Animals have rights. Yes, even feral conservatives like John Banks.
This PR may seem like one out of left field to some, but John Banks has a long history of campaigning for animal rights and supporting animal welfare legislation. It may seem that he and (former) Green MP Sue Kedgley make strange bedfellows, but a SAFE media release in (pre-election) October last year had this to say.
Greens Lead the Way against Colony Cages
If the nation’s three million caged hens could vote, the Greens and Act’s John Banks would be ruling the roost come this year’s election, says leading animal advocacy organisation SAFE.
Outgoing animal welfare spokesperson and Green MP Sue Kedgley, announced yesterday that her party will pledge against cruel colony cage systems and Act Party candidate, John Banks, also says he will pledge his personal support to help caged hens.
…
I say (and I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular), good on them both. Many libertarians are conflicted about animal welfare legislation. They think such legislation is unprincipled, while at the same time they abhor animal cruelty. I find their arguments, that the way to prevent animal cruelty is through social rather than legal sanctions, feeble at best and unconscionable at worst.
My defence of my seemingly unlibertarian views on the matter of animal welfare legislation is this. Animal welfare legislation is not a moral issue. It is a metaphysical issue.
(Almost) all libertarians I know subscribe to the view(s) that
human beings are individually possessed of certain inalienable rights, which are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of … happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers – and only such powers – from the consent of the governed; that all laws legislated by governments must be for the purpose of securing these rights; that no laws legislated by government may violate these rights …
If you believe, as I do, that non-human animals also possess some (limited) rights, then it is within the proper scope of government to secure those rights. Animal welfare legislation is not necessarily unlibertarian. Whether it is or not depends on whether or not non-human animals possess rights. And that is a metaphysical question, not a moral one.
While most Kiwis concern themselves with the state of the Economy, there is another issue of even greater magnitude being foisted up us… the preparations for a New Republican Constitution for New Zealand.
This process is being carried out in stealth, ie there is no public debate going on, but rather a collection of ‘Hui’ which are dominated by Socialists, Greens, and Racial separatists who have hijacked this project and are setting about to manipulate public opinion into accepting a corrupt constitution which enshrines Racial separatism and pseudo-legitimises totalitarian powers to Parliament.
I am currently attempting to rally a lobby group to oppose this skulduggery and to propose an alternative Constitution based upon Equality before the Law and Limited Government, which includes a Bill of Rights which must be respected by Parliament.
I have so far had no success.
One of my associates, One New Zealand Foundation’s Ross Baker shares my alarm that the separatists have Hijacked the process for establishing a New Constitution, and is concerned that the fact that John Key’s National Government has accepted the UN Declaration on Indigenous rights means it will be used as leverage by the Separatists to enshrine a separatist Constitution. He is also concerned about the lack of any organised opposition.
We intend to put up a fight!
Yet currently we are so few in number that we fear we have little hope of getting our side of the Debate herd, let alone be successful in halting the ambitions of the Racist Socialists.
Below is an Opinion piece I wrote at the time John ‘Quisling’ Key endorsed the Racist/ Anti- Enlightenment Document… The UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights. The danger I forewarn is now upon us.
This Declaration is about to be used in the most diabolical way. To enshrine an apartheid constitution.
This can only bring Greater evils and injustices upon us.
It will perpetuate the Extortion Racket that syphons millions of dollars into the hands of vile racists.
It will further entrench Maori in the mentality of victimism and the poverty of Socialist dependence.
I post it here today in the hope of stimulating interest in this ‘Mother of all Political struggles’ we currently face… To sound the Alarm… The Barbarians are at our gates! Prepare for Battle or be slaughtered, and your children enslaved.
Article/ Opinion piece… Quisling John Key sells out New Zealand to UN Socialist racism.
By Tim Wikiriwhi Libertarian Independent Hamilton West.
Recent dire events lead me to write this article asking how is it possible that earth shattering truths can explode in the face of a so-called educated people without causing so much as a tiny ripple of contemplation their consciences, yet at other times these same nation of scholars are provoked into a lynch mob frenzy at the drop of a hat? Machiavelli would say “tis elementary”… for the Prince skilled in statecraft.
