'Safety' before sanity

BBC News reports health and safety regulations have made it too expensive for a local rugby club to have a Guy Fawkes bonfire in Ilfracombe, Devon. So they are going to have a 'virtual ' bonfire. The obvious question is, why not virtual fireworks too? I'm sure David Benson-Pope could get excited about this idea.

(And we complain about children going from one screen to another...)

Things are looking up

The road has re-opened and Firefox is ops OK.

This is an interesting bit of Canadian research which claims that with more generous unemployment benefits more long term unemployment is created.

Still, at least they have a better system than ours. Canada operates a contributory scheme which means workers have to pay something in to get something out. Eminently sensible. Stops youth developing a welfare habit. But Brunswick's (exploited?) scheme is subsidised by Maine's so is still not perfect. What's needed is competing unemployment insurance programmes.

Cut-off

No newspaper this morning which may mean we are cut-off again. Unless one wants to get on the cross harbour ferry. There's always the internet except Firefox doesn't want to talk to blogger. Blogging in Internet explorer is such a pain.

The problem of lazy welfare bludgers continues with a scheme to be approved allowing orchardists to bring in 5,000 mainly Pacific Islanders to pick their fruit. You've got to laugh. The scheme must allow Kiwis first refusal. They aren't exactly queuing.

Apposite quote

The end of this quote is familiar to me but the rest is worth sharing;

The state -- or, to make matters more concrete, the government -- consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting 'A' to satisfy 'B'. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advanced auction on stolen goods.

— H.L. Mencken

Being Pakeha

I was not born here but my children are sixth generation New Zealanders. Many of you will no doubt identify with Michael King's words from Being Pakeha Now;

Deadbeat dads burden for us all...

..is the title of a Hawkes Bay Today editorial inspired by Judith Collin's constant railing at effect rather than the cause. This is my response;

Dear Editor

'Deadbeat dads' today are largely a product of the state. Having made itself a formidable replacement for fathers, via the justice and welfare systems, the state can hardly be surprised that redundant ones resist further financial responsibility.

MP Judith Collins is aggrieved at the increasing levels of child support debt yet National gave us the iniquitous Child Support Act of 1991 and would have given us the DPB (through a private members bill) if Labour hadn't beaten them to it.

Your editorial acknowledges the displacing role of welfare by referring to the fact that we have "made our bed" with "all-embracing state hand-outs."

If fathers are to be held irrevocably responsible then the state must relinquish its destructive interventionist role. We cannot have it both ways.

Stabbing of an innocent 14 year-old

We are in danger of becoming inured to what is going on in Auckland amongst the youth. The security guard in whose arms the 14 year-old died (after he had told him to go outside for a smoke) called talkback in the early hours and this is a recording of it. It's not hysterical, nor overly dramatic. The man is trying to come to terms with what happened.

Scots to go sexless

Now I am sure I have heard Betty on Coro St calling men 'pet', 'dear' and 'love'. She should have her mouth taped up. If she lived in Glasgow she would know better. The Glasgow City Council has just released guidelines about sexist language to be avoided. Women, and presumeably men although that is not explicit (which is sexist of itself)are not to be addressed using the above terms of endearment. Neither are they to be called 'girls'. The suffix 'ess' must not be added to words like 'conductor' to denote gender. It's all soooooo offensive you see.

What utter twerps local government bureaucrats are.

What the?

I find myself in a state of having nothing to say which could last until at least....lunchtime.

Oh, I could bitch about the STUPID transit system the LTSA has set up at SH1 Paremata which consists of endless signs (all the same) which are unreadable at 50kmph. I gather one tells you which lane to use on Mon-Fri and the other what to do on Sunday and Public holidys. Um. I'm driving Southbound on Saturday? I thought I registered a makeshift flashing sign saying I could use the left lane if the car carried one or more passengers (do dogs count?) Well that's all well and good until you are suddenly faced with a stationary driverless and passengerless vehicle parked in the left lane. Perhaps that qualifies too.

Tell me, if you came across these signs for the first time (or even second or third) would you have any idea what to do?

Anyway as I am suffering a dearth of ideas I will recommend this very funny piece from Oh Crikey....another "failed" Maori.

Liberal thinking from the Liberal Party

I'm very pleased to see Heather Roy and Rodney Hide are officially against raising the drinking age. For those lobbying for this legislation here are some questions;

Are we going to increase the responsibility of 18 and 19 year-olds by taking it away from them?

How are we going to teach responsible drinking by disallowing it?

Will 18 and 19 year-olds stop drinking or binge-drinking because it is illegal?

Why remove individual freedom from all people simply because they belong to a group which includes some who cannot handle it?

The wowsers are in ascent

Some days I simply want to scream, what with the prospect of raising the drinking age and now a proposal to nationalise the tobacco industry. As my husband says those promoting this idea are "complete lunatics".

"....there's growing interest in defining a clear end-game to the tobacco problem." People will always drink and people are always going to smoke. Get over it. Christ we've been having these arguments for over one hundred years in NZ alone.

If only the state can produce tobacco and the state is constantly rising the price what will happen? The black market will expand rapidly. The taxpayer will be left footing the cost of its failing tobacco industry and policing the crime it has created. Brilliant. I can hear the Mongrel Mob cheering now.

Stretching it

The Ministry of Social Development released its Annual Report today. Full of meaningless repetitive waffle it proudly informs us that there are now 9,000 employees in 200 sites, "supporting more than 1 million New Zealanders in living successful lives." What can I say?

The value of individualism

Individualism is a much maligned and misunderstood concept. Too often it is used to describe a 'me first generation'. Individualism is necessarily accompanied by voluntarism whereas collectivism nearly always relies on compulsion.

The following is the conclusion of a column from Peter Saunders of the Australian Centre for Independent Studies. It appeared in the NZBRT's Perpsectives;

The attempt by our politicians to identify ‘Australian values’ is degenerating into a farcical stand-off between those who insist that immigrants should know the rules of cricket and those who want them to understand the history of trade unionism. What neither side in this debate understands is that we do not need a prescribed set of values for everyone to sign up to.

To live peaceably in Australia , it is not necessary to understand cricket, celebrate trade unionism, or even call people your ‘mate.’ Nor does it matter if you are a Catholic or a Protestant, a Muslim or a Christian, a conservative or a socialist. All that matters is that you should respect other people’s right
to be different from you.

Arguing about whether this or that value is essential to an Australian identity is therefore pointless. All that needs to be said (and reaffirmed repeatedly in all our schools) is that in Australia you can believe what you like, but using force to impose your morality on anyone else puts you beyond the limits of tolerance. As a society of modernity, we must tenaciously and unambiguously defend our commitment to the core ethic of individualism, nothing more, nothing less.

Stealing spare parts

Here's a story to make your hair curl (if you have any). Seven New York undertakers have been arrested for stealing bodyparts and selling them.

The way to get around this risk is offer to give away anything of any use. That's what I've done. My husband says that anything extracted from me will at least be "well-preserved".

What went wrong?

(Left click to enlarge).

Interesting that projections from 1972 predicted our population would reach 5 million by around 2000 and following the same trajectory, near to 6 million by 2006. These predictions were based on medium and low immigration. What happened?

The average number of children per woman was 2.36 which has dropped to around 2.01. That wouldn't account for the 2 million deficit. Immigration was restricted to 5,000 per year for a good number of years but that would still give us the lower line.

They didn't account for the outflow.

More on the state house saga

There is no link to a further piece in today's DomPost that says the family refusing to move from the Panmure state house is also refusing to be interviewed by media unless they get paid. They are negotiating an exclusive with TV3. Smart. Easy money. This is the new gravy train where you get rewarded for breaking the law by dressing it up as being victimised.

And I cannot help but note the tenant is expecting another child. In reality there will be more people living in that house, quite probably a boyfriend, but they cannot 'fess up because they would lose their benefit entitlements. Any sympathy I had for this outfit is fast evaporating.

Cullen is pathetic

Is this tittle-tattle-titty-bit worthy of a media statement? Probably the "probably" John Key uttered has been taken out of context. Whatever. I don't care. With everything that has been going on regarding the surplus, the validation legislation, the CIS tax report, Dunne's tax-cut intimations, the deficit, etc., IS THIS THE BEST HE CAN DO?

