It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
The best of times goes to Obama, poor old Bainimarama gets the worst of times.
It epitomises the nature of the racism inherent in the mainstream media. They go to great lengths to appear racially balanced, but they are not. If they were they would look, deeply: not just their usual superficial skim-read, to see that the Pacific has a black leader (Bainimarama) that has not just been TALKING about change, but has been DELIVERING it!
To para-phrase Holmes, it bet they think Bainimarama is a 'cheeky darky' - but they'd never admit it!
NB - John Key: I am DELIGHTED you led National to a victory - But shake up those plonkers in the Foreign ministry because they are spewing "clarkist" vitriol and need to stop ingratiating themselves to their 'chums'.
In these economic times, I'm thinking that maintaining the financial links NZ has would be a good thing, Fiji gives us more trade that we give them aid. In return NZ is trying to convince the United Nations to not use Fijian peace-keepers. How disposed to someone would you feel if they were trying to take a major source of your income off you?
If we want a great thundering Chinese naval base slapped in the middle of the pacific ocean, we are certainly doing a lot to force Bainimarama into doing just that: I wonder how the United States would view us if we allowed that to happen?
Obama's catch-phrase is, "Yes we can".
Bainimarama's should be, "Yes we can - But New Zealand won't let us".
"It is set", barked a large man, in a monotonous, calculating voice, standing up he towering above the group. They were seated on silk cushions around a large intricately woven oval rug. A phalanx of waiters delivered plate after plate of exotic foods and cups of thick, steaming coffee.
"We will buy the BNN news group for $11.2 billion dollars, we will also make available an additional $1 billion for brother Utama to take his fight to the belly of the eagle. Together a Mayhem Brotherhood victory is assured".
The room was filled with sounds of approval. "Now", the man continued, "Brother Utama will address us and tell of his plans".
The room plunged into a deathly silence as a thin but healthy looking man stood up dressed in a finely tailored suit. "My brothers, we cannot defeat our enemy by force, we have tried but cannot. So I intend to attack them where they are most vulnerable and have only the most minimal of defenses. For several years, using my family's vast fortune, men working on my behalf have purchased vast quantities of shares in our enemy's companies. A few highly trained cells have been placed at strategic places around our enemy's financial system. Shortly we will start demands for loan repayments and initiate a 'Waterfall of selling' as we topple the delicate balance of our enemy's economy by underminding confidence. We will start it but you can be guaranteed their greed will continue it".
The room exploded into a bevy of excitement, the large man rose and hugged his suited brother.
As Utama sank down into his cushion he warned, "My brothers, don't be fooled by our preparations, our enemy's system is vast and I believe it will take more than my actions to defeat the great wrongs of our enemy".
The serious looking man continued, "Now we have heard from brother Utama, we will hear from brother Muhammad about his plans for BNN"
A handsome younger man stood up, "My brothers, I am here today to tell you of the plans we have for BNN. I am glad brother Utama spoke before me, for without knowing his plans, my plans would be much less clear. My brothers, what I intend to accomplish with BNN has been carefully planned by a group of senior brothers. We will be working in conjunction with Utama's cells, to greatly increase the detrimental effects his actions will have on our enemy's economy".
The room was silent in anticipation.
"Unlike the tight controls we have of them in our country, in our enemy's country the media is a very powerful thing, it controls and manipulates almost every facet of their society: They pride themselves on being able to manipulate public opinion"
He paused for effect, to let that gem of information sink in.
"As you will know BNN is a global corporation with tendrils around many other countries, there will be many other casualties from collapsing our enemy".
Then he added with a wry grin, "But that has never stopped the brotherhood before".
Once the laughing had subsided he continued, "We will use the tendrils of the BNN empire to greatly exaggerate the effects that brother Utama will have, in that way we will make what is bad seem much, much worse. We must not underestimate our enemy, their cunning is shored up the zionist cunning of our neighbors"
With his words of warning ringing in the ears of the gathered Mayhem Brotherhood members, dancers filled the room to signal the end of the formal meeting.
Photography can be like a hunt. You identify then stalk your prey, choosing the appropriate weapon you seek that perfect position for the kill shot. Controlling your breath to line up the coup-de-gras and close the shutter.
You could liken post-production editing (Photoshopping) to preparing the carcass after the kill.
