The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Never make tea with another man's tears.

Right now in Haiti, gasoline prices at $20+ per gallon. Fuel stations stay closed to increase demand. Bottled water prices up 400%. Ah yes, the free market and anarchy at its finest. Maybe Kris Kristofferson was right about freedom being just another word for nothing left to lose. Help me out here, Bob. What's wrong with this picture? (I've long argued with Bob that unbridled capitalism and anarchy leads to tyranny.)

7 comments:

larry kurtz said...

Bill, I was living in Missoula when Mt. St. Helen's erupted. The ash cloud very quickly turned the city pitch dark by 2:30 that Sunday afternoon;

We were ordered into our homes and advised to duct-tape our windows and doors.
It rained ash for two days; you couldn't see across the street for nearly a week.

The governor's emergency declaration virtually shut western Montana down. Vehicle traffic was banned so people wearing particulate masks walked everywhere; food ran very scarce. It was very freaky.

In Basin, we live on the rim of the Yellowstone supervolcano and we'll probably be vaporized instantly if it goes

The breakdown of civil society is nothing I ever want to endure; the aftermath of Katrina horrifies me yet.

Fortunately, I still believe that humanity's capacity for good exceeds its proclivity for evil; but then, I don't use TV.

Allahu akbar!.

Bill Fleming said...

I have a lot of family in Bozeman. Let's hope the Yellowstone pops holds off for, oh say, another thousand years or so.

Bob Newland said...

Jeez, Bill, I don't know what to say. Want me to suggest that I think we can repeal the law of gravity? When people have things that others need, they often charge what the others will pay. Occasionally, they give the needed items to the people who need them. Both occurrences are taking place in Haiti.

Taxation without representation (as we are experiencing in the United States) is tyranny. Unbridled government (as we are also experiencing here) leads to tyranny.

Neither government nor capitalism can do much to forestall earthquakes, volcanoes or hurricanes.

Bill Fleming said...

Maybe we should discuss this later, Bob.

Anonymous said...

Haitian President Preval should declare a jubilee, and cancel all foreign debts. Now.

There is a risk some relief aid funds could be washed to pay foreign debt, further enriching wealthy corporations that are, in part, responsible for Haiti's economic misery before the earthquake.

Bob Newland said...

Seems like a fine place to discuss it.

Bill Fleming said...

Place, yeah, but maybe not a good time.