The headline reads: Save the Planet: Eat a Dog.
No, it’s not an anti Filipino satire about poor rural people in the provinces who eat dogs. It’s actually a post in a New Zealand paper that reports on the “carbon footprint” of Fido, Kitty and other meat eating pets.
Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects […]

read more from this topic.....

The headlines here in the Philippines are full of the usual stuff: corruption, political charges, a celebrity’s wife who was shot, and of course our lovely president, Gloria Arroyo, traveling the world to get more jobs for our Overseas foreign workers.
But one small story on GMA NEWS caught my eye:
About 30 troops from the Hawaii […]

read more from this topic.....

From Churchill’s Parrot blog
In the race of the Trojan horses, we have entered, it would seem, the final stretch. 
Those of us with eyes to see and optical nerves still communicating with the brain - our voices drowned out in the hysteria - have a decision to make: continue languishing in the grandstand, or make some […]

read more from this topic.....

New Zealand’s Trade Minister Tim Groser has called on submissions on a possible free-trade-agreement (FTA) wtih the Republic of Korea. This follows the first ever FTA secured with China by the former Labour-led New Zealand Government.
The incumbent National-led Government said that the submissions are now being called as part of a review of the possibility […]

read more from this topic.....

Japanese whalers have left Australia’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ), and are now heading for the waters of the Ross Dependency, which is under the claim of New Zealand. The Sea Shepherd, an envrionment conservation group, said that the three whaling vessels are now heading eastward.
Sea Shepherd’s Captain, Paul Watson, said, “They are now in the […]

read more from this topic.....

A New Zealand Families Commission report has revealed that New Zealanders often prefer turning to family and friends for help in preference to seeking support from professional counsellors when it comes to their relationships.
The study, titled Reaching Out: Who New Zealanders turn to for relationship support, spoke to 50 New Zealanders at in-depth level and asked them who they spoke to when it came […]

read more from this topic.....

In a brief statement, Qantas Airways has announced that the merger talks with British Airways have ceased.
The discussions held were detailed, but stalled when both sides could not agree over the key terms outlined in the possible merger agreement.
Qantas says, however, that they will remain partners in their joint business ventures in both Australia and […]

read more from this topic.....

The latest six month review of the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act (commonly referred to as the “anti-smacking law”) has shown the amount of police intervention to claims of a ’smack’ has remained minimal. However, lobby group Family First claim that the law is a “spectacular failure”.
The repeal of Section 59 was […]

read more from this topic.....

It is somewhat ironic that analysis of the overseas New Zealand votes has shown that the Green Party’s increase of one seat in Parliament is owed to Labour, due to discrepancies between the New Zealand voters and the overseas New Zealand voters. This is despite the fact that once the special overseas votes were counted […]

read more from this topic.....

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has filed proceedings in the High Court of New Zealand against 13 international airliners for alleged cartel  behaviour for more than seven years. Seven airline staff of a high level in their respective companies also face prosecution.
In a press release the Commerce Commission said, “Airlines throughout the world colluded to raise […]

read more from this topic.....

Microsoft has found two Auckland-based sellers onselling pirated Microsoft products such as Office and Windows Vista, and have launched an international investigation against those accused.
Respective American and Australian auction sites iOffer, OZtion and New Zealand’s biggest and most popular auction website TradeMe are involved in both of the cases where bidders thought they were buying genuine software, only to find it did not work as […]

read more from this topic.....

The recently elected National-led Government has announced that it’s conducting a review of the effectiveness of the “Buy Kiwi Made” ad-campaign championed by the previous Government.
Minister of Economic Development, Gerry Brownlee, said that the campaign will be halted indefinitely after Christmas unless their review shows that it did in fact help New Zealand-made goods attract more […]

read more from this topic.....

On November 8 New Zealanders headed to the polls to determine who would lead the next Government. On the night supplementary counts gave National 59 seats and the Greens had eight seats. Now, with the release of the special votes, those two numbers have changed with National losing one seat to the Green party (58-9 respectively).
The new amount of […]

read more from this topic.....

The repeal of Section 59 from the Crimes Act in New Zealand has only 20% of New Zealanders opposing it. The often dubbed “anti-smacking law” removed the right for adults to use “reasonable force” to discipline their children.
43% of those surveyed by UMR on behalf of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner responded positively to […]

read more from this topic.....

The New Zealand Police have just announced that they will not prosecute New Zealand First’s party secretary for false election returns in 2005 and 2007 because “no offence was committed”. The 2006 return may have also been false, but it is unsure at this stage.
In September leader of the minor party ACT, Rodney Hide, laid a […]

read more from this topic.....

