Right Reason

I live in the wrong part of the country. Dunedin is lovely, don’t get me wrong. However there are opportunities of a whole range of sorts that I am missing because of where I live. I won’t go into all the details of that, just trust me. We’ve decided that we should move to Auckland. Plus it’s much warmer, and we have family in that part of the country who we haven’t seen much of.

I’m a family man and we’re not particularly well off, so I can’t responsibily move unless there’s there’s a job to move to. I’m applying for jobs already, and while I’m explaining each time I apply that we do intend to move to Auckland, there’s going to be a natural reluctance to hire people from out of town when there are local applicants. I thought I’d give a shout out here in case there are readers in that part of the country who might know of something, or who might even be in a place of influence who might be able to offer something. There’s a whole range of areas that I could work in. I currently work for the Inland Revenue Department in Student loans, doing technical work on accounts and also liasing with other agencies (like Studylink, the Ministry of Education, the Immigration Department and tax agents). I also get in touch with customers by phone and also address their queries by email. It involves applying legislation, and I’ve also played a role over the last year and a bit in clarifying the legislative requirements of the roles that my team has been involved in, and also coaching fellow staff members. Prior to this role I worked as a customer service rep in the call centre for Inland Revenue. Prior to that I managed a bookstore.

You already know (probably) about my academic background, but in general my approach is that unless a role requires years of experience in a highly specialised field, I can do it: anything involving communication, coaching, training, tutoring, or anything that involves explaining technical information. I also work well with numbers, and I even have a couple of papers in accounting. I could do web based work and even some graphic design work (it’s not like I have professional expreience there, but I made this site and the graphics here – bearing in bind that the blog is a wordpress blog, although the graphics are mine). I also have a background in music, recording and audio engineering (have you seen my site www.podcastermusic.org ?).

So if you’re in a position to suggest anything in the Auckland area – anything at all really – please do drop me a line and let me know. 🙂

OK I know it has been a while, but tomorrow I will start writing the next podcast episode. The subject will be the doctrine of original sin. Hopefully it will be finished within the next week or so.

Dear creationists,

Please don’t ever ever ever do this again.

Thanks.

Someone said this on the 22nd of March 2007:

The Labour Government has shown utter contempt for New Zealanders and the democratic process with its plan to railroad the anti-smacking bill through Parliament, says National Party Leader John Key. “The Labour-led Government knows the measure is deeply unpopular, so it plans to act against the wishes of the majority of Kiwis and ram the bill through under urgency. “This is a deeply cynical abuse of power as Labour tries to clear the decks of this controversial issue.

It’s almost unimaginable, in light of his reponse to public denunciation of the law change, that the person who said this is the same person who now leads the government. Let’s not let him forget.

Earlier today, for the period between twelve and five hours ago, this website and blog may have been difficult (or impossible) for you to access. I’ve been discussing it with my tech friend, and it appears that somebody with an address locating them at Oxford University (i.e. ending with ox.ac.uk) has been engaging in malicious activity against the site, at one time hitting the blog 1599 times over four hours until the server was unable to cope. They were not alone, but this particular user/system was the main offender.

Of course it’s nice to attract attention from that particular part of the world, but this isn’t quite the sort I’m after! Some upgrades have been made to the server so this is less likely to have the same effect in the future should similar actions be taken. The IP address in question has been blocked.

Whenever security measures are upgraded, some innocent parties are affected. If you know of anyone who is having difficulty accessing the site, please let me know (or ask them to let me know). Email me: peoples dot glenn at gmail dot com.

I received this message today, and thought I would pass it on for the benefit of my New Zealand readers. The message comes from Catalyst.

We are delighted to announce the launch of Catalyst Books today.

Catalyst books is a New Zealand initiative enabling students and graduates to find and purchase quality books from a christian worldview on their academic discipline or profession at fantastic prices with free shipping.

Hat tip to M and M for bringing this news story to my attention.

Remember that controversy over the anti-smacking law? The short story: The law change in New Zealand meant that absolutely any force of any kind used in the discipline of a child (such as a spank, or moving a child by force to his room, or anything else involving force) is a crime and there is no legal defence that can be made against the charge of assault in such cases. Realising that if actually applied, the law would be horribly unjust and crazy to boot, the current Prime Minister John Key (who was not in government when this law was passed) sought to put the mind of Joe public to rest by advising police and social agencies not to get carried away (my paraphrase). I’ve explained already that this is a fundamentally wrong approach to law, and I won’t revisit this here.

Fast forward to a story that appeared in today’s New Zealand Herald:

Judge turns tables on driver’s schoolboy accuser

A schoolbus driver was taken to court for grabbing the arm of a rowdy boy who would not stop pulling a girl’s hair.

But the judge threw out the charge – and had a policeman take the 12-year-old boy to the police cells as a warning.

Jim McCorkindale, 70, of Gore in Southland, told the Weekend Herald that while dropping off children last July, he saw two boys pulling the hair of a girl and got out of his driver’s seat to try to stop it.

“I went over and touched the boy on the arm to attract his attention, and that was the assault.”

When the boy did not respond to being told to stop, “I threatened to hit him in the ribs, and he flinched and let the kid’s hair go to protect his ribs”, Mr McCorkindale said.

“But I never touched him again.”

The boy had continued misbehaving after Mr McCorkindale returned to his seat.

Article continues below

Children on the bus called the police and he found officers waiting to talk to him when he finished his run.

When police rejected the option of diversion, Mr McCorkindale received a court summons.

But in the Gore District Court, Judge Kevin Phillips threw out the charge.

Instead, he told the boy he should be “thoroughly ashamed” of himself and had a policeman take him to the cells, the Southland Times reported.

Mr McCorkindale said he found it disgusting that he was charged in the first place.

“You can’t do a bloody thing,” he said. “It’s better to hop out of the bus and leave them to it. See nothing.

“The days of sit down, shut up, do as you are told, are gone. When I was going to school, you did what you were told. Now, you sometimes do as you’re asked – if it suits you.”

That’s right.  He took hold of the arm of a boy who was pulling a little girl’s hair, and for this, the police charged him with assault. These are the police who are being given the power to decide whether or not the law should be applied in cases of parents who use force in the correction of their children.

Feeling safe?