Help us get a copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress to prisoners in NZ prisons

By SPCS | Published: December 22, 2011

What better way to fulfill our Society’s charitable aims of “promoting moral and spiritual welfare” among this sector of society, than to supply a high quality and easy-to-read book to each of our 8,800 prisoners: one that promotes spiritual and moral values! Read More »

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Teens Conservative on Sex & Abortion Issues – Poll Results

By SPCS | Published: January 8, 2012

  • Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission headed by Chief Executive Trevor Garrett, has today released the results of a Curia Market Research poll it commisioned into moral issues involving a survey of 600 15-21 year olds nationwide. In is media release, based on an analysis of the poll results, it attacks the views promulgated by three registered charities - Family Planning Association, and the two “gay” lobby groups Rainbow Youth and the NZ Aids Foundation. It also makes another call to the government to effect a law change that gives an unborn child the same human rights as any other human being.

Family First NZ states:

TEENS REJECT ‘SAFE SEX’ EDUCATION

SUPPORT PARENTAL NOTIFICATION AND ‘RIGHT TO LIFE’

A nationwide poll of 600 young people aged 15-21 poll has found that they hold conservative values on sex issues – which are significantly similar to the views of parents.

 SEX EDUCATION

When asked “Do you think sex education in schools should teach values, abstinence and consequences such as pregnancy, or just teach safe sex?” only 19% supported just the ‘safe sex’ message currently being taught in schools, with one in three (34%) wanting ‘values, abstinence, and consequences such as pregnancy’ taught instead, and a further 42% asking for a combination of both – especially amongst older teens. The support for just the ‘safe sex’ message dropped even lower for the older teens.

 “This is a direct rebuke from young people to the ‘use a condom’ and ‘everyone’s doing it’ messages being pushed by groups like Family Planning, AIDS Foundation and Rainbow Youth,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

 “Many parents were rightly horrified last year when details of what was being taught in schools under the guise of ‘sex education’ surfaced. Judging by the results of the current approach – which is a good place to start – sex education has been an utter failure. New Zealand has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the OECD, our STD rates are out of control and the number of teenage girls having abortions continues to rise.”

 “For those youth who are sexually active, they are not being told the truth. Groups like the Family Planning Association and the AIDS Foundation are perpetuating the myth that as long as you use a condom, you can pretty well do what you like in terms of promiscuity, experimentation, and fringe behaviours – with little or no information on the physical or emotional ramifications or prevention of disease.”

In one example, a mixed class of boys and girls were asked by the AIDS Foundation if they had masturbated lately and were given condoms and strawberry-flavoured lubricant. They were also given a leaflet featuring graphic pictures, terms including “cock” and “wank”, and advice on the best condoms. Reports last year highlighted that children as young as 12 are being taught about oral sex and told it’s acceptable to play with a girl’s private parts as long as “she’s okay with it”. In other cases, 14-year-old girls are being taught how to put condoms on plastic penises, and one female teacher imitated the noises she made during orgasm to her class of 15-year-olds. One concerned father took his 12-year-old son out of a sex education class at his all-boy school after he came home upset about what had happened during one of the lessons. It included a question-and-answer session that focused on, “I have learned that my girlfriend has a thing called a clitoris. I really want to play with it. Is that okay?” The answer was: “Yes, if you ask her and she’s okay with it.”

 A poll of parents in 2010 found that three out of four parents of young children want the abstinence message taught in sex education – with 69% of kiwis overall supporting the ‘wait’ message. Read More »

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Christmas Greetings !!! – “Joy to the World” – Aretha Franklin (The Queen of Soul)

By SPCS | Published: December 23, 2011

Check Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccte_N1mO3s

Joy To The World (Lyrics) Read More »

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Latest SPCS Newsletter (Nov 2011) now online

By admin | Published: December 22, 2011

You can download the PDF newsletter here.

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Pornography, Public Morality and Consitutional Rights: PUBLIC DISCOURSE

By SPCS | Published: December 22, 2011

Pornography, Public Morality and Consitutional Rights

An essay by Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and editorial board member of Public Discourse

This essay, published 17 October 2011,  is adapted from remarks he delivered earlier this month at a conference honoring John Finnis at the University of Notre Dame.

Copyright 2011 The Witherspoon Institute – PUBLIC DISCOURSE – Ethics, Law and the Common Good.

Quote:

“….the familiar depiction of the debate over pornography regulation as pitting the “rights of individuals,” on the one side, against some amorphous “majority’s dislike of smut,” on the other, is false to the facts. The public interest in a cultural structure—in which, as Dworkin says, “sexual experience has dignity and beauty”—is the concrete interest of individuals and families who constitute “the public.” The obligations of others to respect their interests, and of governments to respect and protect them, is a matter of justice.”

