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I'm going to take a break from blogging.  Hopefully I'll start up again after exams are over - some time around the end of October, beginning of November.

Between now and then I've got quite a bit on.  Helping out with FAB Club in the school holidays.  Helping organising a couple of stalls (pro-life and Christian) at the A&P Show (early November).

Possibly got a bit of a campaign against one of the political parties brewing, we'll see what happens there.  Got to help out my two fave political parties, The Family Party and ACT "the guts to do what's right".  I'm hoping for a good strong National/ACT/Family party coalition.

I'll just leave you with this devestatingly poignant quote from Albert Einstein...

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

Labour Burns

www.dontvotelabour.org.nz

Thanks to Brendan Burns' campaign team who put the billboard up. They are going to be devestated on Sunday 9 November when they hear that Nicky Wagner of National has finally torn the strong Labour seat of Christchurch Central off them.
Thanks to Ian Wishart for the photo of the billboard.

Walk This Way

Heheh well I thought it was funny at the time anyway...
(thanks to Jono for the photo)

January 1973

And another excellent video from Abort73.com...

Weekly Joke

Las Vegas Churches

This may come as a surprise to those not living in Las Vegas, but it is a very spiritual city, with more Catholic churches than casinos!

Not surprisingly, some worshipers at Sunday services will give casino chips rather than cash when the donation tray is passed.

Since they get chips from many different casinos, the churches have devised a method of turning the chips into cash.

They send all their collected chips to a nearby Franciscan monastery, where the patient and detail-oriented men sort and count the chips. The chips are then taken to the casinos of origin and cashed in.

This is done by the chip monks.

You didn't even see it coming, did you?

A Lecture on the Brain

Si showed me this short piece of brilliance from John Cleese on his iPhone.

Getting Smart with the Law

"Suddenly, a couple of coppers approached him, "Now then sir, just what in the heck do you think Your doing?", "well" replied Kitiki "what do ya think it looks like?", "ALL RIGHT!" the cops shouted "we'll have none of your cheek" "Too right you wont" answered Kitiki "its mine, and I would'nt look so hot if it was took, aye?". Now by this time the policemen were getting prtetty fired up..."now you look 'ere you jis put your hands up, or else we"ll hafta use "un-reasonable force, d'hear". "Ohh look" said Kitiki "would ya push off, its my flippin job...anyway do'nt ya have a "car" to attend to?"..." - Nathan's blog

Crying with laughter inside... I'm looking forward to part 2!

Bioethics Questions put to McCain, Obama

Nancy Gibbs at TIME puts a couple of good bioethic questions to McCain and Obama.  "Imagine if the presidential candidates were willing to talk frankly about the things that affect us most: not just guns and butter, but also life and death..." she says.

For Barack Obama: Democrats have long argued for greater reproductive freedom. Do you think that should include the right to choose the sex of your child? The same genetic tests that screen for terrible diseases could in theory target many other predispositions. What if prospective parents could screen for short or shy or gay or blond? This is a largely unregulated universe of treatment; should it be?

For John McCain: About 8,000 people may die this year waiting for organ transplants. Do you think the free market should include kidneys? You've said human rights begin at conception. But fertility clinics create excess embryos that are frozen and often discarded, which you've favored using for research. So are some embryos more equal than others?

Click here to read her entire article.  Click here to read Albert Mohler's comments.

Commando Bear

Wandering through town the other night. We had been down at Hagley Park checking out the gay daffodils, and then waltzed through the Arts Centre through into the center of the city.  We popped into the little dairy which is the one just past McDonalds there.  The others got some pretty stock standard drinks, but I went for a can of Commando Bear Beverage.  It was "made in flippin Thailand" as I said to my friends.  At the bottom of the can - as you can see in the picture, the customer is assured that the drink is in-fact "Non Alcohol".  On the side of the can, I was relieved to see that the drink was certified Halal by The Central Islamic Committee of Thailand.  It was however, disconcerting to discover upon finishing the drink that it had been produced on 13 December 2007.  Not exactly what you'd call fresh.  Probably had enough preservatives in it to mummify a blimmin herd of elephants.

Wow, from the first sip I was regretting I had bought the stuff.  It was just a generic "energy-drink" flavour, but absolutely flat, not a drop of CO₂ in it.  Yuck.  I was feeling pretty crook by the time I'd finished the can.  You know how it is when you spend money on something and want to make sure you don't waste any of it, even though it's no good.  I'm sure the stuff is cancer-causing, or maybe it's the cure for cancer.  I don't know, but for something that disgusting, it must be right over at one end of the scale.  How the stuff got through the border I shall never know.  Holding my stomach and groaning pitifully, I staggered up to the drinking fountain outside the Cathedral and rinsed the can out a couple of times and then re-filled it with some of the good stuff.

Anyway, I love the can.  Now if they were only to market it as the "official energy drink of the Russian Army", lose the halal verification, and pump some carbon-dioxide in there, it might actually be quite nice.

A Double-Helping of Motivation

Hah, Lyd's written a good (short) article on apathy, change, motivation and Bob the Builder.  Here's an excerpt...

"Somewhere along the line we humans bought into the idea that everyone should have their own private lives - with a big scoop of "rights" and a super - sized dish of selfishness. Upstanding citizens in our country throw a bit of money at the cancer society every year or sponsor a child in Africa and that stops the guilt. Instead of waking up to what's really wrong with the world, people appease their guilt about it by throwing their excess cash around. They don't want to know what's happening but they do want to feel better about it." - Most Tranquil

She's a Rebel, She's a Saint...

...she's the one that they call her Sarah Palin.

The Party's Over

writes Pat Buchanan at Yahoo News. Below are a few excerpts from his excellent article - well worth reading.

"The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people's wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.

The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The "Omnipower" and "Indispensable Nation" we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history...

..."Government must save us!" cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government — the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?...

...Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all but that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal income tax load.

John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium or "bomb, bomb, bomb," with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.

Who are we kidding?

What we are witnessing today is how empires end."

ACT Number 5 Announced

Scooping the story of the announcement of ACT's mysterious number five on the list, I have just got word in thatt he is Auckland Lawyer David Garrett, also a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust.  This is a good move by the ACT Party.  With "law and order" campaigner Aaron Keown running in Christchurch Central, the addition of this "hard-line on crime" list member with such a high chance of getting into Parliament is another boxed ticked for a large number of Kiwis.  Below is a short excerpt from David's speech to the meeting,

"Our forebears didn't fight and die so that we would be too afraid to walk freely on our streets and in our communities.  They fought and died so that their children - your children and my children - could be safe.  If that's what you want too, then Party vote ACT because ACT is the only Party that will continue the fight to keep Kiwis safe." - www.act.org.nz

Update (22 September, 1:30am): David Garrett advocates non-association laws as opposed to banning gangs in The Herald, 17 September 2008

Gianna Jessen's Birth Certificate

Gianna Jessen. Born during Saline abortion 4/6/77 6:00am. Length: 39cm Transferred to [blotted out] upon birth where she remained until discharge 6/6/77.

Higher Education

Just after 7am and I was walking from Uni down the road a kilometre or so to the bakery where I used to work to score some brekkie. Just next to the bus-stop I saw a smashed windscreen and some bits and pieces of broken car on the shoulder of the road right in the driveway entrance to Uni Halls of Residence.

Coming around the corner I spotted the vehicle that was missing it's windscreen - and all the rest of it's windows.

