Aotearoa's Very Own Cause Celebre & Folkhero Kim Dotcom #4

Yes, Kim Dotcom has become more than a bit of a New Zealand folkhero  - as another Newstalk ZK talkback host, Leighton Smith, has suggested, now veritably running NZ Government by default...

God's Own's Very Own Cause Celebre & Folkhero #3

Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson had an interesting speech during Parliament's urgent debate on the matter last week, in which he spoke admiringly dispassionately and moreover made the interesting point/observation that it was just as well that the P.M. and his deputy hadn't in fact been more in hands-on command of the issue - i.e. of NZ"s security service apparatus - for surely that would be, or would smack of, the hallmarks of a police state - something people understandably enough accused Rob Muldoon of when he wielded that privileged position of being head of the S.I.S. and occasionally divulged info which suggested he was having a little too much hands-on control of its day-to-day operations.

NZ's Own Cause Celebre & Folk Hero #2

Re Deputy P.M. Bill English: Though accused, understandably enough, of serving as P.M. Key's convenient fall guy for any governmental failing under Mr Key's  "Don't - God Forbid! - let any dirt stick to me" approach to his government's exceedingly successful PR operation, superbly copy-and-pasted from the Australian public relations consultants, Crosby and Textor, at least he straightaway confessed to his own involvement the other day...and likewise, though somewhat seriously sullied by the rental expenses saga a couple years back, was never one of those National MPs implicated in Nicky Hager's Hollow Men. Nevertheless such a matter - even amidst hundreds of others - should surely be rather towards 'the top of the agenda', one would think, when debriefing his leader upon what had transpired in his absence.

New Zealand's Very Own Cause Celebre & Folkhero Rolled Into One: Ruminations Upon Kim Dotcom and the Kim Dotcom Saga

Vis-a-vis P.M. John Key: I concur completely with Newstalk ZB Morning Show host Mike Hosking's assessment of Mr Key's apology: that it was "genuine and decent...the proper and right thing to do"; and in regard to TV1 Headline News that he'd given "a rare apology", that was undoubtedly and all too sadly true, and yet at least he's given even just one, unlike a well-known predecessor of his; and yes, I'm - obviously - not including any of Ms Clark's saying "I'm sorry" to the Samoans and Chinese etc: all fair enough indeed, but hardly requiring great personal humility much less contrition on her part. And looking back, I do believe there were a few, if not half a dozen or so, such 'matters' on her part which did indeed warrant such. 

It's Time For The World To Heed The Clear Warning Signs

The world indeed stands close to the precipice - closer than perhaps any time since the height - or perhaps depths is more apt - of the Cold War between The U.S.A. and the (former) U.S.S.R.. And yes, as unpopular and unsexy as it is today to say so, the Israelis, in particular its rather forcible, frank and formidable leader Benjamin Netanyahu, are right on the money vis-a-vis the imminent threat posed by the apocalyptic-like machinations and ambitions of Iran, with or without its present leader Ahmindinejab. And for anyone doubtful of such a quick perusal of Michael Drosnin's classic The Bible Code, let alone Daniel chapter 11: 40-45, make this abundantly clear. (And only a mention will here be made of that selfsame Older Testament prophet's citing the nations of Libya and Egypt in the very last days, countdown-to-Armageddon scenario. Netanyahu's speech today was reasoned, measured, yet deadly in earnest: let our 21st-Century, Israel-despising world take note. God will ever defend His own - though they fail to turn to Him till the very 11th hour; yet surely we're now closer to midnight - well past five to twelve on the Doomsday Clock - than we even were during that most infamous period of the Cold War.  

And the Js have it also

Good on both Labour's Jacinda Ardern and new Green M.P. Jan Logie for fronting up and putting their wallet where their many professions have been and seizing the ammunition by their incisors and living beneath the 'real' poverty line for, I'm assuming, a whole week; as 1.4 billion of our fellow earth inhabitants also apparently do on a regular, day-to-day basis.

TV Plaudit #4: The one-time "Honourable" John Tamihere's ThinkTank

This one-time would-be leader of the NZ Labour Party and our nation - more's the pity and our loss due to his coming completely unstuck c/o an extremely ill-advised Ian Wishart interview - has finally found his niche. Another ably compered discussion - panel in this instance - Mr Tamihere delivers his show with great style and panache, an ever-polite and exceedingly courteous demeanour and helpful, self-effacing approach. Moreover invariably eliciting intelligent and thoughtful contributions and tete-a-tete from his guests upon subjects of moment generally ignored (or simply never gotten around to) by the mainstream media And the icing upon the cake is surely the intro 'panel', perhaps suggesting John missed his real calling in life on either Get Smart or Mission Impossible. "Eat your heart out, Maxwell Smart" (and Agent 66, or was that 99?)

