Posts by dc_red
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Interesting priorities indeed. Perhaps the prohibition of cannabis has helped fund these alleged activities in the Ureweras.
Sshhh, Paula!
Unfortunately, I suspect many "Jacqui Dean" types would take the wrong message from any such links, and suggest they would be good reason to make Cannabis a Class A drug.
On the other hand, perhaps the "terrorist organizing" was all just stoned bravado? :-)
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They could. And indeed did. That's what took them so long. They got all the evidence they had together, swore affidavits and found a judge/JP to give them a search warrant.
That all takes time. The different with this case is that here they actually had time.
And yet, if memory serves, no such efforts are necessary if an Officer says "Allo allo I think I smell marijuana smoke in this car" and invokes the Misuse of Drugs Act to conduct a warrantless search?
Interesting priorities.
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This is a strange thread ... regular updates on one of the more interesting/alarming domestic news stories of the year, complete with suggestions of terrorist activity ... and the rather more workaday complaints about Auckland traffic.
I appreciate Tom's attempt to link the two through reference to SUV advertising though. Well done Tom.
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Which would be a fair summary of Mayor-elect Williams' platform (as well as opposition to Whenuapai becoming a commercial airport)
I find it interesting that the people of North Shore (or a plurality of those who bother to vote, at least) prefer the current situation of a torturous drive to Mangere over the possibility of an airport in their own region.
And I write this as someone who lives very close to the proposed site (and currently has Hercules(?) and military choppers going overhead relatively frequently).
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Good point, Che: I was surprised by the very low voter interest in Willie Jackson in Manukau City.
In Waitakere City Bob Harvey beat "JT" (as he's been styling himself) by a fairly comfortable 4500 votes.
In another of our constituent territorial local authorities, Rodney, a former ACT MP Penny Webster won the mayoralty with a field that included former National MP Brian "swept out by the new broom" Neeson.
Regrettably, the Neeson legacy lives on in Waitakere City, with wife Vanessa a councillor for the Massey ward, and son Michael on the Massey community board. The man himself was re-elected to the Waitemata DHB.
They sure got value for their "Its [sic] time to vote Neeson" signs.
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Nick M - thanks for the link to the Age article. It is well written and very moving too.
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I did (innocently) open Mandy's link ... at work. Cue immediate panic to close window and find that "Clear Private Data" button in Firefox. "An honest mistake, Gov" I'll say in a charming cockney accent should this ever be brought up by the powers that be.
Lucky I'm not a cop or it would be front page news?
... And with this tale of terror I bring you 100 quality posts.
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Another response to Gordo's youtube revelations on Judeo-Christian values. He gives the 10 Commandments plenty of air-time, without of course acknowledging there is no single, agreed-upon set of 10 Commandments.
And as has been noted by many commentators, irrespective of whichever set one happens to be considering, the moral value of the Commandments as a tool for organizing civil society and/or criminal law is very dubious.
Taking the Catholic version of the Commandments (which I assume Gordo considers superior to the others), the first three are instructions to believers (including the wonderful admission re: being a "jealous god"), with no wider societal relevance that I can think of.
The fourth is very strict about not working on the Sabbath, or allowing one's "male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey" to work for that matter. I look forward to Gordo working alongside the National Party to close St Lukes mall on a Sunday.
Commandments 5-10 are at least moral instructions, with some logic to them, but again, does Gordo propose making it compulsory (as opposed to merely desirable under good circumstances) to honour one's parents (#5)? I can't see how that's the state's business.
Likely, the matter of coveting the neighbour's wife (#10) is a matter for private conscience, of no proper concern to the state or society more widely.
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__Does anyone know what "Judeo-Christian values" are?__
Yes, they are a rhetorical strategy for the American fundamentalist Christian right to disarm the Jews, who historically have been active in insisting on enforcing the constitutional separation of church and state.
Cheers Stephen, interesting point. But given the relatively small number of Jews in New Zealand I wonder why they bothered with the "Judeo-" bit?
I think I can count on one hand the number of Jewish people I've met in Auckland, and most of them were American exchange students (and thus not able to vote here).
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According to Mssrs Copeland and Baldock, in their most recent press release:
The party [__Ed__: Future New Zealand - or its bastard offspring] that will ultimately be registered to contest the 2008 elections will not define itself as a Christian political party but rather a party with a constitutional commitment to Judeo-Christian values with an open and inclusive philosophy.
Does anyone know what "Judeo-Christian values" are? Is there a definitive list somewhere? Who decided what "values" should be taken from the many stories recounted in the holy books of Judaism and Christianity? And what should we make of those stories that tend towards, putting it politely, the unwholesome, the genocidal, and the bizarre? Do they articulate "values" too?
Dawkins raises an interesting point in The God Delusion where he asks whether many of those promoting "Biblical values" etc. (and seeking to impose them on others) have actually read the book on which they claim to base their political views.