Gloom and doom predictions

John Tierney, arguing for the need to balance uncertain future events against certain costs today, examines past prophecies of over-population;

* Four decades ago, scientists were so determined to prevent famines that they analyzed the feasibility of putting "fertility control agents" in public drinking water; the physicist William Shockley suggested using sterilization to impose a national limit on the number of births.

* Planned Parenthood's policy of relying on voluntary birth control was called a "tragic ideal" by the ecologist Garrett Hardin, arguing that "freedom to breed will bring ruin to all."

* China's one-child-per-family rule, which, ostensibly was voluntary, but the penalties were so severe that there were reported cases of forced abortions and infanticide.

Carter has it right - for a change

Well done Chris Carter, Minister of Housing, who has stated quite clearly and emphatically why this family must move on. There are constantly headlines about families on waiting lists for state houses and now these three only qualify for a two bedroom unit, the rules should be enforced.

Nobody could fail to sympathise with their "emotional connection" to the house but it doesn't belong to them. What beneficiaries fail to grasp is that what they see as security, albeit meagre, can be quite tenuous. More than anyone else beneficiaries (and this family will be on welfare) are at the mercy of the government which is why I always try to help people become more independent.

Get Out Of Jail Free Act...

...as Oswald so aptly coins Labour's validating legislation. A petition of protest has been launched by Blair Mulholland asking the Governor General to withold the Royal Assent from such legislation.

Sign the fast growing list of signatures here.

Dealing to waiting lists UK-style

James Bartholomew blogs on how the British have set up intermediary referral centres - another layer of bureaucracy - to try and shorten waiting lists. It sounds like just the kind of thing Pete Hodgson would be interested in.

When patients in Milton Keynes started complaining of long delays, their GPs investigated. Milton Keynes PCT had set up a referral management centre, which was meant to scrutinise all referrals in order to speed access and ensure patients got the right treatment. But Dr Peter Berkin and colleagues discovered a backlog of more than 2,000 letters locked in a cupboard by the centre's secretaries until just short of the 13-week waiting-time target.

"It got really scary," said Dr Berkin. "There were cases that could have been very serious and needed to see a consultant quickly. We were horrified. The decisions were taken by secretarial staff, not doctors."

The amazing attenuating Rodney Hide. If Rodney tires of politics there is a career waiting for him in the "before and after" industry. I hope he does not.

Taxpayer TV loses money

The DomPost is reporting that TVNZ are dropping their head programmer after ratings fell "dramatically" and advertising rates had to be cut.

Among TVNZ's key demographic of people aged 25 to 54, its share has dropped from 55 percent to about 37 percent. The network slashed TV1's peak viewing (6pm to 10pm) advertising charges last month by 21 percent.

Is this the result of someone deciding that "New Zealanders want to see themselves on the telly", that lauded and lofty aim? Is this our cherished charter?

Just give us some decent entertainment.

(At least one person will be quietly smiling to himself this morning as he presents his superb "World City".)

National Radio

At 1.30pm today I am talking to Jim Mora on National Radio as of part of the Reeling in the years; 1973 programme. We will talk about how the DPB came about and its effect since.

UPDATE; Interesting audience response. Four e-mails came in immediately;

- There is another reason there are no children available for adoption. Abortion.

- Stranger adoption didn't work for either party which is why we largely discontinued it.

- Lindsay Mitchell is obviously of the 'starve them into submission' persuasion.

- Some 16 year-olds make great parents and 35 year-olds don't.

Learning from Maori

Pita Sharples says that Pakeha could learn much from Maori about grieving;

"I recognise we have different, culturally appropriate ways of grieving, but I wonder - if everyone has the capacity to express emotions, should not the occasion of death be the perfect outlet for such emotions?"

Dr Sharples also spoke about the way Pakeha refer to family and extended-family members.

"The emphasis should be on what connects us, rather than what divides us," he said, citing Pakeha use of phrases such as "step-sister".

"I am often puzzled when I hear Pakeha define members of their whanau in ways which seek to create a distance - to put up a barrier between themselves and another.

"A step-sister, a half-brother, a cousin twice removed, my mother's cousin," he said.

"In our world, we welcome our sisters and brothers, our cousins, our aunties and uncles as whanau - whatever degree of separation a genealogy expert might describe it as.

"And in much the same way, when we need to express grief, the strength for us is in numbers, in our connections, while in other world views, the expression of grief may be another opportunity to create distance - 'we'll leave them alone'; 'they wouldn't want to see people at this time'; 'we'll just send flowers and cause them no bother'

I admit this touches a nerve with me. In grief (what little experience I have had of it) I tend to be very private, internalising how I feel and coping until the pain diminishes. Would it be rash to say this is the Pakeha or European way?

Maybe we could benefit from expressing our grief more intensely and collectively but then we have a long tradition of controlling our emotions. Some emotions need to be kept in check and I would venture that there is a downside to giving vent to them without restraint.

So perhaps we could learn a thing or two about how to grieve and Maori could learn a thing or two about how to control their anger.

Dalziel at Women's Refuge Conference

Lianne Dalziel, as Minister of Women's Affairs has just addressed the Women's Refuge AGM. They apparently challenged her to talk in terms of violence aginst women rather than family violence because they "do not want to lose the gender reality of partner violence."

Ms Dalziel said she had no problem complying. "I have read the assertion that women are equally as violent as men. And, to use an insurance term, on a knock-for-knock basis that is correct. But it is the women who feel the fear, it is the women who are hospitalised and it is the women who die."

That is the first time I have read a Minister acknowledging partner violence runs both ways. It seems to me that we still do not know how much violence against women is provoked by the eventual victim. Just as I am positive there are women who are largely innocent victims, there are others who are not. That is not to absolve a male from physically assaulting a woman who has mercilessly taunted or attacked him but the circumstances need to be treated as mitigating factors.

But perhaps the need for Women's Refuge could be reduced if some women addressed their own behaviour. A case was recently described to me where the man tried repeatedly to walk away. She kept after him hiding the car keys to keep him captive and eventually assaulted him with a broken bottle at which point he thumped her.

Men who beat women because of their own anger, jealousy, drug and alcohol problems should be listed in the DomPost like drink-drivers, scorned by their mates and banged up for a long time.

As with most social problems there is no one-size-fits-all problem or solution but I am pleased to see Dalziel at least describing the problem with more fairness.

Smoking is child abuse

According to Newstalk ZB;

The Maori Heart Foundation is hitting out at women who smoke during pregnancy, describing their actions as 'child abuse'.

The Foundation says around half of Maori women are smokers and almost all of them continue to smoke while pregnant.

Chief executive Mary McCulloch says even worse, a pregnant woman who quits smoking is often exposed to secondhand smoke by her whanau.

She says research clearly shows smoking results in physical injury to children. Under the legal definition, she says there is no doubt smoking constitutes child abuse.

I have a problem with this. Are we to call CYFS whenever we spot a pregnant woman smoking? Is it a punishable offence? Is it illegal?

By all means try to persuade women away from tobacco but where is the practical use in defining it as child abuse?

Swedish Ministers scrutinised

The new Swedish government has problems. The Trade Minister has decided to resign due to revelations of tax avoidance practices and the new Culture Minister's position is also under threat because she didn't pay her TV licence for up to 16 years.

But wait.... there's more. The Migration Minister is also being pressured over his consistent ideological opposition and non-payment of the TV licence.

Given these politicians were elected to shrink the size of the state and reduce taxes they seem to have pretty good credentials.

Baby-killing in North Korea

From The Times, one page of this is all I could stomach. It tells of eye witness accounts describing Kim Jong-il's obsession with Korean racial purity;

The latest desciption of Kim Jong-il’s policy of state eugenics came from a North Korean doctor, Ri Kwang-chol, who escaped last year and told a forum in Seoul that babies with deformities were killed soon after birth.

“There are no people with physical defects in North Korea,” Ri said. Such babies were put to death by medical staff and buried quickly, he claimed. He denied ever committing the act himself.

Exiles in Seoul said Ri was now keeping a low profile, fearing retaliation by North Korean agents, who have assassinated foes in the South Korean capital before. But his account added to the evidence that the Kim family dictatorship is founded on mystical notions of Korean racial superiority rather than Marxism — a reality that explains its deepening estrangement from China.

