Michael laws

Michael Laws calls out the poverty industry:

 [M]ost New Zealanders are not convinced that New Zealand has a child poverty problem. We have a piss-poor-parenting problem, yes. We don’t have an inadequacy of resources.

Which is where the Children’s Commissioner and the liberal lobbyists have it all wrong. They quote statistics about kids going to school hungry, about inadequate rentals, about hospitalisations and woeful child dental care, as if no argument is required.

Look at those poor kids, they declare. There’s the proof of child poverty.

No, it isn’t. It’s proof that thousands of Kiwi parents are making bad choices about their priorities. And that the welfare and community organisations that are supposed to be supporting them . . . aren’t.

Indeed, it’s a dual failure. The parents aren’t up to their role and the agencies are ineffective with their assistance. And that includes churches and other social agencies that prefer to lobby for more money, rather than use their funding appropriately.  Read more »

Niko Kloeten reckons that Maurice Williamson could bury Len Brown in the mayoral race in October.

There are a number of reasons.

Less baggage:

A number of political figures on the right believe Mr Williamson would have a better chance of success than fellow MP and ACT Party leader John Banks did when he ran for Auckland mayor three years ago and was thumped by 65,000 votes (234,459 to 169,862).

Councillor Dick Quax, who represents the Howick ward which largely overlaps with the Pakuranga electorate, says Mr Williamson has a very good reputation in the area, with one of the largest majorities of any MP (almost 14,000 votes).

He says Mr Williamson doesn’t carry as much “baggage” as Mr Banks in the eyes of voters, particularly those in area outside the old Auckland City Council.

“The reason why John Banks didn’t do very well was for many people the amalgamation of Auckland was seen as a takeover by Auckland City,” he says.

“They saw John Banks as part of that takeover by Auckland City of the rest of the region and when a credible candidate from outside of the area put his hand up a lot of the votes automatically went to Len Brown.

“A lot of voters in Pakuranga and Howick voted for him because he wasn’t John Banks.  That won’t be the case this time.”

Mr Quax says Mr Williamson will also benefit from not being associated with the unitary plan, which many Aucklanders are not happy with.  Read more »

You’ve got to hand it to the left for their monumental stupidity.

Last night on TV One the Howard League (hijacked by Mike Williams and other Labour flunkies) claimed a coroner’s report will show prison guards could have stopped infamous scumbag Antonie Dixon’s suicide.

Corrections, sensibly, said their staff got it right by ensuring none of their guards were put at risk.

[T]he Department of Corrections has defended its staff, saying Dixon was a difficult prisoner and staff took correct action when responding to the suicide.

“During his time in custody there were numerous incidents including violence against staff and other prisoners; damage to prison property; possession of contraband including weapons he manufactured; positive tests for drug use and several concerted attempts at inflicting serious self harm,” Jeanette Burns from the department said.

“On the night Mr Dixon died, staff had to balance the safety of themselves with that of a serial, violent offender. Staff safety is paramount, and officers made the right decision at the time when unlocking his cell.”  Read more »

Michael Laws gives David Fisher one right in the chook:

Nice retweet from Russell Brown too.

We started our Saturday by paying our respects to Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., the hard-charging US Army general whose forces smashed the Iraqi army in the 1991 Gulf War.  He died aged 78.  At The Standard 2012 Worst Political Blog Mike Smith is told some home truths about long term grass-roots Labour families heading for the Greens.  A quick vid on how to put out a boat fire the Kiwi way is next, followed by a vote for Best Minister.  The winner, at 52%, is Judith Collins.  The Whale Week That Was summarised all the stories this blog covered in the previous seven days.  A quite active Saturday Debate (for the time of year especially) led a post calling for nominations for Best Political Blog.  Those who see WOBH as any sort of threat to them (and those that don’t too), should take heed of this Malcolm Tucker quote: “marshal all the media forces of Darkness to hound them to an assisted suicide”.  A CNN piece showing Teachers in Utah taking a class on gun use shows some common sense around the gun debate.  A reader has taken yesterday’s US Fiscal Cliff graphic and created one for New Zealand – great work.  As Cameron Slater predicted from the outset, the Aussie Hoax DJs will not face charges.  The NZ Herald continues to amuse – this time a car crashed into a poll.  The blog then introduces us to two sexy taxidermists showing you don’t have to look like a front row forward to deal with dead animals.  And you’d think we’re picking on an incompetent NZ Herald, and you would be right.  This time they have Jesse Ryder beating himself at Eden Park in Wellington.  Then a hilarious story about a Queensland woman who fell into the longdrop and was there for two hours before being discovered by her husband.   Turns out that during the Falklands War the French tried to send missiles to Argentinia behind Margaret Thatcher‘s back.  Commerce first eh?  The last post of the day highlights a report of a man holding up a Countdown Supermarket with a hammer.  Our readers get fired up about the idea of hammer banning.

Read more »

Michael Laws says it is time to arm the police and also dispels some myths around the recent incident in Dargaville:

Every time a police officer is brutally attacked in this country – be they shot, stabbed or beaten – the NZ Police Association representing frontline staff provides the Pavlovian response. Arm the police, they ritually demand.

In turn this provokes the equally Pavlovian response of the police hierarchy, the government of the day and numerous academics: No. Their collective rationale is that the police, and the public, will be in greater danger if our frontline against the ferals and the nutters have Glocks strapped to their waists.

