The Tomahawk Kid

BOP Times editor lives in a parallel universe

2011-08-08T10:24:00.000+12:00

Who needs Phone Tapping when you can get your information living in a parallel universe!

The editor of the Bay of Plenty times jubillantly states in his editorial (and whose opinion also features in the inappropriately titled “Our View column) “now that the legal high Kronic has been banned and made illegal, New Zealand is now safer place for everyone!”

I can't help but wonder if he means the same New Zealand that I live in, or if he is referring to one in a parallel universe somewhere? I say that because the likelihood that either of those two things being possible is just a fantasy!

In the New Zealand that I live in, criminals have just been handed another product to add to their business ventures.

Another product to sell and manufacture at inflated prices, without hygenic packaging, health warnings, hygenic manufacturing processes, standards or regulated dosages.

Now those who chose this kind of recreational product (over one that nanny says is acceptable) will become criminals. Now those on lower incomes will have to spend more to get what they want, manufacture their own, or steal money or property, to be able to afford to purchase things which have been artificially inflated by the government.

Instead of educating people not to do stupid things to themselves, nanny would rather place innocent New Zealanders lives at risk.

Instead of protecting your lives, she has now put you in danger, and responsible people penalised for the actions of others.

The result of saving people from acts of stupidity is to fill the world with fools, and the beehive is full of them.

But then again,Nanny likes it that way - it ensures you keep her in a job.

Letter in response to a fan of Phil Goofs Capital Gains Tax

2011-08-05T20:00:00.000+12:00

What Mr Izett and I really disagree on is “The Use Of FORCE”and Property Rights.

Mr Izett has a severe case of ENVY and despite having had the same opportunity as others to accumulate wealth he has opted not to, and now wants to snatch a bit of what others have had the fortitude to acquire.

He says “Why should the wealthy get richer because they are clever with the money that they earn?
If that is his argument, then lets apply it in reverse! Why should those NOT wealthy benefit from NOT being clever with the money they earn (or are given - free of charge from the work of others).

For many, being wealthy can be put down to hard work, innovation in business, sacrifice (ie going without while they save) and taking risks.

Being wealthy is not some made up god-given right - it is EARNED - .

Just because other countries have it doesnt mean our country of sheep should follow suit.

A country cannot TAX itself out of debt and into prosperity- that is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up with the handle - IMPOSSIBLE.

Phil Goof is attempting to LEGALISE ROBBERY, attempting to BRIBE those WITHOUT to vote for him by offering them a share of what other people WORK FOR. He, and all those who vote for this immoral system should be ashamed of themselves

Looters and Bludgers

2011-08-05T19:57:00.000+12:00

The world - and our little backwater is no exception - is full of looters, bludgers, robbers, thieves and crooks. We even glamourise thieves like Robin Hood into being a good guy, where in fact he was a common crook (no wonder our children are confused), all of whom out to get some of what belongs to other people without having to earn it.

Wealth comes in many guises says Vanessa Byrnes - what some forget is that before that wealth can be stolen by these looters and moochers, it must first be earnt by somebody!

Without somebody earning it, crooks and moochers would have to find some alternative means of getting what doesn't belong to them, or else the poor things would actually have to work and create as opposed to thieve and loot.

Heaven forbid - they would have to spend their time thinking of ways to earn money instead of thinking of ways to take if from others.

Unfortunately, working is hard! It is much easier to get stuff without working for it, that is the reason you have a majorityvoting in favour of getting free stuff, ie. library books, TECT cheques art galleries etc.

I look forward with relish to the day when all the creators of wealth in the world go on strike. What will the looters and bludgers do then?

Maybe I will meet them at work!

Don't vote - it only encourages them

2011-08-05T19:55:00.000+12:00

This is my letter in response to a letter complaining about the poor voting turnout in Tauranga

I disagree with Colin Marshal on the subject of voting.

I do not vote for people I disagree with.

I refuse to give my permission to un-principled people to do things I disagree with, and when propositioned to chose between a poke in the eye or a punch on the nose I chose neither. They are going to give me one of them regardless, so why should I make them feel justified in doing it by giving them my permission?

Dont lose sight of the fact that the best of 2 evils is still evil!

Those people who do chose to vote, are part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
I disagree with giving other people the right to chose what I can and cannot do with my own money and property.

I do not agree to them taking whatever portion of my wages they chose to spend on things I disagree with. I do not agree with mob rule (ie the biggest gang wins) it is immorral and corrupt.

It is time to learn the meaning of the words property rights and the rights of the individual, but while your life and property are up for grabs there will be plenty out there happy to vote themselves a share of it.

Labour Partys ENVY Tax

2011-08-05T19:50:00.000+12:00

If you ever needed a reason to avoid the Labour Party like the bubonic plague, then here it is

Labours new flagship policy under Phil Goof is the iniquitous Capital Gains Tax, which sums up their immoral philosophy for me!

Goof wants to penalise Kiwis for being successful and for making plans for their future.

He wants to steal the money you earn through your industry and intelligence, and give it to those who have no respect for either!

Goof wants to give incentive to those who are not interested in saving for their future, which will guarantee New Zealand future generations relying on the state for their livelihood.

Labour are out to persuade you (using force) that Aesops fable about the ant and the grasshopper is wrong, and that the Little Red Hen was a crazy little clucker for working hard when all she had to do was to vote for the party who would force the others do the work, and then just eat “their” cake.

Labour want to bribe the lazy and unproductive to vote for them, with money they steal from the productive.

The more kiwis they bribe into receiving free money, the more they will need to tax the productive to pay for it (legalised slavery anyone?)

Bay of Plenty Times editors "Our View Column" strikes again.

2011-08-05T19:49:00.000+12:00

Once again the "Our View" column trots out a load of unadulterated, politically correct bollocks!

It is people spouting untruths like this, and making up false rights that have got this nation in the state it is in.

The true meaning of the word "rights" is "something that you do not have to ask somebody elses permission for."

There is no such thing as a "right" to an education or a "Right" to healthcare. This is a fallacy imposed upon us by socialism. These things are a privilege - not a right.

So what do you suggest? That the people of Orewa school be forced to receive a rationed education. That they must not use the best tools to excell because other people cannot afford them.

Do you suggest that they be forced to underachieve because they may be able to afford better tools?

If the government did not have a monopoly on the education system, parents would be able to send their children to a school of their choice, that used methods and taught things that they value. Would you suggest that a talented athlete have a ball and chain attached to his leg to make it fair for those who are not as able? I wonder what all those other individuals the "our View" column speaks for are of the same view.

I would be more outraged than I am now if anybody thought "Our View" was speaking for me.
Shame on you - again!

Larry Baldock at it again

2011-08-05T19:46:00.002+12:00

I have almost never agree with the unprincipled politics of Larry Baldock, and I am speechless at his latest outburst accusing the regional council of acts of communism!
I wonder if he has ever heard the saying “The pot calling the kettle black!”

Cr Baldock has no idea of the meaning of the words individual and property rights (the opposite of communism). Philosophically, Larry is the antithesis of these things yet he has the nerve to come out with something like this - unbelievable!

Larry is an advocate of democracy ie the biggest gang get to vote away the rights of the smallest gang (the smallest gang being the individual)

If there ever was a politician that needs to learn the meaning of the above words, not to mention the importance of basing your decisions on a set of principles, then it is Mr Baldock.

The hypocrisy is outstanding, and if you ever ask yourself why we are in the mess we are in, it’s due to people like this who make decisions on feelings and public opinion - enforced with threats and force - where minorities (individuals) are stripped of their rights and property (as in communism) as opposed to upholding individual and property rights.
Larry undoubtably only wants what is best - its just his concept of how to achieve it is morally and philosophically flawed!

John Key and Soft Compulsion

2011-08-05T19:45:00.000+12:00

Another perfect example of politicians twisting words that mean something bad, so they will be accepted by the sheeple. The National spindoctors must have been working overtime on this one!
Soft Compulsion - what a crock.

. . . It's OK to step in it - its only "SOFT dog poop!"

Compulsion is COMPULSION regardless of whether its SOFT or not!

Good for you Tauranga councillor Rick Curach

2011-06-07T08:38:00.000+12:00

I salute Rick Curach for suggesting the new council chief executive slash 3 million dollars from rates. although I say he doesnt go far enough!

3 million this year, and 3 million for each consecutive year untill everything but the essential services are left, leaving council the opportunity to concentrate on providing quality essential services.

This will save them from robbing individuals at gunpoint (under threat of force) to pay for things they do not voluntarilly wish to pay for. Leaving YOU with the money that you earn, to spend on things that you value - ie art galleries, libraries, concerts and sports.

Those vociferous in opposition to such a move are probably those whose livelihood is most expendable.
If ratepayers were allowed to spend their own money on things they wanted, the majority (ie those you all think are the only ones who have rights) would get what they want anyway because they would have the money to pay for it, and the minority (those whose rights you would destroy in a vote) would still have their own money in their pockets to spend on things they value.

The system you all seem to blindly adhere to (because you are not taught there is an alternative) is corrupt and immorral.

Take me to your leader

2011-05-25T10:42:00.000+12:00

Here is a letter in the BOP Times concerning me.

************

I am puzzled by the letter from Graham Clark where he accuses the IRD of stealing money by way of taxes.

Perhaps Mr Clark wishes to tell readers how the government can run the country without receiving money from taxes.

********

Here is my reply - making use of numerous quotations from Ayn Rand

The child molesters of the mind have done a grand job brainwashing people like Lawrence Woods (with money taken from them under threats and force), into believing they cannot function without their interference in their lives.

"The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap."
I don’t need a leader to tell me how and where I may educate my children, or when I am sick enough to go to hospital, or what I may or may not put into my body, how I may reprimand my children, or if I may or may not end my own life! This is a myth perpetrated by government - "your leader" to make its citizens think they cannot function without them.

The function of government should be to protect its citizens from the use of force and fraud, - not inflict those things upon them - something I am sure we would all pay for voluntarilly.

Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.

I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

So to answer Mr Lawrences question HOW can they run it without taxes, the answer is "they can't, and nor should they." Unfortunately they "DO" and they WILL continue to do so all the while they have the minds of our children in their grasp, as is perfectly illustrated by Mr Lawrences question.

Tall Popp[y-choppers alive and well in Tauranga

2011-05-23T09:57:00.000+12:00

As is the tendency of all good socialists, Bruce Little manages to overlook one minor fact in his letter complaining about the pier that the Kestrel Restaurant was moored to on the Tauranga Waterfront.

That in order for the council to steal money from its citizens (oops I mean tax), first of all they must be able to earn money. This little inconvenience is achieved by the productive of our society - ie if money is not first created, then there is nothing for council to steal (I mean tax).

The little monument to commercial narcisism as he snidely calls it was an attempt to create commerce and income - not only for the entrepreneur, but for others employed in the area. Without adventurous, nacisistic entrepreneurs, people like Bruce Little probably wouldn’t have a job. This was a private speculation and would have been undertaken at no expense to ratepayers, and should be encouraged at every opportunity - not denigrated by the choppers of tall poppies.

The council are parasites on the backs of the productive. They create nothing. The more commercial narcisism undertaken means less that council have to steal from ratepayers, forcing them to pay for things some do not wish to pay for.

I may not like everything developers build, but I don’t have to pay for them, as opposed to council forcing ratepayers to pay for things like them or not.

BOP Times editorial on Drugs

2011-05-15T14:41:00.001+12:00

I constantly find myself being in disagreement with the opinions of the editor of the BOP Times, and here is just another example I feel it necessary to comment on.

I disagree with your rationale in your editorial "Drugs must be stamped out."

http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/opinion/news/editorial-drugs-must-be-stamped-out/3951838/

and it is statist misinformation and propoganda like this that will ensure they continue their popularity and continue to have an adverse effect on those who chose NOT to take recreational drugs.

As editor of the newspaper, you are in the position to state your opinion at will, and so I would assume that you would inform yourself of all the facts before presenting your opinion to the public, and I ask if you have ever read Nobel prize winner Milton Friedmans "Law of prohibition?" If you have not, then you should do so immediately, for without having read this you are at a serious disadvantage to present a balanced editorial.

First of all you say: "Illegal drugs give people a reason to commit crime and hurt others."
Assuming that statement is true, then the opposite is also true ie. if they were legal, those who wish to use drugs would have "no reason to commit crime, and no reason to hurt others." That is immediately a reason for them NOT to be illegal.

While they are illegal, those who demand they are so, are the "reason" people commit crime and hurt others. That makes YOU part of the problem - not the solution that you seek.

If they were legal, those being harmed by the drugs would be hurting themselves - not others.
A more rational solution would be a truthful education programme to teach people not to harm themselves, and the truthful consequences of taking recreational drugs, which would not place other peoples lives and property in danger.

People commit crime because they "want" drugs - not because they are "on" drugs.

Your argument concerning alchohol is not only irrational but also immorral.

I agree that what you say about any political power would not be able to stay in power should they try to ban it, but then you try to justify it being legal by saying the following: "Thousands use it responsibly!"

Thousands also use illegal recreational drugs responsibly.

Don't get me wrong. I do not condone the use of recreational drugs.
All drugs are dangerous, although some more so than others
For this reason I do not take them myself, although I have known hundreds of responsible, everyday people who do, and persecuting them because "you" do not agree with what they chose to put into their body is first of all none of your business, is hypocritical, and makes no sense at all.

Because of your personal irrational, prejudiced opinion, you would also deny those ailing from certain medical conditions from receiving the best treatment for their condition. Not a thing I would like to have on my conscience.

You state the Law Commission would be better off spending its time working out how to cut crime.

What is crime?

Is it possible to commit a crime against yourself?

No!

Therefore to answer your statement, refer to my paragraph above about exactly who "is" the victim of crime.

It should be the governments job to "protect" its citizens from acts of force, fraud and violence and crime with a victim - not inflict those things upon us.

Your paragraph concerning "legal highs" such as Kronic also shows a poor understanding of the issue.

It "should be" any employees right to unequivocally state that "any" mind altering substances will not be accepted as an employee of their company (if they so wish of course). That includes "legal" or "illegal" substances - including alcohol.

Your final statement: "If anything drug laws should be tightened." will have exactly the opposite effect to the end result you wish to achieve. That is not my opinion - its a historical fact which you will read about when you read Milton Friedman.

Tightened drug laws will have the following effect:

Illegal drugs will become smaller and more potent (to aid in concealement, manufacture and distribution.)

Drug prices will increase, and therefore make them more worthy of the risk to manufacture and sell them.

Those manufacting and selling the drugs will resort to more EXTREME measures to protect their valuable product (ie they will invest in bigger, nastier guns and methods of protection)

It will be in these peoples interest to get children hooked on drugs to increase their customer base, and increase their profits

More dangerous, un-regulated, un-tested drugs will be developed, sold and used when people cannot get hold of less dangerous recreational drugs of their choice.

I could go on - please ask me for more examples - I will be happy to furnish them.

I have the same end goal at heart as you do. ie to see less people harmed through using dangerous substances.
To reduce crime (real crime with an involuntary victim)

I suggest the methods used to achieve our mutual goal have proven ineffective, and have squandered more than they have achieved, while you suggest we continue with the squillion dollar tried and failed war on drugs, which in all the years in operation has achieved the results you are unhappy with today.

Who is John Galt?

2011-05-12T18:48:00.000+12:00

Who is John Galt?

I am really excited to hear that a New Zealand Actor - one Grant Bowler has one of the lead roles in the Atlas Shrugged movie that has just premiered in the USA. Atlas Shrugged is of course the best selling book (OVER 7 MILLION COPIES) by philosopher Ayn Rand.

If there ever was a movie to be made compulsory in schools, council chambers and government offices around the country it should be this. Forget Al Gores creative fairytales about Global Warming and movies by Michael Moore.

Unfortunately the concepts illustrated in this movie will go over the heads of a population steeped in state and council dependancy and will be like playing War And Peace to kindergarted children, but if it teaches just 1 person the meaning of the words property rights and personal responsibility our country will be better off.

This movie or better still the book - should be made compulsory reading or viewing for every council and government candidate.

The book Atlas Shrugged is a life-altering experience, and I urge everybody to go and check it out when it arrives - but before it gets here, get busy and read the book to help your enjoyment of the movie.

Dole Bludgers NZ Wide now have a new pin-up Girl.

2011-05-12T18:46:00.000+12:00

Dole Bludgers NZ Wide now have a new pin-up Girl.

http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/local/news/over-42000-taken-in-benefit-fraud/3951552/

Leanne Hardy has spent a great deal of her life stealing from me and you because she couldn’t be bothered working. She denied our children time with their parents while they had to work and earn enough money to keep themselves alive and pay for her to sit at home. Our children were deprived of things because a portion of the wages we earnt were taken from us (under threat of fines or jail) so that the likes of Leanne could do nothing and get paid for it.

How do these people live with themselves knowing this? The answer is they are not taught otherwise. They are brought up to believe they have a right to this money, and not taught where it comes from.

The irony is, Leanne is back on a benefit (god knows how or why) and the courts or whoever it was, have the temerity to say she is paying the stolen money back!

With money she has not had to earn! Stolen from its rightful owners (the taxpayer / worker) and given - unearned - to Leanne - so that she can give some of it back! All those who condone such a system should qualify for a sickness benefit. - What a farce.

Bind and Gag Tauranga Ratepayers so there's no resistance

2011-04-25T09:21:00.000+12:00

Here is my reply to a very condescending letter in the BOP Times by Shane Kennedy asking that people do not moan about the Linley Dodd sculptures being erected in Tauranga.

He says that Rates won't fund the statues (apparently that has already been decided). Excellent. The negativity has been addressed, so lets move on to the positives and stay firmly planted there.

He states that the project, which is destined to become one of Taurangas greatest (I agree) is underway, and in good hands with Creative Tauranga involved (by the way, aren't they a Ratepayer-Funded organisation?)

He says "My message is one of total support for those working hard to make it happen, and a request for the citys serial moaners to leave this one alone.. Dont write about it. Put away your calculator, and for councillors to show a little more courage and participate in making them happen.

Council do not need to be encouraged to rape and pillage ratepayers. They do so at every conceivable opportunity. More through ignorance of property rights, and non-adherence to principles that don’t contravene them, but Shane Kennedys’ letter cannot be left unchallenged.

Not only does Shane encourage council to continue their rape and pillage, but recommends ratepayers are bound and gagged to ensure they get away with this uncivilised behaviour!

What kind of society have we fostered when people who should know better can only think of using force and bully tactics on their neighbours to get things they want? The irony is that Kennedy calls for negative measures (force) to achieve a community benefit. Only tyrants and despots use force to try and boost community spirit, and history dictates it doesn’t work!

Hairy McLairy sculptures are a fantastic idea - spoilt only by those who would use the most uncivilised act known to man, upon others. If passionate, community-minded individuals like Shane spent as much effort in positive ways instead of (albeit unwittingly) in immorral ways, such community benefits would be the sweeter. Put my name down for fundraising, but I will fight - like Scarface Claw - immorral acts of force.

These things will be a great community assett. However, it is wrong to achieve them through the immoral act of slavery (force and coercion).

Don't the socialists just HATE it when people put up resistance, or question their demands for council or government to use FORCE on others to deliver to them things they want?

These things may be of benefit to the community, and for the so called "greater good" but they do not see the irony in their demands!

The irony of course being:

They call for negative actions to achieve a positive outcome (which defeats the purpose to me)

They wish to achieve community spirit by acts of force (slavery)

They not only wish to applaud somebody or something that THEY think is worthy, but they wish to force OTHERS to acknowledge that also, regardless of whether they agree or disagree.

Darwin Awards contender from Tauranga

2011-04-05T09:04:00.000+12:00

I am sure student Robert Moore is a nice young man, but you can also add a few other adjectives to that description, like stupid, irresponsible, and now Bossy, controlling and dictatorial!

Unless Robert has been on another planet his previous 23 years, he would be aware that anything that alters the state of your mind is not good for you, yet of his own free will he chose (against the manufacturers recommendations) to binge on Kronic.

Doing anything in excess will have an effect on your body - try eating a whole packet of sugar-free lollies that are readilly available from the counter at service stations and see what happens! - Its not pleasant!

My mood changes after I binge on a block of chocolate.

Do not consider talking to my wife before she has had a cigarette in the morning, and my grandmother is a tyrant until she has had a cup of tea.

So now, because of his own irresponsible actions, he wishes to prevent others from enjoying something - lets hope he is not a student of politics.