Anti-immigration nonsense

According to Newsroom, Voting Ban - New Zealand First wants to ban new residents from voting until they have lived in New Zealand for at least three to five years.

How patently stupid. People who by and large pay taxes and make other economic contributions can't vote while people who don't can?

NZ First are clearly back on their anti-immigration kick. That's all they have left now they've abandoned the grey vote.

Road accidents and ethnicity

During the school holidays we went up to the Bay of Plenty. A greater police presence was obvious on the roads, which prompted me to look at road crashes and ethnicity, given the higher Maori population in that region.



28 percent of crash fatalities were Maori in 2005. So we have another disproportionality due to Maori tending "to be young, rural and of low socio-economic level".


The following graph shows that Pacific people and Maori experience much greater levels of hospitalisation per 100 million km travelled.



The maths is beyond me I am afraid but the chance of Maori being killed or injured on the road is more than double that of other New Zealanders. Pacific people, for the amount of driving they do, are also much more likely to be hospitalised, particularly 0-14 year-olds.

Another road-related reflection; For many years driving was part of my job and I've covered all areas of New Zealand. Today it would drive me nuts, constantly trying to keep to 100km. Last holiday I was pinged on the desert road doing 115km I think. Long downhill stretch necessitating constant braking to keep your speed legal - not another car in sight - perfect driving conditions. It's just a drag. We saw two cars being ticketed and both were in the same situation. Caught at the bottom of a long downhill stretch with good visibility.

The other occasion on which I've been ticketed recently was coming down the Ngauranga Gorge. Again, just as you enter the steep decline the abitrary speed limit flashing overhead invariably shows 80km which means everybody has to brake reasonably hard to bleed off 20 km before passing the camera. It was late at night, fine, very light traffic and I sailed past at over 80km. Shock, horror, danger, danger. $$$ down the drain. It pisses me off.

Being Maori

This is from Hone Harawira's newsletter;

You know you're a Maori when ... you go to the ball with your cousin; a nice restaurant is an 'all you can eat' place; you visit the cuzzies, and someone's wearing the clothes you left behind last time; you have brothers or sisters with different mothers or fathers; you’re at a party, and your uncle turns the stereo off and starts playing the guitar; and your older brother makes you cry and you’re the one who gets a hiding for crying.

Maori and Pakeha are different IF we live by generalisations. Trouble is most people have become scared of admitting we are different because that seems to imply better or worse. I am quite happy with different, both having our strengths and weaknesses. But I would love to be able to understand the language.

I've long been interested in learning Maori. Started a course once but it wasn't quite what I had in mind being geared towards helping Maori speak Maori and based on quite rough conversational English. Now I have this new book which comprises short lessons and exercises. The trouble again is that I'm not convinced the author has a thorough understanding of English. That means that a given pronounciation, based on an English example, can be difficult to comprehend. I could be wrong.

Is there any interest out there in my posting some of the lessons? Perhaps one every two or three days? Anybody else want to pick up some more of the language?

I was with a Maori friend yesterday and we were watching a wood pigeon and she was grasping for the Maori word, "Ke...ke.." I finished it for her. She too would like to learn te reo and believes it can be picked up to a passable level of comprehension in the space of a year.

There may even be a Maori speaker who reads this blog who could throw some light on any difficulties.

So, is there any interest?

Collectivising cock-ups

Labour and the Greens have both launched campaigns asking their members and supporters to help payback their election over-spending debt. As far as I am aware ACT has not.

As I said previously I am not voluntarily paying for other people's mistakes. We get enough of that through taxation.

So it makes me quite sick to see the collective mentality at work with the first two parties. In our 'caring and sharing way' let's all be responsible for this cock-up. Well it wouldn't surprise me if members and supporters don't quite see it that way. At least one commentor on the Frog blog doesn't.

"I personally think that the MP’s wages should pay at least two thirds of the debt, if I even cared about recompense, because if we as individuals over spend to get a job then the money comes from our pocket’s. Or maybe a vote of confidence within the party’s and the for and against vote became the quotient the sitting member’s were liable for. Taking away some of their privilege might get them thinking more about what it’s like to be us… responsible for our action’s."

It must have passed the commentor by that the Greens are not into individual responsibility.

Teenage birth rate variability revealed

This is a strange headline; Teen pregnancy linked to wealth
A better summation would be, teenage pregnancy linked to poverty. Also the article is mainly about teenage birth, not pregnancy. However, this is important information that I have been looking for. Other countries have established the link. Now New Zealand joins them.

The numbers

* 65.8 girls per 1000 aged 15-19 gave birth in the most economically deprived areas, classified as decile 10.

* 6.92 per 1000 gave birth in the most affluent areas, or decile one.

That is a massive variation. Yesterday one of Sue Bradford's supporters challenged Dalrymple saying, if girls get pregnant for the DPB why is the teenage birth rate going down? This is a common objection from the left.

Yes, overall the teenage birth rate is going down BUT we do not know that the teenage birthrate amongst the poorest, those most likely to choose or default to a welfare lifestyle, is going down.

Last year the overall teenage (15-19) birth rate was 27 per 1,000, the abortion rate was 25 per 1,000.

The fact that the overall teenage birthrate has dropped in no way disproves a link between the availability of welfare and teenage birth. The main reason for the drop over the past 20 or so years is clearly abortion. Teenage births peaked in 1972 at 69. But that was before legalised abortion and the morning-after pills. Unwanted births were much harder to avoid.

And why is teenage birth a cause for concern? Are you listening Tariana?

I will quote from the Christchurch Health and Development Study;

"Specifically, early parenthood has far reaching physical, social and emotional consequences including an increased risk of antenatal complications and mortality, failure to complete schooling, socio-economic disadvantage, welfare dependence, marital difficulties, maternal depression and less competent parenting. In addition, children born to teenage mothers have higher rates of health problems, physical injury, behavioural difficulties, cognitive problems, and educational under-achievement than children born to older mothers."

Amazing

This is fascinating. I'll just paste the full press release for your edification.

Maori To Make Treaty Claim For British Pensions
Thursday, 12 October 2006, 9:25 am
Press Release: David Rankin
12 October 2006

Maori To Make Treaty Claim For British Pensions

The leader of Northland's Matarahurahu hapu, David Rankin, has announced that he will be lodging claim with the Waitangi Tribunal for his people to be entitled to British pensions on reaching retirement age.

Mr. Rankin claims that Article Three of the Treaty, which guarantees Maori 'the same rights and privileges as British subjects', entitles the Matarahurahu people the right to this pension.

'I see this extending to other areas as well', says Mr. Rankin. We may expand the claim to include British passports, unemployment benefits, and other entitlements', he says.

The claim will be lodged at the end of October.

Dominated by libertarians

ACT is now dominated by libertarians, according to a disgruntled board member who has just resigned. Is it?

NZ First support EBs

Apparently the Education Minister is accusing National of a "cash for policy" deal for the Exclusive Brethren regarding independent schools. A pleasant surprise - NZ First has gone in to bat for the EBs.

Dalrymple/Bradford debate

Here's the thing. Sue Bradford has a very dim view of the human nature. Every beneficiary is a blameless victim and their capacity to be anything else is limited. People are "forced" into the benefit system.

Theodore Dalrymple sees human beings as people with a capacity to make choices, to adapt, to be resourceful. He is not advocating abolishing the welfare state overnight but calling a halt to the future availability of benefits.

WELFARE CONDEMNS MORE KIDS THAN IT SAVES. Dalrymple argued for the statement and easily, gently and humourously, carried the day.

I asked a question. There had been a brief discussion of the welfare reforms in the US which Dalrymple admitted he wasn't an expert on but understood that they had been instigated with the weight of public opinion on board. Where, then, is British public opinion, (given NZ is more likely to be influenced by their government's actions?)

Mr Dalrymple responded that they weren't even having the debate. And that NZ shouldn't follow anything the UK does.

Welfare and Social Security spending up again

Given all the self-congratulatory compliments Labour pays itself over having the second lowest unemployment rate in the OECD one begins to wonder when it will start to show.

Year to June 2006 spending has risen to $15.598 billion - a 6.2 percent rise on the previous year at $14.682 billion.

According to Treasury, Social security and welfare expenses increasing by $0.9 billion due to the annual indexation of welfare benefits and the first full year impact of the Working for Families Package.

