Family First NZ

Principals say problem kids parents’ duty

Bob — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:04:32 +0000

Waikato Times 16 May 2012
Schools are under increasing pressure to manage serious social problems that should be the responsibility of parents, Waikato secondary principals say. Teachers are expected to assume the role of educator, social worker, counsellor, police officer, parent, and even dietician as they pick up the pieces of dysfunctional families and overloaded social services. Many were forced to wade in on problems outside their expertise, including substance abuse, sexual misconduct, medical and legal matters.

…. Secondary Principals’ Association president Patrick Walsh said teachers were not trained to do it – “they’re trained to teach”. Expecting school staff to deal with drug dependency, substance abuse, violence and custodial battles was “unrealistic” and “impaired students’ learning”, he said. “It means they have less time to deliver the curriculum.” He said the responsibility should fall on parents, and not teachers, to curb serious problems with their children. “I think the Government needs to take the spotlight off schools and start focusing on the families that are failing their own children. Students who come to school, who have serious anger management issues, or sexually deviant behaviour, they’re not caused by school, we deal with the effects of them.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/6933427/Principals-say-problem-kids-parents-duty

Dunne attacks ‘moral jihad’ extremists

Bob — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:01:22 +0000

Dominion Post 17 May 2012
United Future’s Peter Dunne has lashed out at the Conservative Party, branding it “seriously extreme and nutty”. The Conservatives have been touted as a future coalition party for National since ACT leader John Banks’ donations scandal. Leader Colin Craig has risen to prominence lately with controversial views on promiscuity and gay marriage. Now Mr Dunne – who has a confidence and supply deal with National – has launched an attack on the political newcomers. And he says he should know, as two of his former MPs – Larry Baldock and Gordon Copeland – stood for the Conservatives in last year’s elections. “They’re extreme,” he said. “Look at Larry Baldock’s fanaticism over smacking. Copeland, the fact he left UnitedFuture over smacking, for goodness sake, when it was a conscience issue.

…”It’s a real moral jihad; it would be smacking, not just resisting any change to the abortion laws, it’s tightening the abortion law, it’s anti-prostitution, you name it, the whole suite of agenda items.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/6935983/Dunne-attacks-moral-jihad-extremists

Obama’s gay marriage endorsement could unite right

Bob — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:38:53 +0000

CitizenLink.com 14 May 2012
More than a quarter of voters say they are now less likely to vote for President Obama in November because of his support for same-sex marriage, according to a Gallup poll taken after the president’s announcement Wednesday. Some leaders in the conservative movement say seven states that supported Obama in 2008 are now back in play due to eroding support for the president’s policies and the clear distinction between him and Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican challenger, on the marriage issue. “This particular issue is a Christmas gift to the Romney campaign and the GOP,” said former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, president of American Values, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. “But it is possible for them to turn it into a lump of coal if they don’t handle it correctly.”
http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/14/six-states-could-be-up-for-grabs/

Fox News 13 May 2012
Prominent social conservatives are claiming that President Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage could be the fuel Mitt Romney needs to unite the right in November. Rick Santorum, the former Republican presidential candidate, is on record urging Romney to use this “potent weapon” against the president in the general election. And Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Sunday called the president’s announcement a “missing piece of intensity” for the presumptive GOP nominee. Though gay marriage was not an issue that factored prominently into the 2012 election season until this past Wednesday, when Obama made his historic announcement, the clear distinction now between Obama and Romney has elevated the matter.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/13/social-conservatives-claim-obama-gay-marriage-endorsement-could-unite-right/

Gay unions a ‘risk to kids’, say doctors

Bob — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:30:51 +0000

Perth Now 13 May 2012
Victoria’s deputy chief psychiatrist – and State Government-appointed equal opportunities champion – has joined forces with doctors lobbying the Federal Government to ban same-sex marriage. Twenty-two Victorian GPs, anaesthetists, obstetricians, palliative care specialists and psychiatrists, including Prof Kuravilla George, have joined 150 colleagues interstate to argue gay marriage poses a health risk to society. In a letter to the Senate’s inquiry into marriage equality, the group wrote that it was “important for the future health of our nation” to retain the definition of marriage as being between a man and woman. “We submit the evidence is clear that children who grow up in a family with a mother and father do better in all parameters than children without,” they wrote. The doctors also said they were concerned legalising gay marriage would “normalise” homosexual behaviour and the “health consequences” linked with it, such as HIV and syphilis
http://www.perthnow.com.au/gay-unions-a-risk-to-kids-say-doctors/story-fn6mhb6v-1226354150678