#3 Plaudit: TV3's (newish) Three60 Show

Much as the ODT's World Focus supplement has proved itself from inception, this newish Sunday morning international current affairs show has been a stunner. Good topics, with useful interviews, and ably compered by the formerly challenged and rather acerbic Guyon Espiner, but from his Q&A interviews - or was that The Nation? - having proven himself increasingly able and on-the-ball and incisive. A good move, folks, but typically probably unknown, unnoted and unrecognized: like most good TV shows.

And while we're on the subject of tv shows...

A thank you to the ever irrepressible Walrus of New Zealand TV himself, Mark Sainsbury, on a good innings and many worthwhile interviews/discussions/topics - amidst admittedly a fair volume of chaff.

An Example Worthy of Emulation: Real Food for Thought

Certainly food for thought - that is, those young gals, and NZ Oxfam Director, on tonight's CloseUp, personally experiencing what it's like to live/survive on a real poverty daily diet, of .70 cents a meal a day. Something it might benefit all of us to do/attempt - on a genuine, real basis - from time to time. Not to mention all the kiddies who still engage in the yearly 48-hour famine, raising funds through sponsors.

An Extra-Special SUPACALIFRAGILISTICEXPEALIDOSHUS to a half-dozen folk (& organisations): In Brevity of Necessity

To: *Prince William and Princess Kate - for especial decorum & self-control & fortitude in response to a blatant disregard of their personal privacy and boundaries by folk whose paparazzi character would and could only have been all too readily reminiscent of those selfsame ilk who pursued and hounded Princess Di to her own untimely death around fifteen years earlier.
    
      *That great and unparallelled document, the U.S. Constitution, which forever enshrines the sanctity of the Western value of freedom of speech and expression, for which priceless/precious value and valued principle people have given their lives throughout generations, especially in that one, unique, World War 11.

      *All those whose livelihoods (i.e. cartoonists, comedians etc - without whom this world would inevitably be immensely the poorer) depend upon and are inextricably associated with this cherished ability and liberty to lampoon one and all with fear of and favour toward none: long may their tribe continue!

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      *J.R.R. Tolkien for his unparalleled masterpieces The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, etc, and for his sheer determination and utter unwillingness to ever deviate from his implacable desire to have and see his works published as and when and in the style that most suited them and best satisfied him.

      *Peter Jackson for his remaining dignified and above the fray in view of the ongoing disrespectful references to his person (in public speeches) of C.T.U. President Helen Kelly, whose desire to make of Sir Peter an ideological cardboard cutout figure to suit her own political propensities may well make for good theatre - worthy of a cameo appearance in one of Peter Jackson's films no doubt - but does nothing to enhance her credibilitiy as a decent New Zealander, especially in view of the exemplary praise Sir Peter was given during the film row by some of the acting guild leaders themselves - among many others - (for his excellent treatment of his workers on his film sets) but moreover for his recent ongoing efforts, alongside wife Fran (and others) in securing the successful release from death row in the U.S, of the three fellows now known simply as 'The Memphis Three'.

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And last but by no means least to a personal friend and father figure and mentor, Richard Welch, whose birth-anniversary (as he himself ever referred to it) this (i.e. September the 24th) ever was...who died prematurely - but of natural causes and/or lifestyle failings - 18 years ago, I believe, (plus 2 months), while Yours Truly sojourned in 'the land of the free', shortly thereafter penning an ode to his cherished memory at a city park in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, state of my Mum's - also his one-time close friend - upbringing. (A friend in his pro-MMP - unlike my Dad's contrary anti-MMP - crusading to a man, Ian Upton, who visitied me entirely out of the blue a couple weeks ago from a little island off the coast of Auckland.) May he rest in peace, and join in the resurrection of the just on that great day so soon upon us.

Congratula-shuns - and celebrat-shuns

To the beloved Bilbo and Frodo Baggins(es) on their, respective, eleventy-first (111th) and thirty-third (33rd) birth-anniversaries...'hobbitses', to quote the equally beloved, (as irascible as Bilbo) Goolum (Smeagol), ever dear to my own heart...on this, my 44th blog-posting (at least on my own blogsite bulletin board) of the 22nd of September, 2012 - perhaps itself the 'beginning of the end' year of regular earth reckoning - from all (reasonable-sounding) accounts...

