Oudong is the former capital of Cambodia from 1618 to 1865. Sadly hundreds of temples and stupas were destroyed here in the 1970s. However it is still home to the largest Buddhist temple in Cambodia.

This is the entrance to the Vipasssana Dhura. It is huge.

Inside is a stunning display of artwork. The walls and roof are all exquisite.

One of the wall panels

This stature of Buddha is huge. Reaches to the roof.

What they didn’t tell us in advance, is we don’t just observe, but actually had to take part in a Buddhist prayer ceremony for 10 minutes. I counted backwards from 600 to make the time go faster.

A statue in a lAke representing good. The crocodile at her feet represents evil!

I think that may be the tallest flagpole I have seen!

One of the few surviving stupas of former Kings of Cambodia.

We then drove to Kampong Tralach. On the way we passed several dozen of these trucks jam packed with Cambodians. I’m never going to complain about crowded public transport again!

The poor quality is due to window glare and being on a moving bus.

They were all transporting home staff from the local brewery – around 2,000 of them. Goodness knows what you do if stuck in the middle and need to get off.

A nice shot of the fields.

Then at Kampong Tralach, we had a half hour or so ride on oxcarts to the river.

They were very slow moving and pretty uncomfortable. A fun experience, but not something if you don’t do, that will make you feel your life is incomplete

I’ve not blogged on this to date, as the media has been all over it. But the sheer scale of the revelations are worth commenting on.

Saville, or Sir James as he was a Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory (Papal Knight).  He was also a member of Mensa.

A journalist tweeted that the UK Police has 10 officers investigating his alleged 400 cases of sexual abuse, and over 100 officers investigating journalists for listening to voicemail messages!

He is dead now, but the question is how he got away with it for so long. The Police interviewed him in 2007 oevr allegations, and in 2000 he talked about how some people claim he is a pedophile. A pity his denials did not get investigated. Likewise his defence of Gary Glitter in 2009 should have rung warning bells. He was first investigated back in 1958 it seems!

The BBC first heard of the rumours in 1973, and asked for a report on them. Nothing happened. And of course the BBC canned one of its own programmes in late 2011 that would have reported on the allegations.

There are half a dozen different investigations into Saville, the BBC and the health service (he has access to young patients and often abused them). I suspect in today’s Internet age, he would have been called out much sooner on.

Saturday morning we went to a small Cambodian village – around 1,000 population.

This is the local school. Kids attend school six days a week, but only in the mornings.

And the local kids are well used to having the tourists come through. We learnt a few words of the local dialect, and as usual donated goods to the school. They have an excellent culture here on encouraging you not to give money etc to individual kids, but to give to schools.

While Cambodia is a poor country, I have to say the kids appear pretty happy and education is deemed important. I think there’s a lot worse places you could grow up, in the developing world.

The local padoya or temple. I was amazed that even a small village such as this has a padoya, let alone such a grand one. It seems only the smallest of villages will not have one.

Very patriotic country – you see Cambodian flags flying everywhere – many houses have one.

A family riding on their motorcycle. A very common sight to see kids on them with adults, and looking like they are having the time of their lives. Cambodia is not quite so motorcycle heavy as Vietnam though.

Five on one bike was a record I think. Reminds me of the days when I managed around ten people in a medium sized car!

The main road through the village – few are sealed outside the cities.

A tapestry making machine. It’s made entirely out of wood and powered by foot pedals, so anyone could make one and go into business for themselves – as this family have done. Real innovation.

The upstairs of their house. This is a medium type residence. Not very poor or very rich. One mattress behind the curtains, as most sleep on the bamboo floor.  However note behind the pole is a flatscreen TV and a stereo system.

We hadn’t used this gangway before. Most are solid metal constructions. This was two planks, and rope hand rails. Definitely one at a time.

The SST headline and lead para:

 New Zealand may quit Kyoto

New Zealand has been tipped to quit the Kyoto Protocol, designed to cut global emissions.

Nonsense. NZ is, as I understand it, fully committed to its Kyoto obligations.

The issue is that those obligations are for the five year period 2008 – 2012, which ends in 10 weeks time. But to suggest that NZ is quitting, is just inaccurate.

Government officials next month travel to Doha in Qatar for the latest round of negotiations on the treaty, but with less than four weeks before the summit, acting Climate Change Minister Simon Bridges says the Government has “not made a decision” on its commitment.

