"When a government becomes powerful, it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurper which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance for votes with which to perpetuate itself." - Cicero
"Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force." - George Washington
"In all that people can do for themselves, the government ought not to interfere." - Abraham Lincoln
"The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power." - John Stuart Mill
"The government's role is whatever the government defines it to be." - Helen Clark

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Critical Rationalism

As a partial response to Steven Den Beste (here) and Donald Sensing (here) this is a discussion of the use of deduction and induction as techniques to obtain knowledge, and an introduction to critical rationalism as proposed by Karl Popper. I will then apply these techniques to the question of the rationality of religious belief.


DEDUCTION

The valid argument forms that deduction relies on are simple and cannot be denied without very quickly leading to absurdity. Take this simple example:

1) All men are mortal
2) Socrates is a man

Therefore, 3) Socrates is mortal

This is a deductively sound argument: if 1 and 2 are true then 3 is certainly true. It is impossible to believe 1 and 2 but not believe 3. However there are two problems with relying on deduction as a source of knowledge.

Firstly, a deductive argument cannot be guaranteed to produced a true conclusion unless it has true premises. In the above example, if Jesus is an example of a man who is not mortal, then proposition 1 is false and the conclusion of the argument is unsupported. If we are not certain that all men are mortal, then we cannot even justify the statement that you or I or Socrates is mortal, at least not using the above argument.

Secondly, a reliance exclusively on deduction leads to infinite regress. In order to justify 3 above, we need to justify 1 and 2. In order to justify 1 and 2, we must construct valid deductive arguments with true premises that have 1 and 2 as their conclusions. We must then justify the premises of these arguments and so on, ad infinitum.


INDUCTION

Induction uses repeated observation to derive general statements. The typical form that induction takes is:

1) In case 1 where X is true, Y is also true
2) In case 2 where X is true, Y is also true
...
k) In case k where X is true, Y is also true

Therefore it is reasonable to act in accordance with the following general statement:

Whenever X is true, Y is also true

This process can never guarantee the truth of the conclusion with absolute certainty. In fact, it is much worse than this. Induction is utterly unreliable, for the following reason:

There is a hidden assumption in the above argument and in all inductive arguments, which is this:

It is reasonable to suppose that unobserved cases will resemble observed cases.

This assumption was first exposed by David Hume and described by him as the 'Principle of the Uniformity of Nature'. Clearly this 'principle' has no deductive proof, and any inductive justification will necessarily be circular. Therefore, relying solely on deduction and induction, the above assumption (and hence all inductive arguments) has no justification whatsoever.

A common example is 'chicken logic'. A chicken gets up every morning, leaves the coop and wanders around the farmyard eating and pecking and generally going about its chicken business. The same thing happens the next day and the next day. If the chicken relies on induction, it will conclude that this state of affairs will continue indefinitely. Instead, the day comes when the chicken has its head cut off and ends up in a pot.


THE PROBLEM

The problem we are faced with can be expressed using the following three statements:

1) We successfully devise and use general laws all the time
2) Observation and experiment are our only means of determining which general laws to adopt
3) Observation and experiment cannot be used to justify a general law (as shown above)

At first glance this combination of statements appears contradictory, and it looks as though 2), 3) or both must be false. Hume's answer was that, in practice, we disregard 3) as a matter of instinct or habit, based on an irrational urge which fortunately happens to be necessary for our survival. This explanation is unsatisfactory and, as it turns out, unnecessary.


THE SOLUTION: CRITICAL RATIONALISM

We adopt general laws using observation and experiment as our guide. However, the way we use observation and experiment is not as justification of general laws (which would violate 3 above), but solely as refutation of proposed laws that do not hold. The refutation process is deductively valid, e.g.

Jesus is a man
Jesus is not mortal
Therefore, it is not the case that all men are mortal

This process of using observation and experiment to refute false theories does not rely on induction in any way. I cannot emphasise this point strongly enough. Induction simply does not work and it is not what scientists (or people generally) actually do. There is no good inductive justification for any belief under any circumstances. To quote Karl Popper:

I hold that neither animals nor men use any procedure like induction, or any argument based on the repetition of instances. The belief that we use induction is simply a mistake. It is a kind of optical illusion. What we do use is a method of trial and the examination of error; however misleadingly this method may look like induction, its logical structure, if we examine it closely, totally differs from that of induction. Moreover, it is a method which does not give rise to any of the difficulties connected with the problem of induction.

There is no induction; we never argue from facts to theories, unless by way of refutation or "falsification".

Having reached this point, some questions arise:

Question: If our theories don't come from observation, where do they come from?
Answer: There are no authoritative sources of knowledge. Our most fruitful source of new theories is the modification of existing ones, but intuition and imagination are also useful. Origins are essentially unimportant - most of our theories are false anyway. Instead of inquiring into the sources of a theory, we should test the theory by examining it and its consequences.

Question: How do we know that a theory we accept today will not be refuted by observations in the future?
Answer: We can never be certain that our accepted theories are true, there will always be a possibility that new observations or experiments will contradict a theory. We can, however, have a great deal of confidence in theories that have successfully withstood many attempts at refutation.

Question: How do we choose between competing theories where neither has been refuted?
Answer: Competing theories will predict different outcomes from identical starting positions and usually a reproducible experiment can be set up that will settle the issue. Where this is not possible, there are two factors to be taken into account:

The first is the degree to which a theory has been tested. A theory is 'corroborated' whenever an experiment is carried out that might refute the theory if a certain result were achieved, but that result does not occur. A well-corroborated theory should be preferred to an untested one.

The second factor is the 'richness' or informative content of the two theories. The theory that leads to more interesting and useful conclusions is the better theory.


SUMMARY BY KARL POPPER

In other words, we know that our scientific theories must always remain hypotheses, but that, in many important cases, we can find out whether or not a new hypothesis is superior to an old one. For if they are different, then they will lead to different predictions, which can often be tested experimentally; and on the basis of such a crucial experiment, we can sometimes find out that the new theory leads to satisfactory results where the old one breaks down. Thus we can say that in our search for truth, we have replaced scientific certainty by scientific progress. And this view of scientific method is corroborated by the development of science. For science does not develop by a gradual encyclopaedic accumulation of essential information, as Aristotle thought) but by a much more revolutionary method; it progresses by bold ideas, by the advancement of new and very strange theories (such as the theory that the earth is not flat, or that 'metrical space' is not flat), and by the overthrow of the old ones. - Karl Popper, The Problem of Induction (1953, 1974)


- Coming soon, Critical Rationalism and Religion

 

Gun law accused found not guilty

A man who threatened poachers and shot their helicopter has rightly been found not guilty. So why are the police still proceeding with this case?

 

Children hooked on violent Net games

This story says that teenagers in Wellington are living on the street and committing crimes in order to get money to fund their Counter-Strike habit.

I was struck by this quote:
"The pair were not typical criminal teens and had loving two-parent families, friends and schools that cared about them"
What loving parent would not provide their teenager with a computer and internet connection at home?

