Civil defence and the Tsunami warning

Can you imagine the near orgasmic state of the civil defence leaders as their pagers or cell phones went off this morning.

All over the east coast of NZ bearded men in walk shorts and long socks would have leapt to attention full of self importance, their partners would have asked them if they had time for breakfast, “no, we have an emergency” would have been the well practised reply.

Thermos’s would have been hurriedly filled, cut sandwiches would have been cobbled together and high visibility vests and hard hats donned as they walked briskly (no sense in placing ones self in danger by running) to their Lada’s.

The drive to civil defence headquarters would have been made at just over the speed limit (102km per hour), headlights would have been blazing, the radio’s would be tuned to national radio looking for updates, and thoughts of “I live for this” would fill their heads, as they arrived at headquarters they would again walk briskly up the stairs before grabbing hold of their favourite clipboard.

One can almost see the disappointment on their faces when the news came in that the approaching tidal wave was only 1 meter in height.

Any tears from Tariana?

Sadly another little Maori child is dead, this takes the toll to eighteen since the passing of Comrade Bradford's anti smacking bill, the same bill Bradford told us "would keep our children safe".

Have we heard anything from the apartheid party leadership? have we heard much from our useless pinko media?

Nope, dead brown kids are obviously not sexy enough for them, they would much rather spend their time worrying about the letter "h" or covering a funeral in Rotorua.

Sir Robert Jones once used the term "slime" to describe our media, as always, Sir Robert is dead right.

More madness from Comrade Locke

It seems that Comrade Keith does not want our customs and border security services to bother checking for potential terrorists.

As only a committed communist and anti American could, Comrade Locke even manages to twist this story so he can have another crack at the yanks.

Keith Locke is the very best reason why we need to do away with MMP.

One example of why ACC is broke.

Mrs Bruv is one of these (almost) middle aged chicks who has been bitten by the cycling trend, like all "trends" this one is costing me a small fortune and I suspect like all trends it will be over by this time next year.

Never the less, she is into big time, just last Sunday she and her pals set out on one of their 60k Sunday rides, I had the afternoon well planned, cut the grass and then sit down in the spring sunshine with a few beers.

Just as I had finished the grass and just as I was about to take my first sip of beer the phone rang, "could you come and pick me up please" she said, "what the fuck for" was my reply.

It seems Mrs Bruv had strained a muscle in her thigh and could no longer continue with her ride.

Anyway, yesterday she went to the physio, she told the physiotherapist exactly what her injury was, and how it had happened, the physio immediately told her that if she wanted her treatment (at least six appointments) funded by ACC she should change her story, she was told that she should say that she "fell off her bike".

Quite rightly Mrs Bruv was horrified at this suggestion, when she told the physio that she was not prepared to lie about how her injury came about the physio was shocked, "but everybody does it" was the response, Mrs Bruv's reply is not for publication and given that Mrs Bruv is of Glaswegian stock I am sure you can work out for yourself what she said, anyway, luckily for us there is more than one physio in our medium sized rural town.

This, ladies and gentlemen is exactly why our ACC system is stuffed, when our medical "professionals" are so openly rorting the system you know that major changes are needed and you know that nothing short of a complete overhaul of ACC is needed.

Selfish immigrants

A news story that stood out for me this cold grey London morning was the one about an illegal immigrant who has been caught out by the Home Office for overstaying her student visa and she is whining about it.

She recently won the honor of being the "Face of Tescos", (tescos is the big supermarket chain here) and with it came publicity and it looks like this led to her capture by the authorities.

Fatou Cham - the immigrant, was due to leave the UK in 2001 once her Visa expired. Instead of taking responsibility and going home to Gambia with her banking, economics and finance skills she "apparently" acquired at University, she applied to stay in the UK to settle and was immediately refused. This is standard practise, you cannot apply to settle in the UK from a student visa and the years accumulated from a student visa cannot go towards becoming a British citizen. Fairs fair. The Home Office isn't going to award citizenship on a special case basis to a supermarket worker.

So what does Fatou do? A year before her visa runs out she brings over her Mother and eldest child, she ignores the order to leave and then has TWO more children between then and 2009. The Gambia is not the richest country in Africa, nor is it as bad as many of the other states in the region. Yes I can understand she may want a better life for her children and her, but living in East London with 3 children and a badly paid checkout job isn't going to be enough to give her children a better life in the UK - and her case is not strong compared to other much more needy cases that arrive on the desks of the Home Office every day.

Her selfishness to her family has meant that they will all be uprooted and sent back and she is seeking sympathy? We already have enough illegal immigrants coming into the UK on a daily basis - and with her now becoming unemployed, we don't need more drain on the taxpayers. Story here.

Best of the blogs....oh my!

Looks like this blog once again got on the Dominion best of the blogs for my brief foray into bitchy commentary on the New Zealand fashion week.

As much as I love the publicity for the blog, that post was not me turning into Suzuki St Pierre There was a lot of great posts much more relevant to NZ than that little bit of fluff.

Singularity talked about VSM

Boomtownprat delves into the hypocrisy of Richard Griffin

And Big Bruv tackles racism in NZ and our aparteid justice.

I'm so lucky to have such great blog team members :) 3 times in the Dom already - I can't wait for the next time!