“My understanding is that decisions have yet to be made on that matter,” he said.

But the actions of participants in the carbon market, and market signs, suggest the Government is preparing to walk away.

There is nothing to walk away from! There is not international agreement on post 2012 targets.

There is growing speculation the Government’s silence is because it could save face internationally by waiting for big players like China and the US to refuse to sign up to the second Kyoto round, before following suit.

Of course, as it would be economic and environmental madness to have an agreement without them (or India).

But not unilaterally agreeing to a future binding commitment, is vastly different to walking away from a current commitment. If reporters can not understand this, then here’s an analogy.

If I lend you $1,000 and you agree to pay me back $200 a year, and then after five years you have paid me back, are you walking away from your commitment if you don’t keep giving me money in the future?

But OM Financial carbon broker Nigel Brunnel thinks New Zealand will sign up to new commitments in Doha, but then delay ratifying them. That could buy time to pursue aligning with a group of Asia-Pacific partners, and adopting voluntary emissions targets outside of Kyoto.

That fits into two of the Government’s climate-change themes, New Zealand doing its share, and not damaging competitiveness by enforcing heavy carbon payments on businesses when trading partners like the US and China do not.

Because of that, about 85 per cent of world carbon emissions are not covered by international reduction agreements, and it is said in government circles that China’s emissions increase daily by New Zealand’s entire annual carbon output.

It is simple. Any agreement which doesn’t include binding targets by China is worthless in an environmental sense.

If this was done deliberately, how very nasty. The HoS starts by saying:

Far-right racists suspected in attack.

An office belonging to a former immigration minister has been hit by vandals in what is being described as a racist attack.

And

Etched beneath the cracked single-sheet front window were the words “QUACK OSMS”, the latter word in lettering similar to National Front insignia.

An angry Delamere yesterday said a bullet had damaged his New North Rd office and his business was being targeted by an anti-immigration “scuzzbags”. “It looks like a bullet has gone through it and it looks like some sort of National Front message scrawled on the footpath,” he said.

They also mention:

The attack follows the desecration of graves in Auckland’s Grafton Cemetery just over a week ago. Three men have been charged with wilful damage after anti-semitic graffiti and swastikas were sprayed on 20 headstones. In another attack, a Grey Lynn house being renovated was defaced with similar Nazi emblems. Police are investigating whether there are links among the attacks.

But then get this, they also mention:

Meanwhile, outspoken ad man John Ansell has found a new venue to launch his “Colourblind State” campaign after an Auckland business group pulled the pin on him.

I’m sorry but that is despicable to include that in the same story, which basically links Ansell to the National Front, anti-semitics and anti-immigration people. I can’t imagine it was done by accident either.

Photo by Jason Dorday/HoS

I’m not sure what is funnier. The weirdness of their attempted message, or the spelling mistakes. It’s almost like a parody.

Bakshi hoped to convince MPs who earlier voted for gay marriage to change their minds, saying most ethnic MPs opposed gay marriage.

“We understand that God made us and we are firm believers (that) marriage is between a man and woman,” Bakshi told the crowd of around 250. “I tell you, the majority of the National Party MPs voted against this bill. There were only three Labour party MPs who voted against this bill. So you can understand who believes in Christianity, who believes in this bill. It is the National Party.”

Speaking to the Herald on Sunday afterwards, he conceded that most National MPs had, in fact, supported the bill.

Indeed, 30 votes in favour and 29 against.

As Bakshi sat on stage, speaker Alani Taione from the Tonga Development Society berated MPs who supported the bill and referred to the Prime Minister as “John Gay”. “That’s a personal view,” he said afterwards.

Oh dear.

Labour’s Ruth Dyson, who chairs the Parliamentary committee, said she had no objection to Bakshi participating in the protest.

Her colleague, Sio, told the crowd many people were not capable of understanding the objections to gay marriage. “Many New Zealanders will say: ‘What’s the big deal?’ You and I don’t necessarily have to defend that, because you and I have a perspective that is perhaps beyond most people’s perspective.”

One can understand an objection, but just not agree with it.

This was Security Prison 21 (S-21) and is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Tuol Sleng means Hill of the Poisonous Trees.

It used to be a high school, but was turned into a torture centre. Around 17,000 to 20,000 were imprisoned here, with as many as 1,500 at a time. Almost all of them were tortured until they confessed to something.

