Send in the marines!

Ahh . . the Undie 500, eh. Just a few lads and ladettes, letting go of the stress of exams, the pressures of lectures. Letting off a bit of steam. Boys being boys (and girls being girls).



Here’s what I think should happen.

The police dropped the ball. Again. It’s not as if there was no warning. And their role was containment only, until it got out of hand. Did anybody – ANYBODY – think it wasn’t going to get out of hand? It should have been shut down before it started, and I don’t mean by pussy council bylaws that said it can’t happen, but are toothless in the actual execution of them. The police, armed to the teeth, and even the army, should have shut it down before the engines started.

Failing that, the police and the army should have been patrolling the streets of Dunedin and arresting anyone who even LOOKED like a student, herd them into a hall somewhere, and held indefinitely while they are processed through the courts.

When the parties inevitably started with those who got through the police lines, they should have been cordoned off, and closed down.

80 arrests? There should have been hundreds of arrest, and every one of them should be:

Convicted to the fullest extent of the law;
Expelled from university for life;
Forced to pay back every cent of student loan they are no doubt owing;
Divested of their passport so they can’t skip the country, and the debt;
Sent to JAIL.

I cannot believe we as a society stand for this sort of crap, this sort of anti-social behaviour. I can’t believe that these idiots will be allowed to be the leaders of this country, as some of them inevitably will be. They will be like Sue Bradfor who in later life has used her former anti-social behaviour as a badge. Just as she should have been locked up, so too should these morons.

Same with the boy racers, and the gangs. I cannot believe we as a society stand for it.

"We got it wrong"

Funny I should mention The Block yesterday, as it seems the Labour Party Conference was being held in Rotorua. Who knows why. But in a tired, depressed, brown town, it's probably only fitting that the tired, depressed Labour Party poke its head above ground in that dump. They've finally admitted they might have "got it wrong" on a few things they did while in Government.

Obviously the same script writer was active, with all the head boffins admitting to having "priorities" that were not necessarily in line with the rest of the country. They even dragged Jim Anderton's tired old bones up on stage to apologise for, yep, "moving on to other priorities." Sorry, Jim, the New World Order will have to wait another round. But don't worry, the last great white hope is still flurrying away in New York. Don't give up the dream.

John Key and his cronies should beware, however. Labour's catastrophic defeat in the election last year had little to do with "priorities" and everything to do with arrogance. They thought they knew what was best for Joe Citizen, even if Joe disagreed.

It would be simplistic to say that Labour was defeated because of the anti-smacking legislation. But I'm gonna say it anyway. Labour was defeated because of the anti-smacking legislation. It was the final straw, but it also represented the arrogance that was, and still is, inherent in the political system. Despite overwhelming opposition by the New Zealand public, Labour went ahead and did it anyway. And if there had been a viable alternative, John Key wouldn't have won either because of his sychophantic collaboration with the Red Team.

Problem is, if we get sick of the Blue Team, who else is there to vote for? Which characterises the whole "democratic" system. Rarely do you get the best Government. You just don't get the worst one.

I guess the mutterings in Rotorua are the closest thing we're going to get to an apology. Their priorities might have been a little askew. Yeah, right.

“The idea that taking rights and conditions off working people will help the economy, and conversely that shoring up rights and improving incomes will wreck it, has been exposed for the contempt that underpins it.”

Is this irony writ large from Andrew Little? Who better than Labour knows about taking rights and conditions off working people? Labour, like National, did NOTHING for "working " people . . at least for the 80% in the middle. If you were rich under Labour, you got richer. If you were on a low income under Labour you did better (even if you became more dependent on their welfare). If you were "middle class" under Labour . . you got squat. Except more taxes, more costs, and less slack. And you couldn't smack your children (not that I did anyway - I want that on record).

So, thanks for the apology, Andrew. I will take it with the grain of salt I'm sure it was delivered with.

A wee bit precious?

I don’t know what it’s like to have a history of victimisation, although I grew up in The Block, so perhaps I do. And I’m not being trivial. Growing up in The Block truly traumatised me.

But my “people” don’t really have a history of being victims.

But, aren’t we all getting just a little precious? Two things today suggest we are.

AIDS groups, and Jewish groups have slammed a campaign announcing AIDS is a mass murderer, using the face of Adolf Hitler as its poster fuhrer.

It’s intended to shock, and does.

The second is the recent – second – suspending of shock jock Kyle Sandilands. He suggested that if Magda Szubanski really wanted to lose weight she should book in to a concentration camp. She’s been passive aggressive about it, but Jewish leaders – hmmm . . . a pattern emerges . . . are “outraged.”

Here’s the skippy tho. AIDS kills people in their masses. It’s a mass killer. I can’t see what the offense is that Hitler’s face be used to highlight the evil that is AIDS. That’s not to say people with AIDS are evil. No reasonable person would deduce that. It is to say AIDS is an insidious disease that needs to be highlighted.

