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Showing posts from May, 2013

Islam and the Fear Of Offending

Two news stories drew my attention today and especially after the attack by two Muslims on a solider in the streets of London the other day in the UK. The first , an attack by machete-wielding Muslims on two men in a barbershop which left the men seriously injured, and the second , a story about a student newspaper at an Australian university having to apologize and withdraw a satiric article about Islam after having previously made fun of other religions or beliefs in other issues with no consequence whatsoever. MACHETE wielding thugs have left two men with ‘serious injuries’ after attacking them in an Accrington barber’s shop. The two victims had been inside the shop in Ormerod Street when four masked men carrying machetes and knives forced their way inside. Detectives investigating the incident said the gang attacked the pair before forcing them into the street. Police said they were looking for a gang of Asian men in connection with the attack. You see, in British '

Kitchen renovation update with floor installed

This is my kitchen with the bamboo floor installed as of Friday last week. Today was electrical work, which included finding out that the kitchen cabinet designers didn't leave a proper void for the power cable coming up the end of the bench in the picture there, and they made a mistake on the size of the oven so that it wouldn't slide all the way in. Both these problems have been fixed now, so my oven fits and there is space for that power cable. There's no light in there right now, so I can't take a photo which includes my newly fitted double oven. So many other newsworthy items to post on, and my kitchen is taking up all of my brain space and time. That and coordinating everything else.

British Woman Arrested For Carrying Union Jack

This is unbelievable. A pregnant British woman, arrested for carrying the Union Jack - the flag of her own country - because a few Muslims take offence. How many police are there? Four? Five? All to come down and put her in a police van and drive her away. Britain is circling the bowl when the police arrest ordinary patriotic folk at the behest of the followers of an ideology who have declared war on the West.

Quiz night

1. What are leapers, riders, hoppers and locusts? 2. What is a chuman? 3. A person from Porlock is allegedly good at what? 4. What was the Cuban Missile Crisis known as in Russia? 5. and in Cuba? 6. You are participating in a race. You overtake the second. Where do you come in the race? 7. What could pull a person into a bowl of muesli?

Liberals and Consent

Liberal freedom is founded on the concept of consent. It is a vital component of their arguments on how society determines what is "right" and what is "wrong". I don't think it is exaggerating to say consent underpins liberal morality. So it should be used precisely, but liberals of course, will redefine even this word to suit their purposes. Take the recent case of an 18 year old starting a sexual relationship with a 14 year old. A 14 year old cannot technically consent. One adult starting a sexual relationship with a 14 year old is wrong, and there are penalties for this. But in this case, the ACLU thinks otherwise: The Florida ACLU has spoken out on her behalf, saying this is a harmless, consensual relationship. There go the liberals, effectively seeking to lower the age of consent to 14, or ignoring the fact that 14 year olds cannot give consent. The ACLU makes out this is all "harmless" and moral (because there is consent). Well no

London Jihad murder whitewash and the conversation that needs to be had

I think they're right, I think there needs to be a conversation about what Islam actually teaches, and the media and leaders need to stop pretending the problem isn't Islam - the belief system - because it very much looks like it is. However, when Benedict XVI touched on Islam in his Regensburg Address , it sparked a bad reaction with Muslims around the world who rioted, burned down churches and killed people. Maybe that's why this conversation is so difficult to have, and that's why it's also essential. Related link: Robert Spencer and Michael Coren on the London jihad murder and the subsequent whitewash ~ JihadWatch

Another study showing that most cohabiting (unmarried) parents break up

Another study looking into family breakdown: LONDON, May 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Half of all British children born this year will be living with only one parent by the time they reach their teens, a study has revealed. The study, titled “The myth of long-term stable relationships outside of marriage” undertaken by the Marriage Foundation, found that 45 percent of British teenagers between the ages of 13-15 are not living with both parents and that 9 out of 10 children born to unmarried, cohabiting “partners” will be living in single-parent households by their teens. The study examined the differing rates of “family breakdown” experienced by married and cohabiting couples using data from the Understanding Society national longitudinal survey of 40,000 British households. The numbers indicate that half of all cohabiting couples will break up within a year of moving in together . Nearly one-fifth (17 percent) of babies under a year old do not live with both natural parents,

