Fuel - Its got to be the money.

Seldom to I try and title a blog of mine with such an obvious statement at the start.

I do find it curiously stunning that within hours of a crude oil price rise on the markets, that the fuel companies strike with a 3-5c per litre pump increase. But yet, within the last few weeks, petrol companies have been hit hard with a oil price drop and a strengthening NZ dollar, thus bringing the price down a little bit more, and yet, until Wednesday, the price was still in the same place it was two weeks before Christmas 06.

So...tell me why? Will oil companies do that? Doubt it. They will do something like, we we are buying a reserve, we are absorbing some of these costs before we absolutly have to pass it on to the consumer. Hell, they can't be doing half bad if the price of petrol has not only dropped 3 cents in the last week, but also now, they are offering in-store or allied petrol discounts for up to 6 cents a litre off at the shop. In all, I could save up to 7 cents a litre if I at a Mobil station, have a shopping voucher AND spend $4 or more in store to save another 4 cents a litre.

I don't get it. Its gotta be the $$$$

Capital Punishment!!!

As an online blogger, its good to be able to voice your opinion and those who want to can read it and make what ever comments they want. Like last year, shortly after the brutal murder of Tokoroa school teacher Louis Dear, I wrote about the appeal of capital punishment on my blog page. Not that it meant much in the scheme of things, but it was what I thought at the time.

But its times like the recent rampage of Graeme Burton, a convicted killer which really seem to me the ideal scenario for capital punishments re-introduction.

There have been times in the distant past where someone was put to death for a crime modern technology has confirmed they did not commit. But in this day and age, I wonder whether a $10 bullet from a hunting shop, or a $10 recyclable rope from the Red Shed is better than spending the thousands upon thousands of dollars a year to keep a criminal like Burton in a prison for a crime he was found 100% guilty of, and which landed him in jail in the first place. A murderer. Back in public. We dont live in the old days, we live with these tools to help identify killers like Burton for a surity.

In all cases such as considering the death penalty there are ethical and also moral issues, I understand this being a devoted Christian man. I would have to give this some serious thought and consideration going into any formal referendum considering this kind of change to the law. Such as, timeframes for appeal, certainty of guilt as in beyond all reasonable doubt for jurors, surety of the evidence, intent etc.

I also wonder why, if the parole board said in their report that he was a certainty to offend again, was there a balance in "improved behaviour" stated as the reason for his release. By 18month old beagle has improved her behaviour. In the last four months she has not destroyed a single shoe compared to her first 7 months with us where she demolished one or both of nine pairs of shoes. Does that mean we leave our shoes around? Heck no!!! Maybe once or twice she sniffs, but she knows she gets punished lovingly but sternly if she more than sniffs at a shoe.

From what I have read and seen since this news first broke, Burton should never have been released into civilisation as we know it. If capital punishment is not the way to go for a 'civilised' nation, then someone who is found guilty of murder, or simply defined as the unlawful and intentional killing of a human being by another, should never see the light of day again. The taxpayer carries that burden in perpetuity until that criminal leaves that prison in a box.