When this place was liberated they found 14 corposes here.

The 10 rules of the camp, translated.

See those dark areas on the floor. That’s blood.

A photo of one of the corpses they found at the camp.  They were kept chained to the bed.

The torture included electric shocks, hot metal instruments, hanging, cutting with knives, suffocated with plastic bags, pulling out fingernails and pouring alcohol on wounds.

Pardon the reflection from the glass but near impossible to avoid. These are a small portion of the thousands of photos up on the walls of victims.  They were tortured and killed – not for anything they did, but just because of the paranoid genocidal rulers. One New Zealander also died at this camp.

The barbed wire was there not just to stop prisoners escaping, but on the higher levels to stop them killing themselves by jumping off.

This was a typical cell where one or more people would live.

The Cambodian flag flies at permanent half mast here.

Of the 17,000 who went into Tuol Sleng, just three survived.

The commander of the camp was Kang Kek Iew or Comrade Duch. He was free from 1979 to 1999. He lived abroad in Thailand and China and worked as a teacher of English and maths. He then became a christian lay preacher and once remarked “I don’t know if my brothers and sisters can forgive the sins I’ve committed against the people”.

He was right. A photojournalist tracked him down in 1999, and in 2007 he was put on trial. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity, torture and rape.  He was eventually given a life sentence with no parole. He is aged 59.

His prison cell will be like a five star hotel compared to the conditions in the prison he supervised.  Some crimes can never be atoned for, and his fall into that category.

Stuff reports:

Blood, ripped clothes and gasps of shock followed the living dead as they walked the streets of Riccarton last night.

About 30 people took part in the second annual Christchurch Zombie Walk, staggering from Hagley Park and up Riccarton Rd in zombie costume.

Organiser Rhio Popham, 19, said she created the event to give Christchurch people something to do.

“I saw one they did in Toronto and it was awesome. I thought Christchurch is just as awesome so why not?”

Popham said the event was all about having fun.

Great initiative. Life is about having fun and enjoying yourselves, and we need more events like this.

A guest post from John Stringer:

This is my Mum, aged 75.  She has advanced alzheimers (dementia). Her memory is about 5 seconds long. She does not know who I am, who she is, where she is, yet we still have a meaningful and loving relationship. My youngest sister and I have just won Joint-Guardianship and Administration of her with the support of the WA Government and Attorney’s Office.  If you’re living with dementia, or about to confront it, read more below the photo. This is our story.

My Mum and I have always been close.  We had long and intelligent conversations about life, God, the world and people. We wrote to each other a lot about literature and history. We’re both melancholic personalities which leads one to pondering life’s deep waters. But that is all changed now.  Mum is gone, and someone else is in her body.  Her personality is different.  Her memory is staccato, but otherwise she is in perfect health, walks, and is very sociable.  She is also very loving.

Sometimes she thinks I’m her father.  She asks constantly if I have a girlfriend or a wife?  She has no idea she lives in Perth, Australia; thinks she is in Christchurch, NZ, where she lived most of her life and raised her family of four children. She has no idea she had children or was married.  I still travel the 5000 km to see her and my youngest sister, when I can, because it’s so worth it.

Y’see, it’s not about me.  It’s about her; honouring her memory and her integrity now as a person.  It doesn’t matter that she can’t remember me.  I am caring for her now, like she did for me and my twin sister and siblings when we were mewling, puking and needed our nappies changed. Her love was unconditional then, mine is now. This is the transaction of life for the unselfish.

If you can do this, and accept dementia as simply a wearing out of the body, like eyesight, or mobility, and adapt philosophically to change, you can cope with alzheimers.  Love conquers all. It’s possible to maintain a loving and rich relationship with your demented parent.

One of the tricks to being with dementia sufferers is “white lies.”  Dementia patients are deluded and their minds live in fantasies and incongruities (that they are eight, that they are going home to a long-dead mother).  It is best to play along, because establishing “the facts” is inappropriate to their worn out brain and causes them distress and confusion. In conversation with my Mother I play along, “Oh yes, I am married, we have seven children,”  ”yes, I have a girlfriend…several [laughter],”  ”I have a proper job,”  ’I’m a pilot,” “I’m a doctor,” “yes, we are in New Zealand, not Australia,”  ’We’ll go home after lunch,” etc.  As a Christian I have no moral dilemma with this.  My mother always had a sophisticated sense of humour and multi-levelled conversations.