But seriously, there was a similar media outcry 20 years ago about Dungeons and Dragons. We told our parents there was nothing to worry about. Either they believed us, or we ignored them and played anyway. 20 years from now, those kids who are currently addicted to Counterstrike will be much happier and more successful than kids who are playing sport or watching TV.

 

Film Festival Censorship

Beck's Incredible Film Fest has started in Auckland and is coming to Wellington soon. There is more information here.

As usual, a Christian group has attempted to have some of the films banned. I doubt that the two films concerned have any artistic merit whatsoever, but I still hate the idea of the government deciding what we can see and hear. Also, why do the media insist on referring to the aforementioned Christian activists as a 'morals group'? There is no significant correlation between morality and conservative Christians.

The festival organisers have established an online anti-censorship petition here.

 


Au Currant has moved to this new location.

 

Baghdad Blog

Salam Pax will be writing fortnightly for the Guardian starting next Wednesday, according to this story

 

Independent: WMD just a convenient excuse for war

The Independent is reporting here a quote from Paul Wolfowitz:

"For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on,"

Supposing the quote is correct, the headline of the story is clearly inaccurate.

The war was justified for reasons of self-defence and the search for WMDs, it was also justified on humanitarian grounds and it was further justified in order to remove a corrupt and evil dictatorship that posed a serious threat to its neighbours. It's likely the primary official reason given was WMDs in order to clearly distinguish Iraq from Saudi Arabia and other friends of the U.S. That doesn't imply in any way that the WMD justification was a 'convenient excuse'.

UPDATE: Little Green Footballs has more, including more of the interview placing the above quote in context.

 

Tranz Rail Offer

Another offer for Tranz Rail, this time from Australian company Toll Holdings. If the government is not going to nationalize Tranz Rail, they should announce this now, so shareholders are not left in limbo.

 

Supreme Court bill faces changes

The Select Committee looking at the Supreme Court Bill is considering significant changes, according to this story in today's Dominion Post. The big issues are still:

1) Should appeals to the Privy Council be abolished?
2) Should we create a new highest court, rather than sticking with the existing Court of Appeal?
3) If we do create a new court, how should judges be appointed?

From the story, it appears that the answer to 1 and 2 is still yes, and we are only debating 3. Even there, there's no guarantee that any changes will actually make it difficult for the government to fill the new court with their hand-picked judges.

 


Bill Clinton thinks the 22nd amendment should be modified so that the limit is two consecutive terms, not two terms total. This is not actually a bad idea, as an added bonus we might get the pleasure of seeing Clinton lose an election.

 

Geldof on Aid to Africa

Andrew Sullivan links to this story in The Guardian on Bob Geldof's recent visit to Ethiopia. Some quotes from Sir Bob:

"You'll think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush administration is the most radical - in a positive sense - in its approach to Africa since Kennedy,"

"Clinton was a good guy, but he did fuck all."

"The EU have been pathetic and appalling, and I thought we had dealt with that 20 years ago when the electorate of our countries said never again,"

 

50th Anniversary of Everest Ascent

29 May, 1953 was the day that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. An account of the 50th anniversary celebrations is here.

Whatever you do, don't confuse Edmund Hillary with that other Hillary.

 

The Treaty Settlement Process in New Zealand

A paper with the above title written by Paula Cody and Kay Harrison can be located here. (Link via Lawrence Solum)

 

Lileks review of Matrix: Reloaded

Here is the link

"Short version of the review - Attention, Wachowski Brothers: put down the bong and step away from the script."

 

Law and Odour

Apparently, New Zealanders lead the world in making bad smells. A Lower Hutt company has recently been hired by the LA County sheriff's department to make bad smells over there. At times like this I feel really proud to be a kiwi.

 

State health system kills father of two

A 43 year old man died of a heart attack after being denied heart bypass surgery due to a shortage of beds. The full story is here.

Wakefield hospital was available just around the corner, but last year the state hospital board terminated a program that would have allowed patients to be referred to the private hospital if necessary. More details are here.

 

China holds Kiwi on terrorism charges

This story reports that China is holding a NZ citizen and a US citizen and says "they were engaging in, or plotting to engage in, violent terrorist activities".

There's no word so far on what evidence, if any, China has against the two men. If the U.S. can imprison foreign nationals indefinitely without laying charges, we have to expect similar behaviour from countries like China. I think the U.S. now has three choices:

1) Start holding trials for those imprisoned at Guantanamo and elsewhere.
2) Turn a blind eye when U.S. citizens are unjustly held without trial in other countries.
3) Employ an obvious double standard.

No prize for guessing what I think they should do, nor for guessing what I think they will do.

 


Kevin at Smallest Minority wrote to thank me for the link and ask about gun laws in New Zealand. Here is my take on the situation:

There is a common misconception that NZ is an example of the 'more guns, less crime' trend. In fact, we are a prime example of the 'less guns, more crime' trend.

Handguns are illegal here, only 'sporting rifles' and shotguns are allowed. Gun users, but not guns, have to be licenced. For more information, I recommend this site.

The slight difference is that it is reasonably difficult for criminals to get handguns here, the sawed-off shotgun is the weapon of choice for most serious criminals.

We have a lot of crime, slightly less than the U.K. but more than almost everywhere else in the western world. Our murder rate is low-ish, but other types of crime are rampant.

We also have incredibly low sentences, just one example is a manslaughter conviction where the victim was kicked to death in a barroom fight. The killer received a three and a half year sentence and offenders are generally eligible for parole after one third (yes, one third) of the sentence. The full story is here.

 


Check out the New Blog Showcase run by N.Z. Bear.

The blogs listed there are ranked according to the number of links they have received. I'll do my part by linking to some of the blogs that seem interesting:

Reason of Voice: The Morality of Tax Cuts
The Smallest Minority: Guns and Self-Defence
A Reasonable Man: The Toilet Paper Question
Rational Explications: Is Jayson Blair Working at The New Yorker?
The Colorado Compound: Court case re Muslim woman wearing veil on driver's licence photo

 


Tim Blair has a poll where you can vote for the next Australian Governor-General. Go there now and vote for Barry Humphries.

 


Balloon Juice links to this story that says the U.S. is planning to carry out executions at Guantanomo Bay. I am skeptical about the accuracy of the story but it is certainly a terrible idea, if true.

 


New Zealand Tax Freedom Day

Apparently this was yesterday, somehow I overlooked it. Anton Kelly has the details.

Accounting firm Staples Rodway issued this press release as well as setting up a webpage where you can calculate your personal Tax Freedom Day and there is also a Herald story on the subject:

"For instance, this year's Tax Freedom Day, May 26, comes a week later than last year, showing that in the past 12 months the tax burden has increased.

New Zealanders have to work for two weeks longer to pay their tax bills than Australians, who celebrated Tax Freedom Day on May 12, and five weeks longer than in the US, where the big day came on April 18."

 


Outstanding article in the Herald by Diana Wichtel on the subject of our pathetic national anthem:

"God of nations, at Thy feet, In the bonds of love we meet" - only two lines in, and were already bound and prostrate.