I suppose we should be thankful it hasn't risen any higher. This is the highest figure ever.

"Frivolous Politics"

This is a good column by Thomas Sowell entitled Frivolous Politics. "Frivolous" pertains to politicians and the media blowing up private lives and not-so substantial events, as we have witnessed here over the past months. But it also describes an approach to more serious matters.

Relieved they aren't sex-pots

Here's something to really worry us. Christchurch women have the lowest libido, according to a sexual health doctor speaking at a menopause conference (yikes). But Mayor Gary Moore is unphased. He says, "It's quite nice for it to be known that we're not the sex-pot capital of the world."

Politics first

Hone Harawira is refusing to help any constituent who isn't on the Maori roll. Obviously he can only get a party vote from someone on the general roll so they are no use to him. I can understand his reasoning but in his shoes I would be assessing whether I could help somebody based on what their problem was, not what roll they are on. Maybe I am the fool.

ARE YOU DEPRESSED?

Are you depressed? Find out by going to Nanny's new website and taking the test.

I was alright until I discovered the website, part of a new $6.4 million campaign.

Now my feelings of irritability and frustration indicate I MAY NEED HELP.

Pot calling kettle black

Sue Bradford gave a speech last week primarily promoting her section 59 repeal bill which should have its final reading before Parliament rises for the Xmas break. An interesting speech, highly readable, quite thought-provoking and disturbing in parts. I have symapthy for Bradford's opposition to the fundamentalists stance and material but that isn't the main issue. I remain unconvinced that passing her bill will make one iota of difference to the worst offenders and too much power will be conferred on the police and CYFS.

She also touches however on the Kahui case.

Fallout from the Kahui tragedy

I’d like to turn now, just briefly, to an associated topic, which is the political fallout from the tragic death of the Kahui twins. There was something about the fact that it was twins who were killed that touched everyone very deeply, no matter our political persuasion, yet of course the responses are highly politicised.

The nadir in the media came with Emerson’s cartoon in the ‘Herald’ depicting a level of overt racism against Maori I can’t remember seeing for decades, and in Parliament, from National using the tragedy as an opportunity for a renewed attack on an already inadequate benefit system.

The ideology of ‘blame the victim, not the system’ is alive and well in Aotearoa today. As usual, Maori and beneficiaries are right up front on the receiving end.

While I’m not for a moment suggesting that whoever killed these babies shouldn’t be held to account for their actions, at the same time it is alarming the way in which this particular case has been used as an opportunity for a new assault by the Right on tangata whenua and the welfare system....

What we shouldn’t be doing is removing benefits and income-related rents, as Rodney Hide suggested in the House when debating the Kahui case. The consequences of that course of action are almost unimaginable in terms of a total descent into crime, violence, neglect and children who run the risk of being literally discarded, as we see in societies where infanticide or the killing of street kids are everyday evils.

After dwelling at length on the hysteria generated against her bill by various Right groups this is pretty rich.

"An artist of idleness tells how to work the system for 24 years"

This is great. French beneficiary writes a book about his years of living contentedly off the welfare system. Begs the question why somebody in this country doesn't produce such a useful manual.

What is going on?

Media Release
MSD CE BLOCKS INFORMATION RELEASE
9 October 2006

The Ministry of Social Development is no longer prepared to supply data unless it forms part of one of its own self-generated reports. According to welfare commentator, Lindsay Mitchell, "Previously I have encountered no difficulty in obtaining quite detailed data from the Ministry. But two recent requests have met with a refusal to provide information."

Ministry of Social Development Chief Executive, Peter Hughes, says, "The information you have requested is not held by the Ministry.... Although the Ministry may collect the data you have requested it is considered 'raw data'." The raw data, "....is not captured by any current reports that are run by the Ministry....the Ministry regularly reports on benefit statistics via its website. The Ministry's view is that this reporting substantially meets the public interest in this matter."

Mitchell says, "This recent use of the Official Information Act's clause 18(g), that a Ministry need not generate new information, is a departure which raises a number of questions, the obvious being, why isn't the Ministry regularly generating reports about the nature and number of children on benefits? "

"In August I asked, 'How many children are attached to the benefits of 18 and 19 year-olds currently on the DPB? How many single parents with dependent children are currently on any form of benefit and how many children are attached to these benefits?' Peter Hughes has refused to answer these questions."

"Previously I have asked similar, if not more specific questions (see below) and answers have been provided. Clearly there has been a change in policy. Does this have anything to do with a change in Minister?"

"The most pressing concern I have, however, is the ability of the Ministry to censor information simply by not generating their own reports. They are defining what is and isn't in the public interest."

"When the Labour government came to power in 1999 the Prime Minister promised transparency and accountability. In this respect the Ministry of Social Development is not delivering."


Previous questions;

'What are the ages of the children dependent on those single parents on a benefit who first received a benefit aged under twenty?'

Answered with a table current at February 2005.

'In respect of those single parents with dependent children who first started on a benefit under twenty, how many children are attached to their current benefit?'

Answered with a table current at February 2005

'How many children are currently supported by benefits and what is the break-down by benefit type?'

Answered with a table current at October 2004.

'What are the numbers of children supported by NZ Superannuation, War Pensions, Orphan's Benefit and non-beneficiaries?'

Answered with a table current at October 2004.

'How many DPB recipients have only one child recorded on their benefit and what are the ages of these children?'

Answered with a table current at May 2004.

Bad idea

It was recently suggested to me that the DPB should only be available for one child. That would not stop the abuse I explained. In 2004 just under half of recipients had only one child but 55 percent of those had a child aged five or older. What do they do all day while living off the taxpayer at a cost of around $600,000,000 a year?

Instead of one child, what about one year?

Russia's outlook

Russians are a dying population according to this fascinating but grim article.

Russia is rapidly losing population. Its people are succumbing to one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS epidemics, resurgent tuberculosis, rampant cardiovascular disease, alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, suicide and the lethal effects of unchecked industrial pollution.

In addition, abortions outpaced births last year by more than 100,000. An estimated 10 million Russians of reproductive age are sterile because of botched abortions or poor health. The public healthcare system is collapsing. And many parents in more prosperous urban areas say they can't afford homes large enough for the number of children they'd like to have.

Truant kids babysit while parents party

This is no surprise. Get the quote from the youth aid officer, "Those parents shouldn't have kids if that's what they're doing," stating the blindingly obvious.

In Te Kauwhata, truancy officer Girlie Iwihora found one set of parents drinking at a party during the morning while their nine-year-old child, who should have been at school, looked after his six-month-old sibling.

Both truancy officers said the cases were not isolated.

"I'm dealing with more situations like this everyday, where children are put in this kind of environment," Ms Te Heuheu said.

Mustn't offend the Maori Party

ACT says it could go with Labour if Labour cut taxes. Ho hum. But this is the bit of the article that interests me.

And he (Rodney Hide) said the National Party, which also offended the Maori Party when Brash suggested there were no full blooded Maori left, was "increasingly isolated".

It worries me that ACT are going to spend the next two years trying to stay on side with the Maori Party. Many of their ideas are the antithesis of what a classical liberal party should be promoting.

Ironically, it might offend Tariana Turia that ACT could consider going with her antagonists, the Labour Party.

Let's hope he passes the "test"

Gresham Marsh killed an elderly couple in 1994. He is serving a life sentence. Marsh's three sisters oppose his release. Apparently he is a time-bomb who will reoffend. Rowene Marsh-Potaka says, "I have dedicated my life to keep my brother inside in order to save another victim's life. Mark my words, if he is released he will kill again."

On September 19 the parole board said it supported supervised home leave to test if his (Marsh's) improved behaviour was genuine or a "manipulation" that could be trusted.

Last week three guards managed to lose a Arohata patient while she was at the local dentist.

Spanner in the works for Sue Bradford

Fresh New Zealand research, unlike other studies, has compared outcomes for children who were smacked only with the open hand as opposed to having experienced other forms of physical discipline.

The project appeared to be the world's first long-term study to separate people who had merely been smacked with an open hand, lead author of the physical punishment part of the Dunedin study psychologist Jane Millichamp said.

"Study members in the 'smacking only' category of punishment appeared to be particularly high-functioning and achieving members of society," she said.

