Difference between phony and true rights

It is the pathetic state of current discourse that something as obvious as this needs to be explained-

Your article Saturday on CSU Monterey Bay students who are unhappy with a private company's inspections of the student housing they live in contains a telling quote. Student spokesman Michael Frederiksen states, "We all deserve safe and secure housing." But to say that someone deserves something is to say that others have a duty to provide it. Who has that duty? Frederiksen thinks that taxpayers owe it to him and his fellow students. But why do students' decisions to attend a heavily subsidized Cal State University automatically impose a duty on taxpayers who do not attend?

Frederiksen is advocating a "phony right." What's the difference between a phony right and a real right? A real right is, say, my right not to be murdered. The only responsibility that imposes on you and others is not to murder me. In other words, it's a responsibility not to do something. The "right" to good housing, though, is a phony right because it implies that someone else has a positive duty to provide it. And let's not hide behind government. The only way government can provide things is by forcibly taking from others.

More the phony 'rights' are created, more the real rights are trodden upon.

India is embarking on a very large scale expansion of phony 'rights' in the Right to Food Bill that is  likely to pass sometime this year. Foolishness on a massive scale - but par for course for a government run by an 'eminent' economist.

Either it is the deathwish that comes to political parties when they are in power for long or the absence of Sonia Gandhi owing to her illness is showing-

Congress seems to be totally at sea when it comes to dealing with Anna Hazare on corruption. After the ham-handed handling of Ramdevbaba affair in June, one would have thought the party has learnt its lessons. Apparently, it has not. On the contrary, it seems even more adrift now than before.

It is a simple fact that situations like these have to be dealt with politically. They cannot be mastered by nuanced argument or through debate hall tactics. Clearly, there is nobody doing political thinking in India's Grand Old Party or the ones capable of it are not in charge. Whoever thought of unleashing the party's bulldogs on Anna just before he is to begin his fast has obviously lost his marbles. That is just not the way. Is it just a coincidence that all three persons engaging Anna - P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari-are lawyers? They appear to be fighting a court case rather than negotiate a political crisis.

Read the whole thing. 

UPA govt's tyranny will make Anna's movement stronger-

I remember saying more than once that one can’t trust this government when it promises that it will work together with the civil society on a credible Lokpal bill. Why? Because this government has far too many people who are smart alec and think they are the ultimate spin doctors around. All this could have been OK in the pre 24 x 7 TV era, or before the social media gained in size and influence. More importantly, it is the social media crowd that these smart alec kinds target with their irritating remarks, so it was natural that they were torn apart in no time.

The way the government has acted past two days shows desperation creeping in. While one can understand that the Independence Day was round the corner our country is genuinely living under constant terror threat, but this is stupid. Honestly, how can anyone say that the protest has to be over in three days and that no more than 50 cars should assemble? This is a mass protest, for God’s sake.

The Royal (Gandhi) family only approves of 'mass' movements run by it's own political machine.

Prashant Bhushan of Team Hazare(most of whom are in detention now) says-

Delhi Police a Puppet in Central Govt's Hands: Bhushan

But wait, the head of the government is himself reputed to be a puppet of a certain royal family.

That makes Delhi police the puppet of a puppet. Or, a second hand puppet.
Personally, I think they are rather 3rd degree lapdogs.

"The Empire of Corruption is striking back"

B.S.Raghavan has a simply not to be missed opinion piece in the Hindu Business Online-

There is a sudden streak of hawkish hot-headedness evident in the Government's postures and pronouncements.


In particular, one notices the Human Resources Development and Information Technology Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, and the Home Minister, Mr P.Chidambaram, adopting a conspicuously imperial tone and tenor, which is clearly hostile to ‘We, the People', to whom they are beholden for their transient positions of power and authority in the first place. Mr Sibal has the bravado to hold up as “a lesson for all” the sneaky and dastardly Ramlila maidan rampage by the police against sleeping, innocent men, women and children who had come from far-off places just to join the movement against corruption and black money.