As I stood by the car taking photos, a bus approached, slowed down and opened it's doors. "Are you ok?" came the voice of the lady bus-driver as she drove past. All I could do was laugh convulsively and yell back "it's not mine!".

If the young fools have to destroy a car, why can't they go and do it in their back yard, instead of leaving it out on the street?

Yeah... come to University for a higher education, where you can be truly inspired to new heights, and mix with other academically minded young people such as yourselves. And you can get drunk every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and get up to mischief with "the lads".

Push Uncle Jake into the Lake (1)

It's over a year since I wrote the first part of this story.  And at the time, I promised a sequel.  I think now I'm ready to continue the saga.  I believe that my writing-style has changed since then, but I will leave such conclusions up to my dear readers. Read part 1: Canteen

"Ok, those of you who are go-carting can go and get their jackets and some good footwear..." Uncle Hamish's voice trailed off as the go-carters stampeded off towards their bunk-rooms.  "As soon as you're ready come and meet me back here" yelled Uncle Hari after the fleeing group of boys.  In a similar manner, the archers and the riflemen were dispersed to their bunk-rooms with strict orders not to muck round, but to re-assemble back at the main building "in two minutes".  "Right... you're all going kayaking then I suppose?" Uncle Hamish looked down at the boys from where he stood up on the metre-high concrete-block wall that formed the edge of a raised garden.  One of the lads launched into what sounded like it was going to be an unecessarily lengthy explanation of exactly what the current situation was.  This is us.  I looked Uncle Hamish in the eye and nodded.  "Orright, down to your cabins... make sure you've got shorts and a towel."  The boys raced off to get ready and I followed them, shoulders drooping exaggeratedly.

Walking down the path, entranced by a myriad of thoughts, I didn't notice the man behind me, catching up...  SLAM.  An unseen hand thumped me twice between the shoulder-blades and I thought the end had come.  My lungs felt like balloons that haven't been blown up yet and I gasped for breath.  The hand roughly massaged my shoulder and I turned round to see who it was.  "How are you finding camp so far?" Uncle Jake looked at me as I turned my head around.  Yeah, she's good.  We entered the cabin.  Two boys were trading lollies.  One was singing in a raucous voice some unearthly tune.  Another was hitting the soloist across the face with a pair of jeans, and in the corner one of the lads was attempting to change into a pair of shorts behind a towel which he held between his teeth.  I yawned and lay down on my bunk and pulled the sleeping bag on top of me.  I groaned in agony as the pain started to come to my upper back, and I wondered if the vertebrae in my neck had been cracked with the force of the blows I had just so recently received.  Ohhh, it was so nice and warm... maybe John and Jake would look after the kids and I could just sleep through the rest of the afternoon...  My thoughts blurred and sleep came.

Argh!  I instinctively clutched at my sleeping-bag as one of the lads yanked it off me.  "Uncle Andrew, we need to go..."  I pulled myself to my feet.  There were only two boys left in the cabin.  The others must all be outside ready to go.  I rubbed my eyes hard and ran my fingers through my hair.  Yes.  I spoke as in a drunken stupor as I followed the last two boys out of the room.  My boots were sitting outside the cabin and I pulled them on as I walked along, laces undone, my feet tripping over each other, still pretty much half-asleep.  As I passed the tap at the side of the building I pulled up and turned the water on full blast.  Throwing a couple of handfuls of water at my face with one hand, and drinking some from the other, I was wide-awake in two seconds.  Right, we good to go?  I jogged up to the crowd of kayakers.  Uncle Jake was sitting on the steps of the main building, picking up stones and tossing them into the driveway.  Uncle John took the last bite of his apple as he opened the door and headed for the twin-cab Nissan ute.

"Who wants to go with Uncle John in the car and who wants to walk?" Uncle Jake stood up and looked around.  It was a bit of a catch22 for the boys.  They had to decide between walking down to the lake (which could be very exciting), or ride down to the lake with Uncle John, which was pretty cool.  Five of the kayakers dashed for the truck.  One jumped into the passanger seat and the other four squashed into the back.  Uncle John sat down on the steps and began slowly lacing up his tramping boots.  Uncle John and I began to walk down the hill, out to the road along with eight or nine of the boys.

to be continued...

Cheap

A Semantic History of the Word: Cheap

Origin of the word
Origin of the word cheap: The Free Dictionary states: “From Middle English (god) chep, (good) price, purchase, bargain, from Old English cēap, trade, from Latin caupō, shopkeeper.”.

Meanings of the word
The Oxford Dictionary offers several meanings of the word cheap. The four key ones are: “low in price”, “charging low prices”, “inexpensive because of poor quality”, “of little worth because achieved in a discreditable way” and “miserly”. The word cheap can also be used in the following contexts: Describing “people of questionable character”, “something that is achieved with little effort” or “something that is considered of small value”. Let us now take a short overview of each of these meanings.

• Low in Price
  A statement where the word cheap is said with this meaning could go something like the following: “The milk was so cheap because it was past it’s best before date”. This use of the word is referring to a specific product.
• Charging Low Prices
  The word cheap could be used in this context in the following statement: “That is the cheapest supermarket in the city”, or equally, “They have very cheap prices at that supermarket”. This use of the word refers to a company selling product, or generally, to the product that a specific shop sells.
• Inexpensive Because of Poor Quality
  In this context, the word cheap could be used in the following statement: “The stuff they sell at that shop is just so cheap – I wouldn’t buy it”, or consider the following statement which also uses this context of the word, “Don’t buy that cheap stuff – you get what you pay for”. This time the word cheap is being used to explain that the reason a product is so cheap is because it is of poor quality or workmanship. The commonly used saying “cheap and nasty” is often used to refer to products imported from a Third World Country which are of terrible quality and very cheap – often undercutting higher quality goods.
• Miserly
  The miserly, heartless character of Ebeneezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, could be summed up in one word; cheap. Synonyms for this use of the word could be: “tight-fisted” or “mean”.
• People of Questionable Character
  This use of the word is most commonly applied to women who are either prostitutes, or act or dress in a way that suggests that they are either a bit free and easy or down-right promiscuous. The word cheap in this context could be used in the following statements: “Don’t wear that skirt, it makes you look cheap”, or, “look at her, she’s cheap”.
• Something that is Achieved with Little Effort
  This use of the word cheap is used in situations where one wants to convey the low price that was paid for a success. For instance, it could be used in the following statement: “it was a cheap victory”. This would mean that a victory had been won, but it was not worth being excited about because it had come about either through devious means, or it was almost impossible for failure to have occurred.
• Something that is Considered of Small Value
  Finally, we can use the word cheap simply to refer to the low value of an item. It could be used in the following statement: “In World War II, life was cheap in the ranks of the Russian army.” The word cheap is really only used in this context to refer to the value placed on a human life by others – usually those higher up the social ladder.

We see that the word cheap is just one of many in the English language which has more than one meaning, although in this case, all of the meanings are based around one concept. By way of contrast, the word mount can mean “mountain” or, “to sit on the back of a horse”.

Having covered the various uses and meanings of the word cheap, let us now examine the word’s use in everyday English.

Sayings
The word features in several idioms (sayings) such as “cheap as chips” (using potato-chips as a reference point of cheapness), “cheap and nasty” (low quality is the reason for the low price), “on the cheap” (used to describe the manner in which something was made; no unnecessary expenses were incurred), “cheap as they come” (used to refer to someone – especially a miser) and “cheap for twice the price” (even if the product was twice the price, it would still be a good buy).

