New Years Eve free for all

2010 has only to go

I don't know if anybody will be about tonight but if you are feel free leave a message or chat amongst yourselves.

And a happy and properous New Year to all regulars, occaisionals and random visitors to New Zealand Conservative from the Authors

A big stink from a little fish

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Holodomor. It was an engineered famine, a halocaust, in Ukraine during the thirties. At that time Ukraine was the bread basket of Europe but Stalin in his wisdom decided to crush Ukrainian culture by seizing all the produce and exporting it. 10,000,000 starved to death.

Anyway something similar is happening in California today, not as dramatic as the holodomor thank goodness but central government policies is turning the fruit basket of America into desert.

Apparently environmentalists claim that this little fish, the delta smelt, is under threat. And to protect it is is necessary to cut back on the amount of water allowed to be taken for irrigation of the orchards and market gardens of Central Valley California.

With the inevitable results, productive land becomes unproductive, the orchard workers are unemployed along with the cannery workers with flow on effects for everybody else and in a land of plenty people are literally going hungry.

The welfare of little fish trump that of people - but then the people at the heart of this, the greens don't like people very much so that should come as no surprise to any of us.

Source: Fresno, Zimbabwe

My Way Or The Highway

Frog Blog suggests the time to build roads is over. "It's my way or the Highway" they say. Err, can I choose "Highway" then? Nope - walking, cycling and mum and the kids loading the shopping on to the train is the way of our future. I point out the obvious issue though, that the Greens are ignoring:

There are a growing number of abandoned young children because when the family set out on a 40km bike ride to visit the in-laws, the 4 and 5 year olds just can’t keep up, and are left to perish on the roadsides. It’s particularly bad during stormy weather.

I think roads are great. I have one right outside my home that I use fairly often. Couldn't imagine it being taken away and sold to China, although it must be a possibility given that the Greens are polling well at the moment.

Trashy TV and our degraded culture

I didn't know this but MTV has had a reality series "16 and Pregnant" following the lives of four pregnant teenagers.

A second series followed the same sad four as they coped with their children - and in this incarnation, 'Teen Mom' it has hit the news with this.

And in addition this: MTV tackles issue of teen abortion with new special.

The concept that children should be raised with the aspiration to marry and raise a family and this will be foundational to their future well being and happiness is an idea to be treated with contempt.

But its the truth - the happiest and most content people on the planet are those who have successfully done just that. Everything else, material success, fame just wither away with time - mean nothing on your death bed.

Self indulgent liberalism has done its best to wreck the institution of marriage along encouraging abortion. Who needs a spouse and children to interfere with your path to self fulfillment?

This is really sad, millions have been condemned to chasing phantom goals, which the vast majority never obtain, and have denied themselves the true fulfillment of seeing their children grow, happy and well adjusted.

Shows such as the ones alluded to above portray pathological people and by implication child raising as both pathological and inhibiting.

It's so depressing.

The Sun, not your SUV is responsible for climate change

The great hoax is coming to an end, its in its death knell.

The flim flam men aided by gullible (I'm looking at you Nick Smith) politicians have made their fortunes and Governments have increased their taxes - what lefty Government missed an opportunity to screw the peasants with tax hikes.

Six years ago astrophysicists noted a reduction in solar activity and predicted the onset of cooler times.

They were denounced as "climate deniers" and not real "climate scientists" unlike the chrono dendrologists - these are the guys who measure tree rings and see doom for mankind in them by analyzing ring widths with arcane formulae with no known valid mathematical derivation.

But what has really killed the fraud is that the British Met office predicted a mild winter for Europe, whilst this fellow, Piers Corbyn, said a vicious winter was in store for the Northern Hemisphere. His predictions have been right on the money and have been before.

He could have fluked this, he could have but perhaps he has a better handle on what drives the Earths climate than the "Climate Scientists".


The trouble is there is no way we can get the Sun to behave as we desire - we are helpless in the face of its moves - so no new taxs, carbon markets, screwing down of the productive are possible.

Bad news for the warmists but they persist in their attempts to convince us otherwise.

That snow outside is what global warming looks like

Unusually cold winters may make you think scientists have got it all wrong. But the data reveal a chilling truth

by George Monbiot

But I don't think many are buying anymore as they shiver through another unexpectedly cold winter.

