This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 8:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
NZ elects a right leaning govt that tries to hold back the tide of financial ruin by building a cycleway. A sort of 21C version of the dig a hole and fill it in again make work of the 1930′s.
Qld elects a left leaning govt with green cred and offers domestic solar hot water subsidies so that a household can have a new solar hot water heater installed for $500.00.
Which plan will have
the greatest impact on imporving lives, conserving resources, reducing strees on electricity generation and boost household income?
John “I believe in the Welfare State” Key, take a look accross the ditch at a real government.
[DPF: You don't follow politics much do you? National announced a solar water subsidy policy around two years ago and it was in the manifesto. Labour's previous policy failed totally as no one took it up!]
“Rather than following aggregate demand-oriented approaches adopted by the US, Britain and other countries, federal policymakers should look to New Zealand, which so far has avoided measures aimed directly at inflating consumption spending. Instead, the NZ Government has emphasised supply-side measures that will flatten marginal taxes levied on individuals, improve infrastructure and quickly lower the regulatory burden on business.”
It’s the day before a long holiday weekend and the forecast is great.
Today I’m asking (you know where) exactly what is it that makes NZ the world’s best country in your opinion?
Forget all the doom, gloom, murder and mayhem the mainstream media is throwing at us day after day and take a moment or two to reflect on the great things about life in NZ. Then share those thoughts with everyone else.
Sometimes it’s too easy to ignore the good while being worn down by the bad.
Well Aardvark, Easters always a good weekend.
The things that make NZ great is the fact we’re going to be a lifeboat for Humanity. Does this mean we may also be the lifeboat for endemic and endangered species? A modern day Noahs Ark that will create it’s own Ararat with a few more earthquakes.
Life in NZ – few poisonous species to attack us when walking in the woods. Cool forests from the heat of the summers day. Weird birds with long beaks; living fossils; great unpopulated beaches, especially up north; temperate climate;
Hmm, says a lot that I can’t think of anything great about the people living in NZ however…
Pita Sharples should engage his brain before he continues attacking the Government for not following the Royal Commission’s recommendation to give Maori three seats on the proposed new council.
He should remind himself that the Maori seats in Parliament were themselves retained despite the Royal Commision on the Electoral System saying that if MMP was chosen they should be abolished.
Royal Commissions only give advice – Governments make the decisions.
If Dr Sharples truly believes Maori are unelectable in equal opportunity elections he would be well advised to think less about who they are descended from, and more about what they have descended to.
Global warming is that bad today in Canterbury I’m half way thru a cord of dry bluegum. Any icebergs on the beach yet as Helen just had another “low moment”.
wasteful bastard, that’s a month’s wood for me in a decent, efficient log burner. No wonder Christchurch air is so polluted in winter! Board up your open fire and install an efficient low emission log burner. Greenfly will thank you for it.
Auckland Mayors: Auckland ratepayers will pay at least $550 each in restructuring costs for a Super City
Rodney Hide: “That’s scaremongering… restructuring costs would not be known until the Government appointed an establishment board in the next few weeks to do the transition.”
Sooo….. we are going ahead with this anyway, even though we haven’t quantified the costs and we aren’t clear on the benefits. Also Rodney is giving Auckland ratepayers the bill for the transition, but at the same time wants to legislate to cap rates.
Now that the Greens are in positions of power (demure smile) how about matching up Anne Tolleycopter with Metiria Turei for some real value in the Education Portfolio. Metiria would ground the twittering, gyrating Tolleycopter and our children would gain enormously.
And big ‘ups’ to the new combination of Brownlee and Fitzsimons. He SO needed help! Talk about floundering around like a beached large sea mammal! He’s clueless, she’s just what he needs. She’ll have to speak slowly for a while, but Gerry will eventually twig.
Is that your best shot? So let me guess, if you wanted to reduce your carbon footprint because of high carbon taxes you would be thinking it was a farce if you had to buy an electric car?
Wycroff, Pita Sharples and his ostrich, like minded racists do their own people a huge disservice. The more a society favours one sector and grants said sector rights that others do not enjoy the greater the resentment in society from those that live by the rules. The Maori Party is always crying wolf when it comes to “rights” but it seems to me every extra “right ” been granted to Maori has not resulted in the uplifting of the Maori race, if their is such a thing these days. It’s time they got over themselves and joined the 21st century. As long as the people of NZ continue to pander to those that have some warped sense of entitlement the longer it will take us from truly living in a united country traveling down the same road as one people.
A few years back I lived in a place with a constant view of a range of mountains that got covered in snow during winter. The same mountains I had tramped a lot in during my youth so I knew their seasonal cycles well. Us ‘local’ always said the snow arrived at Easter, and that was pretty much clockwork. It certainly seemed the weather was linked to the same calendar as Easter in that regard. In more recent years the snow has been a bit later, but last year and again this year it’s pretty much back on track with my earlier reference point. It’s a cycle, and one we know piss all about. Scientists have predicted catastrophic cooling and catastrophic warming as long as weather has been studied.
New topic: Street collectors. I’ve just endured 250m of Lambton Quay and had my path tactfully blocked by no less than 6 Red Cross collectors. These guys/gals are apparently paid a commission based on the donations they successfully solicit.
I don’t know about you, but my inclination to donate to a cause is reduced when the collection process is turned into an employment activity… rather than a voluntary activity undertaken by supporters of that cause.
Good comment burt – the climate change issue is based on far-from-certain science that extremists are only too willing to buy in to. I view it with the upmost scepticism.
Qld elects a left leaning govt with green cred and offers domestic solar hot water subsidies so that a household can have a new solar hot water heater installed for $500.00.
Oh yes it was a wise move, so wise that Solar installers are complaining that they have had nearly all of their projected Solar panel installation work cancelled while their customers wait for the subsidised systems.
BTW, unless the scheme has changed, and considering I live in Brisbane I probably would have heard about it. Capn Bligh on behalf of the people of Queensland will be purchasing the Solar systems in bulk (everyone suspects from China, but Capn is tight lipped) and selling them as installed packages for $500 each. So I wouldnt call it a subsidy, more completely bloody dumb as alot of solar installers are finding their income is being severely effected during a time of financial uncertainty.
Fair call getstaffed. What a sad reflection on society that you can’t get volunteers to collect for charities. I do the “stand on a corner with a bucket for charity thing” once a year and can’t say it is a pleasurable experience but geez, asking for payment to do it? Not nice.
and I agree about the edit function, especially when small minded twits make a meal of simple mistakes. Thanks for going on a hunger strike on my behalf.
I totally agree with you, those red cross types are bloody parasites.
When I donate I want to know that almost all of it is going to that cause, there is an elderly chap who sits outside my local supermarket and collects for either the SPCA or SAFE (I cannot remember which it is) he is the model of what I expect in a person collecting donations.
Every week he arrives with a dog and sits there in silence, it is amazing the number of people who I see put at least a 5 dollar note in his collection box, I know that I cannot pass the bugger without chucking in at least a tenner, people are happy to do so as they do not seem to feel pressured.
Every donation is received with a smile and a hearty “thank you very much”, I can only talk for myself but I know that I always feel more inclined to donate through him than I am to those who rattle a bloody tin in your face as you hurry about your days work along he high street.
The likes of campit would call it a farce if you had to spend a few thousand up front to save a thousand every year till the kit needs replacing if it were a National party idea. If it were a Labour party idea it would be brilliant, investing in the future.
I tend to agree but there are two sides to this coin. There is how much is collected but more importantly there is how much is received by the charity. If well organised collectors increase the total of donations received by the charity then that is surely the most important thing.
I ask myself, if there was only one collector and they were across the road, would I seek them out? How many people would do that?
Road Rage;
Our 27 year old daughter blames it on the computer games that are nowadays so very popular.
In the computer games if somebody’s awful driving offends an animated character the animated character gets out of his car and beats the living daylights out of the supposed offender. Our daughter was astounded by how violent thoughts came across her, as she was trying to tolerate Asian drivers, after playing a computer game. She is normally so sweet and Dad’s darling, so her comments were thought provoking for my wife and I.
The daughter had been playing heavy metal music (is that a contradiction in terms) while my wife was in the car. My 61 year old wife remarked that it was weird that the heavy metal made her as angry and violent minded as a 17 year old with PMT. We wonder if the head banging music enhances road rage.
Metiria’s speaking at Drinking Liberally Wellington tonight. Her topic? “Could the Marxist-Leninist Anarcha-Feminist Maori Nationalist Random Trollop please EXPLAIN!”
I think most of us here would love it! See you there, D4J!
