By: Larry Williams | Thursday, November 01, 2012 8:38 PM

DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS

 

A Northland headmaster has written to Prime Minister John Key expressing his concerns about banning drug sniffer dogs from schools, saying it is "short-sighted nonsense" and proposed new legislation was "nuts".

The Education Amendment Bill, which was introduced to Parliament this month, aims to abolish the use of drug sniffer dogs and drug testing in schools.

Well that is the way it is being interpreted. I'm not so sure this is the case.

The exact detail will be thrashed out but the way I see it the police can still take drug sniffer dogs through schools and schools can still request a drug test be taken by a doctor.

What the Bill is trying to do is to clarify the boundaries around search and seizure.

I think most would agree that these searches and tests need to be done it’s just a matter of whom and how.

 

THE TRUTH

 

The Truth newspaper has been dead and buried for a very long time.

It’s a paper full of sleeze with a print of just a few thousand.

It was only a matter of time before the Truth folded. It was surely about to be put down.

However, the owners are now trying to breed new life into the paper with the appointment of Cameron Slater as Editor.

Say what you like about Slater but his Whaleoil blog has become the most read blog in this country. It’s opinionated. It’s from the right. It’s in your face. It’s risky. It breaks stories. It’s often ahead of the MSM. It’s very popular.

I think the owners of the Truth are smart. When you have a newspaper that nobody reads or the demographic that reads it makes the operation un-commercial you have to do something.

I suspect the Truth will become very political and that politicians of all parties should be very careful. Salter says they should be very afraid.

It won't matter which party an MP belongs to, Slater will take them out if he gets the chance.

Clearly the Truth has online intentions and in that Slater is a good bet for the Truth.

 

U.S. ELECTION

 

The super storm Sandy has been and gone and it’s now clean up time. It’s a bloody mess. Things will slowly get back to normal but communities, towns and cities have been ripped apart. The cost will run into the tens of billions.

We are now seeing a return to the election campaign in the run up to Tuesday's vote.

The coverage is still pro Obama and the polls give him, I think, I slight lead, but it’s a toss-up.

In the Herald this morning there was some commentary from an obvious pro Obama supporter trying to pretend that Romney was an option. Romney was never an option, certainly not for a liberal left wing journalist. It’s the kind of stuff that is spewed out every day in the media and Obama has the inside running on that.

I think we have seen the next Republican President in action over the last few days but it’s not Romney.

It’s New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie. He's the one who has given a lot of credit to Obama. He's rightly thrown out the politics in the wake of the disaster.

Christie was always the logical choice to run for President this time round but rejected it.

His turn will come again I think.

To be fair to Romney he's not the monster the left have portrayed him to be. I think he showed that during the three debates.

It’s interesting the reaction of this election in this country. Some say ‘who cares’ who wins it doesn't impact on us.

Well it does and it will.

Whoever wins will need to deal with the fiscal cliff and urgently. Whatever the US does, we get hit either way.

The big issue for us is trade. Obama came in on a platform being a bit anti free trade but is now coming around.

Romney I'm not sure of. My gut feel is that Romney would be a tougher proposition on a free trade deal. But that might change.

So, whatever way it goes, it will impact here.

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