"Hear our voices we entreat" - it's not enough that we're grovelling like whipped dogs, now were begging like an organ grinder's monkey.

No wonder the haka has become such an essential part of our international sporting contests. You'd need something with a bit of vitality and passion to psyche yourself up with after droning through that lot.

Read the whole thing.

 


What hackers have done to Michael Moore's website is similar to what Moore did to the art of quality documentary-making.

(Link from Balloon Juice)

 


Why the war in Iraq was justified even if they don't find banned weapons:

Saddam's parades of dead babies are exposed as a cynical charade

Saddam's killing fields give up their gruesome secrets

 


If you think you're pretty good at detecting and analyzing faulty use of statistics, test your skills on this story. It's a fine example of how a journalist can fill a story with assorted statistics without actually trying to discern any real meaning from them.

It seems to me that the bottom line is this: the number of people on benefits is going up and so is total welfare spending.

Don't be taken in by the lead paragraph: 'More New Zealanders than ever have jobs'. This just means that the official unemployment figure is down, even if those people shift to other benefits.

Also, the writer performed quite a subtle trick by saying 'The proportion of state spending going to welfare is roughly the same as in recent years.' This takes two very bad things: increased state spending and increased welfare spending and (hey presto!) makes it seem as if they cancel each other out.

 


Prisoners free to organise crime

Apparently, prison officers cannot prevent prisoners using phones to harass witnesses and organise crimes - unless they install a call monitoring system costing $800,000 per year. Why not just remove the phones until an adequate monitoring process is in place?

 


Australian Governor-General Hollingworth to resign

One the one hand, it's unfortunate that things have come to this when none of the allegations against him have (so far) been shown to have any real substance. I don't like to see baseless accusations and innuendo succeed as a political weapon.

On the other hand, the Governor-General performs absolutely no useful function and, unlike the Queen in Britain, is not even useful for attracting tourists.

 


If there were aspects of The Matrix Reloaded that you didn't understand, then this article is highly likely to either increase or decrease the number of things you don't understand. It's worth a read though.

 


Bizarre behaviour by U.S. judge

 


Are tax rates a moral issue?

Reader Brent McClintock writes in response to my previous post here:

While you are, of course, quite entitled to your views on taxation powers, it perhaps should be clarified that the US Supreme Court standard of review you suggest ought to be applied to judicial review of tax measures -- the strict scrutiny standard applied to some First Amendment speech issues -- is NOT the standard applied to tax laws by the US Supreme Court. Strict scrutiny is applied to what the court has determined to be fundamental rights under the US constitution. Private property rights do not fall within this category.

The US SC applies the much lower standard of review, the mere rationality standard, to tax questions. As long as the Court finds the tax law to have a reasonable relationship to a legitimate legislative purpose, to be not arbitrary or discriminatory, and to have means chosen that are reasonably related to the ends sought, due process is not offended. Congress decides what the “general welfare” is, not the courts, and as long as the means (the tax) is reasonably related to promoting the general welfare, the tax will be constitutional. In practice, this has resulted in the US SC being very deferential to Congress’ power to tax.

For taking of property under the Fifth Amendment, the US SC applies an intermediate scrutiny standard – to avoid being a taking, a statute must satisfy two requirements: (1) it must "substantially advance legitimate state interests"; and (2) it must not "deny an owner economically viable use of his land."

At least under the US constitutional system, application of the strict scrutiny standard would be seen as a judicial encroachment upon the legislative branch’s taxing powers that would violate the separation of powers. I would suspect this would be equally so or more true in the NZ constitutional system.

Again, none of this need affect your own normative position re taxation policies, but, hopefully it clarifies what the actual US constitutional position is re the taxing power.

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't mean to suggest that taxes actually are unconstitutional, although the fifth amendment has been interpreted more narrowly and the sixteenth amendment more broadly than they perhaps might have been. I certainly accept that different levels of scrutiny apply and that the strict scrutiny test for freedom of speech is not, in the real world today, applied to taxation.

Just to clarify the main points I was trying to make:

1) Taxation is a violation of rights because it involves taking people's property without their consent.

2) In a free society, violations of rights are not absolutely prohibited but should be limited by strict conditions.

3) The strict conditions actually used to limit the government's ability to restrict speech might also be suitable for limiting the government's ability to collect taxes.

This links back to the question of whether taxation is immoral in the following way:

1) Taxation is a violation of civil rights
2) Violations of civil rights are immoral unless limited by suitable restrictions

therefore:

3) Whether taxation is immoral depends on the existence of such suitable restrictions

 


More on the Zimbabwe cricket tour of England at Samizdata. Henry Olonga is a smart guy:

Question: Would you consider a move away from cricket into a political career?

Olonga: I don't desire to be in the political arena, people respect me because of my cricket career. I don't think that because one has credibility or moral authority that makes one a good politician necessarily.

 


The Volokh Conspiracy has also moved, update your bookmarks (again).

The blogspot exodus is becoming an avalanche. Volokh was the first blog I visited and I started this blog shortly afterwards. I have no plans to move any time soon, although you can also access this blog from NigelKearney.com so changing your link now is an option.

 


Are tax rates a moral issue?

This is the question asked by John Cole over at Balloon Juice. Here's my answer:

Taking someone's property without their consent is a violation of rights and therefore certainly raises moral issues. It's not necessarily impermissible though, provided you have sufficient justification.

When the (U.S.) courts assess other rights violations, restrictions on freedom of speech for example, they employ a three part test:

1. Does the proposed law or regulation [e.g. censorship] further a compelling government objective?

2. Is there a rational connection between the proposed law and the desired objective?

3. Is the proposed law or regulation the least intrusive way [i.e. least impact on rights] that the desired objective can be achieved?

This seems to me to be an ideal test for taxation as well.

 


The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

 


Is this the stupidest online poll ever? The last line clinches it for me.

FOOTBALL VOTE

Who will win the Scottish Premier League title on Sunday
Rangers
Celtic

Results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion

 


Cartoon featuring Ayatollah Khameni and Pejman Pundit

 


Tim Blair has moved. Update your bookmarks.

 


Nicole lights up at press conference

I hope she quits, but it's fun to watch all the little busybodies go crazy when something like this happens.

On a related note, does anyone else think that 'Doctors for a Smokefree New Zealand' makes about as much sense as 'Panelbeaters against Motor Racing' ?

 


The Volokh Conspiracy has a solid debunking of some of the dubious claims about male homosexuality. I've just linked to one post but there is much more.

 


Review of 'War is a Force that Gives us Meaning' by Chris Hedges. (link via Instapundit)

 


Return of the King to open in Wellington

After running rings around Wellington City Council, New Line Cinema finally confirmed yesterday that the Embassy Theatre will host the world premiere of the third Lord of the Rings movie on December 1.

 


Qualify in chainsaws, guns and gambling

Interesting story on the kinds of qualifications kids can get now. The gambling credit was awarded by a private tertiary trainer, probably in connection with operating casino games so that has absolutely nothing to do with high school. Gunmaking and using chainsaws are perfectly respectable activities and as long as we are offering practical training in schools, there's no reason not to include them.

