Save the Whale

Lady consequence appears to have caught up with Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater for his breach of name suppression orders.

I think Peter put it best:

Whale Oil finally ends up in court, and asks the obvious question:
Any Pro-Bono Lawyers Out There

He'll get convicted for sure but it will be fun to watch and it will be sure to raise the right questions which is probably why the police charged him, I'm sure they dislike name suppression as much as Whale Oil does.

Lord Monckton on Climategate

Says it all really.

On Getting Guy Fawkes

With Hone and Rodney's antics of late, I am really starting to get Guy Fawkes in a contemporary Tim Selwyn-esque way.

Provocation

If the father had caught the bastard who raped his 8 year old in front of his 6 year old and given him what he deserved, would y'all be happy with him being branded a murderer for life? Would the fact he'd be able to have his lawyer push for a lighter sentence be sufficient for justice to be done?

We need provocation to remain on the books for cases like this.

Taito Phillip Field

Surely no one is surprised by the verdicts? Yes he had the balls to stand up to Helen but the police would never have dared push so hard against a sitting MP if they did not have have a solid case. The sheer number of charges spoke volumes.

I wonder though does the fact Field saw out his third term mean that he'll get all the baubles and cherries for life that are but one of the myriad of perks MP's get from the taxpayer? Free travel, free taxis, free whatever they get after 3 terms in office.

Death for Weatherston

Death for Clayton Weatherston is what I say. This case is but another example as to why we should bring the death penalty back.

What say you?

Michael Jackson's Love Child

Seen on Michael Jackson News:

It has been alleged that Norwegian dancer Omer Bhatti is seeking a DNA test to see if he is in fact the son of the legendry King of Pop.

The Sun newspaper has reported that Jackson told friends that Bhatti was born after a one night stand in 1984 and the 25 year old is now said to be seeking whether Jackson is indeed his biological father.

During Jacko’s memorial service, Bhatti can clearly be seen in the front row alongside the Thriller singer’s immediate family, including brother Jermaine and younger sister Janet.

Standing up to Bullies

MandM have had to deal with school bullying first hand and have blogged about their journey over recent months. Today they took a brave step and named the school, Henderson's Liston College, as part of their attempts to expose the school's poor response towards bullying.

It is easy to be shocked at the serious beatings but until you are faced with it you tend to not think about the psychological impact of even the smallest of assaults. TV and movie stars brushing off harrowing events in macho-istic displays of heroism have numbed us. The workplace has become ridiculously over protective of workers yet somehow students in schools are expected to take what none of us would. Teenagers are very cruel when they get away with it.

Freedom and Iran

Countries like Iran, whose governments believe they have a handle of the truth, think that possession of truth means they can suppress all wrong.

This all goes along swimmingly until the great truth the country is based on becomes increasingly unvalued and questioned.

Surely it is better for truth to have dissent permitted? For how else can we know and value truth?

If one is so sure one has the truth then one has nothing to fear from allowing dissent because dissent and debate all help us, if we are honest, to see truth more clearly and to value it more dearly.

If you think it is only countries like Iran that need heed freedom of truth think again.

And the Award for Stating the Obvious Goes to...

Joe Karam in the first press conference outside the courtroom following David Bain being found not-guitly:

"I couldn't have continued in this fight without David"

No shit Sherlock.

Boring Budget

For those of you, like me, who found this budget boring and reeking far too much of National's apparent tactic of trying to be all things to all men I give you this from Peter Wilson:

When a new government takes office and decides remedial economic action is needed, strategy usually focuses on getting it out of the way as quickly as possible.
Swift implementation, it is hoped, will mean that in three years' time voters will have either forgotten about it or become used to it.

A good example was the "mother of all budgets" that followed National's election win in 1990, although in that case it had such far-reaching effects that despite having the longest possible recovery period the party only just managed to retain power in the 1993 election.

Finance Minister Bill English has taken a course opposite to the one dictated by political wisdom -- his next two budgets, by his own admission, will very likely be more severe than the one he presented on Thursday. more

Reds in New Zealand's Bed

This is very concerning.

Today I discovered New Zeal which has a wealth of information that every person concerned with freedom should read such as this piece Cuba's Kiwi Fifth Column:

New Zealand has a significant pro-Cuban 5th column-mainly drawn from the local socialist movement.