Random thoughts for the weekend

I got sent a big list of random thoughts that I thought I'd share a few with you:


-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear
your computer history if you die.


-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're
going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to
be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the
direction from which you came, you have to first do something like
check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to
yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're
crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart",
all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

-Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising
speed for pedophiles...

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers,
but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car
keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the
Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze
button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time
every time...

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they
drive behind obeys the speed limit

Read them all here

Enjoy your weekend!

VSM vs. CSM: SOULS vs. OUSA

I'd like to offer my perspective on some observable differences between voluntary and compulsory students associations. The example I'd like to use is the Society of Otago University Law Students (SOULS) vs. the Otago University Students Association.

1. Membership:

SOULS: Voluntary

OUSA: Compulsory

2. Advocacy:

SOULS: Direct advocacy on behalf of Law students to the Dean

OUSA: Sporadic campaigns for the downfall of capitalism to nobody in particular

3. Publications:

SOULS: Accession - fantastic magazine, with interesting articles on topical issues in Law, written by law students

OUSA: Critic - trashy student rag with fuckall interesting in it except the letters page

4. Voter Turnout:

SOULS: Virtually every SOULS member is on a first name basis with all the candidates, high voter turnout

OUSA: The candidates themselves vote. Anyone else who turns up usually votes "no confidence"

5. Events:

SOULS: Puts on the best events on campus, hands down. Law Ball sold out in 30 minutes this year. Finalists' dinner will be at Larnach Castle.

OUSA: Umm, I think they have a white-sheet-wearing pissup at some stage. Usually ends in drunken violence and vandalism.

So, as a Law student I know which association I'd rather belong to. People actually want to join SOULS because SOULS offer great services. Believe it or not, people actually queue up to pay their SOULS registration and every dollar is spent voluntarily.

Only in New Zealand

If you drive your car while stoned, kill your child, arrive in court holding a teddy bear and crying crocodile tears you will receive nothing more than a telling off from the judge and home detention.

Reason 2741 to be ashamed of our "justice system"

Apartheid Justice

This is the tale of two stories, this is the tale of blatant racism and how our media and the left run scared when the racist is brown.

Story one.
This story is about a small to medium sized town, it's Mayor and the towns people who voted overwhelmingly to keep the current spelling of their towns name.
The Mayor and the people want democracy, they want one standard of Kiwi and they do not want to be ruled or bossed about by a vocal minority.

Media and pinko reaction.
Meltdown!
When confronted by a reasoned and democratic argument the pinko's and the media (generally one and the same) revert to the only attack line they have which is to label the Mayor and anybody who does not agree with them as racist.

Story Two
This story is about the minister of Maori affairs, an MP in the apartheid party and a man who by his own words does not accept "pakeha" justice.

"Tamaiti [a boy] can stand in front of his family and be accounted for - it's easy to go to a Pakeha court and go ae, ae, [yeah, yeah] and give the fingers and go out.

"But to stand in a court at your marae with your ancestors and your aunties, uncles and cousins - it's scary. Some will think it's soft but this is the hard option."

Media and Pinko reaction.
Shameful,
The story is reported in an apologetic style, the racist comments of the minister are not questioned nor are they reported for what they actually are.
Here we have a minister of the crown telling Maori youth that it is OK for them to ignore "pakeha" justice, telling them that they should expect to be dealt with differently because of the colour of their skin.
The reaction from the pinko's?......silence.

It seems one is only racist if you dare criticise anything Maori or point out the blindingly obvious.

No wonder this nation has so many problems, racist behaviour or racist comments should always be reported, those who make the comments should always be exposed for the knuckle dragger's they are yet is seems you get a free pass if you are brown.

Winners and Losers - the Union Edition!

Well done to all the VSM campaigners who saw the first reading of the VSM bill on Wednesday. It was great hearing of the support out there for this bill that will guarantee students will enjoy freedom of association and not be compelled to join a student union. The first part is done, but now the hard work begins. Submissions will be written and the Nats need to be convinced not to whuss out or feel pressured by the student unions to quit. For me this bill has been something I have been involved with since 1997. Passing this bill will be proof that the Nats do care about freedom - and for me it would be the icing on the cake for all the years of abuse I received from OUSA and other student associations for not only speaking out for VSM but also for simply being an ACT supporter.

The VSM campaigners are most certainly the winners for this week. Good work!

The CTU have waded into the VSM debate as well. They are totally against the idea that students should get the freedom to not join their student association comrades. I guess they are still hurting from the fact that workers when given the same choice got the hell out when the law was changed. The CTU would hate it if their biggest supplier of future employees would be severely hit hard. Labour is against it because they would lose one of their well funded cheerleaders in NZUSA.

But of course the CTU have no say, thank god. They helped interfere in the last VSM campaign along with other unions to keep it compulsory. Really they should STFU.

One more instance of why unions need to be kept in check is the selfish attitudes shown in their latest demands to why public sector pay will need to be frozen. Don't you get it? The economy is fragile and your Labour buddies helped ruined it for everybody else. You don't stick your hands out - you work with what you have and do it for the good of the nation, not your own greed. Gosh, since when did the left turn into capitalists? :) Yeah I know, bloody hypocrites the lot of them!
Story here.

That aint a goodie bag!

