You have been warned ...

Unnecessary Force - Is there any other kind?

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Terrorists or Criminals?

From the Crimes Act:

Section 145 - Criminal nuisance
1) Every one commits criminal nuisance who does any unlawful act or omits to discharge any legal duty, such act or omission being one which he knew would endanger the lives, safety, or health of the public, or the life, safety, or health of any individual.
2) Every one who commits criminal nuisance is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.

Section 174 - Counselling or attempting to procure murder
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years who incites, counsels, or attempts to procure any person to murder any other person in New Zealand, when that murder is not in fact committed.

Section 310- Conspiring to commit offence
1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, every one who conspires with any person to commit any offence, or to do or omit, in any part of the world, anything of which the doing or omission in New Zealand would be an offence, is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years if the maximum punishment for that offence exceeds 7 years' imprisonment, and in any other case is liable to the same punishment as if he had committed that offence.
2) This section shall not apply where a punishment for the conspiracy is otherwise expressly prescribed by this Act or by some other enactment.
3) Where under this section any one is charged with conspiring to do or omit anything anywhere outside New Zealand, it is a defence to prove that the doing or omission of the act to which the conspiracy relates was not an offence under the law of the place where it was, or was to be, done or omitted.



From the Terrorism Suppression Act:

Section 12, Recruiting members of terrorist groups
1) A person commits an offence who recruits another person as a member of a group or organisation, knowing that the group or organisation is—
(a)an entity that is for the time being designated under this Act as a terrorist entity; or
(b)an entity that carries out, or participates in the carrying out of, 1 or more terrorist acts.
2) A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.

Section 13 Participating in terrorist groups
1) A person commits an offence who participates in a group or organisation for the purpose stated in subsection (2), knowing that the group or organisation is—
(a)an entity that is for the time being designated under this Act as a terrorist entity; or
(b)an entity that carries out, or participates in the carrying out of, 1 or more terrorist acts.
2) The purpose referred to in subsection (1) is to enhance the ability of any entity (being an entity of the kind referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b)) to carry out, or to participate in the carrying out of, 1 or more terrorist acts.
3) A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.

Breaking a Term Deposit

NZ First has finally said it will pay back it's illegal spend from during the 2005 Election Campaign. But not until next month, when the Term Deposits of the Party are due to roll over.

However, breaking a Term Deposit is quite easy. Technically, a bank has the right to say no, but usually the rate is reset to the rate that applies if the deposit was for the new period, and a penalty is then deducted - usually reducing the applicable rate by 2%.

But in the meantime, the poor taxpayer is stuck paying interest on the Government Debt - out of pocket twice. Three times really - first for the illegal spend; secondly for waiting over a year to agree to pay it back; thirdly by delaying repayment.

And the NZ First party should remember they are not liable for MPs spending funds allocated by Parliamentary Services - the members who approve the spending are. And in NZ First it wouldn't be hard to work out which MP approves all spending.

Trevor losing his temper - that's never happened before!

It's no surprise that Henare wound Mallard up so much that he punched him. After all, Henare was the recipient of Ron Mark's one fingered salute as well.

But they've got nothing on the Indians:

Don't Second Guess the Voters

Professor Nigel Roberts claims in this weeks Hutt News that Mayor David Ogden "would have lost" if the Hutt City Elections were held under STV.

Poppycock.

While I don't dispute that the result of the election could be different, I don't accept that it is a foregone conclusion that Ray Wallace or Ken Laban would have won.

There are so many variables - whether people voting for other candidate would have cast second preferences for David Ogden, or for someone else? Would David Ogden's voters only ranked him 1, and not ranked any other candidates? (That's how I vote - I only rank the ones I want to win.) And how would STV effect turnout and informal votes?

I feel the same way about the Electoral Integrity Bill - while an MP may change from his or her party, it is up to them to determine how best to represent the people who voted them into Parliament. After all, it is up to voters on whether they return them for another term.

But back to Lower Hutt - David Ogden won, fair and square, as he is the most popular candidate. And I'm glad to see that no other candidate has claimed the same as Professor Roberts - In fact, it was nice to see Mayoral candidate Rose Thomas write to the Hutt News this week to wish Mr Ogden the best.

