From the Stephen Colbert Show:

There is one sports story out there that has really got me peeved. Accenture has ended their sponsorship deal with Tiger Woods. And just when I’d almost figured out what Accenture was. Well listen up Accenture, I know it must have been heartbreaking to find out that Tiger was endorsing other companies on the side. But you and Tiger made such beautiful ad copy together.

“Go On. Be A Tiger.”

Why break up when you can just change your slogan to, “Ho On. Do A Tiger.”

And now folks…and now Gillette is rethinking Tiger’s endorsement…possibly after seeing some of Tiger’s alleged mistresses. After all, is this really the best a man can get?

But you know what? You know what buddy? Stay strong Tiger. You are gonna bounce back. No one in the world is better at getting their balls out of a trap.

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Like I said, don’t get your hopes up. DPF rates Key’s Opening Statement to Parliament with a “B”. I’d give it a “C”, although I’m tempted to give it a D (i.e. fail), because Key has simply disregarded the Tax Working Group and 2025 Taskforce’s recommendations (his reactions to Capital Markets will be out next week).

Key ought to have done something about the tax status of property. That would’ve given the government better leverage to to get income, trust and corporate tax rates down (NB: I’m not totally convinced of the need for a land tax, but think LAQCs should go). Increasing GST to cut income tax was a good move, but there is little mention of cutting spending save for better enforcement of welfare rules. To do it, Key will break a promise on not increasing GST. He should’ve broken his promises on superannuation thresholds and the age of eligibility.

Bernard Hickey is saying I should get a one-way ticket to Australia because of Key’s failure to introduce a land tax. Personally I’d rather do what my parents did in the 70s and go earn the big money in Europe to save. Or join my mates in Hong Kong or Singapore. But I digress…

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Last Thursday I went blogger drinks in Auckland with my host at Gotcha!. Though I have worked professionally in the ‘blogosphere’ for several years I had never been to blogger drinks though had heard about some of the antics.

I believe that Cactus Kate had to be restrained from punching Phil U late last year. Personally I would have let her go to it, photographing and blogging the action would have been a significant source of traffic. Having been assaulted in the pursuit of a story I can assure Phil U that it is well worth the page views to get a black eye.

I got talking to Madeleine of the Christian blog MandM. I was very impressed with the way they ran their blog and more importantly how successful it was. Not so much in terms of absolute numbers of pages delivered but in terms of respect and profile.

On the strength of their blogging Matthew & Madeleine had been invited to participate earlier that day in the “Marae: The Great Waitangi Debate,” broadcast on Television One last weekend. That recognition by the real media confirms the value they offer.

Talking to Madeleine & Matthew and then reading their wonderfully crafted blog I was reminded of the invention of Kevin Roberts : Love marks.

“How Do I Know A Lovemark?

Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance. Like great brands, they sit on top of high levels of respect – but there the similarities end.

Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.

Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go.”

Even though I am a dreadful post-theist MandM is now on my RSS feed. It takes a lot for a blog to make it on so MandM should feel honoured LOL.

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In the early 1980’s I went to a very disturbing Brazilian film , Pixote, the Law of the Weakest. It is the most disturbing film I have ever watched. It included a scene of implied rape of a small boy in a reform school.

I find it very disturbing that:

“plans to make a seven-year-old girl the ‘queen’ of a samba school in this year’s Rio de Janeiro carnival.

The role of ‘drum corps queen’ is normally given to a barely-clad model or soap opera star.”

“Brazil has long had a problem with sexual exploitation of children, especially in the lawless Amazon region.

Allowing Julia to be a drum corps queen ‘would increase the treatment of children as sexual objects in Brazilian society,’ said Carlos Nicodemos, director of the Rio de Janeiro state Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents.

‘We’re not against kids participating in Carnival; it’s part of Brazilian culture,” Nicodemos said. ‘What we can’t allow is putting a seven-year-old girl in a role that traditionally for carnival has a very sexual focus.’“ The Daily Mail via Jezebel

Sexualising children is totally wrong.

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“The phrase “Better Living Through Chemistry” is a variant of a DuPont advertising slogan, “Better Things for Better Living…Through Chemistry.” DuPont adopted it in 1935 and was their slogan until 1982.”

