Posts by Mark Graham
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Holy cow, Robman! It's not Key, it's the rest of them.
Honestly, Labour has mishandled a number of items - being blamed for the Anti-smacking bill for one, when it wasn't even a Labour bill - and therein lies Labour's problem - that and the fact that Helen is so polarising: there is a disturbing vitriolic dislike of her out there (hatred seems too strong even if appropriate on occasion).
But just look at National - After Key there's English, then Power, then, erm...Tony Ryall and...(eek) Nick Smith and then...um...
I'm sure there'll be good players coming forward but the talent...well, people criticise local government but who can really claim that central government is that much better?And who can claim that National is better than Labour?
But...there are a lot of people who have an intense dislike of Helen and without her going Labour is dog tucker. But then she's the best weapon they've got, too.
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20 years ago I was never caught...
Ah - therein lies the problem. It's not the penalty, it's the getting caught.
I/O - it's not that anyone is for tagging, per se, it's just how to deal with those kids who do.
Consequences - yes, absolutely. But the key to consequences is getting caught and perhaps that's where a 'Broken Windows' policy might work - it may not stop more serious crime but it will stop graffiti.
So...do we want our police spending more time on graffiti, more time on burglaries, more time on bashings, rape and murder? Do we want more cops on the street? Can we afford it? Or do we try to address the causes of the disaffection and lack of respect, which should help reduce the other problems, as well?
So...screen kids for glue ear - poor hearing has been shown to be directly linked to kids getting into trouble. Family interventions. Education and reduction in poverty. Uh-oh - we're heading down the 'nanny-state' route. I know - let's just lock the little f***ers up!
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this is not about the tagging, but about the taggers
I beg to differ - it's not about the taggers, either. It's about the voters.
I can understand people getting pissed off at taggers. If my fence kept getting bombed I'd be bloody annoyed. I look after my property, I like it looking nice and the work involved in painting out a fence is a pain in the arse.
But this whole thing about 'War on Tagging' and banning the sale of spraypaint to youth is all about the Gummint being seen to be Doing Something About It and playing to the fears of the population who have been wound up by media reports (is the Media to blame? probably, as is the Gummint, the Opposition and everyone except the Police) of rampant out of control crime, especially the violent sort.
However, demonising a group of people who are disaffected, disenfranchised and have a general lack of respect won't get them to change their actions - it will only make them worse.
As Billy Bragg said, "You don't turn criminals into citizens by treating them that way."
Also - notice how the youth became this major problem in January but where are they now? And another thing - at least half of those killed or being killed WEREN'T YOUTH!
I keep seeing a call for zero tolerance from assorted People Who Are Concerned. Well, for their general information, 'Zero Tolerance' was an internal policy adopted by Guiliani's then Police Chief to get his assorted area captains to aim at reduced crime targets within a time frame and if they didn't meet them, then they got fired. 'Broken Windows' is the policy they mean, whereby Police jumped on small crimes in an area in the belief that it would prevent the perps from moving on to bigger crime. Too bad it has since been discredited.
And I alway wonder - for all those people who criticise alternative proposals to dealing with crime in society other than jail and beatings, can they actually identify anyone out there who is actually FOR crime?
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Aha - try this - not exactly tinfoil but it will stop the aliens...http://www.stopabductions.com
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Damian, you're right. I went back and reread it and I have to apologise. I promise, next time I'll ask first before shooting ([my mouth off]
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Hey - I asked Damian if he was amongst the group who was firing off the mortar bomb skyrockets hourly through the night and it wasn't until much further down the thread that he denied being part of it. It was a natural assumption given that he's good friends with the party hosts, there were (very loud) fire crackers going off and he got injured by one, and the timing was about right for him to be passing through.
As for whing[ing] about things in public needlessly, bringing down everybody else's mood...well:
a - we all have a right to whinge
b - whatever happened to consideration for others?
c - umbrage at a bit of emotional hyperbole, Damian, is so...literal. As if I would really wish someone to be burnt by anything.
d - a few crackers at NYE and Guy Fawkes - no problem, but like I wrote earlier, when they go off every hour on the hour for the rest of the night and they're exploding outside you and your kids' bedroom windows...well, I do object to that. -
Sorry Sam
Side issue between Damian and myself -
Anyway, it was more the wishing that any injuries I'd sustained were major rather than minor I take exception to.
Hey - I tell you what, next time you're at Abby's firing off crackers, I'll bring my terrified dog and my screaming children across and we'll see how much fun that is for you.
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Hey - happy to let people fire off a couple at midnight, even tho my dog is terrified and it wakes up my toddlers, especially when they explode in the street outside.
But when they go off hourly for the rest of the night, and then morons continue to let them off between 10pm and 1am on random days throughout the rest of the year, well, tolerance goes so far.
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If that was you firing off skyrocket crackers at Abby's house on NY eve at midnight...then 1am...then 2am...then 3am...then 4am and then finally at 5am, then you deserve to have been burnt. Pity it was just minor.
In fact, come to think of it, you were probably disturbing some poor soul's sleep at midnight somwhere anyway, so nice to see the firecracker biting back.