The real problem with NCEA and Unit Standards is the damage they do to more academic disciplines, as documented here (PDF) and here.

 


US and Britain authorised to run Iraq

14-0 vote by the Security Council to approve the US-Britain occupation and end the food for oil programme. The situation is to be reviewed by the Security Council in 12 months. Credit is due to France, Germany, Russia and China for doing the right thing here.

 


Another fraudster at Maori TV

Yet another convicted fraudster has been employed by Maori TV, that makes three including the chief executive. Maybe Jayson Blair should apply for a job at MTS?

 


No free trade deal

United States trade representative Robert Zoellick told the powerful agriculture committee of the United States Congress that a [free trade] deal with New Zealand was too hard "at present" and, for the first time, linked it to "recent actions", clearly a reference to the Government's stance on Iraq.

Rod Donald of the Green Party describes the U.S. action as 'bribery and blackmail.' This is not surprising, but in fact it is perfectly reasonable for the U.S. to link politics and trade. In the apartheid era, who would have suggested that trade sanctions against South Africa were an instance of 'bribery and blackmail'.

It will be interesting to see what sort of deal Australia gets. If they can negotiate a complete elimination of tariffs on beef, lamb and dairy exports then we will have missed a huge opportunity.

The Herald has a longer and better story on this, full of forthright comments from U.S. officials. Read the whole thing.

 


First Oil, now Gold

After finding that Maori are entitled to compensation for loss of oil and gas profits, the Waitangi Tribunal is now considering claims for gold and other minerals. These claims seem more plausible to me, the idea that gold falls within the definition of 'land' or 'treasures' has some merit. I was surprised by this though:

The New Zealand Minerals Industry Association estimates there is $30 billion worth of gold in the Hauraki goldfields but most is under Conservation Department land which can not be mined.

If the land is transferred to private (e.g. Maori) ownership, does that mean the mining can begin?

 


Spirits go super-light to beat tax hike

What happens when the government increases taxes on drinks with 14% to 23% alcohol content? Someone releases a new range with a 13.9% alcohol content. Independent Liquor's Michael Erceg has the right idea:

But Independent Liquor would continue producing drinks such as its vodka-based Kristov and whiskey-based Kentucky, although with reduced alcohol levels, partly because he wanted to annoy Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton.

 


Jayson Blair. Chronological age 27, moral/ethical age about 7 to 8 (with apologies to mature eight year olds).

Unbelievable. Still, he's going to make loads of money from his book and possibly a movie as well.

The Onion has a summary of Blair's misdeeds.

 


Protests planned for England-Zimbabwe test

People should be protesting against the Zimbabwe government, not against the tour. If the tour were cancelled, a valuable opportunity to raise public awareness of the atrocious Mugabe regime would be lost. Instead, the protestors should avoid disrupting the games and stick to a strong anti-Mugabe message. It doesn't sound like that is the plan though. Listen to this guy:

Peter Tatchell, leader of the Stop The Tour campaign, has described the tour as serving "neither the interests of cricket, nor the battle for human rights in Zimbabwe".

He warned: "We were willing to compromise, but the MCC rejected our offer to call off the planned disruptions in exchange for a visible symbolic protest inside the ground.

"Having been spurned, we are under no obligation to show restraint. The MCC and ECB must bear full responsibility for any chaos and mayhem."

 


The Press Council has been criticised as too soft after it upheld only one complaint out of 47 in 2001 and only eight complaints out of 48 in 2002.

I wish the Broadcasting Standards Authority, the Advertising Standards Authority and the Office of Film and Literature Classification all worked the same way as the Press Council. If anything, upholding 8 complaints in a year is too many.

 


More reaction to the Waitangi Tribunal oil finding.

 


Interesting story in the Dominion Post about a physics paper written by a university drop-out who is now a broadcasting school tutor.

The paper is not anywhere online as far as I can tell, all the article says about the content is the following:

Mr Lynds said yesterday the paradox arose because people assumed wrongly that the hare and the tortoise had determined positions at any instant in time.

"There is no such thing as a physical instant, there is no physical flow of time." The idea of a present moment was an artificial contruct of our brains.

The solution lay in defining an interval of time, say one hundredth of a second, during which the hare passed the tortoise, Mr Lynds said.

The nicest thing I can say at the moment is that I doubt this has any merit. However, two referees obviously think otherwise because the article will be published in next month's "Foundations of Physics Letters" and Lynd is going to Sweden to speak at a physics conference.

 


TVNZ reporters have been told to refer to Helen Clark as 'New Zealand's prime minister' instead of 'our prime minister'. This is somehow supposed to negate the impression that they are biased. Actually, Helen Clark is our prime minister, whether we like it or not. If TVNZ really wants to be more objective, perhaps they could refer to Helen as 'our socialist prime minister'.

 


Chinese Student Crime

An Auckland policeman, Steve Lamb, who raised the issue of the high level of offending by Chinese students in a letter to the Herald, is facing disciplinary action by police. The details are here and here. A Herald editorial on the subject is here.

I often disagree with Greg O'Connor, but he is correct this time:

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said "the greatest sin an officer can commit these days" was to damage the image of the commissioner or politicians. "The veracity of what is said is unimportant."

As far as I can tell, the crimes referred to are being committed by Chinese students. For those people who think the words 'chinese' and 'asian' can be used interchangeably, perhaps a short geography lesson is in order. Also, Winston Peters and the rest of the nasty little anti-immigration brigade would like NZers to confuse these people with those applying for immigration. Among Chinese who obtain residency, the crime rate is extremely low.

 


Who would have guessed?

Following the announcement of the 'investment' of $33 million of taxpayers' money in Team New Zealand, other major sponsors are considering withdrawing their contributions:

Lion Breweries, which says its sponsorship of Team New Zealand "is up in the air", said yesterday it was about to announce a significant new rugby investment.

It has also been strongly suggested that Telecom is set to put its money behind rugby. But company spokesman John Goulter said a decision had not been reached on Team NZ. The company had a long history of involvement with rugby, but he was tight-lipped on its new plans.

"We have not ruled anything in or out," Mr Goulter said in relation to Team NZ.

This move had been predicted by a number of people, for example here:

“With the Government putting more than $5 million hostage, private sector sponsors may keep holding back. They may figure the Government will have to give more if businesses hold back – for fear of being seen to have thrown its money away,”

 


Jackie at Au Currant has lots to say about New Zealand, most of it not nice but all of it true, sadly. It sounds like Roger Kerr has the Au Currant stamp of approval though. I'm sure he will be pleased.

I'm also pleased to see that my Helen Clark quote at the top has been getting some attention. I would expect the Americans in the audience to find it particularly horrendous.

To make things even worse, the only constitutional 'reform' we are actually likely to see is when the government abolishes our highest court and replaces it with a new one where they appoint all the judges.

 


From Instapundit

How bad have things gotten? Bad enough that when you compare journalism to sausage-making, people write in to defend sausage-makers!

