General Debate 29 July 2012

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Keeping Stock

As if the Horizon Poll they dragged out last year wasn’t bad enough, the Sunday Star-Times is at it again. Read past the beat-up headline and the opening two paragraphs, and all you find is:

* a poll with just 100 respondents, and
* fewer people (37%) opposing John Key than cumulatively voted for Labour, the Greens, Mana and NZ First at last year’s General Election.

Is it any wonder that the Fairfax Group is in such strife?

http://keepingstock.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/a-statistical-nonsense.html
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July 29, 2012 8:09am
Luke Mutton

Gotta love the Rich Pricks in good ole USA.

WaPo– Rafalca, a 15-year-old mare competing in dressage at the Olympics opening today in London, will be trying to add to the U.S. medal count and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s bottom line.Romney’s wife, Ann, who calls horses her “passion in life,” has an investment in them, including Rafalca, valued at as much as $500,000.

The couple’s tax returns classify Ann Romney’s pastime as a business that lost $77,731 in 2010, rather than a hobby, and as a passive investment instead of one they actively manage. Each of those decisions has tax consequences.

Good on the Romneys, showing the poor everywhere how to get ahead by sucking ~~cock~~ taxpayers.
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July 29, 2012 8:10am
Sofia

According to CYF’s care plan, Kahui is not permitted to be alone with his 3-year-old daughter, Carla, but must be supervised at all times by approved family members, including when she attends a childcare facility …

Child Youth and Family (CYF) has an ongoing relationship with Kahui and his family, but the service says it did not know he had any involvement with a childcare facility.

Would CYF not take special care to review Kahui’s situation the moment the Coroner expressed his findings, to check if the implication that he after-all is the murder, was not a stressor [the CRIMINAL MINDS word for “push his buttons”] ?
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July 29, 2012 8:20am
Chuck Bird

Rodney Hide: Dads define our future

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10822835

Another excellent opinion piece by Rodney. I would if those who worked behind the scenes to undermine Rodney will ever man up and admit they did the wrong thing. That goes particularly for the libertarians who were involved as the fools have actually helped the conservative cause.
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July 29, 2012 8:20am
Pete George

The Fairfax Media poll results and Stuff comments (‘Polarising’ PM losing gloss) on John Key do make some pertinent points:

The pollsters said many voters rated him a straight-shooter and good or excellent leader, but a significant number thought he was arrogant, smarmy and out of touch.

There were other negative comments but more likely to be from haters. “Arrogant, smarmy and out of touch” are comments Key and National should be wary of, they are more likely to lose supporters.
Details in John Key assessments.
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July 29, 2012 8:25am
Northland Wahine

Chuck… it s a good piece. Nicely written Mr Hide.
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July 29, 2012 8:33am
David Garrett

Chuck: Yes indeed, an excellent column.

As many know – courtesy of our “news” media – I went through a messy marriage break up last year. At the time I thought I was having it tough, with only limited opportunity to see my much loved children. But reading that column reminds me that a lot of fathers have it far far worse.

My wife has since told me that more than one of her friends suggested she tell the police that I was a danger to my children so as to “fix me”. To her great credit- bless her – she steadfastly refused to do so, as she knows that is totally untrue. Sadly, many men face such baseless accusations – aided and abetted by unprincipled members of my profession I am sorry to say.

As for who undermined Rodders…not a lot of mystery about that any more is there? And just out of curiousity, how does a woman “man up” ?
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July 29, 2012 8:34am
Pete George

Would Rodney consider going back to help repair and rebuild Act? Would Act consider it?
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July 29, 2012 8:43am
Northland Wahine

David… she sucks it up and spits the confession out. Can’t see whom you’re refering to, every doing it tho…
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July 29, 2012 8:47am
big bruv

Pete

Why the hell would you want Hide to come back, he is the one who fucked it up in the first place by accepting the baubles of office.

Key played him brilliantly, Hide is no better than Winston in as much as you give him a few shinny toys to play with and he stays quiet for three years.
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July 29, 2012 8:50am
David Garrett

Wahine: Dont understand your last sentence…

Pete George: The answers are “Not a chance in hell” and “If they had any sense..”

BB: Unfair. As an insider (at the time) I can tell you that Rodders refused to be Key’s boy on many occasions…but there is only so far the tail can make the rest of the dog vibrate. His threat to resign as a Minister if Maori wards were part of the Auckland supercity was entirely genuine..and supported as I recall by every member of his caucus…
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July 29, 2012 9:17am
alex Masterley

Further to Chucks post above, attached is a link to an SMH article that explores the implications of fatherless families for young men.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydneys-newest-sport–beat-someone-senseless-or-kill-them-for-the-heck-of-it-20120727-22ze2.html

Are we seeing the same in NZ?
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July 29, 2012 9:24am
bc

I wonder if the kiwiblog readers thought that last weeks article from Rodney Hide was “another excellent opinion piece” ??