May the Good Lord Bless all the true shepherds in the land

As 'the Good Book' itself enjoins accolades upon all true shepherds/pastors of the[ir] flocks, and due opprobrium for all those false to their trust, may this lowly pleb himself  'celebrate' all those real shepherds in Aotearoa who have cared for their tiny lambs at this revisitation of mid-winter chill upon our nation, and likewise invite exposure and shame for all those others who simply couldn't give a damn...
           as said Book of Books puts it: "A righteous man regards the life of his animal,
But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

Another '9/11' reflection/tribute

To a special brother whose New Zealand birthdate is literally 9/11, i.e. the 9th of November, and to a special lady ('love - from afar - of my life') who happened to have the NZ-equivalent birthdate of  9/11: i.e. the 11th of September...this now infamous day/date will ever be associated, as well as with my ineffaceable memory of that fateful day, which, much like the Moon Landing and JFK's assassination for a previous generation, and Lady Diana's death (for my own) just 4 short years (& 11 days) before, will never be forgotten...

My other 9/11 reflection-tribute

To the underated, (ultimately) politically unsuccessful one-time (9/11) New York City Mayor Rudy Guilliani:

for presiding over the brilliant, ever-so-politically-incorrect, '3 strikes and you're out' New York Citywide crackdown on crime through highlighting and targetting 'small stuff' crime, and thus dealing decisively with the city's longtime scourge of dastardly crime 'stats' or more aptly realities: Thank you - especially from all those who are alive today because you simply refused to adopt a feel-good, namby-pamby approach.

9/11 Revisited 11 Years On (on the 'American' 9/11)

A double-sided brickbat/bouquet is due, the former to governments (plural), the latter to a 'single' individual:

The first to Western Governments generally, who, in their exceedingly indecent haste (in the decade) post 9/11 to be seen to be doing something to make the(ir corner of the) world safer for all their citizenry, overreached themselves to the utmost extent, passing a raft and succession of - ostensibly anti-terrorist, effectively liberty-squashing and destroying laws whose full repercussions will not ultimately be understood in their nefarious implications and repercussions until George W's selfsame nation one day soon(er than we all realize) enacts, quickly followed by other nations around the globe, a national Sunday law, which edict will rapidly precipitate our world into that long-foretold Time of Jacob's Trouble which will itself hurtle our planet and its inhabitants into the culminating events leading up into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

A Belated "Good-bye" to 'the man in the moon'

You lived and died with a quiet, modest, self-effacing nobility, Mr Neil Armstrong, ever eschewing the publicity-hungry, rapacious media. Apparently even intending to have said: "One small step for a man."
And memorably, when asked by an interviewer, during a rare interview given just months before his death, his view of the moon conspiracy theory, responded, again, in a paraphrase 'to the best of my recollection':
"What chance would there (have) be(en) of keeping 800,000 NASA scientists silent for over 4 decades?"

Good On Ya, John

And to the redoubtable John Banks a word of commendation is due...for saying, in yesterday's afternoon's encomium for our victorious, returning paralympians (I paraphrase Mr Banks, for fear of misquoting him):
                           "what an inspiration they've been to other disabled NZers, who likewise need to know that they too can achieve [whatever goals they set themselves] with the support of the[ir] community." And moreover all credit to you, John, for thus officially floating a new ACT NZ principle; and a revolutionary one at that!

*Numero Uno in der Weldt*

Excuse my poor Spanish/German, folks - but "YIPPEE": we're now #1 in the world: our kiwi paralympians, that is...as in the highest/greatest recipients in the world per capita for medals at the London Games!

Hurrah - bless you - "wunderbar"!!! And "welcome home", fellas & gals! And tough bikkies, Ms Ostapchuk...better luck next steroid, I mean Games; we all win some and lose some: truly.

Now As Far As These Other Fellas Are Concerned...

*Who'd come up with the idea of Tau Henare as Speaker? You're right, Mr Key: no way, Jose. Surely the NZ Parliament has enough thugs without appointing one prime specimen  'to rule over 'em all'...

*Maurice Williamson - Mr Lifetime Licence himself? No, again, somehow I don't think so...sorry, Maurice, nothing personal you understand...

*So it seems to be David Carter by default. Chief assets seem to be: his first name (Remember, 'Mrs McCave had 23 sons, and she named them all Dave'; and it'd certainly take the wind out of the '3 Daves' Labour ship); his surname - related no doubt to that elder gentleman of National party fame, John Carter, (now apparently snorkelling in the tropical South Pacific), also JC of the same namesake as that of the hero of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian books of yesteryear; and - perhaps somehow, somewhere - related to that elder statesman of U.S. presidential politics, the best ex-President America's ever had, Jimmy himself; and besides, he has that sober, detached, thoughtful mien befitting an adjudicator. Which reminds me, Lockwood always had an advantage, being preened for the job from his celebrated days hosting University Challenge in the early 80s (or whenever). NOT FAIR, LOCKWOOD! BUT PLEASE DON'T GO!!!

