There are six things that the LORD strongly dislikes, seven
that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to
run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord
among brothers.[Proverbs 6:16–19]
Opening on the front foot here, The Conservative Party are a
bunch of religious zealots that haven’t bothered to read-up on the recent failed
attempts by similar ‘morally based’ political parties in New Zealand, that have
tanked.
Future New Zealand, Christian Heritage, United New Zealand,
United Future, Peoples Front of Judea (just taking the piss), Christian Democrats,
Kiwi Party: all toast at the ballot boxes over the last two decades.
The Conservatives membership base, like their candidate for
the Christchurch East by-election (Bi election?) Leighton Baker largely comes
from the ashes of these failed parties.
So who is Leighton Baker, builder by day and moral crusader
in his spare time?
In cases like this Google is a true ‘blessing’.
This is Mr Baker’s god-bothering rant/submission to
Parliament against same-sex marriage.
Here are Mr Baker’s predicable opinions on Stem Cell,
Abortion and Contraception.
That’s right Mr Baker was then with the Kiwi Party not so long ago.
So Leighton Baker is a ‘template’ for what a Conservative
Party Candidate should be.
There is only one reason why the Conservative Party exists
in the first place.
His name is Colin Craig and he has a lot of money.
The Conservatives are the vanity project and the public
voice for millionaire Craig.
Mr Craig believes in compulsory military training, looney
chem trail conspiracy, doubling tax on alcohol and modelling his political
career on Sarah Palin.
Oh yeah silly of me to leave out Mr Yahweh from Mr Craig’s eclectic
mix.
Gods book says beating kids is fine: so it's okay by him.
Craig clearly didn’t earn all his dosh by making stupid
decisions.
He knows to be tainted as a ‘Christian Party’ in New Zealand
is the equivalent of endorsing Graham Capill as deputy leader.
So let me spell this out clearly for the punters, just to
piss them off: The Conservative Party in New Zealand is a Christian political front-group.
So why not be brave, honest enough to say so Mr Craig?
Death with Dignity is back in the public arena and there is, I feel, a genuine ground-swell of support from Kiwi’s for some form of euthanasia to be on New Zealand statute-books (N.Z Herald Poll a massive 82% support from received from respondents)
But I know, realistically, this will never become law whilst we have National in power.
Back in 2003 Peter Brown (N.Z First) proposed his ‘Death With DignityBill’ and MP’s voted by conscience for it’s inception, rather than say Party lines. At least that was the way it was suppose to work in principal.
In practice most Nationals MP’s (added and abetted by United Future) voted against the bill, and as a result was it failed to pass by the close margin of 60 votes to 58.
Let’s take a look at the some of those, then opposition, National MP’s that voted ‘No’ seven years ago:
Trevor Mallard Wayne Mapp Gerry Brownlee David Carter Tony Ryall Bill English Judith Collins Paul Swain Phil Heatley
These names are familiar to all of us, and form the backbone of the current Government running our country.
If just two of those names from above had have voted ‘Yes’ euthanasia would now be a reality.
So don’t hold your breath.
The Reading of Peter Browns Bill and subsequent Parliamentary debate is available here. Rodney Hides impassioned speech is worth a geez.
Imagine if every week or so, you produced a ‘Press Release’ and sent it to the varying media-outlets, and then ‘hey-presto’ automatically they went ahead and published your pet-subjects & musings.
No questions asked, nor justification needed – the fact you think you are right and someone-else happens to be wrong - is enough for these releases to see day-light.
Your fringe pet hates & loves don’t need to be of concern to the vast majority of New Zealanders either – they will still turn-up on page four of most daily newspapers.
It could be something as trivial as an advert for Viagra that get’s up your nose, or the promotional activity of a Pizza company.
As ridiculous as this scenario first appears, it happens to be the current reality of the forth estate in New Zealand.
Hardly a week goes by without the irrelevant, evangelical pressure-group Family First issuing a press-statement of some-kind – all of which are published, mostly without critical review and ‘of right.’
Last week it was promoting a return to corporal punishment in New Zealand Schools.
On receipt of the latest release, not one journalist asked pertinent questions like “will this mean the return of the days when 5 year-old Kiwi’s were strapped by teachers?”
Instead of facing critical analysis the ‘release’ and its predecessors were published all but verbatim.
