CYFS and Police fascism in 2007 - Cindy Kiro's world

I've reported on incidents like this before, an alleged (and strongly denied) case of adult incest. According to Stuff, a couple living together, he 48 and she 30, are biologically father and daughter, but she was adopted and didn't meet him until she was 19. They became close over time, remember that he wasn't her father throughout her childhood, and he moved from the UK to live with her, although they strongly deny a sexual relationship. Bizarrely, her birth mother found out and decided it was time to wreck vengeance for some reason, she contacted CYFS.

Now let's not forget that CYFS claims constantly it has a backlog of cases of children - as in people under 18 - at risk, and not being properly followed up. I would have thought that a case of alleged incest, between adults in their 30s and 40s, where there is little evidence, no complaint from anyone directly involved, would be bottom of the priority list.

Maybe CYFS CEO can be asked about that?

Then there is the Police response. Again, when you next report a burglary, or car conversion or even an intruder, ask yourself whether it will be quite as important as this. I also wonder if this isn't a case of a bunch of cops thinking that there is something so prurient about this case that they all want to be involved. Two adults have allegedly a criminal sexual relationship that involved nobody else but what do you do?

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Stuff reports "12 armed police raided their Auckland home just after dawn on Easter Tuesday. The police, wearing bullet-proof vests and accompanied by a Child, Youth and Family officer, arrested the couple, who appeared in court a week later."

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I guess it's a bit easier than raiding a criminal gang isn't it, big tough cops that they were!

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CYFS busybodies then questioned the women's children (of a previous relationship) about whether "they had seen us touch in private places", so in other words getting her kids to spy on whether the couple had been sexual.

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Remind you of anything? Well gay men before 1985 would know of this sort of questioning - it is the sort of questioning that is not out of place in Islamic Iran, and was not out of place in Nazi Germany. The childrens' mother and their biological grandfather were taken from the house at gunpoint, and the biggest concern of CYFS is whether the kids saw them grope - which apparently they did not.

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So what about Cindy Kiro? Oh well you see, she wants children to be monitored by the state and regularly questioned about family life. I doubt she will stand up for this family to not have armed raids on it for doing nothing wrong.

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Moreover I doubt whether there will be much outrage from other parties in Parliament.

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So what is really going on here?

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1. A couple are living together, aged 30 and 48. Nothing more is known, but they have had her kids questioned by CYFS investigators as to whether they've seen them do anything sexual, and they've had a DNA test each to determine if they are related (as his name is not actually on her birth certificate as the father).

2. There is no allegation of any force involved in this relationship, even if there is anything sexual and certainly no allegation of children being involved. In other words, IT IS NOT ANYONE ELSE'S BUSINESS WHAT THESE TWO ADULTS DO CONSENSUALLY IN THEIR OWN HOME.

3. It is criminal for them to have a sexual relationship if they are related.

4. It is such a high priority for the New Zealand Government, led by Labour (after all they claim credit for building roads, they have to claim credit for this), to send 12 armed cops in to arrest this couple and separate the mother from her kids.

5. It's difficult to get any Police interest in most property crimes, and the Police constantly claim how overstretched they are to cope with serious crime, but enforcing this victimless crime gets the Police interested - I'd hate to think because of a prurient interest in the case.

6. CYFS claims it is also overstretched with a backlog of cases to investigate. A case of an adult couple potentially having consensual incest has priority, and there is a high priority to separate the mother from the children and put them through grilling to help the Police with their enquiries when there are NO allegations of abuse of the children.

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Disgusting, abhorrent and yes fascist that a peaceful couple that may not even be having sexual relations get arrested and gunpoint and have to face this law.

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The law is an ass, but what really disturbs me is how the Police and CYFS have not used the discretion they should to treat it more appropriately. What would be wrong to simply send two officers to ask a few questions? What would be wrong to treat it like car conversion, take the details but say unless there is any serious evidence nothing will be done?

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So what should be done?

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In this case, the charges should be dropped for lack of evidence and the couple left well alone (in a proper jurisdiction you could sue the cops for the mental anguish caused, but ACC stops all that).

