Some closing remarks here there and everywhere

This will be the last newswithmorenews post. Any article which I write regarding politics, current affairs and other things can be found on getfrank.co.nz.

The last days of jovial John

Whoever is still aboard the John Key gravy train must accept that their saint and savior is betraying them. Many big priorities have been abandoned. New Zealanders leaving for Australia is higher than ever, yet somehow it's good for both nations. The GSCB fiasco has put the spotlight straight on Mr. Key. Mutilating the natural landscape for more ugly roads is more important than improving the embarrassing public transport system currently in place.

I grow tired of people who say that he has the best interests of New Zealanders at heart. If that were so, maybe he wouldn't have instilled a disastrous tax system in which only the top 10% of income earners benefit. Surely he wouldn't have encouraged Gerry Brownlee to shove up petrol prices 3c a year (though Labour would have done the same). Most of all, he would have put a heart back into the National party but he hasn't. Rather than stand for anything beforehand, he sits on the fence. Like a dog to a bone, he'll morph his views to remain the cool kid. This sense of phony patriotism is what has driven away what were once National voters to minor parties and others to the Labour party.

For anyone who has signed up to or looking to buy Mighty River Power shares, please think twice. The more you buy into the idea of owning SOE shares, the more fuel is added to the fire. "Look at the response" Mr. Slippery beams, "it must be a good idea then."

In celebration of the 21st century gullibility

April Fool's has always been a rather enjoyable day. At the Mystery Creek Camp, I'll admit I was conned into saying "mine" several times, with ten push-ups being the consequence of saying it. On April 1, I managed to convince the youth I lead into believing that April fools was actually on March 31st.

Youtube had a phony shutdown video, twitter removed the vowels from its tweets and Google had user pressing their noses onto computer screens.

Sometimes its funny to see what people are tricked into believing.

'For the most part though, its rude and offensive and disrespectful to people.' Ah gotcha, April FOOLS.

The starving, hungry, underfunded nation

North Korea poses no serious threat to anyone other than themselves. Desperately underfunded, there is not much the army can do, other than sit and hope their southern brother will throw some scraps over the fence. Much of what remains in this destitute country has proved to be frugal. Electricity is almost non-existent.

Yet mainstream media are managing to talk them up to be more powerful than they could ever hope to be. Secretly though, Russia, China and India know better than to launch an invasion on them. It wouldn't be fair on the destitute population to have their lives taken. After all, their head of state has been dead for almost twenty years. His grandson is mad to believe nuclear weapons can be launched on the enemy. There won't be enough funds to complete a workable one.

The hardest words for anyone to say these days is "I need help." Hopefully soon, Kim Jon Un can utter those words.

G.I Joe Retaliation

The second movie is a huge step up from the awful piece of work which came out in 2009. The action scenes are fantastic. Even so, that is not enough to rescue the movie from a rather average plot line, which depends entirely on fantastic visual scenery and wicked action scenes to keep audiences glued to the seat. An assembly of A-list actors give it their all. Overall, it's a solid 5/10. Better than the original but not great enough to recommend to everyone; only those who enjoy action films.

The Wacky Westboro Baptist Church

One of my upcoming book reviews will be for Lauren Drain's memoir "Banished: Surviving my years in the Westboro Baptist Church." The church not only gives Christianity a bad name, it allows a terrible group of loud mouthed self appointed preachers of God to heartlessly picket near dead soldiers funerals, lambaste Barack Obama as the Antichrist and chastise everyone as a "fag" or a "fag enabler," except for members in their church. "Only in America" as they say.

I laughed when statistics said that crime is the lowest it has been in 24 years. National loves to talk tough about crime. Yet if a person were to have access to those crime statistics, they'd probably see that petty crime has remained pretty consistent. National voters have criticised me for not giving National more credit in their efforts to reduce crime. Why should I? The Police continue to obsess over minor speeding infringements, whizzing by in cars and sitting in remote stations doing paperwork. Until they start patrolling the streets on foot again, enforcing the law and deterring people from committing so called petty crime, I'll remain skeptical about this supposed drop in crime.

Nobody should be panicking about water shortages in New Zealand being long lasting affairs. Anybody with a memory stretching back to 2008 will know about how dry that summer was. There about also happened to be the moment in time when it rained 90% of days in winter. No matter how dry it gets, you can always be guaranteed the rain will come back in full force. Rest easy farmers. Winter rain isn't too far away.



*******Thank you to everyone who has read my blog. It has been fascinating to write on so many different topics and lots of fun arguing with you. I've learned a lot and I hope you have too. Thanks for reading
Stuart.*******

The "GC" returns, as questionmarks swirl atop people''s heads

Don't be too surprised that the rather trivial show "The GC" is returning. A rather small, select group of people fervently watch the show with unwavering passion and enthusaism. They envision themselves as those characters living there. Characters because reality television has an entire assembly of writers.

Most people wouldn't actually know half of what goes on when the camera is not rolling. Supposing 50% of it is actual drama, 50% has been prepared for or premeditated. Too much emphasis seems to be placed on a rather ostentacious diaply of wealth and frivolity. There is more character development in a season of the American sitcom "Friends" than in season one of "The GC."

Watch out for it though. Just in case this season is worse than the last one, maybe it could be enough to see the show scrapped for good.

There is no "lesser of two evils" party

With each passing day, more people are dreading election day next year when it comes around. A worrying trend is that more and more eligible voters are not going in to cast their vote.

If anyone is curious as to why that is, they need only look and see how heavily Winston Peter's call for a referendum was silenced by sly conniving politicians, who prefer placing their own self interests ahead of their voters, whom many secretly despise.

The funny story I get from those who did go and vote is this suspect talk about National or Labour being "the lesser of two evils." Whilst you could make a case for or against both, voting for either does little to resolve something which is present. Many people do not believe either party is better or worse than the other.

Both parties are eager to increase government control, each one prefers having New Zealand in a politically correct mindset, both do nothing more than talk tough about punishing criminals-Labour's sentencing was weak and National introduced a warning for first time petty crime offenders-, each party supported the war in Afghanistan and will continue to do so, both parties cannot prepare a sensible budget.

Whilst my party of choice is not in parliament yet, I'd rather hold hope for it to get in than vote National or Labour.

A response to IDIOT

Some of you may know that I'm a contributor to Getfrank, an online mens lifestyle magazine. Some of you may know that occasionally I write about political issues. One opponent of mine actually happens to be a contributor who calls himself IDIOT/Savant. A self professed liberal, he spouts out tirades of scorn towards anyone who does not agree with him. Even on his blog, he says he's irreversibly liberal. In other words, closed minded. Something which was rather unsettling to see was how much he claims to enjoy liberty but is completely in favour of forceful totalitarian measures.

"Speaking of amendments, in addition to the expected referendum clauses (two versions each from Winston Peters and Brendon Horan), Louisa WallSu'a William Sio is also trying to expand the scope of her bigot amendment to give religious institutions the right to discriminate in the provision of services. That is unacceptable, and MPs should vote it down. The whole purpose of human rights law is to remove bigotry from the public sphere. If religious organisations don't want their buildings "polluted" by same-sex marriages, they have a solution: don't offer them to the public, and keep them solely for the use of their members"

As some may now see, newswithmorenews has ceased using the word "human rights" unless its in quote marks. This is borne out of a disgust in the measures it places on the liberty of free speech. Governments already have impeded our private lives enough. Nobody needs more of it. If a religious institution does not want to conduct a homosexual marriage, they must have the liberty to make the choice, rather than be bullied by the state into conducting it against their will. Sound familiar to East Germany, the Soviet Union and North Korea?