Here is a brief ‘Readers Digest’ list of the sort of narrow-minded, predictable stuff pouring out of Family First, that has managed to garnish both air-time and type-set over the years since the group set-up in 2006, largely as a result of the former champion of its causes, Graham Capill, being imprisoned for child rape and indecencies.
Return of corporal punishment in schools, making prostitution illegal again, ban on abortion, leading advocates for the right of parents to smack their children, banning in-flight movies which are not G rated, banning the TV Series Californication, wanting Gays to be prevented adopting children, promoting abstinence for teens, encouraging mums to stay at home and look after their kids, banning Boobs on Bikes, preventing brothels setting-up in residential areas, chastisement of Broadcasting Standards being too liberal, fighting the right for people to die in dignity, wanting cervical cancer vaccine distribution to be banned, continuing a ban on Easter Trading, placing the rights of married couples above those who choose a civil-union, varying attacks on The N.Z Family Planning Association to do with the distribution of contraception and access to abortion to the point they have even formed a splinter-group dedicated to the closure of Family Planning , fighting the right of parents to choose the sex of their child where there is a medical reasons like a genetic predisposition to a deformity, banning the video game ‘Grand Theft Auto’, highlighting child sexulisation e.g., pretend bra’s for 10 year olds, demanding the judge who let a naked-cyclist off with a warning should lose his job, wanting a Wellington’s shops adverts for sex-toys and bondage gear banned, fatherless families leads to more crime, wanting the internet to be censored, demanding a controversial Church bill board be removed last Christmas, denying Gays the right to marry or have a civil-union, wanted radio adverts for ‘the morning after pill’ to be banned, banning adult magazines in petrol station, banning The Atheist Bus Advert Campaign, getting a ‘clothing optional beach’ closed etc. The list goes on ad nauseam, but you get a fair idea of the type of stuff Family First are all about & the New Zealand media can’t get enough of this sort of crap.
‘Banning’ and ‘prevention’ are high on Family First’s agenda.
Who takes seriously a group, with less membership than my suburban soccer club, who want to ban on one of the world’s most popular video-games and censor the internet so we can become like North Korea?
A sad minority, group that wants homosexuality to again be outlawed in New Zealand and nationwide cancer-prevention and birth-control policies scrapped.
A petty-minded bunch of bible-bangers with nothing better to do than complain to BP and Shell about girly-magazines on the shelves of their outlets.
An indication of just how out-of-touch Family First are with mainstream New Zealanders - they would rather a couple had a child live with birth-defects than allowing them access to medical-science that could prevent these defects occurring in the first place.
These Old Testament zealots even see it as their ordained ‘right’ to tell other Christians what they can and can’t have outside their church!
The New Zealand Media should treat any sort of broadcast coming from Family First with the derision and scorn it deserved, by placing it straight in the rubbish-bin.
Above all the media should stop giving these bigoted, creationist, flat-earthers, ‘the oxygen’ they need to exist – publicity.
“The philosophy of Family Planning is alien to a culture of life.” (Right to Life NZ)
Every day literally hundreds of thousands of New Zealand women take ‘the pill’ for contraception.
In 1995 the percentage of women in this country taking some sort of contraception was put at 75%, males/couples using condoms at 12%.
Few if any adults consider ‘the pill’ to be a form of abortion.
One of the rarest forms of contraceptive methods practiced (4%) happens to be what has been dubbed by its advocates as ‘Natural Contraception.’
Natural Contraception relies on the couples avoiding fertile days of the monthly cycle and the male pulling-out prior to ejaculation.
It was known as ‘The Rhythm Method’ and prescribed for decades by The Catholic Church.
The chances of a female falling pregnant using ‘Natural Contraception’ is about 10% - or one in ten times intercourse takes place – so the jokes about large Catholic families are based-on more than school-yard innuendo.
The chances of one falling pregnant taking ‘the pill’ is about 1 in 200.
Given these stark differences in effectiveness and the relative ease of use, the preferred contraceptive method for Kiwi’s is ‘the pill.’
To the conservative Christian movement in New Zealand all the forms of contraception are evil, products of The Beelzebub Corporation and peddled to 10 year olds in parks by Labour voting lesbians - in particular ‘the pill’ is top of their hate-list.
They consider ‘the pill’ to be what they term ‘a chemical abortion’ and the chief peddlers of this death The New Zealand Family Planning Association, is in their sights.
