Dwarf Tossing in New Zealand? REALLY???
The wonderful Peter Dinklage won a Golden Globe (and an Emmy) for his role as Tyrion Lannister in Game Of Thrones. Imho one of the best TV series ever filmed – but then I happen to rather like the books it’s based on.
In his acceptance speech, he talks about Martin Henderson and tells people to Google him.
So – Who is Martin Henderson?
Martin is a Dwarf living in the UK. He was attacked outside a bar in Somerset, by being picked up and thrown to the ground by a drunk.
So what does this have to do with New Zealand.
Well, it seems that Martin believes (as do the UK press) that the attack was “inspired” by reports that during the Rugby World Cup, the England Rugby team visited the Altitude Bar in Queenstown during its “Mad Midget Weekend” and watched a Dwarf Tossing Contest.
Let’s just say that again.
The Altitude Bar in Queenstown hosted a Dwarf Tossing Contest.
WTF????
(Sorry mum – but I really can’t think of anything else to say there!)
Why haven’t I blogged about that before?
Because let’s face it – I am really disgusted that any bar anywhere thinks that’s a “cool thing to do”. Well because all we heard about that bar over here was that Mike Bloody Tindall snogged some bint who wasn’t his wife. No mention that I recall of the England Team watching dwarfs gets tossed around like sacks of crap.
Moreover – what would happen if that was a “Maori Tossing Contest” or even a “Mad Maori Weekend”. There would be hell to pay – but laugh at some really short people being thrown around in a Queenstown – fine – no worries.
Now there’s really no way of telling if the attack on Martin was in any way “inspired” by a bunch of overpaid over-egoed rugby players or a crass and repulsive bar that should be closed for cruelty. But it does really piss me off that New Zealand allowed this to occur in the first place. The people who own and run that bar are sick in the head.
Also, as Hubby has just pointed out – the Security Guard who release footage of Mike Tindalls snog-fest did so because he was a “Christian” and Tindall’s behaviour offended his sensibilities as a christian and a royalist. But he’s fine with little people being chucked about for fun and entertainment? Seriously? Priorities mate – in the wrong sodding order.
Don’t we have enough violence in New Zealand? We all wring our hands at the continuing violence against children here who are tortured an killed. Now OK – Adult Dwarfs are not children, and presumably the ones involved in this event were willing participants – but can we really be surprised at a culture of violence when this is the kind of “entertainment” available?
Altitude Bar – Queenstown. Bunch of bloody morons. Just don’t go there.
To end on a more positive note – here is a you tube clip someone has done of Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones as a “Buddy Movie”. And good on Peter Dinklage for highlighting the problem.
Get Real: New Zealand is NOT 100% safe and it never will be.
Over the holiday, New Zealand as a whole seems to be wringing its collective hands in shock and disgust at the news that a 16year old allegedly sexually and physically attacked a 5 year old girl in a caravan in a Turangi holiday park.
The girl is a tourist, on holiday from Belgium with her family. Her injuries were so bad that she is still in hospital and had to have surgery.
The accused attacker has been in court already. Apparently crowds have been gathering to hurl abuse at him.
Which lets face it – is the least he is going to get if found guilty and jailed for the attack.
But as horrendous as this attack was – and it was – there is something I don’t understand:
The parents of the 5 year old girl left the girl and her 3 year old brother alone in a caravan (which sounds like it was unlocked when they left it though that’s not clear) while they were in the Amenities block the father working on the computers there.
WHY would you leave your children alone in a caravan (even if locked) while you go off and do other stuff and assume they will be safe?
It is only May 2007 that Madeline Mcann Went missing while her parents on holiday left her and her 2 siblings alone to go eat in the restaurant. She has never been found. Do people really have such short memories?
Do people really think that New Zealand is some sort of Utopia where there are no evil people who will attack their children? There is no magical barrier at the Airport that says that the humans living here are all fluffy and will not abuse, attack, rape and kill each other. The child abuse statistics for this country are simply horrifying. New Zealand is home to the usual bunch of violent and sick monsters that people the rest of the world – and you need to look after yourself and your family.
I have never personally felt threatened here. I feel quite safe wandering round the city at night on my own. That does not mean I would risk the life of a small child I was supposed to be looking after and protecting.
Be sensible, and be safe.
My heart goes out to the little girl, and to her family. Whatever the rights and wrongs, and whatever I may persoanlly feel – they did not deserve this. No one deserves this, and no one should have to suffer as they are.