I do not take recreational drugs.

I do not like their effect on me. Plus as a rule of thumb, I find that you dont get addicted to them if you dont put them in your mouth!

I ask the question: Why does Robert think it is right or acceptable to deny other more responsible people from doing something because you chose not to heed the manufacturers warnings? Because you personally chose to do something to the exteme

If Robert had stuck a knife in the electricity socket (which I'm sure he wouldn't as he would have been warned of the dangers) would he instead be calling for a ban on electricity?

Robert is a product of the poor and untruthful education and demonisation of drugs in this country. All drugs are dangerouse - some more than others. Putting them all in the same category (ie illegal) just encourages abuse.

Personally I think Robert is a contender for the Darwin Awards for not using his brain for the purpose it was designed.

Tauranga Tsunami Sirens

2011-04-01T09:21:00.000+13:00

There has been a lot of hand-wringing in Tauranga about the lack of tsunami warning sirens.
An article on the Weekend Sun (link below) prompted me to write this letter.

http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/12113-siren-campaigner-wants-bay-focus.html

Where is the warning system to alert us that there are looters and bludgers about? People who pester and hassle the council to get them to force other people to "do" and "pay" for things they want, or find important.

They are more of a threat to our everyday lives and property than any tsunami.

Warning sirens for the coastal area are yet another example of the "What's the Council going to do about it!" syndrome.

Council dont have the monopoly on saving your life! Council won't drown in a tsunami - you will!

If you value your life (and you should - it is your most valuable posession) then its time to stop passing the buck to somebody who loses nothing if you lose your most valuable posession and do something about it - and I dont mean complain to the council.

People in the danger zone should get together, form a committee, do some fundraising and organise something ASAP.

They don't because Council/bureaucrats have taken responsibility for their lives, and personally I wouldn't trust the council/bureaucrat with the life of a hampster, let alone my most valuable posession.

If you wait for the council to "do something about it" (it is "your" life that is in danger remember) you'll be washed out to sea and drown - Try complaining and asking "What's the Council going to do about it" then!

We have cultivated and encouraged a life of council and government dependancy and it is sickening to observe the looters and bludgers
wringing their hands and complaining. If you were to spend as much energy doing something constructive as you do demanding "What's the Council going to do about it!," you would have 100s of the bloody things by now!

The Truth About Money

2011-03-24T08:39:00.000+13:00

The TRUTH about Money

How true is this!

If only they would teach stuff like THIS at school!

This, writen by economist Milton Freidman

The four ways money is spent:

When you spend YOUR money on YOURSELF, you're keen to get the thing you want most at the best price. Think middle-aged men haggling with a Porsche dealer.

When you spend YOUR money on OTHER PEOPLE, you still want a bargain but you're less interested in pleasing the recipients of your spending. That's why children get underwear at Christmas.

When you spend OTHER PEOPLES MONEY ON YOURSELF, you get what you want but price concerns go out the window. ie: second wives, riding around with the middle-aged men in the Porsches, who shop at Designer Clothes shops, as this type of spender.

When you spend OTHER PEOPLES MONEY ON OTHER PEOPLE you don't give a damn.
That would be government.

So don't blame politicians for your tax bills. If you want lower taxes, you need to wean yourselves off government services and the belief that the answer to every problem is that the government ought to "do something".

It's not just a case of governments doing more with less. It's about governments doing less with less.

When that realisation dawns, you may discover that most things the government can do, you can do better and a whole lot cheaper.

Why do I bother? Here's why!

2011-03-22T10:01:00.000+13:00

I have been a regular contributor to the "letters to the editor" page of the local daily newspapers for some years now, where I have been accused of "laying in wait to pounce upon those I disagree with."

These people are generally those who wish to have a say in what I can and cannot do with MY LIFE, MY PROPERTY, and MY BODY.

I do not in fact lay in wait to prey upon them, as their lives and activities are of no interest to me whatsoever.

What I have done is become vociferous in standing up for personal responsibility and property rights in the face of the creeping plague of socialism that threatens the life, liberty and property rights of us all.

On most occasions my letters are aimed at people who wish to use force and compulsion to get me (and others) to comply with things THEY think we should, or things THEY believe are for our own good.

To these people I give a vigorous one fingered salute, (and all the things that salute stands for,) followed by a hearty chorus of BUGGER OFF.

My letters often tend to be based around themes such as:
Keep your hands out of my pocket, there aint a damn thing in there that belongs to you!
Local council should not be in the entertainment business!
OR the prostitution business
Die-while-you-wait Government health system
NaZis on Air Funding
Political correctness gone mad
Tax is Theft
Nanny States one-size-fits-all Brainwashing centres (Government run school system)
. . . and last but not least my core principle . . . "The Non-Initiation of Force."

I am of the belief that much of what my local council is involved in can be done better and more efficiently by private enterprise, if only they would GET OUT OF THE WAY and let them!

Anyway, if you log in here on a regular basis, no doubt you will get the idea of where I am coming from, and I look forward to hearing from you, so post away.

Principles! - What Principles?

2011-03-22T09:33:00.000+13:00

I recently admonished Simon Bridges and Bob Clarkson for being bereft of principles, and have had people asking me what do I mean by principles?

Principles are a set of fundamental rules by which you or your group operate.

They set out the foundation upon how you make decisions in a consistent manner, ensuring that followers know what you stand for.

If you stand fast by your principles and do not break or compromise them, and do not stray from the rules they set out, you should be able to make consistent choices and come to consistent moral conclusions that apply equally and fairly to all.

This in turn should give people confidence in placing their trust in your decisions because they are always consistent, fair, just and moral, and you can be assured exactly how this person or group will vote or what their decision will be based upon their core principles.

The National party have a set of principles which they totally ignore and contravene daily.

The reason for this is that people like Simon and Bob do not understand how principles work, let alone that they even have any and why they are important! They just go by opinions. - What they FEEL is right, or what their constituents want.

Every one of my letters is based upon my set of principles which I go to great lengths not to break. Sometimes that means that I may stand up for something that I personally do not agree with.

Opinions are like arseholes - Everybody has one!.

Everybody has an opinion, but you can't base policy on personal opinion. It is immorral, unfair and inconsistent.

All present political parties (except one) have lost sight of their core principles and campaign on feelings and public opinion.

WHY do they continue to do this?

Because if they didn't campaign on these things, they would not be elected.

That is WHY we have marijuana or drug prohibition - If National or labour said they would legalise drugs, most of their supporters would desert them, and they would then be out of a job - political suicide.

That is why alchohol is still legal.

National or Labour would have banned it by now - along with cigarettes, but if either of those parties said they would ban alchohol or cigarettes, they would lose popularity, and commit political suicide.

politics based upon feelings and opinions, instead of RIGHTS and PRINCIPLES.

Until principles are rediscovered our political system will be doomed to remain the farce that it has become, and immorral and un-just policies will continue to be forced upon us by un-principled cartoon characters like Simple Simon and Bob the Builder.

Simon Bridges Democracy Competition - What a Joke

2011-03-20T11:41:00.000+13:00

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges is inviting senior secondary school students to compete in an essay competition about democracy.

Students from schools in his electorate are asked to write an essay of up to 1500 words on ‘young people and democracy’.

From the entrants, a winner is chosen by a committee to receive both a prize from Simon and earn entry into a larger pool of contestants from around the country to win a trip to Parliament.
In Wellington, the winner will visit the Prime Minister’s office, watch parliamentary debate and experience many other significant aspects of government.
The winner also receives a lunch at Bellamy’s at Parliament and joins a discussion with the president and members of the Association of Former Members of Parliament, who are sponsoring the essay competition.
“This essay competition will be a great way for Tauranga students to learn about democracy and will also allow one fortunate student to directly experience New Zealand democracy up close and personal,” says Simon.
“I wish I had had this kind of opportunity when I was at school.
“I didn’t visit Parliament until I was at university and I recall it was a real eye opener for me.
“I hope that a Tauranga student gets to have a special Parliament experience.”
Entry to the competition is handled through a student’s school and essays must be at Simon’s office by Monday, April11.

(This story above quoted from the SunLive website: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/11713-democracy-challenge-students.html)

The Tomahawk Kids Response:

What a JOKE this is!

The child-molesters of the mind (ie government-run education system and curriculum) do not teach children that there is any alternative to the MAJORITY WINS system.

They have the monopoly of brainwashing our children and feeding them a one-sided story, and then have the temerity to ask them to write a balanced essay , when they have absolutely NO IDEA that there is even any alternative.

Talk about mind control

They do not teach children that in a vote of 100 people 51 get to DESTROY the rights of 49 people.

They teach them that MINORITIES have NO RIGHTS.

They teach them that it is OK to gang up with likeminded people and BULLY under threat of FORCE and imprisonment - the minority. - THEN they have the temerity to run a campaign that BULLYING is BAD!!!

Democracy is 2 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what to have for dinner!

They teach that individuals HAVE NO RIGHTS! When we are ALL individuals.

The result of this competition will be a disgrace - a true indication of the grip government have on the lives of our children and our country.

If they taught that there is an alternative, people like Simon would not have a job.

The winners get a LUNCH AT BELLAMYS so they can get an early induction into the life of a parasite (oops - I mean politician)

Bob the Builder Vs Simple Simon - a New fable by Aesop

2011-03-20T11:28:00.000+13:00

Here unfolds a tale of two cartoon characters, who, if having been alive around 620BC would have had a story written about them by a man who went by the name of Aesop.

People in Glass houses shouldnt throw stones, and Bob the Builder has built himself a glass palace, and is throwing Stones at Simple Simon, and if the situation wasn't so serious I’d be laughing!

Bob is berating Simon for toeing the National party line on the seabed and foreshore bill - ie not listening to his constituents, and not making up his own mind, instead, just being a puppet and doing as hes told by the party.

Ahem! Does anybody else recall Mr Clarkson standing on the steps of parliament saying he opposed the anti-smacking bill, only to toe the party line and vote in favour of it? Sorry Bob, but what a hypocrit.

This is what happens when you give your vote to cartoon characters who dont understand what it is to have principles, and who end up being part of the problem instead of the solution.

If Mr Clarkson insists on throwing stones, he had better make sure the glass house he has built is made of toughened glass.

Both of these immoral and principle-less political puppets are as bad as each other, and until they learn the meaning of the word principles, you can expect more of the same. lmao

Max Mason - career bureaucrat

2011-02-27T21:05:00.000+13:00

The present political mentality of Kiwis dictates that what Max Mason says is true: ie people moving here and demanding rates be left low need to accept they (high rates) are part of the population problem.

This however does not need to be fact.

It is solely due to people like yourself who demand council “do this - do that,” and “What is the council going to do about the other,” etc that ensure its perpetuity.

In effect, you are poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick, and then complaining that it hurts.

The solution is simple - If it hurts, stop doing it!

If you were only to wean yourself off the council dependancy and make room for private enterprise to provide the things you want (thats how the law of supply and demand works) You will have everything you want at no expense and no responsibility should it go belly-up.

The reason we have this situation is because there are too many busy-bodies (the likes of Max Mason) who know whats best for you and how and what you should spend your money on, and whats more they think they have the right to demand you do it (oh, and it pays to keep them employed and free from having to do a job that actually creates something worthwhile - ie something people actually WANT and will purchase free of compulsion).

It is their addiction to ganging up with likeminded people and demanding council force others to do things “they” demand which ensures the problem wont go away.

These minority (whos rights you have just abused) are the ones who complain (as they have every right to).

Immunisation

2011-02-27T21:01:00.000+13:00

When I was young and had my first children I did as I was told.

I had my children jabbed with a needle full of god-knows what because the government said I should.

If I was instructed by the government, then it must be right, and so I did as I was told without question.
I was young, uninformed and stupid to do as I was told just because the government told me to.

Many years later when I understood who the government was, and how they made decisions (by the counting of votes and not by the quality of thinking) I realised that these things needed to be scrutinised, and that I had the right to make my own decisions and should be responsible for my own actions.

At the same time my closest neighbour had a child, who very shortly after being immunised was diagnosed as being autistic (could have been a coincidence - who knows).

The screams emanating from that house were enough to make any parent take notice.

Shortly after that I had another child, and after reading up on the subject made an informed decision not to immunise.

If I had my child jabbed, and they had an adverse reaction, I would blame myself.
On the other hand If I didnt jab my child and it contracted a disease (many of which were on the decline before immunisations became prevalent due to better hygiene and nutrition) then I would blame myself.

You can say that you are damned if you do, and damned if you dont - make your choice and stand by it. We have become a nation of sheep, dependant on the thinking of others and not prepared to use our own intelligence and who have had our responsibilities as parents stolen from us by politicians with the best intentions, but no responsibilities.

Why should I take the word and do the bidding of others like Tony Ryall and Phil Shoemac etc over my own research and put my childrens lives at stake, when I am the one who has to pay the consequences.

Childrens lives at risk in P manufacture houses

2011-02-16T10:23:00.000+13:00

Q: Why do people put their childrens lives at risk by making P at home?

A: Because they cant purchase it anywhere else

Q: Why?
A: Because its illegal.

Q: Who makes it illegal?
A: The Government

Therefore it is the Governments fault. THEY are responsible for putting these childrens lives at stake - so blame them.

But to carry this argument closer to its conclusion . . .

QWho votes for the government?
A: Oh, thats right - YOU! - so its YOUR fault (If you voted for any of the main political parties that is).

People who want to take drugs will do so regardless of whether they are legal or illegal - they will get them one way or another (as proven by their willingness to put their families lives at risk by making them at home)

I ask the question:
Would these people who take the Extremely dangerous drug P, still take it if they could get a Safer alternative? (All drugs are dangerous - just some more dangerous than others)

They quite happily put other peoples lives at risk (their childrens, and also the people they steal and rob for the ingredients) and then they manufacture P in dangerous locations, with harmful ingredients to unknown potency, in unhygenic conditions because they cannot purchase safer, cleaner, less harmfull alternatives.

I believe it is our culture of USING FORCE on other people to make them comply with what WE personally think they should or should not be doing, instead of minding our OWN BUSINESS which is to blame.

Further more, this situation will continue until we change our ways.

If people commit a crime against others, then lock them up, but there is no such thing as a crime against yourself.

OK, I can expand on my argument further . . .

Why do you insist drugs are made illegal?
Because they are dangerous, and people who take drugs are a burden on our HEALTH [sic] SYSTEM.

They are only a burden on it because you insist government should be responsible for them.

How about teaching people the necessity of being responsible for their OWN healthcare instead of giving them a false sense of security and leading them to believe the GOVERNMENT will look after them.

In the last few years society has made it almost Unacceptable Not to have a CELL PHONE
Who says it cannot be made unacceptable not to have private health care also?
( - stop forcing us to pay for the government system and we would have money to do it with)

People who DONT have a cell phone obviously do not CARE about the consequences of not having one - what do you want to do? - FORCE THEM to have one?

Same for healthcare.

The majority of New Zealanders would understand the necessity of having healthcare insurance, leaving the few who Do NOT care about their health to be looked after by charity.

The answer is in EDUCATION - not Mindless FORCE

Its time to change our culture - this one has been failing and holding us back for far too long

Tauranga Museum

2011-02-14T20:59:00.000+13:00

Give me a child till he is 9 and he will be mine for life.

That was the Jesuit motto, attributed to Francis Xavier, the co-founder of the Jesuit Order.

The implication is that the best opportunity to indoctrinate a person in a lifetime of belief and devotion to religion is when they are young.

This is the reason socialist governments place such importance in keeping hold of the government-run education system - to ensure they have a supply of socialists in the future to keep their political viewpoint alive - no matter that it doesn’t work.

It is hard to change from something you have been taught to believe is right your entire life.

What has this got to do with a museum?
Bringing children into the museum debate is part of the same old trick.

Try asking them if we should have a FREE lolly shop - they will mostly say YES!

What do THEY know of where the money comes from to pay for it, or who has their rights and their property STOLEN from them for them to be given that FREE lolly shop!

Do they realise that when THEY become ratepayers they will be FORCED to pay for it in the FUTURE what the CHILDREN of yesterday DEMANDED!

There are better and more moral ways to achieve what you want without the use of FORCE.

Bullying

2011-02-14T20:57:00.000+13:00

I don't understand why you are all so surprised that bullying is so prevalent in society. We are constantly sending out mixed messages, and consent to having our children brainwashed into one minute thinking bullying is good, and the next it is bad!

To understand it, first you must ask the question "What is bullying?"

It is one person or a group of people using force on another to get what they want, and to make others do something they would not otherwise do!

Just the same as taxation is theft, then democracy and referendums are bullying - they are a wolf in sheeps clothing! Tax and referendum are alternative words given to an action to make gullible people think they mean something other than what they do.

Next time you are asked to vote in a referendum, take a moment to think about who you may be bullying, and why the biggest "gang" should be entitled to use force over the minority to get what they want.

The rights of the individual should not be up for the vote. Minorities have rights too. The use of force (in all of its guises) is the most uncivilised action one man can make against another. Bullying will continue to be a problem as long as you continue to teach our children that it is acceptable in society.

More Library nonsense

2011-02-14T20:55:00.000+13:00

So Simon Anderson says the city needs to go under the scalpel - I could not agree more - However, this is where people without principles come unstuck.

Simon will quite cheerfully lop off some of the things that you want, but moans and wails when the council threaten to chop off something that she wants.

How about the council supply nothing (other than essential services, which they could then do justice to). Reduce your rates by 75 percent, and let you spend your money on the things you want, and others spend it on what they want.

All those do-gooders and busybodies wringing their hands saying that a library is a necessity and less-fortunate people will not be able to afford them - will have plenty of money left to donate to the cause, or even spend their time in a productive fashion by volunteering to work at the library instead of using their time complaining and demanding that other people pay for the things they want - shame on them.

Do not get me wrong - I love libraries - only it is the way immoral and un-principled people demand they be funded is what I do not agree with.

Michael Laws

2011-02-14T20:42:00.000+13:00

I see what's happening.

The purveyors of political correctness (none of whom will admit to the fact) will keep moaning and whinging until all those with the testicular fortitude to speak their mind and say it like it is for fear of hurting some poor souls feelings (ie: Paul Henry, Michael Laws, Andy Hayden etc) - are silenced, so eventually we will live in a country where mediocrity rules, where competition is outlawed, where excellence is scorned, where the truth is never spoken, there are no winners or losers, where the word I is banned and replaced with we, and where all kittens are white so you can see them at night.

As much as I disagree with them much of the time (and Michael Laws can be a pompous arse at times) I say thank heavens for the likes of Michael Laws and Paul Henry - I would rather have 2 the likes of them than a thousand of the alternative whom the politically correct would suffocate this once proud nation with.

At least they have an opinion, and dont just regurgitate what they think other people want to hear them say.

What is a friend?

2011-01-27T13:30:00.000+13:00

Just lately I have been having a debate with a friend of mine about the use of force.

Unfortunately he does not understand what I mean.

Through no fault of his own, I believe the reason he does not understand can be attributed to his education - the fact that the things I am suggesting are not taught or even hinted at in the Government-run education system, and the only way to fix things is with a big STICK (or force)

The reason he does not understand is because I dont think he understand how these things can be a problem.

These are not things that encourage government control or interference in our lives, so it is hardly likely that the government-run education system would teach you about them - If they did, we would recognise that we dont need big government, consequently doing themselves out of a purpose to exist.

If we were to take our lives back and become responsible for them again, instead of handing them to the government to do for us we would have more of an understanding, but generations of Government and State dependancy have stripped us of not only our rights, but our personal responsibilities.

Ok folks - here's how my life works

I do not demand anything from my friends other than they like me for who I am or what I do.

I do not GANG UP on my friends with a big group of people, and then ask the Government to FORCE my friends to do things they dont wish to do.

I do not give the government my permission to arrest and make criminals out of my friends who like to smoke dope.
Do you do that?

I do not voluntarilly give my money to the government so they can RATION HEALTH CARE, and tell YOU when YOU are SICK ENOUGH to be treated in one of their hospitals.
I would much rather you go to hospital when YOU think you are sick enough.
This money is taken from me by FORCE under threat of fines and Jail if I do not comply.
Is that what friends do?