In terms of aggression, substance abuse, adult convictions and school achievement, this group had "similar or even slightly better outcomes" than those who were not smacked.

Dr Millichamp said the problem with a lot of studies was that they lumped a range of physical punishments together. She said she had not found any evidence that an occasional mild smack with an open hand on the clothed behind or the leg or hand was harmful or instilled violence in children.

Dr Millichamp acknowledged this was not a popular thing to say.

The things you see

Driving along behind an old, smart, black chevrolet station wagon I pondered its registration plate. MORBID. I figured the youngish driver must have bought an ex-hearse from an undertaker and all his mates said, "How gross, How morbid."

I mean, it wouldn't have been in work, would it?

Which reminded me of an item I heard on the Paul Holmes Breakfast show last week about the top twenty funeral songs from the UK. (Number 18 was Every Breathe You Take by The Police :-0)

I could only find the top ten. They are (drum roll....)

Funeral Songs Top Ten
1. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
2. My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion
3. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
4. The Best - Tina Turner
5. Angels - Robbie Williams
6. You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry And The Pacemakers
7. Candle In The Wind - Elton John
8. Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
9. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon And Garfunkel
10. Time To Say Goodbye - Sarah Brightman

How awful. British funerals must be right up there with Battersby weddings.

Australian child abuse stats - snap

Listening to radio and watching TV it's easy to gain the impression that NZ fares far worse in terms of certain social problems eg child abuse. But I notice that Australian child abuse statistics are uncannily similar to ours. There were 252,000 child protection notifications in 2004/05 . Multiplying our incidence, 53,097 over the same period, by a factor of 4.9 produces 260,175.

Which then begs the question, why are the rates so similar? Do the rates reflect a true incidence of abuse or the level of paranoia and suspicion created by the abuse industry? The conditions that lead to reporting may be more malleable than the actual rate of abuse.

On a very loosely related topic (babies of teenagers are more likely to be abused or neglected AND I'm too lazy to start a new post) Keisha Castle Hughes is reported to be expecting a baby at 16. Too young in my book.

Still, she's not on her own. Last year 373 16 year-olds gave birth. 61 percent were Maori.

With six hundred and twelve 16 and 17 year-old single mums on a benefit I think we taxpayers can take a legitimate interest.

Political thermometer

Sometimes little things are bombshells. My Mum and Dad came for tea. My mother has voted Labour all her life. When I was apolitical she used to harass me to vote because women had worked so hard to secure that right. She is a teacher and a great believer in democratic responsibility.

At some point (we weren't even talking politics) she turned to me and said that I would be pleased to know she is never voting Labour again. Sadly, she says she isn't going to vote for any party. Such is the turn off politics has become.

Culture of blame

Don Brash is on the money again when he says;

"(But) it is quite wrong to argue that, because Maori are over-represented in negative social statistics, the 'Crown', or the Government on behalf of all New Zealanders, has somehow failed to discharge its obligation under the Treaty.

"If Maori New Zealanders die more frequently from lung cancer than non-Maori do, for example, it is almost certainly because Maori New Zealanders choose to smoke more heavily than other New Zealanders do ...

"Similarly if there are relatively few Maori at the Auckland Law School - and that despite preferential arrangements for Maori - that is not a failing of the Government, but a result of decisions made by individual Maori," he said.

Unfortunately this is no longer just an argument about personal failure. It's about an attitude that is now manifesting itself more ominously than ever before. When asked why youth violence in South Auckland is escalating an ambulance officer replies;

"They just don't understand what they're doing," says Carey Dobbs, team leader of the St John Ambulance Specialist Emergency Response Team.

"They'll beat someone to death and . ... they don't appear to care, which is quite frightening."

Mr Dobbs, who covers the South Auckland area, says that attitude exists in the youth gang culture.

"My personal feeling is it's a culture of 'Let's blame someone else', 'It's my upbringing', 'It's a lack of money', 'I've got no education'.

So the danger of inculcating a culture of blame goes beyond creating personal failure, it is spilling over to affect completely innocent people. People who do not wallow in self-pity. Many of them also Maori or Pacific people who just happen to live in the same neighbourhoods.

People like Tariana Turia, who foster Treaty victimhood or colonist victimhood (essentially racism towards Pakeha) need to start preaching a different message.

Cost of kids

What a shame the 5,000-odd beneficiaries who add a baby to their benefit each year aren't thinking this way.

Pernicious (-shus) a. Destructive, ruinous, fatal

Given the anti-right hyperbole Chris Trotter has been using lately, his column, Pernicious right-wing blogs, in today's DomPost, really takes the cake. Here's an excerpt:

Homophobia cause for violence

I just don't buy this;

Homophobia is being blamed as a major cause for high levels of violence among men.

Senior lecturer in community psychology at Waikato University, Dr Neville Robertson, says by far the majority of violence in this country is carried out by men.

He says there is a range of reasons for male violence, not the least the perception of needing to be macho. Dr Robertson says too many men still believe they ought to be the boss, fearing that otherwise they will look "gay".

Firstly I take issue with the statement that "by far the majority of violence is carried out by men". There is plenty of evidence to show women are just as violent, if not as 'effective'.

I believe high levels of violence are due to stunted emotional growth, childhood abuse, alcohol and drug use, some psychiatric conditions and exposure to violence in movies, games, etc.

And female violence is growing. Is that due to homophobia also?

Good advice...

...from the UK's Adam Smith Institute;

As you look at the concern for us that our leaders proclaim from their conference platforms, remember the words of P J O'Rourke:

"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue.
Fleas are interested in dogs."

Ten years ago

Who said this exactly ten years ago? And was he right?


_________ warns that problems caused by 'dysfunctional families'-- criminal behaviour, sex abuse, violence and alcoholism -- represent a time bomb for the country. He says that such families were responsible for 80% of the crime in NZ, and that children from such families were 100 times more likely to follow the same path of dysfunction, than children born into a 'normal caring relationship'.

_________'s prescription: dysfunctional families should be discouraged from having children they cannot cope with; the domestic purposes benefit should be restricted and adoption made easier; the present welfare system should be dismantled in favour of insurance-based social services.

What to think

What to make of this story? A baby is left in a car outside Farmers in Rotorua for what the parents say was no more than five minutes. The police and ambulance are called and CYFS notified.

Anyone who has ever had a baby asleep in the car has debated whether to duck into somewhere momentarily rather than disturb it. I might have done it in my neighbourhood.

Once a baby wakes up and starts to cry it works itself into a lather pretty quickly.

But if the police had time to arrive maybe the baby had been alone longer. Then again, I can't help but contrast this story to others where the mother has gone off to play the pokies for an indeterminate amount of time.

Are we getting too precious?

(Oh, and if you want speedy police attention it might be a good idea to say there is a baby locked inside a car outside your house.)

"Extreme rhetoric" 1

Here we go with the "extreme rhetoric" hit words. This time it is Parekura Horomia describing Don Brash saying that there are few if any full-blooded Maori left.

I have long held that to tell the truth today is a radical action.

This will be interesting

"WELFARE CONDEMNS MORE KIDS THAN IT SAVES"

Come and listen to Sue Bradford and Theodore Dalrymple publicly debate this proposition on Wednesday 11 October.

Venue:  Ground Floor Theatrette (previously known as the "BP Theatrette") - Ground Floor, BP House, 20 Customhouse Quay, Wellington (entry from either Waring Taylor Street or Johnston Street)

Date and time: Wednesday 11 October 2006, 12pm to 2pm

Admission: free

RSVP: welfaredebate@gmail.com or (027) 248 7919 by 5 October 2006.  Space is limited, and interest is high.  First in first served.

About the speakers:

"Theodore Dalrymple" is the nom de plume of Anthony Daniels, English writer and retired prison doctor and psychiatrist. He has written extensively on culture, art, politics, education and medicine, both in Britain and overseas, and is probably best-known for his opposition to progressive and liberal policies in these fields. He argues that the progressive views prevalent within Western intellectual circles tend to minimise the responsibility of individuals for their own actions and to undermine traditional values, thus contributing to the formation within rich countries of a vast underclass afflicted by endemic violence, criminality and drug abuse. Occasionally accused of being a misanthrope, he denies the charge and his defenders point to a persistently conservative philosophy in his work that is anti-ideological, sceptical, rational and empiricist.  He is in New Zealand courtesy of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, Family First Lobby and the For the Sake of our Children Trust - see http://www.cradletojail.org.nz.