Elton Johns' a daddy

Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John was born weighing 7lbs 15oz via surrogate mother in California on Christmas day.
'We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment,' Sir Elton and Furnish said in a joint statement.
'Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents.'

Children are commodities, like designer pets these days it seems.

Arsenic and Old Lace

I thought NASA discovering life based on arsenic (link: 2 Dec 2010) fairly interesting. It seemed just one step away from confirming the existence of the acid-blooded monster Sigourney Weaver had to deal to in the "Alien" series of movies.

The astrobiology finding revealed the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using arsenic, suggesting that NASA could start to look for life on planets previously ignored.

NASA scientists found bacteria living in arsenic in a California lake, a discovery that will impact the search for extraterrestrial life forms. The finding, presented by NASA at a press conference today, was preceded by intense media speculation about the possibility that the U.S. agency would announce that it had found life in outer space.

But was it really a genuinely game changing discovery or just dodgy science?

Helen Clark for President

But the time comes when every nation must stand strong and alone and choose, using the ballot box, its own head of state. This would show the world that New Zealand is indeed a unique and separate country.

Once Helen has done what she needs to in the United Nations, perhaps we can have her back as President? Oh, we should be so lucky. Well, it's Helen or HRH, Hone Harawira (Just wait to you see how votes are allocated). Personally, I'd vote for Sir Edmund Hillary.

The Grass Is Always Greener

And Helen Clark latest resume update confirming she is indeed the most likely candidate for NZ President: Helen Clark, the hypocrite

What the US Military could learn from the Catholic Priesthood

Now that Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been repealed for the US Military, the Americans will learn the hard way what opening up the military brotherhood to open homosexuals will do. Destructive effects of bad decisions don't always show up straight away as the Catholic Church has learned.

Homosexual relationships caused a deep fracture in the priestly male fraternity. Pseudo-intimacy and intrigue replaced the outward looking evangelization of apostolic brotherhood. Bishops were unwilling to discipline the abusive priests under their charge. The Communio became divided. Religious leaders hid their own homosexual proclivities. The worst priests desacralized the liturgy and their vows and their priestly identity, while good priests often became isolated, fearful, and rigid. All priests were maimed.

But priests are not soldiers nor are soldiers priests, so having open homosexuals around should not affect soldiers in the same way. Surely?

In the priesthood, the priest unites with the spotless Bride – the Church. The priest sacrifices his own desires, giving up the love of another, for a far greater love. He surrenders his own singular needs and desires for the good of the many – Christ’s Body, the Church.

A soldier makes this same archetypal masculine sacrifice for the nation. He sacrifices personal freedom and family for the good of the nation. In both cases, it’s a sacrifice that, in different times and places, requires the shedding of blood – for God and country. And, in both cases, it’s a peculiarly masculine sacrifice.

The Church has an intimate understanding of the human person and properly ordered love. When the brotherhood is perverted, the institution breaks down. The breakdown in fraternity is a fissure that threatens to corrupt the entire institution.

Somehow, I think, all of this is just going to be too subtle for a whole lot of people.

Related link: What the military must learn from the Church ~ WTPRS

Making the first one count

Source: XKCD

Popes thought of the day on the BBC

I mentioned in a previous post the Pope was to give the "Thought of the Day" on BBC 4 and this has made some unhappy.

Anyway the way the Pope used his spot can be seen here.

It is a wonderful theologically based statement, no wishy washy blandness but a direct address on the Nativity of Christ and its significance to the world.

Hopefully it will reach many who need to be reached, which is all of us to some extent or other - but judging by the comments on this BBC page there are many with their fingers in their ears going nah nah can't hear you.

Which is sad.

All Is Well

A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to all.

Christmas Eve

And in Bethlehem today, where Jesus was born more than 2000 years ago, Christian souvenirs no longer contain crosses for fear of offending Islam.

Egg Bread Day UPDATE 2

Once a year, I make egg bread. 

Today is the day. I have fresh yeast and my kitchen bench is clear.

The picture on the left is from my cookbook.

Here we go...

UPDATE:  And below, is the finished product.

UPDATE 2: Recipe added for Gecko. 

Ministers On Strike

Spokesman for the Ministry of Entitlements, Chris Carter, has announced that all MPS are going on strike from today in the wake of the government's offer to Ministers of a meager 1.4% pay-rise (backdated), an increase in tax free allowances and a cash payment offer for unused travel perks.