By ganging up and giving your permission to government to force me to pay for the RATIONED Government run HEALTH scheme, YOU are preventing me from purchasing health insurance for my family which would ensure they get the best health care available in the world when THEY want it (not when the government say they are sick enough)

I do not voluntarilly give my money to the government so they can tell You How and where YOUR children must be educated, and what they can and cannot learn. I think that should be YOUR choice.
I would rather you were able to chose a school, and what and how they teach your children, teaching things YOU want your children to learn as opposed to what the GOVERNMENT want them to learn.
This money is taken from me by FORCE under threat of fines and Jail if I do not comply.
Is that what friends do?

By ganging up and giving your permission to government to force me to pay for the RATIONED Government run EDUCATION system, YOU are preventing me from sending my children to a school that teaches subjects and values that I value, instead of a 1-size-fits-all scheme.
Is that what friends do?

I do not voluntarilly give money to the government to pay irresponsible people to have children they dont want or cant afford to look after.

I do not give money voluntarilly to the government to give to lowlifes who abuse and ill treat their children
This money is taken from me by FORCE under threat of fines and Jail if I do not comply.
By ganging up and giving your permission to government to force me to pay for these things this makes ME (against my will you understand) - and you also - part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

Also I do not GANG UP on my friends with a bigger group of people (like a bully), and then get the Council to FORCE them to do things they dont wish to do.
Do you do that?

Do you give your permission and encourage councillors to take money from YOUR FRIENDS to build art galleries, museums, sports complexes and entertainment venues etc etc, which can and already ARE provided free of compulsion and charge and responsibility by private companies.
By ganging up and giving your permission to Council to force me to pay for these things you are placing Debt and responsibilities on the heads of my children and Grandchildren.

Is that what friends do?

Do you give your permission and encourage council to put fluoride in the water supply and forcibly medicate my children.
I would never go to a friends house and use force on their children to make them take medication just because I thought it was for their own good. What makes it OK to get the council to do the dirty work for you?

I have very simple expectations of my friends - If only my friends had the same expectations of others.

Reon Suddaby on the drug problem

2010-12-06T11:22:00.000+13:00

Here is a piece I wrote in reply to an opinion piece by Reon Suddaby in the BOP Times on Saturday 11th November 2010.

It is not intended as a personal attack on Reon, but an attack on the way the majority approach the drug problem.

I agree with almost everything Reon says in his article, but then I ask the question WHY we find ourselves in this situation, and suggest that it is the way the majority have been brainwashed into how to deal with the drug problem, that perpetuates it, and in fact makes it worse - especially for those who chose NOT to do drugs.

I worked out over 30 years ago that I did not like taking recreational drugs, but just because I do not wish to take them, doesnt mean that I would stop other people from taking them.

Reon Suddaby stated in his column that Children surrounded by P have no choice.

This may be true, but I ask the question "Why."

Reon neglects to mention that those people who take P have no choice either!

WHY? Because less harmful drugs - ones that are not as fatal as P - are hard to come by and very expensive.
Why? Because they are illegal.
It would be fair to say that if those who chose to take drugs had the option of consuming something that would inflict irreparable damage in a short time, or something less harmful, that they would chose the less harmful option if it was available.

Also, Reon neglects to mention that historically people commit crime because they "want" drugs - not because they are "on" drugs.

Reon neglects to mention that those who chose to consume the drugs of their choice are forced to resort to a host of dangerous activities to procure them.
They are forced to threaten other peoples lives or livelihoods in order to steal the ingredients
They would not have to put childrens lives at risk while they manufacture them if they could buy it
They would not have to put anybody elses lives at risk because they (amateur pharmacists) do not know what they are doing
They would not be cooking up drugs in unhygenic conditions
with unknown potency and unknown ingredients in an uncontrolled environment.

He neglects to mention the unmitigated fact that drug prohibition does not, has not, and will never work, and that the war on drugs has been a waste of time money and effort.
It is obvious that Reon is blissfully unaware of Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman's "Iron Law of Prohibition"

Reon is absolutely correct that there is nothing more wretched than the thought of an innocent child trapped by the curse of methamphetamine, but he needs to open his mind and look a bit closer at the cause of the situation we now find ourselves in and why this is happening.

There needs to be a change in the way this problem is approached if anybody wishes to halt the problem. Doing the same thing time and again, hoping for a different result is the definition of insanity.

People who chose to take drugs will continue to do so - they always have and they always will. Hasn't Reon been paying attention over the last 100 years? No amount of increased penalties will change that fact. It is exactly that kind of thinking or lack of it that perpetuates the problem.

There is a solution to the problem, but unfortunately you won't like it. The solution lies in the rights of the individual. That you cannot commit a crime against yourself. That an individual has the right to do anything with their body that they chose, so long as they prove no threat or danger to the life or property of others.

Only when this occurs does it become a matter of the law.

Only when somebody breaks the laws which are imposed to protect me from you and you from me, should hefty penalties be incurred. Not for crimes against yourself.

Graham Clark
15 Poripori RoadLower Kaima
Tauranga
5430334

Tauranga Council SUCKS!

2010-11-01T17:07:00.000+13:00

Everybody hates the Tauranga council!

The council NEVER do what people want them to do

The council ALWAYS chose the WRONG option

The Council ALWAYS spend money on things people DONT want. and NEVER spend money on things they DO want.

Well, guess what?

It's YOUR FAULT. - Yes! - YOU!

If you don't like what they do, then stop giving them your permission to do it.
Stop voting for them!

By voting for them, you are encouraging them and giving them your endorsement that what they are doing is what you want them to do.

Every person on the council now is there because they CARE about Tauranga, and they want to make a difference.

The problem is, they continue to do the same things that have been tried and failed before.

No matter who you speak to about anything in the city, everybody blames the council for it, or believes the COUNCIL should FIX IT.

How did we become so addicted to Council, or so DEPENDANT on council to do anything.

I guess that incrementally over the years council have taken away our personal responsibility to do things ourselves, and taken it upon themselves to do them, that we have gradually come to think that is the ONLY WAY things can be done.

It has been a 2 way street. 1st people asking the council to do stuff.
Then council charging us MORE cos they have more stuff to do.
Then people moaning because council dont do the things they want.

It is going to be even worse now that Larry Baldock is in there. Larry wants to hold binding referendums about things. He wants to put everybodys rights, property and income up for the vote.

If the majority want something, then the minority will have their rights and property trampled on (just because the majority think its a good idea).

Minorities (in Larry Baldocks eyes) have no rights ladies and gentlemen, so if you are in a minority - which could be 49 out of 100 people, then if afraid you are toast.

How do we fix this terrible addiction to other peoples money?
First we must wean ourselves off the council TIT.

Stop demanding they do things for us.

Banding together with likeminded people and insisting the council keep their noses OUT.

They will NEVER do what all the people want all of the time.

So instead of giving them (well - they TAKE IT actually) your money to spend on things THEY WANT, why not KEEP YOUR MONEY and spend it on things YOU want.

This is the problem with Democracy - it puts peoples rights and property up for the vote, which is completely immorral and uncivilised

If you would like a MUSEUM, Join the Friends of the Museum
If you want a Swimming Pool, join the Frinds of the Swimming pool club.
If you want the CBD to get better, get together with all the OTHER retailers, and work out a plan to fix it, but whatever you do PLEASE stop wingeing for the COUNCIL to fix it or do it

They are only there because YOU put them there - I tell you what - It certainly wasn't me

Tauranga Elections

2010-10-12T15:18:00.000+13:00

Personally I like Stuart Crosby!

That does not mean that I agree with the way he does business, but he is a good man, and undoubtedly and passionately wants the best for the city that he has once again been voted in as mayor for the second term.

I like Stuart even more when he says things like this:

The way out of the problem is we strengthen our economy . . . that means strengthening ties with the private sector.
Mr Crosby said council needed to "open the gates" to the private sector, providing services and land (not sure about that last word!) for them to grow their businesses instead of putting up barriers."
It is generally supporting the private sector, which takes the risk.
We don't take the risk, THEY take the risk.
If they do well, they can employ more people and pay higher salaries and wages.

This ladies and gentlemen is the single best thing ANY local bureaucrat has EVER said in all the years I have been paying attention.

What has suddenly provoked this epiphany I wonder? Why has it taken so long for people in such powerful places to understand such a simple concept?

It remains to be seen if this will actually take place, but this is what I have been banging on about for years, and I am stunned that Stuart understands the importance of this also.

A couple of important points that strike me from Stuart's statement above though are:

A): What does he mean by "INSTEAD OF PUTTING UP BARRIERS!"
Does this mean that up until NOW the council HAVE been putting up barriers? (I believe they have, but but does this mean that council knew they were doing this?)

and B):
Will council now STOP going into competition with the Private Sector" to provide these things?

Because it is IMPOSSIBLE for the private sector to compete with services provided by council and government.

The private sector MUST run at a profit to do anything otherwise it will go bankrupt - The council and government do NOT have to be profitable, and will DRIVE the private sector bankrupt if in direct competition.
Art galleries, swimming pools, venues, museums etc etc

The first thing council must do is to allow the CBD to prosper again, and do you know what they need to make this happen?

NOTHING!

That's right! Nothing . . . apart from hand the parking situation over to the CBD business community.

Then get the hell out of the way and let private business do what they do best. It is their livelihoods at stake - they have the most interest in their businesses succeeding - not the council.

They have already made fledgling noises to show they are prepared to take control back from the council, what with putting up a christmas tree, and meetings of concerned retailers concerning the parking situation etc.

At the last local election I was excited about the prospects of some of the councillors, and some of the things they said, but after 3 years it has all proved to be a load of hot air, meaning that they either changed their minds about what they said, OR the way they went about achieving their goals has FAILED, and proven ineffective.

If it is the latter of the two, then those same councillors need to admit they went about things in a poor and unprincipled fashion and change their strategy or else they will be doomed to failing once again.

PREDICTION:
Unfortunately my prediction is that they will NOT learn from those failings.
They will have the Best intentions, but FAIL once again. (bang! - Ouch! - Bang! - Ouch!)

I also predict that Larry Baldock and Tony Christiansen (although very nice people I am sure) will be an absolute disaster, and I dread to see the effect these two individuals will have.

A small mercy I suppose is that at least Anne Pankhurst, Mary Dillon or Hori Leaming missed out on inflicting us with their versions of "for the public good."

Addiction to Bureaucracy destroying lives

2010-08-22T10:26:00.000+12:00

There are lots of terrible addictions out there all vying for our attention, ready to sneak up on their next unsuspecting victim. Gambling, Cigarettes, Alcohol, Golf etc. Horrible, nasty addictions that destroy lives, alter our perceptions of reality and make us do things we would not normally do.

Support groups have got most of them covered, but there is one that has slipped through undetected.
A powerful addiction that has got its nasty tentacles into most of you without you realising.

It is the addiction to "other peoples money" to which a nasty side effect is the addiction to "minding other peoples business."

On the outside they have the appearance of being a good thing - ie caring for other people, and wanting whats best for the community. But on the bad side, they steal personal responsibility, they rob you of your rights, and they reward dysfunctional and anti-community behaviour, resulting in a dying CBD, property crimes, and the acceptance of the use of force on others to get what you want.

It is extremely contagious, but the cure is out there - only those with the disease are in denial and just like with other addictions refuse to seek help.

A good start to recovery would be to read one of the biggest selling novels of all time - the book entitled “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.

Name and shame Tauranga employment dodgers (oh and drink drivers)

2010-08-21T22:36:00.000+12:00

Of the 117 people named and shamed in the BOP Times for drink driving, 71 had "No occupation" listed, not including the odd solo parent.

That would mean that 71 of those will be paying their fines with money they have not earnt, but that has been taken from working taxpayers by force, and given to them without obligation

That means that the remaining 46 are in effect paying their fine twice!

Plus the unemployed don’t have to worry about making inconvenient, expensive alternative transport arrangements to get to work do they?

This is not justice - its a piss-take, and we are the suckers on the receiving end of the joke.

If you people insist on having the insidious immoral and destructive welfare state there should be a 1 strike you're out policy for those caught abusing it and the goodwill shown by those who (albeit misguidedly) believe it is a good thing.

Show them that to receive a benefit at the expense of others is not a right, but a privilege.

My family is forced to go without because I must pay for their drink driving tickets, and I do not appreciate it - and neither do my children.

I have read these names out to my children and told them these are some of the people you can blame for not having new shoes and braces to fix your teeth.

BOP Times Promotes Cuban Champion of Human Rights - Fidel Castro

2010-08-19T12:06:00.000+12:00

I am appalled at the BOP Times thoughtless and insensetive promotion of the Cuban torturer, thug and murderer Fidel Castro in a recent full page article dedicated to this Cuban champion of Human Rights, and all round good guy.

Take a good look at the faces of the two pictured above. They are the faces of men who co-founded a regime that jailed more of its subjects than did Stalin's and murdered more its subjects in its first three years in power than did Hitler's in its first six.

It says in the BOP Times story that he left out details of his sex life in the book - no mention of the thousands who disagreed with him who he had murdered by firing squad either.

Castro is a torturer-par-excellence. Of course he had quite a bit of help from his brother Raul and “Human Rights paragon”, Che Guevara. Just ask any of his gulag survivors.

He jailed and tortured at a rate higher than Stalin and refuses (unlike Apartheid South Africa, Pinochet’s Chile and Somoza’s Nicaragua) to allow Amnesty International or the Red Cross to inspect his prisons. Why stop there though? Why not do a follow up on Adolph Hitler, and all the good things he did for Germany?

If he did so much good for the cuban people, then why people were forbidden to leave?

Explain why they risked everything - including their lives -mto cross shark infested waters to escape?

Explain why there was no cue of people trying to get “In to cuba”
This is not freedom - it is oppression. Castro wanted to be free to submit them all to communism which is the opposite to freedom

Castro and Che converted a nation with a higher per capita income than half of Europe, the 13th lowest infant-mortality rate in the world, whose industrial workers earned the eighth-highest wages in the world, whose peso was valued higher than the U.S. dollar, into a pesthole that repels Haitians. This "revolutionary" process also graced Cuba with a lower credit rating than Somalia, fewer phones per capita than Papua New Guinea, fewer internet connections than Uganda, and 20 per cent of her population gone - all at total cost of their property and many at the cost of a horrible death by exposure, drowning and/or sharks. This from a nation that formerly enjoyed a higher influx of immigrants per-capita (primarily from Europe) than the U.S. Prior to Castro/Che rule, more Americans lived in Cuba than Cubans in the U.S.

Yes, Cuba was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Under Castro it became one of the poorest.

It did however excell in one export product.

Human blood, which was milked from many of Fidels firing squad victims before they were murdered.

What a great place - If only we had a leader like Fidel eh?

If we did there would be no artists, rock music, or poetry, Fidel and Che used to round them up and put them in his gulags to do meaningful labour.
Ask Ches nephew who had to escape Cuba because he was a rock musician.

The pleasures--and even the normalities-of life that Fidel’s government prohibited his subjects were for him daily fare. Women, food, movies, fast cars-he had it all-all the time.

The useful idiots who idolise these 2 murderers now would be lined up against the wall and shot. If that’s the kind of freedom you want - you are welcome to it.

I recommend books by Huberto Fontova for those interested in reading the real story about Hollywoods Favorite Tyrant

also “Against All Hope” Armando Valladares’ account of over twenty years in Fidel Castro’s gulag. Arrested in 1960 for being philosophically and religiously opposed to communism.

But don't let any of these attrocities put you off - Im sure he was a real ni ce guy!

I look forward to the BOP Times next thoughtful feature - The Human Rights achievements of Adolf Hitler Followed by Mao Tse Tung.

Another Lolly scramble

2010-08-01T16:58:00.000+12:00

Yippee - Us Kiwis just LOVE a good Lolly Scramble

This kind of thing just beats me - I mean here (the rugby world cup event) is a great opportunity to make some money for anybody who wants to.

Us entertainers and proprietors and venue owners are doing this all the time - it is how we survive

WHY - Please explain WHY council and government have to get involved - I mean - Im stuck for words!

Why don't they just bugger off and let us do what we do

WHY must they get involved - its just justifying the existence of bureaucrats, and paying their wages to be involved in things that can be done quite successfully WITHOUT THEM.

As for Simon Bridges saying that the fund will ensure some great ideas come to life - They will anyway without your fund.

Just think of all the people whose life could be a whole lot better instead of being on the waiting list of their die-while-you wait health system.

Let entertainment people worry about the entertainment business - they are a whole lot better and more efficient at it than YOU ARE

This all proves a bit of a dilema for me personally though

Do I spurn the events funded by this immoral means, and hope you all choke on your lolly scramble.

OR

Do I grab as many lollies as possible and get back some of the lollies I have been forced to pay for?

Budding young Tauranga Bureaucrats

2010-07-23T13:32:00.000+12:00

I see a couple of impressionable young budding Tauranga bureaucrats spent some time with a couple of our local bureaucrats Tony Ryall and Simon Bridges recently, and I can't help but shake my head and groan as I imagine what nonesense their heads are being filled with.

Whatever you do please do not take the opportunity to be yet another interfering busybody, imposing your own personal choices and judgement upon others, telling them what to do with their lives, money and property, based on what you think is right or best for them or the community.

By all means take the opportunity to learn what not to do - like say you are against the anti-smaking bill, and then vote "for" it, or say there will be tax cuts and then put up GST etc etc.

By all means take the opportunity to learn about property rights, and the rights of the individual, and the importance of having principles (not that either Mr Bridges or Mr Ryall would know anything about them) upon which to base your political decisions so that you may make consistent, and uncompromised decisions as opposed to personal choices and preferences.

To look on the bright side, things may have been worse - they could have spent time with Nick Smith - the man with a tongue so forked he could hug a tree with it!

Shame on Judge Chris McGuire

2010-07-22T21:37:00.000+12:00

What a disgrace Taupo Judge Chris McGuire is to the law profession, and to every property owner in this country.

McGuire recently convicted a homeowner for pointing a gun at two intruders in his house in the middle of the night - they happened to be police officers.

Homeowner Jerey Graves came home late and used a large statue to smash a double glazed window of his house when he could not find his spare keys.

He got in and went to bed.

Unknown to GRaves his neighbour heard the smashing glass and called the police.

Two unarmed police officers who responded yelled out identifying themselves as police but received no response.

Graves said when he heard a noise he panicked (as you would), and grabbed an un loaded air pistol. He stood at the top of the stairs and pointed it at the figures in the dark

So what if they yelled out - we are police - so would some criminals do the same, and until they had indentified themselves good and proper he should have every right to point a gun at them to protect his life and his property - especially in the middle of the night.

Also, Shame on the police officers for not having the common sense not to take this issue any further.

Don't come to my place uninvited in the middle of the night - I will shoot first and ask questions later - well, I would if I had a gun anyway.

The judge said the homeowner would not have been charged if it was a baseball bat - what a bloody dope he is!

What if he had cracked their skull with the bat? - dead is dead whether its a bat or a gun!

What if it was huge great carving knife or a pointed stick? Would he have been charged then? Why?
This is all we need - judges who do not understand property rights, the non-initiation of force, and the right to protect your life and your property - The law is supposed to be on the side of the goodies, not the baddies.
Shame on Judge Chris McGuire

How to MIlk a Sitting Duck

2010-07-10T20:12:00.000+12:00

ah! - Im glad you asked Pip! How to milk a sitting duck.

http://www.sunlive.co.nz/15890a1.page

Well, first off - and as you may have already guessed - this is a process most commonly undertaken by socialists, as they are the ones most likely not to let the moral principles of "not forcing others to comply with their wishes." get in the way of getting a good bucketfull.
Secondly, being able to spot a prime candidate for milking is the next important aspect.

Ratepayers and taxpayers are quite often prime targets, as - due the the use of force, and the consequences of not complying to this barbaric and uncivilised procedure - the suspects are unable to get away, leaving them to either be milked or fined or thrown in jail. (and you thought we lived in a civilised society?)

The milkers are not put off by this travesty as they are doing it for the common good, and we all know that minorities have no rights right!

The product of the milking process is not actually milk, but gravy. The very same gravy that puts the gravy in "gravy train."

Why the confusing name? Well, just like good bureaucrats, they have identified that gravy is a nasty brown colour, often thick and lumpy, and not all that appetising to some, so in true bureaucratic fashion, they have changed the name of it to something that sounds a little less offensive (much like they have with the word Theft, which they changed to tax, or unbundling the loop.

At present we are in the middle of the sitting duck milking championships, because contenders are popping their heads out of the woodwork left right and centre, demanding to milk ratepayers for libraries, stadiums, speedway, galleries and dog knows what, not to mention still being milked dry to pay for K-Road!

