New Zealand Conservative

Posters calling for the ordination of female priests will be plastered on London buses next month during the pope's visit to Britain, a campaign group said Friday. The ads read " Pope Benedict -- Ordain Women Now! " and will be on 15 double-decker buses running in some of London's main tourist areas, including Parliament and Oxford Street, said Pat Brown, a spokeswoman for Catholic Women's Ordination (CWO). The group hopes the ads will raise awareness of the group and the issue, she said. Oh my

Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers, Study Finds One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking. But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers. Actually this has been known for years but it is good to see it reinforced. God save us all from zealots and politicians that go along with them.

I notice that the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is being marked in America. Obama visited New Orleans today, which bore the brunt of the hurricane back in 2005. I notice, in the comments that he made, that he apologized for the (Bush) Government's slow reaction in helping the survivors at that time. "It was a natural disaster but also a man-made catastrophe, a shameful breakdown in government that left countless men and women and children abandoned and alone," Mr Obama said in a speech at Xavier University.  But was help really that slow? Not according to a special report put together back in 2006 called, " Katrina: Debunking the Myths " by Popular Mechanics, whose "editors and reporters spent more than four months interviewing officials, scientists, first responders and victims." As far as the slow response, the article reports - MYTH: "The aftermath of Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil...

According to the Herald New Zealand fertility experts are asking whether money could be offered to encourage men and women to donate sperm and eggs for childless couples. Long waiting lists for fertility treatment mean many New Zealand families seek medical assistance abroad, in conditions doctors say could be substandard. Fertility experts say the Government should follow the example of Britain, which has made several proposals to encourage donations of egg and sperm. Why is this a big issue? The trend towards having babies later in life means the demand for IVF is rising - one in six New Zealand couples have fertility problems, according to the Nurture Foundation. And of course this leads to victims including the perpetual victim class - the gays. The waiting list for infertile couples could be a year or more. Some may never get treatment. Gay couples often wait the longest, because of a clause which allows donors to choose where their sperm or eggs end up - some want their ...

This picture was taken at a rock festival held in a small town you probably never heard of. There's story that leads the world news section on the stuff website: Skinheads attack 3000 at concert And according to the story a 14 year old girl is dead. In truth this is just a story of local interest, unworthy of the attention of AP from whom Stuff got it. A small rock festival was briefly disrupted. There were eleven injuries requiring medical attention and twenty arrests. Not good but not earth shattering world news either. No dead girl or skinheads and without those elements the story just has no hook. A local reporter reported scuttlebutt as fact - it ended up on the wires and AP rewrote it with their own spin. And indeed the local reaction in the town of Miass where this happened is about the same reaction such events had they occurred in Hamilton, say. Dismay at rowdyism. And the thing is a lot of what we have dished up as News is anything but. A few days ago the...

Yesterday, a huge rally took place in Washington organized by Fox anchor Glen Beck, called " Restoring Honor ". A crowd of several hundred thousand conservatives gathered in Washington yesterday to pay tribute to the sacrifice of America’s armed forces and to call for a return to America’s founding principles, in a show of strength that significantly exceeded most expectations. NBC News estimated there were around 300,000 attendees, two hundred thousand more than the 100,000 originally expected, while the event’s organisers put the figure at half a million. Whatever the final figure, this is without doubt one of the biggest rallies Washington has seen in the 21st Century. Even the leading standard bearer of the Left in the US media, The New York Times, admitted that “by any measure it was a large turnout. The crowd stretched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.” So how do you think TVNZ reported it? They concentrated on Beck, showing some old sound bites of...

If you endorse suicide as a solution to a problem, are you encouraging others to kill themsleves by this careless act? Will any new self-assisted suicide laws include an advertising and sale ban that is age restricted? When you get to the New World checkout, will you need to show your ID to prove you are over 72 when asking for the self-assisted suicide kit? Will the advertisement for "Oblivion" (Death or your money back) carry the message at the bottom of the poster saying: "This self-assisted suicide kit is ideal for old gits and people that have a terminal illness, such as life. Available to anyone over the age of 72. ID may be asked if you appear to be 10 years younger." Will there be a new market for self injected HIV or cancer cells, which then gives you permission to buy "Oblivion"? Will there be a family pack offering, for those murder-suicide combos where the affected parent ties up loose ends before exercising their human rights in wha...

There was an article I read a week or so ago about Paula Bennett suggesting Iwi should step in and help out where children were removed from homes of Maori parents that were not able to be good parents. Given that Maori child abuse statistics are disproportionally high, and that Maori view things through a perspective of race, and that whanua and iwi are defining characteristics of their social make-up, this all makes perfect sense. Imagine my surprise then when some Maori spokesperson in the article rejected the idea out of hand, saying it's up to the cold hand of government to care for these kids.