Dementia sufferers regress.  They progressively become 60, 40, 10 etc.  and memories before these ages disappear as their memory banks progressively erode.  After a while they are “too young to be married, “are eight living with their parents,” until eventually they become babies again.  This is what alzheimers does.  So I live in the past with my mother, within memories my mother still has: old places and people she knew, school, favourite holidays, an old bach, her parents, etc.

I can talk for hours with my mother in this way.  We laugh and joke,  She scolds me, or cracks puns.  We do jigsaws, play cards, we frequently hold hands and hug.  She gets lots of kisses, because regardless of what she does or doesn’t remember, and who she is now, she still deserves to be loved by me, now.  And I will do everything I can to make this five second moment happy for her.  It is of no consequence that she will forget it within a breath, and have no memory of me after I leave her, happily tucking into lunch.

Alzheimers patients suffer from a special syndrome called “the sundowner effect.”  This occurs between 4 – 7pm when the sun starts to wain.  They become anxious and want to pack up and go home, so they can feel secure.  It is a common emotion in children, who were perhaps collected late from school by a parent or from Cubs as it started to get dark.  It relates to a threat of abandonment and not being loved.  This time period requires daily attention, and this is where families are needed, to assist staff in homes who cannot necessarily cope with everyone one-on-one.  We rostered family to converge their visits to my mother at this time, to lessen effects.  Sometimes they can be violent and become very agitated.  This is where you can draw in old friends (of theirs) or of yours who had connections with your parent.  Short sweet visits are best (so its not too onerous for them) and they feel able to come reasonably frequently. A 15 minute visit once a week is better than none at all.

If you’re not a talker, like me, there are other things you can do.  Sing songs with them, take them for a drive (they enjoy looking at things).  Take them to a weekly church service, for a walk to the shops, bring them while you get your groceries.  Just include your parent in daily activities.  Home for a Sunday lunch is a simple idea, but avoid busy children and noise as this can distress dementia patients who struggle to make sense of it all.

Other things we’ve done, is laminate ‘photo trees’ of her family with big captions on her wall.  ”My son John.” These create great circular talking points. Also put up big photos of older familiar places with captions.  “My home at Tuam Street” (when she was a child).  Mum remembers these (for now) and the familiarity is reassuring to her.  Have  a TV with dvds of favourite programmes (Coronation St) that can loop in their room. Picture books are good, they like flipping through and exercising their mind trying to work out “whale,” “pussy cat,” etc and this can prompt conversation between you.

A fish tank in their room can be good, they can look at the fish for ages. Pets are excellent. A cat or stroking a communal dog brings great joy.

Security is a big issue.  While my mother remembers little, she still had the presence of mind to memorize the exterior door pad code, and escape.  This led to several very dangerous physical incidents for my mother and to something of a crisis in our family.  She eventually got to a home which is now so secure she can never get out, unless we take her. My mother had seven homes in seven years and this was extremely dislocating for her condition.  She was also taking her heritage jewelry off (ie rings or brooches owned by her mother) and these can disappear (sometimes pilfered by other visitors or staff).  So, we took many of these away for safe-keeping or repatriated them to members of the family to whom they were significant.  This is better than having them lost or stolen.

As well as taking off their jewelry, sometimes patients will take off their clothes. That’s why it’s important to check the quality and personality of the staff in the home you select for your parent, if they are no longer able to live with you at home (which many attempt).  Does the home have an imbalance of immigrant staff on low wages (and therefore perhaps on low wages)?  are the professional staff balanced with a  variety of older men and women with senior qualifications? What is the ratio to staff and residents (my Mum is in a unit with 5 others, in a village of five other units, a total of 25).  This provides good one-on-one care.  Visit several times and get to know the nurses, cleaning staff, cook.  Observe their interaction with residents.  Visit several times before committing. Are they loving compassionate generous people? This is your parent you’re choosing for, so be thorough.

We first noticed Mum’s alzheimers when she asked if we wanted a cup of tea and forgot to make it, then asked us again. She has had the disease now for seven years. It is not only an old person’s condition; people in their forties get it.

As she began to progress, I gave my mother a hardbound ‘Notebook’ of her own, to diary her journey for her grandchildren, before her memory was too far gone,  This gave us a valuable final epistle from the mother we were losing, before we gained a new one, lost in the fogs of time.