A little bait and switch here. Does IDIOT want to be told what clothes he can wear? If he says no and persists with this "human rights" view, why does he continue to buy clothes which are made in China? Isn't that bigotry against New Zealand clothes producers?

Poor old Jesse Ryder. Just one among many

With the recent news of Jesse Ryder going into a coma, one cannot help but wander if alcohol was a potential contributor to the lead up to these events. Why was Ryder out in a bar to begin with? If he'd had problems with alcohol before, would the self control to simply say "no" and move on not be enough? If so, then there's a small chance he may pay for this decision with his life. What about the thugs who decided to assault Ryder without cause? No doubt when this case is eventually processed these men will appear in court. The sentence will not be harsh and a "sorry" will win them a reduced sentence. Yet they may have avoided such date with justice if they had carried their drink more sensibly, instead of marching around in slobbering drunk fashion.

Once again, I'd like to refer any readers interested to my post about alcohol last year
http://newswithmorenews.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/a-generation-that-is-stupid-enough-to.html

This post debunks the myth that alcohol abuse has always been a problem in New Zealand youth culture. Perhaps they'd like to look back to as recently as the 1970's. Was endless intoxication, massive bar spillovers and brain dead decisions to abuse alcohol dominating news headlines. No.

Raising the drinking age will not make a huge difference in our attitude towards alcohol. But it will make access to such beverages just that little bit more difficult, particularly towards that 13-19 year old age bracket, where many bad drinking habits are formed.

The Te Houtaewa Challenge and personal change

Some of you may know I enjoy running. Yes there has been a long lost relationship between me and running.

The Te Houtaewa challenge is based on the legend of Te Houtaewa, who stole kumura from a local tribe and outran any opposition who tried to catch him. From a legend a race was born. Athletes come from around the world to live up to the legend of the man.

Tomorrow I will become one of those people. What has been memorable throughout the last sixteen months of preparation hasn't been the immense fatigue, mental pain or any other such challenge. None of those ever really last. Right through each training session, various people have volunteered their time to train alongside me.

Seeing some people develop extra willpower, finesse and toughness has been the most inspiring. Something which stands out among these people is courage. It's a really admirable quality of pushing through difficulty, even if it results in extraordinary pain.

One friend could barely run a kilometre when he first started. Now he's comfortably putting in 6km a week. Another had never set foot in a gym; they are now a regular attendee. They chose to transform themselves and have done a great job.

Pushing the envelope is difficult because today we often expect convenience to the easiest route toward happiness. Since beginning these races, I've found its the contrary. Pain and sacrifice are a necessary requirement in achieving long term goals. What is your goal and how badly do you want to achieve it? If you aren't willing to dedicate yourself completely to the goal, start thinking about ways in which you can be. Whether you want to run a marathon, climb a mountain, write a book, get a university degree or release a music album. As infamous cyclist Lance Armstrong says "pain is temporary. If quit though, that lasts forever."

To everyone who has trained with, helped and supported me in the last 16 months, thank you very much. This race has been difficult to prepare for but I feel ready and hopefully you too are ready to take on great challenges. Ultramarathons are about overcoming challenges. You go through pain which is truly horrific but come out the other side a new person. Ttfn and see you at the finish line.

Almost a year on

After one year, 8,000 page views, 122 comments, and readers from 50 different countries, its amazing how many people have taken to discussing issues which have been posted. These often contentious topics ranged from tattoos to man made climate change to Richie McCaw's memoir "The Open Side." As readers, you've helped me learn a lot and I hope I've done the same for you. Arguing with you has been enjoyable and civilized (99% of the time) and hopefully in real life these can continue.

Since November when I started working for Getfrank, it has been a challenge to contribute effectively to both them and on here, without a compromise in quality of the articles has been challenging. Now that University has gone back into full swing though, I can no longer split my time between both of them.  I've decided that at the end of the this month, newswithmorenews will no longer be operational.

I will continue to write for Getfrank for as long as possible and am happy to be a guest blogger in anyone else's blog. But giving 100% in two different writing spheres has drained me.

That said, there's still 12 days left in the month. I will upload anybody who wants to guest posts in this time and discuss any topic which you the readers want me to talk about. I'll even debate something I've argued in favor of from the opposing side if you wish to hear it.

So send me your posts if you want them uploaded, topics you want discussed, and any posts you want me to change my mind and argue against.

Thanks for reading.

Stuart

Can a Green MP really not know who these people are?

In a short series of Facebook message exchanges, Kevin Hague proved himself to be somebody who lacked understanding about where the views of his party came from. I asked him

Who do you politically align yourself with more: Maurice Strong or Anthony Blair?

Mr Hague originally replied

"I don't know either of them sorry!"

After a brief explanation about who the two of them were, he responded.

"Certainly don't align myself with Tony Blair, but Maurice Strong sounds promising!"

It's still surprising that a member of parliament knows next to nothing about the history of their parties. Understanding where your party came from and why they stand for certain values is a good indicator of why you would want to align yourself with that party to begin with. If Mr Hague eventually does research up about Mr Strong, perhaps the answer would have been a lot more interesting.

Road taxes, Youth rates and PhD's

Who can give one example where road upgrades have made any difference to the well being of Aucklanders? Not building new ones altogether, as was the case with the expressway which goes out towards Hobsonville and beyond. No, general road upgrades. Have Auckland's motorway developments done the remotest bit of good for any commuter into the city? How about out of the city? The answer quite plainly is no. Instead of looking at viable options to encourage public transport in some shape or form, Gerry Brownlee is more than content to increase petrol taxes significantly to achieve a rather wicked purpose. Not only will current roads be butchered even more, new roads shall be constructed after much of the beautiful countryside is mutilated.

No apologies have been made either by Mr Brownlee to struggling families who can barely afford to drive. With 3c increases next year and the following year, these motorists can only hope petrol prices fall internationally to compensate for this rise. Otherwise, expect to see more cars by those who can afford it.

 How can a party which repeatedly promises a brighter future claim that having more cars on the road is more beneficial for anyone? The reason public transport remains so bad is because no National party leader with power can acknowledge that cycle ways and a national railroad may actually be a better, more efficient form of transport than more cars.

As youth rates are set to be debated, it seems almost ironic that the woman who campaigned against them was one Sue Bradford. While Ms. Bradford was full or propaganda about many issues, I applaud her for setting out a simple argument about youth and adults being entitled to the same pay for doing the same job. If Mr. Key would like to inform us about whether he received a youth wage, perhaps that could shed some light on a rather sneering opinion he holds that teenagers should be underpaid.

The other day, whilst surfing Youtube  I saw a woman continuously listing off a multitude of so called "climate scientists," professing that their books had to be right because they had the word "Dr" in front of their name. Would someone care to explain what suddenly makes someone with a PhD an absolute genius? The Bradford creature (mentioned above) nearly has a PhD and she is anything but intelligent. Paul McKenna (author of "Hypnotic Gastric Band") has two PhD's, yet he cannot see that book is only a short term solution to a long term problem. No, a PhD simply shows someone can, with an extreme amount of discipline and hard work, conduct high amounts of research in a very specific area and draw conclusions which add to human knowledge. If that's intelligent, then so is writing a book such as Tim Noake's The Lore or Running (1,000 pages of running know how) or Michael King's A History of New Zealand. Each man undertook an astronomical volume of reading and research to compile these two books. There are many other examples. Phillip Pulman (The Golden Compass), Stephen King (with his book 11/22/63) and countless others (which I'm happy to list if you want). 

