On the subject of the latest Obama stimulus (only a few days ago he injected US$1,000,000,000,000 into the US economy) fellow libertarian Paul van Dinther has produced a Google Earth image showing how much area would be taken up by US$100 bills if they were all laid out side by side to make US$1,000,000,000,000.
The result just boggles the mind. (N.B.: Google Earth needed for this to work)
While the NAACP in the US is claiming that banks unfairly targeted black home-buyers with easy credit, a new study conducted in Germany and Eastern Europe has found that fully 5% of German 15 year olds is a neo-Nazi, with larger numbers in the far-right of German politics.
This is why I hate the detractors of America pointing to Europe as an example of racial equality: beneath the clean exterior of European statism, a huge amount of social tension still exists in the continent. In parts of Britain and France, huge numbers of Muslim immigrants live in huge ghettos that the police won't go into, where Islamic violence spreads -almost all Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe are carried out by Muslims who've lived there their whole lives in the countries they hate. In Germany and Eastern Europe, neo-Nazism is on the rise amongst teenagers and young adults, with the accompanying crimes*. In Russia, the situation in Chechnya is all the proof of racial tension in Putin's new USSR.
With racial tensions as bad as they are in Europe, perhaps race relations have in fact improved the most in that most racist of nations, the USA?
*from the article: "Government figures have shown anti-Semitic crimes rose at the end of last year."
Israel has decided to remove its troops from Gaza. Wimps -there will be no peace in Gaza until Hamas is completely gone. All we can do is guess how long it takes for the conflict to fire up again.
In the meantime, here is an illustration that sums up the situation -what the world's media doesn't want you to see:
Instead, we keep getting stories of how civilians are dying, yet no one on the world stage raises a finger to point out that Hamas hides among its civilians, and then uses their deaths as propaganda!
Libertarian Sus outlines the three main reasons for the continuing murders and abuse of children, such as Nia Glassie, in New Zealand:
"1. loser dads to bugger off and leave Mum with the kids, knowing that the poor old taxpayer - again - picks the tab, and
2. loser blokes to move in with single-Mum-with-kids-on-DPB, to be fed and screwed on demand, and
3. young women to screw anything with no personal regard for future consequences, ending up with children they really don't want, who are treated accordingly."
It's interesting how this coincides with Chris Trotter's new goals for social democracy, outlined on Friday:
"Labour has to understand that its state houses, and the welfare state that built them, was just the first, not the last, stage and crowning achievement of the socialist journey. Social democracy must never be about maintaining vast swaths of the population in perpetual electoral peonage.
State houses, along with our public health and education services, must be regarded as launching-pads for heroes, not stables for Labour's donkey-vote."
In effect, social democracy ought to be so bad that it's good, by getting people who once relied on the state for every whim to try to escape as far away as possible from the state houses in which they grew up!
Also of note, is the typical leftist groups who go around say that "it is our problem", without first addressing the root causes of the problem in the culture of complete and total dependency, and then expecting us to be spies on our neighbours to solve the prolem. Any culture which resorts to the expectation that people spying on their neighbours keeps those neighbours from doing terrible things is well over the edge.
According to the latest 3 News poll, yet another term for the corrupt, socialist Labour government currently ruling the country is looking ever-more likely.
National hadn't changed its place since the last poll, polling at 45%, and Labour went down to 37.5% -however, the real problem is the rise of the Greens, who polled at above 8%. So, given that National has a coalition with ACT and United Future (providing both parties stay in parliament), Labour and the Greens have between them only one less seat, but given the extra three "overhang" seats, neither coalition will be able to rule.
Therefore, the Maori Party chooses who will be the next Prime Minister. And although they've said that they could work with National and form the next government, they could more or less goes anywhere.
Which, in effect, means that New Zealand government for the next few years will go to whoever promises the most handouts to Maori, and all the PC stupidity that comes with modern policy surrounding race, regardless of who wins the next election.
Which, in effect, really peeves me off. MMP for you -the most power goes to the small third parties who make up for numbers with, perhaps, only one or two MPs!
The Te Aro Valley Meeting is usually one of the most entertaining political meetings in New Zealand, with good justification. Luckily, I was there on Tuesday to support Bernard Darnton, the Libz candidate running in Wellington Central, and there was a good Libertarianz turn out to the meeting.
The Highlights:
1) Michael Appleby, the candidate for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannibis Party -he was really funny, and said afterwards that he's "a libertarian at heart".
2) The Worker's Party candidate looked like he'd walked straight out of the 1930s.
