Leading Darwinist Richard Dawkins Dodges Debates, Refuses to Defend Evolution as The Greatest Show On Earth

Seattle – Richard Dawkins, the world’s leading public spokesman for Darwinian evolution and an advocate of the “new atheism,” has refused to debate Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, a prominent advocate of intelligent design and the author of the acclaimed Signature in the Cell (Harper One, 2009) in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.

“Richard Dawkins claims that the appearance of design in biology is an illusion and claims to have refuted the case for intelligent design,” says Dr. Meyer who received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge in England.

“But Dawkins assiduously avoids addressing the key evidence for intelligent design and won’t debate its leading proponents,” adds Dr. Meyer. “Dawkins says that there is no evidence for intelligent design in life, and yet he also acknowledges that neither he nor anyone else has an evolutionary explanation for the origin of the first living cell. We know now even the simplest forms of life are chock-full of digital code, complex information processing systems and other exquisite forms of nanotechnology.”

In Signature in the Cell (Harper One, 2009) in the Cell, Dr. Meyer shows that the digital code embedded in DNA points powerfully to a designing intelligence and helps unravel a mystery that Darwin did not address: how did the very first life begin?

Signature in the Cell has just entered its third printing according to publisher HarperOne, an imprint of Harper Collins, and has been endorsed by scientists around the world, including leading British geneticist Dr. Norman Nevin, Alastair Noble, Ph.D. chemistry, formerly Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools for Science, Scotland, and Dr. Philip Skell, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Meyer challenged Dawkins to a debate when he saw that their speaking tours would cross paths this fall in Seattle and New York. Dawkins declined through his publicists, saying he does not debate “creationists.”

“Dawkins’ response is disingenuous,” said Meyer. “Creationists believe the earth is 10,000 years old and use the Bible as the basis for their views on the origins of life. I don’t think the earth is 10,000 years old and my case for intelligent design is based on scientific evidence.”

According to Discovery Institute, where Dr. Meyer directs the Center for Science & Culture, the debate challenge is a standing invitation for any time and place that is mutually agreeable to both participants.

The position of Chief Censor of Film and Literature held currently by Bill Hastings, expires on 19 October 2009. He was appointed Deputy Chief Censor in December 1998, then became Acting Chief Censor and then Chief Censor on 18 October 1999. The Annual Report for 2008 (ending 30 June 2008) show that his annual gross salary for 2007/08 was between $210,000 and $220,000 while his deputy received between $160,000 and $170,000 (Combined $370,00 to $390,000). The Annual Report for 2007 (ending 30 June 2007) shows that McCully received between $180,000 and $190,000 and Hasting between $200,000 and $210,000 (Total combined remuneration of between $380,000 and $410,000). [See Sources listed below]. $420,000 (see headline) is obviously only an estimated (projected ) combined remunueration for both Censors for 2009/10, based on documented incremental increases.

The Minister of Internal Affairs. Hon. Nathan Guy, announced on 4 August 2009 that the Deputy Chief Censor of Film and Literature, Nicola J. McCully, had been reappointed to the role for a further three years commencing 1 August 2009. Her statutory position expired on 16 September 2008. The Deputy Chief Censor is appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Internal Affairs.  

“The reappointment of Ms McCully will retain her significant expertise in the area of censorship and will ensure the continued solid performance of the Office of Film and Literature Classification,” said Mr Guy.

Ms McCully was originally appointed as Deputy Chief Censor on 17th September 2002 on the recommendation of the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. George Hawkins, with the concurrence of the Minister of Justice, Hon. Phil Goff, and the Minister of Womens Affairs, Hon. Laila Harre. The latest reappointment means she has been given a third three year term of office, one which expire on 2 August 2012. 

Prior to Ms McCully’s appointment, she had worked in the Classification Office for eight years which included her role as Classification Unit Manager and Senior Classification Officer. She was also previously an examiner for the Video Recordings Authority in 1994. Prior to that the only employment experience she had was working for one year with special needs children as a teacher aide, a job she got without any teacher qualifications (e.g. Dip. Tchg.) or specialist training certificate.

The “dirty job” commanding a gross salary of about $200,000 she and Bill appear to enjoy so much is described in an article available published on line by Sex Shops in New Zealand On Line (see below):

 http://www.sexshops.co.nz/

In a typical working week, Nicola McCully might watch a couple of dozen people having sex. Sometimes they might be doing this in twos or threes; other times, there’ll be a roomful, going at it like rabbits. Sometimes they might be going at it with rabbits. And if it’s not sex, it’s violence. McCuly looks on as people are murdered, tortured and maimed. Soft human bodies are set on fire, exploded by bombs, cut up and eaten. McCully might crunch her way through a tangy apple as a young man is slowly and gleefully decapitated. Other times a cup of tea might wet the whistle during a gruelling group rape scene. A gingernut with that? Sure, why not? It’s all in a day’s work for McCully, as New Zealand’s deputy chief censor.

For the last 10 years or so, she has spent her working week viewing all manner of distressing and depraved things to decide whether we can watch them as well.

Censorship. It’s a dirty job, and somebody has to do it. But who? What could possibly drive someone to be a censor? Not the money, that’s for sure. The salary for an experienced classification officer is less than $60,000. So why would someone voluntarily sit in a darkened room for days, months, years of their life, watching acts of extreme cruelty, harrowing sexual violence and the more repulsive ends of the porn spectrum?

