Kiwiblog

From the HoS:

Female koalas indulge in lesbian “sex sessions”, rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.

The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual.

Scientists monitoring the marsupials with digital cameras counted three homosexual interactions for every heterosexual one.

“Some females rejected the advances of males that were in their enclosures, only to become willing participants in homosexual encounters immediately after,” say the researchers.

“On several occasions more than one pair of females shared the same pole, and multiple females mounted each other simultaneously. At least one multiple encounter involved five female koalas.

“One theory put forward by the researchers is that the females do it to attract males; another is that it is simply hormonal, or that it is a stress reliever.

I reckon they do it just to make the male koalas jealous!!

The SST reports on how ” A Catholic school has expelled a pupil for getting a tattoo of an American rap musician on his arm – a $300 Christmas present from his social worker mum.”

Now while the school may be over-reacting, I have to say I blame the Mum. It’s common sense that gettng a tattoo which stretches from the wrist to the elbow might go down badly at a traditional school, and also who gives out tattoos as christmas presents to kids who are still at school?

Reflecting on the anti-smacking bill, supporters of it have claimed that the Police won’t prosecute parents just for lightly smacking their kids if they misbehave. Now this might be true, but what there hasn’t been much focus on is how CYFS will use the new law.

There has been a great deal of evidence that already CYFS has a very heavy handed approach to parents, even a bullying approach where they threaten to remove custody if you challenge their wishes,

Now imagine the situation once this bill is passed. CYFS could use this provision to act against any parent or family who smacks a child, no matter how minor or justified. Imagine how it might be used in custody disputes – one could use it against the other parent, even if you had both agreed to it.

So yes if the law is changed, you won’t see a lot of parents going to jail for smacking their children, but you might see a lot of them get done over by CYFS, who no doubt next year will announce theyneed a huge budget increase to cope with the extra workload.

Parliament’s justice and electoral select committee has recommended Peter Dunne’s bill renaming Waitangi Day New Zealand Day not proceed. I agree with this, as I think 6 February should be Waitangi Day and should be commemoorated as such.

But I do support there being a seperate NZ Day holiday, to celebrate all the great things about NZ, and Peter Dunne has indicated he will move down this path also which is good.

What is interesting is what day would one have New Zealand Day on. The options seem to be:

(a) 25 April ANZAC Day (I oppose that as that should remain dedicated to the ANZACs)

(b) 26 September Dominion Day (weather not great then, but provides a holiday between June and October)

(c) 25 November passing of Statute of Westminister in 1947

(d) Queen’s birthday 1st monday in June (may be controversial with monarchists, but means businesses do not get stung with a 14th public holiday to fund)

(e) Any date between Queen’s Birthday and Labour Weekend to break it up.

So what do people think? Should we have a NZ Day and what day should it be if we have one?

A good article by Paul Thomas in the NZ Herald on neo-conservatism – a balanced look.

American commentators Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz are usually credited with, or blamed for, creating neo-conservatism.

He was amazed by the unwillingness of sections of the western intelligentsia to face up to the fundamental nature of the Soviet Union, particularly its remorseless assault on the freedoms they enjoyed and supposedly held dear.

The fight in Auckland over the medical laboratory contract is a fascinating one.

Talk to many in the medical establishment and you will hear that Labtests Auckland has no local support and will be unable to meet the contract. They say this is just about one man, Dr Tony Bierre, fell out with all the other pathologists, failed in a personal grievance against them, and improperly used his position on the Auckland District Health Board to put together a rival bid using imported staff from Australia.

The Herald has an article on Dr Bierre.

On the other hand it seems clear that the incumbent supplier, Diagnostic Medlabs, was not tendering competitively because it thought its position was unchallengable as it had every local pathologist, bar one, on board. They were effectively a monopoly, and took advantage of it.

So I’m not sure who I want to win the lawsuit. Comments from those close to the action are welcome.

I’m off overseas today, heading for Bali, returning Sunday week.

Sadly it is not a holiday, but for a conference – Apricot 2007. I don’t tend to end up with a lot of spare time at these things, but am sure I will still enjoy the environment.

Also it’s not the safest place to be going to. The official MFAT advisory says:

Our advice to defer non-essential and tourist travel extends to Bali. Further attacks, following the bombings on 1 October 2005, cannot be ruled out. The most likely targets are areas frequented by foreigners. If your presence in Bali is essential, extreme caution should be exercised.

As the 1 October 2005 Bali bombings demonstrated, there remains a high threat from terrorism in Indonesia.

Attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia, and could be directed at any location known to be frequented by foreigners. Possible targets for terrorist attacks include (but are not limited to) embassies, hotels, bars, restaurants (including fast food outlets), identifiably western businesses, shopping malls, schools, residential areas and all other areas where westerners tend to gather could be targeted by terrorists without forewarning. There is a credible threat of terrorist attack in Indonesia during the Christmas and New Year period.

New Zealanders who do travel to Indonesia should observe a high level of security awareness in public, choose their destinations and activities carefully. There is also a threat of kidnapping.