Cheap as a Pun
An example of the word cheap being used as a pun is Canary Furniture’s tagline which is “Canary Furniture is cheep cheep cheaper”. They are making a play on words, using the sound of a Canary to describe the low price of their products.

Cheap in Pop Culture
Poor Old Lu refers to the word cheap in their 1995 song “Speak Soft”.

Jerry had some beers and started to weep
it's timeto turn away, it's his time to sleep
don't trouble yourself with seeking peace, go cheap

Lead singer Scott Hunter commented “I pray that the last two lines especially would be smelling salts for all of us in the paths that we choose – ‘don't trouble yourself with seeking peace. go cheap...’”. The word cheap is used in pop culture with the same meaning used here, to refer to the fact that we often don’t do things with enough care.

Cheap in Advertising
Many times every day as we watch television, listen to the radio, or drive down the road in our car, we are confronted with adverts from companies which make good use of the word cheap. Phrases such as “Cheapest prices in town” and “If you find a cheaper price we’ll beat it by 10%” are common-place. It is also occasionally used in pun form – for instance, “prices cheaper than your miserly uncle”.

Conclusion
Cheap is a versatile word that is used very frequently in everyday English.

Those Green Wavy Lines

Hands up if you hate those wavy green lines under your writing when you are unfortunate enough to be using Microsoft Word.

I wrote this sentence: "The word cheap is really only used in this context to refer to the value placed on a human life by others – usually those higher up the social ladder." and Microsoft Word promptly suggested that I change it to: "Others – usually those, really only used in this context to refer to the value place the word cheap on a human life higher up the social ladder."

Honestly, why do they even bother?  I don't know what complicated algorithms they have churning away behind the scenes, decreasing your system performance, but whatever they are, my experience has been that they never work.

I find their spell-check to be usually of a pretty high calibre - but then again, there's nothing wrong with the spell-check in Open Office - and at least they don't hit you with bizzare suggestions to "improve" your sentence structure.

Lollies: Not Our Future

The Government has been running the Not Our Future campaign since 2006. It is a campaign especially targetted at youth, which stars celebrities giving youth good reasons why they should stop smoking - or never start. It consists of bus-stop adverts and... yes, you guessed it, another expensive-looking Flash website. I haven't been able to dig up any information regarding how much the Government is spending on this campaign, but it must be well into the millions of tax-payer's dollars.

Just like drinking coffee, sniffing glue and eating lollies, smoking - as we all know, is damaging to our health. Do we need the Govenment to spend our money to tell us this? All of the things I've just mentioned can be used in moderation and for their intended purpose, with minimal detriment to one's health. Staying up late at night can also be harmful to your health. Perhaps the Government should introduce legislation on when we sleep, and for how long. Exemptions could be made for people working night-shifts, but there would be monthly checks done to make sure that people were not taking advantage of this clause.

They seem to have a problem with cigarettes being sold next to the lollies (sweets). But where's the concern about lollies being sold next to the cigarettes?

This is a post I've had in the pipeline for a while. I could rave on for ages, but who likes to read long, drawn-out raves on random people's blogs? Not me!

Gianna Jessen Interviewed on Obama

5 minutes. Excellent as usual.

Here's Gianna's recent speech in Parliament House, Victoria, Australia, part 1 and part 2.

How To Prepare for an Exam

1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well-lighted place with a computer in front of you.
2. Open your web browser of choice.
3. Check your emails. Reply to any that need attention.
4. Check out what's happening on Facebook. Write on some friends walls and accept an invitation to a group.
5. Check your blog reader.
6. Write a post on your blog responding to a blog-post you just read.
7. Pull the bottle of water out of your backpack and begin to wish that you had some energy drink.
8. Start planning a trip down to the cafeteria to buy some energy drink.
9. Decide to make a good start on your exam preperation before you treat yourself with such a treat.
10. Open your text-book.
11. Open your excercise book.
12. Write the date at the top of the page and then look for the ruler to underline it so it looks neat.
13. Use the text-book as a ruler because you left your ruler at home, propping up a little tomato-plant you're trying to grow.
14. Yawn.
15. Check your emails again.
16. Check your blog reader again.
17. Check to see if anyone has txted you.
18. Txt some friends to see if they want to catch up and eat some wedges with sour-cream later.
19. Look out the window and feel sorry for yourself, stuck inside studying on such a wonderful day.
20. Examine your fingernails.
21. Massage your knee-caps because your legs are feeling stiff.
22. Go fill up the water-bottle in the toilets.
23. Sit back down at the desk, ready to study again.
24. Quickly check emails and blog-reader again.
25. Reply to an urgent email.
26. Flick through the text-book, muttering short meaningless prhases to yourself.
27. Rest your head in your hands and groan.
28. Find a PDF of the exam from last year on the University's website and download it.
29. Question one... Huh, you haven't come across that concept before.
30. Bring up Wikipedia and search for some info about the concept.
31. Just quickly check your emails again while that page is loading.
32. Bring up the default University homepage on the screen so nobody comes along and reads your emails, and then get out of your nice comfy (sweaty) chair, slip your jandals back on and then head down to the cafeteria to buy a bottle of energy drink. Because you're worth it...

To heck with study. Look, what I've figured out is, the way to do really well at exams is just to make sure you get plenty of sleep (during the day), and also watch thought-provoking movies which may trigger your subconcious to start thinking about the things you learned? in the lectures. Your learning process should be natural and integrated into your everyday life. If your brain wants to turn to thoughts of study, then that is the ideal time for the concepts and ideas to be really solidified in your mind. Turn up at your exam without having done any preperation, and you will find that your style will be more natural, and not forced as if you have just been studying all day for it. Take a blimmin bottle of energy drink in with you, and it will help you remember things that you never even learned.

Burying the Truth

One day near the beginning of July, as I drove over an overbridge in Christchurch, I saw the above billboard.  I was naturally concerned for this man and his poor family.  In my mind's eye I thought through the likely situations that Brian might be in right now.  Had he been murdered and his body dumped behind some bushes in some remote area?  Had he been kidnapped for a ransom?... His pooor wife and children.  I was impressed that Brian's family and friends had got together and raised some money to fund a huge billboard trying to locate him.

Imagine my frustration and disgust when, a couple of weeks later, driving over that same bridge, a new billboard had been erected.  It was a similar billboard, but this time it made it clear that it was advertising a TV Series called Burying Brian.  As soon as I arrived home (July 5), I filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority.  I have copied my complaint below.

"I am writing to make a complaint regarding the advertising for the TV One series, "Burying Brian".  A couple of weeks ago as I drove across an overbridge in Christchurch, I was confronted with a billboard - which I now know was advertising the show.

However, the billboard had nothing on it at that stage, to show that it was an advert - and looked exactly like a billboard put up by Brian's family and friends.

I have no problem with the TV show itself, having not seen it.  My problem is with this particular form of advertisment.  It cheapens the genuine "Lost Person" posters that are occasionally used.

The next time (aprox 2 weeks later) that I drove past this billboard, it had been updated, and it was now clear that it was advertising a TV series.

I do hope that you will manage to vett adverts like this in the future, that cheapen or trivialise serious issues - as was the case with the boy who cried wolf."

On Monday (September 15), I received by mail the ASA's decision on the complaint.  I found that antother complaint had been made, and I will copy this below:

"This is an awful way to advertise as it is not a missing person at all and you have to phone the number to find out that it is not" - J. Cambridge

The basis of TVNZ's response was...

