The recent revelation on the media over the weekend and on Breakfast TV this morning that Bill English is anti-abortion seems to have been news to most NZers.
What many always miss about Bill English is that he is a fanatical Catholic. For English, the greatest sin is state welfare which allows the poor to gravitate towards secular institutions as providers instead of fearing God.
He is viciously anti-gay and aggressively anti-abortion…
ENGLISH IS VERY SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE
English has spent the last eight years deep in the budget books, where he is clearly a fiscal conservative, but nowhere near as ideologically driven as say, Ruth Richardson. On social issues however, this Catholic man is very solidly to the right.
He voted against the legalisation of same sex marriage. He voted against civil unions. He voted against prostitution law reform. He voted for a 2005 bill that sought to clarify that marriage should only be between men and women.
English is perhaps most vocal on abortions. In 1997 he said Parliament had “fallen short in our duty to protect the unborn child”.
Anti-abortion groups list him as a supporter.
As Health Minister, he actively attempted to reduce the number of abortions, introducing a booklet about “other options” and foetal development.
His wife Mary, who is a Wellington GP, is on a list of doctors who have reportedly refused to provide abortion services or contraception. She told NZME that the pair were “both conservatives on anti-abortion issues”.
…he is driven by a far Right God to redesign the neoliberal welfare state so that even less State money continues to support the valueless and sinful existence of solo mothers.
English is far more dangerous than Key ever was. Key was a self serving populist who looked after Key first, English is a religious zealot whose Southern drawl and dryness masks a hard right fanatic.
The horrific failure of State House privatisation is now apparent, the horrific manner in which English has duped the mainstream narrative that he’s dumping tens of thousands off welfare under the guise of focusing on the truly needy few has been uncovered and his use of mass surveillance to demand big data from social agencies so he can spy on the children of the poor under the claim he’s helping them is Big Brother madness.
English is ramming through hard right doctrine to appease his angry right wing God. He is killing off secular Government obligations which he sees are sinful by pretending to resource only the truly needy. It’s a clever way to fool people, but it’s simply making the neoliberal welfare state even more punishing and more draconian.
English is focused on mutilating the State’s capacity to fund and dispense its social obligations so that desperate people are pushed towards God or Gods representatives on Earth.
English is a religious fanatic who if allowed to finish his goal of welfare privatisation will cause far more damage than Key ever did.
Why this is all news to most NZers is again proof of how dumbed down our population has become by Seven Sharp and the Project.
He always was like this, who can be surprised, look at their track record to date. I mean this fucker came along with and was a fully signed up member of Nationals Uber right wing ideologues in the National government of 1990, set on earth to finish the destruction begun by Roger Douglas.
Fast forward to 2008 and hugely past his used by date English lingered along with imbecile Nick Smith and others of that era. But to not repeat the mistakes made from 1990 – 93 they played it a lot more cleverly. Key was installed as the affable conman front to pretend the hard right shit that English as Finance Minister, Joyce and basically every other Nat from their mega wealthy President down espoused was not happening. But Key knew that the agenda was to taken in baby steps. By 2017 English is getting old and impatient.
And also by my take Key was the global man for the party, the individual who opened NZ up to the parasitic aspirations of international wealth and corporations to make money out of us.
The true worry is that give English the job back come election time he will open up the scar of pay as you go health care that Richardson and Simon Upton blundered with the Bolder National government.
And then privatise education and sell off or SERCO any other government service left.
Surely a lot of national voters will not want to bore an anti abortionist into power.
This needs to get some more media time
Bill English is just an ordinary kind of Catholic, that is those that actually do take their belief somewhat serious. I doubt he is that extreme fanatic, he is usually more pragmatic, and does not push his religion as much as some Mormons (LDS) in Parliament may do in their private and not so private times.
But yes, he is a social conservative, as they call it, a rather socially conservative beast, who believes in morals of a gone by era.
That will not help him, as most NZ voters are urban citizens and residents, some even cosmopolitan. If abortion will be turned into an election topic, then this will do some damage to Bill English.
English’ position on welfare reform and the so-called “investment approach” is even more stuff to worry about. They are conducting EXPERIMENTS with mentally ill, by letting them be tested out in employment, upon referral to the outsourced providers.
We are talking of mentally ill and in some cases very vulnerable people, some may be driven to self harm, if something goes seriously wrong, and is not addressed professionally and immediately.
But do we trust such high fee earning providers, who count bums on seats and numbers going through their centres, as their are result and profit driven? NO referral into a job means NO FEES from MSD.
