Wartime Propaganda

A story was recently unearthed, filed by George Weller, the first American journalist to walk in Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was detonated there.

It's a fascinating read, but one of the most interesting parts - to modern eyes, at least - comes on the second page.

Showing them to you, as the first American outsider to reach Nagasaki since the surrender, your propaganda-conscious official guide looks meaningfully in your face and wants to knew: "What do you think?"

What this question means is: do you intend saying that America did something inhuman in loosing this weapon against Japan? That is what we want you to write.

This clear-eyed recognition on Weller's part of the line that is being fed to him is refreshing by today's standards. We are used to journalists who treat every official announcement on the part of the US, the UK, or Western nations in general with the utmost suspicion, surrounding it with scare-quotes and code words such as "alleged". On the other hand, those same journalists take statements by groups known to have formal policies of lying to and manipulating the media at face value.

Weller would not have been taken in for a moment by Baghdad Bob, or George Galloway for that matter. Where are the journalists of his caliber today?

Bizarro Monday

Mondays. Feh. I'm not a fan of Mondays at the best of times - I don't get into the rythm of the week until midday. However, this particular Monday started with a bit of a surprise - the BBC talking sense, and the Adam Smith Institute... well, not so much.

The subject of the day is Alastair Darling's plan to introduce congestion-based road charging. Basically, driving at peak times will be more expensive, and black boxes will be installed in all cars in order to track them via satellite.

The BBC treats the subject in a fairly balanced manner, including the following quote from a Professor Garel Rhys of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research:

Governments will upset at their peril society's wish to do what it wants to do and that is to move around.

Yes, that was a quote from the BBC. Meanwhile, the ASI's Dr Eamonn Butler posted this apologia for big government intrusion:

First, he aims to track motor vehicles by satellite. Certainly, that makes possible a truly national system, with drivers being charged wherever they are in the country and billed according to the congestion they cause. And the real-time information collected can be used to help traffic planning.

He does go on to qualify that statement, albeit in a rather dismissive manner. The shock of finding myself to the right of the ASI on this issue has worn off by now, as they have been pushing road charging for some time.

Perceptive BBC commenter Dave from London points out:

The reason we have a peak time is because people are going to work. These are the people who prop up our current tax system. By this scheme we'll charge the most for the journeys hardest to avoid.

Now why can't the ASI point this out? Sure, working from home would be nice, but I do need to be physically present in the office from 08.30 to 17.30. There is no sensible public transport (it would take three times as long, without including waiting for connections, delayed services, getting soaked in the rain, etc.). If the government introduce fees for driving at those times at the proposed 1.34 GBP per mile, that would add up to 335 GBP per week. I could not afford that expense, and there is nothing I could do about it. I would have to give up my job and throw myself on the tender mercies of the Welfare State.

By all means make the motorways toll roads, but hand them over to private companies and make sure that they do proper maintenance for once. Charging on non-motorway roads, never mind charging extra at rush hour, is illiberal, and under these proposals, extremely intrusive as well. What is the ASI smoking?

Tum tum tum TUM teTUM tumteTUM

I finally watched the new Star Wars film last night, with the obvious result that I cannot stop myself from humming, whistling, tapping, etc. the Imperial March... Fortunately, everybody else around here is similarly afflicted, including my better half who has not even seen any Star Wars film, so I am safe from retribution for now.

See here for the best Revenge of the Sith review ever. Alternatively, see here or here for related sillyness.

UPDATE: Sheesh! I almost forgot Revenge of the Brick...

Neen! Geen! Nee! Niet!

The Dutch have also roundly rejected the EU Constitution. However, as Dutch blog Zacht Ei notes, a simple "no" is still too complicated for EU politicians to comprehend:

EC President Barroso made his familiar point again, about how nine countries have ratified the constitution already.

André Rouvoet of the ChristenUnie just pointed out the fallacy in this argument: only three of those countries have put the constitution to a vote. And two of them rejected it.

Two countries that are, by the way, founding members of the EU.

