Fascist Breastapo Weren’t Really Telling People What To Do When They Were Telling People What To Do, Honest!

Another propaganda piece in the New Zealand Herald from someone pretending to be a journalist:

The league’s New Zealand director, Alison Stanton, and board member Lisa Manning, both of whom had difficulty establishing breastfeeding, said yesterday that the group’s response, when asked by the council about the bottle-feeding clip, was part of its normal activity: advocating for breast-feeding.

“This question about us being offended [by the bottle-feeding clip] and bullying or demanding that it be taken out – it was a measured response,” said Ms Manning…

“Measured response”?!!  Is that supposed to be a defence?  If you were really advocating for breast-feeding, then why are you complaining about a MAN using the only method available to him?  Positive advocacy means you publicise IN FAVOUR of something, not AGAINST something.  This has got to be the worst attempt at spin I’ve seen since Mitt Romney last opened his mouth and said something.

You’re still both a pair of fascists.

Erebus Crew Families Still In Denial of Reality

It seems the Erebus disaster of 1979 can never be put to rest.  Now Peter Dunne has weighed in to try and tell us 2+2=5.

Nobody likes to speak ill of the dead, and it is not my intention to do so here.  But I will state the facts:  The crew were confused as to their position, because their computers had been set up with an incorrect flight path.  They did not know that, but they were aware that something was wrong.  We know this from the black box recording.  However, the crew made the mistake of simply scratching their heads and not doing anything about it.  They did not double check their position with McMurdo.  Furthermore, they continued to fly at an unsafe altitude.  Of course, they were trying to give their passengers a good show, but the fact remains that what they did was against both company policy and safe flying.  They should have immediately increased altitude while they verified their position.  They did not do so, and paid for that decision with their own lives, and the lives of their passengers.

I am sorry for the wives who lost husbands and the children who lost fathers.  But they need to accept that the crew made mistakes and played a part in the tragedy.  They can’t bring their loved ones back by agitating politicians to lay blame exclusively on the airline, when the judgment of the crew was a part of why the disaster occured.

GOP Caucuses: “So We Had Won After All!”

Many punters have compared Newt Gingrich to Winston Churchill, justifiably in my opinion.  They both have the same larger than life personalities, the same lack of love from political colleagues, the same record as reformers, and the same checkered political history of wins and losses.  So, in light of Rick Santorum’s barnstorming caucus victories in Colorado and Minnesota tonight, I can only repeat Churchill’s quote upon hearing the news of Pearl Harbor:  “So we had won after all!”  As I am imagining that is how Gingrich is feeling right now.

Santorum in many ways has just saved Gingrich’s campaign.  He’s just put a huge puncture in Romney’s “inevitability” in a way that Gingrich himself could not have done.  It throws Newt a lifeline to pursue his “Southern Strategy” on Super Tuesday and beyond – he can go hard in Georgia and Tennessee knowing that Santorum has the ability to kneecap Romney elsewhere.  It also means that Virginia voters, seeing a real contest emerge, may catapult Ron Paul to victory there in an attempt to stop Romney.  Both Santorum and Gingrich would be foolish not to endorse Paul there, either overtly or covertly.  And Newt can perhaps resurrect his more positive and friendly campaigning style which worked for him so much better than the whiny and childish fits he has been prone to since Romney spent $15 million attacking him in Florida.

This race just got exciting again.  If you were betting on Romney, I’d put a hold on it.  The nominee could be any of these three guys, or could even be someone else.  Don’t be surprised if we get to the convention in Tampa and the GOP has to put up Dick Cheney or Sarah Palin, simply because none of these guys get enough delegates.

North Korean Accordion Band Plays Take On Me by A-Ha

We will slowly subvert the regime with 1980s synthesizer pop!

Evil Breast Nazis Suppress Positive Images of Male Maori Role Model

…So we have an anti-smoking ad on New Zealand television, which I believe is wrong anyway, but if we are going to have them, then what is more awesome than having Piri Weepu being a good Dad and feeding his child with a bottle?