Yeseterday New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and the opponent vying for her job John Key debated each other with questions posed by political journalists and commentators. But this history-making debate had one important difference, it also included questions submitted via YouTube to the two party leaders.
Broadcast on TV ONE, the one and a half […]

read more from this topic.....

New Zealand held nationwide collection sites for consumers to ditch their old computer equipment in a healthy and environmentally friendly way on October 4, 2008. The project dubbed ‘eDay’ approximated 946 tonnes of used technology in the second annual amnesty. An extra day at Hamilton was held the next day.
Most electronic waste is sent to […]

read more from this topic.....

November 8, 2008 has been set as the date New Zealanders will go out and vote in this years General Election. Prime Minister Helen Clark announced the date at press conference yesterday with the date only revealed on the very last sentence of her speech. “The general election will be held on 8th November,” she said.
Jeanette […]

read more from this topic.....

It is crunch time for the New Zealand government’s proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS), with negotiations reportedly in their final stages and the Green Party publicly asking its supporters whether it should support the bill.
The ETS forms the centrepiece of the government’s climate change policy. Under the scheme, the government would issue permits allowing a […]

read more from this topic.....

A One News - Colmar Brunton poll shows New Zealand First leader Winston Peters trailing in the race for Tauranga. The poll shows National Party candidate Simon Bridges well ahead on 48%, Peters on 28%, and Labour Party candidate Anne Pankhurst in third place on 15%.
The race for Tauranga is crucial for New Zealand First […]

read more from this topic.....

Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian religion editor Barney Zwartz has tried to create a new image for Pope Benedict XVI on the eve of his visit to Australia. According to  Mr. Zwartz, Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is a far more gentle and liberal figure than his immediate predecessor and former boss, […]

read more from this topic.....

Unless you are from Hawaii or a Catholic, you probably don’t know about Father Damien, a Belgian priest sent to Hawaii back in the days when Leprosy was considered very infectious, (with the stigma of shame since some considered it an STD) and those with it were quarrantined to a hell hole on the beautiful […]

read more from this topic.....

Today’s LA Times has an article about Air New Zealand planning to use biodiesel for their planes. Biological sources of fuel have gotten a bad reputation, with activists correctly pointing out that some (especially corn based ethanol) results in food shortage and increase in food prices.
But if you ask the farmers, the real reason for […]

read more from this topic.....

The state funded ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corporation) needs to check their website, because under their “Planet Slayer” page for kids one can find a game for kids.
Big deal. Except, oh my!:
Get the dirt on greenhouse without the guilt trips. No lectures. No multinational-bashing (well, maybe a little…). Just fun and games and the answers to […]

read more from this topic.....

The list of species that global warming zealots claim will be wiped out by climate change is long: Antarctic penguins; Arctic polar bears; Australia’s koalas; British dragonflies …   
But in what could be a case of Darwinian evolution in action, the BBC reports that “great tits cope well with warming.” Presumably, great tits won’t do […]

read more from this topic.....

Some 1,500 Chinese Americans protested outside CNN’s offices on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood - a similar demonstration also occurred at the cable news outfit’s Atlanta headquarters – demanding that commentator Jack Cafferty be fired over these comments he made on “The Situation Room” April 9th:
“We continue to import their junk with the lead paint […]

read more from this topic.....

Last week, six planes coming in to land at Sydney airport have had green lasers pointed at their cockpits in what seems to be a coordinated attack, in which three or four different lasers were pointed at airplanes landing at that airport.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the attack was bad enough that they closed […]

read more from this topic.....

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
Saipan Earthquake at 6:07AM Thurs 3-27-08
While sitting here at the computer I began to feel a moderately strong tremor. My fishing rods lean against the wall in my office/den/computer room and they began to sway and dance a bit. There was a rumbling noise. A deep, long period vibratory feeling, more than […]

read more from this topic.....

Christianity…a religious conversion of personal choice!

Contrary to the popular public opinion, Islamic faithful believers are converting to the practice of Christianity in record numbers. This is perhaps the reason for the deeply seated animosity and religious antagonism directed towards the Catholic Church and all of its associated teachings. A principle that underlies all of the […]

read more from this topic.....

The Holy See is watching events unfold in Tibet very quietly and this author is quite sure there will be a statement from the Vatican Diplomatic Service shortly. Tibetans need reassurance that the prayers and hopes of the Catholic people are with the Tibetan people as they struggle with China’s martial crackdown in their mountain […]

read more from this topic.....