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Showing posts from June, 2008

Poor Nicky

Poor old Nicky Hager. A couple of things blogosphere: Nicky is a he. And his last name is Hager. Presumably no relation to Hagar the Horrible, due to the difference in spelling. He does have his own wiki page though: Nicky Hager . See also: Nicky in action

Labour Naturals at Gutter Politics

Nicky Hager had a major blockbusting scoop of the century: the National Party use consultants that help with election strategies. The great evil crime though is that these particular consultants have suggested gutter politics campaigns to others in the past. So why is this so funny, oops, sorry, serious? Firstly, the implication that Key will accept all of their advice unconditionally and without thought. Err, maybe he will, but maybe he wont. Try fielding some real examples based on today Nicky. Actually, Nicky does come out with one clear example. He mentions how if you can frame the debate from the outset, and drop in negative references, you can influence voter opinion quite strongly, in an unfair way. The clearest example seen so far in the 2008 election is Nicky Hager's own article which spends a lot of time bad mouthing Crosby/Textor and then suggesting Key *might* be using them for advice in the election, and therefore, the hapless voter has been manipulated into voti

The Day After Yesterday

Scientists have finally computed the effects of peak oil, global warming, global dimming, CFCs, CFL's, sunspots, the French Nuclear Testing, the population explosions, chicken flu, SARS, AIDS, drinking too much, second hand smoke, mobile phones, fast food, imperialism, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the creation of excess yogurt tubs. The data conclusively shows the world will end the day after yesterday. Around lunchtime. Possibly earlier if an additional 6.3 million pottles of yogurt are eaten for breakfast. They acknowledged that there is a very small chance they could be wrong, by up to 6 hours (GMT) but thought on the strength of their scientific model and the full and total endorsement of the Greens party on the analysis of their published papers, that another research grant for $3.5 million dollars would undoubtedly lead to a breakthrough device to save the planet within 5 years. Meanwhile a French team were close to announcing a break though vaccination that would resolve

Poll on rejection of Lisbon Treaty by Irish

Why did the Irish vote to reject the Lisbon Treaty? The question was asked and answered. And the answer was fear of the liberalisation of abortion. A Red C poll, on behalf of the Irish Sunday Business Post, has been released showing that simpler and more visceral matters were in the minds of the Irish on June 12. Although the pro-life warnings about abortion were dismissed by the Electoral Commission, 58 percent of those who voted against the treaty believed that it would make abortion more likely in Ireland, against 28 percent who disagreed. Of those who believed Lisbon made abortion more likely, a massive 74 percent voted No, the Sunday Business Post reported. A Eurobarometer survey found that fears about the economy or unemployment were not mentioned, and just 1 per cent of survey responses showed the No vote was in response to immigration. Related Link: Irish Who Voted Against Lisbon Treaty Had Abortion Fears in Mind And the Irish get a mention in: Happy Birthday Magna Carta

Helen's Motorcade blocks Disabled Spaces

Well, I really almost couldn't believe this. Helen's motorcade, not content with whizzing through towns at breakneck speed has now taken to parking where they like - in fact, blocking disabled car spaces . And disabled people trying to park in aforementioned spaces told to move on or face arrest. Marshall Leaf's wife Elizabeth tried to use a disabled space but a young policeman demanded she move on, and threatened to arrest her if she did not get out the way. And she wasn't the only one - That caused an 81-year-old Parkinson's patient to struggle 200 metres down a wet street after attending a concert in the Town Hall. Oh, well done Helen...in election year, too. I've often driven past disabled parking spaces at Sylvia Park and wished I could park there but have had to drive on and find somewhere else. As usual, one law for some, another law for the rest of us.

Cheese and the domino effect

Well, it had to happen. I decided to get Pizza last night, and Domino's is my favourite. At only $7.90 each, not a bad deal either. But then the guy taking my order said "And would you like Cheese with that?" and I finally read the fine print on my voucher (click image below to expand). At least whale meat is now affordable, albeit even if a bit buttery. Related Link: Rancid butter story has nothing really to do with my post, but I thought I'd link to something for link junkies [Note: Just so Domino's don't ring up to credit me with $10,000 of free advertising, I'll state the obvious: joking! (And I can tell you know, but anonymous commenters are often too stupid to know. I mean, they can't even spell their name.]