"This is just not good enough" said Chris, "so all MPS are going on strike until such time as the remuneration authority realises the incalculable damage they are doing to the country by not allowing us to do our jobs."

Bill English confirmed that their was ample justification for a pay rise. "The government deficit is running at 2 billion more than we initially estimated, and that means we Ministers are dealing with much bigger deficits than ever imagined. Our pay should reflect the increased responsibility."

Merry Christmas One and All

A merry Christmas to our readers, commenters, lurkers and occasional visitors. Spread some cheer and good will around, and as they say in New Zealand "Fleece on earth and good wool to all men".

Also on the Christmas theme: Knock me down with some gold, frankincense and myrrh. Chris Trotter has done a Christmas post that was rather touching. I'll pop up a link when it appears.

Oh for goodness sake

The Pope will deliver the BBCs "Thought for the day" on Christmas Eve. This news has some people all in a lather.

The BBC has disgraced itself with Pope’s Thought for the Day

News that the Pope has been given a Thought for the Day slot on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Eve may be a coup for the BBC, but it is a slap in the face for the thousands of clerical abuse victims who are still waiting for justice.


"The Pope should be challenged, not given an uninterrupted platform on Thought for the Day" - Terry Sanderson, NSS President
The Pope will be allotted an uninterrupted and unchallenged platform in which to continue to claim that he is the source of all that is good and the enemy of all that is bad. In reality, it is the other way round.

Chris Carter is in the news again

For the usual reason. And it's everybody else's fault but his as per normal.

I'm no grinch but .........

Advent - and everywhere I go I hear this

There is no need to continue to subject our readers to the soundtrack which originally accompanied this post. In fact it is a mercy not to.

If you really want the music just click here.

It's driving me crazy, whenever I'm in a shop, any shop, surrounded by hordes of harried people pushing trolleys loaded to the gunnels with goodies this little ditty is playing in the background

And I can't watch TV - every five minutes or so the program will be interupted and a lady in a red hat with a pom pom on top will pop up to me about exciting gifts for Dad or something and you can guess what the background score is.

Even sleep brings no peace, snug in my bed with a cat coiled at my feet I should be safe but no, it starts up all by itself without any obvious source in my head.

I wonder how many times you will have to suffer this today?

PS I apologize to subjecting you to this torment but at least you have the power to shut it off in my post which is not an ability you will have when you are in the supermarket later on today when you are picking up the milk

The next taboo to be taboo no more

This is the start - a Bush loathing, Palin sneering, Ivy League professor with impressive left wing credentials, including a gig at the Huffington Post has been charged with incest with his adult daughter.

Now if he were a snaggled toothed bible thumping hill billy he would go to jail and it would be of no interest to anyone especially not the Huffington Post, excluding the remote possibility he was Sarah Palin's third cousin twice removed by marriage in which case he might be used to illustrate degeneracy of her family.

But he isn't even remotely related to that Sarah Palin as far as anybody knows. He's of the left elite, which is why this extraordinary statement appears on that blog.

"It's OK for homosexuals to do whatever they want in their own home," he said. "How is this so different? We have to figure out why some behavior is tolerated and some is not."

And thus begins the erosion of yet another long standing taboo because such things are hideously old fashioned and have no place amongst the enlightened and may stand in the way of their sexual fulfilment.

Cohabitation kills

Blood-soaked carpet and household items have been removed from the home of an Auckland couple found dead after the woman's 14-year-old sister called 111.

Police have named Jacqueline Allister, 26, and Ivor Christiansen, 36, as the two people found inside their Pakuranga home with fatal knife wounds in the early hours of Sunday morning.

It's very common in NZ (and other western countries) for couples to live together, and even have children before getting married. But this type of union is dangerous. Not all cohabitators end up dead as the couple above have, but the chances of this happening is far greater for those who cohabit or who marry after cohabiting, than those who only start living together when they get married.

Rest in peace, Jacqueline and Ivor.

Related link: Couple died from knife wounds ~ New Zealand Herald

Beyond Satire

The EU in its wisdom has distributed diaries for the school children within its domains.

A nice seasonal gesture you might think.

But despite marking dates of import to the EU itself such as Europe Day and Islamic, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish festivals Christian ones are conspicuous by their absence.

Which includes Christmas Day itself is left blank apart from the innocuous slogan "A true friend is someone who shares your concerns and will double your joy".

Saturday Matinée

For Scrub One and other fans of foreign films - this ones from Kazakhstan but filmed in Mongolia.

