A Gesture Tells A Thousand Words.

Driver blames 'little pinky' ad for road rage.

"She started flashing her lights, sticking her finger up, which didn't offend me too much, but then she started to use that [little pinky] gesture and I was offended by it," he said.
"So I took offence, because, you know, any man would, and I got a bit angry and we had a bit of an argument, sort of, you know, gestures, and then I just threw my bottle out the window."
The "little pinky" gesture towards a man was akin to sexual assault."

Mallard Still Quacking.

He has lost the Economic Development, Sports and Recreation and Rugby World Cup portfolios, but picked up Environment, Labour and Broadcasting. His Cabinet ranking falls only three places, from seventh to 10th.Miss Clark says she had to weigh up the incident against the large contribution Mr Mallard has made to Labour, and told Checkpoint that taking on the new portfolios will be part of his rehabilitation.

Oh yes.

But then this may have been one of the preconditions for his continuity in public service?
I'm not altogether sure the new sheila would be too pleased though ... 'a cut duck.'

"I think he felt he was defending a woman's integrity."

I think he felt he was defending a woman's integrity - a woman who had been quite wrongly and unfairly named in Parliament by Mr Henare as involved with Mr Mallard, but it should not have got to fisticuffs," Helen Clarke said on Newstalk ZB.

Oh yes ... 'fisticuffs,' let's minimise it.

Yes ... "He has been under a lot of stress as I think anyone is such a situation would have been. His very long term marriage of more than three decades had dissolved. His father had just died." Mitigatory factors... in a very high-profile job you need to get some support and it may be professional support and no one should feel ashamed of that. Aha, so pride stopped him seeking professional help, none the less he is a strong and reliable minister... but he would be held accountable for his actions in the upcoming reshuffle.

So, possibly not 'squeaky clean,' but it looks like it could all end up being a little like 'water off a duck's back.'

Update: Indeed the move to 'sanitise' Mallard's excess gains in intensity ... 'That Tau is a provocative sod,' remorse, other mitigating factors, anger and stress management ... and Mallard resurfaces smelling of roses ... no impediment to reappointment here.

Remorse Can Go A Long Way.

Man who bit his four-week-old baby escapes prison ... Part of the reason the offence occurred was St Clair-Newman's history of drugs and alcohol abuse and, from that, a propensity for violence, Judge McGuire said ... he, St Clair-Newman, mopped his tears with a handkerchief as he stood in Rotorua District Court dock today ... The offending was out of character and had had a long lasting affect on St Clair-Newman, who was "deeply remorseful".
Judge McGuire said St Clair-Newman had "particular issues with drugs and alcohol" but had since done a lot to rehabilitate himself ... aha, so he restored himself to good health or useful life, as through therapy or education. One has to wonder, if such restoration is so readily achieved, why the Hamner Springs unit was demised.

Oh yes ... but it's probably OK because There were no lasting scars.

It must be really amazing being able to enter the inner sanctums of the working mind, to be able to deduce intent, at what point there has been sufficient remediation to obviate future violations or trangressions, to be able to differentiate between real and 'crocodile tears' ... gosh, when I went to university I wanted to be a lawyer too .... and a judge.

One presumes there is a good research base to such statements from the 'legal team,' for it is that they are increasingly demanding from their 'experts.'

Peters playing the race card - Sharples (Playing The Fool).

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is playing "the race card" with comments accusing the Maori Party of fostering political separatism, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples says.

The New Zealand First Party is calling on Maori to join the fight against what it calls militant separatism.

Maori Party singing hymns of hate says Peters

The Maori Party is under fire for supporting suspects netted in police terror raids, with NZ First leader Winston Peters labelling them "militant racists" and the Government accusing the party of whipping up fear

Peters: They're marching us into apartheid ... New Zealand had groups calling for separate nations within a nation, and which were prepared to use guns and violence.
That was the result of behaviour that had been "excused, condoned, nurtured and even encouraged" over the past 20 years.

& Peters is right ... the disservice this separateness is causing to maori educational achievement is immense and probably not reparable in those so afflicted ... this can only result in more intense aggrieved separatism ... educationally 'pushed political correctness' has so much to answer for.

& perhaps we need to coin a new phrase, 'being sharpled,' = being skewered or taiaha-ed via any expediently or serendipitously available orifice.

Child Sexual Abuse.

