The Czar announces a secret plan to increase Gormogon readership around the world by putting out international news stories with appropriate content. See, we know people from all over the world read The Big G, and we know that international readership naturally dips when we don’t talk about your country. Secretly, we will start picking countries that could afford to read us a little more.

So today, by suggestion of the Volgi, we’ll start with New Zealand. Right off the top we can find a news story worthy of international attention: New Zealanders think it’s okay to give a kid an occasional smack when they’re being knuckleheads.

Seems harsh, but we’re not talking about child abuse: we’re talking about a quick bit of reactionary “Don’t touch that” discipline.

Here’s the backstory. Most nanny states worry about family discipline, because discipline is neither spoiling nor entitling. Naturally, with everything else going on in the world, they want kiwis to use only kind words in countering brats.

So contentious was the liberal demand that nothing short of a $9 million national referendum would settle, once and for all, what New Zealanders should do. Not surprisingly, most kiwis think giving a kid an occasional tap should not be outlawed.

Gormogons Spotlight On: New ZealandActually, 90% of the voters, which represents 54% turnout (and higher than the last national elections), came back with a NO vote. That’s not merely saying it’s okay, that’s saying the referendum wasted everyone’s time.

Unfortunately, the referendum is not binding—as we’ve seen here in the States, representatives are perfectly willing to vote against what their consitutents want, so there’s still some voting to do. However, you’d have to be an idiot to think your constituents want anything other than a NO with a massive show of democracy like that.

Something the Czar has noticed about a lot of countries. When the government leans toward nanny statism, dumb legislation gets introduced and passed. But when the same government puts the voice of the people first, such as with a national referendum, the government is often shocked to see a strong streak of conservatism and common sense remains.

Admittedly, critics suggest the wording of the referendum was very unclear; and whenever the government produces badly worded legislation, the correct response from the public is to drop support of it. We are seeing that here in the US: as more Americans become familiar with the contents of our healthcare bill, they are running in horror.

So nice work to the people of New Zealand, who told their government to get out of their homes. The rest of the world should look on New Zealand as folks who have their heads on right. Send the liberals the message that nanny legislation needs to go away everywhere.

In a totally unrelated story, folks are bringing criminal charges against veteran show-biz creep David Copperfield. Read that one on your own.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.