Posts by Rich of Observationz
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Hard News: Time to move on, in reply to merc,
The "crown" includes you, you know. Like the Levellers said, " it's what your votes condone "
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Shareholding doesn't equal control, unfortunately
For a company held by individuals, it does.
If I own a chain of dairies, and hire a CEO to run them, I can still mandate that they don't sell tobacco, for instance, even though it makes them generate less money. As the sole shareholder, there's nobody else to object.
What the government seem to have done with ACIL/POAL is to confiscate the rights of the Auckland community and grant them to the managers.
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Hard News: Time to move on, in reply to John Holley,
Right, those would be restricted weapons (http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1984/0122/latest/whole.html#DLM95644). A flare launcher such as a Very pistol wouldn't be, I think.
If someone made a general enquiry, it wouldn't be an offence - they might have taken the course of acquiring a legal flare launcher.
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They chose to get involved in the gunplay
Prosecution as punishment? You haven't done anything provably illegal, but we can make your life very awkward as a reprisal. (See also Kim Dotcom, I suspect).
Also, this could have been dealt with very differently: a quiet word from the community cops to someone like Tamati Kruger - just let them know that TPTB know what they're up to and it would be a good idea to tone it down.
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Kemara even attempted to buy a grenade or flare launcher
He wasn't charged with that? So either those things aren't restricted weapons (do you mean ' a grenade launcher or a flare launcher ' or ' a grenade or a flare launcher '?) or there was no reasonable evidence.
Jamie Locket was also not charged with anything.
One thing that's important is that in a society ruled by laws, anything not proscribed is permitted. So if Parliament hasn't passed a law banning freelance military training (and it hasn't) such military training is legal.
Maybe we should have more restrictive gun laws (in the UK, mere possession of an unlicensed firearm attracts a five year sentence, whatever one's justification). The reason we don't is that lots of right-wing white guys like playing with guns, IMHO.
Is it OK to not feel much sympathy for anyone in this horrendous (and not very amusing) farce?
The young kids who were held at gunpoint by armed cops? The people who spent time and jail and were never charged with anything?
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to nzlemming,
It's actually mostly the ones in growth areas that have large per capita debt.
Which is logical, since as an area grows it needs water, sewage, local roads and other capital-intensive services. There will be a stream of rates in the future to pay for these (unless the growth collapses, which is possible if the car-based lifestyle out in subdivision land is destroyed by fuel costs).
It might be a plan to charge developers more of the upfront cost of services, but this is resisted. By the same Tories who are attacking councils for excess debt, natch.
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technical insolvency means an organisation has negative net asset value - its debts are greater than its assets.
This doesn't apply to any council in NZ: Wellington, for instance, has over $6bln in assets and $400mln in debts (2010 annual report). Kaipara, cited as a problem council, has $483mln in assets and $88mln in debt.
It's like calling someone insolvent when they have a $40k mortgage on a $600k house.
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Hard News: Reputation and remuneration, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Are chauffeurs being exchanged as chattel slaves nowadays?
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An interesting paper here.
It does seem that privacy breaches are treated extremely leniently, with an apology often being sufficient to avoid financial cost (and with damages being compensatory rather than punitive, a wealthy corporation or state body will always be in a position of nonchalance as to any action).
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Hard News: The Vision Thing, in reply to David Hood,
You have to make a distinction between essentials of life, like new rugby stadia, and fripperies, like decent housing.