 


Waitangi Oil Claims

This story says that a Waitangi Tribunal report to be issued today will find that Taranaki Maori are entitled to a share of the profits from our oil and gas fields. The 1937 statute that nationalized our oil and gas reserves is irrelevant here. The Waitangi Tribunal is entitled to make recommendations and it should be irrelevant to them whether the Treaty of Waitangi was violated by an Act of Parliament or by men with guns.

What is wrong with this claim, in my opinion anyway, is that oil and gas simply don't fall within the definition of what is protected, i.e. their land, forests, fisheries and other taonga. On the other hand, if radio waves are taonga, anything is possible.

 


MAGIC

Must read. Go there now.

 


3 Whangarei Women Convicted of Playing Bingo

This sounds more like Saudi Arabia than New Zealand, although the differences between the two countries are decreasing all the time. (from Anton Kelly)

 


Here is the Business Roundtable submission on the Supreme Court Bill. (from NZ Pundit)

 


An American Apology to France

from Porphyrogenitus

 


More evidence of the success of welfare reform (link via Instapundit)

 


Latest from the Supreme Court Debate

The Bar Association has surveyed its members and found that most want to keep the link with The Privy Council and 82% are opposed to a place being set aside for a judge who is expert in tikanga Maori.

 


School deciding whether to test students for speed

This is a really bad idea, and turning students over to police after a positive test is even worse. There's a reason police don't just run around grabbing people, testing them for drugs and then arresting them. You have to have grounds for suspicion before even contemplating those things, and then the accused is entitled to consult a lawyer and refuse to give evidence.

This plan just brushes all that aside. The government cannot be given power to arbitrarily stop people, search them and require them to give evidence against themselves. If this power is not limited to cases where there are genuine grounds for suspicion, you can be sure the power will be abused sooner or later.

In any case, as the school is a state school, they ought to be subject to the Bill of Rights Act. Probably the practical solution here is for someone to threaten to sue. If the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties wants to do something useful, instead of talking to reporters they should find a parent opposed to the plan and sponsor their legal action.

 


New York Times: Democrats Say Bush Is Weak on Terrorism

Scrappleface:
"We all remember the trial and conviction of bin Laden during the Clinton administration," said the candidate. "We remember the relief we felt when he was executed and his terror team dismantled. Well, now he's out there somewhere again, and Bush isn't doing anything about it. It's time for a change."

 


Problem: the EU thinks that traditional Jewish and Islamic methods of slaughter are inhumane.

What happens to a politically correct EUnik when they have to choose between pandering to minority beliefs and pandering to animal rights advocates? Do their brains explode or do they just run around in circles, finally collapsing from exhaustion? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks to The Edge of England's Sword for the link.

 


The Ten Commandments of Blogging

Link via Geitner Simmons

 


Induction, Deduction and Critical Rationalism

I think Steven Den Beste (at USS Clueless) has missed a big part of the epistemological picture with this post that appears to require a choice between deduction and induction.

I would refer Steven to the work of Karl Popper (esp. The Logic of Scientific Discovery) as well as more recent work by others such as David Miller. Popper rejected both deduction (except for mathematical theorems) and induction. His alternative, known as Critical Rationalism, is accepted by a large number (probably the majority) of philosophers of Science today. A summary and links are here.

Relying on induction or deduction for justification of scientific statements makes life much too easy for Christians and other snake-oil peddlers.

 


Eye of the Beholder has been checking out Kiwi blogs. He says I am "some sort of legal guy". As I have a generous nature, I will take this as a compliment, although I am not a lawyer.

 


How not to advertise your radio show

"...all this in the programme Jayson Blair of the New York Times described as the "best radio programme in the world."

Oops.

 


New York Times article on blogging.

 


MPs probe Hosking-related sackings

Jonathan Marshall and director David Herkt were fired on Thursday from Livingstone Productions, the company that produces the show Queer Nation for TVNZ, after they followed and photographed TVNZ presenter Mike Hosking.

Unless TVNZ has any information that they are holding back, it sounds like the dismissal is unjustified. If TVNZ wants to be taken seriously, they should not be forcing production companies to sign contracts prohibiting any activity that could "damage the reputation of TVNZ". I hope TV3 offers Marshall and Herkt a job.

 


At this link, you can read the details of the latest party political opinion poll. The summary is:

ACT 6%
Greens 3%
Labour 50%
National 28%
NZ First 7%
United 2%

Interestingly, the web site also has a real photo of Helen Clark, instead of the usual doctored ones. She looks more and more like a man every day.

 


TV reporter mentally impaired, not drunk

TV3's consumer expose programme Target sent an actor playing drunk to a trendy bar to see if he would be served alcohol. After the actor was able to buy a beer, the show sent the bar a letter pointing out the fines and suspensions liable for any breach of the Sale of Liquor Act and invited the bar to comment in writing. Here is the reply:

"Paul thought he may well be mentally impaired. The customer paid in 50c coins - very unusual - and had no difficulty counting the correct money. Paul is an experienced duty manager and I trust his ability to judge who is and who isn't intoxicated. Maybe your actor needed to be intoxicated."

Great reply. If this isn't already good enough publicity for the Soul Bistro and Bar at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour, here is their website.

 


Threat to cut benefits for parents of truants

Bill English says that a child who does not attend school should not be regarded as a 'dependent child' and benefits should be reduced accordingly. Steve Maharey describes this as "a desperate lurch to the right". If that were true, Canada certainly would not be doing it. Also, I'm sure Maharey is in a minority with his view that kids should not be required to attend school, even among his friends on the left.

 


According to this story, the new unit at Rimutaka prison, which cost taxpayers $40 million, is suffering from a rather serious problem: the door locking mechanism doesn't work.

 


Tribunal urges more say for Maori

According to the Waitangi Tribunal, the Resource Management act should be amended to give greater protection to Maori interests. Every New Zealander should read and fully understand the Treaty of Waitangi, the full text is here. In this case, here are the relevant sections outlining the protection of Maori interests.

[English Version] ... the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates, Forests, Fisheries and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess ...

[Translated Version] ... unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages, and all their treasures

The key word in both phrases is their. In other words, property owned by Maori (or subject to a claim) is protected and other property is not protected. The Treaty is absolutely consistent with the notion that anyone should be able to do as they please with their own property, therefore there is absolutely no reason to refer to the Treaty in the Resource Management Act.

 


This story discusses a recent study that has found no significant link between passive smoking and health problems. (from Tim Blair)

 


France to Monitor U.S. Media for Untruths

"As part of the campaign of explanation we are undertaking in the United States, we have decided to count the untrue accusations which have appeared in the U.S. press and which have deeply shocked the French," spokeswoman Marie Masdupuy said.

Excellent. Now we can lick our lips in anticipation of the response from Scrappleface et al. Bonus points if they can work in the phrase 'french letter'.

 


Fascinating discussion about student plagiarism at Kieran Healy's Weblog. Read all the comments. Some samples:

My wife was once handed a paper with the links in it still underlined. I thought that was hysterical; she was pissed; the student couldn't figure out how he'd been caught.

