I was 18 in 1984. I voted under FPP for the local New Zealand Party candidate. Despite gaining 12.2% of the vote, the New Zealand Party gained no seats. I didn’t vote again until the first MMP election in 1993. Under FPP, red authoritarianism or blue authoritarianism, unmitigated, is guaranteed. For a freedom-lover, voting under FPP is a pointless waste of time.
I will be voting to retain MMP. I support reducing the number of MPs to 100, and a threshold of 1%, for the reasons given here.
Stephen Berry believes the necessity of strategic voting in Epsom for the last three elections is an example of a fundamental flaw in the current MMP system. “The purpose of MMP is to make our elections as democratic as possible. However the five percent threshold means voters in Epsom having to vote for candidates they do not support in order to affect the national result. I say the solution to this is to remove the five percent threshold altogether. If a party gets 2% of the vote they should get 2% of the seats in Parliament.”
Some critics of Berry’s advocacy for eliminating the five percent threshold point out this will mean there are more parties in Parliament and make it more difficult to establish a stable Government. Berry points out, “Totalitarian regimes are often more stable than democratic ones but that doesn’t mean they are a good thing. The purpose of having a democratic election system is not to ensure a stable Government, but to provide representation for voters. The most democratic way to do this is through proper proportional representation. I would even argue that a system which makes stable Government more difficult could be seen as a positive. This would make it more difficult for a Government to raise taxes, increase economic regulations and write new laws that violate individual rights.”
Berry is right that “the five percent threshold means voters in Epsom having to vote for candidates they do not support in order to affect the national result.” But … What good is it for someone to affect the national result, yet forfeit their soul?
In Booker T Washingtons Autobiography ‘Up from Slavery’ there is a story about a slave being sold. In retelling the event he said “There were five of us; myself and brother and three mules.”
That is as funny as it is tragic.
Liberty lovers are about as excited about the approach of Election Day this Saturday as Slaves at a market. We are painfully aware that no matter whom wins, our slavery will continue. We will be treated like Beasts of burden.
It is cutting to be surrounded by willing slaves, whom actually believe our slavery to Socialism is good and that Libertarians like myself are fools to believe in Freedom.
The absolute travesty of the Election process, esp the whore-ish sycophantism of the so-called ‘Free Press’ is unbearable! The Evils of state control of the Education system has resulted in the so-called free press becoming the Lap dogs of the Status quo. Thoroughly indoctrinated and certified by the State, they willingly peddle the Official line.
Our Country is marching towards destruction like Children enchanted by the Pied Piper.
You think Im exaggerating dont you…FOOLS!
I would board a Plane and fly away… yet what is happening here in our crappy little Hippy commune is happening the whole western world over. There is nowhere to run.
Thus I and my fellow Liberty lovers are trapped like rats. Dont get too close… We may Bite.
Tim Wikiriwhi
It has come to my attention that a young relative of mine, whom I love very much has just experienced a very terrible thing. He and a friend have been experimenting with illicit drugs, and just recently dropped some Bad E, and apparently his friend has suffered some sort of Brain damage. This is tragic!
No doubt many of his friends and family will be cursing the Drug dealer as ‘scum’ and will be hoping the Police bust his arse and throw him in jail for ever.
And there currently seems to be a lot of bad gear on the market. On the front page today’s NZ Herald is another story regarding ‘Tainted E’… ‘Ecstasy at Fairfield: 6 girls taken to hospital’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/drug-abuse/news/article.cfm?c_id=181&objectid=10767817&ref=rss
The experience of having a loved ones harmed by a toxic substance can make people become ardent prohibitionists, not understanding the reality that Prohibition is actually responsible for this tragic situation. The E being manufactured by dodgy people, out of dodgy ingredients processed using dodgy equipment. Thus these concerned citizens unwittingly perpetuate the very situation that will guarantee many more tragedies like this will happen. They probably are not aware of the fact that properly manufactured E is a relatively safe recreational drug.