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10821217
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July 29, 2012 9:51am
kowtow

Isn’t equality wonderful?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180251/Men-wear-skirts-Oxford-University-academic-dress-code-changed-meet-needs-cross-dressing-students.html
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July 29, 2012 9:53am
Falafulu Fisi

Fast singing of the lyrics in this beautiful mighty US Marine’s song.

“Semper fidelis” is a fabulous Latin motto
meaning that in centuries of Roman might the soldier swore that he would fight
For Caesar, never questioning if he might return
or if the enemy when they attack could be driven aback — and that’s what it means.
“We’re ever faithful” is the general gist in countries that are Christian
Though it means almost the same we pledge no longer to the name
Of Caesar, but to principles of the land we know and love,
Bestowing the motto in war on our readiest corps — the mighty Marines.
Men are dutiful to things contradictory —
loving all that is beautiful — knowing battle and victory.
They expect our expressions benedictory,
and they find it perplexing and vexing and odd when we are shocked.
They’ve forgotten the old established verities,
seeking only for fame and gold, seeing only disparities.
Those who worship the one true God are rarities
who remember the Biblical saying that God will not be mocked!
When the call to the true believer comes from the Church of God
Will they all in their heart receive Him go where He bids them trod?
Will the men who appear deserving, who to their faith are true,
answer when they are called to serving, do what she bids them do?
For many men profess their loyalty to true democracy yet bow to mockery
and bend the knee to aristocracy, for to live their creed their need is small.
And may men proclaim their worthiness, display their lowliness, disclaim their earthiness.
Oh give us strength to seek true holiness, and in word and deed to heed the call!

Listen to it here : SEMPER FIDELIS
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July 29, 2012 10:31am
Other_Andy

@kowtow

It obviously doesn’t go far enough.
It will upset Naturist students.
Nudity is normal and natural.
People who are upset about it are just a bunch of bigots, racists and people who believe in sky fairies..
If everybody has the right to dress as they like why shouldn’t they have the right not to dress?
It’s about equality!!!
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July 29, 2012 10:47am
Pete George

What was marriage? Nothing there definitively saying marriage = man and woman.

The word definition seems to be man orientated, not surprising as marriage often used to be man owns woman (as part of his property). A marriage was a convention used to breed an heir for his property.

Marriage has changed since then. Language evolution will say the definition history is irrelevant. “Gay” has evolved to a variety of modern uses, eg merry, homosexual and lame.

Marriage may evolve some more. It could be said that Louisa Wall is trying to make marry merry.

Defining Marriage.
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July 29, 2012 10:50am
Other_Andy

@Pete George

“What was marriage? Nothing there definitively saying marriage = man and woman. ”

Is that in ‘Pete George’s’ world?
What version of the Newspeak dictionary are you on?
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July 29, 2012 10:55am
flipper

A change of topics, to one that seems to have relevance in NZ to all but the red melons and their like …….

Some words of wisdom (for a change!) from the US :

The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S.Department of the Interior, asks us to “Please Do Not Feed the animals”. Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.

This ends today’s lesson.
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July 29, 2012 11:01am
liarbors a joke

http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8507243/manslaughter-charge-after-pensioner-beaten

lovely people. Why dont we import some more. Maybe they can go live with miklymike and all the other sandal wearing hand wringers.
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July 29, 2012 11:04am
Other_Andy

@flipper

Obama loves the poor.
He loves them so much, his policies are creating more and more of them.
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July 29, 2012 11:06am
Longknives

New Zealanders are a little small-minded and odd sometimes. Yesterday I read a posting on Facebook rubbishing the Olympic opening ceremony as it had “no culture” (Shakespeare, Dickens, the Industrial revolution, the 60s pop invasion etc etc aren’t ‘culture’??)
This idiot went on an Anti-British rant about them having no culture and how lucky we are in New Zealand!
Clearly ‘culture’ can only be defined by wearing grass skirts and doing googly-eyed war dances?

Now I read in this mornings Herald that people are complaining that the NZ team only got a few seconds coverage during the opening parade- And some guy on talkback reckons we should have done the haka. Don’t worry about the fact there are over 200 nations participating and the organisers are on a tight schedule..the opening ceremony should come to a shuddering halt while we do a bloody haka right??
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July 29, 2012 11:12am
Pete George

Other_Andy –

Definitions include:
1. to take in marriage
2. to perform the marriage ceremonies for (two people); join in wedlock.
3. to give in marriage; arrange the marriage of.
4. to unite intimately: Common economic interests marry the two countries.
5. to take as an intimate life partner by a formal exchange of promises in the manner of a traditional marriage ceremony.