And it is pretty darned good - check it out

Friday night free for all

Chat time!

We have rain here; very welcome as water restrictions forced the avid gardeners to only water their leafy darlings with a hose. For some gardens, do you know how long that takes? I, for one can get lost in my garden for a good hour or so when I have my hose, before I realise what the time is. And that's not even watering it all!

My handy tip for the week: flea powder kills ants. Great for sprinkling around the home, and staying in the cracks to keep on killing them for weeks on end!

Here's a new movie coming out next year - The Rite.



Related News Item: Shadowing an Exorcist

Name Suppression and Wiki-leaks

I heard the name suppression debate was back on the agenda. Apparently, Simon Power wants to make bloggers ensure they respect the law and remain silent on who is facing jail for heinous crimes, just in case the truth does not serve justice.

The media are promising to abide by name suppression laws as long as it is clear that they can see who is on the register of "don't ask, don't tell"

So, for the people that want to get tough on enforcing name suppression, how do they feel about wiki-leaks? Seems the media are making a feeding frenzy of information that was, by default, under suppression at this time. Do the same people who laud Assange, consider WhaleOil as a treasonous blogger? And vice-versa?

I'd like to see a more open government, and I'd like to see a more open justice system. The name suppression rules have certainly been proven in need of an overhaul, and somewhere along the way, it got a little bit easier for famous people to use their fame as a "get out of jail free" card. On the other hand, cracking the lid on US Government Military information hasn't been the smoking gun many thought it would be. I think destruction of source data in ClimateGate the bigger scandal.

In the final analysis, I'm not sure though that democracy or justice is served by simply dishing out private information without the context. such actions often fail to properly weigh up the consequences.

However, I think it would be useful to talk about both topics together. We may be more inclined to work from principles rather than emotion.

Drink Driving - Let's improve the outcomes

A 14 year old has just been pulled over for drink driving. He was three times the legal youth limit. Three times!! This sounds serious. I think we are going to have to get tough on him and take away his license to drive, and raise the drinking age so he can't get drunk, and lower the youth limit so that he is at least 4 times over the limit. That will sort the issue.

Perhaps we should crush the car. That will teach the person he stole it from for not keeping it secure.

Imagine a world with no religion - Part I

Imagine a world with no religion

The challenge has been made many times before, perhaps most eloquently by John Lennon in his song Imagine. I've always liked the song for its sentiment, although it sounds like the brochure for Marxism and Communism. It's a song that exemplifies "be careful what you wish for" because we've seen some very clear examples (Stalin's Russia, Mao's China and Kim's DPRK) of the nirvana offered by the State in the abolition of property, equality in wages and the attempt to wipe out religion because it is seen as a threat to the state.

Once (after the Beatles split) Lennon reportedly disparaged Paul McCartney's songs as being nothing more than "silly love songs" because John and Yoko were preoccupied by world peace and all that important stuff. So Paul McCartney responded with his hit Silly Love Songs and I think that is a better blueprint for world peace than "Imagine" will ever be. Go have a listen to it.

In another sense, we could have looked at the song Imagine as a preview on Heaven, but his opening verse rules out that interpretation. So apparently, we can all live as saints as long as there are no countries, religion and property. Ironically, two songs later on the Imagine album, John is apologising to Yoko for being a Jealous Guy (great song too BTW). John Lennon, with his blueprint for happiness in Imagine, ends up confessing to his human frailties. Nothing in Imagine addressed the root causes of sin, of which Jealous Guy is an example. Misuse of political power is really just an amplification of personal sin, institutionalized. But I digress.

I'll take LRO's challenge and imagine a world with no religion. I've come up with four main lines of discussion, so I'll deliver this post in 4 parts. Here is part one.

A fathers duty

A german father outraged a 57 year old man was having an affair with his 17 year old daughter found there was little under the law that could be done to prevent this perverse pairing.

His solution - go around to the old mans house, force him to drop trou and perform the tom cat operation.

Ouch.

I expect the full weight of the law will fall upon him but the original problem has been solved.

Argument :Peter is the Rock upon which Christ built His Church

I've moved a conversation on whether Peter is the Rock that Christ build His Church from Story of the attack on the attack on the Baghdad Church to this thread.

Weekend Fun

Heh, Just has to post this. It's a video mashup of Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer and Roxanne by the Police with the result being Rudolph (You Don't Have To Put On The Red Light).