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The law on incest should be repealed in its entirety (children are protected by age of consent laws) or at least not be applicable when both parties are 18 and over. It is a waste of money to have the state pursue this, and a gross invasion of personal liberty and privacy to give a damn.

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So WHAT if they fucked each other? So WHAT if it offends you? It isn't a crime to have a gangbang, or to tie consenting adults up and spank, whip and pee on them. Why should THIS be a crime?

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More importantly, the cops and CYFS need to be held accountable for initiating force and causing harm to this family. They have hurt nobody, including each other (except perhaps the feelings of the woman's birth mother). The cops and CYFS need to learn something about individual rights - oh and Cindy Kiro and her entire office need to be fired and disbanded.

Airbus A380 is NOT a revolution, it's the end of an era

The enormous media coverage of the very first commercial passenger carrying flight of the Airbus A380 "whalejet"as some have coined it, has been full of the hype that Singapore Airlines would have hoped for. However, I'm not going to agree with the view of many that the A380 is a revolutionary step forward - it's not. Why?
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1. It is not the "biggest plane in the world", as the Russian built Antonov An-225 took that title in 1988. However, it is the largest one to be mass produced, as there is only only An-225 to date, and it is the largest airliner.
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2. It is not a particular quantum leap in capacity, if only because many airlines are using the vastly increased floorspace to upgrade their on board product. In any case, unlike the Boeing 747 it is not a doubling of seating compared to its predecessors.
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3. It is not technologically a major leap forward compared to the last brand new large jet airliner introduced by the "big two" of Airbus and Boeing - the last was the Boeing 777. It does represent an evolution, but not a revolution.
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4. The passenger product introduced by Singapore Airlines is only an advance in First Class Suites (the now famous double beds for some), with separate cabins, and beds separate from seats. The Business Class and Economy Class products are identical to their existing Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (which, by the way, don't yet fly to New Zealand), and have been getting rolled out on those 777s for the past year.
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In short, it's bigger, quieter and the windows are a bit bigger. All very well, but that is it. You see the key difference between the A380 and future new airliners, is that it is probably the last predominantly aluminium jet airliner to be built. The next ones, the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350XWB will be predominantly carbon composite - with windows twice the size of existing airliners, a flight interior altitude substantially lower and humidity substantially higher than that of current airliners. In other words, a major change to the current experience of being dehydrated and feeling cooped in a metal tube. The A380 is a fine replacement for airlines that need a 747 or larger sized airliner, but there aren't too many of those - Air New Zealand almost certainly will never buy any.
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It's also important to dismiss the nonsense debate that the A380 competes with the 787 Dreamliner - as if airlines that need a 450 seat airliner, wouldn't need a 250 seat one or vice versa. Given that Singapore Airlines, Qantas and BA have bought both, this is a debate created by journalists interviewing their laptops. There is clearly a market for the A380, it's just for now it not enough to make it break even - 190 so far. The Boeing 787 has sold 710 so far and hasn't flown. I think we can tell which aircraft manufacturer chose the right market to target!

Sicko

I pay around NZ$10,000 a year in National Insurance contributions to the British government - so, maybe you might ask Michael Moore, why I needed to go private to get surgery to relieve a chronic condition in my right leg than has been agonising for the last year? You might ask what value I get out of that money, the two GP visits at times that aren't even close to my choosing? The inability to get a decent NHS dentist?

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Yes - the fat American man who can afford all of the healthcare his far from optimal physique will require can sing praises about the NHS as much as he likes - he doesn't pay for it - nor does it look like he wants to move here.

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Funny that.

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and yes I know it would be three years before i'd get the surgery in New Zealand too.

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and before i read the kneejerk comments about whether I want an American health system, I don't. I want a system that has been reformed by transitioning all provision to be private and gradually weaning the public off of socialist style medicine to insurance based cover for all who want it.

