*To Be Continued - after sufficient shuteye: the wind's been devastating, folks - ASAP...
*Essentially from 'extensive' notes hurriedly scribbled down during extended (three-and-a-half hour) wakefulness during a very troubled, windswept and windblown, wretched (last) night in Dunedin, NZ
**Sorry again, folks, but some things (on this very blogsite, as a matter of fact) have had to take precedence over this...and are somewhat more important in the overall scheme of things...-see my blogpost (on January 22nd, on the famed 'Doomsday Clock', and significant, lengthy additions thereto) and see if you don't agree...but if you don't, you know what to do...yes, 'Post a Comment' thereabouts...and don't just 'flutter' one as it were (without posting it) as some folk seem to be doing of late...
Finally Back to my Knitting (as of Sunday January 27th): Part One - The Sanitized Version!
(NB. Footnoting here is not all left till the end of the blogpost, as better suits its coherence.)
So what's gotten my 'knickers in a knot' about our Justice Minister turning up at the UN the other day...and spouting forth? Precisely that, as a matter of fact...for badmouthing your own nation - especially one with as proud a history as God's Own - is not only not a good look, it is even tantamount to treason...which once upon a time (and not all that long ago, in fact) carried the death sentence here...
So am I suggesting Mr Little be put to death as a result, in some latter-day reinstatement of what many - including Yours Truly - regard as a *barbaric punishment for crime?
*Though I'm certainly not dismissing the equally legitimate views of those who - I'm sure most people would at heart agree - believe that there are some folk who have actually, to all intents and purposes, justly forfeited their own right to enjoy life and liberty with all that that entails...
Which in a(n) - admittedly, as I'm quite wont, rather roundabout - way, actually gets to the heart of my umbrage. For - even giving Minister Little the benefit of the doubt - i.e. accepting he was not only well-intentioned but moreover that his two essential points have thorough legitimacy and credibility in and of themselves, which actually is **somewhat more problematic than might appear at face value - what is the big deal about prisoners voting anyway?
Even if that was not the burden of Little's address to the United Nations Human Rights Council - and let's just say, since it ain't always clear from TV coverage just who (in such a delegation) actually said precisely what - though more than likely the entire delegation essentially agrees in advance with the various points which are ultimately raised by the various members of any nation's official delegation; and TV showed another dude speaking re prisoners having some innate right to vote - I'd wager that ye average punter in the street (here in NZ) already are of the mind that vicious crims in particular already have plenty enough 'rights', thank you very much, and it's - as ever - the longsuffering victims who ever and always have their own effective lifetime death sentence handed down thereafter...and are the ones whose own (only too legitimate) 'rights' are rarely ever considered in such scenarios...
**For example, though such studies - for rather obvious reasons, I'd contend - are rarely cited or brought into the discussion, isn't it a little curious how, for example, some major research once conducted by the (local) University of Otago, no less, showed how more men - yes, folks, you heard me aright! - had been subject to domestic violence than vica-versa...so do with that 'tasty morsel' of info what you well will.. (And evidently it ain't the only such study revealing such a result - scary as many men apparently would find it to openly admit as much!)
To Be Continued (very shortly - *indeed!)
And this'll be my gut, visceral reaction...hurriedly scribbled down that other night...leaving 'no holds barred', and giving full vent to 'something' rarely considered these days - i.e. the equally legitimate emotions/feelings of that subset of the human species rarely given proportionate notice these days, commonly known as male...and reflecting what I believe is probably the (gut) reaction/view of the silent majority - male and female alike - of (what was once proudly known as) God's Own...
Part Two: What the Hell Is Going On/Is Minister Little Up To? (Continued within the very hour.)
It has oftentimes been noted - and I've certainly been in agreement, *significant philosophical perspectives notwithstanding - that Andrew Little is one of the more competent and effectual ministers in Jacinda Ardern's/**her Majesty's cabinet...and ever professional in both his demeanour and approach; perhaps not altogether unusual in light of his previous position (for a couple years) as Labour Party/Opposition leader (and thereby - under normal circumstances - Prime Ministerial Heir-Apparent, if his precipitous polling numbers hadn't precipitated his premature departure from that role and immediate replacement by the stellar, 'stardust'-saturated Ms Ardern).