McCully began her censorship career in 1994. After working in special education in Christchurch, she applied for a job at the Video Recordings Authority, an organisation that was amalgamated into the Classification Office that same year. A compact, quick-witted woman with a habit of getting straight to the point, McCully’s career choice means she has seen things no-one should have to see. She acknowledges that some aspects of her job have taken their toll emotionally. Certainly, her ready laugh is at odds with her sad eyes.

“Some days this work really is the pits. You see some incredibly horrible things. If there’s a court case concerning the sexual exploitation of young children, we spend weeks dealing with images that are genuinely grotesque. We’ve had computer hard drives submitted to us containing entire libraries of child pornography, with thousands of images and movie files that have been indexed and arranged like photo albums.”

Fortunately, cases as grim as this are relatively rare. McCully estimates that about 80% of her team’s work is classifying the kind of sexually explicit DVDs that will end up in sex shops and the “adult” sections of video stores from North Cape to Bluff.

“Those tapes really are tedious,” she sighs. “You might have six hours of sex DVDs to classify, and you have to watch them from beginning to end. There’s no fast-forwarding, in case you miss a section where things are verbally or physically rough. The misogyny in these sex tapes is very depressing. There’s the underlying idea that women are only on this earth to satisfy men in whatever way those men want to be satisfied, no matter how painful or humiliating.”

Other Sources:

1. Nathan Guy’s Media Release: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/deputy+chief+censor+reappointed

2. Briefing for Incoming Minister Internal Affairs. Department of Internal Affairs June 2009, p. 58.

“An appointment process for the Deputy Chief Censor is underway and is in the final stages.”

3. Report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification for year ending 30 June 2008

Employee Remuneration p. 55. Also see Annual Report 2007, p. 70.

http://www.censorship.govt.nz/pdfword/Annual%20Report%202008.pdf

Under new phoenix company provisions, a director of a failed company must not for a period of five years after the date of commencement of liquidation of the failed company –

a. be a director of a phoenix company; or

b. directly or indirectly be concerned in or take part in the promotion, formation, or management of a phoenix company; or

c. directly or indirectly be concerned in or take part in the carrying on of a business that has the same name as the failed company’s pre-liquidating name or a similar name.

Subsection (b) as pointed out by Stephanie Pettigrew a partner in Anderson Lloyd, “is effectively an anti-evasion provision, which will prevent the director of a failed company nominating a partner, spouse or any other related person as a director of the phoenix company in an attempt to avoid these provisions.” Subsection (c) as she notes “relates to a “business” rather than to just a company, and therefore a director of a failed company cannot work as a sole trader or in partnership using the name of the failed company for business purposes.”

A failed company means a company that was placed in liquidation at a time when it was unable to pay its due debts.

A “pre-liquidation name” is: any name (including any trading name) of a failed company in the 12 months before the commencement of that company’s liquidation.

The new provisions under s. 386A of the Companies Act 1993 provide criminal sanctions designed to strongly deter company directors setting up phoenix companies. The new sanctions took effect on 1 November 2007 (see refs below).

Vixen Direct Ltd and Alleged Breaches of Phoenix Company Law. 

On 31 January 2001, the sole director of a company of which Stephen Peter Crow (Steve Crow) had formerly been director from 8/02/95 to 18/12/98 had its name changed to Vixen Direct Ltd. That sole director was Crow’s “live-in partner” Fiona Elizabeth McLean Gibb, who became such when he resigned as director, ‘handing the reigns to her’, so to speak. The company concerned (Co. No. 608726), first registered on 20/12/93, had Ms Fiona Gibb as its sole director from 18/12/98 to 20/12/01 and traded in hard-core porn DVDs, videos and sex toys etc under the registered name Vixen Direct Ltd from 31/01/01 up until 29/11/05. Ms Gibb’s boastful account of the successes of her hard-core porn company were covered in an article entitled “Sex swells the kitty” published on 2nd November 2001, six weeks before she resigned as director. She claimed that for the two years she directed the company sales of porn went up by 600% each year. 

After her resignation, her ex-partner Steve Crow was reappointed as director on 20/12/01 (soon after he split from Ms Fiona Gibb). Along with Reinder Marten Reitzema of 1d Roberta Avenue, Glendowie, also appointed at that time, they directed it until Reitzema resigned as director on 11/03/03. Crow was left as sole director and remained so until 8/03/06 when under his leadership the company was put into liquidation under the name Les Obstacles de L’amour Ltd (Co. No. 608726).

Steve Crow who was overwhelmed by creditors including the IRD clamouring for money owed, changed his failing company’s name from Vixen Direct Ltd to Private Media Ltd on 29/11/05 and then three weeks before it was placed into liquidation on 8/03/06, changed its named again on 15/02/06 to Les Obstacles de L’amour Ltd. Creditors were becoming ‘les obstacles’ to him, preventing him from swelling the kitty via sex.

On 4 December 2005, only five days after changing the name of Vixen Direct Ltd to Private Media Ltd, Steve Crow made his move to create a “phoenix company”, another one called Vixen Direct Ltd (Co. No. 1738131) dealing with the same hard-core porn merchandise, again under his sole directorship. He faxed through to the Companies Office Certificates of Consent of Director and Shareholder for the new company at 15:09 on 4 December, identifying the source of the office communication fax as “Vixen Direct Ltd”. On the two Certificates he wrote that they had been completed by “Stephen Crow, Vixen Direct Limited, PO Box 28051 Remuera, Tel. 64-95263550”. However, the new company (No 1738131) was not registered until the next day on 5 December 2005 at 9:3:37 when Crow’s Application to Incorporate a Company was completed on line and registered.

