Well I haven't blogged in a while cause of the chaos in the lead up to christmas and tomorrow is my Sisters wedding so everything is quite hectic at the moment. I will be back later in the year before new years and I will get back into it. So I hope everyone has had a merry christmas and If I don't post before a very happy new year.
Today in Britain the Police have announced that they have arrested a man in relation to the killings of 5 prostitutes in Suffolk. This case brought back memories of Jack the Ripper and other cases where 'Ladies of the Night' were targeted. The photo above is the man that the media believe to have been arrested, one Tom Stephens, He released a press statement earlier saying that he thought he would be arrested as he knew all the suspects and had no alibis.
Cullen has come out today with a statement saying the tax cuts will not be big, with no more than $10 a week in the hand for most. As they raise the thresholds, but the low income earners will get nothing, and the only ones who will win are those that earn amounts over each of the thresholds, so seen as I am at the bottom one currently tax cuts will not help me. I don't think I would call these tax cuts either as moving thresholds is not a cut it is just changing qualifying terms.
Matt Damon has come out saying doing sex scenes with Angelina Jolie was weird. Well when I first read this headline I expected something kinky but no he says its weird having sex scenes with her because she is dating his best friend Brad Pitt, come on Stuff don't lead us on.
Well the Black caps played the last test match against Sri Lanka using every man and his dog in the field and still couldn't win this is a bit of a problem, but having several players who aren't even playing at domestic level leads to some major problems as they proved in this match.
The Bat above is exactly what it seems the Black Caps are using at the moment, they can't hit anything
Check out these guys. Two Kiwis on a European tour and doing some crazy stuff along the way.
SPECTACULAR
An Australian 12-year-old self-taught driver out looking for boys in her grandma's car led police on a brief chase that reached 110kmh in a 60kmh zone early today. Police were shocked to find the driver of a car they were pursuing early this morning was a 12-year-old girl. Police from Reservoir noticed the Mitsubishi wagon driving without headlights along Mahoneys Road, Thomastown about 1.45am but when they attempted to pull the car over it accelerated away and a short pursuit ensued. "Soon as we put the lights on they've taken off of on us at a high rate of speed," said Reservoir Senior Constable Troy Paterson. "We thought 'this driver looks pretty competent' - they crashed a red light. "They've pulled over ... we approached the car and to our surprise, there's a little 12 year-old girl, seat pushed into the steering wheel, could barely see over the bloody steering wheel. "She said 'I'm just taking grandma's car for a spin to meet up with some boys'."We asked her 'how do you know how to drive at 12?' And she said 'oh, I taught myself'." Police believe that at one stage the car reached 110kmh in a 60kmh zone.The car eventually stopped in High Street, Epping and the girl and her 15-year-old female passenger, both from West Heidelberg were arrested. Police expect to charge them both by summons with theft of the car, dangerous driving and other driving offences.
This is Crazy stuff, but only in Australia right??
Yes Animal rights activists have gone mad, according to a Berlin Animal Activist group a planned Ferris Wheel for Berlin will result in the Rhinos stopping breeding which will endanger them more than currently.
If you're opposed to a ferris wheel at least come up with a good reason
What does Chris Martin put in his hands to guarantee a wicket every ball???
A bat of course
Karl Du Fresne this morning wrote an opinion piece in the Dom Post saying that bloggers in New Zealand are constantly ranting about the Bias of the New Zealand MSM, which is partly true, but he also continued that in New Zealand unlike elsewhere this complaining was from both sides, which he said is the way it should be.
Then he went on to say "Some blogs are perceptive and well informed.
They keep the MSM on their toes and open debate to voices that might not find an outlet in conventional publications. But many blogs - both of the Left and Right - are barely literate rants written by angry, selfabsorbed no-hopers with too much time on their hands. They are often toxic, petty, juvenile and malicious.
He goes onto say that much of it is cowardly as it is posted behind Pseudonyms and anon. Which I actually agree with, and I agree there are a lot of ranters out there on the blogging scene, but I don't think the situation is as crazy as he puts it out to be. He has said there are only a few that are coherent. I have to say I myself do have a rant every now and then, but I also have some quite perceptive posts as well.
Well the full opinion piece is here
Don Brash gave his Farewell speech in Parliament today, admitting to having made a few mistakes along the way, but also saying he was glad he had done it and he has found respect for many people in Parliament across party borders. Including a respect for Clark and Cullen, even though he disagrees with their policies.
He thanked Gerry Brownlee and Murray McCully for being with him through thick and thin and gave a special thank you to his wife, saying "Only families of those who have been involved in politics knows what they go through."
The excerpts on Stuff are quite thin on the ground, but if anyone finds a copy coulf you please post it on thanks.
This is a spectacular scene from the storms in Newcastle Australia.
I love lightning, I only wish we had the real stuff here instead of the blanket of light we get.
