Free Republic

Is it possible for a Right-wing government to freeze spending and cut the deficit while remaining popular? As they say in New Zealand, ‘yih’. I’ve remarked before that, while no country is physically further from Britain, none is temperamentally closer. Yet there is a difference when it comes to public expenditure. A slowing of the rate of increase in the UK – there have, as yet, been no net cuts – is howled down as an assault on the poor directed by a clique of ancien régime aristocrats. In New Zealand, by contrast, ‘zero budgets’ are seen as prudent and...

St Matthew-in-the-City Congratulates Anglican Diocese on Support for GLBT Members Saturday, September 3 was a huge day in the ongoing struggle to end discrimination against GLBT members of the Anglican Church. The Revd Glynn Cardy rejoiced that, “Never before has an Auckland Synod so clearly, overwhelmingly, and emphatically endorsed the being, relationships and ministry of its gay and lesbian memberships!” For the first time an Auckland Diocesan bishop publicly said he would be willing to discern and ordain GLBT candidates for ordained ministry, including if they were in committed same-sex relationships. The Revd Cardy observed, “We thank him for his...

HAPPY Feet may miss New Zealand after all, according to a tracking device showing the wayward emperor penguin is swimming north. The penguin was liberated in sub-Antarctic waters south of Stewart Island yesterday more than two months after coming ashore on Pekapeka Beach near Wellington.

-excerpt- The Fairfax newspaper group, which didn't state how it obtained the information, said one of the Israelis who died was carrying at least five passports.

A young Tauranga man wants "legal weed" banned, claiming an addiction to it drove him to steal and left him riddled with anxiety. Student Robert Moore, 23, (pictured) says he smoked up to $80 of Kronic each day and claims the marijuana alternative has had damaging psychological and physical effects on him. But Kronic has rejected the claims, saying its products are not addictive and are harmless unless used irresponsibly. The R18 synthetic cannabinoid is made from a mixture of dried herbs and is available at about 20 outlets across the Western Bay. The product usually contains the 1,1-dimethyloctyl homologue...

Predictably, Rachel Stewart, the “Riding Shotgun columnist for the Taranaki Daily News, insists any fault for misunderstanding what she meant about losing count of Texas diner patrons “with shooters on their hips in plain view" should be blamed on her readers. We didn’t get that she was referring to accidental disclosures of concealed guns, or guns worn by police officers. And the reason we didn’t get it is because we’re “rabid dogs” and there are “cultural differences” between the U.S. and New Zealand. Per her latest, those of us who didn’t grok that “read it in Swahili.” And we evidently...

WELLINGTON — Air New Zealand has drawn the ire of a rape prevention group over a competition aimed at "cougars" -- middle-aged women who prefer younger men. The airline is offering 60 tickets for next month's Wellington Sevens rugby tournament to older women "who prefer their meat rare". The competition invites packs of up to four "cougars" to send in their photographs to the airline to gain a chance of winning the tickets. An accompanying YouTube video parodying wildlife documentaries says cougars are known for living off sparse vegetation during the day and large slabs of meat at night. It...

The CRU scandal has already ensnared Britain's leading climate "scientist" Phil Jones (whom one principled leftie says has only "a few days left in which to make an honourable exit") and his American counterpart Michael Mann (as in "Mann-made global warming"). Given that these two men and their respective institutions are the leading warm-mongers on the planet, and the guys who dominate the IPCC, Copenhagen et al, it would be most unlikely if the widespread data-raping were confined only to the United Kingdom and the United States. Here's an interesting snippet from my colleagues at Investigate magazine in New Zealand...

The British and their allies might not have underestimated their enemies had they heard a Japanese general issue his Order for the Day to his troops. ..... More than 200 Indians and Australians who had fought for the Allies in Malaya and who were too badly wounded to be moved, were kicked, beaten, tied with telephone wire and machine-gunned - and then, dead or alive, doused in petrol and set alight ..... The 14th Army was a polyglot force, consisting of British, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, Burmese, Chinese, Africans and, chiefly, the Indian Army, the largest volunteer army in history....