For fulll essaygo to: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/10/3958

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Reality Check Needed on Shameful Child Abuse says Family First NZ

By SPCS | Published: December 11, 2011

MEDIA RELEASE

In a media release issued  on 10 December 2011, Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, states:

Family First  is rejecting claims by the Children’s Commissioner and others that rising child abuse statistics are ‘good news’ and ‘delightful’, and is repeating its call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into child abuse as a result of continuing ‘tragic’ figures. 

“It is time we stopped ‘marketing’ child abuse statistics and trying to give them a positive spin, under the illusion that we are succeeding. We need a reality check,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

 “The rates of child abuse have been rocketing up for the last decade – even before the flawed anti-smacking law was passed and the Family Violence awareness campaign began. Between 2003 and 2007 alone, notifications more than doubled from 31,000 to 72,000. The latest statistics give no confidence that children are any safer.”

 “To label our atrocious statistics as ‘good news’ and ‘delightful’ is an insult to the victims. Government groups cannot attribute the increase to greater awareness and better practice. The rates have been increasing markedly well before the public awareness campaigns, and the increase in admissions to Starship Hospital alone are proof that the problem is deterioriating.” Read More »

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The SPCS blog – Purpose clearly stated

By SPCS | Published: December 10, 2011

As the Society’s executive has clearly stated on this website, ever since the Society was granted charity status by the Charities Commission on 17 December 2007, ………….

The Society’s Web blog aims to stimulate rational reflection on, and reasoned appraisal of, a wide rage of issues affecting families and society. Since human opinion is always corrigible and meaningful assertions imply conditions under which they may be falsified, the web blog opinion piece articles are written in the belief that truth is ultimately independent of opinion. The opinions and views expressed in such web log articles do not necessarily wholly reflect the Society’s stance. They are simply deemed to be worth publishing for readers to consider, evaluate, respond to, etc. A careful effort is made to ensure that no article is published that promotes or defends any viewpoint that is contrary to, or might undermine or negate, our Society’s objectives.

Copied from www.spcs.org.nz/activities/

The Society’s objectives have been registered with the Registrar of Societies. See www.societies.govt.nz (Inc. Soc. No. 217833. Incorporated 26/09/07) or viewed at www.spcs.org.nz/objectives/

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Changes to Search and Surveillance Bill sought by Parker

By SPCS | Published: December 8, 2011

The Dominion Post reports today that Labour shadow attorney-general, David Parker wants National to “curb” Serious Fraud Office powers relating to production and examination orders laid down in the Search and Surveillance Bill. He has written to retiring justice minister Simon Power arguing that the media should be exempted to protect sources and the orders should come from judges rather than by SFO notice. Mr Power responded that exempting the media would give it greater protection than other sectors of society, which was difficult to justify. Read More »

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SFO charges five in South Canterbury Finance probe

By SPCS | Published: December 7, 2011

The total fraud alleged in the South Canterbury Finance (SCF) case is $1.7 billion, the same amount as the taxpayer bailout of the company.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed today it has laid 21 charges in the Timaru District Court against five people involved in the company’s affairs.

It wouldn’t name the individuals involved until the charges are heard before the court and any issues regarding suppression have been fully dealt with.

SFO boss Adam Feeley confirmed the total estimated value of the allegedly fraudulent transactions was about $1.7 billion, which includes an esimated $1.59 billion from entering the Crown Retail Deposits Guarantee Scheme.

South Canterbury collapsed in August 2010, eventually triggering a $1.7 billion taxpayer payout.

“The collapse of SCF was one the most significant of all the failed finance companies. The value of the fraud alleged to have been committed exceeds anything in the history of white-collar crime in New Zealand, and the time we have taken to complete this matter is a reflection of that scale,” Feeley said.

 The SFO spent 14 months investigating the company and the charges it has laid cover a variety of offences, including theft by a person in a special relationship; obtaining by deception; false statements by the promoter of a company; and false accounting.  The offences carry maximum penalties of between seven and ten years imprisonment.

“It is not appropriate at this point to comment on details of the allegations, but the investigation itself has been one of the most resource-intensive and time-consuming in recent history,” Feeley said.

For more see: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6101880/SFO-charges-five-in-South-Canterbury-Finance-probe  Story by Fiona Rotherham. Published 7 December 2011

Read More »

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Family First NZ welcomes removal of brothel near PM’s home

By SPCS | Published: December 7, 2011

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, issued the following media release today:

Residents’ Action Gets Remuera Brothel Booted Out

Family First NZ is welcoming news that the residents in Remuera’s Ascot Ave near the Prime Minister’s residence have succeeded in getting rid of a residential brothel through community pressure. 

