tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post3591605093966687418..comments2024-01-01T16:01:35.711+00:00Comments on Dick Puddlecote: A Month Of Australian MiserablismDick Puddlecotehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481866882188932892noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-49897647285340093432012-09-27T16:21:16.905+01:002012-09-27T16:21:16.905+01:00Dick, just in case any of your readers are unfamil...Dick, just in case any of your readers are unfamiliar with him, there IS an Australian out there who recognized the craziness coming when it was little more than a bud growing out of the ground ten years ago.<br /><br /><br />Go to http://www.rampant-antismoking.com/ and read Di Pierri's "Godber Blueprint" and then download and settle in for a somewhat more in-depth (heh, quite a BIT more in-depth!) analysis of the entire movement that he offers in "Rampant." Too bad more of his countrymen didn't listen to him when he wrote it: he pretty much knew EXACTLY where it was heading.<br /><br /><br /> - MJMMichael McFaddenhttp://profiles.google.com/cantilopernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-61986611457134179582012-09-27T01:21:35.080+01:002012-09-27T01:21:35.080+01:00Isn’t it strange that the countries or areas where...Isn’t it strange that the countries or areas where one would most expect a vociferous outcry and open rebellion against restrictions like smoking bans and, now, other measures further down that non-existent “slippery slope” have been the ones who have most passively rolled over and accepted them? The citizens of the “freedom state” of California? The residents of the “city that never sleeps” – New York? The straight-talking, brawny Aussies? The “warrior nation” fearsome haka-dancing New Zealanders? It seems like those images were nothing but bluster and “front” after all. How surprising is it that there’s more resistance, argument and downright foot-stamping going on in the traditionally uptight, orderly and rule-keeping societies such as Britain, Germany and Switzerland. Perhaps it just goes to show that the “anger of a quiet man” is far, far stronger and more powerful - and runs much more deeply - than the raucous rantings over other, less important issues, of some of the louder nations who might now be pretty accurately described, as my mother would have put it, as “all mouth and no trousers.”Jaxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-15592409049017746842012-09-26T18:40:41.654+01:002012-09-26T18:40:41.654+01:00"Wine is cheaper than bottled water" - n..."Wine is cheaper than bottled water" - now where have we heard that before? They'd have to pervert the stats even more to make it true for wine and not just beer!pubcurmudgeonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-64769641173514026902012-09-26T18:01:24.403+01:002012-09-26T18:01:24.403+01:00"Bzzzt! Wrong! It means that they could no lo...<i>"Bzzzt! Wrong! It means that they could no longer smoke legally. They'll still smoke in their droves, just you watch."</i><br /><br /><br />Sam, you haven't been paying attention. Didn't you hear that banning products does NOT cause a black market? A tobacco control professional said so, so it must be true. ;)<br /><br /><br />http://www.examiner.com.au/story/352438/smoking-ban-plan-good-for-tassie-image/Dick_Puddlecotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141759542968821728.post-21989611331471981622012-09-26T17:53:45.968+01:002012-09-26T17:53:45.968+01:00“The initiative, brought to Australia by a Univers...<em>“The initiative, brought to Australia by a University of Singapore <br />academic, means that, from the year 2018, young people who would have <br />then come of legal age, no longer could smoke.”</em><br /><br />Bzzzt! Wrong! It means that they could no longer smoke <em>legally</em>. They'll still smoke in their droves, just you watch. And you'll have the coppers run ragged rounding them up, and the courts jammed full with prosecutions. All for an activity that <em>everyone</em> did within my own lifetime.<br /><br />As Ayn Rand so ably pointed out, <em>this is the whole idea</em>:<br /><br />“There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any goverment has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one <em>makes</em> them (...) Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? (But) create a nation of lawbreakers and then you cash in on the guilt.”<br /><br />Just as with bus lanes, congestion zones, cap & trade, and pretty much everything else the modern regulatory state gets up to, this isn't about us, it's about <em>them</em>, and keeping them in the manner to which they've become accustomed.<br /><br /><em>“Over time, we would develop a view that drunkenness is not OK - anywhere.”</em><br /><br />Over time, you would develop a view that the people who thought this up are a bunch of interfering puritanical knobheads who can think of nothing better to do with the awful majesty of the law than harrassing the people who pay their damn wages.Sam Duncannoreply@blogger.com