A conversion story from atheism

I remember seeing somewhere that in America, of all the religions, atheism has the lowest retention rate. It's most likely the similar in other Western countries, though it would be interesting to know for sure. Anyway, here's a great story of young atheist woman who decided to better understand her opponents by reading them, and ended up converting. Last Easter, when I was just beginning to explore the possibility that, despite what I had previously believed and been brought up to believe, there might be something to the Catholic faith, I read Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel. One passage in particular struck me. Talking of the New Testament miracles and the meaning of faith, Weigel writes: “In the Catholic view of things, walking on water is an entirely sensible thing to do. It’s staying in the boat, hanging tightly to our own sad little securities, that’s rather mad.” I totally get that quote about walking on water being sensible! Once you realise that t

Brave woman confronts man who hacked soldier to death

Brave woman: A mother-of-two described tonight how she put her own life on the line by trying to persuade the soldier’s murderers to hand over their weapons. The cub scout leader selflessly engaged the terrorists in conversation and kept her nerve as one of them told her: “We want to start a war in London tonight.” Mrs Loyau-Kennett, 48, from Cornwall, was one of the first people on the scene after the two Islamic extremists butchered a soldier in Woolwich, south east London. “And then when I went up there was this black guy with a revolver and a kitchen knife, he had what looked like butcher’s tools and he had a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives and he said 'move off the body’. “So I thought 'OK, I don’t know what is going on here’ and he was covered with blood. I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these people usually have a message so I said 'what do you want?’ “I asked him if he

Suicide over same-sex marriage in Notre Dame Cathedral

A 78-year-old man has killed himself inside the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in the French capital, police say, causing its evacuation. The man pulled out a shot-gun and shot himself through the mouth beside the main altar shortly after 16:00 (14:00 GMT). He has been named as Dominique Venner, an award-winning far-right historian. Mr Venner had recently been involved in the campaign against the government's decision to legalise gay marriage. On Saturday, President Francois Hollande signed the bill into law. Police said Mr Venner had made no statement before killing himself, although a note was found next to his body. They did not disclose its contents. Screengrab of Dominique Venner's blog (21 May 2013) Dominique Venner's latest blog entry condemned the government's decision to legalise gay marriage Earlier on Tuesday, he had written on his blog a damning critique of the same-sex marriage bill. "New spectacular and symbolic actions are needed

Excitement over potential exorcism by the Pope

Yes, the devil is real.  That's probably why this video has caused so much excitement as we in the West (including New Zealand especially) really don't want him to exist.  However, it's best not to be too interested in him, and go to regular Confession as your major protection from him.  He's not called The Accuser for nothing, and if a person has major unforgiven sins on their soul, they can be in real danger. Hattip: LongKnives on KiwiBlog Related link: Rumours swirl of papal exorcism ~ Stuff

It's all happening here this morning [UPDATE]

We're now up to installation of the kitchen cabinets. UPDATE: 2pm, the same wall, now with cabinets to the ceiling. And the opposite side to the wall shown above

Sort of a rant on lack of respect for mothers in New Zealand [UPDATE]

It doesn't take much to trigger vocal, full-on hatred of children and mothers given the right subject matter. In this case, it was directed against a woman who is the mother of six children with two on the way (expecting twins), who lives in a state house with her husband, and who would like a bigger state house for her expanding family. Que outrage that any woman who has a state house would dare to have give birth to any more children. Except, what is she supposed to do with the buns in the oven - abort them? Should she be like this mother , who decided to write a letter to the editor justifying her abortion of her third child because he or she didn't suit their lifestyle? We certainly have a problem in New Zealand, and it's not women having children. The problem is our much too generous welfare system, the lack of jobs for low skilled men, and the high cost of living that means that if a family wants to have a better living that mere subsistence, both parents ne

Pope To Launch Mobile App

The Pope will be launching a new mobile app called Missio on Friday. It is available to be downloaded now, and Pope Francis will unlock it from his iPad at the launch. On Friday Pope Francis will break new ground by becoming the first Pope to launch a mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and Android.  The Pontifical Mission Societies’ MISSIO app is a free app that features the latest news and video from around the world about the Catholic Church. This launch event marks a unique, historic moment for the Church and her use of digital technology to connect with the faithful. This event will fall on the heels of World Communications Day when the Catholic Church reflects on the former pontiff, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s invitation to Catholics to make better use of social media in sharing the Gospel. The Pope Emeritus, who opened the first papal Twitter account, challenged the Church to think about social networking sites as “new spaces for evangelization.” Pope Francis offers Catholics a

