Tales From NZ - The Land of Idiots

Looking at all this furore over Tony Veitch beating the stuffing out of his partner in 2006, I find one thing very interesting:

Namely, so many people think he is still a "great guy" and that this is no one's business. Furthermore, that he shouldn't be prosecuted because he paid her so much money and has said he is sorry.

I'm sorry, but what freekin' century is this country stuck in?!?! Have we all gone backwards and decided that hitting a woman is OK? How about knocking her to the ground and repeatedly kicking her with such force that she suffers broken vertebrae and head injuries - is that what a "great guy" does??? Or was it the fact that he gave her $100,000 to keep her mouth shut so he wouldn't lose her job? Yeah I guess that was pretty "great"

I am honestly sickened by the reaction by people of this country. On the radio the other night, countless women called in to say that people should just leave him alone and that if she didn't press charges then it must be OK. Yes, I'm sure that's why she didn't press charges - I wouldn't be at all afraid of someone who had just beaten me to the point where I had a broken back and couldn't walk.

The other common argument in his defence is 'If he was just an average guy not on TV then no one would care.'

WRONG! And on so many levels.

Firstly, if he were not on television it would still be reported by police and therefore public knowledge. And a court case that garners public attention, as such a violent crime would, is not going to be attractive to ANY employer.

Secondly, the fact is this guy IS on television every night (and the radio as well) and as such has the public image of his employers at stake. Would you hire Mike Tyson to present your sports news? No. And not just because his speech is mangled and less intelligent than an old man eating a box of marbles. You wouldn't hire him to do that job because it would make your station look completely bogus to have it fronted by a nut job that beats women.

And thirdly, if this was just an average guy from down the road you would all condemn him and expect him to be prosecuted. I hope.


And if it is indeed true that TVNZ knew about this incident long before the public, then someone needs to answer some questions over there too.

Maybe Tony Veitch can place a big rugby ball under his arm and the hell off my TV as well?

I'm Right! Now Get Lost

I had to laugh this morning...

Everytime I bash rugby, people tell me how much money it brings the country - despite the fact that 'the country' doesn't actually see that money, but the rugby clubs and and players with their ludicrous salaries do. Sure tourism can help, but I doubt many people come to New Zealand specifically to see the Canterbury Crusaders play against the Auckland Blues. If they do, then they need to be shot on entry to the country.

Anyways, despite all the claims about how profitable rugby is for our country, the NZRU released a report today stating that last year's Super (crappy) 14 lost them $10 million. Wow. Good to know those billions of dollars spent promoting the sport are worthwhile.

This renews my anger at the New Zealand government putting $20 million into the redevelopment of Eden Park for the Rugby World Cup. Oh yeah sure, you can all try and tell me just how much tourism the competition brings into the country - and I will always just tell you to go read how much tourism it brought to Australia in 2003. The answer? WAY under what they expected. In fact, their numbers actually dropped by 2% from the previous year. The Tourism Minister at the time tried to pretend that any increases they saw was a benefit of the World Cup, but last year even the Australian Rugby Union admitted that they lost money by hosting the cup there.

$20,000,000 is a lot of money that this country could use for something a whole lot better, especially at this time when we are looking more and more like a third-world country every day. I keep waiting to see a World Vision ad with that big grey hairy dude, and he goes up to some little kid and says "This is Tania - say 'Hi', Tania' "Hi" ' Tania lives in Wainoni with her Parents, her Grand-parents, her cousins and her next door neighbours. They stay inside all day because they can't afford to use the car, and they don't use the lights because they can't afford to pay for the electricity. They had to sell all their furniture so they could buy fruit and vegetables last week"

Seriously though, why do my taxes have to go towards a game I hate just because some people wanted to make a living doing something stupid and are now finding that it doesn't make money? Curses to you, rugby and your year long season of doom!

I hope they keep losing more and more money. Take your incompetent business abilites and get the hell out of my life!