It seems to me that for Sharples et al’ it has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘the poor, poverty-stricken, benefit-dependent proles’ but rather for them it’s all about ME – and their posturing is just that – posturing to make themselves look good to the elders and the leaders of their respective tribes – and to ensure that they continue to feed at the Parliamentary trough.
And, in this connection, it has always struck me as very odd that (at least publicly), Sharples and co have never actually condemned ANY of the violence that their ‘race’ inflicts on both themselves and the rest of New Zealand.
There has been a very loud and deafening silence about the Aim-murder in Taupo, the ‘Curtis’-episode in Rotorua and all and any other violence that ‘Maori’ have inflicted on the rest of us – and then of course there is the Hawawera/PM bother at Waitangi and the ‘Bros in the Beehive’ as a result!
In view of this, the only inference that the rest of us can get, is that they actually AGREE with what has gone on – and yet, if you are ‘Maori’ this is evidently called ‘Leadership’, and they are the leaders – the example for others to follow!
If that is in fact the case and these are ‘the Leaders’ of their ethnic group, then it is no wonder that ‘Maori’ have little moral fibre and are so beligerent – their leaders actually condone violence and insolence – then yell and scream if they are challenged!!
(The ‘Treaty’ is always a very good ‘fall-back’ point. If all else fails just trundle it out and watch as it works its miracles).
Based on this, is it any wonder that ‘Maori’ – especially YOUNG ‘Maori’ believe they are above the law? their ‘Leader’s’ effectively tell them that they are!! (Helen’s legacy to ‘her fifedom!’).
John Key has at last bought a sense of reality into the situation, (namely he has realised, and enunciated, that the average Kiwi has had enough) and, predicably, the spoilt, posturing Sharples is once again bleating – which is what I suppose we should expect anyway, from what is, effectively, a ‘One-trick’ pony.
And if the ‘pony has only got one trick, it eventually becomes merely tiresome and irrelevant, an object of derision and scorn – and even the dreaded ‘Treaty’-threat will no longer work (Yaay!).
Sadly Sharples and friends risk becoming such an object, due to their obsession with the past, their inability to tell or concede the truth about their own, and their dis-inclination accept the realities of the present.
But then, as I said before it is , after all, all about THEM – and why should the poverty and drug-dependence of their own get in the way. The ‘Proles are, after all, just so VERY inconvenient!
Absolutely. I did a not overly scientific study on myself with cycle commuting. Basically I took a mental note of the music playing in my ears at times I had encounters with cars. I also noted the ride times associated with various music.
It comes down to this, Van Halen or Metalica hammering in my head makes me a fricken menace on the bike, as does Hinder and a few others. But it improves my commute time noticeably. Interestingly the exact opposite is present with more subdued music.
There is more to the effect of music on our minds that we like to admit from our civilised perspective that we are in control with higher intellect.
New topic: Street collectors. I’ve just endured 250m of Lambton Quay and had my path tactfully blocked by no less than 6 Red Cross collectors.
Heh. A work colleague just told me that she recently cancelled her regular Red Cross donation (a ‘subscription’) because she was sick of being accosted by their street collectors
KOMATA::::::::::Don’t omit the main issue…Putting the ‘H’ into Wanganui.
RYAN::::::::::It was “GLOBAL WARMING:” until the Fraudsters realised the Globe was cooling and to continue the scam they had to change the name to climate change.
Big Bruv – thanks for posting the link to the article on maika, however, I question whether or not you have read it yourself, given your comments regarding her sentence. Yes, the offence she was charged with carries a 7 year maximum penalty (see s 154 Crimes Act) but as with all maximum penalties, this range is allocated to take account of the worst cases of offending. Now for an offence such as this you may expect to see a starting point of two years or something along those lines, but there are a number of mitigating factors here – and many of them are mentioned in the article – such as the psychiatric and psychological issues that she was diagnosed as having.
MOre importantly, I wonder what your reasons are for your exclamation at the fact she will not be sent to prison? What benefit do you think prison will serve her, or us as a nation? Is it about punishment? Public safety? Spending tax payer money for no purpose what so-ever? You also note that the judge did not order her deportation – I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that the Immigration Department are reviewing her case! (again, as is stated in the article).
While this may appear to be a light sentence on its face – I ask you BB, what sentence would you have imposed and on what grounds would you have imposed it? It is likely she will be sent home anyway, so why put her in prison here? To her detriment, and importantly, ours as the tax payers and citizens of NZ?
I don’t often have much good to say about lawyers but I salute the following QCs who give their time free to prosecute cruelty cases for the SPCA. Paul Davidson.Nick.Davison, Stuart Grieve, Rodney Harrison, John Haigh and Anne Hinton.
Correct. Some good speed/thrash or death metal will encourage aggression and increase mental alertness (in myself, anyway) Great for attacking that deserted piece of twisty road in the mountains, but not quite so good for the commute.
MynameisJack I had a look at the Socialists home insulation scheme a while back I qualified for a grand plus GST Trouble was their nominated installer was going to cost over two grand more than my installer and the form filling was mind boggling.And in any case I would never ever take the filthy Socialists subsidy Its dirty and tainted money just like they are.
The Department had no flexibility and the registered installers knew this so like all good tradepeople they were milking the scheme for all it was worth.
You see MNIJ When you get pollies like the Socialists/ Communists and civil servants none of whom have a commercial business brain they F…. up what should be a great idea big time.
The common sense solution would be for me to select MY installer who bills the Department for the subsidy and me for the balance. A very very simple and low cost audit process could detect any rippoffs No time here but a first year Auditor in any of the CA firms will explain how to you if you ask
“While this may appear to be a light sentence on its face – I ask you BB, what sentence would you have imposed and on what grounds would you have imposed it?”
She left the child to die for goodness sake, that alone is grounds to lock her up for the full seven years in my book.
You also ask “What benefit do you think prison will serve her” as if I should give a shit about this low life, why is it that I should care about those who abandon babies at birth?.
Lock her up, send the bill to the Samoan government (or deduct it from the millions we give them) and when her time is done send her back on the first available flight.
I agree with you, I am also one of the first to stick the boot into the legal profession, however on this they will have my total support and total respect.
In regard to to the tragic road rage death. IMHO the Police should have the powers to do a drug test onevery driver in a traffic incident. I bet they would find there are significantly more cases of drug impairment that drink impairment.
After a night on the drugs how many are driving impaired in morning traffic? Especially P.
In the mid 1990s there were warnings from overseas police and locally that P would become the problem that it is
And so what did the pollies and civil servants do .. SFA As usual the lazy good for nothing pricks ignored the warnings and stuck their heads up their arses where the excuse for their brains reside.
And still they are totally non effective and a waste of space they lack the will capacity and capability to control the problem.
Restorative justice is the buzzword these days. I’m waiting for a Greenie to suggest a practical “restorative justice” solution for the case you mentioned – one that adequately addresses the newborn’s rights. I won’t be holding my breath…
gd wrote: In regard to to the tragic road rage death.
There are two sets of driving rules in New Zealand.
The first, which applies to anyone born here, is that you must indicate three seconds before commencing a lane change or turn.
The second, which applies to anyone born in Asia, is that you can drive however you like and indicating is entirely optional.
If you’re a Caucasian driving a European car over the speed limit, you’ll see more police during your journey than you’d see parked outside a doughnut shop on half-price day.
If you’re an Asian driving in Auckland, you don’t need a driving license, you don’t need to indicate, you can drive on either side of the road and you can drive at any speed that you like.
These are facts.
Kiwi drivers in Auckland are thoroughly annoyed with Asian driving and the blind-eye turned to it by traffic enforcement. Asians need to improve their driving and the police need to start focussing on Asian driving transgressions.
Nomestradamus – if you believe that ‘restorative’ means ‘restore to the previous state’ then you will never comprehend the idea. Dead usually means dead (though I’ll leave room for dissent on this, the day before Easter). Restorative surely refers to ‘the best that can possibly be achieved’. Big Bro is the worst person to quiz over justice, I would say, given that he says he would like to see this woman jailed for 7 years. Hard liners like Big Bro lack the quality of mercy and the human race has suffered mightily at the hands of others with the same affliction.
oob, by the same token, espouses the killing of young girls by high-powered rifles wielded by men on roof-tops. I meant to ask yesterday oob (when you made your statement) whether you had ordered one of those Israelii Army t-shirts that read ‘One shot, 2 kills’ and have an image of a pregnant woman framed in the cross-hairs of a snipers scope. Sounded like your kind of thing.
Greenfly – Communists bent on taking away our freedom, no matter their age or gender.
I’m egalitarian like that.