I however conclude no such Diabolical genius is necessary!
*Mass Deception is easily achievable via corrupting the peoples education*… and thus over time manipulate their grip on reality.
* Furthermore I say New Zealand clearly has been so manipulated*… by mediocre liars who have been furnished with just such socialist political engines of condition and have propagated a nation of thoroughly ‘educated’ Ignorami!
Why am I pouring scorn upon my countrymen?
Let me explain.
Via John Key, New Zealand has just endorsed the UN separatist declaration of Indigenous rights which is contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi and the principles of justice which say our rights must be equal before the Law.
It pains me to think thousands of Kiwis voted for the Quisling John Key and his band of sycophants calling themselves the National Party!
That these Toe rags managed to convince anyone to vote for them is more than a badge of stupidity, it is fast proving to be a fatal error, yet most Kiwi are too ‘educated’ to grasp what this Quisling has achieved in his short stint at the top Job, and most of those who are ‘in the know’ belong to a club of shyster lawyers, racists, stooges, and power hungry Politicains now wringing their hands with glee at the thought of how to enrich themselves with filthy lucre…. thanks to the utter imbecile running our country.
I say John Key must rank as one of the worlds greatest two faced idiots in power today along side the President of Iran and Hugo Chavez, and ultimately is just as dangerous…just as disastrous.
Sitting at my computer, I could not express how grievous has been the collaboration of John Key with the radical racist separatists of the Maori Party, without venting this tirade you are reading.
As a Hamiltonian I wonder where are the voices of protest from our elected representatives Tim Macendoe and David Bennet?
Their silence betrays their complicity!
They have no spine… No independent conscience… They are loyal little minions.
John Key is no Prince yet is Machiavellian enough to time this vile political betrayal now, in the hope that the stupid New Zealanders will have forgotten about his deception at election time.
Not only did he do this without warning the nation, he did it behind the back of his coalition partner Rodney Hide!
This must rank as one of the most fowl deeds of recent NZ politics, right up there with Helen Clarks election fraud regarding Pledge Gate and Winston Peters and the Baubles of Power!
As far as civilisation and progress is concerned this UN document is an Anti- civilisation declaration!
It is the reverse of that great beacon of enlightenment dated 1776 that declared that All men are created equal!
It is a violation of that latter enlightenment treaty of 1840 that guaranteed equal rights for all New Zealanders, and cuts asunder the peoples it ideologically united as one.
I now wonder what National/Maori Spin doctors will weave, to convince the sheeple that the real treaty of Waitangi and the UN declaration of Indigenous rights can be honoured at the same time?
Oh that’s right…they have already been ‘educated’!
Hypocrisy! Stinking filth!
Where I ask, are journalists reminding the sheeple that Hone Harawera and co rejected all established authority in New Zealand apparently demanding Maori Sovereignty, yet now call for us to surrender our sovereignty to the dictates of foreign powers centralised in the UN?…oh that’s right, all our journalists have been ‘educated’ too!
It has been left to Libertarians and Patriots such as the One New Zealand Foundation to ring out the alarm.
I have been telling New Zealanders for years that contrary to what we are being taught, the real racial troubles of our Nation were not a result of failure to honour the treaty of Waitangi, but emanates from Anti Western Racist Socialist Ideology emanating from the UN.
I have been saying that even without the Treaty of Waitangi we would still be in this racist mess and I have referred to Zimbabwe and Fiji as proof of this, yet my voice and that of a small bunch of individuals has been as one who cries out in the wilderness.
When I said Frank Bainamarama is a hero of racial equality before the Law, desperately fighting the Indigenous racists of his country, The media and the sheeple choose to ignore my arguements, and vilify Bainimarama.
Well ignore me if you will, but don’t ignore the Haka of Hone Harawera!
You do so at your Peril and that of your children.
Harawera has already told you to your face that his party intends to wield The UN declaration as a weapon to crush the rights of all non-Maori!
