KEY POINTS:
Labour's typical attitude has been "what you approve of should be made compulsory, and what you disapprove of should be banned", say the libertarian bloggers at Pacific Empire. Here's their list of recent and proposed bans:
Billboards in downtown Auckland (very East Berlin).
Onselling tickets (unenforceable).
Wearing gang colours (what about freedom of expression?).
Sugary drinks in schools (should be a decision for individual schools and parents).
Driving while using a cellphone (privatise roads, let insurance handle this).
Broadcast advertising of medicine (finally, a victory for freedom!).
Smacking of children (light smacking should be allowed; it is a decision for parents, not the state).
Hunting the great white shark (endangered species should be protected by property rights).
(Source: New Zealand blog Pacificempire.org).
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Real Pet/Animal Classified ads:
FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 8 years old. Hateful little dog. Bites.
FREE PUPPIES: Cocker spaniel, sneaky neighbour's dog.
FREE PUPPIES ... Mother, AKC German Shepherd. Father, Super Dog ... able to leap tall fences in a single bound.
FOUND DIRTY WHITE DOG. Looks like a rat ... been out a while. Better be a reward.
CALVES: NEVER BRED. Also 1 gay bull for sale.
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Strange coincidences: In 1899 a bolt of lightning killed a man as he stood in his backyard in Taranto, Italy. Thirty years later his son was killed in the same way and in the same place. On October 8, 1949, Rolla Primarda, the son of the second victim, became the third. (Source: www.2spare.com).
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A new scientific study suggests that people who have a positive outlook are less likely to catch colds. Psychologist Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh exposed more than 300 healthy adults to a cold virus and interviewed them about their emotional state. Those with "generally positive outlooks ... reported fewer cold symptoms than were detected in medical exams". (Source: Science News).
