Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Tapped out and meanwhile ...

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  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Hell I remember being stopped by a cop on anniversary weekend who stood in the middle of Otaki main street with half of Wellington backed up on SH1 with the only motive being to check everyone going through town for out of date WOFs. I was deeply peeved at his wasting of my and other's time for something I hadn't done - no reasonable cause. I never got counselling even though it was quite scary for the kids to face the prospect of me being given a stern talking to. And it was obvious he was blockading the main route out of the innocent city of wellington . . .

    I'm sorry, I nodded off in the middle of your equivocation - wake me up when he turns into a hundred heavily armed police who are forcing you out of your car and photographing you.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    Without being able to see into the future and predict how much better they will get, I have to say that right now, the Phoenix Foundation are a group at the very peak of their game. The time to see them is now.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Margaret B,

    And here was me thinking "tapped" referred to tapping someone's phone etc, as in surveillance. My word Russell, imagine the arguments we could have interpreting your words in 2000 years time! ;-)

    Since Oct 2007 • 59 posts Report Reply

  • daleaway,

    And I thought tapped out in that title referred to his having typed something.

    Just goes to show that standard English is a better bet than ephemeral slang or txtspk if you want to be understood.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    This case - http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2207426,00.html - raises some disturbing questions about terror laws and their application in the UK. I mean, what is she actually guilty of? Thought crime?

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I hope they play "Struck", cos that was my favourite tune to get drunk and miserable to in the mid '90s.

    Heh, I also have happy memories of being drunk and miserable, both states now only being nostalgic reminiscences for me. I'm not actually sure which is more addictive, misery or alcohol. They both feed each other.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Not without a sphincter pinching dread. They will be on lists for life now.

    And somehow, I don't think the police will be paying any compensation for that. Ruin people's lives, walk away laughing - it's OK if you wear a uniform.

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    From memory this is not the first time police have stopped and photgraphed people leaving an area where an investigation is going on.

    Last time I remember it making the news was in 2000, when party-goer Jamie Langridge died at a dance party on Pakatoa Island.

    Police stopped and photographed all partygoers as the disembarked from the ferry in downtown Auckland.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • insider outsider,

    Danyl

    did hundreds of police stand at a road block and force individuals out of a car and photograph them?

    I think there is a lot of faux outrage and trauma being generated and lack of proportion over the 'suffering' felt, given what was thought to be going on.

    If I thought there were a bunch of people running around with guns and bombs in my suburb, I would expect the cops to be there in force and equipped to deal with it, I would expect them to have roadblocks and I would expect them to do all they could within the law to prevent those people getting away, and I would expect that most in my community would co-operate and accept that a short term inconvenience and even a little fear was a reasonable price to pay. Even if the ones with the guns were my neighbours.

    It seems in Ruatoki expectations are a bit different.

    nz • Since May 2007 • 142 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    And I thought tapped out in that title referred to his having typed something.

    Heh, me too, the visual metaphor of the satisfied worker tapping the logout buttons.

    WWF (now WWE) has mushed your brain! He said 'tapped out' which means (colloquially) out of ideas/new things to say.

    Possibly so. The tapping of the floor in martial arts seemed to me the clearest derivation of the term.

    Not WWE, btw, where they seem to tap out and the other guy is allowed to keep going, hit them with a chair, throw them out of the ring, throw the referee out of the ring, throw himself out of the ring, throw the guy back into the ring, tag his buddy, who then repeats. At some point, for dramatic purposes, the victim of all of this comes to and reverses the situation. Having gained the moral high ground he is clearly then allowed to transgress every rule, with the crowd roaring for him to continue. Pretty funny, a few times. They're parodying Hollywood. I favour UFC style, where the tapout really is the most dramatic moment, moments before the tapper lapses into unconsciousness or dislocates something. It's usually a very bittersweet moment.

    I guess the distinction I'm agonizing over is that a tap out means you lose. Whereas a tag out reserves the right to come back, and anyway it's a team sport, we haven't lost yet. You might tap out because you're gassed, but you don't get to come back. So if we see Russell on this topic again, it will make it clear just what kind of tap out it was. Maybe it's a Ken Shamrock tap out "I wasn't tapping, it was a breakfall". Yeah right Ken.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Finn Higgins,

    And somehow, I don't think the police will be paying any compensation for that. Ruin people's lives, walk away laughing - it's OK if you wear a uniform.

    Just to provide a counter-argument here, there was insufficient evidence presented to the courts to convict Clint Rickards of rape. Should those accusing him of rape be required to compensate him? I sure as hell don't think so, and I'm not sure I'd rather be a high-profile rapist for life than a high-profile terrorist.