Its fifty years ago that the Beatles first played in Hamburg. And this is being commemorated in Liverpool this weekend. As part of this a concert in Liverpool Cathedral will include video of Beatles songs recorded on every continent. Easy enough for most but what about Antarctica? Well they found some Russian Orthodox Monks from Holy Trinity Church, the most Southern Church in the World, down their to perform for them. What songs? Nobody knows yet but I'm sure it will end up on Youtube. Should be interesting.

A few days ago, when I was far too busy to blog, the DomPost blazed the headline Is this fair? Former MP rips off charities - 300 hours work for the community vs. A Tortured Soul goes off the rails - Two years and three months in jail At the time, I thought the headline was mischievous. We were not told what the crime was for the 2 years jail. "A tortured soul going off the rails" could have also been Roger McClay's crime for his expense claim fraud of $25,000 or so against charities he (presumably) volunteered his time for. The crimes of the "tortured soul" in question was for 20 offences around stealing also. The kicker was that a police car chase was involved, and he was finally stopped with road spikes driving a stolen Jag. He had an air rifle in the back seat. Now, I don't really want to argue the harshness or appropriateness of the sentence in this instance - I don't really have enough facts and I'm happy to concede that the D...

Hello blog people, Salutations and greetings from my side of the computer screen out to the whole world! Stop by and chat should you feel so inclined.

I've been having a look at the National Standards online, and was not surprised to see that the Standards are not exempt from perpetuating the new environmental religion disguised under the guise of science. This is from Illustrating the reading standard : The students in a year 5 and 6 class are involved in a science investigation to discover how environmental causes and human actions have led to many animals becoming endangered and to identify a range of actions that individuals and organisations can take to restore the habitats of these endangered species. 'Plight of the Sea Turtle' deals with the decreasing numbers of sea turtles in the Pacific and describes some initiatives to prevent their extinction. The information is logically organised, and the text is well supported by photos, a map, captions, and easily identified information boxes. The teacher chose 'Plight of the Sea Turtle' because the text includes a range of features, such as descriptive and...

The paper's called: The role of doctors' religious faith and ethnicity in taking ethically controversial decisions during end-of-life care . And to cut to the chase, a Doctor who is self described as religious is far less likely to prescribe treatment that may hasten death than one who is self described as atheist or agnostic. Any surprises here?

I've just taken a small part of an incredible speech given by an American Catholic Bishop in Slovakia. He covers alot, and so I would urge everyone to read the whole article. But for those that like their information in small snapshots, here he is on what undergirds the West, and that is Christ. Take away Christ as many want to do, and it will all fall apart. As it is doing. Two of the biggest lies in the world today are these: first, that Christianity was of relatively minor importance in the development of the West; and second, that Western values and institutions can be sustained without a grounding in Christian moral principles. [...] Downplaying the West’s Christian past is sometimes done with the best intentions, from a desire to promote peaceful co-existence in a pluralistic society. But more frequently it’s done to marginalize Christians and to neutralize the Church’s public witness. The Church needs to name and fight this lie. To be a European or an American [or ...

Many years ago my best friend killed herself when we were both aged fourteen. Nothing in my life to that point really prepared me for that event, and I think now looking back that it put me into shock for many years after. Could I have done something, I wondered, if I had known more about suicide and what signs to look for? My mind really shies away from dwelling too much on thoughts such as these, for we cannot bring back the past and what is done is done and I was a child back then. But for years before she died she would send me letters with bombs drawn in as decoration on the envelopes. Apparently this is a "sign" I've learnt somewhere, but as a child I just thought nothing much them. They were just part of her signature. So I don't know. Should the veil on suicide be lifted? I don't know. And what really is the difference between voluntary euthanasia which so many in NZ seem to support and suicide which can't be talked about publicly? Is s...

Saw this today and just had to post it. It's a road safety ad encouraging the wearing of safety belts, but it's very touching.

The Headline: Liquor companies bombarded minister Get a grip, all sorts of wackos bombarded the minister in the lead up to the so called "Alcohol reforms". Its just Calvinism without the softening elements of Christianity to moderate it. And the press "bombarded" us with their advocacy for these changes. We should be surprised that those who have a stake in the outcome should want to have a say? Not if the press can help it.