3) Meeting up with the other Libz (normally, Tuesday's our meeting night, and we did pop around to a local bar for a few minutes) and seeing Peter McCaffrey from ACT on Campus again -he's a great guy.
4) Bernard's answer to the question about which party he'd vote for, if not his own. His answer: Labour -for comedic value! (and to show the NZ public the evils of big government)
Lowlights:
1) Sue Kedgley -there aren't strong enough words that I could use to desribe her! She was (/is) very maternalistic in her demeanor and politics, and someone who wouldn't think twice about controlling every aspect of your life.
2) The United Future Candidate -he was younger than all the other candidates and obviously had no idea about what he was promoting, and performed a highly irritationg song/rap at the end of the meeting.
3) All the other leftist candidates proposing the same "all things to all men" policy.
All in all, it was a much more interesting political meeting than the last one I attended (in middle-class Eastbourne)!
The residents of the Vatican City have said many stupid things in the past, but few of them can get much stupider than this:
"Politics needs religion," Cardinal Bertone said in a speech published by the Vatican mouthpiece L'Osservatore Romano. "When instead God is ignored, the ability to respect rights and recognise the common good begins to disappear."
Are we talking about the same religion that started the Great Crusades? The God who sanctioned witchhunts? The Church that persecuted Galileo when he proved wrong Catholic scientific beliefs?
One of the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment was the seperation of Church and State, that the church (or any religious institution) played no role in the political development of nations and governments. It was done with good reason, too. Perhaps the Cardinal should look to the places where religion does play a big role in politics. Places like Nigeria, the US South, and, of course, the Middle East -all of whom are backwards in comparison to the rest of the world.
However, maybe he does have a point -so we can be shown again how bad religion is in politics.
It's rather fitting that in accordance with the Libertarianz' latest video, 'Ban It', that the Greens are pushing for ever more activities to be banned; the latest one is a ban on foreigners from buying property.
Greens co-leader Russel (with one 'l') Norman asks, "why should we allow Singaporean, Australian or American speculators to buy investment properties in our country, shutting first-time home buyers from the market?"
Why? Because their investment in New Zealand:
A) creates jobs in the local building industry, and in turns creates jobs in other areas such as forestry, mining etc, with the added competition driving up wage rates -meaning that buying homes becomes easier for people in those industries. And wouldn't it be more environmentally sustainable to use the resources in house construction here in New Zealand than shipping them overseas?
B) helps to make New Zealand a cleaner country. Wealthy foreigners buy into New Zealand based on its "clean, green" image, and unspoiled rural environment. Property rights give an incentive to keep it that way. If foreigners weren't allowed to buy property in New Zealand the demand for pristine areas would fall, and areas otherwise owned by foreigners would either not be owned at all, or by some not-so-wealthy New Zealander who probably wouldn't have the time or money to keep his property sparkling clean (and who wouldn't be as appreciative of the land as well). Either way, the incentive to keep land in a pristine condition grows smaller.
C) makes New Zealand more well known on the world stage. Without millions of taxpayer dollars going to some rich advertising agency to market the country as a tourist destination overseas, New Zealand will become known as a good holiday destination, with scenery not found anywhere else. This gives a boost to the tourist industry, which in turns provides more jobs for NZ citizens.
There you go, Norman. Three good reasons why, like all bans on voluntary human activity, a ban on foreigners buying property in New Zealand is not a good idea.
Not that the Greens understand the idea of "voluntary human activity".
With 310,000 signatures calling for a referendum on Anti-Smacking Legislation, it looks like there's a possibility that the fascist law banning parents from smacking their children might be finally overturned. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
The fact is, in New Zealand, there are still far too many people who believe that the state should care for them from cradle to grave, and that it is necessary and right to take money from the productive to give to the unproductive. There will always be people who think that the government has every right to intervene in their lives -and everyone else's, too. One such person is Sue Bradford, the drafter of the Anti-Smacking Legislation.
Question for you, Sue: how many children has your law prosecuting good parents managed to save?
The answer looks like the letter O.
The City of Los Angeles, in yet another attempt to move America closer to socialism and state control, has put a one-year moratorium on all fast food outlets in South Los Angeles, with the stated goal of lowering obesity levels in the area, which are around 30%.
Will it lower obesity levels? No -most people in the South LA area live in some degree of poverty, so going to cheap fast food outlets scattered throughout the area usually save fuel and time, as opposed to going to better restaurants in other parts of town. More fuel, time and car use would be the outcome, which would result in less productive as more time and money is used trying to get something to eat.
