What is the real news

News: Generally I think the news overall is pretty poor. I find Radio NZ is about the best of the bunch, with the Newspapers next and TV a distant third. I won't go on about how they mangle the English language - the other night they didn't know the difference between effect and affect. I am no expert but speaking correct English is their job.

Now and again they do rise to the occasion but overall they emphasise the fluff instead of the real story.

Last night on TV 3 was a prime example.

We tend to watch TV3 News as it is usually (marginally) better than TV1, plus they have John Campbell who isn't too bad. He is away at present and they have replaced him with a blonde (what a surprise) piece of fluff.

Last night they had two 'news stories' that were basically rubbish.

First they had a piece on an US magazine saying that mothers should breastfeed in the toilet. Illegal in NZ so what was the story? Would it have been a story if it was in a Somalian magazine saying people should be paid a minimum wage. We have a minimum wage in NZ so there is no story.

Second they then went on about Andy Haden saying the Crusaders Rugby teams manual said they could only have 3 Polynesian players. Denied of course by the Crusaders management and a quick glance at the Crusaders team playing in the semi-final in the Republic last week shows this.

The team, beaten in the semifinals by the Bulls last weekend, included Pacific Islanders Kahn Fotuali'i, Robbie Fruean and Ti'i Paulo, as well as players with Maori ancestry - Dan Carter, Sean Maitland, Zac Guildford, Thomas Waldrom, Tim Bateman and Daniel Bowden.

Two other prominent Maori players - Corey Flynn and Isaac Ross - were unavailable through injury. So out of 15 players plus 7 reserves they could have put up to had 11 (40%) Polynesians on the field.

So - no story. Just rubbish.

But the real story was within the main news; an item about a guy who hadn't warranted or registered his truck and trailer for 20 months, didn't have a proper license (in fact he borrowed a friends) and when he had an accident (the trailer came adrift due to a crack in the link to the truck) he killed a pedestrian.

But he wasn't charged with causing her death!!! Plus they said a child blinded in one eye due to the accident wasn't eligible for ACC. I can't believe this is correct.

What the hell. Here is a story. What is going on. But as usual the easy stuff wins. Pathetic.

Quiz: Came 4th but the real story was the Club Newsletter. Each week he puts in the categories for the next week. This week we read it and saw in full in all its uncensored glory the first category for next week was - Famous F**ken Faces.

Whaaaaaaaat!!!

Sarah told the front desk who at the start weren't that interested. But we saw that when the quizmaster arrived he was called into the office and later they came round and collected them all for destruction. Today we had our usual Friday lunch at the Club and we saw that they had produced a new amended Newsletter. At the end of the evening he mentioned it, saying he sent it through like that expecting they would proof read it. But of course they just copy and paste. Thick.

The Newsletter needs some oversight as a couple of weeks ago they had a racist joke.

A worry almost over

The Justice system: In my post of 14 December 2009 I wrote how our friends son had been done an injustice by the 'justice' system.

The good news is that the Government are going to do the decent thing. I must say how the Minister Simon Power has been seen to be an honourable man.

As reported in the Dom-Post -

Two men who spent more than nine months in prison for an arson they did not commit could be in line for hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. Phillip Johnston and Donald (known as Jaden) Knight, who were wrongfully imprisoned for the 2003 arson of the Manawatu Hotel in Foxton, have received a police apology and Justice Minister Simon Power has now confirmed that they will get compensation.

Their convictions and six-year prison sentences were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2005. The men served 285 days in prison.

One of the families (our friends) the Edwards spent $20,000 on a private investigator to help clear their son's name.

The families laid 12 official complaints with police about the investigation into the arson.

Of those, six were upheld or partly upheld – with two related to police failure to disclose evidence to the defence team before the trial. The families then received a written apology from the Police Central district commander

In a letter to both families, Mr Power said the next step was to determine an appropriate payout. "Compensation may comprise an ex-gratia payment, a public statement of innocence and, in appropriate cases, a public apology by the Crown."

TRIAL BY FIRE

November 2003: A late-night arson at the Manawatu Hotel in Foxton causes about $300,000 of damage. Detective Sergeant Peter Govers heads an investigation which leads to the arrest of Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight.

