Justice

I read in the newspaper today of a little girl who, on her way to the shops was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing. She suffered horrific injuries and her rehabilitation will go on for years to come. Tragic for her and for her parents.

It is not known at this time if the driver was at fault, but it even if the child made a mistake or misjudgement - well surely kids are allowed to make mistakes.

On the other hand jails are full of people who have had their time as kids and yet willfully transgress, and are where they belong. But these people use up valuable resources and have what many would think, a comfortable life.

I would like to see more resources - no, maximum - going into the rehabilitation of that little girl and her family taking some of the comfort from the not so nice folk clogging up our prisons.

Economics

Here in New Zealand we are shaping up for an election and so there will be lots of talk about the current government's economic performance and how the depressed world economy has such a huge impact here.

I have no economic background, but I know how to balance my own books and understand that living on credit is not sustainable. And this global economy thing seems to me to be a flawed theory.

You don't need to be politic to see that things are just plain nuts!

The wheel on my wheelbarrow fell to bits - it simply had rusted out! Well it is over 25 years old and has been outside all the time.
So, I need a new wheel together with axle, tyre and tube. So went into Oamaru to make the purchase.
To my surprise I could not find a wheel/tyre/tube for under $99.00. I could however buy a totally new wheelbarrow for $124.00 - so the rest of the wheelbarrow equated to be worth $25.00. I don't think so!
There was even a wheelbarrow for $45.00 and I could have bought it and robbed the wheel, but thought that to be a total waste of resources, but financially to me that would have been best.
So I bought the new wheelbarrow @ $124.00.

I would think this is not an unusual thing but it is nuts!

While no my Soap Box about the economy; why is it that unproductive people are paid the most?
Among the highest paid are sports people and some of those are hugely paid! They provide entertainment, but what is their tangible contribution?
Then take market gardeners who work long hours but struggle to make ends meet. These folk supply the nutrients to keep the population healthy/well-fed.
Then take the CEO of Telecom - $7 million? Really, how much does one person need? We are told that you have to pay for 'top people' - I'm sure someone could be found to do an adequate job for less than one million.

I just want to throw that into the pot!

Network Waitaki

There has been a followup to my fight against having the power-lines across my property [Meridian]. It is actually Network Waitaki who have responsibility for the lines/poles.

Network Waitaki want to upgrade the line and therefore require access through our property. And because I had written to the Pirme Minister and his Minister of Energy they decided it best to meet with me - that is Network Waitaki.

Well three of them turned up vs me by myself - they like the odds. Now they are prepared to move the line to outside our property, against the fence 'but will have to remove all the trees'.
'Ok.' Says I, as the trees outside our fence were actually planted by the NZFS in the good old days.
'But we require a contribution from you.' they said.
'Oh yes, and how much would that be?' I asked.
'Ten thousand dollars.' said they.
I knew they were trying to frighten me off.
'That won't be happening.' I told them.
Then they need to cut my fence to gain access with their larger equipment and I implied that the cost of that might be ten thousand dollars, knowing they had legal right to gain entry - but I added that bit of humor.

They are leaving the line where it is, and are paying for a guy to fell trees that are close to the line - then I will have to tidy up.

You see, I wrote on my other blog about 'the stroke of a pen'. In 1993 the then government passed a law that made things easy for line companies so the lines could be sold off.
If power/line companies want to access property, in these days of user pays, they should pay in some way to compensate the landholder.

Challenges in the Economy

The world economy is showing to be more fragile than once was thought and solutions will have to be found that go some way to mitigating the likely outcomes.

I haven't any better ideas than anybody else but at least here I have an opportunity to say something about it - and some, I have already said.

Every economist will have an opinion as to why we are at where we are at but I have a bob's worth to add.

We hear about this thing 'productivity' and how workers will have to up their productivity to be competitive. Well that may be so but the very highest paid on this earth produce nothing - or nothing tangible.
I'm talking about the entertainment industry (mainly). I include the lot - movie and tv stars, sports stars, music stars. These people do entertain and that has a value but much of their wreath comes from sponsorship - by wearing a label for whatever. And the product they wear is made cheaply in some third world country and sold at huge profits throughout the world. To me this is not real economy.
Unfortunately too many of these stars are big on ego and image and weak in the cranium department yet the impressionable [in hordes] try to emulate them. Generalizing is a bad thing and there are exceptions but a good example are the socialites that strut like looney chickens with miniature puppies in their handbags and wear high heels to PD!