Oh Lockwood, Wherefore Dost Thou Go?

A mixed bouquet/brickbat. Zero - for taking off to London - though who can really blame you? Full marks - for  running so adeptly the deck of NZ's Titanic: quite possibly the best speaker in my lifetime. We'll miss ya.

But Your Leader's Certainly Onto Something

All credit to David Shearer for a bunch of inter-related proposals that've even earned an unprecedented amount of talkback show (host at least) applause or not downright rejection for once. For making a well thought through, carefully considered and nuanced early policy pronouncement to boot. I'm talking about school lunches in particular. Showing that occasionally the U S of A is, welfare-speaking,  decades ahead of NZ, as it is in terms of food stamps (as opposed to the dole etc). As Mr Shearer so brilliantly pre-empted governmental criticism, sure, giving folks (parents of unfed kids) jobs etc is an important question, no question about it. But that won't feed the kids, folks; and hungry bodies are not well-equipped minds! 

Ms Wall, Please Return To Your Drawing Board

And an accompanying bouquet for Syd (email correspondent to Jim Mora's show this afternoon) for effectively countering Louise Wall, M.P.'s 'bright idea' for kids to begin school at 4 years of age. Though I missed some of said email, the U.S.A. & Oz and even (the once) God's Own - in its 1877 Education Act - have all long realized 'the later the better'. That great patron saint of alternative schooling, the late, great Rudolf Steiner himself, and those educational facilities he set in motion, have long since understood the need for children to begin many activities 'later on' also, at a time more suited to their developing minds and bodies. And as said e-correspondent  aptly concluded, "Give 'em a break - let 'em be kids a little while longer" (or some such thing). The Good Lord knows they're moulded into little adults all too readily anyhow.

Oh Blow Me Home On A Vent Of Hot Air

To those presently making a rather infamous claim to ownership of the wind - what can one say? For their honesty in admitting to a practice most of us would be altogether too embarrassed to, due credit. Hopefully they'll now follow this up with a stake in hot air, as they're fast overtaking that other exceptionally windy critter, homo politicianus. 

Hone, You're - unlike usual - speaking a lotta rot

To accuse your former Maori Party colleagues - in particular, Messrs & Madams Sharples, Flavell & Turia, of being National Party lapdogs is just not true, and by a rural kilometre. If anything, methinks at this point Messr Key et al are wondering just what they got into when entering into a confidence and supply arrangement with the Maori Party. Rather, they've - by their steadfast refusal to budge on certain matters of public note - caused the present govt an endless succession of headaches, and pains in both the posterior and shoulder region. And that's just for starters.

Christopher Finlayson, You're One Heckuva Guy

All credit to the present NZ Govt for having both the balls and the guts to deliver a wonderful outcome for the long-denied and mistreated Tuhoe people...surely a win-win on all fronts, keeping such a pristine 'park' in the peoples' (at large) hands... . (Just as National in the 90s had the courage to actually do something significant for Maori, though they've never been an appreciable National-voting bloc.)

Bouquet To 'Master Wales'

Okay, I'm a pacifist, but nevertheless all credit to Master Harry for being willing to 'put his money where his mouth is' - conspicuously unlike his own former U.K. (& U.S.) commanders-in-chief, i.e. Messrs Bush 'n Blair. The Prince, much like his Old Testament royal 'forefathers' - such as King David - at least has the moral gumption to be in the forefront of his peoples' forays into deadly battle...being prepared to die for the cause, however questionable that cause may well be.

And Brickbats To Our NZ Media - 'With Knobs On': For Essentially Sidestepping the London Paralympics Almost Altogether - Where were ya, folks?!?!?

As per usual, your second guessing of your fellow kiwis has been hopelessly flawed...better luck next time, 'eh...

Plaudits To Our Paralympians!

Great Results Gals 'n Guys - you've done us all proud, plus some!

Ah, those were indeed the days, my friends

A - rather - belated mini-tribute to honour the memory of the late, great kiwi Prime Minister Norman Kirk, a man sharing the same day of decease as Princess Diana, and now apparently the 'ole songwriter Hal Davis, author of at least 3 major 50s/60s tunes & lyrics. Diana's 15th death-anniversary and Mr Kirk's 38th. A popularly much-esteemed leader of Aotearoa, who, unlike probably any other politician in the decades following, built his own house, and in today's earthquake-riddled Kaiapoi, of all places...today similarly commemorating an (in)famous anniversary, i.e., alongside its' fellow Cantabrians, the 2nd year since the first of the major Canterbury/Christchurch quakes. To Mr Kirk's lasting credit, he was one who pursued social conservatism and economic progressivism and international visionary leadership at a time when it was sadly lacking most other places. Here and overseas. 