***I've expanded on some areas in the PhD section on the back of one posters comment.***

Idiot/Savant and James Robins the same person? Almost seems possible

I'd like to draw attention to two rather hysterical left wing columnists. One is Yahoo blogger James Robins, whose generalisations and continuous attempts to smear his opponents (or enemies as he takes all criticism personally). The other happens to be a fellow commentator with me on Getfrank. A blogger living in exile known as Idiot/Savant. He has his own blogs pace and claims to be irredeemably liberal.

Mr. Robins embodies a lot of mainstream opinions, constantly finding a way to bash conservatives. He calls people like me truth benders and seeks to justify it with clumsy rhetoric. This hush talk from him that the child discipline bill was never intended to eliminate smacking as a form of discipline falls flat. Ms. Bradford's intentions were clear from day one. Redefining the bill was done in an effort to condemn any parents who used force of any kind to discipline their child. I posted a response to Mr. Robins about Ms. Bradford's recent comments. Surprisingly no response came. Even a brain surgeon has time to send a text.

Idiot/Savant meanwhile happens to suffer from the same closed mind liberal attitudes Mr Robins has. In a small post on his blog "no right turn," Wellington's drought is brought up. After talking about reducing water usage to 30L a day, he states golf courses will be exempt, before snidely saying droughts "couldn't possibly be allowed to interfere with rich wankers playing golf." 

Whilst I may indeed be wrong, there is no doubt both bloggers have striking similarities in their writing. Both often resort to conventional wisdom (which is almost always wrong). Both men are quite bloodthirsty creatures. Mr. Robins says in one blog "I’m all for killing vile Islamofacists" and "gunning them down is good thing (however somber)." Idiot/Savant takes to calling anyone who disagreed with the "gay" marriage bill some rather rude names. "Meanwhile, Labour's Damien O'Connor, Ross Robertson, and Su'a William Sio still voted against the bill. Time to de-select these pricks already. Labour wouldn't accept those spouting racism or sexism, and it shouldn't accept bigots either." 

Something disturbs me about these strange creatures. As there are so many similar undertones in their writing, I can't help but think they are two blogs by the same person. One requires a bit of civility but my feeling is that anyone who talks with James Robins in real life hears a lot of rude words coming from his mouth.


http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/opinion/post-list/-/blog/jamesrobins/

Is "gay" marriage losing momentum, or are some polls not reflective of the New Zealand population?

For anyone who is interested in the NZ Herald digital poll about same sex marriage, you can find it at the bottom of http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 's page. At the time of writing 52% of people do not support the bill. A select committee was established to hear submissions from both sides of the argument. Here is a breakdown of the submission.

Submissions
21,533 Total
10,487 For
8148 Against
2898 Unique submissions
220 Heard by committee

Two things stand out. For people in favor of allowing homosexuals to marry, support in most polls appears to still favor them. More submissions to legalise the bill were put forth than those against it. However, what also stands out is the decline as a proportion of people who appear to be against the bill. Last year, Colmar Brunton allegedly did a poll for TVNZ, with the results showing about two thirds in favour and one third opposed to it. Within the small space of 8 months, people may be changing their minds. 

The New Zealand herald poll is not the first to show people voting in favor of keeping marriage between a man and a woman. Yahoo also had a similar poll. 62% of people voted "no" to change the definition of marriage, 34% voted yes,  4% were undecided. 

Those two polls aside, there is still a relatively strong backing from politicians, who passed the bill in its second reading. Polls on stuff.co.nz and TVNZ show that it's visitors are quite happy the beehive voted in favor of it.

I'm not sure whether these inconsistent poll results spurred the select committee to rush the bill through in a mere seven months. I'd also be interested to know what the enutre homosexual community in New Zealand think of this bill? (not just noise makers like Ms Wall and Kevin Hague) Will a majority of them make use of it? Is there a requirement to change the law? Do they want to get married rather than enter a civil union?  These are serious questions which only homosexuals themselves can answer.  

If anyone, (whether in support of "gay" marriage or against it)tries to drag me into this discussion, they will be left in the rain; I'm raising an issue of people changing their minds on the bill, not the positives and/or negative of introducing marriage "equality." 

But, in case they try, here is my answer. Same sex marriage is an immensely trivial issue in the wider scope of things. It amazes me that anyone can argue this issue is as important as rebuilding Christchurch, helping hardworking parents provide for their children or working towards fixing New Zealand's horrendous drinking problem. Apart from a few tree hoppers in the each political Party and those sneering youth wing leaders (who I have not seen making speeches outside parliament on any of the issues mentioned above) you won't see many people disagreeing there. 

Super Rugby vs Cricket

It has been quite unusual that just as super rugby is kicking into gear, the Blackcaps are finally gaining a small surge of momentum as they take on England in the test series.

Hopefully this form can continue. And hopefully people are able to support them, rather than flocking to super rugby, which, while exciting, still has plenty of time to show its face, long after the summer of cricket creeps to an end.

Join the "climate change" gravy train? Not a chance.

So another famous figure has been suaded into making a stand for supposed man made climate change. Rugby World Cup winning assistant coach Wayne Smith has jumped aboard the "climate change" (formerly global warming) bandwagon. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10870243




Leading the charge to indoctrinate countless other people is ecologist Sir Allan Mark. Mr. Mark, who's publications and discussions are always interesting- even if you disagree with him- says a "degrading quality of our land, air and water" has hurt New Zealand. Apparently "a sea level rise of up to 1m by the year 2100" will also take place.


I'm not a huge fan of cars or driving. Nothing is more hideous than traffic jams or the thick smog pumped out. As a runner, I strategically avoid any area with dense traffic as often as possible.More often than not, I now walk to university because cars do an enormous amount of damage. When enough money has been saved up, bicycling shall also be used to get around. In saying that, my decision to walk to University was not done out of a desire to please the outrageous "Generation Zero" group or Al Gore, it was for conservative reasons.


The main problem advocates of Maurice Strong's "climate change" idea is acceptance. People will not all agree on this issue. Warmists often are not content with that. Those who happen to believe man made activity isn't responsible for sea levels which will supposedly ruin us are universally shunned. Climatologist William Grey had his funding taken away for voicing skepticism. The late Augie Auer got panned many years ago for expressing similar opinions. Apparently society should just accept it without question and dismiss anyone who disagrees without question. Observing what supposed climate science goes towards measuring sea level rises would be interesting, as would recent statistics of Islands which have been completely submerged. Are there actually any which have gone off the map?


Whatever Mr Allan is imploring the government to address is rather vague. Is it innovation in farming to stop wastage? Must New Zealand reduce its levels of Dairy farming? Is the sin of just existing a just reason to impose a festival of regulation and taxation on New Zealanders? What difference will lobbying the big players make? Introducing an Emissions Trading Scheme has done next to nothing in an effort to reduce pollution. Petrol is just more expensive, companies are taxed more and many honest farmers are vilified, despite the majority of them working to minimise economic damage. All tax money generated goes into Government hands, ready to be squandered on benefits.


Question these people who are taking "a moral stand" with a skeptical eye. Do you really want to give these people so much power. Right now its just just lobbying power. Soon it will be the power to control what cars you can drive, how much you can drive, how often you're allowed to fly, what light bulbs you can use, as well as what types of buildings and bridges can be erected.


