VICTIM OR OFFENDER?

McVicar in smash with defense lawyer

By Anna Leask

7:38 AM Saturday Jul 28, 2012

Garth McVicar

A New Zealand defense lawyer has been involved in a car smash with the head of a lobby group for victims' rights.

New Zealand Sensible Sentencing Trust founder Garth McVicar was on his way to a meeting with Kylee Guy, the widow of slain farmer Scott Guy.

But his vehicle and the one driven by lawyer Nigel Hewat collided. Mr Hewat walked away from the accident scene on Thursday night.

Mr Hewat, who defended child-killer Jules Mikus at his trial for the kidnap, rape and murder of Napier schoolgirl Teresa Cormack, said he was involved in the crash but refused to comment on what happened.

Mikus had previous convictions for sex attacks and is one of many repeat offenders highlighted by the Sensible Sentencing Trust in its campaign for tougher sentences, bail laws and victims' rights.

Mr McVicar said he was travelling about 100km/h when the crash happened.

"It was dark and drizzling. There was traffic coming towards me and all of a sudden one car pulled out of that traffic and was coming towards me. It looked like he was passing," he told the Weekend Herald.

"There wasn't enough room for all of us on the road, so I moved over. There was a cyclist alongside me on my left so I couldn't move over too far without bowling her.

"I was concentrating on not hitting the cyclist and then next minute there was a thump."

Mr Hewat allegedly went to turn right down a side road when the cars collided.

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"He turned into my driver's door and shunted me off the road. I was busy trying to dodge a concrete power pole.

"I was spinning out of control by that stage ... I spun around and hit a wooden pole on the other side of the road and broke that and brought the wires down."

He had only just passed the cyclist, Colette Cregan, who had been working in a Napier cafe.

Mr McVicar was able to get out of his car, which was written off, to see if anyone was injured.

"I rushed over to the other guy's car and he was gone. I looked around and there was a person sitting on the grass. That turned out to be the cyclist. I asked her if she knew where the other person was and she said, 'Yeah, he's ... down the road."'

A group of men caught up in the crash when a powerline landed on their van offered to drive Mr McVicar to find Mr Hewat.

They soon spotted him down a side road and Mr McVicar approached him.

"I said, 'Are you okay? Were you driving that car back there?' and he said yes. I said, 'Look, you better come back because there's power wires down and we don't know if anyone's hurt."'

Mr Hewat identified himself and handed over his business card.

Police said an investigation was continuing. They refused to speculate on the cause of the accident.

A spokeswoman said no decision had been made regarding charges.

Ms Cregan, 30, said: "It was quite shocking, I got a bit of a fright, I just couldn't believe what nearly happened."

She added: "I just saw the car coming towards me ... then I saw it crash into the other one. I went left and just biked as fast as I could, jumped off the bike and ran into the grass. Then I saw the lines go down and I just ran."

Ms Cregan, who is Irish and due to leave New Zealand in two weeks after a working holiday, said after the crash Mr Hewat came up and asked her if she was okay. He then asked for directions before walking away.

She left before speaking to police as she was shaken.

"I probably should have stayed ... but I just couldn't believe it happened. I was very, very lucky."

Peter’s Comment

So now the man who advocates for tougher sentencing may now be wondering if he will face some kind of sentence. If he isn’t wondering, he should be, because these things can go either way.

A victim can just as easily become an offender and an offender can become a victim. Justice is never entirely fair or just. Victims and offenders alike are rarely satisfied with the outcome of court proceedings. So what is the answer?

It is not tougher penalties. Longer prison terms only lead to more anger and a reduced chance of rehabilitation after release.

Serious road crashes happen all too frequently and they can happen to anyone and usually when they least expect them to happen. However, one thing should be clear; incompetence is a primary cause in most accidents while criminal intent is almost non-existent.

But the police will be on the scene at any accident site to see if someone can be charged with an offence rather than to see what they can do to improve the competence of drivers. And why do the police have that approach? Because people like Garth McVicar have demanded it.