I can’t for the life of me understand why the breast nazis are so offended by such a wholesome, positive image, especially when Maori men have had so much negative publicity from beating and killing children.  The sensitivity and the withdrawal of the image is insane.

Firstly, men should feed their infant children as well as women!  They should help their wives/girlfriends out.  And they don’t have boobs, so what else are they going to use but a bottle?  Secondly, who says that there is formula in the bottle?  It could be expressed breast milk!  How do the fascists at La Leech League know?  Thirdly, there is nothing wrong with formula.  I was never fed breast milk as an infant, I only had formula.  My daughters had a bit of breast milk, but mostly had formula.  THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH FORMULA FEEDING FROM A BOTTLE!!!  Stop making women feel guilty about it!

Many women find breastfeeding difficult, and in my ex wife’s case, could not produce anywhere near enough milk for our twin daughters.  It makes me so angry that these BITCHES (there is no kinder words for them) want to impose their stupid hippie ideals on mothers at a vulnerable time in their lives.  Of course breast milk is better than formula – no shit!  Everybody knows that.  But babies who have formula do just fine.

Alison Stanton, Karen Guilliland, the pair of you are just scumbags and nazis with no sensitivity.  You should be encouraging good role models for fatherhood in the lives of children, not suppressing them because of your insane cultlike fetish for breastfeeding.  I hope you both have tits which sag to your belly buttons and that your husbands cheat on you with someone more pert.

Maybe Romney Doesn’t Suck That Much

Romney on Hannity tonight was asked the exact question I have asked about him – is he going to be a reforming President, or is he going to tinker?

His response was “This is why I’m running!  I’m not going to be President to just make changes at the margins!”  And for once he sounded like he actually meant it.

I worry a lot about Romney winning the nomination, but that was a good answer to the question.  Maybe he’ll be alright after all.  Honestly, looking at Newt’s numbers right now, he is going to need something to hang on until Super Tuesday – at least one win – and unless he changes it up and lifts his game I don’t see him doing it.

Romney actually reminds me of John Key quite a lot.  He is the moderate, amiable guy who doesn’t look or sound like much of a fighter, but “smiling assassin” fits them both so well.  Look at how he took apart Gingrich in Florida.  He was merciless.  If he is only half as ruthless with Obama, he’ll carry forty states.

But he still should not start a trade war with China.

Further Proof that Mitt Romney Sux

Sounding like a wet Tory on minimum wages;

Class warfare gaffes;

People still don’t like him.

The amount of daylight between Mitt and Newt is becoming much clearer.  If Newt can shift the campaign focus to what Mitt is saying now, the souffle can rise a third time and we might have a nominee who doesn’t suck.  Or at least not as badly anyway.

Who Stole the Soul? Don Cornelius RIP

Soul Train host Don Cornelius, quite possibly the hippest, coolest man to have ever lived, has passed away.

Don Cornelius, the silken-voiced host of Soul Train who helped break down racial barriers and broaden the reach of black culture with funky music, groovy dance steps and cutting-edge style, has died. He was 75.

Police responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home around 4am. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, according to the coroner’s office. His death is not being treated as suspicious.

If you ever get the opportunity to watch some Soul Train, it is brilliant stuff.  Some amazing artists appeared on the show, and Don’s voice was smoother than a twelve year old single malt.

Here’s Bowie on Don’s show – an appearance which helped establish him as a star in America:

 

Fox News Foxes #5: Andrea Tantaros

Another host on The Five – not a classic Fox bombshell, but she does have a distinctive sultry look and a bit of verve and personality which I enjoy.

(By the way, I love that they always put the Fox News Foxes at the far end of the table so that you can see their legs.  Those TV producers are clever.)

The Mashco Piro People are Human Beings, Not Anthropological Curiosities

So civilization is encroaching on an isolated ethnic group in Peru.  Much handwringing has ensued.

