A bad message has been sent to impoverished protesters by giving up on the Waihopai wallies

Chris Finlayson seemed to be on top of things, last time Alf was chatting with him.

But obviously he was well and truly off his oats, or had a serious rush of blood to the head, or something.

And next thing we know, the Crown had dropped its civil lawsuit against the three wallies who caused more than $1 million in damage to a spy base in Marlborough.

Reports here and here tell us what has happened and give us some background.

$1m civil action in spy base case – that’s the way to uphold law and order

Watching the Waihopai Three struggling to find $1 million should make the smile disappear.

Greenie griper Keith Locke is off beam with many things. But he is further off beam than usual when he grumps that any damages suit taken by the Government Communications Security Bureau against the Waihopai Three protesters “will be a waste of taxpayer money”.

Nah.

It won’t be a waste if the court finds against teacher Adrian Leason, Dominican friar Peter Murnane, and farmer Sam Land and orders them to cough up to pay for the damage they did to public property at Waihopai.

Ah, so we can have a slash at Waihopai, but farting noises near the Mayor of North Shore are a no-no

Alf has awoken the morning after celebrating St Patrick’s Day in appropriate style to find the world of civil rights turned upside down.

Under modern rules of protest, we can damage an American communications installation in the South Island on the grounds we firmly believe it is a spy station responsible for contributing to the deaths of innocent people around the world.

But we can’t blow a raspberry at the Mayor of North Shore in a shopping centre.

Not even if we are female, in our 70s, and should have earned the right – by virtue of greater maturity – to blow raspberries at a Mayor regarded by some as mad.

The Herald reports both stories today –

Bible-banging peaceniks should forsake Isaiah and take a leaf out of the Book of Joel

The vast majority of God-fearing Christians in this country – and Alf puts himself in that category – have not been overcome by an urge to destroy bits of the Waihopai Valley satellite communications station in Marlborough.

Accordingly, it is being argued, we have not being taking The Lord’s Word seriously. By implication, we are an ungodly bunch.

Bollocks.

But the Bible is being brandished on some blog sites by the three Catholics charged with breaking into the satellite communications station, where a dome was slashed.

They plan to defend the criminal charges against them by saying they were trying to save lives overseas.