Monthly Archives: January 2012
Is Ron Paul a libertarian?
Apparently, there’s some doubt.
Peter Cresswell gives seven reasons why Ron Paul is not a libertarian.
Short summary? Ron Paul is not a libertarian. He
- rejects the Jeffersonian principle of a “wall of separation” between religion and government;
- is anti-immigration (“to the right of most Republicans” says Vodka Pundit Steve Green);
- is anti-abortion (Paul describes “the rights of unborn people” [sic] as “the greatest moral issue of our time,” and “abortion on demand” as “the ultimate State tyranny”);
- “plays footsie” with racists and kooks;
- is a hypocritical supporter of pork-barrel earmarks for his own congressional district;
- is opposed to free-trade agreements (like NAFTA); and
- is appallingly “blame-America-first” on foreign policy.
Let’s take these one by one. (The only way to exit is going piece by piece.)
(1) Libertarians insist on the separation of church and state. If Ron Paul rejects the separation of church and state, he is not a libertarian. But what does separation of church and state entail? It comes down to freedom of religion (and freedom from religion, if you’re that way inclined). Ron Paul is not opposed to the separation of church and state. He’s opposed to the War on Religion.
(2) Libertarianism is a view on how a government should treat its citizens. Its own citizens. Libertarians can be anti-immigration.
(3) Libertarianism holds that men are endowed
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men
Ron Paul believes that fetuses are Men, too. Thus, it is the role of government to secure one’s right to life both after and before birth. Abortion is not a moral issue. It is a metaphysical issue. Libertarians can be anti-abortion.
(4) So Ron Paul “plays footsie” with racists, 9/11 Truthers and Objectivists. What of it? Libertarians insist on the right to freedom of association. Ron Paul exercises that right.
(5) Pork barrel politics is anathema to libertarianism. Or is it? Ron Paul’s argument for pork barrel projects in his own district is that, “if they take it, we should ask for it back.” Seems reasonable to me.
(6) Ron Paul says, “I’m for free trade.” Ron Paul is opposed to NAFTA. He says, “This is regulated, managed trade for the benefit of special interests. That is why I oppose it.”
(7) Foreigners in foreign places tend to resent American government intervention in their lives, in much the same way that U.S. libertarians resent American government intervention in their lives. It is not unlibertarian to point this out. Blowback? If it’s America’s fault then blame America.
Of seven purported reasons why Ron Paul is not a libertarian, none is any good.
Ron Paul. Libertarian.
Hot lesbians
Mulholland Drive is back! Mulholland Drive is …
Politics, Art and Faith from a Kiwi in the Heart of Texas
… and Fox News foxes.
Back in the day, Blair Mulholland was NZ’s best pro-freedom blogger. Not only that, of course, but Mulholland Drive used to feature pictures of Naomi Watts and Laura Harring from the David Lynch movie of the same name.
But the real reason I like Blair’s blog is political not pictorial. It’s that his views almost always align with my own. In other words, he’s almost always right. Take, for example, his views on Peter Dunne.
I am not remotely jealous of Mr Dunne … I would rather spend three years in parliament, achieve sweeping reform, then lose, than do nothing but warm a seat for nearly thirty years. Give me a career like David Garrett’s any day over Dunne’s. He has no principles or morals, and I have plenty of both. I win, he loses.
Actually, Ohariu and New Zealand lose more. Dunne represents everything that is wrong with the current state of New Zealand politics. No risk-taking, no innovation, no principles, no love of freedom. Just a desire for more control and a pompous, sneering contempt for the average New Zealander.
I couldn’t put it any better than that.
Death penalty for dealing P?
Kiwis and Aussies are the world’s biggest stoners. But we already knew that. “Experts are not surprised by new research showing New Zealand and Australia share the highest rates of cannabis and methamphetamine use in the world,” says the NZ Herald.
Here’s something I didn’t know. I clicked on the Herald’s handy related links and discovered that intelligent children are more likely than their less intelligent peers to use illegal drugs in later life, according to a study which has found a link between high IQ scores and drug use. Well, who’d’ve thought? I must be a genius!
Will de Cleene has an informative post showing where (else) in the world to find the stoners, the coke heads, the smack heads, the ravers, the speed freaks, the smokers and the drunks. Check it out.
After serving the standard sound-bites from the executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Ross Bell, the Herald reports some remarks from former police officer and managing director of “methamphetamine eduction company” MethCon, Dale Kirk.
“We’ve treated cannabis as a soft drug and we’ve ignored the risk of methamphetamine use, and unfortunately we’re playing catch-up.
“We’re now seeing initiatives from the Government aimed at the supply end, which are having some effect, I believe, yet it’s a little bit too late.”
