Brian Rogers Rogers Rabbits www.sunlive.co.nz

We're all delighted, in our typically hapless, misguided way, to see celebrity penguin Happy Feet hitching a ride on a ship going south.

All our do-gooder instincts give us a warm fuzzy feeling thinking we've done something helpful for nature, when in reality, we are messing with things we understand little about.

After all, Happy Feet is about to become a Happy Meal.
He's been cooped up in captivity for months, weak, out of condition, disorientated and perfect fodder for the first pod of sly orca cruising past.

Call me callous, but the chances of this penguin ever adjusting safely back into the wild is about as good as Goff's chances of winning an election anytime soon – one is southbound to the pole, the other is southbound in the poll. Both destined to be eaten alive.

If you were thinking that at least it may have been an educational opportunity for children, think again. A series of youngsters blabbing on television revealed a complete lack of understanding.

One even said she wanted to be friends with Happy Feet 'and show him all my toys.” Which just goes to prove that for one child at least, she hasn't learnt a lot and their concept of this penguin as a wild animal is about as far from reality as a Bluebird potato chip commercial.

A couple of people this week have likened the penguin to Moko the wayward dolphin. Entertaining from a human perspective, but a weirdo outcast amongst his own species and possibly quite sick.

Worse, thousands of dollars have been spent rehabilitating and fussing over the wayward penguin, while taxpaying New Zealanders go without.
Add to that the spending on other fruitless causes – such as the millions on the aftermath of the Kahui twins tragedy and many other wasteful cases – and it seems criminal that a woman with cancer has to go to the US for her treatment because apparently our health system can't afford it.

Yet as a country, we pour thousands out of our wallets to provide a bunch of orca in the Southern Ocean with an easy lunch.

Another sad case of misguided spending priorities surfaced this week, as we recognised those who served selflessly in the Merchant Navy. I'm told the sailors pay was stopped the day their ship was torpedoed and the survivors never saw a penny for the years subsequently spent in POW camps.

Tauranga council flew the red ensign in remembrance this week; too little too late for men who put their lives on the line for their country and received no thanks.

Shame those climbing on the penguin bandwagon couldn't re-focus on issues that really matter. Makes you really wonder about this society's priorities.

Horsemanning

The craze of planking was over before it started; however, the latest cheerful idea is horsemanning; where people fake photos suggesting they've been beheaded. It seems to have started with a photo from the 1920s found in a garage sale (pictured left). Then it was all on. Now Horsemanning photos are popping up all over the place.

We can't see it catching in Iraq, where genuine beheading is still popular. I mean, why would you fake it when Mohammed can easily supply you with any number of genuine infidel beheading photos?

So horsemanning and planking might be a stupid pastime, but at least it doesn't unnecessarily upset anyone else. For that, have a crack at earthquake forecasting by the moon.