Deborah Coddington states: Our women damaged, not promiscuous ... what I'd really love to see is a nationwide, co-ordinated, massive police raid of known recidivist child sex abusers. Can you imagine the outcry, though, if this were to take place? Police, especially those working in the child abuse teams, know exactly who the perverts are in every neighbourhood. They question them whenever there's a sexual assault. I would argue that the threat to the safety of New Zealanders, especially children, is far greater from sex offenders than from terrorists, but police are not allowed to breach the so-called privacy of known and suspected sex abusers. They've been forced, in the past, to pay compensation for doing so.

She continues, 'In Hawke's Bay in 1998, 654 fourth-form students (as they were then known) were surveyed by the Wellington School of Medicine and 39 per cent were having sexual intercourse. Maori girls were four times more likely than European to report having had more than five partners (we're talking 13, 14, 15-year-olds here) and three times more likely to report their first sexual intercourse occurring under age 12, with, tragically, 32 out of 258 students having had sex before they were 10.'

Quite simply, the police do not have the capability, number and resources, to do this ... like I seem to recall something like several hundred such people being known to the police or identified by the public as child sexual abusers subsequent to a child going missing ... and this within a 2k radius of the child's school.
It would appear that sexual predilection with children is far greater in number than homosexual orientation.

& Priveleged Sports People.

All Blacks winger Doug Howlett (the monkey man) is in the clear after allegedly damaging two vehicles following a night of drinking at a hotel bar in London ... "If they look at it sensibly it was boys out drinking being silly, doing things they normally wouldn't do." As of course was the case with Trevor, and of course there was the case of Jerry Collins, killing the grass on the rugby field ... and I believe similar behaviour has been evidenced in respect to Dover.
One could construct quite a list where for some the ability to behave inappropriately, or indeed criminally, with impunity is a given.
These are heights which most of us will never achieve ... icons.

Priveleged Parliamentarians.

Mother reported for smacking child's hand ... both by teachers ... And on another occasion, the same mother was visited by police after a neighbour reported a smacking in the family's yard.


Seems Trev is somewhat priveleged.

Presentation Is Important.

I went too see some fast cars today ... all quite exciting.

I was somewhat surprised to see that they were all washed prior to crossing the finishing line ... there seemed something wrong about that .. sort of like having your dessert before your main course.

Oh Yes.

A few nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive "fight or flight" state, researchers say.
Buuuut ... the most common response in fear situations is the same as that of that iconic of kiwi imports, the opossum - people freeze. Mostly without sleep people yawn a lot, are drowsy, slow, have poor concentration etc. 'More likely to fight' really is an artefact of teperament and how they are predisposed at the time.
The findings may shed light on psychiatric diseases ... but not really. It is quite widely known that ongoing sleep deprivation will cause racing thoughts, preoccupations/ruminative thinking and hallucinations .. particularly in the isolatory amongst us. The ability to differentiate between psychiatric illness and this phenomenon is simply not going to be possible - they are in all probability one and the same.

So no mitigatory factors here for Mr Mallard, nor here ... Murderers' provocation defence set to be scrapped. Now one might think that this is a little excessive but many a person has been known to have 'egg (shell) like' heads and qualities and I am sure that many have descrbed Tau Henare as having these qualities - so the risk was there ... and if provocation is removed as a defence for murder it must mean it is similarly removed for any act that could, just possibly... well remotely ... cause serious bodily harm.

Judge Audrey Adjudicates ...

A short-arm upper-cut ... delivered Under severe emotional strain following the death of his father just over two weeks ago, the break-up of his marriage, and media interest in the start of a new relationship, Mallard snapped last night following goading from Henare - and thumped him.

So without the occurrence of these other events this offence would not have occurred ... Oh yes, Audrey

This was Henare's payback for Mallard's interjections in Parliament to Don Brash about Diane Foreman.

Aha ... sooo, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, tit for tat so to speak, to give as good as one takes ... noooo, that's not right, he couldn't take it, could he, he 'bopped' him, an unabashed racist attack undoubtedly as a response to racial slurs.

There are human and mitigating circumstances but they only explain what he did, they don't excuse it.

Aha, so some violence is justified albeit not excusable ... And the punishment ...

He should relinquish his sports portfolio, apologise to the House, and then take a decent break.

Violence on the job is not compatible with fair play or any of the attributes with which good sportsmanship is attributed.

So it's not a biggy, simply not fair play, Audrey?

... and this does not appear to be 'tongue in cheek' ... I think she likes him, you know in that 'care for his welfare, emotional sort of way.'

The 'fallout' from this will be interesting ... probably nothing will happen, but to say what you want in parliament with impunity is one thing, to 'bop' somebody with impunity (aside from an apology) is just raising the bar that little bit further.