Secondly, unlike you communists who took such revolutionary joy in working on Kibbutzim in the 60s, 70s and 80s and who have now undergone an epiphany and realised just exactly what it was you were contributing to, I’ve consistently supported the return of all of Palestine to it’s rightful owners the Palestinians.
I’ve never understood ‘restorative justice’ to mean ‘restore to the previous state’.
The issue for me is that RJ advocates essentially say that it is appropriate for any situation. Too often, though, it seems to mean a family conference nudge and a wink. I’ve read (admittedly) anecdotal examples of cases where a conference between perpetrator and victim, together with their families, actually ends up as a verbal slugfest. I can’t see how that does anything for the victim. Why would a rape victim, for example, want to hear excuses from the offender? Or even an apology?
In this case – and I don’t pretend to have a detailed grasp of the facts simply from reading a media report – what would you suggest as an appropriate ‘restorative justice’ outcome? It appears that the mother and her baby will both be deported to Samoa. You would be in favour of the mother continuing to look after her baby, with adequate supervision?
I’ve just endured 250m of Lambton Quay and had my path tactfully blocked by no less than 6 Red Cross collectors
Here’s a bit more information for you.
If you make a donation, it goes to pay for red cross employees to stay in the best hotels (in post tsunami Sri Lanka they occupied seven floors of the Hilton Hotel, which was a four hour drive from the major area of disaster). I suggest a total moratorium on donations to Red Cross until their salaries, benefits, travel and accommodation policies are publicly declared.
“That’s very admirable oob, but it doesn’t explain your expressed desire to shoot young girls.”
That of course is not what he said at all, and for you to intimate that he did is just another example of what stinking low life cowards you people are, always ready with the smear and the lie.
As for the sentiment, one could perhaps understand it when parasites such as yourself sit at home receiving welfare at the same time as they attack and smear their providers on this web site, and also have the shameless gall to urge those providers to go out and work harder so that they can maintain you and your family at the same time as they struggle to maintain THEIR OWN FAMILY.
What disgusting amoral human excrement you are. Not a milligram of shame in your personal makeup. ..and almost a thousand offensive messages written on here all couched in the same smug phraseology of the arrogant supercilious pseudo liberal, and all based on the same faulty premises that underpin the left’s ideas of what is funny and smart, and in complete ignorance of how irritating and infantile those messages are to any real person.
Outside of that delusional narcissistic world, you’re just another repugnant example of the half educated brain damaged leftist scum that has pulled this country so far into the gutter, and would pull it even further if by any means you managed to obtain the total power you obsess over.
“Why would a rape victim, for example, want to hear excuses from the offender? Or even an apology?”
I suffer from the same gob smacked curiosity. It is a good example of how fucked in the head the pseudo liberals of the left are when they constantly project the amazing scenario that an “apology” is a way of making amends in the circumstances of some of the most horrible crimes out there.
As an immigrant who has driven in over 30 countries (in some of which driving is classified as a blood sport and surprisingly enjoyable if you treat it like a video game) I can quite happily say I think you’re being biased. The average kiwi driver (regardless of race) has mediocre skills and is one of the most selfish drivers on the planet. There are some sub-species, however:
- the well off north shore asian immigrant – normally a larger asian car, which looks like it’s empty as the person is barely visible above the steering wheel – moves slowly around, not sure where to go and indicating is incidental (as you stated)
- the white van driver tradesman (van is white) – who drives like he wishes he could be an F1 driver and/or is slip streaming so well he can open the boot of your car without getting out of his van – what’s scarier is he is on his mobile and writing down instructions for his next job at the same time as he opens your boot
- the younger aggressive woman – who tries to drive like a boy racer but without the same skill level or vehicle – interestingly this sub species has been the most dangerous to me over the last year – I’ve avoided 4 accidents by this sub species when they change lanes rapidly in to where I just happen to be already placed – might have been related to the fact they were applying lipstick at the same time as they changed lanes relying on their infamous female multi-skilling ability
- the really, really old person driving a really, really old car without ever getting out of 2nd gear who is poised preying mantis like over the steering wheel staring forward hoping that the rest of the motoring world does not exist and they can’t exist because they can’t see them as they can’t afford to take their focus off the road ahead and use their mirrors
- the westie – does not matter how fast how the car goes it’s more important it sounds like a jumbo jet taking off, has only one working headlight (always) and will follow you home if you cut him off
- the affluent female SUV driver – cannot quite work out where the lane starts and ends and typically sits across the dashed line just to be sure, has no idea they just blocked off the rest of the traffic at the traffic lights by sitting in the middle of the intersection, randomly parks “wherever” because the flashing lights are the “park anywhere” lights
- the vaguely affluent, selfish t**t – drives a more expensive car that he cannot really afford and it’s on HP but it looks good, typically cheaper beamer, bigger holden or 2nd hand audi, uses disability parks as they are empty and it’s not like he stopped anyone using them as some were still empty, thinks it’s a good idea to cut queues by being in the wrong lane and coming in late and generally seems to think that it’s a problem that other people are using his road that he’s paid for with his taxis
- Mr average kiwi – barely signals – never lets you in to traffic and sees it as a personal affront if you do get in to a space dedicated to him by god and thinks lane discipline means never, ever, ever getting out of the fast lane no matter what, takes a book out at the traffic lights, turns off the engine and decides to finish the chapter off before moving away once they’re green
- Boy Racer – truly pissed me off in the middle of the night by doing doughnuts down the road but I’ve never, ever had to avoid one on the road or sit behind them in the fast lane on the motorway or wonder when they might possibly pull away from the lights or perform avoidance manoeuvres on the motorway to avoid their affections
- the Greenie – back of vehicle can be vaguely seen through the dark cloud emitted from the exhaust through which we see various bumper stickers “Save the Whales”, “Stop French Nuclear Testing”, “The Environment is for our Grandchildren”, “ Acid Rain Kills Forests” and “Legalise Marijuana”. Car is older than the green movement, goes even slower than the green movement and is used to impose speed limits by not being able to go above 40 km per hour and the children in the back are not belted in as that affects their personal development by setting boundaries on their thinking
- Truck drivers – generally the best drivers on the road
I am, of course, god’s gift to driving and wish you would all take remedial driving courses
Redbaiter wrote: What disgusting amoral human excrement you are.
You’ve got to hand it to him greenfly, Redbaiter knows you better than your parole officer and your social worker combined.
..and would pull it even further if by any means you managed to obtain the total power you obsess over.
It’s funny, the communists really seem to believe that decent New Zealanders are simply going to sit by and let them take over, that “once our glorious revolution starts, the workers, the students and the broader proletariat will join us with revolutionary zeal!”
It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees. The future the Labour/Greens offer is very much, on our knees.
RedBaiter That of course is not what he said at all
That’s a relief! What did he say then, Baiter?
I challenge your use of this disgusting amoral human excrement sentence fragment.
Why do you feel that human excrement is ‘disgusting’ and ‘amoral’?
Do you have poo issues? (from your childhood, perhaps?)
Beginning to join the dots around you Baiter. The picture that’s coming through is kinda creepy.
I’m hoping you’ll be back to respond to my 3:24 post.
As a follow-up, though, this story is extremely disturbing:
Pensioner Louis Watt, 85, was watching television in his the living room of his Wiri retirement village unit shortly after 7.30pm yesterday when a man appeared out of nowhere and went to grab a laptop from the table, said Detective Senior Sergeant Karyn Malthus this afternoon.
When Mr Watt challenged the intruder verbally, he was punched to the ground. As he fell, he hit his head, rendering him unconscious, she said.
He came to about an hour later and, after checking the house to make sure the intruder had gone, phoned police.
He was taken to Auckland Hospital with multiple injuries, including a broken cheek, a suspected broken jaw bone, and cuts to the back of the head.
…
Mr Watt was a Second World War veteran and very independent.
…
At this stage, police did not have any suspects but were hopeful of catching the offender, described as being a “fat” Maori of Polynesian man who was possibly middle aged.
So a thug assaults a defenseless pensioner. Mr Watt is unlikely to be satisfied with excuses or an apology; his family members even more unlikely. So how would you justify applying restorative justice, rather than ordinary criminal justice principles, here?
I can’t see how that does anything for the victim. Why would a rape victim, for example, want to hear excuses from the offender? Or even an apology?
Well sometimes the victims of violent crime not only want an apology but feel they need one in order to progress with their lives, even if the media go so far as to twist their words to fit the “helpless victim” stereotype.
The problem is, as you say, that it’s assumed to be appropriate in all cases, and I’d add that it’s also assumed one size will fit all.
