The hard issues tend to revolve around the immigration of unskilled workers, who are more likely to drain resources from the social safety net and increase U.S. income inequality by pushing down wages at the bottom of the wage distribution.

Immigration of skilled workers is another matter. A skilled worker coming into the United States will likely pay more in taxes than he or she gets in social benefits. Moreover, an increased supply of skilled labor will tend to reduce income inequality. A strong case can be made that any worker with significant skills (such as a college degree) should be admitted without restriction.

What should you call someone who wants government to provide for our education, competitiveness, and health care but whose concern about "us" stops at the border? The obvious label would be national socialist. But George Bush and Paul Krugman are not Nazis...

The alternative ideology that I would propose might be called transnational libertarianism. The ideal libertarian world would have no economic borders. There would be no problem of illegal immigration, because all forms of immigration would be legal.

The ideal libertarian world would be governed by a unified rule of law. That rule of law would protect citizens from predators -- including government-sponsored predation (e.g., welfare programs). To the extent that immigrants come to the U.S. because it offers "better" welfare programs, those immigrants are engaging in predation and enabling the election of politicians who would multiply the predation. Your prescription works in the ideal world, but not in the real one that we inhabit.

permalink posted by Loquitur Veritatem @ 12:24 PM

Extremism of any kind represents a deviation from sound judgment and morals. In the American context, postwar extremism was traditionally a monopoly of the left. But after the 1960s the anti-establishment movement became the status quo. In reaction to this, some people at the other end of the spectrum have ventured off into the fringes....

Despite surface appearances, neo-Nazism is in many respects a mirror image of the radical naturalism of the left. After all, it shares the same fundamental philosophical origins—Darwinism, Hegelianism, Nietzcheanism, etc. Catholic intellectuals like Kuehnelt-Leddihn saw Nazism as a variety of left-wing politics. Undoubtedly, international and national socialists alike view politics primarily as a "triumph of the will," or a conflict of relentless materialistic forces....

Like the incessant cant about tobacco use or "safe-sex," mainstream "anti-Nazism" keeps people’s minds off of the atrocities of the leftist establishment. At the same time, the new racial nationalism reroutes those who question the ideological status quo into a political dead-end, ensuring that they will not become a real force of opposition in the ongoing culture wars....

In 2005 the Irish journal The Brandsma Review published an insightful analysis of the new hybrid extremism which, among other things, is attempting to link up religious tradition with its own agenda. In particular, the UK neo-fascist International Third Position (ITP) and its affiliates have tried to subvert Catholic groups in Europe on many social issues. . . .

Neo-Conned and Neo-Conned Again!....are put out by the IHS Press, under its Light in the Darkness imprint. As [a] review opines, IHS "has assembled one of the most impressive lineups of scholars and commentators. . . ever seen on any subject." The bi-partisan authorship spans the entire political range from paleo-conservative Pat Buchanan to Marxist Noam Chomsky. Some contributors are entirely reputable. However, beneath the superficial respectability of IHS Press there lies a web of connections that conservatives should find disturbing....

[T]he founder, CEO, and editor of IHS Press is John Sharpe. The following points should send off alarm bells among his target conservative audience:

1) John Sharpe has a long record of sympathy with anti-American Arab regimes and tries to downplay the horror of 9/11 by blaming it on Israel and the US itself.

2) He promotes socialist/leftist economic theories, through the works of IHS Press' Sheffield Hallam University Press series and the works of the eccentric British "guild socialist" Arthur Penty.

3) He disseminates anti-Semitic publications through a subsidiary called the Legion of St. Louis (LSL).

If it is thought that this last charge is an exaggeration, consider Mr. Sharpe's argument for "sane" anti-Semitism:

Finally, let us not fear the epithet "anti-Semite" as it is used by the enemies of the Faith and of the West. . . . [W]e all then have the courage to respond with the words of Fr. Fahey: "In that sense, every sane thinker must be an anti-Semite" ("Judaism and the Vatican," The Angelus, June 2003).

The LSL is an ostensibly Catholic organization which pitches to traditionalists. But a perusal of the Legion's eclectic offering of books turns up such titles as The International Jew (admired by Adolf Hitler), the writings of British fascist A.K. Chesterton and an anti-Jewish screed by self-proclaimed "white separatist" Michael Hoffman....

Another item of interest is Mr. Sharpe's outrageous 9-11 commentary (part I, II and III), which includes quotes from anti-Semites like Ernst Zündel and Michael Hoffman. It is worth noting that the LSL site was in place in October 2001. The IHS Press site went up no later than November of that same year, demonstrating that while Mr. Sharpe was promoting "Catholic Social Teaching" he was peddling anti-Semitism and neo-fascism with the LSL....