Far from it from me to get all girlie or remotely interested in the NZ fashion week - what did catch my eyes was the embarrassing array of what was available to the usual vultures who like to snap themselves the goodie bags, the status symbol must have for anybody who is invited to these events. I'm leaning into Cactus Kate territory here who I am damn sure will have a word about this.
Instead of the usual hair products, makeup, scarves, T-shirts, costume jewellery, chocolate, water and skincare, the freebies this year have included chewing gum, a bite-size piece of chocolate, belgium biscuits, teabags, second-hand books, a tea towel, a packet of 14 hair pins and an apple. In place of full-size designer cosmetics, guests have received 10ml pots of Nivea cream and mini pots of lip gloss.

Eeek. But wait til you see what the best bags have in them....

BEST GOODY BAG: Trelise Cooper show Black cameo necklace, sample of her new perfume called Trelise, jandals from Telecom XT, Whittaker's Peanut Slab, can of Stella Artois beer, sample size of L'Oreal Tec hair product for curly hair, bottle of water, little pot of La Mer moisturising cream and Karajoz coffee.

A can of wife beater beer, a peanut slab and jandals? Does anybody not think this makes NZ seem like an even bigger backwater devoid of style and luxury? Whatever next - an instant kiwi ticket, a can of V and free membership to the CTU?

Why do I care? I don't, but it did make me cringe. The recession is not an excuse for forgetting style. Story here.

The Bloggers Union

Whale Oil has posted a remarkably touching tribute to me over at Gotcha, unfortunately he was wrong on all counts. I am not at Oktoberfest, as much as I'd have liked to have been there for the opening weekend - I am a little snowed under and there is still 3 weeks to go :)

But it did remind me that I have been neglecting my duties as your New Zealand Bloggers Union President lately. Especially with the whole VSM issue distracting from the fact that you - a reader or as a blog commenter anywhere on a NZ blog are my responsibility. After all, the reasons for why you all need to be members are obvious:

1) Without compulsory membership we won't have a united voice against statism.
2) NZBU membership provides essential representation.
3) Compulsory membership means that everybody is automatically a member. Bloggers, readers of blogs, commenters on blogs are members. The NZBU have also decreed that if you contribute to a Facebook debate or Twitter discussion then you will also be automatically become a member. It's for your own good.
4) The NZBU can be compared to a government - and you can't opt out of paying taxes can you?

The NZBU does not like competition. We believe we are the only legit compulsory union in New Zealand...so we will be supporting the VSM bill going through the first reading today. As President, we support the efforts of Sir Roger Douglas to rid New Zealand of these other unions.

Any comments, please put them in the comments field. Please also read the NZBU press release here.

Prost!

Ahh yes, the ever popular and bloody fantastic Oktoberfest has started again for the year in Munich. Having been to a few I have to say this is definitely a highlight in the calender for so many reasons. It is like a beer Disneyland!

My liver is thanking me this year for not going, but I think I will be doing it again next year for sure. The beer, frauleins and food there are brilliant - and the atmosphere is 2nd to none. If anybody hasn't done it before and wants tips or ideas then ask me :)

Prost! Go to the official site for more info.

Update on previous post by Bruv

Further to Big Bruvs post below on Keith Locke, Frogblog has already got a brilliant response which I'll quote from now:

First there is the phrase “Sri Lankan Tamils” who according to you were “on demonstrations . . . in Auckland and Wellington recently”. I truly doubt this, as very few of them would take the time or trouble to travel to New Zealand to demonstrate. The people you met are New Zealand Tamils (if there is such a thing,) resident here and most probably naturalized.
I personally know one Tamil couple who came here after 12 years working in the Middle East and claimed refugee status. The entered our country having convinced someone that their lives were in danger if they returned to Sri Lanka. Their lives were never in danger, they had nothing to fear, they just didn’t like the life-style over there after living in the Middle East and had been turned down as immigrants by the UK, Canada, the USA and Australia; their response was to get into our land with a false claim. They live on benefits, in a state house, have naturalized and received numerous grants, from charities as well as the State, for their children to follow ethnic art based hobbies and careers. They had, until recently, a significant tract of land and two houses: I say until recently as they have now sold them for several hundred thousand US dollars, enough to buy a five bedroom house in a good suburb for cash (they offered to buy mine which isn’t for sale). This couple is ready to demonstrate against the Sri Lankan state any time anywhere to maintain the myth of their persecution, as are many more.
I suggest you look at why these people, good Kiwi compatriots of yours and mine, demonstrate and what they really seek to secure from their efforts.
Now let’s look at the reality of the camps. I will remind you that just two months ago I was in three of them, seeing for myself what was going on with NO supervision from the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and a relative to translate when my own language skills failed. (Yes, my wife is Sri Lankan as are most of our family on her side; there are Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers in the family, and they are a mixture of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Gaian and Scientologists.)
The land these people left was ravaged by years of civil war, booby-trapped by the retreating LTTE and over-run by GOSL forces as they pursued victory over “the world’s most vicious terrorist organisation” (UN Security Council, 2001). The infrastructure has been destroyed. Water doesn’t run to taps. Electricity doesn’t flow through wires, Food doesn’t grow. Roads don’t exist. Bridges have collapsed. The place is a bigger mess than Liverpool Docks after the Luftwaffe finished with them in 1944. This is what you want them to go and live in?
They have water, food, education, medical services and all the infrastructure norms of civilisation in Sri Lanka. THEY DON’T WANT TO GO HOME to their village until it is a place to live that will again sustain human life. Yes, there are 300,000 of them, which means at least 75,000 homes have to be built, how quickly would New Zealand be able to achieve such a challenge?
Please don’t hop on a bandwagon that is about as valid as the Lost Boy’s demand for self rule. It makes you seem like a fairy story character, instead of a thoughtful and informed New Zealand politician.

