Supporting a culture of death

I'm not going to link to it, you can google and find their site if you must, but Right to Life are calling for a boycott of Telecom since it "supports the killing of unborn children."

Of course this is in response to the Family Planning Association being part of the community sponsorship programme.

From Right to Life's blog post:

Right to Life is disappointed that Telecom New Zealand has been supporting a culture of death by making annual grants to the New Zealand Family Planning Association of $50,000 for 2006 and 2007.

Right to Life is totally opposed to grants being made to this controversial Association. We know that the Family Planning Association is strongly pro-abortion. The Association is the major abortion referral agency in New Zealand; it believes that we need abortion as a back up for so called failed contraceptives.

What pricks.

If you still don't think it's torture

From MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Friday - Rightwing Radio shock jock, Erich 'mancow' Muller allowed himself to be waterboarded to prove it's not torture. His reaction after lasting only 6 seconds of waterboarding:

"I do not want to say this. It's absolutely torture, absolutely. I mean, that's drowning."

And as Keith says - this was the Rolls Royce version. Muller could stop it at anytime, he didnt have to go through sleep depravation in advance and not know whether they would stop. He also didn't have to go through it 180 times.

Pretty important

A clip below from Rachel Maddow's show the other night on torture that I think everyone should watch. Water-boarding is considered torture, Nazis were convicted at Nuremberg over it, and the Red Cross have confirmed that the Bush Administration were using that and other methods of torture.

Shouldn't we be angry that Bush and his minions have slunk away without having to confront this? While I'm all for moving on, torture is as serious as it gets when it comes to war crimes. Under the Geneva Convention the Red Cross have the power to judge whether torture has been carried out. So on that basis, surely now that they have confirmed torture took place at Guantanamo, Abu Gharib and other cloaked unconstitutional CIA prisons, someone actually needs to be held accountable.

If this was any African nation, Asian or eastern European country the public would demand justice and demand that those people who ordered it should stand trial for war crimes.

Four years

I went looking for a video yesterday and after not being able to find anything new, I came across Spike Lee's When the Levee's Broke - which I thought would serve as a suitable reminder of how shocking the Bush administration was and how good it was to be rid of them. Turns out I was on the money.

Katrina/Rita is right up there with state sanctioned torture and unnecessary wars as the blackest marks against Bush.

It's imperative that Obama puts this right - and rebuilds the levees to the same standard as those in the Netherlands. Rachel Maddow was talking about this a few weeks back - in Holland they build them to withstand a 1 in 1000 year storm - the New Orleans levees are being rebuilt to withstand a 1 in 100 year storm. By way of example, both Katrina and Rita were 1 in 300 year storms - put simply the new levees will fail again in the face of another Katrina.

Surely as a good start a decent part of the stimulus package could go down there?

Anyway, with the wonders of Google street view you can actually take a look around the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans - see below.


View Larger Map

Now I'm not 100% sure when the street view was done - but for fuck sake its been four years! If you scroll out you realise how close it is to the middle of New Orleans. So disgusting.

The Enemies of Reason

After doing something incredibly irrational (watching the NZ Cricket team flail about in Chittagong) I watched The Enemies of Reason, Richard Dawkins' follow up to his fantastic documentary on organised religion - The Root of All Evil, to balance me out. The new doco examines how superstition and new age treatments and alternative therapies are being presented as cool, regularly filling column inches in magazines and newspapers, despite having no scientific evidence to prove that they work or that they are anything more than a sham.

As you might have guessed, I'm no fan of alternative medicine or therapies. In fact I think the term 'alternative' is a little kind and somewhat misleading - it basically means untested, unproven and unlikely to work. If it works - get it tested and proven. But they know its a sham and they know proper testing will likely prove that.

In New Zealand this whole hokum industry is a particular concern as people seem willing to give this crap a go and more so since the government failed to pass the Joint Trans-Tasman Therapeutic Products Authority legislation. So given there is no regulation you can basically bottle any old rubbish and chuck a label on it claiming it can cure cancer - and that would be legal. Worse still, utter rubbish like Sensing Murder seems to have a huge audience - despite the fact that its psychics have been exposed as sham with an Australian Current Affairs show finding that psychic Deb Webber can talk to dead people - even if they never existed.

I agree with Dawkins - like religion, these conjurers are actually dangerous and shouldnt be hailed by the media or idiotic celebrities (including Prince Charles and Hillary - Chopra). Rational people need to actually call this crap for what it is - false hope for those desperately seeking a cure or closure after the loss of a loved one.