“It is disappointing that politicians have foisted a flawed prostitution law on families with the result of brothels setting up right next door to family homes – yet it has to take the determination and persistence of families to try and remedy this unacceptable situation,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. 

“We have huge sympathy for the families in this neighbourhood – but they are not the first, and won’t be the last to be harmed until the politicians admit they made a mistake.” Read More »

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Alcohol Abuse: Its harmful nature and consequences

By SPCS | Published: December 7, 2011

ALCOHOL ABUSE is saddling the New Zealand health system with “entirely avoidable costs” and causing despair among staff who pick up the pieces, Wellington health leaders say.

In an open letter to The Dominion Post, 14 of the 18 members of Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley district health boards have called for “a community-wide conversation” about alcohol, saying the health system can only do so much on its own.

The board members – who are voted in by the public or appointed by the Government – have added their voices to those of staff at both organisations, who have relentlessly decried the end effects of alcohol abuse.

Alcohol, as well as contributing to patients showing up at emergency departments, is responsible for a significant proportion of cancers, organ diseases and other long-term illnesses that the health system treats.

“Community agencies battle with other costs – broken relationships, poor work records, car crashes, domestic violence, money problems and heartbreaking wasted potential” said emergency department doctor Linda Head.

The group penned the open letter in support of the Cannons Creek community in Porirua which objected to the relicensing of local store Thirsty Liquor, near Russell School, and the manager’s certificate. The SPCS supports those who raised public awareness of the issue by engaging in a peaceful street march and wrote letters to the papers expressing their views.

Capital & Coast board member Judith Aitken said that “the regulatory regime that’s in place [to contol alcohol licensing, advertising etc] and is being considered by the Government, is completely inadequate”.

The Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc., a registered charity with the Charities Commission (CC20268), has as one of its objects for which it is established

“To focus attention on the harmful nature and consequences of [among other things] the ABUSE OF ALCOHOL AND DRUGS” (taken from section 2d of its Constitution)

It supports community groups speaking out about matters relevant to the moral and spiritual welfare of society, including “the harmful nature and consequences of sexual promiscuity, pornography, violence, fraud, dishonesty in business, exploitation … and other forms of moral corruption.” (S. 2d)

On the positive side, the Society was also established “To foster public awareness on the benefits to social, economic and moral welfare of the maintenance and promotion of good community standards, including supporting enforcement agencies to uphold such standards as set out in law and to encourage condstructive debate and discussion in this area.”

For this reason, individual members have made submissions over the years to parliamentary select committees and other forums such as the Law Commission – looking at proposed changes to our alcohol laws. The Society agrees with Capital & Coast Board member Judith Aitken that our current regulatory laws on alcohol are woefully inadequate.  Enforcement agencies need to be more proactive in enforcing the law and our courts need to deliver sentences that are commensurate with the offences/crimes committed – i.e. sentencing in line with the intention of the law – they MUST act ass a real deterrent to law breaking.

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has been calling for some years for a raising of  the drinking age. It made a submission to the Law Commission’s Inquiry calling for the purchase age to be lifted to 20. This call, supported by many community groups, and one that was included in the Law Commission’s original recommendationds, has been rejected by parliament.

 

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Hamilton City Council’s near miss as sexpo firm folds

By SPCS | Published: November 30, 2011
The company wanting to host a sex expo at Claudelands went into liquidation the same day it asked the Hamilton City Council to agree to the show.

Councillor Dave Macpherson said the council had had a lucky escape despite not being aware of the financial situation when it voted 9-1 last week against hosting the Erotica Lifestyle Expo.

Eden Digital Ltd, which held the licence for Erotica Lifestyles Expo, was put into liquidation on November 22 and, according to the liquidator’s report, struggled to attract large numbers to the event and had suffered cashflow problems.

Auckland-based liquidator Grant Reynolds said sole shareholder CVC Group director John Carr appointed him to liquidate the company after realising it had no way to repay its debts.

CVC Group removed the licence for Erotica from Eden Digital “some months back” and as a result the company had lost its revenue-earning ability.

This month CVC set up Esprit Events, which is the new licence-holder for Erotica.

Eden Digital went into liquidation owing $434,000 [most of it to IRD] and Mr Reynolds said it was unlikely any of the unsecured creditors would be repaid in full.

ASB Showgrounds in Auckland is among the unsecured creditors. [It had served as a venue for Erotica Lifestyles Expo for some years, but recently its management ended its contract with the Expo organisers, no doubt due to unpaid bills].

