Identity
I am a self-employed, New Zealand-based (Pakeha/Palagi) investigative blogger and author operating from Taumarunui.
Business Interests
I am the Managing Director of several New Zealand registered private LLC companies, none of which have any significant debt outside of normal business trading practices. My primary business is currently the New Zealand company Writing the Wrong Ltd.
Charitable Activities
In 2000 I established a charitable trust in New Zealand (The Life Information Charitable Trust) and solicited for and received donations from New Zealand individuals and trusts. All income received was used for the purposes of developing a large website www.life.org.nz. I resigned as trustee prior to my emmigration to Samoa and have had no commercial or financial relationship with TLICT since resignation.
In 2001 I established Red Cross Ministries, and over the years developed and hosted hundreds of websites for churches, charities and community groups. RCM ceased activities when I sold Go Kiwi Internet and all charitable websites were sold with the GKI business.
In 2007, the Veritas Scripta Charitable Trust (established by my wife and I) bid for and received $45,000.00 NZD of Government funds (http://bit.ly/jFu9nB) for the purposes of conducting training to the non-profit sector. The VSCT delivered as promised.
I am the co-founder and trustee of the SWAP Foundation (a Samoa registered charitable trust) [2010] and of the NZ registered charitable trust, the King Country Education Trust (KCET) [2018].
Independence
Other than temporary low-income support on my initial return to NZ from Samoa, I am not employed by nor receive income from any Government agency, nor am I accountable to any government agency. In this sense I am independent. This independence cuts both ways though as this does NOT mean that I will submit to any imposed or arbitrary impartiality in all the matters that I cover. I let my creative work stand on its own in the context it was offered. If I reveal a crime or fraud, then the revelations stand on the evidence I have or have offered relating to that revelation. If offering advice or an opinion on a matter (even one that is strong), I exercise that right BECAUSE I am independent.
Political Affiliations
I have no political affiliations, nor am a member of any political party. The SWAP Foundation invited the Prime Minister of Samoa Tuila’epa to be the Patron of the SWAP Foundation, a role that he accepted for two years until he agreed to resign in November 2012. Neither the PM, nor SWAP offered, gave or received financial benefit from his Patronage during this time.
Conflicts of Interest
I will declare conflicts of interest publicly when or if they occur.
Confidentiality
I will honour any commitment I make for retaining the confidentiality of specific information. I deliberately refrain from malicious or unnecessary disclosure of sensitive information. That said though, I willingly expose unrepentant ‘crooks’ if I believe that they are a danger to the business community. In regards to any matter relating to journalism ‘Shield Laws’, I do not claim a single description/label, for I do classify my investigative activities “professional journalism” and aspects of my website “news media” and informants using my Tipline [a general not technical phrase] to all be under journalistic privilege. In regards to the remainder of my blogging I consider myself an individual who simply shares his opinion.
Freedom of Speech
I value my freedom to speak freely far more than any financial or material benefit (past, present or future) from any person, agency or company. In this regard unless clearly marked otherwise, by default I treat all information I receive as available for publication. In the event of a clash of culture between the [quintessential Samoan] desire to suppress factual but potentially embarrassing information and the [common Western] propensity towards conflict, I attempt to walk a middle path, but naturally err towards freedom of speech. I work hard to avoid defamatory comments and respect Intellectual Property (Copyright/Trademark) and commercially sensitive information.
Values
I care.
I value both truth and love but am a truth-seeker first and foremost.
I value personal integrity very highly aiming to “keep short accounts” with both God and man.
I believe that there is always (while I might not know what it is in detail at the time) such a thing as right and wrong, good and bad, black and white. [Please blame or argue with the Bible for that view if you disagree]. I attempt to balance all sides of an issue, and make my judgments slowly, but after having done the research, I am rarely moved. People call me opinionated or dogmatic as a result and unfortunately it makes me a pain-in-the-a*** to live with; hated by many. Sorry, but as they say in Samoa, “Too bad!”
Character
I “give it 100%”, always. I work hard, study hard, play hard and sleep well :).
I’m proud and naturally look after self (like the rest of the world!), but always choose to do what I believe is the right thing.
I’m a pacifist and try to avoid conflict, yet erring on the side of shooting straight, I often fail miserably. Such may be the role of the prophetic.