Keith is about as relevant as flares, hoola hoops and black and white tvs. When will this dinosaur be airdropped to Pyongyang where he belongs?

Keith Locke's latest terrorist pals.

Comrade Locke is at it again, while it is well known that Locke was a dedicated follower of Pol Pot, and a passionate supporter of Palestinian murderers it now seems he has added another group of terrorists to his cause.

http://blog.greens.org.nz/2009/09/17/unlock-the-camps/

Dead babies and nobody cares.

"The Government is also under pressure from its ally the Maori Party to let the spelling change go through; co-leader Tariana Turia said she wept when she heard the news of the board's decision.

She urged the Government to "do the right thing" and said she would lobby Mr Williamson and other National MPs.

She would not say whether the issue was a potential deal-breaker for the Maori Party's confidence and supply agreement but raised the stakes by calling on the Government to show integrity."

Tears for Nia Glassie?

Tears for the Kahui twins?

Tears for Lillybing?

Tears for James Whakaruru?

Nah.....just tears for the spelling of a towns name, what a useless tub of lard this woman is.

Obama abandons Central Europe

Poland and the Czech Republic have been dealt a huge blow today as President Obama has signalled his intention to FOLD to Russian pressure and to scrap the proposed missile defence system. Both countries were bold enough to stand up to Russia over this and to be counted as part of the Western Alliance and their reward? A phone call from Obama informing them that Central Europe is not as important as keeping the Russians happy.

This missile defence system wasn't even about the Russians - it was about Middle Eastern radicalism and other rogue states using weapons against each other. Russia was invited by Bush to be part of the shield as did Hilary earlier this year.

It seems that the Obama administration has decided that Russia which has been bullying its ex satellite states, is of more importance than democratic, capitalist Central Europe.

Story here
*Update*

The Times has also written about it here. The have a quote from former Czech PM Mirek Topolanek "This is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence," "It puts us in a position where we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that’s a certain threat."

Apethetic bloody Kiwi's

One phrase that really does my head in is "proud to be Kiwi".

What the hell do we have to be proud of?, we are a bunch of apathetic, moaning, lacklustre, and selfish bludgers who cannot be bothered getting worked up about anything unless it involves a rugby team (who no longer represent the things we once loved about the game)

It seems that no amount of blatant racism will stir us from our slumber, over the last few days we have seen;

• Ngai Tahu come back to the table for more money when their claim was supposedly settled years ago.
• The co-leader of a racist party negotiate a deal for tax payer funded insulation based solely on race.
• A claim from a poverty action group that they do not want to see beneficiary bludgers "herded into dead end jobs", these wankers think it is better for young Mowree to stay on the dole and DPB than it is to work.
• The same co-leader of the racist party push for a rise in DPB and dole payments.
• The totally racist geographic board completely ignoring over 1500 submissions on the spelling of Wanganui
  

Did any of the this cause an uproar among those people who claim to be "proud Kiwi's"....did it hell, the national mindset seems to be "I cant be bothered".

I can think of NOTHING that makes me "proud to be Kiwi", apologists for this government (Adolph and the like) will claim that this apathy is the result of years of a socialist government, they will shout loudly that we cannot blame "saint" John for this while ignoring that Key has done NOTHING to reverse the tide of socialism.

This weekend I will be cheering for the Aussie's (despite hating Deans with a passion), when the Aussie cricket team tour here I will be cheering for them as well, because, quiet frankly, I am ashamed to be a Kiwi.

Animal rights activists threaten children

Well done to the children for having more sense than the idiot animal rights activists!

A group of UK schoolchildren who reared a lamb from birth and named it Marcus, has overridden objections by parents and rights activists and voted to send the animal to slaughter.

Marcus the six-month-old lamb has now been culled, the head teacher of the primary school in Kent confirmed, after the school's council - a 14-member group of children aged 6 to 11 - voted 13-1 to have him killed.

The decision has provoked fury among animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some of the children, and led to threats against Lydd primary school and its teachers, according to a member of staff.

Too bloody right! It was a school project and they saw it through. None of this PC bullshit and putting these kids into a bubble. Of course the outrage from a minority has ruined plans to continue this project:

The intention had been to buy pigs with the money raised from slaughtering Marcus, but those plans have been put on hold following the furore created by the lamb's culling. The school said the programme may now have to be stopped.

"It's all up in the air," said a member of staff. "There's been so much pressure on us as a result of all this."

And the loser activists get involved...

animal rights campaigners asking why Marcus could not have been used to teach the children about wool, and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on the children.

What's the point sending the children to school if everything they get taught about the real world gets blocked at every junction?

Story here

The good, the bad and the ugly...in the news

THE GOOD.

Rodney Hide doing his bit for constitutional change.
The regulatory reform bill is going to be a godsend to taxpayers as polticians would have to prove value for money and that the benefits outweigh the cost. This will be measured against all sorts of factors and for that Rodney surely should be winning the cheers from the public for his work in this deeply unsexy but yet excellent bill.