"the billboard advertisments commenced with showing a photograph of Shane Cortese, a well-known actor who appears in the television program "Burying Brian".

Hah, he's well-known is he?  Well, reality-check TVNZ, not everyone watches your shows.  They continue driveling on in their pathetic response...

"As Shane Cortese was not in fact missing, it cannot be said tat there was any lack of a sense of social responisibility..."

What the...?  Well, excuse me, but how are we supposed to know that Shane Cortese is not missing?  What has that got to do with it?  The missing man was listed as Brian Welch.  Boy they are thick.  TVNZ continues, stating that they believe they have not caused "serious offence" by the portrayal of the actor as a missing person.

The deliberation from the ASA considered that "...there had been no intention on the part of the Advertiser to mislead the public with regard to the nature of the message."  Oh really? Well why did the billboard contain nothing to assure us that it was in fact just an advert for a TV programme?

"The Complaints Board acknowledged that the advertisment alluded to a serious issue, the dissapearance of a person, and said that although this fromat was not used in New Zealand in real instances, it was used in some other countries."

Sigh, they are so short-sighted.  Maybe this method of advertising missing persons has not yet been used in New Zealand.  But what is going to happen when a genuine billboard is erected, asking people to look out for a missing person?  Will they also have to go the the ridiculous length of stating on the billboard: "this is not a marketing stunt, we really mean it."

So, after 3 letters and two copies of the 60-page Advertising Codes of Practice booklet, and about two months later, the predictable and unjust decision comes back from the ASA:

Decision: Complaint Not Upheld

It is just blind ignorance and arrogance on the part of the State-owned, tax-payer funded TVNZ and the ASA.

Born Alive Truth Launched

www.bornalivetruth.org has just been launched.  The Born Alive Truth website aims to "educate the public on the IL Born Alive Infants Protection Act and Senator Obama's record opposing this act.".  Below is their wonderful 30 second TV advert featuring abortion survivor, the indomitable Gianna Jessen.  The advert is set to air throughout the US, and will alert people to the fact that Senator Barack Obama is so pro-death that he even supports killing babies that survive abortion attempts.  (this is called partial birth abortion)

hat-tip: Jill Stanek

This Diminishing West

1:45am, The Loft, Canterbury University. Bored of cramming for my Economics test later tonight...

This Diminishing West is one of my favourite bands... that never really got off the ground. Vocals are by Scott Hunter, who was the lead-vocalist of the also now non-existant band, Poor Old Lu. Even though TDW wound to a close before they produced their first album, they have released 5 of their best songs in a free downloadable album (44mb) at their website. I would recommend Flight 191 as your introductory song to this unique indie/punk/grunge band.

The Colonel's Secret

I'm actually pretty impressed with KFC's latest marketing campaign.  They are making a big deal of how secret their recipie is.  But I'd only eat their food under duress or if it was free.  I feel so blimmin sorry for the chickens, they don't get much of a life.  And anyway, KFC puts so much batter-stuff on the chicken, gotta be bad for you.  As far as fast-food goes, I'll skip McDonalds and I'll go with Burger King or some fish and chips.  Or Wendy's if I'm up in Auckland ;)

Australia: Abortion Bill Passes Third Reading

The bill to remove abortion from the Crimes Act of the state of Victoria, Australia, has passed its third and final reading in the lower house. After a marathon session of Parliament MPs voted 48 in favour and 28 against legalising abortion in the Australian state. - www.lifesitenews.com

Below is a small excerpt from the article at Life Site News.

"Liberal frontbencher Martin Dixon told the house of his very personal reason for vehemently opposing late-term abortions: his daughter, Monique, was born after just 22½ weeks' gestation. Monique, he said, was "really doing quite well" during her first day of life, but her condition quickly deteriorated and she lived only one more day.
"In the two days of Monique's life she was a person," Mr Dixon told a hushed house. "She was a daughter, she was a sister, she was a granddaughter and she was a niece. She reacted to us, she reacted to light, she reacted to touch, she held my finger and she was a person."

"Even at 16 weeks our daughter made her presence felt in my wife's womb and had, we felt, a personality of her own," he said."

Related posts: Australia: Murder to be Mandatory, Australia: "Abortion up til Birth" to be Introduced

Update (16 September 12:30am): A good article on this over at Constant Joy, including a video of Gianna Jessen's terrifyingly motivating speech given in Parliament House, Victoria, Australia.

Timeless Cinematic Moments 13

"I see dead people"
(at 48 minutes)

The Sixth Sense, the thought-provoking 1999 masterpiece from director M. Night Shymalan. This film stars Bruce "John McClane" Willis and the ineffable 10-year-old Haley Joel Osment. Brrrr, this scary film is wonderfully filmed and acted. Definitely up there in my collection.

Night Light

Lyd and I headed down to the park again today.  We left it a bit late, so it was pretty dark by the time we got there.  Used a nice little tripod for the camera, but unfortunately the battery wasn't too good, so we only got a few photos.  I put some more photos on my Flickr account.

I'm hoping we can get down to Hagley park and get some decent photos in the daffodils - before you know, "the grass withers, the flower fades..." - Isaiah 40:8.

Hey, here's a poem I wrote just on a year ago, it's about Spring!

pretty pretty

Wandering through the middle of town earlier today, after seeing the heart-stopping independent film Bella at the Academy Cinema in the Arts Centre...

wow, that wall is pretty pretty

Yep, this is in the Garden City.  Looks like something out of Children of Men.

Huh

McCain and Obama shake hands at the September 11th memorial ceremony.

Just the other day, the Republicans jumped on Obama's reference to "lipstick on a pig", and claimed that he was attempting to slur Palin and McCain personally. And then today, an under-the-belt swipe from the Democrats. A youtube video mocking his inability to use a computer keyboard or send an email, due to injuries he recieved when fighting in the Vietnam War.

I wonder, who is going to be the next president of the United States... I think it is going to be John McCain, but it's a hard call to make.

Weekly Joke

The Americans and New Zealand decided to engage in a boat race. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day they felt ready.

The Kiwis won by a mile.

Afterward, the American team was discouraged by the loss. Morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found, so a consulting firm was hired to investigate the problem and recommend corrective action.

The consultant's finding: The Kiwi team had eight people rowing and one person steering; the American team had one person rowing and eight people steering.

After a year of study and millions spent analyzing the problem, the consultants concluded that too many people were steering and not enough were rowing on the American team. So as race day neared again the following year, the American team's management structure was completely reorganized. The new structure: four steering managers, three area steering managers, and a new performance review system for the person rowing the boat to provide work incentive.

The next year, New Zealand won by two miles. Humiliated, the American corporation laid off the rower for poor performance and gave the managers a bonus for discovering the problem.

Captions

"This is the last time I EVER do on-line dating..." - Isabella

The person who comes up with the most ingenious caption for this picture will receive the dubious honour of deciding the topic for one of my future posts on this blog.

"I kid you not"
- Peter Parker's teacher

To Heck with Tasers

...arm all New Zealand policemen with guns.

46-year-old Sergeant Don Wilkinson and his 44-year-old colleague ran for their lives down the road being chased by two men. What has New Zealand come to, when the symbol of justice; the police-force is chased down the road, helpless and un-armed. As they ran, they radioed for assistance. Sadly, they were too late, and the men caught up with them and trapped them. Don was shot in the heart and died instantly. His fellow police-officer was assaulted and received multiple gun-shot-wounds. He is currently in Middlemore Hospital recieving surgery.

