Nearly 2010

2010: Do we say Twenty ten or Two thousand and ten. I say the latter. Although longer it seems to roll off the tongue better and it is what I would say for a dollar amount.

Crime - again: I like most people are defeated. Unprovoked a man shoots a policeman, almost killing him. He gets BAIL!!! Whattttt. Meanwhile a burglar robs three times and doesn't get bail. Neither should get it but the attempted murderer getting it is beyond belief.

Xmas TV: Terrible as usual.

Raffle: Finalising the cheques to be sent out and the accounts etc. So it is in down mode now.

Terrorism: Another Muslim nut case tries to blow up a plane and thank heaven he failed. But what does it say for the elaborate security systems.

We all understand it is impossible to be 100% effective but if they can't stop this guy - who was reported by his father as dangerous, applied for a Visa in Nigeria which supposedly meant a face to face interview, paid for his ticket in cash, had no bags, had been denied entry to the U.K.,had his name on a terrorist watch list, had just been to Yemen, was loaded down with explosives - then who the hell can they stop.

There is a lot of explaining to do but as usual nothing will happen and instead stupid rules (not being able to get up in the last hour of a flight) are being put in place. Do bombers only blow up planes in the last hour???

As a security expert has written, looking at the background and profiling of passengers and solid doors on cockpits have made the difference. How often does an El Al airliner have a problem?

New Year: Coming up fast and we will have the boys overnight on Thursday so Sarah & Joe can get some well earned rest.

Christmas Day

Had a very good day - ate too much, especially sweet stuff - as usual. We didn't eat until 3 PM and it was outside as the weather was very hot. For Kim it was a real change from the German winter. She preferred the summer!!

Many photos taken and will undoubtedly post some soon.

Its almost Santa

Xmas Eve: The day before Santa and as usual with both of us heavily involved in the charity raffle we have been flat out. We will be going out tonight with Kim to show her the lights - that is the houses that are all lit up. No quiz this week as we were baby sitting.

It is Kipp's first Xmas that he really understands about Santa coming and is all excited. We will be going around to Sarah/Joes about 9.30 in the morning as Christine doesn't think he can hold off opening his presents for long.

Christmas spirit or stupidity: This picture taken at St. Lukes Mall, which is in my suburban birthplace of Mt. Albert, is the height of stupidity. What is that about pay peanuts get monkeys.

Photos

Haven't had any photos of the boys lately so making up for that now.
These are from their Playcentre Xmas party.




Monty the TIGER!!

Kipp the DEVIL!!

Wide awake.Sound asleep. It was a hard day.

Why?

"Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow"
The Billboard features an unsatisfied Mary looking up to the heavens
while poor Joseph looks deflated

Why: What I can never understand is why people on this planet always want to make personal decisions for others. I can understand it if it would harm them in some way - somebody wants to drink poison, so you stop them. But why some people want to say you can't wear that, or you can't do that, or can't say that, or I've decided without asking you what you can or can't have or do. All because they personally don't want or like what the other person has or wants. It is quite beyond me.

I believe as long as it doesn't harm others and theyty are paying for it themselves they can do as they damn well like. Sometimes of course the definition of it harming others is the sticking point. Usually, if it is only my sensibilities that are upset, then I don't give a continental.

Billboard: The recent flurry (an unholy row!!) about the billboard above is just another manifestation of these people. Put up by Auckland's Christian church St Matthew in the City the vicar says he wanted to lampoon the literal Christian conception story and get people discussing miracles and God.

But a few hours after the billboard went up, an angry man with a pot of brown paint covered over Mary and Joseph's faces and later it was attacked with a knife. Real Christian of them.

I thought the Vicar was one of the most sensible people we have heard from lately.

"We're trying to lampoon the idea of a literal male God who somehow, it's assumed, impregnated Mary. Most Christians don't believe that, but the message that the general society hears from the church is this message; they think that they're meant to take it literally.

We think God is about the power of love as shown in Jesus, which is something quite different than a literal man up in the sky."

The usual suspects are upset, in particular lobby group Family First.

As he said most thinking Christians understand that the Bible is not to be taken literally and was something written for that time. Ranke- Heinemann a Catholic theologian and the first woman to hold a chair in Theology at Essen University was fired in 1987 for suggesting the virgin birth was faith not fact.

And I read that after over 60 years membership ex President Jimmy Carter has resigned from the Baptist Church because they have reiterated that woman are inferior to men. Sounds like the Taliban.

Sadly, as those who have tried to destroy the billboard show, in this world there are people everywhere wanting to make decisions for others about even the most minor things.

More Legal

Legal Aid: Dame Margaret Bazely has done an investigation into our Legal Aid 'system'. The pathetic fact is that the system only favours the poor, the rich and the lawyers. If you are rich then you can afford to defend yourself, the poor get the aid (paid for by the middle class) and the Middle Class can't get anything. In Australia recently a man was found Not Guilty (the Tel One case) and the others who couldn't afford the $10 million defence pleaded guilty as it was cheaper.

There is no incentive for defence lawyers to bring a case to a speedy end.

My thought is simple. We have a Public Service Public Defenders Department. I heard that Sir Geoffrey Palmer has recommended this for years. I can't see any problems.

But in our usual fashion it will be 30 years away!

Netball: The CEO of Netball NZ has had a 40% pay rise. He now gets about $840,000. You must be joking. For a sport that has no real international sway, no huge TV deals to seal, no complicated tours (maybe Jamaica). Unbelievable.