Mr Crow’s use of the company name “Vixen Direct Limited” to identify his postal address on two certificates filed with the Companies Office at a time when no such company by this name was registered, is arguably an offence under sections 377 and 381 of the Companies Act 1993 (Co. No. 608726 that had had this name up until 29/11/05 had had it changed as noted to Private Media Ltd). Furthermore, his application for incorporation of the new “phoenix’ Vixen Direct Ltd made on line, similarly breached the Act in that he identified himself as “Stephen Crow, Eden Digital Limited” – when no such company was registered at that time.

The new “Vixen Direct Ltd” (Co. No. 1738131) was indeed a “phoenix company”. Within 15 months, on 29 March 2007, it was struck off the Register of Companies, presumably for having failed to file any annual returns. Having served Crow’s purpose with respect to assisting him avoid his obligations to creditors and IRD, or so it would seem, he moved on. This phoenix company had been owned by CVC Group Ltd of which Steve Crow was, and still is, a director.

The Liquidator’s Report on Les Obstacles de L’amour Ltd (Co No. 608726; formerly Private Media Ltd and prior to that Vixen Direct Ltd), dated 13th March 2006, reveals that $141,554 is still owed by the company to IRD and the total deficiency to unsecured creditors and shareholders remains at $307,218. The Liquidator has made it clear that there is no money available to unsecured creditors or shareholders and the company has not been struck off yet (at the request of IRD) because IRD is still pursuing its claim against the failed company.

The Liquidator may well be advised to check the trading operations, if any, of the phoenix company “Vixen Direct Ltd” (No 1738131) to follow the $448,772 money trail.   

On 9/12/08 Steve Crow revived the name Vixen Direct Limited yet again, when he changed the name of another company he directed (Co. No. 514464) from Vixen Wholesale Ltd to Vixen Direct Ltd. It traded under this name illegally until 1 May 2009, a period of almost six months, before having its name changed on 1 May 2009 to Z4K74D Ltd. It was put into liquidation by Mr Crow on 27 May 2009.

Again it served Mr Crow’s financial purposes to create this additional phoenix company arrangement that bears the same or similar names, similar assets and similar management structures to his failed company. As noted above, the purposes of such companies is usually part of a scheme either to circumvent obligations to creditors of the failed company (avoid debt payments) or to mislead the public into believing they are dealing with the same entity as previously, possibly as part of an attempt to mislead creditors of the previous company.

The Liquidator may well be advised to check the trading operations, if any, of the phoenix company “Vixen Direct Ltd” (No 514464) over the period 9/12/08 to 1/05/09) to follow the $448,772 money trail.   

Steve Crow Boasts about Vixen Direct and his NZ Porn business.

Steve Crow still boasts that his sole trading entity “Vixen Direct” is currently selling and distributing hard core porn DVDs, lubes, sex toys, and mags etc on line via its website www.vixen.co.nz. In fact he boasts that it is still “New Zealand’s largest locally owned distributor of adult DVDs” and is a major financial sponsor of his Erotica Lifestyles Expo 2009-2011. The following promotional appears on his current website marketing the recent ASB Showgrounds based Erotica Lifestyles Expos (25-27 September 2009) and Boobs on Bikes porn promos and those scheduled and advertised for 2010 and 2011.

“Simply put, without Vixen Direct it is unlikely Erotica would exist. Vixen is Erotica’s “sister company” and is New Zealand’s largest locally owned distributor of adult DVD’s. Next time you go to buy an X-rated DVD online, check out Vixen; we only sell licensed, legal titles, unlike many of our competitors. Watch out soon for our new [porn] website which will include toys, mags, lubes etc. etc etc.”

Source: http://www.eroticaexpo.co.nz/partners

Steve Crow even has the gall to boast of Vixen Direct being a “sister company” to Erotica Expo Ltd. Both are currently in liquidation along with two other companies directed by Mr Crow (Eden Media Ltd and Malibu Media Ltd).

It is a clear breach of s 386A of the Companies Act 1993 for company director Steve Crow to continue to work as a sole trader or in partnership under the name of a failed company for business purposes. Vixen Direct Ltd (Co. No. 608726) was put into liquidation on 8 March 2006 and Vixen Direct Ltd (Co. No. 1738131) was struck off the register of companies on 29 March 2007 and Vixen Direct Ltd (Co. No. 514464) was put into receivership on 27 May 2009.

The criminal sanction embodied in S. 386A came into effect on 1 November 2007. Despite this Steve Crow changed the name of Vixen Wholesale Ltd to Vixen Direct Ltd on 9/12/08 and it remained with this name until 1 May 2009 when changed to Z4K74D and then placed into liquidation on 27 May 2009. The name “Vixen Direct Ltd” was the registered name for Co No. 608726 up to 29 November 2005, just three months before it was put into liquidation on 8 March 2006.

Vixen Direct has remained a sole trader in hard-core porn throughout 2007 and up to the present time.

See: http://www.finda.co.nz/business/listing/1v2r/vixen-direct/

Vixen Direct, 45 Stanhope Road Ellerslie Auckland City Auckland 1051

See: http://yellow.co.nz/browse/companies/vixen-direct-limited/

Adding to this confusion is the fact that Steve Crow registered a new company
(Co. No. 1629978) on 10 May 2005, which had its name changed to Vixen Publications Ltd on 2 July 2007. It too imports and markets hard-core pornography. The similarity of its name to his liquidated companies would be of interest to the National Enforcement Unit, in particular the Investigator - Director Prohibitions and Criminal Breaches of the Companies Act 1993.

