Capitalism is “freedom from” (negative liberty) applied to economics.
Capitalism is what gives us “freedom to” (positive liberty).
I’ve been maxing out on capitalism the last couple of weeks. š
But I’ve been feeling like the title of this 1970 Deep Purple classic the last couple of days. š
Give me Capitalism or give me Death! š
^^^ š Onya Richard! Respect.
Support Transmission Gully The Evening Post
I spotted this bumper sticker on the way to work today. (The driver and the vehicle were also looking a bit the worse for yesteryear, which is why I noticed them.)
Mature readers from Wellington might like to try to remember the year that Wellington’s morning paper The Dominion and Wellington’s evening paper The Evening Post merged to become today’s metropolitan daily The Dominion Post.
Transmission Gully. What’s it good for?
Mainly for getting Peter Dunne re-elected, that’s what.
But now it’s the end of the line.
The Bible does not glorify poverty as so many infidels insist, or say that the poor are always virtuious, and the rich always crooked.
Scriptures like this mean that Money and self interest ought not to be our highest values.
“For *the Love* of money is the root of all Evil.”
St Paul.
“Every Man has his Price”.
Unspeakible evils have been committed for the sake of Filthy Lucre.
.. indeed even Christ was betrayed for 40 pieces of silver.
Important Caveat: while some money isn’t exactly ‘clean’…Some money is much much ‘filthier’ than others!
If we were to scrutinise each and every industry of humanity… almost none would be found to be absolutely squeeky clean!
As a Libertarian I respect an Individual’s right to choose their own religion, and to make honest money, even if the means are less than virtuous eg I respect the right of a person to make money selling books on atheism, and Evolution…though I think they are making money out of the ignorance, and folly of their fellow man.
I regret that they are lost souls, and that one day… unless they see the light… they will stand before God and answer why they chose to Capitalize from the market of infidelity.
That is filthy lucre and yet because in involves no theft or extortion, it is still ‘legitimate’ cash and Christian Libertarians like myself can tolerate that.
Likewise with Prostitution, Porn, Alcohol, etc.
The truth is I have far more respect for prostitutes, than I do for Devious and unscrupulous woman whom prey on some drunken chump to get pregnant so that they may claim the DPB! (Domestic Purposes benefit) My rationale being that Prostitutes actually ‘work’ for their money, and they dont force anyone to hire/pay them, whereas the DPB ‘Breeders’ use illegitimate children as a means of income extorted by force from hard working Tax slaves…by Gangster socialist governments… That sort of money is the filthiest of the lot!
There is a massive difference between someone who prostitutes themselves to feed themselves and their kids, than someone who does it simple because they are too lazy… or too proud to accept menial, servile… yet righteous employment… and there is always high hidden spiritual cost involved.
Thankfully God is rich in mercy and grace.
The Lord knows I am no Holy man, and that I must confess to having dirty hands… yet still though I would be sad if my daughter was a Hooker, in truth I personally have nothing at all against ‘working girls’, (or publicans)… I drink plenty myself, and I have had some as very close friends who ran Brothels, and as a Libertarian activist I have defended their rights.
I am sad for them too… though they are not my daughters… I still care about their spiritual well being, and believe they are selling themselves ‘cheep’.
I would much rather see them in employment which did not involve them selling their bodies… yet this is what this post is all about!
It’s about having values higher than easy loot or wealth.
What price do you put on your integrity…. your soul… your friendships… your body…???
Yet here’s My dilemma….I would far rather my Daughter prostitute herself than to mug an old lady for her purse!
And I am sure God see’s things this way too!
One is a Vise, the other is *a Crime*.
While vise is voluntary…*A crime involves force or fraud upon another person*
Likewise Though I dont like Cigarettes, I would still rather work in Cigarette factory to earn an honnest dollar to pay my bills and feed my family…. than to be a Bank robber.
Ultimately I pray for the souls Criminals, Prostitutes, and Peddlers of vise.