THE BAD

British union bosses who have been fighting, striking and terrorising the Government over workers pay have been raking in HUGE amounts in salaries - some of which have increased by 30% in one year! All of them ex Communists have cashed in their chips and are being paid more than the bosses they criticise in the media. The poor workers they represent are struggling while these lads are most certainly not practising what they preach!

THE UGLY (and slightly bizarre)

Err, it seems that a couple of Belgians have managed to track down the 39 living relatives to a certain Mr Adolf Hitler. Using DNA evidence obtained from cigarette butts and napkins they have managed to find 3 relatives from America and 36 from the same small area in Austria from where little Adolf was born. They have kept the DNA hidden in a sealed, armoured chest and remarkably have told the Amerian descendents to NOT breed so to extinguish Hitlers legacy once and for all. How horrible is that to be told you can't have children because you carry the blood of the Fuhrer?
Story here.

Hypocrisy from Richard Griffin

Media has been "Dicky Griffin" was wheeled onto Q and A this morning and made me choke on my cornflakes as he displayed the ultimate in hypocrisy by labelling those that support FPP ahead of MMP as "far right dinosaurs"!.

Ths is the kind of out of touch statement that is far too commonly appropriated by Labourites and their acolytes such as Dicky.

Fact of the matter is that the arguments for FPP are valid. Just because a voter prefers decisive government, feels that direct electorate representation in parliament is favourable to faceless list MP's and feels that smaller parties wheel a disproportionate amount of power under most PR systems, does not denote one as "far right".

This is exactly the kind of "Bumper Sticker Politics" (Hat tip Mike Moore), that dominates and stifles sensible political debate in New Zealand and it seem that old media Dinosaurs like Dicky G have absorbed this nonsense to the extent that it is all they produce.

A similar example was on the perpetually wet "panel" on Mike Moira's afternoon show on Radio NZ. Linda Clark displayed her true colours when her ever increasingly shrill musings on MMP climaxed with the statement that at least it has stopped radicals like Roger Douglas running rough shod over the electorate like he did in the 80's . Sorry Ms Clark, but if I remember my political history correctly, the highest Labour have polled in recent times was in 1987, 3 years after the electorate had been run over by Douglas and despite many opportunities 22 years that very same and clearly abused electorate has kept all of those reforms.
Once more stupid "bumper sticker politics" from the left designed more to maintain one's credentials among like thinkers than rather effect good media commentary.

New Zealand faces a tumultuous economic future as government and personal debt rises, the current government seems more likely to raise taxes than cut spending, the president of the opposition says that inflation can be ignored as long as you vote Labour and the media continues to espouse the same old crap from the same old dinousars..............God help us.

9/11 - another story behind *that* day.

Forget the ignorance of Hollywood actors like Charlie Sheen who has obviously had too many drugs and alcohol to hold a coherant thought about 9/11. This day will always be remembered for the strength in character that the Americans showed on this terrible day. Unlike Western Europe,the US has not had as many attacks on their home turf and not at all at that scale. President Bush did a great job as did countless others during this time and Americans should always fight for freedom and the pursuit of democracy.

This story I found is from Andrew Card. He was the chief of staff who alerted President Bush about the attacks. He is in that image shown around the world where he told the President about the second plane hitting the WTC and the fact that it was a deliberate attack. This is an excerpt from the Q and A he gave to MSNBC

There was a buzz as we were getting to the school. Some people said, “Anybody hear about the plane crash in New York City?” but still not a lot of information. And the president, the principal of the school and I were standing at the door when one of the staffers for the National Security Council came up and said, “Sir, it appears there’s been a small twin-engine plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City.” And the reaction, kind of unspoken, was “Oh, it’s a horrible accident. The pilot must have had a heart attack or something.” And the principal then opened the door of the classroom and escorted the president in and the door shut.

Then that staffer came back to me and said, “Sir, it looks like it wasn’t a small twin-engine plane, it was a commercial jetliner. My mind flashed (pauses) and I can’t explain why, but my mind flashed to the fear that must have been experienced by the passengers on the plane. I just thought “Gee, they must have known the plane is going up, it must have been a horrible experience.” I still thought, I guess, that it could have been an accident, a mechanical failure or something.

And then — it seems like a nanosecond later — that staffer came to me and said, “Oh my gosh” — he used another word — and said another plane hit the other tower at the World Trade Center. And I knew that it was not an accident, and it couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Full article here.

No one should have to join any sort of union

Published in the Herald Friday Aug 04, 2000.

Thought I'd republish it here as the clock is ticking down towards the first reading for VSM.

Dialogue: No one should have to join any sort of union
4:57AM Friday Aug 04, 2000

By CLINT HEINE

Freedom of association has been seriously undermined by Government legislation passed last month. This should concern all New Zealanders worried about the erosion of civil rights.

Freedom of association was one of the fundamental freedoms the country sought to protect through its participation in the Second World War and is one of the civil and political rights supposedly protected by the Bill of Rights Act.

The notion of freedom of association has two simple principles. The first presumes it is our right to associate for legal purposes with whomever we wish. We are free to choose our friends and the clubs, churches and political parties we join.