That having necessarily been said, my view of Mr Little has now dropped inestimably - is veritably in freefall - a somewhat similar situation to that undergone by Little's immediate (Labour Party leader) predecessor, David Cunliffe, whose own feminazi-ish-seeming (collective) 'Apology on behalf of all males of the species' prior to Election 2014 pretty well spelled the beginning of the end of any and every one of his own larger-than-life leadership ambitions...
What the heck is the considered gentleman doing denigrating God's Own upon the world stage...when nations far and wide across the face of the globe are knowingly responsible for the systemic, systematic, state-sponsored and/or sanctioned raping and pillaging, torturing, incarceration and murdering of their own peoples...be they babies/toddlers/infants or the aged, ***women and men alike...as well as being unabashed serial condoners of such barbarities as ***genital mutilation and gang rape and mob-inspired violence and horrors upon girls, homosexuals, transexuals and other 'deviants', or anyone found supposedly misusing or 'blaspheming' the name of their 'god' ...
Don't you dare lecture kiwis as if we as a people engaged - in systemic, systematic fashion - in such outrageous denigration and degradation, decimation and destruction of the female of the species...or anything like it...
Where is your basic sense of perspective, much less essential honesty, let alone loyalty to and pride in your own nation - Aotearoa-New Zealand Inc...a country with such a long and well-earned, proud tradition in terms of its exemplary treatment of women, and then some... as to stand head and shoulders above the vast bulk of its fellow nations upon Earth?
Shame on Mr Little and his globe-trotting fellow-travellers...yes, how dare they even suggest that how women - let alone prisoners - are treated here even remotely compares to the terrifying treatment so many of the incarcerated undergo or that many women are routinely subjected to throughout, say, the (vast majority of) Muslim countries across the Middle East...
And would you believe, while 'our people' were there at said United Nations Human Rights Council - or doubtless shortly thereafter - and no doubt taking liberty and extreme licence from the fact that New Zealand's own representatives were there well and truly bagging their own people and nation -
Iran of all nations had the gall to criticize "New Zealand's lack of a national strategy to combat racism, xenophobia and 'religious hatred' "!!!
Yep, you heard me right, folks...but oodles of shame oozing with disgrace upon New Zealand's mainstream media (of all stripes, apparently) for failing to inform kiwis about this disgusting diatribe ...and from one of the world's chief offenders to boot...although evidently alongside this such countries as Egypt, Indonesia and Russia chimed in as well...reckoning that NZ "had room for improvement in its treatment of Maoris".
Yes, each of those nations - or, to be duly charitable, the first and third of these - know one heckuva, helluva lot about the rights of indigenous minorities - whether people groups (in Russia's case) or religious minorities (in Egypt's). Incidentally, following well-documented trumped-up charges against a very popular Christian Governor of a major Indonesian island/state, at one time tipped to succeed in becoming president of Indonesia itself, and in view of the sporadic bombing etc of churches over recent decades in some parts of the populous nation, that nation ought to be a little cautious as well in pointing the finger at NZ in such a context...
As for lil ole Ireland 'echo[ing] A. Little's concerns around the rights of women' and saying that it 'was concerned at the levels of domestic violence in NZ against women', may I respectfully suggest that those who're even now only just emerging from glasshouses themselves...oughtn't themselves to be hurling stones, however relatively gently...especially when selfsame nation by its own admission has treated women seeking abortions in an extreme manner and moreover when there are countless bodies of young children still being exhumed under said (religious) glasshouses...
Perhaps if and when the United Nations and its various apologists-in-chief/lackeys and cronies decide to get really serious about putting their own house/s in order and attending to their own knitting for once, we might be inclined in ye oft-maligned West(ern nations) to take their claims in good faith...and they could indeed legitimately raise their voices against those nations they perceive not to be honouring the spirit of the UN Charter...