I pray they see the light and not only are spiritually redeemed by Christ, but Redeem themselves from selling themselves out… for ‘easy’ money.
I respect the Babe who Strips Friday and Saturday nights to pay her bills and feed her kids and thereby aviods sullying herself with the ‘filthy lucre of Government extortion’ going on the Dole, yet I respect more the beautiful woman who instead chooses to work longer hours at a Cafe for much lower pay Rather than prostitute herself… for the sake of ideals she values more than easy money… for the sake of her own higher self value, and saving herself for her Man.
^^^^ YEAH RIGHT!
Many Modern Atheists are Pompous White horse Riding ‘Moralists’!
They are Religious Zealot’s on a Righteous Crusade, fighting the ‘Evils’ of Religion, and vigously propagating and defending their Faith.
They often get extremely vicious against declarations of Faith in the Christian God, which led one Blogger to inquire…
” I mean, if you truly believe there is no God, why get all worked up over what a bunch of delusional Christians think?”… Valley Girl Appologist.
Pondering upon a post on Richard Goode’s Face book page discussing this Atheist Mentality in respect to why many of them are so militantly Anti-Christ, and so strongly desire to deny God’s existence… I made the following comment…
“There is a psychological reason Richard, They Hide from God in the Dark so as to delude themselves they can do as they please, and yet Pesky Christians keep reminding them that there is a God, and that He sets the Moral Laws… not them, and that one day they will stand before him and answer for their sins. *This is a message they HATE* … to the very pit of their self deluded souls! They simply donāt want to know about God *End of story*
Which Solicited the following response from ‘Atheist Greg’
……… “GARBAGE!”
^^^ Now Greg has expressed an opinion, not a counter argument.
It is no doubt a very common ‘opinion’ among Atheists, yet I donāt think my position as stated above can be so easily dismissed.
š
Atheist Greg has actually provided me with further opportunity to discourse the arguments for the Theistic vindication for Objective Morality vs Atheist Nihilism, and the origin of Mans innate sense of Good and evil.
Here I employ the basic argument used by the Late great C S Lewis.
My Reply…
If You Greg, and your kin, are nothing more than ‘Space Algae’, well *then* my arguement would be ‘Garbage’, yet you are a Conscious Moral being with a sence of Good and Evil, and you appeal to the ‘Moral law’ governing human actions every day… eg when you get a bill in the mail which overcharges you, you immediately feel a pang of āinjusticeāā¦ and experience emotions of sorrow, and angerā¦. And begin to make self righteous determinations to see justice is restored. Now this sense of injustice at ‘wrong’ is more than simply being upset that an agreement was broken (social compact)ā¦ie that a mere human convention was violated, It is a sense that *A Real Moral absoluteā¦ binding on all humanity has been broken* and that you are within your right to seek justice for your injury.
You are in fact appealing to an objective Moral absolute… a ‘higher Law’ which you implicitly believe underpins all ‘conventional’ human agreements as moral duties/ obligations to fulfil.
Thus I say that You Greg do not/ cannot live as a human being consistently with your claim that the universe is nihilistic/ A moral, or that Mankind is merely āSpace Algaeā.
To do so you would have to loose all sense of moral duty. You would have say to yourself that a person steeling your carā¦ was not doing anything wrongā¦ that even saying the car is āmineā is a moral irrelevanceā¦ the universe caring nothing for your claims to ownership.
And you certainly have no basis to think that when a school bus full of children plunges over a cliff that any ācosmic injusticeā has occurredā¦ no basis to shake your fist at heavenā¦ the only reason you would do that is if deep within you believe in Moral absolutes, and know that Children *donāt deserve* to die, and that you are angry at God for allowing this sort of thing to happen.
The people who come the closest to the embodiment of Atheism are the Tyrants, Mass murderers, and Serial killersā¦The Hitlerās, the Ted Bundiesā¦ the Hannibal Lecters… The Sociopaths and Megalomaniacs who… like Wild beasts devour and enslave their fellow human beings *as if they are mere Space Algae* .