‘marry’ comes from Middle English marien (1250–1300), derivative of marītus conjugal, akin to mās male (person).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/marry

What dictionary are you on?
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July 29, 2012 11:12am
Paulus

Finally have cancelled SST. after today’s mass vitriol principally from the female species of the so called media.
But, as my wife says, it is only from a certain kind of female.
A very small nail in the Fairfax coffers, but every little helps.
Kept saying – should have done it before. wife says why not – because like to see what the enemy are up to – Know your enemy.
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July 29, 2012 11:13am
liarbors a joke

yes everybody should have been made to watch an hour of some primitive people waving sticks around and poking their tongues out…we have to continually put up with it…why cant the rest of the world ?
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July 29, 2012 11:14am
Pete George

KS @ 8.09 am on, the Sunday Star-Times poll: “* a poll with just 100 respondents”.

Incorrect according to the poll PDF.

“The poll surveyed 1000 eligible voters by telephone over four nights from July 19 to July 23
and has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent. Only decided voters are used in the calculation
of percentages of party support.”

The article on Stuff says “Interviewers asked 100 people to describe Key in as few words as possible. ”

That’s either a typo, or they asked 100 people to describe Key but polled 1000.
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July 29, 2012 11:22am
Luke Mutton

here’s another way for Colin Craig to grab the CONservative vote.

http://blogs.reuters.com/the-human-impact/2012/07/25/pregnant-teen-with-cancer-stirs-abortion-debate-in-dominican-republic/

I’m sure all the “pro-lifers” will be salivating over the prospect of more killing the mother in order to save the cells.
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July 29, 2012 11:22am
kowtow

pg@1050 What is the definition of……..

It has always,in the Anglo Saxon world, with it’s un written constitution, been so bleedin’ obvious what marriage was/is that a definition was never needed.
It has always had a de facto legal status,never needed a legal one……till now .

It’s a bit like official language in the US and indeed here probably Britain. Who would have ever questioned or needed to question the status of English as the defacto legal language of same.

But now in our wonderful post modern world,with equality ,diversity,multiculturalism,sexual “liberation’ ,mass immigration,ethnic rights etc we find constant challenges to the long established and accepted status quo.

Recent Hispanic arrivals in the US who refuse to integrate demand language rights and recognition,in Aotearoa we have the utterly ridiculous situation that sign and Maori are have a legat status that English hasn’t!

Some things just don’t need defining or interfering with and marriage is one of them.
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July 29, 2012 11:24am
Other_Andy

Hi Pete

It doesn’t say anything about ‘imaginary people’ either.
Can I marry my imaginary friend?
My cat?

How old are you Pete?
Have you lost your common sense, are you playing word games or do you realy think that because some definitions don’t include the word male or female the definition isn’t clear or nobody knows what it realy means?
You should start a Ministry of Truth so you can revising historical records to make the past conform to the ever-changing party line.
Marriage?
Marriage was never ever definitively between a man and woman.
A thousand of years of history rewritten.
Next?
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July 29, 2012 11:30am
Pete George

It has always,in the Anglo Saxon world, with it’s un written constitution, been so bleedin’ obvious what marriage was…

No, it has changed.

Marriage used to commonly be a contract of a man taking ownership of a woman.
Marriage used to commonly be the only financial security a woman could have.
Marriage used to be a power arrangement (where one or both people being married had no say).
Marriage used to often be under shotgun conditions.
Marriage used to be the only acceptable way a child could leave the family home.
Marriage used to be the primary ‘career’ choice of women.

Most of that no longer happens (in New Zealand at least).

Marriage has evolved into being an optional voluntary equal arrangement and commitment between two people.
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July 29, 2012 11:35am
Tauhei Notts

“The Auckland real estate agents are coming to Hamilton!”
“No, you mug. It’s the Sharks rugby union team that are coming. A silly stuff up on your part.”
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July 29, 2012 11:47am
Harriet

“Gay marriage is now the issue through which the elite advertises its superiority over the redneck masses”.

“A question rarely asked about gay marriage is how it became such a massive flashpoint issue. In America and Britain, gay marriage has become one of the key issues of our time, with everyone from bishops to hacks feeling the need to tell the world where they stand on it. And yet the remarkable thing is that gay marriage has achieved this hot-potato status without the benefit of a mass movement demanding it, far less any public streetfighting or serious civil unrest by homosexuals determined to get hitched.