Clearly this was a common assault, he should be charged for it, it is completely unacceptable ... especially in a forum that deems even slightly slapping a child for correction a criminal offence and can impose this on the majority against their will ... this act was obviously designed to suppress freedom of speech in an absolute manner. Minimising the act by Audrey, and by any others that do so, is doing an injustice to those subject to this form of excess and similarly those convicted of such.

More Than A Little Frightening.

Outbreak of antibiotic-resistant disease at Auckland City Hospital ... infection control procedures are underway to contain the spread of vancomycin-resistant enterococci ... But the number of new classes of antibiotics nearing the market to combat these pathogens is exactly zero. That's in keeping with the trend line of the past 20 years: Food & Drug Administration approvals of new antibacterials have fallen from 16 launched in 1983-87 to just 2 in the past five years.

The problem, say drug companies, is that antibiotics aren't very profitable. It can take up to 10 years and some $800 million to create a new drug, but it's tough to recover those costs, given that a course of antibiotics is usually prescribed just once, for 7 to 10 days. Then there's the antibiotic Catch-22: Doctors tend to limit prescriptions of new drugs for all but the most dire infections in order to delay the emergence of resistant strains. "What's good for the public health is a real disincentive for antibiotic development," says Dr. Barry I. Eisenstein, head of scientific affairs at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) just reported that a dangerous drug-resistant staph infection, MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), has rapidly spread from hospital patients to the larger community. The CDC estimates that 94,360 people in the U.S. contracted MRSA in 2005, and 18,650 of them died.

Not surprisingly the resources go where the money is ... it is more than a little surprising though that Government funding has not compensated for this void in research into new antibiotics ... possibly not enough deaths yet?

It is also understandable that this research is not easy, as It doesn't help that rapidly mutating pathogens present a constantly moving target. Our very own glock-aided police would attest to this.

Predetermination.

What an idea!

Obviously in NZ we could add: tranvestite; transgender; bondage and discipliner or recipient thereof; of indefineable sexual orientation or closeted sexuality; philanderer; rude gesturer; poor impulse control in respect to profanities and physical assault; drug abuser; grandiosity; confabulator and/or fabricator; bad at mathematics; bad recollection; of limited vocabulary; grammatically wanting; a bad speller; logically deficient; expedient raver; law breaker; dole bludger ... and this solely looking at the composition of our politicians ... and not even an exhaustive list.

If these proclivities are defined at birth, surely you would expect them to be better at it by adult hood ... You've got to love those French ... french fries, french kisses,made the all blacks look like polynesian maidens, exorcets to Argentina, Rainbow Warrior, perhaps the most pouting and romantic language in the world ... when they say or do something people notice, not often 'petit pain,' rather major pain.

Maori girls suffer 'horrific' rate of abuse.

A survey, based on a World Health Organisation study that asked the same question in 10 developing countries found that,

Maori girls suffer roughly twice as much sexual abuse as European girls - 30.5 per cent of Maori compared with 17 per cent of Europeans in Auckland, and 35.1 per cent of Maori compared with 20.7 per cent of Europeans in the northern Waikato.

And this probably still grossly under estimates the rate of occurrence for our tangata whenua.
Probably something to do with 'way of life.'

But really, is the PC dogma in New Zealand such that this sort of information only gains publicity through international studies ... most who work closely with famillies will be familiar with this phenomenon, and will have been so for a long time.
But what of Maori boys, does gender somehow exclude them from this?
And are Maori males always the perpetrators of this?
Could it be said that sexual impulsivity, with all the variations with which this can manifest, is culturally entrenched?
Is there really no gender bias in this sexual behaviour?
And is it true that the palangi peadophiles (and homosexuals, when homosexuality was not an acceptable expression of one's sexuality) would orientate toward polynesian whanau because in their midst such sexual proclivity could be pursued invisibly?

Ahh ... so many questions.

Is This Really A Maori Issue??

Activist arrested in terror raids beaten in prison ... and probably beaten by tangata whenua ... and of course this notion of police intervention as a Maori issue is conveniently reinforced by those with known 'poor impulse control' ... Mr Harawira used debate on a bill to amend whistleblower legislation as a platform to make strong arguments that Maori were being "terrorised"... or perhaps he is simply taking advantage of the situation, of what is potentially a really draconian oppressive piece of legislation that takes no account of race ...