They have by the way started publishing some OIA responses, apparently under the advice or pressure of the Ombudsman now. Here is one that shines a bit of light on what WINZ are doing at present:
http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/official-information-responses/2016/november/20161123-questions-re-work-to-wellness-services-and-mental-health-employment-services-va15546757.pdf
Read their Request for Proposals, the Outcome Agreement (page 33) and the report further down (from page 60 on), revealing how they have so far had very little success in referring and keeping mental health suffering clients into employment. As a WINZ client you are now nothing much else but a commodity in the business of running questionable experiments to get people into whatever “jobs” (many casual, part time, low paid and totally insecure).
I have not read much or anything about this in the MSM, by the way!
Why are they all so pre occupied with tax cuts, when there are other issues putting people’s lives at risk, when they interview Mr English?
Does he not have any concerns as a supposedly faithful “Christian”?
More stuff to care about:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/senior-scientist-and-legal-experts-discredit-evidence-used-by-msd-and-dr-bratt-when-claiming-the-health-benefits-of-work/
‚In the expectation of recovery’, Faulkner, Centre for Welfare Reform, Scrib
https://www.scribd.com/doc/308613502/In-the-Expectation-of-Recovery
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/msd-and-dr-david-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-claiming-worklessness-causes-poor-health/
actually I don’t think English is any worse than key they are the both the same Key did the same damage if not more when he was PM but he ran away cause he could not handle people hating him just shows how weak he was as a leader
+100 …Good Post!
…what this Nact government has done to public hospitals, care for the elderly who have paid taxes all their lives, neglect of the mentally ill and affordable tertiary education for New Zealand’s youth …needs to be hammered…plus they have sold up NZ housing to overseas buyers
…lets face it this is and has been an immoral government
Wait till after the election and the schools sell off gathers pace.
I would be careful on singling out the Double Dipper for his faith ,… as there are huge numbers of Catholics in New Zealand who work in the social services and oppose Bill English’s neo liberal agenda.
English is akin to the Flagellants of the 14th century … religious observers who used whips with cat of nine tails to self inflict harm to themselves as penance to appeal to an angry God …
XRAY nailed it well.
I would say English is one of the last ( and aging like Brash was and in a rush to get things completed ) of the post Roger Douglas Years of Treason,… a true ideologue who is not only comfortable… but an ardent supporter of neo liberalism.
Pay no heed to what English professes he believes in, but observe the mans fruit.
And that is far removed from the merciful and compassionate social reforms of Jesus Christ.
Christ was inclusive , neo liberalism is exclusive.
Christ was concerned with the plight of the poor.
Neo liberalism is concerned only with the plight of the wealthy and the powerful.
It was the latter that engineered the mock trial and illegal execution of Jesus Christ..
I will say as well that the reforms of the early years of Micky Joseph Savage were motivated in part from the true intent of Jesus Christ and Savages Christian beliefs and the extreme social impoverishment of that era…
Michael Joseph Savage – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Joseph_Savage
And guess what ! – He was born in Australia !!! And Irish ancestry to boot!!
‘Early life[edit]
Born as Michael Savage in Tatong, Victoria, Australia, the youngest of eight children of Irish immigrant parents, he received a Roman Catholic upbringing from his sister Rose, after his mother’s death when he was aged five. He spent five years attending a state school at Rothesay, the same town as his father’s farm. From 1886, aged 14, to 1893 Savage worked at a wine and spirits shop in Benalla.[1] Savage also attended evening classes at Benalla College at this time. Although short in stature, Savage had enormous physical strength and made a name as both a boxer and weightlifter while enjoying dancing and many other sports.’
No , sadly … Mr Bill English has missed the boat here ,… he was diverted by false a right wing narrative dressed up as false puritanical virtue … and NO amount of self justification for his viscous policy’s can ever justify denying Jesus Christs very words :
The Sheep and the Goats
Matthew 25:42
New International Version (NIV)
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
He , you and I are entitled to our beliefs… but when you choose to be a leader… you are charged also to be a steward and a Shepard.
He has not chosen to be either.
Matthew 20:26
26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant…
So enough of the Sunday School lesson , …
Here’s a marvelous song from George Harrison that says it all about neo liberalism and its pitiful advocates..
George Harrison- “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (live … – YouTube
Video for you were diverted song you tube▶ 5:29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxI_KfBdUa4
Christ also didn’t accumulate a whole bunch of houses at the expense of everyday people.
If ever their was a title that shows what English truly stands for it is …’The double dipper from Dipton’.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you “.
He must have been shearing sheep when that Bible Class lesson passed him by.
Lest we forget !
I agree Wild Katipo – Blinglish reminds me of the Jesuits, the teaching arm of the Catholic Church and the early flagellaters who presided over the burning of the heretics. A scary lot they were and still are. He certainly is way off beam when it comes to the basic tenents of christianity – love one another – he certainly does not do that.
I don’t like Blinglish one little bit, no sir, not by a long shot.