Click here for the Herald's coverage of this tragic story.

Murdered: unarmed Police Sergeant, Don Wilkinson

What are they going to tell Don's family? "Sorry kids... your dad worked hard to defend innocent people and apprehend and arrest criminals. He died because (embarassed cough)... well, he should have been wearing his bullet-proof vest..." And what is going to happen to the two men that have been arrested and charged with the murder of Don and the assault (attempted murder) of his colleague?

For even daring to shoot at a police officer, they should receive a life sentence of hard labour. For killing a police officer, they should be hung.

But what will happen? A typically soft sentence will be handed down - a slap over the wrist with a wet bus-ticket for the murderer. And then let him out on bail after he's completed part of his sentence, because "prison's aren't the answer", and they're over-crowded anyway.

9/11 Lest We Forget

September 11, 2001. 2,974 innocent civilians massacred.

Below is a short story I wrote about the morning of the news that the World Trade Centers had been hit by aeroplanes - The World was a different place after that morning.

We Dashed Inside
Andrew Moore, age 15, secondary home school, Strowan Learning Centre

"Shall we get up early and go rabbit hunting Josh?"
"Hmm..."
"C'mon, please"
"Oh, all right" Joshua set the alarm clock to 5 a.m in the morning, September the eleventh. Little did we know, that when we woke, the world would be a different place; people would shudder, when an aeroplane flew over head, would be afraid to travel by air.

To set the scene, I will wind the clock back one day. The next day was Lydia's birthday. As usual we would celebrate September 11 or so we thought. Lydia couldn't wait. The rest of us frantically scurried around, cleaning, tidying, and in general, making the place somewhat more acceptable for the anticipated party, on the morrow. Simon and I would not be present, however, as we were going to stay at our friends house, out in the country, and his sisters were coming in, to Lydia's birthday party. I saw Mum manufacturing a massive chocolate cake, which she was drowning in purple icing, and smothering with all kinds of mouth-watering lollies, etc.
"Phew". At last the place was presentable. I dashed upstairs and packed. Next morning, after the customary rite of bestowing gifts upon our sister, we dined on Hubbard's muesli, and all the extra's you get on someone's birthday. I staggered down the hall, as I heard our friends coming: I'd eaten well. The girls got out and speedily disappeared into Lydia's room. Simon and I heaved our bags into the boot. We were off.

At last we arrived at the farm. We mucked around all day till teatime and to cut a long story short, we went to bed. Josh's room was in a sleep out, so we went out there. We read for a while, then turned off the lights and pretty much chatted the night away. Some one was talking. It didn't sound like anyone I knew.
"Ahhh".
It was the radio, Josh had programmed the alarm clock to turn the radio on at five a.m. I was sleepy and my zest to go rabbit shooting was lacking it's former zeal. I tried to get back to sleep but Joshua was muttering, groaning, and I, only half-pie listening. I heard someone going on about a catastrophe of some sort but thought "there's always some new disaster". All I was interested in, was bed. I dozed off a bit. (Yawn). Josh was still paying attention to what the reporter was saying.
"What is it Josh?"
"Shhh!"
I got myself up onto one elbow and then began to realise the awful dimensions of this atrocious disaster. "Whaa-?", "Man!", and "Far out" was all that was said for the next five minutes, then I found myself pulling on my jeans and following Joshua into the house across the gravel driveway. I tried to hop from one clump of weeds to the next, because in my bare feet, the sharp stones stung me, and brought me to full consciousness. We dashed inside...

Well, it's the seventh anniversary of that terrible event. And it's also my sister Lydia's birthday once again. Happy Birthday Lydie!

Whaleoil Abandons National, Supporting ACT

I hardly know what to say. Cam Slater (aka Whaleoil) a long-time National-supporter and son of the former president of the National Party, has today announced that he will be supporting the ACT party in their election campaign. Whaleoil was furious with National when they when they pulled the political stunt of turning 180 degrees and voting for Labour's Anti-Smacking Bill. But this latest let-down has proven to be the straw that broke the camel's back for the opinionated ex-National Supporter. This from his blog earlier today...

"...my source told me the National Party didn’t care about this. Apparently, the National Party VOTED WITH LABOUR, against the Maori, ACT and Green parties, to push through the legislation tonight. If National had voted with the Maori, ACT and Green parties, the legislation would have failed.

Surely this is not true. If it is, then **** them. It would mean National was even worse than Labour and that we should all vote ACT. Right now, I still plan to vote for my local National candidate but I am not voting for a party that supports the ongoing taxation of people based on dodgy un-proven science and the support of a corrupt, morally bankrupt party lead by a proven liar.

Party Vote ACT!"

Good on Cam for finally seeing the light. National are just a shade better than Labour, but their arrogance in thinking and acting as if they deserve to win the election in 2008 makes them even worse.

Peter McCafferey wrote over at the ACT on Campus blog,

"At around 7:10pm - just after parliament had gone back from the dinner break - I was hanging around the office, with the parliament video stream playing in the background, when I heard Te Ururoa Flavell take a point of order to seek leave to send the ETS back to select committee. Surely just a little grandstanding, no? It would never actually get the support of the house...

But then I heard perhaps one of the craziest things i've heard in the last three years of parliament.

New Zealand Labour, 49 votes against, New Zealand National, 48 votes against, New Zealand First, 7 votes against, Greens, 6 votes in favour, Maori Party, 4 votes in favour, United Future, 2 votes in favour, ACT, 2 votes in favour, Progressives, 1 vote against." - ACT on Campus

Abortion: No Parental Consent Required

Sit down before you read this.

"A spokesman for Justice Minister Annette King confirmed that a child of any age could get an abortion without parental consent, and that legislation had not changed since 1978." - Stuff, 8 September

This is beyond ridiculous. In a country where the Government bans television advertising of high-sugar/fatty foods during periods where high numbers of children are watching TV, those same children are permitted (even encouraged, by the friendly counsellors at your local state school), to have an abortion. Without even the decency to tell the girl's parents.

The article also says,

"The issue was highlighted this week by a Nelson mother who is calling for a review of abortion laws after her 15-year-old daughter was booked in for an abortion without her mother's knowledge.
The student -- whom the Nelson Mail has agreed not to identify -- had the operation on Wednesday but her mother said she only found out about the planned procedure when it came up during an argument on Monday.
But a school counsellor had known about it and, although unable to tell the mother due to privacy concerns, did not do enough to encourage the girl to inform her parents, the mother said.
Her daughter had told her it was common for students to get abortions without their parents' knowledge, and they were often helped by school counsellors." - Stuff, 8 September

Sick. To think that these agents of the state would take advantage of young girls (no matter how young they are), and "counsel" them in favour of having abortion. Almost worse, is that New Zealand's law apparently permits them to do this behind the back of mum and dad, blissfully unaware of the state-interference in their daughter's body. Dad mowing the lawn and mum hanging out the washing while their thirteen-year-old daughter is down at the local abortion-mill having a living baby killed inside her.

If you were still looking for a good reason not to send your children to a state school, stop looking. This is happening down the road, behind the fences of your local state institution.

Voddie Baucham: Should Palin be Running?

Voddie Baucham, pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church offers a strong position from the Bible on why it is wrong for a woman to run for Vice President, live on CNN.

I support the McCain/Palin ticket, however I am opposed to a woman - especially a mother with young children running for such an office. Click here to visit Voddie's thought-provoking blog.