The repayment threshold for student loans has been raised to 17,784 per year. This is only $342 a week. Now I pay rent of 119, phone of 5, power about 13, and internet of 10. thats a total of 147 without counting food and/or travel, I think most people would struggle to survive on the amount that the government thinks is a fair wage, and every dollar over that you don't only lose 20%+ to tax, but also 10% to your loan, and then add on if you have a job on secondary tax, that is then 33% + 10% of every dollar earned so for a second job you pay 43% of it to the government, there really is no incentive to get ahead in this country, and these students when they are studying also receive less money than those on the dole, and their parents are mean tested til they are 25.
I don't see any fairness in this!!!!!
Oh and to compare it to Australia, over there the repayment threshold is $37,355 New Zealand. This is ludicrous, no wonder so many students bail and head overseas.
These guys are true heroes, most of the Firefighters fighting the bushfires in Australia are volunteers and they come from all over Australia and New Zealand and are helping to protect the homes and lives of complete strangers. These guys need a congratulations.
You boys are doing a great job and I commend you for your great work. And keep it up, it is guys like you that make me realise the world isn't such a bad place after all.
Former Hawke's Bay and Wellington representative Edward "Jim" Newbigin couldn't hide a wry smile this week as debate raged over Brendon McCullum's controversial run out of Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.
Jim himself was involved in a similar situation many years ago and believes that it is all part of the game, he thinks that kids need to be taught to play to win. In Australia this is the case, but here in New Zealand it seems that they aren't. I remember when they decided to stop scoring at Primary school sport, now this is ridiculous they should be taught that you play the game to win, and this is the same in life, why bandy around and play at good sportsmen and women when this is necessary and a part of the game, but sport is about the winning and this is exactly what McCullum was doing.
Good on you McCullum, play to win.
Ask anyone who watches Ice Hockey to play word association with the Devils,and you could see a few words coming up regularly. Defense, Brodeur, and most likely BORING. Now calling a team with 3 titles in the last 11 years boring is very harsh, but it is because of their style of play. They have a suffocating defense and with Brodeur in the goal it is hard to get past them. If the Devils get ahead even just 1-0, it is unlikely you will get back into the game and a 2 goal lead is just unbeatable. when scoring first the Devils are 14-2-1, in 17 games to only lose 3 and 1 of those in overtime shows what I mean. The Devils are even better on home ice, with a record of 11-1-1 (the current best home record in the league) they are nearly invincible at home as they are able to make sure they get their top checking line up against the oppositions top scoring line, which nullifies them almost instantly.
All opposition dislike playing the Devils, but even more so if they play them at home. The Devils have had a more up and down season this year than in past years, but now appear to have turned the corner on away ice and are looking to improve their lead in the Atlantic Division and attempt to chase down the other Division leaders in the Eastern Conference.
For more on this topic go see Chuck Gormley
Well Rae Rae has now come out saying he won't drink drive again, how convenient coming after all the national condemnation. I think this is just a knee jerk reaction to the whole country being offended and he seems to have fooled most of the public and media, but he hasn't fooled me he is nothing but a lying scheming stupid little boy.
Well I started this blog on September 14th 2004, and made it to 100 posts on August 13th 2005, about 11 months later. I made 200 on September 4th 2006, and it now seems I have upped the Ante a bit making 300 just over 3 months later, as this is now up to averaging more a day.
I am not going to say anymore on the matter, but I will work towards 1000 now considering NZ Paradigm dies at 199posts.
Ok so NO sugary drinks in school from 2009.
Ok now while on the surface this may seem fine, yeah it cuts back on tooth decay and obesity. Well no how does it do that?? Banning something does not work, look at Prohibition.
And then to top it off you are punishing everyone because the few can not control their diets and exercise.
I am totally against this, how about an education set-up to educate people how to live properly. or start with the parents 90% of the problems we have these days extend from the childs early years and a lack of discipline etc, or bad habits introduced by the parents.
Don't punish the many to help the few.
According to some critics in the USA, they claim the reason that the NHl is going to stay as a second rate sport in the states is because of the extreme lack of stars after the big names of Jagr Ovechkin etc. Shawn Roarke has a great list of stars in every single team, I agree with him their is no lack of stars in the NHL it is just more that they don't get in the news for the wrong things like the players in the NFL and baseball and NBA.
The list is here.
New Jersey defeated Boston 5-1 last night as they head along on a 5 game winning streak, and improved their away record. They have had a near perfect record at home with 14-1-1, but have struggled to win away from home. But this victory over the Bruins gives them a boost in their hunt for a fourth Stanley Cup.
The Devils now have a 2 point lead in their division and a game in hand. It also pulls them in striking distance of the Atlanta Thrashers for 2nd in the Eastern conference, but to grab that either the Thrashers would have to fall apart or the Devils would need to extend their winning streak even more, though the Devils have always been good in December and January so chances are looking good. Especially if they can continue their record at home.
