New Zealand Conservative

National in government is looking worse and worse. As Berend said on Kiwiblog , that photo of John Key as Mussolini posted by Chris Carter (and since taken down) isn't looking far wrong right now. What do I say about a Government that is considering giving various non-Police Government Departments the power to snoop on citizens without a warrant, and to stop and search them? Just unbelievable really. Related Link: Surveillance bill goes too far, committee told ~ Stuff

This is just plain creepy , A Christchurch dungeon owner ordered to serve nine months' home detention for injuring two teenagers in bondage and discipline sessions has had his convictions quashed on appeal and a new trial ordered. In November last year, Richard Jeffrey Barker was convicted in Christchurch District Court on one count of injuring with intent to injure, and one of wounding with intent to injure. He was acquitted on five counts of indecency. The charges arose after the girls, aged 15 and 17 , were scarred during a sadomasochism session in a dungeon at his suburban Linwood home in 2006. Using a scalpel, Barker carved his pseudonym, Dragon, on to the shoulder of the 15-year-old and cut a design into the breast area of the 17-year-old girl while she was in bondage, the court was told. Defence counsel Tim Fournier said the girls had given "fully informed consent" for what took place. But Judge Kevin Phillips said Barker, in his 50s, could not use the defence of c...

I'm not sure what the UN gender policing agency is supposed to do (but I can guess, thought crimes anyone?), but it looks like it might be coming soon unless the member countries of the UN manage to hold it off, with staff on the ground in some 150 countries to "promote normative and policy functions" of the entity. NEW YORK, NY, April 23, 2009 (C-FAM) - At a meeting at United Nations (UN) headquarters last week, nations pushed back when UN staff insisted governments approve an enormous new gender-policing agency with scant details on its budget, staffing, or mandate. The UN Secretariat called the meeting to get nations to choose one of four models it proposed for a new UN "gender entity." It is estimated that the new entity will have a minimum one billion dollar annual budget, including non-voluntary funding by the United States (US) and other major UN donors, while giving the new agency free rein to set the UN's "gender" agenda and broad authorit...