New Zealanders should avoid places where Westerners are known to gather such as hotels, clubs, bars, shopping malls, tourist resorts and places of worship in Jakarta and elsewhere. They should treat very seriously any threats, including bomb threats, that may be made against them or the premises they occupy.

So it’s not all a barrel of laughs.

Bob Clarkson is offering to sell for half its $24 million value the Baypark stadium to Tauranga City Council. A very generous offer. Just lucky it isn’t during an election campaign or Winston would be running to the Electoral Commission

Meanwhile another National MP, Mark Blumsky, is reported to be considering his options for the future, citing the difficulty one has to “make a difference” as an Opposition backbench MP.

When the Greens in NZ protest battery hen farming they put Sue Kedgley in a cage, resist the temptation to lose the key, and generally has everyone laughing at the MPs in the cage. Not very effective.

Those Aussies are cunning buggers though. They get model Imogen Bailey to be the one to go in the cage, and in a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel, are auctioning the rights on E-Bay to share the cage with Imogen.

Now how much money would you make auctioning off the rights to be in a cage with Sue Kedgley? Not even her fellow MPs would be bidding. In fact the only way one could make money is if it ws to guarantee you do not have to go in the cage with her.

But as for quality time with Imogen, well the auction is here and with a week to go I am sure the bidding will go into the hundreds or thousands.

Georgina Beyer really does have a problem with perseverance. She announced her resignation from Parliament three times, taking it back twice. And now after announcing she would be returning to life on the stage in the play “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” she has pulled out, leading to the show being cancelled.

Her withdrawal was two days before the show was due to open and has led to a loss of up to $30,000 for Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre Trust.

The press release from Fortune doesn’t specify the exact problem, but did say:

Citing, personal and professional performance difficulties, Georgina has found the move from her parliamentary career to that of a professional actor much more demanding than expected.

This is a huge disappointment to Georgina, her co-star Douglas Kamo, director Hilary Norris and everyone involved in the production but a decision had to be taken after it became clear that the performance would not reach the standards expected by everyone involved.

It is hard work being an actor, It requires hard work and dedication to remember your lines when it is a live production.

Labour’s election pledge of 20 free hours of childcare has been slowly but steadily blowing up in their face. It has been a series of retreats and then a miniscule uptake. The latest fiasco is that even the care centre where Helen made the anouncement in 2005 “is getting cold feet about the scheme”.

The Early Childhood Council remarks:

“Parents are going to be absolutely furious to find, after being promised a reduction [in childcare fees] of $90 a week, that they are not going to get it,”

I’m tempted to try and show this cartoon on TV later today, but I suspect the Broadcasting Standards Authority won’t like it!

Hat Tip: Boing Boing

Godoness. The Australian Liberal Party has dumped an NSW state election candidate because of a joke he sent on via text message.

The message, sent on Christmas Day, was:

“The video you have ordered about how to have sex with a goat has now arrived,”

Now it isn’t that funny, but it is hardly grounds for deselection. I mean it was joking about child abuse sure, but you know sex with goats is hardly a widespread problem in NSW (or at least I hope it isn’t).

It reminds me a bit of university days when people would put fake messages up on the hostel notice board announcing VD results were available for X or for Y to call this number and it would be a strip club or something. All very puerile but fairly inoffensive.

I was briefly in Parliament yesterday and had just heard from a journalist that there had been a heated clash between Taito Phillip Field and Lockwood Smith at question time.

And then by chance I was passing by the debating chamber when out walked Field and Lockwood in animated conversation, talking all the way along the corridor to the Beehive.

Now I couldn’t tell if it was a heated conversation or not because Lockwood has a near permament smile on his face and Field has a near permament scowl, and this was no different.

It is one of the surreal things abour Parliament is that MPs can go hammer and tongs at each other in the House, and then deal civilly with each other minutes later.

Earlier in the week I come across an article on Stuff with a photo of Rebecca Lee who has topped the FHM “sexiest babe” list.

I look at the top ten list and to my shock and horror I have never heard of No 1 Rebecca Lee or No 2 on the list. In fact almost half the list is unknown to me. Now this is not the DPF of old. Once upon a time I would have been certain to be able to know the top ten, and probably have an opinion on the next ten also. I have clearly fallen out of form.

Now it occurs to me that it might not just be me, but perhaps a growing malaise amongst the population. Therefore I have sacrificed some time to do some research and am happy to present photos of the FHM Top Ten. However they are not named. The challenge for readers is to put faces to names in the comments. No cheating now.

The top ten are:

1. Rebecca Lee
2. Sandi Wester
3. Michelle Ang
4. Delwyn Cummack
5. Hayley Holt
6. Emily Barclay
7. Nicky Watson
8. Shavaughn Ruakere
9. Carly Binding
10. Kelly Swanson-Roe

Person A

Person B

(more…)

Whale Oil highlights this hilarious exchange from Parliament on Wednesday:

Sandra Goudie: Will the Minister ever release the reports he has received on problem-gambling service providers; if he will, when—or is he worried they will highlight his incompetence?

Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: No and yes.

Oh I wish I was there to see that.

The NZ Bankers’ Association has applied to InternetNZ for the creation of a new second level domain – bank.nz

The domain would be reserved for the use of the 16 official banks registered by the Reserve Bank under section 64 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989.

I think this is very laudable. With phishing scams happening almost every day, it will be very valuable to have a “safe” second level domain which people can know with confidence only comprises legitimate banks. It isn’t a total solution to phishing, but will be beneficial in my opinion.

Submission on the proposal close 29 March.

Telecom are set to make several million dollars of refuneds to customers on their Go Large plan for heavy Internet users. Heavy as in their usage not their girth

It seems the traffic shaping which was meant to apply to file sharing only was applied to all usage including browsing and e-mail. In other words everything went slow.

No wonder people were so unhappy when you sign up for the gruntiest plan and end up with the opposite.

I’m on Breakfast TV tomorrow morning on TV One at 7.10 am discussing CYFSWatch Blog (of course). That gives me the rare trifecta of having been on all three TV news channels within 24 hours – the last time I managed that was when I was arrested

Talking of media, I am going to be having a regular weekly radio spot from the week after next. It is going to be quite wideranging focusing on anything which the blogs (not just mine) have been discussing, so should be lots of fun.

Okay a few days ago I blogged about the teacher promoting conspiracy theories.

Tony criticised me in this post, and I then responded with a fairly robust swipe back at Tony.

Tony feels I have misrepresented him, and has blogged so here.

I’m not going to litigate this issue any more because it is in fact an issue of no importance, but want to explain a few things about my writing style etc.

Firstly I want to state that from the interactions I have had with Tony in real life I consider him to be a really decent guy. To some degree it is because I have met him in real life, and have a positive opinion of him, that I will be fairly vigorous in swiping at him when I see an opportunity. The same goes with Jordan. The more I know someone, the more I hassle them. It’s not an unknown Kiwi trait.

When I criticise No Right Turn (for example) I tend to be far more reserved as I don’t actually know him or have met him.

Secondly I grew up as a competitive debater, and I tend to use debating type rhetoric in some of my posts. So when I say things like Tony Milne wants to use ratemyteacher.com as the basis for teacher pay assessment I am using hyperbole and partly taking the piss. I’m taking something silly Tony said, and exaggerating it. This is what happens in competitive debating, and I use that technique sometimes on the blog. What is unfortunate perhaps is people can’t see the big grin on my face as I type it, as they would in a debate, and realise I am basically having fun.

Finally if ever anyone does think I have been unfair to someone, feel free to let me know. You are welcome to post a comment here or state so on your own blog. But you can also just e-mail me privately and I’ll respond reasonably.

The CYFSWatch blog appears to have been deleted, no doubt by Google for breach of its terms and conditions.

I’m in or on various media today discussing this. Prime News at 5.30 pm and TV3 News at 6.00 p.m. Plus been on Newstalk ZB and NZPA. Common themes are that it is rare for Google to actually delete a blog, and that it is not as hard to trace the blog owner/poster as people think.

The NZ Herald comes out in support of Rob Cameron’s proposal to allow private investment into SOEs. However they advocate up to 49%, rather than just 10%. Hear hear.

Any structure that exposes state-owned enterprises to the disciplines and measurement of the market, and improves their access to capital and financial flexibility, is welcome. But it is appropriate at the moment, given the Government sees state-owned enterprises as drivers of its economic transformation agenda, and has instructed them to consider diversifying. Greater market scrutiny, and more direct monitoring, provides a greater chance this process will be well managed.

They hope Dr Cullen will announce this in the May budget. Sadly it is most unlikely.

National has a second blogging MP, sort of. Tukituki MP Craig Foss has been blogging for a few months, and now Bill English is sort of blogging.

Bill doesn’t appear to be blogging directly, with it mainly being copies of his PRs, but there are lots of useful links to personally recorded audio and video material. Also as with most blogs, it allows comments and trackbacks, so people can provide direct feedback on the various statements.

Stuff: Three quakes have Aucklanders running into streets

Ha, real men live in Wellington where we don’t even put down our coffee unless the quake is at least a 6.0. The Auckland ones were puny at 3.7, 4.5 and 3.8.

Try being on the 20th floor of Bowen House during a quake and the building is swaying from side to side (as it is meant to) – then you have something to talk about.

As I have previously blogged, I find it offensive that a decision to be an organ donor can be vetoed by your family. The good news is there is a bill by Jackie Blue and Andy Tookey to stop other people over-riding your decisions with your organs. Andy Tookey appeared yesterday at the Health Select Committee with his daughter Katie who is five and may need a liver transplant in the next few years.

Sadly the Government also has a bill which specifically legislates for your wishes to be over-riden by others on “spiritual or cultural grounds”. This is awful because it means your partner’s or family’s spirtual beliefs get to trump your own ones. You may tick to be an organ donor and your partner may belong to a religion that doesn’t support organ donation. So if you die, your religious beliefs are ignored, and your partner’s ones over-ride your own.