Smacking: Nigel Latta the high profile psychologist has said the current law is working. In every case he looked at that Family First was raving on about, he found about the facts presented by them were wrong.

A worry

Peter and Neroli with their son Jayden (DomPost photo)

Friends of ours, Peter and Neroli Edwards had an article about their problems with the Police in the DomPost the other day.

From the DomPost article

" Two men who have received an apology from police after being wrongly imprisoned for 285 days are still battling for compensation.

Despite a written admission the men did not commit the crime, the Justice Ministry says the case falls outside the usual Cabinet guidelines for compensation and the men's lawyers are battling to argue their case.

It is two years to the day since they applied for compensation for a case that sparked the rare apology.The Independent Police Conduct Authority have upheld or partly upheld six of their families' 12 complaints.

Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight were sentenced to six years' jail for a 2003 arson of the Foxton Hotel. The men, then aged 27 and 28, had stopped to help police after hearing of the fire on a scanner belonging to Mr Knight, a security guard.

Their parents each spent more than $20,000 of their retirement savings on fighting for their freedom and Mr Knight estimates he lost $160,000 in wages after being unable to work for three years while in prison and then on night curfew. The families agree the emotional cost of the experience was much higher.

The men had not been in trouble with the law before and neither of their families had any experience with police or the court system. It had been an emotional roller-coaster had left them angry, sad, and a little wiser, the men's parents said.

The men spent 9½ months in jail till their parents found new lawyers and applied to the Court of Appeal for a retrial. Police failure to disclose evidence resulted in two mistrials before the men were separately retried. Mr Johnston was found not guilty and the charges against Mr Knight were dismissed.

In March 2007, Central District Commander Mark Lammas visited the families and wrote to them apologising "for the police investigation resulting in you being wrongly charged and wrongly convicted for an offence you did not commit".

No-one has been charged for the arson since then and police say the case remains open.

Cabinet guidelines for compensation stipulate convictions must be quashed in the High Court or above. In this case the men were acquitted in a district court. They are relying on an "extraordinary circumstances" clause, listed by the Justice Ministry as being unequivocal innocence such as proved by DNA evidence, or an official admission of serious misconduct by authorities.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said the case had taken time to assess because it fell outside the guidelines and had "unusual features".

Their Trial By Fire:

November 12, 2003 – Lower Hutt men Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight stop in Foxton and offer to help during a fire at the Manawatu Hotel.

December 2003 – Mr Johnston charged with the arson and Mr Knight charged with aiding and abetting.

September 2004 – Both are convicted and remanded in prison.

November 2004 – Both men sentenced to six years' jail.

June 2005 – Court of Appeal grants a retrial. The men are released on bail to their parents' homes.

January 6, 2006 – A retrial begins, but a mistrial is ruled on the third day after police find a file listing people of interest that should have been disclosed at the first trial. The judge orders the cases should be heard separately.

August 2006 – Mr Johnston is retried and found not guilty.

December 2006 – Mr Knight's trial is set down but thrown out after it is discovered police had held back evidence on possible other suspects.

February 2007 – The charges against Mr Knight are dismissed.

March 2007 – Central district commander Mark Lammas apologises to both families.

December 12, 2007 – Lawyer Christopher Stevenson writes to the Justice Ministry seeking compensation."

It is a worry and is just another part of the overall picture that has contributed to the reduction in the public esteem of the Police over the past few years. And now they are talking about going back to a split Traffic/Police system!!

Insurance: It is odd for a country that is generally pretty pragmatic that we don't have compulsory 3rd Party Insurance. It will come - just that it will take 15 years for the Politicians to get around to it.

A couple of accidents

Accidents: I went to the airport today to pick up Sarah's German student Kin today and on the way back we passed the top accident where a driver got a couple of concrete slabs under the Petone overbridge.

Then coming home at the Moera roundabout some sludge from the Waiwhetu Stream had spilt out and had to have sand put on it.

Quiz: After a couple of lousy rounds where we did poorly we won last night and shared the bonus - $160 between the six of us.

Ben Makisi and more

Ben Makisi at the Inner Wheel Xmas function

Ben Makisi in a more formal setting

Inner Wheel: Today we went to the Inner Wheel lunch and it was tremendous as they had Ben Makisi (above) singing. He was just incredible. Previously has has sung at many events including the funeral of Sir Ed Hillary as well as performing around the world.The dinner part was held in a huge garage (held about 60 of us) and his effortless voice just echoed around.

Fantastic voice;fantastic bloke.

Xmas: Just around the corner now as we enter the straight. Have been to a couple of functions recently including Probus the other night at the Pines. We didn't go last year and probably won't go again while it is held there. It takes an hour to get home and as they hire a bus we are dependent on the time they finish which means we get home about midnight and with the raffle to look after it is a bit too late.


Quiz: When the General Knowledge section hasn't been available to select for our Bonus Round we have taken Pot Luck. It has taken us several months to work out that it is just that - a round of guessing the answers. In future we will take something different. We haven't done well lately but the questions are still poor and the answers suspect at times.

Anti-Virus: Had a real problem. My Avast anti-virus showed a Trojan and I couldn't repair it or put it in the Chest so I deleted the file. Then it appeared again and this time went into a mode of going through and deleting the offending files. As it was finding even more I looked at the Laptop which also had a Trojan. Now suspicious I went to the Net and Avast had downloaded an update that was falsely saying everything had a virus. What a stuff up as I have lost files which are now causing problems. I have deleted Avast and gone back to AVG - although I think that also has problems. We shall see.