The Stop New Zealand Family Planning group - a loose collection of anti-abortionists, far right conservatives modeled-on similar and dangerous groups in the U.S, Family First, Catholic Church, religious ‘end of times’ nut-cases with nothing better to do – is out to deny New Zealanders the right to decide their own contraception.
They fervently believe sex is only for procreation between married couples and any other forms of contraception is an abomination in the eyes of their god called Yahweh.
Stop Family Planning want the Government to close down family-planning clinics and for schools to teach teenagers that sex is dirty and can only be practiced by those who have undertaken an ordinated wedding – never, ever between any other form of consenting adults.
Don’t get them going-on on gays, either - they hate homosexuals with a passion - get all giggly at the thought of them burning in hell.
Stop Family Planning wants Kiwi’s to know chemical contraception is a form of child abuse and women should feel guilty using its deadly cocktail to stop eggs ovulating.
The very principal of Family Planning and free access to contraception is in-fact killing the countries future!
Seriously, have any of these guys ever had a root?
What is going-on in the heads of these eccentric loons?
If you want to doom yourself to the political wastelands in this country – mention God and voters will run a mile.
Then ask Peter Dunne how hard it is to control the religious zealots in ones ranks.
The blinkered & superstitious M.P’s who vote for God before country and turn their backs on the very political-party they owe their livelihoods too, all to appease their invisible deity.
New Zealand voters learnt exactly what sort of ‘DNA’ makes-up The National Party last week when it’s ‘Christian’ M.P’s voted down legislation that would have meant more liberalised Easter Shopping.
These National members of parliament deliberately stepped away from the mainstream of their party and voted for their superstition first – party politics & their constituents second.
In other-words they spat in the faces of those that elected them thinking, wrongly as it turns-out, National was a pro-business, pro-choice party.
It’s not till you take a look at the backgrounds of these National MP’s that sided with Labour and Greens to see the Easter Shopping Legislation defeated you see why National has a mini-caucus that answers only to the God of The Old Testament and not to mortals.
MP’s that are happy to turn their backs on both the voters and the party they supposedly back and rode into power on.
BILL ENGLISH: Papist with eleven children.
ERIC ROY: Presbyterian Church Leader in the real world
JONATHAN YOUNG: Senior Minister of City Church in West Auckland
SAM LOTU LIGA: High-up in Penrose/Greenlane Christian Centre
TIM MACINDOE: Was the Deputy Head of Anglican Boys School
CHESTER BURROWS: Lay-Preacher on his days off
Someone else can expand on the religious affiliations of the other four National MP’s (Phil Heatley, Shane Arden, Katrina Shanks) who showed their ‘true colours.’ when it comes to matters of conscience.
Mark my words this won’t be the last time this ‘moral-minority’ will embarrass National and their voters.
When does Family First actually get something right?
This ideologically driven pressure-group is not gifted at picking winners and has failed dismally to achieve the goals it has set out to do = a society based on The Old Testament.
Time after time Family First and their ubiquitous spokesman Bob McCoskie shoot-off at the mouth (often in tongues) rather than doing a semblance of research & thinking-through the consequences of their actions.
This time last years they claimed Divorce Rates were harming the New Zealand Economy. One small fact seemed to have escaped their paid researchers - but not myself. Taking their Leviticus logic to its natural conclusion, the fastest way to reduce the so-called harmful effects of divorce is for more Kiwis to become atheists – who are comparatively less represented than Christians in statistics.
Family First wanted Kiwi’s to boycott The Hells Pizza chain (2006) over their condom promotion – giving their targets more free publicity than they ever could have possibly paid for – increasing their sales and establishing their brand.
The year prior they demanded the T.V Program ‘Californication’ be taken off our screens – which again had just the opposite effect – alerting the public there was graphic sex scenes on free-to-view state T.V resulting in ratings sky-rocketed.
So you can firmly place where Family First falls in the ideological spectrum Bob McCoskie personally wanted The Simpson's taken off our screens in 2005 due to foul language.
Over the years bans and boycotts are Family Firsts modus operandi & the list grows year by year they crudely attempt to sledge-hammer their so-called ‘family values’ on-to a reluctant society.
‘Boobs on Bikes’ – should be banned.
‘AIDS pamphlets depicting genitalia ’ – should be banned
‘Web Site Miss Bimbo’ – should be boycotted
‘Girls kissing Girls Radio Competition’ – banned and boycotted.
Now the latest flummox in a long line of them, is their failled attempt to repeal smacking legislation. Family First were one of the major drivers of the appalling worded referendum held this year that wasted 9 million dollars and achieved - yet again - nothing.