Cat fight between disabled woman and the woman whose seat she wanted

Does an eight minute delay in a plane flight justify trying to totally humiliate a person who wouldn't give up their seat next to their family? It seems so, when the person who wanted the seat is disabled. If it weren't for the massive deal being made of this story in the media, I might have felt sorry for the disabled woman who had to wait for the airline to bring a special seat onto the plane so that she could be seated. But seriously, using her position in the media to try and humiliate the woman who wouldn't give up her seat for her has destroyed any sympathy I might have had for her. This story is even on the news on TV, which I normally don't watch, but since my kitchen is in the lounge, well, one thing lead to another. I should be cooking. UPDATE: Sorry, not the news. They advertised is as being on the news, but I suppose Seven Sharp just flows on from the news, so they consider it almost the same thing. Related link: 'Elite' flyer refuses t

U.S Lobby Group Wants Gay TV Marriage

Fictional gay TV couple that ACLU is lobbying  to get "married"  This is getting ridiculous now. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a lobby group whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." (Thanks WIKI ). And what do they want today? They are pushing for a gay fictional couple from the TV series Modern Family  to get married because they think it will bring more acceptance of gay marriage. So they've started an online petition in the hopes that they can pressure the writers of the show to make it happen. In their own words - "For many, Mitch and Cam are the gay couple with whom they interact with the most," the ACLU noted. "Inviting 13 million people to Mitch and Cam’s wedding will only bring more people into the push for marriage equality." They and other homosexual advocacy groups bem

Daylight Savings Version II

Shifting the clocks back or forwards by an hour every six months yields very limited benefits. It's time to move to Daylight Savings Version II. I propose we move the week forward by two days, for a period of three years. This will have the effect of moving most wet weekends into sunny, fine days and having more rain instead towards the end of the week. After three years, we move the week backwards by four days, thus moving the majority of rainfall to Monday and Tuesdays. This should compensate for any counter-moves by mother nature and pretty much guarantee great weather for most weekends in NZ. So I guess a better name for it is "Weekend Savings" Sign off in the comments if you vote for this. If we get more than 3 comments, I can fake the other 330,000 or so by borrowing the list the Green Party uses for referendums and we can push that through to Peter Dunne for a sign-off before the next power company is floated (or sunk) depending upon your point of view.

My Kitchen Renovation

It's a week and a half into my kitchen renovation, and as of yesterday, here is the space where the cabinets and sink and oven and hob will go.  All those walls that you see there and the ceiling were ripped out and insulated and new walls and ceiling put in.  Today the kitchen is being painted. In a week, the cabinets will be installed. At some point the electrician will come back and reconnect our phone. That drawer under the window is to stop our cat from trying to get into the hole into the floor where the sink waste pipe will go. I'm currently set up in the lounge with a microwave, portable double hob and a snack oven. Washing up happens in a bucket in the bath. We have no power for downstairs as the wiring was so old and horrible, the electrician just disconnected that part of it, so I do the washing by putting an extension cord out the window during the day. I'd be more stressed out over all of this if my youngest son's illness hadn't distracted me.

Thou shalt not tolerate

They know not, nor care what they do When "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not kill" become too scary for liberal atheists, they invoke "Thou Shalt Not Tolerate".  They have demanded plaques of the 10 commandments be removed from classrooms. "Thou Shalt Not Tolerate" is not something they want to put on a plaque on a school, but you need to believe it, respect it and bow down to it. Were these plaques really so scary to atheists? It would seem so. Said the puller of the plaques: “People think I’m attacking their religion,” Pulliam told 5-News. “I’m really not. I’m trying to help others so they can feel equal in a world, in a town. I just want them to feel equal.” Feeling equal by reducing everything to nothing. Which, ironically, is what the atheist believes in. Such people haven't learned that equality is not about striving to bring everyone down to the lowest denominator. A sad and pointless victory for the nihilists.

Let It Be

The NZ Constitution Charade

Karl du Fresne points out the so-called "debate" on the constitution (run by Radio NZ) is effectively a watered down version of a wet tea towel. They are cosy consensus sessions featuring safe speakers who can be counted on to agree broadly on the key issues. While the participants are learned and articulate, it’s dishonest to pretend these affairs are a genuine contest of ideas. They are a sham, creating the misleading impression that the highly contentious issues under discussion – such as the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in our constitutional arrangements – are largely settled....This charade closely follows a series of pretend “debates” on the Treaty...It is a misuse of power – nothing less.   Yep, this will not end well. And no doubt the masses will rest easy knowing that no matter what happens, John Key and Maurice Williamson will be there to assure us the sun will still rise tomorrow. As if that is somehow relevant to the political darkness descending upon