These are the Atheist ‘Realists’, who live under the conviction that all Morality and Lawās of society are merely Human conventionsā¦and that there is no Real āHigher moral Lawā than their own Will.
They are God’s unto themselves.
Thus unless you (Atheist Greg) are prepared to accept that these Killers are absolutely right, and are prepared to drop any sense of Moral consciousness you have, I say
āGarbage!āā¦ to you!
I say deep within you know there is a real Higher Moral Lawā¦ you know that you are a Moral beingā¦ and these things all point to the notion of *Universal Justice*ā¦ God will judge!
…and as I was saying Atheists hate this Knowledge and seek to hide themselves from it.
They despise Christians for their ‘Pesky declarations’ which puts a tourch light on them…reminding them of their flight from Reality and their knowledge of the Truth.
Thus We witness the Ironic spectacle of Atheists who insist they are Moral, yet deny all Moral Obligation! They are ‘moral’ in their own eyes, and ‘holy’/without sin according to their own standards.
*How Convenient!* š
What Basis is left for Morality if God… the Divine Lawgiver is Obliterated?
Atheist Materialists in the 1800s admitted that Materialism was the end for objective morality, yet the Modern atheist is not so bold, nor so rigorous as to where their premises ultimately lead, and instead pretend that their Atheism makes them *more moral than theists!* and they attempt to utilize Historic atrocities committed in God’s name as evidence that ‘religion is evil’… forgetting they have no ‘higher ground’ upon which to stand to make any such moral judgments, and that in doing so they are applying standards which are not theirs to use!
Such a one eyed approach which only looks at particular negative historic events does not succeed in knocking all religion off it’s perch, or by default add one ounce of objective moral reality to Atheism.
While defending God’s Divine right to execute judgments upon Mankind, Christians themselves are just as rigorous as any atheist in their condemnation of atrocities like 911, or the Salem witch trials…committed in God’s name.
I attended a Debate in Auckland a Few years ago between Matthew Flannagan and Prof Bradley on the topic ‘Is God the source of morality’ in which Dr Flannagan presented the God Command Moral theory, and the atheist Prof Bradley made the statement that he believed that because God does not exist that therefore he cant be the source of morality.
Instead he argued morality can only be founded upon ‘sentiment’!!!
Now ‘sentiment’ is an absolutely pathetic, subjective, and culturally relative foundation without any authority to impose Moral obligations! (and I criticised him for it at question time!)
This is really the subject fit for another Blog post, yet what is interesting about the modern Atheist is that they cannot bear the reality that their belief system is definitively Amoral and De-humanising.
To avoid this they attempt to change the game as to what morality really is.
See this debate Here:
Important End Note:
The Genesis story of the Fall of Mankind into sin declares that we were transformed from a child-like innocence into a ‘Knowledge of Good and Evil’, and It is this inner knowledge of Good and Evil which makes all mankind, in all times and places, accountable and Guilty before God and deserving of Judgment because they all have a knowledge of their own moral responsibilities. Thus I am saying that the Savage whom tortures his neighbor to death *knows he is committing Evil*… even if he has never herd of Jesus Christ. And God will Judge him for it. So too with the Atheist who does not believe Jesus Rose from the dead. This denial does not negate the Atheists own knowledge of sin, and guilt for his immoral actions for which God will hold him accountable.
Thus contrary to what Many atheists assert: The Bible does not deny Atheists cant have any sense of Moralityā¦ it insists that everyone does!
What We Christians say is that the Atheist position cannot justify their moralityā¦. That Atheism itself is Amoral, and that it leads to mere cultural relativism, and social arbitrary law.
When Atheists claim to be moral, they a contradicting themselves.
Tim Wikiriwhi
King James Bible Believer, Dispensationalist, Libertarian, Christian.
Read More…
The Valley Girl Apologist…The Illogically Hostile Side of Atheism.