...but certainly not till then...though somehow I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon... except in academic pie-in-the-sky dreamland, or in the cloistered recesses of university ivory towers...
But if Andrew Little and his ilk truly believe this sort of flagrantly overblown and exaggerated, anti-Western dogma and drivel, I respectfully suggest that the sooner his/their ministerial warrant/s are withdrawn/removed the better for all of us...and it won't come soon enough, no, not one single moment...-what a disgrace to the well-earned and deserved good global reputation of NZ Inc!
*Whether vis-a-vis the 'Three Strikes Law', imminent liberalization of abortion laws, or the Stalinist Electoral Integrity Law' (still being progressed through the House of Parliament)...(italics mine!)
**Referring to Queen Elizabeth the Second, that is, and not some oblique 'throw-off' at our P.M. .
Necessary Postscript/Caveat:
Having said all the foregoing, you'd doubtless imagine it'd be hard if not exceedingly difficult to trump the Honourable Andrew Little's performance the other day...and you'd be right. However, and sorry to have to burst your bubble, we have a contender...and right here in lil ole God's Own to boot.
As if Mr Little's 'performance' - as opposed to the valiant, heroic, ongoing efforts in *South Sudan of another much underrated former Labour Party leader here, the admirable David Shearer - wasn't bad enough (and didn't reflect poorly enough upon good ole NZ Inc) - guess who just had to stick her oar/own two cents worth in? Yes, none other than the Green Party's putative 'human rights spokesperson'...-but more on that another time, and believe you me, it'll make my remarks vis-a-vis Andrew Little look like I was merely engaging with kids' gloves, in pure child's play...and then some!
*I believe, as opposed to Sudan. I'm completely in agreement with the then Green Party co-leader Russel Norman who couldn't credit why Labour - effectively - dropped/dumped Shearer...especially when polls then had the Greens and Labour well and truly significantly trumping even John Key's popular as administration...
*Essentially from 'extensive' notes hurriedly scribbled down during extended (three-and-a-half hour) wakefulness during a very troubled, windswept and windblown, wretched (last) night in Dunedin, NZ
**Sorry again, folks, but some things (on this very blogsite, as a matter of fact) have had to take precedence over this...and are somewhat more important in the overall scheme of things...-see my blogpost (on January 22nd, on the famed 'Doomsday Clock', and significant, lengthy additions thereto) and see if you don't agree...but if you don't, you know what to do...yes, 'Post a Comment' thereabouts...and don't just 'flutter' one as it were (without posting it) as some folk seem to be doing of late...
Finally Back to my Knitting (as of Sunday January 27th): Part One - The Sanitized Version!
(NB. Footnoting here is not all left till the end of the blogpost, as better suits its coherence.)
So what's gotten my 'knickers in a knot' about our Justice Minister turning up at the UN the other day...and spouting forth? Precisely that, as a matter of fact...for badmouthing your own nation - especially one with as proud a history as God's Own - is not only not a good look, it is even tantamount to treason...which once upon a time (and not all that long ago, in fact) carried the death sentence here...
So am I suggesting Mr Little be put to death as a result, in some latter-day reinstatement of what many - including Yours Truly - regard as a *barbaric punishment for crime?
*Though I'm certainly not dismissing the equally legitimate views of those who - I'm sure most people would at heart agree - believe that there are some folk who have actually, to all intents and purposes, justly forfeited their own right to enjoy life and liberty with all that that entails...
Which in a(n) - admittedly, as I'm quite wont, rather roundabout - way, actually gets to the heart of my umbrage. For - even giving Minister Little the benefit of the doubt - i.e. accepting he was not only well-intentioned but moreover that his two essential points have thorough legitimacy and credibility in and of themselves, which actually is **somewhat more problematic than might appear at face value - what is the big deal about prisoners voting anyway?