Wikipedia

“And she’s even considering returning to him? My God. She packed the children up on holiday and Tiger’s gone to a sex addiction clinic. Allegedly she’s now a participant in his cure sessions.

You cannot cure wandering eyes and itchy pants. You can restrain it by being with a man 24/7 but there is no cure. Men who behave this way don’t have an illness or anything that can be cured with any clinic or drug other than chemical castration. They are merely opportunists, that’s all. She was there, and I could so why not?”

Cactus Kate

So is Cactus correct ? Is infidelity a moral flaw, is it a conscious choice or is it a disease and/or chemical imbalance ? Can we have a more moral society through chemistry ?

One person I discussed this issue with responded like this:

“[8:22:52 PM] sometime we have to accept that we can spend our lives excusing ourselves for our behaviour but bottom line is no matter how challenged our mental state of mind is(excuse extreme cases of delusion of course) we h ave to be accountable”

Yes we have to be accountable for our actions and live with the consequences. That is not the same as being totally conscious of the consequences of our actions when we took them.

There are health issues that can lead to inappropriate sexual behavior:

“Hypersexuality is symptomatic of mania in bipolar disorder and promotes an exceptionally vulnerable time for both parties in the relationship and if not recognized and properly handled can lead to emotional turmoil and family breakups.” – Hypersexuality and Bipolar

“Obsessive-compulsive disorder afflicts one in fifty people. It is not well-understood by the general public, and thus many suffer needlessly because they do not know what is wrong with them or where to get help. Although thirty percent of OCD sufferers have sexual obsessions, we rarely hear about this specific manifestation of the disease.” – BrainPhysics

Both of these conditions can be treated by medication and therapy. Sure the individual is responsible for their behavior but it is an over simplification by Cactus to say that they are an opportunist.

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Andrew Williams, fomerly known as the Clown of  Campbells Bay and the Mad Mayor is these days going by the moniker “The Scarecrow” for the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz was missing a brain.

The Scarecrow has dictated a missive that shows as much about his mental state as his addiction to pain killers and alcohol. It is a rambling inhorecent piece of tosh. The Herald must have been short of a few column inches today to publish this rubbish.

The post could be summarised like this:

• Random Quote, totally irrelevant to rest of document
• Conspiracy Theory of control of Auckland
• Call Local Government Minister and other Ministers liars
• Moan about losing his job
• pathetic link back to the first quote.

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The case of the Dirty Downloader in Palmerston North has had an interesting turn of events, events that make the decision of Judge Grant Fraser simply apalling. Keeping Stocks explains why:

We have been made aware of the identity of the Prominent Palmerstonian- from several independant andunrelated sources. We were also made aware of something yesterday which, working in the ECE sector, we found rather chilling. After much internal debate between me, myself and I, we decided that this needed to be put in the public domain, but in a manner which would not breach the Court-ordered suppression.

So we ask this question; did Judge Grant Fraser know that the Prominent Palmerstonian’s business premises share the same street address as a pre-school? We believe that this is a very important question in the context of Judge Fraser’s decision to allow name suppression. This is indeed a case of public interest.

Ponder this; do the parents who send their children to the pre-school involved have a right to know that its neighbour had an unhealthy interest in children? For us, that’s a no-brainer; we can’t think of a clearer case where publication of the defendant’s name IS in the public interest.

There are many other questions and allegations about the relationship between the Judge and the defendant swirling around, questions that need to be answered, in the meantime with the information that Keep Stock has posted I think the Crown prosecutor should be in court immediately seeking an urgent appeal to the sentence and suppression in this case.

Bear in mind that the Dirty Downloader came to the attention of the FBI. His activities are not nothing, theya ren’t something to be swept under the carpet.

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My appearances are getting shorter. Yesterday I was informed that the Crown was trying to add bail onto my charges. This was ultimately doomed to failure because you can’t add bail with custodial provisions onto a summary charge with no custodial sentence. This morning as I enetered court I found that they had had a re-think after a very strongly worde3d discussion with my lawyer.

I plead not guilty to all five charges and was remanded at large for another three weeks when we will have a status hearing.

Lastly I have been informed that another two charges will laid for The North Shore Teacher and the Nelson person of National Significance. Pffft, what happened to the contempt charges, well nothing, if they coulda they woulda is my opinion, but they can’t.

I shall continue on, I am sure another meddling Judge will help the cause at least three more times in the next three weeks.

