Posts by Steve Barnes
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Living with the psychopath, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Because he got permanent name suppression she can never clear her name or reputation.
Or find closure.
I don't feel comfortable discussing this further but I will say that openness is the key to recovery and secrecy is part of the problem, especially the suppression of an offenders identity. -
Hard News: Living with the psychopath, in reply to Matthew Poole,
a) we don’t live in that society
We agree on that point. The strawmen not so much.
-
Hard News: The question of Afghanistan…, in reply to Richard Aston,
He basically says the US created the Taliban to fight the Russians , to the extent of equipping them with the full CIA manuals and a lot of hard cash.
the author revealed that the US in fact did not directly fund or create the Taliban. CIA funds went directly to the ISI the Pakistani security forces, who funneled the funds to the Taliban.
J. Kalomiris, reviewing 9/11 Wars.
The role of Pakistan has to be seen in context, an artificial state formed by the British over 50 years ago, it begs the question as to why the colonial yoke has not been cast aside. Is it for exactly this kind of underhand activity that the state still exists as seemingly independent from the pan Arab region desired by the fundamentalists but at the same time being accused of supporting such a State by the west? The reasons are far too complex to really touch upon here but the Wild West of Pakistan is an area of mixed loyalties and entrenched positions.
-
Hard News: Living with the psychopath, in reply to Matthew Poole,
I would respond that you are daring to suppose that it should be up to anyone other than the victim to decide who they let into their life.
The fact that they are victims means that it is already too late for that, someone has already imposed their will and forced their way into their life.
If you remove the stigma placed on the victim you remove the guilt felt by them and in doing so, diminish the damage.
As a society we seem unable to do that, why?, Is it because sex is so dirty that it must be hidden and denied? and if you are forced to have sex you have been defiled and are deemed worthless?.
I would like to live in a society that is just a bit more enlightened than that. -
Hard News: Living with the psychopath, in reply to Matthew Poole,
More likely because identifying him would lead to people “in the know” identifying his possible victims.
This is the bit that gets me, why should the victims need protecting from public knowledge? they are victims. I find it quite sickening that society still treats the victims of sexual assault as if there were a stigma attached to being a victim and that, in some way, the victim is responsible for their own suffering..
This may be the reason that an assault, which in many cases leaves little or no physical injury, is regarded by many as being worse than murder. The repugnance felt by many members of society (and I am looking squarely at the religious right here) is because anything to do with sex is buried deep below a protective layer of guilt. -
Hard News: And so it begins, in reply to Bart Janssen,
What has happened is that schools distort the education of children to get a good number on whatever measure the table uses this year. The result is all children get lower quality education.
So, it begs the question as to why a Government would want such a thing but we know the answer to that question already.
The current bunch of control freaks we have in the house are well recognised as the kind of people who despise teachers, this is why they learned nothing at school. Such Governments dislike, intensely, an educated populous because educated people are bright enough to see the underlying motive of profits before people.
The only real answer lies with the result of the next election, which unfortunately is far too far away. -
So, let's see if I understand.
In response to a hartevelt want (couldn't help that, I just had to) the Ministry refuses to allow the collected data, collected at their insistence so as to be enable them to compile "League Tables", to be made public because people might take that data and compile "League Tables" and this is bad because the data is incomplete/useless and that "League Tables" destroy the foundations of our Education system?.
That Data stuff sure has a bad rep, eh?. Data collected to back up the evidence of Global Climate Change can, apparently, be made useless by repeating the mantra "they cheated and altered the data" but somehow the almost universally disputed accuracy of the Education data will be accepted on face value and children will suffer the consequences of going to a school that may or may not be perfect for them.
Perhaps if the article Mr. Hartevelt wishes to write were accompanied by a picture of a well educated child everything will become truthiful.This whole argument will become null and void once our school system is sold to the highest bidder anyway. Welcome to Pizza Hut College.
-
Mention of Mickey Lawhs vigilantism conjures up the term "Mayoral Lynch Mob"
Now, why does that ring a bell?. -
Good on ya Russ. Nice to see it confirmed, once more, that you are not "Down With" the rabid right in wanting revenge for something that didn't affect you.
It's all very well pointing the finger and crying Evil but all but the saintly have their darkness and in realising this we find our humility and compassion.
Like that bloke said a couple of thousand years ago "If you're so friggin' good, you chuck the first rock". -
Speaker: Selling the Dream: The Art of…, in reply to FletcherB,
Can you imagine a “visit New York” poster illustrated with a mugging?
Now there's a concept for a range of tee-shirts
"Come to New Zealand... pst!... wanna buy a powerstation."