Child abusers finally being dealt with!
While New Zealand is undoubtedly a lovely and safe place to bring up children, that doesnt alter the issue that Child Abuse and neglect is rife here. Finally in the Wellington region it is being taken care of by a special task force, set up to concentrate on just this issue.
The Wellington police district’s first team focused solely on child abuse cases has netted 57 arrests in its first six months.
The Wellington district child protection team has opened more than 240 child abuse case files since early March and seen several abusers sentenced through the courts.
The appalling lack of action in Child Abuse cases is regularly in the news here, with high profile cases causing widespread condemnation, and a lot of questions about how the hell people are able to carry on abusing children, and either get away with it or get a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket. This team is just what we need I think.
Worse – there were 108 cases in the Wairarapa alone – all of which just sat on a desk mouldering because there weren’t the resources to deal with them. There are however whole convoys of police tracking over the Rimutakas on a nearly daily basis looking for speeding cars. I know where I believe police time should be better spent.
“We want people to come forward. What people need to realise is that they [abusers] don’t stop. You can bet if they’ve sexually abused you, there’ll be other victims, unless they’ve been apprehended by police.
Hmmm, I think most people know that – which is why, for example, we are sickened that some of the monsters who tortured Nia Glassie are already out of jail, and that not a single person has been held accountable for the deaths of the Kahui Twins – despite 12 members of their family being present when their heads were bashed against a wall.
Then we have the issue that the courts protect these people by giving them name suppression – one recently where the victim pleaded with the court not to protect her abuser becuase she wanted to people to know that this is going on. The court refused, on the basis that it would identify the victim (the usual excuse) and a man who abused his daughter cannot be named. I think the Powers That Be need to wake the hell up and get on the same page. There’s no point setting up teams to clear the backlog if the courts insist on protecting abusers.
What does this mean for you?
Well, look: it’s bad. Theres not really any denying that child abuse stats in New Zealand are sickening. And a lot of excuses are made as to why it happens. The main ones being that it’s “the Maoris” and “its poverty”. I personally think thats trite and offensive – being poor or being Maori (or indeed any ethnicity) does not make people stick a 2 year old girl in a tumble dryer for kicks.
But here’s the thing: what ever IS going on in New Zealand – in this case won’t affect YOUR child. I’ve certainly seen on forums in the past where people think that they shouldn’t move to a certain area – or to New Zealand at all – because of the high number of cases. But that won’t affect YOUR home. You will be living in a country that has a huge problem that needs fixing – and I am sure you will be sickened by what you see in the news. But YOUR child won’t be a victim of abuse just because you move to New Zealand. Just be aware that you actually do need to take precautions around who has the care of your child when you are not around – don’t assume that New Zealand is “safe” in this area just becuase it’s New Zealand. Humans still live here, and some of them are still monsters – rich or poor, Maori or European.
I take my hat off to the people in these task forces. I can’t think of a more difficult job to be honest, but we need them.
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What on earth is wrong with our MP’s?
If you were thinking you might get a better class of politician when you move to New Zealand – you are likely to be disappointed I’m afraid. This was something that did surprise me – I never really believed it when I was being told by Kiwis that their MP’s were corrupt and dishonest. But after a while you really do get to see what they mean. I guess I was just terribly Naive in thinking that MP’s in New Zealand – being Kiwis, would just be less “grubby”.
The latest in a long line of exposures of dodgy dealing, dishonesty and troughing at the publics expense is that an ACT MP, David Garret is a filthy little hypocrite. Hes the “Law and Order” spokesperson for ACT – a party that is pretty much imploding right now anyway. Hes also the guy who wants to bring in a 3 Strikes policy for criminals: essentially meaning that each time you get convicted, your sentence gets worse. (I’m OK with that to a certain point).
Only it turns out that he has “2 strikes” himself. The first came out at the start of the week – seems he got a fine for belting someone in Tonga. The fine was $10. Now OK – in the scheme of things thats a relatively minor issue, though I personally feel you really shouldn’t go around belting people. But this is the Law and Order spokesman, so I think the main screw up is that he wasn’t honest about. And of course, the media got hold of it and he had some questions to answer.
But on the back of that – it turns out that Mr Garrett also did something else that was not only illegal, but much more serious. He stole the identity of a dead baby, and got a fake passport. Not only that, but the details were suppressed (which just goes to show how sick these bloody suppression orders are!).