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Possibly the first ever 4×4x4 LEGO Rubik’s Cube solver? This Rubik’s Cube solver was designed and programmed using a Nokia N95 mobile phone, a LEGO Mindstorms NXT and lots of LEGO technic pieces!

[ad]

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I am an artist not a scientist so I will just offer a list of random links from Googling “climate change denier”:

1) Information Is Beautiful

I researched this subject in a very particular way. I deliberately chose not speak directly to any climate experts or leading scientists in the field. I used only publicly available web sources.

Why? Because I wanted to simulate what it’s like for people trying to learn about climate change online.

My conclusion is “what a nightmare”. I was generally shocked and appalled by how difficult it was to source counter arguments. The data was often tucked away on extremely ancient or byzantine websites. The key counter arguments I often found, 16 scrolls down, on comment 342 on a far flung realclimate.org post from three years ago. And even when I found an answer, the answers were excessively jargonized or technical.

2) RealClimate

RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion here is restricted to scientific topics and will not get involved in any political or economic implications of the science. All posts are signed by the author(s), except ‘group’ posts which are collective efforts from the whole team. This is a moderated forum.

3) Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers

Free-market, anti-climate change think-tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US and the International Policy Network in the UK have received grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil. Both organisations have funded international seminars pulling together climate change deniers from across the globe.

4) Lord Monckton’s lies about the “hockey Stick”

Lord Mockton has been a prolific propagator of this lie. He even appears in the infamous “climategate” emails saying of the “hockey stick”: “the US National Academy of Sciences has described as having “a validation skill not significantly different from zero”. In plain English, this means the graph was rubbish.”

Problem is – search through the NRC report and you just won’t find those words (“a validation skill not significantly different from zero”). Nevertheless this allegation has been repeated innumerable numbers of times in conservative newspapers and websites. Some of these also claim (as does Poenke) that the IPCC had abandoned the data (see for example the policy Brief from the Commonwealth foundation – Climate & Penn State – demanding a McCarthyist-style investigation of Mann). But even Mockton acknowledges that“the UN continues to use the defective graph.”

5) Monbiot’s royal flush: Top 10 climate change deniers

Mel P ( Melanie Phillips Daily Mail columnist ) appears to believe that half the scientists on earth are engaged in a series of giant conspiracies. Like Christopher Booker (below), she dismisses not only climate change but also the entire canon of evolutionary science. She also stoutly defends the thesis that MMR injections cause autism.

6) Climate Denial Dot Org

The Deniers have always understood this. They use language that is designed to appeal to deeper values (such as freedom, independence, progress). The narrative they tell of being determined (and even persecuted) free thinkers standing against the tide of oppressive and self-interested conformity is designed to create an aura of integrity and trustworthiness.

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Craig Erskine

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Sent a friend a text message yesterday asking what was happening. Got the reply that Alison Mau was a carpet muncher. Carpet muncher ? What the fuck is a carpet muncher ? Catching sight of the “Herald on Sunday” as I sat down for a long black I discovered that carpet muncher was code for being a lesbian.

Across the leader board of the Herald on Sunday was a photograph of Alison Mau and her lover. Clearly having this content in the most visually privileged position of the paper meant that the editors considered it would be of significant interest to readers and would induce them to purchase and read the news paper. And more importantly read the advertising.

So why are we so fascinated in the sex lives of celebrities ? If Alison Mau had a new male lover would be as interested as her having a female lover ?

A couple of thoughts on why it is of interest to the general newspaper reader:

a) having a photograph of the attractive Alison Mau and her attractive lover allows all the sexually frustrated men and in some cases their wives to indulge in a erotic phantasy over the corn flakes. It is a form of soft core pornography: legitimizing sexual thoughts. Mrs Smith of Hillcrest having a quiet sexual phantasy about going down on a girl.

b) there is still a strongly puritanical component to the New Zealand psyche with an attitude that disapproves of homosexuality: “The influence of evangelicals and dissenters, that had so marked an effect on the moral tone of Victorian England, found its way to New Zealand as an invisible export and made itself felt before the colony was many years old.”- Te Ara

Ian Wishart does a good job of illustrating this puritanical obsession:

The enigma of Helen Clark may finally have been solved – a troubled child of the 60s who now has the power to address the perceived wrongs of her youth. The sickly, bookish archetypal nerd who now has the ability to kick sand in everyone else’s faces. Forced to go to church, brought up in a family with strict morals, forced to marry when she didn’t believe in it, made to feel a criminal for her sexuality.

