BLANKET MAN - HIS CHOICE

We have the utmost respect for the well argued debate that is lit by Rosemary McLeod in her columns. Her skill as a journalist forms the bedrock of everything she writes.

But today we think that what she writes is a crock of crap. She thinks that blanket man represents our collective shame and failure as a society . What liberal crap.

We wrote about Blanket man just the other day after he was blatantly breaking the law in broad daylight. And the authorities did nothing. They left him there with his alcohol to drink in a public place - something that is illegal. Something that a brash 18 year old could find leaves him with record.

Rosemary thinks that society has failed Blanket Man - wrong he is failing to live up to his responsibilities in society by abiding by the law. He exists because we dont treat him like a normal citizen.

He is treated like the law does not apply to him so by inference the council and the police are saying that he is okay to do what he likes. He has a status not accorded to any other citizen.

He is not , as McLeod asserts, some modern day image of the old blanket wearing Maori.

He is a lazy shit who now has an uncommon status because we dont treat him like we treat everyone else. He is now deemed to be someone special.

And Ms McLeod needs to see the disgust drip from the faces of the Maori I know who find Blanket man an appalling embarrassment.

Maori need to start taking control of their own destiny - too many are doing well, are law abiding, taxpaying, culture enhancing citizens. So the ones that aren't don't have any excuses any more. And the signal for change must come from Maori leaders themselves. They must say that the behaviour of Maori is unacceptable. That it must change. No more dope for breakfast, no more 5 day alcoholic benders. We need to see the focus of Maori leaders shift from grizzling about the foreshore and seabed and looking at what they can do to support their own people and give them direction.

So to Ms McLeod we say that Blanket man can be a part of society but when he breaks the law as he currently does then its time for him to accept responsibility for his actions and its time for Maori to take responsibility for his actions as well.

THATS SAD

Well well , thats bad news...... Howard Broad aint seeking another term.. Sad .. Really sad.... We are serious. It really is sad. Really...

COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER

This will simply effect one of the greatest social changes we have ever seen. Non smoking jails.

Judith Collins sums it up in the most succinct way

''Prisoners with alcohol and drug addictions have to deal with it. We don't offer alcohol to prisoners with alcohol addictions or P to prisoners with methamphetamine addictions. This is a prison, it's not a home.''

Absolutely and prison officers are there to deal with prisoners. So all that is needed is plenty of support for inmates and officers to kick the habit.

Nuff said.

PPPP

Public - private partnership prisons - perfick!

All the bleeding hearts will be wailing and weeping over this . However  Greg Newbold is absolutely correct.Success will be  largely driven by the robustness of the contract. 

Something we have always supported and the reason that Judith Collins is one of our fav Ministers. Great stuff.

PRAGMATISM WILL SAVE WHALES

Murray McCully and Geoffrey Palmer have shown  enormous fortitude and pragmatism to arrive at what is the best solution for whales and the whalers.

We have long been strong advocates for common sense on this issue. It time people stopped and thought if they had the right to impose their cultural values others .

At a media conference today headed by Foreign Minister Murray McCully and New Zealand's IWC representative Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the pair said New Zealanders needed to put emotion aside and accept that different countries and cultures had different takes on whaling.

Mr McCully said the "acceptable" part of any compromise it was yet to be agreed to, but it would have to involve a big reduction in the annual whale cull, and that was the mandate the Government had given to New Zealand's negotiating team. 

And when we look at todays appalling crime statistics, our efforts would be better spent saving our kids than some oversized cows of the sea.

FLATMATES

We are delighted Judith has delivered on her promise to house inmates in sturdy shipping containers.

We would like to see Corrections put Clayton Weatherston and William Bell together...

And how about .... Philip Field and Nai Yin Xue

and maybe Mary Ann Thompson and Stephen Versalko

So any other suggestions for suitable roomies in the new container cells?

POLLS AND CRAP LEGISLATION DO NOT SAVE KIDS LIVES..

We have been watching the country, in not so subtle terms say via the referendum, that they do not like the anti smacking legislation. Neither do we.
The sad fact is with or without the legislation kids will still be killed.
If Key fiddles with the legislation will it fix this huge social ill. No
If it is scrapped altogether will it stop babies being killed. No
Will the shrill cry for another crack at anti smacking legislation stop children being slaughtered by the ones who are supposed to care for them and guide them on lifes journey? - No,
Will we see a sharper focus on the most at risk families? - That's what we need.

The debate about this sorry legislation should shift focus. Both sides have people who care about kids and who want a better society.