Auschwitz happened. Well, most reasonable people agree it happened. It was horrific. It, too, was the result of evil. But the plague happened, too, and we joke about that. The Inquisition. The Salem witch trials. Rwanda. Ethiopia. And maybe it’s little off colour to make “jokes” about some of these things, but to be publicly outraged, call for Sandilands head on a plate . . oops, maybe that’s a bit off colour . . . to demand he lose his job? That’s just being a bit too precious.

The Jews have their own in-jokes about Gentiles. They are not beyond their own pogroms. They need to chill out a bit.

Advertising is an art form. The freedom of speech is sacred. I understand and accept the need for some restrictions . . . but not many.

Geez . . . a week on the Gold Coast?



Or a week in Hamilton?



No brainer, really. Hamilton IS a dump!

It's time to be afraid

I sit squarely in the middle of the school who thinks this, while amusing at one level, is terrifying at almost every other level.

Forget that I once considered God, well . . . God. Forget that this kind of BLASPHEMY would, until only a few decades ago, have elicited certain damnation. Forget that this article, perhaps correctly, makes a complete mockery of the institution of religion. But in the midst of this convenient amnesia, try to think about the implications of what is surely the truth behind this article. And be afraid. Be very afraid.

The theory behind a couple of pretty popular movies . . . Terminator, and I, Robot . . . is simple. One day computer driven machines will rise up and overthrow the human race.

George Orwell thought that the rise of humans was humanity’s greatest danger. In the post-Orwell world, we’ve moved past that. While humans are still the greatest threat to humans (or perhaps viruses are – the non-electronic kind), and while twenty years ago (Terminator time) the idea that machines overthrowing humans was entertainingly ludicrous, now . . . NOW the one real thing lacking then – a realistic, possible vehicle for bringing the machines together, and to life – seems to be here. It’s not knocking on the door, it’s already in our lounge. It’s in our kitchen, preparing meals; it’s teaching our children; it’s a better friend to them than most parents can ever be. It’s controlling our businesses; facilitating our banking processes.

It is slowly and surely making us more and more and more dependent on it. It is addicting us. It is controlling us.

Google’s motto is “Do no evil.” As if it could. You don’t purport to NOT do something that you cannot do.

Information is good. But isn’t it also power? Whoever owns the information, or perhaps more importantly, access to it, surely has a significant amount of power.

The military already has the technology to send machines into battle by remote control. Sure, it’s in infancy. But it’s real. The field of robotics, now decades old, has grown exponentially in the last few years. And if we’re not already completely dependent on computer technology . . . well, we are. There’s no doubt. What would happen if “computers” went down for a week. NO computers.

Most computers are connected to some kind of network. So it’s not impossible to imagine a virus big enough, and far-reaching enough to paralyse the entire electronic grid. The trillion dollar electronic security industry knows all too well the real possibility of such an attack.

NO computers, anywhere, for a week. For 60% of the population, that is incomprehensible. It is impossible. Government, financial institutions, tertiary institutions, border control, hospitals, traffic control, AIR traffic control, shipping, communications infrastructure (phones and, of course, internet).

For one week. Can you imagine it? What about a month? What about indefinitely. The human race would sink to new lows before it could spring back from that kind of chaos.

“Do no evil.”

Well, that’s nice as long as two good ole boys with altruistic intentions are in charge of Google. The world is safe while philanthropist Bill Gates is at the helm of the most powerful operating system in the universe. But what happens when the real life version of VICKI decides the human race can no longer look after itself? What happens when a SKYNET lookalike pulls together the world’s military might and decides on it’s own what the real threat to the universe is?

Didn’t we giggle a bit at the Terminator? Even twenty five years later we watched I, Robot with an amount of scepticism. That could never really happen.

Well, only six years after that, I’m not giggling any more. I’m not even smirking. When the Sydney Morning Herald can proclaim, only mildly tongue in cheek, that Google might be worthy of the title GOD, I think it’s time to be a little bit afraid.

Nothing Unusual?

David Bain wants the rifle back, the one that killed his family. Joe Karam says there's nothing unusual in the request.

Nothing unusual? NOTHING UNUSUAL?? OMG!

Everything about the Bain saga could arguably be called unusual, stating with the man's ears, his jerseys, and Karam's obsessive pursuit of Bain's aquittal.

Now he wants some of the exhibits back. Well, fair enough, I guess. But the rifle? It's his gun, says Karam, so he should be allowed it back.

Well, okay. But I think it's a bit much to suggest there's nothing "unusual" about such a request. It's be like OJ wanting the gloves back, or Timothy McVeigh claiming the insurance on the U-Haul.

Rules for the Pretty

I never thought Chapelle Corby should have gone to prison. She's way too pretty to have gone to prison. Pretty people should not go to prison. There should be different rules for pretty people.