The Anglican Bishop of Auckland, The Right Reverend Ross Bay, has waded into the Alcohol debate Bishop Bay says MPs can take the lead with cross party action on such an important issue for the nation. He is pleased to see some changes being treated as government policy. "Legislation will not fully solve the problem but it can send a strong signal to society that it is time to change attitudes. MPs can provide leadership on this and vote as a unified body rather than turning to a conscience vote for the proposed age split regarding the purchase of alcohol." The Bishop supports the Alcohol Action New Zealand 5+ proposal as evidence based solutions to the alcohol crisis. The Auckland Diocesan Synod convenes from September 2-4 and one motion for debate is for parishes and ministry units to be involved in the 5+ solutions campaign . On the planet earth for the last couple of 100 years, in the English speaking world, people have perceived that there is an alcohol problem and h...

I thought I'd do this post to expand upon a reply I made on Lindsay Mitchell's blog. Lindsay had done a post on a statement put out by Paula Bennett called "Why You Should Care", in which Paula reports on the number of child abuse cases in this country, and condemns them - In the last year Child, Youth and Family received over 125,000 reports from people concerned enough about a child’s safety to notify authorities. In over 21,000 of these cases, child abuse or neglect was confirmed. So that’s over 340 notifications and 57 confirmed serious abuse and neglect cases every day. That’s 2,400 reports of child abuse and neglect every week in New Zealand. There is no excuse for beating, abusing and neglecting our children. No child’s life should begin this way. And when it does, the harm is substantial and long lasting.

St. Vincent's Episcopal School is an Anglican, not Episcopalian Christian school in Texas. Anglican in this context means they are traditional Anglicans and have broken with the Episcopalian Church over - well let's say modern Episcopalian innovations. Anyway a Lesbian couple decided that this would be a good school for their daughter and on the application form in the space for Father the non biological member of the pair put her name after crossing out Father and replacing it with Mother . When the school found out this potential pupil came from a "non traditional" family they decided it would be inappropriate to accept her. Fuss ensues . On one hand this might present a lost opportunity to minister to the child and her mothers. But on the other, the a major reason why this school is Anglican rather than Episcopalian is the very issue of same gender partnerships. The schools reasoning is that the child would find herself conflicted between the values...

Update: The arrest warrant has been withdrawn . STOCKHOLM — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is wanted in Sweden where he has been accused of rape , the prosecutor's office said Saturday. "Julian Assange is wanted for two different issues, one of them is that he's suspected of rape in Sweden," the director of communications Karin Rosander told AFP. He was unable to say what the other accusation was or whether the search warrant was international. According to the Swedish daily Expressen, the 39-year-old Australian is also wanted for assaulting a woman. Assange was in Sweden last week, where he announced at a press conference that the whistleblower website was set to publish a final batch of 15,000 secret documents on the war in Afghanistan in "a couple of weeks."

BearHunter, is Jennifer Sleeman your mother*? Irish Catholics should establish a home-grown church by demanding that the bishops "get the hell out of your cathedrals", a leading author said yesterday. Former ‘Newsweek’ journalist Robert Blair Kaiser [a man of a certain age] also said that a grandmother who is urging women to boycott Mass in protest at the way women are treated in the church has started a revolution He called on Irish Catholics to fix their "broken church" by making it "more Irish, less Roman" at the opening of the Humbert Summer School in Co Mayo. Mr Blair Kaiser, who reported on the second Vatican Council for ‘Time’ magazine, said that the battle for the Irish Catholic church had already been started by 80-year-old Jennifer Sleeman, who has called on women to boycott Sunday mass on September 26 "to let the Vatican and the Irish church know women are tired of being treated as second-class citizens". The US author said th...

What does the Government do when a Government funded study contradicts Liberal memes? They suppress it . From a critic of the suppression "If we are truly interested in learning how to prevent two critical epidemics currently devastating our country (out-of-wedlock child bearing and sexually transmitted infections), then the nationally representative findings provide momentum and support for accessing cultural values of parents and children which promote optimal health choices for adolescents ." A point obvious to everyone except Liberals it seems but they are hell bent on imposing their morality on everybody else. A morality that says anything goes provided you wear a condom.

Evening all. I've been busy with my to do list, and so blogging has been light. It's been an impressive to do list. It would undoubtedly bring a lesser man to their knees, and even Clark Kent might be running for the phone booth with a list such as mine. Seven impossible things before breakfast? Hah. I'll let you know when I have time for breakfast. If letting you know happens to be on my list. It may well be, given the size, completeness and thoroughness of the list. Take a number. My people will call your people and they will both marvel at the list of doings that need ticks and strike-throughs. Now, let me see - ah yes, here it is, way down the bottom of the list, on the other side of the list, in a small square box on the list, with fonts and special markings on the list, and a space for a red tick on the list, with lines on the list, and entered in neat list-friendly handwriting on the list, tonight's Friday Night Free For All must do on the list. Yes ...