So, while I sympathize with Mr McVicar with regard to his unfortunate mishap and sincerely hope that he will not be charged, I do believe it is a golden opportunity for him to reflect on his campaign for tougher sentences.

DON'T GET HOOKED BY THIS SCAM

Would the real Melissa Johnson please stand up

From Fiona Mackenzie's blog   http://fionamackenzie.com.au/

Online Career Package – Legit or Scam?

Posted on 08 March 2012. Tags: Scam

Our popular friend, Ms Melissa Johnson, has turned up yet again. (We first met Mel at “My home wealth system” scam.)

So you know the drill when it comes to these things.

We stumble across an obviously dubious get rich quick scheme and need to decide – is it legit or a scam?

So far we have profiled the following little rippers:

·         Home Income Cash System (Verdict: Scam)

·         My Home Wealth System (Verdict: Scam)

·         Automated Home Profits (Verdict: Scam)

New mum, cute baby (and we know from previous scams that she’s appeared in a great many locations, not just Melbourne…. but I digress).

So let’s take a look at the Online Career Package.

(By the way, here is a screenshot of the website just in case it gets taken down as has happened to some of the others that have preceded it.)

The Internet is abuzz with people wanting to know: Is Online Career Package Legit Or A Scam?

I’m calling the Online Career Package a SCAM for these reasons:

1. Melissa Johnson is too cute by half. We’ve met her (and Kelly Richards) before. Same scam, different title.

2. Read the fine print (it’s here on the home page). “Photos used in this advertisement are not of the actual testimonial individuals and personal earnings claims of any type are strictly against our policy. Any results shown should be considered exceptional, as results will vary according to each individual’s own effort and commitment.”

In other words, the testimonials are FAKE by their own admission, let alone any financial results that the testimonials claim. Furthermore, if you hand over your credit card then find out that actually there is NO money to be made, don’t claim them. There in the fine print they told you that it was exceptional (in other words, uncommon) to make money from this scheme.

3. The website displays the logos of major Internet brands. This is always a giveaway especially when there is NO DISCLOSURE of those brands association or relationship with a money-making scheme.

In fact, you can be 99% certain that there is NO relationship other than the website has used their logos without written permission to confer an authority that the website doesn’t legitimately have in its own right.
And you gotta love the fine print. Bless their cotton socks if they are good enough to tell you that they don’t own the logos. “All trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively the “Trademarks”) displayed, are registered and/or unregistered Trademarks of their respective owners.”

4. After a hunt around, I’m still at a loss to uncover the terms and conditions of the offer, so that is a BIG red flag.

If you’re smart, you’ll Google these schemes BEFORE you hand over any of your hard-earned cash. If you don’t google it, I guess you’ll learn the hard way.

Peter's Comment

Melissa Johnson has also been shown on these websites as being from Auckland, New Zealand. I think she is a fraud, if she exists at all.

A FREE FALLING HUMAN SPACESHIP

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner to Jump From Edge of Space

Felix Baumgartner preparing to launch
himself as a human spaceship over
the Mojave Desert on a test run

By GINA SUNSERI

ROSWELL, New Mexico, July 23, 2012

It seems appropriate that Roswell, ground zero for UFO hunters, is hosting the mission to the edge of space -- because the sight of daredevilFelix Baumgartner diving back to Earth this morning from 90 thousand feet will certainly spark new UFO conspiracy theories.

Baumgartner will go from zero to perhaps 509 mph in 30 seconds when he steps out of his space capsule Tuesday morning. He hit 365 mph when he jumped from 71,000 feet in March -- and he will go supersonic in August when he dives from 120 thousand feet. That's zero to 690 mph in 25 seconds -- a human body breaking the sound barrier without an airplane. Most people go to the edge of space or beyond in a rocket -- Baumgartner is going up in a capsule carried aloft by a huge helium balloon.

Most of us would never willingly step out of an airplane to skydive from 3,000 feet. So you have to wonder why Felix Baumgartner does this. He knows the risks and says he accepts the danger. He canceled an attempt this morning because of high winds.