Well said, sir! It has been noted elsewhere that this is the first time that the various people affected by the EU have been asked their opinion - and that opinion is not very positive... I had been about to write "involved", but, of course, the people are not "involved" in any meaningful sense. This is, indeed, the whole point.

A Footsoldier in the Browser Wars

In the beginning there was Mosaic [what about Lynx? Ed. shutupshutupshutup], and it was good. It did not do much, but it did it well, and evil had not yet come to the Web. This was the Golden Age.

Then came Navigator, Explorer and their ilk, and this was the Silver Age. Great battles were fought, and in the end, Explorer bestrode the field triumphant, for all its foes had been vanquished, though some had turned tail and run in the end. A Dark Age settled over the Web, but scholars laboured into the night, that browser knowledge be not lost and that it could arise once more.

The scholars were of various schools: the School of Opera, the students of the Book of Mozilla, those who followed the Dogcow and crafted a Cyberdog, and others of even stranger beliefs. And it came to pass that a sequel to the Book of Mozilla was written, and it was called Firefox.

Those who followed the enflamed 'Fox rejoiced, for it seemed to them that the Golden Age had returned. They could browse the web in peace, without the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the multitudes of followers of the Explorer. But some among them feared that the evil that Explorer had brought into the world would spread, and eventually contaminate even the 'Fox.

And this came to pass, and the Legions of Pop-Ups and the heretical JavaScript bedevilled the followers of the 'Fox. But the 'Fox had mighty helpers: the Greasemonkey and the Platypus. With these great allies the followers of the 'Fox could do battle with the heretics and the evil ones, and vanquish them utterly, so that they need never see them or hear them again. And a great peace settled across the land where the Firefox, the Greasemonkey and the Platypus dwelt.

EU Constitution, Happy Landings, Sun, Sand and Sea

My joie de blog did not flag as soon as it had been revived. I have actually spent the long weekend since the last entry in Italy, eating fit to burst, sprawling in the sun, and laughing myself silly at photographs of Jacques Chirac looking very unhappy...

I am quite pleased that the horrible EU Constitution was rejected, and I find it even funnier that the mass of statist, socialist regulation was rejected by the French socialists and communists as being too liberal and capitalist. It's a bit like the Futurama episode "Why must I be a crustacean in love":

DR ZOIDBERG FRANCE: "I'm going to attack here *points to Fry's neck* right in the gonads capitalistic neo-liberal principles!"

FRY ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES: "Nobody correct him!!!!"

I had an interesting experience coming in to Heathrow at the end of the trip. The plane came down to within (I would estimate) no more than twenty metres altitude, and then suddenly we were in a full power climb. No announcement was made for about five minutes, and despite two gin&tonics I was beginning to get decidedly nervous. I was half expecting to hear "ALLAHU AKHBAR!" from up front, when the pilot came on the intercom to explain that he had spotted another plane about to cross the runway, and had therefore aborted the landing...

This is Heathrow for $DEITY's sake! This is the only airport I know of which has a roundabout for the planes. I expect them to be able to handle traffic a bit better than that!

Anyway, all is well that ends well, though I do have a few white hairs to show for my trip. Oh, and the carbon-and-gold combination has been purchased, and is even now sitting in a safe waiting for The Right Moment (TM).

UPDATE: Pixy Misa had the fortitude to read the daft EU Constitution and report on its contents. Speaking for myself, even waiting for the thing to download put me to sleep, so I'm glad he took care of it. See also this post on French reactions.

And in Other News...

The Yokohama tyres are great - highly recommended. The downside is that they have so much grip that the deficiencies in the suspension show up... I just may get the suspension up-rated this autumn, as long as the front disks&pads are being replaced.

In the mean time I am playing the Optimax card-collecting game. Basically every time you fill up with Shell Optimax fuel, you get a pack of cards. Each card represents a dream car, and if you collect all 24, you can win one of the cars. There are some odd choices in the mix - Audi A8 4.2? Lexus RXSE-L? - but overall it's a great list, and I'd be happy with most of the cars. Unfortunately I'm stuck at 22 cards out of 24, and have been for some time - the last two cards appear to be very elusive! If anybodye else collects these things, I have a stack of doubles about 3 cm thick. Yes, my car is quite thirsty, why do you ask?