Also a friend had a phishing email from Christine's Hotmail account. Looking on the Net it seems that Yahoo and Hotmail (Microsoft) often have these problems. Again not good enough but they don't care.

Survey: Was phoned Friday night with a 20 minute survey. Covered many things - politics, company's etc. Funny enough seemed to be many questions about Phil Goff.

Car: We had to go to Naenae on Friday and a fool backed into Christine. Insurance company time.

Rugby: Great end to the tour with the demolition of France but a final loss to the Baa- Baas. But I think we must be aware that we only won in Marseilles because France played an open game. If they had played the kicking game it could have been a different story.

Isn't it great to see that the RFU has now admitted that 'maybe' they were wrong about the ELV's. Really!!!

Raffle: The Rotary raffle keeps us both busy as it is every day for us but it is going well. We are in a spot between the main entrance doors and it it seems to help. Although when the wind blows in it is bloody cold.

Logos

Logos: Logos are in the news with Telecom NZ changing its 'old staid' logo to something 'vibrant etc' - exactly what they said when they changed it last time. This time the cost to get it designed was 'only' $140,000 and I have heard rumours that the entire re-branding exercise will go over $30 million. I see the All Blacks already have new gear with the new logo.

Meanwhile the local museum The New Dowse had a new logo designed a couple of years ago by the same advertising agency.

The top logo is the New Dowse with the new Telecom logo underneath and the old Telecom one at the bottom.

Spot the difference between the Dowse and Telecom.(hint it is $140,000)

Our Logo: Meantime the PM has announced the Tino Rangatiratanga flag will be flown on Waitangi Day and at Premier House. As I favour dumping our present colonial cringe effort I think like the Maori words to the National Anthem it will over time take over. I am surprised at John Keys boldness but probably the old school who think we are the Britain of the South Seas are very very few in number now.

Soundsold Blog: Over 1100 people have accessed songs now - wow!!

Rugby: France at the weekend and it will be tough.

Raffle: The Rotary Raffle gets underway tommorrow and we have had quite a few problems with the resignation of a member and having to find a replacement for his shifts then on Thursday we found the Mall had leased the space we had been promised. This was in accordance with the agreement but when they went to give us the alternative space they found it was too small!! However we are going in and will find out the details in the morning.

Part of the problem is that the shops have rights over about 3 metres or more out into the front of their stores.

Hone's Holiday

Hone: He has been all over the news since it was revealed he took off from an official trip to Europe to do a side jaunt, at our expense, to see some 'whitemans culture' in Paris - which, if the quotes from the news are to be believed he and his wife seemed to enjoy. So it would seem some 'whitemans culture' isn't too bad.

Some might think so what - it is probably the attitude of many of his constituents. As for me; well you might well believe that I think that, but I certainly couldn't comment!!!

Bugger work and carrying out what I am being paid to do - I will just take off and do what I want to do. Thanks Hone. This is the second time he has done this, as he did the same thing when in Australia, but at least then he visited a group of Aborigines to discuss race relations which he does have an interest in.

When caught he first releases an abusive email (bad language and the 'whitemans' fault) then offers a half-hearted apology suggesting that the Opposition Leader should be shot!! He is a man of the grievance industry and like mother like son.

Personally his tirade and the abusive language doesn't bother me, as it shows him for what he is and I am a firm believer in free speech - even so called 'hate speech' .

Hide: Meantime Rodney Hide, who at least did nothing outside the rules by taking his partner to Europe on a Parliamentary trip, aplogised and paid the money back. This may enable him to retain his reputation as a 'perkbuster'.

Guy Fawkes and Halloween: I think Guido, who is the only guy who knew anything about politics, has had its day on a private level. Public displays will, over time, become the norm. As for Halloween; it is probably a lesser evil. I learnt the other day that the trick part of Trick and Treat means that the householder is supposed to carry out the trick.

Sport: Soccer - the All Whites are on there way to the soccer World Cup. I still have problems that a team ranked 83rd (after going up 17 places recently) can be there. It is difficult to understand.
Rugby: The AB's struggled against Italy and it was another bad game.

MMP

MMP: I listened to a brilliant talk this week at Rotary where Theo Muller spoke about Research. His quote was 'Research shows...' but in fact (especially for politicians) they haven't really done the in depth research that they claim. Instead they have listened to a vociferous minority.

He quoted where our local council proposes to spend $2.2 million upgrading some bus barns. Despite the claims 'a significant number of people' are in favour, a poll shows the opposite.

Afterwards, speaking to some others they brought up MMP. They were against, but upon questioning as to why, they had specious reasons which they then backed away from.

My question to people who favour going back to First Past The Post (FPP) is what do Hitler, Tony Blair, the Mayor of Invercargill Tim Shadbolt, our local Mayor David Ogden, G W Bush, Rob Muldoon all have in common.

They all got elected by a minority vote.

Hitler got about 33% of the vote and in the next got 37.8% and became Chancellor. Tony Blair had a 100 seat majority with 36%, Tim S. got 16%, our local Mayor would have lost the last election if a Proportional System was in place, Bush of course beat Al Gore with less (although the US system is even more undemocratic) and Rob should have lost 2 out of 3 to Bill Rowling.

Madness and simply not democratic. The MMP system was put into Germany by the British to ensure a minority couldn't take power again.

The only change I would make to MMP is that winning an electorate seat would not mean your Party Vote would count unless it met the 5% threshold.

