology, it is easy to believe that the two are more alike than they actually are.

Södergren goes on to explain that she will restrict the possibility for readers to post comments on her blog. This due to all spiteful comments she receives. I really hope she doesn't think I have anything to do with that. I have, as far as a can remember, never posted a comment on her blog. But I understand why she made that decision. Comments on political blogs are often extremely nasty and hurtful, which is why I don't have any on my blog. If anyone wishes to comment something I write, I urge them to send me an email. Occasionally I publish comments sent to me.

Saturday, 1 July 2006, 07:42 GMT

ETC och pengarna

I juni skrev jag tre bloggartiklar på engelska om ETC:s tidning mot prostitution som skulle delas ut i Tyskland under fotbolls-VM. I en artikel från den 6 juni skrev jag att Dagens ETC finansierat sin kampanjtidning med bidrag från staten och inte med insamlade pengar som de själva påstod. I en kort notis den 14 juni skrev jag att det inte gått att bekräfta uppgiften jag fått av en person som i sitt yrke brukar ha insyn i sådana här ärenden.

Idag gjorde jag en ego-googling (sökt på mitt eget namn) och hittade då en lite ilsken kommentar av Martin Halldin på ETC:s hemsida. Han menar att en lögn är en lögn och att jag borde erkänna att jag hade fel istället för att bara säga att uppgiften är obekräftad. Han har nog en poäng, så jag erkänner att det var fel att påstå att ETC fått medel av staten för att publicera och distrubuera sin tidning. Lögn är det däremot inte eftersom det per definition kräver uppsåt. Möjligen är min källa en lögnare, men jag misstänker att det handlar om ett missförstånd. ETC har nämligen fått pengar av staten – hela 2 035 000 (pdf) kronor bara i år.

Uppdatering: Länken till pdf-dokumentet är nu fixad. Jag var tvungen att lägga över dokumentet på min egen server eftersom det av någon anledning inte gick att länka direkt till dess plats på servern som tillhör Presstödsnämnden. Nyfikna hittar dock samma dokument där om ni klickar på "Publicerat" i vänstermenyn.

Saturday, 1 July 2006, 06:38 GMT

Introducing permalinks

It's a new month, and with that comes a few changes to my website. The most important one is the introduction of so-called permalinks, which basically means that an individual entry will have its unique Internet address (URL). Most blogs have had this feature for a long time, but I have until now run an old-fashioned system by which a link led to the chosen entry on a page with all the entries of that month. It's never been stable—often one doesn't even come close to the requested entry, which is especially problematic for those who follow my blog with a RSS reader. Now that is no longer a problem since links will be both reliable and permanent. (If you don't know what I mean, you can compare the link of this and following entries to any of the entries published in June or earlier. A link to an entry is obtained by clicking on its headline.)

Other, smaller, modifications to the website include:

• Scrapping of the "target=_blank" tag that made external links open in new windows. I read an article about this a while ago, and learned that a majority of blog readers prefer to use the back-button on their browsers.
• Some minor design changes to the menu (done only to make the site look better in the horrid Internet Explorer browser—a program I really hate for its ugliness).