Mr Chidambaram has the braggadocio to denounce a sovereign people's inherent basic right to protest as “destabilising the Government” and attack the media's brilliant performance in highlighting the people's anger and revulsion against the Government's black deeds as “competitive populist coverage of these movements” and an attempt at “undermining Parliamentary democracy”.

do you hear the music of fascism? -

With all the “behave or else!” hauteur that he is capable of, he imputes motives to the media's discharge of its mandatory duty to keep the people informed, basing his insinuations on “reasons which I can't spell out”.

No doubt, he is ominously hinting at some concocted intelligence and cooked-up cases the Ministries of Home Affairs and Finance are planning to foist to subjugate the media and silence the critics.

Have the new rulers of 'free' India turned out be worse than the British-

Our rulers should know, as from an authentic witness to the glorious age of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru whom I had seen from close quarters, that they are behaving contrary to the values of colossuses who won for us our precious freedom and taking the country back to the era of slavery and savage repression by even doing one better than the British colonial masters.

Actually, the British, with the background of a thousand years of democracy in their own country, were more tolerant and responsive. They dealt with freedom fighters fairly and justly after their own fashion, and never sought to crush them with the ruthlessness that is fast becoming the established mode in the so-called democratic India.

Why do we keep on electing monsters -

Parties and groups playing politics with the evil of corruption and black money eating into the vitals of the nation should also understand that it has become in the people's eyes the repulsive face of politicians of all parties without exception, no matter that some of them for the nonce are jumping on to the bandwagon in the manner of one set of thieves joining the chase given by the people to catch another set of thieves.

Both fire-eating apologists for the Government's callousness, and political opportunists in the Opposition who had not lifted their little finger while they were in power, now sitting in dust-proof, noise-proof, climate proof cavernous offices, with all the creature comfort at their beck and call and spending hundreds of crores of rupees on security and healthcare must cultivate some understanding of the excruciating torture hourly inflicted on the aam aadmi in villages, towns and cities by every public servant from the traffic policeman upwards to the Cabinet Minister.

The fact that they are not able to do so shows either that they are totally devoid of humanity, blinded by their cushy existence or that they have a vested interest in perpetuating the system.

Did I say "don't miss" the article?

Congress 'logic' akin to colonial and Soviet-style authoritarianiasm

Congress party's logo - This hand was made for looting and smacking

From an editorial in Hindu Business Online-

The main takeaway for the people is that this Government will go to any lengths to protect the corrupt. The mistakes have been well-chronicled, but it is the ingenuous arguments that now stand out. One is that groups of well-meaning citizens cannot be allowed to hijack the legislative agenda; the other is that the RSS is behind the anti-corruption movement. Taking the second argument first, one must ask: even if it is true that the RSS is behind the movement, does that somehow make it illegitimate? Why is the Government trying to shift attention from corruption to the RSS? If RSS volunteers helped out in an earthquake or a flood, would that help be rejected by the Government? So the point is not who is doing it but what it is sought to be done. And this clearly makes the Government nervous to the extent that it is even using phrases from the Emergency days, such as “an attempt to de-stabilise the Government.”

The first argument — that citizens should not drive the legislative agenda — is intellectually identical to what colonial and Soviet-style authoritarian governments tended to use: we know what's good for you. According to this view, people don't matter, only the rulers. That this is sheer effrontery in the 21st century has not occurred to the Congress party apparatchiks. But that is not all: it is the Congress party that created the National Advisory Council (NAC), chaired by its President. If it is fine for the NAC to recommend legislation, why is it not all right for Anna Hazare and Ramdev to do likewise? As Shakespeare said, it is surely a tangled web they weave when they seek to deceive. If the people now conclude that the Congress party is trying to protect some of its high-ups, it will have only itself to blame. And this impression will only be strengthened after the ham-handed attempt by the party to distance itself from the Government's action against Ramdev. The effort, clearly, is to minimise the negative fallout against the party. It is not likely to succeed. It is also remarkable that the party has learnt nothing from the Bofors years. Then also, faced with allegations of corruption, the party had tried to brazen and bulldoze its way out.