This week, Justice (and former police) Minister Judith Collins led the charge. The police already have liberalised gun regulations, she argued. They can take arms to any incident deemed likely.

Which rather misses the point. Police have no idea how any situation might escalate or de-escalate when they receive that initial call. The ones in which they are injured or killed, tend to start from some mundane pretext. Incidents are generally deemed not likely – and then all hell breaks loose, as it did in Dargaville this week or in the driveway of Napier drug dealer Jan Molenaar in 2009.

I don;t think it is good enough that the pistols and rifles are in lock boxes in police cars…when things escalate they escalate far faster than a police officer can run back to his car and unlock a box.

Liberal pantywaists have been arguing with me all week that arming the Police would have meant that an officer would be dead rather than shot at with his own taser. Michael Laws knows the real facts around that…armed Police get a much politer response from people than those unarmed or considered unarmed…the crims obviously consider Tasers to be no threat at all:

Read more »

It’s nearly Christmas…people send me all sorts of emails. This email is from someone who might be fan…I think.

From: dbcooper@xtra.co.nz

Message: You got ant credability [sic] mate?
You sound like a right “dickie licker” to me.

IP: 222.155.33.250
HOST: 222-155-33-250.jetstream.xtra.co.nz

and another 5 minutes later:

Email: dbcooper@xtra.co.nz ace

Message: Are you Michael Laws in drag?
It’s frightening to think rednecks like you are influencing public
opinion.

IP: 222.155.33.250
HOST: 222-155-33-250.jetstream.xtra.co.nz

Chris Trotter gives David Shearer a lecture in Polictal Intrigue and warns him what is coming…just weeks away.

We must imagine at this point a shame-faced David Shearer shifting uneasily in his office chair.

“It’s Political Destabilisation 1-0-1, Mr Shearer. Page One of The Beginners Guide to Political Scandals. Evidence first. Evidence second. Evidence above all else. You never – and I mean never – launch a political scandal unless you are in possession of all the evidence required to prove it. Do you know what I’m talking about, Mr Shearer? No? Then, let me spell it out for you.

 “If you claim the Prime Minister joked about Kim Dotcom’s arrest, in a cafeteria full of GCSB operatives, and there’s video evidence to prove it, what do you absolutely, positively, have to have in your possession, Mr Shearer? That’s right, you have to have the bloody video!

Did you have the video, Mr Shearer? Did you have any evidence to back up your claim? No, Mr Shearer, you did not. You walked out to confront the most popular Prime Minister in New Zealand’s history holding nothing but an accusation. By the battlements of Barad-Dur, Mr Shearer, what were you thinking!”

To which those past masters of the dark arts of politics: Michael Laws, Richard Prebble, Pete Hodgson and Rodney Hide would undoubtedly add: “Amen”

An idealist might argue that Mr Shearer’s ineptitude in these arcane matters is rather endearing.

A realist would simply conclude that the next victim of the dark arts is likely to be Mr Shearer himself.

Quite simply, Whanganui Council has had a shocker over the last couple of weeks.

Fair enough, they were shocked to learn the Beast was coming. But over the last two weeks the nastiness from Michael Laws and his fellow dog whistlers on the council has been pathetic.

The media and the NZ public now have little sympathy. At the same time, the mayor – who started out as quite sensible – allowed herself to be needled by Laws and did a complete flip-flop, resulting in thousands of dollars in ratepayer cash being flushed down the toilet on a ridiculous legal action which was laughed out of court.

Corrections – which refused to cave in or get involved in any public row with the neanderthals – kept calm and got on with the job.

The quote which will be remembered is that of the Corrections man in charge who said yesterday

“My staff are professional and diligent and they’ll walk over broken glass to make sure the safety of the community is upheld,”

Compare that with the pointless posturing and ludicrous legal action of the council.

Whanganui needs some decent leadership to make the best of this.

Pyjamas in public is apparently coming into fashion.  Heaven help us New Zealanders have finally found something more stupid to wear in public than cycle pants, ugg boots and placing their pants below their waists exposing underwear.

In Christchurch according to “Depress”

Christchurch is seeing an increasing trend of people wearing pyjamas outside during the day.

Coco Chanel was a fan of wearing her PJs in public in the 1920s, and sleepwear has frequently graced the runway at fashion shows, but Cantabrians are taking it a step further – donning their nightwear at supermarkets, restaurants and shopping malls.

Hagley Day ‘n Night Foodstore manager Kerry Swaney said people often came into the store in their pyjamas during the day, sometimes as late as lunchtime.

“They don’t seem to care or feel self-conscious at all,” Swaney said.

The issue is a popular debate in the letters section of the Gisborne Herald, with the authors being split into two camps – those who sign off with “No more PJs” or “Love my PJs”.

“In my opinion it’s lazy and totally disgusting. Surely you ladies have pants or a dress to put on? I have even seen a lady in a nightgown at the shops!” said an anonymous comment on the newspaper’s website.

Gisborne mayor Meng Foon said as long as people were clean, he didn’t mind what they wore. Some people wore “hardly anything”, like bikinis, while shopping in the town.

Both have polls running.

There will be a very high correlation between pyjamas in public wearing and ferals.  Wait for Michael Laws to comment.