Is Christopher Luxon a liar or deluded?

Will Luxon resign if rents don’t stop rising? No! What a crock of crap. What happened when Student allowance went up by 50.00 per week? https://www.stuff.co.nz/a/nz-news/350211394/pm-christopher-luxon-argues-renters-will-be-grateful-interest-deductibility?lid=m8nx4u1zsz2r&utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=two_minutes_of_stuffLandlords almost universally lifted their rents when this happened. This is not a bash the Landlord post. Currently you can get 6.5% interest on fixed term, with first mortgage security on low risk investments. So Lets say I bought a rental for 800,000 k with a 400,000 deposit. That 400 k could earn me 26000.00 gross or 500.00 per week. If I wanted a 6.5%cash return on a 800,000.00 dollar home (1000.00 per week) I would need to be getting about 65000.00 per year in rent or 1250.00. I would be paying 2,606 per month over 60 years for the mortgage or interest only 2200.00. It is not the job of a commercial landlord to subsidise housing. The responsibility for the provision of affordable, safe, healthy housing lies at the feet of society via the State, the Church, NGOs or Charitable organisations. We as a society can afford to do this, we cannot afford the consequences of not doing so. We have seen these consequences From The mid 1970’s on, the initial instigators of this were in fact Labour and then National doubled down. This will only end when those who are most affected by this actually use their electoral power and vote in a Government that will deal with this. The biggest problem with Labour’s last term was squandering its electoral mandate on issues that actually would not have addressed the prime roots of poverty in our society and that is the cost of housing. This is not about higher wages or benefits it is about lower rents and an ability to buy property at an affordable price. Here endeth the lesson.

Moral dilemmas,

I have been through a few, some I have failed at, others well I have managed to stand true. I am fortunate, I have a place to live, food to eat, even some toys. I am living week to week at the moment but I still have choices and I can improve my lot.

Some time ago I bought a small boat, not a lot of money, however enough. I have been out fishing three times. I want to fish more but needed to make some adjustments. I am safety-wise, I have life jackets, VHF, cell phone, first aid, and fire extinguisher and I won’t go out of the Harbour at the moment as I lack the experience to go across the bar at Waihi Beach. I am a member of Coastguard and put in trip reports (p.s. you don’t need to be a Coastguard member to put in trip reports).

I decided I would get a backup motor, I had two I had bought cheap, and regretted it, hard to start, I scrapped them this week. So I bought a brand new motor. Unboxed it and was gobsmacked, instead of the 999.00 motor in the box there was a 1600.00 one. Now as far as the law is concerned it was mine, a contract had been entered into and money exchanged hands. It felt good for a little while and I found myself justifying keeping the motor. That was dilemma number 1, very shortly after dilemma number two appeared.

I decided I better register my boat trailer and get it legal. I checked the registration plate and it was listed as stolen. My heart fell to my boots, you see for me that’s a no-brainer. It doesn’t belong to me. I may have bought it but stolen is stolen! I had a small pity party then called the Police, took that which was mine off the boat and hitched it up to my car. At the same time, I reboxed the motor and put it into the back of my car. Law or no law my conscience couldn’t keep it. Times are tough and retailers cannot afford to lose 600.00. I took the boat to the Police and returned the motor.

I would love to tell you that I felt great but actually, I didn’t. The boat thing happened as I did not do a fundamental check and run the plate number through the system. If it wasn’t listed as stolen or a security registered against it I would have been covered via an insurance system. To be fair I had ignored my niggles, it was;t super cheap or anything, there was just a quiet voice and I was ignoring it as I didn’t want to lose any money.

The Police Constable said you could have kept this thrown away the number plate and sampling removed the plate number that was painted on. I said it comes down to this I call myself a follower of Christ (thank God for Grace as sometimes I am not that flash at it) I also believe in integrity then there are the other po (posts that inform ny life). My Family and friends. A house that has only three walls or posts is not very strong. In the end if I have nothing but God, Family, Integrity and Friends then that is enough, I am a rich man.

Well I got a call from the Police, the only stolen thing on my boat was the number plate, the boat was not listed as stolen and the trailer that the plate matched was not a boat trailer. Could I please come and pick it up from the lock-up. I felt good, but not vindicated. I didn’t see it as a reward for doing the right thing. I got the money back that I had put down on the motor, so I decided to wait for an auxiliary rather than buy the one I was going to. That money needed to go to help some people who are away from their families working. to support them and I am putting on a Christmas Lunch for them. Once again I don’t feel that I am good and I don’t expect any reward here’s why.

My reward in life comes from knowing that doing the right thing as an outworking of my faith is my reward. To maintain faith in a living and practical way that also demonstrates how faith should be is something that the church just doesn’t do very well. Many people try however for many others, they go to church on a Sunday, they may put some money in the plate and that’s it.

