Prostitution Incompatible With Policework

From NZ Herald:

A policewoman who worked as a prostitute to ease financial difficulties has been censured, Deputy Commissioner Lyn Provost said today.

Apparently, prostitution is incompatible with policework, despite it now being legal in New Zealand. The argument the police are giving is that underground crime syndicates own a lot of the brothels and whatnot, and if a policewoman working as a prostitute was found out by this lot, they could possibly blackmail her into igoring certain criminal activites, etc.

Personally, I know what it’s like to live in Auckland and how expensive it can be – if you have the time and the energy to get a second job to help cover that, then by all means. I’m not sure there’s any legal reasoning why you should have to declare to your first job that you’re getting a second job (correct me if I’m wrong though). And if someone wants to take up prostitution as their secondary job, so be it – it shouldn’t be anybody’s business but their own.

Brings a whole new meaning to “Fuck the Police” though.

Why Veto Makes No Sense

After making it through the House and through the Senate, and being supported by the majority of the US population, the stem cell bill has been vetoed by Bush.

President Bush rejected legislation Wednesday that could have multiplied the federal money going into embryonic stem cell research, using the first veto of his presidency to underscore his stand on the emotionally charged, life-and-death issue.

The House then voted on overturning his veto, but failed to achieve a two-thirds majority (235-193 in favour of overturing the veto).

This underscores why the veto power is kinda ridiculous – a bill can be supported by the majority, make it all the way through the complicated legal procedure to make it almost successful, then one man can say “Nope, I don’t think so.” and it’ll be all over. Granted, this is the first time Bush has used his veto power, but you’d think he’d put his own personal viewpoints aside in favour of those of the populous he is elected to represent. He’s supposed to be there for them, not for his own agenda. One man should never have so much power that he can decide for a nation, against their wishes, just because he believes that it’s the right thing to do. It reminds me of a man named Adolf, really.

Commenting on it all, Bush had this to say:

“It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect.”

Ironic really coming from someone who, during his tenure as Texas governor, executed prisoners at the rate of one every two weeks.

Wanna be evacuated? That’ll be $300!

Details on what’s happening in Lebanon at the moment is all over the web, so I won’t bother going into it again here. But in my reading up on the situation, I came across this news story about a US student stuck there at the moment awaiting evacuation. I’m glad that the people being caught in the crossfire are being helped to get out, but this particular sentence shocked me:

Nucho said there was talk that Americans would have to pay a $300 evacuation fee and be left to sleep on the streets of Cyprus.

This is further confirmed in the article:

In statements e-mailed to Americans in Lebanon and posted on the embassy’s Web site, the State Department has stressed “that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date.”

This, to me, is horribly unacceptable. These are US citizens we’re talking about – you’re evacuating your own countrymen yet charging them to do so? The article goes on to say that once they’ve been evacuated to Cyprus, they’re on their own – no accommodation, no flights, no nothing will be paid for by the US government.

The US calls itself “the land of the free” – it seems freedom comes with a charge these days.

Chock Full Of Piratey Goodness And 99% Chum Free

Avast, ye scurvy land lubbers! Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! It be the one day that all ye scallywags must speak in yon piratey lingo all day, or face walking the plank! September 19th it be, for those grog swilling bilge rats living in yon timezones other than mine. Shiver me timbers, but it is fun! Aye, yon co-workers who are not as piratey as yeself may cast salty looks at ye, but just run them through with yon cutlass and pillage their treasure, yarr!

Right ye salty sea dogs, back to yon grog drinking festivities!

Paris Phone Hacked

Poor Paris Hilton. If its not sex tapes, its phone hacking. If ya missed the news, the contents of Miss Hilton’s Sidekick have been posted on the internet, including her phone book (containing the numbers of a fair few of her celebrity friends), messages, and even some dodgy photos.

There’s a fine line between fame and notoriety, and to be honest, Paris has really brought this upon herself. Think about it – who really had heard of Paris Hilton before the sex tape fiasco? Conveniently timed to coincide with The Simple Life’s first season… She complains and moans about the attention shes getting but honestly, who of us really believes she doesnt like all the attention? It’s unfortunate that the people in her phone book have been affected by this turn of events, as they’re just innocent bystanders in the whole thing. Its the price of fame, though.

The lesson to be learned from all this, in my opinion, is that people need to start taking security seriously. Password sensitive information, and not just with simple passwords that are easy for anyone to guess. Never store information such as credit card numbers in devices like a PDA or cellphone, that’s just asking for trouble. And don’t be a dipshit and leave your phone lying around for someone else to get at and mess with! If friends of mine leave their phones unattended I tend to change the language on them to Spanish, so they’ll learn to keep it secure.

The technology in our world keeps expanding and improving, but unfortunately the knowledge level of those using the new toys we’re developing really haven’t got the smarts to use them properly or responsibly.