The overprices people in CEO position is also a mystery to me - that Telecom guy on 7m? Tut. So who cares if we can't buy the best in the world? this could develop into a rant.

The world is a big place and the trend is for a global economy end I know economics overlaps diplomacy, but I question if we really need to involve NZ heavily into the global economy.
At the local Shell service station I bought two pies for lunch - well that's not healthy I know, but it was early and there were no sandwiches. Anyway these pies were made in Australia. I have nothing against that country but why was there a need to put these pies in a container and ship them here when we have an industry that makes the best pies in the world? Pies!

Why is all our nation's packaging made of plastic when paper could utilize our long suffering forest industry - even those wildling pines? Natural vs Synthetic and renewable resource vs nonrenewable. Is that too simplistic?

There are rules here in good old NZ for almost everything, but how come you can buy a cardboard box with a few packets inside of four cracker biscuits and a piece of cheese sealed into plastic and foil. The packaging is worth more than the product. You cart the box home then you have to pay to dispose of the packaging - makes no sense to me.

Getting tough on crime

New Zealand like much of the world has a growing crime rate, and I hear regularly over radio talkback that there is a need to tackle the crime rate. Added to this there seems to be a lack of sensible sentencing by the courts. Indeed just recently a jury made a not guilty verdict for three guys who had admitted vandalizing a satellite listening facility. The right or wrong of the facility is not really within the jurisdiction of that court.

Anyway, in last weeks Arusha Times a theif was convicted to 1 years imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane.

We have softened our stance on crime for perhaps politically correct reasons and so-called rights of individuals. A question where this attitude comes from and one answer is 'Christian charity' - most of our laws have been created through the Christian ethic and the reality these days is the majority of the population are not practicing Christians. This is not to say at all there is anything against Christianity but I wonder why the the law ethic spreads over all. Yes you have to have one law for all.

I think the constraint that the law of the land has is there are not enough options as far as punishment goes.
First thing is the cost of 'caring' for the lawbreakers. Second is the fact that there are not enough beds in the prisons so lighter or even no sentence is the option.

So for some crimes a good caning might just fit the bill. Say for drunken driving (together with a loss of licence of course).

Some white collar crime should not be prison sentences but working the crime off somehow using the skill the person has.

Maybe this is a cost, I don't know, but these sorts of things could be managed by say retirees and payment may be just a tax break because people (some) do like having things to do.

Just a thought.

Boquet

It is fair to recognise good service when you receive it.

We were travelling on the last day of the year to Christchurch when just south of Timaru, a passing truck dropped a rock that smashed my windscreen. The rock was as big as a fist and hit the windscreen top/center and made a huge spiderweb shatter.

There is a sign just south of Timaru about Smith & Smith Glass so we called there. The helpful receptionist asked about the damage and came out to look at it. She was sorry that they did not have a replacement windscreen, but on finding out that we were headed for Christchurch, she suggested we call at the Russley Road branch which is the main distributor fo the South Island.

The service there was immaculate and friendly. Within two hours (one to allow the glue to set) we had our car back with a new windscreen and all the correct labels attached.
So they have my recommendation.

More on Violence

I just saw a clip of a New Zealand man who's brother was murdered in Cambodia during the Pol Pot regime. Those were terrible times there, and the people doing the killing seemed to gain some entertainment from it while 'just doing their job'.

Every day on the [tv] news there are violent acts reported and I am fairly sure that the perpetrators' actions can not be put down to moderate discipline at home.

Violence has been with humankind since our distant past - sacrifice, feuds, war and genocide.
Anyone can research these happenings through Google or Wikipedia. But I only want to mention one here.
Roman Emperors, for some one hundred years or so entertained their population at the Coliseum. The people were entertained at gruesome events and much blood letting. These days we don't condone such things because they are plainly appalling.
Or is that so? Today we are entertained by blood letting on television, film, video, video games and in literature.
So are we different? Not really. Is this why young guys get boozed up to go looking for a fight or to do somebody damage? Probably.

Liberalists do not approve of censorship - they have some theory why - oh maybe it is personal choice. That's probably it - someone chooses to go for a walk after dark and is set upon by a group of thugs. Yep, the tugs had a choice - bash or not.

Well, if we want to cut out violence, we should think about the total exposure to it!