It's not because he wasn't born in the US of A - he probably was. And it's not because he is a Muslim - he probably isn't. Rather he should be disqualified because

Matthew 11:28-30 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. When we are troubled we usually turn to those close to us. But if they cannot help we seek help further afield. In times not too long ago the next port of call would have been the Church. And Priests or Ministers would give us their ear along with gentle guidance and of course prayer. But today with the growth of secularism most people don't have a confessor or pastor they can turn to. And perhaps some clergy have even started to shy away from this role preferring to leave it to "professionals". It is this story about funding cuts for " postvention ", a counselling program for people who have lost family members to suicide that made me think. Obviously the gnomes in the Ministry of Heal...

You are a pain in the you know where. I don't know what you hope to achieve with your rubbish but your comments will be deleted without mercy - no quarter given. We can delete them as fast as you post them - never fear.

If your husband or father's life-support were about to be switched off and you requested he be given Vitamin C and the doctors refused, what would you do? What about if he received the Vitamin C, began to get better, and then they stopped it, and refused to continue the treatment? That's what happened to Alan Smith, a farmer from the King Country whose story was shown on 60 Minutes last night. He caught the Swine Flu (probably while on a fishing trip in Fiji), so badly that his lungs had "white out", which is to say they were so full of fluid that they didn't show up on an x-ray. The doctors also said he had got leukemia and he ended up being put on a life support machine. The doctors told the family the machine should be turned off, but the family asked that he be given high dosages of Vitamin C. After a fight (one of many), one of the doctors agreed. Alan began getting better; his lungs showed pockets of air. Then he began to get worse and the family found ...

This post might be offensive to all those who find the Cross an offensive symbol. Sorry about that. So what is it about the cross that drives some people insane? Example - in Italy the crucifix has been a feature of school classrooms for many years. Naturally this cannot be let stand and a case id taken to the Human rights court in Strasbourg to get a ruling they be removed. And of course the court obliged . In Poland a Catholic president is killed in a plane crash. In a spontaneous outpouring of grief a wooden cross appears outside the Presidential palace and people leave flowers there. Naturally a fuss ensues. And in Utah where two Highway Patrolmen have erected crosses to mark fallen comrades the inevitable court case has resulted in an order for their removal . In rejecting the crosses, the appeals court made several arguments, such as the large size and location of the crosses -- on busy public highways where motorists cannot help but notice. Other similar me...

Depressing The Mission concert has lost its BYO licence. Police have won a three-year battle to stop people taking their own alcohol to the annual Mission Estate Winery Concert in Hawke's Bay, saying it led to excessive drinking. My goodness, how many people get really plastered at these events? Not very many in all likelihood. But just in case someone might the vast majority who just want an enjoyable day out will be penalized. Wowserism is alive and kicking in 21 st century New Zealand.

One of NZC's commenters, LeftRightOut, wants to know why Pope Benedict did not accept the resignations of two bishops "implicated by the Murphy Commission".  He says, "At least these two men attempted to do the [honourable] thing, Benedict will deny them that. Why?" He then quotes an apparently damning BBC article: Pope Benedict XVI has not accepted the resignations of two Irish bishops who resigned at Christmas. Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field announced their resignations on Christmas Eve 2009. The pair, who were both auxiliary bishops of Dublin, said they hoped their resignations would help bring peace to the victims of sexual abuse. They were bishops during the period covered by the Murphy Commission which examined abuse in the Dublin diocese. ~ BBC However, all is not as it seems. Three things are true. 1) The men did attempt to resign, but not willingly. 2) They were bishops during the period covered by the Murphy Report, but were not criticised...

The mess with the Whitireia Polytechnic Independent Students Association just gets bigger and bigger. In my last post on the matter I speculated that the $750,000 that was missing might have been a misprint and the number was lower by a factor of 10. Not so its over $1,000,000 now! And the vice President and cousin of the President, pictured, at the time of this fiasco was not long out of prison it seems. Charming. I suspect that Sir Roger Douglas voluntary students union bill just might sail through Parliament.

This is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I photographed at Sumela monastery on the feast of The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, yesterday. Religious services have been banned at this monastery since 1922 but the Turkish government has granted permission for this feast to be celebrated there from now on. So why the grump? Well every single News story reporting this says he was celebrating "Mass" . No, its the Divine Liturgy, Mass is the term for the Liturgies in the Latin Church. Neither Orthodox nor Byzantine Catholics ever use this term. It doesn't really matter I suppose but why can't they get it right?

Kylie Minogue mentor Mike Stock says Lady Gaga's performances are not family friendly and sexualising children. Mike Stock – one third of the legendary pop factory Stock, Aitken and Waterman – said the music industry had gone "too far". "It's not about me being old-fashioned," he said. "It's about keeping values that are important in the modern world. "You can't watch modern stars like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga with a two-year-old – 99 per cent of the charts is R'n'B and 99 per cent of that is soft pornography.  "Kids are being forced to grow up too young. Look at the videos. I wouldn't necessarily want my young kids to watch them. I have to agree with him. I flip across to the music TV stations sometimes and a lot of it is, as he says, simply soft porn. It's no wonder kids are growing up too soon.