Australia: Murder to be Mandatory

I have just read the Abortion Law Reform Bill 2008 currently before the Parliament of Victoria, Australia. In simple language, it succinctly outlines its brutal purpose. Pictured on the right is the unfortunate face of the Minister for Early Childhood Development, Maxine Morand MP. The Victoria Government has given her the duty of "ensur[ing] that all Victorian children have the opportunity to get the very best possible start in life." - source. It seems impossible then that Morand could have tabled the bill calling for abortion on demand in her state. Below are the two most attrocious aims of the bill, with comments from Right to Life Australia in italics.

Section 5: Termination of pregnancy by registered medical practitioner after 24 weeks
(1) A registered medical practitioner may perform an abortion on a woman who is more than 24 weeks pregnant only if the medical practitioner—
(a) reasonably believes that the abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances; and
(b) has consulted at least one other registered medical practitioner who also reasonably believes that the abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances.
(2) In considering whether the abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances, a registered medical practitioner must have regard to—
(a) all relevant medical circumstances; and
(b) the woman's current and future physical, psychological and social circumstances.

Section 5 of the Bill allows abortion after 24 weeks up until birth if two doctors believe the “abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances.” The appropriateness of the abortion will be judged on “the woman's current and future physical, psychological and social circumstances”. This, in effect, represents abortion on demand up to birth. We know that doctors are already willing to perform these late term abortions for psychological and social reasons, and women seeking an abortion will have no trouble finding two such doctors.

Section 8(3)&(4): Despite any conscientious objection to abortion, a registered medical practitioner [or a registered nurse] is under a duty to perform an abortion in an emergency where the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman.

Section 8 of the Bill requires pro-life doctors to refer women to pro-abortion doctors if they themselves conscientiously object to abortion. This section does not provide for conscientious objection at all because it mandates that all doctors participate in the abortion process. Section 8 also mandates that pro-life doctors and nurses must participate in abortions if there is an ‘emergency threatening the life of the woman’. How will that be defined? On current interpretations this section could be read as a broad obligation to perform abortions.

---

This is a terrible downwards step for Australia to be taking. In passing this bill into law, they join ranks with the few other countries who allow abortion up till birth. Under their new law, it will be legal to end the life of a little baby just minutes before it would have been naturally born. This is due to the fact that the bill does not specify at what number of weeks abortion may not take place - or, may only take place if the mother's life is at "serious risk".

Sick.

Party Vote Greens

The Labour Party and the Green Party are pushing for a ban on conventional light-bulbs, in favour of the "power-saving", safety light-bulbs. There have been many reports of these fluroescent eco-bulbs blowing up...

"My mother has had 3 of these light-bulbs explode in her house."
"3 of our eco-bulbs simply died within a matter of months"
"these bulbs dangerous, they are very fragile and i have had a couple break in my hand, while changeing them"
- from the comments on this article at Stuff

LOL

I got another one of those pass-it-on emails, and had to post a couple of the pictures here...

Cheers Evan.

Weekly Joke

A flight instructor was sent out to help a trainee who had radioed that he was about to make a forced landing a few miles from the base. The instructor spotted the plane standing in a field small enough to present a real challenge to his professional reputation.

With determination, full flaps and engine just above the stall, he maneuvered into the field. Climbing out, he shouted angrily to the trainee, "Just how did you manage to get into such a small field?"

"I landed in the big field over there," the trainee explained, "but in order to leave room for you, I had the farmer tow me here."

Australia: "Abortion up til Birth" to be Introduced

This is so seriously disgusting that I can't even pull myself together and write something about it. (And I'm supposed to be studying for a test. Though somehow, passing or failing this test isn't even on the same scale with this monstrosity of a human-rights breach likely to be implemented in Australia very soon...)For now I will just copy below, and excerpt from the Constant Joy blog. Head over there to read the rest of the article.

brrrr....this is so wrong! According to the proposed law change, abortions will be legalized at all stages of development in Victoria, Australia....

On 9 September, 2008 the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Australia will consider a bill to decriminalize abortion in that state. What is being proposed is nothing short of horrific and there are lessons here for Christians and governments in all democratic nations.
Under a model recommended by Victorian Law Reform Commission the government is proposing the following:

• For pregnancies less than 24 weeks, a woman would be allowed to have an abortion done by a medical practitioner for any reason.
• For pregnancies of more than 24 weeks gestation (in other words, right up until the time of birth) abortion would be lawful if a doctor determined that it was necessary to prevent risk of harm to the woman if the pregnancy continued. As has been shown in other countries the ‘risk’ or harm may include factors that merely impinge upon a woman’s social life. ~ Creation on the Web
  

How can a 'social life' be more important than someone's life? What's happened to human rights? Just because a foetus lives in the womb doesn't mean the child is any less human. The unborn baby's heart starts beating on the 21st day after conception, and can survive outside the womb after 20 weeks (which is getting earlier as technology increases). Is being pregnant really the end of the world?

Read the rest of the article here

Give Dobson a Break

American RTL Action, the political 527 group, is exposing Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson for violating his pledge in which he invoked the name of God by declaring that he is voting for John McCain...

On April 28, 1990 at the Washington D.C. Rally for Life Dr. Dobson stated, "I want to give a pledge to you on a political level... I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby." (See video at ARTLaction.com.) James Dobson is violating this pledge by voting for John McCain for president, a Republican who has recently voted to authorize funding to kill some children by surgical abortion." - Christian Newswire

Dr. James Dobson made that statement 18 years ago. Believe it or not, he is human, and humans do make mistakes. Sometimes it is more important to do what you believe to be right rather than to hold dogmatically to something that you said almost two decades ago. For Dobson, it is the choice between a lot of babies being killed, or a lot more babies being killed. For him, the logical, but hard-reached conclusion is that he should support John McCain - being the most pro-life presidential candidate, not to mention his VP candidate, Sarah Palin.

"The ARLA [American Right to Life Action] says Focus founder Dr. James Dobson violated a pledge to God to never back a candidate who supports abortion. Dobson recently said on his radio show that he would "pull the lever for John McCain" if the election were held today" - Denver Post

They responded by protesting Dobson's statement, trespassing on Dobson's Focus on the Family premises, and refusing to come out until escorted out by the police. Get your act together ARTL. Why are you wasting time and effort on protesting the work of those who are more closely aligned to yourselves than almost any other group in existence? Sigh...

Jill Stanek commented,

"Sigh... I have good friends and respected pro-life colleagues who are members of American Right to Life. They did such a good job establishing credibility with their Sheets of Shame huge pro-life sign at the Denver National Convention, and then they had to do this. It's as if they can't handle respect." - Jill Stanek

To finish, here's an excerpt from Rebecca Orczeck's article, Incrementalism Vs. Purism In The Abortion Debate,

"Purists will not consider voting for a candidate who has a history of voting for any abortion legalization (even within the context of conceding some practices in order to get others outlawed) or does not support the complete and immediate end of abortion.

Incrementalists, on the other hand, work toward getting abortion completely outlawed, using smaller steps when necessary. They will vote for a candidate that is pro-life for the majority of their voting history.

The debate is basically about choosing the lesser of two evils; do you vote for someone who believes in outlawing most of abortion, or hold out for abortion to be abolished quickly, in one step?