I am so sad that I actually looked up insurance premiums (premia?) for my favourite cars. The list goes: Maserati Coupé, TVR T350C, Morgan Aero 8, Mercedes-Benz CLS500, BMW M3, Nissan 350Z. However, the Maserati would cost more to insure for a year than I paid for the Alfa Romeo, and most of the other top-runners would seriously injure the bank, if not outright break it. Bearing in mind that I have committed to purchasing a small amount of very pure carbon and a gold portable display device this summer, the Nissan may be the only affordable one of the lot. It would be galling to take a car that's worth half as much as the others, but the insurance is between a third and a quarter, and as that would be the only part I would have to pay for myself in the unlikely occurrence of victory, that will have to be the deciding factor.

And in closing, can I just say: Mmmmmm, cars... <droooool>

Last Straw

It's been some time since I have felt the urge to blog - or even had the time to do so. I have just been far too busy at work, and then once I finally got home at night I had no energy for serious pursuits. Vice City is about as serious as I'm willing to get in the evenings these days, or sometims Command & Conquer: Generals... Whatever anyone says about Hell-Desk work, at least it's fairly unstressed, and down-time is rigidly defined - after a certain time, the customers simply can't reach you! My new gig, however, is in pre-sales, and there is no down-time. If I have to work until 22.00 or on Saturday and Sunday in order to close a big deal, well, that's what I do.

However, blogging is very good for one thing: blowing off steam about the multitude of irritations that the news throws out each and every day. There are only so many people I feel like having a high-level conversation with about how everything is going to hell in a hand-basket, or, more to the point, there are only so many people who are willing to have that conversation with me. Also, neither they nor I feel like having that conversation on every single lunch break, whereas I can blog whenever the urge strikes.

A head of steam has been building up slowly. There have been many small events contributing to this: the UK elections, in particular the fact that George Galloway got in, were a major contributing factor. The leaflets the various parties sent me also raised my blood pressure - the Tories' for not having any trace of backbone, and the Lib Dems for being an insufferable pack of holier-than-thou stuck-up prigs. Labour are not a factor in my constituency, though we did rate a Rainbow Dream Ticket appearance (Rainbow George himself is a resident). I did take some of my bile out on the hapless Lib Dem canvasser (HIM: "Will you be voting for the Liberal Democrats?" ME: "CERTAINLY NOT!" <slams door>), but judging by their healthy 46% of the vote, I think he got an easy ride elsewhere.

Other UK news that caused me to throw things: Jenny Tonge's elevation to the peerage. At least she will actually be with peers - Estelle Morris, for instance...

On the EU front, I am tentatively hopeful that the French will reject the EU constipationconstitution. As usual, they have utterly misguided and wrong-headed reasons for doing so, but in this case, I do feel that the end justifies the means. The Dutch are also threatening to throw the horrible thing out, for somewhat less misguided reasons. The red cloud still descends at the thought that the national governments involved are spending tax money to campaign for the constitution, while the Non! campaigns are privately funded. This is as perfect a crime as you can get - taking somebody's money, and using it to pay for a campaign to be given the right to even more of his money.

I used to do something like this in Sim City. I would build power plants that burned garbage, then take contracts to dispose of neighbouring cities' garbage, burn it in the incinerators, and sell the electricity right back to them. However, I think it is high time that somebody reminded our "betters" in Brussels that even Sims revolt when the taxes are too high, the economy is in a death spiral, and law enforcement is turning everybody into criminals.

The fact that US media would fabricate anti-US stories is, sadly, not news. Neither is the fact that Islamists would riot over mere rumours. Which of the two parties is the most reprehensible is left as an exercise for the reader.

And from Italy, we have news that Oriana Fallaci is to be put on trial in Bergamo for defamation of Islam. Hardly surprising, one might think - except for the fact that not a single major Italian newspaper reported the news. The only reports I found were in local paper L'Eco di Bergamo, the Northern League's party organ La Padania, and various internet-only news outlets. Not even ANSA, the Italian news agency, carried the news. I am withholding judgment as to the significance of this.