āKeep things in the shallow endā¦ because I just didnāt want to knowā¦ā
Atheists are Religious fanatics
Hell is for the Self Righteous, Heaven is for Sinners.
Materialism renders Man Nought. Meaning-less, Value-less, Right-less
Sir Bob Jones. Prophet of Nihilism. Advocate of Jackboot Civilisation. Pillar of Savage Society.
Oyster stout? WUT is the world coming to?!
This silky-smooth stout contains select malt and hops to produce a beer that is rich and complex. It contains Bluff oysters and has a slightly smoky flavour.
Contains Bluff oysters?! A “slightly smoky flavour”?! No wonder, this ungodly beer is a burnt offering to Baal! It’s an abomination! It goes directly against God’s word as clearly spelled out in Leviticus 11:9-12.
These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
I have previously warned of the addition of foodstuffs to beer. Beer is water, malt and hops ONLY. Chocolate and coconut were but thin ends of the wedge. And now, alas, it’s come to this.
No doubt, my Dispensationalist co-blogger will tell me that these dietary strictures do not apply in the present Age. I am unmoved.
At tomorrow night’s meeting of the New Inklings, the paper for discussion is Derek Parfit’s classic Personal Identity, first published in The Philosophical Review in 1971.
Here’s a teaser from Wikipedia.
Parfit uses many examples seemingly inspired by Star Trek and other science fiction, such as the teletransporter, to explore our intuitions about our identity. He is a reductionist, believing that since there is no adequate criterion of personal identity, people do not exist apart from their components. Parfit argues that reality can be fully described impersonally; there need not be a determinate answer to the question “Will I continue to exist?” We could know all the facts about a person’s continued existence and not be able to say whether the person has survived. He concludes that we are mistaken in assuming that personal identity is what matters; what matters is rather Relation R: psychological connectedness (namely, of memory and character) and continuity (overlapping chains of strong connectedness).
On Parfit’s account, individuals are nothing more than brains and bodies, but identity cannot be reduced to either. Parfit concedes that his theories rarely conflict with rival Reductionist theories in everyday life, and that the two are only brought to blows by the introduction of extraordinary examples. However, he defends the use of such examples because they seem to arouse genuine and strong feelings in many of us. Identity is not as determinate as we often suppose it is, but instead such determinacy arises mainly from the way we talk. People exist in the same way that nations or clubs exist.
A key Parfitian question is: given the choice of surviving without psychological continuity and connectedness (Relation R) or dying but preserving R through the future existence of someone else, which would you choose?
Parfit described the loss of the conception of a separate self as liberating:
My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness… [However] When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air. There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people. But the difference is less. Other people are closer. I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others.
Needless to say, I’m with Parfit on this one. His view is both liberating and … dare I say it, Christian.
(Or, at least, conducive to a Christian way of life.) (But with some startling implications for some Christian views of salvation.)
Here’s the Parfitian question again.
Given the choice of
(1) surviving without psychological continuity and connectedness (Relation R), or
(2) dying but preserving R through the future existence of someone else,
which would you choose? (Hint: what matters is Relation R.)
Related links: What are you? | Are you lego or logos? | Swallowed up by life | God vs. AI
I had my flu shot today, have you had yours?
Plague leads to death!
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
For more information:
0800 466 863
TXT FLU TO 515
www.fightflu.co.nz
You can spread the flu to people, including your family/whanau and friends, who are at most risk of complications
While general health affects the severity of an infection, the influenza virus is contagious and anyone can become infected.
Influenza is more than just a ābad coldā. Although some of the symptoms are the same, influenza is usually much more severe. Symptoms of influenza include a cough, headache, fever or chills, body aches and pains, fatigue and generally feeling miserable
Influenza, commonly called the flu, can be a serious illness that is sometimes fatal.
Even if you do not end up in hospital, influenza can keep you in bed for a week or more, preventing you from doing work, sport or just about anything that requires leaving the house.