I had a student who "borrowed" a friend's paper, but she couldn't figure out how to get her friend's name out of the header at the top of every page, so she tore off the right-hand corner of every page.

I handed out an incomplete and came to meet with her at the beginning of the next semester, during which she actually brought me copies of all the articles she'd copied and pasted from in order to generate the paper. She didn't seem to understand what she had done wrong and, in fact, kept handing me the same excerpts when I repeatedly asked her to re-write the paper as her own work.

My favorite plagarism case was when a TA in my wife's office caught a guy who copied a paper from the web. His defense: "I didn't know it was copied off the Internet; my frat brother gave it to me ..."

My uncle was an engineering grad student whose advisor forced him to write a paper that was published under the advisor's own name. My uncle wrote the paper, planting several subtle errors in it, got his doctorate, then wrote his own paper exposing the errors in the advisor's paper. Revenge is sweet.

 


Excellent editorial in the Arab News (via Andrew Sullivan)

 


Read here what NY Times staff think of their editor.

 


Great suggestion for resolving the Israel-Palestine issue (from Little Green Footballs)

Since the Palestinians want a homeland and it doesn't seem like a good idea to chop Israel up even smaller than it already is, here is a satisfactory solution: Let's give France to the Palestinians! The French have already stated that nothing is worth fighting for. Besides, France has better irrigation and soil than the West Bank and Gaza strip. It's perfect. The French won't even fight back. And how about a new name for this Franco-Palestine?

How about Frankenstine?

 


The Budget

Most of the spending was announced beforehand so that the government can take credit for it twice, if people don't pay close attention and realize it is the same spending that was announced earlier. At a time when we have the greatest surplus we are ever likely to have (close to 10% of total government spending), any major new spending initiatives have been put off until closer to the next election. Tax cuts will never happen under this government and they don't increase the tax brackets either, this means inflation will move more and more of people's incomes into the higher tax brackets.

Here are some comments on the budget from the various parties:

ACT
Greens
Government
National
NZ First
United Future

 


GreenGourd says:

Some who favor New Zealand's retention of appeals abroad to the Privy Council believe the nation is too small to produce a sufficient number of highly-qualified appellate judges (link via Kiwi Pundit). Golly. Someone needs to get to the self-esteem clinic right away. If small tribes here can fill a Supreme Court bench, surely New Zealand's 3.7 million people can staff one.

I do think the argument about the lack of quality judges is largely bogus. For me, the best arguments against the Supreme Court proposal are:

1) The present government will get to appoint every single judge on the new highest court (and we have no filibuster!)

2) A highest court that cannot be influenced by NZ politicians avoids quite a few problems, even if that court is based in another country.

 


Weapons of Mass Destruction not found

This link is from the latest NZ blog, Tam I am

 


The Russians have a solution for preventing SARS infection. (via OpinionJournal)

 


'Throwing Things' has this link to the trailer for the new Tarantino film, Kill Bill.

 


The Serial Comma

I did not know about this until today. I am not going to adopt the serial comma, although a good case is certainly made by the book dedication: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God”. (Link via How Appealing)

 


A tax cut for every Australian

Our surplus is almost double the Australian one, but there's no chance that Cullen will give us a tax cut.

 


Texas House paralyzed by Democratic walkout

This story from CNN says that 51 Democrats fled to Oklahoma to prevent a quorum in the Texas House of Representatives. How, er, undemocratic. Seems to me that if you have 88 members out of 150 present and voting for a bill, the lack of a quorum is hardly going to influence the outcome.

 


Top 10 Things I Hate About Star Trek

via Instapundit

 


More opposition to the proposed Supreme Court, this time from the Auckland District Law Society.

 


Google news has now introduced 'Google News NZ'. Too early to say, but this may well become Kiwi Pundit's news source of choice.

 


Girls go to the top of the class

Girls have always worked harder than boys, at least since I was at school. The NCEA makes this even more apparent since it is less reliant on final exams and more reliant on course work during the year. When I was at high school (1982-86), girls were ahead academically early on and guys took over sometime during the sixth form year. I do think there is still a point at which guys start to become more successful, at least at the top levels, although this point is now in the second or third year of university. Cars, sports and other extra-curricular activities are not the reason - guys have always spent a lot of time on those. I do like this quote:

Laura: "Guys think `As long as I pass, I'll be happy'. Girls say `I want to do really good'."

I would like to see more kids aspiring to "do really good" in the use of English grammar.

 


Cop issues 100 tickets in 8 hours

Good job. The speed limits are too low, but that's not the fault of this police officer. Why not catch people who break the law? For some reason, criticising the issuance of speeding ticket is fashionable among people who normally take a very dim view of law breakers. The story quotes one local as saying:

"They've done some petty things. Standing on the side of the road ticketing everyone that goes past isn't policing, it's revenue collection. When that goes on, I don't have any respect for them."

Of course it is both law enforcement and revenue collection. If people suggest that this practice reduces the number of police available to investigate serious crime, what do you think the $10,000 in revenues is going to be used for?

Instead of complaining about police issuing speeding tickets, we should be complaining about them doing this or this.

 


Islander dialysis 'deprives Kiwis'

This really has been blown out of all proportion. The patient has a wife and child who are both NZ citizens, so not providing him with medical treatment would deprive Kiwis of a husband and father. He would be a permanent resident today if he had simply filled out the correct forms. There's no way this opens the door to anyone with a serious medical problem to come here and expect to get taxpayer funded treatment.

The story also says: "A year's dialysis costs up to $85,000 – enough to pay for five heart bypass or 30 cataract operations." If the hospital performs five fewer heart bypass operations, that is simply a reflection of the state funded model where the total amount of treatment depends on decisions made by Michael Cullen instead of decisions made by patients.

 


San Francisco Chronicle reports that NZ has not been invited to trade talks in Honolulu, as a consequence of our position on the Iraq war. (link via NZ Pundit)

 


Position available in Portland, Oregon, for fluent speaker of Klingon

"There are some cases where we've had mental health patients where this was all they would speak," said the county's purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway.

True story from cnn.com, via The Volokh Conspiracy

 


The Resource Management Amendment Bill has been watered down to remove references to "cultural landscapes", "ancestral landscapes" and "spiritual" resources, which had all been listed under the definition of "historic heritage".

Unfortunately, this looks like one of those nasty tricks that are available to governments under MMP. The Greens don't like this bill because other parts of the bill do too little to protect the environment. Therefore, Labour needs the support of United Future to pass the bill - hence the modification. However, Labour can now introduce a separate bill containing the offending references above, and pass that bill with the help of the Greens.

 


Call to keep police out of PCA investigations

The Law Society says that serving police officers need to be kept away from all Police Complaints Authority investigations to ensure its integrity. I agree with this, but I don't know who has the skills necessary to investigate complaints against the police, other than current or former police officers. It will be interesting to see what sort of legislation comes out of this process.

 


Christian claims discrimination by Burger King

This story reports on a Christian who was denied a job at Burger King because he refused to work on Sundays.