A second image was taken by Gabriella Gali, an Italian visitor on a bird-watching tour of the national park. She was taking a speedboat down the Alto Madre de Dios, a tributary of the Amazon, when she spotted humans on the far bank. Concerned a tourist could come so close to uncontacted tribes, Gali passed her photograph to Survival International, which fights for the protection of indigenous people.

My reaction to this “encroachment” is “so what?”  If people want to be left alone, they will stay left alone.  It’s not like there isn’t plenty of Amazon basin left to disappear into.  If they want to find out about civilization, and “lose their culture”, they will do that too.

Middle class leftists have this view that “primitive cultures” need to be preserved and kept sacred, because they are supposedly purer and more innocent than if “corrupted” by Western culture.  They want to treat these people like artifacts and preserve their primitivity for posterity.  I find this view patronizing, and probably racist.  These are human beings just like us.  If they don’t like talking to us they will shoot us with arrows and spears.  If they do, then why pretend that a bit of civilization wouldn’t do any good to them?

46 States to Go

That was Newt Gingrich’s message tonight after a pretty decisive loss to Mitt Romney in Florida. It’s a good message, because it is true – this is only the end of the beginning.  However, 15% is not even close. You can argue that it’s pretty hard to fight being outspent 5 to 1 with negative ads, but Gingrich completely failed to counter successfully. He looked battered all week, and campaigned like it. I don’t think it’s just him though. I think he is surrounded by people who have panicked, and those sort of people are the last sort you want on a tough campaign.

He was too nice in Iowa, but in Florida he was just too desperate and nasty. It lost people’s sympathy. In South Carolina he got it right – you give people an alternative vision. You whack your opponents, but only on the way to articulating conservatism. He needs to refine that, increase the discipline levels, and figure out a new game plan, because if he continues to campaign this way he will lose.

The stakes are high. I was watching Romney on Greta last night and what he said really bothered me. Greta asked him what his first day in office would look like. He mentioned the usual crap about getting rid of Obamacare which every candidate has pledged to do, but then he mentioned two other things.  He said that he was not going to tolerate China rorting its currency, and talked about raising tarriffs on China.  He also talked about a tax rebate for savings for the middle class.

These are just awful policies.  You don’t promise to start a trade war with China on your first day in office!  There is nothing conservative about tarriffs.  All tarriffs do is make it more expensive for poor people when they are shopping at Walmart.  It’s an insane policy, and will destroy jobs and economic growth.

Sillier still is his rebate policy.  Poor people do not, and usually cannot afford to, save money.  The people who save money are the rich.  Romney’s rebate is a genuine bona fide “tax cut for the rich” in the worst way.  It will be a rort which helps the rich and does sodall for the poor, without any real economic benefit, since it is making a ludicrously complicated tax system even more complicated.

And that’s before you even look at Romney’s terrifying proclamation this week that he would not touch Social Security and Medicare – the two biggest items of expenditure in the Federal budget.  I know he was campaigning in Florida, but how any Tea Party voter can take him seriously is beyond me.

Newt would do well to cut out all the crap about the past records, which is what Florida has been about, and focus on what I see as some hugely blunderous policies by Romney.  He needs to hammer the bastard on them.  They show that Romney actually has no clue about economics and what conservatives want.  That is where Newt’s focus should be.

PS:  Sarah Palin has endorsed Newt for Nevada.  Good God, woman, just cut out the crap and start campaigning for the man.  You have the power to save him.  Stop teasing us all!

“Rage Against the Machine – Vote For Newt!”

“And I say, you know, you’ve got to rage against the machine at this point in order to defend our republic and save what is good and secure and prosperous about our nation,” Palin continued. “We need somebody who is engaged in sudden and relentless reform and is not afraid to shake up the establishment. So, if for no other reason, rage against the machine, vote for Newt, annoy a liberal, vote Newt, keep this vetting process going, keep the debate going.”