This weeks released report commissioned by the incoming National Government into whether smacking laws were effective and if inconsequential smacking by parents had lead to criminal prosecution (which Family First claimed was the reality) has lead the authors of the report to single-out Family Firsts central-role in scare-mongering.
Yet, again Family First got their facts horribly wrong and many of the cases they had championed as being evidence of ‘good parents being targeted’ were at best selective and as one of the authors Nigel Latta told New Zealanders “that can lead it to throwing weight behind parents who don't deserve it and in so doing mislead the public.”
Latta went on to tell of one case Family First had ‘backed’ on Radio New Zealand that they had solicited support for their cause by highlighting “a case were a parent prosecuted for hitting a child with a pillow " but went on to clarify that “at face value ...an extreme over-reaction" but then introduced the real-facts that “it turned out the (perpetrator) had more than 70 convictions for violent offences.”
It was just the bit about the pillow-slapping Family First hollered-about to the local news-media – not the other 70 plus cases of assaults the abuser was found to have perpetrated.
In-fact ALL the cases Family First forwarded cases to Mr Latta and his committee to review as part of some pattern of over-zealous authorities prosecuting innocent parents – in not one of them did Latta feel Child, Youth and Family and police behaved in an appropriate fashion.
Latta is scathing of the Family Firsts selective reporting and its scaremongering – telling McCoskie and his rabble they were at times duped into believing false testimony and, as I said in my introduction, not doing their homework.
Thanks to Latta’s honesty and frankness New Zealanders now know Family First, a so-called Christian based organisation, were happy to back convicted scum-bag child-abusers to achieve their narrow political goals.
So Graham, earlier this week The Parole Board has turned-down your application for early release from ‘the clink’ starting you were “an undue risk to the safety of the community'', eh?
I guess with that denial, those applications to get your old jobs back as a Police Prosecutor & Christian College Minister – also went down the gurgler.
Far be it from me, the eptimone of the filthy secular heathen you rallied against on the outside, to point-out some of the reasons why the Parole Board may well have taken this dim-view on your ability to function as a normal human-being on the outside.
- May be it could have been those emails to friends saying that sex with one of your young victims was some-how consensual?
- They may well have spotted in your file how statements made to your Probation Officer shortly after your arrest in which you revealed those feelings of lust and excitement.
- Then again the board may also have seen that at the time of the original sentencing you offered little in terms of apologising to your victims and instead were more interested in saving your own skin - asking friends to pray for a lenient judge and prison term.
- Perhaps they took into account one of the victims was eight when you began abusing her?
But even pushing this ‘dirty washing’ to one side one moment, what you need to get your head-around Graham is The Parole Board doesn’t have the same decree of automatic forgiveness your God gives-to even the-lowest-of-the-low.
The heavenly ‘Get out of Jail Free Card’ thankfully doesn’t work when you put it on the mercenary table of The Parole Board.
In-fact it rather works against you, one thinks.
You are a profound embarrassment to all those that follow the teachings of Jesus Christ in New Zealand and at the same-time cut a hypocritical figure of derision to anyone else.
So basically: no one likes you.
But let’s stop going over stuff that is well versed, let’s try and move forward and not back.
In case your legal-team and your sycophantic supporters have missed-something, the elephant in the room, The Parole Board look at the rehabilitation of the individual during his/her time incarcerated.
The inmate’s contriteness, the ability to come to terms with their crimes.
On the last two points in respect of atonement – the ones that count - you have failed miserably.
It was the narrowest of finishes in the weekends Mount Albert By-Election.
But once the rhetoric had died-down, the people spoke via the ballot box & the numbers were there in black & white, for all to see - if they so cared to.
There could only be one winner in the battle between the forces lined-up on the sides of ‘good’, and those of ‘evil’.
New Zealand’s very-own Political Special Olympics.
The Christian ‘Family Party’, could garnish a paltry 71 votes.
The Aoteoroa Legalise Cannabis Party, managed little better, with 73 votes.
So ‘by a nose’ it was the Dope Smokers over the God Fearers.
Now, if only the motley-crew behind the impotent Family Party, would learn from these continued electoral drubbings - they would not only save themselves more embarrassment, but also stop wasting their time & money, to finish a sorry second to a bunch of giggling pot-heads, who’s major publicity stunt in the by-election, was the televised arrest of their candidate (refer You-Tube video)
The ill-conceived Family Party, remains the political equivalent of a two-headed illegitimate love-child.
