Archive for June, 2010
Stormin’ Norman 2
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010Okay, I’ve watched the footage. I think there’s plainly an assault (probably several). They’re plainly minor. The Chinese security detail were plainly desperate to spare their guy from the indignity of having to look at the Tibetan flag. They try to stand in front of Norman, and one pushes an umbrella in front of his […]
Sunday paper lies to boost circulation!
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010Here’s the Sunday Star-Times headline from last week: Sex attack gets drunk driver off This is almost true. To be precisely accurate, however, it should have read: Sex attack doesn’t get drunk driver off The story is about a woman who was convicted of drunk-driving in the middle of the night after she said she […]
Stormin’ Norman
Monday, June 21st, 2010So police have investigated the incident in which Greens leader Russel Norman claimed to have been assaulted by members of the Chinese delegation who wrenched a Tibetan flag from his grasp on the grounds of Parliament… and concluded that there is “insufficient evidence to substantiate any assault charges at this time”. Police say the “available […]
Offensive language
Monday, June 21st, 2010“Of course we have freedom of speech in New Zealand, but that doesn’t mean we have to use that freedom of speech to cause offence to people, particularly to overseas visitors.” — Murray McCully, criticising Greens leader Russel Norman for his protest against Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet. “Freedom to speak only inoffensively isn’t worth […]
Off-Target
Friday, June 11th, 2010The BSA has just given TV3’s hidden-camera wielding consumer affairs show Target a spanking for wrongly claiming that Cafe Cezanne’s chicken was infested with faecal coliform. Turns out, Target had got its samples mixed up. Worse than that, Top Shelf, the company that produces Target, initially provided wrong information to the cafe about when the sample […]
Siemer’s right-to-jury case
Friday, June 11th, 2010Predictably, Vince Siemer is not happy about the Supreme Court’s 17 May decision to cut his contempt sentence to 3 months instead of 6. (In fact, he has applied to have it recalled. Good luck with that, Vince). For someone who regards the NZ judiciary as largely corrupt, he’s a glutton for punishment: he goes […]
Open up Parliament too!
Friday, June 11th, 2010The latest Ministers’ expense relevations once again demonstrate the value of transparency and the shakiness of the assurances that “systems are in place to ensure propriety”. Good on National for increasing the level of transparency. But since they’re so hot on it, why not bring Parliament under the Official Information Act too (and the Attorney-General […]