Even if that was not the burden of Little's address to the United Nations Human Rights Council - and let's just say, since it ain't always clear from TV coverage just who (in such a delegation) actually said precisely what - though more than likely the entire delegation essentially agrees in advance with the various points which are ultimately raised by the various members of any nation's official delegation; and TV showed another dude speaking re prisoners having some innate right to vote - I'd wager that ye average punter in the street (here in NZ) already are of the mind that vicious crims in particular already have plenty enough 'rights', thank you very much, and it's - as ever - the longsuffering victims who ever and always have their own effective lifetime death sentence handed down thereafter...and are the ones whose own (only too legitimate) 'rights' are rarely ever considered in such scenarios...
**For example, though such studies - for rather obvious reasons, I'd contend - are rarely cited or brought into the discussion, isn't it a little curious how, for example, some major research once conducted by the (local) University of Otago, no less, showed how more men - yes, folks, you heard me aright! - had been subject to domestic violence than vica-versa...so do with that 'tasty morsel' of info what you well will.. (And evidently it ain't the only such study revealing such a result - scary as many men apparently would find it to openly admit as much!)
To Be Continued (very shortly - *indeed!)
And this'll be my gut, visceral reaction...hurriedly scribbled down that other night...leaving 'no holds barred', and giving full vent to 'something' rarely considered these days - i.e. the equally legitimate emotions/feelings of that subset of the human species rarely given proportionate notice these days, commonly known as male...and reflecting what I believe is probably the (gut) reaction/view of the silent majority - male and female alike - of (what was once proudly known as) God's Own...
Part Two: What the Hell Is Going On/Is Minister Little Up To? (Continued within the very hour.)
It has oftentimes been noted - and I've certainly been in agreement, *significant philosophical perspectives notwithstanding - that Andrew Little is one of the more competent and effectual ministers in Jacinda Ardern's/**her Majesty's cabinet...and ever professional in both his demeanour and approach; perhaps not altogether unusual in light of his previous position (for a couple years) as Labour Party/Opposition leader (and thereby - under normal circumstances - Prime Ministerial Heir-Apparent, if his precipitous polling numbers hadn't precipitated his premature departure from that role and immediate replacement by the stellar, 'stardust'-saturated Ms Ardern).
That having necessarily been said, my view of Mr Little has now dropped inestimably - is veritably in freefall - a somewhat similar situation to that undergone by Little's immediate (Labour Party leader) predecessor, David Cunliffe, whose own feminazi-ish-seeming (collective) 'Apology on behalf of all males of the species' prior to Election 2014 pretty well spelled the beginning of the end of any and every one of his own larger-than-life leadership ambitions...
What the heck is the considered gentleman doing denigrating God's Own upon the world stage...when nations far and wide across the face of the globe are knowingly responsible for the systemic, systematic, state-sponsored and/or sanctioned raping and pillaging, torturing, incarceration and murdering of their own peoples...be they babies/toddlers/infants or the aged, ***women and men alike...as well as being unabashed serial condoners of such barbarities as ***genital mutilation and gang rape and mob-inspired violence and horrors upon girls, homosexuals, transexuals and other 'deviants', or anyone found supposedly misusing or 'blaspheming' the name of their 'god' ...
Don't you dare lecture kiwis as if we as a people engaged - in systemic, systematic fashion - in such outrageous denigration and degradation, decimation and destruction of the female of the species...or anything like it...
Where is your basic sense of perspective, much less essential honesty, let alone loyalty to and pride in your own nation - Aotearoa-New Zealand Inc...a country with such a long and well-earned, proud tradition in terms of its exemplary treatment of women, and then some... as to stand head and shoulders above the vast bulk of its fellow nations upon Earth?
Shame on Mr Little and his globe-trotting fellow-travellers...yes, how dare they even suggest that how women - let alone prisoners - are treated here even remotely compares to the terrifying treatment so many of the incarcerated undergo or that many women are routinely subjected to throughout, say, the (vast majority of) Muslim countries across the Middle East...