September 2004: Mr Johnston and Mr Knight go on trial and are found guilty of arson by a jury. They are sentenced two months later to six years' imprisonment.2005: Both men appeal against conviction in the Court of Appeal. Their sentences are quashed and a retrial is ordered on the grounds of misdirection by the judge.

July 2006: Mr Johnston is found not guilty at a retrial.

February 2007: Mr Knight is discharged after the Crown offers no evidence at his retrial.

March 2007: District commander Superintendent Mark Lammas apologises to Mr Johnston, Mr Knight and their families for their being wrongfully convicted and jailed.

December 2007: The families apply to the Justice Minister for compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

September 2008: Of 12 complaints against the police handling of the case, police uphold or partly uphold six.

2010: Justice Minister Simon Power says the pair should be compensated for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

Back again - at last

Updating again at long last. Still busy as .......... (rhymes with HELL!! - oh it is Hell).

SeniorNet : Attended the AGM along with about 40 others. As usual it was efficiently run and didn't degenerate into a talk-fest as I thought it would as there were a couple of remits on the table, one of which was quite contentious. What amazes me is that all the Regions except ours had to have a vote to select their Regional Rep. Amazing - I am surprised people want to take on the work but it shows what good people we have in the movement.

Rotary: I was away at a day long Rotary seminar last Sunday. I attended on the Treasurers side and it answered several questions I had about the new Charitable Trust set up. A great turnout - probably the biggest I have attended - 369 Rotarians all keen and eager to learn more.

Car Insurance: We had a visit from Gordon Harcourt from Fair Go who is investigating a problem they are looking into. We are only very slightly involved but I missed the opportunity to tell him my views on compulsory car insurance. Oh well another time.
But I did tell David Garrett an ACT MP who I met when he spoke to Rotary about his 3 Strikes legislation. He claimed that there are legal problems (problems that they don't have in the UK, USA, Australia, Germany etc etc).

As for his talk on the 3 Strikes; I basically supported his views as from what I heard and have read about the NZ legislation it won't have the Californian hiccups where criminals have gone to jail for life for stealing a bar of chocolate.

Rugby: We are not looking good for the AB's with Nonu now also added to the injury list. As for the Super 14 - our only hope is the Crusaders. They have saved their best for last while the Hurricanes saved their worst for last. What a bumbling pathetic effort against the Waratahs!!

Telecom: My pet hate. I see in today's news that because of a small minority they are ditching the Internet Plan I use. God they are pathetic.They have still not been able to solve our Laptop connection problem.

Money: I was discussing the Governments Guarantee for money invested with Finance Company's with a friend. He was a bit wary while I am confident that there is no down side. Well, we are going to see as one of the firms we have $$ with has gone down the gurgler - which doesn't surprise me as I invested because the rate was too good to be true. Thanks taxpayers!! Why they also Guarantee the interest is a mystery. Principal yes - but the interest as well seems strange.

Kidney Stones: Am typing this after getting back from the hospital at mid-day where Christine has been since about 3 AM this morning with what, after an X Ray, turned out to be two kidney stones. She still has to get rid of them. I had one a few years ago and thought I was going to die. But TWO..
As for the socialised Health System it stood up OK. Of course it could be better, the walls in the hospital look a bit worse for wear, but under our system - no questions asked. They are just here to help you get better.

Who in their right mind would want a US style system - several million mad Americans it would seem. The sign above sums it up - don't take money from a socialist scheme to give to a socialist scheme - it could lead to Communism or even worse - decent health care.

Stories: All things being equal, being a man who has a million stories, with at least 5 of them being funny, I said back in the 21 March 2010 posting that I will from time to time (meaning when I remember) I will blog them (is that English??).

Going to Waiheke Island reminded me of the time when I was about 18 and I went a few times as the Agency Escort to Waiheke on the boat that used to connect the island to Auckland, the Baroona. The story about my taking the revolver home is told under that first story blog of 21 March 2010.

Today's stories are about a couple of trips we made.

Bali: The first is when we went to Bali. The first morning we ordered breakfast and the waiter said he would go and get our change. We were eating on the seashore and he had to wander back to the hotel a couple of minutes away. We of course were eager to get underway, exploring our new surroundings, but after about 15 minutes as he hadn't returned I decided to work out the change.