However, I say he’s no worse than his predecessor Key, the gutless, cowardly leader. He, the smug, slug slime, lying creep, who was unable to face up to his usual Monday morning interview on RNZ’s Morning Report last year, on the day the Panama Papers were released, too scared to face up to the fact publicly he was using NZ as a tax haven! When questioned on the same topic at about the same time, Key conveniently arranged to have the Speaker throw him out of the House, for inappropriate behaviour to avoid responding.
Then there were the continual brain fades, when asked the hard questions. The same brain fades and deception msm didn’t dare challenge him about, preferring instead to keep onside of the Natzaratzi, playing along with its corrupt filthy game, keeping the confidence trickster Key in power!
I don’t think somehow msm will be so lenient on Blinglish as it was with Key. This point could be Blinglish’s downfall, not having media on side! Let’s hope so. A case of wait and see.
Bang on Martyn, you have BullEnglish down right here.
he was always a Trojan horse for any a paymaster, Bull English has no scruples or conscience, damn him.
+100 CLEANGREEN…well said!
Why do we keep believing that this or any other Government cares about us? Why?
Don’t put it all down to him being a Catholic. Remember that none other than Michael Joseph Savage was a very devout Catholic and apart from the abortion issue most Catholics are staunch left-wingers!
No, he has drunk from the hideous chalice of neo-liberalism and this has thoroughly poisoned his spirituality and basic Christian decency through and through. If you were to take the trouble of actually reading the New Testament you will reach the inevitable conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth was a progressive, feminist, liberal socialist. But of course he was more than that. Jesus saves! Not from a vengeful bloodthirsty judgemental god in the sky but Jesus saves us from ourselves!
religion has no place on politocs. believe in your imaginary friend in your own time.
Exactly right, Bomber. It was pathetic at time of Key-English switcharoo to see media ignoring Cardinal Bill’s catholic fundamentalist amid their obsession with whether he’d be as popular as mincing bullshitter jonkey. Now we watch this current arsewipe take his orders from the vatican, try to dial NZ back to 1950s Ireland. Mother Superior Mary English’s disgraceful rant at assisted dying select committee was a fair pointer as to where this family’s allegiances lie, and it’s certainly not the NZ I want to live in.
A general comment but I think an important one:
In the end, it actually doesn’t matter what his or any other politicians’ rationale is for backing any particular policy [religious/ populist / humanist / academic etc.].
Every person elected will bring their experience and beliefs to the role in a unique way.
The only thing that matters is the impact of the policy on New Zealanders.
^ THIS.
Said in a nutshell !!!
the Catholic Church is hardly an exemplar of morality these days
…it has been exposed for crimes against women and children … see recent Ireland as just one example
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/07/catholic-church-children-buried-at-tuam-ireland
…others are the pedophilia crimes against children around the world
… the Catholic Church male hierarchy exemplifies institutionalised sexism and political opposition to womens rights particularly contraception and abortion and not just for Catholics
…it was Christopher Hitchens who made the case that where ever you find fascism you find Catholicism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RSjvQYdVTQ
Christopher Hitchens on Catholic Church morality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAxgnd8mYr0
Christopher Hitchens final interview
‘Christopher Hitchens’ Final Interview: Catholic Church, Christian Charities, And Totalitarianism’
http://www.mediaite.com/online/christopher-hitchens-final-interview-catholic-church-christian-charities-and-totalitarianism/
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/12/dawkins-hitchens-catholic
With the tantalising hints of tax cuts, how does that square with English’s so-called Christian beliefs when it’s almost always the rich who benefit? Oh dear, what would Jesus do??
Something I wrote in 2014. Seems I picked English as the Nat’s leader, post-Key, without realising it… 😀
https://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/the-rise-and-fall-of-john-key/
Good one, Frank, what is the crystal ball telling you about September this year?
As for Key et al, I consider them all to be “fair weather friends”, there as long as the going is good for them. Once the shit hits the fan, they are on the next plane out.
Same will eventually apply to Bill English.
I am actually astonished, how Key is going to leave Parliament months early, at the same time as David Cunliffe, why this rush, I wonder?
There must be something coming that has got him worried, he seems overly keen to leave our shores.
“His wife Mary, who is a Wellington GP, is on a list of doctors who have reportedly refused to provide abortion services or contraception.”
That may be useful to know (or it may not), but for the record, I don’t think people should be obliged to offer professional services that clash with their personal moral beliefs. For the same reason people shouldn’t be allowed to use the state to enforce their personal moral beliefs (eg anti-abortionism) on others.
The National Party is just a vehicle for giant corporations to plunder NZ. The PM is just a PR figurehead; a friendly face masking their far right agenda. The interests of big business are top priority, not the interests of the people or environment of Aotearoa.
Comments are closed.