“For all the self-flattering comparisons made by gay activists between their demand for gay marriage and black Americans’ demand for civil rights in the 1950s and 60s, it is the differences between these two things that are most striking. Gay-marriage activists have not had to march for years on end, carry out mass boycotts, face water cannons, get attacked by dogs or run the risk of being thrown in jail for their campaign to achieve almost saintly status, winning the backing of leading politicians and commentators. The speed and ease with which gay marriage has gone from being a tiny minority concern to become the No 1 battle in the modern culture wars has been truly remarkable – and revealing.

“What it suggests is that gay marriage is more a tool of the elite than it is a demand of the demos. The thing motoring the gay-marriage campaign, its political engine, is not any longstanding desire among homosexuals to get married or an active, passionate demand from below for the right of men to marry men and women to marry women. No, its driving force, the reason it has been so speedily and heartily embraced by the political and media classes, is because it is so very useful as a litmus test of liberal, cosmopolitan values. Supporting gay marriage has become a kind of shorthand way of indicating one’s superiority over the hordes, particularly those of a religious or redneck persuasion.”

And he concludes as follows: “The bizarre emptying-out of political debate from the issue of gay marriage, and its transformation instead into a clear-cut moral matter that separates the good from the bad, shows what its backers really get out of it – a moral buzz, a rush of superiority as they declare, to anyone who will listen, that they are For Gay Marriage. In this sense, supporting gay marriage has become less a declaration of truly democratic instincts and more a kind of provocation. In declaring your support for gay marriage, you can provoke both fusty old religionists and the backward masses into expressions of disagreement or disgruntlement, and then bask in the glow of your own superior, better-informed outlook.

“This is the reason gay marriage has become so central to modern political debate in America and Britain, despite there being almost no societal drive or urge behind it – because it lends itself brilliantly to expressions of a very elitist sensibility. It allows the upper echelons of society both to distance themselves from the old and the thick and to advertise their own mental, cultural and moral superiority.”

Exactly right. And on March 22 he wrote “Why gay marriage is a very bad idea” He begins: “Gay marriage: what the hell is that all about? Anyone who asks himself the simple question of how gay marriage came to be a massive talking point in both America and Europe will surely conclude that it is the most surreal political issue of our age. There is no mass campaign for it; historically, gays haven’t been interested in getting married; and according to a recent opinion poll, while 45 per cent of Britons support gay marriage, 78 per cent think that making it legal should not be a parliamentary priority. And yet somehow, seemingly without logic or reason, gay marriage has become the issue of 2012 and is now more hotly debated in commentary circles than just about any other thing on Earth.

He continues, “One of the most striking things about gay marriage is the disparity between mass feeling for the issue (which is best described as weak to non-existent) and elite passion for it (which is intense). All sorts of elite institutions, from political parties to massive corporations, are lining up to back the gay-marriage ‘cause’, clearly having sensed that it is the issue through which their kind can now make a display of their sanctity. So not only are old-world, conservative media institutions such as The Times and right-wing parties like the Conservatives declaring their support for gay marriage, so is the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein. He has become a spokesman for one of America’s largest gay-rights group, appearing in its adverts to say ‘I support marriage equality’.

“The intervention of Goldman Sachs makes no sense, other than as part of a process of strange and instinctive elite reformulation around this issue. Gay marriage has become the great cleanser of discredited or at-sea institutions, so that even a hated investment bank sees value in signing up for it. What we have here is effectively the formation of a new clique through a handpicked issue. At a time when traditional political dividing lines count for little, and when the old taken-for-granted morality has withered, there is an instinctive feel-around for something, anything, through which moral seriousness and cultural superiority can once again be asserted. And in recent years, gay marriage has become the prime platform for such elite preening….

“The transformation of gay marriage into a barometer of moral decency explains why the debate about it is so shot through with censoriousness and condemnation. That is another striking difference between the old genuinely democratic reformers and today’s gay-marriage supporters – where the proper reformers were in favour of openness and debate, the gay-marriage lobby seems far more keen to stifle dissent. As a writer for the Guardian put it, ‘There are some subjects that should be discussed in shades of grey, with acknowledgement of subtleties and cultural differences. Same-sex marriage is not one of those.”

And he concludes: “Now, perhaps you think the institution of marriage should be devalued, that it is stuffy and conservative and in need of an overhaul. Fine. Then argue for that, openly and honestly. But no one benefits from the charade of gay marriage. The fact is that marriage is not simply about co-habitation or partnership; it is not even simply about having an intense relationship. It has historically been about much more – about creating a unit, with its own rules, that is recognised by the state and society as a distinctive union often entered into for the purpose of raising a new generation
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July 29, 2012 12:48pm
Keeping Stock

@ Pete George – the only-decided-voters-counted bit sounds surprisingly like the discredited Horizon polls of 2011. I wonder if the Psos poll is Horizon v2.1, and with a new name.

