Austrian bacon

Trip to Japan I

Sun, 30 May 2004 19:00:10 GMT

Well, as I wrote earlier, I have been to Japan. I always wanted to go there, so I was really looking forward to it. We went to visit my wife's family there as she is half japanese and half danish. It was my wife (Tamiko), my wife's son and me.

The trip took about 20 hours in all, before we came to Yokohama, where we had rented a "weekly mansion"as they call it, which is just a small flat. It wasn't exactly cheap, but a hell of a lot cheaper than staying at a hotel.I recommend it for anyone going to Japan. If you are a few people you will save a lot of money.

When we got to Narita Airport, one of the first things I noticed was that , at the top and bottom of a escalator, there were two men just standing there, with their white gloves and uniform on. I wondered what in the world they were supposedto do,but apparently they were just..well, standing there! All day long. Japan is not a very libertarian nation at all, and though it is not as bad as before ( from what I have been told ), there is still a lot of these pointless jobs around. Some of them are paid for by state money, but others are jobs that old people take on when they retire. They do not pay very much, but usually the older people don't need that much money anyway.

it is common that companies that work together are commited to hire the old workers from each others companies, as some sort of "service" to each other. Usually the company that sells to a another company will have to employ some of their older workers as a sort of "thank you". This is a tradition that goes a long way back.

Another thing that struck me over there, was that when you see workers in the street laying tarmac or whatever. You wil usually see 10 guys in helmets around a tiny hole in the ground or something like that.They are obviously too many people for the job and it is a waste of taxpayers money. from what I have heard this will probably not last, as the inhabitants of Japan are getting more aware that you cannot keep paying people for doing nothing. I certainly hope that they will wise up to this and get rid of the excess workers working in pointless jobs and ofcourse also all the ridiculous building projects that no one needs.

More from the trip to follow soon.

Back from Japan

Sat, 22 May 2004 18:20:13 GMT

Well, sorry I haven't kept the blog for a while. First my computer broke down, then I travelled to Japan, which I wil write about very soon. I won't have time today, though,so it will have to wait.

Japanese urge government to draw troops out of Iraq

Sat, 10 Apr 2004 16:20:14 GMT

Just saw the protests on TV. It seems that many japanese now wants the SDF-troops to be drawn out of Iraq, after they have seen the terrifying pictures of the three hostages on TV. Even the japanese bar association of lawyers recommends that the troops be withdrawn to save the lives of the hostages. Koizumi says that he won't give in to terrorist demands and he also refuses to meet up with the hostages relatives.

Marx and democracy

Sat, 10 Apr 2004 10:15:13 GMT

A discussion I have had several times recently has been about Karl Marx and democracy. It seems that a lot of pro-democracy agitators have a hard time facing the fact that Marx saw democracy as the way to the dictatorship of the proletariat. Marx believed that as capitalism got older, it would turn into a monopilistic capitalism, and hence there would be fewer and fewer capitalists, sitting with more and more wealth. This would create an enourmous proletariat, that would be able to use a democratic constitution to vote themselves into power and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.

As we all know, Marx's historical determinism did not hold up, and instead of getting poorer, capitalism actually made people richer.

Iraq war and libertarians

Sat, 10 Apr 2004 10:06:52 GMT

We have a new website up, but it is in danish, so only my fellow scandinavians will be able to understand it. Here is the URL: www.antikrig.dk for those who are interested. It is a libertarian antiwar-site, and we have articles and a blog there.

I find it rather depressing that even among so-called libertarians, there are people who support this war. I have spent so much time discussing this issue with libertarian statists, and almost every time they come up with the George Bush retorics: "so, you are against the war, hence you must be pro-Saddam Hussein". A ridiculous claim indeed, but that seems to be the preferred defence for using taxpayers money to slaughter iraqi civilians.

At the Al-Jazeera homepage you can find lots of interesting information about what goes on in Iraq at the moment. There's a very graphic picture exclusive of some of the children killed by american bombers during the air raid against Fallujah. Very disturbing. Only idiots will proceed to claim that the coalition forces aren't hurting civilians.

