Voluntary Student Union Membership on the Cards

Had my second TV interview on Monday. The first was with TV3 just prior to election '08, about Jacket-gate. TV3's reporter, Sia Aston covered the issue of voluntary student union membership today, with Roger Douglas's reform bill set to go to its first reading with Government support on Wednesday. She googled "compulsory + student + union", clicked through to my article about the corruption at VUSA, followed it through to my Facebook page and messaged me, asking for an interview.

The interview went well, however Sia took just one of my comments, focusing instead on a confused NZUSA rep, and UCSA president Steve Jukes verbosely defending the current fascist structure of student politics. While I acknowledge that many student associations and their respective execs, (my own at Canterbury included), do a great deal of work on behalf of students, it is clear that there is an unacceptable level of corruption going on, among a list of other undesirable outcomes of having compulsory unions. As I said to the reporter Lachlan,

"Look at the UCSA for example. At the recent student union elections candidates were called upont to submit a photo and a summary of what they stood for, for the student mag CANTA. One candidate didn't even submit anything but still got elected onto the exec. Or the AGM which took place shortly before the election, CANTA advertised "Free hamburgers, sausage sizzle and $5 jugs of beer" for those who attended the meeting. It was held in the casual setting of an outdoor amphitheatre, adjacent to the student pub, with a quorum of 200 students from a student membership of over 15,000. And no surprises as to what was on the agenda: a move to increase the salaries of those on the exec, with the president on well over $40,000 pa. - money taken forcefully from thousands of other students who probably didn't even know this was going on."

I will say more about the University of Canterbury Students Association in the future, but the above is a sumamry to give you an idea of why I and so many others throughout New Zealand are glad to see the VSM bill before Parliament, and to see the all-too-often anti-democratic National government pledging to support the bill to it's first reading and the select committee process.

Cherishsiliala Tahuri-Wright

Three-year-old Cherishsiliala Tahuri-Wright died from severe head injuries on 17 February. The police have charged a 56-year-old woman with her murder. The day following the incident, the Manawatu Standard reported, "A neighbour who saw the girl laying in a bed at her grandmother's house said she was bruised, bloodied and gasping for breath."

And yet, rather than focus on the depravity of the low-life who bashed up this helpless little girl and left her to die of her wounds, the majority of the media goes on a witch-hunt after the St John Ambulance service. The deputy-mayor of Poriru-cum-family spokeswoman said, "It really pisses me off to think they dicked around for a couple of hours while a little girl was dying," said family spokeswoman and Porirua Deputy Mayor Litea Ah Hoi. You don't have to be Einstein to work out a child with head injuries has to go straight to hospital any parent would know that instinctively." - Stuff .Where's the outrage over the brutatlity against this little girl? There is a lot of attention paid to the alleged pathetic response time by the ambulance service, while the murder itself is brushed over.

However the man heading up the murder inquiry, Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan had a different view on the incident and said that "the ambulance response had been first rate". He understood the delay was because of the time it took to stabilise Cherish for transport. - TVNZ

In his usual irreverent style, Whaleoil commented back in March "She was also doomed by her first name, continuing the trend of tragic circumstances befalling people with silly first names." Obviously Cherishsiliala did not die because she has a silly name, but Whaleoil is pointing out that a high percentage of child abuse victims do have less than desirable names. The naming of children is not something that you would want to legislate on - at least within the bounds of decency. Nonetheless, giving a child a ridiculous name does them a decided disservice.

Dave at Big News looks at three hypotheses as to the cause of Cherishsilial's death. He concludes,

Then there is a third hypothesis. She was killed by a relative after that relative gave her severe head injuries. That relative has been charged with murder and is now in custody. Had her relative not given her severe head injuries, the the ambulance would not need to have been called. They would not have need to have "dicked around" trying to stabilise the poor kid her due to her horrific - and later fatal - injuries before taking her to hospital. Had Ah Hoi's relative not given this kid severe head injuries, the little girl would be alive today.

