27. september 2003

Left vs right Daryl Cagle's cartoon weblog (which still lacks permalinks) runs an interesting interview with cartoonist Mike Ritter, who unlike most of his collegues tend to lean right politically. But Ritter is another one who doesn't fit easily into the old pigeonholes. He says: Having said that, I don't really classify myself as a conservative anymore. Your point about "left-right crap" is on the money. I find those terms to be increasingly artificial. But I find that readers are often confused and unsettled when they can't box you into the "liberal" or "conservative" camp. I wouldn't call that being an "equal-opportunity offender" though. I only target those with whom I disagree. But the labels of left and right are almost useless when it comes to predicting who that will be. I've been thinking this might actually be an interesting panel topic for 2004. I know I'm not the only one who feels this antiquated 20th century shorthand of left and right has outlived it's usefulness. Exactly how I feel. It is possible to be equally offended by leftist utopists as right-wing theocrat wannabes, and just trying to make sense of politics issue by issue. Elections to me will always be a futile attempt to identify the lesser evil. 9:42:34 PM    comment []  trackback []

EU hunting for utopia British historian Paul Johnson is arguing that the French-dominated EU has been overspending itself, having no plans for dealing with economic stagnation, one that may take a long time to recover. He seems to argue that Britain has been able to strike a more healthy balance between laissez faire capitalism and social-democratic welfare systems than France and Germany. The engine of a welfare state, be it an extensive one like France, Canada or Norway, or a minimalistic one like the US, has to be the private economy. There must be business activity to produce the income to pay for the social spending, as well as the military. France is a dreaded example, in Johnson's view, of a state that simply has not accounted for how to pay for all its generous benetifs, and even now seems reluctant to do so. The way the EU is running now is, as Johnson sees it, just as sure a way to eventual economic collapse as the communist utopia that devastated Russia. 9:26:10 PM    comment []  trackback []

Whose life is it anyway? One of the greater ethical problems of our time, one where there are no easy answers, is the debate over euthanasia. It has come to the forefront in France with a book written by 22 year old paraplegic Vincent Humbert, who fought a hard fight for the right to end his life, until his mother Marie Humbert finally gave him an overdose of sedatives.. Humbert managed, with the help of a journalist, to write a book about how his life was made intolerable as he lost all faculties after a car crash, even his sense of taste and smell. "Then, so that you understand me better, so that the debate about euthanasia finally reaches another level, so that this word and this act are no longer a taboo subject, so that we no longer let live lucid people like me who want to put an end to their own suffering, I wanted to write this book that I will never read," he wrote. His mother is currently facing legal action from French prosecutors, but in its most gentle form, as there has been an outpouring of sympathy even at the highest level of government. In a few countries, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, euthanasia is legal in some circumstances. 8:03:08 PM    comment []  trackback []

Revolutions Don't miss the new theatrical trailer for Matrix Revolutions, offering quite a few hints to how the epic will be resolved. 5:29:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

Blogging the next bubble? It was only a question of time before somebody got the idea to create blogs to make money. 7:56:08 AM    comment []  trackback []

Turnaround if not fair play Sherman Networks, the makers of Kazaa, is suing the entertainment companies for copyright infringment. First, RIAA is using Kazaa Lite and other hacked versions of its product Kazaa to track file sharers, and they also use other unauthorised versions of the software. Second, they upload bogus versions of songs and movies and send messages to users, something Sherman argues is a violation of the terms for using their network. 3:45:05 AM    comment []  trackback []

Infant killed by Palestinian gunman Violent clashes between Palestinian militants and Israelis culinimated in an attack on a Jewish settlement where two Israelis, including an infant, was killed before the attacker was shot dead. The attacl took place during the preparations for the Jewish new year Rosh Hashana, which began at sunset Friday. 2:36:29 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.10.2003; 02:27:09.