Except nine times out of ten there is no perfect position for the shot & you have to make do. But this is pretty much where the similarity ends.
Now onto the photo.
I took this photo in Waikanae a few days after New Years day
The day was beautiful, clear blue, fantastically strong light.
Then in the later afternoon, driving back from Wellington, I spotted a cloud. But not just any cloud, a low "stormy" looking cloud.
Imagine my interest: a low dark cloud in a sea of blue sky.
Now, there are a few things you have to understand about how a camera takes a photo. Most cameras take photos in JPG format. Technically JPG is known as a "lossy" format, this is because to reduce space , the camera will automatically compress the data coming from the digital sensor (digital cameras use a sensor instead of film).
But there is another important thing to remember and that's the metering mode. The metering mode is the way that the camera handles the light coming onto the sensor.
Most digital cameras are set to "Multi-Segment mode", the camera will take a light measurement from a hundred or so places in the photo, then average them all together. In Ninety-nine percent of cases this is perfectly adequate, but in a few cases you may get "washed-out" or very dark photos.
Firstly, I use RAW format, this is a "Loss-less" format in that it takes all the data from the sensor and doesn't compress it, this is the equivalent of a digital "negative".
Secondly, to take the photo I had my camera set to "spot metering mode", this mode constrains the camera to only sampling the light from the important part of the photo.
As you can see, used well it can really bring out the definition of the shades in the clouds and hills.
Today history has been made: Barack Hussein Obama II has been inaugurated as the forty-forth President of the United States.
The first black man to lead the United States - but repeat the medias mantra: "It's not about colour"
Born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and a white American mother, when Barack was two his father & mother divorced. Unfortunately Barack Snr died in the 80s in an automobile accident, about ten years later his mother died of ovarian cancer .
President Obama is anything but a banger from the hood, he had a very privileged upbringing & received a law degree through Harvard University.
I'm not going to try to predict the future but I do think it is important to keep his upbringing in mind when contemplating what he may do in the future. In saying that, I must also admit that he has seen the other side of life.
But I can't help but think of Obama as Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro) off the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, in the episode where the whole Banks family are helping out at the soup kitchen.
Obama's role models: Presidents Abraham Lincoln & John Fitzgerald Kennedy both were assassinated while in office, by being shot in the head... He's a lawyer, not an historian...
I hope the mainstream media have a change of undies with them.
Why is the mainstream media so biased towards the middle east? Why do Islamic beliefs get treated with a "kid glove" in comparison to other belief systems?
Can you imagine the outrage if Christian countries still stoned to death people, or killed women for allowing themselves to be raped, dishonoring their family?
But the "religion of peace" (Islam) does that.
They wipe their bums with their left hand then tell us we are the "unclean" ones.
How many anti-abortion groups hide rockets in Churches?
The question remains: Why is the mainstream media so biased towards Islam?
Follow the money
Arab countries are different from Western countries in many ways, but they do have a common point.
Oil... Oil = money, lots of oil = lots of money. But apart from having oil, they have gone one step further, the have the means to control the flow of oil.
When the middle east farts, the west gets diarrhoea.
They have identified the weakness of the west - Greed.
Now enters the mainstream media, the perfect way for Arab countries to introduce their peaceful religion.
But Oil... media... what's the connection? I mean, those global media organisations are huge, Arab countries would need to buy one.
Oh... Oil money... I see, they can afford to buy media outlets because of their money.
Now this is where it gets a bit murky, because I can't really prove a lot of my suspicions. But (and this is the wonderful thing about the Blogosphere) there will be people who DO have the means to check that out.
Anyone who has dealt with company structure knows what a tangled, messy affair it can be but if my suspicions are correct (and my spidey senses are tingling up a storm on this one) there will be a lot of names that sound like you are clearing your throat.
I like Pavarotti, but could he deliver a sound like a choir?
I like Bathurst, but imagine if there was only one car racing.
How do these two vastly different sentences relate to each other? Well the answer is in the title... specifically the word "Blend".
I'm a Whisky fan: Nothing like it to make your toes tingle and your heart warmer - "Whisky" for Scotland, "Whiskey" for Ireland & some other countries.
The distilling process is fascinating, the aging is, no pun intended, timeless. The history is stepped in Celtic romance.