Source http://www.spcs.org.nz/wp-admin/post-new.php

Story by Nikki Preston. Published Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Continues ……

Read More »

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BSA Criticised For Refusing Name Suppression on Complaint

By SPCS | Published: November 28, 2011

In a media release issued today, Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has criticised the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) for refusing name suppression sought by a complainant.

It says that potential complainants may not speak up and complain about breaches of broadcasting standards as a result of the BSA refusing to grant name suppression to complainants.

 “It takes a lot of courage for complainants to speak up about broadcasting breaches and it serves no purpose for their names to be broadcast or printed in the media. Families will be less inclined to speak up if they know they will have their name splashed across the media, and especially where they are complaining about what they consider a moral issue which they feel strongly about,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. Read More »

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NZ First and Conservatives win on ValueYourVote Election 2011

By SPCS | Published: November 27, 2011

The NZ First Party led by the Hon. Winston Peters, which romped back into parliament with eight MPS and gained 7% of the vote on election night, scored highly ( second highest at 80%), along with the Conservative Party (90% top “value”) , in a “VALUEYOURVOTE” election guide published by Family First NZ . See www.valueyourvote.org.nz (“One way or another, the politicians you elect will influence your family … So before you vote for them, wouldn’t you like to know what they stand for?”)

Tens of thousands of the guides were distributed throughout the country by Family First NZ, a charity registered with the Charities Commission; assessing the political parties based on their responses and/or lack of responses to questions on their respective policies on moral and conscience issues considered by the charity to be highly important to prospective voters. Such issues included:

1. Define marriage as one man and one woman

2. Policies promoting marriage

3. Unborn child has right to life

4. Informed consent for women seeking abortion 

5. Parental notification for teen pregnancies

6. Abstinence and parental-based sex education

7. Legalisation of surrogacy

8. Same sex adoption by non-biological adults

9. Decriminalisation of euthanasia

10 G-rated billboards

11. Decriminalise non-abusive smacking

12 Raise drinking and purchase age to 20

The pamplete stated: “The leaders of the Labour, National and Maori Parties refused to complete the questionnaires.” Points were awarded to responses (Yes/No) which were in line with Family First NZ position. Where possible the charity analysed these three partys’  voting record and public statements on these issues, but was only able to provide guidance on the policies relating to a small small number of the 30 questions/issues raised.

NZ First NZ and the Conservative Party (the latter received 2.8% of the vote, fifth in ranking ahead of their closest rival the Maori Party, which only scored 1.3%) were real ‘winners’ on election night. ‘Winners’ in the sense of wooing a significant block of voters (almost 10%), based on a firm, unequivocal policy stance taken on 30 values issues – with answers in harmomy with Family First NZ position – while leaders of the National, Labour and Maori parties who refused to respond ‘failed’ in the “value” assessment. The Greens scored poorly in the Family First NZ guide at 23% – well below Act at 43% and United Future at 37%.

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Family Violence is not a Gender Issue: Point of View

By SPCS | Published: November 27, 2011

How welcome it was to read in the NZ Herald of Wednesday 23rd November 2011 an article by Family First’s Bob McCoskrie headed “Why I won’t be wearing the White Ribbon”. [Family First NZ is a registered charity with the Charities Commission].

It is of course a  practice each 25th November marked by some men to show that they do not condone “men’s violence against women”, and apparently led by the Families Commission. However McCoskrie maintains that “this is a family violence issue, not a gender issue.” 

I couldn’t agree more, and sent off to McCoskrie the following:-

 “Congratulations on your superb article in today’s (Nov. 23rd) NZ Herald. It is a breath of fresh air after over thirty-odd years of rabid feminist propaganda. 

 I believe this has done  nothing for the domestic violence problem and gravely defamed good family men in the process. ”

For years I have endeavoured to show that feminist, anti-family women’s refuges – recipients of monstrous amounts of public money – should not be presented as the only places for such troubled women to go to for help; that there are pro-family, church-based ones also, and that women in such need should also have this choice open to them.” 

Talk about the hackneyed socialist cry “a woman’s right to choose”! In this respect, sheer hypocrisy more like! “ 

The McCoskrie article was followed next day in the Herald by a response from Families Commissioner Carl Davidson, who opined that the former “is likely to be a lone voice” with his decision not to wear such a ribbon. Oh yes? Thankfully not all have been taken in by the ongoing ideologically driven hoopla which has surrounded the domestic violence issue for the past thirty-odd years.  Read More »

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Porn research awarded $790,000 by Marsden Fund