DPRK turn off the air conditioning

Friday afternoon saw the DPRK blow up a cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear complex. Destroying the air conditioning is a low cost way of avoiding further heat from the trade sanctions. Are they playing games? If I were playing poker, I wouldn't be folding right now. Call? Nah, I raise you a cooling rod. Related Link: There goes the air conditioning

Casual Sex Harmful to Women

A new study has found that casual sex is harmful to women. Pretty self-evident, really, but it appears studies like this are necessary to counter the Sex in the City syndrome that is spreading. Sex in the City sells the lie that women can act like men and can go out and have casual sex without consequence to their well-being. Well, newsflash! Women are not like men, no matter how much contraception they take! Related Links: Study Finds Casual Sex is Emotionally Harmful to Women The Interior Design of Sex and the City Reflects a Culture in Ruins

Chris Trotter: What went wrong?

Chris Trotter extols the economic benefits the people have gained under the current Labour government that should have locked in loyal support. But loyal support is nowhere to be seen. What's gone wrong , he asks? A taxi driver tells him. The trouble with this government," he said, "is that it is always telling us what to do." There ya go. Throwing money around will only get you so far. Once you start trying to be overly controlling, any money or gifts given will count for naught. That's just as true for individual relationships as it is for governments. You can't buy love. Related link : How to build real majorities

John Key on Smacking

Colin Espiner has picked up on the strange position National seems to be putting itself into over the anti-smacking legislation. This morning I read in the Dom Post that John Key had said that National might overturn the legislation if good parents were criminalised and so far he hadn't seen any evidence of that. Obviously to Key, having police turn up on a parent's doorstep to question them about smacking little Johnny is of no consequence, or at this point, Key seems confident that he can avert that point. But, at the same time, he's trying to gain all the traction he can with the latest referendum on smacking that Helen Clark doesn't want put on ballot at the coming election. Just an update on the “smacking” legislation. I was intrigued today to see National’s leader John Key leading off questions in the House today on the timing of a referendum over the issue. National further followed this up with slots during the general debate this afternoon. I think this is da

Market Fundy Mentals

I've been lampooned over at the Fundy Post for my crazy ideas on the market. Fundy Post pointed out my apparently insane comment: Finally, there is Zen Tiger, who thinks the Consumer should choose. I tried to gamely defend the idea that the consumer, ultimately should get to choose what product they wish to buy with their money, but was shot down in flames: There is no point in consumer choice if one option is markedly better than the other for all of us, perhaps I'm taking this out of context? Let me add his rider clause: There is no point in consumer choice if one option is markedly better than the other for all of us, but is sold at fabulous prices because the manufacturers know it will last longer than their usual product and so gain them less revenue. Well, to me the last part of that idea is really a separate issue about market competition or at worst, price fixing - something that is only effective in a monopolistic situation, which ironically, would be more likely to

Hilaire Belloc on Capitalism, it's parasite Socialism and Slavery

Ever wondered why Labour and National seem so much the same? Could it be that socialism and capitalism are two sides of the same coin. It certainly appears that way to me. Many National supporters expect National to save NZ when they get elected. I think they'll be disappointed. Here's Hilaire Belloc on capitalism, socialism and slavery. Just a snippet from his book that I thought worth putting up and calling attention to. If it were true that economic circumstances mainly decided the fate of society (and that is a more respectable error than the mechanical, for every human economic system or discovery or adaptation, proceeds from the mind) then we might waste our time, as so many do today, on discussing economic tendencies as determining the future of man. But it is not true that economic circumstance molds our destiny. Industrial Capitalism, for instance, did not develop of itself: it was the slow product of false religion. It arose out of the Reformation; and in particu

Gay NZ raises abolishing Citizens Initiated Referenda

What about New Zealand's wider future, though, beyond our own communities and their legislative needs? I have a few ideas for additional intermediate reforms to New Zealand's political structures, including the abolition of the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993 and the establishment of a written constitution for New Zealand to safeguard our human rights and civil liberties. Related Link: Our place in NZ's future ~ GayNZ

Gay mayo ad pulled in Britain

The amazing thing about this ad, is not so much the gay kiss, but that: Though complaints were registered that the commercial was unsuitable for children to view, the ad would have been banned from running during children's television programming because of laws in Great Britain that restrict commercials for products high in fat, salt and sugar. Related Link: Heinz sells mayo with homosexual kiss TV ad includes deli man as 'mum,' smooch before work

Authentic Feminism in History

The role of women in history is greatly misunderstood. It is presumed that because it was only over the last hundred years that women the right to vote in many places in the world, and because the "right" to abortion has been granted, that women in the past have always been oppressed far more than they are now. Unfortunately, this is not quite true. Not everything progresses, and in fact there has been a regression in the rights and position of women over the past many centuries. For instance, it is often assumed that what happened in the "dark ages" was regressive, yet during this time, in direct contrast to the pagans around them, Catholic Christians treated women in a way that was unheard of. Women even voted! Motherhood was elevated to the sacred and each child, each person was valued not for what they could contribute, but valued because God valued each and every human being. Unfortunately this situation has been reversing over time, and will most prob

