Duck Drowns

A 52ft-high (16m) rubber duck, which has attracted crowds of admirers in various locations around the world, lies deflating in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour. The giant bird, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, was found lying on its sideon Tuesday night and was completely flat by Wednesday. more

Civil Legal Aid Exists

It's not true "there is no such thing as civil legal aid".

Here are where the forms are online for civil legal aid which totally pays for your defence if you're say a student with a few debts facing a civil court date.

Taking Sex Seriously

Psychology Today has a piece On the Seriousness of Sex. In it Michael W. Austin explains why there are reasons for thinking that sex is not mere recreation:

For some people, the claim that there is something serious or significant about sex will seem obviously true. For others, the alleged truth of this claim is not so clear. One contemporary philosopher has offered up the notion that perhaps we ought to see sexual exclusivity and romantic love as separate entities. One consequence of this is that we could love one person and be committed to that relationship, but have merely sexual relationships with many other people as well. The idea is that we should view sex as we currently view sharing a meal. Neither is that big of a deal.

It is clear that some people opt for this sort of approach to sexuality and love, but the deeper question is whether or not it is wise to do so. It is unwise to view sex too casually. Having sex is unlike sharing a meal with another person in many ways, and some of them are morally and psychologically significant. 

To see why this is the case, consider the following argument from Matthew Flanagan:

1. Children cannot, either by themselves or by proxy, give valid consent to sexual intercourse.
2. Children can give consent, by themselves or by proxy, to casual recreational activities.
3. Therefore, sex is not merely a casual recreational activity.

This is an interesting argument, because it brings out the seriousness and significance of sex (see the comments at MandM if you're interested in some critical discussion of the argument; the argument needs a bit of work but it makes the point that it is intended to make, I think).

Of course sex is fun and pleasurable, but [more...]

Oh Christchurch!

My fellow Cantabrians are suffering a disaster unprecedented in New Zealand in my living memory. New Zealand's heart is in Christchurch.

Vote for the Hottest Kiwi Female Blogger of 2011

Blogging NZ chicks are getting hotter. In alphabetical order, the finalists are:

Blondie

Cactus Kate

Jacqueline Sperling

Lisa Lewis

Madeleine Flannagan

Vote in the poll on the sidebar. Leave your comments as to why you voted the way you did below.

New Zealand Election Called

No dodging media or playing games Prime Minister Key lays his cards on the table and volunteers 26 November 2011 as election day. I like a PM who knows his mind. I like one even better who emphatically and categorically refuses to deal with Winston.

Ten Year Old Gives Birth - Her Mother Doesn't Get the Fuss

The mother of the new young mom said it was not unusual for girls in their native country of Romania to have babies when they are as young as ten-years-old. It is not considered to be too young there, she claimed.

Read more.

Tiger Woods to Convert to Islam

Obama’s plan for Sharia Law may benefit someone. Swiped from the Gunny G Blog.

In a stunning new development, the Tiger Woods legal team has unveiled an ingenious strategy to help the randy golfer avoid the rough in his recent marital problems and possibly skip a financial bloodbath. The answer is surprisingly found in the doctrines of Muslim Shari’ah law. This solution presented itself when Obama czars and other legal gurus, such as “Papa” Cass Sunstein, and Harold “Koo-Koo” Koh suggested importing Muslim law into America. Intrigued, legal experts across the gamut now agree Muslim laws on marriage make perfect sense for the indefatigable romeo Tiger Wood and his web of female relationships, claiming it will also play well to the gallery.

With the Obama Administration’s relentless march to universalize American law along global standards, it seems like a very heady time for Wood’s team to make a play on this bold maneuver. Tiger’s legal squad has brought in several prominent Muslim doctors of law to advise on the implications of Islamic teachings on the subject of his marriage and multiple other dangerous liaisons. Mike Tyson is also flying in to offer advice and support.
The following are the findings and recommendations of these august Muslim divines:

TIGER’S ISLAMIC CONVERSION

First, and most essentially – Tiger Woods’ must come out and publicly proclaim he is in fact a Muslim convert. This will immediately and legally put Tiger under the teachings of Muhammad, and allow him to follow the founder of Islam’s prescient example of polygamy. Apparently, Mohammad also boasted a world-class drive, having somewhere between 10 and 20 wives. Announcing his conversion via a TV news conference, preferably between rounds at the Riyadh Classic, would be an excellent approach to be able to stress the authenticity and sincerity of his conversion. He might enlarge here upon his Road to Damascus narrative to explain his epiphany. Doing so in native Middle Eastern garb, say in a tunic or a classic turban would be seen as a tasteful decision, while several authorities stressed that Woods’ donning a Burqa would be “a big mistake.”
Most intriguingly,

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.