Nomestradamus – I’m very concerned for Mr Watts and the appalling circumstances he has been thrown into. My hope is that the attacker is caught and has to face the ‘ordinary criminal justice principals’ you describe. In this instance, I hope Mr Watts receives more reparation than that system offers. Restorative justice aims to satisfy ‘ordinary criminal justice principals’ and more, with further reparation for Mr Watts and a requirement that the attacker goes further than ‘serving his time’ and repair the hurt he has caused Mr Watt. It’s important that the person most affected by the crime, gets more satisfaction than the knowledge that the perpetrator has been punished.
Mr farrar you worry about you head , i worry about another oldie BASHED by a BRAVE (not) islander or maori(who knows). in his retirement unit Whats with these brown fuckers who think its a sport to bash old men up ,are kids and babies putting up to much of a fight,when they BEAT them to death , for these brown fuckwits, remember these fuckers have no brains, so they are our imagrant of choise. (STAY IN DORKLAND )kill up there BROS
Having been an observer of restorative justice with a maori bent (my wife was robbed by maori teenagers in what was a cynical and professional operation) I am happy to state that either the restorative bit or the maori bit (or both) were a complete and utter waste of time and $’s. We had the meeting where the representatives of the already professional criminals (they were at almost at the 100 offences milestone by the age of 14) outnumbered the victims. They were also able to avoid facing their victims by pretending to be upset, arriving late and denying having committed crimes for which there was uncontroversial proof.
Having been introduced to this I managed to meet 10′s of other victims. There was a common thread – restorative justice is used as an excuse to not punish the offenders. There was no restoration, no real admission of fault and no changes in behaviours. Many of the victims were older ladies who were incredibly forgiving (and often blamed the parents) but changed their tune once they understood the system.
I thought this might be a one off – so I spent 1/2 an hour with one of the police who indicated that, yes this was at the bad end of the spectrum, but no it was quite common. I even sat in similar court sessions out of poor nosiness and sadly this behaviour was repeated. Not one was different. We had repeat criminals being let loose despite repeat offences. The predators on the rest.
This is typical, various welfare or social type initiatives have decent motives but either are ineffective or have unintended effects because intent is fine but implementation is king. The implementations are always terrible.
We need to apply the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid – you commit a crime – you are wrong and there is a punishment – there are minimal excuses. People are not victims of their upbringing they make a deliberate decision to do what they do. We do not need to start out with excessive punishment but being a repeat offender needs to stimulate a larger reaction than is currently applied.
Restorative justice needs to also include the criminal paying back in some form or fashion to the victim sufficient to be comparable with the crime’s effects on the victim – this NEVER occurs as far as I can see.
* Font Size: Decrease Increase
* Print Page: Print
House Rules Blog | April 08, 2009 | 1 Comments
Yesterday was Budget Day in Ireland. Not only has Celtic tiger’s long period growth has been tamed by the global financial crisis. Government finances are in a mess.
The Irish Times calls yesterday’ statement from Finance Minister Brian Lenihan the “toughest budget in living memory”. There were austerity measures all round – including for MPs. Pensions for serving politicians are to be discontinued and their expenses will be cut by 10 per cent across the board.
This is what Lenihan had to say: “Fairness must be the cornerstone of all our efforts to achieve economic renewal. Everyone wants fairness but there is less agreement about what it means. For many, it means the next person should pay. But the reality is everyone must give according to their means. Those who have most must give most. But before we ask anyone else to give, we in this House and in this Government must examine our own costs. Those of us in politics have been entrusted with a great privilege by the people. We must lead by example…”
Irish President Mary McAleese has already announced that she will be taking a 10 per cent reduction in her light of the country’s poor budgetary position. Lenihan and his ministerial colleagues took a 10 per cent wage cut last year. The opposition leader has instructed his party’s parliamentarians to take a five per cent cut. The governor of Ireland’s central bank has volunteered to also surrender 10 per cent of his pay.
A token gesture or a gesture of solidarity? Will we see anything like this when Wayne Swan gives his second budget next month?
This is my first post, so is likely to be a little wordy.
DPF, thanks for the forum. I am currently a prisoner on Kevin Rudd’s island and until I found this blog my only source of news & information from home was the MSM – needless to say, 100% pure bullshit.
Now, a few replies:
(1) Getstaffed – can rattlers are a menace. To exit the train stations in Melbourne you come up out of the underground and they position themselves in the tunnels. It’s like running a gauntlet. There’s no escape. I just tell them I already give more than half my income to charity and if they want some they should talk to KRudd.
(2) burt – “climate change” is not science it is (a) bullshit, (b) politics and (c) very, very big business. The IPCC is not a scientific organisation, but a political one.
(3) Not1 – “What benefit do you think prison will serve her”. WTF?? Apart from prison not existing to “benefit” the scumbags, maybe the “benefit” she’ll get is next time she drops one she won’t be tempted to try and kill it?
(4) Slijmball – your dissertation on subspecies is priceless. ROFLMAO
(5) General reply on “restorative justice”. What a joke. Boot camp their arses on their first offence. No guns of course, but all the other aspects of military boot camp might teach the little bastards a lesson.
And finally, I’ve been away a while and I’m a little confused about a couple of things, so maybe someone can help.
(1) Kiwibank. Their whole thing is that they’re cheaper than those “big Aussie bastard banks” isn’t it? So, isn’t it a little strange to read in the Herald online “Kiwibank also cut its 6 month rate by 20 basis points to 5.79 per cent, bringing it in line with ANZ National, SBS and Westpac.” Surely, since it’s taxpayer funded and not (anywhere near as much) a slave to the “market”, its rates should start by being at least a few points lower than the commercial banks?
(2) Pandering to minorities. The Herald online runs a story saying the Waitangi Tribunal has told the Maori Affairs Minister the Government needs to do something to “right the wrongs” done to the people of Urewera (Tuhoe). Tuhoe didn’t sign that most misinterpreted, ,misappropriated piece of propaganda “te Treaty”, so surely the response should be “Fuck Off”. Also, those terrorists led by that painted bitch Iti don’t want the rest of New Zealand on “their” land, so how about a deal: they keep their land, and they also keep their hands off the hard-earned money of honest Kiwis. No more benefits. No more handouts. Stay in your mountains. Fuck Off.
(3) Cullen. John Key may have taken a leaf out of KRudd’s book here. Rudd had the problem of a rabid greenie in the ranks, who threatened to undermine the entire message, so what does Rudd do? Makes him Environment Minister, and forces him to eat party political shit. So far poor old Peter Garrett, committed Greenie, has had to sign off approval of an environment-destroying desalination plan in Victoria and an even more environment-destroying wood chipping plant in Tasmania. Maybe Key has made Cullen his Garrett. After all, with Cullen sucking directly on National’s teat, he has to stop criticizing policy and, even better, he won’t be able to make poor old Gerry look like a fuckwit in the house any more. Smiling Assassin indeed.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am
OK – have you ever not had a plumber come around and look at the job, suck his breath in through his teeth, sigh and shake his head?
April 9th, 2009 at 9:13 am
RIP Jasmatbhai Patel.
No one deserves to die because of a bit of scratched paint.
My condolescences to the family. How you come to terms with such a meaningless killing is beyond me.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Agreed CraigM – what a sick society we have become.
And DPF – I have no sympathy for self-inflicted wounds
April 9th, 2009 at 9:16 am
What the hell is wrong with the 27 year old student is another good question Craig.
There is no excuse or explaination and putting a label on it does not deminise his responsibility for taking a life.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:20 am
My head hurts. I blame Wallace Chapman.
HAHAHA!
April 9th, 2009 at 9:29 am
On a lighter note – farewell Helen in style ….
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2009/04/helen-clark-caption-contest.html
April 9th, 2009 at 9:32 am
A tale of two governments.
NZ elects a right leaning govt that tries to hold back the tide of financial ruin by building a cycleway. A sort of 21C version of the dig a hole and fill it in again make work of the 1930′s.
Qld elects a left leaning govt with green cred and offers domestic solar hot water subsidies so that a household can have a new solar hot water heater installed for $500.00.
Which plan will have
the greatest impact on imporving lives, conserving resources, reducing strees on electricity generation and boost household income?
John “I believe in the Welfare State” Key, take a look accross the ditch at a real government.
[DPF: You don't follow politics much do you? National announced a solar water subsidy policy around two years ago and it was in the manifesto. Labour's previous policy failed totally as no one took it up!]
April 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am
You are actually as bloody stupid as you appear genocide jack.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:43 am
MNIJ – I suggest you read this article from The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25168156-7583,00.html
“Rather than following aggregate demand-oriented approaches adopted by the US, Britain and other countries, federal policymakers should look to New Zealand, which so far has avoided measures aimed directly at inflating consumption spending. Instead, the NZ Government has emphasised supply-side measures that will flatten marginal taxes levied on individuals, improve infrastructure and quickly lower the regulatory burden on business.”