Picking the winners will be a tough job - several of the socialists from the left (Shame Jones, Chris Carter etc spring to mind) or the other left party no doubt, but I can tell you who the losers will be - thats right - the ratepayers aka the sitting ducks

Oh, and by the way Pip - there are, and were NO references to my choice of government - apart from the sentiments and philosophy aluded to in my letters. I despise the politics of the red party as much as I despise the politics of the BLUE party - which used to be referred to as left and right, but which are now Left and Lefter!

Thieving Bastards

2010-06-22T09:00:00.000+12:00

What is the difference between Shame - sorry - I mean Shane Jones, the other thieving politicians running amuck with taxpayer credit cards, and the Tauranga couple caught recently ripping off $250,000 worth of benefits?

Nothing! OK, in the case of the benefit fraudsters the total may have been a bit larger, but the sentiment behind the theft was the same. - That being: “I want something for nothing” - I want something that belongs to somebody else, and I don’t care how I get it.”

No morals, no principles, just pre-meditated theft.

The end result was the same. ie. In time of recession, hard working, honest, tax-paying individuals had their money taken from them by force and deceit, by people too lazy to do a productive job and earn it themselves.

Who no doubt put a lot of effort and thought into how to go about it, so they did do some work towards getting their hands on the cash, proving that they have no morals - they would rather earn the money illegally and dishonestly rather than legally and morally, and that they have a total disregard for you and I - the people who go to work and pay their taxes.

These creeps were happy, knowing they were taking food from the mouths of my children, just so they didn't have to go to work.

The tragic thing is that the couple will still be entitled to vote at the next election, and vote for the party - people like Shame Jones in fact - who promises to give them more of the same.

Shame Jones is a socialist (or is that communist) who is firmly of the belief that he is entitled to a share of the earnings of hard working people, and when he is not given a BIG enough share of it, he is happy to deceitfully top it up with the credit card - using it to pay for porno movies - and who knows what else in the past.

Oh yes, they will all pay it back I’m sure. The couple at 50c a week (taken from their benefit probably) and Shame Jones from money taken from other people in the form of tax - hardly a just punishment at all.

Jones and the rest should get at least the 18 months in jail the beneficiary fraudsters got - but no. He will be back to ripping us off (legally of course) in no time.

But we must think this kind of behaviour is acceptable, because we (or at least YOU) keep voting for more of the same!

Italy are a bunch of cheats

2010-06-21T04:37:00.000+12:00

I said it 4 years ago when the only way the Italian football team could win against Australia was to cheat, well they tried it again against New Zealand - the 37th ranked team in the world, and almost did it again, but as the saying goes, "Cheats never Prosper", and the saying proved to be true tonight as New Zealand held the World Champions to a 1-1 draw.
If the cheating bastards spent as much time on their feet as they did rolling on the ground pretending to be hurt or fouled, they could have actually won.

The Italian football team have destroyed my enjoyment of the game due to their incessant cheating, and I am so happy we have made the tournament a lot harder for them to progress.

What an awesome and courageous effort by the All Whites - Wicked you guys - what a bunch of heroes.

Shane Jones (or is that Shame?)

2010-06-14T14:15:00.000+12:00

On my list of people I hope I never have to shake hands with (eeeuuuccch!) or meet, is the odious, obnoxious Labour MP Shane Jones who features right up there in the top 10.

Consequently, what he does in his own perverted private life has no interest to me.

However, when he uses my money to do those things, it instantly becomes my business - I have a right to know what is being done with the money taken from me by force by the government, and having it spent on porno movies in expensive hotels is not high on the priority list.

I don’t spend “my” money on porno movies, but Shane Jones is quite happy to spend “my” money them. The pleasure is all his!

The ministerial credit card is like a most efficient rat trap - it does exactly what it is designed to do - catch filthy rats, it is effective, non-selective, and the perfect bait for catching disgusting vermin.

Why everyone is so surprised is a mystery though - I mean who is more stupid?

Politicians for using this card on things they shouldn’t, or the New Zealand public for allowing them to have one in the first place -

It’s the equivalent to giving whisky and car keys to teenage boys! Stupid and downright irresponsible.

If I were to hire out a Porno movie, the one I would most like to see at the moment is a reality TV/massochism video featuring Shane Jones handcuffed and flayed with a leather whip (purchased with his own credit card of course) until he promises never to stick his snout in the trough again -

Who know’s, judging by what he's been up to he may consent to the flogging - but then it wouldn’t be much of a punishment would it?

Plague of Armed Robberies predicted

2010-04-29T15:29:00.000+12:00

Now that the anti-fun police have cracked down on a bunch of shop owners, now they will have some time on their hands to come looking for the next easy target!

Yes, You! - Shopkeepers selling cigarette papers will be next, oh, and lighters and matches, not to mention tin foil, resealable bags and sheep pellets - you are all going to get what you deserve, and I hope that is being thrown in jail for a long time for selling drug related paraphenalia.

Never mind that thieves, robbers, rapists are out there doing what they do best while the police are busy busting tax-paying shop owners and otherwise law abiding citizens for committing crimes against themselves.

In the meantime (before the police come to bust you for something - homegrown tobacco will probably be the next thing) all the hard working dairy owners, service stations and bottle stores will be kept busy fighting off the plague of armed robberies that are about to occur which many cigarette smokers will have to resort to now to get their cigarettes. I suggest every dairy owner in the country arm themselves to the teeth ready for the onslaught - the police will be busy arresting other shopkeepers for the henious crime of selling lights and fertiliser.

The beehive in Wellington must have been infected with the brain-eating varroa-mite, because there are not two brain-cells left alive in that place to rub themselves up against another one to create the friction required to generate an intelligent idea

The way things are going people will have to resort to sniffing nutmeg and drinking hand sanitiser for recreational substances before too long. (until they ban those of course)
Will this stop you voting for politicians who continue to steal your right to do whatever you wish with your own body? - I doubt it.
Will it stop you moaning when it happens - I doubt it
Will you wring your hands and wail "how did it come to this" - You bet!
What's more, the eunuchs responsible for these attrocities on your rights havent the testicular fortitude or the moral aptitude to apply the same draconian rules to alchohol. - It's all about being seen to be doing the right thing as opposed to actually fixing the problem.

Tauranga ratepayers shafted by City councillors again

2010-04-22T19:09:00.000+12:00

http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/local/news/an-ugly-financial-picture-for-gallery/3912857/

Since the announcement that former Minister in Charge of Treaty Capitulations Douglas Montrose Graham, faces charges and fines for indiscretions in his directorship of a failed finance company, leaving around 4000 investors around $127 million worse off, the Securities Commission have instigated criminal charges against him and his fellow directors who now face potential five-year jail terms.

I think the same should be done to the Tauranga City Councillors responsible for lumbering Taxpayers with the debt they are about to be landed concerning the white elephant known as the art gallery.

They should be thrown in jail for misrepresenting the public and gross negligence for getting them involved in a project that was doomed from the start to loose a fortune, in effect adding to the debt my children will have to pay (on top of all the other inept, un-profitable ventures they have involved themselves in)

I walk past this place regularly and 9 times out of 10 it is empty. The only visitors being kids on a school trip.

Apparently the place has had 40,000 visitors - 30,000 of them most likely school children

There is a solution to this problem.

Sell it immediately to the highest bidder. Let those who aspire to owning an art gallery purchase and run it, instantly removing the burden from ratepayers. Opening up investment in the city, and the opportunity for competition.

All the other galleries in town seem to be surviving (despite the competition-destroying free gallery run by the council) - why is that? Because the owners know the art business (unlike the council) They are passionate about it. On top of that, their investment and livelihood is at stake - it is imperative they make it work - unlike the council facility which simply holds its hand out to the tune of $850,000 PLUS the $142,000 it is over budget - to the sitting ducks (ratepayers)

This situation is a farce and ratepayers should be damn well outraged after all the debate that it sparked before it was started - I know I am.

Five sentences that should be compulsory learning at schools.

2010-04-09T12:20:00.000+12:00

Here are five sentences that should be compulsory learning at schools.

From reading some of the letters to the editor, and comments left on some of the stories on the Sun Live website, it is plainly obvious that these most important things are sorely missing from the government-run education system, and society is suffering from their absence.

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the rich out of prosperity.

What 1 person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

The government or council cannot give to anybody anything that the government or council does not first take from somebody else.

You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

You cannot tax a nation into prosperity and you cannot borrow yourself out of debt.

A couple of comments in particular sum up how perverted and un-principled people have become.

Comments like: "My landlord is rich so he can afford to pay higher rates (so that I can get free library books)"

and "Take the money from the art gallery and sports fields and give it to libraries."

Dont these people realise what they are saying?

They are saying stuff everybody else - what I want is more important!

How about THIS . . .

Council remove the cost of running libraries, pools, art galleries, museums theatres etc from the rates, (and all the unnecessary staff involved in running these non-essential recreational services) and concentrate on providing core services only, and reduce your rates by 3/4.

The remaining quarter would provide for the essential services necessary for society to function.

Your landlord wont have to charge so much rent, and ratepayers wont have to pay so much rates.

The city centre will flourish again as businesses will be able to afford rents there (solving another council-created problem)

Perhaps the rates could have a list of non-essential services, and an annual cost, and ratepayers could chose voluntarilly the ones they wish to subsidise.

If they tick library, then they get free library books. Those who do not tick library would have to pay to get out books. Apply this to art galleries, museums, sports facilities, pools etc.

That way everybody should be happy, and people would be paying only for the services they see as valuable.

Charities who see the necessity of free libraries (or other things) could make donations to subsidise free books or facilities for those who have not paid.

This way you can spend all the money you save on books or whatever you want

Those who value sports and art galleries can spend theirs on sports or art galleries

That way EVERYBODY is happy, and nobody gets robbed in the process, and the only people unhappy are those who want to mind other peoples business and tell them what they should be doing with their money (and which is none of their business)

. . . - oh, and those who think rich people should be robbed to pay for things they want for free - shame on you

Your education system has taught you to believe that society must function the way it currently does (it has done this to ensure its continuation) and this is simply not true. All you have to do is use your mind to think for yourself, instead of thoughtlessly doing what everybody says you must do, or what has been done in the past.

Moral, principled alternatives abound if only you would care to look. You don't look because you have been conditioned to believe this is the way things must be done.

Rout K (K Road) in the news again

2010-02-27T23:51:00.001+13:00

Tauranga motorists could face a doubling in the $1 toll on Route K as the current take falls well short of the revenue raising forecasts, (now theres a surprise - do we get a refund from the consultants?) with traffic volumes less than half of what was expected.

Mayor Stuart Crosby says the toll road, which has debts of nearly $52 million, (holy crap batman!) will be discussed at the council's first meeting of the year next week.

"We've got to look at Route K, the tolling and the funding of it,

Mr Crosby says if it does not become a state highway, Route K's debts could lead to a rates increase.
***************
This is a perfect example of the importance of property rights.

When nobody owns something (ie council), it is "all care - no responsibility" If this was owned by somebody, they would be busting their backsides to make it work and generate more income.

When nobody (council) owns it - the easy solution is just put rates up - there will be a bit of sqwarking by ratepayers at first, but that will cease when something else is imposed upon them!

Because the Tauranga council are obviously bereft of one single creative idea, let me offer a few.

Dont increase the toll - Halve it! - give people the incentive to use it - dont deter them.

Sell advertising along route K

Hire route K out to sports clubs, car clubs, race meets, blokarts, go carts etc

Make a competition - every week give away a couple of week free passes to road users, which will encourage people to use it - they may WIN something, and God Knows Tauranga people all want something for nothing!

Make it free after 6pm or automate the toll gate and dispense with wages

Sell shares in it

or the best solution of all - SELL IT to the highest bidder ASAP

Do anything except double the toll (unless of course you wish to halve the amount of people using it) and in the morning, I am often only 1 of 2 cars on the road!

In fact I have already started my boycott of it. I would spend $10 a week on the toll road, but through the sheer idiocy of this council I am now using an alternate route, so thats $500 or so dollars they have lost already.

Free Library books! - Since When

2010-02-01T15:44:00.000+13:00

As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, you can be assured our society is doomed as long as there are people out there who demand others be forced to pay for things that they want.

They believe they have a right to your your wages, your time and hence your life, which to follow to its natural conclusion means that you are nothing less than a slave, for this is what they demand.

They will of course deny this fact, and make all kind of excuses to justify their demands, generally based on statements like “for the common good,” or “something a civilised society does,” disregarding that the use of force is the most uncivilised action one human being can enact upon another, and of course to which the only excuses are ignorance of, or a total disregard to property rights.

There is no such thing as a “Right” to free library books as a “right” is something you do not have to ask for (or demand others pay for.)

If people are so passionate about free books being available, there are alternatives that involve voluntary interaction and charities and that do not require the compulsory enslavement of others to achieve - they only require a little work and dedication, but it’s just far easier to place that burden upon a bunch of sitting ducks (ratepayers) who are unable to remove themselves from the sights of their gun.

A free library is a good and noble idea - the way some people wish to achieve it is not - think again

Kylie:
Where do you think the money comes from to let you borrow books for free?
Yes, we are in a recession - some people are struggling to buy food, while the council takes money from them by force, so that you can borrow a book for free - How is that fair?

ROSEMARY: (Who says rates are too high already)
You are correct - Council could reduce rates immediately by not forcing ratepayers to pay for books, art galleries, and all other non essential things and let people spend their own money on things that are important to them.

maybe the council should not take it from people and let them spend it on things

5 Sentences that should be taught in every school in the country (but won't)

2009-12-10T16:46:00.000+13:00

Anybody for a T-shirt? - About $45NZ

Busybody Mary Brook

2009-12-09T10:19:00.002+13:00

An 11 year old girl wrote a letter to the newspaper commenting on a tobacco discounter shop that has opened in town, and that she would like it to be banned.

I replied to her saying first that I congratulated her for being motivated enough to write a letter, but that perhaps she could consider the following:

Replace the word tobacco in her letter with Chocolate - Now what did she think?
Far better to educate people that smoking is bad instead of banning it, and let people decide what they want to do with their own bodies instead of using force upon them to ban something she may disagree with.

A regular letter writer and National Party cheerleader Mary Brook, who disagrees with everything I say wrote a letter attacking me for picking on an 11 year old!
Here is my reply.

The people I target in my letters are those immoral individuals who feel they have the right to use force upon others to get what they want.

These people become quite irate when somebody dares stand up to their bullyish demands and puts up a defence for their rights and property instead of just rolling over like good sheeple.

And should 11 year old girls be left to believe they have a right to use force upon other people to ban things they dont agree with, they will likely grow up to be interfering old busybodies later in life.

Busybodies who, not content to mind their own business and run their own lives, insist on interfering and minding other peoples business.

I give credit where it is due, and my first line congratulated the young letter writer for her efforts, and I made a suggestion (as opposed to force like Mary Brook would) that she consider an alternative.

When Mary Brook and her ilk are ready to persuade me to change my mind with principled ideas, truth and facts, I will be ready to listen, but while they resort to force, threats and coercion, I will defend my rights and my property till my last breath.

Tauranga Bar Scene

2009-11-09T19:18:00.003+13:00

All the bars in Tauranga have congregated in one stretch of road called The Strand in the middle of Town.
Every Friday and Saturday night between midnight and 3am there is mayhem. Fights Brawls, assault, drunkenness, and all kinds of anti-social behaviour.
Go to this links at Sun Live to read the latest:
http://www.sunlive.co.nz/10322a1.page

The bars have done nothing about the situation they are the cause of, so the council have stepped in and put in some kind of walkway from one end of the strand to the other, cutting down on the room on the footpaths allocated to each bar (this has only become necessary since the government interferred in the hospitality business by banning smoking in bars, but that is another story).

The bars are now squealing like stuck pigs because they say this walkway will see the end of their businesses due to cutting down on their footpath space (something they never had in the past)

*****************

As a musician, and a punter, I have spent far more than my fair share of time in and around pubs and bars, and I have also been part owner of a very successful bar in town (Bar In The Park), and the problems we have along the Strand at present are a relatively new phenomenon.

There have always been lots of pubs in town, and there has always been a transient crowd going from one place to the other, so maybe it is because they are all concentrated into one small strip that is the problem, as in the past the pubs were spread out all over town - ie Beach Street, Bar In The Park, Oak and Ale, Abbey Road, St Amand, and Harringtons.

I personally believe the problems in town are caused by the transient people - those moving from bar to bar, looking for the most happening place to go, want to be seen on the scene, or just out looking for trouble.

They are not caused by people inside the bars, or those outside wanting to smoke or drink.

The anti-social problems of fighting and bad behaviour we are facing are not a Council problem, it is a hospitality industry problem, so why is the council doing something about it when it is none of their bloody business!

Most of the venues, pubs and proprietors in town know this is a problem, so before council or government come down on them with a big stick, using force and threats of prosecution or various other measures to fix the problem - concocted by boring, grey zip up shoe wearing, cardigan wearers with clip boards (oopps - too late) they should do something about it themselves - a solution that would be beneficial to their businesses instead of detrimental to it, which as we know, any solution offered by the council is bound to be

Perhaps if the venues in town were to take the initiative and get together and address the problems they are the catalyst of I might be a bit more sympathetic to their current plight, but as it stands, I have no sympathy for them.

For example, perhaps if they held a meeting of all hospitality /bars etc and came up with a plan, or some solutions like this for example:
"we are all closing our doors at 11 or 12pm (or whatever), if you are not inside here before then, you cannot come in."

You can stay in here till 3am (or whatever it is, but once you are out, you cant come back in.) The fenced off areas outside the bars would be included in this area to allow smokers and those in need of fresh air to move in and out.

This would be beneficial to their businesses on many levels for example.
If the bar is empty at 11pm, you can close the doors and go home - save on wages and power

Bars would make a point of getting in the best or most popular entertainment to ensure their bar is full by 11pm

They would make more and better attempts at publicising their up and coming events, bands, acts and specials etc.

Bands DJs and bar staff would all be playing to a full house instead of half empty bars due to transients, which would ensure a much better time was had by all

The only people on the streets would be those who are under age, those on their way home, or those kicked out of bars for bad or drunken behaviour. These would be much easier to spot and mop up by the police

I am sure the pub venues and owners would have the co-operation of the council and the police to make their town and their jobs easier (you would think) and they would have their respect for using their initiative in attempting to fix a problem they all know they have and have created.

This would not be compulsory participation, but perhaps all the venues participating could come up with some kind of incentive for everybody to participate - ie membership cards - drink specials for regulars, topless barmaids - free drink for those in line to get in before 11pm - I don't know - be creative people - it's your business not mine

My advice to the bars in town is to "do it yourself, and call the shots" before "they" do it to "You." because if they do it to you, you aint gonna like it

PS: I wrote this months back before council imposed their walkway idea upon the venues in town, and before all the bleating and moaning from the publicans.

What is wrong with you people?

You know your business - why did you sit back until the problem got so bad that council were forced to do something about it?

You have gotten what you deserve, and now you are moaning about it!

A problem has arisen through your own actions, but you expect Council and Ratepayers to fix it.

All of you venues along the strand could be creaming it if only you got your heads together, but you are a working[sic] example of the rot that has set into our society - you sit back and say "what is council/government going to do about it?"

Margaret Thatcher said."The problem with people to day is that they have got all their rights in mind but none of their responsibilities.' (or words to that effect)

. . . and she is so right

More irrational national party flag waving

2009-10-29T11:59:00.003+13:00

Rabid National party flag waver and BOP Times newspaper letter writer Mary Brook had a letter in the newspaper tonight licking the National party's boots and saying how wonderful it is that they are doing something to rid us of the evil drug "P".

I do not disagree with her that the drug "P" is evil. What I resent are cheerleaders to a bunch of thieves who take my money by force with threats of jail and fines if I resist, who SAY they want to rid us of the evil drug, but continue to do things that they KNOW DAMN WELL DO NOT WORK, because they are too GUTLESS to do the only thing that WILL - that being to legalise all drugs.

I do not suggest that tomorrow drugs should be made legal - we have been taught to be too irresponsible for that to happen. Socialised health care and interfering nanny state governments have stripped generations of Kiwis of common sense and responsibility of which a great deal would have to be restored before we could be entrusted with legal drugs.

Here is my response to Mary Brook, Tauranga National Party cheerleader

**********************

Mary Brook once again engages in the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. No guessing who didn’t get an A pass for school C history eh!