Energy Companies To Be Given To Charity

My, how things have changed [OK, the following is supposed to be satire, but unfortunately, it isn't quite.  Nick Smith really does want to give away 3 billion dollars worth of Tax Payer assets to charity.  Read the link if you don't believe me.]  Nick Smith today announced that the remaining power companies would not be floated on the stock market as planned, but instead given away to charity. Nick has confirmed that charities will make better use of New Zealand's assets and ensure the poor and destitute people of NZ are catered for. He was quick to add that the government was working tirelessly to ensure all New Zealanders would fit the criteria of "poor and destitute" so would not miss out. "I was talking about wanting to shift from a state [owned] model to a social [owned] model," Smith said of his initial comments. "Many community organisations with funding support are able to provide a better service for people needing [electricit

Forcing people to accept sexual practices they don't agree with

It used to be that the sexual revolution's catch cry was to get Government out of the bedroom. Now, it seems, it's to get Government to force people to accept sexual practices they don't agree with under their roof. The approval of same-sex marriage has opened the door and now a NZ B&B couple could be in trouble for turning away lesbians who wanted to sleep together from staying at their house over-night. A lesbian couple have been turned away from a Whangarei guesthouse that refused to let them share a bed . Jane Collison, 30, and Paula Knight, 45, made an online booking for a room with a king-sized bed at the Pilgrim Planet Lodge. But when they arrived on Tuesday, they were told only rooms with single beds were available. When they queried the booking, the owner eventually told them the booking was correct, but she was offended by same-sex couples sleeping in the same bed . She would not even let them push two singles together. They eventually found accomm

Support Government policy - or else

As I thought, the decision to terminate charity status for Family First is simply because they are perceived, by the government, to be against the government. The Charities Board has made the decision to register the National Council of Women (NCWNZ) as a charity is because it aims to promote the status of women. Yet, Family First promote the status of the family, and get struck off for it. Both organizations promote research, but the government doesn't agree with research promoted by Family First, and calls it propaganda.  In one case, the activity is deemed a charitable purpose, and in another, it is deemed propaganda.  I wonder if that means the peer reviewed academic studies they have cited will be rounded up and burned?  It would seem to be an appropriate next step. From the Bob McCroskie blog : In the most bizarre argument, the Board argues that any lobbying or submissions done by the NCWNZ is not ‘political’ but rather ‘a means by which the NCWNZ advances it charitab

Not an Aaron Gilmore Post

Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Constitutional Review Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore Aaron Gilmore

Melanie Phillips on the Left hating families and fostering family breakdown

No wonder Family First's promotion of the traditional family is not considered by the New Zealand Government to be in the public interest. We are operating in a very leftist milieu here, and it affects how many individuals and therefore government departments view the world, and family, in a leftist mindset is just not that important. Only problem is this mindset is incredibly socially destructive, which then affects the economy and the safety of citizens, and yet rather than allowing an alternative point of view to try and make it's way here, it's firmly stomped on. Here's Melanie Phillips, writing of her realisation that the Left hates families and actively seeks to destroy them .  She started out being a Leftist herself, thinking that it was the correct side to be on: As a university-educated young woman with hippie-style hair and an attitude, I, too, generally toed the standard Leftist line in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Poverty was bad, cuts

Spock v Spock

Stolen shamelessly from CoNZervative , a new commercial where the old Spock squares off against the new Spock. At the end of it, you are supposed to buy an Audi. Or maybe a Mercedes. Or maybe watch The Hobbit. Can't remember, I was distracted by just how sneaky those Vulcans can be. LLAP:

Do you value diversity of thought and tolerance of dissent?

If you do value diversity of thought and tolerance of dissent , then you too, like Brendan O'Neill writer for Spiked, must be finding the sweeping consensus on gay marriage terrifying . Amazingly enough, the Greens in NZ must be worried as well, having come out in support of Family First , who are being struck off as a charity for donation rebate purposes by the NZ Government. John Stringer thinks the timing of Family First's deregistration is probably a coincidence .  Some how I doubt that it is, and in general I don't believe in coincidences.  The recent marriage debates have made Family First a target for people who vehemently disagree with them.  People must have complained about to Internal Affairs who then agreed with the complainant(s).   Had the marriage debates and subsequent escalation of profile of Family First not occurred, then I doubt they would have been noticed and complained about and deregistered at all.  Individuals in Internal Affairs have just decid