I used to believe "climate change" or "Global Warming" was real, until coming across the name Maurice Strong on a "save the planet" website. Within an hour, any lingering belief in "climate change" being man made was gone.


The crackpot paparazzi out to boost their low self esteem

Justin Bieber has never been a spectacular singer. A lot of his lyrics are reworded versions of songs from Michael Jackson, Elton John and Lionel Richie. Having poster poster boy looks and a rather odd hairstyle seem to be his trademark.


With that said, I sympathise with the Canadian pop star, who fell victim to a rather rude photographer, who probably works for some degenerate gossip magazine. Bieber, who was leaving his apartment pushed aside a sloppy, overweight photographer vouching for a photo to slap alongside a rather half rate gossip article.


Not impressed by being pushed around, the photographer offered his rather foul mouthed opinion to the singer, who was forcefully held back. A further display of bad manners from the paparazzo given, things simmered down.


For anyone interested, celebrities and the media used to get on quite well with each other. It was only when the media began aggressively hunting celebrities and abandoning respect for privacy that celebrities started thinking less of them. At least Bieber has shown us that he's only human. That ego is still quite high nonetheless.


Going low cost on fitness fails

Is there anyone who goes to Jetts gym who competes in serious bodybuilding competitions? Is there anyone who goes to Jetts who can outrun the best ultra runners in New Zealand? Can anyone at Burn24 hour fitness come forth and proclaim themselves as a National or International representative in any athletic pursuit or discipline? The answer to all of these questions is "probably not."


A single visit to Jetts gym was all it took to make it clear what they are running is a pure money spinner, not a " an environment where no-one feels shy about turning up." Fit 4 Life in Glenfield is only $71 more than Jetts but the value you get for it is far greater than any other low cost gym. There is always a staff member or volunteer on the desk, the prices you see are the prices you pay, there are group classes, there are free seminars (on fitness, friendship faith and finance) for members, people feel welcome and the facilities and equipment are better than what any Jetts gym or any other low cost gym offer.




For those who are crying foul about the criticism of Macklemore's ridiculous songs ought to ask yourself this. Would you want young children swearing like he does in Thriftshop? Would you be happy to let young teenagers fool themselves into thinking they cannot change a predisposition which they hold?


I am not, as one person absurdly states "hating on Macklemore." No, there is just a general worrying trend in a fair amount of his songs which is reason to be worried. Also, for some of his song with "powerful lyrics" (whatever that means), the way he sings them seems incongruous. "My oh my" would have been much better if he'd dropped the loud, gangster talk for a simpler rendition.

The Macklemore myth

When people flocked to go and see "Macklemore," I declined a request to interview him for a good reason. Like any modern singer who suddenly seems to spring up rather unannounced, something had to give. After a careful inspection of Thriftshop, Same Love and a few others, some common themes stood out.

To begin with, his song "Same Love" is full of basic errors. Whilst the jury is out on homosexual marriage (an issue I will not be dragged into), people certainly have the ability to change. Saying "I can't change, even if I try" is rather odd. Does this apply to all aspects of life or just our sexuality? How does he know that? Many people have been able to change their hostile attitudes towards homosexuals after befriending some (as I have in recent years). "Even if I wanted to." Again, is it orientation specific or is nobody ever able to change anything about their lives. If he is adopting this "I can't change because I can't" then an elementary error in observation is there. People who accuse me of cherry picking from his lyrics are right; "Same Love's" main message is Haggerty's opinion but the hook's start is simply not true philosophically, morally or empirically. Of course people can change. Mr Haggerty wrote "Same love." Regardless of who is singing the chorus, the message of not being able to change an attitude towards a position is supported by him. Of course, some will say "you've misinterpreted his message. He just means sexuality." Perhaps. To make it clear such was the case, why couldn't he have included at the end of his verses instead of independently as a chorus? This closed mindedness transitions into his other works.

Mr Haggerty has said in interviews the track "Thriftshop" focuses on buying as many cheap clothes as possible, whilst putting some money away. For a hip hop artist, this goes against the grain. Nonetheless, this song finds a spot in my list of top 10 most loathsome songs. Partnered by some  jibber jabber from Wanz , Haggerty presents a destructive message about how amazing cheap materialism is. He has failed to see that materialism and cheap shopping cannot be given credit for happiness. Francis Scott Fitzgerald single handedly destroyed the myth of materialism in his powerful novel "The Great Gatsby." Yet here is a rather hysterical singer promoting temporary happiness through buying cheap rubbish.Credit can be given to the song for being stupid, deceptive, poisonous and ghastly, just like the lyrics. For anyone willing to actually listen to the hidden swearing, Haggerty uses the word "bitch" twice, "shit" four times and "fuck" seven times. Several other rude words are also in there.

From his other well known other songs "Wing$," "The Town" and "The Heist" something seemed off. I just couldn't bring myself to liking the songs. Nor was I able to relate to his constant messages about how one specific thing defines him. Saying something so focused puts people in a dangerous situation, where, if their passion for that area crumbles, they feel as if their worth is diminished greatly. Nobody should ever believe this to be true.

Perhaps "Macklemore" could answer me this question. Does he want his younger fans to go about swearing like he does? And is music the only thing which truly defines who he is as a person? I'll readily listen to his songs which address to these two questions.

Pulling one bad apple out cannot save the Navy

One of the biggest warning's which I received when applying for the Navy had nothing to do with expectations. No talks about high physical demands and little sleep. Surely then it had to be mental fatigue. No. My biggest warning came from the Navy doctor who warned me over and over again at the medical not to sleep around with Navy girls. I asked him why.

"Well, Navy girls and boys like to have sex. And they like to perv too."

Trying to suppress the laughter was hard. He'd been through the process of seeing so many people flocking to him with all sorts of STD's, so none of this was even remotely humorous.

So when Electronic Technician David Timothy Simpson pleaded guilty to filming women in bathrooms, nothing seemed amiss. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869306. If anything, secretly trying to fulfill some strange desires, Mr Simpson was embracing the sexual openness the Royal New Zealand Navy openly encourages.

One commissioned officer (who is now a commanding officer of a RNZN ship) happily spoke about all his sexual escapades as a midshipman. According to him, "Navy girls are as easy as they come."

While the officer and many other young men may not have gone as far as Mr Simpson and made videos, very little is done to hide the sleaziness present within the Navy. Trying to fix it overnight because one man got caught would be impossible. Promoting a more professional, self restrained attitude towards a government funded unit is a starting point.

Suppressing information from the press is a sensible move. Most women who fell victim to the perverted creature will work hard to suppress it. The misery is that somebody will take the helm and begin working towards following their officers example. A mass exodus of serving men and women has more to do with personal well being than ridiculous budget cuts.

A future with less cats...still a long off dream

Standing behind Gareth Morgan, who wants to eradicate New Zealand's cat population, a recent survey seems to have more people supporting.

I have never been a big supporter of cats. They have always presented themselves as rather arrogant creatures, full of self pride, unwilling to ever try be friendly. For over half the day, they sleep away, often in remote quarters, only reappearing every now and again to eat dinner. Training them to do anything is a mission, as they are already convinced of their own smartness, which has yet to be regularly displayed.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869395

While his proposal to supposedly rid the country of cats has found favor with some, others disagree. SPCA say it's "a slap in the face" that a voluntary organisation loaded with volunteers is slammed. Many stray cats are rescued by them and made available for ownership.