If she thinks the actions of her beloved National party-who she champions right or wrong-will make the slightest bit of difference in the availability of the drug “P” then she must have spent the last 100 years on a different planet, because the history of this one says it won’t.

Any drug you so desire is available in the most secure prisons in the country - how on earth does she and her sycophantic supporters expect to stop the availability of them out in the big wide world.

You are welcome to keep banging your head against a brick wall, although I guarantee the last time you bang it will hurt just as much as the first time - it’s just a shame you insist on wasting other peoples money in doing so.

The real solution to minimise the harm of drugs would be too unpopular for any political party to successfully campaign on, and so we have to put up with the totally ineffectual pretence and posturing of the national Party in their efforts to convince you they are doing something about it while knowing it wont do a thing! - Its a big con job, and you are the victims.

The real tragedy is that you continue to give them your permission to keep up the charade - and then complain when it doesn’t work! - sheesh!

National party keen to see "P" remains on the streets

2009-10-27T11:14:00.003+13:00

Simon Bridges and the National Party have been beguilling the public with hollow promises and propaganda since they got into power, and in a recent column in the local newspaper, Simon Bridges - National MP tells the public how they intend to rid us of the "P" problem, but I am not taken in for one millisecond by his handsome smile, popularity seeking propaganda exercises.

You see in their effort to make you believe they are doing something to eradicate the evil drug "P" from the streets, this solutions-bereft party are just promising to do more of exactly the same that has been done and failed before, because the only real solution to the problem would not be a popular one, so instead of actually fixing the problem, they want talk you into believing they are fixing it.

If you were to poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick you would find it very painful. Why then try poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick again and again just to see if it still hurts?
Some would have learnt their lesson the first time, but not the National party - oh no - they keep on poking that stick in there, just hoping that one day it won't hurt.

The reason they continue to do that is because it is not their money they spend in doing it! Easy come, easy go - Poke - Ouch!

Well, here is a prediction for you (and remember, I am not getting paid for my predictions like simple Simon) I predict "P" will still be available despite the additional bucket-loads of taxpayers money they intend to waste in their previously tried and failed attempts at ridding us of the "P" scourge that they themselves precipitate. It will be more expensive because it may be harder to get, and there will be more armed robberies as addicts put the lives of innocent New Zealanders at risk in their struggle to feed their addiction. A stronger, more dangerous drug made from dried mushrooms and toothpaste (or whatever) will be developed, and the major political parties will all start the process of poking themselves in the eye with sharp sticks again.

It is quite obvious that these people don't want to eradicate "P" otherwise they would stop doing the things that have failed in the past - they just want to be seen to be seen to be trying, and which quite frankly is a pitiful waste of their time and my money and a danger to the lives of innocent Kiwis.

I predict that the very measures that they favour to fix the problem will ensure that the problem continues to plague us, therefore making them the cause of the problem!

It is time to face the harsh and realistic facts. Make no mistake, no matter what the government do, and regardless of how much education and prohibition is in place, some people will still chose to take "P." (and other drugs for that matter)

To reduce the harm caused by "P" - and everybody will agree this is the most harmful and evil drug ever to hit the streets - then drug takers need to have options (which they dont have at present because they are also illegal, and hard to obtain)

Legalise all drugs, make them available from legitimate pharmacies and manufacturers.
Spend the money wasted on the ineffective and totally useless war on drugs on TRUTHFUL, FACTUAL drug education (as opposed to the sensationalism and demonisation of cannabis), and rehabilitation programmes.

Drug problems should be the concern of drug takers
Stop forcing the problems of drug takers onto innocent, non-drug takers

DRUGS: Dont ban "P" - Ban "S"

2009-08-25T15:01:00.003+12:00

To all those politicians and pharmacists out there demanding the ban of ‘P” - here is another letter of the alphabet you can ban.

Let’s ban “S!”

“S” stands for stupidity, and it should be banned immediately, and without delay!

A ban on pseudoephedrine can be equated to banning the tides by insisting people close their windows at night so they can’t see the moon.

Have the cheerleeders of the War on Drugs learned nothing in the thirty-eight years since that War was declared by Richard Nixon as diversion from other more personal affairs?

If you ban the stuff it doesn’t just go away. Thirty-eight years of “an increasing drug tide” should tell you that. Why do you continue to ignore this fact? It is the elephant in the room.

Have they learned nothing from the results of all the bans? That if you ban particular stuff, it just changes its form.

You make it difficult to import “buddha sticks,” and people bring in heroin instead.

You make it difficult to bring in heroin, and people start making “homebake heroine” made from codeine.

You make it harder to get hold of codeine-based drugs, and people find a way to make the even more virulent ‘P’ out of stuff contained in common cold remedies.

Have they learned nothing from the prevalence of drugs in prisons?

For goodness sake, if you can’t even make them disappear from supposedly the most secure places in the country, then how on earth are you going to make them disappear from people’s more private places?

Milton Friedman (now here’s a guy that should be compulsory reading for all bureaucrats and politicians) proved that prohibition changes the way people use drugs, making many people use stronger, more dangerous variants than they would in a legal market.

During alcohol prohibition, moonshine eclipsed beer; during drug prohibition, crack is eclipsing coke. He called his rule explaining this historical fact “the Iron Law of Prohibition”: the harder the police crack down on a substance, the more concentrated it will become.

What’s next? It’s almost like watching an episode of ‘McGyver.’ Ban all the ingredients you like, but criminals are still going to find a way to make recreational pharmaceuticals using a roll of toilet paper, a lady’s stocking, a tub of shoe polish, and a small bit of blue tack. And the drugs get progressively more virulent each time.

Friedman once told Bush Snr’s drugs tsar Bill Bennett, “You are not mistaken in believing that drugs are a scourge that is devastating our society. Your mistake is failing to recognise that the very measures you favour are a major source of the evils you deplore.” The evils have only got worse since.

Banning pseudoephedrine is just another road down that sorry path. And it will make it damn difficult for all of us presently suffering from cold (and colds) because we haven’t pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to warm us up. ;^)

John Keys says “I understood pseudoephedrine was banned in some American states, and he wanted to know if that would work here.”

Well he doesn’t have to look far to get his information - in Oregon when they banned pseudoephedrine. No surprises. More meth - more meth-related crime.

For Friedman, the solution was stark: take drugs back from criminals and hand them to doctors, pharmacists, and off-licenses. Legalise. Chronic drug use will be a problem whatever we do, but adding a vast layer of criminality, making the drugs more toxic, and squandering $40billion on enforcing prohibition that could be spent on prescription and rehab, only makes the problem worse.

Here is the most important part though!
Drugs are a tragedy for addicts, but criminalising their use converts that tragedy into a disaster for society, for users and non-users alike.

Brilliant minds have developed and designed wonderful remedies to make our lives more comfortable in times of discomfort, and mindless morons are insisting they are banned, and we are made to suffer like neanderthals.

Here are some ideas that do not involve banning anything, and do not impact on the lives of innocent people with a cold, who just want the best relief possible for their symptoms.

Chemists get together, and have a duty chemist - criminals will never know where the drugs are going to be the next day.
Security then only needs to be at one venue on any given day.

Make the drugs only available from the Police station, or the Bank, or from dedicated and secure premises

Come on you people use some imagination - mindlessly banning stuff because you are too lazy to give your braincells a workout should be banned.

Ban Stupidity - NOW!

GOD - No!

2009-08-25T14:44:00.003+12:00

Atheism is not another 'faith': it is not a primary; it is a conclusion based on the absence of evidence for a supernatural world, and abundant evidence for this one.

There are many kinds of atheist and certainly many reasons for being one, but overall it consists of a refusal to accept the supernatural, an unwillingness to place FAITH above the EVIDENCE of one's own senses, a resolve to believing NOTHING WITHOUT REASONABLE EVIDENCE, and above all a commitment to the existence of which we KNOW and not to the super-existence of our IMAGINATION.

Atheism is not primarily negative; it is not primarily anti-supernatural -- it is instead primarily pro-existence, pro-reason, pro-evidence.

That by the way is not faith -- it's simply accepting the fact of existence, and our means of knowing it: Existence exists. There it is. Existence itself is its own evidence. Fairies at the bottom of the garden do not exist, and there is no evidence that either they or imaginary friends do.

Existence itself requires no proof -- it is the very fact of existence upon which all proofs are based: Existence exists.

Existence itself requires no explanation -- existence is a self-sufficient primary: it is not a product of a supernatural dimension or of a supernatural being or of anything else or anyone else. Existence is not a why, it's an is.

Existence itself is simply all that exists -- there is nothing prior to it; nothing antecedent to it; nothing apart from it -- and no alternative to it.

Existence exists -- and only existence exists -- and both its existence and its nature are irreducible and unalterable.

By contrast, "gods" as traditionally defined are a systematic contradiction of every form of evidence, and every form of valid logical reasoning -- all gods; all forms of supernatural superpower, from Thor to Wotan to Zeus to Io. No valid argument -- no reason -- will get you from existence to non-existence, or from existence to the supernatural, or from existence to a world contradicting existence.
No valid method of inference will enable you to leap from existence to a "super-existence," and nor should it be necessary to try.

Faith -- the means by which one tries to reconcile reason and un-reason, existence and non-existence, evidence and the contradiction of evidence -- is not a means of knowledge, it is a method of rejecting knowledge; it is a means of acting against knowledge, against evidence, against existence.

Faith is not reason. "Faith" designates blind acceptance -- acceptance because it is blind; acceptance because it is unreasonable; acceptance induced in the absence of evidence or even (one might say especially) in contradiction to evidence, in opposition to existence -- acceptance induced by feeling in the absence of either evidence or proof.

Faith is not knowledge, it is an alleged short-cut to knowledge which is only a short-circuit destroying the mind.

As Thomas Jefferson affirmed, " Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."

I enjoyed this short exchange from Graham Greene's 'catholic' novel, The End of the Affair:

If religionists stopped dreaming of how good it is in heaven, and realised that there was nothing else other than what we have in the real world - they could concentrate on making this world like the fantasy world they dream of!

------------------
NOTE: I've quoted from a number of sources, including Bertrand Russell, Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff.

There is no market in New Zealand’s factory schools

2009-08-25T14:44:00.001+12:00

When I purchase goods and services, I always attempt to get the best value for my money.

It’s not wise to pay top prices for, faulty or worn out goods.

So why are schools any different?

Why should I not attempt to get the best education for my children that my money can buy?

This is how the government run school system works! Parents are forced into paying top prices, and forced into receiving what they are given, with no option to change or exchange!

For example, can you imagine being called a “zone cheat” because you’ve been to the “wrong” supermarket or service station?

Why are there arbitrarily-drawn zones for schools when we don’t have them for supermarkets or service stations?

Because for privately-delivered services we have something called a market, a place where people can freely bid for the services they wish to purchase, and pricing and supply are set by specialists looking for a place in the market by meeting the needs and wishes of the customers they hope to attract.

There is no market in New Zealand’s factory schools. Instead we have rationing.

In the absence of a market, we have government-imposed rationing by zone; if you want to send your son to Tauranga Boys you will either have to move to the zone, or become a “zone cheat.”

In a market, extra customers are a good thing.

Without markets ... extra customers are a bad thing!

“What’s the difference between a bright, inquisitive
five-year-old, and a dull, stupid nineteen-year- old?
Fourteen years of the British educational system.”
- Bertrand Russell

“School is the advertising agency
which makes you believe that
you need the society as it is.”
- Ivan Illich

music funding

2009-08-25T14:39:00.001+12:00

Before I justify the comments I made in my column which has attracted the wrath of the socialists, first I must make it quite clear that I did not say that funding should be for young artists only! That headline was fabricated by a staff member (editor or sub-editor) at the BOP Times.

I brought this to the attention of the editor pointing out that I cannot afford to have words put into my mouth because of the principled stand I make on these issues, and a retraction was printed on page two the following day.

My view on this issue for those that missed that retraction are as follows: "Government funding" - or the redistribution of other peoples money to those who seek it - should not be available to anybody, and that musicians and artists should stand on their own achievements rather than be artificially inflated with other peoples money.

As for everything else, I steadfastly stand by everything I said.

The reason I wrote my column on the subject of Government funding in music and the arts was as follows.

First Margaret Wilson threatened to get involved in the local music scene - a scene that is envied by musicians all around the country and that has prospered and flourished without any government assistance that I am aware of.

Then a BOP Times columnist explained in great depth how much easier it is going to be to get your hands on funding, and the just recently, another BOP Times columnist told us that ratepayers should be forced to pay more to council so they can provide us with a long list of attractions that private enterprise could provide better, more efficiently and without the use of force!

Where were the objections to these immoral and one sided socialist ideologies ? - Not a "baaa" was to be heard!

On any topic if only one side of an argument is presented, how are people to make an informed decision.

Jane Wrightson, chief executive of NZ On Air uses the "Ad populum" fallacy to publicly denounce my statements, ie: the arguer takes advantage of the desire most people have to be liked and to fit in with others and uses that desire to try to get the audience to accept his or her argument. One of the most common versions is the bandwagon fallacy, in which the arguer tries to convince the audience to do or believe something because everyone else (supposedly) does.

Because other columnists seemed to have no qualms in announcing their popularist views, I thought I would let readers know there is a different side of the story

In their constant search for supporters the looters are delving ever more regularly into the vulnerable arts and music fraternity who are generally not overly political people, but who are susceptible to being bribed with promises of wads of other peoples money.

Socialism is a runaway train picking up speed, and getting harder to stop by the day.

I have seen the runaway train and trying to raise the alarm, but it seems most are too interested in watching the ensuing wreck and to do anything about it!

It’s a sorry place we live in when every socialist on a soapbox - demanding to be given other peoples money - is accepted as moral and acceptable behaviour, but one person points out that it is immoral, he is slammed for political grandstanding!

By simply exposing the immorality of a bunch of looters intent on using force on others to get what doesn’t belong to them, I’m accused of political grandstanding!

On top of that, since when did one of the ten commandments - ie “thou shalt not steal” become a political issue since when JC was a boy it has been a“moral” issue?

Graham Clark

Government-run health system

2009-08-25T14:34:00.001+12:00

This woman was complainig about the health system - here is my reply

********
Helen I completely sympathise with the sentiments in your letter, but you must realise that - people in this country do have an option, but they continue to chose a government-run system that advocates healthcare rationing.

If a supermarket advertised they were giving away free food, they would never be able to keep the shelves stocked. The same goes for the Government run health system. The only way they can continue to operate is if they ration the health care.

This is the system New Zealanders continue to demand, and the system they continue to moan about. No matter how much money any government put aside, it would never be enough because they are giving it away free.
You would do just as well to cut the bottom off a bucket, and try and fill it up with water!

It is fact that the majority of New Zealanders are denied the best healthcare available because they are forced to pay for a rationed, government-run system.
With a private healthcare system you would be telling “them” when you “want” treatment instead of waiting for them to say you are sick enough to receive it.
Everything the government is in control of is in crisis mode - thank god they dont run the supermarkets.

Simon Bridges Brownie-point scoring survey

2009-08-25T14:31:00.002+12:00

I have as much right to point out the hypocrisy and waste of taxpayers money in Simon Bridges Brownie-point gaining exercise (survey sent out to Tauranga people) as Mary Brooke (local busybody and National party cheerleader) has of being sucked in by it, and if I ever feel the need to write a pointless or boring letter I will consult her for some pointers.

To answer her question though What makes her so sure I did not reply to his survey? I have also written to him personally - and guess what! No response.

This is what you get when you elect politicians who have no principles. Just like when the previous principle-less local national party politician who stood on the steps of parliament and told the crowd to their face that he opposed the anti-smacking bill, but then turned around and voted for it - now look at the mess we are in.

What is the point in spending all that money asking what we think if you are not prepared to do anything about it?

The point is is to suck the public in and make them think you care in order to perpetuate your popularity for the sake of the party.

Try reading the National partys list of principles (yes, they do have one - and see for yourself how they compromise every one of them. Shameless.

Ban on Sunbeds

2009-08-25T14:27:00.003+12:00

Why do they bother teaching history in schools?

Nobody learns a damn thing from it - that or they just don’t teach the right history!

What is banning sun beds going to do?

One thing for certain it will not remove peoples desire to use them.

Banning them will have exactly the same result as banning anything else!
(NOTE: If you are one of the mindless ones that screams BAN IT at every opportunity, please replace the word "sunbeds" with your BAN of choice - ie: Cigarettes, tobacco, Pseudoephedrine, Chocolate etc etc)

What is that?

Let me list them for you.

Drive them underground and create a black market for them.
Hand a new business opportunity and monopoly to unscrupulous, unhygenic, un-trained, un-registered operators trading with no responsibility, no guarantees, and no rules.
Create a market for dangerous, home-made, un-regulated, un-tested equipment, because purchasing quality, tested equipment has been outlawed.

Turn schoolgirls, young mothers, healthy young bodybuilders and otherwise law-abiding people into criminals.

The lron law of prohibition guarantees that outlawed goods become smaller (for concealement purposes), more concentrated (for ease of transportation and economy) More expensive (due to the risks taken) and far more dangerous.

The answer lies in Education, and personal responsibility. Instead of rewarding people with free healthcare for putting their lives at risk doing crazy things, make them responsible for their healthcare.

If they wish to partake in dangerous activities, insurance companies will charge them accordingly. People would become better informed, and more careful and whats more, receive the best healthcare available instead of healthcare rationing.

Fashionable non-conformist

2009-04-08T09:46:00.003+12:00

"There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist:
the fashionable non-conformist."

Ayn Rand

The Common Good

2009-04-08T09:41:00.000+12:00

"The common good of a collective -- a race, a class, a state -- was the claim and justification of every tyranny ever established over men.

Every major horror of history was committed in the name of an altruistic motive.

Has any act of selfishness ever equaled the carnage perpetrated by disciples of altruism?

Does the fault lie in men's hypocrisy or in the nature of the principle?

The most dreadful butchers were the most sincere. They believed in the perfect society reached through the guillotine and the firing squad. Nobody questioned their right to murder since they were murdering for an altruistic purpose.

It was accepted that man must be sacrificed for other men.

Actors change, but the course of the tragedy remains the same.

A humanitarian who starts with the declarations of love for mankind and ends with a sea of blood. It goes on and will go on so long as men believe that an action is good if it is unselfish.

That permits the altruist to act and forces his victims to bear it. The leaders of collectivist movements ask nothing of themselves. But observe the results."

Ayn Rand

The role of Government

2009-04-08T08:53:00.000+12:00

Government is that organization which claims the right to command all individuals to do whatever it desires, and to punish disobedience with loss of property, liberty, and ultimately life. It is nothing more. The fact is not changed by its occasional beneficence. Anderson, Poul

When is a vote not a vote? When it's an AUCTION

2009-04-08T08:47:00.002+12:00

This nice chap wrote a letter to the BOP Times complaining about how many letters I have published on the topic of Property Rights.

Here is my Reply

Yes Kevin Newman, property rights do dictate what I have for breakfast. They say I can eat anything I like that belongs to me. Unlike those who do not value their importance and would have a vote on whether they should take 20% of my breakfast or whatever else takes their fancy!

The letters column is 95% full of people demanding a share of one thing or another that belongs to others, and you feel the need to complain about the 5% who point it out! One person opposing the abuse and ignorance of property rights, and it upsets you!

When your grandchildren ask you one day “what are property rights grandad?” perhaps you will reflect on the time you had nothing better to do than complain about one person who campaigned thanklessly to protect your grandchildrens rights to their own property, before you have to look up the meaning of the words in the dictionary in order to answer them. Or will you just say “they are a thing of the past son - Nobody has property rights these days! I don’t know how, but they just slowly disappeared, one at a time, until we had none left! We voted them away, and changed the meaning of words in order to get our hands on other peoples property if we thought we had a better need for it” Now get back in the bread queue!

I see the enemy coming, and I am raising the alarm - but the lure of other peoples money is far more attractive than boring old property rights!

Good luck in the future! - you’ll need it without them!

Tauranga Electical Consumers Trust

2009-04-05T17:56:00.004+12:00

Tauranga Electical Consumers Trust

This is the situation

The local power company issued shares to all the people who purchased power from them some years back.

Each year the profits are divided up, and we all get a cheque in the post for about $300
the board of trustees keep 20% of the total profits, and donate them to local charities, which is all very well and good, but recently a bunch of ACT supporters got voted onto the board, and they say that the people should receive 100% of the money, as it is theirs, AND ALL HELL HAS BROKEN LOOSE, with all the charities who receive a handout calling for their blood, and saying that they could not survive without the TECT donations.