The flu spreads from person to person. The influenza virus is transferred in droplets of moisture expelled through breathing, coughing and sneezing. The virus is spread when a person touches any droplets which contain the influenza virus and then touch their mouth, nose or eyes before washing their hands.
Influenza can infect up to 1 in 5 of us every year.
Influenza can affect anyone, no matter how fit, active and healthy they may be. Although people with underlying health conditions are most at risk from influenza associated complications, previously healthy people can still become seriously ill an even die.
Approximately 400 deaths each year in New Zealand are related to influenza infection.
We cannot predict from year to year how severe the influenza season may be. The flu virus can change yearly and new strains can emerge to which people are not immune.
To maintain the most effective protection against influenza, annual immunisation is required.
- protection lessens over time
- each year influenza can be caused by different strains of influenza viruses that are not represented in the previous yearās vaccine
It takes around two weeks to develop immunity once vaccinated. Ideally, immunisation should be carried out before the main influenza activity in May to September. People can be immunised at any time during the influenza season, but the vaccine is only free for those in the high-risk groups until the end of July.
Seasonal influenza vaccinations are recognised as being the single most effective way of reducing the impact of seasonal influenza ā especially for those most at risk of complications.
Stop the spread of the flu
If you are unwell, stay at home until you are better.
Follow basic hygiene practices:
- Wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds and dry them for 20 seconds ā or use an alcohol-based hand rub
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze ā then put the tissue in a lined bin
- Cough or sneeze in to your elbow if a tissue is not readily available
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
- Donāt share drinks
- Avoid crowded places
Donāt let the flu knock you. Get immunised. Protect yourself. Protect your family. Protect your community.
Immunisation may be FREE for you. Ask your doctor or nurse today.
This season’s ‘flu’ could be worse because of the new influenza virus commonly known as Swine Flu.
Fuckin’ pigs! š
Plague leads to death!
What a fine drop this is!!!!
6% too! š
Take note Richard G of the statement below!
esp… “Beer of Choice”…. “a supprising effective accompaniment for Dark chocolate, coffee,…”
Elemental is our most awarded beer, it has won gold medals in Australia and New Zealand and for a time it was rated New Zealand’s top beer, no mean feat for a porter of moderate alcohol and a balanced finish.
Originally the beer of choice for workers in Londonās produce markets, the beer was a mixture of the previous nights slops that the “porters” would drink when they clocked off at dawn. Porter is also Andy’s all time favourite beer style. Brewed in the modern ārobustā style, Elemental Porter is a rich, full bodied brew with plenty of dry, dark chocolate and roasty malt flavours which gradually give way to a cleansing hop-driven finish.
Not intuitively thought of as as a food beer it is a surprisingly effective accompaniment for:
ā¢Dark chocolate
ā¢Coffee or berry-based desserts
ā¢Blue cheese
ā¢Barbecued meats
And although historically it was a sunrise beer, we think nowadays it is probably more suited to an be served after dinner with desserts and cheese, although if you want to drink it at day break, we’re not going to stop you.
Cheers!
Andy and Brian
^^^^quote is from here: http://www.renaissancebrewing.co.nz/content/elemental-porter-ale-craft-beer.html
Grunge Miester Tim Wikiriwhi Queenstown Motorcamp. New Years Day 1999.
That’s a Montieths Black… Porter Ale! …. actually may be a Black Mac. š
My Fav beer for 20 odd years has been Waikato Draught, yet that was notoriously hard to get on the Mainland, and so on that ‘mission’ I was buyin up Montieths Black (you can get it by the Jug down there!) and also swillin Black Macs.
That bottle looks more like a Mac one than a Montieths.
And for the record both Black Montieths and Black Macs are bloody good ales!
Despite being bought out by Big Brewers…
I present that quote from Renaissance Brewing as evidence against previous remarks by my fellow blogger… re My endorsement of both Porter Ale and in particular Boundary Road Chocolate Porter Ale.
See Here: Stealth RTDs
…and Here (and the Comments!) New Zealand Beer War. Geek Coconut Porter.