Must try harder.

Someone thinks we work too hard. We should take it easy, and not work so much. Perhaps we can follow Darien Fenton's lead - so far in October she managed to:

• Make no speeches in the House. (It sat for six days so far this month.)
• Make no published speeches
• Not issue a single Press Release in October. So far this year she has put out nine press releases - less than one a month.
• Get her first issue to appear in the Herald this year about working too hard. (According to their search function on their Website - a search on Stuff returns nothing.)
• Asked two supplementary patsy questions (and they would have been written for her.)
• She is on two select committees - there were three meetings of the Government Adminstration Select Committee and one meeting of the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee.

Hardly the workload that one could complain about!

I'm sure some people out there will say I'm being too harsh, and that Darien Fenton cannot be too controversial as she is a backbench Government MP. However, several Backbench Government MPs have built high profiles - For instance, Tim Barnett - and I alwas believe that it is incumbent on MPs not to complain about the good work they think they do but to build their profiles and push policies to the forefront. If you want an example of this, look no further than the Green Party.

Random Observations from the South Island

Why did so many candidates forget to take down their billboards by polling day? (This includes you, Mr Milne - I saw two of yours still up on Sunday.) And why hadn't some others still have them up yesterday?

Why is there so many passing bays for Southbound traffic between Kaikoura and Cheviot, but only one for Northbound traffic?

Bloody good stuff that Hutt City residents returned David Ogden. And better still, they put Mr Big Spender back in third place, behind another (reasonably) financially prudent candidate Ray Wallace.

What's the point in the Interislander emailing you to advise the ferry is late? I gave you a cellphone number, you should have texted it.

Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll

I am in Dunedin at the moment staying with my Dad and Step-Mother as it was:

• The first time my Annual Leave is in credit since going to Europe two-and-a-half years ago.
• It was my Dad's birthday yesterday.
• Any excuse to show off Bevan to his Grandparents is a good excuse. (We stopped for a couple of days in Christchurch to see Chaucey's Dad - his other grandfather)

This morning, we were jolted awake at 1.30am by the Fiordland Earthquake - it went on and on (it felt like more than a minute) but didn't feel too strong as to panic. Bevan slept through it. After getting back to sleep I was awoken again by an aftershock at about 3pm.

It must have been an impressive earthquake as the epicentre was 290km away!

Back on the road back home tomorrow.

It was like the referee had a new yellow card and wanted to see if it worked ...

You're trapped in a room with a Grizzly Bear, a deadly Rattlesnake, and an Wayne Barnes. You have a gun with two bullets. What should you do?

Shoot the Wayne Barnes. Twice.




Q. Why does Wayne Barnes whistle whilst sitting on the toilet?
A. So he knows which end to wipe!




Wayne Barnes was having his regular eye test...

When he had given in his details and was sitting in the chair awaiting his tests, the optometrist turned towards him and said: "Excuse me sir, are you by any chance a referee?" The referee admitted he was.

Without another word, the optometrist quickly took Barnes through the various tests. At the end the Optometrist said, "Well, sir, you have no eye problems and really excellent vision."

Wayne Barnes smiled with satisfaction.

Optometrist: "So how then do you explain your decisions at Cardiff on Sunday?"




Why should Wayne Barnes be buried 300 ft underground?
Deep down, he's a nice person.

Console Yourself

Hubbards to stop making Bugs 'n' Mud

Back in January I checked out the sugar content of some cereals after a news report criticised Nestle Milo Breakfast Cerel for being one third sugar. And I found that Hubbards Bugs 'n' Mud was almost 50% sugar.

And now I've heard that Hubbards are (quietly) removing this product from their range - becuase of complaints about the high sugar content.

Sign me up ...

... to the Ukranian Army.

Crime Stats

The latest reported crime stats show that violent crime reporting is up, and overall crime is down.

My view is that while the police don't have the resources to deal with the serious crime, they can't deal with the petty crimes so just take the report and advise the victim to lock things up more securely next time.

So the victim learns to not waste time reporting crime.

Vote for Bevan!

Enough people have rung, wrote, and emailed asking for my vote - so here's my plea:

Vote for Bevan to be the cutest baby of the week.