Before I go any further it would help to define the two basic types of Whisky, they are Single Malt and Blend.
A Single Malt is, as the name states, all one type of Whisky - from the same batch, stored the same way - asides from being called a single malt, only Whiskys made in this exacting process may legally be called Scotch. Interestingly: New Zealand relies on the alcohol content to define the quality of the Whisky (speaks volumes doesn't it).
Blends are Whiskys that are not from one batch, they usually aren't even from one distillery.
I've tasted quite a few Single Malts and quite a few blends - only for scientific purposes, honest!
I'm not going to sit here and tell you there is no difference between Malts & Blends - there most definitely is!
But I have to wonder: how much of that difference is snob value and how much is quality?
A well blended Whisky is as much of a delight, if not more, than many single malts.
I like Whiskys that creep up on you, they allow you to taste the flavor them WHAM - that Whisky punch!
Many malts just go straight to the punch line, almost as though they have something to prove. Yet others, such as a well known Canadian brand - tone themselves down in to a watery, greasy submission!
BTW - I'm an Islay fan, the first time I had one of those peaty Whiskys, I thought someone had tipped dirt into the bottle, but the taste was unforgettable and like a Siren it lured me in, but neat - not on the rocks!
Master and Commander is a movie that would be best kept as a punishment for teenage boys. Most boys would say ‘no way’ to watching it especially if there were movies like Die Hard with a Vengeance or Iron Man on offer. The movie was adapted from three novels in the Aubrey-Maturin series written by Patrick O'Brian in the 1970s, and the story was jettisoned into the 21st Century. It really belongs to another era as does the old story of King Kong which was recreated by Peter Jackson. I doubt that the characters in Master and Commander were created accurately; they are in the genre of the period and are a romantic notion of what people were like in the 1800s.
I found the movie boring but the cinematography amazing. The main characters are stereotypical of this genre and don't arouse any interest as we have seen them hundreds of times before. The courageous captain, the duteous crew and a great many other words ending with '-eous'. Give me a gritty modern drama any day. Sometimes these movies are redeemed by their characters’ sharp retorts or wittiness but the jokes in the movie were only average at best, perhaps they didn’t translate well from the book. One of the wittiest comments came when the ship's senior officers were dining together and the ship's surgeon, Dr Stephen Maturin, found two weevils crawling amongst the food. Captain Jack Aubrey, played by Russell Crowe, trapped the ships surgeon into the seemingly innocent choice of the better weevil. Then he exposed the error of the doctor's choice, “There I have you! You're completely dished. Do you not know that in the service [pause] one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?”
If we are to believe the modern movies, watching the romantic old classics is a good cure for being ditched. Have you noticed how the spurned single women in modern romance flicks console themselves by watching old Humphrey Bogart movies.
There is a balance between accurately portraying history or historical events and translating that for a modern audience. By that definition, in my opinion this movie was a little unbalanced.
"One woman I didn't serve made huge noise. I love it, I love it - it's how I want it to be."
Invercargill "Mevlana Café" owner Mustafa Tekinkaya refused service to two Israeli women (Natalie Bennie & her sister Tamara Shefa), after hearing them speaking Hebrew, he ordered them to leave.
The women had decided to go to the Café as it had a playground where their children could play.
Tekinkaya is a Turkish Immigrant to New Zealand and cited the Israeli actions in the Gaza strip.
Mevlana Café is at 37 Esk Street, Invercargill - Unless you're an Islamic extremist or a National Front member, I suggest you don't go there.
If you want to send him your opinions in a letter, his address is: 37 Esk Street, Invercargill Central, Invercargill 9810, New Zealand.
But you might be the direct type and want to phone him directly on: +64 3 214 1790
Why am I posting his telephone number? I am extremely outraged that this IMMIGRANT to New Zealand is bringing his old racial hatreds to New Zealand and propagating them here.
"He heard us speaking Hebrew and he asked us where we were from. I said Israel
and he said 'get out, I am not serving you'. It was shocking."
I call on the Mayor of Invercargill (Tim Shadbolt) to de-license this menace and for the Foreign Affairs Minister (Murray McCully) to initiate steps to revoke tekinkaya's citizenship as a clear signal that New Zealand is not the Middle East.
Why did he come to New Zealand in the first place? Surely he'd feel less outraged if he was surrounded by his Jew-hating rag-heads buddies.
"Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation in Palestine, it is simply against the law for providers of goods and services in New Zealand to discriminate in this way," - Joris de Bres, Race Relations Commissioner
At a time when New Zealand is taking a bit of a pummeling on the world stage, this stupid idiot pours petrol on the flames!
Oh the concern, oh the lament, the gnashing of teeth and the metaphorical wearing of sack cloth... The self-promotional TV advertisments with John Campbell doing his best to look wide eyed (not too easy with all that Botox). He and his equally sychophantic colleagues inspired this post - remember John: you can report the news and still retain a sense of humour, right?
So what could it have been?
Our poor little country, what demonic, festering, putrid evil has been unleashed?
Politicians displaying the indifference of an African dictator coupled with the corruption of an Asian military ruler.
Well, I will offer a totally legitimate explanation.
Labour and their equally mendacious coalition partners.
I recently read an article about Sir Bob Jones; a man who's gotten very rich from leasing office space to labour. Jones states how he prefers the adventurousness of labour compared to the "plodding" nature of National. Now the interview was in "the Listener" (a leftist rag at best) and was written before labour's crushing defeat, all that said, I can't help believing that Jones knows on which side his bread is buttered. He is fabulously rich, but the staff he employs aren't and rich people are terrified at the thought of being poor again and paying all those salaries by himself would quickly deplete his "nest egg".
There are a lot of labour voters out there who think that the sun shines when Helen Clark bends over and that Michael Cullen was the best finance minister since Micky Savage.
Hence the title of this entry... they just don't connect the dots, the dots that form a very clear path from Helen Clark's labour to that corruption, indifference and subversion of the law.
You see, labour didn't get there in a vacuum, it got there by winning the unconditional mandate of people that view the world as being a democracy and that if they want to succeed, they really can; as long as they're given half the chance.
The funny thing is that in my experience "liberal" folk are just that - liberal... until it truly effects them that is.
So I am going to do my bit to educate them:
Firing a top cop and replacing him with a tea-cup collecting sissy,
Connect the dots.
Lying to protect their own skin while sacrificing hard-working staff,
Connect the dots.
Filling the public service with their flunkies,
Connect the dots.
Fundamentally changing our legal, justice and electoral systems without public referendum,
Connect the dots.
Appointments for cash,
Connect the dots.
Welfare bribes for votes,
Connect the dots.
The list could be much longer and much more detailed.
The ironic thing is that I know there will be liberal readers of this entry who will still defend the labour party right or wrong: it's a thin line between ignorance and selfishness.
Labour is out of the Government benches and our obligation is to never let that level of corruption, bile and filth infest those benches again.
It is very, very easy to only look at the huge Israeli military machine that has rolled into Hamas Governed areas.
Hamas has only been firing the relatively low-tech Qassam Rockets, no-one denies Israel its right to self defense, but really - it's not proportional.
Well that's how the argument goes, but is it fair?
It blatantly ignores the thousands of, military and CIVILIAN, Israeli lives that have been snuffed out by the total carnage of their Arab neighbors. Not by Qassam Rockets but by suicide bombers. Yes, let's spell it out: S-U-I-C-D-E B-O-M-B-E-R. The media have been remarkably quiet on this issue, haven't they? Pathological lefties like comrades minto & locke are quite prepared to make allowances for those disproportional acts, but if Israel kills one Palestinian civilian (usually an Hamas human shield anyway), they quickly flick through their Communisim 101 handbooks to find the rhetoric to sound outraged.
What is the actual death toll? You may not want to take my word for it, just look it up on Wikipedia, or an "official" news agency - they can distort the numbers, but they can't hide the truth (but not through lack of trying).
Cool, I've finally found another sucker writer for If you see Kay! It is my great pleasure to welcome her... then ask what her NEXT artical will be about (hint hint). Anyway, without too much fanfare, may I introduce my new contributing writer: Ginger Diamond.