Yesterday I voted early in New Zealand at our Public Library, as the Advance Polling Booth was open and it was going to be very difficult for me to get to the polling booth on our Election Day, November 8 2008. (I am Patrolling the night before and I did not want to be too tired to vote with a clear mind.) Folks, I do not need to tell you how important it is to Vote: it is a Sacred Trust and a debt of gratitude to all those who have taken up arms in Liberty's cause throughout the ages....

Christopher Lee offers his voice for Smaug… won’t go back to NZ. July 13th, 2008 by Compa_Mighty In a bittersweet note, forummer DiveTwin reports this note that appeared in Cinematical:

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A woman passenger on a New Zealand commuter plane stabbed both pilots and threatened to blow up the 19-seat aircraft, police said on Friday. The attack on the pilots, who were not seriously hurt, happened about 20 minutes into the flight between the South Island centers of Blenheim and Christchurch, police said. The plane landed at Christchurch, where police with dogs boarded it and arrested a 33-year-old woman, who is originally from Somalia. The woman was in police custody in Christchurch but the motive for the attack was still unclear, Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Dave Cliff told...

MICHAEL LAWS: Let's ditch those patched terrorists Sunday Star Times | Wednesday, 16 May 2007 May 13 - We know that these patched gang members are little more than petty terrorists - existing for no other purpose than to commit crime and take advantage of this society's appalling generosity. As any parent of small children will know, sleep is the true gift of the gods. Forget riches, forget beauty, forget fame. The greatest desire of we toddler-tenders is not sex, money nor power. It is oblivion. That restful unconsciousness that lingers longer than the plaintive cry or the call to...

Sweet victory for NZ schoolgirls By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 5:11pm BST 27/03/2007 It has been a staple of picnics and playgrounds for generations of children, but amateur sleuthing by a pair of schoolgirls has shown that Ribena sold in Australia and New Zealand is not all that it claims to be. Schoolgirls Anna Devathasan (L) and Jenny Suo found there's no C in Ribena. The makers of the cordial, GlaxoSmithKline, were fined nearly ?80,000 today after pleading guilty at a court in New Zealand to making misleading claims about the amount of Vitamin C the drink contains....

Conferences to look at ‘threat‘ of Islam in NZhttp://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article7529 By Lynley Smith of Challenge Weekly, New Zealand AUCKLAND, NZ — The time is ripe for the Church to face up to the threat of Islam in our country, to understand Islam’s agenda and to respond with the love of Christ, says Middle East Overseas Outreach New Zealand director Murray Dillner. That organisation, Open Doors NZ, Interserve and Asian Outreach are combining to host Mosque and Miracles conferences for the first time in New Zealand. They will be held in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in July, and are endorsed by Vision...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A male lawyer who appeared in court dressed in women's clothes as a protest against what he said was New Zealand's overly masculine judiciary was suspended Wednesday after being found to be in contempt of court. The High Court found Rob Moodie, a 68-year-old, balding man who appeared in court in dresses and toting a handbag, was in contempt for circulating suppressed documents outside the court in one of his cases. Moodie officially changed his name to "Miss Alice" as part of his protest against the "old boys network" that he said runs the nation's...

Two Muslim clerics who visited New Zealand at the invitation of local groups have been accused of promoting hate speech against gays, women and other religions. Sheikh Khalid Yasin and Islamic scholar Bilal Phillips were shown in an undercover documentary screened on Britain's Channel 4 last month allegedly inciting hatred at a British mosque. Yasin was invited to speak in Christchurch in May 2005 as a guest of the Muslim Association of Canterbury and Phillips toured the country last year giving lectures as a guest of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (Fianz). He also spoke in Christchurch....

Clark possible contender for UN job - Time magazine 04 September 2006 Prime Minister Helen Clark has been named by Time magazine as a possible contender for the role of United Nations secretary general. United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan steps down at the end of this year and there has been speculation about who will replace him. Time magazine said the unwritten rules about who could be named a candidate included that no candidate could come from one of the five nations with a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. This ruled out candidates from the United States,...

A dead supermarket chicken could save you up to $200. A Christchurch woman has revealed a loophole in car registration rules. The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, says it normally costs more than $260 to register her diesel vehicle. However if a driver goes to the Post Shop and asks them to change the vehicle's registration to a code 06, which is for a non-commercial hearse, then the cost drops dramatically - to just $58. Her friends told her the scam had been going on for years, so she went to a Post Shop to try it. She told...

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