Well said.
Read the whole thing, as they say.

Monster Singh

Is there a heart under that blue turban?

In his first comments on the issue, the Prime Minister Singh, who has been accused of mishandling the situation, said, "It is unfortunate that operation had to be conducted but quite honestly, there was no alternative."

 Really?
No alternative to a 1 a.m. surprise assault on peaceful citizens protesting corruption for which his party, the Congress, has historical responsibility?
No alternative to senseless(OK, not senseless -it was to save the Congress) beatings of all including women? No alternative to misbehaving with old women?
No alternative to sheer state brutality?
No alternative to unleashing his dogs on the public?


There was, of course, an alternative - to let the peaceful protests go on

 At no time did Baba Ramdev and his supporters threaten to become violent. If there was a problem of space and disruption of traffic then they could have been given the sprawling lawns of India Gate, the traditional place for protests in Delhi. There was simply no reason for this 'crackdown' as if the protesters were criminals and were creating a law and order problem. Law and order problem was actually created by the police atrocities themselves with their criminal assault.

But, irony of ironies, the Congress party claims to be the heir of Gandhi. They are, actually. Both literally and symbolically the heirs of another Gandhi - Emergency Indira. Like a scorpion cannot change its character and will bite the Congress cannot shed its repressive heritage. It's in gene and blood. OK, the blood is ours.

Manmohan Singh -Other than that he is quite decent

Remember the narrative the media has fed us for years - how Manmohan Singh is a decent man, very sharif(honest), incorruptible, so nice. But power corrupts all and only fools and media persons(I repeat myself) could have believed that under that blue pug(turban) beat a tender heart.

No, there is just dark, cold vacuum.




Update -
     Hemant Shah left the folowing comment to this article in The Hindustan Times -

Prime Minister Mao Tse Singh, I agree with your decision. There was no alternative to Ramlila Ground atrocity. Just like there was no alternative to Tiananmen Square excesses or Jalianwala Baag massacre.

You gotta do what you gotta do!

Digvijay Singh's crime is greater than that of Sushil Kumar

When Baba Ramdev said on being forcibly expelled from the Indian capital that Delhi kissi ke baap ke nahin hai (Delhi does not belong to anybody's father), his vernacular encapsulated the sheer arrogance with which the political elite struts over this city. For the feudal Congressi, Delhi is his fief. He moves about in bullet-proofed cars protected by ferocious looking commandos(breaking speed limits and other traffic laws)as we serfs strive in desperation to move our inconsequent selves out of the way. He is surrounded by taxpayer paid domestics(aka senior officials) who 'yes,sir' him 24/7 and would gladly lick not only his boots but his ass at a mere hint. So, who can blame them if the politicians believe they are our masters and not servants. In the system created by Nehru and perpetuated by his descendants, they are.


Have a look at today's example -

  Man Tries To Hurl Shoe At Congress Leader Janardan Dwivedi

High drama was witnessed at the AICC headquarters here today when a person posing as a journalist tried to attack party General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi with a shoe, apparently miffed over the treatment meted out to Swami Ramdev.

The person, who was carrying an identification as Sunil Kumar of Nav-Sanchar Patrika from Jhunjhnu, Rajasthan, came close to Dwivedi, removed his shoe and stopped short of hitting him with it.

The middle-aged man, wearing a striped T-shirt, was heard telling Dwivedi that "you cannot stop us from asking questions."

The man was immediately caught by the a AICC staffer and some journalists and was removed from the briefing hall while being beaten up. He was then taken away by police.

 Video -

While being beaten up? By who? Congressi chamchas(sycophants) and toadies? Isn't beating up anyone a crime? Not in the Capital of the Compassionate Congress Cukoo land. 

Any senior leaders around who tried to stop this gross violation of the law?
Well, Digvijay Singh ,with all his sobriety and high-mindedness was there. So what did he do?
He joined in!

Why wouldn't he? A commoner had to be punished for his effrontery. Saale, maalik ko joota dikhata hai! (Bastard, how dare you show a shoe to your master?!)