@ Paulus – if you want to keep tabs on the enemy, do it online and save a tree!
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July 29, 2012 12:51pm
Pete George

KS – Most polls simply don’t mention undecided, if you look at the whole PDF it’s clear. I thought the 100 sample size was low too but checked the poll PDF fine print.

The overall party support numbers don’t sound very far from other polls so could be credible. This tweet was interesting:

‏@dpfdpf
@avancenz Glad to see Fairfax and Sunday Star-Times are using a reliable company!
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July 29, 2012 1:06pm
bc

There’s a lot of things that are wonderful about the USA but there’s two things from the news today that highlight issues that I find truly bizarre in the land of the free:

1) Their crazy gun culture

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10822947

2) And a health system where the VICTIMS of the Colorado shooting have to pay for their health care!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10822947
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July 29, 2012 1:41pm
bc

Skim reading the headlines from the NZ Herald website, I had to read this one twice:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10822916

For a moment there I thought DPF was in a same-sex relationship!!
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July 29, 2012 1:46pm
bc

Longknives @ 11.12am
Yes I agree, some people aren’t happy unless they are moaning.
On a related note, some people are also moaning that the opening ceremony was delayed on Prime because prime inserted ad breaks into their coverage.
Because of the ads it meant that by the time the New Zealand team appeared the ceremony was about 30 minutes delayed. By the end of it all the delay was up to 45 minutes.
I mean honestly, for those of us without Sky, we got to see it free to air. Ad breaks are the price you pay.
Still Prime shouldn’t have stated that the coverage was live when it wasn’t – it was only live up to the first ad break!
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July 29, 2012 1:53pm
Viking2

Henry suspected match-fixing after 07 loss
STEVE KILGALLON
Last updated 12:56 29/07/2012

IAIN McGREGOR/Fairfax NZ
GRAHAM HENRY: After returning to New Zealand following the failed 2007 World Cup campaign, the All Blacks coach and wife Raewyn escaped to Hervey Bay in central Queensland.
All Blacks
Bledisloe Cup finale for Sonny Bill Williams Axe hovering over All Blacks’ rookie players SBW in frame to cover for Smith in ABs SBW may yet be selected for All Blacks tests Smith could miss three All Blacks matches New faces expected at All Blacks next camp Smith to miss start of Rugby Championship NZRU backs off planned All Blacks jersey sale Dan Carter rues SBW’s exit from All Blacks Handshake seals Sonny Bill’s future

All Blacks coach Graham Henry was so stunned by the lopsided penalty count in the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to France he urged the New Zealand Rugby Union to call for an investigation into referee Wayne Barnes’ performance.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7370102/Henry-suspected-match-fixing-after-07-loss
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July 29, 2012 1:54pm
Other_Andy

@harriet

Thanks for that.
Interesting read.

“In this sense, supporting gay marriage has become less a declaration of truly democratic instincts and more a kind of provocation. In declaring your support for gay marriage, you can provoke both fusty old religionists and the backward masses into expressions of disagreement or disgruntlement, and then bask in the glow of your own superior, better-informed outlook.”

Also one of the reasons why Americans voted for Obama, a relative unknown with a dubious background.
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July 29, 2012 2:02pm
Viking2

So women can do anything Eh.
Including illegal acts as a lawyer and have a Judge allow her to get off scot free.

Lawyer-to-be avoids prison
By Chloe Johnson
5:30 AM Sunday Jul 29, 2012

A law graduate has avoided a prison term despite deliberately taking the wrong man for DNA testing to get her ex-partner’s name removed from her son’s birth certificate.

The 33-year-old woman, who now lives in Masterton, was sentenced in the Auckland District Court this week to three months’ community detention for preventing the course of justice. She has been granted permanent name suppression to protect her son’s identity.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10822885
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July 29, 2012 2:16pm
Viking2

Should Judges be allowed to judge other lawyers or should the trials be by Jury or by a panel of ordinary people.

Too much of that shit.
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July 29, 2012 2:20pm
kowtow

pg @1135

Yep, marriage has been lots of things,but it’s only ever been between members of the opposite sex.

v2
amazing how “professionals” always manage and fight for control of disciplinary matters over their own. For the plebs,not so much,there’s an insistence for “independant” oversight,often ironically enough involving lawyers/politicians who would fight tooth and nail to prevent the same for their “profession”. There’s alot of arrogance in legal/political circles.
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July 29, 2012 2:51pm
Harriet

The story goes like this:

“A woman who holds a flame for the Statue of Liberty has paid another visit to her long-distance ‘lover’ and confessed that just touching the monument gave her an orgasm. Amanda Whittaker, from Leeds, England, flew to New York last week to spend time with the statue, which she says she has fallen in love with. The 27-year-old shop assistant, who refers to the monument affectionately as Libby, described the reunion as ‘sexually and emotionally fulfilling.’