Oh Me, Myself and I

Serves ya right for not following your own most excellent advice re the absolute necessity of (attempting to) dry(ing) clothes overnight in Dunedin. So, failing to do so the recent Saturday night, they got out late Sunday afternoon, thus ending up relatively sodden by the wee hours of Monday morning: a time at which every sensible man, woman and their dog - and moggy - are, naturally enough, 'up and at 'em rushing out (and back in) from their friendly neighbourhood clothesline. Yeah, right! (Truly - in my case anyhow.)

No Longer Under Pacific's Triple Star Guard - Watch Out Aotearoa

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
                                                                            that put darkness for light, and light for darkness"

You've made your own bed, New Zealand - now you'll have to (go) lie (down) in it...

And you might as well forget all about special divine protection of  "God's Own": after spitting decisively in His face, like Jesus He is pierced with agony in His heart, but He will accept our decision, and turn sorrowfully away - if we so choose... .

Unfortunately our decision thus - if by default - to surrender Aotearoa into the jurisdiction of the Enemy of All Good, means God will - ultimately, once we have passed that 'point of no return' - leave us to the rule of the one we have chosen...and we surely do not need to look far back across recent world history to realize that that reign can at times be exceedingly cruel and ruthless and merciless. But respect our decision He will certainly do - as the Divine Gentleman He ever is. Yes, He loves us too much not to.

(If  our parliamentary 'leaders' "sign, seal and deliver" their signatures to the 2nd and 3rd readings of the Marriage (Amendment) Bill, that is, though somehow I've - now long since - seen this as a 'fait accompli'.)                                                                     

Methinks Some Doth Protest Overly Much, And Shed Altogether Many Crocodile Tears

With Mr Parker's recent, well-deserved public excoriation for regularly messing around with boys over a sustained period, I tend to concur with those such as Newstalk ZB's intellectually-unchallenged and ever-articulate talkback host Leighton Smith, who, like so many others, including numerous callers, have put the finger precisely where it ought to point: i.e. at all those in Mr Parker's (especially school) community who conveniently turned a blind eye (and deaf ear) throughout the same extended period. Despite surely the multitude of internal alarm bells that must've been going off continually as to what might actually have been, and indeed was, going on.

Which could not but remind me of my own initial foray into teacher aiding some 10 years ago. For the fact that it took an entire 3 weeks for the standard police clearance to come through from the then Wanganui Computer and yet I was employed in the meantime irrespective surely shows the typical degree of lip service paid to the reality of child safety in  - at least some - (primary) schools. I.e. to coin the phrase employed by John Tamihere, like so many modern social agencies our schools seem 'all hui and no do-ey'.

For Credibly Setting The Record Straight

Well spoken Dr Sinead Donnelly (Friday morning on Radio New Zealand) for an impassioned, well-reasoned defence of current hospice (and hospital) practice in Aotearoa. And moreover for making an undefensive and cogent case in support of NZ's non-euthanizing status quo. Like our ever well-informed P.M. I must admit I've also long vaguely assumed that hospices, if not hospitals, 'already effectively' engaged in a kind of 'euthanasia by default', through, if not [proactively] administering pain relief, then 'by withholding medications' [in certain terminal situations]. So perhaps such an impression has been 'abroad in the land' for awhile, unless of course the P.M. is my intellectual alter ego. And though it's surely a typical media-hyped exaggeration and misrepresentation to denote Dr Donnelly's response as 'angry' or worse, I note and echo the comments of an unabashed euthanasia supporter on Mr Key's not only making such uninformed statements but moreover his extreme unwillingness to ever resile from them once 'on the record'. (Much 'food for thought' all around I feel.)  

Our Cemetery (Gravestone) Restoration Crews

Good on all those involved in this - as shown around 7.20 p.m. the other night (or 2) on Campbell Live (or Close Up): the item with Michael Holland interviewing those who have not only been severely hacked off with the appalling desecration at (in particular, one of) our numerous cemeteries around NZ, broken-down graves apparently in order to salvage the underlying precious metal/s for sordid pecuniary gain. For all those involved in the rather complex and intricate process of restoring as many of these as can feasibly be done:
"Good on ya, folks. And all power to ya. Thanks for being part of the solution, not just another - typically kiwi moaning, grumbling, bitching, griping part of the problem."