On the weekend Radio NZ had an interview with the Speaker (although he has a different title there)
of the Scottish Parliament. Interestingly, both that body and the Welsh Parliament use an MMP system The only difference he said was that they have a Regional List as opposed to our National List. However, he said it hadn't worked as well as ours as they hadn't got the diversity of members that we get in NZ.

Another matter he mentioned was that they don't have a Referendum system but anybody can go online and Petition Parliament. I would have thought all the nutters would have come out of the woodwork but he said it is working well and they can filter out the few crazies.

Sounds like a good idea.

Sad news: Just heard that one of Christine's cousins died in the UK. We stayed with them when when were there, as did Sarah. A real sad loss as he was a great guy.

Updates: Rugby - won in Tokyo but I see the team against Wales has Eaton at lock. We shall see but he wouldn't be in my team.
Came 2nd by half a point at the Quiz!!!
Going to see a play next week at Downstage which is about Charles Darwin .

What a weekend

Weekend: This weekend is chokka (a good Kiwi word - or is it. Some debate as to its origins but our meaning of overfull may be odd??).

We have the Fireworks on in Upper Hutt at around 9PM, the Wellington Lions play the new holders of the Ranfurly shield, Southland, in the second semi-final of the Air NZ NPC at 7 PM, the AB's play Australia at 9.30, the Model Railway Show is on in the Hutt and there is a travel show on in Wellington all day. So it is all full on.

House: AJ has sold her house which is good news.

Rugby: As I said Southland defeated Canterbury 9-3 to take the 'log of wood' for the first time in 50 years. This can only be great for the game. I hope they hold it for a while.

The Northern Tour is underway with the final Bledisloe Cup game in Tokyo. The amazing thing is that the game against Italy in Milan is sold out - 70,000 people will be attending!!!! Whaaaat!!!!

No wonder we are just a speck on the bum of the world.

ACC: Following on from my previous rant I think the basis of the no fault system is brilliant. No US style problems. We led the world (again) in 1974 with our scheme and no matter what National say, I think they have privatisation on their Agenda. And, as usual if a private Insurer goes broke in the next 100 years, the taxpayer will have to bail them out - again.

We went down this path in 1998 but Labour came into power in 1999 to restore the status quo.

In the short time of privatisation there seemed to be negative results for claimants as the Insurers tried to introduce reasons why they didn't have to pay out.

Amazingly the architect of the scheme Sir Owen Woodhouse is still alive at 93. It is thanks to him we that we don't have a thriving American-style medical misadventure industry.

"When you are peering into the future," Sir Owen,told a 1999 ACC conference, "it is not at all a bad idea to remember where you have been."

Pre-1974, he said, there was constant litigation, and arguments about how "accident" should be defined, and whether it had arisen "in the course of employment". The benefits were "meagre and limited in duration". The process could be long, expensive, uncertain and unfair. Before 1967, for example, only one negligence claim in every 100 was even partially successful. Whaat!!!

Sir Owen held that as we all benefit from risky activities, we should all bear the cost equally.

"Just as a modern society benefits from productive work of its citizens, so should society accept responsibility for those willing to work but prevented from doing so by physical incapacity. And since we all persist in following community activities which year by year exact a predictable and inevitable price in bodily injury, so should we all share in sustaining those who become the random but statistically necessary victims."

Personally, I knew a chap who one day told me he was heading to Pamerston North to give evidence in a trial as he was witness to an accident. He said it was one of the last pre ACC cases and had been going on for over 10 years as the Insurance Company tried to stall payment by hoping the plaintiff would run out of money or die.

I accept that there are some faults within ACC - paying out for self harm, overpayment for physiotherapy as I experienced myself - but these are fine tuning excercises.

This, as I see it, is like the Americans arguing about their pathetic heath 'system' and using the excuse 'why should I, who leads a healthy lifestyle pay for those who don't'.

They don't seem to understand a decent society puts up with the aberrations where for example people don't watch their child and they go missing. In a decent society we a pay to look for the child, or an adult missing in the bush, because we are decent. Also they don't seem to understand no matter how healthy a person is, we all get sick eventually.

The Earth moves

Earthquake: We had what was a bit of a jolt a couple of weeks ago when we were around at Sarahs. We didn't think anything of it at the time, but Christine then noticed quite a sizable crack under one of the windows and we then found another one in the bedroom. We contacted the Earthquake Commission who today sent a chap (named Wayne) around and he immediately found several cracks that we hadn't even noticed - then again he had a spotlight to have really close look.

He seemed very efficient but the other day the Commission sent out a form for us to send to our Insurance Company. I had to phone them as I couldn't understand the letter but it seems they attached the wrong letter. Since they had all the details and our Insurance Company just has to sign it why they didn't just send it direct defeated me.

Anyway we will see what happens as they now send somebody around to estimate the costs of repair - we have to meet the first $200-00.

Other disasters: For many years now Rotary has put together Emergency Boxes for disasters, mainly in the Pacific - they are stopgaps until real help arrives. They have inside them clothes, hammers, saws, nails, blankets, paper, plastic stuff, matches, candles,water bottles, pots, pans, billy's etc. Worth about $600 each. We have always put in some secondhand stuff - old T shirts, hammer, spades, etc but we are now told they have to be all new goods and set standards have to be met. So from now on they will be professionally completed at a cost to the taxpayer of $90,000 pa. Madness again. was costing nothing - now $90K.

So no more involvement of Rotary.

On that front, following the Tsnami in Samoa I have just read a report about Rotary up there. They went up to help but bureaucratic delays meant the help couldn't get to the people needing it. As an example the Samoan Government sat on the Emergency Boxes while they dithered about in letting them into the country, so a whole day was wasted in getting help to those in need. It is times like that when you need a competent Dictator.

