He is free who lives as he wishes to live; who is neither subject to compulsion nor to hindrance, nor to force; whose movements to action are not impeded, whose desires attain their purpose, and who does not fall into that which he would avoid.
– Epictetus (ca 55-135 A.D.), Discourses, ca 100 A.D.
As with Al Gore wasting more energy than a small village lighting his house, news that the Met Office climate change supercomputer is polluting the planet should be met with an ironic smile. If indeed there is a problem with carbon output, these fraudsters are not going to be the ones to save the planet.
Finally, a way of undoing all the mistakes society has made: climate change, the recession, and that Ms. Katona’s fifteen minutes of fame have been indefinitely extended. Perhaps the potentials of this idea need some further investigation...
Recent research by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested that married bankers earning £250,000 a year in the U.K. would retain less of their income after 51% tax than their counterparts in Paris, Frankfurt, Singapore and Dubai.
Nothing is more hypocritical and immoral than rich Westerners driving their gas-guzzling SUVs emoting about the threat to Spaceship Earth from the millions of Indians who want to drive Nanos. Whilst the salving of their consciences by buying carbon offsets (as Al Gore claims to do every time he jets around the world) is akin to the Papal indulgences sold by the Catholic Church, which allowed its richer adherents to assuage their guilt and ‘fornicate on clean sheets’.
There can be no trade unprofitable to the public, for if any prove so, men leave it off; and wherever the traders thrive, the public, of which they are a part, thrives also.