The provisional death toll of 2008 is 359, which is the lowest for more than half a century. It was 62 below the toll for 2007 of 421 deaths, and the best result since 1956. The reduction in fatalities has been partially attributed to the increased cost of fuel, which rose by around 70 cents per litre in 2008. It is thought that drivers, who were pummeled by increased fuel costs, had reduced their speed and also did less discretionary traveling. However, punishing fuel prices were not the only deterrent to speeding during 2008, in a joint operation between the police and district courts over the period of a year up to August 2008 a million dollars was recouped in unpaid fines and reparation to victims of crimes. Although many people see traffic fines as just another means of revenue collecting, they are effective if they force people to take stock of their driving skills and curb unsafe driving habits. While many people pay the traffic fines they incur, there are many that do not and consequently these are ineffectual against this group. For those people who do pay fines, perhaps the financial downturn will reduce the number of infringements issued as people tend to stick to the rules when there is little or no disposable income to pay fines, either that or fewer people will pay them.
Factors which are major contributers to road fatalities are speed, alcohol, driver impatience, inattention, fatigue, reckless and careless driving. Superintendent Paula Rose said in an article in the Herald Friday Jan 02, 2009 that, "When we have a look at last year's provisional road toll of 359, the thing that comes out over and over again is driver behaviour ... In the bulk of those crashes the outcome could have been different if the offending driver had exercised a bit more care and thought about what they were going to do, because you are a long time dead.” Her reasons provide a good insight into the cause of accidents. But it was a pity that news stories on the fatalities were short on detail, as describing the common causes of accidents may have left some viewers thinking, ‘that could have been me’.
Obviously there are plenty of incentives to drive safely such as: no cash repair bills; lower insurance premiums; living without a disability; and not incurring fines or imprisonment for dangerous driving. Despite the motivations to drive responsibly, traffic infringements are still issued and people still drive recklessly. Half a million driving infringements were issued in 2005 and a similar number were issued in 2008. Perhaps this is because the roads are fairly safe most of the time and we underestimate the need to take our driving skills seriously. Often it takes an accident to jolt us into reassessing our driving skills. Driver training prevents accidents as does driver awareness but unfortunately one thing that cannot be totally mitigated is the behaviour of other drivers on the road.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
Today history has been made: Barack Hussein Obama II has been inaugurated as the forty-forth President of the United States.
I like Pavarotti, but could he deliver a sound like a choir?
Master and Commander is a movie that would be best kept as a punishment for teenage boys. Most boys would say ‘no way’ to watching it especially if there were movies like Die Hard with a Vengeance or Iron Man on offer. The movie was adapted from three novels in the Aubrey-Maturin series written by Patrick O'Brian in the 1970s, and the story was jettisoned into the 21st Century. It really belongs to another era as does the old story of King Kong which was recreated by Peter Jackson. I doubt that the characters in Master and Commander were created accurately; they are in the genre of the period and are a romantic notion of what people were like in the 1800s.
Invercargill "Mevlana Café" owner Mustafa Tekinkaya refused service to two Israeli women (Natalie Bennie & her sister Tamara Shefa), after hearing them speaking Hebrew, he ordered them to leave.
"ham-ass" - Excellent, it works on so many levels, nice one! Far better than ham-ass lite crying out stuff about Nazi ovens.
It is very, very easy to only look at the huge Israeli military machine that has rolled into Hamas Governed areas.
Hamas has only been firing the relatively low-tech Qassam Rockets, no-one denies Israel its right to self defense, but really - it's not proportional.
The provisional death toll of 2008 is 359, which is the lowest for more than half a century. It was 62 below the toll for 2007 of 421 deaths, and the best result since 1956. The reduction in fatalities has been partially attributed to the increased cost of fuel, which rose by around 70 cents per litre in 2008. It is thought that drivers, who were pummeled by increased fuel costs, had reduced their speed and also did less discretionary traveling. However, punishing fuel prices were not the only deterrent to speeding during 2008, in a joint operation between the police and district courts over the period of a year up to August 2008 a million dollars was recouped in unpaid fines and reparation to victims of crimes. Although many people see traffic fines as just another means of revenue collecting, they are effective if they force people to take stock of their driving skills and curb unsafe driving habits. While many people pay the traffic fines they incur, there are many that do not and consequently these are ineffectual against this group. For those people who do pay fines, perhaps the financial downturn will reduce the number of infringements issued as people tend to stick to the rules when there is little or no disposable income to pay fines, either that or fewer people will pay them.