The second means individuals should not be forced to associate with others.

The Education Amendment Act violates this second principle because it allows people to be conscripted into membership of tertiary student associations, the political incorporated societies at tertiary institutions.

Referendums held last year resulted in about half of all student associations moving from compulsory to voluntary membership. The new act permits opponents of voluntary membership to attempt to overturn voluntary results and impose compulsory membership. Where membership is compulsory, freedom of association is extinguished.

The aim of the act is to take the decision about joining a student association away from the individual and to have it decided by a vote. If a majority of people who vote support compulsory membership, all students must join an association before they can study.

Supporters of compulsory membership cynically argue that referendums are democratic. The act, however, allows the minority to dominate. In an institution of 15,000 students, for example, the majority of students could be compelled to join on the basis of 100 or so votes.

Having membership of incorporated societies decided by a vote is also in stark contrast to the situation that exists outside tertiary institutions.

Motorists don't vote to decide if all car-owners should be forced to join the Automobile Association; people in your street don't vote to decide if you should join the Neighbourhood Watch group. In these cases the decision is made by the individual. Membership is voluntary.

The act was designed to eliminate an alleged bias towards voluntary membership in the previous legislation. However, membership of almost every incorporated society is biased in favour of voluntary membership. That is exactly what freedom of association means.

Two stock arguments are made in favour of compulsory membership. Both are flawed. The first says that all students must join so all can be represented. Students, however, are a diverse group with a wide range of political views and cannot be represented by a single organisation.

Compulsory membership is also defended on the grounds that associations provide services. These services, however, can be funded without students being forced to join political organisations.

So why is the Government willing to trample civil rights?

Despite spurious arguments about representing students and protecting services, the legislation is designed to serve the Government's political interests. Labour and the Alliance regard the education sector as their home turf and are willing to do things in this area that they would not contemplate in the wider community.

In the workplace, for example, the Government has claimed the Employment Relations Bill will not threaten voluntary membership. In tertiary institutions, however, it is willing to treat students like cattle.

The act aims to overturn voluntary membership and impose compulsory membership because compulsory associations overwhelmingly support the Government and want it to move further to the left.

Having all 200,000 tertiary students press-ganged into membership of pro-Government student associations would create a bloc that mirrors the support the Government receives from trade unions, teacher and tertiary staff associations.

A total of 200,000 students each forced to pay about $100 for association membership creates up to $20 million that can be used by pro-Government student groups. All students, regardless of their political views, would be forced to provide indirect support for Labour and the Alliance.

In the same way that new employment legislation will increase the number of workers joining pro-Government trade unions, this act will increase the number of students who have to join pro-Government student associations.

Whereas the Government claims its employment bill will correct an imbalance in favour of employers, the education legislation creates a huge imbalance in favour of compulsory membership.

Supporters of compulsion include almost all student associations, the university staff union, the vice-chancellors, most tertiary councils, Labour and Alliance activists and the Government itself. Given the combined resources of these groups, individual students - the main supporters of voluntary membership - will have a hard job trying to achieve or defend voluntary membership.

By the Government's own standards the act is unfair. In March it said that one of its goals was to celebrate the defence of freedom and fairness.

How can it be consistent to bemoan the loss of civil rights in other countries while it suppresses freedom of association at home?

* Clint Heine, an Otago University student, is spokesman for Student Choice, a group advocating voluntary membership of student associations.

Cactus, Adolph, IV2.....only half right.

Cactus and co are right when they slag off Murali's bowling action, the man is a cheat, nothing more and nothing less, it angers me the way the ICC changed the laws of the game to allow this man Murali to continue playing the game.

However, Cactus, Adolph and IV2 could not be more wrong when they unfairly tarnish Malinga with the same label.

Yes, Malinga is different, yes the NZ team never seem to be able to deal with his style of bowling (interestingly, I am fairly sure Malinga does not have the same success rate against other test nations, you know, the nations who actually want to play the game of test cricket) but that does NOT make Malinga a cheat.

To suggest that Malinga cheats simply because he has an action that is not main stream shows an ignorance as to the laws of the game.....bloody well leave him alone and go back to attacking Murali.

Labour party conference.

Over the last twenty four hours Rotorua has seen the arrival of various feminists, lesbians, gays, union hacks, teachers, "rainbow" supporters and other fringe Kiwi's for the annual Labour party conference.

While all will state that they are there for official party business you can be sure that each of these groups will be starting the ground work for one of "their own" to take the reigns from Goff after the next election. Each of their potential candidates will be similar to Goff in as much as they will be seen by the public to be another tired old relic from the Helen Klark days.

The one group who will be conspicuous by their absence (or in extremely limited numbers) will be the traditional Labour party supporter. The old-fashioned blue collar working man (plus his wife and 2.5 kids) will not be there simply because he has been abandoned by the party he was born to support, Comrade Trotter said it best when he wrote that Labour lost contact with “Waitakere man”

The public rightly sees today’s Labour party as the party for single issue nutters, gays and those on the fringe of society, if Labour were deadly serious about being anything other than a ever decreasing minority party in our parliament they would accept that they need to radically alter who they are and who they represent.

So how could Labour become a real and forceful opposition again?, well ,for a start they could do worse than return to their origins.