National could get law and order right, but doesn't

I'm sure you're all terribly surprised at how, according to Stuff, the NZ Police Association (effectively the trade union for the Police) is cheerleading National's new policy of allowing the Police to take DNA from everyone ARRESTED of a crime. The Police Association, which itself has a long standing policy of resisting any reforms to improve Police accountability for performance or budgeting, has never been a friend of freedom, and neither is the Police. Let's face it, they are probably the only organisations in the country that don't know why people worry about a "Police state", because after all "you have nothing to fear if you've done nothing wrong".

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Yes, how many of YOU have used that phrase whenever there is an increase in powers of state surveillance? Now I don't expect an institution which is at the front line of enforcing state violence to give a damn about freedom, but I do expect a political party which claims to give a damn about freedom to do so.

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Why indeed - you've done nothing wrong, but somehow you have less freedom and rights than others. Of course, the Police will treat that database as an invaluable contribution to fighting future crimes because they can match more people - you see that old argument that the ends justify the means comes out. On that basis we should do more, we should require everyone to have tracking devices carried at all times so the Police can check who was where at what times, then we could fix more crimes! You have nothing to fear if you've done nothing wrong have you now? Of course you leave your DNA anywhere you might shed a hair, or urinate, or bleed, or leave saliva, or shag - get the picture?

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Now if you believe Keith Locke, you'd think John Key wants a database of DNA held by the Polic on everyone arrested.

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So what DID John Key say in his speech announcing National's Law and Order policy?

- Allow the Police to use tasers: Well fair enough to help restrain troublesome people, as long as they don't abuse it.

- Give police the ability to issue time-bound, on-the-spot protection orders: This could be highly valuable, but then you might ask yourself whether the Police shouldn't simply be arresting the people the orders are intended for? So this is worthy of discussion.

- Reinstating the previous provisions on bail to increase the difficulty of getting bail: Fine.

- Make it illegal to be a member of a criminal gang. Of course this is perpetually the funny one, brought up on talkback radio. So what is a criminal gang? It's simple, either the government defines them explicitly, and then the name of the gang changes every day, or it becomes a catch all - so anyone could be in a criminal gang, you know like a protest group that opposes mandatory censuses, or opposes drug laws. How do you prove membership? You'll find this one quietly disappears.

- Increase ease of surveillance of gang communications. Same issue really, what's a gang? Surveillance powers are already very high, what more are they going to do?

- Allow the police to remove gang fortifications. Well you would've thought that given how fascist the RMA is that this would be relatively simple, of course what it is likely to mean is that Police powers would exist to destroy any local authority unapproved constructions. Hmmm hardly looking forward to that, especially since the Nats show little interest in private property rights, once more.

- More cops. Yes yes, always makes people cheer. Might be nice if the Police are accountable for what they do, might be nice if they didn't pursue victimless crimes and might be nice if the Police Association agreed to performance based pay - but the Nats wouldn't want their favourite union to answer that question would they? You see, what would happen if any government did that is the Police would go on strike, and claim that suddenly they couldn't do all the visible policing you all care about. It's one of the toughest nuts to crack in government - making the cops accountable.

- Require DNA samples to be taken from all those arrested for offences punishable by imprisonment, but destroyed when someone is acquitted. If you can trust the Police to do that, then all very well. However, as I've said, try making them accountable.

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If you are guilty of a crime, then it is right that as part of your sentence your DNA can be kept on a database which may indicate next time you commit a crime. Your right to freedom from surveillance was countered by you infringing upon the freedom of others. Of course I am only talking about real crimes, not victimless "crimes".

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So what could the Nats have said?

- Review all criminal laws to repeal victimless crimes, and revise sentencing;

- Review and revise drug laws, to change the emphasis from chasing users to chasing supply to minors, and fraudulent supply;

- Introduce three strikes laws, so those convicted of violent offences are detained permanently for a third violent crime;

- Allow sentencing to include permanent denial of custody of children to convicted serious violent and sexual offenders;

- Second time murderers get life - meaning life;

- A renewed emphasis on pursuing property offences;

- Zero-tolerance for minor offences.

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so, i might yawn....