Digvijay Singh assaults Sushil kumar

Video - Digvijay Singh takes law into his own hands(or feet)

Digvijay Singh Kicked Assailant Sunil Kumar

 Congress workers and some mediapersons overpowered the assailant Sunil Kumar at the party headquarters today, a furious party general secretary Digvijay Singh was shown on video footage kicking him thrice, as the man was lying on the ground.

The video clearly showed that Digvijay was very angry with the act of the assailant, who had tried to hit party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi with a shoe.

Digvijay Singh was sitting inside his room in the party headquarters when the shoe incident took place, rushed out into the corridor near the press conference venue and kicked at Sunil kumar, lying on the floor, with his leg thrice.

The assailant was later taken outside and bundled into a police jeep to be taken to Tughlak Road police station.

Diggie usually implants both his feet in his mouth but today he used them to take law in his hands. It's OK, law hamare baap ka maal hai (is our father's property), we can do anything.

 Now compare the two crimes-
1) Sushil Kumar - impersonating, threatening violence with a shoe but not actually getting violent
2) Digvijay Singh and Congress toadies -actual physical assault on a person which could have(or perhaps have) resulted in injuries and even serious injuries.

Whose crime is greater?
And who was picked up by Chidambram's(India's home minister and a Nehru-Gandhi cutlery piece) palace guards aka Delhi police?


But who cares? Law, they say, is an ass and those who are supposed to keep it are, we have all seen, assholes.

"Why are you covering your face? You don't have a heart."

What happened (my own remarks are in italicized brackets and bold is mine)-

Police lobbed teargas shells apart from carrying out a "mild" truncheon charge (Ed -which didn't happen) on the protesters on Sunday. Many fainted because of the gas engulfing the covered venue and minor fires erupted.(what if they had turned into major fires or a stampede happened and killed hundreds? It was very possible.Wouldn't have meant anything to this 'compassionate' government.'Inclusive growth' is for those who don't get in the way.Those who do risk being excluded all the way to the other world.) "There was complete chaos. People could neither open their eyes nor keep them shut," recalled Shiv Kumar from Saharanpur. Protesters alleged that women and girls were manhandled. ( Bravo, Sonia, you go fight for women's rights!)

"First, people tried to stop the security personnel from reaching Ramdev. A young man took him away on his shoulders. But later he returned to address us," said Swami Akhandanand from Haridwar. He said about 1.20am things went out of control, "We had no report of where Ramdev went. He was asking everyone to maintain peace."

Eyewitnesses said by 1.30am, there was unrest in the camp with cops almost taking over the entire venue. "There was no provocation. What threat could women, children and men who came to participate in a satyagraha would pose?" asked Anita, a Ramdev follower from Sikkim.(The threat to gaddi*, no doubt)

Cops, however, said Ramdev's supporters pelted bricks and threw flower pots on them. Half an hour after the eviction operation began, the venue was full of smoke and it was difficult to anyone inside to breathe. Volunteers were seen taking out people who had fainted. Many were complaining about their missing belongings. But none was willing to leave Delhi before getting the order from the yoga guru.

"We will not go home. We need to see Baba," said Monika, a young supporter from Rohtak. Amid anti-government slogans, a woman shouted out to the cops, "Why are you covering your face? You don't have a heart." (Bandits and dacoits do this)

At 3am, most Ramdev supporters were on streets around the ground, especially the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg. People had taken over the entire pavement outside the MTNL office. But within minutes, a platoon of cops started driving them away.(Scram, you dogs! Fighting for your rights,bloody hell!) The police brought buses for volunteers to take people away.

"They can throw us out of Delhi by using force. But we will take this protest to villages and cities. The government has crossed all limits," said Sudha, who had come from Jharkhand. (Take that and remember next time -Delhi belongs to the Congress!)

The police kept driving away protesters until they had cleared the stretch between Ramlila Maidan and the Kamla Market roundabout.

Since police had also sealed Jantar Mantar (no shelter for you!)to avoid any gathering there, the exhausted protesters headed to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara beyond Connaught Place.

