The Chief Electoral Officer has released the preliminary result of the Citizens Initiated Referendum on the question ‘Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?’

87% voted against it.
No word yet on whether this will allow me to smack other people’s children, but I’m buying a plane ticket just in case.

Citizens Initiated Referendum 2009 [New Zealand]

Oh my:

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho Republican Party leader who helped oust the state GOP chairman in 2008 faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after an altercation escalated while he photographed a home with a delinquent mortgage.

Challis McAffee, 33, the GOP chairman from the Boise suburb of Garden City and one of 231 voting members of the Idaho Republican Central Committee, was arrested after being accused of pointing a gun at the homeowner. He was released from Ada County jail on Thursday after family members and friends posted a portion of the $50,000 bond.

And get this – he’s a Paultard and a Teabagger. Yahtzee!

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It’s been a busy week in matriarchal feces-flinging at the First Family, perhaps revealing pent-up resentment at a generation of jabs at Barbara Bush, from whom Shrub inherited his testicles.

Thursday’s fracas stemmed from a weekend post by Townhall fabulist Kristen Atkinson, whose now-deleted (but still cached) missive managed to take down the First Granny a peg without mentioning Nancy Reagan’s astrologer:

The Obama White House is abuzz with talk of witchcraft by first grandmother, 72-year-old Marian Robinson, who lives in the White House residence. A close friend of Michelle Obama says the president is furious at his mother-in-law after learning that she was practicing Santeria, an African spirit cult, in the White House.

We’ve been known to practice Sangria ourselves on festive occasions, so we’re not sure what the problem is. But Atkinson only made things worse for herself after complaining to warblogger-edited Wonkette that she is not to be trifled with:

I posted a very serious article recently in Townhall.com about witchcraft in the White House, and later realized that your website had made a farce out of it.

And there we’re inclined to agree. You can’t make a farce out of posts like Atkinson’s. All you can do is celebrate them as such.

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Did you know that the Progressive Insurance chick (and yes, I think she’s hot) is a comedian?  I didn’t.

Enough already.  I was going to treat you to some Bachmann stupid, or some Townhall stupid, or yet another Tom DeLay lie, but I am stupided out.  So here’s a funny cat video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq6NOwkjy9E

Continuing Presidential Fashion Day, let’s go to correspondent Andy McCarthy at the Corner…

Derb, I’ve noticed that President Obama frequently forgoes the necktie — lately, even in public appearances. That reminded me — I have no idea why — that the Iranian regime has shunned the necktie ever since Khomeini pronounced it a symbol of Western decadence. I’ve always assumed that’s why Michael Ledeen is often pictured wearing a big, bold tie — you know, as a signal to the other conspirators.

Well, it’s an improvement over Hitler comparisons, we guess. And as Think Progress observes, previous Conspirator-in-Chief Dubya also proclaimed his hatred of America in plain sight.

Had to invent a new category for this one:

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) isn’t content to fight attempts at government-run health care here — he wants to destroy it in other countries, too.

The central Louisiana newspaper The Town Talk reports that Vitter was asked at a town hall meeting about the fact that he opposes government health care, but supports re-importing prescription drugs from, as a constituent said, “countries that have socialized medicine.” Vitter has campaigned in the past on re-importing drugs from Canada.

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