All posts by reed

Adultery, Bigotry and Hate, Justice, Prostitution, Tax

Don’t hate on beneficiaries

15 Comments

Fellow blogger Tim has suggested that solo parent beneficiaries are morally inferior to prostitutes. I think this is false.

Government forcibly takes from the productive – which is wrong but it doesn’t mean that it is wrong to receive from the government.

Everyone (or practically everyone) accepts money from the government. Consider these examples of government payouts:-

  • Pensions
  • Working For Families “tax credits”
  • Kiwisaver “employer contribution”
  • Student Allowance
  • Unemployment Benefit
  • Sickness Benefit
  • Wages
  • Contract payments
  • Tax loopholes

Receiving money under the above situations is not in itself wrong and morally no different than receiving a Solo Parent Benefit.

Some people may be motivated to get on a benefit by laziness but laziness is not worse than prostitution.

Prostitution is itself necessarily wrong – receiving money from the government is not.

Beneficiaries are no more deserving of hate than prostitutes – and anger towards them is misdirected – it is the politicians and their supporters committing the unjust acts of theft.

Freedom

Waikato DHB’s pro-fluoride campaign

2 Comments

The Waikato DHB spent $47,000 on a pro-fluoride campaign to influence a referendum aimed at getting fluoride put back into Hamilton’s water supply. The campaign achieved its goal and in the referendum 23,000 citizens voted in favour of having fluoride medication and 10,000 voted against.

The action of the DHB is wrong. They shouldn’t be advocating medicating people against their wishes.

A guy I used to work with made an amusing observation about electronic faults we repaired. He said that there were only two types of faults – electricity going where it shouldn’t or electricity not going where it should. There is similar but useful truth about Government faults. With Government each fault is either a bad law or Government not following it own laws.

In this case are the DHB employees driven by bad laws or are they acting against the law?

The Act that prescribes legal DHB activities is the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. This legislation refers to the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights which identifies the following right:

Right 7
Right to Make an Informed Choice and Give Informed Consent

So, it appears the DHB employees are acting against the DHB’s own rules. They are acting illegally.

The remedy under this legislation is to make a complaint.

Right 10
Right to Complain
…
(2) Every consumer may make a complaint to —
… ( C) (ii) the Health and Disability Commissioner.

The complaint I suggest is this:-
The Waikato DHB is advocating medicating people with fluoride against their wishes. This is a breach of Right 7 of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights (the Right to Make an Informed Choice and Give Informed Consent).

Someone should make this complaint. I don’t feel I can because I’m not a Waikato DHB consumer.

Online complaints can be made here.

Righteous Rants

Sexual Pollution

9 Comments

This is how I see the sexual culture that surrounds me…

I can hardly watch TV with my kids anymore (TV hasn’t changed, they’re just older and have older tastes). They think all this shit is normal. I hate it.

It’s not just the sexual images that I object to – it’s the messages. Sex and marriage are constantly  cheapened – sex outside marriage is constantly promoted – everything is deliberately sexualised in an effort to influence us. What chance do my kids have of having unpolluted fulfilling marriages?

And it’s not just TV (and the internet and books and billboards) it’s the people – friends, family, my kids’ fellow students, teachers, etc.

dirty water

This is the culture that I live in and I have no choice but to consume at least some pollution.

 

Logic

Arguments from arrogance

2 Comments

The following are arguments from arrogance:

Your beliefs are absurd and should be considered as falsehoods unless they can be proven true.

My beliefs are reasonable and should be accepted as truths unless they can be proven false.

To say the burden of proof is yours is to argue from arrogance.

1984, Tax

Papers please!

4 Comments

papers1Big_01In the last couple of months I have been stopped at least once a week by the police to check my WOF, Registration and Driver’s License. Always during the day too – so it’s not like they are seriously looking for drunk drivers.

Screen Shot 2013-09-18 at 7.07.44 PMI’m not feeling bloody safer.

Good

“Good without God” or “good with God”?

7 Comments

.. .the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.. .

Some Buddhists have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Some Muslims have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Some Atheists have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
And, even some Christians have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

The question I have is this:-

If these people have genuine fruit of the Spirit then doesn’t that imply that they have the Spirit of God?

Good

Good without God?

8 Comments

I’ve seen the following proposed a number of times…

If there is no God then there is no such thing as good.

you cant have good without God change of heaart dot com…and this common, and rather sad, counter argument…

Atheists can be good therefore there can be good without God.

godless250I say this is a sad argument because it shows that the person didn’t understand the original proposition. And once this counter argument is raised the discussion centres around explaining the original proposition… but that is not what I want to address.

billboardWhat I have been considering is this:- Can people be good without God? Is it possible to really be good without God?

God’s will is what good is.
For a person to be good they must act according to God’s will.
If a person is acting according to God’s will then they can’t really be said to be without God. Can they?

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.

The measure of our goodness is the measure of closeness to God.

People can be good to a degree and at the same time deny God but they are still with God (to the degree of their goodness) and He is with them.

We can not be good without God.

Alcohol, Beer

Does the bible condemn recreational drug use?

11 Comments

vomitProverbs 20:1
Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Romans 13:13
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:10
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Discuss.