Police Chief Richard Brunstom insists that ‘Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance’
In their anger and pain, and desire for vengeance, many fail to consider the fact that Prohibition did not prevent this tragedy from occruing, nor will it ever work because the reality is most young people will experiment with drugs, and that because there is a huge market for them, Entrepreneurs will always seek to make a profit from supply.
Nor will many people consider the relevance of the government Ban of BZP Party pills, which took away another safe alternative to Black market substances.
The Waikato Times also ran a story about the school girls, and while they failed to mention that the ‘Pills were tainted, they unwittingly revealed the detremental effect of prohibition means that
…’ Because it is illegal, there is no control over the purity, amount, or type of ingredients in ecstasy
Symptoms of an overdose include death, seizures, vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea and confusion
– Waikato Times’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/6008804/Drug-puts-college-students-in-hospital
That Prohihibiton results in this chaos is one of the grim realities Prohibitionsts ignore.
Nor will they consider the Lessons of Alcohol Prohibition when Dodgy people brewed dodgy Piss using dodgy equipment, and that this resulted in ‘Tainted booze’ that poisoned thousands of people, explosions, and Gang crime.
Alcohol Probition made Al Capone Millions!
Thankfully Alcohol prohibition was abolished. Criminal Gangs no longer profit from it, Its sale is restricted to Adults with those whom sell to minors being prosecuted, and it is manufactured in a safe manor and to a high quality. It is in the interest of the legitimate brewery to manufacture good quality/ safe alcohol to avoid prosecution and to stay in business. Illness and Deaths from ‘tainted brews’ are virtually eliminated, yet if some bad brew was to hurt someone the fact that alcohol is legal does not prevent the Law from prosecuting the maufacturers.
Prohibitionists also fail to consider the corruption of society that Prohibition fosters amongst the Police, and others professionals, like chemists, Businessmen, Sports professionals etc, for eg a recent drug operation in Auckland netted two police
I am appalled that the Drug trade has been given over to the Underworld and such scumbags as will supply minors with Crap gear, yet I know the answer to Harm minimization lies in Ending the drug War, not escalating it. This view is now widely held… and yet the madness continues. I would like to remind you to the recent report by the Global commission on drugs which marks a milestone in the history of Law and order, and in the notions of how mankind ought best to cope with the reality of drugs in society. It is the work of a group of political heavy weights called The Global Commission on Drug Policy, in which they argue that the “global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world”. They say governments should explore legalising marijuana and other controlled substances. The commission included former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former US official George P. Schultz, former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, Virgin boss Richard Branson and the Prime Minister of Greece. The evidence they say leaves no room for doubt. The war on drugs must stop!
As a Christian Libertarian I reject the notion that oppressing drug users is a just or intellegent way to deal with drug use in society. I do not believe political force can substitue self-responciblity and personal ethics. Prohibition and persecution are not propperly Christian modus opperandi. Nor is it biblical to believe that it is possible to legislate mankind into a socialist utopia. And Drugs can save lives. There is no Eternal salvation in Drugs, yet they can bring temporal relief to misery, and a depressing reality and thereby keep people from insanity and suiside… until they find Christ.
Tim Wikiriwhi Libertarian Independent for Hamilton West.
Update: 2-12-11. Government Crackdown on Alcohol Kills.
He cc:ed his letter to United Future MPs Peter Dunne, Paul Adams, Gordon Copeland, Marc Alexander, Bernie Ogilvy, Murray Smith and Larry Baldock.
From: gc soar [mailto:gcsoar@ihug.co.nz]
Sent: Monday, 11 August 2003 10:13 a.m.
To: Judy Turner
Cc: Peter Dunne; Paul Adams; Judy Turner; Gordon Copeland; Marc Alexander; Bernie Ogilvy; Murray Smith; Larry Baldock
Subject: Medicinal Cannabis – from a dying person
Importance: High
Greg Soar
Coordinator
GreenCross Medicinal Cannabis Support Group of NZ Inc.
P O Box 27 209
Mt Roskill
Auckland 1004
11th Aug 2003
Judy Turner
United Future Health Spokesperson
Parliament Buildings
Wellington.