John Key unveils bold plan for NZ

Leadership - A street a long way from the PM's office John Key announced yesterday that Wellington was a " dying city ". Initially, he said that he had no idea how to save it, but then he realized he was the Prime Minster, and added "but if we push the euthanasia bill through, I promise it will be painless." "Consider us bringing back Capital Punishment" John joked to an appreciative audience. It looked like the entire conversation was going to stop there, but some-one yelled out "Hey Clint, what do you think" and a nameless National official took that as the perfect moment to unveil John Key's bold new plan for New Zealand: "We'll move everyone under 80 years old to Auckland, declare the South Island a nature reserve and turn Wellington into a retirement village." The media is abuzz with John Key's visionary leadership. Wellington A Dying City says Prime Minister

First they came for the Anglicans

As CoNZervative points out , a mere 18 days after marriage was re(un)defined, there is a story of an Auckland man who has taken his Anglican Bishop to court because he was rejected for a priest training programme because he is in a relationship with a man. Eugene Sisneros has described his hurt and humiliation after allegedly being rejected for a priest training programme because he was in a same-sex relationship. A Human Rights Tribunal hearing into the alleged discrimination opened at Auckland District court today. Mr Sisneros is taking the Anglican Bishop of Auckland to the tribunal, claiming he was barred because of his sexuality - a claim the bishop has denied, saying he was simply following the church's doctrines. Here is where it gets silly: Mr Sisneros said his rejection from the programme has had long-term effects. "I am deeply affected by this discrimination as a human being. I am not equal. "My feelings of humiliation and disappointment continue

Interesting reaction by Gay NZ writer to Family First losing charity status

Craig Young is very happy that Family First are losing their charity status. So happy in fact, that on his Face Book page , he's linked to an MSM NZ article on that very subject and added in a picture of a witch being burned alive to presumably symbolise Family First. I'm not going to try and psychoanalyse that visual analogy, however it does indicate that Family First represents some sort of incredible evil that must be destroyed or an innocent victim of deranged religious fanatics who will stop at nothing to ensure some sort of burning occurs. I'm guessing the former, personally, but you never know.

The new 'public interest'

Un-charities Commission Bob McCoskrie Blogs: “The [Charities] Commission argues that Family First’s efforts to represent the voice of 80%-plus of families on the anti-smacking law or half of New Zealanders on attempts to redefine marriage, for example, have no ‘public benefit’, and that it is in the ‘public interest’ for Family First to be deregistered.” The work of Family First is to act as a highly important critique to government policy, advocating on family issues and providing a voice for families that have had injustice inflicted by the government. They are as much a charity as Barnardos [registration CC21844] whose website has a "Speaking Out" section and home page currently pushes for legislative changes to turn schools into restaurants. It seems the Charities Commission is one of the new weapons to determine what the government deems to have public benefit, and what it doesn't. When the government starts making selective judgements like this, it is no lo

Serious Abuse Under NZ Government Care

Who watches the watchmen? The Confidential Listening and Assistance Service was created in 2008 to hear stories about people abused under State Care before 1992. Why 1992? Some-one decided that the NZ Government has robust systems after that date to manage complaints of abuse. If this is the case, why limit the date - very few people should theoretically speak up about events after 1992 if they already have other channels that they feel will treat their story seriously. That's now 20 years ago - so the data should be in. Open the investigations wide open and let's test that assumption. Or is it harder to deflect blame when the historical abuse case is only a few years old? [ Like this one ] Already, 702 people have stepped forward to detail sexual and physical abuse whilst under NZ state care. This panel makes it clear that it is not a legal forum, nor a forum for compensation, but rather a forum to listen and advise what the victims might be able to do to move for

Superhero or Supervillain?

If bloggers had more power From invisibility to superhuman strength to telekinesis, a wave of emerging technologies promise to give people powers once reserved for comic-book characters. Which raises an important question: If humans become superhuman, will we turn out to be superheroes — or supervillains? This has been something I've been thinking about, as we get closer and closer to bionic enhancements, genetic engineering and advanced technology options. Seems like some researchers were wondering the same, and decided to try a basic experiment. Interesting article, and if I get time I might come back to this post and throw down some more thoughts. Superhero or Supervillain ? and this old post: ZenTiger's Super Powers

