All posts by Richard

Islam, Matthew, Religious Toleration, There is a God!

By their fruits ye shall know them

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Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (KJV)

Apartheid, Ecclesiastes, Keep it Metal!, Property, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, The Morningside, Treaty of Waitangi

Chasing after the wind

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Can I sue Ngāti Toa for compensation for the storm damage incurred by their deity?

Wind To Be Subject Of Next Treaty Claim

As the Government prepares to negotiate with Maori over ownership of rivers, a Waitangi Tribunal claim is being finalised for Maori to earn a dividend for the use of wind for commercial electricity generation.

Ngapuhi political commentator and Hone Heke Foundation chairman, David Rankin, has been approached by a cohort of hapu representatives to act as spokesperson for the claim.

“I’m not yet convinced about the full merits of the claim,” says Mr Rankin, “but in my preliminary discussions with the hapu representatives, they make some good points and I am hopeful that they will be able to get their claim finalised over the next few months.”

According to Mr Rankin, the planned claim will insist that a pan-tribal body be established to manage shares in commercial wind-generated electricity, and to exercise a casting vote on where wind turbines can be located.

Mr Rankin says that Maori entitlement to the wind can be justified under article two of the Treaty of Waitangi, which guarantees Maori full and exclusive ownership of all their properties. “Traditionally, the wind was regarded as a deity in Maori society, and Maori do not consider the Crown have the right to use it without Maori consent.”

Mr Rankin is encouraged by the recent Tribunal claim for water, and believes that the claim to wind will lead on to other areas of property rights such as aerospace.

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
    yet their appetite is never satisfied.
What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain
    by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind. (NIV)

Jihad on Drugs™, Libertarianz, Live Like It's Legal, Tyranny

NZ Police: Brutalising the Sick

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PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cannabis Law Reform

NZ Police: Brutalising the Sick

On Wednesday, 57-year-old Levin man Billy McKee was found guilty in the Palmerston North District Court on four charges of selling cannabis and one of cultivation.

Libertarianz Spokesman on Drugs, Dr. Richard Goode, described it as a day of shame for the New Zealand police and their political masters in the Beehive.

“The job of the police is to prosecute criminals, not to persecute amputees. McKee lost a leg below the knee when a drunk driver deliberately rammed his motorbike decades ago. Since then, he has suffered constant pain from nerve damage to the stump. Now he uses medicinal cannabis – it’s the only thing that works.”

Goode quotes McKee: “If I could get medication from my doctor that worked for me then I’d just use it … but the medication I get from the doctor makes me really, really sick.”

“McKee might never have come to the attention of the police,” Goode surmises, “but he runs GreenCross, a support group for medicinal cannabis users, and actively campaigns to make cannabis legally available for medicinal purposes.”

McKee was targeted by the police in an undercover sting operation. A constable contacted McKee seeking help for a fake ailment. “This low-life pretended to suffer from painful migraines,” says Goode. McKee at first sold the policeman hemp oil, a legal product, and suggested he see a doctor. But he was persuaded to sell the constable cannabis. “McKee did what any decent human being would do, and tried to help ease the man’s suffering,” says Goode. “For this simple act of compassion, he could now receive a lengthy jail sentence.”

“When McKee is sentenced next month, the sentencing judge must be made aware that a prison sentence would manifestly violate one of McKee’s basic civil rights. New Zealand’s Bill of Rights Act 1990 enshrines the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel treatment,” says Goode. “Everyone has the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment.” Goode continues, “And let’s be perfectly clear, torture is exactly what a jail sentence would amount to. Deprived of access to the only medicine that eases his suffering, McKee would spend his entire time in constant pain.”

“What has this country come to,” laments Goode, “when the police think that the best use of their time is to engage in treachery and deceit in order to entrap and torment traumatised road accident victims? A better use of their time would be to get drunk drivers off the road – like the drunk driver to whom McKee lost his leg in the first place. Instead, they take sadistic pleasure in brutalising the sick.”

“As for their political masters in the Beehive – those who voted to defeat Metiria Turei’s Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill in 2009 must now hang their heads in shame.”

Goode concludes, “The War on Drugs™ is a war on the medically sick, waged by the morally sick. It must end.”

