Reaping What You Sew, or I Told You So.

Anger courses failing violent inmates: "Anger management is only going to assist people who have difficulty in regulating their emotions, such as in cases of domestic violence," Riley, the man who heads psychological services in our prisons, said. He said Corrections has been re- thinking its approach and has developed high intensity programmes that will be more effective with people with anti-social tendencies who have histories of violence. "

... and indeed, superficially anger management is to do with helping those with impulse problems, not those for whom it is a calculated means to an end ... but then, how effective is the former (anger management) before looking at adding what must, in large part, be another talk therapy of further questionable effectiveness? Can these people really be 'talked' out of their extreme behaviour ... it would appear that teachers are quite unsuccessful at doing this ... it would also appear that psychological services in our prisons are quite unsuccessful at doing this as is testified by a reimprisonment rate of 29% after 12 months and 37% after 24 months following release ... and
Serious violent/sexual offenders constitute about 40% of the prison population at any one time and it is well known that criminal behaviour passes down through the different generations of a family?

... and the genesis of this extreme behaviour?
Sweden's no-smacking Nivarna had produced an increasingly violent child population since it's introduction. Direct child to child violence had increased by 489% since Sweden criminalised parental smacking of children for the purposes of discipline. What's worse, is that Sweden "now has one of the worst assault and sexual violence rates in the EU" according to a European Crime and Safety Safety Report commissioned by the UN and European Commission.
This empowerement of children through legislation that correction for unacceptable behaviour is illegal has already resulted in ...
Children too young to be prosecuted have been implicated in more than 8500 crimes in one year, and police say they are often powerless to intervene. It is consequently little wonder that this problem is manifest across other situations - Teachers meet over violence - in which those in charge of their care are powerless to effect that responsibility ("Police were called after a nine-year-old boy went berserk at a Palmerston North primary school leaving teachers fearing for their safety").

... and at the same time as this disempowerment of caregiver, logically one would expect an increase in impulsive excess, hence ...
According to The Swedish Daily, there has been a 14% increase in child abuse cases in 2006 compared with 2005 figures.
This backs up earlier research showing that child abuse increased 489% in the 13 years following a ban on smacking, and assaults by minors against minors increased 672%. Which of course provides a substantive base for effective functioning as a 'constructive member of society,' probably something to do with having acquired a reasonable level of 'rule governed behaviour,' which is sort of basic to society ... instead we have a 'vicious circle' establishing as is evidenced by dad4justice (on NZ Conservative) ...
My friend works in a child care center - pre school kids in Christchurch and they have had to call police three times this year to help them settle out of control children ? What the hell is going on ?
Monday, October 1, 2007 4:58:00 PM NZDT

But then Christchurch is the 'heart' of ritualised child sexual abuse in NZ ... and unfortunately this concern for the consequences of their actions in intervening on themselves, before intervening to protect the welfare of their charges, this abrogation of basic responsibility as a teacher or caregiver, will at some time have horrendous ramifications ... this action or inaction violates one of the principal requirements of schools, 'to provide a safe environment.'
... and of the future?

Violent crime increasing - police figures
Offences involving violence were up by 4 per cent in the 12 months to June, while offences against property rose by 8 per cent ... Murders dropped from 59 in the year to June 2006, to 50 in the year to June ... this is no cause for glee at all however, for while there remains a high and increasing level of violence, a decrease in murder rates can only be fortuity ... and while there are people, who appear to have the 'ear of our politicians,' who feel they can talk these people out of their excesses at the same time as protecting them (as children and mitigatory factors) from explicit consequences for their excesses ... then violent crime will keep increasing ... we have sewn the seeds in such fertile fields, it is inevitable.

Oh Yes.

Compared with non-smokers, men who smoked up to 10 cigarettes per day had a 27-per cent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction; those who smoked 11 to 20 butts a day had a 45-per cent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction; and those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily had a-65 per cent greater chance of suffering erectile dysfunction .... but in China?

We certainly know that cigarette smoking has a strong likelihood of resulting in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ... but we also know that,

China's Air Pollution Still SeriousIn 1999, carbon dioxide emission reached 18.57 million tons, air pollution emission reached 11.59 million tons and industrial dust emission reached 11.75 million tons and ...

Satellite data has revealed that the city (Beijing) is one of the worst environmental victims of China's spectacular economic growth, which has brought with it air pollution levels that are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year ... and that both are bronchoconstrictors and impede blood flow and that this results in erectile failure as much as does premature death ... difficult to control for I would have thought.
China's air pollution levels are among the world's highest.

Transparency In All Things...