It is time for them to find a way to work together to stop the child killing that has become the nations shame.

YES YES YES

Collins is getting tough on gangs. Good - bout time someone did. And this is something we have more than a passing interest in

This is going to take the efforts of the whole community and it will require a multi agency approach. This is not just an issue for police and corrections - its also about Social Welfare, Maori and Pacific Island Affairs among others. It is time for zero tolerance. And it is time to really focus on P - We have witnessed its ravages and nothing we have ever seen turns sane people into lunatics in such a ferocious way.

So we are delighted to see Collins take a tough stand, she maybe the first Minister to make a real difference.

NGA KUPU AROHA

Last night we spent a fascinating few hours with an old asssociate - Denis O'Reilly

We go back over 20 years - when he headed the powerful and influential Group Employment Liaison scheme and we were plying our self developed model of multi faceted rehabilitation in Invercargill jail.

Denis O'Reilly is Black Power and he has a life that is well lived. Today instead of some opposing member of a rival gang, it the drug "P" that Denis has in his sights.

Denis is still a part of the scene, that much is evidenced by a recent driveby where he was the target of a shooting.

He, and my good friend Harry Tam have seen the wholesale damage this drug has done to a generation and they want to see it gone. They have embarked on a crusade to do their very practical bit to see the end of its ravages.

We don't necessarily agree on everything. But we agree that something must be done and it is good that the Maori Party is leading the charge.

I could tell some of Denis's story , but it is his to tell and he tells it well. There are shades of J K Baxter in his stony Irish rooted persona - not a strange thing really, as he and Harry are lovers of words such as these.

High Country Weather

Alone we are born

and die alone

Yet see the red-gold cirrus

over snow-mountain shine

upon the upland road

ride easy stranger

Surrender to the sky

your heart of anger.

So take a journey and set aside some good time to read what he is saying. It is a well written, well argued strategy. I urge all politicians and policy makers to digest it.

GOVERNMENT GIVES WEATHERSTON A SOAP BOX.

Yip it true. We have just been watching the Weatherston piece on TV3 60 Minutes. It was okay till they got to the bit where the reporter revealed she had been given permission to visit Weatherston in Jail.
Admittedly she talked about how keen he was to give his achievements. It did not paint a pleasant picture but the picture should never have been painted.

Weatherston should not have had that opportunity. Corrections has done the country a disservice for allowing the interview to go ahead.

Someone should be held accountable for that decision. Obviously Corrections thinks more of the rights of the inmate than the family of the victim. We hope that Sophie's family complain. We would help them write it.

WEATHERSTON WILL HAVE IT EASY

Some people reckon that Weatherston will get his come uppance in jail. Sad - but its very unlikely.


He will not be knifed in the kidneys or even beaten up. - someone might spit in his luncheon and pickle sandwich but he will be put straight into protection with all the other slimy, watery eyed weak, panty sniffers and child molesters , famed for their ability to whine endlessly .

He will probably get a job in the library and or become a trusted inmate in short order. He will further his education in the poky and probably want to write a book on his experiences or do a course with a view to ensuring that others benefit from his "superior wisdom".

He will not regret what he has done other than regret the impact it has had on his life.

We have worked with some loathsome fucked up individuals and some with narcissistic tendencies in the past. they are chilling individuals.
Weatherston should not be allowed out. He has the capacity to kill again.

Personally, for criminals of his ilk - we favour the death penalty.

EMAILS AND POWERFUL TRUTHS

We are expecting some news on the stolen Don Brash Email saga in the dead tree publications tomorrow...

WOULD BANNING GANG PATCHES HAVE GOT OUR CAR BACK?

NAH but we are delighted with any legislation that cracks down on gangs. Marginalise them, give them no room to move and the police should be in their faces 24/7. Zero tolerance. Get them on the small stuff - it will stop the big stuff. And maybe then the police might have got our carback.

ROLL OUT THE TUMBRIL - PART IV

We have found our car. It was stolen on February 26th.
Now it has no tires and no battery - but there is a hell of a story about how it was stolen and how the police handled the issue. How it has highlighted an issue about how government departments talk to each other, or don't, to reduce crime.

Now the car is about 17 years old but mechanically sound. It wasn't worth much more than about $1000 dollars - it wasn't even worth insuring. So some maybe wondering why we have gone to great lengths to secure its return.

Well it was ours. And its like this - We like to apply the granny test to things. That means if it was your granny that was facing the same incident how would the experience have been for her.

In this case Granny would have never seen her car again. And that says bad things about how this issue was handled. In the end it proved to be a case of " not what you know but who you know" and a little bit of amateur sleuthing.

