Happy Consumerism

the rest of The Onion’s satirical editoral cartoons at http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/dec-16-2007.

Kwanzaa/Festivus/Christmas Hiatus

We’re going into a bit of a holiday abeyance over the next few days so we can all focus on our respective Kwanzaa/Festivus/Christmas celebrations.  Thanks to all our readers for making the past few months fun and interesting. We’re really looking forward to next year.  As we’ve signaled earlier, we’re spending some time over the next few weeks to consider where to go with this blog.  At this stage we just don’t know - but a change in name and a slight broadening in focus is on the cards.

We’ll be back online sometime after the 25th - when precisely is a little loose and largely dependent on a complex mix of variables including the news, how crapped-off we get with Kiwiblog’s and other political inanities, the weather, family commitments and our booze intake.

Have a well-deserved break.  Stay safe and well.  2008 is going to be a tough and important year so we want you all back and ready in fighting form.

Anyway, enjoy the time you spend with your family and friends.   We’ll see you in the New Year - if not earlier.

Seasonal best wishes from Wat, Splodge, Mardy, Zos and Icky

Gawd bless her

I have to thank DPF for pointing out that, after 81 years living on Britain’s most generous pension scheme, Betty Windsor - a.k.a. “The Queen” finally took the record as Britain’s most extravagantly spoiled beneficiary displacing the previous record holder Betty’s great-great grandma, Vicky Saxe-Coburg-and-Gotha. Thankfully, New Zealand only coughs up copious sums of taxpayer wedge for this already spoiled granny when she deigns to pop down for a visit - which, fortunately, ain’t very often. I would like to think it was fairly obvious to any sentient being that Liz should be the last of this sorry line of spongers - but a quick scan of the thread over at DPF’s place shows there are many wishing to continue with this bizarre phenomenon. I should note - not DPF - he’s all for a Kiwi republic.

Splodgy Santa says

Best Christmas wishes to you all!! — yes, even you, Davey (’goodwill to all’ and all that)!

Back next year. 

All shook up…

After I read about the earthquake in Gisborne I rang a couple of people I know who still live or are holidaying there to check if they were alright.  Lousy way to go into Christmas.  Fortunately very few people were hurt and it appears most people are taking the quake philosophically (i.e. it could have been worse).  The kiwi sense of humour still comes through though.  I asked if there was much damage and my mate, a long time Gisbornite, said without missing a beat, “there’s been lots of damage to the town centre…hell…if all of our entire CBD is damaged it could push the insurance bill into the many hundreds of dollars”.   Another mate had a completely different joke.  I asked about insurance and he said, “I reckon there will be 60,000 claims for crushed Rolex watches” - I pointed out that insurers would see through that because the number of claims exceeded Gizee’s population and he said, “yeah…and your point being?”

Good to see people are bearing up after the quake.  I understand civil defence responded well - at least on the ground.  I know there’s been some criticism about notifications - but I take all that with a grain of salt.  Things happened quickly.  People and property were secured pretty quickly according to my sources - and that’s the main thing.

Carl Sagan

Today America marks the eleventh anniversary of the death of scientist and science advocate, Carl Sagan.

Sagan did much to improve the public’s understanding of and appreciation for science.
His landmark television series, Cosmos, was for many a landmark event and his many books excited both minds and imaginations.

Of all of his books, The Demon Haunted World represented a defining moment for many. This book was a brilliantly and forcefully argued case for reason and the scientific method over superstition and irrationality.

Unfortunately, since his death, the ascendancy of conservative religious politics and a decade of running down public education in the US has left science and rationality in a parlous state. Fortunately for Sagan, he never got to see the current American government willingly drive public policy into the dark ages.

One Last One Before Christmas

 

It makes you think.

A society that puts a priority on ensuring people can find work with decent conditions is one that suffers less from the social symptoms of deprivation and poverty that we call crime.

Compulsory partisan comment: Under National unemployment averaged 8% and recorded crime averaged 1261 per 10,000 population.  Under the Labour-led Governments unemployment has averaged 4.6% and crime 1069. 

You want a lower crime society with people in work?  The Left is the way to go.

Farrar Tui 1: Trivial little coup really!

This was sent in from one of our very clever regulars - our very first Farrar Tui. Farrar Tuis will be a semi-regular theme in 2008, feel free to submit you own:

More link-blogging on the Farrar Speech Coalition billboards

Jordan Carter identifies the billboards as the local version of Godwin’s Law, saying that in general you automatically lose an argument on the ‘net when you compare someone with Hitler.

Kevin List from Scoop mocks them as nerd humour in his bFM slot (audio stream).

And Oliver Woods (Quest for Security) has another post about Davey which includes this interesting tidbit:

Incidentally, the ‘Supporter Image’ pages of David Farrar’s Anti-’Free Speech Coalition’ show that supporters of the Sense of Life Objectivist Movement (Lindsay Perigo’s current rather fragile personal political bandwagon) are rather numerically superior to any other group. If David Farrar and John Boscawen want to build a popular movement against the EFA, they’re not going to get many average Kiwis wanting to join up with pro-George Bush free marketeer Islamophobes on their marches!

S.59 hysterics get the slap

NZPolice has conducted a review into the first three months of policing parental violence since the amendment was made to section 59 of the Crimes Act - a.k.a. the child abuser’s get of gaol clause.

You might want to sit down for this but…the Police report did not find a significant increase in arrests or prosecutions of parents for smacking. Although there was a very small increase in reporting of alleged child abuse. This is probably an artefact of the publicity the physical disciplining of children got as a result of the debate. And I don’t think that is a bad thing at all.

Read the report for yourselves - but to my mind it can be summed up as no significant effect with maybe a slight increase in people’s awareness and a little less tolerance of physical violence against kids.

It will be interesting to see how the conservative/religious groups who tried to stop the amendment (and are still trying) will spin the results. Family First has already started the ball rolling by dismissing the Police report as being “rubbish”.

It’s timely to look back at what was predicted in the wake of the amendment. Family First described the legislation as being “the most extreme in the World” and predicted that Bradford’s Bill would result in the break up of families as kids reported their parents to the Police for smacking.

Who can forget Heather Roy’s prognostication that, “the unintended result of the smacking ban will be to criminalise thousands, hundreds of thousands, of good parents”.

Judith Collins was sure the Police would prosecute even light smacks on the bottom and would almost always prosecute because, “if the police arrest someone, they will generally prosecute. There is a reason for that: if they do not prosecute, they end up getting sued for wrongful arrest.” Collins was “amazed” Cabinet Ministers had the audacity to say that New Zealanders “can trust the police to do whatever they want, because they will always use their discretion in the right way.” Well, Judes, turns out the Police are pretty sensible and practised at enforcement, actually.

Kate Wilkinson imagined thousands of parents lining up in courts and thought the Prime Minister’s assurances that parents wouldn’t be prosecuted for smacking bums was empty. Kate said “We have the Prime Minister of this country saying: “We’re not going to have thousands of mums and dads lined up in court because a hand happened to come into contact with a bottom.” Well, that will not be the case, because they will be lined up in court, they will be criminalised, and they will be charged with assault under the Crimes Act 1961.”