DRIVE FRIDAY: 22/3/13 – issues discussed
Undiginified citizenship … no democracy
Days since I wrote to my local MHR, without response …
Tanya Plibersek: 137
Minister Bill Shorten: 105
-o0o-
The Myth of “Rights”
Lateline, ABC1, 18/3/13; re Cyprus:
…
VOX POP II: Tomorrow and after tomorrow there will be a lot of demonstrations in this country and they don’t have the right to take the money from the pocket of the people.
VOX POP III: Some people have worked for 20 years, for 30 years and they have saved their money for their kids for the future. They just come and take it like that. Who gives them the right?
…
Analysis: who gives them the right? You did! Rights are a myth; you only have them if you contract for them, or they’re provided for by legislation, etc. You voted for the parliament to make laws, and that’s what they’re doing. If that sounds a bit unreal, then it highlights just how undemocratic our systems of government are.
-o0o-
Recreational drugs, and water – where’s the crime?
SMH 1103013, [AAP] (11/3/13), “Police charge 140 at Future Music Festival”, Sydney Morning Herald, at 12:
Police have charged 140 people with drug and other offences at a music festival at Randwick Racecourse.
About 50,000 revellers attended Saturday’s Future Music Festival … Four people suffered serious medical complications due to suspected drug overdoses, while 500 people were treated for dehydration and other ailments …
Analysis:
1. those affected by dehydration outnumbered those affected by drugs by 125 to 1
2. the real crime is the lack of (free) water at music festivals; eg my own experiences at Big Day Out (had to pour away the water I brought, and drink from taps in toilets) and Livid (was it? At Moore Park, one bubbler for whole event, and little shade)
3. if drugs were legal, would people have overdosed?
Business arising (Citizens Parliament):
- 1A. All recreational drugs should be legalised
- 1B. All recreational drugs of an organic nature (eg marijuana, mushrooms) should be legalised
- 1C. Any recreational drugs which have been legalised (including, but not limited to, alcohol and tobacco) should be illegal; and, adequate rehabilitation, counselling and other support shall be provided free of charge by the state to all who are currently addicted to these drugs, to enable them to cease using them
- 2. It should be a requirement for all events with durations of two hours or more, that the organisers shall make available to each attendee at least two litres of free drinking water per day; this may be provided by access to taps, bubblers, or other forms of connection to mains water supply