My Mum is gone, but she’s still here. It need not be seen as a traumatic curse to be avoided, mourned or resisted.  Just go with it, for your and their sake.  Life is full of struggles, and you can make it work for you and them in this difficult time of life.  How you deal with things, and your attitudes (never get frustrated or ‘blame; them for their condition, or ‘correct ‘ their memory) is as affecting as their condition.  And don’t take it personally.  Your ability to compensate and continue loving your parent is about the quality of your character, not theirs.

Alzheimers sufferers often manifest the attributes and character they had in life, and these traits can accentuate.  If they were kind and patient, they will be more so.  Bitter selfish people tend to become a problem when dementia sets in, and some men can become lecherous. It is a lesson about the richness of values throughout life.

There are dozens of dementia support groups and societies. Other resources I would recommend to you include the movie The Notebook (2004), and Louis Theroux’s BBC series “Extreme Love: Dementia.”  If any of your are struggling, I am happy to talk and help you out (contact me at http://conzervative.wordpress.com).

~ John Stringer (Christchurch).

Thanks John for such a personal sharing.

This is the main memorial at Choeung Ek, the most famous of the Killing Fields.

It is difficult to imagine how barbaric the rule of the communist Khmer Rouge was. They killed around two million of their own citizens, which was 25% of the population. Our tour guide has his uncle killed by the Khmer Rouge. His crime – he was a professor.

The Khmer Rouge wanted to kill anyone suspected of “free-market” activities and suspected capitalists included professionals, almost everyone with an education, and urban dwellers.

Over 300 people a day were killed at Choeung Ek, in total 17,000 executed. Around 9,000 bodies are buried here. This mass grave has around 160 bodies in it.

The rule of the Khmer Rouge was beyond insane. To quote Wikipedia:

During their four years in power, the Khmer Rouge overworked and starved the population, at the same time executing selected groups who they believed to be enemies of the state or spies or had the potential to undermine the new state. People who they perceived to be intellectuals or even those that had stereotypical signs of learning, such as glasses, would also be killed. People would also be executed for attempting to escape the communes or for breaching minor rules. If caught, offenders were taken quietly off to a distant forest or field after sunset and killed.

All religion was banned by the Khmer Rouge. Any people seen taking part in religious rituals or services would be executed. Several Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians were killed for exercising their beliefs. Family relationships not sanctioned by the state were also banned, and family members could be put to death for communicating with each other. Married couples were only allowed to visit each other on a limited basis. If people were seen being engaged in sexual activity, they would be killed immediately.

A photo of the remains as they were excavated.

Those without heads tended to be Vietnamese, who were especially hated. Even today, there is still a lot of friction. Our Cambodian guide spent a lot of time telling us about the evils inflicted on Cambodia by Vietnam, and saying how he couldn’t tell us this in front of his boss, who is Vietnamese.

Another photo.

Each of those depressions is a mass grave.

The memorial has over 5,000 human skulls in it.

A sombre and ghastly memorial, which sears your soul. This happened in my lifetime. The executions were often carried out using poison, spades, sharpened bamboo sticks, or for children having their heads bashed against the trunks of trees.

It is hard to not be affected by the knowledge of what happened at this site, and all over Cambodia. Afterwards no-one spoke for a long time.

I hope there is a hell, just so Pol Pot and his comrades can spend eternity there.  Their crimes almost have no parallel.

We’re in Phnom Penh for a day and a half, so started off with a tour around the Royal Palace.

The former King of Cambodia (then known as the King-Father) died just a few days ago, so his portrait is up everywhere. He was extremely popular and beloved.  Norodom Sihanouk became King at age 19 in 1941, until 1955 and then from 1993 to 2004. He was the great grandson of King Norodom, the King from 1860 to 1904 – regarded as the first modern Khmer King. By becoming a French protectorate he got Cambodia out from under the rule of Vietnam and Siam. King Norodom had 62 sons and daughters!

Personally I find the record of Norodom Sihanouk rather blemished. He was not just King, but at various times also President and Prime Minister and a puppet head of state for the Khmer Rouge. He was the effective ruler from 1953 to 1970 when the National Assembly voted to depose him. He then began his support of the Khmer Rouge. Many joined the Khmer Rouge to support him, not because they were communists. He had no real power during the Pol Pot regime, but he did help bring it about. Despite that, very few Cambodians blame him in any way.

