Glenn Jameson, National SOLOist

So, Glenn Jameson over at SOLO, is a "key creative talent" behind National's latest billboard campaign. Many people, such as Peter Cresswell, are up in arms over it.

However, I digress. Frankly, so what?

The fact is, he has the right to go and work for whoever he wants to work for. He has no "duty" to go and work anywhere. Isn't that what Objectivism is about? Glenn was acting in his rational self-interest. Given the choices, benefits and consequences involved, he decided to go and work on the National Party's advertising team. This does not necessarily say, however, that he agrees with the National Party and what it stands for. Indeed, he has a rather pragmatic justification for his work with the National Party.

All things considered, I too would rather have him work for, say, the Libertarianz, just like most SOLOists and Libertarianz. But it should not be held against him. He chose to do what he considered to be the best thing to do out of all his choices. He looked at the National Party's views and compared them with his. And he took the job.

Besides, when this is all over, he's pretty much free to do whatever he likes again. It's merely for this election campaign that he has decided to work for the Nats. He has not done anything wrong, on any level. Yes, we may question why he did go and work there, but we should not:

a) feel morally superior; and

b) go on a Medieval witchhunt, just because he made a decision in his rational self-interest that we may disagree with.

The Real Issue Here

Recently, a big feeding frenzy has occurred around the New Zealand blogosphere and especially on SOLO and Not PC over Elijah Lineberry's take on the Ministry of Education's $54,000 "Maori Potential" badges, with bloggers of all political leanings either calling him a racist or telling the complainers to grow up. Elijah's badges have been put into pictures by Whaleoil.

But before we go on yelling about Elijah, what could be more demeaning to a Maori person than a phrase such as "Realising Maori Potential -Wassup!", which appeared on one of the actual badges. It's also interesting that none of the badges have one Maori word on them (except "Maori", believe it or not.) The badges are simply worn to make students feel better about themselves, and to make teachers feel that they're actually teaching their students properly.

Elijah, meanwhile, is simply telling it as it is. Crime rates, unemployment, child abuse, etc are appallingly high amongst Maori and in predominantly Maori communities. Yes, Elijah's way of putting it was blunt -and probably not something the Libertarianz Party should officially endorse. But the actions of those who scream "racist!" whenever the badges are mentioned are even more immature- because, in effect, they are denying the problems that Maori are facing today (thanks, primarily to their own actions, which are what Elijah's badges are all about), on the grounds of "racism". How dare you point out that more Maori are in jail, per capita, than Europeans!

Not that the Left would want the problems to go away -it's areas like South Auckland and Porirua that provide most of their support. And if you look at any of Labour's recent economic moves and policy, they hate productivity -because productivity is contrary to Labour's socialist philosophy, and unproductive slobs always looking for an extra buck out of the government are a major source of Labour votes.

Good on you Elijah -you're actually telling it as it is. And accepting the problem is the first part of solving the problem. No, not all Maori are child abusers and unemployed -far from it. But the statistics speak for themselves.

Waitangi Days on "Not PC" Has Something to Celebrate

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.

The Visible Foot of the State on NZ's Youth

In accordance with NZ's problem's with youth violence, ghastly schools and drug abuse, PM Helen Clark and National Party Leader John Key have both proposed solutions to these problems which include compulsory education until 18, boot camps for young offenders and pouring NZ$150 million into our education system. But will it work to improve our already failed PC public education system? Phil Howison, Libertarianz party spokesman, thinks not.

"Forcing students to stay at school until they are 18 will cause unruly classrooms, bored students, stressed teachers and an increased burden for taxpayers" says Libertarianz education spokesman Phil Howison. "It is essentially an admission of defeat for state education. If eleven years in state schools leaves most students unemployable, what difference can adding two years make?" Howison asks."

An interesting observation, at the high school I attend, is that most senior students (especially in Year 13) have already left school -and fair enough. In spite of the effects of collectivism and altruism in our education system, as I've already explained, it also provides no incentive for students who want to pursue careers in the trades -builders, plumbers, electricians, etc- to stay in school, as other institutions, such as apprenticeships, polytechs, and specialized colleges offer better courses in those careers. Many students also go into the workforce in those later years, providing more time for the less academically-inclined students to pursue their careers than they otherwise would have attending schools.

These students, who don't want to be at school for rational reasons, would put a strain in school resources, especially as students who do want to stay at school need them more. Because of the compulsion to stay at school, these students would also have an incentive to misbehave, and to simply skip school as goes on every day. Which leads to another point Phil makes:

"Forget about Key's boot camps - schools these days seem to be just as rife with violence, bullying and substance abuse as the prisons. But all teenagers, not just youth offenders, are forced to attend! Clark's scheme [to spend an extra $150 million to "clean up" public schools] will take many young people out of the workforce where they are learning to be self-sufficient and productive, leaving them with no choice but to accept government handouts."

Which is the flip side of the government's "schooling=productivity" argument. Schooling can only result in future productivity as long as the student wants to learn. For any student who doesn't want to learn, and to instead do other things with their life, education becomes a useless investment. As the returns on that investment lower, students are more likely to leave school. As public school is fundamentally an academic institution, the more hands-on students are likely to leave school earlier than the academically-inclined students.

National Leader John Key's plan, says Howison, is little better. John Key proposes army-style "boot-camp" courses for young offenders, with government pouring millions of dollars into these courses to straighten out young offenders. While I don't disagree with an army-style boot-camp solution -omitting the government-funding- for reducing the repeat offending rate, it will only lower the crime rate superficially. The real solutions lies in getting rid of the rampant NZ underclass culture of entitlement to the money of the truly productive, which destroys self-esteem and promotes youth violence, and destroys and sense of responsibility. As I said before:

"How can a man with no respect for himself and his achievements possibly have respect for others and their achievements?"

