Bloody communists

In the 20th century, good western nations fought against tyranny, dictatorship and communism. JFK extended his promise to help people across the world fighting tyranny. In 1991, the West claimed victory as communism in the USSR fell.

We claimed victory too soon.

"Chinese security forces fired indiscriminately on Tibetan protesters in 2008 and beat and kicked others until they lay motionless on the ground, a rights group said in a report citing witnesses to clashes in which the government claims it acted with restraint.
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The 73-page report says security forces also tortured protesters and others during arrests and in detention by beating them and depriving them of food and sanitary conditions. It points out that hundreds of Tibetans arrested in the crackdown remain unaccounted for."

These socialist tyrants don't care about freedom. We need to take on thugs, villains and conmen like the Chinese government, just as we did in Vietnam and Korea. Knocking down the Berlin wall was never going to be enough.

Some say that economic prosperity and political correctness means that we need to tolerate these Chinese thugs. I say we need to stick up for freedom, and rolling back the threat of tyranny.

Ordinary people not judges

Sex offenders are low-life scum who deserve high sentences. However, it seems to me that they often don't get what's rightfully coming for them.

The problem lies with our Judges. They don't understand how offending hurts real people. Our Judges are academics with enormous salaries. They're also old lawyers who have been in the system for decades - a court system insulated from the pain of ordinary people - the true victims of crime.

A case in point, raised in the NZ Herald:

"Walker pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent assault and two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, the Christchurch Court News website reported.

Judge Radford said he rejected any suggestion by defence counsel Nick Rout that the offending was less serious because it involved oral sex rather than rape.

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Judge Radford said the offending fitted into band four of the Court of Appeal's guidelines for sentencing, and started his sentencing calculation at 18 years.

He then allowed a one-third reduction for Walker's guilty pleas and his remorse and sentenced him to 12 years' jail with a non-parole term of six years."

As the victim of this crime, how would you feel if some rapist got 6 years off? That's not justice - that's appalling.

When will our politicians realise that juries - ordinary people aware of how crime hurts them - should decide how low-life scum get treated. Judges are experts of the legal system. But ordinary people are the experts of how society ought to be.