April 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Gina don’t wrestle with a pig, you both get covered in shit and pig enjoys it.
Common sense and reason just run of his back. As with all of DPF socialist hacks.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Murray lesson learned
But i couldn’t resist
April 9th, 2009 at 9:48 am
It’s the day before a long holiday weekend and the forecast is great.
Today I’m asking (you know where) exactly what is it that makes NZ the world’s best country in your opinion?
Forget all the doom, gloom, murder and mayhem the mainstream media is throwing at us day after day and take a moment or two to reflect on the great things about life in NZ. Then share those thoughts with everyone else.
Sometimes it’s too easy to ignore the good while being worn down by the bad.
Let’s stay positive!
April 9th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Well Aardvark, Easters always a good weekend.
The things that make NZ great is the fact we’re going to be a lifeboat for Humanity. Does this mean we may also be the lifeboat for endemic and endangered species? A modern day Noahs Ark that will create it’s own Ararat with a few more earthquakes.
Life in NZ – few poisonous species to attack us when walking in the woods. Cool forests from the heat of the summers day. Weird birds with long beaks; living fossils; great unpopulated beaches, especially up north; temperate climate;
Hmm, says a lot that I can’t think of anything great about the people living in NZ however…
April 9th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Pita Sharples should engage his brain before he continues attacking the Government for not following the Royal Commission’s recommendation to give Maori three seats on the proposed new council.
He should remind himself that the Maori seats in Parliament were themselves retained despite the Royal Commision on the Electoral System saying that if MMP was chosen they should be abolished.
Royal Commissions only give advice – Governments make the decisions.
If Dr Sharples truly believes Maori are unelectable in equal opportunity elections he would be well advised to think less about who they are descended from, and more about what they have descended to.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Global warming is that bad today in Canterbury I’m half way thru a cord of dry bluegum. Any icebergs on the beach yet as Helen just had another “low moment”.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Climate change means more extreme weather locally while the average temperature increases globally, D4J. Doesn’t mean that everywhere gets hotter.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:04 am
And that neg karma isn’t from me. I don’t click those things.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:04 am
“…I’m half way thru a cord of dry bluegum”.”
wasteful bastard, that’s a month’s wood for me in a decent, efficient log burner. No wonder Christchurch air is so polluted in winter! Board up your open fire and install an efficient low emission log burner. Greenfly will thank you for it.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Ryan, Climate change is lefty hip bop science.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:09 am
“…….think less about who they are descended from, and more about what they have descended to.”
Give that man a whiskey. Best line of the week.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Ryan! You’ve engaged D4J in debate! You’re normally so astute. It can only end in tears (of laughter that is).
April 9th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Auckland Mayors: Auckland ratepayers will pay at least $550 each in restructuring costs for a Super City
Rodney Hide: “That’s scaremongering… restructuring costs would not be known until the Government appointed an establishment board in the next few weeks to do the transition.”
Sooo….. we are going ahead with this anyway, even though we haven’t quantified the costs and we aren’t clear on the benefits. Also Rodney is giving Auckland ratepayers the bill for the transition, but at the same time wants to legislate to cap rates.
Is this turning into a farce?
April 9th, 2009 at 10:11 am
They say the insane always laugh at themselves greenfly.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:13 am
“….take a look accross the ditch at a real government.”
I’m sure if we all had a wip around we could come up with an airfare for you. Only enough for one way tho.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Now that the Greens are in positions of power (demure smile) how about matching up Anne Tolleycopter with Metiria Turei for some real value in the Education Portfolio. Metiria would ground the twittering, gyrating Tolleycopter and our children would gain enormously.
[DPF: Actually Metitia is an active twitterer]
April 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
“Metiria would ground the twittering”
To late greenfly. She is already a big twit.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:21 am
And big ‘ups’ to the new combination of Brownlee and Fitzsimons. He SO needed help! Talk about floundering around like a beached large sea mammal! He’s clueless, she’s just what he needs. She’ll have to speak slowly for a while, but Gerry will eventually twig.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I do enjoy having greenfly here, it helps to remind us all what sneering self impressed pricks the radical left are.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:27 am
campit
Is that your best shot? So let me guess, if you wanted to reduce your carbon footprint because of high carbon taxes you would be thinking it was a farce if you had to buy an electric car?
April 9th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Wycroff, Pita Sharples and his ostrich, like minded racists do their own people a huge disservice. The more a society favours one sector and grants said sector rights that others do not enjoy the greater the resentment in society from those that live by the rules. The Maori Party is always crying wolf when it comes to “rights” but it seems to me every extra “right ” been granted to Maori has not resulted in the uplifting of the Maori race, if their is such a thing these days. It’s time they got over themselves and joined the 21st century. As long as the people of NZ continue to pander to those that have some warped sense of entitlement the longer it will take us from truly living in a united country traveling down the same road as one people.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:28 am
greenfly
The word “whale” will not cause your comments to be placed in moderation on this site. No need to use “large sea mammal”.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Bollocks Ryan – the climate is constantly changing mate – today it has changed from autumn to winter!!
April 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
greenfly
Are you Helen Calrk?
April 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
ahhh typo no edit… Clark….
April 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
burt – busted! I am Helen Calrk. I come from a long line of Calrks.
(Whale? I was thinking sea elephant – whales are graceful)
April 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I2/D4J
A few years back I lived in a place with a constant view of a range of mountains that got covered in snow during winter. The same mountains I had tramped a lot in during my youth so I knew their seasonal cycles well. Us ‘local’ always said the snow arrived at Easter, and that was pretty much clockwork. It certainly seemed the weather was linked to the same calendar as Easter in that regard. In more recent years the snow has been a bit later, but last year and again this year it’s pretty much back on track with my earlier reference point. It’s a cycle, and one we know piss all about. Scientists have predicted catastrophic cooling and catastrophic warming as long as weather has been studied.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:54 am
New topic: Street collectors. I’ve just endured 250m of Lambton Quay and had my path tactfully blocked by no less than 6 Red Cross collectors. These guys/gals are apparently paid a commission based on the donations they successfully solicit.
I don’t know about you, but my inclination to donate to a cause is reduced when the collection process is turned into an employment activity… rather than a voluntary activity undertaken by supporters of that cause.
What do other’s think?
April 9th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Right, I’m hunger striking until the Edit function is returned to us !!.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Good comment burt – the climate change issue is based on far-from-certain science that extremists are only too willing to buy in to. I view it with the upmost scepticism.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Qld elects a left leaning govt with green cred and offers domestic solar hot water subsidies so that a household can have a new solar hot water heater installed for $500.00.
Oh yes it was a wise move, so wise that Solar installers are complaining that they have had nearly all of their projected Solar panel installation work cancelled while their customers wait for the subsidised systems.
BTW, unless the scheme has changed, and considering I live in Brisbane I probably would have heard about it. Capn Bligh on behalf of the people of Queensland will be purchasing the Solar systems in bulk (everyone suspects from China, but Capn is tight lipped) and selling them as installed packages for $500 each. So I wouldnt call it a subsidy, more completely bloody dumb as alot of solar installers are finding their income is being severely effected during a time of financial uncertainty.
Oh yes please let NZ replicate that!
April 9th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Fair call getstaffed. What a sad reflection on society that you can’t get volunteers to collect for charities. I do the “stand on a corner with a bucket for charity thing” once a year and can’t say it is a pleasurable experience but geez, asking for payment to do it? Not nice.
and I agree about the edit function, especially when small minded twits make a meal of simple mistakes. Thanks for going on a hunger strike on my behalf.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:12 am
>>My head hurts. I blame Wallace Chapman.
His blatant left wing bias hurts my head my head too
April 9th, 2009 at 11:14 am
getstaffed
I totally agree with you, those red cross types are bloody parasites.
When I donate I want to know that almost all of it is going to that cause, there is an elderly chap who sits outside my local supermarket and collects for either the SPCA or SAFE (I cannot remember which it is) he is the model of what I expect in a person collecting donations.
Every week he arrives with a dog and sits there in silence, it is amazing the number of people who I see put at least a 5 dollar note in his collection box, I know that I cannot pass the bugger without chucking in at least a tenner, people are happy to do so as they do not seem to feel pressured.
