Around the Blogs

Highlights from the blogs over the last week...

27 May
The Vote No blog picks up on a letter written into the Dominion Post by blogger Dave Crampton, shining the torch on inconsistency from Unicef. One moment they're saying that children should be treated as adults when it comes to parental-correction, and then in the next breath they're opposed to young children appearing in court - as they are, afterall - by definition, children!

Surely it is inconsistent to advocate that children should be treated the same as adults under the law generally, then campaign that they shouldn't be under another law that does not fit your ideology.

28 May
David Farrar posts a salient letter to the editor from a Maori man who is a Manakau City Councillor, below is a short excerpt which is dryly amusing,

It is really disappointing that many local Maori leaders are trying to separate Maori from the rest of the population by supporting sparate Maori councillors...
From personal experience I believe the main reason there are not more Maori in local body politics is because not many stand.

29 May
Albert Mohler is concerned about the txting epidemic, and warns parents...

In the fourth quarter of 2008 American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month.  That, dear friends, is nothing to LOL about...
Authorities now blame excessive texting for sleep deprivation, distraction in school, poor grades, and even repetitive stress injuries.  These teens are texting while they should be sleeping, and they are sleeping with the cell phone set to vibrate so that they can respond to texts from friends without waking parents...
Teens should not be allowed to sleep with cell phones in the bedroom, and parents need to set clear parameters for the use of phones for both voice calls and text messages.  Commonsense rules will go a long way toward restoring sanity.

He's dead right, cellphones can make it really easy for family members young and old to keep in touch. However there is something wrong when young children are given free reign to a tool with this much scope and power.

30 May
"The more I know about science and technology, the more I believe there has to be a God." says Scrubone in his post listing 20 foolish reasons that people give for rejecting Christianity, and here's number one...

1. God is wrathful, jealous, hateful, and kills nations of people like it is a bodily function. He is certainly not just or “holy” in nature.

Actually, the Bible records that man rejected God and chose death. Let me say that again: it’s our choice. If you don’t believe me, look around you today – the world continues to reject even the very basic principles (such as not committing adultery) which we know will lead to a more peaceful society.

And Constant Joy has an article from Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi who writes on the changing attitude towards abortion that is sweeping across America...

What happened? Is it possible that the nation has undergone a gigantic attitudinal shift on the fundamental issue of abortion in only three years' time? Logically, it seems that the entire framing of the debate has become antiquated and far too simplistic for the questions we face. Anecdotally, I would say it's possible.

I know I've changed my views.

Around the Blogs

8 May

The Libertarianz Party issued a press release, offering their condolences to the family of Constable Len Snee who was shot dead in the line of duty during the Napier

"The death of police officer Senior Constable Len Snee, who paid the ultimate price yesterday while fighting the government's War on Drugs™, is a tragedy," said Libertarianz Drugs Spokesman, Luke Howison. "No doubt the gunman responsible for his death will be justly punished," says Howison," but those in government who authorise and continually escalate the War on Drugs™, and those who voted them in, must also shoulder some measure of blame for Constable Snee's death...

10 May

Scrubone at the Half Done blog posts a quote from C.H. Spurgeon,

Because God will never leave nor forsake us, we may well be content with such things as we have. Since the Lord is ours, we cannot be left without a friend, a treasure, and a dwelling place. This assurance may make us feel quite independent of men. Under such high patronage we do not feel tempted to cringe before our fellowmen and ask of them permission to call our lives our own; but what we say we boldly say and defy contradiction...

11 May

Samuel Dennis also comments on the death of Constable Len Snee,

Anything is a weapon. I have been working on the farm today, and as I write this am wearing a sheath knife on my belt. That is highly lethal (I kill sheep with it), but I can buy that wherever I like with no licence at all. And if I couldn’t buy it, I could easily make one with a chunk of steel and an angle grinder.

You can kill a lot more people with a car than a gun, and you don’t even need a driver’s licence to buy a car. Or you could use an axe, a machete, a kitchen knife, a chainsaw – the average home is a formidable arsenal of lethal weapons...

Meanwhile, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary - Albert Mohler appears to be slaughtering a sacred cow in his post entitled Why Mother's Day is a Bad Idea. However be sure to read the full article for the twist at the end...

Sentiment drives Mother's Day as a gargantuan observance. We Americans feel better about ourselves when we honor motherhood -- or when we spend a few dollars on overpriced greeting cards, flowers, and food and convince ourselves that this is honoring our mothers.

There is nothing wrong about sentiment in itself, but there is something pornographic about the bathos of sentimentalism that this observance produces -- a sentimentalism so often devoid of content...

12 May

Dave at Big News sheds light on some shoddy research on smacking in NZ,

The project - funded by a well-known anti smacking organisation that gets 40% of its income from the taxpayer - looked at the submissions to the select committee on the Section 59 legislation. Researchers examined two particular contrasting social viewpoints of children - children as "human beings" and as "human becomings" - and whether these two viewpoints were implicated in people's views on the use of physical punishment...
...Just who do researchers think they are? It looked like the "conclusions" to the report were written before the hypotheses. Perhaps that is why the hypotheses weren't even tested in a way that provides reliability and validity throughout the wider population...

