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Entries from December 13th, 2008

Unions and Regard for Innocent Third-Parties

December 13th, 2008 6 Comments

[Written from my laptop after being infuriated by an article in the Herald - not really back yet] [No, neither should you be - Matt] He’s only been Prime Minister for a month but John Key is already putting up with multiple protests at his home; most of which occur when he is away so [...]

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Madeleine Home

December 13th, 2008 4 Comments

I picked Madeleine up from hospital this morning. She is doing ok but has had severe migraines from a combination of the drugs and the stiffness in her neck. Her neck wound is healing well and appears to be smaller than we thought it would be which is good. None-the-less she wants to send me [...]

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MandM in the Challenge

December 12th, 2008 2 Comments

Madeleine’s top ranking of the top 10 Christian blogs has been picked up by the Challenge Weekly, a conservative, evangelical newspaper. She was interviewed for it before she went into surgery, the following is an extract from the article which was published on Dec 8, 2008. In the NZ Blogosphere by John McNeil His ability [...]

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Surgery Update

December 10th, 2008 4 Comments

Madeleine has had her surgery. It appears to have gone well though we don’t see the surgeon until latter today to hear the official verdict. Thanks for all the supportive comments and e-mails. UPDATE: The surgeon informed us yesturday that the proceedure was ‘text book’ Madeleine is already feeling some improvement in her neck. She [...]

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One More Sleep: Over and Out

December 8th, 2008 4 Comments

This is my last post before Cervical Arthroplasty surgery tomorrow to remove two discs in my neck and replace them with artificial metal ones. My surgeon says it is a straight-forward procedure and there is nothing to worry about; he also said “We make an incision in the front of your neck and we cut [...]

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Moral Issues and Direct Democracy

December 8th, 2008 10 Comments

I have been involved in a discussion over at MacDoctor Moments on various aspects of the abortion debate, though in this post I don’t want to talk about that issue. In the course of this discussion Chuck advocated for a policy of direct democracy to decide moral issues and it is this that I want [...]

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Cultural Confusion and Ethical Relativism III

December 6th, 2008 24 Comments

Arguments against Relativism In my previous post I argued that the common arguments for relativism fail. In this post I want to go one step further and suggest there are good reasons for rejecting relativism. Many reasons could be mustered here; I will limit myself to three. Counter Examples Both cultural and individual ethical relativism [...]

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Cultural Confusion and Ethical Relativism II

December 5th, 2008 13 Comments

In my previous post, I set out the differences between relativist and objectivist views of ethics. I noted that objectivist views were widely disparaged in our culture in favour of relativist ones. I now want to raise what, I think, is an obvious question, why should we accept the relativism assumed in much cultural ethical [...]

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Guthrie Cards as an Inchoate Genetic Database

December 4th, 2008 7 Comments

I just stumbled across this from Kiwipolemicist; it seems that if you were born in New Zealand from 1969 onwards, chances are that the New Zealand government is holding a sample of your blood. Some 2.1 million blood samples taken from newborns via the ‘heel-prick’ test are still on file today stored on “Guthrie cards.” [...]

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Update on the Relativism Series

December 4th, 2008 2 Comments

I had hoped to have part 2 in my relativism series online by now and I am aware I said it would be, but editing has taken longer than anticipated and now we have to leave for Madeleine’s work Christmas do. Provided we do not get back too late we will get it online tonight, [...]

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