"The pressure is huge, and we not only have to endure but excel," he said. "We're excellently prepared, but it's never going to be a fun day, I'm risking my life, after all."

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Red Bull is financing this daredevil skydive from space. The mission is named Stratos. Five years of planning by a team of experts, many volunteering their services, to break several records in one breathtaking plunge back to Earth:

 First person to break the sound barrier outside of an aircraft.

 Record for freefall from the highest altitude

 Longest freefall time –expected five minutes 35 seconds.

 Highest manned balloon flight.

This daredevil dive from near space is not a first. The Austrian Baumgartner will be breaking a 52-year-old record, and he wisely recruited the man who set the record, the legendary Col. Joe Kittinger, for advice. On Aug. 16, 1960, Kittinger jumped from a balloon at an altitude of 102,900 feet -- and fell for almost five minutes before opening a parachute to slow his descent at 18,000 feet. He made history for the highest balloon ascent, the highest parachute jump, and the fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere. '

"Somebody will beat them someday, but when they do it, they'll be doing it to beat a record," Kittinger said in a 2008 interview with ABC's Jonathan Karl. "We didn't make those records at the time just for that purpose"

He now says he is happy to cede his record to Baumgartner -- but joked, "I told him if he changes his mind, I am ready to take over for him."

Dr. Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon now with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, heads the medical team monitoring Baumgartner's jump, ready to respond in an emergency. "We have run hours of tests in vacuum chambers, we are finessing life support systems, and monitoring his systems during the dive, calculating what he will need during the plunge back to Earth to survive," he said.

It is dangerous. Every member of the team acknowledges the risks. Clark said he can tick them off in his sleep: the near-vacuum of space, extreme cold, temperature fluctuations, the danger of an uncontrolled flat spin, drogue chute failure, spacesuit puncture, life support systems failure.

Is this a stunt? Clark scoffs at the suggestion. It is a scientific endeavor for him. His wife Laurel was one of the seven astronauts on the space shuttle Columbia when it broke up over Texas in 2003. A spacesuit like the one designed for this mission he said, might have saved her life.

"What the Red Bull Stratos does for me in some way is justify the loss of the of the Columbia crew," said Clark, "because it has pushed us to say we will never give up, we will always try to bring an un-survivable situation into a survivable realm. So for me this is personally important. It could lead to better crew escape systems. "

Weather is critical because the massive balloon is fragile and tears easily; it can't launch with winds in excess of 4 mph or under heavy cloud cover. Meteorologist Don Day also needs to consider where winds will push Baumgartner when he lands -- preferably not in the mountains west of the launch site.

DON'T TAMPER WITH A TAMPA AMBULANCE

Tampa Man Steals Ambulance, 

Tries To Drive Self To Hospital For Treatment

TAMPA, Fla. (CBS Tampa) – When it came to getting medical attention, stealing an ambulance and driving it to the hospital wasn’t such a bad idea at the time for one Tampa man.

Hubert Lee Credit, 39, was arrested last night after he stole an ambulance and drove himself to the hospital for treatment for injuries from what Credit claims to have been an earlier altercation with four men.

At around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Transcare Ambulance responded to a medical call. As ambulance personnel were responding to a patient, Credit started up the ambulance and began to drive off, with the emergency lights activated, according to Tampa Police. A GPS unit was able to track where the ambulance was heading. About five minutes after the incident began, police were able to stop the ambulance at N. Tampa St. and E. 26^th Ave., according to Tampa Police.

Credit explained to police that he had gotten into an altercation earlier and needed medical attention, thus his reasoning for driving off in the ambulance toward the hospital. When Credit was arrested, there was a noticeable puncture wound to his head.

“I got beat up by four guys,” Credit said, according to Tampa Police. “I saw the ambulance and I was going to drive myself to the hospital.”

Shortly thereafter, he was transported to Tampa General Hospital for treatment.