The mutated off-spring, resulting from a back-street abortion - gone wrong!
Let’s not forget that even 'the parents' rejected The Family Party at birth.
Why does it take a heathen like me to point-out the bleeding obvious to the zealots remaining to the bitter-end, in the The Family Parties concrete bunker, deep beneath Brian Tamiki's mansion?
Can’t they see for themselves, their invisible magic sky-monkey has long-since forsaken their cause?
Last night New Zealanders sent-out a damning message to Christian Parties, by rejecting outright their doctrine of exclusion.
Between United Future (0.89), Kiwi Party (0.56), & Family Party (0.33) the parties of The Lord (Potty for short) polled miserably, and will be down on their knees this Sunday morning, looking upwards wondering why Gods political wrath was delivered to ‘us’ his most ardent followers?
Zero was their grand total of party seats, a more emphatic electoral rejection, was not capable of being manufactured.
Peter Dunne, kept his constituent seat, the one he held when he was in National & Labour, is yet again ‘the lonely man in Parliament’, a situation he has made his specialty. Dunne’s number two, can start packing her desk & slip on back into ‘civy land’ to run her ‘happy clappy’ church.
The ‘blood-bath’ suffered by the Potty Parties is best exemplified by the pitiful performance of the Family Party (Family First in drag, similar to a Priscilla Queen of The Desert sense of the word)
Receiving 6,793 votes, Family Party polled well behind the ‘piss-taking’ Bill & Ben Party (10,738) and amusingly, even less than The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (7,589)
For those not familiar with Bill and Ben they promised to promise nothing. However, by promising no promises they are making a promise, but that’s the only promise that they havemade. They promise. In their only known political statement of substance issued during their election campaign, their two leaders, Messrs. Linehan and Boyce, rejected United Future leader Peter Dunne as a possible coalition partner. They argued, rightfully so I might add, that he looks too "dweeby" and reminiscent of Dracula. Rejecting the $10,000 allocated to all Political Parties for electioneering, Bill & Ben opted for a publicity campaign that revolved around a range of outrageous media-grabbing stunts & you-tubes.
Their slap-stick approach proved more of a vote grabber to Kiwi’s than the dour ‘sky is falling’ propaganda that Family First (oops sorry, I keep on getting confused here) Family Party, issued.
On Election Night humour & closet dope smokers convincingly won over extreme righteousness.
New Zealanders signalled, by in large, they are not interested in erroneous issues like smacking, whether the neighbours are ‘shacked-up’ rather than married, or if the lady over the back fence works as a prostitute rather than a hair-dresser.
Kiwi’s resoundingly wanted consensus politics, and consensus has never been in the vocabulary of Potty Parties at this, or any of the previous elections.
The public wanted stable coalition government with a sound economic & social platforms, one that didn’t involve having to pander to minor parties like Kiwi, carrying their extreme agenda’s.
Last night, religion in New Zealand politics was publicly euthanised.
The process was performed painlessly, one vote at a time.
Peter Dunnes hair has been placed on New Zealands Official Endangered Species List. Attempts at captive breeding of his hair, have also proved unsuccessful.
Peter Dunne formed the United Party, which had struggled on, marginal and irrelevant for several years. As part of his search for a wider constituency, Dunne agreed to join up with the semi-marginal Future New Zealand Party, led by a fundamentalist preacher, Anthony Walton and formerly called The Christian Democrat Party (which contested the 1996 Election as part of The Christian Coalition)
So was born United Future, a political party which has always painted itself as a centralist, moderate party with family policies.
‘Welcome to United Future, the party that guarantees New Zealand stable government and commonsense policies that benefit the New Zealand family’ greets anyone viewing their web site.
Expunged of Gordon Copeland, who left U.F in the last term over support of the anti-smacking legislation, and down to just two MP’s, polling at 0.5% in the party vote U.F is fighting for its political survival.
With the Christian vote at this election being dissipated and fractured, U.F needs to re-brand and throw off it’s tag as a haven for fundamentalists, best highlighted by Paul Adams, who was responsible for some of the worst of United’s early publicity, when he said in his 1993 in a submission to Parliament that Aids sufferers should be publicly identified in some way, or even that they be quarantined.
No one knows the importance of this secular re-branding exercise more than Dunne.