Dear Ms Turner,
GreenCross has been in contact with UF regarding medicinal cannabis since late 2002. We met with Paul Adams in March 2003 to provide evidence from our doctors and other sources attesting that cannabis is helping our health problems. Mr. Adams chose to insist cannabis once damaged someone and would never change his mind about cannabis / medicine. He was so emphatic about not changing his mind he repeated himself three times during the conversation. This is very far from taking the time to examine proper evidence. When I pointed out people were suffering and dying Mr. Adams stated ” don’t be so dramatic there are other things you can use”.
My dear friend Evan Clive Shephard lived with HIV. He was so sick when he took his medications. Severe nausea to the point he couldn’t eat. His life was one long nausea session. More than once I was with him in public when he suffered severe diahorrea resulting in extreme embarrassment. Evan smoked cannabis when he could obtain some. It stopped his severe nausea dead in its tracks. No prescribed medications were able to do this. Unfortunately for Evan he could not afford cannabis so mostly went without. The medications were so nasty he chose a better life not taking the meds realising his time would be shorter but at least more enjoyable. Evans immune system depleted so badly due to his inability to stomach HIV medications he began to have lesions form in his brain. Toxoplasmosis is a nasty virus. My dear friend Evan lost his ability to talk, then his ability to walk and finall
I myself have the same nasty effects and currently my HIV medications are failing due to inability to stomach them. My cd 4 count is down to 54 and my viral load sits at 4.2 . I am afraid to say that I am losing the battle for the reasons stated. I would be willing to try Marinol at this point but my own specialist told me that at a conference he recently attended that to many people report an acute high. My specialists name is Dr Rick Franklin of the Auckland Sexual Health clinic and you may indeed check with him as to what I have said regarding Marinol.
If United Future and / or Paul adams are aware of these ” other drugs” we can use then why have we not been told what they are? GreenCross made several phone calls to Mr. Adams offices over the six months since the meeting only to never be given the courtesy of a response let alone an answer. Our members are upset Mr. Adams knows of medication better than cannabis yet makes us suffer by not informing us of what they are. We can only conclude one of the following.
1. Paul Adams / United Future does not want to help us. 2. Paul adams / United Future was wrong about the other drugs and should therefore reconsider the statement and opinions on medicinal cannabis.
Could United Future please supply us the names of these drugs or apologise to our members. We wish to work with United Future on this issue and an apology or drug naming would serve to placate some of our members who suffer daily.
During the meeting with Paul Adams I felt he was genuinely surprised when told that the sick are not medicating but actually going without. Too many people especially MP s seem to be of the impression we can have cannabis already albeit illegally. This is not true due to the cost. The sick are often on benefits and cannot afford $150.00 per week to medicate with. The prohibition of medicinal cannabis really does cause suffering.
As you are aware the Health Select Committee into cannabis recommends the use of medicinal cannabis. Again I have been receiving a flood of calls from our members [ membership means a registered medical practitioner has signed forms attesting the benefits of cannabis]. All of them have been in regard to your press statements along the lines of those mostly wanting medicinal cannabis are the social pro legalisers. This is offensive to those of us who face death and depleted quality of life from severe illness and who have doctors backing medicinal cannabis use but are left to go without the product for lack of ability to afford black market prices. Will you please inform our members as to how you arrived at such a conclusion.
We are all decent members of this society and deserve to be heard. In a press statement dated Aug 5 2003 you asserted cannabis use leads to methamphetimine use. This is not true and there are both international and local studies debunking the long held gateway theory. We feel that you have deliberately mislead the house.
GreenCross Medicinal Cannabis Support Group formally ask that you honour your role as an MP and apologise immediately for your attempt to mislead the house and members of New Zealand society. Education and advancement in social / medical policy can only be based upon truths. Anything less is indeed a crime.
Finally could United Future give their response to the fact doctors are signing forms attesting to the benefit of cannabis for their patient. Put this in context with your comments about the proponents of medicinal cannabis being pro legalisers and I am sure even you must admit why we feel so offended and utterly devalued of any worth.
