Broken Thoughts of Dr Andreos J. Picaros

The Golden Rule

2006-12-24T11:47:00.000Z

There is one moral code that features in almost every major religion. It has been espoused by philosophers, writers, scholars and thinkers over thousands of years. It is known as the ethic of reciprocity, or the Golden Rule. In a Channel 4 programme some time ago, when asked which principle should be added to the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule received more votes than all the other suggestions put together.

What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others

-- Confucius

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow

-- Hillel (Jewish leader)

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

-- Jesus

One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality

-- Hindu text

Wish not for others what you wish not for yourselves

-- Bahá'í text

Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your superiors

-- Seneca

What stirs your anger when done to you by others, that do not do to others

-- Socrates

May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me

-- Plato

We should bear ourselves toward others as we would desire they should bear themselves toward us

-- Aristotle

Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you

-- Muhammad

I will act towards others exactly as I would act towards myself

-- Buddha

Here endeth today's lesson.

Reading in politics: an identity crisis

2006-12-12T12:39:00.000Z

Politics can screw with your mind. If I read the works of Dr Hunter S. Thompson, I find in myself a vicious cynic. If I read the newspapers, I become a sceptical realist. And if I watch 'The West Wing' I am suddenly a rabid idealist. Which of these is my true nature? Perhaps these characteristics aren't mutually exclusive. Perhaps I am none of them, but something else entirely.

Danny: Sit down man, find your neutral space. You have done something to your brain. You have made it high. If I lay 10 mills of diazipan on you, you will do something else to your brain, you will make it low. Why trust one drug rather than the other? That's politics ain't it.

Marwood: I'm going to eat some sugar.

-- Withnail and I, by Bruce Robinson

Notes on the Global Political Economy (Rehash)

2006-12-12T12:20:00.000Z

I felt like I ought to post something, so here are some reflections on free trade that I noted down a while back.

'Concerning the impact of rich country protectionism on the developing world, it has been estimated that such policies cost developing countries $1,000 billion a year. Protectionism and unfair trade practices hit precisely those sectors where poor countries have the greatest potential to reap gains from trade. For example, farmers in the European Union receive $16,000 per annum in subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy.

Moreover, protectionism OECD countries also has a detrimental effect on the host country. For example, it has been estimated that American protectionist policies cost consumers in the United States around $32 billion annually.'

-- Global Political Economy: Evolution and Dynamics by Robert O'Brien and Marc Williams

Western nations such as the US and UK fight for free trade and economic (neo)liberalism at the IMF and WTO, not to mention the ongoing(ish) Doha round of trade negotiations. Yet the only things they will not liberalise are the only things that developing nations can do better than we can (eg. agriculture and textiles). We are for free trade, just as long as it works in our (short term) favour. This is not a level playing field if we won't allow others to compete. It is the very antithesis of those same (economically) liberal ideals. This mercantilist hypocrisy harms not only the developing world, but also our own citizens ($32 billion!!!).

Is it possible that the problem with the Washington Consensus, the neoliberal agenda, and economic globalisation itself is not that it has gone too far, but that it hasn't gone far enough? Is it possible that if developed nations committed to their professed ideals and accepted that there will be short term losses (ie. our farmers have a hard time; programming jobs go to India) the end result would, as free traders have always argued, be better for everyone? It's not as if those losses haven't already been offset by phenomenal gains elsewhere (see Ricardo and the theory of comparative advantage). Perhaps it's not that free trade in the global marketplace doesn't work, so much as that it hasn't actually been tried yet.

The Case of Scott Panetti

2006-12-06T21:48:00.000Z

Scott Panetti has been on death row in Texas for 11 years now. Convicted in 1995 for murdering his parents-in-law, Mr Panetti is demonstrably mentally ill - he was diagnosed as schizophrenic in 1986.

Panetti was nonetheless declared fit to stand trial. He rejected the use of a lawyer and chose to represent himself. He appeared in court dressed as a cowboy. The following is an extract from his testimony:

Fall. Sonja, Joe, Amanda, kitchen. Joe bayonet, not attacking. Sarge not afraid, not threatened. Sarge not angry, not mad. Sarge, boom, boom. Sarge, boom, boom, boom. Sarge, boom, boom.

