Rock'n Me

He [took] the issue to the country [] at the [] General Election, he was able to form a government, and he was able to pass the requisite legislation; that's how our democracy works.Inventory2

The trend is your friendJohn Key

May these words come back to bite you both on the arse.

Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle, 1976

Let The Train Blow The Whistle

I blogged about Manu Caddie, a councillor at Gisborne District Council, when I first started blogging (at the start of the year).  This week I came across him again, on the radio, trying to raise funds to challenge KiwiRail's decision to mothball the Napier-Gisborne railway.
Manu's blog details the progress towards funding the review.  $10,000 was needed in a couple of days and the target was surpassed in time, so the review will proceed.  Well done to the team who organised it.

It is difficult to fathom why the government is allowing yet another revolt to develop; the cost to avoid this one pales in comparison to the Rena clean-up or the South Canterbury Finance bail-out.

Johnny Cash - American Recordings, 1994

Courage

There was a powerful interview on the radio this evening, with Bryan Guy the father of murder victim Scott. Guy.  It contrasts starkly with the retrospective, punitive and vengeful streak that is often appealed to.

The Bats - Silverbeet, 1993

The Hardest Button To Button

Sometimes words fail me.  Like now.  But I know someone is thinking about what I want to say when I read well written words.  And yesterday I did that.

Darkhorse writes the howdaft blog.  I am genuinely in awe of his writing, and evidently others are too because his posts are republished at The Standard and linked to from The Herald.

Rather than link to a whole post from howdaft, I've decided to highlight a couple of sentences that really resonated as being fundamentally true and a reflection of the essence of society.  They are;

'...the wisest long term investment strategy for both retirees and for future taxpayers is to build an essentially debt free society. 
We need to be building an investment in the future.  Instead we have loaded our children with debt. We have either run the assets we inherited from our parents into the ground or sold them off and we have not prepared ourselves, or our children for the future.'

While I am normally quite pedantic about quoting in context, I believe that these few words are so universal that they can stand independent of their original context.

The political blogosphere tends to be awash with negativity, and people who are prepared to knock, or waffle, or not understand the fundamentals of their positions.  I can do this with the best (or worst) of them.  So it is refreshing to see someone who can express something constructive, definite and honest.

Cheers darkhorse, please keep writing.  Change has to start somewhere.

White Stripes - Elephant, 2003

It's No Reason

In the Herald on Sunday a day or two back, more evidence was provide to support the idea that it is quite possible to be extensively educated and still be an idiot.
Case in point, a staff member at UCan who vastly over-rates his opinion and beliefs and is campaigning for a fast food chain to add a bacon sundae to its menu.
His rationale?  Well:

"I'd never thought of putting bacon and ice cream together but it makes sense - maple syrup makes bacon taste better and it goes really well with ice cream too," he told the Herald on Sunday.

Needless to say he's not at UCan for his culinary skills, he's in a faculty noted for it's slavish adherence to a lack of imagination and lip service to basic stuff like rigorous enquiry.
He is correct that bacon is delicious, as are maple syrup and ice cream.  Together?  Nah.  From a fast food place?  Never.  So, add it to the menu, see a fraction of the population buy one, once.  And take it off the menu before the sales fall to dismal levels.

"And a bacon ice cream sundae annoys all the sorts of people who really need to be annoyed from time to time."

And this is the real kicker on the educated idiot front.  As if the 'bacon and ice cream taste good, if you include maple syrup" line wasn't shallow enough, it is backed up with a "it will upset people I disagree with".  The decision to introduce bacon sundaes will be made purely on economic grounds, not on the frivolous thoughts of an academic.  The scary thing is he is in a position of influence, as a lecturer and tutor, and if this is the extent of his reasoning we have to question the value of the courses he teaches, and the degrees they are part of.

The Church - Seance, 1983

We Care A Lot

National has given up the legal process of appealing against rulings that people caring for family members must be paid.  They are putting a brave face on it, but their appeals were churlish and defied a sense of fair play.
The unscientific poll associated with the story above has about 90% of respondents supporting payment to family carers, with a slight preference (the 90% is split 50% to 40%) against capped payments.  However the government plans to cap them anyway.

Faith No More - Introduce Yourself, 1987

A New Season

Dr Lance O'Sullivan, who I identified as a person with the courage to stand up for what he believes in, in this post, has left his job at Te Hauora o Te Hiku o Te Ika in Kaitaia.
All the best for you future endeavours, Dr O'Sullivan.  I am sure we will hear of you again in the near future.


The Church - Starfish, 1988

How Many Times

The recent brain-fart from Paula Bennett, where she mused on the virtues of eugenics, compulsory abortions and mandatory sterilisation, was notable.  Apart from revealing the ignorant or vacuous nature of Ms Bennett (why should we be subjected to a Minister who muses about eugenics?), and the baser side of the populace in responding to her dog-whistle (ugh, the non-scientific polls make awful reading, at times), and the blatant attempt to distract from Mrs Parata's debacle (gosh, that's almost enough of a list), it's part of a developing theme.
Today Stuff has an article of a baby that died unnecessarily.  While a lot of the circumstances are not stated, it seems clear that the baby and family were living in terrible conditions and dire poverty.
The blame for the death is then sheeted home to the family.  The article reflects on how messy their house was and how there were inconsistencies in the descriptions of the circumstances that lead to the baby's death.  But that's avoiding the underlying issues of why the government is not addressing the issue of poverty and the consequences.  Apart from the obvious and pragmatic response that there are few votes in it.
I don't care if it was the state or private charity that should have been working with this family, it seems likely that there has been a serious systemic failure here (and throughout the country) and our media blithely dismiss it on the grounds of individual responsibility.  Here's how I'm calling it - the failure of an individual to fulfil their individual responsibilities does not affect or negate the collective responsibility we all have to look after the weak and the vulnerable and people in their time of need.
Heads should roll, and the MSM need to take a good hard look at their attitudes.

Brother Beyond - Get Even, 1988

The Difference

David Shearer asked Shane Jones, in person, to explain his actions with regard to allegations of improper behaviour.  David Shearer stood Shane Jones down pending the outcomes of an investigation.
John Key had his staff ask John Banks for an assurance he did not break the law, when allegations of improper behaviour came to light.  John Banks has refused to stand John Banks down and has challenged others to instigate an investigation.
That's a fairly clear demonstration of who has higher standards of accountability.

The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse, 1996