“Amanda suffers from an unusual condition called objectum sexuality, whereby she falls in love with inanimate objects instead of people. Talking to British newspaper, The Sun, Amanda said it seemed there was lightning between her and ‘Libby’ on her latest visit. ‘I was overwhelmed with emotional and sexual excitement. When I saw her I almost cried,’ she said. ‘Libby satisfies my lovemaking needs,’ Amanda added.

“Amanda told the paper she felt the statue hugging her back and, as shocked tourists looked on, she cried out her love for ‘Libby’. For her fifth visit to the statue, Amanda read out a poem she had penned, spent hours talking to her and vowed she would remain faithful to her. The 27-year-old also explained that she visited this time because the statue is currently being restored so ‘needed’ Amanda.

“Amanda, who recently changed her surname to Liberty by deed poll, became infatuated with the world-famous monument in 2007, after a friend posted a picture online of herself with the 151ft copper statue. She has also installed a shrine to the landmark in her Leeds home to show her love for it, an interview with The Sun revealed in March.

“The woman, who confesses to a passionate love affair with a drum kit in her teens, says that she is not ‘weird’ but ‘unusual’ and just sees another side to objects. She even says she has thought about tying the knot with ‘Libby’ but opted not to ‘because so many others love her too’. Amanda has visited the statue in person five times, where she admits to caressing it and leaning out of a window to kiss its hair.

“And so she can have regular contact with her copper companion she has created a shrine to Libby in her home, with hundreds of miniature statues, and a 6ft replica in her bedroom. ”

“In recent years a number of people suffering with objectum sexuality have hit the headlines with their own unusual relationships. Erika Eiffel, an object-sexual, married Paris’s Eiffel Tower in 2007 while Eklöf Berliner-Mauer is believed to be the first person to go public with the condition, when she announced her love for a Swedish red fence.”

There you have it folks. It is clearly time to end all this unjust and bigoted discrimination against poor Amanda and others like her.

This is the 21st century after all, so it is high time that we allow this poor woman to marry just like everyone else. It certainly is time to end unfair statuephobia. Marriage rights for all! End the discrimination now!

Objectphiliacs of the world unite – you have nothing to lose but your rather kinky chains!

Gay Marriage supporters will discriminate against people like Amanda because ‘like pigs at the farm’ they are more equal than others. 😎
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July 29, 2012 3:16pm
Manolo

Was Miss Dim among these losers? http://www.chron.com/sports/article/London-protesters-march-against-capitalist-Games-3742811.php
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July 29, 2012 4:56pm
Reid

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7371265/Eight-Disciples-take-a-lesson-in-humility

Our public schools are secular by law, but a loophole allows them to close during the day for religious education. Some of the criticism aimed at Bible lessons centres on the ostracising of children who have been opted- out. Other parents have complained they were not informed of Bible class until their children came home chatting about Jesus.

Owairoa principal Alan McIntyre sends opt-out forms with enrolment forms, but he says the school supports the lessons promoting values. ‘A lot of people rely on the school for promoting those values.’

Greening accepts some schools are not as good as Owairoa at informing parents of the opt-out clause. He is hoping to put a template form on the commission’s own website so all schools and parents can access it. ‘We want to ensure parents know clearly from the school about opt-out procedures. I can’t vouch for every school ensuring that happens.’

There’s something really wrong with a society when it’s more concerned about providing opt-out forms for Christian education for 9-11 year olds than it is for providing opt-out forms for sex-ed classes which uses life-size anatomically correct erect dildos and teaches these exact same children how to put condoms onto them, isn’t there.

But then again, that’s precisely the sort of society you fucked-up liberals have ordered-up isn’t it, in your profound utterly idiotic naivity. After all, it’s about fweedom and human wights, isn’t it. Just once it would be good to transport you idiots fifty years into the future so you could see first hand just exactly what your profound naivity has wrought on the very people you were claiming to protect.
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July 29, 2012 5:15pm
nasska

Reid

Isn’t sex education at primary/intermediate school level an “opt in” part of the education on offer? A few years back we were guardians for one of the grandchildren while her mother got herself sorted out & I’m sure we had to sign a form allowing her to attend.

