David Farrar – A Question for you please?

.

.

With revelations in Nicky Hager’s book, “Dirty Secrets“, that far-right, blogger, Cameron Slater, has blogged-for-money and has not publicly disclosed his activities, the time has time to scrutinise the activities of another right-wing blogger – David Farrar.

Both men are closely aligned with the National Party and both have been working in cahoots with Jason Ede – John Key’s political advisor.

Slater has been blogging on behalf of tobacco companies for payment, but has not disclosed this commercial relationship. (If a Labour-aligned blogger had done such a thing, you could be assured that Slater would be all over him/her with a rabid attack.)

David Farrar has also posted blog-stories that are critical of government intervention in the liquor industries, and advocating for a more laissez-faire approach and de-regulation.

The down-side to a free market , unregulated approach to liquor and tobacco is that both are drugs and both cost the tax-payers billions annually in increasing healthcare, lost productivity, and impacting on the justice system with booze-fuelled crime.

None of this, of course, troubles right-wingers, for whom profit is paramount.

A couple of recent blogposts by David Farrar advocate on behalf of liquor  interests. The following two blog-stories were posted on his site on the same day, within one hour of each other;

.

.

.

One wonders why Farrar would be so concerned at putting a health warning on alcohol?

After all, if he is a moderate drinker, it would have little effect on him. One has to ask – are his concerns philosophical or bought-and-paid for?

If the former, his “philosophy” seems very limited to immediate individualism – and not the wider needs of the community. Alcohol abuse accounts for a $4.9 billion dollar drain on our society/economy, according to a 2009 BERL report.

If the latter, he has most certainly not disclosed any financial transactions with his blogging.

Is he being paid, whether directly or indirectly by the liquor industry for his pro-alcohol blogging?

One hopes Mr Farrar can shed some light on this subject.

.

---

 

References

NZ Herald: Book alleges dirty National Party politics; Key ‘not fit to be PM’

NewstalkZB: Hacker will be hard to track

TV3 News: Nicky Hager’s new book Dirty Politics will ‘shock readers’

Kiwiblog: British MPs want tobacco style warnings on wine!

Kiwiblog: Is Labour going to whack up alcohol price and the purchase age?

Alcohol.org: Alcohol Facts

Previous related blogposts

When Stupid meets Hypocrisy, the result is David Farrar

When Stupid meets Hypocrisy, the result is David Farrar – *Update*

---

 

.

Above image acknowledgment: [?]

.

.

= fs =