Sarge is gone. No more Sarge. Sonja and Birdie. Birdie and Sonja. Joe, Amanda lying kitchen, here, there, blood. No, leave. Scott, remember exactly what Scott did. Shot the lock walked in the kitchen. Sonja, where’s Birdie? Sonja here. Joe, bayonet, door, Amanda. Boom, boom, boom, blood.

Demons. Ha, ha, ha, ha, oh, Lord, oh, you.

-- Source: Amnesty International AMR 51/011/2004

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Atkins v Virginia (2002) that executing the mentally ill is unconstitutional, and should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Nevertheless, Scott Panetti remains on death row.

If you believe that this man should not be executed, I urge you to lobby the appropriate authorities to spare his life. Yes, it is interfering in the affairs of another country. I see no problem in peacefully doing so in order to save a life. Even if you don't oppose the death penalty, this is an extraordinary case. Few supporters of capital punishment would see it as acceptable to allow the penalty to include the mentally ill.

The easiest way is to write a letter. I know it doesn't sound like much. But it isn't just one letter - there are thousands being sent about this case and every single one increases pressure on the authorities.

The Honourable Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
State Capitol
PO Box 12428
Austin
TX 78711
USA

Postage to the USA is 50p.
You can also email Governor Perry here.

His Excellency Mr Robert Holmes Tuttle
American Embassy
24 Grosvenor Square
London
W1A 1AE

More information:

A 'Prosperous and Great Country'

2006-12-03T17:16:00.000Z

Today's Sunday Times is extremely depressing. One theme seems to dominate - suffice to say that people are butchering each other in various ways, everywhere.

I came across a very interesting article about the underground railroad from North Korea to China. Various private individuals are helping people flee the regime of Kim Jong-il. If any of these refugees are returned to North Korea, they face penalties ranging from beatings to torture and death.

North Korea’s politically determined classification system restricts nearly all aspects of education, labor, and health care. Membership in the Workers’ Party, which is imperative to an individual’s professional success, is restricted to people whose political background fits certain criteria. Although all North Korean children are required to attend school for eleven years, it is generally children of the elite who are allowed to advance to college and hold prominent occupations. Access to medical care is also strictly based on the classification system, as hospitals admit and treat patients depending on their social background.

-- Human Rights Watch report on North Korea

According to the Sunday Times article, North Korean border guards have been known to feed wire under a prisoner's collarbone in order to move them as if on a leash. One woman tells of how, when she gave birth in a prison cell, she was made to kill her own child.

The Chinese authorities return any refugees, claiming that they are merely illegal immigrants. These wordgames allow China to evade her obligations to international conventions on refugees, which forbid their return.

The authorities in North Korea are known to run gulags for political prisoners. There is no freedom of speech, expression or religion. Forced labour, forced abortions, torture. Elections with 100% turnout and 100% approval of the status quo. Then, of course, there's famine.

To some extent, these issues are not up for debate - few would argue that the dictatorship in this 'democratic republic' is anything other than another vile blot on the history of our time.

The underground railroad shows that the situation is not hopeless. To those men and women who risk their lives operating this latter-day Schindler's ark, we currently offer only platitudes. Certainly the diplomacy is difficult. Chinese ambiguity on the issue is one of the problems. But difficult is not the same as impossible. Brutal, repressive regimes like Kim Jong-il's do not last forever.

We owe it to those individuals standing up for humanity and their consciences in helping fugitives escape (as well as those suffering in North Korea, of course), to make yet greater efforts to free the population from the despotic, lunatic, depraved, degraded, barbaric and murderous grip of Kim Jong-il and those who collaborate with him. I'll admit that I'm not sure how it should be done. But one thing I do know is that restricting imports of iPods won't change anything.

The title of this post quotes the state motto of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Friday night psephology

2006-12-01T20:53:00.000Z

DISCLAIMER: I am well aware that this post is only of interest to serious politicos, or students. I felt I should post something though. (I also know that feeling obliged to post does not bode well.)

Things here are getting a little bit theoretical, a little bit scientific, even. I am falling in love with the German electoral system. I kneel in front of it and weep. I sing Gloria in Excelsis to it. Check it out. It will be more memorable than the birth of your first son, I promise.

Wikipedia is naturally the resource of choice: Elections in Germany.

A friend of mine got it right when he described it as:

strange and perverse but in a good way

adding,

I cannot fault perversion. You may quote me on that.