By SPCS | Published: November 25, 2011

Auckland researchers have been awarded almost $800,000 to study pornography. The $790,000 study by Auckland University staff will look at how it affects viewers and its impact on society. The research will include studies on young men and women, an art exhibition, an interactive website and a public symposium. The project is one of 88 nationwide to receive a slice of $53.8 million handed out in Marsden Fund Grants last month. Marsden Fund Council chairman Professor Peter Hunter said a scientific study of the impact of pornography on vulnerable members of society “in the age of easy availability” was extremely important.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/12004926/porn-study-grant-worth-790-000/

Comment: One of the objects for which the Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc., (“SPCS”) was established was to focus public attention on the harmful nature of pornography. For the purposes of section 3 of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 (“the Act”), “a publication is objectionable if it descibes, depicts, expresses, or otherwise deals with matters of sex, horror, crime, cruelty, or violence in such a manner that the availabliity of the publication is likely to be injurious to the public good.”

The Act recognises that children and young persons, in particular, are vulnerable to the harmful effects of exposure to pornography – hence age restrictions are imposed by the censors on poronographic publications and others are banned. The “extent and degree to which, and the manner in which the publication depicts…  sexual conduct of a degrading or dehumanising or demeaning sexual conduct” is one criterion used to determine whether or not it is to be classified objectionable.

Family First NZ, a charity registered with the Charities Commission, has also been at the forefront of highlighting the offensive nature of hardcore pornograhy and documenting how it is injurious to the public good.

Denise Richie, director of Stop the Demand Foundation, another charity registered with the Charities Commission, put it this way, in her submission to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) , as part of  her complaint against a “mobile billboard” displayed prominently in a public place – promoting the Erotica Lifestyles Expo:

“The image is designed to simulate a woman with her fingers in her [******] It is standard Steve Crow fare, with its focus on dehumanising women and reducing them to their genitalia”. (ASA decision dated 14/09/2010 concerning complaint 10/448).

(Eden Digital Ltd, directed up until recently by John Malcolm Carr, which owned the license for Erotica Lifestyles Expo, was put into liquidation on 22 November 2011).

The Society (SPCS), as part of its objects, seeks “to support freedom of expression which does not injure the public good by degrading, dehumanising or demeaning individuals or classes of people.” Hardcore pornography has the effect degrading, dehumanising and demeaning women. Its negative impact on viewers of such material has been well-documented in the literature.

 

 

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Erotica Lifestyle Expo – “potential moral impact on the community”

By SPCS | Published: November 23, 2011

There will be no sex expo in Hamilton under the current council’s watch.

All but one Hamilton City councillor at yesterday’s strategy and policy meeting voted against hosting the R18 event at the new Claudelands Event Centre in March, amid accusations of trying to win votes after the V8 debacle cost the city almost $40 million.

Councillor Ewan Wilson was the lone supporter of pornographer Steve Crow’s Erotica Lifestyles Expo show being held at the council-owned centre.

Staff decided to let councillors make the final decision because of the sex expo’s potential moral impact on the community. Councillors voted nine against and one for the event.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10768050

Read More »

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Eden Digital Ltd, former holder of Erotica Lifestyles Expo license: – in liquidation

By SPCS | Published: November 23, 2011

Eden Digital Ltd, a company that sold and distributed hardcore pornography in New Zealand for over three years and until recently was directed by US investor John Malcolm Carr, was placed into liquidation yesterday, 22 November 2011.

The majority of its $434,000 debt is owed to the NZ Inland Revenue Department and Trade creditors are owed $119,000 according to the Liquidator’s first report published today on the Companies Office website (www.companies.govt.nz). The report records the reasons provided by the director Mr Carr for Eden Digital being put into into liquidation and they include:

(1) the company was in default with its financiers and demand was made on the company due to that default, (2) the company has been supported financially by related entities [directed by John M Carr] and recently their financial support was withdrawn (3) the business was recently sold and such proceeds were applied to the security holder(s) [listed below], (4) with no remaining assets the company was unable to trade and as a result its only shareholder [CVC Group Ltd, directed by John M Carr] had no option but to place the company into receivership, (5) Eden Digital Ltd that held the licence for Erotica Lifestyles Expo, cancelled the license which meant that this aspect of its business could not continue. Read More »

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Erotica Lifestyles Expo rejected as unsuitable for Hamilton city

By SPCS | Published: November 23, 2011

The Hamilton City Council has turned down an approach by the organisers of the Erotica Lifestyles Expo to hold the event at Claudelands next March. [The expo was to be run by Esprit Events Ltd, directed by John Malcolm Carr and owned by CVC Group Ltd - also owned by Mr John M Carr] .

The Strategy and Policy Committee yesterday rejected the proposal, viewing the event to be held at the Council-run Claudelands events venue as unsuitable for the city. [The expo promotes hardcore pornography].