TECT have issued a voting paper asking people to:

VOTE BOX A: Stay with the status Quo - that is keep taking 20%

or

VOTE BOX B: Return 100% to thee shareholders

I am quite happy to donate 20%, but that is not the issue.

The vote is WRONG!

They are asking people to vote away the rights of the minority

They are not asking what you wish to do with your cheque, they are asking what you think other people should do with THEIRS.

This is not a VOTE - Its an AUCTION!

Here is my letter on the subject.

*************

I suggest that sooner, rather than later, people start teaching their children and grandchildren about property rights, because by the time they reach adulthood, the way things are going they are going to have very few of them left!

They are in danger of becoming extinct - Just like animals of the past that have been taken for granted while we had them and not protected, property rights are in danger of extinction and cannot survive being abused indefinitely.

Unfortunately there is as much chance of this happening as there is of a Moa turning up and biting my bum, because those who understand the meaning of property rights are almost extinct themselves.

If you think the loss of the Kiwi would be a sorry affair, wait till you lose property rights, and see what your quality of life will be like then!
The pleading and begging of those who stand to lose funding is bad enough, but it doesn't end there! There are those who should know better - businessmen - calling for voters to vote away other peoples right to their own property which is truly shameless.

I do not deny some charities are worthy of the funding, but to achieve something good by doing something BAD first - taking peoples money by FORCE is wrong! - Shame on you for not thinking

If you believe you "are" thinking, then shame on you for chosing to use force upon others to get what you want, and taking their money because you want it!

The voting form is flawed because the TECT charity trustees stand to lose EVERYTHING due to their ignorance of property rights, and if they are as community minded as they say they are, then this has done the community a huge injustice!

In fact it's not a vote - It's an AUCTION of other peoples property

Instead of a majority wins vote, (where the minority have NO RIGHTS), this is how the TECT voting paper should have read:

Do you wish to continue donating 20% to the TECT fund - YES - NO

Do you wish to receive a 100% refund - YES - NO

Do you wish to donate a larger percent of your TECT refund ( Please state Percentage )

If you do not respond to this message, the default is to continue with the 20% donation.

This way nobody is forced to donate anything, however they are given the opportunity to increase their donation, or continue with 20%
With our poor response record to votes, a good number would do nothing, a this makes it easy for TECT to continue to receive DONATIONS (and not resort to robbery)

You want my money then ask me for it - but dont encourage other people to steal it from me! - or don't you care how you come by the money?

For those who need to brush up on property rights I suggest they go to the library and get out one of the biggest-selling novels of all time called Atlas Shrugged.

Do your children and Grandchildren a favour!
Save their property rights now!
Do not vote for A or B

Tools for Graphic Designers

2009-03-02T08:42:00.002+13:00

The Success of the Government-run school curriculum

2009-02-11T10:20:00.004+13:00

This is brilliant!

This is how our society works

The following article sums it all up for me, and it is all instigated by the government-run school system!

After generations of being taught by the state, citizens have been conditioned to think that we have to accept society as it is, and that there is no alternative to big government, and government interference in everything we do to the point where anybody thinking outside of that mindset (Libertarians especially it seems!) are set upon by the mob for having the nerve to think for themselves.

I have found myself at the centre of several upsets at the moment that can be attributed exactly to this situation.

1: With NZ on air because I do not believe in government funding of music and the arts

2: With A chap called Derrin Richards (see my earlier post)

3: My childrens headmaster, for a letter I had published condemning the government run education system, who could not understand that it was a compliment to his school and teachers that I send my children there because If I was not happy, I could afford to send them to PRIVATE school if I wished, but what about other people who were not in the same position financially to afford that luxury. They are forced to accept the government rationed system.

4: Another teacher who thinks just because HIS school is good, that everybody else must be forced to send their kids to state schools because they must be good also!

Life would be so much easier if only I were just another of the sheeple!

The Story of the 8 Monkeys

(this is reportedly based on an actual experiment conducted in the UK):

Put eight monkeys in a room.

In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.

Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the other monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable.

Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up.

Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.

One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room.

Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder.

All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.
However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.

A second original monkey is removed and replaced.
The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him.

This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he’s not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it.
However, he has no idea why he’s attacking the new monkey.

One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced.
Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water.

None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

People just accept the status quo as truth because others are seemingly doing the same, without knowing why they do that.

They are not quite sure whether what they have been doing all along can be improved or changed.

They may even say it‘s the policy or a matter of public opinion.

At times, it feels it’s just the standard practices that have been passed down from one generation to the next.

Nothing else. Then if someone ask questions that are too far out of the comfort zone, they are ridiculed and scorned.

All they did was ask a simple question that the others did not wish to think about. Just like the new monkey, who has no any idea why.”

*************

Government-run Schools are the advertising agency which make you believe that you need society athe way that it is!

Government-run education system

2009-02-08T11:44:00.002+13:00

My reply to a letter in the BOP Times yesterday by school teacher Larry
Dixon concerning the government-run education system.

Larry says the following:

I am a teacher in a large state secondary school and I am proud to teach there. I take exception to Graham Clarks letter Feb 3 BOP Times) that says a private school system could privide a better education than my state run school does!

. . .that the market can be relied upon to provide a better education system as the current economic turmoil clearly shows the market model is flawed.

. . . NCEA results do not support Clarks contention that the highest levels of achievement come from private schools.

. . .The market only provides for those who can pay

. . .
The state school system is carefully audited by the ERO . . .

My letter:

I find it extremely disturbing that there are those in our community who believe it is justifiable to force others to accept what they think is acceptable - that some of them are teachers is even more disturbing!

I also find it incredible that some argue the state can be relied upon to provide a better system (in anything!) as hordes of illiterate school-leavers prove they clearly cannot.

Reality is what it is Larry Dixon, regardless of your thoughts and wishes!
The fact remains that parents seeking the best education for their children, send them to private school, just as those wishing to receive the best healthcare go to private hospitals.

If they could get the best education or healthcare via government-run institutions they would, but the can’t, so they pay twice, and look elsewhere. How many government ministers send their children to private schools?
Larry would deny you the right to chose the education you want for your children - to take second best simply because some cannot afford the same and because he has good teachers at his school!

If we were not forced to pay for state services, we could afford to purchase the best education and healthcare available in the world for our families. Stop taking our money and let us chose ourselves. It is 100-odd years of state brainwashing that has led some to believe they cant do it without government compulsion.

State school is the advertising agency that brainwashes kids (and some teachers) to believe that you need society as it is! Of course Dixon sticks up for it - he is part of the machine. He has been taught BY them to teach others WHAT to think and not HOW to think!
The ERO is a government office, reporting on government schools - what do you expect them to find? Also I went to www.ero.govt.nz, and guess what? It didnt work!

If it is justifiable to force “you” to educate your children by the government system because “I” cant afford private school, should it then be acceptable to force you to eat sausages because I cant afford steak, or force you to drive a lada, because I cant afford a BMW!

This has been tried before Larry! Its called communism, and it has failed.

This is exactly why parents whould be able to chose the education they want for their children because the state system brainwashes them to believe (not think!) that the rights of one group (minority) can be denied because a bigger group demand it!

It is dangerouse to rely on the government to educate our children as they only disseminate information to ensure their perpetuity

Reply to Derrin Richards

2009-01-29T23:42:00.001+13:00

I must apologise! It appears I overlooked the clause in my contract as a freelance music columnist with the BOP Times that says I must only write things that Derrin Richards agrees with and wants to read.

Derrin has contacted me on a previous occasion telling me what I should and should not be writing about, and how tedious and disappointing my column is reliving the glory days of events and local musicians - many of whom are “not much to get excited about anyway” according to Richards.

Richards derides me for a lack of research and absence of fact, to which I respond that my research is extensive and the facts I staunchly defend (albeit not of his mainstream or popular belief.) If people read my column in the hope of reading regurgitated, mindless feelgood PC propaganda they are clearly reading the wrong column!

I have made quite clear from the start that " the right note column" is “my” point of view, on topics related to the music business of “my” choice, and that is the way it will remain until somebody else is asked to write the column or I become tired of justifying to moaners my interest in local musical history and the hijacking of one of my greatest passions by governments and bureaucrats.

Until then (and without compulsion I might add!) you can continue to read articles on music related issues of a historic local content, and things that I believe are relevant to musicians of all or should I say most persuasions.

Socialists on a Soapbox

2009-01-29T23:38:00.002+13:00

I recently ran a four part story in my music column in the local newspaper on the evils of Funding, which was in direct reply to another BOP Times columnist explaining how it was now much easier to get funding, and how much more and how much more often you can apply for it etc

A local musician had a go at me saying that I should write about music and that I was political grandstanding.

Here is one of my replies to him - one I shall print in my column, the other I will send as a letter to the editor.

It’s a sorry place we live in when every socialist on a soapbox - demanding to be given other peoples money - is accepted as moral and acceptable behaviour, but one person points out that it is immoral, he is slammed for political grandstanding!

By simply exposing the immorality of a bunch of looters intent on using force on others to get what doesn’t belong to them, I’m accused of political grandstanding!

First Margaret Wilson threatens to get involved in the local music scene, then a BOP Times columnist explains how much easier it is going to be to get your hands on funding, and another columnist telling us we should be forced to pay more to council so they can provide us with a long list of attractions that private enterprise could provide better and more efficiently!

Where were the objections to these? - Not a baaa was to be heard!

In their constant search for supporters the looters are delving ever more regularly into the vulnerable arts and music fraternity who are generally not overly political people, but who are susceptible to being bribed with promises of wads of other peoples money.

Socialism is a runaway train picking up speed, and getting harder to stop by the day.

I have seen the runaway train and trying to raise the alarm, but it seems most are too interested in watching the ensuing wreck to do anything about it!

New Zealands Most Stupid law Competition - Aucklands entry

2008-12-09T14:37:00.004+13:00

Just read on the front page of the NZ Herald that Auckland council are passing a law that forbids BUSKERS from playing a song more than once every hour!!!!!!!!!

WTF?

Does that mean you can play a 45 minute version of Sweet Jane, but Not 2 x 5 minute versions?

Who is going to police this law?

Its just like the law that was passed forbidding children to go faster than 5kph on their skateboards on the footpath - fucking stupid! with a capital "F."

Are they going to allocate some council TWAT in grey zip-up shoes and a clipboard to stand there with each busker and write down what songs they play and then bust them if they play a song twice?

Does this apply only to buskers who have applied for a council-approved busking licence, or does it apply to tourists or travelling buskers also?

What if you are walking down Queen Street and accidentally whistle the same song twice - can you get busted?

FUCK OFF AUCKLAND COUNCIL!!

I cant wait till my band gets to play at the next festival in Auckland - I am going to play the same song several times and see if we can get ourselves busted I wonder what the charge sheet will say?

In the good old days musicians used to have to resort to trashing hotel room, chucking TVs out of windows, doing drugs or getting drunk and disorderly to get arrested, but now all you have to do is play the same song twice.

How about this for a rule!

Councillors, and the appeasers who allow rules this bloody stupid to become law are placed in stocks in the city centre for a day, and then removed from council payroll immediately.

Perhaps we should start a competition to see which city passes the most STUPID law. Suggestions on your city's most stupid law on the back of a postcard (or reply here:)

Tauranga council to cut back on expenses - yea right

2008-12-03T11:28:00.000+13:00

A little story came to mind after reading that the Tauranga council is going to cut back on expenses.

Once upon a time the council owned a stadium.
Councillors said “someone may break into it at night.” So they
created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then councillors said, “How does the watchman do his job without
instruction?” So they created a planning department and hired two
people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time
studies.

Then councillors said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the
tasks correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and hired
two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then the Mayor said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they
created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer,
then hired two people.

Then councillors said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”
So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an
Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal
Secretary.

Then the Mayor said, “We have had this command in operation for one year
and we are $120,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost.” So he
laid off the night watchman!

Fun Police strike at Tauranga Baywave AGAIN

2008-11-14T09:38:00.003+13:00

A local Tauranga man wrote a letter to the BOP Times complaining about Political Correctness, and being Nannyed.

He was at the local council-funded swimming pool playing with his son - boosting him up into the air to do a flip. The pool attendant insisted that he stop immediately.

A while back, a grandmother was taking photos of her grandchildren in the pool, and was told to stop.

Here is my letter to the paper on the subject.

I sympathise with your correspondent who was beset-upon by the fun police, in the council-run swimmingpool, but I can’t help think to myself that people are getting what they deserve!

If you disagree with this interference in your life, stop giving them permission to do it - simple!

The more you demand council do for you, the more they will be forced to interfere in your life. It’s the height of stupidity to give your permission to people to do things you do not like, and it is annoying when upon getting what you demanded, you moan about it!

There is an alternative to bureaucratic interference in your life. At every local election there have been Libertarian candidates who vehemently oppose it, but you keep voting for the candidates who promise to give you the “most,” instead of the candidates who promise to interfere in your life and your finances the “least.”

Greed and envy see too many concentrating on getting a bit of what belongs to somebody else, (immoral) Instead of concentrating on keeping whats theirs (moral). Unless you are happy complaining its time you learnt to identify the difference between those who will interfere and rob you, and those who won’t. It is up to you, but please cease moaning when you get what you ask for.
I suggest your correspondent go to a pool that is not council-funded, where he and his children can have as much fun as they like.

Parking problem in Tauranga

2008-11-12T11:09:00.001+13:00

The answer to the parking problem in Tauranga is simple, but it will never be fixed because council will not like the solution, and of course admitting to guilt is not an option.

Remove the council from having anything to do with parking.

Hand the collection and administration of car parking over to the retailers whose livelihood depends upon attracting shoppers to the area.
Council could set parking at $50 per hour - it makes no difference to them whether people come in to town to shop apart from collecting a revenue from the parking meters and fines.

Where is the expense in parking anyway? It is in expensive, council imposed parking systems, the wages of parking nazis, bloated bureaucracy and the cost of parking buildings.

Council have manufactured a problem, and now they are demanding that the retailers have to pay for their inefficiencies.

The downtown shopping area was created by the free market, and once it was successful, it was hijacked and taken over by council - instigated by misguided people demanding council do things for them. They have now milked it for all it is worth, and now it is struggling are looking for free market methods to fix it.

Poor old Rick is fighting a losing battle if he thinks the statists will loosen their thieving grasp on this little cash cow anytime in the near future.

Advance auction of stolen goods

2008-11-04T16:38:00.004+13:00

I wrote this after reading in todays paper that John Key came to Tauranga and promised to fast-track a 4-lane highway through Tauranga (but only if we voted for him)! Even the edditor thought this was a blatant election bribe to dedicate her editorial to it.

I hate election time - it destroys my faith in mankind as it brings out the savage and primeval characteristics in otherwise rational and civilised people.

This election is a shameless advance auction of stolen goods, and I am ashamed to think either Clarke or Key think they are fit to govern our once proud nation.

I am ashamed that Kiwis get so caught up and sucked in to being party to this sickening display!

Why do you not see that they are bribing you to vote for them with money they have already stolen from you!

If you do see it and choose to ignore it, what makes you think it is civilised behaviour?

Only one party - Libertarianz - refused to take this immorally-taken money to spend on trying to bribe you, refusing to compromise their principles, whereas the others - well, they don't have any principles to compromise, so accepting stolen money is acceptable to them.

They are bribing you with promises of more and bigger gifts - only problem is, the more they promise to give you, the more they must steal from you to pay for it in the future

Where do they intend getting that money from? Has anybody told them there is a recession?

In the current economic climate, businesses - people who have to earn or produce something- all around the country - the world even, are cutting back on spending because money is very tight.

Not our politicians - they are spending up large, and promising you extravagant gifts and bribes if you vote for them. Dont you feel

How come people who have to work hard to actually earn money are economising, while those who do not earn anything, but actually "steal" any money they have, are spending up large? How does that work?

Surely New Zealanders aren't that stupid that they can't see this!

Maybe they just get caught-up in the blood-lust of it all, mindlessly chanting their party's mantra regardless of whether they are right, or just, or moral

Here are a couple of things to think about before voting.

The lesser of two evils is still "evil!"
Don't give your permission to a party to do things you disagree with - it's stupid.

Tauranga Top Town Nonsense

2008-10-22T13:49:00.004+13:00

I have nothing against the Top Town concept, in fact it can be quite entertaining, EXCEPT for the fact that the teams will be paid to compete by the local COUNCILS - or should I say RATEPAYERS.

I don't know how the teams were funded in the past, but I can't imagine the local council fronted up with $30,000 for a few locals to play some silly games - no matter how prestigious the title!

This is the figure Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby said it would cost to enter Tauranga into the Top Town competition.

The Tauranga mayor said that Tauranga will not win the Top Town competition this year because the council was not funding a team to compete.

Here is my letter in reply

*******

Whatever shall we do? The mayor says Tauranga won’t win top town because “the council is not paying!”
This is the unadulterated bollocks* you are fed by unprincipled socialists. This is what you have been brainwashed to accept as “normal! Well here is some news! It is not moral, it is corrupt!
You have been led to believe that because council or government does not fund something that it will not get done, and that if it is not funded (via money taken from other people against their will) by council you will not win! Peoples minds have been turned to mush by government molesters-of-the-mind (schools) This kind of public conditioning makes my stomach churn.
I believe the contrary! That a town NOT funded by its council is more likely to win! Why? Because if a group of determined individuals have to put their heart and soul into fundraising and getting together what it takes to compete, they are not going to go there for a holiday - they will be going there to WIN! - to gain the maximum return for their efforts Whereas a council-funded team who don’t have to raise anything, apart from their arm to take other peoples cash have nothing to lose. They simply hold out their hand for another cheque next year.

The mayor should end the lolly-scramle for ratepayers money on frivolities and do everything he can to help , not impede his employers (ratepayers) in achieving their recreational pursuits.

In these days of economic recession mayors should be looking for ways to “reduce” spending instead of looking for “new” ways to spend money that is not theirs

There are many ways council could assist those wishing to compete in Top Town without resorting to rape and pillage of the ratepayers beforehand.

Kiwis go in for massochism in a big way as yet another armed holdup for cigarettes

2008-10-07T15:57:00.004+13:00

At the risk of saying "I told you so!" - I predict this will happen many many more times

So not only are the people who you pay to protect you actually inflicting this harm upon you, they are now prosecuting you FOR defending yourself and your property.

WHY DO YOU KEEP GIVING THEM YOUR PERMISSION TO DO THIS!

ARE YOU CRAZY?

Is this some new trend in masochism?

When are you all going to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH or are you all secretly enjoying this pain you are inflicting upon yourselves?

Whangarei Council strike again

2008-10-07T11:18:00.002+13:00

The Whangarei council has a reputation as being an officious, unreasonable and petty collection of small-minded bureaucrats as ever was assembled in New Zealand, and now I have witnessed them in action, and concur that they are worthy of that reputation!

As a performer in the recent, highly successful Jazz and blues festival held there, I listened with a feeling of deja vu to tales of their petty bureaucracy and aloof attitudes as dealt out to the volunteers organising the event

This is exactly the same treatment the Tauranga council gave the organisers of their festival for over 25 years before realising that it would not go away (even after their best efforts to destroy it) and finally decided to co-operate and get behind it, and now it is the longest-running jazz festival in the southern hemisphere, and brings in more revenue to the city than any other event, and whats more it doesn't cost the council (or should I say ratepayers) a cent!

In Whangarei for over a decade now, a bunch of dedicated volunteers have been made to jump hurdles and wade through endless energy and money-draining bureacracy to put on an event that brings hundreds of people to the area (in off-peak times and during a recession) - all with money in their pockets - to spend at local restaurants, cafes, bars and accommodation.

Next year, do the people that pay your wages a favour! Try co-operating with festival organisers, failing that, just get out of the way, cut the red-tape, remove the hurdles from their path and let them get on with delivering a festival the city can be proud of.

Whatever you do, please do not mistake this suggestion for "interfering or trying to say how it should be run!" You are a council - not an entertainment agency - you will just make things worse! Leave it to the people to whom it matters, and are passionate about the music.

Not that I speak for the festival committee, but I shouldn't be surprised if they would be happy for you to "stick" the miserly amount of funding you donated as a token of appeasement." It would be worth more than the paltry sum you gave them to not have to deal with you and your stifling bureaucracy!

Then, in a few years, when the festival is a huge success gaining international participation and recognition, you will be able to take all the credit for it - just like the Tauranga council did!