Personally, I believe there are great intentions on both sides of the debate. I don’t know a single incrementalist who would turn down a complete abolition of abortion. In that way I believe we would all be purists, in an ideal situation. On the other side of the opinion, the purists have it right that incrementalism is a one step forward, two steps back dance." - Bella Online

Definitely worth reading the entire article there.

Shouldn't Really Be Using the Key

Dad and I jumped in the Hyundai. A spin down the road to Pak'n Save. Driving past the park, he suddenly slammed on the brakes and reversed back up the road. There was the hubcap, lying against the gutter: abandoned. "It looks a bit like the other ones..." Dad's voice trailed off as I jumped out of the passenger seat onto the grass verge. Could it be? Our recently purchased Hyundai was missing a hubcap, and this little unit looked... "It's flippin the same one!", I picked up the hubcap and gave it the once over. It was a little bit had it on the edge there, but apart from that, it was all good! Dad lent against the lampost, his knees weak in disbelief.

I had a shot at fitting the hubcap, and blow me down if it wasn't a perfect fit... made for it. 14", an exact replica of the other three. "The tyre's not coming out is it?" Dad pulled out a key and we prised the hubcap off again. I was not surprised to observe that tyre was not in fact, bursting out of the rim or anything. We clipped the rim back on again. "It's the same one... it must be.", Dad just stared at the road in front of him, momentarily struck speechless. As we pulled through the roundabout he brough one hand to his forehead and shrugging his shoulders helplessly, "We're going to Pak'n Save, but I was also going to check out the Wreckers for a hubcap...".

A bit past the roundabout now, "It might fall off...". Dad eased up on the gas, "Do you think?". The car eased towards the shoulder of the road. "Yeah, I think you should put one of those tie-things on it when we get home". I jumped out of the car again and pulled the hub-cap off again. Only, I didn't. I tried blimmin hard, gave my fingers a bit of a hammering trying to prise the thing off the wheel. Dad switched off the car, came around to the side and made use of the key again. "Probably shouldn't really be using the key...".

Pro-Lifers Shut Down: US, Australia

In Australia, attempts to stop pro-lifers from approaching women going into abortion clinics are heightened, with a proposed new law that would create a 50-metre no-go area surrounding Australia's largest abortion mill.

"The Victorian Government has been asked to create a 50m protest-free "bubble zone" around the entrance of Australia's largest provider of abortion services...
The zone... would effectively end a 16-year campaign by anti-abortion groups to dissuade women from entering the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne..
Protester Dave Forster said such a zone would prevent protesters approaching women seeking abortion. "There would be a minimum distance that we would be required to stay outside of, and I guess it would mean that we are not allowed within 50 metres of the clinic," he said." - The Australian (2 September 2008)

The Constant Joy blog covered this travesty of freedom of speech a couple of days ago,

"By placing a bubble zone around the Fertility Control Clinic, the government would be limiting the protesters' democratic rights. One of the principles of democracy allows all individuals the freedom of speech, so both the abortion clinic and the protesters should therefore be able to have their say - but neither should be able to stop the other from voicing their views. As Voltaire said, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.'" - Constant Joy

What we have here, is a petty little bylaw being put forward, which if it came into law, would specify a 50metre perimeter of public land surrounding an abortion mill as being a restricted-access area - but only to such people as disagreed with what terrible attrocities were being carried out inside it's walls.  This is a contemporary example of discrimination against citizens of a country on the basis of personal belief.  Does this remind you of anything?

Are you annoyed yet?  We haven't even got started. A month ago (1 August) in the town of Bel Air, Maryland, a dozen or more police officers broke up a peaceful protest staged by members of Defend Life.

"The allegations in the case sound like a 3rd World dictatorship: Police officers talk over before the arrests what charges they'll use, there are no explanations when the arrests are made, the suspects are denied access to legal counsel while in custody, and cops subject suspects to semi-public strip-searches."...
The truth of the matter is that our clients were heckled, arrested, imprisoned, shackled, and strip-searched twice for exercising their First Amendment rights," said attorney Daniel Cox, who is allied with the Alliance Defense Fund is serving as local counsel. "No excuse exists for how our young clients were treated."...
The officers had ordered them off of county property because they did not have a permit to engage in free speech, the report said. And after the arrests, "Three young female participants – including teenagers – were subjected to two rounds of strip-searches," the lawsuit said." - WND

"What happened on August 1st is almost unbelievable, that 18 persons who were peaceably assembled on public property out of harm's way were arrested without any warning and without being told what the charges against them were. None of those arrested were read their rights. Only a few were allowed to make a single phone call.
This decision by the State of Maryland to drop the charges shows that our side of the story was the true story. There were no traffic jams. There were no people running in and out of traffic. There was no refusal to disperse. They plainly and simply violated our First Amendment rights!" - Defend Life Blog

And at the Phatmass blog, a friend of the young people reports,

"The officer followed them, and once they had set up, he came and arrested my friend. He said nothing except for "Turn around, you're under arrest." When she asked why she was under arrest and what her rights were, he ignored her. Then they arrested everyone who was there. It took all night for them to be processed. They were all relased by around 9:30am-- some on bail (out of staters), others just released." - Phatmass Blog

"It's a woman's choice" they tell us.  But as abortion-survivor Gianna Jessen says so aptly, "if abortion is merely about women's rights, then what were mine?"  Consider the young women shown in the photos being handcuffed and carted off to jail; where was their choice?

Is abortion so sacred to the state that they are prepared to illegally arrest and detain citizens who are merely voicing their opinion?  The answer is glaringly obvious, and it is Yes.

The Nathanator

Well, it looks like Nathan is getting closer to giving up his day job and getting into some full-time blogging. He's blogging over at thenathanator.blogspot.com. I find his unapologetic, unique and up-front style often causes a smile to tug at the corners of my mouth.

His latest posts include a collection of hilarious VW video ads, and some photos from the other day in the park...

ACT: The Guts to Decry Climate Change

Who else but Rodney Hide, leader of the ACT party would have the guts to stand up and decry the Emissions Trading Scheme on the basis that Climate Change is a pack of lies? Here are some highlights from his speech delivered to Parliament on Tuesday...

"I think I will be the only person speaking in this debate who has any qualifications in environmental science.

It is not that that should count, but I think that it is significant for what I am about to say—that is, that the entire climate change - global warming hypothesis is a hoax, that the data and the hypothesis do not hold together, that Al Gore is a phoney and a fraud on this issue, and that the emissions trading scheme is a worldwide scam and swindle...

...The problem for the first two Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change reports was what was called the medieval warming period, where a thousand years ago the Earth was warmer than it is now.

Then, magically, an obscure physicist in the US came up with a new bit of analysis - the hockey stick - that showed world temperature to be flat and then rising dramatically as the world became industrialised. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change grabbed this, put it on the front of its document, and repeated it five times.

Researchers all around the world were puzzled by this, because it did not fit any of their data. Eventually they got hold of that computer model and they discovered this: any numbers fed into that model would produce the hockey stick.

We could take the Wellington telephone directory, feed it into the model that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used in 2001, and we would get the hockey stick that saw the world running scared, that saw policy-makers running scared, and saw Al Gore make his movie based on it."

Click here to read the rest of Rodney's speech

Hat-tip: Political Animal

Sinister Side to Beijing Olympics

I've already written about the Chinese Government banning churches from operating for three months surrounding the Olympic Games.  We've looked at the evidence that some members of the Chinese gymnastic team were underage.  And now finally, we have the inside-story from a New York reporter who was arrested, interrogated and abused.  His crime? Taking photos of a Free Tibet protest

Rae refused to give the police the passwords, which made them very angry. One interrogator stood menacingly in front of Rae with a steel bar in his hand. He also hit him on the shoulder with an open hand. “I don’t want to exaggerate what happened,” said Rae, “but after having been awake so long, it’s difficult to get hit like that.”