First, they need a new leader, while this new leader will not be ordained at this conference he (and it does need to be a "he") should be positioning himself by making a speech that outlines his vision of where the party should be heading.
This speech needs to include an unconditional apology for the way the party had been hijacked by the gay/lesbian factions and for the way they set out to undermine the family unit.
While he needs to acknowledge that Labour stand for all working Kiwi's he needs to assure the working man that his party would no longer be held to ransom by the Lesbian and Gay elements inside the party.
The union link also needs to be addressed, while Labour will always be aligned with the unions the new potential leader needs to state that the party will no longer blindly follow the union cause and that party will no longer accept donations from militant unions and those deemed to be working against the economy and nation.

He needs to be clear that while Labour will always look out for the working man the party is no place for bludgers or those who do not want to do an honest days work. This would go down well with the working man, by and large Kiwi's are decent folk who will not stand for an employer who abuses his staff but equally the average working man also has no time for those in the work force who do not pull their weight or for those who leave the work to others.

While all that would help gain new support for Labour it is still not the silver bullet, if the new potential leader really wanted to gain instant traction he could do not better than admit that they (Labour) got it wrong with the anti smacking bill.

A promise to change the law to include the Burrows amendment would see an instant rise in the polls and give his potential leadership a serious boost.
If there is anybody brave enough to take this stand he would also need to tackle the issue of welfare, he would be wise to state that while Labour will always provide a safety net for those who cannot help themselves or for those who temporarily need our assistance, the days of Labour gleefully handing out tax payer dollars to those who do not seek to help themselves are over.

This vision should convey the message that Labour is the party who will give you the most help in being the very best you can be but that the days of the tax payer forking out money to the same people year after year is no longer be acceptable.

So there you go, IMHO only a substantial change in direction from Labour will see them be a formidable opponent come 2011, one thing is for sure, if they keep going as they are then they are handing the election to Key on a plate.

Public Health..what's so great about it again?

After all the hysteria from the Brits who crashed Twitter defending their 'wonderful' publicly funded health system, there comes this sobering story that their NHS will not fund a cancer drug that increases survival rates by 44 per cent because it isn't value for money.

I'm not advocating that the NHS should pay for every drug presented to them. But if this was the US system you can bet this drug would be available for everybody who wants it. Not only that but it will be widely available if you're insured and it may be covered for its full cost. If you were poor but were covered by a workplace insurance scheme you would have more chances of getting access to this drug than if you were a less well off British worker who depended on the NHS. Depending on the NHS 100% means you are stuck in a average system and trapped within their ideas of what cure/drug is acceptable or not.

Another case of politicians deciding who should get health care or not.

Story here

More Climate Change nonsense

From the UK where you can be sure in the era when the Labour Government is on its last legs, things do get remarkably silly...

The cost of air travel must rise to an extent that it deters people from flying and to compensate developing countries for the damage it does to the environment, according to the government's advisory body on climate change.

Ticket prices should rise to ensure that carbon dioxide emissions from aviation fall back to 2005 levels and to raise tens of billions of pounds in flight taxes to help developing nations adapt to climate change, for example, by building new flood defences, the committee on climate change says.

Oh do fuck off. Why should an airline be forced to double my airfares to excape the miserable English weather? No other EU countries are not even thinking about being as extreme as the UK when it comes to taxing passengers and hitting the airlines. Easyjet and Ryan Air are abandoning flights from UK airports due to the costs being levied upon them by the British Government. Soon it will be cheaper for me to travel to Paris and depart there than it will be to leave from Heathrow.

All this for some hocus pocus which is still yet to be proven. I guess this is another reason why politicians are the enemy of the people!

Story here

Opportunistic bullshit

Like most, I initially felt a bit of pity for the chap who lives in the house next to the so called Christchurch "House of horror".

However, he has lost any sympathy he might have had from me, last night we witnessed his sister in law abusing the govt (tax payer) for "not doing anything" and just an hour ago she was back on radio live insisting that they family have had "no help".
She glossed over the fact that the tax payer is already paying for their current motel/hotel accommodation (which I would wager is far superior to their own home) until Friday and continues to demand that we (the tax payer) toss more money at them simply because they do not want to return to their house.

It seems that this family is milking this for all it is worth, they have requested a face to face meeting with a senior WINZ representative and apparently they are also after some emergency assistance.

One would hope that WINZ tell them to fuck off, it is both right and decent that the tax payer front up for alternative accommodation while their home is the subject of a police investigation but it is not the tax payers job to find them a new home or to pay them anything more than out of pocket expenses.

I believe that their home will be returned to them on Friday, at that stage the tax payers obligation ends, if they choose not to return then that is their problem.

For Sale... One Bomber, brain never used...

Oh dear oh dear indeed. Anti corporate crusader and voice of the "little people" Bomber has sold out. He is in the deeper than deep pockets of big business DML and been assigned the dirty job of spreading the filth on their enemies, Labtest.

He must have also forgotten to disclose his interests in DML before posting against Labtests..... I smell a dirty rat.

How does it feel Bomber? All that dirty filthy capitalist money rubbing up against you?

**Update**

I wonder how Bomber sleeps knowing he is Matthew Hootons bitch? Hootens PR firm is the one who hired Martin Bomber Bradbury in the first place. How does this look for Bombers dozens of followers? Is it ok to sell out to the man?

