So you're thinking of voting for Labour? After nine years of the same old faces, you don't think it's time for a change?

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Youth

Libertarianz education spokesman Phil Howison today slammed Helen Clark and John Key's mirror-image plans to nationalise New Zealand teenagers.

On the 15th of October 2007, several hundred armed police officers executed search warrants around New Zealand. They cordoned off Ruatoki, a small Maori village south of Whakatane, seized a number of firearms, and arrested 17 people. The police claimed that the raids, carried out under post 9/11 anti-terror legislation, were in the interests of public safety. What was revealed shocked New Zealand.

On my way to Christchurch this morning for a family Christmas. Will be there until the 31st. Would love to meet up with some of you. Email or private message and we can arrange something.

(Crossposted from Pacific Empire)

The Australian, “Islamic fears kill off children’s thriller”:

A LEADING children’s publisher has dumped a novel because of political sensitivity over Islamic issues.

Lindsay said the following in his otherwise very worthy editorial on Saturday 19 August:

Israel lost. For the first time since its founding in 1948, Israel lost a war started against it by Islamo-Fascist filth. Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and sent rockets into Israel from Lebanon. Israel fired back, and sent its soldiers in.

I found this article about a group of young men in Taranaki, near where I went to school (maybe I even knew some of them). They went looking for a cannabis patch to plunder, and after some hours of searching through coastal wasteland encountered a small plantation. They were surprised by two armed men who allegedly captured two of them at gunpoint - the others escaped through gorse and blackberry - and held them for a few hours, beating and threatening them.

This story sparked a few thoughts on punishment and the state. Because cannabis cultivation is illegal, most cultivators are unwilling to use legal means to punish thieves. But because of limited resources, they cannot ascertain guilt or apply an objective punishment - they can only use physical threats in an attempt to cause terror. States used to operate like that in premodern times, when deterrence was ensured by inventing ever more gruesome means of torture and execution, for example when rebellious Indian soldiers in 1857 were strapped to cannons and obliterated.

An illustrated report on the 2006 Wellington census-burning.

Freedom of speech implies the freedom to remain silent, and with that in mind, Wellington Libertarianz members incinerated their census forms last night. As party leader Bernard Darnton told us: "The only correct response when Government agents come knocking on your door asking for personal information, is to tell them to bugger off!".

Your view of sex is incredibly narrow Scott. Sex is only a selfish act when you actually feel like doing it. The rest of the time it is a selfless act. It is an act of devotion and dedication that symbolises commitment and love, and it is in such a context that sex finds its truest and deepest meaning, and its participants find the most truly pleasurable experience. It sounds to me like you interpret “The Wealth of Nations” as a manual for sex, and you put more faith in Adam Smith’s invisible hand than your own.

William Lind is an influential theorist on fourth-generation warfare (4GW). His latest column, "The Next Act", lists three brief scenarios relating to Iran, Iraq and Al-Qaeda. I don't agree with all the details, but I found his view of the significance of bin Laden's truce offer interesting. He also points out some of Iran's options for retaliation.

SOLO Youth should be fully operational soon (thanks to Duncan's hard work). As SOLO Youth leader, I'm currently attempting to recruit members and contributors, and organise some content for when SOLO Youth officially goes live.

Please contact me if you have any relevant articles or are interested in getting involved.

Phil,
SOLO Youth Coordinator