 

Fox News Foxes: Moar Guilfoyle :-P

Since 90% of my blog traffic seems to be owed to the delightful Fox News Foxes (and perhaps a mistaken identity on my first post), here’s some more of the delightful Kimberly Guilfoyle. She was married to a commie Mayor, but we forgive her because she’s so damn sizzling:

Why Cynthia Nixon is Right About “Being” Gay

I think a lot about gay people.  They are of fascinating philosophical, sociological and theological interest. So the furore that Cynthia Nixon has sparked is fascinating:

Cynthia Nixon learned the hard way this week that when it comes to gay civil rights, the personal is always political. Very political.

The actress best known for portraying fiery lawyer Miranda Hobbes on “Sex and the City” is up to her perfectly arched eyebrows in controversy since The New York Times Magazine published a profile in which she was quoted as saying that for her, being gay was a conscious choice. Nixon is engaged to a woman with whom she has been in a relationship for eight years. Before that, she spent 15 years and had two children with a man.

“I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me,” Nixon said while recounting some of the flak gay rights activists previously had given her for treading in similar territory. “A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not.”

To say that a certain segment of the gay community “is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice” is an understatement. Gay rights activists have worked hard to combat the idea that people decide to be physically attracted to same-sex partners any more than they choose to be attracted to opposite-sex ones because the question, so far unanswered by science, is often used by religious conservatives…

For about the last forty years or so, the sodomite community has been absolutely determined to classify homosexuality as another distinct minority group, like black Americans, or midgets.  To do this, they have been adamant that people are born gay or straight, that they can’t change who they are, and that for a gay person to try and be straight is unnatural and harmful.  In this they have been helped hugely by many conservative Christians and religious people who have discriminated against homosexual behaviour as if gay people were in fact a discrete minority group.

So when real people like Cynthia Nixon casually point out that the emperor has no clothes, all hell breaks loose.  There is a frantic scramble for people to justify their behaviour as innate and unchangeable:

Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen…said he found the actress’ analysis irresponsible and flippant, despite her ample caveats.”Cynthia did not put adequate thought into the ramifications of her words, and it is going to be used when some kid comes out and their parents force them into some ex-gay camp while she’s off drinking cocktails at fancy parties,” Besen said. “When people say it’s a choice, they are green-lighting an enormous amount of abuse because if it’s a choice, people will try to influence and guide young people to what they perceive as the right choice.”

Well no shit.  It seems obvious to me that there are some forms of sexuality that are healthier than others.  We don’t encourage teenagers to masturbate in public, for example.  But nobody goes around saying that people are born public masturbaters.  And to say that Nixon didn’t choose to be a lesbian, when she says she did, is just ridiculous.  How the hell would Wayne Besen know?

I don’t think anybody is born gay.  All creatures are born to perpetuate the species, and that necessitates heterosexual sex.  That’s not a religious viewpoint, it’s basic biological science.  Gay sex is, by biological definition, abnormal.  But we are also not  born sexual – it develops as we grow up and become aware of ourselves, and our bodies, and interact with others.  All manner of factors conspire to influence what we find attractive, what arouses us, and the sort of people we pursue for sexual gratification.  This produces a huge spectrum of sexual attraction in the world.

In this light, I think it is important to view same-sex attraction and sexuality as a common part of life.  We should not discriminate against, or stigmatize, people who have different attractions from our own, as everyone is in the same boat.  I don’t think God judges people on the basis of sexual attraction, and Christians who feel that way are not looking at their own shortcomings and sexual desires and actions.

However, I do not subscribe to the view that God intended for us to have sexual relations with anyone outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.  I don’t think anyone can ultimately experience a completely fulfilling love life outside that.  I believe that peace and fulfilment in life ultimately come from faith in God and his saving grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and that we need to have faith that God’s will for our lives is better than following our own desires.  Which is of course no easy thing, but then nothing in life worth achieving is easy.

Saying one is gay is no more meaningful a statement than saying one is a tennis player.  It is certainly not akin to talking about one’s weight or the physical nature of one’s body.  Activists argue that “being” gay cannot be changed, and if they mean that same sex attraction cannot be changed, then I agree that telling someone not to be attracted to the same sex is a bit like telling someone not to like tennis – you can gradually go off tennis over time, but you can’t instantly not like it because someone sends you to a camp to “cure” you of it, or shames you out of it.  On the other hand, nobody makes you play tennis.  It’s not compulsory.  You can like tennis without engaging in it.  In fact, nobody is making you play any sport at all.