Parental involvement laws reduce teen-suicide rates – study

Bob — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:16:14 +0000

LifesiteNews 11 May 2012
This spring the journal Economic Inquiry published a study by Joseph Sabia and Daniel Reese which found very solid evidence that pro-life parental involvement laws reduce the suicide rate for teen females. This peer-reviewed study is both methodologically rigorous and well done. Analyzing state-level suicide data from 1987 to 2003 and holding constant both state-level trends and a range of economic and demographic factors, it finds that parental involvement laws reduce the suicide rate for teen females anywhere from 11 to 21 percent. The authors argue that this is because parental involvement laws reduce the incidence of stressful life events. These include unprotected sexual intercourse, STDs, pregnancies, and abortions.

The authors utilize an impressive range of statistical tests to document their findings. For instance, the regression results indicate that parental involvement laws have only a marginal impact on the suicide rate of older females who would not be directly affected by the law. Also, parental involvement laws have little impact on the suicide rate for teen males. However, this is consistent with the hypothesis that unprotected sex imposes a greater psychological burden on female adolescents than on their male counterparts. Finally, parental involvement laws have less of an effect on teen female suicide rates — if adjacent states are not enforcing parental involvement laws.

Overall, this study contributes to a growing body of peer-reviewed research which documents the positive public-health impact of pro-life parental-involvement laws. There exist at least 16 peer-reviewed studies which find that parental involvement laws result in statistically significant reductions in the in-state abortion rate for minors.

…Additionally, a 2003 study in the Journal of Health Economics by Phillip Levine found that parental-involvement laws reduce the pregnancy rate of 15- to 17-year-olds by 4 to 9 percent. A 2008 study in the Journal of Law Economics and Organization by Jonathan Klick and Thomas Stratmann shows that parental involvement laws reduce gonorrhea rates anywhere from 12 to 20 percent for females under 20. Pro-choice opponents of parental-involvement laws frequently argue that they will lead to a higher incidence of child abuse. However, there is no comparable body of peer-reviewed evidence demonstrating the negative public-health impact of these laws.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/study-pro-life-parental-involvement-laws-reduce-teen-suicide-rates?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=941b04f3dd-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Headlines_05_08_2012&utm_medium=email

Obnoxious transvestites descend on corner

Bob — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:09:40 +0000

Stuff.co.nz 14 May 2012
A bunch of “obnoxious” transvestites from Hamilton have descended on a South Auckland red-light area and are being blamed for a recent spate of problems. Pat Taylor, chairman of the Hunters Corner Town Centre Society, said the transvestites were causing problems in Papatoetoe’s Sutton Crescent, an area prostitutes had previously agreed not to work. “Sutton Crescent is the main hub, but because they can operate anywhere at any time they do just that. It comes and goes,” he said. “But in the last two or three weeks we’ve had an obnoxious bunch who’ve moved up from Hamilton. They’re a group of transvestites and they’re openly flaunting themselves wearing hardly any clothing on the streets before 10am when there are children walking to school.” Last year Papatoetoe residents claimed street prostitution at Hunters Corner had made them prisoners in their own homes. They complained of being followed up their driveways and of their young children having to hear the sounds of prostitutes having sex with clients.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6914517/Obnoxious-transvestites-descend-on-corner

MP drafting gay marriage bill

Bob — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:05:20 +0000

Dominion Post 14 May 2012
Gay marriage is an issue for “a small group of New Zealanders” and the Government has not made it a priority because of the tough economic times, Prime Minister John Key says. The issue has flared since US President Barack Obama backed gay marriage last week. Both Key and Labour leader David Shearer have indicated they would not stand in the way of moves to allow gay marriage in New Zealand. Key today indicated he would be “more than happy” to vote for the first reading of a bill allowing gay marriage. However, no such bill has yet been entered in to the member’s ballot. Once in the ballot, it would have to be drawn before it could be debated. Key today indicated the Government had no intention of pushing the idea. “It’s not my number one issue, that’s absolutely for sure,” he said. The previous Labour-led Government had backed “a lot” of conscience issues but his Government had not, which was a reflection of the “difficult economic times,” Key said. “We need to use our precious time in Parliament really to resolve those issues. We accept this is an issue for a small group of New Zealanders.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6915784/Key-Lets-have-debate-on-gay-marriage

Foetuses abused in the womb – study

Bob — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:01:23 +0000

Sunday Star Times 13 May 2012
New Zealand women are more than four times more likely to drink alcohol during pregnancy than mothers in the US, and twice as likely to drink heavily, a soon to be released study will show.