Mr Kirk said the right way to tackle the drug problem was a mixed approach, including punitive measures like harsher sentences, more education, and more resources to treat addicts.
Harsher sentences? What can Kirk possibly be proposing? The maximum sentence for the sale, manufacture or importation of methamphetamine is already life imprisonment. How do you get harsher than that? The death penalty?
Methamphetamine had a devastating effect on families and communities, he said.
“I’m speaking to people all the time in the community who have family members who are affected by methamphetamine, and it is a consistent theme that you hear – it’s a downward spiral in their life, everything else takes secondary interest to the drugs.
“They lose families, they lose jobs, they lose money – and obviously ultimately they can lose their lives.”
Ultimately, yes, if we ever allow drug fascists like Kirk to have their way. Unfortunately, Kirk’s predecessor, Mike Sabin, is now in government as the MP for Northland.
In the picture above, sourced from Sabin’s own website, Sabin gives the thumbs up to alcohol, a drug responsible for more social ills than P and all illegal drugs combined.
Sabin is an enemy of freedom and sane drug policy. Watch this space.
Matthew 11:11-12
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.” (NIV)
Without Judgement
Guilty until proven innocent
We condemn your soul and fate
Never mind the possibilities
Too busy for logic or to calculateTake part in a diminishing breed
Where complex turns to simplicity
When pain is acknowledged
Frivolous calculations will be abolishedWithout judgement what would we do?
We would be forced to look
At ourselves emerged in lost time
Assuming what may be
Without judgement
Perception would increase a million timesDistracted by imagination
That experiments with ease
If you could taste it, it might be addictive
Where life will crush those who defyTake part in a diminishing breed
Where complex turns to simplicity
When pain is acknowledged
Frivolous calculations will be abolished
Judge not, that ye be not judged. (KJV)
Beach FM interview
Whose side are you on?
When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”
“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.”
At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”
Joshua 5:13-14 (NLT)
A plea for intervention
One of our regular readers posted this on SOLO.
For those poor sods who live in North Korea
The new swines at the top have reiterated their policy that three generations of the family of anyone who tries to escape the godforsaken cesspit gulag of a country, be punished, and for border guards to shoot any such escapees on sight. And then Fatboy decrees today that the population must support his lavish lifestyle on their starving lives and they should form a human shield to protect him.
It is obviously no violation of the non-initiation of force principle for any free country to send in the equivalent of a Navy Seal, or SAS team, such as the one that took out Bin Laden, to take out Fatboy, then keep shooting the prick who swills to the top until tyranny gets the message and buggers off.
If I were a North Korean, I would be pleading every civilised country for such a worthy intervention.
Why have we forsaken the poor souls who live in North Korea?
Drug-free January
It’s traditional.
Yes, folks, January is my month of self-imposed moral tyranny. But it’s for my own good! And, anyway, abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.
Do not suppose that my January regime is any less tyrannical for being self-imposed. No, sir, this ain’t a democracy. The party of my mind is a hoi polloi of hapless homunculi. It’s a rabble. It’s a rabble that needs to be told what to do (or, in this case, told what not to do). A rabble that must be roused or doused. By dictators. By benevolent dictators. With drugs.
The human soul is no more and no less than a suite of software running on wetware known colloquially as “brains”. We’re made of meat, sweetmeat. But wait! Aren’t Christians supposed to believe that the human soul is immaterial, immortal and indivisible? Well, no, not necessarily. This Christian believes that the human soul is material, mortal and modular. It’s a Biblical view of things. Consider the New Testament account of how it all began.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (KJV)
The King James Bible translates the Greek word λόγος (‘Logos’) as ‘Word’. Although ‘Word’ is certainly close enough, and an excellent choice, there is no exact translation. These days, I think, we might just as well translate λόγος as ‘Information’, ‘Reason’, ‘Algorithm’, or ‘Code’. In other words, software.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (KJV)
That’s right. It’s axiomatic in orthodox Christianity that Jesus was God incarnate. Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. Jesus became meat. Just like us.
Do you ever wonder why the zombies in zombie movies are so intent on getting some “brains”? Well, they don’t want to be the Living Dead. They want to be the Re-Incarnated. They want to be physically Resurrected! But for a non-lurching physical Resurrection you need nice, new resurrection bodies. Most importantly you need “brains”—the wetware—on which to run the software. (You are the software.)
Where were we? The rabble has rambled. Well, never mind… my mind? Where is it? Hahaha! Yes, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’ve been taking too many drugs! You’re thinking … drug-free January, Richard?! Good call!! Well, in the words of Malaclypse the Younger
‘Tis an ill wind that blows no minds.
And that’s one thing that drug-taking does teach you. It teaches you that consciousness is chemical. And that the mind is modular.
I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe …