Nearly 2010

2010: Do we say Twenty ten or Two thousand and ten. I say the latter. Although longer it seems to roll off the tongue better and it is what I would say for a dollar amount.

Crime - again: I like most people are defeated. Unprovoked a man shoots a policeman, almost killing him. He gets BAIL!!! Whattttt. Meanwhile a burglar robs three times and doesn't get bail. Neither should get it but the attempted murderer getting it is beyond belief.

Xmas TV: Terrible as usual.

Raffle: Finalising the cheques to be sent out and the accounts etc. So it is in down mode now.

Terrorism: Another Muslim nut case tries to blow up a plane and thank heaven he failed. But what does it say for the elaborate security systems.

We all understand it is impossible to be 100% effective but if they can't stop this guy - who was reported by his father as dangerous, applied for a Visa in Nigeria which supposedly meant a face to face interview, paid for his ticket in cash, had no bags, had been denied entry to the U.K.,had his name on a terrorist watch list, had just been to Yemen, was loaded down with explosives - then who the hell can they stop.

There is a lot of explaining to do but as usual nothing will happen and instead stupid rules (not being able to get up in the last hour of a flight) are being put in place. Do bombers only blow up planes in the last hour???

As a security expert has written, looking at the background and profiling of passengers and solid doors on cockpits have made the difference. How often does an El Al airliner have a problem?

New Year: Coming up fast and we will have the boys overnight on Thursday so Sarah & Joe can get some well earned rest.

Christmas Day

Had a very good day - ate too much, especially sweet stuff - as usual. We didn't eat until 3 PM and it was outside as the weather was very hot. For Kim it was a real change from the German winter. She preferred the summer!!

Many photos taken and will undoubtedly post some soon.

Its almost Santa

Xmas Eve: The day before Santa and as usual with both of us heavily involved in the charity raffle we have been flat out. We will be going out tonight with Kim to show her the lights - that is the houses that are all lit up. No quiz this week as we were baby sitting.

It is Kipp's first Xmas that he really understands about Santa coming and is all excited. We will be going around to Sarah/Joes about 9.30 in the morning as Christine doesn't think he can hold off opening his presents for long.

Christmas spirit or stupidity: This picture taken at St. Lukes Mall, which is in my suburban birthplace of Mt. Albert, is the height of stupidity. What is that about pay peanuts get monkeys.

Photos

Haven't had any photos of the boys lately so making up for that now.
These are from their Playcentre Xmas party.




Monty the TIGER!!

Kipp the DEVIL!!

Wide awake.Sound asleep. It was a hard day.

Why?

"Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow"
The Billboard features an unsatisfied Mary looking up to the heavens
while poor Joseph looks deflated

Why: What I can never understand is why people on this planet always want to make personal decisions for others. I can understand it if it would harm them in some way - somebody wants to drink poison, so you stop them. But why some people want to say you can't wear that, or you can't do that, or can't say that, or I've decided without asking you what you can or can't have or do. All because they personally don't want or like what the other person has or wants. It is quite beyond me.

I believe as long as it doesn't harm others and theyty are paying for it themselves they can do as they damn well like. Sometimes of course the definition of it harming others is the sticking point. Usually, if it is only my sensibilities that are upset, then I don't give a continental.

Billboard: The recent flurry (an unholy row!!) about the billboard above is just another manifestation of these people. Put up by Auckland's Christian church St Matthew in the City the vicar says he wanted to lampoon the literal Christian conception story and get people discussing miracles and God.

But a few hours after the billboard went up, an angry man with a pot of brown paint covered over Mary and Joseph's faces and later it was attacked with a knife. Real Christian of them.

I thought the Vicar was one of the most sensible people we have heard from lately.

"We're trying to lampoon the idea of a literal male God who somehow, it's assumed, impregnated Mary. Most Christians don't believe that, but the message that the general society hears from the church is this message; they think that they're meant to take it literally.

We think God is about the power of love as shown in Jesus, which is something quite different than a literal man up in the sky."

The usual suspects are upset, in particular lobby group Family First.

As he said most thinking Christians understand that the Bible is not to be taken literally and was something written for that time. Ranke- Heinemann a Catholic theologian and the first woman to hold a chair in Theology at Essen University was fired in 1987 for suggesting the virgin birth was faith not fact.

And I read that after over 60 years membership ex President Jimmy Carter has resigned from the Baptist Church because they have reiterated that woman are inferior to men. Sounds like the Taliban.

Sadly, as those who have tried to destroy the billboard show, in this world there are people everywhere wanting to make decisions for others about even the most minor things.

More Legal

Legal Aid: Dame Margaret Bazely has done an investigation into our Legal Aid 'system'. The pathetic fact is that the system only favours the poor, the rich and the lawyers. If you are rich then you can afford to defend yourself, the poor get the aid (paid for by the middle class) and the Middle Class can't get anything. In Australia recently a man was found Not Guilty (the Tel One case) and the others who couldn't afford the $10 million defence pleaded guilty as it was cheaper.

There is no incentive for defence lawyers to bring a case to a speedy end.

My thought is simple. We have a Public Service Public Defenders Department. I heard that Sir Geoffrey Palmer has recommended this for years. I can't see any problems.

But in our usual fashion it will be 30 years away!

Netball: The CEO of Netball NZ has had a 40% pay rise. He now gets about $840,000. You must be joking. For a sport that has no real international sway, no huge TV deals to seal, no complicated tours (maybe Jamaica). Unbelievable.

Smacking: Nigel Latta the high profile psychologist has said the current law is working. In every case he looked at that Family First was raving on about, he found about the facts presented by them were wrong.

A worry

Peter and Neroli with their son Jayden (DomPost photo)

Friends of ours, Peter and Neroli Edwards had an article about their problems with the Police in the DomPost the other day.

From the DomPost article

" Two men who have received an apology from police after being wrongly imprisoned for 285 days are still battling for compensation.

Despite a written admission the men did not commit the crime, the Justice Ministry says the case falls outside the usual Cabinet guidelines for compensation and the men's lawyers are battling to argue their case.

It is two years to the day since they applied for compensation for a case that sparked the rare apology.The Independent Police Conduct Authority have upheld or partly upheld six of their families' 12 complaints.

Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight were sentenced to six years' jail for a 2003 arson of the Foxton Hotel. The men, then aged 27 and 28, had stopped to help police after hearing of the fire on a scanner belonging to Mr Knight, a security guard.

Their parents each spent more than $20,000 of their retirement savings on fighting for their freedom and Mr Knight estimates he lost $160,000 in wages after being unable to work for three years while in prison and then on night curfew. The families agree the emotional cost of the experience was much higher.

The men had not been in trouble with the law before and neither of their families had any experience with police or the court system. It had been an emotional roller-coaster had left them angry, sad, and a little wiser, the men's parents said.

The men spent 9½ months in jail till their parents found new lawyers and applied to the Court of Appeal for a retrial. Police failure to disclose evidence resulted in two mistrials before the men were separately retried. Mr Johnston was found not guilty and the charges against Mr Knight were dismissed.

In March 2007, Central District Commander Mark Lammas visited the families and wrote to them apologising "for the police investigation resulting in you being wrongly charged and wrongly convicted for an offence you did not commit".

No-one has been charged for the arson since then and police say the case remains open.

Cabinet guidelines for compensation stipulate convictions must be quashed in the High Court or above. In this case the men were acquitted in a district court. They are relying on an "extraordinary circumstances" clause, listed by the Justice Ministry as being unequivocal innocence such as proved by DNA evidence, or an official admission of serious misconduct by authorities.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said the case had taken time to assess because it fell outside the guidelines and had "unusual features".

Their Trial By Fire:

November 12, 2003 – Lower Hutt men Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight stop in Foxton and offer to help during a fire at the Manawatu Hotel.

December 2003 – Mr Johnston charged with the arson and Mr Knight charged with aiding and abetting.