I repeat that GreenCross Medicinal Cannabis support group wish to work with United Future on the issue and look forward to open and honest dialogue. Our members will not however sit quietly by when contemporary propaganda is exercised.
Sincerely
Greg Soar
On 22 August 2003, Greg Soar received a one line reply from Peter Dunne.
This garbage is not worth replying to
Hon Peter Dunne
MP for Ohariu Belmont
Leader, United Future
Ah yes, I’ve done the hard work for you, it has taken hours, but I’ve gone through every electorate candidate list. My test is simple, is there someone to positively endorse who is more freedom loving than the status quo? If so, vote for him or her. If not, is there someone positively evil and anti-freedom worthy to oppose, if so vote for whoever will remove him or her. So…
Without further ado, I’ll copy and paste Scott’s endorsements for the Hamilton West and Mana electorates.
Hamilton West – Tim Wikiriwhi – Independent
National’s Tim Macindoe narrowly pushed Labour’s Martin Gallagher out of Parliament. Yet he led Arts Waikato, and seems to be into environmentalism (Sustainable Business Network). He’s not really worth endorsing, even though he is up against the awful Sue Moroney, who wants a subsidised passenger train service to Auckland (that would be slower than a bus), and wants to force “pay equity” and longer compulsory paid parental leave. Moroney is number 10 on the Labour list so is a sure thing, Macindoe is 49 on the National list so may not make it if he loses here, but then that isn’t a real loss for those who believe in less government. Yet there IS a candidate who does passionately believe in freedom and less government. Although he has chosen not to stand for Libertarianz this time, he is still worthy of my support. Vote for a man who has turned his life around, and who is passionate about what he does, and works very hard to get across his message. He is his own man, true to himself through and through, and while you may not always agree with him, he deserves your vote – Vote Tim Wikiriwhi. If he got in, Parliament wouldnt know what’s hit it.
Mana – Richard Goode – Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party
Labour’s Kris Faafoi took this in the by-election last year and Whaleoil revealed the truth absent tactics that were used there. Yet the awful “Pakeha owe Maori loads” public sector consultant Hekia Parata of National is simply vile – from personal experience. Richard Goode, standing for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is mild mannered and one of the most rational speakers on liberalising drug laws in New Zealand today. He has decided not to stand for Libertarianz this year, but he is still libertarian. Vote for Goode.
Life is tuff. And the response of many to the ongoing battle is ‘Get Hard!’ Now there is a lot of merit to that way of thinking. It is a heroic notion, and much better than wallowing in victimism and self-pity, yet it can also render a person cold and indifferent.
It can seer the conscience. It can be an armour plate. A Wall.
Now walls can be good at keeping trouble out, yet they can also keep you trapped within, and like lunatics trapped in an asylum, your Madness, your regrets, your Demons, are also trapped inside with you. A wall cannot give serenity. For that We need answers. Powerful answers. We need to have a shining Light in our lives. We need understanding and hope.
In todays ‘Post Christian era’, many People don’t believe hope is possible. Many people are suicidal. Many think the best that can be ‘hoped for’ is to spend the fleeting hours in pursuit of temporal pleasures, with little scruple on how they get their fix. ‘It’s a dog eat dog world’ they say. ‘Better to be a hammer than a nail’… a wolf than a Lamb. Believing this turns people into cold calculating predators and users, whom existing as slaves of their own lusts and envy, live in such an amoral manor that they become purpetrators and propigators of the very evils and misery in the world which makes life so hard to bear.
This is why I am writing this message. As a contemporary of this era, I myself have grown up steeped in this world view. I have tasted it. I have lived it, tested it, and by the grace of God I have survived it… so far. It has profoundly shaped the person that I have become. I carry about me the scares of Battle, the pain, and the perversions of a life lived as a selfish sinner among sinners. Yet I have seen the light my friends, and it is this enlightenment of the soul which I wish to share with you today. I wish to show you how it is possible to tear down the wall and live a life of victory, facing the world with your head held high… and most of all… with self esteem and real hope.
