Libertarianz Deputy Leader Richard McGrath today attacked government plans
to underwrite a musical concert in Gisborne.

He suggests we reflect on what these political hacks want to do here. "They
are advocating using money, extracted from taxpayers by the IRD, to line the
pockets of some of the wealthiest people in the musical industry."

"These rock stars and operatic performers are already millionaires. It is
utterly obscene for a government to sanction the compulsory transfer of
money from its own citizens to these performers."

Libertarianz asks that the now controversial concert be allowed to succeed
or fail on its own merits. "Why should a person wanting to celebrate New
Year's Eve in their own way be forced to subsidise a party in Gisborne that
no one wants to go to?"

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>