Japanese scientists have bred transparent frogs, whose internal organs can be seen through their skins, giving researchers who study diseases such as cancer insight into organ growth and development ... now just imagine the benefits of this to the human animal as well ... being able to see that 'rush of blood to the head,' that over indulgence on the Big Mac, the genesis and travel of flatulence, that anal retentive personality ... being able to assess attraction and health by the increased beat of the heart, all valves opening and to whence the blood was being directed - no longer a need for fine discriminations ... interesting.

Small testicles a sign of ill health

Aha ... so there is a basis in fact for all those denigrating statements and songs relating 'balls to mettle.'
"Small testes can indicate there is a testosterone deficiency. This can make a man feel tired, lose muscle, gain fat, lose sex drive."

Abandoned Qian Xun

Professor Chris Goddard, director of the National Research Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse, said, As harsh as it may seem, abandoning ... Qian Xun Xue ... may have saved her from further trauma and possibly saved her life.
Well, yes.

Her father's actions reflect a man who was desperate, possibly depressed.
Well, yes, desperate to get away ... desperate to avoid raising the alarm before effecting his escape, desperate to avoid the consequences of his actions.

For her, it's terrible circumstances ... depression was an illness that clouded people's judgment and decision-making.
Oh, yes ... so he wasn' responsible for his actions? Mmmm.

If you are depressed, severely depressed, you can certainly see things in a jaded way ... A depressed person may have a different version of the world and themselves. People may see themselves as a burden on the world and that it would be a better life if they weren't in it.
Oh yes ... but didn't this chappy allegedly repeatedly beat his wife and then kill her and then hide her? So really, she was the burden?

... depressed people could do things they later regretted because they were not thinking clearly.
Mmmm, not responsible, diminished capacity?

... her father had "deep down, feared for the girl's well-being".
Mmmm ... not for his own well-being? Did he not take her to provide that delay in raising the alarm, providing that 'window of opportunity' that enabled his escape and as soon as this was achieved she was an encumbrance, an impediment to effecting a 'clean get away' and maintaining anonymity?

Perhaps, simply very very calculated?

wine enhanced metacognitions

This evening's meta cognitions enhanced by fruit from the Bay ... an abundance of 'full-bodied, ripe-fruit-driven warmth,' both reflecting the artistry of their respective makers ... the lovely Kate Radburnd and affable Peter Robertson ... and of course all in anticipation of the upcoming cold southerlies.

More Baseless And Potentially Disasterous Green Principle.

Posted at 8:22pm on 21 Sep 2007
The Green Party says there is no sense of urgency in a proposed emissions trading scheme announced by the Government.
Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says the scheme lets the farming sector off scot-free until 2013 and by the time it is fully operational, it may be too late ... but too late for what?

Too late to institute changes that will potentially crucify our export sector?
Too late before this 'hot anthropogenic pyroclastic flow' of "fear of catastrophic man-made global warming “bites the dust” and the scientific underpinnings for alarm may be “falling apart.”

New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming. A progression of peer-reviewed studies have been published which serve to debunk the United Nations, former Vice President Al Gore, and the media engineered “consensus” on climate change.

This really is the Greens at their irresponsible best.

Was zum Teufel soll das bedeuten? Everyday Life In The Forties?

Now really ... could one have expected anything different in respect to crimes against humanity, other than for them to be perpetrated by normal people with commonly held beliefs and an overwhelming sense that what they were doing was correct?

The execution of this monstrous act could only have occurred in a supportive climate ... the monstrosity of it largely ajudged retrospectively.

Call for hospital 'suicide teams'

A study by Auckland University psychiatrist Simon Hatcher has found that hospitals are failing to intervene before it is too late for many.
Hospitals see between 5000 and 6000 cases of self-harm a year ... but of this range,
* 95 per cent get psychiatric assessments ... and it is presumably on this basis that
* Only 30 per cent get more than a follow-up phone call from a mental health crisis team within six months ... and yet
* Between 5 and 15 per cent are dead within five years.

Now is this really indicative of a need to impose more aggressively on this group of people?

"The ideal way to do it is to have a dedicated self-harm team in the same way as dedicated stroke teams. "They need to be multi-disciplinary, including mental health and physical health and non-health staff from non-government organisations, Work and Income, ACC and social workers, because people who present with self-harm often have multi-faceted problems."

Now I seem to recall that a number of studies have shown that greater contact with professionals created a greater preoccupation with insurmountable problems and hence lesser inclination to partcipate in alternative activity and greater probability of self harm?
... and strokes as an analogy?

Caesareans set to be most common births

Caesareans are likely to be the commonest way of delivering a baby at Auckland City Hospital within five years
Oh yes.


the rate of elective caesareans, which comprised more than a third of all caesareans at National Women's, increased markedly with maternal age.
Oh yes . .. the 'fear factor?'


