Ken's Weblog

People should not fear their governments; governments should fear their people.

Month: November 2009

  • More news that makes the Nobel Peace Prize look bad

    How NOT to Win the Nobel Peace Prize. Enough has been said of this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m not going to talk about him. Instead, I want to publicly acknowledge someone who did not win but who I think deserves to be on voluntaryists’ and other pro-freedom folks’ radar. Ostensibly, Peace Prize nominees’ names are kept secret for 50 years after they are nominated. However, we have teh Intarwebs now, and it’s a little tougher to keep a lid on information like that. Word has been out for a while now that Greg Mortenson was one of the nominees for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

    […]

    Mortenson’s work for nearly the last two decades has consisted largely of raising funds much of the year and spending a couple of months each year doing field work in Pakistan and Afghanistan where he helps communities, often extremely remote and poor, build schools and train teachers among other things. Not only did he make Korphe’s school a reality, but he has since established or helped support more than 130 schools in these countries serving upwards of 58,000 students, both boys and girls, and providing an alternative to extremist madrassas that promote hatred and war more than providing an education to their students. [Fr33 Agents]

    Clearly Mr. Mortenson’s complete lack of war crimes makes him unqualified for the Nobel “Peace” Prize.

  • Excavating the memory hole

    MARK BRADY: No Surprise.

    Why Thatcher Defended the Berlin Wall.

    [Liberty & Power: Group Blog]

    This is indeed unsurprising. It was widely reported in the 1980s that Reagan was propping up the Soviet Union with grain subsidies, although that seems to have been erased from the memories of the Republicans who worship Saint Ronald.

  • Gang violence

    Why The Innocent Flee From The Police. Each encounter between the police and innocent civilians is a potentially deadly experience for the latter. Thus the real question is not “Why do innocent people flee from the police?” but rather, “What rational person would submit to the police if he had any reasonable hope of eluding or resisting them?” [Pro Libertate]