Andrew Sullivan calls his opinion piece "The Pope Is Not Gay", but his article implies that he believes he is. At times, it seems to me, his gayness is almost wince-inducing. The prissy fastidiousness, the effeminate voice, the fixation on liturgy and ritual, and the over-the-top clothing accessories are one thing. But what resonates with me the most is a theology that seems crafted from solitary introspection into a perfect, abstract unity of belief. It is so perfect it reflects a life of withdrawal from the world of human relationship, rather than an interaction with it. Of course, this kind of work is not inherently homosexual; but I have known so many repressed gay men who can only live without severe pain in the world if they create a perfect abstraction of what it is, and what their role is in it. Toibin brilliantly explains this syndrome, why the church of old was so often such a siren call for gay men who could not handle their own nature. In Benedict, one sees a ...

This NZPA story begins Questions have been raised about whether New Zealand's SAS may have handed over prisoners to an Afghan unit that is believed to use torture. Now at the very end of the story and unsurprising name appears but he is not creditied with raising the "questions" Green Party MP Keith Locke said the New Zealand Defence Force had to share responsibility for what happened to insurgents it captured. He supported the withdrawal of the SAS from Afghanistan. If not Keith Locke then who? A journalist looking for a story to promote his world view perhaps? Anyway as they say war is hell and its a binary proposition here, either Afghanistan is abandoned to the Taliban or the effort is made to try and bring civilization to that place. If the latter course is taken then we will be peripherally be involved in nastyness that we cannot control. If we leave Afghanistan to the Taliban it will be even nastier for the poor people there. It's a symptom of livin...

I'm for flat tax before I'd support income splitting, but I thought I'd muster a few simple words of defence of the proposed bill for income splitting, because in essence, it is a very family friendly bill, and worth consideration on that basis alone. I'll likely do a few posts on this topic over the next few weeks or months if the bill gets feet because lefties will crawl out of the swamp and start worrying about the government not gaining their rightful amount of tax from single income families. Oh, the horror of government not maximising its tax take! Why is income splitting as a concept being put forward? Well, the progressive tax system is designed to tax rich bastards a lot more than poor bastards because this is "fair".

I never knew this, but according to tonight's One News , if you're serving on a jury, the accused has access to your name, occupation, and address; and until 2008, the accused was allowed to take that list away with them (though not anymore; they're only allowed to look at it under supervision now). This was exposed when accused  George Baker wrote a letter to a juror who it looks like he fancied. It's alleged Baker contacted a woman juror after getting her details from jurors' list, exposing a loophole in the system. Under the law, the accused can view a list of jurors' names. People representing themselves get to see the list in more detail. Halfway through the trial the juror contacted police after a letter signed by Baker was sent to her home. [...] ONE News understands the letter wasn't intimidating, but in it Baker introduces himself and makes romantic overtures to the married, middle-aged woman I have to ask - why? Why aren't the names, addres...

This just in The country's state-owned weather and atmospheric research body is being taken to court in a challenge over the accuracy of its data used to calculate global warming. The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition said it had lodged papers with the High Court asking the court to invalidate the official temperatures record of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa). The whole argument over the temperature is of course utterly banal - Niwa's adjusted record shows an increase of 1°C over a time span of 100 years. An amount so trivial that you wouldn't notice it in real life. Over a time span so long that any implications for agriculture and so forth would be easily catered for. Still its worth challenging in court - this garbage science, which we pay for, has been used to grow government and increase taxes as well as creating a new parasitic industry - carbon credits. I doubt anything will come of this, too many vested interests but ...

Following on from Andrei's post about the story of the mosque being erected near the site of the 9/11 attacks, comes the story today that President Obama has backed the idea . "As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York and the nation. "That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable." The president made his remarks at an Iftar dinner at the White House celebrating the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Just a point that I noticed in that story and have made bold is that the White House celebrates Ramadan? I am wondering if they celebrate any Christian feast days (a...

Click to here shrink X This image comes from a singularly interesting and perhaps depressing post, a photo essay of past Americans contrasted with their modern counterparts. Place your mouse over the image to view it in its full glory We may smile at American trash culture but we sure have our own, the Sunday papers are full of a story, two seemly adult people behaving in a distinctly trashy and unadult manner - you can guess the story, I trust, I don't want to give it anymore oxygen than it already has. We have come to accept this type of poor behaviour from our elites and the papers lap it up, feed it, even promote it. Whatever happened to leadership by example, where respect was earned? My goodness we wallow in human degradation, our leaders often exhibit it, celebrities often use it and manipulate it to keep themselves in the public eye and we lap it up courtesy of a shallow media. Don't we deserve better? Or have we bought this upon ourselves? Related Post: ...

