Links and Minifeatures 07 22 Saturday

Via Don Surber a humorous tale of How to Get The Police To Hurry

**********



Hong Kong democrat speaks.



Is anyone really surprised that communist China is advocating authoritarian solutions, as opposed to democratic ones? Trying to keep things under their control as opposed to allowing the people to choose? Playing games with election rules?



Great Britain didn't really have any choice but to agree to allow Hong Kong to revert to China. They didn't have the force to defend it against a determined assault, as China's negotiator pointed out by saying, "We're not Argentina." But the long investment that Great Britain made is being squandered, a little at a time. Of course, China's rulers are trying authoritarian methods to keep a modernizing population in check, and they are going to discover that relying upon the power of the peasantry to do anything they are told is problematic when that peasantry no longer holds the balance of power.



It may take generations and happen peacefully, or it may be very bloody and very quick, but China is headed for a political revolution. The Chinese communists may have dodged the bullet that took out the Soviet Union, but in so doing they put themselves squarely into a landslide of political liberalization, which goes with education and leisure time and disposable income. I don't think even world conquest would allow them to stop it, because they are relying upon the rest of the world to act as free societies act in order to make it work, and if they were to conquer the world that would no longer be true.



I love it when brutal, murdering dictators are caught in a catch-22. I'm just hoping as few other folks as possible are hurt when it comes to a head.



**********



Louisiana doctors outraged at murder accusation.



First off, it's an accusation. Nobody is above an accusation, as anybody who cannot be accused cannot be held responsible. The people concerned still have to face a jury, and the evidence that exists for the charges may or may not be sufficient to convict them. As I understand it, though, not to charge them given the evidence the prosecutors have would be inexcusable. But if the apparent facts stand up under trial, they took it upon themselves to administer lethal injection to four of their charges. They didn't have to stay, and I, for one, wouldn't have faulted them for leaving. But they made a decision that was not theirs to make, depriving four people of their lives, because they thought they were suffering too much. Why not let the people involved make that decision? Why not just roll the dice and see if they survived or not?



This is not triage. Triage is concentrating your efforts upon those who need it most in such a way as to save the maximum number. You don't concentrate on those with minor, non-life threatening injuries because you can get to them later. You do concentrate on those who need help now but won't take more than their share of resources, because your objective is to save as many as possible. And if the person would require more resources that could better be used on other folks, you don't terminate them, you just put them off to the side and hope hope you can get to them before the worst happens. If the allegations are true, what these people did was murder, and far from seeing extentuating circumstances, I see aggravating ones. It was their duty to try and save these people, not to administer lethal injection. Like if a cop came by and used their official position to come into your residence, then pulled out a gun and shot the people in order to rob the residence.



**********



Below the Beltway notes that NASA has registered the name "Orion" for its next generation manned space vehicles.



Lest you be unaware, Orion has a prior history as a name for a space vehicle, of which I definitely approve.



And in fiction, at least two major relevant works, Orion Shall Rise (which every libertarian should read) and Footfall



**********



When Victor Davis Hanson and Dr. Sanity tag team the hand-wringers and enablers, you know it's going to leave a mark.



**********



Via LGF, Outcry as border guards seize British 'dirty bomb' lorry heading for Iran



Okay, that's our Scary Story For Today. Too bad it isn't fiction.



**********



Posting at 10:30 Saturday night? Now you know I have no social life. Please come back Monday morning for the second Carnival of Real Estate. New original articles are set to post tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursay.