Putin it bluntly

I can't believe that the following is genuine, but a lot of its contents resonate with me. I wince every time I see a public notice in the UK in a dozen immigrant languages: if you want to live in Britain, learn English, integrate, and above all don't WHINE, you are not bloody victims.

QUOTE

Vladimir Putin's speech

On February 4th, 2013, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, addressed the Duma (Russian Parliament), and gave a speech about the tensions with minorities in Russia.

He said:

"In Russia live Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws. If they prefer Sharia Law, then we advise them to go to those places where that's the state law. Russia does not need minorities.

Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell 'discrimination'. We better learn from the suicides of America, England, Holland and France, if we are to survive as a nation.

 

The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture or the primitive ways of most minorities. When this honorable legislative body thinks of creating new laws, it should have in mind the national interest first, observing that the minorities are NOT Russians!"

 

The politicians in the Duma gave Putin a standing ovation that lasted for five full minutes . . . . . 

 

UNQUOTE

A bit about New Zealand birds

Where would you go to see Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, House Sparrows, Starlings, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Yellowhammers, Dunnocks and Skylarks? Try New Zealand! All these species – and some others from Australia – were introduced by the early (white) settlers and are mostly thriving. Among other introduced species are the Indian Myna, the Eastern Rosella and various morphs of the good old Mallard.

Pukeko

There are a few common native species to be seen, of which the Tui and the Pukeko (Purple Swamphen) are the most frequent, at least in the Auckland area on North Island, which is where I was. A real treat were the Paradise Shelduck, which I previously knew only from collections.

Fantail

The only little birds of note are the Silvereye, Grey Warbler and the endearing Fantail, of which more anon.



Raptors are few and far between in NZ, apart from the local Harrier, which is as common as Buzzards are here. There is a falcon, similar to our Kestrel, but I didn't see one.

If you are in the right place at the right time, there are plenty of shorebirds and pelagics to be seen, but I managed relatively few: Redbilled Gull, Blackbacked Gull, Australasian Gannet, New Zealand Dotterel, Spurwinged Plover, Pied Stilt, Variable Oystercatcher and two out of the fourteen species of Shag (Cormorant) that are on the country's list.

Most of the endemics are threatened, rare or even extinct, at least on the mainland. Islands are now the main stronghold of threatened species, because it is easier to eliminate the introduced pest species that have caused the problem: rats, stoats, possums, feral cats, hedgehogs and so on. I visited one such island, called Tiritiri Matangi, a short ferry ride from the mainland north of Auckland, where I was lucky enough to see several species that most kiwis have heard of but never seen: Stitchbird, North Island Saddleback, North Island Robin, Bellbird, Red-crowned Parakeet, Brown Quail, Brown Teal, and a real prize, the Kokako, also known as the Purple-wattled Crow.

It's not much of a list, I know, but I went to New Zealand to be with my family, not to birdwatch. Even so, I managed a handful of “lifers” for my little-boy-collectors' list.

Paradise Shelduck

Psst, fancy a bit o' porn, squire?

Stap me, there's some funny stuff about these days. According to something I was reading – of US provenance – the most popular categories of porn watched by men are:

-lesbians

-interracial (mostly white wives with black lovers)

-feminization (men dressing up, or being forced to dress, as women)

-women dominating men (sometimes most graphically and painfully)

-futanari, presumably a Japanese fantasy, in which nubile females have a set of male genitals in addition to what they were born with.

What strikes me about this list is that the naughty stuff of my youth, viz a man with a woman doing whatever comes naturally (the postcard above is from another planet), seems to have disappeared completely. In fact the nearest to “normal” sex is a black man charvering a white woman, usually with a pathetic white husband/boyfriend looking on.

There's a pattern here underlying these various porn themes: women are dominant, women don't need men ( the subtext of lesbian porn), and any women who does need a man will choose a black man over a white man.

At the risk of being the target of a feminist fatwa, I will suggest that (white) men have been emasculated by the relentless denigration of men and the complicity of the media and other big interests in portraying women as strong and men as wimpish.

In a conversation about primary schools in New Zealand, I was quietly horrified to hear how teachers, almost entirely female, systematically peddle the feminist anti-male agenda, and I have no reason to doubt that the same thing is happening in the US and in many European contexts. God knows what the effect this is having on boys' self-esteem. And the irony of it is, girls in the end are no happier for being thrust into the amazon role prescribed for them by feminist propaganda.

Sorry there's no joke in this piece. It's no joke.

Open sesame dammit!

Modern wrapping is the subject of my latest grump. I tried to get an item out of its plastic moulding but, finding no way of separating the upper from the lower part, I cut across the top with a pair of scissors. I then prised them apart, only to discover that the item was still imprisoned in some kind of stiff paper. No, it doesn't peel off. It never does. You have to plunge the point of your scissors into it, and pull the paper apart messily. Why? Why all this wrapping? After all, the item was only a quartet of AA batteries. What are they being protected against? Don't the manufacturers WANT me to get at the batteries?

I haven't had such frustrations since my adolescence, when I broke fingernails trying to open bras one-handed while distracting the girl at the front with appoximately-aimed kisses. At least the little sweethearts weren't imprisoned in plastic, you didn't need scissors to open 'em up.

Tui whom it may concern

I am grateful to my fan for nudging me to restart my blogging. As you can see, dear friend, rumours of my demise were greatly exaggerated. The fact is, I have just returned from a six-week visit to my New Zealand family, hence the punning title of this piece. I got back last Friday and I am pleased to say my head and my intestines have finally caught up with the rest of me. So, watch this space, the OS is back and ready to create more breathless prose. PS The tui is one of the few native New Zealand birds that is widespread and easy to see. It is blackbird sized and has a repertoire of calls and noises reminiscent of Spike Jones and his City Slickers at their most manic.