ACC: The Government say the ACC is broke and the levies must go up. This is despite the fact that they took in $300 million more than they paid out last year. I heard the new Chairman going on about how it has to be fully funded (and Labour also believe this). Most independent commentators don't. I still think it is a softening up to privatise it and of course in 20 years when a private insurer goes belly up the taxpayer has to fund it.

Still not in the late 20th Century: A question was to be asked in the House of Commons and the Government tried to have it kept secret but it was all over the Net and Twitter. Why they try to act as if it is still 1950 is beyond me.

Current events: The AB team was named and still odd. 3 First Fives, one Centre, only two hookers. Rocket Man Joe out at last but Ellis at half ahead of Mathewson. No Hosea Gear. Still odd. At the quiz we have done well, took part of the Bonus last week and were second and this week came first. No music which helps us.

Sadness

A friend: The wife of a friend has just died - so very sad.

A child: A two year old went missing for a minute and has now been found dead in what at first sight seems to be an accident - falling into a drain. The country has been following the search for her for the past week thinking she may have been abducted.

Psychics: The nutters are out and about again in relation to the missing toddler.

Is there life beyond the grave? These are big questions, but at TVNZ the question is - Is there any commonsense or is it just all advertising 'Sensing Murder' which to date has solved how many murders - Zilch, Nil, None, Zero!!

Last week I watched Sensing Murder psychic Deb Webber being interviewed on TVNZ's Breakfast show where she advertised her upcoming tour.

She calls herself a "metaphysical researcher" and said she wanted to become involved with the search for missing two-year-old Aisling Symes. (Cue - Vomit!!!)

The Dom Post reports that at a Police press conference about the case held later that day, TVNZ reporter Amy Kelley said Ms Webber had given them information about what had happened to the toddler, and demanded to know what police planned to do about it. (Cue Vomit again - and how low can you go!!!)

There are many reasons why people believe in psychics. They are probably really thick, gullible, naive, morons etc.

Ms Webber's Breakfast appearance came only a week after the show hosted Lisa Williams, the medium who claims to have foreseen 9/11 but didn't think to mention it to anyone beforehand.

Sensing Murder is a franchise that has been running in several countries for years, and is notable for having failed to solve a single case.

Given the show's strike rate, it's no surprise that none of its psychics have taken up Christchurch businessman Tony Andrews' offer of $20,000 if they can prove their paranormal abilities in a simple test.

Last year, the TV program 'Eating Media Lunch' played a sting by Australia's Channel 7, in which Ms Webber managed to communicate with three dead people who didn't exist. She is certainly clever!!

On the Breakfast show Paul Henry asked why the spirits of murder victims never say who killed them. Ms Webber's answer was: "Let's say we want today to find the murderer. What if the person has a contract with life or the universe to still live and affect other people still? . . . 'cos everyone's affecting everyone" WHAT!!! Does she speak English? Does she know what she is talking about? Does she know how to make (from the stupid) $$$?

The tragedy is an online Poll found about 30% believe a Psychic can help in a murder case!!!

They are as bad as the anti vaccine people.

Television/Sport: Maori TV put in a bid for the Rugby World Cup. With the taxpayers money. As they couldn't show it to 99% of the country the Government have had to say to TVNZ that they would guarantee them even more of the taxpayers $$$ so they can outbid Maori TV. Brilliant - it is like going to an auction and having a husband and wife bid against one another. Then again as we all know it is only our $$$.

Meantime, a point I have just thought about is that in the 7's at the Olympics it will be odd for the U.K. as they will have to compete as Great Britain but Eire (Ireland) will have to compete separately.

Todays spiel

Sicko: Just watched the Michael Moore documnetary Sicko. There is only one bit of Sicko and it is the madness of the US in persevering with its stupid disregard for human life. The problem is, I don't think it will ever change as the companies are too rich and powerful. On other things US, Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace prize. I think it is a reaction to the end of G W Bush and far too early in his Presidency.

RIO: The Olympics are to go to Rio and why not they have never been held in South America before (Mexico is the closest) and other maybe good news is the Rugby 7's will be there. A side effect could be that $$$ will come in from places like China which will spoil the sport.

Weather: Has been awful - snow and an earthquake 4.8 last night.

Quiz: We went to a Rotary Charity Quiz lasty night and were pretty confident coming off a win the previous Wednesday at the PWMC. It was a professional affair and we were incredulous when the questions were the same as we had when we visited the Cossie Club in Upper Hutt several weeks ago!!!

But - it didn't matter much as we couldn't remember the answers; in fact in Round 1 we only got 3 points while I am sure the last t time we got around 6-8 points!!

But we did improve and ended up second and the winners only got a bottle of wine each.The problem I have with these Charity Quizzes is that if you don't know the answer you can buy them. But all was not lost as out of 7 raffle prizes I won one and Sarah won another. Probably $80 plus worth each so it was a worthwhile evening and they raised about $5000.

Catch up

Been so busy lately haven't had time to update (and don't really have time now) but .....

Tsunami: NZ Civil Defence was up to its usual standard - they gave themselves a C+ but I would think the rest of us would give them an F+. And as for the help for Samoa; again you would wonder what takes the time to get organised and also what idiot is running some of our companies. Both Air NZ & Jet Star said tourists still had to travel up to the disaster zone but as usual backed off when confronted by the media.

UK Trip Photos: They are back OK from the UK and I will load up some of the photos shortly. Kipp seemed to have really enjoyed himself. As for Monty - he is becoming a giant!!

