Tuesday, 21 April 2009

Live Faithfully, Fight Bravely, and Die Laughing!

Well here I was, all ready to don the blogger's quill once more and bore my three readers with anecdotes of life as a J-School grad in the middle of a recession when lo and behold... something twinkled and grabbed my attention.

I don't want to be a Godwin or anything (I already have my favourite angry white man), but I struggle to fathom who my fellows have voted in when I read our Associate Minister of Defence Heather Roy write this sort of garbage (my emphasis):
As well as the main Review, I will personally be leading a set of companion studies. These will focus on our defence industry, on the role of the NZDF in youth programmes and the Cadet Forces, and voluntary national service.

The gleeful announcement that Mrs Roy has secured a review into how our Defence Force can play a role in youth programmes (boot camps anyone?) as one of the three (three?!?) companion studies to the Defence Review that will make up the Minister's White Paper (decisive stuff here guys), put certain images in my head...


Going through the national security policy of our "classic liberal" party I can't find anything that may point to the defence force having a role in youth programmes.

Ah heck, just call Godwin and let's get this over with:



If anyone out there can enlighten me as to what the NZDF has to do with youth programmes that doesn't resemble the Hitler-Jugend, fill me in....

PB.

2 comments:

Matty Smith said...

I did a double take when I saw Roy talking about this on 3 News tonight. She was so... ...comfortable. Absolutely frank. And still I find it hard to believe that anyone might not consider this a 'touchy' issue, if they're so deluded as not to think totally mad.

Paul McBeth said...

Tell me about it Matty - fortunately my favourite angry white man has his say

- http://tumeke.blogspot.com/2009/04/military-conscription-under-nationalact.html -

which made me feel a lil' bit better.

I just find it bizarre coming from Act - I mean, I know they have that unholy divide (I still like to think that it's actually a party that represents minimal government and deserves representation), but if I was a free market devotee who believed St Roger was the second coming, I'd have serious problems with this (along with many other things coming out of the Association).

Ah heck, Godwin away I say.....
PB.