Readings

Two excellent articles from, of all places, The Guardian.

First, Andrew Chambers examines the Rousseauist tendencies of the Fairtrade movement, concluding that it actively prevents mechanisation and, yes, progress in the countries that need it most, while ensuring that the poorest rural workers fail to benefit [hat tip, Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution].

Second, Simon Jenkins gives a fresh spin to the familiar refrain that Britain, like the U.S., has too many trivial offenses. He has the frightening example of a businessman jailed for three and a half years for VAT fraud by a judge who wasn't sure if he was really guilty of anything, after having his cash and company records seized so that he was unable to mount an effective defense.

Both of these stories remind me, in their different ways, of a passage in The Prince, where Machiavelli advises the Prince to tax people heavily — to the extent that they can no longer live on the remaining income — but then to give the money back to them in the form of a dole. The point being that the state takes tax by right, so that those who do not pay it are criminals, whereas the dole is given as a favour and has to be merited, and can be lost after bad behaviour. So the money that used to be their own now comes to them as a gift from the Prince. The effect is to make formerly independent people dependent on the Prince.

In the first article that principle is at work in the field of economics, in the second article it is at work in the field of criminality. By constantly expanding the number of crimes on the books, the State makes many formerly innocent people guilty ... of something. People who used to be free as of right are now free only as long as the police do not inquire too closely: their freedom is now a gift from the State, and can be taken away at any time. Of course, this is a tactic that has been used against gays throughout history: kiss your boyfriend in public and go straight to jail. Only now that it's affecting large numbers of heterosexuals are the majority getting worried.

Pepsi issue statement on Beenie Man gay throat-cutting fiasco

A welcome update from 365Gay.com with regard to Pepsi's Beeniegate disaster. 365Gay reporter Jennifer Vanasco emailed Pepsi and got a response from them distancing themselves from the whole affair. Shock, horror, mumble, mumble, it was our local bottlers wot did it, mumble, mumble, nobody knew... Get the full apology here.

Note that Vanasco only speaks of an email reply. As of this writing, the clarification does not appear to have made it to Pepsi's web site — at least I couldn't find it amongst their press releases. Despite visiting their Flash-intensive website four times (twice in Safari: crashed each time; once in Internet Explorer 8: crashed; once in Google Chrome: sailed through with flying colours), I couldn't find anything about it.

Pepsi, Toyota, sponsor hate singer concert

From the ever-diligent Box Turtle Bulletin. According to BTB, Jamaican dancehall and murder music artiste Beenie Man performed at a concert in Kampala, Uganda on Saturday 5th December. Amongst other numbers, he sang the song Mi Nah Wallah in which he says he would like to cut the throats of all gay men. According to local rag the Kampala Daily Monitor, quoted by BTB, Beenie Man's message of hate was well received by the audience.

The concert was apparently sponsored by Pepsi, and doubled as a competition finale with three Toyota RAV4 winners presented on stage.

Fearing loose canon, conservatives bash the bishop

Reports are coming in from all around the web that the Episcopalian Church (the United States' equivalent of England's Anglican Church) has elected its first openly lesbian (and partnered) bishop.

Ms Mary Glasspool, currently a canon in the church's Maryland diocese, has been elected assistant bishop for the diocese of Los Angeles.

Regrettably, but predictably, criticism from the usual suspects was immediate, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, saying that the move raised "very serious questions" for the position of the Episcopal Church inside the Anglican Communion.

Ms Glasspool's election is only the first step on her rise to See-level. According to long-standing rules her election must now be confirmed by the other 108 dioceses of the Episcopal Church, though supporters fear an attempt by conservatives to sabotage the process.

Those conservative objections in full

According to Christian conservatives, a person cannot sit on a bishopric if he:

• is a woman;
• is a homosexual or lesbian;
• has a life-partner who is also a lesbian; or
• is in any other way not a conservative.

Naughty Swedes do things differently

Compare and contrast the bunching of ecclesiastical panties in the Anglican Communion with the matter-of-fact ordination of Eva Brunne, the first openly lesbian (and partnered) bishop in Sweden's Lutheran church, just two weeks after it had given its clergy the right to wed same-sex couples.