What are the chances that the baby that gets to wear this cutsie outfit has a mother that has killed some of his or her brothers and sisters because they weren't wanted? How revolting. Related link: I see your pro-choice tee-shirt ~ The Hand Mirror

Three quarters of a million dollars? (1) In one year? That must have been one heck of a party. But I guess the party's over now Update (1) The linked story gives the figure of $750,000 but this post reasonably suggests the real number is more likely to be closer to $75,000. A mischievous misprint?

It's a bit of a late one tonight. I have my reasons! If anyone feels like a chat, drop by! UPDATE: I've just watched the below You-Tube clip on the disguises of sin. Freaky. Thanks Muerk! From her link: Satan has many disguises . No more second glass of wine for me tonight.

The BBC has run with this story The CEO of a Russian diary company has told female employees that if they get an abortion they will be fired "Abortion is the murder of someone," he told the radio station, Ekho Moskvy. "We do not want to work with murderers." In addition Vassili Boiko-Veliki, president of Russkoe Moloko, said staff married in a civil ceremony had until 14 October to undertake a religious wedding. What the BBC omits is that the marriage ruling only applies to those employees baptized into the Orthodox faith. And more importantly the BBC also omits that the Patriarchy doesn't agree with this stance calling it Pharisaical and reminding Mr Boiko-Veliki of the woman taken in Adultery "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone " Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky of the Patriarchal press service said that it was not Orthodox to apply administrative measures to sin. Another thing omitted by the BBC is that Vassili Boiko-Veliki is p...

The activist Judge in California has ruled that "gay marriage" can start in California at 5pm next Wednesday local time provided no higher court issues a stay. So we will be treated to images of happy couples "going to the altar" and told the march of progress is unstoppable. Those of us who understand why this is not progress will be cast as "homophobic bigots" which is what this fine upstanding Judge has ruled the majority of Californian voters to be - if you read his ruling. What is really in the cross hairs here is marriage, a target of left wing utopians for over 100 years. If they can separate parents from their offspring by separating reproduction from sexual activity then they will have a free hand in creating the new humanity, so the reasoning goes. Of course the law of unintended consequences applies and the depredations to marriage already accomplished have already resulted in a massive lowering of the birth rate and a demographic cr...

I wasn't going to blog on this nonsense because I didn't want to play the game as defined by the proposers of Cordoba House, a deliberately provocative name for a deliberately provocative project. If you want my opinion the authorities in New York have played this exactly right. They have given the go ahead to build this monstrosity - it has sailed through the permission process. But I don't believe it will ever be built and I am fairly sure those who have given the go ahead don't either. $100,000,000 is not exactly chump change. The whole thing is just mischief making, a poke designed to stir up the reaction it has. But if it is built it will stand in rebuke of its builders and their religion for ever more, a hundred million dollar white elephant. A reminder to everyone how the builders co-religionists in the name of their religion murdered 3000 innocent people going about their daily business . A testament to banal evil.

At first glance they look like Catholic rosary beads but on closer examination there is another object where the Crucifix should be. You might think this was an object for wiccan worship but no, it can be sourced from a liberal parish of a liberal Christian denomination . A denomination which in times past would have rejected the Rosary and the prayers prayed with its assistance, well still do actually. But if you follow the link you can see examples of what might be prayed with this - and they seem to be pagan re-workings of the traditional prayers, which in itself is an interesting phenomenon. Why introduce a distortion of Catholic Worship onto a distortion of Lutheranism? We live in the post Christian age but those of us who remain true to the Faith must stick to the basics. The Gospel and The Sacraments while resisting at all costs innovations like priestesses . Because that road leads to empty Churches and paganism as is fairly obvious from what has occurred over the...

This is, or to be more accurately was St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Lower Manhattan. It along with more notable landmarks in that location was destroyed on September the 11 th 2001. And here we are nearly 9 years after that fateful day and the parishioners of this Church are still having to travel to Brooklyn to celebrate the Divine Liturgy because like everything else that was destroyed that day nothing has been done to rebuild. The Parish wants to rebuild but the authorities continue to place obstacles in their way . I think the terrorists just might have won after all.