Listen to the Racist Judges such as Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie who have already indicated to Maori Party that they will collaborate with their racist schemes that invoke the UN declaration!
Listen to the media that now tells us that even the treaty grounds themselves will now be claimed as exclusively Maori!
Read the declaration for yourselves and realise it is a green light for an utterly divided country, severed into two different Nations, with two different governments!
That is what self-determination means!
Ask your Zimbabwean neighbours who are now refugees from their motherland!
Why has Rodney Hide not withdrawn his support from such treacherous Leadership?
Hide has no credibility! It was obvious from the day John Key hongied Tama Iti what extremes he was prepared to stoop to in his bid for power and when Key ask to support a National/Maori Party coalition, Hide should have refused outright!
He sold himself and his party’s claims to oppose Waitangi apartheid for forty pieces of silver…just as Winston Peters did with Helen Clark.
True Justice is Blind to Colour, Culture, Creed, etc.
Whom will save us from this diabolical scheme?
What evils must we now face?
To what lengths must we now strive… how much blood must soon flow to win yet again justice and equality before the Law and restore our land to the tranquillity hard won in the 1860s?
We must throw out National and the Maori Party, and don’t let Labour or the Greens back in either as they share the same racist politics as National/Maori.
We must get the Real treaty restored, ie The Littlewood Treaty which is an exact translation of The signed Maori Te Triti o Waitangi and scrap the perverted revised Modern perversions that are being used to justify Maori sovereignty and separatism .
We must abolish the separate electoral roll and Maori seats in Parliament.
We must abolish all race based Laws and state institutions.
We must enshrine a New constitution of equality before the Law!
We must abandon the UN.
We ought to support Frank Bainimarama in his struggle to have racial equality in Fiji.
New Zealanders need to look past all the charlatans of the mainstream parties and look for new representatives who have not sullied themselves with racist politics
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Libertarian Independent
Hamilton West.
Opposition parties say New Zealand has been turned into a “police state” after Parliament last night narrowly passed the Government’s controversial Search and Surveillance Bill.
Parliament last night passed by the Bill by 61 votes to 57.
It was opposed by all Opposition parties and the Government’s support partner the Maori Party.
…
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira said 70 different government agencies could obtain surveillance warrants based on suspicion a crime could be committed.
“This Bill goes way beyond what they have in Europe, in Canada and even in the US.”
If someone was detained under the Bill, enforcement officers could search a person’s workplaces and friends, he told Parliament.
“You don’t have to be guilty of anything, you don’t even have to be to be arrested. You only have to be detained.”
Mana opposed the Bill because it led to a “police state”.
“Where the liberties and freedoms most of us now enjoy will disappear, where the powers of the police will be extended without the approval of the judiciary, where the powers of government agencies will assume more authority that the rights of ordinary New Zealanders and where there will be an assumption of guilt not only on an alleged offender but on anyone who knows that person.
“Where enforcement officers can bug your granddaughter’s phone, install a hidden camera in your daughter’s bathroom, download the files from your wife’s computer and steal your files without even having to prove a crime has been or will be committed.”
At the risk of starting a storm even more intense than the debate on climate change, I thought I’d note that the current issue of “The Economist” (in my opinion the best weekly news magazine in the English-speaking world) has an article on the ongoing drug wars in Latin America. Thousands of people have died, and it is not at all obvious than the flow of drugs, much of it to the US, has been reduced despite the cost in human life.
Last year, I enlivened my campaign for the ACT Party – unwisely in retrospect – by suggesting that in New Zealand we should be taking a serious look at whether the present policy on drugs like marijuana should be changed. The Law Commission has suggested there should be change, and internationally the Global Commission on Drugs has made a similar recommendation. I should stress that I myself have not ever used recreational drugs (except relatively small amounts of alcohol) and I do not want to see my teenage son using them either. I’m simply saying that by continuing to make the possession of small amounts of marijuana a criminal offence we drive the drug traffic into the hands of seriously bad people, who do enormous damage to everybody they touch.