Johnny Reid has won the latest round of the A1GP. He won both the Sprint Race, the Feature race and started from poll. For the third round in a row he got the fastest single lap in qualifying and for the 2nd in a row the fastest lap in the sprint race. leading into the round in taupo in January this is looking very good for NEw Zealand as we have climbed to 5th in the title race and our teammate Germany is sitting at the top, we have clearly had one of the fastest cars all season...
NZ for A1 Champs 06/07
I have noticed a lot of cases coming to court lately where criminals have committed a multitude of offences and end up being sentenced concurrently. This means in effect they only serve the longest of the several sentences they are handed down. And then of course they are out after two thirds of that under the parole system. This is making a farce of the justice system. I say no more concurrent sentencing, I like the US system if you kill 5 people you get 5 life sentences, meaning you will never ever be out of Jail, In New Zealand under current law 5 life sentences at the maximum is still only 85 years... Yet this is more than fair, if you commit multiple crimes you should serve the sentences for every single one of them.
The teens involved in the 14-hour binge drinking session followed by a car chase running away from the police and rolling the van they were driving. Their parents though have said they won't be punished as it is the first time they have done something like this. In my Humble opinion this is exactly when they should be punished, if not at the first time they do something then you will keep letting them off and then eventually they will be out of control and I personally think if these kids are doing a 14 hour bender and then driving they are already out of control and need to be taught a lesson right away, it is problems like these that are leading to the culture of violence and excessive prison numbers we have. (Though in my opinion harsher sentences should be handed down) of course this will open the prisons up and increase the number of people behind bars, but I believe that it will eventually curtail and head back down as the deterant factor kicks in.
New Zealand made a great game of the test match against Sri Lanka and came out on top, but all the commentators can do is bitch about McCullum dismissing Muttaih in the second innings as he went to congratulate Sangakarra on making his century. I agree completely with McCullums actions, the rules of the game stand and this talk of 'spirit' of the game is a load of crap in the days of the chronic players not leaving when they know they edged it, in the past this was considered extremely bad sportsmanship. In this day and age all batsmen hang around til that finger goes up.
So good on McCullum and the critics can shut up. Oh and also does anyone think Sri Lanka would be complaining if they had won?
And I agree completely with Flemings statement, "If we threw and Overthrow on that ball I am sure they would've taken the run."
Labour has backed down on attempting to get data from its citizens at the borders and will not be including it in changes to the laws on immigration and travel that are to be coming out. They have decided that there was too much opposition to making New Zealanders give fingerprints, Retina scans and in extreme cases DNA as they leave and enter the country.
Michael Laws has written a great opinion piece in the SST today, the bit that will get him in trouble is a reply to the critics of his "fat brown slug" comment from earlier about Tonga. He has come aut and said that it is true, the King was a fast brown slug, but it is acceptable to use being brown as an excuse. While this comment is kinda racist it is also true, people in New Zealand are led to believe that "brown" people are behind the 8-ball to begin with so therefore it is ok if they don't achieve. But the bit that I agreed with the most was the part about New Zealand being confusing and the parties leading the charge for fighting back against the coup, while condemning those involved in the riots in Tonga, both of these were fights for democracy. Though I think the governments line on it is going to be that Tonga was against the 'rightful' government, while Fiji was for the 'rightful' government, as countries of New Zealands ilk are supposed to support the government of other countries, but I agree with Laws they are being two-faced.
Well now it has finally let me move over to Blogger Beta and I will try and edit all my previous posts into catergories for everyone as well...Thanks for your own going support.
Well my Devils picked up a win over Philly last night, their fourth win on the trot and the 84th Career shutout for Marty Brodeur came in the 2-0 victory. Now they are top of their Division and looking good for a spot in the playoffs, even at this early stage of the season, the Devils are frequently sitting at the bottom of the top 8 at this point yet always improve near the end of the season. Today they face off against Boston and could solidify their placing. They are 2 points clear in their division and have a game in hand, meaning tonight they could move 4 points clear.
Top of the East. (placings Div leaders 1-3)
-GP in brackets
Buffalo 44 (28)
Atlanta 40 (30)
New Jersey 34 (27)
Montreal 36 (28)
Carolina 34 (31)
NY Rangers 32 (28)
NY Islanders 31 (28)
Ottawa 31 (29)
Toronto 31 (30)
Ok well in the East Buffalo are looking very good to take out the top spot, while New Jersey and Atlanta should fight it out for 2nd and 3rd. But it is very tight for the last few spots with 3 more teams on 30 points. So it looks like a 7 way race for the last 3 spots in the playoffs, is a great season to be following Ice Hockey.