Timeline of events by News X

*The colorful Indian language translator-
        gaddi - seat, here it means the seat of power
       

It takes balls to thrash innocents -Delhi Police has them in depotful

Leader of the ferocious dog squad unleashed on the unsuspecting and peaceful protesters, Dharmendra Kumar, Special CP (Law and Order), tries to 'explain' away the allegations of atrocities. 'Explain' is perhaps not the right word as he is not interested in taking questions. Just watch it for a spectacle of sheer hubris. Our masters are dripping in such contemptuous arrogance, from 10, Janpath Road* down to the lowest beat constable(who is low and adept at beating innocents like street vendors).

Power made me God

Video. Original link.

Dripping in arrogance, yes, but not drop of sympathy in that drip for what his goons did-

The injured Mr Sibal could not find

Tehelka was the first media network to reach Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital in New Delhi to find out the condition of the injured in the late-night police action against Baba Ramdev’s supporters at a time when the government alleged that no serious injuries had been reported.


The reporter Revati Laul was speaking with the injured when the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital asked her to leave, despite the fact that the injured wanted to give testimonials of the police brutality they faced. Tehelka photographer Naveesh Tejpal was not allowed inside the hospital building with his camera. Therefore, the correspondent had to take these pictures on her mobile phone. They serve as evidence of police brutality. One woman, Rajbala, is critically injured with multiple fractures to her spine and all four limbs paralysed; two others have got serious head injuries. More than 60 people who were injured were admitted to this hospital.

Sunil Kumar at the LNJP Hospital. He got skull fracture. He claims that the police blocked most exits of the Ramlila Maidan

Ravindar Singh from Himachal Pradesh. He is injured in the head and stomach. He says he became victim of the police cane-charge

Cane-charge that according to Kumar didn't happen?! Lying rascal! (I mean the scoundrel feigning injuries and not Kumar who is a saint)
 
 Catch more here by Tehelka's reporter  Revati Laul. She showed courage to find some of the missing injured. However that pales in comparison to the balls required to thrash unarmed civilians, most of them just woken from sleep at 1 a.m, with a police force over 5000 strong.

Bravo, Dharmendra Kumar, you deserve a medal and it is probably being minted at the backyard of  10, Janpath Road.





*   10, Janpath Road  -The residence of Sonia Gandhi, India's de-facto mistress. 

Rahul Gandhi -Mums the word

Rahul Gandhi was very vocal about the police atrocities against the farmers at Bhatta Parsul in the opposition held state of Uttar Pradesh. Yet, over 24 hrs after Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi unleashed their dogs(aka Delhi police) on peaceful protesters at the Ramlila Grounds in the Congress ruled Delhi at 1 a.m., the boy king has not squealed a word.

Mums the word

Why so mum, Rahul?
What are you waiting for?
Mummy?

Some starter economic lessons for the man in blue turban

Cafe Hayek's Donald J. Boudreaux has a piece in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that has some important lessons for us in India as our 'eminent' economist-in-chief in blue pug(turban) leads us down the path of economic folly of NREGA-

Such (make-work)policies can indeed transfer wealth from society at large to people whose jobs exist only because government relieves them of the need to participate fairly in the market process. But such "jobs" clearly are not "value-producing opportunities" -- for the amount of value that such workers produce is less than they are paid.

Read the rest of the damn good piece.However I can't help but excerpting this, since so many economists just seem to ignore plain commonsense-

Jobs are not scarce. They never have been. They're all around us. There are far too many of them ever to be done.

My house needs to be painted. I'd enjoy having a personal masseuse. I'd love to employ a live-in housekeeper to cook my meals and clean my home each day. These are jobs that can be done -- indeed, jobs that I wish would be done.

Will you do them for me?

The correct answer, I'm sure, is "It depends." It depends upon what I offer to pay you in exchange for your services. Because I'm unwilling to pay you as much as you would demand to perform these services for me, you're not tempted to accept my job offer.