My respect for the SPCA is immense, but I wish they'd work towards helping more dogs. Friendlier, more intelligent, faster, humble, protective and energetic. For the most part, many dogs meet many or all of these criterion. Even if they aren't over friendly to others, they're always happy to see you. Unlike cats, who are often not there to see you.

Something rather amusing came up on the very biased stuff.co.nz. Which band do you prefer. The two options were Coldplay and Radiohead. At the time of writing 55% chose Radiohead. For a band which has senseless, depression fueled lyrics, this seems rather odd. One such song "Creep," goes 
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong hereUnless a sudden tirade of Radiohead fans stumbled upon Stuff, it's an indication of who the audience is largely comprised of.

For those people who are crying out day and night for New Zealand to become a Republic, think to yourself. Do you really want to have somebody like John Key, David Shearer or Meteria Turei as the all powerful dictator, who can influence any change in the snap of a finger? Somebody whom you have to, out of their position, respect them. If so, then that's fine. Like a chessboard though, the respect we offer to the monarchy allows us to ridicule politicians and prime ministers for the meager contributions they make. 

The best job candidate will often be a bit bruised, beaten and a tad incomplete

As usual, anyone who is trying to harp on about National clamping down on people opting for welfare payments must yet again face reality. More and more people are joining the gravy train of handouts and state assisted housing for not working. 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868816

In this New Zealand herald article, a solo mother says she has applied for a 20 jobs, without any luck. I'm not going to try understand what Steph Grey's circumstances are. Knowing many New Zealand companies, a major problem seems to be image. People don't often want to hire people who are a bit incomplete from that amazing dream worker which the executives and headhunters envision. 

Some advice I could offer Steph Grey is to just apply to every job which has her profile. It almost seems ironic companies are constantly harping about hiring new staff, yet seem so reluctant to take on those willing to work hard. Ms. Grey may or may not be a hard worker but she is certainly concerned about her son's well being  which is commendable. Going hungry for so your son can eat is a lesson to all the pathetic politicians who want to let bad parents off by offering meals in school, paid for with money our country does not have. 

Hopefully soon, some companies will learn to become a bit more realistic in their pursuit of a new candidate. Idealism may work well in some loose button companies like Apple and Microsoft. But in a country of 4.5 million, where many companies employ fewer than 20 people, are stingy bosses really expecting perfection in each potential applicant? This mythical recession ended some time ago. Jobs are available but companies seem reluctant to fill vacant positions with anyone. Some hopefuls even have to take personality tests. What good that does is unclear. Even a argumentative, rude, bullish perfectionist can do well. Just look at Steve Jobs return from the dead to steer Apple back to green figures. 

People lining up to go on the dole wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as current figures if only Government encouraged companies to make the hiring process simpler.

A holiday to remember...and forget, FAST!

The non-existent police force continued to display their inability to protect us from crime. Rather than patrol areas alone on foot to stop crimes as they happen, they've defaulted to sitting roadside sipping coffee and writing tickets or doing paperwork at various stations. 

Rather than patrol areas of popular tourist areas, all trust has been put in the tourists. Isn't it irritating being lectured by police about us being the reason we got burgled? So when Ben Horner and Claire Barham lost absolutely everything except their swimming costumes, something seemed off. Of course, by the time police responded and took accounts from the unfortunate couple, a thief had already steamed off. 

Excuses have run out. There is one policeman to every 400 citizens. With many more people looking to join, surely Anne Tolley can learn from disasters like this and promote individual foot patrol. 

National vs Conservatives. Who's more liberal?

For anyone to hold David Cameron in mighty praise now would get a public flogging. Congratulating himself on making it so far without caring much about anything he's said, Mr. Cameron now believes his party can win the 2015 election. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/international-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503226&objectid=10868701

They won't. After reading the brilliant columns by Mail on Sunday journalist Peter Hitchens, it seems that Mr. Cameron has made his party even more liberal now than a few years ago. Going on current observations, New Zealand's own prime minister and his cronies have worked hard to achieve a similar image. Political correctness is drilled in, disastrous tax systems are upheld, pathetic interventionism is constantly encouraged, not overturning the ridiculous anti-smacking bill. The Conservative party enjoys being in the European Union, doesn't like punishing criminals, endorses comprehensive schooling and is doing nothing to stop mass immigration. 

None of these parties should have the word "right wing" anywhere near the party titles. Who's more liberal? You be the judge.

Simon Bridges has precious little to celebrate. The minimum wage increased by a meager 25 cents. Petrol prices increased by that amount in the space of 28 days in February. If National wonders why it cannot keep workers in New Zealand, from Doctors to Laborers, maybe pushing for a slightly higher increase wouldn't have been so bad. It cannot be possible companies will be in dire straights by paying their cleaners, packers, manufacturers an extra $0.50 an hour more than last year. 

Shark nets are not needed

With the tragic death of Adam Strange at Murawai beach, honouring his memory is important. So to is being sensible about approaching shark attacks.

Immediately, the paranoid 'big brother' groups began to insist west coast beaches need to have shark nets put in place to protect local surfers and beach goers. According to them, one shark attack is one too many.

As someone who lived out at Murawai, Mr. Strange had developed a fondness and appreciation for nature. People who knew him said he would have been uncomfortable with the idea of the shark which killed him being shot or the prospect of having shark nets put in place.

People rarely die from shark attacks in New Zealand. The last fatal shark attack took place in Whangamata back in December 2009. Only 15 fatal attacks have occurred since records began in the mid 19th century. Like anything else in life, going into the water involves certain risks and consequences. Rip tides, nearby rock s, as well as other marine life are far more potent than any shark could hope be.

Installing shark nets will do almost nothing to prevent other hazards which beaches contain. Many regular beach goers don't see it as necessary, nor does the rare shark in the water warrant it. Now that Murawai beach remains closed for authorities to do an investigation, not much evident will justify big brothers claim. Why should it? Out of the many thousands of people who have visited and swum in the water, how many sharks have surfaced to greet them with a wide toothed smile? Sharks are barely even seen in our waters.

People need to stop panicking so much. Much like "Jaws" did in 1975, people are letting one tragic story ruin a kiwi pastime time of enjoying summers at the beach and in the water.

Passing legal hurdles won't make asset sales any more popular

With Mr. Slippery's recent tirade of legal hurdles to sell of state assets met, many party members in National are celebrating it as a victory of some sort. At the same time, each National MP is failing to assess the changes this will mean for our country. Foreign investors will buy up stakes in these assets. If not now, then certainly in a few years.

How can something which has passed legal checks suddenly be made out to be popular? Only those idealist National party loyalists could think along such lines. Who enjoys being told you can't buy magnets because Simon Bridges believes you lack common sense? On the same token, why is selling off good income earners to fund a disastrous deficit meant to suddenly be popular?

Easy divorce and easy evasion

Why is divorce so incredibly easy today? So many young children are suffering from emotional grief when their parents selfishly put their own interests first. Now, the jury has come out that fatherless families are in short supply when it comes to child support. Many fathers owe large amounts of money to support their children, whose time is divided between each (yes that stupid word again) "partner."

People who try justifying divorce often cite abusive relationships and mental problems but those do not compare to the most common reason. Alleged "irreconcilable differences." If the married family, as an institution were brought back and lifelong marriage encouraged strongly, rather than hinted at, then chasing after distant father for child support payments would not be as common as it is.

