Posts by Russell Brown
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Wasn’t there an attempt a few years back to change the law around such situations, to prevent a 17 year old who has consensual sex with a 15 year old from being treated as a sexual predator? If that debate was going on now, and Mark was leading the calls against the change, I think that would be relevant. There would certainly be nothing wrong with the media pointing that out in such a situation.
I wrote about that here. Tony Ryall fed the story to the Sunday Star Times, which wrote a monstrously inaccurate shock-horror story quoting Ryall, who later crowed about it in the House and said it was opposed by -- wait for it -- "mainstream families".
But I think Ron Mark's behavior around it was pretty reasonable. Goff, unfortunately, was stampeded into removing the "similar-age defence" which would have given a defence where there was consensual sexual activity between under 16 year-olds.
The whole thing was depressing. And now Tony Ryall's in government ...
-
@Chris:
Doing so would have been far far simpler, easier, and miles more equal for the fags at the back of the marriage bus for the same amount of energy/shite expended over the CUB.
It perhaps did seem that way after the huge shitfight that it turned out to be, but I don't think that was apparent in advance.
Civil unions had the virtue of having been party policy for several years, so there could be no accusation of springing a surprise. And CUs had majority support in nearly every public poll, while marriage didn't (although attitudes were notably age-related on it).
@Paul:
Perhaps the point you're making is not that the quantum of rights is different but that there's no reason to deny same-sex couples what straight couples have? I get that.
Me too, even though the distinction isn't personally important to me and, like you, I'd be more likely to opt for a CU than a marriage if it came to it. But I can understand that people would feel strongly about having an equal choice.
-
But aren't there young bands from Christchurch doing brilliantly well?
Bang! Bang! Eche, for example, who played the Music Month showcase this month after storming the US college charts and touring the US and Europe. Don't they count?
Or the L.E.D.s, who aren't in a position to tour, but have still made two brilliant albums?
-
Look band making people excited..apparently they're pulling crowds who love them
They have a buzz..go for it guysAh yes -- they're on Awesome Feeling III. Which is a, er, free download ...
-
Crown prosecutor Dierdre Elsmore said the incident took place on December 19, 2007, at the Bridge of Remembrance in central Christchurch, when the boys aged four and two-and-a-half were riding their bicycles which were equipped with trainer wheels.
The older boy rode down the ramp, could not operate his brakes and crashed into a railing, hitting his head.
She said Mason got the boys to the flat area at the top of the bridge where he shouted at them. He picked up the bikes and forced them down onto the ground while the boys were still sitting on them.
He then pulled the elder boy’s ear, yelled at him to shut up, and punched him around the eye with a closed fist.
The actions were seen by a woman and her teenage son who would give evidence at the trial. A police officer also came by and spoke to the woman and then spoke to Mason. He said he had hit the big one in the face “and that’s what I do and that lady should mind her own business”.
You may wish to refer to this entry on Family Integrity's Section 59 Blog: Anti-Parental-Authority Law Criminalises Loving Father. It actually reads like satire.
-
Oh, and getting back to For the Sake of Our Children's major issue (the "right to smack" that's all over its home page at the moment), this guy is finally in court:
Musician punched son in face, court told
NEW 1:32PM Monday May 18, 2009
A witness has told a Christchurch court she saw a local man punch his son and flick his ear.Fifty-year-old musician Jimmy Mason is on trial on three charges of assaulting his two sons, then aged two and four, in December 2007.
Belinda Payne told the court she saw Mason at the Bridge of Remembrance where the two boys were riding their bikes.
She says he was yelling and telling off the boys. Ms Payne says Mason lifted up the bikes while the boys were still on them and forced them down onto the ground.
She says Mason then flicked the ear of the older boy and punched him in the face.
Mason's defence lawyer has told the court his client used reasonable force.
As if you didn't guess it, it looks like yet another angry man throwing his weight around and then running for the support of the Christian sadists. I look forward to the response from the goons at Family Integrity who thought he was such a great bloke.
-
you poisoned your own well there simon.
I think the part of the sentence you left out was the important bit: you might want to read up on George, My Sweet Lord, and the evil Allen Klein.
-
but I also recognise that copyright breathes if you will and the life that breath gives is what gave us things like hip-hop, which stretched copyright's boundaries and led to one of the most vibrant and important musical genres of all time.
I'm also old enough to recall a similar panic over sampling on hip-hop records. That was sorted out.
-
Donna Awatere-Huata!
Now there's someone who let me down. I interviewed a few people for a Listener story when Act launched as a political party, and while some of them (Muriel Newman) struck me as bonkers, Donna seemed kind and serious. And then look what she did ...
-
Barnett was a great guy, hard-working and personable. We (Chch's chardonnay socialists) miss him. I don't know what nobbled his career but I'd struggle to believe it was incompetance.
I interviewed him a couple of times (one time with the Libertarianz' health spokesman, on drug law reform) and certainly enjoyed it, and was impressed by his politics. I just took issue with Joe's guess that his sexuality precluded him from higher honours, because the evidence doesn't suggest that.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 1616 1617 1618 1619 1620 … 2279 Older→ First