The Committee agreed that a report into the need for a policy on appropriate events to be held at Council premises, including Claudelands, and in public places was required. This report will return to the Committee early next year.

Committee chair Maria Westphal said: “We had a full discussion around the proposal to host this event, but our view was that it was not appropriate to hold it at Council’s Claudelands venue.

‘The view of most councillors was that the adult lifestyles aspect of the Expo, and the likely promotion of it with the ‘Boobs on Bikes’ parade was not a good fit with the family friendly values of our city.”

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/11941317/thumbs-down-for-erotica-lifestyles-expo/

Note: Esprit Events Ltd (Co. No. 3648912) was incorporated on 10 November 2011.  Its spokesperson in media reports on the expo has been David Bruce Crow. Its registered office is at 2b/18 Triton Drive, Albany, NSC 0632.

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Abuse of alcohol at Toast Martinborough wine festival

By SPCS | Published: November 22, 2011

GROSSLY intoxicated young women, some incontinent and smeared in their own blood, are a symptom of  Toast Martinborough wine festival’s “feral” drinking culture, police warn.

“If their mothers could see them, they’d shut the festival down tomorrow,” the officer in charge of the event, Sergeant Kevin Basher, said.

Martinborough residents have joined him in warning that the once-civilised wine lovers’ event is now a mass booze-up that risks spilling into violence.

Mr Basher, who called Sunday’s event the worst in seven years, said yesterday that steel container “drunk tanks” might have to be used in future and that officers might need to carry batons to counter unruly drunks….

Festival organisers met police yesterday after reports of at least a dozen brawls. One man was admitted to hospital after being knocked unconscious.

A Martinborough local said The Square was full of drunks on Sunday night. “The atmosphere was getting quite nasty. It’s not the Toast it used to be.”

Police say some wineries appear to have breached liquor licencing laws by continuing to serve people who are clearly intoxicated. One vineyard encouraged festival-goers to scull full glases of wine.

“We’re still seeing people who are grossly intoxicated, especially young women falling all over the place in various states of disrepair [defecating] everywhere and covered in blood,” Mr Basher said.

A dompost.co.nz poll yesterday asked if drunken behaviour at Toast Martinborough was out of control.

Of more than 900 respondents, 55.3 per cent agreed, saying it was not pleasant when so many people were drunk. Another 36.9 per cent said it was just the actions of a few and everyone else had a great time. Nearly 8 per cent were undecided. The survey concluded that the event was “Out of Control”

Toast Martinborough chairman Richard Riddiford, who started the event 20 years ago, played down the alcohol problems. “We’re talking about a very, very, small percentage of [the 11,500] festival-goers.

[Clearly neither the police who attended nor 55.3% of the 900 responddents to the Dompost survey, attempted to "play down the alcohol problems", as Mr Riddiford did].

Source: “Police warn of ‘feral’ festival, The Dominion Post, Tuesday, November 22, 2011, p. 1.

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Erotica Expo unlikely for Claudelands Arena – Hamilton

By SPCS | Published: November 21, 2011

Jumpy city councillors appear unlikely to back a plan to bring a sex expo to Hamilton’s Claudelands Arena in March.

That’s despite the facility facing a loss of up to $1.7 million in its first year, and the recent formation of a working group to pare down its budgets and muster custom.

Expo promoters Esprit Events’ spokesman David Crow said there were misconceptions about the expo, which featured “everything from luxury cars through spa pools, candy, liquor, tattooists [and] holidays to adult products. Of course we also provide a range of entertainment, including adult, for both genders,” he said. [Espirit Events Ltd was incorporated on 10 November 2011 and is directed by John Malcolm Carr, business partner of Steve Crow, David Crow's brother. It is owned by CVC Group Ltd which is also directed by John M Carr].

He [David Crow] expected up to 10,000 visitors at the R18 show and said the exhibition would also draw on local accommodation providers and suppliers during the course of a likely three day event.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/5996228/Erotica-expo-unlikely-for-Claudelands Read More »

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Abortion increases mental health risk

By SPCS | Published: November 20, 2011

New research published in a prestigious medical journal has found that abortion increases the risk of serious mental ill-health by 81%.

The meta-analysis by Dr Priscilla Coleman, professor of human development and family studies at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, was published in the September 2011 edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr Coleman analysed 22 peer-reviwed studies published between 1995 and 2009. They covered 877,181 women, of whom 183,831 had undergone an abortion. Read More »

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Steve Jobs Changed the World: His Adoption a Gift to the World

By SPCS | Published: November 20, 2011

STEVE JOBS was a creative genius who changed the world with his visionary work. He was the founder of the revolutionary [US technology] company Apple that has changed the way we communicate forever. He must rank among the greatest industrial innovators the world has seen. His contribution to society is immense.

