Miscarriage of justice

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

The would-be juror - who cannot be identified - made statements about the trial jury in an online blog soon after his jury experience.

In his posted comments, he said the people who remained in the jury selection room after he was excused were "overwhelmingly middle-class white women". He claimed some in the room had already said Tame Iti "scared" them.

"One of the jurors asked to be excluded because she was convinced he was guilty by how he looked," the blogger said. "She was refused her request to leave and heard the case. Another guy asked to be excluded because he thought the whole exercise was a waste of taxpayer money and resources and he was excluded. How does that work?"

Clearly the juror who thought Tame Iti was guilty because of the way he looked should have been excused on the grounds that they were not impartial. Judging somebody by the way they look is bad enough, but this appears to be a case of the jury being stacked against the defendants to ensure guilty verdicts, which is completely unacceptable.

Unless there are grounds for dismissal from jury duty based on somebodies occupation, business, state of health, physical disability, family commitments or other personal circumstances, one of the lawyers involved in the case needs to raise the issue of impartiality. But even if this does not occur, the selection process should have ruled out people with obvious bias.

The fact that they were not is a clear miscarriage of justice, brought about by an unfair jury selection process. Hopefully the appeal judge will consider jury bias leading to wrongful convictions for trumped-up firearms charges... and dismiss them outright.

State sponsored thugs

Shane Legg in intensive care after surgery.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

A Northland man faces the prospect of life in a wheelchair after he suffered paralysing injuries in police custody. Shane Legg, 28, from Ruawai, spent 40 days in Whangarei Hospital's intensive care unit and had three operations to implant steel plates to stabilise a broken vertebra.

The disqualified driver tried to flee from police when he was seen driving on April 19. When he was eventually caught, police handcuffed his hands behind his back and took him back towards a waiting patrol car.

But they had to cross a seven-wire farm fence.

Shane Legg's father, Ray, claims his son was told by a police officer to climb the fence, then was pushed when he was halfway over it.

By all accounts apart from their own, the police are getting worse. One of the reasons for this is that the Independent Police Conduct Authority is not independent at all and is simply there to protect the police when they get into trouble. Without a functioning watchdog the police can do whatever they want, and get away with it.

This is not an isolated incident and the culture of brutality within the police force needs a truly independent organisation to investigate and make changes where appropriate. Without that we will continue to see people's lives being ruined by what can best be described as a gang of state sponsored thugs.

An unfortunate photo op

On Thursday, the Blaze reported:

President Obama on Thursday twisted the knife he‘d stuck in his predecessor’s legacy, reminding former President George W. Bush that he left the economy a mess and al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden alive when he left the White House three years ago.

“The months before I took the oath of office were a chaotic time,” Obama told a crowd of mostly former Bush administration officials and members of the Bush family, including Bush’s parents, former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush.[...]

“We knew our economy was in trouble, our fellow Americans were in pain, but we wouldn’t know until later just how breathtaking the financial crisis had been,” Obama continued, raising some eyebrows among the Bush crowd seated just a few feet away.

Obama stopped short of blaming Bush for the recession, something he has done repeatedly on the campaign trail.

51% of Americans still blame George W. Bush for the United States' financial mess that continues to impact worldwide economies. The Bush administration was a complete distaster with out-of-control spending and tax-cuts for the wealthy that brought the once great country to its knees.

Obama was justified in making his statements, which in my opinion were considerably restrained. George W. Bush is a war criminal after all, and associating with such scum will not win Obama any new friends.

Key is a hypocrite

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

John Key is facing a storm of internet protest after the republication of a 2005 article in which he appears to praise private schools for having smaller classes.

The Prime Minister told the Listener he sent his children to private schools for educational reasons, including smaller classes and better resources.

It was not a direct quote, but a picture of Mr Key with the comment alongside was posted on Facebook yesterday and by last night had appeared on numerous blogs and been shared by more than 6000 people.

Comments about it included labelling Mr Key a hypocrite for arguing now that increasing class sizes in the state sector would not affect standards of education.

It might not be a direct quote, but it certainly shows Key to be a complete hypocrite.

Delusional

Today, the Dominion Post reported:

The Greater Wellington Secondary School Principals' Association has rejected claims it gave Education Minister Hekia Parata a standing ovation, saying its custom is to stand when a Crown minister enters and leaves the room.

A press secretary for Ms Parata said on Thursday the minister had been given a standing ovation after she gave a speech to the association in Wellington's Thorndon.

Reporters, who had been trailing Ms Parata after she was heckled by protesters at a speech earlier that morning, were not able to verify the account because the minister said they could not cover the speech as it was a private event.

There's no way in hell that the Secondary School Principals' Association would give Hekia Parata a standing ovation. They think she's failed to do her homework after all.

Let's hear from somebody that attended who isn't deluded:

The Greater Wellington Secondary School Principals Association chairwoman and principal of St Mary's College, Mary Cook, said members of her organisation stood and "clapped lightly" for Ms Parata after she thanked her for the speech.

"If it had been a standing ovation there would have been lots of cheering and very loud hand clapping, I can assure you. People stood out of respect for her position."

Mrs Cook said she was unaware of the custom of other associations but her organisation had always done so.

"We've had lots of ministers since I've been principal of St Mary's and everyone of them, no matter what we thought of them privately or collectively, has been welcomed and farewelled in the same way."

Members were very upset about the changes. "None of us are supportive of them."

This might seem like a small thing but it's actually a real concern. These people are meant to be running the country and such delusions of grandeur are indicative of the dysfunction that is rife throughout National party ranks. They are divorced from reality.

Mind you, considering the "credentials" of the press secretaries boss, I guess we should be happy they're not completely brain dead.

Excessive force used on students

Upwards of 43 peaceful protesters have been arrested today by police using excessive force with a number of injuries occurring. Some police officers were not wearing identification numbers.

The NZ Herald reported:

Students protesting over education cuts moved down to Auckland's Queen Street after several arrests, before moving on to the Auckland police station.

Protestors broke through a police cordon and around 200 ended up sitting across the intersection of Queen and Victoria Streets chanting loudly.

Cars were hooting and tried unsuccessfully to get through.

The protestors then moved further up Queen Street before moving to the Auckland central police station.

Earlier, students said some of their number had clothes ripped as they were dragged away by police, during the latest protest in Auckland over tertiary education cuts.

Protestors then moved to Elliot Street and then to SkyCity with protestors utilizing social networking to effectively evade and outmaneuver the pigs. Many participants are now occupying Auckland central police station.

People are angry that austerity measures announced in last weeks budget will effect thousands of students, many of whom are part way through their post-graduate studies. The budget cuts will effectively mean they cannot continue their studies. National also increased the repayment threshold to 12% while it remains only 4% in Australia.

A similar protest Thursday week was criticized by Finance Minister Bill English:

"They need some Greeks to show them how to do it," English said.

Clearly the police were more prepared this time for the protest and moved quickly to try and close it down with a large show of force of over 100 officers in attendance.

The police will be itching to try out their new equipment and I wouldn't be surprised if they're more prepared next time just in case students decide to literally take English up on his challenge to riot like the Greeks.