Florida Primary Bits and Bobs

It looks like Romney may well win Florida on Tuesday – he is eight points up there in a poll out today.  This won’t kill off Newt, we are almost beyond killer blows in this campaign now.  But unless Newt can make it close, it will make things a lot harder for him.

Funnily enough, Newt is still up nine points on Romney nationwide.  This suggests one thing to me – that if you outspend your opponent by millions of dollars on attack ads, you can bash people over the head until they vote for you.  I am not sure what Newt can do about this, as he still does not have the money Mitt does.  The consolation may be that as the frequency of contests increases, Romney will have to spread his resources more thinly.  If Newt can hold that lead despite a loss in Florida, he might still prevail in Nevada at least, and take Colorado and Arizona, setting up for a decisive contest on Super Tuesday, March 6th.

Without the constant attack ads, I think Newt has gotten some sympathy.  He has had some good TV time, although the debates have not gone so well in this state.  People don’t like the GOP establishment attacking him, and Bob Dole’s attack on him, and endorsement of Romney, backfired hugely and probably helped Gingrich.

What might also help is Herman Cain’s endorsement tonight:  How much will it help?  Not nearly as much as the crown prize – an explicit Sarah Palin endorsement.  She’s been defending him all week, but doing her usual tease.  With all the folks barracking (no pun intended) for Mitt, this is not on.  She needs to come out and give Newt a boost.  Newt needs some people on his side with the courage to stand up for him.  Lord knows there are enough people on the other side playing scorched earth.

You Should Join National

Do you believe in reducing taxes, reducing the size of government, offering choice in health and education, reforming welfare, and protecting property and individual rights?

Do you think John Key is a bit wet?

Can you not utter the words “Nick Smith” without spitting over your left shoulder?

Do you HATE the fact that there are now almost no right-leaning politicians left in parliament?

When someone suggested back in the eighties as a joke that you should steal a dead baby’s identity and apply for a passport with it, did you do nothing more than laugh and say “I don’t think so!”?

Do you live in any of the following electorates:  Whangarei, East Coast Bays, Pakuranga, Waikato, Taranaki-King Country, Wairarapa, Ohariu, Ilam, Otago, Clutha-Southland, Invercargill?

You should join National right now!

New Zealand is not going to change unless people like you step up, join the party, and run for parliament.  Join up, get onto your local branch committee, and start making friends so that when 2014 rolls around you can put yourself up for candidate selection and have some support behind you.  The seats I mentioned are highly likely to have candidate vacancies in either 2014 or 2017, so set yourself up now.  Get in there and start making a name for yourself.

If you don’t do it, the commies win.  And that sucks.

PS:  I am doing my part too.  Look for me to run for Governor of Texas in 2018

Why the Left Win in New Zealand and the Right Lose

New Zealand right now seems to be bereft of political figures who will boldly state what needs to be said, and defend freedom.

The National Party in its current state reminds me of Ted Heath’s Conservatives in Britain.  They are weak, wet, managers of Labour’s reforms, and the minute someone questions their convictions they either back down or pretend they are doing something else.  There is a definite sense that in order to be popular, right wing views need to compromise and “be reasonable” to accommodate what is seen as a left-leaning electorate.

Case in point David Farrar’s blog.  Occasionally he will say the right thing, but much of it is hand-wringing and compromise.  One particular view that jumped out at me was on the Crafar Farms issue:

I should state my view on the Pengxin bid. It is:

Ministers should follow the recommendations of the Overseas Investment Office…

That was the first bit, and I didn’t read any further.  In that sentence Farrar has already conceded the argument!  But the correct view on this issue is that we should allow foreign capital to flow into our country to create jobs and wealth without any hindrance.  There is no compromise view.  The Overseas Investment Office serves no good purpose whatsoever and should be abolished.  It costs New Zealand’s economy hugely.