With the exchange rate at that time being about 10,000 Rupiahs to the NZ $ it was about 50 cents!

We decided to take off, not being concerned about the amount, but then we saw him running back and so we got our change.

Later, being harassed by the hawkers asking where we were from, we strung several Maori words together. They then left us alone thinking we couldn't speak English, or German etc. Forgetting myself as we walked on I said something to Christine about Mosque in front of us only to hear in the background with a big laugh "Liar liar". Turning around he had a great big grin. They are wonderful people. Pity the tourist industry has been ruined by the terrorists.

The problem I have found is that when people ask can you speak English, we say yes when we should say " just a very little:' until we hear what they want.

Miami: In Miami (where the native tongue is Spanish) we stopped one Sunday morning (after taking a wrong turn and going through Little Havana where they were cleaning their guns in the front of their houses) we stopped to admire a mural .

Getting back into the car a man approached us and blabbered on in Spanish.

This time I was prepared.

Seeing my look of incomprehension he then asked do you speak English. I said - "English - a little".
He then told us a story about how his car had broken down and would we lend him $200. I turned to Christine and while shrugging my shoulders said ' Pakeha Aoteoroa Tau Henare Taihape Matu Rata etc". He just looked us and took off to find another mug.

Later that morning in a McDonalds, Christine was told she looked Jewish so could she have a word with the Manager to get this guy a job!! We told him we were not Jewish, we were tourists and couldn't help.

Democracy triumps again

And most, it seems, in NZ would return to FPP.

I calculate on the above basis of 626 seats that seats allocation (rounded) as a percentage with the percentage of the vote is -

SEATS % % VOTE
Con 47........36
Lab 40........29
Libs 9........23
Other 4........12

I suppose it is at least better than the US where it is a travesty of democracy.

Sport

Rugby League: Tonight the Kiwis play Australia. I won't be watching as it is not my game. Instead I will be watching the Hurricanes - Reds game. Important from our point of view - a loss and it is over.

However, my comment is on again seeing the Ozzie League players going on and on about the salary cap and moaning how their best players are going to Rugby. Again - what a bunch of hypocrites.

For years (over a hundred) they pillaged Rugby without any problems and now the boot is on the other foot they complain. If it is such a good game why don't they play the game for free as Rugby players did - only about 1% ever left Rugby for League. Why. Because of the product - the game.

What they should do is make League amateur and see how many stay!!

Jock Hobbs: I see he has had to stand down as Chairman of the NZRU because of illness. A great man and sad to hear.

UK Election: Have been watching it on and off during the day. Again the First Past the Post is brought into disrepute. The other morning TVNZ's Paul Henry was in the UK and a commentator there commented "I wish we had the NZ electoral system. It sounds so fair and democratic".
As for the results; at present the Conservatives have the most seats but not a majority. Be an interesting outcome.

Too busy for words

Busy Busy Busy: Haven't updated for ages (19 April) but so busy. Also we went away to Auckland for a few days where Christine attended a nurses re-union. As a friend she wanted to see again from Greece pulled out at the last minute (couldn't have made it any way due to the Icelandic volcano) I think she thought it would be a bit of a waste. But it seems to have turned out really well with about 30 of them partying into the night. A most enjoyable time was had by all.

A winner again: Well as I said we got the $1000 for SeniorNet but in the Quiz - last and second to lat. But a change of tactics (not taking General Knowledge as our Bonus) meant we came back as winners again.

Eyjafjallajokull: The Iclandic volcanoe has meant Brian and Valerie couldn't leave until this week and Sarah/Joes student Kim can't go back to Germany until the 10 May.A couple of pictures of what has put all of Europe into turmoil.

Spelling: When in Auckland we used the rail and also went out to Waiheke Island - a place I haven't been for 50 years. In my case on the Gold Card (thanks Winston). When I was last there 50 years ago it was a sleepy hollow. Then I went out with the BNZ as we ran an Agency there - probably once a week at the most. Now it has 4 full time Banks.

At the Britomart Station they had an explanation about its construction. Cost $98 million from memory but they spelt metres as meters - bloody Rangitoto Yanks!! and the spell checker!!

I sent an email to the Sideswipe section of the NZ Herald pointing it out but they didn't print it.