"There is mounting frustration and anger right across the country by Maori genuinely aggrieved by the continued loss of lands, the denial of the Treaty, and now these raids, smashing into Maori homes and terrorising Maori communities."

However, this probably is a Maori Issue: One in four women sexually abused as children - study ... Maori women were more likely to report child sexual abuse compared with women from other ethnic groups.

Privacy Lost

It may not be too far in the future that items like these, and continually having them on one's person, will be a mandatory part of the employment contract for those that have to travel as part of their work.

Constantly available, whereabouts constantly known ... mind you it should be able to fill in the time sheets also.

Deliberate Ambiguity?

Stuff hedging their bets.

'Man arrested in terror raids given bail' Stuff > Story
An Auckland man arrested in last week's so-called terror raids has been granted bail.
This cleverly encompasses both views.



Harawira accuses police of terrorising Maori

Attribution Of Blame And Associated Guilt - The Modus Operandi Of The UN.

The rapid spread in Latin America of the virus that causes AIDs is made worse by the Roman Catholic Church's stand against using condoms, a UN official said.

The Catholic Church, which holds sway in Latin America despite the rise in evangelical churches, opposes all forms of contraception and instead promotes abstinence as a way to avoid spreading Aids.

"The fact young people start to be sexually active between 15 and 19 without sex education contributes to the spreading of the virus, as well as the fact that the evidence shows abstinence is not working," said Alberto Stella, the UNAids Coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Sooo ... if the Catholic Church said 'use condoms,' all would be well?

But wait ... the Church is promoting abstinence and obviously only few are listening. How can one assume that the majority will listen to additional/different dictum or recommendation? Should they also be conducting sex education lessons for the 15-19 year olds? How much sway does the Catholic Church really hold in Latin America?

Alternatively, how effective is the UN Aids Coordinator? Time for a change?


The process of endeavouring to attribute cause for a problem to a defined group of people, associate this with the notion of 'wilful neglect' due to the 'harm done unto others' from this omission or stance (as a means of engendering guilt) and trying to gain momentum in a direction that has no definite evidence of effect ... is becoming synonymous with the UN. It is from this self-serving arrogance that their self proclaimed expertise derives.
It really is passed time that governments, the general public and the churches began replying with the succinct emphatic dismissal their 'well intentioned' arrogance deserves.

Cold Remedies Are Unproven For Children

FDA Panel Advises Against Use In Kids Younger Than Age 6 ... The panel, however, decided against making a similar recommendation for older children ... 6 to 11 years old, even though it had earlier agreed there was no evidence that the products do any good for that group, either.

No one knows how many children have had adverse reactions to the medications, but the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier this year that at least 1,500 children younger than 2 suffered complications in 2004 and 2005. An FDA review prepared for the meeting described dozens of cases of convulsions, heart problems, trouble breathing, neurological complications and other reactions, including at least 123 deaths.

So not, or questionably, effective for two years and younger and potentially decidedly dangerous; not, or questionably, effective for the six year olds and under ... but Americans buy about 95 million bottles of them a year, and there are more than 800 formulations in stores ... and Some experts say studies show the medications are only marginally effective in relieving symptoms in adults as well, but there is no evidence that adults face as significant risks from the products.
So it would appear FDA approval is more dependent on potential harmful effects and for those more vulnerable populations than that the product does what its stated beneficial effect proclaims ... There seems something(s) a little wrong with this.

Now, The FDA convened the hearing to evaluate doubts about the products' effectiveness and the mounting evidence that the medications can cause serious complications.The hearing was prompted by a petition filed by a group of health officials led by Joshua M. Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner, after the deaths of four children in that area ... and The hearing came a week after major manufacturers of the medications voluntarily withdrew 14 products designed for children younger than 2, including well-known brands such as Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops, Tylenol Concentrated Infants' Drops Plus Cold and Robitussin Infant Cough DM Drops ... such anticpatory compliance would seem to indicate acknowledgement of the forthcoming information and decision.

So, Cold Remedies Are Unproven For Everyone.

The committee's recommendations also apply to antihistamines used to treat allergies ... and this is but the 'tip of iceberg' ... what of the use of risperidone in the under tens? A common enough practice here as with other of the psychotropics and often without FDA sanction for use for those age ranges.

Tame Iti: colourful activist pays for plays.

Now I can recall, as a student, attending Nga Tamatoa meetings with a tattoo-less 'not at all tame' Tame Iti and his Australian wife and kids ... and this prior to that infamous South African rugby tour. Talk at the time was of the indiscriminate shooting of the palangi ... and the local civil liberties groups came and commisserated with their feelings and empathised with their intended excess ... and their palangi partners and quarterised or less palangi progeny looked on, quietly acquiescing, for to do otherwise could be to 'court the bash.' And after all, in those days a blonde sheila was acclaimed as taonga, a coveted item.