It is a thing of intricate beauty, combining proportionality and fairness with a reasonably strong executive, local representation and the fun of a coalition government. (I often wonder if it the necessity of a coalition in Westminster wouldn't do some good.) I do appreciate the flaws though. Feel free to point them out in the comments section. Nevertheless, it's a very attractive system.

For the record, this is all for a dossier I'm preparing. I don't spend my Friday evenings like this by choice. Nevertheless, I thought I'd share.

The Curse of Canaan

2006-11-26T17:52:00.000Z

According to the BBC, the prime minister has stopped short of apologising for Britain's role in the slave trade in an article written for the New Nation newspaper. This follows the Church of England's apology in February and the extraordinary masochism of Andrew Hawkins. Hawkins is a descendant of the famous English slave trader, John Hawkins. In June, chained to other apologists and wearing a t-shirt with the words 'so sorry', he formally apologised to thousands of people in a stadium in the Gambia.

It is certainly true that Britain's key role in slavery is underrepresented in most accounts. But I find myself questioning the propriety of contemporary Britons apologising for the actions of their forebears. How can you apologise for something you didn't do? By what right would the PM apologise for Englishmen long dead? By what right can Andrew Hawkins apologise for his ancestor? Do I have the right to apologise for your actions? Or you for mine? Haley Barbour is the current Governor of Mississippi. Should he apologise for racial segregation? Are sons to be punished for the sins of their fathers?

I'm a convict
GUILTY
Of a racist crime
GUILTY
I've only served
GUILTY
19 years of my time

I'm sorry
For something I didn't do
Lynched somebody
But I don't know who
You blame me for slavery
A hundred years before I was born

-- 'Guilty of Being White' by Minor Threat

There are such things as collective responsibility and collective guilt. But in relation to a whole country or a whole people, they do not pass down the generations.

I am told that if you have a car accident, you should never apologise to the other driver. Why? Because an apology can be used (in court if needs be) as an admission of guilt.

In no uncertain terms, I condemn slavery. I condemn the slave trade and I condemn slave traders. But I'm not guilty of propagating, participating in, or directly profiting from slavery. And I don't apologise for the crimes of those who did, because I don't have the right to.

Human trafficking continues to this day. Click here for more information.

The world: an update

2006-11-25T20:27:00.000Z

Ex-spy killed by radiation poisoning (perhaps by an increasingly authoritarian Russia), attempted bombing of Stormont, Scotland wants to secede, anarchy in Somalia, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Zimbabwe, genocide in Darfur, Syria and Lebannon doing whatever it is they do, Australian cricketers, Taiwan, nukes in North Korea and Iran, abuses in Cuba, Burma (and wherever else), many many murders in Guatemala, conflict diamonds in Sierra Leone, India and Pakistan armed to the teeth, Paris suburbs burn, China's becoming ominous, Islam's coming to get you, there's poverty, global warming, AIDs. And much, much more.

Conclusion: it's coming apart at the seams.

Mirza Tahir Hussain

2006-11-17T08:54:00.000Z

Mirza Tahir Hussain had been reprieved and freed. I wrote to the prime minister's office about his case a few weeks ago and recieved the following reply:

From: WebMaster@pmo.gov.uk
Date: 06-Oct-2006 17:07
Subject: Mirza Tahir Hussain

Dear Campaigner
I am writing on behalf of the Prime Minister to thank you for your recent e-mail about Mirza Tahir Hussain.

Mr Blair would like to reply to you personally, but, as you will appreciate, he receives many thousands of e-mails each week and this is not possible.

On the 19 September the Foreign Secretary raised Mr Hussain’s case with the Pakistani Foreign Minister. Additionally, during September Dr Kim Howells, the Foreign Office Minister raised the case with the Pakistani Prime Minister and the Home Secretary the Rt Hon Dr John Reid with the Interior Minister.

During his meeting with President Musharraf on 28 September the Prime Minister expressed his concern about the execution of Mr Hussain. Mr Blair hopes that President Musharraf will take this into consideration and look favourable upon Mr Hussain’s case.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to e-mail the Prime Minister with your concerns.
If you require any further information on this subject please contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the following address: King Charles Street, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AH, or visit www.fco.gov.uk.