A couple of weeks back one of the The Hand Mirror sent a letter to the Herald protesting their use of a picture of an unborn baby smiling, for she believed it was physically impossible and that the Herald was displaying an inaccurate picture of an unborn baby smiling when it couldn't possibly do so. When I pointed out that it is actually physically possible for an unborn baby to smile, and in fact more likely the younger the baby is, and could even be quite possibly evidence of a dream-state and that both my babies had smiled from a very young age even before it was supposedly physically possible, I got a very nasty reply. Apparently I was "trolling" and I should really leave them alone, as they leave us alone. But they leave us alone not because of respect, but because when you have a morally indefensible position it's very difficult to argue. And abortion is hardly morally indefensible. The best you can do with it is argue it from selfishness, ie my body, my...

According to the Otago Daily Times the the Environment Court has issued an order preventing the moving of the Altar from Teschemakers Chapel to the Church of the Holy Name. An issue I posted on here . It almost seems as though the courts once held to protect the property rights and freedom of citizens are now being used to suppress those very things.

Haven't we heard it all before - New Zealand's welfare system as outdated, unsustainable and not achieving what people should expect . All 100% true. And of course the Greens on cue criticize Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said today the WWG report missed the point and was a wasted opportunity. "If you want people to work there has to be work out there and it has to be well enough paid that people can live on it without needing government support. That is not the case in this country," she told NZPA. And this is true too. Of course the Greens are amongst the first to impede any real initiative which could go toward addressing the issues they raise. Like mining, for example, You would be tempted to think from the proliferation of degrees in this country that there were unlimited opportunities for those conversant with queer studies, sociology and so forth. Sadly those disciplines only prepare you for a job paid for by the taxpayer, as far as I know...

From the SST today: The Mountain Safety Council is recommending skiers and snowboarders wear helmets after another fatality at Mount Hutt Skifield in Canterbury. A Christchurch snowboarder died after falling about 300 metres Mate, you don't need to be demanding helmets, try recommending parachutes for plunging 300m off a cliff. Why not urge snowfields to place more red flags and roped areas perhaps? Does the newspaper run stories like this just to wind me up? And what will that do to David?

I got sent this - I don't know the context but is it sure is funny.

I saw this at Homepaddock: North Otago vs the nuns . Its about a row in Oamaru over the moving the Altar from a chapel with no congregation and no services to a Parish with a thriving congregation where it will be put to the use for which it was made. Of course there would be no issue at all if the people of Oamaru had kept worship alive in the chapel concerned, if a Priest was celebrating Mass at that altar on a regular basis, even if it was only weekly. But the Chapel stands empty and forlorn, no longer owned by the Dominicans, though apparently the contents are and what's a church without a congregation? Nothing.

Many years ago a little girl, my eldest daughter wanted a bike. So for her birthday we went to the bike shop to get her one. Her eyes fastened on a cheap thing with lots of plastic and ribbons dangling from the handle bars. But her father, being me, wise in the ways of the world, saw through the rubbish dressed up with ribbons and bought her a bike of more solid construction. And after my daughter had outgrown her bike, her sister, then her brother and finally her youngest sister all made use of it. And from there it went to another little girl in another family after which I lost contact with it. Now read on

Ian Wishart has posted this evening on his blog at TBR.cc that he is very kindly making his book The Divinity Code freely available to read (or download in PDF form, if you register a free account) at Issuu . It is a great book. Highly recommended.

Good evening one and all. Have to rush off and sort dinner. No time to write about the events of the week right now, and so many topics as usual, but the world keeps turning. For most people. Some didn't make it through the week; a Kiwi down in Afghanistan, Hone possibly doing DNA tests on visitors, Amnesty collectors out in force today, Hiroshima day passes us by. Chris Carter can be docked $50 pay per week for doing no work (leaving $2750 a week to scrape by on), a couple of interesting movies out I haven't had a chance to see, something to do with Gillard, Rudd and Australian politics, kindle coming to NZ but I'm using Stanza and my iPhone all the time, iPad looking more and more enticing every day, birthday dinner in the wind (but not mine), my epic Fence construction still in progress (but going well), inappropriate use of the word inappropriate, and a million other things no doubt. Maybe after Pizza.

The You-Tube clip above is a digital fly-by of what the destruction of Warsaw by the Nazis would have looked like. A city that was home to a million souls lies in complete ruins. It's amazing that it was rebuilt. Related link : Was it all worth it? ~ The Economist

This is STILL funny to me every time I watch it. I remember seeing somewhere that Frank Oz (Burt) said the most fun he ever had in working with the Muppets was when he was playing Burt next to Jim Henson's Ernie.

Here is a really disturbing finding from Judge Walker's ruling on gay "marriage" Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians. Now if that stands doesn't this will mean that teaching that homosexuality is a sin will in time become illegal. As it is it has become an incredible social gaffe - one which will lead to the charge of bigotry at a minimum and one which can put your job in jeopardy or the opportunity to graduate . And doesn't this also mean that priest refusing the sacrament of Holy Matrimony to a gay couple would also become illegal. And you can almost guarantee that if this ruling stands within a few years this very matter will be tested before the courts. And you can be sure of the outcome too - Priests will either be forced to conform or give up the right to celebrate marriages. Far fetched? When homosexuality was decriminalized, something I supported sinc...

