October 23rd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
LUCY has gone quiet.

Nah, cough!, gone for a fag before the lung transplant, cough!, fucking COPD cough!.

Just for the record Joe I dont smoke.

Certificates for pupils who stood up to Laws
By KAY BLUNDELL – The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 24/10/2009

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post
H IS FOR HONOURED: Otaki School kids received certificates from Joris de Bres after writing a letter to Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws about changing the name of Wanganui to Whanganui. From left, Rautini Thompson, Maria Logan-Richards, Amokura Rangiheuea gather round Mr de Bres.
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A group of Otaki primary school pupils have been honoured by Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres for acting with dignity in dealing with criticism from Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws.

The pupils, aged 11 to 13, at Otaki School’s kura kaupapa unit, were upset with an angry reply from Mr Laws, whom they wrote to in August urging him to insert the letter “h” in Wanganui.

Mr de Bres presented the girls with certificates yesterday to honour their stance.

“Your message to stand up for yourself is clear. You acted with real dignity and calm and quietly stood up for what you thought when dealing with such rubbish from Wanganui’s mayor.

“There has been a huge response from around the country for what you did. I hope the minister in charge of this issue will decide to correct the spelling,” Mr de Bres said.

He believed the way they had dealt with criticism was an example for everyone in New Zealand.

Ngarui Wihongi-Manukau, Rautini Thompson, Maria Logan-Richards, Amokura Rangiheueu, Teina Davis and Te Rangiamohia Nikora-Davis were disappointed Mr Laws had failed to respond to issues they had raised about the spelling of the town and asked him to apologise.

His reply had said: “There are so many deficiencies of both fact and logic in your letters I barely know where to start. When your class starts addressing the real issues of Maoridom – particularly the appalling rate of child abuse and child murder within Maori society, then I will take the rest of your views seriously.”

“He sounded angry, it was like he was not listening to us because of things happening with our people,” Maria said.

Mr Laws later asked the students to afternoon tea in his mayoral office saying, “If the impression was … I was somehow ‘bullying’ in my reply, I want to assure you it was the last thing from my mind.”

The girls declined the offer.

Although shy about receiving the honour, the girls said they were pleased they had stood up for themselves and would do so again.

LUCY has gone quiet.

Nah, cough!, gone for a fag before the lung transplant, cough!, fucking COPD cough!.

I guess she is going off on a hot date…;-)

just ad hominems..a bit of bluster..

answer the question numbnuts. Why dont you do something about the environment instead of just complaining- like adopt a stream? – If you think side show bobs stream is dirty, why dont you clean it up?

i can’t..

news never sleeps..

phil(whoar.co.nz)

deep down…you care..!!!

you really really care..!!

phil(whoar.co.nz)

Why do you encourage him?

Now he will be even more energised!

Jeez…

Our ACC system is very efficient, and it is doing well. It runs at about half the cost of the Australian scheme, so we keep hearing on the wireless. If your mate Don (Juan) Brash wants us to catch up to Australia, all he needs to do is tell Jonki to double the price of ACC and whammo!

Last financial year, as I patiently point out, often, ACC received in premiums more than it paid out, and it currently has 10 billion (not a misprint) in cash and investments. The shortfall was only as regards setting aside the funding for the tail, a contingent liability. The need for funding the tail is disputed, but both our major parties sign up to it.

As I said, I have no problem with competition, but I would prefer to stick with ACC, personally. But of course, if I was an employee, I don’t have that choice. Only my employer, under the same rules as last time, has that privilege.

So just calm down, stop looking for reds under your bed, and try to make a meaningful contribution.

Good to hear there’s some nuanced ideas about privatization and that not everyone is rushing to a one-size fits all approach

I lean way to the right as well Blackmoss, but I don’t agree with private prisons at this stage. In my view, protecting citizens and running the criminal justice and courts system should be (and once was ) the main function of government. Everything the government gets into that causes problems and raises moral issues around taking other peoples money to pay for politicians’ pet projects.

Which is why I find it strange that some on the right advocate private prisons, yet still want the state to run their hospitals, schools, families commissions, welfare, cake decorating classes etc.. It seems like these people have it all round the wrong way, they are not focussing on what the government should be doing in the first place, rather HOW the government should do it (when the government shouldn’t have its nose in it at all).

As well as that, now don’t get me wrong I am all for harsh punishment for the violent thugs that roam our streets, but private enterprise profiting off rising crime does not sit too well with me; you can then end up with lobby groups popping up advocating for harsh sentences etc all while having vested interests in more prisoners.

If that rant makes sense to you Blackmoss, that is my thoughts on it anyway

As i said in my post, I regard as ACC as a kind of middle case — I’m not totally ruling out that privatization could make sense. My question related to privitization of prisons — I mean, how do you make money off what has to be viewed in the first instance as a cost to society. To guess at some answers, I would say you could: (i) get the prisoners to provide a service or a good, or (ii) you could reduce costs. The first option is similar to the work for the dole idea, you could get prisoners to provide their labour in the commerical arena, say doing laundery like on the movies, but this would push out the people that actually do this work in the first place, doable I spose. You could reduce costs in a number of ways, but in none of these ways can I see positive results, i.e. if you reduce labour costs you disenfranchise already stressed prison guards and open them up to even greater possibilities of corruption, you could cut down on any education, rehabilitation, but that destroys the principle of what prisoners are in the first place (not to some people, I know). I mean, I just think you’re naive if you think the private market is going to save you — the problems of private companies are obvious if you think about it — they have one, and only one, bottom line — profit. They will cynically and sometimes illegally, operate to that imperative. Just this week or two we have had Telecom for some anti-competitive practice. Companies aren’t what they portray themselves in flash marketing promotions. Just read LUCY post, apparently its possible to reduce costs, improve coverage and make a profit. Now I accept if insurance has just been an absolute gravy train, with all and sundry ripping off the system, then there is room for improvement, but why can’t the ACC be held to account for that? The reality is, is that the best way to make a profit on the insurance industry is to maximize premiums while being competitive with other providers (fine), and reduce the payouts you make by limiting coverage — its that step that could be problematic, and IMO the best post in today’s debate is wynkie at 10:48 pm and he raises some things that everyone should consider, lest something unforeseen happen to them and they find they’re in a bit of a situation. as usual for a factual based post, no-one comments on it and returns to their idealogical diatribes and general left or right propaganda. I thought it was obvious that the truth is usually to be found somewhere in the middle. anyway that’s my rant…
However,

Wonder if we can put this down to Obummer’s tarriffs.
Philu, your mate Obummer’s policies are doing wonders for the ordinary kiwi….

eh?…

and whistle dixie..?

“..c’mon wanker, you wanted a debate……

Answer the question.”

phil(whoar.co.nz)

c’mon wanker, you wanted a debate……

Answer the question