Crime: The usual idiots are running the Courts. Somebody is deliberately killed - but of course it is manslaughter- and he gets 3 years (the Crown it seems will not appeal - only the crooks appeal) and the MP Philip Field for his fraud gets 6 years. A man who faked his own death and really didn't do a great deal of harm except his wife unbeknown to her benefited from the Insurance Policy got 2 years. The message is clear - murder is below money.

Blogger: It has changed the set up again. They seem to be taking a leaf from Microsoft's book. Why the hell they don't leave well alone is beyond me.

Telecom: Have sent me a letter saying that the current Broadband scheme is to end. Why do I get a sinking feeling in my stomach that it will be a disaster. Of course the price is to go up - that is a real surprise - but they will give me a $30 discount. But hold on, if I take up the plan they are touting and I am a new customer I would get a $60 discount!!!

Again what marketing idiots think this rubbish up - treat your customers as crap. The last time I dealt with them it was an 8 hour saga that never got solved. We shall see.

Sir Howard Morrison

Sir Howard Morrison: The death of a giant of the New Zealand entertainment industry and one of the great Maori role models. I saw him perform several times, mainly when I was a teenager and always with the Quartet. Coming upon the recent loss of Gerry Merito, this is a sad occasion. Only one of the famous Quartet is now still alive.

He was the leader of a wonderfully talented family. His father was an All Black and actor Tem being his nephew. His version of How great thou art is easily the best version of all time.

Letterman: Also entertainment; the Prime Minister appeared on the the David Letterman Show in the US and he seemed to come across well. It is serious entertainment as it is all advertising for NZ.

The travellers: They get back tomorrow, which will be great. It has been quite good housesitting with no problems. We even didn't do too badly in the Quiz while they were away with two 3rds and a 4th last week.

Weather: What is wrong. Bloody cold with snow in the Rimutakas and Sydney having dust storms. Some of the pictures from Sydney are quite surreal - Mars like views. There is some talk that we may get some of the damn red dust here. With daylight saving starting on Sunday it should be a lot warmer than it is.

All Blacks: Certainly better against Oz but there was no real competition in the lineouts and I still have my concerns. Plus Australia are such a young team.

Housesitting

Housesitting: Should that be one word or two?? I've settled on one. We are at Sarahs and everything is working out OK although I visit our place most days to collect mail, watch the Rugby etc. (Wellington lost again - and played badly again - Taranaki and now Waikato!!)
Went to start the car and it was completely dead. Got the AA out and it turned out that the boot wasn't properly closed and the boot light had run down the battery.

Skype: Spoke to the team in the UK by Skype just after they had arrived. Incredible - all free - who pays??

Nutty Yanks: Still following the Health debate in the US.

It has spread to calling Obama a Nazi/Communist/Socialist/Muslim/Dictator and claims he is not American born. Everything but a black man, which I think is the main problem - and a smart black man.

Some of the interviews with these nut cases has to be seen to be believed. When interviewed and the facts are pointed out they just don't believe it. One example was about the appointment of a Czar (a title coined by the press to a Presidential Adviser in a particular area such as Drugs). They didn't realise that Reagan had done it first and thought that Czars were Communists and when told the Communists had killed the Czars they just shook their heads saying "Not true"!!!

The stupid thing is that many of the poor who would be helped by a Public Health system don't understand it and rail against it. They are just being conned.

One excellent You Tube piece was a mock protest of "Billionaires for wealthcare" going around the crowds thanking them for making them billionaires. But I think the irony was lost on most of them.

Funny enough I don't think our 'Socialist' health system goes far enough. It should (as in the UK) cover dental and mabe optometrical and a greater subsidy of Doctors visits. Our problem is that we can't afford to do it.

Other Protests: In Samoa they are changing from driving on the right to the left so they can import cheaper cars from Japan and NZ. Many are unhappy but I don't think they have much traffic gridlock in Samoa.

PP and M: Mary Travers of Peter Paul and Mary died aged 72.

Rugby: AB's tonight and again the team selection defeats me. Sad news to read that ex AB Captain and President of the Rugby Union Jock Hobbs has cancer.

Quiz: Not doing too bad without Joe. Came 3rd this week and only a couple of points in it but the bad news is that she has said we have to pay $4-00 to enter instead of the $2-00. However, with our being in the winning frames most weeks that is not too bad.

UK

UK: Sarah, Joe and the boys took off on Monday night for 3 weeks in the UK when they will attend Joe's brothers wedding. They phoned that they had arrived OK after the 30 hour flight - tired !!

Meantime we are house sitting at their place to look after (keep in order and feed) their two overseas students. However. we return each day to collect mail, work on stuff etc.

TV: Often we will watch morning TV - always TV1 which is opposite from the evening news when we watch TV3. The main reason in the morning is the host Paul Henry - he is outspoken and doesn't fudge matters which I like. He reminds me of the film about the outspoken US radio talkback host Howard Stern. Polling showed he was hated, but even those who hated him tuned in. A bit like me with the UK rugby writer Stephen Jones. I think he writes rubbish but I have to read him!!

Quiz: Without Joe we came 3rd equal (even though she had another couple of answers wrong). Saw a friend who is thinking of organising a charity quiz and wondered if I was interested in organising it. Told him I would think about it as I would rather take part.

Exchange Rate: Must be a real worry as it is hitting 70c to the US. Good from the point of view of travellers and importers but not for investors or exporters. The Reserve bank has held the cash rate this morning which will probably mean a rise against the US Dollar which I think is still 10% overvalued.

