Friday 12 November 2010

Nanny wins the day. Again.

The Nanny State is on the march again, with parliament voting 114 to 3 last night to make access to the demon drink more difficult, and life for its would-be sellers more onerous.

And disgracefully, the only serious opposition to the bill came from wowsers demanding even more busybodying than even this bill made possible.

Simon-Power The bill’s author, Simon Power-Lust, must have been giddy with delight as he celebrated the its win in Bellamy’s.  The only serious parliamentary opposition he encountered to running Geoffrey Palmer’s Attack-the-Proles programme was from wowsers who wanted to make it worse.

Meanwhile, as the world’s economies collapse in a welter of sovereign debt and currency wars—and businesses in these tiny islands struggle to keep their heads above water, from Bellamy’s came the cry that “This government sees overhauling our alcohol laws as a priority…”!

Lindsay Perigo states the case plainly:

_Quote Power-lust is More Harmful than Alcohol!
The 114 MPs who voted today in favour of the Alcohol Reform Bill should be drowned on the floor of the House in a flood of the sickliest, sweetest plonk available, says SOLO Principal Lindsay Perigo.
    “The Bill is yet another assault on individual liberty by an array of unedifying authoritarian specimens haunted by the fear, to paraphrase H. L. Mencken, that somebody, somehow, somewhere may just be managing to enjoy himself with an alcoholic beverage,” says Perigo.
    “It bans corner dairies from selling liquor. It raises the purchasing age to 20 in supermarkets and bottle stores. It bans alcohol products which are 'dangerous or particularly appealing to youth,' without specifying what these might be. It bans the 'promotion of the excessive consumption of alcohol'—meaning, in all likelihood, that Happy Hours will be criminalised. In the words of today's illiterate press release from Injustice Mistress Simone de Power-Lust, it 'makes licences harder to get and easier to loose [sic].'
    “…If this striped-skirted wannabe-dominatrix wishes to know why many youth binge-drink she need look no further than the airhead in her own office who doesn't know the difference between 'loose' and 'lose' any more than she does. The crippling of the minds of youngsters by the state education system has produced more than one generation of airheads and slobs who drink exactly as you'd expect airheads and slobs to drink. The fanatical hostility among our educators to reason and civilised values generally, which hostility reached its apogee when National's Lockwood Smith was Minister of Education, is what has produced Generation Airhead and the drinking habits one would expect of the conceptually-damaged.
    “Prohibition and wowserism are not the solution. The solution is to treat and respect citizens as the self-governing adults they inherently are; most will work their way through the damage and rise to the occasion. Even those who do not should become the government's concern only when they commit crimes against others.
    “Removing the vicious influence of nanny-statist, control-freak, power-addicted dregs like De Power-Lust from our lives would be a significant step towards a culture that respects individual sovereignty. Such a culture will assuredly sport alcohol without anarchy,” Perigo concludes.

Simon Power_128 One power-luster is more damaging than a hundred alcoholics.

The Nanny State is worse for all of us than a thousand necrotic livers.

A few lessons that a few wowsers, and their apologists, need to take to heart.

And who voted against this atrocity?  Just three heroic stand-alones.  The parliament’s so-called party of freedom barely manages a rump for their founding principles these days, with both ACT Party leader Rodney Hide and deputy John Boscawen casting their votes with the majority for more power-lust and less freedom.

Just another indication of what most ACT supporters should have worked out about their former party long ago.

16 comments:

Libertyscott said...

When Simon was a student at Victoria University he went into pubs underage (when the drinking age was 20). He'd get drunk too.

Funny how he now wants to pass laws on a subject when he didn't (rightly) respect them himself.

ACT Youth said...

Fuck, the anti-freedom shown by Rodney Hide and John Boscawen with their voting in support of Power-lust makes me wonder if my membership of the ACT party should be over. I Boscawen & Hide should be booted out in the next election or otherwise the party is dead. They're both in the wrong party. They should quit ACT and joined up with the National (Labour-lite) Party.

I am thinking of joining the Libz. The only thing I don't like the libz is that they're proponents of slash/burn and also they don't like Christians.

twr said...

PC, I assume the three holdouts are Calvert, Roy and Douglas?

Act Youth - Some members of Libz may be anti-Christian, as is their right, but I can't see any evidence that the party itself holds a view one way or the other.

James said...

To be fair Rodney and John have only voted to send it to select commitee for detailed consideration....nothing more.

James said...

Act Youth - Some members of Libz may be anti-Christian, as is their right, but I can't see any evidence that the party itself holds a view one way or the other.

Nor should it...religion is one of those issues true Libs should be blind to...as Libs.Its irelevent when its kept as a private practice by consenting people.

Its the inbuilt authoritarian aspects of Christianity that run in to the liberal foundations of Libertarianism that cause the strife.