Credit has been charged with auto burglary and grand theft auto. He remains in jail on $4,000 bond, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Peter’s Comment

Obviously, it doesn’t pay to tamper with a Tampa ambulance. Apparently H L Credit has now changed his name to D I S Credit. 

CONVICTING THE INNOCENT

The right to silence looked at in New Zealand

By Kate Shuttleworth New Zealand Herald

5:30 AM Sunday Jul 22, 2012

Gil Elliott, Garth McVicar and Greg King
at the Hot Tub debate at Victoria University
Photo Kate Shuttleworth

He helped Ewen Macdonald get off a murder charge by not putting him on the witness stand, but top criminal defense lawyer Greg King can see an accused's right to silence one day coming to an end.

King was involved in a panel discussion at Victoria University's law faculty on Friday evening, discussing legal procedures with Sensible Sentencing Trust chairman Garth McVicar and Gil Elliott, the father of murdered Dunedin university student Sophie Elliott.

On the contentious issue of an accused's right to silence, King conceded the rules might one day change.

He defended Macdonald's not taking the stand in the recent high-profile Scott Guy murder trial, saying he had answered every question in a 40-hour police interview, giving the jury plenty of time to see his version of events.

But he said there was a contradiction in the system when people charged with fraud could have their right to silence removed.

"If your right to silence can be taken away from you because of benefit fraud, and you're being investigated in a murder charge ... why do you have it there?" King asked

He suggested one option in the future might be allowing the prosecution to apply to a judge for an order to make it compulsory for an offender to take the stand if it was considered vital enough.

McVicar said the right to silence created an "offender-friendly, criminal-centered legal process".

"I don't think Greg needed to rely on the right to silence in his last case [the Guy trial] - he'd already proven that a doubt existed."

But McVicar said New Zealand should follow the UK's lead in getting rid of the offender's right to silence.

"It appears our legal system is not about truth - if it was the right to silence would not exist, “said McVicar.

Elliott told the audience that King, who represented Clayton Weatherston - the man convicted of murdering his daughter -, was the only person who talked to him and his wife, Lesley, through their trial.

"The prosecution ... just ignored us.”

Peter’s Comment

Before the right to silence became law in most civilized countries many innocent people were convicted solely because of their inability to foot it with high-powered prosecutors.

It meant that the police could always get a conviction when the pressure was on them to solve a case. All they had to do was go out and arrest any pathetic specimen who couldn't defend himself. And they did.

Isn’t it better that they should not bring a charge until they have enough stand alone evidence to convince a jury?

Exposing accused people to the peril of inadvertent self incrimination is tantamount to having a law that demands that households leave doors open so that burglars have easy access.

Police and prosecutors, given the chance, will prey on people who are vulnerable. 

THE ASKER TRILOGY

GUN LAWS AND MURDER RATES

America Is a Violent Country

JUL 20TH, 2012  From Kieran Healy  http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/

The terrible events in Colorado this morning prompted me to update a post about comparative death rates from assault across different societies. The following figures are from the OECD for deaths due to assault per 100,000 population from 1960 to the present. As before, the most striking features of the data are (1) how much more violent the U.S. is than other OECD countries (except possibly Estonia and Mexico, not shown here), and (2) the degree of change—and recently, decline—there has been in the U.S. time series considered by itself. Note that “assault” as a cause of death does not distinguish the mechanism of death (gunshot, stabbing, etc.). If anyone knows of a similar time series for homicides specifically, let me know.

Peter’s Comment

The difference is guns. America has one of the easiest accesses to guns laws in the world.

Americans buy guns for protection but it rarely works out that way.

A typical ratio of gun murders to total murders in most countries is less than 50% involving guns. The USA has a similar rate of non-gun murders. However, because of easy access to guns the statistics show that the higher overall murder rate is attributed entirely to guns.

Think about the countless mass shootings. What other murder means could render such horrendous statistics? Strangulation, stabbing, bashing? Could any of those means take a toll of dozens of lives in minutes the way shooting can?

America has a high murder rate because too many people buy guns for protection and others buy guns because they a military nutters.