Don The Freedom Fighter. With his fall New Zealand lost its best hope of economic recovery, improved property rights, greater personal freedom, and racial equality before the Law.
I Salute You Don. You stepped forward in the time of your country’s need and did your best to bring economic sanity to the table and halt our spiral downward into the abyss. You opposed Waitangi Racism. You opposed The Green Scam of ETS. You sought to end the stranglehold of the RMA, and you even dared to question the popular bigotry and oppression of the war on drugs. You did not fail in my book. You are a hero. It was the one eye media and the Sheeple of New Zealand, and the Luke warm whimps in your midst whom failed you and themselves. Please dont regret your Idealism. Do not think you ought to have pandered to the Sheepish mentality. Be proud that you made your appeals to Reason and justice.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Don The Stoner. This image appeared after Don Brash bravely declared he believed Cannabis ought to be decriminalised. Truly a Legendary appeal for Liberty and Justice.
The Devil offered Christ all the Kingdoms of the world if he would but bow down before him.
A low vote count can be very devastating to a person or party standing for election.
No doubt many Act party members are moping about, licking their wounds.
There can be many reasons why election defeats occur and those involved in such situations discuss ways to improve their chances of election next time, yet there is a very evil temptation that must be avoided at all cost.
The thing to beware is the notion that principles must be sacrificed for the sake of popularity… Compromise is the road to hell.
Many Power hungry Politicians are Poll driven sluts!.
Humanity is in peril. The stormy world of politics needs an immovible lighthouse to shine its light in the darkness
The Libertarianz Party will Stoically endure all. They have faced election defeats for a decade and a half, yet have always resisted the temptation to soften their bid for freedom and justice. I have stood for Parliament and council both as a Libertarianz Party Candidate and as an Independent, yet have never changed a single policy. My principles are not for sale. Having no lust for power for its own sake. I see no point in striving to win election if the price must be to forsake and betray my values. Yet it is amazing how many parties and individuals do just that. If you read the National party constitution you would think they were the Libertarianz or Act party, yet in reality they are today virtually identical to the Labour party. Via compromise after compromise….step by step they deserted their original/ foundational ideals and now represent the very opposite convictions. For the sake of Political power they sold out. Thus my message to Don Brash and the Act Party is Don’t blame your principles as being ‘the problem’! Don’t fall into the trap that you must ‘water down’ and compromise your Ideals…for popularities sake! No! You must be resolved. You must improve how you get your message across to the public… but stand rock solid… immovable upon the principles which define you and distinguish you from the National Party…lest ye become light blue. Here is a short list of things you cannot compromise upon without selling your soul to Satan.
1. Be resolute in regards to the RMA. Liberty and Property rights are an essential for a prosperous and just Nation.
2. Be resolute in opposition to the ETS. It is a giant socialist scam attempting to cripple industry and growth, and control of the Means of production.
3. Push for the decriminalization of Cannabis. This is an extremely important Law and order issue. The gains that such a reform would make to our society is Monumental.
4. Stand firm upon Ending Waitangi Apartheid. Racial Equality before the Law is a fundamental of Justice. The Waitangi Gravy train is a heinous disease that ensnares Maori in Racism and socialist dependence and corrupts race relations.
Thus Act must spend the next three years working to gain back support. I suggest you push harder…not softer upon these righteous policies… or Quit….and leave the field clear for the Libertarianz Party. Those are the only two moral options you have.
I may have only recieved 101 votes yet I wont be changing my principles.
St Paul said “I have fought the Good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…”
Christian note: Of all people, Christians ought to be aware of the evils of selling out the principles of justice for Popular support. We are warned about the evil of compromise many times in the scriptures. For example “Broard is the way that leadeth to Damnation, and many there be thereon; Narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it”, and again “Let God be true and every man a Liar”, and again What profit a man should he gain the whole world but loose his own soul?, and again “Ye cannot serve both God and Mammon”. The Utilitarian Principle of the greatest Happiness is actually an Anti-Christian Atheist Doctrine designed to opposes Christian Values and Idealism.
