The Freest Country?

[R. A. Hettinga]

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Kevin, I really do pay attention to this stuff, almost full time, and
I read most of the same things that Duncan does. When you put them
all together, we're close enough to the top for, heh, government
work. 

At 7:21 PM -0400 4/26/03, Duncan Frissell wrote:
>I don't know enough to compare overall liberty in NZ & Ire. but
>with Ire. in the EU now it's possible that we're #1.  Shows a low
>standard for liberty in the world.

Amen. 

We're sort of the Microsoft of free countries right now (I'm a Mac
guy, myself...) it ain't pretty, the company's grabby and turfy, but
most of the feature boxes get checked off, and it's what everyone's
using at work.


NZ's backsliding a bit, especially since 9/11, but I bet Peter can
tell us more first hand if he's around.

What Duncan said about Ireland, but they're fighting the good fight,
and, hell, like Adam said, London's got a TAZ or two that doesn't
completely suck, but, over all, the UK's in the same shoes we are
securitywise, and anal probes accordingly.

Meanwhile noose tightens. Like Doug said, "and then you go to jail"
still is a bad error-handler for a protocol. Write code if you've got
it to write.


Anyway, we all have the ultimate canary in a coal mine. If *Tim*
decides it's time to go, than the US is officially in the shitter and
it's time to grab the bug-out bag.

In the meantime, Young, as usual, writes great word salad, this time
about what a shitty country we are, but the still-warming pot is, at
the moment, the coolest place on the stove; certainly not the frying
pan of the continental EU, much less the fire of the Third World,
most of the XSU and Le Chine inclusive.

All these cooking metaphors are making me hungry.

Freedom: The New White Meat. (marginally better than "It's what's for
dinner"?)

Cheers,
RAH

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-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'