The overlapping of Objectivism which does have an issue with religious belief into the mix however is not good and doesn't help the Libs side in gaining ground with potential allies.Its a lossing stratagem and needs repeling asap as far as Libs are concerned.

A seperation of the Objectivism from the Libertarianism in the NZ context and in public debate would be a wise thing to do...keep them as distinct "hats" and only wear one at a time and be clear which one it is to avoid unesessary conflict where none need exist.

Richard McGrath said...

@ACT Youth: I applaud your comments, but if I can address your criticism of Libz:

1) One can't overturn seventy years of the welfare state and public health infrastructure overnight, but it is feasible to do most of this within five years. However, some govt departments and ministerial roles COULD be abolished overnight - such as interfering in yacht racing and rugby tournaments.

2) Libz support separation of religion and the state. We have no view on religion itself; peaceful beliefs are none of the govt's business.

3) Come along to the Libz conference in Auckland this weekend if you're interested.

Peter Cresswell said...

There's a pattern here, don't you think?

James's hero Rodney Hide takes his girlfriend to London on the taxpayers' tab. "To be fair," says James, "he didn't think anyone would notice..."

James's hero Rodney Hide hands a mental midget and assorted city planners the keys to the largest city bureaucracy in the western world. "To be fair," says James, "he didn't think it would happen quite like that..."

James's hero Rodney Hide votes to make having a quiet evening drink even harder. "To be fair," says James, "he only voted to send it to select committee..."

I can see it now. Rodney votes to shoot prisoners at random to lower the Correction Department's budget. "To be fair," says James, "they won't be shooting them all..."

Anonymous said...

"Its (sic) a lossing (sic) stratagem (sic) and needs repeling (sic) asap as far as Libs are concerned.

Home-skooled was you?

What was that tubby old misanthrope Perigo saying about literacy a few minutes ago?

Judge Holden

Peter Cresswell said...

"Libz ... don't like Christians."

Hell, some of my best friends are Christians.

Well, three of them.

And I hardly ever talk down to them for their feeblemindedness. ;^)

Peter Cresswell said...

@Judge: You're right. One good reason James would never fit in. :-)

Peter Cresswell said...

But there are a hundred why you wouldn't, Judge.

Anonymous said...

First and foremost, I'm an individual, not a cultist. I don't feel the need to fit in.

Judge Holden

Peter Cresswell said...

CROWD: "We're all individuals."
JUDGE HOLDEN: "I'm not."

:-)

Anonymous said...

Lulz

Judge Holden

Anonymous said...

There's a pattern here, don't you think?

James's hero Rodney Hide takes his girlfriend to London on the taxpayers' tab. "To be fair," says James, "he didn't think anyone would notice...


Yeah....I really said that...not.As hes saved the nz taxpayer far more than he's ever claimed on a bit of travel with his partner(Just on self driving that smart-car all these years has saved us a bomb)and then he was also on offical business as well when he did so I think on balance he has nothing to apoligise for....and he paid it back too even when it was actually perfectly legit spending by the rules.Did the Libs ever pay back the nz taxpayer for the cost of Perigos Free Radical bash they had at Parliment buildings a few years back...?

James's hero Rodney Hide hands a mental midget and assorted city planners the keys to the largest city bureaucracy in the western world. "To be fair," says James, "he didn't think it would happen quite like that...

Never said that PC.I said that as the Minister of local Government it was his job to see it through for his National bosses,you know...the ones,like Labour who wanted this thing and were going to create it regardless of ACT's view?...As a minister in the National Government he had no choice in that context.And Rodney wasn't really fussed who was elected..he knew getting the CCO's sorted would be the really important thing as National would blunt mad spending by either Banks or Brown..And does anyone think any other MP would have done a better job it setting it up....let alone make such a principled stand on Maori seats?

James's hero Rodney Hide votes to make having a quiet evening drink even harder. "To be fair," says James, "he only voted to send it to select committee...

Well thats all he has done so far...and thats quite right really as it allows more examination and input from various people on the topic.Sure,ideally it should be a simple matter of individual rights uber alles and Government butting out altogether...but thats not the context we are in...unfortunately.

I can see it now. Rodney votes to shoot prisoners at random to lower the Correction Department's budget. "To be fair," says James, "they won't be shooting them all...

Yeah right.I just hate to see NZ's most active libertarian politician(the best we have availible...got a close runner up in mind?)getting kicked in the back by those who are closest to him in ideology.Hides done some good things single handed and deserves better from like minded people....no,not a free pass...just better.Envy is never a good look at any time...

Judge Holden...bite me.When Im in a rush I don't stop to edit and spell check....unlike you I have other productive stuff to do.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Objectivism needs to be somehow be separated from classical liberalism philosophy. Objectivism is a closed system that does not bear much scrutiny ~ nonsense on stilts per Michael Shirmer.
Peter