Hey, Why Didn't Dunedin Get To Welcome Home Our Victorious Olympians?!?

To Whomever It May Concern

Whoever organised the NZ Olympic Team's welcome home through the South might've surely included Dunedin, plus a number of smaller centres like Oamaru, Timaru etc...or even a 'convoy'-style trip across our entire eastern seaboard, from Invercargill north (to Blenheim); and later on, possibly the West Coast etc. C'mon, folks (who organize these things - whoever you are), please don't treat us as if we don't even exist...

Sincerely Yours

one severely hacked-off camper

Real Concern Is As 'Real Concern' Does

All power to those - both TV1 in highlighting the recent Film Festival film, Bully, and its related circumstances, and the Government - or so I understand - vis-a-vis the increasing terror/horror of the modern and typically cowardly 'art' of  'cyber bullying'. For highlighting an issue the de facto parents of the nation's kids, i.e. the schools of our land, have done sod all about for much too long. Teachers today are becoming 'desensitized' to it? You better believe it, or perhaps blind to it would be more apt. And yet 'they', or rather their chief spokespeople, have the gall to be on the Government's case - and that of new Education Minister Hekia Parata in particular - virtually without ceasing, about stuff that is marginal at best. And somewhat suspect moreover, seeing as - like 'em or hate 'em, (and Yours Truly is hardly in the former camp), they did decisively win the 2011 General Election. Something called 'democracy', folks. Check it out - it's still a word found in your average dictionary. Or are they no longer used in our classrooms?

Well, at least he fronted, and offered no excuses

All credit to Mr Breivik's dad for at least having the guts to front up for an, any interview (such as on 60 Minutes) vis-a-vis his son, and, moreover, to offer, much less attempt to, any excuses for any possible input - or lack thereof - he could have had upon him turning out as he so tragically has. Such - obviously entirely genuine and uncontrived - humility and self-censure, however deserved or undeserved, is rare indeed these days, and would be refreshing to see occasionally among those 'missing in action' deadbeat dads (and let's not forget, delinquent mums) whose in/action/s may well have helped contribute to much less awful, dire consequences, but have nevertheless sometimes permanently scarred their kids for life. Which of course isn't to claim for even a split-second that 'adults', whatever their upbringing may well have happened or not to be, aren't completely responsible for their own lives and behaviour - full stop; end of story.

P.S. And what about his mother? Doesn't she (and/or any other stepdad subsequently involved in Mr Breivik's childhood) also bear some responsibility for helping bring him up, both before and after his two parents split up? (Even if she may well now be dead, and thus unavailable for interviewing.)

Perennial Protestor He May Be, But At Least He's Consistent

Perpetually pilloried and mercilessly maligned - not that he could care, I'm sure - "good on ya, John (Minto)" for having the moral fortitude to call it as it is on the massacre of South African miners. The 'blood' splashed upon the SA embassy (I gather) fittingly betokens a government which, in such (and other) regards, has shown itself even worse, if it were possible, than its grim, gruesome, Apartheid-era predecessor. ('Dittoing' its next-door neighbour.) As I gather Desmond Tutu now acknowledges also. How Nelson Mandela must be weeping.   

Congrats - for once/a change - to the Aussies!

In particular to P.M. Julia Gillard, her Government, and specifically her Health Minister Louise Roxxon: for winning your court case against the cigarette companies. And tough bikkies to ye international purveyors of death and destruction, all of you international tobacco giants... .
                              Oz Govt, 1: Tobacco Giants, 0. Thus far, so good.

But to the NZ Government, and in particular P.M. John Key, who apparently "doesn't want to die in a ditch" over the matter - even if many other kiwis thereby (effectively) do - I have just one suggestion:
show some - real - leadership for a change. No, I mean, really!

P.S. And let's not conveniently forget all those - such as 19th Century health pioneer Ellen G White - who for anything up to one hundred-and-fifty years ago have been campaigning against the evils of tobacco (not to mention running very effective smoking cessation programmes)...and often against a backdrop of medical 'experts' and doctors still recommending it as a boon to good health!

Numbskulls without a helluva lotta nous...