If they refused to employ Christians generally, that would be religious discrimination. The requirement that employees be available seven days a week is a reasonable one, given the nature of Burger King's business, and affects all the major religions equally, since they each have a day of the week that they regard as holy. Hard to see any discrimination here.

Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if the Human Rights Commission manage to invent a justification for ruling against Burger King here.

 


The Oxblog Who's Who in Iraqi Politics

 


At this link, you can visit the web page of the Case Western University shooter. Link via Little Green Footballs.

 


Animal researcher the target of hate campaign

Victoria University is cracking down on students and others who have criticised research on rats carried out by psychology professor Susan Schenk. I support the students on this one. I have no doubt the research is ethical and valuable and the protestors are wrong to complain, but the University has gone too far in suppressing speech here. For example:

Science student Arthur Price, 18, is awaiting a finding from the university's disciplinary tribunal after being accused of insulting Schenk.
Sickness beneficiary Michael Brenndorfer has been banned from the university for two years after an exchange with Schenk.

It should take more than words to justify disciplinary action, especially where the issue is a controversial one. There is no suggestion in the story that actual threats of violence have been made, and without such threats there is insufficient justification for suppressing speech, even stupid speech.

 


This story says the Alcohol Advisory Council wants to ban a drinking game because it "promotes excessive intoxication, excessive drinking and a sort of anti-women mateship."

Yeah, you've really gotta watch out for those drinking games that promote excessive drinking and intoxication. As for sexist behaviour, I think beer-swilling rugby fans can do that with or without this particular drinking game.

 


A report commissioned by the government is deeply critical of the youth suicide prevention programmes 'Yellow Ribbon' and 'Project Hope'.

Chief criticisms include its use of celebrities with little knowledge of suicide prevention, its "toxic" branding, a lack of qualified co-ordinators, and that it dangerously raises awareness of suicide among young people.

It seems to me that the first three criticisms listed above have no necessary connection with the effectiveness of the programmes. The problem with the last criticism is that it's rare that the best way to deal with a problem by not talking about it, although I suppose this could be an exception.

Jim Anderton says that schools ignore expert advice "at their peril". His government, however, has made a habit of ignoring expert advice on economic matters.

 


Scoop has been repeating the lie that Bush went AWOL from the National Guard. There are enough things wrong with GWB to fill many articles, why invent new ones? A thorough debunking of the AWOL claims can be found here.

 


Here is the latest on jailed Iranian blogger Sina Motabelli.

 


Latest atrocity from ACC

ACC will not pay for counselling for sexual abuse and rape victims unless they are diagnosed as mentally ill.

 


Apparently, we could be taking cold showers as early as next week due to the power shortage. Our present governrment's pandering to greenies via the RMA and Kyoto is responsible for the lack of hydro and other new power generation schemes:

This article shows that Conservation Minister Chris Carter knows that current laws stand in the way of the Dobson hydro proposal and has done nothing.

Chris Carter and DOC are also still holding up the Pike River coal project, as explained here. The coal is intended to be exported, but since we are importing coal to burn at Huntly, we could use West Coast coal instead.

Finally, in the words of our illustrious leader, as quoted here:

"Markets are inherently short-sighted, and for security of energy supply longer-term investment horizons are required. We are not convinced this market model can work to ensure supply. We are contemplating change which could be significant."

Politicians are far more short-sighted than markets, and in any case, no system will work if the government consistently blocks new power generation.

 


Cats 'farmed for skins in EU'

Yeech.

 


Poetic justice doesn't get any better than this:

Germany has responded angrily to a proposal that its troops be deployed in northern Iraq under the command of Poland

 


Here's what they are teaching school children in Britain.

 


Texas Court Upholds Butt Search for Crack

 


When you mix socialism and honesty, the result is not pretty. Take this for example:

In the short term, foundation hospitals will worsen inequalities, as they would have easier access to capital than other hospitals, enabling investment in better facilities and more advanced services.

Labour MP David Taylor explains "Why I'll defy party line over reforms" and vote against foundation hospitals.

 


History of the Internet, via Instapundit

 


Aid turning Pacific into economic disaster

This story quotes a report by the Australian Centre for Independent Studies that says aid is fuelling corruption in the Pacific and that all aid should be suspended.

You would expect a free market think-tank to recommend cancelling all overseas aid regardless of what facts they might discover about how the money is being used. However, I do think taxpayers need to be more aware of what countries are getting their money and how much. In cases like the Solomon Islands, aid payments have effectively become a reward for bad behaviour.

 


Samoans want the government to repeal the 1982 law that took away their citizenship rights, that had been granted by a previous ruling of the Privy Council. The story is here.

I think the law should be repealed, but comparing the law to the actions of Nazi Germany is ridiculous.

There are some lessons here for the Privy Council debate as well. Firstly, without the Privy Council, citizenship rights for Samoans would not exist even if this law had never been passed. Secondly, the argument that our sovereignty is diminished by the existence of final appeals to the Privy Council is negated because this example shows that parliament is capable of passing laws that override Privy Council decisions.

 


Latest from the gay surrogacy application. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child clearly need a name change if they would prefer the child not exist at all rather than grow up with two loving parents.

 


Mallard has confirmed that $33.75 million will be set aside to spend on the America's Cup challenge.

 


Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian gets stuck into anti-Semitism in the UK Labour party. It's good that the comments made by Tam Dalyell are being thoroughly condemned without equivocation .

Having said something nice about the Guardian, its only fair that I practice balanced reporting by also including this pathetic little specimen. (via Tim Blair)

 


Dick Cheney has been confirmed as Bush's running mate for next year's election. Pity, I would have preferred Rice.

The Democrats still have a large field of mostly no-hopers. Lieberman is better than all the others put together. Among the also-rans, only John Edwards appears to have both a brain and a pulse.

 


James Lileks on the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court, like most international institutions, is a wonderful idea. A noble idea. All it needs to work is planetary government, worldwide democracy and the triumph of reason over tribal loyalties, political doctrines and individual ambition. In other words, it requires that we all live in the world described by the "Star Trek" television shows. Some think we already do.

Read the whole thing.

 


This post from The Academy expresses something I have been thinking about for a while:

I would never pay to remove the ads from this blog because I never cease to be amused by them. I think that the prominence of the word "sodomy" on the page has led to the ad for "gayweddings.com" which has appeared at the top of the page all morning. Hee hee hee. It almost makes one want to post manipulatively.

 


Salam Pax is back

 


More taxpayer money for America's Cup

According to this story in the Independent, the government has promised up to $30 million for the America's Cup defence. Today's Herald reports that Mallard has denied promising the money. The Herald story also has a very interesting list of sporting organisations that receive government cash:

Yachting NZ $751,850
Netball NZ $614,000
Bowls NZ $466,283
Swimming NZ $392,640
NZ Golf Assn $374,792
Soccer NZ $250,000
Athletics NZ $247,770
NATIONAL TOTAL $13.358m

 


George Galloway Update

Instapundit has the latest. Galloway has been suspended from the Labour Party and is being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Charity Commission.

