Well, this crept up on everyone. Parliament has, just this afternoon, repealed the Electoral Finance Act.
Looks like Labour saw the light, too, calling the EFA a "mistake". All parties -except the Greens, whoopdie-doo- voted for the repeal.
An excellent day for free speech in New Zealand!
The Bush-Paulson bailout, even after being rejected on Monday, successfully went through the House of Representatives on Friday, meaning that American taxpayers will now be an extra US$700,000,000,000 out of pocket (and now have over $10,000,000,000,000 of debt to pay off). The money will be going to try to prop up a flawed financial system, and to delay and magnify further economic collapse.
Over the past few weeks, you undoubtedly would have been hearing, from all political groups and figures, from Sarah Palin to Winston Peters that this collapse has been caused by "greed", capitalism and spectators. Similarly, no one actually tackles the proper root of the problem (artificial credit expansion) and instead advertise great new systems of regulation and government interference. In other words, more power to politicians.
However, in a free market, banks only have so much money to lend out (and if bank prints their own money such as in America pre-civil war, it can quickly become worthless), and are accountable to the people who deposit their money in the bank. Low interest rates signal that people are more willing to take risks for business expansion and economic growth, and that the bank has a lot of money to lend out. High interest rates mean that people want to be more conservative with their money.
Under a free market, interest rates set by banks go up with inflation (as the money gets devalued with time). However, in today's mixed economy, governments set official interest rates. And as thus, they also set inflation at a steady pace, to ensure there's always money on hand to lend out, to ensure economic growth (which is what we've seen during these two decades, with the dot-com bust as an interval).
Unfortunately, this artificial economic growth does not encourage proper, responsible investment, and this can be seen in middle-class America -and New Zealand- with the rise of the McMansion (although many regulatory policies are involved there). The building and buying of McMansions is generally hard work, but, from hearing stories about loans worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with 0% deposits, it's happening alright.
The inevitable result of stupid business decisions is business failures, job losses, and share market crashes, such as we've seen with Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and many New Zealand finance companies. What this current collapse signals is a market correction, caused by governmental inflation. Also to consider, is the fact that money gets devalued by inflation, which is a double-whammy for everybody.
Some of you who look at my Libertarian and Objectivist links from time to time may have seen a link called "ACT for America". ACT for America is an American organization dedicated to fighting for American values, security and freedom against radical, militant Islamism, which has been increasingly entrenched in American society, since before 9/11. It is founded by America's answer to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brigitte Gabriel.
Brigitte Gabriel was born in Lebanon in 1965 and immigrated to America after the Lebanese Civil War. After immigrating to America, she founded the American Congress for Truth, dedicated to repudiating lies and propaganda about Israel and America's role in the fight against radical Islamism, constantly thrown about in the media.
Gabriel has first hand experience of the violence of radical Islamism in Lebanon. She says:
"I was born in Lebanon and raised as a Christian. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out, our family and our Maronite community came under vicious attack by Islamic extremists. They promised to destroy us, and today the country is nearly all Islamic.
I was nearly killed by a mortar. Our home was destroyed. We lived in a bomb shelter for seven years. Most of my childhood friends were killed. That's how I know about this fight."
On the site, she doesn't just target radical Islamism, she also targets political correctness, which is the philosophy which allows radical Islamism in the West, unabated. She says, quite frankly:
"Political correctness will literally kill us."
She also talks about why radical Islamists are out to destroy the West and its values, how they go out it, and what will the outcome will be if it isn't stopped. She stands up for Western values, and makes it very clear what her organization is about:
"...to be a collective voice for the democratic values of Western Civilization, such as the celebration of life and liberty, as opposed to the authoritarian values of Islamofascism, such as the celebration of death, terror and tyranny."
Brigitte doesn't just oppose Islamism on practical grounds, she opposes it on moral grounds. She doesn't oppose it simply because of terrorist acts, she opposes it because of its hatred towards Western civilisation and values, and its philosophy based on death.
Brigitte Gabriel and her organisation(s) enable America to have what Europe and the UK didn't: a clear and principled voice against radical Islamism.
ACT for America-before it's too late!
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.
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.
In a smart move to combat Hugo Chavez's dictatorial ambitions, the Venezuelan people have voted in a referendum against Hugo Chavez being named "dictator for life" in Venezuela. Even so, those are still his ambitions. But still, a good step away from socialism and the trash heap of the world, in a nation that prefers capitalism more than the US.
I can imagine why. With the country being the incredibly dysfunctional, corrupt and dangerous it is (its murder rate is nearly 7 times that of the US), it's just not a place you want to be.
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
Auckland has staged its second march against the Electoral Finance Bill, which took place yesterday. And a much larger crowd turned up, matching the 5,000 that John Boscawen, who the organizer of all of these marches, wanted. Keep up the good work, guys!
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.
PC has on his blog pictures of the Auckland march against the Electoral Finance Bill, which 2000 people attended in the interest of preserving freedom. He also has an excellent article on the EFB-surely the most dictatorial bill ever to be thought up in supposedly Western New Zealand.
Let's see if the Wellington march will be better!