Many people wont like me using the terms ‘soul’ or ‘sinner’. They have been taught that such terms are ‘religious bunk’. I want to remove the scales from your eyes and for you to receive Sight! I want you to become an objective thinker. I want you to save yourself from self delusion. I want you to recover yourself from the snares of the Devil.
I want to declare to you that your anti-religious mindset is a product of modern indoctrination, and a heinous delusion, the myth that ‘Science has killed off God’. That is not ‘realism’, but a monumental delusion my friends, built upon a pile of false premises and mountains of Pseudo-science. In the following months I will take a pick to these, and hack them down, and cut a path trough to reveal a fantastic reality that can forever alter your perception. Dare you but open your eyes and Look. It infuses a dead reality with life, value, and meaning. *That is what is at stake* That is what the atheist materialist delusion has robbed from you. Surely the high stakes involved… seeing the consequences our personal world views… *our religion* has upon our lives makes consideration of what I say worth the effort.
*Atheism is a religion*… a very short sighted one at that.
I want you to open your mind up to Objectivity in yet another way. Understand that while Atheism robs its victim of all hope, of all value, of all meaning, it does offer one thing many people find irresistibly appealing… It removes Objective morality and thereby removes Moral obligations, and moral guilt. You don’t have to be a philosopher or a psychologist to understand how this ‘escapism’ has a powerful and addictive quality to us. To live a guilt free life… to have a conscience ‘as light as a feather’ is so powerful a desire that Millions of people are prepared to sacrifice objective reality, all humanity, and all value, to maintain the delusion. They become consumed with hatred against those whom suggest to them that there is an Objective Morality which is over and above humanity, by which they ought to live, and by which they will ultimately be judged. They decry such a belief in Moral reality as ‘Slavery’… as controlling lies etc. Thus they seek to render reality nihilistic, and mankind to be merely beasts, so that they may wallow in their own lusts and depravity. ( Maynard James Kennan )
*How convenient!*
If theistic religion is the opiate of the Masses, then Atheistic religion is Crack Cocaine!
It is here that I appeal to you to ‘wake up’ to the fact that your denial of Objective morality is nothing more than a whimsical self delusion… an escape from reality. Reality is Tuff for human beings. Reality is grim. It is difficult to live honourably. It is hard work to live by the sweat of our own brows, and it takes a powerful integrity to be able to admit to ourselves that sometimes we do things that are really morally wrong. That we are in fact *sinners.* . This may be distasteful, yet it is an objective fact and therefore a vital reality to grasp. You see being objective means having the ability to accept truths, even when they place ourselves under condemnation. Even when to admit their truthfulness, is to accept guilt.
It is here that I appeal to you to wake up the fact that the very best Ethics of the Western civilization are founded upon the Book of Genesis and the Bible. Such things as religious Liberty, inalienable rights, equality before the Law, Self responsibility, Free speech, The pursuit of your own happiness, etc, and that the very worst oppressions and dependencies we suffer today are a result of the corrosion of theistic values, via the subversion of the atheist materialist worldview inherited from Marx, Darwin, Mill, etc. (These are bold and sweeping ‘general’ claims which I shall do my best to elaborate in the coming months.)
I am asserting that most atheists whom claim themselves to be ‘Good people’, are living in self-contradiction. Many assume they can hold many ‘Christian values’ yet without the theistic underpinnings. ( Maynard James Keenen… though extremely deluded, is still a far more ‘honest’ atheist than most and in fact if Jesus Christ was a fraud, Maynard James Keenan would be a mighty prophet of truth… instead of the deranged fool that he is!)
Now The bible tells us That God created Mankind in his own image, and gave him a rational mind and freewill, yet that Mankind choose to forsake God, and to commit evil, and that this resulted in God passing a death sentence and hiding himself from us. The Bible says that we are members of a fallen race… lost in sin.