What is so hard about standing up for this view?  And why is it so hard for National politicians and bloggers to make such a simple argument?

New Zealand desperately needs a Thatcher who can stand up to the Left and stand firm on principles like these.  Otherwise the slow drift to poverty will continue while the Nats continue to smile and wave.

The Masses Against the Classes

Just a quick post because I have been very busy at work lately and haven’t had much time. But what a joy it was to see Newt Gingrich win South Carolina on Saturday!  Not  because Mitt would suck, but because this has turned into something else that is bigger than two guys who want to be President.  It is now a battle of the Masses against the Classes.  An uncouth conservative rabble who have seen in Newt the fighter they desire, and the moneyed, powerful, party grandees backing Romney as the one who will preserve propriety and balance in the force.

Already things have turned septic.  The Power Line blog has all but refused to support Newt if he is the nominee, saying that they will focus on winning the House and Senate instead.  Chris Christie has given the Democrats a beautiful campaign ad with his “Newt has embarrassed the party” quote.  And grouchy old commentators like Charles Krauthammer have been driven mad at the thought that such a thing could come to pass.  We have seen the true face of the GOP establishment, and it ain’t pretty.  There is some major toy-chucking going on.  The elites are very very scared indeed.

All this simply makes me like Newt even more.  Though maybe “like” is the wrong word.  Polling is pretty clear on this – most people don’t actually like Newt.  In fact, it is precisely his unlikeability that has propelled him into frontrunner status.  Fickle woman that she is, Lady GOP is spurning the suit (and suits) of nice guy Mitt, and living a little dangerously with bad boy Newt.  They have correctly surmised that only a cheating arsehole has enough of the nasty to go after Obama.

Newt could still be tripped up.  He released his Fannie Mae contract tonight and it could be problematic for him, given his previous glossing over of it.  Voters like a penitent sinner, but they don’t like being lied to.  And  maybe Romney will find that mojo or whatever it is he has been lacking up until now.  But I think a grilling of Newt on Fannie Mae would be a better bet.

All this of course just gives me the opportunity to post a Manic Street Preachers song, so here it is:

 

Newt Kicking (Dumb)Arse

Politics:  This is how it is done…

 
That’s one of those beautiful moments in politics that gives you goosebumps.  A lot of love out there for Newt right now.  We’ll see if that translates to votes tomorrow.

 

Perry: “Vote for the Adulterer. It’s Important.”

In an eventful day in the GOP primary race, Rick Perry is out, leaving only the four horsemen of the apocalypse:

“I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform this country,” Perry said.

Making what he called a “strategic retreat,” the Texan obliquely referred to Gingrich’s checkered personal life just hours before an interview with the former House speaker’s second wife was to speak out in a TV interview.

“Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?” said Perry.

Citing his Christian faith, Perry said of Gingrich: “I believe in the power of redemption.”

Perry’s endorsement is important, simply because he is the first major Republican to endorse Newt.  Sarah Palin also all but came out and endorsed him (but only for South Carolina).  So it will count for something.  Allegations of seeking an open marriage notwithstanding, the momentum is with Newt right now.  Two polls now put him ahead of Romney, who is having a hard time being a Massachusetts Yankee south of the Mason Dixon line.

Many pundits have expressed surprise that Perry’s campaign has been so awful, given that he is the longest serving Governor in Texas history.  Texans are less surprised.  He has had the benefit of very weak opposition, and since the Governor of Texas is basically a figurehead, it’s been difficult to mess up the job.  Put up against the big boys, his laziness and other weaknesses were exposed.  He simply didn’t live up to the hype, and he has mercifully been smart enough not to go on.

I am going to be biting my nails all day Saturday.  I think the man who wins this state will probably be the nominee.  However, there is no reason why the campaign could not continue on for another two months, given that the delegates are apportioned according to the number of votes received.  There is plenty of time for someone to land a king hit and still cause an upset in the latter stages.