Every donation is received with a smile and a hearty “thank you very much”, I can only talk for myself but I know that I always feel more inclined to donate through him than I am to those who rattle a bloody tin in your face as you hurry about your days work along he high street.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:14 am
The likes of campit would call it a farce if you had to spend a few thousand up front to save a thousand every year till the kit needs replacing if it were a National party idea. If it were a Labour party idea it would be brilliant, investing in the future.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Helen has left parliament remember.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am
getstaffed
I tend to agree but there are two sides to this coin. There is how much is collected but more importantly there is how much is received by the charity. If well organised collectors increase the total of donations received by the charity then that is surely the most important thing.
I ask myself, if there was only one collector and they were across the road, would I seek them out? How many people would do that?
April 9th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Road Rage;
Our 27 year old daughter blames it on the computer games that are nowadays so very popular.
In the computer games if somebody’s awful driving offends an animated character the animated character gets out of his car and beats the living daylights out of the supposed offender. Our daughter was astounded by how violent thoughts came across her, as she was trying to tolerate Asian drivers, after playing a computer game. She is normally so sweet and Dad’s darling, so her comments were thought provoking for my wife and I.
The daughter had been playing heavy metal music (is that a contradiction in terms) while my wife was in the car. My 61 year old wife remarked that it was weird that the heavy metal made her as angry and violent minded as a 17 year old with PMT. We wonder if the head banging music enhances road rage.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:31 am
She’s a very modern gal!
Metiria’s speaking at Drinking Liberally Wellington tonight. Her topic? “Could the Marxist-Leninist Anarcha-Feminist Maori Nationalist Random Trollop please EXPLAIN!”
I think most of us here would love it! See you there, D4J!
April 9th, 2009 at 11:41 am
SSB
I agreee with you completely.
It seems to me that for Sharples et al’ it has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘the poor, poverty-stricken, benefit-dependent proles’ but rather for them it’s all about ME – and their posturing is just that – posturing to make themselves look good to the elders and the leaders of their respective tribes – and to ensure that they continue to feed at the Parliamentary trough.
And, in this connection, it has always struck me as very odd that (at least publicly), Sharples and co have never actually condemned ANY of the violence that their ‘race’ inflicts on both themselves and the rest of New Zealand.
There has been a very loud and deafening silence about the Aim-murder in Taupo, the ‘Curtis’-episode in Rotorua and all and any other violence that ‘Maori’ have inflicted on the rest of us – and then of course there is the Hawawera/PM bother at Waitangi and the ‘Bros in the Beehive’ as a result!
In view of this, the only inference that the rest of us can get, is that they actually AGREE with what has gone on – and yet, if you are ‘Maori’ this is evidently called ‘Leadership’, and they are the leaders – the example for others to follow!
If that is in fact the case and these are ‘the Leaders’ of their ethnic group, then it is no wonder that ‘Maori’ have little moral fibre and are so beligerent – their leaders actually condone violence and insolence – then yell and scream if they are challenged!!
(The ‘Treaty’ is always a very good ‘fall-back’ point. If all else fails just trundle it out and watch as it works its miracles).
Based on this, is it any wonder that ‘Maori’ – especially YOUNG ‘Maori’ believe they are above the law? their ‘Leader’s’ effectively tell them that they are!! (Helen’s legacy to ‘her fifedom!’).
John Key has at last bought a sense of reality into the situation, (namely he has realised, and enunciated, that the average Kiwi has had enough) and, predicably, the spoilt, posturing Sharples is once again bleating – which is what I suppose we should expect anyway, from what is, effectively, a ‘One-trick’ pony.
And if the ‘pony has only got one trick, it eventually becomes merely tiresome and irrelevant, an object of derision and scorn – and even the dreaded ‘Treaty’-threat will no longer work (Yaay!).
Sadly Sharples and friends risk becoming such an object, due to their obsession with the past, their inability to tell or concede the truth about their own, and their dis-inclination accept the realities of the present.
But then, as I said before it is , after all, all about THEM – and why should the poverty and drug-dependence of their own get in the way. The ‘Proles are, after all, just so VERY inconvenient!
Sad isn’t it?
April 9th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Tauhei Notts
Absolutely. I did a not overly scientific study on myself with cycle commuting. Basically I took a mental note of the music playing in my ears at times I had encounters with cars. I also noted the ride times associated with various music.
It comes down to this, Van Halen or Metalica hammering in my head makes me a fricken menace on the bike, as does Hinder and a few others. But it improves my commute time noticeably. Interestingly the exact opposite is present with more subdued music.
There is more to the effect of music on our minds that we like to admit from our civilised perspective that we are in control with higher intellect.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Brilliant!
A Samoan Sheila gives birth to a kid on an flight into NZ and then abandons that child, she is found, arrested and charged.
She goes to court, pleads guilty and is discharged, not kicked out of the country, not sent to prison but discharged!
Another ridiculously lenient sentence handed down by our joke of a legal system.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2326481/Mother-admits-abandoning-newborn-on-plane
April 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Heh. A work colleague just told me that she recently cancelled her regular Red Cross donation (a ‘subscription’) because she was sick of being accosted by their street collectors
April 9th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
KOMATA::::::::::Don’t omit the main issue…Putting the ‘H’ into Wanganui.
RYAN::::::::::It was “GLOBAL WARMING:” until the Fraudsters realised the Globe was cooling and to continue the scam they had to change the name to climate change.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Big Bruv – thanks for posting the link to the article on maika, however, I question whether or not you have read it yourself, given your comments regarding her sentence. Yes, the offence she was charged with carries a 7 year maximum penalty (see s 154 Crimes Act) but as with all maximum penalties, this range is allocated to take account of the worst cases of offending. Now for an offence such as this you may expect to see a starting point of two years or something along those lines, but there are a number of mitigating factors here – and many of them are mentioned in the article – such as the psychiatric and psychological issues that she was diagnosed as having.
MOre importantly, I wonder what your reasons are for your exclamation at the fact she will not be sent to prison? What benefit do you think prison will serve her, or us as a nation? Is it about punishment? Public safety? Spending tax payer money for no purpose what so-ever? You also note that the judge did not order her deportation – I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that the Immigration Department are reviewing her case! (again, as is stated in the article).
While this may appear to be a light sentence on its face – I ask you BB, what sentence would you have imposed and on what grounds would you have imposed it? It is likely she will be sent home anyway, so why put her in prison here? To her detriment, and importantly, ours as the tax payers and citizens of NZ?
April 9th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I don’t often have much good to say about lawyers but I salute the following QCs who give their time free to prosecute cruelty cases for the SPCA. Paul Davidson.Nick.Davison, Stuart Grieve, Rodney Harrison, John Haigh and Anne Hinton.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Tauhei/Burt:
Correct. Some good speed/thrash or death metal will encourage aggression and increase mental alertness (in myself, anyway) Great for attacking that deserted piece of twisty road in the mountains, but not quite so good for the commute.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
MynameisJack I had a look at the Socialists home insulation scheme a while back I qualified for a grand plus GST Trouble was their nominated installer was going to cost over two grand more than my installer and the form filling was mind boggling.And in any case I would never ever take the filthy Socialists subsidy Its dirty and tainted money just like they are.
The Department had no flexibility and the registered installers knew this so like all good tradepeople they were milking the scheme for all it was worth.
You see MNIJ When you get pollies like the Socialists/ Communists and civil servants none of whom have a commercial business brain they F…. up what should be a great idea big time.
The common sense solution would be for me to select MY installer who bills the Department for the subsidy and me for the balance. A very very simple and low cost audit process could detect any rippoffs No time here but a first year Auditor in any of the CA firms will explain how to you if you ask
April 9th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Not1
“While this may appear to be a light sentence on its face – I ask you BB, what sentence would you have imposed and on what grounds would you have imposed it?”
She left the child to die for goodness sake, that alone is grounds to lock her up for the full seven years in my book.
You also ask “What benefit do you think prison will serve her” as if I should give a shit about this low life, why is it that I should care about those who abandon babies at birth?.
Lock her up, send the bill to the Samoan government (or deduct it from the millions we give them) and when her time is done send her back on the first available flight.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Baxter
I agree with you, I am also one of the first to stick the boot into the legal profession, however on this they will have my total support and total respect.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
In regard to to the tragic road rage death. IMHO the Police should have the powers to do a drug test onevery driver in a traffic incident. I bet they would find there are significantly more cases of drug impairment that drink impairment.
After a night on the drugs how many are driving impaired in morning traffic? Especially P.
In the mid 1990s there were warnings from overseas police and locally that P would become the problem that it is
And so what did the pollies and civil servants do .. SFA As usual the lazy good for nothing pricks ignored the warnings and stuck their heads up their arses where the excuse for their brains reside.
