Posts by Rich of Observationz
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I thought police discretion regarding prosecution was exactly that -- and it's constitutionally and legally rather dodgy for any Government to be issuing "instructions" on that score.
I was just researching this, and *think* that prosecution is a Royal (e.g. governmental) Prerogative in NZ. A lawyer would know.
If our law is the same as the UK, then the government has the ability to jump in in their size 9's and stop any prosecution, as the UK AG did last year in the BAE bribery case.
This is of course pretty unacceptable (and way more important than smacking). We should, IMHO, have a legal framework for prosecution that removes any governmental discretion, at least on individual cases.
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Graeme:
- Smacking *is* assault, like any unwanted physical contact, right?
Sensibly, the police and courts might consider (in line with the Prosecution Guidelines) that the conduct doesn't "merit the attention of the criminal law", for instance.
But that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't hit, slap or punch anyone of any age, the law says so, and you can be prosecuted for hitting people if the circumstances warrant. The "lightness" or otherwise of the smack might be a factor pointing to that, but might not be, if for instance the parent's behaviour and resistance to change is worrying to the agencies involved.
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Maybe the debate will go on so long that eventually the media and public will just get tired of it and subsequently sideline the noise-makers due to lack of interest
I think that will happen. Nothing's going to change if (a) John Key or (b) Labour lead government. Which probably takes us to 2014 and the legislation having been in place for seven years.
The only exception would be if:
a: National move on to Phase 2, Key gets rolled and his successor needs populist collateral to cover his attack on ordinary people's living standards.
b: Goff's desparation takes Labour further to the populist right. -
It's different again -- these kids are identifying with niggaz, because they are taking cultural cues from hip hop music.
Is that similar to the use of swastikas by members of largely Polynesian gangs?
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if our national character is not to generate wealth, then as a nation we simply won't have the tax take/private income of other nations
In terms of public spending, that assumes that we continue on the same path in two areas:
- our taxes are maintained at the low end of the OECD. If we increased them to British, let alone Scandinavian levels, we could have much better public services, as well as a fairer society.
- we spend a fortune on the apparatus of social authoritarianism. Measures such as closing prisons, cuting police numbers and legalising and taxing drugs would free a substantial "freedom dividend" that could be spent on more useful public services. (Interestingly, California is being forced to start along this route by their near bankruptcy. They can't afford to pay the jailers and they need the taxes from dope).
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Where does this crap come from about "catching up" with Australia.
If I wanted to live in a fucked up, polluted, redneck racist desert for the sake of a few more dollars, I would.
If I had a deep personal need to make huge amounts of money, I'd do it in Europe or the US. They'll always have much bigger markets for that sort of thing.
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especially when I used "yis" for an affirmative
I have the same thing with Coop Taxis, until I learnt to enunciate: "riddy nowww"
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the purpose of the campaign is to scare young men, and the fewer of them there are on the road on drugs, the better
Chicks on speed and 40 year olds on acid are fine to drive however. They won't crash....
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..power-tripping people who knew nothing about NZOS, New Zealand or the article topics
Yeah, I've had that over pages that cover things that are way more relevant in an NZ context than a lot of Wikipedia is in a US context.
personally, I think the only way to deal with them is to throw shit back and wear them down. Maybe we should all make a concerted effort to reinstate the NZOS links?
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Who would be good as a Labour leader?
Helen Clark.
Quite possibly there is nobody at all suitable who has a term's experience in parliament and isn't on track for retirement. Maybe they could get Cullen back in on a list swap as a caretaker leader.