New Contributor

Another good month for the blog as we have added yet another member to the team. A big welcome to Big Bruv!
I have been following comments from him on Kiwiblog for quite some time and am glad I managed to snag him and convince him to voice his opinions here.

Make sure you make him feel welcome – his first post can be found here.

MMP Referendum

I notice that Neville Key has announced the promised MMP referendum will happen at or before the next election.

Initially I though this was great, at least Key is going to keep one promise.

Then I gave it a bit more thought, why would Key keep this promise?, he has broken many promises he made to National voters and middle NZ yet kept every single one he made to bludgers and swinging Labour voters.

The more I think about this the more I reckon it is a set up, yes Key has promised a referendum and yes, he will be able to say he has delivered but the lack of noise coming from the Greens worries me.

If Key is true to form the bastard will word the referendum in such a fashion that nobody will vote for a change, he will offer other systems that cost far more and/or are way to complicated, you can almost guarantee that he will NOT offer a return to first past the post.

Lets face it, if there were even chance of returning to the old FPP system, you would hear the screaming from maggots like Bradford and Delahunty already.

Before National party cheerleaders champion Neville Key for “keeping”, his word we need to know a few things;

1. What are the options going to be?.
2. How much will they cost?
3. Will we have the choice of returning to FPP

The watermelons are many things, however they are not stupid, and they know a return to FPP would see them gone from the house for good. I refuse to accept that any MOU signed by the Greens and the Nat’s has been agreed without at least some assurance that they referendum will result in the continuation of MMP or another proportional system that sees parasites like the Greens remain on the public payroll.

National party cheerleaders will be up in arms at this suggestion, however if the last ten months prove anything about Neville Key it is this, centre right voters and right wing voters would do well to doubt EVERYTHING he says.

The Greatest Rock'n Roll band comes to Town!!

Oh joy of joys.

Bugger the anti smacking referendum, the supercity, lies about tax cuts, the anaemic all blacks and the terrible cricket team...........cause all will be all right come March.

THE PIXIES ARE COMING IN MARCH!!!!

Playing Doolitle, arguably the album that set off the nineties, stamping on the head of perm fuelled soft rock and mocking the faux grandiosity of U2 and friends.

Tickets on sale in two weeks through Ticketmaster.

And here is a little entree

VSM - the battlelines are drawn

Having a little knowledge in the VSM debate, I was fucking buzzing when I saw that Sir Roger Douglas got his VSM bill drawn from the private members ballot. Finally this bill is being pushed by an MP who is the true champion of freedom and this can bode well for all students who have been wasting tens if not hundreds of millions for decades and putting it in the back pockets of student politicians.

Not that I am going to be too hard on the National Party. They dropped the ball when they allowed New Zealand First to change the bill to allow referendums in 99 - and The Young Nats have not aways been strong supporters of VSM. It's been a tough enough fight reigning in our side for the fight let alone having to deal with the foamy mouthed commies on the left but I think its safe to say that we're all in on the party now.

In 1999 the hardline lefties were pulling out all the stops in order to protect their turf. OUSA were selling lost property to anonoymous people to raise funds to fight the campaign and used students money to fund a compulsory themed orientation. It is estimated they spent well over $30,000 against the Prebbles Rebels rather modest $150. We concentrated on speaking in halls and leafleting. OUSA banned our speakers from speaking in some halls and they also banned our posters going up in OUSA part-owned buildings. One example was the student gym, NOT funded by OUSA levies but by a seperate Health and Rec levy. I spoke to a man who ran the centre back then who asked me to put up posters in their gym advising students that the gym would be "safe" under VSM due to the different levies. He was told by OUSA to not allow these posters a few days later because OUSA didn't want students to know the facts. We got caned at these elections pretty hard, but not through lack of trying. The hate mobs of left wing students also attacked individually many members of the Rebels, putting many off student politics. Not violently, but words and actions speak a lot when you're being intimidated every day on campus.

There is simply no way we can trust student politicans to run a fair and honest
campaign and this is why it will be decided by politicians. Student associations have destroyed the trust put in them and are now going to pay for their mockery in 1999. Personally, I can't wait for the shitstorm to begin.

The question is simple. Should student associations be voluntary or compulsory? This isn't a political question - and yet the battlelines are being drawn primarily along party political lines - Labour/Greens/Alliance/Workers Party/Socialist Workers/International Socialists who support all students being forced to join, and ACT, Libertarians and National supporting the right for all students to choose.

I can't believe this is still an issue - but with a majority National/ACT Government in place and widespread stupidity by our student associations nationwide, there is no greater opportunity to put things right. I'm taking this extremely seriously and personally. I will do whatever I can to avenge the abuse and lies strewn upon me and my friends at University for being ACT supporters and pro freedom. If anybody else wants to join the pro VSM movement, contact me via the blog or at clintheine@yahoo.com and I can put you in touch with others who you can lend a hand to. Cheers.

Back from Cuba

Goodness me. Plenty going on during my 14 days offline.

National continues to ignore the will of the people with the anti smacking referendum.
VSM roars again with Sir Roger leading the charge. Thank god Sir Roger is running this show instead of the Nats. They have ruined it for over a decade. Lets bring on the war.

And in my world I was watching on a daily basis the affects of communism on a population of lovely people. Oh and mojitos... :)

Back in full later...need sleep.