Instead, a better idea is to make these people productive, or more so. Slash business regulations which prevent poor people from starting up their own businesses. Cut down employment regulations so people on the bottom rung of the economic ladder can have more job opportunities at their disposal. Also, provide proper protection for people in these areas, who have been inflicted more by crime, both property crime and violent crime, than any other group of people in any other area of LA.
Then you'd start to see a real change.
Another Assault on Kiwi Education is on its way with Labour's recent legislative maneuver to raise the legal school leaving age to 18, unless the student attends Polytech or University. In response, 15 High School Principals on Auckland's North Shore have said that, should the act pass, they will deliberately violate it.
It is not hard to understand why. Why would a school principal want to keep students who have already expressed an intention to leave school -usually to go into the workforce- and who would simply cause violence if they were kept back? Why would a school want to waste money on the hiring of new teachers, adjusting wages to compensate for the extra stress put on already-existing teachers, extra school teaching material, and new classrooms for students who don't want to learn?
On top of that, keeping students in school prevents them from getting productive jobs out in the workforce, where they could truly be productive. Jobs and apprenticeships also provide the best education for more hands-on students looking for a career in the trades -which can provide an excellent source of income, but the current Labour Government believes that education can only be done in big, monotonous buildings, at little desks, subject to whatever the teachers says. It's this failure to differentiate between schooling and education where Labour fails miserably. What it all comes down to, is more resources required from a less productive economy.
As thus, the responsibility falls onto the parents and taxpayers to pay for the extra students, who don't to be there, and get no value out of the education system. Parents and taxpayers are getting more for less -and the strain on schools could jeopardise their own child(ren)'s education.
The same deluded principle has also been applied to Universities. For various reasons, the Left has taught New Zealand that everyone has a right to go to University. As a result, more people have come out of the University system with degrees which are worth nothing to an employer, thanks to everyone else having one. More money is being used to fund students who go and produce less, on the whole, and who would be more successful in the trades -where New Zealand has a major deficit.
However, University is hardly compulsory -whereas this current proposal will make school attendance compulsory.
In the end, all this stupid proposal boils down to is election-buying, and trying to pretend that education under Labour has not been pitiful. As proof, John Key is also supporting the proposal. Now try to argue that it ISN'T election buying!
As you may have seen recently, there has been a load of debate on the NZ libertarian blogosphere as to wherever the 2008 Olympics should be held in China, due to its totalitarian government and human rights abuses, including mobile execution vans*.
I agree that China does have some serious problems with its totalitarian government, still communist in many respects. But it's for those reasons that I'm NOT for the boycotting of the 2008 Olympics; they could be ideal in shedding light on the current regime in China -just what it's been doing recently.
Up until now, commentators on both the left and right have been largely ignoring China's totalitarian aspects, instead focussing on China's recent economic boom, which has had a great effect in creating a Chinese middle class and getting many Chinese out of poverty. Most of this phenomenon occuring in China, however, has been largely concealed to the Exclusive Economic Zones and big cities. Outside of these growth-magnets, many Chinese still live in squalor, under an oppressive government that, despite the lift of regulations and introduction of some property rights since the 1980s, is still essentially communist, especially in social and political terms. Many of these people go to live in the cities to work in the factories, with very little money.
So, hopefully these Olympics will shed light on the plight of Chinese people who haven't been able to escape to the glitzy, Capitalist cities. It all depends, however, on whether the world wants to watch.
And while China's government is a concern, I wonder if it is the primary reason behind John Minto and other figures of the far left organizing protests and raising lefty "awareness" of the situation in China. Many of these people -whether in London, Paris, San Francisco or NZ- were wearing Mao badges 30 years ago, and not just because it was "the thing". China was FAR WORSE back then. I suppose they just hate the Capitalist elements that have been introduced since then, and the fact that a big, evil bourgeois class has been created.
But, at the end of the day, the only nation that can tame the tempered Chinese Dragon is the United States. Luckily, they, unlike Europe, actually act on their values and beliefs.
*Ever wondered why China's imprisonment rate is less than in the US!?
Now, for another posting of an article; but it's so good, I'll leave all the discuss to it. If you'll make your way over to Not PC, he has an excellent piece on New Zealand's national holiday tomorrow, Waitangi Day. It's a highly recommended read.
PS: Lindsay Perigo at SOLO also has released a good press release about the subject.
So, we have problems with gang shootouts, daily stabbings, murder over graffiti and bodies floating down rivers, but apparently, according to the New Zealand government, that simply doesn't matter. Instead, it's far more important that parents get arrested over flicking their son's ear to stop them from possibly killing themselves from running over the road.