Top of the West
Anahiem 50 (31)
Nashville 39 (28)
Edmonton 34 (28)
San Jose 40 (29)
Dallas 38 (29)
Detroit 36 (27)
Minnesota 32 (28)
Calgary 29 (26)
Vancouver 29 (29)
Well in the West it looks to be taking less points to qualify for the playoffs, but more points to get near the top. The race for a playoff berth is also not as tight, but Colorado on 28 (28) would feel gutted if they end up missing out come April. Anahiem look like runaway winners in the West and it is unlikely anyone will challange them and they should be playing for the Stanley cup.
Well in my Dashboard, it told me I had access to being upgraded to the new version, yet when I clicked to accept this offer and entered my details, it told me I have to wait, I really would like Bloggers new version now, but it seems I will have to wait. Oh well.
I posted that I thought New Zealand would get walloped in the first test, but it seems like the result could swing the other way instead. At stumps on Day 1 Sri Lanka have been bowled out for a measley 154 after electing to Bat who knows why when the Groundsman has been saying all week that it would be a bowlers pitch on day one, and in reply New Zealand is 85/2. With Fleming on 7 and Cumming on 37.
This is almost the opposite of what I predicted though a big first innings lead will be New Zealands aim now, and kicking on to try and win by an innings
Well now the Rugby season is over we are into the Summer of Cricket. New Zealand is about to begin its first test of the season against Sri Lanka, personally I don't think that the games are going to be as high scoring as commentators are seeming to suggest. Both teams have very potent bowling attacks, but New Zealands top order is still yet to fire. I have a suspiscion that New Zealand will go down big time in the first test as they just can't keep up with the Sri Lankans. Our Bowlers are where we have to beat them, and probably the batting will end up resting on McCullum, Oram, Vettori and Franklin again, So maybe our team can just rely on our bowlers, oh and wicket keeper. The specialist batsmen that have been selected for this series still worry me, yes picking younger players is a good idea, but How and Cumming have both failed before, and Sinclair is not much better. Lets get some completely new faces into the picture, how about Jesse Ryder???
I think making the changes was necessary, but I just don't think the right ones were made.
I have had to postpone my OE for a while, I have always had problems with my teeth and I have decided it is time to get them fixed once and for all. So I am postponing my OE until I can get my teeth fixed and then save to go, but I am still planning on heading out.
So seen as I am here for a while longer if anyone hears of any policy analyst positions avaliable I would be delighted to hear from them.
I was very pleased to see 11.1% of us agree that we are all New Zealanders. I hate the dividing by RACE! It doesn't matter who you are, if you are born in New Zealand you are a New Zealander. I am shocked to see that 157,000 of us do not speak english...this is quite bad, I am wondering how some of them survive in a society where the only language spoken in general is English, well ok other languages are spoken, but I mean in businesses, retail, restaurants, bars, etc.
And even though the government is looking at making Maori compulsory in schools only 23 % of Maori actually speak their own language. I am all for equal opportunity, but why force people to learn something when by choice they are choosing not to? I do not see how it will help them in the future.
The whole census and all the stats are brilliant, and hours could be spent intepreting them, but I am going to look at the New Zealander section in more detail. 11.1% put it as their choice this time despite having to tick other and add it to the form a number of these also chose to identify themselves as another ethnicity as well, and much to the shock and disbelief of the statisticians who seemed to think this was a redneck term, there were a large percentage of Maori in these, nearly equal to the 14.7% of Maori in New Zealand as a whole. This is significant in my opinion because it shows that at least 11% of New Zealanders, though I guess if you go by the statistics ALL New Zealanders (god thats a great term) are sick of the divisive policies of Race and being told where they fit by government and other groups. This is a very good sign for the future and I expect that if New Zealander was given its own tick box the number would greatly increase again. The government will not read into this anything at all and will continue to claim that it is just a bunch of Rednecks and White Supremecists, though this makes no sense as they would be more likely to put "European" as this places them 'above' the other races in their opinion, which is why I have never understood why it has been thought to be a redneck term.
Good on you 11%
Well I am going to have my say on the court cases that are currently happening following the man attempting to rob a gun store with a machete. Personally I agree with both cases. The Man who tried to rob the place should be on a slightly higher charge than the one he is on, but thats not anything major. In the papers hundreds of people have condemned the police for prosecuting the man who shot him, I agree with the police in this case, If he didn't have a license for the gun he used he should be done under the law, but why was he working in a store when he didn't have a license to cover all the guns in the store?
I think the problem here is not with the police but solely with the law, obviously you can work in a gun store without a license to be in posession of a fire arm. This seems ridiculous. But he broke the law...its that simple.
Well I have been following this closely lately, and it seems since I have changed my blog to my new address that the hits on my old one have stayed the same or there abouts averaging about 20 a day unique visitors, while my current site fluctuates a lot between 0 and 20 never seeming to get the forwarded traffic, I am thinking about making the old site just a direct redirect over to my new one, but the problem is that would remove my old archives, I was wondering if anyone has an idea for how I can keep my archives from my old site and coninue them on my new one.
Also on the comments front I have been very thin, I would love to hear what people think and what they have to say on my blog, so go ahead and comment as much as you like.