Here in New Zealand our murder rate is low and getting lower. We have laws which impose very tight controls on sporting weapons and it is virtually impossible to get a firearm for any other purpose. Even our police don’t carry guns except in special circumstances.

America, get rid of your guns and your country will be safer.

HIGHWAY AMERICA

TRUCKING IN OUTBACK AUSTRALIA

Road Train life not for everyone

It takes a special kind of man, or woman, to drive in Australia's harsh outback where there are no towns and no backup when the chips are down.

Watch the video, listen to the Outback drawl and see if it's a job you could do. Australia needs experienced drivers, like the one in the video.

The advice about avoiding kangaroos is sound. I know from personal experience.

http://youtu.be/5gWFsFnswLs

BERLIN WALL TO BE REBUILT

Cash-strapped Berlin stalked by 540-year-old debt

Reuters – 15 hours ago

BERLIN (Reuters) - The sleepy hamlet of Mittenwalde in eastern Germany could become one of the richest towns in the world if Berlin were to repay it an outstanding debt that dates back to 1562.

A certificate of debt, found in a regional archive, attests that Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders on May 28 1562, to be repaid with six percent interest per year.

According to Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), the debt would amount to 11,200 guilders today, which is roughly equivalent to 112 million euros ($136.79 million).

Adjusting for compound interest and inflation, the total debt now lies in the trillions, by RBB's estimates.

Town historian Vera Schmidt found the centuries-old debt slip in the archive, where it had been filed in 1963. Though the seal is missing from the document, Schmidt told Reuters that she was certain the slip was still valid.

"In 1893 there was a debate in which the document was examined and the writing was determined to be authentic," Schmidt said.

Schmidt and Mittenwalde's Mayor Uwe Pfeiffer have tried to ask Berlin for their money back. Such requests have been made every 50 years or so since 1820 but always to no avail.

Reclaiming the debt would bring significant riches to Mittenwalde, a seat of power in the middle ages, which now has a population of just 8,800. Red brick fragments of medieval fortifications still dot the leafy town center.

The town's Romanesque church was once the provost seat for Paul Gerhardt, one of Germany's most prolific hymn writers. Gerhardt, who lived there briefly in the 17th century, is the only noted Mittenwalde resident to date.

Schmidt and Pfeiffer met with Berlin's finance senator Ulrich Nussbaum, who ceremonially handed them a historical guilder from 1539. The guilder was put in a temporary display at the Mittenwalde museum.

"This case shows that debts always catch up with you, no matter how old they are," Nussbaum told the Berliner Zeitung paper.

The debt-laden German capital would have difficulty meeting Mittenwalde's demands anyway. According to a report released by the senate finance administration in June 2012, Berlin is already close to 63 million euros in the red.

(Reporting by Sophie Duvernoy, editing by Paul Casciato)

@YahooNZBusiness 

Peter's Comment

So it's true. The Berlin Wall is to be rebuilt to keep out the debt collectors.

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https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Peter+Blakeborough

NO RECESSION IN PERU

Lima, Peru

Peru Economic Activity Increased 6.47 Percent In May
by Andean Air Mail & PERUVIAN TIMES Thursday, July 19, 2012

Peru’s economy grew by 6.47 percent in May, which was higher than economic growth a month earlier, as domestic demand remained strong and also the demand abroad for non-traditional products.

Peru’s national statistics bureau, INEI, said the construction sector rose 15.8 percent in May, boosted by domestic consumption of cement and progress in works in the mining sector, shopping malls, industrial units and road infrastructure.

The agriculture sector gained 7.75 percent in May, while the restaurant and hotel industry rose 8.8 percent.

Finance and insurance sector activity rose 6.83 percent, while transportation and communications increased 6.33 percent. Commerce grew by 6.47 percent and electricity and water rose 5.34 percent in May.

The manufacturing sector rose 2.69 percent in May, while mining and hydrocarbon activity gained 1.28 percent. Fishing activity was the only sector that saw declines, down 7.63 percent in May, according to the government.

