korero

It's Sunday. I was up until 2am this morning watching the All Blacks go through another training run in the Rugby World Cup. I got up at the crack of 11am and felt a coffee and a piece of fudge would go down well. Off I went to the Palms in Christchurch. I arrived at the Coffee Culture Cafe ad ordered my Low fat decafe flat white and a slice of what they call "nana's fudge." I waited and the coffee came but no fudge. I told the waitress and the fudge duly arrived. Well, half a slice of fudge did anyway. The serving has gotten so small! But don't worry, the price has remained the same. I also have another wee gripe. When at the Palms the other night for a movie, I tried to get a coffee, but alas, no low fat milk. So, "never mind" I said. I left but returned to get a piece of fudge (which was bigger then). What did I see? They were pouring full fat milk into a low fat container! Pretty classy huh? Not good Coffee Culture, not good at all.

I was reading Linley Boniface's blog on stuff today. Basically its a bleat about how enthusiastic we are about watching the All Blacks play for the World Cup and shame on us for not being so enthusiastic about Wellington writer Lloyd Jones whose excellent "Mr Pip" has just been short-listed for the world's most prestigious book award. Good on you Mr Jones! Very pleased for you. Keri Hulme and Barry Crump are indeed treasures in Aotearoa as is of course, Janet Frame.
BUT I am boring and tedious because I am enthusiastic about watching the Rugby World Cup? Linley, you are giving academics a bad name with your snobbish position on sport and your obviously pc wide bottomed feminist isms about a man and his footy. Go the ABs!

I am watching the South African vs Samoa game replay at the moment and as usual they use their illegal tactics.
Looks like New Zealand, Australia or South Africa will do it. The All Blacks were the clinical team, showing pace and power. But then I am biased.
Ali Williams (pic) was always threatening.

Its Friday. The Warriors are playing their first semi-final tonight since 2003. Good luck boys. Give it to the Eels. Saturday night its the All Blacks. First game up, Italy. The next few weeks could be great fun.

What is it that motivates people to do this? What happens in their lives that leaves them feeling that this is the solution to their problem? I just can't connect with the attitude one needs to be doing this to others, let alone to one of your own! I rejected a comment on this today. Anonymous said they were "pigz." They aren't though, are they. They are your family, your neighbours, your friends. Something though, is terribly wrong. They need help, they need support, they need to be raised in such a way, that these abuses never occur in the first place.

I thought that a company like Telecom would understand our abhorrence for spam. They run their own spam filters for goodness sake. Sure enough, I received my very own Telecom spam on my cell phone the other day. What is with that?
Here is is: Telecom: To receive Telecom news & offers via text message free, reply "yes" to this number.
I might try what this disgruntled customer did. After the news gets out it could work. I won't hold my breath though.

PC-ness gone wild. So wild in fact that we cannot protect our children from abuse in the classroom. Abusive teachers are protected by the privacy act. Our children are not safe. Last October, the Herald revealed teachers with a range of problems - including convictions for battery of an 11-year-old, importing ecstasy and supplying cannabis to minors, sexual abuse of a teenage girl, and admitting to sex with students - had been allowed back into classrooms.
I am perplexed. Who allowed these people back into the classroom?
"The requirements of the Privacy Act have been cited by the Ministry for refusing the information we have been seeking for many months. This information is essential to the Council to enable it to track the employment of teachers, such as those cited in the Herald on Sunday (22 October 2006)."
Meanwhile, the rights of these "teachers" take precedent over the safety of our children. It seems the government will make it easier to keep an eye on these people at last. It is their fault the Privacy Act can be used to protect these predators in our schools. Hang on, did I just say "our schools".

This is the kind of thing we must put a stop to. This woman needs help and education now. Child abuse is not acceptable. Lets help her out.

Garth Gadsby is in court for protecting his home (Ngawi). The only thing he did that was overboard was use his rifle to try and bring some out of control teenagers under control. I'm sorry Garth but I cannot condone the use of your rifle. I am ok with the rest of it though. Something needs to be done. Good on you Ngawi for fronting up to these "scumbags." Come on New Zealand. You know it needs to be done to help prevent out of control teens.