The upshot of all this? I'm tired of hearing about this stuff. I've had enough. It's time for the gloves to come off. I want the EU constitution soundly rejected, I want Islamists stomped wherever they are - Riyadh, Teheran, the Parisian banlieue - I want the media and politicians to behave like adults for once, and I want a million dollars and the moon on a stick, while I'm at it.

UPDATE: Reuters has now picked up on Oriana Fallaci's trial. Instapundit notes that "Fabrizio Quattrochi was unavailable for comment".

Interesting Marketing Gimmick

I bought four new tyres today (Yokohama A359s, if you must know), and in the confirmation e-mail I received a hyperlink. If 3 people use the link to buy tyres, I get cash. I like this system a lot, so I am going to make sure to spam everyone with this info...

Check back here after the weekend to see whether I'm happy with the tyres and the service, though.

Do you Gmail?

I have a few Gmail invitations available - if anyone needs one, give me a call and I may be able to sort you out.

Final Word on Bay vs. Steyn

... and who better to have the final word than Beldar?

Beldar does not quite subscribe to Mark Steyn's pessimism. Basically, he believes that something will happen to awaken Europe from its slumber. He sums up his argument as follows:

First, I believe that some ideas and some events are sufficiently compelling that they will probably eventually overcome Old Europe's prejudice, envy, lethargy, and denial.

Second, I believe that Mr. Steyn's view overgeneralizes, and fails to recognize the way in which a change in thinking by even a modest percentage of "Old Europeanists" could produce a major swing in their countries' policies and actions.

I have to say that I do not disagree with the second point. A change in thinking on the part of even a relatively small part of the European electorates would be sufficient to effect fairly major policy changes, due to the coalition nature of European national governments. The central EU is not sufficiently powerful (yet?) to ride out a sea change on the part of its major members.

However, I am not convinced of the first point. What would be an event sufficiently large and terrible to have this effect? Let us not forget that the greatest terrorist atrocity in Europe resulted in capitulation to the terrorists' demands in Spain. Italy's experiences with hostages in Iraq have shown the extent to which public opinion, influenced in no small part by the legacy media, is willing to make concessions in such situations. Even those Europeans who agree with American foreign policy may often prefer that these aims be pursued by the US, rather than by the EU. They do not have the stomach for the front-line.

Excuses such as the relative distance from Iraq to Rome as opposed to the distance to Washinton are not sufficient. Churchill's condemnation of appeasers is always apposite: "Each one hopes that if it feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last.". If we say, and worse, demonstrate through our actions, that we will not fight, that we will negotiate, that we will capitulate, we should not be surprised when the enemy pushes us to do just that. Diplomacy has ever been conducted under the shadows of guns, with massed armies just off-stage. Without these tools, diplomats are reduced to impotent bearers of empty demands.

France does not have the capability to subdue its own banlieues any more, so why should dictators pay any attention to M Chirac? France's one aircraft carrier would break down before leaving territorial waters. Germany's Bundeswehr can no longer buy parts for its vehicles due to their extreme age. At its peak, Italy's military included two-man tanks which had to be hand-cranked if the engine stalled on the battlefield.

These are hurtful facts, and they are out-weighed to some extent by other considerations. The fact remains, however, that the EU seems determined to squander what influence it has, destroying the international relationships that have kept it free, while at the same time maintaining an extensive fifth column of infiltrators at its own expense and gutting any capacity to defend itself.

Barring a major and obvious U-turn in both domestic and foreign policy, I doubt I will grow old in Europe as I had planned to, and I cannot immagine an event that might cause such a reversal.

More Italian Blogs

Italian Version è il blog di Fabio, un italiano a Londra. E' anche la new entry sul blogroll...

[Hat tip: Tim Worstall]

Italian Blogs for Freedom

A causa della blog-pausa che mi sono concesso in questi giorni, non mi ero neanche accorto di essere stato segnalato alla Right (Italian) Nation di Sorvegliato Speciale. Grazie a chi mi ha segnalato, e grazie al Sorvegliato per avermi aggiunto!.