And David Farrar draws attention to Colin Espiner's tantrum over Christine Rankin's appointment as a Families Commissioner,

...What the hell is Colin Espiner on?... Bad enough to focus on her marriages, as if never being divorced is a pre-requisite. But what the hell does the death of the former wife of her husband have to do with it, except to almost imply she was responsible for the death.

Around the Blogs

5 May
Eric Crampton at the economically liberal Offsetting Behaviour blog comments on legislation on harm minimization, and how it doesn't work,

...when the costs are tallied correctly, smokers save the government money: they die earlier of cheaper diseases.

"Based on surveys of smokers in the United States and Spain, for instance, he demonstrates that smokers actually overestimate the dangers of smoking, indicating that they are well aware of the risks involved in their choice to smoke. And while smoking does increase medical costs to the states, Viscusi finds that these costs are more than financially balanced by the premature mortality of smokers, which reduces their demands on state pension and health programs, so that, on average, smoking either pays for itself or generates revenues for the states." (Kip Viscusi)

Second, it's unclear whether these "cost the health system money" effects really are inefficiencies. They're called fiscal externalities, and are of pretty dubious status regardless of the direction of the sign.

And Dave at Big News comments on the rigged selection of the Labour Candidate for Mount Albert...

Phil Goff [said David] Shearer won the floor vote on BFM today.

Goff: I went to the selection committee with eight really superb candidates.... David Shearer, aah won the unanimous support of the panel, locals , and err, the NZ Council
Presenter: How many were on the panel
Goff: ..and he won the vote on the floor
Presenter: How many were on the panel
Goff: Aah there's six on the panel plus the floor vote which that counts for one, but he won the floor vote.

But a comment on The Standard blog said the following

No way did shearer win the floor vote. You have been misinformed.There were a lot of angry people leaving that hall yesterday. Might as well have been the National party for all the democracy of the selection.

And Theresa at the Utterance blog has a bee under her bonnet, launching a full-out attack against all cyclists...

b) According to me the environment includes visual things. You are damaging the environment if you wear those tight bikie outfits. The only people who are allowed to do that are professional cyclists who are going give something back by winning the Tour de France or a medal.

c) Apparently if you cycle regularly you can expect to have an accident at least once a year. Blood spattered on the road isn't a good look for our visually friendly environment.

d) You annoy drivers. It's called road rage and can lead to accidents of all kinds. It can also lead to verbal or other abuse of passengers who are probably children. So, if you don't want the people next door's kid to hear their mum swear and scream, don't ride your bike.

...what is there to say? Sounds like someone who hasn't ridden a bike a heck of a lot ;)

6 May
ACT on Campus issues a press release on the burning of the New Zealand Flag at Victoria University of Wellington earlier today,

ACT on Campus spokesman Peter McCaffrey today urged the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) to condemn the burning of the New Zealand flag on university property.
“The New Zealand flag was today burnt by a group of students, including a former student union president, who attended a VUWSA organised Student Representative Council meeting,” Mr McCaffrey said...
“Given that students are forced to join students’ associations, no Victoria student has chosen to give VUWSA permission to speak on their behalf. Clearly the association’s actions do not represent student’s views.”

And David Farrar lists the most complained about adverts in 2008 including,

1. Tui Beer, billboard. “Let’s take a moment this Christmas to think about Christ... Yeah Right - Tui”. (86 complaints). Settled, when withdrawn by advertiser.

What happened to freedom of speech? This advert is a perfectly legitimate insight into the way that Kiwis on the whole view Christmas. One other complaint of interest was,

2. 2. Brandex Adventure Sports Ltd, television. Skins sportswear, touting the physicality of African-American athletes, saying they have a “warrior” mentality and “killer instinct”. (73). Upheld, racial stereotyping.

Around the Blogs

New (roughly) weekly feature for the blog: a round-up of great posts. Just a few for this first time...

21 April
Jeff Jones at the Abort73.com blog comments on the death of embryonic stem-cell research (ESC),

Dr. Yamanaka, the man who discovered how to make adult skin cells act like embryonic stem cells, said the following in a NY Times article: "When I saw the embryo, I suddenly realized there was such a small difference between it and my daughters. I thought, we can't keep destroying embryos for our research. There must be another way."...
...Dr. Oz said: "The stem cell debate is dead." He went onto explain that embryonic stem cell research has not been successful at curing diseases, but adult stem research has. He believed we could see cures for diabetes, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, etc. within 10 years.

24 April
Whaleoil suggests a novel new security measure on aeroplanes.

Issue every passenger with a Glock with one bullet. You can't hijack a plane with one bullet and if you try the other 20 people will shoot you dead faster than fly on sh**.
After the successful end of the flight you simply hand in the Glocks to the flight attendent and exit the plane.

28 April
Labour considers David Shearer as their candidate for the seat of Mt. Albert. To Labour's distress, the VRWC bloggers are delighted, as Shearer has previously advocated private armies. David Farrar comments,

Shearer has an even better idea:

"The prospect that private military companies might gain some degree of legitimacy within the international community begs the question as to whether these firms could take on UN peacekeeping functions and improve on UN effort."

An excellent idea. I am sure the new UNDP Administator would whole heartedly agree that UN peace keeping forces should be replaced by Executive Outcomes and Sandline. I do hope someone asks her her view.

"There is no denying that they are cheaper than UN operations. EO cost Sierra Leone’s governmen$t35 million for the 22 months it was there, versus a planned UN operation budgeted at $47 million for eight months."