It should have been me!

Fifth Columnist of the Year – Michael Bassett

In 'The Hollow Men' - a book filled with skull-duggery and political intrigue Fairfax's former supposedly independent columnist Michael Bassett certainly stands out. When the good Dr Bassett is not sticking the knife into then National leader Bill English whilst advising the man gunning for his job Dr Don Brash, he's off busily attempting to make life miserable for New Zealand's poorest citizens. According to Mr Hager's tome Dr Bassett added inflammatory phrases to Dr Brash's Orewa II speech regarding beneficiaries 'ripping off the system' and using 'stand-over tactics' to get benefits. For this Dr Bassett receives a special additional honour:

Louis 17th medal For Hatred of the Poor – Michael Bassett

Hey. That's not fair. I deserved that award. I mean, Michael might be more widely read them me but I blog everyday about the exploitation and failure of welfare!! I mean, I wasn't even invited to accept it on his behalf!

Look. I know people who are 'ripping off the system' and I am not going to describe them in any other terms. It doesn't follow that I hate them. If I did I would dob them in. Neither does it mean I have to approve of them abusing the system. Is that what Scoop wants from writers? Craven, chickenshit platitudes? PC politeness or worse - peddling the old Kiwi me-tooism - everybody does it mate, so what's the fuss?

What a pathetic attempt at a putdown. Whoever dreamt up this award deserves their own for mental mediocrity. Wake up.

....and the rest

Stuff reports from 1996 to 2005, total crime committed by youths remained static at about 31,000 recorded offences according to the report titled Conviction and Sentencing of Offenders in New Zealand.



The Stuff figure obviously omits 'child' crime, that committed by under 14 year-olds. Current youth and child offences number around 48,000 per year and that is only what the Police resolve (resolution rate is 44%)

(BTW. Any 'old' blogger not able to access their blog, use the 'new' blogger link. It has only taken me 24 hours to figure this out:-()

Bad legislation

The NZ Law Society has slammed the amendments to Sue Bradford's repeal of section 59 bill saying they create more uncertainty and appear to be a hasty political compromise.

Making the meth problem worse

The government's having a hard time solving the meth problem because the government helped create it.

So says Radley Balko of Reason in this piece from Fox News

(Some of the measures adopted in the US are also in place here.)

Too fat to father

China has imposed new restrictions on prospective foreign adopters. They can't be too old, too fat, too depressed or too ugly. (It's a shame Americans can't or are unable to adopt some of their own hapless babies).

Stretching it

Reading about the proposed ban on party pills on the front page of the DomPost I learn that they are used by one in five New Zealanders.

Oh really. That's over 800,000 people. The population aged 15-29 is only 813,618. Sure, there will be people older than that (and a few younger) using party pills but I figure the concentration of use will be in that age group.

Where did these figures come from? Let's see. Massey University researchers.

The survey consisted of a random national household sample of 2,010 people aged 13-45 years old collected using the Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE) and Whariki’s in-house computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system.

Prevalence and patterns of use
One in five (20.3%; 18.4-22.3) of the sample had ever tried legal party pills, and one in seven (15.3%; 13.6-17.1) had used legal party pills in the preceding 12 months. Levels of last year use of legal party pills were highest among the 18-24 year old age range with 33.9% (25.3-43.6) of 18-19 year olds and 38.0% (31.3-45.2) of 20-24 year olds having used legal party pills in the preceding year.

So run that past me again. One in five surveyed 13-45 year-olds had tried party pills at some time, has become, one in five New Zealanders use party pills. Brilliant.

Fantastic....if you are looking for alarmist figures to persuade the gullible that they must be banned.

(Xmas just came right on time for the Mob.)

DPB to In Work Payment

An anonymous commentor has suggested I lodge an OIA request under "code 38" to find out how many people have moved off the DPB and onto the In Work payment. As I cannot directly comunicate with anonymous I will have to do so through my blog.

The following are the questions and replies already sent to and received rom MSD. I do not know what "code 38" is but the Ministry claims the information I seek does not exist. Are you saying it does? (I am pursuing more information from the IRD).

"Fewer on dpb" - more on WFF

Dear Editor,

You report a fall in DPB numbers (DomPost, Dec 19) to below 100,000 "for the first time since 1993". The reasons why are not given.

One is, those people who were on a partial DPB payment due to working part-time have transferred onto the new In Work payment, some with no change to their hours worked. Change the name, change the numbers.

But more worrying than this smoke and mirrors exercise is that numbers have only fallen this far. In 1993, the unemployment rate was 9.2 percent. Today it is 3.8 percent yet we have the same number of people claiming the DPB. That is the real story.

Knee jerk reactions

According to NewstalkZB, in the wake of the Ipswich murders,UK Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Harriet Harman, is considering making it illegal for men to pay for sex. In the wake of Columbine perhaps attending high schools should have been made illegal or in the wake of Aramoana, developing small comunities should have been banned.

Set for life

Massey University researchers find that in poor schools as many as one in four children are incapable of learning.

"Where there is a lot of stress on a family or there has been neglect or they have been misguided in some way, they don't have the resources to do any thinking at all, because everything is focused on personal survival and getting to the next day."

This applies to grown-ups in the same environment. How else would we expect their children to be?

Anyway, who needs an education when you can live off the state.

What is "Far Right"?

From Richard Long's DomPost column today;


The media frequently refer to ACT as "Far Right". I remember vividly my own mother saying to me, "You never used to be a right-winger". One can get tired of trying to explain oneself. But I will try again.

What would a "Far Right" party look like?