Finally, there is an endorsement of the Legion's 9-11 commentary by Canadian neo-Nazi Ernst Zündel's ZGram for September 12, 2001. The fact that the Legion also cross-referenced Zündel's publications (in his original 9/11 commentary) shows that John Sharpe never hesitated to associate his "Catholic Action apostolate" with extremists. As discussed in a previous post, the LSL partnered with the ITP's St. George Educational Trust (discussed in the Telegraph), selling books like Catholic Action, Uses, Abuses and Excuses, which had the same mailing address as the ITP's openly racialist and neo-fascist "Legionary Press" outfit....

[C]risis politics, once the domain of fanatics on the far-right and far-left, have become fashionable. Such insights get us past the shallow (liberal) stereotypes about neo-nazism. Extremists aren't "monsters," and they don't crawl out from under rocks. They are real people who embrace what Lee Harris aptly calls a "fantasy ideology." We still need to account for why they think the way they do. How has the predominant mainstream culture created expectations which only extremism can meet? While Mr. Harris does not share my religious-conservative outlook, his essay is invaluable. "For the people who accepted" these fantasy ideologies (Communists, National Socialists and, now, radical Muslims), they "did not accept them as tentative or provisional. They were unalterable and absolute."...

Key to understanding the post-war political fringe are developments that took place in Britain in the 1980s. Specifically, these developments grew out of the British National Front. These developments helped set the "new nationalists" apart from the Nazi political dinosaurs who, to the young Turks of the movement, droned on endlessly about immigration and the cranial capacities of difference races. The achievement of the intellectually inclined nationalists seemed meager at first. In terms of sheer numbers, the NF membership plummeted. But over time the self-styled national revolutionary elite proved the most successful in breaking into new circles, especially those with religious affiliations....

Already mentioned is the fact that the Legion of St. Louis offers anti-Semitic titles, and that International Third Position (ITP) leader Derek Holland, a sympathizer with anti-American Arab governments – who traveled to Libya in 1988 and Iraq in 1990 – is a member of IHS Press's board of directors....

Another fact that puts Sharpe's Neo-Conned anti-war series...into perspective is that Derek Holland, through the ITP, is associated with the neo-nazi German NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands). Holland spoke at their events in 1999 and 2000. It turns out that the NPD is also linked to al-Qaeda via Ahmed Huber, a Swiss extremist who converted to Islam in the 1960s (see Financial Times story). The ITP and its cronies actively sympathize with violent activity against the US....

Derek Holland's Political Soldier has been a best-seller in radical nationalist, Third Positionist circles since it first appeared in 1984. The 24 page pamphlet is crucial to understanding the pseudo-spiritual direction in which neo-fascists have trended, including their desire to co-opt Christian (including Catholic) social issues through a strategy of infiltration.

An energetically written piece of agitprop The Political Soldier paints an exciting picture of a "spiritual struggle" for "national revolution." The Political Soldier borrows occasional phrases from religious authors like G. K. Chesterton and Thomas à Kempis. Nevertheless, what is not said about religion is just as important. In 1994, Derek Holland added a new preface to the tenth anniversary edition, dropping in references to "sin," "faith," and "God." Yet nowhere does he discuss the Christian faith itself, since he clearly so much at odds with it....

Mr. Holland’s idea of "spiritual struggle" is reminiscent of the Marxist inspired Liberation Theology phenomenon of the 1970s—a fuzzy pseudo-mysticism. The quasi-religious themes are distinctly reminiscent of the immanentist millenarian creeds discussed by conservative philosopher Eric Voegelin, which place the eschatological struggle for good and evil here on earth (in that respect being akin to Communism)....

In the early 1980s a radical nationalist journal called Rising was published by Third Positionists associated with the British National Front. Though authored anonymously, it was heavily promoted (and likely written) by Roberto Fiore and Derek Holland. It drew its inspiration from the Italian radical nationalism of Terza Posizione which, in turn, was influenced by the esoteric fascism of Julius Evola and the neo-pagan philosophy of Oswald Spengler. It involves a gnostic belief in a "higher spiritual tradition" which underlays all religions, from which radical nationalists try to derive a "moral" justification for their apocalyptic fantasies.

A re-issue of Rising is now sold by the International Third Position (ITP) and its offshoots (PoliticalSoldier.net and the England First movement). The ideas expressed in the series were also the direct inspiration for Derek Holland’s Political Soldier, which is considered the handbook of the Third Position movement. What is overlooked is that even as Holland and Fiore targeted "traditional Catholics" with their brand of neo-fascism, they continued to endorse views that these normal Catholics would find repugnant. It is also noteworthy that the ITP's Legionary Press shares the same address as the St. George Educational Trust—Forest House, Liss Forest, Hampshire, GU33 7DD, England. The St. George Educational Trust is a sister organization to the Legion of St. Louis....

