Twanny, Socialism is selling your freedoms for security. The ones giving you that security enjoy your freedoms, while telling you that everybody is equal so everybody should have an equal paycheck and they a lower bill to pay. Here is a quote by Winston Churchill which describes what I really think about socialism.

“There can be no doubt that Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the abject worship of the state…Socialism is in its essence an attack not only on British enterprise, but upon the right of ordinary men and women to breathe freely without having a harsh, clammy, clumsy, tyrannical hand clasped across their mouth and nostrils.” – Cited in T.M. Lindsay and M. Harrington, The Conservative Party 1918-1970, Macmillan, p. 142

[Daphne – Lawrence, 11 years ago isn’t The Past. This is not a discussion about the leader of the opposition’s development permit. It’s a discussion about his character and integrity. You should be able to tell the difference. The permit is significant only because of what it tells us about him.]

And you know, probably more than I do, that there is a lot to criticise. What happened 11 years ago might not affect people today (maybe because people today want the here-and-now facts). What happened last year passed ahseb u ara 11 years ago. I agree with you but it’s not what we agree on that motivates the public.

The public wants the here and now…what happened today. Nationalists will be interested in the Joseph Muscat case but I don’t think it will affect them much. I think the PN has a lot to criticise PL today, surely as much as the PL has to criticise the PN. that’s what I wanted to say.

After all, if there was corruption 11 years ago, there should not be today after all the restructuring taking place in Mepa. And the two cases are a bit different, I think. Isn’t Mepa directly under the prime minister now? It wasn’t, 11 years ago.

[Daphne – No, it was under George Vella, Muscat’s self-described ‘political father.’]

The houses being built look beautiful and I am sure they cost a lot but hey, where have all the trees gone? It is not true that a small part of the valley was taken but the whole of it. We know that if Victor was given the permission, then others would have applied and it would have been really unfair if Mepa gave permission to Victor and not to others, so I personally think that Mepa gave a wise decision. Unfortunately Victor has to accept that.

On the other hand, I am really disgusted by the way this was taken. I am sorry but a responsible person would accept what others have criticized and then he would ponder on it and come up with something that could help him overcome it. I never imagined that the PN would act in such a childish way. Why attacking back? If he resigned, just choose another guy and try to help him face his problem. How did the PN help him face his problem? By attacking Joseph Muscat about a permit he got 11 years ago! I think Maltese politics need to mature a bit….we are fed up of seeing our parliamentary members dreaming about new tactics to attack their opponents. Parliament today is not discussing the best for the Maltese but they are discussing how they will hit their opponent under the belt!

[Daphne – Oh, you mean people are not allowed to say anything about the leader of the opposition’s dodgy permit, because it was 11 years ago? Eleven years is a lifetime only in the perspective of a 25-year-old.]

Why else would the Church ban it, Marco? I have no intention of digging up the relevant Papal encyclicals and other pronouncements for you. If you are really interested, look them up.

If this is what you believe, prove it.

As for your views on the matter Daphne, the Nationalist Party’s policies in the 80’s were most of the time in line with Natural Law’s tenets.

I will not comment further about this matter. I said what I had to say, however my question about whether Dr. Scerri’s various applications for an ODZ application were right, beneficial for him and for society in general remained unanswered.

[Daphne – I don’t give a fig for ‘natural law’. It’s secular law/the law of the land which interests me. So what you are going to get here is my opinion, and not who or what was right: there are democratic processes to decide on that. Yes, Dr Scerri was right to do whatever he could within the limits of the law to get permission to remove that wreck and replace it with a family home. I would have done exactly the same and so would the other 400,000 people who live here, including Astrid Vella, George Debono and the rest of them. Those who say otherwise are hypocrites or have no hope of ever being in Dr Scerri’s enviable – yes, enviable – position and so can speak in the same way as economists do when discussing theory. On paper it’s one thing and in real life it’s another.]

I believe ‘artificial’ contraception is supposed to be against ‘Natural Law principles’.

Dear Daphne,

Please read: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-law-ethics/

[Daphne – Tiresome. God forbid our decisions should be taken by people who get off on this kind of thing. Nothing would ever get done.]

The first casualty of extreme socialism was anarchism.

I don’t have much hope that this will sink in, but I’ll have a go anyway: This has nothing to do with bulk buying.

Twanny jien ma rridx nerga nghix iz-zmien tal-bulk buying.