Posts by Phil Wallington
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The cops find it difficult to respond in a timely fashion to crimes such as breaking and entering, burglary, theft of vehicles, stealing from cars and camper vans etc. Their resolution rates for these crimes are pretty abysmal.
But as we see on TV "reality shows" the cops spend huge amounts of money and time detecting and prosecuting cannabis users.
Sometimes the scenes are pathetic as some invalid pensioner or sickness beneficiary is busted. Often the small, home garden dope plot is providing some sort of analgesia to the "criminal".
Many young people find their future prospects blighted and their ability to live or work overseas frustrated by a marijuana possession conviction charge
I don't smoke dope -- don't enjoy it at all... but I resent the waste of police resources being lavished on what is usually victimless crime -
I agree with Ian Dalziel...the whole saga should be set to music by someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Wasn't he the one responsible for "King Lear on Ice" and "Typhoid Mary - The Musical"?
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One of the small pleasures of life is the rustle of a new morning newspaper. The smell of fresh newsprint and maybe a whiff of smudgy ink makes a heady blend of aromas. Along with fresh espresso and a croissant it is definitely something to savour.
Sadly Auckland's morning news sheet has lost its former aromatic appeal. Emanating from the crinkled pages of late has been the aroma of an over-cooked turd, stewed for days in a greasy crock-pot.
Scavenging in the sewers in Victorian times was a job for toshers -- not for journalists.
So enough Tosh now... Let's get back to the business of speaking truth to power... We have a country that faces many real and pressing problems. We have a general election next year when we will need to be informed exactly who stands for what and if we can trust the power seekers to keep their promises.
Whether they are good or even faithful between the bedsheets is probably something that need not be regurgitated all over the printed sheets : unless there is something more to the matter than a misguided affair of the loins.
Len has been elected Mayor and will do the job... He should be let get on with it and be judged on his leadership and achievements.
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Hard News: Everybody's Machiavelli, in reply to Richard Aston,
A sense of humour and capacity to recognise irony at work are the well springs of the 3 "rules".
It is almost impossible to get through one,'s quotidian life without violating either one or all...
The consequences are not infallibly and uniformly catastrophic.
Some disprove the nostrum by violating all three and living happily ever after until THE END.
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This overheated "scandal", fuelled by self-seeking sleaze merchants and people who believe they are pulling the strings of moral outrage will soon implode.
It will be "all over" next week.
The system will throw up new examples of poor judgement which can be seized upon by the smug and self-righteous.
There are just three infallible rules of conduct which apply.
1. Do not have sexual relationships with work colleagues.
2. Never fuck anyone demonstrably madder than yourself.
3. If, perchance, you have already failed 1 & 2... Do not under any circumstances enter the state of matrimony with this person.Simple enough... But just about everyone I know (self included) has failed in either rule 1, 2 or 3 and suffered the consequences.
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Oh brother... You are not wrong.
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This story will get no coverage in mainstream NZ media.More is the pity. Luckily I can still afford my New Yorker subscription and was able to read the Rusbridger article which arrived by snail mail yesterday. Just how long I can afford this luxury on a benefit remains problematic. . So thanks so much to Hard News... We are sharing the article and debating the merits and ethics of the journalism. Would that we had another outlet to widen and deepen the discourse. Something like a media analysis TV show to propel the story further afield... Deep sigh!!!
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(Sir) Bob Jones does not tolerate people who use cellar telephones in his presence. He sees sunglasses as an abomination. He lives in a gated and secure enclave looking down on the Hutt Valley, Wellington and the wilds of Cook Strait. As he sips his vintage wines, surveys his collected portraits off famous puglists and counts his money (like Scrooge Mc Duck) he often realises how lonely and lofty is his life's calling... That's when inspiration strikes and electrifies his fingers... he is then ready to offer some of his wisdom to ordinary and less gifted men and women... It would be simply churlish for the NZ Herald to "spike" his ravings.
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Hard News: Another Saturday Night, in reply to Matthew Poole,
The violent "upper class" who should know better are generally people who have never known what is to be disempowered or poor . They often have a huge and unwarranted sense of entitlement
In almost any modern society one might recruit an army of thugs and storm-troopers. Those who know better and from whom we might expect more usually become officers.
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Hard News: Another Saturday Night, in reply to Russell Brown,
Agreed... Booze and drug fuelled violence is pervasive and horrible.
Much of the anti-social behaviour stems from ignorance of consequences and poverty.. not just lack of wealth... but the poverty of lack of opportunity and the grinding down of NZ society as the greedy & privileged few grab all they can.