The proportion of women aged 36 to 40 giving birth has more than doubled since 1991, to more than 20 per cent last year.
Oh yes ... older, less elasticity, no longer having the impulsiveness of youth ... aesthetics?

The report also charts an increase in women who haemorrhaged more than a litre of blood following birth, "which is in part due to the increased caesarean section rate".

Aha ... so there is a cost, and in the USA, neonatal mortality rates were higher among infants delivered by cesarean section (1.77 per 1,000 live births) than for those delivered vaginally (0.62) ... cesarean birth is associated with higher maternal morbidity.

"I don't think women are being given good information about the risks involved, not only for them but for their babies, in having a caesarean."

But perhaps they are ... perhaps this is a risk older women are prepared to accept for ... what were those 'payoffs' again?

Ellis In Wonderland.

No complaint on Marc Ellis streak.

New legislation means streakers at major events can be jailed for up to three months or fined $5000.

A political statement?

"It was definitely a finger at the Government," Ellis said of his streak ... but wrong finger Marc ... any red blooded kiwi male knows that that is the 'please Miss, may I ..." finger, not sticking it to anybody. Sooo ...

Mind altering substances?

Egotistically driven exhibitionism?

'Eye candy?'

A sad attempt to reclaim that lost public acclaim?

Even if it was a bet undertaken in a disinhibited state, the pose is definitely a 'notice me' one and it would appear no one gave chase, no one took him to the ground, no one took him away ... West Coast police were unaware ... bugger.

Police called after 9-year-old goes berserk at school

"Police were called after a nine-year-old boy went berserk at a Palmerston North primary school leaving teachers fearing for their safety." ... and I am sure for the safety of their other charges.
"The teachers were unable to get the stick off him, they were worried about their safety and the repercussions of manhandling a student." ... and hence the safety of their careers.

This really is a sad indictment on the extent to which child 'rights' have progressed - that those charged with providing 'a safe learning environment' for them are so disempowered by the system that they are simply unable to provide this 'safe learning environment' for the offending child (do not feel they can do what is necessary to stop the behaviour), for other children in their care or for themselves ... and of course involving the police will disempower them further. What chance now for this child to acquire that mandated education in this school?
Now if such a beserk child were to injure another child while teachers watched and waited for the police, would they be culpable by ommission?

This level of immobility by caregivers (teachers), principally out of a fear of the potential consequences of their behaviour on them, is really neither safe nor acceptable practice.

Spare The Rod And ...

And quite a number of these children are similarly far too young for the 'rod.' Pharmac records suggest thousands of prescriptions a year are being written for children under 10 ... For children and adolescents, it said, the risk of suicidal ideas and behaviour from newer antidepressants called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) generally outweighed their benefits.
Older "tricyclic" antidepressants were not generally recommended for those under 18 because of the risk of heart problems.Causing most alarm are the figures for babies, even though they dropped sharply during the three years.
For one-year-olds, 768 prescriptions were written in 2004-05, down to 24 by last year. For those under one, there were 453 prescriptions in 2004-05 but only nine last year.
The numbers also declined for every other age group under 10, but each group remained in the hundreds last year.
The reduction in such prescriptions is good .. that they still occurr in the hundreds for most age groups uder ten is a cause of grave concern.

Organics Is Not Entirely Natural.

Hawkes Bay Hospital has never been so full, with unprecedented demand for beds leaving some patients to be treated on beds in the corridors ... but this of course is not a true statement ... every year it happens and increasingly as organic pip fruit orcharding takes a greater hold, more than 50% of orchards now and the predominant spray is lime sulfur a respiratory irritant, mimics viral, flu like symptoms ... the old acid rain you know... and you can smell it in some of the wards ... because gases cannot be contained.

Mandatory screening of every infant proposed

Our Childrens' Commissioner wants, 'mandatory screening of every baby's home life in a bid to halve New Zealand's high child murder rate.'

Now this is really something like imposing on the many to better control the few ... and the basis for this ... Researcher Janet Fanslow says, 'home visitation is one of the only proven methods to reduce the child abuse rate. Parenting programmes also worked, but to a lesser extent.'

Perhaps I have missed something here, but I am sure a considerable number of children abused and killed over the years have been under CYF's supervision and/or care.

In addition there are always greater efficiencies to be made by targetting resources to where the problem is.

Surely this overinclusion isn't simply an endeavour to preserve a PC perspective?

A 'Biggie.'

Heard that a Family Court decision was recently appealed in the High Court in Rotorua and the decision reserved ... and this some three to four weeks ago.
Essentially the grandparents are endeavouring to force access on their terms (when, where, for how long, without parental oversight) in a situation where there are no care and protection issues at all. The child is reportedly doing exceptionally well educationally, in dancing, in sports and is quite gregarious.
Now the parents reason for caution is reportedly well-based and they have permitted access, albeit with parental supervision ... and this has not been availed upon.