Judith Tizard's eroding career

One thing I'll give Helen Clark, despite my almost universal distaste for her politics, she is a smart woman - very calculated. She transformed herself from a universally loathed figure as Health Minister in the late 1980s (you know when most NZ political reporters were focused entirely on drinking, drugs and shagging), granting Labour's worst election result in modern history in 2006 (28% of the vote) to being a three term PM almost always leading the preferred PM polls.

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So what of Judith Tizard? Judith comes from a rather peculiar clan of Labour politicians. All of them with firey tempers, I remember vividly Bob Tizard storming out of a TVNZ interview in the 1980s when he was Minister of Energy, and Cath Tizard's frequent (and in some ways laudable) use of expletives is legendary. However, Judith's career has been far less notable.

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She took the usual leftwing career path of seeking election on local bodies, you know the sorts that made clever decisions on our infrastructure that sometimes bore little resemblance to economic demand and supply, before being elected as MP of Panmure in 1990. She has always been very close to Helen Clark, as they have been good friends since university days, so she was certainly a cheerleader for, if not instrumental in the Maoist coup against Mike Moore following the 1993 election defeat for Labour. In 1996 she gained kudos for taking the new MMP Auckland Central electorate from Sandra Lee (who took it for the Alliance in 1993).

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Judith has long sought to be a Cabinet Minister, but failed time and time again to be elected to this role. This reflects two very distinct parts of her character:

- Inability to keep quiet (unless it is really really really really really matters);

- Not particularly keen on hard work.

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The roles she has taken on have therefore largely been associate roles as Minister outside Cabinet. She simply hasn't been trusted enough by her caucus colleagues to respect the strict confidentiality of Cabinet meetings, and is also not thought to be capable of contributing sufficiently to them (she's not stupid, just moody and well, not the hardest working Labour MP by a long shot).

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Her character is also one which can endear, as she likes a glass of wine and can be friendly, convivial and a good host - which fits in nicely with her role as Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage because it gives her every excuse to be with the (albeit New Zealand) movie, TV, music and arts set. In other words a cocktail party circuit of events, speeches and mixing with people - something she's very good at. However, get Judith on a bad day and she'll let it rip, blaming whoever matters to be in the room for whatsoever and sounding off about how bad the National Party is. In that case she wont listen and actually just needs to sit down, have a drink and get over whatever got under her knickers that day.

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So she was given the odd portfolio of the Minister Assisting the PM on Auckland issues - or as many have called it, holding the PM's handbag. ARC chairman Mike Lee claims she has done wonders for Auckland transport, and that meant I couldn't stop laughing.

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I'll give Judith two things she has done, positively, for Auckland transport. First, in the early days of the Labour government she did advocate for work to be carried out on spaghetti junction ahead of the ALPURT B2 (Orewa bypass) motorway now underway (but which was ready to go some years ago). Yes, depending on what side you're on you can blame her for delaying a ready to be built motorway, or accelerating a major upgrade to central Auckland's most critical piece of motorway. However, advocacy was about it. It was the Labour appointed board members of Transit and (then) Transfund that made the real difference, and the fact the PM agreed with her and encouraged the very same move that was taken. However, you could argue that what Judith did was no different than any good local MP would do - seek pork from the state to fill the belly of her own electorate (although spaghetti junction has far more than local importance).

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Secondly, she cut ribbons - which did no harm. She lobbied for all sorts of other changes to governance and funding that were largely ignored and dismissed by those more sensible and in power as being another mad idea from Judith - Pete Hodgson and Paul Swain were both adept as Transport Ministers at giving her things to do to keep her away from what really mattered.

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So now she has fallen out of favour, despite her close friendship with the PM. One can only speculate why, but she may wish to decide whether she resigns as an MP, and seeks a local body career to enable her to keep feeding the cats. One thing is for sure, Judith wont be remembered as a mover and shaker, but as one of those odd MPs who is really there because of family heritage, and being close to someone who is very intelligent and very hard working and focused - that is why Helen Clark and her are not two of a kind.