Almost Hiatus

Long days requiring much use of brain-power and not much routine work have sapped my joie de blog this year. I will try to post more regularly, if only to keep my arm in, but it's hard to stumble in the front door, 12 hours after leaving through it, and sit down to blog - as opposed to slaughtering people in the Violent Videogame Du Jour.

Most of the US blogosphere has got very worked up about a professor having accused every single person who worked in the World Trade Center of being morally equivalent to Adolf Eichmann, the infamous National Socialist. Yes, even the janitorial staff, the parking attendants, the waiters, the receptionists - everyone. Then it turns out that the professor is a wacky unreformed "radical" who has built his entire career on graft and ethnic politics. Yawn. The story is not new - these people exist, and it is good that they should be thrown into the stocks and pelted with rotten vegetables in a very public manner, but it doesn't interest me.

What does interest me is Europe, and what is likely to happen here in the next half-century. I feel very strongly that we are at a tipping point, and that what happens in the next decade will determine the course of the following century or so. The EU, increasingly unrepresentative and authoritarian, is nonetheless stumbling on both its internal and external fronts. It lost a very public shoving match with the US over Iraq, and despite its best efforts, it is becoming obvious to all objective parties that this is the case. The Iraqi elections sealed the coffin of principled opposition to the war - the position of being against those smiling Iraqis waving ink-stained fingers in the faces of the terrorists is not tenable.

On the internal front, the new members from the East have not proven as pliant as the core of the Union was expecting and hoping. Arthur Chrenkoff has a good roundup of recent events in this area. The Franco-German axis was hoping to add the weight of new subservient members to their hegemony, but (fortunately) their plan did not quite work out. Fortunately, because Italy has been almost single-handedly neutered on the EU scene by Romano Prodi, Spain's voters bowed to terrorists, and the UK has always had a very "special" relationship with the continent.

Into this general melee steps Mr Bush. Mark Steyn sums up the content of his visit thus:

International relations are like ex-girlfriends: if you're still deluding yourself you can get her back, every encounter will perforce be fraught and turbulent; once you realise that's never gonna happen, you can meet for a quick decaf latte every six – make that 10 – months and do the whole hey-isn't-it-terrific-the-way-we're-able-to-be-such-great-friends routine because you couldn't care less. You can even make a few pleasant noises about her new romance (the so-called European Constitution) secure in the knowledge he's a total loser.

Austin Bay disagrees, but I'm not too sure of his analysis. I think he may misunderestimate the sickness of EUropean politics, while Mark Steyn has just the right level of cynicism. The empty-gesture politics of the EU are not chosen faute de mieux, but precisely because the gestures are empty. It is seen as far more moral to maka a claim to the moral high ground at the severe detriment of one's own interests than to defend those interests - even in the case of core interests such as survival!

Suicide through political correctness and stifling self-regulation is the future of the EU, and I for one can only hope that my chosen homeland (hint - it's shaped like a boot) will be able to stay clear of the worst of it. While the UK has the option of leaving entirely, this avenue is closed to all the major continental players, barring massive political changes. I will move to the US if the going gets too tough over here, but I really don't want to. I like Italy, and I would rather import freedom there than try to set up a little corner of Italy in the US.

UPDATE: Callimachus at Done With Mirrors is even more pessimistic (via AMERICAN FUTURE).

I don't think the current anti-US alignment can last, but I do think that the slide into irrelevance that he points out is real. Kissinger's "single telephone number to Europe" has long been used as a justification by EU integrationists, but attempts at continental unification have always ended in tragedy in the past. So far, the best that we can hope for is that the current attempt ends in farce, but the tragedy that Callimachus sees is not impossible either.

On the Road again...

I'm travelling again, and had an altercation with the remote access software over definitions of "toll-free" - therefore I was offline until now. I just have to say that I love driving in Italy. I'm on the motorway, cruising over the speed limit, and the cops overtake me going half again as fast, and disappear into the distance...

On another note, remote access is pointless. I know there is one important e-mail that I should read now from my work account, but my poor little modem is overwhelmed with the flood of pointless electrons to the point that I have to restart the mail check every hundred messages or so. Feh.