Free Republic

The original American system promised a society in which the benefits of civilization including liberty, property, privacy, security and justice would be available to all of its citizens who were willing to work for them. However, such a society can only be sustained when the majority of the citizens are mature adults who accept the basic principles of self-government, self-reliance, and mutual respect. Those principles require the individual to assume reponsibility for his own actions, to be a producer rather than a parasite, to exercise his liberty with consideration for others, and to support and defend the system. It doesn't...

Global Manipulators Move Beyond Petroleum The Saudis have a saying “My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son rides in a jet airplane – his son will ride a camel.” In July this year BP Amoco, the world’s second largest oil company, announced it had chosen a flower as its new emblem in a dramatic upheaval of the oil multinational’s global brand. Unveiling the new emblem, Sir John Browne, BP chief executive, suggested that “BP” be read not as British Petroleum, but as “Beyond Petroleum”. The new green and yellow floral sunburst design distances BP from its...

Hungry China Gives SA Two Options: Machete Or Shovel Business Day (Johannesburg) NEWS October 15, 2004 Posted to the web October 15, 2004 By Ayanda Shezi Johannesburg SA STOOD to benefit from the "bonanza" that China's appetite for raw materials would bring to the world's resource-rich nations in the next two decades, Investec Asset Management strategist Michael Power said yesterday. "China is offering SA either a shovel or a machete," Power said. The "shovel" meant that China would be prepared to buy virtually all the resources SA could dig up. The "machete" implied that if SA wanted to compete...