Posts by Idiot Savant
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Chris Trotter expresses confidence in Howard Borad's judgement in his column this morning.
Broad has been very careful in public not to over-egg things; its the leaks to the media which are doing that.
Meanwhile, it seems the SIS are involved - they briefed John Key (and presumably other members of the Security Intelligence Committee) last week.
My estimation of the "evidence" the police might present to support terrorism charges just went through the floor. Quite apart from their institutional prejudices, these people regard Google as a useful intelligence tool...
-
I’ve gone and booked a one-way flight to Brisbane...
Ah yes, Queensland - I can see how a policeman would regard that as paradise. Corruption, no oversight, a licence to beat aborigines to death in the cells - they'd just love it.
Frankly, the sorts of cops who'd move there are the sort we are better off without. Clint Rickards and friends would fit right in.
-
Judith Binney did a book on Rua about 10 years ago.
Mihaia: The Prophet Rua Kenana and His Community at Maungapohatu, by Judith Binney, Gillian Chaplin, and Craig Wallace. I haven't read it; I just skimmed it for the sedition stuff (2R passed 109 - 7, with NZ First banging the terrorism drum and voting against, and ACT and half the Maori Party not voting. but at least Hone Harawira was there...)
-
According to what I read (and it is not in front of me, and no I will not google it ; ) he was being arrested for selling booze. At the time pakaha could. Maori couldn't. In spite of this and many other things it looks like he was trying to work with the system having been convinced by the rhetoric of "one law for all", he even had a flag up with words to that effect.
Kotahi te ture mo nga iwi e Rua Maungapohatu. And it was used as evidence of his sedition, the claim of Maori equality under the law being considered "arrogant" at the time.
It's now apparently in a museum somewhere.
(And yes, the original arrest - the one he was convicted for resisting - was over selling booze. He refused to go, and allegedly slagged off the police and the king - though the count found the police had made all of that up in a post-facto attempt to justify their use of force)
-
Possibly the comparison to Parihaka was stretching it but to Rua Kenana maybe not so much
The parallel there is quite good, and not just geographic. Rumours of "disloyal" Maori playing with guns in the hills, plotting who knows what. In that case, though, the farce turned into tragedy when the police started murdering people (and they were murdering people; the courts found that the warrant they relied on to arrest Kenana at his home was unlawful, and that Kenana's followers were entitled to use force in self-defence against their unlawful arrest. The "morally resisting arrest" finding related to an earlier incident, where he simply refused to go with poloce).
This time, at least, no-one is dead. But I wonder how much of that fear of maori with guns is still there amongst the authorities...
-
And on the subject of the Booker prize:
-
Ok, I did. For 2 seconds. From what I have read this bill is going to be passed by about 110 to 10. Given its negative nature and the support of National why the hell would the Government/Cops contrive an event to bring unwanted attention to the bill. That claim is nonsense.
Pretty much. Why would anyone need to conspire when they were already going to get what they wanted?
I like a good fnord as much as anyone, but please...
What seems more likely is that those opposed to the bill are using this incident to bring more rigorous attention to its content.
As they bloody well should - the bill is Ahmed Zaoui all over again, a human rights disaster waiting to happen. And a lot of people should be paying a lot more attention to what our Parliament does, and the seeming cosy consensus that basic things like the right to a fair trial can be tossed in order to keep the 'merkins happy.
-
C'mon, even neo-Nazis aren't stupid enough to have on their website a bunch of photos of them touting their weapons about.
I dunno, given the photos they've posted in the past. But again, until we see those photos or hear reports of hunters being threatened by armed Nazis, then the police have no reason to act.
As for the survivalist rhetoric, I think we're better off proving the sad bastards wrong by continuing to exist as a civilised society. Besides, it'll be much more comfortable that way.
-
I suspect there'll be a small group of nutters who've been talking big about 'revolution' and a subset of them that have taken to playing solidiers in the bush.
Like, these dudes?
They may be Nazis, but they're also fairly clearly paintballers. You can start panicing when they start playing with real guns.
-
webweaver: you should see their new Immigration Bill, which allows any non-citizen to be arrested and indefinitely detained merely on suspicion that they are a security risk. This doesn't just apply to people who show up at the airport with a dodgy security record, but to permanent residents, and de facto permanent residents like Aussies and pre-1970's Brits. People who have lived here for decades will suddenly have no legal protections at all. Oh, and naturally the government will be allowed to use secret evidence against them as well.
Fortunately, this one is still before select committee, and submissions are still open. So submit, and tell them you won't stand for it. It's probably a forlorn hope, but things won't change if we don't try.