Non-lethal weapons for the Army? A blood-and guts general like Patton would surely wince

Give 'em hell, men, but make damned sure you don't bugger the environment.

General George S.Patton gave great advice: “I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.”

Mind you, the quote is disputed. But if it wasn’t said by Patton, then it was said by George C.Scott playing Patton in the movie of that name.

The point is that George was a blood-and-guts general. A tough bastard.

He would be amazed and vexed by modern militarists who have become namby-pamby and abandoned his advice.

Sad to say, New Zealand defence chiefs are among them.

Te reo and the dubious pathway to a fatal faltering

The bloody bureaucrats in Defence have found a neat way of doubling their workload to absolutely no productive purpose, except – perhaps – that doubling the size of media statements will increase the demand for paper.

That will be great for the forestry bits of the Maori economy.

The doubling of the workload – if this idea has caught on elsewhere in the public service – will also call for more staff, because it is being effected by publishing media statements first in te reo (so the vast bulk of us don’t understand a bloody word of it), and then in English.

It’s a spectacular squandering of public money for the highly dubious purpose of marking Maori Language Week.