Sources:

Companies Act 1993 No 105 (as at 30 September 2009) Public Act

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0105/latest/DLM323263.html

http://www.lawyerinauckland.com/documents/blog.php?entry_id=1248801663

http://www.andersonlloyd.co.nz/uploads/files/Phoenix_Companies_-_Personal_Liabilty_and_Penalties_for_Directors_-_Stephanie_Pettigrew_(May_2008).pdf

Sex swells the kitty. By Deborah Hill Cone Friday 2nd November 2001
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/d597b4ad/sex-swells-the-kitty.html

Family First has alerted the media – unfortunately embargoed till Friday – about the latest research from the Families Commission. It has labelled a report on gay and lesbian parenting as unnecessary, advocacy research, a complete waste of taxpayer money, and reveals nothing new that isn’t faced by other blended families.

They ‘re right on one thing. It is advocacy research. So who are the two researchers who compiled this report?

One lesbian researches queer theory from Canterbury University, the other has published many journal articles on challenging heteronormativity and is doing a thesis on experiences of lesbians and gay men who create family through assisted reproductive technologies – no doubt this tax-payer funded research has helped with her research towards her PhD, despite the Blues Skies Fund that funded the research noting that grants do “not fund degrees”.

So this is not unbiased research – it is insider advocacy research, conducted by those who say they live lives “outside the norms of heterosexuality” [what's wrong with the word "lesbian"?] with a pre-determined agenda – to normalise gay relationships and to advocate for a change in adoption laws, and laws surrounding how many parents can be on birth certificates. Nothing wrong with that, but some people would not be happy with their taxpayers dollars being spent on this. [For more go to...]

 http://big-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-irrelevant-research-from-families.html

I’m more concerned that they interviewed just 19 families. And of those interviewed, just three were gay men, one of whom was a multiparent with a lesbian couple in another family, although treated as one family for the purposes of the research.The other couple were not even actively parenting children. Obviously gay men who parent are not as worthy of being researched as are lesbian parents. Why? Perhaps if they had gay men researching this they may have struck a more gender-neutral balance.

The research was done via snowball sampling which, crudely put, is getting an interviewee to recommend their mates. Surely lesbian parents have gay male friends who parent?

And your taxpayer dollars paid for it. Thanks, Peter Dunne.

OPINION: Two impresarios featured in the news this week: [Stephen Peter Crow and Suzie Moncrieff] 

One panders to salacious instincts; the other lifts the human spirit. One is pornographer Steve Crow, the other is World of WearableArt founder Suzie Moncrieff. No prizes for guessing which is which.

Fortunately for Wellington, Mr Crow chose Auckland for his latest Boobs on Bikes parade a publicity stunt that no longer even has the virtue of being novel.

Unfortunately for Auckland, Ms Moncrieff chose Wellington when her blend of dance and art and theatre outgrew Nelson. It is the jewel in Wellington’s crown as the cultural capital of the nation.

True, Auckland also showcased the work of New Zealand’s leading fashion designers this week, although you’d have been hard-pressed to notice if you were watching Close Up or Campbell Live on Tuesday night. The former was more interested in the surgically inflated boast of a woman claiming to have the largest breasts in the world, and the latter in a pay dispute between a stripper and Mr Crow.

He probably counted his appearance on Campbell Live a publicity coup. It was not. It was a sad illustration of how tawdry a business he operates in. He and a woman who pretends to enjoy exposing herself to strangers cannot agree on how much she should be paid for the pleasure.

Mr Crow probably doesn’t understand, but life is about more than turning a quick buck. At its best, it is about things that lift the human spirit, stir the imagination and make us feel good to be alive. The World of WearableArt does all three.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/editorials/2904887/Editorial-A-sight-to-raise-the-human-spirit

For the next nine days, those lucky enough to have tickets will be able to revel in the creativity, imagination and ingenuity of artists and designers who have fashioned extraordinary garments out of things often regarded as valueless grass, polyester, recycled clothing, and used teabags to name just a few. Their creations are beautiful, surprising and, sometimes, sexy although not in a way Mr Crow would recognise.

Wellington owes a debt of gratitude to those at the city council who persuaded Ms Moncrieff to bring the show to Wellington. It also owes a debt to the individuals and families who helped to foot the bill for the upgrade of the City Gallery, reopening tomorrow after a $6.3 million refit, with what looks like a bad case of the measles. The exterior of the building has been adorned with dots, the trademark of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama whose Mirrored Years exhibition features inside.

For the next five months visitors to the gallery will be able to enter a weird and wonderful world created by a one-time contemporary of Andy Warhol in New York, who has gone on to become a grand dame of the art world.

Both the Kusama exhibition and the World of WearableArt show are triumphs of the imagination.

Reduced to their component parts cloth, junk, paint and lightbulbs their materials have little intrinsic worth. In creative hands they are priceless.

At a time when many have had to tighten their belts and when there is a seemingly limitless appetite for the sordid and the titillating, it is refreshing to be reminded of the best that humans are capable of.