Last month, a man was arrested under NZ's new anti-smacking legislation in central Christchurch. The do-gooder who called the police was an schoolteaher, and within a few minutes was surrounded by five police. Now charges have been laid against him. I wonder how many murders were going on when the police were dealing with this man, who potentially stopped his child's death.
Since I'm in a bit of a rush now, I'll get more details when they arise.
The Electoral Finance Bill/Act came into effect two days ago, meaning that any voices who oppose the government can effectively be silenced by the power of the gun, the government deciding who's fit to receive money to campaign and who isn't, and who is allowed to donate money and who isn't (all the while supporting the ideas of those who they don't support with their own tax money).
The first casualty on this war on free speech, ironically, is Helen Clark. At the start of the new year, a group called "People Power" threw a rock through the window of her electoral office in Mount Albert, to protest the act. It wouldn't be the first time someone has vandalized Helen Clark's electoral office; the first time, however, the offender was charged with sedition (!).
Tim Shadbolt, the usually Labour-leaning and provocative mayor of New Zealand's southernmost city Invercargill is now touting the opposition to the Act, telling his citizens and those of the entire country to not vote Labour.
To protest this act further, Cameron Slater of Whale Oil and Andy Moore of The Section 59 Blog have started up www.dontvotelabour.org.nz, and they could be the first people brought to court under the new law.
...but where's their $1200 that supports claim that the Act will stop? Maybe they should realize that the $1200 cap on personal anonymous donations is truly pitiful compared to the $4.8 million of public money Labour spent on election campaigning in 2005. But which party received the most anonynous funding last year? ACT!
Or perhaps you'd like to do a Chris Trotter, getting quickly off the actual issues to do a bit of scaremongering non-existent concepts in his twisted, Marxist view of reality.
It's the holiday season, and I don't intent to write much on my time off, but this is too important, unfortunately.
With political violence in the troubled Middle Eastern Nation of Pakistan reaching new highs, it had to happen some time -former Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and most importantly female (!) Benazir Bhutto, a popular leader in a country strife with Islamofascism was assassinated, in a bomb blast and several bullets as she was making her way from a rally for her political party.
It wouldn't be the first time an attempt on her life has been made; since she came out of exile just two months ago, somebody else blew up a bomb at another political rally. However, instead of killing her, about 90 other people were slaughtered.
This time, she was in an armoured car, like in the previous assassination attempt. The success of the attempt this time around was because Bhutto had her head out the sunroof, which made all the difference, even though the car was quite badly damaged, as well.
The assassination of Bhutto is just one of a long line of murders, assassinations, and terrorism committed in the name of Islam, by Islamofascists. She was murdered for being pro-West, being a woman doing a man's job, and wanting to downplay Islamic extremism. The sad reality of daring to speak out against Islamofascist evil: you pay with your life.
If there's any better argument against the Electoral Finance Bill, it'll be coming next year. As I've discussed below, the Electoral Finance Bill is the primary reason for Labour's recent slip in the polls -and the rise of National so that it can govern alone.
Democracy isn't perfect, but when it comes to legislation like the Electoral Finance Bill, voters can use their power to oust the government that enacted it, and, at the least, influence future governments to repeal it. In a free and fair democracy, regardless of how much advertising is put up to influence voters to change their minds, truly terribly acts like this will never keep any government in power for long.
The Electoral Finance Bill won't destroy Labour because it'll lose support from the centre, it'll destroy Labour because of loss of support from the left. Hone Harawira, a hard Maori Party leftist who detests anything white in NZ, has come out in direct opposition to the Bill. Tim Shadbolt, the mayor of Invercargill, has done the same thing, promising to break the law. The Maori party, who generally vote with Labour on most issues, stands in the opposition. Unfortunately, the Greens who generally have a good track record on issues of free speech, have followed Labour like the headless chickens they are. The Human Rights Commission, the Law Society and even Greenpeace (!) have voiced opposition to the Bill, although whether Labour will be hypocrites when it comes to leftist violations it yet to be seen (which it probably will be).
Add on the complete lack of support from the middle class, and you get a beheading spectacular in nature.
The Electoral Finance Bill, opposed by the Human Rights Commission, the Law Society and even Greenpeace, is set to pass before long. However, there is one way we can stop it dead in its track, without Helen Clark being able to do anything: that thing is to get the NZ Governor General, Anand Satyanand, to not sign it. A petition has been put forward to make him refuse to sign the bill, by the tireless freedom fighters on Kill the Bill! So do so, before it's too late!