The reason you refuse my offer of a (full-time!) job is because what you really want is not the opportunity to toil for someone else but, rather, the income that you can earn by toiling.

No matter how prestigious the job, few of us are willing to toil unless we're paid to do so.

The reverse, of course, isn't true. Nearly all of us are willing to be paid without having to toil for it.

Only a moment of reflection is necessary to make clear that no society can survive if significant numbers of its denizens try living without working -- without producing. So the reverse course of action -- being paid without working -- is impossible to generalize. It's impossible to establish such a course of action as a general policy open to all.

To survive, enough food, clothing and shelter must be produced to nourish and protect society's members. And for members of that society to thrive, they must together produce not only adequate amounts of life's necessities, but also large amounts of an increasing variety of goods and services that add diversity, richness and comfort to their lives.

To promote such economic growth, markets ensure that people are paid only when -- and always when -- they produce value for others.

Thank you , Don, for the refresher. Now if only a certain 'eminent' economist in blue head gear could comprehend!

Will India be like(gasp!)California?

No, this is not a compliment -

California vs. Texas: The Verdict Is In

-----------------

Texas has usurped the leadership position that, decades ago, belonged to California. Today California is in decline, likely irreversibly so. William Voegeli draws the sad but instructive comparison in the Los Angeles Times:

In America's federal system, some states, such as California, offer residents a "package deal" that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. These alternatives, of course, define the basic argument between liberals and conservatives over what it means to get the size and scope of government right. ...

California and Texas are not perfect representatives of the alternative deals, but they come close. Overall, the Census Bureau's latest data show that state and local government expenditures for all purposes in 2005-06 were 46.8% higher in California than in Texas: $10,070 per person compared with $6,858. ...

Confronted with a stark choice between government dominance and freedom, Americans are voting with their feet:

One way to assess how Americans feel about the different tax and benefit packages the states offer is by examining internal U.S. migration patterns. Between April 1, 2000, and June 30, 2007, an average of 3,247 more people moved out of California than into it every week, according to the Census Bureau. Over the same period, Texas had a net weekly population increase of 1,544 as a result of people moving in from other states. During these years, more generally, 16 of the 17 states with the lowest tax levels had positive "net internal migration," in the Census Bureau's language, while 14 of the 17 states with the highest taxes had negative net internal migration.

So are higher taxes and greater public expenditure in California worth it?-

But those higher taxes in California must be going somewhere. Why aren't they benefiting those many thousands of citizens who are leaving the state for greener pastures?

In what respects, then, does California "excel"? California's state and local government employees were the best compensated in America, according to the Census Bureau data for 2006. And the latest posting on the website of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility shows 9,223 former civil servants and educators receiving pensions worth more than $100,000 a year from California's public retirement funds. The "dues" paid by taxpayers in order to belong to Club California purchase benefits that, increasingly, are enjoyed by the staff instead of the members.

I'm afraid the dynamic 2-in-1 do-badan-ek-jaan* superhero team of Chacha Manmohan S.Gandhi(as Sauvik Chakraverti so wonderfully likes to put it) is rushing India towards the failed California model -a numerous high-caste of sumptuously paid and pampered inefficient and corrupt public employees, large-scale(rather, huge-scale) spending on 'social' sectors in the name of the poor, higher taxes whether directly or indirectly(see all the goverment controlled charges increasing all around you -from transport to vegetables to electricity).The 2-in-1 team likes the 2-step tango -massive amount of spending(as if it is their baap's* money) and massive amount of debt(which we and our children's and our grandchildren's baaps will have to pay off).

We have only just begun to nibble on the fruit of partial liberalisation of the Indian economy. The 2-in-1 team is poisoning the fruit with it's 'social' obsessions.

Only it will be much worse in India because-
the size of Indian babudom is much larger and their predatory grasp much stronger,
their level of corruption and venality cannot be matched (not even close) by the Californian babus,
all of India will be California and there is no Texas to escape to.
(emphasis mine)



*The colorful Indian language translator-
       do-badan-ek-jaan - two bodies but one mind

       baap - father
       babu - (derisively) bureaucrat