Now, perhaps thirty years afar and asunder, I remain a student and my old mate Tame has been arrested as a 'potential terrorist (?)' presumably for coming out with the same stuff as he did years ago ... somewhat fatter, covered in tats, relying on the media for any continuing sense of self ... bit of a sad comic character really, well and truly knocked off his aluminium ladder by the continuing need to inflate his ego ... and quite possibly by the need of a few in positions of power to create a compelling distraction and appearance of strength.



For quite some time now Tame has been the 'illustrated, comic book, maori eunuch' ... Tuhoe, once were warriors, child of the mist? No, just a sad old isolated 'drama queen,' ripe for the pickings ... not even an olde refurbished AK47 at hand could possibly engender stature in or fear of such a decrepid figure.


Tame, With his heavily tattooed face and a tendency toward the melodramatic ...
His cv really reads a little like a 'not so long ago' deregistered barrister who constantly sought acclaim, although I think Tame lasted a little longer and tried a little Harder ... and I think Doug Graham's silence concerning 'his mate' is both resoundingly noticeable and somewhat self-preservatively weak - dis-assocaition at times like this is pretty gutless stuff.

Henry stands by his World Cup strategies, or The All Blacks do a Jerry Collins.

"I don't think it's for me to tell people how they should judge me," Henry said ... "I feel comfortable that I've done everything I can to try to ensure that we have done the best we can as an All Blacks side, so that's for other people to judge really."

The All Blacks have been regularly beaten in important matches simply by close marking of their backs and covering little pushes from the side of the scrum, ruck or maul - the french have done it before, they have just done it again ... does this signify the intellectual depth, the lack of skills of these well-paid, full-time professional players, or the coaches? ... obviously Henry blames the players, but then personal survival would demand this.

That this deficit has not been addressed, and it has become a traditional occurrence, a 'once were warriors' thingamy ... the Jerry Collins phenomenon of wetting himself publicly on the field ... and anyone who has ever worked in a psychogeriatric setting will be aware how infectious this is ... puts the responsibility squarely on the coaching staff ($50 million dollars I believe they had to correct this phenomenon).

The inability to move the ball immediately it became available, the consequent time permitted for the opposition to set their defence, the inability to breach the advantage line with close marking - where were the chip kicks, the grubber kicks to push them back, to create that ambivalence, that hesitation, that close support on the half break? - no what we`saw was a game plan that showed quite emphatically that 'planned moves' (and how many Graham Henry? 60+ ?) simply do not compensate for spontaneous play with what is in front of you at a given point in time.

Now, Henry, I believe, largely got what he wanted in his quest to 'bring home the bacon' ... reduced playing time (that 'reconditioning period' & less returns due to less interest in the super 12/14 as a consequence plus a $50 million investment) ... would you place your life savings with this man and his investment team??

The NZ World Cup ... The spitoon.

Buuuttt ... it's only a game.

Silly Stuff.

We've found one: meet the only gay in Tehran ... but it takes two to tango.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in New York last week that there were no gays in the Islamic Republic.
"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he said in response to a question at Columbia University on September 24. "In Iran we don't have this phenomenon."

And this would be an accurate statement ... in all probability the occurrence of homosexuality is considerably less in Iran than in the US, where (in the US) the predominant sanctions are a little residual stigma and a greater risk of HIV and hence potentially aids than 'mainstream operators' (i.e. heterosexuals).

And in interview with this 'one discovered homosexual' ...

Q: Do you have a boyfriend now?
A: No ... I'm just enjoying life.
Q: Have you ever thought about leaving Iran?
A: I can go out of Iran anytime I like.

... so he can enjoy life without homosexuality in Iran and can pursue his sexal life-style choice elsewhere without impediment if he so choses ... how terribly undraconian.

Doing an Oswald.

TV3 News this p.m.
Chris Kahui gets bail .... because: he is a first time offender, and he has to remain in his cell for 23 hours and only comes out for exercise, and is at risk of getting a 'damn good hiding,' and believe it or not, because the judge (in his infinite wisdom) deems this to be "disproportionately severe."
.... now do I not recall accurately, two babies being ported to graves in extremely small coffins??? ... disproportionately severe?
Presumably there is a pretty substantive basis for this person being charged with murder?