Of course this does not mean a Christian cannot make compromises on non-essential questions and be accommodating with the desires of others, as long as this does not compromise essential principles. As far as values go Integrity to truth and justice ought to be much higher up your hierarchy than the lust for power (Integrity to truth and justice ought to occupy the very highest tier and be a defining characteristic of your being!). Do not deceive yourself that you may Compromise yourself to gain power, and that when it is within your grasp that you will then wield it with resolute integrity. Remember ‘Power tends to Corrupt’, thus if you are prepared to make compromises to gain power, undoubtedly you will be prepared to make more to keep it. Tim Wikiriwhi.
Fitzpatrick Calls on ACT, ALCP for Electorate Vote
“In the 2008 election 487 Ohariu voters gave their electorate vote to the ACT candidate and 1,304 gave ACT their party vote,” Libertarianz Ohariu candidate Sean Fitzpatrick observed today.
“This year ACT has chosen to not stand a candidate in the Ohariu electorate. This leaves a void for those who sympathize with the classical liberal / libertarian side of the ACT party.”
“I call on ACT voters from previous years to seriously consider giving me your electorate votes this year, even if you still intend to give ACT your party vote. There is simply no other alternative that is even remotely satisfying.”
Fitzpatrick points out, “ACT supporters will not want to see Chauvel or Hughes as their local MP. Dunne has openly bagged Dr Brash for his views on the economy, drug law reform and virtually everything else. Katrina Shanks is only campaigning for the list vote.”
“In short, the ACT voter who still wants their electorate vote to count for something this year really only has one choice: Sean Fitzpatrick of Libertarianz.”
“In similar fashion, the Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party is also not standing a candidate in Ohariu this year. ALCP voters can be assured that I back their view on drug law reform,” Fitzpatrick concludes.
Can you imagine a political campaign ad like this in New Zealand? No, didn’t think so.
Perhaps not uncoincidentally, also in my inbox later in the day was a press release from ACT Leader Don Brash with the subject line, Time for Action. Don says
PREFU figures released today show that the National Government is projected to achieve fiscal surplus by 2014/15, as originally projected in the Budget. If achieved, this would place New Zealand in an elite group of countries. But the PREFU also highlights some very disappointing facts …
New Zealand will continue to suffer from anaemic economic growth for the foreseeable future and is projected to have long-term growth markedly slower than the growth assumed for Australia. This suggests that the Government’s objective of narrowing the gap between incomes here and those in Australia is still a distant dream.
I think I have a sound grasp of basic economic principles. I know what wealth is and where it comes from. But I have no idea what PREFU is. If Don says that today’s release of PREFU figures is good news, I believe him. But this anaemic press release doesn’t inspire this reader to action. I suspect that the latest poll which shows that John Banks trails in Epsom did not inspire the writer. It now looks likely that Don will have nothing to show for his unprincipled pragmatism in regard to ACT’s choice of Epsom candidate. A seat for him in Parliament after the upcoming election is still a distant dream.
I admire Don for (among many things) his public stance on cannabis law reform, and I despise the media and assorted low-lifes who used the opportunity to put the boot in rather than seize the opportunity to debate the issues. But now it looks like the cannabaton has been passed back to the ALCP. Thanks, Don, we’ll run with it.
At short notice, I was roped in to substitute for ALCP leader Michael Appleby at a Wellington Central candidates meeting, held this evening in St. John’s Hall in Karori, Wellington. I was the final speaker. The meeting was organised by Ethne Wyndham-Smith, Coordinator for the Karori Community Centre. Thanks, Ethne!
We’re in a church hall, so I’m going to give you a sermon! A short sermon. A sermon on Prohibition.
There was a song released a few years ago which you may have heard. My kids introduced me to it. It was called What if God smoked cannabis? Well, it’s an interesting question. Of course, God wouldn’t smoke cannabis. He’s sky high, all the time! Let’s bring it down to earth a bit and ask, instead, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus smoke cannabis? I don’t know, but I think the short answer is no. Jesus would not smoke cannabis.