Fit4life

Here is my Getfrank article on a gym review for Fit4life.

http://www.getfrank.co.nz/health-fitness/exercise/gym-review-fit4life

Potentially the greatest All Black ever has given us the worst rugby autobiography of all time

As a Springbok supporter, I've always had mixed feelings for Richie McCaw. When he's at the top, nobody comes within a country mile of him. His ability to adapt to rule changes, dominate the opposition and such have earned him a reputation as one of the best All Blacks ever. If he's playing against a team you support, you really want him to have a bad day, which almost never happens. Secretly, he wishes to say that but people would take that as pride and arrogance. Hopefully one day it will come gushing out. The man has nothing left to prove on the field. Every piece of silverware has been won, every accolade snapped up. At the time of writing, McCaw is the only rugby player ever to have won 100 test matches.

So it amazes me that he can manage to produce such a diabolical memoir. "The Open Side," which was ghost written by Greg McGee simply stumbles at every single hurdle. Nobody has the slightest idea as to what McCaw hoped to inform us about. Most of the books contents, I already knew, the rest was clumsy prose. A big surprise was the coarse language throughout the book. You got carted from one jumbled paragraph to the next.

I've read the biography/autobiography's of numerous rugby players. None of them come close to the sheer awfulness of "The Open Side." It is a complete sell out of New Zealand's greatest player of the last decade. Readers cannot actually engage because McCaw seems uninterested in showing a more human side to him. Everything reads as if some robotic alien from some far off planet whipped it up. Is he holding large parts of himself back? Absolutely. There are no tour stories, no talks about enjoyable travel destinations, not a single mention of his private life (which was promised in the description) outside of gliding and the mention of ex girlfriend Hayley Holt (who he doesn't bother introducing).

A link will be provided for a more refined review. Do not waste a single cent on "The Open Side." Rather save up that $40 and go watch Richie do what he does best.

The moldy Apple

Apple has hit record share prices in the last year. Upon releasing its latest wave of technological gadgets, share prices ballooned. In simple economic terms, how sustainable are these margins? I cannot see Apple's honeymoon with Wall Street continuing on 20,30,40 years down the track.

Its rivals are already matching their technology with laptops, tablets and stupid smartphones. Quite soon, buying shares in companies such as Samsung, Google, or Acer will have a higher dividend yield? Maybe that could kick the moldy Apple off the tree and into action. With a profit of $137 billion in 2012, calling a low yield "a product of tough times" is neither feasible or reasonable.

Ruining cycling one law at a time

How can anybody think that wearing a fluoro vest will make any different to cyclists visibility on the roads? Cyclists are not hard to spot. Many are riding lightweight bicycles with Lycra pants and a clumsy helmet.

Drivers in New Zealand have hardened the hearts of cyclists. Nowadays many adopt an aggressive attitude to crossing roads, sometimes running through red lights to prove a point. It seems odd cyclists should get blamed for being un-noticeable when drivers work to make that the case. There is no point in having to wear a bright vest, in the same way helmets wouldn't be so necessary if drivers weren't so bad. If cyclists attempted to be easy riders too, such legislation would be shown up for what it truly is. Pointless and absurd.

I drove past Target Road primary school the other day to see a sign "Teachers not paid. Still working." My heart warmed. Teachers in New Zealand schools are unsung heroes. The bad manners of students they have to deal with on a daily basis is alarming and is becoming all too common. For any to be underpaid or not paid at all because Simon Joyce cannot admit to making an honest mistake is outrageous. I'm not alone in my sentiment that any SOE bonuses should go towards paying teachers survive, rather than helping the fat cat CEO's buy a new car.

It's too late for Drug Free Sport New Zealand chief executive Graeme Steel to tell people steroids are taking off in gyms. He can stroll into any big name gym and find people openly talking about it. People in the military use steroids and top level athletes in New Zealand also use them. Of course, if a proper level of research is done, many natural herbal drinks, natural remedies among others will come out in urine samples. Don't expect anyone to tell you; apparently it's not in the nature of New Zealanders to think like that. I'd put that up on a Tui billboard. Not in their nature? Yeah right.

Whatever happened to a good old fashioned helicopter ride to see come glamorous scenery of cities and natural wonders? Middle Eastern countries have developed a strange infatuation for making buildings go up as high as possible. I doubt much thought has gone into whether the building is economically a good choice. The Kingdom Tower, to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia seems like an ostentatious marketing gimmick. When demand for oil begins to run out, this building will be a squalid, abandoned wreck, like the Ryungyong Hotel in North Korea.

A nation in favour of an easy dollar at the expense of basic liberties (The Benny Wenda Story)

By Alex Corlett

A little more than a week ago news broadcaster TV3 allocated less than two minutes of screen time to the Benny Wenda story. The story was an expose of a West Papuan Freedom Fighter who was barred from speaking in New Zealand’s Parliament by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully.

Most viewers did not blink an eye when seeing this story. Wenda gained political asylum in the United Kingdom in 2003. It prevented him from being trialed in Indonesia, avoiding a likely death sentence for preaching pro-freedom political messages in his native country. As a result of these events, Wenda has been deemed credible as a freedom activist all over the globe. Parliament in the United Kingdom is one of the many stages his messages has been welcomed. Why is he not welcome in New Zealand Parliament? New Zealand topped the most recent global freedom listings which featured categories such as “freedom of movement and legal discrimination”. One would assume speaking on freedom in our nations parliament would be a great way to model freedom to rest of the world. Wenda was after all imprisoned and tortured for publicly speaking out about the importance of freedom.

One has to ask: Are there more sinister motives for the honourable Murray McCullay denying Wenda the right to speak? Well there are; the National Government is caught in a situation where they are forced to play favourites.  With Indonesia being a billion-dollar trading partner for New Zealand and the agenda of the current Government being about “balancing the books,” Wenda isn't going to get an opportunity to speak, unless he buys his way in. The cliché quote “money talks” sums up the core value this Government wishes to bestow upon the future generation of this country.

Such a course of thought leaves me thinking. We hold an election every three years with the intention that those elected into power will uphold the best interests of our country. Very few people would deny the fact at this point in time that at this point in time the majority of the country trusts the financial decisions of the incumbent Government. We constantly hear phrases like our “Prime Minister is a millionaire, so he must know what he’s doing”.  For now our country can rest safe from politicians whose only financial strategy is the printing press. At a time where a recovering economy seems like a top priority, does the Benny Wenda saga have something to teach the people New Zealand?

Over the last year there have been disturbing events which should be of concern to New Zealand citizens who value freedom. The well publicised Dotcom fiasco is just one of these. The millionaire tycoon’s house was raided in joint operations between New Zealand Police and U.S. Federal Departments. Dotcom was unlawfully spied on, his assets were seized and he was detained, even though a year later, there is no conviction. New Zealand’s Minister of Spying (GCSB) Prime Minister John Key was unapologetic and was not held accountable for the invasion of a Residents privacy and allowing U.S. agents onto New Zealand soil and private property in an operation that was clearly illegal.   

Benny Wenda was turned away from New Zealand’s Parliament at the expense of financial gain. His visit to New Zealand highlights that the world leader in freedom may have some dirty laundry of its own. With a General election next year, will voters be after a wardrobe that emphasises value for money or one that values freedom of choice. 