Not only contraception

Lucyna's post below reveals plans for protesters to disrupt the Catholic World Youth Event in Sydney next month. They want to hand out condoms to youth and children in support of their own personal unholy trinity: condoms, promiscuity and abortion. This stems from many non-Catholics taking offense over the Catholic Church's stance on contraception, and the use of condoms. In some ways, it's a strange attitude. I say this because when people protest against the Church's stance on contraception they conveniently ignore that this is part of a bigger message. At the very least, we could mention two things, not one: 1. Contraception is bad. 2. Sex outside of marriage is bad. It would make for an interesting post to outline the reasons behind this stance, but that is a post for another day. In reality non -Catholic people don't give a toss what the Catholic Church's position is on both points are. Sure, they get offended at the Pope expressing an opinion, but t

It is a simple question

It is a simple question: "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offense in New Zealand?". There are 390,000 people in New Zealand who were prepared to put their name to paper to have that question asked. So what does Helen say? "There is very little evidence I can see of parents being dragged before the court" Well, quite frankly, so what? The DomPost article today indicates Helen Clark doesn't see much sense in this petition. She doesn't see a problem. This is the person who bans smacking to end child abuse. The person who wants to ban bottle stores to end armed robberies. (Not to mention that alchohol is also sold at Woolworths, Pak N' Save, New World, 4 Square and Countdown supermarket chains all over New Zealand). The issue here is that sending a message to people who abuse children by making smacking illegal for every parent is as undesirous as banning driving to send a message to people who excessivley speed. You do

What is it with the condoms???

PILGRIMS in Sydney for World Youth Day will be handed condoms in a protest against Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to contraception and homosexuality, demonstrators say. The NoToPope Coalition, which includes members of Sydney's atheist, gay and environmental communities, will march to Randwick Racecourse on Saturday, July 19, alongside Catholic pilgrims who will be walking to Randwick after a pilgrimage trek across the Sydney Harbour Bridge that day. The coalition is planning a rally at Taylor Square in Sydney's inner east, followed by the march to the racecourse, where Pope Benedict XVI is holding a prayer vigil that evening. Coalition spokeswoman Rachel Evans said the "peaceful protest" would condemn the Pope's stance against condoms, homosexuality and abortion. Words fail me. Related Link: Pope protesters to hand out condoms ~ News.com.au

Blackouts Already?

We in the Counties area lost power for some 10 minutes tonight. Did a car hit a power pole? That was my first thought, being that it's rather wet and nasty and cold out there. So, torch in hand, I called our local power supplier. What's happening, I ask? He tells me that he's been ordered from higher-up to shed power. He doesn't really know when it will be on again or why it's happening (but he does mention the 'G' word - government):  just that they have to 'shed power' in our area (ie, to cut power to our area). I don't know what happened either, but I'm glad I have power back on the coldest night of the year so far.

Cheek kissing deja vu

I experienced a strange sense of deja vu this morning as I read Linley Boniface's column on What's with hugs and kisses? You see, last night I was reading an article at CERC on almost exactly the same thing: Are the handshake and the cheek-peck on the way out? I didn't even have to search for the article to double-check if I'd read something like that last night - the article was still on one of my open tabs. So, I'm left wondering if either Linley reads CERC and thought the whole concept of writing about hugging and kissing would be a good one, or if some sort of cosmic coincidence is involved. For the record, I do think Linley's column is very funny.

Debate: Is God a Delusion? [UPDATED]

The debate last week at Auckland University between Dr William Craig Lane and Dr Bill Cooke on Is God a Delusion is available for viewing at MandM Being Frank has a their impression of the debate. EyeWitness says: I was a little disappointed the atheist doctor (I’m sorry I cannot remember his name) could not present better rebuttal to Dr Craig’s arguments. He didn’t really argue on the debate topic of proving God does not exist. You can't prove that God does not exist. Hence, that's probably why Cooke did not go there. UPDATE : I forgot to add that Ian Wishart went along. Sounds like it was crowded in there! And now for an edifying excerpt from Touchstone that I came across a couple of weeks back through a Insight Scoop article . “Is there anything more?” is the scientific question, but as Pascal asks it, the “scientists” vanish. The agnostics ski down the mountain into the woods, searching for hard evidence on the basis of which to decide whether God exists—which is

Interesting posts [UPDATE 2]