Direct Communications Unit

The astonishing lesson in all this is that occasionally, public lobbying works. I don't imagine for a moment that my influence on this matter has been very great, but it is through lots of small actions that big changes are made. The combined efforts of NGOs, individuals and governments has saved Mirza Tahir Hussain's life.

I'd imagine that one day I'll write a post about the death penalty itself, but for now, all I wanted to say is that individuals can make a difference. Whatever your political interests, get involved. Lobby your officials, elected or otherwise. Kick up a stink. All that is requried for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing, said Edmund Burke. Don't be the person who stands by, seeing injustices and does not act. Will your conscience permit you to stand idle any longer? There are so many ways in which humans are abused and degraded, in so many situations, yet it has never been easier to fight for a better future, a better world.

'I'd like to say that people, people can change anything they want to. And that means everything in the world... Show me any country, and there'll be people in it just trying to take the humanity back into the centre of the ring and follow that for a time. Think on that. Without people, you're nothing.'

- Joe Strummer

Radicalism and university: historical parallels

2006-11-17T08:45:00.000Z

There was a discussion on the Today programme this morning about university staff being asked to 'spy' on Muslim groups in regard to nascent fundamentalist radicalism. Someone (I don't know who, but bear in mind I was half asleep) pointed out that not only had this kind of thing gone on under McCarthyism, but the government had asked Oxford colleges to do the same, in case of Jacobite uprising. This was in the 1720s. Isn't history fascinating?

... though the heavens fall

2006-11-12T18:17:00.000Z

According to today's Sunday Times, Dr Chai Patel and Sir Gulam Noon (both nominated for peerages), were asked by the Labour party, when offering significant donations, to provide the money as loans instead. Noon is quoted as saying:

'My position is that I was very happy to contribute as a donation but that I was asked to give a loan,'

This is unfortunate for the prime minister, who is on record as saying that the decision to change to loans was the choice of donors themselves, for reasons of privacy. While the two donors the Sunday Times are discussing may not be representative of the whole, it does seem like the prime minister has at the very least made an error in judgement regarding the way in which he has defended himself (especially for a lawyer).

At this stage, no one knows who, if anyone, is guilty of wrongdoing. It cannot be denied, however, that the continued involvement of Scotland Yard (and the interviewing of cabinet members) is highly damaging for the prime minister, the party and the public perception of Parliament and party politics generally.

What we are talking about here is the selling of seats in the legislature. Private individuals buying positions of power. Parliament is the ruling body of the nation. If someone can have a say in making the laws of the land merely by virtue of wealth, something is very sick indeed in the Palace of Westminster.

William Cobbett said it best, as long ago as 1806, seeing integrity in politics as 'so sacred a trust':

'Their crime is indeed detestable... their names ought to be inscribed upon the gallows tree, after their carcasses have therefrom been carried piecemeal by the fowls of the air; "BE SUCH THE FATE OF THE VENDORS OF THEIR CHILDREN'S LIBERTIES AND HAPPINESS" ought to be uttered from the lips of every honest man'

-- Quoted from Ruling Britannia by Andrew Marr

Notes on the Midterms

2006-11-08T20:04:00.000Z

It looks like the Virginia result won't be in for a while, so I'll give my analysis now, rather than waiting it out.

On top of the interesting results I outlined earlier, it's also worth mentioning that that fallout means there'll be a new Secretary of Defense, as well as the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

This evening we've seen President Bush address a news conference. I don't know how many times he said or alluded to bipartisanship, but he's not the only one, I'm hearing the same from everyone involved, Republicans and Democrats. Will this cooperation be evident after the new year?

Did the electorate vote for the Democrats or against the GOP? I think the answer has to be pretty clear. (Note that two independents won Senate seats this election.) If there had been another alternative to the Republicans, things might have been very different.

By 2008, the Democratic party needs to have found its feet again. It needs a candidate who is not divisive within the party, a risk with Hillary Clinton. It needs to put a stop to the sterotype that Democrats are soft on crime, terrorism, child-molesters and Communists. The party has to show that it can do more than criticise the Bush administration - that it has some strong, realistic alternatives to propose. Though, as my associate at Freepolitik has pointed out, the next two years simply gives time for the Dems to be accused of screwing up any number of things. (You never know, they might actually screw up.) Two years is a long time in scandal terms, too. Not that I don't relish them, in a way...