Health professionals are being trained in how to prevent and detect drinking during pregnancy, as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder rates look set to soar.

The study of about 100 lower socio-economic women by Auckland University psychological medicine department senior lecturer Trecia Wouldes, showed about 51 per cent of the women drank during pregnancy, about 10 per cent of them heavily so.

The developmental psychologist said in the US a study of a similar group of women showed only about 13 per cent were drinking, about 5 per cent heavily.

It’s estimated that about 80 per cent of women of child-bearing age in the wider New Zealand population drink before they know they are pregnant.

From the point of pregnancy recognition, about 27 per cent continue to drink some alcohol, and about 10 per cent continue to drink heavily or binge drink.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/6911332/Foetuses-abused-in-the-womb-study

Gay marriage: backfired on David Cameron

Bob — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:03:47 +0000

Telegraph (UK) 10 May 2012
Strictly speaking, it ought not to matter what Barack Obama thinks about gay marriage. The American president doesn’t have the power to tell registrars whom they should categorise as husband or wife. Half a dozen American states have gone ahead and legalised gay marriage, and more may do so. But when the president announced this week that he is now in favour of same-sex marriage, it wasn’t about changing the law. It was all about the culture wars that define and electrify American politics, fire up voters and talk-radio shows, and have had, until recently, no real equivalent in Britain.

While gay marriage was being endorsed in the White House, it was being quietly shelved in Westminster. There was no mention of it in the Queen’s Speech; nor is there likely to be in future. Officially, the consultation is still ongoing, and the Prime Minister is enthusiastically in favour. But he has been told by his ministers and MPs that the effect on party morale has been devastating. Not so much because they care about a largely irrelevant piece of legislation that would change almost nothing in a country where gay weddings are already commonplace. The Tory troops simply feel this is an insult too far
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9257301/Gay-marriage-importing-Americas-culture-wars-has-backfired-on-David-Cameron.html

Govt can’t redefine marriage – McCoskrie

Bob — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:18:53 +0000

3 News 11 May 2012
Prime Minister John Key coming out saying he isn’t personally opposed to same-sex marriage has prompted a lobby group to question the state’s right to re-invent marriage. Mr Key was asked about the issue after US president Barack Obama said he supports same-sex marriage, ending a period of equivocation on a divisive issue. “I am not personally opposed to gay marriage,” Mr Key said. “It’s possible that Parliament may consider a member’s bill at some stage, but it is not on the government’s agenda.” Mr Key’s position has triggered a response from lobby group Family First, which says the state didn’t invent marriage and has no authority to re-invent it.

“A homosexual cannot now legally marry. But neither can a whole lot of other people,” the group’s national director, Bob McCoskrie, said. “A five-year-old boy cannot marry. Three people cannot get married to each other. A married man can’t marry another person. Two old aunties living together cannot marry. A father cannot marry his adult daughter. A football team cannot enact group marriage – the list is endless.” Being pro-marriage and wanting to maintain its definition as being between a man and a woman was not “anti-gay”, Mr McCoskrie said. Mr Key earlier said he didn’t think there was any clamour for gay marriage in New Zealand. Labour leader David Shearer says he personally supported marriage equality. Civil unions between same-sex couples have been allowed in New Zealand since 2005.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Govt-cant-redefine-marriage—McCoskrie/tabid/1607/articleID/253892/Default.aspx#ixzz1uW2ERWqe

Lobbyists for gay marriage hope issue will be revisited
Radio NZ Morning Report 10 May 2012
Responding to Barack Obama’s public support for gay marriage Prime Minister John Key says he also has no problem with same-sex marriage.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2518391/lobbyists-for-gay-marriage-hope-issue-will-be-revisited.asx