And still they are totally non effective and a waste of space they lack the will capacity and capability to control the problem.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
BB – I understand she is being deported and the kid is staying with rellies here in NZ
April 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Big Bruv:
Restorative justice is the buzzword these days. I’m waiting for a Greenie to suggest a practical “restorative justice” solution for the case you mentioned – one that adequately addresses the newborn’s rights. I won’t be holding my breath…
April 9th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
gd wrote: In regard to to the tragic road rage death.
There are two sets of driving rules in New Zealand.
The first, which applies to anyone born here, is that you must indicate three seconds before commencing a lane change or turn.
The second, which applies to anyone born in Asia, is that you can drive however you like and indicating is entirely optional.
If you’re a Caucasian driving a European car over the speed limit, you’ll see more police during your journey than you’d see parked outside a doughnut shop on half-price day.
If you’re an Asian driving in Auckland, you don’t need a driving license, you don’t need to indicate, you can drive on either side of the road and you can drive at any speed that you like.
These are facts.
Kiwi drivers in Auckland are thoroughly annoyed with Asian driving and the blind-eye turned to it by traffic enforcement. Asians need to improve their driving and the police need to start focussing on Asian driving transgressions.
The alternative is road rage incidents.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Nomestradamus – if you believe that ‘restorative’ means ‘restore to the previous state’ then you will never comprehend the idea. Dead usually means dead (though I’ll leave room for dissent on this, the day before Easter). Restorative surely refers to ‘the best that can possibly be achieved’. Big Bro is the worst person to quiz over justice, I would say, given that he says he would like to see this woman jailed for 7 years. Hard liners like Big Bro lack the quality of mercy and the human race has suffered mightily at the hands of others with the same affliction.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
greenfly wrote: Nomestr..BLAM!
April 9th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
oob, by the same token, espouses the killing of young girls by high-powered rifles wielded by men on roof-tops. I meant to ask yesterday oob (when you made your statement) whether you had ordered one of those Israelii Army t-shirts that read ‘One shot, 2 kills’ and have an image of a pregnant woman framed in the cross-hairs of a snipers scope. Sounded like your kind of thing.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Greenfly – Communists bent on taking away our freedom, no matter their age or gender.
I’m egalitarian like that.
Secondly, unlike you communists who took such revolutionary joy in working on Kibbutzim in the 60s, 70s and 80s and who have now undergone an epiphany and realised just exactly what it was you were contributing to, I’ve consistently supported the return of all of Palestine to it’s rightful owners the Palestinians.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
That’s very admirable oob, but it doesn’t explain your expressed desire to shoot young girls.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Greenfly:
I’ve never understood ‘restorative justice’ to mean ‘restore to the previous state’.
The issue for me is that RJ advocates essentially say that it is appropriate for any situation. Too often, though, it seems to mean a
family conferencenudge and a wink. I’ve read (admittedly) anecdotal examples of cases where a conference between perpetrator and victim, together with their families, actually ends up as a verbal slugfest. I can’t see how that does anything for the victim. Why would a rape victim, for example, want to hear excuses from the offender? Or even an apology?In this case – and I don’t pretend to have a detailed grasp of the facts simply from reading a media report – what would you suggest as an appropriate ‘restorative justice’ outcome? It appears that the mother and her baby will both be deported to Samoa. You would be in favour of the mother continuing to look after her baby, with adequate supervision?
April 9th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I’ve just endured 250m of Lambton Quay and had my path tactfully blocked by no less than 6 Red Cross collectors
Here’s a bit more information for you.
If you make a donation, it goes to pay for red cross employees to stay in the best hotels (in post tsunami Sri Lanka they occupied seven floors of the Hilton Hotel, which was a four hour drive from the major area of disaster). I suggest a total moratorium on donations to Red Cross until their salaries, benefits, travel and accommodation policies are publicly declared.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Dave Strings:
Fascinating – do you have a source for this claim?
April 9th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
“That’s very admirable oob, but it doesn’t explain your expressed desire to shoot young girls.”
That of course is not what he said at all, and for you to intimate that he did is just another example of what stinking low life cowards you people are, always ready with the smear and the lie.
As for the sentiment, one could perhaps understand it when parasites such as yourself sit at home receiving welfare at the same time as they attack and smear their providers on this web site, and also have the shameless gall to urge those providers to go out and work harder so that they can maintain you and your family at the same time as they struggle to maintain THEIR OWN FAMILY.
What disgusting amoral human excrement you are. Not a milligram of shame in your personal makeup. ..and almost a thousand offensive messages written on here all couched in the same smug phraseology of the arrogant supercilious pseudo liberal, and all based on the same faulty premises that underpin the left’s ideas of what is funny and smart, and in complete ignorance of how irritating and infantile those messages are to any real person.
Outside of that delusional narcissistic world, you’re just another repugnant example of the half educated brain damaged leftist scum that has pulled this country so far into the gutter, and would pull it even further if by any means you managed to obtain the total power you obsess over.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
“Why would a rape victim, for example, want to hear excuses from the offender? Or even an apology?”
I suffer from the same gob smacked curiosity. It is a good example of how fucked in the head the pseudo liberals of the left are when they constantly project the amazing scenario that an “apology” is a way of making amends in the circumstances of some of the most horrible crimes out there.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
oob
As an immigrant who has driven in over 30 countries (in some of which driving is classified as a blood sport and surprisingly enjoyable if you treat it like a video game) I can quite happily say I think you’re being biased. The average kiwi driver (regardless of race) has mediocre skills and is one of the most selfish drivers on the planet. There are some sub-species, however:
- the well off north shore asian immigrant – normally a larger asian car, which looks like it’s empty as the person is barely visible above the steering wheel – moves slowly around, not sure where to go and indicating is incidental (as you stated)
- the white van driver tradesman (van is white) – who drives like he wishes he could be an F1 driver and/or is slip streaming so well he can open the boot of your car without getting out of his van – what’s scarier is he is on his mobile and writing down instructions for his next job at the same time as he opens your boot
- the younger aggressive woman – who tries to drive like a boy racer but without the same skill level or vehicle – interestingly this sub species has been the most dangerous to me over the last year – I’ve avoided 4 accidents by this sub species when they change lanes rapidly in to where I just happen to be already placed – might have been related to the fact they were applying lipstick at the same time as they changed lanes relying on their infamous female multi-skilling ability
- the really, really old person driving a really, really old car without ever getting out of 2nd gear who is poised preying mantis like over the steering wheel staring forward hoping that the rest of the motoring world does not exist and they can’t exist because they can’t see them as they can’t afford to take their focus off the road ahead and use their mirrors
- the westie – does not matter how fast how the car goes it’s more important it sounds like a jumbo jet taking off, has only one working headlight (always) and will follow you home if you cut him off
- the affluent female SUV driver – cannot quite work out where the lane starts and ends and typically sits across the dashed line just to be sure, has no idea they just blocked off the rest of the traffic at the traffic lights by sitting in the middle of the intersection, randomly parks “wherever” because the flashing lights are the “park anywhere” lights
- the vaguely affluent, selfish t**t – drives a more expensive car that he cannot really afford and it’s on HP but it looks good, typically cheaper beamer, bigger holden or 2nd hand audi, uses disability parks as they are empty and it’s not like he stopped anyone using them as some were still empty, thinks it’s a good idea to cut queues by being in the wrong lane and coming in late and generally seems to think that it’s a problem that other people are using his road that he’s paid for with his taxis
- Mr average kiwi – barely signals – never lets you in to traffic and sees it as a personal affront if you do get in to a space dedicated to him by god and thinks lane discipline means never, ever, ever getting out of the fast lane no matter what, takes a book out at the traffic lights, turns off the engine and decides to finish the chapter off before moving away once they’re green
- Boy Racer – truly pissed me off in the middle of the night by doing doughnuts down the road but I’ve never, ever had to avoid one on the road or sit behind them in the fast lane on the motorway or wonder when they might possibly pull away from the lights or perform avoidance manoeuvres on the motorway to avoid their affections
- the Greenie – back of vehicle can be vaguely seen through the dark cloud emitted from the exhaust through which we see various bumper stickers “Save the Whales”, “Stop French Nuclear Testing”, “The Environment is for our Grandchildren”, “ Acid Rain Kills Forests” and “Legalise Marijuana”. Car is older than the green movement, goes even slower than the green movement and is used to impose speed limits by not being able to go above 40 km per hour and the children in the back are not belted in as that affects their personal development by setting boundaries on their thinking
- Truck drivers – generally the best drivers on the road
I am, of course, god’s gift to driving
and wish you would all take remedial driving courses
April 9th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Redbaiter wrote: What disgusting amoral human excrement you are.
You’ve got to hand it to him greenfly, Redbaiter knows you better than your parole officer and your social worker combined.