Top Eight For '08

There are just two hours away from the new year of 2008, and I've been tagged by PC to list my eight wishes for 2008. This year is an important one, with both the American and New Zealand elections coming up.

1) National wins the New Zealand election, hopefully with enough to govern alone. Then, John Key may summon up the guts he needs to repeal the Electoral Finance Bill, Anti-Smacking Bill, etc., and delivers much-needed tax cuts for the middle class.

2) Republican triumph in the American election, with Guliani becoming the president, hopefully to stem the tide of the increasing bureaucracy that the US government now comprises.

3) A major, popular but rational upheaval against Environmentalism occurs, and Al Gore, being increasingly denounced on the public stage, stopping all the moaning, whinging and lying.

4) A acceleration and growing of the movement against nanny state here in New Zealand, resulting in a major, final embarrassment of Labour before the election. Helen quits after the election.

5) Increasing recognition, thanks to the likes of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Christopher Hitchens, of the threat of Islamofascists to the peace and security of the West.

6) The Burj Dubai is completed, the Chicago Spire gets well underway and several new 500m+ towers are put on the drawing board.

7) School gets a lot better after leaving the third form.

8) I finish Atlas Shrugged before the school holidays are finished, and read more of Rand's books throughout the year.

And, as an afterthought, for SOLO:

SOLO, to become a haven of tolerance and respect for all posters, with Nick Otani finally agreeing that Leonid is right after all, but only because he "is following his instincts" that this is the right thing to do.

...just kidding.

The EFB's Impact on Polls

The recent controversy surrounding the Electoral Finance Bill has had its impact on the most recent public opinion poll, and it's hurting Labour severely:

-Labour slips to just 35%, one of its lowest for a long time.

-John Key is on 35% for preferred PM, Helen Clark is at 30%. (the other 35% is made up of various third-party candidates)

-National is in the fifties, which means it can govern alone.

-NZ First and the Greens dip below five percent, which means that, providing the pools are accurate, they'd need to have an electorate to stay in parliament (which hopefully they won't have).

Lindsay Perigo discusses the implications of this poll on SOLO. With any due luck, the results will stay like this during the election -the one poll that truly matters.

Interesting Debate on SOLO

An interesting debate is occurring on SOLO at the moment (as there is always), over the inherent immorality of slavery, which came from my essay below. The argument can be seen here. My page on SOLO is here, and the SOLO main page can be viewed here.

Hitler and Islamofascism

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.

Rudd's Victory a Step Back for Oz

Rudd's victory in Australia-purely on the grounds of appealing to the lowest common denominator-is a step back for Australia, one of the better countries in this irrational and inconsistent world. At SOLO, Hilton Holder, the Australian co-coordinator, discussed the results and what they mean for Australia.

And it ain't good.

Rick Giles is Back!

Rick Giles, the Kiwi detained in the US for well, essentially nothing, is back here, free in NZ. He is returning to normal life, once again doing podcasts for SOLO, and working towards the Libertarian Revolution. An article about his experience can be found here.

So how was it like, Rick?

Atlas' 50th Birthday Celebration

All manner of Kiwi SOLOists got together in Wellywood on Saturday 27 (last saturday) to celebrate 50 years of Ayn Rand's magnificent and world-changing novel, Atlas Shrugged. It was a good time, with several speeches, great food and the launch of Mitch Lee's new pet project, Samazdat-the SOLO newsletter, launched every two weeks. Here is me at the event:

Yes, I'm quite well aware of the fact that I look like Rose O'Donnell in the photo (and be aware that photos are never capture you tres bien-it's in greyscale). Plus, I've been sick. And that jacket I'm wearing there is BIG.

Updated "Child Abuse" Post

Mitch Lees, who happens to be a moderator at SOLO, has edited my "Child Abuse-But Never Mind the Abusers" post and made it into a Press Release in SOLO, making it my first Press Release as Youth Coordinator at SOLO. The new version goes like this:

SOLO-NZ Press Release: NZ Government—The Child Abuser's Friend

"After the disgusting abuse suffered by one child in Rotorua, the idiotic socialists and politicians in Parliament are once again saying that, somehow, the abuse is all society's fault. It’s not really the abusers’ fault—hell no, they're beneficiaries!—but instead that of the 4.1 million other New Zealanders who have not committed abuse. Somehow, we should all be ashamed of who we are because of the actions of a few scumbags," says SOLO (Sense of Life Objectivists) Youth Coordinator, Callum McPetrie. "Once again, no one points to the abusers as the real criminals.

“A five-year-old would be able to point out the irrationality in the logic of the socialists," says Callum, who is 13. “Now, the politicians are compounding their evil with the man-hating questions they are going to force all women who attend public hospitals to answer. Questions such as , ‘Have you ever felt controlled or criticised?” which have nothing to do with child abuse and everything to do with the Nanny State feminazi agenda that drives this government.

"It should be remembered that it was only a matter of weeks ago that our 'representatives' in the Beehive implemented a smacking ban to end all this child abuse," notes McPetrie. "Ironically though, it is in fact the Parliamentary socialists who are aiding and abetting abusers by bribing them to breed!

"But, of course, let’s not pretend Parliamentary Leftists will wake up and do anything about it. A government that robs Peter to pay Paul will always count on the support of Paul. And in the way democracy is now in New Zealand, honesty never matters when election time comes rolling around—observe the 2005 election—but instead, who will give the greatest handouts? It's about damn time to stand up for the 99.99% of NZ parents who do not abuse their kids and point to the actual abusers and their political sponsors as the real criminals.”

SOLO—SOLOPassion.com