Part of the objection to Christian education is that the parents are not kept up to speed on what is likely to be taught. In general terms it probably doesn’t do any great harm…..I survived a Christian boarding school without too many neuroses or deviant character traits but I still consider that school time would be better spent on core subjects.
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July 29, 2012 5:42pm
Reid

http://www.propublica.org/article/thats-no-phone.-thats-my-tracker

There is another option. People could call them trackers. It’s a neutral term, because it covers positive activities — monitoring appointments, bank balances, friends — and problematic ones, like the government and advertisers watching us.

We can love or hate these devices — or love and hate them — but let’s start calling them what they are so we can fully understand what they do.
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July 29, 2012 5:45pm
Tauhei Notts

Anti Natal Classes will be held in Hamilton this week.
After seven days they will revert to ante natal classes.
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July 29, 2012 5:48pm
Steve (North Shore)

Pages on this blog are extremely slow to load. Not happening on other blogs/websites, just here.
Started this morning about 11am. Anyone else finding the same? Has DPF’s server had a hicup?
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July 29, 2012 5:48pm
Fletch

I went and saw the Dark Knight Rises this afternoon.
Hmm, was OK I guess…

Maybe I am hard to please, but no recent movie has had me coming out of the cinema thinking “wow! what an awesome movie!”. Same with Avengers – people told me is was really great, but meh – it was OK.

Where are the good movies?
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July 29, 2012 5:49pm
nasska

The same problem Steve. Seems to stall on “pubads”.
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July 29, 2012 5:56pm
big bruv

Steve NS

Thank fuck you are also having the same problem (sorry about that 🙂 )

I thought it was just my PC.
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July 29, 2012 6:01pm
Reid

Who knows nasska. http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/09/the_sex_ed_debate.html#comment-879500

Meanwhile:

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2012/04/21/the-vast-facebook-sea-of-brainlessness/

Yes agree guys. In fact I just had to log on again, twice today. FFS.
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July 29, 2012 6:02pm
alex Masterley

I am having similar problems with laoding so I think it may be the interwobble playing up.

V2 @2.16, the woman is a law graduate. That does not make her a lawyer.

With this conviction I doubt that the NZLS will let her in. She has to disclose it on any application for admission, so I think finding her on the rolls of lawyers will be unlikely.
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July 29, 2012 6:09pm
Pauleastbay

I thought the Olympic’s opening was great – the Poms to big events well.

Easy to waste the day though, watched archery for several hours this morning, it was exciting though, high skill factor.

Love seeing fit dedicated people doing their thing .
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July 29, 2012 6:11pm
Reid

I think finding her on the rolls of lawyers will be unlikely

Well yeah, simply on the grounds of mere stupidity let alone character, I would have thought.

I mean.

Someone has completed study for a law degree.

The same person then at some point before or after said completion thinks it would be a terrific idea to…

…falsify an official record in a way that’s bound to be found out and cripple her professionally forever after…

Oh dear.

I mean, what precisely did she learn, at law school?

…
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July 29, 2012 6:15pm
alex Masterley

Reid,
There is that too.
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July 29, 2012 6:21pm
big bruv

PEB

“Love seeing fit dedicated people doing doing their thing .”

So you gave the darts a miss on Sky Sports 2 then? 🙂
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July 29, 2012 6:22pm
Steve (North Shore)

Page Loading,
I was just about to start messing with my Norton Firewall and security, but I guess DPF knows about it by now.

PEB, yeah archery is a sport I don’t take an interest in until the Olympics. It is good.
The opening ceremony with the James Bond/Queen was great, some of my American friends were not impressed, but that’s only because MI5 did not tell Felix Leiter and the CIA 🙄
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July 29, 2012 6:23pm
Harriet

I’m having the same loading issues all day but only with kiwiblog and I live in QLD.It’s at DPF’s end I would imagine
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July 29, 2012 6:40pm
Other_Andy

Pages……………..loading…………………………so……………………………………slow.
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July 29, 2012 6:54pm
Steve (North Shore)

Has DPF not updated the time zone when using remote access?
He may have inadvertently forgotten due to an unusual fuel mixture
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July 29, 2012 6:56pm
Steve (North Shore)

This from the Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10823035&ref=rss
Wow, amazing that the Labour mouthpiece has this online – it won’t last.
David Clark gets paid an MP’s salary and he can not answer about his bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Here is a cock completely out of touch with his voters
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July 29, 2012 7:13pm
kowtow

The games……..