And would you believe, while 'our people' were there at said United Nations Human Rights Council - or doubtless shortly thereafter - and no doubt taking liberty and extreme licence from the fact that New Zealand's own representatives were there well and truly bagging their own people and nation -
Iran of all nations had the gall to criticize "New Zealand's lack of a national strategy to combat racism, xenophobia and 'religious hatred' "!!!
Yep, you heard me right, folks...but oodles of shame oozing with disgrace upon New Zealand's mainstream media (of all stripes, apparently) for failing to inform kiwis about this disgusting diatribe ...and from one of the world's chief offenders to boot...although evidently alongside this such countries as Egypt, Indonesia and Russia chimed in as well...reckoning that NZ "had room for improvement in its treatment of Maoris".
Yes, each of those nations - or, to be duly charitable, the first and third of these - know one heckuva, helluva lot about the rights of indigenous minorities - whether people groups (in Russia's case) or religious minorities (in Egypt's). Incidentally, following well-documented trumped-up charges against a very popular Christian Governor of a major Indonesian island/state, at one time tipped to succeed in becoming president of Indonesia itself, and in view of the sporadic bombing etc of churches over recent decades in some parts of the populous nation, that nation ought to be a little cautious as well in pointing the finger at NZ in such a context...
As for lil ole Ireland 'echo[ing] A. Little's concerns around the rights of women' and saying that it 'was concerned at the levels of domestic violence in NZ against women', may I respectfully suggest that those who're even now only just emerging from glasshouses themselves...oughtn't themselves to be hurling stones, however relatively gently...especially when selfsame nation by its own admission has treated women seeking abortions in an extreme manner and moreover when there are countless bodies of young children still being exhumed under said (religious) glasshouses...
Perhaps if and when the United Nations and its various apologists-in-chief/lackeys and cronies decide to get really serious about putting their own house/s in order and attending to their own knitting for once, we might be inclined in ye oft-maligned West(ern nations) to take their claims in good faith...and they could indeed legitimately raise their voices against those nations they perceive not to be honouring the spirit of the UN Charter...
...but certainly not till then...though somehow I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon... except in academic pie-in-the-sky dreamland, or in the cloistered recesses of university ivory towers...
But if Andrew Little and his ilk truly believe this sort of flagrantly overblown and exaggerated, anti-Western dogma and drivel, I respectfully suggest that the sooner his/their ministerial warrant/s are withdrawn/removed the better for all of us...and it won't come soon enough, no, not one single moment...-what a disgrace to the well-earned and deserved good global reputation of NZ Inc!
*Whether vis-a-vis the 'Three Strikes Law', imminent liberalization of abortion laws, or the Stalinist Electoral Integrity Law' (still being progressed through the House of Parliament)...(italics mine!)
**Referring to Queen Elizabeth the Second, that is, and not some oblique 'throw-off' at our P.M. .
Necessary Postscript/Caveat:
Having said all the foregoing, you'd doubtless imagine it'd be hard if not exceedingly difficult to trump the Honourable Andrew Little's performance the other day...and you'd be right. However, and sorry to have to burst your bubble, we have a contender...and right here in lil ole God's Own to boot.
As if Mr Little's 'performance' - as opposed to the valiant, heroic, ongoing efforts in *South Sudan of another much underrated former Labour Party leader here, the admirable David Shearer - wasn't bad enough (and didn't reflect poorly enough upon good ole NZ Inc) - guess who just had to stick her oar/own two cents worth in? Yes, none other than the Green Party's putative 'human rights spokesperson'...-but more on that another time, and believe you me, it'll make my remarks vis-a-vis Andrew Little look like I was merely engaging with kids' gloves, in pure child's play...and then some!
*I believe, as opposed to Sudan. I'm completely in agreement with the then Green Party co-leader Russel Norman who couldn't credit why Labour - effectively - dropped/dumped Shearer...especially when polls then had the Greens and Labour well and truly significantly trumping even John Key's popular as administration...
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