He knows being labelled a Christian Party is United Futures one-way road to the wastelands.
What chance do voters have, seeing the moderation & pragmatism Dunne espouses, turned into reality?
Does The United Future Party Dunne leads, top heavy with Christian ‘warriors’, actually want to change?
Looking at the profiles and backgrounds of parties highest ranking members and I’d say “I doubt it”.
Just two years ago, the quintessential Kiwi bloke party ‘Outdoor Recreation’, who had joined forces with U.F, fled (into the bush presumably) citing difficulties with the evangelism of Christian members.
Hardly a confidence vote that things have changed, at least behind the scenes at United Future.
Then there was the revelation from one of it’s ex MP’s Marc Alexander that a frequent topic at caucus meetings was ‘the after life’ and all it’s meetings were preceded with a prayer for Gods guidance. Commenting on the formation of U.F’s list rankings (N.Z Herald 28/09/2005) Alexander said list-placings were formulated on ‘Christianity over competence’
It’s best therefore voters examine the profiles of Mr Dunnes team to see, if I’m on the money with categorising them as ‘a Trojan horse’ and 'Christan Democrats in disguise'.
Voters need to ask if a political leopard like United Future, can really change it’s spots?
JUDY TURNER (Current MP and # 2 on Party List) Described by Marc Alexander (along with Gordon Copeland )”as a useless appendage who made endless soliloquies about the perils of the great moral outrages of the day”. In her civilian life she’s a New Life Pastor, her and her hubby run a church. On record, wanting New Zealand to introduce compulsory ‘character education’ into schools. These characters have names like Mark, Luke, Paul and John. On the subject of bibles & Turner, she once labelled United Futures policy on families as “biblically sound”.
DENISE KRUM (United Future President & # 3 Party List) Denise is the daughter of National Party MP and Christian Democrat founder Graeme Lee (or is it more appropriate I use his more formal title Reverend Graeme Lee?) Graeme wrote ‘the’ book on Christian politics in New Zealand ‘Faith Politics & Servant Leadership’ & once infamously claimed on Paul Holmes show that children were more at risk to be abused around homosexuals rather than heterosexuals.
INKY TULLOCH (Current Board Member, Former President) When asked about the Christian connection & U.F, Gore born & bred, Inky attempted to deflect the question, but ended-up telling the public what they already knew, which was “United Future isn't a Christian party – it's a political party that has a lot of Christians in it”. Hmm, isn’t that like Rudolf Hess saying we are not a Nazi party but we just happen to have heaps of national socialists as members?
MURRAY SMITH (Current Board Member, former Party Secretary, Helped form the UF party, former MP, # 6 on Party List) Murray also happens to have help set-up The Christian Democrats. Baptist & Lawyer, a combination that is lethal to consume over certain doses & best kept locked away from children.
NEVILLE WILSON (# 7 Party List) Originally from Fiji, Nev is a Baptist Church Pastor and back home he sat on The Fiji Council of Churches.
JANET TUCK (# 9 Party List) Involved with Tear Fund Christian Action. The bio on the U.F website says her interests include walking, running a book group, and leading a church home group.
I could have continued further down their candidate-list, there being such a rare vein of evangelism to dig into, that was after I got use to that strong pervading odour of pentecostal sulphur emanating from their ranks.
But by now you’ll get the gist - United Future is riddled with ‘fire & brimstone’ Christians from top to bottom & without them there would probably be enough support or man power for it to function.
Forget the cuddly centralist overtones, United Future’s very DNA is fundamentalist.
Family First are currently fronting a massive media campaign in an attempt to achieve the 300,000 threshold necessary to initiate a referendum. The petition needed 280,275 signatures to force a referendum, but recently fell short after 13% were excluded because they were either illegible, the signatory's date of birth could not be confirmed, or involved people who signed multiple times (perhaps the liberal application of the wooden spoon is needed to remind signatories to be honest?)
Family Firsts latest ‘beef’: the new smacking law.
All this effort, expense and melodrama for a non-binding referendum, seems wasted to most neutrals. A recent N.Z Police report stated they receive on average, just one complaint per week in relation to smacking. Scaremongering ‘the courts would be full of cases of good parents being treated as criminals’ have come to nought. In fact based on these statistics, and the disinterest by N.Z Police to change the new law, you’d have to wonder what all the fuss is all about?