Feeling up the ambassador

Poor Hilary Clinton, one round of embarrassment after another in the age of Obama.

This time it is India she has to grovel to after India's Ambassador Meera Shankar travelling on official business was selected for an "enhanced patdown" in a Mississippi airport - selected apparently because she was wearing a sari.

How stupid can you get?

Early predictions are its going to be a long cold winter

You want a prediction about the weather, you're asking the wrong Phil. I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life. - Phil, Groundhog Day.


The current Global Warming line is "climate change means extreme weather events, this was always predicted" as snow closes airports and causes chaos around England.

But was that the prediction before the words "Global Warming" morphed into "Climate Change"?

Well, here's a prediction from the Climate Scientists at the University of East Anglia, the University at the centre of the Climategate controversy, where they have used the sum of many, many years of thorough and precise research to confidently predict the end of snow in Britain. Because of Man-made Global Warming.

..snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain's culture, as warmer winters - which scientists are attributing to global climate change - produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.

According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

Yes, I made this post a year ago. Seems a cold winter in the UK back then wasn't a one-off event. The point of the original post was to take on board the predictions, and then check them out 9 years later. Well, that's what we've done. So why exactly am I supposed to have confidence in the latest "scientific" predictions?

Groundhog Day - a long cold hard winter.

Friday night free for all

That time again.

The story of the attack on the Baghdad Church

This is a horrible story. The mother shutting her 5 month old infant in a drawer saved his life. Two of the priests in the church yelled at the jihadists to leave the people alone and to take them instead; they died in the first few minutes. The young men were made to stand; they were all executed.  Children who cried were killed immediately.  The jihadists used the crucifix as target practice, and taunted their victims with, "Come on, tell him to save you!"

Reading Leviticus as a preparation for Christmas

Lighting the first Advent Candle

How relevant would Bishop Robinson's exposition on Leviticus be to this little girl do you suppose?

It is the season of advent, the preparation for the Feast of the Nativity or Christmas

No problem

And the Washington Post has decided to give a Bishop a forum, a space to write a series of articles in the lead up to the Feast.

So far so good, BUT it seems there are no bishops in Washington DC, no Catholic, No Episcopalian, no Lutheran bishop they could call upon.

So they went all the way to New Hampshire to find their bishop, one Gene Robinson and if you don't know who he is Google is your friend

Guess what he wrote on yesterday? Leviticus that most important book of the Bible that should be read and understood first before all others. He doesn't like with it and he explains why.

Today's offering was on Sodom and Gomorrah. All good Advent fare I'm sure you will agree.

I wasn't going to bother with this, its just a lot of Liberal noise about their favorite topic - SEXUALITY but I left a comment on a post and got response that made me think.

This post is the result.

Who Is the Twelfth Imam?

I've just finished reading a novel called The Twelfth Imam by Joel Rosenberg, which is a thriller set in the current political climate of today, with Iran developing as a nuclear power, etc. It's interesting because it's very close to reality; in fact, Rosenberg predicted the 9/11 plane attacks in a novel before they happened.

What really interested me is that I hadn't heard anything before about this 'Twelfth Imam' who is a person many Muslims (particularly Shia) believe in, in real life. Just as Christians believe in the coming of Jesus again as Messiah, many Muslims believe in the return of the Imam, with Jesus as his lieutenant, who will destroy the "Little Satan" (Israel), and the "Great Satan" (America) and herald a return to a global Islamic caliphate.

This post is more of a heads-up rather than a detailed break down, as it would probably take a lot of cutting and pasting, but Rosenberg has a 10 point Q&A here, which reads in part -

Q: Explain who the Twelfth Imam, or the Mahdi, is for those may not know.

A: The Twelfth Imam was a real, flesh-and-blood person who lived during the ninth century AD. Like the eleven Shia religious leaders who went before him, he was an Arab male who, as a direct descendent of the founder of Islam, was thought to have been divinely chosen to be the spiritual guide and ultimate human authority of the Muslim people. His name was Muhammad Ibn Hasan Ibn Ali. It is generally believed by Shias that he was born in Samarra, Iraq, in AD 868, though few details of his brief life are certain or free from controversy. Sunnis, for example, believe he was born later. Before he could reach an age of maturity, when he could teach and counsel the Muslim world as was believed to be his destiny, Ali vanished from human society. Some say he was four years old, while others say five and some say six. Some believe he fell into a well in Samarra but his body was never recovered. Others believe the Mahdi’s mother placed him in the well to prevent the evil rulers of the time from finding him, capturing him, and killing him—and that little Ali subsequently became supernaturally invisible. This is where the term “Hidden Imam” is derived, as Shias believe that Ali is not dead but has simply been hidden from the sight of mankind—Shias refer to this as “occultation”—until the End of Days, when Allah will reveal him once again. 

