Category: imported_weekly

How big should our government be? To what extent do we want politicians to decide how we should be living our lives? That, one hopes, may be an issue in this year’s general election.

On Tuesday international “race relations day” - a day to promote the elimination of racial discrimination – will be celebrated by schools from all over the country.

I have just returned from an historic meeting of more than 500 people from all around the world who gathered in New York to address the question of whether man-made global warming is really threatening the future existence of our planet. In attendance were some 200 scientists, economists and climate authorities, highly respected experts who are standing up to defend science against the tide of political opportunism, media dramatisation, and crowd hysteria that is propelling the global warming debate. In doing so these scientists and economists are putting their livelihoods at risk - their research grants, tenure, and ability to get published have all been threatened. Some have even faced death threats for speaking out against the global warming alarmism that is sweeping the world.

The freedom of speech, including the freedom to criticise the government, has always been central to the healthy functioning of a democracy. The underlying principle of a democracy is that the ultimate power rests with the people, and the underlying virtue is that the transition from one administration to another occurs quickly and without bloodshed. This is in stark contrast to dictatorships where change is measured in generations rather than years, and the catalyst for change is revolution not election.

A “rich prick”. That’s what Finance Minister Michael Cullen called the Leader of the National Party two months ago. That vitriolic attack during a Parliamentary debate revealed the Labour Party’s loathing of capitalism (and how rattled they are about their declining popularity).

Last week renowned economist and author Thomas Sowell published a column in which he shed light on the origins of Fascism. He explained that ‘real’ Fascism was introduced into Italy after the First World War by Benito Mussolini and was popular with the political ‘left’. He said, “Fascists were completely against individualism in general and especially against individualism in a free market economy. Their agenda included minimum wage laws, government restrictions on profit-making, progressive taxation of capital, and ‘rigidly secular’ schools. Unlike the Communists, the Fascists did not seek government ownership of the means of production. They just wanted the government to call the shots as to how businesses would be run.”

According to a recent Stuff poll, 75 per cent of the country believes that the Treaty of Waitangi is the nation's most significant event. But they can't agree whether that “event” is good or bad. (See http://www.stuff.co.nz/4388742a10.html)

Housing affordability is set to become a key election issue. Ill advised policies from local and central government are turning the Kiwi dream of home ownership into a fantasy.

Cheyenne Petersen, just 18 months old, was carried into the bush by her P-addled mother Natasha - and left to die.

Our home used to be our castle, but eight years of intrusive new laws and regulations have put paid to that.