link U.N.s Ban says Egypt transition should start now | Reuters.
How interesting that no less than the head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, should declare that the power shift in Egypt should begin sooner than later. Hosni Mubarak, the long time autocrat of that nation has been under pressure to leave office not just from Egyptians but apparently from all world nations. Just over a year ago, a similar show of popular uprising and dissent was directed against the repressive regime in Iran, yet strangely, the U.N. didn’t see fit to comment on the need for change in that nation. As we may recall, the military was brought in to quell the voice of those brave enough to push for changes in that regime. Even more amusing are the recent missives from the Iranian foreign ministry praising the protests in Egypt!
It’s the same tired pattern of liberal mouthpieces calling for restraint, tolerance and compassion, but only for select groups of people and certainly not for themselves. It was amusing that during the Iranian ‘uprising’, as the demonstrators were being beaten, there were calls for ‘restraint’ on both sides. As if. I guess one side restrains from beating and the other side restrains from bleeding.
If the U.N. were the institution of freedom and fairness which it laughably purports to be, why doesn’t it regularly chastise those regimes that legitimize the enslavement of women, the suppression of free speech and the intolerance of other religions and promotes active belligerence with the rest of the world. By coincidence Iran comes to mind.
If the U.N. were so concerned about the rights and freedoms of the population in Egypt, why don’t they propose some kind of provisional authority to help in the transition? Left on their own and without any credible leader, the population is vulnerable to radical opportunists who would step in and take control during a power vacuum. If that happens, kiss any thoughts of freedom and tolerance goodbye.
In that case, they’ll go back to pleading for tolerance and restraint on both sides.
link Sen. Kruger Wants To Ban Chatting On Cell Phones While Crossing StreetCBS New York.
Of course it’s New York, nanny state central, home of salt control in restaurants, and of course the proposed legislation is being brought up by a Democrat. The growth of bizarre laws continues at an unfettered pace as politicians struggle for relevance. I say there should be a movement to allow nature to take its normal path. You can easily argue that all kinds of rules and laws that ‘protect’ people from their own stupidity weakens the herd and pushes against the principle of survival of the fittest. Instead, what is happening is that we are cultivating survival of the most useless.
Recently, as we all know by now, a woman who was so engrossed in texting someone, failed to notice a large reflecting pool while walking in a mall. The woman fell into the pool and was distressed enough about the incident that she is now attempting to sue the mall. In the New York city story above, the forces of nature are pushing for the addle minded to cull themselves from normal society by making them oblivious to the perils of tons of fast moving steel and glass in favour of texting LOL to their facebook pals. These are people so absorbed in their virtual life that they blithely ignore their real one. OMG and ROTFL.
Predictably, a politician finds it necessary to protect people against their own stupidity. Like many other inane laws on the books today, the privileges and freedoms of the many are overrun by the desire to protect the few. Few people realize just what a vicious cycle this has become. As more laws are enacted to protect people from every imaginable vicissitude of life, there will be the commensurate expectation of protection from all things by the public. As these expectations are ramped up, so will be the implied need for politicians to enact more and more legislation and so on and so on. In the not too distant future, helmets will be mandated for bathing because someone, somewhere fell in the tub and hit his head, subsequently suing the tub maker for millions.
In the New York city example cited above, the citizens will feel safer knowing that New York’s finest will be on the lookout for murderers, rapists, gangsters as well as cell phone texters. An entire new crop of criminals will emerge as scofflaws text in public anyway in defiance of the law. Courts will be clogged with ticketees who want to contest their fines. No one ever seems to want the simple solution; let Darwinism work. Eventually, there will be no texter/walkers.