In April, Peru’s economy expanded by 4.37 percent, while a number of economists expect it to grow 6 percent in 2012.

Peter’s Comment

Who said there is a worldwide recession? I doesn’t seem to have hit Peru yet.

However, their figures appear a little misleading. I’m sure it was never intending that the quoted monthly economic growth rate should be multiplied by 12. The percentage increase for May has already been adjusted to show an annual rate of 7.75%. That’s still pretty good.

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https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Peter+Blakeborough

DRUG ADDICTION

Bottom of Form

Drug decriminalization in Portugal decreases number of addicts

After 11 years, the effectiveness of the policy has been measured.

Samuel Blackstone, Business Insider July 18, 2012 16:50

A TV cameraman records the three-ton cocaine seizure on
February 3, 2006 in Braga, northern Portugal. Many nations
thinking about decriminalizing drugs may look to
Portugal as an example.
(Miguel Riopa /AFP/Getty Images)

On July 1, 2001, Portugal decriminalized every imaginable drug, from marijuana, to cocaine, to heroin. Some thought Lisbon would become a drug tourist haven, others predicted usage rates among youths to surge.

Eleven years later, it turns out they were both wrong.

Over a decade has passed since Portugal changed its philosophy from labeling drug users as criminals to labeling them as people affected by a disease. This time lapse has allowed statistics to develop and in time, has made Portugal an example to follow.

First, some clarification.

Portugal's move to decriminalize does not mean people can carry around, use, and sell drugs free from police interference. That would be legalization. Rather, all drugs are "decriminalized," meaning drug possession, distribution, and use is still illegal. While distribution and trafficking is still a criminal offense, possession and use is moved out of criminal courts and into a special court where each offender's unique situation is judged by legal experts, psychologists, and social workers. Treatment and further action is decided in these courts, where addicts and drug use is treated as a public health service rather than referring it to the justice system (like the US), reports Fox News.

Peter’s Comment

The drug policies of most countries, including New Zealand, are not working in spite of billions of dollars budgeted worldwide trying to beat the problem.

Perhaps Portugal has the answer. A radically different approach is certainly needed.

Treating drug addiction as a disease is an enlightened policy and most people would understand that no amount of punishment will ever cure sickness or disease.

The Asker Trilogy

TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Tombstone, Arizona

If you are cruising Interstate 10 in Arizona just east of Tucson there is a great little scenic detour that you can take when you get to Benson.

Tombstone founder
Ed Schiefflin

Go south on Route 80 for about 20 miles (31 kilometers) and you will come to historic Tombstone, famous for its Boot Hill cemetery and the 1881 Gunfight at the O. K. Corral.

Tombstone was founded in 1879 by mining prospector Ed Schieffelin. He was warned that if he ventured into areas occupied by Apache Indians the only stone he would get would be a tombstone. So he called the place Tombstone.

Schiefflin found silver, a town sprung up and by 1881 there was a population of 14,000. Tombstone had two banks, three newspapers, 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls and an array of shops and theaters.

But there was conflict in the town and county. The town and the county each had its own cowboy enforcers with the Earp brothers (five of them) on one side and the McLaurys and some ring-ins on the other side.

The conflict quickly escalated into open warfare with a climax that became famous as The Gunfight at the OK Corral. Within 30 seconds Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were dead. Surviving the shoot-out were the Earp brothers; Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan. Morgan was later killed and Wyatt was injured in reprisal raids.

After the Earps left Arizona Territory the next year the county sheriff hired 15 year-old gunslinger Burt Alford to bring order to the town, which he did for three years until overtaken by drink.

The main industry in Tombstone now is tourism.

Boot Hill cemetery got its name from the fact many of its now quiet residents were tough guys who died with their boots on.

A famous epitaph stands over the remains of Les (Lester) Moore and reads:

HERE LIES LES MOORE,
FOUR SLUGS FROM A FORTY-FOUR,
NO LES NO MORE

Photos courtesy of TombstoneWeb.com: http://www.tombstoneweb.com/