Here is the kicker. Times are really tough for a lot of people right now, New Zealanders from the middle to the bottom of the economic scale are being smacked around in every corner. I will talk about that in my next post,

Be Strong and steadfast,

Paul

The Truth Never Wins A Popularity Competition

I read this today, It was originally written last year.  I am sharing it because it is poignant, shocking and brutally honest. 

The Dwarf who moved

Peter Williams QC was a New Zealand Lawyer who had a reputation for being fearless in his 60 year career he defended some 600 murder defendants.  The book I read recently is titled The dwarf who moved: and other remarkable tales from a life in the law. The book was entertaining and informative.

Equal Under The Law (The Motto of Graham McCready)

Son of an alcoholic, a recovering alcoholic, perennial battler for justice, love him or hate him, if you read about his life you should respect him,

Grappling with the big questions Part 1

I have just finished a book by Philip Yancey, The Question That Never Goes away  (What is God up to in a world of such tragedy and pain).  In this book Yancey grapples with acts of unspeakable evil, and shares his thoughts about where God is, in places like Sandy Hook, the Twin Towers (911) and many other places where disaster has struck wither through human hands.   Nothing quite prepares you for facing death, either your own

Knowing too much

Over the years I have been privy to a lot of confidential information, criminal records, identities of abusers, the dirty laundry of families, skeletons in the closet even political secrets.  Some of it is quite comedic and other stuff is just well ugly.  I still walk down the street today and see people I know “stuff” about, stuff I rather would not know.  I am good at keeping secrets and confidentiality,

Karma or calmer?

The concept of Karma is often talked about, especially when we are talking about people who do bad things to others, oh Karma will get them, they will pay in the end, they’ll get theirs.  Easy words to utter, glib, the flow off our tongues like sugar from a spoon, but like sugar they can be useless and meaningless.

Cash Gas Grass or Arse. Nobody rides for free!

This narrative on a bumper sticker I have seen far too often that for me is indicative of one of the reasons why I believe “Roast Busting” is a society problem.After my blog on the roast busters https://kiwipaulspoetry.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/roast-busters-a-society-problem/ I got asked a simple question, the gist was did I really believe it was. I am not sure exactly what part of my blog was considered to be incorrect however on reflection I am even more convinced of the role that society has in the Roast Busters saga. So what is my evidence. I remember a catchy little tune and the lyrics, I sung along the first few lines Follow me, everything is alright
I’ll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave, I can guarantee
You won’t find nobody else like me and then suddenly I heard I’m not worried ’bout the ring you wear
‘Cause as long as no one knows then nobody can care and I realised I was singing a song that celebrated adultery, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JKAid8Z-rA. Now I am not that conservative, not these days and live and let live but I can tell you what I think about adultery and frankly it is a destroyer, enough on that and perhaps another blog. So the lyrics that are inserted into popular songs are often striking at the fabric of society. There is that kind of narrative going on right through the music industry, the lyrics that are more explicit are easy to deal with, but it is the insidious ones that sneak up on you. It is the insidious views in society that I want to talk about, the deeply entrenched sexist beliefs that are reinforced by the continual sexual bombardment that dominates our music industry, which merely reflects society.
Now what I am talking about here is the boys club, the comments and attitudes that I hear every day reinforce to me the belief that it is our society that not only allows and even condones the behaviour exhibited by the West Auckland Rapists I refuse from here on in to call them by any other name as Rapists they are. Now when I talk about society I accept that I am part of the problem so I am not standing on a pedestal here. But here is where it starts, and men please tell me you have never heard this before, you come up against a strong woman, perhaps in a position of influence and power, perhaps espousing politics you don’t agree with, then it turns out that she doesn’t have a husband . Straight away the speculation starts, often about her sexuality, but often enough these men know the cure! What she needs is a good shag! That would sort her out. This kind of attitude is the more shall we say sanitised end of society. What I see in my work with young men is deeply entrenched attitudes where they want to “root” every girl they know. As soon as they have “rooted” the young woman she turns from being a hotty to a slut or a ho. Where do they get these attitudes from? They are so commonly held and almost universal. When I hear these attitudes voiced I confront them. I tell the young men, that they are hypocritical and ask them to explain why they think such a way? I tell my young men in my family the truth, and I have told my daughters the same, most young men when they have a girlfriend have sex on their mind, they are focused on the prize. Now I say most not all but the prevalence of such an attitude that is often reinforced and celebrated by both their peers and their male relatives and older role models.
So I guess for me that is just one of the reasons why I say that the West Auckland Rapists are a societal issue that is deeply entrenched and prevalent in our society. Please disabuse me of this position if you disagree.