26 July 2008

Iran going to murder some more

AFP reports Iran is going to murder some citizens in a mass execution:

"It said 20 of those on death row were convicted drug traffickers. The remaining 10, identified as "murderer thugs" were also convicted of "disturbing public security and disorder, beating up people, repeated robberies, having illegal relationships and showing up drunk in public"."


So having illegal relationships and showing up drunk in public are reasons to be executed? Or are they murderers who also did such things?

Nevermind, AFP also reports:

"Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery. Earlier this month, it emerged that the Iranian parliament was considering a bill which could see the death penalty also used for those deemed to promote corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the Internet. Last week, an Iranian rights group, Volunteer Lawyers' Network, said that Iran planned to stone eight women and one man sentenced for adultery despite a moratorium on such executions."

Still, don't exactly expect the so-called peace movement, or those who call for the impeachment of Condoleeza Rice to protest the Iranian embassy or call for it to be expelled. No - Iranians aren't entitled to individual rights when they are opposing the great Satan USA.

24 July 2008

The price of freedom over the price of peace

Rick Barker, Minister of Veteran Affairs, is making a speech this Sunday, to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

Now this is all very well and good. He talks briefly about the war, describing it as "a military peace enforcement intervention". It was, in fact, an action to repel the North Koreans from South Korea as invaders who were committed to abolishing the Republic of Korea government. "Peace enforcement" undermines what it was, a brutal war on the front line of the Cold War battling one of the first attempts by the communist bloc for expansionism (as North Korea had been given the nod by the USSR to invade).

He will commemorate the veterans, rightly so. Does some minor politicking which is probably inevitable. However what gets me is that he doesn't grasp the moral imperative of this war - this was a battle against tyranny. He calls it "the price of peace", I call it the price of freedom.

North Korea was already at the time a communist dictatorship in the mould of Stalin, China had fallen communist the year before and was threatening to overrun Taiwan. The strategy was simple, the weak (though authoritarian) South Korea government would be quickly overwhelmed (South Korea was largely a poor peasant country at the time, North Korea the well developed industrial centre) defeated and then Japan would be surrounded on three sides by communist influences.

North Korea was thwarted by the US and its allies because Douglas Macarthur landed at Inchon, cutting off the North Korean troops which had invaded almost all of South Korea, and so they were rolled back to the 38th parallel, and then the war went from being simply rolling back the invasion, to destroying the North Korean menace. This saw US/UN forces go as far as the Yalu River, but the topography and weather were against them, and Mao feared the US would invade China. So China poured in hundreds of thousands of troops to defend North Korea. China rolled back the UN forces to the 38th parallel once more.

So the war lasted two years moving the frontline a few miles back and forth.

New Zealand contributed bravely to defending South Korea from the evil Stalinist dictatorship to the North. There were two choices facing NZ (and the US and the other UN countries that participated in the Police Action):
- You could choose peace (which would literally mean just letting Korea go communist and then deter an attack on Japan, hopefully!); or
- You could choose freedom (which means ensuring North Korea does not take South Korea).

Had peace been chosen, the Republic of Korea may not exist today. Also to those who say the Syngman Rhee regime in Seoul wasn't free, they are right, but compared to Kim Il Sung, it was significantly more open and liberal -and since the late 1980s South Korea has been a thriving open liberal democracy, which puts the North Korean prison state in stark contrast. New Zealand veterans from the Korean War helped ensure that would be, and deterred the risk of an attack on Japan.

So while Rick Barker is doing the right thing remembering and celebrating the veterans of the Korean War, they were not fighting for peace first and foremost, although the end of the war was certainly a goal. That goal was meaningless without it being a fight against communism and for the more free alternative at the time. Had the primary objective not been to contain and keep South Korea free from Stalinism, then peace would've been easy - simply surrender.

You're named what?

The Taranaki Daily News (yep world class journalism here), has published an article that talks about "parents being branded abusers because of what they name their kids".

This is because of a single case of a couple naming their daughter "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii". Now clearly they are mad, but really that's about it surely? No, the Family Court judge apparently "was so disturbed at the effect on the nine-year-old that he ordered her temporarily placed under court guardianship so a suitable name could be chosen".

Nice to see the criminal justice system protecting kids from - being teased. I mean, surely any boy named Richard Short could claim the same, indeed I am sure you can think of a few people you know whose names you're glad you DON'T have (and besides adults can change names anyway).

However what was actually somewhat incorrect about the article was that it listed a bunch of strange New Zealand registered names, ignoring the possibility that some of these may have been chosen by adults:

Fish
Chips (twin sibling of Fish)
Masport
Mower (twin sibling of Masport)
Yeah Detroit
Spiral Cicada
Kaos
Stallion
Hitler
Cinderella Beauty Blossom
Twisty Poi
Keenan Got Lucky
Sex Fruit (which a commentator on the Stuff website says is actually "Count Lawrence Cinnamon Sex Fruit and he changed his name by deed poll as an adult")

Of course this ignores the fact that being named Helen Clark would be a problem for some, the name Lolita has been unusable since the 1950s, George Bush can't be entirely uncommon, let alone Gordon Brown, and let's not forget the endless number of trashy names around which imply "you're a bogun, you'll grow up to be a drug dealer or a stripper etc etc".

UPDATE: Well apparently the story is largely nonsense according to DIA (Hat Tip Not PC)

Weaning New Zealand off welfare

Check out Libz TV for Libertarianz welfare policy - and no it's not simply abolish all benefits tomorrow, but a practical and compassionate way to phase out welfare first from those who least need it, whilst retaining transitional provisions for those who are least able to make provision for themselves (e.g. Superannuitants, Invalid Beneficiaries).

Now imagine if National needed to negotiate a confidence and supply agreement with Libertarianz to govern.

(Hat Tip - Vigesimal Pundit)

Shower inflight?

Following Singapore Airlines introducing "Suites" as First Class on board its Airbus A380s (with real beds that aren't a conversion of the seat), according to ABTN Emirates have announced showers will be available in First Class on board its Airbus A380s.

A tonne of water is needed to supply the showers, hopefully this will be sufficient for the maximum load of 14 in First Class. For an airline that a few days ago was talking about eliminating inflight magazines and safety cards to save weight for fuel, it sounds more like saving weight for water!

Still a shower on board would be an experience, especially if the shower included the curious feature Lufthansa includes in bathrooms on many of its long haul jets - windows that aren't frosted!

I also wonder, as ABTN does, what happens during turbulence, you don't want to fall and hurt yourself in the shower on a flight due to a bump, and you can't exactly suddenly return to your seat when you're stark naked.

Of course it also offers a new opportunity for a couple to be playful, but then the UAE isn't too friendly on this sort of thing.

Anyway, Emirates will almost certainly be the first airline to fly the A380 regularly to New Zealand from early next year, so New Zealanders with around NZ$2500 to spare to fly First Class across the Tasman at least (not that much money for long haul First Class of that distance by world standards) could shower themselves mid flight. Me, well I'm happy to use decent lounges at either end, but it would be nice to have the option - and frankly I doubt airlines that are more fuel conscious than Emirates appears to be, will bother with this gimmick.

Oh and don't be fooled, many Emirates A380s WONT have this, because a whole lot wont have first class - they will be literally AirBUSes to ferry large numbers of cheap workers from South Asia to the Middle East.