Squirrelizer

Squirrelizer: A couple taking a picture of themselves using a timer got a surprise. At the vital moment a squirrel popped up into their photo. They put it onto the Net and as they say the rest is history. So much so that people can now squirrelize their photos.


Headgear: A Muslim woman was not allowed into the Public Gallery of a Napier Court due to her wearing a headscarf. The Judge later said he had made a mistake and should have allowed her to attend. A scarf is OK in my view however, I wonder what the result would be if a Scotsman wanted to wear a kilt in a Saudi Court. Well, we do know what the result would be!! Of course the politically correct Labour MP Chris Carter was upset.

Music: Looking at my music blog I see the most visited song is now Carl Mann with Judy. That is a surprise.

Another surprise is that the 92 year old Vera Lynn is in the UK album charts challenging the Arctic Monkeys (who!!) for the No.1 position. She is the oldest living person ever to get into the Top 20. Her CD containing all her wartime hits was released to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the start of WWII on 1 September 1939.

Almost music as it is Copyright. Just heard on the news that Google wants to digitize books and put them on the Net. Either the authors have to come to an arrangement with them or in the case of most NZ (and world) authors their books will be put on the Net without their approval. Why?

It seems that the Americans say that any book that is not commercially available in the United States is deemed to be out of print and by inference out of copyright. But it seems this does not apply to US authors. So if say a Jamacian author writes a book that is only sold in the West Indies the Americans (Google - unofficial motto - Don't be evil) can just put the book on the Net.

And they wonder why the rest of the world get upset.

In sickness and in health

Health: I have been following the debate in the States as Obama tries to do what many Presidents before have failed at - fixing the American Health 'system'. They are either incredibly stupid or the money that is buying the continuance of the present 'private' system is just too strong. Every industrialised nation has the same approximate system except the US and none would swap theirs for the US 'system'. The main difference between them and the rest of the world is that our schemes exist only to meet the medical costs and try to get you better, not make a profit.

The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage.

I read an excellent article about the fragmented US Health 'system' which breaks their citizens down as -

Native Americans or veterans = Britain (and New Zealand)
People insured through their jobs = Germany:
People over 65 = Canada
The tens of millions without insurance coverage = Burundi - they are like the worlds really poor - those who can't pay, stay sick or die.

700,000 Americans go bankrupt each year because of medical bills. In the rest of the developed world - nil.

The lies that are being spread are unbelievable although the UK are now hitting back.

For all its faults I think our system is good, especially when we add in the ACC system. An advantage we have over even places like Germany and Switzerland is that they have to pay into an insurance scheme (admittedly a good one that is strictly controlled and is not for profit) while ours is simply taxation based.

The only down side is that notwithstanding Government attempts to lower them, the cost of going to the doctor is still too high and we are not putting sensible options into training and retaining (bonding) our medical people. At least children under 5 are free.

After WWII Churchill (the Politician of the 20th Century) went to the electorate and got beaten by the man with the charisma of a damp rag - Clement Atlee. Why - Labour promised a National Health Service.

It will be interesting to see who wins in the US - the money or the people.

Blogger: The damn Search Function in Blogger is not lworking!!! Later>> Looking on the Net it is a fault that they don't seem interested in fixing (soounds like Microsoft) but a workaround seems to be that if you sign in and go to the Edit Posts function it works through that!!

Frustration

I thought this was funny and appropriate.

Yes frustration: I am involved with a group (a couple in fact) that had to register under the Charities Act. It means some changes in procedure which I have no problem with as to me it seems straight forward but others don't see it so simply. The other night what was a 5-10 second matter - a Resolution that I had put and had been passed wasn't Minuted correctly and I pointed this out - then it degenerated into a talk fest. At the end nothing was achieved as they proceeded to debate the Resolution again.

Not thinking straight we talked on and on when I should have said (which I pointed out to the President & Secretary the next day) was that as I had put the motion it had to go into the Minutes as I said and if they wanted to debate or rescind it later, that was a debate for later. The minutes had to be corrected. There were a couple of other matters but they were minor. So the last Minutes remain outstanding!! Anyway it will be solved at the next meeting - I hope.

Petrol cap: Got in the car yesterday and as I pulled out of the garage I could smell petrol. I thought I would investigate before driving off and found the petrol cap had been stolen. So further frustration as I had to spend $18 on a new one. No fuel had been siphoned so I don't know what was going on. I couldn't have left it off myself as I last filled up about 2 weeks ago.

Oz frustration: They must be frustrated on the sports front. Lost the Rugby by one point with 30 seconds to go;lost the Ashes and now got beaten by us in the Basketball. How sad!!

House sitting: Getting closer to Joe & Sarah and the kids departure when we will be house sitting while they are away.

The No's have it and money

The Referendum: Well an easy victory for those who want the right to hit their kids - nearly 90% in favour. But as they say, most Americans supported slavery and homosexual law reform went against the majority. As I have said before I believe Parliament must lead.

Money: Bryers of the Blue Chip investment farce has pleaded guilty to some charges. A Select Committee is to look into the failure of the Finance Companies and has already said that they will look at giving the investor more information.

That is not the problem; the problem is that the Finance Companies don't do what they say they are going to do with the money and most importantly the Trust Companies look upon themselves as referees instead of advocates and protectors of the Investors $$$.

And another aspect to money. All Black Tialata wants game time and to play for Wellington. The Coach, Jamie Joseph won't play him as he feels the All Blacks in and out of the team, due to Test duties, is a hindrance. So Tialata wants to play for Taranaki; they want him and Wellington are willing to release him.