Anyway below is a clip with Dawkins challenging an astrologist to test his readings and a psychic doing a reading.

The Heart Attack Grill

Well at least they can't be criticised for pretending they're anything other than shocking for you.

The Heart Attack Grill in Arizona - "Taste worth dying for" - check out their menu here (pictured below is the Quadruple Bypass) it features a whole lot of meat patties, 'flatliner' fries and cigarettes. Nice.

Fanta Pants to perform in the Bay

Well New Plymouth might be many things but it has exposed its ginga-phobic attitude with Simply Red set to perform into the safe haven of Napier.

Mind you as God said to Tony Wilson - "You were right about Mick Hucknall, his music is rubbish and he's a ginge."

But anyway below is a video which shows the sort of refuge Simply Red may well be staying at in Napier.

Fire up bitch!

What a weekend that was for NZ sport! Everything seemed to fall into place nicely.

Now if you're one of those who think sports events help political fortunes, you have to ask -are we heading towards a perfect storm? Its probably still too early to tell, but think about it - we've got interest rates dropping, petrol prices dropping, tax cuts roughly two weeks away, the All Blacks winning the Bledisloe and Tri Nations, the Warriors creating history by beating the minor-premiers, the Winston thing ricocheting off for the loss of 1 or 2 points at best and probably most importantly, dialogue reopening between Labour and the minor parties of the left.

I would also mention the Phoenix - they didnt lose tonight at least - but they gave it a decent shunt with their consistently shakey defence trying really hard to snatch another defeat.

But anyway, the grit and tenacity shown by Henry and his All Blacks last night was incredible. Henry is so similar to Clark its uncanny - dominant and successful for so long, yet widely panned for their arrogant demeanor and questionable methods. They also both face flash-harry opponents who originally hailed from Canterbury - so surely the All Blacks winning at one of the hardest venues (Suncorp) is a good omen?!?

Finally, just like Mark Gasnier's infamous phone message that the headline refers to, the Warriors sent an unwelcome but emphatic message to the other NRL finalists and Rugby League establishment - doing something no other side has done in the history of the competition - defeating the favourites and top ranked side in the first round of the finals.

So maybe the stars are moving into alignment - and it might just be on. So as Gasnier might say - Fire up bitch!

Limpuc Gory

Couple of Limpuc Choob moments - the nasty nasty vid of the Hungarian weightlifter fucking himself up - and the always awesome Happy Tree Friends take on the Olympics.





My favourite Happy Tree Friends clip is here - Flippy flippin out!

The Questions

Sometimes you need to ask the big questions -

Why are the stairs at the back of the BNZ foodcourt so steep?

How do they get toothpaste to come out with the nice perfect stripes when its all mushed in there?

Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies?

What is Meatloaf talking about when he said he 'would do anything for love, but I won't do that'?

Shouldn't you be doing some work?

What has happened to the Home and Away omnibus?? I had to flick between Agenda and Shortland St the other day - what the fuck is that about?

To make up for it - Frezned and co lip syncing the theme song

Perspective

The video below was filmed by Vanity Fair for their August 08 edition. VF editor Graydon Carter challenged Christopher Hitchens to submit to waterboarding - the torture tactic apparently used by the US military and CIA at Guatanamo to 'simulate' drowning. His reaction is telling. I really suggest you watch it.



Hat tip to the Spare Room who had a link to this.

This rubbish has to stop

Is anyone else getting sick of all the Dark Knight/Heath Ledger rubbish the media have been peddling? The suggestion that his death had something to do with any film role is ridiculous.

The other day we had John Campbell doing his doomsday-deep-voice thing talking about Ledger's 'dark' portrayal of the Joker - insinuating that he was 'troubled'.... and therefore probably suicidal!?!?! Then we had the laughable articles on Stuff about how dark and frightening the role was - as well as todays gem (republished from the Sydney Morning Herald) with this genius quote - Much has been made of [Ledger's] difficulty in coming to terms with darkness of The Joker's character.

This is cynical media bollocks at its best. He died of an accidental overdose. By definition that means he didn't set out to kill himself - IT WASN'T SUICIDE. I don't care how dark his final film role was - he died as a result of a tragic accident and it just makes me sick how our daft media are trying push the line that a fuckin super hero film somehow pushed him over the edge.

A case of the Monday's

Here's another for the "never again" file. Last night I had Nando's for dinner... while I'll spare you the details, it's fair to say I've been up since 2.30am doing my interpretation of this Sony TV ad.