To background this, Family First are a thinly veiled Christian Political pressure group. Their leader Bob McCoskie (pictured below) says his organisation is “the voice of the family, it’s not the voice for Christianity”. Then in the next breath goes on to say “but you’re right, people involved in it have a Christian background”. That’s like Martin Bormann stating “Hey, we are not Nazi’s, we’re National Socialists”.
To give Family First their dues, they are very media savy and have made headlines with some regularity & some what laboriously in the same vein as past self-styled moral guardians. The Media know where to go to ‘get a bite’ and I guess it’s a bit hard these days getting interviews with Graham Capill (incarcerated) & Patricia Bartlett (r.i.p). Family First fill this ‘chicken little’ vacuum nicely.
F.F is the group which wanted the public to boycott Hells Pizza chain after their ‘Condom’ promotion. Personally I would have thought the name alone would have been enough to scare-off Bob and his righteous bunch.
F.F wanted ‘Californication’ taken from our T.V screens and the way to do this was to rally support, in the form from a boycott on advertisers who dared showed their wares during breaks in the programme.
F.F protested against ‘The Boobs on Bikes’ and tried to ruin the titillation (pun intended) for bunking schools-boys.
F.F successfully had an Aid’s Foundation magazine advert banned. Those naughty guys at the Foundation had a picture of a penis of all things. And god forbid, to make thing worse – it was regaling in a bright coloured condom!
F.F warned parents of teenagers of the evils of the internet by targeting www.missbimbo.com . Never heard of it? Well neither had I. But after a quick preview, it didn’t make my muster in terms of porn content so it won’t be going on my ‘favourites’. F.F didn’t outright ask to ban the site, rather ‘filter’ it.
Bob himself, complained to The Broadcasting Standards Authority in 2005 about the use of the words “ass” & “wanker” in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons. BSA dismissed the complaint ruling the words we used in a satirical rather than abusive manner. This is the view most balanced New Zealanders would take to comedy.
So you’ll see from their track record, F.F are right into bans, boycotts and censorship.
The exception being: smacking. On the subject of belting ones own child in the privacy of ones home, F.F have the audacity to trot-out the line “this is Nanny State telling us what to do”.
Parents have a god given right to smack their brats, but not to settle down in their lounges and watch some crappy melodrama, staring the guy out of the X-Files, who’s got ‘a thing’ for nuns.
There’s of course a grand reason why F.F carry on in this contradictory & duplicitous fashion. It’s called ‘The Bible’. Biblical texts are F.F’s sole compass and where it points F.F tear off like a rabid pack of hounds chasing a fox.
‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ sound familiar to anyone?
F.F camouflage their agenda behind warm fuzzy terms like - ‘traditional values’.
They want us to return to those romantic by-gone days (re-runs of The Walton’s anyone?) and get families eating dinner together. Never mind if dad takes his belt to the kids for not eating their brussel-sprouts.
One thing that get’s any Christian Pressure group frothing at the mouth, is homosexuality, and F.F is no different.
“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” [Leviticus 20:13]
Now F.F are politically astute enough not to come straight out and ‘doom those evil gays & lesbians to hells eternal flames’. Instead they veil their agenda under headings like ‘Children Deserve Better’. in which they outline principals in flowery terms like ‘the natural family is the union of a man or a woman’.
Loving Parents can only be ones that are married. End of story.
And don’t dare mention ‘Civil Unions’. Dear oh dear. Unmarried couples will never do.
They also take delight telling the heathen secular community what to do with their reproductive organs. Putting them into condoms isn’t one of them.
F.F rallied against teens being vaccinated for cervical cancer - because it could be unsafe for the woman’s ‘moral character’. A comforting thought to cling to for the victims & their families struck down by this killer.
Effectively if Family First can’t get you to accept the word of Jesus - they’ll pressure politicians legislate accordingly.
One can only hope (praying is naturally a waste of time) Family First will go the way of The Christian Heritage Party.
Oblivion or behind bars.
Footnote; More evidence of the ineptitude of ecclesiastical politicians came with parliamentary vote to make the smacking an offence. Let’s not forget Gordon Copeland gave his reason for leaving United Future, as a difference of opinion on the yet to be passed smacking bill. But where was the freshly independent MP Copeland, when the bill was being passed and the vote was being taken? He wasn’t even in the house! That’s right he missed the final vote.
Atheists do look for answers to existence itself. They just don't make them up. What am I like? Well, imagine Reginald Perrin, only more neurotic & dependent on beer to function normally in public.
