2004?

I doubt that it will be ~ I can't say better ~ less bad than 2003. But it is always better to get a good surprise than a bad one. So I wish all my readers the former. Stay healthy and happy and economically in reasonable shape as much as possible in the state-made and sheeple-made collectivist circumstances.

Happy Unhappy New Year! (Can one say that actually?) My turn of the year has been modest, to say the least. From around noon yesterday till this morning my provider HanseNet had seen to it that I was cut from the Internet, which for me means practically from everything... Phoning the hotline, I was more or less clearly told that I should not complain, that I should just wait, as, after all, I was not the only one concerned. Isn't that the bottom line of statist reasoning?!

Then, I also received (one by fax, one by snail mail) two good wishes for the New Year from local friends, both accompanied by a more or less threatening reminder to repay some money I had basically agreed to owe but not to repay that quickly. How friendly and tactful!

My gift to you, dear readers, is the upload this morning, postponed from yesterday, of very valuable content. Go to the Guest column New! item in the English [~E~] menu above and see for yourself: 30 essays by Wendy McElroy. Such sound, competent, libertarian, individualist reasoning, of a kind that, I think, could appeal to both conservative and liberal audiences, is the best food for the intellect you could find to start the new year.

More to come!