Paul Long's Ramblings

From:  http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/08/6065 Public Discourse: Ethics, Law and the Common Good http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com view article in original form   Growing Up With Two Moms: The Untold Children’s View by  Robert Oscar Lopez August 6, 2012 The children of same-sex couples have a tough road ahead of them—I know, because I have been there. The last thing we should do is make them feel guilty if the strain gets to them and they feel strange. Between 1973 and 1990, when my beloved mother passed away, she and her female romantic partner raised me. They had separate houses but spent nearly all their weekends together, with me, in a trailer tucked discreetly in an RV park 50 minutes away from the town where we lived. As the youngest of my mother’s biological children, I was the only child who experienced childhood without my father being around. After my mother’s partner’s children had left for college, she moved into our house in town. I li...

*sigh*  Smack admission bars grandparents By  Simon Collins 5:30 AM Tuesday Jun 19, 2012 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10813892 Grandparents described as "the perfect family" have been banned from taking in their baby grand-daughter because they believe in smacking. Brian and Hannah Johnson, of Tauranga, have two adult children of their own, have been Child, Youth and Family caregivers for a niece for 13 years, and have brought up an 8-year-old grandson since he was a baby. But CYF has refused to let them take in their grandson's 21-month-old half-sister because they told CYF they smacked their grandson occasionally as "a last resort". Mrs Johnson, 57, said a CYF social worker told her last week: "We were the perfect family, perfect grandparents, if it wasn't for that little thing and that was smacking. "I feel like our name has been tainted now," Mrs Johnson said. "I went out ...

This is crazy! what is happening to "Western" society? Frock horror as ball girls turn up in same dress By  Alanah Eriksen 5:30 AM Saturday Jun 16, 2012 EXPAND Mount Albert Grammar students Idoho Purcell, 17, Negin Shademan, 17, and Ashleigh Curtis, 18, try on ball dresses at Affordaball Dresses in Mt Roskill. The store keeps a register to avoid duplicating dresses at a school ball. Photo / Greg Bowker Retailers are being pressed to create customer databases to avoid the wrath of teenage girls who turn up to school balls wearing the same dress as someone else. The popular students are even dictating what colour gowns their friends can wear and Facebook pages have been created where girls post photos of their dresses to warn their peers off buying similar garb. Hellen Burley of Affordaball Dresses in Mt Roskill, Auckland, said she had seen tears and tantrums from both students and their mothers. "We try very, very hard to only sell one dres...

On TV this morning's BREAKFAST SHOW, I viewed an interview with the NZ Police commissioner (I think) on the problem of the growing NZ binge drinking culture. Seems this was highlighted on last night's CLOSE UP - and they showed some clips of what the police have to go through every weekend. What really connected with me was the obvious frustration of one officer. I agree that surely the police have better things to do. And on a personal note, I remember how frustrating it was for me personally last year when during an emergency one late weekend night, I called the police for help. A life was in a high risk potentially dangerous situation and the police were unavailable. The police apologized that they had no staff available to help and wold not have any for hours because it was the weekend and personnel were tied up  dealing with public drunken behaviour! And what irks me is that a huge percentage of binge drinkers seem to students! If so, is this what student allowances a...

Something is seriously wrong with some NZ youth! Too much money,too much free time, spoilt, immature and plain stupid! SAD!! Dunedin's 'possum' drinking game goes global UPDATED 12:35 PM Friday May 4, 2012 A story about a student drinking game called possum - in which young people drink in trees until they fall out - has captured imaginations around the world. Yesterday's  Otago Daily Times article highlighting concerns of Dunedin Botanic Garden staff about the craze sparked a flurry of media coverage in the UK, Australia and the United States. In the UK,  the Guardian  called the craze 'a bizarre new branch of the drinking game' and the story ranked as the second most-read in its world news section. The Sun  also picked up the story, prompting comments including 'what a bunch of prats'. Fox News in the United States, Nine News in Australia, the  Bangkok Post in Thailand and France's  Le Point  have also climbed on board to...

How glad I am that my children study in NZ. :-) Though I do not think they read enough here either with the influence and easy access to multi-media stuff :-( But they do know how to ask questions and debate issues. Sometimes too much? :-) Me? In my spare time I tend to read more comic books! (ahem - better known and politically correct as graphic novels) :-) http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/10/13/the-sorry-state-of-our-education-system/ The sorry state of our education system K Kabilan  | October 13, 2011 Our students have forgotten how to ask questions, discuss topics and debate issues. Instead they want the easy way to gain paper qualifications. COMMENT Recently a friend, who is a senior professor in a local public university in the Klang Valley, related to me his experiences in conducting classes for his undergraduates. He said that as part of his educating process, he would ask his students – all from creative studies department – to identify countries from ...

Have not blogged for quite a while. Usual reason ... busy :-) Busy with responsibilities (especially the period of 2 weeks when my wife was away for her parents 50th wedding anniversary). Busy with ministry ... church is growing, needs are growing and lots of new challenges to add to the mix. Very exciting .... But also that quite a number of things are simply not appropriate to blog about ... And generally my sleep patterns have been terrible and I wake up every day feeling tired and yawning. Then it's just  a lot of effort to get the adrenaline flowing so I can focus on the tasks and responsibilities ... and after each task or meeting, my body kind of crashes. But it is getting better and I have resorted to returning to a morning cup of coffee. But nothing with caffeine from the the late afternoon onward. Still working on my garden - but not much time and energy. Is looking pretty decent - at least the vegetable boxes are ...will post some photos one day ... Anyway bloggi...

I wonder why the reporter had to add this line ... "Dr Makary, a 52-year-old Christian originally from Egypt," NZ women promiscuous, says doctor A Timaru gynaecologist wants a campaign against promiscuity after encountering a shocking number of pregnant patients who cannot remember whom they had sex with. Dr Albert Makary, who has been in Timaru for 20 years, called on national leaders, sports stars, schools and the media at a Forum on the Family in Auckland yesterday to "stigmatise" both promiscuity and the binge drinking that usually preceded it. He cited a survey by a condom maker that said New Zealand women were the most promiscuous in the world, with 20.3 sexual partners on average. The world average was 7.3. Kiwi men were also above average with 16.8 partners. New Zealand was the only country where women had more sexual partners than men. Dr Makary, a 52-year-old Christian originally from Egypt, said he was "an eyewitness of the pain" that promiscuit...

" The study, part of the doctoral research of Waikato student Brett McEwan, investigated "controlled intoxication" - the ways in which some heavy drinkers monitor and manage their excessive alcohol intake. What? If the alcohol intake is known to be excessive, you still want to take more and manage it?  I guess I am out of touch but I think this is stupid thinking.  Shocking world of our student drunks By  Martin Johnston  and  Isaac Davison 5:30 AM Friday Jun 10, 2011 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10731303 Nearly a third of university drinkers have passed out while boozing in the past six months - and many say vomiting does not stop them continuing a binge. More than half said they had physically hurt themselves while intoxicated to that point, according to a shocking paper published today by the  New Zealand Medical Journal . It reveals that 27 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women say throwing up will not stop ...