It was a truly sorry set of campaigns. I'm embarrassed and I'm not even American. But then, as John Donne said, 'no man is an island'. A nasty, pathetic, perverse, superficial, disengenous, childish election cycle. As expected, it exhibited cringeworthy attack adds (some of which lied outright), vandalism, faulty voting equipment and other polling station errors, hysteria, slime, ignorance, bloated arrogance, the use of 'liberal' as an insult, hypocrisy, child-stalking (I'm thinking of campaigns' use of Facebook especially), sex-scandals, drugs, egotism, dirty tricks and way too much money flowing around.

Follow the money - he who has the gold makes the rules, and no honest man likes the look of those guys anymore. Come to think of it, it looks like all honest men have long since fled the beltway. It's a jungle in there. The problem is that it seems to have been accepted natural and normal, which only spreads the poison.

In much of the campaigning itself, we have seen a confirmation of all that is sick in the American psyche, though I don't pretend that my compatriots are much better. In the end, you'll get the politicicans you deserve. If you're swayed by facile arguments, you'll get facile politicians. Another law of elections is that the more money you pump in, the cheaper the campaign will be. The 110th Congress will convene in January. Just remember that like all the others, they began here, in this stinking primordial campaign. Hold grudges.

Can you hear the bell tolling?

Roundup of related stories

TIME magazine reports that Dennis Hastert will not become the House minority leader, after stepping down as Speaker.

Here is some information on the President's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Robert M. Gates' involvement in Iran-Contra, from the Federation of American Scientists.

The New York Times explains why we'll not know the Virginia result (and thus who is in control of the Senate) for some time.

Better news regarding youth participation, according to Rock the Vote.

Worth keeping an eye on...

The results of Allen vs. Webb in Virginia
Who will succeed Hastert?
Evidence of much lauded bipartisanship (social security?)
The beginnings of the 2008 presidential campaign (any minute now...)
The conclusions of the Hamilton-Baker Iraq Study Group

Snippet

2006-11-08T17:44:00.000Z

First place in The Morning News' Mock the Vote competition goes to the campaign sign:

Oedipus '06 - Family Values Party.

Midterm watching

2006-11-08T14:00:00.000Z

First of all, some voting wisdom from Anita Thompson's Owl Farm Blog:

'Who can a trusting human being vote for? Who is old enough and who is wise enough, who is so devious and cunning that they can perceive our darkest unspoken desires? Who can outwit the barbarous hordes beyond the boundaries of a place we call home and who can give our trembling soul the sense of security we only ever knew at our mother's breast? How can we vote for the noblest and best when we want the most manipulative, the most ruthless, the most sadistic? Who is man or woman enough to fulfill our widest and most elastic desires? Who dares step forward to represent and quench our appetites? Only an effigy will suffice -- a graven image we can imbue with heat seeking instincts, computerized, unanswerable and indelible -- a pervert.'

—Ralph STEADman, © copyright 2006

Myself and my associate from Freepolitik commandeered the kitchen as election night headquarters on the stroke of midnight. As I opened a bottle of red, I was greeted by the news that in Vermont's Bernie Sanders the U.S. would see its first socialist senator. It looked like it was going to be an interesting night.

Shortly afterwards the news came in that former Sandinista Daniel Ortega had won the presidency of Nicaragua.

This was followed by Democrat Sherrod Brown's pleasing defeat of the odious incumbent Mike DeWine (R) in Ohio.

Other highlights included Keith Ellison's election (Dem, Minnesota) as the first Muslim in congress and Rick Santorum's loss in Pennsylvania. Not to mention the interesting but unsurprising victory of Joe Lieberman in Conneticut and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson's whooping of Katherine Harris in Flordia.

At 3.57 GMT most sources were confirming the House of Representatives as being under blue control. At this point I got into my sleeping bag and proptly fell asleep, only to be awoken by some loudass yahoo yelling about his win and the sinister sound of glass breaking nearby (which I am still to get to the bottom of).

I arose properly at 11.34 this morning and still don't really know who's won the damn thing. We're still waiting on the crucial Montana and Virginia results.

But stop. We need to step back awhile & review The Big Picture. What does it all Mean? I will return for a proper overview once the final results are in. The senate is very close.

test II - Please excuse

2006-11-07T20:33:00.000Z