John Boscawen from Kill the Bill! is organizing two marches against the Electoral Finance Bill. Please note that we have less than two months from 1 January, under the Bill, any political speech WILL BE ILLEGAL. For you jafas, the march is tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am onwards, from Town Hall to Queen Elizabeth Square. For people in Wellington such as I, the march will be on Wednesday at 12:30, marching from Lambton Quay to Parliament.
Unfortunately I have school that day. However, I could always fake sickness. :-)
Also, there will probably be marches in other parts of the country. Keep an eye and an ear peeled for any local marches in other cities.
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has spoken his usual filth in his visit to the Big Apple yesterday, but luckily, it was to thousands of rowdy protestors.
The stupid thing about this visit is that it has been done in the name of tolerance and free speech-tolerance for an evil dictator, and the free speech for him to speak his normal filth, denying the existence of the holocaust and openly supporting sharia law and terrorism.
A trip to Iran is in order to find out what "tolerance" and "free speech" really mean to Adolf Ahmedinejad.
I've been keeping it a secret for a long time, but now it's out: I'm officially a columnist for the Free Radical. I was lucky enough to celebrate it with a shared lunch (despite being for my leaving form teacher at the end of the term), but nevertheless it was a joyous event, and I'm also pleased to announce that my form class is surprisingly pro-Capitalist (except for one guy who considers himself a Communist), being in a public school and all. Maybe, to get my class more interested in Libertarian politics and Objectivist philosophy for the smarter ones, I should give out my blog's address-it may be rather interesting!
My one concern though, is that the school may use it as if I was something of their creation; even though teaching is an almost exclusively Socialist career, it's still good publicity for them.
But anyway, so far so good!
~Callum
Yesterday (American Eastern Time), six years ago an act of war was committed against the West, and its underlying values of individualism and capitalism. It was committed by a group of Islamic extremists, acting in the name of Islam and the Medieval value system that it currently implies. The acts weren't just random bad acts committed for a random reason, like the Oklahoma City bombings half a decade before. This was an act of war, against the West and its incredible achievements of man's mind.
In response, America itself started a war against Afghanistan, where many Islamic extremists were hiding at the time with the help of the oppressive Taliban government (and it should be noted that not a great deal of progress has been made).
The War on Terror is not a war against religion, or particular nations per se, it's a war against the underlying values of the Islamic extremists that want us and all we stand for in the West all dead, and for a new Islamic medieval period to sweep the world.
Right now, the ideals of the West and the ideals of Islam are not compatible. Indeed, the same was true with Christianity until the Reformation and Protestantism came along, and one outdated and primitive value system was replaced with another updated and liberal value system. Christianity became more liberal, and free speech was allowed. Without this reformed Christianity and value system, there would've been no enlightenment, no industrial revolution, and the world wouldn't be particularly different today than what it was back in the 1500s.
Unfortunately, Islam has had no Reformation. It is still a religion similar to what Catholicism was in the Middle and Dark Ages, when people were burned at the stake and sacrificed daily in the name of God. Its value system is also similar. Until the Islamic value system is replaced with a new set of values, until its own little Reformation, we can expect the same outcome of the same values: torture, oppression, murder and terrorism.
A French left-of-centre newspaper, "Liberator" (they obviously don't know what the word actually means) called jogging "an individualistic, self-centred activity". If that's what the French left think of exercise, I'm surprised they're not all overweight slobs. Perhaps exercise involves too much thinking?
There are a lot of things I like about France-the language, history, landscape and culture to name a few, but I absolutely HATE their politics.
Once again, the MP's of New Zealand have gotten their knickers in a twist over the new bill banning media from denigrating members of parliament. Question for them: does anybody care?
Australia has had the same bill in place in their delightfully ugly looking senate for over a decade now. As usual, members of the media still denigrate and ridicule parliament members over their frequently stupid behaviour. Only occasionally does the media get prosecuted-after all, it's a useless law, not exactly like murdering or raping someone.
But more importantly, the bill is a disruption to our right to free speech, and our right to know what parliament is doing (or not doing). Freedom of unrestricted media access in parliament is vital for a free and peaceful society. The new law is only going to degrade freedom in NZ, and the outlook of the world about New Zealand.
He claims that America is building its shield to protect the West from the Russians. Although it would be a good idea to use this shield in case Russia did attack, the shield's primary purpose is instead to protect the West from the rogue states and terrorist organizations in the Middle East. The planned shield, which is in fact a number of missiles located around Eastern Europe, was ruffling very few feathers internationally until Putin started complaining.
The main reason, I believe, for Putin's outrage is to get the media attention he's been craving for. He's used the incident as a platform to attack other nations, namely, Britain, about the Litvinenko controversy and Britain's allowing of Berezovsky, the president's main rival, to stay and work in Britain.
Putin has been threatening European nations since the whole ordeal started, and is using very little in the way of diplomacy. He's an uncompromising dictator who will revert back to Soviet methods to achieve his ends. 74 years of communism, 16 years of supposedly "democratic" rule, and the Tzars have never left.
This isn't the first time there have been large scale riots and demonstrations since Chavez's reign of terror-that's what it has become-started. It looks like another country is going to go through Socialist Hell in years to come.
Oh well.
"Reporters Without Borders have released their new list of "Free Speech Predators".
Funny how they're all leaders of the poorest nations in the world (except for ETA in Spain).
Go to the Reporters Without Borders website for more information.