I would like to thank all the sponsors, the venues, the organisers, and all the people they employed - sound technicians, security, extra bar and waiting staff, etc, and give a big boooo to your council.

If this was an assessment of your performance I would give you an F-.

Please try harder next time!

It will take more than petty, dogmatic bureaucracy to kill the spirit and dedication of true music lovers - Amen to that.

When is a right not a right?

2008-10-06T13:13:00.000+13:00

In his attempt to appear rational John Reid is adding up one plus one, and upon arriving at the inevitable answer (which he does not like,) desperately tries to justify coming to three! This is a perfect example why the state should not be entrusted with educating our children.

I am not debating rights, I am stating facts! and if there is one thing I have learnt it is “You may IGNORE the facts, but you cannot ignore the CONSEQUENCES of ignoring the facts!”

John says “most would agree that all have a right to be fed and housed!” This is incorrect! Where does such a right come from? There is no such “right.”

The dictionary says the “WORD” rights means “something you are entitled to,” but that is not the “MEANING of RIGHTS!” and I stand by my previous statement that “a right is something that you do not have to ask somebody elses permission for!”

You have the right to breath and think (although many chose not to use the second option!) because you do not have to ask permission from anybody to do them. You do NOT have a RIGHT to an education, or free health care, or welfare or a letter in a newspaper because these are things that you must be given.

When these so-called rights are given to you by a government, the ability for them to do this necessitates they must first take the property from somebody else. They are given to you at somebody elses disadvantage! These are not rights, they are privileges.

Generations have now been led to believe - via a government-run education system - that these are now rights!

Politicians are notorious for doing things that people do not like, so they give them a new name so it doesn’t sound so bad ie - stealing Telecoms property was called “unbundling” and taking a portion of peoples wages every week under threats of fines or jail if they do not comply is called tax and not theft!

Irresponsible people having children they cannot afford to feed are taking - by force - food from the mouths of my children - please explain why I should not object to this?

How many children I chose to have is nobody elses business as long as I am prepared to provide for them, and do not place the burden of their upkeep on somebody else. If I choose to work 80 hours a week that is my business - not yours. I recommend a prescription of “mind-your-own-business" to remedy the ailment from which you, and a large number of busybodies in this country are suffering.

Another dairy robbed for cigarettes (yawn)

2008-09-23T18:40:00.002+12:00

Why is the life of a smoker more important to the government than the life of a non-smoker?

Why do government try to protect smokers while treating non-smokers like sacrificial lambs?

It is Kiwis who want a say in what others can or can't do with their lives who vote these politicians in (appeasers I call them) that give them the power to do make these laws - oh, and the fact that they reap a kings ransome in tax could have something to do with it!

Every time a dairy or servo gets robbed for cigarettes these questions cross my mind.

Armed robbers put the lives of innocent shop-keepers at risk in direct relation to your governments high taxes on cigarettes.
That makes it YOUR FAULT that innocent Kiwis are murdered because YOU gave principle-bereft politicians the power to do it!

In their attempt to save the lives of one group of people who voluntarilly chose to put their own lives at risk (smokers), they are directly putting the lives of a different group in danger.

The sole purpose of government should be to protect its citizens from danger and the use of force, but what does our government do? - It inflicts them upon us itself.
I refuse to vote for any party that purposely makes laws that puts my life in danger, and I cannot understand why anybody would!

I am sick to death of the hand-wringing and headlines of feigned surprise and shock every time this happens, when it would be the easiest thing in the world to end by simply minding your own business, and cease giving power to principle-less bureaucrats
When the so-called cure is worse than the problem it is time to question your motives

Ban the IRD - One-armed bandits to be banned by two-armed government bandits! That's hardly fair is it?

2008-09-18T20:54:00.005+12:00

Did anybody else notice the similarities between Pokie machines and the ird in sub-editor David Smiths editorial?

The following letter (which unfortunately will not make it to print because it is about 390 words long instead of 200) paraphrases his editorial.

The words in RED in brackets are the sub-editors words
Words in GREEN my words

**********************

Some taxpayers (gamblers) have been hounded to take their own life by the ird.

Every facet of government (pokie machines) is designed to lure and hook people which explains why those who call for more of it are up 80%.

Well over $2.3 million is taken (by force) by the ird (by pokie machines)every day!(pokies are voluntary!)

There will undoubtedly be resistance to banning the ird (pokie machines) as almost all New Zealanders have become dependants of the system and have become accustomed to calling for government handouts instead of funding things themselves.

A whopping $950 million of other peoples money was lost by government (by gamblers playing pokie machines) last year - wasted on anti-smacking laws, fart taxes, hip-hop tours and god-knows what else.

No doubt the proceeds taken by the ird (pokie machines) do good in our communities but that doesn’t outweigh the harm done in collecting the money (not to mention the fact that money taken from others under threat of jail or fines is blackmail, and theft - they just call it tax because it sounds better.)

The ird (pokie machines) would hardly be a great loss to society. They are programmed to take your money, and addicted citizens are doomed to lose.

They pay users to sit mindlessly in dimly-lit rooms instead of encouraging them to seek employment.

The sub-editor mentions what next? legalise P and share the profits with the Salvation Army? Government don’t seem to mind reaping the profits from exhorbitant taxes on cigarettes! What’s the difference?

What a bunch of hypocrits the Green party are too! They will ban Pokie machines but legalise cannabis!

David say “if sports groups and community organisations need money that desperately then government should be stumping up with more funding! - What are they? - a bloody money tree?

What un-principled arrogance!

To do this, government must first STEAL IT FROM THE PRODUCTIVE!

Therefore this means that David thinks its unacceptable to do something that is “voluntary” but it is OK to take peoples money by force!” That makes sense - NOT!

Something that “is” worth protecting David are the rights of the individual; to do with their life and body they chose so long as they pose no force or threat to anybody else. It should be the SOLE DUTY of government to protect these rights, and not impose force

Save the Kiwi Please (Mr Tegel)

2008-09-18T20:52:00.000+12:00

What is it that saves thousands of pet rabbits and other cute furry family pets from being slaughtered by predators?

Let me tell you!

It is property rights!

It is our entitlement to buy or sell, care for, breed, and profit from that gives them a “value” as either a family pet or as a business proposition.

It is property rights that give us the incentive to protect and nurture and develop blood lines and pedigrees etc.

Do we want to save the kiwi, or just “talk about saving the kiwi?”

I reckon if the Kiwi was given the same opportunity of property rights that all the other non-endangered species (such as cows, sheep, chickens, horses, dogs, cats etc) benefit from, and if somebody was to give Mr Tegel or Mr Braemar a cheque for $200,000, the words kiwi bacon (and egg) would soon have a truly different meaning.

40 million sheep say the system works.

It is our insistence on allowing a government monopoly on the health and wellbeing of the species that ensures they remain on the endangered species list!

They cant be trusted to successfully run a health system or an education system for humans, why on earth do we trust them with something as crucial as saving the kiwi from extinction?

Definition of an appeaser

2008-09-18T16:25:00.005+12:00

An appeaser
is someone who
feeds a crocodile
hoping it will
eat him
LAST

Appeasers

2008-09-18T16:25:00.003+12:00

An appeaser
is someone who
feeds a crocodile
hoping that it will
eat him
LAST!

Why is P the Scourge of Society?

2008-09-18T16:25:00.002+12:00

I agree with Robin Bishop that P is the scourge of society but it only holds this position because government, and faulty logic by the people who vote for and appease those governments - have put it there.

It is the scourge of society because much better, and safer drugs are unavailable.

P is cheap to manufacture, so why is it so expensive?

Huge amounts of money are made by criminals and drug dealers only because it is illegal.
The Iron law of prohibition guarantees this (google it).

Just because governments make it illegal, doesnt mean it will go away and that will stop doing it - just look at the ineffective squillion dollar war on drugs to confirm this fact.

If you want to blame somebody, blame people like Jim Neanderton and successive governments for refusing to pay attention to history, who continue to ban things they disagree with.

It is hypocritical to demonise P, while alchohol kills people and ruins lives every day, but that is still legal!

Why do New Zealanders continue to vote for governments that condone drinking?

It is governments interfering in the lives of individuals to do with their own bodies what they chose that causes the problem. Yes, anybody “under the influence of drugs” that commits a crime should be jailed, but jailing somebody “because they have taken drugs that “you” dont like” is a worse crime.

Stop prosecuting people for victimless crimes and concentrate on crime with victims.

Although I believe eventually that all drugs should be legalised, We have been conditioned by successive governments to be far too irresponsible for that to take place immediately, and a transition period would be necessary for people to educate themselves on responsibility and drug use before that was to take place.

Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils is Still EVIL

2008-09-16T20:36:00.003+12:00

I had a discussion with workmates recently and we came to the conclusion that when many people vote, they vote for the lesser of two evils!

They said that they did not agree with all the policies of the party they were going to vote for, but it was the lesser of two evils!

This kind of thinking really baffles me! - It’s like being confronted by a bully who says “make a choice - do you want a punch in the nose, or a poke in the eye?” By chosing either, you are giving them your permission to do both!

I will never give my permission to somebody to do something to me that I disagree with. By chosing one of the two main parties just because they are the lesser of two evils, you are appeasing them - giving them power to do things you disagree with!

This kind of appeasement is how evil people like Hitler and Stallin were able to cause such terror in the world - by people appeasing them - agreeing with some of their policies but not all of them, and giving them their vote based upon a few things that they agree with.

This is what gave them the power to do such evil!

One person cannot do much by themself, but if enough people give them their vote, just look at the damage they can do! Take Sue Bradford and Jim Neanderton for perfect examples of that. Why on earth would somebody do such a thing? - Helloooo!

Do you want the punch in the nose or the poke in the eye? - ooooh yes - I’ll have the poke in the eye please!

When I vote in November I shall not be voting for a party who wants to dictate what I can and cannot do - I will be voting for a party that doesn't prevent me from doing what I want to do.

Tony Wahren is an unprincipled thief and a bully

2008-09-03T16:01:00.003+12:00

Recently a much loved and respected member of our community by the name of Bob Addison passed away.

Bob was a lovely man and in his time teaching at Otumoetai College was mentor and inspiration to a huge number of children over the years. He had that very rare quality that endeared students to him and who would remain friends long after they had left school.

After many years as a teacher, Bob became a city councillor, and although we did not share the
same political views, we were still on speaking terms whenever we met.

Anyway, in a letter to the editor, a chap has called for the local council-funded theatre to be named after him, and in the process, named me as somebody who would be against the idea.

Here is my letter in reply!

*************

Tony Wahren makes light of a serious matter at my expense, jesting about me writing “endless letters concerning the theft of other peoples money,” but it doesn’t stop him for calling for more of that theft!

He knows it’s theft, he knows theft is wrong, but somehow because its done by council it’s OK!

To paraphrase Charlton Heston; “I will stop bringing attention to the unprinipled theft and morally bankrupt people like Mr Wahren who think it’s OK to lay claims to other peoples money, when they prise the pen from my cold dead hands!” - Amen!

Not that I think Tony’s idea of re-naming Baycourt Theatre as the Addison Centre is a bad one! It’s not, It’s just how to achieve that goal is where we differ.

Tony would use force, whereas I would use choice!

Let me be second in line (after Tony that is) to donate a cheque towards that goal.

With my way, everybody who thinks its a good idea can add their cheques to ours.

We will all be happy for doing something we value.

All those who don’t agree can keep their money, and they will be happy also.

That makes everybody happy.

With Tonys way a whole bunch of people wont be happy- they will be forced to donate their money to something that they do not value, but Tony doesn’t seem worried about that because he has got what he wants.

To quote Margaret Thatcher “We are going through a period where too many people have been given to understand “I have a problem - it is the government/councils job to fix it!” and so they are casting their problems and demands on society, and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and families. . . People have got their entitlements too much in mind without the obligations.”

Larry Baldock and the Kiwi Party

2008-08-11T14:35:00.003+12:00

So, Larry Baldock of the Kiwi Party is confident that he can win the Tauranga seat!

I heard it said on the radio that people know who he is now because of his anti-smacking petition!

Here is my letter to the local newspaper concerning Larry Baldock and the Kiwi Party- and all the other parties that are different shades of the same colour of interference!

********

Yes, Larry Baldock is correct! We do know who he is, and what he stands for! Just another variation of everything we hate the present government for that’s what!

Another version of nanny state! Another version of compulsion! Another version of somebody who knows how to run your life better than you do! Somebody that wants to tell you how you should run your life, spend the money that you earn, and what you can and cannot do with your own body. Just another unprincipled bureaucrat that will take money from others by force, and promise to spend it on things that he thinks they should have or need.

Another person willing to trample, and destroy the rights of the minority, instead of defending them. Yes, I know exactly who Larry Baldock and the Kiwi party is - they are the colour purple that you get when you mix the policies of the other parties on the left - the red and the blue team! - Just another shade of interference!

When you add to that the black of Winston First, and the green of the greens you get a dirty shade of sludge brown - , a colour perfectly representative of the dirty, unprincipled politics they are all guilty of, and who you continue to vote for, and complain about when you get what you ask for!

NZ Politicians - From Phlebotomy to a Lobotomy

2008-08-04T15:30:00.004+12:00

More private property and innocent lives threatened in direct relation to STUPID policies made by your elected officials, whose SOLE PURPOSE should be to PROTECT YOUR LIVES AND PROPERTY

What is it called when the CURE is WORSE than the CAUSE?

- I call it Stupidity!

*************

In the dark ages, the miracle cure for every ailment was bloodletting - the name for which was phlebotomy.

When the medical profession worked out that this didn’t fix ailments but made them worse, there was no apology to those who had suffered by their barbarous practices, they just quietly started doing something else, but at least they came to reality, realised what they were doing did not work and stopped doing it.

Our government bureaucrats obviously never learned a thing during history lessons (government run schools didn’t work back then either!) because meanwhile in 2008 the miracle cure to fix everything is to either “ban, or tax it out of existence.”

There is a special name for this practice also - “stupidity!”

The difference between decision-makers in the dark ages and those today is they were willing to learn from their mistakes.

In direct relation to high government taxes on tobacco, another private business is robbed for cigarettes, and innocent lives and private property threatened by normally law-abiding people who can no longer afford to purchase cigarettes, who instead must turn to robbery when they would would rather be sitting peacefully having a cigarette and a cup of tea at home.

How will the “Nico-Nazis” fix the problem?

By banning it (tobacco), or increasing the tax on it of course, - and in the process, destroying the rights of yet another group of people from doing something they chose, not to mention handing gangs and organised criminals yet another monopoly which to run at considerable profit.

I do not condone cigarette smoking, I do however vehemently champion the rights of the individual to do with their own body whatever they chose.

Why He's a scumbag (I mean Looter) - I mean Lefty

2008-07-29T10:02:00.004+12:00

Here is a brilliant piece of writing.

I shall not bother to link you to the original source which I found on pc.blogspot.com, but have cut and pasted the article in question below.

This post by PC clearly and succinctly exposes all non-thinking lefty-scumbags that would loot rape and pillage from the productive, in the belief it is for the greater good, and is therefore justifiable to use theft and force and threats to achieve their ends, even if it does trample over the rights and destroy the lives of the minority - as long as the majority are ok!

Read it slowly and take it in

It is an important and informative piece of writing - Thanks PC

Why I'm a leftie - Trotter

Fresh from his "people I hate" diatribe in last week's Sunday Star, in which "Creators of wealth" and "makers of jobs" come in for particular opprobrium, Christopher Trotter now offers up as an antidote to his hate speech a "things I believe in" column.

Here's why Trottersky is a leftie, he says: it's not because he's a Marxist/Leninist/Stalinist/Trotskyite -- 'I rejected that credo' long ago, he insists -- it's all about need, you see. Here's the heart of it:

I believe [says Christopher] that human societies arise out of need. The need for food and shelter, the need for intimacy, the need for nurturing, and the need for protection – both from natural dangers, and the aggression of our own species. To secure these needs, human beings must work, individually or collectively, but always with the ultimate goal of keeping strong those innumerable threads that bind our communities in a functioning wholeness.

Did you see the sleight of hand? From whence emerged this "ultimate goal" of "keeping strong those innumerable threads that bind our communities in a functioning wholeness"? How does he jump from individual needs for things like food and shelter to the "ultimate goal" of the "binding" of communities? Of answer, there is none, and never can be.

And from whence, in the world of our Christopher, emerges the food, shelter and "protection from natural dangers" that all individuals seek? How do these things get here? Who produces them, and why? This is the economic rock upon which all the ships of Trotter's statist longings founder -- indeed, it is the economic rock upon which all of Marxism/Leninism founders: explaining how the goods got here. Sheer need alone will not produce them, and no amount of verbal sleight of hand or "I believe" longings can conjure them out of thin air.

The Marxist's answer to how they're produced? Somehow! They observe only that the goods exist, and put their minds only to the job of taking them from those who somehow produced them -- or to dreaming up sophisms to justify the theft.

This, to a Marxist (or a pseudo-non-Marxist like Trotter), is considered 'economic thinking' : It concerns itself not with how wealth is actually produced, a process which to them remains a mystery, but only with how it is to be 'redistributed.' From Christopher, as from every lapdog Marxist, there is no sign he even understands or wants to understand how production happens. To him the question is insignificant. "Individuals and groups by superior strength or simple good fortune are endowed with wealth and influence" ... they were just standing in line at the right time ... "the possession by a fortunate few of social, political and economic privileges serves the community [are] ... privileges granted to them by the majority" ... they are granted by the majority, you see ... "As a social-democrat I look to the state ... to secure for all citizens a healthy and abundant life" ... "As a social-democrat I cannot countenance the arbitrary dispersal of the people’s resources..."

The people's resources, you say? 'What the hell did indolent fat cretins like Trotter have to do with producing any bloody resources?' is the question you might want to ask yourself as you read on.

According to the Trotter mantra, the likes of food, shelter, wealth, influence and resources are not produced by individual effort, or entrepreneurial ability, or the application of reason to existence -- they arrive by "good fortune," they are granted as "privileges" by the majority -- they fall, in other words, like manna from heaven, to be redistributed as one pleases. These are the sort of sophisms of which I spoke above.

To people like Labour's Jordan Carter, trade is immoral. To people like Christopher Trotter, production is irrelevant. To both of them, and to all the great social-democratic 'luminaries,' the great engine of expropriation is the State, that great beneficent behemoth from which all good things apparently flow: "Those charged with governing our country," insists the Trotter, "hold in trust the resources – both natural and social – that are the common property of all our people."

What makes this property "common"? How do these resources come into the possession of the apparatchiks of the state? What right did they have to take them from those who produced them? Of answer to these questions there is none, but neither is there in all the pages of Marx, or Lenin, or Stalin -- or of any of Trotter's present 'social democratic' heroes. The expectation is that need will inexorably arise, and just as inexorably expropriations will rise up to meet them.

Communities simply have rights to goods, according to the Marxist/social democrat, which the state must meet by expropriating them from those who (somehow) have been able to produce them.

What could be more ingenious? A whole social edifice based upon theft!

Thus we see how one man's need becomes the justification for theft by the state, how economic illiteracy becomes a justification for a morality of sacrifice and expropriation, and how the moral cannibalism of altruism underlies the engine of destruction that is the all-enveloping welfare state. To repeat, according to Trotter: "Those charged with governing our country, hold in trust the resources – both natural and social – that are the common property of all our people." When you understand that, in Trotter's view, those who (somehow) possess this magical ability to produce must be considered a resource, you can understand both why they must be enslaved - "they are the common property of all our people" -- and why he hates, as he demonstrated in his revealing diatribe last week, these productive few who have been mysteriously endowed with an ability beyond his own.

And thus we come to the inevitable Marxist conclusion of Trotter's 'I believe,' the linking of ability to need through the enforced sacrifice of the welfare state -- in the words of Karl Marx: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

Trotter may resile from calling himself a Marxist these days, but it doesn't take too much poking around under the new veneer to see what's hidden beneath the easy sophisms, and that the same blood red flag is still flying.

UPDATE: Ironically, David Farrar, who calls himself a "libertarian" on Facebook, has this to say on the most cricual part of Trotter's sophistry:

Those charged with governing our country, hold in trust the resources – both natural and social – that are the common property of all our people.

Can’t disagree with that.

Dear Galt! He then bewails when Trotter "seems to say the minority have no rights, unless the majority grant them," yet the connection between the two escapes him!