Urgent Attention

CEO Mark Frankham & Senior Management/Director(s)

ASB Showgrounds

217 Greenlane West

Greenlane 1051

Auckland

C/- Ms Nicola Harris

Operations Coordinator

ASB Showgrounds

16 September 2009

Re: Erotica Lifestyles Expo 2009

Dear Sir/Madam

We are delighted to learn that the ASB Showgrounds have been so well patronised for some very worthwhile events including the recent Auckland Home Show and we commend your management for staging events like the forthcoming Speed Show and the delicious-sounding “Taste of Japan” – the latter to be held at the Logan Campbell Centre on 19th September as a free community event. Some of our members hope to attend the latter event that will no doubt bring together many different ethnic communities of all ages and promote increased understanding of Japanese culture and cuisine and stimulate a good community spirit.

Having begun with some genuine positive endorsements of your fine efforts, we would like to alert you and your management to some matters of deep concern to us and raise with you 10 serious questions about the Erotica Expo Lifestyles (EEL) event scheduled at the ASB Showgrounds.

Background to Questions:

We note that all event organisers, including those of the EEL, agree to your Terms of Service before proceeding with formalised bookings and payments. Your website legal section states:

“(ASB Showgrounds” or “we” or “us”) provides its service to you, subject to the following Terms of Service (”TOS”),

“ASB Showgrounds shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages…”

Source: http://www.asbshowgrounds.co.nz/terms.html

We recognise that the ASB Showgrounds Management is a legal entity and its Terms of Service are succinctly and thoughtfully presented. An organisation with a dispute with any of these terms can resolve such matters in the Courts via formal legal proceedings if it chooses to do so.

However, it would appear that the “Erotica Expo Lifestyles” event is not organised by any such a legal entity or legally constituted organisation (see website www.eroticaexpo.co.nz). Furthermore, its organiser(s) seek to place draconian restrictions on the freedom of expression of individuals who pay $20.00 to attend the event and the organisers have ’served notice’ that they intend to physically remove them and any electronic devices such as videos, cell phones, etc that may have used to record images – if used within the venue – and to wipe images taken. (”Any person[s] found taking video or still images will immediately be removed from the premises and will have their images erased.”). Will vulnerable men and women be manhandled by persons not lawfully entitled to do so? (police officers have this right in certain circumstances).

Here is the relevant Expo policy copied below from their website (highlighted in italics)

No Camera Policy:

http://www.eroticaexpo.co.nz/show/view/4

Please remember that Erotica has a strictly NO CAMERA POLICY. We do not allow visitors to use cameras, video-cameras or pxt phones withing [SIC] the venue.

This policy is there for your privacy as well as ours and our stars. This rule greatly reduces the chances that someone will snap a photo of you or accidently [SIC] catch you on video. There is less chance of you being photographed doing something you would rather not have captured on film. There is also less chance of you being filmed at the show with someone other than your significant other if you get our drift.

ONLY AUTHORISED PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE PERMITTED TO TAKE PHOTOS OR FILM AT THE SHOW AND PLEASE TELL THEM IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE FILMED. THEY WILL RESPECT YOUR WISHES.

Any person[s] found taking video or still images will immediately be removed from the premises and will have their images erased.

_________________

http://www.eroticaexpo.co.nz/ticket_info

You can also buy at Ticketek from 1 August 2009. Booking fee applies.

Strictly R18, No cameras.

Gate sales on all expo days.

No Camera Policy:

No Camera, video, or pxt phone use permitted within the Expo

Any person[s] found taking video or still images will immediately be removed from the premises and will have their images erased.

Our Society’s national executive requests that you urgently address the following questions and provide us with answers as soon as possible – questions that relate to the forthcoming Erotica Lifestyles Expo. The organiser(s) of this event appear to have provided no evidence to the public via their website advertisements or elsewhere that they constitute a legal entity or a responsible entity that can apply the law in this way to restrict the activities of adults. There are no copyright laws applicable here and the staged event involving imported “porn stars” does not appear to have the backing of any management linked to a legal entity or properly constituted organisation. The organiser(s) have provided no details as to how they are going to enforce the R18 restrictions on the event (photo ID etc). Who are they responsible to for their actions?

Questions for ASB Showgrounds Management:

Question 1: What is/are the name(s) and details of the legal entity/entities responsible for staging Erotica Lifestyles Expo and who among its organisers have the legal authority to deal with any defamatory or criminal allegations that may be made by members of the public who may feel they have been badly manhandled by Expo staff (in such cases as their having had private property – cameras, videos etc – unjustifiably confiscated and tampered with – images erased etc.- and being forcefully removed from an event they paid to attend)?

Question 2. Has the ASB Showgrounds management been alerted to the nature of the public sex acts that have in the past been performed at the Expo – lewd and to some offensive activities – that its organisers do not want the public to film or otherwise record?

Question 3. Will the ASB management be taking any responsibility themselves for any infringement(s) of the public’s rights to use a camera or cell phone in a showground that has staged all manner of family friendly and adult friendly responsible events where the use of cameras has apparently, to our knowledge, never been restricted before (with the exception of other Erotica Lifestyles Expos)?

Question 4. Has ASB management considered the “human rights” issues involved when an event organiser(s), who can apparently lay claim to no copyright law, legal protection of privacy provision, gives notice that he intends to restrict fee-paying patrons of the Expo using their cameras, videos and cell phones etc?

Question 5. What do the restrictions being sought by the organiser(s) tell management about the lawfulness and nature of the publicly performed lewd adult sex acts being planned for ‘fun-loving’ adults to witness and enjoy?

