Hell's Angels Have Some New Pals

Un-bloody-believable! The NZ High Court has ruled that Wanganui District Council's gang patch ban is unlawful!!!
In August 2009, after endless gang-related crap, this council had the balls to say that enough was enough. So it passed a bylaw, banning the wearing of gang insignia in public.
However the Hells Angels gang took it to court, arguing the bylaw was invalid. On Thursday, Justice Denis Clifford said he reckoned so too.
Y'see, because the bylaw didn't specify which public places the ban applied to, it was invalid. He said, in some circumstances, it was justifiable to limit freedom of expression - but in this case the bylaw was invalid, because the council had not considered the significance of limiting the gangs' right to express themselves. However he said a bylaw defining specified places more closely could be legal.

Awwww, poor wee iddle biddle gangs! Having dere wight to expwess demselves twampled on! It must be sooooo damned hard to demand protection money or recruit new members, when you can't swagger around the streets as hostile threatening arrogant mobile billboards! But in their view, they're just a misunderstood motorcycle club - not a gang! Yea, right! They don't congregate for weekly knitting circles! Their insignia intimidate, incite fear, represent violence. Whatever happened to "the greater good", to the wider interests of the community?

Still, at least the court has upheld the council's right to actually create a patch-banning bylaw, so it's now up to councillors to move fast and close the loopholes. That might give Justice Clifford just enough time to rethink his priorities.

And someone else needing to consider which side of the fence he's on is Canterbury University gang researcher Jarrod Gilbert. He says gangs "provide a function in society", and as long as they're law abiding, they can do as they please. He says we can't treat gangs differently just because they adopt a different lifestyle.
Dear Mr.Gilbert, please enlighten me as to what valued function gangs have in our society! Gangs are collections of thieves, thugs, miscreants, drug-dealers, sometimes murderers and rapists.
Both Judge Clifford and Mr.Gilbert need to step outside their ivory towers...and check out the reality!
PS: 14 March 2011 - the Wanganui Council will give it another try!

"Au Revoir, Papa! Remember, We'll Always Have Tripoli..."

This must rank as The Quote Of The Week!
Galyna Kolotnytska: "I am happy to die with Qaddafi...but the world really needs my nursing skills."
Is her name familiar? Galyna is the Ukrainian nurse/bodyguard who's been Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s constant companion for nine years. She's top of the peeking order, among his female bodyguard entourage.
Well, she's fled Libya's political upheaval and headed home to Kiev. She was overheard on her flight from Tripoli, calling Qaddafi 'Papa', saying: "Papa is good, Papa is forever. Qaddafi will win, in 1-2 months we will be going back there." (Mind you, reports also say she was drunk at the time too!)
Sounds like Galyna's listened to Qaddafi’s rambling assessment of the situation too much. Maybe now she's back in Kiev she'll turn on the TV and see for herself the real state of play.
Her apartment is surrounded by journalists, eager for some photos of Qaddafi’s famous 'voluptuous blonde' companion. Having journalists pestering her will be a new experience, as such things did not happen in Libya: "Oh Papa,I don’t like the way that guy is looking at me. Please can you have him arrested?"
Her mother Iryna has told reporters: "You have tarnished my daughter's reputation by saying she was Qaddafi's lover! I’ll tell you one thing: Galya will not return to Libya again!"
Yeup, mum's right - Gaddafi was only interested in her nursing skills!

Oooooooohhh baby, come to Papa!!!

Today's Lesson: Stopping Pirates 101

A week ago (although the news only broke yesterday), a Danish family's yacht was hijacked by Somali pirates. Three teenagers, their parents and the ship's deckhands are now prisoners. This follows the murder of four Americans, after pirates who captured their yacht were cornered by US forces.
These hijackings come as naval forces have finally become more aggressive against pirates — in January, Sth Korean commandos raided a freighter, killing eight pirates and capturing five. Then in February, Danish commandos secured another ship after crewmen locked themselves in a safe room.
In return the pirates have become more violent. In order to evade the naval patrols, they are increasingly aiming their strikes further afield, sailing their retrofitted trawler "motherships" well away from Somali waters and launching their sorties on smaller craft from there. Pirate captains have learned the lessons of being hemmed in by these international navies and realise the further away they go, the harder it is to be located.
Attacks take place across a colossal stretch of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, to Madagascar and over to Indian waters. The Danish family had left the Maldives en route to the Red Sea before being hijacked near Yemen. The American yacht was captured off the coast of Oman.
But what amazes me is that many foreigners still insist on sailing in these danger zones - despite constant warnings. Don't they read the news? In the case of the Americans, they were on a global mission to spread bibles: maybe they put too much faith in their faith to save them. And the Danes radioed daily location reports to the navies, perhaps relying overly on a military shadow.
But these people had a choice of route. So why did they choose to sail there?

Fight fire with fire...ALOT more fire!

As pleasure sailors continue to naïvely blunder on, more of them will be captured. And while out-dated anti-piracy laws and Rules of Engagement continue to bind the military, the piracy problem will continue to grow.
Want an overly-simplistic solution? Stop the stupidity:
+ a complete ban on pleasure craft in those waters might be a good start.
+ sail commercial vessels in tight escorted convoys.
+ a fully weapons-hot military strategy (including surgical strikes against land bases) has merit.
+ urgent revision of international maritime laws, to allow navies complete freedom of engagement without being hog-tied by political correctness.
No More Mr.Nice Guy. Stop pussyfooting around. High-velocity steel is always a good deterrent!
[see also my post of 10 Feb.2011...]