As an Atheist evolutionist this worldview was so Alien to me that it was beyond belief. Yet as Providence would have it I encountered some Christians, and I entered into dialogue with them… actually listening to what they had to say… and nobody was more shocked than I, the day that I realized their Theistic World view made perfect sense! ‘It was a Revelation! The explanatory power of that short paragraph above this one is massive! It can explain the whole of human history…but for one thing. The loving grace and interventions of God for the Salvation of mankind. It is in this context that that the historical advent of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and Resurrection all make perfect sense.
And this is where the Hope, the value, and the meaning of life is to be found! For sin, judgment, and death are only half of the truth…grim reality. The glorious and life affirming revelation is that though we are sinners and stand in moral condemnation, God loves us, wants to forgive us, and desires to restore fellowship with us. He wants us to understand that he created us for a purpose, and for us to Live in the knowledge that our actions do have ‘moral weight’…that there really is Good reason to be Good, and that evil truly is evil, and that these distinctions are objectively true, they are not mere human conventions, not illusory.
I cannot adequately express how infinitely massive are the ramifications of grasping the reality that The Bible is *the truth*. The Bible says “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness”. The whole Bible is about bringing individuals to grasp Gods reality…and thereby discover what they are themselves, and what is going on in this world. It is to reveal the truth, and to germinate faith and hope. The Bible Story is a message to save ‘the lost’. This is the beginning of a new life, in a universe of meaning and value.
I will leave you with some words from the Apostle of Gods grace unto us Gentiles, St Paul…
“ There is none righteous, no not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Faith commeth by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. For by grace are ye saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves; it is the Gift of God lest any man should boast. Beware lest any Man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the newmoon, or of the Sabbath days….Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. [of the Law]
Tim Wikiriwhi
You might think that the party with the most party votes, keen to form a government, would negotiate with its nearest ideological neighbour, with a view to forming a coalition.
It never happens.
It’s a myth that MMP produces “kingmakers”. Winston Peters is a pawn, not a kingmaker.
Andrew Hansen created “a lounge music arrangement using the actual words to the Cannibal Corpse song, Rancid Amputation.” He separated the lyrics from the music in order to prove a point, viz., that “the lyrics aren’t the problem, it’s the music.”
Hansen is wrong. The music’s not the problem. The lyrics aren’t really the problem, either. It’s the album covers!
I first listened to Cannibal Corpse in 1990, when I purchased their debut album, Eaten Back to Life. I liked it, and purchased their next album, Butchered at Birth, in 1990. I liked it not so much. The album art grossed me out, and with subsequent releases the album art only got more and more gross.
The band’s album art (most often done by Vincent Locke) and its lyrics, which draw heavily on horror fiction and horror films, are highly controversial. At different times, several countries have banned Cannibal Corpse from performing within their borders, or have banned the sale and display of original Cannibal Corpse album covers.
I gave up listening to Cannibal Corpse, until recently.
Currently, my favourite Corpse album is 1998’s Gallery of Suicide. It features current members George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (vocals) and Pat O’Brien (guitar) and former member Jack Owen (guitar). Over the years, the band has had many line-up changes. The Corpse’s drummer (Paul Mazurkiewicz) and bass player (Alex Webster) are the two remaining original members.
Why do people listen to Cannibal Corpse? Here’s why (from the YouTube comments on the above).
Very nice! some gory bloody violent death metal to ease my ears after a long day of shitty lady gaga forced into my ears
Same here. Had to listen to fuckin Soulja Boi or whatever at school. “Majority rules”…fuckin BULLSHIT! THIS rules! \\m//
Cannibal Corpse—indisputably, one of the greatest death metal bands of all time.
Any list seats to which a party is entitled are filled from its list of candidates in the order they appear here, after deleting any candidates who have won electorate seats. Candidates who stand for an electorate seat only will not appear here.
Three years ago, I was also an electorate candidate for Mana, and on the (Libertarianz) party list. Mid-afternoon, I strolled along to my nearest polling booth to vote for myself. At a trestle table inside St. Barnabas Church hall sat two or three officials with electoral rolls, rulers and pens. I approached and gave my details. The woman I was speaking to drew a line through my name and gave me my ballot papers.