Born in 1955, his destiny and his ability to affect people globally, may never have happened. Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock and adopted into a loving home by Clara and Paul Jobs.

… as we [continue to mourn the passing] of Steve Jobs we should remember with gratitude the heroic birth mother who in the face of possible pressure to terminate Steve’s life chose life. We should reflect with gratitude on his adoptive parents who provided Steve with a loving home and nurtured his outstanding talents.

His life is a reminder of the value of every human being made in the image and likeness of our Creator, a unique and unrepeatable miracle of His loving creation sent into this world with a special plan to fulfil. Read More »

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Pro-life testimony – celebrating Christian tradition

By SPCS | Published: November 20, 2011

World renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who has sold more than 70 million albumns worldwide, in an interview with Bryony Gordon of the Telegraph Group, told her that religion has “first place in my life. I do not think anyone can ever do anything without the help and will of God”.

Speaking in pidgin English,via a translator, he stated: “I am a very passionate man,” and “I do haf a verry beeg reeespect for sex.”

Gordon writes:

He is passionately pro-life, and last year filmed a video expressing his views which, when posted on the web, was hailed by anti-abortion campaigners as “one of the most beautiful, authentic things ever seen”.

In it, Bocelli sits at a piano and tells the camera that he wants to recount a “little story” about a young pregnant woman who is admitted to hospital with a misdiagnosed case of appendicitis. After tests, “the doctors advised her to abort the child. They told her that would be the best solution because the child would doubtless be born with some kind of disability. But the courageous young wife decided not to terminate the pregnancy, and the child was born. The woman was my mother, I was the child”. Read More »

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NZ resident couples overwhelmingly prefer marriage to civil union

By SPCS | Published: November 19, 2011

There were 20,900 marriages in New Zealand last year, compared to 338 civil unions.

According to Statistics New Zealand, 273 Kiwi couples legalised their relationship in a civil union, of which 73 per cent [199] were same-sex. A further 65 civil unions were registeted to overseas residents.

The 199 same-sex civil unions entered into by Kiwi couples resident in New Zealand in 2010 constitutes 0.9% of the total unions (marriages + civil unions) entered into by NZ resident Kiwi couples in 2010.

Since the Civil Union Act came into force six years ago, and taking account of the growth in New Zealand population each year, the number of civil unions has progressively dropped each year from a high of 430 in 2006.

At the current rate of decline of civil unions entered into each year and the rate of dissolution of such relations, one wonders how long this ‘institution’ will go the way of the dinosaurs – a mysterious extinction that will catch us all by surprise.

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Lesbian mums help son become ‘girl’

By SPCS | Published: November 19, 2011

Tommy Lobel is an 11 year old boy who wants to be a girl – and his adoptive lesbian parents are giving him hormones to help.

The “two mums” Pauline Moreno and Debra Lobel live in California. They adopted Tommy at age 2, and say he declared he was a girl when he was 3. He now calls himself “Tammy”. His adoptive mums are giving him hormones to delay puberty so he has more time to think about changing his gender (Herald Sun, 18/10/11).

However critics say 11-year-olds are not old enough to make life-altering decisions about gender, and parents should not encourage them. “This is child abuse. It’s like performing liposuction on an anorexic child,” said Dr Paul McHugh, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.

“It is a disorder of the mind, not a disorder of the body. Dealing with it in this way is not dealing with the problem that truly exists. We shouldn’t be mucking around with nature. We can’t assume what the outcome will be.”

Dr Sotirios Sarantakos of Charles Stuart University studied children brought up in same-sex couple families, comparing them with children raised by two natural unmarried parents. The parents were carefully matched for education and socio-economic status. [see ref. 1.]

Dr Sarantakos found that children raised by their natural married parents did better than the others on almost every measure. Children raised by same-sex couples generally did worse.

Teachers noted that sexual identity was a problem area for some children raised in same-sex couple families. They were more effeminate and “more confused about their gender” than other children. Read More »

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Video games linked with murders

By SPCS | Published: November 19, 2011

A UK sailor has been jailed for 25 years after a shooting spree inspired by a violent video game.

Able Seaman Ryan Donovan had been obsessed with the video game Grand Theft Auto – linked with murders in the US. After being disciplined for disobedience, Donovan told shipmates he was planning a killing frenzy based on the game. He later shot dead an officer and seriously wounded three others (The Guardian, 19/9/11).

Not long afterwards, UK and Swedish researchers identified evidence of “Game Transfer Phenomena”, where some gamers integrate video experiences into their real lives (Daily Mail, 21/9/11). The study involved 42 in-depth interviews with participants ages 15 to 21, all of whom were frequent video gamers.