Part of the Palace.

A memorial for one of the former Kings.

The current King, Norodom Sihamoni, is 59 but looks around 40. He is also very popular. Interestingly it appears he is gay, not that they state that outright. His late father said he “loves women as his sisters” and he is a bachelor and ballet dance teacher! Quite progressive for them to elect him King.

They have 600 metres of this mural. Faded but fascinating.

Generally one could not go into the Palace, or if you could not take photos. In one room is a Buddha made of 70 kgs of gold, and huge diamonds also. I was amused that the lock on his display case was a $2 small padlock.

The original King Norodom.

Mountain Scene reports:

Prime Minister uncut in Queenstown

On Kim Dotcom: “That bloke might have Megaupload.com but I’ve got Megaballsup.com. Anyway, it’s great to be here at The Hills. Frankly, after the week I’ve had it’s great to be anywhere other than Wellington.”

Heh. The domain is available for registration.

On the Labour Party: “We’re here to do the opening of the sculpture, The Wolves are Coming. It sounds like the Labour Party.”

On Sir Michael Hill giving him a red ribbon to cut: “I didn’t give [you] a knighthood to be voting Labour, Michael.”

On Deputy Prime Minister Bill English: “He is the shareholding Minister of Air New Zealand which is the airline that failed to get me here.” [Key’s plane was diverted to Dunedin.]

That’s taking ministerial responsibility to a new level!

Stuff reports:

In an eyebrow-raising about-turn, CNN has published, then retracted, a news story that claimed that women’s votes were governed by their menstrual cycles, triggering an avalanche of criticism.

Based on unpublished research, the news piece stated that a woman’s voting behaviour was affected by whether she was ovulating on election day.

While the story was nixed within hours, the internet reacted immediately and unforgivingly, with Twitter users swiftly tweeting key quotes.

“New research suggest that hormones may influence female voting choices differently depending on whether a woman is single or in a committed relationship”, read the article, as tweeted by @KailiJoy.

“When women are ovulating, they ‘feel sexier,’ and therefore lean more toward liberal attitudes on abortion and marriage equality” the piece went on.

“The researchers found that during the fertile time of the month, when levels of the hormone estrogen are high, single women appeared more likely to vote for Obama and committed women appeared more likely to vote for Romney”.

A host of websites swooped onto the story, showing no mercy while feeding from its apparently grossly sexist – and under-researched – line.

Huffington Post’s headline was typical of the viral reaction: “CNN Reports That Women Voters Are Apparently Incapable Of Cognition, According To LOL Science”.

I’m annoyed CNN deleted the story from its website. When you stuff up, you should keep the story there and just add on links to the stories criticising it. You shouldn’t just pretend you never published it.

It took a bit of searching, but the Daily Kos has the original CNN story. An extract:

Now for the even more controversial part: 502 women, also with regular periods and not taking hormonal contraception, were surveyed on voting preferences and a variety of political issues.

The researchers found that during the fertile time of the month, when levels of the hormone estrogen are high, single women appeared more likely to vote for Obama and committed women appeared more likely to vote for Romney, by a margin of at least 20%, Durante said. This seems to be the driver behind the researchers’ overall observation that single women were inclined toward Obama and committed women leaned toward Romney.

Here’s how Durante explains this: When women are ovulating, they “feel sexier,” and therefore lean more toward liberal attitudes on abortion and marriage equality. Married women have the same hormones firing, but tend to take the opposite viewpoint on these issues, she says.

“I think they’re overcompensating for the increase of the hormones motivating them to have sex with other men,” she said. It’s a way of convincing themselves that they’re not the type to give in to such sexual urges, she said.

Durante’s previous research found that women’s ovulation cycles also influence their shopping habits, buying sexier clothes during their most fertile phase.

It’s obvious to me that women are just slaves to their hormones, and their free well is an illusion.

“It was long thought that a woman shouldn’t be president of the U.S. because, God forbid, an international crisis might happen during her period!” Carroll said.

Oh shit, she just nuked Iran. We told the Ayatollah not to provoke here during her time of month.

The original research paper is here.

Clare Curran said yesterday that:

Another 50 Kiwis will join the ever-lengthening dole queue after today’s announcement by state owned enterprise Kordia that it will outsource its Auckland call centre, says Labour’s Communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran.

