The Dominion Post reports this morning that a coastal access road near Cape Kidnappers has been half-destroyed by coastal erosion.

The astounding thing is, nature didn’t do this - the RMA did.

Nearby land-owners identified the problem three years ago and tried to protect the road by building a barrier, at a cost of $10,000.  They were ordered to stop because they lacked a resource consent - which would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more.  Now, rebuilding the road (with a barrier) will cost half a million dollars or more. That’s the insanity of the RMA.

This comes hot on the heels of Julian Pistorius’ revelation that more than 300 homes are to be bulldozed in Mt Albert because the Environment Court, set up under the RMA, considers private property less important than the integrity of either a creek or a stretch of mangroves - through either of which alternatives the new SH20 extension could just as easily go.

This destructive, expensive foolishness has to stop.  We should put a stake through the heart of the Resource Management Act and the Environment Court, and replace them with the common-sense environmental protection of private property rights and common law.

Surely, the reason we should protect the environment is because we live in it.  Allowing locals to build a simple barrier beside a coastal road is just common sense - something that those behind the ridiculous red tape of the RMA seem to lack.

Catastrophes, Free market environmentalism, Infrastructure, Libertarianz, New Zealand | No Comments »

It’s great to cheer for protestors who are fighting for democracy in Iran (and they appear to be fighting for their lives as well), but the sad truth is that each of the four candidates in Iran’s race are heavily involved in corrupt, often murderous government activities. Wikipedia has this to say about Mousavi:

Mousavi’s socialist ideology became very apparent during the 1980s when he initiated Islamic Socialist policies such as subsidized food coupons, oil coupons and converting private enterprises into government controlled entities. Mr. Mousavi ordered the mass-executions of 1980-81, as well as the summer 1988 executions of over 30,000 political prisoners, who were then buried in mass graves.

This is an internal political fight about which corrupt dictator controls Iran. It is not a revolution which will magically produce Western-style freedom and democracy.

Now, don’t get me wrong - I wish the protestors all the success in the world in their fight against the horrific government anti-riot squads who appear to be shooting up student dorms. And Mousavi has promised* to free up the media and reduce electoral corruption, so he might be a less bad dictator than Ahmadinejad. But I’m certainly skeptical of the leadership figures that the protestors are fighting for, and that Western commentators have started rooting for.

Mousavi might be better than Ahmadinejad - but I’ll believe it when I see it.

* Do we really think his promises can be believed any more than (insert local politician here)?

Catastrophes, Culture, Middle East, Politics, World | No Comments »

Cannabis law reform campaigner and Cannabus driver Dakta Green has been arrested and charged twice for minor cannabis offending and breaking bail conditions.

Libertarianz notes with alarm that these arrests coincided with the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party’s announcement that Dakta Green would be standing as their candidate in the Mt Albert by-election.

Libertarianz supports the ALCP’s call for cannabis to be legalised and believes that peacefully smoking cannabis should not be a crime. Police should not waste any time or money on the persecution of otherwise law-abiding cannabis smokers.

While Libertarianz believes that political party candidates should be subject to the laws of the country like any other citizens, the timing of the arrests rings alarm bells that the police are politically motivated in their actions.

Libertarianz calls for an end to the madness that is cannabis prohibition, and demands that all charges against Dakta Green be dropped.

Free Dakta Green!

For more information contact:

Luke Howison
Libertarianz Drugs Spokesman
Phone: 027 3143 007
Email: luke.howison@libertarianz.org.nz

Libertarianz: More Freedom, Less Government
www.libertarianz.org.nz

Culture, Freedom, Libertarianz, Politics | No Comments »

One of my hobbies is building impossible bottles.  I like building things, and I like puzzles that make you think.  Several years ago I discovered these crazy bottles, which are mind-bendingly interesting objects.  I have never seen one in person, but I started building them myself anyway.  (Click the photos for big versions).

This one has a pack of cards with a bolt through it, clipped with a large bulldog clip, and hanging from the golf ball at the top.

That’s a monkey fist knot at the top.  The pack of cards is hanging freely.
Read the rest of this entry »

Personal, Photos, Science | 4 Comments »

Designer Babies are finally here, thanks to the good folks at The Fertility Institutes.

In the latest twist in the march towards designer babies, The Fertility Institutes says they will soon be able to offer couples the ability to screen their embryos for eye color, hair color, and complexion.  The Institute cannot change the DNA of the donating couple — if neither the mother nor the father has genes for green eyes, for example, then the Institute cannot give them a baby with green eyes.  Yet within the constraints inherent in the DNA of the donating couple, The Fertility Institute is willing to screen embryos for these traits.  The Fertility Institute wants to offer several other customizations, and many more are sure to be released in the coming years as the science behind screening for them is developed.

Here in New Zealand the law has been found to allow the use of PGD in preventing serious disease.  I have a variety of small and not-so-small genetic health problems, and I’ve always thought that fixing these things up before I was more than a few cells wide would have been a real boon.