Sue Bradford has been "an activist for social justice, peace and women's issues" since 1967, protesting against the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and apartheid, and for the rights of women and the unemployed.  She has set up people's organisations such as the Auckland Unemployed Workers Rights Centre and Auckland People's Centre, a 'union' for unemployed workers and beneficiaries and other low income people.  She is now a third term MP, third on the Green Party list.  Amongst the many issues with which she is involved, she has been at the forefront of the "anti smacking bill" - the proposal to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act which currently entitles parents to use reasonable force by way of correction of their children. 

Sue Bradford - There are three ways to make radical social and environmental change. 1) Working within the system; 2) throwing rocks at the system from outside; 3) building new organisations within the shell of the old system. People who take these three paths should all be valued for their contribution.

Theodore Dalrymple - An unholy alliance between politicians and bureaucrats who want to keep prison costs to a minimum, and liberal intellectuals who pretend to see in crime a natural and understandable response to social injustice, which it would be a further injustice to punish, has engendered a prolonged and so far unfinished experiment in leniency that has debased the quality of life of millions of people, especially the poor.

Sue Bradford - Time in police cells and prison can be lonely and degrading, but also sacred. Great places for learning about self and life. I was first arrested at 16 in 1969 for an occupation of the American Consulate in Queen St. We were protesting against the Vietnam War. I was locked up and strip-searched. That made me decide whose side I was on - the side of people who haven't had the chances I had. - Sue Bradford

Theodore Dalrymple - Intellectuals propounded the idea that man should be freed from the shackles of social convention and self-control, and the government, without any demand from below, enacted laws that promoted unrestrained behavior and created a welfare system that protected people from some of its economic consequences. When the barriers to evil are brought down, it flourishes.

The globalised world

Scanning a few international papers each day I am always surprised at the homogeneity of social and political issues. California is agitating over election funding and some want to raise taxes for public funding while excluding funding from corporations. I suppose the proposed legislation could provide a model for Labour.

An unlikely coalition has formed to beat the measure. Led by the California Chamber of Commerce, the foes include the California Republican Party, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and groups that in other instances are their fierce rivals: some of the state's most influential unions, including the 300,000-member California Teachers Assn.

MP for Epsom pin-up boy

This story comes from Oddstuff. There is indeed something strange about it. Can you pick it?

Compulsion is the problem

I have been reading a history of Maori and alcohol which is a rather sad story. In the broader scheme of things alcohol drives many of society's problems, but Maori are disproportionately affected. It is easy to see why prohibitionists have tried with varying degrees of effort and success, at different times, to attain alcohol-free communities. For instance Sir Apirana Ngata managed to impose prohibition on Ngati Porou/ East Coast tribes for a period in order that they would have the money to repay the govt mortgages which he had secured for them. But the ban could not be imposed permanently. Prohibition ultimately leads to more problems. Here is a quote that reminded me of this;

I'd rather that England should be free than that England should be compulsorily sober. With freedom we might in the end attain sobriety, but in the other alternative we should eventually lose both freedom and sobriety.

— W.C. Magee, Archbishop of York, "Sermon at Peterborough," [1868]

And this is the haka performed by the Ngati Porou men who opposed the ban;

Ee...Apirana Ngata, you're the man
making changes to the laws
in Wellington!

Show your laws to me!
Let's have a look at those documents!

The Prime Minister was
standing in our midst!

Your destructive laws are over-riding
the traditional customs
of the community right here.

A load of humbug is what we have!
Council by-laws are what we have!
Prohibition is what we have!

I want to be able to go to the pub
To buy a drink at night!
You bloody bugger!
Son of a slave!

Give your laws to us so we can analyse them!
And sort all this out!

Good for Brash

Labour has thrown everything they have at Don Brash and it isn't working. But look at the calibre of their attackers. Pete Hodgson who is shaping up to be the most unpopular Minister Of Health, Parekura Horomia who is completely overshadowed by the Maori Party, Trevor Mallard, whose behaviour in Parliament is extraordinary (remember when he repeatedly refused to stop calling Ross Robertson Madame Speaker?) and Helen Clark, the best thing Labour has going for them, who should have stayed aloof, showed a really nasty side.

I don't think the public is anywhere near as bothered about the Exclusive Brethren as Labour was relying on. Rightly or wrongly many New Zealanders think they are fundamentalist but identify more with the values of work and success than those they now associate with Labour; socialist liberalism gone too far. It is difficult to see how Labour can reclaim its former support. Even if they repay the pledgecard money it will be too late.

Well-cast

The Prime Minister is to play a part in a stage production of Bad Jelly the Witch. She is playing the voice of God.

Question

Paul Holmes asks, So what's the difference between the "modern orgasm" and the "old-fashioned one"?

I don't know but it's going to cost us Half a million $ to find out.

"Quarantined from men"

Two contrasting stories today say it all.

The Early Education Association lament the lack of men as teachers for young children, many who come from single parent homes, virtually "quarantining children" from men. They blame 1990s hysteria over paedophilia.

Meanwhile Gymnastics New Zealand is "cracking down on cameras" at competitions in Christchurch this week, to guard against, you guessed it, paedophilia.

What does the future hold?

This article reminded me again what will most likely be the biggest challenge facing our children (that we can predict). The ageing population. Have a look at the statistics.

The latest data from the U.N. Demographic Commission clearly show the aging of the developed world:

* In the United States, in 1950 there were seven people of working age (20-65) for every retiree, and even today, there are almost five.
* But by 2030, when the last of the baby boom generation retires, that ratio will fall by nearly one-half, down below 3 to 1.
* In Japan, by mid-century the ratio of workers aged 20-65 to retirees will fall to just over one-for-one.
* At that time the most populated five-year age segment in Japan will be those ages 75-80; the same will be true in Italy, Spain, Greece and other European countries.

However, instead of an easy retirement, many retirees will find a future marked by bankrupt government social programs and declining asset values that will quickly deplete their nest eggs. As a result, average retirement age would have to be raised beyond life expectancy in many countries just to keep pace.

By comparison New Zealand currently has 4.2 workers per retiree. By 2051 that will drop to 1.7 (based on Statistics New Zealand population projections.)

Welfare Reform UK

The United Kingdom measures up against US welfare reforms in much the same way as New Zealand. Failed. D minus. Must try harder. Much harder.

From the Guardian; New Labour has tried hard, but has never felt able to reproduce the robustness of Clinton's measures in a British context. As a result, 16 per cent of households, representing more than three million people, are still workless in Britain, living off benefit, only down by an eighth over the past 10 years. Yet over the past two years, up to 600,000 east Europeans have found work in Britain. Too many British live on benefit for no better reason than they don't want to work and there is too little insistence that they show determination and resource in finding some.

In New Zealand 13.7 percent of households are workless. Odd that, when unemployment is only 3.6 percent.

Does anybody get this?

Rod govt-is-the-answer-to-everything Oram, writing in today's SST says about David Cameron, UK Conservative leader;

Some of his utterances sound foolish to all political persuasions. For example, in July he told an audience,"You, the social entreprneurs, the voluntary organisations - the people doing the patient work on the ground - you stand for love."

What is foolish about that? Any ideas?

Green Monkey

A name like that is likely to stick in one's mind. In 2004 The Green Monkey Company Ltd received $20,000 from the Ministry of Economic Development under the Enterprise Award Scheme. They also received funding from Crop and Food Research.

Now Green Monkey are attacking their competitor's products. Those companies which pay tax to fund the corporate welfare Green Monkey are quite happy to take. Although the attacks may have validity the ethics are questionable.

Also they want plunket to promote their product which they say can't happen because of the "corporate dollar". Which implies other babyfood manufacturers sponsor plunket who in turn promote their food. Do they want free advertising too?

Green Monkey's baby food may be the best thing since sliced bread but they should foot it in the marketplace without taxpayer subsidy.

Or perhaps they could try the Dragon's Den to secure some voluntary funding.