Quite simply, if the decision goes in favour of the natural parents it supports the integrity of the nuclear family, of the natural rights of guardianship and custody to one's natural children, the ability to say with whom they can associate and under what conditions.
If the decision goes in favour of the grandparents, this is tantamount to social engineering ... the absolute undermining of parental rights.

That this case has got to the point it has, that the parents have had to appeal a family court decision to permit the grandparents to assert their wants over them (the natural parents), is indicative of the degree to which things can go when there is an absence of public scrutiny.

Watch for this case with the concern and fear it deserves ... it may just be that when you have grandparents making decisions at law, setting legal precedent, that they decide in favour of grandparents with whom they ally both educationally and in respect to age.

Justice For All?

Now many people have 'horrendous upbringings' and don't do this ... 'murdering a man in Pakuranga and wounding two women near Thames in 2003 with a samurai sword.'
' ... his jail term was excessive and the judge should have taken his horrendous upbringing into account when passing sentence.'
And beit that it was 'P' fuelled, or that he was 'mentally altered,' again is quite irrelevant ... many people use 'P' without exhibiting the excess this chappy did ... and many with 'truly psychotic conditions' don't do it either.
We have a justice system that pivots on the concept of individual responsibility, and yet our judiciary seem to constantly want to 'share the guilt.'
If this is the track that our 'wise men are treading' then perhaps rather than mitigating an 'appropriate sentence' these 'wise men' should look at incarcerating those they deem contributed to this mayhem - the 'P' supplier and 'parents,' and others that they in their infinite wisdom deem to have contributed - rather than reducing the sentence for a crime that others with similar or worse backgrounds would never commit ... and again leave the real victims of such crimes feeling hollow and robbed of justice.

Where Do they find These People??

Children who watch more than two hours of television a day are more likely to have attention problems as a teenager, a new study shows.
The study by researchers at Otago University is the first to look at long-term links between watching television as a young child and problems in adolescence.
It found that children who watched at least two hours of television a day were more likely to have short attention spans, and have difficulty concentrating on tasks.
The study has followed more than 1000 children born in Dunedin in 1972 and 1973.



Yep ... it stands to reason that something that requires protracted concentration should result in difficulty concentrating on tasks some years later ... 'practice does not make perfect!' (one must sort of wonder what the starting point was and what has occurred in the interim, though).

The ability to focus on video games for hours on end, similarly cannot improve 'concentration on tasks.' No... the quality and nature of the concentration is just sooo... different.

Mind you, it was only some twenty (or was it thirty) years ago that a lack of having a television was seen as disadvantaging children intellectually and hence educationally ... it provided greater exposure to a far greater vocabulary and experience than was available from their parents, from making their own toys and playing rugby with their mates .... and it still does.

Some of these people need to think a little before they are 'taken over' by the lure of publicity and the notion of appearing on the 'telly.' This nonsense will impact on our kids.

Snow Warning Helps Prevent Lambing Problems

Our man at Met Service, Bob McDavitt has come to the rescue of our primary producers once again ... ewes doing a ewe turn ... holding off 'till warmer climes. Well done Bob.

Huge Increase In Youth Bipolar Disorder Diagnoses Since 1994

In 1994 twenty-five per 100,000 people aged 19 and under were diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in the USA. In 2004 the figure jumped to 1,003 per 100,000. The number of adults diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder during the same period almost doubled. You can read a report about this in Archives of General Psychiatry (JAMA/Archives), September issue ...
90.6% of the youths and 86.4% of the adults who were diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder were prescribed medications for bipolar disorder, including mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics and antidepressants ... and New Zealand tends to follow ... what are these people doing to our self concepts, how we see ourselves ... reframing our behaviour such that they can ensure greater dependence on them by us and greater independence for them ... after all, diagnosis is really just a 'powerful other' ascribing certain qualities to what we do, defining it as illness and throwing psychotropics or other at it to reputedly try and quell it.
... and for those of you who believe, try googling those new, new generation SSRI's (seratonin reuptake inhibitors) or norepiniphrine reuptake inhibitors and also mortality rates in the USA ... now is it that medical iatrogenic effects constitute the leading rate of deaths in the country (760,000) or the third behind cardiac and cancers at 300,000? The effects of detachment, depersonalisation, those precursors to excess towards kids and other, the increased probability of self harm/mutilation suicide/homicide ... yep, and let them try to get off this stuff ... difficult to deprive people of the treatment of choice ... unethical in fact.
... and these self same guardians of public health can scream about tobacco, fast foods and obesity ... there may just be a touch of the hypocrite here somewhere?
perhaps we are at a point where the integrity of the FDA itself is questionable??