I do see a small ethical problem here, which is that one isn’t improving (or creating from scratch) one embryo, but producing several and screening them for the desired (and undesired) traits.  I think a one-embryo solution would be more ethically acceptable.

Apart from that, there is another potentially thorny issue to consider.  If homosexuality is a genetically-influenced trait, and you had control over which genes your child was given, would you make a decision regarding your child’s potential sexuality?

I tackled exactly this question a few years ago in an essay for the my 3rd year Molecular Genetics paper.  I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

The essay follows after the break.

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Culture, Freedom, Personal, US | 2 Comments »

Wellington Photographer John Lake is opening a new photo exhibition called The Candidate, featuring photographs of many Wellington candidates taken during the 2008 election. Phil and I, and fellow Libz candidate Bernard Darnton, are among the people pictured.

Exhibition Details:

Start Time: Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 5:30pm
End Time: Friday, March 27, 2009 at 7:00pm
Location: Toi Poneke Gallery
Street: 61 Abel Smith Street
City/Town: Wellington, New Zealand

The Exhibition Opening is tomorrow, March 5, at 5.30pm. There is an artist talk with John Lake on March 12, 5.30pm.

There is also a coffee-table style book with photos from the exhibition; Bernard appears with other candidates on the cover.

• The Candidate exhibition on John Lake’s website
• The Candidate exhibition on Facebook

Libertarianz, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Politics, Wellington | 1 Comment »

At the end of January Phil and I went for a trip into the Orongorongo valley with our friends Craig and Tim.

The focus of the trip was testing our camping gear and practising survival skills.  As good libertarians we like to “Be Prepared”, and that’s especially important in Wellington.  The ‘Big One’ (a major earthquake) could happen at any time.
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Catastrophes, Holidays, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Resilience, Wellington | 1 Comment »

Rio Arriba County Courthouse, Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. Image from GhostTowns.com.

I was doing some readings for my Insurgency class (some time ago) and noticed this intriguing snippet, a quote from Gurr’s Why Men Rebel (p. 263-4)in O’Neill’s Insurgency and Terrorism (p. 58-9), in a discussion of how infrastructure or the lack of it affects guerrillas:

“The Castro guerrillas were able to sustain themselves in the Sierra Maestra against a much larger army that lacked surface or aerial mobiity; Spanish-American dissidents in the more rugged terrain of northern New Mexico had no such chance, in June 1967, against police helicopter patrols”

I had never heard of any insurgency in New Mexico in the 1960s, so I was immediately curious. What had happened?

Raid on a Courthouse

June 5, 1967: A quiet morning in the sleepy town of Tierra Amarilla. In the desert heat, a score of armed men await. They range from 40-year old leader Reies Tijerina, a charismatic evangelist turned fugitive turned political activist, to 19-year old Moises Morales with his 9 mm pistol.

They storm the old courthouse, searching for Alfonso Sanchez, the DA who days earlier arrested several members of their Alianza movement. While attempting to arrest Sanchez for denying their constitutional rights, they free their comrades, shoot a jailer in the face, shoot another police officer, bash two more, capture a reporter, and riddle several police cars with bullets. It’s an explosion of rage and violence, born of frustration, poverty and historical injustice.

The reaction by the authorities is quick and merciless: one of the largest manhunts in US history, involving hundreds of military vehicles - including tanks - along with police helicopters, National Guard soldiers, informal posses, Apache police, and cattle inspectors. The Alianza can run, but not hide. Two weeks later, Tijerina himself surrenders in Albuquerque.

But it’s not over yet. The rest of the battle is fought in court - and outside. The jailer who survived being shot in the face is the only witness who can confirm Tijerina’s presence. His battered body is found, beaten to death, before he can testify. And Tijerina, having brought global attention to the plight of the Spanish-American land-grant heirs, walks free, acquitted of all charges, before being imprisoned in a separate federal trial.

Uncategorized | No Comments »

Here’s a photo post of some of the things we’ve been up to since our last update.

No longer being a Poor Student, I decided to splash out in January and become a consumer electronics junkie. Here’s my first new cellphone since 2001 and my brand-new laptop.

My new cellphone has GPS (as well as bluetooth, 2GB storage, MP3 player, 2MP camera, etc) so I’ve started geocaching, something I’ve known about for ages but never done until now.

Our first cache located, just 20 minutes walk from Pacific Empire headquarters:

Read the rest of this entry »

Holidays, Miscellaneous, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Wellington | No Comments »

Ok people, we’re back.

I know we’ve been quiet here, and I apologise. First we had to recover from the election, then there was the Christmas holidays (most of which I worked through) as well as brewing beer and spirits, going camping, hanging out with friends and family, and trading furiously on iPredict. (Not to mention standard things like working, spending time with our gorgeous girlfriends and running the flat!)

Look out for a few picture posts coming up this week, as well as a short post tonight.

It’s good to be back!

Luke H

Holidays, New Zealand, Personal | 3 Comments »