Which is the whole point. But our government doesn't get it. Instead of toughening up on sentencing for violent crimes, and adoption ACT's 3 Strikes and You're Out policy, Minister of Health Tony Ryall announces just over a month after the anniversary of this girl's murder that the government will be injecting $10 million into the ambulance sector. - InfoNews

Herald of Lies

I need to respond to the false reporting in the Herald over the issue of my complaint to the Electoral Commission about Rodney Hide's yellow jacket.

1. The Herald claims that Mr. Hide and I planned my complaint to the Electoral Commission together. "Act leader Rodney Hide's indignation at the Electoral Finance Act is nothing but a jacket jack-up." - 5 Nov 08. This claim is completely without founding, and categorically untrue. Both Mr. Hide and I have told the media that neither of us spoke to the other about the complaint at any stage. Further, I did not discuss the complaint with any member of the ACT party until the story came out in the Dominion Post on 5 November. Interesting to note that the then Prime Minister Helen Clark was quick to misrepresent the incident, claiming that it was a "stitch-up" and saying, "Act complained wanting their name to be kept out of it, so that they could create a fuss around the Electoral Finance Act." - 5 Nov 08.
I emailed the editor of the Herald, asking him why the Herald was not being truthful. All he could say was "Thanks for your email. We stand by our story". He had no answer as to why his newspaper had lied about myself and Mr. Hide.

2. Following the news of the Electoral Commission handing the case over to the Police, the Herald states that I "proudly posed in photos with a yellow-coated Mr Hide and posted them on the internet." - 4 Dec 08. The Herald is certainly doing its best to live up to its maxim, "never let the truth get in the way of a good story". It may seem inconsequential, however the Herald has intentionally spun this sentence in order to make me appear ridiculous. Fact is, I posted one photo of myself and Mr. Hide on my blog (not multiple photos as the Herald states) - and who's to say that I "proudly posed" with him?
It is also unprofessional, and potentially unlawful of the Herald to not only take the photo from my blog and post it on their website, but also to neglect to reference its source.

It would appear as if the Herald is quite willing to sacrifice truth for the sake of a sensational story, and in doing so, are attempting to compete with the tabloids.

Ramses II and MP3 Players

Approximately 3,500 years ago (around 1570 BC), the ruler of Egypt (Ramses II) was working on a strategy to attempt to destroy the faith of the Nation of Israel - all of whom were his slaves.

In the beginning of Exodus chapter five, Moses visits Ramses and tells him "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go" Ramses doesn't want to lose his valuable work-force, and so responds "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go... Why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.”

Angered by Moses' request, the Pharoh brings in a new ruling.

"...Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.” - Exodus 5:6-9

Pharoh's strategy was to so fill the lives of the Israelites with work that they would have no time to congregate together and to worship God. For a people who are pre-occupied with worldly matters will soon lose their trust in God, and instead turn to man and man-made things. Particularly of interest is Pharoh's reference to "false words", i.e. the Word of God. This has to be one of the earliest recorded instances of the State attacking Christianity (or it's precursor, Judaism).

We see this today. The entertainment media is screaming out to us "you need this to be cool... Angelina Jolie is about to have another baby... get this game... watch this movie". With New Zealand's top tax-rate of 33%, dad has to be out long hours to bring in the money for the family. Our Government is encouraging our mothers to deposit their children in early-childhood-institutions from a ridiculously young age - enabling them to get back to work just as soon as possible. The kids wake up, bleary-eyed and wander from their bedroom into the living-room where they eat their breakfast in front of the TV. When they get back from school the TV is on and everyone collapses in-front of it for the rest of the evening. Half the people you see walking down the road are wired for sound, MP3 players of all descriptions are literally flooding the market.

The parallel is definitely there, though the situations are obviously different. In Moses' day it was the rulers of the land who were putting the pressure on God's people. Today it's definitely a mixture of the media and the Government. Christians need to ensure that they are not being sucked in by the media or sold over by the government - which will be detrimental to their Christian life.

Instead, let's be in the World but not of the World, like Jesus says in John 15:19.