Irony abounds in this story - a Turkish couple in Taranaki full of the joys of life were dancing. The dance they were dancing is called " Kolbastı " translated as "caught red-handed" by the police. And they were or the male was he was charged with assaulting his wife Elmas after the police were called by a passer by. It didn't help matters that his wife doesn't speak English or that Turkish speakers are thin on the ground in Hawera. So the matter has come before the courts who are yet to decide if dancing constitutes assault and will rule on this matter on August the 17 th .

No surprises here but an activist gay Judge has overturned California's ban on gay marriage . And every report you see, hear, or read on this matter will cast it in this way - a ban has been overturned and a fight for human rights and equality is being won. Horse radish of course - its just a self indulgent vocal minority determined to get their own way - to give a great poke in the eye to the sacred institution of the family. And despite this ruling, which will be challenged, they can never get marriage, that God given sacrament which was given to us to bond man and woman together for the purpose of continuing the human race. Gay marriage is just a mockery of this, a hollow sham and its real purpose is not one of advancing human rights. Rather it is for the degradation of a holy institution. Antonio Gramsci understood that two pillars that stood in the way of the Marxist new order for mankind were the Church and the Family. And that these would have to be degrade...

From the DomPost last month: It is tempting at times to think that democracy is wasted on New Zealanders. United States president Abraham Lincoln once defined this special form of government as "government of the people, by the people, for the people" but in this country, democracy sometimes bears no more than a passing resemblance to that description because "the people" refuse to play their important part in the process. Last week, the Electoral Enrolment Centre issued research showing that two of out three Kiwis do not know when this year's local government elections are due – it's October – and one in three does not know how to cast a vote (psst, it's via postal ballot). Murray Wicks, national manager of the centre, sounded exasperated: "The level of ignorance ... is incredible". He is right. He has noticed the symptoms, not necessarily the cause. He has noticed the sickness, not the source of the disease. He has noticed the cake bu...

The number of over-65s in New Zealand is projected to double between 2006 and 2031 – by 2050, 1.33 million Kiwis will be over 65. Well, there's the first problem. All the while, medical breakthroughs make it increasingly possible to keep the seriously ill and injured alive in ways that, even five years ago, weren't feasible. And throw in another issue of seemingly equal weight, but really, what's the proportion? Both sets of facts almost certainly mean that calls such as Dr Pollock's, to the New Zealand Medical Association to reconsider its stance on euthanasia – and, presumably, on assisted suicide – will become louder. The argument made above, in a nutshell, is all about money. It illustrates exactly the warning from Catholic bioethicist John Kleinsman: John Kleinsman contends persuasively, however, that when the sick, dying, disabled and elderly are undervalued, as now, the "right" to die will all too quickly become a "duty" to die. "Peop...

This lady has just witnessed something. An oh dear moment when your heart sinks. The question is why do we find others misfortunes so funny?

WARNING OF COPYRIGHT ENFRINGEMENT The July 31st posting in this blog of copyrighted material authored by Craig Young and published by GayNZ.com contravenes New Zealand copyright laws. It has been re-printed here in full without permission from either its legal author or its publisher. No permission to reproduce it in this manner and on this blog site was sought. None would have been given. GayNZ.com asks that your respect the intellectual property of another author and that this verbatim entry be deleted immediately, without our having to resort to other measures. Jay Bennie Co-publisher www.GayNZ.com This is quite a heavy handed reaction to a simple copy and paste as a blog comment . The text in question Road to Nowhere by Craig Young discusses Chris Carter and what is considered an "unjustified attack" on Phil Goff. Craig believes that Carter ought to be expelled from the Labour caucus. But I don't think that is the part that is controversial. What I th...

A kid on his way to a school play rehearsal in costume was stopped by police and will be talked to by youth aid because of two "guns", that would be theatrical props, in his possession. The wooden guns were confiscated and wont be returned . But the show will go on.

We have a lot of homicides in this country. Since the ascent of social liberalism the number of homicides has soared (now there's a surprise). Fifty years ago murder was so uncommon that it was headline news when one occurred, now we have more murders most weekends than they had in a year back then. We usually just casually glance at the reporting of such incidents and carry on. But every so often a murder that does catch our attention comes along and the trial will be followed with lurid interest and in this modern age blog posts. And I have a sneaking suspicion that just such a murder occurred over the weekend. Only time will tell if this post is prescient.