Participation in Maori Religious Ceremony

After years of home-schooling, my oldest son will embark into the NZ school system next year. And the very first thing he will be subjected to is a Maori religious ceremony, called a Powhiri.

The pōwhiri signifies two groups coming together, negotiating the terms of their engagement and finishing with guests joining their hosts as one.

It is a spiritual or religious journey where gods, heaven and earth are acknowledged, ancestors remembered and kinship ties reinforced. It is also when intentions are ascertained, issues debated and lobbying carried out.

Considering that we only believe in one God, this acknowledgement of "gods" disturbs me. I don't know if I can allow my son to participate as acknowleging other gods goes against the First Commandment:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.

Well, this is getting our entry back in the state schooling system off to an interesting start.

Related links: Pōwhiri – the Māori welcome ~ NZ.com
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT ~ The Catechism of the Catholic Church

No words necessary

Margaret Sanger Interview

Very interesting archival interview (video) by Mike Wallace of the mother of birth control Margaret Sanger. Wow, she looks like a very, hard, unmovable lady. She also denies a lot of the things she'd said before. He puts to her the Catholic Churches view, and that of Natural Law.

WALLACE: Well let's look at the official Catholic position...opposition to Birth-Control. I read now from a church publication called "The Question Box" in forbidding Birth Control it says the following: It says the immediate purpose and primary end of marriage is the begetting of children, when the marital relation is so used as to render the fulfillment of its purposes impossible--that is by Birth Control--it is used unethically and unnaturally. Now what's wrong with that position?

SANGER: Well, it's very wrong, it's not normal it's -- it has the wrong attitude towards marriage, toward love, toward the relationships between men and women.

WALLACE: Well the natural law they say is that first of all the primary function of sex in marriage is to beget children. Do you disagree with that?

SANGER: I disagree with that a hundred percent.

WALLACE: Your feeling is what then?

SANGER: My feeling is that love and attraction between men and women, in many cases the very finest relationship has nothing to do with bearing a child. It's secondary. Many, many times and we know that --you see your birth rates and you can talk to people who have very happy marriages and they're not having babies every year. Yes, I think that's a celibate attitude...

WALLACE: Surely, a celibate attitude but you agree that Catholicism according to the tenets of Catholicism they rule that birth control violates not only the church's position --it isn't the church's position but they say it violates a natural law as I have just explained, therefore birth control is a sin no matter who practices it. Now the violation of the natural law--you certainly can take no issue with the natural law as the hierarchy of the Catholic Church regards it...

SANGER: Oh, I certainly do take issue with it and I think it's untrue and I think it's unnatural.

Interesting from a historical view is the blatant advertising of cigarettes on the show.

I wonder if, years from now, people will look back on our abortionist society with puzzlement, the same way we do at smoking.

LINK

H/T Semper Vita

Facebook - The Marriage Killer?

Interesting new article from the Daily Mail that claims one-in-five American marriages that end involve facebook.

It used to be the tell-tale lipstick on the collar. Then there were the give-away texts that spelled the death knell for many marriages. But now one in five divorces involve the social networking site Facebook, according to a new survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. A staggering 80 per cent of divorce lawyers have also reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating.

Flirty messages and photographs found on Facebook are increasingly being cited as proof of unreasonable behaviour or irreconcilable differences. Many cases revolve around social media users who get back in touch with old flames they hadn’t heard from in many years.

Facebook was by far the biggest offender, with 66 per cent of lawyers citing it as the primary source of evidence in a divorce case. MySpace followed with 15 per cent, Twitter at 5 per cent and other choices lumped together at 14 per cent. The survey reflects the findings of a UK law firm last year showing that 20 per cent of its divorce petitions blamed Facebook flings.

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised. I guess these social networking services can create more temptation very easily. I was in the bookstore the other day and they had a book there called, Sex, Bombs and Burgers: How War, Porn and Fast Food Shaped Technology as We Know It. The author claims that any new technology can be traced back to one of those three.