For more information contact:

Dr. Richard Goode
Libertarianz Drugs Spokesman
Phone: 021 340 057
Email: richard.goode@libertarianz.org.nz

Libertarianz – More Freedom, Less Government
www.libertarianz.org.nz

ENDS

Jihad on Drugs™, Keep it Metal!, Live Like It's Legal, Morbid Angel, Peter Dunne, Tyranny

Radikult

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The lines have long been drawn
Between the life and death,
The right and wrong
But what’s the reason,
What’s our reason?
The walls are high we know
They’ve gotta come down

I happened across a discussion of Morbid Angel’s album artwork. One commenter remarked

I think the green / purple convey a certain aura of sickness and putrescence… apropos for a death metal band.

Indeed.

Genesis, Socialism, Vote 2012

Am I my half-brother’s keeper?

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On the campaign trail earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama said

I hear politicians talking about values in an election year. I hear a lot about that. Let me tell you about values. Hard work, personal responsibility–those are values. But looking out for one another. That’s a value. The idea that we’re all in this together. I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper. That’s a value.

In a Fox News editorial last month, Christian author and political commentator Dinesh D’Souza wrote

A few days ago I received a call from a man I recently met named George. He was a bit flustered, and soon informed me that his young son was sick with a chest condition. He pleaded with me to send him $1,000 to cover the medical bills. Since George was at the hospital I asked him to let me speak to a nurse, and she confirmed that George’s son was indeed ill. So I agreed to send George the money through Western Union. He was profusely grateful. But before I hung up I asked George, “Why are you coming to me?” He said, “I have no one else to ask.” Then he said something that astounded me, “Dinesh, you are like a brother to me.”

Who is George? In his own words

I … live in one of Africa’s biggest slums, along with some 4.5 million others. We have little or no access to health care, no welfare, and no free schooling. The average income is less than $5 a day—and that’s for those who find work as servants, taxi drivers, or garbage collectors. For the rest, there is nothing.

Along with some fellow slum dwellers, I set up a youth group for ghetto kids. My passion was football (soccer), which is followed religiously throughout Africa. When we first established the Huruma Centre Football Club, none of our kids had so much as a pair of football boots, let alone any uniform. Some were so hungry when they turned up that they had no energy to play. At other times, the team had to trek for miles to matches because we couldn’t afford any transportation. In spite of all that, our players were passionate, and we started winning. …

George Obama is Barack Obama’s half-brother.

Jihad on Drugs™, Live Like It's Legal, Peter Dunne, Prohibition, Tyranny

Free Billy McKee!

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Free Billy McKee

Billy McKee is in the Palmerston North District Court today.

Outside, supporters are holding a peaceful protest and an all-night vigil.

PEACEFUL PROTEST AND ALL NIGHT VIGIL.

We are traveling from around the country to support the court case of GreenCross director Billy McKee, who is a medical cannabis user and amputee.

Supporters from Invercargill to Auckland will be converging in Palmerston North on September 3, outside the court to stage a peaceful protest and all night vigil to support Mckee.

Billy lost a leg below the knee when a drunk driver deliberately rammed his motorbike over 30 years ago. The incident resulted in him being confined to a wheelchair and in constant pain from nerve damage to the stump as well as suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

The pain medications he was prescribed by doctors caused intolerable side effects where even driving was considered unsafe. He found that the only thing that controlled his pain, depression, irritability and other symptoms, while still allowing him to function, was cannabis.

This led him to study the medical benefits of cannabis, become a counsellor and form GreenCross, an organisation devoted to helping sick people obtain relief through the medicinal use of cannabis.

McKee now faces jail time for running GreenCross and helping sick patients obtain their medicine.

He was entrapped by an undercover police officer posing as someone suffering from severe migraines. McKee said that migraines can indicate in the early stages of brain tumors and many people have found that cannabis relieves the symptoms of migraines and allows them to function normally.

McKee accepted the young man as being a genuine sufferer. The undercover cop appealed to his compassion in asking Billy to supply him with cannabis. Billy says, “I was really worried about him.”

As a result of trying to help someone, Billy is now facing charges that could see him sent to prison for up to eight years. Prison terms have also been imposed on other medical cannabis users due to a law that lacks compassion.

McKee, who is going to a jury trial, is calling for jury nullification of the charges of the grounds they breach his human rights.

Even if he has broken the law, the Jury has the moral authority to return a not-guilty verdict, sending a message to politicians that medical cannabis users should not be targeted for arrest.

I’m sorry I couldn’t be there. I know you’ll stand tall, Billy. I hope and pray that you walk free.