Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Boycott the Sunday Star-Times
I was going to write something about the atrocious piece of reportage that was the Sunday Star-Times' lead story, with particular reference to the fact that the government's proposal mirrors the situation here in Canada, but Russell Brown over on Hardnews beat me to it. Great work, RB!
I am never going to buy that paper again, or at least not until it stops running National Party press releases as "truth". As Bennyasena pointed out a couple of posts ago, that's a dangerous business, given National's inability to, um, add.
I really like this point:
This is precisely the same argument that is being used in Canada to oppose the criminal status of marijuana ... no one really wants to throw 1/3rd of the population into jail for possession, and the police enforce the law (or not) in a completely arbitrary fashion. Of course morons, like the SST writer(s), would argue that this "sends the wrong message (especially to children) that marijuana is bad." Wrong again, assholes. The purpose of the criminal law is not to send "a message" to anyone, but to forbid those activities which cannot be tolerated in a just and democratic society. Smoking weed, like two 15 year olds having sex, can be tolerated. I don't want to pay taxes to imprison either pot smokers or horny 15 year olds. Do you, Tony Ryall?
Yep, I'm mad, and not only because the NZ cricket team lost. It's bad enough that an Opposition party with the grand total of one ill-thought out policy ("no racial preferences" ... except where we think they might work, or can be justified, or in areas we haven't discussed yet) is riding high in the polls, the last thing the country needs is flea-bitten hacks doing the National Party's dirty work for them. And yes, the Dominion-Post is just as bad in this respect, running utter bullshit along the lines of "New Zealand economy lagging, Brash says" on the front page, without paying any regard to - oh - low unemployment, low inflation, a budget surplus, economic growth, and so on. It must be true, because chicken fucking little (aka the national party) says the sky is falling!
Like Lisa used the sole-remaining indpendent media outlet in Springfield to say to Mr Burns, media magnate, on the Simpsons last night "Drop Dead".
Yours truly,
Fucked Off in Vancouver.
I am never going to buy that paper again, or at least not until it stops running National Party press releases as "truth". As Bennyasena pointed out a couple of posts ago, that's a dangerous business, given National's inability to, um, add.
I really like this point:
...call me a pedant, but I think that if you only have something in the criminal statutes if you actually believe it's desirable to prosecute that offence. That it is unwise to pass laws that you can't or won't enforce. And that you should put what you actually do want to do in your law - not leave it up to faceless and unaccountable prosecutors.
This is precisely the same argument that is being used in Canada to oppose the criminal status of marijuana ... no one really wants to throw 1/3rd of the population into jail for possession, and the police enforce the law (or not) in a completely arbitrary fashion. Of course morons, like the SST writer(s), would argue that this "sends the wrong message (especially to children) that marijuana is bad." Wrong again, assholes. The purpose of the criminal law is not to send "a message" to anyone, but to forbid those activities which cannot be tolerated in a just and democratic society. Smoking weed, like two 15 year olds having sex, can be tolerated. I don't want to pay taxes to imprison either pot smokers or horny 15 year olds. Do you, Tony Ryall?
Yep, I'm mad, and not only because the NZ cricket team lost. It's bad enough that an Opposition party with the grand total of one ill-thought out policy ("no racial preferences" ... except where we think they might work, or can be justified, or in areas we haven't discussed yet) is riding high in the polls, the last thing the country needs is flea-bitten hacks doing the National Party's dirty work for them. And yes, the Dominion-Post is just as bad in this respect, running utter bullshit along the lines of "New Zealand economy lagging, Brash says" on the front page, without paying any regard to - oh - low unemployment, low inflation, a budget surplus, economic growth, and so on. It must be true, because chicken fucking little (aka the national party) says the sky is falling!
Like Lisa used the sole-remaining indpendent media outlet in Springfield to say to Mr Burns, media magnate, on the Simpsons last night "Drop Dead".
Yours truly,
Fucked Off in Vancouver.
Comments:
Post a Comment