KEY POINTS:
Sometimes, having too much time on your hands can be dangerous. You have time to brood, to dwell on things.
Perhaps if Dominican friar Peter Murnane had a job, children and a mortgage to pay, the horror of the war in Iraq wouldn't prey so much on his mind. The monk was one of three members of the Anzac Ploughshares movement who broke into the Waihopai spy base last week, slashing one of two rubber domes that protect the satellite communications devices.
Murnane and his mates are convinced the base has been gathering information that has helped perpetuate the war in Iraq.
The Government Communications Security Bureau says no, the information the base gathers is more to help trade negotiators than the US Army. Certainly the Yanks don't appear to be alarmed by the attack. The New York Times was excited about the Flight of the Conchords and our giant squid, but the peace activists/vandals didn't rate a mention. Upstaged by a squid.
So now the three languish in the Blenheim police cells and, sticking to the activists' handbook, they're on hunger strikes.
Two are taking only water and Murnane is sticking to dry food. So I guess risotto is out of the question.
I have no doubt they think they're doing the right thing. The bushy beards and the wild eyes are sure signs of zealots. And maybe, years from now, historians will look back and recognise them as the only people in New Zealand who could see what was really going on. But in the meantime, to me they look like irritating ideologues who've just cost the taxpayer more than a million dollars.
And if Murnane really wanted something to do, perhaps he could start by acting locally, rather than thinking globally. I'm sure a caring soul with no commitments or obligations could find plenty to do in his own neighbourhood.