Here's my list;
Xenophobic, anti-immigration, authoritarian, anti-democracy, pro-drug prohibition, anti-freedom of speech, anti-individual rights, militaristic, anti-gay, anti-prostitution, pro dictatorship control of production and wealth through taxation.

Such a party would be an anathema to me.

What I am against is force, the rights of the collective overriding those of the individual, and state redistribution of wealth.

ACT is the parliamentary party that best matches my views.

Richard Long is lazy. It is easier to dismiss what it takes time to explain. Especially when it suits his purpose.

Best-by date past

Middle-aged male? You're a suspect.

In profiling rapists who use drugs to sedate their victims an expert says;

Mr Henwood says drug-rapes are committed for many different reasons.

Other offenders resort to drugs because they are unable to attract a partner.

For example, they could be past their prime, perhaps in their 40s or 50s, "so they are going to be on the list".

It's gonna be a long list.

Internet lie detectors

Would you want to have a conversation with someone whose computer just told you it was monitoring your call for lies? I have Skype but if I get this message I'll hang up.

Purple policies

I think I will start of list of "purple policies" - those that are a combination of, or common to, both the red and blue parties. Look out for this breath-takingly boring emblem which will alert you to new additions. Contributions welcome. For instance;

The Sunday Star Times reports on the Working For Families package. A single mum working part-time can now afford to get her hair done at the hairdresser and buy luxury food items.

Along comes an intrepid individual who said, he and his wife, who chose not to have children, were being forced to support those who choose to reproduce.

"I wouldn't disagree with having a safety net, my gripe is the very high thresholds at which it is set. People who are earning very good levels of income are now getting welfare simply because they have children, which is silly."

"Why should I be buying her high priced items of food?"

But National think he should.

Already there are signs that National realises it will be difficult to unwind what has been a revolution in family assistance. Revenue spokesman Lockwood Smith said any changes would not leave anyone worse off.

"Unlimited access to drugs" in prison

What d'you know? "Unlimited access to drugs" in prison. Not long ago I raised this subject and was told by Crasster that, "Drugs in prisons are not tolerated by any prison officer."

Just yesterday I spent too long sitting in the sun talking about this very subject with someone who has firsthand experience. It was easier to get drugs inside than outside, they said. The "top dog, head honcho"(not a fellow inmate you understand) could get you anything you want. That was twenty years ago, I offered. Could have changed. Maybe.....

Perhaps this report is based on a tissue of lies. If not, perhaps Rimutaka is a one-off. Would you put money on it?

Recorded crime and victimisations

When you read or hear about recorded crime continuing to trend down, as publicised by Statistics New Zealand today, bear the following in mind; (It is tucked away within the report released today).

Victimisations

The data is not designed to establish how many people have been victims of crimes, or the number of crimes committed. This type of information is best obtained through victimisation surveys that include crimes that were not reported to the Police. Research indicates that many crimes are never reported to the Police in the first instance. The 2001 New Zealand National Survey of Crime Victims (NZNSCV) showed that the number of offences recorded in police statistics in 2000 represented 15 percent of the estimated number of victimisations. Crimes most likely to be reported include those that involve insurance claims, those where injuries require medical treatment, and crimes discovered by the Police as a result of police practice (eg policing of liquor bans).

UPDATE; See how the headlines misreport, Crime Falls Overall - Long-term crime statistics show overall criminal offending has fallen in the past 10 years, due largely to a big fall in dishonesty offences.

Where is the word, "recorded"?

The "gorilla" in the room

In NZ we ignore it too. In fact we positively encourage the "huge gorilla" in the room by aiding and abetting it.

It's for your own good

If you still enjoy your butter and full milk, STOP, right now. That's today's message from one of Nanny's little helpers. For your own good you must start consuming synthetic spreads and manipulated milk. Then you too could eke out a few more years on this planet of busybody, anti-smoking, anti-drug, anti-alcohol, anti-billboards, anti-cars, anti-christmas, anti-travel, anti-shopping bags, anti-gambling, anti-hunting, anti-fishing, anti-swimming pools, anti-exotic trees, anti-dogs, anti-cats, anti-hydro, anti-wind turbine, anti-nuclear, anti-soft drink, anti-taser, anti-gun, anti-profit, anti-GE, anti-cows, anti-smacking, anti-party pills, anti-noise, anti-speedway, anti-immigrant, anti-foreign ownership whiners.

Pass me the butter please.

National - authoritarian and illiberal

Here's National being more authoritarian and illiberal than even Jim Anderton. Does Otago National MP Jacqui Dean really think that banning party pills will get rid of them? What evidence is she basing that on?

More phoney excuses

The soon-to-be-introduced roadside testing for impairment from drug-taking is quite extraordinary. I don't accept what the police are saying.

"If someone is tired or has a medical condition they won't exhibit the same signs as someone who is under the influence of an illegal drug."

Here's just one of the tests;

MOTOR SKILLS TEST:

A driver must maintain his balance while standing upright, with his hands at his sides, head tilted back and eyes closed.

But be assured,

Random tests will not be conducted but if police believe a driver is impaired they must initiate a drug test.

For now but you can bet that will be the next step.

But it's how they justify these things that really rankles. The road toll has come down significantly so that won't work as a reason.

Ministry of Transport figures showed drugs were suspected in 36 crashes in the year to December 31, 2005. Drugs were proven in three whereas alcohol was suspected in 383 crashes.

The evidence of drug-use causing accidents isn't compelling.

So the agent of the state sets an arbitrary target road toll, 300 by 2010, and then complains about looking like we are not going to reach it.