PM on The Late Show

You can imagine how Letterman introduced the following. I don't have the transcript so you will have to. New Zealand, PM Helen Clark, The UN, all featured;

Top Ten Signs Your Husband Is Gay

10. You come home to find him handling the gardener's hose

9. On your wedding day, you wore the same dress

8. Favorite magazines: "Gourmet" and "Honcho"

7. Your name: Jodi -- name he calls out during sex: Lou

6. Constantly leaving that seat down, am I right girls?

5. Bumper sticker reads: "I'd rather be having sex with dudes"

4. During "Brokeback Mountain," He mumbles, "It didn't happen exactly like that"

3. At your sister's wedding reception, he caught the bouquet

2. Yells, "Honey, I'm home after a long day of gay sex!"

1. Says he got rear-ended but the car looks fine

NewstalkZB are running the audio.

Time-out for some discernment needed

Don't get me wrong, I am all in favour of responsible parenting but kept in perspective. The Advertising Standards Authority received 70 complaints about the 4 wheel drive ad festuring two toddlers on a trip to the beach - everybody knows the one. I can hear The Wayward Wind playing as I write. For me it conjures up a happy, carefree feeling. For others it did not.

The ASA received 70 other similar complaints, including concern about the children in adult roles, the lack of supervision of the toddlers, and the implied sexual overtones in the advertisement.

Complaints also raised the issue of gender stereotyping for children and the dangers of toddlers sitting in the front seat.

Unbelievable. Gender stereotyping, sexual overtones...what kind of minds do these people possess? What neurotic and nit-picking worlds they must inhabit.

Fortunately the board did see merit in the ad;

The ASA did not uphold the complaint, saying the majority of the board thought the advertisement depicted a "world of fantasy where a toddler was able to drive a four wheel drive vehicle on the open road and to the beach and then go surfing".

Mission-on, Mission-impossible

Just a few days back I blogged about the colossal waste of Scottish taxpayers money on a healthy eating campaign;

A £100 million, ten-year government health drive has failed to improve Scotland's diet, according to a damning report, which reveals many of the country's eating habits are worse than they were a decade ago.

Look at this;

The Prime Minister Helen Clark today announced Mission-On, a $67 million Government-wide package of initiatives to help young New Zealanders improve their nutrition and be more active.

Has she lost it?

Over the morning I have been absorbing the various reactions to the PM's attack on Brash. She has lost it, seems to be a general consensus. I don't believe she has.

She repeated herself throughout the day in those same measured and deliberate tones.

Remember she called the seabed and foreshore hikoi (by implication all Maori) "haters and wreckers" and she got away with it. She gambled on getting non-Maori onside and it paid off.

Now she is gambling on getting Maori and the Left back onside. Not without reason, she is playing us for fools.

Relationships

Not a subject area I would normally comment about but this is really important.

Don't try to change people. People who want and try to change their partner come unstuck.

Not long after I met my husband I knew that he was someone who I could live with, happily. Why? Because he just took me for what I was. Until I had experienced that I hadn't realised a heck of a lot of people don't.

Another point of advice in the article - if you are unhappy with your partner look at changing yourself. Strangely enough although he has never tried to change me, by positive endorsement and encouragement my husband has been probably the most constructive influence in my life.

Did I ever try to change him? No. He has a couple of faults but hey, if he can live with me I can certainly put up with them.

"Extreme rhetoric" - the new hit words

As a rather restrained type I find Clark's new attack on Don Brash quite shocking.

To describe him as "corrosive and cancerous" is incredibly nasty. She is rattled. And this move seems almost suicidal.

She has just been talking to Larry Williams on NewstalkZB and used the word extreme no less than 9 times, climbed into the Matthew Hooton again, and said it is almost impossible to have any civilised discourse with a party that uses extreme rhetoric. He (Brash) is doing damage to the NZ political system. His polarisation and extreme rhetoric has made a relationship between the government and opposition almost impossible.

Isn't it ironic that the one c word Brash was accurately accused of being not so long ago was "chivalrous"?

(Just out of interest I searched "corrosive and cancerous" thinking she must have picked it up somewhere. It keeps coming up as a description used by a US governor referring to corrupt political campaign funding. That's a coincidence.)

Bickering over benefit stats

Judith Collins and David Benson-Pope have locked horns quibbling over benefit statistics.

Facts; The number on the Sickness Benefit grew by 3 percent over the year to June 05 and 4 percent to June 06. On the Invalids Benefit by respectively 3 percent and 3 percent. Small percentages but large numbers at 47,072 and 75,349.

Isn't that what they do already?

The Scottish Children's Commissioner says single parents should be paid to stay at home and not forced to go to work. That's what they do now.

One can only assume she is squaring off against politicians who want people off benefits.

Is it compulsory for Children's Commissioners to be socialists?

In CYFS care

According to Anne Tolley CYF has removed 250 babies from their parents in the last year. As bad as this may sound I am fairly sure (please tell me if I am wrong) that quite often a child is put with close family members while still remaining legally in the care of CYF. I sat in on a meeting where a CYF case worker was remonstrating about sticking to the (care and protection) plan because the child was ultimately her (CYF) responsibility and if she was not satisfied with his safety under that plan she would remove him from both parties.

Yesterday's Stuff Poll

Acknowledging the shortcomings of such polls the outcomes are nevertheless interesting;

If an election was held tomorrow, who would you vote for?

Labour (3672 votes, 28.5%)

National (6326 votes, 49.0%)

NZ First (296 votes, 2.3%)

Greens (1384 votes, 10.7%)

ACT (387 votes, 3.0%)

Maori Party (237 votes, 1.8%)

United Future NZ (249 votes, 1.9%)

Other (351 votes, 2.7%)

Be warned

Tariana Turia has written a column about unparliamentary behaviour. It contains an interesting observation;

It would appear that some politicians do not reserve rudeness just to themselves in the House, they also subject the public to it in very direct ways.

For the behaviour in select committees, particularly when submissions are being heard from the public - is also far from desirable. There have been too many experiences of members of the public presenting their views at select committee, and being greeted with sarcastic remarks, offensive gesticulations, and a general level of rudeness which would certainly deter anyone from participating in the democratic process.

Tariana has sat on 4 different select committees.

Snap

A new report out in Australia assesses effective marginal tax rates. People complain about them but they come about due to targeted assistance. Seems to me you cannot have your cake and eat it too. The following could be about New Zealand. Just substitute Working For Families for family tax benefit;

The report estimates 7.1 per cent, or 910,000 of working age Australians (215,000 Victorians), face an effective marginal tax rate of more than 50 per cent.

It shows high effective marginal tax rates have crept up the income ladder, mainly due to the expansion of the family tax benefit. "On the one hand families with children are getting much greater government assistance, on the other, this may encourage some people to work less," the report said.

Anomaly continues

For some time I have been agitating about the different treatment of same-sex and opposite-sex couples by WINZ. Government has been procrastinating and making hollow promises about correcting this anomaly but a quick look at the WINZ manual shows nothing has changed.

Here you see a long list of indictors (presumably established by questioning) for determining whether a relationship "in the nature of marriage" exists between a man and a woman. Are you sleeping in the same bedroom? Are you having sex?

So what of same-sex relationships?

The Social Security Act 1964 only refers to “a man and a woman living in a relationship in the nature of marriage”. Same sex relationships cannot therefore be considered to be in the nature of a marriage for benefit purposes.

But it occurs to me as Civil Unions have legal standing, shouldn't the Social Security Act be amended to read "living in a relationship in the nature of marriage or civil union"?

There would appear to be hundreds of same-sex relationships where one partner works and the other receives a benefit, most commonly the DPB.

Of course lots of opposite-sex couples are ripping off the DPB in this manner but in the case of same-sex couples they are doing it quite legally and incur no risk of having to face a fine or repayment.

Licence to parent

Simon Collins writes in the NZ Herald,

A high-powered expert group has proposed a kind of "parents' licence test" which all parents would have to sit to keep care of their children and to receive child-related welfare benefits.

The proposed assessment, similar to a driver's licence, would be administered when a baby was born and repeated when the child turned 1, 3, 5, 8, 11 and 14.

Parents found to have "risk factors" for child abuse, such as domestic violence, drug and alcohol problems or mental illness, would be offered help.

Judge Graeme MacCormick, a former Family Court judge who initiated the proposal, told a seminar in Auckland yesterday that parents who refused to accept help, or to be assessed, should have their child-related benefits suspended and possibly lose their children.