One News also has this story.

 


Gay men's surrogate baby bid under review

According to this story:

Sources say a New Zealander who lives in Europe has returned to Auckland with his European partner after the man's sister agreed to be the surrogate mother.

The Government's National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction considered the proposal in March, but deferred a decision pending more information.

The Catholic Church doesn't like it, no surprise there. I should have thought they might no longer be regarded as the ultimate authority on the rights and interests of children, but the writer of the story obviously doesn't agree.

Also, if the baby is born and the mother doesn't contest custody, surely the father can care for it with or without a partner of his choice. I'm not sure exactly what they need the government's permission for. Is it for the process of artificial insemination itself? Surely that can be done anywhere - on a boat in international waters, for instance. If someone can explain what is going on here, please email me.

 


Debunking the precautionary principle

 


Update on the 'Law of the Jungle'

NZPA has a story here that includes part of the interview transcript which shows that Clark didn't actually use the phrase 'Law of the Jungle'. Shame on me and the Dominion post for believing a story in the Guardian.

What Clark actually said was that the allied military action represents a return to the nineteenth century and and 'Who wants to go back to the jungle?'. So there's no reason at all for Bush, Blair and Howard to be offended *cough*.

 


Nobel Prize Winners for Castro

Link via Andrew Sullivan.

 


English calls for abolition of Maori seats

I don't think this is necessarily a good idea. The alternative to electorates based on race is electorates based on geographic location, which is an equally arbitrary and unnecessary way of grouping people together. As far as central government in concerned, there is no more correlation of people interests to their location than to their race.

I would suggest either abolishing the electorate seats altogether or loosening things further by allowing any group of people to form an electorate if they can get enough voters together. Why not women's electorates, gay electorates, disabled electorates, workers electorates or whatever? There is nothing principled or fair about forcing people to be represented according to where they live.

 


Cruelty to fish concerns animal protection groups

According to this story, English researchers have proved that fish feel pain. The story also says:

No one would dream of catching a dog or cat with a hook and reeling it in, but that was what happened to fish. And leaving a fish to die in an empty bucket was like drowning a kitten in a bucket of water.

I'm not surprised that fish feel pain. In fact, insects feel pain too. When you use fly spray and the fly ends up on its back on the window sill doing that crazy little break dance that they do, I'm pretty sure the fly is in excruciating agony. This doesn't bother me much though. I think the explanation is that the further removed from us a creature is, either biologically or geographically, the less we care about the interests of that creature.

In fact, life would be impossible if we didn't think this way. For instance, suppose you decide to give equal weight to everyone's interests and then you discover that by starving one of your own children, you can save enough money to feed three starving children in Africa. Big problem. I would suggest that fish are so far removed from us that we are entitled to care so little about their life and suffering that this doesn't outweight even our desire to eat fish.

 


Update on the vehicles taken by police under the Street Racing Act.

He said six cars were impounded by police over the weekend, with five of them taken under the new law. Two were impounded after being caught racing along Moorhouse Avenue, two for doing burnouts, and one for "unnecessary acceleration".

Look for the police to take more and more cars, and in many cases sell them and keep the proceeds. The connection with actual street racing will diminish over time, and the "unnecessary acceleration" justification will become more common. The courts must stamp out this practice as soon as possible. I hope the COuncil for Civil Liberties will track down the person whose car was taken for "unnecessary acceleration" and offer to fund his court case.

 


Opposition growing to Privy Council bill

Good story in the Dominion Post today about the Supreme Court Bill. I particularly like this part:

Where does the strength of the opposition come from? ... Part of it appears to arise from distrust of the attorney-general. She is seen by many, whether justifiably or not, as no friend of business and as a person leading the Government's ideological drive to reshape the justice system to fit an agenda dominated by leftism, feminism and other socio-political ends.

Startling display of accurate, objective journalism. Don't forget to look at my Supreme Court page, which is here.

 


Clark stabs NZ in the guts one more time

The latest in foot-in-mouth diplomacy from our Prime Minister: telling Britain and America they might live to regret unleashing the "law of the jungle" through their war in Iraq.

Clark seems to think it's a good idea to talk about other countries that she disagrees with in the same way she talks about opposition MPs that she disagrees with. Obviously, this remark was a stupid thing to say when the war is over and it should be a time to start trying to repair the damage that has already been done.

 


Good news from Canada

This court ruling says that restriction of marriage to opposite sex couples only is unconstitutional. The key sentence is:

In its decision the court gave the federal government until July 12, 2004 to change the law preventing gays and lesbians from marrying.

It's now very likely that Canada will allow same-sex marriage - not some pathetic second-class segregationist civil union kind-of-like-marriage arrangement, but actual marriage the same as is available to the rest of us.

 


Shania Twain not allowed to 'just come and stay'

Apparently the Overseas Investment Communistsission is considering denying Shania Twain's application to purchase Motatapu Station near Lake Wanaka for $16 million.

A buyer would have to show the investment was a "substantial and identifiable" benefit to New Zealand. "It can't just be used as a place to come and stay."

I would suggest that perhaps the substantial and identifiable benefit is that we will gain $16 million.

 


Our new law allowing police to seize property from people who have done nothing wrong saw its first use last night, according to this story. If the Bill of Rights Act is worth anything at all, the police must be required to return these people's vehicles at once.

 


Coincidence?

Pan Pharmaceuticals has sold lots of health supplements that cause dizziness, disorientation and other unfortunate effects. At the same time, people who claim to advocate peace and non-violence have been protesting vehemently against the removal of a regime that slaughters tens of thousands of its citizens every year.

The best move for the pro-Saddam people at this point would be to claim the pills made them do it. They could even sneak in a dig at large pharmaceutical companies at the same time.

 


Tim Blair links to a Sydney Morning Herald story that says:

"At a higher level in the Pentagon there's disdain for New Zealand, especially when you contrast its policy with Australia's," he told the Christchurch newspaper The Press.

Dr Scobell also said he did not think the Pentagon was "thinking too much about New Zealand at the moment".

The sad part is, our government is proud to be an opponent of the U.S. I'm starting to wonder whether the government isn't also secretly pleased that a free trade deal will no longer happen.

 


Ian Ewen-Street quits scampi inquiry

This is hardly front-page news. Maybe the public is fascinated by the idea that politicians have sex just like the rest of us, but you'd think there would be more important news to put on the front page of a newspaper. This story would be a good candidate.

 


Boy, 12, pays child support

I think this is quite right. The story quotes Mark Henegan, a law lecturer at Otago, who says that the act "goes a little bit against the principles of child law" which generally held that a child had to understand the implications of his actions before he was responsible for them.

I doubt there are too many 12 year olds who don't understand that one of the implications of having sex is that babies can be produced.

A couple of other worrying aspects to this story: Why is there no mention of young women being forced to pay child support? If young mothers are at school or elsewhere while their child is in the care of a DPB recipient, the mother should also be paying child support. Also, why should prisoners be exempt from child support? The can accrue the debt and start paying it off when they get out, or even sooner if the are able to earn any money while in prison.