Question 6. What advice can ASB management give to members of the public who are planning to attend the Expo and exert/test their rights to use cameras and videos and who do not intend to allow themselves to be man-handled by persons claiming to be part of the control monitors/’bouncers’ of an event that is not staged by any legally constituted entity?

Question 7. What relationship does the ASB management have with the police officers who will be needed to ensure the human rights and freedom of expression are not curtailed by those who wish to engage in lewd sex acts on stage or record images of such activities?

Question 8. Is the ASB management supportive of the claimed rights of the organiser(s) of Erotica Lifestyles Expo to physically remove persons from the premises and … have their images erased – based on a claim that they have taken a photo – and if so, will they be a party to any legal proceedings that may follow such incidents?

Question 9. Is the ASB management aware of any other exhibitor or event organiser who has ever used ASB Showground facilities and made similar sorts of threats of physical violence (forced removal, private property tampered with etc) as made by the Expo organiser(s), and if so who are they?

Question 10: Is ASB management aware that Mr Stephen Peter Crow (Steve Crow), who fronts the Erotica Lifestyles Expo, has been convicted in the Courts over 30 criminal charges of disseminating “objectionable” sexual material under the Films, Videos and Publication Classification Act 1993, has had many adult videos/DVDs he has produced and submitted for classification banned by the Classification Office for containing objectionable sexual content, has been effectively banned by a Court ruling and a ruling from a Cabinet Minister – from trying to film a porn star giving birth in the Waikato Hospital and using the footage in a porn film, and has faced police investigation for death threats of violence made against a porn competitor? If so, have these well-publicised facts influenced management in their decision to allow the Expo to proceed as scheduled? (documentation in the public domain can be supplied on request by the Society)?

We look forward to receiving your detailed responses to these questions as soon as possible. They are raised with you out of deep concern by our national executive and members, and other community groups we are in regular contact with.

POLICE PRESENCE & OTHER MATTERS
Recently Stephen Peter Crow (Steve Crow), the promoter of Erotica Lifestyles Expo spoke at a meeting of over 100 persons at the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Business After 5 function at the New Plymouth RSA. The Taranaki Daily News (27/08/09) reported his threatening comments directed at some businessmen in the audience who had indicated to organisers that they wanted to question him and his business partner over tens of thousands of dollars owed to them by the Crow bothers.

Steve Crow stated:

“Well, let me say right from the start that it won’t work. I receive an average of three death threats a week. I get bullets sent to me in the mail. Letters claiming to contain anthrax. None of this sort of thing scares me. So I want to warn you that all you’ll do is embarrass yourself and then get thrown out.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2807093/Crow-ready-to-tackle-hecklers-at-meeting.

As one commentator stated in response to this report:

“Surely anyone who actually gets these types of threats weekly needs to take a hard look at themselves and if for example, the threats come from angry creditors, rather than try and intimidate them into silence – potentially fuelling counter threats and animosity – they should meet their financial obligations. Four of Steve Crow’s porn companies currently in liquidation owe creditors over $1.3 million. David Crow’s company – Buildwise Ltd (In Liq) owes money to over 50 creditors who are likely to get nothing. Many might see Steve Crow’s ramble about death threats as pathetic – the last cries of a man seeking public sympathy and trying to fend off his creditors with bullying, bluster, vitriol, BS, and hubris.”

ACTION REQUESTED FROM SHOWGROUND MANAGEMENT
In the light of Mr Steve Crow’s well documented bullying tactics and threats……………

The Society formally requests that if the ASB Showground Management does decide to allow the Erotica Lifestyles Expo to go ahead, that it ensure that a significant police presence and security (with surveillance cameras) ibe provided at the event. If it is not provided, the ASB management, having been alerted to issues raised above, may find itself legally responsible for any actions taken against organisers.

A police presence will be necessary at the venue to protect the public who attend. Security cameras are regarded by the public as synonymous with security and not providing them, (undoubtedly can be readily supplied by Showground management), could put the public at risk. An OSH incident could well arise in that situation, if security were to be absent and all cameras banned. Young people who attend have the right to be protected and such security in the form of video footage should be available for that purpose.

If the event does go ahead with the ‘blessing’ of ASB Showground Management, authorised security staff would need to check identification at the gates to all venues to ensure that under 18 year olds are not exposed to R18-rated material and also prevent alcohol being taken in or served to minors (if a licence has been granted to event organisers).

If this event, one that is clearly at odds with the community standards held by most New Zealanders, is deemed to be offensive to the public and neighbours, it may need special resource consent. The neighbourhood needs to be adequately informed of the nature of the R18-rated activities on display so that they may, if they wish, lay a complaint under the Resource Management Act and/or the Local Government Act about any aspect of nuisance that they perceive may be caused from this event. The ASB management may need to provide notice and apply for a special resource consent to run this event. That would require the neighbourhood to be provided with precise details of the event in advance and be given sufficient time to object.

We would appreciate a prompt acknowledgement of this communication. Also please provide the names of the Management Team who supported the decision to allow Erotica Lifestyles Expo to use the ASB Showgrounds facility.

Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc. (SPCS)

(A registered Charity with the Charities Commission)

P.O. Box 13-683 Johnsonville. Society Website: http://www.spcs.org.nz

(see: http://www.bvents.com/event/166191-erotica-lifestyles-expo ).

Any person[s] found within the venue taking video or still images will immediately be thrown out from the porn fest says big boss Porn King Stephen Peter Crow (Steve Crow) and all images recorded will be forcibly removed.