A chuckle at Boris Johnsons expense

http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/boris-olympic-welcome/
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July 29, 2012 7:50pm
nasska

Saint Peter is sitting at the Pearly Gates when half a dozen Maori guys arrive. St. Peter looked out through the Gates and said “Wait here. I will be right back”. St. Peter goes over to God’s chambers and tells him who is waiting for entrance. God says to Peter: “How many times do I have to tell you, you can’t be racist and judgmental here. This is Heaven. All are loved. All are brothers. Go back and let them in!”

St. Peter goes back to the Gates, looks around, and lets out a heavy sigh. He returns to God’s chambers and says “Well, they’re gone”. “Who, the Maori guys?” asked God. “No… the Pearly Gates”.
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July 29, 2012 8:00pm
Steve (North Shore)

With the slow loading, nasska times it on the dot at 8.00pm.

hhmmmmm
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July 29, 2012 8:18pm
nasska

Steve (North Shore)

I loaded it & clicked ‘submit’ at 7.45pm. 🙂
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July 29, 2012 8:23pm
Puzzled in Ekatahuna

Australian TV program exposes Assange frame-up
By Mike Head – 28 July 2012
“Four Corners”, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation current affairs program, this week broadcast what amounted to an exposé of the frame-up of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange on allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden. Assange remains inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, seeking political asylum from the threat of being removed to Sweden, which would in turn facilitate extradition to the US.

The program provided a valuable service by simply piecing together what happened in the three crucial weeks after Assange arrived in Sweden in mid-August 2010. Assange was there to address a conference and investigate the possibility of hosting WikiLeaks’ operations in a secure computer facility …

The program provided substantial evidence that the allegations against him were false and politically motivated. The unproven accusations were used to blacken his name in Sweden and around the world, and counter the widespread public support that he and WikiLeaks had won for courageously exposing the crimes and machinations of the US and other powers.

Reported by Andrew Fowler, the program recounts that when Assange arrived in Sweden on August 11, he was offered accommodation at the apartment of Anna Ardin. She was meant to be away, but returned on the evening of August 13. That night she had consensual sex with Assange, who continued to stay in the apartment until August 18 – five days after the occasion on which the Swedish authorities later alleged Assange had used force against her.

In fact, Ardin several times insisted that Assange stay, rejecting offers from others to have the WikiLeaks’ chief stay with them. On the two nights following the supposed assault, Ardin arranged a crayfish barbecue for Assange and attended a dinner party by his side. During the crayfish party, she had tweeted: “Sitting outdoors at 02:00 and hardly freezing with the world’s coolest, smartest people! It’s amazing!” Later she told a friend she had a “wild weekend” with him.
– http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/assa-j28.shtml
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July 29, 2012 8:41pm
questions

“Reid
sex-ed classes which uses life-size anatomically correct erect dildos”

This is not true.

You would you your rancid crusade a world of good if you just stopped lying.
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July 29, 2012 9:57pm
Reid

You would you your rancid crusade a world of good if you just stopped lying.

questions you would do your rancid crusade a world of good if you just made sense once in a while, instead of just lying, as you clearly are, or do, or whatever it is you are trying to make happen.

Point is, it’s just so rancid, so please just stop, lest you make the world vomit, so there, I mean, crikey.
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July 29, 2012 10:20pm
Reid

P.S. questions: I hope you become a regular commenter, since you seem to have some quite interesting angles on various things.
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July 29, 2012 10:39pm
Manolo

The comrades show their deep red streak against progress: http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8507473/labour-wary-of-more-consent-fast-tracking
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July 30, 2012 6:28am
UpandComer

Just read an interesting post by Pascal’s bookie on the standard. He points out that the conservative party is going to turn swing moderates away from national and into Labour. They are also going to take votes from national without taking votes from the left. Basically Colin Craig is going to destroy the centre right, and I agree with Pascal’s Bookie. Yokels like Red-Baiter will demand all kinds of silliness that National won’t want to give, but being ‘pure’ they won’t compromise – hence 2 decades of dark ages under Labour. I just hope Colin will do what is best for the centre right, and not his 3 percent of yokels.
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July 30, 2012 7:34am
krazykiwi

DPF — Kiwiblog seems to be gagging on page load. I’m getting a 60-120 second pause between rendering of the jobs.co.nz ad, and the localist ad. After the localist ad renders the rest of the page is there almost instantly.
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July 30, 2012 7:36am
Fletch

kk et al – use the AdBlock extension and fanboys list of ads to block from http://www.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-adblock.txt
I have no probs loading the page.
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July 30, 2012 8:25am
krazykiwi

Hmm, seems to be ok now.
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July 30, 2012 8:26am
Manolo

It must be checking your credentials, krazykiwi: the more you lean to the right, the longer it takes to load.
davinci’s claims is as fast as lightning. 🙂
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July 30, 2012 8:33am

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