Posts by Bart Janssen
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Just a couple of thoughts about Veitch
1 It's not OK
That should be a given but it isn't. He has admitted violence on his partner that resulted in injury. It is simply not acceptable in our society and the sentence reflects that (although some may argue that last).2 He was in a bad relationship.
This is not meant in any way to excuse his actions - but - relationships fail and most times there are two sides to the failure and almost always it is extremely difficult for outsiders to understand exactly what happened. There seems to be some feeling that it was all his fault and frankly I don't think anyone knows, probably not even the two involved really know anymore. That said, failure of a relationship is not an excuse for violence, physical or mental - it's not OK.3 Lawyers are paid to protect their clients
What the Veitch legal team do is done to protect their client. It may or may not be what you or I call moral or "right". Personally I find it best to mute them when they speak.4 I'm not sure I have a 4 but I just get the feeling that there is a culture around that says if you can do a cool marketing job then it's all OK. It doesn't really matter what has been done if you can "spin" or market it well the it will be OK.
But it isn't OK.
Oh I did have another point. Again this is not meant in any way to excuse Veitch but the fact that his victim broke a vertebrae doesn't really tell you much about the nature of the attack. It is alarmingly easy to break bones and for some people even easier than others. I have no idea how violent the attack was but I would be cautious about inferring from the broken bone much other than an impact occurred. that such an impact should not have occurred at all should be obvious.
If any of the above sounds like I like Veitch or am excusing him in any way my apologies. I have nothing but disgust for his actions and nothing but disgust for the way he has behaved since those actions, first by not admitting it when it happened then after he was accused and now after he has been sentenced.
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Paul Henry ... " Honestly how is this vile man still on television?
Because people forget there is an option - well several actually
on/off button
RNZ breakfast
numerous web sites
numerous cable channelsand, if like me, you still want light fluffy news while that first coffee slowly activates your neurons, then Oliver Driver and co. on TV3 do just fine without finding it necessary to be nasty little ...
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Gay seats. Transport seats. Music seats.
That brings some odd images to mind.
Seriously that's an extreme version of the discussion and not really helpful. You don't need to go to extremes. And if you can get benefit from a partial measure the fact that an extreme measure might be silly is not a reason to exclude the partial measure.
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Mikaere you said
we can't get to multiculturalism (even if this was possible or desired) without first implementing bi-culturalism.
Are you sure we can't get to multiculturalism directly. It would seem sad to me to think that we can't recognise the values/needs/responsibilities of all parts of our culture at the same time.
I don't disagree that we (as a society) have failed to create an environment that allow Maori to achieve or even to avoid failing. Not wishing to get into an argument about the meanings of either of those words, but I don't think anyone can say Maori are where they or anyone wants them to be in NZ.
I don't know how to reach multiculturalism. I know for certain that we in NZ do a shit load better at it than I've seen in my time in the US. I also think that over the last 20 year we have improved in NZ, not just with Maori but with all the parts of our culture.
That's not to say we can't do better. The question for me is how best to get to a society where you can't predict someone's life expectancy or wealth based on their race.
I'm not convinced reserved places on councils for Maori (or any race) is a way forward. I don't really see that the Maori seats in parliament have been that successful and so I can't see why similar seats on a council would work.
What does seem to have been positive (speaking from very little actual knowledge here and I'm happy to informed) is the combination of MMP with the rise of genuine Maori led political party. Rather than having Maori seats occupied by Labour party members who seemed to only represent Labour, we now have a party that tries to represent Maori. Could that party exist without the Maori seats? I don't know but it seems to me that the political power of the Maori party doesn't simply reside in reserved seats.
I would hope that the Maori party would spend the same effort getting Auckland city councilors as they do getting MPs. And I honestly think that given their current political strength that if they put up and supported strong candidate they could easily get on the council.
None of that obviates a legal obligation under the treaty to provide representation and I'm not arguing that.
Not sure if the above thoughts make sense or are even relevant. I guess I'm just uncomfortable with reserved spots for anyone and in the end maybe I should just get over that discomfort.
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Richard C. No apologies needed :) I get your point. In some ways I was making the same point. At the moment the people actually making the day to day decisions are the (mostly very hard working and well intentioned) folks in planning depts. But does anyone know or care which area they live in?
The high level overarching decisions are the responsibility of the councilors, but from what I've seen those decisions are passed off to consultants - who again may live elsewhere.
So how do you involve people who live there in the decisions about the local environment? Especially if they don't much care.
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Which leaves....who exactly?
Um I'm pretty sure that I've never seen a councilor in any of the planning departments that I've been into (which isn't that many to be fair) and I didn't think councilors bothered themselves with resource consents either. They're busy people after all - meetings to go to and er meetings and...
So my guess is the answer will be ... exactly the same bureaucrat who does it now.
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Danielle
San Antonio is a very odd place. There are some really neat things they've done, The Riverwalk is a loop of the local river made into a canal lined with cafes restaurants etc. It could have been really great but in the end San Antonio is in Texas which is in the USA. So the cafes and restaurants are chains and it just didn't have a feel to it. Combine that with The Alamo and Six Flags and ... well it was a fun place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
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Just a point
People have been saying that the local sub-councils have no money.
That isn't true at all. They have no authority to levy money from the citizens of the area. Instead they will have to lobby (suck up to) the super mayor.
But they will do just that and they will have a budget. And my guess is that budget will not be small and it will employ lots of nice folks to keep the local area clean/pretty/artistic/etc/etc/etc
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Whatever Auckland is, I like it a lot.
In all seriousness I've now visited and lived in a few cities, some famous some not. There are a whole bunch of things I like about Auckland but in the end I think you can tell how rich Auckland is by the fact that we have such a diverse range of really high quality restaurants.
So will having John Banks as Super Mayor (you do realise that he will be the first mayor) make much of a difference? Personally I doubt it. The real business of managing Auckland happens in offices with cheaper carpet.
The merger is meant to reduce bureaucracy - it won't (nothing ever does). And perhaps it shouldn't since the actual business of managing a city is bureaucratic.
Do I care that we won't (for some reason not having reserved spots means no Maori will ever be elected) have Maori local politicians. No. Or at least not more than I care that we won't have women or Samoans or Tongans or Westies - unless of course we elect them. And I know "The Treaty" should make me care more about Maori but in my heart I care just as much about all the other people.
I know I should believe that local bodies have a real impact on what Auckland is - but I don't. In the end Pacifica will still happen as will the big gay out and that local indian thing that happens in the park down the road each year.
I believe Aucklanders (all of us, Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Chinese, Veitnamese, Thai, and yes even Westies) will continue to be the people that make Auckland the place it really is - and the place I like. Be it "super" or otherwise.
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Bassmasters also uses a net and gets ESPN coverage.