    Wellington • Since Apr 2007 • 209 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    And somehow, I don't think the police will be paying any compensation for that. Ruin people's lives, walk away laughing - it's OK if you wear a uniform.

    Let's wait until they're found not guilty before we start saying the police have ruined their lives unjustly. It may be that the arrests affect their lives adversely, sure. That may be entirely justified however.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • andrew r,

    the police roadblock and photographing people in that small town in eastern bay of plenty was unlawful- end of story no question . It was also complete over reaction and utterly unnecessary and definitely intimidating for those on the receiving end.I kinda thought there might have been something in this at first .... but now i doubt there is much in it at all . Pretty lame Police behaviour , they should apologise.There just was no imminent threat, execution of normal search warrants on specific houses at dawn under existing uncomplicated Criminal legislation, as is the norm, would have sufficed. There has been over reaction from some in Maori hierarchy, but certainly in this blog there was i think over concern about what ....'maybe going on'.... particularly anecdotal reports ....Bomber etc as i recall; at the expense of the bigger issue - yet another stoopid bust on the poorer folk in this country . I'd be pissed if I were them .

    auckland • Since May 2007 • 100 posts Report Reply

  • Heather Gaye,

    I think it perhaps reflected their perception of the risk at each venue.

    I think it was partly just that they could. As opposed to central wellington or auckland, Ruatoki's a teeny township with a single exit point. To block off the entire town, you just need a roadcone, and a couple of burly bouncer-types. You can guarantee noone's going anywhere, unless your targets are an armed crack team with good training in bush skills...oh, wait...

    Morningside • Since Nov 2006 • 533 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I think it was partly just that they could.

    I agree. They were possibly hoping to shake out some kind of incriminating team bail out with a boot load of guns. I imagine their choppers had infrared capability too, so the bush-bail would be even more obvious.

    I agree with Russell that it's kind of a pity that much of the evidence probably will never come out. But it's more of a pity for us than a pity for the <insert appropriate name for the arrested parties>. Their rights are actually protected by this. I mean do you really want the whole country to hear your drunken rambles and tough talk to your mates? Or laugh at your lame training?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • kmont,

    I am also tapped out. We still don't really have any information. The word terrorist is still being thrown around willy nilly.
    Sigh.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Agreed. I'm generally not a fan of Peters, but I was pleasantly surprised when he said that this morning.

    Oh, crap - perhaps if Winston actually spent as much time doing his bloody job (or at least the tiresome parts that contribute to sound legislation) as he does posturing, he wouldn't have to say such things in the first place. Found his performance on Morning Repot typically appalling, which only proves, I guess, that it's a day with a Y in it.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Llewellyn,

    And somehow, I don't think the police will be paying any compensation for that. Ruin people's lives, walk away laughing - it's OK if you wear a uniform.

    Just to provide a counter-argument here, there was insufficient evidence presented to the courts to convict Clint Rickards of rape. Should those accusing him of rape be required to compensate him? I sure as hell don't think so, and I'm not sure I'd rather be a high-profile rapist for life than a high-profile terrorist.

    Just to jump in at this point, I managed to have dinner in Wellington last Saturday with a couple of old mates who are policemen (one maori, one pakeha), and the subjects of Clint Rickards and Tame Iti came up.

    On the former - "lying bastard giving the rest of us a bad name - pleading poverty on 60 minutes sticks in the craw when he still draws in his $250k a year salary, drives his new car, and has all his legal fees paid by police trust - how can he look at himself in the mirror and call himself a cop?"

    On the latter - "The police wouldn't have been doing their job if they didn't investigate - obviously the decision to apply the terrorism law rather than a firearm law is the real point of contention and thats an important question - but hell, you couldn't convince me that the outcome of getting those arms off the street isn't a good thing, and anyone who stockpiles weapons like that needs to be watched."

    Mt Albert • Since Nov 2006 • 399 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I'm torn between Saturday night's competing offerings of Garageland (King's Arms) and the Phoenix Foundation

    Garageland's '07 comeback special was brilliant! I'm so glad I went.

    There might be a lot of bands doing these reunion gigs, but everyone does it differently. Last night I realised how much I really enjoyed Garageland back in the day, and how a lot of their songs have really stuck with me over the years.

    I ended up writing over 1000 words (!) in a review-cum-personal history of Garageland. (Perhaps this is what Stephen Fry termed a blessay - a blog-essay.)

    But the best thing was that it didn't feel like a nostalgic '90s revisit. It was just a cool band playing at the King's Arms.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

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