Well my beloved Devils are sitting 2nd in their Division and 7th in the Eastern Conference for me this is quite disgusting on their track record since I started supporting them back in 1995. Since then they have won 3 titles and been runner up twice. just over a quarter of the way through the season this is one of their worst starts, but it is not as bad as last season where they ended the season with an 18 game winning streak to make the playoffs. So there is still hope.
The current Season Leaders.
Points
Jaromir Jagr 40
Marion Hossa 39
Rod Brind'amour 36
Goals
Marion Hossa 20
And in the lead for the Presidents Trophy we have:
Anahiem 46, Buffalo 42 and San Jose 40.
3 of the top 6 teams come from the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, this is a huge over representation. Philadelphia one of the teams almost everyone would put in the playoffs every year have been struggling so far this year and are languishing in 28th of the 30 teams. While Pittsburgh whose start was nearly as good as Buffalo (11-0) have now dropped off and are sitting in 22nd, their start of 10-1 has dropped to new stats of 11-14.
National has come out today saying they will support the electoral funding review which will include measures such as the removal of trust funds as a funding scheme, and possibly go so far as to make campaigning funded completely by the Tax Payer. They also want the removal of 3rd party electioneering. But as in the case of the EB last year, does this funding count as support for every party, but the ones they attacked??
I personally even with the suggestions that have been made have started to see loop holes for more possible "secret" funding, Dummy Companies, Dummy Societies etc are not hard to set-up and would be a perfect method of funding. I personally see it as Labour annoyed that they get less outside funding than National does, who knows why National has agreed to support it? Though maybe they have already noticed the loopholes as well and plan to exploit them.
Thanks to DPF
According to Jeremy Clarkson, and I tend to agree with him on this one. Slow Drivers are serial Killers. look at the history, he mentioned more names than this, but here are a few examples, Adolf Hitler...He made the Volkswagen Beetle, not exactly a fast car, Saddam Hussein could you see him driving fast...and has any Race Car driver ever gone psycho and killed anyone??
So therefore after a mass killing the police should be looking for the car driving away at 40km/h not the one speeding away at 200KM/h.
If Labour and New Zealand First have their way the Immagration service will be able to take fingerprints, eye retina scans and (in extreme cases) DNA at the borders. This will not be only of immigrants and visitors, but also of citizens. I see this as a direct attack on my personal freedom, even though I know someone will come out and say that only the bad people need be worried. I disagree, I think that I have a right to certain freedoms and even in the states the only record is of foreigners or immigrants. This is not right!!! Though of course it may just be another means for the Police to catch criminals...like the scandal recently over blood taken from babies.
Well I didn't think anyone could be this stupid or use a point so ridiculous, Well no of course the Ancient Greeks didn't have cars, but neither did the Maori, you bloody blathering retard, oh and I don't think there is a real religion in the world that is based in a time with cars, so how about no religious blessings of roads, no need according to Che's logic the Gods don't understand it anyway.david. nope. never tire of it.
but that said, "Take
Greece as an example. Their culture was 12 Gods etc, and all the powers and
myths. Great job they preserve the culture, but you'd be locked up as insane
in
Greece if you proposed spending public money on having people call on
Zeus to
take away the spirits of those who died in car crashes."
the
ancient greeks
didn't have cars. so, that argument isn't flying
either.Che Tibby on Kiwiblog
I was just checking the stats on my blog histories and referals and it is unbelievable, the largest referrer to my site is google image search of one man.
I can't believe this but it is kinda amusing, the man in the photo above is none other than Alexander Ovechkin.
Yes the most referrals to my Blog are about a Hockey Player Brilliant.
Well this morning I thought I should just take a random glance at the Salient Web page and I happened across this...The Last Lonely Letter So I didn't make the last salient with my letter, but this is much better and more appropriate. Cheers James, I must say I enjoyed this year of Salient more than any other yet.
Well as people have probably realised with me heading to the States next year I am going to be in a very interesting position next September when the time of the Rugby World Cup comes around, now I don't know what the coverage will be like in the states so I may just have to Jump the border to the North so I can find somewhere to watch the World Cup. Now this means that my trip will include two countries purely so I can watch the Rugby.
Well I have an update on my attempt to become a camp counsellor. I have an interview set now, and everything is coming together nicely now it is just a matter of saving the money so that I can make it. I really can't wait, I am looking forward to this so much now I think I'll have a great time.
Well it appears Don Brash has fallen on his own sword twice inside a week after resigning as leader he announced at lunchtime today his resignation from parliament and that he would not be back for the new year. This was pretty much expected as he was unlikely to be wanted by many in the national party as it appeared they wanted a fresh start and a new looking team.
If someone can tell me who this brings into parliament could they post a comment and I will run a profile on them I am lost as to who is next on Nationals list
Hey I am looking for a new laptop, well not new, but secondhand and don't wanna spend too much, so if someone has one sitting around or knows of someone looking to seel one could they post a comment on here or send me an email please.