What relevance did Helen Clark’s sexuality have to her role as a politician ? Bugger all. Very relevant is Wishart’s overt Christian beliefs. I discovered that lesbianism isn’t necessarily prohibited by Christianity::

Is a Christian Threesome Possible?

two main issues of concern to Christians, those of homosexuality and adultery…. the act of sharing a woman and being together in a sexual situation is nevertheless homoerotic … For this reason, we feel it is best for a couple to avoid bringing another man into the picture.

The one passage that is frequently cited as condemning female homosexuality is found in Romans 1:26-27: “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions: for their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature.” The idea of women going “against nature” is typically interpreted to mean women lusting after women. However, we believe that what Paul is referring to when he speaks of women “going against nature” is not female homosexuality per se, but rather the reversal of sexual roles

Perhaps someone should tell Wishart.

3) Alison Mau is attractive and therefore makes a good photograph on the cover of the Herald on Suinday. If she was less attractive ( like say Sue Bradford ) would she have had had her photograph in the leaderboard position ?

4) Oddly it is not only straight people who are obsessed with finding out if someone is lesbian. Over at unPC Lesbian there has been a long running thread speculating on the sexual orientation of Jillian Michaels.

I wonder what the reaction would be if Simon Dallow had a male lover ? Would there be the same level of interest ? Would Simon Dallow get a leaderboard photograph ? Is there a double standard applied to women ?

There appears to be when it comes to the cougar.

“Feminists love the idea that, as they put it, “50 is the new 25″ and that newly “empowered” women of a certain age are free to conduct their sex lives just like men.

The only thing Washington Post writers Monica Hesse and Ellen McCarthy found to dislike about cougars is the name — so double-standard-ish. “There’s a corresponding name for single males who prefer to date younger females,” Ms. Hesse and Ms. McCarthy complain. “They’re called ‘men.’” “ – Washington Times

And this nugget from feminist blog Jezebel where it is implied that it is ok for a gay man to like younger men but not ok for women to like younger men.:

“but here, the women are just set up to be really foul, awful, pathetic people who seem to be chasing teenage boys, setting them up to be more like pedophiles than 40 year old women who prefer dating younger men. And then comes Alec Baldwin, playing a gay man who also likes younger men “ – Jezebel

Reusing the quotation above it is interesting that the cougar turns the conventional sex roles on their head:

Romans 1:26-27: “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions: for their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature.” but rather the reversal of sexual roles

As a friend said when I told them that I was blogging on this topic: the cougar is ultimate act of feminism.

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1. Do the Judge and Doctor belong to the same Lodge?
2. Do the Judge and the Doctor play at the same Golf club?
3. Does the Judge share an interest with the Doctor?
4. Tennis maybe?
5. Tiddlywinks?
6. Or is it just a professional courtesy from one closed shop to another?
7. Surely he would have recused himself?
8. Anyone heard from Silent T this year?
9. What is happening with the Bill Liu case?
10. Its nearly been two years, should it take that long?
11. Who really is Phil Goff?
12. Why did so many “names” go bankrupt in October?
13. Isn’t Ali so much hotter now she bats for the other team?
14. Ali Mau or Pork Chop?
15. Definitely Ali, right?
16. Actually who would go with Pork Chop?
17. Is Brooke Two-Fathers the new Ricardo for Pork Chop

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I’ll be in Court today, it should be a bit of a battle because of their attempts to put a bail condition on me.

I’m due there at 0900.

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The Prime Minister will make a big speech tomorrow at the opening of Parliament. Apparently it’s going to set out the government’s tax policies. Be prepared to be disappointed. That way if the package is good, you’ll be elated.But seriously, tomorrow’s speech needs to articulate a way forward – a wishy-washy yes maybe speech won’t cut it. Luckily, I suspect the way it’s been talked up in the media implies JK’s office knows it.

It won’t be Labour that ends John Key’s dream run. No, 2010 will be the year that makes or breaks John Key’s premiership. Showing some testicular fortitude now by moving the country towards significant changes in how much tax we pay, and what we pay it on, will significantly alter our future course as a country. Allan Bollard is right – we won’t catch Australia if we don’t make some bold changes.