~Callum
Hitler was one of the most murderous tyrants of world history. He set off a great war that killed countless millions of people, killed innocent men and women on an incredible scale, and was the centrepiece of a philosophy -fascism- that still today continues to slaughter innocent men and women. A form of this tyranny and terror beyond words is the system that exists in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine.
The similarities that exist in these countries are very similar to those of Nazi Germany:
Murderous tyrants and fanatic supporters: Hitler slaughtered millions in his day. Evil men such as Ahmedinejad still hang gays in Iran, and then boast in America about there being no gays in Iran! Another example is the recent lashing of a Saudi women for being in a car with men not related to her- and then raping her! Or the "death to Denmark, death to America" placards and riots that ensued after a brave Dane dared to publish portrays of Mohammed in a magazine. 9/11, and the Madrid and later London bombings. It all hails back to an era when Nazi supports burnt down the shops, homes and livelihoods of Jews, Poles, or anyone Hilter didn't like. And the constant excuses for carrying out murderous actions.
Evil philosophies: Islam isn't a "religion of peace" (this will be discussed later). Fascism was, and continues to be, an extreme form of statism, in which all power is given to a select few in the state. It is built on Nietzsche's concept of the superman. The Islamofascist philosophy of radical Islamists is merely an Islamic twist on normal fascism. The same goes with Ahmedinejad's theocracy in Iran, which is a cross between middle ages theocracy and modern Islamofascism. As seen in the example given above, Saudi Arabia is the same.
Islam is a religion. As has been said on SOLO (and this goes for all religions), it is a "stinking superstition". Although the adjective "stinking" can certainly be used to mean events happening under Islam's name as we speak, the "superstition" part applies to all religions. Because religion - belief in what may be true to guide us in life - is in direct contrast to knowing what is true, to guide our life on this Earth. Islam, in its current post-enlightened state (the Islamic "enlightenment" of the Middle Ages was achieved by men acting in their self-interest to advance their life on Earth) resembles Christianity during the Middle Ages. Or the worship of Hitler during WWII.
Pragmatic Supporters: The great majority of Muslims, both in the West and in the Middle East, are good people. The problem with these people - and admittedly there are some people who do speak out against the atrocities committed in the name of their religion - are pragmatists. They live their lives, follow their religion, and don't think twice about Islamofascism. The same was true with the Germans in under Hitler. Although it's hard for Muslims to speak out against a regime that terrorizes them, and the same was true with the Germans, what annoys me is the lack of speaking out by free Muslims, in the West. Instead, they're too preoccupied with yelling about Mohammed cartoons, or refuting claims like mine that Islam can lead (and often will lead) to evil regimes and tyrants.
It's this pragmatism that refutes the claim that Islam is a religion of peace. If that were so, there would've been demonstrations all over the world in response to 9/11, and Ahmedinejad would've been long overthrown. It wasn't until after WWII that the Germans saw Hitler's evil. Under a true "religion of peace", that wouldn't be the case just over the horizon.
Western Appeasement: I'm not one of those people who believes in going and blowing up Iran now. But then again, Hitler hadn't invaded anyone until what, 1937? Just two years before WWII started.
However, what was disgusting during WWII was the West's complete inability to do anything. Even when he started invading, no one was smart enough to stand up to his reign of terror until Churchill came around. America didn't enter the war until it got bombed itself. This appeasement allowed Hitler to take half of Europe in weeks. There should be no such appeasement toward today's Islamofascist regimes, and if they do attempt to invade, the West should be on it in minutes.
And the other part of Western appeasement is the PC attitude towards it all. The West should have no fear in denouncing Islam and Islamic regimes, for what they have created where they have been tried. And if anyone's offended... too bad! Free speech includes the right to be offended!
It's these four things that have contributed to the barbarism committed under Islam in the Middle East today. And unless these issues are dealt with in a consistent, objective manner, things will only get worse.
It was two days ago, but I'm pleased to announce that the march against the Electoral Finance Bill (that I couldn't attend, but had several friends and family attending) here in Wellington was a success, with 200 or thereabouts turning out. Unfortunately for the protesters some Young Labour idiots happened to be in town, drowning the protestors out, but apart from that everyone had a good time.
Also, Auckland's going to have another go on December 1, at 2:30pm. Apparently 2000 protesters were not "good enough" for not good enough for Helen Clark, so John Boscawen is calling on 5000-or more-to turn up then.