Almost all had experienced some type of involuntary thoughts in relation to video games, and half sought to use something from a video game to resolve a real-life issue. Read More »

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Hamilton Councillors Should Reject Sex Expo – says Family First NZ

By SPCS | Published: November 18, 2011

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has issued a media release today, calling on Hamilton Councillors to refuse an application t0 stage a Sex Expo, promoting hardcore pornography, in council-owned buildings.

Family First NZ Media Release 18 November:

Hamilton Councillors Should Reject Sex Expo

Family First NZ is calling on Hamilton Councillors to reject the application for the Erotica Expo to be held in the council-owned Claudelands Arena.

 “Council buildings should only be available for family-friendly events which are beneficial to the community. The Erotica Expo is simply an attempt to normalise the hard core pornography industry,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

 “Pornography has a damaging effect on intimacy, love, and respect and at its worst, leads to sex role stereotyping, viewing persons as sexual objects, and family breakdown.”

 Research at Australia’s La Trobe University recently concluded “This is not about couples going to the porn store to spice up their sex lives. Men in growing numbers are using porn in ways that are secret, shameful and damaging. It is having a damaging impact on intimacy and sexuality.”

Research has also shown that children who are exposed to pornography develop skewed ideas about sex and sexuality, which lead to negative stereotypes of women, sexual activity at a young age, and increased aggression in boys.

A meta-analysis of research by the National Foundation for Family Research and Education (NFFRE) at the University of Calgary found that viewing pornography leads to perceptions of sexual dominance, sex role stereotyping, viewing persons as sexual objects, sexual aggressiveness, and sexually hostility and violent behaviours.

“We are asking the Hamilton City Council to exercise moral leadership and act in the best interests of families by rejecting this application. The Council should not be associated in any way with the promotion of the pornography industry which harms our families,” says Mr McCoskrie

ENDS

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Disestablishment of Charities Commission – Update

By SPCS | Published: November 17, 2011

“Cabinet recently decided to transfer the Charities Commission’s functions to the Department of Internal Affairs. It is expected that this transfer will take place from 1 July 2012, subject to legislation [The Crown Entities Reform Bill] being passed.”

This statement appeared in a special “note” attached to a Charities Commission job vacancy advertisment for “Manager, Monitoring and Investigations Team” – first published in the Dominion Post on Wednesday 16th November. (applications close midday Monday 28 November 2011).

There has been an open call for public submissions to the Government Administration Select Committee which is considering The Crown Entities Reform Bill – a call made prior to the dissolution of parliament on 20 October 2011. If enancted into law, it will disestablish the Charities Commission and the registration and deregistration of charities will be carried out by a new independent decision-making board of three people. (The Commission was established under The Charities Act 2005).

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Art shock ‘kills’ PM [John Key] in alley – Sunday Star Times

By SPCS | Published: November 13, 2011

ARTIST SAM Mahon has painted a picture of John Key as a corpse and made it part of an interactive game on his website called, “Who killed John Key?”

Mahon, who calls himself a socialist, says he hopes the image “will simply make people curious”. He wants to “put a bunch of ‘Key crtimes’ on to one ring,” he told the Sunday Star Times.

“The painting shows Key’s body slumped against a wall in an alley with a rifled wallet beside him. A half-empty wine bottle, a rat and a half-eaten apple are among the detritus nearby.

Viewers are invited to discover Key’s “killer” by viewing 24 video clues embedded on the picture, most of which are interviews with Key taken from the web. People who guess the killer will be eligible for prizes including a Mahon cast bronze of a dying dove (
“a metaphor for dying hopes”).

Asked if he was worried that people would find the image offensive, Mahon said: “All art is expression and metaphor and the job artists have is to make people feel uncomfortable. Now once you’ve made people uncomfortable you’ve got their attention. And once you’ve got their attention you can begin to change their mind.”

The image will be put on Mahon’s website tomorrow and the names of those who guessed the killer will be posted on election day, Novemberr 26.

Story by Anthony Hubbard (abridged) Sunday Star Times. Page 1, November 13, 2011

Comment: One of the objects of the SPCS is:

“To support responsible freedom of expression which does not injure the public good be degrading, dehumanising or demeaning individuals or classes of people.” (S. 2[f] of SPCS Constitution).

The Society contends that the vast majority of New Zealanders would consider Sam Mahon’s image of our Prime Minister John Key and its use in an “interact game” on his website, as outlined above, highly offensive. It deliberately seeks to degrade, dehumanise and demean John Key over the next few weeks leading up to the elections.

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