Readers are referred to the LeFloch Report, published by Christopher and Jeannette Pryor, which is providing in-depth analysis of the ideology (and the ideologues) behind the "New Axis" of pseudo-Catholic/fascist collaboration. For example, there is a detailed study of Julius Evola, an Italian gnostic fascist and occultist who developed the "political soldier" concept promoted by Derek Holland....

It would be impossible to discuss the activities of the "Catholic fascist" faction of Derek Holland and John Sharpe without mentioning Bishop Richard Williamson of the SSPX. Nor are many supporters of the Society of St. Pius X bothered by an open discussion at this point, since they have been religiously and politically scandalized by that cleric's pronouncements over the past twenty years (as seen on many online forums). Whether one agrees with the SSPX or not, it is clear that Bishop Williamson has been an extremist and divisive force in Catholic tradition.

Based on my knowledge of the people involved, as well as correspondence with Bishop Williamson (in the 1990s), it is clear that he was fully aware of Derek Holland's politics but refused to distance himself from the "Catholic" neo-fascists. Instead he seems to have done all he could to insure that Holland (writing under a pseudonym), and later John Sharpe, would be prominently featured in The Angelus magazine and that the Angelus Press would sell many of the materials put out by the neo-fascist Legion of St. Louis/St. George Educational Trust....

[A]lthough Bishop Williamson is careful to avoid explicit pronouncements. He has a way of pulling his punches even while he desensitizes his readers to fringe views. Yet the pattern of soft-sell extremism is so persistent it is impossible to overlook. It can no longer be written off as mere "eccentricity."...

US and Israel to Blame for 9/11 - The first of many writings/speeches implicating the US and Israel as the "real" culprits behind the Al Qaeda terror attacks: October 1, 2001 newsletter. Initially, like so many other fringe spokesmen, Bishop Williamson denied that al Qaeda had anything to do with the attacks. In a speech in Bordeaux in October 2001 he stated that "the bombing of [the Taliban] Afghanistan is not intelligent... it is not just to bomb these countries.... Nobody has proven that Bin Laden was behind the attacks, no one has shown proofs, Bin Laden denies it." Left-wing terrorist sympathizer William Blum has gained attention as "Osama's Pen Pal." Yet there is little noticeable difference between his treatment of al Qaeda's actions (and America's "guilt") and those of Bishop Williamson, who actually made conspiracy theory literature (e.g., Exposing the WTC Bomb Plot) part of seminary reading at Winona....

To help put the neo-fascists' false emphasis on the "Jewish question" in its proper perspective, I offer the following comments. It is not enough to say that anti-Semitism is lunacy....

Despite liberal misstatements on the topic, the Church repeatedly intervened to protect Jews against mob violence and prejudice. These points are discussed in two very good books by Jewish authors – Norman Cohn's Pursuit of the Millennium, which details the ideological/psychological origins of anti-Semitic politics, and its links to theological heterodoxy in the West; and Rabbi David Dalin's The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis, which highlights papal protection of Jews throughout history.

permalink posted by Loquitur Veritatem @ 7:38 PM

UCSF points out flaw in studies tying alcohol to heart health

Researchers at UCSF pored through more than 30 years of studies that seem to show health benefits from moderate alcohol consumption, and concluded in a report released today that nearly all contained a fundamental error that skewed the results.

That error may have led to an erroneous conclusion that moderate drinkers were healthier than lifelong abstainers. Typically, studies suggest that abstainers run a 25 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease.

Without the error, the analyses shows, the health outcomes for moderate drinkers and non-drinkers were about the same. . . .

The common error was to lump into the group of "abstainers" people who were once drinkers but had quit.

Many former drinkers are people who stopped consuming alcohol because of advancing age or poor health. Including them in the "abstainer" group made the entire category of non-drinkers seem less healthy in comparison. . . .

Dr. Tim Naimi, a physician who works for the National Center for Chronic Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said "the whole field of 'moderate drinking' studies is deeply flawed,'' because of the lack of randomized trials.

In a study published in May 2005 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Naimi and other CDC colleagues found that the comparatively higher risk of heart disease in abstainers could be explained by socioeconomic factors rather than lack of protection from alcohol consumption.

Non-drinkers, for example, tended to be poorer than drinkers, had less access to health care, and had less healthy diets.

"Anyone who suggests that people should begin drinking, or drink more frequently, to reduce the risk of heart disease is misguided,'' he said.

Ah, science! It's so objective and conclusive (not). In view of that, I'll just ignore this latest bit of "evidence" and continue to drink to and for my health. (Moderately, of course.)

(Thanks -- or no thanks -- to Alex Tabarrok for the pointer.)

permalink posted by Loquitur Veritatem @ 12:30 PM