..and would pull it even further if by any means you managed to obtain the total power you obsess over.
It’s funny, the communists really seem to believe that decent New Zealanders are simply going to sit by and let them take over, that “once our glorious revolution starts, the workers, the students and the broader proletariat will join us with revolutionary zeal!”
It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees. The future the Labour/Greens offer is very much, on our knees.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
slijmbal – I stand corrected. Well said.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
RedBaiter That of course is not what he said at all
That’s a relief! What did he say then, Baiter?
I challenge your use of this disgusting amoral human excrement sentence fragment.
Why do you feel that human excrement is ‘disgusting’ and ‘amoral’?
Do you have poo issues? (from your childhood, perhaps?)
Beginning to join the dots around you Baiter. The picture that’s coming through is kinda creepy.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Greenfly:
I’m hoping you’ll be back to respond to my 3:24 post.
As a follow-up, though, this story is extremely disturbing:
So a thug assaults a defenseless pensioner. Mr Watt is unlikely to be satisfied with excuses or an apology; his family members even more unlikely. So how would you justify applying restorative justice, rather than ordinary criminal justice principles, here?
April 9th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Nomestradamus asks:
Well sometimes the victims of violent crime not only want an apology but feel they need one in order to progress with their lives, even if the media go so far as to twist their words to fit the “helpless victim” stereotype.
The problem is, as you say, that it’s assumed to be appropriate in all cases, and I’d add that it’s also assumed one size will fit all.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Nomestradamus – I’m very concerned for Mr Watts and the appalling circumstances he has been thrown into. My hope is that the attacker is caught and has to face the ‘ordinary criminal justice principals’ you describe. In this instance, I hope Mr Watts receives more reparation than that system offers. Restorative justice aims to satisfy ‘ordinary criminal justice principals’ and more, with further reparation for Mr Watts and a requirement that the attacker goes further than ‘serving his time’ and repair the hurt he has caused Mr Watt. It’s important that the person most affected by the crime, gets more satisfaction than the knowledge that the perpetrator has been punished.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Mr farrar you worry about you head , i worry about another oldie BASHED by a BRAVE (not) islander or maori(who knows). in his retirement unit Whats with these brown fuckers who think its a sport to bash old men up ,are kids and babies putting up to much of a fight,when they BEAT them to death , for these brown fuckwits, remember these fuckers have no brains, so they are our imagrant of choise. (STAY IN DORKLAND )kill up there BROS
April 9th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Having been an observer of restorative justice with a maori bent (my wife was robbed by maori teenagers in what was a cynical and professional operation) I am happy to state that either the restorative bit or the maori bit (or both) were a complete and utter waste of time and $’s. We had the meeting where the representatives of the already professional criminals (they were at almost at the 100 offences milestone by the age of 14) outnumbered the victims. They were also able to avoid facing their victims by pretending to be upset, arriving late and denying having committed crimes for which there was uncontroversial proof.
Having been introduced to this I managed to meet 10′s of other victims. There was a common thread – restorative justice is used as an excuse to not punish the offenders. There was no restoration, no real admission of fault and no changes in behaviours. Many of the victims were older ladies who were incredibly forgiving (and often blamed the parents) but changed their tune once they understood the system.
I thought this might be a one off – so I spent 1/2 an hour with one of the police who indicated that, yes this was at the bad end of the spectrum, but no it was quite common. I even sat in similar court sessions out of poor nosiness and sadly this behaviour was repeated. Not one was different. We had repeat criminals being let loose despite repeat offences. The predators on the rest.
This is typical, various welfare or social type initiatives have decent motives but either are ineffective or have unintended effects because intent is fine but implementation is king. The implementations are always terrible.
We need to apply the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid – you commit a crime – you are wrong and there is a punishment – there are minimal excuses. People are not victims of their upbringing they make a deliberate decision to do what they do. We do not need to start out with excessive punishment but being a repeat offender needs to stimulate a larger reaction than is currently applied.
Restorative justice needs to also include the criminal paying back in some form or fashion to the victim sufficient to be comparable with the crime’s effects on the victim – this NEVER occurs as far as I can see.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
greenfly wrote: I’m very concerned for Mr Watts and the appalling circumstances he has been thrown into.
Spare us your crocodile tears greenfly, he’s one of ours.
And a victim of one of yours.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Komata, thanks.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Make savings. Cut pollies’ pay and perks.
* Font Size: Decrease Increase
* Print Page: Print
House Rules Blog | April 08, 2009 | 1 Comments
Yesterday was Budget Day in Ireland. Not only has Celtic tiger’s long period growth has been tamed by the global financial crisis. Government finances are in a mess.
The Irish Times calls yesterday’ statement from Finance Minister Brian Lenihan the “toughest budget in living memory”. There were austerity measures all round – including for MPs. Pensions for serving politicians are to be discontinued and their expenses will be cut by 10 per cent across the board.
This is what Lenihan had to say: “Fairness must be the cornerstone of all our efforts to achieve economic renewal. Everyone wants fairness but there is less agreement about what it means. For many, it means the next person should pay. But the reality is everyone must give according to their means. Those who have most must give most. But before we ask anyone else to give, we in this House and in this Government must examine our own costs. Those of us in politics have been entrusted with a great privilege by the people. We must lead by example…”
Irish President Mary McAleese has already announced that she will be taking a 10 per cent reduction in her light of the country’s poor budgetary position. Lenihan and his ministerial colleagues took a 10 per cent wage cut last year. The opposition leader has instructed his party’s parliamentarians to take a five per cent cut. The governor of Ireland’s central bank has volunteered to also surrender 10 per cent of his pay.
A token gesture or a gesture of solidarity? Will we see anything like this when Wayne Swan gives his second budget next month?
April 10th, 2009 at 12:27 am
This is my first post, so is likely to be a little wordy.
DPF, thanks for the forum. I am currently a prisoner on Kevin Rudd’s island and until I found this blog my only source of news & information from home was the MSM – needless to say, 100% pure bullshit.
Now, a few replies:
(1) Getstaffed – can rattlers are a menace. To exit the train stations in Melbourne you come up out of the underground and they position themselves in the tunnels. It’s like running a gauntlet. There’s no escape. I just tell them I already give more than half my income to charity and if they want some they should talk to KRudd.
(2) burt – “climate change” is not science it is (a) bullshit, (b) politics and (c) very, very big business. The IPCC is not a scientific organisation, but a political one.
(3) Not1 – “What benefit do you think prison will serve her”. WTF?? Apart from prison not existing to “benefit” the scumbags, maybe the “benefit” she’ll get is next time she drops one she won’t be tempted to try and kill it?
(4) Slijmball – your dissertation on subspecies is priceless. ROFLMAO
(5) General reply on “restorative justice”. What a joke. Boot camp their arses on their first offence. No guns of course, but all the other aspects of military boot camp might teach the little bastards a lesson.
And finally, I’ve been away a while and I’m a little confused about a couple of things, so maybe someone can help.
(1) Kiwibank. Their whole thing is that they’re cheaper than those “big Aussie bastard banks” isn’t it? So, isn’t it a little strange to read in the Herald online “Kiwibank also cut its 6 month rate by 20 basis points to 5.79 per cent, bringing it in line with ANZ National, SBS and Westpac.” Surely, since it’s taxpayer funded and not (anywhere near as much) a slave to the “market”, its rates should start by being at least a few points lower than the commercial banks?
(2) Pandering to minorities. The Herald online runs a story saying the Waitangi Tribunal has told the Maori Affairs Minister the Government needs to do something to “right the wrongs” done to the people of Urewera (Tuhoe). Tuhoe didn’t sign that most misinterpreted, ,misappropriated piece of propaganda “te Treaty”, so surely the response should be “Fuck Off”. Also, those terrorists led by that painted bitch Iti don’t want the rest of New Zealand on “their” land, so how about a deal: they keep their land, and they also keep their hands off the hard-earned money of honest Kiwis. No more benefits. No more handouts. Stay in your mountains. Fuck Off.
(3) Cullen. John Key may have taken a leaf out of KRudd’s book here. Rudd had the problem of a rabid greenie in the ranks, who threatened to undermine the entire message, so what does Rudd do? Makes him Environment Minister, and forces him to eat party political shit. So far poor old Peter Garrett, committed Greenie, has had to sign off approval of an environment-destroying desalination plan in Victoria and an even more environment-destroying wood chipping plant in Tasmania. Maybe Key has made Cullen his Garrett. After all, with Cullen sucking directly on National’s teat, he has to stop criticizing policy and, even better, he won’t be able to make poor old Gerry look like a fuckwit in the house any more. Smiling Assassin indeed.