The Grinch of the Johnsonville Christmas parade

I see WhaleOil’s spies have tipped him off regarding the Johnsonville Christmas Parade today. Namely that there were no lollies and no balloons and certain floats missing that were there last year.

I live in Johnsonville and my kids have been involved in every parade for the past five or so years. We were not involved in this one- and this one was different. I attended and noticed a big difference. The organisers decided that no balloons were to be given out, no flyers were to be given out and no lollies were to be distributed. The rationale behind this was that distributing lollies and balloons to the kids held up the flow of the floats. This is a pathetic excuse as there were bigger gaps between floats this year than any other year. This rule meant that groups like The Salvation Army couldn’t hand out fliers to advertise their Christmas service. And the Sallies have a big presence and community outreach in Johnsonville. The rule meant that other groups couldn’t use their balloons and kids were asking their parents why they didn’t get any lollies this year.

One of the other reasons kids would have got fewer lollies, even under last years’ lolly rules, is that many groups who gave out lollies last year- such as the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, which has a prominent presence in Johnsonville, were banned from having a float as they don’t deal with kids. The organising committee had a rule that only those groups that have involvement with kids were allowed to have a float and participate in the parade. So why was the Hari Krishna’s there, why were some retail outlets that have nothing to with kids allowed to drive their cars along the parade route – and why was there a whole bunch of police with their police dogs. I was told by the organisers that kids like dogs, so that made it OK.

They also like lollies and balloons, a great deal more than police dogs.

National thought it was a bit unfair that it was prohibited from distributing balloons along the parade so a few people pumped some up anyway in Katrina Shanks’ electorate office and distributed them to the kids before the parade started – and good on ‘em.

Peter Dunne, the local MP was in the parade as Santa’s Elf again, but he’s the chair of the Parades’ organising committee as well. The parade’s organising committee, or whoever they delegated the decision to ban lollies, fliers and balloons - need their heads read, and would do well to broaden the entry requirements for floats, and allow for flyers, lollies and balloons to be distributed in next year’s parade. As one person who had a hand in making such decisions told me today, it’s all about the kids.

Kids like lollies and balloons. And they don’t care if they get lollies from the Citizens Advice Bureau, The Salvation Army, or the local scouts. They don’t care if they get balloons from the BNZ, National or the local kindy.

Let the kids have their parade back, if it is all about the kids.

Archdeacon falls for the fourth time

Gee, its like Stations of the Cross on drugs.

Auckland Anglican Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, who erected that notorious billboard in Auckland, with the assistance of Saatchi and Saatchi, has changed his story for the fourth time. Just to recap:

Story one: The billboard was erected to inspire people to talk about the Christmas story.

Story two: It was erected to provoke conversation about spiritual matters by lampooning the literal Christian conception story.

Story three: It was set up to oppose fundamentalist beliefs that the virgin birth never really happened.

Story four: it is now about opposing what Cardy calls fundamental beliefs, that the fundamentalists don't actually believe. In other words he is criticising beliefs that don't actually exist in Christendom. Cardy wanted to question the belief that a male God sent down sperm so a child would be born. But Christians don't believe that any sperm was actually sent down. So all of a sudden its not a spiritual matter.

Furthermore, Cardy reported the attack on the billboard the the police, saying they'd press charges if he was caught. A person was arrested for the second attack but was not charged as Cardy didn't want to press charges.

Glynn Cardy is a class A dickhead for failing to keep his story straight. And given the company he keeps, and the fact he has admitted to a higher belief in Santa on the sleigh than the God of the bible, it's no wonder he can't keep his story straight.

The billboard - changing the story

Over the past few days it has been apparent why St Matthews in the City, an Anglican Church, erected a billboard in Auckland depicting a sad Joseph and his wife Mary in bed. It was not to inspire people to talk about the Christmas story, as initially claimed. Nor was it to provoke conversation about spiritual matters by lampooning the literal Christian conception story, as claimed later when fellow clergy disapproved.

The real reason why the billboard was erected was to slag off the idea of a male god impregnating Mary, and to deny the literalism of the virgin birth at Christmas.

In other words it was there purely to express a particular church's viewpoint( via an attack on opposing fundamentalist viewpoints) that the virgin birth never really happened and a belief that it is a fantasy story, with the consequent implication that Jesus was not sinless.

These guys call themselves progressive Christians - but it is not so clear what they are progressing to, or whether they are reactionary Christians who react to literal orthodoxy. Promoting beliefs that some Christians would describe as heretic is hardly going to inspire people to speak about the Christmas story,

the virgin birth story, or any other story save the story that this church is merely looking to create a story to get publicity. The atheist bus campaign is a much better campaign, in terms of getting people to talk about God matters, and some of these idiot Christians can learn a thing or two from the so-called atheists on how to publicise minority opinions.

The billboard has now gone down. Perhaps it will be replaced by this one. Can anyone let me know if so.

CYFS takes kids to show with swearing and sexual references

CYFS took a group of foster parents and 140 kids, the youngest who was six, to a Christmas show at Downstage Theatre. The show had repeated swear words, including the the "f" word , had a reference to someone losing her virginity, and mimed an orgasm. CYF boss Ray Smith said the kids loved the show, despite the sexual references, which Downstage called moments of irreverence.

I watched some of the little faces during the course of the show and the little kids were on the edge of their seats wondering if the wonderful acrobats were going to fall off their chairs and poles.

And when they were going to orgasm next. David Farrar describes the show as funny, cheeky, a bit sensual, and very manic.

I guess that because "some of the little faces" enjoyed it, that makes it alright. CYFS bosses didn't have to answer the questions on orgasms when these little faces got home. And if the kids tell their caregivers to "f off", you know what CYFS will do if they get a smack for doing so.