The Welsh have stopped the All Blacks doing the Haka, well not quite, but they have tried to break the pattern so the All Blacks have given the fans the big finger. Now I am more pissed at the All Blacks over this than at the Welsh. If I had been the All Blacks I would've waited to the end of the National Anthem and gone and done the Haka like Normal and said Hell to with the Welsh if they wanna kick off, go ahead the all blacks will still beat you anyway.
"So I shall name my "Front Bench aka Key Leaders for National" I believe that John Key is the right pick to lead the national party. behind him as Deputy I would pick Judith Collins as this will a) get more women attracted to National and secondly she has been one of the top players in this term in opposition. The other key members of a strong National front bench would have to be Katherine Rich, Bill English, Simon Power, Nick Smith, Gerry Brownlee, Lockwood Smith and Tony Ryall. This combination I believe would be able to lead the party to a victory in the next election. Then behind these are an excellent team still with Murray McCully, David Carter and Maurice Williamson pushing them hard. "
I said this on my blog on Sept 27th 2006, and I stick by these members as the right team to lead National now that a change is needed. here is the whole post...National Blunders
So I would like a John Key and Judith Collins team, but its not going to happen.
The Government seems to be more willing to spend taxpayer money on White Elephants like a "National" Stadium in Auckland than concentrating on making the country better for the people who live here.
The so-called "National" stadium will not be used and is more Labour trying to build a monument to their time in power than giving any benefit to the country. If Labour really cared about the people they would be spending the money they want to waste on this stadium on Healthcare education or even to stop this disgusting spiral of violence that is currently prevalent in our society.
Did anyone else know that it would be cheaper for Labour to fly 80,000 people to Sydney to watch the World Cup Final than it would be for them to build this stadium, now that is ridiculous in itself. Labour has continued with building on their ideas and not bringing about policies that will better the country, but what more could we expect from a group that use taxpayers money to get themselves reelected??
Well this is slightly unexpected, Stuff has a poll on whether parents should be able to smack their kids and it is currently running at 85% Yes and 11% No...these are huge numbers opposing the Section 59 Repeal.
What a load of bollocks, at a time when the rest of the country is screaming out for harsher sentences, we have the Labour Government increasing the use of Home Detention because it will increase savings. Well of course it will cost less to have them out in the community, but it will greatly increase the chance of them reoffending hence the social costs are much higher and then as the next step on from that if they reoffend they also cost more in the end when they end up getting punished for their new crimes...
Labour is out to make a quick buck, I say harsher sentences they say "Let them loose"
They are also extending the non-parole period to 2/3 of a sentence, but this is not going to make a difference when they are suggesting sentences cut by 25%... Hence an old 10 year sentce out after 3.3 years is now a 7.5 year sentence and they are out after 5...
Oh a very small increase and that is on a large sentence. a four year sentence out after 1.3years is now a 3 year sentence out after 2.
This is obscene... The link is here
Well here is a breaking story for all of you. Did you know that IRD charges us to make our loans interest free...??? Yup you heard it they whack on a certain amount every year as they write off our interest so its not free no matter what they try to say this is Bull, if they are going to call something free doesn't it have to be free according to the Commerce Commission???
Our Education system as it is currently stinks. NCEA has made a joke of everything, no longer do you fail you get a not achieved oh and they don't even appear on your final grade paper so you don't have to worry cause noone will see them in the future anyway. This is pathetiuc and then to top it all off our Tall Poppy syndome has extended into the class room, the top students are being punished, while yes they can get excellence if they got one easy question wrong, like I know I did in my days at school chances are they could fail the whole paper even if they get all the excellence and merit questions right, this is ludicrous and if they can use those ones as credit for lower marks then they lose the excellence that they should've got.
There needs to be a full overhaul of our education system NCEA does not work, and guess what, the one thing they said it would remove would be scaling, well it didn't even fix that they still have to scale marks...and then there are people who can get into university with pass grades in Work studies, Life Studies and "Communications English" what a load of crap. I personally think a drift back to Bursary/School C would be great, but noone would accept that so my idea is to hell with all the New Zealand Exam systems, lets use the Cambridge international exam systems...
Ok even with the spelling error I know what I am saying I think. I have decided to apply for Camp America, to be a counsellor for a camp in the States beginning in June next year and to follow this up with my travel around the states. I wanted to get into this a few years ago, but didn't have a chance so now with my extended experience I shall be able to continue and just do it. It should be a great experience as I have a great love for kids and will be able to teach them all new skills.
David Farrar has a great post on Learning from Helen and now I suppose also from Winston as his staff have burned all copies of the leaked Brash emails as they were worried about an ongoing police investigation, this is exactly what Helen's staff did when they heard about the painting forgery issue.