Many were members of the now defunct Communist Party of NZ (pro- Albania), the Socialist Action League (Trotskyist, pro-Cuba), Workers Communist League (pro-China), or Socialist Unity Party (pro-Soviet).

Many are members or supporters of NZ's modern communist parties-Communist League, Socialist Worker, Socialist Aotearoa, the "mainstream" Socialist Party of Aotearoa, or the crypto-communist Alliance Party.

The NZ Committee to Free the Cuban Five has been campaigning to get the Obama administration to release the Cuban Five-captured Castro spies incarcerated in the US since 1998.

Their latest stunt was on April 8th when committee members tried to deliver a support letter to the US embassy in Wellington.

It continues with a list of high profile New Zealanders.

G20 Cheese

Seen on The Appalling Strangeness:





This "... is either the picture of a group of serious political leaders finding a solution to grim economic times, or a bunch of titwits hamming it up for the camera. I just can't work out which."

Faith and Reason with Steve Kumar

Seen on Thinking Matters Auckland's website:

What: Dr Steve Kumar speaking on Faith and Reason

When: Tuesday 17th March – 7:00pm

Where: Lecture Room 2, Laidlaw College, 221 Lincoln Rd, Henderson, West Auckland

Format: Talk followed by questions, answers and discussion.

Cost: Free!

For almost thirty years Dr Kumar has been actively involved in speaking and writing about apologetics, philosophy and faith. As a New Zealand Christian apologist, he is a sought-after speaker in academic and church settings around the world. He is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs and is an influential voice on issues that relate to the credibility of the Christian truth claims.

Recession Work Policies

Stolen from BIG NEWS:

Here a way to cut down costs and tighten up in a recession.

Dress Code:
1) You are advised to come to work dressed according to your salary.
2) If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we will assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a raise.
3) If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise.
4) If you dress just right, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

Sick Days:
We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

Personal Days:
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturdays & Sundays.

Bathroom Breaks:
Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet. There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your second offence, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under the 'Chronic Offenders' category. Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be sectioned under the company's mental health policy.

Lunch Break:
* Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy.
* Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure.
* Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.

Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints,frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation and input should be directed elsewhere.

The Management

Time to Play the Name Game

It's meme time. This time it's a name game.

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Anatole Scalia

2. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's middle name and the name of the person who tagged you)
Lynley Jen

3. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad)
Richard Graham

4. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Scaan

5. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Platypus

6. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, town where you were born)
Maynard Aberdeen

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add “THE” to the beginning)
The Black Fanta

8. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Ania

9. GAMER NAME: (1st pet’s name, street you grew up on)
Fluffy Queen

10. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of last name plus "izzle")
Scaizzle

11. YOUR EMO NAME: (black, the name of one of your pets, then add any word that means "crying" to the end)
Black Spot Sobbing

12. ROMANCE NOVELIST PSEUDONYM: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Calvin Pebbles

13. INDIAN NAME: (what is the wind doing?+ what time of day is it?)
Howling Morning

14. NAME OF THE BLOG THAT TAGGED YOU (don't forget the link luv)
What Jen Finds

15. NAMES OF 5 BLOGGERS YOU TAG (pick people you haven't picked for any meme before)
Kiwi Polemicist
Crusader Rabbit
MandM
The Standard
Capitalism bad, Tree pretty

Shooting Bill

Taken from The Thorndon Bubble:

Will somebody please shoot Bill English? Like, now?! Before he destroys us all?!
Gawd, imagine if Cullen had suggested this? We wouldn't have protests, we'd have militias. I'm still not sure that isn't a rational response to this suggestion.

Nobody is Talking about You

Taken from Earth is my Favourite Planet:

“When I was in my 30’s I worried about what people thought about me. In my 40’s, I tried not to worry about what people thought about me. Now I’m in my 50’s and I realize that nobody was ever thinking about me to begin with.”

Lest we Forget - It's Only been a Few Months!

Helen Clark has been named as the Greatest Living New Zealander. The top five contenders were:

Helen Clark - 3163 votes
Willie Apiata - 2645 votes
Sir Murray Halberg - 1467 votes
Peter Jackson - 1340 votes
Peter Snell - 1041 votes

As NZ Conservative point out, "Stalin has just been named one of the greatest Russians ever."

Says it all really. No wonder Labour kept getting re-elected.