September 2004 – Both are convicted and remanded in prison.

November 2004 – Both men sentenced to six years' jail.

June 2005 – Court of Appeal grants a retrial. The men are released on bail to their parents' homes.

January 6, 2006 – A retrial begins, but a mistrial is ruled on the third day after police find a file listing people of interest that should have been disclosed at the first trial. The judge orders the cases should be heard separately.

August 2006 – Mr Johnston is retried and found not guilty.

December 2006 – Mr Knight's trial is set down but thrown out after it is discovered police had held back evidence on possible other suspects.

February 2007 – The charges against Mr Knight are dismissed.

March 2007 – Central district commander Mark Lammas apologises to both families.

December 12, 2007 – Lawyer Christopher Stevenson writes to the Justice Ministry seeking compensation."

It is a worry and is just another part of the overall picture that has contributed to the reduction in the public esteem of the Police over the past few years. And now they are talking about going back to a split Traffic/Police system!!

Insurance: It is odd for a country that is generally pretty pragmatic that we don't have compulsory 3rd Party Insurance. It will come - just that it will take 15 years for the Politicians to get around to it.

A couple of accidents

Accidents: I went to the airport today to pick up Sarah's German student Kin today and on the way back we passed the top accident where a driver got a couple of concrete slabs under the Petone overbridge.

Then coming home at the Moera roundabout some sludge from the Waiwhetu Stream had spilt out and had to have sand put on it.

Quiz: After a couple of lousy rounds where we did poorly we won last night and shared the bonus - $160 between the six of us.

Ben Makisi and more

Ben Makisi at the Inner Wheel Xmas function

Ben Makisi in a more formal setting

Inner Wheel: Today we went to the Inner Wheel lunch and it was tremendous as they had Ben Makisi (above) singing. He was just incredible. Previously has has sung at many events including the funeral of Sir Ed Hillary as well as performing around the world.The dinner part was held in a huge garage (held about 60 of us) and his effortless voice just echoed around.

Fantastic voice;fantastic bloke.

Xmas: Just around the corner now as we enter the straight. Have been to a couple of functions recently including Probus the other night at the Pines. We didn't go last year and probably won't go again while it is held there. It takes an hour to get home and as they hire a bus we are dependent on the time they finish which means we get home about midnight and with the raffle to look after it is a bit too late.


Quiz: When the General Knowledge section hasn't been available to select for our Bonus Round we have taken Pot Luck. It has taken us several months to work out that it is just that - a round of guessing the answers. In future we will take something different. We haven't done well lately but the questions are still poor and the answers suspect at times.

Anti-Virus: Had a real problem. My Avast anti-virus showed a Trojan and I couldn't repair it or put it in the Chest so I deleted the file. Then it appeared again and this time went into a mode of going through and deleting the offending files. As it was finding even more I looked at the Laptop which also had a Trojan. Now suspicious I went to the Net and Avast had downloaded an update that was falsely saying everything had a virus. What a stuff up as I have lost files which are now causing problems. I have deleted Avast and gone back to AVG - although I think that also has problems. We shall see.

Also a friend had a phishing email from Christine's Hotmail account. Looking on the Net it seems that Yahoo and Hotmail (Microsoft) often have these problems. Again not good enough but they don't care.

Survey: Was phoned Friday night with a 20 minute survey. Covered many things - politics, company's etc. Funny enough seemed to be many questions about Phil Goff.

Car: We had to go to Naenae on Friday and a fool backed into Christine. Insurance company time.

Rugby: Great end to the tour with the demolition of France but a final loss to the Baa- Baas. But I think we must be aware that we only won in Marseilles because France played an open game. If they had played the kicking game it could have been a different story.

Isn't it great to see that the RFU has now admitted that 'maybe' they were wrong about the ELV's. Really!!!

Raffle: The Rotary raffle keeps us both busy as it is every day for us but it is going well. We are in a spot between the main entrance doors and it it seems to help. Although when the wind blows in it is bloody cold.