Good on you Rodney Hide

Good on Rodney Hide for standing up for his principles.


It is so foreign to the mainstream media to consider any politician would do such a thing that, in order to beat it up as much as possible, they have to accuse Hide of “blackmailing” the Government, “holding the Government to ransom” and to quote the interim Labour party leader Phil cry-baby Goff saying it will “de-stabilise” the Government.

Of course, Goff would consider a politician standing up for a principle as de-stabilising, so infrequently is it ever done. If Labour had let its members stand up for their principles rather than being pressured to toe the party line – anti-smacking, for example – their government would have been de-stabilised long before they got dumped.

Good on Rodney Hide.

And here’s where the MSM comes across as so pathetic. Hide has not “threatened” the government. With all due respect, Hide doesn't have such power. National does not need Rodney Hide. Rodney Hide does not have that much sway over the National Party. And as such, he has nothing to “threaten” them with. He knows that, and any casual observer knows it. So the MSM journalists should know it. There is nothing in this for Rodney Hide, except being able to hold his head up high and say he stood up for what he believed was right.

Of course, he’s a politician, so I won’t be holding my breath on him following through. I hope he does. I don’t really have a lot of respect for any of them, but if he follows through, I will certainly give him his due respect.

Unfortunately, I think John Key will side with Hide, not because of Hide’s current position, but because it’s the right thing to do. We cannot allow special interest groups to hijack the tenuous democratic process we have in this country. Unfortunately then, the MSM and the whinging Labour Party do-nothings will hoe into the decision, play the race card, and try to score as many political points from it as they can to help their plummeting popularity (can it go any lower?). Hide’s integrity will be overshadowed.

Never thought I’d say something like that about a politician.

Corruption

The thing that surprises me most about the Phillip Field fiasco is the expressions of shock and horror from PF's fellow politicians and (predictably) the media in this country.

While it may be true that PF is the first MP to be convicted of corruption, do the politicians, the media, or any other New Zealanders with more than a few brain cells think for one second that he is the only MP to ever be guilty of corruption?

The Unremitting Intensity of the Irritation

I have heard it said (by a conservative Christian nonetheless) that the human body is the apex of God’s creation. I’ve heard it described as a miracle of human evolution. More recently I’ve decided the human body is the most pathetic, impractical, infuriatingly sissified weak organism in the Universe.

There are countless examples. Who has not wished they had another pair of hands? Or even one more hand. Those of a feminine structure could, no doubt, easily think up a better mechanism for bringing children into the world (I’m talking about the “birth” part, not necessarily the “procreation” part, though I have some serious questions about that, too!). Relative to our size we are one of the slowest animals. We can’t climb trees very well and for every disease we eradicate it seems another five are immediately born to replace it. We’re living longer only to be brought down by a catalogue of ailments that specifically target the aged human carcass.

Let’s face it. We’re pussies. In the grand scheme of things, the human animal – whether evolved or created – is pathetic.

For all our “knowledge”, our “advances”, our “innovation”, for all the advantages morality, speech, intuition, and sentience supposedly afford us, we’re pretty useless. Like the Martians who were brought down by the smallest of (known then) living things, bacteria, who hasn’t been totally and utterly debilitated by something incredibly small and irrelevant. Who’s had a splinter that’s turned infected? Did you try to do normal things like type, wash dishes or pick your nose with the infected finger? Who’s cut their finger and felt like you’re bleeding to death? Who’s had a cold, or in these flu-packed days had even the regular non-bird, non-swine, non-hedgehog flu?

My present humbleness is undoubtedly caused by something equally inconsequential. Well, inconsequential until the little mongrel showed up in my space. I don’t know what it is, but I guarantee it’s small (either pollen, a virus, or some bacteria) and IT’S. DRIVING. ME. NUTS!


Truly. At the risk of being dramatic, and trivialising the real problems humans encounter, for a short time there I really felt like I was going nuts. The whole upper half of my face felt like it was on fire, and it was like there was one completely elusive grit of sand (another small entity that can cause all kinds of trouble) hiding somewhere under my eyelid. And did I say it was DRIVING. ME. NUTS!?

I’m serious. It was relentless and I felt like smashing my head through a pane of glass just to relieve the persistent hostility of whatever was crawling around in my eye. There was nothing rational that could be done to relieve the unremitting intensity of the irritation, so I really felt the need to do something irrational, something dramatic.

Luckily, the grit of sand must have fallen out – or something. Suddenly, it wasn’t so bad.

Which may be cause for even more frustration. WHY? Why drive me to the point of smashing something, like my head, then just up and leave? Gone. What’s that about?

Of course, the whole ordeal wasn’t over. There’s still the weeping and the blurred vision. So I’m off to the doc tomorrow. Of course, even with the wonders of modern medicine – yeah right – I’m sure I won’t be feeling much better by this time tomorrow.