$2.30 for a litre of petrol is National's way of building a brighter future

Petrol prices are moving back towards world record prices. What many people do not know is the sneaky efforts of transport minister Gerry Brownlee and one John Key (who should legally change his name to Mr. Slippery) have forced petrol prices up 9c, with additional taxes. The income which is generated by society's automobile obsession will be used to further mutilate our countryside with hideous road developments. If anybody wishes to see how ineffective more roads are, simply speak to anyone who commutes from the North shore to Auckland central; ask them how beneficial recent road developments have been. Little to benefit has been the response I've received with every person who's given an answer.

High petrol policies are not the main reason National is losing touch with its voters who once proudly wore blue with pride. National is out of touch in other areas because they endorse state asset sales. The National party endorses Talent2's disastrous Novopay, which will ruin the lives of many teachers for at least another 12 months. The National party wishes to extradite Kim Dotcom by making America's job to extradite him as easy as possible. The National party is in favor of stupid foreign wars. The National party supports as tax system which is unsustainable.

Do not be surprised by National's slide in popularity. Nobody wants more cars on the road, yet that is what we will get to build ourselves a brighter future. The sparkling city of sails gorgeous countrysides of New Zealand irreversible butchered and nothing to show for it except plumes of smog and a hideous smirk from National's elite.

John Key promised a brighter future in 2008's campaign. Can anyone list more good things he's done than bad things?

Halberg's athlete of the year belongs to the best. And the best athlete we had was disabled

Nothing is more inspiring than seeing disabled sportsmen and women getting top honours for their amazing physical feats. Unlike a fair share of able bodied athletes who often resort to cheating to improve performance, these people function on hard work and determination. The time must come for someone like Sophie Pascoe to be awarded with top honours. Yes, Valerie Adams did a fine job, but her performance cannot compare to a woman who won three gold medals, along with three silvers in the pool. Were Ms Pascoe an able bodied athlete, Valerie Adams, Lisa Carrington and Lydia Ko's efforts would look like child play. Hopefully, in the near future, her time will come.

If anyone is in doubt of who politicians put first in, look no further than Shane Jones. In order to save his political career, Mr Jones is prepared to grant an accelerated citizenship to a Chinese Billionaire. Public servant? I think not.

Earlier on this week, a reader was quick to dismiss an article about enjoying university summers rather than working right through them. He claimed to have enjoyed an enjoyable ski trip overseas and had an enjoyable time in Australia. All of this was funded by working long hours through the summer. While his holiday certainly sounds fantastic (hopefully he recommends it to others), it misses the point of the post completely. How many summers will one be working through in the future. With several rises in pension age, one could work through approximately 50 summers. Unless someone is earning very large sums of money, taking a large two-four month holiday would never be achievable. Enjoy the long summers off. Do not surrender yourself to the almighty dollar. There will be plenty of time in the future to earn big and go on flash  holidays.

A response to Adam Hunter

Recently in my church's young adults page, I had a rather unpleasant encounter with one Adam Hunter. He displayed an incredibly poor reading comprehension and his manners were no better than what you'd find in a kindergarten.

Rather than joining Adam in a tirade of childish name calling, it seems more appropriate to post my comments alongside his, with my response to each comment below.

To begin with, Adam talks about cellular life forms existing in the Universe. I ask

^^^Are you able to send a link for a report, journal article, news article etc which discusses these cellular life forms please

To which Adam replies

No but I can provide you with ample documentation on the size and age of the universe and abiogenises and the number of planets that we have observed which could support life and extrapolations for a number of them for just our galaxy the rest is pure statistics my friend. As it is extremely likely that there are over billions of planets/moons that can support the existence of life and the age of the universe and that we know that life originated at least once (not necessarily on Earth) then it would be supremely ignorant to suggest that life is not present somewhere else in the universe at this moment, let alone any other point in time and very reasonable to think that life is not relatively uncommon throughout the universe.

Mr Hunter could have finished my input on the post there and then by linking me any article, discussion, or video which covers life outside earth (of which there are plenty). Instead, he throws in some scientific jargon and circumstantial statistics.   The mere existence of many planets in the universe does not prove life exists there. In many cases, the planets and moons are too close or too far away from each star. The age of the universe debate is irrelevant. Going on modern science, its safe to assert its around 13.5 billion years old. Mr Hunter proves his comprehension is a bit rusty when he says "it would be supremely ignorant to suggest life is not present somewhere else in the universe." Where he got the impression I was coming at that remains unclear but it was not suggested by me.

Adam then snidely says

I am almost certainly right but dw, I am used to that

If Mr. Hunter would like to prove how right he almost always is, perhaps he'd like to answer a few questions from here. Which foods are good to eat when running an Ultra-marathon? How effective is gastric band surgery vs a Hypnotic gastric band in losing weight? What are all the chemical base pairs which make up the entire DNA sequence? Is Europe a better tourist destination than South America? Yes, a nice comprehensive answer for every single one is wanted, without the help of the internet.

Not providing any links I ask again, even providing him a link to give him an indication of what I'm looking for with a link.

I'm well aware of how old the universe is and its vast size. I want to see some objective evidence, like such

Adam ignores the question again and writes

Well of course I can't give you objective proof you fool, I never said I could... If I could then it would be common knowledge and I wouldn't have to. What I did say was that it is almost 100% based on statistics nothing more. I mean what exactly do you want?

It is here, where Mr Hunter brings back some rather bad manners one would have thought a grown man would have disposed of in primary school. No matter though, he uses the word fool to try and dismiss my question as unworthy. If Adam could not put two and two together and provide me with a simple link, he ought to start reading some more to improve his reading comprehension. You can decide for yourself how clear my wording was.

A middleman intervenes and comments

He means scientific reasoning and evidence, not statistics.

Adam replies

I gave him scientific reasoning which involves statistics. If he wishes to disagree with my conclusion then he must first falsify any of the claims I put forward not ask for something that doesn't exist.

Once again, Adam fails to see that at no point in time I disagreed with him that life may exist outside of earth. He can try argue this until the cows come home. If he does though, he must not use the phrases "your questions implied" or "it seems like." Either I disagreed with him or I did not.

In a bid to simplify my questions to Adam's pathetic level of reading comprehension, I decided to phrase it in an even more specific manner.

I'll reword my question (which wasn't worded well I'll admit). Can you please provide a link to any scientific discussion, debate, story, video clip, etc which backs up your statistic claim that there is likely to be other forms of life out there? This "fool" is interested in seeing where your statistics come from, as they raise many questions in my mind.

Adam either finally understands the question or has just decided now is the right time to give a proper answer. 

Well you may not necessarily be a fool but you are certainly ignorant. The drake equation comes to mind which is more of a summary of my points (but specifically about intelligent life that we may be able to contact at some point) but Hawkin, Dawkins, Michio Kaku all come to the same conclusion. Which one of my points do you disagree with or argue with?http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16515944 is the most important point which had some doubt around it until recently

Mr Hunter's pathetic reading comprehension appears again. Rather than engage properly in the discussion, he continues with his tirade of immature name calling in an attempt to try elevate his argument as the superior one (even though one was never initiated). In an effort to try drag me into the argument he says "which one of my points do you disagree with or argue with?" Well, he can go back and read very carefully to see that I did not, at any point disagree with him. All the time I was asking him to post a link or two with scientific discussion about the topic. If he cannot understand that was all I wanted, then he must explain what was so complicated about the question.

In a response to the post I wrote

 Well this "ignorant fool" is able to admit he is devoid of a reasonable understanding about the cosmos and life in the universe. If you actually read carefully, you'll see that I do not disagree with you at all. I just wanted to see the sources of your statistics.