National Radio and Islam

Does Radio NZ have an infatuation with Islam? I'm not sure. So far, I've noticed two radio programmes in which converts to Islam have featured.

The previous programme, probably a month or so ago, had a guy talking about how he used to be Christian, but that concepts such as the Trinity didn't make sense to him. While as Islam's one God, Allah, he could get his head around. Yeah, I suppose if you think of it that way, Islam is a whole lot simpler.

Here's the blurb from their website on today's programme:

Islam is often claimed to be the fastest growing religion on earth. At the last census in 2006, more than 36,000 New Zealanders described themselves as Muslims.

Jeremy Rose talks to two of those New Zealand Muslims, Hisham Zaoui (right) - the son of Ahmed Zaoui - and Kiwi-born convert Fiona Lovatt Davis; and Chris Laidlaw explores the history and practice of Islam with University of Auckland law lecturer Mohsen Al Attar.

It just made me wonder if it's Islam that is getting this special treatment, or is Radio NZ as interested in other religions.  I'll have to investigate.

Related link: Ideas ~ Radio NZ

Radio Islam interested in NZ electing our 3rd Jewish PM

I was just doing a bit of research for another post (Radio NZ and their infatuation with Islam, coming soon), when I found an article by a site called "Radio Islam", copied from the Jerusalem Post, on NZ about to elect our 3rd Jewish PM, John Key.

New Zealand set to elect Jewish prime minister

Radio Islam has added underlining for emphasis in the article.

My thoughts are, so what if we've elected a Jewish PM? Why does it matter to Islam?

This is of course, old news. But, I need to document it.

Paganism at Cancun

The ancient jaguar goddess Ixchel was invoked in the opening address by Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, in her opening address to delegates at Cancun.

"Excellencies, the goddess Ixchel would probably tell you that a tapestry is the result of the skilful interlacing of many threads," said Figueres, who hails from Costa Rica and started her greetings in Spanish before switching to English. "I am convinced that 20 years from now, we will admire the policy tapestry that you have woven together and think back fondly to Cancun and the inspiration of Ixchel."

I don't know about you but I personally have strong doubts about implementing "policy tapestry" inspired by Ixchel.

Green File Type

It seems the greenies have invented (and are all excited about) a new file format they've invented called a .WWF file (it's a cool acronym because it's like World Wildlife Fund, get it?). Anyway, it's essentially a PDF file that won't print, thus saving trees. Wow... Useful ... Not.

I have to shake my head...
Next they'll be telling us we have to ration toilet paper.

No Eye Had Seen [Updated w/ lyrics]

Just to get you in the Christmas mood (or is it too soon?), one of the songs, No Eye Had Seen, from my favorite Christmas album of all time, Christmas by Michael W Smith. Female vocalist is Amy Grant.



Lyrics and music player after the jump.

Friday night free for all

Last night I went to Confession (that's where you confess your sins to a priest), and I confessed to getting annoyed with drivers that slow me down. I was advised to offer the circumstance as a sacrifice, and that way each situation could therefore be beneficial to me rather than a source of annoyance. Well, I've certainly had to practise that today - so many slow and annoying drivers. Amazingly enough it worked, it kept me calmer than normal.

Reading "Islam At The Gates"

I'm reading the book, Islam at the Gates by Diane Moczar right now. And I can't help but think that no matter what the problems we have with the West right now, it doesn't even compare to what the invaded nations of Eastern Christendom faced. This book is essential reading for not only understanding what Islam does when it invades (and it will do so again, just give it time), but for perspective.

20 Years Hard Labour

Name three of the five MPs who’ve just completed 20 years in parliament.

They do 20 years, and we get punished. How does that work?

If you want to know who to blame - click here for Homepaddock's quiz.

1 of 5 for me: Je sais numero trois. Il est un ordinateur.

Gaia is mocking us

From the Guardian

Cancún climate change conference: rich nations must pay more than lip service to tackle global warming

From the BBC

Europe hit by blanket of snow and sub-zero conditions

Serving the Public Interest

From Tim Blair:

The New York Times explains why it didn’t publish Climategate emails:

The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.

The New York Times explains why it did publish WikiLeaks documents (that were acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements never intended for the public eye):

The Times believes that the documents serve an important public interest...

[rest of justification here and supporting links: Tim Blair and Wikileaks]

Hat tip: Not PC