I am assuming from this that anyone who doesn't want to receive child benefits is exempt. But what will child benefits constitute? Many low income families get family support payments for each child. What about Working for Families payments?

There will be utter outrage from people on the DPB who will say they are being discriminated against. And they would probably have a case with the HRC. But if they want to live courtesy of the taxpayer maybe certain obligations should be imposed.

I always come back to the only satisfactory solution for a libertarian. Don't give them a benefit in the first place. If they maltreat or neglect their child it is a matter for the law.

UPDATE; My interpretation is wrong. Having checked with Simon he says the idea applies to ALL parents. Good God. Apart from the intrusion the logistics are crazy. That involves over 400,000 children a year whose parents will have to be tested.

New government for Sweden

Reinfeldt ousted the Social Democrats with a promise to cut taxes and increase employment.

Great. No longer will we have to put up with Labour MPs describing Sweden's government as "inspirational".

Advice

Dear Editor

Paul Clarke, Letters Sept 18, said I offered no solution to poverty or welfarism. He suggested standing for Parliament to , "find out what you can do to remedy the goings-on."

I did stand for Parliament representing the only party with a radical but realistic remedy. Moreover, I stood in his electorate.

If Mr Clarke was genuinely interested in solutions I am surpised he didn't notice.

Lindsay Mitchell

PLAN FOR TEENAGE PARENTS NOT NEARLY ENOUGH

Media Release
PLAN FOR TEENAGE PARENTS NOT NEARLY ENOUGH
Monday, September 18, 2006

Minister for Social Development David Benson-Pope has today announced funding of $7 million for eight people to work with teenage parents because he says, "Teenage parents and their children are a high-risk group that benefit from early interventions tailored to their needs.”

"While it is encouraging to see the Minister acknowledging that children of teenage parents are more likely to become offenders or long term unemployed, suffer from abuse or neglect," said Lindsay Mitchell, welfare commentator, "Eight teenage parent service co-ordinators are unlikely to reach most."

There are 2,947 18-19 year-old single parents currently on the DPB. Further single teenage parents rely on the EMA and other main benefits. Around 9 percent have more than one child.

The Minister needs to consider discouraging people from becoming teenage parents in the first place. For the group he is trying to address, contraceptive availability and education has largely failed because there are financial incentives acting against their use. Despite society recognising the high financial and social costs associated with teenage child-bearing, pregnancy isn't considered a problem by too many teenage girls.

Again we are witnessing government spending more money trying to solve problems of its own making. Mrs Mitchell finished, "I won't apologise for repeating myself. We have to stop paying babies to have babies."

Sobering statistic

Martin Devlin pointed out on Radio Live that the Kahui murder case has now gone on for two days longer than the babies lived for.

Staff unhappy Govt radio leads by example

Featherston and Molesworth reports;

Radio New Zealand staff have been given some details of the state broadcaster’s audience ratings, which show an overall easing. However there was some disgruntled muttering because breakdowns show by show were not given, making it impossible to judge whether the recent revamps and new presenters on 9 to Noon and in the afternoon in particular are having any impact either way.

Well, well. The socialists don't like it when they have to practice what they preach. Don't they know any one party cannot be showed to be deferring success? That's equality for you. Tall poppies are not welcome.

Paul Holmes NewstalkZB PM interview

This is new to me. The PM says she has been told by a "very credible source" that the Exclusive Brethren tried to hire a private detective to follow her and her husband around. She also says she is "tired of the media giving right-wing journalists, like Matthew Hooton, endless space in the SST" and even, "Airtime on Radio NZ owned by the people of New Zealand".

Makes a change though, doesn't it. She is really on the ropes at the moment.

Beautician behind the wheel

The other morning I was in a slow-crawling traffic jam when I observed the woman behind me, presumably steering with her knees while she used two hands to apply her makeup using her rear vision mirror. If she had been using her rear vision mirror correctly she might have observed the person behind her talking on his cellphone.

The second action strikes me as less dangerous. Opponents of a ban on holding cell phones, which looks like going through in the fourth US state, California, argued there are many distractions in motor vehicles which couldn't be legislated against.

Again, a lack of commonsense means more laws and more enforcement.

Will the Swedes wake up?

The Swedes have just gone to the polls and we should see some results later this morning. The Centre Right, headed by Fredrik Reinfeldt, was ahead in voter surveys.

From the Times;

Daring to challenge the economic basis for all this is the bald man on the election poster: 41-year-old Fredrik Reinfeldt, sports fan, amateur dramatist and career politician whose centre-right “new” Moderate party is challenging the high-tax, big-budget, fully comprehensive welfare state in which nanny not only knows best but also holds the purse strings.

Reinfeldt seized control of his party following its expulsion from a brief period in government 12 years ago, and has dragged it towards the centre ground, aiming for votes of the young and disillusioned. Think David Cameron facing a blend of Jim Callaghan and John Prescott in the avuncular, overly familiar face of Goran Persson, the veteran Social Democrat leader.

Persson, an irascible man given to poking party comrades in the stomach, is charged with mendacious massaging of unemployment figures, officially set at 6% but reckoned by independent outsiders to be 15%.

Reinfeldt’s Moderate party and its three partners in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden say the truth is worse: that up to 2m Swedes, nearly 40% of the workforce, are either working less than they want to or depend on some form of state benefit.

Sunday Trivia

Library Week 2006 begins tomorrow, a week dedicated to celebrating what fantastic places libraries are and the incredible world libraries can connect you to, according to Newsroom.

Should ratepayers pay for libraries? I am exercised by this question. If they were straight book-lending libraries I would tend towards saying they should. Education is that important and the last thing I would like to see is people's access to books limited.

But now libraries are into dvds, videos, internet, computer games, playstation/x-box games I feel less sure. Sure one could argue that the bulk of these items are rented so that's user pays, and perhaps it would be a good thing if these products and services were to subsidise the books.

But the libraries are now competing directly with the private sector. In some cases they are charging more than the private sector even though customers have the impression they are paying less. Yet they are making a dent in the profitability of the private business man while taking his rate money to pay for their running expenses - staff, power, etc.

What is the answer?

Losing it

What drivel is in the Sunday Star Times today. Chris Trotter has to be read to be believed. With nothing of substance to say he resorts to fictional analogies; malevolent forces on the move, unspeakable evils unseeable but underfoot. I am surprised he stopped short of conjuring Brash; the new Black Rider. Is he becoming unhinged?

And that weirdo Wishart is deplorable. How does he live with himself? Churning out tired innuendo about Peter Davis to make a buck. Says he's a Christian? If Brash has let down his "christian" values what can be said about this man? He dropped his off the Empire State building.

Some commentators are in a feeding frenzy with not a scrap of sustenance in sight. Their thirst for power-through-print makes them pathetic.

If you read one thing today make it this

This is a must read from the UK, bearing in mind that our Children's Commissioner, with plenty of support from CYF, the judiciary and other advocacy groups wants to do the same thing. But look at the difference in this piece compared to similar reports you might read in NZ. Typically the journalist goes to one person for a comment and thinks that provides balance. This article reassures me that the level of criticism is strong and the various voices are reported. Some of the UK public are prepared to put up a fight. Are you?

Civil liberties and children's campaigners are to hold a conference at the London School of Economics on Tuesday to highlight their concerns.

Terri Dowty, director of children's rights group Arch, said: 'Who is bringing children up? Are parents effectively nannies for the state's children or are children born to families and the state just helps families when they ask for it?'

Dr Eileen Munro, an expert in child protection at the LSE, said: 'The authority of parents is being eroded because the children's services, health education and social care are being asked to intervene.

'On the whole parents are the greatest source of safety and welfare that any child has.'

Jonathan Bamford, the Assistant Information Commissioner which polices access to information, said there was no justification for keeping check on 12 million children when only a small proportion were at risk.

He said: 'When you are looking for a needle in a haystack, is it necessary to keep building bigger haystacks?

'The cause for concern indicator against a child's record is expressed in very broad language. For example, it could be cause for concern that a child is not progressing well towards his or her French GCSE.'

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: 'We are heading towards a situation in which an entire generation of kids won't know what privacy is, as though we are preparing them for prison rather than life in a free society. It is time to ask ourselves why we sacrifice the privacy of our children first.'