New Zealand Conservative

I've just been reading an article on the website of The Guardian about an ex-nun, who says she is both a female Catholic priest and a Bishop and wears a Bishop's ring. She was 'ordained' by a renegade Catholic Bishop and, along with six other women, has been excommunicated by Rome. She hasn't let that stop her, however, from performing baptisms, funerals, and marriages. The article also mentions her doing a funeral Mass. Ms Mayr-Lumetzberger, it seems, chooses to ignore her excommunication because she doesn't agree with it. Excommunication, though, is surely a heavy price to pay. “It doesn’t touch me,” she says serenely. “The canon [church] law used against me was an unjust law made by celibate men who rule over people whose lives they do not really know, and who give no explanation as to why these negative laws should be followed. Except fear.” With all due respect, you can't be something if you do not have the authority from the governing body of the...

Stuff Nation posted a story on a man not employing married women, and saying that they should be home raising their children instead , gained a bit of notoriety and generated discussion on talkback shows a few days ago.  Soon after, David Farrar posted about it and another opinion post, complaining that about these sorts of opinion type posts from Stuff Nation mascarding as news items devalue the work of the Stuff journalists. But here’s an example of what I was complaining about. I follow NZ Stuff Politics on Twitter . My expectation is that tweets from that account will be linking to stories written by journalists on politics. One tweet this afternoon was : Call for new Education Minister I clicked through on this, thinking it was a significant story. That a lobby group or school or union or MP had called for a new Education Minister. Instead the link was to this Stuff Nation story . It was basically a letter to the editor, or a short piece by a reader called Peter Cond...

Home Paddock pointed me to an article in Scoop listing the Top 30 PR disasters of 2011. It is an interesting list, and mainly because I would reclassify some of these not as PR disasters, but as examples of ethical and moral failures. On that basis, even to label them a mere PR failure highlights that many actions are often weighed up according to how much PR damage they may do, and not what the right thing to do is. 18. Human Rights Commission Adviser Marama Davidson publicly apologises to Ngapuhi elder David Rankin for insulting him on Facebook. However, she then sends him a private email withdrawing her apology thinking no-one else will find out about it and states: “In my personal capacity, I completely withdraw in full the apology that I have made to you in public...you are not worthy of an apology from me...” Assuming the summary is true, this one is interesting. The HRC adviser decides to issue a public apology, but didn't mean it. Therefore, they decided it was mo...

Well, it had to happen sooner or later: Garth George is leaving the NZ Herald. His last column is today, and he says- The editors decided back in October that this column does not fit in with their future plans for the opinion pages. And while I shall miss penning my weekly opinions, and have to adapt to a painful drop in income, I hold no rancour. One can only wonder who the Herald intends in their "future plans" for opinion columnists. Perhaps someone like Pam Corkery or her ilk? It will be sad to see George go. He is a conservative and a Catholic, and as such perhaps didn't fit in with the liberal opinions and tastes of those who helm the Herald. I didn't always agree with everything he wrote, but I did so more often than not. He will continue to write his columns for in the Bay of Plenty Times in Tauranga, and the Daily Post in Roturua. It's interesting to read that he is actually a Member of the New Zealand order of Merit (see photo above)

in the latest report from the unfolding drama on Astrolabe Reef a single terse sentence. This morning, operations around the ship were disrupted by four boats inside the exclusion zone. In the latest update for the media on the Maritime New Zealand website URGENT: There are currently four vessels with media on board breaching the maritime exclusion zone. They are close to the Rena and they are disrupting salvage operations. Air operations cannot be undertaken while these vessels are in the area and have ceased while this is resolved. This is because we cannot risk lifting or dropping off heavy equipment while these vessels are nearby. We are at a critical stage of the salvage operation and these vessels need to leave the area immediately. They are pretty good at reporting other peoples failings it would seem but not their own.

Volunteers have been asked to "suit up" when helping rid the beaches of toxic sludge. Nice one Goff.

