Recent publicity regarding the capture of Mr. Xue in a small town in rural America, who was being sought by the Police in New Zealand, in connection with the murder of his wife in Auckland, and the abandonment of his daughter in the railway station in Melbourne, has highlighted a perceived hypocrisy in the payment of the reward, and the amount of money involved.
A hoorah surrounding the presentiontation of the $10,000 to the Chinese immigrants who had captured Mr. Xue, by the both the Police and various Govermnent ministers, including the Prime Minsister herself, who made an absolute feast out of the occasion, seemed to be in total conflict with payment of $500,000 to the gang members who had provided information which led to the return of the medals which some of their mates had stolen from the Army museum in Wairoa.
It would appear that in the eyes of the authorities, the return of medals was far more important than the capture of a suspect in a murder case. Well at least they are consistent in their efforts to win re-election to Government next November, which leads us to the latest headlines regarding the re-purchase of New Zealand Rail from Toll Holdings of Australia, who are reported to be laughing all the way to the bank with a balance sheet enhanced by a sum exceeding $200 million, and better again, no further responsility for running the dog which that organization has allwasy been. A flea bitten one at that, and allready people are writting to the papers relishing the anticipation that return of rail to provincial New Zealand. Nobody it would appear has read the small print that the Government has no intention what ever for rail to do this. The main pupose behind the purchase was to enhance and improve the system to carry more freight, not in itself a bad thing had they not paid the amount that they did pay, but the if the gullable public think that all of a sudden we are going to see a tunel being built under Albert Park to complet the loop which at the moment is missing, to connect Kay road and Mt. Eden with the rest of the network, not to mention a new connection to the Airport, then are serioulsly deluded. It will not happen.
But at the end of the day, desperate situations require desperate remedies, and the very prospect of being tufed out of office, and losing all those perks, including the chaufer driven BMW's, msut be frightening the crap out of them.
Sadly this bribe, unlike the student loan bribe at the last election, which most people concluded was not a bad idea, will at the end of day, cost the taxpayer dearly.
An whilst we are on the subject of cost and bad ideas, how about those bozzos who vandalized the plastic dome covering the satelite communication equipment near Nelson. What about that for another dozey idea. I used to know Fr. Murnane when he was the Friar at St. Benedicts in Newton. A rather strange man, who allways seemed to be in another space. Dissconnected might be one way of describing him, but we allways assumed that Christian people, especially those in positions of authority, were not only responsible, but also possesed of a wisdom that most of us did not have.
Just shows you how wrong you can be, because that act had not a redeeming feature about it. It was pure and simple vandalism, which has been justified as an action in protest at the war mongering agendas of the US. Well fellas I have news for you. There are not an insignificant number of us who are very happy that those guys, though not perfect, provide a degree of protection against the threat of gobal terrirosts.
And by way of a conclusion, it would be remiss not to mention the turnout of mainly Chinese students recently at a rally in Auckland, supporting their Governments stand on Tibet, and in particular the forthcoming Olympic Games in Bejing next August. Their Nationalistic fervour, displayed in a peaceful manner, was refreshingly different from the onslaught of news that we have been subjected to over recent months regarding the protests from around the world wherever the Olynpic torch was carried. If you do not know, or have not studied the background to the situation in Tibet, then why not simply mind your own business.
Cheers,
Mick.
2 comments:
Hello Mick
This is a good and very interesting article you posted about the different headlines of news which is happening around the world today.
From the capture of Mr Xue the man who murdered his wife in Auckland and abandoned his daughter at a train station in Melbourne, to the army medals that were stolen from a mueseum in Wairoa.
Personally I think that if the reward that was put up for the return of the medals reached up 500,000, the medals wouldn't have been recovered up till today.
Overall this blog you posted was a very interesting as it had other major headlines of news in it such as the purchase of N.Z Rail from Toll Holdings of Australia, which is not right. Kiwis should have the right to own and run their own railway system.
Oh and about Tibet well lets just say that I will mind my own buisness.
Good luck mate, Mick!
I have to say, you provide a really interesting commentary on a lot that has been happening, it's really fun to read. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to read this before...
"Sadly this bribe, unlike the student loan bribe at the last election, which most people concluded was not a bad idea, will at the end of day, cost the taxpayer dearly." - You are so spot on, couldn't agree more.
"those guys provide a degree of protection against the threat of gobal terrirosts." - a degree? Personally, I would like to think the USA are the biggest speed bumps against 'terrorism' out there right now.
The Tibet/China issue, well, nationalistic fervor? most definitely, but it is refershing to see the reality that nationalism can manifest in different ways, even if sometimes misguided.
And again, mind your own business? Agree, I'll do that. But then again, some might say you could say the same about terrorism and the USA responses to them. But that's a whole other heated debate...
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