�HOT BUTTERED DEATH�
The above is the strange name of a site run by an anonymous Sydney blogger. The name would seem to suggest a need for attention at any price. He has just made some abusive remarks about the few short extracts from my forthcoming paper on Leftist racism that I posted on 6th.

Delving among the abuse, his central point seems to be that Hitler was not a Leftist because when he came to power he proceeded to evaluate human beings �according to ethnic heritage and religion�. That bald assertion completely prejudges the question at issue (whether Leftists can be racists) so is hardly a contribution to rational debate but let me make what I can of it anyway. He seems to think that Hitler may have started out as a Leftist but abandoned that later on and became a racist instead.

The buttery one seems to overlook that Hitler evaluated human beings �according to ethnic heritage and religion� from the beginning of his political career. He was antisemitic from very early on — even before the foundation of the Nazi party — not just when he came to power. So Hitler�s antisemitism was CONTEMPORANEOUS with his very socialistic utterance that I quoted, not a predecessor of it — as the buttery one seems to believe. The buttery one also seems to believe that Hitler must have abandoned his socialism when he came to power. That too is false. The Kraft durch Freude movement and the pervasive Nazi supervision of German industry are just two examples to the contrary. So Hitler was ALWAYS (i.e. throughout his political career) both a Leftist and a racist. The political party he led (The National Socialist German Worker�s Party) was a Labor party throughout its short history. I think the buttery one would find a study of history more advantageous than abuse. I wonder if he will read my full paper on the subject when it appears? Probably not.

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The buttery one is however historically sophisticated when compared to a spokesman for the US Democratic party who recently attributed current German opposition to war with Iraq to “historic German pacifism.” I kid you not.

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I am occasionally amazed at how little Spanish most Americans seem to know. One would think that the vast number of Hispanics among them combined with the rich cultural heritage of Spain would make Spanish the usual second language in their schools — the way French was once almost automatically offered in British schools.

I have never studied Spanish in my life (my matriculation languages were the major languages of classical music — German and Italian) but I was amazed that the writers and editors of my favourite US newspaper — the Wall St Journal — let by without comment a mistranslation of “Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza”. It was obvious even to me that �esperanza� meant �hope�, not �peace�.

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Dr. Alex Robson, one of Australia�s small band of libertarians, has been wondering lately if anybody reads his blog. So have a look and see what you think. He is an economist at the Australian National University so he does a good job of Fisking Leftist economic illiteracy. He is also good on the Kyoto/Greenhouse nonsense. He probably thinks nobody reads him because he does not put his email address on his blog but it is:
alex.robson@anu.edu.au if you want to send him some encouragement.

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Comments? Email me:
Email: jonjayray@hotmail.com.

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