Now in Part II I discussed positive role models for our kids, these two are an extremely bad example of this not only did they break the law in the first place, but then they taught out youth that the best thing to do when the cops turn up is to burn the evidence or find some other way to destroy it...
And these are supposed to be the leaders of our country, great work guys.
Violence is starting at younger and younger ages, the youth of today are growing up without good role models, they are not getting taught respect or responsibility at home and the country is slowly spiraling into a dark and dirty hole. If the violence in our society continues the way it is going soon it will not be safe to walk the streets at night without a gun in your pocket.
The problems as I see it are obvious, firstly the police are no longer respected in New Zealand a lot of this in my opinion has happened since the Traffic Officers got phased out, now that cops are being petty and having to control traffic as well they are seen as not doing their job properly and the government is more worried about them as revenue gatherers. Secondly our prison senetences are a joke, 17 years for murder??? and that is not counting that they can get out earlier than that for good behaviour after as little as 7 years. Our prisons are not tough enough, some of the criminals in prison have better treatment and lives than their families including little children on the outside. This is not right and something needs to be done about it. The soft punishments for crimes in New Zealand is starting to cause the violence...a huge number of criminals reoffend so obviously the rehabilitation is not working. So my system is simple...Sentences should be firstly a DETERENT to criminals, secondly a punishment and finally a rehabilitation, but this rehabilitation should be the last third of their sentence and no matter what they should serve out the whole thing from start to finish.
These measures would actually start to deter criminals from committing crimes. As far as I know from my experience at University it is widely accepted that Humans are cost/benefit rationalising beings, therefore if the cost is too high they are less likely to commit the crimes in the first place.
But at the same time something needs to be done to make sure these kids have positive role models from an early age, even if this means communtiy leaders working within their communtities directly and noticing at risk kids early on and helping the parents to keep them out of trouble and setting them on the right path for life. we have heard in the news lately that it is the fault of Alcohol, well this is a poor tradesman blaming his tools. These criminals need to accept personal responsibility for their actions. But while saying it is not society's fault that these criminals are doing this, I think it is now society's problem and we have to deal with it as a group.
Well this is going to be nothing more than a rant and may lead to a viable discussion, but we shall see.
Right now the world is getting more violent, our school system is a joke, the government would rather spend money on a white elephant for Auckland than anything else, PC is running rife, Helen lies cheats and steals, and the rest of the Labour party can do anything and get away with it because the people of New Zealand in general are stupid.
I cannot for the life of me understand after all of the bad things that happened during the last six years how the New Zealand Public could vote Labour back into power again.
Over the last six years, Unemployment has gone down, well no actually it hasn't the total number of those unemployed has skyrocketed, Labour just found ways to put them on sickness benefits. Violent Crime has increased a lot. The PC brigade is stomping down on everything, more money is being given to minority groups even since Labour said they would stop funding based on race, oh and continuing on that line, Maori Quotas at Universities have increased. These "Reverse" Discriminations are not fair and are still discriminations and they actually end up hurting the people they are supposed to be hurting. The people they are supposed to be helping end up thinking that they are not as good as others thats why the government thinks they need these grants, quotas etc.
The Economy has not risen to the heights expected, and even though it has been risaing the whole time labour has been in power it has been steadily flattening whereas pre '96 the economy was rising something close to exponentially.
In General the Country is going to the dogs and something needs to be done about it.
Well Jeremy Clarkson has come out with a new line against all these twats of greenies, his latest one is that its all a load of codswallop, lets start with the fact of Global warming ok so we cut CO2 emmissions by 30% by 2010, yet the temperature wqill still rise, this is according to research done in britain. So no matter whether we cut our CO2 emmissions or not we will still have to find new homes for a hundred million bangledeshis.
And he goes on to say that the Greenies are just a bunch of whingers and guilt trippers. The Exxon Valdez killed something like 100,000 birds, but he pulls up statistics showing that the same number of birds are killed everyday in the world by running into plate glass, and 100,000 birds are killed every 2 days in Britain alone by the friendly neighbourhood house cat.
So all you greenies out there, come onh I wanna see an argument against this, don't blame the humble automobile, get out there and attack anyone using plate glass, or you could go all rambo on a group of cat lovers.
The greenies are more and more seeming like a bunch of scare mongers and just working to try and keep themselves on top in the world cause of course the world economy will collapse without them.
President Bush may be coming to New Zealand next year to hold a forum with the pacific leaders to try and find a way forward for the Pacific as a whole.
This has just been announced by Helen Clark, but as she says it was only an informal idea, so chances are it will never happen...Just like the Waterfront stadium
Micheal laws brought up something interesting in his column for the SST today, stating that a study was done to show that wearing a hoodie would give the youth of today Vitamin D deficiencies, and also insomnia.
I think I have finally found the cause of my insomnia I need to stop wearing my hoodie and it'll all be fixed.
YEAH RIGHT
I found the Link
Well I think it is almost fair to say New Zealand has the top two rugby teams in the world right now...