The holdup. Taranaki won't meet Tialata's price. How much did Sir Colin and Sir Brian get paid again?

He must really want to play the game.

This and that

Backwards thinking: Rodney Hide is threatening to resign from the Government if they try to introduce Maori seats into the Auckland Super City. I don't know why he just doesn't say 'we are not going down the road of Apartheid'. I find, in the early 21st Century, that some believe in separatism as unbelievable.

However to compound the thought that we may still only be in the early 12th Century, some nuts in Christchurch are promoting healing (cancer and more) through prayer.

APPRA: The website it.gen.nz quotes APPRA who represent record artists saying if it wasn't for their industry there would be nothing on the Net. Shows how they think - not 12th Century - probably up to the 13th!!. I never realised, but it is claimed that the red flag act passed to ensure somebody walked in front of cars was not really a safety issue but the railway industry trying to stop the advance of technology. Guess what - it didn't work.

Rugby: My old school Auckland Grammar was involved in a fight with Kelston (AGS won 20-9) and several players from AGS have been banned for some weeks while Kelston is up to about 16 months!! It seems strange that Burger gets 2 months for eye gouging and this was only fists. Seems out of line; although from what I saw on TV, Kelston started it. Although the Rugby Union say they treat retaliators the same as those who started it.

That seems crazy - do you just lie there and be kicked and punched!!

AB's and OZ on Saturday. I think we should win but it will be close.

NPC is great with upsets all over the place having just watched a great game - Manawatu beating Otago.

New Acting PM: With everybody away Tony Ryall is Acting PM. The first time it has dropped so low in the Cabinet - No.5 - for years. The reason is because about 7-8 members are taking part in the first ever Joint Cabinet Meeting withe the Oz cabinet. So it seems he isn't good enough to take part!! Not really - I think they needed somebody competent to run the ship while they were away. One outcome was the idea to have joint Trade Missions overseas. I would be careful - Australia is not noted for its generosity of spirit. They will see it all one way - theirs.

Quiz: No Joe was our name this week as we didn't have him. Came 4th which wasn't too bad.
A funny moment was when she read out a complicated name - something like Assyentarian Molyproxidecal Acid. Somebody yelled out - spell the last word and she said - A-C-I-D.

Well Sarah and I thought it was funny.

Sir Cliff

The touring cast from the 1961 Cliff Richard and The Shadows Tour

(Rear L-R) Doug and Leo deKroo, Andy Ellis, Brian Henderson, Lou Miller, Bruce, Brian, Judy Cannon, Frankie Davidson

(Centre L-R) Herma Keil, Cliff, Jet

(Front L-R) Klaus Keil, Bill Fairs, Hank, Olaf Keil

Cliff Richard & The Shadows: They are to tour N Z in what is being billed as a final farewell tour. The adverts are saying that this will be the first time they have toured here since 1961. Semi correct - Cliff has been here since (several times), just not with the Shadows.

Old age - I was at the Auckland Town Hall with my brother in 1961 when they performed and we thought they were fantastic - I still remember the Shadows choreographed antics (dancing). From memory they were a great couple of years with people like Donny Brooks, Dell Shannon, The Everley's, Bobby Day and various other stars all coming down under.

Stars of TV: Back on the 14 July I mentioned that TV1 were looking for a person to be interviewed about SeniorNet. I found somebody (thanks Jeanette) and the interview duly took place. They then wanted a dummy class to be set up to film at the Centre. So I got a small team together, which included Christine and myself, and the cameraman duly turned up. He seemed to concentrate on what Christine was doing but it didn't quite turn out that way. They told us the item would be put on the next Monday night but it was then delayed as they had to celebrate something they thought more important - the 40th birthday of man on the moon. Neil and the team more important than SeniorNet Hutt City!!!

Anyway it was on the next week and I taped as we were both out at our Monday meetings.

The whole thing shown at prime time in the middle of the TV1 News was a Special Report on older people and computers. Jeanette was brilliant. Surprisingly I featured much more than I thought as I didn't really notice him filming me.

All in all a great promotion for SeniorNet. I'm waiting for Peter Jackson to call.

We have also had a bit of luck with Kiwibank donating some old printers to SeniorNet.

Telethon: This was on last weekend. Didn't watch except to flip over 3/4 times when it just seemed to be singers. Reports say it was very commercial and that 70% of the money is going to overheads. I was put off in the TV3 promo which interviewed one of the family's they were going to help.

I know they are struggling - but - they had six kids. Why if they can't afford them do they breed - a North & South 2002 article said it cost around $250, 000 until age18 in N Z. I know they say its not the money, but to give your child the real start they need, especially education, is not cheap. Quality not quantity is the story and if they want to make different choices why should others have to pay.

The family interviewed then went and mentioned how the kids were buying their school lunch each day. Not the most brilliant PR for Telethon.

Flue: Although I had the jab I have had the flue. Very tired and after a couple of days when I thought it had gone, I've got a cough. Probably would have been worse without the jab.

Politicians: And perks. They are grizzling and going on about contracts and their up to 90% international airline discounts at our expense. Graham Kelly (ex Union leader) is leading the charge. Yeah - well when you are both the employer and employee it is easy to get good conditions. They just pass the relevant laws to suit themselves.

An article about their claims pointed out how the IRD said some of their claims were taxable income like everybody else. What did they do? They changed the law so that it applies to everybody except MP's. And they wonder why the public think thay are rorting the 'system".