Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Warship? Give me a break

In case you hadn't noticed I dislike this current administration with a passion but they are sinking to new lows.
Their reaction to this power nonsense is typical of a left wing outfit that cannot exist without rules, rules, rules and the corresponding bureaucarcy to support them. We'll come onto the hypocrisy in a moment. The knee jerk to the events of the last week is to invent a whole raft of new rules surrounding cutting off power supplies. It will now be a power company's responsibilty to identify 'vulnerable' customers. They than have a whole swag of things they must do to stop these 'vulnerables' becoming 'victims'. The mention of these two overused words makes my flesh creep - they are right up there with 'respect' and 'process'. There are four categories of circumsatance that can put you in the vulnerable basket and then you have to be referred to the Misinstry of Social Development (how apt - Socially Developed into spineless pawns of the State) who will send officers around to do an 'assessment'. The Company is then obliged to point out what 'support agencies' are available to help you out of your financial hole. And so it goes on. Note the use of words like 'obliged', 'must' etc. Bloody government compulsion at every turn. With the mandatory (the compulsion on their side now) army of wallahs with clipboards to 'enforce' it all. The language is scary but the thinking behind it all is more so.
Labour is not in the South Auckland Samoan community's best books as a result of the ongoing Philip Field excesses and so The Headmistress is in full attack mode. She will be at the memorial service today - presumably with a flower in her hair or wearing a lavalava or whatever is culturally appropriate on such an occasion. If this is not political grandstanding of the first magnitude I don't know what is. When it comes to this sort of thing she is as shameless (or probably more so) than all of them. She is also shameless in slating the SOE on renaging on it's 'social responsibilty' as outlined in its operating manual. We saw no such worries during all the years she has been happily hoovering the same SOE's profits into the consolidated fund. Concerend for the welfare of her subjects when it suits her and happy to publically wave the policy manual at the company to prove so. I am surprised she can even lift the policy manual up to wave if it is anything like the manual I am supposed to read and comply with in my corner of the field.
This tome is beyond belief. It is written by coteries of people who I am sure would wear sensible shoes and eat feta. The manual would take you five minutes to walk round. No one ever reads it (I think it is them actually) because they would have retired before they finished. But should anything in the ploughing of a furrow go awry you can instantly be whacked around the whiskers with Section 3 Paragraph (b) Subparagraph (iiia). There are twenty five pages in our policy manual on how to perform a task that on average takes 45 seconds - and I am not jokiing.
Such is the world of those who would control by micro-management.
Just when the dark storm clouds of depression were gathering on my mood for the day things got worse when I glanced upon the cutaway graphics explaining the Navy's new vessel. This will be good, something to raise the spirits. A few minutes glancing on a big grey ship bristling with inventive ways to take your head off. Silly me this is new Zealand. The Navy's new vessel is not a warship at all; it is a RoRo. The HMNZS Canterbury has 'proudly' inherited it's predecessor's number 421 but has had to have it's designation changed from F421 (Frigate) to L421 (Landing Ship). It might just as well be designated P&O421. It would appear that this bloody government's emasculation of our defence force is virtually complete. Under the 'armaments' section it is stated that the Canterbury is 'not designed to be used in dangerous situations like opposed landings'. It is therefore armed with a water balloon catapult and some very large loud speakers through which to play old Fred Dagge CDs. This terrifying warship has 'diesel and electric motors that can propel it at nineteen knots'. How impressive is that? How awestruck with performance figures like that will the matelots on the Nimitz be as P&O421 disappears in it's wake handing out blankets to refugees. This new vessel is a disgrace to a defence force and should be stripped of its battleship grey paint and be reliveried in orange and lime green with a couple of painted dolphins frolicking along the waterline. It should then be given to the Ministry of Transport.

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