So yeah I'm having a case of the Monday's



UPDATE: I just did a Wii Fit Body Test - I've lost 1.4kg in the last 24 hours! Woot! So you know - every cloud and all that.

Things that make you go hmmm

... or dry reach. Here are a couple of items that will probably churn your stomach - now don't be soft and make sure you watch that whole video too.

A golden airport experience, and

She's wrong this isn't quite as bad as 2 girls 1 cup

mmm tasty...

Dude, we can see you

This is almost too hilarious to be true (big ups to the journalist for some of those classic sentences too)

From the Manawatu Standard -

Sex act blamed on exam stress

A student masturbated in changing rooms in Kmart because he was under exam stress, a Palmerston North court heard yesterday.

But a judge said he doubted this was the whole story because he had a report that suggested the 24-year- old was sexually aroused by trying on new trousers.

However, Judge Gregory Ross in the end decided not to convict the masturbator, who admitted offensive behaviour in the store, and banned publication of his name. He ordered a $100 payment toward the cost of prosecution.

It happened in the middle of the day on December 5, Sergeant Chris Whitmore told the hushed court.

The student went into the changing rooms with two pairs of trousers, pulled down his own trousers, sat on the floor of one of the rooms, and began his venture into onanism.

But there was a metre gap between door and floor and two people saw what he was doing.

Don't shop at Noel Leemings

Below is the text of my complaint email I sent off yesterday to Noel Leemings Head Office, and which I cc'd to Erin Brockovich. (she is currently front NL's campaign telling everyone how they are 'the real deal' and act with such wonderful 'corporate responsibility')

Full credit to Brockovich also - she actually replied - and not just a generic reply - she said she would take it up with NL. Noel Leemings have not replied.

To whom it may concern at the Noel Leemings Group NZ Ltd,

I wish to register a complaint regarding the after-sales service provided by Noel Leemings.

Around two years ago I bought a Sony Vaio lap-top computer from Noel Leemings in Wellington - and till a couple of months back - it worked fine.

However, it recently lost power and stopped working. So I took it in to your 'Technology' branch in Wellington for repair. It was outside its warranty period, so I expected a cost would be involved.

After a month or so, it was returned to me 'fixed' and I paid out around NZ$300. But, a month and a half later the same thing happened again - so I took it in, again. I was told that "If it was the same problem, it would be fixed under a three-month service warranty". I said 'great', to which your staff member replied "hehe but they normally find something else wrong and charge you for that, hehe." Naturally, to which, I raised my eyebrows. He then said - Oh only joking I'm sure they're really honest - in a slightly sarcastic tone. I dismissed this assuming he was joking.

Turns out he wasn't. I received a call yesterday telling me that it would cost an additional NZ$400 to have it repaired - as it was, you guessed it - "a different issue". I said well I'm not throwing 'good money after bad' I would sooner buy a new one. And now - just to get the thing back I have to pay what is essentially a NZ$95 ransom/service fee!

My complaint - is that I paid NZ$300 for a repair - that did not work. Now Noel Leemings want another NZ$400 to fix what is essentially the same problem - or NZ$95 just to get my unfixed computer back. Either way I am going to be at least $395 (or at worst NZ$700!) out of pocket with a computer that does not work!

For a company that has just launched a series of TV adverts endorsing their 'good corporate practices' and "doing the right thing" by customers - personally, I think this is shameful customer service.

Over the years I have spent literally thousands of dollars at Noel Leemings and Bond & Bond stores on TVs, stereos, white ware - fridges, washing machines etc, 2 computers and all sorts of other stuff. And yet when I actually tried to get some sort of reasonable standard of after sales service - I basically got shafted.

By contrast, a friend of mine had trouble with his Apple iBook - not only did the Apple outlet, Magnum-Mac, actually fix the problem, they also lent him a laptop for two weeks while his machine was being repaired. That is 'the real deal' - that is what I consider good customer service.

I intend to raise this with your store manager at Noel Leemings Technology - fully realising that it is likely to be a futile act (much like this email). But I want it known that I do not take being ripped off lightly - especially by a company that preaches that it does the right thing by customers, and is 'the real deal'.

Regards

Im waiting for them to call to say its ready for me to pick up (and pay their ransom). It will be all on like donkey kong that day.

Never thought id hear that

This happened a couple of days ago now, so its more quote-of-the-week than of the day, but anyway. This is what one of my colleagues said to me the other day - their words say it all.....

"Oh guess what, guess what.... This is soooo funny! I just have to tell you! I had a 'There's Something About Mary' moment this morning!"

Isn't that just lovely.