Mr Garrett claims that he only did it out of curiosity:
“To this day, I cannot explain the rationale behind my actions, except to say I was simply curious to see whether such a thing could be done.
Jeeze – get this piece of garbage out of parliament! How on earth can people like this get jobs as MP’s? You cant even get to live in New Zealand if you do something like this. Worse – the leader of ACT, Rodney Hide actually knew about this – and still made this guy the Law and Order Spokesman. I really do wonder what planet these people live on.
The Info section of the article contains a list of other people who have been caught faking passports:
CAUGHT OUT
Anyone using a dead person’s identity to obtain a passport has a high likelihood of being caught. Systems including death-record checks, a shorter term of passport validity and the introduction of e-passports have made the crime easier to detect. Fictional assassin “The Jackal” kept his cover in Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal by using names from headstones to apply for birth certificates and false passports.
People who have been caught in New Zealand include:
2006: Frank Macskasy, 48, of Upper Hutt, is fined $2000 for forgery after using the name and details of a dead baby to get a passport. He said he had wanted to try The Day of the Jackal scam.
2006: Porirua man Dacey Jon Cameron is jailed for two years after attempting to obtain a passport in the name of a dead baby. Cameron changed his name by deed poll in 2004 to that of an infant who died almost four decades before and applied for a passport soon after.
2006: Peter Fulcher, a former kingpin in the Mr Asia drug syndicate, escapes a jail term despite admitting stealing the identity of a five-year-old who died in 1945, to obtain a passport.
2006: Rotorua man Christopher Mark Grose, 36, is fined $10,000 after stealing the identity of a dead baby to obtain a passport.
2005: William Kevin Roach, 49, a United States citizen, is jailed after admitting forgery charges. Also inspired by The Day of the Jackal, he assumed the identity of a baby after visiting a Tauranga cemetery.
2000: Jo-Anne Mary Cole, 43, is sentenced to 4 1/2 years’ jail after being convicted of fraud and passport offences. Cole also used the Forsyth techniques.
And then David Garrett gets a Taxpayer Funded job, taxpayer funded perks, and the ability to demand a “Zero Tolerance” stance of crime – as long as its crime committed by other people. Slimy Git.
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What the hell is going on with “Name Suppression”???
One thing I find highly disturbing in New Zealand is the ease with which many people get “Name Suppression” if they are charged with a crime. This is something I have never come across before, so was really confused about it when I came here.
Basically, if you break the law, you can (supposedly in exceptional circumstances) apply to the court for name suppression if having it blurted out that you have charged with a crime would cause you significant damage.
Errr – how about not breaking the law?
The disturbing thing is that in most cases, “exceptional circumstances” means either rich or more often famous. Which is despicable and as far as I’m concerned and an appalling abuse of the law.
There have been some high profile cases lately, which have brought this occurrence into light, and calls are beginning to stop giving Name Suppression to “celebrities” just because they are famous.
The most revolting case concerns an “entertainer” who allegedly (was acquitted) grabbed a girl by the head and forced her face into his crotch. We are not allowed to know who this is because of this ridiculous law.
On the news last week was a segment about this – in which the Prime Minister said he knew it was, because he had asked someone he thought would know. Its pretty much an “open secret” who it is it seems (and no – I don’t know – but apparently you can find out using Google). It had leaked on the Internet (freedom of speech just doesn’t die that easy), and part of the discussion raging is how to deal with Internet posters who can and will post information that a court has deemed must not be published.
For a start – I think the courts might want to take a look at the justice involved in allowing rich or famous New Zealanders to hide behind “Name Suppression”. Its hard to have anything but contempt for a justice system that is so out of whack.
An unfortunate side effect of allowing this guy to hide his identity is that other “entertainers” have been suspected of being the man involved. Not a good way to see that fairness and natural justice is done.
Whatever you do – don’t come to New Zealand expecting that there is one law that applies to everyone. The reality is that the law is applied depending on who you are, what you are, and the colour of your skin. I think there is something very wrong in a country when justice depends on who you are.
Information on Name Suppresion from the Sensible Sentencing Trust
Do the laws around name suppression in NZ courts need changing?
Kiwiblog entry on Name Suppression and the musician.
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Only In New Zealand: A christmas message from the police.
Today in the post we got what I can only describe as the oddest Christmas letter ever – from the police. I’m showing it as a scan – just in case you don’t believe me – cos to be honest I’m not sure I can quite grasp it myself.
What does this say about life in New Zealand???
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