I wish to clarify that I am not Madeleine Setchell.

My maiden name is Richards.

Apparently, after I commented on kiwiblog the other day under my usual posting name which is simply 'Madeleine' a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that I must be the Madeleine in the story. Whilst there have been instances of David Benson-Pope lying about his staff doing things he in fact did involving me, I am not the Madeleine in the current instance of his fabrication.

It should have occurred to me to post as 'Madeleine Flannagan' in this instance as the leap is a rather obvious one to make - apologies for the confusion - its just that as a 'Madeleine', I am not used to being confused with other people, I have met very few Madeleine's in my life so it simply did not occur to me.

Here is a list of the instances I can recall where Benson-Pope has blamed one of his staff members for something he did:

• Leaked content of Police Report over Tennis Ball saga - staff member leaked it without his knowledge. (Later turned out it was with his permissison/instruction)
• Having the police collect a $35 cleaning bill - staff member went to police and made request without his knowledge. (Official Information Act request showed his signature on the police forms)
• Playing a part in ending Madeleine Setchell's employment - staff member made calls without his knowledge. (Turns out he forgot that he did intervene)

Are there any more?

Benson-Pope clearly has really crappy staff.

Benson-Pope is someone that the more closely you observe him the more his slimy, smarmy, bullying, bullet-dodging just pisses you off.

Until recently I used to live in Dunedin so I have had a few encounters with Mr Benson-Pope a.k.a. panty slut boy and have crossed swords with him politically and know other people who have too. I find him an unpleasant person and a liar.

The hit he has taken is well deserved. About time. But what annoys me is that he escaped just desserts over so many other issues. But oh well, at least this hit didn't bounce off.

The beehive website is not up with the play though cause they still have him on their site as a Minister.

Interestingly Ian Wishart has re-released his findings on Benson-Pope's involvement in the Dunedin Bondage and Discipline scene with the rather interesting addition:

"[Benson-Pope] went to the trouble of ringing a senior Otago Daily Times journalist at home that evening, expressly to ensure that the newspaper was not quoting him as denying the story. "

This was always a story I felt certain should have had a lot more air time by the media than it did.

It had the now familiar to us all ring of Benson-Pope's dodging the truth.

Add to that our own experience of Benson-Pope's lies. He told the media when he used the police to collect a $35 cleaning bill (the police were his first line of request for this bill - most people would use a 45c stamp first...) that it was not him who utilised police resources as his personal debt collection service but his secretary without his permission (sound familiar?). In fact when we used the official information act to get the files on this incident whose signature was on the request to the police to do the debt collecting? NOT his secretary's but his!

We have all heard the slogan "what consenting adults do in privacy is their own business." Recently Investigate alledged that one of our MP's was getting up to dubious sexual practices where he engaged in child sex fantasies to get off. More sinisterly this is the same MP and Cabinet Minister, David Benson Pope a.k.a. Panty Slut Boy whom the police found a prima facie case against for engaging in bdsm type practices against his students when he was a teacher.

Predictably the lefty liberals have trotted out the slogan "what consenting adults do in privacy is their own business." Apparently anything a person, including a govt MP and Cabinet Minister responsible for CYFS, does sexually is ok providing all parties consent and it is done in private. (Of course they conveniently ignore the fact that the bdsm-type offences against the students were not consensual but since they were done against bullies its all apparently ok)

in 2004 a real case reached the courts in Germany. A German computer technician, Armin Miewes, advertised on the internet, "If you are between 18 and 25 years old you are my boy. Come to me and I will eat your horny flesh." His intent was to find someone who would volunteer to be killed and then eaten. Such a volunteer was forthcoming, Juergen Brandes.

In court, Miewes testified that he and Brandes had enjoyed a final meal together. Brandes agreed to be castrated and the two sautéed his penis and testicles. After the meal Brandes willingly allowed himself to be hanged from a butcher’s hook and be slaughtered ‘like a calf’. After Brandes had died Miewes consumed his flesh. The German court found Miewes guilty of manslaughter and later this was upgraded to murder after an appeal. In this case, both parties had consented. The court had considered the evidence and documentation both parties had made prior to the event and found that consent had been legitimately obtained.

Now I ask you, if the Minister of CYFS had done what Miewes did would that call into question his fitness to be in office? If you answer yes then clearly you do not actually believe that what consenting adults do in privacy with others who have consented is actually the be all and end all in sexual morality. Nor do you believe that what people do in private is irrelevent to the public.

If you answer no then you are depraved.