Orcon’s 50 Auckland call centre positions will be outsourced to Manila, as the company integrates its two New Zealand telecommunications businesses, Kordia Networks and Orcon.

“This is part of a worrying trend for businesses to make cost cutting decisions at the expense of Kiwi jobs,” says Clare Curran.

“The fact that it’s a state owned enterprise making the decision reinforces the lack of commitment by the National Government to investing in Kiwi jobs.

“National has removed the social responsibility clause which ensures SOEs have to take into account community interests and this is the result.

That last line is now missing from the web version – gone as if it never was included.

The reasons is it is factually incorrect. National has done no such thing. In fact Curran scores an own goal by highlighting that the social responsibility clause in no way hinders SOEs acting to become more efficient.

Personally I think the issue with Kordia, is why do we own it? It nationalised Orcon when it purchased it. Do we want government owned ISPs competing with others?

Stuff reports:

 The Labour Party has acknowledged Kordia is still bound by the “social responsibility clause” of the State Owned Enterprises Act

Hard not to acknowledge reality. And also worth noting:

Orcon chief executive Scott Bartlett, who will take up an expanded role at Kordia as head of its new merged telecommunication division, said yesterday that many affected call centre staff would probably find jobs at Australia’s second-largest broadband provider, iiNet, which operates a 300-person call centre in Auckland servicing its customers in Australia.

Now you can take a view that no NZ company should outsource its call centre overseas, but this also means that you are arguing against NZ companies picking up business from overseas companies.

Stuff reports:

Justice Minister Judith Collins has backed a woman ordered out of court for breastfeeding, saying she “could not think of anywhere” it would be considered offensive.

Neither can I. Arguably it could be thought a bit inappropriate at a funeral, but wouldn’t bother me (especially if ti was my funeral!). At a recent funeral, there were a couple of babies there and I thought it was actually quite nice to be reminded of new life, as we celebrated someone’s life and mourned their death.

Ms Collins was responding to the decision by Judge Kevin Phillips to eject Wanaka woman Catherine Owen from Queenstown District Court on Wednesday.

The minister said that as a mother who had breastfed, “it’s better to feed a child than let a child cry”.

“I obviously can’t comment on what judges do in their courts … [they] are the masters and mistresses of their courts.

“But I would have thought that most people are not offended at the sight of a mother breastfeeding a little baby and I can’t think of anywhere this is considered to be offensive.

“There is nothing … unusual about it; they should be congratulated.”

Judge Phillips questioned why there was “a woman breastfeeding in my courtroom”. Ms Owen rose to take her daughter to the public waiting area as she was being approached by the bailiff.

A good answer would have been “As I wish to observe the trial, as members of the public have the right to do, and my baby is hungry”.

The Herald reports:

Up to 26 Afghan interpreters will be given asylum in New Zealand when Kiwi troops withdraw from Bamiyan next April.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman said Cabinet agreed on Monday to offer the interpreters a resettlement package in New Zealand.

The details will be released next week when Dr Coleman returns from a visit to the Middle East.

The interpreters, working with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, are being notified of their packages.

Including the interpreters’ families, 75 Afghans would come to New Zealand.

Prime Minister John Key said earlier this month he was sympathetic to Afghan interpreters working with Kiwi troops who say their lives will be in danger.

The interpreters have said their work over a long period has made their identities known to insurgents, putting them at risk after New Zealand leaves the region.

I think this is the right decision. This incidentally doesn’t mean an increase in refugees – rather that they get allocated 75 out of our annual (I think) 750 places.

UPDATE: They do not qualify as refugees, so in fact are additional to the normal quota.

This is the border house at the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. We spent around three hours here as they checked all our paperwork.

A few people have asked me for more details of the boat, so here’s a few photos to give you an idea of what it is like on board.

This is the sun deck and pool area. We’re averaged 32 degrees or so, which has been great. Despite it being the end of the wet season, haven’t had a drop of rain yet. Most importantly very little humidity. It is bloody hot, and you wilt in the sun. But it is dry hot. Not like Singapore where you get soaked even crossing the road.

The rather small gym. Nice views though.

This is the main Saigon Lounge. We do briefings in here, and can generally relax in here.

The dining room. The boat can take 92, but we have around 60 – 70, so lots of room.