Do you ever feel living your Christian faith is like fighting a battle? Do you feel constantly attacked from the world around you and perhaps from within as well? Do you feel worn out, almost ready to give up? The Scriptures this week address the reality of being persecuted because of our faith in God... Read more : God is the strength of his people ~ Catholic Exchange Tom Wolfe, in his 2004 novel I Am Charlotte Simmons, explores the connection between the mind-brain reductionism of contemporary neuroscience and sociobiology and the moral depravity rampant on contemporary college and university campuses. Philosophical materialists who reviewed the book were, by and large, unimpressed by the idea that mind-brain reductionism should lead to the libertinism endemic to contemporary campus life. But Wolfe, who is generally more prescient regarding the culture than those purely literary types who review his books, was simply expressing a sense of a connection that honest philosophers since

Passion of the Christ You Tube clips [UPDATE]

I'm trying to find a particular one that I watched a few months back, but use this post to store the ones I come across that are pretty good. Set to rock music Set to Remember Me UPDATE: The original "Remember me" by Josh Groban I've put the second one up because the contrast between the two clips to the same music is very disturbing. I'll explain why, later.

Friday night free for all

Home schooling like driving drunk in Germany

Ah, Germany. Where home-schooling has been illegal since the days of Hitler. Now a judge in Germany has sentenced home-schooling parents to three months jail for continuing to home-school their children. I'm a home-schooling parent. We're coming up to our one year anniversary of home-schooling again this time around (my oldest was previously hs'ed to age 7 before he went to school). So, I'm with the parents on this one. Home-schooling may be "illegal" in Germany, but there are some laws that were made to be broken. Laws that are immoral, for instance. The state has absolutely no right to require children to go to school, for the sole reason that the family has precedence over the state in the education of children. For this reason, I support the breaking of the law in Germany by these home-schooling parents. Related Link: Judge: Homeschooling like driving drunk ~ WorldNetDaily For more, see

Here we go again

Pope Pius XII is on the road to sainthood. However, The Times Online has to mention in their article title that he was 'silent on Holocaust'. Nevermind that anything he did say was met with deadly repercussions by the Nazis. Related Links: Holocaust survivors announce symposium on Pius XII’s work to save Jews during WWII ~ Catholic News Agency Pope Pius XII who was 'silent on Holocaust on road to sainthood' ~ TimesOnline Previous Post: Soviet KGB falsly linked WW2 Pope with Nazis ~ NZ Conservative

You've got to wonder about abortion and sex activists [Under contention]

Their desire to change society could hide deep perversions in their own natures as in the following example: LOS ANGELES, CA, June 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The chief judge of a U.S. circuit court of appeals, which has been described by American Family Association founder Don Wildmon as "the most liberal court in the country", has just been caught operating a website containing explicit sexual content, while presiding over an obscenity trial...The site featured photographs of a sexually aroused animal being "cavorted" with by a half-naked man, nude women painted as cows, as well as many other photos and videos too graphic to describe. Related Link: Homosexual and Abortion Activist Judge Caught with Bestiality on Website ~ LifeSite

Move to remove govt funding from late abortions in Australia [UPDATE]

I wonder what Guy Barnett's attempt to remove state funding from late-term abortions will result in? He's not trying to ban late term abortion, just remove state funding for them. Somehow, I don't think he will succeed, but good on him for trying. Related Link: Barnett moves motion against late-term abortion funding ~ ABC UPDATE : Meanwhile, in NZ Garth George calls our politicians "gutless". Bernard Moran, of Voice for Life says that politicians could avoid dealing with the fallout from the recent court ruling that has called into question most of the abortions in NZ, by commissioning a study to double check if women are in fact more likely to suffer mental health problems if they abort their child as found in a 2006 study. Related Link: Garth George: Politicians gutless on abortions ~ NZ Herald

What radical feminists want

Modern feminists maintain that their highest goal is equality and liberty, but their agenda runs far deeper than that. It is summed up in the phrase, " bodily autonomy ," an idea first developed and promoted by Margaret Sanger in her 1914 book, The Woman Rebel. This old-new catchphrase is still used by her ideological descendants. For the sex-obsessed feminism that Sanger helped create, simple equality is not enough. Women need to free themselves not only from men, but also from families, from religion, and especially from pregnancy . They must be completely free to do what they wish, when they wish, with no responsibility to anyone else but themselves. For those that don't know, Margaret Sanger was also heavily into eugenics and started off Planned Parenthood , a world-wide contraceptive and abortive organisation. The aim of PP is to reduce the number of children born to the the "unfit"; ie the poor and certain races. This really links in well with the goal

Something strange

I've noticed something very strange. At first I just thought this sort of thing happened on the Friday Night Free For Alls, but it seems that the same principle holds true for other blog posts as well. As soon as I start commenting on posts, very few people comment. Why is this?