Fixing the tax system is not a silver bullet though. The government must also address our long-term spending problem; the fact we are living beyond our means. Because today’s spending problem is tomorrow’s debt problem – and that debt will unnecessarily burden future generations. That’s why I care about these issues – because of our future generations. I don’t want them burdened by some previous government’s inability to control its own spending, as my generation was during the 90s thanks to Muldoon’s spending binge of the late 70s and early 80s. So come on John, show us you’ve got a pair and give us the step change we need.

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Catherine Delahunty, the Member for Mars is really putting her foot in it at the moment. She has now revealed that the Greens really are watermelons.

The Member for Mars has revealed that the Greens really are watermelons.

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John Key drew a picture, and he signed it, and he put a copyright on it too, all on live TV.

At least we know that it a) Wasn’t a forgery, b) He actually signed an artwork of his own, c) There won’t be a rubbish fire in his Helensville Office, set by a staffer trying to destroy evidence.

Now the doodle is up for sale on Trademe.

John "Smile and Wave" Key drew an image of the kind of flag he would like.

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Alan Bollard is right. Given the existing policies and state of the government sector we have zero chance of making in roads to catch Australia let alone trying to catch them. Unless drastic changes it ain’t going to happen.

New Zealand continues to live beyond its means, and “Karori” Bill English continues to read Treasury reports about the Treasury reports about the Treasury reports he asked for.

And why would we expect anything else. If you we keep on doing the same old things over and over we will keep on getting the same old thing over and over. Then of course are the mental patients residing in Labour. They think that raising the minimum wage is the way to catch Australia, well that is such a good idea then lets raise all the way up to Australia right now. Yeah see its dumb isn’t it. Far better to remove the minimum wage altogether.

We need to be bold not timid, we need to be strong to resist spendthrifts and wastrels and most importantly we need to act. Smiling and Waving ain’t going to get us there.

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The DomPost reports that Tasers are helping in many situations with calming down perps.

The Taser is saving lives, and many criminals are simply surrendering at the sight of it, police say.

Nine people were shot with a Taser in its first year of use and some incidents were so violent, the offender could have been shot with a firearm, if the stun gun had not been available. Police policy is to shoot at the torso.

A tenth person was tasered in Johnsonville on Friday.

That is so funny. Before the Taser was available people may have been shot but now the Taser is available the crims are very wary. Go figure, they ignore a Glock which spits 9mm bullets and fear a jolt from a Taser. Ignore sthe gun that could kill you, fear the zapper. Fricken dumb crims.

Back in 2006 veteran Crim-cuddler Marie Dyhrberg was all for banning them.

A campaign has been launched to stop the introduction of taser guns to the police.

It was revealed in February that trials of electronic stun guns are planned for later this year. Now a group calling itself ‘Campaign Against The Taser’ is trying to fire up debate.

Barrister and group spokeswoman Marie Dyhrberg says there should be a full independent inquiry about the devices. She says with major concerns already being raised about police use of pepper spray, it is critical the introduction of tasers is carefully scrutinised.

Liberal, panty-waist crim-cuddlers should just STFU. The Taser is saving lives.

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Tony “Wardrobe” Ryall continues to perform well in health. He is doing so well he may soon be nudging Crusher Collins off the lead in the WOBH Minister of the Month Award.

Mr Ryall now wants mergers to “bulk up” PHOs and reduce the $33 million a year the state spends on their management fees.

So Tony reckons we can give a lot of bureaucrats the arse and be better off for it. A sure vote winner that Labour will say is hurting NZ by reducing the state services capacity or something equally dumb.

Some interpret the changes as a PHO take-over by doctors and a downgrading of community input. But Mr Ryall said he wanted doctors, nurses and other health workers to take a stronger role in the leadership of health services because that made the services more effective and efficient.

“Most people in the country wouldn’t know a PHO if they fell over it. This plan of strong community engagement is probably more of a myth.”

Yeah what is a PHO anyway? Pretty Hopeless organisation? Ryall is right, most people want to see a doctor, not a PHO, and community involvement requires a community to be interested, which they arent. All the left’s hand wringing about community involvement is never going to do them any good, because the only people that believe it are the other socialists they drink their chardonnay with.

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