I don't think there is another team out there that could even look to compete with us. This is a scary thought though cause we were in the same position 1 year out from every world cup since 95. And we didn't win a single one of those, but all hoping it goes better this time.
With National now supporting Eden Park over the Waterfront Stadium and ACT and the Greens also, it looks like support for the Waterfront Stadium has evapourated. Only Labour and New Zealand first now support it.
I think for the Rugby world cup we will be left with just an upgraded Eden park, but I still think only Aucklanders should be paying for it as the rest of the country will not be using the stadium.
Well it turns out I was wrong, the Democrats took both houses and now have a share of power though this could always come back to bite them in 2008 when they run for president as if they haven't made some changes and tried to get out of Iraq or at least win the war they could lose because they have promised so much.
So this election result has put the Democrats on a knife edge for the lead-up to the 2008 Elections, but it'll still be a great race whether they do well or not.
As I post this polls in the USA will be beginning to close on the most exciting mid-terms since the swing of 1994.
I personally believe the Republicans will carry both houses, but with reduced majorities. The Senate will be extremely close with my pick being 51-49, way too close to call, but I needed to put my numbers out there. As for the Congress, The Republicans by 4.
This would leave Bush with a workable majority even though a lot of his own Republican candidates have tried to distance themselves from him in recent campaigning, but if they carry both houses every single one of them will coming swinging back to him.If it happens that the Democrats take just one house then Bush will be hamstrung, but knowing Bush he will come out of his corner fighting. Sources close to him have been quoted as saying he will fight the democrats on every piece of legislation, and will take the fight all the way to the supreme court if thats what it takes.
A Lame-Duck President will struggle to continue his legislative agenda and it would be hard for him to push through any major policy decisions that would affect the nation. The only policy Bush is likely to have any success with is his harsh immigration stance as a large number of members of both parties agree with him and support stricter controls.
The Dominion Post seems to think it knows the future, "The Democrats have swept the republicans out of power in the Congess..." and they followed this by saying the senate race is way too close to call. Yet as I continue to read their article it states that as many as 60 congress seats are still too close to call.
The results should start coming in within a few hours and the outcome of the election will be known. After the Result, George W. Bush will either be riding a wave through his final two years or will be fighting a war harder to win than Iraq.
Here are my results, The longer I follow politics the more right wing I become, though I still think I should be more liberal than the political compass seems to think i am.
Economic Left/Right: 6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.46
Political Compass
Well here we go for introduction part II
A few lists this time. Some of my Favourite things
Movies: Matrix Trilogy, American Pie, Saw 1 & 2, Pulp Fiction, Clerks and Bad Taste.
Bands: Metallica, Blink 182, Pink Floyd, System of a Down, My Chemical Romance and Green Day
Colours: I like Blue, oh and Yellow.
Places: I really love Wellington.
Sports: Ice Hockey, Rugby, Cricket...Hell I like almost every sport
Food: Curry, Spag Bol, Pizza. I love food in general.
Books: The Belgariad, The Sword of Truth, The Dreamers.
I had fun watching FOX news last night, and following the americans reaction to Saddam being sentenced to being hung. The Shi'ites were celebrating in the streets, while in his hometown a small protest erupted as they still claim he is the rightful leader of the country.
FOX proceded to talk to a conspiracy theorist who claimed that Bush forced then judge to make a decision so he wouldn't lose control of the senate. This is most likely a load of Bull, but I must say the convienence of it is all pretty crazy. Even though perks has been sentenced, he still has his appeal, so it could be another 3 years yet before he actually hangs, yet still people are celebrating...
Well I am going to start this blog off with a little bit about myself, I will have several posts that I will refer to as the introductions and shall post permanent links to them on the main page so anyone who wants to can read up on them.
So first off I was born on July 13th 1982 in Feilding New Zealand. Feilding is a small town of about 3000 people. At the age of 4 I moved to Wanganui, which is a small city of 40,000 or so and grew up with just my Mum, the best person in the world, and my 2 brothers and one sister.
In 1999 I finished High School and went off to University in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, Here I studied and recieved a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Victoria University. Currently I am working 3 jobs in an attempt to save enough money to head to the States in August of 2007.
I love kids and hope to have some at some point in the future as well as become rich and Famous...Well everybody can dream can't they. I enjoy life and am thinking about getting into teaching my second passion in life, as I also love politics as anyone will see by reading this blog or the archives on the old version.
to be continued...
Well, If you have followed my Blog you will know I am heading overseas in August 2007 and this will be the new home of my rants as I progress on my tour of the world, so come enjoy the new set-up I won't be posting here yet but am planning on having it up and running before I head overseas with regualr posts on my activities and attempts to keep up with New Zealand politics. Anyone who wishes to keep in contact while I am overseas more regularly than I post here is welcome to email me, my address should be on my profile page.
Thanks for the support and ongoing comments
Jono