Turning a blind eye

Seems that once the Jimmy Savile story broke, the number of BBC stars accused of sex with 9-16 year olds during the 60's, 70s and 80s seem to be steadily climbing. The latest is on Stuart Hall, as told by an acquaintance of Eddie Waring, a colleague of Stuart (The old "friend of a friend" testimony): Eddie’s friend thought ­nothing of the “blokey stories” until last week when Hall, now 83, ­admitted 14 ­indecent assaults on 13 girls aged between nine and 17 during nearly two ­decades between 1967 and 1986. The friend, who has asked not to be named, told the Sunday People: “Back then it was lads’ banter and we all laughed as Eddie told the stories. “Hall’s behaviour seemed ­perfectly acceptable in those days. Eddie said he had been ­nicknamed ‘the randiest man at the Beeb’ for his exploits and ­revelled in his reputation despite having a family. “Eddie believed Stuart was addicted to sex and would take whatever risks he had to to ­satisfy his lust. “Nobody ever t

Anders Breivik - A Christian Atheist

I've noted a few instances where people have assumed that Anders Breivik was a Christian. He wasn't, in the sense of what the word means to most people. Anders himself described a category of Christian called "Christian-atheist". If that doesn't get your bat senses tingling, you probably aren't a bat. Anyway, here's a bit of background to this myth, and 5 other myths about Anders await beyond the link. By Daniel Greenfield, Canada Free Press: Myth 1: Anders Behring Breivik was a Fundamentalist Christian Breivik described himself as not a religious person and mentions praying only once. His plans leading up to the attacks involved multiple visits to prostitutes. In one section of his manifesto he clarifies what he means by Christian. Q: Do I have to believe in God or Jesus in order to become a Justiciar Knight? A. No, you don’t need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough tha

Catholic Hospital uses ethical science

Hannah receives help from ethical science Here's a great story about a little girl that was born without a wind pipe, having one grown for her. This was a result of a Catholic Hospital funding an operation that used adult stem cells, proving that we can achieve great results working ethically as well as scientifically. What is also very exciting is this technology may help us to provide kidneys and other organs grown by the patient, which would minimize the chance of rejection and end supply problems. A 2-year-old girl born without a windpipe now has a new one grown from her own stem cells, the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment. Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a central Illinois hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die. The ste

Food For Thought

An apple a day and a glass of milk builds a strong body There's discussion about discussing if it is a good idea to feed kids in schools. On one hand, there seems to be credible evidence some kids go to school hungry (wouldn't mind having this validated and quantified though) and the easiest way therefore to fix this is to supply some kai (food). On the other hand, others will say this is the responsibility of the parents and this gives them the easy way out to be even lesser parents. The problem with leaving this up to such types of parents is that they are clearly failing, for whatever reason. The problem with leaving it up to the government is that they will waste lots of money in their relentless pursuit of using resources in the most inefficient way possible whilst all the time talking about efficiency. Many also point to this being a problem with race. Specifically the Maori race. This makes it easy to play the race card. ( Anti-Race Card Kit available here ).

Roache infestation [updated]

I'm listening on the radio to people phoning up, largely in support for William Roache, aka Ken Barlow (RIP, 2013) of Coronation Street. This is in reaction to being arrested on two counts of rape of a child (I use the common terminology here) 40 years ago. From what I gather, being arrested in the UK can just mean "we want to talk about a credible accusation", but the media certainly makes it sound more serious than that. It may have been recent comments in defense of Jimmy Savile and colleagues on Coronation street that also have been recently accused of sex abuse: “But things were different in the Seventies. People were more tactile. You did things that today are regarded as wrong." He's right in that regard, things were very different in the seventies, and we are now judging events by different standards and different attitudes, which is partly why so many people come forward years afterwards. However, even with different standards, such things have

Maurice for Mayor - Be ye not afraid

Maurice Williamson for Mayor ? Maybe he'll be knighted? Because some pundits are predicting a Knight Mayor. I have no opinion on that, but based on prior form, I can predict his his acceptance speech: "I'm prepared to exercise foononcial risponsabile-tee" No Maurice, it's pronounced "Financial Responsibility" "Sorry, I've never tried it ." It remains to be seen if Maurice can gain enough gravitas to obey the laws of physics, although now that he has spoken in favour of redefining marriage and supporting gay adoption he is certainly fancied as a man person of the people.  Ellen Degeneres certainly fancies him, and the more he's fancied by others, the more he might fancy himself as Mayor.  It's called circular logic, which is his strong suit. Maurice is currently popular with Greens and Labour supporters (aside from his politics) so many are saying the NZ right should be extremely happy because he is in the National par

Shhhh... DADT, I'm Christian

According to reports on Fox News and Brietbart.com , and apparently confirmed by the Pentagon, soldiers in the U.S Army could be court marshalled for sharing their Christian faith, even in private with another soldier. The Pentagon has been consulting with Christian-hater Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to come up with their policy on religious tolerance. The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”. (From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.” He also assert