Finally, the Vatican has it's own internet news website .. in English! It's so important, especially when being constantly misrepresented in the media, for any organisation to have it's own media outlet to the world. If only to tell their side of the story. I've added an RSS feed for News.va on to our bottom right side bar. Related link: News.va

The police seem to be in the news and making the news at the moment. Firstly, a surprising arrest in the Scott Guy case . No real information on what evidence they are basing the arrest on, and huge downsides if they prove to be mistaken. I don't know what to think, other than the obvious - this is going to be really hard on the Guy family and the family of the accused.  (The accused is the brother-in-law of Scott Guy.) And in the Sunday Star Times today, a poor piece of spin control on the "Cougar" advertisement that was sensibly pulled a while ago, after being not so sensibly shown in the first place. It was an appalling advertisement, and the "article" today followed up with the same level of epic fail. The first mistake was to use the "ends justifies the means" excuse, claiming that the advertising campaign was wildly successful because the Police website got lots of hits. Here's a clue for you Inspector Clouseau - Website hits don...

Yes, this evening Paul Henry fell on his sword and resigned from TVNZ. It is no longer practical in the current environment for me to do the job I was employed to do, and have so enjoyed doing," Mr Henry said tonight. "It is also difficult for TVNZ to get on with the business of being a first class broadcaster as long as I remain." I admit that Paul could go too far sometimes, but at least he had the ability to cut through a lot of left-wing BS and could often give interview subjects a good grilling when they started spouting PC nonsense. He will be missed in that regard, while TVNZ will probably hire a forelock-tugging, "yes ma'am" broadcaster to replace him.

Why is anybody paying this character any attention. He's a nobody but people are "reaching out to him" to ask him to desist from his plan to burn the Koran. The media shouldn't have given him any oxygen but now they have of course and he is basking in his notoriety - his fifteen minutes of fame. Fools like this should be ignored by everybody but the narrative is just too attractive to the banal mass media - a wacko Christian showing his intolerance and stirring up a segment of society with a grievance mentality. In a rational world he would have his little bonfire and everybody would ignore it realizing he is just a nutter. But the world is far from rational so he will have his moment of glory and help turn the solemn remembrance of the dead of 9/11 into a circus with the media as an accessory.

It seems supposedly good people are engaging in deception, and don't have a problem with it. So when one interacts with people, will we start to wonder exactly how real they are? Here's just a few of the many recent cases that have made me think about this:

STORY ONE OF THREE The editor of the Sunday Star Times was in court today after 16 people were killed in a crowded stampede at a rugby stadium. The situation was caused when an SST reporter was caught with a fake bomb in their backpack. They explained to the security guard that it was all a big joke to point out how slack security was at these venues. Unfortunately, a nearby witness caught a glimpse of the fake bomb, and screamed "bomb" before the reporter could show a signed note from the editor saying that the letterhead was not fake, but the bomb was, but feel free to beat the reporter whilst in custody so they could get another story out of the scam. Meanwhile, once the scream "bomb" went up, the crowd went wild and stampeded for the exits. 15 people were crushed to death and the 16th, 99 year old rugby fan Martha Cruxton, had a heart attack thinking the match might be cancelled and died on the scene. Once in front of the judge, charged with reckless ...

Well, according to a report on TVNZ One News this afternoon, a new study shows that children exposed to adult oriented programming are more likely to be sexualized at an earlier age. It's reported here in the Times Colonist as well. Really? Duh... Watching adult-oriented TV shows and movies might prompt children to start having sex at an earlier age, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston. The research suggests that early onset of sexual activity among teens might relate to the amount of adult content they watched as children. "Children have neither the life experience nor the brain development to fully differentiate between a reality they are moving toward and a fiction meant solely to entertain," said David Bickham, a co-author of the study. "Children learn from media, and when they watch media with sexual references and innuendoes, our research suggests, they are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier in life."

Leftoid progressives can be unintentionally funny on occasion and this is one of those occasions. Newsweek guest columnist Kathleen Kennedy Townsend asks the question " Is Obama more Catholic than the Pope? " and concludes "Without a Doubt". And how does the good Kathleen Kennedy Townsend arrive at this astonishing conclusion I hear you ask? Easy In truth, though, Obama's pragmatic approach to divisive policy (his notion that we should acknowledge the good faith underlying opposing viewpoints) and his social-justice agenda reflect the views of American Catholic laity much more closely than those vocal bishops and pro-life activists. When Obama meets the pope tomorrow, they'll politely disagree about reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, but Catholics back home won't care, because they know Obama's on their side. In fact, Obama's agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's. Got that? If you are puzzled by this reasoning let me expl...