Another example of how to disarm oneself by a lack of sufficient philosophical acumen.

Labels: Ethics,

New Element Discovered

2008-07-28T10:57:00.003+12:00

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has:
one neutron,
25 assistant neutrons,
88 deputy neutrons, and
198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.

This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalized with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Taurangas ailing CBD

2008-07-25T14:50:00.004+12:00

Big news in Tauranga at the moment is that the council want to spend $150,000 on employing a bureaucrat to revitalise Taurangas failing CBD

Here is my take on the subject, and something I have written about in the past.

Why is the CBD (Central Business District) the CBD?

Because private businesses chose to congregate in one place to do business

How did it become the CBD?

Not because a bureacrat or council said it was, or organised it - It became the CBD through voluntary choice!

Why is it failing?

Because it is too expensive for businesses to operate from there and make a profit.

Why?
Because rents are high!

Why?

Because the rates are high!

Why?

Because somebody has to pay for all the work and services that the council have taken it upon themselves to be responsible for for, like parking wardens, parking meters, a bureaucrat in charge of parking wardens, a bureaucrat to fix the failing CBD, meetings to elect a bureaucrat to fix the CBD etc.

You are asking the people responsible for the failure to fix it, and as long as the council is involved, the problem will continue. Remove the council from the private affairs of business immediately.

Retailers are voting with their feet but you wont accept the fact! Council are looking for something to point the finger at and find a magical cure when they are the cause of the disease.

Want to know how to fix it?

Laissez Faire (hands-off) capitalism, which means "private initiative and production are best allowed a minimal of economic intervention and taxation by the state beyond what is necessary to maintain individual liberty, peace, security, and property rights.

Cr Baker did however make one astute observation.

"In the real world, businesses are suffering and the only organisations that do not suffer in bad times are central and local government."

The Bay Big Band and Ken White. The Right Note Column

2008-07-02T12:02:00.003+12:00

I recently spent an afternoon talking to Ken and Margaret White at their house in the Whakamaramara Hills, and I left the place many hours later under the cloak of darkness thinking that somebody needs to cordon the house off, and register it as a house of historical importance!

Not because of its architecture, or its physical location (although you can just about see China from up there!), but because Ken has 3 or 4 entire rooms busting at the seams with shelves and boxes of historical video footage of local bands and jazz music (amongst other things.)

An archive the national jazz community would be very wise to have documented for its hisorical importance.

You see, not only does Ken - an alto sax and clarinet player, once documented as the youngest big band leader in the UK - go way back in the local music scene, and who can be credited as one of the originators of the Bay Big Band, and the annual Tauranga Jazz Festival, but he also completed a historic video and documentary on their conception, (which is available from the Tauranga Library on DVD should you wish to view it).

The White’s have lived such an interesting life that it was hard to keep them on the topic of music for long before the tale evolved into some other equally interesting, mind boggling adventure or piece of historical revelation. At one stage, Ken asked me “what ever became of the Orange Festival Parade?” - an important, annual event of huge community spiritedness - and recalled how their float would stop at the Tauranga hospital, and his jazz band would walk through all the wards playing jazz, so that those unfortunate enough to be bedridden at the time would not feel left out of the community celebration!

I suggested that there was probably a law against that kind of voluntary gesture these days, and that the council department of community spirit would have to organise and approve of it now! (at a charge of course!)

Another fascinating story Ken told me was that he imported a series of records entitled "Music Minus One," which were rehearsal records of jazz standards for musicians, and of which you could purchase different series depending on which instrument you played. One series would have the entire band minus the trombones, or another minus the sax or melody line, or yet another minus the bass guitar, or drums.

These were designed for the musician to practice and jam along to. Ken took these records to yet another level and recorded them to tape. He would then hire his services out to venues as a one man band, playing his sax or clarinet, along to his backing tracks, and which he continued to do into the 1980’s! And who thought playing along to sequenced music or backing tracks was a relatively new phenomena?

The photograph above was taken of the Bay Big Band in 1958 at one of a series of concerts held in the Town Hall, one of which was broadcasted live - a great honour at the time - on local radio.

The 16 piece band consisted of 5 saxophones, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, Piano, and a 4 piece rhythm section, and shown here conducted by an Englishman by the name of Stan Farnsworth.

Stan was a child prodigy, and had been a professional musician from a very early age. Unfortunately his playing career was cut short after suffering a heart attack whilst playing in the Covent Garden Opera orchestra, and his doctor advised him that he should not perform, playing a wind instrument anymore (remind me not to go to that doctor!) and so he came to live with his daughter in Tauranga where I believe he taught music, and did the odd bit of conducting (if the picture is anything to go by!) Ken White is pictured front centre, on sax. Other members of the band incled Gordon Sutherland on Piano, Alby Rawhiri (who owned the local fish and chip shop) on guitar, Paul Gillett on Bass.

California to Legalse-it

2008-07-02T11:56:00.002+12:00

There is an initiative in the works that could end up on the November ballot that allows for marijuana to be sold to anyone, and anywhere that already sells alcohol. Its being called The Inalienable Rights Enforcement Initiative. From the full text of the measure:

This initiative will amend the Constitution of California to defend and safeguard the inalienable rights of the People against infringement by governments and corporations, providing for the lawful growth, sale, and possession of marijuana. Marijuana will be taxed through a system of stamps and licenses--a $5 stamp will be required for the sale of an eighth ounce of marijuana and a $50 annual license will be required for the growth of one marijuana plant. To protect participants and encourage participation in the system, such licenses and stamps will be available anonymously in stores where marijuana is sold.

So instead of getting some quack doctor to give you a prescription for $100 because of your supposed "anxiety" or alleged "insomnia", you will just pay an extra tax each time you buy yourself another 8th.

Aside from allowing all willing adults to be able to buy weed easily, this initiative will start to generate revenue for California, and stimulate our struggling economy. More weed stores means more jobs for Californians, more taxes to be collected, and more people enjoying better weed. And finally marijuana will be put into the same file as Alcohol and Cigarettes where it belongs, instead of it being equated with crack-cocaine and heroine.

The initiative goes on to say why they believe this to be a necessary measure:

Go to this link to read the rest of the article

Petrol prices only $1.25 Litre (the rest is Government tax)

2008-06-16T20:15:00.001+12:00

What a bloody joke!

How stupid do they think we are?

“Very stupid” it seems!

The government are appointing a “fuel commissioner” (there goes more taxpayers cash down the drain) to monitor fuel prices.

Have you considered the following?

Oil companies would be willing to sell petrol to you at $1.25 a litre!

The rest of the cost is made up of “government tax!”

For their $1.25, fuel companies prospect for crude oil, mine it, refine it, market it, and deliver it around the world! A very fair price I reckon for the standar of living that refined oil allows us to benefit from!

So what does government do to justify doubling that figure?
I would like to see petrol stations advertising their fuel as $1.25 “plus government tax”
All government are doing is frantically looking for somebody else to pin the blame on for high fuel costs!

They are searching high and low for a “smoking gun” when they are squeezing the trigger with their own thieving fingers.

I suggest commerce minister Lianne Dalzeil look in the mirror, where she will get an eye-witness look at the offender - I suggest she handcuff the culprit immediately - give herself a good talking to - maybe even rough-herself up a little - try and knock some sense into herself or is there a law against beating yourself!

The real dope on the dopes

2008-06-16T20:11:00.002+12:00

A corner dairy in Matua that was manned by the families young son was recently held up by thugs who jumped the counter and stole cigarettes

Here is my letter to the editor concerning this all too frequent occurence.

************

It’s sad isn’t it?

Yet another dairy held up - another innocent family traumatised, as thieves hold them up for cigarettes!

You know what the really sad thing is?

It’s your fault!

Why?

Because you keep voting for governments who do not promote personal responsibility. (The National party’s constitution incorrectly states that they “do,” but it’s just another of their flip-flops!)
Because smokers are a drain on the sick system (I mean health system) they must make cigarettes artificially expensive, to pay for those demands.

But if we were not deterred from being responsible for our own health by being forced to pay for the failing health system, smokers could afford to have private health care, consequently making cigaretttes a fraction of the price!

Cigarettes are so expensive that those who want them have to resort to the armed robbery of innocent people to get them. Cigarette smokers would be more than happy to sit at home with a cup of tea and have a cigarette, rather than have to go on an armed robbery to get the smokes first!

Just like most people who do drugs would rather sit at home and quietly get smashed rather than have to go out and commit armed robbery to get the cash to purchase the drugs first!
The lives of “Innocent” kiwi’s are being put at risk in direct relation to laws made by governments-elected by you - to save us from ourselves!

Smokers choose to do harm to themselves. Shopkeepers don’t choose to be the victims of robbery - the government has done that for them!

People commit crimes because they “want” drugs, not because they are “on” drugs.
Government are trying to save the lives of one group of people (who know the risks they take), whilst putting everybody else in danger! - Its bloody stupid!

If you are looking for somebody to blame, look no further than those who tick boxes before considering the “real” facts when they vote!

Ritchie Pickett - The Right Note Column

2008-06-09T12:25:00.005+12:00

Ritchie Pickett - Gone For Water

I Wish I Wrote That
(Every week I include an excerpt of some of my favourite lyrics )

Nickis' Song
Ritchie Pickett - From the Album "All Strung Out In A Bunch"

Over the anvil of mistakes
The beatings I have taken
In the name of love
And some of the places I've found hate
where warmth once used to flow
It can chill you to the bone
If not for you
I dont know what I'd do
You pick me up each time I slip behind - I never thought I'd find
A woman who would listen, who would think
when all she'd hear was drink
As the devil took my tongue
And If I had to pay you back in kind
I would disappear and you would find
You're too good to be true . . .

In 1983 what is regarded by some as the best country album ever produced in New Zealand was recorded at Stebbings recording studio in Auckland, featuring two of Tauranga’s most respected musicians - Ritchie Pickett, who although originally from Morrinsville, was living here at the time, and Kevin Coleman.

The album is entitled “Gone For Water,” and in 2008 is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its release.

This album is an interesting milestone in local and national regard for several reasons apart from the staggering playing and songwriting talents therein.

The band comprised of Ritchie Pickett on Piano and vocals (and guitar on one track), Noel Lamberton on drums. Kevin Coleman on Guitar, Dave maybee on Guitar, and Jimmie Wallace Jnr on Bass.

Ritchie of course needs no introduction to anybody that has spent any time in any of the watering holes around New Zealand, or sitting in front of the TV during the 1980’s, as he was a regular performer and breath of fresh air on the popular TV show “That’s Country.”

Kevin Coleman is a multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist and although he has not played for about 10 years is even today highly sought-after and pestered by local bands and musicians (myself included) who would be only too happy for him to play almost “any instrument” in their band from bass, lead or rhythm guitar, or piano!

Anyway. The other reasons this album is remarkable is that it was produced by Ray Columbus (not that Ray did a remarkable “job” of the production!)

Ray, through his extensive experience and contacts in the industry managed to swing some finance for the album, and also to get sponsorship from none other than Jim Beam (hence the pic on the back cover of the guys swigging back a glass of the sponsors product, and a half empty bottle on the table)which happens to have been taken by a good friend of mine - also from Tauranga - who sadly died a few years ago now by the name of Roger Jarrett.

This was a major coup by Ray, as they were only the 2nd band in the world to be sponsored by Jim Beam - the other at the time being country music legend Hank Williams Jnr. Gone for Water was the guinea-pig album for the very first digital studio in New Zealand.

Unfortunately this was not such a good thing, as digital THEN is not what it is NOW, and consequently the sound of this album suffered extensively. One reviewer was known to have commented that it should be turned up as loud as possible. And then you should walk out of the room, and listen to it from the room next-door!

This unfortunate problem with the production in no way reflects on the staggering passion and delivery of Ritchies songwriting and vocals.

I have an original mint condition LP, and on listening critically to it, must say that I am not of the same opinion, but then again I must admit to a predilection or fondness to the pretty scarce recorded works of Mr Pickett.

I recall at one of Ritchies gigs, some unfortunate out-of-towner, who, unaware of Mr Picketts legendary sharp tongue, started heckling him, and called him a rather vulgar name which I shall not repeat. Ritchie instantly spat back a retort, which was “if you are going to say (the word), then say it like you WANT one, and not like you’ve GOT one!

This attitude perfectly describes Ritchies vocal style! To witness him pound the keys and sing and spit out lyrics with such passion and vehemence gives me goosebumps.

I have been told that the band actually recorded a demo for a follow-up album during the same sessions, and apparently this is even better than Gone For Water! And the good news is that it is believed that Stebbings actually still have the tapes. What a treasure that would be if that ever got released.

One of my favourite albums of all time happens to be an album Ritchie released in about 1996/7 entitled “All strung out in a bunch.”

It was recorded by Zed Brookes at the Zoo studio in Hamilton, and released by Nigel masters at The Boatshed studio in Whakamaramara.

Ritchie was unable to secure a release deal with a label at the time, and approached Nigel, who was in the process of trying to up the profile of his studio at the time, and who willingly obliged.

To my mind, this album has to be one of “the” most undestimated, and un-recognised albums in New Zealand music history!

It is a masterful piece of songwriting and performance, and if there is anybody anywhere in the world that can deliver a lyric better than several examples on this album, then I have yet to hear them, and I say this with the utmost sincerity.

My favourites are the heartbreaking, anti-love song “I wanna Stop,” co-written with Simon Lynch, and which features a sax solo by Walter Bianco (something Walter informs me was recorded in just one take!), and which is so appropriate in tone and emotion, that it makes me shivver every time I hear it;

“Nickis Song” which appears to be of an autobiographical nature concerning some bad behaviour and the regrets he has for hurting somebody who had been pretty special to him, and “3am Hamilton Sunday Morning,” where his lyrics are so descriptive of the scene and the occasion that you almost feel yourself stagger in the drunken stupour of the character, and shiver in the fog and the cold!

The only song not penned by Pickett is entitled "The First Rule of Love," on which Ritchie's vocal delivery is at its most vitriolic, and countered with the clashing Telecaster (I can tell!) of Ian Jefferies, and the Blood-chilling sax solo make this song particularly chilling

If this album had been released by anybody across the Atlantic, they would be living in comfort and rolling in the accolades, but it wasn’t.

This incredible album flew way under the radar, and was picked up by a very lucky few - and more’s the pity!

This album is unfortunately out of stock as only a very limited number was originally released, but if enough interest was shown, I am sure a re-pressing would be on the cards.
Anybody interested in this exceptional locally produced album, please contact me and we’ll see what can be arranged. Contact: brilleaux@xtra.co.nz

Need Beats Greed

2008-06-06T09:47:00.002+12:00

It’s an over abundance of those who believe their “needs and wants” are enough to justify the theft of other peoples property that truly gets my back up, and the editor smugly entitling my letter “Greed beats Need” is a prime example of this mentality in operation!

If what I say is so wrong, explain why “taking other peoples money by force (otherwise known as THEFT!!!!) is more moral than a persons property rights!

You wish to attain social benefits through the most immoral action one man can take upon another - the use of FORCE! - Why is this OK?

How is this a MORAL thing to do?

Isn’t stealing BAD?

Why is it different because government or council do it?

Why is trying to PROTECT private property from the grasp of THIEVES called GREED by the editor?

Justifying these actions as “for the benefit of the community” is twisted logic! - The community is but a collection of individuals - Those whose rights you would deny!

The editor appears to define “greed” as somebody trying to keep hold of their personal property!

I define greed as people who are not happy with just their OWN property, but truly believe they have a right to other peoples property also!

PROPERTY RIGHTS RULE! - Ask anybody who doesn’t have them, yet all some do is want to abuse them! - CRAZYNESS

The REAL REASON petrol prices are so high

2008-05-30T13:11:00.003+12:00

PASS IT ON!

Inspired by an article on the best blog in the WORLD - NotPC, I decided to initiate my OWN SPAM email, based upon the old "pass this on to 10 people and Bill Gates will send you $100, or something good will happen to you" chestnut.

The only difference here is that something good really will happen! You will be bringinging awareness to people that it is BIG GOVERNMENT that is responsible for the high fuel costs! maybe 1 or 2 will actually NOT VOTE for MORE GOVERNMENT CONTROL in the future.

Oh well - we all have a DREAM I suppose!

The REAL REASON petrol prices are so high

We’ve all received those emails telling us to boycott BP/Mobil/Shell/Caltex to “send a signal” that their “profiteering” has to end, and pump prices come down.

Profiteering?

If you want to know who takes the largest chunk of local pump prices think again -- it’s not the oil companies, it’s your government.

Despite economic illiterates bleating about the “exorbitant profits” oil companies are making, the money ripped of by the Government from oil and petrol dwarfs the amount earned by the oil companies who actually produce the stuff.

Personally, I am happy to contribute to rising profits of oil corporations and I thank them for delivering the goods successfully.

At the same time I am annoyed at politicians, both domestic and foreign, who are hobbling production efforts, collecting enormous taxes, and promoting false sympathy for the consumer’s pain.

For all that money that the unproductive (government) steal from the productive (oil companies) motorists get the joy of watching most of their money head down the black hole of big government to buy even bigger government with even greater powers to hobble production, collect more enormous taxes, and cry more crocodile tears over the motorist’s plight.

Think about this next time you pull up at the pump, or receive one of those illiterate emails. Would you rather give more money to those whose goal appears to be the long-term strangulation of oil production? Or to those who make the long-term reduction of oil prices possible?

In fact, don’t just think about it: do something.

Next time you hear a politician saying there’s nothing they can do about high oil prices, write a letter saying
“Bullshit!”

The Tomahawk Kid

BOP Times editor lives in a parallel universe

Letter in response to a fan of Phil Goofs Capital Gains Tax

Looters and Bludgers

Don't vote - it only encourages them

Labour Partys ENVY Tax

Bay of Plenty Times editors "Our View Column" strikes again.

Larry Baldock at it again

John Key and Soft Compulsion

Good for you Tauranga councillor Rick Curach

Take me to your leader

Tall Popp[y-choppers alive and well in Tauranga

BOP Times editorial on Drugs

Who is John Galt?

Dole Bludgers NZ Wide now have a new pin-up Girl.

Bind and Gag Tauranga Ratepayers so there's no resistance

Darwin Awards contender from Tauranga

Tauranga Tsunami Sirens

The Truth About Money

The TRUTH about Money

Why do I bother? Here's why!

Principles! - What Principles?

Simon Bridges Democracy Competition - What a Joke

Bob the Builder Vs Simple Simon - a New fable by Aesop

Max Mason - career bureaucrat

Immunisation

Childrens lives at risk in P manufacture houses

Tauranga Museum

Bullying

More Library nonsense

More tax will fix the problem . . . NOT!

Michael Laws

What is a friend?

Reon Suddaby on the drug problem

Tauranga Council SUCKS!

Tauranga Elections

Addiction to Bureaucracy destroying lives

Name and shame Tauranga employment dodgers (oh and drink drivers)

BOP Times Promotes Cuban Champion of Human Rights - Fidel Castro

Another Lolly scramble

Budding young Tauranga Bureaucrats

Shame on Judge Chris McGuire

How to MIlk a Sitting Duck

Thieving Bastards

Italy are a bunch of cheats

Shane Jones (or is that Shame?)

Plague of Armed Robberies predicted

Tauranga ratepayers shafted by City councillors again

Five sentences that should be compulsory learning at schools.

Rout K (K Road) in the news again

Free Library books! - Since When

5 Sentences that should be taught in every school in the country (but won't)

Busybody Mary Brook

Tauranga Bar Scene

More irrational national party flag waving

National party keen to see "P" remains on the streets

DRUGS: Dont ban "P" - Ban "S"

GOD - No!

There is no market in New Zealand’s factory schools

music funding

Government-run health system

Simon Bridges Brownie-point scoring survey

Ban on Sunbeds

Fashionable non-conformist

The Common Good

The role of Government

When is a vote not a vote? When it's an AUCTION

Tauranga Electical Consumers Trust

Tools for Graphic Designers

The Success of the Government-run school curriculum

Government-run education system

Reply to Derrin Richards

Socialists on a Soapbox

New Zealands Most Stupid law Competition - Aucklands entry

Tauranga council to cut back on expenses - yea right

Fun Police strike at Tauranga Baywave AGAIN

Parking problem in Tauranga

Advance auction of stolen goods

Tauranga Top Town Nonsense

Kiwis go in for massochism in a big way as yet another armed holdup for cigarettes