Theological Position
I am generally classified a conservative and have what I describe as a strong personal Christian faith with serious aversion to institutionalised (i.e. structured) religion. This is explained more in my post Called Out.
I generally do not enter into theological arguments (preferring to focus on personal relationship building) and I attempt to position myself outside of denominational conflicts and labeling, however if was asked to apply labels then I . . .
- am firmly Protestant;
- lean towards small church, house church, emerging church models;
- have major concerns with outcome-based religious teaching and activities (purpose driven, mega-church, commercialism etc);
- appreciate the clarity of the Lutheran teachings of “grace”;
- honour the Catholic stand on most issues of social justice (yet reject the Catholicism claims of church authority);
- reject the popular teaching of eternal torture in “hell” (but stop well short of universalism);
- reject the common teaching of the tithe, believing that this is entirely unbiblical and contrary to the heart of God;
- agree with the Seventh Day Adventist teaching that the Sabbath is actually Saturday (but stop short of their subsequent legalism);
- struggle with defining eschatological timelines and events however I cannot see anything to prevent a literal translation of “a thousand generations” (putting the end of the world a lot further out than many currently claim) and the likelihood of a literal, post-societal collapse, life of peace & prosperity, prior to the eventual return of Christ;
- approve of the growth in the Intelligent Design movement and hold to young earth Creationist views, impressed by and subscribing to the majority of the views expressed by AIG (www.creation.com);
- generally interpret the word “Go” of the great commission in Matthew 28 [Gk: continuous, present tense], to mean “as we are going [about our business]” rather than in the traditional missionary calling and common practices to vacate our current country & reach out cross-culturally;
- actively avoid proselytism but will actively stand to validate the Truth should it be invited, believing that if there is a God, and that if He could shoulder-tap me, then as long as I do what He says and be myself, then He is certainly big enough to shoulder-tap others if He wants to;
- am a conscientious but cautious “big-picture” conspiracy theorist accepting that there is a global conspiracy against the God of the Bible.
Dealing with Adversity
Over the years I have had more opportunity than most to have very good reason to contemplate escape from adversity by way of suicide yet have always chosen otherwise. Let it be known that should I ever be found ‘suicided’ by non-natural causes that the perpetrators are likely to be among [or associated with] those listed on my Hall of Shame. Yes, when you deal with exposing crims, crooks and crazies that sort of thing just goes with the territory – just saying!
Violence
I abhor violence of all kinds and at all levels of society, seeing it as a pride-induced evil. I was an active pacifist when I went to Samoa but I returned ready and willing to take another’s life in certain limited circumstances. It is my belief that violent and deceptive cultural norms from outside of New Zealand coming in will mean that NZ society will also need to adjust to the increase of violence of all conceivable sorts – against the person; the culture and truth.
Truth
I assess truth through the application of logic onto fact. I consider deception to occur with the failure of logic, or the application of logic onto falsehood. I have also established that truth is more than an abstract – indeed Truth is a person (the person of Christ) and that this requires a personal response.
Writing
I attempt to write generously, and tailor my blogging, writing and public speaking to be direct but perceptive and thoughtful, always written from a Christian world view.
Strategic Advice
I make myself available to assist others in need, offering strategic advice as appropriate. If you require my assistance I will ask that you pay me $USD10.00 (via Paypal) which then puts our relationship onto a commercial footing, protecting you and bringing clarity to all future discussions. I always produce an invoice for this. I specialise in dealing with ‘nasty’ people who bully the little people using the legal system although I am not a lawyer. I can be an advocate, McKenzie Friend or simply assist people in difficult situations from behind the scenes, emotionally or practically.
Attribution
I will attribute third party content to the original sources where reasonably possible and will update attributions whenever necessary, and will take the full credit due to me for original thought. False humility is a brother of evil, you know!
Right of Reply
I respect the right-of-reply highly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_reply) and will give generous opportunity for others to state their case. Comments are generally only lightly moderated.
E & OE
I write in good faith and am open to correction, yet on this website will always retain the last word.
Quoting
You may quote any part of this website in any media format (print, radio. TV or online) as long as you refer to the online source of your copied/quoted materials with a functioning hyperlink or reference to “www.dennis.nz”. I consider un-attributed quoting to be bad-faith and ‘actionable’ conduct.