Once again: Adam

nothing wrong with being ignorant as long as you aware that you are and attempt to fix it. You can use google as well as I can as I do not have sources on hand. In short any biologist or cosmologist will tell you that is is very very likely life exists somewhere else (probably in time too)

No apology is given by Adam for misreading my questions. Instead it is another round of ad hominem and abuse. 

The middle man joins the conversation again, having clearly read our discussion and being able to comprehend it maturely. 

Like Stuart said, he was never disagreeing with you, he simply wanted to know your reasoning. Labelling him 'ignorant' and 'foolish' was not only incorrect but also uncalled for. Discuss with respect, or your comments will be deleted.

Adam, unable to admit he was arguing against nobody, conveniently avoids the issue.

Erm... I rescinded my calling him a fool but calling somebody ignorant isn't an insult, I am ignorant about many things. So jog on


In a tower high above everyone else, Mr Hunter has been trying to shoot arrows into the night, hoping they'll hit a target. Calling someone "ignorant," I repeat "ignorant..." (one more time "ignorant") is not an insult. So according to him, I completely lack general knowledge or awareness because I asked him for a link about cellular life on other planets. In a rather clumsy effort to vindicate his comment he admits he is ignorant about many things. How sure can he be that calling someone ignorant is not an insult? Is he again convinced of his own rightness or is he not letting in on something? 

If Adam Hunter can respond in a civilised way-which he has struggled to do previously- then he can defend his position here as much as he likes. I'm not going to say too much more about the issue after replying to his response. 



***A note to my readers as well. At the end of next month, newswithmorenews will no longer be a blog. Most of my political articles will now appear on getfrank.co.nz.

Never again will we have so much free time

Attempting to vent out a proper criticism in the third person has proven to be a step too far for me in regards to full time summer jobs. So, alongside free speech and alcohol, it gets the special first person treatment.

The other day I met up with a friend for a general catch up and he informed me about a full time job he had been accepted for over the summer. 400 hours of medical research, one of a select few chosen to be taken on board for the experiment. Goodbye summer, goodbye life (again), goodbye the last years to enjoy a proper summer.

Before anyone begins launching attacks and making criticisms against me, rest assured I'm no lazy man. At the time of writing, the jobs which I hold down are as a teacher aide, a sports coach, as well as a writer for Helium. Since becoming a University student, good time management skills are synonymous with getting the most out of the University experience. So too is being able to have a pleasant summer vacation.

So many excuses are given during the University semester for being unable to do something. Balderdash. Lynley Smith, captain of the New Zealand women's water-polo team, was rewarded a scholarship to an American University. In her final year, she took six papers, had an internship role, alongside 20 hours of water polo training every week. Anyone who wishes to say they don't have time to work or gain work experience need only use this one example as a measuring stick. A friend has told me of a fellow student in his law class who is sitting six papers; and she is passing with A's.

I write this in the hope that many university students think very carefully before handing over their entire summer in the name of work experience or to make some money. Yes, it is nice having lots of disposable income, alongside being busy right through until the next university year. But never again will there be so much time to relax for so long. These long holidays are pearls among the clams, sprouting forth only once in a person's life and reappearing again in the 'golden years.' As medical care continues to improve, the pension age shall become further out of reach. My guess is that it will reach 73 by the time people my age begin to finish working. Cumulatively, most people in generation Y can expect to spend 50 years of their lives working.

The choice is yours. Are you in for an enjoyable few years of long holidays or out in the working place, slaving away on 40+ hours a week?

It's too late for Rugby to hide behind cycling's drug infested culture

So word is out. After a 12 month investigation into the various sporting codes in Australia, results are shocking. Widespread use of banned substances exists, from banned supplement to connection with organised crime. Players, coaches, doctors; everyone was in the know.

You are probably now aware Lance Amrstrong and the US Postal Service cycling team used performance enhancing drugs. Armstrong said his team used all sorts of drugs, from testosterone to actovegin. To some athletes credits, they come clean; but to those who continue to try fool us, sooner or later the book closes.

 If a full scale investigation was launched into rugby, do not be surprised if rugby players are found to be taking banned substances (knowingly or unknowingly . The sheer brute physicality which each player subjects them self to week in, week out is mind boggling. Consider also the incredibly fast turn around times with recovery. A certain player suffers from a shoulder and pectoral muscle, only to return to training a few weeks; fitter, stronger and faster than ever. One rugby union player, who has suffered a severe injury in the same area twice, managed to come back into the sport, allegedly on nothing but a solid rehabilitation program. Another rugby player broke his arm and returned to the super rugby scene in three months. In no way does this mean any of them have taken banned drugs to aid in their recovery. Having such a good consistency in recovering from career ending injuries just raises a lot of doubt. There does however need to be more probing into to the two rugby codes.

AADA's tragic findings show that no one particular sport can be isolated. Isolating cycling as the only dirty sport is gratuitous. A great deal more skepticism is needed to unmask any cheats and liars. A lot of professional rugby is clouded in secrecy. If the veil is lifted off it (as it was in cycling), some truths may begin to surface.

A Paul Henry basher

I've always had an extreme dislike for Richard Boock. He's a stupid person's idea of an intelligent person. An ardent supporter of the slaughter of unborn children (better known as abortion), an advocate of political correctness, a proud supporter of prostitution and yes, a Paul Henry basher. You can search through his articles on (the very left wing news website) stuff.co.nz. There's enough evidence there to support my claims.

You can say what you like about Paul Henry, so long as it's backed up by reason. People loved watching Breakfast because he always found new ways to entertain, often by just speaking his mind. His stories of the Amtrak train suction toilets, asking Tamati to spit in the Web Ellis cup and laughing at Matt Mclean for standing on a box in Wellington made for some entertaining laughs. My best guess for Mr Boocks dislike of Paul Henry is that he is part of a small group of people. This group of people are the politically correct faction. Anything Henry said, any joke he made was offensive. After a while, they got their way; Henry resigned.

Although there are so many different reasons to dislike Mr Boock, none irritate me more than his views on Henry, which can be found here.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/blogs/an-auckland-minute/8261247/Alis-views-must-be-more-consistent

Here are some snippets of the babble he produced, with my response in Italics.

"He was constantly unreasonable and wrong-headed"

How? Why? In what way? It is just an empty statement, devoid of any reason. On many occasions, Paul provided good comic relief. Even his laugh was enough to put most people into fits of laughter.

"True, no-one should ever be held responsible for what comes out of Henry's foul gob. But it still wouldn't hurt for Mau to recognise her reluctance to challenge more strongly such obnoxious and belittling points of view"

In the same way, most people should not buy into yet another empty statement by Mr Boock. Most things Paul Henry ever managed to say on air was going to offend people like him (who lack any sense of humor), who walk around with glass hearts, ready to be offended at the slightest drop of a hat. Of course he is entitled to think that if he so pleases. Trying to put it in such a "matter of fact" way seems to suggest there is no changing his mind. 

Contrary to Mr Boocks thoughts on same sex marriage being such a large issue, consider this. In New Zealand 1/10 of 1% are in a same sex civil partnership. The other homosexuals are either waiting in anticipation for same sex marriage bill to be finalised or they have no intention of ever entering a legal relationship. Given that 1% of New Zealand's population is made up of homosexuals, you can decide for yourself how many of them are actually interested in marrying.