But if you ask, would Jesus smoke cannabis, you’re asking the wrong question! The question is not, would Jesus smoke cannabis, but would Jesus arrest people who do? And the short answer to that, I believe, is also no. Jesus would not arrest people who smoke cannabis. He would not support Prohibition.
The Bible reading this evening is from the Epistle to the Collossians. Chapter 2, verses 20-23. Here’s what the Apostle Paul had to say about Prohibition.
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (NIV1984)
Paul recognised that Prohibition doesn’t work. Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! Don’t take drugs! These rules lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
There are good people with me up here on the stage. Two particularly good people are ACT candidate Stephen Whittington and Libertarianz candidate Reagan Cutting. Both Stephen and Reagan recognise what Paul recognised, and both support the ALCP’s core policy: legalise cannabis. They’ll join with me in telling you that Prohibition doesn’t work. And they’re right, it doesn’t.
Prohibition doesn’t work. Now think for a moment about that. Prohibition doesn’t work… OK. So, what would it be like if Prohibition did work? What’s Prohibition supposed to achieve? What’s Prohibition for? Prohibition is supposed to stop people taking drugs. Now, ask yourself, why on earth would you want to do that? Is it any of your business if people are taking drugs? How are you going to stop them?
Do you want to stop me taking drugs? If so, how are you going to stop me? Are you going to persuade me that taking drugs is a bad idea? Or are you going to send the police around to my house one day? Would you have them enter my house, against my wishes? Would you have them ransack the place, searching for the wrong kind of plant? Would you have them drag me off to a police cell, and detain me against my will? Would you?
Prohibition is violence! Jesus was not violent. What would Jesus do? I’d like to think that Jesus would give his party vote to the ALCP. This election, I ask you to do the same.
Please, give your party vote to the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party and help end Prohibition. Prohibition is VIOLENT, it’s UNCHRISTIAN and it’s WRONG!
Libertarians come and libertarians go … and some libertarians come back, older and wiser, and on steroids! Such a libertarian is Stephen Berry. One time Deputy Leader of the Libertarianz Party, this time around Berry is an Independent candidate for the Tamaki electorate. His website is here.
“Any person who openly advocates a war on people of whom they disapprove could be called many things, most of which are uncomplimentary, but they can not be called ‘classical liberal.’ They are an authoritarian.
“I had always thought that classical liberals supported individual freedom and ownership over your own body and life,” Berry says. “Now, either I am mistaken about what a classical liberal is, or Newman truly has no political integrity. No prizes will be awarded for the correct answer.”
It was press releases like this one (and constant aggravation from Muriel Newman) that inspired me to join the Libz. Indeed, my first press release as a Libz spokesman, Smoking ban poll causes alarm, followed a week later.
There are many candidates to choose from in Tamaki this election. Most of them offer varying degrees of the status quo; only one offers the alternative of individual liberty. That candidate is Stephen Berry …
Unlike the other candidates for the seat of Tamaki, I am not going to bribe you with election lollies obtained through taxation. I am not going to promise to spend more of your money on special interests. I am not going to pretend that the solution to local and national issues is more Government. I am not going to tell you how to live your life, spend your money or what you must do with your property!
I am standing on a platform of individual freedom. Real individual freedom – not the watered down illusion that the Act party will offer. I am advocating true personal sovereignty – unlike the National party which has a constitution espousing freedom while they ban substances they do not approve of. I promote complete economic freedom – in contrast to Labour and Green politicians who wish to steal your money to redistribute to the lazy.
Bring it on!
I am Tamaki’s only freedom candidate!
Vote Stephen Berry for Tamaki! (And give the ALCP your party vote!)
Unlike the other candidates for the seat of Tamaki, I am not going to bribe you with election lollies obtained through taxation. I am not going to promise to spend more of your money on special interests. I am not going to pretend that the solution to local and national issues is more Government. I am not going to tell you how to live your life, spend your money or what you must do with your property!