Please.

I considered voting for John Martin who seemed a splendid chap, but decided, on balance, that returning to Wanganui to be Mayor after many years abroad seemed a bit..ummmm… ‘rich’ in the sense of “he should have stayed during the bad years if he loved the place so much” (if that makes sense?)

http://www.nightcitytrader.blogspot.com

However, we must remember that a huge amount of abuse occurs from step-parents, uncles and grandparents too. You can sterilise them, but it doesn’t reduce their access to children to hurt. So I think as an extension of that kind of policy, certain people should actually be banned from ever having contact with any children again. If that means that they have to go and live in a hut in the bush, away from their families, then so be it. Children should not have to be exposed to abuse simply because we allow known abusers the right to have access to them.

The children who suffer the kind of severe, chronic abuse that I’m referring to grow up to be completely devoid of empathy and unable to form meaningful relationships with others. Then they have babies, and replicate the behaviour which has been modeled to them as children. And so the cycle continues.

We have to do more to protect our children. The personal rights of adults who hurt children need to be discarded if we are ever to stop this cycle.

Is he really a foaming genocidal lunatic?

I’ve always thought that he was just a preening narcisistic and attention-seeking little git who is once more bathing in the glare of the publicity that he has always craved and that was unfortunately interupted because he had to shoot through after admitting he was a lying little toe-rag.

Of course, I’m more than happy to defer given your more intimate knowledge of gentleman in question.

and you would know

and you have the balls to post under your name, unlike most here.

Yet their contributions, and mine, will languish forgotten on a blog thread. While the foaming genocidal lunatic who sparked the debate will have the fawning media at his doorstep the next time he feels like an incoherent prejudiced rant. And the next time. And the next…

One of the problems NZ has is that the wrong people are leading the debate(s)… a self-perpetuating group of luvvies who run round interviewing one another and rarely allowing a new voice or voices to join their clique.

It means recognising the deleterious effects of colonisation on indigenous peoples.

As in the case of, for example, the colonisation of the Americas, and the genocide in a very short time frame, about a decade, of 55,000,000 human beings.

People, nick, just like you and I.

Maori were sucked into signing a treaty that was promoted differently to Pakeha and Maori. That’s why the Maori language version is so important.

And the reference to National is to emphasise that even our supposedly right wing party signed up to that view.

What the fuck does that have to do with anything?

I should have added, just recognising what actually happened. I understand that may be a stretch too far for you, but remember this: the party that really kicked the settlement process along was National.

Bolger and Graham were visionaries who did the country proud.

Key may even sign up to the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. If he does, he will deserve similarly enhanced status in our history

colonisation

look forward to your scream

you defend the indefensible

Nick, I’m not sure what you think I am defending. I think the welfare state is an overblown mess, and would love to see much less of it and much less government. But just cutting it to shreds without a decent transition plan is likely to cause a lot more problems than it solves. Writing everything off that “the other side” has tried as a subversive plot is a bit pathetic unless it can actually be substantiated.

I don’t like how much I earn goes on welfare, and ACC, and MP perks. But being bitter and twisted won’t improve anything.

People on this blog keep going on about the deterioration in community standards and morals, and abuse shit out of anyone who seems different. I’m not always trying to defend opposite views, but I won’t hesitate to call anyone out who, for example, wish harm on others, or makes wild accusations that only alienate at put down others.

Many of the problems “debated” here are very complex with no simple or quick solutions. Negative attacks and abuse are unlikely to improve anything, in politics or in blogs. Understanding differences and trying to approach things positively may only seem minor but if enough people try it a little it can add up to a lot of potential improvement. Resign ourselves to continual bicker and moan? Or look for realistic ways to improve things?