So the NZ Labour Party couldn't exercise enough self-restraint and states(wo)manship to rise above the(ir) usual petty partisanship and party political oneup(wo)manship for just one (parliamentary sitting) day yesterday. Apart from the undoubted respect such would have earned them from their fellow kiwis...on the very day that the NZ Parliament duly recognized, in a truly bipartisan fashion, both its Afghani casualties and its triumphant Olympians, in a series of successive heartfelt tributes...no sooner had these finished than it was back to its/the usual  round of tit for tat interchanges with its National Government counterparts...and without even any of the 'rare, reasonable and (much less) witty' interjections so beloved of its own one-time Deputy Speaker and M.P. Geoff Braybrooke... . Was it wholly beyond the wit & the wisdom of any of its 34 MPs to actually propose to the Government that they (parliamentarians) conclude their proceedings  early in a spirit of rare bipartisanship befitting the occasion? No, as I suggest elsewhere, such dreams are ever free. Shame on y'all, and what a pity, what a great opportunity squandered... 

Put-in' the Boot in

Good on the Russian ladies (feminist troupe) put-in' their 'money where their mouth is'...& with the balls to face the music/al consequences 'to boot'...but though you're certainly finding yourself in a time of trouble, I suspect "Mother Mary" may not come to you(r aid)...But never fear, Someone's ever there...if you'll only call upon Him...

Nadzeya Ostapchuk for Comedienne Supreme

Hip hip hooray - to Nadzeya Ostapchuk - for a sheer comedy act fit for a rainy day - and are we having some of those in recent days, here on the South Island's eastern seaboard...and for a conspiracy theory, or rather 3 - to beat all conspiracy theories... Let's say/hear it again: "Hip hip hooray!!!"

And bad luck to NZ National (Radio)'s Media Watch team...you missed the boat (and even the water) entirely on that one...yep, sometimes 'first impressions' & native intuition(s) & instinctive hunches ain't altogether a bad thing, 'eh

P.S. If anyone's looking for 'the odd one out' above, sorry to say it's NO - the only part of my spell czech that ain't com-putin'...

"Welcome Home" to the entire NZ Olympic Team

For they are jolly good fellas
-and gals
for they are jolly good fellas
-and gals
for they are jolly good fellas
-and gals

and so say all of us...

Good on ya, Su'a William Sio

How unbelievably refreshing to hear that the NZ Labour Party still has a few, or maybe even just one, M.P. in its ranks with moral courage and gumption...prepared to speak up and speak out for both their own heartfelt convictions and those of their many longsuffering constituents...which is assuredly a heckuva more than can be said of at least the current crop of "Yes, Sir, No, Sir, 3 bags full, Mr Key, Sir" National Party brigade...

What a Great Effort & Performance Anyhow:CONGRATULATIONS & (Almost) CELEBRATIONS

"Bad luck" to both the male and female Black Sticks - but of course 'fingers crossed' for the latter...y'all performed outstandingly irrespective of how things have unfortunately ultimately panned out (in (semi-)final results)...in what were invariably incredibly riveting matches...esp. against some/many of the world champs, be they Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina or the USA... Even my 13-year-old nephew, as well as my very traditional, 'rugby buff', old-timer neighbour were deeply impressed...

Holding such internationally-renowned teams to draws and near-draws, and even beating the USA decisively, as well as leading Germany convincingly at one stage, were all a tv spectacle to behold;
wonderful stuff!

Definition of A 'Real' Loser (from someone who knows)

I feel somewhat qualified to comment/pontificate on this rather pertinent, extremely topical matter (of recent days), having been presented with The Book of Losers by a beloved (then despised) sister in my mid-teens (I believe for either my 15th or 16th birth-anniversary). I simply wish to share 4 ruminations on the subject.
These are components of a good working, workable definition:

*Someone who knows all the answers to irrelevant questions and/or knows the proper outcome and method in advance but is never willing to share such with others in time to tangibly improve the outcome.

*Someone who ever stands ready and prepared to throw barbs at others' efforts from the safe comfort of her or his cosy armchair.

*Someone who ridicules another's rather conspicuous failings but won't ever lend a helping hand much less finger to make matters better.

*Someone who simply knows - beyond a shadow of a doubt, though they'll rarely openly confess to the fact - that God doesn't exist, and hence proves, in his/her evident omniscience, that there really is a God.
That God clearly, though again it won't be admitted, being indistinguishable from him/herself.

But must get some shuteye, the reason  - in a totally different way - I've been a bit of a big loser myself of late...as the 'ole saying still goes, being tried and true throughout every generation: "early to bed, early to rise, makes a [person] healthy, wealthy and wise"...though admittedly am still to experience the second lot of benefits, in a 'purely' material sense that is...

Duh -"It's The Feel-Good Factor, STUPID!"

The reason 2 recent opinion polls, the first in NZ, the latest in Oz, show that their, respectively, fairly popular, highly unpopular, govts are presently, suddenly, flourishing in public esteem/support.
(No big deal really, except for the supposed surprise by the commentariat.) The real question, however, is whether such unexpected surges in support can be maintained, an especially pertinent point for Julia Gillard.