The Society is asking: Why has ASB Showgrounds management allowed a company in liquidation to enter into such an arrangement? Some media commentators predict it will attract no more than a few hundred people with a sexual dysfunction or those seeking titillation from porn sleaze and extravagantly priced sex toys or seeking AIDS for the impotent or promiscuous. 

Liquidator, Lloyd Hayward of Accountants Meltzer Mason and Heath, in his report dated 3 June 2009 and available on the Companies website, states that Malibu Media Ltd (In Liq) (formerly Erotica Expo Ltd) owes unsecured creditors and shareholders $145,665 and $18,649 to IRD. He reports that the company Steve Crow directed failed mainly because of very poor attendances at the most recent Erotica Lifestyles Expos held in Wellington and Christchurch (see Co. No. 1275425 www.companies.govt.nz). These debts together with those of three other porn companies that were directed by Steve Crow, all of which have been placed into liquidation, amount to over 1.3 million dollars. The Liquidator has confirmed that there is nothing left for creditors.

Currently there is no registered company by the name “Erotica Expo Ltd”. Crow changed the name of the company he directed – Erotica Expo Ltd (Co. No.1275425) – to Malibu Media Ltd, on 1 May 2009, one month before it was placed in liquidation; no doubt to try and hide the financial failure being linked to the brand name “Erotica Expo Ltd” which he continues to use in breach of the Companies Act 1993.

ASB Showgrounds management have allowed an event to be staged that could place all those individuals, organisations and companies that supply goods and services to the forthcoming three day porn sleaze show, at serious financial risk, should the show run at a huge loss. Creditors, both secured and unsecured, would have no legal comeback against an unregistered company running or staging the event. To do work for a company that is currently in liquidation is financial stupidity. Furthermore, given the huge financial failure of the last few Erotica Expo run by Steve Crow, one would have to be either naïve, stupid or desirous of financial suicide, to work as an employee, contractor or provider of services to such a company.

Just because an event organiser boasts he has a website featuring porn stars and titillating claims of a few event successes (ignoring the failures), this does not make the event to be staged one that is organised by a legitimate legal entity such as a registered company. It is a serious offence against the Companies Act 1993 for a director of a company to trade under a company name when it is in liquidation. It is a serious offence to use the name of such a company in any contractual agreement or in any form of advertising.

Auckland Savings Bank management, who approved the branding or naming rights of the ASB showgrounds, would no doubt be appalled to learn that showground management have entered into an agreement allowing a hardcore porn promo company in liquidation to be the organiser of a three day porn-fest at this venue. Words like fraud, con artist, scam and business corruption come to mind when one contemplates such arrangements.

In an article published on Monday 14th September 2009 in the Taranaki Daily News and published on the Stuff News Website, it was reported that “Boobs on Bikes and the Erotica Lifestyles Expo are NOT coming to New Plymouth this year following a public backlash.” [Emphasis added].

(See: http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/2864885/Backlash-ends-sexpo-plans)

Stephen Peter Crow (Steve Crow – aka “Porn King”), described as “Erotica’s owner and porn mogul”, is quoted as stating “from Auckland” the day before the report was published, that “with all the controversy we’ve been copping and all the negatives from everywhere, it’s not happening now.” The negatives highlighted in the article involve his double-crossing of RSA members. The reporter asked him why he was advertising the former RSA clubrooms as the venue for a money-making strip venue, when he’d given his word to the people of New Plymouth that it would never be used for promoting the sex industry. That promise was given to over 100 people at a Chamber of Commerce meeting and reported on in the Taranaki Daily News last month.

Mr Steve Crow’s Erotica lifestyles Expo website homepage has continued to advertise, as of Friday 18th September, a three-day expo at New Plymouth’s Te Ara at 434 Devon St East on 21, 22, 23 November 2009 costing $12, despite the fact that he has publicly stated that the event has been cancelled.

At the time the Taranaki Daily News contacted Mr Crow the cost of entry was advertised as $20 a head for the November event. Following the publication of the expose of his double-crossing RSA members, the website homepage was altered showing an entry fee of $12 per head – reduced from $20 – to the Te Ara. Steve Crow has chosen not to remove the false information from his website homepage that advertises the porn promo event as still gong ahead at the Te Ara, despite having told the media and NZ public that it has been cancelled.

See: http://www.eroticaexpo.co.nz/

Furthermore, more false information has been retained on Mr Steve Crow’s website pertaining to this cancelled New Plymouth event. The public are urged to:

“Buy tickets NOW! Day pass Tickets cost $20 Each!! or $38 for 2- day Passes, $5 Shipping and Handling Per order. (The more you order the cheaper it is). Tickets are send via Signature required track & Trace courier.”

See: https://www.eroticaexpo.co.nz/tickets

The online credit cards facility is still operating and Steve Crow is accepting credit card payments for the cancelled event. It appears that little that Mr Crow says about his Erotica Lifestyles Expo event is true and he appears to be more interested in grasping for more of kiwis’ hard earned dollars paid to attend a cancelled event, than conveying correct information about the porn-promoting sleaze fest.

Yes, Mr Crow may be very busy hosting his busty porn stars at his new residential address in Albany and office in Rosedale Auckland, but a company director should recognise that he must not disseminate false information in advertising.

