Reuters reports like this below show how the head of the ANC backpedalled, while more upright leaders like Bishop Desmond Tutu were openly calling for a halt to arms shipments to Zimbabwe.

Jacob Zuma, who has become the most outspoken African leader on Zimbabwe, said it was not yet to time to impose an arms embargo.

“I think it is going too far and I think it complicates a situation that needs to be handled with great care,” Zuma told reporters in London.

Unfortunately you got your facts wrong here.Bright Matonga is the deputy information minister of Zimbabwe , NOT of South Africa . Googling could have helped … . South Africa does not have a ministry of information.

However, the right-wing capitalists have gone all frothy at the mouth on Kiwiblog (at http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2008/05/the_idiots_are_now_fasting.html).

I should mention that Nicky Hager’s book Secret Power is considered a highly authorative read (with much of the facts coming from frustrated GCSB staff). While Hager doesn’t necessarily want the GCSB scrapped, his book exposes how little ‘intelligence’ NZ gets out of these US spy bases.

I tend to agree - GST is regressive and should be removed as a whole, not tweaked. For those who remember the introduction of GST and the so-called compensating removal of sales taxes, you will recall most shopkeepers did not fully remove the sales taxes.

Cunning storeowners removed sales taxes initially, but then hiked prices significantly over the next few months, meaning that within a year people were paying the old prices plus GST (then 10%). I suspect the same would happen again - it is near impossible to tell if a price rise on bread a few months after GST is removed (and the store cuts the price by 1/9), is caused by genuine costs increases the store faces, or just greed.

Government should tackle the real inadequacy of incomes - and the single biggest issue there is housing costs (mortgages and rent). Tackle that, and a lot of other costs become manageable.

So Dr Hasil does not have an excuse just because condoms regularly fail. The question is whether he was competent in carrying out the operations or not. What you have said suggests he did not feel competent himself (he felt the need for supervision).

Certainly, if Wanganui DHB failed to give him adequate supervision they are culpable too, but the primary responsibility always rests with the surgeon who blundered (repeatedly in Dr Hasil’s case).

Which highlights the other need - the IRB MUST start to properly allocate a decent chunk of cash to running their own rugby development programme (in consultation with but independent of national rugby unions). Corruption in national unions, and gutlessness by IRB and powerful unions like NZRU has seen next to no development outside existing rugby nations in the last quarter century.

Think of what South Africa would have to play against if a decent programme had been put in place after SA came back into world sport in 1992 - 16 years ago!!!

Part of the development could be a 2nd (or even 3rd) division of the regional comp’s to let lower strength national teams build more rapidly by playing sides of similar strength (and not repeat cricket’s disasterous Australia-US matches).

Now nothing in life is 100% failsafe, but the allegations against Dr Hasil are that he seriously messed up many operations, including this woman’s. She is justifiably angry that she ‘had to’ abort her child because she did not want that child, but she would not have been in the position of having the abortion if Dr Hasil had performed the operation correctly.

The original post was mostly to draw attention to the contradiction between people acknowledging the human status of unborn children (”I basically had to murder somebody [her unborn child]“), while they still kill such unborn children.

The post was not about Dr Hasil specifically, but if you or he want to reply about the allegations he faced, please do. Just try keep it on the facts, not just opinion (we all have them ).

Of course, you are not obliged to, but it may help explain what appear to be pretty outrageous behaviour on your part…