The Panel's Friday "Complaints Choir"

Brickbats and bouquets all round to Jim Mora et al's especially memorable 'Complaints Choir' halfway through last Friday's "The Panel" discussion - for its tune being 'on the tip of my tongue', so to speak, seemingly each time I awoke through the wee hours especially of the following morning...both in the (unusually late) twilight beginnings of my repose and one-and-a-half hours later, the 2nd occasion my slumber was broken...
All substantiating yet again a long held if yet unproven anecdotal theory of mine, to wit: sleep cycles, such as REM sleep, really get one's creative juices flowing and circulating - if at times deep in one's subconscious - and could surely be much more effectively utilized in the (say rote) memorization of musical lyrics and tunes, based upon the sheer number of occasions Yours Truly has awoken with a particular tune & its accompanying words on his lips, invariably listened to, generally only once, on one of my numerous records especially, on the preceding day...

"Thanks to All the Extras Who Participated In The Film": What We Would've Liked To Have Seen

A welcome credit amidst those given at the end of the film, 'In Darkness', in this year's extra good Film Festival. And a welcome change from the - rather conspicuous - absence of such a "thank you" in, seemingly many - but I may well be mistaken - of the NZ fantasy 'flicks' I've been especially enamoured of in recent years; largely since completing a 'Lord of the Rings' summer school paper at Otago varsity in early 2005. But most notably lacking from the credits in an Academy Award-acclaimed film I had a - very minor, almost inconspicuous even - part in in late 2004: i.e. 'Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', produced/directed by Andrew Adamson, Producer/Director of the subsequent Narnia films ('Prince Caspian', 'The Voyage of the Dawn Raider', and any more to come), and all the Shrek films (1/2/3).

OLYMPICS POST #2: Good, I mean "Great!" - "Super!" Nick Willis

Good on ya, Nick: you're doing fantastic (thus far)! Hey, and bless you for sharing your testimony so naturally and powerfully (on tv) the other morning; I so agree with all the sentiments you expressed, especially about ever & always being loved by God, whatever our performance on a human plane.
It's inspiring to know New Zealand's still producing inspirational achievers in running, in God's Own's long-standing tradition of the likes of Dick Quax, Rod Dixon (at least of Commonwealth Games fame), John Walker, Peter Snell, Murray Halberg and Jack Lovelock. And in the devotional, dedicated, Christlike spirit of Eric Liddell to boot. Good on ya, Nick!

*With all due acknowledgments to David and Tom of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin fame.

OLYMPIC TEAM NZ: "Incredible CIty, Arizona!"

These things change - in a matter of minutes, let alone hours...but an unadulterated, unmitigated hurrah to NZ's team in the 2012 London Olympics. Not only are we - LET'S HEAR IT AGAIN, FOR GOOD MEASURE & ONGOING PLEASURE - ahead of the accursed Aussies (yes, let's be kind on this occasion, in the grand tradition of Olympic spirit and all)...but, apparently, wonder of wonders, we are - still*, according to my like-minded, ever news-observant fellow radiophile nextdoor neighbour - #1 - worldwide - on a per capita basis - for medals (I believe generally/overall, not 'just' golds as such)!!!
YIPPEE!!!

*at least as of 2/3 p.m. apparently, and I first heard it reported on Leighton Smith's 8.40 a.m. daily 'menu'

No, Not Very Nice - All Round

To those 3 gals/classmates (small-h, to 'mix 'n match' their 6 capital name letters) who reduced 3 successive music teachers to tears - and beyond: no doubt also to nervous breakdowns, if not actually suicide, around 35-some years ago now...
                                                   but moreover to all us fellow classmates - sadly, including Yours Truly - who lacked the moral fibre/fortitude and courage/guts/gumption to stand up to 'em, and thus allowed such appalling instances of ongoing bullying of teachers by pupils to occur: SHAME - SHAME -SHAME on y'all, that is 'us all'...we were (thus) indeed a pitiful, pitiable, pathetic bunch indeed.
Need I say more...

"Let's Say Hurray to K(entucky)F(ried)C(hicken) For A Change!

...and Hu-go said, "You go!", and I said, "No, you go!"...and soon we were back with the pack and then Dad hit the track and we ate fee-ling bet-ter in-side! And life is-n't fun-ny, with that emp-ty tum-my, "Thank good-ness for  Ken-tuc-ky Fried!" Good on yer, Colonel Sanders, for inspiring God's Own's best ever tv ad...(equal best all-time favourite alongside only 'The Milky Bar Kid'.
                                                    Life at its best in 70s NZ