NZ Conservative has slipped!

Tumeke's blog rankings came out last night and NZ Conservative has slipped a few places over the last two months down to Number 21. I can't say I'm surprised as I haven't been posting much lately due to needing some down time from the internet. But Tim Selwyn has raised an interesting point about using Alexa for traffic. I can't see how Alexa could in any way be reliable. When I compare what Alexa says about our traffic compared to Stat Counter, the latter is lower. Of course, that could have something to do with how a unique visitor is counted, and I must confess I haven't looked it how our visitors are counted beyond ZenTiger telling me a while back that he'd changed it. The weird thing also is that the Technorati authority for our blog is currently sitting at 54, which is reasonable. And when I look at the higher volume blogs (ie those with a large number of commenters) that have a higher authority than us, that makes sense. What doesn't totall

Light bulbs being banned! [UPDATE]

This is just too much. What about my sewing machine lightbulbs that cost $15 each - are they going to be banned as well? I'll be down at the supermarket stocking up on those soft tone lightbulbs that I like having in my sidelamps by the bed. Oh and get this. The fluorescent bulbs tend to blow if you use a dimmer switch on them! Wonderful! All the big who har about how they last longer, bladde-blah-de-blah and just apply a dimmer to them and they blow up! Related Link: Fancy lights don't like new bulbs ~ Stuff UPDATE : I was listening to NewsTalk ZB talkback this morning, and it seems alot of people are 1) incensed that the normal lightbulb will be banned and 2) going out to stock up on normal lightbulbs. Looks like the greenie religion is not quite as entrenched as the government thinks it is!

The Scientific Approach

A biologist, a physicist and a mathematician see two people walk into a house. A few minutes pass, then they see three people leave the house. The biologist concludes that the people must have reproduced. The physicist concludes that the original measurement must have contained an inaccuracy. The mathematician concludes that if one person enters the house it will be empty again.

The Media and Abortion [UPDATE]

Being Frank has a great post up on the media using a young woman's recent abortion as propaganda. Also mentioned is the blogosphere's most recent troll (eat your heart out, Millsy!) video effort linked to by GayNZ's forums. Related Link: Media Propaganda and Tolerant Bigots ~ Being Frank UPDATE : Pro-life spokesman calls video "sickening" ~ NZ Catholic

Muslims in danger of conversion for the first time in history

I continue to be amazed at what our local paper doesn't cover in it's international news. The President of the US visited the Pope at the Vatican recently, amid speculation that he would convert to Catholicism. Not a peep from the Dom Post. The only event of note that they registered was the Pope meeting the Fijian leader, which warranted a photo and a cartoon . But bigger things are at work in the world. Much as New Zealanders are working to destroy Anglicanism , the following article points out how much that really shoots civilisation in general in the proverbial foot. For the first time, perhaps, since the time of Mohammed, large parts of the Islamic world are vulnerable to Christian efforts to convert them , for tens of millions of Muslims now dwell as minorities in predominantly Christian countries. The Muslim m

Policy Picker Pledge Pack Pact

Congratulations to the ACT party for it's 20 point pledge card brochure. So, there's already too many things to do for me to review this any time soon, but I daresay there will be others rising to the challenge (Gooner? Liberty Scott? NotPC? ) as well as the loony left that I predict will either dismiss the points without actually offering any substantial arguments or prove they don't get that central planning and management of "the economy" is just a pipe dream. If you love something, set it free! There, that's my contribution from the Conservative Camp. I'm not letting the right off the hook for delivering on social justice, but I'm not expecting big government, left wing authoritarians and left wing liberals to deliver on this either. Crushing the middle class isn't actually my idea of egalitarianism. Oh, and who is going to fisk the Labour Party's 2005 Election Pledge Pacts? Not the one to pay it back - the actual policies they pledge

No Rich Pricks Please, We Are Socialists

The Labour Party are presiding over an apparently dysfunctional immigration service. Except that their recent actions, where bureaucratic stupidity seems to be the new "law of common sense" also mirrors Labour rhetoric. "We don't want rich pricks here. Specifically, we don't want rich, white, hard working pricks here." Quite keen to pack them off home, but probably not so keen on refunding the money invested to date. From Canada, to the UK. The message is clear. Investing in New Zealand with your hard earned cash is a high risk venture. The government will block you one way or other. So much for the rule of "common sense". Related Link at No Minister: Couple buys the farm - colloquial expression in NZ for "Thanks for investing in NZ, the tax rate is 100%" British couple who came to New Zealand to live their dream of running a farm are being booted out of the country after a nightmare experience with an "incompetent" Immigrati