I had a taste of?

Yeah, not totally surprised to learn that Pete George isn't familiar with Swift.

the upside of that exchange being the sustained absence of that guy from the DimPost ever since

Meanwhile, here in the US there's been a huge uproar from the left about women not getting free contraception?

Some of you may be interested in this excerpt from an?

That?

The?

Yeah, Brian Edwards is another. Seems that some people just get tired of trying to understand the problems and come up with the solutions as they age so they revert to folklore?

The Nats? recent policy initiatives and press releases ??

The point here in NZ is not about free contraception, it is about discrimination. By all means give it away but for everyone and not just Solo Mothers of a certain?

I cheered that Hodgson cartoon. When you think of the changes ahead for disabled people and beneficiaries in the welfare 'reforms' it is quite appropriate to reflect back to another era?

That's excellent Ian and just shows same shit different day for the Govt.

It'd be nice if the Crown stopped using child support payments to offset the DPB, actually. Pass it all through, and use it to *gasp* support the child(ren) for whom it's being paid. I suspect?

Possibly, but also because until more money is being paid in child support than is going to the custodial parent in benefits the state keeps every cent. I imagine it?

It already exists, and now they are going up as well. Nactional announced the community services card which low income/ benefits have for prescriptions is increasing from $3 to $5 an item which hits these people in the pocket.
Both National and Act?

Anyway, it involved a young person with Downs Syndrome who got?

...actually increasing the cost of contraception for people using condoms or the contraceptive pill.

I'd say Paula Bennett and her cohorts are driven a whole lot more by a barefoot-and-pregnant worldview – or should that be Goodsex/Sexcrime – than anything remotely to do with actual Fascism with a capital?

While I heartily support free access to contraception?

that bit sealed the deal for me.

At least 30 years ago – cue Rik:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlk9PsMESEo

Would a trip to Auschwitz give them any?

Can't scare the advertisers and investors, can we? The Prosperity Gospel is the new political correctness.

Reductio ad absurdum. Cartoon hyperbole is one thing, but offering the sector of society whose greater statistical propensity to bear children outside of a stable relationship or become infected with STDs freer access to contraception is simply pragmatic social?

Deborah's links roundup of local writings about this might help us to work out why this particular policy has very little?

Citation bloody required. Also, if that's your problem, then offering long term contraceptives that don't protect against STDs to existing beneficiaries is not the?

I?m all for a positive contraceptives policy. But for it to work, the stigma needs to be taken out of it ? as I?ve said before, who?ll want to go to a family planning clinic if they?re going to get labelled?

I think you go too far, Red. I don't think we're in danger of slipping into a fascist state anytime soon.

who?ll want to go to a family planning clinic if?

I don?t disagree that this policy does pander to the intolerant Laws-listener type demographic but that doesn?t necessarily mean it?s a bad idea, unlike, say,?

Or as some of us might call it, ?poverty, disability, trauma, desertion, lack of education or opportunity?
?Welfare dependency? sounds, and is, a whole lot more complicated if you break it down into its component parts.

And poverty [[http://www.3news.co.nz/Barely-surviving-on-minimum-wage/tabid/367/articleID/255177/Default.aspx|isn?t restricted to?

The fact that you've identified this as a problem and described it this way is not apolitical. Another way to describe the problem is that the levels at which state support were set in the 90s are?

Okay, then, let's say for a moment we buy into your premise that poor people (but only the poor on benefits) breed too much. Which I don't. Why would a pragmatic policy increase the cost of the most commonly-used forms of contraception??

My thoughts exactly. Both liberals and conservatives in the deep dark past have been guilty of eugenics policy in the?

Also, why would a serious policy be funded at $1m over four years?

When you consider that, it looks more like a dog-whistle than a policy.

"Free" contraception: disingenuous, or just plain nasty?

Actually, no – Red. If you want to draw that analogy, let's go there and?

What does this phrase even mean?

(I have a feeling the definition is going to cause my teeth to grind uncomfortably, but I have to ask anyway.)

Yeah, it seems pretty obvious they don't actually want people to take it up. What astonished me was when Key said, basically, "It'll only be offered to beneficiaries who ask for it." That's not legal. If you?

Yes I agree, therefore dog-whistle or no, any move to make contraception more readily available and socially acceptable is a positive one as?

Ah, I see: "Groups of people, notably social classes, act to reproduce the existing social structure to preserve their advantage." Like well-off people supporting governments that cut taxes and reduce social assistance programmes.

A good example, yes.

Are you referring to the Virgin Mary? Coz that's not really science, you know...

Perceived advantage as in relative to your social context. For instance the younger brother of a gang member may well seek to emulate his sibling by joining a gang because he believes this will be to his advantage. In doing?

But it is a fact that right up to 1939 (or 1942 in the US) the "respectable" right was?

Context is everything, but it's an astonishing film. Shame about the message...

Strongly recommend Hilary's essay. The revelations about the Plunket Society's underpinnings were eye-opening for me.

but seeing it is Friday....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpGdG27K9o

Yeah. You can never quite think about Plunket in the same way when you become aware of that stuff.

However, going back to the era of Alister Taylor, Earwig and the Cock collective (my ex brother in law is Lyn Brooke White, brother of Chris, and he is still a wonderful storyteller) – they?

I feel a bit daft that I didn?t say it was by you when I linked to it :-) Was too engaged with the content?

It?s quite terrifying. Quote:

There are many cases?

Ooh. We only need tick a box to reformat any post Capture-style, so if you wanted to do some curating ...

Robertson, S. (1989).?

Russell:
. . . so if you wanted to do some curating ...
+1

Or like me, doing graphic design-based satire.

...and pretty cocky for a public servant.

Dem's fighting words. If there was any doubt about how ineffectual the (student) protest movement is in New Zealand....their adversary is now egging them on...

?Make it so, Number 1.?

PA-rody! We have takeoff! Welcome to the scorn fields?

Scorny pun, Ian! Makes me think of Mel Gibson getting hysterical.

Love love love the idea though! As long as it's PA-rody and not PAS-tiche ;-)

Polly want a cracker.....

This still drives our Immigration Service's approach that prospective disabled migrants are a 'burden on the health system'. IHC's latest newsletter notes recent cases (scroll down,?

And for a man like Lhaws who has an opinion on everything, especially "feral underclasses" and al-Qaedans, he's been strangely silent?

As long as it's PA-rody and not PAS-tiche

Ritzy – exclusive, appeal dwindles and...gone.

Once as a bored teen I was perusing my Gran's bookshelf when I saw an ageing tome on "Social Hygiene". I flicked through it until I was enlightened, then quickly put it back. Many stupid ideas seem to need go?

Didn't know NZ had tunnels – I guess they aren't as extensive or secretive as the London ones.

Key: This is more private. Besides, I rather like it. The dark . . . the silence. Helen told me these caverns extend for miles but I?ve never taken the?

The London tunnels sound?

I very much like the pic above, author currently unknown.
Original dipsticks abroad source material here.

What's with those pants?

Ahh, of course! He'll certainly be needing them.

Base indeed. Nice to see them poking fun at the people of Christchurch (NOT!) but I suppose it explains the brown trousers, he's full of it eh?.

Or for that matter, Lhaws himself.

and to this

His official web site has also been in hiatus, but still, watch this space.

A report on opposition to a proposed school for troubled youth, meant?

That cartoon did appear in the Nelson Mail?

– Court ordered baby ban backlash