The parade of porn ‘stars’ on his Erotica Expo website, who he says will ‘strut their stuff’ at the ASB Showgrounds event in Auckland, latter this month, may well be fictional like his forthcoming event in New Plymouth. He is very happy for the public to photograph these ’stars’ bare-breasted on bikes in Queen Street promoting his Erotica Lifestyles Expo, but states on his website that he will have any person who dares to take a photo of the ‘stars’ within the ASB Showgrounds, thrown out of the venue and have their film records destroyed or confiscated.

How can any member of the public trust an event organiser who provides false information on his website about an event relating to time, venue, purchase price and ticketing. Why would anyone pay money to attend an event promoted in such an unprofessional and sleazy manner involving the promulgation of false and misleading advertising?

The Society requests that the Commerce Commission investigate these concerns raised concerning false advertising. We request a formal acknowledgment of this communication. Thank you.

Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc.
P.O. Box 13-683 Johnsonville

Lyn Humphreys – Taranaki Daily News

15 September 2009

Boobs on Bikes and the Erotica Lifestyles Expo are not coming to New Plymouth this year following a public backlash.

“It was going to happen but with all the controversy we’ve been copping and all the negatives from everywhere, it’s not happening now,” Erotica’s owner and porn mogul Steve Crow said from Auckland yesterday.

Steve Crow and his Inglewood brother, David Crow, bought the New Plymouth and Districts RSA at Strandon and also bailed out the debt-ridden club last year.

The two are planning an extensive development for the site, named the Te Ara project.

Amid negative reaction, Steve Crow last month promised the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce that the site would not be converted into a brothel, strip club, adult shop or “anything at all to do with the sex industry”.

But Mr Crow’s Erotica lifestyles expo website advertises a three-day expo at New Plymouth’s Te Ara at 434 Devon St East for $20 a head in November. When contacted by the Taranaki Daily News yesterday, Mr Crow admitted that the expo, which would have been at Te Ara, included strip shows.

However, recent bad publicity and a public backlash from New Plymouth people have caused him to pull the pin.

“I just think it’s going to backfire if we do,” Mr Crow said.

And, as a result, the expo’s associated controversial street parade, Boobs on Bikes, would also no longer be staged, Mr Crow said.

The RSA would now miss out on $18,000 rent and locals who had asked for the show to come to New Plymouth would also be disappointed.

His company had also looked into hiring the TSB Stadium which was too big and too expensive and had an option to rent the East End Skating Rink but lack of parking and the high costs of dressing up the rink venue were against it, he said.

Mr Crow said the RSA had been hurt by the recession with takings “well down”.

“My brother has had to step in to manage the place fulltime since July 2008. They would have been shut by last Christmas if we hadn’t because they had lost so much money over 10 years.

“When we settled we paid them a lot of money. That should have left them debt free but they didn’t tell us about a $100,000 loan they had from a bank.”

The RSA had been losing $20,000 a month, “so we had to step in”.

The venue, heavily booked for events such as weddings until the end of February, was now breaking even.

The casual Friday and Saturday nights needed attention.

“As much as we love the old guys they don’t spend the money.

“The reality is the need to get income so we can provide the service to the members. It does a lot of good community work.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/2864885/Backlash-ends-sexpo-plans

Bacground Reference:

Diggers battle porn king
 
Jonathan Marshall – Sunday News

26 April 2009

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-news/2363709/Diggers-battle-porn-king

Background reference:

“The Crow brothers became involved with the RSA in 2007, when their proposed rescue plan to buy the 4500sqm Devon St property gained members’ approval.

“The $1.9 million sale agreement stated the Crows would sell back the clubrooms to the members in return for consent to build a $15 million development featuring a hotel, medical centre and bowling club on an adjoining lot.

 ”Crow a millionaire businessman who has made his money mainly through distributing pornography and running the Erotica sex expo said his motivation was to continue his father’s legacy. But several of the club’s members told Sunday News they were worried the Crows had their minds more on business than the traditions and identity of the RSA.”

Albany residents will be truly transfixed to learn that the Porn King has moved all four of his porn company registered offices to 2/18b Triton Drive, Albany, [Rosedale, Auckland 0632] having moved from 45 Stanhope Rd, Ellerslie. (addres change for Vixen Publications Ltd is effective from 21 September 2009). This is huge news on a par with news that Steve Crow is funding porn star “Chelsea Charms” to bring her augmented super mammary assets to Auckland for a street porn sleaze promo erotica expo circus parade. It is stunning!  The hardcore porn epicenter of New Zealand has now moved from 45 Stanhope Road to Albany and the King of Porn/Porn guru is now in residence in a salubrious single residential location  in Albany. With four of his porn companies currently in liquidation this momentous news of a residential mega-shift in sleaze perch for Mr Crow will be of huge interest to many in the adult entertainment business and to his company’s many creditors.

Steve Crow’s failure to update his residential addresses for his companies has meant he has had three different addresses listed at the one time on the Companies website for well over a year. He has been a challenge to track down, The home he shared briefly with his ex-wife Ms Gaylene Sharon Rogers was listed as his place of residence in his 2009 Annual Return for Eden Digital Ltd, well after they had split and another one – 15/3a Harrison Rd, Ellerslie, was listed in the 2009 Annual Return for Sidefx Ltd. The other two companies had 45 Stanhope Road listed as his residence in 2009. Three separate residences fits well with the King of Porn but he needs to explain to the National Enforcement Unit and the Companies Office how he managed to reside at all three at the same time. The Companies Act 1993 requires company directors to update their own residential addresses, those of fellow directors and those of all shareholders within the statutory time-frame. Crow had failed to do so.