SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Family Violence is not a Gender Issue: Point of View

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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…]

Abuse of alcohol at Toast Martinborough wine festival

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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.

Video games linked with murders

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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…]

Child-sex offenders in spotlight under National Party’s policies

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Child-sex offenders in spotlight as National focuses on law and order

A SECOND-TERM National government will keep high-risk sex offenders behind bars indefinitely and may double the penalty for child-porn offences.

Prime Minister John Key and Police and Corrections Minister Judith Collins announced the tough law-and-order policies in New Plymouth yesterday.

Offenders who served their sentences but wwere still considered a danger would be held at a secure facility until the Parole Board deemed them safe for release.

For more go to: Article by Andrea Vance. The Dominion Post, Tuesday 8 November 2011

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/policies/5923627/National-focuses-on-law-and-order

Porn man to move in near kindy – Fairfax, NZ

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A MAN convicted of having child porn and sado-masochistic images could move into a house he has bought opposite a Taranaki kindergarten.

The probation service says no post-detention conditions have been imposed by the district court and the man may live where he chooses after December 10.

It is understood that John Francis Hubbard, 66, has bought a house across from the Opunake Communities Kindergarden. He is serving four months’ home detention in New Plymouth for having objectionable images.

Hubbard pleaded guilty and was sentenced in July, after a police raid on his home in August 2010.

Kindergarten chairwoman Claire Hunn said police spoke to teachers on Thursday night about the man. [Read more…]