More stupid drug laws

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 14:30:03 GMT

A new drug law is on its way, here in Denmark. A majority of politicians wants to make mere possesion of minute quantities of narcotics a criminal offence. They also wish to make the existing laws on drugdealing harder, so that all who are convicted of this crime, will go to jail as a minimum.
The danish Police are already incapable of serving the public as it is. They will have even less time to take care of burglaries, etc. when this new law iis reality. Politicians have spend the last 35 years making harder and harder druglaws, when will they realise that it doesn't work?

Animal rights

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 18:10:02 GMT

Police officers in Christiania

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 18:05:39 GMT

Christiania under siege

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 17:54:31 GMT

The legendary, danish hippie commune, Christiania, has been under heavy attack from the government lately. Cannabis is being sold openly there in a street called "Pusherstreet", and usually the Police will not enter this area unless there are plenty of them. The area are mostly populated by hippies and other leftwingers who are into "alternative lifestyles". And while that may not be the way I would like to live my life, I support their right to live as they wish, and in many ways Christiania is freer than the surrounding Denmark. For instance you do not have to pay 50% income tax in there, and they have plenty of thriving businesses and nice restaurants, bars, etc.

The area is owned by the danish state, and was squatted 32 years ago, and has since been considered an experiment of sorts. Today it isn't really an experiment, but a place where people live, work and come to hang out without being hassled by the Police and stupid laws.

Lately, the danish government has been determined to end the sale of cannabis out there and are looking to "normalize" the area. The government is controlled by the Conservative Party and Venstre ( which is a selsfstyled classic liberal party - or at least that is what they claim to be. They are actually right wing socialdemocrats), and the Police have been spending more and more time on Christiania, ransacking peoples houses, seizing their property ( because they suspect them for selling cannabis) and just in general harassing them, ever since these two parties came into power.

The ruling parties say that they will not accept that the citizens of Christiania, are disregarding property rights, which is rather amusing coming from people who believe that the state has the right to tax people. That some people steal an area from the government is not something that can upset me, thats for sure.

Anyway, it looks likethis will be the end for Christiania as we know it. My guess is that the Police will spend more and more time out there, and in the end they will probably stay there for good. It's sad.

Check their homepage here: Christiania

Survey of Africa

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 11:50:56 GMT

For an interesting survey of african opinion, check this site:
Afrobarometer.org

According to the new survey,from april 1., apparently a whopping 59% of the people asked believe in some kind of centralized, planned economy! A lot of them also favour tariffs and other protectionist measures. No wonder Africa isn't doing too well.

The Passion

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 11:40:00 GMT

Went to church today. I go to the Anglican Church here in Copenhagen, usually around once a month.
Here is a picture of it:

Today they did a reading of the passion, and it was beautiful.

First post

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 11:33:13 GMT

So, this is my new blog. It will mainly focus on the things I find most interesting: anarchy, liberty, austrian economy, philosophy, religion and music, especially electronic music. You'll also be able to read bits about whats going on here in Denmark, where I live.

At the moment I am reading a bit about Pelagius, who was a reformer of christianity in England. He went against the current at the time( we're talking AD 350 here ), by claiming that the idea of original sin was false.Pelagius said that Adam only tainted himself and not all of mankind. He also introduced the idea that man was a rational being that couldlive without sin if he chose to. In other words, according to Pelagius, man was a free being who was able to choose between good or evil.
Rather radical and individualistic ideas for his time IMO.

I believe that Pelagius had tremendous influence on the Anglican Church. You can even see it today. English christians are always involved in all kinds of charity and place moreimportance on acting christian in your everyday life as going regularly to church. The practice of christianity means much more to them, than what I experience with the dull lutherans of the danish state church.

Another good thing about the Anglican Church is that, even though it's a state church, it is funded by voluntary donations and placement of older funds entirely. The danish state church ( or "Den Danske Folkekirke" as it is called ), is funded mostly by a church tax, which is voluntary, in the way that you have to tell the tax authorities that you do not want to pay it. But the priests and others who work there are paid with funds coming from the regular income tax, just as every other civil servant.

Maybe some one should tell them that christianity forbids theft?

test2

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 11:06:35 GMT

testing liberator

Test

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 10:58:31 GMT

test