The interior is lovely, with lots of wood. There are four decks.

The corridor I am in.

My cabin number. Damn. So close!

The bed inside the cabin. A good queen size and very comfortable. Not a lot of sun as I am in the cheaper porthole cabins. But is fine, as I only really sleep or work in there. The upper floors have little balconies.

Has a decent work area. I work offline in the cabin and online in the lounges where I have wireless.

The Library, which also serves as a nice quiet place to blog from.

The RV La Marguerite is very modern, and nice. No complaints at all.

What hypocrites. The Greens rail against US-style political finance consistently, using it to justify their support for the now deceased Electoral Finance Act and proposed Lobbying Transparency Bill.

Pete George blogs:

The Greens have been accused of using child poverty to mislead people into donating to them.

But a spokesman for New Zealand’s third-largest party said they were simply adopting fundraising techniques used by the likes of United States President Barack Obama.

A spokesman for the Greens said there was nothing suspect in the request for donations.

All donations received would go towards the party’s campaign to end child poverty.

“Ending child poverty requires political action. Our campaign is about getting rid of the political causes of poverty,” he said.

“Our fundraising appeals are consistent with recent developments in email fundraising. Many people now prefer to fund specific campaigns rather than parties.”

Mr Obama’s campaign team has employed similar tactics in the US presidential campaign, including asking for donations to fund a website dedicated to rebutting political attacks on the him.

The donations do not necessarily go directly to that cause but rather into the wider campaign fund.

Obviously the Green Party can adopt United States political techniques if they wish. It could be seen as smart and slick politics.

The Herald reports:

Six people have been arrested over a $1.6 million invoice scam which involved the sale of advertising in magazines that did not exist or were not as widely circulated as claimed.

The arrests follow a five-month operation involving more than 60 staff from multiple agencies – the first of its kind to crack down on invoice scams in New Zealand.

Police arrested six people in Auckland, Port Waikato and Picton after search warrants were executed at more than 25 locations throughout the country.

All are facing charges of participating in an organised criminal group, while five are also facing fraud charges.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) alleges the group sold advertising in magazines that did not exist or had “grossly exaggerated” circulation figures.

The magazines had general titles that suggested links with worthy causes like road safety, parenting or drug addiction.

The SFO alleges the invoice scam generated up to $1.6m since 2008.

If you live in the South Island and are annoyed all the good conferences are in the North Island, well NetHui is having a NetHui South conference in Dunedin on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th November.

It’s only $40 registration, and ICT Minister Amy Adams is a keynote speaker. Sessions scheduled so far include:

• Usable Security
• Dunedin Digital Strategy
•  Creative Commons
• Rights-based approach to the Internet
• Digital inclusion
• Copyright & the Internet
• Regulating bad behaviour online
• Cybersecurity: at a tipping point?
• Internet Governance
• Vision 2020 with Clare Curran and Gareth Hughes
• Internet-enabled opportunities for New Zealand
•  Is the notice and consent privacy model dead?

I’m on one of the panels and involved with a couple of the workshops. Hope to see some mainlanders there.

Just been looking at all the complaints that the Advertising Standards Authority has had to deal with this year. There are a staggering 523 complaints, and reading through many of them, you see so many people with a total lack of sense of humour. For example:

The direct mail flyer showed a picture of a cow that had attempted to jump over a steel gate, but had got stuck half way. The position of the cow over the gate appears uncomfortable. Above the image is the heading “Rural broad band… no more obstacles”. Further information about the broadband packages is listed next to the image. …

Complainant, C. Bateman, said: in part “This image is disrespectful to animals, is offensive to anyone concerned about animal welfare and even if it’s meant to be “tongue in cheek” it is not even remotely humourous.”

Oh Good God. And that is one of the more sane complaints.

Anyway this has given me an idea for a regular feature – focusing on the idiotic complaints people send to to various regulatory bodies.

But I need some help to do this.

What I’m after is one or two people who will say once a week on alternate weeks go to the websites of the ASA, BSA and Press Council and have a quick skim of complaints. Then all you have to do is send me a link and/or an extract of the ones which are basically seriously demented or show someone totally lacking in humour.

If this appeals to you, just e-mail me. I think we’ll be doing a public service by highlighting the inanity of some of our serial complainers.

Probably looking to do one post a week highlighting no more than six inane complaints. I suspect a few names will reoccur!