We are now in the midst of a pandemic. A world-wide pandemic no less! Is that like repeating something to make it true? So let me get this straight. The Mexican Flu mutated to the Mexican Swine Flu and then mutated again to become the Swine Flu. That's mutation by media, not by viral cell forms. Apparently, the Swine Flu is unstoppable. I've seen predictions of 30% to 50% infection rates across the population. If we are lucky. So of 110 million Mexicans exposed to the highly contagious, unstoppable Swine Flu, about 150 died. And some of those deaths may not have actually been from the Flu. They're not sure. Do you know what 150 divided by 110 million is, in percentage terms? I tried to work it out but my talking calculator suggests that it's an insult to work with such small numbers. Apparently, I need a particle accelerator to generate the digits. And then this deadly flu spread to New Zealand. And the people that were diagnosed with it were fed pizza and p...

In celebration of NZC's 60th post this month, we bring you a copy and paste job - some excellent satire from the Onion, covering the harsh grilling Obama is subjected to in the media , right wing fascists that they all are. But first, whilst you are preparing your mouse wheel for a bit of fast scrolling, a reminder that to have a quick look at the recent posts for any particular blogger at NZC, simply click the post author's name at the top of the page. WASHINGTON—More than a week after President Barack Obama's cold-blooded killing of a local couple, members of the American news media admitted Tuesday that they were still trying to find the best angle for covering the gruesome crime. "I know there's a story in there somewhere," said Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, referring to Obama's home invasion and execution-style slaying of Jeff and Sue Finowicz on Apr. 8. "Right now though, it's probably best to just sit back and wait for more information to c...

Facts emerge that the number of deaths relating to the US invasion of Iraq to depose Saddam are far lower than the wild claims made by Lancet. Rather than the 650,000 estimated deaths, the actual number appears closer to a much smaller 4,058*. The academic (in this case, a person of learning that hasn't learned much) has been criticised for not fully co-operating with an inquiry. Not fully co-operating is the media's way of saying that the academic (Dr Burnham) refused to explain on what basis he made these kind of numbers up, probably because he has a natural antipathy to receiving a mark of "epic fail". Lancet and a host of other media bodies and 'think tanks' scrambled to explain that it wasn't their fault that they ignored the many other sources that consistently estimated lower figures, and delighted in Dr Burnham's research, as the numbers were very similar to advertising profits. After all, other media sources had claimed 500,000 Iraqi child...

Just looking at the New Zealand Top 40 charts today, and guess which song is at #1? The video after the jump should give you a clue: yes, it's Phil Collins' song In The Air Tonight. Should I be be surprised really that a Cadbury ad on TV featuring a gorilla playing drums can propel a hit song from 1981 back up the charts? I suppose it's happened with other songs that have featured in TV ads. I guess I was just so used to hearing the song that I figured everyone had heard it. I did wonder when The Warehouse started advertising Phil Collins' Greatest Hits on TV; an old album from 1989 and I wondered why. I guess a new generation hadn't heard it. Enjoy the video anyway (I like when he does that little snarl).

It is with some modesty that I announce that our blog has scooped the New York Times with an article by John McCain himself. I know the NYT will be pretty cut up about this, having just run an Obama article. They may come up with some half-arsed, err half-assed excuse to cover their embarrassment, but I know they are hurting. The last thing they want as a paragon of balanced reporting is to be thought of as some biased left-wing hack media establishment. Well, in the dog eat dog world of journalism, tough bikkies, err cookies. Eat my print type. So, New Zealand Conservative, in conjunction with Neocon Express , bring to you, and scooping the NYT by some small period of time, possibly an era or epoch, an article by US Presidental Candidate John McCain:

Following on from Zen's last post about the Dom Post taking a swipe at the Catholic Church, my folks brought to my attention the cartoon in yesterday's NZ Herald. I'm not going to paste it here but you can follow this link . Basically, it shows a man and a woman working in a pharmacy and the man saying that the Catholic Youth Pilgrimage was a roaring success. The woman next to him is reading from a paper saying 'SALES' and there are condoms on the shelves next to them. My folks brought it to my attention (as I said) with my mother struggling to find the humour in it, or indeed if it was supposed to be funny. If it was implying that condom sales had gone up because of a visit of young Catholic pilgrims then I would say that is not only false but also insulting and offensive. It's like the cartoonist is very much anti-Catholic or anti-religion and because he couldn't find anything to use he made this up out of thin air. The sort of Catholics who would ...