We will blog on this in full later. It really has been an astonishing journey.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS ON 1ST OF APRIL

A Fisheries observer on board a NZ fishing boat decided to play a prank and sends an email to his boss saying they had dredged up a fresh human arm in the trawl net this morning.

Anyway, the company owner is informed and reports the macabre catch to the police and lets them know the ship will dock next Tuesday.

Police took it seriously and even more seriously when they realised it was a hoax.

Red faces all around we here and a keel hauling is on the cards. We have the emails.

For a $1000 donation to the IHC we will release them.

ROLL OUT THE TUMBRIL- UPDATE

On the 6th of March we blogged on the fact our car was stolen after it was left at the Masterton Train station - under the security cameras. We contacted the people with the security footage and the Masteton police. The security guy got the thieves on tape. However he needed us to get the police to ring him. We gave all the details to the Masterton Police who said they would chase it up. A week passed and nothing had happened - we talked to another constable who said they would look into it. Still nothing. Then yesterday the Aussie Rock got a letter from Land Transport saying there had been a change of ownership. He thought that the police must have notified Land Transport that the car was stolen. I thought it was a bit odd - anyway the Rock rang Land Transport and low and behold the car was re registered the day after it was stolen.... They wont say where - they want to talk to the police and will release the details to them. Farrrrkin protracted process we reckon....
So when we find out who the little buggers are we will be borrowing this canon and these gunslingers from Oswald Bastable to deal to the bastards who stole our car!

ROLL OUT THE TUMBRIL

We were hanging out to get to the Wairarapa this weekend. We didn't get our country fix last weekend so we were toe tapping waiting for the Train today.

Now we leave the 15 year old metallic green Falcon station wagon at the Masterton train station car park right under the security cameras between weekend visits. Now you would think that with security cameras at many vantage points it would be pretty safe.
It wasn't - it, along with a couple of other cars, was broken into about 4 weeks ago. The thieves broke the back rear passenger window - and the guys at the Train station in Masterton kindly duct taped it shut when they found it.

Anyway, I skip off the train about 3pm today and look around - alas no Falcon - yip some nasty little spotty shit(s) stole it this time - duct tape and all. ( mark my words car thieves are always spotty little shits).

The Train boys were very helpful, giving me the name of the guy who runs the security cameras and the number for the local police station.
The culprits stole it on February 25th - they were on the tape. It seems no one looks at the tapes unless someone asks. Anyway we had to co-ordinate the security bloke and the police. Sort of self help crime fighting. Will be interesting what happens next. We will report.

Now the car is old but one that is held in great affection. It smells a bit but has been very very well looked after. (Our bloke - the Aussie Rock is like that) - its sort of a sea sick green colour and if you are in the Wairarapa you wont miss it because its the one with duct tape on the back seat passenger window.
and the rego is OZ 623. We ended up getting a taxi driver to take us to the block today and he says that Masterton is pretty unsavoury sometimes and there is a bad element in the town. That's bloody sad and I suspect its no different than many towns these days.

Masterton is full this weekend for - the Masterton Golden Shears competition.

The last weekend we were here the National Pipe Band Champs were on.

So its all go in Masterton.

There will be a reward either cash or Bluff oysters if its found in going order.

Anyway, we can report that the mushrooms are plentiful and the bloody zucchini have grown so big that if you scooped them out you could paddle them down the river.

BREAKING NEWS - GOVT MINISTER TO BE INVESTIGATED BY POLICE

Thats the good oil from the Whale...

Very sad - is all we can say.

Seems even if you are a Minister there is no Hiding from the long arm of the law.

A MAN WHO WILL SHAPE THE MINDS OF OUR CHILDREN?

We dont think so. But from this story in Stuff it appears that John Tamihere is seriously considering allowing Clint Rickards to look after some youth programmes at Waipareira.

You see we are a bit ambivalent about Rickards. Its pretty obvious he had some very crap views of women in his younger day . He may have changed , we hope he has, but nothing we have seen anywhere gives us any indication that he is sorry for his past , can understand the impact his actions may have had or that he thinks he did any thing wrong.

Sorry, but until he can go into a room full of kids and say - you never want to be what I was , then he shouldn't be allowed near them.

It is men like him who reinforce the warped beliefs of those who were responsible for the death of Nia Glassie.

And we wonder if the possible employment of Rickards to the Waipareira Trust is an indication of Tamiheres own attitudes toward women?

SOMETIMES THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION FOR THE SOULESS

Only one solution? Liam Reid must make us all wonder.