At one point, Rae asked his interrogator what was going to happen to him. “We’re not sure if we want to slit your throat or shoot you,” was the answer he was given...

...After the 22-hour interrogation, Rae was made to sign and fingerprint every page of a 45-page document that was all in Chinese. He and the others were then driven to the Chong Wen detention center about 30 minutes away. They were kept in separate cells and made to wear prison uniforms of red T-shirts and red shorts. The police told him he was not in a jail, that it was “just a detention center.”

Rae was mixed in with the general population of prisoners—about a dozen people in a cell with narrow wooden platforms as beds, all pushed up against a wall. When they slept, it was shoulder-to-shoulder. He was given a military blanket that reeked of urine and a dirty plastic bowl and spoon for meals. Potable water was made available to the prisoners for only 15 minutes a day. Rae scrounged an empty plastic soda bottle to store water in for the day.

Read the full article here: www.en.epochtimes.com

Hat-tip: Half Done blog

Baby dumping 'sign of the times'

(parody, click here for the original article on www.stuff.co.nz)

PICK ME: These five babies were saved from drowning after being stuffed inside a sack and dumped at Riverton Rocks yesterday.

The attempted drowning of five babies that were stuffed inside a sack and dumped at Riverton Rocks is a sign of the times, Adoption Option chairperson says.
Adoption Option chairperson, Sue Kingham said a woman heard the babies crying inside the sack about midday yesterday and rescued them before the tide could take the sack away.
Though disgusted with the perpetrator's actions, she said it was a sign of the times.
"With the price of petrol and power, people just haven't got the money to afford to feed these babies, but that's no excuse. If they don't want to raise children they should not get pregnant."
She said the five babies, which were about six months old, were being cared for by a local family and would be looked after and checked by a doctor before being put up for adoption in several weeks.
There were about 25 babies at the Invercargill orphanage, but not enough families for them to go to, she said.

(parody, click here for the original article on www.stuff.co.nz)

Brendand Malone commented on the original article,

"And the same day that a major NZ news outlet was reporting about the attempted drowning of seven puppies, more than 50 New Zealand babies were killed in abortion clinics around the country. Can I be so bold as to suggest that the fact that these 50 deaths didn’t even rate a mention says a lot more about New Zealand’s real problems than seven puppies in a sack does?" - Semper Vita

Incognito

Who are these people?

I stood in the field, and behold, there was a blinding light.

And as I looked, I perceived that there was a figure in the midst of the whiteness. And the figure was truly terrible to look upon.

He was clothed in a raiment of blue, and upon his head rested a crown of amber. His locks were black as the deadest shades of night.

And I fell in with the figure, and he unfolded unto me the unfathomable ways of web design.

I can't think of any captions for the photos, but suggest some and if they're cool, I'll append this post accordingly. The Most Tranquil blog should have another batch of photos up later today...

Update (5:30pm): Lydia's blogged some pictures too
Update (4 September, 6:30pm): Nath's blogged some pictures on his blog
Update (5 September, 5:30pm): I'm going to go with Jono's captions, they are excellent.

Google Chrome

'Chrome' is the term used by developers to indicate how much pretty stuff surrounds the data one is presenting." - ZenTiger

I'm looking forward to the release of Google's new browser Google Chrome. The beta-testing download should be available at 11am according to my calculations, from here or here.

I find it hard to comprehend a browser any better than Firefox 3, however I expect that Chrome may win my devotion before to long. As a web-developer, I'm hoping/trusting that Chrome renders HTML just as Firefox would. I hardly think that Google would let us down there.

Zen makes another very interesting and important point, "I suspect this heralds a bigger push to host rich server based applications within browsers, as Google see this as a way to undercut Microsoft's huge control over the desktop. Chrome will not just be about browsing - it will try to be an operating system (OS) within the OS, or at the least, a rich application environment."

Click here for more screenshots

And the word from the Google blog,

"Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers."

Here's Google's nice little online comic book explaining all about Google Chrome and how it works...

Google Chrome heralds the dawn of Web 3.0

Fred Dagg as John Howard

Stumbled upon a hilarious collection of videos starring Kiwi Fred Dagg (aka John Clarke) and Bryan Dawe.  I've got nothing against John Howard, but these are wonderfully funny videos.

Iraq strategies | climate change | Misinformed Australian

National's New Billboard

The kiwiblog-right ;) are excited about their new billboard.

Remember when you go to the polls: National does not care what you think. 83% of Kiwis opposed the Anti-Smacking Bill, but they made a deal with Labour and shoved it through anyway, riding roughshod over the rights of the vast majority of New Zealanders.

Also, notice what the original National billboard actually says: "wave goodbye to higher taxes". That is a typical National statement. It looks good at first glance; it seems to be saying "lower taxes", when in fact it is saying: "let's keep the status quo". Whereas ACT is committed to lowering income tax and scrapping the two-tiered tax-rate, National is simply saying "hey, let's stick with Labour's policy".

Blogosphere Expanding

Hah. I thought it would never happen. But a friend who goes under the blogging pseudonym of Gabby, has just joined the blogosphere. Yay!

"As I lay there counting the dust particles swirling throughout a mythical beam of sunlight, I realised that nothing from my own efforts would return me back to the land of nod - and started thinking about creating a blog..." - Constant Joy

If it can escape the the dreaded blog-graveyard, I think this little piece of the internet will be worthy of a bookmark, somewhere near the top of your "gotta sort them out some time" bookmark list in Firefox, or your favourites list in Internet Explorer. Brrrrr, excuse the offensive language.

Weekly Joke

An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman in France are sentenced to death by guillotine. The Englishman puts his head on the block first and the executioner pulls the lever, but the blade doesn't fall. The governor says "If this happens three times, then by French law you walk free". The lever is pulled twice more and still the blade doesn't fall so he is set free. The same thing happens when the Scotsman has his head on the block and he is set free. The Irishman puts his head on the block, the lever is pulled and again the blade doesn't fall. He turns round so the back of his head's on the block. The lever iss pulled for a second time, but again the blade doesn't budge. "Aha!" says the Irishman, "hold on! I can see what the problem is!".

Bella Wallpaper

I've made a wallpaper for the heart-stopping, must-see independent film Bella.

four sizes: 1600 x 1200 | 1440 x 900 | 1280 x 1024 | 1024 x 768

Heheheh... Have just been flicking back through some archives, and stumbled upon a post that I wrote one year ago today.  Here's a quick excerpt,

"I made a mental note to myself. Tell the girl to be there on time. The groom was standing up the front there, so self-confident, carefree, bullet-proof. Subsequent to his marrying his wife, the groom would tell me that those moments had been torture, his stomach clenched like a fist, *censored*. You did fine, looked so calm. I told him. And it was true, he had looked right in his element. Wiping imaginary tears away from behind unclouded glasses, winking at the mother-in-law to be, joking with the best man, smiling at the congregation, smiling at no-one. Yes, that's it, the poor beggar was scared to death. His act had fooled everyone but those whom he had admitted the truth too. Good on him, but to heck with that for a joke. - Wedding

And here's a link to some New Zealand Flag wallpapers I made a while back.